1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,800 Welcome back to another episode of the Resellers Mindset 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:03,480 podcast. 3 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,160 My name is Mike, also known as the used book guy on YouTube, 4 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,480 along with my friend and fellow full time reseller, Johnny B. 5 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:11,840 We help people start and grow their reselling businesses 6 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:13,080 from the ground up. 7 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,400 We also have a weekly Zoom call and private Discord 8 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:16,880 for all YouTube members. 9 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,240 Head on over to youtube.com backslash 10 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:20,840 used book guy to join the channel 11 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,040 and gain access to the full length podcast Zoom call 12 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:25,800 and private Discord today. 13 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,440 Let's get into this week's episode. 14 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:28,320 What is up, everybody? 15 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,040 Welcome in another episode of Resellers Mindset podcast. 16 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,640 Mike here alongside Johnny B. And we actually 17 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:35,680 just realized it's a big day. 18 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:37,080 Episode 52. 19 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:41,040 That means 52 weeks of recording this with Johnny. 20 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,360 He's still got the same crusty old book sitting 21 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,000 behind him on the shelves. 22 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,360 It's all just for show. 23 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:47,800 So we figured today we're kind of just 24 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:51,160 going to revisit some of the past topics we've covered 25 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:53,800 and just talk about reselling in general in the past year 26 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,960 and all the craziness that kind of has unfolded. 27 00:00:57,960 --> 00:00:59,120 I guess I'll start with mine. 28 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,800 And it's more like a recent kind of craziness 29 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,000 is the fact that we're sitting in October 30 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,720 and we can still send stuff into Amazon, right? 31 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,840 Last year, we all know the doors closed around September. 32 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,040 And our businesses had to completely change overnight. 33 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,200 This year is a completely different story. 34 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:17,120 It's a blessing. 35 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,760 It could also be a curse because if next year we 36 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,240 count on this happening again and then it doesn't happen 37 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,560 again, it's like every year as a reseller, 38 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,760 you don't know what you're going to get hit with. 39 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:30,240 But yeah, that's kind of my crazy thing 40 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,000 that's been on my mind is the fact that I'm sitting in October. 41 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,680 I'm sending boxes out this week. 42 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:39,400 So what's going on in your head over there? 43 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,160 Last year this time, I was sad because I had just 44 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:44,200 gotten the buy box the month before, 45 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:45,880 like a week before it closed. 46 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:48,320 And I was like, well, I sent stuff in. 47 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:49,320 Now I'll just wait. 48 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,120 And I waited and I waited and I waited. 49 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:52,400 I don't know, what was it? 50 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,000 Six months, five months, something like that. 51 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,000 And then we had a whole bunch of rule changes. 52 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,080 And I decided to tap out of Amazon. 53 00:01:59,080 --> 00:01:59,720 And you know what? 54 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,560 Now I'm back in Amazon. 55 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:02,560 That's a fun time. 56 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,680 So I did a lot of interesting things 57 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,440 on eBay between last year and this year. 58 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:10,320 Still making changes. 59 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:12,920 So it's always a constant tweaking thing. 60 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:15,760 But Amazon is kind of the same old same old, just 61 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:16,880 different game. 62 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:19,280 Yeah, it's just like if you really think about it, 63 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,200 Amazon really doesn't require much thought. 64 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,080 Compared to an eBay business, you're 65 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:25,960 trying different things in the background. 66 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,800 You're trying to grow an eBay store or following. 67 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:34,200 Amazon is just like, whatever, send it in and sell it. 68 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:36,440 The only thing that I really noticed changed on Amazon 69 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,920 is the prices had to, or what you scanned 70 00:02:38,920 --> 00:02:40,040 had to go up in value. 71 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:41,960 That's the only real change I saw with Amazon. 72 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:43,200 Yeah, because of fees. 73 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,000 I'll be curious to see here what they do with fees. 74 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,240 I mean, this past year, I think overall for Resound, 75 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,080 it's been so up and down. 76 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,600 I feel like there were points where everybody 77 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,080 was riding high, things were great, 78 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,320 and then the summer, the whole summer slowdown shenanigans 79 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:01,280 that goes on every year. 80 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,480 It's like, man, I don't know. 81 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:05,920 It's like the summer slowdown talk, 82 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:09,560 it's like if I got to listen to that Mariah Carey Christmas 83 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,000 song, dude, that's the equivalent to me. 84 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:14,880 I get so burnt out with it. 85 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:16,840 I'm just like, I can't really be bothered 86 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,360 because I'm still selling stuff. 87 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:20,440 And I guess it is weird. 88 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,640 My business has changed as well. 89 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:25,440 I use book guide, but I'm selling more used DVDs 90 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,360 than I am selling used books. 91 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,880 Everything has to change, everything pivots. 92 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,280 And like you said, it's just because the fee structure. 93 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,440 Amazon bases the fees off the size and the weight. 94 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:36,960 Of course, a DVD is going to be a lot less 95 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,640 and a lot smaller than your typical hardback book. 96 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:41,720 So the past year has been fun. 97 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:45,680 It's been a wild ride, like recording 52 episodes of this, 98 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:48,560 all the crazy resellers we've had on the podcast 99 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:49,400 and more to come. 100 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,840 It's like, just looking back, 101 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:53,520 nothing against you, but it's always, 102 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,160 it's much more fun if we have somebody else 103 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,560 we can pick on, Johnny, just not being you. 104 00:03:57,560 --> 00:03:58,400 I know, right? 105 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,880 I mean, I got some Australians from down under 106 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,880 I can bring on, some other people, yeah. 107 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:07,880 I will be curious to see here though, 108 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,440 how this Q4 plays out. 109 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,720 As always, there's always some kind of talk going on, right? 