Chat with My Mini Me! Daughter Melanie Wells and her Unintentional eBay Career Path

everyone. But we wanted to share her story because it might help someone whether you are a young person struggling and not sure of what direction to go. Or if you are a parent with a child that just doesn't fit into the standard mainstream conventional path of high school college, conventional job. So before I bring her on, I wanted to give a quick backstory of how she came to be. Because that is important in her life story. I've been married a few years, and we were

ready to have children. And it just wasn't happening for us. So we worked on that for about two years. And it got down to either in vitro or adoption. And I just felt like adoption would be the right path for us. And I was in the process of finding an attorney to explore that option. And lo and behold, got pregnant.

So that's all the problem. So when Melanie came along, I had a corporate job, and I was going to be supermom, and I was going to work full time and have a baby and go the daycare route. And you know, that was the plan. Well, after about six weeks of trying to work my full time job and have a baby in daycare. I just couldn't do it. It was an emotional thing. I didn't want to be away from her. I missed her all day long. I just wanted to be the one to take care of

her. So her dad, my ex husband and I figured out a way that I could be home with her and be a stay at home mom, and it took it took some pretty hefty financial cuts to make that happen. But that's really what I wanted to do. So we moved along, and then, you know, she was not an easy baby. She was, you know, colicky. I learned all about being sleep deprived, and how crappy it makes you feel. But it was what it was. And she was she was a difficult baby. But anyway, then we get to when she

is about 18 months old. And there was an accident in our home. And it it was my fault. It was I looked away for three seconds and this accident happened. And she had a severe head injury. At the same time as her dad was reaching for her to prevent this accident. He was also injured. So we had the ambulance come. And Melanie was airlifted to a hospital in Chattanooga. And we really did not know if she was going to

make it. So she was in intensive care for a few days and she had very serious head injury. fractures skull brain bleed on and on. So it was that was really the worst day of my life. But she pulled through and she

turned out to be just fine. We did lots of doctor's appointments over the next few years to monitor progress and she came out of it just fine when On to, you know, be a normal kid went to, you know, kindergarten elementary school, then around fifth grade, she started struggling with math and just couldn't get it. And she went to summer school for math every single summer between fifth grade and graduating from

high school. So that was that was a huge struggle with lots of tutors and, you know, after school programs and before school programs, and it was it was really a struggle. And I always thought, you know, maybe this has something to do with her head injury. She's just not, something's not working, right? So probably about sixth grade. I voiced my concerns on like, you know, maybe this has to do with your head injury. And she was like, Mom, lots of kids struggle with math, and they didn't fall

on their heads. So anyway, we got through it, her struggle with math never ended. So that is part of her her journey and her story. So we are going to jump in at the point where she is a senior in high school. Okay, we have my mini me, who is us today, my daughter, Melanie wells that those of you in the Facebook group see a lot. But as another guest on my podcast said, we just don't hear from Melanie. So in this podcast you get to hear from Melanie. So tell the listeners Hi, Melanie.

Hi listeners. And our voices kind of sound the same. So hopefully they'll be able to tell who is. Okay, so I told the backstory of how Melanie got here, and our struggles up to high school. So what we wanted to share today was that eBay can be a career path on purpose. And it's taken a long time for Melanie to want to talk about this because it's been a struggle. And her path has not been the standard path from high school to college to

regular job on and on. So we're going to pick up with how she even got into eBay in the first place. Because it was not, it was not the standard plan. So you started selling, when during your senior year, I signed up for eBay or made an account in March of 2012. So right before I graduated high school, right, and you wanted to do it because um, I don't really know if I had a reason. Um, if I did, I don't remember. But I think it was more along the lines of I didn't know what I was going to be

doing. So in the meantime, just start doing something to earn money. So I would at least have some sort of track record with having a quote unquote job, right? So of course, you had seen me doing it most of your life. I started in 2003 when you were eight? Yep. was eight, nine ish. Yeah. And you'd seen me doing it all along, going out buying things to resell, selling things that you and your brother didn't use

or need anymore. And I think you you came up with a few things of your own that you were like, Oh, I wonder how much this is worth. Oh yeah, worse things like either, you know, I remember listing the Nike purple drawstring backpack that we use at the Peachtree Road Race. Oh, right. Yeah, it's one of the first things I listed and that was actually the first thing that sold on my account. I remember it sold for $20 Okay. Everybody remembers their first

day Oh, yeah. Like that's like the beginning of the addiction. And I don't even remember where we got those because I think we both had one. I know we didn't buy it new. No, we I probably found them at Goodwill. Yeah, cuz we walked the Peachtree Road Race that year, just to be part of that event and we never did it again. No, and I will never do it again. Yeah, I was, it was more walking back to the car after it was

over. And then the actual road race itself, and there were no drinks, there's no snacks like, yeah, they ran out of everything. Yeah, and have a successful road race with? No, you know, snacks though like it was Fourth of July and in Atlanta so blazing hot and we got to the end and they were out of everything it was I don't think it was water. I don't know they had t shirts. Yeah, that's true. Which I have sold some of those along the way. Okay, so you started selling.

