The Side Hustle Show - Full Episodes - $10k+ Per Event: How to Start a Clothing Consignment Business.

Yeah, that's exactly how it happened. So I did a kids' consignment event selling my kids' use clothes. And I had no idea what I was doing. I just showed up, you know, priced the things, showed up to sell them.

And when I went to pick up my check, it was for $800. And it blew my mind. And I still remember. This was you who were selling your kids stuff?

Yes, yes. Through somebody else. Yes, it was. That's how I got the idea.

And after I picked up that check for $800, I just thought why doesn't this exist for adults? There are a lot of kids' consignment events out there and not very many at all for adults. And I just thought, I know so many people with closets full of clothes that are in great condition that people would buy. Why is nobody doing this?

Yeah, why is nobody doing this? Was there a reason that the people running the kids' ones didn't do the same thing? It is it because we've gone to those kid event. I don't know if we've ever sold anything there, but we've gone as a customer for them locally.

So yeah, you're totally right, that's a thing. Yeah, and it's funny because a lot of people think they're similar, but adult events are so different from kids. We're willing to buy whatever for our kids. They're going to be running around outside, playing in it.

It's fine. But when you're selling adult clothes, you have to find the right audience for it. We're a lot pickier. So the cell through rates different than kids' consignment events.

So they just have to be marketed differently. OK, so as far as you could tell, in the initial market research nobody was doing an adult-focused clothing event near you. I think our mutual friend Megan was maybe doing furniture, because I'm in here behind the desk. Yes, she was.

She was. She was. But to say, there's an opportunity in the clothing space. And what was your first step in turning that from idea to reality?

Yeah, well, first I tried to make the idea go away, because it just felt crazy. I have two young kids. I'm running a photography business. I was the breadwinner for my family.

It felt crazy to divide my attention and try to start a whole other business. So I really tried to ignore it for a while, but I got to where I couldn't sleep. The idea would not leave me alone. And so a couple months later, I just decided, you know what, I'm going to go for this.

And that night, I found our software that we could use. I had a friend who gave me the name that day, who named it statement. And then I stayed up all night building a website on Squarespace. And I just thought, you know what, this idea will not leave me alone.

I have to do it. Like I had no other choice. I love that line, because I've had, you know, that similar feeling. Can't sleep.

The idea won't leave me alone. And sometimes it's for, you know, a video that I want to make or some piece of content that needs to get out. And a lot of the times, that ends up being a really well, not all the time. You know, I'm not going to pretend to have like 100% batting average or 100% hit rate, but because sometimes they're total duds.

But a lot of times, like when it's really driven from that deep place of interest and excitement and curiosity, it tends to, it tends to, you know, launch with a bang. But now you got to go out and find inventory. I mean, there's a lot of moving parts here. I got to find a venue.

I got to find inventory. I got to market the thing. So walk me through some of these first steps. Yeah, well, so, you know, when I started it, I thought this idea is great.

People are going to love this. People are going to be, you know, beating down my door to be a part of this. I thought my goal for my first sale was to have 100 sellers. And what I found is that it was a lot harder than I realized to find my first customers.

And so it took a lot of work. And it wasn't really complicated work, but it stretched me. So I decided that to find my people, I was going to call everybody I knew who had a closet full of good clothes and just ask them. So it, you know, it's a simple thing, but it was terrifying to call people I knew and put myself out there in that way.

And so that's really how I ended up finding my first customers was just getting on the phone and asking the people I knew to be a part of it. Is there a reason it had to be, you know, a limited engagement, one off, weekend type of event versus, you got a closet full of clothes. I'll help you sell them through a posh mark or whatever. And I'll take a fee, you can get paid, I'll get paid.

Like, is there a reason it had to be, you know, a big event, like it seems lower risk or maybe lower involvement to just, you kind of do like onesy-to-two sales. Yeah, maybe it seems that way, but I do believe that sense of urgency and that scarcity really drives sales for us, the fact that we are only open two times a year, total of 10 days a year. So I do think that's, you know, a huge part of our model. And also for our owners, for, you know, the sale that I started and then our franchise owners, for it to be a seasonal thing is just so powerful.

