I lied to you. Repeatedly. And I’m really sorry. Time to come clean.
Remember when I told you that this wouldn’t be a how-to blog about eBay? I said that it would stand apart from all of the mundane and functional “Top 10 blahdy blahs about eBay” posts out there? Well, no sooner had I typed those words than I began writing how-to articles.
Sure, I have been including my personal experiences in all of the pieces, but I don’t feel like it’s been personal enough.
So, here’s the real deal: I am sick of eBay. When I think of eBay lately, my feelings are well summed up with one word: “Eh.”
This may sound strange, but I fear that I may have enjoyed too much success too soon. I became complacent. The challenge dissipated and the fun went with it.
eMoms at Home founder, Wendy Piersall, has written frequently about the dangers of burnout for work-at-home parents. In fact, it was one of her articles that made me decide to finally take this job at eBay Selling for eParents. I was already suffering from eBay burnout and felt that writing about it might reignite my once consuming passion.
Spark… spark… … … fizzle. Damn.
So here I am. Rather than imbibing this blog with honest stories about what it really takes to be an eBay success, I’ve been beating around the bush with the nuts and bolts stuff. Every time I sit down to write to you, I consider telling you that sometimes, occasionally, it’s tough to maintain an eBay business as a work-at-home parent. But then I chicken out. I’m afraid of scaring you off. Afraid that I’ll talk you out of what I know for a fact to be a fantastic home-based business if I write too frankly about the ups and downs involved.
Stop. We’re all adults. Heck, being adults (and therefore privy to certain horizontal extracurricular activities) is what got us into this mess as parents anyway, right? 
I don’t have to tiptoe around the tulips with ya’ll.
My eBay store has been on an hiatus of its own for a while now. A few months ago, I more or less closed my eBay store in order to temporarily focus on other things. I was worn out from managing customers, feedback, and shipping (the single hardest aspect of eBay for me), and found that I was constantly distracted by so many projects. I had begun considering bringing in some kind of child care so that I could get things done. I’m supposed to be a stay-at-home mom and I’m considering in-home daycare?
My inventory stares me in the face everyday. The finance charges on my credit cards from buying the inventory in the first place are a sickening reminder of how I haven’t been doing my “job.” And yet. I just can’t seem to get back on the horse.
If I’m not careful, the horse is going to ride on by me.
Holiday sales on eBay are big. Huge. And they start early. Last year, I actually closed my store a few weeks before Christmas because I could not keep up with the volume of sales I was achieving. That’s right, you heard me. I was making too much money. Too many buyers were bidding on my auctions. I was too successful and, therefore, overwhelmed.
I warned you that there are monster profits to be made on eBay. But you had better be ready for it.
I swore that this holiday season, I would be ready for it. I would plan ahead, using my experience from last year. And that, my friends, has been my excuse to not reopen my eBay store. I am in a perpetual state of wanting to get all my ducks in a line before I relaunch everything, aiming for a level of perfect organization that will likely never happen.
This is stagnation. Welcome to my rut.
At its root, what appears to be keeping me from fully reopening my eBay store is a fear of success. Everything I need to move my inventory in a snap is right at my fingertips. I could be selling thousands of dollars a month in listings right this very second if only I would just do it.
Instead, I have become self-defeating. I look around my home and see an endless list of things to do. I look at my children and feel a guilt that pulls me away from an entrepreneurial passion. An endless list of excuses.
Working at home is complicated. It is challenging. It is far more difficult than working outside of the home.
Rather than end this post on my perpetually optimistic high note, I’m going to turn to you for help. Something that is very difficult for me to do. It is my nature as a psychologist and self-sufficient know-it-all to work things out to their ends, analyzing the “why’s” and “how’s” and “what now’s” of every situation.
Knowing what to do (and knowing for a fact that it will work, with ease) and doing it are two very different things.
Success has immobilized me.
Someone explain that to me.