The following is a transcript of Episode 15 of Return on Podcast, the show where we help e-commerce sellers improve their ROI in business and in life. For more episodes, subscribe to our YouTube channel or listen on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
All right. Welcome to Return on Podcast, where we talk about the experiences, the habits, and the obsessions of the most successful e-commerce entrepreneurs. Of course, I’m your host, Tyler Jefcoat. And I wanna welcome you to this episode of ROP. You know, one of the scariest moments in any entrepreneur’s life is that moment in his or her life when they choose to take the plunge. It’s scary. This scares the hell out of anybody. You have a day job. The day job is paying you a paycheck, and you make this seemingly crazy choice to now pivot from this security of a job to building your own company. And sometimes it doesn’t work out, right? Not every small business makes it.
And so the question is, why would anybody do that? How do you get beyond that scary leap? How can you build the kind of habits, the kind of mindset to make you successful when others fail? And so those are the questions that I’m really excited to tackle today with my guest, Eric Castellano. Eric, we’re gonna bring in here, buddy, I’m gonna introduce you. You know, Eric is the COO of a $50 million Amazon seller company. He’s also the CEO of a company that does coaching education for Amazon sellers called Amazon Lit. Eric, welcome to ROP, buddy.
Eric Castellano:
Tyler, absolutely grateful to be here, and thank you so much for having me.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Listen, man, I, a lot of times I get on these shows and we have a lot of history. Eric and I are relatively new friends. Eric and I live in very different parts of the country. How’s the weather up there in Jersey today, man? Is it as brutal as it is down here?
Eric Castellano:
It’s like 70, 75, typical spring day, you know?
Tyler Jefcoat:
Wow. I think a typical June day in Georgia is like 95 with 95% humidity. So yeah. Well, listen, man, I wanna talk all about mindset.
I wanna talk about what’s made you and your business partner so successful in your company, how other people can get unstuck and get started. But I do wanna start with your story. So like, maybe I’m wrong about this. I was just stalking you on LinkedIn as any good podcast host does, and it seems like you were like still in college when you started your first company. Like gimme a little bit of the journey. How did you get into this like entrepreneurial race?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, absolutely. So I was a college student at the time. I actually might have been dropped outta college. I started school in 2006, and it was 2013. So what is that? You know, seven years later, I still didn’t graduate. I was working odd jobs, and I just, wasn’t really happy.
I struggled a lot early on with, you know, addiction and alcoholism. So that was an issue. And I just hit a point in my life where I was like, what am I doing? And I kind of linked up with some people who were successful, like my business partner, Sebastian, and they kind of showed me the ropes and taught me how to be a better person and think about things a little differently. And it absolutely changed my life at that point.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Wow. By the way, you said a couple things there that really resonated with me. One is this really hilarious but also very wealthy guy that my brother and I worked for growing up in Columbus, Georgia, he always used to say, he’s like, listen. I went to law school for one day, so I can always say I attended law school. Right. I attended college. It was time to get out. It wasn’t a good fit for me.
And the other thing you said that was so resonant was just overcoming really difficult challenges, personal challenges. You said alcoholism, right? Is that what you said?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Yeah, man. I have some family members that have really struggled with alcoholism. And I just wanna say this, I don’t know you that well, but I just respect the hell of you, man, for really finding that like before we even get into business, like, what does it look like for you to find that internal fortitude, that support to kind of get from, like “man, my life has these destructive habits” to “let me be unleashed to help other people build success in their lives.” I mean, what did that journey look like for you?
Eric Castellano:
Well, it all started with like a incredibly low, low, low bottom, you know, spiritual bankruptcy, just looking in the mirror and, and being absolutely lost and not knowing who I was or where I was gonna go.
