He Found a Way to Make $1K/Hour From His Phone

0:00 In terms of like profit per hour, $1,200 an hour, $1,500 an hour.

0:05 That is like electric.

0:06 On the last 30 days, we did $45,000.

0:09 We did a live stream a couple weeks ago at my house.

0:14 My first ever, we made 900 bucks in 90 minutes.

0:18 Last year, we did $450,000.

0:20 And that's after fees.

0:21 Okay.

0:22 So, you're just seeing online that it's growing,

0:24 it's popular, and you thought, "What the heck?

0:26 Let's give it a shot." Yeah.

0:28 You had zero followers, no experience.

0:29 Yeah, it was a total leap of faith.

0:31 In my anticipation, I was like, we're probably not going to sell anything.

0:34 And so what happened was is we sold everything

0:37 and it was like a 2hour just like I'm blown away.

0:40 It just absolutely crushed.

0:42 What were your total sales for those 2 hours?

0:45 $4,500.

0:45 Holy crap.

0:46 Yeah.

0:47 $2,000 profit for one stream.

0:49 Mhm.

0:49 Yep.

0:49 That's incredible.

0:50 And there's no competition for it.

0:52 It's brand new, so it's just like blue ocean.

0:55 Tons of opportunity.

0:56 How can people win there?

0:57 The listener listening to this who is interested

1:00 in live selling to make some extra money,

1:02 if you're interested at all in that, then you're good for it.

1:05 Here's how I did it.

1:06 If I can do it, you can definitely do it.

1:09 It's a huge, huge, huge opportunity right now.

1:11 They project live selling to be a $2.5 trillion industry by 2033.

1:16 Get in early, as early as you can.

1:21 My guest today makes 175 bucks an hour

1:24 in profit selling other people's stuff on live stream.

1:28 He started with zero followers, zero experience.

1:30 He's never live streamed before in his life.

1:32 His first stream, he sold 150 items in under two

1:36 hours and he started every single item at a dollar.

1:39 That was a year ago.

1:40 And now he's doing half a million dollars a year

1:43 on a platform that almost no one is using yet.

1:45 So stick around to the end because he will

1:47 break down the exact playbook for how you can

1:50 make your first thousand in profit live selling even

1:52 if you've never gone live before in your life.

1:55 Even if you're an introvert like me, you're going to love it.

1:57 Well, Kip, why don't you just tell us who you are and what you do?

2:00 Yeah, thanks Chris.

2:01 I've been reselling uh just in general for the past

2:04 seven years and most recently started reselling on whatnot,

2:08 which is live selling on whatnot.

2:10 Live auctions.

2:11 start them at a dollar, let them run for 10, 30, 20,

2:14 you know, however long, 20 seconds, and sell it and ship it out.

2:18 And it's been pretty crazy the last year, just the growth of live selling,

2:22 seen more sellers hop on, seen more buyers hop on, and just

2:26 every single month something is different on the platform specifically,

2:30 but also just live selling in general.

2:33 So before that, I mean, I had run the gambit of eBay,

2:38 Amazon, Etsy, Poshmark, you know, the whole nine yards.

2:40 So what what really got me into whatnot was uh or just live selling in general

2:44 is I used to sell on Amazon pretty big a couple years ago and account

2:48 got suspended for 180 days and so it was like a forced transition like okay

2:52 well I got to move product I got to make money for my family and live

2:57 selling was interesting I knew it was an emerging market I tested it out was

3:00 pretty blown away and this was this was pretty much a year ago so February 2025

3:05 and since then it's just been off to the races a lot of failures in between

3:09 there and now but a lot of success as well and a lot of learning.

3:12 What types of items were you selling on Amazon?

3:15 Pretty much everything on Amazon.

3:16 We say we just read the data.

3:18 And so I would sell pet supplies,

3:20 but I would also sell toothpaste or, you know, really random things.

3:24 If the data works out,

3:25 if it's going to be profitable, then I'll make the purchase.

3:28 Yeah.

3:28 You mean you use these third party tools to find items

3:31 that had more demand than supply and that's where you would go?

3:34 Yeah, pretty much.

3:34 You look at the data to see, okay, this product sells 500 units a month.

3:38 I think if I sold this product, I could get 10% share of that.

3:42 So, um 50 units a month would be my share

3:45 and I can buy it for $8 and it's selling for $20.

3:49 After fees, I'll net call it five bucks.

3:52 $5 a unit, 50 times a month that works out.

3:54 Let me buy, you know, three months supply or four month supply.

3:57 Then you just do that over and over and over again.

3:59 And it could be, like I said, the data.

4:01 It could be pet toy.

4:02 It could be toothpaste.

4:03 It could be lighting equipment.

4:04 It could be anything.

4:05 Did your Amazon account ever come back after getting banned?

4:08 Yeah.

4:08 So, it was 180day suspension due to like a technical thing.

4:12 I forgot to delete something and there goes, you know, a $2 million business.

4:17 2 million.

4:18 So, what were you doing per month in revenue and profit at your peak on Amazon?

4:24 Revenue was $150,000 a month and then

4:27 profit was anywhere from, you know, after everything,

4:30 all the fees, all the returns, everything probably,

4:33 I mean, anywhere from $10 to $20,000 profit a month.

4:36 So on the low end it' be 10K and then you know

4:39 during the really high peak months you could get up to 20.

4:42 Yeah.

4:43 Okay.

4:43 So this happens and I like to say constraints equal creativity.

4:46 This is a massive constraint.

4:47 It's the equivalent of getting laid off unexpectedly, right?

4:50 Big deal.

4:51 Pretty bad.

4:52 And you told me before we started recording, you know, this was February 2025.

4:56 You said you have one child that's 13 months old.

4:59 So this happened around the same time your kid was born.

5:02 Yeah.

5:02 It's funny you bring it up.

5:03 I was literally in the hospital.

5:05 My wife had just had the baby and Amazon account is like calling

5:08 me like you know some overseas person is calling me about my account.

5:12 I've said before it's like the most joyful and like

5:15 stressful time in my life as an Amazon seller.

5:17 You know that like this could be the end of Amazon, you know, for me.

5:21 So man, I distinctly remember like two to three different times in the hospital

5:25 with one of my children where something very stressful was happening at work.

5:29 You know, I wish I could say like it puts things into perspective,

5:33 but like it just it just everything sucks more, you know?

5:37 Yeah.

5:37 Yeah.

5:38 Okay.

5:38 So, you hadn't done anything on whatnot.

5:41 You're just seeing online that it's growing,

5:43 it's popular, and you thought, "What the heck?

5:45 Let's give it a shot." You had zero followers, no experience,

5:48 cuz obviously live selling and selling on eBay are like night and day.

5:53 Yeah.

5:53 It was a total leap of faith.

5:54 Total, "Hey, let's give this a shot.

5:56 I have no clue if this is going to go well or not." Now,

5:59 I know this could be a whole other episode in and of itself,

6:01 so we don't need to get into the weeds,

6:03 but what's the 8020 of how and where to procure profitable products?

6:07 Yeah.

6:07 Well, it definitely depends on what category you're going for.

6:11 Primarily on whatnot, it's a liquidation platform because

6:14 we're talking about live auctions specifically.

6:16 Call it a 30-second auction, a 10-second auction, whatever it may be.

6:21 You're essentially demanding a purchase from your audience

6:24 who's watching you live every 30 seconds.

6:27 And because you're doing that, your price per, you know,

6:30 your sale price is going to be significantly lower than if that consumer

6:34 had time to make the choice and think about it and compare and contrast.

6:38 So your price per unit is going to be a lot lower than it will be on eBay,

6:41 then it will be on Amazon,

6:42 then it will be on these, you know, quote unquote four full price channels.

6:46 So it's a liquidation outlet essentially.

6:47 We're typically buying around 90 80 to 90% off

6:50 and then looking to sell at 60 to 50% off.

6:53 And so those liquidation goods, you know,

6:56 you can find them through relationships who people have contracts

6:59 with Target or contracts with Macy's or contracts with Sam's Club,

7:03 whatever, and say, "Hey,

7:05 we get all their customer returns for, you know, 95% off.

7:08 We'll sell them to you for 90% off."

7:10 And so there's a lot of relationships there.

