Katelyn Dennis is a 19-year-old marketing student at the University of North Georgia with a passion for fashion and social media. Three years ago, Dennis turned her passions into her small business, Thrifts by Katelyn.

What began as a small Instagram account selling used clothing to girls at her high school now earns her hundreds of dollars per week thanks to her 16,000 loyal followers.

Dennis attributes part of her success to social media marketing techniques. One strategy she recommends is being consistent.

“Without consistency, I was not able to grow my page at all,” she said, “but as soon as I started posting every other day or daily when I had the time, I started to receive more followers, more likes, and more people interested in the items.”

Dennis also stressed having an aesthetically pleasing feed and communicating professionally with customers. However, her main selling point is her affordable prices.

“One of the main parts of growing my page is that I had really good prices for people, and people liked the prices that I was putting out there,” she said. “For example, I usually charge about $15 including shipping for a t-shirt because that’s a good price that people are willing to pay.”

The entrepreneur tries to sell unique clothing items for less, often listing vintage or designer clothes.

“For vintage items, there’s not a brand I really look for,” she said. “If it’s a modern brand, I typically look for Free People, Urban Outfitters, or boutique brands. Free People is pretty expensive brand new. It can range from $68 to $200 depending on what you’re shopping for.”

Dennis showcases her unique clothing pieces through short vlogs on TikTok and Instagram. Keeping up with social media trends is an important marketing technique, says Dennis, so she started vlogging on Instagram when the reels feature was introduced.

“My most viral reel had about 600,000 views, which is pretty insane. It had about 20 or 30,000 likes, so that increased the activity on my account a lot, because that’s what Instagram was pushing out at that moment.” – Katelyn Dennis

The social media personality says she makes around $500 a week minus the original price of the items and shipping.

Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs:

“I would say have your heart in it 100%, and don’t give up, even if you’re not growing as quickly as you wanted to.”

Dennis plans on pursuing a career in fashion merchandising, but for now, you can find her driving around campus in her red Jeep Wrangler, which she bought this year thanks to the success of her thrift account.

Follow her page @thriftsbykatelyn on Instagram to support her small business and browse her selection of unique consignment clothes.