Shownotes
What a phenomenal discussion with Garry! My life is so much richer for it. Tough stuff to discuss but we all really need to open up more about this stuff. We have seen recently money does not equal happiness. This is so point on. But loving everyone and respecting everyone is a start. Follow through with kind words and respect and you have a block in your foundation. Build enough blocks and you can weather the difficult times. Garry’s advice will take you very far in life.
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: [00:00:00] I’m excited to talk about my sponsors today, Gaye Lisbey’s million dollar arbitrage group. Amazing, amazing group. This is a teacher. This Gaye, she was a teacher. She is a teacher. Still. You need to learn. This is the type of environment you want to be in because she’s going to help you understand why, and I think that’s the hardest part of this business is understanding why. Why is the red one popular when the green one isn’t? Well, there’s usually a reason and what gay does is probably parse that better than anybody and she’ll explain the reasons for those things. I think that’s really powerful. Yes, she puts out a list. You’re going to get a good use of that list if you get in the group. Now here’s the deal. The group isn’t always open, right? So you get on the waiting list and you can join the waiting list through my link.
Stephen: [00:00:46] I’m doesn’t cost anything to get on a waiting list and if you like her service, which I find that most people do that, that’s why there’s not so many openings. Um, you’ll be with her for a long time. And so it’s amazing freedom.com. She’s part of Andy Slam. It’s group amazing freedom.com. Forward slash momentum. And you’re going to get in the waiting list. That’s all I can get you on right now. You can use my name and see if that gets you anywhere. But what I like about in the uh, what I like about what they teach in that group or the things that are going on, you know, the current things. I’ve seen a lot of stuff going on about stores going out of business. Well here’s where an opportunity is, here’s why you want to do this. Hey, be cautious about this, you know, with toys r US coming out, you’ve got to think about this and that’s the learning that you need to do.
Stephen: [00:01:30] And Gay is better than anybody else I’ve seen. So I’m amazing. Freedom Dot com. Forward slash momentum will get you to the waiting list. Then hopefully we can get you in the group and then you’re going to see me in there and we can chat anytime you’re ready. Karen lockers, group solutions, the number for ecommerce solutions, four ecommerce.com, forward slash momentum. It’s going to save you 50 bucks. Karen’s our account manager. We recommend her to everyone because she’s done so well for us. I mean that’s quite frankly the reason we’ve been paying her for the last few years, but she’s become an important part of our team. Her and her team are so involved in our account. I just see the emails coming back and forth, hey, we did this for you. I just saw two listings today. I’m like, wait a second. Why did they show up?
Stephen: [00:02:09] I didn’t put any listings up. They got a. They got a set off to the side by Amazon and they reactivate them for me. You know what I mean? That’s the stuff that just happens when you have a strong team and I can’t recommend Karen enough if you use my code. Momentum. Karen pays me. I don’t want to hide that. Of course we all know that, but you’re going to say $50 and it’s a great opportunity to really, really build out your team with somebody you can trust. That’s why I recommend them. So solutions, four ecommerce solutions, the number four e-commerce dot com, forward slash momentum. It’s going to save you $50. Oh, and by the way, she’s going to do an inventory health report. Why is that important? Well, guess what fees are going up. Is your inventory health number declining like ours is?
Stephen: [00:02:57] Well, here’s why and what they can do. What I like is I get a spreadsheet from them and it says, Hey, here’s a bunch of inventory. Here’s what we recommend. And I’m like, Yup, refund. I mean delete a return to us, blah blah blah, whatever it is and it’s or destroy and it just happens. That’s what I like. The other thing that I have Karen helped me with a lot is creating new listings. You know, we do a lot of the research ourselves. We upload our images and then boom, magically the listing goes live and I don’t have to worry about it. Those are the services that Karen offers. CanNot recommend her enough solutions. Four ecommerce.com forward slash momentum. Save 50 bucks. Use My code. You save $50 a month every single month and it’s a great service. Plus you get that free inventory health report. I think it’s a really powerful way, so I can’t.
Stephen: [00:03:45] I’m so excited how many people have been joining her because I see it and I’m excited because the messages I get from people saying, hey, this is great. I finally feel like I can focus on something else because Karen and her team are watching this for me and you know, I highly recommend her. Next up is scale lambs and scope and we’ll set it rolling. It’s, it’s amazing. I mean it really is amazing when you sit back and think about, hey, I want to get this product up and it similar to this product and that’s, that product does well. Well therefore if that product does well, they have the right keywords, they’ve chosen things correctly, so guess what? You scope and you could see all that stuff and that’s what the most powerful thing in the world is to copy somebody who’s done it right.
Stephen: [00:04:28] That’s what you want to. You want to take advantage of that, right? I mean, it’s fair to see and so therefore you can take and apply it to your listing and immediately get that same benefit. That’s what scope does for me. Sellerlabs.com, forward slash momentum. It’s going to save you $50 on the service. Oh, by the way, it’s free to try, so sign up, try it and say, oh, this is how it’s done. Boom. And then you’re going to. The light’s going to go on and you’re going to be like, man, I can get my products out there. I just can’t wait. Can’t wait. So we’re labs.com forward slash momentum. The other day I bought in another domain. Yes, I bought it other domain. It’s almost like A. I’m admitting guilt, but it’s because I had an idea and it was something that was a pretty good idea I think is going to go pretty far.
