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Show Notes

If you think now is a bad time to start selling on Amazon, think again. If you’re worried you’ll never compete with multi-million dollar sellers, adjust your attitude. Larry Lubarsky, longtime Amazon seller currently banking $15 million in annual sales, is here to debunk e-commerce myths and discuss why your business may thrive when this coronavirus chaos has finally come to a close. Stay tuned.

Our World Post-COVID

While the economy may seem like it’s wading in a worst-case scenario, life on the internet is just ramping up. For months, as brick and mortar stores have ceased operations, the world has moved online for survival. Customers are purchasing groceries via Amazon and Walmart, some fill virtual carts for the first time ever, and suppliers rely on e-commerce sellers more than traditional buyers. What does this mean? Those who’ve been in the dark are finally experiencing the convenience of e-shopping and when the tide finally changes, so will the habits of many consumers. As such, Larry predicts Amazon sellers will see a business boom post-quarantine.

Good times create millionaires, bad times create billionaires. Don’t follow in the footsteps of those around you and let current events stop you from starting a venture. View this time as an opportunity to work when no-one else is willing to risk it.

Cultivate Support

While most courses offer great instruction for those just starting out on Amazon, what helps serious entrepreneurs more than anything is a community of support to stay with you beyond the first few months and even the first few years. That’s why Larry has created Wholesale Academy, a course to help aspiring sellers start, build, scale, and grow their business surrounded by a community of support offering advice and insight through the tough times to come.

Thriving With $5,000

Larry recommends starting on Amazon with at least $3,000 – $5,000. But what about sellers with more capital? How does anyone compete? No one’s pretending like $5,000 will make you a millionaire on Amazon in one year. It won’t. But starting with a small amount of capital gives you the space to learn the ropes and if you do everything right, you’ll at least break even after a few months.

Keep reinvesting in your business and eventually, your biggest problem will be having too many profitable products to buy and too little capital. A fantastic problem to have.

Find Diamonds In The Rough

Don’t just go after big brands. To boost your profit, seek smaller brands with slow-selling products. Suggest ways to improve their listings and overall sales, prove you can succeed, and score a few profitable exclusivity agreements.

Overall

While it’s a unique platform with incredible opportunities for fast growth, Amazon wholesale isn’t for everyone. It’s for those serious about building a business with blood, sweat, and tears. Willing to put in the work? Even in these uncertain times, the sky is the limit.

As always, leave a review, hit that subscribe button, and keep investing in yourself with resources from Todd and Larry.

Happy selling everyone.

Resources From This Episode

Outline Of This Episode

[00:20] Todd’s introduction to this episode

[03:00] Meet Larry

[09:30] How COVID-19 might boost your business

[19:07] Why support matters

[26:34] How to succeed with $5,000

[36:50] Finding diamonds in the rough

[38:45] Wholesale is hard

[45:15] Todd’s closing thoughts on this episode

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Alright, so today I have a Larry Lebowski on AKA watch me Amazon and he has been in the Amazon game for a while and it’s currently doing over $15 million selling Amazon wholesale or doing Amazon wholesale. So Larry, I really appreciate you coming on the show. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself?

