629: Unglamorous Products That Quietly Generate Serious Revenue

Summary

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Episode Summary: Unglamorous Products That Quietly Generate Serious Revenue

The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast with Steve Chou | Episode 629 | March 11, 2026

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Main Theme

This episode delves into the hidden power of selling "boring" or unglamorous products in the e-commerce world. Steve and guests Robert and Kim argue that unsexy, often overlooked items—think zip ties, doorknobs, or mop heads—can be unexpectedly lucrative and face far less competition and trend-driven volatility than hip, viral, or influencer-pushed products. The discussion revolves around why these products make for smart business opportunities and features plenty of real-world examples to illustrate their point.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Case for Boring as a Business Strategy

• Why Boring Wins
  • Boring products typically have little to no brand loyalty, making the market easier to enter.
  • They're rarely hyped by influencers, so they fly under the radar (00:00–01:25).
  • Market leaders often show up simply by being consistent and providing good service.

Quote:

"The least exciting shelf in the store can often be the most profitable one." — Steve Chou (00:00)

2. Success Stories in the "Boring Product" Niche

• Dean and Zip Ties:
  • Dean, inspired after attending Seller Summit, became a six-figure seller in under a year simply selling heavy-duty zip ties—product variety was his competitive edge (02:03–03:19).
  • Eventually, Dean left his job and bought his dream property thanks to this mundane product.

Quotes:

"He was a six figure seller in less than a year selling zip ties... He only sold the zip ties, like different sizes." — Kim (02:03–03:17)
"I cannot think of a more boring product as far as like sexiness than zip ties." — Kim (02:20)

• Doorknobs as an Untapped Market:
  • Kim shares how doorknobs—ubiquitous and always in demand—would be her dream, low-glamour product if she re-entered e-commerce (04:02–05:14).

3. Case Studies: Other Boring, Profitable Products

• Senior Aid Products:
  • Items like long shoehorns and grabbers quietly generate multimillions in the aging population demographic; websites often have poor UI but thrive on need (07:15–09:27).
  • Physical therapists created a business organically from product needs in their day-to-day work (21:29–22:04).

"We're aging older, there's less younger people, there's more older people. I feel like that market is just going to continue to grow..." — Kim (09:03)

• Workwear Scrubs and Smart Distribution:
  • Kim's uncle bought a bus, stocked it with scrubs, and sold them directly at medical colleges—simple, consistent demand supported his family for over a decade (13:54–15:33).
• Filters and Air Filters:
  • Chad Rubin’s vacuum and air filter business shows how repeat-use, necessity-based products thrive; most customers re-purchase without much thought (16:03–17:19).

"No one's going to do like an unboxing of an air filter, right?" — Robert (16:17)

• Safety Gear—Hard Hats and Goggles:
  • Door-to-door relationship building created a business supplying common construction needs to worksites, eventually scaling to tens of millions (18:48–19:54).

4. The Dangers of Trendy Products

• Why Not to Chase Trends:
  • By the time a product is trending on TikTok, the market is usually saturated and dominated by fast competitors (09:36–10:05, 24:02–24:11).

"The fact that you're seeing on TikTok already means that it's probably already too saturated." — Robert (09:57)

• Case Studies—The Boom-Bust Cycle:
  • Fidget spinners and face masks: stories of people making quick money but then being left with excess inventory as trends faded (11:10–11:53).

5. What Makes Boring Products Work

• Recurring Revenue & “Set It and Forget It” Mentality:
  • The best boring products solve recurring problems (e.g., mop heads, air filters, reading glasses) and fit well in auto-replenishment systems or subscriptions (17:19–18:36).
• Low Brand Loyalty:
  • Many customers simply buy what's cheapest, reliable, and compatible, making it easier to break in with a new brand (18:36–18:47).
• Niche Angles & Smart Targeting:
  • Example: reading glasses for people with wide heads (large market segment, little competition) (25:34–27:23).
  • Oversized shoes (sizes 16–24) and mailboxes—uncommon sizes or overlooked categories become lasting businesses (27:36–28:58).

6. Simple Innovations and Unseen Niches

• Parts and Repairs:
  • Finding and selling replacement parts for appliances (e.g., TV power boards) and collectibles (e.g., vintage electronics manuals) fills genuine needs for DIYers and hobbyists (38:03–39:16, 39:23–42:33).
• Relationship and Word-of-Mouth Selling Beats Advertising:
  • Many of these “boring” businesses were built by physically showing up, establishing relationships, and letting referral and reputation drive sales (19:20–21:29).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the psychological barrier to selling boring products:

"There's like an ego component to it. Most people want to sell the sexy products." — Robert (24:13)
"I actually want to go back to work right now and work in tech. Because AI is sexy. But if you look at the level of competition across all the AI companies, it's cutthroat." — Robert (24:23-24:34)

• On avoiding the viral trap:

"If you see an influencer pushing something anywhere on TikTok, that's going to be a really hard thing to sell." — Robert (24:02–24:09)

• On recurring purchases:

"If your product could be on subscribe and save, that might be a great boring product." — Kim (17:19–17:31)

• On starting simple and scaling smart:

"All you need is like, a handful of these customers who are going to be buying from you on a repeat basis. And that's enough to easily support yourself and perhaps build a multimillion dollar company." — Robert (19:20–19:54)

• On “unsexy” opportunity:

"These are not like multi billion dollar businesses that they [cousins] ... But they are businesses that will support you, that you can retire with, and you're actually providing a really great service to people." — Kim (41:41–42:33)

