My partner Dany and I have been traveling all over the Puget Sound (and beyond) looking for treasures to sell on eBay. Most of the items we buy are from estate, auctions or family run garage sales. We learned many years ago was that cash is best. To get the best price, or simply to purchase from a stranger, it’s always better to have cash. The problem is that as a business we need to track that cash. The IRS expects to see some form of tracking or receipt for cash to deduct it as an expense.
Because many of the companies we deal with don’t run cash registers we don’t get receipts for those cash transactions. We also don’t get a nice neat piece of paper outlining the items we purchased. Which means we have to rely on memory unless we write the items down. Being an official card carrying member of the AARP I can honestly say that if I don’t write things down immediately all is lost – as the sales start to blend together.
So, to keep track of the inventory, cash spent, and mileage I starting writing everything down. I’ve never found a Samrtphone App that worked as quickly and easily as simply jotting down a few notes on paper. I love my smartphone but trying to type notes into it on the fly isn’t for me.
I started looking for a log book that would fit the bill – but none of them seemed to be right for the kind of business we do. Which lead Dany & I to create a customized log book for our use. Then we got to thinking, if we needed one, there might be others who could benefit from the log book as well.
In the Pickers Log Book we created pages for writing in mileage, cash spent, date & Location. We also created pages for notes, a page to write in your hot list of items. You can use the blank notes pages for things that matter to you. In fact, this morning I attended one of my favorite professional estate companies half off sale and they had two new employees – I was able to jot down their names in the notes field before I left – so I can remember them next time I’m there. (Everyone likes to hear their names – and it always helps to address people by name when negotiating a better price or asking them to help you carry stuff.)
The Picker’s Log Book also contains pages on:
- What to take with you
- Negotiating a Win-Win Sale
- A Room to Room buying guide with brands and items we look for when we’re out
We’re happy to offer our book to anyone who needs a log book for their Picking Business for only $11.99 on Amazon.com- Buy it here: The Pickers’ Log Book
Dany and I are tracking our cash, inventory and mileage using this log. It’s just the right size at 6X9″ to take in the field with us. The binding keeps the pages tight and the slim profile makes it easy to put into the taxes file when the book is full.
Please try out The Pickers’ Log Book