Phoenix Resale interviews lots of gaming business owners. In this episode he interviews Mark from Dynamo Collectables and we get an absolutely fascinating interview of a guy that got out of being a restaurant server and into selling video games. The interview is packed with lots of real numbers and interesting wisdom:

1. He started at home with a simple Twitter social media post: “I’m buying video games”. He put his money on the line ($25k) and bought everything. He started working 7 days a week, 70 hour workweeks selling on eBay until his house was packed floor to ceiling.
2. Experiment, try things, and when you find something that works – double-down. He was doing video games, then picked up a few Pokemon cards. They sold out instantly. So now he buys and sells Pokemon cards.
3. Buy low, sell fast. Focus on velocity over margin.
   • Be willing to buy a game for $30 and sell it right away for $40 vs buying at $20 and wait 8 months to sell for $50-$60.
   • He sold slightly below eBay/competitor prices. This caused lots of friction with other sellers. His attitude: lets sell it a little lower and both still make money.
   • Instead of gouging for fully charged handheld games after a recent hurricane, he discounted them and sold everything he had.
   • Buy slightly above Gamestop/similar competitors, sell slightly below them. This creates volume and customer velocity/word of mouth you buy higher and sell lower. The velocity more than makes up for it. It’s more like doing right by people as opposed to looking at them as targets to extract money.
   • This strategy means you’re not nickel and diming all the time and fret about pricing and selling at just the right moment. Just give customers a good deal if you’re buying or selling and you’ll keep growing.
4. Emphasis on quality games people want vs a shovel load of sports games that never sell.
5. Don’t get overly attached to your copy of Earthbound. Buy and sell everything without attachment.
6. They have flea market nights and let customers buy and sell their own things in the store certain nights. It turns into people buying and selling to the store for the things they can’t find or just browse through.

He also talks about the proper attitudes you have to have. You have to mind it like a business first. Running it like a clubhouse for friends to play games with you usually ends with the store closing in a year or two. Focus on customer service and experience – because a lot of other game retailers are bad at. You are not selling games – you’re really selling nostalgia and an experience (which he learned from server background).

He also talks about the time and money requirements. $25k was not enough for them to really start and he didn’t make any money for 4 months. You should know this business is a roller-coaster and constant anxiety is par for the course.

Finally, there is very real personal costs. Without a very understanding wife and family, this would not work. He works 7 days a week and regularly puts in 70 hour weeks with only major holidays off. He has to work conventions and meet with sellers on birthdays and holidays. If he’s not running the store, he’s doing marketing or connecting with people who may need to liquidate an estate sale that day.

In my own opinion, it seems like he’s working an unsustainable pace that he knows will have to end at some point. His hope seems to be to work hard for a decade or two in order to enjoy family and time off later. I think this is a very risky strategy. As old construction workers will tell you – if you’re sacrificing your health now it is unlikely to be there later when you want it.

There are only certain times in your life you can enjoy certain things. I had the energy to do massive road trips and climb mountains as a 20 something. But those activities are much harder on me now. Your kids only grows up once. Once they are adults and move out – you can’t get that time back. Your wife is living her life too – and would like to live it with you. Finally, none of us are guaranteed a long life. You may never reach that goal of retirement. If you’re working yourself dangerously hard, you may find yourself dead of a heart attack due to overwork, an unexpected cancer diagnosis, or even a car accident. Even when pursuing your dreams, you need to make time to live and enjoy what you’re given. Life IS the journies, not the destinations.