Welcome back to another episode of the Reseller's
Mindset Podcast. My name is Mike, also known
as the Used Book Guy on YouTube, along with my
friend and fellow full -time reseller, Johnny
B. We help people start and grow their reselling
businesses from the ground up. We also have a
weekly Zoom call and private Discord for all
YouTube members. Head on over to youtube .com
backslash usebookguy to join the channel and
gain access to the full -length podcast, Zoom
call, and private Discord today. Let's get into
this week's episode. What is up, everybody? Welcome
into another episode of the Reseller's Mindset
Podcast. Mike sitting next to good old friend,
ye old faithful like Yellowstone Park, Johnny.
Today's topic is an important one. It kind of
hits home for me currently, and that's burnout
as being a solo entrepreneur and trying to find
the balance of work and hustle and still taking
time for yourself. And Johnny's been to the depths.
I feel like I've been to the depths where you
feel like this is like it's going too far, like
you need to take time off. being the solo operator
of the business. If me and Johnny don't go, then
the business doesn't go, right? So like it's
a fine balance and life happens to us all. I'm
trying to think like the past year mentally has
been the toughest year since I started this business.
Just personal things happening, family members
passing away, pets passing away. So for me personally,
the past year, just from my personal experience,
has been the roughest when it comes to trying
to stay motivated when it feels like the world
is falling down around you. I guess I'll throw
it over to you from there, kind of get your input
on burnout and what things have been like for
you. That's very much a real thing. It's how
you deal with it. That's what makes or breaks
a business and or makes or breaks your business.
It really is. There are days they just suck.
They suck and I still got to do the work. I don't
want to do the work. I hate every minute of it,
but I still gots to do it because I got bills
to pay and I like collecting dollar bills after
the bills are paid. So in order for me to do
that, there's some suck ass days, man. And you
know what? It's hot outside working in the units
or I got a big thing I got to sort through and
it's all nasty. I could smile and tell you I
love it, but I don't. I still got to do it. That's
the thing. And it's the people who avoid it and
don't endure hardship or punishment or embrace
the suck. Those are the people that are not going
to make it bottom line. I'm sorry. Yeah, I think
it's a fine balance when it comes to like taking
time off for yourself. Right. But the problem
is me and Johnny just want to. take off the next
three months. Arguably, we could because there's
nobody telling us we have to be at work, right?
There's nobody that's writing us a paycheck but
ourselves. And you do need time off for yourself.
I do think we live in this entrepreneur hustle
society that's like so toxic to the point of
like, you always got to be working in or on the
business. And I don't think that needs to necessarily
exist. And, you know, you kind of see that in
your future of trying to build a a business around
you taking steps back from it and uh i just think
if we're going to sacrifice right like i was
talking to johnny before we started recording
this i was at the storage unit yesterday and
i was like 95 degrees heat index is you know
10 000 degrees and i think to myself like you
know, this sucks, but like, I got to get this
shit done. And I thought to myself too, I said,
man, I should really record a video on this of
me just being a sweaty mess in the storage unit.
And I thought to myself, I ain't got time to
record the video and talk to everybody in the,
through the GoPro, right? Like I need to get
this work done today. And I guess, I don't know
though, dude, because you've become more of a
prominent figure. So for me, I get a lot of burnout,
not just from. Going to the same thrift stores
and scanning CDs, DVDs, books. I get a lot of
burnout because I'm a YouTuber and like a social
media presence. And sure, I chose this life,
right? I'm not sitting here crying about it.
But that does add like an extra layer onto it.
I'm curious what it's been for you since, you
know, we're 150 episodes in. You have a... commission
business you're in a lot of the groups you're
on a lot of the calls you're hosting your own
call tonight in the group so like has do you
feel like even more of a strain now that you've
taken on all these extra responsibilities yeah
because um there's more responsibility to others
when you're in groups and stuff it's not only
to yourself because it's one of yourself you
could just switch tasks like if you're physically
tired okay go do a mental task uh you can still
be working but when you're um a figure quote
unquote in in groups you're required to be there
um and you got to show up no matter if you're
mentally exhausted or physically exhausted Maybe
you can sneak in a power nap real quick. But
it's hard to recharge those batteries when those
days line up with an already long, hard day.
And then you've got to do one extra extraneous
thing. Because you may think talking is simple.
But no, there's brain power you got to put behind
it. And you got to sound reasonably intelligent
when you're answering questions to people who
come to you with questions. Because if you sound
like a dum -dum, well, they're going to think
of you as a dum -dum. That's just how it is.
