0322 | Brian Burke

Hi, I'm Brian Burke from cellularmac.com and you're listening to EA interviews.

EA interviews episode 322, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's expert Authority Effect interview. Have you ever wanted to sell your Mac? Are you a longtime Apple user? I bet you are. They make great products and there's a lot of people.

I saw that.

There's a lot of people who have them around the world. They've been around for decades. And what do you want to do after that? What do you do to get the new product? Do you want to just throw them out? Probably not. So you definitely want to sell it. And that is why I'm excited to have Brian Burke on today's episode. CEO of sellyourmac.com in the largest buyer of used Apple products. I'm going to bring them up right after we thank our sponsor. Every business needs a book, including yours. And that's why I'm launching my new book to help you regardless of where you think your current writing abilities are. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Once again, that's EA Publishing Method Book.

Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Brian Burke. Brian, how are you feeling today?

Hey, awesome, Mario. Thanks for having me on your show. Excited to do my EA interview.

Oh, I am excited to have you with everything you've done. You've been on so many different news outlets. I know you're a philanthropist and you give back and you have a successful company. How do you find time to do it all?

It is almost impossible. I also have two little girls at home, so time management is pretty much out the window. It's really a great grind. I mean, I work a lot of hours and I've done this for many years and I do enjoy my work. So I'm able to push through with that passion to go not only buying supple products but, you know, gift them as well to these underserved students. Also serve on some nonprofits and yeah, I just love helping people. So that constantly drives me.

Why did you not want people to just throw them in the trash or send them to the landfills or something? How come you started your whole company to, you know, sell your Mac?

Well, if you throw them in the trash, those batteries are going to absolutely ruin our water supply. So please do not do that. The reason I started the company is I want people to be able to have the latest and greatest Apple devices. And to do that, you have to get money back. So that's what my company does. We're able to give you a lot of cash back for older devices to help you go purchase some new ones. You know, they are fairly expensive. We understand that. So then we launched our renewed Max.com, where you also can buy them at an affordable price. So now we're doing both ends of the spectrum.

What's been the greatest.

I don't want to say success story, but what's been the greatest opportunity you've had through the company since you've started it?

I'd say one of my biggest successes overall is being able to support so many teammates and their families. You know, currently we have 21 team members, and it means so much to me that I'm able to, you know, help them out by giving them a great job at our company. You know, we're super kind of family focused, really go the extra length for everyone. So that makes me really happy. I'm also thrilled that I can gift so many Macs. You know, the look on someone's face when they're gifted a computer, you know, honestly makes me cry. So that's something that's very special to me.

Tell me about your process. How hard is it? I got some Mac products.

So easy.

So easy.

You go to our website, you put your serial number in, it gives you an instantaneous quote of what it's worth. And then as soon as you complete the process with your information or we email you a shipping label, it's free to send it in via FedEx. You get updated every step of the process with different email notifications. You know, it takes it all off your plate to sell it yourself. And, you know, you're obviously a very busy man. You're doing a lot of interviews, podcasting, a lot of other people's shows. You don't have time to go on ebay and Craigslist and sell your own computers. And that's why we started the service. Make it super turnkey.

Now, if someone has an iPhone, is it any Mac product?

In the last 10 years, any Mac product, the only thing we're not actually doing is AirPods. And we just decided as a company for now that we didn't want to be cleaning and reselling AirPods, even though there's quite, quite a market for them.

So with the iPhone, what if it. Or a MacBook Pro or any. Any of those, what if it has a correct screen on it?

So when you're filling out the quote, one of the options is, is it fully functional? And if you click no, then you can select cracked screen or any other type of issue. You know, bad speaker, you know, no power, stuff like that. And there's still a decent amount of value in a computer that has a cracked screen. So I do encourage people to cash those in now and, you know, frankly, not wait. You know, every year you're waiting, it's just gonna go down in value.

Yeah, I will say that it is replaceable. One of my phones, I was outside enjoying the nice weather a couple years ago and I decided I don't want it to get hurt. Let's set it down on the chair and I will tell you, if it has a very comfortable cushion, don't take it inside, take an extra 30 seconds. Because I went to set it on the chair and it popped back up face down. Cracked the screen a couple weeks after I bought the thing. Oh, no fun. And it was so new, they didn't even have it in the inventory system for the insurance I pay for. So I had to like wait six or eight weeks until it like became available. But moral of the story is the phone I had at the time they were able to fix and it worked fine and they sealed it up all to the ratings and everything.

