338 – Prince Patel : Selling 7 figures on Ebay takes a hustler mindset
You might have thought the title was wrong. Yes I wrote Ebay & 7 figures in the same sentence! Prince (who is very young) has niched down to be the expert in his field. Sounds smart right. You can compete on price and likely you will lose with those customers as someone always can buy at a better price than you but if you are the expert, that can separate you from the pack. Great story, great grinder who puts in the effort for the reward. Think again about Ebay and what it can do for you.
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Transcript: (note- this is a new tool I am trying out so it is not perfect- it does seem to be getting better)
Prince: [00:00:00] Fun thing that was valuable enough for me to earn an income and live on my own terms and so and I think a lot of people are just trying to achieve that in life and if I can provide what it was for me, then I would love to share that with the world.
Cool Voice Guy: [00:00:12] Welcome to the ecommerce will just focus on the people, the products, and the process of incomers selling today. Here’s your host, Steven Peterson.
Stephen: [00:00:26] Hey, great opportunity here. Right? You’re ready to buy. You’re ready to sell. Uh, if you can look for some cashflow, a now might be a great time to jump back into Ra at OAA. Lots of people do it. There’s some people that that’s all they do. They only work this time of year, sell enough, and then take the rest of the year off, sipping drinks on a beach in Bali. Anyway though, the outliers. Let’s talk about the rest of us, but if you want to have back ran, no way, then I have a great group for you. It’s through amazing freedom, friends and amazing freedom. My friends had amazing freedom and it’s Gaye Lisby specific. She is an unbelievable teacher and so what the deal they offered us through this podcast is two weeks free, so it’s a two week free trial, so there’s no risk to you at all, so it’s amazing.
Stephen: [00:01:08] Freedom.com, forward slash momentum, hyphen arbitrage. That’s it. Okay, you’re going to get two weeks free, but here’s the deal. If you sign up now between now and September 15th, so that’s coming up in less than two weeks by September 15th, if you’re a subscriber and you stick through to black Friday, you’re going to get Gaye’s black gold list. Okay? So the beauty of it, it’s a black Friday list, right? If you’ve ever went out shopping in a black Friday list when you, we’d send shoppers out, we’d go to a whole bunch of different places and you get those peak items. It’s great news. Now you can order a bunch of mud line too, but you also want to do, but to have a list in your hands, you go in, I buy these three items, boom, I’m out of there. Well, she gives you that list and that is a list they sell.
Stephen: [00:01:52] It’s expensive, however, if you’re a member and you’re a member by September 15th and you stick your way through to black Friday, you automatically get it for free, so you got to act fast. Try the two weeks. It’s completely free. See what you get. Look at those daily finalists and then say, Huh, for the small fee, it is a month. This is worthwhile for me, especially this quarter. Get somebody’s buying for you. Give them this list. This is what you’re going to invest in. This is a simple testing tool for you to see, hey, is this something I can be good at, man? Invest now, take the two weeks free and try it. I love it, love it, love it, and trust her. One hundred percent. She is such a teacher. Go check out our group. Okay, amazing. Freedom Dot com. Forward slash momentum. How you find arbitrage.
Stephen: [00:02:35] You know, the other sponsors I want to talk about is sellerlabs scope and we just launched a new product. I’m very excited about it. It’s wholesale and private label combined for us. Kind of a bundle thing that we do. Um, but I’m very excited because we used to go to help me with the keywords because it’s such a big deal figuring out the keywords, how are you going to rank for this, how do you rank for this? Well, guess what we do, we go like everybody else and we figure out what the top products, keywords, and then we use them also. That’s what scope allows you to do. And so it’s such a great, great product for discovering profitable Amazon keywords and you can even use it for finding products to you can with fee, cow sale calculations, all that stuff’s included, right? And it’s you, it’s just a chrome extension, simple to use, simple to use.
Stephen: [00:03:18] We use it if you could say 50 bucks by entering the code momentum. So sellerlabs.com, forward slash scope. And enter the code womentum save 50 bucks. That’s real money, save it please. And finally, I don’t want to Miss Karen lockers solution for ecommerce solutions. The number for ecommerce forward slash momentum is our link. Um, uh, Karen’s been a sponsor, my show, I guess it’s almost three years now and it’s been phenomenal. The people that are still with Karen all those years, including me, I pay the same price you do. It’s because the consistency. Um, so many times I, you know, I get these emails, hey stranded inventory report, boom. You know, I, I look at it but I don’t have to do anything because there’s a member of my team, somebody that we can count on to help my wife and I with our business so we don’t have to pay attention to it.
Stephen: [00:04:06] That’s what I like, that’s what I needed. And so solutions four ecommerce care locker, her team, um, I get notes from all the time I launched a. I think I talked about this last time. I launched a ton of products. The same product that I’m using scope for. I sent her, here are the images here. Now we do the key words. We do all that stuff upfront. She does a flat files for me. Boom. They went in. It was perfect. No feedback. I don’t have anything to change because it was done exactly as it was supposed to be, but I didn’t have to mess with it. And it’s not that I can’t, it’s not that I’m above it, it’s just that it allows me now to focus on this other piece. And so when you’re a small company like ours, when you have other people on your team working with you and working for you, it just makes the difference.
Stephen: [00:04:44] And you know, I’ve said it for her three years, again, I look for consistency overtime and Karen’s given me that, um, is it perfect? No, Steve’s never perfect. And so she keeps me on track and really helps us when we need it. And so it’s been a great relationship and I’m just so proud to offer it. I’m a very careful about these things and I’m so proud to offer it. So solutions the number for ecommerce forward slash momentum, you’re going to say 50 bucks and it’s real money. Again, that’s real $50 by using my link. You don’t get that link anywhere else to save the 50. And she’s going to do an inventory. Health report, storage fees, who got hit with storage fees, right? Just happened, right? A longterm storage fees. Now their monthly, right? This quarter they’re going to be monthly. Well, by using Karen and her team, you could get that inventory health done, boom, pull back, which you don’t need or put sales on it, whatever it is.
Stephen: [00:05:34] I’m Karen also does work on Ebay. If you want them to bring your listings over to Ebay using joe list or any of the other products, she does that kind of work too, but you’ve got to use my link solutions, the number for ecommerce forward slash momentum. Save the 50 bucks. Tell Karen I sent you and make sure that you really understand all the stuff that you can get through her service has been phenomenal. Let’s get into the podcast. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. This is episode 338 Prince Patel. Okay. He’s 24 years old. I’m saying it upfront and the dude will blow you away. You know, we’re very humble, very humble, and um, he just knows so much to be so young to be a bunch of things that he’s done. Super smart a, he had great parents. Um, he’ll, he’ll talk about that.
Stephen: [00:06:20] Hey, they’re great parents. That really gave him the freedom and the choices in something that you wouldn’t think you wouldn’t think that they would have because they were professionals and yet they. So that’s a good set of parents, but he’s aligned himself with a, you know, some really smart people. He’s really investing time with the right people. Crystalyn who I think the world of, I mean, just a super skilled individual, super skilled businessman who would succeed it. I don’t care. Whatever he did he would be because his mental approach, he has that intellect in that ability that you just don’t see the ability to be humble enough to realize that you’re not perfect in everything, but you can figure it out. You can push through it when it gets challenging or most people would pull back and say, give up. Um, and the ability to work for next to nothing, to get an education, to learn a completely new trade.
