I remember I had been living in Atlanta metro area for about 6 months, having relocated from New York City. I brought my web design skills with my and I set up shop. I used Craigslist to generate new clients since I was new to the city. Most of the jobs in the beginning were small $300-$600 jobs. Then this real estate client came along , let’s call her Tamara. Tamar was a high-end realtor in the Atlanta area and she want a luxury website. My fee was $1500, which was about half what a full scale studio would charge (with a complete team). Well long story short, I built the website (also spent $195 on templates and software plugins) and I got stiffed for my fee. Yes, she gave me a retainer of $350, but that was not enough. At that moment, I decided I had enough chasing down clients who don’t wait to pay for my websites. I needed something that I can buy cheap and resell for profit. Initially, I thought I would open an Amazon store or something similar.
Right around this time, I bumped into next door neighbor. He went into a ramble about not being able to sell some cars. I was like “Let me put them on Craigslist for you, see if they sell”. Now I did not consider myself a car flipper on anyone at all that knew how to sell cars for money online. What I did know how to do was write good ads for Craigslist and Facebook. What I did know how to dod was build a website and market it with a few tools, in order to reach a wider audience. SO when my neighbor said he had 3 cars to sell, I figure I could make a few extra bucks by putting his cars on Craigslist and a few local Facebook groups (Facebook Market Place was not out yet).
After those 3 cars sold, I had a few more conversations with my neighbor. He picked up cars from private sellers, but relied heavily on the Dealer auctions in downtown Atlanta (Manheim). He was not an internet marketer (remember, he asked me to sell his cars online). He would get cars from the auctions and park them at businesses that he had relationships with (barbershops and real estate offices). He also told me he maintained a “heavy contact list”, so whenever he got a new car (he specialized in Mercedes Benz) he would text a picture of the vehicle his lists on his phone. And then he also had referrals that he built up over time as well. Me, being a newcomer into the field of car flipping, I had to develop my own network. I reached out for Craigslist, Youtube, and then later, Facebook.
I made money on my first flip, and lost money on my second flip. I had to learn the ropes of how to weed out the good cars from the crap, even at the Dealer Auction there was somebody trying to get over on you. But the benefit of working with a licensed Dealership, I was able to utilize arbitration a couple of times. Arbitration is when you bring the car back to the auction, because you brought a vehicle and took it home, but it was not in the condition as advertised. Engine light came on, etc. So you bring it back. I had to do this about 3-4 times, before I learned how to sift out the good from the bad inventory. Once I created, mastered and added the “Carvanna technique” to my process, I was able to separate the good cars from the bad with a high percent of accuracy. I stopped losing money on my deals, and started to really enjoy what I was doing ( and the money I was making). I took away the “frustration factor” for myself which was “losing money on a lemon that I got from the auction or a private seller”. I learned how to flip a volume of cars without a dealer license (legally). I learned a lot about dealer license requirements in Georgia (GA) and other neighboring states. I set up numerous Dealerships for clients around the country and now I am sharing some of my tips and strategies in a free video. Learn how to become a professional car flipper, sell cars in your home state without a Dealer License (until you are ready for one).
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