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Highlight Reel: Key Examples & Timestamps

| Segment | Topic / Example | Timestamp | |--------------|--------------------------------|------------------| | Introduction | Boring as a strategy | 00:00–01:25 | | Case Study | Dean & Zip Ties | 02:03–03:17 | | Industry Insight | Doorknobs & Unsexy Necessities | 04:02–05:14 | | Pitfalls | Clothing/fashion pitfalls | 05:51–07:15 | | Aging Market | Senior aid: grabbers, bars | 07:15–09:27 | | Classic Trap | Why viral/trendy fails | 09:36–10:05 | | Successes | Scrubs bus, direct colleges | 13:54–15:33 | | Repeat Revenue | Filters & home basics | 16:03–17:19 | | B2B wins | Safety gear, relationships | 18:48–19:54 | | Subscription | The “set and forget” mop heads | 17:19–18:36 | | Niche spins | Fat head glasses, oversized shoes| 25:34–28:00 | | Home staples | Mailboxes, auto repair parts | 28:43–30:27 | | Unseen gems | Vintage manuals pay off | 39:23–42:33 | | Boring riches| Microfiber king, Brett Haney | 34:47–36:06 |

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Closing Takeaways

• The most lucrative e-commerce opportunities are often hidden in plain sight, where ego and trends don’t lead the way.
• Boring products can become stable, repeatable, and scalable businesses with less risk of being knocked off or out-startup-ed by competitors.
• Word of mouth, direct relationships, and steady demand are often more powerful than viral marketing.
• Consider recurring need, ease of shipping, lack of brand loyalty, and untapped niches—these traits define winning “boring” products.
• Entrepreneurs looking for long-term, reliable income should consider skipping the hype and looking for the unglamorous problems everyone has.

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Final Words:

"Stop chasing the trendy stuff. By the time it's trendy, that ship has sailed. With boring products, people are probably not gonna knock you off because they're boring... Those are the best businesses for me: the ones that no one knows about but just quietly make money because you're under the radar." — Robert (42:49–43:14)

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For more resources or to listen to the episode in full, visit mywifequitterjob.com/episode-629.

Transcript

[Steve Chou]

Welcome back to the podcast, the show where I cover all the latest strategies and current events related to E commerce and online business. In this episode, we're making the case that boring is actually a strategy. The products we're covering today have no sex appeal, no social media presence, and almost zero brand loyalty, which means the market is wide open for anyone willing to show up consistently. And it turns out that the least exciting shelf in the store can often be the most profitable one. But before we begin, I want to let you know that tickets for Seller Summit 2026 are now on sale [e-mail] and if you sell physical products, this is the event that you should be at. Unlike most events that are filled with high level fluff and inspirational stories, Seller Summit is all about tactical, step by step strategies you can actually use in your business right away. Every speaker I invite is in the trenches. People who are running their own e commerce stores, managing inventory, dealing with suppliers

[Robert]

and scaling real businesses.

[Steve Chou]

No corporate execs and no consultants. Also, I hate large events, so I intentionally keep it small and intimate. We cap attendance at around 200 people so you can actually have real conversations and connect with everyone in the room. We've sold out every single year for the past nine years and I expect this year to be no different. It's happening April 21st to 23rd in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And if you're doing over 250k or $1 million in revenue, we also offer a private mastermind for high level sellers. Right now, tickets are the cheapest they're ever going to be. So if you want in, go over to sellersummit.com and grab your ticket.

[Robert]

Now onto the show. Welcome to the My Wife Quitter Job podcast. Today we're going to be talking about selling the right products. And what's funny about this is that I run a class and oftentimes when people come up to me and they're like, hey Steve, I saw this on TikTok, I want to sell it. And I'm always like, that's probably going to be a bad idea. And if you look around, actually, oftentimes it is. The boring products, the ones that are never talked about are the ones that are silently making a ton of money.

[Kim]

You know who this, this topic makes me think of every single time. Who? Our friend Dean. Dean. Dean arrived at seller summit in 2016, very first year with a, with a dream. He did. He didn't have a product to sell. He came to the first Seller Summit. He was, he was an older man. I don't know how old he was, but he showed up, he said, I want to get into E commerce. We're like, great. You know, we introduced him to a lot of people. He made some great connections. And the funnest thing about him is the next year he showed up at seller summit and he was a six figure seller in less than a year selling zip ties, which I cannot think of. I think zip ties are fun, actually, but I cannot think of a more boring product as far as like sexiness than zip ties. And then I think by the next year at seller summit, he had, I think, left his day job. He had purchased a piece of property that he had always dreamed about.

[Steve Chou]

That's correct.

[Kim]

Like, he had kind of. He wanted like this family compound, which I think is so cool. So he had like been able to acquire this land all from zip tie. And he never, I don't think he ever sold anything else. I think he only sold the zip ties, like different sizes.

[Robert]

He had a million of skus of

[Kim]

zip ties because they come in all shapes and sizes. However, he is the person I think and I think about him, he's almost like my Roman empire. I think about him all the time because I always think if I get back into E Commerce, what would I sell? And I don't want to sell zip ties, but I want to sell something like zip ties.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And just to be clear, these weren't just like regular zip ties. They were like super heavy duty ones.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Of which actually you can't find at Home Depot. I was actually at home depot the other day for zip ties.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And they only sell like the kind of flimsy ones. And I want the heavy duty ones.

[Kim]

Yeah. And it. And so it's so funny because our friends Paul and Tiffany Ivanovsky, who sell clothing, which I never recommend.

[Robert]

Yes.

[Kim]

But. But we meet a lot of people who want to sell clothing because clothing's fun. Right. Like it's. And you see all these like boutique owners and they, you know, they're doing all these fun things. And obviously Paul and Tiffany have a fantastic business, but, you know, it's not. Did not happen overnight. And we were talking one day, Paul and Tiffany and I. And Paul's like, do you think you'd ever get back into E commerce? And I said, you know, it's definitely not off the table. And he said, what would you sell? Like, what's your dream thing to sell? And I said, doorknobs. And he's like, really? And it was kind of off the cuff. Right. And he's like doorknobs. He's like, are you, like, into. You know, because there are, like, a lot of variety of doorknobs. And I was like, no, I'm not, like, into doorknobs. I said, but when I think of a product that everybody has to buy, right? Like, everybody has to have doorknobs, right? And they are on the exterior, the interior of your home, on every building, everything. Right. Doorknobs are like a staple. And if you actually look at the doorknobs you buy today at Lowe's or Home Depot, they're garbage, Right. Like, they're very low quality. Stuff is plastic. It doesn't last. You know, I said, I feel like doorknobs is. Is a absolutely fantastic product. Right. Because the margins have to be great on those. I haven't done, like, a ton of research, but it's a boring product that everybody has to use in their lifetime.

