367 : Sebastian Pilch – Hard work is hard, so figure out what you really want to do and start stage one
Sebastian has identified what he is willing to do and NOT do. That’s so important. How many of us have followed the advice of our parents or influencers only to figure out halfway you hate it. You are not good at it. It sucks out your soul! Well sometimes that thing you are meant to do or what you are really good at finds you. Like Sebastian pay attention to what is happening in your life and you might just find the thing you are meant to do.
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Sebastian: [00:00] Every old person that I’ve talked to that used to sell on Ebay is so negative about it, you know, like I had guys telling me like I’m crazy for quitting my job and like, you can’t make it do that.
Stephen: [00:10] He just wanted to jump in here and talk about two sponsors today. One, um, which I think is a great time of year to do this is to kick off with solutions. Four ecommerce Karen lockers group have been using them for a couple of years. Um, as a paid member, yes, she sponsors my show, but the reason that I have or as a paid service is because of the value they bring us. Um, matter of fact, there’s just a reconciliation shipment. A note that I got in, they need me to send some receipts so they can get it reconciled. And because that’s the requirement of Amazon, well all I have to do is send us the receipts. Then I’m done. And then the work happens. To be honest and I’m guilty of it. I wouldn’t get to it. It’s another one of those things that goes on my list and my list is really long, so hence the reason I use Karen lockers team, I’ve been using it for a couple of years.
Stephen: [00:55] I absolutely recommend to do and if you go through my link it is solutions and number for ecommerce forward slash momentum. You’re going to save $50 every single month and she’s going to do an inventory health report. It’s why you should do it this time of year. Start the new year out, right? Second one is seller lambs and I know I talked a lot about them and scope, but it’s because we use it so much and if you’re not using it, you should try it again. Figure out the keywords that are working for your competitors and then emulate them. Copy them. That’s nothing wrong with that. You want to be where people are looking for what’s working and scope is going to help you do that. So, so our labs.com, forward slash scope, use the code momentum and you’re going to save 50 bucks there too. Okay. Jeff and those guys have figured out a way to really get used zoned in. I guess that’s the right phrase to use and to be looking right at what’s important to get those key words right and to be seen. Ultimately, that’s what you want. When somebody pops in, Hey, I’m looking for a silver barbecue gloves, your silver barbecue gloves or what they see, so again, settled abs.com, forward slash scope. Use the colby momentum. Save 50 bucks. Let’s get into the podcast.
Cool voice guy: [02:04] Welcome to the ecommerce momentum podcast where we focus on the people, the products, and the process of income are selling today. Here’s your host, Steven Peterson.
Stephen: [02:17] Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. This is episode 367. Sebastian piltch. I’m very, very cool guy. I’m very cool for a whole bunch of reasons. One is he didn’t listen to his father, didn’t take his advice, and you know what? I think his father would agree with them, that good thing you didn’t sign a because me as a dad would sit back and I know my attitude has changed with my boys. My whole what I thought was right, because, you know, I went the corporate world and went to Grad school, did all those things and I don’t push my boys that way because I’m not sure that that’s the right future for them. Um, I want them to help figure it out on their own. So what I saw, Sebastian, which is the reason I have mine, is he’s, he’s into it. He’s, he knows what he doesn’t want and I think that that’s cool and he’s open to all these other things and things find him magically.
Stephen: [03:07] Well, guess what, that’s because he’s open to them, right? There’s the big mystery. He’s not set in his ways. Oh, you got to do it this way because that’s the way it’s always done. No, he’s open to them and these things find him a no law of attraction stuff. He’s just has an open mind. That’s cool. And you know, he’s got some phrases that he uses in this interview and he said he quoted from other people, but they’re so spot on. It’s so deep, you know, hard work is really hard. He’s right. You know, breaking rocks. That’s hard work, man, that’s really hard and so I think it’s a great place to start for 2019. It’s a chance to look back at what you’re doing and say, I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to do something else by knowing what you don’t want to do. Turning that off, you are open to so many more things and I think he’s a great example of what you can do if you want to. Let’s get into the podcast.
Stephen: [04:00] All right. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast and I’m very excited about today’s guest because you know, it kind of. I’m continuing my theme about kind of starting over or starting right? Two Thousand and 19 and I’m, I’m excited about this talk because I think, I think my guest, Sebastian is somebody who’s figured out at a young age relative to me halfway age, uh, that there’s more to life and you need to live the life that you want and on your terms. And Yeah, you gotta work and you got to do everything else, but there is opportunity. You don’t have to only go the one track that we were all taught. Go to college, get a job, work there for 40 years and retire. No, that might not be right for everybody and Sebastian pitches here to tell us that might not be right for him. Also, welcome Sebastian.
Stephen: [04:50] Really, really happy to be here. I love your podcast. Listen to it. It’s really an honor to be here. It’s an honor for me to have you. What? What attracted me, uh, because we started talking a while back about photos because you, you have some photos, stuff that you do, but then we got talking about Amazon and stuff like that. And uh, then I go and dig a little deeper and I see that you’re a, you jumped. Do you made the leap and decided I’m done. I’m going to be a full time at this point. Ebay seller, and you’re looking to advance an Amazon but you just like, you walked away. I mean, who does that? Who does that? And I just got married and the dog just fell off the building and we just bought a house all at the same time. Oh my gosh, that’s probably not a good idea to do all these things. I, my advice to you as a dad would be like, you know, Sun, Sun, community can handle one or two of these things, but you had this much into it. But you know what? I think that’s a generational thing. You’re not. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, it’s not acceptable. Status quo is not acceptable. No. My biggest in life is just
Sebastian: [05:58] to kind of be like everyone else. He knows to have that corporate job for 25 years and kind of burnout and hate my wife and hate my family. Like I’ll just don’t want that. You know, I just kind of want to live a life full of excitement and kind of just vacation where we want to vacation and do whatever you want to do from wherever you want to do it. You know, that’s uh, that’s my idea of freedom. You know, having a million bucks, it doesn’t mean anything. I’ve had to live like a millionaire, then I have a million bucks, you know,
Stephen: [06:23] it’s deep. It’s very powerful because when you live in like a million bucks. So we have a friend that just moved to Thailand and he’s like, and he’s a chef. He was a, he was the head chef at Morimoto’s. I mean, this is like a real chef. He’s like the food here. So great. I’m like, where are you eating? He goes, I’m going to the little stand on the corner. I’m like, wait a second. Who’s a chef? Who knows? He’s like, it’s amazing. And I’m like, isn’t that the coolest thing? And yet he’s like, oh, I can eat for pennies a day.
