Rob and Melissa Stephenson from Flea Market Flipper talk about how much luck plays into success with the reselling business and how much hard work helps.
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Reseller Hangout Podcast - Rob & Melissa On Luck
Rob: All right guys, on today's episode, we talking about how much luck has to play into this flipping business. So.
Melissa: How much work or how much luck is involved?
Rob: That's right. Stay tuned!
Rob: All right, guys. So on today's episode, we want to talk about this comment that we get every so often, s our TikTok, our Instagram, all of our socials grow, we get more comments. So we want to start approaching some of these comments and talk about them.
Melissa: We get both good and bad. So we want to dive into some of those. So this one comment was from Galen on TikTok. And he said, dang, you're a lucky guy to just stop by and get a good deal.
Rob: That's right. So how much does the luck have to play in this game? You know, we flip some really cool things with some high profit.
There's a, a lot of high margins on what we typically flip. So.
Melissa: Do you want to give a background of what this one was?
Rob: Yeah, what was it?
Melissa: That was just the one from the yard sale the other day. So the $5 radio that you got.
Rob: Cool. So, yeah, we'll talk about a couple of our most recent purchases that we got to turn around and flip.
And we'll talk about a little bit about luck. So, I believe luck can have some to do with it, but for the most part, to be honest guys, it's more consistency, consistency living this lifestyle of flipping and being on the lookout.
Melissa: Always keeping your eyes open all the time.
Rob: So for us, we just picked up a radio.
It's a radio slash receiver, from the seventies. Melissa and I went on our morning walk,
Melissa: which we do every day.
Rob: So that's part of you could call that luck? No, I don't think so. It's more of our routine. On the way it was a Friday. On the way downtown to where we run, we were walking in, we saw a yard sale, but we didn't want to stop on the way.
So we figured we would come on the way back and stop. We stopped and found actually a waffle iron, and this radio. Now I didn't have my phone. I didn't have my wallet with me because I don't carry that stuff when I'm running. So I struck a deal. I asked the lady, hey, how much do you want for this radio?
And how much do you want for the waffle machine? And she said, $5 a piece. And I said, okay, I'll be right back. I got to walk home, get my wallet, and then I will come back and pay you, which we did. So I didn't look this stuff up before I bought it, but $5 wasn't that much of an investment. So I did it.
And when we got it, I brought it back to the house. I looked it up and comps were between $500 and like $850 on the radio. So we paid $5 for it. And we got, I mean, we didn't sell yet, but I have it actually listed for $1,000, including shipping.
Melissa: But you were actually expecting it to be worth around $150.
Rob: $150, $200 is what I thought it would be worth.
It's a vintage from the seventies receiver, name brand. If you guys want to look for them it's M A R A N T Z. I don't know how to pronounce that, but that's what it is. So, now was that a lucky find? Or was that more consistently, having our eyes open and really paying attention to what's around us, and finding a deal?
Melissa: I would say a little of both.
Like that they were selling it for so cheap and you know that, but then the fact that we're actually out there every day, walking.
And that also goes, our walks have found, we've found so much stuff on the side of the road because of our walks. So because of this one habit that we created six years ago, now we started walking as a family. We've been able to find so much stuff and people are always like, how do you find all that stuff on the side of the road? I'm like, cause we walk two miles every day.
Rob: And it's a consistent routine. And that's one of the things that plays in our normal routine is we have consistency, you exercising doing this kind of stuff that leads to, hey, you know what? We might find stuff free. We might find yard sales.
We might find that stuff that we're walking past. So it is cool, but yeah, I could go back down to, you know, partially luck that she had that item and she was only asking $5 for it. And, you know, we didn't have to stop by the yard sale, but we chose to, because this is our lifestyle.
And that's
Melissa: another thing too, like it's consistency even stopping at thrift stores, but we, we don't usually go out of our way to stop.
It's usually on the way to pick up the kids from school or on the way to running errands, we drive by a thrift store. So we're going to stop. So, you know, at, in a couple of minutes and stop. So, but it is being consistent. And for, you're not as consistent now at the flea market, but for a long time, you were there every single Saturday, which also helped you create more relationships with the vendors because they saw you every week and then you got some phone numbers.
