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How this 28-year-old makes millions buying items from Walmart and reselling them on Amazon

Just a few years after his quitting his accounting job, 28-year-old Ryan Grant is a business owner with profits in the six-figure range. This enterprising young man had the idea to turn his college side hustle into a mega-successful business.

While he was a student at Winona State University, he organized textbook buyback events on campus twice a year. He used the Amazon Seller app to to list the books and managed to turn a profit of $10,000 a year. Not too shabby for a college kid!

Getty Images | Joe Raedle

From Accountant To Salesman

A couple of years later when Grant was growing increasingly unsatisfied in his accounting career, he realized he could resume his old college gig — only this time, he would sell a lot more than just textbooks.

At first, Grant kept his day job. During nights and weekends, he would buy up popular items such as toys, games and home improvement supplies from Walmart’s clearance aisles.

Getty Images | Joe Raedle

“I was putting in about 10 hours per week and I was making in the ballpark of $1,000 per month,” Grant told CNBC.

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Once his side business began to generate as much income as his day job, he quit his accounting job. Just three months later, in December 2013, he was up to $9,000 in profit on over $25,000 in total sales.

Courtesy photo/Ryan Grant

Grant had been working out of his home, and when it became overrun with shipping boxes, he rented out a 725-foot warehouse. Eventually, he couldn’t keep up with all the work on his own and hired a friend as his first employee.

His friend helped him scope out the best deals at Walmart as well as at other retailers such as Target and Toys R Us.

Multi-Millionaire Of Online Sales

Over the next few years, Grant’s business grew by leaps and bounds.

“I went from just me in this business doing around three-to-five thousand dollars in sales per month and now, four years later, we’re a team of 11 and we’re doing well over $200,000 in sales per month,” Grant said.

In July 2017, Grant had to move his business to a new warehouse that’s over five times as large as the original.

Flickr | Random Retail

Grant says the company is on track to top $8 million in total sales by the end of this year. He now takes a reduced role in the company, relying on his team to handle much of the day-to-day responsibilities.

He dedicates the rest of his time to consulting and teaching e-commerce classes through his blog Online Selling Experiment so others can benefit from his experience.

“I think anyone can do it if they’re willing to put in the work,” Grant said.

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If you’re inspired by Grant’s success and want to learn more about how he built his business, listen to his interview on the Smart Passive Income blog.

Partnering With Companies To Help Others

Yes, Grant earns a ton of money from his business. But he also uses his connections to help others.

Amazon sent Grant two big boxes of groceries for him to donate to local food pantries.

By connecting with Amazon, Grant knew they could not sell certain items that get close to an expiration date. However, by giving them to a food pantry, customers can still use them before their past due dates. A perfect solution!

About the Author

Kate Streit

Kate Streit lives in Chicago. She enjoys stand-up comedy, mystery novels, memoirs, summer and pumpkin spice anything. More.

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