Woman, 35, turns her eBay side hustle into $141 million company
Imagine being able to quit your nine-to-five job and concentrate on your passion - the absolute dream.
Well, that dream became reality for Tori Gerbig who started selling clothes on eBay way back in 2011.
Initially, it was just a small side hustle for Tori, but over time it snowballed into one of the fastest growing online retailers in the US - and made a staggering $141 million in sales in 2021.
So how did she do it?
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It all started when Tori was just 24 years old and co-founded Pink Lily with her husband Chris with an investment of just $300 in clothes to sell on the electronic auction house.
It seemed like the gamble was slowly paying off as the pair typically made between $300 and $1,000 each month in the first few years - money they used to pay off student loans and reinvest into the business.
It soon became apparent that she would be able to quit her $35,000 salary job working in the insurance industry and concentrate on her side hustle.
However, things quickly grew and in May 2014, Pink Lily began making $100,000 in revenue every single month.
Writing for CNBC, Tori explained that they had needed to be prudent with their business goals as they didn't have any backing.
She wrote: "Without funding or assurances of what was ahead, we took the risk and set ambitious goals. I focused on leveraging my sales and social media knowledge to grow our outreach while Chris incorporated his finance expertise to structure operations."
The company's growth continued and by 2019, it earned a huge $70 million in sales - as well as opening up a flagship store in Kentucky two years previous, and moving into multiple warehouses.
Now, the company sells thousands of products every day and has some 250 employees, reportedly making it one of the biggest employers in Tori's home town of Bowling Green in Kentucky.
Tori puts the success down to a consistent business strategy, including making the company's branding clear and featuring customers who post on social media in their new outfits.
She also advises anyone wanting to do the same to reinvest any profits they make, and to find a gap in the market.
So if you have a hobby or a passion there could be a small fortune, or large fortune in Tori's case, in pursuing it - you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take!
Joe Yates