110 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,280 People have been relating slow sales currently 111 00:04:16,280 --> 00:04:19,640 to student loans coming back because they were, 112 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:20,920 you could defer the student loans. 113 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:22,400 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 114 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,400 That's kind of like the hot topic right now, right? 115 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:25,880 In the reselling world, well, 116 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,880 people aren't going to be spending as much money. 117 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,400 So, you know, nobody's going to buy your books, Johnny. 118 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:33,720 You might as well go back and get your old job, 119 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:34,560 beg for it back. 120 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,960 I think there's so many people just, 121 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,480 they just like harp in on like the negative. 122 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,080 I'm one of these people. 123 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:42,040 I forget what it was. 124 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:43,360 I got a comment the other day. 125 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,040 It was like, it was something related to something 126 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:47,160 that might happen, right? 127 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,120 Like, oh, a comment can hit the earth, right? 128 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:52,680 I'm the type of person with the business. 129 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:54,560 I'll cross the bridge when it gets here. 130 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,920 Like, I'm not trying to plan for these unforeseen things 131 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,680 that may never happen, but a lot of people do. 132 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:02,920 It's like, the comments come and Johnny, 133 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:04,760 I looked at my telescope last night. 134 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:05,600 I seen it. 135 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:06,600 It said it right for us. 136 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,720 And the future elephants who will evolve 137 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,400 into the, inherit the earth, 138 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:13,960 will have statues of little humans 139 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,600 of the epic meteor hitting us. 140 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:17,440 It'll be great. 141 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,720 The reptilian, the secret reptilian human society 142 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,680 is going to take over eBay and that's gonna be it. 143 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,280 They're only gonna wanna sell reptilian foods, 144 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:30,360 not books, not CDs, not DVDs. 145 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,680 I need to get a Jesse Ventura on here for an episode 146 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,320 so we can go down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. 147 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:40,760 Mind blown. 148 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,440 I think the other two biggest changes I've had 149 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,800 in my business was a solid employee 150 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:48,520 and opening a storefront. 151 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,080 And I wish I had done both sooner, truth be told. 152 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,400 Well, I tried the employee route once before. 153 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:56,600 That particular employee didn't work out. 154 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:58,320 I've talked about her before. 155 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:00,200 And then I had my army of employees. 156 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,200 Now I have my solid employee. 157 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,240 All right, give me the one minute breakdown. 158 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,720 You need to summarize your mindset 159 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,280 before you had any employees and why you decided to get one. 160 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:14,480 And then your mindset, you know, 161 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:16,440 behind opening a little storefront 162 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:18,600 where you can buy and sell books. 163 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:19,840 Sure. 164 00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:22,720 The employee route was I wanted to grow my business 165 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:23,960 and I was just running out of time. 166 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,080 I was working more hours than I was working now. 167 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:28,720 And it wasn't enough. 168 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,640 I just, I could, I always felt like I was behind 169 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,040 with how I'm running my business 170 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:38,280 because I wanted to run a bigger operation 171 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:39,800 than a single person could do. 172 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:41,200 But I was like, I don't need sleep. 173 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:42,880 I could do it all myself. 174 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:44,800 I could only do that for so long 175 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:48,040 before I had to throw in the towel of I can't do this solo 176 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:49,600 of the way I want to run it. 177 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,640 Now I could run it solo, but I'd have to run it differently. 178 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,000 So that was my justification for an employee. 179 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,760 So I tried one, she was great for a minute. 180 00:06:57,760 --> 00:06:59,840 Then she had problems, not so great. 181 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:01,520 And then I had a bunch of them. 182 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,880 Now I was like, this is a bit too much. 183 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,320 And I was looking for a certain type of person. 184 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,000 And of that batch, I ended up with one. 185 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:11,440 And she's solid, she's great. 186 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,320 She works like a champ. 187 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:16,360 Couldn't ask for anybody better. 188 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:18,000 Now the shop was just, well, 189 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:19,560 we're bringing in a lot of stuff now. 190 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,800 And this was pre me getting back into Amazon. 191 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,840 And it was like, I'm still getting a lot of junk 192 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:25,840 because of bulk buying. 193 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:27,240 And like, what do I do with it? 194 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,480 I tried all kinds of things to get away with, get rid of it. 195 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:32,000 I tried a yard sale. 196 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:36,440 I tried going around to shops and stuff. 197 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:37,520 I tried donation things. 198 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,920 They just wouldn't take it enough of it. 199 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:41,720 They had certain requirements. 200 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,400 They wanted to give me partial store credit, 201 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,480 not even full store credit, bad book shops, bad. 202 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:49,440 I was like, so I gotta get rid of it somehow. 203 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:50,600 Let's try the brick and mortar. 204 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,280 And that's been the best play 205 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:54,840 because people are taking boxes of books that way. 206 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:56,640 I'm getting more money in the long run 207 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:58,840 than I would have gotten anywhere else 208 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:00,080 outside of maybe a yard sale. 209 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,200 But yard sales is a lot of work. 210 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,920 There was initially a lot of work setting up the shop, 211 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,840 but there's very little work now that it's all set up. 212 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:10,360 Yeah, I like the idea of like, 213 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:13,480 the storefront moves everything 214 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:15,400 and you don't have to move all the, 215 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:16,760 like think about it, right? 216 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:18,800 Me versus you, I gotta go to 2nd and Charles. 217 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:19,760 I gotta drive there. 218 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:20,920 I gotta drop it off. 219 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:22,400 I gotta wait to get my offer. 