7:12 Then there's also those public sites.

7:14 I can't say enough good things about Beto.

7:16 It's consistent liquidation goods that you can fuel your business from.

7:20 And so that's a great place to start.

7:21 And to do that, you just need

7:23 a resell certificate and some googling skills, basically.

7:25 100%.

7:26 All right.

7:26 So, what does that first month look like?

7:29 What do you buy?

7:30 Why do you choose it?

7:31 How much money do you make, if anything?

7:33 Yeah, great question.

7:34 And I had no clue what to sell on the platform, right?

7:38 And we're specifically talking about whatnot right now.

7:40 About 45 days ago, we started selling on TikTok as well,

7:43 which I'd love to talk about.

7:44 But specifically for whatnot, which was about a year ago,

7:47 we reached out to one of the suppliers that we

7:50 had purchased some Amazon goods from and just said,

7:53 "Hey, this, you know, account thing happened to us.

7:55 Do you have anything that is liquidation

7:56 that would be good for whatnot?" He said,

7:58 "Yeah, I actually sell to a couple whatnot sellers,

8:00 and I think this load would be pretty good, and it's uh kitchen appliances,

8:04 small kitchen appliances from a big retailer." It was, it was Macy's.

8:09 It's X price per unit.

8:11 Um, I think it was maybe 400 units and I

8:13 I generally don't know what I paid for each unit, but customer returns.

8:17 And so it was like coffee makers, it was vacuums, it was espresso machines, uh,

8:22 air fryers, toasters, you know,

8:24 all these things that I I actually had an interested in.

8:26 Like whenever I go to Marshalls, when I go to TJ Maxx,

8:29 I'm always in those sections like what kind of coffee maker can I get?

8:32 What kind of um, you know, stainless steel pan can I get?

8:35 I like that stuff.

8:36 So, I was interested in this.

8:37 I thought this would be pretty good.

8:38 the price point was right and I had not seen that on the platform before.

8:42 So I wanted to bring something a little unique

8:43 and so you know of course I looked into these categories.

8:46 I looked at the top sellers.

8:47 I looked at the formats that they were selling.

8:50 I definitely watched the different like personalities and whenever I was

8:54 watching a stream I would constantly just kind of summarize like

8:56 if I scrolled off or if I you know closed

8:59 the app on my phone it's like why did I do that?

9:02 Because there's a lot of moments when I don't do that.

9:04 And so I was like was it something the streamer did?

9:06 Was it something the um just I didn't like the items?

9:09 Was it the price point?

9:10 Was it And it usually, you know, you learn from those things.

9:12 So, that was the research I did as far

9:14 as uh like can I have success on the platform?

9:17 Believe it or not, just because you're watching

9:18 this doesn't mean you're subscribed to my channel.

9:20 YouTube's going to show you stuff even if you're not subscribed to it.

9:23 Over half of people that watch my videos are not subscribed.

9:26 It would mean the world to me if you just hit subscribe.

9:29 Thank you so much.

9:30 All right.

9:31 So, tell me how your first live stream went with those appliances.

9:34 Yeah.

9:34 So, it's like, okay, well, live should be pretty straightforward.

9:37 I'm going to figure out how to pack it.

9:39 I'm going to figure out these things after it.

9:41 I'm not like worried about that stuff.

9:42 I know how to pack products and I'm not going to let that hold me back.

9:45 So, we get these products and one thing I

9:48 didn't anticipate was that these are customer returns and so

9:50 they're actually going to need to be tested because

9:52 there's a lot of coffee makers that don't work.

9:54 There's a lot of toasters that don't work.

9:56 There's a lot of air fryers that don't work.

9:57 And I'm not trying to sell those products to these people.

9:59 You know, that's just not a good experience for them.

10:02 And so that took significantly long.

10:04 You're brand new to this category,

10:06 so it could be 5% were returned because they were defective.

10:10 It could be 95%.

10:11 You just don't know yet.

10:12 I had no idea.

10:13 I took a the price I do remember the price per unit was so low.

10:16 I'm like, I think this is good.

10:18 Even if, you know, if I throw away half the load, I think I'm probably okay.

10:22 Okay.

10:22 So, you did think to start testing these before

10:25 you sold them or you learned the hard way?

10:26 I did think to start testing them.

10:28 Yes.

10:28 And I didn't see, you know, other accounts like testing the products.

10:31 Um, a lot of the other accounts that were selling it were just like,

10:34 hey, they're customer returns.

10:34 If it works, it works.

10:35 If it doesn't, it doesn't.

10:36 And that's not experience I want to give my people or my customers.

10:39 So, we tested them.

10:40 Took very long time.

10:41 We I kind of had to systemize it like, you know, is it A grade?

10:45 Is it S tier?

10:46 Is it C tier?

10:47 Is all the parts here?

10:49 So, I brought in my family.

10:50 Thankfully, they knew that I was in this stressful state,

10:52 you know, with my Amazon account being shut down.

10:54 So, they were super duper helpful and I didn't have to pay them.

10:57 So, that helped.

10:58 But long story short, we get to the show.

11:00 I'm gonna start them at a dollar, which is crazy because these are,

11:03 you know, $200 espresso machine or it's a What was the first thing you sold?

11:08 Probably a toaster oven.

11:10 Let's say it's a toaster oven.

11:11 Yeah.

11:11 I had a lot of toaster ovens, which I'm like,

11:13 who's going to buy a toaster oven via live?

11:15 But they did.

11:16 Yeah.

11:16 So, you created a brand new whatnot account.

11:19 Is that right?

11:20 Yeah.

11:20 Brand new whatnot account.

11:22 No followers, subscribers.

11:23 Yeah.

11:23 Zero.

11:24 Zero.

11:24 Just brand new to the platform.

11:26 pretty much brand new to the category, too.

11:28 There's only I think there were only like one

11:30 or two sellers in the whole category of like appliances.

11:33 And so, you know, everybody who's tuning in to us,

11:37 they either a haven't even shopped kitchen appliances before,

11:40 or b, they definitely haven't seen us sell them.

11:43 And so, in my anticipation, I was like,

11:45 we're probably not going to sell anything.

11:47 We're going to be live for like two hours.

11:49 We might sell a few items, but I'm going to figure out how to ship these things.

11:52 I'm going to, you know, figure out how the platform works.

11:55 I don't expect success in the first one at all.

11:58 And so what happened was is we sold everything

12:01 and it was like a 2hour just like I'm blown away.

12:05 So I have to know like how many people were watching

12:08 and like to me it's just crazy that someone with no followers,

12:11 no subscribers, no anything, no history, track record, reputation,

12:15 can create an account, start live selling and whatnot is sending you people.

12:18 It's like Tik Tok, right?

12:19 They're just swiping looking and you know it's like shoe shoe Pokemon card shoe.

12:25 Yeah.

12:25 Toaster oven.

12:26 Yeah.

12:26 Huh.

12:26 Yeah.

12:27 And I think it was a big um surprise to a lot

12:30 of consumers because they had never seen those types of products on whatnot.

12:33 And it's really exciting whenever you see something on whatnot.

12:36 Like food has just become a pretty new category.

12:38 Like in the past 8 months, it's been pretty new.

12:41 And so at the beginning it's like, "Oh shoot,

12:44 I never thought I could buy cereal on live platforms, but this is fun, right?

12:48 It's a little addicting." And so people tuned

12:50 in and they they were interested and yeah,

12:52 we caught their attention pretty quickly with some of the products

12:55 that we had because they just hadn't seen that before.

12:58 How many people were watching it like in the beginning

13:01 like first 10 minutes versus at your peak?

13:03 Yeah.

13:03 So at the beginning,

13:04 you want to start out strong because there's a little bit of a boost,

13:07 especially at the beginning of your show.

13:08 If you start making sales, they're going to push you to other people.

13:11 You know, we started probably with 20 people,

13:13 then 40 people, then 50 people, then 60 people.

13:15 That's a lot.

13:16 Um Yeah.

13:16 I mean, we got up over a hundred people in our first

13:19 few shows for sure because it was just number one,

13:21 the prices were really good because we were selling things that, you know,

13:25 we didn't have a following.

13:26 So, everybody to us is new.

13:27 They're a little hesitant to bid.

