Uncongested California highways

That's right, there really are uncongested highways in California.. I use the word "highway" loosely here..  We head down California highway 1.. See a sign "Winding road next 22 miles".  Now back home winding road means just come curves ,, But not here..

Holy smokes.. Talk about tight curves, hairpin and switchback curves with no shoulder.. The only other RV we saw was in the ditch jammed up against a rock wall.   Sheer cliffs that would take your breath away not only from the beautiful but sheer terror!

This highway took us right through the middle of the giant Redwood forest.

we didn't know that Avenue of the Giants meant monster mountains,  incredibly narrow roads but breath-taking beauty

Pretty isn't it..   As we enter the uncongested California highway 1

Then we see the sign... 15 miles per hour..  This is not good

And the 22 mile of Terror begins!

Day 2 Oregon to California

Made it to California last night and stayed in an RV park facing the ocean. Gorgeous view. Waves crashing over the barrier walls, seagulls,, just flat out pretty.

This morning I thought cool I get to take a hot shower.. Yes!  Dale tells me lots of hot water..  His shower was wonderfully warm..  Yes can't wait. So I jump in.. AHHH,, nice hot water.

about the time I get good and soapy, I feel cool water.  Then all sudden ice cold water .. plunk. plunk plunk. Hey Dale if you pitch cold water on me, I am so going to hurt you.. And then I realize the water is coming from above me..

You got it. the skylight is leaking,  dripping ice cold rain water on top of me. AND to top it off, there really isn't any hot water left because Dale used it all .. So much for my nice hot morning shower

First Night in RV Park

Our first night in an RV park..  We are in Crescent City, CA.  in a totally cool RV park.. Facing the ocean, Wind is whipping 90 to nothing, raining like crazy. But does that matter to us, nope not a bit.. So Dale and I jump out to get the RV all hooked up.. Shore power, city water and cable TV.

There is just one little issue.. It is that flashing Fault light on the onboard power inverter..  Hook up turn on shore power.. AND drum roll tada..  ummmm nothing. No power..

Are we daunted.. not on your life.. we hit the generator switch.  Generator jumps to life humming away.  I hurry to the kitchen to start that hot coffee.. Hey Dale,, there isn't any electrical outlet power.  NO where in the RV.. And that annoying power inverter light is still blinking Fault 1

We even resort to calling a guy back home we go to church with who is an amazing RV electrical whiz especially since that is what he does for a living. wires up RV. the really huge rigs like this.. So he gives Dale all kinds of things to check.

About 10 trips in and back out Dale is soaking wet, generator is running but we do not have any power and the RV is now running so we have heat and don't run the batteries down.. 

Tomorrow we go to the RV shop down the road and see about the power inverter..  Me being me I googled it :)   And we have a good idea of what the deal is but will need some parts.

On the bright side, take a look at the inside of our home away from home.  And me in my jammies working diligently in Bonanza support.

I still can't believe Dale took a picture of me in my jammies!

Off to Oregon

Yes we are off to Oregon to drive back an Coach motorhome. It is a huge RV on steroids! Seriously

 I know you are so feeling sorry for me right about now ;)  What an adventure.  We are taking the Pacific Coast Highway all the way from Eugene Oregon 
to Los Angeles, CA

The scenery today is unreal.

We have just gone through Coos Bay, Oregon

And there are these gorgeous fields of cranberries
The mountains are fog covered, it is raining yet warm.  There is no way to describe the beauty.  The state road went through the mountain via a totally cool tunnel.

Free Shipping Day December 16, 2011

Today is the big event Free Shipping Day December 16, 2011 at


freeshippingday.com  

Currently there are over 2500 participating merchants,  including yours truly :)
bluepennylady

Bluepennylady ships most product free in the Continental US
check out my Bonanza booth  or my eBay store 

Bonanza sellers have their very own Category at freeshippingday.com !  So check out all the goodies today and get free shipping on that cool goody you been waiting on!

See you there!

eBay Free 5000 listings 3 days Dec 6-8, 2011

That's right. eBay is offering free auction style listings for three (3) days. December 6 to December 8th.

