This week, Clara, Amanda, and Doug chat with Maggie Weber, @refashionedhippie, about her online selling business, her dedication to the environment, sustainability, and helping others, and her recently published second book “The Clothing Reseller’s Handbook: Your Ultimate Guide to Selling Clothing Online and Across Apps.”
The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly is the ecommerce resource for the seller community across all platforms and hub for information on growing your business. Find out more at thesellercommunitypodcast.com, leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast, or email us at podcast@listperfectly.com.
List Perfectly is the ecommerce resource for selling across multiple e-commerce platforms including eBay, Poshmark, Etsy, Mercari, Kidizen, Grailed, Depop, Tradesy, Facebook Marketplace, Instagram and Shopify.
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Links
thesellercommunitypodcast.com
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Episode Links
Rebel Girl Thrift
The Clothing Reseller’s Handbook
Why I Hate Everything book
Sanctuary Village
Refashionedhippie YouTube
Refashionedhippie Poshmark
Transcript
Doug:
Welcome to The Seller Community Podcast. This is season two, episode 15. This week, Clara, Amanda, and I are joined by Maggie Weber, refashionedhippie. Maggie Weber, refashioned hippie is an online seller, content creator, mom, two-time author, and a very funny lady. She was a winner of a Posh Heart and Hustle Community Fund award, and Poshmark is her main platform. She’s also an avid List Perfectly user, but we’ll get to all that. But for now, welcome to the show, Maggie. This is your second time on The Seller Community Podcast. So, congratulations!
Maggie:
Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here. I feel so awkward every time you introduce me though, cuz I feel like I’m just pretending to be an adult, and very soon you’re gonna figure it out.
Doug:
All right, and we have Clara and Amanda here as well.
Clara:
Hello. I’m Clara.
Amanda:
Hi Maggie. I’m Amanda and we’re big fans of what you do, your books. We’re gonna get into all that. We’re really excited.
Maggie:
Thank you. I’m a big fan of yours. I could not do this full-time without List Perfectly.
Clara:
Aw, thank you so much, Maggie. We are so inspired to have you back, and your journey. So, I’m gonna start with the first question. So, you started working in thrift stores. The first time you were on the podcast you said your selling journey started with shopping. Tell us a little about that, please.
Maggie:
Many things in my life started with shopping. I have always shopped in thrift stores. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up and I found amazing and unique pieces in thrift stores. So, I loved them. I always loved them. And after college, I realized I didn’t wanna work in the job I had majored in. So, thanks for paying for that mom. So, I just took a job. Honestly, I just took a job, and it was at my local thrift store, and I fell in love with it. And that led to an eight-year thrift store journey. And I learned so much, I learned so much about clothing. I learned so much about the environment and sustainability and I just fell in love with it. And even when I became a part of the corporate world, I still loved that thrift store feel. So I joined Poshmark when I needed professional people clothes, and I guess I got that same thrift store experience without having to go and try stuff on. And you know, they’re so available on Poshmark. So I just, I loved that. I could still feel like I was a part of a thrift store, but I definitely got my chops working in thrift stores for eight years, which is an experience. And if you have the availability to do it, do it, if you can volunteer, it’s a whole new world totally worth it.
Clara:
Absolutely. So I heard that you graduated and like myself, I’m a lawyer. Okay. Thank you, mom. Okay. And I came here to the USA, so I feel the empathy of what you say, but isn’t that incredible how that becomes part of our journey and led us to be here in this incredible community.
Maggie:
I was a drama major. I am a proud graduate of Washington College. Again, thank you mom for that drama major. The value that I got out of it was it made me come out of my shell. I was the most shy person you’ve ever met. People that I went to school with tell me I wasn’t in school with them because I didn’t speak for four years. And college brought me out and just gave me this confidence that I’d never had before. And it gave me the bravery to do things on my own for the first time. So I got so much out of it. I’m still really happy I went, but yeah, I learned what I didn’t wanna do with my life. And I’m so glad that it led me here because who knew, you know? I mean, I feel like my drama career was like the high school kid I dated, and thank God I didn’t, I didn’t stick with that either. You know, just no one can predict your life. And I’m so happy to be where I am.
