How This Retiree Makes $1K/Mo Flipping Cooktops and Mattresses Online

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Rob: What’s up, guys? Today we have an awesome guest, Natalie Brosius and we are so excited to talk to her. She’s been flipping some crazy cool items recently. So we’re very excited to talk to her, pick her brain, and get some great, great insight on how she’s been able to do this. 

Melissa: And hear her story. So thank you, Natalie, for being on here.

Thank you for having me. This is so. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be fun. That’s all I can say. 

Rob: Cool. 

Melissa: Yeah. Give us a little background about yourself, like how you started in reselling and just a little bit of your backstory. 

Rob: Yeah.

Natalie B: Sure, sure. So I actually, it’s really crazy because, I first heard of you guys through, I was signed up for, Nick Loper’s emails on side hustles.

And so there was the one he did with Rob, the interview about flipping. And so I listened to that and I read it and I’m like, oh my gosh, is this like, you know, I’ve looked for things for years and I’ve done a lot of, you know, things. And so I thought, gosh, I think I could do this.  And, and you guys, so then I went in and checked out your YouTube videos and you guys were having your Christmas challenge.

This was November of last year, like November 1st. And so I went ahead and I, you know, I signed up and started with the Christmas challenge. And I had done some Facebook, mostly Facebook marketplace, you know, selling local and so I was familiar with that part of it. And, and I think years ago, I maybe got dabbled a little bit in eBay, but it’s been so long ago.

So, so yeah, I got into the Christmas challenge. And, I managed to sell a lift chair that belonged to my mother-in-law that I had brought home thinking I really wanted it. It was so comfortable only to find out it was built for a petite person. And, you know, I’m like five, seven, so it was not real comfortable.

So ended up selling it local, which gave me a nice chunk of change to then start sourcing with. And it just kind of snowballed from there. And so, yeah, it’s been almost a year and, and it’s still fun and it’s, just unbelievable. Unbelievable, this ride. 

Rob: That’s awesome. So just a little over or under a year, right around a year, mark, that you’ve been doing this and you’ve had some 

Melissa: We’re almost in November again.

Rob: Yeah. You’ve had some, some crazy results. We watch you. We watch your growth. We absolutely love to see what you’re doing. For you guys that don’t know, Natalie found us, we actually have Flipper University. She jumped into it, back in actually, was it at the end of the month, so right after the Christmas challenge.

So, yeah, that’s how we, she’s in our flipping for profit, our private Facebook group. So we get to see her growth and it’s very, very exciting, to watch the growth of her and watch these items that she’s selling. 

Melissa: And we’re going to talk about some of them. 

Rob: Exactly. So we’ll jump into them for sure. So, and Nick Loper, you also mentioned Nick Loper. He’s a, he’s a close friend of ours, super excited that you were able to find us through him. And he’s got a great Side Hustle Nation, a great podcast as well. 

Melissa: To link to his interview too. 

Rob: Absolutely, we did his, the one that Natalie was talking about, we did his interview years and years ago now. 

Melissa: We’ll link it in the, in the notes. So are you right now, selling part-time or full-time or how, what does that look like? 

Natalie B: Well, to me, it’s, full-time, you know, I, but it’s, it’s weird because I’m not, you know, I’m not like out finding stuff every day, but I’m, you know. And I don’t have a ton of things listed. I’m kind of, you know, kind of leaning toward your model of, you know, larger items.

Cause I just don’t have the space in the storage, for, you know. So yeah, I’ve been, you know, I tried to do bigger things, and that, you know, not take up too much space in the house. And we live, so we don’t live close to towns. So, you know, having a storage unit is really not convenient. So yeah, but I consider myself full time, at this, you know, I’ve managed to, acquire a good income that allowed me as, you know, to retire early. And, so, so yeah, to me, it’s, to me, it’s full-time, but it’s, I’m not going somewhere, you know, every day and punching a time clock. 

Rob: That’s awesome. Give us, like hours. I know full-time is different for everybody, especially if you’re not punching the clock, but how many hours would you say that you are spending right now towards the business?

Natalie B: Oh, well, I do spend, I do spend quite a bit of time. Probably, I would guess I’m, I would say five to six hours a day. You know, it just depends on if it’s, you know, whether I’m working on the computer or whether I’m boxing something up and if I’m, you know, boxing up a cooktop that can take me, you know, half a day.

So yeah, but probably five to six hours. 

Rob: Good. Yeah, I’m just trying to get an idea, cause a lot of people related to hourly, you know, if you’re you’re working, you know, 25 hours a week, 40 hours a week, so, that’s a good reference point for sure. So. 