And again, the reason was because you just weren't a candidate for for going to college. It was just school was a struggle for you. I mean, we looked at Georgia Gwinnett. College, you went in toward that. And that was when I was told that I would have to do all of these classes that were going to count for college credit, and I would have to pay separately to take them. Right. And then I would still have, it would still not be considered an undergrad classes because they

were not college credit. It wasn't at all math just held you back. And that was just like, anxiety producing. And it was just, it just, some people just aren't math people. And it has nothing to do with you falling on your head. No, it doesn't. But strangely enough, as someone who can't do math can now formulate an Excel

spreadsheet just fine. That's right, you can so yeah, we went through the whole trying to figure out, you know, getting you in a college or community college, and you had to take these remedial classes that didn't count for credit that we would have to pay for. We looked into, you know, tutoring. And that was so expensive. And it was just, it just wasn't happening. It was just like bashing your head against a brick wall. It just

wasn't gonna happen. So I think you had some interest in cosmetology school. I did until I realized how much math is involved. Right, like mixing up the chemicals and all that kind of stuff. That's man, I like the idea. But then you think about it. It's It's very, it's all math based. And that was not going to work for me, you know, on your feet all day. Oh, yeah. But that was it was more, because I never took chemistry. I never didn't even

those high sciency classes. So the highest one I ever did was anatomy in high school. And that was hard enough. Yeah. Oh, right. So, you know, that's why we just didn't know what to do. It was just months and months of, what are we going to do? Like, what? What's your life direction, you know, and it, it was so hard for you, because your friends, they had it figured out like, Oh, I'm gonna do this. And they graduate from high school and went to

college and did their thing. And you were you were left at home? Like, I don't know what I'm going to do. And so that was very defeating. And you know that you had a lot of depression and issues with, like, I'm not doing everything my friends are doing. What's wrong with me? Yeah. So like, there was nobody doing what I was doing. A lot of people who were struggling like I was they still somehow managed to get into school, whether or not they completed it, I don't know. But some of them went off

to community college. And did it regardless of if they were successful or not. But I didn't necessarily think that was a good idea for me. Right? You force it. So I started thinking of tasks for you to do to help with the Amazon business that I was deep into at the time, and getting you to help me with my eBay. So I started you off with taking pictures of my stuff because you

liked doing that. And like as a business owner, you you want to find tasks and jobs that fit the person that they like doing so that they will keep doing it and not quit. I learned that a long time ago. So you figure out the parts of the business that that person likes. So you did like taking the pictures? Yeah. And it was easy and it kind of got my feet wet in the business because I you know, I didn't start out just on the computer listing right away. Right?

Whoa. Yes. So I would give you I don't know, 10 or 20 things a day to take pictures of and train you on how to do that. And then for the Amazon business, we were doing the grocery business where we were just replenishing things so I would give you a list of all the things like we needed and you would go to on a route to buy them to replenish to send into FBA. So you know tell everybody what you did there. Well, I actually I really

enjoyed doing that. Even though Amazon it didn't work out really too long but I enjoyed running around and getting things because it It gave me time to get out in the world and be around people and do something different. And it I would go to Target Publix I don't think I did Walmart or if I did it wasn't very often but it was mainly target and Publix I would go and Trader Joe's Trader Joe's right? Yeah, I would go there

too. Um, and just stock up on you know, we did the the bumblebee tuna packs, you know, I would buy like to have the, the full like 12 pack that come in that sleeve? And of course everyone at the checkout, what are you buying these for? Oh, my gosh, what are you doing? So I just had to like, make up stories of Oh, we're sending these to to the military, because a lot of the times we would they the Amazon orders would go to Abo fpo. And that's

how I learned what that was. And then right and just for the listeners to understand. This was in the early days of Amazon when they didn't have all these things in stock. So if you were what's called a third party seller, and you figured out the things they didn't have that you could get locally and send them in through FBA, you could usually make three times the shelf price on

the items. So we had to figure out like things that didn't spoil that shipped well and didn't break that were desired by you know, customers and so it was a lot of figuring out and then oh, this doesn't work anymore. But oh, this thing came along. And one of our best things was Pringles you remember that? I don't know which which much flavors? I think it was like the new weird flavors, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was like pickle and I don't think they had siracha then but they they would have like these different, like these limited time. flavored like the sugar cookie Pringles. I think we did that one year, like towards the end. I know that sounds gross. But I think that was towards the end when sugar cookie became cuz I know we did the pop tarts. Mm hmm. So I think that was another part of it. But I think that was I think that was towards the end of the Amazon thing for us.

