00:00:00:02 - 00:00:05:13
Unknown
I'd say 80% of people that were in the shoe business. They have by far left.

00:00:05:18 - 00:00:09:05
Unknown
He's, husband to father, owner of Sneaker City

00:00:09:07 - 00:00:11:06
Speaker 2
Jordans, Yeezys, Nike Dunks,

00:00:11:06 - 00:00:17:23
Unknown
Steve, if you had one thing you could tell someone in your shoes, let's say five years ago kind of got the entrepreneurial mindset.

00:00:17:23 - 00:00:28:23
Unknown
And in the business, whether it's shoes or anything else, well what's like one piece of advice you would give those people might be a little bit of a hot take, but in my opinion, I would say do not

00:00:29:01 - 00:00:52:10
Unknown
thanks for tuning in. This is gunner with Realty Growth here with my friend Steven Olander going on. He's, husband to father, owner of Sneaker City and and many other things. And so, yeah, excited to have you here to just kind of chat about you and your life and kind of kind of how, you know, from a business standpoint, kind of how you got to where you are as well as personal and everything else.

00:00:52:10 - 00:01:12:19
Unknown
So I just kind of want to figure out who you are and, and what you're all about. Cool. Thanks for being here. But yeah, happy to be here. Yeah, 100%. Well, I think to start things off, just, maybe you. Why don't you just kind of introduce yourself, as far as you know, where your background, where you came from, and then kind of maybe a quick story as to what led into where you are today.

00:01:12:19 - 00:01:24:02
Unknown
I know we'll dig in a little deeper on some of the details on things, but yeah, just to kind of introduce yourself and let us know who we're dealing with here. Yeah. So my name is Steve Olander, born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota. I went to, high school at century.

00:01:24:04 - 00:01:48:13
Unknown
Played basketball there for and five years. I got bumped up as an eighth grader to, play the sophomore team and then kind of varsity from then on. And that's kind of how I grew a little bit of a following. I started work at Scheels as, senior, and I was a shoe salesman, and a lot of people would ask me, you know, where the high end Jordans, where are the Yeezys, where's the Kobe's at?

00:01:48:14 - 00:02:09:23
Unknown
And where's the real stuff? Exactly? Where's the good stuff? Yeah. Where's the good stuff? Is it hiding in the back? You know what's going on. So it's interesting. What Scheels does is they they put you through a very intense sales training course. And what they tell us to do is if we don't have the product you're looking for, you know, then you got to go and source it and direct them to to where the things are that they're looking for.

00:02:10:00 - 00:02:23:23
Unknown
Sure. Yeah. So when they're they're looking for those high end Jordans and Yeezys, what I end up doing is sending them all out of the cities. You know, that's an hour, hour and a half drive. Yeah. So I started thinking to myself, you know what? If I had these and, you know, can I turn a profit here? Yeah.

00:02:23:23 - 00:02:52:05
Unknown
So I started doing was, you know, I'd buy a used beat up shoes on Facebook Marketplace. Obviously, I took plenty of L's on, on some fake sneakers being on on marketplace and all that good stuff, but, you know, learn, learn the hard way there. I'm sure we'll get into that as well. But, then I bring those shoes, I take them to the stores in the cities I trade them for, you know, brand new or nicer condition pairs, and I bring them back, and then I'd start posting them on Snapchat and Instagram.

00:02:52:05 - 00:03:12:01
Unknown
And, you know, having that following from basketball definitely was huge because then, yeah, a lot of my guys that were hoopers or even football players or just anybody would hit me up and want them. Yeah, yeah. And then you became the guy then, then it just became one of those things where it's like, okay, why am I working at Scheels as a shoe salesman when I can literally be that?

00:03:12:01 - 00:03:24:11
Unknown
But so much more on my own, on site, not having somebody tell me what to do and just kind of start my own business. So, yeah, started it on an underground location that you helped me out with. Yeah. That's right, that's right. I'm sure we'll have some footage that

00:03:24:11 - 00:03:26:18
Unknown
original. Yeah, definitely learned a lot about that.

00:03:26:18 - 00:03:48:22
Unknown
Obviously, being in an underground situation, you know, you want to get to a place where you can have a location that lots of people can access easily. Yeah. And that's why we started, looking into the Apache Mall and, and then, doing pop ups and that that's really when it just exploded to something that I never imagined, you know, what would this would ever be?

00:03:48:22 - 00:04:08:11
Unknown
Yeah. And then, you know, there's there's some major ups, some major downs. Covid was one of those things where it's actually a blessing in disguise for us. And it's interesting to say that, but the amount of people that would come in with their stimulus check of, like, 1200 bucks. Yeah. And be like, yeah, it's time to buy a nice pair of shoes.

00:04:08:11 - 00:04:18:20
Unknown
We're just we're sitting at home doing nothing. I want to get something, you know, to give myself a little bit. Yeah, yeah, 100%. So that's kind of where it exploded. And then, you know, the rocky parts

00:04:18:20 - 00:04:24:07
Unknown
there was a bunch of nasty things with, you know, groups and partners and all that stuff.

00:04:24:07 - 00:04:24:18
Unknown
So

00:04:24:20 - 00:04:33:10
Unknown
you know, we moved around data location in Rochester, data location in Mankato and then, kind of present day now we signed a contract with God.

00:04:33:10 - 00:04:55:17
Unknown
So, so we exclusively travel, to other major events. And the nice thing is we also are able to go to the sneaker cons as well. So we really target those to, businesses that, that do those events for sure. Yeah, yeah, 100%. And then obviously if there's one local, well, we'll try and, you know, support local events there.

00:04:55:18 - 00:05:13:05
Unknown
There's like an MSG sneaker exchange in Milwaukee that, that sometimes will go to, you know, help boost and promote, anything that's local in the area. We want to try and help out as well. So yeah, now it's now it's just travel and there's a lot more free time to kind of be a father and be a realtor and all that good stuff.

