Tori Dunlap started her financial-advice blog with $40 and grew it to $4 million in revenue last year.
Today she teaches customers how to invest, save money, and build startups of their own.
She shares the most important investments for any business owner and what founders should avoid.
I’m a college student selling $13K annually on Poshmark. Here’s the daily routine I follow to juggle resale and school.
Ali Dieguez, a Gen Z entrepreneur, sells thrift clothing on Poshmark while attending college.
Last year, she made $13,740 in sales on the resale app.
She meticulously schedules her days to juggle classes, fitness, homework, and her resale business.
Ali Dieguez’s resale business started with a few pairs of Lululemon leggings she found at a local thrift store. She liked to stop in occasionally after training at the gym next door.
The leggings weren’t her size, but they were too good to pass up, so the 23-year-old sold them on Poshmark — a resale platform that allows shoppers to sell clothing and accessories. For some, it can become a lucrative side hustle and for others, it can be a full-time business that earns six figures.
After Dieguez sold the leggings, she didn’t sell on the app until about a year later, when she needed a job. She was studying kinesiology at San Diego State University and wanted something that would fit into her busy schedule between classes, workouts, homework, and Muay Thai. She realized that resale was just the thing.
She started selling activewear on Poshmark in January 2020 — right as the category boomed — during the early months of the pandemic as demand for casual clothes picked up. In October, Poshmark announced a pending $1.2 billion acquisition by Korean e-commerce company Naver.
“It turned out to be perfect because March 2020 was when the pandemic happened and everything shut down,” Dieguez said. “I was super fortunate, because if I would have gotten a more conventional job, I probably would have been let go.”
Last year, she broadened her inventory to clothing like dresses and denim. She also lists items on other resale platforms such as eBay, Mercari, Depop, and Curtsy to tap the wide scope of customers.
In 2021, Dieguez made $13,740 in sales on Poshmark, which Insider verified with documentation. Dieguez put $3,668 of her earnings toward her college tuition last year and plans to complete her bachelor’s degree after one more summer course. To continue her career in wellness, she’s saved much of her resale earnings to enroll in a one-year massage-therapy program in the fall.
When it comes to managing school and her business, Dieguez meticulously schedules her days. Last semester, she usually woke up at 5 a.m. and went to bed around 7 p.m. “I was kind of boring,” she said. “I had the same schedule basically every day, but it worked.”
Here’s what her daily routine looked like when she was in school full-time and running her resale business, as told to Insider.
The following has been edited and condensed for clarity.
I woke up at 5 a.m., checked emails, and did my homework.
For me, timing is very important. I’m definitely a morning person: Sometimes I’d wake up early at 4:30 a.m., but for the most part, it was 5 a.m.
I checked my emails for anything pressing. Then, I did my homework because I find I’m the most productive right in the mornings.
I went to the gym at 6 a.m.
I went to the gym for an hour to do strength and conditioning. It’s HIIT — high-intensity interval training. I shower there and then go to school.
For breakfast, I normally would have a smoothie and sometimes I have snacks to bring with me to class.
Classes usually started at 8 a.m.
I’d try to schedule 8 a.m. classes because I like to get everything done in the morning, then have all my classes back-to-back if possible. I didn’t like any gaps. I might have two classes in a day.
This past semester on Mondays and Wednesdays, I had a two-hour break, but I would stay at school and get my homework done, or use that time to post listings.
Around noon, I ate lunch and practiced Muay Thai.
I finish classes — hopefully — by early afternoon, then have lunch. I’m a Muay Thai practitioner, so then I’d go to my MMA-boxing gym to train in the afternoons.
I saved a lot of money by meal prepping; I’d go grocery shopping on Sundays, then cook my meals for the whole week. It takes about three hours, but I don’t mind cooking. My schedule was boring because I did the same thing every day, but on top of that, I ate the same food every day.
Sometimes I have an afternoon class or fit in some thrift shopping.
If I had time, there was a Goodwill close to my gym where I’d try to squeeze in a quick thrifting trip. Usually, I did that on Fridays, when I didn’t have any classes. I dedicated the weekends to reselling, so that was another way I tried to block my schedule off.
Some days, I went back to school for a 2 p.m. class and my last class would end at 4 p.m.
At night, I did more homework, posted some listings, and went to bed by 7:30 p.m.
If I had any more homework, or if I could get some listings up, I’d do that in the late afternoon. Then, I would eat dinner and go to bed.
Since I’m a kinesiology major, a lot of my classes were labs and I didn’t have a lot of homework. I was fortunate to not have to block out too much time besides the reading. If I could, I tried to get an audio book so I could listen to it in the car or when I’m photographing clothes; I listen to a lot of podcasts or audiobooks while I’m photographing.
Dunlap has scaled the multimedia platform Her First $100K to also include a podcast, book, and more than 2 million social-media followers. Through her financial-advice platform, Dunlap shares her guidance for investing, saving money, and building a business.
In a conversation with Insider, Dunlap shared the most important business investments she’s made and what founders should avoid. This is an as-told-to story based on an interview with Dunlap. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Run a lean team, until you don’t have to
I started the business with very little money, just $20 for the website and $20 for the domain. That low startup cost was crucial for the business, especially because it was a side hustle at first.
Sometimes new founders try to take on too many expenses at once, which can drain your finances. Whether it’s purchasing brand-new equipment to launch or investing in too many ads before the business concept is proven, founders should keep it as lean as possible until their business is earning money.
Most of my investments were in the form of time and energy for the first few years.
People are the most important investment
While I started the business on my own, outsourcing tasks and bringing people onto the team was the best investment I ever made. In fact, the moment I could outsource, I did: I hired my first freelancer when the blog was still a side hustle.
They only worked around five hours a week and I couldn’t pay them much because the business wasn’t making a ton of money. But if I wanted it to grow beyond a side gig, I knew I needed the help.
The first tasks I outsourced were email marketing, graphic design, Instagram posting, and calendar management. I realized that anything I didn’t have to physically be there for could be outsourced to save time and energy.
I get a lot of messages from other entrepreneurs asking how I was able to trust others to help me build my business. There are great people out there with many different skills and strengths, so I relinquished control because I realized I couldn’t do everything alone.
If you can afford to hire somebody and you don’t, you’re actively holding your business back.
Founders should remember their core business goals when making any financial decisions or investments. Decide your own priorities and determine your finances that way.
I often see founders taking on too many expensive new ventures. For instance, it’s very tempting to go all in on creative projects, like a podcast or a YouTube show. But make sure that whatever you’re investing in will actually help you achieve those core goals.
It can be a waste of money if you’re paying for something just because other business owners do.
So many people want to be entrepreneurs because they look up to other founders online. Social media can make it seem like you need to buy the latest equipment, tools, or products or invest in new branding or expensive marketing tactics. But founders should take a look at their books and determine if any money is being spent just to keep up with a trend or someone else’s business model.
Instead, think about the long-term effects of how that new venture or product will make you money in return.
