WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160 Welcome back to another episode of the Reseller's 00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:04.559 Mindset Podcast. My name is Mike, also known 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:06.559 as the Used Book Guy on YouTube, along with my 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:08.599 friend and fellow full -time reseller, Johnny 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:11.169 B. We help people start and grow their reselling 00:00:11.169 --> 00:00:13.589 businesses from the ground up. We also have a 00:00:13.589 --> 00:00:15.570 weekly Zoom call and private Discord for all 00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:18.469 YouTube members. Head on over to youtube .com 00:00:18.469 --> 00:00:20.829 backslash usebookguy to join the channel and 00:00:20.829 --> 00:00:23.429 gain access to the full -length podcast, Zoom 00:00:23.429 --> 00:00:26.129 call, and private Discord today. Let's get into 00:00:26.129 --> 00:00:28.129 this week's episode. What is up, everybody? Welcome 00:00:28.129 --> 00:00:30.329 to another episode of Reseller's Mindset Podcast. 00:00:30.769 --> 00:00:33.509 I'm right next to Johnny. running a lean operation, 00:00:33.850 --> 00:00:36.649 kind of the whole, I don't know, focal point 00:00:36.649 --> 00:00:39.710 of my business. Not necessarily because I do 00:00:39.710 --> 00:00:41.530 push some big numbers some weeks. And when I 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:45.750 do dive into bulk, I do kind of send in a lot 00:00:45.750 --> 00:00:48.310 of the inventory. So I don't even think I necessarily 00:00:48.310 --> 00:00:51.850 have a lean operation, but I do enjoy the idea 00:00:51.850 --> 00:00:54.210 of having an inventory of maybe only a hundred 00:00:54.210 --> 00:00:57.689 SKUs and you sell the same items, or maybe you 00:00:57.689 --> 00:01:00.460 sell in a category where You know, we talk about 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:02.259 it all the time. Maybe you're the phone seller 00:01:02.259 --> 00:01:06.640 or the expensive bag designer, bag seller, and 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.200 you just keep looking for the same items because 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:11.579 you know what they're worth. You know how desirable 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:14.260 they are. I think, dude, I think if you have 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:16.640 a super lean operation in reselling, that is 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:18.599 like, that's the best place to be, honestly, 00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:21.230 at the end of the day. Right. I mean, you can 00:01:21.230 --> 00:01:23.769 go large. You can like what's behind you and 00:01:23.769 --> 00:01:27.010 your background there. And you can go deep and 00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:31.129 wide in that aspect, have 50 employees, the forklifts, 00:01:31.129 --> 00:01:33.689 all of this and the other. But if you have a 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:37.609 lean operation, maybe you and a small team, maybe 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:39.989 the pinnacle of where you're ever going to be, 00:01:39.989 --> 00:01:43.829 maybe three to five people. I think that is the 00:01:43.829 --> 00:01:47.439 best place to be as. it's in and out your efficiencies 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.019 are so good your processes are so good you built 00:01:50.019 --> 00:01:52.579 in automation where you would normally need employee 00:01:52.579 --> 00:01:56.180 you've now replaced that with either software 00:01:56.180 --> 00:02:00.739 or some kind of ai extension or maybe your employees 00:02:00.739 --> 00:02:03.840 are all mainly ba they're paper pushers more 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:07.959 or less that That I think is more ideal than 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:11.280 the gigantic warehouse of doom and destruction. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:14.479 That's all great. And they make for great photos 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:18.120 on Instagram, but their overhead is ginormous 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:20.139 by doing that. Even if you got them for like 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:23.159 $12 an hour employees, they're pushing 40 hour 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:25.919 weeks. A lot of them, maybe plus three optional 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:30.219 overtime hours or something of that nature. Payroll 00:02:30.219 --> 00:02:32.960 is going to be your most. Comparable to probably 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:35.419 your rent, unless you own a building, then payroll 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:38.080 is definitely your biggest expense. Yeah, I think 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.219 about it. I just look. I sell over 1 ,000 units 00:02:41.219 --> 00:02:45.500 a month on Amazon. What if you just sold 100 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:49.340 units that were 10x the ASP of your 1 ,000 units? 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.599 That's the idea I like. I'm just like, well, 00:02:52.759 --> 00:02:54.759 I don't have to do as much work, as much prep, 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:58.300 as much sourcing. But yet again. Can you find 00:02:58.300 --> 00:03:01.039 this stuff that you can have the margins to have 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.419 a sustainable business if you're planning on 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:05.699 running a super lean operation? I think that's 00:03:05.699 --> 00:03:08.199 the catch 22. That's why you kind of see, you 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:10.300 know, we look at the video game category, right? 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:14.659 They're buying at 70, 80 percent of market value 00:03:14.659 --> 00:03:17.639 and they're squeezing out the extra 20, 25 percent. 