1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,440 Welcome back to another episode of the Resellers Mindset Podcast. 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,960 My name is Mike, also known as the used book guy on YouTube, along with my friend 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,080 and fellow full-time reseller, Johnny B. 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,680 We help people start and grow their reselling businesses from the ground up. 5 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,560 We also have a weekly zoom call and private discord for all YouTube members. 6 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,160 Head on over to youtube.com backslash use book guide to join the channel and gain 7 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,400 access to the full length podcast zoom call and private discord today. 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,320 Let's get into this week's episode. 9 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:28,160 What is up everybody? 10 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:30,680 Welcome to another episode of Resellers Mindset Podcast. 11 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,760 Mike alongside the beard, Johnny B. 12 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:35,240 Will you ever shave that beard? 13 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:36,960 Hmm. 14 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:38,160 I've been thinking about it lately. 15 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:39,520 Whoa. 16 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,920 He might be a changed man for those watching over on YouTube. 17 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,240 I mean, I don't, I've never seen you beardless. 18 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,840 So that would be, you know, a crazy maybe. 19 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,640 I look like I'm 20 years old if I shave it, cause this is where all my gray is 20 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:56,720 located, it's in the beard, a little bit in the air now. 21 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,800 I'm starting to get a little in the hair, but yeah. 22 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:04,040 We're going to be talking about re-examining your reselling business. 23 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:05,280 And this is important. 24 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:09,520 I'm not talking about maybe the overall like, Oh my God, I got to change 25 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:14,520 everything about my business, but maybe revisiting things that you already have 26 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:15,400 in your business, right? 27 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,480 Like going back and repricing inventory, different types of things like that. 28 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:23,600 It is super important, whether you sell on eBay or Amazon to have these tasks 29 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,880 in place, and I guess I'll kind of just start it off with Amazon. 30 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:31,960 You have FBA, Amazon fulfills your items and you have FBM fulfilled by Mike. 31 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:36,560 In my case is I fulfill my items for you, which is fulfilled by merchant. 32 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:38,480 You fulfill the orders that you get. 33 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:44,000 And me and Johnny kind of came to this conclusion probably over a year ago is 34 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:48,640 you always want to go back and revisit things you have listed to see has 35 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:50,400 something changed on that listing. 36 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,720 Is this FBM item now good for FBA? Do we need to lower the price? 37 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,240 Can we raise the price in a lot of situations? 38 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,680 So we thought to ourselves, what's a good timeframe for an Amazon seller to go 39 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,360 back and revisit their inventory that they have listed FBM? 40 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,600 And we came to the conclusion about once every two months is probably a good 41 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,720 timeframe, depending on how large your inventory is, because at the end of the 42 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,360 day, Johnny's got thousands of books, right? 43 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,280 It's not like, Oh, I'm going to pop in for 15 minutes and go through all 44 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:21,480 of these. This is for him. 45 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,720 This is a week, two week task of slowly going back through everything. 46 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,840 So it is important to revisit things here when it comes to Amazon. 47 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:32,840 And when it comes to eBay, Johnny, I know Johnny has a few things that he does. 48 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,400 So I'm going to throw it over to him and he can give a little bit of insight on 49 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:37,520 revisiting old things that he's done. 50 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:39,080 Yeah. 51 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,440 I mean, I've done a lot of, well, let me try this. 52 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:43,560 I've never done it before. 53 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:44,440 Let me try that. 54 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:45,560 I've never done it before. 55 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:50,520 And then you kind of need to sit on those experiments for the more, the more you 56 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:54,120 sit on these experiments and let them run their course, the more accurate data 57 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:59,440 you have now on a shorter time scale, like a month, you can get some initial data 58 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,840 in, but let's just say that was a bad month for that type of experiment given 59 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,920 the world at large or what the platform's doing as far as updates go. 60 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:10,280 And it may not be as accurate. 61 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,520 So the longer you give it, you can see the long-term effects of that 62 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,520 experiment, like even raising your listing goal as an experiment. 63 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,360 You're not going to see the results of that for a very long time. 64 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:21,760 If you stay consistent with it. 65 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:27,320 Um, some things that I've done this year of is I've, I've tried lowering it to 66 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:32,120 rock bottom to get a higher STR, which is just more turnover because if you sell 67 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:33,360 enough, you get more money. 68 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:38,920 I've tried it on the other end where I've raised them to, well, in some cases. 69 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,280 10 to 15 times more than what they're worth to see, okay, I'm selling 70 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,560 less, but I'm getting about the same amount of money that was the result of 71 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,640 that experiment, but then again, You're storing this stuff and it's just gonna, 72 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:52,920 it's just going to continue to build. 73 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,320 Um, and then, um, where I initially started was I was kind of somewhere 74 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:58,360 in the middle of these two. 75 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,000 Um, so. 76 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,040 And dialing the knob here, dialing it up there until you've got it fully dialed 77 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,480 in takes an exorbitant amount of time. 78 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,920 It's taking about two years to see everything. 79 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,640 I don't think there's unless eBay adds something in new. 80 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,480 I don't think there's an experiment I can run right now that I have not tried. 