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FBA Millionaires was live with Stefano Starkel.
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- Traveling Nomad
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- Work family balance
- Outsourcing
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Jeff Allen: Some people buy expensive cars, others buy lavish homes. Well, our guest on this edition of our program travels the world, thanks in part to his six-figure a month amazon business. So, what can we learn from him? Well, we’re soon going to find out. From the West Coast to the World, this is FBA Millionaires.
Welcome to FBA Millionaires. [00:00:30] This is the program that is geared toward helping you pursue your goal of earning a seven figure income selling professionally on Amazon. Hi, there. My name is Jeff Allen and as always, let’s go ahead and waste no time in bringing up my partner in crime. Not crime exactly. We mean that only in a good way, of course, on this program and the context of everything we are talking about.
And, of course, he’s the sales resident, the sales monster extraordinaire up there in Northern California, Mr. Will Moffett. Will, hello, Sir.
Will Moffett: Hey, how’s it going, everybody? Welcome, [00:01:00] welcome. It’s great to be here in the presence of great men.
Jeff Allen: Well, listen, certainly you can’t be talking about me. Great man, he’s on the uh, the other part of this conversation, Will, and I’ve got to tell yeah, this is, you know, the thing that uh, Will, you and I really enjoy doing, we talk about it every so often, of course, in between the shows that we do, is the joy that we get in just kind of talking about Amazon, but bringing really other people’s perspectives into the conversation. You’ve shared so much in the first uh, [00:01:30] several shows that we’ve done for our FBA Millionaires listeners, and now, we have another tremendous guest who has had so much success and he’s one of those individuals who can’t seem to stay tied down for too awfully long to anywhere that he is in this World. I’m going to go ahead and let you do the honors and tell us who we have onuh, on the show with us.
Will Moffett: Everybody brace yourselves. I would like to welcome Stefano Starkel. How’s it going, man?
Stefano Starkel: Hey, guys. How you doing? Hi, Jeff.
Will Moffett: Okay, drum roll, … [00:02:00] can anybody guess where Stefano is right now?
Jeff Allen: Uh, let’s see, Atlantic City?
Stefano Starkel: No.
Jeff Allen: (laughs)
Will Moffett: (laughs)
Stefano Starkel: [crosstalk 00:02:08]
Will Moffett: Where are you, Stefano?
Stefano Starkel: So, I- I, we are currently, I say we because I have a family. Uh, I have a wife and kid, but I currently based in uh, uh, Cape Town. Been here since a month and will be here for the next two. [00:02:30] Just the next two months.
Will Moffett: That is amazing. How is the weather?
Stefano Starkel: Uh, the weather is very good right now. We just uh, shifted from a, I guess what you’re going to call it Winter to Summer, so once, when we were at here was about 50 degrees average now. We are more [inaudible 00:02:45] 24 degrees Celsius, I’m talking, throughout the day. So, it’s full on Summer.
Jeff Allen: What took you to Cape Town?
Stefano Starkel: My passion is kite-surfing. I started kite-surfing a long time ago. I guess 2006, [00:03:00] and since then I’ve pretty much built my life around it, both work and uh, and relationship and any kind of life you can make around the kite-surfing.
Jeff Allen: Oh, my gosh.
Stefano Starkel: And that’s why I’m here.
Jeff Allen: Can you imagine, Will Moffett, having a hobby and building your life and everything you do around that hobby?
Will Moffett: I am trying to get my wife on this program. (laughs)
Jeff Allen: (laughs)
Stefano Starkel: Trust me, it’s not easy. It’s not easy at all. I can bet your wife Hope, is going to be totally [inaudible 00:03:30].
Will Moffett: [00:03:30] Yes. My- my traveling stopped when the babies came.
Jeff Allen: Will, as you and I have talked about before, I mean, I- if our hobby is working, it’s very easy to build the rest of our life around that.
Will Moffett: Definitely, it sure is.