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I am very happy to be here, Todd and having this conversation with you. What is up everyone? My name is Larry Lubarsky as Todd said, also known as watch me, Amazon. I’ve been in the Amazon space as a primarily wholesale based seller since 2012. Um, fell in love with the business when I pretty much just kind of stumbled upon it as a side job. One of my friends who was doing Amazon at the time put me onto it, asked me if I wanted to work for him, taught me a little bit about the business, taught me a little bit about arbitrage and finding wholesale based products and selling them on the Amazon marketplaces. Um, found the business, loved it, fell in love with it, developed a real passion for it. Um, and the rest was, as they say, history. So I started, um, I was working with him from about 2012 to 2014 in 2014. Started my own Amazon business and just have been passionately doing it today. Um, in about 20, the end of 2016, I believe, I started documenting my journey online at watch me Amazon, um, on Instagram and on YouTube where I share a little bit of the behind the scenes, daily life of what it looks like to be an Amazon seller.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah. And if you’re not already following, watch me Amazon over on YouTube or Instagram. I definitely recommend any post is a lot of really good stuff over there. And uh, just everybody knows right now Larry is at his what your, your a cabin or cottage or whatever in upstate New York because of the virus.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
So the internet is not the best. So we apologize in advance if the video’s kind of a little choppy. But so far the audio has been good. So hopefully that will hold up. Um, and we were talking before we started recording saying we wish we would have been recording it, but talking about warehouses and lots of good things, stuff like that related to Amazon. So we can touch on some of that stuff a little bit more. But why don’t you tell us, uh, what things are, what’s happening right now in your business in this kind of historic time that we’re going through with the coronavirus and everything else? Yes.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
So it’s crazy like nothing I’ve ever seen or ever experienced in regard to the Corona virus and its general impact on eCommerce. Um, as many people who follow me know, um, my Amazon wholesale business is international. We sell a lot in Europe. We also sell a good deal of amount of products in the States. Um, and our business is our UK and European business looks a little different in terms of the product catalogs that we have compared to the States. And the Corona virus has really effected our business. Um, in some ways, positively in some ways negatively on the positive side, our UK and European business where we deal in, um, mostly what would be considered essential categories. So things like, um, grocery health, beauty, sports, nutrition, supplements. Um, we also sell toys and stuff like that in Europe. But those, uh, those categories have taken a little bit of a pullback.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
But because we are dealing in essential product categories in Europe, our business is up about 75%. So that is a, you know, excellent benefit and a boom for us in these tough and trying times. Um, whereas in us, our, a big focus of our wholesale business is selling high ticket consumer electronic items. In a couple of weeks ago when the pandemic first hit, Amazon announced that they were suspending all shipments of nonessential items into FBA centers. Um, we had a decent amount of inventory at FBA centers left, so that was good, but we were not able to replenish. Um, also the stuff that we had fulfilled by Amazon in the U S currently, when that was announced, they pushed the shipping windows out a lot. They weren’t shipping a lot of our products. And I would say our U S is, this has taken it on the chin. And as we’re making this video, even though I’ve opened up shipments and the shipping lead times have gotten a little better, I would say our us business probably down about 40% whereas our international business probably up about 60, 70%. So some good stuff and bad stuff in these trying times.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah. And as I mentioned earlier, a another friend of mine, Kevin Sanderson, who we’ve had on the show previously, um, he said the same kind of thing that uh, his product sales are actually a little bit higher overseas, internationally and down in the U S so not completely making up for it cause he’s not really in an essential product category. But it’s interesting how the U S has gotten seemingly hit more than internationally, which, which is a little bit strange, but that’s kind of what’s nice. Versifying right.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah. I don’t really think it’s the U S has gotten hit. I think it’s just more my own personal business in the U S I mean, I know both of us know, um, people who do sell in the essential product categories in the U S um, and there’s people that we know, mutual friends and acquaintances that you know, who deal in the health, beauty grocery supplements categories in the U S um, and those people are experiencing sales increase of, I would say at least 80 to 100% right now. Minimum. Like there’s guys that we know that we follow that we watched that we’re friends with. Um, their businesses are literally, you know, probably doubling these last couple of months in terms of the volume that they do in the U S it’s just the way my business is set up. That’s what I chose to go with in the U S so it really all depends on your situation. Some people are flourishing, some people are taking, um, a little bit of a hit.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
But I think when we come out of this Corona virus thing, what’s going to be excellent for all e-commerce sellers is I think the eCommerce market, um, in general is going to be much, much bigger than it already is. If that is possible. And anyone who is an Amazon seller or who is an eCommerce seller who was struggling due to the Corona virus, I don’t really think that’s due to the Corona virus, so to speak. There are people who are struggling because Amazon temporarily blocked you from sending your shipments in Amazon temporarily push back the, you know, shipping time, the lead time of your products. But that’s all already slowly starting to be phased out. Amazon is already used accepting shipments of non-essential products and eventually Amazon fulfillment and shipping that’s going to go back to normal. And then whatever category you’re selling in, be it electronics, be it toys, be it anything.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Um, I think everyone’s sales are going to go through the roof, us, UK, Europe, no matter what you sell. Um, I think sales are going to increase across the board. Um, literally for everyone. I was actually talking to someone today who’s part of the wholesale Academy and they were telling me that their best selling products right now are puzzles. So not exactly essential, but you know, I think people are going to be hesitant in the future too, socially act and retail and go to brick and mortar stores and go to supermarkets and do those kinds of things that just a month or two ago were very commonplace for us. I think it’s going to change a little bit of the social fabric where now, I mean everyone used to buy stuff on Amazon a lot, but people would still prefer to, let’s say groceries. People would still like to go to the grocery store, clothing people would select to go to the shopping mall.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Um, I think some of these areas where e-commerce hasn’t completely dominated in those sectors, I think some of those are now going to open up and be even better for Amazon and e-commerce. And like I said, um, I think for everyone who is an Amazon seller or an eCommerce seller, um, I think this was the last nail in the coffin for big, for big retail and brick and mortar retail. And I think just, you know, a rising tide lifts all ships situation when it comes to selling eCommerce. And I think everyone is going to come out the other side of this with, you know, a larger customer base and more sales.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, I agree 100% and people who have never shopped online before are learning how to shop. I just heard about someone said that they’re a friend of theirs. Just found out that that you can do zoom calls like we’re doing here and talk to their grandkids. They didn’t know that even existed. So, and also Amazon

