Kaizen Blueprint

Aldo Chandra (00:00)
Ethan, how's it going, brother? Welcome to the show.

Ethan Gregerson (00:03)
Doing good, thanks for having me on.

Aldo Chandra (00:06)
Awesome. Well, first things first, we know you from your social media feed as Captain Gregerson. I love your, there you go. I love your content that you're putting out there, especially in the aviation industry, right? It's not a lot to talk about when it comes to aviation people, you know, after college they tend

Ethan Gregerson (00:13)
Yes, that would be neat.

Aldo Chandra (00:31)
Well, not college. After high school, they tend to go to universities, go to college, but you took kind of a different pathway. And tell us more about why aviation and why did you want to get into that industry?

Ethan Gregerson (00:45)
Absolutely, yeah. mean, really for me aviation has just been a passion of mine for a long time. So, you know, when I was a kid, I was always excited for the flight over the vacation. That's kind of what I tell people. So, yeah, I mean, it was just something kind of from day one that I wanted to go and do. So that was kind of where it started. And I realized that midway through high school, you know, college might not be the path for me, especially as the aviation industry was changing pretty rapidly.

where college degrees weren't seen as very useful or necessary anymore. I kind of made that call on my own and said, hey, why not just trade into what I'm passionate about, make an investment in myself right out of high school. And that's exactly what I did. I went right to flight school right out of high school.

Aldo Chandra (01:32)
So what kind of triggered that? What do you see in the biggest change in the aviation industry

Ethan Gregerson (01:38)
So really it's the pilot shortage. So I'm very fortunate to have gotten in it at the right time. It hasn't always been this way, but really like a lot of retirees have kind of been jumping the industry because aviation is one of the industries that has a mandatory retirement age, know, due to it being such an important job, right? So all pilots are required to retire at 65 years old. So there's happened to be a lot of retirements that were happening, you

between now and 2030. So really there's a pretty massive pilot shortage. And that's kind of why they changed the requirements. mean, it used to be a four -year degree was just standard in order to go and go and be a pilot on a mainline carrier like Delta or United or American, right? But that's recently changed because they're just like, yeah, we just need pilots, man. We don't have time to sit here and look through degrees and stuff. We just need to hire people to fly our planes.

Aldo Chandra (02:38)
So back then, was it required to have a four -year degree in order to become a pilot? And does it have to be related to the industry?

Ethan Gregerson (02:43)
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't have to be related to the industry, but it was, it was, I would say it was a thing from, I mean, really early 2000s to, you know, as recent as about 2020 is kind of when they started saying, hey, we don't need degrees anymore. We just, we just need our guys to, to, to, be qualified to, to, to fly planes. It was, and it was never like, like a requirement. Like it wasn't like a federal requirement that, they need a four year degree, but I'm just, you

American Delta, United, all the mainline carriers, it was just a standard for them. It was like, yeah, you guys need to have a four -year degree in any field just to show, hey, I can get through this and have a good work ethic, right?

Aldo Chandra (03:28)
Yeah. Yeah. So what's the, what's the process like from, I guess you start off with being a private pilot license, right? That's how you start off. But how do I go from that into, let's say I'm flying these commercial airlines with a bunch of people.

Ethan Gregerson (03:42)
Jets, yeah. Yeah, so it's kind of a complicated process, but I'll try to break it down as simply as I can. So, you know, airline pilots, obviously the end goal for most people, and you really start flying these like small little propeller planes. So you might see them kind of flying overhead, single engine propellers. You start there and you earn what's called your private pilot's license. And as I go forward, I'm going to talk through each license. Each license just kind of unlocks a different thing,

Like a different privilege for you, right? So the first one is your private pilot's license. All your private pilot's license lets you do is it lets you fly in good weather conditions with passengers. So you can carry passengers for the first time. That's kind of the privilege that it unlocks for you. The next one you get is called your instrument rating. That's what lets you fly into the clouds. So you can fly without reference to outside visuals, because in clouds you can't see anything, right? You're just relying on your instruments.

The third one you'll get is usually your commercial pilot certificate. That's what lets you get paid to fly. Now that doesn't mean you can fly jets, like we'll get to that, but it just means, hey, like I can be hired as a pilot and be paid to fly because as a private pilot you can't. And then like a lot of the other stuff is just add -ons. you know, you can get your commercial multi -engine certificate. That's what lets you fly planes with multiple engines. So two to four engines.

Aldo Chandra (04:56)
Mmm.

Ethan Gregerson (05:09)
then you can get your instructor certificates, which a lot of people go down that row. And all instructing lets you do is it lets you teach people how to fly and sign them off to go and get their certificates. Now the reason people get their instructor certificates is because in order to go fly for the airlines, the minimum requirement to go fly for the airlines and get your last certificate, which is called your ATP, your airline transport pilot certificate, you need 1 ,500 hours of flight

A lot of people get their commercial pilot certificate just after 250 hours. So there's a lot of time in between that 250 hours to that 1500 hours that they need to fill in order to qualify to go fly the big jets. So a lot of people choose to go be instructors to kind of fill that gap, if that makes sense.

