Introduction
I came across the InsideTheBox channel on YouTube. I find to see more ways to earn money without taking surveys on Swagbucks. I came across this great video from InsideTheBox.
I like the video. The content on the channel this channel caught my attention. I reached out to the team about the video. They were very kind and answered my questions. I asked if InsideTheBox was willing to do an interview for GigsOnline. They said yes.
Questions and Answers
GigsOnline: Can you tell me how InsideTheBox was started?
InsideTheBox: It all started when my dream of being a stay at home mom came true! I was no longer working a normal job and I found myself with a little extra time on my hands at home. With this time I ventured out into discovering new hobbies and very quickly learned something about myself, which is that I like making money. I wanted to help contribute to my family’s financial goals but I knew with my introverted personality I did not want the stress of working for a boss and meeting deadlines to be added on top of my main responsibility of being a mom. I also knew that the job would need to be very flexible with my schedule and I did not want to use the phone. I began to wonder what skills or things I had at home that could help bring in some extra money. Through some internet searches I discovered a YouTube channel called “Hustle At Home Mom” and I learned about reselling on eBay and later learned about YouTube.
A few years prior to all this I had taken a college class called “Methods and Mindsets”. In that class we explored the concept of thinking Inside vs. Outside the box. In short the concept is something like this, you look at what you already have and determine how it can work more efficiently for you. I always had that class in the back of my mind as I started this entrepreneurship adventure. I wanted to help others discover ways they could make money with what they already had, and that is why I named my YouTube Channel “InsideTheBox”.
The InsideTheBox channel is very informative. I pulled this video from the channel incase someone isn’t familiar with eBay and how it works.
GigsOnline: I ran an eBay business for years. I see you have quite a few eBay videos on the channel. Can you tell us more about your eBay experience?
InsideTheBox: That is awesome! eBay is a great place for entrepreneurs! I started eBay in 2019 after watching some YouTube videos of other resellers. I began by selling unwanted items from around my house and then moved on to look for items in thrift stores to flip for a greater profit. I also let my family and friends know what I was doing and they readily gave me their unwanted items to add to my inventory. It took me some time to get the results I wanted out of eBay, it has always been at a hobby level for me. One main reason for that is my family has moved several times since 2019 and I never wanted to move with my inventory, I have had to start fresh with each move but I have learned so much each time. I found that when I built my inventory up to 250-300 items is when I started making daily sales and sometimes up to five sales a day. I have sold a little bit of everything, but most of my experience is with books and clothes. I have loved every minute of selling on eBay and it really was a good place to start learning how to make money online.
GigsOnline: What’s been the most surprising thing you learned on eBay?
InsideTheBox: It always blows my mind what people value. My first sale on eBay that was over $100 was of this tattered math book that literally had pages falling out of it. Used plastic grocery bags are another item I frequently talk about on my YouTube channel. That was one of the first things I experimented with selling on eBay because it was such a low risk item for me and it was something I already had inside my box. Truly one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure.
InsideTheBox is on to something here. People value things differently. You can ran a business based on this fact. Take these words to heart.
GigsOnline: Do you think Youtube is the best way to learn how to be successful on eBay? Are there any other ways to learn about eBay that you can think of?
InsideTheBox: In my opinion there are two ways to learn to be successful on eBay. One is YouTube, the other is through trial and error. YouTube was my main source of information when learning to sell on eBay. Whatever I did not learn from YouTube I learned through ground work, just trying it and making mistakes. eBay also has a community page where frequent questions are answered by other sellers and that was helpful too. I know there are blogs and facebook groups out there talking about how to sell on eBay as well, but as a visual learner, my main knowledge came from YouTube. Nowadays, if there is a question I have and I can’t find a video about it on YouTube, I take that opportunity to discover the answer through trial and error and make a video about it for others.
GigsOnline: You decided to start a YouTube channel. You shared a bit on this on your channel’s about page. Can you tell us more about your decision to start a YouTube channel?
InsideTheBox: I am very happy I started a YouTube channel. I had been selling on eBay for a bit and following a few different eBay YouTubers channels along the way. Some of them shared that they were getting paid to make YouTube videos. This was the first I had ever heard about Google AdSense or YouTube Monetization. Shy as I was, I decided to give YouTube a try. I had been making some money from eBay, but at the time my home was very small and we were a one car family which made sourcing trips difficult and storing inventory difficult. YouTube was very appealing to me because there was no physical inventory involved and I could truly do this 100% from home. The first thing I did was make a list 101 video ideas to be sure I would never run out of content to create. Not all of these ideas were about entrepreneurship but I noted that the majority of them were. I shared the list with my husband and he encouraged me to document my eBay journey. Using an old iPad mini, I filmed and uploaded my first video sharing “5 Household Items eBay Beginners Can Sell”.
