This week on The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly, Clara and Doug welcome back Stewart White of Franklin Hill Ventures. We get an update on his business growth since his last time on the show, and his plans to grow and expand his online and offline businesses.
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Transcript
Doug:
Welcome to The Seller Community Podcast from List Perfectly. This is season two, episode 31 this week, Clara and I welcome back Stewart White of Franklin Hill Ventures. He’s been on the show before, but he’s come back to update us on his business growth, where he’s expanded to six brick-and-mortar locations, selling antiques and collectibles, balancing that with his online selling and his content creation, and his private label brand. We’ll learn about his favorite movies, favorite music, and more so let’s listen in on Stewart White: dusty, fun, and growing, in his own words.
Doug:
Let’s pause for a quick commercial break…List Perfectly is sponsoring a couple of seller events this year. eBay Open is online, not in person, but first of all, we’ve got FlipCon coming up. Flip Con 2022, which is hosted by Phoenix Resale and Hairy Tornado. So FlipCon 2022 is on August 24th and August 25th in Charlotte, North Carolina. You’ll be able to hang out with Phoenix Resale and Hairy Tornado in person. Other speakers include American Arbitrage Dealing with Dalton, Profit Monsters, Hustle at Home Mom, Hustlin Hooks, Reezy Resells, Kat the Nurse Flipper, Commonwealth Picker, and more. Tickets are on sale now. Five hours of panels, three catered meals, and more. List Perfectly is the headline sponsor and we’ll be there. So FlipCon 2022, for more information on that, you can go to flipcon.net. So FlipCon is on the East Coast. Doug: For you, West Coast peeps we’ve also got the return of BOSS Reseller Remix. List Perfectly is sponsoring that as well, a popular event put on by Katy Zilverberg and Vikki Eagan, and Theresa Cox. Las Vegas, October 10th, through the 13th, tickets are on sale at resellerremix.com. Some of the speakers there include, of course, Katie and Vikki, and the Ralli Roots, Hairy Tornado, Ken, the Hustle Bee, Trish Glenn, Super Sale Trish, Casey Rockstar Flipper, Wade Coggins of Wades Ventures, Danni Ackerman, The Niche Lady and much more. Doug: So again, List Perfectly is happy to sponsor those two events. One on the East Coast, Flip Con. One on the West Coast BOSS Reseller Remix. All those sellers will be there. Great place to network. List Perfectly will be there as well.
Doug:
Stewart White is the owner of Franklin Hill Ventures based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Stewart owns booths at three antique malls, sells online obviously, and is a content creator and active seller community member. Stewart has been on before, season two, episode four, Antique Booth, and Multi-platform Selling Growth Management with Franklin Hill Ventures. That’s a mouthful. <Laugh> welcome back to our friend Stewart.
Stewart:
Hey, thanks for having me. It’s good to talk to both of you, Doug and Clara.
Clara:
Aw, thank you, Stewart. You know, I’m, I’m so happy. For me, this is the first time and I am so happy to have a chance to talk to you about our reselling community and so much more because you’re so experienced you even have brick-and-mortar businesses, so I’m so interested to get to know you better.
Stewart:
Well, the feeling’s definitely mutual. I know you and Clara are kind of, you know, two of my heroes, cuz if it wasn’t for List Perfectly, I wouldn’t be where I am today, so…
Clara:
Thank you. Thank you, Stewart. Let’s do this, Doug. All right, Stewart. So how has your business grown since your first time on The Seller Community Podcast, please?
Stewart:
Well, it’s definitely grown you know, from a, just a pure number standpoint, we’re about 25% ahead of last year’s pace. You know, which is really good, especially considering that the previous year we grew by almost 40% and obviously the more you grow, the harder it gets to, you know, match those numbers every year. And I’d say that growth’s been driven primarily by increasing sales on our existing platforms. And then couple that with, we just recently added a new booth location, and then we’ve also recently started selling on Whatnot.
Clara:
Oh yes. Great platform. Great choice. How has it been with Whatnot?
Stewart:
You know, we’re, I feel like we’re still trying to find our way a little bit. I, you know, we started out, I thought it was really good. And then the last couple of shows have been a little blah, I thought, but I feel like, you know, what, not truly focusing on the seller side right now. And especially in the estate sale category, I sell in and there’s a lot of competition. It’s hard to find a slot when there are not 10 other auctions going on. And I mean, and people hop. I know when I watch Whatnot, I’ll hop around a lot. But you know, it’s just right now, I think there are more sellers just buying from each other on whatnot than there are collectors. You know, I don’t know that that’s so true in the original categories, like Funkos and Pokemon cards and sports cards and those types of things, but you know, I’m gonna stick with it and continue to do auctions. I mean, and, and I’m doing okay, so, and you know, it’s not like I’m not selling anything, but I think it’s just gonna take some time to build up that audience you know, that I need to build up eventually, so…
Clara:
Got it. No, thank you for sharing that. That’s a new platform, Whatnot. And you know, that’s something that I wanted to share your feedback because I know everybody’s testing it. And of course, List Perfectly’s always receiving feedback. As much as I love being a co-host of The Seller Community Podcast I’m always loving to ask what’s, what’s your feedback about new marketplaces, and new features? It’s so exciting. Thank you, Stewart.
Stewart:
I like it too because you know, it’s got that social aspect to it that you don’t get from selling on eBay or, you know, the other online platforms since you’re interacting with people so…
Doug:
So it’s interesting, that you mentioned social selling. So first of all, it’s great to hear, I know that last year you had some certain milestones you wanted to reach in the growth of your business. So it’s good to hear that you’re ahead of the race there. But in terms of social aspects of selling, when we first talked, I thought it was really interesting that you talked about when you were a little kid, you used to, you were a hustler from an early age, you used to sell stuff to your friends in school, in elementary school. So selling to your friends, that’s been ingrained in you since the beginning, but where did that early on hustle come from?