Jeff Allen: But uh, my goodness. Well, Stefano, great to have you on board, and we’re sorry to uh, to interrupt your kite-surfing at the moment, but hopefully you can bear with us for about the next 30 minutes or so, and then, we can get you back out there on the water.
Stefano Starkel: I will, man. Uh, uh, here is uh, here’s about 10, too. [00:04:00] Yeah, it’s in the evening so, I’m done with the kiting for today, so I got- you got all the time.
Jeff Allen: (laughs)
Stefano Starkel: And I can give you all the time I have, so [crosstalk 00:04:08]
Will Moffett: We want to see some videos. I got to see some videos.
Jeff Allen: Do you have a YouTube channel there, Stefano, with your uh, some of your uh, kite-surfing antics?
Stefano Starkel: No, man, I actually- that’s funny now, um. When I started doing Amazon I realized that social media and you know, selfies and picture and posting stuff wa- was sucking so much time out of my life, so I really took it down a notch so, I- [00:04:30] I- I’m really not present on social media. So, I- I- I do have an account, of course, but it’s there with my name and I don’t really keep it updated much. And-
Will Moffett: Got it. We’ll see if we can pull a video out of you, Stefano.
Stefano Starkel: But, look, I- I think I did … yeah, I- I think I have a couple of videos from, not from Cape Town, but I do have a couple of videos on, on my profile, yes.
Will Moffett: Cool.
Stefano Starkel: So, if you’re really- if you’re reeling to see them, I can send you a link later on.
Jeff Allen: (laughs)
Will Moffett: Can we post it [00:05:00] on a blog with the podcast?
Stefano Starkel: Yeah, no problem.
Jeff Allen: Oh, sweet.
Stefano Starkel: [crosstalk 00:05:04] You’re not going to see my face, but yeah, I- it’s me in the video doing what you see. Yeah.
Jeff Allen: (laughs)
Will Moffett: Okay.
Jeff Allen: Sweet.
Will Moffett: Cool.
Jeff Allen: That sounds, that sounds amazing, Stefano. Well, uh, uh, again, great to have you on the program. Will, I’m anxious to talk to Stefano about his Amazon business.
Will Moffett: Yeah, so this is a great segue into what Stefano is doing. As we can see, he is a nomad, right? So, Stefano, he let me [00:05:30] know he has generating 250k monthly.
Jeff Allen: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Will Moffett: Whether you are doing private label or wholesale, that is amazing.
Stefano Starkel: Um, I’m doing private label. So, I go to the [inaudible 00:05:40], it was October 2014. That was for, whoever knows about ASM. It was the fourth version of ASM, Amazing Selling Machine. And, I got my first sale by the end of the year so, I really stick to the program. I lie, watched every bit I had to watch, I- I really follow what the guy [00:06:00] say by the T, and it worked. It worked very, very well.
Will Moffett: Wow.
Stefano Starkel: So, basically, I started, first thing was in the end of 2014. By September 2015, I was doing already, six figures.
Jeff Allen: Whoa.
Stefano Starkel: 2016 was a fantastic year for me, fantastic. Because I still didn’t travel as much as I’m doing now, so … traveling takes a lot of time away from me, from my family. [00:06:30] You got to pack everything, move, get used to new customs, new places, and you know, where to shop, where to get a [inaudible 00:06:38]. What to do on a weekend, so that takes a lot of focus away from my business.
Jeff Allen: Stefano, when you found that success-
Stefano Starkel: Yeah?
Jeff Allen: When you found that success, I mean y- you talked about really kind of getting started in late 2014. 2015, the first few months were, were dynamite for you. And, of course, you had that big year in 2016. But, were you surprised in any way [00:07:00] about how well things worked out for you so early in the going? I mean, you obviously found a, a system that you liked and you worked that system you said, “to a T”.
Stefano Starkel: Uh, I’ve been surprised since I started, to be true with you. I mean, I- I- it still, still now, you know, now I put the number perspective because i have a history and I know where it was one year ago and I know where I am now, but i- i- if you look at the [inaudible 00:07:24] number that they move in a day or in a month and what I put in my pocket, it- it just is astounding [00:07:30] for- There’s nobody I know except Amazon peeps, but I’m still now, I’m surprised and grateful.
