Gav Kwok on Making $100M on Amazon, Traveling to 100 Countries & Pro Tennis Digital Social Hour #134

It's very hard to do business in Japan.

Right, right.

They're closed off.

It's very closed off to like outsiders, even if you look Asian.

Right.

Even if you look Japanese.

If you learned how to speak it, it wouldn't matter.

No.

Yeah.

Especially if you're like white or something.

White or something.

No, no.

No.

And one thing I do respect about over there is if they don't like you, you're going to know.

Like, they show you.

Asian people are like that.

Yeah, like we don't with you.

I walked in 7-Eleven, bro, and she was just so disgusted.

I was like,

what do you want me to do?

She was so mad.

Welcome back to the Digital Social Hour.

I'm your host, Sean Kelly.

I'm here with my co-host, Wayne Lewis.

What up, what up?

And our guest today, Gab Kwok.

What's your guest?

Gab.

Chilling.

Building.

Yeah, man.

Just came back from Asia, right?

I was in Japan for a month.

Nice.

be in for a month.

And I was in Sydney for a month.

I was just traveling.

You're killing me?

When you make 100 million a year, you could just travel for $100.

Oh, yeah.

So you did

$100 million and didn't bring us none of it.

Yeah, so you know,

he said it off.

He just cut it off.

Yeah, he just cut it off.

Yeah, $110.

But I...

He said it $110.

$110.

He said $110.

$110.

Correction.

$110 million.

Exactly.

But not all profit, right?

You know, the business, of course, has expenses.

Comes on wholesale FP.

How do you feel when that amount is coming in?

Like, you kind of just see it like

$110 million in one year.

What does that feel like calculating?

It's a good feeling.

Well, it kind of feels like everything's free almost.

Besides, like, big yachts and jets and all that, like buying them.

You can always go to it.

But you can find a yacht for a couple M's.

Yeah.

You know, some yachts.

That's some nice.

Well, like, those are the ones, right?

Yeah.

Whoa.

Yachts for a couple of M.

Yeah, there's no good yacht that's fine.

There's no good yacht that's like, you know, in the low M's.

It's not even a flex if you get an M yacht.

It's a negative flex.

It's like it's your birth to afford like a good one.

So it's a negative flex to buy a million dollar yacht.

Yeah.

For sure.

So what's a positive flex?

20, 10?

You need to say at least 50 plus.

Yeah.

50 plus?

50 plus.

I don't want that.

Why not?

You got to play on the mountain.

Well, I would have to live in Miami.

I would have to live out there.

I don't want to travel to go to my yacht.

I want to walk to it.

Yeah, of course.

Like, you would want to be in Monaco and Miami.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't want to be a place with with like a lot of billionaires.

Yeah, I want a $50 million yacht just sitting in Miami.

I would much rather live there.

And here's the thing: like, with the yacht, like, it's almost like a networking thing as well.

You can invite other rich people, other yacht owners, other people, other yacht owners, and you're part of an exclusive club.

So it becomes a way to make money

rather than just a flex expense.

Gotcha.

You know,

you've traveled the world, experienced many different cultures.

What culture has been your favorite?

Well, just uh, just recently I was in Japan.

I was texting you some food pics and stuff.

The culture there is

interesting, but the thing I like the most is food, right?

And the food there is incredible.

Fresh.

It's real food.

She was texting me the sushi.

That's beautiful.

I've been in China.

It's real food.

In Asia,

it's crazy.

The sushi you ate looked nuts.

The sushi was...

Like, I can never eat sushi in America.

There's no way.

It's terrible.

Their McDonald's is even better.

It's actually real food, bro.

You're watching them actually the duck in front of you.

There's no FDA.

There's nobody in there like, oh, yeah, we approve that.

It's like, nah.

Wow.

Fry it is yours.

Eat it.

It's so fresh.

What about business-wise?

What was their business culture like there?

Business culture, everyone is...

It's a little more reserved, right?

And it's

flexing.

That's the thing.

Everyone's very low-key and subtle.

But it's also hard when you're not Japanese.

You know, I might look like I'm Japanese, right?

But I'm not Japanese.

Right.

Well w what are you?

I'm mostly Chinese.

Oh, mostly Chinese.

Yeah, but I'm like part white, too.

Okay.

So all of you guys are like...

Yeah.

Yeah.

Part white.

Yeah, but like if you aren't traditionally Japanese and you don't speak Japanese fluently, it's very hard to do business in Japan.

Right.

Right.

They're closed off.

It's very closed off to like outsiders, even if you look Asian.

