Yo yo yo! Reader,

One thing I've learned from building a business is that you can get surprisingly close to something happening...

And then it doesn't.

That happened this week.

I'd been looking for someone to join the team and help co-host our eBay Live shows.

We finally had a candidate come through who looked really promising.

The interview went incredibly well.

I was impressed.

They seemed excited.

I made the offer.

I started preparing the warehouse.

Started thinking about training.

Started thinking about what shows they could eventually take over.

In my head, I had already begun planning around having another person in the business.

And then...

They changed their mind.

So we're back to the drawing board.

Frustrating?

Absolutely.

End of the world?

Definitely not.

And strangely, I think that's probably the theme of this week.

Things don't always go according to plan.

So what do you do next?

BTW! I am hiring for a CoHost / Host for our eBay Live Shows. Sounds like you? Apply here!​

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Snapshot

This week was another busy one.

We finished August.

Started September.

Ran eBay Live throughout the week.

Worked through a significant amount of camera stock.

Processed more consignment.

Started training another team member to help with our camera workflow.

Continued consolidating inventory in the warehouse.

Prepared for me being away later this year.

Got more stock through the doors.

And spent a lot of time working behind the scenes on the internal web app we're building.

There was plenty happening.

But financially, it was also noticeably quieter.

Normal eBay sales were inconsistent.

Live was softer.

A couple of shows came in considerably below what we've been averaging.

So there was this weird contrast again.

Operationally busy. Commercially quieter.

That's business sometimes.

Closing Out August

Before getting too deep into September, it was good to finally close out August properly.

For the month we finished with approximately:

1,300 items sold

1,800 listings

~$64k in revenue

$13,000 in cost of goods

~$47.6k in operating expenses

And approximately:

$3.9k net profit

That works out to around a 5% net margin.

Our average selling price landed around $48.

I'm happy with that.

There were definitely moments during August where I didn't think we were going to finish where I wanted.

Sales slowed.

We added another team member.

We had additional unexpected expenses.

And there were periods where cash flow felt tighter than I would've liked.

But we still finished profitable.

And now...

We start from zero again.

That's the funny thing about business.

Have a good month?

Great.

September doesn't care.

The Reality of Starting Again

The first day of a new month always makes me a little nervous.

You open the numbers...

And everything starts again.

$0.

New target.

New expenses.

New problems.

New opportunities.

There is something slightly uncomfortable about it.

Especially when the market already feels quieter.

Our eBay traffic has been trending down.

The traditional store has been softer.

Even Live has started dropping.

A couple of months ago we were occasionally doing around $2,000 per Live show.

Last month we were closer to roughly $1,200.

This week?

We had shows around:

$839

$554

$956

$643

$871

Those numbers aren't terrible.

We're still moving inventory.

Consignors are still getting paid.

We're still generating revenue.

But they're below where I want them.

And I think it's important to recognise the difference between:

"This is failing."

and

"This isn't performing where I want it to perform."

Those are very different things.

We're in the second camp.

Which means we keep working.

Back to the Drawing Board

Hiring has been on my mind for a while now.

If we want to continue scaling Live, I need more people capable of hosting.

Simple as that.

I've proven that I can run more shows.

The inventory is there.

The infrastructure is increasingly there.

The buyers are there.

But I'm still one person.

And there are only so many hours I can stand in front of a camera each week.

This week I thought we'd solved that.

The candidate was good.

The conversation was good.

Everything appeared positive.

I made the offer.

Then communication slowed down.

And eventually they decided not to proceed.

I don't really know the full reasoning.

And that's okay.

Maybe they got cold feet.

Maybe another opportunity came up.

Maybe they realised it wasn't the right job for them.

That's their decision.

The only thing I control is what happens next.

So...

We advertise again.

We speak to more people.

We keep looking.

Back to the drawing board.

I've had enough things fall through over the last six years to know that sometimes that's simply part of the process.

The Lesson

I've realised how easy it is to mentally spend the benefit of something before you actually have it.

You think you've hired someone...

So you start imagining the capacity you'll get back.

You think you've secured a deal...

So you start calculating the revenue.

You think you've solved a problem...

So your mind moves onto the next one.

Then something changes.

And suddenly you're disappointed because you've lost something you technically never had yet.

I'm guilty of that.

But the business can't stop because one plan changed.

You adjust.

That's probably one of the most useful skills I've developed from doing this.

Not predicting everything correctly.

Not avoiding every mistake.

Just becoming increasingly comfortable saying:

"Okay. That didn't work. What's next?"

Quiet Doesn't Mean Stop

There was another interesting moment this week.

Our sales were slow.

Really slow in places.

We'd come off one of our worst weekends in a long time.

There were days where normal store sales could almost be counted on one hand.

And naturally, that creates stress.

Because you've still got:

Rent.

Wages.

Super.

