Happy Thursday! (And sorry- accidentally put #106 twice, so hopped forward to #108)

Okay, so I'm about to show you how to make money in the most unconventional way possible.

No crypto. No dropshipping. No affiliate links. Just you, a Costco membership, and one of the oldest forms of wealth on the planet.

I kept seeing people talk about it, and wanted to try it out so I did. And I filmed the whole thing. I haven’t posted it yet, but you can bet it’ll be up on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts when I do.

Apparently, you can make between $200 and $1,000 per week by buying gold bars at Costco and flipping them online. Sounds insane, right? Yeah, I had to test it myself.

I walked into a Plano Costco with $4,209 cash. Costco sells gold bars. Real, certified, one-ounce gold bars- just sitting right there in the store.

They price them competitively enough that people are convinced there's an arbitrage opportunity. The theory? Buy gold at Costco, flip it online, and pocket the credit card rewards in between.

When I called the Plano location, the employee told me they had 24 bars in stock. Last week they sold out within an hour. This week? Slower. Price went up slightly, so demand dropped.

Human psychology. When gold gets expensive, everyone rushes to buy. When it dips, fear kicks in.

So I decided to test if there's actually a window here.

Costco gold stock typically arrives on Wednesdays. Always call on a Wednesday morning. If they don't have inventory, call again in the afternoon.

The personal limit is five bars per membership per day. The business membership gets you another five. That's 10 bars if you have both. We're talking $42,000 in gold walking out with you.

When I went, the employee mentioned a customer who bought 10 bars that morning using dual memberships. That's $50,000 in her pocket. She's clearly doing something with volume.

After buying my bar, I called local gold buyers to see what they'd pay.

First quote: $3,976. No way. I just paid $4,209.

That's a $233 loss right out of the gate. Second buyer wasn't much better. Local buyers operate in a tiny pond with limited competition, so they lowball you hard.

This is where I understood why most people would quit and assume the whole thing is a scam.

But the real play isn't selling locally. You need a bigger marketplace…

Enter Apmex Collect Pure. (It's basically eBay for precious metals.)

Here's how it works. You list your gold bar, someone buys it, and Collect Pure plays middleman. They send you a prepaid FedEx label. You ship the gold directly to them. They test it with professional equipment to verify authenticity. Once confirmed, they notify the buyer and release your payment.

The buyer's money sits in escrow. You get paid once Collect Pure validates the gold. The buyer gets the gold once you get paid. They even video the repacking process and require signature on delivery.

So I listed my bar. Shipped it triple-packed to FedEx. Took pictures of everything for insurance. And now I'm waiting to see what actually happens.

Okay, even if you get paid more than what you bought for, is it all worth it? Here's the theory:

You can supposedly earn 5% to 7% on these purchases if you layer cash-back correctly.

Three percent from the right credit card. Venmo offers this. Some grocery rewards cards work too if Costco codes as a grocery purchase.

Two percent back from Costco's Executive Membership.

Another 2% from a service that lets you pay credit cards with a debit card while earning cash back.

You'll lose 1% to 2% when you sell because you're not getting full spot price. But if the math works out, you'd net around 5% profit.

Five percent on $4,200 is $210 per bar. Five bars a week? That's $1,050. Ten bars with dual memberships? Over $2,000 a week.

That's the theory anyway.

First of all, you need available credit. These transactions float for about five days before you get paid.

Multiple memberships if you want volume. Again- personal and business doubles your capacity.

Organizational discipline. Track every listing, shipment, and payment.

Inventory. You’ve got to be quick. Remember- Costco doesn't stock gold every day. Some weeks it sells out in an hour. Show up when doors open if they confirm stock. Buy within your limits. Ship immediately.

And honestly? The stomach to float thousands of dollars while you wait to see if the math actually works.

Then you just wait and see if the numbers play out.

And yeah- I'm going to document and post exactly what happens with this transaction. Did I make money? Lose money? Was it worth the effort?

More importantly, is this something you could actually do consistently, or does it fall apart in execution?

It’ll all be up on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts when I finish this test so you can decide if it’s a worthwhile money maker for you.

Get out there, think outside of the box, and take action. Everything is figureoutable.

Have a great week!

Chris

P.S. I share deep dives on business ideas and complete playbooks three times a week on YouTube and every podcast platform.