Purchasing Management

Good lord, how do people out there have such great purchasing power and purchasing management skills?  Where do businesses keep getting their products from?  Well, I know how I've been doing it.  Buy low; sell high.  That's the general rule of thumb for the commoner.  I frequent large retail stores and buy things off of the clearance racks.  I work with a minimum of 50% off, up to 90% if I'm lucky.  Of course, I only buy the stuff that looks like it can be resold for me.  Eventually, these expired clearance items will become collector's items over time.  Most people will not believe me; but it happens.  Much like "Toy Hunter" or "Pawn Stars" an individual can turn out a lot of money on old toys/games.  It's just something you have to experiment on your own with.  No one can tell you what something will be worth down the road.

This model of buying of clearance racks is not by any chance a sustainable business model.  It's either a hit or miss kind of a thing.  It's a great hobby that will fill your shelves in your home with delight; but it would be super hard to run a real brick-and-motor store based off of it.  It's a scary thought to think that 9/10 businesses will fail in the first year or two.  After that, new businesses take a stab at it.  Without making connections, contacting clients, direct marketing, billboard signs, networking, forum writing, blogging, and just reaching out to people/potential customers; keeping up your business is impossible.  You need all the marketing and networking skills under your belt to stay afloat.  The pros make it look easy, but there's a lot of dirty work that needs to be done to help reach out to customers and retain them for the long run.