That's what draws us to it. The fact that we can, you know, work really hard for a few months out of the year and then have some real downtime, you know, as moms, as, you know, business owners for other things that freezes up to do, you know, order whatever else. Okay, seasons of sprint versus seasons of rest versus being always on all the time, like trying to move inventory and go to the post office. I can see some benefits plus the urgency and scarcity of it.

So you're messaging, you're calling up all your friends, saying, yeah, I'm thinking of putting on this thing, like what's the, what's the opener? What's the pitch here? The pitch is, you know, all those clothes that are sitting in your closet that you don't wear. I would love to help you sell them.

You know, people have all kinds of clothes that are still in great condition, practically new condition. A lot of things still are new with tags and they've spent a lot of money on that stuff. They don't want to just, you know, drop it off in a trash bag to donate. So, you know, I was like, let me give you a way to sell that.

I'll help you do it. You'll walk away with the paycheck that you can turn around and go buy stuff that you actually will wear to put in your closet. Yeah, that makes sense. So it's kind of a win-win.

Like it's, it's collecting dust anyways. Why don't we turn that into some cash for you? So why don't we turn that into clothes you'll actually wear and go from there? So did you end up getting 100 people to say yes?

No. No, I had 50. So that first event really did, it was still a lot of people, but it did feel a little bit like a letdown. You know, it didn't meet my expectations.

It was harder than I thought it was going to be. But I think that's an important part of the story to share. You know, for people who are thinking about starting a side hustle, that it likely is going to be harder than you think. Even if it is this great idea that's going to, you know, just blow up down the road, it takes a lot of work, you know, on the front end to get it set up.

For sure. Where did you host it? Yeah, I hosted it at an event, like banquet facility. Just right down the road, it was a small place.

And I drained my savings account for that venue. You know, I didn't have much in my savings account, but, you know, I really bet everything I had on this and believed that it was worth it. What did it cost trying to get a sense of, I've got risk-free inventory, but now I do have to put up front for this venue for several days. Yeah, I think it was about $3,500 for that first sale.

Okay, so we're banking on, now we gotta get people in the door and, you know, a multi-day, we've had somebody who was doing craft workshops recently on the show and she was like, I go after these, you know, library community rooms or these, like, community center type of venues where they, you know, maybe charge 50 bucks an hour or less. You know, it was like really, really affordable to rent and she's just coming in for, you know, two hour evening engagement. This is a little bit different where it's like, I need a secure location where I can leave inventory here for several days. Yeah, absolutely.

And I really thought, you know, we would have a lot of shoppers. So I thought we needed a lot of space to fill out the inventory, to give shoppers space to shop and turns out I didn't need quite that much space for the first event because, you know, it's half the size that I thought it would be. But we did eventually grow into it. Yeah, it's something where it's very visual clothing.

You know, you can't just have piles and piles. Like you gotta have it on hangers and displays and make it look like a retail experience. Mm-hmm, yeah. Okay, so we've got the facility locked in.

We've got 50 sellers on board who give you their stuff. There's a tagging and tracking component to this to say, well, this item sold and that belonged to so and so and now I gotta remember to pay her. You mentioned finding software to do that. Is that still what you're using today?

Yeah, we still use the same third party software. It's a great system and it makes it so simple for us to pay out our people. We never have errors in our reports. Yeah, so it's a great system.

What software is that? My consignment manager. Okay, we will link that up in the show notes. We're sure anything else on the tools and tech side that just make life easier.

You mentioned square space. We'll link that up as well. My consignment manager is great. Anything else?

No, that's about it. It really doesn't take a lot. Yeah. Cool.

All right, now comes the marketing side of it. Getting people in the door to come and buy this stuff. Yeah, so to market our event, we in the beginning, we're just using Facebook. Instagram was really new and at that time.

And we created a Facebook event and started promoting that. After a couple of years, we started doing Facebook ads and the return on investment for Facebook ads, you just cannot deny. So we really went all in on Facebook ads and that's become our primary marketing strategy. What's the ad say or what's, give me a paint a picture of the visual here.

Yeah, our ads generally start with the location. So now we have 23 locations, but originally it was just the Knoxville sale. And so the ad starts with Hey Knoxville, come shop up to 400 closets in one place. So we like to promote how many sellers we have.

Generally we have about 450 at our original location. And that is a massive variety of clothes that shoppers can't find anywhere else. So it's a really great, unique shopping experience for them. And that's what draws them in.