13:28 So, the prices were really good, which drives up viewership.

13:31 You start at a dollar, which is instantly engaging.

13:33 That's what's really engaging.

13:34 But just about live auctions in general, is that if you start at a dollar,

13:39 you have people's attention because this is an $80 item.

13:42 If you were to keep swiping and you were to see an $80 high heel,

13:46 are they not usually starting that at a dollar?

13:48 Is that not common?

13:49 It depends on kind of the seller strategy, how many followers they have.

13:53 What performs the best at live auction,

13:56 the live auction level is high perceived value items.

14:00 And so you just mentioned an $80 heel.

14:02 Heels I I know because I sell women's fashion now,

14:05 but heels are low perceived value.

14:07 You know, you don't know are they worth $20?

14:09 Are they worth $100?

14:10 Are they worth $300?

14:11 Are they worth $5?

14:12 You really don't know by looking at it.

14:15 And so to your example, yes, you'd want to start at a dollar or, you know,

14:19 if they're higher retail,

14:20 you could start at higher if they're if the value, you know, made sense.

14:24 In the example of like kitchen appliances,

14:26 I I learned the high perceived value thing pretty quick because we

14:30 would have a Ninja air fryer that has all the bells and whistles.

14:35 This is a probably $299,300, you know, almost $400 air fryer.

14:40 Then we'd also have a basic Ninja air fryer that's probably worth like 150.

14:44 The price points would be almost identical if not sometimes in favor of the one

14:49 that is cheaper because to the consumer when they have a 10 to 20 to 30 second,

14:54 you know, time frame to make a decision,

14:57 they're not factoring in all the different features that this one has,

15:00 all the different, they don't have time.

15:02 No, they don't at all.

15:03 And so what they see is an air fryer that has a perceived value in their mind.

15:06 Call it 120 bucks probably.

15:08 Then they have a Ninja air fryer.

15:10 So maybe that's a little bit higher, a little bit nicer brand.

15:13 So anything, let's say there they're valuing at $150.

15:16 Anything under half of that, right?

15:18 75 bucks, that's a steal of a deal to them.

15:20 Whether or not it's worth $100, $200, $300, $400.

15:23 Focus on those high perceived value items.

15:25 And with that kitchen electronic show, man,

15:27 that that I learned that so much when we'd have different toaster ovens,

15:30 really nice toaster ovens, cheap toaster ovens,

15:32 they'd all go for about the same.

15:35 H.

15:35 So with that knowledge intact,

15:37 then it kind of influences how you go purchase the next batch of items, right?

15:42 Yeah.

15:43 100%.

15:43 We're looking for high perceived value items at, you know, liquidation pricing.

15:47 Yeah.

15:47 And so one of our biggest traps is is you get

15:51 emotional and you try to purchase a brand that you really like,

15:54 that you think is expensive, that everybody should like.

15:57 You bring it in, nobody's heard of it,

16:00 and to them it's just a t-shirt or to them

16:02 it's just a dress or to them it's just sweatpants, right?

16:04 They don't know the actual value of the product.

16:06 And even if you tell them the MSRP or the retail, it's like, yeah,

16:09 but it's the same reason why, you know,

16:12 stores on Fifth Avenue have a such a big experience.

16:14 They smell good.

16:15 You you meet people who, you know, they have a, you know,

16:18 the store associate is because they're trying to raise

16:21 your perceived value of the products in there.

16:23 And whenever you're live selling, you don't necessarily have that experience.

16:25 It's like you bring up this brand, maybe it is really nice,

16:28 but the consumer doesn't have that experience

16:30 that they know it's nice until pulled,

16:32 you know, until they know, until it's established in their mind.

16:35 So, yeah, we're, you know, we're sourcing those high perceived value items.

16:38 It gives me an idea.

16:39 You mentioned like the instore experience on Fifth Avenue.

16:42 I may there are probably people doing this, but if I were live selling anything,

16:46 I think it would be really cool to have your background like

16:49 be wearing a a tux and have your background look super high-end.

16:52 Like even if you're selling protein bars, Pokemon cards, doesn't matter.

16:55 Like I just feel like that would make a difference as opposed

16:59 to like selling from a storage unit like so many people do.

17:02 100%.

17:02 Not that there's anything wrong with that.

17:04 Well, I think it's both and, right?

17:06 I think if you're selling from your warehouse, selling from your storage unit,

17:09 people feel like they're getting a deal because there's no other cost associate.

17:12 Like this is steal of a deal.

17:13 It's the thrill of the deal.

17:15 It's the thrill of the hunt.

17:16 So there's that aspect.

17:18 If you're, you know, making a really high-end experience,

17:20 it's just a different It's just different.

17:22 People like both.

17:23 People like both.

17:24 Yeah.

17:24 Okay.

17:24 So, when you say you sold everything in that first auction,

17:27 you mean all eight pallets?

17:29 You sold everything?

17:30 Yeah.

17:30 No, everything that we had tested.

17:32 Okay.

17:32 And so, it was a slow testing period,

17:34 but we were testing for a few days and probably had 150 items.

17:38 You know, that's all we could even store because I had a pretty small space.

17:42 When you get them out of the pallet, it takes up more space.

17:45 And so, I was like, well, this is literally all that we can sell right now.

17:48 And so, that's what we did.

17:49 And we sold it all in I think it was an hour

17:52 and 45 minutes and which is really short in terms of live selling.

17:55 Now, how extensively do you test?

17:57 Cuz like a toaster it's like cool, you push it down, glows red, good to go.

18:02 But like an espresso machine,

18:04 it's like are you making espressos with this thing?

18:07 You know what I'm saying?

18:08 Like how extensively Well,

18:09 that's exactly what what we ran into specifically with coffee makers is like you

18:13 can't I'm not going to run a pod through this K cup machine, you know?

18:17 So, with the coffee makers, it was like, "Hey, this turns on, it holds water.

18:21 That's as far that's as much as we know."

18:23 And then with um things that we can test,

18:25 like you're saying, toaster ovens, like I know that this gets hot.

18:28 I know that it works.

18:29 Things with blenders, like you can test a blender,

18:32 vacuums, you can test a vacuum.

18:33 So, coffee makers specifically, we just couldn't fully test.

18:36 And there was a couple of them that consumer got in.

18:39 It's like, "Hey, it's leaking." It's like, "Okay, well, I didn't know that.

18:42 So, here's your refund." But yeah, it's like,

18:44 "Hey, it turns on." Yeah, this vacuum works great.

18:46 It sucks.

18:47 This vacuum sucks.

18:48 You will love it.

18:49 Okay.

18:49 So, how many items, give or take, would you say you sold?

18:54 150.

18:54 I think it's 150.

18:55 Yeah.

18:56 In an hour and 45 minutes, which Yeah.

18:58 Which that sounds about right.

18:59 That's fast, man.

19:00 45 seconds, give or take.

19:02 Yeah.

19:02 About an item.

19:03 Right now, we target about an item a minute, but yeah,

19:06 I think probably back then it was a lot faster because we just were like,

19:09 I just run the item, you know.

19:11 What were your total sales for those two hours if you remember?

19:14 $4,500.

19:15 Holy crap.

19:15 And maybe I have some other numbers wrong,

19:17 but I did look at the revenue, $4,500.

19:20 So, we purchased the lot basically on an average price per unit.

19:25 And so, the items that we sold that day based on our average price per unit,

19:30 we I think we made a little bit of money and then after the shipping,

19:34 supplies, and everything, it was bas.

19:36 Okay.

19:36 However, whenever you purchase a lot based on average price per unit,

19:40 you know, you have some really crappy items, you have some really great items.

19:43 You really don't know until you sell it all what what's the deal

19:47 here because it also came with like some salt shakers, you know?

19:50 I can't get $14 or what.

19:51 I don't remember what I paid, but it was probably 12 $14.

19:54 I can't get $14 out of those.

19:56 So, back of the napkin, 30 bucks per unit.

19:58 You sold 150 of them in almost 2 hours.

20:01 And you said, you know, you try to buy these 80 to 90% off retail.

20:05 So, those these are on average $150

20:07 to $300 items that you're selling for 30 bucks.

20:09 Yeah, that makes me think about it.

