When 26-year-old Kelsey Mikula was faced with having to pay back $80,000 in student loans, she started buying and reselling clothing while also working as a unit secretary at a Philadelphia hospital. She would buy clothing and shoes from Salvation Army, Goodwill, and local thrift shops, and then resell them on e-commerce sites like eBay and Poshmark. Each month, she spent $1,800 buying clothes and selling them for a profit. One of the first items she bought was a $10 Christian Dior sweater than she resold for a $700 profit. Then she snagged a pair of Chanel shoes for $20 and sold them for $200. After the first few months, she was turning a profit of around $5,000 a month. She was able to pay off her student loan debt in just 3 years, but after her degree in zoology failed to land her a job, her side hustle turned into her full-time job. Today, Kelsey is debt-free, has been able to buy her first new car, and is now ready to take the next step — buying a house.