Stephen: [00:07:11] In essence, I mean, he’s got a trade. He is a craftsman at 24 years old. Right. If, if there was an apprenticeship, I think he’s already graduated and he’s already there at that age. Can you imagine what it’s going to be like in 10 or 20 years? Man. Oh Man. Let’s get into the podcast. All right. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. We’re excited about today’s guest because he’s got a cool story. Somebody who’s clearly figured out at a very young age, which I’m very, very interested to learn about because I have now he’s 22. He’s going to be 22 next week I think it is my younger son and so I’m always interested by somebody who’s very young, who has chosen a path that just seems to fit so well and they make it flow. They make it look easy and I’m sure it’s not a, but I’m very, very excited to have him on Prince Patel welcomed Prince.
Stephen: [00:08:00] Thank you for having me. I appreciate you coming on. I’ve been following you for awhile. Um, we have a mutual friend, Chris Lin and who I think, well, I think really a lot of super, super guy and super smart and I’ve seen you there. And I’m like, Oh, who’s this dude? I’ve got to get to know this guy and I then follow you on instagram and I’m like, holy smokes. All right, so we got to go back because you know, I’ve looked at some of the TV stories about you. I mean, you were a kid getting into this business. What was it that, that made you think I want to be an entrepreneur and sells stuff specifically?
Prince: [00:08:40] So for me, I tried a couple of jobs. I used to be a personal trainer for fitness and for fitness enthusiasts and also I had an internship in the civil engineering field. So I tried two different variations of jobs in the fields and I started to notice that like this wasn’t what I was really passionate about and it wasn’t where I could drive all my energy and focus in. Um, and I’ve been doing ecommerce for awhile now since early high school. So I had that background and I was thinking, you know, if I actually love doing this and why not go all out and see what I can make out of it. And so that’s how it kind of came about.
Stephen: [00:09:12] Were you going to study engineering for something you were interested in or something your parents were interested in?
Prince: [00:09:19] So I was going in for civil engineering, um, you know, when it came down to the twelfth grade in high school where I had to decide where I wanted to do, I did what everybody else in my family did, which was civil engineering. It’s a respectable field. It’s a lucrative field, but it isn’t something that I will be able to really excel in and I knew that the whole time. But you know, at that age you really don’t know exactly what you want to do. Especially in this traditional career system that we have.
Stephen: [00:09:44] Yeah, I agree with you 100 percent because that’s the environment. So everybody just expects you to go. It’s like doctors expect their kids to be done right. All that same thing. But if you don’t love it, like they love it. If that’s not a passion for you, how are you ever going to be? And you know, then the bigger challenge princes that you would then be trying to measure up to their expectations and standards. So, you know, if it’s not for me, then I also don’t want to do a disservice to that industry and not excel in it. Right. To you, you’re too smart. You’re too young to be this smart. You are. How old are you now? I’m 24 years old to come on. I always say this and a Kelly loge will appreciate. I have socks older than you. You. You’ve really been killing it now. You sell material on Ebay now or are you also a big Amazon seller too?
Prince: [00:10:32] No, so I primarily on Ebay just because I liked the way that the platform is set up for me for what I sell. Amazon’s a little bit more restrictive, but I do sell on Amazon,
Stephen: [00:10:41] but that’s not your major. I mean we’re talking scaled on Ebay. I mean we’re talking if you go to his instagram, which is Prince Patel, which I suggest you do, you will be as amazed as I am when you see packages after packages after packages and you have a mostly almost all wholesale model, correct? Right. Yeah, absolutely. And so when you were thinking about when you were in an engineering school and you started having this, how did that discussion go with your parents to say, hey, you know, I’m thinking about doing this on the side, or did you hit a number and then said, hey, mom or dad, look at this. This is why I know I can do this.
Prince: [00:11:18] Yes. So I guess I’ll just go into my story because I explained really all of this. Um, so I’ll start at early in high school. So my parents had seen me kind of go out of my way to earn an income or earned some extra side cash until they seen me develop with this business in itself over the last eight years. Um, so I started doing like leisurely than it was a little bit part time during early college. And then they saw me buy a ton of inventory and you know, I started off with cameras and stuff like that and I’d buy one camera at a time. I’d flip them on craigslist or Ebay and then alternate 10 and they don’t turn into 100. And then, you know, next thing you know, there’s a thousand cameras in my room, and so at that point they kind of understood what was going on and how much, uh, how much value is there, isn’t what I’m doing. And so it was kind of a mutual understanding. We didn’t even have a discussion about it. It was, you know, I’ve always been working hard so they didn’t worry about what I was going to do.
Stephen: [00:12:10] That’s a very mature set of parents because you know, a, a history or you know, what their generation would have grown up with as well. You know, that’s a great side hobby. You have prints. But you know, now is the time to get serious. I was, I hope you had fun, but now you’ve got to plan the rest of your life because boy, you get this job, you’re going to work there for the next 30 years, right? Maybe three, five set up for retirement. You’re going to save all that time and you’re going to set up for retirement. Um, when you look at your family that are civil engineers and we’re not downplaying it in any way, do you, do you get the urge sometimes or do you get the inklings sometimes that some of them are looking at you like, man, you chose well.
Prince: [00:12:49] Well, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I recently started having a little bit more success. It’s only been about a year since I’ve been seeing a little bit of success. And so a lot of family members, they’re all civil engineers and most of them don’t like what they do and so I believe they look at what I’m doing as inspiration to try something new because we have always been in one bubble. We’ve always been tunnel visioned to think that we could do one path because everyone else was doing it and it’s, you know, it’s been successful but not overly successful. Right. And so when they look at me, people are announced wanting to try different things and one of my cousins is actually started selling on Ebay too. He quit his job, he got into real estate, and he’s selling on Ebay on the side as a car part seller, which was very interesting to me too. Yeah, I think.
Stephen: [00:13:31] I think, you know, the, you just expanded their boundaries, right? It’s not their fault that they didn’t know because that’s all they knew. Now all of a sudden you’re a young guy without the full college education and yet boom, you’re having success. Right. That’s got to be a very, very cool. As parents. Uh, that’s the only negative is as a parent is what would my friends think? My friends, they’re going to look down their nose like, oh, your kid’s not going to college. Oh, Steve, you failed. Right. That’s, that’s A. I mean, that’s a real. That’s real, right.
Prince: [00:14:04] Well, I did end up finishing my degree and I ended up getting my degree, so, you know. Okay, well you finished college. All right. You just chose not to go in the field. All right, so that makes me know. But you get what I’m saying? Nope. That’s real. One hundred percent. That’s so tough. Yeah. So that was the reason why I actually stayed in school the whole time and not only that, but it wasn’t that, that degree was useless per se, it was the game, the degree itself was teaching discipline, it’ll teaching and work ethic. It was teaching, you know that not to achieve something in life you have to work really, really hard and just doesn’t come that come to you. And so that’s what I really learned with getting this engineering degree because it was very difficult because I was going full time, he’d be at the time and in my senior year of college don’t take in all these exams and so it was a full time thing for me and it was just a lot of pressure. But I think it grew me into the I am today. So I’m very thankful for it.
