1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,800
Welcome back to another episode of the Resellers Mindset

2
00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:03,480
podcast.

3
00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,160
My name is Mike, also known as the used book guy on YouTube,

4
00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,480
along with my friend and fellow full time reseller, Johnny B.

5
00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:11,840
We help people start and grow their reselling businesses

6
00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:13,080
from the ground up.

7
00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,400
We also have a weekly Zoom call and private Discord

8
00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:16,880
for all YouTube members.

9
00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,240
Head on over to youtube.com backslash

10
00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:20,840
used book guy to join the channel

11
00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,040
and gain access to the full length podcast Zoom call

12
00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:25,800
and private Discord today.

13
00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,560
Let's get into this week's episode.

14
00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:28,760
What is up, everybody?

15
00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,040
Welcome into episode 15.

16
00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:31,800
I have 10.

17
00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:35,720
These other gentlemen can figure out the other five here.

18
00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:37,680
Is that three?

19
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,760
Episode 15 here, we are going to talk

20
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:42,280
about the importance of knowing your numbers.

21
00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:44,080
And when we talk about numbers, we

22
00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:48,800
mean the actual money you make at the end of the day.

23
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,120
You see we have our first guest here.

24
00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,280
Paul is basically the numbers man.

25
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,220
He kind of was like a blessing in disguise to myself,

26
00:00:57,220 --> 00:00:59,920
at least this past year, because he's real good with understanding

27
00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:02,960
numbers and how to basically get to your bottom dollar

28
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:03,880
when it comes to this.

29
00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,920
So Paul, you want to give a little introduction of who

30
00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:08,760
you are and what you do?

31
00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:09,480
Sure.

32
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:10,200
My name is Paul.

33
00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,000
I spent the last 20 years working in the IT industry

34
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:13,920
before books.

35
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,600
And my job turned into analytics because we had so many tools

36
00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:19,320
that couldn't talk to each other.

37
00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:22,180
And we didn't have any way to measure what was going on.

38
00:01:22,180 --> 00:01:25,120
And I learned pretty quickly, I can't just meet with management

39
00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,640
and say subjectively that I need more people,

40
00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:30,600
or I need more of this, or I need more of that.

41
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,040
So I had to figure out a way to get information

42
00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:34,640
from these various tools and allow

43
00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,160
them to talk to each other to do some analytics to figure out

44
00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:39,080
where we were.

45
00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,400
And that played very well when I came over here

46
00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,080
to my resale career.

47
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,200
I learned very quickly that just because I

48
00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,840
used whatever tool to figure out what my estimated profit was,

49
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,480
that didn't mean that was going in my pocket.

50
00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:56,520
What else is involved?

51
00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,440
What are all the Amazon fees on the backside,

52
00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,920
all of my expenses, and allow me to figure out

53
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:08,240
the right products to buy and how much profit I needed

54
00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,200
to make to hit my objectives where I needed to be income wise.

55
00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,240
So that's my short journey to here.

56
00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,000
I'll pick on myself first, and I'll pick on Johnny B here.

57
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,880
Personally, for me, I knew, hey, I'm making money.

58
00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,800
You're getting a deposit every two weeks from Amazon or eBay,

59
00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:29,840
either or.

60
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,840
But do you really know how much of that money

61
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:33,120
is actually profit?

62
00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,800
What if you get a paycheck for $2,000,

63
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,000
but you actually spent more than $2,000?

64
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,920
So I guarantee you probably anybody listening to this

65
00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:44,680
right now does not know exactly how much they're

66
00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:49,120
making on a single book sale on Amazon or eBay.

67
00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,040
If you factor in everything you should be factoring in,

68
00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:54,560
and I can 100% sit here and admit to it

69
00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,000
that it's a lot to figure out how to even go

70
00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,280
about figuring out those steps.

71
00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,880
And I had no idea how much you actually make.

72
00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:03,840
If you're out scanning and say your trigger

73
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,760
sets for $5, you scan it, it says profit is $5.

74
00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:09,520
Well, there's a lot of things that

75
00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:11,400
are going to come out of that all the way down

76
00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:12,800
to your subscriptions.

77
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:14,280
And you don't think about that, right?

78
00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:16,240
Because you're just out in the thrift store.

79
00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,800
You're not saying, oh, my subscriptions to your listing

80
00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,840
software, your scanning software.

81
00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,040
There's so many different things that have to be taken

82
00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:26,320
into consideration.

83
00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,440
And I wasn't doing that at all until Paul came along,

84
00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,080
thankfully, and said, hey, do you really know your numbers?

85
00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:34,520
Well, at the time, I said, yeah, I really know my numbers.

86
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,120
But I wasn't even close to really knowing my numbers.

87
00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,120
And I'm curious here what Johnny B's,

88
00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:44,080
if he actually knows his numbers down to that level

89
00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:48,440
where everything is taken out, even your subscriptions.

90
00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,240
I'm not as granular as Mr. Paul.

91
00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,800
Paul is my vetcher when it comes to that,

92
00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,640
as I think he is most people's vetters.

93
00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:01,320
I have a rough idea, and I know most of it.

94
00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,800
But sitting down and putting it like Paul does, no.

95
00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:07,800
I'm nowhere even close.

96
00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,360
I aspire to be more like Paul in that regard.

97
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,480
I do need to keep better track of my number taking,

98
00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:15,480
as it's very important to know everything.

99
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,320
Somebody should ask you the baseline question

100
00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:18,160
without looking at it.

101
00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:19,240
You should be able to answer that.

102
00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:20,600
I'm a firm believer in that.

103
00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:22,880
Am I capable of doing it at this point in time?

104
00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:23,720
No, I'm not.

105
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,240
Yeah, to their point right there.

106
00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,600
So just take subscriptions as a, for instance,

107
00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,400
to play it exactly what Mike was saying.

108
00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,320
If you, you know, the tools I use are Scout IQ,

109
00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,560
ScanLister, KEEPA, RepriceIt,

110
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,320
and then my monthly Amazon Pro account, right?

111
00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,080
If you add those all up annually right now for me,

112
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,400
that's 1,566.

113
00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,440
So if you sold 1,600 books a year,

114
00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:52,120
you need to add a dollar to your cost right there

115
00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,200
just for subscriptions when you're taking into account

116
00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,520
what you're buying and how you need to price it.

117
00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,440
So there's just one variable

118
00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:01,000
that most people don't take into account.

119
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,080
They just put, oh yeah, I paid 2.99

120
00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:04,160
at the bookstore for this book.

121
00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:05,320
Whoa, making five bucks,

122
00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,080
but you're not really making five bucks.

123
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:08,920
You make it $4,

124
00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:10,240
and there's a whole bunch of other expenses

125
00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:11,800
to consider as well, so.

126
00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,200
I never took that into consideration.

127
00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,080
Never once did it ever cross my mind from day one

128
00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,320
until you kind of broke down the numbers

129
00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:21,400
that those things even mattered, right?

130
00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:23,760
You just assume, oh yeah, well, it's just part of it.

131
00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,040
Well, not actually, because when you're out scanning

132
00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:27,640
and you see the $5,

133
00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,480
you're thinking it's a $5 bill coming to you, right?

134
00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,080
But, you know, even if you're getting it for free,

135
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,040
it's still not nowhere near the $5

136
00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:37,080
that you think you're getting for the item.

137
00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,360
And I think it's super important

138
00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,320
that a lot of resellers, whether you're doing this part-time

139
00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:46,160
or full-time, is actually understanding your numbers

140
00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:48,600
down to how much you're making,

141
00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:50,840
how much you need to be at when you're out scanning

142
00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:52,800
and sourcing, because what happens is

143
00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:54,400
you just create more work for yourself.

