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 --> 00:00:27,520 Let's get into this week's episode. 14 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:28,520 What is up, everybody? 15 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,080 Welcome into another episode of Resellers Mindset podcast. 16 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,120 Mike sitting next to Johnny, special guest today. 17 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:35,600 And you can tell from his background 18 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:37,240 if you're watching on YouTube already. 19 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,480 This guy loves selling books. 20 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:40,760 We got Kent with us today. 21 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,240 And he's a fellow YouTuber. 22 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,360 Kent, introduce yourself, take us away, 23 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:46,440 get us right into this episode. 24 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:47,400 Well, hello, everyone. 25 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:48,840 My name is Kent Genteman. 26 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,760 I've been selling books on eBay full time for about 11 years. 27 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,000 I was selling out of my house for about eight years. 28 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,760 And then three years ago, I bought a commercial building 29 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:01,360 and opened a bookstore in rural Wisconsin. 30 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:07,680 So eBay is still 90, well, no, no, 80, 80 some percent 31 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,240 of my income versus the physical bookstore. 32 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,560 But it is a great way to source. 33 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,000 Most of my inventory I buy on eBay and then sell on eBay. 34 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,080 And one of the unique things that I do 35 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,760 is I do auctions every night. 36 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,040 So every night I have 30 books ending. 37 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:28,480 I start them all at $0.99 plus shipping and no reserves. 38 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:30,000 And yeah, that's what I do. 39 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,120 That's pretty unique, $0.99 auctions. 40 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,920 I guess on the idea of eBay, you've 41 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,960 been doing this for 11 years, you got a storefront. 42 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:41,800 What made you decide to get a storefront? 43 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:43,760 And do you just see your storefront 44 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:45,320 as a way to get inventory? 45 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:48,080 Or do you still see it as a way to possibly grow 46 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,960 your revenue for the next five, 10 years, 47 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,600 however long you plan on doing this? 48 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:54,920 A little bit of both. 49 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,520 I know, Mike, you know that listing books on eBay 50 00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:58,720 is not exactly fun. 51 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:00,360 And I would like to do less of it. 52 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,120 So if I could replace some of my online income 53 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,640 with local sales, that'd be great. 54 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,040 At this point, the profit from my bookstore 55 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:13,080 would just about pay the mortgage and all the bills. 56 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:16,320 But there are days that I will sell $50 worth of books here 57 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,400 and spend $500 on stuff coming in for people to sell me. 58 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,600 So the math doesn't always add up great. 59 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:23,960 All right, now I got to ask you a question, 60 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:25,440 because I'm a cheapo when it comes 61 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,120 to buying other people's books and CDs and DVDs. 62 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:31,360 I just say I pay a flat $0.15 a pound. 63 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,520 Now, in your line of business, you have more collectible books. 64 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,760 I see you got fancy books that are probably more expensive 65 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,760 that people are not going to part ways with at $0.15 a pound. 66 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,520 Do you comp everything that comes in kind of like a trade 67 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:44,960 and store, like a half-price books? 68 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:46,460 Or do you just say, I'm just going 69 00:02:46,460 --> 00:02:50,960 to pay this flat fee based on how many items you bring me? 70 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:52,520 It really varies. 71 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,200 For modern romance and Westerns and stuff, for the bookstore, 72 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,760 I pay like $5 for a huge box of it. 73 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,160 I pay next to nothing because it takes forever to sell. 74 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:02,520 And I already have so much of it. 75 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,560 For the older stuff that I can sell on eBay, 76 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,880 I might pay $150 or $200 for a really nice Bible 77 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,960 that I think is going to bring at least $300. 78 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:14,120 It really varies. 79 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,120 And like saying with East and Press books, 80 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,320 I might pay $10 or $15 a piece and hope 81 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,280 that they're all going to sell for $20 plus. 82 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,360 So I am willing to pay up for the older stuff. 83 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:26,160 If I can get some really good quality stuff, 84 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,360 I will pay up for it. 85 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:30,200 Do you only do auctions on eBay, or do you 86 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,200 have normal listings too? 87 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:33,240 I used to have. 88 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:37,000 I was working my way up to about 1,000 buy it nows 89 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:38,800 plus the auctions. 90 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,380 And now I'm mostly auctions. 91 00:03:41,380 --> 00:03:42,920 I think I have about 30 buy it now. 92 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,020 So I am slowly building up my buy it nows just 93 00:03:45,020 --> 00:03:46,720 with really good quality stuff. 94 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:47,840 It has to be nice condition. 95 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,800 It has to be an interesting topic, all of that stuff. 96 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,080 So it hopefully, I mean, otherwise, it's 97 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:55,800 normal in the book industry for your stuff 98 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,960 to sit on the shelves or online for years and years 99 00:03:58,960 --> 00:03:59,800 and never sell. 100 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,720 So I'm done with listing stuff that will never sell. 101 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,040 It's a waste of time. 102 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,480 See, I like the turnover with the auction style 103 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,920 because it's seven, 10 days or something, right? 104 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,640 But everybody's initial knee-jerk, shock, 105 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:16,840 rip-band-aid-off reaction is I don't 106 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:20,400 want to sell stuff for $1 when I know it's worth $100. 107 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:23,680 There is that risk that goes involved with auctions. 108 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,000 So what made you decide to take that risk? 109 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:27,840 Like, no, all auctions all the time. 110 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:28,440 Roll the dice. 111 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,800 See what happens. 112 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,480 I really don't even know. 113 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:33,760 I think I must have just dabbled. 114 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:35,280 I tried a few things that I thought 115 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,120 there was a huge market for, whether it's the Dune books 116 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:43,740 or Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, first edition, Stephen King, 117 00:04:43,740 --> 00:04:44,400 stuff like that. 118 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,040 You know there's going to be tons of people looking for it, 119 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,360 and it's going to be exciting. 120 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,840 And that's one of the things you have to, 121 00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:55,680 if you're looking for books to auction off on eBay, 122 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:57,560 you're going to want to look up sold comps. 123 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,800 And if it's sold 10 or 15 times in the last month, 124 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:02,480 you know there's a lot of interest in it, 125 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,120 similar to what you guys do with Amazon, looking up and seeing 126 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,720 how much time it sold in the last 60 or 90 days 127 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,840 to give you an idea of whether or not 128 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:13,520 it's a good candidate for an auction. 129 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,760 See, what's also interesting with your model 130 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,440 is I see a lot of people get caught up in exact pricing 131 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:21,320 with buy it now versus you. 132 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,160 No, it's just going to go $0.99, and it's done. 133 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:26,040 There's no research there. 134 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:26,680 Or is there? 135 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:28,880 Am I wrong in that statement? 136 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:30,040 No, for the most part. 137 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,360 Sometimes I look up sold comps just to see. 138 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:35,240 But a lot of times you won't find sold comps. 139 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:37,200 Even if you go back three years on eBay, 140 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:38,880 you won't find any sold comps, and maybe you 141 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:40,480 won't find any listed. 142 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:42,840 And I know that really drives people crazy 143 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:45,000 if they can't find any online and there's 144 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,040 no sales history of a book online. 145 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,240 They think that they have something special. 146 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,120 And sometimes that's the case. 147 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,040 But a lot of times it isn't. 148 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,280 So you list the book for $0.99, and it 149 00:05:56,280 --> 00:05:59,800 doesn't sell the first week of the auction. 150 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:01,960 Does that go into the incinerator pile, 151 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,000 or does that get relisted? 152 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:05,000 Good question. 153 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,280 So there are decent books that I put up 154 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:11,200 for auction that just don't get watchers, 155 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:16,720 and they maybe have one or two watchers and only not 156 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:18,360 too many views and no bids. 157 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:22,040 In that case, I go through the next three days of auctions 158 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,320 ending, and if there's some that don't have bids, 159 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,080 if there's a lot of watchers, I'll leave it up. 160 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,440 And hopefully it brings more than $0.99. 161 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,720 But if there's no bids and there's one or two watchers, 162 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,040 I'll end it early and maybe put it in the bookstore. 163 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,480 But I won't re-upload it on eBay for months, 164 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,640 because eBay already knows that title, 165 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:44,560 and probably that book with that author is a dud. 166 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:45,880 What got you into books, dude? 167 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:48,640 I mean, you seem like you're passionate about the books. 168 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,000 You have a ton of knowledge about books. 