Stephen: [00:14:53] Well, and I think, you know, an engineering degree has, they teach you certain skills. I have an accounting degree for example. So they teach you very, very specific things. Talk about what an engineering degree taught you. If you could, if you could break it down and the skill sets. And then how you could apply them to your Ebay business,
Prince: [00:15:12] right. So, well engineer’s work with numbers all the time. And so I’ve been working with numbers for the past four years or five years in college. Right. And that I think that really helped me because it kind of changed my perspective of how business works because when I’m always working with numbers, I see how things transitioned from one place to another by just multiplying a couple things are, you know what I mean? So I think that played a big part into how I see things in business
Stephen: [00:15:36] and you can then take in a look forward, I’m using those skill sets, right? And say, oh, there’s a future and I can see it because as things change and they change. Ebay’s a good example of something that’s been evolving very a lot, especially in the last couple of years. Um, and you’re in a good niche and the electronics niche related to that and so you’re able to take advantage of that. Um, why, why electronics? What was it that was attractive to you about electronics?
Prince: [00:16:05] When I started, I started flipping everything. It was calculus, lawnmowers, shelves, even electronics like phones and cameras, and then I’ve kind of took that data that I got from doing that and saw what was most popular, what would be the fastest sell through rate because as an a sole proprietor, as person with no employees, how can I scale it the most as one person in this business and I kind of realized that with the data that Ebay provides, that this has a very high sell through rate and this is a very popular. So if I can source these items at a price that makes sense, then this could be a sustainable business model. And so that’s how I do.
Stephen: [00:16:41] Is that a lesson then at other people listening here should, should heat, you know? Yeah, go wide. So you could see what it is and then see what’s selling naturally for you. Because you know, let’s talk about Chrysalis and I mean he’s a huge shoe seller, right? And clothing seller, right? A massive. That’s Hazel. I mean, he knows way more when I listen to and talk about shoes. I’m always like, man, that dude knows a lot about it. Right? And that’s his lane. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t come in yours and be successful. That don’t mean to downplay that. But if there’s a natural, uh, um, uh, a natural because what do you see sellers doing that aren’t having the success?
Prince: [00:17:15] I think that the community in general has a different outlook than I have. I don’t think people look at the data enough and I don’t think people value it enough as much as they should because it’s so, it, it’s very intensive. I mean, it tells you everything, the click through rate, how many people are actually purchasing through your click through rate. That’s important data. If something doesn’t have enough of a click through rate, then it’s not worth sourcing that inventory over and over again. And so I’ve, over the years I’ve always niched down, like I’ve always been very specific with gopro branded products or like canon, Brenda products. And so I know them very, very well. And so you, when I saw
Stephen: [00:17:50] this, I know exactly what this will sell for. If I buy 100 units, I know how, how long it will take, especially during which quarter, you know, right now we’re in q four, which is going to be one of the highest rates of the year. This would be a natural, you know, using Gopro for example. That would be a natural fourth quarter right up. Right. Everybody’s going to have one for, especially in today’s Day and age. So, you know, I’m thinking about this. Does it help that you’re an outdoor enthusiast in some ways? I mean, does that help with the passion of it? Are you a user of these products? I guess my first question, it looks like if I instagram it looks like it to me. Yes, I’ve used it like, you know, there, but I’m not like a, I’m not extremely into it. I don’t think you need to be.
Stephen: [00:18:30] But you know, obviously it would help if you were a user of the item itself. I do know a lot about it just because I’ve been playing around with them for years now. Um, so there’s, there’s a lesson right there, so, so you’re saying that you’re mastered it because you’ve done so much work with it? Yes, that’s a lesson too. So I’m just thinking of sellers out there who were saying, you know, they’re, they’re, you know, the everything store, right. Um, and what I see is people who are the everything store Steve included me. Um, I have a warehouse full of everything. I’m a bad buys or what have you. I’m not a, it’s very difficult to gain any traction in any one area because for, you know, the listing process when you’re listing in multiple categories, it takes a lot of effort when you’re listing in one category.
Stephen: [00:19:16] How does that work? Um, so I can get very specific with how I optimize all my listings because I know them so well, right? A lot of other fellows that come on, like let’s say for you, if for example, if you found one gopro and you’re lifting it, you won’t be able to know all the keywords and all the details on that. I know nothing. Right? So that’s what the same thing with a lot of people that lift it and that’s how I had that upper hand a little bit. Even big companies that come on and tell other gopro products, they don’t have the extensive knowledge on that product. And so, you know, they felt that was a little bit less than mine even though they might have a lot more leverage and power because they’re a bigger company. Um, and so that’s how I differentiated myself.
Stephen: [00:19:53] I love it. I think it’s so smart and I think you’re absolutely right. These giant companies that come in that cell probably be lower price than you. Yes. Don’t have the ability to get the maximum dollar out of it because they’re the everything. Again, there’s so in all different brands, right? And so they’re just not able to focus. Um, how hard was it for you to get the Gopro, uh, rights to be able to sell and uh, you know, I guess you go through a distributor or wholesaler, whichever. Right? How hard is that? And then how hard is it to maintain? Um, it was, it wasn’t too, too difficult, but you didn’t need to have a little bit of capital. So what I did was I had a little retail location about two years ago and two thug gopro products, you need a, you know, an, an, an, an invoice from Gopro and then provide it to Ebay federal. And so I purchased about 100 units, you know, an MSRP price fun girl pro. I got their license to sell their products and then with that I’ve
Prince: [00:20:48] been selling on just on that the whole time. And obviously it took a, it took a little bit of a loss on selling those products because they were msrp priced. Um, but you know, tuition, right? And it gave me kind of the foundation to sell. So that’s how I did it.
Stephen: [00:21:01] You know, I’m sitting here thinking about what you’ve done and it’s, it’s an unbelievable accomplishment because you have created in a category that every one of us would say it’s saturated. Oh, Steve, you can’t sell category. Everything’s coming in from China. So cheap, they’re selling it over. They’re selling it for four bucks free shipping. Right. You can’t compete against that. Right? Well, that’s not true when you spend time. Now I’m looking at your business, which is mature even though it’s a year that you’ve had a real lot of success, but it’s mature because you’ve niched down and you’ve narrowed your focus and you know what your lane is. Um, you don’t have that many skews. What? 90 six skews. I’m looking at it now.
Prince: [00:21:36] So, uh, yeah, they have, I probably have like a 100 that are not, you know, they’re not stocked with the quantity so you don’t see them.
Stephen: [00:21:42] Okay. And so you’ve really, you don’t have to spend a lot of time sourcing product, I guess. You know, you’re continually looking for new products, but you’re not sourcing a lot. I mean, because your photos are phenomenal. Your listings are phenomenal. Is that where you spend the majority of your time?
Prince: [00:21:58] Yes, absolutely. I think that’s one of the most important things, especially if you’re a replenishable seller, you want to have one of the best things out there. If it’s not the price, that has to be something else. It has to be with the way you present the item has to be the way you provide the information on the lifting, it has to be your customer service. All of these are different factors that you could include with your sales and since I have so many, like have so little, the things I could really dive in and focus on those listings instead of being. So let’s say for example, Chris has 10,000 listings, right? That’s very hard to manage because you need to know information about 10,000 listings and it’s just not humanly possible if it’s all random stuff. Um, so it becomes, you know, there’s obviously different pros and cons of each model, but uh, for me it works out better if I have less listings and more knowledge on what I’m selling.
Stephen: [00:22:44] Yeah, it definitely seems to be working for you. Some of the other things I appreciate is that you have inflammation in your listing on how to use the system. So you’ve had these questions obviously, and you’re smart enough to realize, hey, let me pre answer some of those questions. Right? Because today’s younger generation, you not me, are used to, they’re kind of independent, like might think my sons, my son about your age one a little bit older and they’re pretty independent. They don’t, they don’t ask a lot of questions. They just quickly go through and say, Oh yeah, it tells you right here. And so that’s seems to be a skillset. And I guess maybe it’s training. Um, and you’ve done that. Um, how much customer service do you have to spend because of you doing these preventative where you’re preventively answering questions?
