I started my journey on Poshmark by putting aside $3,000 to buy inventory. Lucky for me, I already have an iPhone to shoot my products and a laptop to list my inventory. This post will give you an idea of how I amassed so much inventory in such a short amount of time.

I was searching high and low on OfferUp in late August 2018 for a good deal on clothes to buy and resell. I still remember the transaction amount cold, it was 36 pieces of Lululemon tops and bottoms for $6 a piece. The total cost for the day was $216 and I couldn't believe my luck because they were all in almost new condition and had decent resell values. The next day, they were shot and listed on my poshmark closet and I moved onto finding more inventory with the $2,784 I had left.

I don't remember what my 2nd, 3rd or 4th buys were but I did know that I was spending too much time looking for inventory since I didn't know better. Although my items were slowly selling, I still knew that I wanted to use my ENTIRE $3,000 to get as much inventory as possible. Yes, I made the mistake of buying clothes just because they were cheap  and again, I was spending too much time driving around town. Nonetheless, I still pushed forward to use the last of my money I set aside for Poshmark to buy clothes I felt would sell on the app. When it was all said and done, I ended up with about 450-550 pieces of inventory in my closet. At that point I was getting consistent sales almost everyday and transfered every redeemable dollar into my checking account to blow it all on Goodwill's $1 Thursdays. Again, I still felt that I was spending too much time finding inventory because my time was better spent shooting and listing.

With that said, the following quote is something I realize needed to happen for me to be the best reseller I can be:

"To get more inventory, I must spend less time finding inventory"

Yes, this original quote is counterintuitive but it makes so much sense to me! When I realized this truth, I only spent Thursdays sourcing while the other 6 days was spent listing and finding a reliable source so I can grow my closet. At this point in the story, I only had used clothing in my closet that were all listed for $20 and below. I know this sounds bad for some of us but I was looking at the long game. I knew the expensive stuff will come later on.

I'm sure most of you know about compounding but most of us don't apply it to our inventory. This concept was what really took my closet to the next level when it came to quantity and I suggest you look into it. No, like really go look "Compounding" up on Google. Instead of looking at compounding in a financial sense, I looked at it on an inventory level.

About 2 months into me being on Poshmark I was in the rhythm of buying, listing, researching...buying, listing, researching. Sales volume was increasing by I still couldn't figure out how the hell I was going to solve the time issue when it came to sourcing. Nonetheless, my inventory was growing every day and on the REALLY good days, I was able to list more than 100 pieces! 

At this point, I made the decision that I can do this gig full-time.

For me to break down how I ended up with $175,000+ worth of listed inventory will take more than a post to write about. My goal here is to give you guys something you can walk away with and use in your inventory strategy. My goal is not to bore you with a story that is truly unique only to me.

I wrote the first couple of paragraphs to make a point that buying, selling and reinvesting with the idea of compounding in mind is all you really need to focus on, at least in the beginning. As you're growing your inventory, always be thinking about how much time you're spending on finding the inventory. Literally, time yourself when you're sourcing  to see what your true cost of inventory is. The thing is, if you do this enough, you'll be more motivated to find a better and better source of inventory beyond the thrift stores.

I finally figured it out about 5 months into my Poshmark journey and I haven't stepped into a thrift store ever since. That's not to say I look down on people that source at thrift stores, I'm just saying there are always easier ways to do things. Now, my inventory has a healthy mix of low, mid and high-end items in all conditions and sizes. I'm also working towards making 80% of my inventory NWT.

What I must also mention is that every piece that's in my inventory, whether listed or sold, stemmed from my initial $3,000 investment. I'm telling you it can be done, just follow a few principles and you're golden!

To recap since I was jumping around so much, these principles are:

1. Think in terms of compounding
2. Always believe there's a cheaper and  faster way to do things
3. Don't put that much emphasis on having high-end pieces in the beginning
4. Reinvest every dollar back to make your closet grow faster.
   
   

I know the 4 principles I just listed are not revolutionary in any way but that's my whole point! Don't feel let down because I didn't give you the missing piece of the puzzle. Be glad that the process is really that simple.

Of course, when you're growing, new principles must be developed and improved (I'll discuss those in another post), but for most of us, these concepts are the only things we need to get us off the ground. Ask yourself if you're neglecting any of the principles I've listed and work on it...EVERYDAY.

Lastly, understand that my technique requires A LOT of work. However much work you think it's going to take, just double that to be safe. 

Again, please don't complicate things.

*I'll also be making a post soon about the single biggest reason why having all of this inventory matters. I promise it will be worth it.