Amanda:
A couple of comments back. You mentioned that you were in the corporate world. Can you tell us a little bit about that part of your life and also what prompted you to go to selling online?
Maggie:
Yeah, so I hated it. It just felt so fake. Clara, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about there, there’s just a corporate face that you put on, you know, and you’re so excited for wacky tie Wednesday and that’s not me. Absolutely. That’s not me. I worked at a boutique in a mall and the people I worked with were great. The company was great, but it’s just it’s, it’s all that pro-company “we’re all in this together, woo!” That I just couldn’t do. And the worst was a Black Friday because the company started basically sending us these threatening emails saying, “you have to be here Black Friday, have somebody drop you off because we will not allow you to take a customer parking space.” And you know, we’re staggering, our lunch breaks, we’re staggering bathroom breaks. So, you know, hold it, we hear some people wear diapers.
Maggie:
Maybe that’s a fun, like, you know a “how wacky story” and, and just threatening us to, you know, stay in line. But also “it’ll be so fun. And we’re all in this together, ladies.” Yeah. And it was just like, don’t try to make this fun. And also like, “you’re my district manager, girl, you, you don’t know how the register works. Don’t talk to me.” So, but you know, I was an assistant manager, so I had to give that face too. And where it really hurt was with our customers because I loved our customers and I did get to know them, but it’s like the second you leave, I forget everything you said, cuz I’m onto the next person. So I got to hear their stories and I got to help them find the perfect outfit and style, everything they were wearing. So they would look their best.
Maggie:
But the second they left, that information was deleted from my mind. And it’s like, I didn’t care about them anymore. I just didn’t. But now I have my own business. So my customers are my customers and I absolutely care about them. And I absolutely care about each of their stories. So there’s an authenticity to running your own small business that I’ve just never had before. And that I love so much more, and I am not built for corporate. I have discovered I’m just not. Plus I can nap when I want to know. That was not allowed before.
Doug:
So not even Hawaiian Shirt Friday?
Maggie:
Oh my God.
Doug:
No?
Maggie:
If anyone’s read my first book…
Clara:
In banking they let us use denim. Okay. Any kind of denim they let us use on Friday. Okay. But still, we would have to wear a formal shirt.
Maggie:
Every month we would have some new thing. So it was like cold shoulders are in or now pastels are in. So I would have to critique the girls when they came in based on their appearance. Which does not work well with me. I can’t do that. So, so happy I could leave that behind.
Clara:
So happy you did.
Doug:
What is it you sell? What do you like to sell? Is it fashion or do you sell more than fashion?
Maggie:
I will sell everything that’s legal. Fashion is definitely where I feel the most comfortable. I was the head of the clothing department in three different thrift stores. So that’s what I know. Other things tend to scare me a little bit. Like, you know, I will sell dishes, but packaging a dish is very different than packaging a t-shirt. So I definitely love fashion. Fashion is my home, but I’ll sell anything. And I, as you can read in my book, I get a lot of donations from my neighbors. So anything that I get donated, I’ll research it. I’ll find out and I will, I will ship it. And that’s something that I love about this industry is I don’t get to just rest on my laurels. I’m constantly learning. It’s constantly about education and no two days are the same.
Clara:
I’m so happy you brought that up because let’s go back a little to thrifting. Okay. You documented that journey in your first book “Why I Hate Everything, Reflections on a Decade in Retail.” What made you decide to write that book?
Maggie:
Honestly, I would come home and talk to my mom every day and she would say, “you have to write this down.” And I eventually was like, “yeah, I guess,” because there’s so much in there that you wouldn’t believe, but I didn’t wanna forget any of it because it was crazy. It was crazy. And I’m not kidding. Like everything in there is true, by the way, I didn’t make up anything, a woman did actually try to throw a cash register at me. And it was only then I learned they were bolted down. Like that’s all true. And there’s a lot I didn’t put in the books. Every day I would come home, and my mom would be like, “you have to write this down.” And while I talked to other people about it, it made me realize that everyone has stories like that.