20:11 I remember looking at the average retail price

20:13 and that's what kind of got me over the edge.

20:16 It was like it was probably 160 bucks average retail price.

20:18 And so if I'm you, I'm looking at this like all right,

20:21 I basically just got a free education.

20:23 I didn't make any money here, but I didn't have to pay 100 grand for an MBA.

20:28 Like now I feel very confident about whatnot.

20:30 Now my next pallet is going to be three times as profitable.

20:33 Like now I know this, now I know that.

20:35 Now I have reviews, now I have stars,

20:37 now I have followers, now I have credibility.

20:38 like it is only going to get easier from here on out.

20:41 Is that what you're thinking?

20:42 100%.

20:42 Because now I had followers.

20:44 Um I understood how shipping worked.

20:46 I understood that people didn't really care too much about the testing.

20:49 They wanted me to go faster.

20:51 You know, they wanted the the speed.

20:53 I realized too that a a brand new sealed product

20:56 goes for pretty much the same as a, you know, hey, this is customer return.

21:00 It's open, but it looks great.

21:01 So, I learned those things.

21:03 Um, I learned that the high perceived value aspect that this toaster oven

21:06 went for the same as this toaster oven even though this one's way nicer.

21:10 So, yeah, free education, learned so much and I grew my audience, right?

21:13 So, I know that those people are going to come

21:15 back and I did a test the other day, right?

21:17 So, we did those in February and I was talking

21:20 about it on stream the other day and people are like,

21:23 "Yeah, I actually remember finding you in February of last year

21:27 and they're still watching us today," which is mind-blowing to me.

21:30 Do you remember how many followers you got from that first stream?

21:34 And then second question is, how many followers do you have today, a year later?

21:37 Yeah, I probably had about 400 to 500 after that first stream.

21:41 It was pretty successful.

21:42 Holy cow.

21:43 Like I said, I really think being in that new category really helped.

21:48 And we were running giveaways which helped, excuse me, help you get followers.

21:52 Today on whatnot, we have 40,000 followers.

21:54 Wow.

21:55 So we grew about about a,000 a week, 800 a week.

21:59 How many hours of live streaming a week have you done on average since then?

22:03 Oh, that's a good question.

22:04 I know we've done over 250 lives and an average live is about 3 to four hours.

22:10 So, it's about over a thousand about 1,000 hours of lives.

22:13 What has your revenue your gross revenue been since then?

22:16 Since that first stream on So,

22:18 last year we did 450,000 in gross revenue and that's after fees.

22:23 They don't don't worry about the fees.

22:26 So, that's after fees.

22:27 So that's basically March 2025 through December 31st 2025.

22:30 Yep.

22:31 About 150,000 of it was in like November and December or maybe even more.

22:37 So the bulk of it was in Q4.

22:40 And then what about yearto date 2026?

22:42 Uh yeartoday 2026.

22:43 I know in the last 30 days we did $45,000 in revenue.

22:48 So yeah on pays for a little bit of growth.

22:51 Okay.

22:52 And then what was your profit last year?

22:55 And then your last 30 days profit on that 40.

22:58 So yeah, profit last year was about $100,000.

23:01 And so that's on that 40 $450,000.

23:03 There's some great buys in there.

23:05 I mean about 30% of that is from one like one liquidation purchase.

23:09 And then you know we had hundreds of others that were pretty

23:12 much either a wash or like kind of successful or not successful.

23:15 So we had one really good buy last year that really propelled us.

23:19 And then in the last 30 days, uh, $45,000 revenue, about $12,000 profit.

23:24 So, we're I was looking at it earlier, we're about 30% margin.

23:29 So, and and the thing with live selling is it fluctuates so much.

23:33 Yeah.

23:34 And whenever you look at the uh this what I tell

23:37 all new sellers is like the product that you are selling,

23:39 it's actually your live show.

23:41 It's not the individual products.

23:42 And so, we'll look at a live show as a you know, as the product.

23:46 So, okay, this stream made $800.

23:48 This stream made $600.

23:50 This stream made $200.

23:51 And when I looked at the average stream profit,

23:54 it was about $680 uh in pretty much since the last like eight months.

23:59 So, every time we go live, we'll make $680 on average profit.

24:04 Yeah.

24:04 Yeah.

24:04 Yeah.

24:05 And how long is your average stream?

24:07 Four hours.

24:08 Yeah, we shoot for four hours.

24:10 All right.

24:11 So, 175 profit an hour?

24:13 Yeah.

24:13 for a single person business or are there more people involved?

24:16 Yeah, so I have somebody who packs all

24:19 the orders and then we have a couple streamers.

24:21 So I stream occasionally,

24:22 but I have two other streamers that that stream for me as well.

24:24 The way that I like to do it is one person running the stream.

24:27 I I don't like the overhead of multiple people running a stream.

24:30 Yeah.

24:31 How do you compensate the other streamers?

24:33 I look at the market of like what is the per who's the person that I can get

24:38 for this role or want for this role

24:40 and what are their other options for getting a job.

24:42 And so for me, I wanted to find kind of collegeage girls

24:46 or I mean people who like clothing because we sell clothing and fashion now,

24:50 so who like clothing, who like apparel.

24:52 And so they're most likely going to either go get

24:55 a job at a boutique or go become a server, something like that.

24:58 And so I was like, okay, that's a $15, $16 hour job where I'm at.

25:03 I'm going to pay $17 an hour plus 1% commission.

25:06 So they can earn up to $25 $30 an hour if it goes well.

25:10 I think they average about $21, $22 an hour, which is great.

25:13 No problem with that.

25:14 Yeah, cuz you come in for five, six hours,

25:17 you know, it's not a super long shift.

25:19 Um, you're on camera, you're on social media,

25:21 people are following you, people are hyping you up.

25:23 It's a fun role to be a boss for in a way because those people are fun.

25:27 You kind of want to give them a space to be themselves.

25:30 Whenever I try to sell women's clothing, I do to do horribly, right?

25:34 But they love it, so they do really well.

25:36 Yeah.

25:36 People are spending thousands on custom AI agents

25:39 and I'm over here getting the same thing from Zapier.

25:42 Most of y'all still think that Zapier is just when this happens, do that.

25:46 But no, Zapier quietly shipped full AI agents.

25:49 All you do is tell it what to do in plain English and then it browses the web.

25:55 It'll read your data from Google Sheets, Notion, HubSpot, wherever.

25:58 And it takes action across over 8,000 apps.

26:01 And I just built one that qualifies all of my inbound leads.

26:05 It researches their company online and then enriches their record in my CRM

26:10 and then it pings my sales team in Slack while I sleep.

26:14 There's even a Chrome extension so if you're on any web page,

26:17 your agent can summarize it, pull data from it,

26:20 and push all that data into whatever app you

26:23 want without you ever having to leave the tab.

26:25 And the thing that everyone worries about with AI

26:28 agents is what if it does something dumb?

26:30 But Zapier just dropped AI guard rails built right in.

26:33 So you can add safety checks to any workflow.

26:36 It is a full AI workforce inside a tool that most of you already have.

26:40 So go build something on zapier.com.

26:42 There's never been a better time in history.

26:44 Do you worry about signing non-competes with them

26:47 or is that kind of a non-factor?

26:48 I haven't worried about that.

26:50 I think it's so locationational that I I don't know if they

26:53 even wanted to do like I don't know if there's any other sellers.

26:56 Well, they got to source the stuff that like people would think

26:58 like oh they're just going to start live streaming on their own.

27:01 And it's like, okay, yeah, if this happens and that and this and that goes

27:04 right and this goes right and this goes

27:05 right and they have the temperament for it

27:07 and they want to be a business owner like Mhm.

27:09 Yeah.

27:09 There's a lot that goes into it cuz I'm sourcing this product

27:13 and you know sometimes you put up $20,000 $30,000 on an order,

27:16 you know, that you plan to sell over the next couple weeks.

27:19 And I just know that that's not realistic for a lot of people.

27:23 They don't want to do that.

27:24 Yeah.

27:24 Okay.

27:25 So 175 bucks profit an hour.

27:26 That's after, you know, paying for your employees and everything.

27:30 They're happy, you're happy, it's fun, it's high energy.

27:33 Is there a type of person that excels at this?

