Jim Rowe has at all times been an entrepreneur. From 2002 onward, he and his spouse constructed a large chain of eating places throughout Washington with 9 areas in whole. Then COVID hit, and like so many others, every little thing stopped. Fortunately, Jim’s not one to sit down round.
Just a few aspect hustles later, he’s working what some dub “a mini Costco,” providing one of the best offers in Ellensburg, a city of 20,000 folks. So if Jim’s sitting, it’s truly on the starter yacht he bought together with his resale wins. In truth, once we met with Jim over Zoom to study extra about his resale journey, he was on mentioned yacht with Seattle’s Area Needle in view.
Key milestones
- 2002: Begins restaurant profession; ultimately opens 9 areas together with his spouse
COVID (2020): Eating places shut down; pivots to aspect hustles to fund daughter’s faculty - 2020-2021: Junk elimination enterprise supplies resalable stock; converts warehouse into House Once more Used Furnishings
- 2021: Discovers B-Inventory through Shannon Jean; wins first Costco public sale; makes $3,500 in a single-day Fb Stay sale
- 2024: Strikes into an outdated tow truck storefront with zero advertising and marketing; does $60K in gross sales first month
- 2025: Relocates The Cut price Store right into a 6,000 sq ft former Sears location
- Current: ~$700K spent via B-Inventory and increasing nationally through eBay, Whatnot, and TikTok
Turning junk elimination into faculty tuition
Together with his daughter about to start out her first yr at Boise State, Jim dedicated to funding her faculty by beginning a brand new aspect hustle annually—and proving alongside the best way that constructing and promoting a enterprise doesn’t need to be as arduous as folks make it out to be.
“ The primary aspect hustle that I began was a junk elimination enterprise. I quickly discovered, [by] buyer quantity three, that individuals had been giving me objects that had been nonetheless good and resalable. And so my revenue margin on the junk elimination jobs would go method up.”
A small used furnishings retailer adopted, then storage unit auctions, then used restaurant gear from his personal warehouse. He was shopping for quicker than he was promoting, and his spouse seen.
“I used to be doing rather well promoting used restaurant gear, so I began shopping for extra gear. Though my spouse was like, ‘I assumed we had been making an attempt to promote every little thing,’ I ended up shopping for and promoting extra stuff.”
The highway to return pallets
Ultimately, Jim got here throughout Shannon Jean, a seasoned resale professional and founding father of the Reseller Mastermind group, on X. When he reached out, mentioning his area of interest in used restaurant gear, Shannon pointed him to B-Inventory. That very same evening, he logged on.
That first B-Inventory win…of many
One of many first listings he noticed was a Costco public sale for a backyard shed—the precise shed he wanted for the espresso store he’d been constructing for his daughter (yet one more one of many aspect hustles). It was retailing for round $1,600.
“I used to be like, ‘Okay, worst case situation, I’ll bid $1,600, and if I win it, I purchased a shed.’”
Properly, he bid, received it for much less, and found the public sale included two further sheds. He bought these, and similar to that, he was already forward.
Armed with just a few extra public sale wins—furnishings, train gear, extra returned objects—and a penchant for social media, Jim held an outside sale proper exterior his storage unit doorways. He went dwell on Fb. His spouse demoed a sofa. They made $3,500 in a single day.
“I checked out her that day, and I mentioned, ‘It is a lot higher than the restaurant enterprise, isn’t it?’ And he or she goes, ‘Yeah.’ And I’m going, ‘I’m gonna proceed to do that.’”
By the subsequent day, Jim was already transferring to lease an outdated tow truck store. Quick ahead to now, and he’s solely persevering with to develop, with virtually 90% of every little thing he does immediately nonetheless on B-Inventory.
A frenzy was born in Ellensburg
Curiosity received the higher of oldsters. With only a purple ‘For Sale’ signal, Jim already had clients pulling off the aspect of the highway to see what his discount retailer was all about.
“ I didn’t put a lot thought into it. I used to be like, ‘I’m simply gonna promote what I’ve out of this warehouse, and I’m gonna be open after I wanna be open and promote some product.’ Properly, the shoppers determined they wished greater than that.”
Jim discovered himself open Wednesday via Saturday for the subsequent six months. In that first month alone, he did $60K in gross sales.
Testing the market
Just by rolling stuff out by the sidewalk and seeing pallets unloaded from the vehicles, a complete different form of frenzy was born—all in pursuit of “a loopy whole lot,” as Jim put it.
“Proper out of the gate I bought some loopy stuff. I bought a greenhouse, hen coop, sauna, and tons of furnishings. I used to be shopping for my method via B-Inventory.”
Creating an area folks wish to go to
“ We’re fairly restricted on purchasing alternatives, so it simply took off. It’s a purchasing desert in Ellensburg, Washington, and right here’s this new alternative to have some enjoyable, ?”