220 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:24,600 It's just like, it's too much of a headache. 221 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,120 So having everything centralized, 222 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:28,600 if you're gonna do any kind of bulk anything, 223 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,120 whether that's media, clothes, shoes, 224 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,760 you need to have a plan to easily get rid of the stuff 225 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:35,760 that isn't worth the money. 226 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:37,240 And I think that's kind of the huge benefit. 227 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:38,240 And I said it before, 228 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:39,880 you probably should have did it a long time ago, 229 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:41,840 but you don't know until you know, right? 230 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:46,120 The best part is people bring me inventory now. 231 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:47,840 I paid for very little. 232 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:49,080 I offer to pay money. 233 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:50,040 It's on the board. 234 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,000 I don't even have donations on the board. 235 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,400 It's buy, sell and trade, 236 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:57,280 but people believe it or not, just give me the stuff. 237 00:08:58,720 --> 00:08:59,880 And I take it. 238 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,160 And what's junk is junk and what's eBay is eBay 239 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:04,440 and what's Amazon's Amazon. 240 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:06,640 So divide this stuff that gets brought in 241 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:08,400 to one of those three locales. 242 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:12,480 What's that one food restaurant that's got the big guy 243 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,160 with the donut that sits outside as the sign? 244 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:17,600 I think he has a donut. 245 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:18,440 That's gonna drive me. 246 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:20,120 Big boy guy, the child-like guy. 247 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:21,240 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 248 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:22,560 I'm gonna get one of those for you. 249 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:24,440 It's gonna be you with a book, you know, 250 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:25,600 it's outside your shop. 251 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:27,640 It's gonna stand up like a water tower. 252 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,720 So anywhere in Texas, you can see where the store is located. 253 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:34,360 They have the worst signage. 254 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:36,440 I need to actually make that a little bit better. 255 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:38,840 A signage and more internet presence. 256 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:41,360 Just the backlog. 257 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,800 I need to take a week and just concentrate on the store, 258 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:47,720 but my store is like the bottom of my to-do list 259 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:49,640 and I need to take a moment honestly 260 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:53,200 to make it the top of my priority list for like a week. 261 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,800 What are some of the craziest things, 262 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,480 because you're in some groups too, dude, 263 00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,680 so I know you see crazy stuff out there. 264 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:02,960 I don't need you to spill exact beans on people's names 265 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,600 and everything, but like, what are some crazy things 266 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,280 you've heard in the past year in relation to reselling? 267 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:10,320 Cause I got a few. 268 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:12,320 Oh man. 269 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,880 Let's put everything on auction and see what happens. 270 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:17,040 Stuff that won't sell. 271 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,480 I'm like, why are, well, A, you're continuing 272 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:21,800 to buy the stuff you don't want. 273 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:22,840 Why are you doing that? 274 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:24,000 That's a bad idea. 275 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,480 Two, let's see, crazy nonsense. 276 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:30,600 Well, let me try this niche. 277 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:31,440 I'm like, why? 278 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,600 You can't make that niche work. 279 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:35,840 You're gonna try to do it again 280 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:38,040 and this thing you know zero about, 281 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:39,880 it doesn't make any sense either. 282 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:41,080 That's so weird. 283 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,360 Just switching, I never even like switching niches. 284 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,040 Switching niches, it's like a tongue twister. 285 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:48,440 That means you're not supposed to do it. 286 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,920 You can't say it out loud 10 times fast, 287 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,520 then you're not, it's not meant to be. 288 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:54,800 Switching niches, switching niches. 289 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:56,360 I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna stop. 290 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:57,800 Something bad's gonna come out. 291 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,560 It's like, that's tough. 292 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:06,320 I mean, especially maybe if you have some experience 293 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:08,800 in another niche you wanna get into, 294 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,920 but if I'm just gonna basically switch something overnight 295 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:16,080 just because this isn't working instead of, 296 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:16,920 I guess the root. 297 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,360 This was broken before, I don't know, starting over. 298 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:21,560 What's the root cause? 299 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:22,840 Why isn't it working? 300 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:24,480 That would be the first step. 301 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:28,560 But people look for the quote unquote easy path, 302 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:30,560 easy patch fixes. 303 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:33,720 In actuality, that's the hardest thing you can do 304 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:35,600 is just completely switch your business. 305 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:36,760 But they're like, well, 306 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:38,200 I don't wanna deal with this stuff anymore. 307 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:40,600 I'm just gonna go over here and mess with this shiny object. 308 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:44,320 And I think that's like the shiny object syndrome is real, 309 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,360 especially in the Amazon world, right? 310 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,440 And it's not just the objects, it's business models. 311 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:50,320 I mean, if we think about 312 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:52,520 when we started this podcast a year ago, 313 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,560 at the time, it was OA. 314 00:11:56,560 --> 00:11:58,920 OA was a huge thing a year ago. 315 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:01,640 And then it switched to eBay to Amazon. 316 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:03,440 Now we got Amazon to Amazon. 317 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,200 And now a lot of those people are going into wholesale. 318 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:07,040 So within a year, 319 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,160 we basically had four life cycles of hot businesses. 320 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:12,120 Don't forget AI. 321 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:13,760 Do not forget about AI. 322 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,560 It's like, it's crazy to me that 323 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:18,680 it's not even just a shiny object anymore. 324 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:20,600 It's a shiny business idea. 325 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:24,160 It's not just like, people, I get it all the time 326 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:27,160 because I've got a lot of friends that are OA sellers. 