Originally posted on Housakicks
This post stems out of a conversation I had with Chris Burns from Arch-USA a few days ago on my way back from the Mall. We both realized a long time ago that this thing called “reselling Sneakers” isn’t really a business but rather some type of quick hustle or hobby. Now don’t get me wrong consignment shops or marketplaces like Flightclub, GOAT, Stockx, Kixify are businesses that depends on hustlers to thrive.. Do you get it.. they aren’t your typical Reseller but their inventory is solely dependent on the Reseller’s hard work. Notice that none of these four websites that I mentioned actually sell their own products but rather provide you with a platform to run your hustle. Who is the smartest here? I hope you understand where I’m going with this. I’ve run into many a people who tell me they want to get into the sneaker game and they are absolutely right: it’s a GAME that is totally subject to whoever has the most money.. Basically what I’m saying is that any average Joe with a decent brain can sell sneakers as long as he has the capital. You see hustles come and go and are very fleeting, but establishing something that is sustainable for years to come is what we define as REAL BUSINESS. And like I explained earlier Flightclub is a business .. Why? Because Flightclub is unique and proprietary and reselling sneakers simply isn’t.
Chris and I tackled this subject today and you can watch to entire interview in the video below. Make sure you Subscribe to Chris’ channel and Subscribe to my channel for more relevant content like this.
Description from YouTube
A few days ago I was speaking with Tayib of Housakicks, my partner in the AHN and I said to him that if you have a business that anyone can get into if they have the money, or if they have the connections, you don’t have a true business. The businesses that thrive and survive are businesses where the service or item you are offering can’t be duplicated or can’t be copied easily. In other words, you have to prepare for how things can fall apart at anytime when you are reselling because it’s an easily disrupted biz.
Featured Guest: Tayib of Housakicks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZPK…
Breakdown
Introduction
1:13 Tayib’s Thoughts on why Reselling Isn’t Really a Business
2:03 Anyone with money can sell sneakers
2:30 Reselling and Flipping is a hustle not a real business
2:51 A real sneaker business is FootLocker, GOAT, StockX, etc.
3:38 A business disrupts an industry
4:15 Everyone is trying… it doesn’t last
5:00 When you think you’re balling
5:38 You can move from being a hustler to being a business
6:20 Flight Club and other stores like StockX are businesses
7:22 Chris responds with a story about realizing that flipping is not a business.
8:08 Selling sneakers is not a business, but you have to treat it like one.
9:00 I’m hurting from walking away from my Amazon store
9:39 I decided to invest my time and effort into AHN
10:06 If I had put the same effort into ARCH that was a business.
10:40 We aren’t hating on flipping shoes, we just want people to find an angle that can’t be easily copied.
11:20 It’s not a business when the first guy to the store wins.
12:00 Conclusion Subscribe
Below are Chris’ comments from a Facebook discussion for clarification:
Comment 1 – Business” is obviously a relative term. Only if you move reselling into the territory of opening a shop/ownership of some kind as you did, is when it becomes a business. At that point, you’re no longer simply a “reseller”. You have an individual space which opens you up to the ability to multichannel. That differentiates you from the regular guy who simply has the money to buy and sell. Opening a shop creates ownership. Building beyond reselling or designing is a business. When you are simply running around being first, or having the right connections, you don’t have a business. You really don’t have a business when one bad claim or customer experience on a 3rd party can shut down your shop and wipe you out. You are only protected via ownership. The goal of these videos is to get guys to stop thinking that just reselling is a business.
Comment 2 – You’re not a business when you can be disrupted easily. I have to admit now that it would have been smarter to build ARCH as opposed to simply diversifying on 3rd party platforms and relying on an inconsistent stream of inventory. It operated and made ridiculous money, but it could not and did not ever have the ability to generate money when I closed my eyes and walked away from it for a few weeks. Think about this, if your 3rd party platforms removed you today, would your “business” struggle? Everyone has to begin to spend as much time on their own as they do on third party or eventually things change. Those big resellers have a consistent stream of product. Kind of like I was when I had Okuns. Once that consistent stream died, I was no longer a business, I was a reseller again.
Comment 3 – The store made it a more concrete reality, a business and that’s my point. We all have to begin to think about ownership and move away from flimsy and inconsistent streams of inventory. I’m not a business anymore, I’m a reseller and it shows. I no longer generate 500K a year, but I’m building a new platform. I advise everyone to start doing the same.
