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 next to Johnny. Johnny's keeping
me on my toes today. I kind of appreciate it.
He's got some type of long... winded title for
this episode and i don't have no words can i
guess like hey can i i like to buy a veil i like
to buy an e is there an e in the words anyway
johnny take us away i have no idea what we're
about to get ourselves into okay so what i've
done is i prepared a words of wisdom and i want
mike's reaction to these words of wisdom um there's
many of them i have a whole sheet of them and
we'll see what his take on these are ready for
the first one Oh, man. Here we go. Let's do it.
All right. The system can be changed and normal
is not permanent. I agree, dude. The system,
I think we're going to be going down conspiracy
theory rabbit holes with this one. I think the
system is designed. When I say the system, I'm
thinking overall. Just you being a human being
in the country of the United States of America.
I think the system is designed to keep you broke
and relying on the system. And I do think you
can change that. Right. Like, I think I'm almost
a perfect example of this. You know, growing
up in Kensington, one of the worst neighborhoods
in Philadelphia. Absolute, you know, crap hole
because I can't curse. It's still too early in
the podcast. YouTube will come for us. I used
to literally be in debt up to my eyeballs. I
worked a $12 .50 an hour job and every dollar
went to bills and I would have $0 at the end
of every month. So for me, when I hear that,
that's where my mind goes is the system's designed
to keep you down basically and to keep you worried.
But I do think if we can make some changes, whether
that's your... your main job, your main employment,
not even related to reselling, just getting ahead
financially and taking those steps. That's kind
of why I exist, right? It's the only reason I
really do content creation and even this podcast
is to help people kind of, I guess, beat the
system because the system's fixed against you.
It's almost like going to the casino and they're
going to win 98 % of the time. I do think there
is a way out. You just have to hear it and see
it from somebody like me or you to get a little
bit of motivation and kind of change the things
around you. It could be conspiracy. maybe that
maybe people are like no dude the system i do
think in this country it's designed to keep you
anxiety ridden and broke as you possibly can
be i like it all right number two here never
allow family to stand in the way of opportunity
Shit, man, oh, man, oh, man. I got no heads up
on this one, and I don't even care. I spit the
facts like it is. I agree 100 % because, listen,
let's think about this. Let's dissect this. If
I were somebody who couldn't hack it in college
like myself, right? Go to college. You'll be
rich someday. I sucked at college. I shouldn't
have went. Waste of money. I look at this and
I think to myself, if I would have told any of
my family members that I was going to have a
six figure business selling books, CDs and DVDs
at any point in my life. Right. Like they're
going to be like, just stay at CBS. Right. Just
stay at CBS. And, you know, I think there is
a safety net people have when it comes to family
and they want the best for you. But I do think
in life you have to bet on yourself. And trust
your gut instincts and take some type of risk
in your life. And the first one is going to say
you're crazy for doing it. It's going to be the
closest people to you, which is family. I'm not
saying don't take advice from family by any means
necessary. I take advice from some of my family,
but I also. avoid some of my family. They're
crazy, right? Some of the craziest people are
your family members and some of the kindhearted,
you know, nicest people are your family members.
So this one's kind of loaded. I personally, where
I'm at my business, right? Like nobody else understands
the business we have besides us because we are
the business. I'm not going to listen to what
anybody says. The only person I really listen
to is if somebody has kind of been in the business
and kind of understands what goes into it, but
they're always going to be throwing shit at you,
right? Like, oh, why don't you sell this instead?
Or I seen this video and this person's selling
this, right? Like it goes both ways. I'll take
some advice, but it's all with a grain of salt.
And I kind of base it off my own experiences
that I've had with the business. And I guess
my final thought on family is don't expect them
to understand what you do. Even if you are making
a considerable income, it's hard to explain to
people that I put. books, CDs, DVDs in a box.
I send them to Amazon. Amazon sells them for
me. I get paid. You just have to realize, especially
if a lot of your family's older, they grew up
in a different time. They had these careers where
they could stay at one job for 30, 35 years,
get a pension, be taken care of when they retire.