144
00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:56,320
You're not turning a dollar into two.

145
00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,560
Maybe you're turning your dollar into a dollar,

146
00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:01,040
or maybe you're turning your dollar into 90 cents,

147
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,360
and you're working and you're losing money,

148
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:04,840
but you don't know that because you just see

149
00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:09,840
the initial number when you're out scanning.

150
00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:11,320
Yeah, and that model's gonna end up being

151
00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,240
a little bit different for everybody, Mike, right?

152
00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:14,440
Because we're all traveling

153
00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:15,880
a little bit at different distances.

154
00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:17,560
We may have books being, you know,

155
00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:19,840
I could order Gaylords and have them delivered to my house,

156
00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:22,480
or I could be out there driving every day.

157
00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:27,280
Mike's buy cost is one-fifth what mine is, you know?

158
00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:28,720
And Johnny's is different as well.

159
00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,640
So, you know, but the key is to know

160
00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:33,640
what are the items that I need to measure

161
00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,760
to determine how much I need to, you know,

162
00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:39,440
sell books for to make what I need to make.

163
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,880
And if you don't have all that information, then...

164
00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:46,080
You don't know, right?

165
00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:47,040
It's hard to hit a target.

166
00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,720
You don't, you can't, if you can't measure it,

167
00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:51,000
you don't know where you're at.

168
00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,520
You don't know what you have to fix,

169
00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:54,760
and you don't know how to adjust your model.

170
00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:56,760
And sales mean nothing.

171
00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:57,640
Right.

172
00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:58,480
Sales are meaningless.

173
00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,160
Like if you want $100,000,

174
00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,840
but you're buying dollar profit books,

175
00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:07,200
and you can't calculate how many dollar profit books

176
00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,360
you need to make clear in your bank account.

177
00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:12,920
And then there's a secondary question,

178
00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:14,120
is that after tax or not?

179
00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,400
Is that you got to factor all of these fund numbers in.

180
00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:18,240
Right.

181
00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:20,720
I think it's...

182
00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:21,960
I'll sit here.

183
00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,640
I'll die on this hill that I'm gonna say

184
00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:30,520
90% of resellers don't understand the actual number

185
00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,200
that they're making on an item they sell.

186
00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:34,960
I'm talking after everything.

187
00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:38,800
No, I...

188
00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:39,840
No, they don't.

189
00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:43,680
I was saying, I was even thinking 90% might even be low.

190
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:45,920
I was gonna say 95.

191
00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,840
Because how many people actually out there

192
00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,000
when they scan something say,

193
00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,040
okay, this says $5 profit.

194
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:52,720
Well, my buy cost is a dollar.

195
00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,280
Amazon's gonna take $2.

196
00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,080
You know, the storage fees, which you don't know, right?

197
00:07:58,080 --> 00:07:59,080
You don't know how long it's gonna take

198
00:07:59,080 --> 00:07:59,920
for something to sell.

199
00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:01,160
It's sitting in Amazon.

200
00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:03,800
There's so many other things that you don't see

201
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,480
on that screen that we just don't care about.

202
00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:07,880
And that's the honesty of it.

203
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,280
Nobody cares about it because it's not there, right?

204
00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,800
You can't plug it in Scout IQ a certain number

205
00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:14,680
that, hey, this is how much it's probably gonna cost

206
00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:15,840
in storage fees.

207
00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:17,520
You're just like, well, none of that stuff matters.

208
00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:20,120
Those are just basically things I need to have.

209
00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:21,480
Yeah, there are things you need to have,

210
00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,960
but there are things you need to take into consideration

211
00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,200
when you're going after lower profit items.

212
00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:31,200
Yeah, just your inventory fees from a storage,

213
00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:37,160
long-term disposable return, potentially labeling.

214
00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,680
You know, I spent $600 a year or $600 on that last year,

215
00:08:41,680 --> 00:08:43,440
599.96.

216
00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,680
You know, just half of that was return fees.

217
00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:51,160
And my return percentage was in line,

218
00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:53,520
but you're getting charged for everything.

219
00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:55,080
Amazon, you know, and that's not,

220
00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:56,840
none of that stuff's gonna be taken into account

221
00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,320
on Scout IQ or Scoutly or whatever tool you're using.

222
00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:00,960
None of it.

223
00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:02,400
Right, I noticed that early on

224
00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:03,800
when I was messing with my stuff,

225
00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:07,360
I went in the backend to see what my actual fees are,

226
00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:09,680
and I'm looking at what Amazon actually charges me.

227
00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:13,720
It's not factored in at all, oddly enough.

228
00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:14,560
Why isn't it?

229
00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:15,920
Like, how do I know what my profit is?

230
00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,600
It'd be great if it was, but they don't do that for,

231
00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:21,960
I don't know why they, why don't they do this?

232
00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:23,240
Why don't they factor in all the fees

233
00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,360
that you and I would look at?

234
00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:27,200
It's just one of those things where they would have

235
00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,480
to implement, you know, some kind of average system,

236
00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:30,680
right, based on the e-score.

237
00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:32,760
So how long is it gonna sit before it sells?

238
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:34,640
And then you have to factor in the size of it

239
00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,360
because it goes off cubic feet.

240
00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,200
I think there's just too many different factors

241
00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:40,760
for them to put it in.

242
00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:42,760
And I just, why should they, you know?

243
00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:44,040
Like, they don't care, right?

244
00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:45,840
You know, they just want the software to says,

245
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:47,520
accept or reject, they're not really worried

246
00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:50,320
about how much Paul's really making at the end of the day

247
00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:51,680
when he scans that book.

248
00:09:51,680 --> 00:09:54,680
Yeah, it'd be hard for them to project,

249
00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:56,960
you know, when this book is gonna sell,

250
00:09:56,960 --> 00:09:58,520
you know, based on how many are up there,

251
00:09:58,520 --> 00:09:59,840
what's the demand gonna do?

252
00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:02,520
You know, when we look at Keeber, whatever you use,

253
00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:04,960
whatever tool you're using, this book is somewhere

254
00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,160
between brand new high demand and in death throes

255
00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,840
where it's, you know, FBM five dollars, you know, or less.

256
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:13,360
And it's somewhere in that cycle.

257
00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,160
And the day you scan it is not the day it's at Amazon too,

258
00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:17,760
you gotta consider, right?

259
00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:20,320
You know, it could take, you know, by the time you box it

260
00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:22,280
and get it there, it might be received in four days,

261
00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,640
it could be three weeks or nightmares.

262
00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,560
I've seen lots of people go and they haven't checked

263
00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:29,880
all my stuff and yet it's been a month or two.

264
00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,840
So, you know, your book's not, they're not necessarily

265
00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,440
always gonna sell at what you're seeing this moment.

266
00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,360
Sometimes they can be more, but generally it's less.

267
00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:43,720
Yeah, a lot of the times it's usually, you know,

268
00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:48,080
at least I would say 10% less because your repricer,

269
00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:50,480
you know, if sure, you know, you're gonna have your one-offs

270
00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,560
where it goes up or it sells right away.

271
00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:54,400
But for the most part, you're always selling

272
00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,080
at least 10% less, your price is gonna take at least

273
00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:58,960
a day or two to get you the sale.

274
00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:00,520
And if it's a little, you know, slower moving,

275
00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:04,360
you figure if we're repricing 20 times a day at a penny,

276
00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:06,400
that's 20 cents a day per book.

277
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:08,840
So if you just compound that over how much you have

278
00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,160
in inventory, you know, you're talking, you know,

279
00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,040
hundreds of dollars over time, depending on how quick

280
00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:19,040
something is gonna sell, there's so many factors

281
00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,280
besides that number you see when you scan the book

282
00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:24,880
that a lot of sellers overlook, I think.

