This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
In this episode, we share game-changing strategies to grow a Poshmark side hustle. Learn how to source smarter spot-trending items and expand your reach to skyrocket your sales. A listener question, in fact, from Zoe, a college student, she wants to level up her Poshmark reselling side hustle. Poshmark is a social platform/ecommerce platform. It's actually more of an e-commerce platform, I suppose, since they make money at it.
But it's a place where you can go online and sell clothes. So obviously you can do that on eBay or lots of other platforms as well, but Poshmark specializes in it. We've talked about it a couple of times on the show. Zoe has been thrifting and selling these clothes on Poshmark for the past six months, but she's hit a plateau in her sales and is struggling to grow. So what can you do in this situation?
Well, one thing I'll tell you upfront is you can identify high demand items, focus on those. You can also just kind of streamline the whole sourcing and shipping process. So let's talk about it. I don't want to get too far ahead here, even though this is an action-packed short episode 'cause I respect your time. Let's discuss the pros and cons and hear Zoe's question followed by my answer.
Quick shout out to our sponsor and then we're jumping right in. [Music]
Hey, my name is Zoe and I'm a college student from Cincinnati, Ohio. I've been reselling thrifted clothing on Poshmark for the past six months and while I've had some success, I'm struggling to grow my business. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt and finding unique pieces, but I'm spending too much time sourcing inventory and not seeing a significant increase in sales. I'm looking for strategies to streamline my sourcing process, identify high demand items and scale my reselling side hustle.
Should I focus on specific brands, expand to other platforms or invest in tools to automate my listings? I'm determined to take my Poshmark side hustle to the next level. [Music]
Long time listeners know I am into reselling. I don't do it a whole lot these days myself, but it goes back to my early days when I was getting started side hustling. I learned to buy and sell things on eBay and it kind of changed my life, no joke.
And so a platform like Poshmark, no affiliation. I just am happy to send listeners there encouraging you to sell something on, whether it is this one or some other network because it is a very simple business. And once you do it, you're gonna learn some skills that you can apply to any other business. So Zoe, great start, well done. Let's talk about how we can improve from here.
So first things first, optimize your sourcing process. Your reselling business is only as good as where your items are coming from. Some people go to yard sales, garage sales, flea markets and so on. But for something like Poshmark, I think it's more important to like create a list of key brands, styles and sizes that sell well. You may know this from your own experience.
You may be able to discover it by searching. You can usually search completed listings in addition to seeing what is currently selling. That's important. So figure out what it is you want to focus on. So you're not just selling anything, everything.
What are those things you really want to source? Then think about some alternative options for where you can get stuff. Like think about where you're getting it from now, but also where else can you go? Like estate sales perhaps, online wholesale marketplaces. Sometimes you can buy clothes in bulk, like basically compressed clothes that are being discarded somewhere.
Could be something else, but basically you want to spend some time on the sourcing process, figuring out how you can get better and just more items of the right kinds of items for sale. Now as part of that research, Poshmark also has a brand directory and trending sections where you can see popular brands and styles that are in demand. You can follow sellers, like follow top sellers and look at those listings. See how they sell, not just what they're selling, but what are they saying in the copy? Are they doing anything different with the photos?
Obviously, great photos, really important. If there's ever any flaw or blemish in the clothes, make sure that's very clearly highlighted. And then while we're thinking about growth, maybe expand to other platforms. Poshmark is great, but there's others, right? I mentioned eBay, there's a bunch of others as well.
Research each platform's demographics, listing requirements, and so on. Maybe just start by cross-listing a few items. Don't go crazy, just kind of a few things, see how it goes. Also, Poshmark has an inventory report. This allows you to analyze your own sales data, identify trends in your items.
So the more you sell, the better that report will become. The better the data will be, at least, in terms of what you can learn from it. What else do we need to talk about? I mean, that's a lot. Detailed keyword-rich descriptions.
You're probably doing that already. Relevant hashtags. There are some things like Poshmark parties. We could talk about all that stuff, but I wanna keep it action-packed and short, as always. Zoe, I think you're doing great.
I hope you can do even better. Listeners, I hope that you can take action on an idea you're thinking about. If you have not tried reselling, I would encourage you to do it. If you don't wanna do clothes, you could do something else. It just kind of helps you get into the game, as noted, even if you move on to a totally different kind of side hustle.
I could talk about reselling for a long time, but I'm gonna wrap it up. Thank you for listening. If you have a question, sidehustleschool.com. More to come every single day, seven days a week, always free. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from The Onward Project.