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:20.500 But their items are more desirable so they can 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:23.080 they have a faster turnover of the money. I think 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:25.580 the trap is people try to run a lean operation. 00:03:26.250 --> 00:03:28.710 And they don't have desirable items or even high 00:03:28.710 --> 00:03:31.770 ASP items. So you're never going to be able to 00:03:31.770 --> 00:03:34.430 see any type of success when you got 100 or 1 00:03:34.430 --> 00:03:39.069 ,000 items listed. And it's all $5 to $25 junk. 00:03:39.250 --> 00:03:41.969 If you're going to be lean, we're talking $75, 00:03:42.250 --> 00:03:45.270 $100 plus ASP if you only want to carry a small 00:03:45.270 --> 00:03:47.550 inventory. Because you got to make money doing 00:03:47.550 --> 00:03:50.069 this. And usually, in these super lean operations, 00:03:50.469 --> 00:03:53.030 you got to pay more up front. So for my 1 ,000 00:03:53.030 --> 00:03:56.009 units I sell on Amazon. Maybe cost me a thousand 00:03:56.009 --> 00:03:59.229 bucks at a dollar a piece for those versus maybe 00:03:59.229 --> 00:04:01.689 I only sell 10 units a month, but I had to pay 00:04:01.689 --> 00:04:05.509 $500 for each to make $200 on each one of those. 00:04:05.550 --> 00:04:08.490 So it's more cash intensive upfront and resellers 00:04:08.490 --> 00:04:11.150 are so afraid to spend more than a dollar. That's 00:04:11.150 --> 00:04:13.639 why you really don't. see any of those type of 00:04:13.639 --> 00:04:16.120 operations and they're really not as flashy, 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.839 right? If I'm selling the same 10 items, same 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:22.420 50, 100 items, it's kind of hard to, it's not 00:04:22.420 --> 00:04:24.319 exciting, right? You're just kind of like we 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:26.220 do. It's just a boring job that makes you money. 00:04:27.100 --> 00:04:30.180 Right. And even those bigger operations, they're 00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:33.240 willing to sell things to make $2 profits on 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:36.720 an item, but they sling up so many, they may 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:41.439 sell, I don't know, three, two to 500 units a 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:43.810 day. And that's how they're able to at least 00:04:43.810 --> 00:04:46.610 maintain operations. And some of them can't maintain 00:04:46.610 --> 00:04:49.730 it even at that low margin. But they deal with 00:04:49.730 --> 00:04:52.569 so many products, they kind of have to do that 00:04:52.569 --> 00:04:55.970 or else they spend 90 % of the time throwing 00:04:55.970 --> 00:04:59.850 stuff away. Now, for a lean operation, I think 00:04:59.850 --> 00:05:02.750 what you need is consistency and efficiency in 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:06.250 processes. The consistency comes in maybe... 00:05:07.330 --> 00:05:09.529 Well, definitely for yourself, but once you bring 00:05:09.529 --> 00:05:12.050 in people, you have to have consistent people. 00:05:12.449 --> 00:05:15.550 It's none of this, my tummy hurts, or I got a 00:05:15.550 --> 00:05:18.310 toothache. There's none of that bullshit. They 00:05:18.310 --> 00:05:20.990 come in, they clock in, they say hi, maybe you 00:05:20.990 --> 00:05:23.350 say hi back, and they get to work. Then they 00:05:23.350 --> 00:05:25.790 say, bye, boss, and I say, bye, see you tomorrow, 00:05:25.990 --> 00:05:28.250 and they come in tomorrow. Those are the people 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:31.069 you need. There's little yap time. There's all 00:05:31.069 --> 00:05:37.949 work time. It's the same thing every day. Consistency 00:05:37.949 --> 00:05:39.870 and it's repeatable. Just like your sources coming 00:05:39.870 --> 00:05:42.750 in every day or you have a route, you go out 00:05:42.750 --> 00:05:45.529 and do it every day or whatever. The employees 00:05:45.529 --> 00:05:47.750 have to be consistent. But before you can even 00:05:47.750 --> 00:05:50.790 have that, you have to have consistency with 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:54.269 yourself. And unfortunately, well, not unfortunately, 00:05:54.410 --> 00:05:56.750 just what's going to happen is you need a schedule. 00:05:56.889 --> 00:06:00.819 You need to have a schedule for yourself. That's 00:06:00.819 --> 00:06:03.839 the only way I see you running a tight lean operation 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:09.139 with some kind of schedule. I hate to say it, 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:11.939 but when I hear people say, I just wake up when 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:15.279 I want to. I'm a reseller. I cringe at that so 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:18.660 hard. I'm like, no, you're lazy is what you are. 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:22.000 And if I'm talking to you and you feel like I'm 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:23.740 calling you out, well, that's exactly what I'm 00:06:23.740 --> 00:06:25.839 doing. Get yourself a damn schedule and get to 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:28.699 work, my good sir or ma 'am. You'll thank me 00:06:28.699 --> 00:06:31.300 later. You'll hate me now, though. Yeah, that 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:34.740 was me many moons ago. I think you can be a larger 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:37.560 seller and still have a lean operation. But I 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:40.379 think you have to be more in tune with the market 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:43.459 you're selling in and selling to. Because if 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:45.540 you're not going to carry... a million different 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:48.379 SKUs like we're talking about. You have to know 00:06:48.379 --> 00:06:50.379 