327 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:28,520 Hey, when are you gonna get into OA? 328 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:29,880 When are you gonna start doing this? 329 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:31,240 And I'm just like, 330 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,720 I wanna be good at the one thing that I'm doing 331 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:38,480 and master that, master that as best as I can. 332 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:39,840 There's still a lot of room for, 333 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:41,240 I mean, you're never gonna get to a point 334 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,440 where it's like 100% perfect. 335 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:45,880 But kind of what I've developed over the past year 336 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:47,840 is like, I got a lot of my time back. 337 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:49,280 I'm making more money than I did. 338 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:51,120 So it's like, I'm going the right way. 339 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,920 Why would I just wanna hop on this other, 340 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,960 quote unquote, profitable business adventure 341 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:58,360 if what you have works? 342 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,240 And I think what happens is people see like, 343 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,240 they almost justify the change by like, 344 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:05,320 oh, it's been a slow month on Amazon. 345 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,280 So I can't sell clothing anymore. 346 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,200 I gotta switch to selling sneakers. 347 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,240 It's like, when you're looking for a change 348 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:15,240 or when you're looking for something negative, 349 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,040 like to make you do something, 350 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,400 you're gonna find it every single time. 351 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:21,800 I mean, even I'm guilty of this. 352 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,520 I changed what I've done in my own business 353 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,040 like three or four times this year. 354 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:26,160 I mean, there's that, 355 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:27,960 I mean, we're talking about this before the call a little bit. 356 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:29,040 There was that two month period 357 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:31,040 when I was listing 50 items a day. 358 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:31,880 You know what? 359 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:35,600 Those 50 items a day were all junk Nora Roberts books. 360 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,400 And that kind of screwed me 361 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,920 as I've been kind of trying to figure out 362 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:41,080 how to move that stuff. 363 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:42,320 And I tried all kinds of things. 364 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:44,120 Some stuff works better than others. 365 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:48,120 And then got back to what I knew and then, 366 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,120 oh, well, let's change it to an ASP model, 367 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,160 which is what I'm currently working with. 368 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:55,760 And I think I like that a lot better 369 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:59,720 as it's still work, but it's less of it. 370 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,320 And it frees me up to do more things in my business 371 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,480 like Amazon and or storefront nonsense. 372 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,680 Yeah, but say you stayed within your lane though, right? 373 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:12,160 I didn't, I stayed with, I was always books. 374 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:13,760 Always, always, always books. 375 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,560 Like, okay, how do I get better at the book game? 376 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:18,920 What do I switch here and there? 377 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,040 Now there's a thing to be said for experimenting 378 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,120 and seeing what works and what doesn't work 379 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:24,600 and then adjusting and moving forward. 380 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:26,680 But sometimes you have to give up on experiments 381 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:28,920 and like, this just doesn't work bottom line. 382 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:30,720 Cause you can overdo an experiment 383 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,080 until you're blue in the face. 384 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:33,200 Maybe I didn't give it enough time. 385 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:34,760 Let's do it for another month. 386 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:36,600 Oh, maybe three months, maybe six months. 387 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:38,360 And two years down the road, 388 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,440 you still saying that same old song and dance? 389 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:41,760 You shouldn't be. 390 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,280 There definitely has been a change in thrift stores 391 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:45,880 over the past year. 392 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,000 Anybody out there that has a thrifting model like myself, 393 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,480 we all know prices are going up. 394 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,400 Goodwill now, you know, their books are basically 395 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:54,800 2.99 across the board minimum. 396 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:55,840 If you look a year, 397 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:57,880 maybe a little bit longer than a year ago, 398 00:14:57,880 --> 00:14:59,920 I used to be able to get books for 50 cents, 399 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:03,280 softback, 97 cents, hardback at Goodwills. 400 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:04,120 Dem days are gone. 401 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:05,520 So we all know prices are going up. 402 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,280 We all know that thrift stores now 403 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,440 all have online businesses, online shops. 404 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:13,560 It's getting harder and harder to find things 405 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:15,040 if you're doing thrifting, 406 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:18,520 because all the businesses see the opportunity of reselling. 407 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,640 So the thrifting, you know, it's harder, 408 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:22,600 but you always have to be looking for ways 409 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,520 to kind of have a relationship and get ahead of the curve. 410 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,120 A fun fact story here that I haven't even, 411 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:32,720 haven't even talked about this to anybody. 412 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:34,240 So this is like breaking news. 413 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,880 I have one Goodwill bins left around me. 414 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,280 So the other day, it was a miserable day. 415 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:42,560 It was like, I think it was like Monday. 416 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:44,840 No, it wasn't Monday, it was Tuesday. 417 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:45,720 And it was raining. 418 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,080 I'm like, I haven't been to this one, right? 419 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:49,240 So I'm like, I'm gonna go. 420 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,400 Just for funsies, right? 421 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:52,800 So Deb's already laughing, right? 422 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:54,240 I tell Deb, I'm like, hey Deb, 423 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:55,640 I'm gonna go check out this bin. 424 00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:58,720 She's like, you're a fool. 425 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,960 Like, I gotta know, I gotta know. 426 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:02,520 So I go in. 427 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:07,080 I mean, dude, the amount of people that are sitting in there, 428 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:08,040 I'm not kidding. 429 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:10,200 They got camping chairs, right? 430 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,520 These people live in those things. 431 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:13,360 There's no books. 432 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,360 I mean, there's no bins of books at this. 433 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,520 It's all clothing and your junk home goods 434 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:20,480 that are just completely destroyed. 435 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,440 But I kid you not, in this, you know, 436 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,120 thousand square foot little bin, it's not a big bins. 437 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,760 There's probably a thousand people in there, dude. 438 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:31,120 I literally walked in, I laughed, 439 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,920 I walked around just to make sure there's no bins of books. 