I don't think that exists anymore. Just a company
being in business for that long is far and few
in between. The family one's tough. I know a
lot of people are closer to their family. you
know if i would have listened to some of my family
members suggestions over the years like this
doesn't exist at all all right a deal is a deal
until a better one comes along deal is a deal
till a better one comes along as long as it's
in like the conversation right like as long as
i guess if i relate this to my business like
hey i'm working with this guy and i'm buying
inventory from them and i'm paying 20 cents a
piece and then somebody else comes along and
says hey i can sell you inventory for 10 cents
a piece i think there's an open line of communication
and you're clear about what the expectations
are on both sides I think that's fine. I think
where this line gets crossed is a deal is a deal
till another one comes along, right? And so it's
like, okay, I've got a perfect example of something
that would drive me nuts, right? Me and Johnny
do the podcast. Well, next week, Johnny doesn't
show up. Johnny shoots me a text and says, hey,
I'm on a new podcast now because they're paying
me X amount of dollars. Do I understand it? Yes.
But like, I'm a person where my word is worth
its weight in gold and I expect the same from
everybody else. So with your deals. No matter
what it is, be true to your word. But as long
as both sides understand, like, hey, if another
opportunity happens, I'll communicate it to you
and then we can take steps from there. But it's
don't cross anybody, I guess, is the big thing.
And in reselling, it happens all the time. Just
be straight up with people. And, you know, when
you tell somebody something like you better mean
it on the back end, because I'll be the first
one to cut your ass right out of my circle, right
out of my whole life when it comes to. saying
I'm going to do one thing. And then you do the
complete opposite where you just leave me in
the dark and there's no community. It's so easy
to communicate that we live in a world where
you can communicate, but like people can't do
it, right? Like Facebook marketplace, anybody
that's ever tried to sell anything on Facebook
marketplace. Is it still available? Yes. I'll
be there Saturday. Saturday comes here. I am.
I shoot a message. Hey, it's 10 o 'clock. Where
are you at? Nothing back. This is a never ending
cycle of just. People just don't give a shit.
And it drives me nuts. A deal is a deal until
a better one comes along, as long as there's
a line of communication within it. All right.
There's usually an opportunity to be of service.
There always is. I mean, think about. I mean,
we're basically in the service industry. If you
think about some of our relationships that we
have, right? Like, I mean, hell, your whole consignment
is a service business. You provide a service
for me to sell my stuff that I don't want to
waste time with. You provide a service to the
library to get library deals. Yeah, dude, it's
a service. We are the service industry. And I
think it's... I think it's the greatest opportunity
as an entrepreneur, whether that's reselling,
right? Because we're basically supply chain.
We're supplying people. That's a service. Or
whether that's having a landscaping business
or having a real estate. I think the service
industry is going to be the forefront right along
with the basic trade skills, right? Like the
mechanics, the plumbing. I think the service
industry is right up there because... We live
in a society where people don't want to do things
themselves. They'd rather pay money to have somebody
else do it. So that gives us a whole crazy opportunity.
I mean, think about it. There's people out there
right now that go around and they scoop people's
poop from the yard and make six figures, right?
Like they provide the service of scooping dog
crap and their businesses are doing well over
six figures. And it's just crazy to me. There's
so many ways to make money in the service industry,
but. You do kind of got to be a people person,
not really in my line of work. You can just have
one or two conversations a month and kind of
get the inventory. But it's I love the service
industry because I know people people are lazy
and you can kind of capitalize that in a financial
way as long as it's above grade. And, you know,
you're actually doing the service that you said
you're going to provide for them. 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 problem
with the race to the bottom is you might win.
I've been doing it for years, dude. I'll tank
every Amazon listing in the universe. Who cares?
Because we got to sell our items. You can have
an inventory. We relate this directly to reselling.
You got a million items. Cool. What's that doing
for you? That's probably, if your average buy
cost is a dollar, that's a million dollars of
inventory sitting there. Let's get everything
sold today. Not yesterday. Not maybe next week.
Not Prime Day, not Christmas Day. Let's get everything
sold today. And if that means I got to be the
penny scumbag undercutter or every single eBay
listing I do, which I used to do, I always listed
mine at the cheapest price regardless. I'm a
firm believer in we need to make some damn money.
