Opinion: Yard sale produces lessons for business, living

Lady No. 1- “You should be open by now. You’ve ruined my whole day! #@*&!”

Lady No. 2 – “Well, I followed the signs. (Someone else’s on our street.) I WON’T be back!”

That was a relief.

Three years ago I vowed that I would never have another yard sale. I broke that vow, and I paid. We made a profit, but who cares? I may never recover.

During the slow times, I started jotting down some notes about our experiences with customers. I am a firm believer in the maxim that good comes out of bad, and I came up with the following lessons:

If three people get out of a car with cigarettes and throw their still-burning cigarettes among your merchandise, they probably aren’t going to buy. Your merchandise isn’t going to be for everyone. You can’t please everyone. Sometimes our merchandise or service is only for a select market, and that’s OK.

My treasures are not your treasures. Two of the worst items that we had sold first. My dad unearthed two incomplete, rusted croquet sets in his barn and we had them displayed. I immediately said, “They won’t sell.” I was wrong. The couple who bought them seemed pleased and carried them off with great glee. You need to remember your audience at all times. If you plan with only yourself in mind, you’ll miss the mark.

A smile may earn you a bargain. There were a few pieces of jewelry that I decided were too valuable “to just give away.” I was very firm in my mind that I would stick with the original price. A very sweet woman came up and said with a big smile, “Would you consider lowering the price a bit on this necklace.” I smiled right back and said, “OK.” A pleasant, friendly attitude will make barriers and prices drop.

Picking over something doesn’t make it better. A beautifully dressed young woman dropped by and spent a long time touching almost every item we had on the tables. After she made one pass, she went back and touched everything again.

She finally zeroed in on a little figurine. She rolled it around in her hand. She held it to the light. She set it back on the table and then asked how much it was, even though the sticker was clearly marked. I told her the price again and she reluctantly put it down. About an hour later she came back for it, but it had been sold and she left dejected. Sometimes, it is better to make a quick decision and run with it.

Do your research before venturing into any business transaction. The most depressing moment of the day was when a man came up with a stack of books. We made our transaction and then he looked me right in the eye and said, “I have to tell you something. I collect Jules Verne and you just sold a rare Verne for $1. I would have given you $20.” My heart sank. I was worried about some of our older books, but I didn’t have the time to do the research. I felt like an idiot. There are two lessons here: 1. It isn’t very nice to point out others’ honest mistakes, and 2. If you don’t research, you will get ripped off.

If it has been for sale, it won’t get any better. Wise friends warned me that I would retrieve items from the sale before we dragged everything off to Goodwill. I just didn’t have the heart to part with a few items and put them back in the dining room. When I went through them in the light of another day, I realized that all those hands fingering them had somehow tainted them. They would never be the same to me. When you decide to put something up for sale, go with your original instinct. Let it go.

If you hated something the first time, you will probably hate it forever. Holding a yard sale didn’t get any better the second time around. In fact, the whole experience was worse, as I went in with a bad attitude. I expected a lousy experience and I wasn’t disappointed. Learn from your experience. If you go in with a bad attitude, you will not draw in positive energy.

Toward the end of the day, I visited a few other yard sales on our block and ended up buying a gorgeous painting. It is of the California coast and done in brilliant yellows and oranges. I was able to speak to the artist and came home with a real find that gives me much pleasure. I guess I am more of a shopper than a seller.

But maybe there was another lesson here: It was too painful for me to put out my gently used things, but for the buyers, it is an exciting treasure hunt!

Sinara Stull O’Donnell is a professional speaker and writer through Springfield-based SinaraSpeaks. She is the author of “Be The Star Of Your Life: Are You Ready For Your Close-Up?”

[[In-content Ad]]