Stephanie Weddle lives in Indianapolis and makes her living as the Poshmark reseller “3 Queens Resale” (@3queensresale). Weddle started selling items online about five years ago, and she enjoyed it so much that she retired from her teaching job of 23 years to fulfill her entrepreneurial dreams through resale.
Indy Maven spoke with Stephanie to learn more about 3 Queens Resale, and she also shared some insightful tips on how to start your own resale business.
You retired from your teaching job of 23 years to begin selling full-time through Poshmark. How did you get started selling on Poshmark, and why did you make the career switch?
My then 15-year-old daughter kept bringing me packages to mail for her. I asked her what she was doing, and she explained that she and her friends were selling her old clothes online. I tried it that night; I listed my first item, and it sold. It was a Victoria’s Secret Pink sweatshirt and it sold for $25. I was hooked.
I got really focused on selling every piece of clothing that I didn’t want anymore. Once I had cleaned out all of the closets in the house, I started sourcing for profit and watching YouTube videos. I discovered Becky Park on Poshmark. She was a music teacher and resold part-time. I really connected with her because I was also an underpaid teacher that didn’t want to tutor. I watched her videos every week and learned from her and other resellers what to pick up to flip. I would go to Goodwill, purchase items, and flip the items for profit. I would source on the weekends and list on my lunch break and while I was at my girls’ practices. With the extra money I was making, I was able to pay for my daughters’ “All Star Cheer” expenses and treat myself.
A year ago, I quit my full-time teaching job. It was a shock to many because I taught public school for the past 23 years and was only eight years from retirement. I was a great teacher, and I wanted to end on a high. However, after a rough year of teaching during the pandemic, and teachers becoming the public enemy of everyone, I was dreading going to school every day and was ready for a change. The only thing that was holding me back was health insurance. I am a Type 2 diabetic, and I am insulin dependent. My entire family relied on the health insurance that my teaching job provided.
It was my late dad who suggested I take a year off of teaching and try reselling full-time. He offered to pay the health insurance for my family for a year if I would take the leap and give it a try. Sadly, he passed the next day unexpectedly. I quit my job the following week, with no plan, but I realized if my dad believed in me then I owed him to follow through. I was going to test the theory that it would all work out.
My husband quit his job five months later when his mother passed away and joined me reselling full-time. So now, we are a full-time reselling couple. We have divided up the labor and enjoy working with each other; we actually met at school. He taught across the hall from me for several years. We both do other contract work part-time to cover the bills as we work on building the business. As a couple, we made well over $100K a year, so we had to make some changes, but building the resale business is the main focus for both of us and we are confident that we will be making double what we make in the next year.
Why do you think you’ve been so successful with your resale business so far?
I will outwork anyone. Like my father, I am a workaholic. In reselling, your outcomes are directly related to how much you put into it. Also, over the course of the past few years, I have educated myself on what textile production and waste does to the environment, and I feel like in some tiny way this is how I can help save the planet.
Where do you find all the good stuff that you sell?
I can’t tell you that! Honestly, there is good stuff everywhere. The Goodwill Outlet is my favorite sourcing spot, but it is not for everyone. It can be dirty and smelly, and some of the other customers can be aggressive. I was scared to go at first, but then I reminded myself that I did breakfast duty with 200 middle schoolers by myself … so I am pretty much a badass. I also take consignments from family and friends. My late mother-in-law would also give me bags of designer clothes that she no longer wore anymore.
What do you wish you knew when you were starting out on this resale journey?
I wish I would have had a better knowledge of designer brands. I have learned so much about high-end quality clothing. I wish that I would have gone full-time a lot earlier. My personality type is better suited to working independently. There is this mindset that you need to go work for someone else every day for 60 years and then you can retire once you’re old and worn out. After losing my father and mother-in-law, I just wanted to make sure I was present now, living now, and chasing my dreams. I have made a lot of mistakes, fail forward every day, and pick myself up and keep moving forward. I love sharing my success, but I also think it is important to hear about the failure and downtimes. I work every single day of the week. It may only be for a few hours, but not a day has gone by that I was not focused on this business in the past year. 3 Queens Resale is my third child.
What are your best 3 tips that you would give other women who are interested in reselling?
- Start with your own closet; exhaust all your “free” inventory first.
- Get organized from the beginning with your inventory and your receipts.
- Be consistent. List consistently, engage in the community, and just don’t give up. I have a YouTube channel with several videos to help women, men, and teens get started reselling today.
If you are new to Poshmark, you can use Stephanie’s code “3QueensResale” to sign up and get $10 off your first purchase.
Stephanie Groves is the Executive Editor of Indy Maven, and she shops resale online A LOT.
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