283
00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:27,560
No, 100%.

284
00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:31,880
So Paul, in your opinion, what is the most important number

285
00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:35,320
on your scanning tool when you're scanning?

286
00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:36,920
What do you think is the most important number?

287
00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:37,760
Is it the profit?

288
00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:38,600
Is it the e-score?

289
00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:39,760
Is it the sales rank?

290
00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:40,960
Is it the sales rank?

291
00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:45,920
You know, estimated profits, you know,

292
00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:47,920
is always gonna be the first, you know,

293
00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,640
as we've talked over time, you know, I mean, I just,

294
00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:52,920
without even getting deep into the analytics

295
00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,840
in the beginning, I knew that I had to sell books

296
00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,040
for more money, you know.

297
00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:03,360
So $35 profits fix a lot of wrong, right?

298
00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,240
Fixes a wrong e-score or a long tail book, you know,

299
00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:09,760
it fixes, there's 15 copies up there.

300
00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:12,920
So I think that's the first priority

301
00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:14,240
and then the other two come in there,

302
00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,880
yoke pretty closely, but we need to take,

303
00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:17,840
you know, it's a triangle, right?

304
00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,000
We need to take those three components together,

305
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,640
but stop buying $5 profit books, people.

306
00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:25,320
Just stop, stop, stop.

307
00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,440
If I could give any recommendation out there,

308
00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:33,520
you know, be looking, if you're an FBA model,

309
00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,440
you know, for where I am, you know,

310
00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:39,560
I don't buy much under $25 profit,

311
00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:42,760
unless it's, you know, it's got a 151, you know, e-score.

312
00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,520
You know, I had one month last year of over $12,000

313
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,480
only having 540 books in stock.

314
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,680
So it can be done, but if you don't know your numbers

315
00:12:54,680 --> 00:12:56,320
to know where you need to be,

316
00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:00,360
I think a lot of people are working potentially really hard

317
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,600
for, you know, very different results.

318
00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:05,440
Just keep scheme.

319
00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:06,280
Keep up to it.

320
00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:07,120
I am this person.

321
00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:08,560
I did that for this year.

322
00:13:08,560 --> 00:13:09,400
It sucked.

323
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:10,640
It sucked so much.

324
00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:12,240
Just keep scanning.

325
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,840
There are profitable books out there.

326
00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:16,040
It might not be the right store.

327
00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:20,120
You might not be on the right route, you know,

328
00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,280
depending on what you wanna call your days

329
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:23,680
that you go out in different directions

330
00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:24,960
to different places.

331
00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:26,640
And it may take you a quarter to figure out

332
00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,280
what are the right places for me to go to to buy books at.

333
00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,080
It's not instant.

334
00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:32,920
We all know that.

335
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:34,200
You don't just start this business

336
00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:35,800
and you're making money tomorrow.

337
00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,560
But if you figure out the right locations

338
00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:44,600
and just scan books, raise that profit number, Johnny,

339
00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,320
I think that fixes a lot of wrong to answer your question.

340
00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:48,800
I think so too.

341
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:49,880
I think so too.

342
00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:54,840
So, well, I guess I'll bounce it over to Mike.

343
00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,760
In your opinion, one of the most important numbers

344
00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:58,160
is like I asked Paul there,

345
00:13:58,160 --> 00:13:59,800
what are you thinking is the priority when scanning?

346
00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:00,680
Is it the profit?

347
00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:03,920
I mean, it has to be, right?

348
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,600
But I would contest that the sell through

349
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:09,320
matters just as much, right?

350
00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:13,160
But the profit is the ultimate driver.

351
00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,960
But it's like, if something's a super slow mover

352
00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:18,840
and the profit's there,

353
00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:20,320
is it worth taking a risk on that?

354
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,640
Or if it's the other way around,

355
00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,720
the E-score is super low and the profit's super high

356
00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:27,480
and you send it in and it never sells

357
00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:29,400
and it sits there for five years,

358
00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,240
all the fees you've accrued on that,

359
00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:32,840
then all of a sudden it doesn't make it worth it.

360
00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,960
It's like, you gotta find a balance between both of them

361
00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:37,080
for it to make sense.

362
00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:39,480
And I mean, I just kinda think about,

363
00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:41,880
let's break down a five-hour profit book

364
00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:45,040
with no buy costs that you scan out in a thrift store today.

365
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,120
So you see the $5 on Scout IQ,

366
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,080
whatever scan and app you're using.

367
00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:53,360
So that's gonna take into consideration the base FBA fee.

368
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,240
So the base FBA fee is out of the way.

369
00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,960
They're gonna factor in your storage fee

370
00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:00,760
forever, however long that is.

371
00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:02,960
We all know the fees are gonna continuously go up

372
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:04,720
and we're kind of in that situation now

373
00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:06,880
where fees are gonna be going up here this year.

374
00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:09,280
So it doesn't take that into consideration.

375
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:10,760
Your buy cost,

376
00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:12,400
because most of us use zero buy costs

377
00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,040
because everywhere we go is a different buy cost.

378
00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,080
So that's another thing we gotta take into consideration.

379
00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:20,720
And then your subscription fees.

380
00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,720
Honestly, I would say you'd probably make around two bucks

381
00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,600
if that's on the high end on a $5 book.

382
00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,720
If you're taking into consideration

383
00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,760
every single thing that's supposed to come out

384
00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:33,320
that you're not thinking about.

385
00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,200
Fuel, wear and tear on your car.

386
00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,560
There are a lot of things to consider in all this.

387
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,200
So let me ask you this, Paul.

388
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,600
I mean, you kind of mentioned this 151 e-score.

389
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:51,320
Would you pick up a $5 book with a 151 e-score?

390
00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:53,440
No, absolutely not.

391
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:54,520
Really?

392
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:55,720
I like it. Absolutely not.

393
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,160
Now, what's the minimum you would pick up

394
00:15:58,160 --> 00:15:59,720
on a 151 e-score?

395
00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:00,800
15 bucks.

396
00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:02,600
15 bucks. Wow.

397
00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:04,280
Because there's a lot of demand

398
00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:05,880
and there's a lot of jokers out there

399
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:07,680
that are just gonna undercut, undercut.

400
00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:09,360
Now that repricers hit those,

401
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,800
it's gonna get undercut profit-wise.

402
00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:16,200
And at some point the demand is gonna come down.

403
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:17,880
So 15 bucks.

404
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:18,840
I still gotta handle it.

405
00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:20,560
It's still my time.

406
00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,160
I'm still out there driving.

407
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,560
I don't even give it a second thought these days, Johnny.

408
00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:26,200
And a year ago,

409
00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,200
I would have snapped that book up in a heartbeat.

410
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:29,600
Nope, 15 bucks.

411
00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,280
I'm gonna ask you the same question, Mike.

412
00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:32,480
151 e-score.

413
00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:33,600
It's gonna sell, man.

414
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:35,440
It's gonna sell.

415
00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:37,600
What's the lowest you would take?

416
00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:39,200
In my defense,

417
00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,640
I have not been living the Paul life long enough to-

418
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:42,520
Peter, if I-

419
00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:43,360
To leave the-

420
00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:44,800
I know it's gonna be half the number Mike says here.

421
00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,600
I'm gonna say,

422
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,520
I'll say seven bucks.

423
00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:53,240
See, I'm picking mine up to three.

424
00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:54,800
350.

425
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:55,720
I mean- Or what?

426
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:57,320
It's crazy to think about though, right?

427
00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:59,240
We all have completely different things

428
00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:00,880
than Paul's talking about, you know.

429
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,560
He sold the half amount of books that I did.

430
00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:05,520
So he basically labeled half the amount of books,

431
00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:07,520
peeled half the amount of stickers,

432
00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:08,760
selling books on Amazon,

433
00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,120
and basically made the same amount of money as me.

