E298 – Jeremy Starke – How he found and grew his side hustle with retail arbitrage

Junaid Ahmed 0:10
Thank you for tuning in to hacks and hobbies with your host Junaid in season two of hacks and hobbies were visited by our amazing guests coming from all walks of life, what to learn their story, their struggles and their journey on how they got to where they are today. So stick around

Welcome to a new episode in this episode I get to speak with Jeremy Starke I met him through the amazing service What's his name? He's anyway spot a guest com is an amazing new service that a good podcasters set it up. So other podcasters can find guests or be guest on, on, you know, other podcasts. So through that Jeremy reached out to me and he said, You know, I've got, I've got some really good stuff that I've been working on. And I'd like to, you know, come on and talk about my journey and where he's going. And since we're all about journeys, and learning about how to get from a hobby to a full time job. Well. Jeremy had the right story. So Jeremy, thank you so much for taking the time out and coming on to the podcast.

Jeremy Starke 1:42
Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm glad to share my story with everybody.

Junaid Ahmed 1:47
Fantastic. So Jeremy, I see that you've done a lot of cool things over the past and our chat in the green room. We had some really cool you talked about a lot of cool stuff on being parents working from home, and then having to run a business and start something new from scratch and how that goes. So, tell us a little bit about your journey and on how you got started and what inspired you to take your hobby to the next level?

Jeremy Starke 2:20
Yeah. Well, basically I started, you know, I was probably like, like most people I was, I was stuck in a, in a corporate job that, uh, that, you know, wasn't bad. I didn't mind it. But it wasn't. It wasn't using my full potential to, you know, what I wanted to do in life.

Junaid Ahmed 2:44
Yeah

Jeremy Starke 2:44
I've always been, you know, kind of an entrepreneur at heart. So, you know, if you've ever worked or anybody, you know, listen to never worked in the corporate world, I mean, you know that it's a pretty rigid structure, and there's only so much that you can Do to be creative in those kind of environments. So I really had struggled with that for many years. And I was looking for just a way to, to, you know, to do my own thing and to kind of work work for myself. So, I mean, I don't know if you've ever have you ever worked from home before this, I don't know your, your experiences and you know if you've ever done that, but I got a taste of working from home with my, my corporate job. Yeah. And I really liked that a lot. So I said, maybe I can do something, you know, on the side to, you know, to just get started.

Junaid Ahmed 3:41
Yeah. That's that's very much true. And I've had experience working from home. I'd be traveling and being able to work from home and getting this stuff done. And that was a little bit of an inspiration, but I really wanted for autonomy and what I was doing with my days. And it's not until you actually get into that full autonomy, that you realize that there's a lot more to it than just having that full freedom because now all the boundaries are shut down, you can literally do anything that you want and which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes that's okay.

Jeremy Starke 4:28
Absolutely agree. That's it. That's a struggle. I think that's, that's pretty common among, you know, entrepreneurs that worked for themselves. You know, we get caught up and, you know, what, what do we do next? And you know, what's going to move the dial forward? So, you know, when I first started out, I had no idea what I was doing. You know, I mean, the only good thing about being in a corporate job is like he least know what you need to do every day and you got somebody to tell you what to do, but you know when you're doing it yourself It's, I'm in, you know,

Junaid Ahmed 5:02
exactly.

Jeremy Starke 5:03
It's like I'm the only one that's going to keep myself motivated moving forward.

Junaid Ahmed 5:07
Yeah, you're your own boss. And sometimes you like your boss, sometimes you don't really like your boss because you're not keeping yourself on point.

Jeremy Starke 5:16
That's so true. It's so true. But But you know, it was, it's, you know, I just don't want to, I just don't want, you know, anybody that's kind of like on the edge of, you know, kind of moving forward this to think that, that it's all rainbows and, you know, unicorns and everything. It's, it's, it really is, it's a constant struggle. It's it's a rollercoaster ride sometimes. But you know, there's, there's more pros than cons, you know, with it. So I mean, I, I'm creating things and that's something that I've not really done in my, you know, my life before as far as you know, putting stuff out there. So that to me, that's really what what kind of keeps me moving forward and driving me you know, to do my best, you know, fathers. Yeah.

