Podcasts about billion dollar seller summit

In this episode, we will explore e-commerce strategies, personal stories, industry trends, and Amazon tips, as well as insights on networking, market shifts, and He Carrie Miller from Helium 10 uncovers the hidden gems of the e-commerce universe in a conversation filled with personal stories, professional insights, and a touch of Thanksgiving gratitude. Her journey, which intertwines with platforms like Walmart and TikTok, offers a fresh perspective on the future of e-commerce. Carrie shares how her father's entrepreneurial spirit and career success inspired her to help revive a struggling skateboard brand, demonstrating the power of family ties and innovative thinking.    The world of skateboarding and rollerblading takes center stage as we explore the vibrant industry trends and challenges traditional companies face amidst the rise of electric boards. Carrie recounts memorable moments from the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and Helium 10 Elite events, from strategic victories in tug-of-war competitions to unforgettable company gatherings filled with camaraderie and humor. This lively discussion highlights the importance of community and shared experiences, painting a colorful picture of both the personal and professional journeys in the Amazon-selling business landscape.   We navigate the intricacies of e-commerce strategies, touching on geofencing, Amazon sales tactics, and the potential shifts in manufacturing brought about by tariffs. Carrie's insights into Helium 10's innovative tools offer valuable lessons for optimizing Amazon listings, while the broader conversation addresses quality shifts in the market and the importance of networking. The episode closes with a nod to the Helium 10 Elite group's collaborative spirit, underscoring the value of helping others achieve their goals to find personal fulfillment. This dynamic episode promises to inspire and inform anyone passionate about online business and entrepreneurship. In episode 423 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Carrie discuss: 00:00 - E-Commerce Trends and Tools Discussion 03:14 - Podcast Success With Helium 10 07:49 - Skateboard Business Trends and Experiences 11:46 - Geofencing and Digital Advertising Strategies 16:29 - Geofencing for Targeted Advertising 21:04 - Amazon Sales Strategy and Helium 10 33:43 - Quality Over Quantity in Product Sourcing 37:21 - Tariffs and Manufacturing in the USA 40:58 - Reviving American Manufacturing Quality 42:28 - Importance of Networking and Event Attendance 46:18 - High-Impact Business Development Strategy Sessions 52:37 - Helium 10 Elite Monthly Training Session 53:16 - Kevin King's Words of Wisdom lium 10's innovative tools.

Michelle has been at the forefront of external marketing for Amazon sellers since 2017. In 2022, she explored TikTok's potential for boosting Amazon brands, and with the launch of TikTok Shop US in 2023, she quickly leveraged it to scale brands beyond Amazon. Her expertise is recognized by Forbes, Business Insider, and INC, and she's a frequent expert at events like Titan Network, Billion Dollar Seller Summit, Traffic & Conversion, and many others.   Get 50% off her TikTok Shop course! Use code ASCEND - https://ttshopsellers.com/online-course Join the Beard Nation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lunchwithnorm Sign up for our Newsletter - https://lunchwithnorm.beehiiv.com/   This episode is sponsored by Walmart Marketplace - Build, grow, and elevate your eCommerce business with one of the most trusted names in retail. Sell your products on Walmart.com. Learn more - https://marketplace.walmart.com/?utm_campaign=2024-US-MP-GEN-DB-LWN&utm_source=Lunch_With_Norm&utm_medium=Direct_Buy Make your profits bright this holiday season with Walmart Marketplace. Sign up today.  Join the Beard Nation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lunchwithnorm Sign up for our Newsletter - https://lunchwithnorm.beehiiv.com/   This episode is brought to you by AMZ Rank: Hey Amazon, Walmart, and TikTok sellers, We're in Q4, and I know the pressure is on. How do you rank higher and sell more during the busiest time of the year?  As a certified Amazon partner agency, AZ Rank has the expertise and proven strategies to take your products to the top, driving visibility and sales across all platforms! With proven expertise in optimizing search rankings, AZrank guarantees your products stand out during this critical shopping season. Email AZrank today at hello@azrank.com Make sure to mention The Beard Guy sent you to unlock an exclusive discount!   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club: Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more. For more information visit https://Startup.club This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics: Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice. Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan. For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