It's... You're so right. And, you know, the burnout,
right, comes from when you get asked the same
question for the thousandth time, right? Like,
it's just like you're instantly, it just instantly
pisses you off. But then you take a step back
and you realize like, okay. I think I'm louder
when I'm pissed off about that than you are because
I'll just be flat out Google that shit. Stop
asking that question. Google it. Use the search
bar in Discord. Use the search bar in YouTube.
We've talked about it again and again and again.
We're really not saying anything revolutionary
here at all. It's there in either text format
or video format. It's there. It exists. I know.
And it's, I think there's levels to burnout,
right? I think there's things we can do to, I
don't know, mitigate like being burnout, right?
Like maybe you need to take an extra day off
a week or I think, you know, I mean, we kind
of look back to, even when we started this podcast
or like the Discord channel, like we had to be
fully involved back then because there was just
like 10 of us, right? Like we would load up every
Sunday and record one of these podcasts. And
now, you know, me and Johnny are like, hey, let's
pick a day, one day a month, instead of doing
it every Sunday and chunking out, you know, if
it's the only thing we got going on on Sunday,
it's a waste of our day for us, me or him to
sit here for an hour and record one episode.
So now we kind of. We mitigate burnout by being
more strategic in our scheduling. I think a lot
of burnout comes from just the amount of hours
you work. And maybe it is related to the results
you're getting, but I think they kind of coincide
with each other. So for me, I always want to
get as much time back as I can, right? Like,
sure, people probably give me shit because, you
know, I enjoy watching an episode of Unsolved
Mysteries at night, but I gave myself the luxury
of... being so efficient in my business that
I can watch Unsolved Mysteries if I want to.
And I know for you, like you've done a lot of
things with your time so that you have time for
yourself, right? You know, you can't just, dude,
if you're just eating and sleeping and breathing,
reselling content and your own reselling business,
like you're going to be burned out by the end
of the week because there's an endless amount
of nonsense out on the internet. Yeah, I mean.
You got to figure out ways to sneak things in
or when you're on a call, how to be working.
Like I'm working right now. Mike doesn't know
I'm working, but I'm totally working right now.
But I'm still engaged in the conversation when
it flips over to my turn because I can do a little
bit of multitasking. Now, am I operating at full
efficiency? No, but it's better than zero efficiency
if I was just to record the podcast as a for
instance. But the thing is, it all racks up.
um you're gonna get tired and to here's the thing
and i don't know if anybody's ever thought about
it like this but if you've talked to executives
or anybody who works an extraordinarily amount
of hours the number one thing they talk about
when you see their dead eyes light up because
they're exhausted that moment they talk about
when they're going on their next vacation or
their next three -day weekend or their next here's
an interval of time where i don't have to do
what i do 99 of the time and they're excited
about that and they look forward to that whether
it's vacationing in the bahamas or hawaii or
going down to florida to disneyland they look
forward to those little chunks of time because
they know they work their asses off the other
times they're not doing that But that's why they're
doing it. So they can do those things versus
they are unable to financially. There's the difference.
I got another one for you, right? So you hit
that out of the park. I'm going to hit this one
even further out of the park. No reseller would
ever be burnt out if they were making $150 an
hour. I believe that if you're making enough
money, right? If you're going to pay me $200
an hour, Johnny, I'll work 80 hours this week,
right? Like if you're going to come with a check
and all I got to do is like, and I'm guaranteed
$200 an hour, your ass is going to be in top
gear. And I think that's where we kind of, that's
why the resellers face burnout is you feel like
you're putting in all this time and effort. And
if you're not getting the results you should
be, right? Like, of course you're going to be
like. am I wasting my time, right? Like I'm so
over this because I'm putting in all this effort
and maybe even money and you're not getting results.
So I guess I've kind of built my business around
not being burnt out. But then again, you can't
control shit that happens, you know, right? Like
you can't control life and it happens to everybody
and things, you know, when it rains, it pours.
But I do think if you are making a decent wage
reselling per hour and you're not doing this
80 hours a week. I think the money should be
a motivator and it will mitigate some of the
burnout, but you also have to take into consideration,
right? Like what do we, are we making progress
towards a goal? Johnny said, Hey, this person
looks forward to a vacation. That's a goal, right?
We're going to get to vacation. There's 30 days.
I think it'd be selling. What's up, Amazon sellers?