00:05:13:05 - 00:05:38:03
Unknown
Yeah, 100%. Well, yeah. So let's segue into that then. So, maybe people kind of picked it up a little bit, but basically, you know, you started off, you know, with a physical location, kind of had a few different ones going Apache Mall than the Mankato store for a bit. So talk a little bit, maybe into the behind the scenes as to why you made the shift you did to having right now, no physical location, but obviously still your presence is huge out there.

00:05:38:05 - 00:05:54:13
Unknown
So maybe just talk a little bit about how that kind of progressed and what you learned from being physical. And then maybe kind of follow up with, you know, could that ever be in the cards in the future, maybe just talk about that on a little bit? Yeah. So when I guess we'll start with being in the Apache Mall, that's when it exploded.

00:05:54:15 - 00:06:10:10
Unknown
And it was really an unfortunate thing because I think to this day we'd still be there if we if we could be there. Yeah. I think it's a great time to use this platform and actually kind of say what actually happened because it's been many, many years that I've kind of kept my mouth shut a little bit.

00:06:10:13 - 00:06:30:19
Unknown
Yeah. So this will be a good clip for the for the shorts and the Facebooks and the like, good stuff. So essentially what happened was we were obviously competing with champs at a high level, and it was one of those things where the the mall people would come in and say, hey, why are you posting these shoes?

00:06:30:21 - 00:06:50:02
Unknown
And it's pretty black and white. Hey, I'm posting them to sell them, right? Yeah. You say, well, champs doesn't like that and we need you to stop posting. And so I actually did exactly what they said. But then what champs did is they went and saw a post from a couple weeks back and they said, hey, we sell these shoes and now he's selling them.

00:06:50:04 - 00:07:14:19
Unknown
That's, you know, in their agreement. It's a non-compete clause. Yeah, yeah, add them all. Yeah. What I was trying to say to them is, yes, we're selling the same shoes, but our shoes are probably triple the price. So they sell it at retail. And obviously once they sell out, which they sell out in the first ten minutes, being on the sneakers app or a retail store, then it comes to us and then we have to obviously buy them at resell and then resell them for a profit.

00:07:14:22 - 00:07:32:08
Unknown
Right. So so they're still selling all their shoes. Exactly. They're still making their money. And then they're doing all that. And so it ended up getting so severe that, I got a phone call at 6 a.m., woke me in the wife up and said, hey, you have three days to take it out. And and it was just it was a shocker.

00:07:32:08 - 00:07:47:23
Unknown
It was really unfortunate that such a big business would have to go after a, you know, a little fish that's like yourself and, you know, it's just a one man show at this point. Yeah, right. I mean, right. So there was a lot of frustrations with that. I fought back as best I could,

00:07:48:01 - 00:07:52:12
Unknown
I mean obviously that sucks, right? You mean getting booted out and you know,

00:07:52:14 - 00:08:09:22
Unknown
I mean, it's it's maybe a blessing in disguise. And it's also something to be like, I mean, the impact that you were able to have, like, like you just said, you just said, you know, hey, I'm working at Shield and started selling shoes on Snapchat. Sure. And now you're in Apache Mall making all the, you know, making the big boys sweat with with your competition.

00:08:09:22 - 00:08:34:20
Unknown
Yeah. I mean, that's that says a lot about about what you're doing. And obviously it didn't deter you. Yeah. Right. So then so you get kicked out of Apache Mall. What's the next move after that? Yeah. So we built the location, right next to Chipotle and North. So it's still in Rochester. And then, what I ended up doing was started doing pop ups in the Mankato location and kind of see, hey, can we branch this out and really do, you know, a couple stores in a couple different locations?

00:08:34:20 - 00:09:02:07
Unknown
Even lacrosse was in the conversation. I looked into Des Moines and and Davenport and all these places in Iowa as well. Yeah. Just kind of wanted to branch out and use that, that money that I made, you know, during Covid and and really try and make something happen. Yeah. It was unfortunate that once we built it out and started, you know, marketing it and, and the same team that I had, it really was a pretty quick fall off with them.

00:09:02:07 - 00:09:26:23
Unknown
And so the fact that all those things were happening at once trying to expand, but in the, in the background, there was just a lot of messiness with the group that I had. Yeah, originally it was challenging. And so not only did did that, you know, make things a little bit more of a struggle for the Rochester location because they were all in the Rochester area, you know, they all lived in that area.

00:09:26:23 - 00:09:44:14
Unknown
So when they work there is pretty easy. But when they kind of left on their own terms, then it really was on me to just be there every day. Yeah. You know, it was it was a grind, especially when I had a team that was just coming in from Mankato and I didn't really have to do a whole lot.

00:09:44:14 - 00:10:00:19
Unknown
And, and they were kind of running the show. I had a general manager, Angela, he's still here to this day. Shout out to Angela. Yeah, he's he's he's been a day one and he's traveling with us now. So that's, that's such a cool thing that he's still stuck with me. Yeah. Yeah. And he brought a couple of his buddies with.

00:10:00:19 - 00:10:16:22
Unknown
And, you know, we haven't looked back since, but. So that's why we ended up closing down the Rochester location, because it was so much focused on me being there 24 over seven. And, yeah, people that needed shoes delivered. You know, we I was doing that on my own. And it just got to the point where it was too much.

00:10:16:22 - 00:10:43:08
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. You know makes sense. And so then when we had the Mankato location was doing well. And honestly, it's still probably be doing fine if I still had it. Yeah. It's just one of those things where once we sign that contract and we started going to these events and then cutting costs with, with shipping, that's been the huge thing that now we can just ship stuff to and from the events, instead of having to transport it with U-Haul and gas and hotel and pay and drivers and all this stuff.