440 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:34,760 I'm out, dude. 441 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:38,320 These people, I mean, that's not, 442 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,280 I think we get into reselling to like, 443 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,360 we wanna make money, but like, I don't know. 444 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:45,800 Like, that doesn't seem enjoyable to me, dude. 445 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,800 Let me just send you to one thrift store all day, 446 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,960 cross your fingers and pray to the reselling gods 447 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:54,200 that they bring out stuff 448 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:56,600 and that there's some profitable stuff in there 449 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,680 that you can even grab because there's 10 million 450 00:16:58,680 --> 00:16:59,520 other people. 451 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,160 It's like, I don't listen. 452 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:03,480 If somebody listens to this, lives at the bins, 453 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,880 I apologize, but that's like the last place 454 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:08,280 you're relying on your business. 455 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:09,720 Like, I don't know. 456 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,120 I personally, if I had to sit at the bins two days a week 457 00:17:13,120 --> 00:17:15,320 for my business to survive, I'm out. 458 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:16,800 That's not enjoyable for me. 459 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:18,800 It's funny you mentioned that. 460 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:20,840 I'm not gonna say her name where she's located, 461 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,080 but she goes to the bins actively. 462 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:24,880 And she messaged me when this happened 463 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:26,840 because it was involved books. 464 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,280 So a gentleman got a lifetime ban from all good wills 465 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:31,880 because he threatened another bookseller 466 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,880 that he was gonna go out to his car and get his gun 467 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,920 because the other gentleman took his books. 468 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:42,920 I mean, it's survival of the fittest in those places, man. 469 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:48,560 Who's gonna shoot somebody over a pile of books? 470 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:50,920 Honestly, that's ridiculous. 471 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,360 That's the biggest hurdle I have 472 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:55,520 when it comes to a thrifting model is, 473 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,040 I don't mind dealing with people, right? 474 00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:57,880 I could sit here all day. 475 00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,360 We could talk all day long, 476 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:03,520 but the common courtesy of years past is gone, right? 477 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:05,760 And especially when it comes to selling books, 478 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:07,160 I say it all the time. 479 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:08,720 You come across another bookseller, 480 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,520 there's a 90% chance they're gonna be a rotten soul. 481 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:12,960 That's just the reality of it. 482 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,880 It's really, I think it's like, 483 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:19,680 the problem is a lot of the old timers are ticked off 484 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,040 that new people are in the business making money, 485 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:23,920 tanking the market, whatever, whatever. 486 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:26,480 Well, that's just the way business works. 487 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,560 But yeah, the thrifting market over the past year 488 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:31,520 that we've been doing this podcast, 489 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:33,520 it's definitely gotten harder to find stuff. 490 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:34,800 You gotta search for deals. 491 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,320 You gotta take advantage of half off days. 492 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,200 You gotta take advantage of knowing the person 493 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:41,920 that puts out this stuff that you're looking for 494 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,120 in the thrift stores. 495 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:44,960 There's so many ways you can cheat. 496 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:46,960 Yeah, okay, go ahead. 497 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,120 I think cheating is almost a requirement 498 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:51,760 if you wanna survive in a reselling business long-term. 499 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:53,080 If you can call it cheating, 500 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:54,280 I mean, I'd like to call it cheating 501 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:55,880 because people get all salty when you say, 502 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,400 hey, I can go in the back room of a Goodwill. 503 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,600 And they're like, well, that's unfair to me. 504 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:03,520 Oh, snooze you lose, sucker. 505 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:04,360 No, absolutely. 506 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:05,760 That's the only way to win this game 507 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,800 is figure out how you do better than your competitors. 508 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:10,480 How do you do better than everybody else? 509 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,080 I mean, they may not even be competitors. 510 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,920 Like me, I'm a book guy, but I'm more of a vintage book guy 511 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,480 and or if it's worth a lot of money book guy. 512 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:20,720 So how do I get better at that game? 513 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,520 What am I doing differently and better 514 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,080 and or better than what everybody else is doing? 515 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:27,360 Like even Max has mentioned this. 516 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:28,560 He sources books differently. 517 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:29,600 I source books differently. 518 00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:31,280 You source books differently. 519 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:32,120 How are you sourcing? 520 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:33,760 How are you sourcing? 521 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:37,480 That is a process and probably the biggest process 522 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,960 that will catapult your business. 523 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:44,040 The other one in that, that may be as equal valuable, 524 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:45,520 equal in value, there we go. 525 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,120 There's better English for you. 526 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:50,120 Equal in value to that is networking with people. 527 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:51,880 I've gotten some great networking. 528 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:56,080 I'm not even talking about like in my area, 529 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,200 like even online, I met people and we've negotiated deals. 530 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:00,720 I mean, even me and Max made a deal. 531 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,360 We talk about a couple, a little bit here and there 532 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:06,040 or me talking like you, 533 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:08,000 you send me a box of books every now and again. 534 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:08,840 That's cool. 535 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:10,560 That's a huge box waiting for you, dude. 536 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:12,920 I got to fill it up with a little bit more stuff. 537 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:14,400 Right, so networking. 538 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,680 And I know some people don't like to socialize 539 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,080 and chit chat and all that, 540 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,200 but there are benefits to doing so. 541 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,720 And yeah, I mean, there's other things outside of this group, 542 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:26,560 but I mentioned the two that are relevant to this group, 543 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:28,800 Max and Mike and some other people. 544 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,640 Do you think like you can just be a quiet little, 545 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,040 quiet little good boy and not talk to anybody? 