169 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,000 So you had to have some kind of book bug bite you 170 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,600 many, many moons ago. 171 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:58,320 So when I was in middle school, I 172 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,960 grew up on a little hobby farm in rural Wisconsin, 173 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,920 and I started collecting farming and veterinary books. 174 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:06,880 I wanted to be a vet. 175 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,760 That, hence, animalvet52 is my eBay username. 176 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:13,160 Everyone asks me if I'm a vet, and nope, I'm not. 177 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,240 So I started collecting old farming and vet books, 178 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,480 and I'd go to an auction and buy a box, 179 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,880 keep the ones I wanted, and sell the rest. 180 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:24,480 And when I was in college, I was an animal science major, 181 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,960 and I just started doing it as a side hustle. 182 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,240 And eventually, I switched to a business major, 183 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,040 and it turned into a full-time thing. 184 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:34,280 That's a pretty crazy story. 185 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:36,080 I mean, the worse comes to worst, you always 186 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:37,700 can go back and be a vet, and maybe you 187 00:07:37,700 --> 00:07:40,120 are half a veterinarian, half bookstore combo 188 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:42,520 can, the first of its kind in the universe. 189 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:47,400 It's so unique when I see bookstores that exist. 190 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,760 And I'm curious, when it comes to overhead, 191 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,300 because a lot of booksellers that are passionate about books, 192 00:07:52,300 --> 00:07:54,560 they would love to have a bookstore. 193 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,360 When it comes to overhead of actually having a bookstore, 194 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,960 maybe some downfalls that maybe people don't think about it 195 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:01,840 when it comes to actually having a store, 196 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,960 can you shed some light on some things 197 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,080 that people really don't think about when you say, hey, 198 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:07,000 I want to have a bookstore? 199 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,520 It sounds fun and amazing. 200 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:11,240 Well, I guess the biggest change for me 201 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,920 was I'm open Wednesday to Saturday, 10 to 6, 202 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:16,800 closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, but I usually 203 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,120 work those days anyway. 204 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:20,960 So one of the huge changes was, hey, you either 205 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,160 have to be here every day, or at least four days a week, 206 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,480 or pay someone to be here. 207 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,080 And then I guess, as far as overhead, I live here, 208 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,560 so it's not really anything too crazy. 209 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:37,920 I've got LED lights, so my light bill isn't crazy. 210 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:42,440 But if you were going to either rent a space or buy a space 211 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,800 just for your bookstore, it definitely 212 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,040 wouldn't be the most profitable business. 213 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:52,200 Now, if you're in the city or on the main drag somewhere, 214 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:54,840 your rent and building costs is going to be a lot more. 215 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:56,480 You'll sell more, but then your expenses 216 00:08:56,480 --> 00:08:57,760 are going to be a lot more. 217 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:01,440 So that's why I chose to live a little bit more rural 218 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,360 and keep my bills down. 219 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:04,160 I don't blame you. 220 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,040 I like the idea of being out in the sticks a little bit, 221 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,120 because if you got good products and good prices, which you do, 222 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:12,200 I did my research. 223 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:13,640 I looked them up on Google, Johnny, 224 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:15,360 and he's got all these five star reviews. 225 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:16,680 People love the man. 226 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:18,600 People will come to you, especially in books, 227 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:21,480 because most people are passionate about books. 228 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:23,640 So you don't sell on Amazon. 229 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:25,040 Is that right? 230 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:26,080 That is correct. 231 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,820 I've joined the Paper Gold group to learn a little bit about it, 232 00:09:29,820 --> 00:09:32,280 and I watch all your videos. 233 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:34,480 You're wasting time watching all my videos. 234 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:35,800 Just save your time. 235 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,200 Go do something that's more productive. 236 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,120 I'm learning a lot about selling on Amazon, 237 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,360 but there's just so many issues as far as ungating. 238 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,080 And I know every video say it's easy. 239 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,000 It's this simple. 240 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,840 And if I actually sat down and tried it and started, 241 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:52,600 I know I'd probably like it and could definitely. 242 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,800 I have access to the books, so it could definitely 243 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:56,800 make me some profit. 244 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:02,440 But eBay keeps me busy eight, nine, 10 hours a day. 245 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:04,120 So you care about the books. 246 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:05,320 You care about the books, dude. 247 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:06,560 You don't want other people messing around 248 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:08,520 with the books in Amazon throwing your stuff around 249 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:09,000 unlike me. 250 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:10,440 I'm just like, whatever. 251 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:11,280 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 252 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:13,880 Mike, I want you to love the books and become an eBay seller. 253 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:15,200 Ah, I guess. 254 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,200 It's unfortunate that. 255 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:18,120 All right, that's it. 256 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:19,080 The podcast is over. 257 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:20,480 He wants me to come in eBay seller. 258 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:21,760 I got to go get to work, because you've 259 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:24,640 got to work 1,000 hours a week and make a little to no money. 260 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:28,520 That's funny, because you do see success with eBay 261 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:29,320 with the auctions. 262 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,520 And I do think that's such a huge leg up. 263 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,840 And people don't get excited about it, 264 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:35,680 but you're actually selling things. 265 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:39,520 And my big kind of motto for the last half of this year 266 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:41,520 and in the next year is, you don't make money 267 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:42,560 until the stuff sells. 268 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:44,480 Like, you don't get paid until the stuff sells. 269 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,720 You can have a million books, but if none of them ever sell, 270 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:48,360 well, then cool. 271 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:49,820 You've just got all your money tied up 272 00:10:49,820 --> 00:10:51,320 sitting around doing nothing for you. 273 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:53,320 So I do like the $0.99 auction idea, 274 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:54,760 because it moves inventory. 275 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:56,600 And you're getting it for next to nothing. 276 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,840 So sure, you're not going to knock everyone out of the park. 277 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:03,600 But if you're spending $0.10 and you're making $3 repeatedly, 278 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:04,400 it adds up. 279 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:06,680 But we can't get that in our mind as resellers. 280 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:08,240 We only want to find the gold bars. 281 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:10,200 And I'm here to tell you, no reselling business 282 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:11,160 lives on gold bars. 283 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:15,400 You live on the $3 to $10 profit items. 284 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,680 Yeah, the way I look at it is, maybe you have a $200 book, 285 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:24,400 and maybe you pay $40 or $50 for it. 286 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,760 Are you better off getting that full $200? 287 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:28,880 Or probably, if it sits for three or four years, 288 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,080 you're going to heavily discount it anyway. 289 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,240 You'd be better off getting $75 to $100 for it next week 290 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:36,640 instead of that $200 years down the road, 291 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,440 or more likely never selling it. 292 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:39,960 Right. 293 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:41,680 I think sell-through rates king, and people 294 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:44,200 get caught up in a little bit more on the ASP, 295 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:45,880 especially just starting out. 296 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:52,160 So how much of your business, well, let me preface this with, 297 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,480 you and I both know it has to be a good book to go on eBay. 298 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,280 And what's good in most people's eyes is usually trash. 299 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:03,440 So what do you consider a good book to go to your auction? 300 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,760 I mean, it kind of has to be an in-demand topic or authors, 301 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,880 kind of the big thing, whether it's Stephen King, Charles 302 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:17,440 Dickens, the Dune books, stuff like Dracula and Frankenstein, 303 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,720 or other topics, American history, 304 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,840 stuff on the Civil War, Native Americans, science 305 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,160 and technology, cookbooks. 306 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:30,080 And I guess I mostly deal in books that are pre-1900. 307 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:34,440 I haven't really dabbled in the Hemingways and the F. Scott 308 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:35,640 Fitzgerald and stuff like that. 309 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:37,240 I wish I knew more about that market, 310 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:41,560 because that stuff is in high demand and easy to sell. 311 00:12:41,560 --> 00:12:43,720 But that's one of the things that I 312 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:46,200 don't know much about at all. 313 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:51,480 So getting all these books, do you just pay flat out, 314 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:53,400 or do you do a consignment, or do you 315 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:56,080 get donations for the majority of your inventory 316 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,600 that ends up at your auctions? 317 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,920 A majority of it comes from eBay, 318 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,080 and I pay for it outright. 319 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:06,640 People bring stuff in, and they always 320 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,120 ask me if I do consignment. 321 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,000 And occasionally, I'll do a consignment deal 322 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,680 where they get a certain percentage of the sale price. 