From a successful popcorn seller in NV to launching a successful online reselling business in 2018, Bob Treska takes us through his challenges with re-selling how he’d made a regular monthly profit of 3K. He shares with us how he creatively made a pivot with his business as well as top tips to start your very own re-sale books business!
From selling on carts to selling on online carts
Bob loves to be creative with what he does. He started out with a popcorn business and sold the yummiest popcorn along the east coast. He and his wife sold over 30 different flavors of popcorn, with customized labels and photos! It was a family effort, and he enjoyed the business very much.
In 2018, Bob chanced upon an opportunity, where he got 20,000 magnet shower curtain fillers as someone nearby was giving them away. He thought, why not diversify his income options, and sell these items online?
While popcorn selling was fun, Bob wanted to eventually switch to doing something that was less physically taxing, and something which gave him the time to do more. After testing the sales of the magnetic fillers, he developed a selling strategy, which primarily included re-selling books.
“I want the product (which I re-sell) to be packaged reasonably,” Bob mentions. He goes on to further elaborate that he discovered that books were convenient to re-sell, as they could be easily sourced from thrift shops near his home, and he could physically inspect their condition before selling them online. This quality check process, he affirms, ensures that the items shipped out are in a good shape and any possible product damage that the customer receives would have come from the transit journey. Bob also regularly tests a few products on his store to ensure that there is a diversity of items on his stores. Another strategy he uses for his product listings is to offer bundles of items on his online stores.
Family Above All
Bob owes his success to his supportive partner and loving family. Being married for over 20 years, he mentions that they’ve been through thick and thin, and believes their patience has allowed them to thrive in business. He also spends a chunk of his day daily to spend time with his children and family. Being the family man that he is, Bob’s goal is to save up 500K in the coming years for his family. He aims to do this by reselling items on Amazon and e-Bay, and by investing some of the profits in stocks, which he believes is a great strategy to apply to grow your money.
You can learn anything online
From popping the best American kernels to learning how to make a steady profit from Amazon and e-Bay, Bob believes you can learn anything online these days!
“Just amazing all the stuff, you can find on YouTube. That’s basically how we got started with our popcorn business…YouTube is pretty cool.”
Using online platforms like YouTube helped Bob get the knowledge he needed to start his business. He attributes his success to tools like AccerlerList which helped him set up functions and automate workflows in the business easily. He’s grateful for the ease of using the internet to troubleshoot issues in the business when they arise, such as control settings on platforms like e-Bay or Amazon that impact the listing’s visibilities.
He signs up for online courses to understand the stock market better and listens in regularly in Zoom online sessions to understand how the stock market is performing.
While he hasn’t experienced any major events or failures in his business, Bob mentions that he still struggles with getting tech-savvy, but takes his time to be patient with himself and learns how to be a more effective seller online by asking questions.
On parting advice, he offers patience as the key to success. “Everybody thinks everything’s going to happen like tomorrow is Yeah, life doesn’t work that way. You got to be patient,” he said.
Bob mentioned that asking questions, getting in early, and being patient with your businesses or portfolios can help you become successful in earning multiple streams of profitable income online.
He shares this and many other gems on The Sellers Corner. Listen to his podcast interview below to get the whole story and more helpful tips!