And you had to grow up real fast, because we did a lot of embarrassing products. Yes, lots of condoms. Those were fun buying, you know, 10 boxes of those when you're 18. And then we gave away on Halloween one year, because we had so many leftover. I know, we gave him the teenagers that came trick or treating, we gave away her condoms. That was funny. So and then we did the ky gels, the different scented ones, and the hot and the cold and all

those different things. And I mean, you got some weird looks and talk about some of the answers you gave to the cashiers. because there wasn't all this self checkout back then. Yeah. You had to deal with a person looking at what you're buying. And the not just what you're buying, it's how much you're buying. Because, you know, when we would do these embarrassing products, you wouldn't just buy one you'd buy all they had, or at least the majority of all

they had. And you know, I don't remember what I would say but I think they would make some kind of comment like oh, while you're buying a lot of these and I would say yeah, I am like yeah, I'm getting married next week or Yeah, this is for a bridal shower or just you would just make some comment because a lot of people you know a lot of people won't even make a comment though because I think they were embarrassed even say anything I

was buying so much. But yeah, they definitely made a lot of comments on the tuna because I remember going to the Mountain Park, Publix, there was always the same lady checked me out and I was always getting the tuna and I don't know if she put two and two together. It was the same It was me all the time. But she always would make the same comment of like, oh, wow, you're

buying a lot of these. So that's when I was like, yeah, we're sending these to the military because you know, they have like a three year shelf life of the tuna pack. Yeah. And that's what we noticed. We would look at our, our FBA orders, you know, the individual orders and where they were shipped to, because we were trying to figure out patterns of like, who's buying this and why, because that always helps you become a better seller. If you know why somebody is buying

something. And all of these packaged, you know, meats, and like even the different flavors of Oreos and stuff you think that would just break and crush and not be great to send. We're going to apa fpo. And then we'd look up what that was. And it was like, Oh, this is an aircraft carrier, or this is a submarine and it was a lot of military ordering this stuff because they didn't get it. Yeah, they all had phones and they could order stuff and it could be delivered through or it was family sending

it to them from Amazon. Yeah, and we got some comments about that too. But we did cereal we did the like the drink packets, anything that could be mixed with water was a good seller overseas because it was light it was cheap to ship and all they had to do was add water and it has a long shelf life. Yes. And I think we did even some of the little individual macaroni and cheese cups that you can microwave and stuff like that. We were always trying new things to see what

people would buy. And you were good at that because you'd come home you'd be like oh I saw this or you'd send me a picture while you were out and you're like what about these? And I look it up and I'm like yeah, I get

that. Hot Chocolate mixes brownie mixes the crusties yeses all you know all these things and in Atlanta we do get more varieties than some other cities so we would see things that would work knowing it was limited edition oh gosh the the gingerbread crusties cooking mixes and all that holiday stuff the Oh the powdered coffee made creamer for Christmas like the peppermint, the peppermint mocha and had a couple other ones. But yeah, that was a big one. So that was that was one of your

jobs. And then your eBay store started coming along. Because you were working on helping me and doing your own eBay and the Amazon stuff. And we kind of quit the Amazon around 2014 it just got too saturated and things just didn't work anymore. But you would you would go we would go thrifting together. Remember that? Yeah, I don't prefer that anymore. No, you don't me after a couple of like, I just want to go by myself. Because I was like, over

explaining everything. Oh, my God, and you like to stay in the store for like five hours. And that's just too long. I get hungry. I get grumpy. You know, I get Hey. Yeah, I know. But but you would find things like you got me started on anthropology because I didn't know anything about that. Yeah. And I mean, it's that's the trendy stuff is my age group. Right? So I would see it more. Right. And we had a thing where you would buy clothes for the Kardashians, and I would buy

clothes for the duggars. Yeah. Because my my clothing line is so much more conservative. Yeah. But a mine Is it mine isn't like that anymore, I think because, you know, as my age group gets older, almost 30 Mm hmm. Oh, we're not we're not dressing like that anymore. Right? Yeah, it's different, but it evolves, you know, as you move along. So we were doing fine with all of that. And then you started having a health crisis? Yes. So was that 2015?

Yeah, right around there. Yeah. Do you want to talk about what happened and how it affected you? Sure. Um, so in 2015, I was struggling with very debilitating, very sickening migraines. And I'm not talking about just Oh, it's a headache from looking at the computer or I'm just tired. It was not something that you could just take a pill and it would go

away. This was a very debilitating, very depressing illness I guess you could call it um I would have these episodes four to five days a week for the next at least four years they got so bad to the part where I was vomiting with these migraines and I ended up having to get an MRI on my brain to make sure that there was no brain tumor there was no issue from my fall um and there wasn't there was no issues at all I had numerous tests done I don't even know how many Oh, we

went to so many doctors and then they would say you know, they would either say they just didn't know or oh you need to go

to this doctor. And and we would come away from those doctor's appointments like is anyone ever going to figure out what's wrong with me because you would just lose entire days and for people that have never had a migraine, it's it's just the worst everything like you can't do anything because you can't you can't even have your head's gonna explode like you're having a stroke you guys want to die you just like just take me out of this pain just it's okay. It just does not not only

in your head throbbing. You are very sensitive to light you're very sensitive to noise all you really can do is lay in a dark room and not move even moving to go to the bathroom was difficult. And I haven't actually shared a lot of this stuff with anyone just because it was very depressing in the moment and I just was trying to get through to the next day to hopefully feel better you just you don't talk about a lot of these things till it's it's over.

