269 : Dickson Leung – Consider joining a Selling on Amazon Canada Group to help you grow

DICKSON

Dickson has been called a Digital Nomad. One who moves often and makes a living off the Internet, service provided over the Internet or network. I love that he knows his real why, and man is it big!

Mentioned:

Canadian Amazon FBA Prime Seller Community with Dang & Dickson

Dickson’s Facebook contact

Great North Ecom :  February 24th & 25th 2018

Use code Momentum to save another $50.00!

Sponsors:

Gaye’s Million Dollar Arbitrage List

Solutions4ecommerce

Scope from Sellerlabs

GoDaddy

Grasshopper

Transcript: (note- this is a new tool I am trying out so it is not perfect- it does seem to be getting better)

Stephen:                             [00:00:00]               One to take a second and recognize my sponsors this week you know. Gate Lesbia million dollar arbitrage edge and list group. That’s a mouthful. It is. But guess what. It’s a great opportunity. You know you can build a big Amazon business. You don’t need a lot of capital when you start. I mean we all started you know most of us started selling books and then move into retail arbitrage. That is the place that you can turn your money. The vastness and online arbitrage and so by having that skill set by learning those skill sets you can get the best bang for your buck. And so Gase group will help you learn online arbitrage. It’s more than just a list service they’re going to give you a whole bunch of actionable inventory every single day. Right. Monday through Friday. However there’s also a mentor ship that goes on and that mentor ship is so important because sometimes it’s great to know what to buy but it’s more important to understand why to buy it.

Stephen:                             [00:01:03]               And it’s that you know learning to fish or just getting fed you know you really want to learn because ultimately you want to strike it on your own. And this is a great way to do it. So how about seven days free trial a free trial. All right. Very very cool. So it’s amazing freedom to come forward slashes a mouthful the word momentum carries a hyphen. And you put in the word arbitrage. So it’s amazing freedom does come forward slash momentum dash arbitrage and you’re going to get a free trial in Gase group. You got to tell her I sent you right. I also have the link in the episode.

Stephen:                             [00:01:38]               But it’s such a great opportunity. She is amazing amazing I’m in that group. So you’ll see me there an amazing amazing person who’s there to answer your questions who was there to help lead you and helped guide you and that’s what gay does. She does it every single day. The testimonials are real. Go take a look. You will be blown away.

Stephen:                             [00:01:56]               And again it’s a free trial. I have the link on this episode. Reachin you know Sellar labs Jeff Cohen and the team they have blown me away with this scope project. We use this all the time for our business. We do a lot of private label we also do a lot of wholesale and wholesale bundles you know or multipack that kind of thing which a lot of people do but we use scope to help us figure out what are the key words. And so it’s really simple. You basically figure out where you’re going to sell what you’re going to sell what category find that like product. Find the top couple sellers and find their keywords. Boom magic. There you go. You copy the best because it’s working. And guess what. That’s a proof of concept and scope allows you to do that.

Stephen:                             [00:02:42]               So it’s Celera labs dotcom forward slash scope Celera labs dotcom poleward slash scope use the code word momentum and you’re going to get a couple days free trial and you’re going to save a little bit of money and you get to get some free keywords. It’s worth every penny. I’m in that group. Come and check me out. Celebes dot com forward slash scope again use the word momentum solutions for e-commerce. Karen Locher great great great group.

Stephen:                             [00:03:11]               I’ve been using them for a long time and I guess over two years and I’m in there and pages like everybody else yes she’s a sponsor my show but she makes me pay. And I got the same 50 dollar discount that you can get. Oh by the way you’re going to get that through my link and my link only. Oh and you’re also going to get the free inventory health analysis. Great way to start 2018. Get your inventory in line and Karen will help you do that. We use it for everything. I mean basically you know long term storage fees coming up. Guess what. She’ll evaluate. She’ll make some recommendations. And also check check check take these out. This return blah blah blah blah blah. And magically it’s done. I love it. Love it. Love it. I love the fact that they take and get rid of stranded inventory for me. I see it in there. And

Stephen:                             [00:03:56]               then next time I go in and it’s gone. Love it. Love it. Love it. Got an IP infringement. She’s going to help you work your way through that. This is the kind of service that you get from Karen Locher that solutions for the number 4 e-commerce solutions for e-commerce dot com forward slash momentum. Right. So you got it. Forward slash momentum and you’re going to save 50 dollars a month 600 bucks a year by just clicking that link. She pays me. I want to hide that I never do. I’m always upfront about that but it doesn’t cost you anything additional. And you’re going to get that have minatory Health Report the only way you get that is through mine link. The solutions the number for e-commerce dotcom forward slash momentum.

Cool voice guy:                  [00:04:38]               Welcome to the e-commerce momentum blog. Will we focus on the people the products and the process of e-commerce selling your host Steven Peters then welcome back to the e-commerce momentum podcast. This

Stephen:                             [00:04:54]               is episode 269 Dixon Lee Young very cool guy. I was told that I did a little research on them and they said you don’t like a story and I do like his story because his story is so similar to a lot of our stories yet his life goals. Below me in a way. He isn’t going to want to just sell a bunch or live a great life or this and that there’s more to it. There’s some depth there and that’s very cool. I love his description. He’s a digital nomad meaning that he can live anywhere and has lived a lot of places. I think that’s very powerful in today’s day and age especially for a younger guy because that freedom is something that us older guys wish we had. And it’s not. I’d love my wife. I love my kids or my grandkids and I want to be with them and Nerem yet I also love that little adventure. I have that streak in me too and Dicksons live in that life and I think it’s a very cool story. Let’s get into the podcast. Mary

Stephen:                             [00:05:56]               welcome back to the e-commerce momentum podcast excited for today’s guest from the Great North. Although it’s colder where I am than where he is today because he’s a digital nomad. I love that phrase. Can’t wait to hear more about it. Dixon Leang How did I do on the name it was good.

Stephen:                             [00:06:16]               OK I was going to butcher it. I mean there’s a couple of things. Wait to hear the name of this Facebook group guys. This bill. I know I’m going to mess it up but I’m going to read it because I want to read it because it just sounds so fun. So welcome Dixon.

Stephen:                             [00:06:29]               Really nice to have you. Thank you Stephen. I’ll be talking to you. I appreciate you coming out. You are a digital nomad. That means you move. I mean how many times have you move your young guy. How many times have you moved so far.

Dickson:                               [00:06:43]               More than I can count really 15 or 20 times in my life. No

Stephen:                             [00:06:48]               kidding. I mean is that is there a thrill for you. Is it a desire. I mean how does that come about. It’s

Dickson:                               [00:06:56]               it’s it was actually a necessity. So I moved around a lot as a young child because of my pet. They just like moving around a lot because of the fact that we immigrated into Canada when I was young from where I then from Hong Kong. OK.

Dickson:                               [00:07:19]               So my background like way back I was born in Canada and that I immediately went to Hong Kong and I grew up in Hong Kong for the first seven years of my life. So when I was 7 I booth back to Canada.

Dickson:                               [00:07:34]               We immigrated to Canada and we moved from house to house like city to city all over the place.

Stephen:                             [00:07:41]               So well why is that so why. I mean was your your family’s you know employment so that they would move from place to play.

Dickson:                               [00:07:51]               I mean what would what led to that my parents basically just won a better life for us.

