I left an office job after 20 years and made my eBay hobby my full-time work – I now bring in a six-figure salary
AN office worker has revealed how he decided to quit their job after 20 years to pursue their eBay hobby full-time – and they now make a six-figure salary.
US-based Matt Ringler realised he was fed up with his publishing job during the pandemic and started to think about other ways to make cash.
Writing on Business Insider, he said: “ I have always been a yard sale, flea market, tag sale, church sale, and thrift store lover.”
But after spending £442 ($550) on “bric-a-brac” online to “fill a void”, he had a career-changing thought – “why buy stuff when I can sell stuff?”
With more time on his hands due to lockdown, he started selling items from around the home on eBay alongside his job.
After the pandemic, he retained his working-from-home model and realised it enabled him to have time to create listings and ship items to customers.
Between his job and eBay he was making more money than he’d ever had before, and he managed to rack up savings.
After his publishing job laid him off, Matt decided it was feasible to take the plunge and turn his hobby into his full-time gig.
Part of his new strategy was to make sure he had listings up every day, which means he had to find more items to sell.
Although he started to overbuy and fill up his apartment with things to sell, he said he found some “real gems”.
He added: “There was a Krug champagne bucket at the Salvation Army priced at £32 ($40) that I sold for £803 ($1,000).
“On the last day of an estate sale, I saw a complete-in-box, Lego pirate ship set from the ’90s still sitting there. I paid $10 and also sold it for £803 ($1,000).”
Matt built up to 10 items a day, seven days a week, and says he now has the freedom to work whenever he wants to.
Of course, with more stock, his flat started to become chaotic, so he hired a storage unit to handle all his packages.
He aims for £281 ($350) in sales a day, which works out at £102,629 ($127,750) annually.
How to start your own business
Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
- It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
He added: “I love finding an item that is on its way to the trash and connecting it with the one person who still feels its value.
“I love working hard and knowing that I get all of the benefits of that effort. I love that all of the fun is back in what I do for work.”