Internet entrepreneur helps others market online

When that business leveled out, Holst found a new source of revenue through eBay – and now he’s helping others to find global-market success on the Internet swap meet site.

“Part of why I went into the eBay side of things was additional revenue,” said Holst, who experienced about a 20 percent drop in Web-hosting revenues at his home-based company, World.Net Communications between 2003 and 2004. However, he said hosting about 600 domains on two servers for $120 to $150 per year is still his main source of income. One of Holst’s servers is in St. Louis; the other is just outside Los Angeles.

Holst, who lives in Strafford, started using eBay to sell electronics.

“They always say sell something you know,” said Holst, who has completed roughly 6,000 eBay transactions and holds official eBay educator certification.

Holst, who graduated from the University of Missouri in 1993 with a computer science degree, started giving how-to-use eBay seminars in April 2003.

His seminars – he’s given about 40 in Springfield to date, with average attendance of 15 people – cost $69, last six hours, include an official eBay instruction book of about 250 pages and can cater to beginners or eBay veterans.

“You don’t have to be touching a computer or be hands-on to still get a lot out of it because all the screen shots and everything are right there in your book.”

Holst started offering seminars with his own materials.

Don Whitworth, a 54-year-old call center manager, took Holst’s Sept. 17 seminar at the Best Western on North Glenstone. Whitworth said he didn’t have a great deal of eBay experience before taking the class.

“The biggest thing that I got out of the class was the ease of actually being able to be either a buyer or a seller (on eBay),” Whitworth said.

Holst said students don’t have to be computer experts to grasp the concepts of the seminars.

“Basically, if they can power on and surf the Web, that’s the prerequisite,” he said.

Some businesses have employed Holst as an in-house instructor. The staff at Mostly Memories Inc., 601 E. South St. in Ozark, wanted to learn how to deal candles online, so the company invited Holst for an on-site visit Sept. 12.

“It helped tremendously,” said George Lantz, Mostly Memories information technology director. “Two of the people that were in the class knew nothing about eBay at all, and now they’re telling me how much that class helped them.”

Holst said he’s planning classes Nov. 12, Dec. 3, 6 and 10. The Dec. 6 class is free and will be held at the Library Center on South Campbell. For more information visit Holst’s Web site.