And that I think is the catalyst, that I was given an opportunity, either take that chance and run with it, or be like, you know what, I’m gonna continue to live the life I’m living. And thank God I took that chance because over years and years and years of changing habits and behaviors, there’s been a lot of success, and I’ve been able to share that experience with other people the same way Sebastian scooped me up. And like the gentleman Rob, who kind of picked me up when I was younger, mentored me when I had no guidance, and I was very lost.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Wow. That’s an incredibly encouraging story. I also had like a major, like spiritual awakening when I was in college that really, I think, changed the trajectory of my life. And I’m just so grateful to hear that you’ve had a similar experience. That’s amazing. So, okay then. I get it now. I’m understanding more now that you were really coming from like, man, I need an opportunity. I need someone to gimme a chance. And Sebastian swoops in, and then, so that pivot into actually learning how to hustle, learning how to get into the business, even maybe overcoming any fear factors that might have been involved. Like what was that, just kind of continuing your story into, hey, I’m I’m now in business. Like what, what else was involved in that?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. So initially it was I kind of got thrown into a business, right? So immediately I got sober, and immediately a friend of mine was like, Eric, I need you to run my construction company. And at the time I was doing construction. He’s like, I’m going, I gotta go away for six or nine months, and I need you, I respect you. I think you could do it. And I’m like, bro, I got, at the time I had like couple weeks sober. I was like, I don’t know if this is a good idea. This is like eight years ago.
And I was like, I don’t know. And he’s like, I trust you. I feel it this time. And I ran that business for, you know, nine months, made him a lot of money, and that was like the nest egg that I – ’cause I wasn’t spending, I was working so hard in those initial nine months going to different jobs, managing crews that I didn’t have any time to spend money. So I built up like enough capital to kind of be like, okay, now I can decide to do something with my life.
Tyler Jefcoat:
I mean, I can’t wait to hear about the Amazon there, but like, I also had a couple of guys in my life that like had really, really critical moments for me, believed in me, like it’s amazing how powerful that is to have someone that you respect say, hey. Like actually before I started my first company in 2012, it was the same kind of thing where I was having to decide if I quit the day job. I had a pretty decent job. And, you know we had just had our first kid, I was in grad school.
I had debt. Like there was no reason we should have gone out and tried to start a business. And it was the same kind of thing where I think having somebody be like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I think you have what it takes, man. I think you can do this. And I really think I’ll look back on those two or three conversations with just a ton of gratitude, but like, yeah. You know, how amazing is it that you have somebody in your life that will, that’ll give you that confidence, like lend you their strength in a sense, and be like, hey bro, you got this. You can do it, right?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, it’s important to have people like that in our lives. And I think a lot of people cross paths with people like that, but they’re just not present enough to even realize that they’re in the presence of someone that could possibly change their life if they just open their ears for a minute, you know.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Gosh, that is – and then maybe the flip side of that is like, I wonder who, for those of us who have kind of been fairly successful, I wonder who is in our life now, tomorrow, walking down the street that might need us to speak life into their lives, you know? I don’t know, but, so let’s talk about Amazon for a minute. So you guys you know, have this, you’ve dabbled in Amazon a little bit. There’s this little, you know, large eight-figure $50 million a year Amazon business that has evolved that sounds like over the last eight years. Gimme a little bit of that business, and what do you guys have going on?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. So you know, the business that we operate now started 2013, and we started like most people start, retail arbitrage, online arbitrage. But we realized once we started doing a couple million a year in sales in that first year and a half. We’re like there’s no, this is very challenging to scale. If we keep going to retail stores and buying online, there’s just no scalability to it. So we went to our first trade show and opened up some wholesale accounts, and it’s just kind of been snowballing from there. We’ve we started in like a thousand square foot warehouse, went to 2,000 and knocked down some walls, 5,000, 10,000.
And now we’re here in New Jersey, Northern New Jersey, in our 20,000 square foot space, and we’re currently looking for a 50,000 because we need more room, you know? So it’s like, we’re just always innovating and I think staying ahead of what other Amazon sellers are doing. So we always keep growing consistently, if that makes sense.
Tyler Jefcoat:
It totally does. And maybe to kind of back up to the kind of art of the start again, like what do you think stops people from taking that plunge and starting a business? What do you think it makes it so hard?
Eric Castellano:
Definitely fear. Fear bundles itself up and shows itself in a lot of different ways. For me, and a lot of people I know and help, fear of financial insecurity is huge, right? Because either they don’t have the funds to get started or the funds that they have are everything. And it’s like, if I put this on the line, then I’m back at square one. So it’s tough to do that.
