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FBAM9 $250k per month using external traffic with Stefano Starkel
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FBA Millionaires was live with Stefano Starkel.
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Podcast Discussion:
- Traveling Nomad
- Using SEO and PR to grow your sales
- Work family balance
- Outsourcing
- PPC
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Sponsored by: Upfund.io
Sponsored by: SkuTask
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.
Speaker 4: You [00:18:00] know, one of the biggest mistakes Amazon seller make is taking out loans with sky-high interest rates that eat up all their cash-flow. Don’t fall into that trap. If you’re looking to borrow money to grow your business, do it the responsible, smart way with UpFund. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds by going to UpFund.io. That’s UpFund.io.
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.
FBAM8 Going global and saving money on International transfers with Jason Kumpf
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Podcast Discussion:
- Avoiding Competition by entering the International Market
- Products that sale internationally
- Getting your bank account in international countries
- Diversification
- Integration to help you pay VAT Taxes
- Amazon Australia
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| Jeff Allen: |
So you want to take your domestic Amazon business and share the love around the world with a global Amazon business? Well, our guest is dialed in to the international e-commerce scene, and he has some thoughts to help you get started. From the West coast to the world, this FBA Millionaires.
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| [00:00:30] |
Welcome to FBA Millionaires. Good to have you back in. As you know, this is the program that is geared toward helping you pursue your goal of earning a seven-figure income selling professionally on Amazon via fulfillment by Amazon.
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Hi, my name if Jeff Allen. Once again, glad to be with you and I’m glad to be with the big fella, this guy here in Northern California. He is just, uh, he’s chomping at the bit and always is at about this time. And let’s speak to a Will Moffett. Will, big shout out and hello, guy. How you doing?
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[00:01:00]
Will Moffett: |
What’s up, Jeff. Everything is wonderful, man. Um, it’s rainy. It’s gloomy but we’re making money.
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| Jeff Allen: |
You know, it never rains in Southern California but, uh, Will is up there, he’s up there in north central California. And uh, send some of that stuff down this way, man, because you know how it is with the whole drought thing. And uh, it always seems like, uh, you know you have your fires, your earthquakes and stuff and not enough rain in the Golden State, so share some of that love, will you?
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| Will Moffett: |
Definitely. I’ll share some. Jason is in the Bay Area also.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Oh, there-
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| Will Moffett: |
San Francisco.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah, man. And he’s our guest today, right?
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[00:01:30]
Will Moffett: |
Yes. Jason Kumpf. What’s up, Jason? How’s it going?
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| Jason Kumpf: |
All good. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on the show. Really excited to be on here. Try to keep up with the energy and feeling, um, really loving it so far. So hopefully we can, uh, educate the guests on some interesting new things to make some extra easy money on Amazon Global.
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| Will Moffett: |
Oh, there we go. That’s what I like to hear. I like to hear easy … extra. (laughs)
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| Jeff Allen: |
(laughs)
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Hey, those are my two favorite words. [inaudible 00:01:53] Easy and extra.
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[00:02:00]
Will Moffett: |
I like it. I love it. Me and Jason, we’ve been … um … talking a lot lately uh for maybe I guess, maybe the past year or maybe more, uh very cool guy. We hung out in Las Vegas a little bit. Um, at the Prosper Show. And, um, it’s just such a pleasure to connect.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Thanks, Will. Really appreciate it. Yeah, I saw Will doing the 1,000% hustle at Prosper trying to give out as much money to people as possible. And, uh, that was a, a big impression on me, Will.
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs)
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| Jason Kumpf: |
So I appreciate the energy you bring.
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[00:02:30]
Will Moffett: |
Thanks so much, Jason. I appreciate it. So, enough about me. Let’s talk about you, Jason. So Jason … you work for OFX, which is a currency exchange. Wonderful company. And, uh, you help people transfer money and make money globally.
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So, tell me a little bit, uh, little bit about you guys. How does it work, and, um how do you help Amazon sellers?
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[00:03:00]
Jason Kumpf: |
Yeah, sure. So OFX Global Payments: we, uh, help people transfer money around the world at better foreign exchange rates and give people bank accounts globally around the world that they can receive their Amazon proceeds in … and then transfer those funds back to the US at better rates than even Amazon’s giving them from the Marketplace.
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[00:03:30] |
Um, so Amazon will charge 3.5%, 4% when you send funds back from your Euro store … your Pound store … your Canadian store … soon to launch, your Australian store, which we can talk about later on.
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[00:04:00] |
Uh, we’ll do that for, depending on your volume, for 1.5% or less. So, it’s an easy 2%, 2.5% savings every transaction you’re doing. We’re free to set up, so there’s no other costs. So the net-net to the business is about $2,000 … $2,500 in extra top-line revenue and profits on every $100,000 they send. For about 10 minutes of their time. So we’re easy, extra, and free.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Man, there’s nothing wrong with that. It is great, absolutely. You know, Jason, I- I wanted to ask you a little bit about, you know, you work obviously with Amazon sellers here in United States, going out wherever they’re interested, really, in selling, but I’m assuming that you probably have certain parts of the world right now that are especially attractive. Who are the people come up to, or- or I should say the people who are coming to you, where are they interested most in doing business right now from what you can see?
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[00:04:30]
Jason Kumpf:
[00:05:00] |
So, the Americans are most interested in going to Europe, you know, Germany, France, Italy, uh, and the UK. Canada as well. And Australia’s launching some-, uh, sometime soon so that’ll be another English-speaking place they can go to. And some clients actually were big Amazon sellers locally in the US, they’ve actually stopped their US Amazon business and are only doing their UK, Germany, France business on Amazon. And the reason is, is because in the US there’s a lot of sellers. Um, and a lot of sellers who know the game and understand the dynamics of being a, a seller on Amazon in the US.
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But if you’re a compete- if you’re launched in Amazon.fr for Amazon France, you’re competing against local French guys that don’t understand the Amazon game, as well as your American counterparts. So they’re going crazy growing their business … I’m talking about tens of millions of dollars in revenue.
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[00:05:30]
Jeff Allen: |
This is really an unexploited opportunity right now as far as … you know, a- a great time, uh, and chance for people who want to grow their Amazon business to get started by going global because really there’s just not the understanding by the local sellers in foreign countries about how Amazon works. And there isn’t a mad rush right now on the part of American Amazon sellers to … expand internationally. Is that right?
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[00:06:00]
Jason Kumpf: |
100%, that’s exactly what it is. And there’s probably … a few months runway, maybe a year, but the sooner you just launch a France store, Germany store, UK store, the better. Get it going, figure it out a little bit, because it’ll take you a little bit of time to kinda get it up and running. Um, but then you’re gonna be in a much better market, um, than elsewhere, than even in the US, uh, depending on your store and, and what you’re selling. But um …
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| Will Moffett: |
Jason, I’m sold. Nothing else said, I’m sold. Podcast over, let’s go make some money. (laughs) No, I’m playing.
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| [00:06:30] |
(all speakers laughing)
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Really, it’s really that easy. And we make it, the- the big difficult part, just think of going global as a small business, right?
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah.
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:07:00] |
You used to have to set up a company, get a bank account, do all this stuff, obviously the FDA is huge portion of making it easy for you to go global. And people just aren’t thinking about that as much. Oh, US, sell it here. But, you know, all those other elements are … are gone, now. Like, we help with the bank account– done. That’s two days you gotta, you know, UK Pound bank account. Two days– you’ve got, you know, a Germany euro bank account. Two days you’ve got a CAD Canadian bank account. So that’s a huge one. The FBA from Amazon solves all your shipping, uh, you don’t need a company there, so you’re off and running … you know, in a few days, on- on Amazon global.
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| Jeff Allen: |
It just sounds like there aren’t any barriers to entry any more. I mean, it really does … as long as you’ve got the commitment, you’ve got the products, and you’ve got the will to … to, to move forward and blow up your business big time, uh,
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Yep.
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[00:07:30]
Jeff Allen: |
That, that it’s easier now than ever. What are the … what are the selling trends that you are seeing right now, uh, Jason from where you sit and from the companies that you work with and the business owners that you work with. Uh, what’s hot right now, internationally, those markets that really seem to be kicking butt at this time?
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| Jason Kumpf: |
You know what’s great? It’s basically the same things that are hot in the US. I think the majority of the world consumers are way more similar than they are different.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Interesting.
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[00:08:00]
Jason Kumpf: |
There’s probably an 89% similarity. People buy iPhones, they need iPhone cases. People buy the Pixels, they need the Pixel cases. People need headphones … people buy makeup, people buy vitamins, it’s the same the world over, really. Um, there’s a lot more uni- global uniformity in what everyone’s buying, and that’s why Amazon’s doing so much- doing so well, right? Because they’re riding that wave, too.
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[00:08:30] |
People are buying online. That, you know, 20 year ago, that was unheard of. And just 10 years ago, only in the US did you have eBays and Amazons and stuff like that. But that’s now everywhere, right. You’ve got Alibaba in China blowing up, and it’s just, everyone’s online, and everyone’s buying the same stuff. These global brands, they’re global brands selling Nike shoes to everyone around the world. So there’s no magic thing, there’s no, some, oh I need to know about this one little thing in this market, in France they have croissants that are done this way, it doesn’t matter. 99% of products are the same stuff you can buy in the US.
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| Jeff Allen: |
How about that.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
And you sell in the US. So that makes-
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| Will Moffett: |
That is really interesting.
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[00:09:00]
Jason Kumpf: |
-it really easy. And we’ve got cheap stuff here in the US, right? So you can buy stuff, you know, clients are buying stuff from, uh, you know, all these stores that are going out of business all these. All these retail locations that are going out of business.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
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| Jason Kumpf: |
The Sears, the, uh- uh the Toys R Us, all these places have clearances. And we’ve got clients clearing out the clearances and reselling those on Amazon in France and Germany, so …
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| Will Moffett: |
So that goes to my next question: so are people private labeling? Or wholesaling, doing retail arbitrage? What-
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[00:09:30]
Jason Kumpf: |
All. All of the above. Just like in the US.
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| Will Moffett: |
All of the above.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
They’re reselling, they’re private labeling, they’re doing the arbitrage, it’s the same, it’s the same techniques. That’s why it’s working so well, because if you’ve been doing it for … a year or two in the US, you’re … you’re 10 years ahead of the guy in France that just ran a retail store and is trying to figure out how to go online with it. You know?
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Will Moffett:
[00:10:00] |
Hmmm. Got it. I know I had a friend in the past, um, that, she, uh, she had a difficult time, but she actually sold groceries in Europe. She did, uh, she brought groceries here and sent them over to Europe. And I …
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| Jason Kumpf: |
That’s probably one of the harder ones, too.
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| Will Moffett: |
Yes.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Like, perishable goods? That, that’d be the only one I’d say maybe don’t do.
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs)
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| Jason Kumpf: |
So, that- that’s how easy it is. If you could do perishable grocery? I mean, that’s what … a five day life span, maybe two weeks max? If you could do that, um, then your iPhone cases and stuff like that, which last for at least a year or two or three years, um, you’re gonna do a lot better on. Right? So …
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[00:10:30]
Will Moffett: |
That’s amazing.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Jason Kumpf is with OFX currency exchange and you’re listening to his conversation with Will Moffett and yours truly here on FBA Millionaires.
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How does your company, and you touched on this just a little bit, because what … you talked about the fact that really, there aren’t the barriers to entry into the global marketplace that there once were.
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[00:11:00] |
But, what is probably the- the one or two or you can even go on, you can talk about this for, for longer if you wish, the- the- the services that you offer that really end up saving your clients FBA sellers, Amazon sellers, the most money? The types of things that, really, they’re no-brainers when we get to know what your company does.
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:11:30] |
Yeah, so I’ll give you a quick overview of us, too, right? So OFX Global Payments, we’re one of the largest online providers of international bank accounts and international transfers. We’ve done over $100 billion dollars in transactions. We’re publicly traded, uh, we’ve got offices in Australia, Hong Kong, US, Canada, UK, uh, so we’re 24/7 operation so if you have any questions or comments, you can always call us. We’ve got live operators and obviously online and the app.
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[00:12:00] |
We’re regulated all over the world when you’re dealing with people’s monies. You want to make sure that everything’s regulated. So … and we’re all one shop op. So we do everything- all in-house, no outsourcing. We’ve got 18 different banks we work with: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, uh, UBS, the top main banks you can think of. So al monies are in those banks.
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[00:12:30] |
Uh, what we do, is we give a US Amazon seller a Pound Account in London, a Euro account in Germany or France, a Canadian account in Canada, that they can up- they can upload into their Amazon seller essential platform. And have Amazon disperse their, let’s say euros, once they’re selling, you know, they’re (laughs) groceries in France, and they’re making $100,000, let’s say a month or a year or week or day, uh, and we give them that bank account and then we transfer that funds back for them automatically and quickly. And we save them about two to two-and-a-half thousand dollars on each transfer.
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[00:13:00] |
So if you’re an active client now doing $100,000 a month in France, we can add about two and a half thousand dollars to your bottom line. Really, for ten minutes of their work. So it’s a real easy … no brainer.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah, that tremendous savings makes a huge, huge difference. And again just the fact that it’s easier now than ever and you can save money at the same time … Will a great idea and one that out there right now, uh, many Amazon sellers are beginning to take advantage of so that they can spread their business globally.
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:13:30] |
Yeah, and then the other angle, what we offer, too, and especially our core function, is paying suppliers. So if they’re buying stuff from China, from Canada right now you can buy a lot of stuff, if you’re American group, the CAD US is in your favor. So the Canadian currency is lower compared to the US dollar. So for instance, maybe a year and a half ago, it was one to one, so for every one dollar you had you got one dollar of Canadian. Now for every one dollar you have that equals one point two … something Canadian. So you’re, you got a 20% … uh, discount, basically, for anything you buy out of Canada.
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| [00:14:00] |
So if you’re buying Canadian goods and selling them in the US, you’re getting a 20% discount doing that and we help you just pay those people in Canada with those, uh, … from US dollars to Canadian dollars. Or if you’re buying directly from China, then we can help you pay for your- pay your suppliers in China. Or really anywhere in the world. That’s what a big bulk of our business is, is small-medium size companies paying suppliers around the world.
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| Jeff Allen: |
That’s really interesting–
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Or paying developers.
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| Jeff Allen: |
It’s like having-
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| Will Moffett: |
Now that’s a gem.
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[00:14:30]
Jeff Allen: |
Absolutely, Will. It’s like having your own mini accounts payable department in there.
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| Will Moffett: |
In the arbitrage there, the currencies … oh my goodness. The 20% discount … never thought about it, Jason.
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:15:00] |
Oh yeah, that’s huge, too. So we’ve got client, you know more savvy clients, that want to lock in rates that they feel the Euro’s high right now, so they want to lock in … increased profits from their European stores now. Um, or lock in lower rates when they’re buying stuff from Canada. So we allow clients to do that as well. So you can have this great Canadian-US dollar rate for another year plus with us. So, that can be a big benefit. Because if it goes back to one to one, you’re still getting the 20% discount but then someone who’s coming new to the market, say no I want to buy in Canada, you’re getting a 20% discount to them, at market.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Wow.
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:15:30] |
Which can be huge, too. And our dealers will walk you through and kind of give you a lot of information on what’s going on in the currency markets. We won’t advise, but we’ll give you very- a lot of information so clients can make good decisions … informed, educated decisions. Which is just massive, you know? It’s just awesome.
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… I love working here. It’s a great place. It’s a guaranteed win. You know, everyone we work with, it’s a guaranteed win. They only use us because they’re instantly gonna save money. Which is a great … you know, not that many companies can do that. Usually you pay up front and then hopefully you get a return on the back end. This is, don’t pay anything. Pay ten minutes of your time, and instantly save.
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Jeff Allen:
[00:16:00] |
I can’t understand why people wouldn’t want to go with your business and Jason, really, when you get right down to it, the last thing we want to do is … we want to have a headache. Something that we worry about when we go to bed at night about growing our business and taking it globally when we’re kind of led to believe that yeah, okay, it’s fairly easy. You know, people overseas want these products just like, uh … your, your American customers here do. But, uh, well it’s not going to be necessarily as easy to do business over there to take and grow.
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[00:16:30] |
But from everything that I’m hearing from you, it really is easier today now more than ever when there are companies like yours, uh, around, and it’s really a godsend, it sounds like a great idea and something that we’re gonna continue to learn more about as we continue our conversation with Jason, Will Moffett, and Jeff Allen with you on FBA Millionaires. And coming up, our conversation with Jason Kumpf continues after this.
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(music)
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[00:17:00]
Speaker 4: |
Getting the funding you need to grow your business … can be challenging. But our friends at Upfund make it super easy. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds, and have your inventory funded in just days. Check out upfund.io to get started today. That’s upfund.io.
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(music)
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Jeff Allen:
[00:17:30] |
You know the first thing you need to do after listening to FBA Millionaires is to join the FBA Millionaires’ Club, a very exclusive club. We don’t walk around wearing monocles or drinking expensive champagne or wearing expensive shoes or anything like that. It’s all in good taste, all in good fun, and, of course, that favorite word of everybody’s … free … applies here as well because it doesn’t cost you a cent to join and in fact you don’t have to be a millionaire to join.
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[00:18:00] |
All you have to do is drop by fbamillionaires.com and look for FBA Millionaires club. Sign up, stay connected to what we’re doing here on the program, you’ll receive also, too, some free tips and guidance. You’ll receive some updates about what’s coming up on future editions of our program, and maybe some surprises we’ll throw in there, your way, as well. And its all for just becoming a member. Once again, join the FBA Millionaires club at fbamillionaires.com.
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[00:18:30] |
Welcome back to the program. Jeff Allen, Will Moffett, and our guest, Jason Kumpf. Ah, and, uh, really enjoying this conversation. Will, great find another great guest on this show, really trying to help us, uh, put our arms around this idea of growing our business globally and helping us to understand, too, that it’s really a little bit easier than maybe we had thought originally to take our businesses beyond the shores here.
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Will Moffett:
[00:19:00] |
Definitely. And so Jason, everybody, is the man that’s gonna take us into the international promise land. So I have a question for you, Jason. You talked about a little bit, um, how the products here in American, that, … people in international countries, they pretty much want the same thing.
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[00:19:30] |
So, for the sellers looking to get into international markets, I know there’s different type of … it might be the same product but different … uh … maybe type of plugs, let’s just say, for example, electronics products or … you think they like the same, uh, maybe, er, okay we’re talking about perishables … candies? Or maybe chocolates, right? Or maybe … that can’t be sent in the summer, maybe the winter. But the products are pretty much the same. Let’s just say like a pet item. Would it … it all works the same?
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:20:00] |
Yeah, it all works the same. And there’s a big demand for US products, actually, so we’re still … you know … kind of the cultural economic leader. Um, so people like what we’re liking, anyway. You know. That may change over the next couple decades with China, maybe emerging as the new cultural and economic leader, but right now, you’re sitting, you know, as a US-based group or seller, you’re sitting in a place that everyone kinda wants the same stuff that you want. You know, thinking iPhone stuff is American based, you know. Even Android although most of the phones are made abroad, it’s really a US-based entity, as Google, you know, and what they’re selling … so yeah, I mean, it’s … it’s a lot easier than you think.
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[00:20:30] |
And even for the plugs? Uh, you know, we have some groups that sell US electronics, and then they say, you know, they add on the adaptor. Here’s the adaptor to make it work in- in Europe. Obviously if you can get the European version that’s probably a bit better, but, um, you can do tests of- of- of a product with the adapters. They have those readily available, and those are cheap, too. So …
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| Will Moffett: |
My mind is going wild here. I’m like, thinking like, fashion. If you can get European fits over down there, oh my goodness. It’s, it’s, it’s it, it, it sounds fun!
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Yeah.
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[00:21:00]
Will Moffett: |
So, wow, so okay. Let me as you this …
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| Jason Kumpf: |
I don’t-
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| Will Moffett: |
Oh, go ahead?
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Yeah, and it diversifies you too, right? If something goes down in the US, you’ve got other … other places to sell your goods, right? You could even have it as a secondary where, hey, you’re selling it on your US store first, then if it doesn’t sell, then you’re trying to sell … maybe up in Canada, you know? Or in the UK. Or in the rest of the world, right? So it’s great to have, just have more people looking at your stuff, you know?
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| Will Moffett: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
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| Jason Kumpf: |
For no extra cost, right?
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[00:21:30]
Will Moffett: |
Got it!
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Do that now!
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| Will Moffett: |
I want it! (laughs)
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| Jason Kumpf: |
You know what I mean? [inaudible 00:21:34] sales what’s it’s about. Before someone else does it and gets there before you.
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| Will Moffett: |
Exactly.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Basically the message.
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| Will Moffett: |
Got it. Oh man. So, knowing what you know, if you were an Amazon seller and I don’t know if you are now, what steps would you take to take advantage of the international market? What would you do … to conquer?
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[00:22:00]
Jason Kumpf:
[00:22:30] |
So, I would … if you don’t have your Amazon store set up, uh, in Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, do those as soon as possible, right? Re-do your existing store basically there. Put up at least 10 items on each of those stores, and get it launched. Get them all launched, right? That’s the big thing is, don’t- don’t have the inertia … that doesn’t allow you to go forward. So get those things launched. Do the translations, you’ll need those for Germany, France, stuff like that. But for UK, Canada … you won’t. Um, and that’s the big thing, I think. Get it going.
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And then once you’ve got it going, then you wanna optimize, right? So that’s where we are. We’re an optimizer for you, so we can be there from the beginning if you- if you don’t have a store. If you already have a store we can optimize your- your revenue with our product, obviously. But I would say that’s the big thing. Get it going, and launch.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Gosh-
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:23:00] |
First to market means [inaudible 00:22:55] earlier to market means a lot, especially … the realities on Amazon … the sooner you get out there, the better.
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| Jeff Allen: |
What is some mistakes that, uh, people can make in the international markets, or just as they’re getting in, and maybe these are the kinds of mistakes that you’ve seen happen over and over, they’re fairly common. Are there certain things that we need to avoid out there that other people have, uh, done in front of us that we should be learning by?
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:23:30] |
Yeah, I think, uh, trying to maximize from the beginning is what you wanna do. Obviously the VAT tax is big in Europe now, so we’ve got an integration to help you pay your VAT taxes, so you kinda don’t have to worry about that. That happens automatically, obviously everyone kinda knows the whole story of, of, uh, that tax and the Europeans getting mad at the Amazon sellers, and Amazon not paying tax in Europe, which that’s probably the biggest one. That’s probably the biggest headache … I think a lot of groups have seen, a lot of sellers have seen. But that’s now, uh, coming to kind of an end. And there’s a lot of automated ways to … make sure you pay that.
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[00:24:00]
[00:24:30] |
So, learning those tools and, you know, that might be one tool you haven’t used … as a US seller. Um … so that’s probably a tool that you need to use going forward. And like us, we’re a tool you probably haven’t used as a US seller, but we’re easy to use and kinda integrate with your store. So knowing those … you know, 10%, 20% difference that you’re gonna have to adapt to when going international and using those and using, you know, a lot of the services are really low-cost, free, or pay per performance, so it’s not a real … you’re not paying a lawyer $20,000 to make a new entity and stuff like that. You’re paying as you’re getting revenue, really. Which is great.
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Will Moffett:
[00:25:00] |
It might make a little … bit of sense here, Jason and Jeff, because think about it, right? Less competition … means I do not have to press the PPC button. So even if I have a tax of, let’s just say 20%, generally you can be paying 20% for pay per click. So if there’s less competition and I turn off PPC, it might be the same revenue with less competition. I love it!
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Yeah. And just you know, just PPC, you know, if you understand that world, you’re gonna be more efficient at it, than maybe your French or Italian or Spanish counterpart, right? Right now in the US, people who are on Amazon using PPC to get those clicks, to get those buyers … it’s a sophisticated, uh, market here. Right? It’s not as sophisticated there. So things like that will be a lot lower, if needed at all. If you get in early enough, right?
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[00:25:30]
Will Moffett: |
That’s right. I know I had a friend, a few years ago, that I met in the Facebook group when I first started, and he was generating $300,000 per month in Japan.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Oh!
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Will Moffett:
[00:26:00] |
I- I- I was amazed. But I never really still … I never thought about going international. But he kinda … made me want to go that route, but it was so much money in the US market that I just didn’t want to bother at that time, but, you know, this is just money laying on the table, guys. FBA Millionaires, come on, guys. I think this is something to- (whispers) actually, let’s keep it a secret).
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| Jason Kumpf: |
(laughs)
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| Jeff Allen: |
(laughs) Yeah. Well I think the secret is out, now.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
A lot of people want it, right, but it’s out. The reality is Amazon’s just totally disrupted … the small business, international, uh sales process. Of delivering goods … which is just amazing, right? It’s just so amazing. So yeah, jump on it and go global. I call it good great global. You know?
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[00:26:30]
Will Moffett: |
(laughs) Good great global. I love it.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
And you can do it! We got mom and pops doing it … started doing a few thousand a month … in their US store, a few thousand on their France store, and now they’re doing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, you know we’ve got clients doing over $100,000 a day.
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| Will Moffett: |
Whoa.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Yeah. It’s crazy. So from the range of just a few thousand to- to- multi millions a month.
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| Will Moffett: |
Got it.
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[00:27:00]
Jason Kumpf: |
Buyers are there. The clients are there. You know? And so the US, we’ve got 330 million people, so start doing the math, right? How many of those are actually Amazon buyers? Maybe it’s 100 million. Europe’s got a population of 430 million, UK’s got another, what, 60-something million? So you’re more than doubling your audience.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah, it almost makes you crazy for not doing it, Jason.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
It’s like saying, “I’m only gonna sell to the south or the north or the west coast or the east coast” of the US.
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[00:27:30]
Jeff Allen: |
Yeah, why be content with tens of thousands of dollar a month when you can take and triple, quadruple, or even better than that … improve your stakes in generating that monthly revenue, improving your profits, and really scaling up your business very, very quickly by going, uh, across borders and doing it effectively and very easily, really, with the types of tools that you provide, um, the services you provide, for your clients over there for Amazon sellers.
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| [00:28:00] |
Any particular resources or anything like that, Jason, that you could recommend to us in order to learn more about selling overseas or to help us get started? Just thinking about selling on the international marketplace if not from your own company.
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Jason Kumpf:
[00:28:30] |
Uh, yeah. So we’re putting together a resource hub for going global international. I don’t even know that URL yet. That’s still being, uh, made. But you can go to our site, OFX.com and there’s a space for online sellers and kind of read more about what we offer and how we do it and sign up. You can use my name, you’ll get an extra discount. Jason Kumpf. You could actually say FBA Millionaires or, or, Will from Upfund and you’ll get a discount. And kinda go from there.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Cool.
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Will Moffett:
[00:29:00] |
Definitely, you know, guys, this reminds me of the book, I don’t know if you guys have read it, but The Blue Ocean Strategy. This was an awesome book and it talks about how when everybody crowds up, um, and, and sometimes there’s no money to be made. But if you look at the, the blue ocean and how clear it is and you see nothing in the horizon … that’s the opportunity to make-
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yep.
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| Will Moffett: |
Tons and tons of money.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yep.
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| Will Moffett: |
So if you guys have the opportunity, go check out that book, Blue Ocean Strategy. It’s by W. Chan Kim and Renee … oh I can’t say the last name … last initial M. Check that out and, and you guys wouldn’t be sorry. You might want to apply that to your international strategy and kill it.
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[00:29:30]
Jeff Allen:
[00:30:00] |
There you go. I think it’s a great idea, Will. And Jason, we can’t thank you enough, man. A great conversation. OFX.com is the name of the website. Jay- Jason Kumpf has been with us today to tell us all about giving us his perspective about getting into the international market place with your Amazon business. You might be content with how well you’ve been doing right now. And you might be thinking you’re on easy street, but, you know, for heaven’s sake, if you have the energy, if you have the resources, if you have the will to do it, to expand your business and go global, why wouldn’t you do it? Think about the other lives in your life that you could change. Other people’s lives in your, maybe your family, or, or loved ones or maybe your community you could change with the extra funds that you generate. The profits that you generate by having a successful, wildly successful Amazon business that includes not only your customers here in the United States, but elsewhere around the world.
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| [00:30:30] |
And Jason, just can’t thank you enough, man. We appreciate you jumping on with us today, it’s been a great chat and we hope to have you on again.
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| Will Moffett: |
Thanks so much, Jason.
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| Jason Kumpf: |
Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it.
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| Will Moffett: |
You’re the man.
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| Jeff Allen: |
He is the man. Will, another great job. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it. This was a great show today.
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| Will Moffett: |
Thanks, Jeff.
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Jeff Allen:
[00:31:00] |
That’s a wrap on this edition of FBA Millionaires. Thanks again to our guest Jason Kumpf from OFX Currency Exchange. And don’t forget to check out his website at OFX.com. And don’t forget, by the way, to stop over at iTunes, will you? Do us a favor: share this program with someone that you know you like. Even share it with an enemy, I mean it could be anybody at all, we would appreciate that.
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs)
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| Jeff Allen: |
By the way, give us- us a nice rating over there in iTunes if you like the show and if there’s something else that we could do, maybe something that we could, ah, a topic we could explore in greater detail for you, if you’ve got a suggestion for a guest to have on this program, you can drops us a line. And Will, I think they can do that simply by, correct me if I’m wrong, visiting our website at fbamillionairs.com. Isn’t that right?
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[00:31:30]
Will Moffett: |
That’s the right place, Jeff, that, haha, drop everything you’re doing now. Go, go, go! Www.blah blah blah dot fbamillionairs.com. (laughs)
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Jeff Allen:
[00:32:00] |
And do that and you’ll be helping us and you’ll be helping yourself because we want to make sure that we can helps as many people as we possibly can. This show is for you. This is show is about our businesses, and that’s working Amazon of course, and uh and really opening up great opportunities for others, and taking your already successful business and taking it to new heights. That’s what we’re all about. So … for Will Moffett, I’m Jeff Allen, we appreciate your listening and we can’t wait to talk to you again on another edition of FBA Millionaires.
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| Will Moffett: |
Let’s kill it, guys.
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| Jeff A.: |
What does it mean to laugh all the way to the bank? Well, today we’ve got a marketing stud. I mean, this guy has been around the block he knows what he’s doing and we’re going to talk to him next. From the West Coast to the world, this is FBA Millionaires.
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|
[00:00:30] |
Welcome to FBA Millionaires. This is the program that is geared towards helping you pursue your goal of earning a seven figure income selling professionally on Amazon via fulfillment by Amazon. Hi, my name is Jeff Allen, and as always I am joined, in Northern California, by our own resident Amazon sales machine, Mr. Will Moffett.
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Will, what is going on? What kind of trouble are you getting yourself into today?
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Will M.:
[00:01:00] |
Jeff, everything is going well on my side. It’s sunny here in Northern California. We’re making money and I, I, I love to be on the podcast. We’re here with somebody that I, I feel is very special in the Amazon industry and um, I’m ready to get into it.
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| Jeff A.: |
Well, you know, the guy that we have on today, and I’m going to let you, we’ll do the honors, is somebody who is probably no stranger to people who are listening to our program. Uh, We know that there are some very valuable podcasts indeed out there. And a lot of folks listen to a number of shows. I know that you do. And this is really kind of where you kind of got familiar with our guest today.
