How to Start a Couch Flipping Business with $0⏐Ep. #249

If you can carry in a stubborn load of groceries, you can make ten grand a month. Prepping coaches, anybody who hates their job, it's the dopest gig. The only way that I could stay afloat was just slamming 16 hour doubles and I was just headed towards like a mental health crisis. So in my first half month I made more in my evenings after full time work than I did my nursing job. 2023, I did 183k and that was with a 3 year old in tow. Wow. Doesn't feel like work. Lots of days off during the week. $200 purchase for a $5200 sale.

Whoa.

I don't put pants on for less than 1000 bucks. The time freedom is stupid. Yeah, it's awesome.

So the other day I'm swiping Instagram, as I do and I come across this guy called the Full time Flipper. And what does he do? He flips couches in rural Canada on Facebook Marketplace. He, he makes six figures a year working part time, golfing a ton. He's got kids, his wife works and he just buys couches and sells them. Or he gets couches for free and gets paid to take them to the dump. Or he sells the free couches. His name's Tim and what he's doing could be replicated in any market, large or small. If you like Shannon's episodes or the appliance rental stuff or the garage shelving stuff, you are going to love this. Tim is a ball of energy and he shares everything. He holds nothing back. All the tactics are in here. Please enjoy. Well, Tim, why don't you tell us who you are and what you do.

My name's Tim McLeod. I flip couches. Used to be a nurse. That was fun, but just not enough money. Kind of put myself in a hole with adulthood. Got married really young. We had one kid and that was good. And then another kid on the way and my wife was kind of at her limit. The only way that I could stay afloat on this little financial treadmill I got myself pinched on was just slamming 16 hour doubles and I was just headed towards like a mental health crisis, so needed something extra. Overtime needed to be replaced, desper re. But all my options for replacing the income sucked. Like I could relocate or commute an hour away and make danger pay like a mental health asylum with my current nursing certificate. Going back to school sucked. Like I scraped through the first time. The thought of going back was brutal. I just needed to replace the overtime. I didn't want to overhaul everything I Just wanted to replace the overtime. I just needed something extra to take the edge off. And I had some success flipping phones and iPads because that's all I really understood.

I've done that.

Okay, these are worth 450 down the city. They're worth 300 bucks because saturated with inventory. It was kind of like just geographical arbitrage. Bring them up to the sticks where there was no supply and they move way better. And my in laws were in the city so it was easy. Go for a free meal, grab some iPhones, come back and every single one was like a nursing paycheck. Because after taxes was like 180 for a nursing paycheck. So a couple phones would take the edge off. And then I had this terrible experience selling a couch because so many people wanted it. But everybody is like, could you drop it off? I'll pay your asking price, but could you bring it by? I was like, no. Without a little Mazda 5, I was like, I cannot help you. I'm so sorry. And then finally I hit a deadline and my best option was some guy who was under asking price because he had to go get a U Haul. He's like, could you do this? I got to rent a thing. And I was like, yeah, sure. And so who got paid? You all got paid. It's like, hold up. If I had a truck, I could have done that. I'd lost 200 bucks for not owning a truck was the dilemma. And so I pitched the idea to my brother Ross, who's a business owner. And the idea at first was an excuse to justify buying a Ford Ranger because I thought it would make me feel like a man.

And that's a pretty small truck as far as trucks go. Small for a couch.

I was driving a Mazda 5 at the time. You know the like mini minivan, the little four.

Big upgrade.

So anything's an upgrade. Yeah. And he said, that's a cool idea and I think that you'd be good at it. Like the phones and iPads, things like, you're really reliant with that. But don't start. Eight grand in debt. That's so stupid. Just borrow my trailer. And I was like, I don't have a hitch. He's like, go get a hitch. I was like, okay.

So on your Mazda 5.

Yeah. So I put a $450 hitch and wiring on a four cylinder car. Just put it on the Visa. My wife almost talked me out of it. She's like, don't do it. That's a terrible idea. I was like, I Can pay for the hitch. Like that was, that was my first goal was just pay for the hitch. Break even on that. If it's a failed experiment, whatever, I know I can make 500 bucks after a couple. Whatever. And the other experience. So there was my couch experience. And then my in laws scored a sweet deal on Bosch washer and dryer. Just someone who moved. And the new place had nice ones and they had already brought their old ones, so they just had double sets and nice stuff and same thing. Truck privilege. My father in law got a sick deal on washers and dryers. So I thought I was going to be doing appliances and they even got the dolly for it. But then the first day that I got the hitch, picked up the car with the hitch on it, borrowed the trailer, and I was like, what can I get? What can I get? And the only thing was a free couch. I was like, all right, let's do a couch.