323 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:17,320 I did a really big consignment deal for a woman out 324 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:20,400 of Indiana this spring. 325 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,920 She got a bunch of books from a movie production company 326 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:25,920 and shipped me 10 pallets of stuff, 327 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,120 and that was all on consignment. 328 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:30,200 And sometimes I would prefer that, 329 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,520 because some people think their stuff is 330 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:34,880 worth insane amounts of money, and you end up 331 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:35,840 overpaying for it. 332 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:38,640 In this case, she gets paid directly based off 333 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:42,440 what I sell it for, so that was nice. 334 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:47,120 So how many individual auctions do you have going up 335 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:48,080 on a weekly basis? 336 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:49,840 And an auction, for those that aren't aware, 337 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:54,120 we'll consider a listing, so one book or maybe a lot of books. 338 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:55,840 Yeah, it's usually individual books, 339 00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:00,040 and every day I have 30 ending, except for Tuesday nights. 340 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:03,680 So depending where the, I do 10 day auctions, 341 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:06,640 so that kind of throws it off. 342 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:12,560 So there's usually anywhere from 220 to 250-ish auctions 343 00:14:12,560 --> 00:14:14,320 running at any time. 344 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,360 OK, so almost 1,000 books a month 345 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:18,840 are getting cycled through eBay. 346 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:19,840 A little shy. 347 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,240 I think I figure like 7,000 to 800, yeah. 348 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:23,880 7,000 to 800, OK. 349 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,400 So yeah, that's got to keep you busy, 350 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:28,440 because you got a high turnover rate. 351 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,920 And then how many of those end up not selling? 352 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:34,520 How much are left over of that 800, 353 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,360 do you think, that don't go up for some other new home? 354 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:39,120 Not too many. 355 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:44,640 I would say most nights there's maybe anywhere from zero to three, 356 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:46,320 four, five on a bad night. 357 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,920 If I put up some junkier stuff that isn't interesting, 358 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:52,600 there'll be a few no sales that'll end early. 359 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,040 But for the most part, almost everything is selling. 360 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:58,880 OK, and do those end up at the storefront, 361 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,800 or do they go out to some other sales channel, 362 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,960 or as Mike said, hit the incinerator? 363 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,760 If they were interesting enough for me to put on eBay, 364 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:11,240 they're probably interesting enough for me to put in the store. 365 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,240 But yeah, occasionally they'll go get thrown away. 366 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:16,400 Fair enough. 367 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:20,720 So you're buying mainly off eBay. 368 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:27,120 So I'm assuming sometimes you get stuck with, well, junk. 369 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:28,880 Usually this stuff comes in large. 370 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:31,640 So what do you do with the junk? 371 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:33,280 Again, do you just trash it, or do you 372 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:37,920 attempt to go in the storefront or some other sales avenue? 373 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:39,320 Again, anything that I agree with. 374 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:40,400 That's every reseller's problem is, 375 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:41,960 what do you do with the junk? 376 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:43,840 And my bookstore is overflowing. 377 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:45,880 Most bookstores are overflowing with stuff. 378 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:46,960 They don't need more stuff. 379 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:49,760 So it'll either go to the garbage or Goodwill. 380 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:53,480 If it's not garbage, it'll go to Goodwill. 381 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,880 Have you thought about doing, because you got a storefront, 382 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,520 I think it's a unique opportunity to, I don't know. 383 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:01,280 I'm just spitballing ideas that came to my head. 384 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:03,280 If I had a storefront, maybe something I would try, 385 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:07,720 like Whatnot or even live streaming just every day 386 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,000 that you're at the bookstore, just a 24-7 kind of live stream 387 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,400 of when your bookstore is actually open. 388 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,320 Yep, I did a few Whatnot auctions this spring. 389 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,240 But then I took four months off because I got burned out. 390 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,520 And I started doing Whatnot again. 391 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,480 I'm AnimalVet52 on Whatnot as well. 392 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:27,200 I did one the last two Tuesdays, 393 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:28,560 and I'm doing one this Tuesday. 394 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,200 And I'll probably do a couple of them 395 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:31,720 till I get burned out again, 396 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,960 just because Tuesday's supposed to be my night off. 397 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,320 But the last two weeks, I was live 398 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:43,280 for about two hours on Whatnot, sold like 60 to 70 books, 399 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:48,080 and ended up with about $500 after the fees. 400 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,380 Fees are only 10%, so that's kind of nice. 401 00:16:50,380 --> 00:16:55,380 So yeah, I mean, if I could sell $500 worth of stuff, 402 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,240 make a couple hundred bucks profit in the night, 403 00:16:58,240 --> 00:16:59,880 it's definitely worth it. 404 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:02,640 You do, I mean, one of the misconceptions with Whatnot 405 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:04,220 is you can't just put up your junk. 406 00:17:04,220 --> 00:17:07,120 You can put up some junk, but you also have to filter it in 407 00:17:07,120 --> 00:17:11,360 with some good stuff if you wanna make some money. 408 00:17:11,360 --> 00:17:13,160 Employees, do you have any? 409 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:14,160 Do you wanna have any? 410 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:16,140 I know like some people, they wanna build a business 411 00:17:16,140 --> 00:17:17,160 and kind of step back. 412 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,080 Like what's your take on your employee situation 413 00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:23,520 and what the future you might be considering? 414 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:25,960 I have an employee work at the bookstore. 415 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:27,300 Like I went to a wedding this summer, 416 00:17:27,300 --> 00:17:29,160 so they worked a couple days. 417 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:30,780 Otherwise no employees. 418 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:35,080 I think I'm too neurotic to hire someone to do my listings 419 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,720 or take pictures or even the shipping. 420 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,200 If I could get over that, it'd be nice to pay someone 421 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,960 to come work for an hour or two and do my shipping every day. 422 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,000 But for now, it's just me. 423 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:47,800 And my workflow is usually I get up right away 424 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,720 in the morning, do my shipping that can take anywhere 425 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:53,000 from half hour to an hour or two. 426 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,300 If there's a lot of stuff and a lot of boxes, 427 00:17:56,320 --> 00:17:59,280 then I will work on taking pictures of the books. 428 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:04,200 I take 12 pictures of every book times 30 is 360. 429 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,760 And then, or is it 360? 430 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,120 I should know this, I do it every day. 431 00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:11,740 Taking pictures takes a couple hours. 432 00:18:11,740 --> 00:18:13,740 Then I type up descriptions for a couple hours. 433 00:18:13,740 --> 00:18:15,560 Then I list for a couple hours. 434 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,460 Then I usually have a break before my auctions end 435 00:18:19,460 --> 00:18:23,600 every night from 6.01, 6.02 all the way to 6.30. 436 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:25,960 And then got to do a little shipping as people pay. 437 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:26,960 And then I'm done for the day. 438 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:28,680 Started all over in the morning. 439 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:30,280 All right, I'm gonna throw something crazy out there. 440 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,840 And I don't even care about what you damn eBay sellers 441 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:33,840 think of me. 442 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:38,280 Do you think 12 photos for a 99 cent star auction 443 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:39,900 is a little bit high? 444 00:18:39,900 --> 00:18:41,120 I feel like if I was doing that, 445 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:43,800 I'd probably maybe do like four photos, right? 446 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:45,560 Because everybody's getting a deal on the stuff 447 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:47,760 they're buying regardless, because none of it, 448 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:49,480 I mean, sure, there are occasions where you might, 449 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:51,760 but that's like a small percentage get more than what 450 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,200 it would actually sell for normally at a buy it now price 451 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:55,040 on eBay. 452 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,560 I feel like 12 photos, man, you are an overachiever. 453 00:18:58,560 --> 00:18:59,820 You deserve gold stars. 454 00:18:59,820 --> 00:19:02,080 But if that was me, I'm thinking like four photos 455 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:04,120 if I'm running 99 cent auctions. 456 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:06,120 This is why you're an unseller, Mike. 457 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:07,080 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 458 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:08,720 I mean, at a minimum, okay, you are right. 459 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,440 At a minimum, you want front cover spy. 460 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:12,480 That could be one photo. 461 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,160 You want title page, maybe copyright page. 462 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:16,940 But then I like to show off the contents, 463 00:19:16,940 --> 00:19:20,680 show any interesting illustrations, any damage. 464 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,960 In 12 used to be the eBay maximum number of photos. 465 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:25,360 Now it's 24. 466 00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:28,080 So I still do 12 just to give people a little extra idea 467 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,480 of, okay, this is what you can expect in this book 468 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,320 and more condition photos. 469 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,240 And occasionally, if I have a huge leather Bible, 470 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,480 I will go up to the maximum 24. 471 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,140 But yes, as a buyer on eBay, there's some people 472 00:19:42,140 --> 00:19:44,320 that just put a picture of the front cover 473 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:46,240 and that drives me crazy because I'm like, well, 474 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,880 I can't really tell too much about the condition 475 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,200 or anything from that unless you're gonna have 476 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,900 a big description explaining it all. 477 00:19:53,900 --> 00:19:55,460 12 could be excessive. 