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. Hi, guys. Welcome to another
episode of Reseller's Mindset Podcast. No Eeyore
voice today. 2026 is here, or it's about to be
here. And our plans moving into the next year,
it's been a good 2025 for me. Will 2026 be better?
I hope so. If not, I'm fine with it being a little
worse, right? As long as I don't go bankrupt,
as long as I can keep the lights on. I'm not
a man of fancy things, right? I drive an old
beat up car. Somebody actually made fun of me.
because I drive a 2008 Nissan Ultimate. One of
my YouTube videos, somebody commented like, you
drive a 2008 Ultimate, you must live under the
braids. I'm just like, hey, to each their own,
right? Like, it's funny how people think cars
like - It turns over, it gets me to point A to
point B. They're like, cars are not a status
of any type of thing like you have going on in
life. But it is funny when I get those kinds
of things. 2025 was my best year reselling. 2026,
will it be my - Best this year of reselling?
I don't know, man, the way things are shaking
up with the fees and the current changes on Amazon.
If I was a betting man, I'd be lucky to kind
of maintain where I'm at overall profitability
-wise. Because if I maintain my sales numbers,
my profit goes down because fees are going up
on Amazon next year. Sure, could I add in eBay,
but I really don't want to do that. It's going
to be a real decisive year for the future of
my financial situation when it comes to reselling
and content creation. I'm excited for it. I think
2025 had lots of headaches. We dealt with a lot
of personal things behind the scenes. I feel
like the life got sucked out of me in 2025. Sure,
I had some really good high times. I had some
of the biggest bulk buys ever, and I had my best
month ever on Amazon. But just to coincide with
that, like there were times a lot of times where
I was like down in the dumps just trying to grind
my way through. So it's going to 2026. It's not
going to make or break me, but it's going to
give me clear direction on where I'm going to
go in the future. That's where I see it as right.
Whether whether I continue to double down on
media on Amazon, do I start to explore other
avenues on Amazon? Do I start to explore other
avenues altogether? I think that's going to be
my takeaway from 2026 is finding out what I'm
going to do, where I'm going to be moving forward,
whether that's staying exactly where I am or
trying something else out. I mean, that's perfectly
fair. I don't know exactly what Amazon has planned
for next year. I'm going to lean toward bad and
kind of embrace new things. I'm going to maintain
Amazon and eBay as they are, but I'm going to
get a little bit more in -depth into the social
medias with my channel I got going and my Patreon
I also got going and really try to grind that
out next year to see what kind of growth pattern
I can get if I really hit it hard. Because I've
kind of just been slinging up videos, very little
pushing on my end, to be honest. So I want to
see what happens if I were to push it, and that
will give me a better crystal ball there. On
Amazon, I may try to try new, selling some new
things. I don't know if it's going to be books
or not, but that's unaffected by the current
situation of the buy box. So it seems like, well,
I could play the same game over there. I just
got to figure out how to source differently so
I can. I don't think that would be too terribly
hard. I've kind of done some preliminary research,
and I don't think it's all that hard, to be honest.
I will have to pay up to play that game. I can't
be paying nickels or getting stuff free now like
it was before. That's okay. And getting some
more help on the eBay machine, probably leading
a couple of VAs and just crank that out while
I'm growing my empire of social media or lack
thereof and see what happens with my own thing
I got going on. I think I don't want to discourage
you, but I will. Go for it. as somebody that
lived the life uh but you know what dude you
get it right so even me sitting here telling
you like it's a long -term play like you understand
it's going to be a long -term play and uh you
know i have another business i'm working on in
the background as well and uh when i first started
taking it seriously i said to myself you know
it's probably a six month runway to for me to
actively sit here and say this is something that
i can see being a part of my financial future
and my work going forward, but six months, right?
And most people like, you know, nobody's going
to commit to six months to anything, but we've
been down the road, right? We started reselling
from zero, right? When we had jobs. So like,
we're like, whatever, like if I can make an extra
10 bucks, I can make an extra 10 bucks. It's
cool to kind of hear your idea for possibly,
well, you plan on pivoting out of doing more
of the eBay work and passing that on to somebody
else. I think that's another way a lot of people
are going to go is with the use of AI and VAs.