Melissa: And you mentioned that you were able to retire early and I remember you posting that. That was not that long ago, right? It was a few months ago?

Natalie B: It’s September 3rd. Okay. So I had, you know, my plan was to retire in December, which was, you know, my birthday falls in December. So I’m thinking, okay, you know, social security and, you know, I should be able to, you know, and then I got to a point where I was started having some issues with my knee.

And, so I started focusing on okay, if I can make this certain amount of money by this certain date, I’m going to retire early. And you know, and I didn’t, share that with anybody. And I just kept looking and, you know, for the items, good items I could, you know, make a good profit on.

And I, you know, so my goal was to hit this number in August and I didn’t quite hit it in August, you know, like right at the beginning, but like, by the end of August, you know, I was there. Then I, you know, I talked to my husband and I’m like, know, I can do it. We can do this, you know, and I’m ready.

I can’t handle the walking, all the walking I was having to do at my, you know, my job. And then I started thinking about the fact that he’s been retired for 20 years. And so it was time. It was just time. So yeah, I did it.

Melissa: Your time. 

Rob: That’s awesome. That’s so exciting that you’re able to create, create that income that make you feel comfortable to be able to retire early. For sure.

Melissa: So what has been your, if you don’t mind us asking, what is your average income that you’re making? It probably it goes up and down. So like, what would you say your average and then maybe your best month that you’ve had? 

Natalie B: Average I guess is probably, I would have to say maybe $800 a month, but you know, there have been a few months, you know, that it was higher.

But I would say $800 to $1,000 a month. 

Rob: Fair average, cool. 

Natalie B: And it’s yeah, it’s worked out great. 

Melissa: Awesome. 

Rob: That is awesome. 

Melissa: So what out of the last year, have you had any flips that were, like fun or memorable or what is some of your favorite ones that you’ve done? Or one or two?

Rob: Yeah. 

Natalie B: So I mean, I get excited over all of them every time, you know, I hear the phone when I look at my husband and I go, oh my gosh, there it goes, there goes to the ching you know? But, I have to say the funniest. I mean the most memorable to me is, we had went to dinner one evening. We had to go pick his truck up from getting, I think it was new tires put on.

So we had two vehicles and we went and ate and we left. I pulled out in front ahead of him and we went around the corner and then I drove by and I’d seen this vacuum sitting outside by the road. There was the canister and the box full of attachments. And I stopped and I got out and I opened up my back hatch and he drove up beside me and he rolled the window down.

He goes, “What are you doing?” I said, you know, and I go, and I told him what the brand was. You know, it’ll sell it’s, you know, it’s this particular brand and it’s going to sell. And he just, he just like shook his head, rolled his window up and drove away. He’s like, I don’t even know you lately. And so I grabbed, you know, I looked around, nobody was around, but you know, it was like right out by the edge of the road.

So I knew they’d set it out for trash pickup, you know, so I grabbed it up, put it in my vehicle. Brought it home. It sat in the garage for like two weeks and he kept looking at it and it was dirty. It was very dirty. And he goes, you really think you’re going to be able to clean that up and sell it? And I said, yes, I do.

And so finally, one day he goes, it was a weekend and he goes, you really need to figure out what you’re going to do with that. So I said okay, I’m going to tackle it today. I’m going to clean it up. So, you know, so it’s like I had to YouTube to figure out how to take it apart and get it cleaned. And, and I, so I posted it.

That was Saturday. On like Sunday evening I posted it up and Monday my phone went off and I looked, I had posted it for $390. Somebody offered me $360 and I took it and I immediately got on the phone and I called him and I said, guess what? He goes, what? And I said, I sold that vacuum and you will not believe what I got out of it.

And so, yeah, we have a good laugh about it. And he says, you know, he said, I went by there one day and the guy was out in the yard and almost stopped and said, remember that vacuum sweeper used through. My wife sold it and got $360 for it. I go, no, don’t do that. He’ll call the cop say I stole it. 

Rob: What a great, what a great story with a lot of great points in there, guys.

She, she pulled something out of the trash, which Melissa and I do that quite a bit as well. It is crazy that you can do that and people throw away so much money. So she pulled it out of the trash. The other thing is procrastination. I’m the king of procrastination. She let it sit for a little while.

She could have had that money in her pocket two weeks earlier, but it’s one of those things that we totally get it. We love finding the deals. But then it bringing them out to the market. It takes us a little bit of time sometimes. So, some great lessons all around in this story. Absolutely love it.