Junaid Ahmed 6:05
That's really, really interesting. And and you're absolutely right. You know, you when you're at a job, somebody's telling you, hey, you gotta get this done, you gotta get that done. And what I realized is that, okay, I've got to make those lists, I got to make those to do list, I got to make those things for myself, so I can keep myself on track. And sometimes it works. Most of the times, it doesn't. So the other thing that I've, that I realized is, you know, it always helps when you have your partner or a team that you can work with. So even though I like having the freedom, but having somebody to bounce ideas off of that's been super, super helpful. And I've been lucky enough to attend some of these LinkedIn local events and found find, you know, find local people that all also have the same passion. Myself, like I met one person, back in 2016, when we were shooting films, and her and I, we clicked, and in a way, because we're both passionate creatives, we're both, you know, into video and filmmaking. And we've kept in touch since, you know, for the past three years. And recently, I met another gentleman who has passion for video and photo. I was like, You know what, we're all in the same boat, we have the same philosophy and thoughts. Let's form a company together. So we formed a company together and we're getting a ton of jobs coming in, to go shoot this commercial to show shoot that short film to make this Kickstarter video to make this introduction to a book or a fiction novel. So there's a lot of things that are coming together because what also happens is if you find somebody just like you Well, you Going to face the same issues because you're you know, you both have the passion, but you need somebody who's the driver, somebody who's a project manager. And so having a team of three people or four people that bring these different capacities, these different talents together, I think makes for a better independent work environment as well. And that's why I think I was listening to Pat Flynn and he said, you know, for the longest time, he did everything on his own, he did not want to let go. And then finally, he was like, all right, I need to build a team, if I want to expand is I want to want to scale. And so he ended up hiring somebody who is dedicated at, okay, he's just going to do all the podcasts production. He's going to put all these things together, so he doesn't have to. So Pat does Have to end now. He's got a team of like three or four people and he's like, I can't believe how I was doing all this stuff without so much health help.

Jeremy Starke 9:11
Yeah, it's definitely it's, it's one of those things where, you know, you need to give to do you know, you have to give up some control with everything. You know, one one thing I'm not at that point, I mean, I do have, you know, a small a small team, but I'm still the one that's directing every day and driving everything and basically all the operational things they need to do. But I have found that I've had some success with with you know, mastermind group, I was able to find other like minded folks that actually not in my area, but remotely and you know, we do get together frequently and, and just talk and discuss things but what's going on a business and it's been really powerful. I mean, it's really helped shape, you know my thing and just kind of make it feel like I'm not the only one doing this because you know, it is really I'm at my own office. And, you know, that's that's the tough part about it, you know, I am working doing my own thing, but it's like I have nobody to interact with. So that really helps you know that it kind of helps move the dial ahead

as well. Now, the mastermind group is an amazing, amazing idea. And I've been noodling on that for a couple of months as well. And I almost started one. And my initial thought was, you know, it would be an online mastermind group and then we can get a jump on a zoom call every week and be like, all right, what are you struggling with? How can us as a collective as as us as a team, how can we work together and help you because everyone that's trying to start a new business. They're all they're always alone. unless they've done it a multiple times then they know Okay, they've got a team that's helping them launch these businesses. And I'm trying to get to that point myself, working with multiple people and bringing in you know, experts in their areas of expertise. You'd like a, anytime we get this kind of work, for example, photographers or headshot photographers, they have a person who edits their photos, all they do to go out there. Do the photoshoot upload the photos, hey, here's a set of photos these are the ones already picked out just gotta, you know, do a touch up and send it out to this email address. And boom, it's done.

Yeah, I mean that's, that's that's how that's you know, that's really the toughest part. I mean, especially if you're IB least myself, I am very controlling. So I guess you But yeah, kind of have to be Though when you're first starting out, because, I mean, you need to know all the moving parts before you could get your process down for everything. So, you know, really helps to really kind of delve into some of those things. And then once you once you at least have a idea of it, then you know, you can hire out somebody, you know, to help you with that piece of it. So, I mean, that's really, you know, like, as far as doing promotional things, yeah. You know, I mean, social media marketing. I mean, I could, my process, I have it dialed down and, you know, try to keep to the same process that somebody else can do that, you know, they can actually do the same thing. And I always believed that the credo principle, if they at least do it, you know, 80% of what I would do, then that's, that's good enough for me. Yeah, that's, that's going to, you know, take that off your plate for doing that. So, I mean, that's, I mean, that I don't know if that that really isn't mine. With what you're what you're looking for as well,

