How Kaahreena Ochoco from Per Diem Thrifts sources unique clothing items to flip on Poshmark as a full-time gig.
Website: https://perdiemthrifts.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PerDiemThrifts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perdiemthrifts/
Vendoo: Use the code "flipper30" for 30% off your first month
Reseller Hangout Podcast – Per Diem Thrifts
Rob: What's up, guys? Today we are excited to have Kaahreena here with Per Diem Thrifts. Did I say that right? I think you did. We're super stoked to talk to her today and get a little in look or a look at her business to get some great advice for all of us in this reselling world. So thank you Kaahreena for jumping on here and taking a couple of minutes to chat with us.
Kaahreena: Of course. It's so nice to finally get to meet you guys and talk to you.
Melissa: Yeah, it was a lot of fun getting to follow some people on Instagram. Like we've, for a couple of years, we never really branched out to get to know a lot of other resellers. So now, like with this podcast, we really wanted to get to know a lot of other resellers and learn about because there's so many different ways to do this business, which is so cool.
And you can kind of find what niche works for you and make it work for you. So, and there's so many different avenues.
Rob: It's true and there's no right or no wrong way to do this business. It's really, really cool to see where you fit. If you enjoy a reselling where can you fit? Where's your niche that you can jump into?
So we're always excited to talk to other resellers and get some great insight on their business. So. Awesome. Well, let's dive into it for sure.
Melissa: Yeah. So, give us a little background on you, and how you got started in reselling.
Kaahreena: So my name is Kaahreena. I am a full-time reseller YouTuber, content creator. I was born and raised in San Diego, California, but we actually moved up here to the Pacific Northwest two years ago.
And, I became a full-time reseller when we moved up here, we being my fiance, Charlie, and we have a four-year-old daughter named Ryan and yeah, we've just kind of been enjoying life up here. It's definitely a different change then Southern California, but it's, it's, it's nice. We like it up here.
Melissa: Now you've mentioned your full-time reseller.
Are you working full-time hours? Are you, what are you about how many hours do you work on, on your business?
Kaahreena: It's kind of. I kind of just work whenever I feel like it. I don't really keep track of my hours. I say I'm a full-time reseller because it is my income. It's my main source of income, but I just kind of work.
I don't know, maybe 20 hours a week to be, just give an estimate. But, our daughter actually just started going to school. She started yesterday. She started pre-K. So that's going to give me more time to like, be able to dedicate into my business. I'm really excited about that. It's been a little bit hard of a transition.
I'm still kind of working through like the separation anxiety of her not being like in my office with me, but, I'm kind of excited to see. If I was able to do all of the things that I could do doing this kind of like with part-time hours, like how much more will I be able to do when I have more time to focus on, on all the fun stuff.
Melissa: Yeah. That's awesome. And it's great that you can do it with her, with you. So, I mean, so she's been home pretty much with you this whole time that you've been.
Kaahreena: Yeah she goes with me. She helps me, she loves going to the post office dropping off packages. She's just a whole, she's one of my team members. She's one of my employees.
Rob: That's awesome. And that does say a lot to be able to have your kids with you while you're doing what you love to do. So, yeah, I was going to touch on that before you actually went into detail that she just started school. So, but that's really, really cool because we are able to do that. We're able to take our kids.
We're able to show them how to source, how to ship and how to do all that kind of stuff at a young age. And they, they understand it. So that's really, really cool that you're able to do that with your daughter.
Melissa: Yeah. We're starting to do a little more with our kids and our five-year-old the other day. Right. I said, okay, you need to go clean your room or do something with his chores, like these basic chores, but, and he's like, but I can make more money if I sell something. Flipping. I can make more money flipping he said, and we both like each other, like, okay, but you still have to do your chores.
Kaahreena: Yeah, my daughter just got a whole bunch of toys. Obviously for Christmas, she got like pretty much enough to replace everything else that she already owned. But I was explaining to her like, oh, we have to go out. We can donate. If you have like some stuff, you might be able to sell it and like buy new stuff.
And she, like, I can be a seller like you. And I was like, yeah, if you want to. And she was so excited.
Rob: That's awesome.
Melissa: What a great thing to learn at such a young age, like just to make money. Like that's pretty cool. And it's fun. What is your favorite platform that you sell on or where do you sell mostly right now?
Kaahreena: So my main platform is Poshmark, but, in one of my recent YouTube videos, I actually just talked about how I want to change that up. I love Poshmark just because it's so user-friendly in my opinion, it's very straightforward. And it's what I got started on in 2016. So I'm just very, I'm used to it, but I just, I see so many people winning on eBay and there's just so much potential there that I know I need to step my game up on there.
