[00:01] What is up, everybody?

[00:03] Welcome to another episode of the Smart Flip the Phone Flippers podcast.

[00:08] Guys, today we have on a very special guest, somebody that I've known for a long time, and he's been. He's been following my YouTube channel forever at this point. And I wanted to bring him on because he's absolutely crushing it, and it's kind of been under the radar.

[00:23] I didn't realize, you know, the kind of numbers you were stacking up for quite, quite a while, actually.

[00:29] We had never actually, like, met met. Right. So with that being said, we're going to kick this thing off, and if you guys are, you know, looking to start, grow or scale your phone flipping or buyback business, definitely check out all the good details and stuff that's in the description of YouTube, because that's where we're on right now.

[00:48] But, guys, our guest today is Brandon. Brandon's been flipping phones and electronics for how long have you been flipping stuff, dude?

[00:57] Like, it was like, since I was 13.

[01:01] Nice.

[01:02] Yeah.

[01:03] So. And you now have a store, right? So, I mean. And how old are you, dude? I. I always. Forget it. I know you're in your early 20s.

[01:13] I'm 19 right now.

[01:15] Oh, well, I was wrong. Okay. All right. He's 19. That's it.

[01:21] Interview's over. Like, we got all we need. Like, I'm kidding.

[01:24] Just cut the call. All right, cool. Dude, it's amazing to me. Like, I, you know, I never knew how old you were because I never actually. You don't have, like, a.

[01:31] A real profile photo, you know, so you're very incognito about everything, and I'm. I'm glad to have you on here because it's going to shed some light on some things, and I'm excited.

[01:44] So how did. Let's start there, though. You started flipping stuff at 13 years old. Like, let's start there. How. How did you get into this space, dude?

[01:53] Yeah, no, I was just trying to find a way to make money.

[01:58] You know, my parents had sent me back to Kenya when I was younger, so I kind of got to see, I guess, the other side of things.

[02:07] You know, I was born in Kenya, but to be sent back after living in America was a completely different experience.

[02:13] It made me feel ultimately more grateful when I came back.

[02:18] It.

[02:20] It just showed me how. How much I was missing out by not being in America. Like, it's different to see it on TV and see documentaries about it, but, you know, when.

[02:31] When your neighbor is, like, herding cows and can't go to school, because he can't afford the school fees and, and electricity is being cut every like two, three days. You know, it's, it's, it resonates much more.

[02:44] So whenever I came back to America, I knew I had to do something. I knew how to make some. I had to make some sort of money, you know.

[02:48] Yeah.

[02:50] So, yeah, when I came, that was my first thing. I. I had YouTube and I searched up how to make money and I had to weed out through a bunch of scams, you know, and eventually after.

[03:00] Some of the scams, I'm kind of curious about that. Like, like, you came back from Kenya. You're. And, you know, I try to put myself in that kind of position because, like, look.

[03:09] And I try to tell people the same thing. Like, look, we live in America.

[03:14] There is no shortage of opportunities. You can just, you can, you can rent a car, do Uber while you try to get a side hustle, rolling on the side. Like, that's a real thing.

[03:25] And to hear it, like, I've never experienced that, but you have. And it's nice to hear it from that part where you're, you know, you don't have electricity for a few days and like, things like that, that's wild.

[03:36] So you knew when you came back, you started getting on YouTube. What were some of the opportunities you were looking into, like, to make money?

[03:43] Man, this was probably back in like 2017. So a lot of this is just when the make money online space is really starting to take off. Like, this is back when Tai Lopez here in my garage ad was the.

[03:59] One that broke the Internet.

[04:00] Yeah, broke the Internet. He was everywhere at this time. So making money online was really kind of a.

[04:06] It was, it was just starting taking off. You know, I wouldn't say a new phenomenon, but it was just starting to reach the mainstream consciousness.

[04:13] So it was drop shipping.

[04:15] Forex wasn't super, super big at the time, but there were still people trying to pedal it.

[04:22] Bitcoin. You know, this is probably back when Bitcoin was 10, 8,000, 7,000, 5,000.

[04:29] Yeah, so it was just a bunch. It was really everything to anything online. Affiliate marketing, drop shipping, a little bit of forex, a little bit of bitcoin, but really the main ones were affiliate marketing and drop shipping.

[04:43] Yeah, I signed up for ClickBank back in 2016.

[04:45] Oh, did you really?

[04:47] Yeah, I tried, you know, I didn't know what I was doing. You learned stuff the hard way, right?

[04:54] So, yeah, no, I had a old Shopify store and I was doing influencer marketing and what I would do is I'd find these.

[05:04] These French influencers, these.

[05:08] These, I guess, reality TV stars, you can call them. I wouldn't say stars, but reality TV personalities.

[05:13] And I would pay them. I used to use. What was it, zero or something? It was basically like a European version of PayPal. And I'd pay them and they'd promote my product.

[05:20] And I made a couple thousand that way when I was like, 11 or 12. Drop shipping.

[05:26] Nice.

[05:27] All right.

[05:28] Okay, so how did. So you're searching around online to find ways to make money. How do you find phone flipping?

[05:34] Like, what's.

[05:35] How. How does that kind of segue into things?

[05:39] You know, I never really.

[05:42] Let me see, let me think. It really just came to be. I was always on YouTube trying to find ways to make money. And then one day I saw this guy called David Kosciusko.

[05:50] And even in 2017, the father, but I gotta say, the OG, the OG all up to David. But, man, even back in 2017, his stuff just looked outdated and looked a little bit.