Maggie:
Everyone has crazy stories about where they used to work. And now that I have written it, the people who read it will sit down and they’ll tell me, “can I tell you about this one time?” And it’s like, “Yes. Tell me everything!” I love when people tell me their crazy stories. So I just, I feel like everyone in the world has a story. And if you can just sit down and get them to talk about it. You know, so that’s why I wrote it. It’s just that, that was my story. That was my experience. And I want to know yours. I really legitimately do. And I hope you laugh because it was 10 years of crazy. And the best thing you can do is laugh or sit and cry with me, which I will also do with you.
Clara:
I love your mom. Great big…what’s your mom’s name?
Maggie:
My mom is Kathy.
Clara:
Big hug to Kathy. Incredible for inspiring you to write that book.
Maggie:
She is an incredible woman. She is a very incredible woman. Both of my parents are very incredible people. And if I can do a little shoutout, my mom currently runs Sanctuary Village. It is a nonprofit that is building a tiny house community for homeless people in Philadelphia. And my dad runs Bread Drop, which is an organization he runs. You literally just make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He picks them up from local businesses, churches, wherever, and distributes them to local homeless organizations. So they are amazing people and I sell clothes. Woo!
Clara:
Thank you for sharing. That’s beautiful what your mom does. Okay. That’s incredible. Thank you for sharing.
Maggie:
But I mean, I grew up in a household where they taught me everyone can make a difference and it doesn’t matter what you do, you can use it to do good. And that was an inspiration for me for opening up my online thrift store rebelgirlthrift.com. If you’re interested 20% of the proceeds will go to my mom’s organization. Once the village is up we will have pop up shops where the resident can come and shop for free because I think that choice is incredibly important, especially for people who have been struggling with homelessness, you know, they don’t always get to decide where they’re going to eat what they get to eat, where they can sleep, where they can be safe. So the ability to come and shop and choose, instead of just saying, “Oh, someone gave me a trash bag of clothes. I hope some of it fits” is really important.
Doug:
That’s amazing.
Maggie:
I’m very blessed to be able to offer that. I feel very lucky that my skill set can be used that way. I’m so proud of both of them. They just, you know, in this really scary time where all of us are trying to figure out how to live our lives. They said, “how can I help?” And they’re helping. And I think that that’s just so wonderful. I’m so proud of them.
Doug:
And speaking of your mom, you’re a mom too. So you have this online selling business. How do you balance your mom-hood and your selling business?
Maggie:
You know, it’s a struggle and I’m friends with people online who have like three or four kids, which I don’t understand. God bless you. You know, one kid kicks my butt, but I just feel so honored and so grateful because I get to be with her all the time. And you know, I was there for her first words. I was there for her first steps and that’s because I can be at home. And, you know, I send my husband pictures every day. That’s really not the same. And I’m so happy that I can be home with her. And you know, we’ve watched Turning Red about 65 times now. So I hate that part of it, but I can be on my phone. I can set up a little mini photo studio in the corner and take pictures of shoes and still provide for her future.
Maggie:
And I absolutely love that. And I just feel so blessed and so honored. Again, if you have three or four, I’ll send you the money. I’ll do it. I don’t know how but you know, just, it’s really amazing. And that’s a huge part of the reason why I decided to write my second book because I love what I have, and I want other people to have it too. And I’m not a risk-taker. Let me tell you that. So if I’ve been able to succeed at this, anybody can do it. I’m not a risk-taker. I’m not a big tech person. So if I can make a business, you can make a business and if I can help, I want to.
Amanda:
Yeah. And one of the favorite things that I love about reselling is, you know, we’re part of this sustainability movement. What does that mean to you?