Stewart:
You know, to be honest, I really don’t know because neither of my parents was, they weren’t involved in any type of reselling. And I mean, they were far from any type of hustlers. I mean, my dad was a preacher and my mom was just a stay-at-home parent until I left for college. And then she became a high school teacher, you know, maybe it just came from being the oldest of three boys. And, you know, I learned early on how to hustle things from them, but, I don’t know. It’s just, I guess it’s just something I got lucky and was born with you know, the love of, of that, you know, ability to sell things. I know a lot of people I hear ’em on here and, you know, like both their parents went to auctions all the time or, you know, they were involved in antiques in some form or fashion, but yeah. Yeah, nobody in my family really was that I knew of.
Clara:
Wow. I, I have to say, I don’t believe in luck. Okay. <laugh> I believe in hard work, you know, and determination, but also, I, I think, you know, maybe in a former life Stewart, because you’re so good at it, it just comes naturally. I’ve seen you. So it’s just incredible. I’m glad that you embraced reselling. Now let’s talk about a little, you know, you’re doing great, you know, with online sales, we talked about Whatnot, but what about you managing brick and mortar locations and then online sales, how is that going?
Stewart:
Well, it’s going well. I mean, as I mentioned I’ve recently added a new brick-and-mortar location. So now I have a total of six antique booths spread between three locations and then also sell, you know, six different online marketplaces thanks to List Perfectly. And plus I’ve recently added Whatnot. So that definitely keeps me very busy, you know, all the outlets that I sell on complement each other very well. And they gimme a lot of flexibility to sell different types of items, where if I was just selling online, for example, it’d be harder to sell, you know, larger items. And I don’t really have any hard and fast rules about what goes where, but in general, you know, there are certain things that’ll sell better in the booths. You know, obviously larger items like furniture we’ll typically go to the booth. Then I also have one location at Bearden Antique Mall here in Knoxville where artwork sells really well.
Stewart:
Amy calls that our art gallery, cause we have so much artwork there. You know, it’s funny, you, you take a picture out there this day and a couple more the next day. And you know, before you know it, you know, you’ve got your own, you know, little art gallery. So one of my other locations in Clinton Granny’s Attic, which was my original location I do really well-selling vinyl records there. And then I sell a lot of music-related t-shirts, band, band, and concert t-shirts at that location. And really outside of those types of things, it really just comes down to kind of a gut feeling about, you know, what outlet or location might be best for a particular item. But I do move stuff around a lot, you know, between whether it’s, you know, between the booth or from, you know, online to a booth or from booth to online, you know, just to try to keep things fresh.
Doug:
What’s the most challenging aspect of managing brick-and-mortar locations and your online stores?
Stewart:
Probably the same one that everybody has, regardless of where they sell. It’s really for me anyway, it’s just having to constantly find new inventory, you know, and reselling your as good as what you found yesterday or this morning or whatever, you know, outside of that, as far as the booths are concerned, I don’t really feel like they add a ton of additional work. You know, once you get past that initial setup, I mean, there was a lot of work when you’re having to haul all your shelves in any kind of plan the general layout of the booth. And really, you know, I try to visit each of my booth locations a time or two a week and make new stuff or just move stuff around a little bit. But I really rely on Amy, my wife you know, completely rearrange the booth a couple of times a year.
Stewart:
And then also she’ll go in and periodically kind of freshen them up after some time passed because I’m bad about just going in there and, you know, just, there’s an empty spot here. You know, I’ll put this here and put that there. I put stuff on the floor, which really bugs Amy. And <laugh> really awesome, you know, getting the booths organized and looking good again after I’ve kind of trashed them over a couple of weeks, you know, or a month period. So I mean, to me, they’re easier than online because you’re not constantly having to list through, you know, it’s, it’s easier to take stuff and put it on a shelf than it is to, to list stuff so…
Clara:
Interesting. Wow. That’s an incredible perspective. You just, I would have thought the opposite story.
Stewart:
Yeah. I mean, and I do hear people who’ve tried booths or who have booths who say they’re a real challenge, but at least for me anyway, I mean, part of its cuz I enjoy going to them, you know, a couple of times a week, it’s a, it’s another social outlet, you know, when you’re by yourself, in your basement, listing, you know, most of the day, it’s nice to get out and talk to people and meet a lot of potential sourcing opportunities that way from, you know, people who are there and with my Granny’s Attic location in Clinton, Tennessee, I work there at least two or three Saturdays a month, you know, and they knock a little bit off your rent when you’re a working deal like that. And it’s great because you know, you, you get to see what type of stuff you get, you know, people come in selling stuff and that’s amazing. You make a lot of relationships. And I, I have a lot of people who call me with sourcing opportunities now that you know, I would’ve never had if I had not been working at the mall so…
Clara:
That’s just amazing. And thank you for sharing that because I would like you now to remind us how you got into selling okay antiques and collectibles?
Stewart:
Well, it probably, I mean, I know the last episode we talked all the way back to my childhood when I was selling, you know, like brownies and you know, jawbreakers and whatever else I would sell at school. But really as far as you know, my more adult life, when I got outta…I didn’t really do much in college. I mean, I was not one of those who was reselling stuff then. Yeah. But once I got outta college in about 1990 I did a sports card booth with my roommate at the time in Nashville at the flea market there. So we were out there every weekend. I think I did that for a year or two. And that was probably my first introduction to, I guess, real reselling, you know, once I quit doing that, I didn’t really do anything for quite a few years.