You're just anxious to do something with this trailer.

Oh, yeah.

Anxious to pay off the hitch.

Yep, yep. Just itching for activity. And so I got a free couch. It was this beige microfiber. Had some, you know, the ones that just like hold every water stain. Oh yeah, they get, they get ugly so quick. It was one of those. And so with 20 minutes in the driveway with a damp cloth, just like make the whole thing wet and then it dries evenly and it looks new.

Yeah.

For five minutes. So a free couch, little bit of sweat equity and just a damp cloth. And then just being the dude with the trailer. And it sold for two, 80 and a nursing paper. A nursing shift was 180. So I was like, wow. So if I do, if I do, like what was the. Whatever math? It was. I'm just like, if I do this many couches. So immediately I called, I just called scheduling office. I had the trailer, I had the hitch. Couches. I can do a couch camp. That was easy. I reneged on all my overtime. I called up scheduling and said, cancel all my doubles. And I wasn't shift work. I barely touched my scope of practice with nursing. Like, I went straight to the comfy job with a nursing home. Eight hour shifts, free parking, four minutes from home. Just comfy, comfy, comfy. I reneged on all my doubles, so canceled all the 2 to 10 shifts. So just, just my 6 to twos. So 10 of those every pay period. And then all day at work, I'm just hiding in the med room. Just like shopping for coaches. Shopping for coaches. Just lining up in the evening.

Yes. Are you still interested? Yes. Are you still interested?

Yeah, that's right. And then just line up pickups. And my wife's at home with a baby and she's sending me coaches too. And we just line up profitable evenings. We had a little sad season there too, where we had a miscarriage. And so we're really itching to just get out of the house because just like the normal of like, come home from work, watch office reruns or play Call of Duty. Whatever I was into at the time was just so dark. Like, I just hated being home. We just needed a distraction. And couches was a beautiful little distraction. So hit the road. And my first month, I borrowed the trailer on a, on July 10th.

What year was this?

2019 summer 2019, July 10. I got the trailer and in my first, what, 2/3 of a month? Half month. I made more in my evenings after full time work than I did at my nursing job. Three grand profit in two and a half weeks. Whatever. And that was mostly free stuff. I was playing it super Safe. Wasn't like 60 bucks for a couch set, like couch love seat, but for the most part it was just like free three seater. Free three seater. Just on repeat. Just rinse and repeat.

If you could go back in time, would you still start with free stuff? Is that a good way to start? Or knowing what you know now? You would have started differently.

If I could brain transplant into like the confidence of just like, that's a $3,000 sectional and they're giving it away for a thousand dollars. Like, I have a different confidence now. Yeah, okay. But it was, it was so safe to slowly scale up. I'm just like, okay, yeah, that's a, that's a 250 couch. That's a 400 set. Okay. And then there was one time where it was a leap of faith and another like my wife trying to talk me out of it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Where I spent 900 bucks on a lazy Boy sectional is this big gray, and at the time, millennial gray. Like, everybody just wanted gray fabric sectionals. That's all anybody wanted. And I had my eye on this sectional. It was a two grand 1500. And then I saw the price drop to a thousand or something like that. And I got it from 900, had it firmed up for 900. She tried to talk me out of it and I was like, I'm going to do it, I'm doing it. And I bought it. I think we're into like September now. So the days Are getting a little shorter. It came home in the dark. The next day I'm working or on break. I head to the locker and do photos and videos, measurements and stuff like that. List it there and then drive back to work. And by the time I got back to work, it was firmed up at 1500 bucks.

By the time you. And it's a four minute drive.

Yeah. With a 150 delivery. So a 750 profit on the don't buy it, don't buy it couch.

Yeah. And this was like your first risk, like your first risky buy.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And it was the biggest, the fastest, the easiest. No, no repairs, no restorations. It was just straight up. Someone hit a deadline and then the game changed. Then it was just like, oh, buddy, let's just position ourselves to be first in line when situations change. And so that's what I'm doing now. And it takes the pressure off too, because at first it was like I'm just refresh, refresh, refresh, Looking for the people who are pricing it impatiently out of the gate. That's not fun, that's stressful. What I'm doing now is doing big shops once a week, starting 30 conversations.

Okay.

Then when people's situations change, you get notifications because the price changes, the description changes, they market pending, then back available. It's like, oh, someone bailed on them. And so it's positioning myself to be first in line when impatience strikes.

So you're starting 30 conversations regardless of price, like it's an item that you think you could sell. Not regardless of item, but the price is kind of irrelevant because you're, you're willing to be patient.