Right.

Even if you looked Japanese.

Interesting.

Yeah.

That makes sense.

Even if you learned how to speak it, it wouldn't matter.

No.

Yeah.

Especially if you're like white or something.

White or something.

No, no.

And one thing I do respect about over there is if they don't like you, like you're like,

if they don't like you, you're going to know.

Like they show you.

Asian people are like that.

Yeah, like we don't with you.

I heard in China, like when they see black people, they'll touch them and take photos.

Well,

I walked in 7-Eleven, bro, and she was just so disgusted.

I was like...

Yeah.

What do you want me to do?

She was so mad.

I was born this way.

Yeah, she was so mad.

Like,

I'm here.

Where's shout out to today's sponsor, HelloFresh, America's number one meal kick.

They do all the shopping and meal planning for you.

Ingredients arrive at your doorstep, pre-portioned, ready to cook, along with step-by-step recipe cards that are pictured.

I used to suck at cooking, but HelloFresh makes it very easy to cook.

They also save you money.

HelloFresh is cheaper than grocery shopping and 25% less expensive than takeout.

So if you order food a lot or you grocery shop a lot, HelloFresh is there to save you money and time.

I value my time a lot.

That's why I'm a fan of HelloFresh.

I cook it with with my fiancé every week.

Our favorite meals are the chicken orzo, the salsa verda enchiladas.

And they got so many more options for you guys.

Check out their site.

Let me know your favorite recipes in the comments below.

If you want America's number one meal kit, go to hellofresh.com/slash 50 DSH for 50% off and free shipping.

That's hellofresh.com slash 50 DSH and use code 50 DSH for 50% off plus free shipping.

Let me know what you guys order in the comments below.

Can't wait to see it.

Peace.

What was it like growing up in Australia?

It was good, man.

I

it's funny because

I was there for most of my childhood, right?

Until I was 13.

I was just that's like the only life I knew.

And Australian culture is very chill, it's very relaxed.

Yeah, right.

And then it was a big change coming to America, right?

Like,

I came here.

Oh, look, it's a cat or a dog.

Yeah.

But

I came to America, and yeah, everyone was just like loud, obnoxious.

Well, you know, it's America.

And it was a very big culture shock.

But going to Australia was awesome.

I actually enjoyed,

you know, as bad as it might sound, like, I actually enjoyed going to school when I was younger.

And I feel like the education system in Australia is

so far ahead.

Really?

Of America.

Of course.

Interesting.

Why would it be ahead because their culture is more slow right business-wise yeah it's it's more slow in terms of like you can feel it in the air right as woo-woo as that sounds like once you're there in australia everyone's just relaxed chill it's there's not like this need to impress like you have like all the status games and all that in america like it in america it's all about you know getting getting the flex right right getting the lamba getting the richie you know getting the yacht the jet all that stuff in australia no one gives a f.

Like,

everyone's just relaxed.

But everyone actually also has money there.

Like, the average real estate in Sydney is like over a million.

So, everyone's pretty much a millionaire just by owning anything in Australia.

Like, everyone wants to live in Sydney, which is where I grew up.

That's pretty crazy.

Yeah, it's and the food there is incredible too.

Yeah, if you ever go.

I've been there.

Oh, yeah, I haven't been there yet.

Yeah, Sydney's.

I mean, anytime you leave America and go to an actual country, like

and then process

everything.

Yeah, everything's better.

Yeah, it is.

Especially from a food standpoint.

Yeah.

You also backpacked 10 countries in Europe.

What was that like?

Yeah, you remember?

What shoes did you wear?

Because I need to know.

In backpacking.

Backpacking?

Yeah.

Bro, I was just wearing like...

It's like 10 countries.

Dude, I was just wearing Converse, man.

No, really?

Yeah, I was wearing Converse.

Did you wear blisters?

You got stat shoes the whole time?

Nah, you got blisters, bro.

Nah, his knees are bad.

Well, I got some blisters.

Because I'll do like these 12-hour hikes or some shit in converse.

Yeah.

And that's, yeah.

Yo, 12-hour hikes?

Yeah.

Why did you

upload the mountains of Peru?

So never scared, never like.

Were you solo?

Yeah.

Solo.

And you didn't speak the country's languages.

No.

So you were just...

Did anybody try to like you?

Yeah, I actually almost got stabbed once.

Geez, really?

Yeah, I was in Chile.

It was a place called Arica.

It was like a town on like on the border of Chile and Ecuador.

And someone was trying to get my watch.

You were wearing a Richie?

