eBay U...it's just what is sounds like. A place to learn about eBay.
I've been teaching people how to use eBay for probably the past 6 years or so. For the past several years I got a lot of teaching referrals from my Trading Assistant listing on eBay.
We'd teach individuals, families or businesses how to buy & sell on eBay for $20 an hour. It was always informal and based largely on the individuals experience level and the topics they desired to know about.
For the past few years I've been seeing those "Learn How To eBay" class advertisements in the Learning Annex magazine and even local Community College handouts. I always marveled at the fact that whenever I looked at the Bio of the instructors, they always seemed to be business people, but with very little eBay experience. With only a bit of investigating, I found many have fewer than 100 feedback points, yet they're teaching others as an "expert" in their field.
Well at the recent eBay Live event in Las Vegas, they had a seminar on the eBay Education Specialist program. For a nominal fee, eBay would instruct me on the art of teaching about eBay. They include videos, a Powerpoint presentation, handouts and student books.
After I got home from Vegas, I jumped in with both feet. I knew a lot about eBay, but I always like to learn new things, and I did learn quite a bit during the online class I took to become a certified eBay Education Specialist.
Now my name is listed on the instructor database, so I can be found by potential students looking for a "Basics of eBay" curriculum. I set up a simple website so my students can learn a bit about me and register for my classes. I'm ready to roll.
My classes will likely be held in small conference rooms at local hotels or schools. I'd love to work my way into the local Colleges. It has the possibility of providing a decent part-time income as well. I'm able to charge whatever I want, but I think a fee of $50 for the 4-hour class with a $10 materials fee (certificate and student manual) is a reasonable amount. With say 20 students on a Saturday afternoon, that's $1000...not bad for 4 hours work.
Once I've had some student feedback (much like eBay's regular feedback system), I will qualify to be certified for a "Beyond the Basics" class. Again, with more feedback I can teach a Business Specialist class as well.
I think it's a great opportunity to share what I know about eBay, which I already enjoy obviously. I searched my area in San Diego & Los Angeles. There are maybe 50 people in all of San Diego and Los Angeles certified to be instructors and guess how many have a class scheduled in the next 3 months? No one within 50 miles, and about 5 people in the entire Los Angeles area. Sounds like potential to me!
Anyway, I'm fired up about it. Check it out, it might be for you too.
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