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Bicycle hustling for fun and profit

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

ZCP

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@adamhenry Suggest a simple P&L and Balance sheet for this business. Track transactions and update monthly. Post any payments to yourself from the cash to a dividends or similar account. Grab a simple accounting book or PM me if you need help setting it up.

Seeing the profit / loss on the P&L and seeing the book value go up will help you with motivation and knowing where you are. You also will find opportunities to log some expenses to the business (meals, supplies, phone, internet) that will allow you to take advantage of income->expenses->taxes instead of income->taxes->expenses.

One final thought, you are smart and motivated. You have made great progress. Now schedule 1/2 day a week to work on the next / larger venture. Time to accelerate!
 
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Kyle Tully

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Then it turned into a second income project. I was able to leave my $60k high stress 9-5 for a $30k low stress 9-5, thanks to the supplemental income.

Now it's moving towards a part time 9-5, where I could work a regular 9-5 three days a week and this would supplement it enough.

That's the hook for your info product right there.

This is all most people really want to know, how to make a few hundred extra bucks a month to take the pressure off.

Take detailed notes on exactly what you're doing, set an aggressive goal to get a report written covering your process, then launch it and use the funds from both these activities to start something with much bigger potential.
 

adamhenry

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OK so here's a quick summary for the last couple days. My day job at the bike shop seems to be drying up, so wasn't at work the last two days (and won't be today either). So I had to hustle!

Reminder - at my regular day job I make $14/hr x 8 hours = $112.

Sept. 3:
Sold Kona Zing +$50
Sold helmet and pannier rack +$15
Sold Kona Lana'i +$35
Hauled away a TV +$10
Sold bike lock +$5

Total Net Income Sept 3 = $115

Sept 4:

Sold Gary Fisher: +$60
Sold vintage cooler: +$25
Sold bike seat: +$5
Sold Barletta: +$30

Total Net Income Sept 4 = $120
 

adamhenry

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Net profit mtd = $235

Not going to record inventory at the moment, since it's not making sense the way I was doing it. Got some advice from ZCP so going to get some accounting documents rolling.

A takeaway from the lambopower thread was that those guys had a goal of buying a certain amount of profit each day, rather than a sales goal - because of course you'll probably have varying sales days, weekends probably higher than weekdays - so I've been keeping this in mind and buying bikes between all that selling.

A good source has turned out to be thrift shops - there were a few that I knew had used bikes, so have been picking them up where I can see $20-$50 profit per bike.

My main problem at the moment is acquiring enough inventory. No problems with demand.
 
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adamhenry

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The vintage cooler was a neat experiment - I'd stopped in at a thrift store on Wednesday, and had noticed a vintage typewriter for $12. Went back on Thursday because I realized I could've doubled my money at least on it, but it was already gone. Poked around the shop and found an old metal Coleman cooler for $4. Figured it would clean up nice, so took it home and did so. Checked craigslist and found exactly the same one listed for $130, albeit listed since March and still unsold. Someone else had a larger better one listed for $100. So I posted mine for $30. My phone buzzed about 3 minutes after posting. Here's the cooler:

df5d4c4463e813cb82cb175ea37178d3.jpg
 

adamhenry

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Sept 5:

Sold vintage Raleigh ladies bike +$30
Sold Norco Kokanee +$15
Sold bike rack +$10
Sold Kuwahara +$20

Total Net Income Sept 5 = $75

Sept 6:

Sold bike shoes +$10
Sold pannier rack and bar ends +$15
Sold pedals +$20
Sold Trek 820 +$25
Sold P90X DVD set +$15
Sold car rack +$20

Total Net Income Sept 6 = $105

Net profit mtd = $415
 

KarlR

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Hey Adam,been following this thread for a while.
I used to work in a bike store aswell a few years back and always thought about doing what your doing,but I guess didn't have enough ambition back then to go ahead and do it!
I noticed a huge market for used bikes,we would sell them in our store whenever someone would sell us any,but we really rarely had any in store,and when we did,they would usually sell in a day or two.
On average,I noticed the majority of customers who came into the store were looking for used bikes.

