Archive for Reselling

Catherine Cooke: myYearbook

Posted by hasseea20 
· Monday, December 14th, 2020 
· 3 Comments

Another relevant entrepreneur for students is Catherine Cook, creator of myYearbook, a free interactive online yearbook. At the age of fifteen Catherine and her seventeen-year-old brother Dave came up with the idea to be able to interact with more fellow students online. They quickly got their first investor from their web designer older brother and set to work. Soon after building their website, they combined with a user generated quiz site to garner many more interactions.

As they grew, Catherine’s business encountered some pivots as she tried to figure out what would work and what would not. At some points potential investors would want her to move headquarters or determine ad space. Ultimately, she stayed true to her business and vision and it paid off. MyYearbook.com was ranked one of the most popular sites for middle school and high school students in 2006. As her business grew, it attracted nicer advertisers like Disney and Neutrogena.

While she put time into growing it, as was a struggle for many school age entrepreneurs, school and grades started to suffer. Because being in the heart of her target market and being able to optimize her website with direct input and feedback made myYearbook more user friendly, it also became very overwhelming when trying to balance work and school. Later in her high school career Catherine found herself having to skip classes to work.

Yet through every obstacle and inconvenience, starting when she was just fifteen years old, Catherine Cook’s myYearbook has carved itself a niche for high schoolers and grown to 3 million members.

Cook kept up her business all throughout college, after which she sold myYearbook. She remains a partner however, working full time for the business. Catherine Cooke has become a very well-known entrepreneur, inspiring many young people to not let their age keep them from pursuing their big ideas.

3 Comments
Categories : App, Blog, Business, Challenge, Content Entrepreneurs, Creating, Education, Female Empowerment, Kids, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Reselling, Startups, Women Entrepreneurs, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Uptown Cheapskate – A New Approach to Clothing Resale

Posted by bidelspachcr20 
· Friday, November 20th, 2020 
· 3 Comments

Scott and Chelsea Sloan, son and daughter of Brent and Shauna Sloan (founders of Kid to Kid), grew up watching their parents’ children’s clothing resale enterprise grow and become successful. As young adults, they began to see the need for a similar enterprise for their own generation. This lead to the development of their own company – Uptown Cheapskate. Uptown Cheapskate represents a new approach to teen and young adult clothing resale. They wanted to provide a more cost effective clothing option while still appealing to current styles and a positive shopping experience. They did this by designing upscale, modern stores and creating a better system for buying used items for resale. When you walk into an Uptown Cheapskate, it doesn’t feel like you’re walking into a thrift store. It feels as though you’re walking into a mall, but without retail prices! Their buying process ensures that sellers receive fair payments for their gently used clothing while Uptown Cheapskate keeps their racks stocked with high value, in-style items at low prices. In addition to creating a better customer experience within the resale industry, Uptown Cheapskate also encourages support for the environment and sustainable fashion. They understand that the increased consumption of new clothing items creates large amounts of waste, and that most used clothing ends up in landfills. Selling used clothing to Uptown Cheapskates allows your clothes to have a new life instead of adding to pollution. In the same way, buying used clothing instead of new is a much more sustainable way to shop!

3 Comments
Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Clothing, Environment, Fashion, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Reselling, Sustainable

Sean Wotherspoon: Shoe Designer

Posted by lockwoodbj19 
· Monday, November 16th, 2020 
· 1 Comment

Background

Sean Wotherspoon is a 30 year old entrepreneur, whose story is one that can inspire many.  Sean has a passion for collecting shoes, and his inspirational shoe has made an impact on the entire world.  In 2013, Sean opened a vintage sneaker store in Virginia called “Round Two.” This was his first entrepreneurial step into the shoe business.  After opening his store, Sean created a youtube channel in 2015 to follow the progress of his business and share his passion for shoes.

What changed it all…

In 2017, Nike held a contest allowing anyone to design a shoe and submit it in a contest for others to vote on and have the chance of Nike mass producing the designed shoe.  Sean entered this contest and ended up winning by a landslide. His unique design involved using corduroy on the outside of the shoe, with various colors that had never been seen before on a shoe. Fans of Nike loved his shoe design.  Little did Sean know, this designed shoe would become one of the most famous shoes on the market today.  When Nike finally produced the shoe in 2018, it sold out immediately.  Today, fans across the world hope to one day be able to purchase the shoe as a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Unfortunately, the demand is so high for Seans shoe that it sells on secondary markets like ebay and stockx for upwards of $2,000.  This shoe is my personal favorite, and luckily I was able to get a pair earlier this year two years later.

