AN ex-student has revealed how he started a side hustle after dropping out of college – and it’s now worth six figures.
Ethan ‘Moose’ Read grew his sneaker re-sale business in high school and college, but now ships an average of 10 to 15 pair of shoes a day.
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The 20-year-old runs his business through his website, Moosetraxshop, as well as his social-media accounts and trades his products online.
He estimates his business raked in $250,000 in sales last year and doesn’t want to stop there.
The mogul told Insider: “I’ve definitely come to where I want to be, and I want to keep growing from here.”
Read explained that his business began as a side hustle when he began selling sneakers as a freshman and sophomore at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, Washington.
At the time, his aim was to fund his own sneaker collection and he was amazed by the results.
He explained that he began getting in trouble during classes as he became inundated with phone calls buying and selling profitable shoes.
The turning point came when Read attended a sneaker show in Las Vegas during his senior year of high school.
He recalled stumbling upon a formula that allowed him to sell sneakers more rigorously – having bought and offloaded 10 pairs of shoes in a matter of hours.
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After purchasing a bulk order of sneakers with the new money, Read said he began to see his business take off.
“One shoe turned into 50 shoes, 50 into 100 and, you know, there on,” he told the outlet.
As Read began selling shoes for prices of up to $8,000, he decided to drop out of college to pursue his new business venture.
He requested that his parents give him 18 months of leeway to try and make his business model work – labelling the decision as “crazy.”
These days, Read is a full-time reseller and issues tips for wannabe entrepreneurs on his YouTube channel.
For those looking to start their own sneaker side hustle, he strongly advises to build up some capital first.
The mogul says he wouldn’t move forward without having at least $1,000 to spend.
In addition, Read emphasised that rookie resellers should “do what you’re comfortable with” and not jump into the industry too quickly.
“Selling shoes you know well and that you like is a good place to start for people who don’t fully understand the industry yet,” he said.
Finally, he suggested that entrepreneurs should have a business model in place if they are considering dropping out of college to pursue reselling on a full-time basis.
“Make sure you’re into it already,” Read said. “Don’t just drop out because you want to start selling sneakers.”