So that's one of the concerns about replacing these, you know, screens and newer devices that are so waterproof now that unless you're replacing it at Apple, I really don't recommend it. You know, any third party shop doesn't have quite the capability or the OEM screen to apply it perfectly and then test it afterwards.

Yeah, especially, especially if it's waterproofed and all of that because. And everything's so tightly woven inside those packages. I've seen videos like what the thing looks like inside and you need stuff smaller than a watch kit just to get inside to it. So I love that you're making it available to get the newest one because frankly in most instances.

You know, they're coming out with new ones. What seems like every eight weeks, every year, like clockwork.

So the newest phone, the 12 Pro, I mean the camera is absolutely phenomenal. So if anyone actually likes taking pictures, I feel like you have to go with the newest device. It's a stark contrast. Just iPhone 11.

Okay, let's talk about the future. Where's the 13, 14, 15 going? Where do you think we're going to be with phones in the next five? Let's do. No, let's do 10 years because you said over the last 10 years. You're now taking them. Where do you think they're going to be?

Whoo.

Do you think?

I do. But they could be different form. I mean, it's hilarious. Some of the mock ups you see of an iPhone in 2030, and there's like 30 cameras on the back, so those are kind of funny. It's just going to get, you know, better and faster in terms of the same devices. But then we're going to have so many new device types. The biggest thing coming out in the next five years is going to be Apple glasses, and those are going to create an augmented reality experience that you can live in the real world while also having a. A virtual world right in your eyes. So that should be kind of cool.

Yeah, the augmented reality is a lot of fun.

I mean, we could be in a whole different world right now, you know, on video, together.

You know what, there's someone I can put you in touch with that they have stages. I'm not, should I say this?

Virtual stages.

They're not just virtual stages, but it's a virtual green screen, top floor, bottom and everything. So you could be in one state and like right now I'm in Michigan, you're in Ohio. You could be walking across one, I could be walking across one, and we could make it look like we're in the same room together.

Oh, that is fun. Well, that technology is going to be coming out more and more and getting cheaper and cheaper, so I wonder if.

They'Ll pack that into an iPhone.

I mean, probably. That's probably only a few years out. Honestly, just the AR capabilities in the current model are quite impressive.

Yeah, it's cool what they come up with. So since you've started your business, what are some of the business lessons you'd love to share with Expert Authority World that you have really picked up on over the last couple of years? Five years and then 10 years.

I would say it's all about the team. You really have to have the right people in place. You can't do it on your own if you want to scale your business. And that's something I learned really early on, as is bringing on new teammates. You have to find the right people to basically take roles off your plate. And it can be tough as an entrepreneur giving up some things that either you're passionate about or you think you're really good at, but you'll never grow your business unless you kind of give those up.

My assumption, what if someone has that attitude? If you want it done right, you Got to do it yourself.

They'll never scale. They're stuck, in my opinion. And if you are going to be a solopreneur, there's nothing wrong with that. That's great. But just understand you're not going to get to that next tier.

Okay.

And also I'd say those people are probably just wrong. There's always someone that can do it better than you and just admit it.

So yeah, I'm not good at everything.

I was just telling someone last night, I can't even count how many times I fired myself.

I love doing that. I'm like, take this over. You're better than me. Go ahead, run with it. Don't even come back.

The second lesson I was going to say is pig headed. Discipline and determination. If you're not willing to go that extra mile, whether it's putting in the time or the money to physically get where you need to be, you're probably going to fall short. And there's so many times as an entrepreneur where you're about to fail and it just takes that incredible amount of effort to get over that next hump. And then, you know, truly, you know, rise and succeed.

Don't stop just before the finish line, huh?

Exactly.

What's the hardest challenge you've had to overcome?

A lot of challenges along the way. I would say. Some of the frauds that we've had to deal with have really hurt our business and cast position and, and we've almost went bankrupt a couple times a long time ago on some huge frauds that we had.

That doesn't sound fun.

The deals look good until they weren't and you know, contracts and stuff like that, you know, don't matter in the end sometimes. So it can be very hard to collect on your money when you get frauded.