Stephen: [00:05:18] And so what do I do? I go to try Godaddy.com forward slash momentum and save 30 percent. So domains aren’t very expensive. You get a few services. It adds up a little bit and I usually buy three years. I usually by privacy, by the way, I recommend that to buy that, you know, it’s not that much money, but when you can save 30 percent it makes it that much sweeter and it makes it easier when you’re buying domains and especially if you buy a bunch of domains. I am a domain collector and so I do tend to do that, but that 30 percent makes it a lot easier and I use godaddy because what I like is I can pop in and address, I’m thinking and it’ll say, nope, nope, could try this version or try this extension and then boom, there it is. Hey, you better hurry before it goes away and the right, you know.
Stephen: [00:06:01] And so try go daddy.com forward slash momentum save 30 percent. Also want to mention about grasshopper. Who was that? Just talking to somebody the other day and they were like, Oh yeah, use this company called grasshopper. I’m like, Dude, did you buy it through my link and save 30 percent? Hello? No, they missed that. So save 30 percent. It’s try grasshopper.com. Forward slash momentum. No surprise there, but you’re going to save 30 percent and what the real cool part about that is they’re using it for their private label business and it gives them virtually a second phone on their current phone without having to get another number. They can make up a vanity number. They don’t have to go and do all the grief and signed loan contracts. Pretty easy stuff, and so if you’re creating a brand that you want to identify, you want to look professional, you want to look like a real company. Grasshopper is a great tool. It’s an app you put on your existing phone and boom, you now have a customer service to. You now have a sales department. You’d have a manufacturing division. You could forward it to somebody else. You can have it go to different voicemails, different departments, and it’s all included. So try grasshopper.com, forward slash momentum. Save 30 percent.
Cool voice guy: [00:07:13] Welcome to the ecommerce moment. Didn’t bond gas. Will we focus on the people, the products, and the process of ecommerce selling today. Here’s your host, Steven Peterson.
Stephen: [00:07:27] Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. This is episode [3:11]. Gary Ray, let me just tell you, this is a very moving podcast and yes, I’m going to be man enough to say at the end I was crying and tough, you know, and so I will tell you this isn’t going to teach you how to run a PPC campaign. We’re not going to tell you the tape to use on the box or any of that kind of stuff, but we are going to tell you about life and some of the challenges in life and Gary will tell you, you know, he’s had a few challenges in life and you’re going to hear some of him, but he doesn’t feel sorry. You know, and it’s interesting how he never let them define him. Very inspiring, very moving, very moving to me. Um, it just, it’s just so cool that I get to meet people like this and to find them in my life. Oh, I’m so much richer for it. Let’s get into the story. All right. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. Very, very excited about today’s guest. A somebody who was recommended. Actually, I think this is the second time his name has come up and you know, I chased him for a little bit. He’s a very busy, very cool southern voice, very calming, calmer than mine. I think. Gary, welcome Gary.
Garry: [00:08:39] Steven, I appreciate a lot. That was such a nice intro. Actually. I think you’re the voice that all of us would want to have on speed dial case. We were on top of a two story building about the jump and we needed to call somebody to talk us down because you have the most soothing NPR type radio perhaps I’ve ever heard on these podcasts. And that’s really funny
Stephen: [00:08:58] kind of view. Um, so. Hey Gary, life isn’t that bad. Please
Garry: [00:09:04] come on down. Come on Gary. If you are going to jump, can you at least land right here? It’s right.
Stephen: [00:09:10] Please. Think of the family. Gary, come on. You got a lot to live for. All right, so you can record that and use that back if it ever gets tough. Life isn’t tough for you. And it’s funny. We’re almost the same age or a little teeny little bit older than me, but isn’t it cool for us old dude’s to have a start over? Not like you’re running away from something just because you can. To me, that’s such a cool thing about you and I
Garry: [00:09:38] actually, that is a. I did not know that’s how you want to start the interview, but that is absolutely correct. Just because you can. I like that. Like Sir Edmund Hillary in climbing Mount Everest or any challenge in life. The way we got into the Amazon space. We had zero III retail experience at all. Uh, I’m in the insurance industry and we got into this because we were empty nesters and my wife wanted something to do three years ago and we’ve sold a little over 2 million now and we had no previous experience at all and now we’re moving toward po, but it was simply just because we could. And we were just of bored and it really has taken off and it’s done. Also bought a lot of it, by the way, is because of your podcast, I think you’ve done over 300 podcasts and I’ve probably listened to 200 plus. So a lot of it goes to two people like you that just spent their talents for those people that doesn’t want to learn.
Stephen: [00:10:34] Very kind of you. Um, what I also found fascinating with you is that you started selling insurance at 18 to me. Aren’t you supposed to go to college, Gary? Weren’t you going to be. I don’t know what you’re going to be, but you were supposed to go to college. You weren’t supposed to get into sales. How do you get there? How do you, how do you know? But early on when you think back, did you show traits? And this is an ego thing that I want you to swallow your pride and admit that you had it at 12, 13. You were selling your parents something. You were selling your grandparents, your friends. What was it?
Garry: [00:11:12] Well, I, I, no one has really ever asked me that question before. And I have been blessed enough to be interviewed by other channels before too, but nobody’s ever really asked me that. I was raised a lower middle class to almost poor and not because of bad parents. I had the world’s best Christian parents raised in Central Kentucky and, but my dad didn’t make much money and then we had a small farm and I actually remember in the eighth grade there was a class school trip and again I was born in 1962 so you can do the math and figure out what year that was in the seventies. And the class had a field trip and it cost $5 to go on his field trip. And everybody in the class went on this field trip. But me, I didn’t have the $5. And actually I had it that I had worked for.
Garry: [00:11:57] But I personally wouldn’t spend that. I had maybe $9 to my name, but my parents didn’t have the...