Anyways I cannot get started at the moment as I will be moving around for the next while,but once I get settled and can get some tools I am dying to give this a go!


Also Adam,one idea I used to think about a lot back then,was collecting broken unfixable bikes,by taking them from garbage or collecting them for free/dirt cheap off people...what I mean by unfixable bikes,is like cheaper bikes that have for example,buckled wheels or a damaged frame that would cost more to fix than the price of a new bike.
You would then build working bikes using parts...or strip them and put up the parts for sale maybe?
What do you think?
 
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Magik

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This is a great thread. There is a lot to be learned in flipping and hustling. Many people in the salvage game who move thousands of dollars a day in goods started out this way.

I am starting to flip stuff myself. I've always dabbled in it. When I managed a cell phone store I would flip phones from time to time when I came across a steal. I've sold lots of my own stuff via CL and Ebay. Sold a pair of KRK Rokit 5 studio monitors for $180 on Saturday. Bought them in 2004 for around $300.

On Friday, I bought a dusty wood wine rack (holds 24 bottles), a bicycle, and a Technics vintage turntable for $100. Should be at least $100 in profit once I sell all three. The pain is in having money tied up in inventory. The bike and wine rack may take too long to sell. I'm going to focus on things that can be flipped quickly, and I think I've got a few ideas there.

My goal is to make $300 a week, may take me a few months to get there.
 

adamhenry

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Sept 7 $0 (worked at bike shop)

Sept 8:

Sold Miele Firenze +$75
Sold Vintage Sprinter +$25
Sold Vintage Velo Sport +$25
Sold Vintage Raleigh +$60

Total Net Income Sept 8 = $185

Net profit mtd = $600
 

adamhenry

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Sept 9:

Sold Panniers +$20
Sold Giant Ferrago +$40

Total Net Income Sept 9 = $60

Net profit mtd = $660
 
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adamhenry

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Also Adam,one idea I used to think about a lot back then,was collecting broken unfixable bikes,by taking them from garbage or collecting them for free/dirt cheap off people...what I mean by unfixable bikes,is like cheaper bikes that have for example,buckled wheels or a damaged frame that would cost more to fix than the price of a new bike.
You would then build working bikes using parts...or strip them and put up the parts for sale maybe?
What do you think?

I do think this is a good idea, and a good way to get started - and I think you should do it.

I think you'll find that there are so many bicycles out there, that you won't need to rely on unfixable bikes - and I really don't see that many unfixable ones. Once you start looking, bikes are easy to find - if you wanted to stick to free/cheap, you'd be able to find plenty that just need air in the tires and oil on the chain to be ready to ride. These will just be low end department store bikes, but they are plentiful.

For me, I'm now trying to stay away from bikes that need much repair. There are enough opportunities to make money from bikes that are already in good shape, that I don't need to.

It's also easy to get bogged down in finicky repairs, especially with low end bikes with shitty components.

Here's what I'd do if you want to get started cheap - post an ad looking for free bikes needing repair. You'll get some really bad rusted bikes that don't really have any parts worth saving, but you'll also get some bikes that just need air (people always think they need new tubes, but they don't).

Here, a rideable bike is worth at least $50. There are also other people looking for project bikes. So sometimes what I've done is collected free bikes, fixed and sold the ones that needed minor repairs, and then sold the ones that weren't worth it to me as a group, eg. "5 project bikes for $50". Worst case scenario a scrapper will come pick up whatever you can't get rid of.

I haven't dabbled in selling parts, but definitely accessories, so I pull off and sell these separately from any bike I buy and sell. Here's a quick list of what I seem to be getting:

Pannier rack $10
Panniers $20
Clipless pedals $20 (can put regular pedals back on for $10)
Fenders $10
Basket $10
Helmet $10
Lock $5
Bar ends $5
 

adamhenry

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The pain is in having money tied up in inventory. The bike and wine rack may take too long to sell.

Yes, I'd say the #1 thing is to move it back out quickly.

Make sure you've got a nice clear pic of the item against a plain background.

