Mompreneur Turns Passion for Thrifting into $4,000 Monthly Poshmark Revenue

Maria Jones, a 32-year-old mother from Garden Valley, California, has turned her passion for thrift shopping into a lucrative online business, grossing nearly $4,000 a month through her Poshmark store, The Lemon Theory. With just 3 to 4 hours of work per day, Jones has managed to build a successful side hustle while juggling the responsibilities of motherhood.

Jones's journey into the world of online thrifting began in October 2017 when her sister encouraged her to open a store on the popular marketplace Poshmark. Starting with items from her closet, Jones quickly realized the profit potential and expanded her inventory to include items sourced from thrift stores and bulk orders.

Today, The Lemon Theory boasts over 1,700 listings and has grossed more than $300,000 on the platform. But Jones' success didn't come overnight—it was the result of hard work, dedication, and a keen eye for profitable opportunities.

"The first thing I sold was my own personal H&M shirt," recalls Jones. "I sold it for $8, my earnings on it was $5." This initial success sparked Jones' entrepreneurial spirit, prompting her to dedicate her Poshmark earnings to paying off her student loans.

With about $25,000 in student debt looming over her, Jones worked tirelessly on her Poshmark store after hours, even after her full-time job at airplane maintenance company Pauli Systems. By the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she had achieved her goal of becoming debt-free, solely through her earnings from Poshmark.

But Jones' entrepreneurial journey didn't stop there. Just before the pandemic hit, she realized that Poshmark offered an opportunity to start her family a little earlier than planned. With the flexibility of her online business and the solid income it provided, Jones decided to leave her job at Pauli Systems when her daughter was born in December 2020.

"I'd be feeding my baby and sharing my closet," Jones recalls of those early days. Despite the challenges of balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship, Jones never stopped putting time into her store, constantly looking for ways to scale her business.

One of Jones' tactics for scaling her business involved buying pallets of clothing with hundreds of pieces each from sites like Helpsy. These pallets contained a variety of items, ranging from brand new to gently used, which Jones meticulously inspected, washed, and sold secondhand.

"On average, an item from each box can be about $8, but you can sell it for $40," explains Jones. This strategy allowed her to maximize her profits while providing customers with affordable, quality clothing options. During the period spanning from April 2023 to March 2024, Maria Jones amassed approximately $45,000 in revenue from her Poshmark store.

Among her top-selling items are plus-sized bras, which she acquires for around $6 and swiftly resells for $20 to $30 each due to their scarcity in the secondhand market. Jones aims to explore the potential of selling high-end, designer items in the future, acknowledging the additional effort and research required. She highlights the financial dynamics involved, noting that while selling a secondhand designer item for $400 after purchasing it for $200 yields a profit of $150, there is also a risk of holding onto unsold inventory. Jones works about three to four hours per day, often around her daughters' schedule. "My husband jokes that he wants to quit his job to join me," says Jones with a smile.