81 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:23,800 Um, it's tough because like what you said, you have to give something a real shot. 82 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:26,840 I think this, this doesn't even just apply to resell. 83 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:30,520 I, this is like one of my like life quotes, right? 84 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,760 You can't really quit something if you never really gave it an actual shot. 85 00:04:34,840 --> 00:04:38,920 And an actual shot is actually doing everything you're supposed to do and 86 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:40,440 give it in a certain timeframe. 87 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:42,760 And it ain't no day and ain't no week. 88 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,400 It's not a month, especially with resell them. 89 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,120 You have to give things a season, give it three months, give it a serious shot. 90 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:51,080 All right. 91 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:52,280 You're going to make this change. 92 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:56,680 I think what happens, I know, I don't think I know what happens here is everybody 93 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:58,520 needs the instant gratification. 94 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:03,080 If I'm going to up my listeners, Johnny, from five to 10, then I immediately 95 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:07,400 better to be selling double by the end of next week, or this is stupid, right? 96 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,360 That's, that's the initial reaction you get from a lot of people. 97 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:14,680 And I do think there is so much to be said about giving something the right 98 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,160 amount of time to see if it actually works. 99 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,240 Like even in promoted listings, I've cranked the knob on that hard. 100 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:25,480 And I'll admit, I didn't like what I was seeing as far as dollars back. 101 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,920 And I ended the experiment pretty soon days, not even a week. 102 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:35,560 And it was like, huh, so I'm getting a lot more traffic, but am I selling 103 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,480 more wasn't looking that way. 104 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:39,080 So I ended it pretty quickly. 105 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,160 Also the net dollars back wasn't that great. 106 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:45,320 I mean, I did some number crunching before I pull down that lever because 107 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:51,400 that does affect my take home money, but actually seeing it, the actual data 108 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:53,960 and not Excel math data, which is pretty accurate. 109 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,840 It was like, eh, weighing the outcomes. 110 00:05:56,840 --> 00:05:57,800 I'm not really selling more. 111 00:05:57,800 --> 00:05:58,840 It's not really worth doing. 112 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:02,600 But I didn't give it a long enough shot to be fair. 113 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,320 That was one of the experiments that I kind of wish I get a little bit more 114 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:09,480 time and I'll be fair, I'll be fair to myself. 115 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:10,920 And like, I didn't give it enough time. 116 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,720 I, um, I've had a few of those as well. 117 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,120 Um, lots of books. 118 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,920 I tried that route, lot in books up different sets, buying every Harry Potter 119 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:23,880 I see for under a buck of the thrift stores and building sets. 120 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,320 I think there is a model where that can work. 121 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:33,960 What for my specific business at that specific time, it's just not worth it. 122 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:34,120 Right. 123 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:37,640 And I think this is kind of, you know, what's your time look like, right? 124 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:38,680 Are you part-time? 125 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:39,880 Are you full-time? 126 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:41,000 What interests you? 127 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:42,600 What are you seeing out in your stores? 128 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:42,760 Right. 129 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,400 Because I can't all of a sudden want to be the lock guy. 130 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:49,800 If I'm never seeing Harry Potter's, uh, you know, hunger games books out there. 131 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:55,160 I, as much as I want to be the lock guy, you have to play to what's available to 132 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:55,400 you. 133 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,920 You can't just magically all of a sudden, you know, I can't magically be the 134 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,240 video game guy because I don't have the video game. 135 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,640 So like, it's one of those things that's a balancing act where maybe something 136 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:06,280 interests you. 137 00:07:06,280 --> 00:07:08,840 Maybe, maybe it's a different category altogether, right? 138 00:07:08,840 --> 00:07:12,200 Maybe I sell books and I'm really in the trading cards, right? 139 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:13,560 I want to be a Pokemon seller. 140 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:18,520 So where can you fit this into the business to where you're not taken away 141 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,320 from the business that's actually working and making money? 142 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,280 I think that's a huge thing because a lot of people are like, well, I want to 143 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:24,840 try this. 144 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:25,800 I want to do this. 145 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,880 And I want to be, uh, the Pokemon guy and I want to be the sneaker guy. 146 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,240 And I think what happens, you just become wishy washy on everything. 147 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:35,800 And then that's the end of, you know, the used book guy. 148 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:37,000 Yeah. 149 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:41,160 And, uh, it even applies outside of like eBay and Amazon, like even my storefront. 150 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:45,720 Uh, we were very, let's not organize a darn thing and let's let it rip. 151 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:50,040 But I noticed if I take a few minutes here in there, or I have a volunteer use 152 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,400 her time to organize a little bit, like a prime example of this, we put all the 153 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:55,800 Westerns together on a shelf once to see what happened. 154 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,400 Well, well, that day somebody put them all in a box. 155 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,040 And they walked out the store, which got me space, which I could put more 156 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,720 desirable per item books out, but there's some labor that went into that. 157 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:08,280 I think that's a big takeaway with me on the storefront. 158 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:13,800 I know I'm only talking to one, 100th of a percent of you out there, but, um, 159 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,440 you got to treat every aspect of your business with excellence, even the lowest 160 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:23,320 profitable thing other than like cutting that lowest thing off entirely getting 161 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:23,880 rid of it. 162 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,960 Um, but if you're making it part of your business model, you got to treat it all 163 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:28,680 with excellence. 