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| [00:01:30] |
And he is somebody who has a lot of bus- a lot of experience in starting businesses and operating them, and talk about multiple streams of income. Talk about an expert in his field in the area of online marketing. Who do we have today?
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| Will M.: |
It’s Many Coats, what’s up Many? How’s it going, man?
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| Manny Coats: |
How’s it going guys? I am great. Thank you.
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| Will M.: |
I’m glad all is well. And so, we’re all here in California. You two are in Southern and I’m in Northern.
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Jeff A.:
[00:02:00] |
Well that’s all right man, expanding the globe and operating here from the Golden State, uh y-you can’t get any better than being able to sit down here in your underwear, doing a show from the land of milk and honey.
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| Will M.: |
(laughs)
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| Jeff A.: |
And it’s great to be with you guys. And Manny, welcome aboard. You have that AM PM podcast and you’ve been on now for how long on that show?
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Manny Coats:
[00:02:30] |
Gosh, we started that one right when I got into Amazon FBA and that was almost two years ago. About- Just over a year and a half ago. Decided to chronicle my journey with Amazon FBA. Started off, I think I said. I- I- I don’t even remember anymore. I think I said I wanted to make $ 25,000 dollars the first, uh, was it the first 90 days? And then a quarter million dollars in sales, um, the entire year, w- which would’ve been 2016. Last year. And then, of course, we crushed through that and, and, nah, never looked back. It’s just been kind of fun talking about it, uh, every week.
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| Will M.: |
I [crosstalk 00:02:49].
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| Jeff A.: |
Yeah. Right, Will? I mean, I mean, talking about setting some goals and achieving them. I mean, you wouldn’t want to look back when you, when you have that kind of success.
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| Will M.: |
Talk about ten [x-ing 00:02:59] it, Manny.
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[00:03:00]
Manny Coats: |
I know. I know. And I met Will at- You know, just by chance. We were at a, the same conference in Los Angeles. They were seating us around these big round tables and, uh, we just happened to s- sit next to each other. Uh, he introduced his company. I introduced mine, um, and then from there, yeah, I’ve used, uh, his services, he’s been on the podcast and here we are now on a new one, so this is pretty cool.
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Will M.:
[00:03:30] |
Definitely. So, you know, I met you at the [inaudible 00:03:24] Visor Conference. We’ve talked various occasions. Um, I listen to your podcast and I love it. You guys head to ampmpodcast.com. Check that out. Um, so tell us, what are you into today? What’s going on? Haven’t heard from you in a while, haven’t talked to you in a while, so I want to catch up, see what’s going on. I know you get Helium 10, the podcast, you’re killing it on my Amazon.
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| Manny Coats: |
Yeah.
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| Will M.: |
Tell us what’s up, Manny.
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Manny Coats:
[00:04:00] |
Well, we got a few things going on. We- we’ve a- I always feel like I’ve got a … Actually, just last week, uh, and beginning of this week, we had some meeting, uh, me and my business partner, [inaudible 00:03:56], and we’re just like, “You know what? We’ve got to start saying no. We can’t keep saying yes to everything we want to do,” cause when we get together we’re- we’re idea factories and we’re like, “Let’s do this. Let’s do that.” And so we have a lot of things in the pipeline, uh, right now, but the things that are, you know, obviously, the things that are doing, are keeping us busy and that are doing well, the podcast is a great vehicle to reach out to the masses.
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We have our- our Facebook group. Um, you’re in there, Will. I think about 26,000 Amazon sellers in our FBA high rollers group on Facebook.
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| Will M.: |
Woo. That’s a lot.
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Manny Coats:
[00:04:30] |
That keeps us busy trying to keep that going. Yeah. And then we have, um, the Helium 10 software, uh, which is awesome. I-I mean, it’s not something that we just put out there and say hey, we’ve got these tools- I use these things every single day. We’re using- The guys right now in the other room are using it right now for our product launches. We got some new Christmas stuff that, that is launching right now. And then, we have a, a high end event, uh, and a conference, uh, that we’re doing in January, uh, and that’s for the Illuminati Mastermind Live conference event.
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[00:05:00] |
That’s for guys that are already doing, you know, at least $10,000 dollars per month. Most of the guys in the room are doing seven figures. Um, some of them eight figures. I have one guy at the last even we did, um, that did more in one day than I did in my entire first year, so it’s just like …
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| Will M.: |
Wow.
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| Manny Coats: |
It’s crazy some of the- the success stories.
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| Jeff A.: |
Hey, Manny. I got- I wanted to jump in. You know-
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| Manny Coats: |
Yeah.
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| Jeff A.: |
You’ve got people like that in your audience and you know that they’re earning six and seven figures a- a year, and- and six figures, and sometimes in a- in a month, and you’re talking to these guys. Do you ever wonder what it is that they’re doing there? Do you ever learn anything from them?
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Manny Coats:
[00:05:30] |
Yeah. I mean, that’s one of the great things about, uh, this particular event. We wanted to make it a- all about networking, so, uh, we had lots of time between sessions so that after you heard somebody speak you would have, you know, 15 minutes to go over and- and talk to, to speak or talk to whoever it was, and then afterwards it was these big network and socials and things like that. Um, and, yeah, you would sit there and you’d be having a beer with one of these guys that’s, you know, just looks like a- Just a regular person just like yourself and then you’re finding out, “Man, he just did 10 million or 12 million dollars last year,” and you start to find out, when you’re probing them and asking questions like, “Well, what’s the difference? What are they doing?”
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| [00:06:00] |
They’re like, “Oh, we outsource all of this or we do SOP’s or we’re going, you know, this.” It’s usually not any small thing. Like, you know, not- not like a little hack. It’s more on the, the larger scale. Like, you know they say there’s only 8 hours- Sorry. 24 hours in a day. I only want to work a maximum of 8 hours, so what do I do? So, you know, if you want to work so many hours and you have tons of things to do to scale that big, you’ve got to, for example, out- outsource stuff. And if you’re going to outsource, you have to have systems in- in place. Right? Otherwise, it’s going to become a mess.
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|
[00:06:30] |
So, uh, I learn a lot. Every time I talk to somebody, there’s something really cool that they’re doing, um, you know, that I’ve never of. We just had a- We just, uh, did, uh, an- and interview with a guy that sells used products on Amazon, and he does, I think he does like $5 million a year or something selling used stuff.
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| Jeff A.: |
What?
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| Manny Coats: |
I never even considered that. So it’s crazy.
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| Jeff A.: |
Unbelievable. I just- [crosstalk 00:06:46] I can’t get my head-
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| Will M.: |
[crosstalk 00:06:47] Ebay when I think used, right?
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| Jeff A.: |
Yeah. That’s exactly- Garage sale.
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Manny Coats:
[00:07:00] |
Yeah. No. It’s- it’s like through liquidation.com buying like pallets of stuff, you know, where you get things for like ten cents on the dollar, and the stuff is essentially new. It’s just the- the the box is open, so it’s open box if you’re got to sell as used. It’s crazy. It’s just- If you talk to somebody there’s that one aha moment and you’re like, “Oh my gosh. Okay. The door have opened. I’m- I’m gonna test that out.”
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| Jeff A.: |
Yeah. What am I- What am I missing out on?
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| Manny Coats: |
Yeah.
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| Jeff A.: |
Exactly right.
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Will M.:
[00:07:30] |
There’s so many ways to go about and, and, and, and it all comes down to how do you want to work? Do you- Like you said, Manny, do you want to work eight hours a day? Do you want a warehouse? Do you want to be shooting product from Ebay to Amazon and all type of different, uh, channels and … Yeah. It’s- it’s- What do you want? I th- When I think about that- what first formed my vision on what I wanted …
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| Jeff A.: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
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| Will M.: |
Was the four hour work week.
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| Jeff A.: |
(laughs)
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| Will M.: |
[crosstalk 00:07:37] And I said, “You know what? I want to kick back. Private label.” (laughs)
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Manny Coats:
[00:08:00] |
Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? It’s- it’s it’s one little thing that, uh, really triggers things. I mean, I- We’re talking a big scale. We’re going to, let’s say, eight figures, 10 million. That’s a whole different thing, but like when I heard about Joe Lister … I didn’t even know what Joe Lister was. Most people s- that are listen- listening to this probably don’t know, but it’s a cool little service. I don’t even know what it costs. It’s- I don’t- I think it’s like … I don’t even know. Under $20 a month or something like that, but we added that, and it just automates all your it- it- imports everything, I guess, into Ebay and then it- from Amazon, and it automated the whole thing so you don’t do anything cause Amazon still ships it, and that probably added I don’t even know what it-
|
|
Some kind of- Probably five figures per year to our bottom line for about 15 minutes of work, and it was something that I heard someone talk about. You know, stuff like that.
|
|
|
Jeff A.:
[00:08:30] |
Now hold on. Hold on a minute. I’m going to- Yeah. Let me jump in there. So Joe Lister … So what you’re saying is it will automate essentially, uh, product listings from Amazon, transfer, apparently, that information to Ebay so if you’re having, uh, trouble … If you need to clear something out of inventory in Amazon, you can sell that over on Ebay. Is that, is that what you’re saying?
|
| Manny Coats: |
Yeah. First of all, I have [inaudible 00:08:39] do with this, with this tool. It’s just something that we- we use, but yeah … The way it works, essentially, is it’ll take your listings, it automates the process of creating all your listings on Ebay. Like it just does in- in seconds. And then, when someone orders on Ebay, it has nothing to do with you wanting to liquidate or anything-
|
| Jeff A.: |
Okay. Okay.
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:09:00] |
It just, it literally takes all of your stuff over there, um, and then when someone buys through Ebay, because a lot of people still will only buy through Ebay. They won’t go to Amazon for whatever reason.
|
| Jeff A.: |
Right. Okay.
|
| Manny Coats: |
It then sends that order, basically, gets drop shipped, I guess you could call it, from Amazon. Uh, so everything still gets billed and charged and through- through Amazon …
|
| Jeff A.: |
Okay.
|
| Manny Coats: |
Uh, or, or through- I’m sorry. Through- through Ebay, gets shipped through Amazon …
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| Jeff A.: |
Got it.
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| Manny Coats: |
So you still have all the, uh, the order processing and everything on the Amazon site, but you’ll be getting PayPal payments or whatever it is, uh, through the Ebay system.
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| Jeff A.: |
Nice.
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:09:30] |
Which is really cool. My brother actually set it up. I said, “Hey, let’s, let’s add this,” uh, and with, you know, the first day we started seeing some sales come in. They trickle in. There’s not a lot, but if you make, you know, $15 dollars here, $10 dollars here, by the end of the day you’ve made an extra, you know, $100 dollars, let’s say. You know. Multiply that by 365 days, it adds up really quickly.
|
| Jeff A.: |
It sure does. It’s just adding another, essentially, another channel. Uh, and, uh, and who wouldn’t want that? Especially when you’ve got, uh, the inventory that you’re able to take and service through those channels. I think it’s a great idea.
|
| Manny Coats: |
Yeah.
|
|
Jeff A.:
[00:10:00] |
You know, and we’ve got Manny Coats, by the way, on with us, FBA Millionaires. Will Moffett and Jeff Allen. And, let me … I’m kind of still stuck on, you know, one of the first things you talked about was just the fact that, really, you’ve only been working Amazon now really since 2015, and- and through FBA, and you’d talked about you’d set this initial objective of $25,000 dollars in three months and you crushed that and they- Your six months sales it’s just, uh, fabulous. What are you doing right now? What are you generating right now in terms of revenue in a monthly basis?
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:10:30] |
Uh. On a monthly- We just surpassed 2 million for this year on one account. Um, so, I think a- I looked last week and the trailing 30 days so far was something like, uh, just shy of 300, 200 and 50 something thousand. It’s scaling up, you know, as we get closer through, uh, you know …
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| Jeff A.: |
Right.
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| Manny Coats: |
Through Q4. It starts moving up. I think December, for example, will probably be a month where I- I would be shocked if we don’t do half a million just in that one month.
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| Jeff A.: |
Wow. Yeah.
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:11:00] |
Um, but, yeah. That’s where we’re at right now. Um, all- all private label. We don’t do any kind of retail arbitrage or any of the other things, um, that- that’s out there. And this is just with one account, and that doesn’t include, you know, any of the other businesses and services and things that we- we provide.
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| Jeff A.: |
[crosstalk 00:11:01]. That’s amazing. He is crushing it.
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| Will M.: |
Crushing it. This is a prime example of the FBA Millionaires. Everyone. So tell us about this. When I first talked to you, you said you had a way to get people to the first page of their keyword.
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| Manny Coats: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
| Will M.: |
So, everybody wants to get to the first page. I know, uh, one time I had a problem with being number one on the first page and I said, “Get me, uh, the number four spot,” (laughs) because I was getting attacked like hell.
|
| Manny Coats: |
Yes.
|
|
[00:11:30]
Will M.: |
So, uh (laughs) … So, um, tell me a little bit about, um, what you got going with Helium 10? How you get people to the first page and we love to hear more about that.
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:12:00] |
Yeah. I think we should probably break this down into two components because getting to page one … And I’ll talk about how we get there. That’s one thing, right? Uh, you get up there, but once you’re there and you have that organic visibility, right? Someone types in, you know, LED candles or tactical flashlight, or whatever it is that you’re- you’re selling, and you’re there, are you going to stick? Because I see it all the time. People post in our Facebook group and they’re like, ” Man, I got to a page one. I’m a- I was at the top, but it only lasted for like two days, and boom, I just started dropping and then I was off of page one.”
|
|
[00:12:30] |
And then when you investigate and you look at the listing, you start seeing, well, yeah, you dropped off because for that partic- That specific keyword phrase, if when you look at everybody that’s around you, you know … If you’re- Let’s say you were number, the number two spot. The guy on- on top of you and the other, let’s say, 14, 15 people below you, those guys, um, have better pricing or they have better images or they have something that’s better than what you’re doing. Or maybe when you click into your product, uh, your listing, the conversions are terrible because they’re- your, the rest of your photos are bad or there’s something going on that’s just not working right there- You don’t have the reviews that you need, right?
|
| Will M.: |
[crosstalk 00:12:42]
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:13:00] |
So, getting your listing optimized and looking perfect, uh, as perfect as you can anyways, that’s the first thing you got to do before you ev- even, even do any kind of launch. Once you have that going, you got to make sure that you can stick- Based off- Before they even click into your listing, make sure that you’re listing from the search, uh, results perspective, can outsell everything else. Like, when you’re looking at it go, “You know what? If I was just- If I showed this to like ten people right now and I showed them, you know, what’s above the fold, or what’s showing on the page … Let’s say the top four listings or five listings, would they click into mine, and if not, why?”
|
|
[00:13:30] |
You got to do some research, right? So you want to get to that point. Once you’re there, than you’re good, cause you- you’re going to be spending money. You got to giveaways, and we’re going to talk about that in order to get to that position, you know, so there’s- there’s capital investment, and then once you’re there, you want to stick cause it- it sucks to get there and then fall off, you know, the- the next day.
|
| Will M.: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
| Manny Coats: |
So, that’s, that’s what you do with your listing. To get there, it’s pretty- it’s, it’s, it’s basic math essentially, um, to … It’s an equation. Um, it’s sales velocity, uh, where people purchase over a certain amount of days. In our case, it’s- we- we- our formula is for eight days and it’s, um, it’s, uh, what we call the CPR formula, and the C-
|
|
[00:14:00] |
Basically, you’re going to be giving away a certain number of units every single day for eight days for a specific keyword phrase, and you’re going to be using what we call a two-step [URL 00:14:01], or it’s a- a store front URL. Okay. And that- that means it’s your- when someone clicks that particular link, whenever you’re promoting it, whether it’s through Facebook or using, uh, some launch service, or you’ve got an email list or SMS. You know? Text messages. Whatever it is. However you’re driving people through this link, it takes them to your storefront, okay. And that’s a little bit more complicated and I have a video … (laughs)
|
|
[00:14:30] |
If y- If anybody’s curious, um, we can’t cover it all in this podcast because it’s like a 45 minute video. You guys can watch that. It’s a free video. Check it out at, uh, it’s at helium10. com/cpr, but the gist of it is they’re going to see this, this, uh, your product on your, on your storefront page. They click that. It brings them into the product and when they buy, it’s going to give credit for that sale to that particular keyword phrase that you used for that, that special link, I guess you could say.
|
| Will M.: |
Oh, that’s hot.
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:15:00] |
And if you get- Yeah. Now, if you get enough people to buy every single day, um, let’s say its 20 units a day, uh, for this, for whatever you’re keyword phrase you’re, you’re looking for, and you do that for about eight days, typ- typically it’s about a week. We like to go eight days just to be sure, um, then you’ll start seeing yourself jumping up the rankings for that keyword phrase and almost every single time you’ll be on page one, and typically at the top of page one.
|
|
[00:15:30] |
And the way to figure out how many units to figure out, cause that’s the mystery. Because go well, okay, it’s easy to create the URL, you know. You- You show me in this video the link I just gave you guys … You show us how to do that, but how do I know how many units to give away every single day. And when I say give away, I- we- we call them giveaways. It’s not really a giveaway. You’re selling products, right? But you’re typically using coupon codes to discount a product.
|
|
Let’s say it’s you’re selling it for $19.95, you’ll use coupon codes within Amazon to discount it to $3 dollars or, or $5 dollars. Whatever it is that you want to sell it for so that people buy. Like, it’s irresistible. I got to buy this thing. It’s a $20 product and they’re selling it for $2.50, right? That gets them to buy and you get that sales velocity, and you want to get a certain number of units per day, um, over those eight days, and that’ll get you ranking to the top. To the top of page one, typically.
|
|
|
[00:16:00]
Will M.: |
That’s pretty cool. So can you use multiple keywords or do you recommend one keyword?
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:16:30] |
I always suggest going after one main keyword. The keyword ha- The keyword phrase has to be in your title, okay? The title gets the most juice in terms of, of ranking. You don’t want it in your bullet points, so whatever you’re going after should be in the title. We- I say you s- most people should do this. We don’t do that. We’ll go after multiple keywords because we know the system. We’ve got the budget to giveaway units. We’ll have, let’s say, you know, 12,000 units of something and we’ll say, “Okay, we’re- we’re planning on giving away 1,000 units. At- at a loss. Okay? We’re gonna- we’re gonna sell them for $3 dollars each to, uh, over, spread out over multiple keywords. Um, to get these ranked to the top, because once we’re at the top we know organically we’re going to stick there forever.”
|
|
[00:17:00] |
So we, we might take a hit, uh, you know, because m- If our landed cost, if the- if the product’s costing us $3 dollars to, to manufacture and it costs us, let’s say, another dollar to get it to the US or to Amazon, and then you’ve got your FBA fees and everything, once you start adding everything up, let’s just say you’re up to $8 dollars, and you’re selling it for three, right? You’re losing $5 per sale. So if you’re giving away 1,000 units for this launch, you’ve essentially lost $5,000 dollars. Does that makes sense?
|
|
So, if you have $5,000 dollars loss, you’re like, “Oh. That- that kind of sucks. Who wants to do that?” But now I know that the next month, I’m probably going to make $10,000 dollars in profit because I don’t have to pay for paper click, I don’t have to do anything. I’m already at number one or number two, and then the next month it’s another 10,000 or 12,000. Maybe it should keep going up, and it’s just- it’s profitable.
|
|
|
[00:17:30] |
All the big companies are doing this. You know, they go- They get up into the rank. They do some other things as well to get, like, best seller badgers and things like that, but, um, the cerebro … The CPR, uh, ranking method, which uses cerebro tells you the number of giveaways you have to give away. So, if you use the tool that’s within Helium 10, and you type in, um … All you have to do it’s o- it’s an un- An [Asin 00:17:47], um, it’s an ASIN tool essentially. A [reverse 00:17:50] ASIN tool, so you’ll put in a ASIN of your competitor. You’ll- the person that had, or the company that had …
|
|
[00:18:00] |
I should say the product listing that has the most reviews. Okay. That’s been around the longest and you pace that into c- The- the, into cerebro. It’ll pull up, hopefully, you know, just tons and tons of keywords. And at least hundreds of keywords. In many case, a thousands of keyword phrases, and it will show you there, um, if this is a video podcast I- I’d be able to show you this, but I could show you the actual number of units you have to give away total to rank to page one and the number of units you have to giveaway per day.
|
| Jeff A.: |
wow.
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| Manny Coats: |
That’s a- That’s the magic of it, so it does all the math for you and-
|
|
Jeff A.:
[00:18:30]
[00:19:00] |
There’s no- There’s no guess work. And because everything’s done for you, you can now worry about other things and take care of other business. That man right there is Manny Coats. We’re talking a little bit about a product that his company has developed called Helium 10 and it’s really all about helping you to rank, uh, uh, as high as you possibly can on the first page there of Amazon, and it’s all about the benjamins to us and really, this is a man who is, is killing it, and he has got a lot of skid in the game, and we’re learning a lot and we’ve got more to talk to Manny about when Will Moffett and I, Jeff Allen return, when FBA Millionaires comes back right after this. (music)
|
| Commercial: |
Getting the funding you need to grow your business can be challenging, but our friends at UpFund make it super easy. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds, and have your inventory funded in just days. Check out UpFund.io to get started today. That’s UpFund.io. (music)
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|
[00:19:30]
Jeff A.:
[00:20:00] |
You know the first thing you need to do after listening to this program is to join the FBA Millionaires club so you can stay connected with all that we’re doing and all that we’re talking about, Will and I. We’ve got a, a lot of great things in store for you and the nice thing about it is is it doesn’t cost anything. You don’t have to be a millionaire to join. FBA Millionaire’s Club simply by, uh, going to fbamillionaires.com. Look for the links there. Sign up and be the first to find out all about upcoming shows, upcoming guests, guidance tips, advice, all sent to your inbox free. That’s fbamillionaires.com where you can sign up for the FBA Millionaire’s Club.
|
|
My name is Jeff Allen, along with Will Moffett, and our special guest today, Mr. Manny Coats.
|
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| Will M.: |
Manny, so I have one more question for you here.
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| Manny Coats: |
Sure.
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| Will M.: |
And Jeff, by the way, I love you man. You- you’re just so awesome. Um …
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| Jeff A.: |
Thank you, Will.
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| Will M.: |
(laughs). You’re the man. So- So hey, Manny.
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| Manny Coats: |
Yea.
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|
[00:20:30]
Will M.: |
Um, so what about competitive niches and competitive markets. Let’s just say I wanted to start a supplement brand and I wanted to start getting the, uh, um, some like creatine or something like that. Do you recommend that with the- uh. Well, of course, you got to have the budget to give it away, but it’s that something that you would recommend getting into?
|
| Manny Coats: |
No. Uh, uh if you’re starting out, you’re saying? If you’re just getting into this?
|
|
Will M.:
[00:21:00] |
Ha- If you’re starting out of even if you’re really experienced, is- is, like … Because number one, the access to get to page number one is there.
|
| Manny Coats: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative)
|
| Will M.: |
But is there any cases where you may not want to be that number one spot?
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:21:30] |
Yeah. So, if- I would not even recommend somebody get into a highly, highly competitive industry or, or niche, right? Because the- You’re not going to show up anywhere. I mean, you’re going to be dealing with guys that are pulling in, potentially, millions of dollars per month in sales. They know this system. They’ve got crews in place. They’ve got systems and software and all kinds of stuff. And you’re just not going to be able to compete in most cases, right? I know a few people that are able to jump in to stuff and- and they, they tend to dominate no matter what they’re doing.
|
|
[00:22:00] |
But when you get into supplements specifically, there’s a lot going on, right? You- you’re going to be dealing with hyper aggressive sellers. A lot of these guys are overseas. There’s a lot of s- You know? Shenanigans going on, um, that, where they can actually affect your, your account. Um. And I’m not saying that that’s going to be in, in every supplement case. You can go out there and you can create, you know, something for, for dogs, you know? Some kind of salmon oil or whatever. That’s probably a bad example cause it’s, it’s probably highly competitive as well, but whatever it is, um, a- as long as you really know what you’re doing and you’ve got the budget to do the right giveaways to start ranking, then you should be okay.
|
|
[00:22:30] |
But if you’re getting into something that’s super highly competitive, you’re going to find out that in order to get to page one, you got to be selling, you know, 300 units a day or 500 units … Or you got to give away, let’s say, 2, 300 units a day, um, in order to get those rankings, and it just becomes cost prohibitive to, to a lot of people. You- you know what I mean? It’s like, it’s better to, to, you know, take off for a week and go- Start walking through some stores, you know, uh. Forget about even looking online. Start looking through some stores and find stuff that’s really interesting and cool and then if you find something that’s unique that you just haven’t seen, then come back to Amazon and check. And there’s- there’s a possibility it won’t even be on Amazon yet, right?
|
|
[00:23:00] |
I mean, if you’re searching for things on Amazon, they’re on Amazon. But if you go to a store and you’re like, “Wow, I’ve never seen something like this,” then you can start sour- sourcing for it. Find it and, uh, in China or whatever it is that you’re going to be looking, and then get that thing- Get a version of that online, and then you don’t have that much competition, and- and it’s just easy sailing. You know? It depends on how much money you want to make, but I’ve got products where I’ve spent very little time, no competition essentially, almost no competition, um, and, it- they generate, you know, over $10,000 each in profit every single month.
|
|
Jeff A.:
[00:23:30] |
I have a- a question, Manny, that is, is kind of a little bit more general as we kind of round out this edition of FBA Millionaires, and you is someone who has founded, uh, tremendous success, obviously, in a very short space of time, as Will Moffett has. What does it take? I mean, in addition to, you know, uh, higher page ranks and, you know, you- you’re selling these private label products, can you give us some quick takes as far as what you believe it really requires to be successful in this business. We’ve heard 2 million sellers, but maybe only 100,000 or so of them across the country are really killing it.
|
|
[00:24:00]
Manny Coats: |
That’s a good question. I would say … Okay. First of all, you got to have the right personality, right? You can’t be somebody that hits a failure or, uh, hits a wall and just says, “You know what? I quit.” I- If that were … If I were like that, I would’ve- I wouldn’t be in this business, because the very first product I launched failed. Okay? And it failed and- and in numerous different ways. And it was a passion product of mine.
|
| [00:24:30] |
, the second tip, I would say, which I also failed in is, you know, do a lot of research on products, and going back to what Will said, you know, you know, should somebody get into a competitive product, m- The product, my very first product was competitive, but it was something I’m like, “Cool. This is a really cool niche. This is a cool thing. I found a- a place I could source it.” And, you know, because I was so excited about it I didn’t really pay attention to all the details. So, do a lot of research on the products. Find things that make sense. You know, look at the analytics.
|
|
[00:25:00] |
It’s very difficult, especially if you’re starting out and you’ve got a 9 to 5 job and you’re trying to get into this business to have enough time to do everything so I would recommend the use of, of tools, you know. There’s a lot of free stuff out there as well that you can use, but, you know, if a tool can save you eight- If it takes two minutes for a tool to do something that takes you eight hours, than use that. Or hire a VA. You know? You can hire people for $4 dollars, $5 dollars an hour, you know, that can do eight hours of work for you …
|
| Jeff A.: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:25:30] |
Um, you know, what’s your time worth? So, start thinking about scaling. Do a lot- U-use those eight hours a day to learn. That’s the other thing is I’d say learn as much as possible. Listen to podcasts like yours. You know, talk to people. Go to events. Not just to hear people talking on stage, but to network. You know, kind of break out of your shell and, and talk to people. If you see somebody that’s interesting, you know, get in there and start talking to them because you’ll learn a lot.
|
|
I mean, we always say the deals and all that, and cool information in at the bar, right? When you- After the [crosstalk 00:25:48].
|
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| Jeff A.: |
Right. That’s right.
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:26:00] |
Yeah. So, you- Those would be the things I’d say, uh, to do. You know, educate yourself, try to, um, automate as much as possible through services or tools or whatever it is. You know, don’t be send- sending an email to every customer manually, right? U- Use something like a feedback genius or- There’s a million services out there to automate all that, so spend a little money and, uh, I mean, it’s a business, right? I’m surprised constantly by how cheap some of the sellers are. They’re like, “You know what? I’m not going to spend $29 bucks on this,” and it’s a business that they want to retire on. How do you do that?
|
|
Will M.:
[00:26:30] |
Yes. Exactly. If you opened up a storefront, you’re going to be paying tons of money from insurance to supply to the actual overhead. I mean, it’s ridiculous. And then when you can t- Look at Amazon and people don’t understand a thousand bucks or they don’t want to giveaway product, um, yeah.
|
| Manny Coats: |
(laughs)
|
| Will M.: |
You got to really reevaluate that.
|
|
Manny Coats:
[00:27:00] |
You got to break out of that mindset. And even things like photography. I- you know. I started off- I- I took a photo with my phone, you know, and it was pretty good and I- I had a little bit of artistic background so I was able to make it work, but it wasn’t … It’s not fanta- fantastic. It’s not like hiring, you know, a studio, somebody that has a really nice camera that has that depth of field and- and those things can make or break your product so, and that- that’s not cheap to get a good, you know, a good photographer. It’s not going to be $20 bucks like on Fiver of whatever. It’s- it’s going to be a little bit more.
|
|
[00:27:30] |
So I would say invest a little bit in your product. Think about it. Start with a budget also. This is- This is a killer, um. If you start- If you’re going into this with, you know, a thousand dollars to- to run your business it becomes super difficult to do it cause you got to buy inventory, you got to have enough inventory to- to do some giveaways or promotions, um, and if it starts to take off you’ve got to have your other order already placed so you got to have money to place that order. Otherwise, you stocked out, right? You run out of inventory. Now you place your order, you got to wait a month or two months or whatever it is, and it’s just a cycle that-
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| Jeff A.: |
And that could-
|
| Manny Coats: |
[crosstalk 00:27:44]
|
| Jeff A.: |
Exactly. Not to mention having to- to pay the FBA fees and then the- the referral fees, and all the other stuff that comes a long with it.
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| Manny Coats: |
Yeah.
|
|
Jeff A.:
[00:28:00] |
And so you- you really do have to- to- to give that some serious consideration. Will, this was huge, man. And, uh, Manny, you’ve been, uh, terrific and we know with pipes like yours, you really got to- to- to have your own podcast, I think. (laughs)
|
| Manny Coats: |
I know. I’m working on it.
|
| Will M.: |
(laughs)
|
| Jeff A.: |
I’m probably the 15th guy who’s cracked that joke in the last 30 days, but Manny, we really do appreciate it. All the best of, of luck and success to you and your, uh, your business. Uh, with everything that you’re doing and, uh, we hope that, you know, you’d be willing to join us again so we can continue our chat with you sometime in the future.
|
| Will M.: |
[crosstalk 00:28:22]
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| Manny Coats: |
Sounds good. I- I would love that. Thank you guys, for having me on the show. I appreciate it.
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| Jeff A.: |
There’s you go. [crosstalk 00:28:26] It’s Manny Coats. [crosstalk 00:28:27]. Yeah man.
|
| Manny Coats: |
Thank you.