Speaker 1 (10:16):
had already, you know, a large portion of people in America shop on Amazon. Um, but there was also a large portion of people in America or a sizable portion of people in America who didn’t shop on Amazon. And now when the government forces everyone into their house and you know, everyone’s on lockdown and no one could leave, everyone’s not buying stuff on Amazon. Everyone’s forced, whether they did it, whether they wanted to or not. In the past, everyone’s forced to now turn to marketplaces like Amazon, like Walmart, like Shopify, all these marketplaces. And when the, you know, the restrictions are lifted, people are going to become so used to this. Um, it’s just going to be better for everyone else. I mean, I’ll give you an example. I never used to buy groceries online. You know, we, I think just like 99% of the people we, my wife would go to a grocery store, we would buy stuff. But since we’re on lockdown the last couple of months, we’re placing grocery orders on Amazon fresh. We’re ordering our groceries on Walmart grocery. And you know, just the ease of it, it’s going to make me much more inclined to continue that behavior, that consumer behavior in the future. Um, more so than not.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yup. Yeah, absolutely. I use the Walmart pickup for the first time ever before, and of course a lot of groceries on Amazon and stuff like that. So, um, I just in one of the previous episodes too, I talked about some news that Walmart’s grocery app had surpassed Amazon shopping app in downloads. So that’s kind of blown up. I mean, so