Ever wondered how a commercial airline pilot could pull off a million-dollar Amazon business success? Join us as David Lang, the Lufthansa pilot turned e-commerce entrepreneur, shares his incredible journey from the cockpit to conquering the Amazon marketplace. Learn the secrets behind his dual career, and discover how the meticulous systems and numbers-driven strategies in aviation perfectly translated to his booming online business.   Peel back the curtain on aviation myths and misconceptions with David, who demystifies common fears like turbulence and clarifies the dynamic roles of captains and co-pilots. His unique story of balancing a demanding airline career with academic pursuits and a project management role at Lufthansa sets the stage for his leap into the world of e-commerce. From reverse-engineering a product failure to a game-changing success, David reveals the strategic planning and keyword wizardry that skyrocketed his sales to $1.2 million in just five days.   As we wrap up, David takes us through the exhilarating process of selling his business and achieving financial freedom. Is life after a successful Amazon FBA business exit all it's cracked up to be? Hear about the ongoing thrill of e-commerce, the benefits of strategic business networks, and future plans like his appearance at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Iceland. Don't miss this inspiring episode brimming with actionable advice and captivating stories from David's dual careers. In episode 415 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and David discuss: 00:00 - From Commercial Pilot to E-Commerce Success 04:49 - Commercial Pilot License Requirements and Opportunities 09:53 - Pay Discrepancies in the Airline Industry 11:52 - Misconceptions About The Aviation Industry 14:24 - Perceptions of Pilot Profession  16:53 - Entrepreneurship While In The Airline Industry 22:18 - Achieving Success Through Reverse Engineering 25:26 - Calculated Risk Pays Off Big  26:59 - Amazon Keyword Manipulation for Brand Success 31:03 - Working With 8Fig for Business Funding 38:36 - Life After a Successful Business Exit 43:40 - Distressed Amazon Seller Turnaround Plan 44:45 - Business and Aviation  50:11 - Kevin King's Words Of Wisdom

Kevin King, creator of Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter, creator of the Freedom Ticket, the #1 course for Amazon Sellers (160,000+ students), founder & host of Billion Dollar Seller Summit: Industry's most elite summit, host of the top-rated AM/PM Podcast for Amazon & E-commerce Sellers, he's a Keynote Speaker and has spoken at 100+ online and in-person conferences, he was featured on: USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous & many more, has 8-figures of physical product sold and 8 figure of digital products sold online and named one of the top direct marketers by Target Marketing MagazineIn our previous podcast episode, Kevin talked about his entrepreneurial ventures and how he became the “king” of Amazon e-commerce, he also discussed his “wicked-smart” direct marketing strategies and the software tools Kevin uses to implement his genius strategies Highlight Bullets> Here's a glimpse of what you would learn…. Kevin King's concept of the Dream 100 and its significance in acknowledging and promoting individuals in the e-commerce industryThe current landscape of e-commerce, with a focus on Amazon as the dominant platform for selling physical productsThe increasing competition and challenges faced by sellers on AmazonThe evolving nature of Amazon selling and the importance of expertise in areas such as supply chain management and advertising strategiesThe challenges faced by small and medium-sized sellers in adapting to the changing dynamics of Amazon sellingThe importance of not rushing into business growth and the need to understand the basics before trying to become an expert in all areasInsights on identifying and selling to a specific target audience, understanding customer lifestyle and needs, and owning customer dataThe power of building a strong brand and leveraging marketplaces as lead magnets to drive customer acquisitionKevin King's journey of building a successful business by leveraging data and understanding his customersThe importance of understanding the target audience and creating products and content tailored to their specific needs and preferencesIn this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough podcast, host Josh Hadley welcomes Kevin King, a seasoned Amazon seller and founder of the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. Kevin shares his extensive experience in e-commerce, emphasizing the importance of understanding your target audience and leveraging customer data for sustainable growth. He introduces the Dream 100 concept, recognizing influential individuals in the e-commerce space. Kevin discusses the evolving landscape of Amazon selling, highlighting the need for expertise in areas like supply chain management and PPC strategies. He also explores the potential of AI tools in marketing and the timeless principles of human psychology in driving consumer decisions..Here are the 3 action items that Josh identified from this episode:Action Item #1: Be a Sophisticated Business Owner: This involves 2 things:A. Seeking Expert Advice: Consult with experts and consultants to navigate the changing landscape.B. Understanding Your Audience: Leverage data to tailor products