So in 2022, one of my main goals is to really step up my eBay game and kind of make that be on par with my Poshmark sales, if not exceed them, if I can.
Melissa: Awesome.
Rob: Awesome. I love it. Yeah. If yeah, if you don't know, we are eBay, 90% of our sales go on eBay. And yeah, we love eBay, but it's cool. It's cool too.
The best thing is when you can do the cross posting, when you can get to those other platforms, because not everybody's on eBay, not everybody's on Poshmark. They're not all in one place, so when you're able to cross posts, and get them to all those platforms, it's really, really cool. And it helps you make that much more income with your business for sure.
Melissa: And you use Vendoo too, don't you for cross-posting?
Kaahreena: So I actually just hired, or I have a VA who does all the cross-listing for me. Cause I even with across those thing software, like I just hate cross-posting thing. It's like one of my least favorite activities, but, I've definitely seen an improvement this month of me, like making more sales on there.
And the more that I do it, like it was really intimidating to me. There's just so much going on that I don't understand, but the more that I just like, you know, trial and error, the easier it gets.
Melissa: Yeah, for sure. So if you're selling mostly right now on Poshmark or you do, you mostly do clothes then, right? Clothes and shoes?
Kaahreena: I do women's clothing and shoes. I do a little bit of men's when I can find it, but not too much. And then I do some kids because I do consignment. I sell on consignment for some clients and sometimes add in their kids or their husbands clothes and say, why not? It's free inventory might as well give it a shot.
Melissa: For sure. Yeah. Yeah. We haven't ventured much into clothes.
Rob: We have not, now shoes we have a little bit, but we're not the greatest at shoes either. So, and that's interesting. Did you say you only do women's shoes or mostly? I'm sorry.
Kaahreena: Yeah, I do. I don't know. Okay. Like there's the whole, whole sneaker world, but I just. It doesn't spark as much joy to me.
I'm very like fashion forward. I, my first jobs I worked at Steve Madden, Aldo, Zara like, those are the things that I'm used to. So I kind of just stuck with that.
Rob: Yeah. And that's a cool, that's a cool point because when we do teach people as well, that's what we tell people to stick with what they're interested in, what they love, because it will be so much easier to make money it's that you have the knowledge you enjoy it.
And when you're in a fashion, I totally, I mean, that's all you got to say is, that's why I understand if you're more into the women's shoes, if you do do shoes, yeah. It's much more fashionable than men's for sure. So, which is cool. That's really good to know.
Melissa: Yeah, I'm not really into fashion, so I want like, I want to be, and then I'm like, no, I just back to jeans and a tank top, whatever. But yeah.
Rob: One quick point on the clothes that you're doing are these mostly high-end clothes that you're, you're flipping. I know you said you do consignment too, so, is it higher end clothes that you're, you're able to sell and make money? Or, or what type of clothes are you really doing?
Kaahreena: So I kind of do a mix.
I'm not really into like designer luxury, maybe one day I'll venture into that. But that's just not what I'm able to source at the moment. I, where I live, I live in a kind of small town. There's about like two thrift stores, but they don't get that much stuff. I often drive into Portland to go sourcing.
And when I go in there, I go to like buy, sell, trade stores. So a little bit higher of like a cost of goods, but I can sell them for more. I don't, I wouldn't say that I'm necessarily like high-end, but I wouldn't say that I'm like a bread and butter person. I'm like, kind of in the middle of that. I'm trying to increase my ASP, but at the same time that comes with having a higher cost of goods.
I'm not a bin shopper. I don't think I could ever be a bin shopper. It's not my vibe or anything. But I feel like I'm like mid tier.
Melissa: Okay.
Rob: Perfect. Great place to be for sure. That's awesome. And now you say you do go into Portland and you do sort of source from the thrift stores. And would you say that's your number one sourcing place or do you do anything on apps on online apps, Facebook marketplace, offer up? Where's the majority of your sourcing?
Kaahreena: Majority of my sourcing does come from buy-sell-trade stores like Plato's Closet Buffalo Exchange, Crossroads like some of the more curated. Like easier to shop through stores. Like if I go in there, I know I'm going to find something. Whereas if I go into a Goodwill, I'm going to have to search the whole store and hopefully find something it's just more efficient if I'm driving in.
