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| 2004 Lynda Corneille Character Collectible SWAK Mug |
At a yard sale in College Place, Washington, about a year ago, I found the fascinating headless mug featured above. I am a sucker for things that punch me in the gut and make me do a double take.
I think I paid 50¢ for this mug. But in the process of paying for it, I struck up a conversation with the personable and attractive woman hosting the yard sale. I shared with her that I sold on eBay, and in turn, I learned that she was an Etsy seller. Naturally, we spent the next fifteen minutes heavily animated in shop talk.
In the next few months, my wife and I must have bumped into this woman and her adult son a half dozen times or so in the course of shopping at yard sales, estate sales, church rummage sales, and thrift shops in the Walla Walla Valley. Because my writer's mind is constantly on autopilot, I mused about how cool it was to actually know others who had an established and successful online presence.
We go online and see a very cool store or shopping site. We see independent brand names that we intuitively know are small business presences on those respective sites. But we seldom think about the actual people behind the scenes.
It's definitely an encouraging and reinforcing quantum leap to actually meet and interact with the real people propping up those virtual storefronts. One walks away from that very special entrepreneurial connection feeling very good about what one does.
All across America, people are elevating the status of thrifting to new- found heights. Our thrifting friends, Jan and her son, Eric, are hard working, conscientious, and responsible Etsy sellers. Jan's amazing store, HappyValleyAvenue, is a testament of the wonderful success that people who demonstrate such old-fashioned and yet timeless proactive traits can accomplish.
Traits that--hey, sonofagun!--my wife and I possess as well. It's enough to make even us sexagenarians walk a bit taller and lighter!
Because of Jan's example and influence, I am currently more active on Etsy. Although I only have four items listed as of this writing, my goal is to list at least one vintage item per day over the next year. At just 20¢ per listing over a four-month period, and with post-sales fees that are very easy on the bottom line, the prospect of cross-selling eBay inventory on Etsy seems to be a most practical strategy. Having dual streams of income makes great sense to this island boy.
Ironically, I got so busy with other projects that I never did list the mug. But my wife did. You can find her store at:
As for my rascal online presence, you can find what I'm selling at:
And if you enjoy reading short human interest stories about Trash to Treasure adventures, you can find me at:
Finally, be sure to check out Jan's shop filled with beautiful clothing, accessories, and other attractive vintage items at:
Until next time, ALOHA!
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