I think a lot of people are going to start trying
to figure out ways to, I don't know, get around
doing the shit they don't like to do, which is
a lot in reselling. We like the money in reselling.
thrifted we like hunting and reselling right
like we're going to the stores or like doing
the bulk buys and digging through the stuff but
when it comes to the nitty -gritty uh quote -unquote
crappy stuff we hate to do the listing the photos
uh the packing the shipping i think there's going
to be a lot of a lot of maneuvers we're going
to see a lot of different crazy well we probably
would think was crazy if somebody told us about
it two years ago like oh there's no way you could
have ai do this but we are now in the time of
AI, right? Like there's apps out there now where
you can upload the photo of the bookshelf. That's
how it's going to be for everything, you know?
And maybe you just flip through the clothing
rack with your camera open and it's telling you
exactly the name, whatever it is, and it's pulling
up comps right away. Like it's going to get easier
in a sense, but like when that happens and if
it's readily available for everybody, it's kind
of like selling media. Anybody can do it. You
can start today on Amazon, eBay, like. the categories
take a hit financially because everybody's doing
it right like it's a good thing for us that like
use it but then like then you just have somebody
who has no idea like the used book guy come along
and all of a sudden he's flipping through the
racks right next to you and you're like i've
been doing this for 10 years the hard way this
brand new person all of a sudden is out here
like just using the software but that's the reality
of the world we're living in yeah like two years
ago i couldn't figure out how to get the book
knowledge out of my noggin to a person without
time a big time investment um i think with ai
now um what's up amazon sellers we wanted to
take a second to talk about go to lister the
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mike or using the link in the description below
i i can pretty much do that i can transfer my
knowledge there like if i had to research something
how would i research it and that's that's teachable
to the robot right but being able to spit out
the answer for the human whether it's a VA or
offshore or onshore employee, I think that's
becoming a lot more feasible and getting quality
done. You could always get quantity done, but
it was harder to get the quality done. And I'm
not speaking about Amazon in these terms, speaking
about eBay only right now. So I think that is
a lot more viable than it was once upon a time.
And once upon a time was only a couple of years
ago, right? Yeah, I'm going to try it and see
how it goes. There will probably be some things
that I'm going to get annoyed by that should
be working that aren't, but we'll see how it
goes. So next year is going to be more of a I'm
going to try some things out. I'm going to hit
the social and my channel and Patreon a bit harder
because that's the thing. I think I do need a
social media presence in case I pivot to something
else. I can always have that following or partial
part of that following. Well, literally follow
me, right? that's where you're supposed to shamelessly
plug your uh patreon yes the book shepherd on
patreon just like it sounds if you can't spell
shepherd i'm sure mike will do something fancy
in the comments or something uh don't i thought
you're gonna ask me how to spell it dude i mean
if there's one thing no i can't because because
i see my name sometimes misspelled when you set
it up yeah as i'm just saying dude right like
uh don't come to me for any uh reading comprehension
type spelling stuff uh in 2026 i do not plan
on going back to school so you guys still have
to deal with library and it's your birthday it's
just how i was raised it's in my blood i can't
change you know who i am i guess i could but
i'm not gonna so too bad i helped everybody if
you hop on the youtube it says it beneath my
photograph the book shepherd yeah yeah there
you go boom right there it's um I do think user
-generated content is the fancy way of putting
it. I do think there still is a huge market for
that. I think there's a lot of space still available
for growth, and I think it is appealing. When
it comes to the idea, if you ask me, Mike, what's
your YouTube channel? What's your group look
like in 2026? Is it going to be growing? Is it
going to stay the same? I don't think I'll see
the same growth in 2025 that I'll see in 2026.
I think it will slow down some. I think it's
just there's so many different business models
that have come up. There's so many more flashier
items, less, you know, kind of stuff Johnny's
talking about, right? Like things you can do
at home on the computer to try to generate income
versus going out to 100 thrift stores and kind
of grinding that lifestyle out. I still think
it does appeal to some people. I just think it's
not as flashy as it used to be. My YouTube channel
is what my YouTube channel is, right? I understand
I'm super niched down when it comes to what I
do, right? Amazon, selling books, CDs, DVDs on
Amazon. I get that. I have no problem with it.