Right and I had them for 20 something years so I knew exactly what you were going through a divorce cured mine but that was not an option for you. Oh it was it? But it really just you and then you start having anxiety over Am I going to get a migraine today? Is it going to come off when I'm away from home you know Am I going to lose another day and that starts building up so not only are you sick but you're worried about being sick one it's it's funny because this all started after I had lost my

job. I started working at charming Charlie's and I started working at an oral surgeons office so back up and explain why you did those jobs because everything was going pretty well with with our eBay business yeah it wasn't it wasn't because you know things weren't going well it wasn't making any money had nothing to do with that it was I needed to be around people I needed to be around people my age and kind of interact with people and really have experience with working outside

of the home and outside of around my mom all the time. Yeah I thought that because I took that real estate job to you know thinking this was in 2015 thinking that you know maybe I need to do that and get out and be around people and you know it's good that we we tested the waters on that but yeah go ahead with you know those jobs and you know I yeah, I chose charming Charlie's really because it was he was just like a it was similar to what I was

doing on eBay. So I had that on my resume of I had experience working with clothes and online sales and working with someone who's done you know, e commerce and all of that so I was able to get that job because I had experience online and they hired me the same day I interviewed interview process was you know, obviously it's a clothing store so you don't have to have much but I did enjoy that job. I think I was only there for about three and a half four months. making minimum wage I was making

$7.50 an hour. I was part time it was a lot of standing It was a lot of walking Too bad I did not have an Apple Watch then because I could really test how many steps I take a day. Um, but I mean I did enjoy it. For the

most part. It was very similar to eBay with you know, making sure the racks were all full and the clothes We're hung up nicely we for those of you who sell clothing online in case you have never worked retail they do not steam any of the clothing that comes from the warehouse when you put it on the floor you put it on the floor wrinkly you do not steam it which I thought was interesting and that is something that not a lot of people know unless you work at a clothing store

well maybe that was just charming Charlie well maybe but I you know the people who had worked there had also worked other places oh okay they were it was just a thing that you just you didn't do but industry standard is Yeah, get out of the box and put it on the road as fast as you can do it then it will sell so that was that was something but there was a lot about that job I didn't like like styling people like this not a fan of doing that other things together that I

would like and they didn't like it, but I'm like okay, well then why did you ask for my opinion? Right so when you're putting it on a mannequin, the mannequin doesn't argue they just not like they just sit there and you take their picture. Yeah, so it was a lot of trying to please the customer.

Um, and a lot of just fixing up the store and making sure it was nice and then we had those markdown days where I had to be there at 6am which that was not fun tagging all the inventory for sales being in the dark basically Yeah, that's that was tough this you know, people don't realize retail there's there's some tough hours, those are some long days. So I was there for about three

months. And then I decided my cousin was working at the oral surgeon's office across the street and mentioned that they were looking for a receptionist and thought, oh, maybe I could do that. You know, that's something I haven't done something I can add to my resume. That's everything I need to do later on. And why not work with your cousin because that sounds fun, right and she's only like two years older so y'all know we're pretty close. So I interviewed for that job.

And I did get it um, also I was earning minimum wage there I was only earning $8 an hour. So they were paying me 50 cents more to work there than a charming Charlie and I was also working both of those jobs at the same time because they overlap just a little bit but I didn't stay at charming Charlie too much longer after I got hired as the receptionist. And that was a very very different work place. The hours were very, very long. Some days I would get there at 6am and I wouldn't leave until

seven at night. Mm hmm. And here's the thing I did not get paid overtime which is illegal to do I did not know that until after so I was supposed to be earning a lot more money than

what I was given. But I eventually worked up my way to doing insurance claims I learned all about dental insurance codes all of the back end stuff that goes on in the office well and you were even learning like x ray stuff like I learned you would be like oh today I learned about you know this thing and what it looks like on an X ray and you've been learning a lot of you know dental information just by being around those people so even though you weren't getting paid

that much you were learning a lot. Yeah, I learned how to take x rays. Um So now when I go to the dentist, I could read my own x rays, which is fun. I know what

to look for. Um, but yeah, I you learn how to you know, clean the dental chairs how to clean the office, like the prep areas and because we did a lot of surgeries too, so sometimes it would be short staffed or it was just too busy and you know, they they couldn't clean up so the office staff would, you know, pitch in and help so we had to learn how to do that properly.