We wanted to take a second to talk about GoToLister,
the software me and Johnny both use to list and
manage our inventory and grow our businesses.
With the fastest listing speeds out there and
built -in profit analytics, it's a no -brainer.
Easily and quickly have items available for sale
using 2D barcodes and get more for your items
with its built -in smart pricing. Make sure to
check out the 30 -day free trial at gotolister
.com backslash Mike or using the link in the
description below. The thing that's kept me motivated
and not as burnout as I otherwise would be is
seeing financial like milestones, right? Like
I'm trying to, I'm continuing to save up for
a house. I'm investing in retirement every single
day. Like seeing the growth, I guess, from the
income side on the backend, it doesn't, it keeps
me from being as burnout as I guess I should
be because I wasn't making no money and I was
putting into work. Like, dude, I wouldn't even
do it, right? You're burnout immediately, right?
Like you're like, this is a stupid waste of time.
Absolutely. I see it. When people are at that
burnout stage, they decide to take an unplanned
week off to recharge their batteries. And what
happens as they're recharging their batteries...
they forget like what they were like before their
batteries got drained. And that one week turns
into two, that two weeks turns into a month.
And then three months later, we see them pop
up again, like I'm ready to go back at it. And
that's what inevitably happens to people just
trying to go like sprinting. When you're trying
to do the mile, you don't sprint at the start
of it. It's a mile long. endurance thing you
got to spread it out so you don't just die in
the 400 meters because it's not a 400 meter race
it's very much a mile long thing we do from january
to december it's a year race every year because
every year how much money do we earn this year
and then we analyze our business and decide how
to perfect it or get out i think a lot of people
too struggle with uh comparison right like we
talked about running your own race plenty of
times on this and i think that like that instantly
just that'll crush your soul right like i said
i used to do it like with other reselling youtube
channels how many subscribers do i have versus
how many they have how much money is johnny making
versus how much i'm making the best thing i did
for my mental health was stop giving a shit about
what anybody else is doing and perfecting what
I want to do and what I want to get out of my
business. But I do think we live in such a flashy
number posting society, everywhere you look on
social media and YouTube and resell. And it's
all about, I'm a billionaire and I'm a trillionaire.
And it does, it wears on you, especially, you
know, part -timers, right? Like it's so hard
to commit to being a part -timer full -time because
By full -time, I mean you only are ever going
to be a part -timer because you have to accept
the fact like, hey, I'm just going to be the
guy that just makes an extra $1 ,000 a month,
right? This is all I'm going to get from this
business. And you have to accept that. And then
you see Johnny come along and say, I made $1
,000 today. And you think to yourself, well,
shit, that's what I want to make every month,
right? And then you're like, well, I guess I
suck. But that's really not it at all, right?
You know, I don't strive to be the richest reseller.
I just strive to live comfortably and kind of
enjoy life. And I do think the sacrifices I've
made and the sacrifices I, you know, continue
to make from time to time, there has to be a
payoff for me, right? Like there has to be some
type of goal. And I do think there are goals
to this and you got to stay motivated. We talked
about it before. What's your why? Like, why are
you doing this, right? Most of us do it from...
the monetary reasons, like 99 .9 % of us, unless
you're operating a charity. So if you have the
why, and you can take a look and say, okay, this
is who I am in my business. How can I get my
time back? How can I be more efficient? How can
I make a little bit more money? That's the only
way you're going to be able to avoid it. Because
if you just slog through and if you half -ass
it, Half -assed is the worst thing you can do
in resum because you make no money and you waste
all your damn time and you'll be burned out,
like Johnny said, and then you disappear for
three weeks and then you pop back up and it's
a never -ending cycle where you never even really
give yourself a chance to get real results and
maybe refine some of your business practices
so that you're never burned out again. Right.
It's a choice, right? We decide how much we're
going to put into this. And with that work comes
the dividends therein over the course of the
365 days. And some people have a higher expectation
than what they're able to make. Now, if you've
been at it a minute, you know that over time.
Your work -life balance gets easier because you're
able to afford the new machine. Your sourcing
gets better. You took on an employee to take
those damn photos for eBay. You work really hard
so you can work not as hard but stay as efficient
later. And people don't realize that. They see,
I don't know. They're in their spare bedroom
where they're packing their stuff. They're already
in their mind at the warehouse with the forklift.
They're already there in their mind. And that's
how they're thinking. And then they fall on their
face because they're not that person yet. They
got to work their way to be that person if that
is their goal. I think that's that false expectation.
And this goes with anything, even beyond reselling.
