In the resale business, getting a huge influx of inventory sounds like a dream.
More inventory means more products to sell. More books for the shelves. More items to list online. More opportunities to make money.
It’s a blessing.
But sometimes, that blessing comes with one major problem:
There are only 24 hours in a day.
Recently, we got a call at LiquidBooks about a customer who had entered hospice. He had a large amount of stuff and wanted us to come pick it up.
What originally sounded like picking up some inventory quickly became something much bigger.
We ended up helping clean out the entire property.
And suddenly, what was already a busy schedule became a whole lot busier.
A Blessing in Disguise
From a business standpoint, receiving a large amount of inventory can be an incredible opportunity.
As a used bookstore and resale business, inventory is what keeps things moving.
You need new items coming through the doors because customers want to see something different when they come back.
But situations like this are also a reminder that sometimes the inventory we receive has a story behind it.
This wasn’t simply us going out and buying another collection.
Someone was entering a completely different stage of his life and needed help dealing with everything he had accumulated.
Being in a position where we could help him while also acquiring inventory for the store made this a blessing in disguise.
But blessings can still require a tremendous amount of work.
Getting the Inventory Is the Easy Part
Here’s something people don’t always realize about running a used bookstore:
Getting inventory doesn’t mean that inventory is ready to sell.
Actually, that’s usually just the beginning.
First, we have to get everything out of the property.
Then we have to transport it.
Then we have to figure out where we’re going to put it.
Then comes sorting.
What’s going into the store?
What’s going online?
What needs additional research?
What’s worth selling?
What isn’t?
What needs cleaning?
What needs testing?
What needs to be priced?
What can go directly onto a shelf?
When you bring in a small amount of inventory, that’s manageable.
When you’re dealing with an entire property, those individual tasks multiply very quickly.
One item might only take a few minutes.
A few hundred—or potentially thousands—of items are another story.
Meanwhile, LiquidBooks Doesn’t Stop
The biggest challenge is that none of this happens in a vacuum.
While we’re working on cleaning out a property, LiquidBooks is still operating.
Customers are still walking through the doors.
Online orders still need to be pulled, packed, and shipped.
Print jobs still need to be completed.
Inventory already at the store still needs to be sorted and shelved.
Messages need to be answered.
Supplies need to be ordered.
The website needs attention.
There are always another five things waiting after you finish the five things you’re currently doing.
You don’t get to hit the pause button on the business because another major project suddenly appeared.
You just figure out how to squeeze it in.
And This One Has a Deadline
That’s where this particular situation becomes even more challenging.
There is a deadline.
We can’t simply say, “We’ll get around to it whenever we have some extra time.”
It has to get done.
That means rearranging schedules, prioritizing what absolutely needs to happen, and accepting that some of the less important things might have to wait.
That’s one of the realities of owning a small business that doesn’t always make it into the motivational entrepreneurship posts.
Sometimes there isn’t a perfect schedule.
Sometimes you’re not perfectly organized.
Sometimes an opportunity—or a responsibility—lands in your lap and you simply have to figure it out.
The Inventory Problem Nobody Talks About
There’s also such a thing as having too much inventory at once.
Not necessarily too much inventory overall.
Too much unprocessed inventory.
There’s a big difference.
A store full of organized, priced merchandise is an asset.
A mountain of unsorted boxes is a project.
Until those items are sorted, researched, priced, listed, or shelved, they aren’t doing much for the business.
In fact, they can temporarily create more problems.
Where do you put everything?
How quickly can you process it?
How do you keep new inventory from getting mixed up with everything else?
Which items should be handled first?
It’s a good problem to have.
But it’s still a problem that needs solving.
There’s Also the Risk of Burning Yourself Out
This is probably the part I’m paying more attention to now.
When you’re building a business, it’s incredibly easy to convince yourself that you just need to work a little longer.
One more hour.
One more box.
One more print job.
One more listing.
One more trip.
Then suddenly you’ve been doing “one more thing” for six hours.
I’ve also recently made the decision to get back into working out regularly.
And I’m trying to stick with it.
When you’re already looking at a massive workload, going to the gym can feel like another thing taking time away from everything that needs to get done.
But I’m starting to look at it differently.
If I’m constantly working without doing anything to take care of myself, eventually the business is going to get the exhausted version of me anyway.
You can’t make more hours appear in the day.
Sometimes you have to protect a few of the hours you already have.
Not Everything Has to Be Done Today
This is something I’m still learning.
When you’re surrounded by unfinished work, everything can feel urgent.
But it isn’t.
The property cleanout has a deadline.
Customer orders have deadlines.
Print jobs have deadlines.
Those things get priority.
That box of inventory sitting in the corner?
It can probably wait until tomorrow.
The books that haven’t been priced yet?
They’re not going anywhere.
That product I wanted to list online?
Maybe it happens next week.
Owning a business means constantly deciding not only what you’re going to do, but also what you’re intentionally not going to do today.
That’s sometimes harder than the work itself.
The Good and the Bad
So what’s the good part of suddenly receiving a huge amount of inventory?
Opportunity.
New merchandise.
Potential revenue.
Unexpected finds.
More variety for customers.
And in this particular situation, the ability to help someone who genuinely needed it.
What’s the bad?
Time.
Space.
Sorting.
Transportation.
Deadlines.
A rapidly growing to-do list.
And the possibility of pushing yourself too hard trying to accomplish everything at once.
But that’s business.
Sometimes the opportunities that look the best from the outside also create the most work behind the scenes.
One Box at a Time
Right now, that’s about all we can do.
Get the property cleaned out.
Keep LiquidBooks running.
Take care of our customers.
Keep orders moving.
Keep print jobs going.
Process the new inventory as we’re able.
And somehow continue finding time to hit the gym.
There aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I could possibly work on.
I’m starting to realize there probably never will be.
Maybe the goal isn’t getting everything done.
Maybe it’s figuring out what matters most today, getting that done, and then coming back tomorrow to tackle the next box.
Because right now?
We have plenty of boxes.