Prince: [00:23:27] So, you know, that’s kind of an interesting point that you brought up because, uh, I remember when I first listened that item would have the remote, you need the remote apparel with a camera. And I to, I saw maybe a couple of day and I used to get emails from 30 percent of people that bought it saying, how do I pair this? How do I pair this, how I do this? So I was like, what if I just write it in the description? And then I’ve gotten maybe one person out of 200 people that would ask me how to pair it because it’s just right there and it just made sense.
Stephen: [00:23:58] That’s so cool. So you know, the size of your company, uh, do you have staff or are you fulfilling all these orders yourself?
Prince: [00:24:06] So I’ve been fulfilling them all by myself for or now I’m impressed. So I’m currently in the transition period of getting an office space, a warehouse and then, you know, um, I just bought a car. So like a lot of things going on at once right now. But um, yeah, I’m trying to get employed as well and of scaling even further because I know the potential of Ebay is massive. I’m just scratching the surface, right. I’m just scratching the surface and that’s how I think about everything because as soon as you get complacent, it’s over for you. Especially as an entrepreneur, you know, you can’t be like, once it makes six figures, this is over or whatever amount, there’s no financial amount that could stop my drive. And I think that’s very important to say.
Stephen: [00:24:42] But I, I’ve heard that Ebay’s dead, I’m sorry, I didn’t know if anybody told you that. Um, I guess they forgot to mention that to you. I mean, when you sit back and you look at, I mean you see it, you look at Amazon, right? It’s, you know, I don’t know 100 times the size of Ebay now or some crazy number, right? It’s, it’s massive, right. Beyond massive. Why, why, why stay with Ebay versus Amazon? Is it because price and I think price is going to be a lot to do with it because on Amazon really the competitive advantage is price is really not a lot you can offer because you can’t differentiate the list of. I mean, is that, is that a lesson here for us to take back to say, hmm, Ebay does have, if you’re willing to do the work work,
Prince: [00:25:23] it does have an advantage, right? Well if. Well here’s the thing, Steve, I’m not here to both or anything, but I just bought an $80 million car, you know, I’m 24 years old. My primary income is Ebay. And I say that to say like there’s obviously potential there, there’s, there’s no way I’m faking this or a lot of my posts on instagram and I don’t even treat this as my job. It’s just for fun. I like to communicate with people and engage in conversations and you know, like meeting you through social media is this is why I do this. Um, so there’s obviously money there. Okay. And it does take a lot of work and it did take me years to build up to what it is now. But Eba for me, I’ve looked into alive, met the CEO, I’ve met the CEO and I’ve talked to them and I’ve seen they’re kind of perspective on how they plan on changing the platform over the next five to 10 years.
Prince: [00:26:11] And they’re really trying to involve ai into it and they really want to make it personal bowl. So compared to Amazon, which is just this massive, massive platform which is not really seller orientated or. And it’s not focused on one on one case. I’ve heard a lot of bad stories about how being a seller on Amazon is very brutally competitive. And they don’t really help you as much as they do on Ebay and it’s getting more and more as I’ve seen the product, the platform develop, it’s been more, it’s been getting better and better over time. They’ve been making a lot of changes this year especially. And I see a lot of potential here as they move forward because they’re going to be adding catalogs and such. And so it’s going to become more of a, a strong foundation for the platform because, you know, we’ve been transitioning from a reputation of Ebay has been scammy.
Prince: [00:26:59] Um, you know, you don’t know if what you’re going to get as real or not. And there’s a lot of myths like that that are, have been completely. They’re going into business. Yes. And I think all those myths are starting to become being debunked as sellers like me are coming on the platform on social media and saying, look, I’m doing this, I’m running a business on here, I’m doing this. And I, I went to school for civil engineering and I chose this path instead. Um, and I think that speaks volumes. So that’s why I like to do stuff like this, go on this interview and talk about it because I do like capitalism and I do like people going out of their way to create something and I think it’s just very important that everyone does that.
Stephen: [00:27:34] I think it’s so smart. I mean, you’re not the first million dollar Ebay seller I’ve had on however you’re definitely close to the youngest and to me your ability to work on your business. The fact that you know you’re not a, you’re not afraid to pack. I mean if you see again go check his instagram, you’ll see you these send it out because zillions of packages, right? That’s not easy. All of us who know who ship it gets mundane, it’s boring, but that’s putting your head down, doing the work and you’re planning to outsource that. You’re planning to get rid of that as you develop practices and processes. To me, the fact that you’ve been able to build this efficient model without a giant warehouse without a big staff is another huge, huge advantage. Is it a margin issue for you? I mean, because sometimes electronics does have lower margins, I’m just because of competitive advantage or a competitive competitiveness. So is that one of the challenges with, with that type of business where you’re doing a huge volume, you need to help yet the margins aren’t as somebody who’s selling gym equipment for example, you know, or something like that.
Prince: [00:28:38] One hundred percent. So that’s why I’ve had the competitive advantage because I, I, my overhead is very low, right? I don’t have a warehouse off office. I live at home right now. I use a couple rooms. So compared to bigger companies, like I said, they have employees, they have rent space that all these things that drive their margins lower, right? So they can’t even offer the prices that I offer, which is a, you know, just another advantage for me.
Stephen: [00:29:00] So. So what are you going to do differently to allow you to expand? Right. Because what we just said was that that’s one of the big challenges and you have an advantage here, but it sounds like if you go that other way, you’re giving up that advantage. Right?
Prince: [00:29:14] Well, so for me, I’ve haven’t been working full time, full time, I only work a few hours a day typically, and it will be sporadically throughout the day. Um, and so if I did get my warehouse space and more space, I’d be able to expand into different niches and different categories that I’ve been studying over the last year or two because, you know, I’ve been on social media for awhile now and I’ve kind of learned the whole business and different business models. So I’m going to start branching out a little bit right now. I don’t know if you know, but I have a Ebay store that doesn’t only auctions. Um, so I auction off a lot of different lots and things like that, which is actually doing pretty well as well.
Stephen: [00:29:49] And so the, I mean I’m, I’m fascinated by it. Uh, what’s the goal of that versus. So. So your main one is your bread and butter that you were a, it sounds like your, your base, your foundation that you have established the auction site. Is it to hit a home run when it’s paused or, or to price it based on the market. Let the market decide.
Prince: [00:30:08] Uh, so I let the market decide because, you know, sometimes on ebs, specially when you’re listening auctions and people are watching and they’re trying to see what they want a bit of at, you never really know, you know, I said I started at my minimum amount that I want and then anything above that that it goes to is just a bonus for me. Um, and so I’ll list a bunch of auctions and whatever gets a hit is just always a bonus.
Stephen: [00:30:30] That’s awesome. Is it new merchandise or used merchandise for the auction or does it just not matter?
Prince: [00:30:34] It is. It’s both.
Stephen: [00:30:36] Okay. Very okay. It’s mixed. You know, as I sit and I think about, you know, what you’re describing is building out this empire because you are describing an empire, your empire for you, whatever that means. Right? Process sounds to be the most, most important piece. It sounds to me like that. And so I’m listening to you talk and I’m thinking to myself, he’s, he’s figuring all this stuff out. Then he’s going to add another module, then he’s going to figure that out and add another module. Is that kind of the plan?
