• Daniel Meursing is the CEO of Premier Staff, a luxury event staffing company in LA.
• He worked as server and started his own company living frugally at his mom's house in the suburbs.
• Meursing had to learn to be honest with himself as a CEO to grow his revenue and scale the business.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Daniel Meursing, CEO of Premier Staff. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I moved to New York and signed with New York Model Management in 2015. I was 19 and worked for a catering company as a "model server." The pay was $27 an hour, and it was a good side gig. I was also a brand ambassador for a friend's staffing company working at pop-up events.

In 2019, I moved back to LA, to live with my mom in the suburbs. I had obtained my license as a mortgage lender and was working at a loan company.

Times were lean, so I also took gigs working for an event staff company in LA.

A guest at a party I was working at in LA approached me and asked if I could staff a couple of his art parties every month. He'd been impressed by my work managing high-profile guests at the party. I had some experience managing events, so agreed.

Within a few weeks of meeting this client, I had staffed my first party. I was nervous and had no idea what I was doing. I had to learn how to file invoices and pick a business name, Premier Staff.

Finding staff for these early events was hard, and I'd often ask friends to help out last minute. I was never confident staff would show up on time or in the right uniform. In the beginning, I led every event on-site.

The parties went smoothly because I would walk around the space like a madman, making sure everything was perfect.

I made about $22,000 in 2019 from managing my events and working for other staffing companies, reinvesting those wages back into my business.

I was also fired from my mortgage lending job that year. My heart wasn't really in mortgage lending, and I was excited about my new opportunity. It felt like a sign.

I was eating McDonalds every day to keep costs low

I was living off credit cards and cobbled together $4,000 to purchase the website domain "premierstaff.com." I spent six months building the website and creating the brand. I ate $5 meals at McDonalds and invested everything back into the business.

I launched Premier Staff in October 2019. I was young enough to afford the risk of starting a business and was fortunate to live with my mom.

One of the main things that helped me get a second client was optimizing my website to rank on Google and creating a Google Business listing. This is how my second client, L'Amour Events, reached out the following month. They produced weddings in Beverly Hills and hired me as one of their on-site coordinators.

People began calling to book events from my Google listing. When I started booking several events per day, I knew I needed to hire trustworthy people to lead them. I built an internal leadership training program to teach my leaders how to keep clients happy.

We provided luxury staff and helped coordinate event spaces, schedules, and timings. From October 2019 to February 2020, I was gathering solid momentum, and my revenue was growing.

COVID shut our revenue to zero

There was no work during 2020. It was disheartening. I got a job as a mortgage lender again. Interest rates had cratered, and the lending business was booming.

In 2021, My business was still shut down. But I got a call from a client asking to hire 50 people in a week's time for a wedding. They must have found my website or Google listing.

I said yes, hoping I could figure it out. Other staffing agencies had closed down or were scared of COVID.

I contacted the managers at other agencies and asked them to help me. I figured that if I had good leadership, I could pad the rest out with less experienced staff. After that event, I was back in business.

This client ended up being a big wedding producer and loved our service. She gave us referrals and repeat business. In 2021, I expanded very quickly because I said yes to everyone and captured a lot of business quickly.

We made about $250,000 in revenue in 2021, even though it was half a year of trading. We worked on The Kid LAROI's 18th birthday party, the week his song with Justin Bieber became No. 1 on the charts. They did a performance with pyrotechnics at the event.

Hiring my first full-time employee was a huge factor in our ability to scale. I hired a young, quick-texting micro influencer. She was naturally good at finding people to help me last minute and handling back-and-forth communications. I think the scariest part for entrepreneurs is hiring the first employee, but it has a big impact on the business.

In 2022 and 2023, we brought in around $950,000 in revenue. We focused on building infrastructure and internal systems and brought in just over $1 million in revenue last year.

You have to be honest with yourself as a CEO

If you want to be a CEO and lead, you have to reinvent yourself and be willing to learn. You have to have uncomfortable conversations with yourself about anything that may be holding you back. I'm a sole owner. I don't have partners, investors, or formal business education. My business is just trial and error.

There was a point where I hit a cap in my growth. The company was doing well, but I wasn't hitting the projections I'd envisioned. I could've blamed the economy and my team or made excuses. But, being honest with myself, I was taking on things I enjoyed within the business that weren't helping move the business forward.

As CEO, I need to ensure the company's growth. So, I realigned my focus to where I was needed most. Since I've done that, we've closed much bigger deals. In 2025, I hired a sales and marketing team and we've brought in $250,000 in revenue by mid February.

