I have a great deal of respect for my father. He may not know this, but I do. He grew up in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City and dropped out of high school to take a full-time job at a pizza restaurant. He would hand over his paycheck each week to his mother to help ends meet for his family. His father was an immigrant from Italy and a longshoreman. Hard work, if you could get it. My Dad drove a taxi, joined the Army (was spared from going to Vietnam), came back to New York and started work on Wall Street. He had no experience or education. Just old fashioned street smarts and a strong work ethic. He eventually moved us to Georgia where he took a management job at the old firm, Dean Witter Reynolds. He worked up the ladder and took the Series 7 exam, making him a bona fide stock broker. He worked hard, provided for his family and retired 10 years ago.
Several Christmases ago, I was home with my family in Georgia. Visits home can range from relaxing to tormenting, depending on the family and the year. This particular Christmas, I was having a heart-to-heart with my father. He is retired with nothing but time on his hands. He was bored and didn't seem to have any purpose or passion (something about retirement can convince us that it is time to stop progressing and developing). His four children are all grown and have busy lives of their own. The house is showing it’s real age. It’s very cluttered, to be completely honest; something that has my sisters and I frustrated year after year. During our talk I was looking around the house and saw nothing but potential for decreasing clutter while making a little extra money. My father was intrigued…
A little back story: my wife and I were married in 2004 and in the four years after our wedding, we moved four times. We lived in New York and became urban nomads. Moving from apartment to apartment (a lease would not be renewed, our apartment was sold, etc. – a few of the joys that come from renting in New York City). Each time we prepared for a move, we were forced to take inventory of our physical possessions. Clothes and furniture we would sell or donate to Housing Works (an amazing organization: Uhttp://www.housingworks.org/U). Our books, DVDS and CD’s (oh, and our VHS tapes – remember those?) we listed on half.com, eBay or Craigs List. We had great success with this. The process was laborious, having to list each item individually with the ISBN number, etc. But, I think we made something close to $1500 over the course of several moves just selling media. In one apartment in the Village, we lived above a Post Office, so mailing sold items was very convenient. The satisfaction of decreasing our personal belongings, lightening our proverbial load and making money was terrific.
I recommend it to anyone which brings me back to my father.
That Christmas, I sat down with him, logged onto my half.com account and showed him how it worked. I listed a few of his books and made an agreement with him that if he listed books and they sold, I would send him a check (since the deposits would go into my account). Well, weeks went by and one day, I had a rather large deposit in my account. I was shocked to discover it was because of items my father had listed and sold. A few months went by and I finally encouraged him (forced him) to open his own account so he could manage it on his own and have revenues deposited into his account.
So, he did…
… and I created a monster.
He became obsessed. Not only did he sell almost every book and CD in our house, he started driving to local garage sales and buying all the books sold. He would spend sometimes $5.00 on 100 books (people just want them to go and not have to deal with lugging them back in the house). He would then list the 100 books and make a huge profit on his $5.00 investment.
His new found obsession had him one day wander into a local used-book store to look for inexpensive inventory. He started chatting with the employees. He got to know them over time. They, like him, were retired and had gone back to work. Pretty soon thereafter, the good folks at the book store started putting a box of books aside every Friday for my father to collect. They were not going to sell these books, so they just gave them to him, free of charge. He, in turn, would turn them into profit. Well, he started spending so much time at the book store that he was finally offered a job. He went from being a customer to a part-time employee to a full-time employee. All the while still generating revenues from on-line sales. One day, my father met a customer who was as serious about books as he was. He would come in every week and drop big money buying books to add to his growing inventory. Through their business relationship, they became friends.
But, one day, my father was terminated from the bookstore – he and the store’s owner didn’t see eye-to-eye. This is a harsh reality for anyone, particularly a 67-year old man who came out of retirement and back to work full time. Yes, it was difficult and embarrassing, but it was necessary. Him getting let go was a very important step in setting him up for what happened next.
A few months after he was let go, this customer contacted my father and asked if he’d be interested in going into business together. After all, my father was doing a steady monthly business and this gentleman had 20,000 books in personal inventory. He was a previous IBM executive who was computer savvy (something my father was not). Coupling this with my father’s street smarts and charisma, they put together a corporation, opened a small-business bank account and within their first month of business sold 1500 books on over 17 different websites with a 100% customer-service rating.
They drive all over the southeast to yard sales, thrift stores and estates to buy books. While I was home this past Christmas, I helped them unload over 6000 books they purchased from the home of deceased man. They spent $300. There is an untold amount of profit they will make from that one investment. They ended up buying several scanners that scan the ISBN number directly into their inventory (sophisticated software developed by Amazon.com). And, they just hired their first employee to pull books from inventory, pack and ship them to customers (this employee happens to be my mother, who also just lost her job of 20 years due to the economy). Their next plan is to open a non-profit bookstore in the Spring.
I am amazed at what my Dad has accomplished in the last few years. What began as a simple way to de-clutter his home and make a few extra bucks has turned into a passion and purpose that has changed the lives of two retirees and will eventually contribute to the needs of others less fortunate.
They may never become multi-millionaires, but money, I hope we all understand, is not the ultimate definition of our worth!
Oh, by the way, their company is called Little Italy Books. It all comes full circle... from pizza to books.
What have we learned (besides I can be very long-winded)?
1) It’s never too late to do anything you put your mind and heart to. Whether you work full time or are retired, there are opportunities around you —RIGHT NOW – to rejuvenate an old passion or discover a new one.
2) In your house/apartment – RIGHT NOW – you have revenue generating goods to sell. Take a real look at what you need vs. want. You’ll be shocked, if you are honest with yourself, how much you can do without. You don’t have to sell it. You can donate it to the Goodwill or any other charitable organization for a tax deduction.
Either way, our culture’s obsession with “stuff” has bogged us down, used up our hard-earned money and taken us away from one of life’s best luxuries – simplicity.
Michael Albanese is a playwright, screenwriter and part-time jack-of-all-trades. A recent transplant to Los Angeles from New York, he loves, in no particular order, all things Italian, art, films, music, theatre, food, wine, etc. He drinks a lot of coffee and knows just enough about sports to get by. He has vast experience in the hospitality and service industries and at one point in life, wanted to be a dentist. He lives with his best friend, who happens to be his wife, and has a stuffed dog because he won't commit to getting a real one. He recently was looking for the business book, “It’s Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles From a Life at Starbucks”. So, he checked in with his father, who didn’t have it in inventory. Unfortunately, Michael had to buy the book from one of his father’s competitors.