00:10:43:09 - 00:11:02:10
Unknown
Yeah. You know, you learn a lot about how much money is actually going out versus coming in, especially once you're not in a in a position that you're making so much money, like we were at Apache. Yeah. Right. So yeah, really just sitting down to figuring out, hey, we can save so much money not paying employees, not paying insurance on on a mall location.

00:11:02:10 - 00:11:24:17
Unknown
Yeah. You know, all all this stuff is rent itself. Yeah. Rent itself is up there. And every single year they're going to bump you up, you know. Yeah, 100%. So that's that's kind of why we, we stopped with the physical locations is number one. It's so much more cost efficient. Yeah. And number two I have all my all the time in the world now to do anything that, that God wants me to do right.

00:11:24:17 - 00:11:41:23
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. You know, obviously be a father number one and be a realtor, be a husband and all that good stuff. So, yeah, it's really opened up a lot of doors. And to your point of maybe it is a blessing in disguise, there's always this question that that pops into my head, not daily, but

00:11:42:02 - 00:11:51:16
Unknown
There's always that question. What if what would it still look like? Yeah. But definitely there's definitely, some, some learning curves with it.

00:11:51:16 - 00:11:53:17
Unknown
And I think it ended up being okay.

00:11:53:19 - 00:12:02:15
Unknown
it's, it's totally normal and and respectable to, you know, you got to grind right. Like we, we on earth as men and as human beings and men and women, whatever.

00:12:02:15 - 00:12:22:07
Unknown
Right. We're you know, you got to have that sense of urgency to to, you know, to go out and work is a good thing. Sure. But like you said now, now you're you've got a wife, you've got kids. Like priorities, I'm sure have shifted big time. And like, I think, you know, time's the most valuable currency, you know, it really is.

00:12:22:07 - 00:12:35:09
Unknown
And and, you know, I can definitely relate to that a little bit in my life too. But yeah. So just talk a little bit about kind of your outlook on life. And then and like I you've kind of mentioned a little bit like having that extra time to be able to focus on your family and things like that.

00:12:35:10 - 00:12:57:03
Unknown
Yeah. Just talk about that a little bit. Yeah. Time is such a precious thing now. Especially, you know, now that we've had my son Roman for seven months, you know, this the start from when he was born to being up 24 seven, just being with him, helping the wife, whatever, with whatever she needs. Yeah. It it honestly just puts life in a completely different perspective, right?

00:12:57:09 - 00:13:16:07
Unknown
Yeah. Obviously saying that anything with my business doesn't really matter. Yes, it does matter to some degree. Yeah, yeah. But if you ask any of my followers and people that have bought shoes off me, I don't think I've posted a shoe in, you know, months. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And I'll, I'll get back to that I'm sure probably this the next couple of weeks.

00:13:16:09 - 00:13:34:19
Unknown
Life is starting to kind of pan out a little bit to where, okay, I can carve out maybe an hour to post a bunch of inventory and yeah, yeah, if it sells, it sells. But like I said, it's not one of those things where my, my main focus is, is right now my family. Yeah. My relationship with God has gotten so much stronger.

00:13:34:23 - 00:13:55:08
Unknown
And I'm just doing men's Bible studies and just diving deeper into his word. That's that's been huge. Yeah. Because once once you put that at the center of your life, kind of everything kind of falls in place, you know. Amen to that. So that's been huge for me. And then obviously being able to work with my wife, being a husband, wife duo for, for real.

00:13:55:08 - 00:14:12:08
Unknown
It that's been awesome. Yeah. A lot of people are like, oh, man, I couldn't ever work with my wife. And I could just. I could say, that's too far from far from the truth. Yeah, yeah. So yes, you guys are a good team for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's super cool, man. I mean, you're blessed. I'm happy for you and.

00:14:12:08 - 00:14:17:16
Unknown
Yeah, well, I think that's a good opportunity then talk about. So like yeah he kind of mentioned

00:14:17:16 - 00:14:24:01
Unknown
know, Steven as a real estate license as his wife and their do their, you know, husband, wife tandem in, in the real estate business.

00:14:24:01 - 00:14:48:00
Unknown
So kind of when did that start and how did how did that start? And, and, what's that looking like right now and how how are you enjoying that? Yeah. So she's had her license for it's probably getting close to three years now and she's done her own transactions and she's been great, since then. And obviously when she was pregnant and then having Roman, she kind of just kind of got put to the side a little bit.

00:14:48:00 - 00:15:04:08
Unknown
Yeah. As I'm sure many families do, you know, and they have their own. It's like all the focus on him. Yeah. We'll figure it out later. Type 200%. So I figure only a little for so long man. Right. And so I figured I get my license I got in April. And pretty much what we're doing is I'm making all the cold calls.

00:15:04:08 - 00:15:33:08
Unknown
I'm going out there and prospecting, trying to get business. And in fact, we closed on a property in Preston that I cold called two days ago. So yes, it's definitely starting to turn a profit, which is awesome. Yeah. And she kind of does the behind the scenes stuff with the documents and signatures and all that good stuff. Yeah, it's something like I understand the contracts and I could yeah, you know, present it to a buyer, seller, but you know, actually uploading it to the Exp world and all that good stuff, it's it's kind of like out of my wheelhouse.

00:15:33:10 - 00:15:53:17
Unknown
So that's where we work really well together. Yeah. Is that, you know, I can go out and do all those things. And she's got her own. Yeah, she's got your back. She's got my back. And make sure that we're getting the legal terms and all that. So yeah. Yeah, it's been awesome. So that's freakin awesome. So just a little aside, just like talking about work life balance and and all these things.

00:15:53:19 - 00:16:15:15
Unknown
So let me ask you, you have the seven months old. Yeah. Roman. Yep. And, have you guys, you know, done anything as far as, like childcare, daycare or anything like that? No. And that's we're isn't that literally there's nothing else to to be in that position. And that kind of tells back to closing those locations down. So now I have all the free time in the world.

