Research Puzzles Made Easier With Evernote

In the antiquing business, I seem to have a knack for being drawn to things I have no prior experience with. What can I say; I live the antiquer's creed: "Never leave an estate sale or auction empty-handed". Besides... I just love learning new things about old stuff!

But what do you do when you just know, in your gut, that you have something really cool, but you technically don't know what it is or how to market it to those who do, and sometimes don't even know where to start? Ahhhh, yes.... That makes things a little trickier.  

After the buying phase, selling online involves a few basic steps, which mostly consist of photographing, researching, writing a description, and establishing a fair price. With each step, you need to have access to the right tools and information, as well as enough time and focus. Me... I rarely have them all, at least at the same time.

Frequently I've gathered all of the right information, but good photos were still needed in the right setting or light. Other times, the photos were a snap, but the daunting task of research forced me to turn my focus elsewhere, leaving that day's mystery to be solved another day. Occasionally, when I was least expecting it (and often weeks or months later), I would miraculously stumble upon a cornerstone nugget of information, only to also discover that my original notes were nowhere to be found.

And then one day I discovered Evernote...

I'm still exploring all of the many ways of putting Evernote to use. But as for my researching dilemmas, no longer am I adding to an unwieldy folder of Word documents containing snip-its of research information or price comps. The folder of expired links to items sold long ago has been transformed into an obsolete depository of information.

Now, with Evernote, I simply select the information I want to save, click my Evernote Web Clipper toolbar button, make any appropriate changes to the clipped title, add a tag word or two for later search refinement, and clip and save my Note selection to the designated "Research" Evernote Notebook.  Through the source data saved with each web clip, I know when something was discovered and where it was found, even if that original source site is no longer accessible (as with old listings of sold items).  Later retrieval is a snap using tag filter options or searching for a particular word. And with portability of Evernote, you can save and retrieve your information nuggets virtually anywhere!

Now, I'm no longer grumbling about information I once had but have since lost. Instead, I'm quickly learning that I myself would be lost without Evernote!