Notes from Chris

Episode 1688

When Danielle Winton bought her first home in November of 2020, she wanted it to look like it could be in a magazine.

The problem was, she was starting with limited furniture, only owning a bedroom set, a desk, and two barstools. And, she didn’t even have a place for the barstools, so those didn’t really count. To make a little extra money, she decided to sell them.

Danielle originally bought the barstools for $15 on Facebook Marketplace. Hoping to earn a little extra money, she listed them for $45. They sold without delay, and Danielle was surprised how fast she had made $30!

She figured that she could do it again, and decided to buy more pieces. One of her favorite early finds was an old, outdated orange table. Danielle bought it for 25 cents, painted it white and grey, staged it, and sold it on Facebook Marketplace for $50. That’s a profit margin of 99.50%!

From there, Danielle was hooked. It was like she had found Aladdin’s lamp. She loved the process of finding good deals, transforming pieces, and making sales, especially as she made more and more money from them.

As she went along, she reinvested into her business to buy more furniture, restoration tools and even her own website, WintonFurnishing.com. She made the website about six months after starting, mainly as a source of credibility for her brand. She knew from personal experience that when people had a website, it meant that they were serious about providing a high quality product.

The website links to her Facebook Marketplace, which is where she still spends the majority of her energy. However, she has also experimented with selling on other platforms including Craigslist, Ebay, Nextdoor, and something called Chairish. After starting in November, Danielle has already worked up to earning more than $5,000 a month from her business.

She says that one of the main factors in building her income was investing in storage units for the furniture. That way, she was better able to acquire a larger pool of inventory, rather than be limited by the space she had in her home to store the pieces.

Danielle focuses mainly on selling around her area, in mid-Missouri. Over time, she hopes to build a larger network of shoppers, drivers and virtual assistants all over the state! She still teaches a few ESL classes, but her focus is on furniture.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Danielle and see her furniture listings at her website, WintonFurnishing.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Family Business Connects Household Cardboard to Geometry Lessons: When a mom starts a furniture business, it inspires her kids to try their own hands at business from an early age.
• Couple Turn Unwanted Furniture Into $1,000 Per Month: A couple in Ottawa learn to “upcycle” unused furniture, working extra hours whenever they want and getting paid for something they’d do for free.
• Woodworker Proves Money Grows On Trees: When the owner of a lawn care business can’t find the earthy table of his dreams, he finds himself with a tree-mendous new business.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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