Shownotes
What a great couple who knows their relationship is first, then their business comes later. Can you downsize your life to create a family legacy? The key is to try many new things, many new experiences and above all Enjoy your life!
Mentioned:
Steve and Steph Resale Killers on Youtube
Sponsors
Gaye’s Million Dollar Arbitrage List
Transcript: (note- this is a new tool I am trying out so it is not perfect- it does seem to be getting better)
Stephen: [00:00:00] Wanted to take a second and recognize my sponsors this week, you know, [inaudible] million dollar arbitrage as edge and list group. That’s a mouthful. It is. But guess what? It’s a great opportunity. You can build a big Amazon business. You don’t need a lot of capital when you start. I mean we all started, you know, um, most of it started selling books and then you move into retail arbitrage that is the place that you can turn your money the fastest and online arbitrage. And so by having that skill set, by learning those skill sets, you can get the best bang for your buck. And so gaze group will help you learn online arbitrage. It’s, it’s more than just a list service. They’re going to give you a whole bunch of actionable inventory every single day. Write Monday through Friday. However, there’s also a mentorship that goes on and that mentorship is so important because sometimes it’s great to know what to buy, but it’s more important to understand why to buy it.
Stephen: [00:01:02] But yeah, that’s that. You know, learning the fish are just getting fit. You really want to learn because ultimately you want to strike it on your own and this is a great way to do it. So how about seven days free trial. About a free trial, right? Very, very cool. So it’s amazing. Freedom Dot com. Forward slash is the mouthful. The word momentum. You’ve got to use a hyphen and you put in the word arbitrage. So it’s amazing. Freedom Dot [inaudible], forward slash momentum dash arbitrage, and you’re going to get a free trial in gaze group. You got to tell her I sent you, right? I also have the link in the episode, but it’s such a great opportunity. So she has amazing, amazing. I’m in that group so you’ll see me there and amazing, amazing person who’s there to answer your questions, who’s there to help lead you and help guide you.
Stephen: [00:01:50] And that’s what gay does. She does it every single day. The testimonials are real. Go take a look. You will be blown away and again, it’s a free trial. I have the link on this episode to reach in your seller labs, Jeff Cohen and the team. They have blown me away with this scope project. We use this all the time for our business. We do a lot of private label. We also do a lot of wholesale and wholesale bundles or multi-packs, that kind of thing, which a lot of people do, but we use a scope to help us figure out what are the key words and so it’s really simple. You basically figure out where you’re going to sell, what you’re going to sell, what category, find that lake product, find the top couple sellers and find their keywords. Boom magic. There you go. You copy the best because it’s working.
Stephen: [00:02:39] And guess what? That’s a proof of concept and scope allows you to do that. So it’s seller labs.com, forward slash scope, seller labs.com, forward slash scope. Use the code word momentum and you’re going to get a couple of days free trial and you’re going to save a little bit of money and you’re going to get some free keywords. It’s worth every penny. I’m in that group. Come and check me out. So our labs.com, forward slash scope. Again, use the word momentum solutions for e-commerce. Karen Lunker, great, great, great group. I’ve been using them for a long time and I guess it’s over two years and I’m in there and I pay just like everybody else. Yeah, she’s a sponsor my show, but she makes me pay and I got the same $50 discount that you can get. Oh, by the way, you’re going to get that through my link and my link only.
Stephen: [00:03:25] Oh, and you’re also going to get the free inventory health analysis. Great Way to start 2018, get your inventory in line and Karen will help you do that. We use them for everything basically, uh, you know, long-term storage fees coming up. Guess what, show evaluate. She’ll make some recommendations and I’ll say, yeah, check, check, check, check these out, this return, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And magically it’s done. I love it, love it, love it. I love the fact that they take and get rid of stranded inventory for me. I see it in there. And then next time I go in and it’s gone. Love it. Love it, love it. Got An ip infringement, she’s going to help you work your way through that. This is the kind of service that you get from Karen Locker, that’s solutions for the number for e-commerce solutions for e-commerce dot com forward slash momentum, right? So you’ve got a forward slash momentum and you’re going to save $50 a month, 600 bucks a year by just clicking that link. She pays me. I don’t want to hide that. I never do. I’m always upfront about that, but it doesn’t cost you anything additional and you’re going to get that inventory health report. The only way you get that is through mind link, the solutions, the number for e-commerce dot com, forward slash momentum.
Cool voice guy: [00:04:39] Welcome to the e-commerce momentum podcast where we’ll focus on the people, the products, and the process of e-commerce selling today. Here’s your host, Steven Peterson.