164 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:33,000 From the highest making thing to the lowest making thing, because the little 165 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,400 things matter every step along the way that you put in to those things matter 166 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:38,520 in the grand hole. 167 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,760 Cause maybe one day this becomes more profitable than this thing over here. 168 00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:47,720 If you put in the time today on it, you waste more time doing things half ass 169 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:48,120 too, right? 170 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:50,280 Cause I'm going to, I'm going to attest to this right now. 171 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:57,000 Uh, anybody that knows me, I have the most pathetic eBay store, uh, out there 172 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:01,320 when it comes to, you know, probably any eBay seller that's on social media or 173 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:06,360 YouTube, it's got his, you know, 5,000 plus subscribers has a better eBay store 174 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:06,760 than me. 175 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,280 I'm perfectly fine with that. 176 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,200 And what I realized is Johnny, if I sit down and I say, I'm going to take today 177 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,920 to do eBay, it's the most unrefined slowest process. 178 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:22,520 And it just, I finally realized this currently is a waste of my time. 179 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,280 I can spend my time better in other places. 180 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,440 In other places in my business and make money now down the road, maybe 181 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:31,080 something happens. 182 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:35,080 Maybe I can revisit that, but if I can't sit down and dedicate the time to do it 183 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:39,160 correctly, it just doesn't make sense to do it at all because what happens here? 184 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:39,800 I agree with that. 185 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:40,200 Yeah. 186 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:41,560 It's a lot of reselling businesses. 187 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:42,760 They don't do it right. 188 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:44,200 And they just waste time. 189 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,680 And all of a sudden, you know, you didn't do anything right. 190 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:49,880 So you just wasted your time because if you don't do it right, it's not going 191 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:52,920 to sell, it's not, you're never going to get the traffic no matter how much 192 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:54,200 you promote or this or that. 193 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:59,080 So it was, you know, yeah, I mean, I can go over to Etsy right now and have 194 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:02,120 a kick ass Etsy store if I put in the time and did it right. 195 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:03,960 That's the thing doing it right. 196 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,640 And exorbitant amount of time is Etsy is a lot of work to make that look right. 197 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:08,440 And to get customers. 198 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,320 I have an easier life with eBay and Amazon than I would on Etsy. 199 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:18,200 Cause if I were to do Etsy full scale, full time, it would be, I would probably 200 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:20,280 be going bed at like 2 AM every night. 201 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,240 Cause you got to make the lots, you got to do the fancy packaging, got to do 202 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,280 the fancy wording, you got to make it all look nice. 203 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:28,360 That's easy. 204 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:30,520 I respect Etsy sellers a lot more. 205 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:34,360 I know we kind of make fun of them from time to time, the community at large, 206 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:35,960 but those guys work hard too. 207 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:36,680 They really do. 208 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:40,520 I don't think there's anything wrong with that style of business. 209 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:43,640 As long as that's what you're going to do with excellence, right? 210 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:48,040 If that's going to be the route you want to go, it's perfectly fine to, I guess 211 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,120 this will kind of take us into like transforming your business almost into a 212 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:53,400 completely different business. 213 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:54,680 And this happens a lot, right? 214 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,920 People start selling books and especially on Amazon books are like the gateway 215 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:01,960 drug and everybody moves on from books to sell something else, right? 216 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,200 And it's, it can be the same with eBay. 217 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,560 Maybe you start selling, you know, books and all of a sudden you're like, well, 218 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:11,960 you know, I enjoy selling books, but I would really, really enjoy if I 219 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:15,880 sold vintage t-shirts, if I sold, you know, lamps, something like that. 220 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:20,440 And there is something to be said about just because you sell this thing today 221 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:25,560 doesn't mean you can't change and become something else tomorrow, but you have to 222 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:30,040 give yourself the transition period of, and this kind of goes for like being an 223 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:31,400 eBay and Amazon seller, right? 224 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:34,200 Or like going from one platform as your focus to the other. 225 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:34,680 Yeah. 226 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:37,320 You got to give yourself runway to get there. 227 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,440 So you don't lose anything from the thing that's making you all the money today, 228 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:44,920 but you're slowly growing this to replace this thing that you no longer want to 229 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,080 do or the platform you no longer want to sell on. 230 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:48,600 Right. 231 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:53,160 I mean, even myself, I took a hard look over the last few months of the two 232 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:57,000 platforms I'm on now, including the storefront and we'll be making some 233 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:58,840 changes over here and our end next year. 234 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,640 It'll probably be more Amazon focused than eBay focused. 235 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,200 I won't go into the exact details on it, but knowing your numbers, I mean, we 236 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:10,360 talk about that a lot looking at it and the scalability of it. 237 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,200 I know the scalability on eBay. 238 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:13,080 I know it very well. 239 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,280 I know the scalability on Amazon now that I've had a new data set. 240 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:20,440 Now Amazon could change the rules on us at any point, and then you make an 241 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,360 adjustment and it may be, okay, based off this adjustment, yes, we're keeping 242 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,720 Amazon in, but we're going to put more of our efforts back on eBay. 243 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:30,920 And then next year it's the reverse. 