[Robert]

Interesting. Yeah. I don't know anything about home improvement or doorknobs, but I know that there's, like, a ton of variety out there, right?

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Every time I walk into Home Depot.

[Kim]

Yeah. Like, you've got the levers, you've got the knobs, you know, and you've got, like. One of my kids was tired of her sister stealing her stuff, so she got a thumbprint doorknob so she can only open it with their thumb. So, yeah, like, there's like, lots of variety and things like that. But, yeah, I think those types of products, everyone wants the fun, exciting, you know, let's sell T shirts. Right? Like, I. I know a lot of people want to sell T shirts. Like, looking at my friends that sell clothing like, that seems like an absolute nightmare. Right.

[Robert]

Like, yeah, we should probably do an episode on, like, the worst products to sell.

[Kim]

Yes. Yes.

[Robert]

Maybe at a later date.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And clothing would definitely be one of my number ones. But for reason, everyone wants to do it when they come into my class.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And I don't think they think about the fact that you got to carry like a million skus different sizes. You miss by, like, one size, and then you're stuck with that inventory forever.

[Kim]

Yes. Oh, I don't want to get too deep into clothing, but the other thing about clothing that makes it stink. And we will do a whole episode on this, guys, is that you have to buy clothing when you buy it wholesale in packs. I don't know if you know this, but, like, they sell it in packs and each pack has, like, two small, two medium, two large, this. So you don't even really get to control how you buy. Like, Paul and Tiffany joked that Ozempic's been the worst thing for their business because they used to. You. Their customer base used to be like, large, extra large, and double X. And everyone went on Ozempic. And now everybody's small, medium, and large. And they, like. A lot of boutique owners got stuck with, like, larger size inventory because people aren't buying it anymore. But, like, so you have to buy these packs where the wholesaler dictates the sizes you get. Tiffany cannot go and say, I need 50 pairs of size zero jeans. She has to buy a pack of two zeros, two smalls, three me. You know, it's like. Anyway, it's a mess. So. Doorknobs. Doorknobs are the way to go.

[Robert]

So I was researching boring products, and one that really caught my eye was senior aid products. And the only reason I was kind of looking at this is because, you know, my. My mom's getting up there and she lives right down the street. She's in great health and everything.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

But there are some things that she can't really do anymore, like lift or she's not as flexible. And then I found this that I just kind of did some research. They do multimillions.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

But the site literally looks like it was designed in, like, the 90s. Horrible website. But I know they're doing well.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And you can't really find these products in regular stores. Yeah, we're talking about, like, these really, as an example, these really long shoehorns. So you don't have to bend down.

[Kim]

Yes, yes.

[Robert]

They don't sell stuff like that. So that's like a boring product or set of products, I should say, like walkers and whatnot. Although walkers are probably more common. But there's this whole niche because everyone's getting older for the baby boomer stage. And it's. It's untapped.

[Kim]

Yeah. The. The one I always think about because my dad. We got one for my dad as a joke one year. Not as really as a joke. He used it all the time. He loved it. But the grabber.

[Robert]

Yes, the grabber.

[Kim]

Yeah, the grabber. Like, that's now that's a little more popular, but it still fits into that, like, boring product. Like, for me, like, I. We. One of my kids got one, like, in, like, a detective kit one time, and I used to use that thing all the time to get stuff that fell behind the washer and Dr. Like get the sock. But you're right. Like, those types of products, I Had someone. I saw someone post on Facebook the other day about wanting to have a bar installed in their shower for their. For their parent.

[Robert]

Yes.

[Kim]

Right. But that bar is a product. Right? Like that, that, like, think about that. That's literally just a piece of metal that's bent onto it. Right. Like.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah.

[Kim]

So the. The risk of it being defective, like, the defectiveness comes in the installer, not the product itself because it's metal. All those types of products, like, they. To me, those are just like the cash cows. Right. And as, especially with society, like, in general, we're aging older, like, there's less younger people, there's more older people. I feel like that market is just going to continue to grow and we're

[Robert]

quickly creeping up on that market. Maybe not quite yet.

[Kim]

Listen, buy me a grabber. Send me one. I don't know what happened to our old one. I'll take it.

[Steve Chou]

Actually, before.

[Robert]

Oh, sorry, go on.

[Kim]

No, go ahead.

[Robert]

I was going to say, before we go on to your next boring product, I just want to first address, like, all the trending products. And in general, like, if you see something on TikTok or if you see something hot, it might look really hot and you might want to jump on, but the fact that you're seeing on TikTok already means that it's probably already too saturated.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Like, almost every Chinese supplier has probably jumped on it by then. And so really, that's not the best way to find products to sell.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Have you ever wondered how much your

[Robert]

business is actually worth now?

[Steve Chou]

I sold one of my businesses through Quiet Light. And honestly, just getting that initial valuation changed everything for me. Not because of that number itself, but because of what came with it.

[Robert]

My advisor walked me through exactly what

[Steve Chou]

buyers would be looking for, how I needed to restructure my accounting, what documentation I was missing, the gaps in my financials that might kill a deal before it even starts, and stuff that I really had no idea that mattered when

[Robert]

it came to selling a business.

[Steve Chou]

And here's the thing, I wasn't even ready to sell yet. But knowing what I needed to fix meant that I could actually start preparing.

[Robert]

And I now had a roadmap.

[Steve Chou]

Everyone at Quiet Light has built or sold businesses themselves, so my advisor told me what needed to change. It was actually coming from real experience, sitting across from buyers. And by the time I was ready, everything was positioned right and we attracted serious buyers. So if you've been thinking about selling someday, even if that day feels way far off, just getting a free valuation from Quiet Light will make A huge difference. You'll learn what you need to fix right now so you're not scrambling later.