Sebastian: [06:54] Oh yeah, it’s, it’s amazing. I mean it’s, that’s the kind of freedom that I eventually want, you know. And I was actually shocked in my former life as well. And I started out when I was 18 years old. That was my first career path. Um, I worked really hard. So I kind of like, I skipped over college. I didn’t do that even though my dad always told me like, go to the military, join the police officer, go to college. Like those are the kind of like three things. Yeah. Like, you know, he’s an immigrant. My parents are both from Poland. I’m a first generation American. I was born and raised here, but my parents, you know, they were very kind of old school and Polish, so there’s a lot of Polish traditions that we’re still kind of kept around even though they tried to make me American. No, but when I turned 18 and my dad was a chef my whole life for about 40 years and he actually just quit and he does uber full time now. So stop at 60 years old. The guy left his, you know, 45 or 40 year career jobs.
Stephen: [07:52] Let’s stop there a second because I don’t want to lose this. Why? What does he say is the reason that he walked away from 40 years of his life, that he’s obviously invested in a. probably was pretty good. If you made it for 40 years, why? Why would he change at 60 years old?
Sebastian: [08:07] Same kind of thing, like he told me when I first started out, he was like, don’t be a chef, don’t work in kitchens, don’t do anything hard. It’s, you know, it’s seven days a week, 80 hours a week. It’s dangerous. It’s just constant, just nonsense that you have to deal with, you know, and I think he just got finally frustrated with it and he is not tech savvy, you know what I mean? He speaks English, he’s been here for forever, but it’s still not second nature to him, you know, to use an iphone and you know, be a people person, but he makes more money than I do sometimes on Uber. I mean he makes over a thousand bucks a week driving with Uber car. Just for fun.
Stephen: [08:47] Have you had the discussion with them about the advice he gave you? I mean, not in an awkward way to say, Hey dad, you told me to go be one these three things and I’m thankful I didn’t. But now look at you, you know, because it’s, I mean, you know, he knew what he knew at the time in the world has obviously changed, right? Mean enormously. But, but if you guys had that discussion, like I’m glad I didn’t listen to your advice there.
Sebastian: [09:11] It’s actually kind of funny. I’m like, talk to him about that. My name is one of those guys were old school and Stern and just like, he’s like the only person in the world that scares me, you know, his hands on like Bair paws and things like that. But is that a very emotional guy? I’ve never seen him really get upset. All he really does is work hard. Like that’s all I ever remember of him. I mean like when I was a kid, he was a chef, he had two jobs. He had a business, you know, like you, they had a retail store and it was just like always constantly moving. And he would get home at 1130 at night and you know, be up again the next day at [6:30], you know, hair brushed, smoking cigarettes and ready to go,
Stephen: [09:49] ready to go. The Gary v men to have the immigrant mentality, Gary v Dot talks about all the time.
Sebastian: [09:54] It’s hard, hard work. It is married and you got to appreciate it, you know, but now I’m glad my dad told me not to go down that path, but I’m very, very glad that I did. I’m glad I didn’t listen to him. You know, it’s uh, those years from 18 to 25 is when I left the restaurant industry kind of officially. Um, those are very important years for me. Like as far as developing is a man. Really. It’s kind of one of those. I wouldn’t want to compare it to like the military or a firefighter or like any like job like that. Like there’s very inherent risks with those jobs. But being a chef man, like especially if you’re trying to, you know, actually do it the right way and pursue, you know, the restaurants that are worth pursuing. It’s hard. I mean it’s, you know, the places I was trying to work at, they were, you know, 80 hour weeks using tweezers, you know, if you use the sink, you wiped the whole sink down deep, cleaned the kitchen five times a day. It’s like, you know, I was trying to work out that level and
Stephen: [10:54] most isn’t it? I mean, it really sounds like a sport the way you’re describing it. To me
Sebastian: [10:58] it is, man, it’s, it’s a mental and physical sport. I mean, I’ve sliced my thumb off on a meat slicer. I burned my whole face off of oil. I mean just it, it took seven years of that and you know, various levels of restaurants from, you know, kind of crappy restaurants. The really. I mean I had an interview, I’m one of the best restaurants in the world at the time. I’m in New York City and it was kind of like a wide gamut of experience, you know, working from immigrants that if, you know, the cops came to the restaurant and these guys would be running out the back door to working with super high end chefs. It’s, it was a crazy experience, you know, and for me when I was younger I was like really shy and I didn’t talk much and I had no confidence whatsoever, so kind of just working in kitchens and having to become a man really fast, you know, like you have to toughen up or else you won’t make it, you know, it’s one of those things where it’s not one of those jobs that like, oh I know steven was cool, he is so and so’s brother, let’s just keep it, you know, like if you suck, you suck, you’re out, you’re out, there’s no, there’s no hand holding.