Yep. I'm, I'm just looking at pictures. What do I want in my lockers is all I'm looking for. And I start those conversations like I started a conversation with Rady today, who's got a couch listed at four grand. It's like a pipe dream. I'm not going to tell her that because I burned the bridge, but she paid 10. She deserves 4. Not how it works. She might get 1500, but she's too proud. You can tell by the listing and the house and the description and everything like that. She really thinks she's getting four for it. No chance.

They just appreciate a lot more than people realize.

Worse than a BMW, they're painful. Like, I have so much sympathy for the people that I buy coaches from. A lot of the times it's like there's not going to be a win here. Like I Can tell by the wording. I can tell by the. We're in no rush. A lot of times it's like they're thinking about changing up their decor. There's no opportunity there. I'm looking for the people who, yeah, move out. Dates, house closing, new one arriving. I'm squeezing those details out of them. I'm just like, any hard deadline, it's like, no, now we're good. Coach arrives in the 20th, 20th.

So that's a key part, is the questions that you ask to determine the. How motivated they are, the timeline, like, when to follow up for sure, etc.

I am looking for impatience, indifference. And ignorance is a big one, too. A lot of times it's like millennials, millennial couples who were gifted, like a dope Bernhardt sectional from their in laws or something like that, and either they don't know what they've got or like, to them it's only worth 500 bucks. But it's like, no, that was an $8,000 sectional and you guys took okay care of it. That's 1550 to me. And ignorance is on their shit.

What are some green flags in a pitcher? Like, what are you really looking for for the big money makers?

Move to the garage already with a Porsche in the background in the driveway.

There it is.

Moved. Moved to the foyer, hogging up space. You can see the new coach in the background, which is like, oh, buddy, I feel like a turkey vulture. It's like, you're gonna. Yeah, you. You need me.

Do you. Do you reference those things in your messaging at all, or do you just kind of internalize it?

How so?

Like, let them know. Like, listen, I see it's in your garage. Like, I can come get it. Like, clearly you've already replaced it. It's taking up a lot of space. Or do you not go that route?

Yes, but not in a way like that. That sounds like if you're playing poker, like, talking, they're just like, you didn't get that ace, did you, buddy? Like that kind of stuff. It's not like that. It's. I am offering. I'm compensated for my reliable pickup service with a smoking deal on a catch. So I let people know that, hey, if you had a deadline, keep in mind there's a guy from Muskoka who will come. I can lift something by myself. You already got in the garage. Your husband doesn't even need to be home. I'll lead transfer the whole thing right now. I'll text you, pop the garage open. I'm out of There. So the fact that I can, I can lift them by myself. I'm willing to send E transfers like full pop a lot of the time. And there's hurdles about selling a couch.

And just what are the best types of couches? Either brands or sectionals or sofas or. Or does it not really matter?

Definitely matters. I like to work backwards. Think about like, who is my ideal customer profile. On the buying side, they are homeowners with either renovations that just got finished or a new house or they just had. They just bought a couch from the box store and their kids and dogs smashed it. Now they know that a used Lexus is better than a new Kia. And they, they're just like, I'm not paying the depreciation. Like, that thing lasted three years. I would way rather get something rock solid. And that's all my inventory is, is used Lexus is just like the nice bones, full grain leather, built to last stuff. I have lots of repeat customers and lots of referrals, but very rarely am I taking a couch that I sold to the dump. Like, I'm just moving premium.

How many times have you had to do that? Just throw something away?

Like dump runs for my customers? Oh, all the time.

Yeah. Or it's just something you couldn't sell.

Nah, I'll fire sale it. Like I'll, I'll make a single mom's day and I'll take a loss. Like if it's, I pay 300 bucks and she's like, ugh, I'll move it for 200 bucks. Yeah, make someone stay that way. Because I would rather do the drive of shame. And my, my inspections are so shameless. Like, I'm like sticking my nose in people's couches. It's just like, that's piss. You lied to me. I would rather, I would rather do the drive of shame than pay for a couch or bring home a cat piss couch or something like that. You know, that's always the decision. When I find something that's a mess is just like, what drive of shame do I want to take? Do I want the empty trailer or the cat piss couch in the locker and I'm empty trailer all day.

I'm hanging on every word. I'm loving this conversation. You don't even know.

I'll go all day.

What do you charge for dump runs?

Dump runs start at a hundred bucks. So if it's a three seater. If it's, I'll always ask, is there a recliner or a pullout bed in it? Cause if it's a recliner, it's going to be heavier on the scale. If it's a pull out bed, the mattress is a flat rate of 38 bucks because of the way that my recycles them. If I come onto the couch, they're saying is there a mattress in it? And there's a flat rate upsell. Whether it's a, whether it's a king bed or a twin bed, it's 38 bucks. So. But a hundred base and that is super affordable compared to junk removal. It's not affordable compared to having the brother with a truck come pick it up. And that's totally cool. I don't want to be cheaper than the brother with a truck.

