A teacher who makes thousands of pounds selling second-hand books online has revealed his secrets - and his empire is becoming more lucrative by the year.
Elliott Stoutt from Brighouse in West Yorkshire, spends around 10-hours a week searching for books to flog online - and since starting two years ago, he's made £42,000.
The 26-year-old runs his business as a part-time hobby alongside his full time job as a Head of PE at a secondary school in Leeds - he says he was inspired by a fear of only ever earning a 'single income'.
"The thought of one job dictating my rent, my car and my food bills frightened me enough to start," Elliot told Femail .
Elliot's business has taken quite a turn since his first sale - a used Monopoly Yorkshire Edition board game which he bought for £2.50 and resold for 16 times more at £40 in 2017.
He then discovered the power of books - and a good, well thought out collection now nets him hundreds of pounds online.
'I got £50 out and went straight to my local charity shop'
While Elliot admits he was inspired by the idea of having his very own revenue stream, it wasn't until he heard a podcast by Gary Vaynerchuk, an American-Belarusian entrepreneur and small business expert, that it really took off.
"Selling online initially began when I came across Gary Vaynerchuk's podcast where he spoke about earning an extra income and reducing the amount of hours spent watching TV, scrolling through Instagram and actually being productive with your time," he said.
"He dropped 'Amazon FBA' [Fulfillment by Amazon] a few times into his conversation in which I was intrigued that they even had a selling platform.
"Immediately after the talk I began YouTubing everything and reading around the subject.
"I figured out that it actually stores your products once you send them to their warehouses and when a buyer purchases your product online, they pack it, ship it and deal with all those admin tasks we really don't want to do.
"In a nutshell, once the book leaves my home I don't have to touch or deal with it again."
Armed with all this newfound knowledge, Elliot set out to make his first purchase.
"I got £50 together, went out to my local charity shop and bought random books including a few board games and sent them in.
"I still remember my first sale. It was a used Monopoly Yorkshire Edition board game and it sold for £40 and I bought it for £2.50!"
But it wasn't all fun and games
"When I first started out, I bought every book I laid my eyes on without a thought for the sales rank and how many sellers were selling the same copy," Elliot admitted.
"My mind-set was just to bulk-buy and hope for the best. Surely if I had thousands of books I'd make thousands? Wrong. I learnt the hard way by receiving a 12 months long-term storage fee."
After getting hit with the loss, he changed his business model and became a 'cherry picker'.
"I only selected the best books that confirmed were selling frequently and the competition was not so saturated" he continued.
Saturday afternoons at the market
Once he'd mastered this, Elliot started spending his Saturday afternoons sifting through potentially valuable books at markets, charity shops and even online.
"I source my books on Saturdays and it takes six to seven hours travelling around each town.
"I then come home to price them up. This takes an hour and then I put them into a box to ship out which takes another 30 minutes."
'"I spend roughly an hour every three weeks re-pricing and taking care of admin. I've now been running my business for two years."
Sometimes a £1 book can make me £120 profit
Elliot says his biggest mistake in the beginning was slacking on research.
"If I was starting out again I would definitely recommend only buying books that come up on your phone as profitable and illustrate a reasonable turn around."
"I'm a one-man operation and my monthly product sales range between £1,200-£2,000.
"Please don't get confused though, these certainly aren't my profit numbers. There are a few people on Instagram that post their product sales and they are significantly higher however they may only be making £10 profit on a £100 toy for instance.
"That is why I deal with books. They are super cheap to buy but the minimum profit I'll look to make is £5. Sometimes a £1 book can make me £120 profit!"
Elliott spends around £400 buying books each month but this is solely taken from the business.
"It may seem a lot of money, but I started on £50 a month. Things have just snowballed to this point and so it has become all relative', he said.
"With that said, because education and helping others is truly at the heart of what I do, the next goal is to empower and inspire as many people as possible to start making a side income."