It takes a special type of person to be like, listen, I got 10 grand. I believe in this. I’m gonna focus on it, and do everything I need to do to complete it, and I’m gonna go all in. It takes a special type of person to do that. So it’s challenging, you know, it’s definitely challenging.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Yeah. And so it is interesting like how – and so again, I completely empathize with that where it’s like, hey, I feel like I’m having to burn some boats here. I’m having to like go all in on something, and that’s scary, you know. I got people depending on me, and again, I think it’s, nobody has ever started a business that doesn’t feel that exact set of feelings that you just described there, Eric. And so anything, have you found anything that has been helpful for you and for your, for your clients to bridge that chasm and overcome those supernatural fears, but critical ones to get over if you’re gonna start a successful company?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. I would say mainly two things, right. The first is just get started. Right? You gotta just get started. Because let’s say what, whatever it is, whatever type of business, whether it’s you wanted to do drop shipping or Amazon or sell on eBay or do affiliate marketing, right. Just invest a couple hundred dollars in the process, not to make money, but just to learn, right?
Sell your first products. Right? Get your first affiliate customer, spend some money on your advertising, right? Like just get out there because real life experience is the best experience. And the second thing would be, find somebody who knows how to do it, and pay them to teach you. That’s the fastest way.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Yeah. Like that kinda live ammunition. Like it’s amazing. This is like a bit of a dumb example, but I’m kind of a nerd for chess right now, playing a little bit of chess on this little chess.com app. I’m bad, but I’m getting a little better. And like, you can like watch a guy on YouTube like destroy somebody playing chess, and you’re like, okay. That’s easy.
And then you actually go play a game, and you just get your ass whipped. Right. Because it’s like, you’re not as good as you think you are. And so, like, it’s the same kind of thing where I can either just, I’m gonna learn so much more doing it, trying it, probably making some mistakes, but I can also hack, in other words, I can get further, faster if I can bring on the right mentors or get the right coaching.
And you know, in some ways there are elements of our business, even here at Seller Accountant, where I realize I’m gonna pay for this education one way or another I’m either gonna pay for it – like for instance, we just brought on some folks to help us learn how to hire people because we weren’t very good at it, and we were paying for that investment in advance because we were making bad hires. But now we’re just gonna choose to pay a team to come help us do it right so we don’t screw it up anymore, but yeah.
So lemme ask you this. How has 2022 been so far for your Amazon business? I mean, it’s been pretty bad for about two thirds of my clients. And it’s been pretty good for about the last third. Like how has it been for you guys?
Eric Castellano:
It’s been our best year yet. 2022, best year yet, as far as gross revenue. As far as profits, last year, 2021. It was amazing. Because of the pandemic, we nearly, you know, six X what we were doing the year prior, which is pretty impressive. But this year, we’re always, our focus is – listen, profits are great. But our goal this year is really increased revenue to get better relationships with our current vendors. So we can continue to get the best pricing. ‘Cause I’m not thinking about six month growth. I’m thinking about, you know, two to four year. Where we need to be, what we need to do today to be there in two to four years, you know?
Tyler Jefcoat:
Are you guys a hundred plus million dollar seller in the next two to four years?
Eric Castellano:
Absolutely. That’s the goal. That’s the two year goal. So we’re doing everything we can to hit that.
Tyler Jefcoat:
All right. Well, yeah, I mean guys, if – and I have to admit, I mean, I’m confessing this here to you, Eric. My two year goal is extremely ambitious but does not include getting to a hundred million in sales.
So for those of us out here that maybe are slacking our goals. So, you know what, we’re a small accounting firm. We’re gonna get really close to $5 million in revenue in the next two years as a company. So we’re right at a million right now. And yeah, it’s great, man. I mean, this is my second seven-figure startup. I sold the first one in 2017, and this has been so much more fun to learn how to do it the right way and not – I was so frenetic, like discombobulated, if you will, when I started my first company. We went from zero to a hundred employees, like really too quickly. And so this one’s been – and if you guys are not watching this on YouTube, maybe you’re listening to it.
Like, you know, Eric’s in his office, I’m in my home office. I’m sitting here in a t-shirt, I’m loving what I’m doing. I’m very grateful and making a good living, doing what I like doing. So, okay. So, any advice you could give an Amazon seller brand owner, private label, wholesale arbitrage, whatever the model is, to be as successful as they can be in what I would have to say is a pretty weird market right now.
2022 is a little bit strange for a couple reasons. What are you guys doing that’s making you able to continue growing, protect enough profit that you’re not gonna run outta cash? Like what, what are you guys deploying right now in terms of your strategy?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. So our business model right now is 90% wholesale. So the way I see it is consumable products, people literally will always need them. They’ve been purchasing them for hundreds of years. They’ll continue to purchase them for thousands of years in the future. So they’re not going anywhere, right?
