Welcome back to another episode of the Resellers
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 usedbookguy 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 over here? Buddy,
we got to keep it. We got to keep it. What is
up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode
of the Reseller's Mindset Podcast. Me and Johnny
were talking a while before this, so my brain's
really not fully in. Today's topic is a good
one and kind of defeats the purpose of this whole
podcast. Be careful and stop listening to content
creators when it comes to your reselling business.
And we're also going to kind of dive into diversification
a little bit on the back end here, because I've
been thinking about this since this whole Amazon
thing that's kind of happened recently. And Johnny
just got a hold of this topic. seconds before
uh we went live here so for me when i think about
hey amazon we don't get the buy box it's a glitch
whatever people want to call it whatever conspiracy
theories it is what it is right me and john look
at things it is what it is we let it go we make
decisions not right away you let things kind
of work themselves out like it did prior but
i think the problem is as resellers we kind of
come on to reselling from social media right
like that's our uh our sop is social media and
youtube and things like that but the problem
with social media it also comes with a lot of
like anxiety fueled fear that a lot of people
put in so i want to talk about it a little bit
from the side of just getting bad advice when
it comes to big changes when they happen in the
space and then i want to dive a little bit into
just overall taking advice from people that have
no right giving advice So for me, I guess I'll
start out first as somebody that's been putting
out selling books on Amazon CDs and DVDs for
years and years and years. I'm actively invested
in the business. Right. And I see it as a business.
I guess that's the first big thing that me and
Johnny, you know, when we signed up to do this
from day one, we see this as a business, not
reselling. It's you are a business owner. You
have a small business. So we have to treat it
like a business. Well, that's completely different.
If you look at treating a business like a business
and treating reselling like reselling, I mean,
we're almost talking two opposite sides of the
universe and how people approach just two separate
words when in reality, reselling is just a half
-assed way to run a business, I guess is kind
of what I'm trying to get at. I mean, the street
vendor who's got a table of stuff, that's technically
a reseller. I'm not going to call that person
running a business. Now, are there some successful
street sellers? Sure, they hustle too. But at
the end of the day, most of them are not a business.
It's so true. And like this happens and everybody
freaks out, right? It's, I swear to you, Johnny,
we talked about this like a few weeks ago in
one of our calls. It was, hey. Resound has been
born lately. There's nothing real exciting going
on. And then this happens and we're like, oh
shit, here we go again. You asked for it. You
asked for it. It's not like, and it's instant.
Even though we experienced the same exact thing,
like almost six months to the day, six months
ago, we experienced the same exact thing. And
it is like instant panic ensues. And you even
said, right, you were like, hey, I knew this
was going on before like I even brought it to
the attention of the group. I'm like, you're
like, hey, I knew this was going on. I'm like,
well. johnny's not freaking out he's not like
telling me that like this is the end so like
i don't know what was i didn't want to incite
a panic you know what happened a panic like i'm
curious like what was your mindset when you when
you realized all right here we go again it was
like all right i know it may be up to 30 days
because that's about how long the last one ran
and i made a plans for okay i'm gonna focus more
on this uh i actually shut off my repricer for
this little uh stent and because My repricer
doesn't do dramatic shifts. I'm not doing a whole
lot of penny undercutting. I am a little bit
on older inventory, but for the most stuff I'm
sending in, it kind of just sits at a certain
price for a while. Everybody's free to run their
business how they see fit. That's how I run mine.
So this little snafu doesn't really impact me
too much other than my older stuff. I don't want
it just going right down. So it was like literally
light switch off on repricer. I'm waiting it
out. Doing more consignment, eBay. I'm doing
the YouTube, helping the Patreon, doing some
other little side projects. And it's just par
for the course. But if I didn't have the information
that I had from six months ago, my mindset might
be a little bit different. And I'd probably be
a little bit more on edge. But with historical
precedent history, I know it's going to be okay.
It's going to work itself out. Even if it doesn't,
it's just a pivot. And my mind's already, I already
have my pivot plans if I need to execute them.