Stephen: [00:04:53] I know it sounds Corny that I love what I do, but I do love what I do. Welcome back to the e-commerce momentum podcast. This is episode 200 and eighty three with Steve and Steph, the resale killers man. What a cool cup or if you’ve not seen him on youtube, you’re missing out. You like me will get caught up and start watching and then you won’t turn it off and then all of a sudden you’ll realize three hours have gone by and I just watched a million people shop at a yard sale or a flea market where I watched them go to a military base to buy something or I watch them count money through a coin machine and it was, it blew my mind and I just sit back and I just love the way that they work together and we get to some pretty cool points in a conversation and I hope you hear this, especially if you’re in middle aged guys saying, I need to do something different with my life. Or you know, my wife and I, my relationship sometimes struggles with these things. I think this is a great example of somebody who’s figuring it out. A couple was figuring it out on their terms and their approach is a little different, but you can hear they love it. Let’s get into the podcast,
Stephen: [00:06:10] worry. We’ll come back to the e-commerce momentum podcast, very, very excited about today’s guest, speaker, guests, plural, because they do come as a pair and I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I’m interested to hear how they became a pair because there’s definitely a story there and that they worked together, lived together and enjoy their life together. I’m selling and selling in some unusual ways, which I think are quite a sign of the times and I think it’s so interesting now for those of us in the big Amazon world and Ebay world where they’re big giant fee increases in big changes outside of our control. Well, Stephen, Steph say, ah, sorry. We’re going to control our future. Welcome Stephen. Steph, the resale killers. Welcome guys.
Stephen: [00:07:02] Yes, exactly. You know, I figured, you know, it’s funny when I look at your name, I got Steve and then I got stuff and I’m like, well, I’m really stephen with a Ph and then I do go by Steve and my wife calls me Steve. Um, and I’m used to be called Pete sometimes. And my last name’s Peterson, so Pete Stevenson. So they mess with know how kids are. So you two are not the normal sale. Couple, a couple of reasons. One, um, you both seem to really like each other and like your role in the business. It’s true, it’s obvious, you know?
Steve Steph: [00:07:43] OK,
Stephen: [00:07:48] well, you know, I’ve been married 31, 32 years. So guess what? I have done something right. But it’s true. I mean I just watching though, I can see what it is. I always look for respect because I believe that, you know, you have to be respectful and I see the respect he gives you and you give him stuff. I see it and it’s not like it’s subservient and I see the joshing you guys are teasing each other, you know, stuff like that. But I see it and I think that’s just so important. I don’t think you take yourselves as serious like this is, you know, brain surgery is that fair?
Steve Steph: [00:08:57] Is going to be real serious about it. Right? Definitely. But I think that the main thing is like our lifestyle and our lives, we kind of wanted to make it revolve around being fun and enjoyable. You know, so having fun while we’re working together and being together so much and getting along really well is mainly because it’s fun for us, you know, we definitely have fun together and we really enjoy each other. So, um, and I think it’s mainly on Steve’s part because he’s so fun.
Stephen: [00:09:33] It’s a team thing to take the compliment, just take the compliment.
Speaker 5: [00:09:38] It’s all very nice, but there’s also, my wife is very weird and we don’t show everything that we do on. And by weird I mean like just in a good way. Like we just, we say things to each other and we do things that, that we just laugh at each other. Like how, why are we doing this and when we do like the idea
Steve Steph: [00:09:57] more like a laugh and we’re like, we’re so messed up.
Stephen: [00:10:01] Well let me ask you something, and this is a, I think a fair question to work together in an office function or some kind of construction thing. Was it, did you have that much fun there?
Steve Steph: [00:10:12] Oh yeah.
Speaker 5: [00:10:12] No, not at, not at the, the job wasn’t fun at all for me. Step is very, um, she can just, she just handles difficult things differently. She has a better outlook on it, like difficult situations, like, you know, the, the job and I was, I was like, just be down, you know, like I was on the road a lot, not on the road, like for days I was a general superintendent and we had jobs all over southern California from the border to the desert to Los Angeles and it was a massive grind. I was the stereotypical guy that gets a job. You’re making good money and your life revolves around that job. Get up when it’s dark, get home when it’s dark and don’t do anything with friends or family because you’re so wore out. Work in, you know, every, it was six days a week, sometimes seven days a week. And so that was not fun, but the fun was stepped, didn’t work on a weekend she would go to work with me how that was like a salvation on those weekends for me it was like, OK, at least we’re together and you know, we’d be, if I looked back on it, it was so weird. Having OK, here’s my wife, we’re just going to go check, check some construction jobs. And it was,
Steve Steph: [00:11:37] that was our time to hang out, but I worked in the office, I was the controller of that construction company as well. So Steve was in the field all day long, you know, he’d come in for meetings and stuff like that, but I was in the office all day long. So we work together and met at work, but we didn’t work like we do now together. We are together 24 sevenths all the time.