244 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:35,320 So it's just kind of a pendulum swinging effect kind of deal. 245 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:36,760 And let's complicate things. 246 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:38,840 Like, I mean, I've talked about going into Walmart. 247 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,560 So maybe Walmart's producing the most money after I've had some time. 248 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:47,880 Again, time, this is all about a time game to examine the numbers and what it's producing. 249 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:49,640 Oh, Amazon was number one. 250 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,680 Walmart's now number one to me and eBay is at the bottom here. 251 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:56,440 And then the next year, the musical chair effect happens. 252 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:01,400 So you got to adjust with, I think it was actually Tech who said this, and 253 00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:05,800 he's like, what platform are you making the most money on? 254 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:07,800 That's where most of your effort should be going. 255 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:09,080 You got to examine that. 256 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:11,240 If you're making more money on eBay, go to eBay. 257 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,040 Yeah. And a lot of it really depends on what you sell. 258 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:21,080 And I kind of took the approach of, yeah, I have an eBay store, but like I basically do the, 259 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,560 I send my stuff off to somebody else that thinks it's worth it to sell on eBay. 260 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:26,760 And then I take a cut of that. 261 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:32,680 So, you know, it's one of those things where there are ways where you can be involved in platforms 262 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:35,880 and, you know, you just relationships, right? 263 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:40,040 We always talk about this is, you know, transforming your business is a way to get 264 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:41,480 involved in the business. 265 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:46,440 And so, you know, transforming your business can also be based on, you know, a relationship 266 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:47,960 you find or come across, right? 267 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:53,320 If all of a sudden I have this relationship with a recycling company and they say I can 268 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,960 get all the books I want for the rest of my life for two cents a pound. 269 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:03,720 All of a sudden you got to step back and say, okay, I can get an infinite amount of these 270 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,920 products, whether it's books, CDs, DVDs. 271 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:12,200 What does it make for me to change my business or pivot the way my business currently is? 272 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:13,960 Maybe that's a price point, right? 273 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:18,360 The big thing with eBay is we want to list things for me that are at least 20 bucks, 274 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:18,840 right? 275 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:21,160 I'm going to not listen to anything that's under $20. 276 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:26,040 So maybe if you have this infinite amount of cheap books or even free books, you can 277 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:30,200 lower that a little bit if you're fine with putting in the extra time on the back end 278 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:34,920 because as you lower that, you know, ASP, you're going to have more items that you're 279 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,840 going to have to prep, list, customer service, pack and ship. 280 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:44,600 So there are balances to kind of changing who your business is today into something 281 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:44,840 else. 282 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,240 So like, let's kind of go down a rabbit hole here, right? 283 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,160 So you got to pivot out of books altogether, media altogether. 284 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,600 Where are you going and how are you doing it? 285 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:58,920 So no books, no media. 286 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:03,080 I would probably go, I wouldn't do clothes because even though that's abundance. 287 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:05,080 I wouldn't do unclothes, no shot. 288 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:12,840 I'd probably go something more commodity based upper end, but it's still like desirable, 289 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:18,120 like maybe not antiques either. 290 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:26,120 It would probably be the equivalent of like maybe I have a pocket watch seller, but my 291 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,920 pocket watches are $200 ASP. 292 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:34,120 I wouldn't be doing the bulk game anymore or maybe I am and I still end up with a lot 293 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:34,920 of junk watches. 294 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,400 What do I do with those junk watch, junk pocket watches? 295 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:39,800 Or maybe I go tools. 296 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,040 I know we have a big tool time seller in our group actually. 297 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:47,960 And maybe I'm just the tractor tool guy. 298 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:54,120 I would go something higher end that people buy, but it's not everybody that buys those 299 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:54,520 things. 300 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:58,600 It's a smaller buying pool, but a bigger margin for those buyers. 301 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,960 That's the route I'd probably end up going because right now I'm in the bulk game. 302 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:09,880 I have low cost of goods, but my rate of return is huge, but I'd probably go the other end 303 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,320 of the spectrum if I were to not have access to media anymore. 304 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:15,240 So let's take a look at this. 305 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:15,480 Right. 306 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:24,120 So you decide starting in December, you're going to be the pocket watch guy and it's 307 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:25,160 day one. 308 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:29,480 So what does that look like for you as your transition begins? 309 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:35,720 You're going to continue to do everything that you currently do in the book business. 310 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:39,800 And now you have to find a way to fit in the pocket watch business. 311 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:44,040 So just like, what do you think you would do if that was the real case scenario? 312 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:50,440 Well, based off my book business, I know I've never seen a pocket watch outside of auction 313 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:51,240 houses. 314 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:57,080 So I would be creating a list of auction houses and then seeing what's available to me 315 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:58,040 right then, right there. 316 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:06,200 And then because of the book business, I would look at lots online, eBay lots or Macari lots 317 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:07,720 or Etsy lots, whatever. 318 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,720 I'm like, okay, if I'm paying up because I'm in the pocket watch game, I know I'm going 319 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,640 to be paying up opposed to books. 320 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:15,240 What do my margins need to look like? 321 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:16,360 What do I need to clear? 