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A podcast about fascinating professionals, how they got to where they are and where they’re going from the lens HR, Recruitment and People Operations hosted by Martin Hauck.
Martin (00:00)
Hey people, people, before we dive into today's episode, I want to thank our latest partner, Swag Up. For the uninitiated, Swag Up takes what everyone loves, swag, and makes all the behind the scenes work of getting swag into the hands of your employees and clients insanely easy. Their slogan is literally swag made simple. Anytime anyone in the people people group asks where to go for swag, swag up is always being recommended. And now after using swag up myself to send out some batches of swag kits to members of the people people group, I can say firsthand that they're truly next level.
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Martin (00:42)
Today's episode, we've got Marlon McPherson. He is the CEO and owner of Michael's Global Trading. And me and Marlon have known each other for quite some time. And if we were tennis players in terms of interactions, we wouldn't
We haven't played a lot of games together, I guess is what I'm trying to say and that was a weird metaphor to start off with But welcome welcome to the show Marlon
Marlon (01:16)
Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
Martin (01:17)
No, no, of course. So I was thinking about you a few days ago, cause I'll start off at a pretty high level. So I was talking to one of my like best friends in the morning, early morning before the day started and he was just, we were just shooting this shit on, on signal. And then he's like, Hey, you got a few minutes to chat. And so we get to chatting and we just wind up talking about what we're going to be doing for.
you know, in, in our formative years in our, in our later years in life, the retirement year, so to speak. And so I'm like, man, the way you hoard information could work out to be a really good transferable skill to like owning an antique shop. And that was at eight o 'clock in the morning last week. And then by.
like six o 'clock that night. I'd like done my full day and then I ended up going to just walking home for some reason and I was on King Street on the in Toronto on the west end and or sorry, the East End rather. And I walked by this shop and there's like a sign on the door that says
57 years of business liquidation sale. And it's like this antique shop. And so I take a picture and I take a video of like the shop because this is what I was talking with my buddy this morning. I'm like, perfect opportunity. Should we like jokingly, should we, should we look into it? And so I'm walking away and then someone like says like, Hey, can I help you? And so the person who owns the shop, the shop was closed. I actually tried opening the door, but the person that owns the shop opens the door.
was like, Hey, can I help you? And I'm like, I was just like, curious, me and my friend were talking about this this morning. He's like, really? Are you guys here to buy the lights? I'm like, No, no, I'm not that it was like, it was like an 80 year old dude, really friendly. Like the lights were kind of off in the building and in the shop. And and so what ends up happening, I spent like an hour and a half with this guy just talking to me gives me like a tour of his whole facility. He's
He's worked in film for 20 plus years. he's an electrician on movie sets and then he just sold like four buildings downtown and, and he's got like this antique shop on the side, which has also doubled as like a prop rental business that he has as well. So just like super entrepreneurial. And my first thought was like, okay, well, maybe I should maybe.
Maybe my buddy should kind of like take a look at this and like accelerate his retirement plan and open up the shop sooner or something like that. We could buy his inventory. And then as he was talking about things and like how he was grouping stuff in, he started talking about like some furniture and some chairs. And then immediately I'm like, Marlon. I'm like, I don't know this. Like I'm actually genuinely curious.
by the description of what I've just talked about. Is this something you would even be interested in?
Marlon (04:41)
Not really, but it's in the same realm of what we do, or I guess the same industry.
Martin (04:47)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. And so that kind of, I kind of like fast forwards to kind of where you're at today to a degree. But I kind of want to like start, start from the beginning. So Marlon and I know each other through business in the streets. I'm curious how you got to know them.
Marlon (05:13)
So when I was about 24, I was working at Good Life Fitness and I wanted to start a business and I didn't know what I wanted to start. So I was looking for these entrepreneurial programs out there to help you craft a business plan, help you bring an idea to life. And I stumbled upon Business Industries. They were a super young organization at the time, just starting up.
really small cohorts and my girlfriend, now wife at the time, we were like, you know, we both want to be entrepreneurs. Let's join this group together. So we both joined, we enrolled. I wasn't, I guess, a huge fan of just like education and sitting in a class. It just felt stuck for me. So I personally didn't see the program through, but I still attended.
Martin (05:53)
Nice.
Marlon (06:12)
because I just wanted the information, but I had a lot of that information already from reading books over the years and going to networking events. So I was kind of like attending the program with my wife and helping her through. Meanwhile, I knew I was going to bring this idea to life.
Martin (06:31)
Okay. You knew that you were going to bring the idea to life of what you're doing currently.
Marlon (06:37)
Yeah, it didn't look like what I'm doing now. That idea, I had a total different idea. I thought I was going to be this large import -export magnet, you know, buying containers from China and bringing it into Canada. And, you know, I wanted to be this middleman, this lifestyle of traveling the world and, you know, selling containers of goods, but it didn't turn out like that. And I...
ended up in the liquidation field.
Martin (07:10)
Okay, interesting. And kind of going back a little bit further, what so you talked a little bit about the lifestyle thing in terms of like traveling the world buying containers. There's, there's a, I imagine that's not necessarily. I mean, I don't even know I wanted to be when I was in school or, or, or much younger anyways, but how did that seed get planted for you in terms of like,
the buying and selling of things just business wise.
Marlon (07:42)
So throughout high school, I used to buy and sell electronics and anything I could get my hands on. And it was kind of like this hustle going throughout high school. It was almost like a replacement of a part -time job. And everybody knew me growing up as this guy that can get you clothing, or I may come across jewelry or shoes, electronics. So it was almost like a garage sale I had growing up.
And that always stuck in my mind. I'm like, what if I could do it on a bigger scale and have containers of goods and still matching buyers and sellers throughout the world? So that's where the idea kind of blossomed from.
Martin (08:24)
Nice. Nice. Nice. And so you go through this program or you you enter into it. That's interesting because you mentioned like one thing that I mean, you mentioned a lot of things that resonate with me, but the just sort of like you you'd already had a bunch of
You'd read a bunch of books already. Like you were self -educating yourself in terms of business on a larger scale, it sounded like.