Cause I don't, I just go there during the day. So like I want to drive there, be able to get back before it gets dark and like have a good amount of stuff. But I do a little bit of online arbitrage. Like I buy a lot off of Poshmark, the real, real, I've done a little bit on like the Poshmark wholesale market, but I don't venture into, like much online arbitrage or like wholesale.
I did a bit of wholesale last year, like through Jomar and the websites like that, but I'm kind of removing that out of my business.
Rob: Okay, good to know. It did spark one more question as well. You do have these new normal places that you like, I only, I know Plato's Closet, but the other ones that you're talking about are similar to that.
Exactly. Those places that you go to now, if you're a regular person in there, have you created, connections with either salespeople or managers of those stores, that help you in your sourcing to where they might give you a deal or something like that? Have you done that in your sourcing or is that, do you just go in there and you're just kind of another person shopping as well?
Kaahreena: I try to be just another person shopping because I was actually tipped off by another Portland seller that they do not like resellers. So, I try my hardest to stay under the radar. I only go maybe twice a month to each store so that I'm not like showing up too often.
And I found out that, like the way that they model their sales. I don't, I rarely ever buy anything like normal price at these stores. I always still shop in like their clearance sections. But I found out that like from the 15th to the end of the month are the steepest discounts that these stores.
So, I tend to go towards the end of the month and that's where I find like the best deals, but yeah, I try to stay under the radar as much as possible. It's, it's kinda sad because like, when I lived in San Diego, I had really strong connections with some of the consignment stores. Like they would give me their leftovers.
I knew some of the managers and I could get, you know, they knew I was a reseller and all that, but here they're a little bit iffy about us.
Melissa: Interesting.
Rob: Very interesting.
Melissa: Because we like to build relationships when we can too, but I don't understand the mindset of not wanting to resellers. They're still selling their item and then somebody is buying it who wants it who wouldn't be in that store to buy it anyway. So everybody is happy.
We're recycling clothes. Like I don't understand the mindset.
Do you dicker on prices, will these stores will let you dicker or, offer less or do you pretty much pay what they haveit advertised for?
Kaahreena: For the more, for the chain store. So like, these are pretty big chain stores. They don't really let you, unless there's like a flaw in it. You can try to say like, oh, like there's a stain, can I get a little bit of a discount? But, for the most part you can't.
Rob: Yeah. The only reason I asked. Yeah. The only reason I ask is because yeah, if you are paying their price for it, they shouldn't be upset if you're reselling it because you're paying what they're asking.
So I, I know I get it. So it's kind of crazy, but I get it too on both sides. Some people there's a stigma about resellers. You're making money on maybe they could get more money out of the item.
Melissa: Then have them post it online and ship it out and do the work. There's work involved. They could do it if they wanted to, but that's not their business model.
So everybody helps everybody out. So I don't understand, but maybe you'll find a couple of stores that the managers will be coolers eventually in the area. How you said you just moved there? Not too long ago, right?
Kaahreena: It's been two years now. I feel like it's still fresh because of everything going on, haven't really settled down here, but.
Melissa: Yeah, that's true.
True. So the world's still been kind of crazy for the last two years.
Rob: Well I was just going to also say, what about flea markets or yard sales? Have you ever ventured out to find those that, that might have clothes as well?
Kaahreena: Not here in, in the town that I live in, it's very not, I feel like I'd probably be able to find hard goods or like collectibles or like probably like, you know, equipment or some other kinds of things.
But like I said earlier, that doesn't spark joy for me. I'm in clothes and this is not an area to find good clothes. That's why I've been trying to do more consignment. Like I've done a few pop-ups where I tell everybody that I'm a reseller. And I tell them that, you know, if they don't want to donate their clothes, if they want to make a little bit more money, they can come through me.
I will sell it for them. That's given me a lot better luck than trying to go to like yard sales. But when I lived in San Diego all the time, I went to warehouse sales. I went to, flea markets, like every single weekend. That was my jam.
Rob: That's awesome.
Melissa: That's really great that you didn't let that get you down though. Cause some people will be like, oh, I just lost like all these places that I used to source are not here. What am I going to do? You thought outside the box and now you have another source of income. So that's also really cool. So what would you say your average monthly income from reselling is?
Kaahreena: So lately my sales have been around $4,000 to $6,000 a month, but I haven't really been taking an income from reselling. I've just been trying to put all of that money back into my business, pay expenses, and do all of that, try to grow my business. Instead I've actually been exploring other income streams. So I recently added YouTube, Instagram, sponsorships affiliates, just a bunch of other kinds of income streams that can actually pay me so that I can let my business just keep rolling with the money.