[06:04] Just a little bit fishy, you know? But I kept watching his videos, and I'm like, man, this guy knows what he's talking about. Like, yeah, and he knows what he.

[06:16] He sounds like a genuine guy. And I tried some of his free videos, and they were working. Like, I was messaging, like, 50, 100 people on offer up every day and getting leads, closing deals.

[06:27] Nice.

[06:27] And eventually I just decided. I was like, hey, this is like, right after PayPal. I held my money from dropshipping. I lost, like, about 8,10,000.

[06:36] I was down, like, my last 1200.

[06:39] I spent a thousand of it on David Kosciusko's course. I. I financed it, too.

[06:43] Yeah.

[06:44] In my mind, I was like, listen, if he doesn't make me what he's promising, I'm just not going to pay the rest of the finance.

[06:51] Yeah, 350amonth, I think, huh?

[06:54] Yeah, yeah. Like, he called me. Yeah, exactly.

[06:58] Did he call you, too?

[06:59] Yeah, he called me.

[07:00] Yeah, he called me, man. Like, that was. That's why I call everybody that joins my programs now. It's like, is because I remember that as soon as I bought that program, like, he caught.

[07:10] Like, he called me, and I was like, yo, is this real?

[07:12] Like, yeah, yeah.

[07:16] Is this Dave the og?

[07:19] I was like, whoa. Okay, so this is a real thing.

[07:22] Got it.

[07:23] Yeah.

[07:25] So. So you started. You bought his course finance. You did the same thing I did. Probably did that, what, 2017?

[07:31] Yeah, it sounds about right.

[07:32] Yeah, that was when I did it, too. We. We started Roughly around the same time.

[07:38] So from there, you know, you. You join that, you start moving up and obviously we're seeing each other in the community at the same time. Probably on the same calls every Wednesday or whatever, or Tuesdays.

[07:50] It was always you and Goldsee and Cribe.

[07:52] Yeah, I mean, they're. Yeah, I was always there, man. Like, every call I had to be there.

[07:56] Like.

[07:57] Like. What's crazy though, is, like, now that I'm. I am like a program owner, it's. It's so interesting because I see the same thing. Like, me and Matt, we see the same guys every single week.

[08:06] Showing up without.

[08:09] And we know, we know they're gonna.

[08:10] Crush it, you know? Yeah.

[08:12] On a long enough time horizon. Yeah, we got the Jerome. We got.

[08:17] I mean, just same people every week, same. What. What do you think, Matt? Like four to five people?

[08:25] Like, just.

[08:26] Yeah, I. I'd probably say it's a. It's a steady flow of anywhere from like five to eight.

[08:31] Yeah.

[08:31] Consistent people that are here for a marketing call, a console call, a negotiation call, you know, an ad audit call or whatever it might be.

[08:43] But.

[08:44] But yeah, I mean, they're. The cool thing is, is like, they understand, they've committed to the long game and they know that skills are things that you can pivot in any market, in any place and use and make money.

[08:56] And I'm guessing probably Brandon, you. Despite. It's interesting, I think that despite the quality of the content that Dave was producing, you noticed the sincerity, you noticed the kind of.

[09:09] He had the, like, authority on that specific angle of the market. Like, I don't think of myself as the authority on consoles, but for a lot of people I am, because for me, I'm still learning, but like for Chris, you know, authority on ad space, and now you've kind of cultivated your own really deep understanding of this process.

[09:29] And so I. I think that that's really rad. Like, that a course like that could. Could win you over and then get you like, get you dialed in to doing business on the.

[09:41] On the level and scale that you're doing it now.

[09:44] Yeah, yeah, no, exactly. It's exactly. I like how you said about him seeming genuine and him seeming like an authoritative figure. He knew what he was talking about.

[09:52] I think a lot of the content I see these days are people who are the exact opposite of David Kosko. They have the fancy video, they have the high quality, high resolution cameras.

[10:01] You know, they have the big house they're flexing. But then you look at what their content, it's Just noise. It's just bluff.

[10:07] Yeah, solid point.

[10:10] My videos are still like that to this day. Like, I remember, because that's the kind of content that drew me in, was just real. And that's probably why you watch the channel, too.

[10:18] Not Brandon's. Like, it's just because I'm like, here's the whiteboard. Here's what I do. This thing works. Try it out.

[10:25] Yeah, yeah.

[10:26] There's nothing fancy. There's nothing like crazy or super edited.

[10:32] Like, I'm just like, here's the thing. It works like, I've tried it already kind of stuff. And what's. You know, and that's. That's kind of the whole premise of what we do is like, I'll spend my money first to make sure it works that way.

[10:45] Nobody else has to, you know, fail forward, you know, I mean, you didn't. You paid me a while back to help you train your guys.

[10:53] I mean, you still get an ROI from that.

[10:56] No, absolutely. Absolutely.

[11:00] I think what was good about that is it kind. It's different when. When I'm telling them, it's much more like I'm their. I'm their boss telling them how to do it.

[11:09] But when you came in, you tell them it's much more like, this is a trained professional who's coming in and showing us how to do everything, you know, and that's not to say that they don't view me as a trained professional.

[11:17] It's just.

[11:18] It's a different sort of.

[11:21] It's a different sort of angle, like from the way they view you versus the way they view me. You know, they see your plaques in the back. You know, they.

[11:28] They search you up online and they see, okay, yeah, this guy's a creditor. This guy knows what he's talking about. You know, and then they do what you're saying for a week and they see the results.