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|
[00:28:30]
Jeff A.: |
And, uh, ampmpodcost. com, Will, is the site to go to, and you’re going to learn a lot from Manny. Um, he- he’s all over the internet. Look him up and if you can get out to one of the events that he and his team, uh, host, you really need to take advantage of it.
|
|
Will, great find, again, Will, on your part.
|
|
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Will M.:
[00:29:00] |
Yup. And in- To add to that is very important guys. Um, most of the things I’ve learned about Amazon, like Manny said, you learn at the bar or you’re hanging out with friends. I’ve been to events where I’ve learned things that 10 X’d my business because I’ve sat at the bar with somebody who’s doing 20 million.
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| Jeff A.: |
It’s like- W- w- Will, there’s a reason, man, they put all those cocktail napkins there.
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| Will M.: |
(laughs)
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| Jeff A.: |
It’s- it’s not to set your drink on, it’s for taking notes. I mean, that’s what they are.
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| Will M.: |
And get them drunk. Let them tell all.
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| Jeff A.: |
(laughs)
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| Will M.: |
(laughs)
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| Jeff A.: |
Well, wait a minute. We can’t actually tell people that, I don’t think. (laughs) But I understand what you’re saying. Could be drunk on the Coca-Cola or whatever the case may be.
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| Will M.: |
(laughs)
|
|
Jeff A.:
[00:29:30]
[00:30:00] |
But, uh, try not to put too much in there, but Will, no, seriously, what you say is absolutely true. You know, the people that you mix with, and uh, I could say that I’ve only been to, you know, one summit even so far in my short little Amazon tenure, uh, career here, and I’m still in touch with, uh, some of the people that attended and we’re just swapping ideas back and forth. We’ve got a, uh, closed Facebook group, and it’s just nite- nice to stay connected. To learn of each others’, you know, successes, no matter how big or small they are, to stay encouraged, and to bounce ideas off one another, and so, really, uh, great suggestion on- on your part and on Manny’s part.
|
|
Well, you know, it’s too bad. It’s unfortunate, we have to, uh, wrap this thing up but I really enjoyed myself, Will. Great job today on your part.
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Will M.:
[00:30:30] |
Yup. And if you guys, uh, want to get a discount on Helium 10, uh, go ahead and go over to fbamillionaires.com/helium10 and, uh, I would love for you to try that out. I’m pretty sure you want to be on the first page. Everybody does. If it’s not for the, the, the first place, or you want to be in the fourth place or sixth place, um, he can get you there. Um, in addition, we want you to go to fbamillionaires.com and sign up for the FBA Millionaires club. Get in the game. Lets 10 X it and crush it.
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Jeff A.:
[00:31:00] |
And don’t forget, also, too, uh, that while you’re, uh, out there be-bopping around you’re listening to our podcast, you’re over on iTunes. Make sure you give us a rating. Show us a little love, if you would. We would appreciate it, and by the way, you can also leave a comment there. Let us know how we’re doing. If there’s something that you would like us to cover, something that maybe we’re covering too much of if there is, uh, any kind of detailed information that maybe we’re not passing along that you think would make our show more interesting or help you in particular with your Amazon business. There might be others out there who feel exactly the same way, so please leave your comments, questions, uh, and, uh, give us a nice rating over on iTunes while you’re over there.
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|
Well, it’s been great. Thank you so much, sir.
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| Will M.: |
Thank you so much.
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| Jeff A.: |
That’s a wrap on this edition of FBA Millionaires. Jeff Allen, Will Moffett. Looking forward to seeing you again next time. Take care.
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| Will M.: |
Let’s go kill it guys.
|
FBAM6 Building With The Purpose of Selling With Kevin King
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Android | RSS
- Meet Kevin King
- Treating Amazon like a business
- Building for the exit
- Return on Investment
- Using data to find products
Check out Kevin at Freedom Ticket: https://freedomticket.com/web-reg
Also view Kevin’s 11 steps to finding a winning product
The Million Dollar Seller’s 11 steps to finding a winning product to sell on Amazon.com
| Jeff Allen: |
Why is Amazon hands down, the best opportunity for entrepreneurs today? What about that myth that you can strike it rich practically overnight on Amazon? Well, our guest, who has 18 years of experience selling on Amazon will answer those questions and tell you why the majority of Amazon sellers fail in just their first few months. From the West Coast to the world, this is FBA Millionaires …
|
| [00:00:30] |
Welcome to FBA Millionaires. This is the program that is geared toward helping you pursue your goal of earning a seven figure income selling professionally on Amazon. Hi, I’m Jeff Allen and I’m thrilled once again to be back with my resident expert, Amazon sales machine, Mr. Will Moffett. Will, hello.
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|
[00:01:00]
Will Moffett: |
Hey Jeff, thanks for um, coming on once again with us. And uh, it’s a, little gloomy out here in Northern California, the weather. It looks like it might rain.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Ah, yeah-
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| Will Moffett: |
So um …
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| Jeff Allen: |
See, fall is in the air, finally after a, a hot summer. And now we have like, this semblance of normalcy. Cool weather, it’s gotta be a relief, right?
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| Will Moffett: |
Definitely a relief. And um, this is the good sleeping weather. But we don’t wanna sleep too much ’cause we got a lot a money (laughs) to get, right?
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| Jeff Allen: |
Oh, that’s right.
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:01:30] |
And that’s why we got our uh, our guest, Kevin King here. Kevin King is uh, a very good friend. Uh, we met about a year ago at the Prosper Show. And uh, Kevin just has a, a wealth of knowledge. He’s a very experienced Amazon seller. The guy is just awesome.
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| Jeff Allen: |
I’ve never said, “Hello,” to Kevin before. So this is kinda my first time and, hi, Kevin, you got a rookie on this end. How are you?
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| Kevin King: |
I’m doing good. How are you doing today?
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| Jeff Allen: |
I’m doing fine. You said you were in Austin? Is that correct?
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| Kevin King: |
I am in Austin. Austin, Texas, the heart a Texas.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Well, I didn’t mean to cut you off, I, I just had to get that out of the way, saying my hellos to Kevin. Please continue.
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|
[00:02:00]
Will Moffett: |
No, no worries, Jeff, I, I was just about done.
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| Jeff Allen: |
(laughs)
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| Will Moffett: |
I was just giving Kevin so many compliments that I, I think it’s better if we just hear Kevin and you’ll soon see how good Kevin is. We just wanted to kinda learn a little bit more about you with the audience and how did you get started with Amazon? How did it all come about?
|
|
Kevin King:
[00:02:30] |
Well I’ve been uh, I’ve been doing eCommerce since uh, the days before there was even a Google, back when Alta Vista reigned and uh, Yahoo reigned. I had [crosstalk 00:02:27] websites back then, so I’ve been, I’ve been involved in that for a long time. I started selling on Amazon probably about 1999, year 2000, something like that. But not, there, there was no FBA Program then. Not like we know it now. I used Amazon almost like a, almost like a glorified eBay, you know how Amazon has that Sell Yours?
|
| Will Moffett: |
Yes.
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| Kevin King: |
So I was, I was one of those hijackers that would go on someone’s, some other product’s listing and I had an old DVD or-
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs)
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|
Kevin King:
[00:03:00] |
Old, old printer or something in the office that I wanted to sell. And I would, I would sell it that way. And then uh, shortly after that, I opened another business outside of Amazon, where I sell calendars. Uh, it’s a seasonal business and we specialize in a certain type of calendar and have a huge mailing list, about 7,000 guys that uh, you know, still have old school guys that send in checks and money orders, you know, in envelopes. So uh, uh, that’s a seasonal business but I also wholesale some of those calendars. We make them over in uh, in Korea for about a dollar and a half, uh landed and sell them for 20 bucks. Um, and wholesale them to Amazon for about nine bucks.
|
|
[00:03:30] |
Uh, and so Amazon has been buying those from me through a program called Advantage, Amazon Advantage. It’s kinda like vendor, a vendor central account, but it’s only for books and media and DVD. It’s a, it’s a little bit separate, it’s a little bit older than the Vendor Central. And so I get, this time a year, I get purchase orders, uh, from them uh, it’s on consignment. So I get purchase orders twice a week and I send, send in products. So I’ve been selling that way on Amazon for a long time.
|
|
[00:04:00] |
But as an FBA seller, um, I’ve been selling since 19, uh, 2015. I started it, my first product went live in August of 2015 as an FBA seller. Um, I’ve got five brands on Amazon. Uh, launched uh, five brands at once. I have a range of products from private label products that I get out a China. Some stuff, I get out of the US. I’ve created um, custom products that I’ve actually spent 30 or $40,000 uh, creating a mold and tooling and stuff. And actually sell those on Amazon under one of my brands. Uh, no, actually two of the brands are, are totally custom products, um, like that.
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|
[00:04:30]
[00:05:00] |
And so I’ve been doing that since uh, 2015. Um, I’m probably gonna pare down one or two of those brands into about three right now and, and focus on those three. And in addition to the uh, the Amazon, I sell in Walmart. I sell on Shopify, my own Shopify site. I, I sell on Ebay. And those are small compared to what I do on Amazon. Uh, and then I have, like I said, the calendar business, which is completely separate. Um, then uh, it’s a re, it’s not only a wholesale to like Amazon and some other stores, but like the calendars.com, little kiosks you see in the malls and stuff, I sell to them. Uh, and then I have a mailing list. We sent out actually a little catalog, a little printed catalog uh, to those 7,000 guys and, you’d be surprised-
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Hey, Kevin, let me jump in. How much, you say you have five brands, currently on Amazon. How much uh, wholesale do you actually purchase? Do you maintain a lot a wholesale inventory for your retail customers there on Amazon? Anything like that at, at all? Or, or are you predominantly a private label?
|
| Kevin King: |
Probably, no, not, most of my sales are private label. So, the wholesale is just uh, pretty much the only thing I do, wholesale on Amazon, is through the Advantage Program, that’s the calendars, so I don’t-
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| Jeff Allen: |
That’s right, calendars. Okay.
|
|
[00:05:30]
Kevin King:
[00:06:00] |
Um, FBA, now I do, do, some of my products, I do wholesale to other companies, like Zulily, and uh, Touch of Modern. Uh, Chewy.com, which is a big pet place. Um, I do, do direct wholesale to them. But, to be honest um, uh, you know I looked at retail as well but, the, the margins are so much smaller. Um, and the, the, the turn times in the inventory requirements were so much higher, it takes a lot more cash. So I, I’m just more comfortable just going through the FBA model now where I’m more in control. Uh, and I can kinda dictate how much I send in and what my inventory levels are. And it’s a more of a comfort level for me than having uh, purchase orders where you gotta ship to here or maybe 200 here or whatever then sit back and wait. Uh I, I just prefer it.
|
|
[00:06:30] |
Luckily, I’m one of the old school accounts on Amazon. Uh, I know, you know, Will here with UpFund is, it’s, it’s a great program to uh, to raise money for Amazon Sellers. I’m sure we’ll talk about that in a little bit. But, I, I’m one of the old school guys where I get daily with, daily uh, withdrawals from Amazon. I don’t have to use any of these other third party companies or I can just go and hit a button uh, every 24 hours and take whatever’s out of my account, which is kinda nice from a cashflow point of view. But that’s because I’ve been selling for so long.
|
|
[00:07:00] |
And then in addition to the Amazon stuff, uh, I’m also a mentor in the Illuminati Mastermind, which a Mastermind for high level sellers, people doing over 25k a month. Uh, we do a couple big events a year. Uh, we have one coming up in Hawaii in uh, January. Uh, and then I also just recently launched um, something called a Freedom Ticket, uh, for new sellers, so for people who are new to the business or just starting out. Uh, because there’s so much training out there and everybody’s teaching the same thing.
|
|
[00:07:30] |
Uh, everything, everybody’s saying, find something lightweight that you can air freight over, fits in a shoe box, you know, blah, blah, blah. And so you have so many people just trying to do this exact same thing and uh, only about 5% of them ever succeed. Um, because everybody’s doing the same thing. You know, so I, I created a course that’s completely different. It was shot live with an audience um, and um, I just have the first people finishing up the first uh, it’s an eight week course, they’re just finishing up the, the online course now. So uh, have that as well, so I, I’m uh, keeping pretty busy.
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Will Moffett:
[00:08:00] |
See, that’s what I like about you, Kevin, the diversity. You, you, you look at this as a true business. I mean even, so everybody sources from China. Uh, you, but Kevin comes out with Korea. And you know, it’s just different things. You know, it’s not, it’s not all about FBA. But it’s all about also um, doing all the other type of deals that could be related to importing and, and, and uh, getting product circulated um, whether it’s through WalMart.com, FBA Amazon, or eBay. Um, that is really the mindset that separates the good from that 5% that you were just talking about, Kevin.
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Kevin King:
[00:08:30] |
Yeah, there’s, there’s a lot a people that, that see Amazon you know, and a lot of these courses, there, you know, there’s hundreds of courses out there. Everybody and their dog is teaching you how to sell on Amazon. And most of them flat out suck. Um, and I’m not just saying that ’cause I have a course. They just suck. I’ve never done any of those courses um, myself, but you know, from, I have seen access, gotten access to them and I’ve seen what they’ve taught.
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|
[00:09:00] |
But, um, the problem is, most people see this as a, a get rich quick, you know, all the courses teach you, quit your day job and, and uh, retire next week and look at this guy who’s doing a million dollars a month. Here’s a screen shot that may be fake or my not be fake of his, of his sales. And, and you know, look at this person here, they were, you know, they were destitute with over $200,000 on their credit card. Now a year later, you know, uh, they’re taking vacations everywhere.
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|
[00:09:30] |
That’s what they sell. They sell this dream. I mean, some people do hit the lottery. You know, I can go down to my local 7-Eleven and buy a lottery ticket and I might win. And it’s the same thing with some of those people. Those are the people that bought that winning lottery ticket. But your odds of that happening are next to none. Um, now four years ago on Amazon as an FBA, it was ripe for the taking. And there was a lot of people, three or four years ago, where there wasn’t competition, Amazon hadn’t tightened down on the rules and they were able to get in and do pretty good.
|
|
[00:10:00] |
Um, but these days, you have to treat it like a business. And, the, this is not a get rich quick. It is a way to making money. It is a way to create a lifestyle for yourself. Uh, it is a way to get away from working for the man. But it’s, it’s not a get rich quick business. And if you treat it like a business and a real business, uh, you can do well. And that’s part of the problem, is that a lot a people that get into this Amazon business don’t treat it like a business. You know, that, I think Amazon said there’s uh, last year uh, in 2016, there’s about a hun, roughly a hundred, close to 100,000 people that actually did over $100,000 in sales as a third party seller on Amazon. That’s not, that’s in a year. You know, I do that, more than that in a month.
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|
But, that’s not a lot a people compared to what’s there, two, two and a half million sellers, third party sellers on Amazon?
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah.
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|
Kevin King:
[00:10:30] |
So as you can see, that most of the people that are selling on Amazon or not doing a whole lot a business. But, depending on what your goals are, if your goals are to do this on the side and you’re working your normal job and you just want some vacation money or something to pay off some student debt or whatever, you know, it can be great. But if you want to treat it like a real business, you gotta treat it like a real business. And most people getting into this that don’t have the business experience, uh, or they don’t treat it like a real business. And the problem is, everybody’s following the same little formula that’s, that’s been parroted. And there’s so much misinformation out there on a lot of these Facebook groups that’s just becomes gospel that’s just absolutely not true. And people start believing it.
|
|
[00:11:00] |
And I see it all the time. People take courses, they come to events. There’s a paralysis. Everybody’s like, “Did I make the right choice? Did I do the right thing?” Uh, they’re afraid, like you said, that, you know, to import something, “I’m gonna send $5,000 to China, what if they rip me off?” You know, I’m, uh, I gotta use uh, send by PayPal or I gotta use a escrow service or whatever. They’re just so scared. Uh, and those are the people that aren’t really going into this like, as a business.
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| Will Moffett: |
You’ve seen a lot a Amazon Sellers come and go. You’ve been in the game for a very long time. Tell us, where’s the real money to be made. What do these guys know that the rest of us should know?
|
|
[00:11:30]
Kevin King: |
The real money in this, in this business is not in the daily cashflow. The real money is building a business, working your ass off for a couple years or maybe more. Taking just a little bit out if you, if you can afford to take just a little bit out. And building it up and then selling it. And that’s where the real money’s made.
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| Will Moffett: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
|
Kevin King:
[00:12:00] |
I mean, I know some, a, a couple that recently, the husband, it’s a husband and wife team and they were doing baby products. Um, and they, he kept his day job for two years. She worked from home, raising the kids and worked on the business. And they didn’t take any money out to live on or to go on vacations. They just kept rolling it back over and over. And two and a half years later, they just sold it for uh, $3.8 million.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Wow.
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| Kevin King: |
So I mean, that’s where the, the real money is. So they can then use that leverage and say, “Okay, let’s do this again. Let’s take half a million of it,” let’s say, “And reinvest in uh,” and that’s what they’re doing, “Into another brand.” You know, totally, they have a non compete, so they’ll invest in a totally different brand, maybe it’s beauty or you know, something else, but they got 3.3 million in the bank, you know. And they’re set. Their kids are set for college and whatever.
|
|
[00:12:30] |
So if you treat it like that, look at the long term goal. And that’s where it’s at in this business. And, and so many people, they don’t understand it as a business. You see on the Facebook groups and, and different places, people say, “I got 40% profit margin, 60% profit margins.” And every time I see one of those, that tells me that’s an amateur. That tells me that’s someone that doesn’t really know their numbers. And most people doing this business, unfortunately, don’t really know their numbers.
|
|
[00:13:00] |
I was at a, at a big meet up last night of Amazon Sellers here in Austin. It’s an in-person meet up we do every other Wednesday. And there was like eight of us there and everybody’s doing over seven figures a month. And we were, this subject even came up, like we think that most people selling on Amazon really aren’t making money. Uh, they’re, they’re, Amazon’s the only one making the money. Uh, you, we’re, we’re footing them. And people have cashflow and they say, “I got $30,000 a month in sales on Amazon.” You know, “I got 50% profit margins.” But once you factor in all your costs, all your software cost, all your returns and everything, you know, if you’re hitting a 20% gross profit margin, you’re doing good.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah.
|
|
Kevin King:
[00:13:30]
[00:14:00] |
Uh, at the end of the day. And most people don’t know that stuff. And, and the other problem is in the business, it’s very cash intensive, as Will knows. And that’s why UpFund is such a great company to use. The problem most people, and I’ve made this mistake myself and it’s gotten me in some trouble sometimes, you can’t look at profit. It’s not, this business, because it’s so cash intensive, because you, if you’re, especially if you’re ordering from China, uh, you know, you gotta pay 30% up front. Uh, then wait a month for it to be made. Then 70% before it’s shipped. And, depending on how it’s shipped, it’s either coming by air or sea. You know, you could have a, a three month window there where you’re tying up a bunch a money before it even gets to Amazon. And then you gotta sell it. And if it doesn’t sell quick, you know, you’re in trouble. So inventory turns are crucial in this business. And cashflow is crucial.
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|
[00:14:30] |
But the thing, the number that people make a mistake is, they look at profit. And profit doesn’t matter. Profit’s a nice number on paper, and that, that, that might make a difference when you sell it, but what matters is ROI, return on investment. And that’s what you gotta pay attention to in this business if you’re gonna succeed in scale, is your ROI. Because you can have a 30% profit margin but with a 10% ROI. Um, and so that can, that’ll kill you, that’ll crush you. Uh, and that stalls a lot a people in this business uh, is the cashflow and the ROI, so, you gotta pay attention to that stuff.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:15:00] |
We’re joined by Kevin King on this program. This is FBA Millionaires here with Jeff Allen and uh, Will Moffett in Northern California. And Kevin King, joining up from Austin, Texas today. Everything you said there resonated with me very uh, uh very heavily. Because I am kind of just, kind of getting my feet wet in the, the whole FBA uh, environment. You talked about this not being a get rich quick scheme. And I think a lot a people get, get into this business because they think it is going to be a get rich quick scheme. “Look, I just sold uh, a, a, a box of these lunch uh, pails or something like that the other day on eBay. I’m pretty good at this.” But this is something that uh, that people really need to look at and evaluate.
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|
[00:15:30] |
But another thing you touched on is the fact that a lot of people don’t see this as a means to an end. But you do. You think that this is an opportunity to build a business for the purpose of selling it. So, I guess uh, a two prong question. Number one, how important is it to have some business knowledge, at least business book knowledge, number one. And number two, uh, uh how important is it that, that we shouldn’t look at our FBA uh, business as a lifestyle business, but rather as a business that we need to build with the end in mind?
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|
Kevin King:
[00:16:00] |
Well, I think from the first question on, on business experience, I think it definitely helps. Uh, is it absolutely, 100% necessary? I don’t think it’s 100% necessary. As long as you’re disciplined and committed to it, and you’re committed to learning and understand you’re gonna make a few mistakes along the way. But some of the good courses out there will teach you that, like the Freedom Ticket, I, I go over all that stuff that most people skip over, all the little details that everybody always glosses over the uh, the, the let’s get, uh, here’s how to make a product sell, you know, a million dollars a year on Amazon. But they forget all the little details that you gotta know uh, to, to actually get to that point.
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|
[00:16:30]
[00:17:00] |
Uh, so I think it does definitely help. But, but is it absolutely necessary? No, uh, but if you’re sharp and you’re disciplined, you can definitely do it. As far as the means to an end, some people look at this, it can be a cashflow business. I mean, some people, they like to ride the seasonal trends or, you know, the, the hot trends like the, the spinners or something like that. And you can, you can make quick cash. You know, there’s a guy that sold, during the eclipse, back in August, the big solar eclipse that came across the US, he, he got in. He’d been selling just 10 grand a month, 15 grand a month or something on Amazon, nothing major. But he, he was smart enough to foresee that people were gonna need these sunglasses uh, to watch the eclipse. And that’s he, he made sure he got a certified factory from the US, not some Chinese factory that doesn’t have the right uh, certifications for the eyes or, or whatever. And you know, he did $4.8 million in a month Amazon in sales.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Wow.
|
|
Kevin King:
[00:17:30] |
Total sales. I can say, I’ve been doing this, you know, like I said, for 30 some odd years as an [inaudible 00:17:23] and I, I don’t think there’s ever been anything in the last hundred years that’s been as great an opportunity as what Amazon is. No other business out there can you really leverage the power of a marketplace like Amazon. It’s not just the US. I mean, the opportunities in Amazon are beyond the US. There’s 11 other markets.
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|
[00:18:00] |
Um, and, and some people don’t even do the US. I met a guy last night, you know his, his, whole, he’s doing millions of dollars selling in Europe. And, and he lives in the US. He’s just not doing the US. So there’s opportunity uh, out there. And there’s never been a greater opportunity. I mean, I think if, I, I, these numbers aren’t exact, so don’t hold me to them, but if something like, if you took $10,000 right now and you put it into the, uh, one of the best mutual funds that gives the best returns out there. You know, one of Moody’s highest rated mutual funds, in three years, you would have roughly, on average, about 15 or $16,000. That’s a pretty good return.
|
|
[00:18:30] |
Uh, but you take that same $10,000 and if you don’t have to take the money out to live on, you know, if you can just keep reinvesting it and you can turn your inventory at least four times a year and just keep adding products. And so by the end of the third year, you maybe have 10 products in your portfolio that are all doing okay, doing singles or doubles, you’ll have, that 10 grand will turn into about 160 grand. Um, so there’s no better return on your investment than Amazon Businesses right now.
|
|
[00:19:00] |
And so a lot of investment banks and a lot of big bank, big people are seeing that opportunity but they don’t wanna do all the dirty, the nitty gritty dirty work. So they’ll come in, like we talked about, these people that just sold for 3.8 million, they had a skill set that could get it to that level. But then to take it to the next level, to get into the stores, to have the cashflow, to finance, you know, to underwrite a, a Buy Baby Buy purchase order and write it out and, and all that, they, they weren’t at that level. So these, these investments companies are coming in and seeing this great opportunity. And like, “Look, we don’t want to do the nitty gritty, but they’ve proven it. They’ve proven there’s demand and they build an audience, they built a brand. We’ll take it from here, give you 3.8 million and take it to the next level.”
|
|
And so there’s great opportunity with that right now on the Amazon Business. Uh, but you gotta treat it like, like a business.
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|
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Jeff Allen:
[00:19:30] |
The perspectives of Kevin King, long time eCommerce expert going back to the early days of Amazon. And I mean early. Now an advocate of selling on Amazon the FBA way. I’m Jeff Allen with Will Moffett. And coming up, we’re going to find out where the real money is, in building your Amazon Business when FBA Millionaires with guest, Kevin King returns after this …
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recording:
[00:20:00] |
Getting the funding you need to grow your business can be challenging. But our friends at UpFund make it super easy. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds. And have your inventory funded in just days. Check out UpFund.io to get started today. That’s UpFund.io …
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Jeff Allen:
[00:20:30] |
Stay on top of what we’re doing and thinking and join our mailing list to get expert tips and advice, special offers, and be among the first to hear about upcoming guests and future topics of interest here on FBA Millionaires. Become a member of the FBA Millionaires Club. You don’t have to be a millionaire to join. You just need to have the desire. So sign up now and sign up free at FBAMillionaires.com.
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Jeff Allen and Will Moffett back with you and our guest, Kevin King.
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Will Moffett:
[00:21:00] |
Kevin, you’ve highlighted something very important here. Um, there’s situations where approaching investors, whether they may be angel investors or even private equity firms, could take your Amazon Business to the next level. But some people don’t feel that way. They feel that maybe uh, you know, there may be too much competition, saturation, or they may have given up. Or, they feel like they can do it all alone. Uh, what’s wrong in those situations?
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Kevin King:
[00:21:30] |
So many people think they have a great idea. And there’s so many small businesses out there that say, and big businesses, too, you know, big corporations, that, “Ah, Amazon doesn’t work. You know, we put our products on Amazon and uh, we, it’s just not much of our business. We’re not gonna focus on it.” That’s ’cause they’re freaking doing it wrong. Completely wrong.
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[00:22:00] |
There’s a huge opportunity right now for, in corporate America, for these big companies that are, you know, these 10, 15, 20, $100 million dollars companies, that need an Amazon expert that really knows Amazon, to come in and show them the light. Uh, and I’ve talked to many people that, that, uh a couple people that have done that. And it’s amazing what, what you can do. And but, it’s all about product selection. So if someone just starting out, like yourself um, Jeff, is you’ve gotta use, the, there’s, Amazon doesn’t give you the data uh, directly. You’ve gotta use indirect and third party tools to get the data.
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[00:22:30] |
But the trick about making money on Amazon is not having the next brilliant idea, the next best mousetrap. It’s, it’s, it’s finding out where the demand is and where the opportunity is, that’s, that it’s not meeting that demand. Or whoever’s meeting that demand is failing because uh, there’s something faulty with their product and stepping in and taking their place. I mean, Amazon is like a, a major, like a freeway with cars going by at 60 miles an hour. And all you gotta do is find that right freeway and that right corner, and just stand out there with your card reader uh, you know, just in your palm and let the cars, as they go by, swipe their, swipe their credit card.
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[00:23:00] |
I mean, that’s, that’s how easy it can be on Amazon. But you gotta, you gotta do the homework up front and find the right product. So, the trick to making money on Amazon is finding the, the where the demand is on Amazon, finding out where you, eh, within that demand, where the opportunity is to either improve a product or to step in, and, and fill a gap. And, and, and just lay down in front of it. And that’s all you gotta do. Uh, and just repeat that process.
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Uh, I mean, people can over complicate it, and there is a lot a work. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of details and there’s a lot a work, a lot a things to know. But you don’t need to over complicate it with, “I need to have Facebook sites and all …” There’s so many shiny objects out there.
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs) Very true.
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| Kevin King: |
You, you don’t need to chase them, you don’t need to chase them all.
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Will Moffett:
[00:23:30]
[00:24:00] |
That, that’s so true um, Kevin. You know, uh, I, I just love you, man. You, you have, you, you make it simple. You make it plain. It, you make it less complicated. Because at the end of the, the day, I, I love your example how, how you look at it like baseball. I actual, I actually look at it um, the same way. Um, I use the reference of stocks. Uh, chose product like, products like stocks. You know, I, I follow the, the product life cycle when, when a product is, is, is paying me well, I um, I, I write the product life cycle. And, and when it drops, I drop the product. Uh and, and the product may come back next year. You know, but I look at it just like stocks.
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[00:24:30] |
And i was just listening to this uh, video on Warren Buffett yesterday. And he was talking about how he um, actually looks at the market and looks at companies to acquire. And, and, um, he doesn’t buy the stock based upon the current price but he looks at what’s the value of the stock or, or, or what’s the future, he believes the future value of the stock is. And, and he’ll buy based upon that. And, and I love your example of, of, of the, the, you were saying the seasonal products or um, um, making money uh, with different products and at different times of the year.
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[00:25:00] |
And, and um, the, there’s a lot a things to look at. And it’s all about really just looking at the market, looking at the products, evaluating um, what’s to come. And, and, and what uh, uh, what can you bring to the table with these products and, and you’re so right, Kevin, um, you’re, you’re dead on, man. And that, and that’s why uh, I, I just had to have you on the show.
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Kevin King:
[00:25:30] |
Yeah, I mean, there’s, there’s a lot a ways to make money on Amazon. It’s, there’s not one right way. There’s, I mean, there’s not, there’s wholesale where you, you do wholesale. You, there’s the, uh, retail arbitrage. There’s online arbitrage. There’s FBA, third party. There’s merchant fulfill. There’s being an affiliate and setting up affiliate sites and driving traffic. There’s so many different ways that you can leverage the marketplace of Amazon. And there’s no right way or, or necessarily best way. It’s whatever you’re most comfortable with and whatever your, your longterm goal is.
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Uh, and there’s some businesses, like if you build a brand, eh, and you can actually sell it. Now, if those baby people, if they hadn’t a build a brand, if they were just selling random shit. If they were like, “I’m selling a, um, you know screw drivers. And I’ve selling uh, garlic presses. And I’m selling uh, just you know, odds and ends, you know, like a general store.”? It’s much more difficult to sell a business like that uh, because it’s actually not a brand, doesn’t have a following, doesn’t have somewhat.
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| [00:26:00] |
So if you really want to make the money at this, the best thing is to build, is to, is build a brand. And you may not be able to do that in the beginning. It may be just more about cashflow in the beginning. And, and you’re getting your feet wet. But as you evolve, you’re gonna have to start thinking about, build, eh, creating a brand and building this as a brand.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Hey, Kevin-
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| Kevin King: |
Yeah.
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Jeff Allen:
[00:26:30] |
Let me, let me jump in here real quick. You know, you talk about building a brand. And so often, uh, the brands themselves are tied to the very products that they sell. I mean, Coca Cola, take that, for example. It’s one of the oldest brands here in the United States. But it’s one of the most recognizable around the entire world. And what did they do right? For so many years, they made one thing and one thing only. They made Coca Cola.
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[00:27:00] |
So, my question to you is this, you are somebody with uh, uh, uh quite a bit of experience in uh, actually finding these products. And we don’t need to know exactly what it is that, that you have and that you’ve sold and what’s your private label. But what it is that we’re interested in is, uh, how do we aspire to be a Kevin King? How do we, how do we pick the right product for us? What’s a good uh, a maybe some rules of thumb that we, as uh, those who are developing our FBA uh, businesses and trying to uh, incorporate private label products as part of our business, how do we find the right products to sell?
