It is hard work, but when you have been unemployed for almost 2 years $3000 a month for working 8 to 10 hrs a day is welcome and being your own boss for me is worth it.

Maybe you need to take a step back and enjoy your family they are only little for a while. Take it from me a father of 5 and a grandfather of 12 and another on the way.
Good luck in what you do.Ask god for help and he will show you the way. Thank you for all your help and ideas.
Dennis

It's all about people's different situations. My family and I could not
keep our current lifestyle on only $3000/month. I'd love to do this full
time but dropping my full-time job just can't happen right now.

I enjoy selling books on the side and making about 500 dollars in profits each moth. I don't think i would EVER do this full time. Competition is too high now and the sources are getting thinner and thinner. Everyone and their mother know that used books have some value now so garage sales, thrift shops and used books stores are seriously picked over and full of penny books. FOL sales are still rich in inventory but you spend 3 hours being elbowed by other sellers the whole time. I remember collecting baseball cards as a kid and was ecstatic when I learned in the late 80's that cards had value. A decade later EVERYONE knew what they were worth and now cards cost 5 bucks a pack. I am not saying it isn't possible because people like Adam have built an amazing business but for people starting out, I would not recommend doing this as a full time job; I actually wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. It's a shame too, I am a meteorologist with a bachelors degree who is very underpaid and really wanted to explore this field as a full time job

Rob

lol! $3000 a month would actually be a step up for my lifestyle! I was making much less than that as a teacher.

Me and my wife regularly average about 15K in sales per month. Yes we work a lot, but we are our own bosses, and we are able to provide our child with opportunities that we never had as a kid.

This business might not be for people that have to have new cars and car payments and loans and credit cards etc….

We have been debt free for 3 years, and have saved enough $ to fund my childs college in the first 2 years, not to mention pay all of our bills and be able to attain a nicer lifestyle with more richer activities and and healthier food.

Its hard work, but im doing better than anyone I know my age, and I am happy as hell. And we live in California, so our cost of living is pretty high.

If you arent a hustler, then the book biz probably isnt for you.

I can say that, once I started the book biz, I finally found out what a vacation was like, I really need one every year.

It sounds like you are focusing too much energy on books that aren’t very profitable. Consequently, you are starting to burn out from all the work of having nearly two full time jobs. If you don’t plan to go into the business of managing a staff, stick with buying books that will sell for at least $10 each and which you can buy for 50% or less (before tax) of the price for which you will list them. Textbooks and technical books work really well towards these objectives. Use the extra time that you free up to do something else that you enjoy (perhaps really getting into the rare book business or playing pool with the guys in the new man cave after you clear out those low dollar books). You might consider reducing your recurring costs in the process (e.g., electronic spreadsheets instead of Monsoon and ScoutPal instead of Neatoscan).

BTW, I’d love to read about the new features on Amazon for sellers (e.g., custom icons and notifications of listings under catalog entries that are missing information).

I'm sorry. . I don't mean to sound egotistical by any means.

amen. Buying sale rejects is not my slice of pie either….

I can't stand having to attend sales on other people's time though. Also, I
just don't get sale rejects. In fact, those kind of bulk purchases are
becoming less and less.

Your time in the IT field may be worth $50/hour. But what would you pay someone else to sort and list the books for you? That is what your time is worth as a bookseller. Of course that $10-$15/hour that you would pay someone else may not be worth the time away from your family. If you can find a way to get multiple copies of the same book in the same condition that will reduce the time it takes to sort and list which will free up more of your time.

On a personal note. I enjoy reading your posts and would miss the insights you share if you no longer are running a book business. I think that the number of responses on this topic means many others feel the same way. This business is forever evolving and it takes a sharp mind to keep up with the changes. Thanks for all you do for the bookselling community.

I think that I was simply making too quick of a decision. The business
is doing much better lately. It was just one of those days where you
get discouraged.

Sales are picking up now that I buckled down and quit complaining.

I love snatching $20 books right from under any other booksellers hand. I live for it.

I pay $8 hour to my employees. Then again, they arent even part time, its just when I need help. $8 under the table is comparable to $10 where I live.