Stewart:
I mean, I got married and we had four kids and you know, so, life happens. And you know, there was, you know, sports and all the other stuff we did and not a whole lot of time for reselling during that time. I would, you know, go to yard sales and buy a few things and sell a few things on eBay. But that was really more kind of, so I would have something to talk about with my brothers. They did the same thing and we always had kind of this competition about who could find the coolest stuff <laugh>
Clara:
So you and your brothers would have a hobby contest to see who would sell the most amazing thing on eBay?
Stewart:
Yeah. I mean, and, and all three of us resell to some degree. I mean my youngest brother actually did full-time reselling for five years you know, and he was not in the antiques and collectibles world. He was more into DVDs, video games, vintage clothes, and stuff. He did that for a good while. You know, he still resells, but he’s gone back and you know, he has another job as well. I guess 2014 was when I started getting semi-serious about reselling. I had one friend who knew that I sold stuff online and he introduced me to a person who had a booth at the flea market here. It’s not actually in Knoxville, it’s in Sevierville, which is close to where Dollywood and all the tourist stuff is.
Clara:
Oh really? Oh, that’s awesome.
Stewart:
And it’s a really large flea market. And so I ended up kind of forming a loose partnership with that guy. And I did that for a year or two and we were selling kind of the same type of stuff I sell now. And he taught me a whole lot. But the problem with that was being a flea market versus an antique mall. You know, there wasn’t a centralized checkout area. You had to be there every weekend. So, you know, after a while that got really old having to be there every weekend and you know, it really wasn’t fair to my family. And so quit doing that. And then really just started to focus on online selling and really built up my online eBay presence that was primarily eBay at the time. Yeah. And then at some point during all this, I started going to live auctions, you know, with estate auctions and such.
Clara:
Yes. You mentioned that…
Stewart:
You know, and that really allowed me to ramp up my sourcing. I remember the very first auction I went to, got to the end of the night and they were doing these table auctions, you know, and they basically would just start throwing all these tables together. And I think I got like six tables for $5 and, you know, I was so excited.
Clara:
Whoa, wow.
Stewart:
Just junk. But you know, I brought this whole carload home and I don’t know if Amy was as excited as I was, but you know, that, that kind of started the volume sourcing. And so for a long time, I was going to in-person auctions and Amy would normally go with me at least for part of the night. She didn’t usually wanna sit there for five hours for some reason, but yeah. But we would go together and source stuff and there were three or four different auctions in the Knoxville areas. We would go to, you know, a Thursday night auction, a Friday night auction, a Saturday night auction. Yeah. At some point during all that a lady at one of the auctions came up to me and said, Hey, I have a booth at this antique mall in Button Tennessee. And I, I see the kind of stuff you buy and I think you’d do well there if it’s something you would be interested in. So Amy and I actually went out there the next weekend and ended up getting a booth. And I think all that was available was like half a booth. I mean, it was one you could walk in barely, you know, <laugh> not too much, but…
Clara:
Humble beginnings.
Stewart:
And it was, but the very next month, the people next to us who also had the half booth moved out. So we took that. So for maybe six months, we had a full booth and the booth next to us opened up. So we went to two booths and then, you know, we’ve been out there five years now and now we have four booths and we’re like, right inside the front door, we have like the premo location. So that was our original location and our biggest location now. That was probably around 2016. And then, you know, things have just grown from there, you know, as we’ve expanded, you know, both our booth locations and, you know, greatly increased our online presence as well.
Clara:
Yeah. Your wife helps you with your business. Tell us what she does please. And hi, Amy <laugh>
Stewart:
And I guess if you ever have us back or have me back for the third time, maybe, you know, Amy and I can come on together, so…
Clara:
Yes, please.
Stewart:
But yeah, she does a lot. I mean, I really couldn’t do you know what I do without Amy. I mean, I was already on her insurance even before I went full-time. I mean, even when I had my job at the hospital because it was in another city and you had to go to that hospital and it was too far, so we were on her insurance anyway. So just from that standpoint, I mean, it would be very difficult for me to be full-time if, you know, if we did not have her insurance. So that’s a big thing there, but she’s definitely the creative side of the company. I mean, I don’t really have a creative bone in my body. Well, I’ve got a few maybe, but I’m not really creative. I mean, if I buy something, that’s how, you know, I’m selling it and you know, she’s good. She refinishes furniture and stuff sometimes.
Clara:
Oh, wow.
Stewart:
She designed the logo that we use. And she’s actually recently, as we’ve gotten into the Whatnot world, she’s, you know, she’s my co-host on that, on those shows usually. Oh, so, you know, that’s a big help cuz I mean, you sit there and try to talk. I mean, some people are really good at it, but you know, you talk all by yourself for two hours, you know? Yeah. You know, you get tired of talking, you ask stuff, talk about, so it’s nice to have a partner that you can kind of have some banter with kind of our newest venture that we’re looking and getting into is kind of the festival circuit. Oh, you know, we had always planned to do that, but then COVID hit kind of all that stuff went away. So we’re actually gonna do our first festival next weekend and you know, the show that will be a lot of fun.
Stewart:
It’s a little city near Knoxville. It’s their 150th I guess anniversary celebration. She also does a fair amount of sourcing on the weekends with me or by herself or like, you know, if I’m working at the antique mall, she’ll go to estate sales and such. So even before I went a full time or especially before I went full time, when I traveled a whole lot with some of my jobs and she would have to do all the packing and all that kind of stuff lies out of town. Of course, invariably we’d always sell three times as much. Then, you know, as soon as I stepped on the airplane, but…
Doug:
Antiques and collectibles is a niche I’m super interested in. I’ve said this before. I think I talked about this last time. My best friend is an antiques and collectible seller. We talked to Danni Ackerman, the nichelady recently. And we asked her this question, but I want to get your perspective as well. So what are the unique challenges for you in selling antiques and collectibles?
