Kylae
04-05-2013, 09:10 PM
Kylae's Apprentice!
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Though I have only been in the Neopets sales business for about three years, I have grown a considerably large business. As time goes on, and as my business continues to flourish, it becomes overwhelming at times, and I can no longer handle it alone. By alone, I mean a savvy, business minded sales professional akin to myself. I do have a handful of employees that help me manage my stock and the day to day, but none of them are sales professionals, and I need someone to help grow into my business and one day, replace me when I retire.
My little empire is one of the top grossing businesses out there, my 2012 was competitive with the yearly income of the top selling website owners. I feel that I didn't even make as much as I could, being overwhelmed with stock and only focusing on a couple key elements of this large area of expertise.
So, in that respect, I will be taking on an apprentice. You will be working and making money side by side with me for a while to learn all the ins and outs, to befriend my employees, my suppliers, my resellers. I will help you learn and grow, I will watch over you until you are ready, and finally I will step down and leave my business in your capable hands.
I am getting old (well, old for this business, I believe I'm the oldest person on both forums, lol), and I want to enjoy my life and stop telling people I sell Neopets for a living (it's getting annoying, haha).
So, I have devised this contest. I have an obsession with Celebrity Apprentice, so this actually works out perfectly.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
There will be a one week application period. I am looking for your complete Neopets resume, both legit and illegit. There are a large group of questions to complete in your resume, but I'm looking for your own words on top of that.
ONLY EIGHT COMPETITORS WILL BE CHOSEN.
I am not looking to make this a super fun contest that many people can join in on. This is a competition for a job that nets tens of thousands of dollars a year. It is real, and I will pick only the top applicants. Not only am I protecting my time and my investments, I am protecting my employees and their time and investments as well. I will only pick your application if I believe you are qualified to do so from what you tell me in them.
After the application process, the contest will begin. The eight applicants will join a Skype chat with myself and my employees, and we will guide you and help you through the eight or so week competition. You are free to ask questions, ask for help from myself, my employees or your fellow competitors if they feel like helping. This will not only be a contest, but it will hopefully be a learning experience, so if you are accepted, but you do not win, at least you will take away more than enough knowledge to perhaps start or flourish your own businesses.
Each week will be a new task that you will have to master, and a new learning experience. I will be testing to see how well you can complete the tasks, how thorough you can be and if your finished task can stand the test of time. The tasks will encompass all of the business, from farming out information, to securing your assets. Advertising to communicating and negotiation. Active and inactive. When you take over, you may choose to leave some of the lesser used sections of the business out, but I would at least like to know you would be able to manage and master all sections.
By my side will be my best friend and longest companion. You will be working personally with her during and after the contest, and hopefully you will befriend her as much as I have. She is not a forum goer, nor is she a cheater in any sort of that aspect, but she is an accountant, and my business partner. She will be 50% of the voting, so don't piss her off, lol.
At first, I was going to have each week with one person getting voted off, but after careful discussion, the plan has changed. The competition will be scored with a points system, that way, any underdogs that might cock up a previous week can try to fix it by dominating the next one. There is a final grade as well, which will be introduced after all eight contestants have been chosen.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Getting to the good stuff, this contest will be fully funded. I don't expect to get any free labor, so to speak, out of my competitors. This contest has a one thousand dollar prize pool. Each week, $100 will be put in the prize pool for each competition. Some weeks, it will be divided out equally, other weeks, it will be given out as prizes in a tier system. The final winner will get a bonus of $200. You will also be making a lot of your own money during the contest, so obviously the hint there is to be ready to make some sales. Sometimes it will be my product you are selling for your own profit, sometimes it will be something else entirely. I can't give too much away, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprises.
I will also be giving bonus prizes out during the competition in the way of pets, accounts, items, etc. You can keep them, or sell them, it's your choice. As you will probably be making plenty of money outside bonus prizes, I'd ask that you be honest if you're going to keep or sell a bonus prize, thus knowing how many bonus prizes to bring into the contest. The bonus prizes raise the prize pool substantially, but some people don't count digital goods as adequate prizes so I've only stated the hard cash value that I'm putting into the competition.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Please remember, the first and most important part of this contest, and my business, is that you need the time to do it. If you're flaky, if you have too many other responsibilities and can not devote a lot of time on this, please do not apply. Some days, I may barely work, others, I may farm and database things for up to 16 hours a day. You make as much money as you put time into the business, and I make a lot of money.
I expect you to spend hours on these resumes and applications, that's why I've given you two weeks to fill them out (and a few extra days, I got excited). Remember, I don't just want my questions answered, I want your stories as well, I want you to throw at me as many words about yourself as possible. You will be the next me, and I want the most information I can get to make the best decision I can make.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Without further ado, the questions:
General Sales Experience
- How long have you been around selling forums?
