Rob and Melissa Stephenson, of Flea Market Flipper, interview Gina Ramirez about how she made $14K in the last two months.
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Interview With Gina
Rob: What's up guys today we are excited to talk to Gina, a Flipper University alumni who has been killing it in her business recently.
So we wanted to get some tips from her how she's had so much success. So Gina, thanks for jumping on here with us and talking to us a little bit.
Gina: Hey, thanks for having me.
Melissa: Yeah, thanks for being here with us. And so let's dive right in and see, like, give us a little bit of background, how you got into flipping, like, what was the reason you started and where were you kind of before you started in that?
Gina: Yeah, so, I found out about you guys through my husband. He was watching, Side Hustle Nation. And he came across your your interview and he was selling through FBA Himself, and I kind of learned a little about reselling there, but he forwarded the interview to me and I was like, oh, I like this like this makes sense your business model, you know So that's that was back in 22. And I, I joined the course and then, it took me a little bit of time to get into it, but once, once I did, I was sold.
I think I did remember that you said you were, you, you joined, but then you didn't really do as much. And now the last like six to 12 months, you've been killing it. So what, what, what kind of flipped?
Rob: What made the switch?
What, what got you all in and going all in into the business?
Gina: Yeah. So I joined in, I think it was January 22. And the next month I found out I was pregnant. So that took me out. I was throwing up until the day that I had my son. I just didn't have the capacity to take something, you know, try something new. And then it was about a year postpartum. And I, I just felt bad that I had him, but I think at the time it was like a thousand or $1,500 to join. And I was like, I didn't do anything with this money. So I just told myself there was a little bit of fear, but I was like, you need to at least get your money back and sell one or two items at the minimum.
And that was the goal. So about a year later is when I was like, okay, let's try this. And I rewatched all the program videos and I was like, okay, let's just go. And that's kind of where it started.
Melissa: Love it.
Rob: I love it.
Melissa: That's a good excuse. We'll give you that. That's a good reason. But then you didn't let it stop you.
And I, I think that's awesome. And because, because you invested in yourself, you're like, okay, I'm going to do it because of that investment. I think that's awesome because some people, you know, they're, they don't do anything with it. It's like, you know, go and use the information and go and, and do it, make it happen.
Rob: So, yeah, we actually had one of our cousins. Is he a cousin?
Melissa: He's my cousin.
Rob: One of Melissa's cousins just reached out to us today. And he's like, I'm going to start taking this seriously. I want to start doing this. I want to start doing this. And, it's like people that you know, that are close to you, you want them to be successful, but when they don't have that investment into it, sometimes when something gets harder that way, it, they can't push past it because they're like, ah, it's too hard.
I'm not going to do it. But you had that investment that you're like, I'm going to make my money back. And then after that, oh man, you hit the ground running and you've done amazing. So that's so awesome.
Melissa: Yeah. So you jumped kind of right into the bigger value items. So like kind of walk us through that mindset.
I know that's our business model. It usually takes people a little while to get comfortable doing some of the smaller items and then they, you know, get the, so you've talked to Melissa the other day, it took her, I think four years before she's like, took on the freight shipping, but you kind of started with it and talk us through kind of how that How that went and what did that feel like?
Gina: Yeah. So, in the spring I started on Poshmark. I sold like five items. And that was a great little transition because they cover the shipping. You use the USPS boxes. And then I was like, let's do this. And, I just, I don't know when I try something, I want to go all in. I was like, I don't want to make $20. I want to make $2,000. So, at the time I was also motivated because my husband and I were moving out West and I was transitioning from, full time work to part time when I had my son and then I was going to stay home with him full time. So I knew that we were going to transition to one W2 salary and I was like, oh, I need to do something to help in light of all the moving costs and things like that. And so I just gave myself, I had about four months until we were going to move. I was like, let me just trial this out. I'll just buy a few items. I don't want to buy a billion and then have to ship the items across the country. So I did that and they sold really quickly.
I was like, wow. And that the rest is history basically. Yeah.
Rob: That's awesome. What was your first item that you sold that, and you're like, okay, they're, this is going to be amazing. What was that first item?
Gina: The, my first eBay sale was for a Camaro Tonneau cover. It was my husband's and the crazy thing is the few items that we had just sitting around in our closet.
I mean, he knew the value of that. I didn't. And it sold a week later. And so I remember at first, like chit chatting, I was like, oh my God. So it's sold for $800. Wow. Great item. It was super easy to package because it's rectangular. And then the next day we had another sale for $2,500 and we both were like, what?
It was just crazy. So it, it just started big and continued to pile off of that.
Rob: Snowball.
Melissa: What was the second item for $2,500?
Gina: It was a piece of medical equipment. It was something inherited and I didn't know the value of it. I'd never heard of it. So I looked on eBay and I had seen a similar model sell. And I remember being like, okay, let's just post it for this much. I think when we were gonna try for $1,700, I was like, nah, let's just put $2,500 and like, it sold the next day.