And what do most people look at when they're
shopping online? how cheap can i get this for
sure in amazon it's a little bit different because
they kind of got it configured to the buy box
where people are just so lazy they just click
buy now but i mean anywhere else we got to be
the lowest price and everybody's going to be
pissed off and be like well i got something that's
super collectible and i know what i got and i
sit here and say okay Come talk to me in six
months when that thing's still sitting on your
shelf and I've sold 5 ,000 items because I was
the lowest price and my bank account continues
to go up and you continue to have your super
collectible item and I know what I got. And it's
only going to go up in value, Johnny, if I just
keep it listed for 20 more years in my garage.
This is, I mean, let's be real. Amazon's a race
to the bottom. Don't care what anybody says.
I've done this and I showed results over the
past five years. Price is the main contributing
factor to selling items on Amazon. Keep all the
slander off my timeline of matching the buy box
or there's blind spots. Blind spot my ass. It's
not going to pay your electric bill at the end
of the month. Let's sell everything. And if I
got to be the penny undercutter, if me and Johnny
are on the same listing, guess what? We are tanking
that listing and it's going to be sold for $3.
I'm just waiting my turn in line. Yeah, well,
I'm not waiting. I'm tanking everything. Lowering
expectations can increase satisfaction. Oh, yeah,
dude, you can't be crazy with this, especially
if I relate this directly to me. Got expectations
around you two, our group. our calls the podcast
you have to have realist x i mean i think when
we all start we have crazy expectations right
so i do think at some point you lower your expectations
because they become more real and you realize
the amount of work it takes to be a seven figure
a year reseller right like i hate to be the bearer
of bad news mike but that's not going to be you
right so you have to You have to lower your expectations
to something that's real. And I think when we
start, we always have these crazy grand ideas
of like, I'm going to be the biggest mega seller
ever. And you have to be more of a realist. I
wouldn't consider it lowering expectations as
it is accepting the business you have and what
you can turn it into because there's limitations
to this, man, right? Like we say the inventory
is all there. But there's only so many hours
a day. There's only so many places around us
we can get it from. If we max out everything,
then your expectations are what it is, what it
is at the end of the day. So, yeah, I mean, I'm
not saying be like, well, I'm just going to be,
you know, I can't sell a thousand dollars a month.
So I'm just going to go for ten dollars a month.
Right. Like that's sissy la la stuff. Be realistic
with your expectations. And sometimes you've
got to lower them because it is what it is. I
mean, that's just the reality of the business.
If that doesn't give you the results you need,
then you can try something else. Get your time
back, add on another stream of income, right?
There's so many different things we can do. We
might not need more time. We simply need to decide.
Oh yeah, dude, 100%. I mean, come on. This is
like, this one drives me nuts, right? Because
if we keep doing the same thing, if we keep being
a crappy reseller with crappy listings and crappy
products. All the time in the universe is not
going to save you. Time is the most valuable
thing we have. We can experiment with things.
You're like the king of crazy experiments. You
probably got like 30 different ones going on
right now. I think you have to try different
things, but I do think the reselling overall
spectrum has been stagnant for a while now. I
think we are seeing a little bit of innovation
with the live selling and the different AI tools
out there. But I still think there's a lot of
people that are listing the same way that they
did in 2020 when anybody would buy anything on
the internet, right? Because we couldn't leave
the house. And those people, unfortunately, go
away with time. And they may seem like they're
the loudest in the room because they are, right?
They cry and they whine about everything. But
if you're not doing nothing different, I mean,
think about how much we've changed just this
year alone in our businesses. Time ain't going
to save us, dude. Time is our enemy, right? Like
it's not our friend. So just keep doing the same
stupid stuff. Like you can do that for the rest
of your life and you'll be exactly where you're
at. You'll probably, you won't even be exactly
where you're at today. You will be worse off
because things are going to continue to change.
And you go out of business like Kmart, right?
No more blue light specials. Nobody's running
to the end cap to buy the blue light specials
no more because Kmart, you walk into Kmart and
you feel like you're taken back to 1980 and we
were living in the 2000s. Helping someone get
what they want is easier than changing what they
want. So this is like philosophical. Helping
someone get what they want. Say it one more time.
Helping someone get what they want is easier
than changing what they want. I think it is.
I think it is easier to get them where they need
to be instead of changing what they want, because
I do think. people get kind of locked in, right?
Like when I have coaching calls, I always ask
everybody, you know, what's that magic number
for you that you want to make in a month, right?