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| Kevin King: |
It’s all about numbers. I mean, too many people get emotionally tied to a product. It’s their baby. No matter what it is, or whether it was their idea or they found a private label product that they’re gonna put their name on. And they stay with it too long. It’s like, kinda like Will was saying earlier, sometimes you gotta bail on a stock. And people just get too emotionally tied to products. So that’s the number one mistake I see is they’re not willing to let it go.
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| [00:27:30] |
Um, but, if you, if this is a very much, if you, if you don’t have this, you need to get someone on your team or a partner that does. You need analytical skills. If you are able to look at the numbers using Amazon data and third party data, that’s where the money is made in this. Is, it’s strictly black and white. It’s numbers. And so it doesn’t matter what you sell or what brand you build. If you can just find that, that hole where those numbers are.
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[00:28:00] |
Now, it does help if you know something about what you’re selling. So, uh, you don’t, but you don’t have to. Like, for example, I’m a guy. I have a beauty line. I don’t know the freaking first thing about putting on mascara or eye liner or using a makeup mirror to, you know, pop zits or whatever the hell they do.
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| Jeff Allen: |
(laughs)
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Kevin King:
[00:28:30] |
I, I, I don’t know. I don’t know the first thing about it. So it’s, it’s diffi, more difficult for me to actually write a description and write a bulletin to try to appeal to that market. But you can hire that out. And, and so, so from a comfort level, if it’s something you know about, if you, if you’re into cars, maybe it’s gonna be better for you to sell automotive accessories. Or maybe if you’re into pets and you know a lot about dogs, maybe it’s good for you to sell dog stuff.
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But don’t stick to that. I mean, that makes it easier. It makes it more comfortable for you. But that may not be the, the, the best way. The best way is to take the data from these third party tools and what Amazon gives you and analyze it. And some of that data, you have to pay for. You know, this is not free. I mean, I recommend that people start in this business, you know, you hear, “How much do I need to start?” And some people says, “Awe, I started with 100 bucks.” Or, “I started with 500 bucks.”
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[00:29:00] |
Or, and I would say, “Yeah, you might have. But if, if you’re successful and you’re actually selling a million dollars a year, now, uh, in month two, you’re going to your rich uncle and getting 50 grand or you’re taking money out of your IRA or you’re going to someone like Will and UpFund it. You were getting money from somewhere.” Because it, this is a cash intensive business.
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[00:29:30] |
Uh, so I always tell people when you start, you need at least two and a half times your initial inventory. So, if you found this great product that you’re gonna go after. And you think this is the one, and like Will was saying, uh, you don’t need, you can put together a bunch of singles and you know, I, my products, you know, there’s something on Amazon called BSR. It stands for Best Seller Rank. And a lot a people focus on their BSR. And the lower the number, the more you sell.
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[00:30:00] |
I don’t like my BSRs to get below about 4,000 because it becomes too competitive. So I like to stay in the four to 10, 15,000 range, because I sell, that’s still selling five, 10, 15, 20 units a day on Amazon. And I’m totally happy with that. Um, I don’t need something that’s selling 100 or 200 because at those, at those margins, you’re, there’s a lot more competition. You’re cutting your margins down to where you’re making a dollar or something, maybe, on every one you sell. Um, I just don’t like to play that game.
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[00:30:30] |
And so I tell people that, coming into this, you need at least two and a half times your initial inventory order. So if, let’s say you found a product that’s gonna cost a dollar, just to make the math easy. Um, that’s gonna cost you a dollar to get out a China and get landed into the US. Well, you need 2500 bucks to start this business. Because you’re gonna need that first, probably you’re gonna have to order about a thousand units. So that’s $1,000. So you’ve got 1500 bucks left. You’re gonna have to run some sponsored ads on Amazon. You’re gonna have to do some promos. You’re gonna have to give some away. You’re gonna have to do some tactics to get noticed. You can’t just put something up on Amazon and then they start buying unless you’re the only one that has that. And that’s, that’s, and it’s in super high demand. That’s just rare.
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[00:31:00] |
If you’re successful, those, those first thousand are gonna start selling and you’re gonna need to order more so you don’t run out of a stock. Because that can kill you on Amazon, too. So you’re gonna have to go back to the factory and say, “Hey, I need a thousand more.” And they’re gonna want money up front. And you haven’t been paid from the first ones yet. So it’s a cash, you have to work and turn your money. And to, to build it. And if you have the right ROI, you can scale it pretty quickly. If you don’t have a good ROI, you’re gonna be stuck with debt and loans and, and just slow growth.
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And so that uh, that’s what I recommend on, on people when they’re picking, is eh, I recommend you look at the numbers and don’t get emotionally tied to anything. Treat it like stocks. You know, you, you when you buy stocks, you don’t always buy a stock because that’s your favorite company. You buy it because, like Will said, like Will said with Buffett says, you think it’s going up and the future looks good. And you gotta treat the products on Amazon the same way.
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[00:31:30]
Will Moffett: |
Oh, man, this, this is exciting stuff. Um, what’s the number on software or tool that you would recommend to help connects the Amazon Sellers uh, ROI or their bottom line. Because I know, we can all use like, eight different softwares or different tools. But if you could think of one that, that, that you just say, hands down, I must have, what would that be?
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Kevin King:
[00:32:00] |
The one third party tool I would probably say, I mean, I, I like Hello Profit or, or SellX or ManageByStats. They all do the same thing. Um, to, to actually, ’cause Amazon doesn’t give you good reporting. So as a seller, you need additional data and de, and I like what they do to actually drill down into uh, to what you’re really making. ‘Cause when you just look at your reports on Amazon or bring them into QuickBooks, it doesn’t give you the whole picture. So they break it down pretty good.
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[00:32:30] |
But then as far as a tool to actually use to sell on Amazon, and do research and find list, and create your listings and, and all the kind a stuff, the, the Helium 10 package um, uh, suite of tools is probably the best one uh, to actually, to, to go for because there’s so many different tools in there. That’s really will help you. And their keyword tool, called Cerebral, which is relatively new, is, is I think by far the most accurate.
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[00:33:00] |
And then the other one that’s really good for doing a, a research is uh, you know, a lot a people use Jungle Scout or Unicorn Smasher. There’s several that give these estimates and they’re just guesses of, of what products sell. But you can use them to get estimates. But I don’t find them to be very accurate at all. The most accurate one, I find is, is Market Intelligence. Uh and it’s by Viral Launch. And it’s like, 20 bucks a month, I think. But that one has historical data. So let’s say you’re gonna, you can see where the peaks are and the valleys are over the last couple years.
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[00:33:30] |
So you know that, say you’re selling a Halloween product, you know that the day after Labor Day, people start buying Halloween. You can actually see the sales spike and you know, okay, I better have my inventory here. And you know that on October 29th, Halloween sales stop completely online. Or whatever. So you know exactly, you know, and you can see it for Christmas or you can see it for Mothers Day and or, you can see even other products like fitness products or, or some supplements, you know, January and February are huge. And you can get ideas of the spikes. Like, you can see uh, you know, the average in this category of, over January, the sales double because everybody’s making New Years resolutions or whatever. So you’d better make sure you have the inventory to cover that.
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So that’s another really good tool as well. I mean, I, I have about 15 different tools. I probably pay about a thousand bucks a month for software tools. But, those three, if you had to ss, would, would be the ones that I would say are essential.
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[00:34:00]
Will Moffett:
[00:34:30] |
I would have to agree with you. We’re gonna actually, actually also have many coats on along with Guy, [inaudible 00:34:03] um to hear about that software that, that you were talking about. Because I’ve, I’ve, I’ve been exposed to it, but I would love to hear more about how the software helps Amazon Sellers. In addition to the, to the Market Intelligence, I’ve, I’ve tested that. Um, KC Software uh, Viral Launch is a very great company. I recommend that also, guys. Um, this, this, this is some vale, very valuable information. Um, whether you’re a new seller or a experienced seller. You’re a million dollar seller, $5 million seller, we want to get you to that $15 million, $30 million mark.
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Go to the website, FBAMillionaires.com. Send us any questions you may have. Any uh, recommendations on, on things you would like to talk about. Um, Kevin …
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| Kevin King: |
Yeah?
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| Will Moffett: |
Hey, how can we find out how to take your course?
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Kevin King:
[00:35:00] |
Appreciate that, Will. If you’re new or just beginning uh, you can go to FreedomTicket.com and there’s a free webinar there you can watch. That’ll give you some ideas and then uh, you can sign up after that. I offer uh, some one-on-one mentoring as part of one of the packages on that. But, 60 modules over eight weeks that’ll break it, that’ll break everything down for you in detail. A lot more detail than other courses, including all the business fundamentals of LLCs and uh, all that kind a stuff that you’re gonna need to know as well as sourcing products on Amazon and launching products and how to run ads and all that.
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[00:35:30] |
And then if you’re, if you’ve been selling for a while and you’re doing at least 25k a month in sales, uh, do the Illuminati Masterminds, IlluminatiMastermind.com, which is a, a monthly training, high level training with an advanced marketing strategies. If you’re new, that’s, it’s not for you. It’s too advanced. I mean, some new people do it anyway. Uh, but you’re gonna get the most from it if you’re already selling on Amazon. And it’s a monthly training where I train and then we bring on guests that talk about some high level stuff. Um, that’s, that can really, one little tip off a there, you know, if you’re doing $100 thousand a month, you know, one tip off there can give you another 20 grand a month in sales or something sometimes, you know, from what we’re doing.
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| [00:36:00] |
So it, it’s, those are the two ways. Or um, you can like me on Facebook, AMC Marketers, uh, my handle on Facebook.
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Jeff Allen:
[00:36:30] |
Well, Kevin King, this is been uh, a very super charged half hour show. Man, you have got some energy, my friend. Uh, we probably have a lot more that we could talk about here. And one thing I think would be kind of neat is to have you back on the program again here, Kevin King. Uh, here in the future. And have you on the show and actually kind of maybe delve into a topic. We wanted to learn a lot about you today on this particular addition of the program. Kind of how you got involved in, and, and how you see the Amazon FBA way as uh, a business and uh, kind of the success that you’ve had with your five brands that you talked about.
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[00:37:00] |
But I’d like to kind a delve a little bit more into private labeling with you. And we don’t want to give away the show, the whole, the whole farm, so to speak because you’ve got your courses and everything. But if we can maybe have you back on the program again and we can kinda focus a little bit more on private lavel, labeling, specifically, for those people who have been selling on Amazon for a while and they’re looking at taking off into a different direction. Maybe they’re, they’ve been uh, pre, predominantly wholesaling or maybe they even been doing Merchant Fulfilled and they’re just stepping into FBA uh, uh for the first time.
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Is that something that you’d be willing to do and come on and talk to us about in the future?
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| Kevin King: |
Yeah, I’d be glad to, Jeff. No problem.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Well, we’d love that very much. And uh, Will, great find, man. Kevin King, fantastic guest. And Kevin, we want to thank you so much for joining us today on uh, FBA Millionaires. Hopefully we can have you back on the program again real soon.
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| Kevin King: |
Thanks for having me.
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| Jeff Allen: |
There you go. Will, wow, man. Fantastic find. Great catch, my friend.
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[00:37:30]
Will Moffett: |
Kevin is awesome. And I keep, I keep telling him, I, I don’t know if he realizes it. (laughs)
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Jeff Allen:
[00:38:00] |
(laughs) The man has got a lot a skin in the game. You know, there aren’t many people out there in circulation that have been working with Amazon for as long as Kevin did. Because remember, I mean, we all remember Amazon being in the book selling business in, in, in the very beginning. And Kevin was right in kind of, came in at that point. And uh, uh, just really exciting to hear uh, how someone has grown with the business and continues to be on the leading edge of that.
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And eCommerce is so important to him and his livelihood. And, and he has taken it to the next level. And he’s really a tremendous expert and somebody that we could all learn from again. So, uh, again, uh, Will, great guest, Kevin King. And looking forward to having other great guests on in the future. Any last words from you, my friend, before we bail out a here?
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Will Moffett:
[00:38:30]
[00:39:00] |
Guys, if you, if you want a, wherever you wanna go, I mean, it’s, if, if you’re trying to get to the, the million dollar mark or the $5 million mark or the 30, $30 million mark, there is a way to get there. And the way to get there is through networking, listening to FBA Millionaires, or other podcasts. Um, uh, finding people like Kevin King um, it, it, there’s a way. It’s being done as we speak. People are saying Amazon is saturated. It, it’s, it’s definitely not. Um, people uh, a lot a people are discouraged because the first, maybe the first or fifth product didn’t work out. Or maybe your Amazon Business was going well and it’s no longer going well. Well, there’s ways to get back on course.
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And uh, just uh, write in to us on FBA Millionaire, Millionaires.com. If you want to be on the show, you can uh, send us a note. Hop on. Um, we’re just gonna kill it, guys. We’re gonna do this. We’re gonna keep doing this until uh, we, we see the daylight. And, and I’d just like to thank you guys for listening.
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[00:39:30]
Jeff Allen: |
Well, I appreciate that, Will, very much. And you know, uh, the, the fact is, is that it also helps to be open minded. Be open to making changes. Be open to suggestions. Be open to recommendations from these people that we have on the program. Will and I don’t know everything. I know next to nothing. And trust me on that when I say that. That’s why I’m working with Will and Will is going to help lead me into the daylight, out of my cave, out of my rut. We’re gonna take this FBA businesses, all of our FBA businesses, to the next level. So, for now, my name is Jeff Allen. That man over in No Cal is …
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| Will Moffett: |
Will Moffett.
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[00:40:00]
Jeff Allen: |
And uh, we’re looking to forward already to joining you on our next edition of FBA Millionaires. Until then, take care …
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FBAM5 How Million Dollar Seller Jamie Harris Picks Winning Products
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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FBA Millionaires was live with Jamie Harris. Make sure to share us with friends and and give us an honest review on .
Podcast Discussion:
– Finding Opportunity
– Quitting the 9 to 5
– How to choose products
– Testing
– Product Pictures
– Details Matter Resources
Join FBA Millionaires:
Sponsored by: Upfund.io, Get funding for your Amazon Business.
Show Notes:
| Jeff Allen: |
It takes steadfast commitment to success as a seller of private label goods using FBA services. And today’s guest is a prime example of that commitment. So what can we learn from him? We’re gonna find out. From the West Coast to the world, this is FBA Millionaires.
|
| [00:00:30] |
Welcome to FBA Millionaires. This is the program as you know by now that is geared toward helping you pursue your goal of earning a seven-figure income selling professionally on Amazon via fulfillment by Amazon, otherwise known as FBA, right?
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|
[00:01:00] |
Hi, my name is Jeff Allen, good to have you back into the fold, and we really do appreciate you. You are what powers this program. It’s not my big mouth, and it’s not the mouth of this other guy who really does make all the difference in the world because if it weren’t for him, quite frankly, there really would not be a show, and you wouldn’t have this program to listen to. He is our residence sales monster up in Northern California. Welcome in Mr. Will Moffett. Will, hello, sir.
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| Will Moffett: |
Hey, everybody. Hey, Jeff. Jeff, you’re giving me way too much credit, man.
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| Jeff Allen: |
No, no. Come on, man. I give you the credit that you’re due, and you’re going to accept it because you know how to accept a compliment the way a gentleman would. But anyway, man, how are you? How’s things going?
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|
[00:01:30]
Will Moffett: |
I’m wonderful. I ate a lot of food, I think I need to workout. Um, this Thanksgiving was beautiful, spent some good time with the family.
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| Jeff Allen: |
I did, too. And, uh, for those people listening in, yeah, this is, uh, uh, being produced right after Thanksgiving of 2017. And man, always great memories and great to take a little time off. But you know, Will, it’s really great to be back in the saddle now and kind of back in the studio working with you a little bit. I’m in Southern California, you’re in Northern California, and you’ve lined up another great guest for us to talk to today.
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| Will Moffett: |
Yeah, we have Jamie Harris here. Jamie, how’s it going?
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[00:02:00]
Jamie Harris: |
I’m doing awesome. Thank you guys for having me. I can tell it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs) Definitely. I’m glad all is well. How was your Thanksgiving?
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| Jamie Harris: |
My Thanksgiving was great. Uh, ate too much food, of course.
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs)
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| Jamie Harris: |
You know, the waistline expanding, you know? But hey, we have Black Friday and Cyber Monday going on now, so it’s all good. It’s, it’s good.
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| Will Moffett: |
(laughs) There we go.
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| Jeff Allen: |
And you could-
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| Will Moffett: |
Nothing like money. They, they heal everything, right?
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| Jamie Harris: |
(laughs) That’s right. Right. (laughs)
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Jeff Allen:
[00:02:30] |
I can hear those, uh, hear those cash registers in the background and, uh, ringing. And as, uh, Jamie said, he’s got us on one screen on Zoom, and then he’s got, uh, Seller Central probably opened up on the other side or something, uh, uh, that is telling him all about the business coming into his account today. And, uh, uh, Will, I’m gonna dish it off to you. I know you’ve got a few things you want to ask him just to kind of break the ice a little bit.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Yeah, Jamie. Let’s break the ice a bit. I guess we can start with talking about the scale of your Amazon business. How many products do you have in your store right now, and, and, uh, what’s your monthly sales looking like?
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:03:00] |
So we have roughly, including variations and things like that, uh, we have roughly 25, 28 items that we currently sell. Um, of course, the vast majority of sales probably come from like three of those, just keep that in mind, guys. Uh, monthly sales, we, we kind of, we’re seasonal a little bit, but right now, we’re doing about 300,000 a month, and we, we get, uh, up to 450 or so, hoping to break 500,000, uh, for December.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Oh, Jamie is killing it Jeff.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:03:30] |
Man, I’ll say. My goodness. I’m just rubbing my hands here, and, uh, and quietly sobbing to myself thinking that that’s gonna be me one of these days.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
(laughs)
|
| Jeff Allen: |
(laughs) That’s gonna be me.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Oh, definitely.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
(laughs)
|
| Will Moffett: |
So, so what type of, uh, well, I don’t want to … if you want to don’t want to say, um, product …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Sure.
|
| Will Moffett: |
… categories or anything, um, as far as wholesale, private label, um, what are you into?
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:04:00] |
We are, so we’re a private label mainly. I mean, we do do some, some wholesaling. Uh, granted it’s been pretty small, although we’ve had success, you know, around Christmas time, so, uh, we’ll s-, we’ll see this year last year we had, had great wholesale. But anyways, we’re private label, we tend to be patio, lawn, and garden. It’s kind of our bread and butter, uh, but we’ve branched out into other categories as well. Recently, uh, probably about six weeks ago started a new brand, a new business, uh, going into the arts and crafts category. So that’s new for us and it’s exciting, it’s fun so seen the growth there as well.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:04:30] |
You know, I want to get into a little bit here in, in a while, uh, Jamie and Will about how Jamie really, uh, uh, you know, how he picks his products a little bit. And, and how his team works with him on that. But did you dec-, decide from the very beginning, Jamie, uh, in your Amazon career that selling private label products was really the way to go for you? Uh, and if you did, uh, what kind of help training or consultation did you receive to get started?
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:05:00]
[00:05:30] |
Sure, yeah. So, I don’t know, I think it was back in like 2000, 2001. I read this newsletter about private labeling vitamins or, or something like that. And I thought, “Well, that’s just fantastic.” These guy were buying a bottle for a, a dollar, two dollars, and then selling it for $40 just blew my mind. So ever since about 2001, I got the idea that, um, you know, private label, uh, your brand is way to go. Of course, back then you, uh, get on Amazon and do that and, and honestly, I didn’t know you could private label on Amazon so probably 2014, in, in all honestly. Um, but, um, so that, that, that seed was planted in my mind, so basically for, for 10 years, 13 years, I kept trying to find a way to get into it. And then eventually, I stumbled across this obscure medical forum one night, it was 7 o’clock, and I was sitting in a lab. I used to be a chemist, so I’m sitting in a lab, um, working away, got a test experiment going, I can’t go home, it’s 7 p.m., not 7 a.m.
|
|
[00:06:00] |
And all of a sudden, this medical journal pops up from a Google search, I look through it, and then heard about Amazing Selling Machine. Of course that program is closed, um, but, but the seed was planted, and, you know, I watched a lot of the free training, right away got my LLC and just, I, I just knew it was what I wanted. I mean, it’s been something I’d searched for, so it was, I was like finally there. Of course, I don’t do anything with vitamins, um, but never the less, the, the idea just, it was there, and I just knew it made sense.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
You had talked about, you know, going back to 2000, the ear-, early 2000s when you really started kind of pursuing this, have you been on Amazon that long selling?
|
|
[00:06:30]
Jamie Harris: |
No. No, honestly, I didn’t know, I thought what you bought on Amazon was from Amazon, right?
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Right.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
I didn’t even know that there were third-party sellers honestly until May of 2014 when I, when I, when I tripped across that forum, and I was like, “Oh, my God. Uh, there’s third-pretty sellers on Amazon? Okay, that’s, that’s makes sense. That’s, that’s the way.” Uh, not mail order or something like that, but, um, but yeah, that’s, that’s where and when I obviously learned that I could sell on Amazon as a private seller.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Wow. And from chemist to Amazon seller …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
(laughs)
|
| Will Moffett: |
… do you still perform in that profession?
|
|
[00:07:00]
Jamie Harris: |
Uh, no. Um, I, I left, I left the corporate world, so I worked at the, a billion dollar corporation, um, dealing with, with chemicals and going to paint, actually. And, uh, it was fun. Uh, I had a lot of fun, we made a lot of stuff, um, but I left that in 2015, actually. April 2015, so started selling in, heard about Amazon in, in May of 2014 and was out of my job, uh, at home bugging my wife in April 2015.
|
|
[00:07:30]
Jeff Allen: |
That’s amazing. That’s the American dream.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Yeah. It only took me, you know, since 2000, 2001 trying to find an opportunity and tripping, stumbling across tons of different things till I actually found, uh, something I truly believed in which was, uh, this model.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:08:00] |
Maybe so, but Jamie think about it. And will, too, because I mean, we’re, you know, we’ve had a chance to talk on this program so far with people who have been with Amazon, selling on Amazon since, uh, 1999, 2000 what have you, and then we’ve had also a number of people who really have only been selling Amazon FBA, uh, for a couple of years. And Will I know, you know, your name obviously pops into mind first and foremost but, I mean, to find that kind of success that you’re having right now in such a short space of time, to me, is pretty phenomenal.
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:08:30] |
Very phenomenal. It just takes so much for normal businesses, it takes so much time and, you know, sometimes we have to stumble across different ideas and opportunities to make that hit like Jamie did ’cause he’s, he’s been searching for a while and he found the right one.
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:09:00] |
Yeah, I mean, it’s, you know, everyone’s like, “Oh, you got lucky,” Perhaps but, I mean, I struggled. I mean I, honestly, that whole year, I stayed up to three in the morning, got up, was at work at 9 a.m. every day, you know? So, um, I, I, made a lot of mistakes, I had failures, um, but I was just, you know, when you feel it in your bones, you just feel it and you just go for it. And, um, and I just wouldn’t let anything stop me. I mean, so it’s, I could have quit a hundred times but, um, but yeah. No, I, I just knew this is the way, so I, I pushed through.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Well done, Jamie. Well done, man.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
| Will Moffett: |
Um, so tell me this. Um, speaking about, you know, how you got in and, um, the different, um, of course there’s so many different products to choose, you know …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
| Will Moffett: |
… people get into the analysis paralysis and …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Right.
|
| Will Moffett: |
How did you choose your products, um, for your brand or if you choose individual products or do you like the create niches? How do you work and how do you choose your products?
|
|
[00:09:30]
Jamie Harris: |
That’s a, you know, it’s a, it’s a big question. So I’ll do my, uh, best to, uh, break it into …
|
| Will Moffett: |
(laughs)
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:10:00] |
… a few parts. Um, first of all, you want to, in my mind, pick a product that you have some affinity for, okay? So I mean, if, if it’s something that you know nothing about and you don’t care to learn anything about it, uh, that’s probably not gonna be a good fit no matter what, what it is. Uh, so, yeah, maybe you don’t know what the product, you know, it is at this time but, you know, if you’re willing to learn, then, then it could a good product. So I don’t want to discount that. Um, but what I’m, I’m looking for where the customers are. So of course there’s always looking at the best sellers and, and all that, um, but I liked, I like to see … Do you want me to get, you want me to get in the details a little bit here? About, about what I’m doing? I pick a product. I, I can, I can dig in pretty deep here.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Dig in for us then. That, that sounds awesome. You don’t have to give up all your little special …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
No, no.
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:10:30] |
… [crosstalk 00:10:23], but, uh, well, you know, uh, I always say, you know, if anybody thinks they can copy or do what somebody else does, like, for example, if somebody has a garlic press, and they tell you they have a garlic press, you guys shouldn’t think you can go in and sell garlic presses. It’s not like that in 2017. Go ahead and get in-
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:11:00] |
That’s, yeah. And that’s a great point. So I, you know, I looked through the best sellers, right? Of course, you know, there’s, there’s different tools out there. Um, jungle Scout’s one that I’m really liking now. But I really like, honestly, Amazon itself. So there’s a little trick, I don’t know, you guys might have heard about it, where if you, if you go into Amazon, you select a category. Um, I always set up, you know, in, in the search, you select a category. Then I do a dash and then just like six random letters, right? And then hit search.
|
|
[00:11:30] |
So that dash and six random letters tends to give you a good, uh, view, so to speak of, of the good sellers, you know, beyond the top 100 of, of what’s selling on Amazon, like, in, in that category. So you want to have it in a specific category, then I go ahead and, and then dial it down into, um, you know, price range, so in, in my case, if, if anything’s less than 20 bucks, it gets really painful. Um, so you really, I, I see people jumping in all the time selling $10 product. And that just, it’s so painful, uh, to do that. I, I have a couple of $10 products and, and honestly, um, it’s just, I, they do well, they’re profitable, but I, if they were, you know, $20 products, $40 products, it’s just, it’s just so much easier. You get so much more money.
|
|
[00:12:00]
[00:12:30] |
Um, but anyway, so, so after diving in, like I told you, that dash and the random num-, letters, searching it, getting my price range down so there’s that minimum/max button, uh, down there on the left hand side o-, of the Amazon screen. Um, search again, apply it, and, and then I just scroll through. And I just start looking and seeing what I see there. And, and a lot of times, you’ll see the generic grill or garlic press or whatever, and you’ll, you’ll look at that, and you just say, “Okay, maybe there’s an opportunity there but probably not.” If you can find a really unique garlic press that’s, um, that solves the problems that people are looking for with the current garlic press, uh, then you could have a hit.
|
|
[00:13:00] |
But the key is you, you have to be different. I mean, you can’t just be the same as everybody else. A lot of people, they’ll, they’ll go to Alibaba, they’ll see the exact same product on, that they see on Amazon somebody else selling, doing well. They’ll launch it, they’ll put the exact same pictures and, and honestly they don’t, don’t do very well. You need to be a little bit better, you know? Whether, whether the product’s actually better or whether you can create an image showing a different view of the product that makes it seem better, you know, and then your title and bullet points should bring that out. Um, that’s where you can really start killing it with some really generic products. But, but you have to, uh, I, I can’t emphasis enough, you have to be, you have to unique, and you have to have, you have to have a strength that the other competitors don’t currently have.
|
|
[00:13:30] |
So I kind of circled around a lot there kind of digging in and kind of coming out, but hopefully you catch the gist that I like to just kind of scan. And a lot of people just won’t take the time to scan, scan, scan. Um, and when you scan, that’s when your brain starts, you know, getting ideas, and then, and then you start seeing things. And, and, you know, you, you, you’ve been going to reviews, right? Okay, what’s, what’s the problem? What are everybody saying on the one and two-star and three-star reviews? Are they actually that same issue coming up that all of a sudden there’s a product available that can solve those problems?
|
| Jeff Allen: |
But there’s, it …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Well, if you do, that’s when you got a winner.
|
|
[00:14:00]
Jeff Allen: |
It’s very much, it’s very much like being on guard to finding that better mouse trap that’s out there. You find a, a great mouse trap, it catches mice, you know, what are, what are some of the issues that people have when they catch that mice? Then what? What after that? And then finding …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Right.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
… that, uh, that mouse trap that does, it goes above and beyond, you know, it’s a, it’s a bit cliché, but the, the fact is you, your points are very well taken, Jamie.
|
|
[00:14:30] |
Jamie Harris is joining us today on the program FBA Millionaires with Will Moffett and yours truly Jeff Allen. When we come back, what I want to do after the break is I want to kind of, uh, take a step back starting from a, a clean slate as it were, and we’re gonna do that when FBA Millionaires comes back right after this.
|
|
Speaker 4:
[00:15:00] |
Getting the funding you need to grow your business can be challenging. But our friends at Up Fund make it super easy. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds and have your inventory funded in just days. Check out Upfund.io to get started today. That’s UpFund.io.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:15:30] |
The first thing you need to do after listening to FBA Millionaires is to join the FBA Millionaires Club so you can stay connected with everything that’s going on here, what Will and I are thinking about, what we’re doing, the shows we’re planning. And some of the, uh, uh, uh, advice and, and guidance that we can pass along to you just by being a member, you don’t have to be a millionaire to join, that’s the really cool thing about it. All you need to do is stop by the website FBAMillonaires.com and look for information about the club, sign up, it’s just a short little form, send that in. And then we’ll keep you on top of everything that’s going on. Like I said, we’ve got some freebies, too, we’ll fling your way as well.
|
|
[00:16:00] |
Jeff Allen, Will Moffett, along with special guest Jamie Harris here on FBA Millionaires today. Jamie, uh, let’s start from a, a kind of position of a, a blank slate. Some of us who might not be, uh, selling necessarily private label at this time and we’re looking at growing our business, maybe doing it in a big way, but we’re not exactly sure how to get started or what’s required or really what we have to do first.
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:16:30] |
Sure. So, so the blank slate is the perfect spot to start from. Um, I’ve seen so many people that, that have net worth, network with, and they’ve came out with a product that they were either in love with or that they had a friend that was selling it or they had a good line for a product. Um, and that’s just the wrong way to go. You want to start with the product that’s, that actually h-, has an audience, customers, so if you’ve got something already in your mind before you start doing the search, uh, you can pretty much guarantee that either gonna be after the, the curve already happened and they’re coming late, or you’re just picking the wrong product, so it’s, it’s perfect to start from a blank slat in product selection.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:17:00] |
And Will, uh, just out of curiosity, uh, where would you go? Uh, uh, is there an online resource for example? I mean, you mentioned Alibaba which is, uh, one that, uh, comes up time and time again. Is there another, uh, uh, avenue or do you think that’s kind of a good place to go as far as getting some ideas for products, um, or should you really actually kind of, uh, you know, look to see what it is that you have in your, your checking account or what you’ve got on credit that you can use in terms of planning your budget first in order to do this? I mean, how much money, uh, are we talking about? Uh, uh, I mean, uh, should be thinking on th-, on those terms first before we even get, uh, started in the research phase?