[11:35] So it definitely helped, for sure.

[11:38] Talk less, make more on Burst. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[11:41] And it was nice and simple. Yeah, yeah.

[11:44] It's different when you can help employees or your help, like, get a holistic view and perspective on an industry. Because what they're. If they can borrow your eyes and see things the way that you see them, they're going to do their.

[11:57] They're going.

[11:58] Their. Whatever their role is, like, so much, so much better and more dynamically.

[12:04] And I always appreciate when that happens, like in any role or setting I was ever in.

[12:11] Without a doubt. Without a doubt.

[12:12] One of the most undervalued things is. And still to this day, we Were talking about Kazi.

[12:17] Like, I still remember to this day him and Aaron Goldstein basically like negotiations, sparring, like on a call.

[12:26] I remember that. And now that's like a really integral part of like how I teach people. It's like, look, you're gonna, you're gonna call me, we're gonna go ring, ring, and I'm gonna answer the phone and I'm gonna show you how I'm gonna close you.

[12:39] Like, and I think that's the most genuine way to teach people is like, let me just show you how I'm gonna close you right now.

[12:48] If I, if you don't want to sell me your phone, you're gonna sell me your laptop or your whatever, you know, and so I think, you know that that's a big part of it, you know, and you have been in this space for a good While now since 2017.

[13:03] So you've seen, I want to ask about this since you are longevity wise, what, seven, eight years now? So I want to talk about industry, like changes that you've seen over time.

[13:17] Because I see this all the time, right? I, I have people reaching out all the time, like, what if we can't buy iPhones next year? It's like, what are you talking about?

[13:24] Like, what are some things you've seen change over the years that, like, that you thought in the beginning might, you know, affect how you make money.

[13:35] And then what do you think now.

[13:38] When it really comes down to just adapting and evolving? You know, if you're, if you're doing the same thing every year, I mean, you want to be doing the same thing every year, but you still want to be finding new ways to improve and new ways to better yourself.

[13:51] As for things that I've seen change, I mean, back in 2017, it was a completely different landscape. Like, no one was running ads, no one even knew what really. Phone flipping really wasn't even a term yet.

[14:02] Like, you couldn't search up phone phone flipping. If you did, it was two guys. It was David and then another David.

[14:08] Yeah, I know.

[14:11] I think I remember that.

[14:13] You know, so it was, I hate to use this term, but it just, it wasn't saturated, at least compared to how it is now nowadays. You can go on TikTok and there's 17 year old kids who've bought two phones on Marketplace posting about how they made how to make a hundred, a hundred thousand a month phone flip.

[14:29] And you know, there's way more competition now. I mean, back in 2018, 2019, I was, I was spending $10 on Facebook ads and getting 20 leads. I know I would spend a hundred dollars a week on ads, make $2,000.

[14:43] And then just like I was literally meeting people at Starbucks, you know, finishing high school. Go meet up at Starbucks, spend a hundred dollars on Facebook ads, make $2,000, man.

[14:53] You know, so the market is just getting way more competitive, at least in terms of the local buybacks.

[15:01] It's getting way more competitive. The barrier to entry is getting way higher, the learning getting steeper because more people are now aware of phones. More people are aware of Sig W, More people are aware of Atlas Mobile.

[15:11] More competition, people are offering higher prices. Ad cost is higher, you know.

[15:17] Yeah.

[15:17] So I think anyone who's trying to get into it really should have got into it, you know, I mean, there's that famous quote. The best time was yesterday. The second best time is now.

[15:26] Yeah, no, 100%. Well, I mean, so that there goes twofold, right? Like, with the barrier of entry going up, that means less people are going to get in it. Therefore less competition, right?

[15:38] Like, people figure out, okay, it's going to cost me $3 to get ads. Whenever they were doing it a few years ago, and they were like, oh man, I'm getting leads for like a dollar.

[15:47] And then they quit, you know, and then now they try to get back into it and then they, they stop altogether. And it's like, you know, that just leaves more room for the people that are actually hungry.

[15:57] Right.

[15:58] One of the ways that I like to really put this is like, Google, my business, like, it's become much more difficult to get verified there. And like, I actually see that as an opportunity for the people that are actually serious, right?

[16:16] Like, go get your llc, get verified on Google. And you know, like, that's the one you don't have.

[16:22] Be real. Like, you don't have any competition for phone flipping on Google, for the most part, all you have is the buyback websites, for the most part. And that's it.

[16:34] But most of the time, the people don't want to sell to those websites. They want somebody locally, they want cash. Today. I literally had a dude yesterday sell me a phone.

[16:42] He's like, hey, this, you know, it's worth more. Offered me 250. And I'm like, dang, dude, that's awesome. Send it in, get cash in two weeks. And he was like, wait, what?

[16:52] I was like, yeah, dude, I can cash you out for 150 today. And he's like, oh, okay, yeah. And then he sold me the phone. You know, of course he Did.

[17:03] Yeah. I mean, if we. If we really break down this business, I mean, let's be real, it's just. How many eyeballs can you get on your business? How many of those eyeballs can you keep on your business?

[17:16] How many refi customers can you build up over the next couple of years? I mean, Brandon, how.

[17:19] How.

[17:20] I do buy from other resellers in. In Dallas. Right. So I think one of our students actually sells to you. Okay. Or two of them. I'm not sure.

[17:29] Four or five students in Dallas, and they're all crushing. So.