1, 3, and 5 day duration

See the full announcement

Entrepreneurs gather in Hays to discuss cyber business

What a great opportunity and so much fun!  I got to meet Bonanza sellers.. Talk to new incoming sellers and just generally had a great time sharing tips, tricks, ideas and just talking.

Held September 30th and October 1, 2011 at the University in Hays, KS, several marketplaces and vendors came to share with attendees about eCommerce.

It was an awesome event. And I was so glad I had the opportunity to attend and speak to the attendees.

Read about it here at the Hays Daily News

Kansas Jubilee Friday and Saturday

Kansas Jubilee

Starts today!  September 30, 2011 Friday

Full schedule of events, speakers and networking

 checkout the speaker and schedule 

Kansas Jubilee Speakers 

 

It's a Renaissance Bonanza

It's a Renaissance Bonanza

It is time again

With the arrival of Fall we also mark the arrival of the 3rd Annual Renaissance Faire on Bonanza!  Like Christmas in July, the Renaissance Faire is a product of the Bonanza community, where sellers come together to offer deep discounts on their items for the entire month of October.  This is a great oppotunity to network and also to create another channel to market your items.  

Read about it here

Bonanza has a new Home page look

Live tonight Bonanza launched their new home page look.  Pretty Cool design. Things are cleaned up quite a bit.. Navigation allows user to more quickly find what they want such as "My Bonanza > View my Bonanza"  for the new user who in the past could not find their My Bonanza home page, can now quickly locate that  important page.

Can't miss "Notifications" anymore either because the notifications is now in bright blue next to the users log in name.  Makes is way easier to see when a message arrives while a member navigates the site.

Take a look at the homepage  


Read all about the changes on the Bonanza Blog

Bonanza Boardroom Podcast August 4th 2011

Tonight on the Bonanza Boardroom ~ What's new at Bonanza, Google+1, Tips from the White Board, Responsible Seller for Success and more!

 http://www.talkshoe.com/talksh​oe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=6​6030&cmd=tc

TalkShoe - Call - Bonanza Boardroom

http://www.talkshoe.com/
 
Join us

Alex Berg Venturing on His Own

Today Bill Harding CEO of Bonanza.com  announced that Alex Berg will be venturing out on his own to start up his own company..Alex's life long dream.

We hate to see you go Alex!  But good luck with your new business venture..

See the entire post here.

Marketplace Focus: Bonanza- Auctiva Learning Center

Auctiva posted a great article about Bonanza.com

This is the second article in a series that explores off-eBay marketplaces. In this article, we introduce Bonanza, a marketplace that aims to make buying and selling everything that isn't "ordinary" easy.


Bonanza is a place for buyers and sellers looking for anything but the ordinary. And when shoppers see the funky vintage items on the marketplace's homepage, they'll know they're in the right spot to find a variety of rare and unique products.

See the entire article here


Marketplace Focus: Bonanza- Auctiva Learning Center

Volunteers make harvest possible — Convoy of Hope

Volunteers make harvest possible — Convoy of Hope

This is my Dad! Daddy worked for days in the fields picking up debris . Dad and mom were picking up stuff and Dad found one single page of of a Bible. And the one page was the verse

Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest

: Dad said he stood in the middle of the field and said "Alright Lord I am tired and I take this at your Word"..

And that van pulled up with all the convoyofhope workers and helped him clean the fields... What a testimony!

Dad kept the page from the Bible. It is right next to his chair where he studies his Bible..

Bonanza Releases Bonanza Rewards

Alex Berg the Chief Production Officer of Bonanza.com announced last night the release of Bonanza Rewards.  Rewards are earned by tagging items and creating Hand Picked Lists. The Rewards are to offset final value fees.

Here's the full scoop

PayPal sues Google for stealing employees and trade secrets - May. 27, 2011

PayPal sues Google for stealing employees and trade secrets - May. 27, 2011


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- PayPal is suing Google for allegedly stealing its employees and trade secrets that may have led to the launch of Google's mobile payment service.




The 28-page lawsuit, filed in a superior court in San Jose, Calif., late Thursday, accuses Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and two former PayPal employees who now work at Google of implementing PayPal's confidential trade secrets related to mobile payment technology.