When I saw InsideTheBox’s YouTube channel, Garyvee’s video came to mind. People don’t care about what you’re selling, they care about why you’re selling. Make it easier by telling them a story. This is super easy if you document the process.
GigsOnline: You have over 2,600 followers on your channel. What strategy did you use to grow your Youtube audience?
InsideTheBox: The first step in my strategy was to start. I just had to make my first video and put it up to learn the platform. Then to plan my videos I looked at some of my favorite YouTube channels and sorted their videos from oldest to newest. I noted what videos on their channels had the most views or what video on their channel was the first to take off. I noted that one of my favorite eBay YouTubers did not start out talking about eBay. He had some goofy random videos that started his channel but they had very few views compared to later videos, then the first video he had posted about an eBay topic had thousands of views and I noticed that from then on he only talked about eBay. From this I took that there was an audience out there who wanted to know more about eBay. I thought of my own eBay journey and learning a lot from YouTube and I asked myself what video was missing? What did I have to learn the hard way? From there I decided to do some How To eBay videos that I wish I would have had as a beginning eBay reseller. As a user of eBay I knew my audience and knew what could help them. I kept this mindset for other platforms that I used as well, like Swagbucks. I knew what videos would help me as a user of that website and I decided to make them. As I made video after video I started to get more feedback from my audience and with YouTube’s analytics I was able to see what videos performed well and also what questions I could answer with videos for my audience.
We are in a see of data. You should make sure to look at the right metrics. At GigsOnline, we recommend measuring what matters.
Using this feedback to plan my next videos was very helpful in my growth. In the beginning I tried to respond to many peoples comments and also find other YouTubers who just started their channels and subscribe to them and comment on their videos. I would watch other YouTubers’ videos in the same niche as me and read their comments to see what questions were not being answered. A trending conversation going on at the time was eBay’s new managed payments systems. Everyone was chatting about it in comments and on forms online, but not many people were making videos on the topic. I saw this opportunity and I started finding the answers to those questions and filming them. These videos performed really well and more people noticed my channel. Once I found out what my audience wanted, the biggest contributor to my growth with YouTube’s algorithm was consistency. I saw the most growth when I did my best to post two videos a week. In my experience YouTube’s algorithm can be very quick to punish you and slow to reward. I kept with it though and told myself I would give it a good run for three years to see if I could get monetized but in just a year and half I reached that goal and started making money with YouTube!
GigsOnline: So you tried YouTube and eBay. Have you tried any other platforms as an entrepreneur?
InsideTheBox: Yes! I have tried a few and have so many more I want to try! I have sold things on Facebook Marketplace and Amazon. I am currently working on Amazon FBM and FBA. As part of YouTube I have affiliates and some of my main ones are eBay Partner Network and Amazon Associates. I am currently liquidating some eBay inventory onto ThredUP as well as local buy trade sell stores. I am also learning more about print on demand with Etsy and Printify.
GigsOnline: Are there projects you’re working on that you would like us to know about?
InsideTheBox: I started a print on demand Etsy store just a few weeks ago. I thought I would give it a try and see how well it works. I plan on documenting some of this for my YouTube channel. At the moment I am mainly focused on selling personalized mugs. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MoneyInsideTheBox?ref=l2-about-shopname
GigsOnline: As an entrepreneur are there any books you recommend for an inspiring entrepreneur to read?
InsideTheBox: One book I have been reading is “Money Making Mom” by Crystal Paine. I think this a great book to read if you are starting out and looking for ideas on how you can make money from home.
GigsOnline: Thank you so much InsideTheBox for sharing your story. Your experience and success
On eBay and Youtube is impressive. We enjoyed this interview and we’re looking forward to more deep dive into some of the topics you covered during your interview. Thank you so much!
Closing Thoughts
We really enjoy interviews at Gigsonline. We also learn something new every time. Who knew you could sell used grocery bags on eBay? That’s the great thing about starting something new. You never know what you’ll learn.
InsideTheBox provides us with great entrepreneurial insights into how to grow on eBay and Youtube. Even though the platform has been around for years, you can start and be successful on them.
Etsy is a platform that’s newer than eBay and Youtube. InsideTheBox decided to make a go of this one. Do me a favor and check out their store. It’s another great example of the power of GigsOnline (no pun intended).