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:17:30]
[00:18:00] |
So there’s a couple of things you want to look at. One if your budget. The goal is to not spend too much money because you’re gonna end up needing a lot of money to scale. So what you want to do is once you find a product, and it, it can be any product becau-, uh, nobody knows what product is gonna work or not. And so everybody’s pretty much taking a stab at it. Now, there’s different criterias that you can have to make things better like, you know, um, uh, you want to look at markets. And when you at that market, you want to look, make sure there’s a depth to the market. Um, meaning there’s enough money to spread around or some people have strategies to where they want to go and lower competition, and, uh, they want to collect many products with so many, um, sales per day.
|
|
[00:18:30]
[00:19:00] |
There’s a lot of different strategies to go, um, uh, go with, but you, you know, you’re gonna have to make your, build your strategy based upon your budget. Um, I would definitely, you know, focus on something that you may have a expertise in. If you, if like, uh, not a passion product. Passion products generally don’t (laughs) sell well, but it depends. So I’m not saying don’t, um, go for a passion product, but you want to really do your research on the market and make sure there’s enough eyeballs, um, on that market. And, and the way you can see if there’s enough eyeballs is, um, first, you know, uh, test the product. You can, um, maybe say go to Alibaba and see if you can find somebody where you can get 50 units. Get 50 units of it or maybe go to the store. Go to the store and, and buy a few units, right? And maybe see if it works with wholesale or see if maybe you can bundle it. And what you want to do is turn on PPC …
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:19:30] |
… and see how many eyeballs you’re getting, how, uh, you know, what are people searching for or how many impressions are you getting? Um, and if that thing sells right away, if that thing sells right away by just throwing a product on and turning on PPC, you may have a winner. So you want to first, you know, if you can order a few products, if that goes good, order another maybe 100, test it out. Then I wouldn’t go to 500 or a 1,000, I would probably order 300, test it out because sometimes, well, if you’re doing private label, quality and manufacturers might switch up on you.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:20:00] |
Or the reviews might turn bad on you and you just ordered 500, so gradually work your way up, and, uh, it’s process, so, um, you know, some people are lucky and they’re, they’re able to go to zero to 100 in three seconds but, you know, this is your money on the line, it is competitive out there, and you want to make sure you, um, dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s. That’s, um, I guess, um, I don’t know if I can add a little bit more to that, but that’s kind of like my insight.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Well, I think-
|
| Jamie Harris: |
That’s awesome. Well, I, I agree. Sorry to cut in, guys. But that’s exactly how I started. Um, I always, I tend to start with 20 units or 80 units, and the products where I’ve started off with like 400 or 500 units, they actually don’t perform as well as the products that I started off with, with less than a 100.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Is that, is that right?
|
|
[00:20:30]
Jamie Harris: |
Yeah. All my best sellers I started off, my current best seller, which is just totally killing it, that product probably does about $200,000 a month, I started with 80 units of that one, so …
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Wow.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Yeah, my first product I started with 180 units, and it was a loan that I took out. Um, couldn’t, uh, (laughs) had bunny ears for pockets, um, and took out a loan, and my wife, didn’t tell my wife because she would kill me. And, uh, (laughs) I worked …
|
| Jeff Allen: |
(laughs)
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:21:00] |
… too hard at work, and I said, um, let’s do it. And it worked. So testing, if I would have said if I would have put $5,000 on a bad product and made a bad bet, my wife would have killed me.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
(laughs)
|
| Will Moffett: |
Guys, (laughs) make sure you test. Test, test, test.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Yes.
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:21:30] |
And spend as least money as possible with your test because let’s say you, you, you could fail one time and just say, okay, you spent 200 bucks or 300 buck, and then you fail. The second time, you spent another 300 or say 400. Let’s say your, your budget is 2,000. Well, on that third product let’s say you hit. And it’s like, pow, okay. I just sold. Let, let me order a, a couple extra 100. You still got a little room in that budget to order a couple of hundred, uh, of that winner. And then that, then that works out, then boom, now it’s time to start with the bugger orders and try to find out how to get some money. And you can leverage that money or you might have to scale slowly, but you’re in there.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
[inaudible 00:21:47] reborn.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Well …
|
| Will Moffett: |
Yup.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:22:00] |
… let, let me, let me jump in, Will, uh, real quick. What is the largest amount of money Jamie, if you don’t mind, you can even, uh, give us a range, that you’ve spent on a new product launch? From the time that you sourced it, maybe you, you bought those, you know, initial test items, test quantities, let’s call them that, and then, you know, you throw in your, your marketing budget and all the other things that go along with that. Um, uh, paper click, whatever you, you want to take and include on that. On, um, on, on a, a product that you have in your store.
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:22:30]
[00:23:00] |
Well, rule of thumb I, uh, I tell people is, is hit $5,000 would be great to have, right? So if you’ve got $5,000, you can, you can do everything you need to do. But, but honestly, um, with half of that, uh, you, you can make great things happen, but my very first product, I literally started with, uh, with 20 units, and I, let me see, those cost me, uh, about $4 each or so plus shipping, so it was couple of hundred bucks there. Um, I spent a couple of hundred bucks to get an LLC going. I highly recommend getting, if you’re gonna do this as a business, treat it as a business from day one, and, and that’s what I did. I, I got the LLC the very first day. Um, so it was, you know, 200 bucks there.
|
|
[00:23:30] |
Um, honestly I was slow doing PPC with that, but if you figure at least a few hundred bucks just, just for a we-, a week, uh, out 10 bucks a day or so, $10 to $20 a day for a week just to, just to run PPC and, and see the results, uh, would be good. So, so really with, if you got 800 bucks, you should be able to test a, a product depending on the price range, of course. Um, you know, if it’s a little bit more expensive product, maybe it’s, maybe it’s 1,500 bucks, but, um, somewhere in that range, you, you can, you can get going.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
What we’re gonna do right now, uh, Jamie, we’re gonna, uh, stop, uh, tape, uh, for just a brief moment. Boom, we’re starting again. And, uh, we are rolling.
|
|
[00:24:00]
[00:24:30] |
Jamie, tell us a little bit. You know, uh, uh, uh, about an addition to finding a great product itself, what is it that we have to do to make our product really hit with the buying customers? Now, you have shared and Will has, uh, shared, um, a lot of, I think, really helpful information on testing and to, to kind of help us make sure that what it is that we want to sell is going to be something that we can market, something that is, uh, we’re gonna, uh, be able to attract buyers with. But once you get it up there and going, um, what is it that we can do to really take ourselves, our sales to the next level? For any particular item that we have that is a hit that we know, is there something in particular that maybe few Amazon sellers do right or maybe that you have used? Uh, this could be a strategy or a tactic now …
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Okay.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
… that really allows you to take and, and, and put your sales on hyper drive that allows you to, to, to really see some, some fantastic results and see them relatively quickly?
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:25:00] |
Okay. Um … so first, I, I never want to be just a product business, right? ‘Cause those, those are just kind of cash cows that you come in, you make some money, and then the, you know, that’s it. It’s gone. Uh, I’d rather be a brand, right? So, so I come in with the idea of, okay, I’m launching a product, but ultimately I’m building a brand.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
| Jamie Harris: |
And what’s gonna be my second or third product that’ll help round out that, this existing product with that to further build this brand. I want a real business, I don’t want to just sell one-off products, you know, uh, on Amazon.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:25:30] |
Um, so I start with that in mind. Um, but then once you got a product that you got going, uh, I can’t emphasize enough the images. Okay? So, uh, your main image is, is critical but, but what people don’t focus on is that it’s actually the thumbnail of your main image that’s critical, right? ‘Cause people don’t see your images as it’s huge, they just see a little thumbnail of it when they do the Amazon search. So your product, I mean, your image has to be beautiful as a thumbnail. You have to make it look really large, and, and one of the things I always say to, to my designers, um, is I want to look at this product as if I’m a mouse looking at, at it just like in, in total awe? You know, just …
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
|
|
[00:26:00]
Jamie Harris: |
… wow, this is beautiful, it’s amazing. That way, if I’m looking at it from that perspective of being a mouse in awe looking at the monolith there in 2001, whatever it is, um, that, that way, when it’s a thumbnail, it can really relay that same thing to the, the customers are searching, so, um, uh, your images are, are critical.
|
|
[00:26:30]
[00:27:00] |
The other thing I see that is that people, lot of people don’t test, right? So I, I come from a, a science background, a chemist, and literally, um, you know, with, with that organization, we had billion dollar successes literally just changing one little thing, testing it, and seeing what happens. And it takes time, it’s, it can be uncomfortable trying to create new image and well, what, what, what? Can I change the bullet point here? But ultimately, that’s, that’s all it is. This, this whole Amazon game, it’s just an experiment. You just, just do one little change and see the result. If the result got better, leave it. If the result got worse, go back to how it was before and test again. And just keep testing and testing, keep making little changes till you, till you get it right where it needs to be.
|
|
[00:27:30] |
Um, of course, that doesn’t do everything, right? You know, but that’ll get you where you have your, your listing optimized. Um, the other thing that comes in as you’re doing all this is the reviews. If you don’t have the reviews, it’s just, it’s, no matter what you do, it’s gonna be a struggle. Um, you can get sales going with, with low reviews. Um, I always tell people do whatever you have to do to get three reviews right out of the gate, okay? And then after that, try and work as hard as you can to get the 10 reviews. You know? Um, the, the review game is hard, you know? Amazon’s got, got really strict rules on that. Uh, and, and personally the best way that I’ve seen to ever get the, to get the reviews is a product insert.
|
|
[00:28:00]
[00:28:30] |
Um, emails, emailing the customer through the, you know, automating systems is, is great, but people can opt out of that now. But, but if you don’t have a product insert, um, you’re gonna struggle. And, and honestly, like I said before, I’ve got 27, 25 products, and a lot of those products that are struggling, I don’t have a product insert in there. At least one that, uh, I haven’t optimized the product insert, let’s say, and that’s probably why that product is struggling. So, so having product inserts get reviews, having awesome images that are thumbnails, and, um, you know, just push, building an audience, building a brand. So building the brand and building an audience, whether it’s a Facebook audience, an email list, um, you’ve got to build, you’ve got to build raving fans. You know, you’ve probably all read that book, but, um, you, you, you have to have the thought in mind from day one that I’m building a brand, I’m gonna have fans that are looking for my brand for not only this product but for future products so …
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:29:00] |
I had a product in the past, um, it was a really, it was one of those products where, um, you know, um, the customer had to have pretty much some knowledge to use it or they would get frustrated. And so, you know, I found ways to create, like, really cool guides and tips and tricks and, you know, like, like you said, um, Jamie, adding the actually like a request, uh, not request for review but the insert inside the, the retail box, um, you ha-, you have to creative.
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| Jamie Harris: |
Yeah.
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|
Will Moffett:
[00:29:30] |
Get creative, be different. It’s a user experience. Think about when you open a Apple, um, Apple iPhone case, right? You know they got that quality ba-, box. You can have a cheap product, but if you, if your perception and, and, and you give a [immaculant 00:29:28], um, uh, perception to your product, it can actually mean the world to a customer. Um, as long as the product is usable, (laughs) usable at least.
|
| Jamie Harris: |
Right.
|
|
Will Moffett:
[00:30:00] |
Not look cheap, but, um, yeah, there’s a lot of cool things you can do. So you, you answered, uh, my next question, Jamie. Um, and so, uh, do you have any other type of advice or things that you’ve learned or what is it that other Amazon sellers can do whether they’re trying to take it to the next level on the smaller scale or bigger scale? Um, what can they do to 10x their business, uh, in 2018? And it can be anything that maybe you’ve learned that maybe you took a hit. And it’s like, “Oh, shoot, I just lost a little bit of money on this product, but I’ll never make that mistake again, and this, this mistake that I fixed just increased my business.”
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|
Jamie Harris:
[00:30:30] |
Yeah, so, first of all, know the rules, okay? So if you don’t know the rules, get in there and read the Amazon terms of service, read all that. Know, know the rules, okay? Uh, I had a big hit today, actually. Um, just not knowing the rules, right? The rules changed on me, and I wasn’t reading my emails, I missed it. Um, it turns out you can’t change the price on a lightning deal now, uh, on Cyber Mon-, if it’s Cyber Monday or Black Friday lightning deal, you can’t change the price 24 hours before. Um, I, I changed it 23 hours before and automatically I canceled, I probably lost out on about hundr-, $100,000 in sales today.
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Oh, boy.
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:31:00] |
Uh, it’s, it’s, it’s mistake. I’ll still sell the inventory. It’s not like I have unlimited inventory. You know, I’ll still sell through everything I have, uh, over the Christmas holiday. But, but it would have been nice seeing that number for one day, you know? Uh, but I, I guarantee I’ll never make that mistake again, right? And the …
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Exactly.
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| Jamie Harris: |
… same thing with million other things. Um, it’s the little, it’s the little details, honestly. A lot of people do, do the big stuff right, but then they just kind of glance over the details and that’s where it gets you. Uh I wish I could come up with more examples.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Well, uh, no, uh, I mean, but you’re, you’re right because a lot of people come to me and say, “Can you teach me Amazon?” And, and, you know, there’s no easy (laughs) way to say …
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|
[00:31:30]
Jeff Allen: |
Yeah.
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| Will Moffett: |
… let me just teach you. Like, right? It, it’s like, it’s, it’s, it’s, oh, it’s the littlest detail …
|
| Jeff Allen: |
Well, I think it’s you …
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| Will Moffett: |
… that count-
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:32:00] |
I think, I think, Will, uh, uh, you know, you kind of bring up a good point. Anybody can sell on Amazon. Anybody really can do it. I mean, you know, all, all you have to do is you learn how to list a product, you put it up there, and, and boom. Away you go. You know, if you’ve got an account open, if you figure out how you can do that and maybe you don’t mind paying Amazon the $40 a month plus all the other fees it come along with, uh, FBA, uh, then it’s, it’s easy to do. But you’re right, though.
|
|
[00:32:30] |
And you know, you’re talking about the, the, uh, some of the nitnoy details, and there’s a lot of stuff. There’s a lot more stuff, uh, than meets the eye that people need to see. A lot of that be- between the lines and behind the lines, uh, stuff that you need to understand and, uh, really, you know, you can go through that Seller University course that they give you. They’re on Amazon as a, I think, for starters, it kind of helps out, uh, answer a lot of your business questions. But I think some of it just kind of comes with a, comes with experience and making some mistakes I think at the end of the day.
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| Will Moffett: |
Comes with losing some money.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah. That’s right.
|
| Will Moffett: |
(laughs)
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah.
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| Will Moffett: |
And we don’t want you to …
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| Jamie Harris: |
Yeah.
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| Will Moffett: |
… lose too much, though.
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| Jamie Harris: |
Yeah, honestly, I mean, you have to, if you go in with the mindset that I’m gonna treat this as a real business,
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah.
|
|
Jamie Harris:
[00:33:00] |
… then, then you do all the right things, right? Starting off as an LLC right away. Okay, so I’m treating this as a real business, I’m doing that. Um, I, gonna have a professional seller account, I’m gonna, I’m gonna sell millions of dollars so I might as spend the 40 bucks. It’s not a waste. It’s almost a game of, of, you know, having that, that first month, uh, that first $40 actually will be paid for where you don’t actually have to pay for out of your own pocket, you know? Just, if, if you focus on this as a real business, all the details automatically is gonna fall in place. Have real awesome pictures, have it, have it sound right, have it look right. If you’re just treating this as a hobby or game, it’s, everybody’s gonna see it when they look at your listing.
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| Jeff Allen: |
Yeah.
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|
[00:33:30]
Jamie Harris: |
Because professional, you know, um, there’s, there’s a million things that go along with that, but that’s, uh, the bottom line, I guess.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:34:00] |
Well, Jamie, this has been a great conversation, it’s been very enlightening, very helpful, and, uh, who better to learn from than someone who has had a lot of success doing this? I mean, you started out, uh, uh, you know, just a couple of years ago really a little bit more than that from the time that we are producing this program. And, uh, and you have, uh, you’ve learned, you’ve lived, you’ve made the, you’ve had a lot of successes, you’ve got some great products, uh, I’m sure in your store. We don’t know exactly what those are, but we know that you found success in a, in a, a couple of key categories that you really like. And we want to thank you so much for taking some time out of what is really a busy time for you. Uh, you’re, uh, in the fourth quarter and really during a holiday, uh, uh, selling season. For any, uh, anyone selling on Amazon, your participation in the program has been, uh, just fantastic. We want to thank you so much for joining us.
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| Jamie Harris: |
You’re very welcome.
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| Will Moffett: |
Thanks so much, Jamie.
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| Jamie Harris: |
Thanks for having me here. You’re very welcome.
|
|
[00:34:30]
Jeff Allen: |
Jamie Harris and, uh, Will, a great find on your part. Thanks again, man, for setting this up. It’s just a fantastic discussion.
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| Will Moffett: |
Thank you, Jeff. You guys are awesome.
|
|
Jeff Allen:
[00:35:00] |
Well, we appreciate you, Will, and that’s gonna put, uh, the brakes on this edition of FBA Millionaires. Thanks once again to our guest today, Jamie Harris, and, uh, don’t forget to, uh, show us a little love if you would over there on iTunes, give us a nice rating if you can, if you like the program. If there’s something that you think we could do a little bit better or if you’ve got some specific questions that you would like us to ask a future guest on this program, all you have to do is let us know there, uh, in your ratings or in the comment section on iTunes or you can simply send us a, a note there, uh, just hop on over to the website, FBAMillionaires.com. And, uh, there’s an information form, uh, that you can fill out, send us your, uh, comments, your suggestions, uh, show us any love that you think that we might be able to benefit from, give us any encouragement.
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|
[00:35:30] |
Just let us know your thoughts because this program really is geared toward helping you in your Amazon business, helping you become as successful as you possibly can be. Uh, once again, that’s FBAMillionaires.com we’re, by the way. You can also join the FBA Millionaire’s Club, so once again, my name is Jeff Allen along with my buddy, Will Moffett, up in Northern California. And we appreciate you listening to FBA Millionaires. Until next time, thanks again for listening.
|
| Will Moffett: |
Thanks, everybody.
|
FBAM4 Doing Whatever It Takes and Adjusting as Necessary- Steve Simonson
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FBA Millionaires was live with Steve Simonson. Wonderful guy and he knows his stuff. Make sure to share us with friends and and give us an honest review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fba-millionaires-lets-10x-your-amazon-fba-business/id1322011998?mt=2FBA
Podcast Discussion:
– Getting into Big Box Stores
– Wholesale VS. Private Label
– Work Like balance
– Amazon in 2003
– Amazon is still the best business model out there
– Relying on Experts to help
– Horror Stories with China manufacturers
– Always get inspections (Always)- Biggest seller mistakes
Resources:
FBA Millionaires: https://fbamillionaires.com/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/224714747899500/
Sponsored by: Upfund.io https://www.upfund.io/
| Jeff Allen: | What does your typical college graduate have in common with a successful, professional Amazon seller? Well, actually, that’s, that’s more of a trick question than anything else, (laughs) but we may get some answers to that question from today’s guest, and it’s all coming up from the West Coast to the world, this is FBA Millionaires. |
| [00:00:30] | Welcome to FBA Millionaires. This is the program that is geared toward helping you pursue your goal of earning a seven-figure income selling professionally on Amazon via fulfillment by Amazon. My name is Jeff Allen, and once again, I want to, uh, welcome you to the program and welcome in my cohost, my co-producer, partner-in-crime, and really a resident expert, Amazon sales animal. His name is Will Moffett. Will, how are you, sir? |
| [00:01:00] Will Moffett: |
Hey, I’m wonderful, Jeff. How’s it going? |
| Jeff Allen: | This man, Will Moffett, he is, uh, the reason that this show is rocket powered. Uh, talk about successful on Amazon. First month on Amazon, you sold what? |
| Will Moffett: [00:01:30] |
Jeff, you’re too kind. My first month, um, was-was pretty unique, as you know. Um, uh, my first sale was on my firstborn. The first sale was when she was born, and that was pretty exciting. Um, uh, I went up to $40,000 within the first month and a half. That was the beginning, and we quickly grew from there, but we have a guest on that is phenomenal, and it would be a pleasure to learn more about Steve Simonson. Uh, you there, Steve? |
| Steve Simonson: | I’m right here, yeah. |
| Jeff Allen: | Steve, welcome you to the program, man. It’s nice to have you on board, and thanks so much for agreeing to share a slice of your time. I know you’re a busy guy. |
| Steve Simonson: [00:02:00] |
Yeah. Happy to be here. Uh, as you guys know, I love entrepreneurs, and, uh, talking about, you know, business is, uh, kind of my hobby, so, uh, thank you for, uh, having me. |
| Jeff Allen: [00:02:30] |
Will, I know that you were really anxious to get Steve on, and, Will, uh, you consume so many podcast hours. I know you probably heard one of Steve’s shows in the past. Did you know that this guy got his start back before really before Amazon was open to the public in terms of, uh, those people able to sell their own products on Amazon, mainly books at that time, uh, but, uh, this guy was from what I remember, Steve, reading about you. You led one of the first truly successful eCommerce businesses back in the late ’90s. And, Will, I don’t know if you saw anything about that, but, um, I believe, Steve, the name of the, the company was iFLOOR. Is that correct? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:03:00] | Yeah, back in the olden days, uh, we started a company basically late ’90s, and, uh, had some fun, scaled along the way, and, uh, you know, had some, uh, success here and there and some, you know, fun times here and there. And also some bruises and scrapes along the day. That’s how I learned stuff. And, uh ultimately exited, you know, through a-a private equity type company, uh, in the, uh, mid-2000s, or maybe late 2000. I don’t remember. |
| Jeff Allen: | Well, what was it about? Steve, when you kind of found out that he was available to do this show, what was it about him that stood out to you, uh, when you were kind of tracking him down there? |
| [00:03:30] Will Moffett: |
Well, I saw that Steve was very diversified in business. And-and that’s what so important. And Steve, you-you went to big box stores, right? |
| Steve Simonson: | yeah, yeah, because I’ve been around. I’ve-I’ve sold online. I’ve sold, uh, big box. I’ve sold, uh, in many, many different channels in many different ways. |
| Will Moffett: | Well, we know that you-you first started off and you had your exit. So what happened from there? |
| Steve Simonson: [00:04:00] [00:04:30] |
Yeah, so the … uh, as I sometimes tell the story, one stroke of bad luck after another. Uh, and-and really, I saw that completely tongue in cheek because when I first got started, way back in the old days, it was very tough going. You know, we-we struggled with everything that everybody else struggles with today just in a different context, right? Uh, people are struggling with Amazon changing rules or FBA changing fees. Um, review rules, terms of service, etc. But the-the constant is always change, right? And so I dealt with change back in those days in-in different ways. Um, after that, you know, I kind of worked on some-some companies as a … as a CEO or a chairman. |
| Uh, just to try to keep-keep loose. Uh, I wasn’t ready to start something. Uh, but after about a year or so, I did start, uh, some new companies just because my brain wasn’t working. In fact, uh, when I was, um, I think in the 2012, I kind of did a little retirement attempt. | |
| [00:05:00] | I said, “Uh, I’ve got a couple shekels to rub together. I’ll be okay. Uh, I want to just hop out of a rat race.” So I actually stopped being a CEO for a Chinese company and a chairman for a British company. And just kind of unplugged for a year. And I went on vacations. I went on cruises. And, uh, and it was a nightmare. I hated it. |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs). |
| Jeff Allen: | Got that out of your system quickly. |
| Steve Simonson: | I did like parts of it, but it was definitely one of my worst times in my life in terms of happiness. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:05:30] | Hey, Steve, I’ve [crosstalk 00:05:20] got a … So, I’ve got a question real quick, Will. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to piggy back off of that, because I kind of feel that way about my particular life. And Will, you may even as well, because I know that you love to go to work in the morning. Would you consider, Steve, one of your hobbies is the work you do? |
| Steve Simonson: | Without a doubt. In fact, people often ask me, you know, so, “Uh, what do you like to do? Do you like to go golfing? Do you like to collect stamps, you know? What are your hobbies?” And I’m like, “My hobby is buying and selling companies.” Uh, that’s what I love to do, and talking business is extraordinarily rewarding to me. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:06:00] | Yeah, Will, how about you? How do you feel about that? Because sometimes I’m made to feel like, uh-uh, you know there’s something wrong with me because I like to spend so much time uh-uh thinking about, wha-wha-what my next move might be or what kind of strategies I need to have in place for maybe one or two of my clients, whatever the case may be. |
| How do you feel about, uh, work and hobbies and all of that? Or-or are you one of those guys who’s perfectly balanced, and you’ve just got yourself all together? | |
| Will Moffett: [00:06:30] [00:07:00] |
Well, I am so not together. I am so not together, Jeff and Steve. Um, but I must tell you, my wife want to put her arms around my neck. I love business, entrepreneurship. I love helping people as far as business, I can wake up in the morning, work and I can go to bed late at night while working. Um, and-and so I have to really be conscious to balance out, because it’s so fun. It’s a rush. And my thing is building companies. I like the startup environment where-where you come up with a concept and you’re building, and you’re-you’re acquiring customers, and-and-and that whole hustle is-is what I love. |
| Jeff Allen: | Well, you know, I kind of harshed your-your vibe, in-in kind of where we were going with the original question in all this. But it was kind of an interesting interjection, because Steve, I know that there are a number of other entrepreneurs out there like all of us, like the three of us here talking together who also feel the same way. |
| [00:07:30] | You were getting ready to talk about how you, uh, you know, you obviously you got that vacation stuff out of your system. Your-your cruising and your touring the world and all that stuff. When you came back and you decided to kind of get into Amazon, just kind of pick up from that point, how your Amazon career began at that stage. |
| Steve Simonson:[00:08:00] | Yeah, so, um, you know, just for clarity. We-we were introduced to Amazon marketplace back in probably 2002, 2003 in prior businesses. Uh, and there’s been a number along the way. They … back then, they called it the z-shops. And z-shops, as a point of history, a little relic for you guys, was designed to compete with Ebay. Ebay was kicking the crap out of Amazon. And Amazon did not like it so they invented this concept called z-shops, which kind of had a buy it now and an auction format, and this and that. |
| [00:08:30] | And I think we put 15,000 items, uh, from one of our little companies called Corner Hardware.com in there. And it did pretty well, but not well enough to-to kind of rationalize all the work and all the efforts that we had to do, uh, to make it happen. So, uh, there was probably a good, you know, several year pause on Amazon until probably about 2010 or 11, when some of the companies I advise, or-or have uh-uh either friends of equity in. We started working on ways of making the-the marketplace channel more viable. |
| [00:09:00] | And so, you know, when you start thinking about that timeframe of 2012, ’13, Amazon was really taking off, and that’s-that’s when we focused. And I had a couple small consumer companies that we focused on trying to make Amazon a very, very important channel amongst the other channels that we already were developing, wholesale, and our own website and so forth. Wholesale being the focus of, uh, one of the companies involved. |
| [00:09:30] | And so, uh, it turns out the Amazon, because of their growth and because of all the fun little hacks you can do with, uh, these crazy, you know titles and keyword searches and launches, and reviews and all that stuff. You can get a lot of sales velocity for very, very low impact. And I … that’s one of the things I love about Amazon. It’s the-the highest potential ROI with the lowest potential risk business model that is out there. And I-I believe that for any entrepreneur regardless of experience. That remains true today. |
| Will Moffett: | And with that, you’ve got to be willing to spend some money, right Steve? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:10:00] | Oh, yeah, yeah. Listen, everybody’s got their own budget, but it does … You’ve got to have money to make money. Now, I could show you stories where a guy started out with millions and they did great. But I know, uh, one of my brothers started an Amazon business with only $200, and, uh, his first inventory purchase. And with … In less than a year, he was doing $50,000 purchases from a supplier. |
