Forum

How fast did you grow?
 

Been selling on eBay for quite some time. I'm only 17. Got my parents' eBays suspended and reinstated and then banned for good for reasons that I know were mostly my fault. I've read the stealth guide and love it.

I have 5 stealth accounts. They aren't too big but in the growing process. All 1-4 months old except one thats about 8 months. Come 18 I plan to take my business into a more serious manner and once I move out (Lol) I plan on making it my full time job with college. I'm sure I can manage it to fit my schedule.

I've been operating all my accounts in my room with hundreds of stock. I've kept myself from buying large items and it really limits my business.. All my items average from a few OZ to 10 pounds max. I'm organized but very crammed. What made you take the step to moving into an office or warehouse? What was your method and how did you adapt? How much $$ did it cost you in storing supplies (like tables and billboards and such)?

Theres an old and beat up warehouse that hasn't been used for years thats walking distance from my house thats for sale. I'm going to try to contact the owner and offer to clean it up etc. and rent it out. Pretty good size.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

Keep your overhead as low as possible, for as long as possible. I found that it's much more beneficial to rent/buy a slightly bigger house and use the spare room for stock. You save a some money doing so, but what's more important- you save time!

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

I agree, keep overhead low.

My business grew quickly, within a year I was at my current volume(70+ packages going out daily).

I still operate out of a spare bedroom, with cases of some overstock items in my garage(I try to keep it decent looking in the office/bedroom, so only keep what I ship in 1 week in there, I had some custom shelving/desk unit made, high gloss fire engine red :). My on hand stock alone is worth over 150K and some is electronic in nature, so I'm hesitant to keep it in a storage unit an I do not want the expense nor exposure of an office.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

At my peak I was shipping 200-400 parcels per day at 3oz each, all out of my bedroom. I affectionately referred to my room as "the warehouse" and I slept on a twin bed and would get out of bed and trip over boxes stacked 3 high.

The only part of my room that was organized at any given time was my desk and printer area.

I was paying $700/mo to rent the room in a 4br that I shared with 3 other people. No one knew I had over 100k in cash sitting in a lockbox in my closet.

If I could, I'd do that all again in a heartbeat. But my niche has changed dramatically :(

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

I recommend a book called, 'The Home Office From Hell Cure' by Landers It delves into personalities of homes office owners and if/when/why you should or should not have an external office separate from home.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

Thanks for sharing!

I operate in a niche market and that's one of the scariest things I can think of- If the market changed one day, my business would be in ****sville.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

what do you plan to go to college for?

if you don't plan to be a ......doctor.....dentist......nurse...computer programmer/software engineer/civil engineer......or some high powered attorney college is useless......trust me just being an ebay/Amazon seller is already well above basically all majors in college

If I were you and had to do it all over again. I would say F*ck college and create an enormous amount of stealth accounts that are highly untraceable and make a business out of it to your dying day.

I have a lot of friends that graduated college.......no job....or a super low paying job that pays little to nothing to survive and you got that crazy overbearing boss.....who can fire you at anytime they feel like it. and once a year you get a 1 dollar raise.......

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

Just a 4 year college degree. Probably for entrepreneurship/business/marketing. I still have a year and a half to decide if I'm going to skip college or not.

My father is an engineer and I already know how to work Autocad and do work for him sometimes. Pays great.

Until then, I'm planning on continuing to create stealth accounts and continue stealth.

If anything, after high school I'll take a year break and do stealth full time for a year then decide on college.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

Don't skip college, **** this.

People who look at college ONLY as a way to make money in the future should **** off right off the bat.
College or more about networking, having friends for life and growing as a human being. It's a lovely period in life where you can take time to grow up whilst nobody can **** with you, because you can always say "I'm going to college" and it gives you a bit more time to figure things out.
If I'd get a chance to do it all over again, I'd go to college and study something semi random BUT work on the side and run my stealth business sidebyside with college.

You are young, you can do like 17 things at once, sleep 4 hours a night for next 5 years and it'll not have any negative effects on your life.
If you decide to go other route and do 1 thing a day, sleep 12 hours for next 5 years, that's when you'll have problems.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

I was fully grown by the age of 20 id say

:focus: :deadhorse: :cheer:

Seriously though, dont grow to fast, start slow build up and grow :) After 6-12 months you should be pretty solid

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

And privacy.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

That's actually a big one, one of the most important aspects of my work.
I love "working" in my boxes in the middle of the night, just walking around with a cuppa and listening to Kendrick Lamar with my headset.
I can't imagine doing something like this in an office building or self storage unit. There would be many, many awkward moments.

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

College is the best times of your life. I'm actually planning a vacation with like 8 of my college buddies as we speak. You will have memories, stories and friends for a lifetime. Live on campus and get involved! Be an RA, play sports, be in a frat, party and drink lots of beer with friends. Get an education, get an internship and co-op.

Do not take a year off or you will not go to college at all. That's the biggest mistake young kids make. Start filling out your college applications now!

Re: How fast did you grow?
 

College is a great life experience, definitely don't pass that up for eBay. Besides all the experiences and Social side, you will expand your knowledge of not only your major but other core classes that u never had before

And having a Degree will never hurt you

After college you can do anything you want including eBay if that's what you want, it's good to have options and as many experiences in life as possible, you will meet people from all different states and just see all the differences in families ,culture, great experience to have