The UpFlip Podcast

In 2019, Caleb was completely broke, living in a one-bedroom apartment, and trying to support his wife through law school on a single nonprofit salary. Armed with just $500 in leftover birthday money and a beat-up Prius, he started scouring yard sales and thrift stores for items with low perceived value.
Fast forward to today, Caleb is the founder of Quick Flips—a massive video game reselling operation that includes a retail store, a private Amazon FBA network, and a 30-person team. The company is currently pulling in up to $600,000 a month in revenue and is on track to hit $10 million this year.
In this episode of the UpFlip Podcast, Caleb sits down with Ryan Atkinson to break down the exact blueprint for turning a weekend side hustle into an eight-figure empire. He reveals why pawn shops are a massive goldmine for underpriced games, how to negotiate bulk deals to guarantee your profit margins, and the exact steps you can take this weekend to start your own flipping business from scratch.
🎙️ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
The "Low Perceived Value" Strategy: Why starting with unsexy, ignored items (like used books or electrical breakers) is the fastest way to build your initial bankroll without facing stiff competition.

Pawn Shop Arbitrage: How to exploit the gap between pawn shop sticker prices and Amazon FBA market value by negotiating clever bulk-buy discounts.

The "Quick Nickel" Mindset: Why pricing your items 5% below market value to guarantee rapid sell-through will mathematically beat holding out for top dollar every single time.

The $5,500 Flip: The story behind Caleb's most profitable flip ever (a graded copy of Wolverine on the NES) and how to spot rare, high-ticket collectibles.

The 3-Step Beginner's Blueprint: The exact three things you need to do this weekend to launch your reselling side hustle using nothing but cash and the eBay app.

Tags: Side hustle, Retail Goods, Startup, Passive income, Retail Goods, Video Game Reselling
Resources:
If you’ve been putting off starting a business… good. Because before you jump into an idea that worked for someone else, you should figure out what kind of business actually fits you. That’s why we created the best Assessment there is. It’s a free tool that asks about your skills, experience, budget, goals, location, and preferences — then matches you with business ideas that make the most sense for YOU. The results are scary accurate. Click the link in the show notes to see your best-fit business ideas in seconds — for free.
Grow your business today: https://accelerator.upflip.com/assessment  

Follow Our Second Channel Here: https://next.upflip.com/spotify 

Connect with Caleb: https://www.instagram.com/quickflipsvideogames/?hl=en

Kim Hatch was at rock bottom. After seven grueling years working as a police officer in a domestic violence unit, she lost her job and found herself navigating a brutal divorce. She needed to completely reinvent her life—but she never expected that salvation would come in the form of a septic tank.
With zero industry experience (admitting she "didn't even know where poop went") and a single $100,000 used truck, Kim launched Turner Septic Services. Her first job took her four hours and left her in tears. Today? Her team completes 18 jobs a day, pumps up to 400,000 gallons a month, and generates up to $200,000 a month in peak-season revenue.
In this episode of the UpFlip Podcast, Kim sits down with Ryan Atkinson to share her unbelievable "zero-to-hero" story. She breaks down exactly how she disrupted a dinosaur industry by combining grueling hard work with modern technology—like outfitting her trucks with Starlink satellite internet and using heating mats to thaw frozen ground in -30 degree blizzards.
If you want to know what it really takes to survive the school of hard knocks and build a highly profitable blue-collar business, this episode is a masterclass in resilience and innovation.
🎙️ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
The Ultimate Pivot: How to push past imposter syndrome and launch a highly profitable service business in an industry you know absolutely nothing about.

Tech in the Trenches: How Kim uses Starlink, digital reporting software, and iPads to dominate older, tech-resistant competitors.

The "Mini-Truck" Strategy: Why Turner Septic custom-built a specialized 1,400-gallon 4x4 truck to service mountain-top clients that no other company could reach.