Marlon (08:57)
Yeah, I already had a great idea of what I wanted to do and a lot of the information about, you know, sales marketing and, you know, bringing a product or service to market. I already had that. It was just the polishing of it and having a little bit of guidance.
Martin (09:14)
Yeah. And so, and so you.
I'm curious if you can kind of like maybe just kind of give us the origin story of Michael's global trading.
Marlon (09:30)
So in 2015, I was working at Good Life Fitness and I was selling memberships and one day, summer of 2015, it clicked for me. I was like, I'm sitting here doing this sales job. I'm making this corporation a ton of money as a salesperson and I just felt that my input wasn't equaling my output.
I have nothing bad to say about good life, but I just wanted more for myself. So I said, you know what? At the end of this summer, approaching September, October, I'm going to leave. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to start something. So when I left, my manager was generous enough to help me process the paperwork so I could collect EI for the next, it was about nine months.
So that gave me kind of a cushion to get an idea off the ground. So that nine month ticker was like, okay, gotta get this started. So I left October 2015. I was on the couch from October to December of that year, just like in my own head trying to figure out what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? And nothing was coming to light. January 2016 that year.
Martin (10:36)
Nice.
Marlon (10:55)
I said, okay, I know I want to be a middleman for buyers and sellers, but I don't know of what. So around this time, I found a lot of restaurants were downsizing in the GTA and Kijiji was one of those sources where people would post things for sale or post stuff like ads of wanted items for sale.
And I said, you know what, okay, let me try to get in the middle of restaurant owners having their equipment and, you know, new owners trying to set up. So I remember one day I found a restaurant at Young and Eglinton. It was a juice bar. And I remember calling them up and said, Hey, would you be interested in me finding you a buyer for all your equipment? They said, sure. I came by. I ended up calling an auctioneer company that specialized in restaurant equipment.
I had them meet me on site as well. And I was trying to almost like a real estate agent would negotiate between their buyer and the seller or the other agent. I tried to negotiate this deal between the two parties. It was unsuccessful, but what I gained is the experience of talking to a seller, talking to a potential buyer. But then I had the conversation with the auctioneer after I left and they said,
What do you guys do? And, you know, they explained to me how their process work. And I thought, okay, you know, I could do exactly that. All I need is an auctioneer and knowing how to market this equipment. And I ended up going to meet the owner of that company. We walked on Yonge street one evening and he was pointing out all of these restaurants. They call, we see that sign in the window. They're potentially going to close or this restaurant just opened or, you know, this one looks like, you know,
Martin (12:27)
Mm -hmm.
Marlon (12:44)
the equipment's gonna be phased out soon, so keep your eye on all of these things. So all of these little pointers, and it only took me one evening to figure this out. So after that, I ended up finding a Druxy's Sandwich Deli at Young and St. Clair, and I ended up negotiating a deal with them. I said, hey, you know what, for 20%, would you allow me to auctioneer restaurant equipment? And they signed. I ended up hiring an auctioneer, and I...
took a whole bunch of photos and I started marketing this sale on Kijiji and I attracted buyers to come to the sale. February of, or sorry, January 26th of 2016, I remember Claire's day, I had three buyers show up. I thought, man, this is not gonna turn out good. One buyer ended up buying 80 % of the stock. Yeah, it was crazy. But the owner was still happy because he got his stuff sold.
Martin (13:37)
No way.
Marlon (13:43)
I made a commission on the sale. I ended up with three new contacts as buyers and I said, okay, this is a proven concept. This is something I'm going to run with while that was happening. This is when I was a part of the BITS program. So it was like, I already had something generating. So I felt, I felt like, okay, I can't, I can't focus on BITS. I need to go all in on hairs. And then, you know, shortly after I did another restaurant auction, it failed miserably because I didn't know the values of the equipment. I ended up telling.
this restaurant owner, I can get you 10 ,000 for your stuff. I only got her 2000. She was so pissed at me. I said, I still need to get paid because I had input costs. It was a miserable fail, but then I went on to do a few other successful ones that lasted for about six months from the January to about June of that same year. And I faced a brick wall. It wasn't like a physical brick wall, but
The company that I originally learned a little bit about the auction air restaurant equipment industry, I tried to go to one of his auctions and he literally came to the door and said, you're not welcomed here. And I was like, whoa, whoa, like what happened? And then he was like, you know what? He used the euphemism. He's like, you know, I invited you to the table and you stole the silverware. And I was like, wow.
Martin (14:58)
Holy shit.
Marlon (15:10)
I was like, okay, it was very interesting. I took that as he felt threatened that I was kind of making my way into this industry, but it also didn't feel authentic to me. I was like, restaurant equipment wasn't my passion. So that same June, I ended up finding an office closing in Mississauga. And I remember negotiating with them. I was like, how much do you want for all of your furniture? They told me some ridiculous numbers.
Martin (15:11)
Interesting.
Yeah.
Marlon (15:40)
11 ,000 for everything. And I was like, there's no way we ended up settling on like $2 ,000. I had no money at the time. I pulled the money off of my credit card, purchased the office furniture. I rented a U -Haul truck, grabbed a buddy. We ended up going to the space, filling this 26 foot U -Haul truck. And then I rented a storage locker at Public Storage and I put everything in there.
And I was like, you know what? Okay, I'm onto something. I did my research. I said, okay, based on all of these pieces I have, you know, I should be able to at least triple my money. And then I started posting online and people started messaging me and saying, hey, I'm interested, I'm interested, I'm interested. And I said, okay, I'm onto something. But then I faced the kind of another wall. Most people didn't have a big enough vehicle to transport this furniture and they weren't willing to pretty much rent a truck.
and then come pick this up because then the cost just outweighed the whole thing. So I'm like, okay, I need to find a way to get this stuff to them. I only had a Nissan Altima at the time. So there was just so much going on. So I said to my girlfriend at the time, I said, listen, I don't got no job. I'm on EI. I have a car. I can't get a bigger vehicle and it's not feasible for me to rent the truck. I need a pickup truck. So I remember she was at work one day.
