Our E-Commerce Journey So Far...Part 6

With all my inventory taking over my parents house, it was time to consider getting my own place. Luckily, 1st time home buyers at this time were eligible for an $8,000 credit...so that made it seem like an even better idea!

My dad actually did the legwork of finding places and viewing them. After he saw a few he took me to take a look at the ones he thought were worthwhile. The very first one I looked at seemed to work great for me. 1 story with good square footage...which translates into a spacious garage which is a very high priority for me and all my 'stuff.' Looked at others but ultimately went with that first house.

Having my own place meant having more space...way more space than I had in that efficiency apartment in college (check the previous blog posts for videos of it!). Naturally, I've filled it with more and more stuff since moving in. In a way...I guess I'm kind of like a fish. I believe most (maybe all?) fish will grow bigger if they have a bigger tank. If you keep them in a small fish bowl they won't grow all that much. Put them in a larger tank, and they will grow larger. I've gone from a college dorm room with a roommate to an efficiency apartment, to having basically half or more of my parents house for storage, to having my own place, but as my space grows so does my inventory and I never seem to have enough space. If I get a 5,000 square foot warehouse sometime in the near future, I'm sure within 1-2 years of getting that I'd be running out of space there too.

Anyways...back to the actual products and business itself! After the holiday season of 2009 nothing was really standing out to me as the next big thing to sell. Webkinz were big for me in 2007. Bakugan were big for me in 2008 and still do a fair amount with that line. And November/December of 2009, Zhu Zhu Pets were a huge success for me. Caught wind of them a little late, so, in order to acquire adequate inventory, I'd go to Target and Shopko (shopko is only really in the upper midwest so many of you may know nothing of that store) for 8am open every day to check for restocks of zhu zhu pets. I made some occasional big hauls. In early December every Shopko got a big stock of zhu zhu pets in the same day and I have 5 Shopko stores within 10-15 miles of me. I came away with a few dozens hamsters and 40+ of the starter sets which included Patches the Hamster. Those cost $20 or $25 and sold super fast for $45-50. However, after Christmas most retailers ended up with massive supply of zhu zhu pets and the secondary market on them died...at least if your goal was to make a profit.

Now...the question was...."what's the next big thing." I was getting by on other stuff but nothing stood out as something that could bring in 25-50% or more of my total sales and be my niche of the year or longer. With the future looking uncertain....I actually started looking at the want ads and applying for J-O-B-S....