Yo yo yo! Reader,

Two weeks ago, our 90-day sales total was sitting around $192,000.

At the beginning of this week?

We were down around $171,000.

That's roughly $20,000 of revenue disappearing from the rolling total in two weeks.

Clothing had fallen off.

Cash flow had tightened.

September was looking like it might finish without a profit.

And naturally, there were moments where I was thinking:

What do we do now?

This week gave me my answer.

Build.

Build the team.

Build the systems.

Build the sales channels.

Build the inventory pipeline.

Build the capacity.

Because if the market is temporarily giving you less...

You can either sit there staring at the numbers.

Or use the time to make sure you're capable of doing more when things turn around.

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Snapshot

This was probably one of the most encouraging weeks I've had in a while.

Not necessarily because the normal eBay store suddenly exploded.

It didn't.

Traditional sales are still quieter than I want.

But a lot of things started clicking.

Our new Live host, Chloe, properly joined the business.

We ran additional Live shows.

We experimented with higher-end vintage.

We started preparing multiple shows ahead instead of scrambling on the day.

The team continued processing non-clothing stock.

Cameras continued moving.

The internal web app continued becoming a bigger part of our workflow.

And by Friday night, after starting the week worried about cash flow...

We'd generated more than $15,000 for the week, with the weekend still ahead.

That's more like it.

Meet Chloe

One of the biggest changes this week was officially introducing Chloe.

She's joined us to help with eBay Live and the wider operation.

I've deliberately eased her into everything.

I don't think throwing someone into a warehouse, pointing a camera at them and saying:

"Good luck."

is particularly useful.

So we've been gradually getting her comfortable.

Understanding the stock.

Learning the setup.

Preparing shows.

Watching how everything works.

And then getting on camera.

On Monday she joined part of the Live.

Tuesday she was properly involved.

By Wednesday she was already looking more comfortable.

And what I've probably been happiest about isn't even the hosting.

It's that she's helping us get ahead.

Instead of me preparing tomorrow's show tomorrow...

We've been preparing tomorrow's show today.

Then the next one.

Then another one.

That sounds simple.

But it's huge.

Getting Ahead Changes Everything

For the last few months, eBay Live has often felt like this:

Run a show.

Pack everything.

Prepare the next show.

Run that show.

Repeat.

You're constantly catching up with yourself.

This week started to feel different.

At one point we already had:

Tomorrow's men's show ready.

Thursday's women's show ready.

Another pop-up show being prepared.

Friday stock organised.

More inventory waiting behind that.

Suddenly we're not simply asking:

"How do we survive tomorrow?"

We're starting to ask:

"How many shows can this system actually support?"

That's a much better question.

When One Person Is Away, You Notice The System

Tuesday gave us a good little test.

My team member who normally helps with Live postage hurt his back and couldn't come in.

Which meant...

Back to me.

There was a moment where I thought:

"Ah. Here we go."

But it was actually useful.

Because it showed me exactly how much capacity that role has already created.

Once someone takes a process away from you consistently, you almost forget how much time it used to consume.

Then you have to do it again.

And you remember.

That's why I'm so focused on building the team.

It's not about avoiding work.

It's about making sure my time is increasingly going toward the things that only I can currently do.

The Live Experiment Is Evolving

We experimented quite a bit with Live this week.

Different stock.

Different show styles.

Different pacing.

Different price points.

One of our women's shows did around $515.

The Tuesday afternoon vintage T-shirt show did around $1,186.

Wednesday came in around $1,156.

Then Thursday we ran a smaller women's denim show for around $383.

Nothing extraordinary there.

Then came the bigger experiment.

Higher-end vintage.

Harley-Davidson.

Carhartt.

Disney.

Jerseys.

Older pieces.

More curated inventory.

Rather than racing through 80 or 100 cheaper pieces, I wanted to see what happened if we slowed things down and gave better stock more room to breathe.

And that's where things got interesting.

$40+ ASP on Live

Thursday afternoon's vintage show did a little over $2,000 from roughly 50 items.

