Creating My Success: Meeting A Stranger On The Curbs At 3 AM & Selling Him A Recycled Machine For $170 Cash - Then Uncovering A Profitable New Source Of Recycling Income

This is a pretty cool story about how I hustled and created a new opportunity... you know, how to make something out of nothing.

It's also a potentially lucrative revenue stream for me to make more money from recycling, and my first business channel partner.

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The story starts with me strolling around on my city's curbs in my neighborhood just before the Austin conference to find stuff in the recycling to resell.

It was about 3 AM and I'm usually the only one out there at this time. That's how I like it. It's peaceful and I can sing outside with no reservations.

On this particular night, I was checking out a Keurig coffee machine in a clear plastic bag when a van slowly rolled up on the street directly in front of me.

The van was from a State Mental Health Facility. It felt a bit creepy and my instincts kicked in.

Act confident, keep my head down, look out of the corner of my eye to evaluate, knife in pocket...

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The passenger door opened and a younger man walked out slowly to stand right next to me. Of all places to go, he walked right up to me. Lovely. He was eating a banana.

The next moments were going to be critical.

I had a hunch that he was looking for things to pluck from the recycling piles like me, but I honestly couldn't know for sure.

I acted naturally and didn't look up at him, continuing to look at the Keurig, but actually on full alert.

He appeared to peer over the pile I was at and then walked up the road to the next one. Relief... He didn't see anything of interest, so he walked back to the van, which then slowly crept up the road to stop at the next series of piles.

Phew. I was safe.

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The van and I sort of kept the same pace going up the street and the next, and a second man eventually got out to check some of the piles.

I didn't know what they were looking for, so my competitive nature kicked in to walk faster ahead of the van to cut their supply off.

Eventually the second guy walked up to where I was, so I decided to make a comment/joke to protect my turf and feel him out. Thankfully he was normal, laughed, and we got to talking. He was foreign and new to looking in my neighborhood.

It turns out that they go around looking exclusively for rugs/carpets (which are often rolled up nearly out on the curbs), to clean and sell to a third-world country in a bulk shipping container. That's pretty cool.

We exchanged pleasantries as we were not competing, and I gave him some advice on the recycling layout/schedule of my neighborhood. We parted ways as I went a different direction than they were driving.

Then it hit me, "Matt, you idiot!"

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For a few months now, I've had this big carpet extractor/cleaner in my apartment that wasn't selling.

I've found and sold two units similar to this for $615 and $450, but this one was sitting too long.

How the hell did I not think of telling him about this when we got to talking? I blew it... or maybe I didn't.

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After I kept walking for a bit upset at myself for the blown chance, I decided to say "fuck it, I'm going to find them."

I walked back a bit and then tried my best to project their driving pattern to intercept them a few blocks down the road and west.

It worked!! I eventually saw headlights slowly moving in the distance and made my way to them. Naturally, there was the second guy I spoke with looking at the piles.

I got right down to business and pitched him the extractor. He was interested and was debating going to my apartment to get it. Unfortunately, in true hustle fashion, he tried to lowball me and tell me why I should give him a big discount.

I didn't fall for his game, so I backed down and got him to give me his cell. I then went home, sent him pics and product info. I told him to come over with a spare piece of carpet and test the machine. Once I got him to agree to come over, I knew he'd take it.

To add value, I sent him pics of carpets/rugs I found on the curbs with their location to show him that I could help as a scout.

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I had to go to Austin, so I assumed the deal would fall through. After all, he was trying to lowball me, but I hoped that my professionalism, honesty, tips, and our common goals would prevail.

I was right. After I returned, he followed up with me. He came with the same guy who was with him the first night, both nice guys hustling in their own way.

They tested the machine and were happy. He handed me cash at his lowball offer, but I put him on the spot with a joke for a little more as a token of good faith for the way I handled the deal, plus that we'll cross paths again.

He agreed and gave me $20 more, saying that he appreciated my honesty and that I was a good guy. This was meaningful because of all of his lowballing, and because of the gesture. He was smart to see the bigger picture. It wasn't the $20, or even the $170 total. We could work together in some capacity, and I really wanted that thing out of my apartment - so I gave up $200+ for that luxury.

Here's a pic from right before they took it home... Victory!!

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Now, the good part.

We're going to find ways to work together, where I can stash carpets for him for a cash finder's fee. It's super easy for me, but I mainly want to do this because it helps the environment, his business, and business in a third-world country.

Last night, I found 4 really good carpets neatly rolled/taped and stashed them in a hiding spot. It was no trouble at all and felt good to help. It'd be saving a lot of volume from waste.

I sent him a picture of the location and he went today to pick them up. How cool is that?

We'll streamline this process. He's already brought the idea up of parking his van with government plates in the neighborhood with a cart in it, and giving me a spare key.

I don't know if I want to get that involved, because...

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This has gotten me to start studying the carpet business. Handmade carpets/rugs are SUPER VALUABLE. Sure, they may need to be professionally cleaned, but they can go for $500-$2,000+ easily if they're authentic (the variables are important, but not that complex to learn). If they're clean enough, I can sell them as is to simplify the process.

If I partnered with a local rug/carpet cleaning specialist down the street, they can help me validate my finds before I agree to have them worked on. I could also get better pricing with the repeat business from the relationship.

This may sound like a long shot, but you can't imagine how many rugs and carpets are tossed around here, or even wind up in thrift stores. All I need to do is be aware of them now and snipe the gems. I'm pretty good at that.

As I study how to determine how to identify the handmade, which will easily become second-natured, this could be a nice revenue stream. I could do what I normally do, but now aim to get 1 or 2 a month for myself, while setting the guys up with the rest for their business. Win-win.

With all of the luxury apartments here and elderly people who pass on and have their places dumped on the curbs, this could be a promising niche... all created because I bravely stood my ground when others might scurry away, and proactively created a sale that led to a mutually beneficial partnership in the making. I can't even fathom how many I've walked by and ignored over the years. Even modern machine-made ones can fetch a few hundred. More often than not, people simply toss them for replacements or when they move. They're in great shape, just like most of the other stuff I obtain to sell. It's easy to sense the scenarios.

Pretty cool...

More importantly, I'd be able to do a lot of good for the environment here.

Time to do 110 push-ups.

Thanks,
@steemmatt

My last post finding 14K gold and sterling silver jewelry on Monday night.