Like to your bank account. And then you kind
of can reverse engineer it and trying to change,
right? Like that's like me trying to tell you
to change your business and like trying to get
you on board. I think that's a lot harder pitch
than me just telling you, hey. you want to make
20 grand a month, then I need you to do 20 ,000
listings. And then you kind of can see how many
you have to do. So for me, I think there's a
path forward, no matter what your goals are in
this business, you just have to realize it's
going to take time and there's going to be different
levels to it, right? Like if you want the more
revenue you want, the more... work and probably
infrastructure you're going to need in the business
at the end of the day. So if you're that person
that's new and you're like, hey, I want to have
the warehouse. Well, okay, let's baby steps,
right? Like there's going to be gate relationships.
There's going to be a storage unit. There's going
to be multiple storage units. Then you're going
to think about brick and mortar and then you
get the warehouse. There's levels to it. So I
think it's easier to have a plan of growth to
get them to that end one instead of just trying
to change the end one. just so they can kind
of do what they do to get there already. Because
most people, dude, are just like dead set on
like, I want this. And they don't think about
the steps. And it's harder for me to say, hey,
you're not going to get this, right? Like it's
a harder sell. It's straight up tell somebody
like, hey, you're never going to get that. So
you need to change it. I could just be like,
well, if you want to be a million dollars a year,
here's exactly what we need. If our average sales
price is $20, then here's how exactly how many
items we have to sell in a year to get you there.
Hear all, trust nothing. Hear all, trust this.
I mean, this is 100%, right? Like somebody listening
to this podcast, right? A lot of people consume
content and even if it is the most trustworthy
person and I tell you I've been doing it this
way for five years, like we even do it now. Your
main line is everybody can run their business
as they see fit. I think it's true because...
Not everybody's business is the same, right?
You might be able to take tidbits away from me,
away from Johnny, but at the end of the day,
you got to do it yourself. And when you do it
yourself, you get the actual results in front
of you from your specific business. So 100 %
trust nothing besides when you actually do it,
you might have a better way that works better
for you. You might have much better processes.
Everybody is completely different. So yeah, hear
all, but don't trust. No, but I don't give a
shit who they are because their business is not
the same as mine, Johnny's, yours, or anybody
else's in the universe. Different things work
for different people. Is there fundamentals that
go across the board? Sure, you got a list every
day. Sure, you got to send a box to Amazon every
week. But other than that, don't do something
crazy just because I tell you to do it. Because
just because it works for me, doesn't mean it's
going to work for you. Your competitors are actually
your allies. I do a lot of business with a lot
of my competitors. Yeah, I guess. I mean, if
you really look at the overall term of competitor,
you're a reseller, I'm reseller, and I send you
shit to sell for 50 -50 just because I don't
want to do it. So I mean, I think, you know,
it's a fine line of don't get ripped off by the
person, right? Like, you know, it pisses me off.
Like when I see people donating to the goodwill
because that's a competitor. So like I, when
it comes to allies, like they're not my ally,
but like, I do think you having relationships
in this business means a lot, but dude, we can't
be talking to 50 million people. Like let's narrow
down our circle, right? Like your inner circle,
when it comes to business and people that are
in the business, if it's somebody you're going
to talk to on a daily or weekly basis. We can't
have a hundred contacts, the phone going off
all day long. We cannot live that life because
that takes focus away from our business. But
I do think competitors can be allies. I mean,
me and you, it's basically us, right? Like we're
competitors, we're allies. I think don't get
frustrated if you see somebody else get results
you don't get, right? Like I'm happy for everybody.
I hope everybody makes 10X what I make. I'm 100%.
I have nothing. Nothing to sign me is like. God
damn you, Johnny, like you're making all this
money and I'm over here making nothing. I'm glad
for I want to see everybody succeed more than
I do. So I think this is a hard one for people
to swallow. But for me, I'm glad I'm happy for
everybody to make some money. And all my competitors,
you know, all the people in the group I see as
allies and are also competitors. And I do think
you can learn things along the way from other
people. Don't get overwhelmed with all the noise
that's going to be in the reselling world, especially
as you start to make friends and I guess business
partner friends where they're going to give you
advice on how you should run your business. If
you thought that one was hard to swallow, you
can't buy fate. You can't buy fate? A lot of
courses that say you can. You can't. I mean,
you can't because no money in the world is higher.
