Years ago, I read a book by John C. Maxwell called Failing Forward. It became one of the most important books I had read up to that point in my life.

At the time, I was a raging perfectionist. Anything that veered from the path I had carefully constructed in my head felt like a disaster. I had not yet experienced failure in the truly catastrophic sense. I saved a few of those lessons for later. But the book helped me understand something I desperately needed to learn:

A setback is not truly a failure unless you refuse to learn from it.

That does not make failure pleasant. Every one of those lessons still stinks while you are living through it. But each mistake carries an opportunity to become better at whatever you are trying to accomplish.

Once you adopt that mindset, it can be remarkably freeing.

Personally, I tend to fail spectacularly.

Go big or go home.

When Lindy and I first started Second Half Supply Co., we made a ton of mistakes. We still make them, but thankfully, they are becoming less frequent.

They usually reveal themselves when I calculate the profit from a sale and think:

That margin seems awfully low.

That happened again recently with a soccer jersey, or football shirt for our friends outside the United States.

It was from a team we do not normally carry, and I wanted it in the inventory. Excitement took over, the sourcing plan flew out the window, and I paid more than I should have.

We still made money when it sold, so it was hardly a catastrophe. We simply made less than the item should have produced.

That is failure on the gentler end of the spectrum.

Excitement Can Make You Skip Steps

I have also bought counterfeit items while sourcing.

One example was what appeared to be a vintage Lacoste jacket. It checked several of the boxes I normally inspect, but I skipped one important step:

I did not verify everything against the wash tag (this week's photo).

Wash tags are little fabric detectives. They can reveal where an item was made, what it is made from, how old it may be, and whether the information throughout the garment is consistent.

In this case, the wash tag belonged to a Chinese-made hat, not a red vintage Lacoste jacket.

Had I slowed down and completed my normal inspection, I would have discovered the problem before buying it.

The same warning applies to soccer jerseys. You might see “Made in Honduras” on the neck label and “Made in Thailand” on the wash tag. That mismatch does not automatically answer every authenticity question, but it should stop the purchase until you investigate further.

I have learned that lesson more than once.

Apparently, some lessons require a sequel.

The Brands We Remember Are Not Always the Brands Buyers Want

Then there are what I call the “bad brands.”

These are not necessarily poorly made products. They are often brands I wanted when I was younger but could not afford.

Every now and then, I find one and begin reliving my childhood or teenage years. Nostalgia whispers that everyone must still want it because I wanted it so badly thirty years ago.

Then the item sits in inventory like a 100-percent-cotton anchor tied to the bottom of the boat.

Not every once-popular brand sells well today. Some markets are oversaturated. Other brands have simply lost relevance. Sometimes there are plenty of available items but very few people searching for them.

Supply and demand still rules the kingdom.

That is why it helps to maintain a sourcing plan, know the categories that work, and establish the maximum price you are willing to pay.

It is equally important to recognize the inventory paperweights holding down your dollars and stop buying them.

I manage to stay on the straight and narrow most of the time.

Most of the time.

Unique Is Fun, but Cash Flow Matters

I love finding unusual items, and I do not mind holding something longer when it is genuinely interesting and attracts attention.

But there is a major difference between an unusual vintage piece and a plain red polo shirt from a designer brand available at any shopping mall.

Do shopping malls still exist?

Sometimes an entire category needs to be reduced or removed because it sells too slowly, produces weak margins, or repeatedly causes trouble.

Inventory that does not move traps money inside the supply line. Eventually, the entire operation starts developing clogged arteries.

When cash cannot move, neither can the business.

Fortunately, I have made enough mistakes to learn several valuable lessons.

That may sound counterintuitive, but mistakes contain gold if you are willing to mine them.

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From the Hunt

Boring Keeps the Lights On

Boring is good.

Boring may not always be fun, but it is good.

About 95 percent of what we purchase for Second Half Supply Co. consists of dependable stock items. These are the products with measurable demand, accessible sales data, and reasonably predictable outcomes.

Lindy hates digging through denim because flipping through a million nearly identical pairs of jeans can feel like staring into an endless blue cotton abyss.

I enjoy it.

Denim is one of the easier categories to study. There is plenty of available data, recognizable brands, measurable demand, and the occasional surprise that can pay for several sourcing trips.

That fits the way my brain works.

I am data-driven.

The unusual items are more exciting, but they can also be feast or famine. A store filled entirely with quirky treasures may look interesting, but if those treasures are not selling, the money pipeline eventually dries up.

The unicorns make the hunt exciting.

The boring inventory funds the next hunt.

My mistakes have taught me that a healthy business needs both: dependable products that sell consistently and a carefully controlled number of interesting pieces worth waiting for.

Because it is difficult to keep hunting when all your money is sitting on a shelf.

Happy thrifting!

Michael T.
Second Half Supply Co.