Shownotes
Peter aka “Craigslist Hunter” has figured a lot out. He has found a way to have it all: strong family commitments, strong friendships, strong employee relationships and great customer experiences. How, you might wonder? He has processes, he is consistent, he is intentional. That’s really it. Hard work consistently applied over time equals success!
Mentioned:
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] Wanted to take a second and recognize my sponsors this week. You know Gaye Lisby’s million dollar arbitrage as Edge and list. That’s a mouthful. It is. But guess what. It’s a great opportunity. You know you can build a big Amazon business. You don’t need a lot of capital when you start. I mean we all started you know most of us started selling books and then move into retail arbitrage. That is the place that you can turn your money. The vastness and online arbitrage. And so by having that skill set by learning those skill sets you can get the best bang for your buck. And so Gaye’s group will help you learn online arbitrage. It’s more than just a list service they’re going to give you a whole bunch of actionable inventory every single day. Right. Monday through Friday. However there’s also a mentor ship that goes on and that mentor ship is so important because sometimes it’s great to know what to buy but it’s more important to understand why to buy it. And it’s that you know learning to fish or just getting fed. You know you really want to learn because ultimately you want to strike it on your own. And this is a great way to do it. So how about seven days free trial how about a free trial. Right. Very very cool. So it’s amazing freedom to come forward slashes a mouthful the word momentum carries a hyphen. And you put in the word arbitrage. So it’s amazing freedom does come forward slash momentum dash arbitrage and you’re going to get a free trial in Gase group. You got to tell her I sent you. Right. I also have the link in the episode. But it’s such a great opportunity.
Stephen: [01:40] She is amazing amazing I’m in that group. So you’ll see me there. An amazing amazing person who’s there to answer your questions who was there to help lead you and help guide you and that’s what Kay 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.
Stephen: [01:58] I have the link on this episode. Reachin you know Sellar labs Jeff Cohen and the team they have blown me away with this scope project. We use this all the time for our business. We do a lot of private label we also do a lot of wholesale and wholesale bundles you know or multi packs that kind of thing which a lot of people do but we use scope to help us figure out what are the key words. And so it’s really simple. You basically figure out where you’re going to sell what you’re going to sell what category find that like product. Find the top couple sellers and find their keywords. Boom magic. There you go. You copy the best because it’s working. And guess what. That’s a proof of concept and scope allows you to do that. So it’s Sellar Lapps dotcom forward slash scope Sellar labs dotcom buzzword slash scope use the code word momentum and you’re going to get a couple days free trial and you’re going to save a little bit of money and you get to get some free keywords. It’s worth every penny. I’m in that group. Come and check me out. Celebes dotcom forward slash scope again use the word momentum solutions for e-commerce. Karen Locher great great great group.
Stephen: [03:11] I’ve been using them for a long time now I guess over two years and I’m in there and pages like everybody else. Yes she’s a sponsor my show but she makes me pay and I get the same 50 dollar discount that you can get. Oh by the way you’re going to get that through my link and my link only. Oh and you’re also going to get the free inventory health analysis. Great way to start 2018 get your inventory in line and Karen will help you do that. We use it for everything. I mean basically you know long term storage fees coming up. Guess what she will evaluate. She’ll make some recommendations. And also check check check take these out this return blah blah blah blah blah. And magically it’s done.
Stephen: [03:49] 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 Locher that solutions for the number for e-commerce solutions for e-commerce dot com forward slash momentum. Right. So you got it forward slash momentum and you’re going to save 50 dollars a month six bucks a year by just clicking that link. She pays me. I want to hide that I never do. I’m always upfront about that but it doesn’t cost you anything additional. And you’re going to get that inventory Health Report the only way you get that is through mine link solutions. The number for e-commerce dotcom forward slash momentum.
Cool voice guy: [04:39] Welcome to the e-commerce momentum podcast where we focus on the people the products and the process of commerce selling today. Here’s your host Stephen Peterson.