[Robert]

And if you're interested, go over to quietlight.com fidget spinners. Actually, just since we're on this topic. So Nick Shackelford, you can look in the archives. I interviewed him and how he first got his start actually was he was making multi millions of dollars selling fidget spinners.

[Kim]

My cousin sold fidget spinners and did not make multi millions, but supported himself for many years selling fidget spinners.

[Robert]

Yeah. And I think the problem is, is let's say you get lucky and you make some money. Yeah, Right. You're like, okay, let's scale this sucker. So then all of a sudden you're buying a huge container of this stuff and then the trend just like suddenly dies and then you're stuck with all this inventory. And that's exactly what happened to Nick.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Similar to one of our colleagues, like when, remember when face masks were huge during the pandemic, he actually bought like a couple of containers of the stuff and then it Covid was over. And you know, I don't know what he did with those two containers of stuff, but whether he filed for bankruptcy or whatnot. So that is the danger.

[Kim]

Yeah. So actually my. This just reminded me of a totally different product that. So my cousin sold fidget spinners. My uncle, his father. So my uncle was very entrepreneurial, but like, not in a. See, this is the thing. I think what happens is you listen to podcasts, you go to events, you hear like, people like Nick Shackelford right now. Nick Shackelford has a wildly successful. I think when I heard him speak this summer, he said it was like $60 million a year. THC based product, right?

[Robert]

Correct.

[Kim]

THC based products are.

[Robert]

I always joke he's a drug dealer,

[Kim]

but yes, he's a drug dealer. I actually saw not that product, but like a competitor to him literally in Winn Dixie a couple weeks ago. Like it? Yes. It's hit mainstream. My nephew is currently like, as we speak, on a plane. Zach Seller, Summit videographer. He's on a plane to North Carolina to open up. He works for a company called Chronic Guru. They sell THC and CBD products. He's on his way to North Carolina right now to do a grand opening for another one of their physical locations, like, blowing up. But the problem is, like, people like Nick, people like Chronic Guru have really set themselves apart. Like Chronic Guru, one of the things. Well, one, they hired my nephew, so they're. They're Putting out amazing content, right? Their social content is 10 out of 10. Two, they open physical locations that are bars that sell THC drinks, right? No one else is doing that. So they took an angle on it. So they took a popular product and to an angle that no one was doing. But there's a million people doing this, right? They're just not, not doing it well. So you know, that's the problem with the popular stuff. My cousin who did the fidget spinners, his dad, and this is, I want to say probably 20 to 25 years ago, got into selling scrubs. Like nursing scrubs.

[Robert]

Oh yes, right.

[Kim]

So and the thing about, so we say don't sell clothing. The thing about scrubs is they only come in like three sizes, right? Because they're big. Like you know, you're not buying scrubs and nowadays scrubs have changed. But like when he start got in this, it was a little bit different and so he started selling scrubs and this is when the Internet was like more of an ebay, you know, Amazon wasn't a thing. So he was selling scrubs on ebay. Well then he had the idea, I mean this is like, this is the type of stuff though that I feel like this is how you make it, right? He's like, what if I buy a school bus, right? And I turn the school bus into a shop and I go to nursing schools, dental schools, tech schools, like all these, you know, these health colleges where you go for like six months and you get like a nursing tech degree or a vet tech, they all have to wear scrubs, one to school and two to their work. When they get a job, he would pull that bus up to the parking lot with permission, open it up and sell scrubs during the lunch hour. Literally supported their family for probably 10 years.

[Steve Chou]

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a free resource that I offer on my website that you may not be aware of. If you are interested in starting your own online store. I put together a comprehensive six day mini course on how to get started in E commerce that you should all check out if want you. It contains both video and text based tutorials that go over the entire process of finding products to sell, all the way to getting your first sales online. Now this course is free and can be [e-mail] free. Just sign up right there on the front page via email and I'll send

[Robert]

you the course right away.

[Steve Chou]

Once again, that's mywifequitterjob.com free.

[Robert]

Now back to the show selling.

[Kim]

I mean, like once again, boring product. Right. But in he, you know, tried to capitalize on the boring product like he would. And because he was selling them on ebay as well as in person, he got the feedback in person of people would coming into the school bus to buy the scrubs and saying, like, you know, I'd really like, I'm going to go into pediatrics. Do you have any like, you know, bright yellow or bright like fun colors? So then like, you know, he, he learned the trends. He started, you know, carrying the stuff that people were requesting, but did this very successfully for probably 10 to 12 years. Once again, super boring product.

[Robert]

Exactly. One of our friends, Chad Rubin, I'm sure if you guys are in Amazon circles, you probably heard of him. He runs a company now called Prophecy, which is an Amazon pricing tool. But he actually made most of his money selling filters, vacuum filters and air filters, which is just about as boring as it gets. Like, no one's going to do like an unboxing of an air filter, right?

[Kim]

Speaking of air filters, this, I, this is a great product because my air conditioner, I have to buy the dumb filters from the air conditioning company because they're like spray specialized. It's like $200 for four filters.

[Steve Chou]

Oh, I know, it's ridiculous.

[Kim]

You cannot tell me that that filter, like One filter is $50. So how much you think that filter costs to manufacture? Even if it's like the hepa Amazing. A dollar or two.

[Robert]

Tops.

[Kim]

Tops. The biggest cost in that is the size because they're air, you know, house air. So they're big. But vacuum cleaner filters are literally this big.

[Steve Chou]

Yes.

[Kim]

Tiny to ship. Stupid. Boring.

[Robert]

I, I have to get filters. Actually everyone who has to get filters for their house. Right?

[Kim]

Yes.

[Robert]

But shop around like once I've bought one, I just keep buying the same one or I just buy a bunch from the same company and it's, it's really sticky and that's why it works.

[Kim]

So this is a good, Actually this gave me a great idea to test your product. Like to kind of run through the mental test if your product could be on subscribe and save. That might be a great. Boring product.

[Robert]

Yeah.