So I'm just kind of doing one of these, crossing
my arms, waiting and working my other projects
that make me money. I will say though, I do feel
like we had our next level call. Me and Jumpy,
me and we have a monthly next level call. It's
more for focus on like next level talk, you know,
not really beginner questions. I will say like
when we had that call, the response was... Better
than I thought it was going to be. Right. There
wasn't a lot of the sky is falling. It was OK.
This is basically exactly what happened. Here's
how long we're going to have to wait. What is
the plan to kind of get there? But I will say
overall, there has been a lot of panic, more
panic than I thought there would be, because
it just happened six months ago. And maybe, you
know, maybe this thing is something where every
once in a while, you know, Amazon decides to
do this to alleviate the orders or whatever the
hell conspiracy theory lawsuits going on. But
I think the problem is. it's clicks right it's
the clicks when you start getting into the youtube
and the facebook groups and the social media
it's i'll tell you right now right like that
video i posted like is this the end of amazon
right like of course it's like my best performing
out of my last 10 videos people love negativity
or the it's the end of the world stuff they really
do they'll click upon that more than they will
a positivity type video it's been proven and
even outside of reselling as a culture we love
negativity so much we feed on it when we're on
the news the news is full of an activity and
and that spirals into the social media and it
feeds off each other it's a feeding frenzy of
negativity i've Personally, just kind of remove
myself from all that. I'm kind of down here,
hunkled down below, running my own business and
concentrating on me versus the rest of the world.
Does that mean I not care about some social issues?
Of course I do. But it's not my, I don't let
it define me. And I think a lot of people let
it define them. And I know we're getting a little
on the political side here. We'll chop that off
in a minute here. But you gotta, if you're running
a business, you gotta focus on the business,
not everything else. that's going outside that's
screaming really really loud your business is
precious and you got to treat it like that and
if you get just i'm going to call it distractions
because i think that's what it is if you get
distracted by all the the noise and everybody
crying here and there that's going to impact
your business and again in a negative way ignore
it make your plans for your business like there
were a lot of on the mastermind call there were
a lot of what if What should I do kind of scenarios?
They haven't thought it through. They didn't
have a plan versus myself. I had a plan because
I based it off six months ago. Some of those
people weren't around six months ago, to be fair.
So there's no reason they would not ask those
questions and they should have asked those questions,
which are good to have. But once you have those
plans in place, you're kind of on an easy street.
You're just ready to go and you're just rolling
with the punches and you're smiling while doing
it because you're prepared. I'm going to switch
it here away from this whole Amazon topic and
get a little bit more into why people shouldn't
listen to YouTubers and podcasters like ourselves.
Johnny said it already this call. Everybody can
run their business as they see fit, right? And
anybody can be a reseller, the term we love,
because we love it so much it's even in the title
of our podcast, right? It's not the small business,
right? It's not the Entrepreneur Mindset Podcast.
It's the Reseller Podcast. And with this comes
the wonderful realm of social media and YouTube
content creation that I believe leads more people
astray than actually helps them in today's world
and age. There are great content creators out
there, right? Don't get me wrong. There's honest,
straight shooting. They'll tell you everything's
going on type content creators. But for everyone.
Of me and Johnny's that exist in the YouTube
realm, in the social media realm, there's probably
25 that, you know, anybody can do this, right?
Fake it until you make it. And reselling you
100 % can fake it until you make it. And I've
developed the theory along, not a theory, but
like a rule set of. If I'm going to have somebody
in my inner circle, which is very, very small,
probably a lot smaller than most people would
assume the used book guy circle is, right? Like
I've been in the same niche for five years. I've
sold the same junk for five years. Everybody
probably thinks I'm like, everybody, come on
over. Yeah, everybody's got my number, right?
Like it is, that is the furthest thing from truth.
I'll tell you right now, my circle is very, very
small. And there's some requirements to get into
the circle, right? So first thing I need to say.
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If I'm even going to listen to what you have
to say, I need to see like your actual P &L statement.