Stewart:
Kind of in this post-COVID world we live in, I would say sourcing was the biggest challenge just because I was so reliant on in-person auctions for a lot of my stuff, and those just don’t exist anymore. At least where I live, what happens during COVID, you know, all these auction companies went online only and they quickly figured out that they have a bigger audience. They have no overhead because they don’t have to have an auctioneer. They don’t have to have the people helping. None of ’em have gone back to in-person auction, it’s all online. So now you’re competing against, you know, however many, you know, million people look at the online auction versus the hundred that was in the room before. And then, you know, it’s also harder to do previews, you know, you’re not there to look at the stuff. I mean, you know, they might have a preview hour at some time during the week, but it’s not always convenient.
Stewart:
I mean, that’s probably the biggest challenge is just, you know, we’ve had to adjust the way we source you know, and we do a lot more estate sales. And fortunately, as I mentioned, just from contacts I’ve made, we have a lot more people just calling us, you know, with, we have a house full of stuff or we do get a lot, a lot of opportunities that way. And probably just the other challenges just in today’s environment, there’s a lot more competition than there was five years ago. Yes. You know, some of it’s because of COVID and people, you know, have better extra income, but you also have all these TV shows and YouTube channels that make reselling look like it’s the easiest thing to do in the world. So, you know, you go to the thrift shops now and you know, you can tell there are 30 other people there, you know, trying to buy the same stuff you are. I’m hoping over time that, you know, a lot of that’ll take care of itself because I mean, reselling, I mean, it’s not rocket science, but you know, if you’re, you know, if you don’t put the work into it, you’re not gonna make it. And you know, I think a lot of people go into it thinking that, you know, it’s just, I’m gonna go buy these 10 things and, you know, you know, make a million dollars or whatever. And, and obviously, that’s not the reality of it.
Doug:
So auctioning itself, live auctions. It’s such an interesting experience. It’s been kind of a dying art for a bit, hasn’t it?
Stewart:
We had a pretty thriving auction scene here in Knoxville prior to COVID. I mean, there were, there were at least five auction houses. I think one had already gone online even before COVID, but okay. The other four were still in person. And it’s funny. I remember asking the guy who runs the main one that I would go to, you know, cuz at first, they’re kinda like every guy, Hey, we’re gonna shut down for a couple of weeks, you know, because of this COVID thing. And then, you know, we’ll be reopened and you know, then it’s like, well it looks like now we’re gonna be shut down longer. So we’re gonna go online. But you know, as soon as this is over, we’ll come back and do in-person auctions, then it will be like one in-person auction a month. And then it’s like, eh, you know, we’re not ever doing in-person auctions again.
Clara:
So tell us about the private label items you sell, please.
Stewart:
We have a line of Franklin Hill Farms products and its preserved sauces, pickles, and barbecue sauces. We have some salad dressings, especially around Sevierville and Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and all those tourist areas. So many of these places you go in have their own line of jams and jellies and, and whatever I thought, you know, I think those kinds of things might sell well in an antique booth setting. And nobody in any of the places I was located was doing that. So, you know, I started looking around and, you know, found some places that would do that sort of thing. And I found the one particular place I found was it’s kind of an Amish country in Pennsylvania and they would do the labels for you and, you know, kind of based on they had some designs and we sent ’em our logo and kind of worked together to come up with a label and, you know, from there it just kind of took off and we sell them, you know, out of all three of our antique booth locations now, and that’s gonna be kind of the focus of the festival we’re doing next week too, is we may do a few other like antique things, but it’s mainly gonna be our jams and jelly. And I mean, I looked at a couple of different places, but we only tried products from this one place. And I mean, they’re really good. And we have so many repeat customers now. And I mean, there are actually people now who message me on Facebook in Knoxville when I’ll deliver to ’em <laugh>
Clara:
Oh, wow.
Stewart:
And there’s this one family who has this little girl and they said that our triple berry preserves is the only jelly she’ll eat. So they buy like three jars a month from us kind of looking to expand this business out into the festival circuit. So now that that’s kind of back up and, and going, you know, and you know, and kind of the takeaway from all that for us has been that, you know, just always try to think the box and you know, yes. I mean, we have our niche of stuff that we sell, but you know, this was something completely different, but it works within the context of, you know, where we have our booths and you know, we’re the only ones doing it at those locations. And, and especially at two of the locations where we have booths, I mean, I mean, they’ve put this place right up at the front counter, so that pushes, you know, a lot of sales.
Doug:
So did you have a particular bestseller or is there one that you had said was your favorite that you prefer to eat yourself instead of putting out?
Stewart:
Well, the peach butter’s the one that I like. I mean, I struggled to not eat all our profits on that one. I can sit with that by the spoonful here recently, we just got a couple of new varieties. We got dilly beans for the pickled green beans. Those things are delicious too. Really my biggest seller in Knoxville so far has been pickled beets, which, I mean, I don’t like beets, so that’s interesting. We sell so many pickled beets.
Doug:
I do like bets, but I don’t think I’ve ever had pickled beets.
Stewart:
I have to send you a jar.