27:36 Because I would have thought high energy extrovert.

27:38 That's the way to go.

27:40 But then my friend Braden who does this, like

27:43 he's not he's like me, like he's quiet, he's soft-spoken, he's an introvert,

27:47 and he's making hundreds of dollars an hour live selling protein bars, right?

27:51 Yeah.

27:52 So, what are your thoughts on like personality type with this?

27:54 Yeah.

27:55 So, whenever I look for I think looking for an employee who's going to be

27:58 a streamer is a little bit different

27:59 than just somebody who should start live selling.

28:02 I think if we're talking about the listener listening to this who

28:06 is interested in live selling to make some extra money.

28:09 If you're interested at all in that, then

28:11 you're good for it because you're going to run

28:13 into a lot of other issues outside of just

28:14 being live that you're going to have to overcome.

28:17 And if you're capable of overcoming those things, then you can be successful.

28:21 you'll be on stream and you'll understand quickly, okay,

28:23 this is what I did to get the most out of this one.

28:26 Okay, my audience, people want to shop from people they relate to.

28:29 So, no matter who you are, what type of person you are,

28:31 people will relate to you and then hopefully make a purchase from you.

28:34 It's the business side of things that is tough.

28:36 And if you're listening to this and you're

28:38 interested in that, then you're good for it.

28:40 If you're hiring a streamer, I'm finding people who have a natural interest

28:44 in the product because as a business owner,

28:46 I have a natural interest in the product.

28:48 It can make me money.

28:49 I understand what I paid for it.

28:50 I understand what I need to get out of it.

28:52 But that comes with stress that I don't want to put on a streamer.

28:55 I don't want them to have to know my cogs.

28:56 I don't want them to know, hey,

28:58 we need to get a couple bucks out of this one, you know?

29:00 I want that to be pretty natural.

29:02 I don't want them to go on camera and like sell sell sell, you know?

29:05 I want people they want to bring people in, have fun, be themselves.

29:09 So, I'm finding somebody who has a natural interest in this product,

29:12 has a lot of energy, um is extroverted, or at least can turn that turn that on.

29:17 and then somebody who can take feedback.

29:19 Feedback's super duper important,

29:20 especially when you're putting yourself out there on camera, right?

29:23 Hey, this show didn't perform as well.

29:25 You know, don't take it personally.

29:27 Like, let's figure out why.

29:28 And and I think what's really helped with that is

29:31 that I'm a dude who's sold women's shoes.

29:33 Obviously, I'm not the consumer.

29:35 I'm obviously have no special interest in women's shoes,

29:38 but I was able to be successful with it.

29:40 And so, here's how I did it.

29:42 You know, then I'm talking to the streamers about those things.

29:44 It's like, if I can do it, you can definitely do it.

29:47 How long did it take you to have

29:49 your first month that made you 10,000 in profit?

29:52 Well, I think it was about four months in.

29:54 Four months in, made 10,000 profit.

29:55 Had a couple losses after that.

29:57 And then 6 months till now, it's been pretty steady.

30:01 Um 10 $15,000 a month in profit.

30:04 What did you do right on that great purchase that you had?

30:06 And what can people learn from that last year?

30:09 So, you know, we're talking about liquidation

30:12 goods and you learn quickly that every brand,

30:15 every retailer has overstock, has customer returns.

30:17 And so, you have as a buyer,

30:19 I think it's really easy to be kind of the thrill of the deal, right?

30:24 Oh my gosh, I think this product's going to be really good.

30:26 Let me get after it.

30:27 And maybe it's in an auction format and you end up paying way too much.

30:31 You're on Bto, you end up paying way too much.

30:33 And that is super common.

30:35 Buy with math, sell with emotion.

30:36 Buy with math, sell with emotion.

30:38 There's no better example than that than

30:40 live selling because you're literally selling

30:42 with emotion whenever you understand how much you paid for all these things.

30:46 So that's the biggest thing is just you know I purchased

30:49 a lot of clothing and footwear before and then you know I think

30:53 our average buy cost probably about 10 15 bucks then we got

30:57 this load that was $5 and that was I mean that was

31:00 $5 a unit and that really propelled us and so you

31:03 know on paper it's like oh buy cheaper stuff but also was

31:06 just a really good deal that I was patient for that I

31:09 had negotiated and um you know obviously took a risk on it.

31:13 It was a It was, you know, thousands of pairs at $5.

31:17 You never know.

31:18 Shoes.

31:18 Yeah.

31:19 Shoes.

31:19 Yeah.

31:19 And what are some mistakes that you've

31:21 made that people could learn from on buying?

31:23 Yeah.

31:23 I mean, it's a buying with emotion.

31:25 You know, we you see the brands in certain auctions that you

31:28 want to bring and you you see other people selling them on whatnot.

31:31 You're like, man, I want to I want to sell

31:33 that brand because that brand does well for them.

31:35 It'll do well for me.

31:36 Then you end up paying too much for it and it's not your audience.

31:39 Might not be your audience, right?

31:40 Or it's all about that perceived value.

31:42 It's not necessarily just about your emotion whenever

31:44 you see the product and you should buy it.

31:47 I mean, as simple as it sounds,

31:49 it's like find cheaper products that have a higher the highest perceived value.

31:52 Like jewelry is a really exciting category.

31:55 Really good category,

31:56 especially for listeners here if they're into fashion or anything like that.

31:59 Jewelry would be the place I would go because it's small.

32:01 It's you can do it in your house,

32:03 you can do it in your apartment, and it has a super high perceived value.

32:06 How much is a gold necklace?

32:08 You know, I don't know.

32:09 Could be 80, could be 100, could be 200.

32:11 You don't know.

32:12 Yeah.

32:12 But the consumer sees it as a gold

32:14 necklace and probably thinks it's pretty expensive.

32:15 After your first live stream, you had 4 to 500 followers.

32:19 They followed you for kitchen appliances.

32:21 How important is it that you stick to that niche?

32:23 Because now you have followers in that niche.

32:25 So I'm thinking that's one school of thought

32:27 like I guess this is this is my niche.

32:29 Now the other school of thought is what not is an algorithm.

32:32 They're going to show me people strangers every single time.

32:35 How much weight to give to either school of thought?

32:38 I think that's a constant question that I have as well is like

32:41 should I keep doing what we're doing or should I try to bring

32:44 new culturally relevant products to our audience

32:46 and I found that as your audience

32:49 grows like you can bring them places with you if you

32:53 think they're interested and you can ask them anecdotally on stream like

32:57 hey are you interested in XYZ brand or are you interested in XYZ

33:01 product and people will oftent times say yes they really like you

33:04 as a streamer they like the way you do things maybe they like products.

33:08 I'm sure they do like the products, but at the end of the day,

33:11 they're following you for more than just the products

33:13 you have because they can go buy the products anywhere.

33:15 A good example of that is,

33:16 you know, we again started selling kitchen appliances,

33:19 moved to selling uh women's fashion, apparel, things like that.

33:21 And then about 6 months in, I was like, I want to try food.

33:25 I've seen people do food.

33:26 I want to try food.

33:27 So, I was talking to my audience, hey, I'm going to try food.

33:30 Make sure to bookmark this show.

33:31 So, I had the show up on our account.

33:33 They can bookmark it.

33:34 Then, they get notified whenever we go live.

33:35 And that's kind of a good barometer,

33:37 like if people bookmark it, that means they're interested.

33:39 So I had enough people bookmark it, I'm like, "Okay,

33:42 let's go make this purchase." So I purchased some

33:44 food and over 50% of the buyers in that show,

33:47 the food show, were returning customers.

33:50 And I had never sold food before.

33:52 And that could be seen as a good or bad thing.

33:54 I view it as a good thing because I had my audience and I was

33:57 able to leverage them into a new

33:59 category that they probably wouldn't have purchased beforehand.

34:01 as well as I got 50% new buyers

34:03 from a totally new category that they would never see me,

34:06 you know, selling women's fashion.

34:08 Yeah.

34:08 And so, um, I'm all for it.

34:10 I'm all for changing categories, switching it up.

34:12 I think as long as you do that anecdotal evidence of like,

34:15 hey, are you interested in this?

34:16 Yes or no?