Speaker 1 (11:55):
where I’m located right now, Amazon fresh doesn’t deliver. So, you know, we’re in a rural area so we can’t really get deliveries of Amazon fresh, but there is a grocery store everywhere. Um, and there’s a bar, there’s a Walmart may be 20 minutes from where we are right now. And for the first time last week, I’ve ordered on the, uh, Walmart grocery app. Super simple, super easy to use. You order everything that you want, you show up, you park in a designated spot, you don’t even have to touch it. Someone comes out, they just load everything up, you know, they put everything in your trunk for you. It was amazing. Um, and I think that’s the way I’m going to continue shopping in the future. We already have another order place for tomorrow and uh, yeah, I’m looking forward to it. But you know, it’s things like that.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
People would never try doing that unless they were forced into it like many of us were. And now when you experienced it, when you tried it, when you got used to it, when they lift all the restrictions, um, you know, a lot of people are going to continue on Walmart. A lot of people are going to continue shopping on Amazon. Um, you know, I don’t know how many people are going to go to stores like best buy, like target, um, you know, like Walmart for example, in the future when you now just have the option of buying these things online. Um, and I think it’s going to be very, very good for us. Amazon sellers, I think brick and mortar seller, uh, brick and mortar stores are going to be hit substantially by this. And, um, you and I were sitting here, you know, shooting the shit, talking.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
We are two wholesale sellers. I think that opens up a huge window of opportunity and possibilities for us when we’re contacting brands and manufacturers and distributors. Um, you know, is who in the past where, you know, everyone liked brick and mortar stores more. Everyone’s dealing with brick and mortar stores, but now as they’re closed and online sellers are thriving. I think a lot of these brand owners, a lot of these distributors, they are really, really warming up to the idea of working with e-commerce sellers, of selling to Amazon sellers. And you know, they’re starting to realize when there’s a massive pandemic, uh, you know, sweeping the country and the whole entire world is shutdown. Us e-commerce and Amazon sellers were the only ones right now, you know, keeping people afloat, providing people with comfort, providing people with products so they’re not going to have that attitude in the future. I don’t want to deal with Amazon sellers. You guys suck. Well, how about the last three, four months? So we’ve basically been, uh, keeping the world fed. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yeah, absolutely. When things are going really well, you can, you can pick and choose and being more picky. But uh, when they’re not, they’re going to open up. And that’s, you know, I had, before all this went down, I had my VA contacting distributors and opening accounts and when all this started going down, I had them stop contacting distributors and hit every brand that we have. And just last week, like I mentioned before, I got three new exclusive agreements with different brands to you know, fix up their listings and sell their products. So brands are definitely receptive right now, big time. A lot of people are maybe taking steps back and I think now is the time to step forward and, and build your business in this space.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
There’s also a lot of brick and mortar stores that are not going to recover from this that are going to, you know, go out of business from this. There are a lot of small mom and pop brick and mortar shops that are probably not going to reopen. And a lot of these brick and mortar stores where the bread and butter of these brand owners and these suppliers and you know, when things start to get back to normal and you know, these brand owners, these manufacturers, these distributors had had a ton of, you know, brick and mortar stores as customers will now after this pandemic, 50% of their customer base is now gone and closed. They’re going to look also to e-commerce sellers to make up that lost revenue. You know what I mean? They’re not just going to want to forget about it. They’re in the business of selling their products and if 50% of their customers just disappeared overnight due to Corona virus, it is a major, major opportunity right now. Um, for us Amazon sellers to build relationships with brand owners and suppliers.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yup. Yeah, I agree 100% and that’s why you know, you, you have wholesale Academy, which is your course that you recently launched. So I wanted to talk a little bit about that. But, and I bring that up because now I think is a perfect time for people to get in. When a lot of people are stepping back, they’re scared. There’s, there’s a saying that says during good times a lot of millionaires are made, but during bad times a lot of billionaires are made. And that’s what it’s true a lot when people are, if you do the opposite of what most people are doing, that’s where you’re going to find the opportunity. So, uh, your, tell me a little bit more about wholesale Academy. Obviously I’m in there with ya and a lot of other great people, but uh, tell us a little bit more about that as well.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
So wholesale Academy is the culmination of a couple of years of hard work putting up [inaudible] of course together. Um, as I mentioned, when I started documenting my journey on YouTube and on Instagram, my end goal was to eventually create a program that would be, I’m really up to par with someone who, you know, built and runs a six, seven and eight figure Amazon business. Um, so, you know, it’s something that I’ve worked on for a very long time. It’s still not complete. I don’t think it’ll ever be complete. But the wholesale Academy is basically my course that’ll teach you all the steps from a to Z, how to start, build, scale and grow a successful wholesale business on Amazon. Um, but more than just creating the course, which is the, you know, series of in depth videos and all of that. I wanted to give people, you know, a support network because that’s what you really need.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
If you watch a course, it’ll teach you what you need to get started or what everyone really needs to take their business to that next level is they need support. They need someone that when they already started selling on Amazon, when they already know the, a BS and CS and they’re encountering different issues with their businesses, different roadblocks, different scenarios. People would need that, you know, that support as they go. Not on year one but in year two, year three, year five, so on and so forth. You always need that support. So I wanted to build a community around the course and hopefully that’s what I was able to achieve. And we’re still building it and we have awesome Amazon sellers in there. I’m like you, you’re one of the most active and guided in there and you know, people from all walks of life, from all levels of the business.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
We have people in there who do eight figures. We have people in there who do zero figures who are just starting. But you know what I really like about it? Everyone is in there helping each other out. People are asking questions, whether it’s myself or someone like you or some of the other hundreds of successful, well Amazon sellers in their world, sharing our knowledge, helping each other, trying to lift each other up. And that’s really, I like, um, you know what I liked the most about it as you said before we started returning this, uh, recording this video call. We spent about a half hour just discussing your business and things that you are considering. And I think that’s what, you know, really makes a course or an educational program worthwhile. It’s not just what you’re going to learn in the course, but it’s now you’re an Amazon seller for already, I don’t know how many years you’ve been doing it, but you’ve been doing multiple years and now on your two, three, four, you’ve hit some kind of a roadblock or you’re at some kind of a turning point in the road and that’s when you need advice.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
That’s when you need guidance and it’s good to have a support system and a whole community there to help you make these decisions.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I reached out to you, I reached out to Anthony and other people and we just kinda bounced ideas off IA and, and helps just having someone to talk to that understands what you’re talking about because most of us are not going to have anybody in our main circle, especially if you’re just starting out that has any clue what you’re doing. You know, you might be able to talk to home, but you’ll just kind of get a blank stare back or, yeah, yeah. Sounds good kind of thing, you know?