Yeah, that's great. Is this in conjunction with the Facebook event or the 10 years ago, we were doing Facebook events like that's less of a thing now? No, we still do Facebook events. We still, a lot of our audiences on Facebook, we're now doing probably equal Instagram ads as well.

But we get a lot of return from those Facebook events. Okay, I mean, they're way to track. I guess people showing up, they click on ad, and I guess that results in foot traffic. It seems harder to track than like, oh, they made an online purchase.

And I could see that entire click journey. Yeah, it's true that it is hard to know exactly where they come from. But check out, we like to ask people, and they tell us how they heard about it. And it's always Facebook or Instagram.

We're really active during our sale week. And all of our sellers and shoppers are out there promoting too. We incentivize them to market with us, and that really makes a big difference. Oh, how do you do that?

We do giveaways. So we give them five ways that they can help us market. So they can share our event page. They can tag a friend in the comments.

They can post in their Instagram stories or leave us a Facebook or Google review. And then when they do that, they get entered into a giveaway. And so we withdraw winner after our sale for that. What are you giving away?

Usually $100 to a small business of their choice, like a local small business. OK, cool. And they get to choose what it's to, yeah. I like that angle of tapping you to the crowd here, where it's like, hey, it's in your interest to help fill the store as well, a fill the event, because if nobody comes, then your stuff isn't selling.

Do they, do you have to price everything or determine what these hundreds of different items might be worth, or that seems, maybe you just crowdsource it and say, hey, it's your blouse. Tell me what you want for it. And we'll stick a price tag on it. Yes, so our sellers price things themselves.

When they drop off their items, they are ready to go. The price tags are on them. And it's ready to be put on display. And we give them a guide in advance, so they know how to price their items.

And we generally recommend between 50 and 80% off retail price. So that gives them a good guide. And that helps our shoppers know what to expect when they come up, come to shop, too. Yeah, hey, Knoxville, come shop at 400 closets in one place, 50 to 80% off retail.

That's the ad, that's it. What's the revenue split for you as the consignment host versus what gets passed along to the sellers? Yes, so the sellers keep 60% and the consignment owner keeps 40%. It's one of the best splits that you can find.

I actually did an online consignment recently, just to test and see what are other, what's our competition doing out there? And on a pair of jeans that I paid $200 for, I made $5 at this online reseller. And so that just showed me the power of what we're doing with statement. Our sellers are earning a much higher percentage than they'll find anywhere else.

Got it, got it. Is there an online component where it's like, I mean, the e-commerce store where are your people who browse inventory and place in order? There's really not. We really believe in the power of the in-person sale.

And so much of what we do at statement is building our community. So we want those people in the building. We want them shopping. We want them becoming sellers at our next event.

Then they show up and help work the sale too. So yeah, we really find that the power of the statement business model is in people showing up in person. So we do not offer online sales at all. Got it.

That makes sense. So we're getting people in the door through the Facebook event, marketing, friends and family. The sellers are helping out. Hey, spread the word.

We're doing Facebook and Instagram ads. Anything else to get people in the door, even go back to event number one. Yeah, so we always do local media. So we go on the news to talk about it.

We do an ad in the local newspaper. We put out yard signs. We take flyers to local businesses. I mean, we really max out our marketing.

That's really what the job is with statement. It's getting more shoppers in the doors. So that's the bulk of my time is spent marketing the event. I believe it is.

It's limited time only. It's got to happen now or it's not going to happen. What's the pitch to the local news channel or local news station to say? It seems very self-serving to be like, would you run my story?

Sorry, I have to imagine there's a better PR angle than that. Yes, well, their audience is looking for a good story, something exciting that's happening. And people love to shop. So yeah, we found that our local news stations are really excited about having us on.

And we also sometimes incentivize them and give them a pre-sell shopping pass so they get to shop before everybody else. And then they become fans of statement too. And a lot of our local news reporters are now sellers at our sale and they come shop every time. Oh, OK.

Makes sense. All right, so let's say it is opening day. You have done your best to spread the word to make this a thing. If you're if you have it to be in town and in the market, you know about it.

And then the doors open and it's talked to me about staffing and logistics and kind of the day of or the week of the event. Yeah, so the week of the event can be overwhelming. It takes a lot of energy. It's a lot of hours to put in during that week of the sale.