Yeah, I worked my way to doing insurance claims, which is actually very frustrating because a lot of the times you know, they wouldn't cover anything, or they would cover very little amount or you couldn't even get anyone on the phone. So that was just I didn't really like it that much. that route. Got frustrating. Yeah, it was just they were they put you in trouble. That really nobody wanted to do anyway. Yeah, pretty much. So I was

there for. I started in July, and I was fired from this job in October of 2015. So yeah, talk about that day. So um, I actually had the day off, because when this was happening, we had Thursday's off from the office, and we would rotate office staff to be there to make appointments. So I just happened to be a day I didn't work anyways. But I think it was early, you know, 1011 o'clock in the morning, I get a text. Oh, well, you. I don't remember

exactly what it said. But something along the lines of we have to let you go. You know, I was I had been fired. And in that moment, I'm like, Oh, my God, what did I do? You know, because when you get fired, you immediately go to Why did something wrong? And that was a very depressing very hard day, because I had never been fired from anything. I had never, you know, I wasn't really given a reason as to why I was being fired. Yeah, you just got a phone call. And they're like, You're fired.

We don't need you anymore. Don't come back in ever. Yeah, pretty much. And it was very shocking, because I had been doing very well, you know, I was, you know, technically the face of the company, you know what I do right here on anything they gave you that did it and you have room to learn, and you were flexible? And you, you you came in these awful hours? And you know, you just you were an ideal employee. Yeah, so, um, after that, I decided to get back into eBay.

Or at least try I tried looking for other jobs in dental in the dentistry area. Um, but nobody would hire me. And so, you know, I spent a couple of weeks applying for different jobs just to see like, Am I supposed to be looking for a job? Or am I supposed to just be doing eBay. So after not really getting anywhere with applying or accepting jobs, or interviews or anything, I decided to just start doing eBay again. Because that was something that I could control. I couldn't get fired

from doing that. I couldn't, it was all on my schedule. It was all stuff that I could manage to do on my own without having approvals and you know, all of that. So I started to get back into that. And that's when I started getting sick. Well, finished the dentistry story, because what did you find out like two years later, about that two years later? Turns out that office was committing insurance fraud. So I was getting too close to the insurance part of it to really learn their secret,

I guess. Yeah, you you knew too much that I had to get rid of you. Yeah, I knew you didn't do anything wrong. They were crooked. And they had to blame it on someone. Yeah, yeah. So you didn't do anything wrong. And this was like one of those life lessons that was like you know, sometimes things happen and you don't find out why until a lot later. Yeah, and it's funny because this people, all the people who I worked with there, none of them work there anymore. Right.

So it kind of came at a good time because you know, eBay was there and I could do eBay in between being sick, in between doctor's appointments in between tests, and all of that so you know, I didn't have to call out I didn't have to, you know, Miss, use up all my vacation days or use up all my time off or whatever it was, I could do it on my own time. A lot of a lot of the days when I would have the migraines, you know, I would I usually would wake up

with them. They would last all day until about seven or eight o'clock at night. And then I could do a little bit of work. At least have done something for the day. Yeah. And it was just it was just a horrible time because we just kept going to doctors and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with you. But but we just never gave up we kept we kept going. Like if you Okay, well, what about this kind of

doctor? What about this kind of doctor and we just kept going until we found somebody, but so the oral surgeon job went away. And it was just a few weeks later that you came up with a brilliant idea for the VA service. Though, do you want to talk about how that came to be? Yeah, um, so I would, you know, a couple years. Before that, I was always listing for someone, I had a couple people, I would, you know, list their items on

their account for them. And that would go in, and that came about, because when I was training you to list my items. Some of my friends that were my age that did eBay were like, oh, could she do that for me? And I was like, Oh, we can make that happen. And we figured that out a way for you to make money listing their items on their accounts, because your, your clients, I guess, were moms busy moms with lots of kids are that, like, they wanted to sell and they were good at

choosing items. They just didn't have the time to list all right. Okay. And I had the time, and why not make extra money doing what I already know how to do. And you were fast. Yeah, I was very fast at it. Yes. So yeah, I would, you know, I would list for several people. I'm not went on for a while, you know, a couple of years. I would I did

that. Yeah. And then we decided to turn it into a business where we would, you know, list for, not just people we knew, but anyone who would write and qualify for the requirements. You were the only one for a while? Yes, you were doing like, I don't know, eight clients. And yeah, I've probably done 1000s of listings

for people. I don't like because I remember the day you were sitting in the chair with your laptop, and you were listing listings and, and you're like, Mom, I just, I just need to clone myself, there needs to be more of me to do all this work. And I'm like, you're right. We need to hire more people. That is that is brilliant. And like, I had never thought of it that way. Yeah. It's it definitely was bigger than what I could do by

myself. Yeah, it just grew to be, and then you weren't really getting work on your own store, because you were working for all these other people. Right? Um, so we just we figured out a way to make it a business. And it took a good two years to come up with, you know, hiring a hiring system, because not everybody's cut out to be a VA. I mean, there's certain characteristics

they have to have. And you know, it took a while to figure out like, you know, who's the ideal client who's the ideal VA, and you know, all that kind of stuff, because we kept running into problems. But let's see, this is 2021. And we started that in 2016. So in October, so we've been doing it a full five years. And yeah, you're, you're now in charge of it. Yeah, I know, I no longer lists for people I manage. manage people.