Dickson:                               [00:07:59]               Came to Cantor history of it was. I was born here because my parents were scared of pretty much the Chinese government. So Hong Kong used the belong to Britain before. Well before I was born and as a British territory there was not much to fear because there was very westernized. But in 1998 Hong Kong went back to China. And through that there was a lot of fear within Hong Kong of what would happen once China takes over. Was

Stephen:                             [00:08:35]               that fear because of you know your parents would have seen what happened way back or their parents would have seen what happened way back and now with stories that were more so than what they actually witnessed.

Dickson:                               [00:08:50]               Both okay.

Stephen:                             [00:08:53]               So so that that whatever that was that memory stayed with them and they were that was enough for them to say hey you know it’s hard for a leopard to change its spots right even though they’re probably saying oh no things are great. Sometimes it’s harder to change. Yeah. Interesting so. So that’s a big sacrifice that your parents made. I mean that’s not easy. Giving up everything and moving especially with kids and you know basically giving everything up right. It sounds like when they came they didn’t have much.

Dickson:                               [00:09:22]               Well they were entrepreneurs so they had a business. And when they moved here they still tried to run the business. They’re no longer in business today. But they had they they didn’t give up that much.

Stephen:                             [00:09:38]               It’s actually in a sense they were trying to bring the digital nomads a little bit so that’s where that comes from is there is something exciting about a new location. Is that is that part of it. Is

Dickson:                               [00:09:50]               it just that you know the unknown and it’s kind of you know thrilling.

Dickson:                               [00:09:57]               Yeah definitely. Is that part of it. Because when you go into a new place you have to learn the entire again you know and it’s it’s interesting because you that there is just so many things in this world that you’re never going to see at all.

Stephen:                             [00:10:14]               Oh I agree with you 100 percent. And you know when you stay at a place for a long period of time I mean I drive the same way to my warehouse every single day. I just can’t I just don’t deviate. You know I’m a creature of habit. And so what am I missing. Right. I mean that’s really the point. Right. And do you feel like you know and it will get into the e-commerce part and I want to get there but I just want to make sure I get this out because it’s interesting to me is do you feel like that you’ve experienced so much more that had you not moved on teen times. I mean it’s pretty stupid question but I mean are there anything that stands out for you that like no way would I have ever seen this unbelievable waterfall or this launch of a spaceship or something goofy like that anything Iceland for sure. Yeah that’s a big one. Iceland

Dickson:                               [00:11:02]               is absolutely breathtaking like that movie looks like a sci fi film. And you would like to think this on earth like how is this even possible.

Stephen:                             [00:11:14]               That’s a bucket list item now isn’t it for others. Anybody listening sounds like Iceland should be on the list. It

Dickson:                               [00:11:21]               definitely is. OK. So you run an Amazon business from anywhere correct.

Stephen:                             [00:11:32]               No limits. No. Why. Why Amazon. And we can get into how you get into it. But I mean why that not digital marketing or why not. You know Vlaar blogging blogging writing whatever video what why not.

Dickson:                               [00:11:51]               To be honest I just kind of stumbled into Amazon and now I’m trying to venture a little bit outside of just selling UNCA but I haven’t been a real entrepreneur for that long.

Stephen:                             [00:12:06]               To be honest I recently graduated and what was your degree in economics and what were you going to do with that degree. And was that a parental insistent that she go to college or because they didn’t want you to be an entrepreneur. Or was it you wanting to be something different.

Dickson:                               [00:12:25]               I always kind of knew I was going to do something entrepreneurial but I always thought the way to get there was go to university get a job you know work my way up that corporate ladder become some part of the C suite one day and then like when I’m 40 50 60 come out and do my own thing.

Stephen:                             [00:12:46]               Don’t say 40 like it’ll do. Now you make a beef. All right. So so a degree in economics would be what I mean what was going to be for you.

Dickson:                               [00:12:57]               It was. I basically chose economics because it was the quickest path to get out. So I started school with a double major. Actually when I went to school I was computer science and finance. It was a double major degree from first year. And somewhere along the way I realized I didn’t want to go into computer science or finance and I wanted to be out of school as soon as possible. And one of my only options was economics one of the only options that any interest in was economics and it would accept most of the classes are already taken in that kind of thing so you didn’t lose much.

Stephen:                             [00:13:39]               OK. What was it about computer science because this is interesting to me because my younger son was a computer science major and switched to a digital media major at a new school. Of course he lost a year cost me money.

Stephen:                             [00:13:51]               But what was it that wasn’t attractive to you that you thought was that would be with computer science specifically.

Dickson:                               [00:14:03]               I I want to own. So I went to the University of Waterloo which is one of the top schools in computer world. And because it was the top school or one of the top schools it was super duper hard. They pretty much every computer science kid was sitting in front of a computer coding seven days a week. I was. They loved it. I read that. Yeah exactly. And it was it was a way of life for Waterloo’s see us kids and that I hated it because I do enjoy coding a little bit but not to the point where I can sit there type code for 10 hours a day every day.

Stephen:                             [00:14:50]               It’s a powerful statement what you just said and ever thought about it. But I think it’s a really astute that a a top school in whatever field you’re choosing those people are going to be super nerds about it and therefore if you’re not a super nerd about it think of a different option. You could go to a similar school or a school that has the same major and you go for that if that’s not what they’re known for. And it just doesn’t fit well they’ll have much more options. Because you’re right. I mean super nerds are going to go to. They’re going to be led there and that’s cool for that. Are like all Silicone Valley guys today. Interesting. I just think that’s a that’s a very astute observation. I never thought about it. It makes perfect sense when you said it though like it.

Stephen:                             [00:15:36]               OK so you were there. You changed it to economics to get out. Yes. All the meantime now you had an inkling you had an urge you had an urge to be an entrepreneur. Is that what it just keeps going. Is it back to your parents. Because they had the freedom they were able to kind of pick up and go.

Stephen:                             [00:15:57]               What was it driving you back.

Dickson:                               [00:16:02]               I I think from a young age always really knew that I I really like flipping stuff. So I and I loved the money the arbitrage aspect of it though. There was a high there that I really like Chase. So back in my childhood I was a gigantic gamer. So in high school I would be playing video games for like 8 hours 10 hours a day. And what I found myself doing videogames is I would try to optimize all these ways of how to make the most in-game money. So almost every videogame has some sort of in-game currency and you can buy all types of stuff with it. And there are ways to earn that by playing the video game.

Stephen:                             [00:16:54]               So what I mean this is this is money that you earn in the game this fake money bitcoins to fake point buy Bitcoin kind of money and then you can sell that or transfer that to someone else.

Dickson:                               [00:17:07]               No I wasn’t even going there yet. I was just Frager hey if I couldn’t like kill this monster for an hour I make all right the law.

Stephen:                             [00:17:18]               Wait. I don’t understand. This is nonsense. This is not my generation. I clearly missed this. OK so you’re playing this video game back in my day was Mario Brothers is a little silly game. All

Stephen:                             [00:17:29]               right so you play this video game and you earn prizes which is fake money in your account. So you have an account you earn fake money. Someone pays you something on that somehow. No

Dickson:                               [00:17:41]               . So what I’m talking about is just a general game called my mom and RPG which is a big open world games like the World of Warcraft. OK. So in games like that you have a lot of options when you can do so you can go kill monsters or you can go fishing let’s say or you can go craft different things. I

Stephen:                             [00:18:10]               know everybody under twenty something is like Steve you’re so stupid you don’t understand that this is completely news to me. So.