• Lizeth Cuara bought her first pallet of Amazon returns in 2015 for $5,000 to flip for a profit.
• Cuara worked long hours listing items on the platform and learned the business from YouTube.
• The hustle helped her launch her own retail business which brought in $5 million in sales last year.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Lizeth Cuara, CEO of Misty Phases, a luxury postpartum wear line. Business Insider has verified the financials with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I grew up in Compton and was living paycheck to paycheck, working in property management in LA. I didn't feel valued in my job and was looking for a way out.

My friend suggested I try flipping Amazon return pallets as a side hustle. He had seen friends do it and thought it would help me leave my job.

The pallets were filled with customer returns like shoes, electronics, and lotions. My friend said you could resell these items on platforms like eBay and make a profit. He knew the warehouses that sold pallets but didn't know more about how it worked.

This was in February 2015, I was 30 years old and had saved $10,000 since I started working at 17. I decided use my savings and buy two pallets. The worst thing that could happen was returning to the same job and living as I had been.

Learning how to flip Amazon returns pallets

Within days of having that conversation with my friend, I went to a warehouse in LA to buy my first pallet. The seller was hesitant; he'd seen people fail in this business. I persuaded him to sell me two $5,000 pallets.

I began sorting through the pallets with no idea what I was looking for. I kept whatever looked new. My friend had said people sold the items on eBay, so I searched 'how to list something on eBay' on YouTube.

I downloaded the eBay app and photographed each item on my phone. I uploaded them with the name and price, using YouTube as my guide. I sold items on the first day. Then I had to learn how to ship the items and get paid via PayPal. It was a process of trial, error and YouTube.

I initially focused on getting good reviews so buyers would trust my little eBay store. I also had to be careful not to list anything that was restricted by eBay so my account didn't get banned. There were strict and detailed rules about what you can list.

The products sold quickly at prices slightly lower than what people could find on Amazon. I didn't have to do marketing because people were already searching for them on eBay. Once I learned how to post, ship, and price items, it became about listing as many items as possible daily. The more I listed, the more I sold.

It was time-consuming, but I started making money from the pallets right away. With PayPal and eBay, your funds are available almost immediately, so I was able to live off that income. In my first month, I brought in $10,000 in sales, and within a few months, I hit $15,000.

Flipping pallets was lucrative but unpredictable

I was earning more than my old job, but the business was unpredictable. A $5,000 pallet could yield $3,000, break even, or bring in $15,000. One month in, I knew I was going to quit my full time job. Selling pallets was more work, but I enjoyed learning the process even if the days were long. I only slept a couple of hours every night and was constantly working.

My first step in scaling the business was learning I could buy larger pallets of all one item.

Within weeks of purchasing my first pallets, I went back to buy more. My initial seller told me I could go to a second warehouse that had products from Amazon sellers that were abandoned or defective. Those pallets would have repetitive items where I'd only have to create one post on eBay, but they were pricey.

I bought mixed pallets about twice a month until I could afford the more expensive pallets of repetitive items.

After the first few months, I began spotting patterns in the inventory. Certain types of products consistently sold well that weren't big brands. I learned they were called white-label goods. By researching on Amazon, I found that these lesser-known brands were generating impressive sales.

The pallet business was profitable, but lacked consistency. I couldn't rely on this model long-term.

About eight months after I started selling the pallets, I started researching how to develop and manufacture my own products.

Launching my own products

I used the money I had generated from eBay as seed money to create products. Having savings gave me the freedom to experiment with samples and overcome setbacks.

My first products were lotions, teas, waist trainers, and sauna belts. Through my experience with the pallets, I knew people wanted these items. I hired a marketing agency and promoted my products using Facebook ads and influencer marketing.

To my surprise, the products did exceptionally well. They were featured by Univision and CBS in their lifestyle segments.

Manufacturers often require large orders when you're making products. The downside is that not every product will succeed. In my experience, it's best to launch with three or four products because only one or two will likely perform well. I always advise against putting all your money into a single product.

The upside is that when you order in bulk, your cost per item goes down, which helps with margins. Plus, owning an original product means less competition and more control over pricing.

I learned invaluable lessons about pricing, demand, and customer behavior. These lessons helped me launch my luxury postpartum wear line Misty Phases based on my own traumatic birth and recovery.

I knew how to manufacture products, run Facebook ads, and sell on Amazon and my website. I started Misty Phases at the end of 2022, and it generated over $5 million in sales in 2024.

Betting on myself was the best decision

Buying Amazon return pallets was one of the best decisions I ever made. They provided seed money, insight into e-commerce, and a crash course in entrepreneurship. Now, I'm a single mom and I own a home in California.

There are risks and challenges in flipping pallets, but it's an incredible way to learn the ropes of selling online, test product ideas, and build capital for bigger dreams. The key is dedication and hard work.

Even now, I know that if everything came crashing down tomorrow, I'd go back to buying pallets in a heartbeat.