You know, $360 from a trash find is always a win, always very, very exciting in our books. So, kind of the next question, what, I mean, you started selling about a year ago. What exactly would you call your, your niche or your, you know, what do you enjoy exactly? What type of items do you sell and, are you drawn to? 

Natalie B: Well, you know, the first thing that really, I started latching on to and did really well with, probably the first, you know, six months was sleep numbers.

I was getting sleep numbers and, you know, parting them out. And, you know, I, I did really well. I would, you know, I’d try not to pay more than a hundred bucks for one. Usually I, you know, I get them $50 to $75 and then gosh, you know, I could make $500 or $600, parting them out. And so, you know, I, that went really good.

And then I got into the cooktops, then I have done, you know, a few of the vacuums, but lately it’s been, most of it has been cooktops, I guess, cooktops and, I think vacuums probably. I haven’t really come across a lot of sleep numbers lately.

So yeah, I, I haven’t sold any of those in a while. And then I’ve, you know, I’ve thrown, like I sold one of those Otis Spunkmeyer, convection ovens just last week. And so that was my first for that. I was trying to think if there was anything, you know, some other smalls, but yeah, I think my, my biggest, oh, Nordic Tracks. Nordic Tracks, I’ve done quite well with Nordic Tracks as well.

And I’ve picked up a few, like I’ve got a couple of Schwinn Airdyne and I’ve got a, cario glider that, I know I’m going to have to, they’re going to have to go freight and I’m still, you know, I’m still kind of, kind of, not too sure about, you know, doing that freight yet. I know also that I have to, you know, going, getting to a YRC freight, is, going to be about 40 miles away.

And in a city that we’re not real keen about driving. We’re not really city folk, 

Rob: Yeah, that’s cool. So it sounds like a lot of the items that you’re doing are larger items. I mean, sleep number mattresses, if you don’t know. The one thing about sleep number mattresses, is really, really cool. And Natalie, that’s probably why you are drawn to them as well.

You can pull a sleep number mattress apart, a king size mattress. You can fit into the tiniest car there is. You can pull it apart and it comes all the way apart. You can totally clean it and wash it. You can part that stuff out and make some great money. We bought 60 of them at one time from a hotel, 60 king size mattresses.

Yeah, and it’s one of those things, it’s a really, really good, great place to start. You can get them fairly reasonable. And then you can make some good money on them and then, but ovens. I mean the cooktops, that’s a step up, you’re getting into some larger items. That’s exciting, but, why is the reason that you’re into cook tops?

Can you tell me, or, you know, you’ve sold a couple of them. What’s the lure into a cooktop? Give me the process of that. 

Natalie B: You know, I think it’s, cause I know, I’ve got it down to, I know the box, you know, I kinda, I kind of stick with the 30 inch, although I have a 36 inch, that I just got, but I’m still thinking I can, I can do it.

You know, like a, build a box, like two of those shorty wardrobes and still, you know, ship  that, through ups, FedEx, whatever. But I do have like a 47 inch out in the shed that I’ve kind of, it’s been sitting out there, you know, again, free. But no, I just, I really, I don’t know why I am so drawn to them except I do know.

Okay. I know the exact size box I need. I know, you know how it’s really. Yeah. It takes me a little bit of time to, you know, get the, styrofoam, you know, get it all packed in there and everything but, I’ve been picking up some really great ones that are clean. There’s not a lot of clean up to them and the clean up is quite easy.

So I think that’s, you know, I’m trying to find those things that, you know, I don’t have to put a lot of effort into to get them ready to sell. Yeah. 

Rob: That’s awesome. What about the numbers on those? What are you average selling these 30 inch cooktops for and, you know, kind of, what are you, what are you looking to buy them for when you’re sourcing them? 

Natalie B: Yeah, I’ve been doing, I think getting anywhere from $700, well, I’d say $600 to $800 now. I just have, I have two, listed up right now that, and I just sent offers out on this morning, that I’ve got listed at one at like $1,100 and one at $1,250. So those, I mean, I, those would be my highest sale so far. 

Melissa: Where are you selling them? On what platform?

Natalie B: I strictly use eBay. I have not, I, I ventured into Mercari I think shortly after I got into flipping university, but I wasn’t real impressed with them. So. Yeah, I’m just, I’m sticking with eBay right now.

Rob: We’re in the same boat. We, eBay’s 90% of our income and we love it. So yeah, and it seems like it reaches the most amount of people, so, which is cool.

So, but one more question back on the cooktop. So you’re getting roughly anywhere from $600 to $800 bucks, what are you spending on them? And are these new cook tops or where are you getting them from? 

