Welcome back to another episode of the Reseller's
Mindset Podcast. My name is Mike, also known
as the Used Book Guy on YouTube, along with my
friend and fellow full -time reseller, Johnny
B. We help people start and grow their reselling
businesses from the ground up. We also have a
weekly Zoom call and private Discord for all
YouTube members. Head on over to youtube .com
backslash usebookguy to join the channel and
gain access to the full -length podcast, Zoom
call, and private Discord today. Let's get into
this week's episode. What is up, everybody? Welcome
to another episode of Reseller's Mindset Podcast.
Mike next to Johnny. This call and topic is pretty
pertinent to my whole reselling life. limitations
and knowing like what what they are for you and
do you get to a point where you can change you
know what your limitation is in your business
and when i think of limitation i think of time
and money we can make in said time and i've always
been the guy that was two to three days a week
get as much as i can send it to amazon make as
much as i can in said time frame Now, I have
other time commitments besides reselling, but
my limitation in reselling forever has always
been two days a week of sourcing and then a half
day of actually listing and getting it out the
door. And people tell me all the time, like,
Mike, if you just went out more, you could find
more and you can make more. And I would sit here
and say, yeah, you're correct, but I don't feel
like driving further than an hour and 15 minutes.
Once I hit an hour and 15 minutes, like. my body
starts as things start happening to me so i can't
go past my hour and 15 minutes that's my limitation
right that's the big limitation i put on myself
it's not i can't do it just i choose not to do
it and i think that's a big thing people get
confused is well mike why don't you just do a
little bit more why don't you just do a little
bit more for me In my financial situation, where
I'm at in life, I'm comfortable doing my hour
and 15 minute drive. That is the kind of limitation
I put on myself. But I accept that. The problem
here is when you start getting into these conversations
is if I'm making no damn money or I'm not making
the money I need, something's got to change.
I got to start driving further or I got to find
better sources that are closer. I've always accepted
the fact I'm the two day a week reseller. And
that's a -okay with me. I'm fine with the money
that makes me, I can live comfortably. That's
all I really wanted out of this was to get my
time back and be able to live comfortably, not
worrying about where my next dollar is going
to come from. And my limitation has allowed me
to achieve that. I think a lot of people's limitations
don't allow them to get there or they don't even
know what they really want to have said limitation.
You got to know like, what's your goals to get
out of the business? And if you don't know that,
then you don't even, you're just wandering through
the resale world. Right. And there's a thing
for embracing your limitations like, OK, I'm
bad at math, but I need to know my numbers. So
you're kind of left with one or two scenarios.
One, you take the time to educate yourself on
how you can learn and how you can produce a P
&L for yourself. Two, you hire it out. however
that comes a lot of trust some people get burned
by hiring it out like extortion's a thing they've
taken all your money in a briefcase down to belize
and then you have no money they took your fortune
away from you however um catching them before
they hit that plane trip to belize is ideal so
you being able to know your numbers a little
bit or at least knowing what's on paper is good
so um and yeah and knowing your I hate this quote.
Everybody says everybody has the same 24 hours.
That is true mathematically, but the variables
that get thrown in there, are you a single person?
Do you have a spouse? Do you have children? Do
you have a regular J -O -B or a part -time J
-O -B, or are you doing this full -time? These
variables get mixed in there, and not everybody
has the same 24 minute per minute because of
other obligations. Well, you could say, Johnny,
damn the obligations. You could. But you're going
to be left alone in the dark at the end of the
day. So prioritizing, if you are based off limited
hours, you're going to need a strict schedule
and routine and probably a route. If you're doing
this like on the Mike model, the two -day -a
-week kind of guy, okay, one day is probably
all day sourcing and one day is probably all
day doing fulfillments and shipping and all that.
I don't know his exact schedule, but am I close?