Rob: That's awesome! Yeah, I love when that happens. I love that too. I did that recently with the Panini Press, and I, I put it at the top of the market.
I knew I was so high on it, but I did really good pictures, and I did all the stuff that I, I tell everybody to do, and it sold within like a week or two. And I was like, man, I was at the top of the market, still sold. I can't believe that it's sold for that much. So that's really cool. So it is fun when that happens.
Absolutely.
Melissa: And you're also giving yourself wiggle room though, too, so that for offers to negotiate. So when you start at that little bit higher number, you know, you know, you give, give yourself a little bit of room to dicker with the price if somebody does bring an offer.
Rob: Absolutely.
Melissa: So what is, a tip that you would give someone who's starting out, trying to get to their, we kind of made $10,000, the goal, like a big goal.
Cause they're like, okay, then you've really got this business going. Like it's moving, it's going forward. You're making some money. And you're learning all the things to make it even better. So what's some a tip you would give somebody who's kind of starting out to get, help them get to that first $10,000.
Gina: Basically just have to source and find the items in advance. You just have to keep your eyes open and just keep searching on marketplace. Okay. And then just list them. I think, I think I got, the cost of our move was like $8,000. And just from selling maybe four or five items, we covered the cost of our move out West, and then I hit $10,000 shortly after that.
And that was just in a few months. And it was just finding a few items. And at the time I didn't even know the value of some of the items. I was like, okay, I'm taking a chance here. But, as you start doing it, you're like, okay, yeah, this will sell. You have more confidence. But at the beginning, there's this, that fear that you're like, am I just wasting money and I'm going to keep this large item in my garage?
So you just kind of have to take a leap of faith and in the community, it's helpful because you have all these people who've bought and sold these similar items so you can be like, okay, well, if they sold it I can do it too. So just go off of what they've done.
Rob: I love it. Such great advice. It is a lot easier when you do see somebody else. You're looking at an item or you find an item that somebody else inside the community has already done. And they give you the tips on that. It's so much easier to be able to go in there and have their confidence because they've already done it. So I think that's awesome and utilizing that because a lot of people have access to that community.
They don't utilize it. So I think that's amazing that you're in there and you're utilizing that as well. So that's awesome.
Melissa: Yeah, I think it does we talk about that a lot. It is, this boils down to the confidence of doing it. And once you do it, you gain that so much. Melissa, we talked to the other day. I was like, I wish I would have done it sooner.
Like I've waited so many years and now after doing one, I'm totally doing it again. It was not that hard, but now you have the confidence that you did it once and you can do it again. So, what's maybe an obstacle that you had to overcome to help you get to that first $10,000? Besides having a little kid. I mean, that's a big obstacle right there.
Gina: Yeah, but that's what I love about it is like, it's, I do this totally part time. It's something fun for me and my husband during the weekend. Like, we'll be like, let's go to this city down the road and get some dinner, eat out. And then while we're there, we'll pick up an item.
So, I've always had his support, but I guess just self limiting beliefs, you know, fear, of course, things like that. And for me, it was like, I really like my home to be orderly. So for me, it was like, I don't want these things just sitting around and not selling, but I had that motivation of, okay, I need to make some money for this move.
So that's kind of what pushed me towards it. But I think it's just those basic fears that we have, like, hey, can I do this? Or for me, when I joined you guys, of course, I really was like, is this a scam? Like when, you know, just to invest the money, it was hard for me. And I was just like, no, it was listening to these interviews and the podcasts and listening to other people's stories.
I'm like, okay, I think this is for real. Let's just try it. And I think everybody faces that to an extent of like, is this just like a money gimmick or something, but it's totally not. Yeah. It's totally doable and, it's just been fun.
Rob: That's so cool. I was going to relate that back to a story. Just over this last weekend, we went and spent some time with some family up in Georgia.
And my brother in law loves mining. Yeah. Like, digging for gold and, and rubies and all this stuff. And having that feeling of like, I, I think everybody feels that because when we got there, I'm like, they, he bought this big bucket load of dirt that's supposed to be out of the mountains.
Melissa: Like you can purchase different levels or different amounts of dirt that you can purchase to look for these things.
Rob: And he bought a tractor load of dirt and the guy plopped it down and was like, alright guys go to work. You're going to be here a couple hours sifting through this, trying to find gold. And at the time I'm like, okay, well, is this a scam? He just gave us all this dirt. What, you know, where did he get this dirt from? Is there really gold inside of it?
And everybody has those beliefs of a limiting belief of. Hey, is this real? Is it fake? What is it? And then we started doing it and we started doing it and all of a sudden we see a little nugget inside the dirt and you start that the growth starts to go and then we ended up finding more, nuggets or more, flakes and gold flakes and nuggets and other stuff like that.
