A Chicago White Castle - Home of the originasl Slider Hamburger

Growing up in NY we had White Castle nearby, way before McDonald's and all the other fast food carry out restaurants,. Now when we travel we make it a point to find a White Castle in states where they are.  There are none in NM and CO so we have to go east!!

The buildings are very distinctive and have looked basically the same forever.

The onions are put onto the grill first then the square patties are laid on top.  Notice the holes in the meat to allow for even, fast cooking.

Then the bun 1/2's are put onto of the burger to heat them alittle.

This is our lunch tray for 3 people.  The yellow carton is a cheeseburger.  There are 12 burgers there.

When we would go to NY to visit we always got a huge sack of White Castle and would build things with those cardboard boxes.  Now they even have trivia on them.  

White Castle hamburgers are probably not the healthiest of food but once in awhile they are yummy and a throwback to many great memories. Try them, you may like them. 

Self Empolyment Self Promotion Time Management

Being self-employed requires a lot of discipline especially when it comes to time scheduling and advertising

Having an eBay or any online business has obstacles that a brick and mortar business does not have. Working at home can have many distractions, all in the name of becoming more educated to enhance the business.

I have found recently that learning is great, but does not sell product. I have eliminated a lot of the excess and am concentrating on listing and listing and listing. As a result May was out best month ever and June is starting off just as good.

We reached 5.0 on all 4 stars several times during the last 6 months with the longest run being 22 days. We also received the 20% discount for the 9th consecutive month and because a lot of our listings have free shipping, we also got a 40% discount on the FVF on those items.

At least with a real store, you have certain hours you are open and know where your customers are coming from. Deciding where to advertise and how to self promote is a constant concern for online sellers .

There are all the social networks now, like Twitter and Facebook, to help promote us and offer social interaction. Truthfully, I guess I don’t know Twitter well enough to say, I get it. I sort of get Facebook but then I do not have as many followers there as I do on Twitter.

But the other venue that is becoming more popular is blogging. At first I thought of it as a personal diary and also as a way to promote my business and then as a way to share our travels with friends and acquaintances. I never really decided which one was most prevalent but do think a blog can be all of the above.

So how to write an effective blog? Great question. I can only talk from our limited experience. My biggest suggestion is to outline the blog in your mind with the tags (keywords) you want to include. Then write it, hopefully with pictures or illustrations.

If it is a lot of information divide it up into several posts. I have found that within minutes of posting a blog Google notifies me they have found it. (You can set that up on Google to be notified each time a name or term is searched including your eBay name & / or store!)

Last week after I did the Indy 500 Car race blogs, I landed on the first page of Google 2x. One search was Police Escort and the other was Balloon release. Holy smokes!! How much money is spent each year on paid per click advertising and there we were.

Someone did a search for “crafts to make with herbs”. We were number 6 on the 1st page out of over 3 million possible answers.

Then yesterday someone did a search for White Castle Hamburgers in Branson, MO. Well I had done a blog on White Castle and several weeks before that done one on a certain theater in Branson. Obviously Google remembered all those tags and out of the 14,000+ possible answers we were #1 of the free listings. Yep #1 – even above White Castle Corporate.

So my bottom line is to not be distracted or lured into activities that take me away from promoting our business and to remember those tags.

White Castle Hamburgers

Having grown up on Long Island, New York we knew 'fast food' before the phrase was invented. White Castle has been around since the 20's, I think. In the 50's they were 10 cents each and you could buy them by the bagful.

The come in these little boxes. When we would visit NY from NM we always had to have White Castles at least 1 time while we were there. Dad would buy 20 at a time and we all tried to stack the boxes into towers, sorta like the game Jenga.

The meat patty has 5 holes in it so it will cook faster. the cook one side on the grill. On the other side of the grill is the chopped onions. When it is time to flip the burgers, they go onto the chopped onions. Both parts of the bun are put on top and covered and steamed for a few minutes.

These are cheeseburgers and because of the steaming the bun was hard to take the top off for the photo.

They are only 3 - 4 bites. Nowadays copycat versions are called sliders. True White Castle lovers will not even try the frozen ones, that are now available all over the country.

It is one of those local things that you have to have them where they are made. Sorta like New York Bagels - nothing like them anywhere. It is said it is the water!! Who knows maybe it is just the attitude they are made with. Ahh New York Bagels - that will be this time next year!!!