Some years back, I had a small book reselling business. It wasn't much, but I made good margins, learned how to buy and sell, and most importantly, learned what NOT to do. One of the biggest downfalls of the business was that I did not have any extra help to inventory, ship, and receive books.

Well, a few weeks ago, we caught a glimmer of some possibilities when we received a whole bunch of equipment from a major corporation. We will begin to see returns on that investment (of time more than anything) this next week, and it got us to thinking about some nice side business than can help pay for our certifications and possibly net us a small side income. That led to our planning to go to the auction of the main campus of the community college I'm now attending.

And what a rush it was! I had my eye on a nice wooden desk, which went up for auction early, and when I walked in I saw something beyond my wildest dreams. I am trying to put together a multimedia center for the Woody Guthrie containing all of Woody's music, some films and some extras, and there was a kiosk (like you see at record stores to order CD's, albums, etc). By my figuring, with this kiosk, I will probably be able to put together what I want for about $500, which I don't see much difficulty in getting authorized by the board. I got the kiosk and a study corral (which I have no idea what i'm doing with at present) for $2. I also got my desk bundled with another desk for $2.

When the auction began, they were trying to auction off paper towel dispensers. They weren't succesful, so they bundled it with soap dispensers. When the bidding got down to $2, I put up my ticket. So now I have 20 or so paper towel dispensers and several soap dispensers with soap (we're taking two of them and putting them up in our bathrooms) to unload. But the price was right. I'll probably unlad the towel dispensers for a small fee to small churches in the area and/or box them as bulk lots to sell on eBay.

Then came the fun part. They had about 12 boxes of textbooks, some new and in the original shrink wrap. The bidding dropped to $2, so I purchased all of them. Guess I'm back in the used book business again. Only this time I have partners in the biz to help ship these books out so it doesn't get overwhelming even when our volume increases.

I had to leave early and left one of the partners to purchase the computer equipment, which they hadn't gotten to when I had to head back. I've gotten word that we ended up with a pretty good score, but we'll have to wait and sort through it. In the meantime, it's kinda good to know I'm back on my game!