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Nick: (00:04)
Hey, what's up everyone? This is the Million Dollar Sellers podcast. I'm your host, Nick Shucet. Today on the show we have Mehran Kamari.
Mehran, what's up, man? You've been a member of the group for a while now, I think it was the 50K group when you came in a while ago. Is that right?
Mehran: (00:25)
Yeah. Hey, what's up, Nick? It's good to be here. Yeah, I was in the group before it was a million-dollar seller. It was a 50K group. I think It had started. I had joined just kind of around the time I was starting my business. So, kind of that group basically helped me get to where I am now.
Nick: (00:45)
Oh, nice man. So, yeah, that's pretty interesting. So, Amazon must have picked up pretty quickly for you once you got started.
Mehran: (00:54)
Yeah. Real quick, actually quicker than I thought. So I launched my business around Q4, like just after black Friday. So, I like things picked up right in crunch time. And like, yeah, so things happened pretty fast.
Nick: (01:13)
Nice, man. That's exciting. What year was that? Like 2015, 2016, something like that?
Mehran: (01:18)
Yeah, late 2015. Basically, yeah, November 2015. The golden age for me.
Nick: (01:27)
Nice, man. That's exciting. And then, like how quickly did you get into MDS? That's pretty cool that it happened that fast.
Mehran: (01:34)
Yeah. Well, I mean the barrier to entry for MDS was much lower than, cause it wasn't like the million-dollar seller group, but yeah, I kind of grew along with that requirement. So yeah, that was great.
Nick: (01:47)
Nice man. That's the first time I've heard someone say that, like they got into the group right then, and right when they started the business, and that it really kind of helped carry them through. I know, of course, we have so many members that love the group and what it provides, but it's pretty cool to see you know, it happens that early on as well.
Mehran: (02:09)
Yeah. For me, I think a lot of people joined the group after they'd reached seven figures and stuff, but for me, the group was basically pivotal in getting me there.
Nick: (02:20)
Okay. Awesome man. And was that your first crack at entrepreneurship, or did you try some things before that?
Mehran: (02:29)
Well, I've always been kind of entrepreneurial-minded.I remember like when I was a kid, I'd sneak away from the after-school playground and go over to 7-Eleven, and buy a bunch of candy and sell them to the kids at school, to try to profit, and like buy video games and stuff with it. So, I've always been like that, but, I'd say the first real entrepreneurial steps I took was I'd say 2013, 2014.
I started getting into real estate investing and treating that professionally like a business. So, even though it's just investing, like I treated it like with an entrepreneurial mindset and yeah, that's kind of where it officially started, like as an adult.
Nick: (03:16)
Yeah. And, then what was it like, what was kind of your biggest motivating factor for your journey into entrepreneurship? Was it like, you just wanted to hustle to make money, or was it like a lifestyle thing?
Mehran: (03:30)
Well, so kind of all of the above. But, mainly it started cause my dad had passed away early in 2013, kind of just after he retired, and it really hit home for me cause I was like, man, potentially someone can work, their whole life and like never get a chance to enjoy their freedom, travel, and do all the things that they've been like hoping for while they're working their nine to five jobs.
So when that happened, it kind of kicked me in the butt, like, okay, I don't want that to happen to me, I'm gonna do whatever I can to hustle to make sure that I have that freedom sooner. And like, that kind of got the gears turning to like starting to read books, think about business, and what I can do with my life, where like I could just live it now and enjoy my freedom and that kind of like where it started.
Nick: (04:24)
Oh! Wow, man. Yeah. So, I definitely heard you say something that stuck with me was just like, we work hard all our life and, you retire and then something like, outside of our control can still happen. And it reminded me of a quote that I heard. I forget exactly who said it, but you know, they were talking about our journey through life and how it's all kind of risky.
Like, no matter what path you go down there is a risk involved and you know, you should really take that into consideration when you're deciding on a job you're thinking about taking or a school you're thinking about going to, and really look for that path that's gonna give you that desired result.
Mehran: (05:14)
Yeah, definitely.