I was wearing an AP.

I turned down.

I turned down a lot.

But yeah, like he was like, you know, he was just like, but, you know, he doesn't speak English.

But he's like, I pointed at my watch.

Yeah.

And I was like.

And then he's like, and he was like, and then he pulled out a knife.

How big was it?

It was just like, it was just medium.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But, you know, still a knife.

Did you just book it from there?

And I was just like, you know, I could fight, but, you know, I'm good.

You know?

So I just like, you know.

Did you give it to him?

No.

Nah, when they have a knife, bro, it's not, it's not worth it.

It's not worth it.

Like, sure, I could like maybe do some like, you know, like, I've done a lot of MMA and stuff and like boxing.

Yeah.

Right.

But in those situations, and I've talked to people that

literally have many, many people, and they say they just book it.

So I follow that advice.

Sure, you could be the man, and like, whatever, but what are you gonna get out of it?

Yeah, right.

It's not worth the risk, it's not worth it.

Like, even if you beat the f out of the guy, you probably have a few stab wounds or something, you know?

Yeah, it's not worth it.

Well, yeah, like, what was it like backpacking to 10 countries?

Like, did you have a change in your lifestyle?

Like, did it open your eyes or something?

It did.

I think backpacking, especially it's a third-world country, it's crazy.

It's literally, people live so simply.

I remember I was, and I was doing like super authentic.

Like, I was spending like no money.

I was like staying in hostels, taking like 20-hour bus rides across countries.

You know, I didn't fly once.

I forced myself not to.

Wow.

You know?

And I really, and like, I'll literally be on a bus through like the mountains of Peru, Patagonia, and you'd see like these little like hut villages.

And

people would just literally have nothing.

And like people would hop on the bus.

They had like their chickens and

entire life with them.

Wow.

You know, and everyone's just like, it looks like they haven't showered in weeks, you know, and they're just, you know, looking for a better opportunity.

And you don't realize how blessed you are.

You know, it's, I mean, we talk about America sometimes, right?

Of how like process everything is or whatever, but like those people would

to be in America, right?

To have that opportunity, right?

Like these people don't have Wi-Fi or in clean water or anything.

iPhones.

Like we complain about, oh,

my iPhone's dead.

Where's the charger?

You know, it's like the simple stuff.

Like, we talk about seed oils and stuff.

You don't give a fuck about seed oils.

They're like, give me that seed oil.

You know, I need those calories.

You know?

Like, they're just trying to survive, man.

Wow.

Yeah.

And, you know, and but

a lot of these people are so happy, too.

Yeah.

Like, you know, and you hear this all the time, right?

But I also believe that, you know, these people are happy because

that's all they know.

They don't know any better, right?

But I'm sure they'd be happy to be in America.

How did that change your perspective and outlook, you know, when it comes to life and how you view things?

Did it change it at all?

It's just kind of like, wow.

It really did, man.

You did.

So, are you living here in a hostel now?

Did you ride a bus here?

Or did you walk halfway?

Don't get me wrong.

I still like to find things in life.

So, no hostels in L.A.

Where were you at?

Right now?

Yeah.

I live in a house.

No, where are you living?

Here?

Yeah, I'm based out of Vegas right now.

Oh, so you don't mean I'm staying in a hostel here?

Nah.

Yeah, well, you know, well, here's the thing.

I've experienced it.

Right.

And I feel like before I did the trip, right, I felt like I was extremely jaded.

Because I've experienced so many things.

And I'm sure you guys have as well.

While you're young.

And that can make you like, you can literally do the coolest shit.

And you're just like, you know.

You don't feel anything.

right right and you're just kind of ungrateful right right you know i think we're desensitized yeah very

ungrateful we've just seen it so many times like how you know it doesn't excite you anymore it does i think that's what it is no it's pretty crazy because ariel's brother came to visit and we're so used to the hotels here right like we just walk by them we don't take photos oh of course like he's like taking photos of her

it's just weird he's like taking it like blash yeah yeah oh he told us when we got home it's like the coolest thing he's ever seen in his life i'm like whoa yeah because he's from Bolivia.

I'm like, I didn't even think about that.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

I just think we're desensitized, but I do also think that we take a lot of things for granted because we're spoiled.

But I think being desensitized is really it because, bro, we're so overexposed to everything, whether it's material things, sex, money, it's just overexposure of it.

So we

take it.

Like, we have like a dopamine, like, overload.

Yeah.

Have you done a dopamine detox yet?

I have,

but not for extremely long.

I do want to do like a one-month one or something like that.