322 00:17:16,360 --> 00:17:22,520 Is my goal to clear $50 every time or is my goal to clear 50% every time, 50% of what 323 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:23,000 I put in? 324 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:29,000 So basically I would have to come up with an online Rolodex of sourcing because it's 325 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:30,920 no longer me going out to the thrift store. 326 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:34,760 Because if you're finding pocket watches, thrift stores, I'm more power to you. 327 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,280 And I'd like to know where those are, but I know I can't go out and get them. 328 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:39,400 I have to order them. 329 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,720 The inventory has to come to me in this scenario. 330 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:45,960 Honestly, I might, this is going to sound horrible. 331 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:47,320 This is something I probably would do. 332 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:49,480 I would call funeral homes. 333 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:50,680 What do they do with that stuff? 334 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:57,880 The leftover stuff or places that deal with dead people, not necessarily funeral homes, 335 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:00,280 the police stations and stuff, the lost and found stuff. 336 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,040 What do you guys do with the pocket watches you come across? 337 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:05,000 Does it go somewhere? 338 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:06,040 Where does it go? 339 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:10,280 So basically I'd be full on investigation mode because this is a new thing. 340 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:11,400 They're not like books. 341 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:13,400 They're opposite of books. 342 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,960 I think you kind of hit it on the head. 343 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,680 It's like, if you have this idea of something you really want to do and switch your business to, 344 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:27,800 you can spend the time today to get the knowledge and maybe iron out some of the logistics of maybe 345 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:34,200 chasing this dream of selling in this category you're so passionately want to sell in. 346 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:36,680 And this happens a lot because a lot of people start reselling. 347 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,240 And like you said, maybe they do clothes and then they realize I got to do all the measurements 348 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,680 and things like this and they want to get out of clothes and they don't know where to go. 349 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:47,800 I think do something that you're passionate about. 350 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,240 It's going to be a lot easier and you're going to be a lot more motivated to sit down 351 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:53,000 and gain the knowledge. 352 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:58,360 If you're really into pocket watches, you don't have no problem looking up sold comps on eBay 353 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:02,760 for pocket watches, going on the internet, trying to find who's selling pocket watches. 354 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,440 But if it's something you're not interested in, and I think this is super important, 355 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:11,720 if you're going to pivot your business completely, it has to be something you're interested in, 356 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:12,440 you yourself. 357 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:17,400 Johnny can't tell me, Mike, I really like pocket watches. 358 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,080 I think you can make a whole bunch of money. 359 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:20,600 You should become the pocket watch guy. 360 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,960 I'm going to tell Johnny to go pound sand and people should do the same. 361 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,720 I know you see these other people, right? 362 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,440 Vintage t-shirts, Johnny, oh my God, there's so much money to be made. 363 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:37,080 And they get in their head that, well, forget cleaning shoes and selling shoes. 364 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,840 I want to do vintage t-shirts because look how much they're selling for. 365 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,720 You shouldn't base your decision based off of somebody else's successes. 366 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:49,480 Just especially the successes they're only showing on the internet. 367 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,680 Like that's really no matter what the business is, 368 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:57,400 they're not showing you the downside of selling vintage t-shirts, selling books, selling stuff. 369 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:00,600 Now, it'd be fun and I would have no way how to do it. 370 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,360 How do I sell precious metals? 371 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,120 Because that price does not change. 372 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:06,120 The listing price is what the listing price is. 373 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:09,000 Well, I'm not going to say that. 374 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,760 It can go up and down based off the value of the precious metal. 375 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:18,280 If I sold platinum online or gold online or silver online, 376 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:19,800 that would be amazing. 377 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:21,560 But where the heck do I get that stuff? 378 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:22,440 I have no idea. 379 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:29,400 Well, I mean, an idea is going getting all scrap stuff and melting it down to produce it myself. 380 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:30,200 Sure. 381 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:35,000 Or again, maybe I hit the auction houses and get all the little gold coins that aren't worth anything 382 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:36,920 and melt them down to make gold bars. 383 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,760 That's how I would right now today. 384 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,240 That's my only idea of how to start a business like that. 385 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:47,480 I think a lot of resellers, probably 90% of them, 386 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,160 would be happy-go-lucky little bunny rabbits out in the field 387 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,600 if they just sold stuff that they were passionate about. 388 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:59,000 Regardless of how the market was, the comments come in and hit the earth, 389 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:00,440 the fees are going up. 390 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,280 If you're really into what you sell, it's so much easier. 391 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,560 And for me, because everybody's like, well, Mike, you don't even read books. 392 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:08,600 Well, guess what? 393 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,080 I'm literally Mr. Krabs. 394 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:12,840 I enjoy money. 395 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:17,000 And if a book is going to make me the money and I can easily get them, 396 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,360 they're in my area and I understand how the business works, 397 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:21,960 that is my motivation. 398 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:26,280 It's not so much the, oh, I'm really passionate about books. 399 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:27,480 I'm an avid reader. 