Stephen: [12:00] So and where your reference to the military and police and stuff, the discipline is what it sounds like to me. It taught you to be disciplined. Does that come forward now? I mean when you look at, you know, you’re having real success on Ebay right now. I mean, does that, can you see a correlation to the discipline? I mean like, I mean do you approach it similarly?
Sebastian: [12:20] So it’s actually funny because I purchased almost the exact same way. So for me the biggest thing is process. I’m sorry about that. Um, process. That’s to be a successful chef, you have to have a process. So like if you’re cutting a bag of, you know, 50 pounds of onions, you peel an onion and then cut it, you appeal all the onions and then you cut the onions. Right? That’s the thing that makes the most sense.
Stephen: [12:44] Do you go through that in your mind? I mean literally do you have these images in your mind that you envision, okay, this is the way I’m going to tackle that
Sebastian: [12:52] 100 percent. So very cool workflow. Like it’s like clean everything first and then package it up and then kind of labels out afterwards. So I kind of, I do everything in steps. That’s just the way that my mind works and I think it’s the most efficient way. Um, that’s, I mean discipline is, you know, I can run around and literally be on my feet for 10 hours a day and they’re not bothering me. So I guess that helps as well, you know?
Stephen: [13:17] Right. So you have the statement, you have the youth as stamina. Dude, it gets harder when you get little. Let me just tell you it’s coming.
Sebastian: [13:25] Oh the, I believe in my back and my knees are awful. I mean, I’m 27 years old, but I got a bad back and my knees creak
Stephen: [13:31] from standing on kitchen floors I assume, right?
Sebastian: [13:33] Yeah, man, it’s 16 hour days. Like that beats you up. It doesn’t matter how young you are. I mean if you’re doing it every freaking day, it’s gonna take a toll on you.
Stephen: [13:41] Yeah. And I imagine your hands to uh, you know, that that’s a lot of chefs get arthritis and those kinds of things too.
Sebastian: [13:49] I always have those kinds of issues, like my hands will cramp up randomly and all that. But, you know, the other thing it really taught me is that I’m scared to work hard again if it did one big thing for my life. It really taught me that like, hard work is really hard. You know, there’s um, a lot of people know it. It’s true to like. The sad thing is that a lot of people my age and my generation have never worked hard in their life, you know, going to college and getting your corporate job, it’s like, it’s hard in a different way, you know, it gets Kinda just like mentally exhausting, but like people that were physically hard, I have a different respect for them. You know, it’s, I just couldn’t imagine like being 50, 60 years old and still having to physically work hard. Like man, that’s like my biggest fear in life. You know, like I don’t want to do that. I just don’t. So I will do anything to prevent that. At this point
Stephen: [14:46] I just heard somebody talk about this, uh, Jesus, I can’t remember who it was, but the guy who’s a gazillionaire and he’s like, look, I have enough money that I could literally never do anything else, but I don’t think that would be very satisfying. That’s kind of one of my bigger fears is that, you know, you do so well and then you become that fat guy sitting on the beach not doing it. You know what I mean? That’s also a life that for me that I don’t want a, I like to be on the beach, don’t get me wrong, I would love to be there now because it’s 26 degrees in Pennsylvania right now. But, but I, I would sit there and I would say I’d still have to do something. I mean, mentally I’ve already retired once. I still have to do something to, to, to be satiated. Sated. Right. I guess that’s the right way to say it. Say it. So for you. So the fear, you already said that one fear you have is that you know, you’re an old dude doing physical work. You don’t want to be that. Any other fears of what you don’t want to be before we get to what you do want to be
Sebastian: [15:46] because a new sound like really out there and kind of brash. But one of my biggest fears in life is to be poor. I just, I don’t want to be poor, you know, I don’t want to have to rely on people. I don’t want to have to, you know, be in debt and do the traditional thing. And you know, at my house, mortgage for 30 years, I just, I don’t want to be poor, it’s not about owning rolls royces and rolodexes and having private jets, you know, grant cardone is cool, but it’s not about being on his level or anything. It’s just having enough comfort to, you don’t have to worry about, you know, especially like day to day tasks, you know,
Stephen: [16:21] what’s comfort for you because right now, I mean, you don’t have kids yet, but, but I mean, what, what’s comfort? I mean, do you live a modest life now?
Sebastian: [16:30] No, we live in Utah where, you know, the cost of living is relatively cheap. I mean I’m, I’m in my office right now looking at like gigantic mountains, um, for our house and our house cost less than $200,000 and we’re less than a mile away from a beautiful mountain. So it’s, the cost of living is relatively low and we don’t have kids. We do have several car loans and things like that. But know we don’t live extravagant. The most extravagant thing we do is eat out a lot, you know?
Stephen: [16:57] Yeah. You’re not cooking because you’ve been there. Right. You’ve got to get that out of your system for now. I, I respect that too. You do enough of it. You need a break? Yeah.
Sebastian: [17:05] I don’t cook that much at home unfortunately right now, even though our kitchen’s beautiful, but I just, I don’t know man. I just like to get food to go and just scarf it down real quick and be done, you know.
Stephen: [17:15] So what was it? What was attractive to you about ecommerce? What was it that seemed to connect with you? Obviously the fact that you can make it a process makes it flow well, it makes you say it, it makes you enjoy it. But what was it that was attractive to you that you said, Huh, I could do this.
Sebastian: [17:33] The numbers of people, man, it’s this whole sales game is a numbers thing. You know, it’s, it’s easier to sell it at 15 million people than it is to sell to five people. So that’s the thing, like I don’t think people understand the kind of thing.