I know. I know. I'm not trying to approve you
for a loan. But if I'm going to listen to business
advice from somebody, I need to know like, hello,
do you have a business? Right. Like because anybody
can sit here, Johnny, on the Internet and say,
yeah, I got a six figure business or, you know,
seven figure business or I'm selling. 20k a month
on this platform that platform i need physical
proof maybe that's short -sighted of me but hey
it keeps my circle nice and clean and i know
the people that are in there actually making
some damn money i don't know if you have like
a criteria for your circle do you yes give me
give me one of the things you got that's like
criteria based um if you can't explain to me
how you're making money or it's very similar
to yours uh I make X amount of money a year,
but I'm like, okay, how much of that's coming
from each of your sales divisions? I don't know.
I'm like, okay, you're done. Crossing you off.
I know my eBay numbers. I know my Amazon numbers.
I know my consignment numbers. And I know my
cash dealing numbers. I know how much each one
of those channels is making. To me, that's very
simplistic. That's business 101. If you can't
answer that question, I don't care if you're
making 10 figures. I don't know how much money
you're actually clearing. You could be clearing
negative one dollar, which isn't clearing money.
You're owing money. I'm done with you. It's it's
right. I mean, I think I think a lot of people
get caught up with the glitz and glamour and,
you know, we'll have the the nerds that comment
on this podcast. Like people should have to tell
you that their their sales or income or this
or that they don't have to. I just don't have
to follow that shit, right? Like I don't, you
don't have to tell me nothing, but don't think
you're going to be like, you know, when me and
Johnny go to the rodeo, like you're not invited
to the rodeo with us, right? Like you're kind
of beat here. Like it's fine. Anybody can post
whatever they want. I'm just saying we have to
be realistic when people are talking out their
ass. And there's a lot of it that goes on in
the reselling space. Here's another one. I'm
giving away my secret sauce for becoming my friend.
You're solving your own problems, but you may
have a question on the solution path. Like I'm
doing this. What do you think about that versus
how? It's not I'm attempting something to see
if it works. Experimenting, pushing the envelope,
questioning of. Will this work? Will this not
work versus how do I do something? The people
that can answer that, how do I do something?
Checkmark. Cool people. Because they're on to
the next important question. I know the how,
but if, I love the if, if I do this, what do
you think will happen? And it's speculative of,
well, you should probably run an experiment,
A -B test it, see if it works or not, is usually
the answer. Or here's my hypothesis, opinion,
take it with a grain of salt, of why that probably
won't work. because I've done a similar experiment.
So it was an exchange of information, more so
of how to tutorial simplistic 101 questions.
The people that can ask questions on pushing
the envelope, I consider them a valuable resource
because we're in business and business people
take risk. If we can squeeze a dollar out of
something, we will. Or better yet. Okay, I'm
squeezing a dollar out of it now. I want to squeeze
that to 10. How do I squeeze 10 more dollars
out of doing the same thing? Those people I consider
on the right path to success. The next one that's
kind of going to lead us into the talk of diversifying
your business and why I personally think it is
very, very dangerous to do such a thing is for
me, everybody's business model. is the best business
model to themselves right like you come across
i start watching another channel right and you
know we just had you know st louis bookkeeper
on doing whatnot right to him what not what's
not it right like this ain't nothing else even
matters in this man's life right like and that's
what i'm trying to say when you see these other
channels i get recommended tons of entrepreneur
different businesses on YouTube, right? Vending
machines, rent and tour cars, like there's a
million car washes, whatever that one may be,
like there's a million. And to that person that's
posting that content, that is the best business
model. There's nothing that's even close to it.
So when we start getting sucked down these other
rabbit holes, especially in reselling, and a
lot of it is platform -based, right? And if I
got to hear another person tell me, Because Amazon's
buy box is broken, Johnny, that that's why you
shouldn't have all your eggs in one basket. And
this is why you need an eBay store. And I say,
hold up. If you were doing over $175 ,000 in
the last 12 months, real numbers from my numbers,
don't make me print out the paper right now and
show you all. Your ass won't be talking about
diversification. It's always, I'm fired up today,
dude. I'm going nuts. All right. It's easy to
diversify when there's peanuts coming in the
bank account. Yep. When the big bills are coming
in, you're going to tell me, you mean to tell
me right here, right now, right? To say, the
hell with the 15 to 20K in sales every month,
the six to $10 ,000 in profit every month. You
want me to go to the storage unit and start listing
on eBay. Have we lost our damn minds, Johnny?