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah. So the way I structured the program was to have a super in depth course, which will teach everyone, you know, uh, the a BS and CS, everything that you need from beginning 10 with, you know, with course content and videos and all that kind of stuff. And I tried to make it as in depth and thorough as possible, but really to me, the, it’s all about the interaction with the people in the [inaudible] private group of, and I’m on their weekly or biweekly doing live Q and A’s like this. And you know, the reason why I wanted the focus and the emphasis to P up to be on that. So as I mentioned, I started in the business in 2012. Um, the way I was taught about being an Amazon seller is don’t tell anyone what you do, don’t tell anyone anyone about the products you sell.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Keep everything very hush, hush, very DL. Don’t let everyone see anything. And that’s the way I was operating from for many, many years. And then right before I started, um, watch me Amazon. For some reason. I went on YouTube and I went on Facebook and I started, you know, Googling Amazon, FBA wholesale FBA. Um, and I found a whole bunch of in the Facebook groups. That was where I really first started was just interacting with these Facebook groups. I didn’t even know they existed, but one day I said, Oh wow, look, there’s these, you know, groups filled with thousands of people on Facebook, different Amazon sellers, different wholesale sellers. And then I spent probably a year or two in these Facebook groups engaging with other sellers, learning from other sellers. And I talked to Todd in those, you know, two years to just seeing what other people are doing with their Amazon businesses.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
I probably learned more in those two years participating in Facebook groups than I’ve done in the last three, four years prior to that. So, you know, when you are networking with other sellers and you know, I do things a little bit differently than the way you do them, but I can learn from you, you can learn for me, Anthony does things differently than both of us. We can both learn something from him, he can over and some from us. You stumble across a new software that I never heard of. You recommend that I try it. I love it. Um, I figure out some kind of standard operating procedure which, you know, optimizes my business a little bit. I tell the group about it. They tried the, it’s learning from each other that I found to be the most valuable um, valuable thing in the business.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Cause even when I started, like I used to do product research manually, um, it’s only through speaking to other sellers did I learn about things like keep up and lists, scanning softwares and just everything else. If I was, you know, hiding in a cave in a shell didn’t want to put my ideal, take my head out of the sin, I wouldn’t learn about all these different tools about all these different, you know, technologies about different things that people are doing for their business. So, you know, to anyone who’s listening to this, doesn’t matter if you join my course or not. I have a free group on Facebook specifically dedicated to wholesale spelling. It’s called Amazon FBA wholesale sellers. There are a ton of other really good high quality feed for groups. Just engaging with other sellers who are trying to build, trying to have success the same way that you are. That’s probably the number one thing that’s someone who can do to take their business to the next level.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yup. Yeah. Having other people to talk to is super important. Even if it’s in a Facebook group and like you said, there’s, there’s so many softwares out there that, and there’s always new ones popping up and some of them can really help your business and make things a lot easier for sure. Um, so one of the, an objection that some new people might have is like, okay Todd, you’re doing like $1 million a year on Amazon. Larry’s doing like 15 million, Scott need him a buy box or he’s doing like 60 million he tales and net rush and river trading colony. They’re doing tens or hundreds of millions. How is it possible that I can come in here and have $5,000 in the bank and be able to compete with?