Prince: [00:31:02] Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, so I’ve been, I’ve been kind of on standby with my business for awhile now because my father passed away a couple of months ago. I’m sorry. No, that’s okay. I appreciate it. Uh, but uh, yeah, so, you know, a lot of these external factors also took a toll on me, although I kept trying to keep working in, just kind of maintain what I was doing, but now is the time where I really, really feel the energy and I really feel the passion to get back into it because that’s what I had in early 2016 when I first started. I was making maybe like three if I had to calculate how much I was actually making Steve, it was probably like $3 an hour and I was working like five, six, seven hours a day. Everybody would have given up. Everybody would have given up because it just doesn’t make sense to you. Like why would you spend, you know, like seven, eight hours a day to make 20, $30. It just didn’t make sense. But that’s how I kind of learned the ins and outs of everything because I also didn’t have any capital. I was going to school and then there’s all these different factors. Um, but I did pour back in 99 percent of what I made during my internships in my other job. And you know, I just keep snowballing that into what it is now.
Stephen: [00:32:07] I, I think one of the bigger challenges is that at least that I see is that people want to win now they, they’re not willing to pay the price and put in the time. And what you’re describing is you got paid maybe only $3 an hour, but that’s a heck of an internship. Um, they actually get paid because a lot of students do unpaid internships. The fact that you made money and you learn a skillset and you actually figured it out and you documented it to me, you know, that’s, that’s a pretty good job actually.
Prince: [00:32:38] I agree with you. But again, it’s like since you’re alone and this whole game is, it’s very lonely, right? Very Long. So there’s a lot of demotivating factors around that, especially during school and everything where everyone is doing something different than you. And I guess it was pushing through. That was the hardest part.
Stephen: [00:32:57] Yeah. Yeah. How do you put off that? That gratification? Yeah. Young Guy. Especially, dude, nobody does that.
Prince: [00:33:04] Um, I think it’s more just gratitude and my passion for not doing something I don’t want to do because if it wasn’t for this, I would be doing something I don’t want to do and I, that scares the hell out of me because, you know, shout out to Gary Vaynerchuk, but he talks about how like, you know, if you go to a funeral home and talk to a little bit older people, they will tell you what they regret in their life. And I want to minimize my regret in life as much as possible.
Stephen: [00:33:27] Let me ask you a personal question. Your, you said your dad passed away. What was it like for you to be able to be there for your family? Because you didn’t have to go to work. I mean, and I understand, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure you had to ship and you had to do all that stuff. Don’t get me right. I understand that, but I meant that you could put that off and go do it at two in the morning if you wanted to. You didn’t have to go in at [8:00]. What was that like for you?
Prince: [00:33:49] Steven means the world to me. I wake up every morning with gratitude and I spend a minute or two just reflecting on how her, how thankful I am to have these opportunities and any, you know, even though I do work hard and I did build it myself, it’s still a blessing that I even get the chance to do that because you know, a lot of people don’t get these chances and they don’t know about it. And, you know, I’m just thankful that I did know about it and I did take advantage of it
Stephen: [00:34:14] as a dad. You’re given me, you get me choked up thinking about that. My son, your dad son, uh, is there, um, when his family needs something. And that’s one of the biggest challenges you want is you want your family to be taken care of after you, you know, something happens. And here you are, you can be the chills. I just got the chills. Very, very cool. It’s a very cool thing, but it’s again, as I sit back and I look at what you’re doing, why not build your own website, you should have prints, you should do a shopify store, you’re going to kick it. You should have your own thing, you know? Yeah. That he think they’re dying, you know, or Amazon, they’re gonna, they’re too restrictive. Why not build your own site and just do that.
Prince: [00:34:54] So I actually had, I started shopify store a couple, a year or two back and I’ve had noticed the traffic that Ebay brings a now, especially with all the extra promotions and marketing. And they do for you. So like for example, if you have reduced the price by five percent on Ebay for listing, they’ll email everyone that was interested in your item and that will drive sales. There’s so many different marketing things that Ebay does. And for that nine percent that I pay, I think it’s, I think it’s way more than worth it. And so I don’t even need to do anything extensive for marketing. So I don’t, I don’t work with shopify that much just because it does, it didn’t make sense to me because the traffic that Ebay drives is well worth it.
Stephen: [00:35:31] It’s a huge team. The silent team, right, of your staff. You have a huge team and they’re on Ebay and their marketing people and you don’t have to worry about them calling out sick. You don’t have to worry about all that chance. Um, I also appreciate that you respect the platform for what it is. It’s not perfect. Right? Right. Are you, are you perfect? I’ll absolutely not. Have you messed up orders? Uh Oh yeah, absolutely. Like I said, it’s lot. I also have my little
Prince: [00:35:56] brother, uh, come into the business and try different things to try shipping and things like that and he’s messed up plenty of orders
Stephen: [00:36:02] and I think that’s just part of the learning curve. So if you can forgive yourself, right? Yeah. Why can’t you forgive them? I always get crazy about it. Yeah, I hate it when stupid stuff happening. I’ve been there a long time so I got old listings that aren’t supported anymore because they’ve changed 50 things, but. So what, that’s my fault, right? I mean it’s really my fault. Why would I have something that’s been there for years, Steve? I’m a huge advocate for messing up. I think everyone should be on a daily basis too. That’s where the learning is. Is that what you mean?
Prince: [00:36:32] That’s the best way to learn because I’ve been through the whole textbook, textbook, textbook, learn, read, read, and that hasn’t given me the knowledge that I have. It has given me the discipline to work, but it hasn’t given me the direct knowledge I needed to accomplish. Also not accomplished by just reading text because this is a whole different experience. When you mess up and then you actually have that experience that you messed up and you need to fix it because you don’t have a choice because you messed up.
Stephen: [00:36:58] Well, I think that’s just powerful. I think you’re onto something here and I want. I want to help people. So you have. It sounds like a way of learning. So let’s just say Steve wants to get into the. I have a tape measure on my desk. I want to get into selling a building supplies. Here I go. I mean, it’s a small building, small tools. What’s this? What’s your suggestion then that for Steve to start learning how to sell tools, what’s the method? I should start thinking. Just start
Prince: [00:37:25] to start taking a look. They’ve got a bunch of tools. Start lifting them, look at them, play with them. You’re probably gonna lose money and that is what you’re supposed to be doing. You shouldn’t be if you know. I mean if, if you make money from the get go, great.
Stephen: [00:37:36] Awesome. Sometimes, right?
Prince: [00:37:38] But don’t. Don’t be flustered if you do mess up because you’re both the methods. I think that’s normal. I think what is, I don’t know the exact statistics, but I believe 95 percent of businesses fail, so you know, you have to understand, you have to take it with a grain of salt that if you’re trying to get the, get the life that most people don’t have, it comes with a price and that is part of it and you have to keep moving forward and you have to keep working and working and working through all that. Um, and I think that’s the hardest part about entrepreneurs entrepreneurship in general.
Stephen: [00:38:06] I think so too. So the life that most people don’t have, what’s that life for you look like?
Prince: [00:38:12] For me, it’s living on my own terms. So, and not only that, but it’s creating a foundation for the generations to come. So my kids and their kids’ kids, right? They want, I want them to have a foundation, like their grandfather or their grandpa or whatever was doing this. He was working hard at this
Stephen: [00:38:27] time and doing an example. Are you doing that by example? Is that what you mean? One hundred percent. Okay.
Prince: [00:38:33] When I, when I talk in groups, whenever I’m in a, I talked the least I listened to most and I’ve been like that for as long as I can remember.
