FBAM6 Building With The Purpose of Selling With Kevin King

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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.

[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.

Jeff Allen:

Ah, yeah-

Will Moffett:

So um …

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?

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?

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.

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?

Kevin King:

I’m doing good. How are you doing today?

Jeff Allen:

I’m doing fine. You said you were in Austin? Is that correct?

Kevin King:

I am in Austin. Austin, Texas, the heart a Texas.

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.

[00:02:00]

Will Moffett:

No, no worries, Jeff, I, I was just about done.

Jeff Allen:

(laughs)

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.

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-

Will Moffett:

(laughs)

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.

[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-

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.

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.

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.

[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.

[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.

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?

Jeff Allen:

Yeah.

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.

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.

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.

Jeff Allen:

Wow.

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.

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.

[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.

[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?

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.

[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.

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.

[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.

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 …

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 …

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.

Jeff Allen and Will Moffett back with you and our guest, Kevin King.

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?

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.

Will Moffett:

(laughs) Very true.

Kevin King:

You, you don’t need to chase them, you don’t need to chase them all.

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.

[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.

[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.

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.

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.

[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.

Jeff Allen:

Hey, Kevin-

Kevin King:

Yeah.

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.

[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?

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.

[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.

[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.

Jeff Allen:

(laughs)

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.

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.”

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.

[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?

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

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.

[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.

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 …

Kevin King:

Yeah?

Will Moffett:

Hey, how can we find out how to take your course?

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.

[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.

[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.

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.

[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.

Is that something that you’d be willing to do and come on and talk to us about in the future?

Kevin King:

Yeah, I’d be glad to, Jeff. No problem.

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.

Kevin King:

Thanks for having me.

Jeff Allen:

There you go. Will, wow, man. Fantastic find. Great catch, my friend.

[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)

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.

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?

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.

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.

[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 …

Will Moffett:

Will Moffett.

[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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