[17:34] So, like. And I mean, that. That's another thing there too, is, like, collaboration on top of that. Like, the. The guys that are winning are always collaborating. Like, I think Ricky sells to you.

[17:45] So, like, you guys are always buying and selling or whatever. And then, you know, me and. Me and Tyler, we collaborate. Like, he lives 45 minutes from me. Like, if I'm closer to a deal, he sends it to me, you know, so.

[18:01] But kind of backing up there.

[18:04] So you. You started everything in 2017.

[18:08] What did you make your first year? Flipping devices?

[18:12] That's a good question.

[18:14] Roundabout.

[18:17] Yeah. Yeah. You know, my first year I didn't make much, but my first year, I didn't really. To me, it was the. It was a lot of money, you know, given my circumstance, but I probably made maybe 3,000.

[18:31] Yeah. The very first year. Yeah. Side hustle money.

[18:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which to. I mean, it was amazing to me. I thought I was like, the richest man in Arlington, Dallas.

[18:40] Well, you.

[18:41] You were in high school, though.

[18:42] Yeah, I was. I think I was just leaving middle school, just entering high school. Yeah.

[18:48] Right. Okay. So what, you're like, 14, 15?

[18:51] Yeah, you're right. I was definitely in high school, like ninth grade. Yeah.

[18:54] Okay. Yeah, because that would feel significant.

[18:58] That would. Yeah.

[19:01] Started taking it seriously, though, like, after, like, getting Dave's course and everything. What happened then, like, when you started taking this business seriously?

[19:14] You know, I never really saw this as.

[19:19] As an actual business for a very. For a very long time in honest, probably till I. It wasn't probably until maybe like two years ago that I really. Or maybe a year ago that I really started seeing this as.

[19:30] This is. This is how I'm gonna. This. I'm gonna make my money. This. This is what's gonna make me, you know, this was gonna make me rich.

[19:39] I always just viewed the business of stepping stone because I still wanted to get back into E commerce and doing the drop shipping and having a. That's just what was sold to Me, you know, I, I grew up in that era of the Tai Lopez's and the Sebastian Gorgies and all those people, you know, but when I did take it, I, I think the main reason that I, I am where I am is cause I stayed consistent either way.

[20:01] You know, I avoid the shiny object syndrome and, and, and yeah, when I did take it consistent, I mean, I just saw my numbers go up. I started posting more ads, doing more reach outs and yeah, yeah, that's where it's at, dude.

[20:16] I mean like, I don't, like a lot of people don't see this business or I mean, everybody sees this as a side hustle starting off. Like, that's one thing I've noticed is like, that's the commonality is like everybody sees it as a side hustle, not as a business.

[20:32] And then it's almost like they fall into creating a business out of it. Like, and it's like, oh ****, I made 60 grand this year flipping phones, MacBooks, iPads, whatever.

[20:45] I should probably look into taking this more seriously. Like, you know, so, so fast forward to where you are now. You got a storefront.

[20:58] How are things different now since, you know, moving it to an actual business?

[21:06] You know, when it comes to having a store, it really just allowed us to operate on a much larger scale.

[21:16] When it came to how we were doing it before, it just got way too jumbled up and way too confusing.

[21:21] But when you have a store, when you have a business establishment, one, you're viewed as a much more authoritative figure, which I'm not saying it's impossible to be viewed as an authoritative figure at Starbucks, but it's different when you're walking to a Starbucks and meeting someone.

[21:33] And it's different when you're walking into Spirit Wireless and you know, we have our, our logo and it's place looks good, it smells good. We say hello to you. You're welcome.

[21:42] You know what I'm saying?

[21:43] Oh yeah. 100.

[21:44] It just allowed us to operate on a much larger scale. We can buy way more phones. We can sell way more phones. And we expanded our offers too. We don't just buy phones now too.

[21:52] We can sell phones in the street. We do in store financing.

[21:57] It just, it made, having a store made me feel, it makes me feel like I'm running an actual business.

[22:06] Like I'm kind of elevated.

[22:09] Hey, that's awesome.

[22:11] That's really cool.

[22:13] And then you got employees and everything now too. So I mean, that's how, how is that? Like, I know you're 19 years old, like. And you got employees at your store.

[22:24] How. Like, how is that? I mean, I. We obviously have, like. I have employees through upwork and different things like that. So, like, contractors. Right.

[22:33] But I don't have actual employees.

[22:35] So what's that, like when it comes to hiring employees? I mean, to be honest and just managing employees, it's probably not my greatest strong suit right now. I'm just trying to.

[22:47] I'm trying to work that.

[22:51] You're 19, dude.

[22:54] You got plenty of time to learn, for sure.

[22:56] Yeah, man, it's. It's hard, you know, because a lot of the time, what it comes down to is when you have employees, they view you, they. They respect you, and they look up to you.

[23:08] And what I've learned is that, you know, when you're. When you're in that kind of position, your words matter.

[23:15] And I. I'm kind of struggling right now with kind of like, just maintaining my ego and, you know, being respectful, because there'll be things that are going on. Maybe someone.

[23:24] A vendor isn't paying my invoice. Someone owes me 20, 30, 50 grand, right? They're not paying it up. And I'll release that anger on my. My employees. Like, let's say they mess up a phone, and I'd be like, what's wrong with you?

[23:35] Why did you do that? You know, And.

[23:39] And it's not necessarily deserved, you know, that. That action didn't warrant that response. Or maybe I take too long to pay them, you know, so having employees just showed me how important it is to really just not have an ego and.

[23:54] And controlling your emotions. It's. It's something I'm still working on.