John Lawson Nominated for Small Business Influencer Award

John Lawson

Nominated for a Small Business Influencer Award in: Leaders

Read More…

---

John "ColderICE" Lawson is an E-commerce expert specializing in small business social marketing. John is the CEO/President of 3rd Power Outlet, Inc. and founder of the industry blog www.ColderICE.com.

Everybody wants to make a lot of money online, but most people don't know how. John Lawson is one of eBay's most productive sellers and the success of his efforts earned him the recognition as a small business representative on a nationally broadcast American Express commercial. He was dubbed "The Undisputed Guru of eBay" by the host of Fox 5's Good Day Atlanta. John has seen his enterprise grow from a home-based business, conceived at the kitchen table, to generating million of dollars in online sales.

John is an expert in E-commerce as well as social media marketing using tools like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, eBay and Amazon to take sales to the next level. Twitter ID: @colderice

Read the entire article and Vote here

BonanzaUP 2011 Play to Win Las Vegas June 2-4, 2011

June 2nd - June 4th at Harrahs in Las Vegas! Great speakers, fantastic information, celebrity lunches and More!

Register Now! Seating is Limited and They are going Fast

Register at the Bonanza Boardroom!  

7pm - till ???  Meet and Greet at the Oyster Bar @ Penazzi
 **The meet and greet will be a causual mingle as you wish affair. There will be no designated area, feel free to enjoy networking and meeting your fellow eCommerce and Bonanza colleagues. You can see their menu Here.

  Get together, have some drinks and great food. A chance to meet everyone before all the busy stuff starts. Let's try not to get as wild as those in the video, eh?

 Friday June 3

8-8:45-- Registration, Free continental breakfast, sign up sheets Celebrity Lunch w/ Speaker

8:45  -9:10   Introductions, announcement- Tweet for  a treat! hashtag #BUP2011


  

9:10 - 10 --   Judy Oglesby
Support Our Sponsors!
  

10:15 - 11-- Keynote  Phaedra Stockstill
Topic: The Real Strategy of Social Media - Begin to understand the strategy behind succesful social media for your business. How to develop a plan, understand the space, and implement.



Your Source for eCommerce information

11:15 - 12 - John Lawson - Win, Lose or Win BIG!
John Lawson is sponsored by Stamps.com  

  

12:15 - 1:30 Celebrity Lunch! Sign up for lunch with your favorite speaker and snag some one on one time.

1:30 - 2 giveaway games, announcements, thank yous etc. Tweet for a treat!

2 - 3 speaker - USPS Jennifer Keller, Business Solutions Specialist and Charleen Reeves, Shipping Solutions Specialist





 

3:15 - 4  Bill Harding CEO of Bonanza.com Topic: The State of Bonanza

4-4:20 - announcements, thank yous, give aways, schedule for next day

Saturday June 4

8:30 to 9  continental breakfast. Sign up for Celebrity lunch (Cost of breakfast and lunch is included in registration fee for both days!)

9 to 9:10-- welcome

9:10- 10:15 Google Analyticals computer lab (attendees need their laptop computers to participate)

10:30 - 11:30  Keynote  Phaedra Stockstill Customer Service: Marketing Opportunity. Explore true Customer Service and how it relates to being your biggest marketing opportunity.


1130 - 12-- Big Giveaway, Q&A's

12 to 1:30 lunch break with speaker and small groups Celebrity Lunch

1:30 - 2:15 giveaways, thanks yous, etc, meet each other

2:15 - 3   Sara Batterby of Good Citizen Brands
Topic: The Evolution of Branding and What it Means for Your Business: The evolution of branding is driven by transformative changes in technology, the economy and consumer values and preferences. Understand the exciting dynamics driving the big picture and learn how to make them relevant in the context of your own business.

3:15 - 4 Alex Berg

4- 4:30  Q&A's / Wrapup
Celebrity Lunch - Sign up to have lunch with one of the speakers at the event. Get them face to face and valuable one on one time!
Giveaways - Oh yeah! We are bringing it! Great suprises and giveaway all throughout the event.
Entire event will be MC'ed by our very own Mr. Mark Dorsey!

Evening of June 4th - The After Hours Party!
7pm - Till?? The Chocolate Lounge

 Registration fee is $80.00 non refundable and includes a continental breakfast and a lunch buffet for both days of the event!
Register Now! Seating is Limited!