Clara:
I love pickled…Stewart. Look, I’m writing it down because I wanna place an order. <Laugh> I’m like if you see me this started pickled beets. Okay. Because I love beets. Okay. And I have my aunt who used to make them in Argentina. It’s a tradition to do pickled beets. And I can’t wait to see it because pickling is very cultural. So I love it because there are so many differences between them, at the same time. It’s so yummy. I’m <laugh> so, all I can say is Doug, is Stewart, you know, you got a customer here. <Laugh>,
Stewart:
I’ll be curious to see how they compare to what you’re used to. So…
Doug:
So you’re tight with Courtney, from BOLO Buddies and she’s a friend of ours too. So are you still doing some stuff with her and don’t you help her manage the Facebook group or what do you do with her and didn’t she introduce you to List Perfectly?
Stewart:
Yeah, I mean, Courtney’s the reason I started using List Perfectly. I mean, I think she’s probably still getting, you know, my referral money for signing up with the code. Cause, cause I haven’t downgraded or quit using it. So, I am a moderator in her Facebook group, the BOLO Facebook group, that’s one of the best Facebook groups and YouTube channels. A lot of great content. And it’s really one of the few channels that I’ve chosen to join as a member. I mean, I feel like there’s value there. You know, she does a lot of members, only videos where she shouts out products you’ve sold and shouts out your stores. So yeah, Court’s awesome. And yeah, I help her out on her Facebook group and, and she’s definitely the reason I got into List Perfectly.
Clara:
That’s amazing. Awesome. Can you remind us what BOLO stands for, please?
Stewart:
Be on the lookout.
Clara:
<Laugh> all right. So be on the lookout for specific items, what would I expect to see on the Facebook group?
Stewart:
You know, there’s a lot of people who post things that they found that they were then able to turn around and sell for a good profit. It’s more than just people posting that. There are all kinds of, you know, people who post questions about, you know, whether it’s, you know, listing shipping, you know, whatever. And it’s multi-platform, I mean, they talk about, you know, eBay, Etsy, Mercari, you know, Depop whatever on there and just a really helpful group. And there’s quite a few of us moderators and we try to keep things from, you know, degrading into, you know, what some Facebook groups you see degrading into, which is a bunch of bullying and name-calling and, you know, whatever else you see on little groups. So it’s a really helpful group.
Clara:
It’s so important, especially if I’m getting started and I’m new to reselling. What, what, who should I follow? What advice should I, or, or who should I listen to? So having said that, Stewart, if I, from your perspective, was new to reselling, what advice would you give me?
Stewart:
I guess, first of all, you know, you’re only gonna get out of reselling what you put into it. I mentioned earlier, you know, if you watch a lot of these YouTube videos or, you know, the TV shows that are on now, you know, it makes it look like reselling is just easy money and that go buy a few things, you know, put ’em online and they’re gonna sell and you’re gonna make money. And, and certainly, the opportunities there to make money, but it takes a lot of work organization. You’ve gotta be able to, you know, adapt to the changing landscapes that are constantly changing in today’s world. You know, you gotta be able to weather those slow times without getting frustrated or, you know, or down really just make sure you’re having fun as well. You know, I think that usually means if you’re gonna get into this business, you know, start out selling things, you know, and enjoy.
Stewart:
I mean, there’s always a certain amount of learning and planning that has to go into everything you do. But I also see people like on the Facebook groups who have this, you know, the paralysis by analysis thing, you know, that they’ll, they’ll sit there and post I’ve been watching YouTube videos now for three months and, you know, doing this and doing that, you know, and, and ultimately at some point you just gotta kind of jump in with both feet and learn as you go. And in some ways too, I mean, you can sit there and watch YouTube videos, but if you’ve never done it, what they’re telling you is not even gonna make any sense. And I remember back when I used to do a lot of computer training or other types of training, you know, usually, I’d tell the people, use whatever it is for two days, and then let’s do the training because you’re gonna have questions then. And you know, where if I just sit, you come on your first day and I sit there and Blab all this stuff at you, it’s just gonna go in one ear and write out the other. So, you know, I think sometimes just, you know, get started and then you use those resources to ask questions, watch YouTube videos, you know, do whatever to, to learn as you know, to learn as you go.
Doug:
So you just mentioned resources, YouTube sellers, you do a lot of your own social content. So give us a high-level overview of the channels you’re on and the type of content that you are putting out.
Stewart:
Well, in order of how active I am on each platform, I’m on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. And I post a whole lot on Instagram. And I would consider that probably my primary, advertising channel for my business. Most, everything I post on Instagram also goes automatically to my Franklin Hill Ventures Facebook page, either through, you know, the now it’s kind of all built-in with Instagram and Facebook, but yeah, I used to use this like if then, then that or whatever. I can’t remember what the name of the little program was that automated that and everything I’d post on Instagram went to Facebook and Twitter and all these other different things. But, you know, as far as the other sites, Twitter’s mainly stuff I post on Poshmark, you know, how it gets automatically posted to Twitter. I do sometimes post some other things on Twitter, like not auction previews or, oh, I’ve tried to be, be, start being a little more active on Twitter.
Stewart:
I’ll retweet things and, you know, like some tweets and things of that nature now, and really started following more people. And I guess just trying to build the Twitter universe up a little bit, and really at this point, YouTube and TikTok are probably the two that I don’t pay as much attention to on YouTube. I’m mainly just doing shorts, you know, like little booth walkthroughs or auction previews for whatnot. And then really talk’s been completely the forgotten child. I haven’t done anything of substance on TikTok for a good while. Okay. And I keep thinking, at some point, I’m gonna get back to making content for those, but, you know, there are only so many hours in the day and right now those are kind of the two that, you know, have fallen into the bottom of the priority list.
Doug:
Yeah. You have to concentrate on what works and you’ve got plenty on your plate.
Clara:
You’ve been a collector Stewart for quite a while. Are you still collecting, do you have your collections or is that something that is starting to maybe get, you know, your diminish that, you know, that collection in exchange of your passion right now with reselling?