 

Opportunities to follow…

Since Sean designed this first shoe, he has had many more opportunities that followed his popular design.  Recently, Sean has designed shoes for Adidas, Asics and other big name shoe brands and continued to be successful in the market. Similarly, the shoes that Sean designed for other brands immediately sell out and resell on the secondary market for much more. Since 2018, he has been able to open numerous other “Round Two” stores throughout the country.  His passion and drive for shoes and design has certainly impacted millions of people.

My take on it.

This story is certainly inspirational for all.  I personally have a passion for collecting shoes, and Seans story made a big impact in my passion.  It is so cool to see the impact that a young individual can have on the world.  He simply designed a shoe that he thought would be interesting, and the entire world loved it.  This is inspiring, because if Sean wouldn’t have entered into this contest, millions of people would have never discovered his talent or passion.  He used his entrepreneurial skills to be able to act on this opportunity and open up more stores with his success in the contest.  This is a clear example that anyone with a drive to act on their passion can be a successful entrepreneur.

1 Comment
Categories : Design, Reselling, shoes, YouTube

Sneaker Empire: Keith Adam

Posted by lockwoodbj19 
· Sunday, September 13th, 2020 
· 2 Comments

Background of Sneaker Reselling

Many young teenagers dream of starting their own youtube channel, and one day making a career out of it.  That’s where it all started for 19 year old, Keith Adam, about three years ago.  Keith has a passion for buying and selling sneakers.  Not your every day Walmart sneaker, but instead very limited high demand sneakers like Kanye West’s “Yeezy”, and Jordan basketball shoes.  These shoes sell out instantly online and in store, and resell on the aftermarkets like Ebay, StockX, and other sites for sometimes up to 10 times the retail value of the shoe.  This business is very similar to those who flip real estate.  They typically buy the property for a low price, and end up selling it for a much higher price and earning profit.  This high profit margin makes reselling sneakers very appealing to young entrepreneurs.

Starting on Youtube

In 2016, Keith began his youtube journey at 16 years old.  He started producing videos with tips on how to get these limited shoes online and in store before they sell out.  His first videos did not immediately gain much popularity in views, and he rarely made any money on youtube.  After about a year making sneaker videos on youtube, Keith began to gain a following and produce interest in his channel.  His following was mostly marketed to other teenagers like him, who have a passion for sneakers, and wanted to find a way to make extra money from home.

Finding Ways to Innovate

About two years ago, Keith wanted to find a way to set himself apart from other sneakers Youtubers.  He started off using social media to promote himself and gain a bigger following from teenagers.  Keith did a lot of research to figure out a way that he could earn money outside of youtube.  This is where he discovered an app called “Discord.”  Discord is an app that is typically targeted toward video gamers.  It is a platform where groups can form and share ideas, create channels, and communicate through messages, video chat, and voice chat.  This was appealing to Keith, because it allowed him to charge his fans a monthly fee, similar to subscriptions like Netflix, in order to access his reselling information.  His focus was to continue using youtube and social media for small bits of information on reselling, but to focus on a paid subscription to Discord in order to gain full access to his content and reselling advice. He began offering his service through Discord for a small fee of $15 per month.  He used his social media and youtube channel to promote this new service, and it immediately sold out.  Keith was thrilled by the interest in his new Discord group, and from there, his career took off.

Keiths Success Today

Today, Keith continues to produce youtube videos and is active on social media, but his main focus is on Discord.  The interest in Keiths group has grown exponentially, which allows him to increase the price for his service.  Today, you can access Keiths Discord group for a steep monthly fee of $65.  Keith realized that in order to make his group stand out from other competing resellers, he has to produce the best information.  With this expensive monthly fee, Keith employs about a dozen “moderators” in his Discord group, who work around the clock finding out the best information regarding shoes.  These employees allow Keith the freedom to focus on other ways to improve, rather than having to solely work around the clock in order to help the thousands of his Discord subscribers through sneaker releases.  Keith continues to inspire many young teenagers to find a passion for sneakers and the hustle of reselling valuable sneakers.

2 Comments
Categories : Fashion, Reselling, shoes, Sneakers, YouTube