This was the first week since starting the project that I haven’t made any sales…. OUCH. It’s mostly my fault, I haven’t been able to get to an auction for a couple weeks, so no new inventory. I almost sold some items over the weekend, but the buyer went AWOL (a common occurrence on the “Offer Up” or “LetGo” apps, btw). So, I’ve decided that when there’s slow points in the progress, I will take advantage of the down-time to share other thoughts/posts that are related (see Friday’s “Why Drinking Lemonade is Going to Save the World”), how-to’s, or more in-depth accounts of other efforts I’m working on that haven’t hit pay dirt yet. Today’s update will be that last part.
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Right now, I’m working on two main “other” ideas. Building/Selling Furniture and décor, and importing a product to build a brand/online store. I can already tell, the bigger/more complex these ventures get, the more time and investment it will take to get them up and running. Buying and selling things from auctions is about as simple/quick as it gets, so I need to mentally re-calibrate so that I don’t get discouraged if the other ideas take a little longer to reach a payoff. 

The furniture build effort is going well. The first attempt, a little side-table using the reclaimed wood I purchased from an auction, is so far serving its purpose successfully and netted the project $40. This weekend, I successfully completed trial number two. Pam has wanted a rustic-ish “Farmhouse” style table for a while, and when we were shopping for them at the little shops here in Lebanon, they were $800-900… woah. Similar styles in furniture stores, etc, were well over $1,000! Because the style is rougher lumber and simple construction, I figured this would be something I could try and build so we could have a nice table and save some money. Then I figured if I was successful, maybe I could build and sell some tables, then my customers could save some money and the project would have another nice revenue stream!
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So, this weekend, we built a table for Pam (to be fair, she helped a lot… the style and finish, color, and a fair amount of the staining/painting were all her!). I  decided to use new, untreated lumber since we have babies that like to chew things (treated lumber is apparently safe for most indoor applications, but ingestion is toxic so we went with un-treated just in case) and new wood would be much easier to work with to get a nice, smooth finish on things. 

I spent a little time Saturday morning in-between family activities, and most of the day Sunday, working on the table. I think it probably took 8 hours total, but the second attempt could potentially be quicker now that I’ve figured out the tactics.  I think I can build them for about $150 plus about 6-8 hours of work, and I think I would be pretty competitive at a base price of $450 and can customize the size/color for customers (there are others on Craigslist, similar in the $500+ range). I’m pretty happy with the results, so I’ll use the pictures of this table and see if I can get some orders locally (if you live near Southwest Ohio and want one, let me know!)

The other main effort going on “behind the scenes” I’ve alluded to before, importing products and selling them under a new brand/company. If you’ve heard of this before (people grabbing random products, slapping a brand on them and creating a small revenue stream on Amazon), this is a similar strategy but I’m much more interested in building and actual Brand/Company around a portfolio of products in the similar niche.  At this point, I think I’ve figured out a first “entry” product. I’ve picked this item because one of my hobbies has a pretty lively and personal online “community”, and I think I can use that as an entry point to sell some quickly or even do a pre-order arrangement. At this point, I’ve found 2 suppliers and received quotes. I’m also in the process of setting up an account with UPS for importing/freight forwarding, which is a bit of an elaborate dance. I’m learning all about the import game, but suffice it to say that shipping things across the world for commercial sale isn’t quite as easy as mailing a letter.

I think that UPS (many others do the same service, but UPS called me back first!) will be helpful in this process, as they offer door-to-door shipping services (taking my potential product through customs, shipping, etc) at a pretty affordable rate, and my suppliers per-piece price is pretty good. I’m still figuring out logistics, but I think the total price of ordering/receiving a first batch of this product will be about $2,000. That’s a good deal higher than the cash we have on-hand right now (and I would want to leave some emergency money in the bank!), so I need to get back to work buying and selling items and push the furniture effort so that I can get going on this first small business!

Sorry for the slow week, but I’m really excited about these two new efforts, so they are taking some significant time. I do think that longer-term, they have a great potential for some great money making opportunities, and I’m really enjoying the whole process. The idea of making money doing things that I really enjoy is as appealing as ever, so despite the slow progress my motivation is still high!

Thanks for reading, don’t forget to like and share us on Facebook and sign up for our newly-created email list for updates, and in the future the email might include tips/tricks/advice on how you can start your own 100K project, and how to be successful in making some money on the side!

It didn’t really start as a strategy or anything… It was more of an involuntary reflex.  A weird, random reflex.
 
It was toward the beginning of the summer several years ago. Pam and I were out bargain shopping for things for our first house we had just purchased. We found a neighborhood garage sale, and of course I couldn’t resist. As we were driving through the neighborhood looking for a good spot to park, I spotted a couple young children near the sidewalk, holding hand-drawn signs advertising lemonade and cookies and waving eagerly at anyone driving by. Cute America.

As I drove past, the whole scene struck some kind of chord... I drove into a cul-de-sac to turn around, and pulled up to the stand and parked the car. I could tell Pam was a little surprised but supportive of the plan. We both got out, and by the time we walked to the sidewalk, all three sign-holders were neatly lined up behind their stand (a scrap of plywood on top of two 5-gallon buckets) and ready for business, their mom carefully observing from a nearby lawnchair. They politely asked if we wanted some lemonade, already reaching for the cups. We made a little bit of a show out of it, asking how much things were, if they had cookies and what kind/who made them, the whole little bit. We got back into the car with two paper cups of lemonade and two chocolate chip cookies, which in southern Indiana, circa 2012, ran about $1.50

“Thirsty for some lemonade, huh?” Pam teased in that aww-you-were-accidentally-cute voice. In an effort to preserve my tough exterior (which exists only in my mind, by the way), I tried to explain to her that the kids went through all of the trouble of setting it up, and if we could make their day for $1.50 then it was well worth it. Plus, chocolate chip is my favorite.
 
But the more I thought about it, I realized it was a little bit more than that. It’s more than the cute-kid effect, it’s more than nostalgia, and it’s probably even more than “chocolate chips”. The chord that the sign-holders struck was a fundamental one… the same one that’s inspired this project. It’s that one that a lot of us have, the one that pulls us in the “I can create that” or the “I can do this better” or the “I can solve this problem” direction. It’s a fundamental drive in all of us, to do or create something that wasn’t done before, see our accomplishment come to life, and maybe even reap some reward for our effort. To believe and invest in ourselves, to form a vision and strive to turn it into reality.
 
Since that day, I have stopped at lots of lemonade stands… Pam will attest, I stop at every single one I see. It’s important. I think that the spirit that drives us to create and build, to do things for ourselves, and to work hard for results, needs to be encouraged. I think that that spirit is what is and will continue to make our country and society great.
 
We need more of that spirit. Creativity, ingenuity, hard and smart work, and the drive to make something. That’s what this project, and many other projects, is all about. So I’ll keep working, keep pushing, and keep driving the progress forward. And in between, I’ll keep buying lemonade… because lemonade stands might just save the world.