Yeah, I mean, that's it, right? So I usually
go out either Wednesday. friday or wednesday
thursdays and my shipping days are always saturday
regardless of when i go out my shipping days
my shipping day uh you're right though man it's
it's important to to realize one a perfect example
of this like my limitations like people suck
with their taxes right resellers we're not tax
professionals but ever since i started i've always
started doing my own taxes from day one so i'm
like really good at it but i know that i can't
just sit here and tell somebody like Yeah, just
go file your own taxes and do your own taxes
and your own rentals because it's a lot of damn
work. And if you don't understand what you're
doing, that's going to suck all the time out
of you. And you're probably not doing it right
anyway. So there's different things. We all have
different limitations, like you said. And you
can change your limitations, right? If I wanted
to go out five days a week this year and drive
two hours one way, sure, I probably have another
150 thrift stores I can go to, right? Do I want
to do that? The answer is no. I value quality
of life. And even Johnny was kind of hitting
that a little bit. You can't just throw everything
to the side for a period of time to get where
you want to go. If you want to make the sacrifice
of, you know, whatever it may be with your significant
other, there's going to be a period of sacrifice
as you scale any business. But it's for a period
of time. It can't be forever. These people are
just like in their business. 12 hours a day,
I'm thinking to myself, you better be a damn
millionaire because otherwise we're wasting our
time here and time's the most precious thing
we have. But we neglect to even think that type
of, you know, we're just like, well, we're in
our business. We got to go do this. We got to
go do that. I'm like, no, you don't got to do
that. You can figure out ways to get around doing
anything like processes, like wake up and smell
the roses. Stop wandering through your business
and get precise about what days you're sourcing,
where you're going, how long you're going to
be out, when you're getting home, when that stuff's
getting listed. Like you got to be calculated
anymore. You can't just fly by the seat of your
pants. Right. And the biggest thing I see people
struggle with is, Personal time and business
time. They don't know how to balance the two.
And sometimes they lean heavier into the family
and their business suffers. And sometimes they
lean heavier in the business and their family
suffers. There needs to be an equilibrium and
probably a lot of communication between you and
family. It doesn't have to be wife and kids.
I mean, you maybe got, I don't know, a cousin,
an aunt, your moms and pops. It doesn't matter.
They're going to want to see you from time to
time. You say, nope, sorry, I'm at an estate
sale. I'll check in with me next month. They're
not going to like that after a period of time
because they're used to seeing you around. So
you got to be able to balance that act. What's
up, Amazon sellers? We wanted to take a second
to talk about GoToLister, the software me and
Johnny both use to list and manage our inventory
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trial at gotolister .com backslash Mike or using
the link in the description below. And knowing
what you should do for yourself. And what you
should outsource for yourself because you're
bad at it are two different animals. And I see
people suffer with this. They hire on too early.
They bring on a photographer. They bring on a
shipper way too early because they know they're
bad at it or they're avoiding the issue of that
sucks and I hate it and I just rather do this.
You may screw yourself in the end because now
you've got overhead and you can't pay. this employee
and then you're gonna have to fire that employee
and then you're back to doing what you were doing
which you were hating to begin with you got to
be able to juggle cash flow and understand when
you can bring on somebody because i hate doing
photos i did them for a long time i hate them
it's the first thing i outsourced but i knew
i had to have a chunk of change in the bank in
order to do that um because if you don't you're
just gonna have to fire them you're gonna again
you're gonna be back to square one yeah financial
limitations dude that's 100 a thing I mean, how
many people start these businesses and they're
using credit cards? And I'm like, we literally,
if you don't have, it takes money to start this
business, right? Or it's going to take a lot
of time. You can get away with just doing free
pickups, but it's going to take a lot of time.
You're going to need a couple hundred bucks in
your name to be able to ride this out. And it's
the same idea when people want to quit their
job so quick. I'm like. Just relax here, right?
Like Johnny said, let's get a pile of money somewhere.
And understanding the limitations that you have
financially will help you better understand what
you can and can't do within the business. There's
no infinite supply of money out there. And even
if you have more money than you can spend on
a monthly basis, that doesn't mean you can just
go, oh, I'm just going to hire this person because
I don't feel like doing it. The limitation is
something that's actually factual, something
you no longer have the time to do. a luxury,
right? You know, it's not a luxury of just, well,
I don't like taking photos. I don't like packing
orders. I'm just going to hire it out. And it's
like, well, if you're only in your business three
hours a day, you have the time to do it. You're
just choosing not to like, that is not a limitation.
That's just a luxury. You're just paying for
it, which you probably shouldn't be unless you're,
you know, unless you're really profitable. Sure.
