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by Steven Doornbos (Author)
Most people are scared silly of yard sales and all that is involved in having one. Years ago you could have counted me in that vast majority but something happened that totally turned that all around.I am a man and the very thought of having a yard sale sent chills up my spine. I knew that as soon as I heard the ten words that I feared the most each Spring I was doomed to hour upon hour of gathering, sorting, pricing, placing out and then bringing in again years of "product" that was cluttering up most every spare inch that was in our house. What were those ten most feared words you ask? Okay, here they are: "Honey, would you please help me with my yard sale?"Now you and I both know that saying no is not an available option. Saying no would have resulted in moping, crying, days of silence and cold sandwiches for many days. So of course I would always say with a smile on my face "Of course dear. I would love to help you." Life would be good as long as I pitched in and did far more than my fair share of the work in the preparation of what she hoped would be a huge success generating income that would last far into the future. Now it isn't that I don't like a little extra cash in my pocket, not at all. The problem is that it seemed like every year when the cash was counted and the "splitting" of the money earned was complete I never seemed to have a equitable amount on my side of the table. In fact if I wanted to go out and buy myself a new fishing reel or anything I would have to put some of my hard earned cash with what I had from the sale just to cover the cost.I knew there had to be a better way of generating more income and less work as it related to having our yearly yard sale and I finally figured it out. The solution really was hiding in plain sight. I just missed it. The secret was in the planning, gathering of "stuff" and then putting it on display as though I was doing it in a real retail store. The mostimportant key however was in the advertising of the sale. Our signs were normally made out of old scraps of cardboard and the text was written in magic marker that were nearly depleted and very difficult to read. Add into that mix the way we were trying to display them on the street corners and it generally spelled disaster. I had to change all that. And, once I did, our sales have been resounding successes for the past couple of years.Let me guide you through what I (ok, we) do each year as we prepare for our annual yard sale. I think you'll find it helpful and you just might fear the utterance of those fateful ten words less and less each year.