And someone needs to be the person to create the bundles and the conditioners and the shampoos, ’cause Amazon’s so large. They don’t want to do that. They’re not going to do that. They haven’t done that, and they probably will never do that. So that’s where we make all our money for a few reasons.
I don’t have to spend a penny on advertising. I don’t have to ship any of the products from overseas. I can have products sourced and at my warehouse in two to five business days. So it’s like the opportunity for cash is very quick, if that makes sense. You know?
Tyler Jefcoat:
It completely makes sense. And so as a CFO – so I’m the CFO for eight figures a year of Amazon sales. That’s kind of my core role is I’m the numbers jockey. I’m the spreadsheet geek, right?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Tyler Jefcoat:
And what’s amazing is your ability to make profit is cool. Your ability to turn cash quickly is maybe even cooler. And if you got a little profit and a lot of velocity you can actually have a really, really efficient business. I’m assuming that the model you just described allows you guys to turn your inventory like a lot of times per year, you guys are probably pretty efficient which is a great way to be successful.
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, we’re averaging about 10 inventory turns a year. So about every 36 days, 37 days, we’re turning inventory. We’re a volume business. You know, we ship close to 300,000 orders a month. So the way I see it is if I could make a couple dimes on a bunch of orders like that, I’m pretty happy, you know?
Tyler Jefcoat:
Well, but it is interesting. So this is where again, there can be an investor fallacy thinking about these Amazon businesses, that the only way to make money is to have, you know, 30% margin after ads and after Amazon fees.
And I’m gonna buy nine months worth of inventory from my Chinese supplier and hang a private label. But my point, to kind of articulate what the genius is of that business model, Eric, is that the private label seller in my portfolio as a CFO, eh, we’re turning the inventory like two and a half times a year, right?
And it was three times a year, last year, but it’s getting worse because supply chains are slow. And so even if you’re getting single digit margins, the ability to have to borrow or invest a relatively small amount of capital for that $50 million or so in sales that you guys are doing is an incredible superpower. Like that 10 times a year turning the inventory –
I want you guys, those of you listening to the show, I want you to think about it like this, the happiness within your business, think about it like baseball. By the way, we were in Chicago last week. I got to see my first game in Wrigley. My Bravos thankfully pulled out the win. We won there. I think we’d got our butts whipped the day prior, but we won the day I was there. It was amazing.
And if you think about a great baseball player, they have a batting average. That’s your profit percentage. And they have a number of bats per game, which is how many times you turn your inventory money. In other words, do I get to invest that same dollar more than once a year, more than twice a year?
Well, Eric is investing it 10 times per year. That means even if he has a relatively low batting average, he’s going get a base hit. He’s gonna hit a home run eventually because he is getting those little dinks and dunks. Man, I bet you guys have incredible amounts of software or some kind of process that allows you to manage that kind of complexity.
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, actually, it’s funny because Sebastian, who’s not only my business partner, but I’ve known the guy for, I don’t know, since I was 13, I’m 37 now or 35, 34. Mid thirties, I am. But so 20 years, you know, I’ve known the guy, and in the past eight years, he’s built an entire web development team in house here because we need all these software. We have UPC scrapers and repricers and you know, inventory management and shipment creation softwares that Sebastian’s built out himself.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Which is actually beautiful. And actually three of my largest clients as a CFO, me, myself, are actually your model where they’re leveraging very great data, really good inventory management to represent other brands.
And so I’m just here to say that’s still a really good business model, you know, if you can deploy it correctly. Anything else that’s working for you, for Sebastian, for your core customers right now that the sellers out there should pay attention to? Hey, if this is not on your radar, seller, you need to have this on your radar, right?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, definitely. I think where the market’s going to shift in the next two to five years is more brand direct relationships. So it’s not gonna be a huge percentage, but even a 10 to 15% shift will open up a lot of opportunities for third party sellers to get more exclusive with brands so they can have more control over their brands and their listings.
And they’re gonna be reaching out to regular third party sellers like me and other people in our communities because we have the fulfillment network and the knowledge to create the listings, run the ads, and build the brands while they can focus on the brand. So I think we’re gonna see a shift there. But also definitely building as many relationships as you can is huge, and get out to trade shows, especially if you’re in the wholesale business model, you gotta be immersed in the industry. Go to a trade show. There’s great one in Vegas, ASD, Expo West, Expo East, Miami Mart. They’re all over the place. Get to one of those as well.