Stephen: [00:38:40] Hmm. And so you have people coming up to you. I want that life. I want that life. How many? It’d be honest, how many people are willing to do what it really takes. Um, have you met how many people have you met that are really willing to do what it really takes?
Prince: [00:38:57] So you have to be completely honest and quite frankly, I think it’s very few because I, I personally, I know people in my life like family members to have that work very, very hard, but they just, I just don’t see. I don’t see it in them. I don’t see the fire in them to create this because when it, when the tough times come, you can’t just give up. You can’t get laxed. That’s when you actually do fight harder. And I think that’s the hardest thing for most people and it’s very hard to develop that mindset if you haven’t been doing for years. This stuff comes with experience and end, you know, there’s no way around it.
Stephen: [00:39:27] The hard times do come, don’t they? I mean, they’re just, no matter even though you’re having an incredible year, right? Yeah. It’s, there’s challenges that still come in. There’s nothing that you. I mean, it in a week. How many challenges? How many, how many hours a week or challenges for you? Or how many items? I guess, how many, uh, how many transactions are challenges, you know, if you think of your life and transaction,
Prince: [00:39:50] um, well, I could tell you probably on a daily basis I get a new issue. Um, you know, and it’s sometime this from customers who are just, you know, some, you know, some people don’t know what they’re really saying is how people are actually right, that you did something wrong and it says you have to take that on headfirst and you know, you can’t put it off. You can’t do all of that. And so every time it’s just like, oh, this kind of sucks to have to deal with this, but I’m going to deal with it, take care of it, and then move forward. And I kept doing that every single day. And I think that’s a key thing to know.
Stephen: [00:40:20] I think, uh, I did an interview last night and he said something pretty powerful when you think about wherever you work, those same issues happen, right? No matter what, you just, Oh, that’s the company’s problem. You don’t worry about it, but you carrying that weight too. And so when you have perspective, right, when you sit back and look at a, you have every day a challenge, but that’s a little bit of your time. That means the rest of your day, nothing was challenging, right? That’s kind of cool, right? I mean, isn’t that right? Isn’t that the life that most people want?
Prince: [00:40:47] Uh, I believe so. I think, and I don’t think it matters if you want to do a business or not. I don’t think it matters if you want to be an entrepreneur or not, but I think there’s a lot of foods to labor when you do work for yourself. It is, it feels satisfying. I feel. I’m not necessarily content, but I feel like I’m on a good path, you know? I don’t feel like I’m stationary. I’m not sedentary. I feel like I can make an impact if I just keep pushing harder, working harder because in the future for me, my motivation is I want to employ people. I want to get people to do a job they like to do, you know, not a lot of people want to do work at subway or whatever, right. They might want to work in a little office and just hang out with the AC room and just list off.
Prince: [00:41:24] And so that’s what I want to really do. I want to hire people. I want to get people a job. I want to make an impact in my community and hopefully in the world. And so those are my factors. And, and you don’t know that kid that comes in your world, right? The one who was going to go work at subway and we’re not putting it down, but it’s real when you put a spark in him who knows what potential that kid has and you could touch him in a way that, oh my goodness, hundred percent until I’m actually doing this right now with one of my friends. Um, shout out to Dane. Uh, he came with me to Ebay Open. I brought them along because Ebay flew me out there and uh, he was the first time into ecommerce. He’s looking around and seeing everyone and starting a business and he’s feeling very motivated at right now.
Prince: [00:42:05] He does a couple of side jobs. So when I introduced this to him, he started selling on Amazon Fba and he started to ship a bunch of stuff there and now he’s getting an income from Ebay. So I’m doing this and I think it’s just a, it’s a crazy thing to see because, you know, if I wasn’t there, if I wasn’t there as a model, then he probably wouldn’t be doing it. And it makes a big, you know, it makes a huge difference in his life. And it’s just very cool and it’s very rewarding for you. Right? So you gave without expectation and again you get rewarded, right? Just just seeing his success. And I say that all the time because I helped a whole bunch of companies without any, without them paying me. And it’s like, but if you go and use that service, I win because you want.
Prince: [00:42:40] Isn’t that cool? Oh, 100 percent. Yeah. Give me the chills again, dude. Telling you your parents are proud. All right. So, so you have a built this up when one thing that I don’t hear in your voice is a hopelessness at all and that, I mean when I look at generations and I hate to, to, to, you know, put a big group together and classify, classifying this way, but a lot of them are looking at, you know, pretty skeptical of government, skeptical of the world, skeptical of, you know, business and all that stuff. I don’t hear that. I hear real optimism. I hear, you know, like you’re just scratching the surface. The future’s unlimited. Yeah. And Steve Actually, I tried to figure this out by myself all the time because if I could figure out what it was a bottle and bottle it, if I could figure that out and put that in the world, I think it actually helped a lot of people.
Prince: [00:43:33] And granted I haven’t done anything crazy yet, but I have done fun thing that was valuable enough for me to earn an income and live on my own terms. And so, and I think a lot of people are just trying to achieve that life. And uh, if I can provide what it was for me then I would love to share that with the world. But I think, you know, I don’t even know exactly. Like, well, what is it? You have a super power you’ve got to. I mean, and this is an ego thing and I’m going to make you put an ego thing out there and say what? What would you say though, would be your superpower if you had to, if you had to have one, what would you say? It is? Patients. I’m super patient. I’ve been in, I’ve been in situations, and I’m going to be very blunt here, I’ve made like $20,000 one month and then the next month I’d make like $40,000 and that’s a massive difference and the God honest truth that didn’t break me one bit. I did not even bat an eye at the difference there. I just kept working hard and pushed them to making it, you know what it is again and well, a bunch of people would have said, oh my God, I’m failing. It’s over, right? Yeah. But I just didn’t, I just didn’t see it that way.
Stephen: [00:44:34] How, how, how, what was it, what was it? What was it that you said, Huh, I’ve got to tweak, I’ve got to adjust. Or that’s just the way it is.
Prince: [00:44:44] I think in life in general, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I, you know, I do boxing, I work out a lot of fitness enthusiasts and so there’s always something going on for me, which doesn’t make me feel like I’m not, like I’m hopeless, you know? Um, and I think that was a big factor. Like all these external things that I do really help me with my business. So you have,
Stephen: [00:45:03] you have a way to, to get that frustration out the way you’re describing to me. Right. You have a passion for this other thing and that helps.
Prince: [00:45:11] But it’s not a, it’s not even a frustration. I can’t even describe the feeling. It’s just kind of, I feel nothing in a way. Not sort of emotionless, but I don’t feel down about it whatsoever. I tell everyone and anyone, if my business goes under tomorrow, I don’t care. I sincerely don’t care. You’re not emotionally attached to it. Not in the sense that I don’t care about money and I, you know, I take it for granted or anything like that, but I don’t care because I know that I’m continuously developing my knowledge and my growth in this life and I can make something else out of this. I could make. I could grow into something else. You know? And there will always be so many options in the world for you to make money and earn a living and there’s so many different models in the world and they’re just something that I could always try.
Stephen: [00:45:56] I have a friend who says this. He said, Steve, even if I had to be a janitor, I would be the best janitor. I would be so successful at it because I’d give it my all. Even if I had to write and he was talking about whatever happened. If, if something happened, right, you’d play that. What if, so you’re saying to yourself, hey, I built a skillset. I’ve obviously mastered this, I’ve proven that I could do this. So I just go somewhere else and replicate. I’ve got an education on boat able to apply it. Boom. And so it takes, does it take, make you take more chances because. And not, not in a cocky way, but uh, maybe a confident way.