And we have developed all the systems and processes since that first sale 10 years ago. And it's been a growing process. There are plenty of mistakes along the way. But we've put together systems to try to make that predictable for our shoppers and for our sellers.

We try to keep the room really organized. At the Knoxville sale, we now have over 50,000 items that show up within three days that we have to get on the display floor and sell within five days. So it really is a time crunch. And it does take a pretty big workforce.

The beauty of that is that our statement sellers also become our workers. So we usually have about 150 of our sellers who will show up and work shifts. They get paid hourly. And they are the ones who really make the event happen the week of the sale.

We really depend a lot on them. And they have a sense of ownership of the sale. Because they're selling their items too. And they want shoppers in there buying their stuff.

So that really helps go a long way with our workforce. OK, that's helpful to know. No, this is just not with 50,000 items of inventory. This is not just you at the cash register taking payments.

It takes a village. It does. It takes a village. Yeah.

So we started at that first sale with one cash register. And now we're up to five. It takes a lot of staffing to get shoppers in and out the door to try to reduce lines. We don't want them waiting in lines for a long time.

So yeah, it does take a lot of people to make it work. Is it just like I'm picturing like a square credit card reader or something like that? Yes, similar to that. OK, what happens to the stuff that doesn't sell?

Or I guess I'm curious in the mark of a good event, a 50,000 item event, how much is left over at the end of that? We still have a lot left over. We sell a lot of stuff. But the difference with adult consignment is it's a lower sell-through rate than kids consignment.

Because adults are just pickier about the way things fit and the brand and the color. So it is a harder sell. So we do have a lot left over still at the end. But our sellers can come pick up what doesn't sell.

That's up to them. And whatever does not get picked up is immediately donated. And we fill a massive trailer full of donations every time that really makes an impact to those donations go to a good place. Yeah, I got it.

OK, if you want it back, if you want to try and sell it on your own, if you want to try and sell it at the next event, you're welcome to do so. And if you just want it out of your closet, hey, we'll donate it for you. We'll take it off your hands, yes. OK.

All right, so five days done, the dust settles after event number one, you've sold as much stuff as you could sell. You've recouped your investment in terms of the venue, in terms of the advertising. And now you're like, I guess we just keep doing that every six months. What happens next?

Yeah, so after the first couple of events, it's interesting, everyone in my life who loved me encouraged me to not keep doing it, because it was such an investment of my time and my energy. And in the beginning, it was a very small return. I didn't go in the hole, but in terms of profit, it was minimal. And everybody said it.

Interpretable about the effective hourly rate that it took to create that. Yes, yes. Is this really worth it? Are you sure you want to keep doing this?

And it just took a lot out of me, because it's a lot of interacting with people. And I'm naturally more of an introvert. So it was just demanding of me to make it through that week. But that's something that I decided is worth it.

I have this vision. I see where this is going. I believe in it. And I'm going to keep doing it despite what the other people are telling me I should do.

Yeah, people are telling you, maybe not, and maybe the math. It worked. It wasn't a money loser. But in terms of the hourly investment, and just like the effort and energy that went into it, you know, should I have just gotten another job, or booked more photography gig, whatever it could have been.

But you see this path forward to be like, well, I think there's a way to turn this into something else. And so you do dust off and say, OK, we're going to do this again. And then it's a matter of, I guess, re-engaging the same sellers, expanding the network of sellers to try and make the next event bigger, better, faster, more profitable. Yeah, absolutely.

And the primary way we did that is, as shoppers were checking out, we connected with them individually and said, we would love for you to sell it our next event. At that time, it was just a pencil and paper right down your email address here. We'll add you to our list. Now we have QR codes they can scan to automatically sign up.

It looks a little fancier now. But in the beginning, it was just bare bones. And just asking people one at a time to show up next time. And now we end up with about 80% to 90% of our sellers are returned sellers each time.

So once they get that paycheck, they want to come back and keep doing this. That makes sense. And I really like the tactic of adding shoppers to the email list to a point earlier about the Facebook ads. It's like, that's still an anonymous person.

Even when they walk in the door, we don't know who they are. But when they check out and they buy something, there's that point of interaction where you could say, hey, even if it's just pen and paper, you know, now we can get a little more automated, a little more technical with how we capture that email. But like some way to contact that person again, versus just a stranger than I do whenever I see. Yeah, they just walk out the door and never turn.