478 00:19:55,460 --> 00:19:57,800 A minimum, yeah, I think minimum would be four. 479 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:00,960 I'm just trying to get some of your time back, 480 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,560 trying to get some of your life back. 481 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:04,620 You're right though, right? 482 00:20:04,620 --> 00:20:06,800 And probably if you take, it's not probably, 483 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:08,840 it's guaranteed, if you take less photos, 484 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:10,920 you're gonna have a less sell through rate 485 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:12,320 because you don't have as much photos. 486 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,160 So I rest my case, go ahead, Johnny. 487 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:17,880 So for your storefront, I see a lot of bookstores 488 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:22,400 do a couple oddities, but it's considered normal now 489 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,840 is they'll have a coffee shop inside their bookstore 490 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:28,640 and they'll try to sell disc media, 491 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,440 which is CDs and DVDs and records 492 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,460 and any other knickknack thing they can get in there. 493 00:20:34,460 --> 00:20:38,080 Or they do an abundance of community events. 494 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:42,320 Do you go down any of these avenues for your own bookstore? 495 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,920 Well, I was renting space for years at antique store. 496 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,860 So I had some jars and buttons and knickknacky stuff. 497 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:53,400 So I still have a couple shelves of that in the back. 498 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:56,120 Trying to think what else? 499 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:57,940 I don't have, I don't sell coffee. 500 00:20:57,940 --> 00:21:01,420 I would maybe get a coffee maker and give away coffee 501 00:21:01,420 --> 00:21:03,360 for free because people tell me all the time, 502 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:05,240 hey, you should get a coffee in here. 503 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:06,060 They tell me I need to- 504 00:21:06,060 --> 00:21:07,520 Coffee and books seem to go together these days. 505 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,000 Thanks Barnes and Noble. 506 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,920 And they tell me I need to get a cat or two, 507 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:13,440 a bookstore cat. 508 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,640 I haven't got to that yet, but maybe eventually. 509 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:18,720 You know what would be better than wandering cats, 510 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,160 wandering iguanas, jumping from shelf to shelf. 511 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:24,600 I don't know how they'd like it here in Wisconsin. 512 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:26,520 Well, it's true, cold, baby. 513 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,680 It's too cold, man, that the iguanas won't survive. 514 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,320 But cats, yes, I agree with. 515 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:31,720 Coffee, Johnny's there. 516 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:33,560 I mean, you better have a lot of supply 517 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,000 for the amount of coffee Johnny drinks on a daily basis. 518 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,400 You need like that XXL curing. 519 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,360 The rest is for all the other customers throughout the day. 520 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:43,640 The cake cups are like this big 521 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:45,880 because Johnny's there for the day. 522 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,720 So do you do any events, store-wide events? 523 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,480 No, I've been asked about authors coming to doing readings 524 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:54,480 and signings and stuff. 525 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:55,820 And I don't have a ton of space. 526 00:21:55,820 --> 00:21:58,580 My bookstore is kind of, it's only 1200 square feet. 527 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,160 And then I asked, someone asked, 528 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,160 they're hosting a book club here in town. 529 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:06,520 Actually, it sounds pretty interesting. 530 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:08,200 It's a James Bond book club. 531 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,640 They're gonna go through all the Ian Fleming books. 532 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,260 So I might host them at some point. 533 00:22:14,260 --> 00:22:17,000 I think that'd be kind of a cool thing to do. 534 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,960 Yeah, there's so much opportunity 535 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:20,880 that we don't think about as resellers. 536 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:22,680 And especially when it comes to having the storefront, 537 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:24,420 you gotta think a little bit outside the box 538 00:22:24,420 --> 00:22:27,840 and do different things to kind of get people in the store. 539 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,920 And I'm curious when you first started, right? 540 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,060 Like how long, you probably remember this. 541 00:22:33,060 --> 00:22:34,260 Like how long did it take for you 542 00:22:34,260 --> 00:22:36,240 to actually sell your first item 543 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,460 from like in the actual physical store? 544 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,000 I mean, actually, so I opened in May 545 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:44,360 and there was people stopping in here 546 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:47,040 because I have a huge sign out by the highway. 547 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,000 So I mean, I was selling stuff right away. 548 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,680 I put an ad in the paper. 549 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,360 Otherwise I don't invest anything into marketing. 550 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:55,360 It's probably a bad idea, 551 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:57,040 but I have a huge sign by a highway 552 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,300 that 20,000 cars drive by every day. 553 00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:04,260 And most months are pretty consistent here, 554 00:23:05,780 --> 00:23:07,100 selling three to 4,000. 555 00:23:07,100 --> 00:23:08,980 I had no idea what to expect. 556 00:23:08,980 --> 00:23:11,000 A bookstore kind of in the middle of nowhere, 557 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,260 what to expect out of it. 558 00:23:13,260 --> 00:23:14,660 But I'm happy right now. 559 00:23:14,660 --> 00:23:16,940 And I do have tons of customers 560 00:23:16,940 --> 00:23:20,100 that come every month or two or three months and buy stuff. 561 00:23:20,100 --> 00:23:22,660 So I would like to think that my sales 562 00:23:22,660 --> 00:23:25,260 will steadily grow over the years. 563 00:23:25,260 --> 00:23:26,100 For sure, for sure. 564 00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:27,660 It's a slow process, 565 00:23:27,660 --> 00:23:30,140 kind of like building this podcast up. 566 00:23:30,140 --> 00:23:31,820 You start with two people listening 567 00:23:31,820 --> 00:23:34,940 and then you get 10 people listening. 568 00:23:34,940 --> 00:23:37,820 But I think, I guess I got to know, 569 00:23:37,820 --> 00:23:41,080 is this the lifelong plan for you, Ken, 570 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,500 is to be in this bookstore and be the main guy in there? 571 00:23:44,500 --> 00:23:46,860 Or do you have plans to kind of maybe move 572 00:23:46,860 --> 00:23:49,380 to a bigger location or maybe get the employee 573 00:23:49,380 --> 00:23:51,580 and take a step back and kind of just be the face 574 00:23:51,580 --> 00:23:54,020 that does maybe the whatnot shows 575 00:23:54,020 --> 00:23:56,660 or more active on the YouTube channel? 576 00:23:56,660 --> 00:23:58,420 What's the future look like for you 577 00:23:58,420 --> 00:24:01,380 and what do you want it to kind of look like? 578 00:24:01,380 --> 00:24:03,220 I mean, I would really love to just have 579 00:24:03,220 --> 00:24:06,020 the physical bookstore and make a living off of that 580 00:24:06,020 --> 00:24:08,500 and do a little bit online to supplement that. 581 00:24:08,500 --> 00:24:11,180 I don't know if that's realistic at all. 582 00:24:11,180 --> 00:24:13,180 A lot of the booksellers that have been in the business 583 00:24:13,180 --> 00:24:15,180 for decades at this point, 584 00:24:17,540 --> 00:24:20,620 I ask and they tell me that online versus local 585 00:24:20,620 --> 00:24:21,900 is about 50-50. 586 00:24:21,900 --> 00:24:23,740 Now mine's way skewed towards online 587 00:24:23,740 --> 00:24:25,940 since I've more experience online. 588 00:24:25,940 --> 00:24:30,940 I mean, I love my location here. 589 00:24:31,260 --> 00:24:34,260 I'm considering putting on an addition, 590 00:24:34,260 --> 00:24:36,940 but I don't wanna jump too headlong into that. 591 00:24:36,940 --> 00:24:37,780 Okay, you can keep that one. 592 00:24:37,780 --> 00:24:40,060 Would you add an additional one? 593 00:24:40,060 --> 00:24:43,100 An additional bookstore, maybe with bigger store frontage? 594 00:24:43,100 --> 00:24:45,060 No, I'm gonna do two buildings. 595 00:24:45,060 --> 00:24:48,300 I wanna put an addition on here for more retail space, 596 00:24:48,300 --> 00:24:51,980 so I don't know what it's gonna translate to 597 00:24:51,980 --> 00:24:53,580 as far as higher sale. 598 00:24:53,580 --> 00:24:54,420 Yeah. 599 00:24:54,420 --> 00:24:56,220 I think we're having some audio issues. 600 00:24:56,220 --> 00:24:57,740 Yeah, you're breaking up a little bit here. 601 00:24:57,740 --> 00:24:58,580 There you are. 602 00:24:58,580 --> 00:24:59,980 Okay, good now, okay. 603 00:24:59,980 --> 00:25:02,860 So I would love to put an addition on this building. 604 00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:04,980 I wouldn't wanna maintain two buildings 605 00:25:04,980 --> 00:25:06,940 and have two locations that I gotta be running. 606 00:25:06,940 --> 00:25:09,020 I already love waking up and I'm at work. 607 00:25:09,020 --> 00:25:11,060 I love that aspect of this. 608 00:25:11,060 --> 00:25:14,060 So I would love to put an addition on this building 609 00:25:14,060 --> 00:25:16,580 and have more retail space and more storage, 610 00:25:16,580 --> 00:25:18,620 though I don't know what that will translate to 611 00:25:18,620 --> 00:25:21,260 as far as higher sales here. 612 00:25:21,260 --> 00:25:23,260 The sales would go up, I would love to have 613 00:25:23,260 --> 00:25:25,220 more retail space and more storage. 614 00:25:25,220 --> 00:25:26,940 I would love to have more retail space 615 00:25:26,940 --> 00:25:29,940 and more storage, but I don't know if it's gonna bring, 616 00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:31,820 I don't know if more people are gonna come in 617 00:25:31,820 --> 00:25:33,300 because my store's bigger. 618 00:25:33,300 --> 00:25:35,180 Do your friends and family think you're crazy 619 00:25:35,180 --> 00:25:36,380 for having a bookstore? 620 00:25:39,300 --> 00:25:43,340 No, I think they know I've made money online with it 621 00:25:43,340 --> 00:25:46,580 and I saved up some money to put some equity 622 00:25:46,580 --> 00:25:48,660 from my previous house into this building, 623 00:25:48,660 --> 00:25:50,540 so it wasn't really a financial risk. 624 00:25:50,540 --> 00:25:53,460 I mean, it's not a business you're gonna get into 625 00:25:53,460 --> 00:25:55,220 to get rich, that's for sure. 626 00:25:55,220 --> 00:25:57,100 I guess you got like a tangible storefront 627 00:25:57,100 --> 00:25:58,100 versus somebody like me. 628 00:25:58,100 --> 00:26:00,300 I just tell them I ship them off to some fairy land 629 00:26:00,300 --> 00:26:02,100 and the stuff sells, so I guess you can be like, 630 00:26:02,100 --> 00:26:04,060 hey, I got a storefront, you wanna come down? 631 00:26:04,060 --> 00:26:05,980 Me, I'm just like, I don't know where the stuff goes. 632 00:26:05,980 --> 00:26:09,260 I just get paid every once in a while. 633 00:26:09,260 --> 00:26:11,380 It would be cool to have a bookstore though. 634 00:26:11,380 --> 00:26:13,700 So, all right, so you wanna keep the bookstore, 635 00:26:13,700 --> 00:26:15,060 you wanna grow the bookstore sales 636 00:26:15,060 --> 00:26:16,580 more than the online sales. 637 00:26:16,580 --> 00:26:18,820 Now back to the eBay, do you promote your auctions? 638 00:26:18,820 --> 00:26:20,500 Can you even promote auctions on eBay? 639 00:26:20,500 --> 00:26:22,460 This is how antiquated I am. 640 00:26:23,620 --> 00:26:27,540 Yes, you can and you used to be able to pay a flat $2.50 641 00:26:27,540 --> 00:26:29,220 to promote your auction. 642 00:26:30,100 --> 00:26:31,940 Now they switched it to a percentage 643 00:26:31,940 --> 00:26:34,900 and in the past, I would promote one or two a month 644 00:26:34,900 --> 00:26:36,220 if there was a really good book 645 00:26:36,220 --> 00:26:37,700 that maybe was an obscure title, 646 00:26:37,700 --> 00:26:40,020 but I'm like, hey, this should bring $100 plus. 647 00:26:40,020 --> 00:26:42,140 I would pay the 250 to promote it, 648 00:26:42,140 --> 00:26:45,980 but now it's a percentage and eBay would like you to promote 649 00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:50,900 at like the nine, 10%, that's the standard for the category 650 00:26:50,900 --> 00:26:52,340 and I'm not willing to do that. 651 00:26:52,340 --> 00:26:54,280 Actually, I just got an email from someone at eBay, 652 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,500 some customer service rep that wanted to talk to me 653 00:26:56,500 --> 00:26:58,660 about promoting my auctions 654 00:26:58,660 --> 00:27:02,100 and they mentioned that you actually don't have to promote 655 00:27:02,100 --> 00:27:04,780 at like the 9.2% for the category. 656 00:27:04,780 --> 00:27:06,740 You could promote at two or 3%, 657 00:27:06,740 --> 00:27:10,140 but no, I don't have any interest in paying eBay more fees 658 00:27:10,140 --> 00:27:11,140 to get my items out there. 659 00:27:11,140 --> 00:27:12,940 I promote my stuff at 2% 660 00:27:12,940 --> 00:27:15,100 and just because it's like now the going, right? 661 00:27:15,100 --> 00:27:16,340 So the argument is well, 662 00:27:16,340 --> 00:27:18,820 if the three of us all promote at 2%, 663 00:27:18,820 --> 00:27:20,500 then you're really not getting no promotion 664 00:27:20,500 --> 00:27:22,940 because it's just eBay getting more money. 