I’m Not Slacking. I’m Just Doing Too Damn Much.

If you read my blog on the regular, you may have noticed I've been slacking the last few weeks.

Why?

Honestly, I'm trying to do too much, and I just haven't had the energy to be creative.

Plus, I sometimes suffer from Imposter Syndrome so badly that I convince myself I don't have anything valuable to add to the conversation—or anything to write that anyone would actually bother reading.

But here we are.

And today, I'm going to talk about me.

I actually know myself pretty well. I spent a lot of time on self-discovery during my corporate years. I had to. I worked with a lot of men who were really good at making assumptions about a whole variety of things, and somewhere along the way I realized I needed to know exactly who I was, what I was good at, and where I needed work.

So I looked inward. A lot.

And I became pretty darn aware of who I am.

One thing I know?

I naturally take on too much.

I always think I can do it all. To be fair, I work really well under pressure, so that's not always a bad thing.

But I also have a habit of starting 23 things, finishing one, and then coming up with 37 more ideas.

It's a struggle to keep my brain in check!

What I've Been Working On

Lately, I've been working hard to build my Whatnot business, continue growing eBay, and build my social media presence.

Those three things don't sound too terrible on the surface.

But dig a little deeper and...it's a lot.

There's also all the behind-the-scenes work required to make those things flow efficiently.

For example, I've been working out of the garage on inventory headed to our booths. But since I've started focusing more heavily on Whatnot, I've changed our inventory flow.

Now, all non-eBay inventory comes through me first. I decide whether it's going to Whatnot or one of our booths. It comes downstairs into my work area, where I have space to sort it, tag it, box it, or display it for upcoming shows.

The new flow is MUCH more efficient.

The problem?

I still had the remnants of the old system sitting in the garage.

And it was a mess.

I needed to take time away from everything else and clean it up. That stresses me out because I often feel like every moment of every day is already spoken for.

BTW—the garage task is COMPLETE.

And it feels pretty darn good.

Then There Are the Goals I Set for Myself...

Because apparently I don't already have enough to do, I set a goal of reaching 1,000 followers on Whatnot by Sunday, August 17.

That means spending time in other people's Whatnot shows, interacting, buying (and having fun!), meeting other sellers, and following people.

It's truly an enjoyable task.

But again, it takes time away from what I tend to think of as the "real work."

Which got me thinking...

What exactly IS the real work?

Because when you're running a reselling business, there's a whole lot of work nobody really sees.

So, What Do I Actually Do All Day?

1. I source.

I scour auctions, thrift stores, estate sales, picker sales, and private sellers looking for inventory.

And finding cool stuff isn't enough. I have to find cool stuff at prices low enough to leave room for profit.

That's a very different thing.

2. I relist.

At least five days a week—I prefer every day, but that doesn't always happen—I end and relist 10–20 items on eBay.

It gives older inventory fresh titles, updated pricing, and another chance to get in front of buyers.

3. I pull inventory for Whatnot and our booths.

We have more than 5,000 items in inventory.

I'm constantly flagging, pulling, sorting, and prepping inventory that needs to move off eBay/Etsy and into live selling or one of our physical booths.

Inventory doesn't magically move itself from one sales channel to another.

Wouldn't THAT be nice?

4. I do the social thing.

Facebook. Instagram, which is mostly fed from Facebook. Pinterest. TikTok. YouTube when I remember it exists.

And, of course, this blog.

Creating content has become another part of running the business, and it's something I genuinely enjoy.

When my brain cooperates.

5. I price check.

A lot of our higher-end inventory comes through me for pricing.

Often, I'm the person who knows what something is—or at least knows enough about it to know that we need to stop and research it before putting a price tag on it.

Kevin is good at finding a great price, and I usually leave notes for him on our purchasing spreadsheet so he has an idea of my expectations.

But lately, we've been buying some items in the $300–$1,200 range.

Those aren't things I'm willing to throw a quick price on and hope for the best.

6. Daily sales reports and banking.

Not exciting.

Not Instagram-worthy.

But those things don't take care of themselves.

Someone has to do them.

That someone is me.

7. We have two booths.

One is about 35 minutes away. The other is about 12 minutes away.

Every week, I need to prep inventory, price it, pack it up, drive it to the booths, clean things up, rearrange displays, reprice slow-moving inventory, and restock.

I try to hit both booths on the same day.

It's about a three-hour job when everything goes smoothly.

8. I run the live shows.

Three times a week right now.

Sunday night is CDs, plus two vintage shows during the week.

Each show runs about three hours, with roughly 15 minutes of prep beforehand and another hour of cleanup afterward.

So those "three shows" are actually more like 12+ hours of work each week.

9. I research approximately 15 new ideas every week.

Okay.

Not really.

Maybe.

I am ALWAYS coming up with something different to do, try, test, change, improve, sell, create, or reorganize.

I'm sure it can be exhausting for the people around me.

Hell, it's exhausting for me sometimes.

My own brain wears me out.

Oh, and I'm an Insomniac.

On top of all of that, I'm a terrible insomniac.

So yes, I need naps during the day.

Not long naps.

But naps.

I give myself permission to take them because sometimes my body simply says, "Nope. We're done for a bit."

And I've learned to listen.

This Isn't a Complaint

None of this is a complaint.

Not at all.

It's really an acknowledgment.

I'm working to the best of my ability. I'm trying new things. I'm changing systems that don't work anymore. I'm figuring out how to make the business more efficient. I'm building new sources of revenue.

And I'm trying to grow.

Sometimes growth looks like launching something new.

Sometimes it looks like a great sales day.

Sometimes it looks like spending half the day cleaning out the garage because the business has changed and the old workflow doesn't make sense anymore.

And sometimes it looks like not writing a blog for a few weeks because I simply don't have anything creative left in the tank.

I'm learning to be okay with all of those versions.

But I could also use your help.

Follow me on social.

Come hang out at one of my Whatnot shows.

Buy something if you find something you love.

Share a post.

Read the blog—which, if you've made it this far, you obviously did. Thank you!

I LOVE our customers, followers, fellow resellers, and the people who keep showing up to see what crazy thing I'm doing next.

I do this for you as much as I do it for me.

And every now and then?

A virtual hug would be nice, too. :)