In August I got fired. It was only the second time in my life that I was ever fired. Both times I cried. But the second time, I did something much more important—I got mad. I got so mad, in fact, that I sold the stock I had in the company and opened my own business.

In September One More Time was open for business. The first week, I had fifty women bring in "gently-used good clothes" (a phrase coined by my father, an advertising executive, for my mother's consignment shops back in the 1950's) for me to sell on consignment. Twenty years later, those fifty women became over 20,000, my shop had grown from 750 square feet to 3300 square feet, and I sold in a six hour day what I sold in a month my first year.

How did I do it? There was no magic involved. You can do it too. That's what this book is all about: how to set up, and operate, a resale or consignment shop. One More Time sold clothing and household decorative items, but you could sell anything from furniture to sporting goods to electronic equipment. It all depends on your interests and abilities.