34:17 If so, go ahead and bookmark this, you know,

34:18 or something like that so that you at least are,

34:20 you know, have the pulse, you know,

34:22 your finger on the pulse of what your audience wants.

34:24 Yeah.

34:24 I mean, it's a lot like this podcast,

34:26 you know, people connect with people, not businesses.

34:28 They want to buy from other people.

34:30 I like to say this podcast is Chris Kerner pushed out to the world.

34:34 Not just like AI ideas, not just sidehustle ideas,

34:37 not just like it's whatever I'm interested

34:39 that has anything to do with business.

34:41 Yeah.

34:42 And sometimes that's a a business that primarily women would start.

34:45 Sometimes men, sometimes AI, sometimes line striping.

34:47 If I find it interesting,

34:49 then that energy will come through and I'm going to attract people that like

34:53 learning about that stuff through my lens and voice and life history, right?

34:57 So I don't get hung up so much

34:59 on the the industry or the niche that I'm covering,

35:02 but rather am I interested in it genuinely and authentically.

35:06 And that's never steered me wrong.

35:08 And it's a huge benefit, too,

35:10 because if you had an AI podcast and what if AI became uninteresting,

35:14 you know, then what what's your podcast?

35:15 And it's the same thing with us.

35:17 Like yes, we sell women's footwear and apparel,

35:18 but what if I can no longer sell women's footwear and apparel for some reason,

35:22 you know, are you still going to follow me?

35:24 You know, same thing with you.

35:25 It's like you have a leveraged audience that you can

35:27 bring them and different ideas that you want to do.

35:29 It keeps it interesting for you, keeps it interesting for them.

35:32 Uh same thing with live.

35:33 Yeah.

35:33 Now, what about the food live that you had?

35:36 What kind of food were you selling and how profitable was that?

35:39 So, the food that I sold was I purchased it from BTO from Costco auctions.

35:44 So, we had a lot of like protein, energy drinks,

35:48 snacks, candy, some pantry items, anything you'd find at Costco.

35:52 What I love about live selling and is that you can kind of sell the unsellable.

35:56 And what I mean by that is like customer returns or individual pieces of food,

36:01 you can sell that on live because the customer sees you build

36:05 the box or they see the product that they're about to buy,

36:08 clothing, footwear, food, whatever it may be,

36:10 and then they associate a value with that and make the purchase,

36:14 you know, especially if you start the bid at a dollar.

36:16 And so that's what I love about it.

36:17 If you were to buy a food lot and try to sell on eBay,

36:19 you'd be listing these things for hours and hours and hours.

36:22 Some wouldn't sell, some would sell.

36:24 It just is I mean, nobody would do that, but I think I don't think you would.

36:28 But on live, you're able to do that.

36:30 And so yeah, what we did is we

36:32 bought brought in all these uh customer return food, which sounds really gross.

36:36 Thankfully, it's like a 40 pack of Monster that the consumer took a Monster out,

36:40 they drank it, they didn't like it, they returned it.

36:43 So then you get 39 monsters, right?

36:44 And they're all brand new.

36:45 I didn't know Costco was allowed to sell that stuff.

36:47 I thought they had to destroy any returned food.

36:50 Yeah, on betock there's everything.

36:51 They're not destroying it.

36:53 No, they're not.

36:54 And I think they I'm not trying to put them on blast here,

36:57 but I think they should have uh some of it cuz we

36:59 got like 15% of our lot was a recalled like beef jerky.

37:04 So, we're not going to sell that.

37:06 But they sold it to us.

37:07 So, so we had to dispose of that and kind of eat the cost there,

37:10 which did affect that.

37:11 Reminds me I need to take another bite of my beef jerky here.

37:14 It's good stuff.

37:15 This stuff was so good though.

37:16 We were eating it in the warehouse like crazy and then like somebody was like,

37:20 "Why do we have so much of this?" And then

37:22 they just Googled it and saw I was like, "Recalled." Like, "Oh, no." Well,

37:25 how much profit did you make per hour

37:28 on the food one compared to your normal 175?

37:30 I know.

37:31 After we sold everything, it was about 30% margin on the food as well,

37:35 which is even better than your average margin.

37:38 Yeah.

37:38 Yeah.

37:38 And it's super exciting because 25, right?

37:41 Yeah.

37:41 And Yes.

37:42 We're about 25 to 40 and then average about 30.

37:45 But yes, it's like uh you know,

37:47 we're selling something that is hard to sell elsewhere.

37:50 We're leveraging our audience.

37:51 We're leveraging the format of live selling

37:54 to sell something that's really difficult to sell.

37:56 And that's super exciting to me

37:58 because that opens up opportunity, buying opportunity.

38:00 Then you can go out and source product that nobody else wants,

38:03 but you can get it super duper cheap

38:05 because you're selling it in a unique unique way.

38:08 Now answer me this.

38:09 Let's say you take two people.

38:11 this hypothetical question.

38:12 One is just like a low energy, not super exciting guy or gal.

38:18 The other is like just an expert live seller, skilled,

38:22 energetic, funny, quick on their feet, just like very very skilled.

38:26 You give them both brand new accounts starting from nothing.

38:29 Nobody has heard of either one of them.

38:31 One has a lot of experience.

38:32 Let's say they Yeah.

38:34 One has a lot of experience,

38:35 one has no experience, and they're just kind of boring.

38:38 You give them the same items, zero follower accounts.

38:41 What percentage more does the energetic experienced person sell?

38:45 How much of a difference does the person and their attitude,

38:49 energy, and experience make?

38:50 If you are starting at zero, I think it's almost everything.

38:55 I think that person with no energy will I mean struggle to do anything.

39:01 Truly, that person that has all the energy will have success.

39:04 Yeah.

39:05 I mean, that's just that they will.

39:07 If you were to to take that person who

39:09 will have success and then take them to the average,

39:12 it's 20 to 30% increase above the average if they're an exceptional streamer,

39:16 if they're exceptional at their job.

39:18 And I see that between our streamers.

39:20 Like whenever I hire different streamers, we see just, okay,

39:23 they're given the same products or they're obviously on the same channel.

39:26 This show was 20% more revenue because that streamer was just better.

39:30 Yeah.

39:31 Okay.

39:31 Second hypothetical.

39:32 You take two expert streamers, high energy, they're both amazing on whatnot.

39:37 One of them has 50,000 followers that they've built up over a year like you,

39:41 and the other one has no followers,

39:43 but they're both very good, very experienced.

39:45 How much of of a difference does that make?

39:47 Cuz I would think, you know, economics 101,

39:50 more demand, stable or low supply equals higher price, right?

39:54 I would have to think that that's the case.

39:56 But how much of a difference does it make if it's algorithmically driven?

39:59 It definitely makes a difference.

40:01 It doesn't make a difference in like the linear term that okay,

40:05 this person has 50,000 followers, so they're going to do,

40:08 you know, 50,000x better or whatever.

40:09 The percentage, let's say it's a percentage.

40:11 If you're starting at zero, the first month is a struggle no matter what.

40:16 After you get your first two to 3,000 followers,

40:19 you can compete with pretty much anybody.

40:21 A 3,000 follower page can compete with a 50,000 follower page.

40:25 A 50,000 follower page can compete with a 100,000 follower page.

40:28 It might be a few percentages.

40:29 Some shows might be perform a little worse,

40:32 but at the beginning you're you're putting in that first month.

40:35 If you're at zero, that person's at 50,000,

40:37 your revenue is the 50,000 revenue is probably going to be 50% higher.

40:41 Oh, wow.

40:42 Okay.

40:42 Yeah.

40:42 It's like any newsletter or social media platform.

40:45 Like, if I had a 100 newsletter subscribers, they would be so loyal to me.

40:49 But with a 100,000, they're just not, right?

40:52 So, conversely, if you have 50,000 followers on whatnot and you

40:56 get 500 streamers and let's say you 10x that to 500,000 followers,

41:01 it doesn't mean you're going to 10x the number of streamers.

41:03 Not at all.

41:04 It doesn't work like that, right?

41:05 Not at all.

41:06 And there's a lot of people who have who treat it very communitydriven.

41:11 And that's what I think Whatnot is really

41:13 excelling at is kind of building your community.

41:15 And so, like we have 40,000 followers.