Aldo Chandra (05:39)
Wow.

So when becoming an instructor, you fly with other people and that is considered the so -called the hours.

Ethan Gregerson (06:08)
Yeah, yeah. I mean, like flight time is when the engines start spinning to when it stops. So that's how we would log our hours. yeah, so I mean, really, flight instructors job is to take people back through those first licenses that we talked about, right? So the private pilot certificate, the instrument rating and the commercial pilot certificate. So I would take on students who have never flown a plane before and I'd be their instructor. I was the guy sitting

and the right seat teaching them how to fly planes for the first time, teaching them the fundamentals of flight, and then eventually build them up in order to go get those certificates. yeah, and it was a time building thing. So I was logging those hours too, just kind of working my way up to 1500.

Aldo Chandra (06:56)
Got it. Is that where you are today? Like you're trying to reach that 1500 mark?

Ethan Gregerson (06:59)
Yeah, still in the process. I am taking it a little bit slower to kind of focus on some finance goals I have and some real estate goals that I have, which I'm sure we'll touch on here in a bit. yeah, I'm just trying not to rush through the process. A lot of people are in the rush to get their airlines. I've already interviewed with United and I'm in their pilot pathway program. So I've already interviewed with them. I have a guaranteed job with them once I reach

that requirement, like they have a certain hour requirement for me to reach. So I'm not too worried about that there. So yeah, I'm just trying to take my time and have fun, enjoy where I'm at, not rush through and get rid of that passion. Because the reason I got into flying is because I'm passionate about it, right? So I want to make sure I'm always holding on to that.

Aldo Chandra (07:45)
Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. When you're passionate about something, you could be patient and, you know, be meticulous in the things that you're doing and choosing the path that you want to go. Speaking of finances, right, I think when it comes to the airlines industry or just becoming a pilot, one thing that people look at is how much does it cost to become that. Most universities, they have tuitions, they have scholarships, they have

you know, financial aid that allows students to save some money or perhaps borrow some money to fulfill whatever it is that they want to do, whether that's majors in finance or whatever it is that they want to do. Now, speaking about airlines, about being a pilot, what ATP, right? That's the end goal here in order for you to fly with the bigger airlines here. What are the costs associated with that and how does people

Like you mentioned, the older folks are leaving or not leaving, but retiring. And now we want to push for the younger folks to go in and be in the industry and become a pilot. Is there an incentive that comes towards being a pilot or just getting these certifications in general?

Ethan Gregerson (09:04)
really wish there were incentives. Fortunately for the industry, there's a lot of people who just are passionate about it, who just think flying is really cool. There's no financial incentives, unfortunately, that are offered to get flight school paid for. I would say that is the biggest objection to becoming a pilot is there are substantial costs associated with it because flight schools are expensive.

Aircraft are expensive, running them, maintenance is really expensive, right? So there's a lot of costs. It's not just people being greedy. But yeah, I I would say it can cost anywhere from $50 to $100 ,000 upfront to get all those certifications. then, I mean, the goal is obviously pilots get paid well for a reason. It's good thing because they did make a large upfront investment. And you'll make that back 10 -fold if you have a long enough career.

Aldo Chandra (09:40)
Mm -mm.

Ethan Gregerson (10:00)
But yeah, mean, there are pretty substantial costs up front. That's not something I lie about.

Aldo Chandra (10:03)
Yeah, yeah. And you said there's no scholarships involved with these type

Ethan Gregerson (10:11)
So yeah, there are some nonprofit organizations that do offer partial and full scholarships for certain people, but they are really hard to get. It's not the college industry, right, where there's a lot of organizations involved, lots of things you can write to. Really, there's only a handful of organizations that even offer partial scholarships, right? So I wasn't able to get one, but that's okay. I was able to take additional student loan

Aldo Chandra (10:25)
Mmm.

Got

Ethan Gregerson (10:40)
to pay for it, which I see as an upfront investment of myself and my career, which I think is okay.

Aldo Chandra (10:47)
Got it. speaking about like you mentioned you were in the United Pilot Path, right? Can you tell us more, little bit more about

Ethan Gregerson (10:56)
Yeah, yeah. So, you know, a lot of the airlines are doing something similar. They'll call it like a pilot pathway or like a cadet program, something like that, where essentially you're guaranteed a job, you know, once you reach those requirements. So you kind of have to work your way through their path. But essentially you interview up front with them so that they can see, hey, like, this is a good candidate. We want this person to work for

Aldo Chandra (11:12)
Mmm.

Ethan Gregerson (11:24)
And then really it's a matter of just kind of checking the boxes as far as like the legal requirements they have, right? To, know, be in charge of flying a big jet because it's a bigger responsibility, right? So I'm part of the United one. was my airline of choice. They have a program called United avi8 where I went and interviewed with them. They offered me a conditional job offer once I meet those requirements, like I said. But I mean, American has one. Delta has one. It's called the Delta Propel program.