Natalie B: Nope. I try not to spend more than a hundred bucks. I did just buy one. It was very nice, very nice.

Actually, it’s one of them I have up for sale. It was so clean. And so I went, I did go with $150 on that one. That’s the most I’ve spent, but I try lots of times I get them for $50 to $100 dollars. And again, I’ve been really lucky lately to get some really, really clean ones. And so, and then I, I have found that the little, electric motor shop in our town will test them for me cause I don’t have any means of testing them. So, as soon as we go pick one up, we just swing by there and drop it off and, and you know, for $10 they test it for me. So it’s like, you know, I can work that into my cost. I mean, that’s just so much easier than me trying to figure out how we’re going to do this. But I get, I find them on Facebook marketplace. And so my only, my only issue is sometimes we have to drive quite a ways to get them. We can, drive anywhere from 60 to 70 miles one way, to pick up one. So, so yeah, I, I, haven’t got a lot of them really close, but, you know, to me, it’s like, you know, it’s a road trip. We get to go on a road trip to someplace we haven’t been before. So. 

Rob: That’s awesome. And some great points in there. You thought outside of the box, how to get these things tested, talked to a local business in your town that you’re able to have them test them for $10, which is cheap for you, for you to drop something off, know that it’s working in you being able to sell it for a working item.

Yeah, that that’s super exciting. The other thing is $50 to $100 and you’re turning them into $600, $800, $1,000. That’s no joke. You’re not investing, this is not 40 hours a week that you’re investing in time, spent on this. And that’s a great income that you could possibly make in a week, by doing one of these flips.

So, those are some key points that are awesome. Super, super exciting about this flipping business. 

Melissa: And I also wanted to add that, if you can do a cooktop in a box, Natalie, you can do a pallet. If you figured that one out, those are not that easy to ship. So if you got that down, you could easily do a fridge.

Natalie B: I’ve only had, only had one damaged and it wasn’t shipping there. It was a return. You know, they had decided that it wasn’t didn’t fit and wanted to send it back and, you know, so I was absolutely, you know, just make sure it comes, you know, as packaged up really well. And she goes, oh yes. You know, I’m going to take it to a third party and you know, it’ll come back, it’ll get packaged up just as good as I received it, you know?

So I’m like, okay, that’s cool. So. It came back and they had literally, all they did was wrap brown tape around the box and it came back all. I mean, the corners were all damaged and, but eBay was so great. You know, I went to eBay and she had not insured it. But I told eBay, I said, you know, I don’t blame her.

She took this to a third party and they were supposed to pack it up for her and they didn’t do their job. So eBay, they, you know, they refunded her, her money and, and let me keep mine. So.

Rob: That’s awesome. And that says a lot for eBay too, that they’re there to help you out as well. So, there’s a lot of interactions with eBay’s and it could go both ways.

Cause there’s, you know, you have three stories here, of what’s going on, but that’s really, it says a lot for the company that will step in and understand what’s going on. And then they’ll back both of you guys, which is good. That’s really good. 

Melissa: Neither of you were in the wrong really. And so that was really cool that they did that.

Yeah. So, what would you tell somebody who is thinking about getting started reselling? Something that you’ve learned along the way, like a tip or two, for somebody who’s wanting to do this and make an extra income. 

Natalie B: Oh my gosh, this is so legitimate. And so, just like I said, I have tried so many other things over the years and I’ve been with, you know, MLMs, I’ve tried, you know, doing things on my own.

And you know, I have never made the income that I am making now with flipping. And you don’t, you don’t have to have a lot of money. I’m actually, I’m going to talk to a lady and she lives in South Carolina and I really don’t even know her, but I know she’s struggling. And at financially and we have been communicating back and forth and you know, so this is something I, you know, I want to share with her, because I had, you know, I sold a nice big item to help me get started, but, but still, from reading other people’s posts on how they got started, I know that, you know, you don’t have to have a lot of money if you, you know, to get into this. And so, yeah, I just feel like this is, this is not a scam.

You know that it’s going to take half of what you make. And, you know, this is just, it’s just so, wow. I mean, I just, you know, I pinch myself every day because I cannot believe that I, and I thank the Lord because you know, this, this has just allowed me so much peace of mind.

Peace of mind and, you know, freedom to, you know, do things that I couldn’t have done if I was working. So I would say, try it, you know, try it. You, you know, like you guys always say you’ve got stuff around the house to sell, you know, there’s always stuff that you can, you know, you don’t use it. You know, make some money off from it and, make sure that you’re keeping that, you know, what you’re earning, you know, put that money aside and, you know, use it to keep reinvesting.

