How to Run a Successful Yard Sale:

“Your trash is my treasure.”

- Nick Serrano

I never fully understood that phrase until two weekends ago.

Yes, that's right readers...yours truly experienced his first ever yard sale. And I’m still trying to figure out what happened.

Did you know that almost everything you ever thought of throwing out or donating, someone else will pay money for? Not a lot of money. But they will pay. Ohhhhh, they’ll pay. But only if you do it right. And I’m going to tell you how with these five easy steps:

1. You ever see “Glenngarry Glen Ross”? Great movie. One of the best lines in the movie is when Alec Baldwin says, “A-B-C, A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing.” Well you need one of these sellers. Fortunately for us, we had one: My girlfriend’s sister - Janet. She could sell a water bottle to someone already drinking out of one. She could sell you size 24 jeans if you could barely squeeze into size 36’s. You got kids? Well you need a used stuffed animal. You got hardwood floors? Here are some nasty, used slippers for those cold winter nights. What’s that?? Your boy needs a new shirt? Take this “Beer is Best” t-shirt. Sure your boy is only twelve, but the shirt fits him perfectly. The lesson here…Always Be Closing. No matter what.
2. You think people are above stealing from a yard sale? You are wrong. They will steal from a homeless man if they can get away with it. That’s why you need security. And I’m not talking about the bouncer types sitting outside your favorite clubs or the bodyguards protecting the most famous celebs. All you need is a guy standing by the sidewalk with his feet shoulder width apart and arms crossed. That’s it. If he has on dark sunglasses, that’ll provide added fear.
3. Do a group yard sale. Everyone has crap to get rid of. Better yet; everyone has different, random stuff (this adds to variety of inventory). Split up the tables and the yard and no matter what, your yard sale will look packed. For example, our yard sale was shared between three different groups consisting of eight people. That meant at anytime, there were at least eight people standing around. And that’s HUGE...because people will feel awkward stopping by a yard sale if they are the only ones there. It’s like walking into one of those local shops on any popular tourist area (Times Square, Canal St., etc) but you’re the only one there. You’re more prone to leave without buying anything. Because just like those local shops that you find on every corner, there is a yard sale on every other block. There were at least three yard sales that we knew of in a ten block radius. But those were empty and the people selling were bored out of their mind. Why? Because it looked like a ghost town. If you can’t get other people to do the yard sale with you, or are just selfish and don’t like to share, then at least get friends to stop by and hang out. That gives off the same appearance.
4. Bring a dog. Doesn't even have to be yours. Dogs attract crowds. Once the crowd comes, you go into seller mode and drop step #1 on them. See how I brought that back full circle.
5. Offer free stuff. People love free stuff. You know how many people will wait outside in the freezing cold for free movie tickets…hundreds of people. You know how many people will wait to get into the MOMA for free on Fridays? Put it this way, don’t even bother to go unless you plan on getting there very early. You want to hold a training session or a conference at work? Just offer free food and the people will come. It really is that simple. You don’t even need anything fancy…just some homemade lemonade or iced tea and some munchkins. And like Field of Dreams, “The people will come.”
   (Sidenote: I was thinking of pulling a Crazy Eddie's and parking my car in the front and offering to sell it too. Even joking that if you bought enough merchandise, you get the car for free. Of course, I didn't. Instead I offered my friends house if you bought enough jewelry. Heck, it wasn't my house...)

So there you go. Five easy steps and you’ll be raking in more singles than Kraft. Bad joke? Well someone sell me that bad joke book you got as a gift a long time ago. Boom…lesson #1.