what's exactly going on. I think about like if 00:06:50.379 --> 00:06:52.560 I was going to be a lean bookseller, right? Like 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:54.980 maybe I would just niche down and just do like 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:58.220 the, what are the fancy books called again? What's 00:06:58.220 --> 00:07:00.019 up, Amazon sellers? We wanted to take a second 00:07:00.019 --> 00:07:02.300 to talk about GoToLister, the software me and 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:04.639 Johnny both use to list and manage our inventory 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.680 and grow our businesses. With the fastest listing 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:09.620 speeds out there and building profit analytics, 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.300 it's a no -brainer. Easily and quickly have items 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:16.300 available for sale using 2D barcodes and get 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:18.240 more for your items with its built -in smart 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:20.879 pricing. Make sure to check out the 30 -day free 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:24.399 trial at gotolister .com backslash Mike or using 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:37.170 the link in the description below. pay 70 of 00:07:37.170 --> 00:07:39.189 the market value that i could get that extra 00:07:39.189 --> 00:07:44.670 30 out i think that's a it's a more i don't know 00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:47.209 how to even say it's it's not more time consuming 00:07:47.209 --> 00:07:49.209 because if you think about it you're going to 00:07:49.209 --> 00:07:51.170 be going out and sourcing all these crappy items 00:07:51.170 --> 00:07:53.370 anyway you just spend your time differently you 00:07:53.370 --> 00:07:55.550 instead of going and buying all the junk you 00:07:55.550 --> 00:07:57.810 spend more time researching researching more 00:07:57.810 --> 00:07:59.649 items you're going to pay more dollars for so 00:07:59.649 --> 00:08:02.870 i think on surface level people think that It's 00:08:02.870 --> 00:08:06.990 not possible. But I love the idea of not having, 00:08:06.990 --> 00:08:10.889 you know, 5000 plus pieces of items sitting in 00:08:10.889 --> 00:08:12.870 my inventory. And a lot of the mega sellers, 00:08:12.930 --> 00:08:16.470 they don't have tons of skews and media. Yeah, 00:08:16.569 --> 00:08:19.519 sure. But in other categories. they carry small 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:21.500 amount of SKUs, you know, like they don't have 00:08:21.500 --> 00:08:24.100 to play this game of you're always looking for 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:27.420 the next, you know, the next item or like wholesale, 00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:29.620 right? You go to the brand, you know what you're 00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:33.360 getting, you make your 20, 25%, 30 % and you 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.460 kind of wash your hands of it. With us, it's 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:38.879 just your average reseller. It's tough to kind 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:40.820 of get out of that mindset of, oh, I got to go 00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:42.820 to the thrift store and I got to look everything 00:08:42.820 --> 00:08:45.779 up and see what it's going for on eBay or Amazon. 00:08:46.699 --> 00:08:50.039 Right. I think that's a good point. If you need 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:52.320 to make concessions, like in your scenario, it's 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.700 probably eBay. I mean, you can sell Easton on 00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:58.820 Amazon as well, but it sells. I think the sell 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:00.659 through is just as good as on eBay, honestly. 00:09:00.899 --> 00:09:03.059 The thing about eBay is once you make that listing, 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:05.679 you now have it forever. It's repeatable. Like 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:07.220 you said, limited amount of SKUs. And yeah, they 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:08.960 have new books come out every year, but yeah. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.440 Also, I think with that kind of niching down. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:17.159 you're more focused and your travel may go up 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:19.279 a little bit. You may have to drive farther to 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:22.019 get the library collection of Eastern Press, 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:24.840 but that's okay because your product is on point. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:27.019 You know exactly what you're getting. You know 00:09:27.019 --> 00:09:29.960 it'll sell within the month that you listed, 00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:33.419 either sending a box to Amazon or listing on 00:09:33.419 --> 00:09:38.460 eBay itself. And that's an interesting concept. 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:42.059 Can you niche down in Amazon? I think you can. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:47.159 Yeah, I definitely think you can, but you've 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:49.320 got to investigate and know your SKUs, know when 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:51.679 to rotate your SKUs in and out. But you could 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:55.480 run a tight, lean, high ASP operation inside 00:09:55.480 --> 00:09:58.159 Amazon land. Yeah, it won't be in used books. 00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:01.620 It won't be easy, but it's definitely doable. 00:10:02.019 --> 00:10:06.019 Yeah, I think it's the most appealing resale 00:10:06.019 --> 00:10:09.240 business to have is not having to always juggle. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.580 just think about like unless it's a box of dvds 00:10:12.580 --> 00:10:15.360 even the dvds are different sizes like dude putting 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:17.519 together a box of books it's like jenga that 00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.679 that you got to do every single week right so 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:23.360 it's like imagine just uniform uniform sizes 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.759 right you just fill the lows box up and everything 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:28.720 fits perfectly you can fit exactly 24 of this 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.539 you know exactly how many is in there you know 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:34.399 the exact weight of the box right like don't 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:37.519 even need to weigh it this sounds like this is 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:40.649 dreamland for me right like Sign me up for this. 00:10:40.710 --> 00:10:43.529 But it's not as easy or as much. If it was that 00:10:43.529 --> 00:10:45.110 easy, everybody would do it. I think it's hard. 00:10:45.230 --> 00:10:47.570 It would be hard to do it. But once your initial 00:10:47.570 --> 00:10:50.899 work's done and. You just have to stay on top 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:54.179 of the rotation because things fall out of trend 00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:56.799 phase and they come back or there's new things 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.460 out that are newly trendy. You got to figure 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:02.779 out, do I drop SKUs? Do I add SKUs back in? And 00:11:02.779 --> 00:11:05.019 SKUs is universal here between eBay and Amazon 00:11:05.019 --> 00:11:07.299 because you're replenishing. I don't care where 00:11:07.299 --> 00:11:08.720 you're replenishing at. That's all you're really 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:11.500 doing. And then maybe you replenish new items 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:13.779 that you bring into your own personal buy catalog 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:17.179 for the year. I got a crazy, I got a crazy idea 00:11:17.179 --> 00:11:20.179 for everybody to have a leaner business. And 00:11:20.179 --> 00:11:22.779 this would kind of be cool. Now I think about 00:11:22.779 --> 00:11:24.679 it, right? So Amazon lane, you have prep centers, 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:27.799 right? So you just throw yourself in a box, send 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:29.559 to the prep center, or you buy things online, 00:11:29.659 --> 00:11:31.440 it goes directly to the prep center, not your 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:33.500 house, right? That's one idea of it, right? So 00:11:33.500 --> 00:11:36.360 what if you just factored in the $2 they charge 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:39.809 you per item? and the 50 cents per item to ship 00:11:39.809 --> 00:11:42.789 it to the prep center. And you never had to list 00:11:42.789 --> 00:11:45.210 your own items again. And you just fill the box 00:11:45.210 --> 00:11:47.769 up and send it to them or vice versa, right? 00:11:47.870 --> 00:11:51.370 Like the idea of consignment, right? Like theoretically, 00:11:51.629 --> 00:11:56.029 if I send Johnny enough stuff, like I send Johnny, 00:11:56.090 --> 00:11:57.750 I don't know, over the course of a year, I send 00:11:57.750 --> 00:12:01.309 Johnny 10 ,000, 15 ,000, you know, like I can 00:12:01.309 --> 00:12:05.059 have a whole eBay business, right? And I wouldn't 00:12:05.059 --> 00:12:07.620 have to ever list anything myself. I would never 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:09.779 have to do a photo of myself. Like that is like 00:12:09.779 --> 00:12:11.960 kind of talking about like, I hear a lien, I'm 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:14.799 like less work. I mean, yeah. Do I give up 50 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:17.179 % of the sale to Johnny? Do I have to pay to 00:12:17.179 --> 00:12:18.700 ship it to him? Yeah. But at the end of the day, 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:21.019 I don't do nothing else. I mean, that's just 00:12:21.019 --> 00:12:24.460 it. You just sit back and get paid. Yeah. And 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:27.019 then even for myself, when receiving is 10 ,000 00:12:27.019 --> 00:12:30.480 units, 9 ,999 of them are going to another person. 00:12:30.820 --> 00:12:35.070 So I've created a lien operation. on that and 00:12:35.070 --> 00:12:37.190 this chain of events we're talking about here 00:12:37.190 --> 00:12:40.470 then that poor other person has to decide how 00:12:40.470 --> 00:12:42.889 much of this shit's going to mckay's of mike's 00:12:42.889 --> 00:12:44.809 versus i'm actually going to list it on ebay 00:12:44.809 --> 00:12:47.009 yeah but i mean even if i was doing like all 00:12:47.009 --> 00:12:49.529 desirable stuff right like even if i'm just doing 00:12:49.529 --> 00:12:51.769 eastern presses and i accounted for that when 00:12:51.769 --> 00:12:54.259 i was making the buying decisions You could have 00:12:54.259 --> 00:12:56.440 a nice little business where you theoretically, 00:12:56.700 --> 00:12:58.159 I mean, I've seen this out in thrift stores. 00:12:58.379 --> 00:13:00.679 There's companies that you can scan for and they'll 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:02.759 tell you, hey, we'll give you five hours for 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:05.000 this book, six hours for the book. I've seen 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:06.960 a lady, she's scanning everything using one of 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:08.980 those apps. So she doesn't have an Amazon account. 