Book Your Hotel Room Now!
Group is a telephone direct group and attendees will be responsible for making their own reservations by calling our reservation line at 1-800-835-5686  by your cut off date of May 12th. 

Your group will be listed as Bonanza Up!, and can be referenced by your guests using group code SHBNZ1. 
BooK Your Room at Harrahs and get our special rate!

A huge and sincere thank you to Mrs. Judy Oglesby who single handedly made this years event a reality. Stop by her Bonanza Booth and say thank you!

Bonanza Adding Tax configuration Functionality

Oh yes.. Bonanza is adding the ability for sellers to configure sales tax on their transactions. No more trying to set it up at Paypal or Google checkout.

Alex posted today about the soon coming feature..

Read it here.

Bonanza Boardroom Podcast Tonight April 7, 2011

HI all

Yes it is that time already

Another Bonanza Boardroom podcast,, Tonight 7 pm CDT

Tonight we have Cindy Shebley as a special guest! Cindy is an absolute genius when it comes to photography.. Tonight Cindy is going to be sharing how to use Picasa to save us time and money for our eCommerce listing pictures.

Author of EZ Auction photos

Join us..!

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=66030&cmd=tc

Bonanza is Updating Categories and Item Traits

Bill Harding CEO of Bonanza

To keep in step with upcoming Google product changes Bonanza is re-vamping Category and Item Traits.

The housecleaning will start in the next two weeks. Sellers really do not need to do anything. Other than might want to check the Item Traits available on your category. Some of the Item Traits will change or Traits will be added.

Read all about the changes on the Bonanza Blog

eBay Raises Seller Fees Again

Auctionbytes.com released an article concerning eBay's fee hike..

[quote]
Emotions ran high at eBay's Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday evening as sellers told eBay they could not afford the higher fees the company had announced on Tuesday as part of its Spring Seller Update. eBay will begin charging sellers commission fees (FVFs) on the total transaction - including the shipping and handling portion - to "incent" sellers to offer free shipping. One participant asked if it was even legal for eBay to charge a commission fee on shipping and handling.
[/quote]

See the full article here

Social Media and the Sales Strategy Phaedra Stockstill, Bonanza.com 2/11 New Life Event

Phaedra Stockstill Talks about Social media at the New Live Event 2/11

Bonanza Releases Two Totally Cool Features

Alex Berg posted on the Bonanza blog about two really cool features just released.

I am super excited about the Google Feed Status reporting feature!

The second feature is the ability to add a video to the Booth home page. The video is embedded from YouTube .. Easy as pie to do. Now the Bonanza booth owner can add a video to talk about what they do, new product, something of interest,, just about anything.

Check out my bluepennylady video.. Handy work of me and grandkids! The grandkids had a blast helping create it.

Read all about it on the Bonanza blog!

How to be a Profits Super Star with Nicole Fende

This Thursday Night Live on the Bonanza Boardroom Podcast we have a fantastic guest for you! Nicole Fende will discussing tips and tricks that will help you with your Business Finances. As a Business owner, you know that taking care of your Financial Statements is very difficult to do. Let Nicole show you some easier ways to help you with this difficult task. Please join us Thursday Night, and take advantage of this opportunity to learn from an expert. Have your questions ready!

“Nicole Fende is President of the Small Business Finance Forum, and the driving force behind Rock Your Profits 2011. Ms. Fende is a credentialed actuary with experience as a former Chief Financial Officer, Investment Banker, and successful entrepreneur. She is the host of SmallBizFinance on BlogTalkRadio, with a listenership of 6,000 and growing. Her forthcoming book, How to be a Finance Rock Star, is an easy, practical guide to mastering small business finance.”

Nicole will be talking about how to be a profits super star.

"Frustrated by profits that don’t quite measure up? Think your business should be multi-platinum while it sits in the dollar bin? Help is here. Tune in and learn the top 3 profit pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Connect with Nicole
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Business-Finance-Forum/125157404179894
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nfende

Nicole’s Websites
http://www.smallbusinessfinanceforum.com/blog/ http://www.financerockstar.com

This is going to be a fantastic show, Hope to see you all there! Talkshoe Thursday Night at 8pm EST 7pm CST Live and you can ask all of your questions in the chat room. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=66030&cmd=tc



Bonanza News - Bonanza Boardroom

Bonanza Boardroom Podcast March 3, 2011 Thursday evening

This Thursday Night Live on the Bonanza Boardroom Podcast we have a fantastic guest for you!