Almost all the airlines have some sort of cadet program and some actually will do something like tuition reimbursement. I know Sky West, they're kind of a regional airline so it's not like a mainline carrier but they are contracted with a lot of them. They'll reimburse up to $17 ,500 of your tuition to your flight school over time which is cool. So yeah, there's a lot of different ways you can go which is cool in general with the industry, right? There's a lot of different

Aldo Chandra (11:53)
wow.

Wow.

Ethan Gregerson (12:22)
different ways you can shoot off depending on what your goals are.

Aldo Chandra (12:25)
Yeah. And, and is this similar to ROTC where in the military, right, you have these, these activities, whether in high school or college, these ROTC are basically, set you up to become in a military. that what, what these are like the pathways just to get you, but there's a, is there a requirement that you have to work there for a few years afterwards?

Ethan Gregerson (12:48)
So some of them have certain requirements. for example, United, you can't interview until you have your private. So need to at least have your private first. Some of them will have certain contractual requirements. know certain cadet programs will say, hey, you need to work here for at least five years. And then you can go to a different ally if you don't want to. And that's kind of their way of saying, we're investing in you up front. And we just want to make sure that gets.

to us, right? So, but yeah, does that kind of answer your question?

Aldo Chandra (13:22)
Yeah. Yeah. And is there, is, is there certain kind of pros and cons to joining each airlines? there, is there one is better than the other? Are you able to disclose that?

Ethan Gregerson (13:32)
Yeah, mean, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I would just say it's same thing like with any company. There's pros and cons working for any organization. So, you know, I mean, every airline is run a little bit differently. I kind of made my decision on what information was available. I talked to a lot of pilots working for different airlines. It was like, hey, what do you like about it? What do you not like about it? The reason I chose United, I really, I think they fly to some really cool destinations. have a lot of cool aircraft on order.

Aldo Chandra (13:42)
Mm.

Ethan Gregerson (14:01)
some of which I would really like to fly. And they run a solid business. Obviously, United has been around forever. I've had a good experience flying on them. yeah, I mean, you just kind of got to make the best decisions you can. It's like every organization is going to have pros and cons.

Aldo Chandra (14:20)
got it. This is is more of a curiosity question here. Right. So I'm from I'm from Indonesia and that is on a completely opposite end of the world to where we are in the United States. And some of these flights can be a long flight, longer flights, maybe 10, maybe 10 plus hours. Right. This is a question of curiosity here. How do you guys stay awake? Or if so, like, do you guys take turns with each other?

Ethan Gregerson (14:50)
Yeah, so that's a good question. actually on long haul flights like that, there's actually usually like four or five pilots on board. And yeah, we do take turns flying. So there are different roles. we usually have two captains, two first officers, and then like what's called an IRO, which is like a rest officer. And then yeah, we'll do kind of like eight hour turns and then we'll go into a crew rest area.

Aldo Chandra (15:00)
wow.

Ethan Gregerson (15:19)
A lot of people don't know this is a thing, but on those bigger jets, are literally rooms above where the passenger seating areas are of bunk bed looking things where they're crew rest areas. And there's mandatory rest requirements that pilots need to go and essentially take a nap to make sure we're operating the flight safely. yeah, mean, we essentially do take turns and kind of shifts and then we'll

Aldo Chandra (15:37)
wow.

Ethan Gregerson (15:47)
crew rests times on the flight as well. It's funny because people will say being a pilot is one of the only jobs you can get paid to sleep because essentially you are sleeping on the plane and still getting paid for it.

Aldo Chandra (16:00)
Got it. Now, when it comes to being a pilot, right, we always see two pilots in an airline. Now you mentioned one of them is first officer and the other one is a what? IRO?

Ethan Gregerson (16:14)
Well, yeah, so we have a captain, a first officer, and then an IRO, like an international relief officer. And that's kind of just another guy to kind of like, you know, they'll usually rest up front and come and take over. It's just a redundancy thing. I mean, there's a reason aviation is so safe, just because we have a lot of redundancy. We work really hard to make sure every flight is operated safely. So, yeah.

Aldo Chandra (16:36)
Yeah. And how does learning about all this, about aviation, kind of help your life, your personal life? Is there certain strategies or processes or some sort of habits that you realize that's being from either, you know, checking a list or fixing a plane that translate into your everyday life

Ethan Gregerson (16:59)
would say absolutely checklist. I use checklists in every part of my life because I mean like that's something I learned up front like checklist usage is the most important thing. You could be flying the same aircraft for 50 years. I'm serious like 50 years and they still pull out their checklists every time because even though they have it committed in memory like memory it's just it's just a redundancy thing. It's just to make sure hey everything gets done and it gets done correctly. We don't check it off until it gets done right. So I'll do the same thing in my life.

Aldo Chandra (17:01)
Mmm.

Got it. Yeah.

Ethan Gregerson (17:28)
when it comes to leaving for work in the morning. I have a work morning checklist. Just make sure I have everything, And it makes sure I never forget anything and that I'm well prepared for everything, right? So that's a really key thing and I would suggest, if for anyone, checklists are really handy. So, yeah.

