RYB 975: How Flipping Random Products Turned Into A Full-Time Business and FREEDOM
The Brand Creator’s Playbook is strategically designed to empower you to finally launch your online business, even if you only have a few hours per week, and see growth month after month with NO limits on your earning potential.
I’m so happy to have you here today! Thanks for taking the time to join me. I am fired up and so excited for today’s interview. It’s a special one. I’m interviewing a husband and wife team that has been in business together for years, and they are crushing it right now!
I really love interviewing people whose main goal is their family and wanting to find ways to make money that allow them the flexibility to put their family first. I really open this interview will open your eyes to see what is possible. There are a million different ways that you can make money while making sure that you keep your priorities straight. That is why I love these interviews so much. They are meant to inspire and lift you up in the process.
This couple has been flipping products, and it has become their full-time job. What this means is that they are taking products that they find and reselling them for a profit. Even if this isn’t something you’re interested in doing, you’re still going to learn a lot from their story, so don’t go away!
When you listen to someone else’s story, it always helps to open your eyes and shows you what’s really possible if you work hard and take action. So what are we waiting for? Let’s get right to it!
Where It All Started
When I was a kid, my parents didn’t have a lot of money. So they would always go to yard sales to save money. While they were there, they would buy things and resell them in the classifieds section to make extra money. So you could say that this type of business was distilled in me at a young age.
When Melissa and I got married over fourteen years ago, we started to buy used things and sell them as a side hustle. We both worked, but it was a great way to bring in some extra cash. About five years ago, we were able to start doing this full time and have never looked back.
Before we started flipping full time, I was working as a house inspector, and Melissa was a personal trainer, so this was just a side hustle that we worked on after hours. It was a great way for us to make some extra money. However, once we were pregnant with our third child, Melissa decided it was time to quit her job, and recently after that, my job stopped offering health insurance. So, we decided to start flipping full-time. It really was the best decision that we ever made and has provided us with so much more flexibility than we ever thought possible.
Our Decision To Flip Full Time
At the time, we were both a little scared and unsure of what to expect. Melissa was pregnant, and we didn’t know how things were going to turn out at the time. We were losing health insurance and had to replace both our incomes, so it was very scary. However, because we had done the side hustle for so long, we know that we could make it into a full-time business and knew that it was possible. If we hadn’t been doing that beforehand, it would have been a much harder decision to make sure.
When we started working on our business full time we started doing to focus on freight flipping. This means that we specialize in flipping large items and offering free shipping. This allows us to charge a premium for our products. We’re known best for selling really large products, throwing them on a palette, and shipping them anywhere. We really will ship almost anything.
We figured this out with a dining room set that we had around the time that we starting flipping full time. I had listed it on Facebook marketplace, and it was still available after a couple of months. So, then I posted it to eBay, and it sold for around $2500. That was a turning point for us when we realized that we could make good money shipping products that we find.
The Struggles of Flipping Full Time
One of the biggest challenges we faced at the start was learning how to work together. It took a while to adjust and learn how to best communicate with each other and determine what each of our roles were. We had been used to being away from each other during the day for so long, and it was definitely a learned skill adjusting to working together. It turned out ok in the end, though, and we work really well together.
It was also a bit difficult balancing working and family life at first. However, it’s been such a blessing to be able to spend time so much quality time with our kids during the day. We are able to work after hours most days, especially when we have things that need to get done. So, it’s been so great that we have so much flexibility and can work around our personal schedules.
We do have to set boundaries and remind ourselves what is most important. We follow a schedule that allows us to be with our kids and make it to all their special events. We always start the day by dropping our kids off at school and go for a run. While the kids are at school, we’ll work on the business.
How We’ve Scaled Our Business
We always recommend people start with using OfferUp, Facebook Ads, and Craigslist. You can quickly scroll through what they have available and resell it. It’s actually not as complicated as you might think, especially with all the great apps that are now available.
We sell all our items without returns. This is especially important for big items. You have to list your items properly and make sure that you undersell your items. If you’re not able to test products, you need to let buyers know to make sure their expectations are accurate.
Freight shipping is actually much more doable than you might think. A lot of our students have done it successfully. It does take some work, and you have to learn how to do it correctly, but it’s worth it in the long run, especially if you know your why behind starting your business.
If you have a hobby or specialize in a specific niche, we recommend starting to sell related items. It’s going to be so much easier when you’re knowledgeable about what you’re selling and have a good idea of how much you can sell specific products for.
How Our WorkShops Came To Be
After we had been flipping full time for a few months, we started to have a lot of friends and family ask us how we did it. We would show people on occasion and help them sell some of their own stuff, and it was always so rewarding to watch other people get results using the methods that we taught them.
We had a friend help us start our own course who had a successful one of her own. However, we spent over six months creating our first course, and we didn’t have any sign-ups when we launched. It was very discouraging so much so that we ended up taking a much-needed step back from that side of the business for five months. However, we didn’t give up, and when we got back into it we really started focusing on growing our email list which really helped.
We really have so much fun doing what we do. We have found that Instagram has worked well for us over the past couple of months. At first social media was on the back burner, and we really didn’t like it, but we have found that it’s a great way to connect with our audience. So, we’ve made it a priority but have mostly focused on Instagram, so we’re not spreading ourselves too thin.
Thanks For Tuning in!
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“Remember, I’m here for you, I believe in you, and I’m rooting for you! Now it’s time for you to take action and go rock your brand”!
Take-Aways From Today’s Episode
- Where It All Started (4:22)
- Our Decision To Flip Full Time (8:31)
- The Struggles of Flipping Full Time (13:13)
- How We’ve Scaled Our Business (18:35)
- How Our WorkShops Came To Be (28:15)
Helpful Links
- Take Action Crew: https://takeactioncrew.com
- Coffee Talk: https://brandcreators.com/coffee
- Playbook: https://brandcreatorsbook.com
- Checklist: https://brandcreators.com/checklist
- Brand Creators Event: Grab Your BAL Recording HERE
- Email List Workshop – https://learn.brandcreators.com/email-workshop-sales-page
- Digital Product Creation Fast Track – https://learn.brandcreators.com/offers/Zo37wCyz/checkout
- Niche Finder Fast Track Workshop: https://brandcreators.com/NFW-Enroll
- Seven Day Content Creation Challenge: https://launchyourcontent.com
- Flea Market Flipper: https://fleamarketflipper.com/
Quote
- It’s going to be so much easier when you’re knowledgeable about what you’re selling and have a good idea of how much you can sell specific products for.
- When we started to focus on selling our course the second time around we really started focusing on growing our email list which really helped us see the success we were working so hard for.