And so then now is it lucky that you're getting, they're giving you items before they even go to the flea market with them, you know, like, so there's a whole.
Rob: It is, it is, it's not really luck. It's one of those things that I've taken the time I built the routines, I built the relationships for the flea market.
So let's dive into one of our other recent finds, which was last week or a week and a half ago, were prosthetic knees and legs. So we found this lot. One of the vendors got a storage auction and a huge bin, a rubber tub full of prosthetics, that had, knee joints.
It had, sleeves, it had, all kinds of different prosthetics. And he asked me how much I would pay for. And I told them I'd pay $100 for it. And he goes, how about $150? And I said, no, I really, I don't. And I didn't look these up. I just, I sold a prosthetic knee before and made really, really good money.
And I said, no, to be honest with you, I mean, the best I'll do is $120. And he said, all right, take it. So we got it for $120. It wasn't one of our normal vendors, but it was one of our normal routines of going to the flea market. And we found that deal and now I have those listed for $2,000 for the whole lot of this prosthetic stuff.
Which we, yeah. We'll make anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 on a $120 investment. So another it's, so what was the question? Is that luck or is that part of building the routine and building your business? Keeping your eyes open to what's around you.
Melissa: And also growing your wealth of knowledge of items.
Because when you start this business, it can be overwhelming to try to look at every item. Like it is so much. So that's why we always recommend starting with something, that, you know, so something that, you know, something that you're familiar with or something you want to learn more about. So then, but this knee you would have probably looked over had you not sold one before.
So now once you sell a couple of things and you realize. And it's not even the leg that's what sells it to the knee joint is cause they repurpose it or re I dunno, refurbish it and then they can resell it.
Rob: And most likely this will go to a vendor. I mean, it will go to somebody who does the refurbishing.
And then they're going to turn around and sell it as refurbished, like a brand new knee, which we can't do that, but that's how they will buy it. And then they'll make money on the deal as well.
Melissa: Yeah. So, and I think it's more of a mindset shift mindset shift. So to where that yes, somebody could look and say, you're just lucky, but you've put in 24, 25 years of looking at stuff and looking up stuff.
But then that shouldn't also, I don't want that to be like, oh, well I don't have 25 years of experience like you've got to start somewhere. So you grow, you learn as you grow and then you get more experienced and then you get more- luck follows.
Rob: Absolutely. So, and let's break down one more. These are all these have happened within the last, I think two or three weeks to us, was the chiropractic table, that I actually was sourcing.
I was on OfferUp so the first one was a yard sale. The second one was, our local flea market. Third one was OfferUp. I jumped on OfferUp just to look around. Sometimes I get bored. I don't do this a lot right now because we have thousands and thousands of dollars of items that are not listed right now because they might need a little fix here or there, whatever it is.
But I don't do this a ton, but I was doing this this day. I got bored. I jumped on my app and, excuse me, no, I updated our course. So I was trying to make a video for our course members showing them how to source large items. Well, when I did that, I found this.
Melissa: You even said, Melissa is not going to be happy.
Rob: I did it. I did it in the course video.
Melissa: So if you're in it you might've seen it.
Rob: I specifically said, okay, here is a chiropractic table. I jumped in. I checked the comps. The comps were roughly $2,000 I think, $2,000 to $5,000. So he was at $600 for this. I said, I wasn't going to offer money. Then I changed my mind and I offered him $350. And this was a lesson for course, members I'm trying to teach on sourcing.
He didn't return my response. He didn't do anything. This was on OfferUp. He didn't respond back. Until a week later, he responded back and said, hey if you can come pick this up tomorrow morning, you can have it for free. I don't even want $350. And that was his first response to me from, hey, would you take $350?
I can come pick it up, cash. And that was the first response back I got a week later. So is that luck? I, in this case it could definitely be.
Melissa: It's luck that he didn't want to take your $350.
Rob: Exactly. So I don't really understand the thought process on that. Other than
Melissa: he just wanted it gone.
Rob: He was overwhelmed because he got his new chiropractic bed and he had to get rid of this one and you had to get rid of it quickly.