00:16:15:15 - 00:16:40:04
Unknown
Yeah. And when I say free time, that just goes towards family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's definitely not a free time to where you do whatever the heck you want. Yeah. But it's a great, opportunity to be able to spend time with family on a daily basis. Yeah, right. Instead of the alternative of running two locations, you know, being in the business 24 seven, having to put him through, like a childcare or something like that, where.

00:16:40:04 - 00:16:56:21
Unknown
Yeah, you only get to spend so much during the morning and so much during the night. Yeah. And in our scenario, like we were playing ping pong at noon today, you know what I mean? It's like, yeah, it's one of those things where we don't the dream. Yeah. Yeah. It's I mean, we put them down for now. We got to spend some quality time.

00:16:56:21 - 00:17:15:18
Unknown
And that's honestly that, that in itself is, is such a blessing to, to not have to be tied up with with something always. Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, I feel like that's just like by too that by definition that's freedom is what that is. It's like, that's the American dream. Like. Sure, you've grinded your way into a reputation.

00:17:15:18 - 00:17:34:16
Unknown
You built a following, you're slinging sneakers, you know, like and and kind of doing all these different side hustles and you're doing it on your terms and on your schedule. Yeah. And I think, like, I think that that's a good thing for a lot of people to hear, you know, I can relate to that as well. Like we said, my wife and I, we've got two kids.

00:17:34:17 - 00:17:58:15
Unknown
Sure. Never done any childcare. I've kind of got I've got some insurance business going. I got some real estate business going on. Nothing nearly as cool as as slinging sneakers. Right. But I know, like, if I speak for myself, like, my main priority is number one. Man's got to put food on the table, right? Right. So you gotta you gotta make money like it's it's it's what I'm not saying is, you know, is don't go work and don't put like you have to do that.

00:17:58:17 - 00:18:18:02
Unknown
But if you can do that in a way that allows you to be present in your family's lives, I feel like I feel like what more could could you possibly want? Sure. You know. Yeah. So and that's what you're doing. Yeah. And so that's awesome. Yeah. That's like you're going to, you know, and there's going to be gritty times and like you know, who knows maybe more kids are coming.

00:18:18:02 - 00:18:42:16
Unknown
I don't know what the Lord has planned for you. Sure. But I think just just continuing on the path that you're on and like keeping that the priority, I think that that's that's like true wealth right there. Sure. In my opinion. Yeah. And speaking of it being a priority, it's it's interesting to see because we used to do these events back when we had locations to and yes, I mean, it's a lot of money spent on actual events versus still keeping two stores.

00:18:42:16 - 00:19:00:17
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. But it's interesting to see like our the differences in the travel plans just once, once Roman was born, I mean, we'd have a two day event in Fort Lauderdale and heck, we would be like, let's just go Wednesday through Wednesday. Yeah. Why not make it a vacation? It pays for itself and it pays. It puts food on the table.

00:19:00:17 - 00:19:23:01
Unknown
Why not? Right. Yeah, yeah. Now, if you take a look at me, here's a prime example. We have an event, September 20th in Seattle. And it's, it's one of those things where we fly out at 6 a.m. on Saturday. Well, we'll get there, I don't know, probably 830 to 845. We'll rush right to the event. The inventory will be there, ready for us.

00:19:23:03 - 00:19:40:04
Unknown
And then we'll set up. It'll go all the way until 7 p.m. and our flight leaves at 11 p.m.. Same thing. Yeah. Just just business. True. Just strictly business. It's it's one of the. It's a weird thing to, you know, come home at, I don't know, two, 3 a.m. or whatever it is. And the wife will be like, you know, how was work and be like, oh, Seattle is great.

00:19:40:04 - 00:19:56:17
Unknown
You know, just for the day. Yeah. No, it's like, I'm going to work in this major city for one day. Yeah. It's such a weird thing, but it's it's it's one of those things where you start to realize, go to your work and then hustle right back because you got, you got two people that are waiting for you that are, you know, yeah.

00:19:56:17 - 00:20:01:17
Unknown
Looking to for obviously the wife needs help with, with ramen and all that stuff so.

00:20:01:19 - 00:20:05:17
Unknown
Well yeah. And I feel like and this is something I've heard other people on podcasts like

00:20:05:19 - 00:20:18:08
Unknown
we're at that phase two or like, the kids are young, you know, you've got a young kid, I've got a three year old and a five month old, and, you know, the idea of focusing everything around them, I think that will always continue.

00:20:18:10 - 00:20:40:13
Unknown
But at a certain point they're going to get older and like they're going to be in school and all this and you're going to have all kinds more time to, you know, like to put into business or whatever else, whatever else you're supposed to be, you know, whatever else you end up and decide to do. So I think, like, there's wisdom in just recognizing that what's right in front of you is this, like, this is what's right in front of you.

00:20:40:14 - 00:20:55:08
Unknown
You only get them little in the house for so long and be like, move and everything else around that, like everything. Get out of the way for this. Yeah. And then, you know, like I said, they're they're going to grow up, they're going to get older, they're going to go to school. And then who knows what kind of what kind of business ventures you'll be.

00:20:55:08 - 00:21:16:03
Unknown
Take it right. And and where things will go. I got a couple ideas. I definitely think next year I want to kind of bring something back to Rochester just because. Yeah, where I was born and raised and I'm deaf, I definitely don't have all the information and definitely not ready to announce anything yet. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I got some things in the works that I, I want to bring back to the city.

00:21:16:07 - 00:21:33:11
Unknown
Yeah. And it obviously has, has everything to do with the shoes and, and want to bring that culture back because ever since I left, I definitely have felt, everybody has like when I go to a target or a Walmart, I'll see a, a past client as vice shoes and hey, what the heck is going on?