[Kim]

You know, like if you're. Because you're like. Because I'm the same way. Like, there's a couple things that I just want delivered to my house every single month or every two months. I don't want to think about it. Like, you know, I did I shop around probably initially. Right. Like, but also did it fit my car or whatever? Like you know, not fit my car, fit my air conditioner, fit my vacuum. And then I. So I have mop heads on subscribe and Save, because really I have that mop that like, it's. It's the bucket, but then the other side of the bucket is the spinner, so it like flings the water out. So the mop heads are interchangeable. And because I've had so much construction in my house, you mop like once or twice up the construction, dust the mop heads like dead. Right. Like, and I also have pets, so even if I didn't have the construction, I would probably want a new mop head probably once a month or once every two months. So I literally have these things on subscribe and Save once again. They're the, like the stringy mop. They come in a three pack. They're shrink wrap. They're literally like this big. I don't know what they cost. I don't care what they cost. They fit my mop. And so I hit subscribe. I will never unsubscribe from them. I will buy those and. And I will buy another mop before I stop getting that subscription.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah.

[Robert]

There's actually a number of things in my house that are like that, where I actually don't even care about the brand.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Like, I literally just go and I find the cheapest version that'll. That's compatible, whatever, whatever I'm using, and then I just buy it forever.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

So your example with the scrubs brought me to, like, another example that I found through my research, which was this dude who literally just had like, a supply of like, hard hats and safety goggles. And, you know, those are really common items. Yeah, right. But what he did is he actually drove around and this was in Indiana. He drove around to different construction sites and then just literally talked to the guys and said, hey, how much are you paying for this stuff? Like, and then he just undercut them in price and said, hey, I will supply you with all this stuff.

[Steve Chou]

And the fact that he went around

[Robert]

door to door and actually established relationships with the, you know, the foreman and everything, that's how he got his business. And I think what most people don't realize is that all you need is like, a handful of these customers who are going to be buying from you on a repeat basis. And that's enough to easily support yourself and perhaps build a multimillion dollar company. So that guy, he started out doing that and now he makes tens of millions of dollars supplying all this stuff to all these construction Companies in Indiana. And now he's expanding to a whole bunch of different states.

[Kim]

Yeah. And I'm sure my uncle had. He wanted to like grow this, you know, to like multi, like multi areas. Like, he was really content to just, you know, drive around the Orlando area. But he, it got to the point where like the schools expected him because a lot of these schools are six week and eight week programs, especially for like the tech stuff. So for the schools it was like, this is how we can ensure that our students are following. Like they are wearing the scrubs, they're wearing this right. Stuff. They're like ready to get hired. Like, they were like, are you coming? Are you coming this Tuesday? Like, they, they were like, chase. I mean, isn't it nice to have someone chasing you to sell your products? Right. Like, are you gonna be here? You know, once he had those relationships and then of course, all these schools, all the administrators, they all know each. Right. They all know each other. So it's like he would, People would find out that like, oh, they're going to this, you know, technical college. Like, can you come to our. Do you. Can you get us in the calendar? Right. Like, you don't even have to really advertise yourself once you get in the process.

[Robert]

I mean, there's something to be said about actually going in, in person and talking to someone. I, for some reason, like people who sign up for my class these days, and I'm kind of generalizing here, but they all want to do something on the download, like just throw some money at an ad and then just get sales and never have to talk to anyone, Never have to do anything. Just ship products. Yeah, but I feel like the majority of people are like that. So if you're actually willing to go around and talk to people. And again, word of mouth is something that is not talked about enough. Just even in E commerce. Right.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

And so if you're willing to build

[Robert]

these relationships, like I said, all you need is a couple of these subscription guys to make a living.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And word of mouth will spread after that. In fact, that is when we were talking about like the senior aid niche. That's exactly how they got started also. So I think the story, their backstory was they were physical therapists and they were helping out like the elderly and

[Steve Chou]

they couldn't find any of these products.

[Robert]

So they found them or they had them made and then they just used them in their own as part of their own job in the beginning. And then people started asking about it and that's when they Started, you know, buying in bulk and supplying. And they started out, you know, within their own area at first, and that expanded via word of mouth.

[Kim]

Yeah. So this is gonna sound absolutely crazy, but I'm staring at a product in my office right now that I was like, ooh, this is a really important product, but it has a problem, okay? So across from me, I won't get up and get it. I have a Pilates ball. Pilates, however you say it. And it's a rubber ball that's like this, you know, space the size of a basketball, and you use it for Pilates work. And I'm like, that's a super bowing product. It came in this, like, shrink button. To get that thing blown up and open was such a pain in the butt. But, like, once again, it fits all the criteria, right? Easy to ship, small, lightweight. All doesn't take up a lot of space. If you sell on Amazon, it's small in the, you know, container sort of thing. The problem is every influencer in the world does Pilates, right? So they all want to talk about the ball, right? They all want to. They all want to, you know, so there's. There's a. I mean, when I went to buy this ball, there were literally, I don't even know how many listings there were on Amazon. So what did I do? I looked for the one with the price and reviews, right? I was like, oh, 27,000 reviews, 4.7 stars. That's the one I'm buying. Does it have a color? I, like, sure. Like, clearly, like, no, there was no brand loyalty. No, it was all about price and, like, reliability, basically, right? So any product that you think is, like, in the influencer market, which is like, any fitness, because I also have one of those foam rollers, right? And it's like, once again, every influencer is doing the foam roller at the gym, right? Like, and once again, probably an easy product to sell. Super cheap to manufacture all that stuff. You want to find the products where the influencers aren't going to be talking about you. So who isn't an influencer? An old person who isn't an influencer, Construction person who isn't an influencer, a plumber, right? Like. Like, those are the products where you're like, this isn't going to take over. And I hate to say, like, you want to find a product that's not going to go viral on TikTok, but you kind of do because, yes, the virality is up and then it's a big crash and you have a carton Full of foam rollers that you can't get rid of because everyone else is undercutting you on price, especially to the Chinese sellers.

[Robert]

I would almost argue that if you see an influencer pushing something anywhere on TikTok, that's going to be a really hard thing to sell.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

In general.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And it's, It's. It's. For me at least, there's. There's like an ego component to it. Like, most people want to sell the sexy products.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robert]

Like, I'm an engineer or former engineer. I actually want to go back to work right now and work in tech. Because AI is sexy.