Maggie:
Working in thrift stores really made me realize just how much stuff there is in the world. Thrift stores only put out 10 to 15% of the donations that they receive. So if you walk into a Savers or a Salvation Army and look around and think that’s 10%, that’s nuts personally. I just think there’s no reason to shop new anymore. Fast fashion is the third most polluting industry in the world. Worldwide. There are about 40 million people that are enslaved to make fast fashion happen. There’s just no reason to support that when you don’t have to, and you can save money yourself. So I love that. I’m a part of this cycle of sustainability and my goal with Rebel Girl Thrift. I’m not there yet. My goal is to use 100% of the donations that I receive.
Maggie:
Once my daughter gets a little bit older, I’m gonna keep working on refashioning pieces. That’s where my heart is. I love doing that, but there’s just so much stuff. And for anyone who’s reselling, you are a part of this. You are an important part of taking our planet back from fast fashion. We are a growing industry and I’m so proud to say that. And so proud to be a part of that. And if you ever need a pick me up, I have a little clicker. And every time I sell something that I got as a donation or I got from the Goodwill bins, I make a click. I make a little click. And my goal this year is to rescue a thousand pieces but know that what you do matters because so far, I’m at over 200. And you know, if you multiply that times, what is it, 2000 gallons of water to produce a pair of jeans, you are making a real impact. And I’m so proud of that.
Clara:
Aw, that’s incredible Maggie it’s an incredible mission that we all resellers have. And especially you, that you really support sustainability. Your reseller journey started in Poshmark. Is Poshmark still your main platform? And if it is, why?
Maggie:
I think Poshmark will always be my home. I know last time I was here looking at you, Doug, I talked a lot of smack on eBay. But I’m learning. eBay’s become a big part of my business. Poshmark is still definitely my home. I think that Poshmark, especially since they went IPO, is trying to make the experience better for both sellers and buyers and I really appreciate that. I know some stuff recently has not been super successful, but they’re trying, they succeed when we succeed. So I really appreciate what Poshmark is doing. I’m always interested in what the newest updates from Poshmark are. So Poshmark will always be my home, but eBay, eBay has been the dark horse that is sweeping me off my feet, I have to say.
Doug:
Good to know. So you talk about Poshmark, you talk about sustainability in the new book. So let’s focus on that a little bit. Now “The Clothing Reseller’s Handbook: Your Ultimate Guide to Selling Clothing Online and Across Apps.” So I’ve read it and I really enjoyed it. It was great. There are a lot of great tips in there. Some stuff that I’ve actually taken, and you do talk about List Perfectly in there, but we’ll get to that, but great reselling tips for clothing sellers, especially. So what was it that made you decide to write this second book that was a little different than your first?
Maggie:
Yeah, so I mostly just wanted to write the book because this last year, especially my business has gone gangbusters and I want you to have what I have for anyone who’s even thinking about getting into this. Even as a side hustle, it’s so completely worth it. It’s so fun. It’s sustainable. You can make money while doing what you want at home. And I’ve been able to transition it full-time, which is amazing. I’m my own boss. I can take a nap when I want to. I want to give people that freedom and I owe so much to the reseller community. I’ve learned so much from other sellers. I wanna be able to give even a fraction of that back. So this was my way of giving that back. I truly want to help people. And if I can be a part of your journey, I really want to be, I talk about it I think a little bit in the book, but it’s been an honor to mentor other sellers.
Maggie:
Yesterday I had a woman contact me and say, “Hey, I found these jeans. I don’t know anything about them. What do you think?” And I was able to tell her, “Oh, those are a pair of vintage, 1970 flare leg, 100% cotton Nespa jeans that you can sell for, I would list them for at least $399 because no one’s gonna offer you more money. Might offer you less, but list for $399 on eBay.” And it was like five, 10 minutes before she got back to me. And she said, “I got these for $6 at church. And everyone was making fun of me for buying them.” And I’m just so happy I could do that for her you know, cuz like, what do I know? You know, what do I know? But truly once you start teaching other people, that’s when you realize how much you know, so the fact that I could make her day like that is amazing, you know, and I love being a part of someone’s journey like that.