00:21:33:11 - 00:21:51:19
Unknown
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I definitely miss missed the city in a, in the shoe aspect and just being able to provide for the city again. Yeah. So yeah definitely in 2026 I'm going to be trying to do something probably in the winter. Yeah January February. So definitely look out for that. But yeah. Keep an eye out.

00:21:51:19 - 00:22:09:18
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah I mean things will always present themselves, you know. Sure. But I don't know. You've got you've got a good thing going, you know, just because they're catching my eye right now, I just we haven't talked about. Sure. We haven't talked about these, these, beautiful looking shoes sitting between us right now. So. So why don't why don't you just tell us what what do we got going?

00:22:09:18 - 00:22:28:18
Unknown
For sure. And and, I mean, looks like some diamond encrusted Nike's is what it looks like to me. So it is. It's a collaboration with Nike and Travis Scott, and it's an SB dunk. So it's the Travis Scott SB Cactus Flea flea market. These are my wife's shoes. And and then I got the trophy room. Trophy room Jordan one's on.

00:22:28:18 - 00:22:44:05
Unknown
That's this the shoes that we got married in. So I figured I bring kind of the, the two most expensive and the ones that mean the most to us. Yeah. And it kind of pairs family and business together, if that makes sense. Oh, yeah. 100%. Yeah. We got married in them in Marco Island on a on a beach.

00:22:44:05 - 00:22:59:02
Unknown
And it was, you know, one of the happiest moments of my life. So. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. So these these so these ones are not for sale. Not for sale. I mean, here's the thing though. If you if you want to pair, I know how to get. Oh he can get we different can get you. How different. Just not that exact fair.

00:22:59:04 - 00:23:00:02
Unknown
That's that's awesome.

00:23:00:04 - 00:23:01:20
Unknown
to talk about the shoe market right now.

00:23:01:20 - 00:23:20:12
Unknown
I mean, what do you see. Yeah. What do you see in just as far as, like, the business details of like, what shoes are selling hot. What's not hot? You know, the market as a whole. What are what are we seeing here. So the interesting thing interesting that you bring it out because I actually recently looked at what shoes were selling for in 2020 and what shoes are selling for, you know, present day.

00:23:20:12 - 00:23:39:16
Unknown
Yeah. And it's crazy. You know, we were talking about the Covid years a little bit and how people were just spending money like it was nothing like it was paper. Right. Yeah. No Panda dunks. I'm sure you can pop them up now. They're they were selling for upwards of 350 to 3 eight. And now a present day I could probably get them for 6070 bucks.

00:23:39:16 - 00:23:59:10
Unknown
Crazy. It's it's one of those things where it actually shocks me. And there's I'd say 80% of people that were in the shoe business. They have by far left. Right. Yeah. It's really that 20% that have stuck through it kind of, study the market, studied where shoes are going as a whole. They're they're definitely making it.

00:23:59:12 - 00:24:16:00
Unknown
We started doing something called whatnot. It's live streaming. It's a live stream platform that we put shoes on auction. So we'll take the shoes that we buy at the events, and I'm sure we'll pop up a clip. We do coin flips all day long, and that's kind of our bread and butter on YouTube. Yeah, I've seen that.

00:24:16:00 - 00:24:38:02
Unknown
Yeah. It is. You know, we'll coin flip for a whole collection or one pair. And if it's something that meets the the whatnot crowd, which it's usually like, a lightly used to heavy use, no box shoe. We'll put it up there for 30s. We'll show the camera, we'll show you the whole shoe and say, hey, we're going to start the shoe at a dollar and we'll see how much it bids up to.

00:24:38:02 - 00:24:55:10
Unknown
And, and honestly, it's, it's, it's kind of a scary thing because they bid up or they bid super low and we have to sell. Yeah yeah yeah yeah we have to have. Yeah. That's part of the part of the deal. So obviously buy low sell low or buy low, sell high whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah. You know sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

00:24:55:10 - 00:25:15:15
Unknown
But the nice thing about it is I have, you know, 4 to 5 people that are with me that invest their money into this, their inventory as well. So when somebody loses, we all lose. When somebody wins, we. Oh yeah. You know what I'm saying. So yeah, it's it's interesting to, to see, you know, shoes that have sold for a ridiculous amount way back when.

00:25:15:15 - 00:25:34:14
Unknown
And now it's how they don't go for nothing. Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's all it is, is adapting and, and I think every businessman, no matter what business they're in, whether it's shoes, real estate, you know, whatever the heck they're doing for business. Yeah. It's never going to be the same for more than probably two years. You're you're it's going to adapt.

00:25:34:16 - 00:25:52:07
Unknown
And that's why that's why you're seeing like these online platforms like Amazon. Right. Yeah. You're taking off like crazy. And it's because it's online. You can just click a button and it'll be at your doorstep in the next day instead of actually going to a physical location. So yeah, all it is is just studying the studying the market and adapting at the end of the day.

00:25:52:07 - 00:26:24:04
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. No it makes sense. Yeah. Well I, I'm curious on this. So like you talk about some of the issues, you know where three 400, 500 plus dollars, whatever they're going for 60 or $70. Now, is that something where, like, I mean, is there any is there anything to be said about, like, whole non-issues. So there's people out there, I know that, that hold shoes or will buy like literally treat it as an investment in the sense of like, you know, whatever people are buying Jordans or Lebrons or whatever is, are Kobe's and saying, you know what, I'm going to keep these on ice.

00:26:24:06 - 00:26:42:16
Unknown
It's going to like, hold on for X years. What do you have to say about that? I definitely think especially in like 2021 and 2023, I tell you, you're crazy. Yeah. I mean, there's not a single issue out there besides maybe a Travis Scott, which that's what these are. If you buy it for retail, I mean a Jordan or Travis Scott Jordan one low yeah.