Stephen: [04:52] Welcome back to the e-commerce momentum podcast. This is episode 278. Peter Kosa now you know that name and your thing. Nor do I know that name. Well he’s Craigslist Hunter is what he goes by on YouTube Instagram and Facebook and he’s been out there pumping out videos for a long time. Actually we get to the number he’s put out over 250 videos of his own. That is an enormous amount of content. That’s an enormous amount of activity and a lot of effort editing video is much harder than it is editing audio. Right. Because not only like the sound is one thing but knowing you’ve got to worry about the camera angles and all the rest of that jazz and what they can see what you can’t see very complicated to do it is a passion and Peter has a passion for many different things. And you’ll hear it in this episode and I think we get to some very some things that have been burning in my mind as I’ve watched him operate his business for the last couple of years and it’s been a couple of years since I had him on so his previous episode was episode number 63. That’s his backstory which is very very cool. And again I just I’m fascinated by him and his passion for it and it just the way he delivers it it’s just so exciting for me. Let’s get into the podcast.
Stephen: [06:08] All right welcome back to the e-commerce momentum podcast I’m very excited about today’s guest I could pause there for a second because you will not believe how long it’s been since we last talked Peter. Any guesses.
Peter: [06:20] I’m gonna say I’m gonna say two years.
Stephen: [06:25] You’re good. Yeah it’s been two years been a little bit more than two years. I went back and looked at I’m like now that can’t be. And shocking to me. Peter Casesa the Craigslist Hunter. Welcome back Peter. Thank you. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate you coming back. You were episode number 63. You’ll now be episode 278. Isn’t that crazy. Wow. It’s just crazy. Time flies. It really does in this business. How many how many videos. I asked Chad Pagle this question How many videos on YouTube have you been. Have you put out or been in any clue.
Peter: [07:05] Pretty much every single video that I put on it. But. I. Mean.
Stephen: [07:13] Including there are channels and a couple that I’ve been in a lot of different groups myself.
Peter: [07:20] The videos that I have uploaded probably about 250 and that are 50 to 100 different channels.
Stephen: [07:29] So have you thought about that much content. I mean that’s an enormous amount of content hours and hours and hours and it was thinking about this as I was prepared for this. Do you still love it. Because it appears that you do.
Peter: [07:43] Absolutely absolutely. I mean I think the main thing is the feedback that I get and you have a positive approach to things.
Stephen: [07:53] You have a very positive approach to things you blow off these price increases like hey I don’t like it or you know post office changes yeah don’t like it but there’s nothing I can do. You know we’re lucky to be able to sell there. That approach I think is very attractive to people.
Peter: [08:08] Yeah I think so. I mean this is just part of doing business right. I mean it constantly changes increases constantly go up and you can get battered by it. I mean it’s just that simple for me. And you just adjust adjust accordingly and move on.
Stephen: [08:26] Well that’s a good point. If you if you become complacent would you get better. You’d be like man you know why bother with this kind of forces it doesn’t.
Peter: [08:34] Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean it’s just the way it is. You know so you just got to get used to it. Move on and that’s all this. That’s how I look at it. Not not of the changes the comment positive or negative. It really changes my track you know.
Stephen: [08:53] Well how long have you been selling now. I can go back and listen again. But it’s been quite a long time. Over 20 years. OK. So in 20 years how different is it today. Yeah the technology. There’s an Internet obviously you could go global and all that. That being the obvious change. But outside of that how different is it.
Peter: [09:14] Well the main thing is that obviously it’s a lot easier overall to get into it. So you have a lot more competition period. I mean that’s the main the main difference. I mean the selling has been around for hundreds of years right.
Stephen: [09:30] So so that part so say you know is thinking about this.
Stephen: [09:37] You so unusual and unique items generally. Right. That’s a fair statement right.
Peter: [09:43] Yeah pretty much. I mean it’s a little bit of everything and a lot of these items are a lot of them one of a kind.
