Your constraint is supply.

What that means

Supply-bound means your business is limited by a resource outside it. That has an uncomfortable implication: the effort that would help is not more effort at what you already do. Going back to the same sources more often mostly produces more travel, and the sellers who respond to this constraint by working harder at their existing routine tend to burn out without growing.

It also degrades quietly. Sources that used to be reliable thin out as more sellers find them, so a business that looks stable is often on a slow decline that only becomes visible when a season underperforms. If your answers here pointed at sources that used to work better, that is the signal, not a bad month.

The response that works is structural rather than energetic: change what you buy, change who you buy from, or change how far you will go — in category, in condition, or in distance. Each of those is a real decision with real costs, which is why supply-bound sellers often stall. Widening your category is the most commonly overlooked, because it feels like abandoning expertise when it is usually extending it.

What to do about it

1. 01 Write down where every lot of the last three months actually came from. Concentration is usually worse than it feels, and the list is the argument for doing something about it.
2. 02 Pick one adjacent category you already have the knowledge to judge and test it deliberately for a season, at small size.
3. 03 Move up the chain rather than along it. Buying collections and lots reaches stock that never appears where you are currently looking.
4. 04 Reconsider the items you routinely pass on. A supply-bound seller can often afford condition or complexity that a time-bound one cannot.

And what not to

• Do not add hours at your existing sources. The constraint is what is there, not how often you visit.
• Do not raise what you will pay before you have widened where you look. Paying more for the same scarce stock transfers your margin to the seller.
• Do not read this as a reason to stop. Supply-bound is the normal condition of a business that has got good at everything else.

Read these four, in this order

The course is written to be read start to finish, but if you only have an evening these are the guides that address this constraint directly.

1. 01
   Where to source inventory

   The core guide for this constraint. Read it first, in full.

2. 02
   Buying collections and job lots

   Moving up the chain, and how to price a lot you cannot fully inspect.

3. 03
   Choosing what to sell

   How to judge an adjacent category before committing money to it.

4. 04
   Valuing inventory before you buy it

   Widening what you will buy only works if you can still price it.

Or start the whole thing at part one: 38 guides in 8 parts, free, no signup.