665 00:27:22,940 --> 00:27:24,540 Same thing, exactly. 666 00:27:24,540 --> 00:27:27,740 Yeah, eBay, instead of eBay tracking down more sellers 667 00:27:27,740 --> 00:27:29,140 and more buyers for the platform, 668 00:27:29,140 --> 00:27:31,560 they wanna get more money from the same, 669 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:36,020 actually probably from a shrinking number of sellers. 670 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,220 So I'm gonna talk about probably the least considered thing 671 00:27:40,220 --> 00:27:43,140 for future bookstore owners. 672 00:27:43,140 --> 00:27:44,500 Talk to me about parking, Kent. 673 00:27:44,500 --> 00:27:48,140 How many parking spaces can your store facilitate? 674 00:27:48,980 --> 00:27:51,260 I got a pretty big parking lot. 675 00:27:51,260 --> 00:27:53,300 I could fit 20 cars out there, 676 00:27:53,300 --> 00:27:56,620 though it's busy if there's three, four, five cars out there. 677 00:27:56,620 --> 00:27:57,780 Right, exactly, exactly. 678 00:27:57,780 --> 00:27:59,340 But you got room for the trailer guy. 679 00:27:59,340 --> 00:28:01,180 He wants to sell you his trailers worth of books. 680 00:28:01,180 --> 00:28:04,740 If so, if the time ever were to arise. 681 00:28:04,740 --> 00:28:08,260 People have suggested I do like a flea market weekend 682 00:28:08,260 --> 00:28:10,260 to get people here, do a flea market, 683 00:28:10,260 --> 00:28:11,860 have people come set up with their cars 684 00:28:11,860 --> 00:28:14,220 and trailers and stuff, but I don't know. 685 00:28:14,220 --> 00:28:18,540 I know people love the community aspect of bookstores 686 00:28:18,540 --> 00:28:20,700 and bringing people together for poetry readings 687 00:28:20,700 --> 00:28:23,700 and book signings and stuff, or music, 688 00:28:23,700 --> 00:28:26,140 but that's just not my personality. 689 00:28:26,140 --> 00:28:31,140 So how many lesser bookstore owners are around your area? 690 00:28:31,540 --> 00:28:33,180 How many competitors do you have? 691 00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:37,860 Well, I wouldn't say lesser, but other bookstores, 692 00:28:37,860 --> 00:28:40,700 there is one on Main Street here in Marshfield. 693 00:28:40,700 --> 00:28:44,020 Marshfield's a city of 20-some thousand people. 694 00:28:44,020 --> 00:28:45,660 They've been around for 20 years. 695 00:28:45,660 --> 00:28:48,380 And I think already, I'm sure they're not listening. 696 00:28:48,380 --> 00:28:49,740 I hope they're not listening. 697 00:28:49,740 --> 00:28:53,980 Already, I think my sales have probably surpassed theirs 698 00:28:53,980 --> 00:28:56,020 and they've been in the business for 20 years, 699 00:28:56,020 --> 00:28:58,540 though they mostly deal in modern romance, 700 00:28:58,540 --> 00:29:00,900 mysteries, Western, stuff like that. 701 00:29:00,900 --> 00:29:02,100 Gotcha. 702 00:29:02,100 --> 00:29:03,740 So here's an oddball question. 703 00:29:03,740 --> 00:29:05,300 When I started looking into bookstores, 704 00:29:05,300 --> 00:29:07,140 I noticed this in abundance. 705 00:29:07,140 --> 00:29:10,500 People were offering stationary classes 706 00:29:10,500 --> 00:29:12,580 and or selling stationary stuff. 707 00:29:12,580 --> 00:29:14,580 I looked at them like I'm not doing this, 708 00:29:14,580 --> 00:29:17,060 but it seems to be like a nationwide thing 709 00:29:17,060 --> 00:29:19,060 for bookstore owners to do now. 710 00:29:19,060 --> 00:29:20,380 Why do you think this is? 711 00:29:20,380 --> 00:29:22,940 It blew my mind when I was reading about this. 712 00:29:22,940 --> 00:29:27,460 Well, I would say a lot of people buying at bookstores 713 00:29:27,460 --> 00:29:32,460 are slightly more female, more 20s, 30s, 40s, 714 00:29:33,020 --> 00:29:35,460 and they probably also like that stuff. 715 00:29:36,780 --> 00:29:39,220 I sell earrings for my friend Becky here. 716 00:29:39,220 --> 00:29:40,620 I have them sitting right at the front table 717 00:29:40,620 --> 00:29:41,740 and there'll be people that will come. 718 00:29:41,740 --> 00:29:43,260 A lady just came in and bought earrings 719 00:29:43,260 --> 00:29:44,260 and not a single book. 720 00:29:45,660 --> 00:29:47,340 And I also sell records. 721 00:29:47,340 --> 00:29:49,100 Oh, I forgot I sell records. 722 00:29:50,900 --> 00:29:51,740 What else? 723 00:29:51,740 --> 00:29:52,560 I sell tin signs. 724 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,860 I have little tin decorative signs for 10 bucks a piece. 725 00:29:55,860 --> 00:29:57,700 And I mean, there's some days 726 00:29:57,700 --> 00:29:59,660 that I sell more signs than books. 727 00:29:59,660 --> 00:30:00,500 Nice. 728 00:30:00,500 --> 00:30:02,260 Now, I mean, yeah, I've noticed that too. 729 00:30:02,260 --> 00:30:04,460 It's probably about 70% female 730 00:30:04,460 --> 00:30:08,740 as far as my bookstore shoppers and 30% male that walked in 731 00:30:08,740 --> 00:30:10,700 and negative percent for children. 732 00:30:10,700 --> 00:30:12,140 I don't count children at all. 733 00:30:13,380 --> 00:30:14,540 If I lived in the area, 734 00:30:14,540 --> 00:30:16,500 would you rent me out like a corner of your bookstore 735 00:30:16,500 --> 00:30:18,260 where I could try to sell my duds? 736 00:30:19,380 --> 00:30:21,100 If I had more space, I would, 737 00:30:21,100 --> 00:30:22,940 but I have negative space right now. 738 00:30:22,940 --> 00:30:24,460 You're up on the roof with the snow bag. 739 00:30:24,460 --> 00:30:26,380 I would pay you for the space though, man. 740 00:30:26,380 --> 00:30:28,740 Like, it's not like I'm just, I don't want it for free. 741 00:30:28,740 --> 00:30:31,380 I would maybe rent you out a shelf, see what happens. 742 00:30:31,380 --> 00:30:33,480 Say, yeah, because my antique shops around me, 743 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:38,480 they want like $90 for three foot bookshelf of space. 744 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,440 It's absolutely ridiculous how expensive it is 745 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:42,880 to get into some of these antique shops 746 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:44,000 and I don't have a lot around me. 747 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:48,000 So, I mean, it could be another option, maybe, 748 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,200 another book seller in your area. 749 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,400 I got a bunch of crazy, don't listen to me, Ken. 750 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:52,960 I'm probably gonna sink your business, right? 751 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,000 Then we got like live bands playing on Friday nights 752 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,520 and I'm in there signing Nora Roberts books 753 00:30:58,520 --> 00:30:59,560 and I'm not even Nora Roberts. 754 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,120 Nora Roberts book signing and they show up and it's me 755 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,400 and they're like, what the hell is going on? 756 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:10,400 My bookstore would not last. 757 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:14,480 It's so interesting to see. 758 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,360 I mean, I guess I'm just gonna be blown with you 759 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,400 and you're not gonna offend me. 760 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:20,640 It's impossible to offend me. 761 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,720 So you can shoot straight with me here. 762 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:26,160 And how do you feel about people like me 763 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,040 who don't care about books and just come in and scan books 764 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,360 and take the profitable ones and send them off to Amazon 765 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:33,160 and make money doing that? 766 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:34,360 I mean, I don't have a problem. 767 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,400 I had a guy last summer that wanted to come in 768 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:39,800 and scan my books and actually, 769 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:42,640 if I do a big buyout of an estate or something, 770 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,720 I would let him go through the books and scan 771 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,000 and take what he wanted. 772 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000 And we have very different interests. 773 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,000 You're selling the barcode books. 774 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:51,200 I prefer the older stuff, 775 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:53,400 though I sell modern stuff in my store. 776 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:55,200 I would gladly sell you anything you thought 777 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:56,600 you could make money on. 778 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:00,000 Though I will say you could just as well be selling 779 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,160 crock pots or coffee makers or whatever you, 780 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,040 and you can, if you see a crock pot, 781 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:06,240 you can make money on Amazon. 782 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:08,440 You may as well buy it and try to sell it. 783 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:10,600 That's so true. 784 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:12,240 And it's tough. 785 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,920 And I know, like, we probably just look at the people 786 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:18,080 that follow me on social media versus you, 787 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:19,240 the books are owner. 788 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:21,080 You got the people that are passionate about the books 789 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:22,440 and I got the people that are more like, 790 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,120 I just want to make a few bucks on the side. 791 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:26,760 And I don't think there's a right or wrong to it. 792 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:28,400 What do you think of the term book dealer? 793 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,320 Because all the libraries I work with, I don't know me. 794 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,880 And the term book dealer, growing up in the city, 795 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:35,920 like dealers are people that sell drugs, right? 796 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,040 So like, when you're like, oh, are you a book dealer? 797 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,200 I'm always like, no, I don't like the term book dealer 798 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:42,720 just like I don't like the term reseller. 799 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,960 I think they're both like antiquated and in my eyes, 800 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:48,440 like I wouldn't say derogatory. 801 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,800 It's just an antiquated term. 802 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:51,120 They're like, oh, you're a book dealer. 803 00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,240 I'm like, no, I sell these online to support my family 804 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,400 and my kids, AKA my cats. 805 00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,320 So what term would you use to describe? 806 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:01,280 I would consider, okay, at this point, 807 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,200 I'd consider myself a bookstore owner, 808 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,840 though online is more of my income 809 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:09,440 and what I spend most of my time doing. 810 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,640 So I guess I'm an online book seller. 811 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,440 Entrepreneur, small business owner, 812 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:17,160 anything besides those two terms of reseller or book dealer. 813 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,800 I mean, where did, I wonder where the term book dealer even 814 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:21,640 like- 815 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:22,840 No, it's an actual thing. 816 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,360 Like people deal in books to, 817 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:26,960 you used to go to them, get a buy list 818 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:28,720 or add your name to a buy list 819 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,760 and they circle the United States to find you a book. 820 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,280 Well, that's why Sears went out of business 821 00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:35,800 with their damn catalogs. 822 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:37,840 It's the same thing here with the book dealer. 823 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:39,360 I don't know, it's just a weird term. 824 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:41,880 And when I work with libraries, like all the ladies like, 825 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:42,720 are you a book dealer? 826 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:44,200 And I'm like, no, I immediately shoot it down. 827 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:45,040 I don't even entertain them. 828 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:46,280 I'm like, no, I'm not a book dealer. 829 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,080 You go to a book fair and ask what they call those people. 830 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:51,080 Would you do, I guess you'd call yourself 831 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,040 an Amazon seller then? 832 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:54,920 I'm an entrepreneur, small business owner. 833 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:56,840 I don't even got to give them the details of where I sell. 834 00:33:56,840 --> 00:33:59,880 I just try to keep it vague, but in the term, I guess, 835 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:00,960 I just feel like book dealer. 836 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:02,880 I feel like, I've called myself a book dealer. 837 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:03,720 I immediately feel like I'm 95 years old. 838 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:04,920 You're in e-commerce. 839 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,800 It's just your e-commerce is books and just media. 