I did like a one-week one.

That's a long time.

Yeah, and it's like, it's hard, especially when you're so overloaded.

So, what?

So, how does that, how does that look?

No phones, nothing like that.

Social media, anything.

So, where do you get your dopamine from?

You can't.

Like, you have to do like natural forms of dopamine, right?

Like, you know, well, I work out, but like, that gives you know a lot of dopamine.

Like, getting sunlight, going for walks, all that stuff, you know, cold showers, plunges, sauna, steam room, all that stuff.

You know, I know you do that stuff too.

Yeah, daily.

I've seen you tweet out something interesting.

I don't know if your perspective has changed, but you said you don't believe life begins until you're rich.

Do you still feel that way?

That's deep.

Yes.

You just gave us examples of all these people

who are not rich and loving life.

I want to live like that.

I just want to throw all this stuff away, go live in the woods.

Now it's like, well, life don't start until you're rich.

So here's the thing.

I look at life on both ends.

I see the extremes.

You know, I've been extremely broke, and I have the level of success I have now.

Right.

And

I can see that

when you don't have money, it's,

especially when you live in a first world country.

It's a prison.

It's terrible.

Like, you're stuck in this modern-day slavery cycle.

Absolutely.

Right.

Of go to work, do this, get your paycheck, live, paycheck to paycheck, you know, live, work, die.

You know, and you do the the same every every day.

Yeah, and you can't escape, right?

Right.

And I feel like most people are in that cycle.

Like, most people aren't like us.

You know, you can't just take like three, four months off and travel without having to worry about money or anything.

Right.

Like, most people can never do that.

Right.

So I see life as if you don't have, and I, you know, I made it as simple as possible.

It wasn't nuance.

It was just a simple tweet or whatever, right, that I put in my story.

If you don't have that financial freedom to just

be able to take, you know, half a year off, not having to worry about money,

you know,

and you can't experience life.

You're because you're always stuck at this job.

You always had to be at.

And you can't escape.

So life doesn't really begin until you're rich or until you have that means.

Most people never travel outside the country.

Like 90% of people.

Is that high?

Yeah.

I didn't know that.

It's majority of people never ever leave the country.

That's something I didn't think about.

Because my parents

don't leave their state.

Yeah, or state or their town.

Yeah.

That's insane.

They're black.

It gets real tricky.

They're black?

That's like.

That's like a prison almost.

If you're just staying on the same street.

Chicago, a lot of those cats ain't even been downtown.

Yeah.

I feel like people are...

Also, it's that way.

Sometimes only because they don't have the means, because if you live in America, you can always take some trip somewhere.

Yeah, you can.

But their mind is not open to the possibility, right?

Of like, I'm not like a tree and like, I have to stay here.

Like, I can just move.

I can just fly, but it's uncomfortable.

And most people are so addicted to comfort and what they're used to, even if their situation isn't good.

Yeah.

Like, they just want to,

they're used to what they're used to.

Right.

And they don't want that to change.

I like the way you think about things because you more so view

wealth as freedom, not as like a flex.

He just wants to do what you want to do when you want to do it.

Exactly.

I think that's what wealth is.

But some people view it different, you know, materialistic way.

Yeah, materialist.

But I'd rather travel and get experiences than buy certain things.

Yeah, like travel food.

Of course, maybe, you know, and I always think of abundance, right?

Why not do both?

Why not have the money to buy whatever you want, whether it's materialistic or whatever?

You know, I have Richie, I have a Rari, you know, all that stuff.

What kind of Rari you got?

Black, Black Ferrari, Spider.

Oh, yeah.

Yes.

But yeah.

But it's like, why not have all these experiences?

And also buy whatever you want.

Like,

if you want to experience

having materialistic things, then

it doesn't mean you can't have both.

If you don't like it, just sell it.

It's not like you're stuck with it.

The perception of wealth or riches to a lot of people is a material aspect.

And

you speak about freedom a lot.

You just want to experience a lot of different things.

It's all about freedom.

I got freedom tattooed across my chest here.

Wow.

It's the only tattoo I have, too, because I don't really like tattoos that much.

Yeah, I'm not a fan.

Yeah.

You also post on your IG you believe millionaires are the new middle class.

Yes.

Yeah.

Like millionaires are the new middle class if you think about it.

Like having a million

nowadays, what are you really going to buy with the mill?

A Bugatti.

I can't even buy that.

You can't even afford like a down payment on a Bugatti.

You get it.

You can't get it fixed.

Yeah.