So instead of trying to negotiate with me or me coming there and saying, hey, yeah, I don't want it. He just said, Hey, come take it for free and you can fix it and do what you want. And that guy even asked us when we got there. Hey, are you going to fix this and resell it? Or what are you gonna do? And we told him, yeah, most likely we're just going to fix it because he broke a line when he was moving it from one office to his new office.
And he broke one of the hydraulic lines, which was a $3 fix for us because I know what I'm doing, or I can look on YouTube how to fix stuff. And I was able to do that, but it was a $3 fix for us for this. I think I have it for $2,000. $2,000 or $2,500. I have that listed. So, that's another question, but is it luck or is it being consistent, looking at apps, trying to source, like if I really needed to be sourcing items, this is what I would be doing on a daily basis. I'd be in five and 10 minutes on an app, maybe in the morning and at night. And I'd be looking to see what I could find because the deals are out there. They are everywhere and we're just giving you.
I got that one for free, probably $2,500, $2,000 to $2,500 we're going to make on that. And it was a freebie for me. I've spent $3 on the little fix, to splice the hoses back together. And that was it. That's all that I had to spend on that. And the other ones, I spent $120 on the knees hopefully make roughly $2,000 on them.
And then the radio a $5 investment for $1,000. We're going to make $1,000 on that. So, that's what we wanted you guys to think about is, hey, is this really luck or is it, you know, being consistent with your routines, with your side hustle and really pouring the time into it so you can build the knowledge and just build the experience that you need to actually grow this side hustle or full-time income, whatever you prefer.
Melissa: Yeah. So consistency is a huge thing. And once you get that knowledge and you're growing, like it almost, it snowballs. I don't know what the word I'm looking for. Like you have now this wealth of knowledge already in your head, so you don't have to look up everything, you know, like things that you can spot them and you're consistent.
So you're stopping places that you need to go. You're looking at the apps, to get those things. And there will be times you go to thrift stores and you leave empty handed. We've done it. We've been to the flea market and we leave empty handed. We've done it, but those deals are still be out there. So, and you can find them quicker.
Rob: Yeah. And I think you can refer back to what you, the words I think you're looking for is like compound interest.
Melissa: That's the word I was looking for.
Rob: People who invest in stocks, you put a little bit of money in and you keep consistently doing that. Pretty soon, that money turns into a big chunk of money.
And then it compounds, increases, and it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And that's what we're doing with our business is our knowledge. We're learning as we go. From years of knowledge and everything, just like the knees, I would have walked right past them. The prosthetics, I would have walked right past them had I not known, hey, I flipped one or two of these in the past. They're worth money. Let me do a little deep dive into here, do a little research, or let me see what this guy's asking for them and see if we can make a deal. Same thing on the radio. Vintage, our group, our flipping for profit group, is selling vintage stuff right now from the eighties and from the seventies.
And it is hot. So had I not known that I would have not taken a double look at this radio, this receiver. And I wouldn't have even asked anything about it because it looks old and the old stuff, sometimes it doesn't sell, but this one absolutely did. So it's one of those things you're building that knowledge in your mind, that you're, I guess you're investing into yourself.
And then you just get better and better at it and you can make more money at it. So I would venture to say yes, there is a small portion of luck, but the majority of what we do is really being consistent with our business.
Melissa: So you create your luck. So like a lot of times, so even just, if we bring it into our blogging, the whole internet part of this business, we've been doing this now for six years and we still are growing. Like you know, it's not a fast thing, so we get opportunities and are they lucky? We've been working really hard at this, you know, so how much is luck and how much is work and you're creating your own luck. So I do agree. There's a little percentage of luck and what's, there is a phrase when opportunity meets readiness or something like that's when you're lucky. So, so, yeah, and I think if you also change, like if you're looking at somebody say, man, they're so lucky, like how can you be that person? How can you go and make those steps to putting yourself in the right position to also find those flips, find whatever it is, grow your business?
Rob: Yeah, absolutely. So, all right, guys, you guys have a great day. We'll see you on the next episode.
Melissa: All right. Go create some luck.