Go for it. If you have the money to justify it,
but most people don't, you know, they're somebody
like you was like, I don't want to do photos.
And they hire somebody and they haven't even
sold 100 things on eBay. And I'm just like, wait
a minute, like you really like maybe if you change
the process of how you take the photos or how
many you take, see what the results are. Maybe
you don't hate doing photos as much. You always
have to be refining different things. And I think
a lot of us have these limitations that really
like we never even really tried to knock down,
you know, like you hate taking photos. Well,
if you're only taking. four instead of 20 you
probably wouldn't hate it as much right then
you're getting five done in the same time or
like even just going sourcing if you only go
to one thrift store and you drive 30 minutes
one day and now you do that three days a week
instead of going to all three in one day and
get it done much quicker in a shorter amount
of time you're going to win there as well it's
little things that you can tweak that will change
what you think your actual limitation is like
I'm not even super maxed out on my limitation
in my area. There's more sources. There's always
more sources to be found. There's always more
relationships to be found. Just a matter of,
do I want to actually go out there and deal with
it? Because most of these relationships are going
to require me taking on a lot more work, usually
when it comes to bulk, because most relationships
I have is show up, take everything, and I got
to deal with it all. So that my limitation is
I don't want the bulk life. So I got to kind
of. finagle my way through relationships i come
across because it is a lot of work and i personally
don't appreciate sitting at the storage unit
and dealing with bulk inventory but i understand
that's me i'm the used book guy i never set out
to be the multi -billion dollar number one media
seller in the universe i just wanted to live
a comfortable life and get some of my time back
i achieved that now it's just a matter of what
can i refine going forward To make it even better.
There's people out there that have businesses.
They're not even in them, man. They just collect
a check. They hire everybody. They train. They
got a manager. They basically clone themselves
so they don't have to be in the business all
day. I want that without having to hire somebody.
It's physically impossible because I still have
to go to the thrift stores. But I think I've
done almost as best of a job as somebody can
to spend as little bit of time in their business
and make as much money as they can. Absolutely.
And I even see some of the... the bulk guys and
gals and anybody trying to run an elaborate business.
They get in too heavy or they're constantly just
piling cash in because they know the improvements
they need, but they have no real money in the
bank and no real investments to speak of because
they've invested in themselves, which isn't necessarily
a bad thing. But I'm scared for these people
a lot of the times because any point Amazon can
go, yoink. And now you're stuck with the warehouse.
Now you're stuck with all these forklift and
equivalent tools. Now you're stuck with all these
employees without money coming in. What are you
going to do? Because there's no money in the
bank. You've maxed, you put it all, I don't know,
you bet it all on black and rolled the dice.
A lot of guys that works out, some guys it doesn't.
And I'm a little scared for those. I think you
should put a little bit of cash back if you're
listening to this and you're a bulk person. just
in case have a just in case fund for when the
day amazon decides to stick its finger in your
business you're gonna need some time to recover
um that's on the unfortunate side of working
with a business partner that is ebay and or amazon
or whatever you're selling on etsy whatnot i
don't care what it is uh another point is when
you decide to the limitations too hard of a hurdle
Get a second opinion. You should have networked
enough where you know another reseller and you
respect their advice. Doesn't mean you have to
take it, but you can at least hear them out on
what they have to say to fix whatever limitation
you're encountering is. If you're spending five
hours on photos, how can we cut that down to
two and a half? Have you recorded yourself? Have
you had somebody come in and watch you? Because
it's hard to judge yourself if you're the one
doing it. You don't know what's really going
on, but maybe watching yourself, you're recording.
or getting somebody to watch you can point out,
okay, you're setting this thing to your left
every photograph. Why are you doing that? Just
hold it. And if you're packing boxes, maybe instead
of setting it on the floor and then back on the
table and back on the floor, back on the table
kind of thing, maybe get a larger table so you're
not moving things around constantly. That's going
to save you time in general. There's all these
little things you can refine. And how you go
about refining them, that's your business. And
whatever works for you, you should embrace, whether
that's recording, getting a second opinion, trying
different equipments to improve the processes.
All of these work at the end of the day, but
you got to decide what works best for you. Yeah,
I think a lot of limitations too that we think
are limitations really aren't. You know, like
what you said, people feel limited that they
can only list 10 items a day. Well, it's because
you're spending 30 minutes per listing, right?