Nick: (05:17)
So, what was life like when you decided to go on this journey to make this happen?
Mehran: (05:25)
Okay. So, I was working in healthcare. I used to work in a medical lab and a histopathology lab. And I guess life at that time, I was just working the graveyard shift cause the lab had this 24-hour turnaround time for specimens and yes, being awake all night, and sleeping all day was affecting my social life and stuff like that.
So, at that time I started to read a bunch of books, join forums, get into the community like real estate investing and that entrepreneurial mindset and just go to work, doing my job. And then when I would get home instead of going out with my friends and doing a bunch of stupid stuff, I would just focus on my business and like learn.
I think the biggest part at that time was just learning what I didn't know, and I spent a lot of time doing that.
Nick: (06:22)
Okay.
Mehran : (06:22)
Yeah.
Nick: (06:23)
So, was there ever a point where it was hard for you to do that, like to get off work and say, Hey, I'm gonna focus on this side hustle, focus on this dream I have. I'm trying to move away from how life is. You know, I think a lot of us have been through that. I know I've been, and for a long time I was like, ah, screw it, it's gonna go out. What was that process for you?
Did you kind of just make that decision and dive in?
Mehran: (06:54)
Yeah. I definitely made the decision. Like I said yeah, when my dad passed away, it hit me pretty hard. So, I kind of had that drive from that moment on like, yeah, this is real, and procrastination is not gonna get in the way, like I need to do this type of thing. And yeah, I don't think I mentioned this yet, but, I've been doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu for about 12, or 13 years now, and that was definitely tougher for me than entrepreneurship.
Just getting my ass kicked every day. I don't know if I could ... Getting my butt kicked is good. Getting my butt kicked every day and coming back and learning more, and it's really gruesome and stuff. And going through that kind of made it easy to learn and go through the trials and tribulations of all the things we go through changing from an employee to a business owner.
So whenever something came up, I kind of just thought about it, like, okay, this isn't as hard as jujitsu. I can just keep going. Let's do it.
Nick: (08:03)
Okay.
Mehran: (08:04)
Yeah.
Nick: (08:05)
I like it, man. Yeah. More shorts, I think, teaches us a lot of lessons that can be applied to other areas of our life. Just like, I think having a business does as well, when you're a few years in, you kind of reflect and you're like, oh, I've used this skill in other places and this lesson in other places as well.
Mehran: (08:29)
Yeah, definitely.
Nick: (08:31)
So, it sounds like that moment in your life where unfortunately your dad passed away like that, that was the kind of moment that tipped the scale in this direction. Was there some struggling before that, that you had been thinking about making this change?
Mehran: (08:51)
Actually, I don't think so. No, I was just working my job and kind of doing the thing. I had saved up to buy a house. I was living in it. Like I said, working the graveyard shift and I thought I had gotten everything that would make me happy. Like, okay, I got this good paying job, I have this home. Everything's cool.
But, then I felt kind of, even before my dad passed away, I was thinking that, okay, what next? Right. Because I'm not fully fulfilled in doing this. Like, it was kind of a feeling that I had, but I didn't really take much action on it until my dad passed and I was like, okay, screw this. Let's go.
Nick: (09:33)
Okay.
Mehran: (09:35)
Yeah.
Nick: (09:35)
So, you get into these real estate communities, and like, how did that go? How was the real estate business for you?
Mehran: (09:42)
Yeah. So, actually speaking about communities, every time I wanna learn something new or get involved in something, the community is a pretty big part of it. Like, especially in the learning phase when you don't have as much confidence in the endeavor you're trying to take on. So, like with real estate, I went online to these forums and met a bunch of real estate investors, pretty big forums, bigger pockets.
I was just there every day talking to people. I actually became a moderator on the forum and just got involved in it to the point where they, like real estate, just thought and talked about it, and this whole business became part of my life. So, it was easy to take the next step into buying a home, renting it out, and scaling that up, because I joined the community and kind of made that my everyday thing.
Nick: (10:38)
Okay.
Mehran: (10:40)
Yeah. So I did that. I met some contacts. I met some future partners that I invested in real estate on those forums. And yeah, I kind of started with that.
