Entrepeneur & Marketing Coach

Dave Espino has been an entrepreneur all his life, beginning his entrepreneurial life in a small business that his parents started when he was 7 years old.

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I'm Dave Espino and I am committed to helping you succeed with your own "How-To" video courses!

I help you leverage who you are so you can live your best life!

Why learn from me? Well, I’ve sold over $140 million of my own "How-To" video courses and related services, so I'm pretty qualified to help you with YOUR "How-To" video courses!

Dave Espino

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Recent Blogs

97% Of Consumers Now Search Online BEFORE Visiting A Local Business

By Dave Espino / November 21, 2010

In my internet marketing consultations with small business owners, I have been using the quote that “86% of people go online to find their business before they walk in the door”.

It’s a great way to capture their attention and let them know that the world has dramatically changed from the “Yellow Pages” days.

However, I just ran across an article that pointed to more current research that says 97% of consumers now use the Internet to research / find a local business prior to visiting it!

Quote:

Nearly all consumers (97 percent) now use online media when researching products or services in their local area, according to BIA/Kelsey’s User View Wave VII, an ongoing consumer tracking study conducted with research partner ConStat. Among consumers surveyed, 90 percent use search engines, 48 percent use Internet Yellow Pages, 24 percent use vertical sites, and 42 percent use comparison shopping sites.

“The Internet has indeed become an integral part of consumers’ local commercial activity,” said Steve Marshall, director of research, BIA/Kelsey. “The data suggest we’re at an inflection point where the balance of power in local shopping is shifting to online.”

According to the study, on average, consumers are using 7.9 different media sources when shopping for products or services in their local area, up from 6.5 sources in 2009 and 5.8 in 2008, revealing a noteworthy increase in audience fragmentation. Additional findings include:

  • 58 percent of respondents report using an online coupon when shopping for products or services in their local area in the past year.
  • 19 percent of respondents report making an appointment online in the past six months for a service other than a restaurant reservation (e.g., business appointment, health-care appointment, auto service or personal service such as a beauty shop).

Get the full article by clicking here.

By the way, my team and I know how to get those customers finding YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS. Visit www.MarketMyLocalBiz.com for details!

eBay Releases Advanced Selling Strategies eBook

By Dave Espino / November 17, 2010

eBay recently released this new Advanced Selling Strategies eBook.

I’ve checked it out and, though I disagree with the term “advanced” to describe the techniques inside, I do recommend it as a way to learn eBay’s “Best Practices” and how to be an eBay seller who is in compliance with eBay’s guidelines.

The best part for me was the “Quick Links To eBay Resources” and “Powerseller Resources” which is a handy guide to resources on eBay.

Check it out by CLICKING HERE.

Auction Hunters Debut – Make Money With Storage Auctions? Oh Yeah!

By Dave Espino / November 11, 2010

The new show Auction Hunters debuted on Spike TV on Tuesday.

The show follows two Auction Hunters, Allen and “Ton” through their adventures in buying storage units at auction. (Most state laws require that the contents of abandoned storage units be auctioned off – usually according to State lien sale laws)

I’ve been teaching about (and buying) storage auctions for about 11 years, so it was a lot of fun to see this modern-day treasure hunting technique explained and showcased.

(Most of the people who buy storage auctions for a living are not happy about this show. The storage auction “buyers community” is a tight-knit group and they do not like competition – or new blood coming in to possibly “steal” their units)

In this debut episode, the auction hunters end up going to a Los Angeles storage unit auction that is indoors.

Allen says that, when items are stored in a “climate-controlled” facility it means that the people cared more for their items than if they were stored in a traditional outdoor facility.

One of the units being auctioned had its items all shrink-wrapped. Allen said that this could mean those items were professionally moved and if the people paid for professional movers, then the stuff could be good.

The other comment was “Shrink wrapped items are WORTH being shrink wrapped”.

So the pair begin to strategize about how much they are willing to pay. The key, they say, is to determine your top price and never veer from that.

When I go to storage auctions, I do the same thing. I size up the value of the items that I CAN see and divide that dollar number in half.

I don’t ever go above that number (since you can really only bid on what you can see, anything else is pure speculation) and the bottom line is, this should never be seen as gambling… it’s a business.

At this Los Angeles location, the Auction Hunters spot 8 heavy duty sewing machines which they estimate to be worth about $300 each. So they bid on that unit and win it at $1,150.

The shrink wrap unit ends up being theirs for $850.

In the end, they end up selling several items for a total of $5,850 (on an investment of $2,025) for a profit of $3,825.

While that’s not a bad profit, (188%) I like to aim for higher percentage profits.

How do I do it? Simple, I don’t buy as many units and I am very careful with the units I do bid on. Sometimes I will go to a whole day of storage auctions without buying a unit because they just don’t have the value that I’m looking for.

When looking at the unit, something has to grab me to make a bid or I just walk away.

I teach you a lot more about my strategies for making money with storage auctions in my new Storage Auctions Video Course located here: http://howtomakemoneywithstorageauctions.com

Auction Hunters – How To Make Money With Storage Unit Auctions

By Dave Espino / November 11, 2010

The second episode of Auction Hunters (on Spike TV, Tuesdays at 10 pm PST) showed Allen and Ton driving to San Bernardino.

Once again, the show takes a fun, yet educational approach to storage unit auctions by defining some of the lingo used in storage unit auctions and again showing the cool goodies that the Auction Hunters are able to buy.

On the way to the unit, they talk about how it’s a good idea to go to storage auctions in older communities because it increases the chances of landing some older things.

Another good point is made when a room is opened up and the items are neatly stacked and cleanly positioned in the unit. Allen says that these units show more promise because the people took great care in placing the items in the unit as opposed to units that have items haphazardly “thrown in”.

In one of the units, the Auction Hunters see military bags – Khaki green bags – and see this as a clue that a military person owned the abandoned unit. The further insinuation from this clue is that military people travel and therefore there could possibly be items from around the world.

This points out one key point about sizing up storage unit auctions – you have to think like a detective and look for clues wherever you can find them – and, you have to do this in a matter of a minute or two because that’s really all the time you have to look at the unit before the bidding starts!

The “military bag unit” is purchased for $375 and the estimated value of the items in it is $825. (the items include some Morgan silver dollars, an antique “Pepperbox” gun and some antique handcuffs)

Then the guys go to the next unit which they call the “Salon unit” because it contains professional hair dryers.

In this unit, they determine that one of the bidders is a “whale” a bidder with a lot of money who will stop at nothing to win the bid. (I’ve seen this guy at some of the storage auctions I’ve attended in the L.A. area and he’s no whale, he’s just a guy who wanted the unit)

Once deciding on their highest bid, they decide to “drop the room on him”, which in storage unit lingo means bid it up high so that the “whale” spends all his money and can’t come back and bid again on another unit that day.

(I don’t really see the logic in this – the so-called whale can obviously back off whenever he feels like it)

So they go to the next unit and find a unit that no one wants to bid on.

It has only a few items in it and the items do not look like they have much value, but on a hunch, Allen decides to bid $1 and gets it.

They end up turning $1 into $365 because there are some old Lionel Trains and a Christmas tree in there that add up to some decent money.

This show is a lot of fun to watch and goes to show that, if you do it right, storage unit auctions can be a good way to make some money!

If you want to learn how to make money with storage unit auctions with my eBay video training, be sure to CLICK HERE.

Send me a message

Questions, concerns or suggestions? Send me an email at dave@daveespino.com

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