| Will Moffett:[00:10:30] | Ho, boy. That’s what I like to hear. So tell me this, from the beginning, when you were involved with Amazon, and you were … you were selling the products. When did you get that ah ha moment, and you discovered that, you know, you may have something here? Um, and-and it may work. Tell us about that-that situation or that-that time when you said, “You know what? This is … this is how we’re going to make some money.” |
| Steve Simonson:[00:11:00] | Yeah, so the … as many Amazon sellers know, there’s frustration that goes with selling on Amazon. We struggled getting variations on certain listening. You know, they told us it was impossible. And we finally figured out how to get it done. And because I like to rely on experts, I-I went through all of my Rolodex to find out, uh, who I knew at Amazon who could help me. And I finally tracked down a guy that I knew, and he hooked me up with somebody at Amazon. And they became kind of our interim account rep. |
| [00:11:30] | And the ah ha was, they said, “Oh, yeah. We’ll put you in a deal of the day.” And I-I didn’t even know what a deal of the day was at the time. And-and the thing blew up. I mean that one item was sold out instantly. And we’re like, “Wait a minute. This-this really has something that we didn’t fully understand or appreciate at the time.” And the-the power and the velocity of them making one simple placement and selling thousands and thousands of units in a single day, was, uh, extraordinary. |
| Jeff Allen: | I know that, Steve, you are a big proponent of, um, sourcing from, uh, China. You have sourced, uh, thousands of products from China over the years. Working with Chinese suppliers though, from what we know, some of us have experienced it firsthand, you know, can be tricky and even intimidating, uh, particularly for those folks who are new at it. |
| [00:12:00] | Did you ever experience, uh, a situation where things didn’t go well? Where you lost money? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:12:30] | Certainly. I-I think, you know, it’s always a matter of time, uh, when you’re doing any kind of trading and it doesn’t matter who it’s with, uh, you know, China, America. You, there’s deals that you can, you know, do well on or not do well on based on, you know, different variables. Uh, I can say that, you know, China is intimidating because of language barriers. It’s intimidating because of cultural differences. There’s-there’s just a lot of uncertainty and unknowns. And so I get it, and it’s okay to be, uh, you know, kind of nervous about it. |
| But, the … What we found in working with Chinese suppliers is you-you really have to be absolutely clear about what you want. If-if your clarity is focused solely on price, they’ll give you the price. You know, when you-you tell them, “Hey, it’s got to be a dollar, not a, uh, a penny more.” Then they’ll engineer that product to become a dollar. | |
| [00:13:00][00:13:30] | And we had a case where, uh, we ordered some-some really high end, uh, keyboard cases, um, really, you know, the LED backlight. I mean beautiful, beautiful thing. The entire product was really, really well done, but we probably leaned on them a little too hard on price. And when we sent them in to our-our, you know, first few hundred units sent to reviewers, most of the reviewers came back and said, “Hey, we turned this keyboard.” And, um, it had some hinges in it, uh, because it would support a tablet or whatever. ” and the hinge broke.” And so we called the-the supplier and we’re like, “Hey, what’s the deal with the hinge?” |
| And they’re like, “Yeah, yeah. Uh, you said you wanted, uh, this price, so you got this hinge.” We’re like, “Well, we want the-the good hinge. The one that won’t break.” They’re like, “Well, you know, that’s going to cost you.” And we’re like, “Well, how much?” And it was like $.22 a unit, on, like a $22 item. And we’re like, “Duh. We’ve learned this lesson a million times. Why don’t we know this by now?” | |
| Jeff Allen: | Oh, unbelievable. |
| [00:14:00] Steve Simonson: |
And so that-that’s a typical example. If you beat them down too hard on money, they’ll engineer the price you want, but if you don’t understand the-the aspects of your product that are critical for quality and for the customer experience, you’re-you’re potentially making a mistake. That’s a big one, and the Chinese supplier thinks he’s doing you a favor by taking the cost out of it without understanding the-the five star long term impact. |
| Will Moffett: [00:14:30] |
That is so true. I’ve also had that experience. And you know, if you leave out any type of detail. They’ll give you exactly what you want, but if you miss any detail, it will not be there unless you say it should be there. So I totally, um, concur. How do you separate the good, reputable manufacturers from the bad ones? How do you know who and who you do not want to work with? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:15:00] | Well, that’s a very good question. I think everybody needs to understand this and know this. Uh, I-I get to cheat at this point, because I have a full time China team over there. And-and that means we’re talking to people we’re-we’re meeting with them. We’re-we’re looking at factories. Um, but I would say for the average person that you may not have those resources, it still is very important that you follow a standard protocol. Um, you’re going through your quote procedure, and you know, getting the various quotes. |
| [00:15:30] | Then you’re going through the sample procedure, getting various samples. Then, you decide, “Well, I’m going to narrow it down to this person. And you use your-your gut feel in some ways, and your judgment. Like, they’re easier to communicate with. I’m getting answers that I think are more clear. The sample quality was good. The timing of all of this, uh, worked out well. Use some of those thing. But I highly, highly recommend sending in an inspector before your first shipment is done. |
| [00:16:00] | And the inspector should have very clear instructions. Uh, to be sure that you get, you know, the-the results you intend. And as you talked about, Will. If you don’t specify it on your purchase order, and I’ll back up in that-that a minute. But if you don’t say exactly what you want on your purchase order, then it’s your fault if you don’t get it. Let me just say that again. It’s your problems, as the entrepreneur, if you don’t specify. |
| Will Moffett: | That’s right. |
| Jeff Allen: | So you really need … you need to be extremely specific and very, very literal in your … in your meaning and in your language to them. And, uh, in making sure too, that as you said, you, uh, find an inspector, someone to make certain that the products, before they go out, are built to your specifications and exactly the way that you want them done. |
| [00:16:30] | Now, that’s an inspector, I’m assuming who also works for the company so that I’m … Do they not have their own company’s best interests in mind? And are you sure that you can trust your inspector 100% of the time? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:17:00] | (laughs). Well, the answer is no. Uh, so first of all, for clarity’s sake, the inspector is a third party inspector. They do not work for the factory. Uh, but I can just tell you as a culture, you know, China is a very unique place. And this is not about judgment. This is just about cultural reality. If-if the inspector shows up, and the factory anticipates a problem, there’s going to be a nice, long lunch with a few drinks thrown back, uh, for that inspector. And it’s like, “We’ll get to the, uh, inspection in a minute.” And so you can’t always trust. But I-I I do think that many third party inspectors are trying to provide good services. |
| [00:17:30] | They-they write things down. Um, so you get an inspection report that measures the key things on your item. I’m talking about specifying things like, you know, what’s the gauge of the material they’re using whether it’s plastic or metal or wood. What’s the thickness? What’s the density? We have some things where we measure the gloss level on products. |
| Now, I realize, most people aren’t ready to get to that level of detail today, but I want people to start thinking at this extraordinarily detailed level. And you can test all of this through production. And then, it doesn’t matter really if the third party inspector goes out for drinks or not. They should be showing you a picture of the gloss meter that shows the product within range. | |
| [00:18:00] | They should show you pictures of the-the, you know, whatever instrument they’re using to measure, you know, thickness, width, density, gauge, whatever the case is. There are lots of ways that you can kind of use a system to ensure that the-the humans don’t get in the way. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:18:30] | There you go, making sure too ensuring that your inspector’s getting the job done by being able to provide you with that evidence, uh, sending that back to you in the form of the pictures, documentation and all of that stuff. And all of those specifications you detailed very nicely, Steve, are the types of things that we, as the entrepreneurs, the heads of our business are very responsible for making clear from the outset, to make sure that there isn’t any miscommunication. And if it’s, uh, built incorrectly, if we get it back wrong, then as you put it, it’s pretty much our fault, really, at the end of the day whether we like to admit that or not. |
| [00:19:00] | That man, Steve, Simonson, uh, entrepreneur, many times over along with my partner, Will Moffett. My name is Jeff Allen. We’re going to continue our conversation with Steve, and we’re going to get a little bit more into the nitty gritty here in terms of some things that might help you with your Amazon business when FBA millionaires returns right after this. |
| [00:19:30] | You know one of the biggest mistakes Amazon sellers make is taking out loans with sky high interest rates that eat up all their cashflow. Don’t fall into that trap. If you’re looking to borrow money to grow your business, do it the responsible, smart way, with UpFund. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds by going to upfund.io. That’s upfund.io. |
| [00:20:00][00:20:30] | You know the first thing you need to do after listening to this program is to join the FBA millionaires club so you can stay connected with all that we’re doing on the program. Plus, you’re going to receive expert tips and advice to help you take your Amazon business to the highest level possible. And we’re not going to do that for just anybody. You need to sign up for the FBA millionaires clue. The really great thing about it is that at least for now, it doesn’t cost you actually. And this is even the best part, you-you don’t have to be a millionaire to join. You know what I mean? It doesn’t cost you anything. And you don’t actually have to be bringing in six or seven figures in revenue every month. So stop on by the website fbamillionaires.com to learn more about it. |
| My name is Jeff Allen, Will Moffett on the other end in northern California. I’m in southern California, and we have Steve Simonson on the line. Got a start with his own company back in the earliest days of eCommerce with iFLOOR and has recommended, I think, Steve, correct me if I’m wrong, as one of the top companies by Ink. Is that correct? Ink magazine? | |
| Steve Simonson:[00:21:00] | Yeah, we, uh, you know, we had a pretty good run. Uh, we were on Ink 500 three consecutive years, uh, for growth. And, uh, yeah, had some-some nice accolades along the way. That was uh-uh a lifetime ago it seems, but yeah. It was a fun ride for sure, and a lot of really brilliant people put that thing together. |
| Jeff Allen: | Well, Will, I know that I’ve been enjoying our conversation so far with him, and I know that you’ve got some other things that you want to, uh, to ask Steve to, uh, kick off here as we round out this, uh, addition of our program. |
| Will Moffett:[00:21:30] | Very interesting, uh, how you climbed your way to the top, Steve. What all did you have to really, really do to make it to that level where you were on Ink for three consecutive years, because that takes some serious work. It takes some strategy. It takes something, something that a lot of people don’t have. |
| Steve Simonson:[00:22:00] | Well, you know, I like to think of myself as a pretty lucky guy. And I, uh, genuinely feel to be, you know, that I’m very fortunate, uh, in my life and-and career and so forth. Uh, but I-I-I don’t think it’s anything magical. And-and that’s-that’s, you know, maybe a let down, but it’s-it’s really just when you establish an idea, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to pursue the idea and adjust as necessary. Uh, I can tell you that, you know, in the olden days, uh, before the company was called iFLOOR, it was called efloorcovering.com. Uh, you know, a-a-a worse name than iFLOOR. And so we pivoted really early, and we got better and smarter. There were times where we struggled, uh, in-in a number of my companies until we kind of pivoted and adjusted. |
| [00:22:30] | So for me, it’s a combination of just, you know, willing to gut it out and be persistent. Uh, but also willing to tweak and adjust along the way. We had a-a regular saying in a number of companies that these-these values tend to go with me everywhere I go. And we say, you know, “We fly the plane as we build it.” You, we’re not afraid of risk. We’re not afraid to fail. We would rather just make progress and learn and get better, smarter, and faster. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:23:00] | What is it that we’re doing as Amazon sellers that we should not be doing? What’s the-the biggest time waster or biggest mistake that is causing some of us to just kind of either jump off the rails, or just stop growing? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:23:30] | Yeah, there’s … At different levels, I think there’s different challenges. Uh, you know, the-the journey from zero to a million is one journey, and it’s, you know, chock full of its own challenges and-and obstacles and-and opportunities for that matter. Uh, then the one … the one to 10 million is-is another journey. And has unique challenges. And then 10 to 50, and so on and so forth. I-I do think that a common thing that I … that I follow the Amazon community is they get caught up in the-the, um, magical tactic of the day. And everybody then tries to go and do this tactic thinking that’s going to be the single silver bullet that changes the world. |
| [00:24:00] | And sometimes the tactic will work, and sometimes it’ll even be lucrative for some period of time. But the pursuit of these endless tactical battles to me often comes at a cost of strategy. You know, people really need to back up and ask themselves, you know, why are they doing this? What’s-what’s their objective, you know, not just with the-the business, but their personal longterm objectives. And too often the-the strategic vision is-is being outflanked by the tactical immediacy of, you know, today I’ve got to do something. And, uh, I hope that people start thinking longer term. |
| Will Moffett:[00:24:30] | That is definitely what a lot of Amazon sellers need to do is look at longterm, the end result, would you recommend wholesale? Private label? Like, what do you think should be a part of the journey for a longterm bet when dealing with Amazon? Do you think going international? Do you think building a private label brand to get acquired? Can wholesaling be a way to the end, making a living doing that? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:25:00] | Well, this is … this is one of my, kind of, general philosophies that context matters, right? So everybody’s personal why of what they want really matters. So the person who says, “I’m going to build a public company, an empire, and I’m going to, you know, take this thing into the stock market and so forth.” Then they really have to start thinking about aggressive growth. That means multi-channel, multi-country in a very significant way as fast as possible. And it’s going to take time and money and hard work. |
| [00:25:30] | Uh, whereas somebody who may say, “Hey, I just want a laptop lifestyle. You know, if I can put, you know, five grand in the … in the bank every month, or 10 grand, or whatever their magic number is.” And and-and live on the beach and travel around, then I would be happy. So, that context matters. You, as a general rule, I think that-that the business, I have the most fondness for and I think has the highest potential for the-the average entrepreneur who’s-who’s getting started. |
| [00:26:00] | The private label business has the-the best economics and has the best upside, and I’m talking about building equity and building wealth, because you can actually sell that type of, uh, business in an easier way than you can, uh, getting started with wholesale, which is a very, very different animal, extraordinarily complex. We can talk about it in detail if you wish. But I would never start with that as your … as your focus unless you have deep experience with it. Start with private label, sell on Amazon. As that builds up and you get a certain level of scale, sell on Amazon in other areas, and then maybe some other channels, um, online as well that you can execute with excellence. So it-it … Private label all the way for me. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:26:30] | Will, I know that you have a lot to say in this regard too, because really, this is how you jumped in, uh, and got involved with Amazon and really hit that home run out of the park in that first month of business there. Many of us are led to believe … I was led to believe in the beginning, uh, during my first conversations with, uh, professional Amazon sellers that wholesale was the thing to do, that that was the thing to start, and that private label is something that you should aspire to because it can, well cost a lot of money. |
| [00:27:00] | M if you don’t have that, uh, financial backing, that you’re never really going to be able to get off the ground. So, I mean, is that just kind of another myth that should be busted? Or thrown out? Or is it just really kind of different for everybody? |
| Will Moffett:[00:27:30] | I’d choose private label, because I felt that it fit my lifestyle. Um, it-it’s something that I can, you know, I know how to source in China. I know how to brand a product, build a product, import it into the US, get it sold. So and-and I-I was able to do that from the comfort of my own home. Um, with wholesaling was a different monster. Now, I’ve never tried wholesaling, and sometimes it seems like the grass is greener on the other side. When you hear about some of the numbers that these people are pulling. But I am definitely interested about learning more about the wholesale business. |
| [00:28:00] | And I’ll ask you this, Steve. How exactly does that work? I mean, do-do people get, you know, I’m a private labeler. Do they get-get money from liquidation? Like, for example, if you’re making, um, 10 million or $30 million a year on Amazon through wholesale, what are these guys doing? Are they … are they getting shelf pulls? Are they actually getting wholesale, because I know wholesale has small margins. Um, how do they survive? |
| Steve Simonson:[00:28:30] | Well, this is, uh … this is a very interesting question. One-one thing that people don’t realize is that their margin structure, if they intend to sell wholesale needs to be able to support viability. And I-I think a lot of Amazon sellers in the quest for quick turnover, uh, don’t think about that longterm profitability. And this definitely directly impacts wholesale, but it also impacts your-your normal business. You need to have a margin. I think a lot of folks aren’t building in enough margin up front. |
| [00:29:00] | The-the problem with wholesale that people don’t fully understand is, you know, getting in the door, getting, you know, somebody to make a buy whether it is the online version of wholesale, which I think is the easiest way for most people to begin. Uh, you can get big boxes, uh, to put your stuff online. Uh, and they will then sell the product online. If something gets traction, then you can start looking at in store placement or things like that. But the-the onerous terms of those contracts, and the financial impact of those things is very, very tough even if you do have a margin. And we sold at nice margins. |
| [00:29:30] | Uh, so you-you really have to be prepared for … it’s an entirely different beast. So my recommendation is that if people really think that they’ve built a world class brand, and they really have the margin to support it, then you have to start thinking about, “All right, how am I deploying a sales force? What am I going to do to, you know, um, manage the-the pricing in the marketplace, minimum advertised price, making sure that people don’t just buy my product wholesale and sell it on Amazon cheaper.” And all kinds of different things. So there-there’s a number of things that go with it. And it’s-it’s complex. |
| And that’s why I think, for most people, starting on Amazon, starting on existing online channels and then expanding geography with their own private label will set you up for future opportunities you may not be ready for today. But may be ready for in the future. | |
| [00:30:00]Jeff Allen: [00:30:30] |
Steve Simonson has been there and done that, and he has owned many, many businesses. And you heard what he said earlier. It’s … One of his hobbies is to talk about businesses, talk about buying and selling businesses. And, uh, one of those things that he’s done is, he’s built up a, uh, very rapidly scaled up Amazon business. And that’s what we’re talking to him about today, because we’re really about the Benjamins here, and we want to make sure that we can see you take your business to the ultimate level, just using some of the things that we’ve talked about today. |
| And, Steve, I know that one of your new businesses is one that is, uh, just starting to gain a little bit of traction now, and, um, in fact, uh, it’s something that I think could help our Amazon listeners today. And that is parsimony.com. Tell us a little bit about it, and how it can help, uh, those folks who are professional sellers on Amazon improve their business. | |
| Steve Simonson: [00:31:00] |
Thanks Jeff. The-the-the principal of parsimony.com is that a-a lot of entrepreneurs lack a system. And by system, I mean kind of a comprehensive business operating system. Something that most all the inputs and outputs of their business go through the system so that there’s measurement and accountability. |
| [00:31:30] | Today, I call it, you know, either death by a thousand spreadsheets or death by a thousand apps. To run an Amazon business, you’re buried neck deep in spreadsheets. And you’ve got so many apps to log into. And many of those have good contributions, you know, in terms of clarity of data and management of things. And some of those, you know, have very high, uh, future potential as well, even working with parsimony. We can integrate some of those things into parsimony. But the main principal of parsimony is to give small to medium sized businesses access to something called an enterprise resource planning suite of software, ERP that they normally wouldn’t have access to. |
| [00:32:00] | Normally, it is extraordinarily expensive to implement and maintain, and, uh, typically if you’re going anything less than $20 million, you don’t have a-a very good shot at it. So, uh, it’s a cloud based system, and we think it’s going to help eCommerce entrepreneurs, in particular. And we’re, uh, excited to see, you know, how people are able to embrace, you know, the usage of technology without having to have, kind of the high overhead of it. |
| Will Moffett: | Definitely, we’re going to have to add, um … We’re going to have to add that to our resources page so we can get, uh, viewers or listeners out there, so we can, uh … They can check it out. |
| [00:32:30]Steve Simonson: | It’s going to be fun. You know, we’re actually going to launch in January. We’ve got a-a number of, uh, folks in the alpha and betas. And it’s going to do things that-that people don’t even yet know they need done. In fact, one clear example I use for-for, uh, entrepreneurs all the time, especially Amazon, uh, cornerstone businesses is the idea that, you know, many of these transactions they’re doing with suppliers don’t even use a purchase order. |
| [00:33:00] | Most often they get a quote from the supplier, and they’re like, “Yeah. I’ll take the 1,000 units or 10,000 or whatever it is at the, you know, $2.87 or whatever the price is.” And then they do some, you know, financial transactions. Or if they don’t have terms. And that’s not a good enough system, uh, to really become a-a true enterprise and have true management, and true systems, you’ve got to put everything into the system. So it’s going to be a little bit learning curve for folks, but I think a good one longterm. |
| Will Moffett: | Yep, but what everybody needs. I love it. |
| Steve Simonson: | Yeah. |
| Will Moffett: [00:33:30][00:34:00] |
So you know what? I wanted to get into … And I know we’ve taken up a lot of your time, Steve. And-and I appreciate you coming on the show. Um, before you leave, I’ve got to … I’ve got to get something out of you. And-and-and that’s talking about the big box stores. How did you pull that off? What-what did that take? Can you tell us a little bit about that process when you first said, “You know what? Let’s do this.” When you first make the first contact to the big box, and the financing for the product, and the, um, getting the manufactured, shipped over to the big box, the net 30, net 90. How did that work? |
| Steve Simonson: | (laughs). yeah, net 90 is-is more accurate. Believe me. |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs). |
| Jeff Allen: | (laughs). That’s a no no as far as I’m concerned, Will. |
| Steve Simonson:[00:34:30] | Uh, plus, there’s a million little back charges that you get. So first of all, I-I want to just start by saying big box can be very lucrative, and can be very, uh, substantial in many, many different ways. But it’s not for everybody. Uh, it really is a different animal. |
| Uh, to me, the way you get started with a big box, is that you decide that your brand has, um, opportunity in big box. But you do it by going and looking at the assortment in a particular target customer. Uh, so for example, if your … if your target customer is CVS, you should go find something you can sell to CVS that you think is, uh, missing and that you can demonstrate that, you know, this is, uh, you know, has high potential. | |
| [00:35:00][00:35:30] | And if you have a-a highly regarded product on Amazon already, you’re ahead of the game. You should think of your Amazon listing like a product resume. Uh, but you should also think of your price on Amazon as the retail selling price at the big box store. And most big boxes … it changes by category, so there’s some that are higher and some that are lower, but it’s very common that they’re going to expect at least 50%, um, margin. And that’s after all the little add backs like co-op, like cash discounts, like, uh, shipping allowances. And, you know, returned allowances and thing like that. |
| So that-that means you have to have substantial margin, uh, to support these, uh, important retailers. And let’s not kid ourselves. Retail land base is still more than 90% of total transactions, right? And as I told a group, uh, may … not-not long ago, the entire … the entire amount of eCommerce business was less than the growth in the anemic retail business. | |
| [00:36:00]Jeff Allen: | It’s hard to believe, and we-we don’t even really think about it so much anymore, Steve. But it’s a really good point. |
| Steve Simonson:[00:36:30] [00:37:00] |
It is. It’s a massive thing. But it comes with a lot of complexity. So you-you need to be able to understand how to do EDI transactions. You need to be able to understand how to manage a sales force. And there are now freelance manufacturer sales representatives. And you can just go search for … If your, um, target customer is Walmart or Sam’s Club or Costco, or whoever, just go search for manufacturer sales reps Costco, and you’ll find a number of those resources that come up. And then your objective is to pitch to that sales rep who already has their foot in the door. Not you trying to go and get your foot in yourself. There … Many, many of these manufacturers’ reps have, you know, weekly, um, meetings. And in some case it’s a little more or less frequent. Uh, in some cases, they physically have an office on the premises of the big box. Like I know a few agents who have offices in Costco in Issaquah, Washington. And Th-those agents can talk to buyers every single day. |
| So by finding a rep who essentially becomes like a-a commission only partner. They eat what they kill. Uh, you are able to kind of get your foot in the door, and you can make pitches. And they will also give you very salient and sage wisdom about how bad you suck. Right? (laughs). | |
| Jeff Allen: | Sometimes we need that kind of straight talk. Yeah, we-we-we need to hear that sort of thing. |
| Steve Simonson: [00:37:30] |
Without a doubt. So they’re going to tell you your packaging sucks. You don’t … You can’t even spell EDI let alone execute it. They’re going to … they’re going to give you the reality of the situation. And then you have to take a hard look and go, “Yes, I can overcome these things that they brought forward.” Because they’re-they’re, again, in it to win it. They don’t make a dime if they can’t make a sale. And so with that kind of alignment of interest, you’re going to have the-the straight truth from, uh, these folks. |
| [00:38:00] | And there’s different ways to kind of vet and go through and find the-the best, uh, folks. But it’s just like any other hire, chemistry, fit, transparency, you know, references, uh, to the extent required. This is how you get started. And if you really have that burning desire to get into … to big boxes and-and retail outlets, I always would find, a-a-a sales rep. And I have a very strong rule about sales reps. I always dance with who brung me. And too often, entrepreneurs are like, “Well, they’ll get me in there. And maybe our contract’s for a year or two. But after that, I’m going to just try to sell direct and cut them out, and keep that money. |
| [00:38:30] | And I think that is a-a short term, idiotic idea. You dance with who brung you and make these people longterm partners. You’ll do far, far better in the long run if you think like that. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:39:00] | Man, I think that’s a great note to go out on. And really, it’s just all about building relationships. And, uh, you-you know, Will. I mean, okay, so that salesperson, maybe they get 10, 15% whatever the case may be. It could be more than that, but just think about how they can make your life so much easier. And also, too, another thing, you know, I’m thinking about. We always talk a-about those of us who are-are entrepreneurs in it to win it. We know that multiple in-income streams are so important. Why wouldn’t you want to add a big box retailer to your list of outlets? I mean even if it’s just Amazon and one other big box, uh-uh brick and mortar, uh, location, or store, or chain of stores. Why wouldn’t you want to do that, when you consider, Steve, the information you just provided that 90% of retail is still with, uh, brick and mortar, uh, retailers out there. |
| [00:39:30] | It just seems like you’re-you’re cutting yourself short on that, and, uh … I just, uh, think that that was really a great way to end this program today. And I wish we had more time, Will. Uh, we could talk to Steve, uh, probably all day. And maybe one of those days we have a marathon broadcast is just Steve Simonson all day long. And we’ll just kind of go right down the line. We’ll order out lunch. We’ll take a break, and people hearing us chewing our food and stuff like that. That’d be great radio, I think. |
| But, uh, Steve, I want to thank you so much for joining us on the program. And hopefully, we can have you back on FBA millionaires, uh, again in a short time soon. | |
| [00:40:00] Steve Simonson: |
Certainly my pleasure, guys. I appreciate being here. And, uh, I love entrepreneurs. Keep up the good work. |
| Jeff Allen: | There we go. Will, great job, man. Great job. |
| Will Moffett: | Thanks, Steve. Thanks, Jeff. |
| Jeff Allen: | And that’s going to wrap up this edition of the program. Thanks again to our guest, Steve Simonson for joining us. Don’t forget, by the way, to check out his website at parsimony.com. That’s that new, uh, software as a service business that Steve has set up. Uh, you need to check it out, parsimony.com. Please do. |
| [00:40:30] | If you have any questions or comments for us on this program about anything you’ve heard on today’s edition of the program, we’d love to hear from you. Shout us, uh, shoot us an email that is, over to, uh, www, uh, .fbamillionaires.com. Now, that’s not actually where you’re going to send your mail. But you’re going to find a way. There’s a form there, and you can fill that out. Send your comments, questions, your remarks, whatever it is that you have. |
| [00:41:00] | Also, too, please do, if you wouldn’t mind, rate us over there at i Tunes. We would appreciate that. Let us know how you, uh, felt about this show. Send us some love, and we would love you forever for that as long as you give us five stars, of course. Uh, and also too, be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and all the usual places, Instagram, and of course, fbamillionaires.com. Again, thanks so much for clicking in. Until next time in SoCal, I’m Jeff Allen. And in NoCal, that man is- |
| Will Moffett: | Will Moffett. |
| Jeff Allen: | And we’re going to go out as we usually do on three with our chant of encouragement for you. One, two, three. |
| Will Moffett: | Let’s kill it, guys. Let’s make it happen. |
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– A sellers focus- A sellers focus
– Should I Pay Sales Taxes in all states?
– Am I spending to much on advertising?