Nick: (10:53)
Nice.
I like that community, they have a really good podcast I've listened to recently as well.
Mehran: (11:00)
Yeah. Actually, I was on that podcast.
Nick: (11:02)
Awesome.
Nice, man.
Mehran: (11:04)
Yeah.
Nick: (11:05)
I don't think I came across that episode. I'll have to, I was listening to it for a while.
Mehran: (11:10)
Oh, yeah, I'll link you to it after the talk. Yeah.
Nick: (11:17)
So, how did that lead you to Amazon?
Mehran: (11:21)
Okay. So, funny story, after I did that podcast, I had a bunch of people reach out to me after hearing me on the podcast, wanting me to help them start in real estate.
They kind of… my story resonated with them and some people wanted to do partnerships, and I partnered with a few different people. We formed a few different companies, but one of the guys, his name's Wilson, became my partner. We bought a couple of houses together. His role in our partnership was kind of like, he brought the money and the credit to get financing for purchasing these homes.
And because he had a high-paying job he messaged me saying that he was gonna quit his job. And I was like, hey, whoa, what do you mean? You're going to quit your job, man. Because that's kind of like, what's enabling us to get the financing for these homes. And he told me, oh, he is doing this new Amazon thing. Like, he's killing it.
And that he's made enough to quit his job. And he came into town and we just met up and he was telling me about it and he actually introduced me to the whole concept of Amazon FBA and got my gears turning with that. Yeah, so actually my podcast interview and then my real estate partnership led me to the whole Amazon business idea.
Nick: (12:48)
Oh, Man.
I wonder what this one would lead to. <laughs>
Mehran: (12:51)
Yeah, That's funny.
Actually, he was in the group, he was in MDS for a while, but then I think he started doing some other stuff and became inactive and kind of like, No longer there.
Nick: (13:03)
Yeah.
So, you had mentioned, you went on that podcast, and you had a story or something you had shared that would really resonate with a bunch of people that reached out to you.
Mehran: (13:14)
Yeah. Well, because basically, just what I was talking about before like I was working on the job, I was living in Los Angeles at the time. Like, real estate's expensive there and I was buying out-of-state properties and I was doing it while working and kind of just shared my story of starting from scratch and not knowing what the hell I was going on at the beginning.
And that's kind of where most people start. So, a lot of people just reached out and I talked to a lot of people and made some partnerships out of that.
Nick: (13:50)
You know, I think we did talk about this maybe in the group at one point, but I guess it was a similar situation that kind of led me to Amazon because I was doing shift work as well. And I really just didn't want to do that.
Mehran: (14:05)
Yeah. It's rough, man.
Nick: (14:08)
That was bad enough to make me want to get out. I did not handle it well, and I felt like I got it worse, like whatever it was that was going on, it definitely affected me way more than I think it affected other people that you know, I feel like I complained about it more than everyone else.
Mehran: (14:35)
Yeah.
Nick: (14:36)
I was glad to get out there, but I did fall asleep at the wheel three times. Yeah. The third time I was like, oh I got to stop. And I started a landscaping business and that failed miserably and that's what led me to Ecommerce.
Mehran: (14:52)
Oh, that's interesting. Okay. Oh, man. Graveyard shift work is pretty rough, man. You're basically living like a vampire, but you're not sucking blood. you're just tired all the time and yeah, it's pretty bad. Not healthy.
Nick: (15:09)
Yeah, man. I'm with you there. So, once you got picked up on Amazon, did you keep the real estate stuff going? Did you put it on pods or how did the situation play out?
Mehran: (15:19)
Definitely kept everything going, which was kind of hard at first, because I had to go through the learning phase and the building phase of Amazon's business. So, I definitely didn't give it my full attention. And, then I still work at my job.
And the real estate stuff kind of definitely took a side seat, but yeah, focused more on the Amazon business, but like my mentality kind of shifted a little bit where Amazon the business that I'm building is to generate income, help me leave my job, and then I can use the profits that I make, and don't spend like the profits I save, I can use that to invest in real estate, like after I have money from the business.