Stewart:
Now our piles of stuff that I’ve sourced and not been able to get to the price yet, or that is that considered collecting or…
Clara:
<Laugh>
Doug:
Well, I’m looking behind you. I see. Big Bird.
Stewart:
Yeah.
Doug:
H,a Beach Boys album, and a bunch of other stuff.
Stewart:
Yeah. So yeah. And I have recently started, I’m trying to get all The Beach Boys albums, but really I don’t collect like I used to, I know in the last episode we talked about the stuff I collected as kids and I collected everything then, I mean, sugar packets, stamps, coins, baseball cards, football cards you know, but really now I’m just more the thrill of the hunt. And, you know, just knowing that I own something cool for even a little while. And, you know, I always have, you know, pictures to back, you know, to look back on or the memories or whatever. But I mean, I really don’t collect a whole lot. I mean, really what you see behind me is the extent of what I collect.
Doug:
Yeah. I’m kind of the same way I used to save and keep a ton of stuff. But now it’s kind of like, I have some tchotchke stuff and some stuff here and there, but a lot more narrowed focus than it used to be. So here’s an interesting question we always like to hear and you kind of hinted at it, but we wanna know how you discovered List Perfectly.
Stewart:
It was primarily through Courtney with BOLO Buddies. I don’t remember the exact specifics. I don’t know if she just mentioned it in her Facebook group or what, but I remember, you know, at the time before, before List Perfectly, I mean, I was primarily eBay, but I would post on Etsy. And I think I had started posting on Mercari maybe, and then a little bit of Facebook marketplace, but it was one of those, you know, where I had this kind of perception that I didn’t wanna put things on multiple platforms because I had this fear that like somebody would see something posted in both places. And, but, you know, I mean, they’re all such big platforms that, you know, that was really not a valid concern. You know, once I started using List Perfectly, you know, now I just cross, I cross-post everything I list. I mean, most things got off six platforms. There are obviously a few things like they don’t go on Etsy cause they’re not vintage or, you know, whatever, they don’t go on Facebook cuz it’s an ashtray and you can’t list ashtrays on Facebook. But for the most part, you know, everything I list goes on all six platforms.
Clara:
Okay. Oh, nice. And what are those six platforms, please?
Stewart:
Let’s see if I can spout these off its eBay, Etsy, Mercari, Poshmark, Depop, and Facebook marketplace. And that’s it I think, and then you can kind of throw WHatnot in there. I mean, well, yeah, now Whatnot. So that’s seven and then yeah. And I mean I used to post everything to Instagram, but then I kind of decided that that muddied up my feed too much. So now I kind of selectively post some single items to Instagram occasionally, but I really use Instagram more for the, you know, personal type, you know, you know, get to know Stewart type posts versus, you know, trying to sell stuff on Instagram. So…
Doug:
It was interesting. Last night I saw that Consignment Chats were live and they had an Instagram live and they were running through some stuff and it was just like, here’s what we have, DM us for, you know, pricing and to buy. And it was so fast. It was very interesting to me how fast they were moving through. So wow. All this live selling is really interesting.
Stewart:
Yeah. That whole Instagram live selling. I mean, I haven’t explored that. I’ve watched a few, but you’re right. It’s, you know, it’s very, the Instagram, selling’s very, very fast-paced, like even compared to the YouTube live sellers, but yeah. The consignment chats people are awesome too. Yeah. Yeah.
Doug:
Very cool.
Stewart:
Think I’m actually gonna talk to them later this month.
Doug:
All right.
Clara:
Nice speaking about that, you know, we love Consignment Chats. Your business is growing. Could you share with our audience, how List Perfectly changed, okay, your business?
Stewart:
Where to even start? I mean I know I’ve already touched on some of this, but you know, I basically went from doing no cross-posting to putting everything I list on six different platforms. So, you know, just that in of itself, you know, increased sales. But then just in addition to those cross-posting benefits, I mean it increased the efficiency of my listing process. I mean really just the whole concept of a centralized catalog from my listings, you know, regardless of what platform it was on was a huge game-changer, especially with me having the boost and all this, because now I can easily just delist items, you know, take ’em to the booth. And if I decide to bring ’em back, I don’t have to create a new listing that’s still in the catalog…
Clara:
So oh, wow. That’s…I never thought about it like that. If I were to thank you, Stuart, you just opened my mind, thank you.
Stewart:
Yeah. So, you know, that allows me to, I mean, I don’t keep all my booth inventory in List Perfectly, but if it’s ever been online, I’ll leave it in there. And then I, you know, I note that it’s at the booth now and then if it never is, I decide I want to put it back on, then it’s easy to do.
Doug:
So that’s what we call kind of like a List Perfectly hack. And so you were one of the first that where we, for me, at least where I started coining this term where you did your receipts, and now you talk about how, you know, some of your brick and mortar stuff, you, you track within your catalog, kind of give us some detail into your receipts hack and any other List Perfectly hacks that you might have.
Stewart:
Yeah. I mean, and of course, I don’t know if hacks are the right word. I feel like I’m just using List Perfectly to its fullest extent, but actually utilize the List Perfectly catalog for a lot of image-related tasks, you know, whether that’s storing the receipt images as you mentioned, and you know, I just create a listing for each month and, you know, locations like, you know, Goodwill, June 2022. And since you can put up to 30 images or something that’s right. You know, if I went every day to the thrift shop that would cover, you know, that number of seats, but I typically don’t go every day. You know, or I also use it a lot just to move images from my phone to my computer. You know, whether it’s something I’m listing or not…
Clara:
Oh, smart.