Yeah, we're always trying to get them to come back. And most of our shoppers actually come back multiple days. You know, we're open for five days. And so a lot of them will come shop three of those five days.

So it's not like they just show up once. They come back over and over again, each event. Interesting. And you find it's almost like a circular inventory flow where there's some people I imagine are buyers only.

But it sounds like a lot of the sellers are buying each other's stuff and they're working the event. And they're coming back and doing it again day after day and year after year. Yeah, absolutely. It is a cycle.

We see it's so funny. A lot of my friends will end up buying my own items. Yeah, it's interesting to watch. You're clothing, get a second life somewhere else.

Yeah, we get a lot of hammy down clothes for the kids. And whenever we go and visit them, they're always like, I remember that shirt. Or that was a favorite. Exactly.

It's getting a second and third life in our house. Yeah. At what point do you say, OK, I'm limited here by just inventory supply. I'm limited here by my own.

And it's like, you can't do this every weekend because then it doesn't have that event urgency feel to it. But I could do it if I was in a different gig. If I had a different inventory pool to pull from. So at what point do you start looking at this geographic expansion?

Yeah. So a couple of years in, I started noticing that people kept asking me to bring statement to another city. People were traveling in from other states to shop our sale. And I really started thinking, do I want to do this somewhere else?

And I decided I didn't have the energy to do additional events in other locations. But what I could do is put together a business in a box and let other women purchase that. And I teach them how to run their own consignment sale in a different location. And that's been how we've expanded.

This is pre-franchising or this is the franchise? This is the franchise. Yeah. What, how long ago?

How long has that been going? So we started franchising in 2022. But it's an idea that I had for probably five years before that. Yet again, it was one of those scary ideas.

Why would I do this? This feels crazy. This business is going great. Why would I start a whole new thing?

But yet again, it was another idea that wouldn't leave me alone. And I saw the power of this business model. It really makes an impact on people's lives. It gives them a way to make some extra cash when they need it.

It gives our shoppers a way to save money on clothes that they need to buy. And then we benefit local organizations, too. And I just was excited about the possibility of seeing that impact expand outside of my own reach, my own territory. Yeah.

And it's something where if you can lay the groundwork and build that network, it sounds like you have become the go-to person for this network of fashion-minded clothes, might like women and moms to buy and sell stuff. And if you could become that central hub and really start to build the event over time, the example near us is not in clothing, but it's like winter clothing and outdoor equipment. It's the Newport High School ski swap. Like been going on for as long as I can remember.

Like 30 plus years. And there's a big fundraiser in their case for the PTA. But it's become an event that people know to look forward to. They know that's where they're going to get their gear.

And they know that's where they can sell their gear, too. So it's something that over time, I think, can really start to snowball a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. And especially when it's that limited time, it's like you only have this one week to do it.

So people don't miss it. They make sure they get it on their calendar. The franchise thing is always, as I see diverging paths here. Number one is recruit boots on the ground.

You're going to be my agent in Nashville. You're going to be my agent in Memphis in Atlanta, wherever. And that's one way to go. And then the other way would be, well, why don't I just create the online course?

It's very popular on the side of the show. I'm just going to create the online course. How to start show a good sign of business. And then, Lane number three is like a much steeper mountain.

And this is the kind, the franchise route where it's like, I got all this regulatory red tape and franchise disclosure requirements. It's like, it's a steeper, a steeper, more harrowing path. Yeah, it's funny you use that metaphor because I'm a hiker. So of course, I've preferred the steep hike of the mountain.

And the funny story is that I actually did try to start doing it as an online course. And I actually put it out there. I had two buyers. And it actually was a decent amount of revenue.

And like the day that I sold those, my body was like, no, this is not right. I don't feel good about this. This is not it. And I refunded their money and said, I'm so sorry.

You know, I just don't feel right about this. It doesn't feel like the right move. And so they got their money back. And it took me a few more years to actually put the franchise model together.

But I just knew that was the real way to go, the real mountain we needed to climb. What's different in your mind versus like, hey, here's the playbook. It's in on demand video format versus like a more structured playbook processes guidelines on the franchise side. Yeah.