So, I kind of did a mental shift instead of just taking my income from work and investing in real estate. It's time to generate more income with the business, the Ecommerce business. And then that can funnel into the real estate stuff after. So that's kind of the mentality I took in the beginning.
Nick: (16:27)
So, how did all that play out? Like, were you able to quit that job? How fast did that happen?
Mehran: (16:33)
Yeah So, I actually quit really fast because like you, I was definitely not feeling it. I launched in November just after black Friday. So, basically December 2015, and I quit my job January 20th, like a month and a half later, yeah. So things started to pick up pretty quickly because I'm in the jewelry niche, I have a jewelry company and you know, around that time, that niche is doing really well, because of the presence for Q4 and stuff or for the holidays.
So, things picked up and I was like, man, I'm making more than the job already and even when I'm not working, the business is still making income on the weekends, on my days off and I had this mental shift where like, okay, actually working on the business now is more valuable from my time than like going to work. So, I should quit my job and focus on this business because like the opportunity is there.
But in retrospect, I didn't realize that those sales were so high because it was the holidays, but it all worked out. So, yeah.
Nick: (17:51)
Well, I think we have to take a quick pause and just like to appreciate that moment, right? Because, so many people want that moment in their life where they have this vision, this big vision and there are probably other people in their lives telling them they're freaking crazy, shut up, stop complaining, go to work. This is how life is, right? And there's so many of us that just kind of give up.
Right. Like, I think I'm always grateful for the situations that put my back up against the wall because those are the ones that always made me say, no, screw this, I'm working towards my goal. I mean, I guess it's kind of like what you mentioned with your father. It's like those really unfortunate moments that put us into gear, to work on these things.
And like you did it pretty quickly here, right?
So you tapped into that real estate community and followed along, helping other people share your story.
And because of that, you met someone else who brought you into this Amazon world.
And then, that led to you being able to achieve your vision of leaving your job, to focus on something else.
Mehran: (19:17)
Yeah, man. It's been a really big blessing for me and I definitely had a lot of naysayers too now that I look back, because the job I was working in is like a union thing. So, once people get into the union, they never wanna leave. They're going to retire there. The benefits were good. So, all my coworkers were telling me, oh, you're crazy, man.
Like, don't leave this job. This is like the best security you'll ever have. And actually both my parents worked at that company. So, It was kind of like a family thing also, and everybody was telling me that I was tripping, I shouldn't leave. And I think I had so much resolve in it from my dad passing that I didn't let that stuff faze me and I just stayed focused the whole time and I knew what I wanted.
Yeah. But, definitely a blessing since then it was a great moment when I left.
Nick: (20:14)
Yeah. I think it's one of those things you realize, like for a lot of entrepreneurs and people that go down this path, it's when people start telling you you're crazy, or you stop what you're doing, that's how I look at that like, oh, I'm getting close to doing what I want to do. Right.
Mehran: (20:33)
Well, now we think that because we know what's up right back then. I definitely didn't let it faze me, but it definitely did a little bit, it's kind of scary, right? Like, okay, I'm leaving this good-paying job, this business just started. But, I think I was just so excited about it that I had to follow through with it. Like, this business is just starting to take off.
I'm also in the Facebook group, and the MDS group at that time everyone's talking. So I think being part of that community also made it easier to kind of take that step in leaving my job because, look at all these other entrepreneurs that are doing it. That I'm talking to like every day, rather than just at home, I start the business.
I don't have a community then maybe when I'm talking to the people at work telling me that oh, you should reconsider. Like maybe that would affect me more. But I think being part of the community made it a lot easier for me.
Nick: (21:29)
100%, man. Yeah. Surrounding yourself with those people, picking up those other vibes, those positive vibes versus the negative vibes, right?
Mehran: (21:39)
Yeah. Like a bunch of winners just telling me.
Nick: (21:44)
So, what other changes did you have to make? I mean, you mentioned being super motivated was motivation enough to kind of get you where you wanted to be, or did you have to make some other changes as well?