Jeff Allen: Oh, I-
Stefano Starkel: So, everyday.
Jeff Allen: You know, with you being kind of the- the self-proclaimed nomad, as you talk about, and travel is obviously very important to you. Do you credit your traveling in this nomadic spirit, this spirit to roam, with any of your success at all? Is there something about travel that inspires you to look for or dream about the types of products that you want to [00:08:00] sell in your Amazon store and that allow you to have the success that you’re having?
Stefano Starkel: Um, no. I-I- I don’t think is precisely this. Wh- what I believe uh, my brain is wired into traveling. And traveling, you know, you can always do the best of what, or what card you’re dealt, regardless of where you are. Our boss is late; I’m never going to be late. This breaks down.um, power cut, you know, so, I think that my traveling [00:08:30] wired me. I’m able to think outside the box more than most people. I think with my, my best um, how you say? My best uh, quality, probably. So, everything I look at, I probably can see maybe a different angle from the guy next to me. And that’s probably what helped me.
Will Moffett: That sounds just like Amazon. Like you were saying, [crosstalk 00:08:54], the light are out. The product listing is down. (laughs)
Stefano Starkel: Oh, yeah. Yes. You know, I- it’s [00:09:00] attitude. You know, it’s attitude. You can either like, sit down and cry because you’re ship missed port, or you can, “alright, cool, that’s done. What do I do to, with what I have left to make a better day?” And, that’s Amazon, yeah, like you said, that’s Amazon.
Will Moffett: I know um, sometimes, you know, if you call Amazon’s customer service and you have a big issue, and you know, you could be missing out on 10’s of thousands of dollars, or whatever it may be. And, you know, I remember when I first started with Amazon, [00:09:30] and I had like such an attitude, because like, everything is on the line, right? So, I think it is, at that time. And now, it’s kind of like, “Well, you know, look, they’re just doing their job. Calm down. We’ll work it out”.
Jeff Allen: (laughs) Yes.
Will Moffett: You know, let’s, let’s, let’s talk through it, be nice. You know, it’s- our attitude is our altitude, guys. And I just wanted to- so, tell me this, Stefano. So, obviously, the system that you used worked. Can [00:10:00] you give us like, a little run-down of, let’s just say, how you launched a product. From, let’s say start to finish, if it’s five short steps, or three steps, but, like a little preview of what you do to get the process going for yourself.
Stefano Starkel: Um, alright, so, at bedtime- I haven’t done ASM for a while, and, and I haven’t taken any recent course so, I’m not sure what uh, the big gurus tell you [00:10:30] to do, but I’ve been doing the same that I did on my first product. I’m a true believer in the external traffic. So, I’m a true believer that Amazon is able to recognize if you’re a seller. Doesn’t matter who. Amazon is able to see external traffic, and Amazon loves it. So, what we generally do when we launch a product, we try to generate as much links and as much traffic from outside Amazon to this specific product, [00:11:00] being it a PR, being it a [inaudible 00:11:03] where we just create links, being it YouTube videos that link back to our product. So, that’s a very, very big part of our, of our strategies.
A PR, just to give you an example, a press release we do in the launch, we do once a day for two weeks. And then, we try to keep at least two PR a week per product, always going, always to generate a little bit of buzz, [00:11:30] always to generate some new link to it. And this, we believe, keeps Amazon always interested in what we sell.
Jeff Allen: Stefano, just real quick, you know, you talk about press releases, and a lot of people might think, “Okay, press releases are kind off old-fashioned, but it seems to me, that because over the last, oh, several years, a lot of these traditional wire release companies uh, have uh, have come online with their new method for distributing press releases. Who [00:12:00] do you use, or, or where do you send these press releases? Where do they go, if you use one of these online services? Do you have a preference for the types of websites or companies that receive your news?
Stefano Starkel: To be honest, no, because our, our goal is just to create more links. We don’t really look at the so much, the quality of the publisher.