Stephen: [00:11:59] Well let’s talk about the transition. So you went from a honeymoon phase, right? You made it work and the relationship developed and you saw them and maybe you saw him at his best, right? Because you got to see him, you know, he was still that face that, that uh, that romantic phase. I’m trying to be careful to delicate here, but it’s true, right? So then, you know, you saw him the best behavior in that and now you get to see him all the time. So is there a transition? How big is the difference? I guess that’s the question.
Steve Steph: [00:12:29] OK, well let me say this part, I fell in love with Steve. He’s the funniest guy I’ve ever met.
Stephen: [00:12:37] You’re blushing. Steven, you’re blushing right now. I can tell.
Steve Steph: [00:12:40] Oh I am. But it’s true. He, I mean we worked in construction. He wasn’t completely miserable in his job back then. It got worse, you know, as I could, as the company grew, it just got, you know, we were there for so many years. I think Steve was there like 15 years, something like that. And it grew from a mom and pop operation to a big company and um, there was just so much pressure on Steve, you know, the, he took on so many roles. He had so much pressure on him and his job, it just was miserable and it didn’t start out that way, but it turned into it, especially when the company started doing bad and we had to lay off people and more and more work I put on him and it was just so much pressure on the companies failing. It was just a mess and it was not fun to be in. And to be honest, steve had a mental breakdown. He really. Did y’all have any one? We’re still recovering.
Stephen: [00:13:29] Is this where the, uh, enjoy your life comes from Steve. Be Honest. I mean, I, I just want to know because I see you say I can see you say it like when you, when you could see it in your eyes. I can actually see that you deeply mean it. You want to believe it and you want everybody else to get there.
Speaker 5: [00:13:46] Yeah, that’s it. I truly sincerely mean that. And honestly when I say it, when I’m looking in the camera and when Jeff says it too, like originally starting these youtube videos, it was like, hey, it would be kind of fun, but we could also leave a message to our grandkids and our kids even if they watch this. So that is saying sometimes I rant about jobs in general and basing on my experience, but I want, I want so badly for her grandkids to have a different, a different perspective, you know, in a different, um, just some different input versus what society or you know, nine to five grind brands. And every, yeah, I want them to enjoy your life. And that doesn’t mean enjoy. Your life is not all don’t work, guys. Don’t, you know, don’t, don’t struggle with things in life. It’s not that it’s due when you’re doing things that are making you feel like you’re, you know, maybe you’re trying to discover your purpose or whatever that you can.
Speaker 5: [00:15:00] You can be happy doing that. You can be happy pouring concrete. Believe me, I’ve been around guys that had done it forever and they were happy guys. But if you’re not happy and you’re doing something and you feel like you got to be there, you feel like, oh, I’m making this much money. I can’t leave this job. Or you know, I’m, I, some people don’t believe they can do anything else. You know? And, and yeah, and you’re not enjoying the majority of my life. Look be prior to getting out of the rat race was work. Just like a lot of people. The majority of your day is working and it’s beautiful at that. Work doesn’t feel like work. But if it’s like most people, that’s a, that’s just, it’s so wrong. And it’s weird looking back and thinking, man, why why’d it take so long to get out of that?
Speaker 5: [00:15:49] You know, like I knew there was always, like Steph said, it got worse and worse even when it was at its best. I had to struggle to find things at work that made me feel good. Like, like I always enjoyed training guys, you know, I always enjoyed seeing guys come up from maybe a laborer and then make, make they became a superintendent. I enjoyed that process, but I really, really had to focus on it because the rest of the stuff was, you know, horrible. And there was always this nagging voice in the back of my head from the day I started doing construction there was telling me this is not, this is not for you, you know? And I just ignored it. And I think a lot of people ignore that voice.
Stephen: [00:16:30] Would you say though, looking back at it now, would your father, your father’s still alive, what would he say that you walking away from that you failed? You know, it was that. Because I mean, we’re about the same age and so I walked away early from a big career and um, there’s a great job in a good company and all that kind of jazz, but I made that same choice to get away. And sometimes, you know, I mean, I think it’s true. You identify your yourself or at least guys to, um, I don’t know how women do it. Um, I think it’s more clothes or social status for guys. It’s your job. I mean, it really is funny that it was pretty good. It’s a guy, it’s a, it’s guys, it’s their job. I...