Tyler Jefcoat:
That’s a really good point, Eric. By the way, I think what I heard you articulate there, which again is just genius, is know what you’re great at. Like there’s so many Amazon sellers that like, maybe for instance, like a private label guy’s built a $2 or $3 million business on Amazon and thinks, oh, I cannot be successful unless I pivot to like a Shopify site, try to go direct to consumer. And what I’m seeing over and over again is that probably there’s a 90% fail rate on most Amazon products that are kind of either private label or white labelable then being deployed as direct to consumer.
Not even because consumers don’t care about them, but because the level of, the skillset needed to be successful in one model is not the same. And so what you’re talking about is brands are getting better at saying, oh dang, I wanna be good at being a brand. And I need someone who actually understands how to run the Xs and Os of being a successful Amazon seller.
I know what we’ll do, Eric. We’ll give you the exclusive rights to this part of our catalog or the entire catalog, let you guys run with it, and then everybody makes money because you’re gonna run it better than we would run it. Is that kind of what you guys are doing?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, absolutely. And my only request to the brand is that I want the products at the most competitive wholesale pricing, and I’ll take care of everything else. No profit share, profit split. It’s just a direct forward relationship. I’ll do Amazon. You do the brand, we’ll take the inventory. Don’t worry about anything else.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Man. Okay, so. Not only do you dabble in the 50 ish million dollar Amazon space representing lots of brands, but you guys are also in the business of helping other people. I feel like there’s almost a pay it forward kind of mantra here. Like, hey – I’m putting words in your mouth here, Eric, but this is what I’m taking away from getting to know you is “I realized 10 years ago that I was in a gutter, and I had somebody give me an opportunity to not just make it, but thrive in my life, and now I wanna try to find ways to help other guys, other guys out there that might be looking for a path forward that’s better than the day job.” Tell me a little bit about Amazon Lit and how that might be of use to sellers or potential sellers that might hear this podcast.
Eric Castellano:
Yeah, absolutely. So Amazon Lit was really just built out of an idea one night, and we kind of ran with it. And the reason why it was designed is for a lack of authentic really knowledge. Like I couldn’t find one person where I could just be like, these are the guys. I’m gonna listen to what they’re saying, you know?
So. Anyway, we started the business maybe three or four years ago. We’re like listen, we are one of the largest Amazon sellers in the United States. Like maybe we should use our experience and start teaching people. So through social media, we gave away free content for multiple years. And then we started doing one on one consultations, and, you know, after maybe 1,000 one on one consultations, I really understood where people’s pain points were in their business.
And then we designed an entire mentorship and program around those pain points and created modules and live mentoring to help people in a situation where they’re doing whatever X number and they want to get to X number. We come in and we help guide them get to those numbers quickly, efficiently and smoothly with less issues than they would doing it by themselves.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Wow. That’s a great opportunity. So if somebody listening to this wanted to learn more about Amazon Lit or more about those offerings, that consulting service, Eric, where would they go to find that information?
Eric Castellano:
Best place would just be Instagram. You could go Amazon_lit. We also, you could check out our website, which is www.Esellersri.com. That will give you some more information as well. So either or works and we’d love to interact with you. You know, if you follow me on Instagram, send me a message. I reply to all my messages personally, I don’t have a VA managing my Instagram. So I want to get to know you a little better and see where we can help your business grow.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Love it. So Instagram, Amazon_lit. We will also put that website in the show notes so you guys will have that. So, all right, listen, I wanna get human for a second here.
Eric, this has been a great discussion by the way, but when you’re not crushing it in your businesses, what do you do, man? What is it that brings you joy in your life, hobbies, that kind of thing? What is it that you just love getting into?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. So I enjoy working out, definitely love working out. And I love going to like flea markets and estate sales, kind of finding the little nuggets in the, in the hidden rough, you know. Me and my girlfriend will go on a weekend, hit a couple of estate sales, and she likes doing little projects. So I love doing that. But yeah, the gym and being outside’s important to me.
I actually just moved to a brand new building, and the reason why I moved there is because it has a gym in the building. And one thing about me, I know I’m always going to prioritize work over my health. It’s just historically I do it. I’ll work 13, 15 hour days, not go to the gym for three weeks. So I moved into a place where the gym is downstairs and I’ve been consistently going to the gym four to five days a week, and I love it.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Man, that’s amazing. By the way, that’s funny, we’ll talk about hacks here in a minute, but that’s, I can’t tell you how many of my habits that I’m happy with right now are the direct result of the hack of making it absolutely idiot proof. Like if I can just make it to where I can’t screw this up, then I do it every single day.