and marketing strategies to specific demographics.Action Item #2: Leveraging AI Tools for Personalized Marketing:Kevin discussed the potential of AI tools like Benson AI for copywriting and video creation tools like Sora and Runway. These tools can revolutionize marketing and influencer strategies by enabling businesses to create personalized, high-quality videos for their products.Action Item #3: Learning from Historical Marketing Figures: Kevin highlighted the timeless principles of human psychology in marketing. He encouraged sellers to study foundational principles from historical marketing figures like Dan Kennedy and apply them to the modern world.Resources mentioned in this episode:Josh Hadley on LinkedIneComm Breakthrough ConsultingeComm Breakthrough PodcastEmail Josh Hadley: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.comBillion Dollar Seller SummitASM (Amazing Selling Machine)Helium 10 Freedom TicketShopifyTikTokWalmartNeiman MarcuseBayGuerrilla Marketing by Jay LevinsonWizards of AdsBnsn AIPerplexityClaudeChatGPTSoraRunwaySpecial Mention(s):Adam “Heist” Runquist on LinkedIn

Join us as we welcome back Steve Simonson, a renowned expert on sourcing and leveraging AI technology for Amazon sellers. This episode is packed with insights on a wide range of topics, from managing remote teams to the innovative use of voice AI in customer service. Steve shares his experiences over the past year, highlighting the rapid advancements in AI technology and how his team has been integrating these updates into their processes. We also discuss effective strategies for managing remote teams, emphasizing the importance of building management skills, fostering online collaboration, and maintaining team morale through regular communication and celebrations. Listen in as we explore the evolving role of AI in enhancing workflows and customer interactions, particularly for Amazon sellers. Steve sheds light on how major companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta are advancing AI technologies, with mentions of Meta's open-source Lama model and Amazon's AI applications like Rufus. Despite ongoing concerns about AI accuracy, Steve assures us that issues like hallucinations are gradually diminishing. We discuss the successful deployment of AI chatbots in customer service and the growing importance of AI in managing brand websites and internal company processes, with specific resources within the Helium 10 software highlighted for deeper insights. We also address the challenges facing Amazon sellers, including new fees, profitability issues, and competition. Steve offers reassurance by drawing parallels to past economic cycles and emphasizing persistence, sharing insights from Jeff Bezos' relentless approach. Additionally, we tackle the complexities of modern supply chain disruptions, offering practical tips for short-term problem-solving and long-term strategies such as resourcing and nearshoring. Finally, we highlight the significant opportunities that AI presents for small brands, encouraging businesses to embrace AI tools and look forward to upcoming events like Amazon Accelerate in Seattle. In episode 586 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Steve discuss: 00:00 - Managing Remote Teams and Leveraging AI For Amazon Sellers 03:53 - International Team Leadership Reflection 10:27 - Emerging AI Tools for Ecommerce Sellers 16:05 - Accessing Freedom Ticket for Amazon Sellers 19:09 - AI Video Creation for Beginners 20:46 - Leveraging AI for Listing Generation 22:56 - Navigating Challenges in E-Commerce Business 28:24 - Talking About Retirement 31:29 - Navigating Supply Chain Disruptions 34:09 - Enterprise Software and AI Integration Advice 35:32 - Small Brands Embracing AI Opportunities ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got Steve Simonson back on the show, one of the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to leveraging AI for Amazon sellers. He's going to talk about a wide variety of topics, such as running remote teams, to sourcing, to voice AI that can actually be your customer service rep. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you afraid of running out of inventory before your next shipment comes in? Or maybe you're on the other side and you worry about having too much inventory, which could cap you out at the Amazon warehouses or even cost you storage fees? Stay on top of your inventory by using our robust inventory management tool. You can take advantage of our advanced forecasting algorithms, manage your 3PL inventory, create POs for your suppliers, create replenishment shipments and more all from inside Inventory Management by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me. Forward slash inventory management. Forward slash inventory management. And don't forget, you can sign up for a free Helium 10 account from there, or you can get 10% off for life by using our special podcast code SSP10.   Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. You know, here at Helium 10, I don't know how this happened but we have a lot of S things. You know, we've got the Serious Sellers podcast, we did the Sell and Scale Summit. Now we've got Steve Simonson here and so I did have a hat with an S. This is actually a unique minor league baseball Sacramento hat here, but we're trying to keep the S theme together here. Steve, how's it going?   