Roughly speaking, like what percentage of your jobs are not revenue? But jobs are dump runs.

Very rare. I do 20 transactions in a month. I did two dump runs, three dump runs.

Okay. Not a big part of your business and you don't want it to be.

I'm sure it's kind of nice icing.

Sometimes only having one side of the transaction, not having to manage a buyer. It's nice just not having to sell it. You just, you get your money and you know it's going to the dump. You don't have to list it, et cetera.

Yeah, yeah. It's just, it's like my fries with that of just like. And it's just icing. The dump's pretty close to home and if I have stuff that's a dump run at home now that's a business expense. Like it was paid for with the customer. You know what I mean? Like it's just, it's a nice little addition, not a post.

Okay.

Plus it's just it like it secures the five star review too of just like all of their couch related issues I handled.

Are you doing exclusively all this stuff on Facebook, Marketplace or other platforms as well?

So in Canada, our Craigslist is called kijiji and I love, I prefer kijiji for buying because that's where the boomers I think predominantly actually no, I got in trouble for saying that one time I had a reel that did really well performance. Right. Because all the boomers in the comments were like, that's not true. I'm on Facebook.

I've done the same thing.

But I really prefer kijiji for buying because it's also chronological. It's just easier to keep track of Facebook's kind of just like stuff gets thrown at you and there's like a gravitational pull to the reels tab. Like I'm constantly Just like, no tip. Back to coaches couches.

Yeah.

Watching.

Yeah.

Road rage videos. I much prefer kijiji, but Facebook outsells Kijiji probably 9 to 1.

What are some of the best deals that you've ever done? Like, best flips.

The goat was Eleanor. That's pinned on my Instagram page. That was a $200 purchase for a $5200 sale. Whoa. It was a Restoration Hardware. That thing made my knees shake. It was 20k new. It's just art. You could sit on like. Yeah, that was a really, really nice couch. And I probably could have posted it for eight, but as soon as you post price, you can't raise it. So, yeah, I had a five grand and I had six people ready. Just like, I'll send money right now. Can I please have it?

Wow. And even at that price point.

Yeah, even at 5. Because at that point it's like, it's like people who. They'll never have an opportunity to like, it's an heirloom piece, like restoration hardware. 20k new, 5k. Like, you can get plywood and pleather for five grand.

I think people might be thinking, like, well, you know, Facebook Marketplace. It's for the lower end of the market or. But like, you either want to be the most expensive or the most cheap. Right. There's people at both ends and everywhere in between.

Yeah. I'm like a middle ground between retail that comes delivered and new that you have to pick up. Like, I'm. I. There isn't really competition between my listings. It's a very, very unique offer of It's a used couch on Facebook Marketplace. But I did the inspection. My video inspections are really thorough, so there's no surprises on them whether they come to see it or whether they take delivery site unseen, which is often. And that's the goal with my videos is where it'd be good enough. It's like, yeah. For. He literally showed me all the reasons not to buy it and highly doubt with that much detail that there was anything missing. So, yeah, sure. Bring a plan.

And do you lead with the video first on the listing when you go to sell it?

Yes. I pioneered videos on listings. Like, it was way back when. That was my, like, signature move. Was that when they messaged me, hey, is this still available? I would have a keyboard shortcut. Yep. With two P's. Yep. It expands into. Yep. Here's a quick little video inspection of it. And then I'd fire over a 59 second video that showed all the reasons that they would not want to buy it and then they could make a good decision right there. Since then, Facebook realized I was a genius and now you can add videos to listings.

What are your numbers like today? Like how many couches are you flipping on a monthly basis? What is your revenue and profit like?

The year to beat is 2023. This year was softer and that was mostly my fault. In the spring I kind of took my foot off the gas pedal and didn't have enough humility in my pricing and stuff was moving slower. But I'm on the men now. The goal is always 20k sales, gross profit. So just sales minus cost of goods usually settles north of 10, like 15 grand probably after expenses.

That's amazing.

But it's so muddy. Like I hate the N word of net profit because it's just so muddy because it's so much personal expenses. Like it's my. I got car seats in the back of a soccer mom SUV. Like I'm driving a 2009 Toyota Highlander Sport with car seats in the back. And so that's my grocery getter and kids to school and church mobile and stuff like that. So it's probably like an 80k a year income. Dude, gross profit.

That's amazing.

100K over 100k six years running in revenue.