400 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:31,160 If you are and you're selling books, you've got one leg up on me 401 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:35,160 because you're more motivated to go out and maybe find your rare book 402 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,560 that you want for yourself or you see cool books, signed books, things like that. 403 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:43,880 You should definitely be more motivated than me, who's just after the dollar, 404 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,040 because this is something that interests you. 405 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:47,480 No, I agree with that. 406 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:48,280 I like books. 407 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:49,080 I read books. 408 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,880 Not every book I list, I like that book, but I do like books in general, 409 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:55,880 and I do read, and I agree with you. 410 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,240 If I didn't do that, I probably wouldn't work the amount of hours. 411 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,440 I would probably switch niches at this point if I wasn't into books. 412 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:03,480 I really would. 413 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:08,200 Yeah, I think everybody would be more happy if they just sold on a category 414 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,480 they actually had some interest in and with anything, right? 415 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,200 Interests come and go in life, right? 416 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,480 Maybe you're really into this right now and you'll be into something else, 417 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,960 but we kind of just laid out the plan for you. 418 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,560 You can always pivot your business as long as you do it the right way 419 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,880 and understand everything that comes with it, right? 420 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:29,720 So we have the experience of selling large amounts of books. 421 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:32,600 How does that translate to something else? 422 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:37,080 You put the same principles in place, understand it's going to be the same exact business, 423 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,800 just a different type of product you're more passionate about, 424 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,440 but you can't get blinded by the fact that just because you're passionate about something, 425 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:46,040 you can make it into a business. 426 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:52,120 That doesn't work 90% of the time just because you have this passion to cook egg sandwiches. 427 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:56,040 You can't just go open a food truck and spend X amount of dollars 428 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:57,560 and think you're going to be successful. 429 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,920 It does not work like that no matter how excited you are to sell something. 430 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,040 Right. I mean, there's a person that I think you nailed it right there. 431 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,760 There's a person that may have all the passion in the world, 432 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:10,040 but they're not a business person. 433 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,440 They don't know how to do business. 434 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:19,480 It's like somebody buying a stadium and trying to run a sports league. 435 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:20,920 A lot of the time they fail. 436 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:25,560 A lot of the time they fail when they do that because they're just passionate about that thing. 437 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,280 Because they bought a stadium, they got some money behind it. 438 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:33,800 So they have some business knowledge, but most of them don't do so well. 439 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,440 Or it's like, I don't know, what was it? 440 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,600 Michael Jordan going to play golf or baseball. 441 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:46,760 I mean, he did all right, but he tried to translate he's an athlete. 442 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,160 Doesn't mean he's an athlete in every sport. 443 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,320 He is athletic. Yes. 444 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,000 I do think with these transitions you have on your mind, 445 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,320 or maybe you're thinking about switching categories today, 446 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:04,360 I think it is super important that you cash flow that business from the current one you have. 447 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:10,040 I don't think it's smart to all of a sudden tomorrow, I want to be the pocket watch guy. 448 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:14,040 And I have a business line of credit that I'm going to take out 449 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,240 to just jump headfirst into this whole new business, 450 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:21,000 because you think it's going to be successful as the one you have today. 451 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,200 And I think a lot of people, you could be misconstrued that, 452 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:28,920 well, if I'm successful selling books, Johnny, then I can be just as successful 453 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:31,960 or more successful selling sneakers because I love sneakers. 454 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,760 I think that's 100% a trap. Yep. 455 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:39,720 That's the trap you're going to fall into because you think you have success in one category. 456 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,400 And you can't just pivot and switch to something completely different. 457 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,280 And especially depending on what you're selling. 458 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:50,680 Right. My wife, Deb, she sells cat and dog toys on Etsy and Shopify. 459 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,680 So she can't just wake up and decide that she's going to sell skunk toys. 460 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,480 Right. Like you have a customer base. 461 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:01,560 You have built these processes specifically around this. 462 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:02,840 You can't say, well, I'm going to take a loan. 463 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,000 And all of a sudden, I'm going to be the skunk toy seller. 464 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:06,280 Right. It don't work like that. 465 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:12,120 Right. I mean, going to shoes, man, that's a transition because there's cleaning. 466 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:13,880 The photos are all different. 467 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,320 If you're doing this on eBay, if you're doing on Amazon, whatever, I guess. 468 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,080 Can you sell you shoes on Amazon or is it just new shoes? 469 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:22,440 I think it's just new. 470 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:23,960 Yeah. So there's no cleaning. 471 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,640 So you're looking at online arbitrage or RA arbitrage at that point. 472 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:33,080 So do you have box stores you can go to to even do RA or not? 473 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,800 Or okay. So now you're in the OA game alone solely if you don't. 474 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,000 And now you've got to figure out how to source faster 475 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,040 and better than anybody else is doing OA shoes. 476 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:44,920 How do you do that? 477 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:46,600 So you get your little slash the pie. 478 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:50,680 I can tell you right now, me trying to do that today, like if I said, okay, 479 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,400 no more books, I'm doing shoes, I would struggle. 