This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
In today's story, a call center employee in Central Florida finds that restoring furniture isn't too hard with a bit of technique and finesse. It actually learns a lot in a short period of time. He goes from learning the ropes to budding side hustle to actually running it as a full-time business. I'll tell you exactly how it works. And then he makes another change, another career change that demonstrates why improving your skills is so important.
It's a big part of this message I try to bring to you every day. And by the way, welcome to Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. I have the privilege of bringing you this show every day. And ultimately it's about encouraging you to diversify your income, to create more options for yourself, and not just more options to be overwhelmed, but more options to create more security so that you have a backup plan, so that you have more income coming from different places, you're not reliant on one source, et cetera.
So I often talk about these things about diversifying your income can give you freedom and security. Well, this story illustrates it really well. And it also happens with no debt and very little stress. So perhaps the archetype of a side hustle model to follow, no debt, very little stress, increasing your freedom and security. The story is called "Floridian Finds Fair Value Flipping Furniture." And yes, I did have fun coming up with that title.
The story is coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Ryan Crohn's inspiration for his side hustle came from a close source, his wife, Jessica. In late 2018, Jessica restored their dining room furniture to reflect a farmhouse style. One morning shortly after, Ryan was getting ready for his job in call center management and they got to talking. Jessica mentioned that people would pay good money for refurbished furniture.
"Like how much?" Ryan asked. "Probably $500 for a dining room table." Jessica said. Intrigued, Ryan asked her to teach him how she painted their table. She did, and within a week, Ryan was restoring an old dresser they purchased for $30 off Facebook Marketplace. The restoration involved Ryan putting on a new coat of paint, which only took a couple of hours, as well as $50 in supplies.
This included a $10 paintbrush from Amazon, along with the paint from Lowe's. Although he had no previous refurbishing experience, Ryan realized he loved the task. Once he'd listed the dresser back on Facebook Marketplace, it sold within two hours for $150. He and Jessica were shocked at how quick it happened. It wasn't much work for a $70 profit, and even better, this was the first time they'd tried.
Might they be able to replicate or even improve these results? So for the next piece Ryan refurbished, he upped the sale price, and it sold in less than a day. Buffed and polished with this success, he started searching for more pieces of furniture at garage sales, auctions, and on Facebook. He didn't have a truck at the time, so he would borrow one from family or friends in order to source multiple pieces in a single day. After refreshing them with paint or stain, he would list them online.
With each one, he'd profit between $150 to $250. Since he'd listed solely on Facebook Marketplace and didn't advertise, Ryan didn't have to pay any cost for marketing. As he began to scale up, he would work on several separate pieces at once. He devised a rotation process in his garage, which allowed him to apply three coats to three or four pieces a day. He got even faster once he learned how to do stained wood tops.
This feature increased the value of his furniture still further. It allowed him to take a $50 dresser and sell it for up to $300. In fact, here's a fun anecdote. Ryan purchased one particular piece from a garage sale for $15. It looked rustic on its own, so he ended up selling it as is for $200.
Not a bad return on investment for practically no work. The most challenging part of this project was learning the technique of making furniture reflect that farmhouse style. He messed up a bunch of pieces because he didn't apply the paint or stain a certain way. Sometimes he could recover them, sometimes not. Sometimes he would distress the coats of paint too much.
But through trial and error, Ryan perfected the skill. The furniture flipping continued part-time for several months. Meanwhile, he was growing more and more unhappy at his corporate job. So in August 2019, Jessica convinced him to quit and try flipping furniture full-time. He finally got his own truck and focused on the furniture business, bringing in between $2,000 and $3,000 a month.
Although this was less than he made at his corporate job, he was much more content. Ryan did this for about nine months while also helping out with Jessica's wedding photography business. Earlier this year, he got a chance to go back to work and call center management, but with a twist. This time, he found a dream job working remotely as a supervisor. This role enables him to be close to his family while also getting a regular paycheck with benefits.
He's quick to note that the furniture flipping business will always be one of his reliable income sources. It's not mentally taxing and he revels in the opportunity to be creative. Best of all, it serves as a solid backup plan. [Music]
So check this out. This story is a wonderful example of something that anybody can do.
And when I say anybody can do, like let me just kind of break this down because you might think, well, I'm not handy. I'm not either, just to be clear. But it's not so much about being handy. Renovating is a lot like reselling of any form. So reselling I sometimes say is like one way or another, everybody can do it.
So maybe furniture isn't your market. What about computers or cameras or cars or high-end kitchen blenders or upscale fashion items? These are just a few markets in which it's possible to make a good profit by acquiring items and then making some kind of change or improvement and then selling those items to a new owner. Now the change or improvement can be something substantial. You know, you could be like overhauling the entire car, let's say.
It can be maybe somewhere in the middle like a lot of furniture renovation is. It can be purely aesthetic in some cases. You do run into situations like the anecdote from Ryan where he found something and then thought about making a change to it but decided it's actually pretty good as it is. In that case, he paid a pretty low price for it and was able to resell it for a fantastic profit margin. So that doesn't happen all the time of course, but as you kind of delve into this, sometimes it does.
So it's one of these things that everybody can do if you're trying to figure out what's my next step or how can I create a source of income that is a good backup plan for me. Something in this direction is worth considering. So I'm gonna leave you with that today. Inspiration is good but inspiration with action is so much better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/1473.
Include links to anything I mentioned. And by the way, congratulations to Ryan and Jessica as well. Good work. I look forward to hearing what happens in the future. If you have a comment or question for the show, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Thanks so much. I hope you'll join me tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