Junaid Ahmed 13:02
absolutely, man, that's exactly what I'm looking for. And one thing that I remember from the past or the story of Henry Ford, he's like, I don't know everything, but I know somebody who does. And for the longest time, I've known this for many, many years. Right? But it just didn't click to me that I could have been doing that or hiring somebody else to do the tasks that are repetitive that are taking my time away because if I had implemented those solutions a year ago, right, I would be in a totally different position right now. Yeah. Like, I think to that because I'm six months ago. I got let go from my job and death because I was fucking I was doing I was focusing on Getting the podcast edited. I'm editing the podcast episodes. And sometimes I'm taking time away from my actual job. So I'm not, I was not being, you know, a productive employee. And they're like, you know, we can use this space, somebody who is more focused can come in and do your job. I mean, we're not we brought you in, because we know you have ton of experience you have, you know, over 10 years of experience and UX experience, and your creative and you we like what you're doing with all the other things out of your life, and we know that you're passionate. So we wanted that person to come in here and do the job. But since you're not, wouldn't have to let you go. Right. So that was a big revelation to me. And then it was also because I had been working on this job and I was just bored. I was just super bored on not being challenged enough, or just distracted by all these third party things. I said things that I was working on. So it was a big, it was a big smacking up, you know, punching a punch in the stomach. Like, you don't deserve this. And at the point at the time, I was like, Yeah, I know, I want to do these other things. But what I didn't realize that I didn't have a system in place. And if I had that system in place, you know, I'd be in a different, different place altogether, or

Jeremy Starke 15:40
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's, it's just one of those things that once you have a process, you know, you have to stick with it. And, you know, it's it's one of those things, you know, you know, the guy was telling you before, you know, I started I didn't I started out, just I actually have an e commerce business. So I have three businesses, I have an e commerce business. I have a marketing business where I help local businesses market. Yeah, I do marketing. And I also have niche websites. So they're they're they're kind of intertwined. But you know, they are, you know, I mean, there are separate things. But yeah, there are so many other things that landed on my desk or in my email box that I literally could have just picked any of them and just gone with it. Yeah, so many different different shiny objects out there. And that's something that that you have to look out for. You really have to focus, you know, you have to kind of go with your core competencies, like, yeah, call them like, and just really just figure out what it is that they do best. And that's where I lived in is I do a lot of SEO. I just really enjoy doing the keyword the data, um, yeah. And all that data, but I love that stuff. So I use that that's where I use my strength. In all of my businesses, is I focus just on that. Totally. So and that in the writing, yeah, where I'm where I really have my strengths are, but all the other stuff. You know, the my web design my, my website, I didn't do that. I mean, I'm just not I mean, I can do it. I know how to do it. I mean, I can fix some certain things here, but I'm not gonna spend four hours trying to get this column. Right. And the thing is, it's just not worth my time. Yeah, do that. I mean, I'd rather be focused on a law that years, my businesses, that I don't have to worry about doing that. So it was really tough to just, you know, give up and it's not really, you know, the cost of it. It's just more of like, well, I want it done this way. And I'm just like, Well, you know, if somebody else does it, you know, and there's, you know, like, you were saying what Henry Ford I think he said, Excuse me, I he didn't get successful by being the smartest guy in the room. He right that's all because he found the spot. Artist people to bring into the room. And so and that's, that's really, you know one thing that the mindset that you have to have running your own business.

Junaid Ahmed 18:10
Absolutely. You want to work on the business not in the business and that's what I was doing. I was working in the business which wasn't even bringing money in like podcasting doesn't bring money in

Who ever told you was probably selling snake oil, but it's it's podcasting is literally like blogging, like you're blogging and you're expecting to make money unless you have a niche site. And you have a very targeted audience to ensure you you can make money. So and that's where I lacked and I didn't focus on what my core been focused on bringing in clients through my core competencies, or when I was building stuff up. Like you know, I need to focus on this first so I can start can set up the standards of operating procedures and hire people to do the work. So then I can focus on the business, and they can work in the business. So yeah, man, that's, that's really powerful. That's really good. So, um, so you heard about your journey and how you got you got into this is because it was just not you were just not into it anymore or you wanted something more out of life.