When the climate hits single digits, and also you’re nonetheless getting clients via the door, you have to be on to one thing.
“ Girls would simply are available and choose via the bin…it was essentially the most fascinating factor, as a result of they’d stand round these bins speaking and exhibiting the garments to one another, after which getting an excellent deal on ’em.”
Classes realized alongside the best way
Jim shares one of many earliest classes from his encounters with Shannon: begin by shopping for one thing that you simply want. For Jim, that was the Costco backyard sheds, and happily, his enterprise was worthwhile from day one. Nonetheless, that doesn’t imply it’s at all times been easy crusing. (Pun supposed.)
“ In the event you’ve ever purchased a pallet, supply day could be difficult since you don’t know what to anticipate.”
The extra enterprise Jim does, the extra he needs to know in regards to the product that he’s getting. At this level in his journey, he is aware of which distributors are much less of a bet–particularly relating to how dependable the sorting of merchandise is.
“Whenever you spend as a lot cash and have as many orders as I’ve had, you’re gonna run into some challenges. You may fall again and have B-Inventory show you how to, or you’ll be able to turn into an issue solver and simply overcome them, and that’s usually what I’ve accomplished.”
The earnings are within the problem-solving
Throughout X and Fb, you will discover Jim mentoring enthusiastic newcomers to the enterprise. He’s even joined up with Shannon’s Reseller Mastermind group.
“ Don’t get overwhelmed by the public sale sport,” he emphasizes. Purchase with math, work out the way you’re going to promote the product, after which brace your self for some severe problem-solving as a result of issues aren’t at all times shiny and new.
“ The earnings are within the problem-solving. Within the restaurant enterprise, that’s one other ability set that you simply study; you’re overcoming issues rapidly. Even on the desk you’re overcoming issues, serving to a visitor.”
The worth of a lifetime buyer
One other lesson from the restaurant enterprise that caught was hospitality. “We’re seeking to make a pal quick,” is what he likes to say. It begins with an enormous greeting, an expertise they will keep in mind, and generally, nice service that goes past his doorstep.
Jim spoke about an aged couple who got here in and bought a chest freezer with no technique to get it dwelling. Not solely did Jim and his son provide dwelling supply, they even eliminated the door from its body to maneuver the brand new freezer inside and haul the outdated freezer out.
”When you perceive the lifetime worth of a buyer, it’s not an $80 freezer that I’m considering. I wanna assist them, I would like them to come back again, and I would like them to advocate family and friends to us.”
Location, location, location
The Cut price Store discovered its new dwelling in a 6,000 sq ft former Sears constructing. A giant improve from his former retail storefront. “Some say that we seem like a small Costco as a result of most likely 85% of my merchandise come from Costco,” he jokes.
His clients can do their discount looking whereas buying on a regular basis necessities like paper merchandise, water, groceries, and even pet provides. Some objects Jim doesn’t even generate profits on, however considers all of it a grassroots technique to carry folks into the shop.
“Now, the [former] Sears location doesn’t have the visitors going by it, which has harm us somewhat bit. However when you’re inside the shop, it’s positively a greater purchasing atmosphere.”
That being mentioned, Jim has discovered that location is usually a development issue—and lots of of his bigger Fb Market gross sales occur within the Seattle market.
“A few times every week, I drive over and do deliveries to folks’s houses, as a result of my market’s simply not massive sufficient for what I’m making an attempt to perform. I simply have larger targets. I’m making an attempt to purchase a $700,000 yacht, and to make that occur, I’ve needed to unfold my wings.”
Trying forward for Jim
We requested Jim what he envisions for the way forward for his enterprise. That is what he needed to say:
“ I’m not making an attempt to create a passion. If I’m gonna do that, I wanna go after it and scale one thing.”
Social media as a development catalyst
“My plan is to make use of these different websites like eBay, Poshmark, TikTok, and broaden throughout the nation. The extra social media I do, the extra merchandise I promote or the extra people who check in and watch me promote dwell as effectively.”
In truth, his Whatnot exhibits took off virtually too rapidly. He cautions that when you’re promoting 200 pairs of sneakers per present, your stock stream higher have the ability to sustain!
Reimagining the standard brick-and-mortar
Already, Jim’s eager about brick-and-mortar in a different way. Their present area is constructed particularly to accommodate dwell promoting and order achievement. There’s even discuss of a possible podcast and YouTube channel.
“What we’re doing with our retailer now could be we’re turning it into a big on-line retailer. So every little thing that we now have in our retailer, for essentially the most half, can be listed on-line, both on eBay, our personal web site, and websites like TikTok or Whatnot.”
Fascinated with extra of what Jim has to say? Observe @resellerrowe, and you could simply get impressed to start out your personal resale enterprise.
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