Right? Exactly. So it's so but you have to, it's important to start in the listing part. So you know how to manage rather than just going into managing without knowing how to look for other people first, yeah, you have to deal with the job. And that's how we figured everything out was actually doing the job. And, you know, it's not for everybody, you know, clients do need eBay knowledge and experience so they

can tell us what to do. They need to know how to ship everything, their listing, you know, we ran into a lot of roadblocks. Like oh, yeah, they need to have more experienced and, you know, they need to know how to do the business on their own first because we, I forget who it was, but you listed a bunch of stuff for somebody, and like it all sold in a week. And they were panicking because they didn't know how to ship

anything. And we're like, oh, yeah, we should make sure they know how to do that. But yeah, it's funny because I would list things for, you know, all different, all different types of people. And I would list all different types of items. And a lot of these people were so shocked how fast the things I listed itself, right?

And for how much it would sell for they're like, Oh wow, I didn't I wasn't put $20 on that it's sold for 100 or, you know, crazy amounts that I would list it for within what was, you know, the market was asking. It wasn't like I was putting on some, you know, bizarre amount, you know, we did see that a lot of people did not have confidence in their pricing.

Yeah. And that, that still today, you know, especially if you're new that you you just don't believe that, you know, that candle is going to sell for $50. But so they just, they aren't confident in their pricing. So that's where we can help with that. But so, you know, we got that go in, and then, you know, back to your

medical journey. Yes. So yeah, it was actually good to have those clients because when I could work on my store, I at least was getting some sort of an income from listening with other people, because I couldn't go shopping. You know, I really couldn't go to the post office, unless I gave it to you to take for me. But it was just one of those things that just kind of happened. Without. I mean, it wasn't really what we were trying to do. It just kind of happened. It's just like, oh, that's,

that's a brilliant idea. Let's Yeah, see how that works out. And here we are five years later new. Yeah. So um, well, yeah, then like, in my journey of being sick, I had a sleep study done. So I got to learn all about having sleep apnea, and all of the machines, all of the accessories, a supplies, all of that. It, I was on a sleep apnea machine for a little over a year, I was able to come off of it after losing almost 100 pounds.

My sleep apnea by losing weight, which, I mean, it wasn't an easy task. But I made it happen because I was tired of being sick. I dwell in it way we finally found the right people to help you and unravel, you had multiple issues, which we we don't have to go into. But once we got everything, got the right doctors and got your health straightened out, you lost 100 pounds. And I mean, your life is completely different. Yep. It is very different than it was. But it is it is nice to

see. You know, the journey of Oh, the sleep study, you know that not everybody goes through that not everybody has to be on a sleep apnea machine and learn all of the pieces to it. Because once I was finished, I was able to sell what I couldn't use the new unopened little accessories, not the machine itself. But the accessories that came with it, because those are not

prescription. Right? is a prescription for those listening, check the rules on eBay about what you can and cannot sell regarding a C Pap, because there's some fine lines there. So definitely cannot sell the machine itself. So So yeah, you did all that. And then during that time, I think we figured out that, oh, you could you could do my social media, because our audience was growing. And so you know, you're moderating the Facebook group, you're running the business

page. All those kind of things that it just it just came naturally because you were just in that world. Yeah. And you, you kind of were busy doing other things. Not having a whole lot of time to do the business page and the Facebook group as much as you wanted to. Yeah, I think that was when I started the premium library. And I was, you know, making all these courses and just it was a

lot of creative work. And I just was like, I don't have time to do all this Facebook work because I mean, you probably spend an hour a day Facebook group. I'm on there every day, multiple times a day. I don't leave my Facebook page open all day because then I will be there all day long and I will get the work done. The objective with the Facebook group is to provide answers or links to things that contain the answer explained in more detail than you could do on the page.