Steve: Boy, I'm well, I love it. The alliteration does not stop. That is really impressive. If you look closely at my forehead, you'll see a giant S carved into the forehead. So everybody, get out your inspection equipment. But it's there, you can rest assured.   Bradley Sutton: I love it. I love it All right, guys. Well, this is not the first rodeo of Steve here. He's been on the podcast before, so if you want to get back into a little bit more of his backstory and different things, some of the episodes he's been on is episode 38, episode 459. And we're going to talk a lot about AI today because I think that's what Steve is known for and that's what his module on Freedom Ticket is also about. But before I even, I just wanted to just see what you've been up to like the last year. It's been a year or so since you've been on the podcast. How's the back end of 2023 and 2024 been for you?   Steve: Yeah, it's been good. I tell you it's a very fast-paced world we live in, and particularly as I focus on AI and how we integrate that into some of our enterprise-level software, it is just an endless train of upgrades, like every week somebody's got a new model and some new AI breakthrough has happened, and so we've been really quite busy at trying to figure out how to support these future frameworks within the same context of how can you build it once but allow it to be upgradable. So it's been exciting, it's been fun, but, no, no short of challenges as well.   Bradley Sutton: Sure, sure, absolutely, absolutely. Now, one place in the last year or so that we caught up was in Bali. We went and spoke at this event and that was an amazing event. So anybody who has a chance to attend an event that Regina organizes, you should definitely, you should definitely try. We even had mud wrestling and everything. And I remember one thing you were talking about there. It's funny. I don't remember what I did yesterday, but then I'll just remember the strangest things or the most random things. I remember you had a big team across different countries and you were talking a little bit about that and it just, you know, across. You know across different countries, and you were talking a little bit about that. And it just got me thinking too. You know, as entrepreneurs most of us we don't have like an office and we've got, you know, in-office employees. You know we might start out hiring a VA here or there, and then you know the team scale. So you know somebody like yourself with experience, you know managing scores of employees at the same time. What are some tips you can give Amazon sellers out there or just entrepreneurs who have remote teams Like how do you, first of all, just what are some tips on managing a remote team where you're not there in person?   Steve: Well, the first thing is it is. It's a skill that you have to learn right. So a lot of us think that somehow management is just built into all of us. I don't believe it is, and I think entrepreneurs are some of the worst at it, myself included, maybe first and foremost terrible manager, but I think you've got to build the skills, and so one of the things that we try to do is find ways of collaborating online that would be similar to an office environment. So, you know, our HR folks will have, you know, birthday celebrations or, you know, have monthly meetings to celebrate everybody's birthday or those types of things. We also have other things systemically that try to help, you know, remind everybody. Hey, celebrate your Wednesday weekly win. Everybody has at least one win every week, so let's share those amongst the company, because there's a lot of people in the company who may not know each other different locations, different parts of the world but I do want to just remind people that the basics really matter, like how you talk to people, you know understanding, you know where they're coming from, do they have the essentials that they need to, you know, perform the job.   Steve: And the biggest I don't know revelation, especially dealing in the Amazon world is everybody expects a VA to be a unicorn. It's like you can do everything as the entrepreneur, so you just think you're going to delegate everything over to this unicorn. That's not going to happen. It's unfair, it's unrealistic and it shows that you're not yet a competent manager. And so my advice is you know, start slow, give very specific, task oriented things that have a beginning and an end, and then you know kind of work up from there and, as the internet says, educate yourself right. There's lots of books. One of my favorites is it's. It's the book name is called it's the manager. People don't quit jobs, they quit managers, and the faster we, as entrepreneurs, learn that, the better off we'll be.