Dickson:                               [00:18:16]               So you go kill things and you can you. It’s not points you earn. Is that what it is in the game.

Dickson:                               [00:18:25]               You can get money you can get items you can get.

Stephen:                             [00:18:29]               This is all digital stuff is all digital. OK. So there’s not real this is fake Steve still I’m with you so far you haven’t lost me. But I’m trying to understand. So your game was just to try to get the highest score or the most money in the game. Yes. And then what does that bring you prestige. I don’t know. Actually nothing. OK.

Stephen:                             [00:18:52]               OK. So it’s like the top came back in my day. We’re going to date myself these to have these little video games in the arcade and you always wanted to be in the top 10 schools. Right. So then you had it. Now you would walk in and they’d be like oh there’s Steve the top. Now said that never happened. OK. So that’s what it is. OK. So there’s nothing more than prestige self-satisfied. OK. I’m with you.

Dickson:                               [00:19:14]               Exactly. My point was I would try and weigh whether or not kill was worth my time versus fish. OK. So the biggest deal exactly which will be more money OK. And I thought that was the beginning when I was like eight or 10 years old that that’s the kind of stuff I did. I get it. I

Stephen:                             [00:19:38]               caught up natural to me. This happens when you hit that old age of 40. You start to slow down. You know and so it also takes me a little longer. OK so so you’ve gotten the satisfaction of being number 1 2 3 4 whatever it is and you see that and there’s a way to do that if you choose this path it yields this potentially.

Stephen:                             [00:19:57]               But if I change this one with more risk therefore I can get a bigger reward. OK. All right. I get it. And that was at the age of eight. Yeah something like that when I first started gaming. That’s interesting. So we’re training our kids that competitive and that’s interesting. OK. All right. So things are going good. Yup.

Dickson:                               [00:20:17]               As I got older I would sit in those seen by other players and some foreign markets.

Stephen:                             [00:20:25]               Right now there is light arms. There is monetary transfer. OK so you can transfer something from one to another. I think I have heard of something like this where people can get a shield and sell it. Right

Dickson:                               [00:20:37]               exactly. But we talk about fake money still.

Dickson:                               [00:20:39]               Oh it’s still in game currency and game currency that’s a term I’ve never heard. OK.

Dickson:                               [00:20:47]               So I would buy a shield for time gold and then sell to someone for 15 gold. Nice exact same Sheol.

Stephen:                             [00:20:55]               And so you’d get that number one status. And it didn’t necessarily play the game. You played a different game Barbara.

Dickson:                               [00:21:01]               Yes exactly. I got do this when I was probably 12 or 13.

Stephen:                             [00:21:06]               Jesus we’re creating creating criminals here by video. OK go ahead.

Dickson:                               [00:21:15]               So I always had this knack for flipping stuff and I really enjoyed making money even though it meant absolutely no.

Stephen:                             [00:21:24]               Well I’m sitting here thinking about this. Is this a skill that you’ve developed that’s not a knack it’s a skill. It sounds like it sounds like something you recognize value. You find a way. What what allows you to sell it from war are you a salesman or are you just a good buyer.

Dickson:                               [00:21:43]               Or maybe both. I think I’m just good at developing systems to identify things like arbitrage opportunities.

Dickson:                               [00:21:53]               OK. And we’re going to hear that part come out later on again aren’t we. Yes. OK. All right go ahead.

Dickson:                               [00:22:01]               So when I was in college I identified an arbitrage opportunity while I was trying to buy used textbooks. So anyone who went to college knows that there are very expensive textbooks to buy for your classes. And I saw there was a gap in the market of where for cheaper and for more. And where were you buying them. This was Facebook groups.

Stephen:                             [00:22:31]               OK. So this is. Well I mean you’ve been out of school for a little bit. So Facebook groups are that’s relatively new. Yeah

Dickson:                               [00:22:39]               I started university in 2012.

Stephen:                             [00:22:41]               OK. So that would have been very new yeah for Facebook group so you recognized early on hey this is a market that you can mine for opportunity.

Dickson:                               [00:22:51]               Exactly. So I saw the same textbook being sold for multiple price points and I thought hey I can buy at the low price point and saw a high price.

Stephen:                             [00:23:01]               This is the 8 year old back to that again aren’t we. We’re right back there again. Yes.

Dickson:                               [00:23:06]               And so I started flipping textbooks. This was in first year college second year college.

Stephen:                             [00:23:12]               And where were you selling them were you selling them back on Facebook Marketplace. Marketplace Facebook groups are OK so you’d buy it. Somebody would say hey I got one and they didn’t look for the value whatever they thought Hey I get 15 bucks I’m fine with it. And then you would sell it for 30 or 40 in the same way. OK. Exactly.

Dickson:                               [00:23:33]               So I started doing Gafford for two or three years on the side and I’m I really realized opportunity was in between semesters. So our school is year round and there’s three semesters per year. And so I realize the real opportunity was right during exam time and after exam time kids were leaving. And they wanted to get rid of all your textbooks because they don’t want to move all those textbooks back up. Right. And because the new semester kids haven’t moved in yet they weren’t on campus.

Stephen:                             [00:24:11]               So no one was really bankrupt and they had no place to sell them.

Dickson:                               [00:24:15]               Exactly. So there was a lot of supply but no demand.

Stephen:                             [00:24:19]               So let me ask you this though in Canada and that’s what we’re talking about this Canada correct. OK so in Canada they don’t have the little bands with the creepy guys with the balloons on the van. Sell your textbooks or the bookstore doesn’t buy back textbooks or kids are just too lazy to go waste their time on that. I’ve never seen the van or you’ve never heard of this creepy old creepy jerk always creep.

Stephen:                             [00:24:44]               Everybody else is agreeing with me they’re shaking their head saying I’ve seen the creepy event and there’s always a guy you know that is just really awful because there’s guys some people listening. There are some people that have vans and they’re going to be like Steve. That’s not nice but it’s like the guy is there at the carnivals. They call him carnies that have you know where you throw the ball and you knock down the little figure that never knocks down right or you shoot out the dart. Those same guys drive vans and they buy books and they always hang balloons on the bumpers. And it’s always kind of creepy. But to be fair those exists and there’s some mega companies that do it and they send people out.

Stephen:                             [00:25:22]               They used to I think with the Amazon venture I think it’s become a little less prevalent but they would buy them literally for cash and usually I think if I remember correctly it was about 26 percent of market value and market value was one of those moving targets that people would use like a flat or somebody like that to get a price and they would say OK it’s selling first fled at 20 bucks and we’ll give you 26 percent of that so five dollars and 20 cents. That’s basically what it was. That’s the math model and then basically like you’re saying they would hold on to it they would actually some of the larger companies would actually sand the edges and take the ink off clean the pages glue a page over writing stuff like that and then put them up for the next semester. So you did this on your own without the creepy van.

Stephen:                             [00:26:12]               I guess so. OK. And the bookstore didn’t have a big buyback plan or any of that kind of stuff.

Dickson:                               [00:26:18]               That was interesting bookstore but it was student run and it was cool. SIMON OK.