Aldo Chandra (17:35)
Got

There you go. Awesome. And let's, let's switch gears here, right? You have this content creation. That's, that's the next subject actually. This aviation thing. And you kind of translate that into what you're doing, like, like in social media. You have a TikTok, you have your Instagram, you have a, a discord community here with relating to aviation. What are you trying to get out of that? And do you think that that will grow?

the interests of the younger crowd into aviation space.

Ethan Gregerson (18:29)
Yeah, I mean, I think it already has. And that was really one of the reasons I got into it. think, you know, when I was just starting Captain Gregerson, I really just had an honest conversation with myself. I was like, you know, I really enjoy talking about aviation. And I also thought it'd be really cool to lay out like a full, you know, starting from absolutely nothing, like no flying experience ever, to go going and being a mainline captain. That's why it's called Captain Gregerson.

Aldo Chandra (18:57)
Mmm.

Ethan Gregerson (18:58)
Like, and just be able to follow that journey. Cause like, I personally really like to watch people's journeys and hear about like these, success stories that people kind of starting from zero and going through and becoming an expert at a craft. And I thought it'd really cool to kind of do that for myself. So that was the goal of Captain Gregor's one was to kind of follow my journey, showcase my journey to others and hopefully inspire the younger generation to get into a cool industry, which it is.

Aldo Chandra (19:23)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. think watching people who already at the peak of their success at their pinnacle, it's like, okay, that's great. It can be intimidating too, but then if you watch someone, like on top of my head, right, like Lewis Hamilton, where he kind of started from ground zero in the F1 community compared to the other drivers, where they kind of had a boost.

of whether that's family money or sponsorship or just a generation of fathers and grandfathers who's been in the industry. Whereas Lewis Hamilton, they kind of start off from ground zero. you know, he didn't have that much resources. But to go back to your point, seeing someone like you where you're starting out, you know, wherever you are, you have, you start out with finance videos, you start educating yourself about finances and you know that in

aviation industry, it gets really hard to fund that education piece because there's so much different variables. And I think you're recording yourself and documenting the things that you're doing can benefit other people who are in similar shoes, which majority of are, right? Majority of people of your age, you're 19, is that correct? Yeah. you're Justin Tarny. Well, happy belated birthday, but.

Ethan Gregerson (20:41)
I just turned 20. Yeah, just turned 20. Yeah. Thanks.

Aldo Chandra (20:47)
But as a 20 year old, most 20 year olds don't really have, you know, 50 to $100 ,000 just sitting in their bank account and seeing someone like you that you're striving to save money in order to fuel your passion that you know is going to be a great investments down the line is truly a inspirational thing.

Ethan Gregerson (20:56)
Totally.

Totally. No, I really couldn't agree more. And that was kind of whole thing. To your point, I saw that no one else was kind of doing that and showcasing their journey. And yeah, it is intimidating. You do see a captain at a mainline and they're posting videos. It's great. But they don't see the 12 to 15 years that they worked to get to that point. So that was my thing with Captain Gary. I want to show people, yeah, this is where I'll be someday. And that'll be where the content goes.

But then they can also look back and see like this is where I started man. Like I it was it humble beginnings, right? So yeah,

Aldo Chandra (21:46)
So what's the next step for you in this content creation?

Ethan Gregerson (21:50)
So I'm sure we'll kind of get to where I'm at now later on, but I mean, I have taken a step back from aviation temporarily just to get finances together. Unfortunately, instructors don't get paid quite as well as one would think. And I live in a city that's pretty high cost of living. So I decided, hey, I'm just going to put it on pause for now. I still fly pretty regularly, just for fun.

and to keep up with it. But yeah, like I wanted to kind of focus on I'm doing something else, increasing my income, getting my finances together, and then coming back to when it makes more sense. That way I just don't go into like an exorbitant amount of debt, Yeah.

Aldo Chandra (22:32)
Yeah, that makes sense. And speaking about finances, let's talk about your couch flipping business. Couch flipping is something most people might have seen online, like, that's really cool, but they might not understand the nuance of it. However, you have a course dedicating into couch flipping, which is couch flipping Academy LLC that you could find online. And can you tell us a little bit about the process of what couch flipping is and just

point A to point B of getting a couch or maybe finding a couch into selling a couch down the line and make a profit.

Ethan Gregerson (23:08)
Yeah, yeah, so I mean, I've been doing couch slipping almost five years now. I've been doing it since 2019. So I've been doing it longer than I've been doing the aviation thing. But yeah, it's a great side hustle. Basically, you're finding couches on the used market like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, OfferUp, even on the side of the road. I picked up couches on the side of the road that are in decent shape. And you kind of clean them up and then stage them.

to sell for a much higher price. And then part of what I do is I offer delivery on them, right? And that's a big value proposition because you're just offering huge convenience to your eventual buyer, right? By saying, hey, like I'm to take the most inconvenient part of buying a furniture item and take care of it for you, right? Which is delivering. So yeah, I mean, like the process is find a couch, you know, undervalued, which is pretty easy to do because a lot of people are just kind of moving. They're getting their stuff out.