– Profitable Unique Products
– Things That can Kill Your Business
– The Race To The Bottom
– Wholesale and Private Label
| Jeff Allen: | Do you have your arms around the money aspects of your business? Are you sure you do? Well, our guest today is going to bring you up to speed on some things that you need to know as an Amazon seller, in order to keep more of your money, or at least get you thinking along the lines of, “Hey, this is something I need to pay a little bit more attention to.” |
| From the West Coast to the world, this is FBA Millionaires. | |
| [00:00:30][00:01:00] | Welcome to FBA Millionaires. So glad you could make it back in. This is Jeff Allen and, uh, we’re looking forward to a great program today, as we always do. And once again, you know, this program is really geared toward working with Amazon professional sellers to help you take your businesses to the ultimate level. For those who aspire to generate those six and seven figure incomes, and for those of you who may just be starting in your Amazon career walk, we welcome you too. We’re certain that we can help you learn a few things along the way. |
| I’m going to goa ahead now and welcome in, our good buddy to the North, while I’m here in Southern California. In Northern California, my partner in crime, Mr. Will Moffett. Will, how are you? It’s good to talk to you as always. | |
| Will Moffett: | Hey, Jeff! I’m wonderful, man. I am doing good. How are you? |
| Jeff Allen: [00:01:30] |
I’m doing fine, Will. Thanks so much. And I know that you’re pumped up about this guest in particular. You been looking forward to having him on for quite some time. |
| Will Moffett: | Oh, yes. Um, because, you know, the- the- the magic is in the numbers. |
| Jeff Allen: | That’s right. |
| Will Moffett: | And your accountant should know, should know the, uh, the good stuff, the sweet spots. We- we should be hitting them to make that profit. So, we got, uh, Jake. |
| Jeff Allen: | Jake Jaquint, is that right? |
| Jake Jaquint: | That’s correct. How you guys doing today? |
| Jeff Allen: [00:02:00] |
Jake, we’re doing fine, man. It’s nice to have you in and, Will, again, uh, I have to commend you. I don’t know how you source these guests. I know many of these, uh, folks that you’ve had a chance to meet in the past. And from all indications, from the notes and from all of the- the- the conversations you and I have had, Jake is going to be among one of those guests on our list of guests that really we should consider, and I hope that all of our listeners consider, is a, uh, do not miss, a can’t miss guest on this program. |
| [00:02:30] Will Moffett: |
Definitely. Yeah. Jake has been our accountant for some time. And Jake, uh, it’s always a pleasure to speak with you and definitely, right now, get to, uh, hear your insight and share it with the world. |
| Jake Jaquint: | Well, I’m excited, uh, to be on the podcast today, guys. And, um, I- I look forward to, uh, sharing some of my experience with, uh, your listeners. |
| Will Moffett: | Well, let’s dig right into it. Tell us a little bit about your accounting career and your experience with helping Amazon sellers. |
| [00:03:00] Jake Jaquint:[00:03:30] | Yeah, so, um, I started off around 12 years ago, now, back in 2005, and, um, my company is called Cash Is King CNY. And it’s funny as Jeff was talking about the introduction and as you were alluding to, Will, at the end of the day, it’s all about how much money are we putting in our pockets. And when people ask me, “What is Cash Is King mean?” I always say, “Would you rather have cash or would you rather have your inventory names on warehouse?” Well, I think we’d all say, “We’d like to have cash in our pockets, right?” |
| Jeff Allen: | Well, that’s- that’s stinkin’ right, that’s for sure. (laughs) |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs) Love it. |
| Jake Jaquint: | So, you know, for people who are financial gurus, they’ve heard that term before, so I said, you know, “This is perfect. This is what my business is about here.” About helping people actually not only sell a lot, have a lot of revenue like Jake … Jeff said, but actually make money at the end of the day. Money that we can put into our pocket and spend on ourselves and our families. |
| [00:04:00] | So, uh, started off around 12 years ago, and the focus at that time, as it is now, is really geared toward online sellers. Obviously, Amazon’s been around for, geez, what … 20 years now. |
| Jeff Allen: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Jake Jaquint: | Um, and has continued to grow and I’m a happy Amazon shareholder as well, by the way. |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs) [inaudible 00:04:21] early, uh, Jake. |
| Jake Jaquint: | Well, I’ll- I’ll tell you why … Not that early- |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs). |
| [00:04:30] Jake Jaquint:[00:05:00] |
… but I’m very happy with its performance, and very happy with my clients in turn. So, um, my business has been geared around about 80% of my business is based on e-commerce sellers. And, obviously, in the e-commerce world, uh, if you’re not selling on Amazon, you know, it’s a, it’s a rarity. So, most of my clients are selling on Amazon, and, uh, I try to help them look at their numbers and understand, hey, where are they spending their money? Where can they make more money? How to deal with issues like taxes and- and- and FDA fees, and- and advertising fees on Amazon. So, this is what I do, all day, every day, and I love it. |
| Jeff Allen: | Hey, Jake. You know, you talk about 80% of your business is really being, uh, e-commerce in that space. Have you experience other industries generating the kind of cash flow that Amazon-based businesses do? |
| Jake Jaquint: [00:05:30][00:06:00] |
You know, uh, there are some that are out there, but really what it is with Amazon, is they’ve allowed the individual to jump in at a very low cost, to get into the industry of selling something, um, so they’ve been very unique, Jeff, in allowing just, almost anybody. And really, when you talk to my clients, they- they start off with an idea of one or two products and that was it, and then they just suddenly blossomed. In some cases, in the good cases, they blossomed into the people that are, are the listeners of this podcast, the people who want to become the FBA Millionaire, who are netting, you know, six, seven figures a year. Um, so, it’s very rare, Jeff, that there’s other industries that allow people to get on board and up and selling and making money as quickly as Amazon allows people to do. |
| [00:06:30] | Now, there’s some cost with that, obviously, to do business with Amazon, but, uh, they’ve made it easy for people to get in and stuck to those people, those, uh, FBA-ers out there, to make of it what they will. |
| Will Moffett: | Got it. And I’m- I’m just curious, I’m very curious, Jake, and, um, what is the next best thing, you would say? Um, next to Amazon. |
| Jake Jaquint: | (laughs). |
| Will Moffett: | We all want to know. We’re always searching. |
| Jake Jaquint: | In terms of e-commerce, Will? |
| Will Moffett: [00:07:00] |
Whether e-commerce or anything that, uh, that- that- that could be done that is just as, um, lucrative to get in, um, as Amazon. |
| Jake Jaquint: | You know, it- it- it, that’s (laughs)- |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs). |
| Jake Jaquint: | That’s tough. You know, it’s- |
| Will Moffett: | Spill the beans, Jake. Come on. No, I’m playing. (laughs) |
| Jake Jaquint: [00:07:30] |
(laughs) Listen, unless you’ve got some great patented idea out there, you’ve got to have a lot of capital, a lot of cash, and- and the start-up to get into a, uh, let’s just say a run of the mill business, where you’re either a brick and mortar or you’re trying to sell online by yourself, it’s tough. You know, you gotta go to someone like an Ebay, or a Walmart, or Jet, but to, it’s difficult. Amazon really does make it the easiest out of all of them, and it is quick. So, if you want to get into business tomorrow, you can on Amazon. That’s the great part about it. I think that’s what allures a lot of my clients to Amazon. |
| Will Moffett:[00:08:00] | Makes total, total sense, and I know out of all the businesses I’ve started, (laughs) I would have to say Amazon was the fastest, cheapest, easiest to en- enter into. So, I guess, to piggy-back on that, out of your experience, how many Amazon sellers would you say are actually failing versus the ones that are actually making a profit? |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:08:30] [00:09:00] |
That’s a great, great question., and, uh, I think it’s important. And I consider making money as, “an you actually support yourself from your Amazon business,” not just, “Are you breaking even and, you know, your spouse or your significant is flipping the bills for your, for your house?” So, for the people who are really making a living and this is their sole source of income, I’d say it’s probably 50% and that might seem low, but a lot of people get in there, and they start up, and they’re doing real well in sales, but they’re just not generating enough net income, money that they can put into their pocket to actually support themselves out there. And that’s where, you know, a lot of people come to me and say, “Hey, I’ve been selling on Amazon. I sell, you know, $500,000 a year on Amazon, but I’m not making any money. Can you help me identify why?” And, um, yeah, I’d say it’s- it’s around 50/50 out there. It’s those who understand their cost structure, make a great success of themselves. |
| Jeff Allen: [00:09:30][00:10:00] |
I, you know, and- and- and to that point, Jake, you know, this is kind of that point of the program, where the rubber meets the road a little bit here. You know, you talk … You threw a number out, $500,000, generating $500,000 in revenue, and that could be just a hypothetical, but, I mean, do you run into situations where … You know, the $500,000 for most people in- in America, that’s pretty good money, but when you think about it in terms of revenue, you’re not thinking about it in terms of actual profit. When you see stuff like that and someone says, “I’m just not making any money,” and they’re bringing $500,000 in, is this a common problem and is there something that people can, or things that people can usually do to take and turn that situation into a profitable one? |
| Jake Jaquint: | Yeah, it is a common problem, and yes, typically, when they come on board and I’m working with them, I can help them identify where they’re … the missteps they’re taking- |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Jake Jaquint: | … let’s put it that way, Jeff. The missteps that they’re taking and that it’s not a lot allowing them to make money at that point, net income, money they put in their pocket. |
| Jeff Allen: | Right. |
| [00:10:30]Jake Jaquint:[00:11:00] | So, and- and- and it’s- it’s very typical. They get involved and, I think what happens is, is people start up and they start up quickly, like Will said this was very quick and easy to get into with Amazon. And they start selling and there’s so many people out there in the Amazon world, so to speak, offering their advice in these chat rooms, in these forums, and podcasts like this, where they’re getting advice one what they need to do. And what I find is a lot of people go out there and are subscribing to all these different groups, paying money to be involved. They get caught up in, you know, uh, uh, sponsored products advertising through Amazon. The next thing you know; they’re selling a lot; they feel great about themselves; but when they go to pay the bills, they’re like, “Where’s the money? It’s not in my bank account, today.” So, it’s a very common problem, um, that I see out there. |
| [00:11:30] | It’s really the number one problem. People start up; they’re not business savvy; they’re not accountants; they’re not really great with numbers; so they’re coming to- to Cash Is King for a reason, and- and typically that’s the reason. They get off the ground; they’re skyrocketing; they’re doing very well; but they just don’t realize how much money they’re spending; or that they’re not charging enough for their product. It is a, it’s a very common problem. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:12:00] | Well, that’s one of those things that it just, it would keep me up at night to think, “Wow! Look at this. I actually can generate, you know, I can generate, you know, five or six figures a month in sales, whatever the case may be, and yet, I’m not putting any of it in the bank. I’m just taking and paying bills, and paying for that inventory, and all the Amazon fees, and that’s all that there is to it. |
| Jake Jaquint joins us today on FBA Millionaires with Will Moffett and, yours truly, Jeff Allen. And Jake is, uh, is- is an accountant who specializes in working with e-commerce businesses. What you feel, Jake, uh, that Amazon sellers need to focus on to grow their business? | |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:12:30] [00:13:00] |
You know, I think the biggest thing that they need to focus on, and this is difficult, and Will has a lot of experience in this as well, is finding the right products to sell. You know, one thing that people do is they get into this, they want to sell a product that they think is going to be quick and easy, and that everyone needs, but the more crowded that space is, meaning the more other Amazon sellers are selling a similar product, the tougher it becomes for you. You know, you gotta start lowering prices; you gotta start advertising more; so I always tell people that you got to find someway to find products that are in a less crowded arena, in which the more uniqueness to them, so to speak, because that’s where you’re really going to make money. |
| I- I can tell you, my best selling … Well, let’s put it this way, my client who makes the most money at the end of the day, not in sales, but puts it in their pocket, they sell a product that they don’t advertise at all on Amazon. | |
| Will Moffett: | Oh [crosstalk 00:13:22]- |
| Jake Jaquint: | A unique product, very unique. |
| Will Moffett: | That’s amazing. Amazing. |
| [00:13:30]Jake Jaquint: | And- and it just, all the money that they have just drops to the bottom line, where typically everyone else is spending all this money on advertising. But here it was, this one person found this unique product, Jeff- |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Jake Jaquint: | … and they’re, and they’re- they’re- they are a seven figure net income annually- |
| Jeff Allen: | Oh, that’s just a dream situation, Will. You know what I mean? |
| Will Moffett:[00:14:00] | Yeah. That is a dream situation. You know, you got me thinking, um, Jake, because I remember on- on one of our, uh, returns, we spent, I think, $60,000 on sponsored ads in one year, and I said, “Oh my god. (laughs) That is a lot of money.” But, you know, we were talking earlier, before you came on, about cutting off the sponsored ads. And sometimes, in many cases, you may be more profitable- |
| Jeff Allen: | (laughs) |
| Will Moffett:[00:14:30] | … by cutting off the sponsored ads. And in our mind, generally doesn’t say, “We’re going to be prof- profitable,” because we think that we always gotta be in front of people, we’ve got to have to eye balls on our listing and product, and this is the only way to do it. But as you said, um, if you have a very unique product and you’re not in competition with a bunch of folks, then you can actually be more profitable and be on the radar. So is it always good to be number one with the biggest product and the fastest inventory turn? Let’s … Maybe not, folks. |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:15:00] | Yeah, I think, um, what you said, Will. Psychologically, when you say, “Oh my god, if I stop advertising and sales go down, that’s a bad thing.” And that’s just human psyche; it’s natural for people to think that, but that’s where, I think, I spend the majority of my time with my clients on that exact question, because we look at, like you said, $60,000 and it goes what, $500 at a time, right, with Amazon [inaudible 00:15:20] products. |
| Will Moffett: | Right. |
| Jake Jaquint: [00:15:30] |
It’s $500 at a time. So at the end of the day, you’re thinking it’s $500 and it ends up being 60 at the end of the year, so a lot of counseling that I do with- with my clients is, “All right, if your sales are going …” You know, I just had this last week. A great example. I was talking to a client, and I said, “How much do you think your sales would fall if you didn’t use sponsored products?” And they said, “Well, it’d probably fall by 40%.” And this is a client that’s actually losing money currently. And I said, “Well, guess what, if your sales fall 40%, you’ll actually make money now without sponsored products. |
| [00:16:00]Jeff Allen: | Wow! ( laughs) |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:16:30] | Isn’t that … It was just, you know, it’s- it’s the way … It’s very hard to grasp though. Again, your psyche’s saying, “Geez, I dropped sales. How can I possible make more money?” But it’s all about managing your cost structure. In some cases, Amazon sponsored products is very good and you want it and you need it, and it helps you make money. In some cases, it is a hindrance, so you gotta find the, uh, the happy medium, so to speak. But, uh … and a lot of that is not only, uh, the advertising you do, but the product makes, the client is making the most money. They are selling, um, products that are no longer made anymore. So, they- they are buying up inventory of- of items that are no longer going to be made or manufactured, and they’re reselling it online, so they- they have a very limited, kind of, competition out there. |
| Will Moffett: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). Makes sense. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:17:00][00:17:30] | You know the fact is, Will and Jake, that the- the truth is in the numbers. The numbers don’t lie. They really don’t, so it- it- it’s important here, I think, at the end of the day, to get your arm around what those numbers are saying, or get your arms around, understand what they’re telling you, and realize that you may not necessarily have all the answers, that there may come a time when you have to call in a pro, like Jake. Jake went, for example, and keep in mind, this is not a commercial necessarily for Jake, but people like Jake. There are people out there like Jake who are there to help folks who are in, particularly in the e- e-commerce space, working in that area to help you with your business, because there is a lot going on. Those numbers are coming from a lot of different places, there’s a lot of outgoing, and there’s only, you know … sometimes, in some cases, you may not see the incoming, and that’s when you need to get in touch with a professional. |
| [00:18:00] | My name is Jeff Allen, along with Will Moffett, special guest Jake Jaquint. And he’s the man who’s really helping us kind of, uh, d- determine, tell us what these numbers are saying and kind of give us some clues about how we can grow our business by looking at what the numbers are telling us and how to improve from the inside out and give us that opportunity to not just keep more money, but to actually make more money, put it in our pockets, put it in our banks. And we’re continuing our conversation with him when FBA Millionaires returns right after this. (silence) |
| [00:18:30] | You know, one of the biggest mistakes Amazon sellers make is taking out loans with sky-high interest rates that eat up all their cash flow. Don’t fall into that trap. If you’re looking to borrow money to grow your business, do it the responsible, smart way with Upfront. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds, by going to upfund.iup. That’s upfund.iup. (silence) |
| [00:19:00] [00:19:30] |
Hey, don’t forget, as we like to say at this point in the program, the first thing you need to do after listening to FBA Millionaires is to join the FBA Millionaires’ Club, that way, you can stay connected with everything that Will and I are doing and saying and planning for upcoming editions of this show. Plus, you’re going to receive free expert tips and advice on, uh, you know, ways to help you take your Amazon business to the highest level possible, and be the first to, like I said, receive all those important show updates, as we mentioned. Uh, also, too, and by the way, that’s, uh, you know, no cost at all. All you have to do is just drop by FBAMillionaires.com and look for the announcement there, where to join is it’s a very brief short little form that you fill out and boom, click send, and you’re in the club, and then we, uh, we confirm all that later. |
| [00:20:00][00:20:30] | But I also want to do, Will, and this is very important to you and me, and to- to everybody we have on the program, and the future success of FBA Millionaires, if you’re listening on iTunes, do us a favor, even if you don’t listen to us on iTunes, you can stop by iTunes, and, uh, rate us. Give us a, give us a five stars, if you can, if you’re willing to do that and if you’re willing to give us less than five stars, well okay, we’ll listen to you. We want to know what it is that we can do better; we want to know how we can take and make this show even more valuable to you, for you, for those that you care about in helping you to grow your FBA business. Okay? We want to be able to cover the topics, all the subject matter, have the guests on that are important to you and your careers, so please let us know simply by dropping in at iTunes and, uh, rating us. |
| Uh, again, this is Jeff Allen, Will Moffett, Jake Jaquint. Welcome back! | |
| Will Moffett:[00:21:00] | Jake is dropping some, uh, serious knowledge bombs, and, uh, it has me rethinking a lot of things and I’m pretty sure a lot of people are on the road or, uh, sipping their coffee, and saying, “Um, let me turn off my sponsored ads and check this out.” |
| Yeah, so there’s a big debate, um, and a lot of people are wondering should they pay state taxes or not. What’s your thoughts on that, Jake? | |
| Jake Jaquint: | You’re right, Will. It’s a big, a very big debate, especially now as the states are cranking down and wanting to collect the sales tax from people buying online. |
| [00:21:30][00:22:00] | Here’s my opinion. Yes, every state has a different criteria on collecting sales tax, whether or not you have to file sales tax with them, and you should follow those closely. Here’s why. People always say, “Oh geez, is it that big of a deal? And I know my buddy John over here, he’s not paying taxes. He hasn’t run into any problems, so why should I?” Well, here’s why you should. Because, when the government catches up to you, which they most likely will, they are going to get into your books and they are going to go back to the beginning of your company, the beginning of time, when you started selling online, and they’re going to collect tax on all the sales. |
| Jeff Allen: | Scary stuff. |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:22:30] | Some … Scary stuff, right? So I always say this, “Listen, if your tax liability is 5,000 a year, that’s tolerable. Pay that now, because if you wait 10 years, and you get audited, suddenly you’re going to owe 50,000 plus a fine. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t have $50,000 to spend today, not out of pocket. |
| Jeff Allen: | Right. |
| Will Moffett: | Yeah. |
| Jake Jaquint: [00:23:00] |
So, I always tell people, “Look, the- the downfall later of having this big bill, your credibility out there, not only with people in- in the business world, but your community, is it worth it?” And I always say, “Probably not. And, um, you know, I would advise you not to get in there.” Now, can some people not pay it? Yes, they don’t, but, you know, one day they will probably come to regret that decision. |
| Will Moffett: | Yeah, I remember when we first started paying and I started seeing all these different states pinging these, uh, different sums of money from the bank account and I was like, “Ouch! Ooh! Ooh, California! Ouch, Arizona! Ouch!” |
| Jake Jaquint: | (laughs) |
| Jeff Allen: | (laughs) |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs) And so, you know what? I think after- after that day, uh, I pretty much forgot about it, so, you know- |
| [00:23:30] Jake Jaquint: |
And that’s true, and there’s a lot of states out there, Will, that people don’t know about. Although, you might have this nexus, which means, you know, you’re either in an Amazon warehouse in the state or you have an employee in that state, the- the nexus is how they determine who pays sales tax, but if you look in there, if you- you- you get the someone who knows what they’re doing, the accountant firm that knows, uh, these sales tax laws, you’ll find out that in some of these states, you don’t have any liability, or your liability is so small that you don’t even have to pay it. |
| Will Moffett: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| [00:24:00] Jake Jaquint: |
So there’s a lot that people get all worked up inside over, and, uh, I tell them, “Go to bed. Sleep well. Uh, pay your sales tax. In some cases, you don’t even have to pay sales tax, because of your sales amount, and that way you don’t have to worry about the- the- the IRS and Uncle Sam coming after you in five years, and that’s when it really hurts.” |
| Jeff Allen:[00:24:30] | Well said. So, it’s pay me now or pay me later, and pay me later big time. And that’s something we should really try to- to avoid doing. And think about the long- term damage to your credit and any ability that you have later on too, whether it be buy a house or- or obtain funding for a- a, you know, college loan for your- your- your, uh, children. Whatever the case may be, you don’t want to put yourself in that situation. |
| [00:25:00] | Jake, what about international taxes? For a lot of FBA, uh, business owners, they are thinking about expanding or have expanded or are in the process of doing that, but maybe they don’t have all the information they need about international taxes and their obligations. Is that any area where you work in at all or have any kind of knowledge of? |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:25:30] | Yes, a lot. I do business with, uh, not only clients that sell internationally, but clients that are international themselves, who aren’t based in the US. And, yes, it’s the same thing. You know, it’s the same thing we- we have to be worried about, whether it’s, uh, you know, VAT tax over in Europe, or whether you’re dealing with the HSTGST up in Canada, it’s- it’s still the same. And my- my recommendations to you are still going to be the same, that you want to get in there, worry … Don’t- don’t let sales tax be what prevents you, uh, from having a successful business, so go ahead and register for that, and I can definitely help anyone out who is, you know, either based internationally or sells internationally. It’s still all the same, so follow the rules, is what I’d say. |
| Will Moffett: | Got it. So you can ac … Can you work with the VAT- VAT tax, um- |
| Jake Jaquint: | Yes. |
| Will Moffett: | You have ex … Oh, perfect! Um, very, very interesting. Um, so, what would you say … I think, I think that’s … Is that 20%? |
| [00:26:00] Jake Jaquint: |
Yeah, it’s up there. Um, and- and- and everything’s always a little different [inaudible 00:26:08] you get out there, so you definitely want to talk to someone. You don’t want to forget about paying that. |
| Will Moffett:[00:26:30] | Yeah, so would you say, from your experience, um, I know that selling in Europe, you have that VAT- VAT tax; however, um, it’s less competition out there, so it would definitely be less on the sponsored ads; is it profitable? Losing that 20%, is it profitable over in the UK? |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:27:00] | You know, again, Will, I think that really goes back into, “Do you have the right product? Is your infrastructure set up to do that?” You know, getting the products out there, the shipping that is involved with that, um, the knowledge of what people want, is totally different. Right? I mean, our- our needs in the US and what consumers want are completely different in Europe, and so, you know, what works well here, may not really work well out there. So I have certain finds, in my experience, very few of them have been successful in taking the Amazon Euro or even Amazon Canada and making that really a profitable venture for them. |
| Will Moffett: | Gotcha. |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:27:30] | So, it’s one of those things where you gotta say, “Hey, I’m going to focus on this and I’m going to try to make it a winner.” But if you just go and post your products on there and hope you sell a few, don’t bother. It’s not going to be worth your time. I have many, may clients who went internationally and most of them don’t focus on it at all, and I can tell you, it’s probably not even worth having your products on the site at that point. So, either go in, you know, full force, or don’t go in at all. |
| [00:28:00]Will Moffett: | Exactly. Um, ’cause the same, um, energy and time and passion and work ethic that it took to make it in the US, we would have to apply that same work ethic in other countries, and I- I don’t think people understand that. So, you know- |
| Jake Jaquint: | [crosstalk 00:28:10]. |
| Will Moffett: | … if you want to do business there, do business. |
| Jake Jaquint: | You’re right, and it’s difficult because, you know, buying habits are different in different places of the world, so it might take even more time- |
| Will Moffett: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Jake Jaquint: | … to really develop a- a product showing in- in, uh, different countries. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:28:30][00:29:00] | Jake Jaquint is an accountant and he is with us today on FBA Millionaires to talk about ways that, um, in his experience really, in working with FBA store owners, Amazon business owners to help them get their arms around their accounting, their books to show them ways that they can save money and that they can actually take and improve, uh, their sales and their ability to retain more of the money they bring in as profit. Putting more money in the bank; that’s what it’s all about. Again, talking about the truth being behind the numbers; the numbers don’t lie and people like Jake are out there to help you, uh, improve your business and really grow your business at the end of the day. You’re with Jeff Allen and Will Moffett, FBA Millionaires. |
| And, you know, Jake, are there any tools, special tools that you work with, or that you recommend your clients work with, to, um, help those Amazon sellers with their accounting, in order to keep more of their money? | |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:29:30] | Absolutely, Jeff. And this is really where I, where I think my niche is, not only in my selling to e-commerce, but I use a lot of different software out there, so, you know, for me, this e-commerce thing really hits home, because I’m using software with my clients to help automate their accounting function. And not only accounting, but there is like inventory and payroll, so there- there’s a slew of different software that I recommend. |
| [00:30:00][00:30:30] | You know, a big one for Amazon sellers out there, what they’re trying to do is get their sales from Amazon’s website, or from Ebay, or from whoever else, but in this case it’s Amazon, and how do you get that into your accounting software. And for that, you’ll hear a lot of software names like Logility, who uses or uni-buy software out there, or-or a cloud card connector, uh, who uses their connect software, uh, to download information from Amazon into their books, so that’s a big one that Amazon users, uh, are into. But it’s also going down to the inventory. Hey, if- if they’re actually manufacturing product that they’re selling on Amazon, uh, you know, I’m guiding them into, “Hey, you may want to look at this software out there.” Or if they got, you know, the payroll on-hand, “Hey, here’s something that might help you out.” So, I’m a big fan of using software, Jeff, uh, that’s going to make your life easier. So, I’m always about the work smarter, not harder approach. |
| Jeff Allen: | Right. Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:31:00] | Uh, and there’s a lot that’s out there. And the individual Amazon FBA guy doesn’t know about these softwares, because they don’t work with them. You know, that’s where someone, an accountant or a bookkeeper’s really going to help you out. Someone who’s got experience, that they’ve seen the software out there, they’re using it themselves, and that’s where you can really, where I tell people, “Yeah, you don’t want to spend the money for, to help you with your finances, but that’s really where they start paying off, because they’re going to guide you in a direction that’s gonna help you cut cost.” |
| Will Moffett:[00:31:30] | Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yup. I remember when we first started and, uh, I was using HUB doc and that’s what we were able to send in our receipts, and I didn’t know about that at the time when I was first, um, starting on Amazon. I was like, “Cool! You know, I don’t have to have a box full of receipts? I can just scan these, take a picture of it, scan it in, and be done?” |
| Jake Jaquint: | Oh, great. |
| Will Moffett: | So, things like that, you know, guys, um, something that Jake can really help you out with to make your life easier and, um, get you set up for success. |
| [00:32:00] | Um, so, yeah, and I have another question, Jake. Um, so what was the biggest financial mistake you’ve seen an Amazon business make? Um, something that it may be common, or it may be something that’s, uh, very unique, but, um, it can really, really tank a company and something that we may be able to prevent if somebody heard today. |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:32:30] [00:33:00] |
Yeah. I- I think there’s really two. One is, is if you’re selling one product only, you can really open yourself up to- to hurting yourself. You know, we’ve all heard the stories where Amazon will de-list your product for a period of time, right? Or withhold money back from you. Um, and if you only have one product, it- it can greatly hurt you or competition can come in with one product and really take a business that you think is going along well. I had a client, actually earlier this year, she was selling one product and then Amazon came in and found some loophole where it needed to be registered with the government for it to happen and they suddenly just de-listed her product and her business literally went away. So that’s one thing that can really kill you. |
| The second thing is, and we talked a little bit about this before is, is the, is the race to the bottom. Who can sell their product the cheapest. | |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs) |
| Jeff Allen: | (laughs) Yeah! |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:33:30] | You know? We all feel this whole thing. It’s that whole thing of like, “Ah, if I miss this one sale! Lower it 10 cents.” And then tomorrow you lower it another 10 cents, and it just erodes your profitability. And again, like Jeff had said earlier, you know, at the beginning, I think, which is really important, you can, you can have a million dollars worth of sales, but if you’re not making any money, what’s the point? (laughs) |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Will Moffett: | Yeah. |
| Jake Jaquint:[00:34:00] | We’re- we’re not in business to sell a lot; we’re in business to make a lot. So those are the two things. One product can hurt you if you don’t have a lot of stability there and it’s easy to penetrate, and then the other one is, don’t be the lowest cost guy. It only gets lower and lower and lower and you’ll find yourself out of business real quick. |
| Jeff Allen: | And by the way that- |
| Will Moffett: | That’s so true. |
| Jeff Allen: | It- it- isn’t it, Will? You’ve … I mean, I know that you, you know, have kind of had direct experience with going up against others that- that just kind of want to nickel and dime you all the way down to the bottom. |
| Will Moffett: [00:34:30] |
Yes. I remember, oh, we had a very successful product and, um, we were selling it … at one point it was 25.99 and, um … Actually, we were like the second. We were like 21.99 and then the biggest product that’s been there for like years … It seems like the category was just there for years, and it was untouched, and then when I found it, I was like one of- of- of the second, uh, products that was in the little niche. You know, we were doing 21.99; it was going good for about, I would say about a good eight months. |
| Jake Jaquint: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Will Moffett:[00:35:00][00:35:30] | And all of a sudden, one person came on and they were selling it for 19.99. Then another person came on, it was like 17.99. And then I, and then I started seeing products that was exactly like mine. So I called up the manufacturer and I said, “Hey, hey, hey! Like, you know, I- I see you’re selling the product to many sellers.” And I said, “Right now, you have to set a price that sellers cannot sell your product under, you know, a certain price.” And they were like, “Oh, well, you know, in order for us to do that, you’re going to have to buy X amount of more SKUs from us.” And I’m like, ” Oh my god!” I’m like, telling them, like, “You guys gotta understand that nobody is going to buy if (laughs) you guys don’t do this.” And they were like, “Well, we can’t do that.” |
| [00:36:00] | So, what ends up happening? The biggest seller, um, I think he had like 4,000 reviews also. He- he went from 24.99 down to 14.99. Of course that pushed me down to 11.99. (laughs) So, there- there’s no more product and I never ordered again. And, you know, it’s just- |
| Jake Jaquint: | (laughs) |
| Will Moffett:[00:36:30] | … people and their 9.99 and there’s really no profit. So, yeah. That race to the bottom is scary, so that’s why, you know, we talked with Kevin King and, uh, I remember we were saying, you know, he looks at it, um, you know, the way we … I look at it like stocks and we cannot, we cannot have the race to the bottom. That sucks for everybody and it can tank your business, especially if you have multiple products. So you gotta rotate those products in and out, in and out. New products and, uh, make it happen. |
| Jake Jaquint: | Yeah, I- I agree with him, Will. It’s- it’s the race to the bottom and it’s a quick race. Like, you experience there. You had a great selling product and I couldn’t believe it. I was like, “Holy cow! This is amazing.” And like you said, it … as quickly as it came, it goes, so … |
| Will Moffett:[00:37:00] | Yup! Yup. So we gotta bounce on new products at all times. There is never a point where we should kick back, relax, sip on some lemonade, and say, “I love this business.” Right? |
| Jake Jaquint: | (laughs) |
| Will Moffett: | It’s like, no, because that- that- that product can be gone at any moment, so you gotta have a second, third, fourth, fifth … as many products as you can get going when … with the cash you have. |
| Jake Jaquint: | Yeah. |
| Will Moffett:[00:37:30] | So, Jake, I have one last question for you. I know we’ve been taking up a lot of your time and you got a lot of clients to take care of. And I just wanted to see, as far as financials are concerned, who’s killing it? Is it the private labelers, the wholesalers, the retail albatross, is it the online albatross folks? I know it’s … a lot of people have strategies behind each and, uh, preferences, but at the end of the day, like you say, cash is king and it comes down to what’s coming in the pocket. From your experience with dealing with sellers, what do you feel is most profitable? |
| [00:38:00] Jake Jaquint: |
You know, that’s a fantastic, fantastic question, Will. I- I’d say that the two categories that I see the most success out of are wholesalers and private labelers. The one I would tell you that I have not seen much success for, and when I say not much success, I’m not sure if I’ve seen too many people really make a living off is the retail albatross. So let’s talk a little bit about the wholesalers and the private labelers. |
| [00:38:30] | One thing that I tell everybody, and this kind of goes back to your strength and avoiding the race to the bottom, is if you can create a private label and create a brand around that, where people just insist on having your label, that’s the best case scenario. You get a private label cost, so hopefully your product’s cheaper, and then you can go out there and sell it, and you’re kind of limiting yourself through a tax from other people, because you’ve been able to build a following around the name of your product, that private label brand out there. So, that’s really, in my mind, one of the best case scenarios. |
| [00:39:00] | It’s also the most difficult. Okay? It’s very hard to go online and to- to build a brand, where people are going to come back and pick you over somebody else. But if you’re going to really make money longterm, that’s really what you need to do. You can do that through a private label brand or you can do that through your own brand. |
| [00:39:30] | Um, and then wholesalers as well. Um, again, th- they- they can make a lot of money, finding the right products. I think what you mentioned earlier, Will, is very important, that you can’t sit on your laurels. You can’t get relaxed, and a lot of the times, you’ll find, your number one product today is not going to be your number one product tomorrow. So, like you had said- |
| Will Moffett: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Jake Jaquint: [00:40:00] |
… you gotta work in and outs. You always gotta be looking for another product, another line of revenue. Um, so that’s why I’ve been telling you, retail albatross haven’t seen a lot of success. Wholesalers, I see the most success in terms of numbers, but the people who are really killing it, Will, like you said, the people who are cash is king people, who are dropping that money to the bottom line, are the private labelers. |
| Will Moffett: | Nice. |
| Jeff Allen: | That makes perfect sense to me. And, uh, Will, see, man? It’s validation, my friend. Uh, you are the man. Will over there, he is killing it himself. Uh, he is already, uh, had tremendous success with that strategy. |
| [00:40:30] | And, uh, Jake, this has been a great, great program. And it’s been so nice to meet you. I know, Will has spoken volumes about the work that you do and all the help that you provided him, and you seem to be doing the same for, uh, many Amazon sellers across the country. And I want to thank you so much for agreeing to take some time out of your schedule to join us and talk about this today, and we hope to have you back on again in the future. |