I think you are getting some good feed back. what do you think?

Adam, I’ve been self employed in the IT field for the last 12 years. If you measure success in how many customers you have and the income you make from your valued customers, than many people would say I’m successful. 60-80+ hours a week are not necessarily billable hours when start including your training just to keep up with new technology. I’m liable to get a call at anytime, any day of the week, which is getting old, because it seems I never get a day off or vacation without a phone call of onsite problems at a business. At one time, I would have considered this a “Good” problem to have, but the older I get the more wary I get. We haven’t had a vacation or gone outside of a 100 mile radius of our location in 3 years, which leaves us feeling “trapped” by my success. My wife and I started selling books online 6 months ago. Granted up until last month it was just a hobby, but we’ve started to see the potential of this business long term, and began ramping up scouting and using FBA. I don’t see it replacing my primary income within the next few months, but if my wife and I can create ~$6k income working 40-50 hours a week and WE get to choose the hours we work, that opens a new door to freedom that I’m not seeing now. I can see us traveling at least once a month for 3-4 days, scouting some books (if we want to) and we can ship them to FBA from wherever we’re at if we don’t want the hassle of carrying them with us, or I have a Suburban and trailer, so no big deal to store them until we get home. Time is a precious commodity we don’t have, and if this business allows me to spend more time with my wife and our family, than it’s what I’m going to do. I’m done with being a “slave” to my job! Thanks for writing your E-Book, It has been a tremendous asset to us!

Yep.

You're right where I am, Pat. Since the post, I've seen my sales start
going up again with my hard work and have been tracking my time. We'll see
what my per hour rate comes out at. I'm getting all kinds of good ideas
too from everyone!

This is really strange. I have seemingly stumbled upon selling used books online within the last two weeks after 2 years of trying to find something to augment, and eventually replace my salary.

I have been working in IT for over 30 years, and I have had it. My company has been going through downsizing/restructuring in all areas, not just IT. The people who keep their jobs, (me included), increasingly feel we may not have gotten the better end of the stick than those who have been let go. (I realize they may feel very differently).

I am ready to do something else, but the biggest hurdle has been coming up with the cash outlay and income stream to replace my salary.

I think I may have found the solution in selling used books online… low cost products, low overhead, high margins, flexable hours, being my own boss. Plus, I get to use technology… the various web sites, the scouting tools, etc…

I am chomping at the bit to buy a PDA/Scanner/Service to do some serious scouting at the local garage sales/estate sales/thrift stores, FOL, etc.

I would love to hear recommendations of the best PDA/scanner combination to get started with. I would plan on possibly buying a top of the line unit later if warranted, but would like something to get me started finding books that will sell.

Thanks for the site, I have enjoyed reading your blog posts, and plan to purchase you eBook.

Any other suggestions from anyone on resources for a newbie?

Hang in there.

I like the HTC Touch Pro 2 for looking up books. It is fairly modern but has a keyboard. It will lag a little compared to the HTC HD2, but that model doesn't have a keyboard. I purchased it used for $200 on Craigslist without extending my contract with T-mobile. It was cheaper than purchasing it through T-mobile and I save the higher monthly rates of being on contract even though I upgraded to the data plan (unlimited Internet). I also found a bargain on a late model Socket CX2800-489 Bluetooth cordless scanner on Amazon after working the returns of couple of items due to an issue with UPC that was listed on Amazon for the same scanner. However, I need to reinstall it because I did not disable HTC sense prior to installing the software and turning on the scanner. (I spoke with Socket tech support – you can use the software off of their website that is for their newer models.) I have also installed a bunch of cheap and free apps on to the 16 Gb chip that I purchased at a local computer store for about $40. My daughter and her friends love it for long car rides! I also easily copied all of my contacts on to the chip off my old, defective SIM card – and it autosyncs all of my information using a free Windows application called My Phone. (You can use it to make your phone ring even when on silent and to locate the phone using GPS.) All of this hardware and the monthly subscription to ScoutPal DB were purchased using profit from the business. I actually use the DB2 beta because it can look up all kinds of items using the UPCs. Getting the scanner working would be nice for methodically going through shelves of books, but I find the touch screen to be rather effective for most of my needs as my focus is on textbooks and technical books.