Mehran: (21:58)
Yeah, so I definitely had to make some other changes. I think the biggest thing is just always learning. So, like when I learn real estate or Ecommerce, the most important part is that you need to learn everything about it. Because this is like when it becomes important and there is a lot of money involved and you wanna build a business, you got to learn everything about what's going on.
Like in this case, Amazon, how it works. So, I think the big part of the shift was just constantly learning how to build the Amazon business and how Amazon works and kind of shifting my mindset towards growing this business rather than just being, Yeah.
I think that the big part was shifting from an employee mentality to a business owner mentality and all of that was just learning, books, and talking to other people, getting their mindset on that. And I think that was a big shift for me at that time.
Nick: (23:07)
So, what were some key things you implemented there? How much were you doing in the business? Like you said at first, you were doing some messages, or like all that stuff. What was your big first step that when you look back on this, got you closer to where you wanted to be? Where you were working on the business and not in it that much.
Mehran : (23:36)
Okay. So yeah, definitely when I started, I was doing literally everything. And yeah, I think the big first step was my first hire. My first employee. Yeah. I hired her, I hired my assistant. She's still with me now. She's in the Philippines. Yeah, her first thing was to just answer messages, and deal with the customer service, cause I'd get a lot of customer messages.
So just that freeing that workload of dealing with the messages so that I can focus on new products and like other stuff and not deal with that. I think that was a big shift for me because I've never had an employee before, and then that kind of made me realize, okay, I need to offload everything that is kind of like not growing the business and just running, maintaining the business.
I need to offload that to her. So that I can just focus on new products and learning and advertising and stuff like that. Yeah. The first hire was a big deal.
Nick: (24:42)
Nice. Yeah, definitely a hurdle to overcome. I remember just thinking, I could do everything myself or, someone wasn't gonna do it better. Right. Like all these things that pop up in our minds to kind of just make it difficult for no reason really. And then you get over that hurdle and you're like, oh wow. This is very helpful.
Mehran: (25:07)
Yeah. Also, when I started the business even to this day, I viewed it as a lifestyle, people call it a lifestyle business and I'm not in it to build this big behemoth, like a nine-figure company with 50 employees plus, and have this big organization. I've always wanted to keep it lean because for me, this is to enjoy my lifestyle where I can go travel the world, focus on my health, and be happy, and things like that.
So, I've kept it pretty lean and haven't always been focused on optimizing these systems with my employees and stuff like that. And for growth, it's been more of like just to remove myself as much as possible while still growing, but kind of keep things pretty lean. Yeah.
Nick: (26:05)
Yeah. I like that, man. I mean, what kind of stuff have you been able to accomplish in your business while still maintaining that lifestyle that you want to live, what kind of revenue are you guys doing or products you release in a year?
Mehran: (26:25)
So I think right now I'm about 2 million a year. I've always been hovering around that since the peak of the business. We launch a couple of products each year. In the past, during COVID we kind of just focused on maintenance. I didn't really launch any new products in the company, but yeah, around 2 million. And yeah, that's what we're doing.
Nick: (26:57)
And then how many hours are you putting in a week on the business?
Mehran: (27:01)
I'd say right now it changes, right? Like if you're actually launching new products or you're going to a new marketplace on Amazon or something comes up, I'll be putting in maybe 20, 30 hours a week, but For the most part, I try to keep it a lot less like maybe 10, 15. Definitely. I've tried to remove myself as much as possible from the business.
So yeah, that's what I'm doing now.
Nick: (27:31)
Right on man. And so, what are you filling your time with? Where do you live again? You're international, right? Usually in the States right now.
Mehran: (27:40)
Yeah. I'm in the States now just visiting family, but I live mainly in Thailand now, So I'm living in Thailand. We have a bunch of MDS guys living there. It's a great place. Yeah, I'm living there. When I first quit my job, I just started traveling. I just left the US and went traveling the world for a couple of years while growing the business, which is pretty cool.
But, I kind of got burnt out doing that. Not having a home and always being on the move kind of wears on you after a while. So, I kind of set up shop in Thailand. That's my home base now.