- How long have you been selling Neopets accounts/pets/items/pure/etc. and which area would you call your expertise?
- Do you have any previous experience with selling things from other games and if so, which and how long have you done that?
- What was your biggest single sale?
- How much do you think you have made in total, off Neopets and off other games?
Neopets In-Depth
- How well acquainted are you with Neopets?
- Do you actively play Neopets?
- How do you stock yourself with things to sell?
- What is your loss ratio? (As in, sales that ended up in frozen accounts, chargebacks, refunds, etc.)
You
- Who are you? (Three line description + 5 terms to describe yourself in a nutshell.)
- What do you do normally, on an average day?
- Do you have a job?
- What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
- How much money do you need to make to be happy?
- What do you spend your (free?) time doing?
- What kind of games do you play?
- If you get into a conflict, how do you handle it?
- How well do you feel you handle pressure/stress?
- Who is your enemy and why?
The Job
- What sales tasks do you have experience with (e.g. organisation, negotiation, making deadlines, etc., etc.)?
- What is your skillset/what do you consider yourself to be good at?
- How much time do you think you have to devote to this job and how many hours do you think this job would take, weekly?
- What would be an obstacle that you currently are involved in that would cause you to have a more limited amount of time, ie, school, work, gaming obligations, other responsibilities?
- How much training do you think you'll need to become a productive employee?
- What part of this job looks most enjoyable to you?
- What part of this job is most interesting to you?
- What part of this job are you least interested in doing, ie, what parts of Neopets sales do you dislike?
Other
- Are you interested in any Neopets bonus prizes to: Keep / Sell / Not Interested?
- By all means, add anything else to inspire us to accept you! (Seriously. Draw us a picture, make a video, create a grain circle, go nuts.)
- Provide at least two contactable references, preferably one forum and one non-forum. (online please). If the non-forum does not need to know about your dealings in the Neopets world illegitly, or at all, I am perfectly capable of having a broad conversation without mentioning those things.
Resume applications are due to me in PM by April 14th.
Since the applications are not public, please be as brutally honest as you can. None of your information will be shared with the other competitors. Once you apply, please post a message on this thread stating you applied and why, so members have at least that intrigue to wonder about! When decision times come, I will post the name of each member that applied and why they were or were not chosen.
Good luck everyone that applies! I can't wait to see the applications!
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Though I have only been in the Neopets sales business for about three years, I have grown a considerably large business. As time goes on, and as my business continues to flourish, it becomes overwhelming at times, and I can no longer handle it alone. By alone, I mean a savvy, business minded sales professional akin to myself. I do have a handful of employees that help me manage my stock and the day to day, but none of them are sales professionals, and I need someone to help grow into my business and one day, replace me when I retire.
My little empire is one of the top grossing businesses out there, my 2012 was competitive with the yearly income of the top selling website owners. I feel that I didn't even make as much as I could, being overwhelmed with stock and only focusing on a couple key elements of this large area of expertise.
So, in that respect, I will be taking on an apprentice. You will be working and making money side by side with me for a while to learn all the ins and outs, to befriend my employees, my suppliers, my resellers. I will help you learn and grow, I will watch over you until you are ready, and finally I will step down and leave my business in your capable hands.
I am getting old (well, old for this business, I believe I'm the oldest person on both forums, lol), and I want to enjoy my life and stop telling people I sell Neopets for a living (it's getting annoying, haha).
So, I have devised this contest. I have an obsession with Celebrity Apprentice, so this actually works out perfectly.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
There will be a one week application period. I am looking for your complete Neopets resume, both legit and illegit. There are a large group of questions to complete in your resume, but I'm looking for your own words on top of that.
ONLY EIGHT COMPETITORS WILL BE CHOSEN.
I am not looking to make this a super fun contest that many people can join in on. This is a competition for a job that nets tens of thousands of dollars a year. It is real, and I will pick only the top applicants. Not only am I protecting my time and my investments, I am protecting my employees and their time and investments as well. I will only pick your application if I believe you are qualified to do so from what you tell me in them.
After the application process, the contest will begin. The eight applicants will join a Skype chat with myself and my employees, and we will guide you and help you through the eight or so week competition. You are free to ask questions, ask for help from myself, my employees or your fellow competitors if they feel like helping. This will not only be a contest, but it will hopefully be a learning experience, so if you are accepted, but you do not win, at least you will take away more than enough knowledge to perhaps start or flourish your own businesses.
Each week will be a new task that you will have to master, and a new learning experience. I will be testing to see how well you can complete the tasks, how thorough you can be and if your finished task can stand the test of time. The tasks will encompass all of the business, from farming out information, to securing your assets. Advertising to communicating and negotiation. Active and inactive. When you take over, you may choose to leave some of the lesser used sections of the business out, but I would at least like to know you would be able to manage and master all sections.