Jeremy Starke 19:36
Yeah, I mean, I, the freedom that you have when you are when you have your own businesses. I mean, it's just I don't know, you can't put a price on that, you know,

um, but yeah, I had I had started out you know, just it was funny as I don't I think I was, I think I can remember is like five Six years ago, and I think I was looking for just some, some way to just to make extra money. You know, I was my other job. And I saw that, you know, I eBay, I started on eBay basically. And I saw that you can actually just sell things on eBay. And I started in these groups, and they were just talking about that they would go to thrift stores, garage sales, and they would just pick up items and resell them on eBay for a profit. And I thought, wow, that's people actually Mikey stuff on eBay. I mean, I knew eBay. I think everybody knows. Yeah, I just didn't think that you could make, you know, decent amount of money. So. So I said to my wife, I said, Honey, I'm going to take like $50 out of our savings account, and I'm just going to spend it on stuff at the thrift store. I'm gonna buy some clothes, and I'm going to sell them on eBay. And she was like, all right, sure. I guess. Yeah, whatever. waste our 50 bucks but I went out to $50 Yeah, that's it. $50 Okay. Yeah, I mean, I went out to the thrift store and I found a bunch of shirts, some nice, you know, use shirts and they were like two or $3. And I remember the first shirt I sold was a Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Steelers, like, kind of like a collared shirt. Okay, paid two or $3 for it. It was it was a night good condition and somebody actually paid like 20 bucks for it. I was like, wow. Alright, so I made you know, like 10 bucks or whatever off that after shipping and all the fees and I said, Wow, I could do this over and over and over again. Yeah. So I really just went forward with that. And you know, just kind of rolled it in and you know, then I heard about this thing on Amazon. I'm like, wow, you actually sell stuff on Amazon to really get into that, you know,

I followed what they call retail arbitrage which is based on Finding products at just your local store and flipping them on Amazon for profit. So, you do that over and over and over again. And you just reinvest your profits into it. You know, I didn't really take any money out of the business. Yeah. And I found myself with a nice cushion. And that really just kind of propelled me forward.

Junaid Ahmed 22:20
Nice to you. You tested it out. You said, Okay, this works. Let's keep it going. That's awesome. That's totally awesome. I thought about doing something like that because Gary Vee talks about it all the time. Yeah. That's it on Tick Tock. You'll see that. Right. I think that he's going to garage sales. He's buying these wheels box of cars. Yeah, like, I'll give you seven bucks and he gets the box. He comes back and he's checking online. He's like, this car alone goes for $10 or $20. Whatever is a classic already packed, so I'm like that's friggin insane and, and what's interesting is that he's going he's got different type of content on different media social medias so on on Instagram he's talking a lot about what people should be doing on Tick Tock because the audience is much younger. He's focusing on Hey, you got these Hot Wheels cars, you can sell these on line and make a few bucks you know by among garage sales and you sell him. So he's telling that he's teaching that retail or even garage sale flipping arbitrage to so many people it's pretty, pretty insane.

Jeremy Starke 23:41
Yeah, it's, I mean, it's really, you know, a lot of a lot of times is that people will will come across these things and it's funny because you know, I'm, I still participate in someone in the Amazon community. But the the biggest fear is that everybody's going Discover this this arbitrage model and they're all going to just take away everything from everybody. Which is not true at all is it? Did they have the scarcity mindset? But yeah, millions of people in this world, there's so many different things out there but a lot of people is they don't take action on these things. Oh, the air, it's great. Oh, you know, they might look into it and then they don't do anything. They go and watch their Netflix and all their other things that are distracting but yet they complain that they're, you know, they're stuck where they are. Yeah, it's just it's it's kind of sad to see that, you know, the, you know, to have people that there's something right in front of them Gary Vee Jr. Like, it's right there in the neighborhood in gold or some garage sale and you can make money off of it. And that's really, I think, with the mindset that he's trying to, you know, get across to these, you know, to his audience, and yeah, you got to take action. You just got to do something, you know, and if you're stuck in a rut, then do so. I'm going to change it.