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:11.399 She just scans for that. She says, well, the 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:13.299 books are 99 cents here. Anything they're going 00:13:13.299 --> 00:13:16.259 to pay me more than 99 cents for, I buy, throw 00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:18.360 it in a box, send it in. They pay me through 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:20.460 PayPal right away. I want to talk to that person. 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:23.340 They're just running the buyback program business. 00:13:25.070 --> 00:13:27.370 i want to meet the powerhouse who's maximized 00:13:27.370 --> 00:13:29.129 that i want to talk to them i have questions 00:13:29.129 --> 00:13:32.250 it was an older lady and i tried to explain to 00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:34.529 her that she's getting ripped off because i was 00:13:34.529 --> 00:13:37.070 talking to her for a little bit but is she she 00:13:37.070 --> 00:13:38.889 is she though yeah dude because they don't pay 00:13:38.889 --> 00:13:41.730 on the fast movement stuff they give you a decent 00:13:41.730 --> 00:13:43.389 amount but anything that isn't like going to 00:13:43.389 --> 00:13:45.269 sell within the week like they were giving her 00:13:45.269 --> 00:13:47.029 like three four bucks on some of these books 00:13:47.029 --> 00:13:49.990 like i scanned like i was scanning her cart like 00:13:49.990 --> 00:13:54.379 those are like 30 bills all day long So I think 00:13:54.379 --> 00:13:57.779 if the spread was closer and it wasn't as scammy 00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:00.820 on their end, 100%, she's better off. She's got 00:14:00.820 --> 00:14:04.200 no fees and she's got no liquidations or any 00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:07.259 of that. Yeah, if the spread was better, I think 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:09.940 100 % she would have the better business model. 00:14:10.100 --> 00:14:12.700 But for a lot of that stuff, they kind of shortchange 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:15.379 it because they know people don't know better. 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:17.019 They just want to get money for their items. 00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:20.340 So they kind of take advantage of that. you can 00:14:20.340 --> 00:14:22.480 be super big and super lean. Like Johnny said, 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:24.820 you just have to have the processes. If you're 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:26.220 going to have the warehouse, you're going to 00:14:26.220 --> 00:14:28.960 need the equipment. You can't be diving into 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:32.139 Gaylord yourself. You can't be getting pallets 00:14:32.139 --> 00:14:35.159 of clothing and pallets of shoes. And there's 00:14:35.159 --> 00:14:37.580 so many processes that go into it. And I think 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.919 That's going to be the key part is once you find 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:43.159 the product, you could almost say the products, 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:45.799 getting the product is going to be harder than 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.519 actually having processes in place that don't 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:50.700 consume your whole life or having employees in 00:14:50.700 --> 00:14:52.720 place that aren't going to suck the life out 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.659 of you. And if something goes wrong or their 00:14:54.659 --> 00:14:56.419 tummy hurts and they can't come in, you're kind 00:14:56.419 --> 00:14:59.159 of screwed. Yeah, I mean, even if you're running 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:02.360 a bulk operation, if you run a bulk lean operation, 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:05.440 that's a beautiful place to be. Instead of 20 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:08.100 employees, again, you have like a max of five. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:11.320 It's you plus five other people. And two of them 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:13.620 are just to account for. They got a dentist appointment. 00:15:13.700 --> 00:15:15.639 They got a doctor's appointment. Just so every 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:20.720 day it's maximized. And that would be amazing. 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:22.940 And maybe you don't have like back you there. 00:15:23.610 --> 00:15:25.429 I see a lot of warehouses, they go extremely 00:15:25.429 --> 00:15:27.470 tall, right? Then they get the equipment to go 00:15:27.470 --> 00:15:29.990 up there. Instead of tall, maybe you got, I don't 00:15:29.990 --> 00:15:33.409 know, you built a custom warehouse where it's 00:15:33.409 --> 00:15:37.850 long and not tall and nothing's beyond six feet. 00:15:37.990 --> 00:15:40.470 Everything's within arm reach. Then you can rule 00:15:40.470 --> 00:15:42.669 out a whole bunch of equipment you don't need 00:15:42.669 --> 00:15:45.070 and or the maintenance that goes along with it 00:15:45.070 --> 00:15:48.149 and or replacements when needed. I mean, if you 00:15:48.149 --> 00:15:50.409 can run the bulk lean operation, I think you've 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:52.940 won the game entirely. I've seen them, dude, 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:56.019 right? The conveyor belts that it scans it and 00:15:56.019 --> 00:15:57.799 then it'll actually go down the belt and it'll 00:15:57.799 --> 00:16:00.100 actually push it into what Gaylord it goes to. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:02.200 So it'll scan for like all the different buyback 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:05.379 companies, Amazon, Crosslisten, all of it. And 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:08.080 then all you need is an employee that's laying 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:11.220 the book barcode up, scans it, and then it goes 00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:12.940 down, boom, kicks it right out, kicks it right 00:16:12.940 --> 00:16:14.519 out, kicks. But I mean, we're talking hundreds 00:16:14.519 --> 00:16:17.250 of thousands of dollars. And most people will 00:16:17.250 --> 00:16:19.309 never get there. But I think a lot of people 00:16:19.309 --> 00:16:21.230 try to run a lean operation and they just don't 00:16:21.230 --> 00:16:24.169 have the quality and they don't have like the 00:16:24.169 --> 00:16:26.769 processes to be like, hey, you know, this actually 00:16:26.769 --> 00:16:29.750 works. And I'm only working five, 10 hours a 00:16:29.750 --> 00:16:32.830 week, right? Like it's tough. I helped somebody 00:16:32.830 --> 00:16:38.970 set up a manual conveyor belt over Zoom. And, 00:16:39.169 --> 00:16:41.470 you know, those rolly things you see at the airport 00:16:41.470 --> 00:16:44.039 that luggage go on. That was their conveyor belt. 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:46.879 It wasn't automated. So everything rolled. And 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:50.019 then they had a, what were they called? Squeegees. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:52.559 It was squeegee them over into the Gaylord thing 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.539 when they needed to bump them in. And it was 00:16:54.539 --> 00:16:56.419 a manual thing and it was low cost. It was probably 00:16:56.419 --> 00:16:59.240 less than a grand. And it was like, this is awesome. 00:16:59.379 --> 00:17:02.240 This is terrible, but it's awesome at the same 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:06.740 time, right? But they had a tight labor force 00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:09.059 going. There's only three of them. So they were 00:17:09.059 --> 00:17:11.140 able to do it pretty quick and process maybe, 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:13.670 I don't know. three or four to five pallets a 00:17:13.670 --> 00:17:17.069 day. And then you'll push the buggies where they 00:17:17.069 --> 00:17:21.089 need to go. So I think it can be done in some 00:17:21.089 --> 00:17:23.910 ingenuity and probably on your front or maybe 00:17:23.910 --> 00:17:25.730 the team's front, you all get together and do 00:17:25.730 --> 00:17:29.190 a think tank. You can cut things you don't need. 00:17:29.309 --> 00:17:32.650 I think the equipment, the space, the multiple 00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:35.650 employees, these are luxury, probably overspending 00:17:35.650 --> 00:17:38.150 things you don't necessarily need. Some of them 00:17:38.150 --> 00:17:42.009 you do need. Maybe you do need the, I don't know, 00:17:42.069 --> 00:17:44.930 80 feet tall warehouse for reasons you want to 00:17:44.930 --> 00:17:47.230 go vertical instead of horizontal. And you got 00:17:47.230 --> 00:17:50.069 your own reasonings for that. But at the end 00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:53.150 of the day, I think all things are possible. 00:17:53.210 --> 00:17:55.930 And the tighter you are, the tighter your staff 00:17:55.930 --> 00:17:59.069 is. Even if you have plans for no staff, you're 00:17:59.069 --> 00:18:01.630 going to need a VA or two just for the paperwork 00:18:01.630 --> 00:18:05.650 alone. So I don't think you can go entirely solo 00:18:05.650 --> 00:18:08.190 these days. Or maybe use ChatGPT. We'll consider 00:18:08.190 --> 00:18:11.039 that an employee. a robot employee, but an employee 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:14.900 in itself. I think incorporating all this over 00:18:14.900 --> 00:18:17.660 time, don't do it right now, new seller who's 00:18:17.660 --> 00:18:19.940 listening, like I'm getting a VA tomorrow. No, 00:18:20.140 --> 00:18:23.960 need to wait. Incorporating all of these things 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:29.180 together will make your business sing. I agree. 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:32.839 I think everybody should strive to run a leaner 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:35.519 business, whether that's getting time back or 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:38.789 making more dollars per hour. And just you're 00:18:38.789 --> 00:18:41.430 finding some of your processes or maybe adding 00:18:41.430 --> 00:18:43.230 on something that's going to make your business 00:18:43.230 --> 00:18:46.130 later. Like Johnny's saying, theoretically, add 00:18:46.130 --> 00:18:48.150 an employee could make your business leaner. 00:18:48.190 --> 00:18:50.589 If you have a big need for it for a part of your 00:18:50.589 --> 00:18:52.910 business that's sucking up your whole life and 00:18:52.910 --> 00:18:57.069 you can do more money making activities and just 00:18:57.069 --> 00:18:58.930 let this person do this one thing that kind of 00:18:58.930 --> 00:19:01.829 really isn't producing the money. It's all a 00:19:01.829 --> 00:19:03.849 balancing act. And I don't think anybody should 00:19:03.849 --> 00:19:06.650 just work to work and resell on like that's why 00:19:06.650 --> 00:19:10.349 I try to be. as lazy as I possibly can be and 00:19:10.349 --> 00:19:13.829 as profitable as I possibly can be. It's hard 00:19:13.829 --> 00:19:16.549 to kind of get that mix down. In Amazon land, 00:19:16.670 --> 00:19:18.750 you can get away with it just like you can in, 00:19:18.769 --> 00:19:20.930 you know, even any generic reselling. You can 00:19:20.930 --> 00:19:25.470 drag along. a shitty reselling business for years 00:19:25.470 --> 00:19:27.970 and years and years. So you really don't think 00:19:27.970 --> 00:19:29.910 that there's another way until you do something 00:19:29.910 --> 00:19:31.329 different. And then you're like, wait a minute, 00:19:31.369 --> 00:19:33.210 I've been doing this wrong forever. I'm like, 00:19:33.230 --> 00:19:35.349 I could have got how much of my time back if 00:19:35.349 --> 00:19:37.430 I just made this one change, right? So you should 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:39.569 always be looking for little things that are 00:19:39.569 --> 00:19:42.329 gonna make your business leaner. And for me, 00:19:42.349 --> 00:19:44.089 like I've always been about, I wanna spend as 00:19:44.089 --> 00:19:46.630 little time as I possibly can. Sure, the other 00:19:46.630 --> 00:19:48.309 argument is, well, Mike, if you go spend more 00:19:48.309 --> 00:19:51.019 time, you can make more money. Yes, but even 00:19:51.019 --> 00:19:53.900 that's not 100 % guaranteed. How many people 00:19:53.900 --> 00:19:56.440 work all these hours in reselling and their wage 00:19:56.440 --> 00:19:58.700 goes down? They're just spending time doing shit 00:19:58.700 --> 00:20:00.859 that has no effect on their business or they're 00:20:00.859 --> 00:20:03.380 doing things that aren't being done correctly. 