Like we have these false ideas in our head that
we can't do this certain thing. And I'm here
to tell you, you can do whatever the hell you
want in life. You just got to be willing to.
understand what it takes to get there. And like
Johnny said, there is a million different people.
You could literally just put reselling in YouTube
and you will find a million different people
doing the same thing, probably a million different
ways. And it's just a matter of you learning
little things from it. I've taken so much away
from people that don't even sell on Amazon, different
processes, different types of things, completely
different business models. And I have figured
out a way to get that into my business to make
my life easier. And that allows you to do more.
Because if you start getting your time back,
your limitation goes up because now you have
more time to spend in the business, right? You
can make more money now because you got more
of your time back. But you got to realize that
this roadblock you think that you can't get past.
There's always a way around that. You just got
to figure it out. There's always a way you can
get better at something. I'm nowhere near the
best, fastest scanner in the universe. There's
people that probably have completely different
ideas when it comes to scanning and basically
how they approach scanning a bookshelf. And they're
probably a lot quicker than me, but I haven't
come across it yet. So like, but I know it exists,
right? So if I ever was a person, I was like,
it takes me forever to scan a store. Well, then
let's change how we're doing it. Why don't we
try a few different ways of scanning it, right?
So like when I go into a store because of my
retail experience, we would set planograms. They
would be in four foot sections as you go down
the aisle, right? So when I'm in a store scanning,
it's in four foot sections or it's by the bookcase.
So I know at the four foot mark, I flip a book.
So it's a long way. So I know exactly where I
left off. I go down that four foot section, top
to bottom. And I go over. I know exactly where
I left off. Flip the book up. Same thing, forefoot
by forefoot by forefoot. I'm not doing the whole
top, the whole middle, the whole bottom, because
what happens with that is you get people that
come over and they want to look at the books.
Well, if you're running back and forth all the
way down the whole book section, you've got to
get around these wonderful, amazing people that
love reading books. And it just turns into a
headache. You don't know where you left off.
That's why I do forefoot at a time. You can be
in your own little area, flip the book up on
each shelf so you know exactly where you left
off. Those little things that some people wouldn't
even think about that would help them. that is
how you can raise your limitations of how many
stories you can get to and how many items you
can scan, which means you're going to find more
items, which means you're going to be able to
make more damn money. And just like stop packing
stuff every single day, plan a certain day, sit
down, get it done. We say this all the time.
If you plan out your tasks, you're going to be
more efficient. If you say you're going to do
X, Y, Z at X, Y, Z time, you're going to only
be focused on doing that. And you're going to
get it done a lot quicker than if you just kind
of haphazardly do it throughout the week. Yeah.
What I used to do in the, I hate thrift stores,
by the way, but when I used to do them, I used
to take the whole shelf off, whether it was the
top, middle, or bottom, and usually there was
a furniture section. I'd go over there, do my
thing, wheel it back over, put them back. And
or I had my own, depending on if they let me,
I had my own little table, like a couple TV trays,
right? That enabled me to do my work quicker.
And that's if they allowed it. I always ask before
I brought in my own equipment. Okay, guys, I'm
going to set up over here and be processing your
stuff. What do you mean? What do you mean you're
going to be processing our stuff? Don't worry
about it, guys. Don't worry about it. But anyway,
and one of the first things I hear people encountering
that they're bad at is they don't know how to
utilize their space the best. Like, I need to
get a storage unit. No, you don't. Not yet. Because
I'm going to ask you some key critical questions.
And some of these key critical questions is,
have you gone all the way to the ceiling? Or
does your wife want her house back? I mean, if
the answer is one, well, you need to go all the
way to the ceiling, get some furniture that enables
you to do that. If it's number two, yeah, you're
going to need a storage unit. But we're going
to work on the same darn thing over there. You're
going to go all the way to the ceiling, my friend.
Because people think in square feet, and they
never think in cubic square feet. The verticality
you can utilize, just like your background, if
you're watching this on YouTube, they're pretty
much all the way to the ceiling. And I see some
warehouses that are maybe six feet tall, but
they have all this verticality space they never
use. And it's ridiculous to me. Like, why did
you buy a warehouse? You need like a chicken
farmhouse that's long. If you're only going to
go up six feet, you're never going to ladderize
or get a machine to take you up. It's ridiculous.
