How We Turned Our Side Hustle Into A Full-Time Income: Interview With Chris Petrie

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We’re throwing it back to an interview we did with Chris from The Money Peach. This was from a couple of years ago. Chris interviewed us about how we turned our flipping side hustle into a full-time income. We met Chris at FinCon, a financial conference we attended for several years, and we got to know a lot of people in the financial space.

Chris Petrie, known as Chris Peach, teaches people how to increase their income, pay off debt, and create budgets.

How Did You Get Into Flipping?

When I was a young age, my parents modeled this side hustle to me. I grew up in a bigger family. I have six older sisters. I’m the youngest and only boy.

My parents would have to go to yard sales to be able to put clothes on our back, and my mom loved it. Every weekend, she would go to Saturday yard sales. Anytime she saw some expensive equipment, whether it was exercise or commercial equipment, she would buy that from a local yard sale, and then she would bring it back to our house.

This was before eBay, so she would sell it in the local classified section of the Orlando Sentinel. At a young age I saw my parents flipping items, and when I was a teenager I started doing it as a side hustle. I did it over the last 20 years and then made it my full-time gig to provide for my family.

What Were You Doing Full-Time While This Was A Side Hustle?

Melissa was a personal trainer and worked at a gym for the first 10 years of our marriage and I did home inspections. We did flipping on the side and it was always our extra money for vacations or extra bills. It also helped us build our savings.

Melissa quit her job to stay home with the three kids and that was the time I found out we were losing health insurance. We were making good money with just five hours a week of the flipping side hustle, so we figured we we could make more by doing it full-time.

What Kind Of Income Are You Looking At In The Beginning?

The first year before I went full-time, we were making $42,000 gross and $33,000 net. Then when we jumped in full-time, we hit $130,000 gross and $100,000 net.

What Is Your Best Flipping Story?

The prosthetic leg is a good one. I picked this up at the flea market. It was a knee joint prosthetic leg. I bought it for $35 and I sold it the next day on eBay for $999. It was less than 24 hours. We also sold a parking lot security tower that was on a trailer and raised up in the air like 25 feet. I paid $5,000 for that and we sold it for $25,000 in less than a month.

How Many Hours Should Someone Dedicate To Flipping To Make $500 A Month?

Five to ten hours a week will help you hit that $500 mark, but it can be spread out across the week. Be consistent and build in pockets during your day to either list, ship, source, or do other tasks for the business. Taking 30 minutes a day to help build your side hustle flipping business is easier than doing it all one day once a week.

Is It Tough To Find High Profit Items?

I’ve been doing this for a long time so I know what to look for and can find tuff almost anywhere. We did a 30-day road trip, brought our trailer, and bought 8 items that we spent $1,400. We should make $24,000 on those items once sold. As you learn what to look for, it’s easier to spot good flips.

How We Turned Our Side Hustle Into A Full-Time Income: Interview With Chris Petrie

Where Should Someone Start To Get Into This Side Hustle?

We tell everybody to start with the stuff that’s in your house that you’re going to give away to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Sell those and use them to get the feel of listing to eBay, shipping, selling and going through the steps. We sell 80-90 percent of our items on eBay, but you can start on Facebook Marketplace or whatever platform you choose. eBay really opens your items up to be seen by more people though.

What Tips Can Help Sell Your Items?

Take good pictures and show defects. Under-promise and over-deliver on your listings. Have accurate descriptions. Use key search phrases in your titles. It will help sell your items faster if you are using phrases that people are searching for.

What Do You Sell Items For?

We try to sell items for 50% of retail price, so that helps us determine what we want to purchase them for too. We want to 10x our profit. That helps us determine the maximum amount we are willing to pay for an item. If an item is valued at $3,000 retail, we’d want to sell it around $1,500, so to 10x our profit we’d have to pay $150 or less for the item.