Clara:
That’s incredible. So that is what is covered in the new book right? But also, I wanna add one more question. Okay. I think that you tell the readers that they don’t have to read it straight through, right? Why is that?
Maggie:
So this is definitely a guidebook. It’s not something that you have to read, start to finish. I wrote it and I reference it, I’d say at least once a week, like weird Chico sizing. I’ve been doing this for four years. I don’t remember weird Chico sizing. There’s a chart. But it’s something that, you know, it has little funny stories along the way, like the section on photography, if you have a method that you think is great, great, skip it. Great. You know, this is all the stuff that works for me, but I do hope there are helpful little tips along the way and things that you can really use this as a reference book for like the size guides, the style guide names, because who knows the difference between, you know, blossom and a cowl neck. Like if you have all of that memorized, great call me, let’s be friends. People like me who need those references. I just wanted you to have that at your fingertips. And honestly, I’ve been ashamed of how many times I’ve Googled types of tops. So I wanted that written down.
Amanda:
Well, you know, it’s so impressive. I mean just the amount of knowledge and things that you put in the book, but you also self-published it. So that’s pretty incredible in and of itself. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Maggie:
Yeah. I wanna lead off by saying it’s not as hard as you think it is. It really isn’t. And again, I am not a big tech person. If I did it, girl, you can do it. My first book took me 17 years to write, and I paid someone almost a thousand dollars to do the cover, design the formatting and you know, just get it all in shape, which was worth it. No hate on them. They did an amazing job. The second book I wrote and published in under a month, what all myself, wow. I’m so proud of that. And just the fact that I have a book’s worth of knowledge is amazing to me and my mother, but it really wasn’t that hard. And every tool that I used to get this done was completely free, which is amazing. And if you’re interested in self-publishing again @refashionedhippie, contact me, I wanna help you with that too.
Maggie:
Really wasn’t that hard. I used Canva for most of the images and the cover. The KDP is what I published it with on Amazon. That’s all free. I watched YouTube to learn things when I needed to, it really wasn’t that complicated. And just going in with the confidence of I’ve already done this, its old hat, now I got this made all the difference in the world, and self-publishing. Same with reselling. You don’t have to know everything to be successful at it. That’s another really important thing I want resellers to know. You don’t have to know everything. You know, I don’t talk about buying Amazon pallets, cuz I don’t know how, I don’t know how to do that. And I love that. I mean, I listened to thenurseflipper, the last episode that you had. Crazy inspirational, I’m obsessed with her, and our business models could not be more different. I don’t do any of the things that she does. She doesn’t do any of the things that I do, but we’re both successful resellers. She’s more successful, but that just means I’m proud of her. You don’t have to know everything to just get in there and do it.
Clara:
Maggie I would like to add that success, it’s a very subjective definition. Okay. I believe, okay that we’re all successful in our own ways because the way you are determined and the way you’ve been explaining how you’ve done the first book and the second book, you know, I believe that you’re incredibly successful, it’s just a different path, and being to self-publish, you’re making…Amanda…she’s inspiring me. We need to write a book. You make me wanna write a book.
Maggie:
Do it, write a book, write it, it’s so fun. And you guys have so much knowledge. And like I said, once you sit down and start writing, you’re just gonna keep going.
Amanda:
Wow. Amazing. Amazing. So we can’t ignore the fact that and thank you very much, you do mention List Perfectly in your book. Can you tell us about how you discovered List Perfectly and how you use it?
Maggie:
Yeah, absolutely. I could not be where I am without List Perfectly. I can tell you that emphatically I’ve seen other people post about List Perfectly. And I looked into it, it seemed kind of cool, but as I said, I’m not a risk-taker. So I thought “I’m doing okay, I’m doing fine. You know, maybe I don’t need this right now, but it’s good to have in the back pocket.” And then someone I really respect, messaged me privately and was like, “Just do it, just do it because you know, if you don’t like it after three days, cancel you get your money back. It’s fine.” I tried it. And I think after the first day I went ahead and paid and List Perfectly was the first thing that I’ve actually paid for as a subscription to help my business. Never looked back.