[Kim]

Yes.

[Robert]

Right.

[Kim]

Yes.

[Robert]

But if you look at the level of competition across all the AI companies, it's cutthroat.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Whereas if you're this other guy, like maybe Intuit and TurboTax, I'm thinking, like, that's like a boring product that just mints money every single year.

[Kim]

Yes. Yeah. So another. This is. This has got a little more competition. So I'm not saying to go into this, but I think it's. Another fit is reading glasses. As I'm.

[Robert]

Yes. Actually there's an acquaintance, and remember I

[Steve Chou]

bought those for you.

[Kim]

Yes. A while back. Yes.

[Robert]

They were part of a keychain. So.

[Kim]

Yes.

[Robert]

There's just reading.

[Kim]

I still have them.

[Robert]

They're for people like me who refuse to wear reading glasses but need them at a restaurant or something.

[Kim]

Yes, yes. Because your arm isn't long enough to hold the menu anymore.

[Robert]

Yes, exactly. Well, these days I actually take a photo on my phone and then pinch to zoom. But there are these reading glasses on a keychain. It's actually a former student selling those. And again, that's. That's like a spin on a. On a product that affects, like, anyone over the age of 40.

[Kim]

Yes. So our friend Chris Cody, who we just talking about him before we started recording, he bought an eyeglass company a couple years ago. And the interesting thing for him is he's trying to differentiate himself. I think that's a good. I think it's a good. I don't. I don't say it. Wouldn't say it's saturated. I probably wouldn't do it today. But he's trying to figure out the angles. Right. Like, how do you find something that's, you know, gonna set him apart? So one of the things that he did was he targets people with. This is gonna sound crazy. With fat heads. Right.

[Steve Chou]

Interesting.

[Kim]

Because.

[Robert]

Wide head.

[Kim]

Yeah. So basically, like reading glasses. Right. They all come in basically the same size. Right. Like this part of a glasses, I mean these are flexible obviously, so if your head is smaller or larger, you know, it'll, it'll fit on your head most comfortably. But there are people who have larger than normal heads and this isn't like a small group of the population. This is a pretty big segment of people. Right. So he has created a line of eyewear for people that have wider heads. I call them fat heads. Kim and I, because I used to do his email, so we used to joke, I'm like, do you want the fat head segment of people? And so basically because I will say, like, as someone who wears glasses a lot of the time, like, I don't like stuff pushing up against my temples, like it's uncomfortable. So if you have a larger sized head and you just go buy a pair of reading glasses at Target or cvs, they're probably going to be uncomfortable for you. So he has created a standard product that's better. Right. For a certain group of people. And it's enough people to keep you in business. Right. There's enough fat heads to keep you.

[Robert]

You know what this reminds me of? You know those gigantic sunglasses that are

[Steve Chou]

like,

[Robert]

I'm picturing his reading glasses like that big. But yeah, that's a good niche. And that's easily like a seven figure niche right there.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah. I mean it's, it's those types of things that I think like people like, who's ever going to be like, yeah, let's, let's go after the large headed community. Right. Like, it's not, you know, a thing.

[Robert]

So that's just like Brandon Elay's product.

[Kim]

Yes.

[Robert]

A friend of ours, he sells oversized shoes.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Like, basically for people like Shaq.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And so my brother. Yeah, and your brother. Right.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robert]

I think his sizes start at like 16 and go all the way up to like 20 something.

[Kim]

Yeah. 23 or 24.

[Robert]

Because you can't find those sizes in stores. And so. And he's carved out like he's been in business for like 20 years.

[Kim]

Yeah, yeah. A really long time. Yeah, that's, that's another. I mean the same thing though, like a small niche of people. But once again, what does everybody have to have shoes? Right, right. I, I think it's that component of like what are, what are certain things that everybody has to buy. And also what's great about shoes is they wear out like you, most people, if they're wearing shoes, like ever. If you have a pair of shoes that you wear regularly. Right. Like once every day. Or you know, five times a week, they're gonna last you maybe a year or two, you know, and then even if they're great shoes, like if you're wearing them all the time, um, they're not going to be, you know. I have, I have another really interesting one.

[Steve Chou]

Oh, you do?

[Robert]

Okay, I'll let you go.

[Kim]

Okay. This is one that I feel like is. Is not. Doesn't fit as much of the criteria. I always like to sell small products. Right. Like I want, I sold jewelry, I like the tiniest things possible. But this is one that I do feel like is a pretty boring product is mailboxes.

[Robert]

Yes. Actually.

[Kim]

Right.

[Robert]

Like, yeah, I like that.

[Kim]

Yeah, mailboxes. Because every, most people have a mailbox. Right. Like, I mean, and so, and most people at some point, I mean, on my mailbox, my, one of my kids checked the mail. They're like, that mailbox is hanging on for dear life. Like my mailbox is really old and it, it's literally like you open the door and the thing goes down and then you close the door. Like, it's just, it's barely attached to the thing. It's rusted out. Like, I'm like, I need a new mailbox. Like once again, boring, easy. Yeah. Everyone has to buy one and they don't last forever.

[Robert]

So one of, I don't know if I ever told you this story, but my cousin in law, he's like really into cars and he was on the forums one day and he likes Jeeps and he discovered that everyone was just complaining about like the tweeters going out. And these are like old school, like Wranglers and Cherokees. He did some off roading also.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And so all he did is he just sourced some of these tweeters from China. Pennies on the dollar and then. And the markups if you take it back to the dealer are super high.

[Kim]

Right.

[Robert]

So he just made it like 50 off the dealer, which was still like a 10x profit. And he went back on those forms, he said, oh yeah, the fix for this is easy. This is what I did. You can pick up these kits right here. And it. He pointed to his own site. Of course.

[Kim]

Yes, yes.

[Robert]

And for like the next, I want to say five years, that product was making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Something stupid.

[Robert]

Again, no one's ever going to like advertise these things. You're never going to see it on Tick tock. But it's like a silent product that just made a ton of money.