Even if I take a step back in that, I'm still
fine with it. I'm still going to continue to
put out content, still put out my video. You
guys will still get the podcast. It's crazy to
think, dude, by the end of next year, We'll have
like, you know, over 200 episodes of the podcast,
like over three years of weekly talk. When we
get to 365, they'll have a video a day. That's,
you know, maybe we should just download every
single podcast and just make it one super long
ass video. That's probably what I'll do. There
we go. I mean, yeah, it's interesting. I mean,
there's only so many ways we could tell them
how to pack a box, right? the only thing that
really changes on an annual basis is adjusting
really your your trigger sets and or sourcing
methodologies if you don't really know how to
source um and the trigger sets are just based
off the the fees that come up either with the
post office or ups and or amazon so and then
well there's pretty much like three business
models which one do you want a b or c there's
only so much we can really really say again and
again and again but we have new people come on
board so we have to say these things which is
fine um and then if we were to talk higher level
it's more of well you could do more things at
amazon or you can branch out of amazon and then
if we were to have things on that there'd be
too many because there's a bajillion things you
could do Yeah, I think I think I'm going to focus
or I'm going to try to stumble into some more
bulk opportunities this year, just because I
think the way it is with the margins and the
margins going down and fees going up. I think,
you know, sure, having my roughly dollar buy
cost is nice, but like I would like to be in
a world where maybe I just get, you know, two
or three thousand units a month separate from
my library because those are monthly. maybe disc
media and i could send in you know roughly 1500
of that fast movement type stuff i think that
would be nice to have i'm still going to hit
all the thrift stores but you know we say it
all the time my thrift stores ain't what they
used to be they're it's it's you know what would
you guys see in some of the videos like i went
to salvation army a few weeks back like eight
to 25 items is kind of like the average, right?
So like, it's not all, oh man, you walk in and
you leave with a full cart. Like that happens
maybe once every three months. It's like a seasonal
thing. So for me, it's going to, it's, I'm going
to continue to keep, keep scanning, keep sourcing
the way I am, but I'm 100 % of where that margins
are going down and fees are going up, right?
The writing's on the wall and I'd be stupid.
It'd be stupid for us to sit here and be like,
hey, you guys better start figuring out a way
to, you know, plan for the future. We've been
saying this for the past well over two years
now. Right. I mean, store prices go up. Post
office and or EPS or whoever you're using goes
up. Amazon fees goes up. So that $10 item is
worth negative a dollar at some point. And you
got to go up, up in dollar value and sale price.
Or you hit the Timu train and hope for the best,
honestly. Yeah, it's just, I think everybody
should plan on doing what they're doing now,
but try to add one new thing. Whatever that new
thing is, try it. If it fails, okay, try another
new thing. Eventually, you'll get something that
hits, and now you have a secondary income stream.
And it can be adjacent to your business. If you
want to figure out how to sell... locally we'll
figure that out whether that's a storefront whether
that's a carton antique mall maybe that's you
having a bookcase of stuff for facebook marketplace
or maybe you want to try ebay or hell i mean
i mentioned it before kind of jokingly but if
you can figure out how to sell books on timu
more power to you i think i think you're right
i think the one thing we should really look for
in this uh this extra potential money making
uh idea that johnny talked about i think it should
be something that you're kind of passionate about
right like or you're you know you're going to
enjoy um because if you just do something just
to try to grind something else out like it's
not going to work you're not going to stick with
it so what johnny's saying is 100 right i do
think um especially for those that are like your
results are currently like flatlined or going
down like for me like And it's going to be impossible,
next to impossible for me, unless I stumble into
some crazy good bulk deals throughout the year,
to grow past my $175K a year on Amazon, selling
thrifted books, CDs, DVDs, right? So, like, I
accept the fact that that's what I'm going to
be. Next year, I'm 100%. My numbers stay the
same. Cool. I won't be able to show off my cool
percentage on my phone. Look, I'm up 3 trillion
percent over last year. Look at my bars. Look
at my bars. That means nothing, right? So I see
it as if I can maintain this and then maybe work
on this other thing that I'm working on in the
background and grow that to a point, well, then
I'll be making more money. Then I can decide
down the road, well, what do I want to do? Do
I want to continue to scale that? Or maybe there's
changes in Amazon where all of a sudden, you
know, things are better on Amazon. And then I
scale that program opens up and it changes the
whole Amazon landscape. Yeah. So like, I think
it is important to have another, I don't know,
I guess, passion project going on because, you
know, thrifting isn't fun. I think that's why
a lot of people give up because a lot of people
aren't in the stores, Johnny, and they're not
scanning everything. And they kind of half -ass
it. And like, when I'm out running my thrifting
routes, I'm like, this is so much. fun boringness
i'm just sitting here like i'm literally like
a drone just scanning things in the store and
it's like it's not the most fun thing but the
money does pay my bills and allows me to save
uh for my future so like i keep doing it um i
just think you know i think 2026 it's going to
be it's going to be a telltale year for a lot
of resellers more than 2025 i think 2025 was
their early like all right we're like hey you
know It was the best of times. I think a lot
of people got off the train in 2025, which I'm
not mad about. But I think 2026 is going to be
a year where people are really going to have
to start looking in the mirror and saying, what
do I want to do? Do I want to take this seriously?
