Last week, I did something that felt strangely emotional for a guy who had spent nearly two decades selling other people’s used shoes on the internet.
I closed Marenna’s Treasures — my eBay store of 18 years.
Over those years, I racked up over 30,000 sales, earned more than 10,000 reviews, and moved everything from baseball cards to textbooks to an astonishing amount of secondhand clothing I’d dug out of thrift store bins across three states.
And I loved every minute of it.
The thrill of buying something for $3 at a yard sale and flipping it for $30 never got old. Finding treasure in someone else’s trash? That’s dopamine you can’t buy. Building a little money-making engine that hummed along while I practiced veterinary medicine, taught classes, and tried to remember where I parked? Pure joy.
But here’s the thing — it was never really about the money.
What 30,000 Sales Actually Taught Me
I started Marenna’s Treasures the same way most side hustles begin: cleaning out my own closet. Sold some personal stuff. Then, my friends asked me to sell their things. Then family members.
That’s when I realized something: the best businesses often start by solving your own problem first. I needed to declutter. Others needed the same thing but didn’t want to deal with eBay themselves. Boom — a service people would pay for.
Then I scaled it. Thrift stores became my hunting ground. I’d walk in with $50 and walk out with inventory that would generate $200-300 in sales. Sometimes more. I learned to spot brands that sold, conditions that mattered, and seasons that moved merchandise.
Here’s the lesson nobody tells you about side hustles: You don’t learn by reading about business. You learn by spending your own money and watching what happens. Every $3 investment was a micro-MBA. Some paid off 10X. Some sat in my garage for months. Both taught me something.
I sold clothing, then pivoted to baseball cards and comics, then books and textbooks. Each category taught me different things about markets and pricing strategies. The pattern? I wasn’t afraid to test and pivot. When one category slowed down, I’d shift. That skill — the willingness to adapt when data tells you to — became invaluable in every leadership role I’ve held since.
The Skills That Transferred
Looking back, Marenna’s Treasures quietly built skills I use every day as Executive Director of Hospital Operations:
Decision-making under uncertainty.
Should I buy this lot of 50 shirts for $40 when I’m only confident about 30 of them? That’s the same risk calculation I make when evaluating staffing models or service line investments. The stakes are different. The thinking isn’t.
Customer service is everything.
One negative review could tank your seller rating. I learned fast that how you handle problems matters more than avoiding them entirely. Unhappy customer? Respond quickly, own the issue, make it right. That same principle applies when I’m dealing with concerned clients at the veterinary hospital or managing internal team conflicts.
Cash flow beats revenue.
I could have $1,000 in active listings and $0 in my bank account if nothing sold that week. Revenue is just a number until it converts. That lesson shaped how I think about hospital finances — tracking not just what we bill, but what we collect and when.
You can’t scale time, but you can scale systems.
Eventually, I couldn’t manually list every item and still keep up with my veterinary career. So I built processes. Photo setups. Listing templates. Shipping routines. That’s when I learned the difference between working IN a business and working ON a business — a distinction that’s critical in any leadership role.
Why I’m Closing It Now
I’m not shutting down because it failed. I’m closing it because it succeeded at what it was supposed to do.
My time and focus have shifted. The Weekly 5 newsletter, this blog, my work at Iowa State — those are where my energy needs to be now. Marenna’s Treasures served its purpose. It taught me what I needed to learn.
And here’s another lesson: Knowing when to close something successful is as important as knowing when to start it. Not everything has to run forever. Some things are meant to be chapters, not careers.
If You’re Thinking About Starting Something
You don’t need a revolutionary idea. You don’t need venture capital. You don’t need to quit your job.
Here’s what actually matters:
Start with what you know. I started by selling my own stuff. You might start by offering a skill you already have. Just start.
Keep the stakes low. My biggest early purchase was maybe $50. Small bets let you learn fast without catastrophic risk.
Expect to be bad at first. My early listings were terrible. But I got better because I kept going. Volume creates competence.
Let it teach you. Pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. The side hustle is the tuition. The lessons are the degree.
Your Turn
Maybe you flip furniture. Maybe you freelance on weekends. Maybe you tried something years ago that flopped spectacularly but taught you everything.
Drop your story in the comments — the wins, the disasters, the lessons you couldn’t have learned any other way.
And if you’ve been thinking about starting something but haven’t pulled the trigger yet?
Consider this your sign.
Go find your version of Marenna’s Treasures. You won’t regret it.
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