In 2020, Jamie and Sarah McCauley filmed themselves tearing up, repainting and restoring used furniture. They resold the items, made more than $1,000 in profit and posted the results on YouTube.
The video received 20,000 views within a week. The McCauleys, who make a living from a variety of side hustles running at the same time, sensed the opportunity. They started posting more videos about their other revenue streams, including rental properties, home turning projects, and reselling return pallets from Amazon and Target.
Teaching people how to build this kind of hustle has proven lucrative: Last year, the McCauleys made $102,000 from their YouTube and other social media channels, according to documents obtained by CNBC’s Make It have been checked.
That’s an average of $8,500 per month. In their best month of the year, they grossed $9,000.
The McCauleys say some of their furniture flips are as simple as staging and photographing the product.
Jamie and Sarah McCauley
“We realized this is a great way for people to make extra money when they have bills, just can’t pay their rent, or want to have a great vacation with their family,” says Sarah. “Anyone can do it.”
But of all her sources of income, Jamie says her YouTube and social media presence is the most stressful to manage.
Here’s how they built it and what goes into the maintenance.
How to build a social media career
Jamie and Sarah knew the ins and outs of social media from years of running a successful wedding photography business that was making $150,000 a year at its peak, says Jamie.
But after having two children, the couple realized they didn’t want to spend the weekends without their family. So they began buying, renovating, and renting out real estate in western Michigan, hoping for a more passive income stream that would encourage flexibility with their schedules.
It worked, and the extra time allowed them to take on a variety of side hustles. They came up with the idea of posting their furniture and real estate flip adventures on YouTube in 2019 and immediately found it challenging.
Initially, Jamie worked 30 hours a week alone on the YouTube project, and Sarah another 10 — in addition to her efforts to sell two upside-down houses and run her photography business.
It took them a full year to reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time, making them eligible for Google AdSense, a feature that allows creators to monetize their YouTube videos with advertising.
“We weren’t really sure where home design or flipping or photography or YouTube was going to take us,” says Sarah. “But we knew if we put ourselves out there, it would open up more opportunities.”
flip the pros and cons
Flipping and reselling furniture and home accessories online has some clear benefits, especially during times of economic uncertainty, says Sarah.
For example, more people are willing to look for deals on eBay and Facebook Marketplace during tough times, rather than visiting their usual retail stores.
“When a recession hits, people don’t want to pay full price for things,” she says. “Thrift stores thrive in recessions, and I think resellers do too, because people are trying to save money in any way they can.”
Unlike real estate, the bets on buying and reselling furniture are minimal in both price and risk, the McCauleys say. There is less financial investment and Sarah says she breaks even on every flip.
The McCauleys say they staged and resold this $50 Facebook Marketplace dresser for $300.
Jamie and Sarah McCauley
The pair say one of their best flips was a mid-century dresser they bought for $50 on Facebook Marketplace. All they had to do was stage the dresser and take a nice picture of it before reselling it for $300.
Sometimes, after buying furniture, the couple finds that the items have more defects than expected. Usually, this means investing more time and money in repairing the piece, which they say can impact the item’s ultimate retail value.
In these cases, “we just get our money back instead of making a huge profit, but we never really lost any money doing it,” says Sarah.
cost and effect
It was difficult to make money for a whole year without YouTube, say the McCauleys. And just qualifying for AdSense didn’t guarantee big bucks.
“With the slower growth and inconsistency, it was more of a mental struggle to keep going and believing in the process,” says Jamie. “Now we’re in a better place, but during those two years it’s been a question, ‘Should we do this? Will this work?’”
In 2020, the couple said they felt a change. Their videos went viral more regularly and brands like Skillshare, Beyond Paint and HelloFresh offered them partnership opportunities.
The sudden attention was overwhelming and they didn’t immediately know which brands to trust. Today, the McCauleys work with an agency that reviews and contracts the brands, and claim 18% from a number of those partnerships, they say.
Sarah says that at Goodwill, she often sees undervalued items, which she resells for profit on sites like eBay.
Jamie and Sarah McCauley
By monetizing their YouTube presence, they were able to shut down their photography business, which significantly reduced their weekly workload.
But there’s still a mental struggle that comes with fickle income, says Jamie. When you rely on advertising and brand partnerships, your revenue depends on viewership, and the algorithm often seems beyond your control.
“There are times of discouragement when not much comes in,” says Jamie. “But there are also good months when a lot of money comes in. It’s about the long game and trying to keep pushing through. It’s perseverance.”
The couple say they have no plans to ditch their social media business. Taken together, their income streams help them make a decent living while also spending more time with their families than would be the case with normal 9-to-5 jobs.
“We want it to fit into our lives, so we wanted non-traditional jobs,” says Sarah. “So we can choose what we do.”
Would you like to earn more and work less? for free CNBC Make It: Virtual Event Your Money on December 13th at 12pm ET to learn from money masters how to increase your earning power.
Join Now: Keep in touch with your money and your career with our weekly newsletter