As a franchise, we are just so much more fully developed. We, you know, they get access to everything they need. And not only like our operations manual that they can read through that essentially could be an e-course or something like that, but they get access to me and our corporate office that is emotional support. You know, we're their business coach, their emotional support.

We hold their hand. We answer the phone when they're in tears and don't know how to handle something. All of those things that are so hard as a new business owner when you're just figuring it out on your own, they get support through those things. So it's just a much better way for us to serve them.

That makes sense. So you got 2023 locations, I think you said? 23 locations, yeah. It's a big ending.

Yes, and more to come. Yeah, we started this, we started 2024 with eight locations. And now it's October and we have 23. And hopefully a couple more by the end of the year.

Yeah, that's great. People are taking it and running with it. Earlier you mentioned some mistakes that were going on during these sales. Curious if you have a story or two about a mistake or something that surprised you in running the consignment events.

Yeah, so there are some challenges at the end of our sale when our shoppers or actually our sellers are coming back to find their items that didn't sell. And sometimes it can be really hard to find them. And of course, we have some things that go missing that happens in any kind of store situation. And I always let someone else handle that because it was some negative feedback that I didn't want to have to deal with.

And that did not go well. And I learned that I need to handle those complicated situations myself and be able to handle that negative feedback and kind of grow a backbone. And so that's something that I really did learn over time is how to handle that as a business owner. Yeah, that is a scenario where we often wish that the house was as easily searchable as Gmail.

It's like, where is this? Where are the keys? Where's my hat? Where's the thing?

And it's got to be the same here. You're looking at thousands of items of inventory. Well, where's my stuff? I didn't want it to be donated.

I didn't sell it. Wanted to back. Needle in a haystack in a lot of ways. It is.

Yeah. And 10 people can go look for that item. And it's the 11th person that finds it. Yeah.

Yeah, it can be a challenge. Yeah. There's 100 pairs of jeans here. Which one is yours?

Like, take one that looks similar. No, that's somebody else's. Anything else surprised you in running these? Yeah, it always surprises me.

People's excitement about it. I've always been excited about it and had this vision and this dream. But it still surprises me when people line up outside the door to get in on our first day or on our half-off day. And they just about charge the room.

Like, they're so excited to get in there to shop. And I've now had 21 sales. And that never gets old. That never doesn't surprise me.

Now, I'm picturing the Walmart Black Friday, Tecacra, I was like, oh, what is the door? I'm going to open. OK. Rope drop this thing.

It's a bit of a half-off day. I would be remiss if I didn't poke at that for a second. So this is the end of the thing. Like, everything must go, type of deal.

Yeah. So our last day, our sellers get to decide if they want to discount their items for half-off day. And so on the price tag, it will say discount yes or discount no. And if it's discount yes, it'll be half-off.

OK. This is something that our local sporting goods consignment does, too, in a different way. They're like, here's the price. Here's the price after December 1st.

Here's the price after December 15th. And kind of like stare, step it down. And so as the buyer, as the shopper, I'm like, do I gamble? Do I wait?

And it's like, yes. And you don't. It will not be there if you wait. Yeah, yeah.

So I'm like, I forget it. I'm here now. Let's just do it. So that's really interesting.

A little psychological play here. That people could see on the tag. I should probably just get it now. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, it's like we wanted to sell. So that's our last effort on half-off day. Like, take this stuff. Come on, we're about to close.

We want it to go out the door. OK. Fair enough. Where did your time go in these days?

You're still doing photography? Or what's a day in the life? Oh, so once I started franchising photography, ended completely. I walked away from that because I just saw the vision for this is so much bigger.

So I went all in with statement. And so most of my time is now spent on the franchise. Statement, Knoxville, my original event. Now, we have so many systems and processes that are automated that it does not take a lot of my time and energy these days.

So I'm able to give my time and energy to other business owners who are ready to start their own consignment sales in their cities. And that's what I'm doing day to day. All right. It's exciting.

Any goals or things that you're excited about coming into the new year? Yes. I'm planning to build a house in the mountains. That's my personal goal.

And just keep growing this franchise. My goal is first to have 100 locations. And once we do that, 100 more. The demand for this is just increasing.

Even in Knoxville, we have two locations. And we have wait lists of hundreds of people, even with two locations. So we just want to get this out there to the people. I think people are ready for it.