[23:57] So what you're saying is it's humbling.

[23:59] Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure.

[24:03] Yeah. Go ahead.

[24:09] And. And let me know if I'm, you know, if I'm yapping or if I need to just.

[24:12] Oh, dude, this is. I mean, you know, there. There's people that. That want this, and then there's people that don't, right? I mean, whenever you have, like, employees or contractors that work for you, it's important to, like, have a.

[24:23] Have a. Like a company culture, right? Like for.

[24:26] For re.

[24:27] Accelerator. You know, we have. We have that. I mean, me and Matt, we do calls every single week. We kind of maintain where each other is at. I'm always trying to make sure Matt's where he wants to be, you know, like, you want to be here kind of stuff, you know, and that's kind of the.

[24:45] The idea of it is, like, just you know, create a culture that they want or that they would want to be in. I guess a lot of that is actually what I found is, dude, people want to learn from you more than anything.

[24:57] You know, like, if you really look at, like, somebody who takes an employment opportunity, if they're serious about anything, they're there for two reasons. They're there, obviously, number one, to get paid, but then they also.

[25:14] They want growth. Most people. Well, I can't even say most people. Some people.

[25:20] Some people are just there for the money. Other people are there to, number one, get the money and then also, like, learn and implement and just become better versions of themselves.

[25:30] And if you can help facilitate that, dude, you'll have people forever. You know, it's hard to, you know.

[25:37] And Matt, you might be able to chime in on this. I mean, as part of my company, like, feel like you're learning and growing and. Yeah, yeah.

[25:45] I mean, well, Chris brought me on board because he wanted, I think, to.

[25:50] For a couple reasons. Chris is a voracious learner. I kind of gathered the same about you, Brandon. I find that most of the people that are pretty proactive in this industry or have a very strong entrepreneurial itch are self learners.

[26:02] Strong self learners. Right. They have an aptitude to absorb content, and, you know, their brain's always buzzing with, like, what. What's that next thing? And you know, what they're trying to grow in.

[26:15] And so with.

[26:18] With being kind of on the inside edge of Chris, I've discovered that, you know, Chris is always teaching himself. And I'm. I imagine that you're probably doing the same.

[26:27] But also, you know, when you decide to build out your own business, you have to absorb all the problems that come with the growing aspect of an industry.

[26:39] Having employees, like, now, or if, let's say, you know, it's September and iPhones are no longer the.

[26:48] The.

[26:48] The hot thing that they once were because the new phone dropped. Now you've got to figure out how to pivot through that adjustment every fall or with any kind of product release, honestly.

[27:00] So the cool thing is, is for me, like, being kind of connected with what Chris has established is that I get to see the inside edge of how Chris handles that.

[27:10] I also get to cultivate my own responses to that, and I. I think it's like a fantastic, like, learning opportunity to grow my own skills. I feel like there were things that you could probably speak to this Chris.

[27:22] There are things that I was able to bring to the table, but there are also things that you brought to the table. And I think there was a bond of mutual respect that.

[27:27] That created.

[27:29] That has given us like a, you know, kind of sharpening. Sharpening one another, like, process. I feel like every day, you know, almost every day, we probably talk almost every day, or.

[27:39] Yeah, I'm pretty sure we talk every day. Even, like, on weekends. Even, like, on weekends. Like, Like, I think Chris maybe talks to his wife and then, like, me.

[27:48] Like, yeah, I won't lie. Like, it's either you, Aaron, or my wife. Like, it. It's. I got my own little circle, you know, and then I got, like, the Hayden Howard's, you know, people.

[28:00] Right?

[28:01] So. But yeah, I mean, managing people is. Is definitely different. But what I found is, like, luckily I've had some really good mentors. This. And they were like, dude, just hire people smarter than you, like, better ideas than you.

[28:15] Most of the time. Especially, like, if they're master in their own skill set, you want to hire them. Like, you don't want to be the smartest person in the room by far.

[28:24] That's why I'm always, like, bouncing ideas off a mat, because I really respect, you know, is the.

[28:30] What.

[28:30] The knowledge he has. So, I mean, you know, when it comes to employees, you want to find people, you know, that are usually smarter than you in their respective fields. You don't want to know everything because then you just have to end up teaching everything, which sucks.

[28:44] So.

[28:45] Dude, that's not. That's a grind and a half right there.

[28:49] So, Brandon, I had a question for you.

[28:52] I just find it. I find it wonderful and also massively curious. Here you are, 19 years old.

[29:01] You're, like, very determinedly can say, bro, I'm doing six figures as a reseller.

[29:07] Yes, of course. Yeah.

[29:09] Okay, cool. I love the confidence, but there's a. What. What I respect here is a few things that I'm just sort of feeling like there's a maturation to who you are as a person.

[29:17] Like, there's a maturity you're bringing to the table that I feel exceeds. I taught. I taught students for, like, 20 years, bro. Okay. So I've been in the halls and classrooms of high school, like, since I was in high school almost.

[29:29] And so, like, what do you feel like? What do you. What aspects of this industry you feel like, really, like, stretched your character to help you maybe, like, get it?

[29:41] Because some people might look at you and say, I was watching a documentary last night about the Brat Pack. If you guys don't remember the Brat Pack, that was, like, a group of, you know, Young actors in their early 20s, back in, like, the mid-80s, that released, like, the Breakfast Club and St.

[29:53] Elmo's Fire, and, you know, they got labeled the Brat Pack. And a lot of people felt like that, like, cut them off at the knees. It's like, you're too young for this success.