So, I think you're natural. You're not, I mean, you're, you're totally normal to feel that because everybody feels that and it's just trying to figure out if it is legit, if it is true, and we did the same thing. So that's, that's cool. And thanks for being vulnerable with that thought process as well.
That's really cool.
Melissa: Yeah, I love it too because, I love doing these interviews with everybody because it does, it's one thing when you say, okay, well, Rob can do it because he's been doing it for 28 years. So he knows what he's doing. He can do it. But can other people really do the same business model?
And to be honest, when we started our core nine years ago, when we first started, we're like, okay, can other people do it? We know it works for us. We know it works. Like, we weren't like, it, it works, but can other people do it? And then just having more and more people being able to do these freight shipments is just like a thousand, two thousand, three thousand dollar flips.
I mean, that a month can totally be life changing, which was just so exciting. Absolutely. Absolutely. Anyways, so not to go on a tangent. What, what have, have you made so far, if you're comfortable talking with numbers, what have you made like in the last year?
I think you've really been taking this seriously.
Gina: Yeah. So, it was about a, in July would have been a year of like really trying and I mostly just track the large profit items. I sell smalls, like if I find something free on marketplace, just to keep the algorithm in my favor, you know, so I, I, I track that stuff, but I don't know off the top of my head with small, but at a year I had sold, I think it was 20 items and I made $21,000. Wow. And around that time, actually, is when I connected with Jenny from our group. And, I know she had done those road trips along with you guys where you, you make, you turn your, your travel into work. So. I was going back to Florida to visit family and my husband and I were debating like, oh, should we just fly or should we do a road trip?
And we were like, no, let's do this. And Jenny encouraged me a lot. So thank you to her for that. But, that totally paid off. Like it was crazy. We bought like 10 items. And within the last two months, I've made $14,000 just selling like eight of them. And I'm like, so just my husband and I, we had family in town, so they were watching our son and we're like, let's just get out of town.
So we went down to Salt Lake City and of course, we turned into a little road trip and slash, you know, money making and we picked up several items. So my goal now is to make $50,000, this year, which I'm going to be there in no time. But it's to probably do at least three or four of these road trips a year.
You know, it'll just pay itself off.
Rob: That is so awesome. You are amazing. That's so cool that you have actually done it and you came down and you're turning the the road trips because that's something that Melissa and I started a couple years ago as well. And then living into that isn't it so amazing to be able to go and do something spend money while you're on the road. But find the stuff to be able to pay. Anyways, I I love it.
I love it. So you're amazing I'm, so excited that yeah, you and your husband are doing that it is, it's so much fun. And when you figure out those little tweaks, even for just small travels, like you did to lock Salt Lake City. I mean, you can turn a little weekend getaway. We just did it too, up in Georgia, a weekend getaway to, you know, a couple thousand to $5,000 to $10,000 worth of stuff that you're finding while you're paying for your, really your getaway.
So anyways,
Melissa: And it was all part of the trip.
Rob: Absolutely. Anyways, that's awesome. So that's an amazing kudos to you. I'm, I'm so excited that you guys are doing that as well.
Melissa: People ask us all the time too. Like, well, how are you guys do so many road trips? I'm like, cause they, they pay for themselves. Like, we're working on these road trips and it's fun too.
It's a game. So that's awesome that you're doing that. So you got to keep us posted on all your trips. Absolutely. That's so much fun.
Rob: Next time you come to Florida, come check us out. I didn't know you're down here in Florida. That's crazy.
Gina: Well, we're moving back. So,
Rob: what part of Florida?
Gina: Jacksonville, St. Augustine area.
Rob: Just a little bit higher than us. Awesome. Cool. We'll definitely have to get together for sure, so.
Melissa: Yeah, so talking a little bit about, Flipper University, who would you recommend the program for?
Gina: Just about anybody. I, that's what's cool about it is, is like literally anybody can do it. You know, you, you can be 70 years old. And I think there's a guy in our group who's paying his way through college. Several, you know, stay at home moms. A lot of people end up doing it full time, but a lot of us are just doing it part time. And so, anybody can do it.
Rob: Awesome. I love it. I love it.
Melissa: How many hours would you say you're putting towards this a week?
Like I know it varies, I'm sure.
Gina: Yeah. I don't really know, especially with doing like the road trips. Like do you count that? It's fun too. Yeah. And then once you start selling, like I've had several freight items go out, I mean, I'm driving to the terminal a lot, so it's hard, but like in terms of sourcing, you know, I'll probably look on marketplace twice a day, three times a day, and just scroll a little bit.