Stewart:
It seems quicker than plugging it into my computer. And then also, you know, if I wanna keep it for some reason in List Perfectly, I can keep it there and then access it for multiple computers or, you know, multiple phones or whatever. I mean, I almost use it kind of like Dropbox, I guess, for certain things.
Clara:
Yeah.
Stewart:
<Laugh> but for images, it seems to me anyway, like it’s easier to manage those images that way than if I were using something like Dropbox for Google drive, I guess file manipulation and those types of things. I just use it to move stuff around and be able to move stuff to the booth as well. So…
Clara:
Now I wanna switch gears to the first time I met you in person. Let’s talk about BOSS Reseller Remix in the, so you went to BOSS Reseller Remix last year, right. And you’re going again, and this time you’re going with Amy, your wife, how was that back in 2021. And what are you looking forward to this year?
Stewart:
Well, I guess, yeah, like you said, first off, I’m just looking forward to the fact that Amy’s going with me this year. That’s gonna be a lot of fun and I’m so glad I went last year. You know, it was kind of, I was very up in the air about going last year because I had just gone full time in September. And you know, here, I wanna really take a whole week away from this business I’m trying to build. And I can’t imagine if I had not gone now. Cause it, it was really one of the best things that I did relate to my reselling business. And yeah, I’m just looking forward to seeing, you know, all the old friends that I met last year and then, you know, meeting new friends and learning and just the motivation you get from being around all the people that are there is incredible, you know, not just the speakers, but just the, you know, the everyday resellers who are there just getting to know all them and, you know, seeing how everybody does things and you learn so many different ways to do things and new ways of looking at things,
Doug:
Stewart and I are on the opposite sides of the coin here. Stewart’s wife is coming and he’s excited about it. My wife’s talking about going and I’m nervous about it. So <laugh> and have her cramp my Vegas style.
Clara:
<Laugh>
Stewart:
Well, who knows, you know, maybe, maybe Amy coming to the BOSS Reseller Remix will be, you know, the first step towards us becoming the newest full-time reselling power couple out there.
Clara:
There you go. Oh, yes, yes. I can’t wait to meet your wife.
Stewart:
She’s incredible. I mean, you’ll really enjoy meeting her. She’s a lot of fun.
Clara:
I will.
Doug:
Looking forward to it. Definitely. So this is a question we used to ask back at eBay, but if a seller said to you, why should I attend seller events and participate in the community? What would you say?
Stewart:
Well, probably, I mean, just the first thing that comes to mind, you know, reselling can definitely be a lonely life for me personally. I’m stuck here in my basement and you know, I’m the only one home. And I think, you know, events, whether it’s virtual events or in-person events. I mean,I certainly think you get things from an in-person event that you can’t get from a virtual event, but you know, both are great ways to meet like-minded people and develop relationships similar to what you might develop in the business world and an office. Since you don’t have an office, you go every day. It’s definitely, yeah. A great opportunity to, I guess, simulate that, that type of environment. I’ve talked to several people, you know, Hey, are you going to BOSS Reseller Remix? And you know, they either didn’t know what it was so yet, or, you know, or, you know, they’d heard of it. No, that’s, you know, that’s, I can’t spend that kind of money, you know, and you just, you explain to ’em, here’s why you need to go.
Clara:
Great answers Stewart. Having said that, you know, you have shared so much with our audience. Describe yourself with three adjectives, please.
Stewart:
Well, let’s see, I guess we can start with dusty cuz that’s, you know, the stuff I sell and <laugh> Actually, since I’m down here in the basement, it might be a little dusty too, but, and then I would just say fun. I mean, I’m doing what I love to do and you know, I feel so fortunate to be able to, you know, be in a business that I love. I mean, I’ve always enjoyed every job I had, but this, you know, this is a whole nother level. And then I guess the third one to just be growing that’s the goal is to continue to grow this business. And I’m really curious about what it’s gonna look like, you know, in one year, two year, five years, whatever. So…
Clara:
I’m curious to, okay, just witnessing your growth since you signed up for List Perfectly, you know, it’s been, it’s been incredible. And then, then, and I’m again, thank you for sharing because you’ve, you came from brick and mortar and look at where you are now…
Doug:
Dusty, fun, growing…
Clara:
<Laugh>
Doug:
Stewart, you and I have bonded over music and movies a bit and obscure movie quotes. So I have to ask this and hopefully, it’s not the hardest question of the day. So what’s your favorite album, your favorite concert and your favorite movie?
Stewart:
Let’s see. Favorite album. That’d probably be two. I would mention it would be Friends by The Beach Boys which was actually their lowest selling album they ever released, but oh, wow. I mean, everybody knows Pet Sounds, you know, considered per, you know, if you see a poll it’s always either the number one or number two album and some order with Sergeant Pepper’s as the greatest album of all time. And it is a great album, but Friends is just incredible. And then probably Life’s Rich Pageant REM would be the other one. I mean, Fall On Me is my absolute favorite REM song. And that album is just solid from start to finish. Yeah. Favorite concert would have to be Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys at the Ryman auditorium in Nashville.
Doug:
Nice.
Clara:
Wow.
Stewart:
Or I could also probably throw in any number of the Jimmy Buffet concerts that I went to though.
Clara:
Oh wow. I’ve never seen Jimmy Buffet.
Stewart:
Yeah. My roommate and I would always have a big Jimmy Buffet party every year prior to the concert. And that was a big outdoor amphitheater in Nashville and we’d usually rent a limo or something fun like that. So just from the experience standpoint, those Buffet concerts were definitely fun. And you know, movies, I mean, Fletch is probably my all time favorite movie and then Fletch Lives would be a close second and you know, outside the Fletch universe,uI mean Caddyshack probably.