434
00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:12,800
So it's crazy to think about

435
00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:15,440
when you really start looking at the numbers.

436
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:17,560
Just because something's profitable

437
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,040
doesn't mean you should buy it and try to sell it.

438
00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:22,080
That's 100% not the right way to look at it.

439
00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:24,840
You should be analyzing what you're sending in

440
00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:26,440
and have a business model that makes sense.

441
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:29,320
Because if you just go in and buy everything that's green,

442
00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,480
even if you have Paul's triggers,

443
00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:33,720
you're still gonna be buying stuff

444
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:34,720
you shouldn't be buying, right?

445
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:37,280
You have to analyze every single book.

446
00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:38,600
And I've been getting better at doing this

447
00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:39,800
because previously I was just like,

448
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:41,360
oh, it's an accept, throw it in the cart.

449
00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:43,080
I'm not even looking to see what's going on

450
00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,840
with the screen, with the offers.

451
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:48,640
We all know the FBA offers get way out of line sometimes.

452
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:50,360
So there's a lot that goes into it,

453
00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:52,640
kind of that I used to overlook.

454
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:54,960
And now this year I'm trying to pivot

455
00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,800
and be more smart about my time, my money,

456
00:17:57,800 --> 00:17:58,880
and the bottom line.

457
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:01,560
So basically you create less work for yourself,

458
00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,600
but you make the same, if not more money.

459
00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:08,440
No, I agree.

460
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:12,400
Now, Paul, your model that you've been working with

461
00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:16,720
is essentially anti-bulk model.

462
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,680
It's very choosy on what you pick up.

463
00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,360
Now, thinking about your own business here,

464
00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:25,160
if you were to scale up what you did in bulk,

465
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,440
how would you imagine that working with employees

466
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,320
in a factory kind of the other way?

467
00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:32,640
The only way I could do more of it,

468
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,840
yeah, get one of my less than exuberant grandchildren

469
00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,320
involved or somebody that I gotta teach the business to

470
00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:41,640
a little bit involved.

471
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:44,120
But yeah, it would have to be other people.

472
00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:46,120
I know my area, I know where the profitable books are.

473
00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:47,600
I have a lot of competition.

474
00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:51,080
But yeah, there have to be other people involved

475
00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:53,640
sending them out to get books for me.

476
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,400
Do you have stores that you just never go to?

477
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:57,240
Absolutely.

478
00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,240
But you know, or stores that the frequency,

479
00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:05,120
you know, you hit them enough times to know that, okay,

480
00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:07,280
and once you ask the question,

481
00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:09,040
how many books do they get in, how often,

482
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:10,760
depending on their operations,

483
00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:15,000
you know, you hit them once every two weeks or once a month,

484
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,040
or you just hit them by happenstance when you're by,

485
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:21,320
because the bottom of the barrel gets to that point, right?

486
00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:22,880
And again, the numbers tell, right?

487
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:27,640
I track every one of my SKUs has coding information into it.

488
00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,360
So I can tell you what store I bought it from,

489
00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:33,280
the day I bought it from, how long it was at Amazon.

490
00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:35,760
And I do that with a minimal amount of effort, you know,

491
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:37,800
I have Scanlist to do most of that work,

492
00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,560
just by encoding the beginning part of my FNSKU number

493
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,760
with some information that has date coding in it.

494
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:49,760
And source information, you know, in there.

495
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:51,880
So, you know, time will tell, okay,

496
00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:53,200
how many books are you buying there?

497
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,200
And what, you know, what percentage are you flipping them at?

498
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,760
You know, I can tell you I bought 1,750 books last year

499
00:19:58,760 --> 00:19:59,960
and I sold 1,800 once.

500
00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:04,960
So my sell through at least on a 365 day basis is 102%.

501
00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,760
So I'm selling everything that I get, you know,

502
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,040
and a few of those were left over from the previous year.

503
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,120
So if you're not tracking, you know,

504
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,000
you'll eventually figure it out just by memory, right?

505
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,080
That, hey, these are selling, these are not, you know?

506
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:24,080
But tracking it properly will answer the question for you.

507
00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:29,080
I admit that was kind of my big thing was

508
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:32,600
understanding your sources and how profitable they are

509
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,920
with your sell through and just in general, right?

510
00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:35,920
Because he's talking about,

511
00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:39,560
he's selling 102% of stuff he lists.

512
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,600
Now for me, it's probably closer to like 80, right?

513
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,600
So then I got to factor in, not only am I doing more work,

514
00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:46,680
but I'm also paying more

515
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:48,280
because I have to get all these things removed

516
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:49,720
and, you know, liquidated.

517
00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,560
So there's even more expenses by not being as picky

518
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,160
and smart about what you're buying

519
00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:58,040
than just being dumb when you buy the thing.

520
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,440
There's actually long-term repercussions,

521
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,480
not just right then and there at the buy.

522
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:08,080
Now for you, Paul, do restock limits matter?

523
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:09,560
No, nope.

524
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:13,000
Care to expand for the audience out there?

525
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,000
Well, again, it depends on your average sale price, right?

526
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,400
My average sale price is 36 and change and, you know,

527
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:22,920
12 grand in a month is, you know,

528
00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,440
income wise, there's nothing to sneeze at.

529
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,160
And again, I did that one month,

530
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:28,960
and that carried me through the end of the year.

531
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:30,880
I stopped scanning and sourcing then

532
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:32,880
because I knew that social security was coming

533
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,400
and I was starting my retirement phase of life, right?

534
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,000
I'm still scanning, still selling now

535
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:37,920
just on a smaller level,

536
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:42,920
but if you can sell 12 grand in a month on say 600 books,

537
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:45,960
do you need to worry about storage limits?

538
00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:47,880
Only if they go to 599.

539
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:51,080
Again, it's all about, you know,

540
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:52,880
for me it was about average sale price, right?

541
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:54,520
And like Mike said earlier, yeah, you know,

542
00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:55,360
it's a triangle, right?

543
00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:57,000
You do have to factor the other items in.

544
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,280
I'm not buying, you know, that I,

545
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,720
I think I sold three or five books last year

546
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,600
for over $300.

547
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,360
You know, I remember one of those distinctly,

548
00:22:05,360 --> 00:22:08,680
it was about mechanics of heat pumps

549
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:09,800
and heat transfer or something.

550
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,600
It was a book from 1994, wasn't even a modern book.

551
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,920
And the E score was two.

552
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:19,600
So I'm like, all right,

553
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:21,240
it's gonna take me six months to sell this book,

554
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:26,240
but I bought it for 299 and it was listed for 333 or 338,

555
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:27,480
one of those two.

556
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,680
I sold it in two months.

557
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:31,840
It got returned eight months later

558
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:33,760
and Amazon accepted the return.

559
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,000
And I was thrilled about that,

560
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,880
but then it sold two weeks later for 333 again.

561
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,360
So I sold the same book, you know, twice.

562
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:44,400
So yeah, I mean, if, you know, long tail is okay,

563
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:45,680
as long as there's hundreds of dollars

564
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,280
of profit involved in it, you know,

565
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:48,960
was there some risk there?

566
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:50,280
Yeah, there was $3 worth of risk

567
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,280
and maybe a little bit of, you know,

568
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,600
but I think the key, you know, again,

569
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,840
is just keep scanning until you find

570
00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:58,760
the more profitable books.

571
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,520
So to answer your question, I'm not worried about it.

572
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,360
I just, I'm not worried about it.

573
00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:05,320
I didn't need to scale beyond that.

574
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,160
And again, I might be in a little different boat.

575
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,680
My house is paid for, my cars are paid for and all that.