Maggie:
If you’re thinking about it. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart, they’re not paying me to say this, but if you could, that’d be great. Just do it, do it. It makes such a difference. And you’re not losing money. You are investing money in yourself, and you are worth it. I can’t believe I waited months and months to try it because it changed my business. It changed my life. I’m full-time now because of List Perfectly and you know, results, are not guaranteed, but try it, just go for it. It’s made such a huge difference and I can’t believe I waited so long. It’s like, what was I thinking? And anybody else that I’ve seen who is now a user of List Perfectly within about a month, they put up a post saying, “Why did I wait so long?” So it’s so gratifying to feel that because you are investing in yourself. Absolutely. If you’re thinking about it, just do it. This is your sign. I’m looking at the camera, do it! Like it’s worth it.
Clara:
Thank you for saying that. Maggie, because List Perfectly does not have a sales team nor does paid advertising. And we really rely on community members like yourself to announce or share your experience with List Perfectly. Thank you for sharing that.
Maggie:
It’s completely true. I love List Perfectly. It gives me so much freedom. It helps with my business. I’m able to list double what I was listing before.
Doug:
The seller community just came up. You talk about the seller community a lot in the book. And that’s part of what I have always loved and what attracted me to List Perfectly. And you are very active as a List Perfectly member. You’re very active in the seller community. Why is the seller community important to you?
Maggie:
One of the things that surprised me was when I bit the bullet and started joining Facebook groups and created an Instagram, I thought it would be a really competitive space. And the exact opposite is true. I was really blown away by that because you would think, you know, we’re all resellers. And if Amanda sells a pair of jeans, I don’t then get to sell a pair of jeans to that buyer. It’s not true. We are so supportive and nurturing and other people, strangers on the internet wanna see me succeed and wanna help me. You know, I said before, you don’t have to know everything. I don’t know anything about plush stuff, but I follow people who are only plush sellers. And when they make a great sale, when they buy something for a dollar at a yard sale and sell it for $800, I don’t feel bad about myself. I don’t feel like I missed out like I need to learn about that because that could have been my sale. I don’t feel that way. I’m so happy that they succeeded. That’s an amazing story. I’m only happy for them. And I love that. You know, there’s always drama. We dish, there are cliques, but for the most part, that’s how the community is. We just support one another and personally, I love people who have weird knowledge. I love people who are just weird. And you know, there are people out there who have spent their entire lives just researching model trains. And if you go on onto their Facebook group and say, “Hey, I found this train. I don’t know anything about it.” They just wanna talk to you about it. They’re so excited to talk to you about it.
Maggie:
And there’s just so much knowledge out there that we, as a community have that, same thing with me, like when that woman told me about those jeans, I wasn’t gonna be like, “Oh, let me give you $20 to help you out.” You know so that I could sell it. Like nobody would do that. That’s evil. You know, I got to say like, “Oh my God, you’re gonna make so much money.” And it was so exciting. So I’ve gained a lot as a seller. I’ve asked people for advice and almost every single person has gotten back to me with amazing advice. I love it when people come to me with a question. I got to talk to someone through her first sale on Poshmark, and that was such an amazing experience. And I was glowing the rest of the day. And you know, it’s weird cuz my husband comes home from his very important job with the Department of Defense and I’m like, “I sold some hand cream.” You know? It’s like that, but it’s great. It’s great. And I just love being a part of such a supportive community where people want to see you succeed. And we just know weird stuff and I love being able to contribute to that in any way I can. So honestly, my book is a love letter to the seller community and whatever way you want to, whatever way you can, if you have not joined that community yet, please do it. We’re a bunch of weirdos and we’re waiting for you.