They were. Was it fake devices or they were just scamming the paperwork.

So this particular huge fraud that happened, the devices were promised and ultimately never received and the party said that it was another party that was selling to them and they didn't get it. So you know that I was unaware of that. But everything checked out with the business ahead of time and the money was just gone and the person was international and even fled the country to try to escape this, this issue. I won the court case and stuff like that, but ultimately it didn't even matter.

Wow, sorry to hear.

But I got the business back on track and seven years later paid off the massive debt that was incurred and good for you. Sky's the limit. Now.

Where do you see it going over the next five, 10 years. What's your goal?

I think we could take this. You know, we're at 10 million revenue roughly over the last couple years, and I think we could take it to 100 in the next five to 10 years and really just need the right team behind us and, you know, some more capital to make it happen.

That's fantastic. And how big of a market does it have?

Enormous.

So if you're saying you can go from 10 to 100 million, it could be way more.

I mean, you're looking at Apple doing, you know, a quarter trillion dollars in sales annually, and you're doing all any.

Device, minus the AirPods.

Yep. So huge potential market. You know, just today it was announced, this company, back Market, that sells refurbished devices, you know, they just raised 300 million at a $3 billion plus valuation. So there's a huge market to sell these refurb devices.

Wow. Who would you say is the biggest benefitter of them? Is it business owners? Is it school districts? Is it people to get in their first.

I would say consumers. I mean, because consumers now have outlets to not only resell their devices, but buy used ones affordably. And you're looking back, you know, a decade ago, there wasn't quite as many outlets to go buy in a refurbished device. I think most people would go to ebay. But now there's a ton more websites out there. Even though ebay is still a great channel, we sell a ton on ebay.

Okay. Yeah. I love how when everything grows, there's always. There's always markets that come up from it, and then there's always markets of the markets that, you know, you're. You're creating a new industry just because of solving the problem, which is fantastic.

They call it the recommerce industry.

Oh, there's actually a name for it.

There is, yeah. The recommerce industry and circular economy are two terms that they always refer to.

And I like what you were saying about the trash. The trash dump. I know they're not called trash dumps. The trash heaps, the trash yards don't throw the batteries away. What does it really do? If you could elaborate on that. So people know.

So the battery lead will physically leak out of the device into the water system. And I can't remember the stats off top of my head, but, I mean, one battery, you know, can ruin, you know, hundreds and thousands of gallons of water if it gets into the water table. So pretty. Pretty significant. There's so many places to recycle devices for free. I hope People, you know, do choose to do that and hopefully cash them in before it gets to that point.

I was just going to ask you, what if someone's phone is so mangled that it's like you're not going to be able to sell it? Like it's not just a crack screen you can repair, it's like mangled.

We will take it to recycle. If you go on our website and you put it in, it says zero dollar value. It'll say, hey, send it into slidermat.com you know, care of recycling and we'll recycle it for free, no charge at all.

Fantastic. That's good.

That's good.

Trying to help the environment out there you read about. It's not good. No, it's kind of scary. If you look at how much carbon emissions there are and we need to get to carbon neutral the next decade or so, it's going to be very hard for the planet to do it. Especially as economies are continuing to scale around the world.

I want to ask you about the beginning story. Take us back to day one. What did that look like?

Oh, wow. How far back should we go?

Absolutely.

I would say it started in college. I was buying and selling a lot of my friends devices. They didn't want to put the effort in to do it themselves and so I was taking a commission and doing that. And then when I graduated I did not get these investment banking jobs that I was gunning for up in New York City. I came home and I just started buying and selling electronics around the city. I had a great knack for it and it was easy for me to make money doing it. I love doing arbitrage sales. So I find something that's worth X and try to sell it for 2x. And I did that for a while kind of in general electronics. And then my focus and passion is really around Apple. So I quickly pivoted to start buying and selling Apple only. And back then this was before the iPhone even launched. We're talking 2006, 2007. So when the iPhone launched in 08, that really helped spur my business because now everyone wanted the iPhone. That helped people get into the Apple product line, kind of the iPhones their gateway in and after that they're buying an iPad and a Mac. So that really helped the business kind of grow organically over time.

What would you say gave you the passion for it?

I've always loved Apple. You know, growing up I had a computer when I was in middle school and I was basically teaching the computer class in elementary school. You know, I had learned a lot by that time and I love sharing my knowledge around computers. So that that's where I got my passion.