Prince: [00:46:31] I. Well, I, I owe that to my parents because I think my parents gave me a good foundation as far as. Now you sound like Gary v. no, I mean though they gave me a foundation to do what I want to do or what I need to do. They gave me a house, they both food on the table, I’d have to worry about not eating tomorrow. Right. And I think that’s a big advantage for me. A lot of people, if they’re on their own, they got, if they have kids, they have more responsibilities. So when I was growing up, I didn’t have those and I could reinvest 99 percent of what I made back into the business.
Stephen: [00:47:01] It’s humble by the way, because I’m sitting here thinking, you know, you could sit there and say, wow, I’ve got the abilities, I’ve got this and I’m trying to pull some of that editor you and you’re very humble about it, but you’re saying, no, my parents really are the ones that helped me be successful. I mean, that’s very humble. And uh, I think again, I would say that’s part of the reason you’re having so much success is that you recognize that dude. Very, very cool. All right, so, so you’re building this out, you see no. End In sight. What do you think when you look to the future? I mean in future and your age at 24 is probably the old dude at 30, right? I mean, when you, when you sit back and think about this, I mean, do you, do you see yourself in some form or some way, you know, doing this just forever because it’s cool and fun for now. I mean, you know, for now,
Prince: [00:47:44] um, well, you know, like I thought I do plan on scaling this to the employees that I have a system that’s set up where it’s pretty much autonomous where I have people sourcing inventory and people with packaging and shipping and at that plaque have focused on building other companies at the same time because I also want to get into branding and things of that nature. But definitely not everything I do is going to be online because I always kind of grown up into where on the Internet was developing. And so I have a lot of experience with just the Internet in general. Um, so I think
Stephen: [00:48:15] this is the world you live in. Do you, do you document your processes by the way, do you have to document it in standard operating procedures or anything like that?
Prince: [00:48:22] Uh, yes, but it’s very, it’s not like very specific.
Stephen: [00:48:26] It’s your understanding the way you might. It is my understanding of, okay, all right, so, but you have a foundation that you could build it out because that’s another powerful thing, especially as you add people because you want them to meet your standard. Right? I mean it’s important to um, I sit back and I think again about helping people who want to move their business forward. What are you not, I mean, be honest. What are you not good at that you have to reach out for help?
Prince: [00:48:49] I am not good at building a network of people so you know, I’ve been working on that for the past year but it’s more about networking with people that also run businesses that I could learn from and I’m just not as social as I would like to be. I would like to be more out there and talking to people and learning and giving and you know, all of that kind of stuff and I’m just not doing that because since I live on the Internet, it’s, you know, it’s a very lonely place and I feel like in business to scale you need to have other people involved
Stephen: [00:49:22] go into Ebay. Open was a huge opportunity for you. Right? I mean, you, especially when the spotlight is put upon you,
Prince: [00:49:28] right? Right. One hundred percent. Yeah. So that was like my first kind of taste, a little bit of networking and seeing more people. Um,
Stephen: [00:49:36] and what did it do for you? I mean, did I, did that give you confidence? Like I, I had another interview a day where a gentleman said that he was in that way and he ended up taking a comedy class to learn how to do standup comedy and for him it, you know, think about the most uncomfortable thing and people booing you onstage, right? Just get past that, right? You get past that. So, so being up on stage and being in that spotlight, what did it do for you?
Prince: [00:49:59] I think it was incredible. I think it really reinforced the fact that I am doing something, I’m doing something right and I’m headed in the right direction and to see a lot of other people doing similar businesses to what I do made me feel more comfortable with what I do because it’s not like when I’m alone I’m thinking, uh, I don’t know if this is really going to last or this is going to be Dana self doubt creeps in, right? Yes. But when you talk to the people who run the platform and the people who sat on the platform as well, you get a different perspective and idea of what’s going on. Like, I don’t know if you know of Bhfo oh yeah, sure. It’s comfortable. A couple that does, I believe 45 million a year on Ebay. Uh, which is a ridiculous amount and that’s true. So I know exactly being Chipo so, so yeah, the potential is definitely there. You just need to go out and get it.
Stephen: [00:50:47] He’s got to be willing to do the work and you’ve got to be willing to eat a load of junk as Gary v would say, right? He gotta eat you gotta eat junk sometimes, right? You gotta work for $3 an hour when everybody else is like, well, Geez, why would you prince? I mean, come on, you can go work at subway and make
Prince: [00:51:03] $12, 100 percent. So let me give you an idea of who I am as a person. So I thought with Tronix, if I were to use a camera of my own, I wouldn’t use a brand new one. Never ever, ever. He’s a brand new camera. I’ll buy a broken one from, from even not broken necessarily, but like a cracked screen or like cosmetically damaged one. And I’ll use that because I see an old point. I’m using a brand new one, not because I don’t have the money for it, not because I can’t afford it, but because that’s just how I value these things. Um, you know, I don’t put them on a pedestal like this is my life and I need to buy brand new things and because this is like, you know, it’s not, it’s not for that, it’s not for show, it’s just for work. And so,
Stephen: [00:51:37] so you don’t worship stuff. Yeah. So I liked that. When you win, what does that give you perspective? I was sitting there thinking about like your perspective, because I think this is another, another opportunity for people to learn, right? So we’ve, we’ve already suggested you’ve got to niche down, you got to figure it out and I think what your suggestion is a 24 year old kid who was so wise to say, hey look, so a bunch of junk and then look at your data and see what sold, see what’s getting the views, see what’s doing. And then boom, that sounds like empath. You might want to go in, but again, then again, or you can, you get a passionate about it and you said something that you don’t have to be completely passionate about it and be a giant user. You just have to respect the data that says this is a lane that has some promise. Well,
Prince: [00:52:21] you can be passionate about it indirectly, right? So if you don’t necessarily like the business play you like what kind of lifestyle I provide for you, for me, you know, it can be a very random, I don’t have to wake up at [8:00] or [7:00] in the morning and then do this for two or three hours. I could wake up [10:00], go to the gym, come back with them listing, and then come back, go to, go to BOC thing. It can do. Pretty much that’s the passion, not necessarily the product. Oh, there’s the, you don’t get emotional about your product. Oh, I love it. Exactly
Stephen: [00:52:47] it. Love it, love it. Okay. So everybody’s, all these old dudes are sitting here saying to dudes 24 years old again, the fact that you’re on this. Um, I see nothing but opportunity. Okay. So, so we’ve clearly identified your skillset. We’ve clearly identified some of the things that you struggle with and that you’re working on. The fact that you’re willing to work on them. I think is again, a maturity that occurs, so what keeps you grounded is boxing, a big piece of it is losing your dad, a big piece of it is being with your family, um, success or what, what is it that keeps you grounded?
Prince: [00:53:21] It’s simply gratitude. It’s period I’ve got, I’ve gotten all these opportunities and I know everyone doesn’t get them and for me to take advantage of that and not exploit it to its fullest, full potential and not explain a bad way, but explain in a positive way, but to not leverage that and use that. Use my ability to be healthy, to make an impact. It, I think it’s just the wrong thing to do.