I've also been having success with a title that explains the use of the item more than what it is, eg. "Urban commuter bike, ready to ride" seems to do better than "Trek 820". Plus all the other ads are "Trek 820" style, so mine stands out.

List your ads as soon as possible, but renew/relist them early Saturday morning. People will get up Saturday morning and browse the ads over a cup of coffee as they plan their day. Stats show Monday is the highest listing day but Saturday is the highest viewing day.

I also list my items at the price I want to get. So if I pay $50 for a bike and want to get $75, I'll list it at $75. I could list at $100 and wait for people to negotiate, but I find the $75 listing sells it today - it generates more bites. If someone shows up and wants to negotiate I'll pull out my phone and say "actually I've got three other people I'm supposed to call if you don't take it". This is often the truth too. Don't put "firm on price" in the ad though, and don't put "OBO" either.
 

adamhenry

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Here's something I've been thinking.

I can easily do $100 a day. Usually the problem is running out of inventory/time more than having stuff I can't sell.

$100/day x 5 days x 50 weeks = $25,000/year = entry level job

It took me about 10 years in the hotel industry to go from entry level to $60k/year. I'm sure some people get there faster, but my heart wasn't really in it.

$200/day x 5 days x 50 weeks = $50,000/year = career salary

How long would it take for me to move from making $100 to $200 per day? I feel like if this was my day job it might be more like 10 months rather than 10 years.

Alternatively I could focus on "How do I make $100 in half a day?", then use the other half a day for Fastlane projects.
 
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adamhenry

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Also, the important question would be "How do I make $200 today?", not " How do I make $200 flipping bikes?".

That way answer can be "bikes + Amazon + ebook", or another combination.

Then, do an 80/20 analysis, eg. "Bicycle flipping takes 80% of my time, but only provides 20% of my profits, so time to cut it out of the equation".

At the moment I'm trying to figure out how to do 80/20 on current business.
 

ZCP

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@adamhenry, you are on the cusp of a breakthrough here..... start thinking with bigger numbers...... how do you turn this into $1k / day........

Sit down right now and sketch this out..... If you had unlimited funds, how to you either 1) scale this to $1k a day or 2) sell this system to people and make $1k per day while they can now make $100 per day.

Stop. You were about to say 'I don't see how this can scale.' 'The local market is too small.' 'Ebooks are hard.' or some other limited belief statement. That is what is holding you back. You need to think BIGGER. I recommend The Magic of Thinking Big by Schwartz. Sometimes it is actually easier to think 'how do I get this to $10k a day?' instead of how to get to $200.......
 

ZeroExile

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I actually only joined this forum because of this thread

I live in Sarasota bradenton and was wondering if you could spot anything recent in the bicycle section that is worth flipping. I looked for a long time but I couldn't really find anything https://sarasota.craigslist.org/

I did find this bike which looks interesting, but this seems unique so I can't seem to find a price that it could be resold for. A newer model used sold around $500. https://sarasota.craigslist.org/bik/4661115376.html

I found a perfectly working elliptical machine near my house and got it with a dolly. I listed it and got someone who was interested right away, it was too far so I couldn't sell it. All I did was clean it, works like a charm. I'm actually a teenager so I don't have my own car yet, my only captial is what I get from working part-time at Publix, as a bagger. I did a lot of research but I have cold feet when it comes to these bikes on craigslist.

Any help would be awesome, although this really might not even be for me until I can get a car because I live a little farther away from town. I can't mail training equiptment.
 
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redsfaithful

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I have been reading this guy's blog for years because I appreciate his hustle:

http://recraigslist.com/

He flips washers and dryers and has made enough to hire employees. I think it's pretty similar to bikes, because they are relatively simple machines where you can add value through cleaning and small repairs, just like bikes.

