Shaun Mitchell - From Selling Carp to Creating Continuity

I have a confession to make.

One of the main reasons for starting this newsletter, aside from inspiring other solo business owners is to satiate my own curiosities.

I am fascinated about origin stories and the pathways of remarkable creators that led them to where they are now.

So when I met Shaun Mitchell and learned more about his journey into entrepreneurship, I had to invite him for an interview so I could share it with you.

I think you’ll like it.

We all instinctively know when we are in the presence of a true entrepreneur. Those are the folks who seem to have the marriage of great ideas and unwavering action.

Shaun Mitchell from somewhere in the North of England is one of those people.

Carp Diem

His initiation into business was witnessing his dad start a side hustle selling Carp (yeah the fish). He dug his own pond and added the fish and he was at the races.

(A great business to “scale” 😉 )

And scale he did as it became a thriving familu business.

Well, young Shaun was inspired and he soon was involved in the business, helping to grow it. It must have sown a seed in him as he branched out to buying and selling fishing gear. A big niche for him to tackle (soz 🙂 )

He would find bargains in various places both offline in stores and online and with a strong knowledge in angling was able to identify valuable kit and resell it at a profit.

Simple yes. Easy no.

What I get from Shaun when I talk to him is a passion for business. He understands the basics incredibly naturally but more than that he also has an elite level grasp on more complex aspects like persuasion and psychology of selling.

I’ve not met anyone who can simplify these concepts into such an easy to understand way as Shaun.

I must have read dozens of books on the subject, but in our conversation I found a few things ‘click’ like never before.

Fishing in the Amazon

The evolution of his buying and selling on Ebay and Facebook inevitably led him to selling on the worlds biggest marketplace. Amazon.

In the process of buying and selling fishing gear, he had worked out arbitrage. He would buy products on sale in stores around the UK cheap and re-sell on Amazon at a profit.

Being the entrepreneuer he is, he created his own method for this and was making good money with this alone.

This next part is what separates Shaun as a true entrepreneur.

He decided to create his own software that made the process of sourcing products to sell a breeze which he then released as a SAAS product for others on a subscription so they could fast track their artibrage success.

We’ve all had ideas for software right?

(I’ve got several in my “one day” folder which happens to be a small section of my brain that no-one knows about.)

But ever the action taker and fast forward an unspecified but short time later and he was making multiple 5 figures per month from his SAAS business.

This is waht I mean about the blend of ideas and action. He had the idea acted upon it and voila, he’s got a business.

Obviously there is a lot more to it than that. He had to learn copywriting, online selling, video, websites and all that. He got the software created incredibly cheaply overseas and didn’t hold back.

I think we could all learn something there.

Are you a drug dealer?

He tells me his Amazon SAAS business was doing so well he was able to get himself a nicer place to live and some awesome cars. Friends started to notice both the obvious change in financial circumstances, but also that he had quite a lot of spare time.

Something that for people for a regular job, raised alarm bells.

Shaun said his friends thought he was dealing drugs.

It wasn’t all plain sailing and eventually as with a lot of great ideas, they are copied and you lose your unique edge.

One of the things Shaun is keen to share is that you need to be a categroy of one to get successful.

He licenced the software to another company and looked towards his next venture - Micro Book to Clients and The Alchemy Society.

Heaven and Hell Island

I met Shaun via a mutual connection. By chance i had just finished reading a book of Shaun’s called Micro Book to Clients.

I think it’s a clever name. He had a previus incarnation but changed it. Another lesson. Don’t be too wedded to ideas. Change them if you need to.

A simple name change in this case pushed things forward.

It’s why I bought the book. It screams:

“I CAN READ THIS BOOK IN A FEW HOURS AT THE MOST AND LEARN HOW TO GET CLIENTS WRITING A SIMILAR SHORT BOOK”

So I bought it and read it on the plane. I had a choice of several books on my Kindle but I knew I would probably finish this one on the short flight - especially as my wife had the kids on the row in front so I was all clear to read - (Calm down, I did do the honours on the return leg!)

Back to the book.

You may not think the name is important - but it very much is.

His book is a small cost of $3. He uses this to attract buyers onto his list and also neutralise the costs of ads.

With a few order bumps and upsells in place - nothing too over bearing, he is able to get buyers onto his list for pretty much zero cost.

NOTE: What would you rather have? Thousands upon thousands of people getting your free thing, or fewer people who are buyers.

Well, the answer for Shaun is obvious because the buyers in his list are more responsive to his higher level products.

He has his Alechemy Society mastermidn on Skool where he helps others to create their own Micro Book Funnel and Continuity offers.

It’s simple, and eloquant - much like buying fish for one price and selling them at another, or fishing gear, or software.

It’s the type of simple economics most business owners don’t pay too much attention to.

He moves his buyers through a congruent path where they can get more help and they ascend to the higher priced programs. Not fluff, no skullduggery.

He moves people from the Hell of staying stuck to the Heaven of a simple and effective online business.

What’s business like now?

Shaun does the classic sprint when he needs to like writing a book, building out his ad campaigns and funnels and then he can settle into a more relaxed cadence delivering his trainings inside his membership.

He’s got his working day down to a few short hours so he can have fun with his family. (a man after my own heart)

He does release new trainings here and there which are superb. His philiosophy is to overdeliver on these trainings and if you need help then he’s available in his higher tier programs.

But he’s got a relaxed approach and I know he’s always happy for questions here and there.

For some numbers, he’s adding 20+ buyers daily into his simple ecosystem.

It’s a far cry from the advice of give away free content, do reels, podcasts, YouTube, webinars, sales calls and cold email.

It’s a simple system that pays for itself along the way born out of a lifetime of buying and selling thigs people need.

I would totally recommend buying Shauns book at https://mtcbook.com. It’ll take you an hour or two to read and you’ll be armed with how Shaun has simplified his business (and life) to make sales on autopilot without doing any social media (aside from the ads) or 1-1 zoom calls.

All his higher ticket sales come from live group training he does for people who bought the book.

Smart dude.

Thanks for reading.