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On the show today is David Funk — a Flipper University alum whose side hustle is sourcing, painting, and reselling furniture, along with other great items.
David lives in Virginia and is a painter by trade. While working his full-time job painting homes, he started acquiring free stuff from clients looking to offload their extra items. Once David realized that he could sell the free items and make a profit, that was a game changer, and he’s been flipping ever since.
David’s Sourcing Process
David said a lot of the time he finds items for cheap or free because people don’t want to deal with it, they just want it out of their homes. His full-time gig as a painter also helps because clients occasionally give him free stuff.
One year he was painting a home on Father’s Day, and his client came outside and offered him a grill because he’d just received a new one. That’s where there’s opportunity for a flipper like David to come in, take the item, clean it up, list it and sell it to make some money.
Garage sales and estate sales are another great place to find items. One of David’s techniques that has had success is to message the people after the sale is over and ask them if they have anything else. Last year he tried this method and somebody had a whole house full of stuff for him. He took his 2012 Chevy Express Cargo Van and ended up filling the vehicle twice. The person was grateful to have all of the items taken away and David got a screaming deal and only paid $50.
Share Your Business
Make sure people know about your reselling business because you never know when someone could have things lying around that they don’t want. David has even added a note on his painting company’s website page that says he buys items and will take free items.
On a recent painting job one of his favorite customers gave him two Queen Anne style wingback chairs for free. The chairs were worth $3,400 new, which means a good resale would be $1,500 to $1,800. And he got them in perfect condition because someone wanted to get rid of them and knew about his side hustle.
What’s The Time Investment?
With a full-time painting business, David is putting in part-time hours with his flipping side hustle. The hours vary week to week, and sometimes he’ll take a few days off to just work on sourcing and listing items. On the flip side there are times where he won’t list or do anything for a few weeks because he’s focused on his full-time job. The reselling gig offers flexibility to pick and choose when you want to work.
How Do You Know What To Flip?
When looking for items, it’s best for an item to be unique or stand out in some way. The key to painting an item to resell is to paint it for what will be marketable to the general public, not just something you will like.
What’s Your Most Memorable Flip?
The first piece of furniture David ever flipped was an armoire that he found in Goodwill for about $50 five years ago. He fell in love with the piece so he took it home, repainted it, and modified it to be a really cool liquor cabinet. The whole process was simple, and really blew his mind. He listed it and the next day it sold for $400 and the buyer even picked it up!
Painting might seem complicated, but David encourages people to just give it a try. David likes to take before and after photos of all his pieces because even though the piece will have a new home, the photos are his trophy and they allow him to showcase his work later on.
Where Do You Sell Your Items?
David’s preference is to sell on Facebook Marketplace. Everyone has their own flipping style and David’s mindset is if he finds something cool, he wants it gone as fast as it came. Because he has a full-time job and is limited on time, he has to be intentional with everything from sourcing to listing and advertising.
He added that he likes to be able to get something in and get it sold as quickly as possible. Being motivated to get rid of something factors into how he prices items on Facebook Marketplace.
David isn’t afraid to put a little ad spend toward getting his items moving either. It doesn’t bother him to give Facebook a small cut of the profit to be able to get the item to sell faster, it’s just the cost of doing business. And David can afford to do that because he’s made the money in the find or buy. Because the items are being sourced for free or cheap and sold with a markup, spending a few dollars on an ad won’t impact profit too much.
What Advice Do You Have For Beginners?
David’s advice to those looking to get into or grow their flipping business is to just do it. Getting a sale is like a big hit of dopamine every time you hear the cha-ching, so that helps boost your confidence to keep going.
It’s easy to get stuck overthinking the process, but you don’t get results until you put one foot in front of the other and just do it. David’s advice for if you’re feeling stuck is just pick one thing and get it listed. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. He says they’re necessary and a correcting mechanism so you can look at the process and learn from it the next time.
You Don’t Need A Niche
Another misconception David addressed is the idea that you have to have a niche to get into reselling. When he first started, he wasted about six months trying to figure out what niche he could get into. He’s since learned that it’s better to be willing to sell anything if it makes you money and is worth the time and effort.
David added if someone pulled up and offered a big, pink yacht up for free, he’d take it and sell it.
David hopes to grow his reseller business and eventually transition out of his full-time job at the painting company.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Download These 47 Household Items To Resell TODAY!
FREE Workshop How To Turn Your Passion of Flipping Items Into A Profitable Reselling Business
Follow David where he shares some of his pieces here
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Great article! And I agree—a person just has to start & ideally, sell items you don’t want or items you get for free. That way it’s all profit & you can afford to make a few mistakes without losing any money. The key for everything I sell seems to be to making sure things are clean & in really good condition and they will sell.
thanks for listening Leona!
Great program. I love that David shared his journey and reiterated that you don’t need to have a niche! Letting people know what you are doing is great too. It gets the word out.