We recently connected with Katey Morgan and have shared our conversation below.

Katey, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

In high school my dad sold perfumes on eBay, so I had always been familiar with eBay and had always had an account and randomly sold things here and there. Then in 2019 I became pretty sick, and struggled mentally with trying to go into my 9-5 everyday both physically and mentally. I was a single mom with my daughter and working hard to manage being a home owner on my own. That’s when I decided I really want something I can do to help with bills and to get out of debt. Then the universe dropped books in my lap. My friend was moving to Utah and gave me four plastic storage containers full of books. She knew I was a big reader and at the time I had a bookstagram account under “KateyReads”. Instead of trying to trade the books in for in-store credit at a local bookstore, I decided to list the books on ebay. I researched “selling books on ebay” and found nothing. The first YouTuber I found that was talking about selling books was Steve Raiken with Raiken Profit. He explained Amazon FBA and how it was better than selling on ebay. I chose to just try it my own way first on ebay, but still opened an Amazon seller account as a back up. I honestly just dove in. I learned USPS media mail policy, I took my time with each listing, and just went for it. I purchased tons of different shipping materials and kept learning a lot about things that sell well on ebay. I almost immediately started selling books, at least one sale a day. The feeling was so powerful and gave me a lot of hope that I could do this long term. The best part was I had no cost of goods into the books. Over time, I expanded to buying books at library sales and selling them on Amazon FBA. Ebay and Amazon were running perfectly parallel together. However, the sales can be slow for books. Average book can take 30 days to sell and I found myself using my own money to buy books to sell. That is when I connected with my mentor, Matt Adolph, who taught me a lot about obtaining free inventory. I decided to incorporate my love for books as a support service for my community. “KateyReads Free Book Pick Up” expanded into a business Facebook page. I had my sisters help with designing my logo, business card, and even helping with pick ups. The books came from everywhere. Homes, schools, churches, daycares, and even a hospital! Then COVID hit. My entire Amazon business went on hold, my ebay business spiked, and I was stuck at home working remotely with zero free time for book pick ups. I was a commercial lender at the time and leading our team through the SBA PPP loan process. Eventually, as things evolved to a new normal, I was able to finally get back to picking up books. My social media presence was growing and a lot of people told me to share my journey on YouTube. In February of 2021 I posted my first YouTube video. I enjoyed having a group of people that sold on ebay like I did and found many people sold books on tons of platforms. It was then I knew I no longer wanted to just get out of debt, I wanted to do this full time as my job. A lot of family had been self employed or business owners and I feel like it was a pretty normal thing I was surrounded by. April of 2021 I met Dontae and we fell in love. He moved up here to Michigan and by August I was pregnant with our son. At this time I was also expanding to Etsy with bookmarks and crafts. By the time my son was born in April of 2022, I was making enough to decide to stay home with my children. It is a lot more work than a regular job, but I love being a content creator, a crafter and a reseller. Making money whenever I want to, on my own time with no ceiling to the financial possibilities is the best feeling in the world.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Katey aka “KateyReads”. I am a book lover that gets paid to rehome books! I resell on eBay, Etsy, Amazon and whatnot. I also Tun a YouTube channel, a free book pick up service and write short stories for fun. My free book pick up service is vital to my community because it helps keep books and media and ephemera out of our landfills. I love making bookmarks and book related crafts on Etsy because it connects me with my grandmother that passes away in 2011. I created my YouTube channel to encourage, document and hopefully educate others. I don’t claim to be an expert of any kind, but I do hope to give value to anyone who follows me on social media. My branding is books and media. I start every video as “hey media Mail gang” which has now become part of my branding and merch. I try to bring a unique, Latina female perspective. While I am no longer a single mom, I do want to show other single moms anything is possible for extra cash or a full time gig.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I was in the corporate world for 12 years. I had been taught education, public image and reputation are everything. You are constantly representing the company even outside of work. When I first started my business I kept it very private and all that did was hurt me. I finally decided I didn’t care what anyone thought. This was fun, I was good at it and I wasn’t doing it on work time. Breaking free from that concept that I can be my true self has done nothing but grow and grow my social media and business. I had to unlearn caring about what other people thought.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

While I do not have an actual business partner, my family has been essential to my business growth. From day one my parents supported me and helped me find books. My baby sister has helped me with pick ups and my younger sister has designed almost all my logos, branding and merchandise! Now that I am full time even friends give me free shipping materials, boxes, books, media. and best of all they spread the word! Supporting an entrepreneur can be free and easy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kateymorgan.com
• Instagram: KateyReads
• Facebook: KateyReads YouTube
• Youtube: KateyReads
• Other: WhatNot, eBay and Etsy: KateyReads

Image Credits
Logos by Kristina Good Design and Derrick Lyon