Martin (16:41)
You
Marlon (17:02)
And I went to a dealership. I traded in my Altam. I said, Hey, I called her. I said, Hey, I put your name on the truck. The names like you got to come sign for paperwork. I didn't even ask her permission. I just said, this is what we're doing. And you know what? She's like, cool. Where do I come inside? So she believed in me and she came down that same day signed. I ended up picking up the truck a few days later. And then I changed my whole strategy. I said, free delivery on everything. And the business just like went.
Martin (17:11)
Hahaha!
Yeah.
Marlon (17:30)
Nuts. Everybody wanted to buy furniture. I was delivering every single day and I started putting out ads for people to sell me their stuff. I would still, you know, call people that had their ads out, but then I, you know, I started trying to create like a lead generation funnel and it just started turning from that. And, you know, it went from me being on EI to making over 200 ,000 in the first year of business. And I was like, yes, I'm onto something. And then
It was like...
Martin (18:00)
You're not even onto something going from EI to $200 ,000 a year is like you've you've done it. Yeah, yeah.
Marlon (18:05)
Well, sales, sales, sales. It's not, it's not profit, but yeah, it was, it was insane. And I rocked with it for the last eight years now and it has grown immensely.
Martin (18:17)
Yeah, no, it's, it's always been, it's always been really cool to like anytime we connect. And I guess the like, for those of you listening, you're like, okay, well, how does this all play in? Well, I ended up meeting Marlon as, as a mentor to people in the business in the streets program. And I was
Marlon (18:36)
Hahaha.
Martin (18:44)
I was part of the center for social innovation and Kyle was the executive director at the time or working there at the time. I think there was like a little bit of a transition period there between him and the founder. But, yeah, we just entered, we ended up mentoring in the same, same cohort. And what I didn't realize was that you dropped out of the, of the thing. So it was like really cool to see, but like you had super valid reasons to do that. but
Anytime we would connect, you know, in the years moving forward, it was mainly from a circumstance of like, Hey, I'm at this startup. We're moving or we're, we need, we need like, we're just, we're, we're adding a new office and we need some chairs. Can I introduce you to like the office manager that, that we've got at the time and then moving forward, you know,
during the pandemic or just before the pandemic, there were a few instances where you and I would connect. But every time I saw you and every time we would chat, it would just be like bigger and better, bigger and better. Like you're, you're onto, I imagine at some points, like when I called you, like the size of the opportunity was probably like peanuts in comparison to some of the bigger deals that you were working on at the time.
Marlon (20:03)
Yeah, it was definitely one of those things. Is this worth it to send a truck and guys? Which is gradual growth, you know.
Martin (20:17)
Hello? yeah.
Marlon (20:18)
Yep. Yeah. So yeah, it was just gradual growth and you know, I, it was, yeah, it was just weighing it out. Like, is this worth it? And obviously had my eyes set on, you know, bigger projects, but I always tried to, you know, prioritize the small ones because they could always lead to, to other opportunities. but yeah, we did connect on some. I remember one was CoinSquare. I never forget. I never forget that one.
because I was, that was like in the heat of me growing. I think that was like 2018 or 2019 maybe. Yeah. I remember them selling me some stuff and then I ended up turning around and selling them some chairs and I was like, okay, great. I could buy stuff and sell to the same company. So that was like a good little synergy there. And yeah.
Martin (20:58)
Yeah, yeah.
Okay. So I didn't even know that. I didn't know that happened. That's wild. so I guess, yeah, so we're, I mean, that the coin scrolls a few years ago for, for the both of us anyways. and the reason I wanted to like jump in on a podcast with you is because you have like a really, I mean, first off, just like the business story alone, right? I never really heard the full thing, but I,
Marlon (21:16)
Yeah
Martin (21:42)
I love it. It's like a classic entrepreneur, entrepreneurial story. And there's like so many cool moments that you've clearly like remember and, and, mean a lot to you. And I think it's good for anyone listening, who's trying to start something to like take, take a few lessons from that. And, I think the, the part, the, the thing that ties into sort of the people operations and the HR side of things here is.
You get to see, some interesting, like, cause what you're focused on primarily now is like office furniture and like it hardware, right? Strictly like that's, that's the niche. You're like, that's, that's it. Okay. Cool. Quick question before we dive into some of the other stuff, but like Michael's global trading, where did that come up from?
Marlon (22:20)
Yeah, strictly.
Yes, 100%.
You know, everybody asked me this and I swear to God, I have to answer this at least once a week. So like I told you, when I first started, I had this whole idea of global trading. I was going to be buying and selling, you know, things across the world. And I had a little bit of, I guess, some interaction with, you know, importing some stuff from China and I put them in a flea market. That was a total fail.
Martin (22:35)
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Marlon (23:02)
But that whole global trading was one of those things that just sat in my mind. And, you know, when I registered the business and, you know, the DBA, I just left it. I was like, F it, man. You know what? I'm keeping it as is. I'm just going to keep answering the questions as the years go on. But the import export global trading hasn't left. So I'm like, you know what? There's going to be a day we're going to circle back and then I'm going to be like, you see,
Martin (23:28)
Yeah.
Marlon (23:31)
All of the naming on Google, I'm just going to leave it as is because one day I'm going to use it and then I'm going to be like, thank God I kept it. Right. So.
Martin (23:41)
Yeah. You know, that's funny. I did a similar thing with when I registered because I've got the people people group, right? So when I like I'd been running the community for like three or four years before actually making a business and there's like some back and forth as to whether or not it was going to be a not for profit or not. But either way, I needed to register it as a company as an entity as a business. And so when I did
Like the people people group, was already taken. And so a lot of people in the community call us TPPG, right? And instead of just calling it TPPG incorporated, and this is kind of cheesy and it's a little embarrassing for me to admit, but like I called it TPPG global incorporated. So legally we're TPPG global incorporated. Cause I was just like, I always had bigger dreams for it. And like,
know, at the time we were only in Toronto, but the one it was almost I and I think like that part's not necessarily embarrassing. I think the part is like, I feel like, you know, if you've seen the secret or read the secret or whatever. But like that stuff, it's always come like it's a little too woo woo for me. But like the principles in the book, like for the most part are very, very
Marlon (24:54)
definitely.