546 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,680 And I think with Amazon, you probably could be profitable, 547 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,560 but I don't think you could be as profitable. 548 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,680 I'm not saying you should go out and be a YouTuber, 549 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,920 no offense, Mike, or big name on social media, 550 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,640 but you can be quiet and very surgical 551 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:56,440 and make a lot of money, I think. 552 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,880 If you are good at buying stuff online 553 00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:00,720 because that's your game, 554 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:02,360 because you don't like going out and socializing 555 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:04,280 and wheeling and dealing, I love that personally, 556 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:05,960 but I'm more an outgoing person 557 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,080 than what we're talking about here. 558 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:09,880 I think you can make a lot of money that way. 559 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,600 So yes, I think that personality type can do very well. 560 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,120 Could they do as well or more? 561 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:18,960 I don't know. 562 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:19,880 I don't have an answer to that one. 563 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,440 Maybe is my going to be my official answer on that? 564 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,160 On the topic of YouTube, 565 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:29,440 let's look at the year past of reselling on YouTube. 566 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:34,440 For me, I'm not subscribed to a ton of channels, right? 567 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,000 This past year, I've purged a lot of channels. 568 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,200 How often are you on YouTube? 569 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:46,280 Well, every day, but that's mainly to listen to music 570 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,920 and or take a day, I'm bored of music. 571 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,240 Let's catch up on all the book podcasts I'm behind. 572 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:54,440 Sorry, Mike, I'm behind on your videos too. 573 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:59,440 I will say that the reselling YouTube community, 574 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,040 I think it's making steps in the right direction. 575 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:07,480 There's always going to be the clickbait nonsensical videos, 576 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,000 but I do think the core group of the bigger reselling 577 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,120 YouTubers are trending in the right direction overall. 578 00:22:14,120 --> 00:22:15,320 I won't get into names. 579 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:16,520 Everybody knows who they are, 580 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,960 but I do think it's kind of blocking out a lot of the noise 581 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,840 now from some of these smaller peons like myself 582 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,320 that from time to time, or not time to time, 583 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,760 every day the sky is falling mentality. 584 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:31,800 So I think that is good in that sense of it. 585 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,360 I think there is a change going on finally, 586 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:35,800 maybe because we're past summer 587 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:38,840 and now the crybabies are actually selling stuff 588 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:40,560 because it's not the summer slowdown anymore, 589 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,840 but I do think it is headed in the right direction. 590 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,040 That's very interesting. 591 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,480 You got my brain turning on that. 592 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,360 Like even you watching your videos 593 00:22:51,360 --> 00:22:53,400 from older to newer, newest ones, 594 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,280 it's the evolution of your business. 595 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,920 Same for like Andrew in 510 books, 596 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:00,200 even though they're no offense, sister Andrew, 597 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:01,480 there isn't really an evolution. 598 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:02,760 You're doing the same thing as like 599 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,080 when your videos first started, 600 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,320 or even Mel from Back from Burnout 601 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,600 watching her transition in her business. 602 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:12,080 So the content being produced from the after effects of that 603 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:16,240 is like interesting to think about from a viewer perspective. 604 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,280 Like I wanna be able to relate to the person I'm watching, 605 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,600 not the person that's 10 years and light years ahead of me. 606 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:24,120 How do I compare myself to that? 607 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:25,760 How do I get there kind of deal? 608 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:27,520 So that's an interesting perspective to think about. 609 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,640 Maybe that's too in depth for our general viewership here, 610 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,320 but that's just something I just thought about. 611 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,560 No, I mean, listen, 612 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:37,320 I run the most pathetic eBay store, right? 613 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,400 If they're like, hey, who here has a pathetic eBay store? 614 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:40,840 At least you run an eBay store. 615 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,280 At least you run one, suck at Amazon sellers. 616 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:45,440 Like I admit it, right? 617 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,040 But like I'm not active on eBay at all. 618 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:52,760 Like I, but I can listen to every daily refinement, 619 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:54,040 tech and sports. 620 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,960 Like I've learned so much about the platform 621 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:58,520 and business overall. 622 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,200 I mean, yeah, they're light years ahead of like revenue 623 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,160 that I make, but it's still like, 624 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:04,840 you learn business practices 625 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:05,960 from some of these bigger folk. 626 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,080 But I do think it's a very slippery slope 627 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,520 about who you're listening to out there on the YouTube world. 628 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,360 Like it's, I mean, there's people out there 629 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:16,120 that should not be making content 630 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:18,040 and should not have any subscribers. 631 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,240 There's lots of them in the reselling world, 632 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,800 but it's just, it's gravitational pull 633 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,520 when you hear like, 634 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,000 yeah, you gotta do this to make a million dollars. 635 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:29,080 And in the Amazon world, 636 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:30,680 I think it's a lot more prevalent, right? 637 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:32,640 Like the Amazon people are all like, 638 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,720 oh, six figures, seven figures. 639 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:36,120 Oh yeah, you need to do this. 640 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:37,160 You need to do that. 641 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:38,800 But like at the end of the day, 642 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,960 every single business, you, me, anybody else, 643 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,320 it's completely different than the next. 644 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,800 There's no two like businesses out there. 645 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,360 So it's like, just because this works for Johnny, 646 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:50,720 I'm not running to do it, right? 647 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,800 Like even if this is making him millions of dollars, 648 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:55,760 there's no way I can guarantee 649 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,240 or he can guarantee that if I implement this thing, 650 00:24:58,240 --> 00:24:59,240 it's gonna make me money, 651 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,640 but that's not the reality out there in the YouTube world. 