Stephen: [17:46] Sorry. So you’re like, instead of selling at your local carpet store where the 12 people come in during the day and your goal was to sell one or sell cars, I guess would be another one. Easy, right? You’re saying, hey, if I put this unique item up on Ebay today or if I create the right product for Amazon, I can reach the world. That’s
Sebastian: [18:09] just a crazy feeling. Knowing like this is going to sound more like mushy kind of thing. But it provides a lot of satisfaction or like people. So anything. I’m sorry to backtrack a little bit. The name of my shop is things you don’t need. Um, and that’s Kinda what I want to sell. You know, like I want to have fun selling things. I want to sell things that people are looking for that they need that might be there or you know, just for whatever reason it just. I’ve had a lot of people write me and they say like, Oh, like I’ve been looking for this forever, blah, blah blah. It’s just, it’s a good feeling, you know, I mean maybe it’s tendons, childhood toy or piece of clothing. They had been dying to find, it’s just the cool thing, you know, just to be able to kind of be a part of that life and provide that service for people.
Stephen: [18:52] Well that’s a skill set and I don’t think we should downplay because I agree with you. It’s very rewarding because what caused you to recognize that item? What stood out to you? That gift of being an. I’m calling myself a noticer. It sounds like you are too, and I think most people listening to this show art notice her, so I don’t, I don’t mean to make yourself a bigger deal, but I’m just saying is that your ability to recognize something that made you attracted to it, that made you purchase it, negotiated the best deal you could and then present it in the best way that it was available so that one person saw it and said, oh my God, I’ve been looking for this forever. How, you know, I get those questions. How did you get this? Or where did you get these? And you know, to me it’s, you know, the whole story, but I, to me that’s a cool little. I’m not an artist, I’m not a singer, I’m, it’s going to be news till my friends. I’m not an athlete. Uh, they’re all laughing right now. They’re all laughing right now, but it seriously. But I am good at this and it’s my little hook in the world. And it sounds like you too. I mean, that’s, that’s very, very cool. I mean it’s gotTa, it’s gotTa feel good every single time. And when you replicate it, how’s that make you feel?
Sebastian: [20:07] It’s just, I don’t know where it came from there and I just, it all kind of just happened naturally. People always asking like, how do I know how to get that? Like I’ve no idea, you know? And then it happens again and it happens again. It’s like a proof of concept, you know, it’s like, at first
Stephen: [20:25] is it, is it because it’s unusual. I mean, walk me through it. So you’re walking through, you’re a thrift store and you see something. I mean, you, you know, you have the advantage of being young with your fingers. You have no fear of looking up on Ebay to see what it’s sold for. Right? I mean those are big advantages, right? But the fact that you looked at it because you can’t look at, you know, it’s like when your skin for Amazon. Alright you go, we all have tools, right? We all have these little little buttons we can push and we could do volume. You scan everything. That was the rule, right? That’s efficient because all you’re doing is scanning a barcode and moving on. Right. You could just get through 100 things in an hour. But at a thrift store you couldn’t look up 100 things. It would take days. Right. How do you, anything, any tips or tricks you could give us that would make you pause and say that shirt is a. I could see that that’s different than all these others or what, what is it?
Sebastian: [21:16] So, you know, for me I think it Kinda came from I’m getting bored really quickly, like throughout my whole life. Like I don’t think I have some medical condition or anything. I just, I really think I kinda like start something and then I get good enough to like say compete in it. So like I played golf or back to sports, I played golf for about a month, I took it seriously and I got good enough to like go out and play. I wasn’t good at it, but I was good enough to understand that the game, right. That’s kind of how I’ve been my whole life. So I’ve kind of just had a lot of interest over the years, you know. So I just, I pick things up and I kind of just spot them out. But you know, it’s the biggest thing I tell people is look for unique items.
Sebastian: [21:58] So especially in clothing, you know, you have to look for those crazy patterns because that’s what sells now, you know, like nineties vintage and eighties vintage and bold, crazy colored block, things like that. That’s what sells, you know, and then everything else, it’s just kind of, it’s hard to say you because I can just be like, oh yeah, like you go into a store and look for a commercial restaurant supplies, you know, but then some people will know what that means, you know? So it’s, I think that’s the hardest part of this. It’s kind of explaining to people how my mind processes this information because I don’t even really know. You know, I just kind of look around and I’m like, okay, I’m going to buy that bad in that. I just. It’s kind of crazy, honestly.
Stephen: [22:38] Well, but it’s cool to me again and my short version, my son is coming full time into our business for the next four months. He’s in college and he’s done and so I’m taking him to an auction tomorrow and so my goal is, is to teach him to fish. Kind of what you’re doing right now is to learn that skill set so that no matter what you know you can. You can build out this big Amazon business. You can build out all these different things and your account could get shut down for a bit and then you have to learn how to eat for that period of time. But what you’re describing, you have a skill set right now that you could go and do no matter what, no matter where. So if you went to Thailand, you could take that same application right there, walk through and say who this is unusual and list it for sale that you. You’ve been taught to fish and now it sounds like it’s self taught, but to me that is a transferable skill that can go anywhere, anytime and you can do it from any. I mean to me that’s very, very exciting. I’m very, very cool.
Sebastian: [23:39] Let me, let me stop you right there. It’s going to backtrack a little bit. The whole self talk thing like I know I knew enough to be dangerous, but then I started really watching youtube videos. It’s crazy man. Like if you can’t do what I do then you’re just lazy. That that’s, that’s the only thing. It’s, there’s so many youtube videos out there, right?
Stephen: [24:02] Anybody particularly that stands out to you? Give them a shout out.