He also sells a course, much like you are thinking of doing:

http://applianceschool.com/

So just some validation of your ideas - other people make a living doing similar things.
 

jockinbox

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This is why you are stuck

660 Proft MTD
26 items sold (of the ones you listed here, which means theres probably more)
660/26 = $25.38 Average Profit per Item

In reality, there's a limit to how many deals you can do
1 hour per deal, means you're making 25 bucks an hour. Not bad, but not great
If you're average deal profited $100, you would increase your yearly gross profit by roughly 400 %

Seems like you either got to
1. Find higher margin items (cars, motorcycles)
2. Start bundling items and raising your average ticket price (like selling covers with phones, which gives you an extra 9-19 dollars profit per item(

Also, Please don't ask OP to read the Craigslist in your area and find you deals you lazy uneducated leech. Should OP write your ads too?

Adam, Kyle called you out, you've been doing this far too long. Time to move on to bigger & better things

See you on the other side,

Cheers,
 

adamhenry

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I have been reading this guy's blog for years because I appreciate his hustle:

http://recraigslist.com/

He flips washers and dryers and has made enough to hire employees. I think it's pretty similar to bikes, because they are relatively simple machines where you can add value through cleaning and small repairs, just like bikes.

He also sells a course, much like you are thinking of doing:

http://applianceschool.com/

So just some validation of your ideas - other people make a living doing similar things.
Yep, his blog got me started.
 
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adamhenry

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This is why you are stuck

660 Proft MTD
26 items sold (of the ones you listed here, which means theres probably more)
660/26 = $25.38 Average Profit per Item

In reality, there's a limit to how many deals you can do
1 hour per deal, means you're making 25 bucks an hour. Not bad, but not great
If you're average deal profited $100, you would increase your yearly gross profit by roughly 400 %

Seems like you either got to
1. Find higher margin items (cars, motorcycles)
2. Start bundling items and raising your average ticket price (like selling covers with phones, which gives you an extra 9-19 dollars profit per item(

Also, Please don't ask OP to read the Craigslist in your area and find you deals you lazy uneducated leech. Should OP write your ads too?

Adam, Kyle called you out, you've been doing this far too long. Time to move on to bigger & better things

See you on the other side,

Cheers,
Thanks @jockinbox!

This is the first month where I'm actually spending some full days hustling, rather than just in my spare time.

So it's the first time I've been able to see whether I can replace my income with hustling.

Haven't counted the items sold, but it looks like you did from my posts - yes for this month, I've listed here every item sold, so that would be my average/item.

It may be slightly misleading, because the small sales did not have the same acquisition time, as they came with the bikes - for example, I recently purchased a Kona Lava Dome that came with a rear rack, panniers, fenders, and clipless pedals. I'll sell each of these items separately - have already sold the panniers actually.

What I should do is separate out the bikes, calculate average / bike, and then look to buy bikes that should generate a higher profit/bike.

I'm partially constrained by $. I had a bike that I bought for $500, then sold for $540, sold the pedals for $20, the shoes for $10, and the helmet for $10. So there was $80 net profit on the initial purchase.

But having $500 tied up in that bike for a few days was more than half of my operating fund.

Basically, current goals are to snowball the operating fund and look for items that will bring a higher return/item.

What happened was my job at the bike shop fell out from underneath me - I went from full time employment a week ago, to one or two shifts a week. This has provided a whole bunch of time to experiment with hustling, but my operating fund will stay tight because I have to withdraw from it to pay bills.

I'm sure I sound like I'm whining and providing excuses for not writing an ebook etc., but I'm just trying to stabilize with the employment shift. If I can get it rolling consistently enough, ebook is next. Right now, all spare moments are going into sourcing bikes, fixing, listing, selling, etc.

However, all kicks-in-the-pants motivational suggestions are appreciated - I need them! :)
 

adamhenry

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I actually only joined this forum because of this thread

I live in Sarasota bradenton and was wondering if you could spot anything recent in the bicycle section that is worth flipping. I looked for a long time but I couldn't really find anything https://sarasota.craigslist.org/

I did find this bike which looks interesting, but this seems unique so I can't seem to find a price that it could be resold for. A newer model used sold around $500. https://sarasota.craigslist.org/bik/4661115376.html

I found a perfectly working elliptical machine near my house and got it with a dolly. I listed it and got someone who was interested right away, it was too far so I couldn't sell it. All I did was clean it, works like a charm. I'm actually a teenager so I don't have my own car yet, my only captial is what I get from working part-time at Publix, as a bagger. I did a lot of research but I have cold feet when it comes to these bikes on craigslist.