ASP was around $44.

Then we ran part two on Friday.

51 items.

$2,346 in sales.

That's roughly a $46 ASP.

For Live.

That's a very different model from the $10–$15 ASP clearance-style shows we've been testing.

And I think that's important.

Because Live doesn't have to be one thing.

It can be liquidation.

It can be entertainment.

It can move stock that would never make sense to traditionally list.

But it can also become a genuinely premium sales channel.

We're still working out where each type of inventory belongs.

But this week gave me another piece of evidence that better inventory + better presentation can materially change the numbers.

Volume Isn't The Only Lever

Over the last few months I've been thinking heavily about volume.

More shows.

More items.

More customers.

More turnover.

That matters.

But this week reminded me:

Increasing the value of each transaction can be just as powerful.

Imagine selling 80 items at a $12 ASP.

That's:

$960.

Sell 50 items at $45?

That's:

$2,250.

Less product.

Potentially less postage.

Less physical handling.

More revenue.

Obviously getting those products isn't always easy.

That's the challenge.

But that's why supplier relationships matter so much.

If I can build the selling engine...

And my suppliers can keep increasing the quality of what goes into it...

The economics become very interesting.

September Was Brutal

We also officially finished September this week.

And I'll be straight with you:

It wasn't a great month.

Revenue dropped hard.

Our clothing sales were roughly $14,000 below August.

Daily revenue fell from around:

$2,000 per day

to closer to:

$1,600 per day.

That's a $400 daily gap.

Across a month, that's roughly $12,000 in missing revenue.

That's enough to completely change the feel of the business.

Especially when your costs don't disappear with the sales.

But I Think We Still Made Money

Going into the end of September, I genuinely thought we'd make no profit.

Maybe even lose money.

Once I started getting everything finalised, however...

It looks like we may have scraped through with around:

$776 profit.

I'll know properly once every fee and expense is finalised.

Is $776 an incredible month?

No.

But here's the other side.

Everyone got paid.

I got paid.

Rent got paid.

The warehouse operated.

We hired another team member.

We invested into systems.

We absorbed weaker sales.

We had unexpected expenses.

And the company still appears to have finished slightly positive.

That's actually something I'm grateful for.

Because sometimes winning means smashing records.

And sometimes winning means:

You survived the bad month without going backwards.

Cash Flow Is Still The Thing Keeping Me Awake

Profit and cash flow aren't the same thing.

That's something I've become increasingly aware of as the business grows.

We run a lot of expenses through our business credit card.

It gives us points.

It gives us timing flexibility.

It allows the business to operate efficiently.

But...

There's a very large bill coming.

Nearly six figures.

That's slightly terrifying to say out loud.

Now, the business is turning over somewhere around $180,000 every 90 days, so the revenue exists.

The problem is timing.

September was slow.

Money went out.

Stock was purchased.

Staff got paid.

Bills continued.

Revenue arrived slower.

That's where cash flow becomes incredibly important.

A profitable business can still get itself into trouble if money doesn't arrive at the right time.

That's something I'm managing very closely right now.

I'm Still Choosing To Grow

Here's where some people might think I'm crazy.

Sales have slowed.

Cash flow tightened.

And I've just hired somebody.

I'm planning more Live shows.

I'm preparing for additional inbound stock.

We're continuing to develop software.

I'm looking at more opportunities.

Why?

Because I'm not making those decisions based only on what happened last Tuesday.

I'm trying to build toward what I believe the business can become over the next few years.

That doesn't mean ignoring risk.

Quite the opposite.

You have to understand the numbers.

But if every decision is based on fear of today's circumstances...

You'll never create tomorrow's capacity.

Build During The Quiet Periods

There's something I've realised across six years of doing this.

When things are booming...

You're usually too busy servicing the demand to build properly.

You're packing.

Shipping.

Answering customers.

Dealing with problems.

Trying to keep up.

So when things slow down?

There is an opportunity.

Not one I'm always happy about.

I'd still rather have the revenue.