Stephen: [00:53:42] Well it, it, you know, not everybody has that gift was given the same opportunity to live in, at home or live in, but, but they do have the same opportunity to sell on Ebay just like you. Fair,
Prince: [00:53:54] somewhat because some people don’t have the space, you know, some people don’t have the capital, some people have different responsibilities and so in that sense they don’t have the same
Stephen: [00:54:02] Cindy’s, you know, the one thing I would challenge you a little bit on is that you could do the old garage sale flips and I’m not saying it’s easy because you know, so a lot of us have started that way, that that opportunity is there, right? I mean, you don’t need a lot of money. You just got to be willing to put down a vice that you have. And Steve has devices right? Everyday. I can’t do bottled water anymore. I have to bring my water bottle and refill it at the water fountain, God forbid. Right? Or I can’t do starbucks coffee. I got to be willing to make my own coffee. Those are the sacrifices I could make. Now and I understand there’s a, there’s an extreme element, especially a very challenged or whatever, but generally we could go back from there. The opportunities there.
Stephen: [00:54:42] How many hours a week would you say when you were making the $3 an hour, how many hours a week were you doing in addition to going to school in addition to commuting and all that jazz? At least 40 hours a week at least. No kidding. At least how many of your friends were putting in 40 hours a week on, at anything other than school zero. And so when you look back at your class and graduated with and I’m sure they have a lot of good jobs and, and you know, I mean, I’m an accounting field, so lots of my friends I graduated with, especially Grad School, they went on to be incredible successes in their own thing. And I’m not downplaying in any way yet. A lot of them are tied to that. They just can’t stop. Um, here’s, here’s a question I have for you. How do you turn off your business when you want to travel? Because it looks like you do a little bit of traveling here and there. Yes. Um,
Prince: [00:55:30] well usually I’d have, you know, my mother and my brother are here so he can take care of, he could care, take care of shipping.
Stephen: [00:55:35] Well, great as I don’t have to worry and obviously I can take care of all the customer service from wherever I am a. So that’s not an issue. So that’s the design. Yes. So, so I mean the big challenge for like a guy like Chris who’s got 10,000 items and if he didn’t have employees, which would be impossible with that scale, but let’s just say he didn’t, um, that is one of the bigger challenges. So when you’re working on your business, again, because you’re so niche down, you’re able to tackle those issues and, and full on, right? Yeah, exactly. I hope people listen to that again and just hear a bunch of points and I know we, we, we dropped them all out, that whole thing. But there’s power in niching down because as prince tells you, you get to be the expert in your field. Now, do you blog about any of this stuff or a market in any other way to get people to come to see your stuff or use influencers or anything like that?
Prince: [00:56:26] Um, so I do a little bit indirectly. Uh, what I’ve done is I’ve created some custom mounts for people, like you said, our adventure enthusiasts, people that go out and use these cameras. And I made these custom. Now is that work specifically for different activities like let’s say dirt biking. People want a certain ways, people for a drag races and won certain ways. And so people on like Youtube for example, people have gotten my product on Ebay, made a review about it, posted about it. That’s awesome. And then that drives traffic as well, right? And that’s forever. It just kinda works by itself.
Stephen: [00:56:56] Again, this is the advantage of understanding the marketplace that you’re in. Um, and, and I, and again, I applaud you for taking advantage of the platform you’re getting the most you can from Ebay. You’re not complaining and I’m sure everything doesn’t work right? Again, however, you’re saying, Hey, let me get the most from it. Let me take advantage of the biggest pieces again in one of the most competitive competitive because you could buy a lot of your stuff for $3 from China, free shipping. It might take six weeks to get there, but it’s still, it’s real and you’re in it and you’re fighting it and I just think it’s, it’s very cool. All right. So, um, if somebody has a question, they want to follow up with you and I’m already want them to go to. You got to go look at his instagram. It’s Prince Patel.
Stephen: [00:57:39] Uh, it’s instagram slash Prince Patel and you want to see this and join and follow him like I do because it’s inspiring to me. Again, I don’t see you bragging. I don’t see any of that stuff. I use a lot of work when I look at this stuff, I look and I’m like, dude, that’s how a lot of pet that’s, you know, I’m standing up applauding for you because I know what it takes to put that together. Those of us who shipped 77 days a week, so I can appreciate that. Any other way that somebody can follow up if they have a question?
Prince: [00:58:07] Um, yeah. So I’m trying, I’m getting more into social media currently. I’m getting on youtube and I’ll be posting more regularly on Instagram, etc. Uh, so if you guys have any questions you can definitely hit me up anywhere and I do respond when I can.
Stephen: [00:58:18] Okay. So I’m going to pUt his instagram linked. They too in this episode because it’s just so cool. All right. So the goal of this podcast is to help people who get stuck and you’ve seen people in people probably come to you and especially when they see the success you’re having. Yes. So can you give us your best advice to get people past that point of stuck?
Prince: [00:58:35] I think the biggest thing is activating. They’re hustlers buying cycles. Just to backtrack a little bit, we were talking about bradfield and how you can just go get stuff and flip it on ebay, but it’s not necessarily that easy. If you look at, if you look at it from a perspective of someone who’s never done ecommerce before, someone who’s brand new, who had good parents, will always gave them everything. How can you expect them to be in a hustler’s mindset? you can’t. You can’t expect them to buy a $1 coffee as opposed to a $5 coffee from starbucks or just not get coffee at all. There’s a lot of different things like that that it’s very hard to understand from their perspective. And so, you know, I try to get people in that mindset. You don’t need to go to the next concert. You don’t need to go do all these lavish things for no reason and you’re not going to be depressed if you don’t go, you’ll have a great time if you just find out if you just experiment and try things and you’ll still love life. Not like you’re gonna miss out on stuff. And I think that’s the biggest thing for most people who are in the hustle mindset. They feel like they’re missing out on life if they don’t, if they work all this extra amount in, you know.
Stephen: [00:59:34] No, I think, I think you said it so well and you’re absolutely right that it does take a switch. You have to see the perspective, right? It’s, it’s, uh, I spend an hour hustling at garage sales so I can have, you know, 10 hours of freedom for the rest of the day and go fishing or go skiing or go whatever. Right? By that, if you change your mindset to that and you’re right, that does take when, when, when, you know, and I think if some of my boys, you know, when, when they aren’t thinking about working because you know, dad’s working, um, it makes it easy to not appreciate that stuff and not that they are that way, but I get what you’re saying and I think you’re spot on. So change your mindset, change your perspective and see that you know, that extra couple hours of work, that 40 hours of work you did in school has given you now the ability to ebb and flow as you want.
Stephen: [01:00:23] Um, and do all the things up to 24 years old to be so wise. I love it, dude. I really appreciate you taking the time and I wish you nothing but success. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. How smart, how cool every dad is sitting a little taller. Say, man, I hope my boys can get it as well as he did. Right? And, and as a dad and I feel for them, you know, to lose his dad at such a young age. It’s, it, it, it, it’s got to be tough. But man, what a proud father data’s figured it out. I’m telling you, it’s just so cool. So neat. And again, he’s in a very competitive thing and he’s figured it out. What makes him an outlier versus steve versus you? Maybe you. Maybe you’re the outlier. I’m not. And what is it? You know, his, his ability to focus. It’s his ability to get the junk out of his life has a, to get, uh, to get the mistakes that he’s made and to be willing to just push them off. And okay, let’s learn. Let’s move on. Take the data, use the data, get rid of the rest, move on, man. If there’s not a lesson there, I don’t know where there is one ecommerce momentum.com. Ecommerce momentum.com.
Cool Voice Guy: [01:01:33] Thanks for listening to the ecommerce momentum budge. As all the links mentioned today can be found at incomers. Momentum dot come under this episode number. Please remember to subscribe and the lake us on it
Stephen: [01:01:46] wounds.