Martin (25:04)
interesting. And like I was always just like, this is my vision board thing. Like if I can manifest this into reality just by naming the company, like global so that eventually we will be global. And it'll, it's just like a nice placeholder for when it happens. You know what I mean?
Marlon (25:20)
100%. I'm 100 % on the board with that.
Martin (25:26)
That's yeah, it's funny. Like, Michael's global trading. Where's Michael come from? That was my question mainly. Okay, okay. Nice. Nice. Nice.
Marlon (25:33)
so it's my middle name. Yeah, I use, I guess I'm a little corny sometimes when corporate clients ask me because, you know, when I'm on site, you know, you know, my team's super friendly and they feel comfortable saying, Hey, you know, Marlon, what's Michael's global trading? And my quickest answer is like, Marlon's got this, right? And everybody's just like, wow, that's like,
so cool and then you know we have a good laugh about it because a lot of the time I'm trying to strategize and come up with solutions for you know a lot of these corporate clients probably like trying to get things out of a building or trying to resell and they're just like how did you figure this out I'm like well Marlins got that that's what you know that's what it says on my shirt MGT right and they're like yeah
Martin (26:11)
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
nice. Nice. There you go. Marlon's got this. I dig it. I dig it. That's yeah. so in terms of, yeah, focusing in on what you've seen, like I'm sure you have a ton of like pretty wild stories in terms of like businesses shutting down or businesses moving and everything like that. But I think, the one thing I wanted to
And maybe this isn't, yeah, one thing that's going to be useful for the listeners, I think is for the like coin square went through this. And so it's always, it's funny because you're in the community now as well. And it's like, you, you don't plan for needing. Mgt like you don't plan for needing your services. It's it's literally like the yellow pages thing, like, okay, we've got a million things going on.
But we have to find out what to do with our stuff. Like even if you were to move a house, like front and center top of mind is like, we need to get movers or we're doing this ourselves. But when, when a business moves or when a business shuts down, nobody really thinks about what to do with all the stuff. Right. Cause like the people kind of come first in that circumstance. And so I guess.
I'd love to get your perspective or if you have any stories about, you know, companies that have been really smart about how they do things, companies that haven't been very smart about how they do things and what you would avoid if you were going through something like this and you're like the operations person or the HR person trying to like manage this experience.
Marlon (28:02)
Yeah, I definitely have a lot of stories. You know what? I would say companies are getting a lot smarter, especially after COVID. They're doing a lot more planning in terms of, you know, decreasing their footprint and going more green. But prior to this, it was a lot of like, hey, can you get our stuff out at the end of the month? And I'm like, okay, how big of a space? We have two floors. I'm like,
you know you need a little more planning, right? And, you know, they would say, okay, can you resell this or can you donate this? And I'm like, you know, if you put some more planning and, you know, plan for months, you know, you'll have that time to place these items. But if you do it last minute, you know, you could end up expecting a heavier charge because, you know, there's no time to source a buyer or source a beneficiary or charity or school.
Martin (28:32)
Hahaha
Marlon (28:59)
that could use this. So everything ends up coming out of the space super fast. And there may be 20 % that is salvageable for resale. And then everything else goes for recycling. But I guess my biggest advice to some of these organizations is, one, first talk to the employees. Because a lot of the times, they want stuff from that office, whether it be a chair, a computer, a desk.
So I think that's a good, I guess, strategy to enhance your employee retention because a lot of these people work from home or they just want to spruce up their home office. So I would say first and foremost, go to employees. And I've seen a lot of companies starting to do that with employee auctions. We've helped some organizations set up employee auctions, which is super cool. We set up a little online database with photos and quantities.
employees can bid and they feel like they're in a real life store storage wars kind of concept. They may have like lounge stuff that like beanbag chairs and you know those cool kind of techie furniture goods and you know some people have eyes on them and you know the employees want them so I say instead of calling somebody a junk removal first go to them. Second I would say then reach out to liquidators not movers. A liquidator
Martin (30:01)
What?
That's fun.
Marlon (30:28)
like ourselves, we tend to have a different eye when it comes to, I guess, office projects because we're always value first. We're looking at what has value and then we look at what has scrap value because that's how we make our money. Movers, they tend to just say, okay, where does everything need to go? They don't really have a resale strategy.
I think a liquidation partner is secondary after going to employees You know when we come into a space we try to give the best guidance in terms of you know what hey Maybe you can resell this to this channel and then maybe sell us this because this is where you'll get the biggest ROI for your stuff and Then the third sorry what we both say
Martin (31:20)
No, I was just going to double click there. So like when you're consulting with a potential client, you're actually giving them like hands on because they've never done this. Right. So you're not going to, you're not going in and just like, yeah, we'll take everything. And then you're only sticking to like what your niche is. And then you're pointing them in the direction of other places. If they've got stuff that like, you're not interested in, but you know, other people in the space are.
Marlon (31:50)
100%. It just works out better for us because then, one, we're a trusted source now and they're not looking at it like, you know, you're just trying to get everything on pennies on the dollar. I hate that rap. And unfortunately, the liquidation industry gets that type of rap where, you know, they're like bloodsuckers. You know, you're in a desperate time and they're like just coming in offering you pennies and you feel taken advantage of. So I try to stay away from that.
Martin (32:14)
Yeah.
Marlon (32:19)
We definitely offered vice first and you know, I would say 80 % of the projects that come across our desk, I just point them in another direction because it's just not worth it for us to send a truck and labor and you know, to remove all of this stuff when I know they can get value if they, you know, gone to Facebook marketplace or, you know, posted here or contacted this company. So I always offer that value first and then secondary who would be like, Hey,
you know, this is what we can do for you.
