Summary

A young UK student turned to reselling sneakers, starting with a pair of size 14 Yeezys, to fund their editing career, eventually leveraging the skill of arbitrage to purchase essential equipment and develop professionally.

Abstract

The narrative outlines the journey of a financially constrained university student who discovered an entrepreneurial opportunity in the resale of high-demand sneakers. Initially motivated by the thrill of making a profit, the student's venture into the world of sneaker reselling, particularly with a pair of size 14 Yeezy Boost 350s, led to the acquisition of a much-needed, high-performance laptop crucial for their editing work. Through patience, market research, and reinvestment, the student managed to upgrade their equipment, including software subscriptions and ergonomic work accessories, all funded by the profits from sneaker arbitrage. This experience imparted valuable lessons in supply and demand, marketing, and market research, which the student continues to apply in their ongoing reselling endeavors and professional editing career.

Opinions

The author expresses that the initial profit from reselling was not substantial but found the process exciting and worthwhile.
They believe that the skill of arbitrage, learned through reselling sneakers, was instrumental in affording necessary editing equipment.
The student values the importance of patience and reinvestment in growing their side business.
They acknowledge the inconvenience caused to their mother due to the accumulation of shoes in the house.
The author suggests that the principles of supply and demand, when applied to various markets, can be a lucrative side hustle.
They highlight the potential of reselling not just sneakers but also other items like office chairs, specifically mentioning Herman Miller chairs.
The student is appreciative of the opportunities that reselling has provided, including the ability to become a full-time editor.

How a Pair of Size 14 Yeezy’s Got Me Employed as An Editor

Do you know what poor students from the UK do to make money?

Anything and everything

From paid online surveys you spend 5 hours on for a tenner — and sharing your deepest darkest secrets for ‘research’ — to reselling things on eBay

I was one of them — I did everything I could do to make money, but this one thing I eventually found that stuck was back in 2017 when I was 17.

The first pair of sneakers I bought was a pair of ‘Triple White Yeezy Boost 350s in size 14 US’. I was gassed, I won a raffle for these shoes a load of people wanted

£180 later they got delivered and I was so excited. Since the box was MASSIVE I kept them safe in a big bin bag to not get scuffed

I would use a marketplace called Stock X and constantly check the price “Oh, they’ve gone up £1 on the last sale, I should sell now”

This was me every day — the possibility I could get back more than I paid for something was so cool to me.

I held onto these for a while and kept accumulating pairs.

My investment paid off big time when I sold for… Drumroll…

50p profit.

Was it worth it?

Financially, no

But as a concept for me to do? Yes! I was hooked

I owe so much to that first sale.

During University when I was first getting into editing, I knew my laptop was nowhere near good enough.

I thought, ok, let's look for ones that are

I was met with a £1.5k price tag

As a student that is CRAZY money

But through developing the skill of ‘sneaker-arbitrage’ I understood what I needed to do.

I set the target and waited patiently for new raffles to pop up and sale shoes to buy

I accumulated profit and re-invested the initial cost of the shoe -when I sold it- back into my business/not business

Rinse and repeat

and voila! I bought my new powerful laptop with shoe money

This continued, allowing me to buy an Adobe subscription (not necessarily as I found out later as Davinchi is FREE)

I then bought products that allowed me to get better at editing and more comfortable

A second monitor, standing desk etc

I owe it all to learning the skill of arbitrage and just being curious as to why I’m now a full-time editor.

Fast forward and I was entering more and more raffles and winning more high-value shoes — and taking up more space in my Mum’s house (sorry Mum)

I still do this 6 years later to a smaller extent — some I decide I want to ‘hold’ with the idea that they are going to be worth a lot more later than now.

The lesson here is one I will keep forever, I learnt the basics of supply and demand, marketing and market research.

Apply this if you want to find a side hustle or have no idea how to make some extra money, this can work with other things too, you just need to know the market you’re in

Shoes, Pokemon cards and what I’ve learnt the last month — office chairs in particular Herman Miller chairs. Seriously, there are people out there reselling chairs

The simple concept of supply and demand applied to your market, you can leverage this knowledge to arbitrage your way to a nice sum of money.

And even to a new laptop to become an editor!