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah for sure. Now, speaking of managers, you know, once you get more than a few employees in a foreign location, you know you might make some kind of managerial structure. So for the subordinates, hey, you know performance management, things like that, you know it's probably handled by the manager. But how do you, kind of like you know performance, evaluate the managers themselves? You know, because you don't have really a middleman, they're directly reporting to you. How do you know who's your stars? And then how do you know when you need to take, perhaps corrective action?   Steve: Well, the number one thing that leads our decision making and I recommend this for anybody is data right. Let's start with what are the responsibilities this particular section manager, right? Are they in charge of marketing? All right, how are the leads going? What are the KPIs related to this? And people have a lot of trouble coming up. They ask all the time what are the KPIs? What are the KPIs? And you know we talk about AI a lot. Go ask ChatGPT. Here's the position. Give me a you know, general position description and give me good KPIs and then massage it right. It can't read your mind, but it can, you know, kind of move and groove with the suggestions you give it. So KPIs are absolutely doable. Now, sometimes getting the data is a little harder than you want it to be, but once you overcome that hurdle or at least come up with an alternative, then data should drive those conversations. And the question is like hey, you're doing really well this week. What's going right? Why is this going so well? We want to be able to understand and replicate it. Or hey, you're behind your numbers. What are the challenges you're facing? Maybe they got a bunch of people on vacation or maybe the Google credit card stopped charging. There's all kinds of things that happen in business, but numbers drive decisions and we like to say what's broken in the system, not what's broken in the people. The people want to do a good job In general. If you manage them and you're fair with them, then you're going to find that they want to perform well. They want to do a good job.   Bradley Sutton: I'm sure we talked about more things. We had a good time there at the Balinese massage. That was my first one. I don't like those rough, those really rough ones. The Thai massages Guys, don't get Thai massages unless you like pain, oh my goodness. But I think they put you and Leo like in a couple's massage.   Steve: Yeah, Leo, and I decided that you have the romantic couple's massage. Yeah, it was lovely.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, yeah like I had my room all to myself and then you're like oh, okay, well, I guess we're going to be here in this room.   Steve: How did he get the room? Although we all had the room with no walls, which is like you know bugs and everything else but yeah, it was pretty neat. I think all of the you know for an hour it was nine bucks or something and it was a joy.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, you can't beat that.   Steve: Yeah, it was a delight.   Bradley Sutton: Can't beat that. Great food and everything else. All right. Now switching back to you know, one thing you talked about there and you've been known for the last couple of years is at the forefront of how Amazon sellers and e-commerce entrepreneurs should be leveraging AI, and so that's something that's changing on a weekly, monthly basis. The last year, what are some of the most notable advancements or differences in the world of AI as it relates to Amazon sellers?   Steve: Well, first of all, you know, last year it was kind of the year of ChatGPT, right, everybody heard ChatGPT and this became a synonymous term with AI. But they're just one company. ChatGPT is led by OpenAI, which is ironically not open now. It's closed source, and over that they kind of led the tip of the spear into this new world of AI. There are plenty of others trying to get things done. Google has tried and has had a couple flubs. Amazon itself is now deploying AI for the customer-facing side, as I'm sure many sellers are recognizing. And then there's so many others, including Meta, which has allowed their stuff to go actually open source. The Lama model, which is a large language model built on, like you know, 400 billion or 40 billion, I can't even remember. The numbers get so insane. I think it's 400 billion data points in the Lama 3.1, which is as good as any closed source or paid service, and that is exciting. Groq is exciting. So there's a lot of these engines coming out. For sellers, what they, in my opinion, should be focused on is like how do I make my workflow today better, right, whether it's my own personal workflow which I use AI all the time, or the work, you know process of my colleagues. And it's really important to tell your team this is not to replace you, this is to enhance you. The AI will not replace you, but somebody who uses AI will replace you if you don't get your act together. Like this is really, really an important message. And so you know, the first step is just how do you improve those workflows, and then there are many other exciting steps coming up down the line. You know almost immediately.   