How I went from being broke and unemployed to earning a very good living buying and selling on Craigslist alone.
My Story
My name is Ryan Finlay and I’m 36 years old. I’ve been married to my wife Candice for almost 12 years and we have 3 boys and a two sweet little girls. In 2010, after getting my contractor’s license and realizing that I had no desire to be a contractor, I quit. There was no use in delaying the inevitable. The problem was I had no clue in the world what I was going to do. I had no money, tons of debt and a family to support. So I got together with a few friends of mine, and after talking for awhile, we decided that I should give buying and selling on Craigslist a serious run.
I started off buying and reselling anything you could imagine. Electronics, computers, tools, appliances, anything that I could make money on. I did well the first week and have only gotten better every week since. I’ve migrated from buying a little of everything to buying/selling and repairing appliances almost exclusively. Probably 90% of my transactions are washers, dryers, ovens and refrigerators.
Birth of this blog
When I first started, I googled to see if there was anyone else doing this that I could learn from. I found nothing. So I started sharing the stories along my journey and some great people started taking notice.
Featured on one of Time magazine’s best blogs of 2011, Getrichslowly.org, JD Roth’s outstanding financial blog in this post.
I got another mention from JD in this Time Moneyland article
I’ve also guest posted for Priceonomics.com about How to Make it on Craigslist
LifeHacker.com published my story of How I Earn My Living Buying and Selling Appliances on Craigslist
Consumerist.com had this nice write up Tricks Of The Trade From A Craigslist Appliance Salesman
Site recommendation from former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Real Simple magazine in The 10 Commandments of Buying and Selling Furniture Online
Next steps
A friend told me that as I got better at what I was doing, I would be tempted to start adding to the scope of my business. He told me to focus on the most profitable area and master it. That’s exactly what I did with the appliance business, and I would pass on the advice to anyone. It’s taken my most profitable area (appliances) and made it even more profitable. It’s great advice that is opening up the door to a number of other ventures. (Eventually going wide by forcing yourself to go deep first.)