Stephen: [09:51] So you don’t have a lot of competition for the majority of the items that you’re saw how many people are selling that particular high level cassette deck. That is a slight very rare in this and not much right now.
Stephen: [10:07] No no you’re absolutely correct in that respect. That’s why I like to excuse me.
Peter: [10:13] That’s why I like to go into those fields because the competition is not there. Diatoms that I sell are usually bigger harder to ship harder to find. And that’s why I think I have a little bit of edge selling those kind of products but don’t get me wrong though I do sell quite a bit of nowhere stuff as well that I deal with competition. So.
Stephen: [10:38] All right. You know for example you you still sell CDs DVDs vinyl records things like that. Right I mean those are just everyday items that walk into your store that you still buy and sell. Correct.
Peter: [10:52] Correct correct although media like that I tend to sell more just than my store.
Stephen: [10:58] It’s just not worth it. Is it. I mean one of the things that you’ve intentionally tried to do is raise your average selling price. So that’s part of it.
Peter: [11:07] Maybe I wouldn’t say it’s not worth it is just my store it’s a great outlet for that. You know I do get a lot of people that come and look for that stuff. So you know I would read or sell it in the shop that actually tried to move that stuff online.
Stephen: [11:25] You know a couple of questions related to the shop because you have staff and you have a lot of challenges there.
Stephen: [11:31] What do you have to do it over again knowing what you know knowing where the market is today. Would you do it the same way with a retail store.
Peter: [11:44] Wow that’s a loaded question because I get that. I get that question aloud. Would you do it again. I think I would. And mainly for this is the main reason I loved the interaction with people. OK. It just drives me to stop. That comes in every day and I get to deal and haggle with people on a daily basis. That’s what makes it exciting for me.
Peter: [12:10] Now the bad part of running a shop is of course you have lots of lots of overhead. Right. And you get lots of responsibilities and people depending on you. So that’s the challenging part of the business. Now as you know when we talked two years ago my goal was to open right five more shops within the next five years.
Peter: [12:39] And guess what. When we talk I just opened a shop in the second shop in a city that didn’t workout seven months and I shot it down.
Stephen: [12:52] So well let’s stop there second so you know what I was thinking about was that your shop allows you to do experiments you get to try something you get to pull back where a lot of people can’t make those same choices because part of the reason is you have people that are supportive or in support roles so you can buy merchandise and they can buy merchandise which is interesting to me. But then they get it listed they get things moving right. You have some you have a machine in place so it allows you to dabble in these other things. So trying that second shop. What what didn’t work about it. I mean what was the. And I know the answer because you and I just saw each other in Chicago late last year so I kind of know the answer. But but what was it. It’s not a failure. It’s a lesson right.
Peter: [13:39] Absolutely. Less and less than that I learned quite a bit of it. Main main reason was I think it was a poor choice for me. The location as you know in retail business brick and mortar it’s all about location location location and I didn’t do enough study. That’s what I believe that I didn’t do enough study where did I place that second shop which I thought was a great spot but obviously wasn’t.
Stephen: [14:15] So what specifically what was it I mean when you think about why is your current one so successful could you contrast that to to kind of suggest what the differences are and what it’s led you to conclude.
Peter: [14:29] I think first I didn’t understand the print clientele. First of all I think I did not understand at the moment how how competitive the city itself is now.
Peter: [14:43] The shop that I have right now it’s about 45 minutes away from the city and suburbs. The shop that I opened in Chicago and very competitive area a few similar shops within a couple of miles radius and the shop that the location of of that new store was on a street that seemed to me that it’s super busy lots of traffic. But actually there was the problem the traffic was just flying by me and nobody stopped or there was no parking or those kind of things. Exactly I had issues with the parking there which is kind of crucial in this kind of business that if people want to bring your stuff they got to have a convenient ride they got to they can park right by the Shab they can bring the stuff in. And that wasn’t the case.
Stephen: [15:33] The other thing I would think would be is that city people who live more in the city have already...