I've started dozens of businesses at this point and every once in a while I'll see some random fee hit an account that makes zero sense. When you're dealing with international stuff, you, you see it all the time. Currency conversions, eating 3 to 5% on every transaction. It's insane. Air Wall x fixes this one global account for you to hold 20 plus currencies and have local bank details. In these countries you get paid like a local. No double FX conversions, killing your margin. You can collect payments in euros, hold them in euros, pay suppliers in euros. None of that conversion back and forth. Over 150,000 thousand businesses use them globally. They've got same day free international transfers, multi currency corporate cards, built in expense management and payment gateway solutions too. So stop bleeding fees and go check out airwallex.com your global business without borders.

Yeah, 2023 was dope. I did 183k in sales, gross profit was 120 after expenses, probably like 90k income. And that was with a 3 year old in tow. Yeah, because my wife went back to work, she was sitting on a nursing license and then she got an opportunity to go on the supply list and she had a lightning fast teacher career launch. She's already full time grade 7 teacher but that year was, she got an offer for supply list and she's like, I don't know, brave, like, how would it work? I was like, do it. I'll take Hudson, no problem. And we did. She, she hopped in supplyless. She was slammed right away. And every day I had a little three year old with me. And in the cup holder I had bottle of milk to get him to sleep. Like I maintained perfect nap schedules and drop his sister off at kindergarten, go to the city, fill a trailer, bring it home, pick her up. Yeah, like record months. Just banger after banger with a three year old. And I played 75 rounds of golf that year. Whoa. That's the biggest flex.

How many hours per week would you say you're working on? An average week, give or take.

I wish I had those numbers for you, but I just. It doesn't feel like work like I'm just going for a car ride with Alex or Mosey just crushing audiobooks. And no way, no way am I working 40 hours though. I don't think. I don't put pants on for less than a thousand bucks. Like, I'll, I'll wait, I'll send deposits and I'll stack them so that I can get it all done. I'll get two or three done in one go yet lots of, lots of days off during the week. And the goal is probably three good double or triple pickups. And then the deliveries don't feel like work. Like often it's like wife and kids in the car and go to Wendy's and grab a bag of burgers and stuff like that. Or squeezing around a golf. Like the time. Freedom is stupid.

Yeah. That is awesome. How much time do you spend flipping each couch on average? Like, how much work do you have to put into them? If I would think it's like minutes per couch. Some you do nothing to. What does that look like?

I don't rehab. I relocate.

You just wipe them down maybe.

Yeah, most of them are as is. I had one recently where I did a delivery that was 2 1/2 hours away. $500 delivery on top of a thousand dollars profit. It's a dope run. And then on the way, while I was there, I shot the area. I hate coming home with an empty trailer, so found a couch, put my nose in it, cat piss, pissed, and got another 300 bucks off the price, took it straight to my auto detailer and it was 150 bucks for them to make it brand new. I don't clean. It started as a rehab gig. But yeah, ever since that great La Z boy was like, nah. Plus there was a lot of times where I would. That was a bottleneck for me. And that's where. That's the difference between it being a hobby and a business is just like identifying bottlenecks and smashing them. And I am a procrastinator when it comes to cleaning couches or I actually don't have the skills to fix leather. I've got a. I've got a guy for that where I'll drop it off to his garage. He was a mobile restoration guy. So he would get contracts with dealerships and he would go fix three cars in a day that were off lease before they'd resell them. That was his thing. But he gave me smoke and cash deals because I would bring them to his garage. And you know how you can either have. What's, what's the saying? You can have it fast, you can have it cheaper, you can have it good. You got to pick two.

Pick two.

His was good and cheap. And it was like, take it. Take as long as you need. No problem. I don't need it. I don't need it. Put it in his garage. And a month later I'd say, hey, is that thing done yet? He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, come Tuesday, it'll be ready. So that was. But he's a magician. But I can count on one hand how many times I've used him this year. So that's my leather guy. And then if it's fabric for cleaning and stuff like that, I'd way rather drop it off to the detailer because they got the big guns. I had a green little Bissell extractor machine and I gave it away to a customer one time because a tarp malfunctioned on me in the winter and it had salt stains. When I dropped the couch off, I was like, here, just have it. Here's a free machine.

You're still just using a trailer for everything. You don't have like a box truck.

Or no open trailer, utility trailer on a V6 SUV. So it's like as far as moving coaches go, it's two trucks for half the price. It's a 12 by 6 open trailer. It's just plain Tetris XL. And I've put some comically large loads in there in soggy season. I have to be a little more particular and like I'm doing like mental Tetris and how I'm going to tarp it and stuff like that. And sometimes I'll get a U haul for 45 bucks including insurance for 24 hours for a 12 by 6 enclosed. But it's got all the aerodynamic qualities of a garden shed. Like I'm just chugging gas on those days. The dream for me is a snowmobile trailer. Seven by 16, full aluminum snowmobile trailer. I had someone pick up a couch one time and throw it in there and I was like, oh buddy. When I saw like how much room it was in there.

