Astronaut, prime minister...gin taster? We don't always follow our 'plan A' career path. Jade Oliver was no different. But when she realised her hobby could become her main source of income she took a financial leap of faith that paid off. Now her homeware business, Heavenly Homes And Gardens, is turning over £200,000 per year. Here's how she did it...
Jade, 34, from Bristol, started selling up-cycled furniture seven years ago in a bid to pay off a £10,000 professional course loan.
Advert
She bid on cheap items in need of a little TLC and transformed them into new, fresh designs, inspired by interior trends then sold them on to make cash - fast.
She exclusively told Pretty5: "The first items I put on eBay were a pair of chairs I painted white and added floral covers to (because it was really on-trend at the time). I then split the pair and put them on eBay for £25 each as 'Buy it Now' listings and they sold within minutes."
At the time, Jade was working as a corporate lawyer, but used her spare time at the weekends to upcycle chairs, tables and bureaus until she ran out of room in her home.
Advert
"They began to take over a little bit," she explained. "That's when I decided to start selling silk flowers and homewares because it was just easier to store them - and they're really the bread and butter of my business now.
"Fresh flowers have their place but peonies can only be bought fresh in the UK for a few weeks every year and so people will pay for beautiful, life-like, silk versions."
But it isn't only on-trend items that Jade is looking for to stock on her site.
Advert
"When I bought items to sell I decided to look for Fairtrade items and ones that support women and children's charities around the world," she told Pretty52.
"My work in mergers and acquisitions was making fat cats fatter, but stocking candles from a charity that provides street children in India with housing means I can help the people who really needed it."
Thankfully as well as being in-line with aesthetic trends her philanthropic buying is in-keeping with a new consumer quest to be make more ethical purchases.
Advert
"I never planned to give up my dream career as a lawyer, but as my homeware business got busier it began to excite me more than my day job.
"At the time I wasn't making enough to cover the mortgage I'd taken on as a lawyer, but I knew that if I gave the business my full attention I could get there.
"So in 2016 I made the decision to quit my day job. It was a career for life with guaranteed progression. It was scary but my homeware business didn't feel like work and loving what I did every day made it worth the risk."
Here are Jade's tips for eBay success:
- Start your search as broadly as possible using a few keywords (such as 'light' as well as 'lamp') and misspelt words (such as 'chest of draws' instead of 'chest of drawers').
- If you can't find what you are looking for, create a search alert. Then when an item matching your criteria (including price and location) is listed, you will get a notification from eBay.
- Most people bid at the weekend or after work, meaning the final sale price for items ending at those times can be higher than for others that end during working hours or at night. Consider using an auction snipe app to bid as you sleep.
- If you have found your dream item but it's outside your budget contact the seller to see whether they're open to cheeky offers. It works more often than you'd think.
- Only bid at the last minute to avoid pushing up the price. Set an alarm or download an app to bid for you in the last 10 seconds. Input the maximum amount you'd be prepared to pay. If you're the highest bidder, eBay will set your bid at just above the highest bid below you, not at your maximum amount.
Incredible.
Advert
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/heavenlyhomesandgardens