Clara:
Well said, I love it because one of the sayings and this is why I got into reselling. And that’s how Amanda got me. She told me, “I’ll never forget, you know, I was like, “But wait, someone else will have this and what are we gonna do?” And she told “Clara, I’m gonna tell you this, that is gonna change your life forever.” She told me “Ecommerce is big enough for all of us.” And I swear when I started to think things like that, I immediately left banking. I said, “I would never practice law.” And I just became like a full-time reseller. And I started listing with her. So I couldn’t agree more. Thank you, for sharing that love with our reselling community that we all share here.
Maggie:
Honestly, thank you guys because there are other crossposting services out there and I researched them. I looked into them, but one of the reasons I went with List Perfectly, other than the ability to use it mobile, which sealed it for me was that you guys really do have such a focus on community and it’s not the fake corporate kind of focus like you guys mean it. And the fact that you guys are even doing this on the podcast, and you know, you go live all the time. Like you genuinely want to connect with your users. You genuinely care about the experiences that we have. And if somebody comes to you with an idea, a feature, you do it, you do it because that’s what matters for this group. So I’m really happy to be a List Perfectly member.
Clara:
Thank you so much. Thank you for bringing that up, Maggie. Thank you. What are the top takeaways you’d like your readers to get from your Reseller’s Handbook, please?
Maggie:
Oh, good question. I’m gonna repeat myself a little bit, but you don’t have to know everything. You should join the community and mostly you can do this and there are people that wanna help you. I know a lot of people who they’re thinking about it, can I do it? Should I do it? And it sounds so intimidating and it’s just so possible. And if you’re really scared, the first chapter that I recommend you read is the chapter on dealing with negative feedback because you can’t make everybody happy. You will get negative reviews and you will get some not-so-nice customers, but you get through it.
Amanda:
Well, that’s a great segue to, you know, what do you think the misconceptions are about reselling and, and maybe someone new to reselling might have?
Maggie:
I think the biggest thing is just that you have to have everything. When you, when you hit the ground that, you know, from day one, you better have great photography, lighting set up, those backdrops from Amazon. You know, you need to have a crossposting service. You need to have a good background remover. You don’t need any of that. You don’t need any of that to get started and you don’t need to have, you know, this huge backlog of inventory or a big investor ready to go with you. You can start with the stuff from your house. That’s what I did. You can start today with stuff from your house and be successful.
Doug:
Any plans for another book? And if so, what might the topic be?
Maggie:
I have many plans. I would love to work with other resellers and just collect their stories. A bit of a segue way but one of the books that really calmed me down when I was pregnant, cuz the second I found out I was pregnant, same thing. I thought, “I have to hit the ground running. You know, we have to babyproof the whole house and we have to clean out the fridge and only have pregnancy-safe food and I have to know everything about giving birth” and you know, I went nuts. Same thing with being a reseller. I would love to just collect stories from other resellers cuz a book that my midwives gave me that made a huge difference was just collections of women’s stories. So if you were having bad morning sickness, it was like, here are just stories from other women who also had bad morning sickness. If you’re not having morning sickness and you feel bad about it, cuz you feel like you should here are stories from other women. I would love to do a book like that. That just talks about like here’s the hall of wacko customers. Here’s the hall of great customers. Like just being able to flip through people’s love notes and positive reviews I think would be really empowering and really inspiring. But I don’t know how to orchestrate that yet. But that’s something I would love to write one day because like I said, we all have a story and usually when I bring this up, people are like, “Oh I’ve got a story for you.” And I love, I thrive on that. It’s like I’m a sunflower and that’s my sun. Like, that’s what I want, so that would be great, one day when I learn how to do that.
Clara:
I love it, that’s a great project. Now, where can we find the current books? We will include the links in the show notes, okay. But where can we find them now?
Maggie:
Thank you. So both of my books are very available on Amazon. You can buy both of them as either a hard copy or as a Kindle download. My most recent book, “The Clothing Reseller’s Handbook, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free. I really wanted that to be an option for people. Although I would also love you to give me your money. That would be great as well. So if you wanna buy it awesome.
Amanda:
Books, reselling, what is next for refashionedhippie’ s business?