You were coveting him hard.

Big time. Coveting? Yes.

You're two hours north of Toronto. That's like rural Canada. How many people live in your area?

I don't know.

What city is it?

Muskoka. Typically around the three hours one way mark is when my delivery fee is discouragingly large where people are like, sorry, Facebook's showing me stuff further away. I don't actually want it that bad. But the most I've ever charged for delivery was 600 bucks and it was three hours one way.

Wow. I'm looking it up. Muskoka has 66,000 people. Like that whole area.

Yeah.

And then you got Barry. Is that just south of you?

Yeah, that's where my in laws are.

That's where I was originally picking up 150,000 people there. Like that's not a lot of people.

No, we got to be more than that. They got two Costco's. No, that's not true. They have one Costco. But I feel like it's more than. I feel like it's a half mil greater barrier.

I mean maybe like the greater area. But yeah, everyone needs a couch. Like it doesn't need to be a lot of people.

Correct. And that's. I'm really well positioned where it's like my own little private fishing pond where all ripped down to the city where inventory is so dense and nobody has trucks. Like I'm buying in the like Tesla, BMW neighborhoods. And a lot of my stuff does get picked up. Like it's. I'm not delivering everything. A lot of trucks and trailers come to my locker to pick up, but they weren't going to the city. It's like an import business.

What percentage of the quote unquote market? I know, like you have no way of really knowing. Do you own like of these types of couches? Like how. How much of this is yours versus if you really wanted to work 100 hour weeks, how big could this be?

I only want to buy them as fast as I can. As fast as they're selling. I have five lockers. I'll keep par levels when I'm. When I'm at capacity, I'll drop some prices. When I've got room, I'll start buying. Like, let me show you. October. October was super light, but kind of a banger.

You say lockers. You mean storage units?

Yeah, I got five of them. I had six. I dropped six. Was giving me a complex where. That's where the. My pricing was not humble enough because it was like, I got space. October, I did 10,340 in sales with a gross profit. So just sales minus cost of goods. Gross profit of 7,240. And that was seven transactions. Wow.

Thousand bucks profit per transaction.

Yeah. That's the game for me is saying no to stuff. If I'm driving down in the city, I want a whale or two tunas. I throw back all the bass.

How big are your lockers?

10 by 20. Three of those. 10 by 25, two of those.

And what do those cost in total per month?

They're. They're very affordable compared to the city. I'm like, when I had six of them, it was 1160 and I just dropped one. So I think I'm under a grand. Just under a grand. Like a thousand. Eleven hundred square feet. And they stack pretty well too. So I like to have lots and have them as showrooms instead of tuna cans. Because when people, like, it sucks to have to pull everything out to show someone a couch. Right. I would way rather have five showrooms than three tuna cans.

Do you ever dabble with other large items? Flipping them, or is it only couches?

Well, I need a loss on a washer and dryer. I hurt myself with a dining table. I smashed a hutch. I just really like hutches. I can lift them solo so safely. And that's what my market's looking for. I get lots of requests for other stuff. I get offered a million china cabinets. No, thank you. You just couches. I just love couches, man. They're so easy. We'll just throw those suckers around. So easy.

You can't really break them that easily, right? I mean, they're just hearty. As opposed to like a china cabinet, especially premium ones.

Yeah, yeah. Like the china cabinets. I have to decide whether I want to break the furniture or break my body when I put it down. Whereas couches is like my movements are so solid. Like it's like portaging a canoe, you know?

That's the most Canadian thing I've heard all day.

Even if I can't do, like the heroic, like, clean and jerk from all four feet on the floor. I can still stand it up from one end and then use my thigh as a fulcrum and let it fall and catch it. And then big, and I'll throw it up with my. If my dog wasn't so cute on the couch, I'd lift this couch for you.

But have you ever hired an employee or used, like, contractors or helpers? Or do you have any intention or desire to scale that way, or are you good?

My hire that I'm tempted would be a va to shop couches for me and just fill up my messenger and run my scripts and just have everything queued up so that when people drop prices and stuff like that, then I'm. Because it's like having irons in the fire. I need, like, 20 conversations on the go at all times to have, like, five good purchases a week. And I hate shopping is my least favorite part. It's the most crucial part. And it's just like, I go full hormozy with the headphones and the caffeine and nicotine gum, and, like, I just lock in just like, well, look at 300 couches. Message 50 by 3.