You pay like the down payment on a Bugatti and you're you can't pay the monthly payments.

A mil isn't what it used to be.

A payment of the mill to registerable daddy is 80k.

Geez, just to register?

Yeah, what the hell?

Yeah, people think that like being a millionaire, being a millionaire now is like some flex or whatever.

Yeah, you're broke.

You need 10 mil to be comfortable.

You need at least, I'd say 18, 20.

Like,

well, to be it, depends on your level of comfort, right?

And where you're living and where you're living and what you want your lifestyle to look like.

Like,

so there's different levels, right?

If you just want to be comfortable and like live like kind of an average

life,

you know, even, like, and be able to afford those expenses without having to work, it's at least like 10 mil.

Even if you're not traveling a lot, you know.

So, average life.

Yeah.

So, to live an average life, you need like 10 million.

I'd say you need at least 10 mil.

For me to be comfortable,

I'll agree that I would want 10 mil.

I wouldn't say I'm average.

Yeah, of course not.

But, like, we're not all average here.

I would want 10 mil.

I think for me to feel comfortable, not I think I know.

I need about, I'd say, like 15 because the money, the, it's just going down.

So, and then, plus, I like, yeah, like,

yeah, the house alone is going to be a few mil.

Yeah, cars, boom.

So, cars, you need 15 taxes.

You're going to pay the house off or pay a mortgage or whatever.

I just feel like you need that.

Plus, like, you got people you got to look out for.

You have your family, if you ever decide to have kids, yeah, whatever.

Kids are a mil.

Easy, easy mil.

Like, with inflation, at least two.

two.

Would that be $15 or $10 a year or $10 flat?

Because that's not going to last if it's 10.

Yeah, it's not going to work.

Exactly.

Exactly.

No, no, no.

That's why I say 10 mil.

That's why I say 10 mil for like the bare average.

And you got to

work anymore.

Yeah, that's what I'm going to say.

Are you not making money anymore or are you still making money?

No, you would need interest.

You can't have 10 million.

Yeah, you would need to invest in something.

Whether that's stocks or whatever.

If you have someone who knows something.

Because inflation is what?

2% a year?

Or it's like 7% now or something.

This year, yeah.

You got 15 mil and you ain't working no more.

I'm nervous.

You're gonna blow through.

Of course, like you're every day going to be like, I'm running out, I'm running out, like I'm gonna be out soon, right?

And it sounds super arrogant.

Like, we're gonna we're gonna get a lot of hate for this, but like, it's just like people don't think long-term, like, that money will go.

You're gonna turn 50, you're gonna turn 60, you're gonna turn 70, and your bills, there's one thing we know.

I don't care what you're going through, the power company is gonna send you a power bill.

I don't care what you're going through,

yeah, exactly.

And, like for now to live like a good life, I'd say you need at least 50.

50?

I'd say you need at least 50.

To live a good life.

A good life.

Like be able to travel what you want, take vacations with your entire family.

You probably spent everyone out with you.

In Japan alone.

Oh, easy.

Yeah.

Like in the Maldives, I spent like six, you know, for a month.

You know?

Like, it was like three, 4K a night.

Easy.

Yeah.

I think travel my bill was.

I just put it on the card and I was like, you know?

Traveling and food I'll spend money on for sure.

Because those are life experiences and memories.

Yeah, like those are the things that I love the most above all.

Like having like cool stuff is like, where like materialistic stuff that costs like half a mill or whatever, it's cool.

But it nothing compares like staying like a really nice place for like, you know, 3K a night and eat like the best food, spend like 2K, you know, like that's right.

I agree.

It's so good.

So what do you, what do you wake up?

What's what's your regimen like every day from a mental standpoint?

Like how do you tap in with yourself and check in and make sure that you're staying at this high level?

So

I do daily meditation.

Okay.

Like I have a routine.

How long?

My routine takes about an hour.

Breathing.

So it's like,

yeah, just breathing, just clearing your mind.

Like if a thought comes up, just you know, just breathe, let it go.

You know?

And that really helps me to stay grounded because it stops me from being like a rich head and be nice to people.

I feel like once you achieve a certain level of success,

you guys have met a lot of rich ass

in their 20s who think they're hard.

And they think they're like they're better than you or something.

I'm like, then they turn 30, they don't have it anymore.

Yeah, they like they're so arrogant, you know, and like that success is not gonna last.

It doesn't last.

They probably like caught a pump or something and made like 10 miles or whatever, and they think they're,

but they have no skills, nothing.

And you see this new wave of rich people, rich people, you know, with nothing to offer.