Yeah, I mean, you pay for the square footage
too when you get a place, right? The main appeal
is the listing literally says square feet, right?
So you're paying for all that empty space that
you have. It's so true. There's so many different
little things that people feel like they're limited
in. And if they just made changes, you know,
like... Even if you're somebody who's like, well,
my bookshelves go to the ceiling and I still
don't have space. And then we're just going to
say, well, why don't you get rid of all this
old inventory that hasn't sold? Why don't you
do a markdown sale and try to sell some of this?
Why don't you do some auctions? Why don't you
do, there's always an answer to your limitation.
I have answers to my limitation. It's just drive
further. I just choose not to. You can't say
that you have this limitation and it's holding
you back. If you're not willing to make the change
to basically get past that limitation. If I was
sitting here crying that I make no money and
reselling sucks, then I can't say that because
I could just drive further and maybe the next
15 minute radius has the greatest thrift stores
ever. And all of a sudden I'm making all the
money, but I don't complain about what I make.
I'm perfectly comfortable with what I make. It's
the people that aren't getting results and feel
like they have these limitations. You don't got
no limitations in this. You can, you know, there's
people that literally drive across the country
and stay in hotels and source while they're out
and ship wherever they're from in the United
States. There's people that literally only, I
know this guy, he would fly around the country
and buy all the clearance toys. So he would basically,
his business would be from January to the end
of February. He would go after the holiday season
where all the retailers have all their clearance
toys. He would literally have his whole year
of work done in two months. But those two months,
he knew he's going to be on a plane. He's going
to be going here. He's going to be going there.
He's filling up trucks. He's doing whatever he's
got to do to get all that done in those two months.
There's so many different ways we can attack
these business models. And if you're not getting
results and you feel like it's because you're
limited in something, then just... Drop a comment,
ask any reselling group, and you're going to
get a million different ways. Sure, listen, people
say some crazy crap out on the internet of how
you should do things and how you shouldn't do
things. I'm not saying you're taking anybody
at face value. I'm just saying, if somebody can
give you that little nugget that makes you think
like, hmm, maybe that is something I should try.
Or maybe that's something that's going to make
my life easier and my business run quicker and
more efficient. There ain't nothing wrong with
that. I mean, I basically sold my whole business
from everybody. Like, I'm just the face of it.
But I've stolen all the ideas and everything
else from other people. But I still have to go
put in the work. But like, it sounds like I come
up with these grander, new reselling business
hacks. It's all been done before. It's just a
matter of what works for you. Because what works
for me? probably ain't going to work for johnny
and vice versa so you can't just be like well
it's going to work for me that's not the case
you got to try different things one of the smartest
things i ever did was put everything on wheels
tables bookcases bookshelves because even when
i was doing like nine storage units at once it
dawned on me one day and i know why it didn't
dawn on me sooner i have all this hallway space
inside here i could use so what i ended up doing
is i condensed down my eight or nine units down
to four because I had packed the suckers all
the way to the front to the back with rollable
bookshelves for my inventory then roll them out
when I had to pick and pack for the day because
I had all this hallway I can line them up I got
so much more space than leaving little bits of
walkway room in there now if you're on an outside
unit that's a different story But I remember,
what's his name? Roy. He did the same thing.
He put every damn thing on wheels and was able
to open up his garage door on sunny days, roll
everything out and kind of quadruple the space
because everything was mobile and modular. It's
little stupid things like that that are huge
dividends. I'll give a perfect example of somebody
that knocked down their limitation was... Vita,
he's a guy in our group. He just recently got
into a warehouse. So his limitation was space
before he had a two car garage. Anytime he got
a delivery, he had to play pallet shuffle, drag
the pallets out into the driveway. And so I can
imagine being his neighbor and they're just gay
lords of books up and down the driveway in the
street. Right. So you get to a point where he's
like, OK, I'm going to take this seriously. I
need to get more space. This is. does not function
the way it should, right? We're losing so much
time just by pushing pallets around, trying to
play the game of how many can we fit in here?