840 00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,760 Yeah, I just feel like, I don't know, it's a dated term. 841 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,440 I think there's a new wave of book sellers coming, 842 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:14,280 Kent and Johnny. 843 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,120 We can't make you go to a book fair, Mike? 844 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:17,680 We don't wanna be called book dealers. 845 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:20,400 We want something that's more hip, cool, I don't know. 846 00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,280 Book dealers like a door-to-door salesman idea. 847 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:24,480 I'll be curious. 848 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:26,320 I'm gonna ask people on our next call, 849 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:27,920 what do we think of the term book dealer? 850 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,080 Would you consider yourself a book dealer? 851 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:33,560 No, because I don't deal with a clientele list. 852 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:35,560 Kent, probably out of the three S's, 853 00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,760 is the closest to an actual book dealer. 854 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:41,920 Yeah, I guess I used to call myself an antique book dealer, 855 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:43,600 but now I sell everything. 856 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:45,600 So, sell everything. 857 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,400 What's your, do you have a collection of books? 858 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:50,240 Now, that's a good one. 859 00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:51,520 I always like to get people jammed up 860 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:53,400 because people like you are passionate about books. 861 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,880 You're like, man, I really, I love this author. 862 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:58,240 I love these books. 863 00:34:58,240 --> 00:35:00,560 Do you have like a secret room in the back somewhere 864 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:02,080 where it's like you pull a book out, 865 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:03,240 the door spins around, 866 00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:05,760 and it's like your amazing collection of books? 867 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,240 Yeah, I do have a book collection. 868 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:11,800 And actually, that's probably one of my biggest hindrance 869 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:16,040 in my business is I tend to keep the better stuff, 870 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,400 the more expensive stuff that I could get lots of money for 871 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:19,240 if I sold it. 872 00:35:19,240 --> 00:35:22,360 So, that kind of takes a cut to my business, 873 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:23,920 not selling that stuff. 874 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,080 And I do have shelves of books, 875 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:29,320 and I actually have three safes, 876 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,440 they're big gun safes, but I put books in them 877 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,000 to keep the really expensive stuff safe. 878 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,040 And I collect, obviously the farming and vet stuff, 879 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:40,800 I have old medical books, American history stuff. 880 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,240 I really like collecting early American printed books. 881 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:49,240 So, books printed in America from the kind of 17, 882 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,040 early 1700s to late 1700s. 883 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:54,080 I really like that stuff. 884 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:55,560 And they're mostly religious books, 885 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,800 but I just like that they're printed from that era. 886 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:02,000 Now, do you collect them or do you read 887 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,800 and then put them in the safe kind of collect them? 888 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:06,840 There are people that just put them on a shelf 889 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:09,520 to like, I own this, they never read it. 890 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:10,720 Maybe this is crazy, 891 00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:14,120 but I haven't read like any of the books in my collection. 892 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:15,360 Okay, so you're just a collector, 893 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:16,880 you're not a collector. 894 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:20,840 Yeah, they look nice and they're interesting topics, 895 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:22,400 and that's why I have them. 896 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:23,360 Fair enough. 897 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:25,600 Are the books always better than the movies? 898 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,080 Yes, not always, I'd say mostly, mostly better. 899 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:35,600 Gladiators, probably exception, 900 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:37,800 horrible book, fantastic movie. 901 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:39,720 Oh, they just came out with the Gladiator 2, didn't they? 902 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:42,360 They did, yeah, there's a new one with Denzel in there. 903 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,600 Okay, I've had a different experience 904 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,240 with reading books of my favorite movies. 905 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:49,960 The books for me, they just, they suck. 906 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:51,080 I don't know what it is, right? 907 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,720 Like I read the Jaws book, 908 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:56,480 I thought the book sucked compared to the movie. 909 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:58,320 I didn't really like the book at all. 910 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,320 I've read like the original Halloween 911 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:02,640 horror trade paperbacks. 912 00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:03,560 It doesn't do it for me. 913 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:06,800 I mean, I guess there are some exceptions to the rules, 914 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:07,920 but for me, I don't know, 915 00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:09,720 it's just one of those things where the books, 916 00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:11,640 and I'm not a big reader. 917 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:15,200 I do, I prefer to read like financial books, 918 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,360 I'm the Dave Ramsey guy, retirement books. 919 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:21,840 So on the topic of retirement 920 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,840 and the future of your bookstore, 921 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:26,840 so you wanna get this business to a point 922 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,640 where you're making 50-50 split. 923 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:31,000 Do you think once you get there, 924 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,440 you're gonna have to have the store open seven days a week? 925 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:36,520 And that's when maybe when you get the revenue 926 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,800 closer to 50-50, you bring on an employee 927 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,160 so you can be open an extra day a week, 928 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:42,680 because right now this is it, right? 929 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,480 You live, sleep, eat, read the bookstore, 930 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,560 the online business, and I always challenge everybody. 931 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,840 Me and Johnny always like to challenge everybody is, 932 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,920 well, is this Kent for the next 60 years? 933 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,560 Like that can't be, this can't be the solution, Kent. 934 00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:01,520 I know you enjoy doing it now, but 50 years from now, 935 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:02,840 there's something a little bit different 936 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:04,040 that's gotta be going on. 937 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:06,920 Yeah, interesting question. 938 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:09,200 Well, right now the store's only open four days a week. 939 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:10,920 It's closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 940 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,440 but I'm almost always here Sunday, Monday, Tuesday working. 941 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:15,680 I turn the open sign on 942 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,680 and it can usually catch a couple of customers. 943 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,880 Yeah, at some point, I guess it would be smart for me. 944 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:23,520 I've just never hired an employee 945 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:26,280 except for the one that works five days a year 946 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,000 when I have to be away. 947 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:33,200 But yeah, I definitely need to think more 948 00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,880 and put more effort into hiring someone that could. 949 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:36,880 I mean, especially- Just get a shipper. 950 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:37,720 Let's start small. 951 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:38,600 Just get the shipper. 952 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,240 They just gotta put book in box, label, mail. 953 00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:42,360 That's all they gotta do. 954 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,520 Especially, you know, there's no fun aspects 955 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:50,520 of being an eBay seller, taking pictures, listing, shipping. 956 00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:52,160 There's nothing fun about it. 957 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:54,280 It pays the bills. 958 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,880 So if I could outsource that, I would, 959 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:01,400 I mean, I'd like being a book seller more. 960 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,040 Getting the shipper is the first part of letting go. 961 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:07,760 Yeah, it's like a 12-step process. 962 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:08,600 But I'm just thinking to myself, 963 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:10,720 like, dude, what happens if you get sick, man? 964 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:12,400 Like, what happens if you come down with a cold 965 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,640 or like you fall off the roof or something? 966 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:16,920 Like you're just in there in like the hospital bed 967 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:18,520 still checking people out or what? 968 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,440 Yeah, that's the tough thing about being a one-man band is, 969 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:26,200 yeah, if you're not working, if I don't work for a day, 970 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:28,040 I'm not making any money. 971 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:28,880 Yeah, it's tough. 972 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,840 It's like everything falls on your shoulders, 973 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:32,440 but there's fruits, right? 974 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:34,040 You put in the time today. 975 00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,840 So down the road, you can reap the rewards, right? 976 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:38,960 You started with, you know, your social media, 977 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:40,400 your Facebook page, your bookstore. 978 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:41,680 You started with zero, it was just you. 979 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:43,520 You didn't know if anybody was gonna come in the store. 980 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:45,600 So you put the time and effort in to build it where it is. 981 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:46,440 And now you're just at that point 982 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:47,360 where you're thinking about, 983 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:48,720 all right, what's the next step look like? 984 00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:51,400 And Vringi, can I basically photocopy myself 985 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:54,080 and have Kent 2.0 in here working with me 986 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,040 to kind of, you know, do different things 987 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:58,040 and get a little bit of your time back? 988 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:03,440 So here's probably my final question for you. 989 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:04,960 Can you give me three tips 990 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,320 for running a good online auction business 991 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,360 and three tips for running a great bookstore? 992 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:13,560 Okay, online quality inventory, 993 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:15,120 that's number one. 994 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:18,520 You have to have interesting stuff at decent prices. 