Any help would be awesome, although this really might not even be for me until I can get a car because I live a little farther away from town. I can't mail training equiptment.
I don't mind providing some tips.

Check out this guy:
http://sarasota.craigslist.org/bik/4661722052.html

He flips bikes in your area. Check out his ads "more ads by this user".

Since he appears to have a bunch of inventory at once, he's not flipping them very quick - watch his ads and see how often bikes sell - I bet they're there for a week or more.

Therefore, you can use his pricing as a high value - you should price lower, flip faster, and reinvest profits.

So examine his ads, and start building a pricing model in your head.

I can see he's selling primarily vintage cruisers for $100-$200.

So if we assume he sells a vintage cruiser for $150 once a week, you may be able to get away with selling one for $75-$100, and be able to sell it within a week.

In some cases, you can flip to the flippers, and let them do the work of fixing them. I recently bought two vintage ten speeds from one bike flipper for $100, and sold them to another bike flipper for $150. He can spend the time fiddling with brake pads and derailleur limit screws.

Watch all the ads, and build a pricing model in your head -

How much do beach cruisers sell for?
How much do vintage ten speeds sell for?
Mountain bike with disc brakes?
Etc.

This might sound more complicated than it is. What you want to watch for is someone making a mistake - they list a bike for too cheap for what it is.

Personally I'd pass on that Mongoose bmx. In my experience collectible bmx's might bring $200 on craigslist, but I haven't seen higher. EBay maybe. I think you want to start small and get your feet wet. Get a department store bike for $20 and sell it for $30. The point is to buy something and start, without spending too much time thinking about it.
 

ZeroExile

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I don't mind providing some tips.

Check out this guy:
http://sarasota.craigslist.org/bik/4661722052.html

He flips bikes in your area. Check out his ads "more ads by this user".

Since he appears to have a bunch of inventory at once, he's not flipping them very quick - watch his ads and see how often bikes sell - I bet they're there for a week or more.

Therefore, you can use his pricing as a high value - you should price lower, flip faster, and reinvest profits.

So examine his ads, and start building a pricing model in your head.

I can see he's selling primarily vintage cruisers for $100-$200.

So if we assume he sells a vintage cruiser for $150 once a week, you may be able to get away with selling one for $75-$100, and be able to sell it within a week.

In some cases, you can flip to the flippers, and let them do the work of fixing them. I recently bought two vintage ten speeds from one bike flipper for $100, and sold them to another bike flipper for $150. He can spend the time fiddling with brake pads and derailleur limit screws.

Watch all the ads, and build a pricing model in your head -

How much do beach cruisers sell for?
How much do vintage ten speeds sell for?
Mountain bike with disc brakes?
Etc.

This might sound more complicated than it is. What you want to watch for is someone making a mistake - they list a bike for too cheap for what it is.

Personally I'd pass on that Mongoose bmx. In my experience collectible bmx's might bring $200 on craigslist, but I haven't seen higher. EBay maybe. I think you want to start small and get your feet wet. Get a department store bike for $20 and sell it for $30. The point is to buy something and start, without spending too much time thinking about it.

Thanks really for helping me out, it means a lot. I suppose doing research on pricing will greatly help me find a good deal since I don't know enough about bikes. I really didn't expect such comprehensive help!

I'm just intimidated by the competition since it seems that this is common in my area, I even know someone who lives off of flipping primarily washers and dryers. I thought it wasn't worth it at first, not anymore.

I just got contacted again for my elliptical machine, I probably listed the price to low because I am impatient. Plus I live a bit farther out and someone turned it down because of the location. Atleast it's a $0 investment for it and a $50 profit.
 

adamhenry

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Sept 11:

Sold Kona Lava Dome +$100
Sold fenders +$10
Sold Vintage Velo Sport +$15
Sold Vintage Miyata +$20

Total Net Income Sept 11 = $145

Net profit mtd = $830
 

ZCP

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@adamhenry start adding a line to each report noting what you did that day for creating your fastlane vehicle. You must do something each day. Could be as simple as 'researched file formats for submitting ebook' or 'wrote the title for chapter 3'. Just make sure you do something each day to begin moving this forward!
 