Jeff Allen: Okay.
Stefano Starkel: We just want a bulk of links that send [inaudible 00:12:26] to Amazon. Or course, the better the quality of the link, [00:12:30] the better for Amazon, but um, you know, there are services, you can spend up to, I don’t know, I think the most expensive is- is up to $300 for one press release.
Will Moffett: Like, PR web and Wire Marketed.
Stefano Starkel: Yeah, exactly. What we did, I love Fiverr, man. I’m a- I’m a- I love Fiber. So, what we do, we draft PR’s that, a lot of them, we can deliver [inaudible 00:12:55] for first 14 days, and then, it depends how far that goes. We [00:13:00] read the news, we see if there’s something popping out related to our product; we can draft PR on top of it. But basically, we go with Fiverr and on Fiber they have a guy, five bucks, you know, they have a pier-web account, they have [inaudible 00:13:14] service account so you can get the pier published on three different platforms for five bucks.
Will Moffett: Wow.
Jeff Allen: (laughs) Wow.
Will Moffett: That’s beautiful.
Stefano Starkel: And, it’s crazy. I message on Fiverr, right? And, a platform like PR Web, because there are people with big accounts-
Jeff Allen: Let me jump in a little [00:13:30] bit, because I’m a communications guy, a marketing guy, and I work a lot in uh, in PR outside, of course, what I’m doing with Will, so, what you’re saying is, you can generate a press release on your own, perhaps you have it, and then you send it off to one of these folks on Fiverr, and for five bucks they will make sure that it gets on PR Web? Something that might normally cost Will or I, to go directly and do, $300; you’re saying you can do it on Fiverr for five bucks?
Stefano Starkel: Right.
Jeff Allen: Oh.
Will Moffett: Oh. I did not … Oh, my goodness.
Jeff Allen: Dang.
Will Moffett: I did not know that.
Jeff Allen: Man, [00:14:00] I- it-
Stefano Starkel: Because, they buy in bulk, right? You are, if you do on pier amounts, that’s $300, but most people on Fiverr have a huge account.
Jeff Allen: Wow.
Stefano Starkel: So, they probably publish, I don’t know, 20 a day.
Jeff Allen: Oh, my gosh.
Stefano Starkel: But, they are Fiverr, right? They got to- they got to be able to make money with five bucks. So, the volume they publish is huge, so, at different kind of pricing. They just go … you know, they’re just the wholesale.
Jeff Allen: I know some of the things that some of those freelancers on Fiverr do, very familiar with them, I’ve used them in the past [00:14:30] myself. But, I had no idea, I never even gave that any thought, Will, that is amazing. (laughs)
Stefano Starkel: You know that, that- that the PR ways are most wanted because you’re actually generating good content around your product.
Jeff Allen: Right.
Stefano Starkel: Uh, but yeah, on Fiverr you find also, I- I don’t want to say the word blanket, but it’s not great. You know, they just go and, and blast links and blogs about your product.
Jeff Allen: You credit this process for building links and uh, links back to your Amazon [00:15:00] pages, to your Amazon stores and product pages, because Amazon does, in fact, they like luring those people to their platform. That is something that you really attribute a tremendous amount of your success to in- just being able to generate the promotional buzz that your products have been able to benefit form.
Stefano Starkel: Yes, that’s one side of it and then, I think, I believe it has much as Google Earths’ contents. So, we were big since the beginning. I decided to launch my [00:15:30] brand uh, prior to launching a blog for my brand, so, since day one, even before we launched a product on Amazon, we already have a blog and a writer writing one blog a week. And, of course, it was my branded blog, and all the links from the blog were sending back to our product, and all the blog were uh, designed and briefed and bathed in keyword and such. So basically, what we done from day one was like, uh, generate a sea of optimized content [00:16:00] that has people in search for my product to solve the issue of my product would sold.