Excellent. Who would you say is your biggest success story?

Who is our biggest success story?

Yeah. Of all the people who turned in their products to you, who would you say is the biggest success story you've had and transformation that they just were over the moon.

Oh, wow. I probably say some of the companies we've worked with because we're able to deliver such a big value to them over time. And it's really the reoccurring business that we're doing with them that's continuing to show that value. So one of the clients, for instance, is a international news company and we're working with their teams around the world and they're constantly upgrading their devices to make sure they have the latest and greatest. And we really give them a white glove service to do that. We're sending boxes all over the globe to collect them and stuff like that. And really making it super easy so their IT department doesn't have to think about it anymore.

And I'm sure they just have one or two devices.

They're sending you a couple of them.

Usually over 100amonth.

It's pretty good.

Yeah. I mean, we buy anywhere from one to 5,000 at a time. So the bigger the better. I get very excited about doing bigger deals because we're giving more value back to that company and then in turn have more devices that we can resell and gift. So that makes me very excited.

Yeah, it keeps up your stock and more choices. That's always good.

We have a lot of choices. We got thousands of max in stock right now.

Excellent. Well, I have one question for you before we thank our sponsor and go to the imperfect action round. And it's right up your alley.

Got pick yellow or black first though. The wheel of whatever.

I pick blue.

You know what, you could because I love the tie in the suit you got. But you pick black. That's good.

Let's go black.

Everyone lately seems to be going for yellow. I like them both, clearly. So my question for you is.

Where do you see Apple going the next 20 year? 10 to 20 years.

Wow. It's really a fun question to think about. The Apple ecosystem is going to take over and two reasons. It's super easy to use and it's super secure when people are thinking about their privacy. I know it's been a big topic in the last few years. I don't think they actually realize how much of a difference it is working with some of these companies that are selling your data versus Apple, which has zero desire to sell your data. They only use data to make their products better for you. And most of the data they're collecting is on the device only. And that's significantly different than Google or Amazon that is utilizing that data for other purposes. So I think over time that privacy concern is going to become more and more known and people are going to only want Apple devices in their house because it's a trusted ecosystem. So they're going to have the smart speakers, you know, probably Apple TVs and, you know, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple car, you know, all these things.

I was just going to say, what do you think about the car?

I'm excited to see the car. You know, I know they partnered with a third party company to produce them and they're targeting about 2025 to make it happen and it's going to be 100% driverless from day one. So I'm just. The amount of Apple services that you could experience in a car where you're not having to drive is something that I'm pretty excited to see. And frankly, I'm not big in the driving, so I would be happy to have it driving me around while I can play with my Apple devices.

Do you know who they partnered with?

They partner with an international company in Asia and there was a couple of different companies they listed that they might be working with.

Okay, yeah, yeah, I saw that and I was like, oh, this was getting interesting. I know electric cars are taking off. They threw their hat into the ring and I'm like, you know, there's no more like, oh, does it have Apple CarPlay? Like that's a feature like a determination. Yeah, I think, I think it'll have at least that.

I mean, it might be a 50 inch touchscreen in the Apple car, you know, remains to be seen, but I think it'll create a family experience or experience for you personally that you're able to enjoy your content and learn. I mean, you could be doing interviews in that Apple car, you know, with your, you know, augmented reality glasses on now, here.

Now, if the, if one of those cars is driving through the mountains in California or something, would that still be considered the icloud?

Oh, that's funny to be in the icloud. I like it literally.

Up in the eye mountain.

Well, I appreciate everything you've shared so far. We're going to thank our sponsor and come back for the imperfect action round. You've heard me say every business needs a book including yours. And it's true. And that's why I'm launching my new book@eapublishing method book.com so you can learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. But you know what? Don't take my word for it. Take it from a few of my authors like Lori, I went from having an idea and a possibility to actually.

Get getting my book published.

Or Catherine, thank you for making my.

Mom number one best selling author.

Or Mary Alice what he got done for me in three days regarding my book launch.

Unmanageable.

John Cody I've worked with Mario over.

The phone and online and he's been very helpful in getting me where I needed to go with promoting my books.