Martin (32:53)
Right.
Marlon (32:53)
But the biggest thing is plan ahead. If you know you have office furniture removal, plan ahead a couple of months out. A lot of companies also where I see they fall short is when they have these lease agreements, they don't realize all of the other things that they need to do to satisfy their lease. So it's not just removing the furniture out of the space. Sometimes they have to pull data cabling out of the ceilings and the walls. They need to remove electrical that's in
you know, some of this furniture like the cubicle systems, sometimes they have to patch and paint walls because they would have hung artwork or, you know, whiteboards. So all of those little things could easily add, you know, thousands of dollars of expenses or, you know, extra time that you never planned for. So if, you know, you put your removal date on the last day of the month, but then the landlord said, hey, well, you didn't bring it back to base building. Then you're like, shit, like, okay, then you're scrambling.
for a painter, electrician, a data tech cabling guy. So those are little things you need to also check out for.
Martin (34:00)
Interesting. Yeah. Stuff, stuff I didn't stuff that probably to your point, right. Surprises whomever is tasked with this project, right. It's usually thrown on like, you don't have a person whose job is to like, make sure. You know, we wrap up our needs, our lease, nice and nice and tidy. It's more like I'm operations. You're maintaining status quo of like, make sure there's snacks in the building and make sure.
we've got contacts for like a plumber and electrician or have a good relationship with the landlord or make sure, you know, our digital, the security, whatever, right? Like the operations of, of the business in the office, this isn't any, any of that stuff isn't usually like front and center. So you're like always almost learning on the fly until you go through it once. And then after you've gone through it, then, then maybe you're, you start like prepping, I guess.
Marlon (34:55)
Yeah, exactly.
Martin (34:57)
I'm curious. So you had those sort of like to like plan ahead, talk to the employer, like sell to your employees first or offer auction, auction off like in engage your employees if you've got stuff, work with liquidators next. And I think you were gonna there was one more point you were like running towards there. I don't know if you recall.
Marlon (35:19)
I would say the last part is just to check your leasehold agreement to make sure you covered everything because once, like I said, once you get rid of the furniture, you just want to make sure you satisfy your lease because then you end up, you could end up with backcharges from these landlords that, you know, exceed what you would have paid if you just, you know, got all these, you know, things done in the first place or, you know, done your research in the first place.
Martin (35:44)
Yeah, that's fair. So how many like, do you have milestones that you've hit recently in terms of like a business like we've done 400 truckloads or done worked with 1500 clients like where were you at as a business like not not on the revenue side, but just like randomly.
Marlon (36:05)
You know what? I honestly stopped keeping metrics of those because it just became so taxing to be like, we've done 100 businesses this year. If I had to take a guess, I would say year to date, we probably cleared about 50 organizations. Yeah.
Martin (36:08)
Yeah
Marlon (36:31)
And then obviously we have smaller projects where we're buying some chairs from a company. They're not necessarily closing, but they may be just redoing a refresh or downsizing a section of the office. But in terms of closures, yeah, we're probably at about 50, which doesn't seem like a lot, but is a lot because then that is 50 different companies either letting go of employees, sending people home.
changing locations. So there's like a lot of stuff that go behind that 50, 50 mark, you know.
Martin (37:07)
Yeah, yeah. And in terms of
in terms of like, that's the, the wind downs, I guess, but you also sell the goods to are you are you typically like, do people go on the website and like, I'm just gonna buy a few chairs from and GTR you more in like the bulk like, yeah, buy 100 chairs. Yes, of the same kind, but
Marlon (37:37)
Yeah, so we operate a little different than a furniture dealer. A furniture dealer will stack all furniture and then you can come into their showroom. We're more so business to business where we're project based. So if we have a project next week and we're clearing a full floor, we may send out this to a group of people that are in our email list or we may post it ahead of time on our LinkedIn. And that's when we would receive, you know,
personal messages like, hey, I'm at this company and I'm looking for XYZ, what do you have coming up from this project? And we would send it out. So we don't really, I guess, post on our website for what we have for sale, because we don't stock inventory. We're always rolling. That's how we stay lean. That's how we stay competitive as well, because we don't have all of that excess overhead. But then there are times where companies reach out to us and say, hey,
Martin (38:28)
Yeah.
Marlon (38:34)
Can you help us source this? And that's usually easy for us because the furniture that we get, we sell to dealers that could easily turn around and sell back to these companies. So, you know, that's where a little bit of that value add comes because we can connect them exactly with who they need to speak with. And, you know, usually that dealer can get the furniture to them pretty quick. So it just, I guess, added value that, you know, we offer beyond just removal services.
Martin (39:02)
Yeah, it's a different business altogether to like store it inventory it and then sell it and then you know if you've got a batch so your your tear down basically like just help help help you get back to the base building so to speak.
Marlon (39:15)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that that's all we do. I think if you try to mix those models with the reselling and the tear down, I think, you know, your pricing gets a little out of whack because, you know, you're trying to use that those proceeds to help when the other side is slow and it just becomes a whole mess. So I try to not do that.
Martin (39:39)
Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, curious. In terms of like, what's the doesn't like not necessarily the company name or anything like that. But like, what's the biggest, biggest job that you've like, done with with your team?
Marlon (39:57)
I'm proud to say this. This was for SNC Laughlin. So they had a, it was 13 floors of furniture by Sherway Gardens. This was almost two years ago. So funny story, or it's not really funny. It's just, I guess the way the world, the business works. When I was coming up in the business, I used to cold call all of the commercial moving companies in the city.
Martin (40:15)
I'm
Marlon (40:26)
And this one particular company said, Hey Marley, you know what? We're getting some chairs from a project which happened to be S &C Labland back in the day. And they said, you know, pull up to the dock and you know, we'll load your truck with the chairs. So I was like, all right, cool. Rented a truck. I drove it over there, brought a guy with me. We loaded it up and I was going through the moving company, but you know, S &C Labland representatives were there. You know, we said hello.