I guess I take that back. But if you have an
infinite supply of money, why would you ever
even start a business to begin with? I think
there is something to be said to buy things that
are going to expedite your speed of growth in
business, right? Like 100%. For every bad course,
there's a great course out there, right? For
every YouTube membership that's $2 .99 like ours.
There's a shitty one out there, right? I think
leveraging capital, if you have it, to kind of
grow your business a little bit quicker or hear
from somebody that's been doing it longer than
you have and has a proven track record, I think
there's something to be said for that. But we're
talking a percent of a percent out there because
most people aren't really giving you the real
picture of their business, right? But they'll
be the first one to say, hey, sign up for a one
-on -one. Hey, pay me X amount of dollars to...
you know, join my leads list. Leads list is one
of the biggest scams, right? Like I put a list
out there and it's like all these hot items.
It's just like, it's the same shit going out
in every group and people just post this. And
what happens, everybody goes and buys the Furby,
the 2025, you know, Furby. And of course the
price tanks because every leads list in the universe
has that Furby on there. So you can buy, you
can buy expedited. business growth but it has
to be from the right person and it's not just
you're just going to show up and i'm going to
tell you the secret recipe to be x amount in
sales it's going to be okay there's going to
be steps to this you can't just magically overnight
just because you sign up for something start
making hand over fist money it's everything that's
sold that way is a scam Anything that thinks
you're going to start today and by the end of
next week or by the end of next month, you're
going to be making hand over fist dollars is
100 % a scam. And they just bank on getting that
money from you in the beginning. And then they
don't care if you go away because they already
got your money up front. Consistency is more
useful than authenticity. For me, this is. My
answer would be different than I would say most
people because being a social media YouTuber,
my authenticity is the only thing that's got
me here. Could I get away with not being consistent
and still have the YouTube channel and still
make some money in the business? 100%. But if
you are the person that maybe likes to inflate
your numbers, but you're consistent with the
business and you're actually making money, at
the end of the day, you got to be consistent
regardless, right? That's a tough one, man. I
think you can go either way on this. I do think
there's a lot of people that put false numbers
out there, right? Like my bars on Amazon, I'm
selling X amount of dollars, right? But if they
are consistent, they're actually doing something
to make those sales to get them there. Authenticity
is a lot harder, I guess, personality trait to
come by in this community, right? Like you see
it from a lot of us. personalities are 100 authentic
but like i said before for every one of us that's
genuine and shows you everything that goes on
and all the fees that come out there's 10 others
that are like just trying to scam you into something
so i think you got to do both uh to kind of get
where you want to be right i can be authentic
on youtube but my business is what pays my bills
so like i got to be consistent in my business
along with being authentic i guess that kind
of keeps me in check right if you have a youtube
channel and you have to post like You know what
would change this whole thing, Johnny? If there
was one reselling place where every month it
automatically pulled your name, your social security
number, everything, and it put how much you actually
made into your bank account that month. We would
never have to worry about authenticity again
because I could just go search the database for
Joe Blow who's selling his $10 ,000 a month course
and be like, okay, Joe Blow. There we go. Zero
dollars, zero cents. And I think that's the harsh
reality that a lot of people in the resale space
will never admit, right? Because it's cool to
be a YouTuber and it's cool to be in the limelight.
And I just challenge everybody to be consistent,
but also authentic. And it's hard to find those
people in the resale space. And yeah, you got
to do both. But unfortunately, more people, I
don't know. What do you think? You think more
people are consistent? or authentic i think people
are more authentic it just does the adage i everybody
has the best intentions right or or uh do as
i say not yeah that one I think it's easier to
be authentic when you're consistent because then
you got the shit to back it up. Right. Like it's
a lot easier for me. It's a lot easier for me
to say, hey, let's do a video on my numbers when
that money is rolling in. Right. Like a lot.
When you got the hard proof right there. Sure.
Like this is me. This is who I am. So I think
consistency creates authenticity. Commit to one
thing at a time. Oh, to 100%. Oh, man, this is
a story of my life. I've tried so many damn different
business models. I've tried so many different
things. Things can exist within the business,
right? Like the podcast, me and you, we make
peanuts off this podcast 100%. But we still do
it to help others. And we have it to a point
where it doesn't eat up a lot of our time. You
can easily be distracted. I've tried faceless
YouTube channels. I have an Amazon influencer
store. I have the group. We got weekly calls.