Because if I don't, my days are numbered. I think
we're already hit that, probably mid -2025. I
think we're on the early part of it, and I think
it's going to... not be great prediction i'm
not saying it's fact but i don't think 2026 is
going to be as i don't think it's gonna be better
i think they're gonna be worse times and we're
gonna see some more people exit and that's okay
they don't want to they don't want to have to
figure it out and they're gonna go do whatever
it is they're gonna do whether that's get a job
or move into some other platform or whatever
it doesn't matter um i think the fundamental
shifts like you're saying have happened this
year And then people are trying to make up their
mind or have already made up their mind. And
then I think the vast majority need to start
thinking about it. Like, I don't think the vast
majority started thinking about it. They're trying
to ride it out and cross their fingers and hope
for the best. That's not the play, ladies and
gentlemen. You need to start thinking of, OK,
if this is the current landscape in all these
platforms. And I'm going to predict that my margins
are going to get worse year over year, which
they will because fees always go up. How do I
play the game for the long term? And is this
the game I need to be playing? That second question
is probably more pivotal than the first. But
if you want to buckle down, the first one definitely
needs to be answered. Yeah, it's weird, man.
Just for doing this, like, you know, starting
in 2019 and you get the big COVID boom. just
seeing how far I've come. I see how far, you
know, others have come and it's like, cool. We
made it, but like, did we really make it? Like
we, we, me and Johnny can't retire today. So
like, we seem, you know, it seems great today,
but on paper, like. We got to continue to make
money from one of our businesses, right? So like
we have to choose to either make the changes,
the big one in Amazon. For five years, I told
everybody to condition their books as good. Well,
that no longer works. You have to change. And
did I sit here and cry on my good hill? Yeah,
for about half a second. But then I'm like, well,
if this is what the platform wants, this is what
I got to do if I want to continue to get paid.
But I said, well, I think people are so stubborn
when things change and they're like, I'm not
doing it. You can't make me eBay. You want me
to promote my listings at 3 % now, not two. Like
I'm taking my ball and going home. And eBay says,
see you later. Bye. We don't care. You're replaceable.
It's like quitting a job at Microsoft. They're
like, we don't care. You're replaceable. There's
a thousand people waiting out the door with their
applications. Goodbye. Dude, it's so true. And
I think, I think resellers are so damn stubborn.
Like just do what the platforms want, right?
Like I get it. All right. It's frustrating. It
sucks. We're not sitting here saying like, yeah,
eBay, take them for all they can or Amazon, take
them for all they can. But like, this is what
we sell on. So we got one choice. We can either
do it or the second choice, you quit and go somewhere
else and good luck. Yeah. I mean, there's platforms
popping up left and right. But they don't have
the user base to support it like Amazon or eBay
does, honestly. There's an argument for whatnot
in this as well. There's an argument for Teemu
even and Etsy and all these other things. It
doesn't matter which one you choose, just you've
got to figure out how to play the game to the
best of its ability and max it out. It's their
game. It's always their game. We are just players.
And coming to terms with that... If there's a
rule change, well, it is how it is. Even in sports,
you've got to adjust. You can't say no. What
are you going to do? Quit the majors? You're
going to quit the NBA just because you don't
like the rule change? No, you keep playing and
you take your checks. Yeah, yeah. They moved
the three -point line back a foot. I quit. Yeah,
I'm done. I'm done. You're going to give up your
$12 million contract, sir? Yep. No one does that.
I think you're right, though. I mean, you know,
I think there's going to be more change. These
platforms have to change, dude. I mean, just
look how much the times have changed over the
past year, the advancements in technology. These
platforms have to start making decisions so that
they can be around for another 10 years. Right.