Maggie:
I love taking apart clothing that I can’t use and redesigning it. I would really love to get into more of that. I just did a video on my YouTube channel, which I also started with no experience, yay, about bleach painting. I have a lot of clothing that I get, it’s just like a plain black t-shirt and you guys know those are pretty hard to sell. So, I love taking pieces that I really can’t sell and upcycling them. I would love to focus more on that. Need the toddler to be a little more controlled to get that done. That is my goal. I would love to get to where my business is using 100% of the donation, the fabrics that I receive. Big goal, but we’ll see.
Doug:
I think you put a post-up the other day of a piece you’d worked on, right?
Maggie:
Yeah. I’ve been wanting to do an Alice in Wonderland-inspired piece for a really long time. And I basically just ordered my husband to like to take our daughter somewhere so that I could do it, but it’s not complicated to do, the tutorial that I put up on YouTube, I hope is pretty easy to follow, but I love taking boring clothes and just making it more interesting. And the fact that it’s all donated and using, you know, cheap household items to do it, I think is really accessible to people. And why look normal when you can look like a weirdo?
Doug:
Exactly.
Maggie:
“We’re all mad here.”
Doug:
That’s right. Maggie, any parting words for our listeners? Anything we didn’t cover that you wanna mention?
Maggie:
I really just wanna say again that if I can be a part of your reselling journey, I really want to be, if I can help you at all, please contact me. I’m @refashionedhippie on Instagram. I just started a YouTube channel. Don’t know what I’m doing, leave comments. I’ll try to help you out, but this is an amazing community. It’s an amazing career. You can be your own boss. And if I can give you a part of what I have, I really want to help.
Clara:
What is the name of your YouTube channel? I’m assuming the same as Instagram.
Maggie:
Yes ma’am, refashionedhippie.
Clara:
Okay, perfect. And is also refashionedhippie the name that you use for your online stores like in Poshmark and eBay?
Maggie:
Everything that I use is refashionedhippie except for my thrift store. That is rebelgirlthrift.com. And if you’re interested in learning more about Sanctuary Village, please visit tinyhousecommunity.org.
Doug:
We’ll put all those links in the show notes.
Maggie:
Thank you, guys, so much.
Doug:
And so, Clara and Amanda, anything further you’d like to ask?
Amanda:
Well, we covered a lot. I mean, mainly I’d just like to say how, you know, impressed, I mean really that, you know, you can juggle so much mom business, writing and you know, now your new upcycled venture that you wanna get into. And I just, I just wanna say that you know, reselling allows you so many different avenues of business and, and just freedom and thank you so much for sharing your story. It was really inspirational.
Maggie:
Thank you, guys, so much for this opportunity. I love coming on the podcast. I love this community and as I said, I’ve got three more books to go, three more appearances, and then I’ll get my five-time member jacket.
Clara:
I love it. Thank you, Maggie. We love having you here and thank you for always sharing all your knowledge with our community and always being available to help everybody.
Maggie:
I should say I’m always available, I can’t always help. I’ll try. I try to help on the List Perfectly Facebook group. And usually, I’ll give a suggestion and they’ll be like, “Yeah, I tried that.” It’s like, “Oh, go with God then, I’ve got nothing.” But thankfully there are smarter people than me out there.
Doug:
Thank you so much, Maggie, and listeners, you can find Maggie at refashionedhippie.
Maggie:
Thank you, guys. This was really fun.
Doug:
Thank you for joining us on The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. You can find us at thesellercommunitypodcast.com. You can leave a message or ask a question at anchor.fm/sellercommunitypodcast. You can email us at podcast@listperfectly.com. Post a question in the List Perfectly Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/listperfectly. You can listen to The Seller Community Podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts and be sure and subscribe, tell your friends, and if you’re on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please leave us a review. On Instagram and TikTok you can find me @snoop.dougie and of course, follow @listperfectly. And you can always use our promo code podcast. That’s P O D C A S T for 30% off your first month of List Perfectly or 30% off your first month of upgrading your plan. Thanks for listening. And we will see you next time.