Stephen:                             [00:26:23]               Oh interesting. So there are no guarantee sale no other idea.

Dickson:                               [00:26:26]               Cash Exactly and because of the call some people didn’t like waiting because textbooks appreciate it very quickly.

Stephen:                             [00:26:34]               Yeah immediate cash always sells. OK. All right cool so he saw this opportunity. Boom. You know. Now are we talking scale. I mean were we talking like you to buy in three or four textbooks between semesters. Are we talking scale. We’re

Dickson:                               [00:26:48]               talking about 40 50 textbooks between every semester.

Stephen:                             [00:26:53]               So this is this has now become some reasonable money.

Dickson:                               [00:26:57]               Yeah it was. It was like a couple of hundred bucks maybe like a thousand bucks.

Stephen:                             [00:27:02]               But profit I mean yes they’re moving money and now all of a sudden that beats working in the local hamburger joint. Right

Stephen:                             [00:27:11]               .

Stephen:                             [00:27:12]               A lot easier a lot safer cleaner. Right. Not wash and so safe but yeah true I guess there is a little bit of jeopardy. Any of those stories happen to you anything that you thought oh my gosh I should be in here. I I met safe as it was a risky business. Oh OK. I didn’t know if you like safety for your personal safety. Because I have bought some stuff I bought from a lot of different people in there a few times I’m thinking I probably shouldn’t be in here right now. You know I probably really want to pay and get out here. They realize how much money I have in my pocket you know. All right so that goes along. And that seems to work. Did you do it more than one semester. Yes. OK. There are four semesters. So this is a proven business model for you. Yes. Does that lead you to Amazon or what was the epiphany about offering our money. Oh OK.

Dickson:                               [00:28:08]               So I realize flexibles with a lot of work because it was heavy and I was making 220 dollars. And the time it took for me to meet up with all these people one by one to buy and sell it just wasn’t worth that much. It wasn’t worth my time. I could be making more money so thinking about was what can I sell that has more margin. Essentially because I had the cash flow I had the capital to to buy something expensive. I just needed something where I make 50 dollars per sale. So it was worth my time to going to meet these people. You

Stephen:                             [00:28:50]               did learn something new economics was good for you I guess.

Dickson:                               [00:28:57]               So I ventured into cell phones so I started flipping cell phones and it was it started off being the exact same thing on Facebook groups flipping to and from students. It was it was a thing that everyone needed and I was looking at about Tooter bucks three bucks here. And I was making like 50 bucks or so. So it was less time and it was better margins. So

Stephen:                             [00:29:25]               but conceptually it’s the same business model that you just moved over. You just moved up and that’s a real pro tip right there that if you’re selling you know there’s nothing wrong with making a dollar or two per item. But once you start scaling and in order to scale you just have to sell a ton more at a dollar. But if you sell them at ten dollars profit it’s a lot you know you can divide that by 10. Right. I mean so this is a good simple model. But you have this practice. Ok cool. Very cool. That sounds a little more sketchy though. I mean at least in today’s world there’s some you know people steal phones and all kinds of crazy things right.

Dickson:                               [00:30:02]               Yeah. So that is true. But I work I was doing like 200 300 dollar foreign bartering. And for most of that it was OK because once you get start getting into the higher dollar amounts then you get people come you know meet ups with like a knife for like can change. All right good. So I stayed in the lower end. So to avoid things like that from happening. And I moved onto Craigslist Canadian version of craigslist is cockade G.G.. OK. But it’s essentially the same thing. And I was beating up with people all over the city to do this now and this is what city Toronto. This

Stephen:                             [00:30:48]               was Waterloo Waterloo. OK. So this is I mean this is Waterloo a big city. No it’s a college town. OK. So a college town. OK. So you’re dealing with a lot of college students and your relatives say. OK. All right.

Dickson:                               [00:31:01]               And at the time because I’m from Vancouver and I went to I’m going to school in Waterloo I have absolutely no connections there. And I had I didn’t have a car and I had a license but I didn’t have a car. So what I am doing was I had to rent a car. I schedule my day so I would start at like [6:00] or [7:00] in the morning Rent-A-Car go pick up insults and drop our phones all day.

Dickson:                               [00:31:31]               So I would go from [7:00] in the morning till like 8 or 9 at night and I would be meeting old people many transactions would you have one. No kidding.

Stephen:                             [00:31:42]               Dude that’s a real hassle. I mean that is you know from an organization point of view I mean so I think about the things that you’ve learned. Right. So you already have a business model that is proven you have a concept buy low sell high.

Stephen:                             [00:31:53]               You found a market. Obviously you’ve upgraded in market from Facebook to G.G.. And then you’ve learned how to schedule and how to work individually. It’s pretty impressive now little venture. You’re learning a lot more there than you are in college my friend. That’s the truth of it. That’s the real truth. It is.

Stephen:                             [00:32:16]               OK so so renting a vehicle is pretty cool. And this nomad thing again not owning a car. I like it. All right so you’ve scaled up. Now you’re making probably some serious money now. What do you do with all this cash.

Dickson:                               [00:32:34]               It goes into a bank. I hold onto about two grand. OK. I did at the time. So I would always have bought two grand cash on the end because it was coming late going on and coming back in like it was just turning in anything because you would be out for 20 appointments you’re buying and selling at the same time. So

Stephen:                             [00:32:52]               you know you might buy a phone and literally within a day or two. Ok

Dickson:                               [00:32:56]               cool. I like it. And then from there I went onto Ebay and I started selling phones on eBay. Is that OK.

Dickson:                               [00:33:05]               And this is eBay Canada eBay Kenora iTunes which meant that I only had to go out once to the post office and it was done.

Stephen:                             [00:33:15]               So one of the things that you’re describing I think is a very. And again I don’t know if you mean to lead me here but I think it’s very powerful again is I call them touch points every time you touch something. There is a cost. Time or money. And so by documenting your touch points just call them what they are. You have knowledge ing them then you can go and try to refine it and what you just described as a way to reduce your touch points because your market is so much larger you make one trip instead of 20 a day. And I think that’s a very very powerful power again as you’re learning more outside of school than you are in school.

Dickson:                               [00:33:55]               Yes. So I I was still driving renting a car driving but now I only get to pick up phones. I didn’t have to go deliver and cell phones.

Dickson:                               [00:34:07]               So like I have run into fraud.

Stephen:                             [00:34:09]               I mean did you run into people trying to scam you. That kind of thing.

Dickson:                               [00:34:14]               And if so how do you handle that. I didn’t run to anyone trying to rob me.

Stephen:                             [00:34:20]               And that’s a good thing Chad.

Dickson:                               [00:34:23]               No one really had me like fake money or fake phones or anything but I did run into a lot of them blacklist the phones which meant they couldn’t be used because why was why would a phone be blacklisted. So if it was reported stolen or if it came out I don’t know if you have this in us but in Canada you can get a more expensive plan and they’ll give your freephone if you sign on for two years or something.

Stephen:                             [00:34:51]               They used to I’m assuming they still do. They might still have that around here. Yeah.

Dickson:                               [00:34:55]               OK. So in Canada it’s very popular and some people do this. They sign on and get a phone and then they stop paying the bill. So that gets blacklisted.

Stephen:                             [00:35:10]               I think that’s about it that makes sense though. OK. Or it’s someone like you said to come. All right. And so you run into those.