They don't care. mean, like, have you ever gone to a garage sale? They're not trying to have one price, like, you know, trying to be like, I want MSRP for this. No, I mean, I mean, you can easily find it, find a good deal pretty easily. And then, yeah, it's cleaning that couch up, staging it, taking great pictures of it, and then offering delivery on it. And I mean, I'd say on average, we're clearing three to $400 in profit per couch we flip. And it's really not a huge investment in time. It's usually between two, three, four hours all in from pickup, cleaning, and delivery.

So it's like when you really break it down, you're making up to $100 plus an hour. So it's a really lucrative and fun side also that you can do on your own time.

Aldo Chandra (24:44)
So when it comes to finding these couches, you mentioned three different websites there. But how do you pick them up? Is it required for you to get a U -Haul truck or someone's pickup truck? How does that work with couches? And how do know a certain type of couch is going to be profitable?

Ethan Gregerson (25:04)
Yeah, so I would say those are probably some of biggest mistakes people who are trying to get into the hustle make is, you know, they just don't know what couch is a good deal, what's good to pick up, right? So what I tell people a lot is like, you just have to find a couch that you would be comfortable putting in your own house, right? It's something that's got mass desire. So I mean, I don't know about you, although, but putting like a yellow couch in my house wouldn't look good, right? I mean, it's not a desirable color,

So, you know, I look for like neutral colors, like, you know, gray, white, black, you know, like, you know, just neutral colors, kind of like that. And then I'll, yeah, go and pick them up with a pickup truck. I own my own pickup truck. When I started, I used a friend's pickup truck and we kind of did it together and split the money. And then, you know, I realized, I was like, this is a great hustle, so I went and my own. So, yeah, and

Yeah, I mean I already explained the rest of process, but yeah, mean really it's just finding couches that have a good desire that aren't in too bad of shape because there are certain problems that you can't fix, right? Like can't fix bed bugs, can't fix, I mean like super crazy stains or big tears and stuff. I look for some that have some pretty gentle use that just could use a light cleaning that kind of boosts hourly rate as well because I'm not spending a crazy amount of time

investing in cleaning this thing. Usually it's under an hour, usually just giving it a vacuum, disinfecting it really well and usually steam cleaning it. So yeah, but that's kind of the process.

Aldo Chandra (26:44)
So, and what about negotiating the price, especially from you buying a couch, right? You're negotiating with a seller. Is there specific tips that you can have, that you do with sellers to lower down the price?

Ethan Gregerson (27:01)
Yeah, absolutely. would say like, like the biggest thing I do is there's a lot of convenience in working with me because I do what I say I'm to do and I'm just going to get it done. A lot of people go on Facebook marketplace. It's kind of a joke or a meme at this point. Like, you know, people will say, is this still available? And then you as a seller, you'll be like, yeah, it's still available. And then they'll just never talk to you again. Right. So it's like, yeah, like it could be, you

Aldo Chandra (27:22)
Yeah, yeah.

Ethan Gregerson (27:27)
Inconvenient in that sense. Whereas like I'm very responsive and I'll say hey, I will complete this up I can't pay the full price I can give you this much but like I'm guaranteed like I will be here in 30 minutes and I'll bring a buddy So don't even have to me with it, right and that tends to work a lot I also will kind of just like sometimes it's helpful to show them. Hey like Like comparable couches that I just picked up I paid this month this month for

I know you think it's worth this, you know, it's not like this is what I'll pay. And honestly, like what happens a lot of times is I'll get offers rejected upfront. Like, you know, like offer 150 bucks on the $300 couch, right? And they'll say, Hey, no. And then they'll, they'll come back a week later and say, okay, I'll take your $150 offer because I couldn't solve for that. Right. So, yeah. So, a lot of it is

offering your convenience up front and just doing what you're saying what you say you're going to do and that goes a long

Aldo Chandra (28:28)
got it. One thing that people talk about when it comes to flipping couches is where do I store these couches? If I'm buying five, even 10 couches, right? These are a lot of space that needs exactly. So where do you store the couches and where do you recommend people to starting out to store the products?

Ethan Gregerson (28:40)
Right. They're big. They're big. Yeah.

Yeah, so really, I mean, everyone's personal situation is a little bit different. For me, you know, because I've been running this business for so long, I've got a few storage units. Then I also use my garage as kind of like my hub. So like, don't even keep a car in my garage. I that is, it's filled with couches. So, but I mean, you know, I've also been here longer and I've been doing it longer. For someone just starting out, I'd recommend just getting a little 10 by 15 storage unit.

A lot of these places will do your first month for free. So I know Life Storage has been doing a promotion forever where it's like, hey, do your first month free. It's great for being in a capsule bridge. They can dip their toes in the water at a low cost and say, hey, I it's gonna work in my area. yeah, they're really not out of town on money. I think you have to pay like the insurance premium, which is like 15 bucks, like that's about it. yeah, mean, storage units.

Aldo Chandra (29:24)
Hmm.

Ethan Gregerson (29:48)
are really lucrative, especially ones with power. I mean, if you got access space in your garage too, I would recommend starting there. That's where I started, my parents' garage and their covered back porch.

Aldo Chandra (29:57)
There you go. Garage full of couches.