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jec1521

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I wanted to give this a shot. So yesterday I picked up a Trek Mountain Bike for $125. Listed it on craigslist and ebay for $250. Sold it for $225. I probably could have gotten $250 from the guy but it was for his kid, so I gave him a small break. Plus doubling my money was cool by me. Maybe I'll give it another shot this weekend.
 

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Sept 12:

Sold Vintage Sekine +$100

Total Net Income Sept 12 = $100

Sept 13:

Sold Vintage Apollo +$40

Total Net Income Sept 13 = $40

Net profit mtd = $970

Yes, ZCP, I'll add something fastlane to each report. Today I'm meeting with a friend to provide some (free) coaching about Craigslist flipping. It'll sort of be an experiment to see what coaching might be like.

Hopefully you'll notice that I'm trying to raise my $/sale over the last couple days. I was also either working or looking after my kids the last couple days, so am happy with how those days went.

Going to go do some work on an outline for my book!
 

adamhenry

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Sept 14:

Sold Vintage Bridgestone +$90
Sold Pannier rack +$10
Sold another pannier rack +$10
Sold bike seat +$15

Total Net Income Sept 14 = $125

Net profit mtd = $1,095
 
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NetNinja

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Wow still flipping bikes?
I admire your tenacity but you need to go into something bigger.

You need to evaluate how much money per hour you are making doing this. Obviously people are not bringing the stuff to you. So you are spending time to find these deals. time X money = How much money per hour are you making? I think you are making about $10 an hour.
Yes you are working for yourself (Great training)
Yes you are learning a valuable skill (Life lessons here)
Time to move on.

There has to be some goal to where you are flipping cars or houses.

I know a dude who used to flip computers and salvage mainframes. He was making bank during the Dot bomb days. Guess what happened when the bubble crashed? He had a warehouse full of that junk and he still maintains a warehouse full of that junk to this day. He is insane. it's been 15 YEARS!

Then he started buying junk motorcycles for less than $50. He now owns 12 junk motorcycles. He doesn't have time to fix them up and he won't give them away.
He is a crap collector. He needs to be on that show called Horders.

If I asked him to give me one of those bikes he would sell it to me for $100. He says "I never give away anything"

Don't be a crap collector, This is how Pawn Shops start out. Nice and clean and in 2 years they look and smell like a filthy garage.

Be looking to exit out of the bike game. Slim margins, even though you have hit a home run several times on some flips.
 

adamhenry

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No money in the last couple days, which was a combination of having to look after my kids, not having inventory, and also getting rear ended Monday (everybody ok) - so have been running around dealing with insurance, getting vehicle repaired, getting temporary vehicle etc.

However, I did actually buy three bikes yesterday, while looking after my kids, and while not having transportation - the sellers agreed to bring the bikes to me, at no extra charge, and one of the bikes I actually bought for half of what the guy was asking. So for those of you without a car, flipping is still possible!

At the bike shop today, so won't have any flips today either, probably back at it tomorrow.

@NetNinja, yes, cars might be next on my list when I have enough capital. Right now I have to stick to items $300 or less based on the funds I have.

Looking at $/hour is probably a good idea, but I'm doing the same thing anyway looking at $/day. For those of you starting out, I do not recommend looking at $/hour - that held me back for a while until I decided to think of it as an investment instead. When I started, it was in my spare time, so I looked at it as an investment hobby - "can I buy this thing for $20, sell it for $25, and have an extra $5 beer money?". While thinking big is important, it can also keep you from getting started.

For my ebook, or at least my first ebook, I'm thinking of doing a " how to get started" ebook, rather than a "how to flip bikes as a career", since the scope of the latter is hard to handle at the moment. I'm also thinking that just spitting out a short $2 epamphlet(?) to get my first sale is better than tackling a full blown book, to get rolling. I know that getting my first flip profits and my first Amazon sales, even if small, really motivated me to keep going.
 

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