So, in other terms, let’s say that you have a headache, right? You might not know that the solution for a headache is an Aspirin. What you going to look for, even at- the first step is going to go to look on Google and search, “how to fix my headache”. Now, assuming that you find a blog that I wrote, that tells you if you can fix the headache in five different ways, um, [00:16:30] one is drinking Asprin, the other one is putting- I’m making up- putting [inaudible 00:16:34], the third one is putting upside down. You’re going to read the blog, and you might believe what the blog say, because it’s good content, and you can- you understand it and you trust it. You might even click a link and go and see the product that the blog advertise. And so, we’ve been doing [inaudible 00:16:51]. So, we created from day one, we try to create as many avenues as possible, from us at Amazon to Amazon. [00:17:00] That’s a PR with such a signal, and that’s uh, very well-written blogs with very good content, solving real problem for real people.
Jeff Allen: Great conversation with Stefano Starkel in a really just talking about just a-a tremendous success story here. And, he’s given us some nuggets, some pearls of wisdom here, with respect to how he has created the buzz with his products and very PR intensive, and we talked about the links and all of this. And, [00:17:30] that’s really important and I think that we want to go ahead and take a break now and come back. We want to continue our conversation with some of what he has learned that has helped make him a success in a very short period of time. Once again, on Amazon, through FBA uh, selling private label. And we’re going to do that with Stefano and Will and I come back when FBA Millionaires returns, right after this.
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Jeff Allen: [00:18:30] Do us a favor, if you listen to this program on an iTunes, would you take just a moment of your time, before you duck out of there and give us a, kind of a rating. Let us know what you think of the program. Give us as many stars as you feel we deserve. We’d love five, but look, we’re not living in a dream world here, we want you to be completely honest with us and give us some feedback. Let us know what we can do on this program to make it better for you. If there’s something in particular you want us to talk [00:19:00] about, please just kind of drop they tin there ein the comments. FBA Millionaires with Will Moffett and Jeff Allen and today’s special guest, Stefano Starkel.
Will Moffett: Stefano, we are back. Hey, so, I do have a question here. I know you have several companies. I know how I met you is, you’re one of the investors on UpFund, one of the many investors. And, we have a mutual friend, Steve, referred me to you.
Stefano Starkel: I love Steve, yes.
Will Moffett: That’s pretty cool. Yes. He was on the show. Um, you guys got to check that out. Um, wonderful [00:19:30] guy and we got another wonderful person here. So, what other businesses are you into? Because, you’re doing a lot. You’re traveling. You have a family; two and a half year old, right?
Stefano Starkel: Two and a half year old, yes. It takes uh, takes a bit much of our time.
Will Moffett: (laughs) Have to, but it’s a beautiful thing. It’s wonderful.
Stefano Starkel: I- I- I can tell you, life before a kid i- is not the life after a kid.
Will Moffett: Yes.
Stefano Starkel: It is so incredibly different. Your goals are different. Your- your responsibility different. It’s awesome. It’s also, how life can [00:20:00] change and how he grows and how we change around him.
Will Moffett: It’s a beautiful thing. So, I guess, so, we’ll make this two questions. So, one is, how do you deal with the family life in business. And then, let’s talk about the businesses that you’re into right now.
Stefano Starkel: Um, the first question is not that hard. So, since I start the business I- I never wanted to work more than five hours a day. You know? That was my- my top. N- not because I want to, just because my brain can handle it. So, every [00:20:30] single thing I’ve done in my life uh, cal it out of laziness or out of necessity, I- I never uh, gave it more than five hours a day. And then, you know, before [inaudible 00:20:40], before a kid would allow for enough time for do whatever you want on the rest of the day. Uh, now with a [inaudible 00:20:46] and a kid, I still do my four hours maximum a day, and yeah, I do work hosts on the weekend if you ask, uh, but, you know, for the rest of the day left for the family. So, um, the shift went to [00:21:00] dedicating all the time to me, to dedicating all the time to the family and the kid and whatever they need.
So, it’s always about, you know, always juggling time versus necessity, and that’s what we’re doing now.