Ethan Gregerson (30:03)
garage full of couches. I'm not kidding you, it is stuffed to the very top with couches and they're just all stacked vertically and cushions are everywhere but yeah, I mean it's you just gotta make do with what you got, right?

Aldo Chandra (30:09)
Wow.

Yeah. So speaking of the disposition side, right? When you're selling the couches, after you purchase them, you negotiate at them, then you clean up. mentioned like this, this, cosmetic stuff you buy in a neutral one, you, know that it's an undervalued couch when it comes to selling, right? where do you go? Where do you post? Do you post quality pictures? Tell us more about

Ethan Gregerson (30:38)
I posted right back on Facebook marketplace. do 90 % of my business right back there, which is crazy because people don't believe me and they're like, no, but like you bought on Facebook marketplace, who's going to pay a higher price? Really the value is in the delivery, right? Because like if you think about the pain points of like a customer purchasing, especially furniture item, a lot of them just don't have a pickup truck. Even in Texas where pickup trucks are super

Aldo Chandra (30:42)
Wow.

Ethan Gregerson (31:05)
I mean, most people even want to go through the household, right? They're like, no, I don't want to go and load it up and I got to buy straps, know, strap it down. What if it rains, right? You know, like there's, there's just a lot of things kind of going through their head. So, usually that, mean, like obviously adding, like, you know, the, cosmetic and, you know, cleaning it up really well.

Aldo Chandra (31:05)
Mm. Yeah.

Ethan Gregerson (31:24)
does help increase the value they cash buy, I'd say about a hundred bucks every time. But the real value is just offering the delivery, right? So I can buy a couch for 150 bucks and sell it for 650 just because I deliver it for free, right? It's included. And as a full white glove service, I'll come with a buddy and we'll set it up in your space and we won't leave until you love it and you'll pay us at the very end, once it's all set up and you're completely

Aldo Chandra (31:40)
Mmm.

Ethan Gregerson (31:54)
So and that's really helped out with my reputation which is another reason I sell a lot of couches because I mean at the end of the day even though I'm selling it a lot higher than I bought it for it's still a quarter the price of what you go and pay at Ashley furniture right and you're getting a really clean couch delivered to your door right so there's a lot of a lot of value

Aldo Chandra (32:14)
Yeah. So, so you're providing the logistic value and that the fact that you're, you're doing it on time. Like this is a white glove delivery here in a clean couch. Obviously I bought it for a cheaper price, but it's being delivered to you and you don't have to do anything. You're basically movers at this point, just with couches.

Ethan Gregerson (32:20)
Absolutely.

Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much, yeah. That's exactly right.

Aldo Chandra (32:35)
And speaking about the end buyer here, why would they go to you? Let's say someone like me, right? I don't know anything about couches and I want to get a cheaper couch. But I see Ethan here selling this couch on Facebook marketplace, but you know, I don't know if I want to buy it from Facebook marketplace because of the fact that it's a used couch and I'm afraid that what happens in the past with a couch can determine from actually buying something that's used.

versus me going to a place like Wayfair, right, where they do offer that white glove delivery and cheaper couch. And for someone like me, I don't know the difference between either or, it's just maybe for a normal buyer, we look at the aesthetic things as opposed to the durability and the many nuances that go into a couch. What are your thoughts on

Ethan Gregerson (33:24)
Yeah. So, you know, a lot of people, I get that a lot. Like, you know, why are you charging this when a wafer charging this? And I always tell them, go buy the wafer couch. I promise you in three months, you'll come buy from me because that couch is not going to last you. mean, wait, wafers doing their own thing. They got their own business. I've got no problem with it. But I mean, you can talk to anyone who owns a wafer couch. It's just, it's really like a quality issue, right?

Aldo Chandra (33:50)
Mmm.

Ethan Gregerson (33:51)
They are made really, really cheap with really, really cheap wood. I I know people, I've junk, I literally had to junk remove their wafer couches that they bought two months ago because all four legs broke because they had two people sitting on it once, right? And then, you know, they end up buying like, you know, used clean high quality couch from like a reputable brand, you know, that makes a quality product over that.

Aldo Chandra (34:09)
Wow.

Ethan Gregerson (34:21)
Really, like a lot of people just kind of know like, hey, quality is a real thing and I'd rather get a used couch that's been cleaned up really well. And a lot of that is my reputation because I have some really, really great reviews of people who are really pleased with their couches. I outline my whole cleaning process kind of on my profile. So it kind of helps with people's peace of mind. But yeah, does that answer your question? Yeah.

Aldo Chandra (34:46)
Got

Yeah, absolutely. For the people who doesn't know anything about couches, whether people who want to flip couches or people who just bought their first house, moving out of their parents or maybe they have families and they want to get a good couch, what do you recommend of people getting a better understanding of what couch to get and how do you know quality versus non -quality type couches?