Bradley Sutton: Maybe it's because I'm an old fogey, as it were, as far as adopting new things sometimes, but a problem with AI I've had in the past is a similar one, which I remember you kind of talked about in some of your presentations. How you asked AI last year like who is Steve Simonson? And it had your birth date wrong and it said you had done this when you were some author or something like that and this and that. And so you know like, hey, you know, I guess we call those hallucinations. But then, like, you know somebody even you know we're a year later and I'm still seeing similar things like for example you mentioned the Amazon AI you know there's Rufus and then there's ones that summarize reviews and stuff like that, and some of it's just absolutely useless. You know like, no, yeah, customers love how large this seems and they also love how small it seems. I'm like, come on, like this doesn't even help me. So like, is that an accurate assessment or am I being biased? Like, say, hey, why is it taking so long to fix a lot of these hallucinations, or are you seeing a macro? Uh an improvement on those kinds of things?   Steve: Yeah, no question it is improving. So if you start comparing you know ChatGPT three and a half to ChatGPT four to you know 4.0 and some of these other evolving models the hallucinations are shrinking. They won't go away until there's a large enough data set that is just more robust, honestly. So we should understand that it's still lying to you 20% to 25% of the time, just making stuff up out of thin air, and so that should be a real staunch warning to everybody. When you see the thing, tell you something. In my case it had the several book titles that I had written, that I had not written, and no one's written right. So, like I was very impressed with what it wrote, but it was unfortunately it was not me. So expect that hallucinations will continue, but they will continue to reduce over time as well. So don't use that as your obstacle. That ain't going to work. There's so much positive, good stuff. Now some of it has to do with how you structure the prompt or how you use the ins and outs of the data, and it's certainly not flawless. But you know, every day it's getting better, and I've seen like the voice stuff is incredibly good now and I suspect within, let's say, 12 months, all the early adopters will have on their their brand website. They'll have a brand, you know, a message bot that is completely trained on their stuff, right? So all your PDFs, all your products, all your company policies, return policies, shipping, whatever and it will be able to perform chats better than a human on average, right? And, by the way, this has already been proven.   Steve: This year, a company sent 2 million live customers to their new AI chatbot and it had more first touch resolutions, it had higher customer satisfaction and obviously, the cost was less and it was the equivalent of 700 full-time people. So what we want is we want better customer experience and if you can do that with AI, people will come to expect that to be available. So, early adopters within 12 months, you know, and then other people over time, for sure. Message bot chat, you know, 24, seven live, educated bots about your stuff. We're doing this now. It's very powerful. By the way, the larger your company is, sometimes you need this internally, right? Hey, what's the HR policy? What's the vacation and where it can actually interact and go? Oh well, can I get this vacation off? And it will allow it to schedule and do other things. So very powerful stuff that's coming real quick.   Bradley Sutton: We're not going to go into everything he talked about in our module, but just for those who have access to Freedom Ticket, which is pretty much any Helium 10 member let me just show you, guys, where you can go to see his information. Go into Freedom Ticket 4.0 under the module Product Research and Sourcing. Click on the Power of AI for Amazon. We got you in a very flattering screenshot right there.   Steve: That's actually how I talk. My eyes are closed.   Bradley Sutton: Love it, but, hey guys, he goes in-depth there on how it can help Amazon sellers. But let's just stay on this subject and talk about some specific use cases. I think one of the things that was terrible maybe a year and a half ago or a year ago that has gotten a lot better, in my opinion is images. You know, um, and obviously Helium 10 has integrated some things Amazon has integrated into their advertising. They actually require, um, you know, sellers to have a custom images now for, like, sponsored brand ads and things like that. So if you're not, if you don't have this humongous repertoire of, or a repository, I should say, of, all these images, well, AI is kind of like the only way to go. So what kind of different AI tools should Amazon sellers be using now as far as imagery? And then, what are the use cases that you see most useful?   