May 2, 2023
Mona Mejia’s family struggled to make ends meet when she started reselling clothes out of her closet on Poshmark in 2015.
It was a "really hard time," the 44-year-old, Houston-based mom told Business Insider. "You don't know where you're going to eat."
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Mejia’s first dress sold for $36 after 11 hours and her business began growing after that as she began buying bargain products she could later sell at a markup. She branched out to other reselling platforms when her husband had open heart surgery and could no longer work — and started earning around $1,000 a week, or $50,000 a year.
In 2021, she made a whopping $735,000, with the bulk of her earnings getting a boost from social media live streams and partnerships with brands such as Torrid and Target.
Meija says success doesn’t happen overnight — but here are three tips to get you started.
1. Start with what you have at home
Even if your side hustle doesn’t blow up right away, it’s still a great way to boost your main income and make a few extra dollars from home.
In the early days of the business, Mejia started with just a few items from her closet. It doesn’t have to be gently-used clothes, you can resell your old books, electronics or toys — on a number of platforms, such as eBay and Craigslist.
You could also consider cleaning up your space and renting out a spare room on Airbnb or listing your empty garage for storage use.
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2. Get all your debts out of the way
Mejia and her husband fully paid off their mortgage and sent two kids to college without any student loans.
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So once you’ve got some extra income, make sure you’re paying down any debts that you owe, whether that’s from your credit card or your loans.
It might be helpful to start with the smallest debt first to ease your way into repayment or begin with your biggest bill to ensure you’re not accruing too much interest. And if you’ve got too many lines of credit to keep track of, consider rolling them all into one loan with a lower interest rate.
3. Plan and invest for the long-term
Although Mejia and her husband now earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from her reselling business, it took them several years to get there.
"A lot of people see where I'm at right now. And they're like, 'Oh, I want to do that right now,'" Mejia told Insider. "Yeah, it's going to happen eventually, but it's not just going to happen overnight.”
If you want to grow your money, it’s going to take some time and thought as well.
Instead of just tucking your cash under the mattress, consider investing some in the stock market. Spread out your income, build a diversified portfolio, and watch your savings grow over time with the power of compound interest.
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Serah Louis is a reporter with Moneywise.com. She enjoys tackling topical personal finance issues for young people and women and covering the latest in financial news.