Ethan Gregerson (35:15)
I mean, this is going to be a classic, like you just get what you pay for, right? So I mean, you know, Wayfair is going to be kind of, kind of bottom of the bottom because they're, you know, they're cheap and yeah, they, they deliver them, but they're all modular couches that will break very, very easily. And I speak that from experience. I mean, I've junk removed and thrown away so many Wayfair couches. When you buy from, from higher quality name brand stores like Ashley Furniture or Living Spaces, going to

Aldo Chandra (35:19)
Mm.

Ethan Gregerson (35:43)
a lot higher quality and then you have like the designer furniture which is just, know, it's like buying a Gucci purse or whatever Louis Vuitton it's like, you know, quality is there obviously but it's like, you know, a little overpriced in my opinion but yeah, I I would say, you know, like for the most part, you know, these kind of mid tier brands like, you know, Ashley and Living Spaces like these are couches

We'll stay together for a really long time as long as they're taken care of and you don't have adults jumping all over them and breaking plywood and whatever. But yeah, I mean, I would just say you definitely just get what you pay for. So yeah, mean, people are welcome to go buy from Wayfair, but they'll end up buying from me. That's what I tell them.

Aldo Chandra (36:26)
Do you recommend, in terms of the material on top, do you recommend always getting the leather or fake leather? Okay.

Ethan Gregerson (36:33)
Leather is something I wouldn't recommend actually. Leather doesn't hold its value very well. It tends to be a higher price point. Now some people just really like leather because they like the way it feels or it's colder or it feels of higher quality. That's fine. I really like, as from a couch living perspective, I hardly ever pick up leather couches though. Just cause like leather is really, really hard to maintain. It's really easy to scratch. So like in the process of moving couches in and out of houses.

It's really easy to kind of like, you know, make it not look as great. So I tend to stick to fabric. think fabric is more comfortable as well. But it's a personal decision. I mean, at the end of the day, it's preference over anything.

Aldo Chandra (37:16)
Got it, makes sense. All right, now we're gonna connect everything, right? We talked about aviation, we talked about content creation, and we talked about the flipping couches. And you actually have a full -time job as well, trying to get your finances together and invest in many other things. How do you combine everything into one and have time management and doing so many different things at once?

Ethan Gregerson (37:42)
Yeah, that's something that I still ask myself sometimes because sometimes I'm not amazing at time management. But yeah, I I just I really fall in my heart when it comes to passion. I really enjoy talking about all these things and they're all big, big parts of my life for different reasons. And yeah, I would just say I'm more of an action person more than anything. I really don't find any value in just sitting kind of watching my phone

I'm just sitting around doing nothing. I mean, you could ask my family, they hate it sometimes. It's almost like to a fault because I just can't relax. I always have to be doing something, right? But that's kind of what's let me accomplish so much and kind of finish up all these projects with so little time from an outside perspective.

Aldo Chandra (38:17)
Haha

Interesting. you do it out of... It seems like you're doing out of love versus out of fear.

Ethan Gregerson (38:40)
Yeah. No, I mean, yeah, mean, like, you know, finances are a big part of it. Like I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't, you know, it was, it was all passion. but yeah, I mean, I, I really do genuinely enjoy talking, about this stuff. And I, I'm really obsessed with this whole idea of like, starting something and turning it into something great. Like, like I really like projects and I'm like starting a project and working on it over time, making it better.

Aldo Chandra (39:05)
Mm -mm.

Ethan Gregerson (39:09)
And then, you know, like, it's just very satisfying for me to see the end result. Like when I'm working on a video for content creation, it starts as just an idea in my head and I really put it through the editing software and then like turn it into fruition and post it. It's just a really satisfying thing to me, so.

Aldo Chandra (39:25)
I agree with that. And I think, you know, I just started become this content creator thing, but I have been an entrepreneur for a few years now. And the fact that you have starting, you starting these projects and there's obviously an end goal here either through a KPI or just a physical goal, right? For example, if you buy a real estate, fix them up and then renovate it and then sell it, you have that physical thing that you touch and you know that that's the work that you have done.

Ethan Gregerson (39:50)
Absolutely.

Aldo Chandra (39:55)
Indirectly or directly you hire a contractor. do yourself doesn't really matter. But I think in the entrepreneur space you have like there's this itch, right? Where you're like, I have to do something. And then when you did do that something and then you become successful at it, boom, now you have some sort of evidence that backs up that like I can do this. And that thing just adds up more and more and more and more. And so gradually you start doing like some really big things that you're going to be uncomfortable with in the first place.

Like for example, for you, probably like you're your first airline, right? If you start, you know, piloting a big multi -engine United airline, playing for the first time, you're going to be hella nervous. And you're like, I have the, you know, all these lives in the palm of my hands right now. And that is going to be super scary. But then eventually, you know, you know that you, you dedicate so much hours, so much time.

Ethan Gregerson (40:35)
Yeah,

Yeah, exactly.

Aldo Chandra (40:53)
into learning the ropes and now you're here. But now you're looking at a bigger project. like, what else can I do? Can I start my own airline company? I don't know, right? I think as entrepreneurs, we always have that edge. Like we can't be stopped. Even though our family's gonna be, you know, they have our best intentions, but we're definitely not gonna listen to them like 90 % of the time and we still wanna strive for greatness.