Will Moffett: That’s wonderful. I’m trying to figure out how to do that. Um, I’m like pushing these 16 hour days and I’m like, “Whew”. But um, (laughs)
Jeff Allen: (laughs) You do what you got to do, man. You got to use that uh, American wisdom and knowledge and know-how. You do what you got to do.
Will Moffett: Nah, I need some of Stefan’s magic. [00:21:30] Put some on me, Stefano. (laughs)
Stefano Starkel: It’s uh, I- I- I mean I again, I’d say it’s outside of the box thinking, but you know, like out-sourcing. Out-sourcing was my, even before knowing the world of sourcing, I was really doing it. If I was doing a task that was repetitive and, and that I knew for certain that somebody else could do it for me for a cheaper cost per hour than I could do it? I would do it straight away. And, even before Amazon. And- and that allowed me, you [00:22:00] know, to alright, five hours. What I need really to do in those five hours. And, what else can be done by somebody else? And, and that was what I been doing from the beginning and it had a lot, I guess it had a lot [inaudible 00:22:12] the Amazon business, allowing me to keep the kind of lifestyle I wanted.
Will Moffett: Yeah and that, that’s what’s so crucial you know, after doing multiple businesses and ventures, that you know, what business we choose to do you know, we basically choose that business based upon the type of lifestyle [00:22:30] we want.
The startup lifestyle is different from the Amazon lifestyle, which is different from the corporate nine to five right, so yeah I totally agree and so what about the businesses that you’re into? What type of things you got going on?
Stefano Starkel: I went through a totally low for Amazon and now I’m in a phase, which you can call it a little bit love and hate. For which, Amazon has been fantastic for me. It’s still a fantastic business for me, but there’s no more patient. I don’t have anymore of a you know, [00:23:00] the grind to look for new strategies, to look for new things, to to keep track of everything Amazon changed continuously.
So um, like I mentioned with you before I was fortunate enough to be able to build a theme when I was [inaudible 00:23:17] simply because I wanted to attain my lifestyle, and what’s happening right now is that my time in Amazon’s business is, is very very very very slow, and the team uh, [00:23:30] is good enough to keep it running.
The growth, uh uh, I’m still responsible for growth, and um, I’m liking that because I, I just don’t put enough time to grow like I used to grow before. Uh, but the bottom line is the business is running, it’s well, and it’s not made to wait.
So, since I can’t stay sitting down on the couch all day, so what I’m doing now, um, we are developing [00:24:00] an idea we created a year ago, and this always go back to a fact that if you do a repetitive task than somebody else can do it. Why don’t give it to somebody else, and in my case it’s why don’t build a tool. That does it for you, so if you see in Amazon for any Amazon center it it it it it should be a very very big part of your strategy.
Simply because as much as is important for me to send traffic from us at Amazon, you also need to be able to dominate [00:24:30] an, and own every single ounce of traffic that varies within Amazon, so Amazon see a poster as a huge part of it.
Um and that’s a terrible boring task, you know? You gonna, you gonna have to go everyday for all your keyboards and shake over it. If you’re doing well okay you’re happy, happy days. If you’re doing bad you’re gonna have to post them, and if the rule of it contained is going very bad, you’re gonna have to find another strategy.
[00:25:00] And my finding was that you know, if it’s every day task, repetitive task, repetitive task. Check the Ako stress zone, check the spent stress zone, do we have sell? Yes, keep going. We don’t have sell, alright post and finding other key words that will load, the uh, customer search report.
Leverage it out so they can find it. Odds negative keywords, odds venue keywords, and so on day over day.
So we went through a phase in which I was doing it. Uh, the second phase was [00:25:30] alright what am I doing? So I build out a strategy and I gave a strategy to a PPC manager and while he was doing the strategy for me I had the idea of, well there was too many shifts. He was to slow, so he didn’t have enough time in a day to go through the account twice a day. They way I wanted to.
And the second part was human error, so we go to a size in a podium [00:26:00] for which doing it once a day was not good enough to be able to stop the bleeding, so there were a lot of here uh, that where spending more than I wanted to.
Jeff Allen: Mmm.