00:20:03.579 --> 00:20:05.059 They're listing items that are never going to 00:20:05.059 --> 00:20:08.920 sell or they're screwing around with trying to 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:10.839 do 10 different platforms and all this other 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:14.859 nonsense. Or maybe they're trying to do FBA, 00:20:15.059 --> 00:20:18.940 OA, and RA and do some eBay in that too. That's 00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:21.559 a bit too much, in my opinion, for one person. 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:25.859 Now, can you? Yes. Should you? Probably not. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:30.559 I agree. It's the same idea I tell everybody. 00:20:30.619 --> 00:20:32.599 Don't try to do all these damn different platforms. 00:20:33.779 --> 00:20:36.559 Same idea when people cross -list. I'm going 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.559 to list my junk on all the platforms. Well, it's 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:42.289 still junk at the end of the day. By listing 00:20:42.289 --> 00:20:45.269 non -desirable items, you are literally creating 00:20:45.269 --> 00:20:47.289 a problem for yourself. I don't think people 00:20:47.289 --> 00:20:49.630 realize this. They're just like, well, I'm just 00:20:49.630 --> 00:20:51.150 going to list this stuff. And eventually it'll 00:20:51.150 --> 00:20:53.490 sell on one of the 35 platforms it's listed on. 00:20:53.509 --> 00:20:56.190 I'm like, no, it's never going to sell. It will 00:20:56.190 --> 00:20:58.349 sit there forever. You know, like people don't 00:20:58.349 --> 00:21:01.190 realize when you list an item, it's not guaranteed 00:21:01.190 --> 00:21:04.829 to sell, right? There's no, it's hard to find, 00:21:04.930 --> 00:21:06.869 right? Only the super lean desirable. If that 00:21:06.869 --> 00:21:09.769 were true, my eBay store would be zero items 00:21:09.769 --> 00:21:13.599 right now. There are things that may sell in 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:17.980 five years down the road. And then all eBay stores 00:21:17.980 --> 00:21:19.900 grow as long as you're listing consistently. 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:24.880 There are very few stores that shrink. And the 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:26.880 stores that shrink are kind of like what we're 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:29.200 talking about. They have a limited replenishable 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:33.279 SKU system going on. And they upload them in. 00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:35.579 They sell out. They do it again and again and 00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:38.220 again. Versus most eBay stores where they just 00:21:38.220 --> 00:21:40.700 grow continuously. There's just, we list more 00:21:40.700 --> 00:21:43.160 that's profitable to us. And then there's the 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:45.819 stuff that's left over. And then at some point, 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:47.559 the stuff that's left over, we got to make a 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:50.079 call. Do we burn it? Do we try to make it a lot? 00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:53.269 Or we just, I don't know, donate it. Yeah, I 00:21:53.269 --> 00:21:55.670 mean, even if you look at yours, like you do 00:21:55.670 --> 00:21:57.609 your listings different than anybody else on 00:21:57.609 --> 00:22:00.829 the platform. So it's like the generic reseller 00:22:00.829 --> 00:22:03.690 will just list it and then expect that, well, 00:22:03.769 --> 00:22:05.890 I listed it, eventually it's got to sell. And 00:22:05.890 --> 00:22:07.950 I'm here to tell you, there is no guarantee that 00:22:07.950 --> 00:22:09.630 anything is going to sell that you list. And 00:22:09.630 --> 00:22:12.190 I think that that's so like, oh, well, I listed 00:22:12.190 --> 00:22:13.730 it and I'm just going to stick it on the shelf 00:22:13.730 --> 00:22:15.730 and it will eventually sell. Like you literally 00:22:15.730 --> 00:22:18.650 just wasted time working for no damn reason at 00:22:18.650 --> 00:22:20.470 all. Like if we can get away from those types 00:22:20.470 --> 00:22:22.890 of products, right? Then we're going to be good. 00:22:23.009 --> 00:22:24.490 But you can't be the person that's just going 00:22:24.490 --> 00:22:27.329 to list your generic item, your generic item 00:22:27.329 --> 00:22:29.490 with your generic listing and nothing's different. 00:22:29.630 --> 00:22:31.769 And there's two photos. I can't list the Patterson's 00:22:31.769 --> 00:22:33.549 or the Nora's. It just doesn't work for my store. 