480 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:57,480 I would struggle hard for six months before I figured anything, 481 00:25:57,480 --> 00:25:58,920 got any competitive edge at all. 482 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,760 I think the biggest takeaway that we talked about today is 483 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:08,120 if you take your time and your transition and you see things aren't working, 484 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,240 but you're still maintaining that main business, 485 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,960 that gives you the opportunity to wash your hands and say, 486 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,440 okay, this experiment was fun, Johnny. 487 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,760 I tried it for two, three months, maybe even a month, maybe even two weeks. 488 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:25,640 Maybe this person decides to sell shoes like you're saying. 489 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,360 And they go buy a pallet of shoes. 490 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:29,560 They get it home. 491 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:34,680 And all of a sudden they realize I got to scrub, clean, wash these things, 492 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:36,040 every single pair. 493 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:40,680 And you quickly realize that this isn't going to be the life for me. 494 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:45,320 By maintaining that business you originally had, you can easily walk yourself back 495 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:49,000 and rethink maybe, okay, this was a mistake I made. 496 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,680 I paid $300 cash. 497 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:51,880 I'm out of that money. 498 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,200 It was worth a shot to see if it was something I was into. 499 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,600 But the problem is people don't look at it like that. 500 00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:00,360 They need to jump from books tonight to shoes tomorrow. 501 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:04,200 There's no transition period of seeing if these experiments work. 502 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,600 And I think that's so weird because if we look back, me and you talking years ago, 503 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,800 we always had some kind of weird experiment going on in the background. 504 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:12,520 Okay. 505 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:13,400 We always had like... 506 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,080 We used to call each other every other day. 507 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:15,560 It was good. 508 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:17,560 What are we trying here? 509 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:18,520 What are we trying different? 510 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:19,640 How long are we going to give it? 511 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,240 Or I need that reality check from each other. 512 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:24,200 That was another thing. 513 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:24,840 Is this stupid? 514 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:25,640 And I'd be like, yes. 515 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:26,600 Or no, that's great. 516 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:27,640 You should run with that. 517 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:27,960 Yeah. 518 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,360 Or if we're on the fence, we're like, well, give it a shot. 519 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:33,720 See what happens over X amount of time and then we can go from there. 520 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,760 There never was something like, oh, I'm going to change all this overnight 521 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:38,360 because I would say it was stupid. 522 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:39,640 Or you'd be like, no, that's stupid. 523 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:40,120 Don't do it. 524 00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:41,960 Why are you making such a rash change? 525 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,320 But I think when people don't have the results they want, 526 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,680 they're more inclined to just jump in sight unseen. 527 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:51,160 Who knows if there are sharks in the ocean? 528 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,600 I'm just going to jump in because I'm not getting the results I want. 529 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,760 I do think that's wrong because you can revisit your business and tweak things. 530 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,840 And all of a sudden that same inventory you have sitting behind you on the shelf 531 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:04,280 is now selling. 532 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,760 So there's a lot to be said about changing your current business 533 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,120 versus trying to completely go to a new one and all of a sudden 534 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:13,800 change your whole identity overnight. 535 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:14,520 Right. 536 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:15,640 Look at my brick and mortar store. 537 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,000 That was a huge experiment. 538 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,160 Very great experiment. 539 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:24,920 But if I didn't have good eBay inventory and good Amazon inventory 540 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,640 walking in my door probably on a daily basis, 541 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,000 we're not talking truckloads. 542 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,200 Well, sometimes we are. 543 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,640 But not having truckloads of stuff dropped in every day, 544 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,480 I probably would have shut it down and like, 545 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:38,920 okay, I'm getting my storage back. 546 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:39,640 This didn't work. 547 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:41,960 Nobody ever came in or I get one customer a week. 548 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,400 There are some issues going on with this experiment 549 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,600 because I'm pretty sure more books are coming in than are leaving. 550 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,280 So it's how do I make them leave on a more frequent basis 551 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,360 just because I have finite space. 552 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,960 So it's either get another space or figure out how to make them leave. 553 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:05,240 So current experiments can be tweaked to make the final experiment a reality. 554 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,600 And again, that all comes with time and learning 555 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,120 and trying new things out, failing at those new things 556 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:13,720 and trying another new thing. 557 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:20,120 The dumb idiot, Johnny B. reseller in an alternate universe 558 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:24,200 that wanted a storefront wouldn't went down to the local town 559 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:29,480 and rented out a retail space for $3,000 a month for a three-year lease. 560 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,120 That would have been the equivalent of what we're talking about. 561 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:32,600 Right? 562 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:34,840 He said, okay, I have the space. 563 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,160 How can I make this work in the current space that I have? 564 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:39,880 How can I see if this actually makes sense, 565 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:45,160 if I'm actually going to get results without spending all this money? 