What did we scan already? What didn't we scan
already? Your limitations can help you level
up your business when you hit them. When you're
like, this is it, I can't do nothing else. So
I got to figure out what the next step is. What's
the next step of my business going to look like
for me? Am I going to continue to grow this thing?
Usually that's what it comes down to. We hit
a limitation of growth almost. We got so much
or we're doing so much. We need more time. What
are we going to do here to continue to grow our
business on the bottom line? We want more profit
every single month, year. We want to be making
more money. You will know when you hit that,
when you are completely drained, you know you're
wasting all of your time doing this stupid thing
that you don't need to do. You know nobody else
is dragging these pallets all around and playing
the shuffle game, but you have to because you
don't have the space. That's an actual limitation
that we have to figure out because it's eating
up. We got employees. We're paying employees
to move things that don't need to be moved. And
as you start to scale. Even when I was at CBS,
my big thing was if we're going to do something,
let's do it right the first time. We do not want
to go back and have to do something two times.
It's the same thing recently. I do not want to
go back and do things multiple times. It just
does not make sense, and it will drive you nuts
if you've got to go find something or do something
twice. List that same item twice. You'll just
go insane. Right, and multiple touches is a huge
thing. You always strive for one touch. sometimes
our best is only two touches because you kind
of like our feta example you kind of have to
do what you got to do for a little while until
you stack the cash or find the right space in
order to make it one touch and and knowing that
that is a limitation that you've done all you
possibly can you've reached out to everybody
you you've you've hit all the forums all the
online research there's no other way except to
get bigger space once you know that bottom line
And you come to the realization that you've done
all you could. You just need to wait for a minute.
That's okay. A lot of people then think, okay,
I'm going to get a loan. I have to get a bigger
space. There's no other way. You can wait a minute.
You can honestly wait a minute. Now, if you want
to risk it for the biscuit and you know your
business is sound, I'm not stopping you. I'm
just saying sometimes doing the conservative
route serves your best interest because you're
pulling the trigger. Now you're stuck in a five
-year lease, and if you waited two months, this
same space for a three -year lease is much better.
But sometimes people don't want to wait, and
everybody is free to run their business how they
see fit. I've actually been using that line a
lot lately. I don't know if you noticed. A little
bit. I've been throwing it around. I've been
throwing it around, dude, because I think a lot
of people get – feel like what I say is like
– I don't know why people think that. I mean,
I'm just a proof of concept. I never said I was
the smartest or best reseller. I only ever started
this channel just to prove that you actually
can make decent money scanning stupid books,
CDs, and DVDs on Amazon. But I think a lot of
people take what I say at like 100%. Like if
he's doing it, then I got to do it. I'm like,
no, that is not the case. Like I never, I know,
I even say this in YouTube videos now when I
say something like. I tell my editor, put up
a flashing warning sign. Just because I'm doing
something doesn't mean you should do it, right?
And it's vice versa. Just because Johnny's got
all of his stuff on wheels, maybe I hate wheels.
The idea of wheels pisses me off and I don't
ever want to see a wheel ever again in my life,
right? That doesn't mean you have to do this.
And maybe your floor doesn't allow for wheels
to move easily, right? Yeah, it's all jagged.
There's rocks there. I mean, everybody's, that's
a limitation, right? And realizing this before
you decide to go get the wheels and put them
on and then complain that Johnny's an idiot because
he told me to put wheels on and my floor is made
of sand and the wheels don't work in the sand.
I'm just going to tell you to get different types
of wheels, but okay. These are things we have
to do and realize in business that we can easily
refine processes. and change our limitations
right it's okay to go down too like people always
feel like we talk about limitations everybody's
trying to super max everything he's like i want
a bajillion dollars and i want a bajillion listings
what about the person that says all right i'm
doing this I'm making $500 a month, but I feel
like I'm spending too much time. I'm okay if
I make, you know, $300 a month and I'm going
to list, you know, half the items I was listing
prior. I think that's a -okay. I don't think
for some reason in Resoundland, we always got
to be growing and growing and growing and growing.
And I'm here to tell everybody it's okay to maintain
and even take a step back if you feel like you're
not getting the results or you feel like you
have to spend your time on something else. As
long as you know that if you step back, your
results are most likely going to step back right
with you. That's just the reality of being this
business because we are the business. If we don't
work, the business don't work. So if we take
time away, then you're going to see less results.