Dickson:                               [00:35:18]               Yeah and have you test that upfront. How did you know that that there are databases online which you can type in a number Kading and they’ll tell you. But that’s cool. A lot of this was how it happened afterwards and I was stuck with a brick essentially. OK. So that did you did get taken a few times. Yes. OK. It costs a business.

Stephen:                             [00:35:42]               It’s returns right. I mean this is part of the business. OK. All right so then sell it on eBay and things are going well you clearly found a way to move more. Has this started to scale again now.

Dickson:                               [00:35:53]               The fact that you’ve picked up more time yes it is a skill that much more. I just did it for less.

Stephen:                             [00:36:03]               I put less time into the game time. Ok that’s cool. That’s

Stephen:                             [00:36:07]               valuable Yeah.

Dickson:                               [00:36:11]               And then after a couple of months on ebay I was like hey I wonder if I can sell these cellphones on Amazon and later channel and the short answer is no. But upon researching I found the the first thing model the retail arbitrage model.

Stephen:                             [00:36:30]               Now how did you research it that YouTube is that Facebook groups again. And

Dickson:                               [00:36:35]               what year was this this was 2016. Okay. And so where did you start finding out about that. Google and YouTube. Okay. I had no idea of Facebook groups existed at the beginning for that. Right

Stephen:                             [00:36:51]               . You used them years ago for local I assume that’s right. Right. But not specific to FBA or exactly on eBay and stuff like. Okay that’s cool. All right. And it’s interesting to hear that people in 2016 know that these groups exist. They still don’t know these groups exist. Interesting.

Stephen:                             [00:37:10]               OK so who was who is some of the people that made an impression upon you enough to say Hmm I like what they’re doing.

Dickson:                               [00:37:18]               And he names remember back name though there was this guy has YouTube channel called Project light mastery.

Stephen:                             [00:37:29]               Follow that guy.

Dickson:                               [00:37:31]               I don’t get his name Stephan Steve. Yep. Cody hawk. This guy named Michael Pierce. He did a lot of video games but upon following these YouTube hours I realized that you know there there is something here like I can make real money doing this. And this was because because the power is now I have zero touchpoint. I just ship it or not. It’s all done.

Stephen:                             [00:38:07]               So. So you weren’t attracted to the eBay model because you’d already done it and you realize that there’s still work involved right creating listing pack and shipping it dealing with customer service all that kind of stuff then you find the FBA and you’re like wait a second. And almost all those points.

Dickson:                               [00:38:27]               But I had to reinvent a completely new product line because new cell phones wouldn’t fly on Amazon.

Stephen:                             [00:38:36]               What were the things that you thought of. I mean immediately what was the stuff. I mean did you think about going back to books or did you think of.

Stephen:                             [00:38:44]               I mean was there something that didn’t work out that you said oh maybe I can like cell phones.

Dickson:                               [00:38:49]               I can do this I thought of books.

Stephen:                             [00:38:54]               That was the first. So that was back to your point because that really does solve a lot of the problem with textbooks right.

Stephen:                             [00:39:01]               The urgency the immediate the immediacy. Right. As you said they go down in value or there’s a timing issue. Did you think you still had a market opportunity to buy because of that arbitrage. Because people were leaving.

Stephen:                             [00:39:17]               And then they’re not buying again for a few months can you explain what you mean what I mean.

Stephen:                             [00:39:24]               So I mean did you did you go back to in your mind and say hey I wonder or I’m sure my the thing that I did in the past which was I bought them at the end of a semester. Yes. And then I sat on them for a little bit of time and then I sold them. Is that where you immediately went to. I can go and do this again.

Dickson:                               [00:39:42]               No actually I am because of all these YouTube channels. I figured out that what retail arbitrage was and because of that I my mind went to drifting. So I mixed retail arbitrage with textbooks so textbooks you be buying at thrift stores.

Stephen:                             [00:40:04]               Exactly. And

Dickson:                               [00:40:04]               retail arbitrage you would be buying where little girl I saw the retail arbitrage model that people were talking about from youtube channels but I’ve never heard of the thrifty model. But then I use my experience with tech stocks to say hey where can I find cheap textbooks to resell and I really thought about thrift stores.

Stephen:                             [00:40:27]               OK. All right. So you know you weren’t looking at a store that you weren’t watching thrift store people saying exactly like sonant. OK. And in Canada are there a lot of stores. There are a couple. OK. In it a college town. They would be probably would have a lot of books and a lot of clothes. Those are the two things that I would think a lot of. OK. So you go to the thrift store. And did you have success.

Dickson:                               [00:40:52]               Yes because I started scanning stuff from day one. And I started selling them stuff started selling. And this is Amazon dot ca correct.

Dickson:                               [00:41:04]               OK. And I mean a lot of mistakes I think for the first two months 90 percent of the stuff I bought to sell never sold and it was this and this was in Canada’s FBA where there are fewer or at least there were fewer warehouses. Where were you sending your stuff from Waterloo to mostly through the Toronto warehouse. It was in Brampton. And how far is that now we drive.

Stephen:                             [00:41:35]               Okay. So not terribly far. OK. All right. So we got there pretty quick. And so from what I understand and when you’re talking about Beever and a little bit but from what I understand from him that it’s a little slower or at least it used to be Amazon because it wasn’t as prevalent there to get to sell. Was that your experience too. I mean where do you think that it’s just. OK. So you think that was a reason. OK. All right.

Dickson:                               [00:42:00]               So while I was making bad buys I said that’s true. But yeah ok. AGAZZI is a lot slower than Amazon.com.

Stephen:                             [00:42:12]               Did you think about sending your stuff to Amazon.com at that point was that even on your radar.

Dickson:                               [00:42:17]               It was on my radar but I was finding enough success to see it. I was happy with OK so I didn’t look into it really really dark there are barriers right. Is

Stephen:                             [00:42:31]               that part of it too. Yeah. And so it’s like I’m doing fine. Why do we even want. And that’s pretty common I think. Is that something looking back that you would change having to do it again knowing what you know would you go to the U.S. earlier. No

Dickson:                               [00:42:48]               I was one of the people that early on see for a long time and I still do with Canadians. The vast majority of the people I interact with. 90 percent of them model is sending to us. Right. But for me I stole Sahlberg 50 percent on Kenora even though it’s much lower is it still books majority of that 50 percent.

Stephen:                             [00:43:16]               All right. So you moved out of that because I was thinking there would be a weight issue sending him to the U.S.. OK. All right go ahead. I don’t want to cut you off there. Go

Dickson:                               [00:43:22]               ahead.

Stephen:                             [00:43:25]               So books are going well you’re selling a dossier. And at this point you’re still in school.

Dickson:                               [00:43:32]               Yes. And so books are going well and then I started flipping other things in the thrift store so I started doing you know Tronox use electronics and I quickly realized that no one was really buying a lot of stuff and use electronics on Amazon. So I went back which was local and I had people come pick up electronics from where I was living.

Stephen:                             [00:44:02]               So you still got the benefit of you know buying and selling. You went when you went to the used electronic selling locally. It’s obviously a thinner market. Did you just have to get smarter in what you were buying to sell me to identify the market because I’m sure some stuff you bought just didn’t sell.

