Our guest speaker in class yesterday told an entreprenurial story that must seem to anyone to hear it for the first time as “highly improbable” at best.
Half a million dollars in sales of used racing car parts over ebay each year? To buyers all over the world? Thirty-to-fifty percent profit margins?
NO WAY!
Yes… I am here to tell you that it is all true… And essentially done out of a garage–and storage building–right here in Monmouth, IL.
It is the story of Rod Smith (ebay username: a-1performancewarehouse) and it is told below by class blogger James Wilson.
Prof. Gabel
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Rod Smith attended Monmouth College for two years before realizing that the school life wasn’t for him anymore.
After leaving, Rod went straight to work, living at home, and making a nice amount of money before deciding to work for Monmouth College as the grounds supervisor. While head of the “Green Army” here he also pursued his true passion; driving race cars four nights a week on dirt roads for fun.
After 22 years of service with Monmouth College and some work on the side buying and selling race car parts, he took the risk of leaving Monmouth College and turning his passion into an entrepreneurial business.
So in the summer of 2010, he began his business on ebay, selling used Nascar parts full-time.
Who would have thought that a man selling those parts out of a small garage in Monmouth could one day be one of the top sellers in the ebay market?
Working on this business with just his family (wife, sister, and his son), he occasionally hires a few interns from the college to help around and see the work he does. He stated that anyone can start a business on ebay, but it won’t be easy with ebay’s payment service taking a good amount out of their profit (and the fact that sellers now get taxed by the federal government if they have annual sales of over $20,000 on ebay).
For the last few years, Smith has had annual ebay-based sales of around $500,000 with profit margins on individual sales typically in the 30-50% range.
Smith now makes enough money selling used race car parts to buyers all over the world to choose his own vacation dates, which are usually each summer starting April 1st. . He also told the class that he basically spends the summers golfing; often with our very own Professor Connell.
In all, Rod Smith was able to make something out of what he loves. As quoted by Prof. Connell, “he made a living off his knowledge.” This goes to prove that if you know a lot about what you really love, and there is big demand for it, you can make a successful entrepreneurial business out of it.
So Rod Smith, former sprinter back in the day, and whose wife makes amazing steaks, is just a normal guy who went for his dream and has “hit it big”… out of a garage right here in Monmouth!!
James Wilson