Mehran: (28:17)
Nice. What did you like about Thailand? What made you call that place home?
Nick: (28:21)
Oh, man. The food is so good. People are nice. I think the weather is great too. It's always sunny and like when it rains, it doesn't rain for too long or I guess during the rainy season, I usually go traveling. It rains a lot there, but yeah, just the people there, I feel the vibe and they have this mentality, they call it Sabai, Sabai. It means a kind of okay, everything is cool, just be happy and don't stress.
And I can feel that a lot When I'm there. So, I like that vibe because I grew up in LA where it's kind of pretty fast-paced, and I just like that more relaxed lifestyle where you can kind of appreciate your time going to nature. And it's just not as stressful there for me. And I like that a lot. Yeah.
Nick: (29:11)
Yeah. I haven't heard that phrase or heard that about Thailand, but that kind of reminds me of the no-worries vibe.
Mehran: (29:22)
Yeah.
Nick: (29:23)
I'm big into surfing and the surf communities like that, they can be a little agro when they're out in the water at a specific surf break, some locals or something like that. But for the most part, pretty laid back. No worries, whatever happens, type vibe.
Mehran: (29:42)
Yeah. But it could also be a trap. Right. Because it's still relaxing there sometimes. But the good thing is, there's a pretty big entrepreneurial community, a lot of eCommerce guys, a lot of MDS guys where I live too. So, we always kind of keep each other motivated, stay healthy, stay grinding, and stuff.
Nick: (30:03)
Do you chat with those guys pretty often?
Mehran: (30:05)
Oh yeah, man. It's funny now that I think about it, some of my closest friends and my whole network now are all MDS guys. like we're good friends now. I've gone on trips together with them and basically, Yeah. It's pretty funny.
Nick: (30:28)
Yeah. I think it's like MDS for me, it became like the next, I don't know how to say it, the people become new friends, like as you get older, your friendships kind of change a little bit and kind of like what you said, I've hung out with more MDS people for my birthday. I went and spent a few days with another member, someone I got to know in the group and just traveling and going on the MDS trips and stuff like that.
Like you're making these great memories with these amazing people. And you just tend to want to repeat those things. So, you just keep seeing the same people.
Mehran: (31:11)
Yeah, because everyone's kind of dealing with the same challenges and might have similar aspirations, you know, because we're all doing the thing. Right, and I think that lays the groundwork for some good friendships.
Nick: (31:28)
Yeah. Well, what else are you guys doing over there? You mentioned you do Brazilian jiu-jitsu, how often do you train at the moment?
Mehran: (31:36)
Oh yeah. I'm training. I try to tone it down a little bit. I used to train a lot, like twice a day and I just burned myself out. I train about three, or four times a week. Workout in between just doing that.
Nick: (31:51)
Do you know the guy that does the ... Ivan, Ivan something? I think he's in Thailand. He does the Goda training, but I think he does BJJ as well.
Mehran: (32:03)
No, I don't know this guy. Is he in MDS?
Nick: (32:05)
He is not in MDS, but Nate Ginsburg from the SellerPlex guy put me on to him.
Mehran: (32:12)
Yeah.
Nick: (32:12)
So, yeah. I'll send you that stuff later. He's an interesting fitness guy, martial arts guy probably be cool for you guys to connect over there.
Mehran: (32:24)
Yeah. Okay, cool. That would be good.
Nick: (32:28)
So what else, man? Did you get anything big? What brought you back to the States? Do you say family? Had any special occasion? How long are you around for?
Mehran: (32:36)
Yeah. I came back to see family because when I'm out there, I don't miss LA too much, but I miss my family a lot. So, life is good over there, but they're not there. So I always try to come back a couple of times a year and see them. I'm here for another two weeks or so then I go back.
Yeah. I wanna go back, put some more time there before I start traveling again, get a refresher, and get work on some stuff in the business, and then maybe this summer go to Europe or travel a bit more around Asia. I think I'm ready to travel, especially now that a lot of countries are opening, making it easier to get in, like with all the COVID rules and stuff. I'm starting to get that itch again.