Postage.

Software.

Boxes.

Satchels.

And apparently another $750 worth of packaging when you realise you're running low.

The expenses don't disappear because sales are having a quiet day.

But this is also where I keep reminding myself:

You can't control whether somebody buys something today.

You can control what you do while you're waiting.

List more.

Improve the process.

Follow up customers.

Work on another sales channel.

Train someone.

Process higher-value inventory.

Talk to partners.

Build systems.

Prepare for what comes next.

That's where my energy needs to go.

Building While It's Quiet

Probably one of the most exciting things happening in the background at the moment is our internal web app.

My lister and I have been spending a lot of time working on it.

Testing.

Breaking things.

Fixing things.

Trying again.

The goal is to start bringing more of our listing workflow into one system.

Rather than bouncing between multiple spreadsheets, folders and tools, we're trying to build something much more specific to how our business operates.

And we're past the point where it's simply an idea.

We've already put roughly $12,000 worth of inventory through it.

And we've already started selling some of those items.

That's exciting.

Not because we've built some revolutionary piece of software.

But because we're removing friction from our own business.

If we can make the team faster...

Reduce errors...

Make information easier to access...

Automate repetitive work...

And eventually connect more of our processes together...

That's incredibly valuable.

Especially as volume grows.

Preparing the Business to Run Without Me

Another thing sitting in the back of my mind is that I'll be away later this year for around three weeks.

Carla and I are finally going on our belated honeymoon.

Which I'm obviously very excited about.

But it raises a useful question:

What currently happens only because I'm here?

That's something I've been deliberately working through.

This week I started training another team member on some of the camera work we do.

Not because I want to completely remove myself from it.

But because the business needs another person who understands the process.

We've also continued giving other people ownership of postage, photography, stock processing and other operational tasks.

A few years ago, if I disappeared for three weeks...

There really wasn't a business.

There was just a very large pile of work waiting for me when I came back.

Today?

We're not fully independent of me.

Not even close.

But we're getting better.

That's progress.

Numbers Corner

September has started quietly.

At the end of the week we were sitting around $10.1k including Friday's Live

My weekly target is closer to $14,000.

So we're behind where I'd like.

But there are some positives underneath that.

Our average selling price for the week has been around $98, helped significantly by camera and higher-value consignment sales.

One newer consignor also had their first proper monthly report.

We sold roughly 10 items for them with an ASP of about $104.

Under that agreement, we receive around half.

So while volume is slower...

We're increasingly finding ways to make individual transactions more valuable.

And that's something I want to continue focusing on.

Happy, But Not Satisfied

I heard something this week that really resonated with me.

It was the idea that hiring people doesn't necessarily mean you're trying to work less.

Sometimes you hire people so you can work on harder things.

That describes where my head is right now.

I'm incredibly grateful for what we've built.

Six years ago none of this existed.

A year and a half ago this warehouse didn't exist.

Today we have a team.

Consignment.

Cameras.

eBay Live.

Different inventory streams.

Wholesale relationships.

Internal technology.

And we're currently tracking somewhere around $780,000 annualised.

My north star is still:

$1 million in annual revenue by 2030 with a 20% net margin.

We're getting closer.

And I'm happy with what we've achieved.

Very happy.

But I'm not satisfied.

Not in an ungrateful way.

More in the sense that I know there is still so much more we can improve.

The next system.

The next hire.

The next bottleneck.

The next level.

I'm curious to see what another ten years of doing this can create.

The Bigger Picture

This week didn't go exactly how I imagined.

The new hire didn't happen.

Live was softer.

Sales were inconsistent.

There were moments where I was frustrated.

But there were also wins.

New inventory.

Good camera sales.

Strong consignor results.

Team members taking on more responsibility.

Our internal technology starting to work.

And new opportunities continuing to appear.

That's usually how these weeks go.

The lows and highs exist at exactly the same time.

And I've realised that's probably never going to change.

As the business gets bigger...

The problems don't disappear.

They just change.

The thing that matters is continuing to build something capable of responding to them.

Question of the Week

Something I'm thinking about this week:

How quickly can you get back to work when something doesn't go according to plan?

Not pretend it doesn't bother you.

Not ignore the disappointment.

Not force yourself to be relentlessly positive.

Acknowledge it.

Learn from it.

And then ask:

What's the next move?

The hire fell through.

Okay.

Advertise again.

Sales are down.

Okay.

Keep listing.

Live is softer.

Okay.

Test the stock, timing and format.

A process relies too heavily on me.

Okay.

Train someone.

Something takes too long.

Okay.

Build a better system.

You don't need every week to go perfectly.

You just need to keep giving yourself another move.

That's the plan here.

Back to the drawing board.

And then we go again.

One week at a time.

Building a business to suit my lifestyle.

Until next week,

Chris

Building a Business to Suit My Lifestyle