Dickson:                               [00:44:22]               Yes but the electronics market is very different because electronics are sold Spencer. And that at a thrift store there like five bucks. Right. So even if he marked it up to 20 or 30 it would fly off the shelf because people want cheap electronics.

Stephen:                             [00:44:40]               OK. So as long as it worked. You know there was the price was low enough and you were selling this on Kouji again. Yes. OK. All right we’re Facebook groups or what have you. OK. All right. So that went on for how long. Tried once and then and then eventually in about.

Dickson:                               [00:45:02]               August. So I started in April. So I’m for months in August. I stopped going to three stores and I started doing retail arbitrage. So go into big box stores and what were you going to buy there.

Speaker 18:                        [00:45:18]               And a how did you find out about that. Well I always had my mind set on that because that YouTube channels all talked about retail. I would try to get in talk with that. OK.

Stephen:                             [00:45:29]               So they were going to end caps of target scanning and saying oh my god I just made 8 billion dollars. You know this Lego set. Yeah. OK. Is that was that your immediate experience you were immediately able to find 8 billion dollars worth of assets.

Dickson:                               [00:45:46]               Of course not. Of course not. I got very overwhelmed and I surprisingly ran to Capitol issues.

Stephen:                             [00:45:54]               That was a real two. One of the few to admit it. Yes. Those are real. It is overwhelming. There’s so much there. And you can spend a lot of money very quickly buying a hundred of an item and selling for. And you get 96 and all your money tied up right.

Dickson:                               [00:46:11]               Yes I would. I was by two or three of something I thought was an amazing find. And I would have I would buy like you know 20 items at a time 20 schools two or three deep.

Stephen:                             [00:46:23]               And after a couple of days I was on the money and you’re on that cycle getting paid every two weeks correct. From Amazon. And so you’ve got to wait a long time for your money. Not everything sells.

Stephen:                             [00:46:36]               Exactly.

Stephen:                             [00:46:39]               So how do you dig out of that oh I you be going to work on d borrow money kind of courage.

Dickson:                               [00:46:52]               I don’t use credit cards by because of my young age I don’t have a lot of credit cards. One was five bucks that was a thousand. OK. So there wasn’t any money to to use from credit cards.

Dickson:                               [00:47:08]               Like I didn’t have that much room. Do you think. I mean that’s probably a good thing. Looking back could you went crazy knowing your personality. You

Stephen:                             [00:47:19]               do. Be honest. Could you have went crazy and maybe caused a real problem if you had access to 20 30 40 thousand dollars on credit cards.

Dickson:                               [00:47:31]               Be honest baby I probably would have gotten myself in trouble Hoka but I had people in my life to bail me out.

Stephen:                             [00:47:42]               So let’s give some advice to somebody who’s young who’s listening to this because your story’s pretty similar to most people’s story right. You go into it. You see these guys ladies say oh my god this is the best business ever. Right there was one person skating in Kohl’s in the aisles like I can’t believe this. I’m

Stephen:                             [00:48:00]               going to make a million dollars and Coles kicked them out and simultaneously blocked everybody from going there for a while. What’s the reality that you can make bad decisions. It’s very easy to make good decisions. You can rationalize a lot of stuff can’t you. Yes. And so what’s the advice you give for those new settlers who are thinking this and saying man I would. I want to be like dicks and have a digital life nomad lifestyle. It sounds very attractive to me. I can name the location independent.

Stephen:                             [00:48:35]               However there are some caveats. Could you help somebody right now and maybe things that you did that you wouldn’t do again or something you would counsel that younger sellar.

Dickson:                               [00:48:49]               I would say if you’re starting in retail arbitrage slow down on your buying because you want to figure out what works and what doesn’t work so well with the capital you have whatever that number is. Think about that 3 percent and try to buy one or two of 50 things or 100 things and then go back. We all wait like a month. See what. And then start. Trying to figure out why that’s all. It’s a discipline of 50 percent and go bilat are Canadians more disciplined than Americans.

Stephen:                             [00:49:26]               Mean because we’re not very disciplined. I mean myself included I’m guilty as charged. I mean if there is as you mentioned there’s a thrill there’s the thrill of the hunt there. It’s exciting. So to be able to buy the what you’re describing and then sit for a month. Man I hope I have that person out. I don’t know how many true entrepreneurs who love to roll the dice you know have that personality. That’s a real serious discipline.

Dickson:                               [00:49:55]               Maybe only two weeks left now.

Stephen:                             [00:49:57]               It’s just it’s real. It’s fair. I mean it I think it is very good advice. But man that’s tough. So by waiting what do you expect to happen. I mean what would be a good outcome from waiting that month. It’s

Dickson:                               [00:50:13]               it’s collecting data and then it’s trying to throw darts on the board and see what sticks. You know which ones are going to hit the bullseye and you have to collect enough data that when you go back and analyze that you can pinpoint what was working and then just do more of that and you do more of that and what wasn’t working and working is relative right. So

Stephen:                             [00:50:36]               it means that what might have sold but you didn’t make any money or you didn’t make enough money right back to you making your decision right. Do I go fishing or do I go kill a monster. Because that’s the decision point. Right. And that’s it. I remember in my grad school it was a decision tree. You know this great business right. And so what you’re describing is you know evaluate each figure out what gave you the biggest reward and then do more of that. I like that sound. I think the month is the right advice. I don’t think it’s two weeks I think it is the month but man that’s a discipline. And I think I’m going to start adopting that. I think that’s a very strong way to say that hey by sit for a month evaluate then adjust buy again. Now your second month you’re buying a much more educated buy for a very like it like it. I like it. And so then you use your advice again to wait another month then or you know fine tune it again.

Stephen:                             [00:51:39]               I didn’t. But oops there was I say not as I do. You’ll

Dickson:                               [00:51:42]               hear that your parents have said that you do as I say not as I do but I would say on anything you that you buy then yes you should wait at least two weeks. But if you’re buying the same things and you see them selling very quickly then why wait.

Stephen:                             [00:51:59]               Right. Right. Have you. I mean you’ve tried to time the market. I’m sure and that’s a place you can really make some mistakes buying sandals to sell in December generally doesn’t work unless you are going down. I mean there are people that are warm down in the Caribbean but generally the market isn’t in the Caribbean. It’s here in the U.S. And so you really want to time things have you had success and timing the market is at another place that you’ve adjusted. I

Dickson:                               [00:52:29]               actually don’t do anything seasonal except except when I first got the textbooks and I realized that textbook periods and I don’t do anything these are all I’m a new data nerd so I just look at the data. I look at keeper charts and that’s the only piece of well that’s a very important piece of data where I make a lot of my decisions.

Stephen:                             [00:52:54]               So you’re not a scam by the hip type anymore.

Stephen:                             [00:52:59]               No.

Stephen:                             [00:53:01]               How long did it take you to get to that place. I mean you’ve only been selling for a couple of years. I mean and in fairness you know longtime sellers hit me like a monster. He’s only been around for it but been really the reality. You know it’s like dog years. They’re fast today.

Dickson:                               [00:53:16]               Yeah. Very very quickly because the first thing I ever sent to Amazon I scanned right. I got profit bend at the wall right now.

Stephen:                             [00:53:28]               No different than. Exactly. No no different. And that’s another solid piece of advice so we’re going to wait. We’re going to be patient. We’re going to fine tune fine tune but we’re going to analyze. So looking now where you are today your full time seller.