576
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:11,200
So I didn't need as much income,

577
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,960
but I know if I hit that number one month,

578
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:15,440
I could hit that number every month

579
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,600
and that's going out four days a week

580
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:18,880
and putting four good days in

581
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,120
and one day of processing, we'll say.

582
00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:23,160
A fairly normal work week.

583
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:24,000
Nice.

584
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,680
Now, do you do anything besides Amazon

585
00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:28,760
as far as the book business goes?

586
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:30,640
Do you do eBay, Macari?

587
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,240
I do have a, I do have an eBay account.

588
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:38,240
We got about 265 feedbacks over there going back to 1999.

589
00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,720
So long, a long time.

590
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:46,280
I think I sold probably a half a dozen books last year

591
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,720
on eBay, not a lot, you know, things, you know,

592
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,960
but things that I'm picking up that are worth a hundred bucks

593
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,920
and they're still selling for at least, you know, $80.

594
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,720
I don't do anything on eBay unless it's a $50 bill.

595
00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,240
If it's not a $50 bill, I don't know.

596
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,080
If it's a $50 bill, I don't, you know,

597
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,120
I don't do anything over there.

598
00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:03,960
So I do sell some other stuff, some other-

599
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:05,520
$50 bill a while back.

600
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:06,880
So I like Paul's answer here.

601
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:08,560
I like it a lot.

602
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,560
You know, I do some other, you know, hard goods

603
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,280
and some, you know, mid-century, early-century glass.

604
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,640
There's some areas I have some expertise in

605
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:18,240
and, you know, when I truck around the, you know,

606
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,920
thrift stores, you know, pick a few items up, you know,

607
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,480
here and there and, you know, not enough that it's, you know,

608
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:26,360
I was having too much fun and making, you know,

609
00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:27,680
much more money selling books.

610
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:29,960
So I moved away from some of that stuff.

611
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:30,880
Sure, sure.

612
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,880
But now that just backs up what we talked about

613
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:33,840
on our previous podcast.

614
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:35,320
I mentioned if you're pure part-time,

615
00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,960
you probably just want to focus $50 books or more.

616
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:39,600
So I love that he said $50.

617
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:41,640
It makes me so happy on the inside.

618
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:43,840
I'm going to, I'll be the little guy here

619
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,080
that's probably listening to this right now saying,

620
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:48,840
how the, there ain't no way I'm finding $35

621
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,920
on average profit books out in my thrift store.

622
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,480
What would your response be to that?

623
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:56,240
I'd make sure that I'm hitting thrift stores

624
00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,800
that are not too far from anything to do with college towns.

625
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,920
That's, you know, that's key, right?

626
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,080
Cause it's about reference, it's about medical, you know,

627
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:10,280
we have self-help, you know, in there, certainly any anime,

628
00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,840
you know, good anime and graphic stuff, novels we could find,

629
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,880
but, you know, and there are some categories

630
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:18,120
that surprised me here and there,

631
00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:23,120
whether they're, you know, gardening books or, or quilting

632
00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:26,520
quilting books, if we went through my listing right now,

633
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:27,960
we brought up the number of quilting books

634
00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,720
that I sold for 25 to $80.

635
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:35,040
I bought one that was on blueberry quilts of Baltimore

636
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,760
or some, it's like 12 pages.

637
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,720
I mean, you know how big most quilting books are

638
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,760
that sold for $85.

639
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,120
I paid 99 cents for it, you know?

640
00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:47,720
So there are some categories that could surprise you,

641
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,400
but in my experience,

642
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,920
if you don't have densely populated areas,

643
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:58,720
the thrift stores that are in more college areas

644
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:00,200
have better books.

645
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,440
Cause in the end we're not buying fiction stuff, right?

646
00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,280
Most of it is reference or teaching or it's at a, you know,

647
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,080
it's a vertical amount guns or, you know, war can be decent,

648
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,000
you know, when you scan, you know, through those.

649
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,680
But I love going through crafting as well,

650
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:15,880
which you can find anywhere.

651
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:20,560
You're not allowed to kind of buy eBay store then, Paul,

652
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,080
cause this is all fiction mainly on my eBay store.

653
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:23,920
Okay.

654
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:25,240
I agree with you on the Amazon front,

655
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,320
absolutely non-fiction is the way to go.

656
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:31,160
So get better sources is what this whole thing sums up to.

657
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,240
Spend enough time in your thrift stores

658
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,160
to make sure that you're getting the books

659
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:41,800
when they first come out.

660
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,480
Because you don't know how, you know,

661
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:46,800
unless you see them, you don't know who else was there,

662
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,840
right? Or how many, you know, I think Reezy Reese said once,

663
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:51,000
you know, if you go there all the time

664
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:51,840
and you're not finding anything,

665
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,480
it's cause one of my ninjas already knew what time the books

666
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:55,800
or whatever it was going to be out.

667
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:57,800
And he already snagged them, you know,

668
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,080
making sure that when they're putting books out,

669
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:04,880
you are there as first as you can be.

670
00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:09,200
And then, cause that's the only way to answer the question

671
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:10,320
and ask them, you know,

672
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,640
are these just books that came into your store?

673
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,840
You know, like in my area, you know, one of my large,

674
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,040
actually both, you know,

675
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,320
Goodwill and my other large source here,

676
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,480
they ship all their books to a central location.

677
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,760
Goodwill does resell online here.

678
00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:27,840
They go by Ivy League, Ivy League something,

679
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,000
and they have a couple hundred thousand feedback.

680
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,680
That's how long they've been doing it.

681
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,440
They have a handicap people scan the books

682
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,800
and then what they don't sell online themselves on Amazon,

683
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,400
they redistribute back out to the stores.

684
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:44,720
Now, not all of the stores comply with that

685
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:46,080
because they don't get enough books in,

686
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:47,240
they only put out what they get.

687
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,120
So a couple of them just don't follow all the rules.

688
00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:52,840
And those folks don't catch everything.

689
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,760
There's a Barnes and Noble label on the back of it.

690
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:55,600
They don't peel it off.

691
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:57,480
They just scan the Barnes and Noble and ship it out,

692
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:00,160
you know, or they don't look up ISBNs or anything.

693
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,640
But that was as much of my success

694
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,480
to answer the question Johnny asked me earlier,

695
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,560
you know, as making sure that I was scanning

696
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,680
the right profit, getting to know the stores,

697
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:13,080
knowing when those books went out

698
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,680
and making sure I'm there first.

699
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:17,560
Now, beyond the chains,

700
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:22,640
what do you think is the best sourcing places?

701
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:27,640
Is it with estate sales, garage sales, mom and pops, auctions?

702
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,000
One of my favorite sources from last year

703
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:36,040
was going to Craigslist and looking up church rummage sales.

704
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:40,760
I went to a St. Mary's sale.

705
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,160
I don't know, I think it was like August.

706
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:47,200
This place had no AC, it was 110 degrees inside.

707
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,560
And there was a gazillion people in line.

708
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:52,880
I was there on Friday night, $10 early bird special.

709
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,040
I went in and there were thousands of books

710
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,080
and boxes all over the floor.

711
00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:58,720
And the first four books I scanned

712
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,640
were all the same nurses book that all sold for $91 each.

713
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,280
I spent $60 that day and those books sold for,

714
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:12,280
let me see, I got my sheet up here, $1,600 in short order.

715
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,480
So, that's just one of them.

716
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,400
I love those, because they're not commonplace

717
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,640
and people like to donate to the church rummage sale

718
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:25,480
and mom and dad gather up whatever college books

719
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:26,320
or whatever was left.

720
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,000
And there was great racing books.

721
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,160
There was everything in there.

722
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:31,920
Obviously lots of religious books.

723
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:33,040
It was a school as well.