It wasn't like I was trying to step on toes, but you know, SNC Lablin obviously took interest in saying, okay, who's this party that, you know, the moving company selling to? We didn't get into much details, but I guess that representative remembered my face. Fast forward four years, I get an email saying, hey, you know, we're clearing 13 floors of furniture, of Herman Miller furniture.
Martin (41:03)
Hmm.
Marlon (41:19)
you know, we're looking for a company to help with this. And I was like, I jumped out of my seat, like, holy smokes, 13 floors. Like this, this is like record numbers for us. So I was like, okay, cool. I'll come, you know, let's set up a walkthrough. I'll come, you know, see what you guys have. While I was, you know, responding to that email, I just happened to get another phone call from a move partner.
like similar stuff that we do, but they just do strictly moving. And he's like, Hey Marlon, I have a, I have a client with 13 floors of furniture. I was like, Holy shit. Okay. This is too, this is crazy. So you guys got an email as well. So I'm thinking, okay, they're shopping this around. No problem. But you know, I'm willing, whoever got, whoever gets the deal, I'm willing to work with you because I know there's value here. So I went to this move partner and I said to him, I was like, listen,
Martin (42:04)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Marlon (42:15)
I'll partner with you guys if you can get this furniture. I didn't know he wasn't direct. So he got a phone call from somebody else saying, hey, do you know anybody that could move or sell furniture? So then he called me. So it was like a daisy chain. And he went back to his contact and said, hey, I have a guy, but he wants to partner. And that guy was like, no, we want to do the decommission. We'll just sell the furniture to him.
So I was like, okay, F this, then you guys don't want to partner with me. I'm going directly to the client and I'm going to take my shot at bidding at this, even though I'm probably the smallest company approaching these guys. So we take the walkthrough and I'm on site and the SNC rep, he comes out and I'm like, holy smokes. This is the guy I met four years ago. And he's like, I remember you, you bought all those chairs for me. I was like, you guys are dead. I'm taking this job.
Martin (43:03)
Wow.
Marlon (43:10)
I already have an in. So, you know, I'm walking around and I'm probing, I'm asking, you know, my general sales questions, like, you know, what are you guys trying to do, timeline, you know, is there a budget and all this stuff. And he's like, you know what, we've received some quotes and, you know, we're just looking for a vendor that can handle the scope. They wanted to separate it into two phases, like six floors, you know, first phase, seven floors, the second phase. So I was like, okay, cool.
I said, you know what, I don't know where all of these people's pricing is or where it falls, but I'm going to take a wild gamble and tell SNC that I'm going to take this whole project for free. Unheard of. I don't think anybody would have the balls to do that. So, but I seen the tremendous amount of resale value in that space. And I said, you know what? Yeah. Because everybody was like, it's going to cost you.
Martin (44:01)
No
Marlon (44:06)
$200 ,000 to remove all of this furniture and I'm like, there is no way that I'm gonna let this slip by me. I'm just gonna tell them free. And they jumped at it. I was like, man. So when they accepted my free proposal, I started sweating because I'm like, what did I just sign up for? Like, am I gonna make any money? Like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. So I had this wild idea. I'm like, you know what? I don't think any company in the city has ever
Martin (44:24)
Hahaha
Marlon (44:36)
put an auction of this size for so much furniture online before so I'm like you know what I'm gonna gamble so I called up one of my good auctioneers that I ran auctions with over the year this is apart from the restaurant stuff he was like an industrial auctioneer and I said hey would you be interested in a Herman Miller auction he was like of course so long story short we ended up posting this sale we auctioned everything
Martin (44:52)
Yeah, yeah.
Marlon (45:04)
We ended up making $200 ,000 in pure profit off this whole project. And we emptied all 13 floors. It was an immense amount of work because I had to have like 14 guys on site every day, you know, pulling apart furniture, bringing it to the dock for all the buyers that were across Canada. Some companies were sending their trucks and a couple of representatives to, you know, get their chairs loaded or...
cubicles or whatever it was and it was Unreal but it kind of like set the tone of like MGT So going forward we ended up getting so much more business from the organization yeah, it was yeah, it was it was a no -brainer because they're like, well look what you guys did at West Mall It was a no -brainer. So In and then from that we had look at an immense list of contacts people that
Martin (45:47)
Really?
Marlon (46:01)
bought and sold furniture and some of these people that I met back then, I still sell to them today. They're smaller dealers, but you know, they buy consistently and at good prices versus some of the bigger dealers that, you know, have been grandfathered here for how many years. So it was like almost, I don't even know how to even describe it, man. It was, it was such a...
Martin (46:20)
Yeah.
Marlon (46:26)
big boss move that they kind of segmented us and we've been riding that roller coaster from then.
Martin (46:33)
So, I mean, good on you for for taking the risk and doing the gamble and in that situation. But that's twice now in this conversation. He told me like, well, first time is when you just basically did the thing with with your girlfriend's name at the time without even consulting. The other time is this move where you're just like, I'm just going to do it for free and we'll like fingers crossed kind of thing. How are you? How are you?
that comes with some confidence and you obviously know what you're doing, but like you're also describing it as like a little bit of a nerve wracking thing. Like how do you balance between that? Like how did you feel in that moment for this one in particular? Like you're just like, you know what, we're just going to do like, how did you, did you have to come back to them or is just on the spot? Like
Marlon (47:24)
No, I like during that little walkthrough I kind of asked the question by thinking, you know Would you guys give me the project if I told you I'll take everything for free and he was like, yeah, probably and I was like great so while I was on site I was in my My quoting app putting together the quote and by time I got to the my car like I've already sent off the quote because I'm like I'm not gonna let this slip away and then you know the next business state they're like Yeah, we want to move forward
Martin (47:52)
wild.
Marlon (47:52)
But yeah, I don't know man, I just jump in. I have this thing like, I can't ponder too long, because if I start thinking about it too long, I'm probably not gonna do it, so I always just jump full body in and then it's like a sinker swim.