Surviving Seasonal Dips: The reality of managing extreme revenue swings (from $200K months in summer to $30K months in winter) and how to keep your crew on payroll year-round.

Redefining Customer Service: Why sending detailed, empathetic, photo-heavy invoices is the ultimate hack for driving 5-star reviews and real estate referrals.

Tags: Home Services, Service & Consulting, Side Hustle, Business Growth, Social Media Marketing
Resources:
The only thing worse than never starting a business… is starting the wrong one. That’s why we created the UpFlip Assessment. It’s a free tool that matches you with business ideas based on your skills, budget, experience, goals, and the kind of work you actually want to do. The results are scary accurate. Click the link in the show notes to see your best-fit business ideas in seconds — for free.
Grow your business today: https://accelerator.upflip.com/assessment 

Follow Our Second Channel Here: https://next.upflip.com/spotify 

Connect with Kim: https://www.tiktok.com/@turnerseptic

Gianni Santino was exhausted. As a police officer in Connecticut working up to 80 hours a week, he had barely any time for his family. After a failed attempt at real estate investing left him buried in COVID-related evictions, Gianni stumbled upon a goldmine hidden in plain sight: a sketchy ATM inside a gentlemen's club that was quietly printing thousands of dollars a night in surcharge fees.
Realizing you didn't need to be a bank to own an ATM, Gianni bought his first machine, loaded it with the last $500 he had, and watched the passive income start rolling in. Today, Gianni has retired from the police force and runs a massive network of nearly 100 ATMs from his laptop in Miami, generating over $40,000 a month in revenue.
In this episode of the UpFlip Podcast, Gianni sits down with Ryan Atkinson to reveal the exact blueprint for starting your own highly profitable ATM side hustle. He breaks down the startup costs, the best (and worst) locations to target, and how to safely load and manage your machines working just a few hours a month.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
The $2,500 Startup Strategy: The exact machine brands you should buy (Hyosung and Genmega) and the truth about how much cash you actually need to load your first ATM.

The "Donut" Pitch: Gianni’s foolproof, low-pressure sales tactic for getting cash-only business owners (like barbershops and dispensaries) to let you place an ATM in their store for free.

Avoiding the Gym Trap: Why high-foot-traffic areas like gyms are terrible for ATMs, and the specific high-demand locations you should target instead.

Safety & Security Protocols: How to make yourself a hard target. Gianni reveals his 2-minute loading rule, why you should never load a machine during business hours, and the critical importance of bolting your ATM down.

Why Cash is Still King: Debunking the myth of a "cashless society" and why the closure of local bank branches is actually creating a massive opportunity for independent ATM operators.

Tags: Side hustle, Entrepreneurship, Passive income, ATM business, Startup
Resources:
If you’ve been putting off starting a business… good. Because before you jump into an idea that worked for someone else, you should figure out what kind of business actually fits you. That’s why we created the best Assessment there is. It’s a free tool that asks about your skills, experience, budget, goals, location, and preferences — then matches you with business ideas that make the most sense for YOU. The results are scary accurate. Click the link in the show notes to see your best-fit business ideas in seconds — for free.
Grow your business today: https://accelerator.upflip.com/assessment 

Follow Our Second Channel Here: https://next.upflip.com/spotify 

Connect with Gianni: https://www.instagram.com/atmoperations/

Joe Fontana spent a decade chasing a punk rock music career and another six years trapped in a soul-crushing corporate job that caused his leg hair to fall out from stress. Broke and with a baby on the way, he packed up his life, moved into his in-laws' basement, and took the ultimate leap of faith.
He borrowed $21,000 from his mother's savings, scrapped his original restaurant idea, and launched Fry the Coop. Today, that single chicken sandwich shop has exploded into a fast-casual powerhouse with 11 locations, over 200 employees, and $15 million in annual revenue.
In this episode of the UpFlip Podcast, Joe sits down with Ryan Atkinson to break down the exact roadmap he used to scale from an empty cash register to an eight-figure empire. He reveals why hiring a publicist was the ultimate cheat code to hitting his first million, how treating customer service like "vanilla ice cream" scaled him to $5M, and the painful $12,000 accounting mistake that taught him why you must watch your financials like a hawk.
Whether you want to open a restaurant or scale a local brick-and-mortar, Joe drops the unvarnished truth on what it takes to survive and thrive.
🎙️ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
The $60K Lean Startup: How Joe opened his first location by securing a 2nd-generation space, and why leasing restaurant equipment was his most expensive early mistake.