Clara:
<Laugh>
Stewart:
So yeah.
Clara:
Doug, didn’t you just watch, I think that Caddyshack?
Doug:
<Laugh> yeah. Father’s day was yeah. On Father’s day, we watched Caddyshack.
Stewart:
You know, I guess if I had to pick a movie in a different genre, other than comedy, it would probably be Shawshank Redemption, so…
Clara:
Oh, great choice. Great.
Doug:
Good choices. Let me ask you though. Do big Jimmy Buffet fans hate wasting away in Margaritaville songs or do you guys have cocktails in…
Clara:
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Doug. I always wondered that.
Stewart:
No, I mean, I don’t, you know, I, I definitely don’t hate Margaritaville. That’s I mean, you know, he built the whole lifestyle around that song and that’s…
Doug:
True.
Stewart:
I mean, you know, that’s his whole empire right there, but you know, I don’t think it’s his best song, but yeah. Yeah. But I, you know, I don’t, it…
Doug:
<Laugh> no, I’ve always wondered what it’s like, does he play it over and over? <Laugh>
Stewart:
Well, he plays it every show. So yeah.
Clara:
Stewart, let’s talk about recession. Recession is affecting the USA right now, USA. It’s been affecting recession for years in the USA and now the pandemic has set itself a little more deeper. Okay. And recession is something that I’m very used to from where I come from in Argentina recession is like the constant. How has the recession affected your businesses? Is this something that has maybe decreased your sales, increased your sales? Are you working triple for the same result? Please share with us.
Stewart:
Well, I guess you also mentioned COVID. I mean, I think going back to COVID, you know, I think from an online standpoint, COVID helped sales in the online arenas. I mean, my, you know, my online sales really increased during the whole COVID time. Yeah. Cause I think people were home and got stimulus money or whatever they, you know, whatever they got. Yeah. But you know, people were stuck at home buying things, you know, I have noticed. And you know, I think if you go out to all the Facebook groups, you’ll see everybody else talking about this as well. I mean, I, the last couple of months have been tough online. I mean, I have not been selling as much on my online platforms as I was, you know, kind of pre-recession. Interestingly enough, it hasn’t seemed to affect my booth locations. I mean, they’re, you know, they seem to be doing just as well. And in fact, like June, so this last June or the month we just came out of, I mean, I’ve been kind of tracking financials for seven years now. I think this last June was my ninth best month ever. So not the best month I’ve ever had, but it’s certainly, you know, it wasn’t terrible either. So but most of that was driven by two things. I mean, I had a pretty good month at the boost and then adding whatnot was another revenue stream that I’d never had before. Of course the price of gas, you know, just is, you know, that hurts everybody. Yeah.
Clara:
Yeah.
Stewart:
So, you know, I’ll be interested to see, you know, we’re kind of just getting into this recession. In the last month or two, I am gonna be curious to see what cells do for the rest of the summer. gas is probably the worst thing right now. And you know, that’s one reason I’m glad I’m not working an hour and 40 minutes away from my house anymore because right. I would not be able to afford to drive to Chattanooga every day, like I used to. So…
Clara:
I used to commute like yourself for an hour and a half as well from Huntington Beach to City of Industry and then to LA yes. <Laugh>
Stewart:
But yeah, I mean, I guess to answer your question, you know, just a short answer. I mean, I mean, so far knock on wood. I haven’t seen a huge impact on my business. Okay. You know, and I just, I hope it continues that way.
Clara:
Thank you for sharing that. I really, I was really curious because it’s been a constant question in our communities. One thing that I know about recession is that it will favor okay. Different streams of revenue because the supply chain is broken. So it’s incredible how much it can help us. But thank you for sharing that tip about the brick and mortar there, you
Stewart:
Have it, you know, and I do think it probably affects vintage and antique resellers less from a supply chain standpoint than like people selling new stuff that you can’t get. Now. Obviously, if people don’t have money that affects everybody selling whatever they sell, but yeah, I don’t think it really affects the supply chain end of me getting, you know, vintage things.
Clara:
So exactly there you have it. So we talk about, you know, incredible movies, you know, Jimmy Buffet. Okay. Now we’re talking a little about recession and of course I’m not forgetting about the peach butter I’m gonna be ordering with the pickled beets. Okay. Incredible. What can I say, Doug? This was an incredible session. Stewart, do you have anything else, would you like to share or add for our audience, please?
Stewart:
I mean, not that I can think of. I mean, if you want to find me, you can, I use you know, a link tree menu, you can just go to www.franklinhillventures.com and that’ll get you to all my social media sites and online selling platforms and come check me out. Other than that, I mean, I really appreciate you having me on again and you wanna have me back on again sometime. I’d be glad to maybe bring Amy next time and…
Clara:
That’s it. We’re doing this with Amy. Let’s do it.
Stewart:
Yep. I’m sure people. Yeah. I mean, probably get tired of hearing me talk, you know, for the third time. So freshen it up with Amy <laugh>
Clara:
No, no, we can’t wait to meet and hear about Amy, please say hi to her. Thank you for your time. What a great session, Doug. Thank you for always making this happen. Thank you to our audience for listening, right?
Doug:
Yeah, definitely. Of course. And thank you. Yeah. Thanks, Stewart. Stewart of Franklin Hill Ventures. Thanks for coming back on and yeah, we’ll definitely have you back with Amy and we’ll see what the balance is. Maybe she’ll be an employee of the month next time…
Clara:
<Laugh>
Stewart:
I don’t know. We’ll have to see, so <laugh>,
Doug:
And then we’ll, we will definitely see you at BOSS Reseller Remix. So that’s exciting. Thanks again.
Stewart:
All right, appreciate it.
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 @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.