Do you ever list stuff before you buy it to see how much demand there is for it, or is that kind of tricky because it's already listed?

I do have a wait list, so I have in my phone. The W in my contacts is very long because it's wants brown leather sectional, wants burgundy coach loveseat, that kind of stuff. And so whenever I have something lined up, I'll be like, does anyone want this? And then I'll screenshot it and crop the price out of it. Say, is this one maybe? And then as soon as I have my hands on it, I'll send them a video inspection from the driveway. But very rarely am I taking something straight to a customer. It's usually going to the locker anyway.

Yeah. How long did it take you to learn the values of these things? Like, to really know when you had a good deal on your hand. Were you just doing a bunch of research, like, looking for comparable couches or how did you work through that?

No. Trial and error and school of hard knocks for sure. The ceiling besides Eleanor, she was a unicorn. Is 2,500 for a couch. It's like a $10,000 sectional. 2,500 bucks. And there's some outliers. Like, I've definitely had some 3,000. Five hundreds and 3,000. No, four thousands, though the jump is straight from, like, 3, 500 bucks right up to L&R at 52, I want all of my listings ideally to be north of a thousand bucks, but it's still nice to fill in the cracks with the odd like $650 couch love seat and just pump volume with them. Yeah, the reason October was so dope with seven transactions and ten grand was because it was just banger, banger, banger.

That's what you want or no, Not.

Love averages 8020 rule. We'll just like cut out all the crap just whales and turn us. Yep.

What are some best practices for selling or buying anything on Facebook Marketplace not procrastinating listing.

Not procrastinating anything actually. Just constantly on the lookout for bottlenecks and just smash them. Sometimes a bottleneck will be that the photos sucked because when I brought it home the sun was behind my back and I've got a big shadow holding the phone over the thing and I need to go back in the morning to relist it when the sun is behind it. Lots of natural light but no direct light so there's lots of little things like that. And that's why I got in trouble in the spring is because I was ignoring that. Just way too comfy at home. And the ice storm in Ontario was brutal. We got our butt kicked last year. Best practices video inspections for sure so you can push people to making good decisions when messaging people keyboard okay, this is the answer I want to give you. Keyboard shortcuts. Having everything so that you're not typing all day long. Like my keyboard shortcuts are just of just hey anyone schedule to pick this up? Doesn't need any repairs or restorations. That's if it's leather. Doesn't need any repairs or stain removal. That's if it's fabric. Is anyone there to help me lift it? I'll be alone our weekday morning or weekday morning pickups possible and I will send I'll batch that whole thing. I'll I'll look at the listing and then okay, so the listing says pet free, smoke free and good use condition. And then from that I'll fill in the gaps using my keyboard shortcuts. And then now their reply is all the information I need. And then I pump the brakes on my enthusiasm with another keyboard shortcut. Just starting to have a peak at options. Might get back to you because from the when you're selling if somebody's asking a bunch of questions and then they shoot an offer, it's like now you want it but when you slow play it a little bit and sometimes it's safe to do that if it's if they already have it priced at a GTFO price, then I'm not going to slow play it. But most of the time I'm extracting all the unnecessary information and then I'm pausing it with a just starting to have a peak options might get back to you message. You get bonus points for not ghosting them because everybody else ghosted them. And now you've got good favor of that. And then I'll reconnect with a polite lowball offer of, hey, any chance you'd consider this much for an out of towner? I could come from Muskoka with the trailer and pick up because it came like gift wrapped. Of just like, I'm so far away. Could you take this?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that's truthful. A polite lowball offer. And I was deceitful. I said, yeah, I'm shopping for my little sister who got her first apartment. I don't have a little sister. I'm the youngest of three brothers. I did that once and then the lady was like, oh, my gosh, of course. Come get it. Then you felt dirty and oh, I felt terrible. I was like, that didn't even. It wasn't even necessary. Like, she, she was such a sweet lady. And I did that once and then I got in the car and I was like looking in the mirror like, who are you and what have you become?

It's just a couch.

Never again. Never again. Honesty. Always, always, always. And I want people to know that I'm a reseller because I want them. I want my name and number in their phone all the time. I'll get messages of just like, hey, you got your number from Sophie. Any chance you'd be interested in this one? They're my customer too.

That's surprising to me that you would have so much repeat business. I wouldn't have thought that it's a signal that you're really. You're working that. Like it's intentional. It's not by accident.