| Jake Jaquint: | Oh, I appreciate it. This is, uh … It’s fun. I love talking about this stuff. Most people find numbers boring, I find them exciting, so anytime you need me, let me know. |
| Will Moffett: | Yeah, yeah! |
| Jeff Allen: [00:41:00] |
I love the kind of numbers Will and Jake, that show up in my bank statement. That’s all I’m concerned about. |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs) |
| Jake Jaquint: | Absolutely. |
| Will Moffett: | I want to laugh to the bank. |
| Jake Jaquint: | (laughs) |
| Jeff Allen: | We’re very- |
| Jake Jaquint: | Cash is king. |
| Will Moffett: | So hey- |
| Jeff Allen: | Cash is king. |
| Will Moffett:[00:41:30] | If you guys want to get in touch with Jake, go to fbamillionaires.com/accounting. If you do that, we’ll be able to get you over to Ja, uh, Jake and he can hook you up, get your stuff right. If your stuff is messed up and you think you’re a seven figure seller or a six figure seller, but you’re really not quite, um, he is the man to talk to. |
| Jeff Allen: | Very good. Well, there you go. Jake, we appreciate it. We’ll talk to you soon! |
| Jake Jaquint: | Thank you, guys. |
| Will Moffett: | Thanks, Jake! |
| Jeff Allen: | Jake Jaquint is the man. Hey, Will, any final thoughts before we sign out of here today? |
| Will Moffett:[00:42:00] | Uh, no. I- I just was very excited about this show, because I know it’s all about the numbers, it’s all about the Benjamins, and it’s all about what you can take to the bank. And, um, I’m just so glad we were able to get Jake on. And, guys, remember, um, you know, there’s various strategies out there, but really take into consideration what Jake said today. He even said some things that kind of got me thinking, things that I- I’ve actually never even put into execution, so these are some things that can 10X your company, 20X your company, um, and set you up for a bigger, bigger profit margin, so- |
| [00:42:30]Jeff Allen: | That’s ri … No, that’s right. Absolutely. It’s all about the payday. And, uh, Will, great find. Thank you so much, man. Good talking to you as always. And that is going to put the brakes on this edition of FBA Millionaires. Thanks again to our guest, Jake Jaquint. And don’t forget to check out his website, once again, or better yet, as you mentioned, you can go ahead, uh, Will, and give me that web address again. It’s FBAMillionaires.com/ … |
| Will Moffett: | Accounting. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:43:00] | … accounting. Very good. And you can find some information about Jake there. Now, if you have any questions or comments for us about anything you’ve heard on today’s show, we’d love to hear from you. Shoot us an email and all you can do … all you need to do is simply visit our website, you’ll find instructions there how to get in touch with us. You can sign up for the FBA Millionaires’ Club, once again. |
| [00:43:30] | And if you like the show, if you enjoyed the show, in addition to giving us a rating on iTunes, share this program, won’t you, with somebody that you really like, that you care about, maybe this is somebody who, uh, is getting into, uh, selling on Amazon for the first time. We would appreciate it. Share the love and introduce somebody to our program. We would appreciate that, and who knows? Maybe we’ll help them with their Amazon careers as well. |
| From Will Moffett … I am Jeff Allen, once again, thanks so much for joining us. We’re looking forward to talking to you again soon. | |
| Will Moffett: | Let’s kill it, guys. (silence) |
FBAM2 Product Differentiation with Kip Gillenwater
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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– Failing Before Winning
– State Of Me Too Products
– Creative Arrangements with Manufacturers
– Winning with Patents
– Horror Stories
| Jeff Allen:[00:00:30] | There are a lot of Amazon gurus out there taking, you know, time to give you their advice and you pay for it. It can be expensive and it’s all about, you know, how to be a successful seller, of course. But what about the regular, real people out there? The ones who found their own success as an FBA seller? Well, we’re going to talk to one of those regular people to learn about their success story and maybe we can learn a little something from them to kind of sure up our business and help us success as well. From the west coast to the world, this is FBA Millionaires. |
| [00:01:00] | FBA Millionaires. 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, I’m happy to say hello to our own resident expert Amazon sales machine, Mr. Will Moffett. Will, how are you today? |
| Will Moffett: | Hey, Jeff. I am wonderful. |
| Jeff Allen: | You never get this guy in a down moment, ever. This guy is always in a great mood and he just, he-he’s that way. I-I’m sure that he is but Will, tell us why you’re so excited about our guest, uh, on this edition of the program. |
| Will Moffett: | Everyone with FBA Millionaires, I would like to introduce Kip Gilenwater. She is awesome. How’s is going, Kip? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | It’s going great, Will. |
| Will Moffett: | I’m glad you’re here. And where you located? |
| [00:01:30] Kip Gilenwater: |
Um, Palms Springs, California. |
| Jeff Allen: | Oh, shoot. |
| Will Moffett: | Palm Springs, we’re all on the west coast. |
| Jeff Allen: | My wife and I get out there every so often and it’s so nice to be able to say, “Yeah, it’s only a 45 minute drive out to our favorite, uh, desert oasis out there.” Palm Springs, lucky you. Well you’ve got th-the lifestyle now th-that you can afford to live out there in Palm Springs. |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs) |
| Jeff Allen: | Th-Th-That’s where all the Hollywood types go on the weekend, still, isn’t it? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | It i-, it is. It’s beautiful out here, I love it. |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah, that’s what I thought. Oh, my Gosh. |
| [00:02:00]Will Moffett: | And I, I have to definitely get down there. I-I hear great things. So now that I know Kip, we can all do dinner. |
| Jeff Allen: | (laughs) |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Absolutely. Come on out. |
| Will Moffett: | (laughs) |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. Yeah, well- |
| Will Moffett: | Perfect. |
| Jeff Allen: | … Be careful, Will gets the check, trust me on that. He’s gonna get the check in a minute. (laughing) Well let’s start, Will, let-let’s talk to Kip a little bit about, uh, kind of what she’s been doing and I’m anxious to hear her story. |
| Will Moffett: | Kip, w-we are all anxious to hear your story. So tell us a little about your background and, and how did you first find out about Amazon? |
| [00:02:30]Kip Gilenwater: [00:03:00] |
Well, originally I was a reseller with GoDaddy. Um, I started with that in 2000 or 2001 and I did that, um, I’m still doing that actually. Um, but the, the bread and butter of those years was, was earlier in 2000, before the market got consolidated. And I was looking around for something else to do and I came across, um, ASM, uh, but what is now amazing.com. I, uh, joined through that program and, uh, and got started that way. |
| Will Moffett: | So reselling domains, is that what you mean? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:03:30] | Correct. I, um, I was a reseller and so I had a, or I still have it, a website that connects to the backend of GoDaddy. It sells domains, websites, basically everything that GoDaddy sells, um, I sell under a private label account. And what’s funny is when I started that, it was back when computers weren’t really out there that much yet, that everybody didn’t have the internet. And I actually started the business and I didn’t even have internet at my house when I started an internet business. So- |
| Jeff Allen: | What? (laughing) |
| Kip Gilenwater: | It was kind of funny. |
| Jeff Allen: | Hey, Kip, I gotta ask you a question. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Jeff Allen: | I need to know, how much, what was your biggest deal that you ever brokered or ever participated in for a domain name? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | I have actually, like I’ve bought and sold some on my own account. And the most I’ve ever done is like maybe $15,000 to $20,000 for a domain. |
| Jeff Allen: | Whoa. |
| [00:04:00]Kip Gilenwater: | But what I did, is I sold to like regular people who bought like a dot com for $10 or $12. |
| Jeff Allen: | O-Okay. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | I didn’t, I didn’t do the reselling of like fancy domain names. Like I said, the biggest one, I did personally, was for like maybe 15, 20. |
| Jeff Allen: | Now that’s not bad though, $15 to $20,000. I mean, I was thinking, you know, for me, reasonable would be like, maybe a-a couple of grand and no more than that. But $15,000 to $20,000. Is all of that money yours? Or you just get a percentage of that? Or, I mean, how did that work? |
| [00:04:30]Kip Gilenwater: | Oh, no, that was a domain that I actually had in my personal account- |
| Jeff Allen: | Dang. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | … And then, sold. |
| Jeff Allen: | Shoot. |
| Will Moffett: | Good job, Kip. |
| Jeff Allen: | Man, I guess so, congratulations. |
| Will Moffett: | That’s awesome. So tell me this Kip, you’ve totally dominated in the domain area. How about when you first started off with Amazon? Was it a cake walk, did you hit any home runs? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:05:00] [00:05:30] |
No, I struck out miserably like every time. When I started, I started it in 2014 with ASM 3. And at that time, they had a, um, a formula that you were supposed to use to figure out what, uh, how to find good products. And I did that and I thought, “Oh, my God, I have the best product in the world.” And 500 other people at ASM 3 used the same formula and got the same product. It was Vitamin C serum. And it totally crashed and burned. And I started that, in 30 days of starting … and I tried everything, I did givea-, I, giveaways, I did everything I knew to do, and I knew it was not gonna go. |
| And so I regrouped on that and started another beauty product. And it was horrible and did not do well. And at the time, they were saying, “Okay, you need a website, you need to build a brand. You need to do all this other stuff.” And so, I focused on that, and the products just weren’t selling. | |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:06:00][00:06:30] | And so, I did another product, also a beauty product, and I hated that. And within probably three months after I launched my first product, I had three duds that were horrible. And so, I decided I don’t like the beauty niche and I wanted out of that. And so I went into another niche, which was the baby niche. And that, the … I-I did okay with my first product on that, which was a, um, a baby changing pad. And that was okay and I did that for probably almost a year. And the supplier that I was dealing with totally ripped me off and as, as it kept going, the quality got worse and worse. And, you know, for a baby product, it’s got be good quality and nice. |
| Jeff Allen: | That’s right. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Nobody wants to give something with like marks on it or dirt on it to their baby. |
| Jeff Allen: | Correct. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:07:00] | And, um, so I ended up getting out of that. That was, that did okay but I would say it was a failure too. And then I did two or three other products that did not go and I happened on another product and it did okay. And I just happened to, uh, find through that, a niche that-that’s the niche I’m in now. And that one ended up being a home run. And so that kind of got me started and down the path. That one did not actually launch until last October, I think. |
| [00:07:30]Jeff Allen: | Last October, meaning October of, uh, 2016. Is that right? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Right. So it was a long process. And, and that one, I actually developed it myself and got a patent on it. So it took about a year to actually get it made and go through all the testing and the and so forth. But even that, I mean, it took a long time, so, so I was definitely not an overnight success. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:08:00] | Well yo-you’re to be congratulated for the work though that you put in. Over how long a period did you kind of endure this pattern of, uh, high hopes? And then, uh, those fails where you kept trying and things weren’t happening for you before you finally hit pay dirt with that product you talked about last October? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Two to two and a half years. |
| Jeff Allen: | Wow. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | And during that time, I was selling, like I had little successes. |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:08:30] | But nothing I could sink my teeth into and it was enough to kind of be like, “Okay, there’s something here. I know it can work but it’s just not working for me.” So, um, it, it, there were little, little hills and valley’s but no big, “Hey, I’m at the mountain top. Yay!” None of that. |
| Will Moffett: | Got it. You know what, Kip, if we can fast forward to today, we see a lot of people who may not do so well. Um, th-they’re all looking at the same products on different softwares and everybody’s piggy-backing off of each other. Do you feel that that’s kind of what’s going on here today with the market? And it’s a little too saturated? |
| [00:09:00]Kip Gilenwater:[00:09:30] | I don’t think it’s too saturated in the sense that there’s still a lot of money to be made online and at Amazon specifically. I do think that the me-too products, the people that just throw up something that looks just like everything else, and they just slap their own label on it, I’m not sure how much longer that will be successful. Um, I, I think it will if they have, uh, certain rules that they follow. And, and they get it up there and know what they’re doing. But as far as newbies getting in, like how many more … you know, with a silicon spatula, how different can it be? |
| Will Moffett: | (laughing) |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:10:00] | And so, f-for my products, what I do and what has been successful for me, is doing different products. Like, I don’t reinvent the wheel but at the same time, I make the wheel a little different so it looks different and, and it-it’s not the same as everybody else’s product. It’s different in ways that I get patents on everything I do. I-I do intellectual property, I keep track of that very well. |
| Jeff Allen: | Kip, how many patents do you currently own? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | I have two and I’ve got a third one and I also have the, the exclusive ability to use another product in the U.S.. |
| Jeff Allen: [00:10:30] |
You do have the exclusive ability, so you have, what, permission from the manufacturer or the inventor? Or, how did that work? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | The manufacturer is the inventor. |
| Jeff Allen: | Okay. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | And so I have the exclusive right to use it in the U.S. and I also, with his permission, got the copyright. And, uh, I think on that one, we might also be doing the design on that, uh, the design patent. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:11:00] | I’m gonna ask another question, Will, real quick. I’m gonna duck in here before you jump back in here. Going back to October last year, when you had developed that product or rolled that out to the marketplace, number one, was it patented already when you, uh, uh actually put it on Amazon? And how long was the process between the time that you decided it was something that you needed to do and the time it finally came through, you got the certificate and, uh, you were able to get that thing all legal and, uh, and patented the way you wanted to? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:11:30] | Well, there a, there’s certain steps for getting a patent. There’s the applying for the patent, which you have to, you have to actually apply for the patent- |
| Jeff Allen: | Right. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | … Before you, uh, make it available for sale. |
| Jeff Allen: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Or put it out and show people. |
| Jeff Allen: | Okay. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | S-So, you can’t … if you, if you want a patent, it can’t already be on Amazon. Or it can’t be anywhere out there. |
| Jeff Allen: | Okay. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:12:00] [00:12:30] |
Um, and to apply for the patent, it, they, there’s certain things. Like you have to do drawings, and so forth, which my att-, uh, attorney did, and it probably took maybe six weeks. And then he applied for it, which gave me a provisional patent number, or patent pending number. And that, I put on the boxes and so forth, that was there for probably nine months, eight or nine months. And that’s when it was officially issued and mine. So, uh, and so, that’s about how long it takes, I think maybe a year or so. But it depends, there are different types of patents. There’s design patents, which, which show the look of a product. |
| Jeff Allen: | Right. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | And there’s a utility patent, which is actually an invention of, um, you know, some weird thing. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:13:00] | Yeah. A-And there are, there are so many. In fact, I-I-I know talking to patented attorney’s, and those are really interesting folks to talk to because they can go on and they really enjoy what they, what they do. And talking about, uh, uh, intellectual property protection, which is basically what’s it’s really all about. And, uh, that’s something, Will, you know, we’re going to have to cover on this show, I think, probably a little bit more extensively. It may not neccessarily be the right venue for it now but make a mental note of that. Will ya? (laughs) We need to, we need to talk about that. |
| Will Moffett: | I agree. We may need to get Kip back on for that. (laughing) |
| Jeff Allen: | Maybe. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:13:30] [00:14:00] |
I know what not to do. (laughing) And one thing that’s kind of interesting is, um, I have a trademark on my main brand. And I was trying to split off and do a separate brand, uh, underneath that brand. And I tried to get the trademark for that, I had the trademark for my main brand. And then I tried to, um, split it off and the, the, the smaller one, I had everything set up for it, I had, um, all the, the logos, the website, the, the, brand, um, all the branding and stuff set up. And they refused my trademark, um, which totally, you know, messed things up for me. Um, but it was because somebody else had the trademark and when I went in there to search it, I didn’t see it. But somebody had one that was a synonym for mine. |
| Jeff Allen: | What? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | And they refused it because it was a synonym. So in other words like, I’m not saying it very well but, um, let’s say, let’s say garlic press. Let’s say I wanted to do garlic press … somebody else had like garlic squeezer. (laughing) |
| Will Moffett: | Oh, no. |
| [00:14:30]Kip Gilenwater: | An-And they said squeeze and press are synonyms in the dictionary, so it, it was refused. So there a lot of little things that get ya. |
| Will Moffett: | Oh, my goodness. So, those things can be pretty pricey. H-How much are patents running for? Because I’ve done trademarks, but never patents. And I know patents can be pretty lengthy in time. How much can a patent be? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:15:00] | Well, for design patents, which are the easier ones, and they don’t, they … like I said, they’re pr-, they’re pretty quick compared to utility patents. And so, utility patents, I think, are like $5,000 to $6,000. But for design patents, I pay about $2,000. |
| Will Moffett: | Okay. That’s reasonable. Cut out competition, no hijackers here. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Well, Amazon doesn’t always agree. But (laughs) you’re right. |
| Will Moffett: | (laughing) |
| Jeff Allen: | How many products do you have altogether right now Kip, in your store? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Right now I have five but I just, I just launched two. So until last month, I only had three. |
| [00:15:30]Jeff Allen: | Are you selling any, uh, reselling any merchandise, whatsoever? Are you buying any merchandise wholesale from any suppliers right now? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | No. It’s all private label. |
| Jeff Allen: | All your stuff. And your, are your, you’re a believer, aren’t you that private label is the way to go, aren’t you? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | I think there are a lot of paths that people can take. This is just the one that works for me and I’m most comfortable with. Because the others, I-I, it’s so hard to build the business as it is. |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:16:00] | I want to knock out as much competition as possible. A-And it’s … like if everybody has this silicon spatula, it, you know, and they’re getting it from the same place, how different can it be? |
| Jeff Allen: | Right. If you don’t mind, just kind of sharing with us, and I hope you don’t mind, let’s talk about volume right now. Can you tell us a little bit? Give us a kind of rough idea, even a range would be good about what you’re monthly, uh, volume is at the present time. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:16:30] | Right now, I’m just at the point where I’m solidly doing $100,000 a month. And that’s like in non-like quarter four type months. Just regular months, I’m … with the, with the two new products, I-I’m at the $100,000 mark. |
| Jeff Allen: | Non-seasonal. This is, this is a real [crosstalk 00:16:36]- |
| Will Moffett: | Kip, welcome to FBA Millionaires. (laughing) |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah, that’s right, that’s right. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Thank you. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:17:00] | And she-she’s got, she’s got the early key to the store right now, the, uh, FBA Millionaires Club store. And, uh, great work on that, Kip. Well, congratulations on, on, uh, just doing such a fantastic job so far to this point. And Kip is, uh, right there, uh, a shining example, and we’re speaking to her right now. She is, uh, in Palm Springs, you’re listening to Will Moffett and Jeff Allen on FBA Millionaires. A shining primary example of the type of people that we’re talking about. |
| [00:17:30] | Uh, that this show with-we wanna appeal to those people who are out there who want to make $1 million selling on Amazon, who want to have seven figure incomes at the end of the year. And there are folks out there, regular folks like Kip who, you know, before they got into Amazon, we’re doing other things. And I know that there are a lot of people whom, out there, who know this. But there are more people it seems to me, because of social media, we’re inundated, Will, by all of the gurus and all of these marketing masterminds out there who, uh, can tell you all about, uh, you know, becoming a giant, raving success on Amazon. You can become your own Amazon celebrity through all your friends and family and do all of this. |
| [00:18:00] | And they go from town to town and, and they, uh, have these incredible meetings, and conventions, and seminars, and workshops, and people are paying thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. And you may end up spending hundreds or thousands of dollars, whatever the case may be, but the point of the matter is, it’s not everybody has had to do that. And you’ve got a real person right here, in Anytown, U.S.A, but she happens to be living in Palm Springs, who is doing it. And she is seeing great results, it’s taken her some hard work, she told an incredible story, I think, Will, how it wasn’t home run after home run when she got started. Took her two to two and a half years- |
| Will Moffett: | Yup. |
| Jeff Allen: | … To find her success. |
| [00:18:30]Will Moffett: | Yeah. Kip is a, a prime example of what everybody can be. And so Kip, in saying that, um, has the journey gotten easier? Or as you grow, is it any tougher times? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:19:00] | I don’t think anything with this whole process is difficult. It’s just trying to master it and I think as, as things develop and the business starts to grow, it just requires learning new skills. And, and to learn different things. Like right now, I’m dealing with inventory and cash flow and, and trying to set everything up, um, so that I don’t run out of stock. And that’s just something that it’s not hard, but it’s different than the, the things I was dealing with when I was struggling to get it off the ground. |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Will Moffett:[00:19:30] | Kip Gilenwater joins us from Palm Springs, California talking about her journey with Amazon, selling Amazon the FBA way, and making a giant success of it. She is into private labeling, she has been very successful this far, and we are going to continue our conversation with her. Will Moffett and Jeff Allen with you, FBA Millionaires rolls on when we come back right after this. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:20:00] | Getting the funding you need to grow your business can be challenging. But our friends at UpFund make it super easy. See how much you qualify for in 30 seconds and have your inventory funded in just days. Check out UpFund.io to get started today. That’s UpFund.io. |
| [00:20:30][00:21:00] | You know, if you want to join the FBA Millionaires club, well the really great thing about it is that you don’t actually have to be a millionaire. You just have to have the desire, right? So we would love it if you would stop on by our website at fbamillionaires.com, look for FBA Millionaires Club, sign up there. And you can keep up to speed with what it is that we’re doing and we’ll, uh, put you on a mailing list, we’ll send you out a bunch of information. We’ll keep you up to date on who we’re gonna have on the program, what we’re gonna talk about, we’ll provide you with some great tips and guidelines. And, uh, just anything that we can think of to help make your walk through FBA, uh, as successful as we can possibly help you make it. Okay? So once again, you’re joining the FBA Millionaires Club, simply by going to fbamillionaires.com and look for all the information there. And you can also too, like us on Facebook and all the other usual social media places. Got it? |
| [00:21:30] | Will Moffett and Jeff Allen, that’s who I am. Will Moffett is in northern California, I’m in southern California and with me, not too far away is our guest. And that is Kip Gilenwater. And she is in Palm Springs, California, we’re talking all about her, uh, career so far selling FBA, uh, Amazon and, uh, doing it very successfully, Will. What a great story so far. |
| Will Moffett: | Kip is killing it. I’m gonna call Kip, Killing it Kip. |
| Jeff Allen: | Killing it Kip. |
| Will Moffett: | That’s what we’re gonna call her. (laughing) |
| Jeff Allen: | I love it. |
| Will Moffett:[00:22:00] | Kip, for 2018, what’s your plans to take your Amazon business to the next level? Everybody is looking for that next extra million, that extra $100,000 to add to that, that bank account. What do you plan to do to make that happen in your business? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:22:30] | Well, the plan right now is to add about, between five and 10 new products, hopefully 10, but somewhere in that range. And if I do that, I feel like by the end of 2018, I will have, uh, two to two and a half million dollars in sales. |
| Jeff Allen: | Wow. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | In that range. So that, so my goal is to scale up and add as many new products as I can, uh, successfully. |
| Jeff Allen: | Well, fantastic, Kip. |
| Will Moffett: | That’s definitely how to grow. |
| Jeff Allen: | And I, and I- |
| Will Moffett: | More sku’s. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:23:00] | … Exactly. A-And you know, Will, she’s got a game plan. And it sounds to me like she’s well on her way to doing that and she, you know, endured those, uh, failures in the beginning. But everything has been coasting, uh, right along, uh, and she would probably disagree with me. Uh, pretty smooth sailing it seems like from that point. But, I do want to ask you though, Kip if you have a horror story that you don’t mind sharing? Because we all love horror stories, we like to get scared to death at the movies. And I’m just wondering if you’ve got one for Amazon that we can hear, that we can learn from. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:23:30] | Well, I-I have a lot of horror stories (laughs) but one, um, the biggest one is probably last year, uh, after I started wh-what became the home run, or one of the home runs, I had a 40′ container that was going to Amazon for quarter four. And at the beginning of November last year, it got stopped by customs. |
| Jeff Allen: | Uh-oh. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | And it was not released until mid-January. |
| Jeff Allen: | Ooh. |
| Will Moffett: | Ooh. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | And that was very painful and so not only did I miss quarter four with selling these products, but I also was charged like $6,000 or $8,000 for the amount of time it was in customs. |
| Jeff Allen: | Oh, my goodness. |
| Will Moffett: | Oh, my God. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | It, it was pretty painful (laughs). So- |
| [00:24:00]Jeff Allen: | So what happened after, after that point? I mean you didn’t, uh, have the product obviously, to sell during the fourth quarter. But it was one of those, I mean, you had to sell it after the fact. Uh, how were sales after that when you finally were able to get it into your store? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | It was okay. It, it came back but not as good- |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:24:30] | … As it was. Like it never, like I’ve run out of stock on a couple different products and they never come back to where they were before they ran out of stock. If, if it runs out for more than a couple of weeks. Like if it’s just for a day or two, it’s not that big of a deal, at least from what I’ve experienced. But if it’s more than two, three weeks, it’s very, uh, it, (laughs) it’s very painful. Um, so, yeah, i-i-it came back and now it’s, I would say it’s probably 80% to 90% of what it was before it, it had that happen. But it’s not back at 100% where it was. |
| Jeff Allen: | Oh, boy. You live and learn, right? It’s one of those types of things you have to learn for that kind of, uh, experience Will. |
| [00:25:00]Will Moffett: | Well I’m trying to breathe right now. (laughing) Well I’m glad you overcame, Kip. Ooh, yes. Um, (laughs), well, um, in that case, uh, let’s move onto the next question ’cause I’m still trying to catch my breath. I can only imagine, I can only imagine that type of product sitting in customs. I’ve experienced product in customs and, um, you know, everyday I’m emailing (laughs). |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Yeah. |
| [00:25:30]Will Moffett: | And, um, yeah, uh, I-I use Flexport, you know, “Flexport, hey, you know, where is it? What’s going on?” And, you know, I don’t know, have you guys ever dealt with like FBA or any type of certifications? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Yes (laughs). |
| Will Moffett: | You know, that’s a whole nother pain with it but I totally understand, Kip. And I’m so glad that you overcame and you are killing it right now. Are you able to prevent that from ever happening again? |
| Kip Gilenwater: | No. Um- |
| Will Moffett: | Oh, okay. |
| [00:26:00] Kip Gilenwater: |
… Actually I have a 20′ container that’s stuck now. Um, it’s painful but not nearly as painful as the first time when it happened. But, it, you know, it’s just one of those things. It’s just they pull them from time to time and mine just happened to get pulled in quarter four each year. You know, it’s just part of selling on Amazon, it’s just, it’s just something that it, there, there are lots of little obstacles and this is just one that sometimes people, you know, have to bump over. |
| Jeff Allen: | Kip- |
| Will Moffett: | Yup, so right. |
| [00:26:30]Jeff Allen:[00:27:00] | … Kip, what kind of advice do you have for those people who maybe are struggling right now with their Amazon business? Uh, maybe they’re just getting involved with FBA, maybe they’ve sold merchant fulfilled this entire time and they’re looking to do something a little bit different. Um, just from the standpoint of someone who has had, uh, successes and failures come her way. Now, of course you’re enjoying in this title wave of success right now in your own business, what would you say to someone who is riding up there in an elevator with you, maybe the top of this, the luxury suite of your favorite resort hotel someplace, uh, for dinner. And they needed, uh, quick, uh, advice about what they needed to do to succeed on Amazon? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:27:30] | I would say don’t give up. Um, that would be the first thing is it works. It, there are millions of sellers out there doing well, and you can do it too. It’s just a matter of following the blueprint, finding somebody to follow and follow that blueprint. And if it doesn’t work, try it again, tweak it, try it. Um, and I’m, I’m a big believer in education, like podcasts like this, I listen to a podcast every day when I go for my walk. And just learning as much as you can- |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:28:00][00:28:30] | … About Amazon. And the nice thing about this is there is a blueprint to follow. And I know it-it’s very easy to get distracted because the gurus are saying, “Oh, well this shiny object, you must have this to be successful.” Or, “Oh, you need to do this or that.” And really, it’s very, it boils down to a very simple thing. You’ve got to have the product, you’ve got to have the sales, and you got to have traffic. And that’s it, those, that’s all you need to focus on until … I mean, I’m still focusing on it so I would say until you have like $3 to $5 million worth of sales maybe. Just focus on what is going to get you sales. And that is a good product and traffic to your listing. If you have those things, then you can succeed. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:29:00] | Kip, when you’ve got a store on Amazon as you do, how important is it to have those additional vehicles, online vehicles set up? Those selling tools, another website for example, uh, social media, uh, something to help you with your branding. Uh, you touched on it a little bit in the beginning but we didn’t really go into any kinda detail really when you were talking about it. Has that been an important part of your success so far to this point, is being able to have all of those other marketing vehicles online to help support your Amazon business? |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:29:30] | No. Um, I, I actually think I wasted a lot of time on that, um, because those weren’t necessary. Those, for the most part and my background isn’t websites, it’s SEO, and I do have a website for my, uh, brand. And I have a Facebook page, and I have Pinterest and all of those things but really, they were time wasters. |
| Jeff Allen: | Yeah. |
| Kip Gilenwater:[00:30:00] | And if I were to do it again, I would have the website, just because it’s important for people to see that you’re a real company. But other than that, maybe a Facebook page, but I would not spend a lot of time or effort on it because while those are nice, unless you have a vehicle to monetize those, and bring traffic to those and get the traffic from there to your Amazon store, you’re wasting valuable time. Uh, for me, it’s, like I said, it’s about doing the best I can on Amazon and, and trying to rank and get traffic there. |
| [00:30:30][00:31:00] | Amazon gets much more traffic than you’re gonna get t-to your website … at least, you know, for me, for my website. And so I can spend my time trying to rank on Amazon and if I rank, i-if I move up to page, the top of page one for, for a particular keyword, and maybe it takes me a couple of weeks to do that, I’m gonna make a lot more money than if I try to get, um, number, to try to get on page one of Google for my website. Because Amazon is the 800 lb gorilla. So for me, all of those other things were time wasters and once I realized that it’s all about product and sales, that’s where my focus became and that’s, that’s really what helped my business take off. |
| Jeff Allen: | Well, Will, that’s exactly Kevin King had talked about when we had the show with him. He talked about the fact that, you know, getting the website together and your Facebook and social media strategy together, was not the priority. |
| [00:31:30]Will Moffett:[00:32:00] | Yup. That’s so true. I know, I often see that it is very easy to look at other shiny objects and like Kip said, listen to the gurus. And it’s always something new to do, some kind of new tactic. But at the end of the day, we all must understand that all we need is a product. I-If we can find a product, a niche, or a product that we can make our own, make it different, you know. And if we could get it ranked, you know, that’s really all it takes it just find-finding those products and sometimes you gotta run through a lot of products. You know, I’m a true believer that there’s no other way for me but to run through products. At one point, I would, I would launch 10 products per month, that’s 10 private label products. |
| Jeff Allen: | Wow. Wow. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | That’s a lot (laughs). |
| Will Moffett:[00:32:30] | Y-Yes. And you know, um, doing the keyword research, and the listings, and the sales copy and all that, it was a big mess. But (laughing) but, but that’s what it takes. But, but, you know, as you grow, and say out of those 10, 10 products, if you have three winners each month, two winners each month, one winner each month, at the end of the year when you collect those winners, you’re, you’re making great revenue. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Mm-hmm (affirmative). |
| Will Moffett: | So, you know, if we look at, we look at this picture and it’s all about finding that product. And you know, if you gotta find the product, the sof-, the software that everybody else is getting, I don’t know if you can really, uh, depend on being a Kip. (laughing) |
| [00:33:00]Jeff Allen: | Well why-you know, we’ve kinda run out of time a little bit here, uh, Kip, for this edition of FBA Millionaires. But what a delight this has been for both of us to talk to you tonight. Just a tremendous, uh, uh, story and you have been the consummate guess, consummate pro and so generous with your time. We really do appreciate your contributions to the program and we hope we can have you back on again. |
| Kip Gilenwater: | Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, it-it’s been very nice. |
| Jeff Allen: | There she goes. |
| Will Moffett: | Thank you, Kip. |
| [00:33:30] Jeff Allen: |
Wow, great job. Well another great find on your part, my friend. I don’t know how you do it but you come up with these fantastic guests again and again. Any final thoughts to, uh, kinda take us out here? |
| Will Moffett: | I think I, uh, pretty much said what I had to say as far as guys, um … you know, there’s many things to do out there, as far as finding your way through this jungle of Amazon. Um, but- |
| Jeff Allen: | It’s the Amazon jungle. |
| Will Moffett: | … If you can find any … the Amazon jungle. |
| Jeff Allen: | (laughs) |
| [00:34:00]Will Moffett: | If you find any type of success, hold onto that success, make it better, take the successes and multiply them and constantly never redo your mistakes. If you keep doing that, you’ll keep climbing to the top as Kip did. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:34:30] | Great, great show. And, uh, Will, thank you, I appreciate you, my friend. Thanks so much for once again being in there for us and being our resident, uh, pro as you always are. We’re looking forward to getting together again, I hope. And that’s gonna wrap up this edition of the program and don’t forget, we wanna, you know, make sure that you have a chance to, when you’re over there at iTunes, that, you know, give us a rating if you don’t mind, that would be really great. We’d love it so much if you would. |
| [00:35:00] | And also, too, again, just bears repeating, make sure you stop on by fbamillionaires.com, you join the FBA Millionaires Club. And, uh, really there’s no price to pay for that, it’s just a matter of being able to connect with us, we connect with you, we send you some stuff from time to time by email to let us know about future editions of the show, maybe give you some tips, some inside advice. Uh, anything that we can possibly do to help you, uh, in your Amazon career and uh, selling the FBA way. |
| And that’s what we wanna do, we wanna grow successful together. And if that means, if that means all we can do is make a lousy six figures at the end of the year, then that’s what we’re gonna do, dog gone it. I’d love to be a failure and make six figures a year, Will. | |
| Will Moffett: | (laughing) Hey … [crosstalk 00:35:28]. Jeff, you’re hilarious. |
| [00:35:30]Jeff Allen: | I’m telling you man, he doesn’t- |
| Will Moffett: | I’ll take the six figures. |
| Jeff Allen: | … He’s- |
| Will Moffett: | I’ll take it. |
| Jeff Allen: | … He’s, he’s la-, he’s laughing, he said, “Six figures?” I’m probably cutting ourselves short here. We-We’re talking about seven figures here. After all, it is FBA Millionaires (laughs) and from So-Cal, my name is Jeff Allen and up in No-Cal, he is … |
| Will Moffett: | Will Moffett. |
| Jeff Allen:[00:36:00] | And that’s right. And this is a show that’s all about the benjamins. And ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again for tuning into FBA Millionaires. And as we like end every single program, Will, on three, one, two, three, let’s kill it. |
| Will Moffett: | Let’s kill it. |