Rocio there's no way in the world I would have been able to do this with somebody else again. I've attempted it in the past. It didn't serve me. As a matter of fact, I ended up more frustrated than anything. So this has been a very seamless process.

Adele if you're looking for an amazing business coach, I highly recommend Mario Ficini or Bill Benner. I can't make a higher recommendation than to work with Mario Ficini. He has been great for me and right now I won't work with anybody else except for Mario.

Hey, their words, not mine. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com to get your copy and I look forward to hearing your transformation as our next video success story. Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.com and we are back with the Imperfect Action run. Brian, are you ready to take imperfect action?

I have always been ready, but I should want to take perfect action. We're going to see what happens.

All right, First I got three questions for you. 60 second or less answers. The first one is what is this the fastest path to the cash.

Wow. Fastest path to cash is for you to cash in your Apple devices. If you can cash them in. We're gonna give you cash very quickly. We can PayPal you the next day after you receive it. And then for us to receive the cash, we're gonna turn around and resell it on our e commerce site, renewedmax.com Excellent.

Number two.

What is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way for them to fix it?

The biggest problem people are making is waiting too long to sell their devices. They're keeping them in their drawers and closets years past when they're actually done Using them and the value, let's just say it goes down 20, 25% a year. You know, by year five, you've lost most of the value. So if they would cash them in sooner and not let them sit in their drawers and closets, they would be much better off and have more cash for their next device.

Why do you think they hang on.

They are probably don't know where to sell it or they're unwilling to because they're scared about security concerns or they think they might be getting scammed. That's the thing we constantly hear, even though we have the number one rating and trading in the world.

Okay.

Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

Ooh, great question. Stay close to the customer and offer them a great experience. You know, for us it's making it super fast, safe and easy. And I think the easier we make it, the longer they're going to stay with us. That, you know, people really value their time. And that's why we're sending them, you know, free labels, free shipping boxes, kind of whatever they need to get their device in and make the experience very easy.

Excellent. Well, I'm glad you have the service available to people because I know there's a lot of people that need it. And you know, you're right. There's that concern of where do I sell it? Is it a trusted place? This and that. So I'm glad you're doing it the right way.

What trying hard.

What books would you recommend to Expert Authority World that have made a big difference in your business?

So many good books out there. You know, one of them that I've liked a lot lately is called CEO Tools 2.0. And a lot of really actionable things on how to track your business like trailing twelve month charts and stuff like that. Trailing three month charts. So you're not always focused on exactly what happened in the most immediate month because sometimes there can be blind spots when you're focused kind of too close to the action. Kind of spread it out a little bit more. Another book I like that I'd like to implement is called Traction. And really setting your rocks and goals and showcasing that without the company, it's going to help you hit those targets much faster.

Gino Wickman, great book.

You got it. That's an awesome book. Are you doing Traction?

I'm going through it.

Nice.

Well, I appreciate everything you have shared. Where can people learn more?

They can go to sellyourmac.com S E L L Y O U R m a c.com and I would love for them to connect with me on LinkedIn. I go by my my handle is Brian the Mac Man. If you search for Brian Burke, I got a blue bow tie. I'm the only one that has a blue bow tie so I'm easy to find.

Excellent. Excellent. Well, it's been a pleasure. Thank you for your time and thanks for sharing.

Yeah, thanks to the EA interview audience. Excited for them to get some value out of this and hopefully they can cash in some of their old Apple gear.

I'll make sure the links are in the show notes and we'll make sure they can go to your site easy and effortlessly.

Awesome. Well cheers to your audience.

Well Expert Authority World, we have another great episode here today. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a great day and God bless.

You're already the expert, but have you transformed your expertise into a tangible asset that will generate qualified leads while increasing profit for you 247 and if so, how well are you promoting it? With my new book, the Expert Authority Effect Publishing Method, I take you through my process step by step. Visit eapublishingmethodbook.com today to learn the seven steps to publish and promote your nonfiction, lead and profit generating business book in eight weeks. Visit eapublishingmethod book.com to get started now. Once again, that's eapublishingmethodbook.com thanks for listening to today's episode. I would love to know what you enjoyed most from it if you haven't done so already. I invite you to connect with me on my new LinkedIn. You can go to it directly at eainterviews.com LinkedIn Once again, that's eainterviews.com link LinkedIn lastly, check out the full eainterviews.com site for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you on the next one.