We've done this over the year. Johnny just got
off vacation. I've taken time off. Sure, it might
not smack you that week, but eventually it catches
up to you when you take time off. You need to
take time off. You are a human being. We left
our jobs because we rarely got time off. The
miserable three -week vacation doesn't cut it.
Main thing I like about reselling is I don't
have to be in my business all the time. There
are. reactions to the actions you take. And if
you understand what's going to happen because
you do X, Y, Z, you're going to be prepared for
it. Like Johnny said, have a set money aside,
right? Maybe you're planning this big move. Maybe
you want to get a storage unit. How much does
it cost? How often do they raise the storage
units? I'm here to tell you right now, storage
units are a racket. They get you in there two
months, it's going up 20 bucks. Three months,
it's going up another 20 bucks, right? They will
literally nickel and dime you. It's not as glorious.
It's not as cool as any YouTuber makes it out
to be. Oh, look at my space. Look at all my racks.
And I'm just like, I don't want none of this.
But I got to have it, right? The limitation for
me is my space. I'm on the third floor. It's
physically impossible for me to process bulk.
I did it. I mean, you could sit here and say
that I probably don't need it because I used
to do it on the sidewalk, dude. I pull up the
car, my literal... Had my Sonata, fill the whole
car up. I'd be out on the sidewalk. I remember
you're like, get a pop -up tent to stop the sun.
I was like, I've got to go get a pop -up tent
because I was out there on the sidewalk crying
up. It's like, I had to deal with the weather.
You used to be lobster red, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm like, dude, you need a pop -up tent or hire
an employee to hold an umbrella. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. And my limitation was my space. And my
solution was finding a super cheap storage unit
that was within 10 minutes of me because I didn't
want to drive further than 10 minutes. I'm honestly
probably there maybe five days, six days a month.
I pay for 30 days, but it's a part of my business
that I have to have because I am on the third
floor. There's no easy way for me to maneuver
around this. I don't want to be out in the weather.
If it's raining, I can't do nothing. If it's
a thousand degrees, I still don't want to be
out there, at least in a storage unit. I got
a little fan set up. I got a little generator.
If it's cold, I got lights. I got a little space
heater going. And it was just a necessary thing
for me. But for a lot of people, they feel like
they need the space and then they get it. And
you're really not even utilizing it all. It's
just like it's like the saddest, pathetic looking
storage. You got a 10 by 10. I'm like, there's
one bookshelf. It's like, oh, no. And another
thing to keep in mind is Mike and I give our
conservative input a lot of the times because
we want to protect you guys from screwing yourself.
And that's 99 percent of you. The 1 % where information
doesn't apply and, yeah, they should risk it
because they know what the hell they're doing.
The problem is the 99 % of you where we're being
conservative, you think you're the 1 % and you're
not. That's the honest truth. Now, if I was talking
to a different individual, I would say, yeah,
max out your credit card debt. Your business
is flying. The only limitation is capital, but
that's going to catch up in a moment, next month
probably. But that doesn't apply to 99 % of you.
It really doesn't. And same for warehouse space,
like if he does a prime example. Working business
model. He could probably have upgraded me not
knowing his behind -the -scenes numbers a year
earlier in all actuality. But him waiting is
a good thing because he got to see and examine
spaces and wait for the right property to come
up. So there's two sides to every coin. But again,
we want to protect you and your business, and
you should probably at least angle for the conservative
way to go. You should take a risk every now and
then, but don't let it be a bankruptcy -worthy
risk. That should never enter your mind. You
do not have a limitation on sources. If you come
to me and say you don't have enough sources,
I'm going to say, have you contacted the local
junk removal companies? And your answer is going
to be no. Have you contacted your local libraries?
Your answer is going to be no. Have you contacted
your local dump? Your answer is going to be no.
This idea that your sources are just the thrift
stores in your area is absolutely crazy to me.
Like, what if you could just get a truckload
from another state of whatever you want to sell?