652 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:03,960 So yeah, that kind of covers the YouTube nonsense 653 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:04,920 over the past year. 654 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,720 What else has kind of gone down 655 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,920 that's been big to you the past year reselling? 656 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,040 I'm gonna go back to one of the two valuable things 657 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:14,640 I mentioned, networking. 658 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:15,840 I met another bookseller. 659 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:18,160 He does Amazon, he does eBay. 660 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,000 Him and I are doing a fair bit of business together. 661 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,560 He brings me some paperbacks and money, 662 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,640 and I give him books that he desires for his store 663 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:28,800 that I don't want. 664 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,920 Cause he's more, he's honestly more focused 665 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:33,360 on his brick and mortar store 666 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:35,640 than he is on his Amazon and eBay business. 667 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,440 Now some stuff he buys off me is for his eBay business, 668 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,080 mainly because he likes to do lots. 669 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:42,360 I hate doing lots. 670 00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:44,880 I'm not taking the time to do that. 671 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,480 So that was huge for me. 672 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,760 And also we're scanning stuff for him 673 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:53,040 cause he wants some stuff for a certain rank 674 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:54,720 for his storefront. 675 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,560 Cause that's his model for his storefront. 676 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:58,760 It's an interesting thing to do that. 677 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,040 Like, Hey, I'm gonna just put on my storefront 678 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,120 what the people actually like to read, 679 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:05,040 regardless of Amazon wants it or not. 680 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:07,280 So I found that very curious. 681 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:08,400 I'm not doing that in my store 682 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,600 cause my storage more of a liquidation model. 683 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,200 Liquidation store model that is. 684 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:15,720 What else did I do this year? 685 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:20,480 Yeah, so the packaging, 686 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:22,240 I don't think I've ever talked about this. 687 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,720 I've started, now that I've got my dimensions down 688 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,240 and I spent a small fortune over Uline, 689 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,200 I just ordered my packaging from eBay 690 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:30,480 or cheaper places these days. 691 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,680 As long as it's the same thing relatively. 692 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,280 Now Uline is gonna have the top of the line quality, 693 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,320 but it's also gonna have the top of the line pricing. 694 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:40,080 So cutting some costs there. 695 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,880 Employee workflow, that's another thing. 696 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,320 Maybe, or may not apply to some viewership, 697 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,200 but basically she's running my Amazon business. 698 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,680 I do eBay, outside of the eBay photos, 699 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:54,600 cause I hate photos. 700 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,160 So when she's done with that, 701 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,720 she just moses on over to FBM and FBA, 702 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,840 packs boxes, even takes me to the drop-off place for me. 703 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:04,280 The only thing I really do in Amazon 704 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,000 is sometimes I'll help scan and or book prep 705 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,200 like with stickers and stuff, 706 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:09,040 just to help. 707 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,480 Thing with employees is you want what they're doing 708 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:13,320 to make you money. 709 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:14,800 If they're busy just sweeping the floor, 710 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,120 that makes you no money, that makes the shop clean. 711 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:19,680 So I try to help her whenever she's here, 712 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,600 her work involves making me money. 713 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:23,440 It makes sense. 714 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,120 And it's good to know that you probably have, 715 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:26,720 you know, rats running around your shop 716 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,800 because you don't sweep the floor. 717 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:29,760 I sweep the floor. 718 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:31,000 She doesn't need to be sweeping the floor. 719 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:32,440 She needs to be making me money. 720 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,400 Cause my time is, my time's not free, 721 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,160 but I can stay a little extra to do the things 722 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:40,040 that don't necessarily make me money. 723 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:41,920 They make the shop clean kind of deal. 724 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:44,760 I got a hot take here. 725 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,120 I think in the past year, resellers overall 726 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:52,080 have been looking to take the easy way out. 727 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:52,920 Oh yeah. 728 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:55,040 Hurts me. 729 00:27:58,000 --> 00:27:59,600 I don't know, man. 730 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,400 Any business you have, it's gonna take work, right? 731 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:07,280 Resell is not passive income in any way, shape or form. 732 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,000 But I do think like the past year, 733 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,440 we have seen a trend of basically people looking 734 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,040 for the easiest way to kind of get rich quick 735 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,000 kind of schemey type stuff out there, right? 736 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,800 With Amazon automation, right? 737 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,160 You just give me 20 grand 738 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,200 and I'll make sure you get paid every month. 739 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:26,200 And a lot of that, you know, 740 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,280 and I think that's the appeal to a lot of like 741 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,680 the online arbitrage is, you know, 742 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,320 you don't have to go nowhere, right? 743 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:35,960 You know, it's kind of a lifestyle change, 744 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:37,960 which there's nothing wrong with that. 745 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,840 But I think a lot of new people get sucked into that idea 746 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,840 of, hey, I can sit here today and make 10K 747 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:45,840 and I only have to leave my computer screen. 748 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:47,800 And it's like the furthest thing from reality. 749 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,520 It's like, I do think the past year, 750 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:54,920 we have seen a trend and resellers wanting to do less, 751 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:58,560 make more, but not actually understanding the process 752 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,280 it takes to build a business like that. 753 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,520 Yeah, it's a hard transition. 754 00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:04,920 It's nothing easy about it. 755 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,160 Like I thought about this when I moved 756 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,600 to a more ASP focused model, I still do paperbacks, 757 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,560 but they're after my ASP items. 758 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,240 And some of those meet my metrics. 759 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:18,600 Anyway, I was like, how did I use to source before? 