Dickson:                               [00:53:45]               And you want to branch off and do some other things and we can talk about that in a second. Looking back would you do anything different.

Stephen:                             [00:53:58]               And that’s OK. No. Because a you’re going to make the mistakes they’re just going to be different mistakes. So even if you could not make the mistakes that you made you would have made different ones. I don’t think that’s really where I was going. It’s more like would I have gone faster would I have gone slower. Would I have taken would I have networked faster would I have gotten coaches mentors or go to events when I mean anything.

Dickson:                               [00:54:23]               Two things come to mind. One was move out of my room because I was doing this from student housing which met the only space I had was a 50 square feet 100 square feet room with my bed on my desk and everything right.

Stephen:                             [00:54:39]               So you could have lived in in an off campus apartment and made enough money plus to cover the difference. Right. The vig between that and then had the facilities to be able to process. Exactly

Dickson:                               [00:54:50]               . I didn’t live off campus student housing but it was designed like a dorm room so it was very very small and because of the way I was doing Ouray I was renting a car from day to night rate and because of that I came back for two or three carloads and I would be filled from the floor to the roof everywhere.

Stephen:                             [00:55:14]               I’m like great roommates must have been like what is this dude doing.

Dickson:                               [00:55:20]               Yeah. My roommates knew. But yeah. Yeah they were good friends so they knew what I was doing and they didn’t really mind it. All right. But you would move out faster. I would have gotten some sort of space soul. Whether that be you know the room another room down the road or like a storage locker or you know maybe like look into sharing a warehouse space or what. But I would have gotten myself more space. I think that the big goal.

Stephen:                             [00:55:55]               So let me let me drop a tip here too and I remember this that there’s a couple of people have mentioned this one is use a store some UPL because U.P.S. stores are independently owned. Some will sometimes allow shared space if you have a relationship with them sometimes. There have been sellers that have gone and processed at those stores. And then the other thing I should mention is you can partner up with an existing warehouse and maybe rent a little space per hour or what have you. Matter of fact a friend for yesterday told me a story of a food broker in town that will allow him to receive pallets there and then he just goes and picks up his pallets there. So

Stephen:                             [00:56:33]               those relationships can exist and you do have other options. It’s not necessarily Dixon wasn’t talking about going to rent his own warehouse and you know with all the whole big thing. But there are other options so I think that’s a good that’s a good message. OK that’s one. What else to do different.

Dickson:                               [00:56:53]               I would go to conferences. How come a lot sooner.

Stephen:                             [00:56:57]               Well let’s talk about that because I think that’s a great segue and I wanted you to get to it because you do have to read this name. OK. So so you know I don’t want to lose this because it’s funny but it’s real and I get it. I get what it is but this is the name of the Facebook group. Canadian Amazon FBA prime seller community with dang dang and Dixon yet to repeat that five times fast.

Stephen:                             [00:57:23]               Or you could go to prime seller community and search that and you can also see it but it’s a group and there are I’m now a member.

Stephen:                             [00:57:30]               There are 11 hundred and should be ninety. Let me see if it updated for me and it should have. There are 11 hundred. And come on reload.

Speaker 18:                        [00:57:42]               Twelve hundred and twelve Leitao. So you gained 14. While we were talking that’s true. Well from when I went on this morning. So

Stephen:                             [00:57:53]               anyway so those over 2200 members and these are Canadians and yes Beever is in there. We all know Beever Brian viendo. He is there and he is he’s our he’s our token Canadian who we all love Chris Green a Canadian too but he has to say that much. But Beaver still lives the dream in Canada and you know Beaver and you know Beaver stories but you know that community is free. They just want to make sure you real so they ask a couple questions.

Stephen:                             [00:58:22]               Is it mostly talked about Amazon.

Dickson:                               [00:58:25]               CA at this point or like you’ve seen where most sellers sell in the U.S. soldiers do sell in the U.S. So there are conversations that pertain to both both platforms. But those conversations have really haven’t been that prevalent because it’s more like an Amazon in general more than whether you’re on the dot com principles apply.

Stephen:                             [00:58:54]               And they really do. And especially as it becomes more and more prevalent with Amazon everywhere. OK so let’s talk conferences because you as you kind of said that you’ve been selling and you’re selling full time but you’re branching out into others so you Endang are putting on a conference called Great North ECOM dot ca. Right. So the great north the ECom conference and it is February 24th through the 2015 2018 and Red Rose Convention Center. This is in Toronto.

Dickson:                               [00:59:29]               This is near Toronto. This a little over right by the airport.

Stephen:                             [00:59:34]               Okay so right by the airport Red Rose Convention Center. February 24th 2015 2018. So a little bit of time and let’s talk costs because I want to get it out of the way so the cost is two hundred ninety seven dollars if you register by January 21st. That’s the earlybird price. This is the dollars Canadian dollars which don’t ask me to do the math because I’m not doing the math. I know it’s more expensive. So two hundred ninety seven dollars you get a regular seat swag bag a raffle ticket. What I like about this and I think this is a good point because it fixes some of the problems of some conferences free breakfast lunch and snacks and then you have an open bar which scares me to death for you. I’ll follow up with the afterwards to see how that went.

Stephen:                             [01:00:18]               But it’s for 297 dollars and if you use the code momentum’s Steve does not benefit one bit. You save 50 bucks. So if you go and register and have the link for you go to great northern north. I was going to say North E. Comcast CA make sure it’s not CA when you register if you use the code momentum you will get 50 dollars off even off of that earlybird which is very awesome for my listeners. But that’s only till January 21st and against Steve doesn’t personally benefit other than hopefully you guys have an awesome conference which I’m very excited because I know a bunch of your speakers so let me just get a couple of these names now here. So

Stephen:                             [01:01:00]               Chris Poddar great guy knows a tremendous amount about growing a massive business and losing a massive business and then re growing a smart business. Not that he wasn’t smart because he’s very smart. But it was just I just love his story. Chris Grant who I just had on again and I love his story about evolving and learning and he calls little Nate MacAllister his mentor and I think that’s so cool.

Dickson:                               [01:01:28]               Tyler now in Europe you go we have the Macassar as a speaker.

Stephen:                             [01:01:33]               Oh they went to himself Laro I believe. That means it’s going to be entra there will be drinks on the podium I guarantee that will happen.

Stephen:                             [01:01:43]               But in a good way because Nate Nate has a lot to offer and what I still appreciate is Chris saying that Nate who is younger than him is his mentor. And I just think that that’s his phrase of entrepot Duer entree producer not an entrepreneur. Tyler Nelson smart kid. Oh my God he’s a kid too. Ashlynn had my insurance lady and she is awesome she knows a lot. Some other speakers that I don’t know. Rob Cosman who I want to get to know because I like a story the fact that he’s in Costa Rica running his business with ECOM accounting. Very powerful. So it’s a pretty full venue professionally catered location that centers 15 minutes from Toronto’s airport. So

Stephen:                             [01:02:26]               that makes it really easy. So I’m very excited about that you’ve got a bunch of testimonials out there on the Web site. And so again great north ECOM CA use the code momentum and you’re going to save 50 bucks. But you’ve got to get in early January 21st is a cutoff for the early bird. And so this is out just before then. So you know I mean I think your point about going to conferences is spot on because the things that you learn from other sellers who have already experienced what you’ve done or what you’re about to do is the most powerful thing in the world. Expand

Stephen:                             [01:03:05]               on that a little bit.