The Publicist Hack (0 to $1M): Why the secret to your first million isn't better food—it's media exposure. How local TV spots on WGN and ABC forced Joe to hire 25 people overnight.

The "Vanilla Ice Cream" Philosophy: Why legendary customer service will outsell your best product every single time.

The 3 Pillars of a $10M+ Business: The non-negotiable holy trinity of scaling a physical footprint: Great Service, Great Product, and Air-Tight Financials.

Reverse Engineering Success: Why setting an audacious $200M goal changed how Joe operated his business from day one.

Tags: Restaurant business, Retail Goods, Business scaling, Retail Goods, Chicken Sandwich
Resources:
The only thing worse than never starting a business… is starting the wrong one. That’s why we created the UpFlip Assessment. It’s a free tool that matches you with business ideas based on your skills, budget, experience, goals, and the kind of work you actually want to do. The results are scary accurate. Click the link in the show notes to see your best-fit business ideas in seconds — for free.
UpFlip Assessment Tool:  https://accelerator.upflip.com/assessment 

Follow Our Second Channel Here: https://next.upflip.com/spotify 

Connect with Joe: https://www.instagram.com/frythecoop/?hl=en

Christian Lynch went from running a childhood lemonade stand to dropping out of college, but he never lost his entrepreneurial drive. Today, he is the founder of Phase Two Coffee, a private catering mobile coffee cart generating $25,000 to $27,000 a month/cart—all without the massive overhead, debt, or risk of a traditional brick-and-mortar cafe.
In this episode of the UpFlip Podcast, Christian breaks down his exact blueprint for launching and scaling a highly profitable mobile coffee cart business. He shares how working for free at a local shop saved him half a million dollars in mistakes, why B2B corporate events make up roughly 94% of his revenue, and how to craft irresistible offers that keep event planners coming back.
Whether you love coffee or are just looking for a lucrative, low-overhead business model, this episode is packed with actionable advice on sales, marketing, and avoiding expensive rookie mistakes.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
The Power of Free Labor: Why working for free at a coffee shop for two months saved him an estimated $500,000 in expensive business mistakes.

The B2B Goldmine: Why corporate events make up 93-94% of his total revenue, and why B2B clients have vastly better budgets than B2C.

Targeting the Gatekeepers: Why you should actively market your services to wedding and event planners instead of trying to sell directly to brides and grooms.

Crafting Irresistible Offers: How applying principles from Alex Hormozi's $100M Offers helped him perfectly price and position his coffee cart experience.

Start-Up Costs: A realistic breakdown of the $2,000 to $15,000 capital needed to build out your own cart, espresso machine, and grinder setup.

Stop dreaming about a brick-and-mortar cafe and learn how to take your business on the road!
Tags: Business ideas, Entrepreneurship, Business growth, Startup, Side Hustle
Resources:Tired of guessing what business you should start? Before you waste months chasing an idea that doesn’t fit you, take the UpFlip Assessment. It’s a free tool that asks about your skills, budget, experience, goals, location, and what kind of work you actually enjoy — then matches you with business ideas that make the most sense for YOU. Click the link in the show notes to see your best-fit business ideas in seconds — for free.
UpFlip Assessment Tool:  https://accelerator.upflip.com/assessment 

Follow Our Second Channel Here: https://next.upflip.com/spotify 

Connect with Christian: https://www.instagram.com/christian.j.lynch/