Well, 2006 is in the history book and the New Year is here.  Sharon and I are looking forward to a more prosperous year than last year.  We cannot complain, we made it through the year no problem. We worked harder and longer at times, but it was all good. We learned a lot about what we are capable of.  Remember us having to increase our income $800 a month to cover the rent.  We can do what we are called upon to do.  Maybe we need more callings.

Speaking of rent, our business landlord just raised the warehouse rent $116 a month.  In the April of 2007 we will have been here for 7 years.  In that time we have probably paid more in rent than this building cost.  Of course, it is worth more today, so maybe that is not a good comparison.

I received an email asking about our Ebay sales. It sounds like I need to expand my pages on the site to give more specific details of what we do.  Where we get our inventory and anything else I can think of that would help others try Ebay.  I will think about some articles I can write about Ebay.

One thing you should have that will make selling on Ebay cheaper is having your own website to host pictures on. 1and1.com  currently has a special to get a website for $1.50 a month for the first six months then $2.99 a month after that.  The reason you need webspace is to host pictures of the products you sell. A picture is worth a thousand words and that is very true on Ebay. 

If you already have webspace you can use that, but there are very big advantages to having your own website.  Regardless of where you go in the world your own website will follow you.  If you change service provides, any webspace your ISP provided will disappear along with all of its content. 

When I changed from Earthlink DSL to Verizon DSL, I lost all of my Earthlink email addresses and all of the webspace I had there.  Luckily I did not use their webspace, so I lost nothing.  My email was hosted on my own domains, not Earthlink, so I did not lose any email either.  I could move to Japan and my email addresses and websites would follow me.  They are mine wherever I am. 

Do you see the importance of having your own website? In my hypothetical move to Japan, my pictures would still be on my website. I could use them the day I got off of the plane in Tokyo.  I could check my email anytime I could connect my computer to the internet.  My online presence would not change. 

Another important thing is that you will not have to rebuild a personal or business site you created on your ISPs webspace.  I cannot think of many good reasons to use webspace provided by an internet service provider.  It is temporary. Your own website with the name you choose is permanent, as long as you pay the monthly or yearly bill.