[30:02] You don't deserve this yet.

[30:05] Right? And so you can. You can have an ego and an entitlement that you bring to the table. But you just talked about how your business is also, like. Like, humbling you.

[30:13] So there's, like, kind of like a dichotomous thing happening there where it's like, you can go too far right on one side and be like, yo, like, where's my money?

[30:21] And, you know, be egocentric or, you know, you can, you know, almost feel limited by society because they want to define that space that apparently some people are supposed to live in and say, hey, stay in your place.

[30:34] It's not your time yet. And for my. My question for you is, like, what gave you, like, the courage? Like, it. It's pretty. It's. I. I think it's kind of brave to be, like, doing what you're doing at your age.

[30:47] There's obviously some very important risk involved here, and I think, you know, you have to, like, know you have to have a. A shrewdness and a wisdom to know how to, like, navigate that risk without, like, you know, personally imploding emotionally, mentally, like, sustaining, like, the challenges of business, because God knows there's a lot of those.

[31:08] And also just, like, handling a lot of money in other people's money. So, like, my question for you is, what do you feel like. Have been some of the, like, growing curves or, like, learning curves or growing pains in this process that have really helped advance you as a person because you didn't just become this guy overnight.

[31:26] Right. So could you speak to that for a second?

[31:29] Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. And I appreciate you asking that.

[31:33] So. So I guess to. To understand you clearly, you wanna.

[31:37] How did I decide to make the jump into.

[31:40] Into doing what I'm doing, into having a store, into doing more buybacks. That's.

[31:44] Well, I think. I think what Matt's asking is, like, dude, you. You act like you're 30, but you're 19.

[31:53] Is. Am I on the right track there, Matt? Like, for sure, you grew up around the teen, or you. You taught the teenagers. You saw how they acted. Brandon acts completely different, you know, and what.

[32:04] What led to that?

[32:08] What would you say are the contributing factors to the quality of the human? You Are, but also have to be to sustain a six figure business and have your own employees at the age of 19.

[32:20] Yeah, yeah. No, to be honest, when, when I look around, I'm at other people my age and who aren't achieving what I think they should be achieving financially, they, they, they really lack.

[32:38] They, they want for sure. They lack self awareness. And even if they have self awareness, they lack accountability.

[32:45] Like whenever I make a mistake or something happens in my business, generally speaking, like, like 99% of situations, I'm going to get mad and I'm going to probably blame my employee.

[32:59] Right? But at the end of the day I know that it's my fault because this is my business. So no matter how stupid this employee or how I think or how I feel this employee is at the time, no matter how, how much or how much money this person has screwed me over, no matter how, you know, how scamming and how, and how deceitful this FedEx worker is being right now and how I think he's stealing X amount of money from me, at the end of the day, it's my fault.

[33:23] I'm the reason. I'm the guy who went to that FedEx. I'm the guy who didn't do the due diligence and hire the right employee. I'm the guy who didn't spend enough time on YouTube researching how to pay taxes.

[33:33] And if I'd done that, maybe the IRS wouldn't be coming after me. Like I think it's about having that accountability and, and it's like it's just not about being only self wor.

[33:42] Because everyone will tell you they have problems and everyone acknowledges their problems. Like if you ask someone who's £300 how to lose weight, they know what it is, eat less calories and hit the gym.

[33:53] Right? It's, it's not, it's not, it's not rocket. Yeah. The information is out there. Like it's never been easier to, to be where you want to be financially and health wise.

[34:05] It's just the vast majority of people, and sometimes this is even me, they're not willing to take accountability.

[34:11] So. Okay, I think I, I, I take much more accountability, I think than the people around me or the people that I've seen around my age that aren't where they want to be.

[34:24] I think you probably have to have some sort of like obsessive disorder or not disorder, but some sort of obsessive personality.

[34:30] You know, I mean I can speak to that.

[34:34] Like, yeah, like eight, ten hours a.

[34:35] Day on One thing exactly. Yeah. Like, like to do what, what I do with what I do. Like teaching isn't for the faint of heart. Like, it is hard. Like trying to get somebody to get the same success that you had is very difficult.

[34:54] I, I realized that it's much easier for me to just go out and kill it than to help somebody else kill it. Like, there's so many more factors at play, right?

[35:04] Like I can go out and I can, I can, I can do the thing. Cause I've done it thousands of times at this point and like I'm going to a **** shop here at 2 o'clock and I'm gonna kill it, you know, like, yeah, easy money, right?

[35:17] But that's just because I, I put in the time and all that stuff. But I really like what you said there.

[35:25] You just, you're taking accountability and I, I think a lot of people just don't do that. And the facts were, it sounded like very hormozy. There's, it's like, everything is my fault.

[35:34] I'm the owner. Like, everything is my fault.

[35:39] And that is true. Like when you're the business owner, literally everything is, is your, your fault. Everything is your problem.

[35:46] That person that, that screwed up, that employee that screwed up and did the wrong thing, you hired them. You know, I think Hor came out with a quote the other day.

[35:57] He's like, if you feel like you hired stupid people, you better look at yourself because you're probably stupid.

[36:05] I was like, yeah, yeah, that's good.

[36:08] Yeah. So to that, to the last thing that you were saying then, Brandon, which, sorry, let me kind of come back to that, that quick sort of sound bite there and what you were saying, like extreme ownership is massive.

[36:21] Like it's, it's hugely important. And it's like, you know, know as you grow up, you're going to find like as a one day husband, probably a father, you know, and so on and so forth, that it's going to serve you incredibly well.

