Woman, 36, turned her eBay side hustle into a $141 million company that sells 11,000 items a day

A mother of three has revealed how she turned her eBay side into a $141 million business — by going through the top five steps she believes will help any budding entrepreneur achieve financial success.

Tori Gerbig, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, has delved into how she and husband Chris built their business empire with online retailer Pink Lily.

She said CNBC that in 2014 she had walked away from her $35,000-a-year job selling insurance to focus solely on the business.

The pair have since grown the venture into a thriving success that now sells an average of 11,000 items a day.

Tori graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2009 during the recession and said the only job she could find was selling insurance.

But after she graduated, she and husband Chris had more than $70,000 in student loans, a mortgage, and car loans.

Barely getting any bargains, the couple decided to experiment with selling clothes and accessories on various online marketplaces to supplement their income.

She opened Pink Lily as an eBay store in 2011 with an initial product investment of $300.

Tori claimed the core of the business was to give women confidence in their fashion choices.

And by pioneering that ethos, the pair was able to build their following from a few hundred customers to a few thousand in a very short time.

They had started out making between $300 and $1,000 a month, but they were soon bringing in much more income.

In 2013, the couple brought in $500 every day — and the success prompted Tori to quit her job to focus on Pink Lily full-time, as the couple launched a standalone website for the brand.

Tori and Chris were then able to use their profits to pay off their debts and reinvest in the business.

Pink Lily had sales of over $4 million at the end of its first year, and by 2021, it had risen to $141 million.

The pair have since opened a physical store in their hometown and now employ 250 staff.

Tori, who works up to 55 hours a week, has since credited their success to drawing up a business plan early on.

She also revealed what she thinks are the top five elements every entrepreneur should keep in mind.

The first is identifying your company’s unique selling point and what sets it apart from others – known as a “value proposition.”

She said that with Pink Lily she filled a gap in the market for trendy and affordable clothing – and that became the basis for her business decisions.

Next, business owners need to identify their ideal customer base and understand as much about them as possible, including their day-to-day habits and decision-making processes.

This allows business owners to more accurately respond to customer needs throughout the user journey.

Third place on Tori’s list is to defend the strongest differentiators between you and your competitors.

These will likely become the central focus of the company’s online presence and marketing strategy.

For Tori, this isn’t just that many of Pink Lily’s items were under $50, but that it’s a family business that invites customers to be part of the community.

Another expert tip is to prepare for rapid growth so that you can meet customer needs even when demand picks up.

To do this effectively, you need to scrutinize budgeting and scalability and figure out how to build customer loyalty to encourage new customers to keep coming back.

Last but not least is coming up with the perfect social media strategy for what your business has to offer.

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram can help you engage with customers directly, but it’s essential to think about what you’re going to post and when.

Tori, who has more than 1.6 million followers on Pink Lily’s Instagram account to date, regularly asks fans what they’d like to see in terms of future products and collaborations.

This enables her to make real-time decisions based on direct market research – and also strengthens the relationship with customers.