Nick: (33:20)
Yeah.
Mehran: (33:22)
Yeah.
Nick: (33:23)
That's what's up man. Cool. So, what are some goals you guys are working on for the business?
Mehran: (33:32)
Yeah, for the business, everyone's talking about, okay, I'm gonna hit this next milestone of like oh, we're gonna go eight figures this year or something like that. But actually for me in the last year or two, we've taken about, I'd say a 30% hit in our revenue and profits like during the COVID times a lot of supply chain issues and other stuff.
So, my goal now for this year at least is to get back to what our numbers were before the pandemic. So I'm working on that. We're going to be launching some new products. I hired a new employee to revamp our listings, make some videos now, and just update all the product images and kind of make push towards optimizing things a little bit better because I got a little lazy with it before.
Yeah. Get back to our old pre-pandemic revenue numbers and then take it from there.
Nick: (34:36)
Have you guys had any big wins since trying to bounce back from COVID?
Mehran: (34:43)
Well, yeah, I'd say the big win now is that we don't have the inventory limit issues at Amazon. I know anyone that's selling on Amazon, that's listening to this knows what I'm talking about. Like, they started limiting the amount of inventory that we can send because they were having some stress at the warehouses, but now that that's removed the big win is I can send in inventory a lot easier and launch new products and everything.
So just getting back in stock for all our products is a huge win because we have a lot of SKUs, like different sizes of jewelry, and different colors, and it takes up a lot of different SKUs rather than just a couple of hero SKUs that are selling a lot of units that get a lot of inventory space like accredited to them. I have a lot of SKUs doing a few sales, but across a bunch of SKUs.
So Amazon's algorithm really kind of screwed me when it came to the inventory restrictions. But now that that's gone, I can get back in stock and things are starting to look good now.
Nick: (35:55)
Yeah. Those limits came out of nowhere too. Right? Like they came overnight.
Mehran: (36:00)
Yeah.
Nick: (36:00)
They like to hit us, with some of those surprises throughout the year.
Mehran: (36:07)
Yeah. But we gotta roll with the punches. Right. So that was a thing. And now it's better.
Nick: (36:13)
Where do you find yourself working in the business the most? These days?
Mehran: (36:21)
I would say a big part of it is, I mentioned I hired the new girl. I'd say communicating with my team and just making sure that they're not only doing what they're doing but that they're responsible for it. And making sure that they're responsible for what they're working on so that I can focus on the other things that I want to do. Like, I'm working on some new products now.
So, I always want to be involved in that to make sure that we're doing everything right. And like the other stuff, I can kind of delegate to them. So, I would say working on the new products, optimizing new products, and dealing with the manufacturers to make sure that is how I want it. Yeah. I'm still involved in that.
Nick: (37:19)
Okay.
Mehran: (37:20)
Yeah.
Nick: (37:21)
Nice. Yeah. The product development side of things is still fun to be involved in. I feel like that's exciting because it's usually like new, fresh ideas that you're working on.
Mehran: (37:33)
Yeah. It keeps me engaged because you know, the everyday business is not, not too exciting, but if I'm working on new products like, oh, okay, this is going to work, doing product research and getting kind of excited about the potential of it. I like that aspect of it.
Nick: (37:53)
Yeah. So, it sounds like you might fit more like what someone would call a visionary role or a CEO role, the ideal person taking risks, stuff like that. Have you taken any steps to help? Well, I guess you have, but what has helped you with those things that are repetitive and that you just need to be consistent on that are always going to be there?
Mehran: (38:22)
Hmm. Wait, I kind of don't understand that question.
Nick: (38:25)
Like the repetitive procedures and stuff like handling customers, customer support, or responding to Amazon account notifications, things like that that are repetitive and just gotta be done over and over. Like what steps did you take to help offload that stuff?