So people do complain that we closed comments are really that really that Just keeps it moving. Okay This has been answered we don't need 15 more people answering if it's already been answered because it's just really a waste of time and it's repetitive and we do have a lot of great members that jump in

and answer things. So you know the community helps each other you know I do hear that it is one of the better run groups on Facebook because it we have constant monitoring you and with like five other moderators so that's one of your your jobs that you learned so you know, looking back at all the things you've done and you've sold on every time a new site would come up you tried Etsy, you tried poshmark you did Macari Facebook marketplace you know you're always trying new things to see

how they work. Yeah, and really eBay is the most has the most audit yeah the most the most buyers and it is the most I think consistent and it's established it's been here for 25 years if you had to go get a quote real job you have a lot of things you can put on your resume that you have done within the e commerce world that would transfer over to a regular job but a lot of it you know you did you did provide some guidance on you know, Facebook stuff but a lot of it I had to learn on my

own right I figured it out on my own I just kind of played around with different things and especially with business page posts I try to pick ones that are going to gain the most traction and people are going to engage on and that takes a lot of learning and a lot of noticing patterns and what people like what they don't like right so as a social media manager you do have to do some analytics and look at what what are people engaging with what are they liking you know and do

more of that because if you put up you know oh this sale of this old radio blah blah blah but then you know that gets like four likes but then you put up you know the Lisa Frank unicorn plush. That's the soul for $100 and that gets like 50 comments. Oh, then you know, yeah, people are more interested in this topic than that topic. Yeah, the more confusing and you know, hard to find things don't get a lot of traction but like I did a couple months ago I did

the Weegee board. People love to comment about that yeah, that's on your board or you're not so every now and then I'll see a sale and I will post it even though I've posted it before just there are new people who haven't seen it you know you can you can be in the group for years and not notice something but you see when not everybody in the group sees every single thing right posted. Yeah, they don't grow through

all the sales. Like I do, I scroll through them all even if I wasn't doing social media, I would still look through it to because that's how I learned right? Yeah, you you will be putting together posts for the business page and be like, Wow, did you know that this sells it'll be like a trash to cash item or it'll be like repurposing something or a new brand or something and you're telling me stuff like that all

the time? Yeah. Looking at other sellers posts and putting them on the business page. Yeah, it's great to have those threads because you do learn a lot if you take the time to read them. Right. So you know, your eBay store is currently still rolling along. Yep, you're doing well with that, you know, the title of this podcast is eBay as a career path and it was really an unintentional career path. But you know, there's a lot of ways to make money with eBay knowledge outside of just

selling stuff yourself. Because you know, you can list things for other people, you can sell things for other people, you can use that knowledge on social media. You know, we're always looking for, for ways to use our knowledge on in other ways, like coming at eBay from different angles.

Yeah, but it's also good to not have all your eggs in one basket because, you know, if eBay goes away, I can have a career and, you know, social media, doing something along those lines, because I Experience well i think there will always be reselling somehow because it's been around before eBay there was you know consignment stores and garage sales and people that would you know go to one garage sale and buy stuff and then sell it at their own garage sale for a price and just you know it it's

just a matter of how it's being done I do want to go back to when you bought your car with your Amazon money because that was that was an exciting day and I that was in the middle of you being sick and everything so when I was 21 I purchased my 2011 Honda Civic with cash no loans no money from my mom no you know I didn't inherit any kind of money this was all the money I earned on my own and saved I did have a car in high

school. It didn't last very long but yeah, it was kind of just a feeder that was a starter just to get me to school basically but this was the first car I learned how to research how to buy a car I learned a lot on how to read Carfax you know the whole buying process I learned how to do all of that. But yeah, I walked into this dealer and paid cash for this car at 21 Yeah, and so that was money that you earned mostly doing Amazon you know, I would pay you hourly to run around and get all the

stuff. Yeah, and so you just kept saving that money probably for a couple of years. Yeah, I think it was about three to four years I saved and you walked into that dealership and handed them a

check. And I just thought that was the greatest thing in the world because at that age I never would have been able to have done that and there are people out there that will never be able to do that as far as you know not having a car loan and not having to borrow money from family or whatever you just you were 21 you walked in there you handed them that check you bought your car and around that time a lot of your friends from high school were graduating from

college right? So you know during that whole time you always had this thing where you were you know watching on social media where your friends were at their sorority things and they were at the you know football games and they were they were doing the college life that you just didn't get to do then do you remember we had what do we call it? Life Skills school or something? Yeah. It was life life college.

Yeah, it was like um, your friends were away at school learning stuff and I'm like well you know we're gonna learn something about life every day and you know, one day it was unclogging the toilet one day it was you know calling an electrician you know calling three electricians and getting estimates on whatever problem we had at the house and you know or you know how to go and get an oil change or you know all these things that skills you need for life and and you you learned a

lot who wasn't that that went away to college or something and didn't know how to unclog a

toilet I don't know. I remember a story about that and and maybe that was one of Mitchell's friends it could have been yeah but you know everything about budgeting and you know cooking you did a lot of credit a lot of cooking yeah learning recipes and you know that helped me out a lot because I could be working and then you could be making dinner or whatever so you didn't just sit around and sell on eBay and that was it you you were engaged in learning about life and you can have

lots of talks about you know, what's the difference between renting and having a mortgage you know, life topics not necessarily just doing things but how the world works you know how taxes work how you know I don't even know I don't even remember half a cent you were like whatever is in sales tax and income tax we had a long talk about that, you know, or you know what, what is it will for and what do you put in it and just you started coming to me with questions when

you would hear the commercials or just saw something you didn't understand and, and we like Oh, that's a great life skills lesson. So you came out pretty well, not having a quote cost college education, you're independent, you can handle things, like any, anytime that happens to you now, you're like, Okay, this is a problem, what are my options? What do I do? And one of them was when your car broke down and you're somewhere and had to call a tow truck, and you learn how to do that.