But if the market is going to give me a slower period anyway...

I'm going to use it.

Build the software.

Improve the warehouse.

Train the team.

Document the process.

Work on suppliers.

Prepare the stock.

Improve the Live format.

Create capacity.

Then when demand increases again...

Hopefully we're capable of handling far more of it.

Building Our Own Back Office

The other big focus at the moment continues to be the web app we've been building internally.

Right now, the business still relies on a mixture of:

Google Sheets.

Dropbox.

Different workflows.

Different people moving information around.

It works.

But the bigger we get, the less I want information scattered across different places.

The vision is much bigger than simply a listing tool.

I want it to eventually manage:

Inbound inventory.

SKU tracking.

Sources.

Consignors.

Photos.

Listing workflow.

Quality assurance.

Sales.

Reporting.

Potentially fulfilment.

Potentially automation.

Essentially...

The operating system behind the business.

And the biggest thing?

I want the team to be able to use it without everything having to flow through me.

That's the leverage.

My Job Keeps Changing

When I started this business, my job was:

Source.

Photograph.

List.

Pack.

Post.

Repeat.

Then I outsourced listings.

Then photography.

Then more photography.

Then some operations.

Now Live postage.

Now Live hosting.

And gradually my job becomes less about physically processing each individual item...

And more about building the environment where everyone else can do their jobs.

Supplier meetings.

Opportunities.

Systems.

Finance.

Technology.

Hiring.

Process design.

Partnerships.

That transition is exciting.

It's also uncomfortable.

Because sometimes doing the work feels more productive than thinking about how the work should happen.

But if I want to build the business I'm imagining...

That's where my time needs to move.

Week In Numbers

Despite the normal store still being softer than I'd like, this week recovered nicely.

Before Friday's final Live we were sitting around:

$12,823

Then Friday's show added another:

$2,346

Which pushed us beyond:

$15,000 for the week

before the weekend.

There were still camera sales and other things potentially coming through after that as well.

So there's a possibility we finish somewhere around:

$16,000–$18,000.

After several weeks struggling around that $10K–$12K range...

I'll take it.

Especially because my weekly target is around $14,000.

It feels good to be back above the line.

Q4 Starts Now

October has started.

Which means Q4.

And the Live schedule is already stepping up.

Next week we're planning:

Monday — one show

Tuesday — two shows

Wednesday — one show

Thursday — two shows

Friday — one show

That's:

Seven Live shows in five days.

A few months ago that would've sounded ridiculous.

Now we're preparing the stock in advance.

We have somebody helping with postage.

We have another host learning the business.

We have supplier inventory coming through.

And suddenly...

It feels possible.

Still difficult.

But possible.

That's the progression I'm looking for.

The Bigger Goal

Something I've thought about a lot this week is what I'm actually trying to create.

I don't just want this business to create a great life for me.

I want it to create opportunity for other people too.

I want people to join the business...

Learn.

Develop skills.

Earn money.

Grow confidence.

Take on responsibility.

Potentially discover what they want to do themselves one day.

That's part of why having Chloe join has been exciting.

Yes, she helps the business.

But hopefully the business also gives something back to her.

I think that's when building a company starts becoming much more interesting than simply building yourself an income.

Question of the Week

Here's what I'd ask you this week:

What could you build now that would make your next busy period easier?

Maybe things are quiet for you right now.

Maybe work is slower.

Maybe you're waiting for an opportunity.

Maybe your business isn't growing as quickly as you'd hoped.

It's very easy to treat that as dead time.

But maybe there's something you could build.

A skill.

A process.

A relationship.

A system.

A savings buffer.

A better routine.

Something that future-you will be incredibly grateful already exists.

September was difficult for us.

There's no point pretending otherwise.

But I think we'll eventually look back and realise that some important foundations were laid during it.

Now October is here.

Q4 has started.

The team is growing.

The shows are growing.

The systems are improving.

And we're going to see how hard we can push this thing.

One step at a time.

One week at a time.

Building a business to suit my lifestyle.

Until next week,

Chris