I got the coaching calls. I got so many different
things. And I realized your one focus has to
be like 95%, which is my Amazon business. You
give that 5 % to other things you want to try,
maybe other things you enjoy that generate income,
but you cannot stray away from your main. source
of income if we're doing resale to make money.
That has to be our focus. And I know it's a hard
pill to swallow for some people, but I had a
coaching call this past month that was exactly
this. We're doing Amazon, we're doing eBay, we're
doing whatnot. So what happens here is we start
to lose results from our main one, right? In
this case, it was Amazon, right? Getting great
results on Amazon, but you start a whatnot channel.
You enjoy doing whatnot. 100%, right? You're
like, I really love doing whatnot. But your main
source, which is your Amazon falls off. Well,
the challenge you have here is you got to pick
a lane. You got to commit to something because
if you keep doing this, you're never going to
get the real results that you possibly could
from whatnot. And your Amazon business is going
to continue to slow down along with your eBay
business is going to continue to slow down. Instead
of just saying, I'm going to do 95 % whatnot,
5 % between Amazon and eBay. Then you can kind
of make a decision. Do I want to be full -time
whatnot? Do I want to be full -time Amazon? But
the problem is we're so scared to just cut a
big part out, right? Like my eBay business. I
could list an item a day, but that's not efficient.
It's a waste of time at the end of the day. So
you got to cut all this shit out and stop trying
to juggle all these platforms and cross -list
and this and that. Do something really good and
knock it out of the park. You'll get way better
results instead of being the person that just
thinks doing more things is going to make you
more money. All right. We're going to end on
this last one here. It's real philosophical.
the greatest happiness is to know the source
of unhappiness yeah dude i think i think you're
right i mean if you know uh what makes you unhappy
yeah what makes you unhappy you know what makes
you for me like i this sounds so damn greedy
like i guess money is the root of all evil but
it can also be the root of all happiness uh and
being broke and now having a little bit of money
where i don't stress as much like I want to keep
my stress levels down to a minimum. And, you
know, being unhappy for me is being super stressed
and anxiety ridden. So for me, my whole focus
is to do the opposite of that. It's tough, man.
I think everybody's different. Like with a lot
of these Buddha -esque, you know, quotations
you're throwing at me, you know, like we say.
everybody's situation is completely different.
Everybody has a completely different set of circumstances,
set of challenges that they have standing in
front of them. And I think if we can just navigate
ways and build a business around that, that works
best for us, that is all that matters. I mean,
sure. Can you go hard and you can really bust
your ass and get things done for a period of
time? Yes. But the sacrifice. It has to be for
something, dude. Right. Like if we're just doing
this and we're not getting no progress, we got
to make a change that goes for anything. Right.
It's like back to the one, you know, where you
just work a job and you get a two percent raise
every year. Right. Like it's comfortable. It's
there five days a week. But like the way the
way to wealth in this country anymore is entrepreneurship
and building something and providing a service
or a product that is not out there. That's how
you're going to get ahead. And I don't know,
man. What are your overall thoughts on some of
these? I think we have to define our own personal
character and our protocol for human decency.
Once you know that, you know how to answer the
majority of these questions. You pretty much
have done that already. That's why you didn't
really miss a beat after all these questions
I asked you. People that haven't figured that
out yet, they would pause and stutter and ponder
on this. I don't know, take 10 minutes to get
an answer for one of these questions. So once
you know that, the answers, I think, are going
to be different for each individual, like you
were kind of previously saying. Like I'm a big
proponent in thinking for yourself. And sometimes
people don't know how to do that until the day
they die or they never get there. And your attitude
and the way you carry yourself, what defines
you? when we think of Mike, who is Mike and people
can say, Mike's pretty much a straight up guy.
And he'll tell you exactly what is on his mind.