Yeah, yeah, I did that. That was helpful. But now it's like, oh, just go on your app. And it just does it for you. Sorry, you know, how a matter of learning not to panic in new situations, but to be like, Okay, what, what's my next step? What do I do here? And so, you know, I really tried to focus on that so that you can survive out there in the world, and you're confident that you can handle anything that happens. Nothing, nothing is a crisis anymore for me. I don't go into

meltdown mode. Yeah, I go into problem solving. googling, like, what can I got your generation to? You guys can go to stuff and get the answer. But that's, that's what does cause anxiety and panic is the unknown. So as soon as you make it, not an unknown anymore, it's like, oh, what happens if I have a flat tire? Oh, you do this you call roadside assistance, and bla bla bla, and, you know, you know the steps to do so that you're not afraid of the situation? Right?

It's fear causes you to make bad decisions. And it just makes you powerless. fearless. Melanie? I will not roar. Okay, well, I hope we have given the listeners your backstory. Right? You will be 28, January of 22. And you will have been out of high school for 10 years. Yes. So it's taken you this long

to really share all this. I told you at the beginning, I said, this is a struggle, and you're going to make it and one day you can share this with people and you know, whether it's a debilitating illness, or just fear of the unknown or a different life path and everyone else is choosing, you know, you're going to be able to share that and help people who are in the same situation. College is not. I don't want to say it's not necessary, but it's it's not

necessary for everyone. Yeah, it's there are plenty of things out there that you don't need a degree for to do right as you can confidently do without feeling like a failure, you can do a lot of things. And your path is your path. It doesn't have to be everyone else's. And guess what happened after Melanie's friends got out of college and couldn't find jobs, they're contacting her to sell their stuff on eBay because they don't want to do it or they

don't want to learn it. And so you had a lot of that going on. So and also, you know, parents out there that may have a child that just doesn't fit into the conventional path of high school, college, conventional job, you know, e-bay something that you can do on the side 100% all the time, you know, when you're between jobs when you're looking when you come home at night from your regular job and you want to make some extra

money. So as a mom of a child who didn't take the conventional path, I feel for you guys out there that that have a child that you just you're like, I just don't know what I'm doing with this kid. They're just gonna end up living under a bridge. I just don't know what I want to do. I felt like that a lot of the time. And then my other child is more conventional. You know, he did the the college path and but he has a work at home job as a tech

support. So he he's on the computer all day helping people with their computer problems. But you know, I hope Melanie's story helps you whether you are a young person struggling or a parent with a young person that just isn't going to take the traditional path because they don't have to know and this business. I mean it helps me through illnesses. It helps me through starting a career. I mean it it is one side I mean it fits everybody's life.

Whether you have a job outside the home or not, whether you're sick or not, you can still do this. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for spending some time with me today, daughter. Oh, sure. Yeah, we usually talk for about an hour every day for constantly texting, you know, I saw this and I'm like, Well, I saw that and then we'll like, I didn't have any sales today, what's going on? And, you know, she's my, she's my business partner,

my eBay partner. So we're in that same world together, but hopefully we're helping other people with our knowledge through all of the things that we have started and put online. So we're gonna wrap this up, you know, if you aren't listing get to it. Now, that's our biggest frustration is like, people with death piles. And it's like, I have a big list this that could sell in five minutes. You know, we neither one of us do death piles because it's just like

money sitting there. So. So I think I taught you some good habits, as far as you know, don't buy more stuff until everything you have is listed. Because it really does things can sell in five minutes. Mm hmm. That happens a few times a month. I didn't that happened to me the other day, I listed a top, I listed it five minutes later, it's old. So yeah, so you never know who's out there waiting for you to list that item that has an alert set up and they're gonna be notified immediately, and they

can buy it. I love those kinds of sales. And that just that just keeps us I guess, addicted to this, but there's never enough hours in the day to do it all. This is just a business that can go to infinity because there's always more stuff to buy to list. And it's always gonna be there. So okay, well thank you for sharing your journey and we will see you on Facebook. Bye, everybody. Thanks so much for listening to our story. And I always welcome

your comments. You can send me an email or reach out on Facebook or even on YouTube. All of those links are below the podcast. As always, I appreciate you listening, and have a profitable and productive and fun day on eBay. Talk to you next week. Bye.