760 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:19,960 Like when I first started, I was like, 761 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:21,680 let me go back to the basics here. 762 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,080 I hit Facebook, I hit Craigslist, 763 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:27,400 eBay wasn't even my radar. 764 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,400 That wasn't a thing I used to think about shopping from eBay. 765 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,080 Look for yard sales and stuff like that. 766 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:37,680 And this is before I knew about auction houses too. 767 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,280 So I was like, I try to get back to the basics 768 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,600 to think a lot how I used to think, how I used to source. 769 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,880 Cause I moved off of those things for a while 770 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,840 cause I knew faster ways and different ways 771 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:50,120 that people aren't looking at. 772 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,280 What about the stuff I used to look at? 773 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:53,880 Cause I left that stuff behind. 774 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:55,280 Library sales weren't a thing either. 775 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,200 Those weren't on my radar. 776 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,280 Back in the day, I say back in the day, 777 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:00,640 it's been less than two years. 778 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:02,320 Back in my day. 779 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,720 It's like 15 years and reseller years. 780 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:05,560 That's what that is. 781 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:06,880 It does feel like it though, right? 782 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,560 Because as a reselling business, 783 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:11,960 you're always redefining your business. 784 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:13,720 You're always making changes. 785 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,600 And I think that's why we can continually stay around 786 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,440 is adjusting with the market. 787 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,000 I think a lot of these people that kind of, 788 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,240 their reselling life sucks is because 789 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:25,720 they're stuck in their ways. 790 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:26,840 We talk about it all the time. 791 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,200 It's like, you have to make changes 792 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:30,320 or you're gonna go away. 793 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,960 Sooner or later, things are gonna change. 794 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:34,520 And if you don't change with the market, 795 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,280 even though, hey, maybe the old way was really good to you, 796 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:39,720 you gotta get on the new way, right? 797 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:41,160 That's just the reality of it. 798 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,000 Oh, absolutely. 799 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:48,160 And new rules on the platform, stamps going up, 800 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,320 gas going up, gas is higher than it used to be. 801 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:53,880 So going out on those four hours cost a bit more. 802 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,440 I mean, you can attest to this certainly. 803 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:56,280 Oh yeah. 804 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:57,880 I mean, I've never had more road trips than me. 805 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,400 I did take that, I did do my first cross-line sourcing 806 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:04,240 this year. 807 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:05,880 I went to California for a big haul. 808 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:06,720 Me too, dude. 809 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,080 I went to the wonderful state that I said in the video, 810 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:11,040 like in it, you know, 811 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,160 cause I just had Baltimore on my mind. 812 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:14,680 I'm in the state of Baltimore. 813 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:16,280 Yeah, real smart, dude. 814 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:17,400 Maryland, maybe. 815 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,200 Listen, my geography and my literature skills 816 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:23,080 are not good, right? 817 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,720 I was good with math growing up. 818 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:27,240 Math was my big thing. 819 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,160 So I mean, I can't say nothing else about it. 820 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,280 Yeah, I mean, and there's still some things 821 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:34,840 I haven't done yet that I want to try, 822 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,000 but it's always, it's interesting. 823 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,040 We're always wanting to do these different things. 824 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,120 And I think it's good to some extent, 825 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,720 but also we can get distracted from what's working. 826 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,040 Don't mess with what works. 827 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:50,720 And also we can ignore what's not working. 828 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,400 We need to fix what's not working too. 829 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:55,280 That other stuff, that fancy stuff. 830 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,480 I mean, these other two things come before that, 831 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,200 the fixing what's working and keep what is working. 832 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,160 All right, I'm gonna wrap up 833 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:04,640 before we jump into the members part here 834 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:06,440 with my final thought here. 835 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:09,640 I had Jerry Springer on the other night, dude. 836 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,640 And I completely forgot at the end of his episodes, 837 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,240 he gives like a final thought for like each episode, right? 838 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:18,840 So like maybe I'm trying to figure out ways 839 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:20,760 to incorporate that into my YouTube, right? 840 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:22,920 Like Mike's final thought, right? 841 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,760 So my final thought here is the past year, 842 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:27,800 we've seen lots of changes in reselling. 843 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,280 I do think there is still lots and lots of money to be made. 844 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:33,680 I think, if you started today, 845 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:36,040 you could have a six figure business next year 846 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,760 with reselling, block out a lot of the noise, 847 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:41,760 focus on people that you can relate to 848 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:44,920 that actually have a proven track record. 849 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:46,680 And so you can kind of understand the business 850 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:47,600 and learn things from them 851 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:49,560 that maybe not make the same mistakes. 852 00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:51,120 But I do think the past year reselling 853 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:53,040 has been good to us, you know? 854 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,080 Yeah, fees go up, fees are always gonna go up. 855 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,520 I don't even think we really can like expect them not to. 856 00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,160 So I'm gonna wrap it up here. 857 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:00,000 We appreciate you listening 858 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,240 and we'll talk to you all in next week's episode, 859 00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:03,520 no final thought for Johnny, 860 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,520 even though he was probably winding one up. 861 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,720 He'll be able to say it in the members part. 862 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:09,320 Thanks for listening to another episode 863 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,320 of the Resellers Mindset Podcast. 864 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:13,680 Today's full episode and all previous episodes 865 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:15,800 are available to all YouTube members 866 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:18,600 along with the weekly Zoom call and private Discord. 867 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,760 Head on over to youtube.com backslash to use book guy 868 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:48,760 and consider joining for as little as 2.99 a month.