00:26:42:17 - 00:27:02:11
Unknown
Is retails for anywhere from 110 150 and a high 180 to 220. And it's going to go for over a thousand bucks. Yeah yeah. Getting it for retail. You're not going to be able to just buy ten of them. Yeah yeah yeah. And a lot of what a lot of people do is they'll actually go to stock X and they'll buy a boatload of them and then just sit on them for years.

00:27:02:13 - 00:27:18:05
Unknown
I think it's starting to come back. And in fact, I think it was like 3 or 4 days, the Jordan four, there was a collaboration I can't remember who was with. They did, exclusive access and I actually got it, which was kind of crazy because I haven't had exclusive access from sneakers in, like two years.

00:27:18:05 - 00:27:38:11
Unknown
I like barely even. I didn't even have the app updated because they just never I don't know, it's really hard to get access. And if you if you get a shoe like that right now, it's probably at the lowest it's going to be. Yeah, yeah. You buy 40 or 50 of them, maybe you turn maybe 50 bucks per shoe over the course of like a year or two.

00:27:38:14 - 00:27:56:23
Unknown
I think it's starting to come back, especially with the Kobe's in some Jordan definitely risk involved though. I mean you gotta know you gotta know you're doing you gotta know what you get is buy any shoes and yeah. Hold on. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So you definitely have to spend some time and make sure you, you know, what you're investing into instead of just, okay, I'm just going to buy 40 of them and see what happens.

00:27:56:23 - 00:28:05:02
Unknown
Yeah. Yeah. So if you're thinking to end shoes to your portfolio of investments, you know, maybe you want to consult with somebody 100%, 100%. Yes.

00:28:05:02 - 00:28:18:22
Unknown
I'm not really anticipating anything like crazy right now. Obviously any type of I need any kind of Jordan for release. There's a lot that can be made off of a Jordan for, but in all reality, it's actually quite the opposite.

00:28:18:22 - 00:28:38:22
Unknown
I'm not looking at the drops more so as I'm just looking at the dates for the the sneaker events, because yeah, people do is they'll bring their own collection. A lot of times they, they kind of, oversee, if that makes sense, on what their situation is, is can't make the house payment this this month. Yeah, yeah. I just I'm strapped for cash and we need it.

00:28:38:22 - 00:28:57:00
Unknown
Yeah. It's not one of those things where you, like, crazily take advantage of it. But yeah, if they need it and somebody else isn't willing to pay that that amount that they're looking for, we kind of swoop in and have the ability to buy so much, whether it's brand new or used. Yeah. To where we don't even have to look at release.

00:28:57:02 - 00:29:02:23
Unknown
Right. So you're, you're kind of going into the events and reading field there. Yeah. I mean last event I.

00:29:03:01 - 00:29:16:13
Unknown
even there. And this is where we talked about the time again, is I can send the team to they went to Boston and I don't even have to be a part of it. And they came back with 88 pairs of shoes. And it's like, it's such a blessing that they are able to go and do that.

00:29:16:13 - 00:29:41:08
Unknown
Yeah. And it's on the flip side, it's such a blessing where we don't have to look at those drops to to get inventory. There's other outlets that are much more lucrative. And what was the name, what's the event that you signed the deal with? It's going to be Got Soul and what they kind of do is they they go towards more you're celebrities or come through there was you know Malik neighbors is in New York big X the plug was in Texas.

00:29:41:10 - 00:29:59:14
Unknown
Just a bunch of rappers and high, high profile people come through and they'll just spend an absolute bag with somebody. Yeah. We actually. Oh, man, I can't remember who it was. There's a guy that does food reviews, and he used to be a boxer. He's got like one point something million on Instagram. It'll

00:29:59:17 - 00:30:14:12
Unknown
Keith Lee there it is Keith Lee yeah Keith Lee, Keith Evans and Jordan 11. So yeah, we got to be a part of their little their crowd came by and and bought a couple pairs of shoes and, it's just cool to see celebrities like that.

00:30:14:12 - 00:30:30:04
Unknown
So you're bringing stock to these oh 100. So you're bringing, like, everything? Not well, everything got a lot of what you got. Yeah. And then you're looking to just kind of play the field as far as is. You know sometimes you're selling sometimes you're buying. You're always doing some buying and always doing something. It's yeah, it's one of those.

00:30:30:04 - 00:30:47:21
Unknown
Yeah. We'll bring absolutely everything there is right now we're up to like 19 boxes of, you know, the extra large UPS boxes. So it's, it's getting to where maybe we need to kind of pick and choose what we actually bring. And that's why I'm going to start posting again and kind of open the floodgates a little bit. Okay.

00:30:47:21 - 00:31:07:13
Unknown
Well I think that's good just for like for people watching because even I was just thinking, visualizing how that would work. So like you're slinging shoes, you don't have a physical location. How does that work? Okay. Well people are buying online or whatever, but it's the it's these events that this is where it's at. So you so you take your whole you take your inventory to these events and you're buying and selling there.

00:31:07:13 - 00:31:26:20
Unknown
So it's the moving marketplace basically. Exactly. That makes sense okay. A lot of people are bringing you see their families are coming through and they're they're getting ready to shop for Christmas or birthdays or sometimes they just come in just to look at all. I mean, there's millions of shoes at the conventions, and sometimes one will catch right, and we'll get lucky and we'll sell to them.

00:31:26:20 - 00:31:43:07
Unknown
But most of the time they're either coming, they're for something specific. They're looking to sell their inventory. Maybe they'll they're looking to sell what they usually wear to get a new pair. But we pretty much buy just as many pairs as we sell. And it just kind of it's it's always is it like, so do people,

00:31:43:09 - 00:31:51:09
Unknown
is it first, maybe first come, first serve is the right word, but is it kind of like whoever they run into, there's no like, are they putting their their collection up for

00:31:51:09 - 00:32:07:06
Unknown
like an auction kind of thing or like they just come to your stand? Yeah. Hey, I got here's what I got for you. How does that how does that work? Yeah. How does like the flow of the events work? So you can give VIP access to where you can get in an hour before regular people can come in, if that makes sense.