And then, you know, you can, you’ll be able to use that money for, you know, emergencies or, you know, fun, something fun, you know, you want it. 

Rob: Yeah, so many great points there, guys. There’s a low entry level to get into flipping. I mean, look at Natalie who just told the story about the vacuum. She was driving by stopped and picked up a vacuum that made her $360.

That stuff is exciting. There’s stuff everywhere. There is, there is. So it’s a low entry to get into it and try it. We tell just like she, Natalie said, we tell people all the time, you have so much stuff in your house that you haven’t used for the last year. Sell that stuff, get rid of it. You guys make some money and then start your, your, your bank roll that you can start investing into stuff, but you learn the process through free items, and then go up from there.

So, some great, great advice touching on. I know we spoke to you a little bit before touching on the fact that, you know, you’re not clocking in, you’re not punching into a clock. You’re able to do this when you want to do it. Whether those hours are from eight o’clock, till 12 o’clock at night, whether those hours are from 6:00 AM to, you know, 10:00 AM.

And then you have the rest of the day to do whatever you want and you have whatever hours you want to work on this, which is very, very exciting and very appealing. And by no means, is this a get rich quick, like Natalie said as well, you know, you, you have to put the time and you have to work.

But it’s one of those things that it’s not a scam. The reselling business is really, if you enjoy it, it is a lot of fun and it’s got great potential for people who enjoy it and put the work in to succeed or excel at it. For sure. 

Natalie B: Absolutely. 

Rob: Cool. Any other last parting words on Natalie?

Thank you so much for jumping on here, but do you have any last parting words, any advice or anything like that that you can give to somebody? 

Natalie B: If this is something you’re thinking about, if you’re, you know, you’ve kind of thought, you know, would this work for me?

Can I do this? Yes, yes. Anybody can do this. If you put your, like you said, if you put your mind to it, and yeah, you have to work at it. But the rewards are, are just awesome. I mean, just totally awesome. The fact, like I said, the fact that I can, could retire, you know, getting to spend a whole day with my dad who’s 85 years old and, you know, helping him can pears. I mean, that to me was like a day that was great. I mean, something that I would have never, I mean, maybe I could have done it on a Saturday or Sunday, but you know, I was able to go over there in the middle of the week and, and, yeah can pears. You know, helping my kids who, you know, when they’re in a bind and they need, you know, something.

Or helping others, helping friends, you know. Just it’s like, oh, it’s it’s and the freedom, the feeling of, security, knowing that, you know, there is this there, Melissa mentioned it in the, the other day. I don’t remember the, the video you guys were doing, but, talking about. You know, now this income, you know, now I have to make sure that I use it to, you know, help with the financials, the home financials, you know, so that’s a little, it’s a little scary.

That was a little scary for me, to know that, okay, I’m not getting that, you know, regular paycheck. But you know, I just keep putting my trust in the Lord and I, you know, and I keep saying, you know, this. Going to go away, you know, this isn’t going to this. It’s like, okay. At one time I was trying to sell jewelry online.

You know, women only buy so much jewelry, you know, and then that just kind of fizzles out and it’s not, this is not like that this isn’t going to fizzle out as long as you work at it. And you know, keep doing what you’re doing. You know, there’s the residual income there for however long you want to work the business.

Rob: I love it. I love it. Great points, guys. Get started. If you are on the fence, get started, you can do it just like Natalie said, you have to be willing to start where you’re at, which is awesome. And yeah, the time freedom that it allows you to have to spend on that stuff that you enjoy. The family, whether it’s your hobbies, whatever it is, it frees up your time to be able to do that.

So, Natalie, thank you so much, some great, great information, today for our guests.  Super, super appreciative for you jumping on here and giving up your time. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for doing this for us. 

Natalie B: Oh, you guys are so welcome and it’s so great to talk to you. And I’m just, I’m really excited for the Reseller Summit coming up next week.

So, yeah, that’s going to be awesome. So thank you guys for everything you do for everybody in the flipper group, Flipper University and, all of that. 

Melissa: Thank you. 

Rob: Thank you so much. You’re so welcome. And thank you so much.

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Robert Stephenson

I grew up in Central Florida and have lived here my whole life. I first got into buying and selling items when I was 16 years old, and have been hooked ever since. It has mostly been a hobby that makes some extra cash, but sometimes it serves as my main income as well. I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I find too many fun toys for my family (or myself), and just love the whole process.

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