And I’m like, oh, here we are a month and a half later, and I do that every day. I never thought I would do that every day. I mean, something stupid. Like had somebody call me out on like, not flosing my teeth. Actually might have been my dentist, I’m sure. But like, not flossing enough. And I just like put ’em in a spot where I couldn’t ignore the little, like one time use guys. Now I floss almost every day. It’s like not that big a deal, but I’m such a like creature of like, make it easy so that I’ll do it.
What a great idea. What a great move, moving into a building where the gym’s downstairs. Anything else that you do that has been – because I agree with you. So many entrepreneurs, by the way, have a hard time prioritizing their health and instead end up kind of suffocating the golden goose, which by the way, we only get one body. This is it. Like anything else in your life, Eric, that you’re like, man, this is something that I’ve had to learn to adopt in terms of just protecting my health and making myself more productive?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. I would say the three Ms man: meditation, manifestation, and mentorship. Those three things have really allowed me – because I use meditation to kind of be at peace and come up with the ideas, you know. And then the manifestation, I take the idea to a reality and the mentorship I use other people’s experience to help me get there. So like collectively the meditation throughout the day, coupled with the mental, physical, and spiritual aspect of life makes me a better business owner, better boyfriend, better brother, better son, better everything, better traffic, guy in traffic. You know, not yelling at the guy next to me ’cause I’m more centered.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Yeah, it’s so good. So the three Ms there. By the way, just finished a book called Professional Failure where, actually the guy’s a friend of mine, Justin, wrote this book, and a lot of the book is about what you just talked about. Like, if we can adopt habits, pursue mentorship, it’s amazing.
The richest guy that, you know, or lady, if you were to ask her, would probably give you advice. I think we, like, we kinda live a lot of our life, like being shocked that somebody who has done well, but I have found, as I’ve gotten a little bit more successful in my life, that I’m honored if somebody’s like, hey, how’d you do that?
Even if it’s a competitor, by the way. It could be a direct competitor in the bookkeeping or CFO space that’ll reach out to me and say, what did you do there? I don’t know. I just tend to, because of what you just described, that kind of just kinda manifestation after I’m gonna meditate on something, I just have such an abundant mentality that I’m like, yeah, let me show you how we feel.
Let’s find ways to partner. And so like, do you have any additional kind of – so we’re talking about hacks here. We’ve kind of eased into that part of the discussion here, but like how can somebody find a great mentor? Like what would be your path to success if I wanted to be like, I want a great mentor for this part of my life?
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. So I think really the best way to find a mentor is kind of getting to know somebody and obviously not in a personal sense, right? ‘Cause some of these people you can’t get access to unless you pay them. You know? So, but I would say just doing your research, right? If they host a live event, go to the live event.
Right? So like my newest mentor, Russell Brunson, he grew on me. Took me two years to convert me as a client, and he didn’t even pitch me. But it’s just after knowing him, going to his events and seeing his ads and then following his social media. So like, just get into the lives of the people who you think are possible mentors and follow ’em for a couple weeks and then you’ll be able to know who’s a better fit for you based on what you need.
Tyler Jefcoat:
But I think what you described there is a pretty proactive approach, ’cause it may be that, and you may not even have anybody else in mind, but it may be that you were like, oh, I’m kind of following this guy. That guy didn’t work out. Not my mentor. But now Brunson, who, it’s funny. Brunson is kind of an acquired taste, right? You gotta kind of try to realize what are this guy’s motives, is ClickFunnels, is this legit? Like, what is this? But like you explore it enough. You’re like, man, this person, whether it’s Brunson or Gary Vee or whoever it is out there, Tony Robbins, whoever it is. Like this person gets my vibe completely.
And so I think that’s a good, there’s some kind of an approach there that’s kind of just proactive. Like don’t sit there waiting, find a way to take that next baby step, go to that next live event, read that next white paper or whatever it is.
Eric Castellano:
I agree. And I think one of the biggest things is don’t go judged on your feelings. Right? Cause usually if I don’t like somebody, that means they’re very intelligent, and they have something that I want, but I don’t have it yet. So that kind of resentment towards them could push me away when really they’re the right fit. I’m just angry with myself ’cause I don’t have what they have yet, you know?