He's not really hiding anything. So people like
that, I think can answer these questions. Yeah,
dude. I mean, it's tougher for us, right? Like,
you know, you got your, your call later today
and you know, like you could be having a shitty
day, right? Like we have no idea what's going
on in your, your day today, right? Like maybe
this is one of the worst days for you. Maybe
it's, you know, some type of anniversary of somebody
passing and like, At the end of the day, you
know, we do make sacrifices. Sometimes we got
to put on, you know, a happy face. We got to
smile in front of the cameras, right? And that's
just the path we choose. But I think as we kind
of define ourselves throughout this journey of
reselling, we can. We learn how to better handle
different situations, right? Whether that's personal,
whether that's business related. And it does
come from having a group of people around you
that are upstanding people that will give you
the straight answer, right? Like Johnny gives
me advice and it's absolutely stupid. I'll tell
him that's stupid and vice versa. But it's hard
to find that small group of people that will
just be real with you because people will just
bullshit you and tell you what, you know, they
think you want to hear when in actual reality,
like. We don't want to hear that. We want to
hear what your real opinion is on this idea that
we have or this maybe this new change we're putting
into our business. So getting a small group of
people that you can kind of trust that aren't
biased like. And they're just going to tell you
what you want to hear because those are the worst
type of people to have around. Cause they're
just like, yeah, do it. It's great. That sounds
phenomenal. And then you do it. And then like,
it's the biggest waste of time and you realize
it. And sometimes, you know, you're not going
to be perfect. You'll listen to somebody and
you'll, you'll make mistakes along the way, but
you learn for yourself that sometimes, you know,
shit sucks. And finding your own goals and your
own kind of path and reselling is great. We have
so many different personalities in the group
and just look at the big YouTubers. that resell,
right? Like everybody is so different from one
another, at least, at least the core small group
of people I'm subscribed to. They're all so different
than one another and they all get results. And
that's, that's kind of the eye opening part to
me is there's really no copy paste out there,
right? Like there's really no use book guide
2 .0, at least that I know of. I haven't been
recommended yet on YouTube. So like you can do,
we're all going to be completely different in
this journey financially. personal responsibility
wise. And all we can do at the end of the day,
and all I ask from anybody is just be straight
up with me. If you get, if there's something
going on, shoot me a message, tell me what's
going on. Like we can have normal adult conversations.
I do think people are afraid of having adult
conversations around business and just actually
what's going on. And we kind of just compartmentalize
this shit and just, we never kind of talk about
it or kind of realize, but. Sometimes, you know,
life sucks and sometimes life's great. And it's
good to kind of be on this journey and have people
in your corner like yourself that if I have some
crazy idea, I can bounce it off of. And John
would be the first one to tell you that your
idea sucks, but he won't say it just because
it sucks. He'll actually give you reasons why.
And those are the people you need. You don't
need the people that are like, great idea. You
need the people that are like, okay, this is
a good idea, but what about this? Nothing's a
perfect idea in reselling. There's always going
to be tweaks you got to make along the way. Dude,
this was way more philosophical than I was ready
for. Like I'm mentally drained for the day now.
Like I need to go take like a 60 hour nap. My
brain hurts. Yeah, exactly. Now I think about
these things, like the rules of life and how
you position yourself in dealing with each circumstances,
because there's multiple shades. It's not black
or white. Life is a bunch of gray. It's a bunch
of gray. And how you navigate through. these
gray shades, no pun intended, booksellers, and
or stay on the side of white or stay on the side
of black. I mean, it's all going to be different.
Everybody's going to have a different pathway.
I'll wrap it up here with this last final thought.
Well, I don't know if this is the exact quote
because I suck at this shit, right? I'm just
a guy that sells shit and makes some money online.
You are the company you keep. Is that it? Is
that the exact wording of it? I believe that
is 100 % true. You should surround yourself with
honest, trustworthy, hardworking, successful
people. Believe it or not, if you are not honest
and you're not hardworking and you're not successful,
surrounding yourself with those people will put
you on the track. But it also works the opposite
way. If you're successful, hardworking, and you
surround yourself with a bunch of slackers, then
guess what? It's going to rub off on you. That's
why you need... Good people, surround yourself
with good people. If you don't have friends or
family, then get in a reselling group. There's
plenty of genuine people out there. You'd be
amazed at the relationships and connections I've
built over the years of doing this. So there's
always an outlet for you. Good, bad, negative,
positive, crazy ideas, smart idea, whatever it
may be. That's going to do it for this week's
episode. Johnny, thanks for kind of picking my
brain. I'll probably get shit in the comments,
but I don't care. I do what I do. I was like
playing the whole time. I didn't care about your
answers. Yeah, 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
episode and all previous episodes are available
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