724
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,600
So they had lots of teaching material in there

725
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,040
from this Catholic school.

726
00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,480
But that's one of my favorite places to go.

727
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,280
Mom and pops could be so hit or miss.

728
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:42,480
I'm sure you know, Johnny, I mean,

729
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,880
they just don't get that many books donated

730
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:46,640
a lot of times, they don't.

731
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:50,200
So I tend to hit them along the way,

732
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:54,000
occasionally in between my other stops

733
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:55,200
or just ask them some questions

734
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:56,680
about when they put them out.

735
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:58,120
Or, hey, if you get a donation of books here,

736
00:29:58,120 --> 00:29:59,320
would you mind if I leave your number?

737
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:00,800
I leave my number for you.

738
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,920
And if you gave me a call, I'd gladly come over

739
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,360
if you get a couple of boxes with the books.

740
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:06,600
And that's worked out.

741
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:07,880
Just, you know, they'll let you know,

742
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:09,920
hey, somebody just dropped off a truckload of books,

743
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,320
you know, you go check them out, you know,

744
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:15,080
as time permits.

745
00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:19,560
But for me, 98% of my books come from

746
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,240
two big name-chained thrift stores.

747
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,080
Now, I'm glad you mentioned the church rum in itself

748
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:28,960
because one of my best little pickups this year

749
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,120
was a pastor who died.

750
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,840
I got his personal library, his church library.

751
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:35,320
And after I was done packing it all,

752
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,120
my truck was fully loaded down.

753
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,840
She comes out to me, the lady who was selling me all the stuff.

754
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:41,520
It's like, you want his bookshelves too?

755
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,200
I'm like, yeah, I do.

756
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:45,160
I still got them.

757
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:46,560
These are custom built by him.

758
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:48,440
They're like eight, 10, 15 shelves.

759
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,160
I'm like, I don't know how I'm gonna put it on the truck,

760
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,360
but yes, I'm gonna take them.

761
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:54,200
Nice.

762
00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:55,880
So when you figure out your number, right?

763
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,160
So say, you know, you go down this rabbit hole like I did,

764
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:00,760
and you actually break down your numbers

765
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,400
and you see exactly what you're making, what you're losing,

766
00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:06,640
it's gonna blow your mind.

767
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:08,920
Every single person that actually sits down

768
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:10,600
and looks at that number, you know,

769
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,480
hey, I'll make it 80 cents per book,

770
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,560
even though what I'm out scanning, it says $5.

771
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,200
It's gonna make you think completely different

772
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,600
about your business and your business model.

773
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,080
And I know it's hard to sit here and think to yourself,

774
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,360
you know, wow, there's no way this works at that level,

775
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,000
but clearly it does because Paul's proof of it.

776
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,960
So, and there's many other people out there like Paul

777
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:36,120
that don't have nowhere near the inventory that we carry

778
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:37,960
and are making a whole lot more money,

779
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,440
doing a whole lot less work when it comes to Amazon.

780
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,640
So you gotta get in your head.

781
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:45,000
Sure, you can do it, you know, my way

782
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:46,920
and try to send in thousands and thousands,

783
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,120
but as fees increase, your margins get slimmer

784
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:51,560
and slimmer and slimmer,

785
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,120
and you're not turning your dollar into five anymore.

786
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,080
You're turning your dollar into a dollar 10.

787
00:31:56,080 --> 00:32:00,320
And unfortunately, that's not sustainable in the long run.

788
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:05,320
The other cool thing about knowing your numbers, Mike,

789
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:07,600
the peace of mind you have when you know

790
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,840
that you can go out this week and you follow this model

791
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,000
and you will make money, period.

792
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,520
Not to worry about it.

793
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,280
Buy scanbooks at my model, I will make money.

794
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:20,520
Guaranteed.

795
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:21,800
Guaranteed.

796
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:23,200
You don't even gotta keep track of your numbers.

797
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:25,880
You just do it once and figure out where you gotta be.

798
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,600
That's why I built the spreadsheet that I did

799
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,760
that it requires so little maintenance.

800
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,920
You just, you know, you enter your receipts

801
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:37,440
and you send your books in,

802
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,440
and then you download an Amazon report

803
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,040
that the query will automatically pull in for you.

804
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:45,680
And now we have it set up so that it'll merge years for us

805
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:47,360
and we can look back across time

806
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,120
and the answers are right there.

807
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:56,040
So what do you see the evolution of your model doing?

808
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:56,880
Or is it just gonna be,

809
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:58,960
is this is the model never needs to change?

810
00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,440
Well, of course it potentially would need to change.

811
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:04,160
You know, the, you know,

812
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:06,920
cause Amazon's model isn't what it was 20 years ago

813
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:08,760
or what it was five years ago, you know,

814
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,760
and, you know, they're gonna dictate how we need to morph.

815
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:14,200
Things are a little different in my world too.

816
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,800
Now that I'm collecting social security, you know,

817
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:18,720
I'm gonna keep things around a thousand dollars a month,

818
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:21,320
which means I'll work a couple of days, you know,

819
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,280
something in that range.

820
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,680
Do another grand a month for my wife on the eBay account.

821
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:26,840
I switched it over to her name

822
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:28,480
before the beginning of the year.

823
00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:32,600
So, yeah, and even if I only make half of that,

824
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:33,720
I'm still, you know,

825
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:35,720
social security more than covers all of my bills

826
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,720
and then some, so, yeah,

827
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:40,680
but I'll still certainly keep up on it, you know,

828
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,880
stay part of the group and, you know, as you know, you know,

829
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:47,440
I do anything I can to help anybody out in the group, so.

830
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:48,720
Now you've gone above and beyond

831
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:50,720
and all the work you've done for the group,

832
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,240
all is highly appreciated, so thank you.

833
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:54,080
Oh, you're welcome.

834
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:55,400
Yeah, last week I even drugged one of the guys

835
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:56,760
and he's like, well, I'll try and figure this out.

836
00:33:56,760 --> 00:33:57,920
I'm like, I got my room open, dude,

837
00:33:57,920 --> 00:33:59,120
get your butt over here.

838
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:00,200
And I think we were,

839
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,040
I think we spent two and a half hours the other night.

840
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:04,840
And he's one of the newer guys.

841
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:09,240
It's the best thing that my membership offers

842
00:34:09,240 --> 00:34:10,560
and it's not even mine, right?

843
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:12,000
I got nothing to do with it.

844
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:14,800
It's Paul and his analytics and his spreadsheet.

845
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,080
I'm just like, hey, I stumbled across this guy

846
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,080
on the corner, he knows a lot of stuff.

847
00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:23,280
So someone keeps sending you a cut

848
00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:25,520
of his YouTube money, right, Paul, right?

849
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:28,720
That's not why I do it.

850
00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:32,120
You know, none of us get through life on our own, right?

851
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:36,280
There's no magic book in doing, you know,

852
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:37,880
I don't care what you're reselling, right?

853
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:41,320
You pay for your, you know,

854
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,200
you pay for everything that we do,

855
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,960
whether it's with your time on YouTube,

856
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,440
your time and experimenting, you pay with your money,

857
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:51,200
you know, and figuring this out.

858
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,880
So your education gets paid for one way or the other.

859
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,280
And people have helped me out along the way,

860
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:57,680
just from a YouTube perspective.

861
00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:59,200
And Mike's such a nice guy and everybody

862
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:00,040
in the group was great.

863
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,360
And I'm like, let's do a couple of classes

864
00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:05,240
and make this work.

865
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:07,680
I will attest that I didn't know nothing about Excel

866
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:08,840
when I started his class.

867
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:10,680
And this is gonna be something that I talk about,

868
00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:12,080
you know, 50 years down the road.