They're looking for it. So we're just going to keep growing. It's interesting. We were putting together this post on the site of like, what are the best items to flip for a profit?

And we came across this second hand fashion. And I forget if it was thread up or D-pop or one of these services. With the chart just like going up into the right of like, how it's a climbing trend, whether it's from sustainability standpoint or a cost saving standpoint, but just people buying more and more stuff, second hand. Yes, I actually just looked at that report yesterday, the thread up report.

OK. And I think it says this year that resale is supposed to grow 15 times faster than retail. I mean, consumers are just looking for the opportunity to buy second hand more than ever. And it's just blowing up.

So it's a really smart time to get into this industry. Do you think it's a cost savings motivator? What's driving that? I think originally, like 10 years ago when I started, that was the primary force.

And I still think it's the number one reason for the growth. But I think more people are interested in sustainability. And doing things that are good for the environment. And this is an opportunity for them to shop in a way that isn't harmful for the environment.

Yeah, I think it's a really interesting place to play in from the Crown Source inventory without any upfront cost. It's a super fragmented market. Like it didn't even exist in your area. The kids event existed and say, well, I could take that idea, pivot it to a different niche at different market, and go to town with that.

In our area, the ski swap exists, but I don't know. Like the clothing market exists. So super fragmented or non-existent to say, there's an opportunity to come in and build that to make it a thing and hopefully have that longevity and staying power where each year kind of snowballs and builds a little bit more momentum. So I'm really interesting stuff.

And completely different, I thought this was going to be posh mark and take people's stuff. And you don't just message my friends and neighbors, hey, you got some stuff flying around, I can help you sell it. As we've done a little segment on eBay consignment where we had a woman who was doing, like she specialized in these, one particular brand of doll that would go for hundreds of dollars and just became known as the go-to purse that they're really building up your network and reputation in a specific industry. You can't work really well.

But that's what's, I don't know, there's some notes that's been going on in my hand. Statementconsignment.com, mint like minting a coin, statementconsignment.com, where you can find Sarah or consignmentfranchise.com. If you want to learn more about that and maybe setting up something like this in your own town, Sarah, there's been awesome. Thank you so much for joining me.

Let's wrap this up with your number one tip for side hustle nation. Yeah, my number one tip is to start today. If you have an idea that you have a vision for it, nobody else is gonna make that happen, but you and I believe inspiration is perishable. And when you are inspired, you have to run with it.

So start today, put pen to paper today, make an appointment, get it on your calendar and actually get it going today. Absolutely, but it's not on the calendar, it doesn't exist. It's not gonna happen, right? You gotta probably exercise it.

And there's a little print on our wall in the hallways. Everything got a lot easier once he realized that there was exactly enough time for all the things that were important to him. And that's just, there's a little reminder for me, because my to-do list is never ending. There's always more ideas than there are time, but it's like, hey, by definition, you vote your priorities with your time and say, okay, this is what is gonna get done.

Inspiration is perishable. That's the note that I wrote down at the very top. The idea wouldn't leave me alone. And so I hope that you have as listeners more ideas that won't leave you alone as a result of listening to this show, just something that I have.

We gotta give it a shot. So, very much appreciate you joining me. If you're new to the side hustle show, thank you for joining us today. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button in your podcast app.

That way you'll never miss an episode. We've got some great stuff coming up. And if you're staring at that 600 plus episode archive and you're wondering, where am I supposed to start with this? One easy thing, I would love to have you binge on the whole archive, that'd be awesome.

But one easy thing you can do is I get yourself a personalized playlist. How it works is you go to hustle.show, the answer a few short, multiple choice questions. And it will recommend an eight to 10 episode playlist based on your answers episodes that hopefully are gonna be the most relevant and most impactful for you based on your side hustle interests, your side hustle goals. Again, that's hustle.show, thousands of listeners have already claimed theirs and want to invite you to be next.

Big thanks to Sarah for sharing her insight. Big thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone. You can hit up side hustle nation.com slash deals for all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place. That is it for me.

Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're finding value in the show, the greatest compliment is to share it with a friend. So fire off a text message, maybe it's your thrifty neighbor who loves looking at different clothing items and say, this might be perfect for you. But until then, let's go out there and make something happen and I'll catch you in the next edition of the side hustle show.

Hustle on.