Like they can't talk.

They're just weird.

You know?

So it's meditation.

Meditation, I work out, do yoga.

I do visualization exercises of what I want my life to look like.

And how does that work?

What's your exercise from that?

Yes, the visualization one.

So I

have like this framework in my mind.

I close my eyes and I go through like this entire routine of

of like what my perfect like normal day looks like and I walk through it i i go through all the senses like you know like how does it feel like to be in the sun the water

uh you know like the wind in my hair like i feel everything it's crazy what the human mind can do right just by just through imagination and visualization and it it becomes real you know and I'm sure you guys have heard a lot about visualization yeah from very successful people and it works you know a lot of them do it yeah like I've never 10 out of 10 do it yeah I've never not visualized something and not achieved it in my life.

Yeah.

Ever.

Always.

Always.

For sure.

It's important every day I do it.

And they don't teach this like in school.

They want you to stay in this modern day rat race cycle and train you to be an employee because it benefits the system.

But I also understand that if the imagine if everyone was like us.

Imagine everyone was rich.

Everyone can be rich.

Someone needs to work the McDonald's counter.

Someone needs to work the Chipotle.

You can't have everyone be like multi-millionaires traveling in, you know, like it'll be like Dubai, though.

Most people in Dubai are like, well, like, those are exceptions.

Like, Dubai, Monaco, like, these places where everyone's a millionaire.

Insane wealth.

But there's how many cities are like that?

Barely any.

Barely any.

You know, you can't have billions of people like that.

Yeah, the whole country can't do it.

Maybe specific cities.

Yeah, specific cities, maybe.

Yeah.

But like, you know, that's why, like,

that's why people like to flock to places like Dubai and Monaco and all that, because there's a bunch of other rich people.

Yeah.

You know, and you can do business.

Yeah, right.

What were you like in college?

Because I know you were trying to play pro tennis.

You were partying heavy, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

College was

Miami, man.

You're not going to not party in Miami.

You went to Miami?

No, I went to Florida State.

Oh, Florida State?

Yeah, it's a party school, too.

There was number one party school at the time when I went.

Number one in the country.

That's why I went, actually.

Oh, that's why you went.

I was like, I looked at the top party schools in the country.

I did the same thing, bro.

And I was like, number one is Florida State.

I was going.

Rutgers or Penn State.

Yeah,

exactly.

Rutgers and Penn State was the part number one.

In that area of New Jersey, those were like the party schools.

Yeah, but college was great, man.

Like, I

really had a

positive experience, even though I didn't really learn much, right?

Like, you hear about all these entrepreneurs saying, like, you're in college or whatever.

But I can speak from someone who was there for almost five years, right?

You know, that's a long time.

Did you graduate?

Yeah.

I graduated.

Wow.

Graduated two degrees, whatever.

You know.

You said whatever.

Where are the degrees now?

His garage under the box.

I remember they wanted to ship me my

diplomas or my degrees, and I was like, I don't need it.

You know, because I was already making so much money at that point.

Yeah.

Like, I started my first business in sophomore year of college.

What was your first business?

My first business was Shopify, actually.

Shopify.

I'm sure you guys, everyone's heard of it.

Everybody's

doing like drop shipping and all that.

I was making, you know, but I was broke before that.

Yeah.

You know, so I went from like zero and to making like 10k a month.

And that's a lot in college.

Yeah, a lot in college.

Like 10k a month profit in 30 days.

Yeah.

Shopify.

And then I moved to Amazon.

Yeah.

And you know, made seven figures in less than five months

with Amazon.

And then now that was like seven, eight years ago.

What was that first big product that just took off?

With Shopify or Amazon?

With Amazon.

Yeah, with both, I guess.

Shopify, I was selling this drone.

What?

I was selling drones.

What?

Drones.

Drones.

Drones.

Like the things that fly in there and have cameras.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

There was a wave of that, I remember.

Yeah, when they first played.

Now they're like illegal or something.

Yeah, exactly.

Are they?

Yeah, like you can't really sell them.

Or you're like, it's funny, my ad account got banned.

My Facebook pixel for selling those.

Because I thought I was selling weapons.

They're like, oh, these drones are weapons.

But I was making like,

let me see.

The margins on that were like 5x.

Yeah, they were probably solid.

Getting them from China.

Yeah, getting them from China.

Sold with them for like 10 bucks selling for like 80.

Yeah, you know, so not bad.

That was my big product, and then on Amazon,

I was selling like this desk.

I don't know if it's still around because there's a lot of standing desk.