00:32:07:06 - 00:32:27:08
Unknown
So they come, they can start coming in at 11:00. This is why we signed with Gasol. And we like Gasol is because we have a banner behind us that that just screams we buy all shoes. Yeah right. And then it also draws people to our table in our booth so they can buy shoes as well. Yeah. Yeah. But we are always competing with somebody.

00:32:27:08 - 00:32:51:09
Unknown
Yeah. And it's nice that there are people that do that do exactly what we do but don't sign a contract. And so they don't have the ability to have that banner behind them. Okay. Sure. And so we're we're definitely one of the probably top two to top three vendors that people come to. Sure. So if they're going with our competition, it's fine because there's probably a line of 25 people that are yeah, still selling to us.

00:32:51:09 - 00:33:09:00
Unknown
Yeah, there's enough to go around. So there's never been a situation where it's, you know, no harm, no foul. You need to go to the competition and see what they offer. It's funny, sometimes what we'll do is, hey, if you walk now, this is your quote. Say once you were paying 120 bucks, if you go walk and ask our competition what they would pay for it.

00:33:09:02 - 00:33:24:19
Unknown
Now you're offers 80 bucks. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. So it's got to yeah. Some fun things that we can deal with with some people. And like I said the coin flips. It's, you know, the kids especially. Oh my gosh they love that. Yeah yeah yeah sometimes little they'll that kid will bring me a beat up shoe that maybe I pay 40 bucks for.

00:33:24:19 - 00:33:41:04
Unknown
And he'll be like let's just do free or 80. And the amount of times that we've got shoes for free, it's actually kind of mind boggling. I mean, every event we probably come home with 5 to 10 pairs, absolutely free. That you did a flip for. Exactly. So we either we flip them or we'll put them on what not to do a giveaway, but yeah.

00:33:41:04 - 00:33:55:00
Unknown
No, the the events it's it's such a fun time. Yeah. That sounds sweet. Yeah. Are you guys so, like, are you guys with not having, like, retail location? Do you guys still do? I know for a bit you were like, doing some clothes and things like that. Like, you guys still kind of doing that a little bit. It's a sad.

00:33:55:00 - 00:34:13:22
Unknown
It's it's it's a sad thing to say. When we started selling clothes, I found out pre it took a couple of months, but I found out there's a lot of sketchy stuff going on in the clothing world to where I just didn't want to touch it anymore. Sure. And it's it's something that I want everybody to be aware of.

00:34:13:22 - 00:34:42:08
Unknown
Is these brands like spider and, denim tier and just, you know, high end brands. It's sad to say there, there's a lot of these people that actually make them for Denim Tour and Spider. They're also producing them for back dooring. And so what that what that means is it's essentially the term called 1 to 1 to where they're absolutely identical, but it's not truly an authentic piece.

00:34:42:10 - 00:35:02:23
Unknown
So when you buy off a stock X, when you buy off a gold, it's probably a 7030 chance that you're getting a real item. Interesting when it comes to clothing, you wouldn't and you would maybe not even know because it is exactly the same. It's the exact same yo, right? So so I use the brands more than anything, right?

00:35:02:23 - 00:35:36:13
Unknown
I mean, it does, but it doesn't because people are still repping that brand and it draws people to their website because obviously it's just like shoes when I suppose when they were selling the the fake ones. So like their back door them to just any company that just brands them as anybody. Yeah, they're selling them to anybody. And the fact that people are now starting to actually make them themselves to the exact fabric, the exact tags, the exact even like the lettering on the tags, it's one of those things where you the stickers that go on the bags, right?

00:35:36:15 - 00:36:03:12
Unknown
If it's all identical and people are bringing them to us, I don't know if I'm buying a real or not. They're not item, right? Yeah. So then I can't feel confident selling them. Yeah. To my clients, you know what I mean? So it's a sad thing because we used to really dive deep into the, into the clothing. And then when I found that out and I found it out at the events, because there's these vendors that were selling these clothes and they were selling it for under retail, that was one of the giveaway.

00:36:03:12 - 00:36:22:10
Unknown
I was like, how is everybody able to sell this for such a cheap, you know, deal and actually make money? And, and then I, you know, I really started looking deep. I'm like this, it just ain't right, you know? And me being somebody I fear God. Right. If I, if I'm not doing something that is totally, you know, the straight, narrow path.

00:36:22:10 - 00:36:44:17
Unknown
Yeah. I just did not feel right moving forward with clothing. And that's where you yourself shoes with the main moral problem being like, hey, I'm saying this is this brand and it might not be fun. You just don't know at this point. It is one of those things where I don't know how anybody in this shoe space can confidently say, yes, this is real.

00:36:44:21 - 00:36:59:17
Unknown
Yeah. It's just it's to that point and it's a more so. Oh, it's easier with these people. I know shoes, you know, shoes like that. It's can't you can't rip those off. Yeah. And for doing it for 5 to 6 years I mean it's, it's one of those things where and this is where I get a little nervous.

00:36:59:17 - 00:37:16:20
Unknown
And this is why, you know, my investors, they don't spend my money is because they're still there probably on year 2 or 3. And I'm on year six of doing this. I got double experience. And believe me, I've taken my L's and you might learn the lesson the hard way, but kids will bring me that shoes that they don't even know are fake.

00:37:16:20 - 00:37:34:06
Unknown
And I'll take one look at it be like next. Yeah. Just not. And some people will try and take advantage of you at these events. And yeah, it happens a lot more than you think. And if you're not, if you're not on your game, you know you'll get got and you'll, you'll, you'll be spending money where it's. Yeah.