566 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,680 But the reality is most people are going to walk downtown, 567 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:50,600 rent out a space for three years, 568 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,720 and then they're not even going to be able to cover the rent three months in 569 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:55,400 and that's the end of it. 570 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,200 I think you're bleeding yourself dry at that point. 571 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:03,880 If this produced enough to work, if I had a standing line every morning 572 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:05,640 when I roll up to the shop, which I don't, 573 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,880 okay, maybe that retail space makes sense in alternate universe, 574 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:11,880 Johnny B. number three. 575 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,920 But number two, number one, well, number two, try it. 576 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:15,480 He failed. 577 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:16,280 He's out of business. 578 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,280 Number one over here, he's in business still. 579 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,080 Number three, he's making Scrooge McDuck money. 580 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:22,040 I wish to be that guy. 581 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:27,080 You can always try to find ways to implement your new ideas 582 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:28,840 without putting everything on the line. 583 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,120 You don't have to take these crazy risks to see if something works. 584 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:32,600 Yeah. 585 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,560 You can easily try something on the side. 586 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,640 And listen, if you're passionate about it, 587 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:42,680 I say this all the time because there's a lot of part-timers that either sink or swim. 588 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:45,000 And I think the ones that swim are the ones that are, 589 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:49,400 well, I want to get out of this job and I really enjoy what I do. 590 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,200 So I have no problem after working a 10-hour day, 591 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,320 go into the thrift store or list in some items. 592 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,960 And the people that don't survive are the ones who are just like, 593 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,560 well, I don't know, I really kind of just want to make a little bit of extra money. 594 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:03,720 I really don't care what I sell if I don't sell anything. 595 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,880 Like you have to be willing to, if you're passionate about it, 596 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:09,240 you got to put in the time, right? 597 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:13,240 I built this business up while I was at CVS, 50 plus hours a week. 598 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:17,640 I got it to a point where I was making the same money reselling as I was at CVS. 599 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:22,040 On the side, there was no five days a week going out and thrifting. 600 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:24,280 This was, well, I just worked all day. 601 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:28,120 Let me see if I can talk Devin to actually go into the thrift store with me, 602 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:29,880 even though I worked 50 hours this week. 603 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:33,880 So it's like, if you're really passionate about something, you can make it work. 604 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,600 And that's how you kind of can tell if it's something you really want to do. 605 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:39,640 And are you willing to put in the crappy hours, the crappy time, 606 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,080 give up some of your free time? 607 00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:42,600 You know, maybe you don't watch Netflix, 608 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,000 maybe you don't play as much video games, this or that. 609 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,120 That's really going to be the test for you personally to see 610 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:49,720 if this is something you really want. 611 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:55,080 Right. I mean, I was running two businesses when I started eBay. 612 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:57,960 And then once I figured out what I really want to do with eBay 613 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,240 and I saw the money coming in and the compounding effect it had, 614 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:03,320 I left my two other businesses. 615 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:04,360 I could have stayed. 616 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:05,960 I was making good money. 617 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:08,680 I took a little bit of a haircut when I started, 618 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:14,520 but I quickly did not after a period of time. 619 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:16,840 But I knew what it was doing and it was repeatable. 620 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:18,680 That was the key. It was repeatable. 621 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:22,440 It wasn't a one-off month where I made a lot of money. 622 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:26,200 It was several months before I made my decision to give my notices, essentially. 623 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:28,520 All right. We're going to wrap it up here. 624 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:32,840 I think the big takeaway is you can always reinvent yourself as a reseller, 625 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,600 whether that means reinventing the current inventory you have 626 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,560 or switching to a whole different category. 627 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,320 There are ways you can get out of being down and about, 628 00:32:43,320 --> 00:32:45,320 maybe you don't enjoy what you're selling. 629 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:47,640 You can transition to other categories. 630 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,600 Just make sure you lay out the same plan that you had 631 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:52,600 when you built your initial business up. 632 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,400 Right. How does it translate to that other business? 633 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,080 What can I do? What kind of timeframe? 634 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,720 We talked about giving yourself a real shot. 635 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,680 A week, a month is not a real shot at a new experiment. 636 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,920 No matter what platform you're selling on, 637 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,320 we're looking at three months, maybe even six months, 638 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:11,000 depending how crazy your idea is, to see if this makes sense. 639 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:15,480 But you have to maintain your income over here before you jump over there. 640 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,400 This still has to exist for you to be able to try this other thing out 641 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:20,920 and try this other business. 642 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,400 So as always, we appreciate you listening, 643 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,080 or if you're watching over on YouTube, 644 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:27,400 and we'll talk to you in next week's episode. 645 00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,160 Thanks for listening to another episode of the Resellers Mindset Podcast. 646 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:33,560 Today's full episode and all previous episodes 647 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:35,800 are available to all YouTube members, 648 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,600 along with the weekly Zoom call and private Discord. 649 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,960 Head on over to youtube.com backslash to use book guy 650 00:33:41,960 --> 00:34:09,960 and consider joining for as little as $2.99 a month.