You have this false expectation how you're viewing
yourself, but the reality check is you're just
not there. Yeah, you got to be realistic because
if you're not, right, like say if I set some
crazy goal, like I want to do a million dollars
in sales this year, right? Like you're going
to get burned out real quick because it's not
obtainable. and if you if something's not attainable
and you think that it is and you just like there's
no path forward for it to happen of course you're
going to be down and out on yourself like well
i guess i guess i suck at this because i didn't
hit this ridiculous goal of a hundred ebay listings
a day or a thousand in my draft bank but that
brings me to the topic of like what are some
things you can do to kind of avoid burnout and
what i did is I stopped going out for three hours,
five days a week. And now I go out, you know,
10 hours, three days a week, right? So it's kind
of like what we did with the podcast recordings.
We're not here every Sunday now. Put it all on
the same day, get them out of the way for the
month. We can focus on other things. I did the
same thing on my thrifting model. There's no
point in me driving all the way out every day
just to go for three hours when I can just say,
all right, I'm up at seven, out the door by eight.
I'll be back home at eight. Boom, knock everything
out that day. I'm super focused. You're much
more efficient. You get a lot more done. You
can hit a lot more places. I think you've got
to be strategic on little things like this, because
if I was still going out five days a week, I
100 % would be so burned out. Like I got it every
day. I got to get out there. I got to go drive
to three stores and I got to drive. It's little
things like that. You don't realize that don't
make sense until you realize they don't make
sense. Right. And it's the little things we improve
over time to get our, well, time back essentially.
And it's. Again, you don't do that day one. You
learn about it as you go. And that's why we talk
about it. We've talked about it so many times,
even on this podcast. butt in the chair to watch
a bajillion YouTube videos when you're better
off just doing it to figure out the problems
for your personal business. Because that person
on that screen has a different set of problems,
a different set of benefits, and a different
environment than you. You aren't them, bottom
line. They're in a completely different state.
Why do you care what they say? You probably,
I'm going to guarantee you don't have 100 % identical
items when you walk out your door compared to
them. everybody's business is different. It is.
And so you're better off going out and doing
it. And now if you, for people trying to microanalyze
this, if you don't know how to set up an eBay
account, yeah, watch a video, learn how to do
that real quick. But I'm talking about the day
-to -day, the routine. That's on you to figure
out. There's no magical thing out there. And
even asking myself, asking Mike, asking tech,
asking, 10 other people's advice. They're going
to give their advice they think because they
don't know 100%. They don't watch you. They're
not there with you. They're not there holding
your hand. We guess at what we think might be
a solution. Now, it's an educated guess, but
based off our own personal experiences that may
or may not be applicable to you with that being
said. So I'm not saying what we're saying is
worthless, but. You are the best answer to your
own question is what I'm really saying. I agree.
And it's funny because I've had people tell me
like, it's like you give the same advice like
over and over. And like, I think to myself, well,
I mean, I can't magically create a business.
All I know are those things that's going to get
you results. And that's actually going out there
and getting the work done, right? Like that's
just, there's no. magic formula that like me
and johnny have that we keep secret like it's
not the secret crabby patty formula right people
are trying to steal like we just work we just
scan items we just list items right it's just
being consistent with the little things and you
know i wish there was some magical pill or you
know whatever whatever secret code we had that
we could give everybody but it's just It's finding
that balance and being efficient so you can grow
your business without having to be in it 80 hours
a week. And I think that's the big struggle with
resellers, man. A lot of them are broke, but
a lot of them work their asses off. Well, of
course you're going to be burnt out. But what
Johnny's going to say is, well, how shitty are
the items you're listing? Because how come we're
not making money if we're spending 40, 50 hours,
right? Like there's always a backside to this
of, okay, if you're the person, that's listening
to this or watching it, and you're working 30,
40, 50 hours a week, right? Like, I don't even
know what a minimum number is that I can come
to, but I'll just throw one out there just off
the top of my mind. You should at least, if you're
working 30 hours minimum, you should at least
be doing 10K in sales a month. And that's just
sales. And that's like the very, very minimum
I'm willing to throw somebody out there. I don't
know, dude. Everything can be fixed in reselling
because... we we get burnout we are the business
but we can fix the business so it's tough for
me when i hear somebody working their ass off
and they're not making no money i'm like well
clearly we got to change something right because
if you just keep banging your head against the
wall and of course no shit you ain't gonna get
nowhere right i i was talking to a buddy of mine
yesterday he's at a terrible place right now
he doesn't know he's gonna have a job in the
next couple of months because everybody's like
mass leaving. And he was asking me, well, do
I stay and hope the lean times turn into profitable
times? And I looked him dead in the eye and I
told him, you don't get paid in bad boys. You
don't get paid in good jobs. You get paid in
actual dollars for your work. And that's the
difference. Same applies for when you're self
-employed like resellers are or working for themselves.