Pretty much. I mean, I listen to a lot of business
owners outside of reselling because there's always
something I can pull from those guys. A good
example of this, and yes, I do recommend listening
to them, is the Operators Podcast. They got a
guy from Woods Wallet, the hex clad stuff on
there. Millionaire people, right? They're making
more money than me. They're making more money
than I could ever dream to make on reselling.
They always have something smarter that I haven't
heard. that they're saying that I need to take
in. Because those guys are on a different level
than I am. And I like learning from people who
are smarter than I. And those people definitely
are. Now, sometimes they talk above my head and
I have to go figure out what the hell they're
talking about. But that makes me a smarter business
owner in general. And they do have their own
little group, but I think it's like a 10 million
gateway to entry. So good luck with that, resellers.
Not a lot of resellers pulling in 10 mil. Another
one I've listened to was a really smart gentleman.
This was years ago. He stopped posting on YouTube,
but he ran a lawn care business and he had a
three -man crew that cleared, in the bank, 1
.5 million of one crew he did. But he was very
honest about his numbers is why I appreciated
this gentleman. He could not reproduce it with
his other crews because of all the little...
The route they had was like the best you could
ever hope for. It was like lawn after lawn after
lawn after lawn. They could pretty much just
go in a straight line and mow like 10 lawns at
once. So less travel time, less downtime. They
could just mow all day, right? Sharpen the blades.
But it was a beautiful business, just that one
crew. But all of his other crews, like half the
numbers. And I appreciate the honesty in that.
And again. It's getting that honesty out in the
world, which I think is rare these days. And
there is something to be said of where do we
go for the information outside of YouTube? There's
not a whole lot of places, honestly. No, dude,
that's why we were talking about our inner circle
of actual business owners, right? Like, that
is the only... you need real life experience,
right? It's kind of like when you start a job
and they're like, here, watch this VHS tape and
it's going to train you versus you just doing
on the job training, right? Like the only job's
always going to be better. So what you're saying
is right. And I guess it does suck because not
a lot of people have inner circles. Thankfully,
there are groups out there that are actually
beneficial. You know, you got your Patreon, my
group, there's... other big resong groups out
there that actually help. But I think, you know,
even at that scale, we're still a percent of
a percent. And it's just so easy to kind of get
kind of just, just listen to all the shit that
goes on. Right. And if you're new, you're not
going to have this inner circle. You're the new
guy. Or the new girl. And nobody wants to talk
to you. They don't know if you're going to stick
around. They don't know if you're serious. And
they don't know if you're going to be wasting
their time. So you're kind of having to fend
for yourself and shred the water and the shark
infested and hoping for the best here. And honestly,
that's how it should be. You should have to quote
unquote pay your dues before anybody wants to
talk to you. But while you're doing that, you
need to be engaged with whatever community you
decide to roll with. And if you're in a bad one,
you should be able to tell this pretty quickly,
go to another one. So you are going to position
yourself to have a network of people who may
bother to associate with you down the road so
you guys can talk amongst your inner circle once
you get that going. I know it sounds like a bunch
of horse shit, but... That's how it is. I would
not have the network of people if I did just
doing my own thing in the shadows and my business
would be so far behind where it is now. But because
I am a little bit open and give an advice nugget
here and there and are bothered to help somebody
or chat with somebody from time to time, that
has helped me position myself to where I am today.
If I were just, again, to sit in the dark, I
wouldn't be where I am. I honestly wouldn't.
I think, you know, I think a big thing here,
right? I'm telling you that I'm on this Amazon
plane and if all the engines fail, dude, it is
what it is, right? We crash and burn. We move
on to the next thing. Johnny's got a completely
different business model. So me sitting here
telling you not to diversify is not like me telling
Johnny he's an idiot for doing it, right? Like
Johnny is a whole different beast than the used
book guy. Right. If you haven't noticed this
in 160 damn episodes, the guy actually has book
knowledge. He enjoys books. He understands eBay
as a platform, but he also enjoys the ease of
throwing shit in a box and sending it to Amazon.
