The $80 used espresso machine I got at a garage sale in Akron taught me more about margins than any book
Bought a beat up Breville off a guy on Craigslist for $80 to try selling drinks at a little weekend market, and it paid for itself in the first month just from regulars walking past my table. What I didn't plan for was the $40 gasket and descale kit that showed up 6 weeks later, and that's when it clicked that the cheap buy in was the easy part. Now I run the numbers on upkeep before I buy anything for the business, and I've passed on two deals that looked good up front. How do you all figure out the real cost of something before it bites you later?