So, how do you find your customers? First, you need to be clear on “who” you are serving. This often involves doing research in your community to determine the different types of customers available, how is the market currently supporting these customers, and what approach your competition is taking to serve the customers.

When I first moved to Colorado, I did a quick assessment in the marketplace to determine what kinds of estate sale companies were in existence. I shopped at estate sales, visited antique shops, looked in the non-profit donation thrift stores, and assessed the other types of 2nd-hand entities in existence. What I quickly discovered was the following:

1. There were several high-end estate companies who had the market cornered on high-end customers who only took clients whose estate would gross a minimum of $10,000 or more.

2. There was a plethora of 2nd hand entities in existence who either had their own private stores with 2nd hand merchandise or coordinated booths with clients who brought in 2nd-hand goods within within their large warehouse malls.

3. There were various large antique stores that went on and on with antiques lining every wall and shelf.

4. There were many, many donation entities which carried a lot of high-end goods.

So, what did my assessment show me? I didn’t need to compete with the high-end estate sale companies, there were too many brick & mortar stores, and the donation businesses were knee deep in stuff they could not get on the shelves quick enough. I asked myself, who are the people giving away their stuff, and how could I provide value to those individuals?

And so, I found an underserved market – the mid-market of downsizers who just needed to move stuff along. What I found as I began my conversations with mid-market downsizers is that it hurt people to have to give away Mom’s estate, or let go of their own valuable stuff.  It was that they didn’t have any other outlet to find the right people who wanted their items, other than donation centers.  

Thus, I built a business that served the mid-market of downsizers who wanted to see their items move on to people who would find value and appreciation in those items. I also discovered that after an estate sale, a lot of those items moved on to donation, and this was another service that was lacking in the marketplace. I determined that storing the items for a period of time, and posting those things on eBay or on the local marketplace after a sale, meant that the clients and our company made money long after the sale.

As you begin to decide on your side hustle, do a little research. Go to some networking groups, ask around, make some calls, search on the internet. Find out who is doing what you want to do, how they are doing it, and determine if there is anything you can do differently, especially while serving an underserved market.

If you start out by being different, you will stand out and gain market share more quickly.

Becky Shook-Wotzka, M.A.
LifeStyle NOW!

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