Oh, my God. Wait a minute. You mean I can cross
the imaginary state lines that we have? Like,
yes, that's very possible. I think a lot of people
do think they are limited with sources. And I
think that's I don't think anybody's limited
in sources because you could even have a business
where you shop online. and sell it online. It's
a crazy thing. There is an infinite supply of
this stuff. So if you feel like you're limited
on sources, I'd challenge you right here, right
now. Sources are not thrift stores. Thrift stores
are literally just good luck. I mean, it's like
walking into a casino. A lot of thrift stores
are just absolute trash now. And if you just
base your number of sources off the thrift stores
in your area, You're already setting yourself
up to fail because if you just rely on the thrift
stores, everybody knows this. You need relationships.
You need to be going to the flea market. You
need to be reaching out to anybody and everybody
and being the go -to person for whatever you
want to sell. Source limitation does not exist
because if worse comes to worse, you can go online
and find the stuff you want to sell and still
be able to buy it at a price where you can sell
it and still make money on that same exact item.
I mean, outside of clothes, media and video games
are the most... abundantly, readily available
resources on the planet, at least in the United
States, which I consider the entire planet. Come
on, guys. Video games are a little harder. I
mean, you could get lucky going in the pawn shops
or here and there, but you're probably looking
at online sourcing. And yeah, there's a little
bit of limitation, but you know that. And then
you have to work, okay, how do I give myself
an edge in this limitation where I can get more
for the right price? That's the other thing.
Paying up's okay. I know the video game guys
do because they're kind of limited to online.
And if you want to, I forget, what's the old,
the book flipper community? One of their last
videos they did, they had a guy come on from
one of their symposium panel things. And he talked
about how every book guy was at the clearance
aisle at half price books. And he said, screw
this. And he went around buying their $5, $10,
$20 books. But each one of those is like a $100
bill just because he decided to pay up more than
$3. He made like $200 ,000 that first year. He
switched that one simple thing. He decided to
pay up. You've been saying that forever, dude.
Go to the actual bookstores. But I know people
don't. Go to the books. I don't care if their
books are $5 each. If it's a $5 into $100 bill,
do it. Yeah, you're right, dude. It's funny,
too. I tell people I go to pawn shops and people
are just like, Pawn shops suck around me. I'm
like, you, you went to like one or two pawn shops.
I'm not sitting here saying everyone's going
to be a gold mine, but like, I literally have
pawn shops that sell books. Like people, people
think it doesn't happen or it doesn't exist.
We're not sitting here saying everything's going
to be a home run, but you don't know till you
know, right. You actually got to go put in the
time and see what you have readily available
to you. And don't just flock to the clearance
aisle. Like Johnny said, I'd rather be the guy.
It goes down the other aisles. I'll pay full
price. I'm only buying what I know I can make
money on, right? Like it's just going to be a
calmer, easier life. And I guarantee you, you're
going to make more money than them bozos in the
clearance aisle every single time. Right. Here's
another limitation. And this will surprise you.
A lot of people think they need a truck. I think
life's a lot easier with a truck, but I can't
tell you how many media sellers I know that drive
tiny ass cars. And they make it work. They fill
it all the way to the windshield up. Totally
unsafe, but they do it anyway. You can get a
trailer for your vehicle if you really need the
extra space. If it's that good of a deal. You
do not need a fancy vehicle and or a truck. Again,
I think it makes it a little easier, but it's
not a necessity that people think it is. And
so unless you do not have a vehicle or you're
on a scooter or a motorcycle or you're taking
the... Public bus, your vehicle normally isn't
a limitation, honestly. There are workarounds
to make it work. Now, I'll wrap it up here and
just piggyback off that. My library, they got
signs in the back room that says, Mike drives
a Nissan Altima. Please use smaller boxes. How
do you have to have the conversation? They see
me roll up with the sunroof open. in the Nissan
Altima with the heated seats on, the radio bumping,
some wham, right? And they're like, oh, this
guy, he's got a Nissan Altima. Let's put a sign
up. Let's take care of him. Little conversations
like that. You don't need a truck by any stretch
of the imagination. I've always made plane vehicles
work, but just know. Big takeaway from this is
if you have limitations, you can get past them
if you want to. You can step back if you want
to. You can lower your limitations. There's always
different things you can try. As always, we appreciate
you listening or watching over on YouTube, and
we'll talk to you all next week. Thanks for listening
to another episode of the Reseller's Mindset
Podcast. Today's full episode and all previous
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