995 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:23,400 I think with me, the auctions, 996 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:25,400 when I did have more buy it nows, 997 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:28,160 it helped, it was basically free advertising 998 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:30,840 because people would come click on my cheap Stephen King book 999 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,440 and go and see my buy it now Stephen King books 1000 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:35,040 and they would self promote instead of paying 1001 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:37,440 for promoted listings to get views. 1002 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:39,360 All of my online stuff kind of crashed. 1003 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:41,480 My online stuff kind of cross promotes it. 1004 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,120 What else for online? 1005 00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:48,800 I'll have to come back for number three. 1006 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:51,000 As far as having a good bookstore prices, 1007 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,480 I mean, you gotta have decent prices. 1008 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,520 I know the other bookstore in town gets $8 for a hardcover, 1009 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:59,720 I get four, everything else. 1010 00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:02,440 The good stuff, you know, I make crazy profit 1011 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:06,120 on the modern romance mystery stuff like that, 1012 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,440 but then I'll cut my profit really small on 1013 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:10,600 the more interesting stuff. 1014 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:12,960 I just bought a bunch of stuff wholesale, 1015 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:14,640 some new books, Jane Austen 1016 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,160 and just really great titles, occult books. 1017 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,840 And I cut my profits really slim on that really good stuff 1018 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:22,320 in hopes that people will buy one of those 1019 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:23,320 that I don't make much on 1020 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,000 and then also buy some junk that I make 90 some percent 1021 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:26,840 profit on. 1022 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:28,880 Prices, 1023 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:35,000 I mean, just having interesting stuff, 1024 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:36,440 that's the biggest thing. 1025 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:40,240 Yeah, I think, I mean, your review is kind of summing up. 1026 00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:42,280 You gotta treat people how you wanna be treated. 1027 00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,480 You take care of the customers, they come back, 1028 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:46,720 they take care of you in the form of buying books. 1029 00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:48,320 And as long as we're at good prices, 1030 00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:49,800 you can even argue, you could raise prices 1031 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:50,880 if you have good service. 1032 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:53,800 But I'm all for the brain you have 1033 00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:55,760 when it comes to selling items. 1034 00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:58,080 Even if that means we take a little bit less money, 1035 00:41:58,080 --> 00:41:59,680 you're still getting money coming back in. 1036 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:01,480 And as booksellers, 1037 00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:04,240 and the years in my experience of dealing with booksellers, 1038 00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,040 some of us can't disconnect or accept the fact 1039 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:09,880 that sometimes you gotta take a little bit of the money today 1040 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:11,160 instead of trying to hold out 1041 00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:14,240 and get all the money 35 years from now. 1042 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:16,200 And it just doesn't work out that way. 1043 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,840 I'm in the mindset of let's sell this stuff, right? 1044 00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:20,680 As fast as we possibly can, 1045 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:22,040 because we're not getting paid. 1046 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,400 And we don't even, the people I'm talking about 1047 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,680 don't have the overhead of an actual bookstore, right? 1048 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:29,160 So these are people that are just, 1049 00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:32,880 well, I can just let it sit in my garage for two years. 1050 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:34,400 And I think to myself, don't you get tired 1051 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:36,520 of looking at this stuff for two years? 1052 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:37,640 Do you have, I'm curious, 1053 00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:40,240 do you have a certain section of books 1054 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:43,000 or a book that you see every day in the store 1055 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:44,960 that's been there since you opened the store 1056 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:46,960 and you're just ready to just throw the thing out 1057 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,240 because you're tired of looking at it? 1058 00:42:49,240 --> 00:42:52,480 Yeah, the romance section, there's piles on the floors, 1059 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:54,440 and I just trucked it all to goodwill, 1060 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:55,280 everything on the floor, 1061 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,520 because that stuff is sitting there forever. 1062 00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,600 And with bookstores, stuff could sit for decades 1063 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:01,040 and never sell. 1064 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:02,760 And it's like, well, why have it here 1065 00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:04,400 if it's never gonna sell? 1066 00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,000 And that's one thing I love about the auctions on eBay 1067 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,760 is I'm making a profit on almost every book I sell. 1068 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,040 Occasionally, I'll take a loss. 1069 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,800 There's probably a few losses every month. 1070 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:16,620 But you're better off, 1071 00:43:16,620 --> 00:43:20,040 if you're gonna put in the time and effort to list the book, 1072 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:22,080 you're better off making that small profit today 1073 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:23,240 versus never selling it 1074 00:43:23,240 --> 00:43:25,200 or making a bigger profit years from now. 1075 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:27,820 The math, I mean, most online sellers, 1076 00:43:27,820 --> 00:43:30,660 you guys see all the YouTube videos about eBay sellers, 1077 00:43:30,660 --> 00:43:32,040 their sales down, down, down. 1078 00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:32,880 They're putting in the effort, 1079 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:35,080 they're working hard and sales are just going down, down. 1080 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:37,400 Even with eBay clothing sellers, 1081 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:39,760 if you buy clothes at the right price, auctioned off, 1082 00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,840 get 10 or 15 bucks for something, you price at 30, 1083 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,280 and have it gone, not taking up space. 1084 00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:47,260 Because my eBay business is just, 1085 00:43:47,260 --> 00:43:50,280 those four shelves behind me, it circulates. 1086 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:52,900 So like tonight's auctions are right there, 1087 00:43:52,900 --> 00:43:55,080 then tomorrow night, and as they empty out, 1088 00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:56,920 I just refill them. 1089 00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,140 So this is all the space I need to sell. 1090 00:44:00,140 --> 00:44:04,040 Most nights I'm selling in averages over $700 a night, 1091 00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:07,440 and this is all I need for that income. 1092 00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:08,600 You're crushing it, man. 1093 00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:10,120 I mean, you got everything working 1094 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:11,320 and you're still working on building up 1095 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:12,400 the storefront revenue. 1096 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:16,240 So, I mean, the future is bright for this young man here. 1097 00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:22,200 I try to, I mean, I know auctions don't work for everyone, 1098 00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,000 but if you have the right stuff, 1099 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:28,040 I mean, I follow just, because I'm buying on eBay, 1100 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:30,240 I really kind of have my ear to the ground 1101 00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:31,600 knowing what's going on. 1102 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,160 And there's people that will have only one item, 1103 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,160 it'll be a really good antique Bible, 1104 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:37,440 they have three feedbacks, 1105 00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:40,080 and they'll get $300 for it on auction. 1106 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,960 Anyone can do it if they have the right stuff. 1107 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:44,920 Yeah, I think that's one of the big benefits you have too, 1108 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:46,360 about being passionate about books, 1109 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:49,340 and like somebody like myself, who I say it all the time, 1110 00:44:49,340 --> 00:44:51,520 I don't even know, who is, wait, 1111 00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:53,160 is Alice in Wonderland a book, right? 1112 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,080 It's a book, it was originally a book. 1113 00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,040 I don't even know who wrote Alice in Wonderland. 1114 00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,880 I don't even know, I think Wizard of Oz was Frank Baum, 1115 00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:01,480 right, I'm getting smarter here. 1116 00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:03,760 Well, you know books, Mike, I'm so proud of you. 1117 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:06,360 Watch out, Wizard of Oz, Dr. Seuss, 1118 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:09,600 Dr. Seuss wrote Dr. Seuss, I mean, come on now. 1119 00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:11,600 Mike, I would love to mail you a box of books 1120 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:13,240 and have you auction them off on eBay 1121 00:45:13,240 --> 00:45:14,520 and just see what happens. 1122 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:19,120 Ah, I got, I'm gonna break your little heart, Ken. 1123 00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:22,120 When I do bulk pickups, I, and now, 1124 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:24,580 to the point where if it doesn't got a barcode, 1125 00:45:24,580 --> 00:45:25,600 it gets donated. 1126 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:29,240 I don't even look at them, Ken, I don't even look at them. 1127 00:45:29,240 --> 00:45:30,640 I don't know what they are. 1128 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:33,200 It doesn't upset me, I realize your time is money 1129 00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,320 and it's not worth looking up every one 1130 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:38,800 because 98% of them are gonna be trash anyway. 1131 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,280 I've looked at so many non-barcode books 1132 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,280 and very little of them are worth money. 1133 00:45:44,460 --> 00:45:46,040 I just don't have the knowledge base 1134 00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:50,120 and I guess it's, I'm gonna say ignorance is bliss, I guess, 1135 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:54,220 but I just don't wanna sit down and spend the time 1136 00:45:54,220 --> 00:45:56,240 looking up what's profitable. 1137 00:45:56,240 --> 00:45:58,200 Like if I could just have your brain, 1138 00:45:58,200 --> 00:45:59,480 I'd be A-okay with it, right? 1139 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:00,880 But I'm just a scanner guy. 1140 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:02,760 I just wanna scan as many things as I can. 1141 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:06,220 So if I do have to stop, and I used to have piles of stuff 1142 00:46:06,220 --> 00:46:08,360 to look up on eBay and it just never, 1143 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:09,880 the math never math for me, 1144 00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:11,840 but I don't even waste time looking at them more. 1145 00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:15,000 And I know for a fact, I'm just donating money. 