I cannot believe that 2022 is almost over! This year has been filled with many highs and lows. As the year is coming to a close, I find that now is a good time to start reflecting and preparing for a new reselling year. In today’s post, I wanted to share with you how I prepare for a new reselling year as a full-time reseller.
Compare and Contrast Analytics From the Past 2 Years
One of the first things that I like to do when preparing for a new reselling year is to compare and contrast analytics from the past 2 years (the current year and the year prior). I like to focus my attention specifically on the financial aspects of my business when I am doing this. My husband, Eric, created an Excel file for the business when I went full-time 2 years ago and we use it to track most of my business’ finances amongst other analytics. The remainder of my tax and financial information is tracked on free apps on my phone such as Foreceipt and Everlance.
When looking at my data over the span of 2 years, I like to analyze and question highs and lows in my business. For example: Let’s say that in October 2021, I made $5500 in monthly sales while in October 2022, I made $4500 in monthly sales, according to my data. The first question that I would ask myself is ‘Why? Why were my sales down $1000 compared to the previous year?’ [Note: Data changes from month-to-month and year-to-year are normal in a business.] Instead of just passively looking at the data and moving on, I really try to make sense of my numbers and try to determine what is the result of my actions (i.e. not listing, placing a vacation hold, not sharing, etc) versus circumstances that are beyond my control (i.e. economy, platform algorithm, etc). By looking at this data in depth, I am able to establish patterns that may affect my business in the upcoming year and I can properly prepare for these circumstances ahead of time. (To learn more about business seasonality, check out THIS post).
On the other hand, let’s say that my sales increased $1000 between October 2021 and October 2022. When looking at this data, I can also try to figure out why that occurred. Perhaps, it was because I added a new reselling platform to my business or I increased my listings that particular month. In order to make this step easier for myself, I like to jot down positive and negative business practices each week. This allows me to truly see if my actions throughout the year have a direct correlation with how my business is doing.
Review My Business Practices and Plan Ahead
Something that I like to do throughout the year is analyze and review my business practices. Personally, my business practices have varied from year-to-year and have involved a LOT of trial-and-error. Even 9 years into my reselling journey, I still don’t have everything in my business where I would like it to be; But each year, I get closer to reaching those goals. One business practice that has positively impacted my business this past year is automating all of my Poshmark tasks using PosherVA. I was extremely hesitant to do it in the past but last year, I decided to try it. Not only did it decrease the amount of time that I was spending on the Poshmark app but it increased my sales for the year and positively impacted my business. Another positive change that I made to the business was moving all of my inventory into a storage unit with a new organizational system. This helped me to not only keep my inventory organized and easy to find but also helped to make my home less cluttered.
As a full-time reseller, I am constantly looking for new ways to make my business more efficient. Looking at both the positive and negative business practices that I have tried over the years has helped me to figure out what works and what doesn’t moving forward. Going into a new reselling year, I find it really beneficial to continue to implement what is working well and to brainstorm new ways to improve upon my business practices for the next year.
Create New Goals for the New Year
I love to set goals for my business and have been doing so from the very beginning of my reselling journey. I highly suggest developing some version of a Business Plan for your reselling business. Personally, I like Business Plans because they provide me with a blueprint for my reselling business that I can refer back to and alter throughout the year based on my business’ needs. In my Business Plan, I can set yearly and monthly goals for every aspect of the business and layout everything that I would like to accomplish throughout the year. To make this easier for me to accomplish, I will typically put together a yearly planner and fill in many of these goals ahead of time. Not only does this make it easier for me to reach my goals but it also helps me to remain accountable.
Prepare and Know Tax Deadlines
Being a full-time reseller, I am required to pay certain federal and state taxes on a quarterly basis. Before going into a new year, I like to jot down tax deadlines for the upcoming year in both my business planner and personal calendar. This helps me to plan for tax payments and ensure that I have enough money set aside to pay them before their due dates.
I hope that you find this post helpful! If you have any questions or just want to chat, please reach out!
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