Stefano Starkel: A lot of here that were in more a than I wanted to and the PPC manager just not enough time to, to catch them all, so we got to a point in which we needed to find a solution.
And the solution for us was to build a tool that allowed to automate my strategy and pretty much anybodys strategy, [00:26:30] uh, with the switch of a button. So to limit error and to limit the cost of advertising, but it’s not just what you pay for us, but what you pay managers to do it, or the cost of your timing fee, your the one managing it.
So, uh, fifty percent of my time now is focused on building up zone tools, that is zone tools that is uh, simply put is a hundred percent automated [00:27:00] software that can take your PPC, and make it work for you without you putting time in it, on it.
Will Moffett: That’s amazing and you know I had an experience, I remember when, when I was first starting, and I wasn’t paying attention to PPC and, and that’s when you know, I would, I would crank it up, and I would just walk away.
And you know,
Stefano Starkel: Shhh
Will Moffett: (laughs) I think a couple a weeks I came back and looked like that, I [00:27:30] was like bleeding really, really, really bad.
Stefano Starkel: Yeah, yeah.
Will Moffett: And, and, and, and it made me sick to my stomach. (laughs) So and I said never again, never again will I allow that to happen.
Stefano Starkel: Yeah well I went through that to you know, you do it you’re confident with whatever I think and then you go back and you see the disaster. You have a crazy high end cost and uh, what’s the next thing you do? You just switch off everything and say oh it’s not working.
But, that’s not really true, you know, you gotta find a way to optimize it because [00:28:00] it doesn’t matter how expensive it is, and how bad they complain when. There is very good data within Amazon so, in reading the reports they’re gonna give you good data.
Um, and a lot of people struggle with data. A lot of people struggle even if they understand data. They struggle knowing what they need to do with the data so, adding a tool that takes this away from your hand, is able to be ever present, always on your campaign, always on your keyboard.
Going through your accounts over and over again, [00:28:30] in a day, and then taking the decision and taking the right decision for you, it, it’s a very good thing to add.
Jeff Allen: Stefano is that tool widely available to anybody who would like to talk to you about obtaining it, I mean is that something for purchase now, or are you still in the developmental stages?
Stefano Starkel: We launch for a very limited beta for ten of our first ten uh uh, accounts of the first ten customers, and we plan to, to go production, so to be live for anybody [00:29:00] who wants this beta, uh, thirty to sixty days from now.
Jeff Allen: Hopefully first quarter of twenty eighteen.
Stefano Starkel: Yes.
Jeff Allen: Uh and what, and what is the name of the tool again? Can you give us the name of that product again?
Stefano Starkel: Uh the, the name of it was called Zone Tools.
Jeff Allen: Zone Tools.
Stefano Starkel: Z O N.tools, and that’s also the website, so you can go zon.tools, what you’re gonna find is, we didn’t again, we didn’t spend much time in making it look [00:29:30] beautiful, at least the home page at the moment.
Um there is no information what we’re doing because we are just simply focusing on making uh, a very, very good product and making the first ten people very happy about it.
Um, but you know if you do have some interest you can go there on the home page there is a big green button, um it’s a I don’t even remember the wording on it, but it’s basically if you click there you get sent to a google forum where you can ask for some detail and you’re gonna join the waiting list for whenever we open.
Jeff Allen: Well that’s fantastic, I mean it just [00:30:00] sounds like, uh, uh a great something that we probably could not live without once we get to a point where we begin to really rely on what that data says, and I think that the thing you brought up is really important too, is that Amazon does provide you with a lot of great data.
Well the data won’t help you unless you actually put that data to use and you use that data to base a number of very important decisions on how long to hold onto a product. Pricing obviously, whether or not you need to pull the product all together and, [00:30:30] and start with something else, or roll something else in.
Or come out with a companion product that you can sell to a, to add value, or whatever the, the case may be.
We’re kind of starting to run a little bit short on time, well we probably need to kind of wrap this up. Will do you have any final thoughts for uh, Stefano before we wrap here?