869
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,880
It took me 50 minutes to install Microsoft Excel

870
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:16,720
to even get into his first class.

871
00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:19,840
And now I can upload my spreadsheet, you know,

872
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:21,800
it takes two seconds to do.

873
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,920
And I think the overall takeaway here is that

874
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,920
no matter what happens, sooner or later,

875
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,640
you're gonna have to raise your profit,

876
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:30,720
what you're looking to get.

877
00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:32,080
It's never gonna go down.

878
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,000
Your potential when you're out scanning,

879
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,160
it's never gonna go from $5 to $4.

880
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:37,920
You're always gonna be working up.

881
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,400
So why not put the pieces in place now to be smarter,

882
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:42,640
work smarter, not harder.

883
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,720
This is basically, you know, the perfect example of it.

884
00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:47,200
So where you're being more selective

885
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:48,920
on what you're out there buying,

886
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,200
you're actually looking at what you're buying.

887
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,600
You're not just buying it because it says to buy

888
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,600
and understanding your business down to that exact number

889
00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,680
where you know, if I buy a book, I'm making money on it.

890
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,280
Unlike me where, oh yeah, I'm buying this $4 profit book

891
00:36:03,280 --> 00:36:05,360
when in actuality I was probably losing, you know,

892
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,600
10, 25 cents when that sold, but I never knew that

893
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:10,560
because I was just going off the initial, you know,

894
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:12,200
scat IQ screen.

895
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:13,040
Right.

896
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:15,200
And everything does end up being averages.

897
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:17,320
You know, we need to know what our average buy cost is.

898
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:21,640
I may be buying books anywhere from 49 cents to $12,

899
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:22,760
but what's my average?

900
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,560
And that's what I keep in scat IQ for me, you know,

901
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:26,560
is what my average is

902
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:28,320
because that's what it's gonna be in the end.

903
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,520
And that's how, from an IRS perspective,

904
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:31,640
when we go to do our taxes,

905
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:33,280
it's never getting down to a book level.

906
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,320
I bought 50 books this month, I sold 40.

907
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:37,560
How much did you spend for the 50

908
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:39,640
and you get the right 40 of them off

909
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:40,960
because that's what you sold this month.

910
00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,680
And it's just the average of the books that you have.

911
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:45,200
And you have a running average, you know,

912
00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:46,600
each month throughout the year,

913
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,160
it just skews each month.

914
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:50,600
And then you have a carryover, you know,

915
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:53,040
from 2022 to 2023,

916
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,600
we're gonna end up with X amount of books in inventory

917
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:57,080
and an average cost price.

918
00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,400
That's just our starting number of inventory.

919
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,480
So if we know what the, you know, the averages are,

920
00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:04,320
because you know your numbers,

921
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:09,320
then it makes making decisions at the fields easier.

922
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,640
Maybe not easy, but it makes them easier

923
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:13,840
because we've all been standing up those books.

924
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:14,680
Do I get this?

925
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:15,520
Do I get this?

926
00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:19,240
When it's on the fence, if it's in my cart

927
00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:22,280
and I'm at the register, I'm making money.

928
00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:24,040
That's what I wanna know.

929
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:27,280
What is the most expensive book you bought this year,

930
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:28,120
dollar wise?

931
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:32,520
30 bucks.

932
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:33,560
Mine was 22.

933
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:35,280
Yeah, 30.

934
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,640
And I didn't buy a lot of books over that $10 number.

935
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,400
And I think last year it was probably about $25.

936
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:46,840
I bought a Bible that, and it didn't sell for a ton,

937
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:51,080
like 75, but you know, $50 profit is $50 profit, right?

938
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:55,000
You know, it's a high cost of goods for us, but yeah,

939
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,360
those have to be pretty known winners

940
00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:58,920
to spend that amount of money on them.

941
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:03,200
And I think for me this year, it was a graphic novel.

942
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:04,040
Nice.

943
00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:07,160
I guess I'll tailspin off this question.

944
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,720
What is the most you would ever pay for a book?

945
00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:10,560
Or does it matter if-

946
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:11,720
It doesn't matter.

947
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:12,560
It doesn't matter.

948
00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:14,600
Doesn't matter.

949
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:16,440
I care about how much money I'm gonna make, right?

950
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,160
Now, assuming you have the cashflow,

951
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:19,440
I'll be able to do it, right?

952
00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:21,160
Because if you're buying $2,000 books

953
00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:24,280
and they take two months to sell and you got 50 of them,

954
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,480
you know, you gotta have pretty deep pockets

955
00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:28,840
or a credit card with, you know, some, you know,

956
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:29,760
a deep well in it.

957
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,560
So, no, I care about how much you're gonna make it.

958
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,360
And you know, how long the tail is

959
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:36,680
does come into play there, Johnny.

960
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,720
I mean, if it's, you know, what it's gonna be,

961
00:38:39,720 --> 00:38:41,160
but I really don't care.

962
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,920
As long as I can move it in a timely fashion,

963
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:46,840
it doesn't matter what I pay for it.

964
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:48,600
I was listening to some guy a while back.

965
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:50,560
He mentioned very something similar to him

966
00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:51,640
that he transformed.

967
00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,560
He was doing the like the five buck model,

968
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,400
but then he started upping his buy cost,

969
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:57,960
but with a higher margin at the end of it.

970
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,040
And he made out all right, actually.

971
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,720
I think he made $250,000 for the year.

972
00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:05,000
I think he was on Caleb's channel at some point,

973
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:06,960
one of their little get together seminars

974
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:07,920
he was speaking about that.

975
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:09,680
Right, yep.

976
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,520
You don't lose money, you just find less,

977
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:13,680
you take home less.

978
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:14,760
So don't get in the mindset

979
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,400
that you're not bringing as many books home,

980
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:18,840
so you're not making as much money.

981
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:20,560
It's almost the complete opposite.

982
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:23,400
You're bringing less home and making more money.

983
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,040
Because if you look at it on the scale of Amazon,

984
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,720
they're gonna take their flat $758.

985
00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:30,520
So you sell a book for 12,

986
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:32,160
and you're not getting nowhere near half of that

987
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:33,840
where Paul sells his book for 30,

988
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,520
he's probably getting closer to 55% of that sale.

989
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:38,480
So you're actually making more money

990
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,240
when you're selling higher dollar items on Amazon

991
00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:42,720
than your lower dollar stuff.

992
00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:47,640
Right, now what I'm trying to figure out in my head

993
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:51,920
with Paul's model, how do I still keep my big old dream

994
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:53,880
in the sky of my book factory going, right?

995
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:55,320
Warehouse employees.

996
00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:56,240
I think he mentioned that.

997
00:39:56,240 --> 00:39:57,240
It's the same thing,

998
00:39:57,240 --> 00:39:59,760
except instead of staying in the factory,

999
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,120
I'm sending those employees more out of the factory

1000
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:03,400
to come back to the factory.

1001
00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:06,840
Because like you said, you pick it up a lot less, right?

1002
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,200
There's only so many mad hours you personally can do

1003
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:10,400
during the day.

1004
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:14,520
So that's a very interesting thing for me to digest

1005
00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:15,360
and think on this year.

1006
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,320
How would I do that with Paul's model?

1007
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:18,760
Because I like Paul's model very much.

1008
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:21,560
I'm just trying to figure out how to do that in big scale.

1009
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:24,880
I think we're gonna,

1010
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,600
we're gonna give our final thoughts here on numbers

1011
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:28,680
before we get out of here.

1012
00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:30,840
So I'll give mine and then we can go to Johnny

1013
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:32,440
and then we'll let Paul end it off

1014
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:34,640
since he's the numbers guy.

1015
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:36,680
So for me, like I said,

1016
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,280
I didn't know my numbers down to the point

1017
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,120
where I know exactly how much I'm making.