He works many, many hours in his business and
he's fine with that. The problem with diversification
for these book guy is, oh, and hey, wait a minute.
I am diversified. All right. Yeah. Not even just.
I sell on eBay, just not my own. Like I don't
list my stuff. I send it to him, right? Like
it goes to Johnny, right? So it's like - You
got the YouTube though. You got the YouTube and
you got Amazon. And I guess you got a little
eBay hustle with sending stuff. No, but see,
like I try to, with the diversification talks,
I'm so tired of hearing everybody telling me
to diversify off Amazon. I want to keep it just
to damn me starting to sell on other platforms,
right? I commit to the idea that if the Amazon
plane crashes, So be it. I'm on board. I'm a
casualty. You all can make fun of me and laugh
at the end of the remote. And maybe maybe I'm
naive to it. Right. Maybe I'm 100 percent naive
to it. But I built a business that allows me
if this plane crashes. Guess what, suckers? I'm
D .B. Cooper and I'm jumping out the back of
my Amazon money. That's all I'm saying is I have
a bank account from what I made on Amazon that
if this goes boom and it never fixes itself,
Johnny. I'm going to be okay even if I decide
to do nothing for the next five years of my life.
And not a lot of people are in that position
or they're working in that position. Okay, here's
the hard truth. Amazon, eBay, all of them should
not be the end of the rainbow for you. The money
you're pulling in, a portion of it either goes
to investing, but you should also have another
thing for... putting it into something that you
want to do, that you want to enjoy, that will
make money, whatever that thing is. I can't tell
you whether that's a lawn care business, whether
that's a bookstore, whether that's, I don't know,
a radio shack, small parts, electronic store,
whatever. Your own thing that can make money,
that can generate money. Because that thing,
that's secure and safe. What we do over here,
we work. We are under the employ. mr ebay mr
amazon mr etsy and then mr mrs whatever they
could tell us to take a walk anytime they want
but this thing over here that we pump money in
and sweat equity in and and it's finally making
money that's ours that's forever um that could
be real estate investing property rentals all
that kind of stuff you got to be planning for
that because and also if you're on the older
side like I'm sorry. Picking up boxes of even
CDs and DVDs and books. You can't do that for
50 years. I mean, you want to do that for 50
years. That's your call. You're getting us in
trouble again, dude. Okay. I don't care. You
need to plan for these things. And I'm going
to wrap it into the last one I wanted to cover
here is people that haven't actively been selling
in your space for X amount of time. you should
not be taking advice from. All right, so how
would I say this? So if Johnny's giving me eBay
advice and he hasn't sold on eBay in six months,
Johnny, your advice is dead. I'm out of touch.
Yeah, you shouldn't take advice. Like, all right,
there's business practices that Johnny has, of
course, learned over the course of him being
an entrepreneur and growing a business, 100%,
right? You can't take that away from him. But
if we're talking about specific... build your
business on specific platform type advice. I
mean, let's look, you know, how much has eBay
changed this year? How much has Amazon changed
this year, dude? It's like, it's nothing like
it used to be, right? Right. I'll give a practical
example of this. I used to be in marketing and
I got tons of phone calls my first year because
I still had the knowledge. But I'll tell you
right now, after being almost five years away
from it, The landscape is totally different.
I don't know what I I'm not up to par on things.
And my advice and my expertise is irrelevant.
If you came and asked me for marketing advice
on social platforms today, it really is. Now,
me jumping on YouTube, I'm having to relearn
all that stuff because that's associated. But
I'm out of touch. Nobody would pick me up today.
And if they did, I wouldn't be making the salary
I was making back then because I was an expert
back then. I'm an amateur now. It's just that
much time in Internet land when things are rapidly
being upgraded and changed like you were talking
about is so fast. You got to be in it every day,
every day of the week to be considered a quote
unquote expert, in my opinion. If you take if
you take a month off, I think you're starting
to be out of touch, even if that small time frame.
