Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Sullivan
Hi Melissa, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I spent 25 years as an IT manager with several Fortune 100 companies, but after getting laid off in 2020 during the pandemic, I decided to make a change. Initially I intended to go into private consulting, and my first client was a small estate sale company. I helped the owner develop a website and got her running on credit card and mobile payments. As we worked together, however, I noticed she was very unwell. After she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, I offered to run her remaining sales, and give the proceeds to her son. After successfully getting the sales off the ground, several people asked me to conduct estate sales for them, and I realized I was enjoying the work at a level that I had never felt in the IT environment. I am now in my third year of business, and have loved every minute of it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been an easy road. I’ve always worked in a structured, hierarchical environment with policies and procedures, and I had a boss to report to. While working for myself is often exhilarating, I’ve had to put my own structure in place through trial and error. And I’ve had to realize if things went sideways, it rolled up to me. Realizing failure is not an option and I could not afford to make mistakes was a bit of a challenge at first. While things have mostly gone well, there have been bumps in the road, and I’ve had to force myself to look at them as learning experiences. My team now goes back and reviews every issue carefully to ensure we don’t make the same mistake twice. Fortunately, the team I’ve built has deep knowledge of the industry, and we have put together a business model and set of best practices that have helped us grow in a measured, positive manner while giving our best to our clients and customers.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Posh Peacock Estate Sales?
We conduct onsite estate sales in the Winter Park and Orlando area. We are typically only inside our clients’ homes for eight days from start to finish, and we leave the premises clean, swept, and – most importantly – empty. We provide our clients with a comprehensive receipt list of every single item that sold, and we deliver it within three days of the sale. Our clients receive their check the same week. There are no hidden costs for our clients – every expense related to running the sale come out of the commission. Many of our clients are downsizing, and saying goodbye to their possessions can be emotional for them; we take care to honor their possessions and make every effort to ensure their things go to homes where they will be appreciated.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Jumping into this industry head-first was the single biggest risk I have taken in my life. While I had general knowledge of the industry, it was a little unnerving to move into a role where there was no guaranteed paycheck, and I was responsible for my own success. I found myself reading about other entrepreneurs who had left the safety of a full-time job in order to go into business for themselves. I focused on their lessons learned since I was determined to absorb as much information as I could in order to avoid common mistakes. The biggest paradigm shift for me was learning to accept risk-taking as something that never goes away – as long as I work for myself, the high risk level will always be present, and instead of worrying about it, I needed to embrace it. And the payoff has been worth it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Poshpeacockestatesale
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PoshPeacockEstateSales
Image Credits
Roy Law