Sebastian: [24:05] So the two that I highly, highly recommend anyone that’s new to watch is craigslist center. Peter’s in the game and he’s Polish to Polish that. I love Pete. Man. That’s, that’s who started all of this is a great guy. Dude. I, that’s one of my goals in life, to be honest with you. I just want to shake the guy’s hand. I love him. Um, and then rally roots. Um, I don’t know if you’ve heard of those.
Stephen: [24:30] I do. I don’t know them yet. I haven’t had them on the show yet, but I, I admire the way the three of them work together.
Sebastian: [24:37] Oh yeah. They have a great little team and they’re doing an awesome, awesome business there. And I’m actually taking their uh, their course on the first. It’s their second time. They’re running a course for Ebay and wholesale and that stuff. So I signed up for it. I’m going to take it and see what comes out of that. But yeah, I love those guys because they do a lot of vintage clothing and that’s kind of my passion and they are very thorough. They show you what things they buy and like they go through everything. So it’s a very easy way for someone to learn just because it’s, it’s so out there, you know, like they are so transparent with all of their information. They just want to help people, you know, and that they will have craigslist hunter, like Pete is amazing because you know, the store that he has such a different, like a wide variety of items, you know, where most people don’t see that and you watch his channel and you’re like, oh, he just bought that vintage stereo receiver for this much like, well how does that work? So much money, you know, and you know, that was a big thing for me. Like he buys a lot of vintage audio stuff and I was never into that. And guess what, now I love vintage audio because of him. Like I have a huge respect for it. I buy it, sell it, and then I keep some for myself.
Stephen: [25:49] Let me, the way I’ve had him on the show and what blew me away and it didn’t. I had no clue. I was such an idiot about this is I thought like most people, oh you open a store and you have you sell out of your store. This is great. You know, people just come in and troves and he’s like, no, Steve, that doesn’t work. Essentially I sell some stuff, but not very much. Majority of sales are online. He said, what my business allows me is people bring me the merchandise and I get to cherry pick and I get to look it up and I get to. He said, I got to pay a premium, but if I had to pay somebody to go out and source this stuff, I’m not spending any more. And the minute I heard that, like the lights went on and I’m like, Oh my God, this guy’s a genius because he understands what his business is. It’s not a selling point because I, a lot of my friends were like, oh, we should open a retail store. I might do that. That’s a death knell. Do not open a retail store, but open up a sourcing store like he is.
Sebastian: [26:41] That’s powerful. He’s got the ultimate set up, you know, he, he’s definitely, he’s doing it right. You know,
Stephen: [26:49] what are you excited? This is not downplay. Plus A. He’s very, very smart. He’s got a very smart partner. He hires trains very well. Um, and so I don’t want to downplay that because that’s also, you’ve got to be a really great leader to be able to do that.
Sebastian: [27:03] Oh No, for sure. You can’t knock anything. He’s done with any success. He, he wants to teach everyone and
Stephen: [27:09] that’s cool that you picked up on that, that that’s very, very cool. Um, because I don’t know if everybody gets that, that he is not a selling store. He is a sourcing
Sebastian: [27:17] store. Yeah. No, it’s definitely pretty clear there. He definitely, I watched pretty much all of his videos and you could definitely tell that, you know, ea is his bread and butter or how Ebay, he’d probably had a business a long time ago, unfortunately,
Stephen: [27:34] you know, how else I would throw in there as Ronnie heart would be another one that I would throw in. It’s just one of those guys. He’s real low key, you know, but he’s just so smart. I’m, I’m just just absolutely. Or Dallas Moore’s another one. I don’t know if you’ve been able to see Dallas. I just had him back on just brilliant. Um, and so humble about it. Like you said, they’re just coming at it from the right approach. You know what I mean? It’s, that’s awesome.
Sebastian: [27:58] Alright. Okay. I’d have to have humility in this. You don’t have humility then, you know, what are you in business for the whole old school thinking of like this businessman who’s like Egotistical Guy, affiliate, a Bluetooth earpiece and a convertible, you know, like, that’s, that’s done man. Like we can all make more money if we help each other, you know,
Stephen: [28:16] and I, and I think there. Yeah, you do. You know there is a line and I understand it and some people push up against it. Another one I do want, I don’t want to miss this one too, is Chris Mullin. I think he’s probably the one of the best executioners of systems that I’ve ever seen his mind is like, that’s, that’s rare to find somebody who thinks that way. So. So what keeps you in it though? Is it, is it the fact that you can. I mean, let me ask you this. I mean your sales are growing. Is that a result of effort, efficiency, consistency? Which one would you say is really driving the growth that you’ve had?
Sebastian: [28:54] It’s consistency. Ebates big thing. I mean thinking the algorithm, whatever myths you want to believe in. I really do think that consistency on Ebay makes the biggest difference. When we bought our house and we were kind of in a transitional phase from moving from our apartment. I just stopped listening stuff, you know, and that was our worst week ever. You know, we did like $600 when we were used to doing like over $2,000 in sales. Right. And it wasn’t because anything else changed the products that didn’t change, it just, I stopped listening. I really think Ebay rewards you if you keep like active on it, you know, they like people going in there and tweaking titles, adjusting prices constantly listing and then just, you know, constantly hustling and looking for products. Married. If I’m not looking for products every single day, I’m not making money, you know.
Sebastian: [29:43] So I thrift a lot. I’d gone local apps lot. I mean, just to find stuff to style and it’s just, you know, making those baby steps and kind of just improving things along the way. So, you know, I just totally revamped my office space and it’s do that because I was thinking about like immediate because we’re making this sound real glamorous, right? Dates, easy. You’ve had struggles, you’ve had challenges. So for example, why would you Redo your office space? What was it that you were trying to fix? What were you trying to do or gain? What will you, what did you think it would bring you if you go on the download ct done on Instagram, you could see before and afters and there’s a third after now that changed it a little bit, but I, uh, I’m not scared to admit I, I really, I was really bad at this for a while, man.