Martin (48:07)
Yeah, no, man. And you're swimming, you're swimming. Good. let's, let's see. I've got a few more questions and I really appreciate you making the time on the weekend here. Like, yeah, kind of going back. Well, I mean, we covered that side of things. you've got a ton of like the entrepreneurial side here, I guess.
Marlon (48:22)
Yeah, no worries.
Martin (48:36)
what are you know, there there's that all in like you jump full body and that's a lesson in itself and you kind of have to do that as an entrepreneur. What are some of the things and this is more back to like the bits meant mentorship type thing is like, what are what have been some of like the guiding principles for you in terms of like this, you know, if you're running a business, this is you can't not do these things or if the longer you wait to do these things, the longer you're slowing yourself down.
Marlon (49:07)
My biggest thing from the get -go when I started was fast communication. It's not even like a competitive advantage. I just knew if I'm dealing business to business, the one thing that a lot of high -level executives and decision -makers appreciate is fast communication. They want to make decisions fast. They want to cross that off their to -do list. And I said, you know what? If I can get back to you, not in 24 hours, but...
Sometimes it's even 15 minutes an hour. I know I'm probably going to win that business and it's no secret. I tell everybody this, anybody can do it, but most won't because it will require you to obviously be attached to your phone or your email, whatever. But that was like one of my biggest things. I'm going to always hit you back so fast where you don't even have to think about another vendor.
It's like, you know what? I'm going to work with these guys because I like this prompt communication. I got my answers. I got everything I needed out of this one person right when I needed it. You know, I was probably trying to put something together for my executives and they gave me the answers. You know, I look good too. Makes them feel good. Everybody feels good. Let's give them the business. I think that is one of like my most successful guiding principles.
Martin (50:34)
brilliant. No, that one's interesting. I mean, for me personally, it's like my inbox is my monster. And yet there's like opportunities there that I just sit on sometimes even like back and forth between you and me. Like it's, it's a little bit, it gets hectic sometimes. But the, one of the things that when I, when I react in the opposite and like, I do like, yeah, just like immediate back and forth. It just goes, right. You know what I mean? Like it's the, you're
To your point, right? It's like everybody, it's not a secret. It's not, it's not a hidden. It's like two plus two is four kind of thing. Like you, you do the math. It makes obvious sense. And like, it's kind of silly, right? Cause you could sit there and you could think about all these other things that all these other businesses have as advantages over you or advantages you have over the other businesses doesn't actually matter because if you're the one that got the quote over to them first and they want to move quickly, then nothing else matters. Right.
Marlon (51:33)
Exactly.
Martin (51:34)
And that applies to so much. Yeah, I guess. I mean, you've got a ton to be proud of. And it's probably some like looking back. I can imagine, like 10 years ago, you'd never, you'd never imagine, like, yeah, I'm just gonna clear out 13 floors of like, like one of the largest companies in Canada, let alone I don't even know the size of them. But like,
Like.
Marlon (52:05)
probably one of the world, they're probably one of the biggest construction companies in the world.
Martin (52:09)
Yeah, there you go. Right. So that wasn't while you're on the couch figuring out what's next. Like, that's to go from that to, to like doing that, I guess looking back. What's your take on on looking back?
Marlon (52:29)
There are days where I sit there and I'm like, man, like this is unreal. Yeah, I don't even know how to put it into words because it's hard to envision, you know, 10 years forward where it could be, but you know, it could be something, but you just can't fully see it and you're just rocking day by day. Like, okay, you know what, I'm gonna make the next step, make the next step.
Obviously before I had kids, you know, you could put in relentless hours. So I think that was a good advantage for me. I had no distractions. So I definitely think that was an aid for me. Not to say it's not possible with kids. I think it just becomes a little harder.
Martin (53:06)
Yeah.
Marlon (53:22)
But I had an unwavering belief. I knew that I'm gonna figure something out. Once I left my job, I said, you know what, I'm gonna figure this out. The people that are around me, my wife, my best friend, which works with me right now, I said, you know what, I'm doing this. They believed in me. I said, just wait, let me build this and we're gonna all enjoy the fruits. And they...
had the same unwavering confidence in my conviction. And you know, I'm a big believer in all the woo woo. As much as some people don't believe it, I'm gonna, I take all that juice, man. All those mantras, all of the subconscious training, all of the affirmations. I swear to God, like I was so gung -ho. Like I didn't even let anybody come into my circle if you.
Martin (54:03)
That's the point.
Marlon (54:17)
had an ounce of negativity. I'm like, I don't want to hear that shit, man. Like keep that over there. Cause yeah, you're going to mess up my juice, man. Like, and you know what? I, I don't care what anybody says. It worked for me. So then I'm going to, I'm going to say it works. Right.
Martin (54:21)
Really?
No, of course.
No, I've seen it so many times in my own life. And like, if you watch the secret, the movie or the movie around the book, like parts of it gets to me in terms of like, but like, for the most part, all the guiding principles, like, it's there for a reason. It's just also it's just like even just base psychology, like, most people want to do business with people that are positive, right?
Marlon (55:00)
Yeah, 100%.
Martin (55:01)
simple. So like, if I'm going to choose to do business, if your pricing is the same, if all these things are the same, and there's not real much competition, it's like the person are you going to do business with the person that's like motivated and excited about the future, or the person that's jaded and just like, this is the thing and like, we'll never do that. It's just like, that stuff is toxic. It's Yeah, no. Fully fully agree with you on that. I guess, yeah, like,
Marlon (55:23)
Exactly.
Martin (55:31)
to your point, right? It's hard to look out and think about what's next on on the horizon for you. 10 years from now, let alone let alone a year. But like, I mean, in if you are thinking about working your way toward like, there's there's there's you've got a plan for something. So I'm curious, like, what are you what are you working towards right now? Like, what? What's the next for MGT?