Dickson:                               [01:03:10]               There are just so many sellers who attend conferences that have already beat the Mystiques that you have me and they would love to talk to you and help you through. We have the FBI world is a very weird commuter in that we’re all competitors but we all love helping each other.

Dickson:                               [01:03:36]               And all older speakers all of our group members we we live for helping other people. That’s that’s what we do.

Speaker 19:                        [01:03:46]               It’s all we would die.

Stephen:                             [01:03:51]               What I find in. Oh it’s the first off the fact that it’s the first. Is this the first Kenned Canadian one. Yes. OK. So it’s the first Canadian one so I think it’s going to you’re going to get exposed to a whole bunch of other people who have no clue that there are Facebook groups with all these things and yet they’ve been selling for years and have incredible stories. You’re going to get to meet them face to face and there’s something about meeting somebody face to face next time I have a question. I feel comfortable calling Nate McAllister or sending him a note. Hey Nate would you give me some advice. Like of course Steve you know because we’ve had dinner together we’ve had a drink together whatever it is. I get to shake his hand. That relationship is there. It’s now not just a Facebook relations. It’s that plus. And so those things happen. And it’s it’s that you know it kind of speeds up the education process because there is a learning curve here isn’t there.

Dickson:                               [01:04:45]               Of course there is a gigantic learning curve. I don’t know everything there is to know about Amazon. Not even close.

Stephen:                             [01:04:53]               Meaning there and hence the reason I have the podcast and I talk to great sellers like yourself. So this this conference it’s February 24th the 25th again. You have until the 21st to register. And you know let the speakers speak for themselves. I mean you know Nate if you haven’t seen Nate and Chris if they do it together it’s even better because a play off of each other. But it’s very powerful when they start explaining other ways that they use that they make money and different things. It starts to expose you even further and you start to see other options and then you have some great seller titled In Nelson who is a kid who’s selling millions and yet he just has an attitude about it. He lives a kind of a nomad lifestyle too he’s traveling forever and he has incredible success.

Stephen:                             [01:05:39]               And so I just think that’s great. All right. So I’m going to put these links out on my Web site. I’m going to put that crazy link for that crazy Facebook group out there. So you could find it just come to this episode to find it. So let’s do this Dixon because I you know I mean there’s a bunch of questions I didn’t get to. So I to follow. Two final questions. One is what drives you at this point to be successful. And then the second thing I’m going to ask you to close with is a tip or trick that you think people can come and put into their business to help them grow. And I guess I should qualify this too. I want to be able to put a link that if somebody has a question for you to follow up is it OK if I put your Facebook contact there of course.

Stephen:                             [01:06:24]               OK. So I’ll do that and then I’ll have links to the prime seller community which is the shortened version for the Facebook group and then I’ll have links for the conference and I hope I mean I hope you have a successful conference because again you’re going to change a whole bunch of people’s lives by exposing to other sellers who are going to solve problems that they’re facing right now that they don’t even know and they’re gonna be like oh I’ve been doing it this way.

Stephen:                             [01:06:46]               You mean I can just do this. You’ve bought time immediately. Mitchell Lippe or Harvey spectrally says buy time.

Dickson:                               [01:06:53]               OK so the conference where it follows our community value our community. We don’t have any affiliate links at all. Do any pitches. We’re just there to help you. So with a no pitch conference. No it’s a no pitch Facebook group and the conference will be similar. OK.

Stephen:                             [01:07:14]               Oh you’ll have sponsors though you do have sponsors. OK. So they’re there. OK. All right so. So somebody is going to help underwrite some of the costs. OK. And that’s fair. OK. All right.

Dickson:                               [01:07:27]               And we’re not even trying to make money off the Concord’s. We just want to get it out there. Get back to the convenience sellers and give them a place to learn to gather and to share all this good information about how to succeed and that’s it leads right into your next question which is what drives me is legacy interesting. I am a huge Kerry fan and if you know anything about its legacy. Like straight up you’re going to die one day. So what do you want to be remembered by when you’re 90 and you’re sitting on death bed. What are you going to regret.

Stephen:                             [01:08:14]               So what do you want to be remembered by I mean if it was the inscription go on your gravestone what is it going to say. I mean what would it. What would be the cool thing for it to say.

Dickson:                               [01:08:25]               And it could be long idle I don’t know I don’t care for me I’m going to go complete left field on you. My life’s mission is to have that many and to do that. I don’t get any recognition but I do for I believe if you believe in science. Climate change is real and it’s going to kill us all. So I want to help humanity fight this problem somehow and if I can help humanity survive one more day than my then I’ve done my job. So Amazon is not what I want to do. This is just a starting point right. This is my first entrepreneurial venture. I want to do some of the things you must does. He’s a big inspiration to me. He is all time pro human survive and that’s I want to go down that same path eventually and he’s been told it won’t work won’t work won’t work all this stuff exactly won’t work and he still does it.

Stephen:                             [01:09:41]               He’s not listening to anybody that’s really you.

Dickson:                               [01:09:44]               That’s that’s where I want to be. And I don’t care what goes on my gravestone because it’s not about the recognition.

Stephen:                             [01:09:54]               And you know what I was looking for something close to help people move forward. I think you just did it. I think that’s the perfect place to end. I think it’s exactly I think it’s you know it’s not a pie in the sky anymore. Right. The things that weren’t available to us are all right now available to us. The fact that you can launch a business without any without touching a product ever you know right from your living room and you could make purchases from around the world and use that money to help other people today. So it’s just such a cool place to be. OK so I’m going to have links for all this stuff all linked for you so people can follow up links for the community of links for your conference going to meet you face to face one of these days we’ll have that beer and we can start a conversation.

Stephen:                             [01:10:42]               But I do appreciate todo. Now I appreciate it and I appreciate what you’re trying to do because I get it. You’re trying to affect humanity. Love it. OK. Hey thank you so much. I wish you nothing but success. Thanks

Dickson:                               [01:10:55]               for having me Steven.

Stephen:                             [01:10:56]               Ticker great episode great guy and man I hope you’re thinking about if you’re in Canada especially or even up north and you’re lookin to go to a conference. I mean it sounds like it’s going to be a great event and again for that price. Fifty dollars or so for 250 bucks and they’re feeding you for a couple days that’s valuable. Right. Then you get to stay on premise. You get to sit with people and really you got to take advantage of. You can’t go and sit in the back of the room and not meet people. I try to make it a point to meet every single person at these events because I think it just it makes my life that much better. You know and I just get to meet so many more people and you get such depth from them all and it’s just such a wonderful thing.

Stephen:                             [01:11:37]               So again I have all the links on this episode. I’d say the 50 bucks that’s awesome. Use a code momentum save 50 bucks I hope. I hope they sell a ton of them. And yet you get to meet a ton of people and grow your business. E-commerce momentum dotcom e-commerce momentum dotcom. Take care. Thanks

Cool voice guy:                  [01:11:55]               for listening to the e-commerce momentum podcast all the leagues mentioned today that combers momentum dotcom under episode number. Please remember to subscribe and the like us on iTunes.

 

Stephen-Peterson

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