Welcome to Ghost Business 👻 Your weekly (mostly) Tuesday email, where we turn $1 into thousands building these weird but simple side hustles

It’s flippin time

Couch potato… The #1 question I am asked on a daily basis is this: “I have $0 and need $500 in a few days, what would you do if you were me?”

It’s a fair question and one I often like to think about when I have some time. (To be honest though, the scenario is often during apocalyptic times and trying to figure out the smallest most valuable, yet divisible item to trade, but I digress). I’ve actually done this very side hustle we’re going to talk about, but on accident. I move a lot, I’ll explain later.

Okay, but what is it? I’m talking furniture flipping.

It’s done in 4 simple steps:

1. Find cheap or free furniture

2. Spruce it up with some sanding/finish/paint/add ons (sometimes you don’t need to do anything)

3. Take high quality pics and add some witty captions. Put it on a local and online marketplace

4. Profit $$$

I love this side hustle because it’s easy, requires little skill, and even little(er) money.

So let’s build this flippin’ side hustle and figure out how much we can make in the process.

The MVP (Getting your first customer)

Stool samples… I love puns 😃 Anyways, let’s say we actually have $0. Let’s even throw in the fact that we don’t have a truck (but we do have a car).

I would hit FB Marketplace and OfferUp, search “Furniture” for max $5 price range. I put $5 because if someone is looking to sell furniture for $5, they’ll probably just give it to you for free.

Here’s some things I found in my area (Seattle, WA) literally right now that are completely free:

All of these could easily fit a standard car to bring back to the house for quick glam up.

Looking at these we could easily get:

• $75 for the pink chair

• $65 for the cast iron table

• $20 for the stool

• $50 for the rocking chair (after a lot sanding and a coat of finish)

All in we could be walking away with $210 in total with nearly $0 investment!

Not bad for an afternoon 😏 

• Square for accepting my customer payments

• Build all my sites no code on Dorik

• I write this newsletter and earn money on Beehiiv 

Getting Your Next 100 Customers

Mo Chairs, Mo Money… You’ve got your first taste of blood and want more. Luckily, there’s a few routes you can go to scale this bad boy.

I would go bigger, better, bladder (ran out of b’s). Essentially bigger pieces of furniture that could fetch higher dollar amounts. You would need to get a bigger vehicle/trailer to transport the largeness.

Or

Specialize in a certain type of furniture, aka the go to “Rocking Chair Guy”. You’ll learn the ins and outs of your specialized furniture quickly and be able to own in that sectional (😏) of the market. You’ll have all the handy tools needed and can possibly still just use your car!

Both of these would need a bigger investment, more tools and possibly more space for you to work at your house.

Learning simple skills like upholstery, sewing, sanding, wood finishes, touch ups, drawer nobs and painting will go a loooong way.

Viability:

1 [building spaceships] 🚀 to 5 [easy peasy] 😊 

More cushion for pushin… This idea you can start from home. You can sell from home. You can make money instantly. BUT you will have to get off the couch to do it.

As you can see it’s VERY easy to get this going like today, but will need some elbow grease and a good eye to find some deals.

(As usual each business will have it’s own setbacks, and it’s all about the execution and consistency rather than just having the idea)

It’s a great day to be great!

Love, Mike 👋