Sebastian: [30:32] Like it got overwhelming really quickly and I got really kind just depressed by like doing the whole Ebay thing. Like my office was just so, uh, selling grungy and uh, just dirty and cluttered and dark. And the lighting was like a weird shade of yellow and it was just miserable and they’re like, I would walk into his bedroom and I couldn’t work. I couldn’t think clearly there was piles of crap everywhere, you know, like the windows were covered up with shelving and just to the rafters of stuff. And My, uh, my little Ebay room is like a third back bedroom that has lower ceilings and the rest of the house. So it was already a cramped space to begin with and I, I made a lot more cramped. Um, I couldn’t work and like I literally had stuff sitting there for over a month and a half before I even touched it and processed it for some reason, you know?
Sebastian: [31:27] Um, but now like I gutted it, painted the walls, got rid of probably half the shelving. So I have about half the shelving space upstairs that I did before. But man, like I feel like, so like I guess invigorated, you know, like very motivated itself. It’s refreshing isn’t it? It’s like it is, it’s like pounds that you shed. It really. It is man. Like it was one of those rooms were like, we had to constantly walk through it, you know, like in our house because we can start back yard and leads to a bathroom in the room. Always look awful, you know, so we made it a room that looks cool. It looks like it’s part of the house. It looks like it looks like more of a studio. Then it does like an Ebay shipping office, I guess you’d say. You know, a gentleman named Dan Miller and he’s getting to a day rooms, just a great guy. And he knew his place and his office is meticulous and he’s like, Steve, of course this is my sanctuary. I come here to get away. I want to love where I work, when I look at my death piles in my office, not even in my warehouse. And I’m looking at him and I’m like, I’m not happy the way I am too. And so I think that that wears on you and I think. How did it wear on your relationship
Stephen: [32:40] with your wife? I mean, is it, was it the thing you didn’t talk about the elephant in the room kind of thing, like, you know, or does she give you grief or does she own some of it? You know, this the mess.
Sebastian: [32:52] She’s amazing. She, um, she doesn’t give me crap for anything really, really screw up. It was actually kind of weird that she was so nice about it. She never really. Did you feel like you were letting her down? Maybe then the rest of our house and meticulously we’re not holding pressure. Was there, there was a lot of pressure. She’s very good at decorating. She’s very good at upkeeping the house and this was just one room. It’s like, it’s like my room, you know, like, this is my thing. So she just like, let me have it, let me do my process of it. Which I got really lazy and I was a guy and I became really messy and cluttered and you know, it was um, it was like making like these stupid small changes, you know, rather than having like my photo set up in one corner, I moved it to another corner and now it’s easier to take photos of my photos look 10 times better. It’s a workflow issue, right? It is that, that was a thing, like it was a workflow issue. Like, so my death piles, we’re all quoting. Why did I have piles of clothing everywhere? Well, because I didn’t have a good place that was efficient to photograph them. So I didn’t do it and now I do. And now it’s easy. I have no depth pile. It was like my office is pretty much where I want it and you know, my photos look better than ever and I can actually think now.
Stephen: [34:07] So again, this is why I’m happy came on thinking about this for 2019. Taking and being in own it because I’m looking at my space and I’m owning it right now based on this conversation. I am going to clean up this office and start the new year. Right? Because if you walk in feeling good and you keep that, it carries throughout the day because if you walk in and you’re like, oh crap, there’s a pile again. Right? I mean that brings you down.
Sebastian: [34:30] Oh Man. Like it’s night and day different, you know, just the way it looks, the way it feels. You know, there’s candles lit. It’s all romantic mood lighting and stuff like that. It’s just a nicer room to be in. It actually made me really happy because the other day my wife’s like, oh, I’d actually hang out in here now. You know? I’m like, that’s what I wanted.
Stephen: [34:49] Yeah, that’s, that’s like a chills in the spine kind of moment.
Sebastian: [34:54] It was, it was great, man. It’s, you know, that’s the thing, like my one biggest tip to everyone is just kind of like realize where you are and just kind of accepted it. You know, like, I should, I quit my job and I did all this cool stuff and like the copywriting sounds cool, my website. But at the end of the day, man, I struggled at hustle. I hustle every day. Like I don’t have 90 grand in my bank account, you know, like I’m not rich. I’m not like head. I don’t have all my debt paid like you. I’m struggling every day, you know, like I’m changing things every single day. I buy broken stuff by mistake all the time. I lose money all the time. Like it’s, it’s part of the hustle. Milan, it’s no,
Stephen: [35:33] but you figured it out to me. To me the fact, well you, I don’t. I went to my men’s group this morning and every single guy in there is a work in progress in preaching in any way. I’m just sitting back and saying, you know, the guy who you think have it together, they don’t, but they’re just not. A lot of people aren’t willing to admit it and the fact that you are and the fact that you’re working on it and then you see that reward of her sparkling saying, hey, maybe I’ll hang out and hear more. Let me tell you from a relationship point of view, you just, you gave her a big diamond ring right there because that’s what keeps our relationship. I’m serious though. I mean this is dad talking to Sebastian. This is advice, but it’s like I’m serious though. Those are the things that keep marriages stronger, right?
Stephen: [36:21] All the women are shaking their head like, yeah, no kid. Pick up your clothes in the corner. That’s right. Those things help. So. All right, let me ask you this because you know, I’m thinking about how to continue helping people, right? And I think you’re giving very, very good solid advice. What are the things that you learned not to do? Um, that you would say to people, Hey, don’t go down this path or don’t, you know, it might look right, but it’s not anything that you can think of that you would say, I wouldn’t do that again. Or did they all get to hear and you might not have gotten here without you.
