Day 2

The title might be a bit misleading. I actually began experimenting with resale back in September 2025. I started with Amazon FBA and continued selling there through December, until my inventory ran out. My total revenue ended at $1,068. I didn’t keep track of my expenses at the time, as I just wanted to see if the idea was even viable for someone with an exceptionally small amount of capital to work with.

It turns out it is viable, and not nearly as slow as I expected. However, Amazon tightened restrictions in 2026, so it’s something I’ll be revisiting later when I better understand it and have the capital to manage my account more consistently.

For now, I’ve taken a break from Amazon to focus on eBay and other, less terrifying platforms. I did briefly get back on Amazon in early February, only to discover I was no longer ungated in products I had already sold. I won’t pretend to understand how that works yet, but I assume consistency plays a major role in how the algorithm decides your eligibility to sell certain products and brands.

Every day I’m reminded of how much there is to learn in order to succeed in this space. I’m still trying to learn the language of it all: revenue, net profit, ROI, margins, inventory turnover, cash flow, sell-through rate…

The first time I’ve ever had a genuine interest in college would be for a marketing degree. But honestly, with what I’m doing right now, it feels like a waste of money. This seems like the kind of thing you learn best by doing, and building connections along the way.

I started selling on eBay in November 2025, I spent a lot of time unsure whether this was the right path. It felt right from the beginning, but I struggled to let myself believe I could actually support myself in an unconventional way. I don’t know anyone personally who has taken a path outside of getting a degree and settling into a 9-to-5.

So I spent months dabbling in resale, researching wholesale, making and selling handmade soaps, and generally trying to figure out what direction made sense. I also spent a fair amount of time Googling things like, “jobs bachelors or less desk jobs unaffected by Ai,” just in case I needed a backup plan.

Currently I’m on SSI. It isn’t much, and I’m not allowed to save more than $2,000 at a time, including assets. I choose to believe the constraints placed on me will end up steering me toward work that is more fulfilling anyways.

Still, I doubt my abilities every day. Almost every day something happens that makes me wonder if I’m actually cut out to run my own business. As a kid, I wasn’t imagining running an online business.

At the moment, I have about $200/mo that I can realistically invest into this experiment. Sometimes it’s a little more, sometimes less.

I’m documenting this attempt for one year. If I succeed, I’ll likely make the blog a more permanent fixture in my life. If I fail, I suppose I’ll go back to school for medical billing & coding, and hope Ai assists the profession rather than replacing it. Maybe I’ll even marry some guy with good health insurance.

Write again tomorrow,

Court