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Well, listen, you know, I try to be very transparent and you know, one of the questions that I get asked the most is how much do you need to start a wholesale FBA business? And the answer that I tell people is you need three to $5,000. Now three to $5,000 is a minimum number. It’s not what is most optimal. Obviously we are in the business of selling products in bulk and on a large scale. And to get to a large scale, um, of course you need to have larger funds. Um, for someone you know, who has $5,000 a month to start this business or less $10,000 in one start this business, you’re not going to get $12 million in sales from five grand. It’s just not realistic. You know what I’m saying? But that doesn’t mean if you don’t have $5,000 that over the course of a year you can turn that five into 10 that 10 to 15 at 15 into 20 and work your way on becoming, you know, building your own business and becoming financially independent and making a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
So for the person who’s listening to this who says, no, I only have $5,000 how am I going to become the next farmer or Pharmapacks well with $5,000 you’re not going to become the next Pharmapacks but you know you have to pay to play, you have to have money to invest. If you want to capitalize on an investment, there is however very good possibility that someone with five or $10,000 over the course of the next, you know, year or two can turn that 5,000 into 30,000 into 50,000 build a business with themselves, start working for themselves and have their own business instead of their regular, you know, nine to five or whatever it is in due time. And you know, even though you’re not making millions of dollars percentage wise, if you can take five grand and turn it into 25 grand, yeah, five extra money and then you can, you know, then, then there’s other things you can do.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Like I have, as you said, you know, we’ve done, um, 15 million last year in sales, you know, couple of years before that we’ve done higher, but we started our business with $50,000 and we spun that 50,000 into, you know, over a couple of years. Of course, nothing ever happens overnight, but we spun that 50,000 into a seven figure business. Eventually as our business was growing and we were taking some money and reinvesting it back into the business, my partner and I invested a little bit more into the business and you know, I think, um, in total we put about 300,000 into the business and over the course of the last six or seven years, built it into a business that does, um, you know, upwards of 15 million in sales. So it, you know, takes money to make money. But you know, even to the person who’s listening to this with 5,000 who wants to start a business, um, they have to have realistic expectations.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
But if you have 5,000 and you can turn it into 10 or 15 in the first two years doing something that you love, um, to me those are excellent results. You know, and I don’t want to paint a pretty picture saying, yeah, five grand, you’ll build $1 million business overnight. Cause a lot of people sell courses that way and it’s not really realistic. But for someone who has five grand and they want to build their own business, a viable business and perhaps double or triple or quadruple that five grand in the next year, I think they would be very happy with those results.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, it’s just going to take a little bit longer. You got to flip that money over and over. And you know, I think for someone who’s starting small like that, that’s good thing because you’re going to have to learn the ropes. You’re probably going to make some mistakes, maybe have some products that you have to sell at a loss. And figure that stuff out. But once you are confident enough in your abilities, then you can start looking at, like we talked about before, getting those, you know, 0% interest credit cards for a year or Amazon loans. If that starts coming or some kind of loan from your bank or finding different capital and then you can start growing faster as you go.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
And trust me to the person who it’s, it’s more about proving them, proving it to themselves, to the person who has five or 10,000 to start an Amazon business. When they start a business with, you know, $5,000 and they prove the business model to themselves and they’re able to, in year one sell 50 60 $75,000 a hundred thousand dollars worth of sales from a $5,000 investment, they prove to themselves that it works. Then they’ll feel a lot more comfortable taking on debt, getting an investment, using credit cards, working out terms with suppliers. Then we can teach you and show you how to scale that business. But you know, one of the things that I liked the best about the business that we were in the wholesale FBA business, it is extremely scalable. It is very profitable and you’re only limited by how hard you’re going to work to make things happen and how much capital you have to invest. Those are really the only two limitations that can hold anyone back in this.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yup. Yeah. And working hard to a lot of analyzing lists and stuff like that. I was, I worked on one yesterday, um, just the dive into one and it was a big list and I just spent most of the day just scrubbing through that list. And I think I got, I don’t know if I have it up here right now. Let me see. I’ve put on the list here, I’ve got 99 potential products that I can buy from this one supplier. Um, we’ll see what kind of pricing they come back with when I negotiate with them. But, and this, I went through the whole thing manually. You know, we did the, we did the auto run in the, uh, AMZ analyzer and now I’m going through it manually. Just finding those,

Speaker 1 (30:30):
well, I can get so much better, so much better results when you do a manually, I mean, you know, it’s not a scalable, it takes longer to do, but you get, um, you get so much better results. And what I find when people start with that small amount, that five or 10 grand, the biggest problem that they’re going to encounter, they’re going to have, if they do everything the right way, they’re going to have more products to buy and they’re going to have the capital to buy with, you know what I’m saying? They’re going to have five grand to spend, but they’re going to have 15, 20, $30,000 worth of profitable products to buy. Um, and that’s a pretty good problem to have, you know, having all these profitable products to buy and you don’t have quite enough capital to do it all. It’s a very, very good problem to have. It’s a better problem than having you know, money and not knowing what to do with it.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yup. Yeah. And that’s been my problem for a little while now trying to get over that cashflow hump that I’ve been running into. Um, I definitely have more products to buy then capital available at the moment, but I’m hopefully going to have an influx of capital here from a SBA loan. So that will help quite a bit. Now I know you like to focus on distributors a lot more than some other gurus out there. Uh, air quotes because some of them are, some of them aren’t so much, but I’ve been, I do a lot of brands and distributors and like I mentioned, I just got some exclusives because one of the things that I look for is like products that are selling maybe 30, 40, 50 units a month, but the listings are horrible and then I reach out to them and try to get that explosive agreement. Do you do any of that stuff and what are your thoughts on it?