Marlon (56:00)
So the import -export is the next thing for me to be honest. I'm going to the Canton Fair next year which is the largest import -export fair in China. I think that's going to be the starting point for me. A lot of people have their opinions on how you should start it and what you should do. I'm like, you know what, I'm going to go to the source. I'm going to immerse myself in that trade show. I think it goes on for about three weeks.
Martin (56:10)
Okay.
Marlon (56:29)
And I want to see the new technology that's coming out there, the new products. And I think once I'm there, the ideas and that juice is going to start mixing and then something else is going to blossom because what I'm doing at MGT, I don't want to scale it too much further where I lose control of that efficiency and the quality of work that we provide a lot of our clients.
It's at a good point right now. I think I just want to take the business, acumen, the skills I've learned and apply it to something else that's like really something that I guess shelved for so long where I'm like, you know what, I'm ready to take that step because I already have this kind of systemized. I already have people in place. People know me. I have good relationships and reviews on this side. And it's like,
I got to make that jump into that international ball game. And it's honestly, that has been the scariest thing for me. I don't know why, but that just, it feels like there's this imaginary barrier every time I try to think about it. And I'm like, I just need to go. I just need to jump into that next field and see where that takes me.
Martin (57:49)
So Canton is that that like, because it's in the, like, is it primarily like Cantonese speaker in the area or is that like the area or what is it? Okay. Yeah.
Marlon (57:59)
It's in Guangzhou, in China. It happens every year, twice a year actually, in the spring and then in the fall. But that's the Mecca, the haven of anybody that's in the import -export field or buying product from overseas. You want to go there and see what's there and talk to those suppliers. And you'll have a leg up as well as the people that are just shopping online like Alibaba.
one of those sourcing websites because once your feet are on the ground and you're touching things, speaking with people, I think you just move a little faster.
Martin (58:39)
Do you have, I'm just asking random curious questions. If you're like, no, this is part of the secret sauce. I can't tell you that's totally, totally cool. I can't imagine it would be, but I'm more to respect privacy or whatever. But, like, do you, like, there's obviously the language. Like, do you, can you speak Cantonese Mandarin? Is that.
Marlon (58:45)
Yeah
no, I can't.
Martin (59:00)
And do you have any set up for that? Are you just going to like hook up with a translator or?
Marlon (59:05)
no, I'm just going to look up what it translated. The way communication and technology is now, it's like, that's not even a barrier anymore. You know, there's service, the service is out there, the middleman.
Martin (59:14)
Yeah, yeah.
That's true. Interesting. Interesting.
Marlon (59:20)
Yeah. I wish I had a secret sauce, but all the stuff I do, there's no secrets.
Martin (59:27)
Do you have, like an idea of what you want to import or export? That's the trade show is going to be like, whatever. You're just going to follow your excitement or your like intuition.
Marlon (59:31)
No, I don't. That's the funny thing.
Yeah, I think the big thing for me is finding a product where I could, you know, bring back and obviously package nicely. But then there has to be a value added service behind it because just from, you know, conducting everyday business, anybody can buy something overseas and bring it in and then sell based off a price. But then, you know,
Martin (1:00:05)
Yeah, widget.
Marlon (1:00:06)
widget. Yeah, you can be outpriced by Amazon and Walmart all day. So I'm not trying to do that. It needs to be something nice, packaged well, constructed, constructed efficiently, good quality, but then have that value added service where, you know, my team could, you know, we can make revenue long term instead of just, I sold you this and then, you know, I don't see you again. Right.
Martin (1:00:31)
Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. Well, man, it's been it's been a slice chatting with you. We just hit the one hour mark right on right nail on the head there. I feel like having done so many virtual meetings, it's like my brain intuitively knows like the half hour mark and the hour mark of a conversation. But no, it really appreciates you making the time. Some really cool stories in there. I'm so stoked to
Marlon (1:00:33)
Yeah.
Martin (1:00:59)
to see what comes up next for you. Anything you want to leave with the people, people group audience and all the HR recruitment folks listening, or even some aspiring entrepreneurs. What are your parting words or plug anything you like? This stage is yours, my friend.
Marlon (1:01:17)
This may sound so cliche. man, I hate doing that, but just do it. Just go. I mean, you have one life to live, yada yada, but I think the longer you delay chasing that dream, that passion, it's just gonna eat you up inside and then it comes out in your whole...
Martin (1:01:21)
Hehehehe
Marlon (1:01:43)
mannerisms your whole day to day because you know you feel unfulfilled. I think once you start feeling fulfilled professionally, personally, you know in a relationship, you know I think you start exuding a certain type of confidence, a certain type of energy that people like. You know I don't go just all in on just money and business. I think you have to hit all the check boxes, health and all of those things.
Martin (1:02:12)
Yeah.
Marlon (1:02:12)
I think if you have a successful relationship, not to say you need one to be successful, but I think, I personally think if you have a successful relationship and that person supports your dreams, it takes you much further. Obviously successful health is crucial as well. But hitting all of those check boxes, I think you have a better chance of success. So yeah, the trifecta health relationship business.
Martin (1:02:29)
Yeah.
Marlon (1:02:42)
You're rock solid.
Martin (1:02:43)
Fuck solid. And any, and who and when should people reach out to you for MGT stuff?
Marlon (1:02:50)
Reach out at any time. You're downsizing, upsizing, working from home. Hit us up. We will buy, sell, help you move your stuff, give you some ideas on even reconfiguration. That's something we're slowly getting into when companies are asking, hey, we're trying to make this office a little more engaging. What do you think? So yeah, that's something else we're focusing on.
Martin (1:03:13)
Okay.
Nice. Nice. Nice. All right. And what's the website?
Marlon (1:03:21)
It is www .michellsglobaltrading .com
Martin (1:03:27)
There you go. Cool. Marlon, Marlon, appreciate it. have an awesome rest of your weekend and yeah, thanks for listening folks. yeah, we'll see you next time.
Marlon (1:03:29)
Thank you, man. I appreciate this.
Thanks, Warren. Appreciate it.