[Kim]

Yeah. So I have one that is not. This is not a good product anymore. But for mil you got. But if the category is correct, because ring camera has ruined this product. However, my former brother in law, when he was in college, he was looking for ways to earn money. And so he went and bought like wholesale. The peephole, right, that goes in your door. And this is of course like in the, I would say like late 80s, early 90s. This is a long time ago. And he bought these peepholes for like, I don't remember what he sold them for. Like, he bought them for like two or three dollars, right? And he would just go around his college town and he would knock on people's doors, right, that didn't have peepholes and they would like answer the door. And he was. When they'd answer the door, he'd say, hi, my name is so and so how did you know that you should answer the door for me, right? And he's. And he's like, for $20, I can install this in your front door in five minutes, right? So he would like have the drill, like the, you know, drill bit, everything you needed, literally. They're super easy to install. And he would basically. So he basically supported himself in college selling peoples. Amazing, right? But like, once again, obviously now with the ring camera, that's not as relevant anymore. Like, I'm sure young people are like, what's a people? You know, but same thing. Like, once again, super boring. Great. Found a great ankle for a boring product, right? Like one also knocking on doors, interacting with customers. So that's a whole nother thing. But you know, anything like that, I mean, gee, like he told me that like story like 25 years ago and I was like, that is the greatest idea I've ever heard. Like, that is so smart.

[Robert]

Like, you know, there's this trend with a lot of these products. So I found this one guy who makes at his peak, $119 million a year selling ink and toner.

[Kim]

Yes, right.

[Robert]

Because you know, it's really expensive. But this guy in his college dorm room, he was like, I'm not paying for those refills. And what he ended up doing was, you know, he would just drill into the existing toner cartridge and just refill the toner and put it back in. And what he ended up doing, he's like, okay, maybe this is like a business. So he actually went around to first, his like friends, a place of employment. And he actually found the boss and was like, hey, how much are you spending on toner? I can fill these for you at like a fraction of the cost.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And then it just spread from there.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

But it started because he just kind of went to a business and said, hey, you know, I can have your toner costs.

[Kim]

Yeah, it's, it's amazing how many things that if you're just willing to do a little bit of legwork, you know, like you're just like the, and I mean I get the anonymous selling, like I understand why that's appealing to people. But if, if you can create a business where you're not having to run ads and drive a significant amount of your revenue from ads, like, because it's, it's like I think about this because obviously I live in a construction world. You know, they're like Dickies pants are like the pants for most people who work in labor, blue collar type jobs. Right. Like they're, they're like one of the staple brands. There's other brands too, but they're one of the main brands. Right. And they sell blue pants and black pants or something like that. Right. Like they, they have like a very limited. So maybe they sell khaki too, but like very limited selection, very specific, very durable pants. Right. Like they're made to stand up to like construction level work. But like, and I know they do run ads and things like that, but it's like they set themselves apart as like if you work in construction, you need our, you need to wear our pants, right? So like when you get it and it's the same thing with like steel toed boots, right. There's a couple like major brands and it's like I have a son that's getting ready to go into a trade. And so it's like he's going to buy the brand that everybody in his trade is using, right? Like he is going to buy the Dickies pants, the you know, steel toed boots. Like he's going to have those products like, because you know that's, that's the industry standard. Right. But they didn't get there from ads. They got there from going to the construction sites like your friend and like, hey, you know, what hard hat do you want to wear? Like what's the pros and cons? Like what do you need? You know, and then they become like, I'm sure Dickies is like a multi million billion dollar company at this point. You know that.

[Robert]

Actually I just thought of our good friend Brett Haney.

[Kim]

Yes, I was thinking about him earlier.

[Robert]

He sells microfiber towels. Yeah, boring as. No offense. Brett, if you're listening to This, I don't know. If you listen to the podcast, your microfiber is the best, but boring as hell, right?

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

I mean, it's literally just like towels.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And so I know he does very well.

[Kim]

Yes.

[Robert]

Right.

[Steve Chou]

I don't know how I should have

[Robert]

him on the pod, actually. I don't really know how he got started with that, but I suspect that it was a similar thing. He got these towels, he found some businesses that needed them, and he's probably, like, the supplier for many businesses today.

[Kim]

And, you know, I think I had dinner with him several years ago, and when we were having dinner, we were. He was like, should I get on TikTok? Should I do? It was like TikTok was just starting to, like, really be a thing. And we started talking about, like, who he sells to, and, like, one of his big clients are cleaning companies.

[Robert]

I believe it.

[Steve Chou]

Yeah.

[Kim]

Yeah. But, like, it's the same thing, right? Like, well, what brand. What brand of rags do you use? Right. Well, we use this brand. So then you know the next person, you know. So say you. So say you work for a cleaning company and then you leave and you start your own cleaning company. Right? Like, so. Well, we use this for this. Why would we switch? Right. Like, if you like it, you make a good product. Once again, those cloths do not last forever. I have some. Like, his cloths are great, but, like, in general, if you're using a cloth to clean something all the time, eventually it is not a usable cloth anymore.

[Robert]

I think the important thing is, like, for a lot of these products, you buy them once and, like, you don't really care. You just want it to solve your problem. You just end up buying the same thing forever.

[Kim]

Yes, yes.

[Robert]

And there's a lot of product. I mean, you just have to sit down and think about the stuff that you use all the time. And I'm sure you can find a ton of things that fall into this category.