So, like, we can expect them to make changes
and we have to play by their changes. And I think,
you know, what happens if eBay starts promoting
more of their live selling? I noticed now since
I. I've been a little bit back on eBay. Like
they got the live selling thing right on the
main page of the app. Now you just click on it.
It takes you right to all the people that are
like doing the live selling, like whatnot. So
like, it's, I don't know, man, it's 2026. There's
going to be a lot of changes, but I think it's
going to shake down a lot of people. Like people
are going to be getting hosed left and right.
You better start thinking about, you know, how
are you going to prepare? How can you budget?
I think budget, I think budgeting needs to be
more talked. Like I hate telling people like.
what to do with their money right like i try
not to give like financial advice but i think
budgeting is not talked about enough in reselling
like in general it's just reselling i sold x
amount and i made x amount of dollars right like
well i think there needs to be a i wish there
was like a budgeting reselling channel if there
is one out there and you're aware of it drop
the link tell me who the hell they are because
i want to have them on the podcast and i want
to watch their content i'm so cheap like me and
dad like have literally come from nothing notebook
style budget right like I still think you can
win reselling, even if you're not making trillions
of dollars a year, if you're smart with your
money, like you know exactly where every dollar
is going along the road. You don't have to be
this crazy. I'm making 50K a month to actually
keep the lights on type reseller. Right, absolutely.
I mean, knowing your expenses enables you to
make more money because you can then figure out
what are the unnecessary ones that I need to
cut. And that, instead of it costing you maybe
$3 a unit, you bring that down to $1 .50. You
cut it in half. You're more profitable on every
item you now send in by $1 .50 per. Compounding.
That's huge if you can figure that out. Maybe
you're paying too much in overhead for the place,
if you've got a space, that you're renting out
of. But if you move two blocks over and cut your
rent in half, whether that's a storage unit or
a warehouse or something to store your wares
and equipment and whatnot. I mean, that's a win
too, right? Because that compounds month over
month. Maybe your software is too expensive.
Maybe there's an equivalent software that does
the exact same thing for one third the money.
And again, like your shipping supplies, are you
overpaying or underpaying? I'm not saying go
dumpster diving for boxes is a good idea, but
hey, if you're paying like $2 per box or $1 .24,
you can hop over to the Dollar Tree's box bin.
Like their trash can outside for the same boxes?
There's an ongoing argument in the Discord that
pops up once a month, Johnny. I don't know if
you've seen it. One of the guys in the group
does dumpster diving, and one of the guys in
the group tells him he wastes his time dumpster
diving, and it's like good versus evil. Like
once a month, they get into it in the Discord.
I just let it go. It's like you're both crazy.
Just let it run wild. Like is he dumpster diving
for shipping supplies or for like products to
sell? For shipping supplies. Yeah, yeah. Say
Johnny, we don't know what side is good and what
side is evil, but Johnny took a side that quick.
Yeah, I mean, dumpster diving guy wins. No questions.
I do think though, right? Like you said, like
my storage unit, it goes up like every two or
three months, right? So like what I do, I just
sign up for another storage unit and me and Deb
go there one day and I just wheel everything
over to the other storage unit. Listen, it's
not much. In the grand scheme of things, I go
from like 135 to like, I save $30 a month. It
only takes me and Deb like 20, 25 minutes. And
like people will be like the same idea of the
dumpster diving thing, right? Mike, it takes
more time to move all your stuff than if you
just went and sourced items. But I'm just like,
if I can cut my overhead expenses, I do it like
every six months now. It's like, hey, I just
wheel on over to another unit. They just keep
sending me. I started in row 100 and now I'm
in row 400. They just keep moving me further
back down the storage units. The only way that's
not a win is if your output is so fast and you're
getting so much that you literally don't got
time to take the half hour to go get your free
boxes. Okay, fine. Order from Uline. Screw it.
You're making that much more money. Why not?
Yeah, and then, I mean, outside of shipping supplies,
we'll go out and get to the most basic thing,
your vehicle. Is your vehicle the most efficient
vehicle, either in gas or towing capacity and
or interior storage if you're loading the interior
and the trunk full of stuff? Is there a better
vehicle that may be cheaper all around for you
to use because it uses less gas, less maintenance?
If you've got a vehicle with a lot of maintenance
problems or it's on the older side, you may,
yes, spending money to save money is a thing.