[36:33] But regarding the nature of the drive, like the ambition, like what's turning the gears down there?

[36:40] Because here's what, here's what I think is interesting, right? You talk about like reselling stuff. In middle, in middle school, my dad, I got, I had a big winter coat, right?

[36:49] And I would take that winter coat and walk the hallways of middle school and when I'd sit down in class, people didn't realize that I'd filled the pockets with candy, okay?

[36:57] And I saw, I saw, I saw demand, right? People were getting hungry before lunch because Lunch was like close to 1pm why would you do that to middle schoolers, right?

[37:05] And so I was selling like boxes of nerds for like a quarter, like the little ones and like rolls of sprees for like a dime and stuff. And I was walking away like, with like nine to $11 a day as a seventh grader.

[37:18] And this is like, this is something that I never even thought about until like a few years back. You know what I mean? But like, the itch to want to do something like that, to be a prospecting individual needs and meet customer demands, felt kind of natural and fluid.

[37:32] But at that time, I just wanted to make some money, right? So I know that for me that was like a driving element. Clearly that was a driving element for you.

[37:38] But what, what else would you say was kind of under the hood there? Just kind of propelling you. Like, propelling you and like pushing you forward to find out how to cultivate your own space and build a business.

[37:50] Like what.

[37:51] What's your drivers.

[37:54] I think.

[37:57] I think if I'm being entirely honest myself, it's probably stemming from some sort of insecurity, some sort of feel that I'm not good enough or if I. I can't go out and get that girl because I don't have enough money, you know, like, bro, we were so poor when we came.

[38:12] Like, you know, and now obviously I'm still grateful for everything that I have. You know, I always had a roof over my head, luckily. But, like, it's not really fun to go to a school and have ripped shoes or have a shirt that can't be washed because, you know, there's no power.

[38:30] You know, just like a bunch of these other just little annoying things.

[38:35] And what, sorry, were those things you experienced as a kid?

[38:38] Yeah, for sure, for sure.

[38:41] Oh, that, that's. That's education enough, isn't it? Like, that's that the level of challenge and just to be dead honest, like personal embarrassment or shame or guilt that people feel as a consequence of those things that can drive a man for the rest of his life.

[38:58] Yeah, no, exactly, exactly. And I never wanted to be in that position again.

[39:05] So, yeah, if I'm being entirely on, it's probably some sort of insecurity. I mean, I remember every time I get dropped off to school, we always had the worst car in the parking lot and it by a mile, you know, always had the worst shoes, worst clothes.

[39:21] And when I look at my actions now, every time I walk into a parking lot, I usually have the nicest car.

[39:27] I'm usually wearing the most expensive shoes. So I think it's just this feeling of, like, wanting.

[39:35] Wanting to be accepted and not wanting to be that, you know, that boy in the classroom that was made fun of for not having the, you know, the shoes or the car or, you know, being.

[39:43] Being poor, you know?

[39:44] What kind of car are you driving?

[39:46] I have a Model Y right now. Performance. Yeah.

[39:49] Oh, nice, dude. Awesome.

[39:50] Hell, yeah.

[39:51] Love those. I love this.

[39:55] No, I think. I think the narrative. The narrative behind the man is always a really important thing. Right? Because it's more than just a job. It's more than just a hustle, and it's more than just money.

[40:06] There's always something there that is really like turning those gears, you know, to propel you forward. So I appreciate. As personal as that was, I really appreciate you sharing that with me, Chris, and everybody that will hear this, because I know that that's.

[40:18] That speaks the language to a lot of people. It really does.

[40:22] So, Brandon, how long are you going to be in this business, man?

[40:28] Man, I just want to stay as long as possible. Let everything compound, you know?

[40:32] Compound. Right. Build up.

[40:34] Yeah, for sure. That's the thing I love. So it's. It's funny. Like, I, like. Like you were talking about earlier. I saw this business as a stepping stone for a long time, and I even taught people to treat it that way for a while.

[40:46] But then what I realized, like, after a while, I was just, like. I started realizing, like, how many repeat customers I started getting, like. And then how many of my repeat customers my students started getting, and I was just like, bro.

[41:00] Like, this is. This is, like what you just said. This thing is compounding year after year after year that you do it. Aaron Goldstein has a quote around this. He's like, the longer you're in this business, the better it gets.

[41:13] I mean, what would you say? Like, this business probably compounds by 30, 40% a year, like, easily, you know, if not double, you know, I mean, you're well over six figures.

[41:25] You're probably going to do. I mean, I'm not going to say the numbers unless you want to, but you can do a lot, you know, like, on your way to half a mil, within that.

[41:35] Probably the next, what, two years?

[41:38] Probably this year, hopefully, yeah.

[41:40] Oh, this year.

[41:41] Okay.

[41:41] Well, there you go. Nice.

[41:43] Let's go. Let's go, man.

[41:45] That's where it's at, you know? And then, you know, imagine just compounding that for the next 10 years and then exit, you know?

[41:53] Yeah.

[41:53] Then, you know, you'll have your Resale deck stuff and all the emails and the phone numbers and you'll be able to sell that to somebody else along with the store.

[42:01] True that.

[42:02] A hefty amount. Because that's what a lot of people don't realize. You were one of the first people that ever got on resale deck. I think you were number two or three, Right?

[42:11] Yeah.

[42:12] That's what a lot of people don't realize with this business.

