The Business of Used - A Smartphone, Pickup Truck, Savvy about Promotional Copy

“Furniture brand Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams shut its doors suddenly on Saturday, after more than three decades of business … Other brands like United Furniture Industries and Klaussner’s have also shut down in recent months, as the entire furniture industry struggles to recover from slumping sales after the pandemic.” LinkedIn News, August 29, 2023

We’re a mobile society. Anyone who has struggled to sell furniture before relocating knows that is a hard sell. If there are takers they want the sofa or dresser for peanuts. Because there is such as glut of that kind of merchandise it’s likely even charity won’t haul it away for free. After paying for the transportation and dumping we get it that at our new location it’s a bad investment to buy new furniture. Yes, hit the consignment/thrift shops/online selling platforms. The only hitch could be, if you don’t have a Pickup truck, you have to scout up help transporting all that.

The employment insecure, among all generations, have noticed. In my coaching I have found that that the used ethos is the platform for micro enterprises. It’s catching on because there is both more of a market for used goods and more sales channels to hawk the merchandise. The latter range from Craigslist to Facebook Marketplace to flea markets to old-line word of mouth.

The potential high return on the sweat equity is obvious. For example, take dumpster diving. In my parking lot I grabbed a cubby unit.

When a coaching client swung by my house for a session they remarked that they could market it for $350 and probably get $290. Their piece of the action would be 40%. Was I interested? I wondered: Hey, maybe I should add that onto how I am currently putting together what it takes to make a good living.

Unlike working full-time for an employer, operating micro enterprises embeds lots of wiggle room for saving your livelihood. After I had been declared “redundant” at the end of the 1980s I made it my business to have multiple sources of income. That’s a fundamental I teach coaching clients.

Data or the gut for your careers and communications? Both of course. Complimentary consultation with intuitive coach, content-creator, and Tarot reader Jane Genova (text 202-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com).