Kimberly Balance sells vintage luxury bags through her online store, KIMMIEBBAGS.
She also hosts live shopping shows on TikTok, Instagram, and Whatnot.
This is Kimberly’s story, as told to reporter Lakshmi Varanasi.
In May 2020, I was running an agency that staffed brand ambassadors at marketing events. The pandemic was in full swing, no one was going to events, and my business took a halt.
So I decided to take a chance on myself.
I studied fashion in college and had a passion for luxury goods. I had been seeing ads for three free months of Shopify, so I opened up a store for luxury consignment accessories. That’s when KIMMIEBBAGS was born.
My first year was slow. I didn’t sell many bags or bring in much revenue.
About 10 months in, I was ready to shut down my business. I made a TikTok video about how I was preparing to close shop due to lackluster sales — and it went viral!
My followers shot up from a few thousand to close to 20,000. That February alone I sold 40 bags.
Now, I run the company with a team of four other people. I have close to 80,000 followers on TikTok. Last year, I sold over 2,500 bags and earned $1.3 million in sales. I’ve already brought in $2.1 million this year.
I also do 2 to 3 live shopping shows a week across TikTok, Instagram, and the live shopping platform Whatnot.
So, yes, I’d say I’m a full-time live shopping host.
A Day in the Life
Around noon each day, my team and I begin sorting through our emails. If we have bags we need to ship out to customers we start packing those.
Then, I start working on any content I need to post on TikTok. Being a live-shopping host means I moonlight as a content creator, too.
If I have a live show planned that day I start preparing to go on air.
My TikTok shows, which air around 8:30 pm twice a week, usually draw at least 1,000 viewers. My last show brought in 51,000 viewers.
On Friday afternoons, I host a lunchtime show on Whatnot where I usually get a few hundred viewers. It’s largely a work-from-home crowd winding down for the weekend.
Once in a while, I also host smaller, intimate shows for about 50 of my VIP customers on Instagram.
Since I’m a consignment business, people send me their bags, and I give them a cut of the profit. I also pay Whatnot a platform fee and give them a small cut of the profit. On Instagram and TikTok, I air my shows for free.
Shows are fun because we usually have giveaways. Sometimes, a consignor will agree to have me start the bidding for a bag at just $1. I ended up selling a small, vintage Gucci bag once for $200.
#KimmieCrew
Those who buy bags from me have been tagging themselves under the hashtag #KimmieCrew. That’s helped me build a vibrant, online community of vintage, luxury bag lovers.
Through the TikTok algorithm, I also draw in viewers who are curious about luxury fashion but don’t have much exposure to it.
It’s unreal how many people come to my shows and tell me that they didn’t know the proper name for a Louis Vuitton bag and were too afraid to ask.
My goal is to build an inviting community and ensure no one feels any type of way for not knowing about Gucci or Louis Vuitton. There are no silly questions in my shows.
One question I receive often though is “How do I practice to become a host?”
You have to learn to talk to yourself on camera, with no one looking back at you, and no response.
There’s a quiet air, but I love it.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Anavex Life Sciences said its experimental Alzheimer's treatment met the goals of a midstage study, leading AVXL stock to rocket early Friday.
Nio is growing rapidly, as its latest delivery numbers suggest, but this week's epic rally was driven almost entirely by one macroeconomic trigger. For that matter, Nio's CEO William Li also had some big things to say this week, including his belief that Nio will give German luxury carmaker BMW a run for its money. Because Nio is a Chinese company, its stock price has been all over the place in recent months as China grappled with surging COVID-19 cases and put large regions, including important manufacturing hubs, under strict lockdowns.
ZIM (ZIM) has been one of the stocks most watched by Zacks.com users lately. So, it is worth exploring what lies ahead for the stock.
Shares of restaurant company Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ: CBRL) crumbled on Friday after the company reported financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal 2023 and lowered expectations for the rest of the year. As of 11:30 a.m. ET, Cracker Barrel stock was down 11%. Cracker Barrel is a tale of two lines: the top and bottom.