Tyler Jefcoat:
Eric, I’ve had that happen a few times in my life where I’m like, why don’t I like that guy? And then I do meditate. I’m like damnit it’s because he’s made a bunch of money and I haven’t made it yet. And I’m like, so like, it is funny how, like the hater, there could be this like inner hater, like this little, you know, childish Tyler that’s like, wow, I don’t wanna.
And then, so it’s important to identify that. So it’s worth asking yourself why do I have that gut – because it could be the opposite, by the way. Sometimes you have that gut feeling, and you start digging and you’re like, oh, that guy’s kind of a shyster. I don’t wanna have anything to do with that. That not my jibe, right. That’s not what I wanna be a part of. But it’s amazing how often it is, oh, dang. I’m just being what I don’t wanna be. I’m being a hater. Let’s stop being a hater and kind of find ways to get involved.
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. Yeah, but I think, I think really it’s the game changer. My most recent investment in mentoring was about an $80,000 investment, and I’ve already 10 X, that investment. It was made less than six months ago. So like the access to information that you don’t know you don’t know, but then all of a sudden you find out you don’t know it. Then you wanna learn it. You pay for it, you get it, your business grows.
Tyler Jefcoat:
I think that’s the core of having kind of a growth abundant mindset is that – and really, by the way, what’s amazing about this with you, Eric, is that sometimes the flea market trader type mindset, like you’re describing like, hey, I just have like, this I’m like a merchant, baby. I like to go find something, turn it, make a few bucks. Sometimes those folks can be so kind of financially narrow-minded, so narrow minded that, that it’s really difficult to kind of flip that switch, flip the mindset to say no, no, no, no. Spending 80 grand is an inconceivable amount of money.
Unless you can make a 10 X return on that, and then all of a sudden, you know, like, I mean, it’s an amazing investment. Gimme anything that in less than 10 months, or six months, I can make a 10 X return on that. And we’ll change the name of this podcast from Return on Podcast to Return on That Thing. Like that’s gonna become the new name, right.
Eric Castellano:
Yeah. But it’s getting over that hump of saying like, even for me, it was very challenging. Fortunately, I had people in my corner, like Sebastian was like, Eric, I know you don’t want to do this at all, but trust me, let’s just do it. If we don’t take risks, we’re never gonna grow.
Think about all the risk we took in the past and where we are today. And I was like, you know what? And they did it in two payments. And I literally, the first one I died a little inside. But then I got on the call, and I felt like I got my value worth, you know, and it changed my life another time. Another thing that changed my life for another thing, you know. So you, we’re on the same page here, Tyler, we get it. I just hope the audience is on the same page, you know?
Tyler Jefcoat:
Well, and maybe that’s what I would like to leave you guys with as we kind of close this episode is don’t forget the three Ms: meditation, manifestation. I do think that in a lot of ways, our ability to – it’s not just like power of positive thinking in a vacuum, but this idea of we are what we eat. We are what we consume in terms of content. We are what we consume in terms of what we tell ourselves and our brain. And then finding those mentors, realizing that the best mentor, what is it, the guy paid $20 million a couple months ago to get lunch with Warren Buffet.
Right? I mean, there are levels of information and access and network that you gotta know what you want and don’t be afraid. Now, I’m, I’m not recommending that you spend 80 grand on your first coaching experience. But find ways to actively pursue the kinds of mentors that’ll make you better. And kind of flex that muscle, grow that muscle for what might be possible. And you might be amazed at what happens with your business. Any final thoughts before we close the day here, Eric?
Eric Castellano:
No, I’m just super grateful to be on the show, Tyler, and thank you so much for having me. And like I said, I’m happy to help anybody who wants to reach out, and I appreciate you having me on the show.
Tyler Jefcoat:
Love it, love it. Likewise, my friend. So Amazon_lit on Instagram. We’ll make sure the link to the website is in the show notes. And guys, I just wanna say, thank you anyone who’s made it 35 minutes into this pod. I consider that a gift that you would give us this time for us to have this discussion. My sincere hope is that it generates value for your life and that you might be able to apply a little bit of what Eric has taught us. And so with that, I’m gonna close. I’m Tyler Jefcoat. This is the Return on Podcast. Make sure you look up Eric, and make sure you choose to kill it this week. Take care.