Junaid Ahmed 25:01
Absolutely you you you hit the nail right on the head, man, that was perfect. Alright, so let's get into some of the question that I asked my audience, my audience I wish my audience would answer these questions my guests.

And these are, these are some of the questions that tie us together in a way where I mean we already have similarities or areas of mindset that we join in but these things, tie it even more and bring that personal level. So what is one hobby that you wish you got into?

Jeremy Starke 25:41
Oh,

you know, I think I answered that in here.

Junaid Ahmed 25:46
I forget actually. Maybe I don't know if you say it, but

Jeremy Starke 25:53
I just had to say if I be a hobby

I don't know. I think I would would like to camp more.

Unknown Speaker 26:02
Um,

Jeremy Starke 26:04
you know, before I got before I got married, I was into camping I did a lot of outdoor activities. And then I met my wife and I love her to death. She's She's my, my rock, but she's not a big camper. But although although she's warming up to it, yeah, you know, nowadays, but I would love to get more into into camping and just just because I love being an outdoors, just, you know, freeing to be in nature surrounded by trees and in the middle of nowhere. I mean, it's something freeing about that, I guess, you know, but I was I was I was thinking about starting a niche site on that, you know, because it's just an interesting to, you know, to me, I feel that I could, you know, kind of go with that as a subject but, you know, being said, you know, too many things going on at once. You know, I

Junaid Ahmed 26:55
totally get you man. I'm talking about camping last night. My wife was Watching the Brady Bunch things on Amazon or Netflix I can't remember but she's watching when the episodes when they go camping. And so I've never seen this show before till now. I mean, I've heard about you know this this intro where you see all these nine faces and then so it was hilarious because the boys and the dad they used to go camping but the girls had never gone camping so they had gone for the first time is hilarious. She's just cracking up.

Jeremy Starke 27:30
Yeah, that's that's what I grew up with that show.

Junaid Ahmed 27:33
Yeah,

Jeremy Starke 27:33
I actually think I remember that episode.

So, but it's so true. I mean, it just went camping. It's just one of those things like, you know, you just, you just got to get out there. It's like anything is just exactly getaway time and just make it happen, you know?

Junaid Ahmed 27:50
Yep. So right into that TV show. What is your favorite movie or TV show?

Jeremy Starke 27:58
I would say my favorite movie. is definitely Star Wars Star Wars. Okay, huge Star Wars fan. Yeah, I just love it to all the movies, including the first, the first episode

if you're a Star Wars fan, you know, you probably know exactly what

we're talking about executive

but, you know, it's it's funny is that I you know, the thing about Star Wars is you know it kind of ties in with some marketing you know, it's it's all about the hero's journey and you know one thing in marketing is when people, businesses when I try to, you know, to tell them when they're trying to market to their potential customers is that you have to think of your customer as the hero and you're not the hero is a lot of times you know, businesses will focus it says you know, it's about me it's about my service, my product and and everything else, but really Isn't it's really about the the customers journey here that you're, you're like the Yoda. And the customer is like, you know, his name is Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker that's and then if you if you really focus all of your marketing messages, all of you promotional things and you think of it that way it will really help attract your ideal customers for you nice I always I always think of that when I whenever I think of Star Wars, you know, that's kind of I love it. I love it.

Junaid Ahmed 29:36
Where are your thoughts on the latest Star Wars episodes 78939 is coming out this year.

Jeremy Starke 29:44
Yeah, yeah, I like I like the storyline that that they're going with, you know, as far as continuing on and it's my my kids are really into it. I really enjoy that they that they have a woman hero in there. You know and Princess Leia obviously was a woman but yeah, Jet I and I really liked that they incorporated a woman in there because Mike I have two girls so yeah, we're all excited about that. And I'm like, Grace, you know, like they're into it as much as I Oh,

Junaid Ahmed 30:13
yeah, that's perfect. And there's a there's a whole conversation there on that man can go on and on.

Jeremy Starke 30:21
Oh, yeah, so it can be another podcast. So

Junaid Ahmed 30:25
diving into the next question around movies what movie would you choose if you got to play a character in it?