So maybe making the necessary shift on your vehicle.
Might be a play. There's so many opportunities
for you to make adjustments on the budgeting.
And if you're the person that eats out instead
of cooks, well, maybe you don't cook, but you
figure out a way to go to the grocery store to
get pre -ready meals, whether they're microwave
or oven, or maybe you're the assembling guy.
Anybody can make a sandwich. Anybody can make
a sandwich. uh i dude it takes me forever to
make a sandwich like i'm not perfect about anything
in my life but like with sandwiches with two
slices of bread it's like it takes me 30 minutes
to figure out which side to go the cheese has
got to be perfect the ham the mayonnaise this
i gotta cut the pickles perfectly the jalapenos
like it's all it's a whole damn thing with me
all right so uh I'm blown away by this. I know,
right? I'm a perfectionist in some aspects of
my life. I think what you said, though, I think
it's a lot of business. I think business owners,
entrepreneurs that are treated as small businesses
are going to be perfectly fine in 2026. I think
a lot of people that got off the train and are
getting off at the next stop after the conductor
says next stop, they're getting up out of their
seats. I think it's going to be a lot of people
that... you know, have gotten away with it. Because
let's face it, you still can get away with it
reselling. You still can make money on the side
and really kind of just fly by the seat of your
pants. If you're finding decent items here and
there, sure, it might not be the most lucrative
thing, might not be the most consistent thing,
but you still can make, you know, be pretty dumb
and make money reselling. That's just a fact
of the matter. It don't matter how dumb you are.
If you got an iPhone and you're going to sell
it, you're going to, it's going to sell, right?
If the price is right. If you're able to read
a graph and a chart, you're good to go. Yeah,
I mean, it's an Amazon land. Like, it's pretty.
But, you know, that also makes people like me,
you think about it, right? If it is going to
be that easy, right? Like, are we going to even
get crushed more by the mega sellers? Or is there
going to be, you know, more competition? I don't
think, I think the average person, I think the
resale in life is not as glorious as it was portrayed
in the past years. Maybe it makes a comeback
in 2027, 2028, but I think we'll see another
downswing in like reselling content overall that's
put out there and just a growth of the reselling
market when it comes to eBay and Amazon in 2026.
So I'm not worried about more competition. I'm
just worried about getting squeezed out as the
little guy or girl because. At the end of the
day, we're all little guys and girls compared
to these huge mega players out there. And it
pisses me off just as much as it pisses anybody
off because we started this. Everybody started
this business on their own. They bet on themselves.
And I hate when, you know, we get the shit end
of the stick. We you know, we don't have we don't
have the fancy. 35 employees, the conveyor belts.
We're just out here trying to make 10 grand of
cash every single month so we can live comfortably
and, you know, do things we want to do in life.
So I'm on board. We're still fighting a good
fight. I think that's what this kind of is. And,
you know, still continuing to make as much as
we can. But I do challenge people when it comes
to time, like, let's start thinking about getting
our damn time back. I want you to go outside
like today. Johnny said he wouldn't do it. Maybe
you come by and shovel the snow. We got three
inches of snow on the ground, seven degrees.
with the wind chill like enjoy that go out and
enjoy that and don't feel like oh man you're
always like yeah johnny's like ah no goddamn
way uh i think you know focus on being happy
as a reseller that sounds so bad that sounds
so cheesy right like i want you to be happy as
a reseller that's going to be my motto in 2026
yeah let's go do some pilates mike and be happy
hell yeah dude as long as the dumbbells ain't
over like five pounds i'm in i can't be maxing
out over here uh i'm getting old my joints don't
work the way they used to i i think though the
people that are happy and enjoy what they do
or maybe the workload maybe like listen i don't
i'm not like super happy about going out and
thrifting but i understand the roi and my time
like isn't going to be beat so like i think those
people survive i think people that are like have
been grinding it out And like have all these
listings and things aren't selling and overhead
costs, like you said, are piling up, especially
in the Amazon space, like storage fees and quarter
four triple what they usually are. I think those
people are going to whether they like it or not,
are going to have to move on to greener pastures.
Absolutely. I mean. Is it more challenging year
over year? But if you're brand new, the challenge
is what it is. It's not new to you. Well, you're
new, but the grind is, well, it is what it is.