By my side will be my best friend and longest companion. You will be working personally with her during and after the contest, and hopefully you will befriend her as much as I have. She is not a forum goer, nor is she a cheater in any sort of that aspect, but she is an accountant, and my business partner. She will be 50% of the voting, so don't piss her off, lol.
At first, I was going to have each week with one person getting voted off, but after careful discussion, the plan has changed. The competition will be scored with a points system, that way, any underdogs that might cock up a previous week can try to fix it by dominating the next one. There is a final grade as well, which will be introduced after all eight contestants have been chosen.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Getting to the good stuff, this contest will be fully funded. I don't expect to get any free labor, so to speak, out of my competitors. This contest has a one thousand dollar prize pool. Each week, $100 will be put in the prize pool for each competition. Some weeks, it will be divided out equally, other weeks, it will be given out as prizes in a tier system. The final winner will get a bonus of $200. You will also be making a lot of your own money during the contest, so obviously the hint there is to be ready to make some sales. Sometimes it will be my product you are selling for your own profit, sometimes it will be something else entirely. I can't give too much away, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprises.
I will also be giving bonus prizes out during the competition in the way of pets, accounts, items, etc. You can keep them, or sell them, it's your choice. As you will probably be making plenty of money outside bonus prizes, I'd ask that you be honest if you're going to keep or sell a bonus prize, thus knowing how many bonus prizes to bring into the contest. The bonus prizes raise the prize pool substantially, but some people don't count digital goods as adequate prizes so I've only stated the hard cash value that I'm putting into the competition.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Please remember, the first and most important part of this contest, and my business, is that you need the time to do it. If you're flaky, if you have too many other responsibilities and can not devote a lot of time on this, please do not apply. Some days, I may barely work, others, I may farm and database things for up to 16 hours a day. You make as much money as you put time into the business, and I make a lot of money.
I expect you to spend hours on these resumes and applications, that's why I've given you two weeks to fill them out (and a few extra days, I got excited). Remember, I don't just want my questions answered, I want your stories as well, I want you to throw at me as many words about yourself as possible. You will be the next me, and I want the most information I can get to make the best decision I can make.
~~~~~~
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
Without further ado, the questions:
General Sales Experience
- How long have you been around selling forums?
- How long have you been selling Neopets accounts/pets/items/pure/etc. and which area would you call your expertise?
- Do you have any previous experience with selling things from other games and if so, which and how long have you done that?
- What was your biggest single sale?
- How much do you think you have made in total, off Neopets and off other games?
Neopets In-Depth
- How well acquainted are you with Neopets?
- Do you actively play Neopets?
- How do you stock yourself with things to sell?
- What is your loss ratio? (As in, sales that ended up in frozen accounts, chargebacks, refunds, etc.)
You
- Who are you? (Three line description + 5 terms to describe yourself in a nutshell.)
- What do you do normally, on an average day?
- Do you have a job?
- What do you see yourself doing five years from now?
- How much money do you need to make to be happy?
- What do you spend your (free?) time doing?
- What kind of games do you play?
- If you get into a conflict, how do you handle it?
- How well do you feel you handle pressure/stress?
- Who is your enemy and why?
The Job
- What sales tasks do you have experience with (e.g. organisation, negotiation, making deadlines, etc., etc.)?
- What is your skillset/what do you consider yourself to be good at?
- How much time do you think you have to devote to this job and how many hours do you think this job would take, weekly?
- What would be an obstacle that you currently are involved in that would cause you to have a more limited amount of time, ie, school, work, gaming obligations, other responsibilities?
- How much training do you think you'll need to become a productive employee?
- What part of this job looks most enjoyable to you?
- What part of this job is most interesting to you?
- What part of this job are you least interested in doing, ie, what parts of Neopets sales do you dislike?
Other
- Are you interested in any Neopets bonus prizes to: Keep / Sell / Not Interested?
- By all means, add anything else to inspire us to accept you! (Seriously. Draw us a picture, make a video, create a grain circle, go nuts.)
- Provide at least two contactable references, preferably one forum and one non-forum. (online please). If the non-forum does not need to know about your dealings in the Neopets world illegitly, or at all, I am perfectly capable of having a broad conversation without mentioning those things.
Resume applications are due to me in PM by April 14th.
Since the applications are not public, please be as brutally honest as you can. None of your information will be shared with the other competitors. Once you apply, please post a message on this thread stating you applied and why, so members have at least that intrigue to wonder about! When decision times come, I will post the name of each member that applied and why they were or were not chosen.
Good luck everyone that applies! I can't wait to see the applications!