[Kim]

Yeah. Walk through your own house. Like, what are you using on a regular basis? Like, another. Like, there's so many. And I guess I spend far too much time in Home Depot, but I feel like pretty much 90% of what's sold in Home Depot or Lowe's is, like, one of these products right now. Obviously there are, like, big manufacturer brands that, you know, own a lot of the market share, but there are products in that that are not, like, completely overtaken by a standard. You know, like, it's funny because I was talking to actually Eamonn, you know, his wife Shanae. We were talking and his. One of Eamon's, like, I don't want to. This is not one of his goals. So I don't want to misstate this, but he wants to create some sort of drywall product that is not as horrible as drywall is. And if you've ever worked with drywall or had drywall replaced in your home, you know, it is the messiest, worst thing. Right. It's like you. You have to cut a piece. It literally puts dust over every square inch of your house. Like, it's. And then to get it, you know, to install it, you've got to tape it, mud it, sand it. It makes. And it's not like. And if you even walk into it, like, when it's not installed, you'll knock the corner off of it and it's unusable. Like, it's a terrible product. Right. But there are like two dry ball brands, right? So, like, it's like, I want to come up with a better version of drywall. I'm like, please, please, I will buy that. Like, no questions asked. And I'm sure every contractor is like, yes, come up with a better version of drywall. Right. Like, yeah, this is. It's. You know, what we currently have is terrible. So, like, you know, but once again, it's a product that every single. Every single building has drywall. Right. Like today, at least not. Not. Not back in the day, but, you know, in 2025 for sure.

[Robert]

So here's another company that I found, like, doing my research. It started with this dude who was just buying stuff off of Craigslist, computers and stuff, and then breaking them apart and selling them in pieces. And then that evolved into him just, like, buying TVs that were broken or just like pallets of junk. Like, there's like, Goodwill or. I don't know about Goodwill, but, like, these places, they just sell you broken stuff.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

And if you're willing to go out and repair it and whatever, you, you know, pennies on the dollar. So what he discovered was with TVs and appliances, there's a lot of demand for people wanting to fix their own thing. Like, for example, like, when my dishwasher broke, I didn't want to buy a new dishwasher. I actually looked for that specific part. So what he started doing was breaking apart all these. He started with TV sets, and he found that he could sell, like, a piece, like a power board for the TV set for like, one third of the cost of the entire tv. And people didn't want to buy the TV Right. They didn't want to buy a working tv, they just wanted that one part. And so that he created a. It's an eight figure business now doing exactly that. And he covers a wide variety of TVs and appliances mainly.

[Kim]

Yeah. Okay. I want to, I want to wrap this, this session up with my. An example from my brother.

[Steve Chou]

Okay.

[Kim]

Because I think this might be one of the most ingenious, boring products. And this is unfortunately not a scalable thing, but it just shows you there's opportunity everywhere. So my brother and I don't know if I think I've talked about this. We used to sell on ebay. We used to be ebay power sellers. Not with each other, but like separately we would do ebay. And he was much. He's very. He's a sound engineer. So he would always like same thing like you're saying. He would buy broken TVs, he'd sell parts. Like just if, you know, when he'd see him at yard sales or you know, Goodwill, things like that, not at scale. So he was on his way to a wedding and he, he stopped at a yard sale because, you know, Saturdays, that's the day you yard sale. And he walked into this garage and the, the person had passed away, so the wife was selling everything. And honestly, if you're a yard seller, this is. These are the types of yard sales where the spouse is selling off stuff and they don't know the value of what they're selling because they just want to like. And it's not like sentimental stuff. It's like, oh, this was his collection of xyz, right? So this guy's job was he repaired electronics. He was electronics repairman of older, older electronic products. So in his garage he had, I would say probably 10,000 manuals, repair manuals for products that aren't manufactured anymore, right? So old stereos, old record players, vintage stuff that people love and want to have, right? Like classic collector items and also things that you cannot find on the Internet, right? Like nowadays if you buy a dishwasher, your manuals on the Internet, right? But if you have a record player from 1960, that manual is nowhere to be found. So my brother bought the entire garage from this lady for $3,000, right? And he's like, I have to get to a wedding, can I come pick up the garage When I can I get a U Haul and come? Because he literally bought every single like in it was the manuals and also like electronics, whatever. So he basically piecemealed all the electronics and he's like, what am I going to do with these, you know, thousands of manuals? So he had the idea to scan them and create PDFs for every manual. And he sold those manuals on ebay for years. Right. Because if you had the product and you needed it repaired and you didn't have the manual, you could not access that manual anywhere. Like he owned all of this. Right. Basically. I don't know how many thousands of dollars he made, but I think he sold manuals for probably five to seven years on eBay. Just. Yeah. So it's like. But once again, it's like your friend with the electronics finding these niche items. Right? These things that, like, if someone, if there's a demand, people will pay. One, they'll pay a lot of money. Right. Like if you don't. And that's the thing, like if you have a part to something that you need another. One of my family members sold parts to old tools. So if you had an old saw, they don't manufacture it anymore. He would buy old tools that, once again, yard sales, estate sales, and he would just catalog all the parts. He had a whole store of antique parts. Right. Supported himself and his wife for probably 25 years selling old parts. Like, once again, these are not like multi billion dollar businesses that they. But they are businesses that will support you, that you can retire with and you're actually providing a really great service to people.

[Robert]

So that one that I, that example, they make eight figures, so tens of millions. So it doesn't have to be a hobby either. Like you can expand this.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

However you want, but yeah, easily. At a minimum, it can easily support yourself.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

Anyway, I hope.

[Kim]

I'm excited. I'm gonna go find a boring product.

[Robert]

That's what I was gonna say. I hope after listening to this you guys are inspired because stop chasing the trendy stuff.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Robert]

By the time it's trendy, that ship is sailed. But with boring products, what I like about them is that one, people are probably not gonna knock you off because they're boring. Right?

[Kim]

Yeah. And two, they might not even know you exist. That's the other thing, they don't know you exist. So there's no, no fear of getting knocked off.

[Robert]

Yes. And actually those are like the best businesses for me. Like the ones that no one knows about. But just quietly make money because you're under the radar.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Steve Chou]

Hope you enjoyed this episode. If you've been chasing the latest trendy products, maybe you should switch gears and try to sell something that might not be sexy, but something everyone needs. For more information and resources, go over to mywifequitterjob.com Episode 629 and once again, tickets to Seller Summit 2026 are now on sale over at sellersummit. Com. If you want to hang out in person in a small intimate setting, develop real relationships with like minded entrepreneurs and learn a ton, then come to my

[Robert]

event, go to sellersummit.

[Steve Chou]

Com.