A $5 church-sale lamp was never meant to be a business plan. But in 2011, when Pennsylvania mom and part-time marketing administrator Jocelyn Elizabeth watched her dad flip that lamp for eBay prices, it pushed her stroller-and-thrift-store hobby into what is now a seven-figure ecosystem, which includes the Crazy Lamp Lady YouTube channel plus NikNax, an online marketplace hosting more than 5,000 sellers and generating over $5.2 million in 2025 revenue.
From Church Sale Find To Career Pivot
Back then, Elizabeth was making $14 an hour and just looking for extra cash, driving to antique shows and learning which oddball mugs, lamps and glassware quietly commanded real money online.
In 2016, she did what most side-hustlers only talk about, which is that she turned the camera on. Her Crazy Lamp Lady channel documented the hunts, the hauls and the sold listings. The moment YouTube paid her $600 in ad revenue in a single day, she pulled over the car in disbelief and realized this wasn’t just “extra money” anymore.
By late 2018, the channel was consistently outearning her day job paycheck, and she walked away from marketing. “It was definitely risky, and it was scary,” she said, but within months, she had a house full of inventory and staff helping list and ship orders.
Turning Crazy Lamp Lady Into A Money Engine
Frustrated by marketplace fees and looking for more control, Elizabeth launched NikNax on the District platform in October 2023. The site now processes more than $5.2 million in annual sales, with Elizabeth taking a 5% cut, at least $260,000, while her own store accounts for roughly 5% of all sales.
That said, she still grinds 50 to 100 hours a week between filming, editing, live-selling and running a marketplace where she’s also the bouncer, referee and customer-service backstop. Profits haven’t gone into a luxury car but have been channeled into two three-bedroom rentals in Pennsylvania, each around $300,000, including an Airbnb that can fetch about $300 a night.
What Everyday Thrifters Can Learn
Elizabeth insists there’s nothing magical about spotting value in a dusty Goodwill aisle. “I think anyone can do it if they put the work in,” she said, adding that anyone can grab a $5 item and discover it’s worth $50 once they’ve trained their eye.
Her playbook is stubbornly simple. She urges to start tiny, learn what buyers actually want, don’t quit your main paycheck until the side money is real and repeatable, then reinvest into tools, space and people instead of lifestyle creep.
Photo Courtesy: 22Images Studio on Shutterstock.com
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