Jeremy Starke 30:35
Hmm

um, you know, I I am also into Marvel movies. I probably am to say one of those type of movies. I think I'm more of Well, I mean, I'm my I got the same last name is stuck. I'm not I'm not like him at all. Yeah, he's a little bit more rigid, or as you know what he does, but I think I'd love to be a Marvel character. I mean, who doesn't want to be a superhero? Exactly? Yeah. I mean, that's just the ultimate

you know, portrayal of any kind of role that I would love to have.

Junaid Ahmed 31:11
Yeah.

Jeremy Starke 31:12
My superpowers is keywords man

Junaid Ahmed 31:15
is keywords are so, you know, that's what I that's what I like this perfect. Alright, so based on that who would be your superhero favorite superhero?

Jeremy Starke 31:29
I'd have to say Dr. Strange, I think I think he, you know, uses his mind and his mindset i think is more like his power, I guess if you want to say yeah, so I'm that's kind of where, where I think mice my strength rely on, you know, my kids would probably call me, you know, Spider Man or something

like that. I don't know. But like, you know, it's just, that's who if I were to try to Be like it would probably be Dr. Strange. Nice. I love it.

Junaid Ahmed 32:03
He is he's one of my other favorites. What's funny about Ferris is that you can only have one favorite and that's something you watched a movie just last night called late night. Okay with Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaylee, I think was an Amazon movie. But she is a TV host or she's a show host. She's a First Lady, English lady show host for for for an late night TV show.

Jeremy Starke 32:37
And

Junaid Ahmed 32:38
her ratings have been declining. And she's like, I finally got on Twitter and

Jeremy Starke 32:47
and

Junaid Ahmed 32:48
i don't understand how can you have more favorites? Like there's only one favorite coconut milk. Hilarious. Alright, last question. If you weren't board game. But would it be?

Jeremy Starke 33:03
Oh?

Well, I would think I would if I was a board game, I want to be played for a long time. So or, you know, quite often and the game that it comes to my mind if I think about playing for a long time as risk. I don't know if you ever played that before, but we would play in college and it would be like days playing the game. I mean, it was just and you'd have to leave the board there and and, you know, both you know, to continue on, obviously if we're not going to play all night, but I think a board game wants to be played a pretty long time. So I don't know. Maybe that's, that's probably the game I would pick. Plus I like to take risks, you know,

Junaid Ahmed 33:47
yeah, risk is a pretty powerful games. Amazing.

Jeremy Starke 33:49
Cool, man. Well,

Junaid Ahmed 33:52
that was awesome. I'm working my audience find you to want to get in touch with you. You did mention you have a few niche sites but how it They get in touch with you to learn how can how they can do what you're doing.

Jeremy Starke 34:06
Yeah, well I mean, my my very first site that I started was was gardener thumb.com It's my I guess my brand is called Green Thumb gardener and I focus on just vegetable gardening and it was one of the first products so I started with my daughter actually got me in you know, doing it because I wanted to show about vegetable gardening. Yeah, but that that's, that's kind of my playground that I have that I'm on. And I also have a marketing company. I do just local businesses around my area. I'm you know, in the Raleigh North Carolina area, but I do you know, I can help other people you know, remotely but you can find me there at evergreen growth, marketing. com perfect.

Junaid Ahmed 34:50
I'll be I'll be sure to include the links to your website, and I have a really good friend who was Down in North Carolina as well. Jason Boyle. I would love for him to meet with you as well.

Jeremy Starke 35:06
Joe Yeah, absolutely. I love that comedian locally. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. Awesome.

Junaid Ahmed 35:11
Well, Jeremy Stark, it was really nice meeting you. I can say that I've met two Starks by now.

Jeremy Starke 35:20
That's rare these days. Yeah, yeah.

Well, thanks for having me on

Junaid Ahmed 35:24
your show. Absolutely. Man. This This is great. We'll have to do bring you on again and talk about movies.

Jeremy Starke 35:30
Yeah, absolutely. Star Wars off. Yeah.

Junaid Ahmed 35:33
All right. Take care. Have a good day. Bye. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this episode on hacks and hobbies. We absolutely appreciate your contribution. You can find additional notes on hacks and hobbies. com. please share the podcast with your friends and tell them what you learned about our guests today.

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