00:22:33.690 --> 00:22:36.829 They'll stay away. It's crazy to me because people 00:22:36.829 --> 00:22:40.589 think they're working and you're not. You're 00:22:40.589 --> 00:22:43.490 just wasting time. And I guess it justifies spending 00:22:43.490 --> 00:22:45.950 all these hours. I want you all to be the most 00:22:45.950 --> 00:22:49.390 profitable and have the highest dollar per hour. 00:22:49.509 --> 00:22:52.009 And all the people that... complain about dollar 00:22:52.009 --> 00:22:53.609 per hour and resell and it'll be in the comment 00:22:53.609 --> 00:22:55.890 sections but i don't care at the end of the day 00:22:55.890 --> 00:22:57.730 we should be making as much money and as a little 00:22:57.730 --> 00:22:59.789 bit of time i don't care what business this is 00:22:59.789 --> 00:23:02.150 nobody's like i want to work all these hours 00:23:02.150 --> 00:23:04.049 to make as little bit of money as i possibly 00:23:04.049 --> 00:23:07.569 can said no successful business person ever true 00:23:07.569 --> 00:23:14.210 oh man it's it's crazy to me what i look around 00:23:14.210 --> 00:23:17.970 even in uh even in our group in the discord i 00:23:17.970 --> 00:23:20.089 see a lot of people wasting time i don't say 00:23:20.089 --> 00:23:22.809 too much on it because part of it is i could 00:23:22.809 --> 00:23:25.069 tell them but it's kind of like we said in the 00:23:25.069 --> 00:23:26.950 other podcast they got to learn from themselves 00:23:26.950 --> 00:23:29.369 that they're wasting their time now if they come 00:23:29.369 --> 00:23:31.849 out and say i think i'm wasting my time then 00:23:31.849 --> 00:23:34.089 i'll chime in yes you are and here are the 10 00:23:34.089 --> 00:23:38.890 reasons why but i agree until that point they 00:23:38.890 --> 00:23:41.210 got to learn from themselves and there's no there's 00:23:41.210 --> 00:23:43.069 no amount of screaming i could do i've tried 00:23:43.069 --> 00:23:45.759 screaming at them before it doesn't work At least 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:48.279 in Amazon land, you can set up some settings 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:51.079 where things automatically get burned after 12 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:55.480 months. I guess I'm contributing to the ecosystem 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:58.420 of the never -ending supply of stuff that doesn't 00:23:58.420 --> 00:24:00.359 sell. I think they just take those items and 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:03.099 list them as new. Probably. That's my theory. 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:06.519 I remember when I was an everything seller on 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:09.430 eBay, dude. i would list something and it would 00:24:09.430 --> 00:24:11.509 sit there and like especially when i didn't have 00:24:11.509 --> 00:24:13.690 that big of a store like i never really had over 00:24:13.690 --> 00:24:15.569 i don't even think i had close to a thousand 00:24:15.569 --> 00:24:18.769 items ever listed on ebay and like i see the 00:24:18.769 --> 00:24:22.150 same that i bought and it didn't sell yet and 00:24:22.150 --> 00:24:24.829 i know it cost me five dollars or whatever and 00:24:24.829 --> 00:24:27.670 just like it drives me nuts but for some reason 00:24:27.670 --> 00:24:29.950 people can just block that out they just block 00:24:29.950 --> 00:24:33.049 out the fact that That pair of shoes has been 00:24:33.049 --> 00:24:35.569 there for three years, and they just let it continue. 00:24:36.009 --> 00:24:38.750 They'll go into that bin to pick other items 00:24:38.750 --> 00:24:41.529 for the next five years, and every time they 00:24:41.529 --> 00:24:43.490 open it, they know what's in there, and they 00:24:43.490 --> 00:24:48.230 just let it exist. Yeah, it's a thing, unfortunately. 00:24:48.650 --> 00:24:52.170 I mean, it's like X amount of time goes by. You 00:24:52.170 --> 00:24:55.390 got to toss those pairs of shoes, man. It's occupying 00:24:55.390 --> 00:24:58.670 space for shoes that will sell. That's the thing. 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:02.559 The real estate, if you're the merchant fulfiller, 00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:05.619 I don't care if it's eBay, Amazon, or some other 00:25:05.619 --> 00:25:07.420 place where you're shipping the item yourself, 00:25:07.700 --> 00:25:11.200 you have to value your space. That space is not 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:14.059 free occupancy. Even if you are in your home, 00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:16.920 it has an assigned value. So what's your assigned 00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:20.700 value to it? And then, sure, this pair of shoes 00:25:20.700 --> 00:25:22.539 may meet that assigned value, but they're not 00:25:22.539 --> 00:25:27.559 selling. So that's basically zero value. I agree. 00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:29.700 We'll wrap this episode up here. We want you 00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:32.240 to have a leaner operation. And just because 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.180 you're leaner doesn't mean you're less profitable. 00:25:34.339 --> 00:25:37.440 Honestly, most leaner operations are more profitable 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:39.640 than us idiots over here like me and Johnny that 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:42.259 have thousands and thousands and trillions and 00:25:42.259 --> 00:25:45.420 billions and gazillions of books, CDs, DVDs laying 00:25:45.420 --> 00:25:48.619 around listed. This is a lot of work. And we 00:25:48.619 --> 00:25:51.619 would trade it in if we could just find a hundred 00:25:51.619 --> 00:25:55.200 of the same item and sell it. significantly all 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:57.500 the time and have a higher sell through. So always 00:25:57.500 --> 00:26:00.160 be thinking about what can you do to get some 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:01.859 of your time back, make some more money, make 00:26:01.859 --> 00:26:03.819 your processes a little bit easier. And we'll 00:26:03.819 --> 00:26:09.559 talk to you all in next week's episode. Thanks 00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:11.559 for listening to another episode of the Reseller's 00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:14.200 Mindset Podcast. Today's full episode and all 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:16.480 previous episodes are available to all YouTube 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:19.160 members along with the weekly Zoom call and private 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:22.559 Discord. Head on over to youtube .com backslash 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:24.680 to use book guy and consider joining for as little 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:25.759 as $2 .99 a month.