You can't pay yourself and will yourself to,
if I just work hard enough, I'll make a million
dollars. No, that's not how that works. There
are plenty of people who work extraordinarily
hours and make very little money. There's fundamental
basics in your business that are incorrect. And
you will continue to work a million hours for
no money if you do not self -correct. And the
big catch 22 with that is there's always going
to be another. business model there's always
going to be you know if you look at the ebay
world you got all the ai software right like
instead of actually taking a real look at it
and sitting down and saying okay i'm burnt out
well like what are the main contributing factors
to being burnt out the biggest one is going to
be you're working too much and you're not making
enough money okay so what can we do to change
those you can sit here and say you're burnt out
but if you don't change nothing and you just
go away like johnny says for a week take a vacation
two weeks and then you come back Guess what's
going to happen in another 30 days? We're going
to be right back to where we started, completely
burned out. And like you said, there's fundamentals
to this that are openly available, right? Like
everybody understands the fundamentals of selling
on eBay and Amazon, right? Quality photos, quality
listings. Amazon is literally sending quality
items as many as you possibly can. They both
require understanding a little bit of knowledge,
but not just being the consume all, I'm just
going to watch everybody. Of course, you're going
to be burned out. It happens to me sometimes.
I watch a video. I'm like, man, this person's
really killing it. I'm nowhere near their level.
And it is a little bit defeating, but I could
care less anymore. I'm just worried about what's
going on under my roof, honestly, at the end
of the day. I wouldn't say it's selfish. It's
smart of you as a business owner to take care
of your business first before anybody else's.
Exactly. I see this a lot. in all groups you
have somebody who's been at it for i don't know
one two three months and you know how much they're
making and then i see them trying to give a brand
new person advice and i just want to smack them
over the head because that person giving the
advice is making no money themselves you can't
be the advice giver if you're making no money
I'm sorry, you can't be. You can regurgitate
and repeat what you're hearing from people that
are making money, but apparently you aren't hearing
them because you yourself are making no money
and you should shut the hell up. Oh, see Johnny's
trying to get me all riled up before this episode's
over and he kind of hit it on the head. I do
think there is a lot of, it's stupid of me to
say this, but like when it comes to resellers
and people in the space. If you don't show me
your P &L, I don't want to hear nothing from
you. And that might be the cockiest thing ever
for me to say, but I know at the end of the day,
my business make money. And I know at the end
of the day, anybody can have a YouTube channel.
Anybody can be an influencer in the reselling
space. But I know the majority of these ass clowns,
well, let's call them like they are. They don't
make no money, but they're the first one to try
to sell you something or give you advice on how
you should operate your business. And Johnny
hit it on the head. You need to run in the opposite
direction as fast and as far as you possibly
can. I agree. Burnout, dude. It's a thing. It's
a thing. I'll wrap it up here with the burnout
topic. Life sucks. You get punched. You're going
to get punched again. You're going to get kicked
when you're down. Build a beautiful business
that gives you your time back, allows you to
take time away from the business, right? We don't
want to be doing this all day, every day. I've
had weeks this year where I've completely sent
nothing into Amazon. That's just the reality
of it. Are there things I can do to prepare for
this? Sure. If I know I'm going to Jamaica next
month and maybe I work a little bit harder, maybe
I'll go out five or six days to two weeks prior
to kind of front load it. Same with eBay. You
got the wonderful draft bank that's talked about
on every eBay. person's reselling YouTube channel
that actually does make money. You can kind of
mitigate these things and you just have to realize
at the end of the day, you are running your own
race and it's okay to take time away from mental,
personal. We all have obligations and don't feel
like, oh, if I take time off, like my business
is going to fail. If you build it correctly,
you're going to be a -okay and you have to take
time away because nobody's cut out. to work you
know every single day every single year you will
100 wind up down in the dumps that's going to
do it for this episode unless johnny has anything
to add do you sir i do suck it up buttercup suck
it up buttercup we'll talk to you all next week's
episode Thanks for listening to another episode
of the Reseller's Mindset Podcast. Today's full
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