Ethan Gregerson (40:55)
Exactly.

Yeah, yeah, totally, yeah, totally.

Totally, yeah. mean, one of the quotes I really do truly live by is, when I'm 90 and I'm on my deathbed, what's gonna be the coolest story? I don't want that story to be, I sat on my phone for 80 % of my life and kind of just brain -routed away. I accomplish everything I want to accomplish in this life. And that's really that intuition and what drives me is I want to have

Aldo Chandra (41:32)
Mm -mm.

Ethan Gregerson (41:50)
zero regrets when I'm on my deathbed and I want to be able to tell a really cool story.

Aldo Chandra (41:55)
That's awesome. Our life is full of stories. So Ethan, tell us briefly where you are at now and then what's your goal in the next few years.

Ethan Gregerson (42:04)
Yeah, so I would say, you know, in kind of a five -year vision, like the number one thing is just to clean up like my finances and everything. Talking about finances and stuff is really important to me too and something I'm also passionate about. There's something that drives me. It's almost like having a collecting like, you know, thing like, know, somebody will collect coins, somebody will collect like, you

Gadgets, I collect money. So yeah, there's just something fun about that to me. So I really find a lot of drive comes down to that. So yeah, I wanna get my finances together, pay off all my student loan debt. That'd be a huge breath of fresh air to me. And I'm doing it really fast right now. I'm paying, usually

Aldo Chandra (42:31)
Sure.

Ethan Gregerson (42:55)
three and $4 ,000 a month extra on top of my minimum payments. So it's going down quick, but that'll be really satisfying to pay off. It's another project I'm working on, right? Just kind of tipping away at it. And then, yeah, mean, know, end goal is to get back into flying and start my real estate investing journey, get my first property under my belt, start building some wealth that way. And yeah, that's kind of the plan for now.

Aldo Chandra (42:57)
Wow.

Hahaha

There you go. think Grant Cardone's right -hand man, think his name is Ryan Setko. I don't know if you've ever heard of him. he used to, yeah, he's content creation too, but he started off as the pilot for Grant Cardone. And eventually they developed a really close relationship with each other. And now he started investing with Grant Cardone, I think with Cardone Capital and things like that. So there's definitely a lot of success stories. And obviously, if you start

Ethan Gregerson (43:30)
I I've heard the name.

Alright,

Definitely.

Aldo Chandra (43:52)
being a private pilot or commercial pilot, whatever, you're definitely gonna be around those people of that type of caliber that provides. Exactly, awesome. Well, Ethan, I have one final question, and then it's just a question that I ask most of my guests, actually all of my guests, and that is the purpose of this podcast and the name of it, and it's in its name, Kaizen Blueprint.

Ethan Gregerson (44:00)
There's gonna be a lot of opportunity, yeah.

Aldo Chandra (44:20)
Kaizen is a Japanese term for continuous improvement. What are the things, and we talk about many different things throughout the show, what are the things that you do on a daily basis, whether that's habits, tools, systems that benefit you in your life that could benefit other people?

Ethan Gregerson (44:37)
I think just the mentality of doing everything 1 % better. I know it's just like a classic cliche thing, but it is something like I live by, man. mean, it's just like, if I can be 1 % better than I was yesterday at anything, I mean, really it could be content creation. It could be cleaning couches. I recently got into climbing, like, know, rock climbing is kind of a workout for me. So yeah, I mean, like, yeah, if I can just come into the climbing gym, for example.

Aldo Chandra (44:45)
Hahaha

Mmm.

Okay, nice.

Ethan Gregerson (45:07)
and be 1 % better than I came in yesterday, that's a huge win for me. So, and I think more than anything, it just comes down to having that growth mentality of saying, like, you know, I wanna grow and continue to be a better person than I was in the past. And that's really benefited me thus far, and I'm sure it will continue to benefit me in the future.

Aldo Chandra (45:19)
Mm -mm.

Got it. Yeah, I think Jordan Peterson said it best, right? Compare yourself to who you were yesterday and not what people are today.

Ethan Gregerson (45:39)
Exactly. Yeah, I live by that.

Aldo Chandra (45:42)
That's awesome. Ethan, where can people find more about

Ethan Gregerson (45:48)
I've got a lot of different ways. know, Captain Gregor's is my aviation thing. If you're interested in that, can reach me there. If you are interested in the cash flipping thing and are potentially interested in the course, it's Cash Flipping Academy. You can look it up on Google and it'll come up. Or you can go to flipcashers .com. And yeah, mean, those are kind of the two places. I'm also on LinkedIn if you want to connect and have any questions about kind of my journey.

Aldo Chandra (45:50)
Hahaha

Awesome. Well, Ethan, thank you so much for being on the podcast. How do you, how do you say like what in the pilot terms, like signing out, signing off? Is there a term for it? That sounds more complicated. Sounds good. Well, Ethan, thank you for being on and I will see you on the next one. All right. Awesome.

Ethan Gregerson (46:28)
I mean really they would say like frequency change approved. like see ya. Yeah, so that's that's yeah. Alright, alright. See ya out. Thanks for having me on.