Sebastian: [36:57] Yes, that’s what I was going to say. I heard this on someone’s podcast. I don’t know if it was like bags or someone’s, but it was on someone’s podcast. Someone like, cool said this. It said like when I first started my business, I screwed up a lot, but that was like the easiest and cheapest college tuition you could ever pay. Right? So this first year, that’s kind of how I looked at it. Like we’ve, we’ve profited and we’ve profited very, very well. But along the way, I mean I’ve probably lost, I don’t know, maybe a thousand, maybe $1,500 off bad vibes or whatnot. And it’s the reason I lost money, it was because that was emotional. That’s the problem. You can’t be emotionally can’t make emotional decisions when it comes to business. It has to be asked to be analytical, you know, that’s the biggest thing that Amazon sellers say is like, don’t fall in love with the product, fall in love numbers kind of thing. It’s, it’s true. You know, the way you feel about something doesn’t really mean much. It really just matters about the numbers. You know? That’s the biggest thing. That’s, that’s
Stephen: [38:00] really smart. I mean, I think that that makes a, you know, that puts it in perspective, right? And to lose a couple thousand dollars on, you know, six figures to sales when you, when you look at it that way, you’re saying now you know, I mean because if you sell shoes on Amazon, like I do 17 percent returns now most of them go back for sale. Most of them go back for sale. However 17 percent don’t sell, get returned or sell, get returned. And then I’m eating those four or $5 charges. And everybody who sells shoes knows all these fees and guess what? Build it into the cost, Steve. Well, at some lots of them come back and you can’t sell them as new. And so now all of a sudden you’re, what you thought was a $40 profit is now a $8 profit, dropping to a $4 loss and $8 loss. And so, you know, um, so I think, I think it’s perspective. I think that getting control of those numbers really gives you perspective. For sure.
Sebastian: [38:59] So for, another big tip I have is don’t talk to people. All right. This is gonna sound counterintuitive, but don’t talk to people that have been doing this for 20 years because they’re all grumpy man.
Stephen: [39:13] No, seriously, that’s the sellers for him. Dude. Every
Sebastian: [39:17] older Ebay seller that I’ve ever met and I’ve met, you know, quite a bit of them in my local area. They’re like, oh yeah, I used to sell on Ebay, you know, 10, 15 years ago. It’s sucks this and that. Paypal fees, like don’t listen to that. Like this is the way it’s changing your, like if those guys want to be old school and do what they did, you know, in the 19 hundreds, let them do that, you know. But every old person that I’ve talked to that used to sell on Ebay is like so negative about it, you know, like I had guys telling me like I’m crazy for quitting my job and like, you can’t make it doing this, this and that. Like, no, that’s bs man. Like don’t listen to that, you know, those guys are complaining because they can’t adapt.
Stephen: [39:55] I think that that’s fair. I think I made the cut. I’m an old guy that you’re talking to, you know, my perspective is this is everything, right? No, but name anything that everything’s right. There is no such thing. Right? And so, so to be, to, to remember the good old days and how glamorous it was, it sucked. Putting photos up online sucked. It was awful, you know, and the fact that they invested gazillions of dollars and how much of their team to make it so easy to list on your phone now, it didn’t just magically happen. And guess what? There are pain points that come along with it. And I complained about it to however I sit back and say, man, thank God ebay exist, or think God, Amazon exists because we wouldn’t have businesses without it. You couldn’t build this infrastructure or like you talked about, right in the beginning of the call, the audience size, the fact that you’re aware that it’s a lot easier to sell. What do you say to 15 million people than it is to sell the five?
Sebastian: [40:50] Yeah, it’s a numbers game and that’s all it really is at the end of the day, you know, and you know, I started my first business when I was 13 or online and try to drive traffic to that man. I was like clueless. You know. But then again that was 15 years ago and you know, things are a little bit different now. It’s easy to have these marketplaces with traffic on them. You don’t have to build your own independent website anymore, like you used to and try to generate leads to that. It’s you go in this marketplace and I don’t know what the number of customers on Ebay is, but I mean it’s obviously high and you have access to all these people you can’t pay for. That is literally nothing you can do in the world to pay for that. So it’s like these guys are complaining about a 10 percent fee, like that’s 10 percent. You know, how much a real retail store costs, you know, how much it would cost to drive that much traffic to your website. You know,
Stephen: [41:43] it’d be impossible. You just can’t do it. Virtually impossible. There’s a reason that these platforms are doing so well because they have figured that piece out and they have giant teams dedicated to it. Alright. So we’re getting close to wrapping up, but I want to make sure people understand this. I like following Sebastian on instagram. He’s got a, it’s instagram, it’s done with Corp is the name on instagram. Um, and it’s neat. Some of the photos you could see some of the photos that he, he’s talking about some of the products he’s selling, some of the photos. It’s really neat. Um, and you get pictures of dog, um, but also, um, has a website called done with Corp Com and done with Corp meaning done with Corporate America. Um, and when I was reading why again that you were looking for, it’s really freedom. That’s what it seems to me when I was reading this and I was reading through, you know why somebody should consider it because you have some services you offer for helping people get started on Ebay and selling. But it was, I’ve read freedom there. I see the pictures. It shows freedom period. You agree?
Sebastian: [42:50] That’s all this is. I like to call this the baby step like bay and this whole thrifting reselling thing isn’t the end game. This is just like stage one, stage two is finding something a little bit more passive online to where I can, you know, really back off from thrifting, thrift or fun. But I don’t want that to be my full time thing. I really want to do private label or something like that.
