A good friend of mine recently made a comment that really struck home with me. He just couldn't understand why is it I put sooooooo much effort into a resale business when there is such little return right now. His comment went something like this: "Why do you work so hard on getting things just right at your shop when it doesn't seem to pay out very well? I just don't understand, it doesn't make sense!"
And he's right---it doesn't make sense to work full-time at a 'real' job, to use your free weekends' to work yourself into the ground trying to get a side business going. It doesn't make sense to get up super early on your days off just so you can beat your competition to the garage sales/estate sales to find 'treasures' for resale. And it doesn't make sense to try and figure out WHAT in the world the buying public wants this week which is ALWAYS different from what they wanted LAST week!!!
None of this makes sense and yet, so many of us resalers continue doing all of the above--why?!?
Is it the thrill of the hunt? Is it the thought that the next treasure we find for $1 could make us millionaires?! Or is it something else?
Well, I can't answer for anyone else, but I can tell you how I feel---its the hunt for me!! There is just something about digging through box after box of junk, looking for that one item that will help you retire in total luxury. That one elusive treasure has kept me digging through old barns full of petrified raccoon poop (true story), trash piles sitting outside a remodeled house and again, tons and tons of boxes full of everything from vintage dinnerware to broken worthless children's toys!! Picking, as we resellers call it, is very addictive.
There is great joy in seeing value in an item that everyone else seems to have overlooked. And it doesn't hurt to make some money off your investment too!
So, back to the issue of 'working hard with little return'. I wish I could come up with some deep, meaningful reason for what we 'pickers' do with our lives, but the truth is.......I just don't know. Perhaps it is all based on hope--the hope that all our efforts will someday bring us financial security--the hope that we are making a difference in someone's life--the hope that the things from old that brought us joy will do the same for the next generation. Yes, I think that's it---Hope--I like that answer.
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| My booth at a recent trade show |
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| The goal is to NOT take everything home! |
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| A little bit of this and a little bit of that |
God Bless all and any who read this,
Pat, A Remade Life