00:37:34:06 - 00:37:45:03
Unknown
It's going towards the trash at that point. Yeah. Fake shoes, a fake shoe. You're not going to do it right, right, right. And people people that know people in the shoe world know like the, the last thing you want is a fake shoe hundred percent. Yeah. You

00:37:45:03 - 00:37:51:20
Unknown
Steve, if you had one thing you could tell someone in your shoes, let's say five years ago kind of got the entrepreneurial mindset.

00:37:51:20 - 00:38:11:14
Unknown
And in the business, whether it's shoes or anything else, well what's like one piece of advice you would give those people might be a little bit of a hot take, but in my opinion, I would say do not go the college route and it probably will. You know, some people will not like hearing this, but the only reason why I went to college in the first place was basketball.

00:38:11:16 - 00:38:37:22
Unknown
And funny story, when it comes to colleges, I was obviously just starting my business at the time, and probably about half a year to a year in where, you know, maybe we do like 5000 sales a month, right? To where, it's doing all right, but it's not. You can't live off of that and sales. Yeah. But yeah, one of the classes, you know, because I was studying business was start your own business.

00:38:38:00 - 00:38:54:23
Unknown
Right. And, and kind of document it and that's how you get graded. And I'm like, I can't start a fake business when I'm literally in the process of, yeah, doing my own business. Yeah. Right. I just like I was talking to my parents when I was like, dude, this is such a waste of time. Yeah. I mean, literally do a project, you start a fake business.

00:38:54:23 - 00:39:15:12
Unknown
When I exact business to work on. And so what I would tell anyone in the in their young 20s to late teens that wants to go into the business space is number one probably, you know, ditch college at that point. I mean, a lot of a lot of college is just the experience. And and you're not getting real life, real business experience.

00:39:15:12 - 00:39:39:06
Unknown
Go away. Go and do it. And number two, I would say, you know, if you're in a position to where you need a business loan to take the next step, just make sure you're really studying exactly what that means. Right? I kind of went off the deep end a little bit. And like, you know, I need X amount of money for inventory for building out these locations.

00:39:39:06 - 00:40:03:00
Unknown
Heck, even the lawyer and attorney fees from when we had that lawsuit stuff. Yeah, you know, that that money goes quick. And I would what I would just say is really sit down and really have that conversation with, you know, a financial advisor or somebody that you trust to make sure it's the right decision. Because once you go in debt, you could be making so much money, but in reality, you're not making much until you pay that back off.

00:40:03:00 - 00:40:26:13
Unknown
Yeah. So that that's kind of the two things that I would say is, college don't eat it. Yeah, yeah. And if you're ever in a position to take out a loan, just make sure you know what you're doing. Yeah, well, that's that's good advice, honestly. And I would say, like, not that people care what I think anyway, but like on the, on the, on the college perspective, I do think it's like, I think you hit the nail on the head, like a lot of people go for the experience.

00:40:26:13 - 00:40:38:21
Unknown
I think people kind of think it's just like the thing to do. Yeah. And I do think that, like, there are certainly things that you need to go to college for. It just depends on what you want to do. Like I think to your point, and this is maybe to clarify and maybe you if you disagree, you tell me.

00:40:38:21 - 00:40:54:08
Unknown
But you know, like, well, I think what you're saying is if you're an entrepreneur, you want to get into business. So save yourself the time, save yourself the of the money. You're doing it. You know, it's still I mean, if you want to be an engineer or high school or a doctor, right? You know, there's things you got to go to school for, obviously.

00:40:54:08 - 00:41:10:19
Unknown
But, I would agree with that, honestly. So I went to college. I was an economics major. I also went for sports, as you know. I mean, I, you know, granted, I wasn't ever considering not going to college. It just was what I was going to do. But I went to play football and, you know, whatever.

00:41:10:19 - 00:41:34:00
Unknown
And in the, in the businesses that I've been now as an adult, I've been in real estate and been in the insurance business there, there are two things that like that I've gotten in do through the through the connections I've made. Sure. And I would 100% agree that, you know, there wasn't really anything that I learned from college that really made me any better off in those businesses.

00:41:34:00 - 00:41:50:04
Unknown
If anything, if I had a started four years earlier into the businesses I'm in now, I, you know, who knows. But so no, I think that's I think that's a good point of advice, I think for people to just not feel like they need to fit into the box of doing it, just because it's kind of like what everyone does.

00:41:50:04 - 00:42:08:04
Unknown
Sure. You know what I mean? Well, shoot, even if you're starting your own business and you don't need to take out a loan or need any type of financial assistance, you're, you're you're kind of starting from from scratch, right? Yeah. If you're wanting to start a business and you go through four years of college, you're already I don't know how much money.

00:42:08:04 - 00:42:24:05
Unknown
I don't even want to know how much it costs. Yeah. I mean, college 15, 20 grand. Need a year end. Yeah. All year you're already sold 100 bucks. 80, 100 grand. And. Dad. Yeah, you're already paying off student loans. To where? How are you even full service at that point? Yeah, you know what I mean? So that's definitely.

00:42:24:05 - 00:42:42:08
Unknown
And yet, if you need to be a doctor or something like that 100% or go to college. Yeah, yeah. Anything within the business world or entrepreneur or even real real estate, I don't think. Yeah. I don't need college. Yeah, yeah. Well connections and it's just yeah, it's very knowledge. Real world experience. Yeah I agree with that. Totally. Yeah.

00:42:42:10 - 00:42:56:13
Unknown
Yeah man. Well Steve, you have any last thoughts for for everyone? Oh honestly I hey I appreciate you, you know, inviting me on the set here. It's the dope. Dope set up and, yeah, it was fun to be able to kind of share my life experience and

00:42:56:16 - 00:43:07:08
Unknown
yeah, just looking forward to the future. And, maybe a couple years down the road, we'll, we'll revisit and see where things are at. Dude. Heck yeah, man. Well, it's been a pleasure. Yeah, yeah. Thanks for watching everyone.