Like, it feels like skills and tools. Like, in the same way that I sit in my hot tub and look at all the trees that I want to cut down. It's like I would kill myself if I tried that. I need to call my buddy Mike, who's got climbing spurs and three different kinds of saws and a dump trailer and a chipper and ridiculous skill with tying knots and stuff like that, where every time that I lift a couch with somebody, they'll say, wow, you look like you've done this before. It's like, because, like, it's like, all right, we're gonna go front side down. Okay. Once we hit this corner, I'm gonna go high. You stay low. Good. And we're gonna rifle it a little bit. Kind of a.45. That's it. Perfect. And, okay, once we clear that armrest, we're gonna buy three inches. And then I'm gonna go this way. Can you take a step to your left? There it is. Perfect. Like, it's, like. It's just surgical. It's just a weird little skill set that I've not only developed, but I actually have a memory. Back in high school when I was playing Halo with my buddy Devin in his basement, and. No, that's not true. No, we were smoking bongs in his bedroom. That's what we were doing. And we. I was. And we were sitting next to each other on the bed, and it felt way too intimate for two 17 year olds. And I was like, you know, we should get that chair from the basement or the loveseat from the basement that no one uses. And so we go to get the love seat. And his idea on how to get it through the door was terrible. And I was like, hold up. No, no, no, no, no. This side down, this side up. And then he. He, like, laughed, and he's like, have you done this before? Like, do you want to start a moving company? Like, that was so good. And it was flawless. And it was just like. I saw it. Do you ever see Goodwill hunting? You know, when he's. Yeah, he's at the cafe with his sweet girl, and. And she's like, how. How do you know this? And he's like. He's like, you know, Mozart sat down and he saw the piano, and he could just play. He's like, I can't hit a ball out of Fenway or I can't hit a home run. I can't. And I. All I can play is chopsticks, but when I see this stuff, I could just play and just putting. Putting couches through doorways and just like.

Yeah, it's your skill.

There's some times that pain me that I didn't have my tripod set up where it was. Like, I impressed myself of just, like, use a tea towel as a slider and get a couch through a patio door by myself and then portage it down the stairs. And, like, I've done some ridiculous solo deliveries, and it's just a weird little skill set that. That and backing up a trailer and negotiating. Negotiating on Facebook. Like, every aspect of this game is just, like, all my skills Just combined into one beautiful little craft of just like, hey, you need a couch? You need your couch picked up. It's just. I'm good at it.

So many of those skills are applicable to any. Anything, though, like, the negotiating, the. It's so valuable.

Yep. And I'd probably be a good realtor. I'd probably be a good mortgage agent. But go. She's. Man, Tom, Freedom is just so hard to beat. And then, like, the coaching and stuff like that. I've got lots of guys that are making, like, 1500 bucks with my info and just stealing all my scripts. And I've got guys in California and a couple different states, and it's dope. Those are my favorite messages to get of just, like, selfies with the kids and doing coach pickups and stuff. To just copy and paste what I'm doing is really cool. Yeah. Coaches is dope for a transition season. Like, anybody who hates their job, it's like, yo, there's a lot of people. If you can lift a couch, you've got a truck or a trailer. Like, it's the dopest transition gig to either supplement or replace your income and just pay the bills until the next thing takes off.

Is this something you would recommend to other people to try? I mean, is that a softball question?

Oh, yeah, totally. If you can. You don't have to be able to lift a couch by yourself. Like, some of my students are string beans that are not able to lift a couch like I am. But, like, me, lifting couches is a very, very unique form of laziness, where it's like, I could jackknife, park the trailer, and use dolly. It's like, nah, I'm just gonna pick it up. I'm the kind of guy who would rather walk across the house to find my flip flops than bend over and put my shoes on that are right there in front of me, you know? Like, it's a very un. Unique kind of laziness. And that's the same way that's what the couch lifts are, too. If you can carry in a stubborn load of groceries, you can make ten grand a month prepping couches all day. Like, most of the time when I'm. When I'm buying a couch, one of my first questions is, is someone there to help me lift it? You can lift half a couch for sure. And if it's in the garage, you can drag it to the edge of a pickup truck. Like, if Brian Panita can do it, you can do it.

I didn't know he was doing it.

He was like the original. I thought I invented it. And then someone sent me a video of Brian Penida with red hair at the time and I was like, oh, everybody's going to be doing it now.

I think you're a lot more respected than he is, but that's just me. All right, well, Tim, where can everyone find you?

Full Time Flipper. The Full Time Flipper. There's a girl who made a page, did one cartwheel Took the name Full Time Flipper and so I'm the.

Yeah, that's your name on Instagram.

Yep, the Full Time Flipper.

Do you have a website in the bio?

There's my landing page for the couch course.

Cool. Thanks, Tim.

Cool beans, dude. Thanks so much for having me.

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