It was like one of those like huge, like L-shaped desks.

Okay, and I was selling them for like $1,500.

Holy shit!

But I was sourcing them for like $200.

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah.

So I was making like $1K plus per each one.

And I was selling like $20 a day.

So I was like making like...

Do people spend that much on a desk?

Yeah.

It was a big desk.

Yeah.

Yeah.

L, were they black?

They, yeah, I sold all different colors.

L, the computer desk.

Yeah, like the computer desk.

Yeah, those were popular.

I wanted to do that.

Those were popular.

Everybody had one.

That was me.

Everybody had one.

Well, I was selling a lot of those.

Yeah.

Glass or the wood ones?

The wood ones.

Yeah, I was on the wood ones.

I feel like desks I want to buy in person, low-key though.

Oh, yeah, because those desks are always like flimsy.

They're always like shape and stuff.

Yeah, exactly.

And like you'd like connect them.

Yeah.

You'd have different sections and stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah, but the margins were so insane on that.

I felt like I was like printing money.

Wow.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

You ever have like a supply chain issue where the product was just quality, so you had to send it back?

Yeah, I have.

Yeah.

That's actually been a big problem in business when the products are not what they seem.

And then Amazon's like, hey, what's going on?

Because Amazon only cares about the customer.

They don't give a f about the seller.

Were you doing FBA?

So at first, I was doing dropshipping.

And dropshipping was the shed back in the day.

That was like printing money back in the day.

Yeah.

You can't do it now.

They banned it, right?

It's pretty much banned.

If you try to do it, you're gone.

It's the worst thing you can do.

Merchants hate it.

Everyone hates it.

Everyone hates merchants.

Yeah.

Because everyone's like,

and Amazon only trusts themselves now.

Like FBA, which is fulfilled by Amazon.

Yeah, which is going to be a form of dropshipping.

It's just through Amazon.

Yeah, it's almost a form of dropshipping, but it's like you have to buy inventory.

You can't do FPA without buying inventory.

So there is inherently a little more risk.

A little risk.

But with wholesale FBA,

I have softwares that look at products that have a pre-existing sales history.

Yeah.

And then we just hop on.

Yeah.

So you just undercut them and then undercut or match.

Yeah.

He's just, he looks at product like Kepa is one.

You just go in there, you type it in, and you kind of see what your ROI is on is going to be on every single item.

There's a couple of different ones.

But Amazon is definitely a method to the madness.

I mean, I'm.

I order like, dude, every two days on Amazon.

It's addicting.

Yeah.

They make it so easy.

That's the only place I'll go to look for stuff.

I live right next to one.

I get it in like two hours.

Crazy.

Yeah, save.

Yeah.

Yeah, so so close.

But like the main problem is like finding good suppliers, good vendors, et cetera.

So it's like you have to find good quality products or you'll get suspended.

Do you speak Mandarin to help the

dialogue with the vendors?

So I primarily only work with US.

Oh, US.

But I do speak Cantonese.

Nice.

You know, so

if I wanted to do business in like

well, Cantonese only really works in like Hong Kong or Macau or certain provinces.

Mandarin is still the dominant Chinese language.

Yeah.

But I don't like to deal with Chinese suppliers anymore.

And you're Chinese too.

That's funny.

Yeah, exactly.

The quality is just all over the place, right?

Well, I mean, everything is made out there, bro.

Like, how is the quality bad when everything is made out there?

It's not even like the quality.

It's like the lead time.

Right.

Right?

Like, and

a fees a lot of the tariff fees, all that.

And then if America and China have, like, a beef, have

some beef.

Yeah.

Then your suppliers are all gone then what are you gonna do yeah you probably have stuff stuck at the ports at some point oh i don't know so much and then customers just hold it yeah they'll just hold it

for like months and days yeah and that holds you up you got money tied up yeah that's cash flow tied up you can't sell it you can't do anything with it i remember back in the day when i didn't have a lot of cash flow it was like that was like my business is a big hit yeah i wish there were more of suppliers here

for sure yeah they're expensive here too yeah no it's like that's the thing you're working with slow margins right right?

Right when you're in the US, so you have to make up for it with buying power, right?

Which is you know, what I do differently, right?

Like, I have all these suppliers that I literally spend like half a mil a month on, and they give me the best pricing.

Oh, okay.

You know, so

yeah, cash is king.

Cash is king.

Yeah, yeah, money talks.

Yeah, and most people can't have that.

Like, most people are trying to get into my game.

Yeah.

I'm like, good luck.