41:18 I know of streamers who have 10,000 that I am

41:22 jealous of their audience because they are so tapped in.

41:25 Everybody who watches them is like them.

41:27 They know how to source exactly for them their audience.

41:31 It's a very communitydriven thing.

41:33 You know, it's not a numbers game at all.

41:35 Guys, I hate to break it to you,

41:37 but you're not very likely to actually start a business

41:40 based on something you see or hear on this podcast

41:42 unless you spend a little more time with me

41:45 and with other people that are doing just that.

41:47 So, come check out TK Owners.

41:49 That's tkowners.com where hundreds of people are launching, starting, testing,

41:53 experimenting with business ideas that they heard from this podcast.

41:56 If you want to go fast, go alone.

41:58 If you want to go far, go together.

42:00 Check out tkowners.com.

42:01 We'd love to have you.

42:02 How do you cultivate that?

42:04 It's something that I missed early on, and it's

42:07 because I started selling women's fashion and apparel, right?

42:10 People struggle to buy that from me.

42:12 They tune into the stream, their instant thoughts are like, "Oh,

42:15 this guy's just trying to get money out of us." And I get it.

42:18 Like, that is what it seems like because I'm obviously not the consumer.

42:21 I think if you're a true consumer and if you have a passion for that product,

42:25 people will relate to you.

42:27 I think that that's how you do it.

42:29 And then you bring them along as you make new purchases.

42:32 Hey guys, I learned this this week.

42:34 Um, are you interested in these products?

42:35 You know, people join your stream.

42:37 Hey Stacy, you know, how's it going?

42:39 Thanks so much for being here.

42:40 Those things go a long way.

42:41 I mean, there's good things go a long way,

42:43 especially whenever you have a passion for the product

42:45 and you can relate with your audience.

42:46 Yeah.

42:46 I don't know if you've talked to Braden,

42:48 but we did a live stream a couple weeks ago at my house.

42:51 My first ever I'd never streamed.

42:53 We sold protein bars.

42:54 It was a protein bar I'd never tasted before.

42:57 I tasted at first on the live stream.

42:59 They didn't know who I was, right?

43:01 Most people, I was cold to that audience.

43:03 But we made 900 bucks in 90 minutes.

43:05 That's awesome.

43:06 About a third of that profit selling protein bars.

43:09 And you know what surprised me about that?

43:11 two things.

43:12 When we were done, I was spent, right?

43:14 I'm an introvert and I did not appear to be an introvert on that.

43:19 Like I I turned it on, but I was spent.

43:22 And the second thing is it was so fun.

43:25 I had so much fun.

43:26 I was sweating.

43:27 It was fun, you know, 100%.

43:29 Is that your experience?

43:31 Yeah.

43:31 Yeah.

43:31 especially early on whenever you don't know what

43:34 to expect and then it exceeds your expectations

43:36 and it's kind of the thrill of making a sale and then maybe you say something

43:41 else and it goes a little higher or maybe you know you you blunder and you

43:45 say something dumb and you know you're just

43:48 like I cannot believe I just said that.

43:50 But totally early on my max was 2 hours.

43:53 I've got my max up to like 4 hours

43:55 and then it's just like I can't do this anymore.

43:57 I have had I have some streamers that have done six hour shows and they're like,

44:01 "Yeah, I could have kept going." So,

44:03 there's just people who are out there like that.

44:05 Um, but no, totally.

44:06 It's so much fun.

44:07 The thrill of making a sale, connecting with somebody on the audience and just

44:12 like that, you don't know what to expect.

44:14 Even today when we have a big audience, like I don't know what to expect.

44:18 This show could go poorly.

44:19 What's the best show you've ever done with regards to revenue and profit?

44:24 So, we did a 12-hour stream once, which was crazy.

44:28 Like, you know, multiple streamers.

44:30 And so, that was our highest revenue show.

44:32 You know, we started at 11:00 a.m., we ended at 11:00 p.m.,

44:35 sold like 600 pairs of shoes, filled up the whole warehouse.

44:38 It was a lot of fun.

44:40 So, that was crazy.

44:41 In terms of like profit per hour,

44:44 we've probably had I know for a fact we've had we've had some earnings,

44:49 let's say just revenue, $1,200 an hour,

44:52 $1,500 an hour and then on, you know, 30% profit on that.

44:56 So $400, $500 an hour in profit.

44:58 That is like electric, you know?

45:00 It's that can happen.

45:01 How does Tik Tok differ from whatnot?

45:03 Do you see a lot of opportunity there?

45:05 Yeah, I see a lot of opportunity on Tik Tok.

45:08 number one.

45:08 I mean, it's the biggest I think it's the biggest app on in the US.

45:12 I think I looked it up and there's 180 million active monthly users on Tik Tok,

45:17 which is half the US.

45:19 It has significantly higher usership, right, or viewership than whatnot.

45:24 The main difference between the two is like

45:27 whatnot is more community and high buyer intent.

45:29 Like you could you can make a ton of money with 10 people in your show.

45:33 We've done it.

45:34 Lots of people do it.

45:35 on Tik Tok that's not going to happen.

45:37 We typically have a 100red to 200 people in our audience on Tik Tok,

45:41 but the numbers are roughly the same, right?

45:43 There just the the intent of the shopper is a little bit lower.

45:47 Another thing with Tik Tok is it's highly sophisticated

45:50 is it runs off of the Tik Tok shop platform.

45:53 And so Tik Tok shop,

45:55 they've integrated analytics galore and it's beautiful thing.

45:58 While you're live, you can see what's the average

46:01 viewership like how long have they been watching.

46:03 You know, you start your show, it's 5 seconds.

46:05 Then after a few hours, it's 30 seconds.

46:07 Then after a few more hours, it's it's it's a minute.

46:09 You can see how many impressions you get.

46:11 You can see the impression spikes.

46:12 Maybe I did this thing and now the algorithm

46:14 thinks I need to be targeting to these people.

46:17 After your show, you can look at the demographics and see,

46:19 was this targeting the right people?

46:20 Who are these people that I'm targeting?

46:22 So, it's a very sophisticated platform.

46:23 I think it's a little bit more for experienced sellers,

46:27 but it's a huge, huge, huge opportunity right now.

46:29 That's pretty much all we've been doing the last 40

46:32 to 50 days because they just released live auctions on Tik Tok.

46:35 And so I wanted to figure this thing out.

46:38 So I dedicate the last 45 days just Tik Tok shop or Tik Tok live.

46:43 What's the playbook for winning on Tik Tok from what you've learned so far?

46:46 It's brand new.

46:47 So it's just like blue ocean, tons of opportunity.

46:49 How can people win there?

46:51 Yeah, there's a lot of people selling footwear on Tik Tok shop.

46:54 I think that's great.

46:55 You can go on there and sell footwear.

46:56 There's people selling Nike, Adidas, all this thing.

46:58 And it's easy to fall into the trap of, "Oh,

46:59 I need to do what they're doing because they're having success." I went live,

47:03 it was two days ago, selling soccer jerseys.

47:06 Number one, I don't know anything about soccer.

47:08 Number two, I've never seen soccer jerseys sold.

47:10 I got a good deal on them.

47:12 I thought with the World Cup coming up, it might do all right.

47:14 But I just wanted to test it out.

47:16 And it's one of those things where if this does well,

47:19 I know that this is pretty easy

47:20 to get because it's hard to sell these elsewhere, especially in the US.

47:23 And it crushed.

47:24 It just absolutely crushed it.

47:26 So, everybody in there was super stoked

47:28 on, I've never seen a soccer show before.

47:30 This is the first time I've seen soccer jerseys.

47:31 When are you going to do these again?

47:33 Do you have these teams?

47:34 Do you have these teams?

47:35 Prices were I was very happy with the prices

47:37 in terms of I look up on eBay and see, okay,

47:40 this jersey sells for $45 or I just sold

47:43 a hundred of them in 2 hours for $30, you know.

47:47 So, that is very exciting.

47:49 Our average sale price on that show was after fees, after shipping, everything.

47:54 What we received was $22.

47:56 And you know, you look on eBay, most of them sell for $40 to $50.

48:00 So, they're still getting a great deal.

48:02 Yeah, they're getting an insane deal.