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s an excellent strategy. Um, we definitely deep dive into that. In the course as well as you know, um, the U S business that I mentioned to you that on, you know, the electronic business that typically does between five and 600,000 in business per month. That’s whole exclusive and that’s from the branch shipping directly our products to Amazon. So those are exclusive brand relationships. Um, if you give me the choice of, you know, one or the other, which rather work with a brand or would rather work with a distributor, the answer is always a brand. So I am, you know, I am more preferential for brands. I like working with brands more. The only reason why, you know, you might say that I, uh, have, have a little bit more focused on distributors is just because any quote unquote air quote guru out there who’s had a wholesale course before, they only really show the brand aspect of the business.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
No one’s really taken the time to explain that, Hey, there’s a whole different, a sourcing model out there where you can work with distributors and you know, it is in fact easier to open accounts with distributors. Um, it’s easier to set that up, especially when you’re new. It’s easier to open successful accounts with distributors. Um, but yeah, I love them both. I prefer the brands, but on the flip side of that coin, brands are harder to open accounts with. You’re going to have to jump through more hoops to get a brand to take you seriously or to get a brand to allow you to sell their products on Amazon or open an account with you. But, um, I like both. It’s just, you know, before I created the wholesale Academy, I watched pretty much every wholesale of course out there and no one really focused on the distributors, everyone just focused on brands. And for someone, um, you know, who’s just starting out or even someone who’s just establishing the business. If you’re only focusing on brands, you’re really selling yourself short. If you’re only focusing on distributors, you’re really selling yourself short. There’s a bunch of different options out there to find products from what to have sources for inventory. And I kind of wanted to show the whole gamut of everything.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yup. Yeah. And I’m glad you did because you know, that kind of opened my eyes a little bit more. I was already doing some distributors but really hardly are really focused on brands I should say. And now it’s kinda more of a 50 50 split for me. And yeah, distributors are a lot easier. Like nine times out of 10 when you call up a distributor, that conversation is just, Hey, how do I open an account? What’s your email? I’ll send you the forms, click. And you know, that’s about it when you’re talking with the initial person. But with the brands then it’s more of having to build that relationship. And those conversations some times can be 30 minutes, 60 minutes depending on what kind of stuff

Speaker 1 (35:02):
we’ll say. The strategy that you’ve mentioned where you’re trying to find specific products that are a little bit on the slower selling side that don’t have optimized listings, that don’t have the best rank because of all of these, um, you know, inadequacies on Amazon. That’s a very good strategy and a very good approach at you are taking, it’s better to find those diamonds in the rough. And we’ll the relationship with those brands then to like reach out to like the super duper high rank, high selling brands that their listings are already optimized, that they probably have a few exclusives already worked out some sellers on Amazon. I’m definitely the approach that you mentioned is one that um, I approve of and I encourage you to double down on it cause it’s a very good approach.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yeah, yeah. For her. Sure. I mean Nike doesn’t care if you can take one of their listings from 50 to 500 sales, but someone who’s a small business is maybe only selling a few hundred thousand a year or something is going to really appreciate that a lot more. Right.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
Especially, especially now that the, you know, the 300 brick and mortar stores that they were selling to, those have now been shut down for the last couple of months. Now there are a lot more open minded to that.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yup. Yeah. I had a conversation with a lady who I just got the exclusive with and yeah, the government, she’s in Florida. The police came to her offices and made her clothes or business go home so she couldn’t eat anymore. So she’s looking for ways to increase business and I called her at the perfectly right time and got the exclusive with it. Absolutely. So what else do we need to talk about Larry, before we wrap up here? Anything that someone new coming into this, maybe watching this episode needs to know?