Stephen: [43:17] But you’re paying your dues and you’re an income. To me, that’s smart.
Sebastian: [43:21] You got to start somewhere, man. But our goal is to hopefully buy an RV and the next two years and there’s live full time in an Rv for, uh, for several years and see what happens. And the only way we could do that is to create something more passive.
Stephen: [43:37] Did 27 years old. The fact that you understand this as a dad, your dad is very, very proud because it took him to 60 to be able to finally get there. Now my bet is, you know, 20 years into it, he figured out this sucks. You know, I got you. Here’s some. Here’s the chance you end up creating a life that you can’t turn off the machine, right? It’s a machine that you get so far into debt, you could get so stuck in this wheel. You can’t get off. Do you want to do it now? I’m not putting your head down. Don’t, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean any offense by this, but do you want to wait until you’re 60 to do it or do you want to do it in your twenties? And quite frankly, never started because you don’t do. Would it be, we’re back to beginning of call. You’re not going to do what everybody else is gonna do. Can I throw one more? Go for it. I’d love it. I’m telling you, I’m very proud of you. I’m telling you as a dad, I’m of you.
Sebastian: [44:32] Okay. So I’m allison. A lot of podcasts and I don’t again, I don’t know what podcast this was on. I don’t remember the gentleman’s name, but he’s a uh, I believe he’s a billionaire or ease of really, you know, up there, millionaire. I’m Spanish guy. I think he’s from Brazil or some sort of country like that, but his philosophy was that he wants to live like you just got news that he has a terminal disease. Right. And okay, this is going to sound really bad. But the whole basis of that is, you know, like my parents generation, as you worked 30 years, you retire and then maybe you travel, right? You wait until you’re retired to travel. You do your big adventures when you’re retired. And he’s like, no, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to take every Wednesday to do what ever I want to do, wherever I want to go, whenever I want to do it.
Sebastian: [45:18] Doesn’t matter. I’m going to do that. I’m going to call it terminal Wednesdays and that’s, that’s what I’m doing. You know, he’s, I’m going to live my life right now. I’m not going to wait 40 more years to do the things I want to do. You know, like what if I’m in a wheelchair? What if this and that, like you have to do it now when you have the opportunity and the health and the money and the drive to do it. And that really it really resonated with me. That was a, that was a really good thing I heard it really helped a lot as far as my perspective on life.
Stephen: [45:47] Love it. I’m very excited. I’m sitting here thinking about, you know, hard work is really hard, but it can be worth it. I mean it really is and it can be so worth it on the other end once you get into it. Dude. All right, so I’m going to give A. I’ll put the links out here, done with Corp. Com is his website, but again follow them on instagram, done with corp at done with court and take a look at these pictures and just, you know, sit back and say, is this something that I want to do because to me, you know, we’re starting at the new year if you are unhappy and what you’re doing, start there. And it’s funny. Andy slomin’s is in the warehouse today and we always Chat about it. His advice to his. He start with thrift stores. You don’t have money, great.
Stephen: [46:33] Go to thrift stores, buy stuff. It’s cheap. You got to do the work and you got to put in your thousand hours or whatever it is, but you could build something. then you have money, then you have skills and you can apply that in so many other things. When are you going to start? And sebastian and I are both here to tell you that right now is the time to start today. This year is the year that you could change your life. Look at him seven months. You changed your life too. I mean, think about that seven months.
Sebastian: [46:56] Good. I did it by mistake. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I really like. This is not a plan or a strategy. There was no thought into this man. I just started selling clothing on poshmark and then I just got overwhelmed and then I just started selling more and more like, this is great.
Stephen: [47:13] Right? That’s very, very good. Like you figured out something that you have a skill in that you might never have seen before. So I love it. I love it man. Right. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on. Sebastian. Again, my goal is to help people move their life
Stephen: [47:30] forward, their business forward. Um, one final piece of advice you could give us
Sebastian: [47:35] to end with. My biggest pieCe of advice. I’m going to copy what you just said, is just to get started in Maryland. My whole point of doing this, like the whole don’t have court thing. It’s, I’m not trying to teach someone and become a machine and to quit their job and to copy me. I don’t need people to do what I do. I don’t, you know, it’s not about that, it’s not about quitting your job, like some people might love their job. What I’m trying to do and what I’m trying to like spark and people is that you can make extra money on the side to pay your cell phone bill, to pay your mortgage, to pay your child support, to pay whatever. Rather than complaining about not having money. You can just do it. I mean, it’s, this is the most reputable, replicable business ever. And there’s such little money needed to actually do this. It just, you need to do it. It’s, this is the easiest side hustle in the world and everyone should be doing this. Thank you so much. I wish you nothing but success. Thanks so much steven.
Stephen: [48:37] Great guy. I, I hope a whole bunch of dads right now or you know, giving them the big thumbs up and saying, you know what, I’d be proud of him. Um, he gets it. I mean, if I can leave my kids with that legacy of knowledge, um, I’ve done well, period. I don’t have to teach them to be the best at whatever, but I can teach them those life skills that they can adapt and adjust and, you know, be willing to put in the time. So the, you know, that the other end, there’s so much better. um, sports again come out and it’s neat how he’s taken an approach like sports with this. And so those of you have ever done sports in your life, approach your business that way and it seems to be some magic recipe and those of us who never did sports really, um, we are definitely at a disadvantage, but we can learn it. Put in your thousand hours, reach out if I can help you in any way. Ecommerce momentum.com. Take care.
Cool voice guy: [49:31] Thanks for listening to the ecommerce momentum fudge jazz. All the links mentioned today can be found@incomersmomentum.com. Under this episode number, please remember to subscribe and like us on itunes.