48:04 But also, I'm selling 90 in a 2our span, you know.

48:08 What was your unit cost on them?

48:10 $12.

48:11 Yeah.

48:11 Wow.

48:11 So, you made 10 bucks profit per unit.

48:14 Yeah.

48:15 $2,000 profit for one stream.

48:16 Mhm.

48:17 Yep.

48:17 That's incredible.

48:18 And it's that's one of the things where, okay,

48:21 now I'm going to go try to find some soccer jerseys,

48:23 you Now I'm going to try to find these unique things.

48:24 But back to your original question of like what's the playbook on Tik Tok,

48:27 it is such a new blue ocean like you're saying that if you

48:31 bring anything that you think is unique or that you see on there,

48:34 I think you will have success with it.

48:36 Obviously there's some outliers,

48:37 but if you bring something unique that you like,

48:39 that you got a good price on, that you think other people would enjoy,

48:42 the audience is out there for it.

48:44 They didn't even know you existed until you go live.

48:47 And there's no competition for it for soccer jerseys.

48:49 There's no other stream doing this stuff.

48:51 So people are interested in it,

48:53 they're going to make that decision to shop with me.

48:55 Yeah.

48:56 What about just like a playbook for winning in general?

48:58 Uh like first principles, whatnot, or Tik Tok.

49:01 How can someone make their first $1,000 profit live selling?

49:04 Yeah, great question.

49:05 Our average sale price over all channels, everything is $16.

49:10 That's after fees after shipping everything.

49:13 So what we what hits our account is $16 a unit.

49:16 And so it's very easy to get stuck into the trap of buying things

49:20 for 12 to $15 a unit thinking you can sell them for $30 a unit.

49:25 Mhm.

49:25 And there are audiences,

49:27 there are channels on TikTok and whatnot that can do that.

49:31 But in general, this is an impulse

49:33 purchase that you're asking a consumer to make.

49:35 And so it's going to be that impulse price anywhere between $10 and $20.

49:39 And so source products.

49:40 Ideally, if you're able to source something that's less than $5, do it.

49:44 because then you can start it at a dollar.

49:45 You can get that instant engagement and all you

49:48 need is a few different bids and you're profitable.

49:50 You know, if something sells for 10 bucks, you're profitable.

49:53 And all that takes is 10 different bids.

49:55 Or, you know, if you break even with only a few bids.

49:57 So, that is what I really like, especially starting out.

50:00 Go for a low buy cost and learn learn really quickly what people like.

50:05 You're going to get an audience in.

50:07 They're going to say, "Hey, do you sell XYZ?" Then you're like,

50:09 "Oh, maybe I should go source XYZ." But start small.

50:12 Start with your buy cost being super low and think beforehand about how you're

50:16 going to fulfill it or how you're going to increase the perceived value of it.

50:21 How you're going to fulfill it super duper important just operationally, right?

50:24 Cuz you can sell 100 items an hour.

50:26 So now you have to fulfill, you know, if you go live for 2 hours,

50:29 you got to figure out a way to fulfill 200 items and then do it again

50:31 the next day and then do it again the next day and do it again the next day.

50:34 So there's that piece of it, but then also the perceived value of it.

50:38 If you are buying things at two,

50:40 three dollars a unit, maybe you can bundle them together.

50:43 Maybe you can sell three together and that increases the perceived value.

50:46 Or maybe you can um you know, hey,

50:47 you can buy this item plus I'll throw this thing

50:50 in for free and it increases that perceived value.

50:52 So think about those creative things to get those bids

50:55 a little bit higher and then also help people overcome

50:58 that shipping objection at the beginning of the show where

51:01 like I don't want to pay six bucks for shipping, you know, for a $3 item.

51:06 Well, let's bundle five of them together.

51:08 So, now you're paying $6 in shipping

51:10 for a $15 item or, you know, things like that.

51:13 So, overcome that shipping objection early, source lowcost items,

51:16 and then figure out how you're going to fulfill it before you go live.

51:19 What tools do you use for fulfilling like USPS flat rate boxes?

51:22 Do you use tools like Pirate Ship or Ship Station or what?

51:26 Yeah, so Tik Tok and whatnot both have the integrated shipping platforms.

51:29 They buy the label, they have all the deals,

51:31 and so you actually don't you're not on the hook for too many of those things.

51:35 You get the boxes directly and you print the label and you're good.

51:39 Do you ship internationally at all?

51:40 Yes.

51:41 Yeah.

51:41 And that is mostly kind of beholden

51:43 to the the platform like are they allowed to shop?

51:46 Then yeah, we'll ship it.

51:48 It'll it'll calculate the shipping price for them.

51:50 So yeah, what categories should people avoid at all costs?

51:53 At all cost.

51:54 I think if you're planning to sell on whatnot,

51:57 I think fashion is a very difficult category to sell.

52:00 It seems easy on the surface, but I think it's very difficult.

52:04 Brands matter a lot.

52:06 Cultural relevance matters a lot.

52:08 Style matters a lot.

52:09 The size matters a lot.

52:10 And those are things that you don't think about to begin with.

52:13 And they're really hard to overcome.

52:15 Avoid in general.

52:17 They always say vacuums, right?

52:18 Vacuums are the worst because they're, you know,

52:20 they're already used and and they're big and heavy to ship.

52:23 But I I truly think like fashion and and apparel on whatnot.

52:26 It seems like, oh, everybody's doing it, so I'm going to do it.

52:29 But I think if you go against the grain, if you bring a category,

52:33 bring a product that's different and unique to either platform anywhere,

52:37 that is what will be your path to success.

52:39 Anything else that people can do to better ensure their success?

52:42 Anything I we should have covered that we didn't?

52:44 Man, great question.

52:45 At the end of the day, live selling it is a business model

52:49 and so anybody can have success doing anything.

52:51 It's just like are you given the right principles?

52:54 Are you given the right framework?

52:55 and just like tips and tricks from other people to kind of craft

52:59 your business because there's people who sell Oh man, I love this.

53:02 There's people who sell luxury bags on whatnot.

53:05 They consign it.

53:06 So, they're a consigner.

53:07 They have the biggest audience for luxury on whatnot.

53:10 They average $25,000 an hour in sales when

53:13 they're live because the audience already knows them.

53:16 They know that it's authentic.

53:18 They they've already overcome the barriers of trust.

53:20 And so they're able to sell these luxury

53:23 products just one after another, one after another.

53:25 And that's not something I can do.

53:27 I don't know exactly how they do it,

53:28 but I do know the principles that they used in order to hit that.

53:32 We have this lifestyle academy that we built alongside Shannon Gene.

53:34 I think that anybody who's interested,

53:36 anybody who's interested to take those first steps,

53:38 I think that's going to be gamechanging for them.

53:39 It's going to help you go from zero to one, you know,

53:41 in a month instead of three months instead of four months.

53:44 And we actually designed a promo code for them

53:47 that's for specifically for your audience as well.

53:52 So, it's uh www.livescelling.academy/tko.

53:55 And so, you're going to get two months for $20, which is a two for one.

53:58 So, it's normally $20 a month.

54:00 You get one month for free.

54:02 Yeah.

54:02 Beautiful.

54:03 Well, we will link to that.

54:04 Where can we find you?

54:06 Is Twitter the best place?

54:08 Twitter's probably the best place.

54:10 I'm kip_and.

54:11 Kip R O L A N D.

54:13 And I also have a newsletter that is we just talk about live selling in general,

54:18 how to have success, how to go from zero to one as well,

54:21 just in a newsletter, totally free.

54:22 But yeah, it's a huge opportunity.

54:25 They project live selling to be a $2.5 trillion industry by 2033,

54:30 which they average is 41% annual ker.

54:33 So pretty impressive.

54:34 And I think get in early, as early as you can.

54:37 That's why I'm trying to just figure it out.

54:39 The past year I've just been testing, right?

54:41 Yeah, Kip, this is amazing.

54:42 I'm fired up.

54:43 I love this chat.

54:44 I love this industry.

54:45 Thank you for sharing all this.

54:46 Thanks for the opportunity.

54:47 You're a lot of fun to talk to.

54:48 All right.

54:49 What' you think?

54:49 Please share it with a friend and we'll see you next time on the Kerner