1146 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:17,200 So you have the leg up over somebody like me 1147 00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:19,120 who's just in it for the money, a greedy little bugger, 1148 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:21,800 because you understand if somebody brings in a box 1149 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:24,000 of non-barcode books, you probably already 1150 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,840 have an idea of, okay, this is probably 1151 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:28,080 what I'm gonna be able to get for it. 1152 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:30,040 This is what I can pay for it versus me. 1153 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:31,600 I gotta sit there with every book 1154 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:34,840 and open the copyright page and look it up on eBay. 1155 00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:37,600 And it's brutal if you don't have the knowledge 1156 00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:39,080 trying to sell antique books. 1157 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:41,520 Yeah, and I'm the same way on Amazon. 1158 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,040 I'm missing out on barcode books 1159 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,280 that I could be making crazy money on, 1160 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:49,040 but the thought of learning the different programs, 1161 00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:53,520 learning the apps is overwhelming for me. 1162 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:55,080 Yeah, there is a lot of software 1163 00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:56,800 when we're talking Amazon, to be fair. 1164 00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:58,400 There's a lot. 1165 00:46:58,400 --> 00:46:59,760 It'd be easier to learn the software 1166 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:01,920 than it would be to learn all the knowledge 1167 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:03,560 you have in your head, though. 1168 00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:06,080 Yes, but see, he likes the knowledge he learns in there. 1169 00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,120 I'm not sure we like the software knowledge 1170 00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:10,240 outside of the money aspect. 1171 00:47:10,240 --> 00:47:11,560 This is true, this is true. 1172 00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:15,440 But I mean, there are benefits to being a brainiac 1173 00:47:15,440 --> 00:47:18,040 about books and it's a passion project. 1174 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:19,360 And if you can make money on it, right, 1175 00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:21,040 that's the whole reason we do this. 1176 00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:24,120 Ideally, you could team up one eBay seller 1177 00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:25,760 and an Amazon seller and work together 1178 00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:29,240 and go through an estate of books and each pick through, 1179 00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:31,480 but that doesn't always work. 1180 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:33,680 Nah, man, what's your take on, 1181 00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:35,440 do you go to any library sales? 1182 00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:40,080 No, mostly because they're on days and times 1183 00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:41,720 that I have to be at the bookstore. 1184 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:45,240 The last couple months here, 1185 00:47:45,240 --> 00:47:48,040 I've got a few opportunities to buy big collections. 1186 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:49,960 One was a state sale company 1187 00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:52,520 that wanted me to take all the books before the sale. 1188 00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:54,120 There was like 6,000 books. 1189 00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:56,280 We couldn't agree on a price. 1190 00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:58,280 The next was a lady that inherited 1191 00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:00,480 over 100 boxes of books. 1192 00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,040 And then there was a church that was getting rid 1193 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:04,000 of about 100 boxes of books. 1194 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:08,400 So those definitely keep me busy for a while. 1195 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:09,680 You do store credit at your store? 1196 00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:11,680 Like say if somebody brings boxes, 1197 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:13,760 like do you just pay everybody in cash or do you say, 1198 00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:16,400 oh, I can give you more if you do store credit? 1199 00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:18,120 Yep, most people want cash. 1200 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,880 So I just pay them cash and I'm one of the few stores 1201 00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:23,000 in central Wisconsin that are actively paying cash. 1202 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:24,760 Most will only do store credit 1203 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,280 and they're really picky about what they take. 1204 00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:28,560 I will take all your books. 1205 00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:30,280 If you got 50 boxes, I'll take them all. 1206 00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:31,400 That's how you do it right there. 1207 00:48:31,400 --> 00:48:34,040 Cash is money and you take it all, absolutely. 1208 00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:36,680 You don't get the Stephen King books 1209 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:38,040 if you're only doing store credit 1210 00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,960 because they aren't giving away their Stephen King 1211 00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:43,000 unless you're paying for it. 1212 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:45,880 So outside of the online sourcing, 1213 00:48:45,880 --> 00:48:48,200 what is probably your next go-to and physical, 1214 00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:49,760 you gotta go there kind of places? 1215 00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:52,280 Is it a state sale, libraries, 1216 00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:55,560 I don't know, antique booth malls? 1217 00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:58,400 I do go to antique stores and bookstores. 1218 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:00,800 There's maybe three bookstores 1219 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:03,080 that I like to go to several times a year, 1220 00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:06,520 but one's four hours north, one's in the Twin Cities, 1221 00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:09,040 that's two and a half hours, one's two hours south of here. 1222 00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:11,760 So it's a hike to any of the bookstores 1223 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:13,000 that I like shopping at. 1224 00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:14,960 I do occasionally go to state sales, 1225 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:17,040 but again, there are always that times that I have to work, 1226 00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:18,480 so it's really inconvenient. 1227 00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,680 And then I would say, since I opened the store, 1228 00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:24,760 my favorite thing is people bringing stuff in. 1229 00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:26,520 Every week people are bringing in stuff 1230 00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:30,160 and occasionally really, really good stuff too. 1231 00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:33,360 Do you do library sales or that's just not 1232 00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:35,360 on the list of things you need to source from? 1233 00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:37,880 No, I don't. 1234 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:40,120 And again, there aren't too many in central Wisconsin 1235 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:41,840 and they're usually pretty small. 1236 00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:43,160 I know there's one in Madison, 1237 00:49:43,160 --> 00:49:46,520 which is three hours south here, that's massive, 1238 00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:47,360 but I've never been there. 1239 00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:51,800 I hate the competition of a line of dealers, 20 deep, 1240 00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:53,520 and you gotta get there two hours ahead of time, 1241 00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:54,360 then you gotta run. 1242 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,480 I know Mike has his tips for getting in early and stuff, 1243 00:49:57,480 --> 00:49:58,320 and that works. 1244 00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:01,520 But no, I don't have any relationships 1245 00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:03,880 like with thrift stores or anything at this point. 1246 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:06,240 You need to leverage the fact 1247 00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:08,440 you got a little bookstore in the middle of nowhere. 1248 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:10,160 People will be throwing their books at you, 1249 00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:12,240 these libraries and these thrift stores. 1250 00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:14,280 But hey, you're the one man marching band 1251 00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:16,480 for the time being, so you can't do it quite yet. 1252 00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:19,840 But I could see that definitely being a huge source 1253 00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:20,920 of inventory in the future, 1254 00:50:20,920 --> 00:50:24,000 because they're willing to give me a carload of books 1255 00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:27,240 and fill up my 2008 Ultima, and I don't have a bookstore, 1256 00:50:27,240 --> 00:50:28,680 and I don't have the knowledge, 1257 00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:30,080 or you can go in and have a conversation 1258 00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:31,360 about somebody with books. 1259 00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:32,960 And they ask me anything about books, 1260 00:50:32,960 --> 00:50:36,040 and I'm like, I never read Mr. Hemingway. 1261 00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:38,440 He sounds like a nice gentleman, but yeah, 1262 00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:41,200 you have that huge leg up over somebody like me. 1263 00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:44,240 So I know the possibilities are there for you to make a, 1264 00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:45,320 I know you kind of said, 1265 00:50:45,320 --> 00:50:47,800 you're not gonna get rich off books, but I disagree. 1266 00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:52,320 I think we can get very rich off books and media in general. 1267 00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:54,960 Now he's right, because all the librarians I've dealt with, 1268 00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:56,400 when I had the brick and mortar store open, 1269 00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:58,280 they got really excited once I told them, 1270 00:50:58,280 --> 00:50:59,880 yeah, I got a physical location. 1271 00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:00,720 It's here. 1272 00:51:00,720 --> 00:51:01,920 You wanna see a photo? 1273 00:51:01,920 --> 00:51:04,720 I don't know, they just lit up like, you're one of us. 1274 00:51:04,720 --> 00:51:06,560 You're one of us. 1275 00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:08,680 You're one of us. 1276 00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:12,800 It's cool to have a bookstore, 1277 00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:15,120 and I could maybe in a different lifetime, 1278 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:17,960 I would have a bookstore, but not this lifetime for me. 1279 00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:21,240 I enjoyed the convenience of just sending them away. 1280 00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:22,600 So I guess I'm gonna wrap it up here. 1281 00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:24,800 Kent, we appreciate you coming on the podcast 1282 00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:26,360 and sharing your bookstore. 1283 00:51:26,360 --> 00:51:28,600 We'll have all of your links down below in the description 1284 00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:30,600 and the comment section and the YouTube channel. 1285 00:51:30,600 --> 00:51:33,120 Make sure you go support fellow bookselling YouTubers. 1286 00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:34,720 It's hard out here for us, all right? 1287 00:51:34,720 --> 00:51:35,960 Not many people are in the book, 1288 00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:38,280 so it's a slow grind of growing our channels. 1289 00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:39,920 But we appreciate you coming on. 1290 00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:41,080 And yeah, we look forward to seeing, 1291 00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:42,680 maybe we'll have you back next year 1292 00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:44,560 and see kind of how it's progressed. 1293 00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:45,400 I'm sure it will be. 1294 00:51:45,400 --> 00:51:47,160 You'll probably have an employee by then. 1295 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:48,600 You'll be doing all kinds of other stuff. 1296 00:51:48,600 --> 00:51:51,040 So yeah, thanks for coming on the podcast today. 1297 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:52,400 All right, thanks guys. 1298 00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:54,000 Thanks for listening to another episode 1299 00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:56,040 of the Resellers Mindset Podcast. 1300 00:51:56,040 --> 00:51:58,360 Today's full episode and all previous episodes 1301 00:51:58,360 --> 00:52:00,480 are available to all YouTube members, 1302 00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:03,280 along with the weekly Zoom call and private Discord. 1303 00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:06,440 Head on over to youtube.com backslash to use book guy 1304 00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:33,440 and consider joining for as little as $2.99 a month.