You're not used to anything better. You don't
know what better was. You weren't there. So the
best time to start is literally right now. Yeah,
I don't know what else to say other than pick
a path, go down it. And if you want to have some
littler paths that you try to explore, which
I highly encourage, explore new things. Add some
more revenue. And if it doesn't work out, it
doesn't work out. You still got the main path
you're on, which to me is Amazon and eBay. I
mean, yeah. Yeah, I agree. We'll wrap it up here.
I think 2026 will be a great year for us business
owners. For resellers, I don't know. You guys
kind of fall into a different category in my
mind because you kind of just, you know. oh yeah
i'm a reseller i'm just like no you're a business
owner let's start treating it like a business
uh thankfully all of you people that have evade
taxes because you make under 20k that's back
in effect so you don't have to worry about paying
taxes because you only made $19 ,999 on said
platform so i we said that many times that would
have been a huge purge so you guys all dodged
that bullet so you can drag along your half -assed
non -tax paying reselling business i'm going
on a rant here johnny buckle up buttercup uh
you know you guys will survive for another year
until you need the uncle sam hat and the whole
outfit Yes, we want your tax money. No, it'll
be a good year. I'm excited for it. I definitely
have things moving in the background that, you
know, I don't openly talk about, but I already
have the YouTube. We have the podcast. There's
so much I have going on and I'm excited to, I
said this this past few weeks, like focusing
on this other business without taking time away
from my Amazon business. It's kind of cool to
start something fresh, dude. Like, yeah, it's
not exciting. Like when I when I make like three
dollars, like I made three dollars today from
my other business. Like, dude, it's not exciting
to anybody. It's not even exciting compared to
my Amazon business. I'm like, this is a goddamn
waste of time. Right. But like I see the long
term plan and I'm willing to commit to the experiment
to see if it's actually viable. But like. I think
it's fun to create new businesses and do things
like something brand new and fresh while not,
I don't sacrifice my main business, my main source
of income. It's not like I forget about that.
That keeps going as normal. I just squeeze time
out to make this other thing work. It kind of
like when we all started, we had a full -time
job and we decided to resell it. And we squeezed
time out to make reselling work. And now we're
reselling. Well, now we're going to squeeze time
out to maybe try something else. That's kind
of where I'm at. I think it's super fun and exciting,
even though I make, you know, pennies on the
dollar with this business compared to mine. I'm
like, hey, that's cool. I actually see results.
I'm like, all right, six months down the road,
we'll see what can happen. Maybe I'll be singing
a different tune come six months. And I tell
Johnny that I wasted half of my a half year of
my life on this business. But you don't know
until you actually put effort in. That's a big
thing, too, that I want to. 2026, we can't quit.
We can't say this is great or this is bad unless
we actively put in the effort that it takes.
You can't half -ass things and say it doesn't
work. Oh, doing a podcast sucks. Well, you uploaded
three episodes of the podcast. Come back, talk
to me and Johnny when you're 160 plus episodes
deep, right? Like you have to commit to these
things, dude. We don't want to commit to nothing.
And if we do, what's the most half -ass commitment
where we're just like, oh, we just float on by.
Everything's just. dandelions and daisies and
everything else dude i'm i'm all fired up now
at the end of this episode i mean yeah I love
doing my YouTube stuff because I don't talk about
reselling at all. Yeah. Zero. And it's so much
fun having an outlet and having an outlet with
others to not talk about reselling because that's
all I do the other percentage of my time because
either I'm getting phone calls or messages or
I'm doing the podcast or I'm attending a call
or I'm hosting a call and it's consuming. So
getting a little bit. out of that is yeah like
you said very refreshing yeah i agree um and
if you do enjoy books more than just reselling
them if you're not mr crabs like me and you actually
enjoy knowledge about books and reading books
and things like that johnny's got a patreon he's
got a youtube channel uh patreon backslash the
book shepherd correct yeah yeah no correct at
the end it's just patreon .com backslash the
book shepherd uh swing over there Hang out with
the guy that enjoys books like you, not a greedy
bugger like me who just collects rolls of pennies
that I find out on the street. But yeah, make
2026 your year, whether you decide to double
down on your business, start something new, but
set goals, attainable goals. Don't be like, I
got to make a trillion dollars this year. No,
you're not. I'm here to tell you I'm bursting
your bubble right here, right now. It's not going
to happen. Be realistic within your means. Put
as much money in your bank account as you can.
And we will talk to you all in 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 to all
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