If you do shut down your business please don't take down the blog. The information on the blog is still useful whether or not you still have a functioning business.

Just my two cents.

I've since decided the business is not being shut down. I've got too much
skin in the game. I just need to reevaluate things a little bit.

Hey Adam, I was the guy who used to ask you a bunch of a fews months ago when I was thinking about starting out in this business. (don't know if you remember me) I haven't written in awhile because I've been so damn busy! (you know how it is) This business IS a lot of work. (a little more than I expected) But it helps to answer my girlfriends question of “well if its so lucrative, why isn't everybody doing it?” lol. Anything worthwhile takes work. There is no shortcut or get-rich -quick. There are so many considerations to take into account and everybody has there own unique situation. Just a couple that come to mind you might consider. First, from you blog you work about 100 hours a month on your book business and made about 3K. That sure sounds like about $30 bucks an hour to me. Not too bad. (of course that depends if that 3K has all the other expenses taken out or not) Second, and probably most important is what you were doing with that time before you started the book business. You do not sound like a lazy guy, but if we were all honest, a bunch of that time we weren't doing squat. (at least in my case, I also have a good paying full-time job working about 45 hours/week) After work was spent putzing around the house, watching tv, etc. What is hourly pay for watching tv or surfing the net? Zip. Now I spend my time trying to build this business. My girlfriend LOVES going to estate sales, thrift stores, library sales to do book scounting. We plan our weekend attack together and its great. Think about what else you would really be doing. By all means don't miss out on spending time with your kids/family, but what were you doing before when NOT spending time with them? The best time will be when they get a little older and can help with the business. They can learn a lot about being their own boss in the world instead of working for someone else. That education will be priceless. My kids can't wait to get home and help with the books, stickering etc. I wish you the best and thank you for your help. P.S. what other business community “competitors” would encourage you to not give up?
Frank

Thanks! I've since forgotten the idea of giving up. I made a plan to
track my time running thus business along with pure profit each month
just to give me an idea on how much I'm making per hour. I agree that
$30/hr is not too bad but that's just one month. Sales could be half
that another month.

I've been reinvigorated by my family and my readers' comments and I am
very thankful for that.

Hey Adam, I was the guy who used to ask you a bunch of a fews months ago when I was thinking about starting out in this business. (don't know if you remember me) I haven't written in awhile because I've been so damn busy! (you know how it is) This business IS a lot of work. (a little more than I expected) But it helps to answer my girlfriends question of “well if its so lucrative, why isn't everybody doing it?” lol. Anything worthwhile takes work. There is no shortcut or get-rich -quick. There are so many considerations to take into account and everybody has there own unique situation. Just a couple that come to mind you might consider. First, from you blog you work about 100 hours a month on your book business and made about 3K. That sure sounds like about $30 bucks an hour to me. Not too bad. (of course that depends if that 3K has all the other expenses taken out or not) Second, and probably most important is what you were doing with that time before you started the book business. You do not sound like a lazy guy, but if we were all honest, a bunch of that time we weren't doing squat. (at least in my case, I also have a good paying full-time job working about 45 hours/week) After work was spent putzing around the house, watching tv, etc. What is hourly pay for watching tv or surfing the net? Zip. Now I spend my time trying to build this business. My girlfriend LOVES going to estate sales, thrift stores, library sales to do book scounting. We plan our weekend attack together and its great. Think about what else you would really be doing. By all means don't miss out on spending time with your kids/family, but what were you doing before when NOT spending time with them? The best time will be when they get a little older and can help with the business. They can learn a lot about being their own boss in the world instead of working for someone else. That education will be priceless. My kids can't wait to get home and help with the books, stickering etc. I wish you the best and thank you for your help. P.S. what other business community “competitors” would encourage you to not give up?
Frank

Thanks! I've since forgotten the idea of giving up. I made a plan to
track my time running thus business along with pure profit each month
just to give me an idea on how much I'm making per hour. I agree that
$30/hr is not too bad but that's just one month. Sales could be half
that another month.

I've been reinvigorated by my family and my readers' comments and I am
very thankful for that.