[42:15] Like the money is in, in the phone numbers and the emails. That is where the money is at. And then also the recurring business that you get every single month.

[42:25] Right.

[42:26] So like five, six years from now, you'll be able to cash out for hefty amount. I know. You know, there was a guy in Austin, he was one of my mentors, who had a buyback business.

[42:40] All he, all he bought was like icloud and like damaged stuff too. Like, you guys, Matt Senka.

[42:46] That's awesome.

[42:47] He ran buyback hub and he cashed it out, dude. He sold that company, like, made good amount of money as well. But he was in the business for 12 years, you know.

[43:00] Yeah.

[43:01] Built up a million. A couple million dollar company per year.

[43:05] Yeah.

[43:06] Just off of that niche alone. It's just broken and icloud and whatever, you know.

[43:12] Yeah.

[43:14] That'S cool. It's evidence that Ferraris just don't happen. You know, it takes time to build something that is a performance machine.

[43:23] It's an articulate, you know, well crafted process. And I think that's like, I think that's something interesting about entrepreneurship is like there are like, there are intangibles, you know, and then there's like the data and like the, the real stuff.

[43:35] But like, I think some of the things that interest me the most are usually like the intangibles. It's like, okay, cool. We could look at KPIs, we could look at overall revenue and P and L.

[43:45] Right. But what are the things that actually make those things real?

[43:51] Because for me, a lot of times those are the things. It's like, if I had to put it in a more recent perspective, how is it possible, and people can agree or disagree on this point, that the Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks in the most recent finals?

[44:04] When I think I watched a quick clip online of pretty much every sports broadcaster ever saying, oh, yeah, well, clearly the Mavs are going to win because they have Don Chick and they have Kyrie Irving and they're just going to blow the Celtics out of the water.

[44:18] But the Celtics had a lot of intangibles there that didn't show up on the score sheet that a lot of people discredited and sure enough, they're champions. But Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum had played in over 107 playoff games together.

[44:34] Like, that's a lot of failure being. Being that close to a trophy and still coming back to like, for another taste. That's a. There's some intangibles at work there. And I feel, and I feel, I feel days of that.

[44:49] Chris and I were talking about this like a couple weeks back, like, where we were just like, bro, I want to wake up and flip stuff, bro. Like, I don't want to make listings on ebay right now, dude, can I just coach or can I just flip?

[45:02] Do I have to try to other people flip? Do I need to? You know what I mean?

[45:06] And there's been many times where I'm just like, screw the coaching, dude, I'm just gonna flip stuff. Like, it's some. Sometimes it's like 10 times easier, right? Like, a lot of people think in the coaching space it's like.

[45:17] Or in the mentorship space, it's like all just money. And I'm like, dude, there is so much on the back end. You have no idea. Like, but Brandon's computer is about to die, so we'll wrap up here, but.

[45:28] Oh, okay.

[45:29] Brandon is there for the people that watch this, dude. And I know you've gone through a lot of our content and I've helped you and your stuff. Is there anything you'd like to tell the people that are watching this that might be just getting started in this industry?

[45:44] What would you tell those guys?

[45:47] I would say stay consistent. Stay consistent and understand the fundamentals of why this business works and how you can make it work for you.

[45:57] Keep your expenses low and understand this is a three to five year journey. This isn't a lot of people pitch that. This how to make x amount of 60 days.

[46:05] How to become what? How to become this in one year, you know? No, this is a three to five year journey.

[46:11] Stay consistent, reinvest the majority of the money that you make and focus on understanding the fundamentals. Understand marketing, understand lead generation, understand that you know you're not going to go from 0 to 20k a month in 3 months.

[46:26] And if you do, just understand that that's not really going to be sustainable. You're going to get burnt out. You need to have systems and procedures in place. You need to have importance.

[46:33] You can invoice, you need to have va. So who can handle the sales you can't do everything. You can't be a one man team. You know, you can be a one.

[46:39] Man team up until about 12 to 15k a month. @ that point you have to hire.

[46:45] Like then you're just tired.

[46:47] Yeah, I've been like, so Jackson, one of our guys just hit like 15,000. He just hired his first negotiator, right. And like he's like, dude, this is so much easier now because you can be a one man show and be consistent with it up until about that 15,000 profit per month area.

[47:07] But you'll like, and I've seen that before myself, is like, you'll start losing it like, because you'll just wake up and you're just like, I can't.

[47:15] So you need to get somebody that can.

[47:19] Yeah, yeah. But just understand the three to five year, three to five year plan and like you said, you know, you can do things up until that, you know, I think you said 12 to 5k a month range.

[47:30] But you're going to get burnt out, you know, if you try and do that consistently, you're to have a team behind you and you know, you, you have Matt. So Matt can always cover for you if you're feeling, you know.

[47:38] Yeah, true. Yeah, I got a great team so these guys always cover for me. Not that it's necessary all the time, but. Well, dude, appreciate you have being having you on.

[47:48] Dude, we'll have to do this again.

[47:51] You know, kudos to your, you know, massive year you got coming up. So super excited about that and at such a young age. It's safe, man. So lots of learning ahead of you, my man.

[48:02] And looking forward to the next one when we're, you know, interviewing you at a million.

[48:08] Hell yeah, man. I appreciate you, man. Hopefully we later in the year like around Q4. I'd love to show you guys the numbers that we're doing then and how I've adapted from now.

[48:19] Yeah, man, that'd be great.

[48:21] Yeah, cool. Thank you all for your time.

[48:23] Appreciate you, bro. Thank you, Za.