“Nicole Fende is President of the Small Business Finance Forum, and the driving force behind Rock Your Profits 2011. Ms. Fende is a credentialed actuary with experience as a former Chief Financial Officer, Investment Banker, and successful entrepreneur. She is the host of SmallBizFinance on BlogTalkRadio, with a listenership of 6,000 and growing. Her forthcoming book, How to be a Finance Rock Star, is an easy, practical guide to mastering small business finance.”

Nicole will be talking about how to be a profits super star
"Frustrated by profits that don’t quite measure up? Think your business should be multi-platinum while it sits in the dollar bin? Help is here. Tune in and learn the top 3 profit pitfalls and how to avoid them. "

Connect with Nicole
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Business-Finance-Forum/125157404179894
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nfende

Nicole’s Websites
http://www.smallbusinessfinanceforum.com/blog/

http://www.financerockstar.com

this is going to be a fantastic show, Hope to see you all there!
Talkshoe Thursday Night at 8pm EST 7pm CST Live and you can ask all of your questions in the chat room

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=66030&cmd=tc
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=66030&cmd=tc

Phaedra Stockstill Joins Web Sellers Circle as new social media director | eCom Connections

Phaedra Stockstill Joins Web Sellers Circle as new social media director | eCom Connections


Phaedra Stockstill, CEO of SLA-eCommerce joins Cindy Shebley and Dany Byrne as their new Director of Social Media for Web Sellers Circle.

South Louisiana eCommerce Consulting

South Louisiana eCommerce Consulting


Recently during an interview on "The Savvy Seller" Podcast, I shared information on StumbleUpon as it pertained to my last two years experience in using it as a traffic generator for content. I also shared that information on an episode of the Bonanza Boardroom.
StumbleUpon easily beat out others, such as Facebook and Twitter, in my use of it for my own content and in my capacity of Social Media Manager for others.


South Louisiana eCommerce Consulting

Bonanza a finalist for Washington Technology Association's Consumer Product of the Year

bonanza blog

Hi everyone. I have some great news to share.

Bonanza has been named a finalist in the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) Awards for Consumer Product or Service of the year. This is a pretty big deal in the Pacific Northwest and something we’re really excited about!

This year marks the 16th annual Industry Achievement Awards, a ‘signature event celebrating Washington’s technology industry.’ Other finalists include Logos Bible Software and Swype. The awards will be announced on February 24, 2011.

Our press release should be out there 'in the wild' soon. We have been under embargo from the WTIA until just recently.

Congratulations to everyone in the Bonanza community. This acknowledgment is for all of you as well for making Bonanza what it is today!

Bonanza Boardroom (2)

Bonanza Boardroom (2)


Bonanza Boardroom We are giving away 2 consultations tonight on Bonanza Boardroom! One with Phaedra, and one with Judy! All you have to do is comment under this post, "How would you use this consult to move your business forward?"
Listen in to the Live Internet Radio Show tonight to see if you won!

LITTLE BONZ LUNCHEON 2011

YouTube - Florida, Fun, Food, Fried Fish

YouTube - Florida, Fun, Food, Fried Fish

Mini-BonanzaUp Jan 2011 in Florida

How totally Cool!

Bonanza Antiques Rush (2)

Bonanza Antiques Rush (2)

Attention Sellers: new USPS® and UPS® rates coming in January | eBay Announcement Page

Attention Sellers: new USPS® and UPS® rates coming in January | eBay Announcement Page

If you are classified as a USPS commercial shipper there are now Regional priority boxes available. Check with your Post Office to see if you qualify..

Severe weather affecting Eastern and Northeastern U.S., parts of Europe, and Australia – shipping, communication potentially delayed | eBay Announcement Page

Severe weather affecting Eastern and Northeastern U.S., parts of Europe, and Australia – shipping, communication potentially delayed | eBay Announcement Page