Mehran: (38:46)
Oh yeah. So, my first hire was my employee, she's a rockstar. So just having the confidence in knowing that she can handle these things kind of like as I built my, as we've kind of grown I think I've been really lucky and just knowing that I can kind of tell her to handle it and she'll handle it, but stuff like performance notifications from seller central, I deal with that because that's like, a risk to the account and I'll deal with those red flags myself.
But yeah, just having the right team in place that you could delegate to, I think that's the most important part because I don't like doing that stuff. I don't like working in the business at all. I just want to go have fun and do jiu-jitsu and travel and stuff so the least I can do as possible is, what I'm optimizing for.
So yeah, I think that driving mentality that I'm optimizing for my lifestyle is kind of what helps me delegate stuff and kind of keep a balance with that and focus on the bigger, valued task.
Nick: (40:00)
Awesome man. Well, yeah, it's exciting to see that you've been able to maintain that fast growth from when you got started to where you are, is at now and just really live that life that you want to where you have time to travel, time to train and time to hop on a plane and go visit the family and stuff like that. That's awesome, man. Congrats on that.
Mehran: (40:25)
Yeah. Thank you, man. Yeah, it's been a blessing. And that's why I just love being able to have this business, it's like Ecommerce so I can work on my laptop. I don't have a physical location or anything. And just that ability has opened up a lot of doors for me because I could just work from anywhere and yeah, just make sure I stay focused on the business while traveling, which is good.
Yeah, it's been great.
Nick: (40:56)
Yeah, man, it's such a good feeling. I mean those moments we have where we kind of can take a step back and think about the fact that, Hey, we had this dream a few years ago, 10 years ago, whatever it may have been. And now we're out here, here living it
Mehran: (41:14)
Yeah. I think about that often actually because I'm living that. I would say that the vision I had before and now I'm thinking about, okay, what am I gonna do next? Right. Because I'm doing this and yeah, what's the plan? So that's a lot, that's what I've been pondering on lately. I don't have all the answers yet though.
Nick: (41:39)
Yeah. I think the next part can be hard to figure out. I know for me because there are a lot of different things I'd be excited to do, but for me I try to just come back and just have that moment of gratitude where it's like, wow, I made this happen. I did this. How does it make you feel when you have those moments too, to pause and kind of sit back and reflect on that stuff?
Mehran: (42:09)
Oh, it feels amazing, man. The problem is I don't do that often enough. Because I'm always thinking about, okay, what's this fire I got to put out or like what I'm gonna do. So, I think I definitely could stand to take more time to be grateful and appreciative of the life I've built for myself. But yeah, it feels great. I try to give back when I can like anyone has questions, I try to help answer them.
Like, in my personal life or on MDS or something like that. Yeah, it's a great feeling. I'm really glad I put in the work.
Nick: (42:51)
Yeah, man. Well, we're certainly grateful to have you and it's cool to hear your story of dealing with the shift work I'm sure you were tired after getting off work, but you still came back and like focused on this side hustle to work towards something new and you made it happen, man. And it's great. And hopefully, someone listens to that and kind of hopes that'll tip the scale in their favor and they'll start working on a side hustle or something.
Mehran: (43:25)
Yeah, for sure. I hope so. Because I know that if I can do it basically, yeah. Anyone can do it if they just put the work in, learn the right things, and just get involved. I think it's possible for anyone. So that's part of the reason why I did this show to hop on the podcast. Cause I know if I can talk about my story and maybe it just motivates or gives someone that a little nudge, they can take to the next step in their journey. I think it's worth it. Like part of me giving back.
Nick: (43:56)
Yeah. I think it's great, man. And like that's probably how you got involved with that real estate podcast. Right? Like you probably heard someone else sharing their story or something similar and now it's great to be in a position where you can kind of do the same for someone else.
Mehran: (44:13)
Yeah, A hundred percent
Nick: (44:16)
All right, man. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come on and chat. It's been good. And I hope to see you at an event soon. Have you looked at coming to any of the upcoming MDS events?
Mehran: (44:26)
Yeah. I know, they just sent out the email for the big one in Mexico City. We're all talking about it. So I'm probably gonna come to that one and see everybody.
Nick: (44:37)
All right, man. Well, hopefully.
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