More years ago than I care to think about I was the vice president in charge of commercial loans for a good sized financial institution that was just getting into the business loan field.

One of our requirements from every applicant was that a formal business plan accompany their loan application. We weren’t alone in this requirement. Any reputable lender will as for a business plan before they will consider most business loans and insist on one for any startup loan.

There’s a reason for this. It’s been proved that the success of any kind of business doesn’t just happen by accident. It happens because there’s a plan in place covering why the business exists, how it will be run, where it plans to go, and how it will get there.

I’m not going to tell you that you must have a business plan in place in order for your eBay business to succeed (although taking the time to put together a short one certainly won’t hurt your chances of succeeding). However, I am going to ask that you spend some time seriously thinking about two areas found in any good business plan.

The first I want you to spend some time and determine why you want to build an eBay business. In business plan terms this is your Mission Statement.

You may think I’m crazy when I say this, but successful businesses aren’t in business to make money. They make money because they are successfully accomplishing what’s laid out in their mission statement.

With that in mind, one rule applies here - “To make $xxx a year” is not a mission statement. Neither is “to make lots of money.”

You eBay mission statement should be what you want your eBay to accomplish. Some eBay mission statements might include:

• So I can stay at home with our children while they are young
• So my spouse doesn’t have to work a second job
• So that we can take a one month cruise each year
• Because I want to be able to help others in need
• Because I want to provide the best quality kitchen drawer pulls at the lowest possible price to people remodeling their kitchens
• To provide a college fund for our grandchildren
• So we will have the money to help our children make the down payment on their first home

The above are just a few examples that come to mind. Each of yours will be different. For some of you, your mission statement may be only one thing and will be only one, two, or three sentences long. For others, it will be more complex, involve several different things, and be several paragraphs long.

I challenge you to complete the following homework assignment.

Set aside at least a half hour (more time is allowed) and think about why you really want to build a successful eBay business. What are your deep down motivations? What is it that really drives you? Be completely honest with yourself while you do this.

Keep in mind there are no right or wrong answers. We all have different reasons for doing what we do; different motivations that drive us. Remember, while some of your reasons may have a financial angle to them, we aren’t talking dollars here, but rather, general motivations.

Why take the time to do this? Because it works. It will greatly improve your chances of succeeding - not just on eBay, but in every endeavor in your life.

Have I done this myself? You bet. The mission statement of my eBay business has two main parts.

I presently have four children and six grandchildren (I’m pretty sure that number will grow). The core of most of my family’s recreation has always centered around the outdoors - fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, boating, etc. and in one way or another there has always been a lake cabin in Minnesota involved. Recreational lake side land values in Minnesota are going through the roof.

The first part of my eBay mission statement is to acquire a good sized piece of Minnesota lake shore property with a large year-round home on it that can be left in trust to my entire family so that my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren will always have a place they can enjoy those things.

Cancer research is also important to me. My wife passed away from breast cancer nine years ago. Her mother passed away from breast cancer a couple years later. My wife’s sister has had a double mastectomy because of breast cancer. Putting it simply, because of genetics, there’s a very real possibility that my daughter and my three granddaughters will face breast cancer in their lives.

The second part of my eBay mission statement is to build my business in such a way that I can contribute as much as I can, both time-wise and financially, to cancer research so that my granddaughters, and hopefully my daughter, won’t have to face that disease in their lives.

We are all motivated by different things. I challenge you to spend the time to find what it is that really motivates you.

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