1018
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:46,720
It was 100% eye-opening to me to see after all your expenses,

1019
00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:48,960
all your costs, all your fees,

1020
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,520
fees you don't even see on Amazon that exist.

1021
00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:54,240
You're not including the storage fees, things like that,

1022
00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:57,280
removal fees all across the board.

1023
00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:00,880
It's gonna change your whole perspective on your business

1024
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:01,840
no matter what you're doing,

1025
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:03,800
whether you're doing media, anything.

1026
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:07,680
It's gonna completely change how you source

1027
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:09,960
and the choices you make when you're outsourcing.

1028
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:12,240
I think that's the biggest takeaway is

1029
00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:14,720
you wanna work smarter, not harder,

1030
00:41:14,720 --> 00:41:16,200
and you wanna make money,

1031
00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,680
and you wanna know when you buy something at the store

1032
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:21,200
that you're gonna make money on that item guaranteed.

1033
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:23,720
You don't wanna have to worry about if the price tanks,

1034
00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:25,640
if it sits in the warehouse for a month,

1035
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:29,360
what things you're not thinking about.

1036
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:30,440
You don't wanna have to worry about that.

1037
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,200
So you wanna have a business model in place

1038
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,880
where you go into thrift store, whatever you leave with,

1039
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:38,800
I'm guaranteed that I'm gonna make money on that item.

1040
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:40,040
So I'm gonna leave it there.

1041
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,160
I love understanding my numbers on that scale.

1042
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,240
I know it might sound like kind of micromanaging to be like,

1043
00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:47,240
well, why do you gotta know

1044
00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:49,040
how much you made exactly on every book?

1045
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:51,680
But honestly, if you don't know your numbers,

1046
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:53,160
for all you know, you're losing money, right?

1047
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,440
You're just getting the money back or less that you send out

1048
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,520
because people aren't keeping track down to that level

1049
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:01,000
of exactly what the sell through is on a book

1050
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:02,840
and how much they made on a specific book.

1051
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:04,520
So get smart about your numbers.

1052
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,720
That's my last go ahead with the numbers.

1053
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:08,680
I'll throw it over to Johnny B.

1054
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:11,120
See, I think for me, the big learning thing this year was

1055
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:16,120
how much can I make on listing very, very low?

1056
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:18,200
And I got my results on that.

1057
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,040
So I know my answer.

1058
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,400
You can make a decent amount of money,

1059
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:24,240
but you can't make a lot of money doing it,

1060
00:42:24,240 --> 00:42:27,160
at least as a solo person doing it the way this way is done.

1061
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:28,840
And even on a larger scale,

1062
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:31,200
it would require a huge operation to do

1063
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,600
and a lot of money to sink in to do it that way.

1064
00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:36,640
So that's why I'm gonna be transitioning

1065
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:41,640
after talking to Mike and Paul a lot to pour more,

1066
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:46,440
again, work smarter, not harder kind of model.

1067
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,240
And I think that will do me well.

1068
00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:49,440
I know how to do it at the lower end.

1069
00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:50,880
If I ever need to do it for whatever reason,

1070
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:52,680
like Amazon shut the doors, I'm just stuck with eBay.

1071
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:54,480
Well, I know how to play the eBay game.

1072
00:42:54,480 --> 00:42:57,200
eBay game is a fun game to play and I'm still playing it,

1073
00:42:57,200 --> 00:42:59,560
but I'm gonna focus more on Amazon this year

1074
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:04,120
and using mainly what Paul and Mike's models

1075
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:05,680
are going forward.

1076
00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:08,200
So, see ya.

1077
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:11,560
Numbers guy, here we go, the grand finale.

1078
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:12,600
That leaves me.

1079
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:14,840
And I heard a story way back when once,

1080
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,760
and I even forget what the initial topic was,

1081
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:22,200
but it's that there's an archery contest held every year

1082
00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:24,560
for the best of the best of the best.

1083
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:26,120
And the world champion is gonna be there.

1084
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:29,920
And most of the time when this guy enters the competition,

1085
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,360
everybody else drops out because they never have a chance.

1086
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,560
And I tell you that you're gonna enter this contest

1087
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:38,320
and you're going to beat him without any question.

1088
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:39,760
You're going to beat him.

1089
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,480
And I know you've never shot a bow and arrow.

1090
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,280
And of course, I'll have to insist that he's blindfolded.

1091
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,440
And you can't hit a target you don't have.

1092
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:51,240
And if you don't know which numbers are,

1093
00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:52,880
then you're guessing.

1094
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:54,440
And at the end of the year, your wife's going,

1095
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:56,240
and I thought we were making more money than that.

1096
00:43:56,240 --> 00:43:58,560
So your girlfriend or your landlord

1097
00:43:58,560 --> 00:43:59,920
or your mortgage holder, whatever.

1098
00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:02,000
So if you know your numbers

1099
00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:03,240
and you want to increase your game,

1100
00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:04,440
it's the only way to go.

1101
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:06,840
All right.

1102
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:07,960
We appreciate you all listening.

1103
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,280
Hopefully when you're listening to this on Wednesday,

1104
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,120
you see Paul here, he's wearing a Cowboys hat.

1105
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:15,560
Hopefully the Cowboys have won their game here

1106
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:17,200
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

1107
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:19,240
So fingers crossed for that.

1108
00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:20,800
Tom Brady.

1109
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:21,640
Go ahead.

1110
00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:25,880
Unbelievable, this guy's hating on Tom Brady,

1111
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:27,240
but it is what it is, right?

1112
00:44:27,240 --> 00:44:29,640
He knows his number so he can hate on whoever he wants.

1113
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:31,320
Cause he knows at the end of the day,

1114
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,280
he's making a whole bunch of money selling books on Amazon

1115
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:37,120
and he has a buy cost and an average sales price

1116
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:40,240
that we can only dream about having as cherry pickers, right?

1117
00:44:40,240 --> 00:44:41,560
So get smarter.

1118
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,120
Maybe you don't take the full leap today

1119
00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:45,800
and you go crazy with it

1120
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:48,480
and you're looking for 25 plus dollar profit items.

1121
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,600
But I challenge everybody that listens to this

1122
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:52,640
to take a step back.

1123
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:54,720
If you don't know your numbers and you're in the group,

1124
00:44:54,720 --> 00:44:56,240
you're in the YouTube membership,

1125
00:44:56,240 --> 00:44:57,560
just dive into his spreadsheet.

1126
00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:58,840
He's doing classes again.

1127
00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:00,120
He's available all the time.

1128
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,000
All you gotta do is shoot him a message

1129
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,280
and he'll walk you through everything

1130
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:06,080
and just start being smarter with it.

1131
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,360
You know, have a higher expectation for your time,

1132
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:10,800
value your time a little bit more

1133
00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:13,840
and just get comfortable with leaving, you know,

1134
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,680
five, six, seven, eight, nine, $10 profit books behind.

1135
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:18,760
It's okay.

1136
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:19,920
It's less work for you.

1137
00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:22,080
And it might be saving you money in the long run

1138
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:23,760
because I guarantee you don't know exactly

1139
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:25,200
how much you're making on those today.

1140
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:27,600
So we will talk to you guys in the next episode.

1141
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:28,440
Everybody have a good one.

1142
00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:29,280
Bye bye.

1143
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:30,520
Thanks for listening to another episode

1144
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:32,560
of the Resellers Mindset Podcast.

1145
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:34,880
Today's full episode and all previous episodes

1146
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,000
are available to all YouTube members

1147
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,800
along with the weekly Zoom call and private Discord.

1148
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,960
Head on over to youtube.com backslash to use book guy

1149
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:47,960
and consider joining for as little as 2.99 a month.