Speaker 1 (36:55):
Yeah, just um, you know, a lot of people in the social media, eCommerce space, um, make this business out to be a very easy fly by night business. Something that um, anyone can start, anyone can do. While that part is true, anyone can start and anyone can do. Um, as you know, Todd, you live it and you would attest to it. This business is not easy. It’s not for everyone. It is certainly requires a lot of hard work and effort. But for the people who are willing to put in that time hard work and willing to put in that effort, it is a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous business. But I just want people to know, um, if it’s something that they are considering, it’s not for everyone. Um, it’s not, you know, you’re going to work from your laptop on the beach two hours a week and you’re going to make all this money just, you know, printing money from a printer.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
It’s not realistic. I’m like every real business. It does require work. But for the people who are willing to make that investment in effort and time and capital, this in my opinion is one of the best businesses that anyone out there can start. And I, and I just want people to know that the reward is there. Um, there’s not a tremendous amount of risk in the wholesale model. That’s, you know, part of the reason why I love it so much, but I just want people to know, um, it is a real business. It is not super easy. It is hard. But if it was super easy, everyone would be doing it. Everyone would be rich. But for the people who are serious about building real business, um, this one has all the potential in the world to set you on the path for financial freedom.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, what, what other business, there’s no retail business that you could start for $5,000 and no one can make any money.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah. And if you speak to people who invest in or people who’ve started almost any other non e-commerce based business, someone who started retail stores, someone who opened the bar, restaurant, someone who started some kind of firm, whatever it is, people invest money and for them of good businesses, you break even. You make your money back in two years, that’s considered a win. You break even you, you know, you invest in a restaurant, you invest in a store, you invest in a business, you break even in three years, that’s considered a win for the people who are focused, hungry, determined and want to build an Amazon business. You know, it’s very rare that it takes a year or two or three to break even. Chances are you are profitable within your first couple months in this business if you’re doing everything right. And that’s one of the other, you know, super benefits. Super positives of the business.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yup. Yeah, I agree 100% it’s, you know, it’s a lot of work and that’s a, a key thing out there. People right now might be looking for some way to make money and if you’re just looking for a quick buck, this is not it. Like I said yesterday, you know, I sat here with my computer glasses on for hours looking at a list until my eyes hurt trying to find products to be able to sell. So you got to put the reason why

Speaker 1 (40:10):
not it, it, it isn’t. It isn’t. I mean you can make a quick buck if you’re looking to quit and exit the business in three months. So if you want it to buy, you know, if you knew what you were doing product research wise and you wanted to buy 5,000 worth of products, there’s a very, very good chance in a very high likelihood that you know, 30 to 60 days from now, you buy 5,000 worth of products, you’d be selling it for $8,000 so you have a $3,000 profit, you know, profit on right there, but you’re not exiting the business. You’re then going to take the 8,000 you’re going to reinvest it back into the business and hopefully turn it to 10 and then you’re going to buy 10 worth of products and hopefully reinvest it and turn it into 13 and so on and so forth.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
So it is possible to make that money overnight if you plan on just, you know, packing up your bags and leaving afterwards. But most of us keep reinvesting and reinvesting, reinvesting our lewd. And in wholesale there’s something called the snowball effect. So if you start with 5,000 your goal is to turn it into seven, turn the seven into 10 turned the tenant to 15 so on and so forth. And you know, it takes, again, lots of effort, hard work time and patience, but that’s how it’s possible to take, you know, 50,000 and turn it into $1 million business or take 5,000 and turn into $100,000 business.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
Yup. Yeah. As soon as he start pulling the money out, then it’s going to slow down. That’s snowball. So yeah, think about that. You have some experiences with that, right? Exactly. Yup. Yeah. A couple of years ago I did that a little too soon and set myself back six months or more. So. So sort of why my friend, but it’s a, it’s a, it’s a tight rope

Speaker 1 (41:46):
that were walking at the end of the day, you still have bills, you have a life you need to pay yourself, you need to eat. So, you know, on one hand that’s really good to invest every dollar back into the business and just keep growing it. Um, on the other hand, you know, we have bills to pay and we want to live and you know, we’d have to buy things and stuff like that. So it’s a tight, tight rope to, you know, balance between keeping everything in the business and pulling everything out of the business. And you know, I myself like to take things out of the business all the time also. So it’s a delicate, tight rope that we walk.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yup. Yeah. I think you have to do some, right? You’ve got to get some kind of reward out of it. But the laundry, you can delay that reward. The more you’re going to be able to build that business faster, you start taking it out. It’s just going to slow it down a little bit. So, you know, I like to say, you know, if you’re going to start taking money out, maybe take three months and set that money aside into a savings account and make sure the business keeps functioning even with taking that money out before you start taking it out and putting in your own pocket. Give yourself a little Coke. Correct. All right Larry. So I appreciate you coming on. This has been really awesome. Where can people, or where do you want people to get in touch with you?

Speaker 1 (43:00):
People can check me out on Instagram and on YouTube at watch me Amazon, and anyone who is interested in working with me directly can check out the wholesale academy@wholesaleacademy.com.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
All right, perfect. And we’ll put links to all that in the show notes if people can check that that out. Um, yeah, that’s pretty much wraps it up. I appreciate it, Larry. This has been great. Thank you. I appreciate it too.

Entrepreneur Adventure is now Amazon Seller School

EA 21: $0 to $15 Million Selling on Amazon with Larry Lubarsky