You know, they don't have the capital.

They don't have the capital.

You probably need like a few mil to start these days.

Like, for these days to be successful, yeah, at least half a mil.

Jeez.

You know?

Yeah, back then you could start with 10 days.

Yeah, easy.

He's like 5, 10k.

Speaking about the lower level, he's like coming in in any style, especially when you're talking about FBA or online, 500,000 is a lot to start with.

But he's looking at ROIs of 5,000, 10 mil.

His returns are totally different.

He's paying attention to the ROI.

Plus, he has a system.

Yeah, you can't compete with the system infrastructure

and prove your relationships.

Like

all my suppliers, trust me.

Do you use any AI yet?

I've been trying to incorporate some, but I still need some help with that.

So if you guys know.

There's probably going to be some AIs that just find the best products and just...

Yeah.

Yeah, I've been looking into that.

Like, right now I still have my team finding products.

Still people calling, right?

Calling up suppliers on my sales team.

Yeah.

All that stuff.

Oh, they literally call and ask, like, how's this selling?

Yeah.

Wow.

Like, I just literally have my sales team just call up suppliers.

Smart.

You know, negotiate, all that good stuff.

Nice.

Gab, what's next for you, bro?

What's next?

200 mil?

Got it.

200.

I want to make a bill, man.

In a year?

Probably over five.

I'll try.

Yeah.

100 ton.

Yeah, you could probably scale to a bill in five.

I think.

You can scale to a bill.

You're already at 100 million.

Yeah, exactly.

And what's the multiple on the company when you sell it?

Is it based off revenue?

So it's based off...

Well, usually it's based off like profit.

Profit.

So, and it's the monthly, and plus all the relationships I have, plus the net terms I have, yeah, which is like credit loan, you get like net 90, right?

Yeah, well, like

you want to you don't want to go out that far, you want to do net 45, net 30s, nah, it's better for

because you have more time to pay.

So, I oh, you mean a net not on your end, on their end, yeah, on their end, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

So, I have like, yeah, I have like net like 120s, I even have like net like 180s, which

is like it's literally free money, yeah, he's giving you free money based on it.

Yeah, like I literally have millions and millions of dollars on net terms, wow, like of like net 120s, and then you can reinvest that money.

That's free money.

Yeah, it's just this constant cycle.

That's right.

Because I have these long relationships.

What's the secret to negotiating net terms?

Because most people don't even have net terms.

You got to pay in people.

Yeah, you need a proven track record of paying.

And then you have to negotiate.

You can't ask for net terms right off the bat.

Like, hey, give me half a million.

Imagine you've never done anything like that.

I think you need a year of probably solid business to get ahead of time.

And then show up, visit, meet with the guy, the head person.

Oh, did you meet up with them?

Yeah.

Yeah, you got to sit down and talk.

But if you got a net 180, he went to dinner.

You got to do a lot.

Yeah, he went to dinner.

Why the die?

He did a lot for a net 180.

Yeah.

Sean, that's not paying for nothing in six months.

That's crazy.

And he can call them and re-up every month, every week if you want to.

And he's going to send it to him.

That sucks, man.

But when that 180-day hit, he better have that wire.

Yeah, because

if you ever miss anything,

then you lose that relationship pretty much.

and they'll never trust you again.

So, for people like starting out, it's you have to have a proven track record.

At least order, you know, you have some big inventory to start, make some big orders, do at least like a 50k order or something with one supplier, build it up.

After a few months, be like, hey, can I have a net?

Don't ask for 180.

Ask for like a net 30.

Ask for a net 30.

Net 30 of like 20k, something.

And then prove that, and then pay it off quick.

Right.

You know?

And then

next one, net 60.

Work your way up.

50k.

Slowly work your way up.

And then you'll get to half a million.

Net 180s.

One million.

Yeah, because Walmart and Target do that to all their vendors, right?

Oh, yeah, and that's the whole thing.

Walmart not paying you until

on sale, they'll send it back to you.

Yeah, exactly.

They'll force you to buy it back.

Gav, where can people find you, bro?

So IG is the best place to get me.

Gav.quok, K-W-O-K.

Yeah, you can hit me up on there.

My website's gavquok.com.

And also have a podcast there.

nice, yeah, sick, yeah.

Wayne,

if you're not, if you don't have 10 million, you're broke

exactly.

Hey, you know, millionaires in the new middle class, right?

If you don't at least have a few million, absolutely, you're done, yeah.

All right, guys, thanks for tuning in.

I'll see you next time.

Peace, peace, guys.