And then you'd probably make a trip down to the nearest city once a week, maybe once every two weeks. It's hard to say, but it's definitely part time. And I, and I, I fix up items. I clean them while my son's napping or at nighttime. So during the day I'm with him completely. Not worrying about this stuff and if I did have anything pop up on ebay or you know Like it's all through your phone.
So yes, you could do this literally anywhere
Rob: That's awesome. And the cool part is like you said, this is on your own time You can do it. You can plan the time to go pick up stuff. You can plan the time to work on stuff, to ship stuff out. When we do freight shipping, we give ourselves five days, which is all the way through a weekend which is important because you don't want to, I mean, we don't have a job for a reason.
I don't want somebody dictating what I'm doing every minute of the day. I want to have that freedom to do it. And it sounds like you're living into that amazingly, which is so, so cool as well.
Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's really when we jumped in full time and like we say full time, but it was still part time we do part time hours now, I feel like in the flipping business.
Cause we do a lot of the coaching podcasts and all that stuff too. But when we had little kids, it was. amazing to have this as a business because you do like you can do it in the pockets when they're napping when, after they go to bed. And I mean, I love that we were able to be present. For us, not that, nothing wrong with going to daycare or any of that, but we wanted to have our kids home with us. And that was kind of that was a big thing for us. So which is why we dove into this as much as we did. So, it's so awesome that you get to experience that.
I love that.
Gina: So yeah, it's a huge blessing for sure. And i'm making more money now than when I was working 40 hours a week. Can't complain.
Melissa: Treasure hunting.
Rob: And you have your own schedule. So maybe not dictating your 40 hours. You're working when you want to work and it's part time. So that is exciting. That's really cool. Absolutely.
Melissa: You're probably never going to want to go back and get a regular job now.
Right. You're probably ruined. So these are your, does your husband still sell an FBA or.
Gina: No, no, he just did that temporarily, but it was cool. That's what got me into this. And so I'm glad he did it. He focused more on like smalls and you would make $30, $40. And I was like, why are you wasting your time?
Melissa: There is something once that, like you, flip that switch of like, okay, now you kind of, it's like, I'm going to sell something for a hundred dollars. Is it even worth my time to list it? And it's like, yes it is, but is it really? So you kind of get that threshold. It goes higher and higher after you start doing these larger items, which is pretty cool.
Absolutely. So. Awesome. So anything else you would like to tell somebody who might be on the fence of thinking of doing this as a business or as a side hustle who might have some fears or of getting started? Like, what would you maybe tell them?
Gina: I would say you just, you just got to jump in. Like if there's a tug on your heart, you want to try it.
Just go ahead, invest into it. And then just jump in. And luckily this has got a built in community that you can literally reach out to people, ask questions. And when things do come up, cause they do, just things with shipping and refunds, all that stuff on selling on eBay, you've got help. You've got people who've been through it.
They've done that. So you have all the resources and it's just a matter of believing in yourself and finding the items and then letting them sell on their own.
Rob: Love it. Love it.
Melissa: Now you did, if I remember correctly, you did have an issue when you first started that you were selling too much stuff too quickly, right?
Was that like eBay flagged your account for in the beginning because it was, you were doing too much, right?
Gina: Yeah. So I was lucky in that my husband already had an account. He was buying things. So I didn't have that. You can only sell, I think it's like 10 items at a time. I didn't have that limit. And I was like, well, let's just go with it.
And yeah, the first two items I sold happened to be a couple thousand. So yeah, they have that rule or whatever, where they have to, they flag anybody who's reached a certain threshold, like $5,000 or $2,000 or something. And so there was a period of like a month and a half, I reached out to Rob, I was like, what do I do?
And I just have to provide all the information like, hey, here's my receipts. Here's my, my license, things like that. And then they were like, okay, you're good. Thanks. Bye. At the moment, it was a little bit of a scare.
Melissa: Yeah, but it worked too good.
Rob: And eBay's there to protect people. So the biggest thing is they're trying to make sure that you're not, exactly, you're not a fly by night. You're not out there selling something that's stolen, something like that. So in the hindsight, 2020, it was not fun to go through, but at the same time. They're just trying to protect both sides of the, the sale, which is really, really cool.
Melissa: I just think it's funny that she sold too much too quick that it, it's not funny cause you had to go through it, but you got through it and did all the right things and got it all approved.
But, but I think that's just so cool. So it works if you work it, it works. And I love that.
Rob: It does.
Melissa: Yeah. Any other questions?
Rob: Excuse me. No, I think that's awesome, Gina. You're so amazing. You're such an inspiration to us for sure. So I'm so excited to, how amazing you're getting, you know, the results and you're, you're putting the work into it.
So thanks for spending some time with us and giving some tips. I know you're going to help somebody else out there, who needs to just believe in themself to be able to do this. And you're living proof that that's all you really have to do is believe in yourself, and you can get the same results.
So it's really, really cool. So thank you so much for your help and your time.
Gina: And thank you guys.