Did you know that my eBay Store, worldwide-traders-online, is featured in a new book soon to be released by The American Management Association, “The eBay Marketing Bible”? It is cowritten by Cindy Shelby, (Certified eBay Consultant and Educator of Clover City Consulting), and Cliff Ennico (Attorney and author of  “The eBay Seller’s Tax and Legal Answer Book? It is being presold on Amazon now and expected to hit the bookstores later this month. I’m thrilled and honored that my Latin American niche with emphasis on Day of the Dead folk art, Frida Kahlo,  Our Lady of Guadalupe, and South of the Border inspired accessories was included.

I”m working my way through OSI Rock Stars 9 week Training on “Profits Outside of eBay” course which has expanded my original business plan to include other online sales channels.  I recently expanded outside of eBay to a new site called Bonanzle, opening a booth a week ago called worldwidetraders.  I’m working on creating a widget to include some of my listings in m blog, but that will have to wait for another posting. I’m impressed with Bonanzle as it is easy to list, has an amazing photo cropper tool, booth owners have a live chat feature so when you are online you can interact with prospective buyers real time, the community is positive, andextremely helpful. You must subscribe to Google Base and add your listings weekly for SEO, since this isn’t a feature that is provided automatically.

I owe much of my success to being part of an amazing membership site, OSI Rock Stars, created by eBay Educator Janelle Elms. If you seek a thorough understanding of all facets of online sales and marketing available 24/7 around your schedule, and a caring, positive community this site will ROCK YOUR WORLD!  I invite you to take a back stage tour and see for yourself! The podcasts and webinars are a success roadmap that thoroughly explains each topic and builds to the next interconnecting subject.

My linking code isn’t working properly, must go pack and ship will edit to include links to forementioned sites later.

Look for photos from several Day of the Dead celebrations in Arizona to come, plus I’m kicking off a series of artist interviews that are Day of the Dead related. Lots of surprises are in store.

If you live in Southern California and enjoy experiencing unusual cultural events then plan on attending the 9th Annual Hollywood Forever Cemetary Dia De Los Muertos Celebration, November 1, 2008. This family event brings the indigeneous annual Mexican tradition of celebrating the life and death of loved ones to Los Angeles’s oldest cemetary where hundreds of early Hollywood “royalty” including Valentino, Cecile B. DeMille, and Douglas Fairbanks are laid to rest. 

This enthralling event includes altars, music, dance, theatre, interactive exhibits, arts and crafts, Mexican cuisine and best of all an invitation to “dress the part” coming in Calaca (skeleton) apparel. This celebration is the largest of its kind in the country and the next best thing if you can’t afford to go to Oaxaca and experience it first hand.

For more details, photos and videos of past events:
Hollywood Forever Dia De Los Muertos

Check your local events calendar in your area to see if a city near you will be hosting a similiar event.

We invite you to visit our eBay Store to see our wide variety of Day of the Dead items:
worldwide-traders-online

Ritxi was interviewed by by the UK magazine, Digital Arts, about his creative process in making Viva Calaca! Read about it in his blog,iikki.com

Enjoy the merriment of this digital art piece that captures the essence of remembering those dear but departed! Beware you will lose your head over this animation!

I was fortunate to have met my muse/mentor/guardian angel from day one without realizing that two years later we were destined to connect again. I love the serendipity of life!  I attended a free eBay seminar that led me to sign up for a one day introductory workshop given by a Certified eBay Solutions Provider.  A dynamic redhead eBay University Educator by the name of Janelle Elms presented an overview of selling on eBay–she made is look easy which soothed my technophobic fears.  Her knowledge of the subject was bullet proof, her delivery was professional, and it was obvious she was doing what she loved.  Watching her operate “in the zone” as athletes describe peak performance was mesmerizing. I was hooked….or as Renee Zelleweger said to Tom Cruise, “You had me at Hello!”

Forging ahead with enthusiasm and naviete I became a Powerseller quickly, but didn’t realize that marketing on the internet is drastically different than traditional marketing. I was a babe in the woods feeling like Red Riding Hood keeping the wolfs at bay.  The internet seems to change daily–where does one begin to comprehend the steep learning curve of search engine optimization, profitable key words, list building, the myriad social networking sites, and blogs? Egad, I was overwhelmed and paralyzed. I had no idea how to proceed other than to open an eBay Store and keep pressing on as usual. This was one of the best moves I could make to enhance my business.
I was thirsty for information on how to grow my business and maximize my eBay Store and I’d heard about Janelle’s, newsletter and her free eBay Stores e-course “I want to be that 1%–5 quick eBay Store Fixes” from her Online Success Institute website, where I purchased her eBay stores Videos.  It became apparent there was much work to be done to shift my store from a moderate performer to a super charged one!

Janelle had been in stealth mode feverishly working on a new membership site called OSI Rock Stars for several years. I was part of a select beta test team to assist in prelaunch bug fixes, and was honored to became a Rock Star Roadie and Promoter. When the student is ready the teacher appears! Janelle was the common thread all along. This 24/7 online eBay Educational Membership portal is unlike any other. To be part of this launch was a phenemonal experience that continues to provide me with up to the minute cutting edge information that I need to be competitive in an ever changing internet landscape.

 
After several years of not finding the right designer I hired another OSI Rock Star, Jennifer Hendrickson, of Sitting Boo Productions to redesign my store header, logo, and 5 custom pages to reflect my Latin American Theme eBay Store, Worldwide-Traders-Online and now my eBay Store is ranked number one on Google with 10 pages drawn from domestic and international eBay sites. I’m fortunate as Jennifer and Janelle, two amazing muses/mentors have graciously given their time, treasure, and talent to assist me in my quest to optiminze my online business

Being an OSI Rock Star give me tools to do all the things I was afraid to do or didn’t understand. Janelle true to form continues to over deliver in content it is like an eBay Masters on steriods.

 
The 150+ hours of podcasts and webinars give you a front row seat with industry greats like Seth Godin, Cliff Endico, Jay Berkowitz, Robin Cowie, and eBay Power Sellers sharing their insider secrets of success. She is adept at navigating all the eBay policy changes offering strategy to optimize sales as well as introducing other selling venues as Amazon, Etsy, and Yahoo. Multi-channel sales/revenue streams are the name of the game and Janelle keeps one step ahead of trends so OSI Rock Star members are informed and proactive. I think she never sleeps as there are multiple new podcasts and webinars weekly that inspire and inform the OSI Rock Star family. The synergy of this group is beyond description as each new member has chosen success and implementing the techniques provided to their advantage.

 
The OSI Rock Star Forum connects members in a positive and supportive environment that mentors one another. If I have problems or questions I post it on the Forum and get numerous suggestions on how to go forward. Gone are the days of frustration when I’d hit the wall without help. Being a solo entrepreneur gets lonely at times and having access to other like minded Rock Stars is the magic elixar to beat the blues!

I owe my success to Janelle Elms and am blessed to be part of her vision, and an OSI Rock Star.

Want more from your online business but don’t know how to achieve it? Become an OSI Rock Star!

 Oh, but the way, did I forget to mention “publishing” anything publicly has been one of my biggest fears?  Janelle got me to the end of the diving board, let’s hope dear readers I don’t do a belly flop!  To accomplish this first post is a huge step for me.

Until then,

Diane