Wedbush on Friday launched coverage of Green Thumb Industries Inc. , Cresco Labs Inc. , Curaleaf Holdings Inc. and Trulieve Cannabis Corp. with outperform ratings. Analyst Gerald Pascarelli said of the four cannabis companies Green Thumb Industries ranks as Wedbush's top pick. "We believe that brighter days lie ahead for the U.S. cannabis industry and that incremental revenues from new states slated to come online for adult use sales, coupled with a normalization in trend in legacy markets, as w
In this article, we discuss the 11 best aggressive stocks to buy now. If you want to read about some more aggressive stocks, go directly to the 5 Best Aggressive Stocks to Buy Now. Aggressive stocks are high-risk, high-reward growth stocks that can provide investors with strong returns. Growth stocks offer a substantially higher growth […]
Yahoo Finance Live’s Brad Smith discusses how markets opened on Friday.
And if you’re behind? It’s OK boomer. There’s still some time to catch up.
Shares of Spectrum Brands (NYSE: SPB) were surging 21.9% higher at 11:07 a.m. ET Friday morning after the consumer and home products company announced it was another step closer to selling off its hardware and home improvement (HHI) business for $4.3 billion. While the development could be a good one for Spectrum, it's still an amazing jump in the share price. Over a year ago, Spectrum Brands had announced its intention to sell the HHI business to Assa Abloy (OTC: ASAZY), a Swedish conglomerate.
Shares of Costco fell after November data revealed a drop in sales.
Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss the decline in stock for Zscaler following first-quarter earnings.
Trading was halted for AMC after the stock saw heavy volume on Thursday afternoon.
Over the last 30 years I’ve accumulated a lot of “junk” from eBay Now, I’m also trying to clean out my house, and sell it at cost or a small profit. With eBay now sending out 1099s, I believe I have to pay taxes on the profits. Is it possible to use the income figure on the 1099, say $6,000, and contribute this amount to an IRA rather than claim the small profit and pay taxes?
Biotech company Veru (NASDAQ: VERU) aims to make products to treat cancer and infectious diseases. Instead, it has been the company's potential COVID treatment that has been getting investors excited. With the stock recently crashing and now at its lowest levels since March, is now the time to buy shares of Veru?
(Bloomberg) — Mohamed El-Erian sees the rollercoaster ride in financial markets, with Friday’s surprisingly strong US jobs report producing the latest drop, as another lesson for Chairman Jerome Powell and his Federal Reserve colleagues.Most Read from BloombergMusk’s Neuralink Hopes to Implant Computer in Human Brain in Six MonthsGoldman Jolts Traders With Bonus Warning After Bumper HaulMusk Suspends Ye From Twitter After Offensive Image PostBeverly Hills Cop Was California’s Highest-Paid Munic
The biotech reported positive results from a phase 2b/3 study of its lead Alzheimer's disease candidate.
Fast-growing businesses and healthy opportunities for expansion could give these stocks a nice shot in the arm next year.
Lots of Chinese tech stocks soared this week, including iQIYI (NASDAQ: IQ), Full Truck Alliance (NYSE: YMM), and GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: GDS), which were up 19.3%, 33.2%, and 30.2%, respectively, at the end of trading on Thursday. Virtually all Chinese tech stocks rose after last-week's widespread protests paradoxically sparked hopes that China would relax its strict COVID-19 lockdown measures in due course. Interestingly, both Full Truck Alliance and GDS Holdings beat both revenue and profit expectations handily, while iQIYI was mixed, delivering a revenue beat but a miss on profit expectations.
MarketWatch Picks has highlighted these products and services because we think readers will find them useful; the MarketWatch News staff is not involved in creating this content. “You will want to consider your health, income, expenses, inflation, and other financial goals, as well as whether you have sufficient assets and are confident in your understanding of what retirement entails.”
With shares of Axsome Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AXSM) skyrocketing 87% so far this year, the biotech's shareholders are doubtlessly pleased. Thanks to a pair of newly approved products, growth is finally on the way — with revenue set to go from practically $0 to more than $100 million in the course of a year.