Will Moffett: I have one last question for Stefano. How do you handle the fluctuation in prices in the products? Let’s say there’s a race to the bottom or let’s just say the competition is repricing [00:31:00] and things are going up and down, um, how do you handle those situations and um, do you abandon the product? Do you, you hold onto it and play the game? How do you handle those situations?
Stefano Starkel: There, there is no easy way to handle it, you know? I mean you, imagine you have a product, and it’s the best product of, of your whole inventory and after one and a half you got so many competitors and they come and they try to press down and it’s not your best product anymore.
And, and then you base your business, you, you belove your business on that [00:31:30] product and now it is the worst product you have. Uh it’s tough, you know? It’s a tough strike for you as a man, for you as a business owner, and, and I might think that’s what you think you did was not right.
So there’s no easy way to handle uh, what we are doing is um, inovation, inovation, so launch something similar but, better. You do have a big customer base, you know, you have a uh, a bunch of customers have been bought for you, been bought for your product.
You know they [00:32:00] liked your product first time, so if you do, if you do launch a better product, a revised version, uh, inproved version, uh, or you bundle with something else, you could, you could leverage your same customers and get them to buy you’re second better product.
So, what we generally do, we keep the product that is surprised dropped, because you had to drop it, and we just find a way [00:32:30] to launch another version. To the same audience with the same keyword, with the same intelligent where they gather through a previous one year, that’s what they’re doing.
It’s not an easy process, uh, but that’s the only way to, to keep winning.
Jeff Allen: So essentially developing something that’s new and improved, not necessarily re inventing the wheel so to speak, but taking something that you have had success with, making it better and there by offering your clients, or offering your customers in this case, greater value [00:33:00] overall and uh, Stefano with that really just enjoyed this conversation with you today and really providing us with some really interesting uh, incite into the life of someone who has found tremendous success with Amazon, and uh, credits that business, that that, entrepreneurs mindset that you have, for really helping you to maintain this quality of life that you started having some time ago, this uh, this nomadic spirit you have.
This spirit of [00:33:30] adventure and being able able to allow you to do what you want to do, rather than having a business that dictates to you how you should live your life because of your business. It allows you to live the life that you want to live and just uh, a great conversation. Thanks man, I really appreciate, really great meeting you today.
Will Moffett: Uh, I tell you what Stefano, me and Jeff is about to take a private jet down to uh,
Jeff Allen: (laughs)
Will Moffett: Cape town and, and we’re, we’re gonna, (laughs), we’re gonna celebrate.
Stefano Starkel: [00:34:00] I want to ride in a private jet then. To come over here. Let’s go for dinner together and then let me get a ride.
Jeff Allen: (laughs) That sounds beautiful, I love that, by the way uh, Will we may not be able to necessarily put that in the budget for the uh, first quarter or so, but will have to talk about that, in uh, soon and get together with Stefano Starkel uh, again just a wonderful uh, conversation.
Will great job on having, uh, Stefano on the program with us, and sharing just a fantastic guest, again man you are batting a thousand with these guests you’re bringing [00:34:30] on this program.
Will Moffett: Sorry guys, some vaccuuming in the background.
Jeff Allen: (laughs)
Will Moffett: Looks like you’re gonna have to take it out. Take it out Jeff.
Jeff Allen: Are you kidding me? Oh my goodness, alright I’m gonna drop that down and with all that said uh, we’re gonna go ahead and we are going to put a close on this addition of FBA millionaires.
Thanks so much to my co-host Mr. Will Moffet in northern California and today’s guest Stefano Starkel.
Stefano Starkel: Thank you very much for having me on your show.
Jeff Allen: And hope that you [00:35:00] enjoyed this conversation as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Join the FBA millionaires club, just a reminder you can hop on over to fbamillionaires.com, doesn’t cost anything to sign up to look for information. There are details on how to sign up for the club. Just probably a name and an email address, that’s all you need to include and boom, you’re in, and we’ll look forward to talking to you again real soon I know, so for Will Moffett thank you so much again, and everybody let’s kill it.