Melissa: Awesome.
Rob: That's awesome. Very, very smart. I love it. All your eggs not in one basket, you have em spread out and that's the best thing you can do. So that is awesome. That's exciting.
Melissa: I do. I love following you on Instagram. Your reels are really well thought out and really fun to watch. We've just started doing well a little bit started doing reels and it's fun. They're just fun. I don't know. It's just a new creative way to, yeah.
Kaahreena: They're a lot of fun. And honestly that has. Probably the easiest way for me to gain a following and gain a community. Not just like people following me, but people actually like interested in what I have to say. And, just like finding new friends, finding new support systems and meeting new people and all of that.
Melissa: Yeah. You guys definitely need to go follow her. We'll put her a link in the show notes. Instagram it's perdiemthrifts, is her handle. So we'll definitely put that in the show notes.
Yeah, so, reflecting back on your business, but would you say are three, like key contributors to your success?
Kaahreena: So three things that I think I've really contributed to not only me being like able to grow my business, but me being able to like find fulfillment and like happiness and peace in my business is number one, like finding my people, finding a support system and friends, mentors in the reselling community who have kind of helped guide me and just been there when I needed it.
Because as somebody who like recently went full-time. In 2020, which was my first year of being full-time, everything happened. It was really lonely. And, you know, I didn't have any local friends cause I just moved to a new city. I wasn't working with anybody. I was at home with my fiance and my daughter 24/7.
So finding people online, helped me so much, not just for like my mental state, but like just being able to also bounce ideas off of people, especially with social media, like being able to find other people to collaborate with, like with this video. And just like not feel lonely, not feel like you're trying to do something by yourself.
It's, it's so important. And it honestly, it's one of the reasons why I've been able to gain so much confidence to be able to like post stuff on social media and just to like, kind of feel validated that what I'm doing in reselling is right. And the second thing is to just continue educating myself.
I love taking an e-course. I love joining webinars. I love doing all of that. And there's nothing wrong. Like I know there's so many people who are like anti e-course or anti, whatever. But there's just so much information out there to learn, even just hopping on YouTube and just seeing what so many different resellers have to say, kind of like what you guys were saying at the beginning, there are just so many different niches, so many different methods and ways that you can run a reselling business and be successful.
So like being able to learn and kind of pick different points from each one of that. It's such a good way to be able to grow your own business and like find what works for you. And then lastly is tracking my numbers. That was something that I did not do for a really long time. I kinda just like put things out there and hoped it's sold and then like, you know, use the money for something else, but really understanding what was working in my business, not working, analyzing my sales data, like with vendors like using their sales analytics is just it's it's, it's a game changer.
Melissa: Yeah, that's awesome. I think we can relate to all of those.
Rob: We can. But sum it up with community. That was awesome. Community. Number one, number two is learning, educating yourself. That is amazing to be able to keep doing that when you think you know everything and you're at that point, sad place to be, you can always, always learn and invest into yourself.
So that is amazing. I mean, how many courses we bought tons because we're learners. We love to learn about the stuff that you love. So. And the last one definitely is good bookkeeping. And we've learned that too, the hard way it's taken us a while to get to that. So those are three amazing points. I love them.
Everybody listening to this can take away from those. Those are amazing points for sure.
Melissa: He did good bookkeeping until we started blogging about it. So we started our blog in like 2015, and people are interested in what you sell. So like, okay, we'll do income reports on what we sell. And before it was just like, oh, I have more of a hobby.
Like we just did it kind of on the side and didn't really keep great records up. And now it kind of forces us also to keep good records. So, which is a good thing.
Rob: Great, great points. I love em three great points, for sure.
Melissa: Yeah. So where can everybody find you on social media or where's the best place to go find you?
Kaahreena: I'm mostly active on Instagram at perdiemthrifts. I'm currently taking a break on YouTube just for the month of January, but I did blogmas in December. So if you guys want to go and binge watch all of that, you can find me again at perdiemthrifts and yeah, I'm all over the place. I'm on Poshmark, eBay, everything, Facebook.
Melissa: Awesome.
Rob: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for jumping on here. Absolutely love the, the interaction with you. Thank you so much for all the great tips, to those resellers out there. So we're very, very excited to be able to speak to you and thank you for your time.
Kaahreena: Thank you for having me. This was so much fun. I love chatting with you guys.
Melissa: Talk to you soon. Thank you.