I’ll be honest. I’m SUPER excited and wanted to share and possibly inspire others on what this business can really do. If you can’t tell already by my past posts I hold nothing back. I’m as completely transparent as a sparkling clean sheet of glass. I hide nothing including my financials. I do this for a few reasons but mainly because to give people real-world examples of what selling used books on the Internet can do and to prove that you can do it too.

I get countless emails from people that found this blog through Google, Youtube, Facebook or whatever other medium I have content on.  In some of these emails, I love to hear people just starting out get psyched about some of the things I talk about including how much money I make.  I do the same thing for business ideas I’m interested in as well.  People seem to think it’s awesome to hear how a regular guy, starting with no money to build the business actually made something of it.  For those people, this is my most exciting post yet!

This month I made over $11,000 just by selling books on Amazon, eBay, Half, Alibris and Abebooks.   This is my highest grossing month on record and means I’ve met a goal I’ve been shooting for for a very long time!  How did I do this?  I’m no mega seller.  Hell, I’m not even doing this full-time but what I can tell you is that I worked my ass off nearly every day outside of my full-time job to build it to this point.  I also finally was able to get some quality helpers to help me achieve this.  If you’d know me personally I don’t like to brag on my achievements but there some times when you’re so proud of what you have accomplished it’s hard not to keep it in.

I sometimes hesitate posting money figures not because I don’t want to share but because of the typical first reaction that is received.  “This guy is full of it.  It’s the Internet.  Anyone can write about how they made $1,454,656 in 2 hours.  What are you trying to sell me now?”  That is true.  I could completely fake the numbers and I do sell an eBook. However, if you follow me for any length of time you’d find that I don’t lie nor do I try to push my wares down your throat either.  Do I want you to buy my eBook?  Of course!  Why?  Because we both benefit.  I get some extra cash and you get a super good deal on a solid foundation in which to build your book empire and be on your way to your own $11K month.

In complete honesty, the $11K is a gross figure.  This doesn’t mean that I actually put $11,000 in my pocket today.  As with any business comes expenses but luckily selling used books typically has a higher profit margin than other businesses.  I unfortunately don’t keep very good financial records (but working on it!) so I can’t tell you actual net profit numbers but judging from past months I can tell you that I typically spend around 40-50% on expenses which means I actually made $4,400 to $5,500 this month.  I think that’s pretty good for part time work!  I’m going to try to get an exact figure soon.

I bet you’re thinking  “I know it’s all great that you set a goal, achieved it and now you’re up here bragging on yourself on your blog but what’s in it for me?  How do I take this and apply it to my business?”  Funny you should ask Mr. fictional blog reader, I have just what you’re looking for.

Here are the key points that led me to this record-breaking month.

1. Solid, recurring source of inventory

This was the most important piece of the $11K pie.  Total orders this month was 1,525.  That’s an average of around 49 orders/day.  Thanks to Amazon FBA, I was able to fulfill that many orders else I wouldn’t conceive of shipping that many orders every day after coming home from work.  I know you’re asking where I get my books from but this is a topic that I only rarely let people in on simply because I have hundreds of readers throughout the world that read this blog.  How am I supposed to know that I don’t have someone local to me that wants a piece and tries to butt in on my lucrative source?

I will, however, give you some ideas that are not well-known that are not even in dozen or so sources in my eBook!  To lead you on the right track to finding lots more, very cheap books, think about where books naturally will accumulate in large sums.  No, I don’t mean Friends of the Library sales but that can be a great place.  I mean places that have loads of books that are actually NOT for sale…at least not right now until you come in.  Think about the average book buyer’s routine; the book is bought new, read and sits on the shelf for awhile.  What happens to it after that?  Write down all the places you think that book may go and include places where the book would be for sale and the places where it’s not typically for sale either.  Once you have all the places written down, start researching and calling and you will eventually come across some very lucrative sources.

2. Cheap storage space to hold inventory

Not everyone has this luxury.  I was fortunate enough to be provided with free storage I use as my warehouse and 2 additional garages.  However, I recently outgrew all this space and was forced to actually spend money on additional storage space, but thrifty me was able to get some super cheap space.  I was able to rent a concreted pole barn that wasn’t being used by a neighbor of my father’s for $50/month.  $50/month may sound like like a lot at first but the size of this barn is 40′ x 60′ with electricity!  Check your local Public Storage facilities and see how much space that would cost you normally.  It’s all thinking outside the box.  Most people would think if they need storage space to buy from someone that’s selling the space.  Wrong!  Think different!  Try to think of where space may exist, in general, and then work your way back from there.  Using space for unconventional purposes is usually super cheap!

3. Hire cheap labor

I cannot possibly thank my family and other employee for helping me achieve this record month.  I honestly could not have came close to this.  My “helpers” were able to be trained by me, provided with the equipment to use and let go to start scanning.  They know exactly how to sort the books, process FBA shipments and pull orders for me.  Since I’m only available during the evenings and weekends they keep the ship going when I can’t be around.  My help includes my father in law which works for a staggering $4/hr for 40 hours/week for  just some extra cash, my cousin which is $8/hr at 25 hours/week, my sister at $8/hr for 10 hours/week and finally a super-hard worker that I hired over Craigslist  for 10 cents for every book looked up and all the discarded books she can take to look up all of the non-ISBN books that are sorted by my family.

Is your wife a stay-at-home Mom that could spare some hours?  How about your parents?  Perhaps they are retired and want something to fill the time for some extra cash?  Even if you don’t have any of these sources, don’t hesitate to look at Craigslist.  You can easily find people in your local area that love books and would love to make some extra money.

Think Different

I can tell you about where to find inventory, how to print postage online, how to pack books, how to clean books, how to setup an inventory system, how to go book scouting, how to list on Amazon, how to price books but do you know what all those have in common?  They are all typical pieces of the business that everyone needs to know.  You list a book on Amazon, it sells, you pack it, get postage and ship it.  Everyone knows that.  I’m not, by any means, downplaying the importance of these things but to truly succeed in this business and I believe in any business endeavor it’s all about thinking different.

How did I find my source of inventory for literally 1-2 cents/book?  Thinking different.  How did I find someone that will look up books for 10 cents/book while she’s ecstatic to do this from home?  Thinking different.  How did I find this great place for storage?  You guessed it.  Think outside the box.  Don’t follow the path everyone else is taking.  Everyone has the same endpoint which is making sales but only the idea-driven, try anything just to see if it works book sellers will make more money, cut costs, work less and enjoy every minute of it!

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