I think we kind of it's almost. I'll compare
it to sports, right? So, like, there's a Hall
of Fame, right? Like, people that haven't played
the game in X amount of time, right? But, like,
they have all their knowledge from when they
played. But, right, you can't take the same things
they took away from the game and apply them to
today's game because the rules have changed.
There's different rules. Just the overall, you
know, kind of landscape of the sport has changed.
It is the same in resale. And I find it hard
for me to take advice from somebody. that hasn't
sold a book, CD or DVD in Amazon in the past
three months, that's probably being lenient.
Probably be one month if I was going to be real
hard ass about it. But like, I'm sorry, but like,
that's why I enjoy the group because I get to,
I get to do one -on -ones and I get to see people
every day that are out there in the thick of
it. Right. And I'm going to take more away from
every single person that doesn't have a YouTube
channel. And is actually out there making things
happen, sending boxes in, struggling through
the business than somebody who sold on Amazon
six months ago and is still trying to tell people
how they should run their Amazon business. Right.
And there's a certain amount of knowledge you
can take from these folks. Yeah. And there's
a lot of it you can't. So you got to listen to
these people with a grain of salt and don't degrade
them. There's no need for that. But listen to
what they have to say, and then on your list
of things you made of things they said, cross
out stuff that you know they don't know what
they're talking about. Because it's not that
they're telling you what they knew then. It's
not that it's irrelevant, but it's irrelevant
now. It was relevant then, it's irrelevant now.
And there's a fundamental difference there. They're
telling you what they know. They're giving you
their knowledge and their experience. Now, you
taking a sleuth and filtering out what's... good
to keep for yourself, that's important too. And
that's a skill set, I would say, honestly. And
you got to learn to read between the lines and
take stuff for you. And you're going to listen
to some bad advice and you're going to take some
bad advice before you learn this lesson and learn
how to listen a little bit better. I'm going
to wrap it up here with... We talked about our
inner circle. The exact people Johnny just talked
about can exist in your outer circle. So people
you take business structure from, the podcast
Johnny was talking about, there's other things.
These people aren't selling books. They don't
give a shit about eBay, but you still can learn
things from this. It's kind of the same idea
when we have people on from other platforms.
We learn from these people. They all have business
models that actually work and make sense. So
just take things with a grain of salt. Don't
trust everything you see on YouTube, even from
me and Johnny. Johnny, we don't show every little
part of our business, all the ups and downs,
and it's not all green grass and flowers and
roses. Johnny, you got anything you want to add?
Yeah, I got two things, actually. Yeah, and here's
a perfect example. And I've spoken about this
before. When I was doing my return to Amazon
and the rules had changed and I was like, okay,
I'm running a hardcore experiment. I'm going
to send in everything I can as long as it has
a score. That worked great for a while. And I
was talking about it and I failed to mention
this at least for a little while. Do not copy
me. Please do not copy me. You should not copy
me because I am running an experiment that I
don't know how it's going to work out. But so
far it's working good. A few people did not listen
to me. And those few people suffered the same
thing I did at the end of that experiment of
here's your gigantic ass bill and you got to
pay it off now. I felt bad, but I did tell them
and everybody else. don't copy me. Because when
you run an experiment, that can be an outcome
of an experiment. You will fail. And, I mean,
I made money that year, don't get me wrong, but
that big bill wasn't worth it at the end. But
I digress. To the outer circle point, and this
is my last thing here, I have somebody I specifically
call when I know I'm going to do the opposite
of everything they have to say. And that's useful
to me. It's like a sounding board because I know
whatever they say, I'm going to do the exact
opposite because they're too conservative. And
this person I call father, he's bad at business.
He's tried a couple of businesses. So if I give
him a scenario and get his thoughts, dear old
dad, and he tells me what he would do, I'm like,
I'm not doing that. I'm going to do the exact
opposite. Thank you, pops. I'll talk to you in
six months. Dude, that's so true. That's so true.
You kind of hit everything on the head. So we'll
wrap it up here. We appreciate you guys listening
wherever you're listening or watching over on
the YouTube. And we will talk to you all next
week's episode. Thanks for listening to another
episode of the Reseller's Mindset Podcast. Today's
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