Steve: Well, the first is the idea of simply being able to scale up your images. Right? You can upscale images with very high fidelity that you could not do in the old days, right? I remember watching shows, you know, maybe as far back as the 80s, you know, and the cop shows like, zoom in and enhance, and it's like anybody's ever worked with photos or videos. It's like you could zoom in all you want. You're going to see giant pixels. There's no enhance available, right? But today you actually can upscale those images. So anybody who doesn't have giant zoomable images, I think that's a lost opportunity and within that module, I put in a couple options that will do that upscaling for you. The other thing is coming very fast down the line is, you know, beautiful room scenes or lifestyle shots. They might be called with your product in the shot itself, and so that gives you just unending abilities to position your product in natural life. You know style images. There's any number of other ways you can do it. You know we use, uh, AI images to make themes, right, so you may say well, gosh, I want to have my I don't know my little travel bag and I want to show it with a, a Washington state theme or a, you know, a California theme, and AI will make beautiful, beautiful background imagery. And there's your social media right. You can just do that for every single day or multiple per day. Really incredible. The ideation that this AI brings to the table, I think, is worthwhile, and the quality, as you said, Bradley, incredibly advanced compared to how it was, you know, even a year ago, especially two years ago. So really, really, you know, images should be a high priority for everybody.   Bradley Sutton: I forgot it was a webinar. I was watching Kevin King. He showed some kind of like I'm not sure if it was released yet, but some previews of different AIs for video and it looked real. I was like, how is this not real? So what is available out there that you're not having to pay thousands, you know? Uh, obviously you can get super advanced stuff and you can make movies and everything you know with it, but something that's accessible to like Joe Amazon seller, um, who could you know, perhaps you know, make make a product video with just uploading an image or a short video and then and then make that into a nice video ad or something.   Steve: Yeah, so one of my favorites for this type of purpose is called Invideo.io, and I believe I highlight it in the Helium 10 presentation. But basically you can either just give it a text prompt, right, and it'll make an entire video for you. You say how long do you want it? What's your? You know, are you going on a vertical short format or a horizontal long video format? Right, so you know, one might be more appropriate for TikTok and the other one for LinkedIn or YouTube. And then you can even upload images of your product or videos that you may already have, and it can incorporate those and it will do the music, it'll do the voiceover, it'll do the pulling in a bunch of videos around it, and it can be very, very effective. And so you'll. You know, we use that every single day to make videos that are mostly good quality. There's a couple little pieces. It's like I basically told my marketing folks. It's like it's more important to have the video and get it out there and show some content and then have the final little you know accent or the little you know relic that's on the screen solved, but in video is very, very powerful, and that's just one example. There are many like it.   Bradley Sutton: What else. As far as you know, I think the number one thing for me that even I'm using AI and like even six months ago I probably still hadn't really used AI, but now I use it for almost every single one of my listings is like listing generation. You know, obviously, since Helium 10 has it, I get access to it for free. But hey, you know people, you know you can get free versions of ChatGPT. But that one is really powerful to me because I'm not just for you know, I'm, I'm obviously a native English speaker. I don't need help writing an English listing. But then sometimes I have writer's block and I'm like, hey, let me go ahead and say, hey, make a listing here's, here's my keywords, and I want it like in a funny tone. And then it's not the listing I end up with. But then I'm like, oh, this is a great direction. Let me just, you know, tweak a couple of things. But for me the power is like, hey, I'm going to make a listing in in UK and hey, I need to make one with British. You know English. Hey, I need to make a listing in Spanish. I can kind of speak Spanish, but I'm not a native speaker. So, uh, I can write all my prompts in English and then it'll go ahead and, and you know, make a listing in Spanish what. What are some things that you maybe think that sellers might be leaving money on the table as far as leveraging AI when it comes to their actual copy that they're doing, whether it's listings, whether it's, you know, blogs, et cetera.   Steve: Well, the first thing is I believe that because AI is so new as a tool and a lot of people, myself included, we had negative experiences right. I would generate an image on mid-journey and the guy would have nine fingers right and I'm like so the clear thing that a lot of us said is this stuff is crap, it'll never work, I'm out right. And if you had hallucinations or you had kind of weird images and you haven't revisited it, you're making a mistake. So when you get in there, the next most common mistake is single dimension thinking. Right, you say I need a listing for Amazon for this product and it writes out something that's, you know, relatively generic because you gave it one single dimension listing Amazon, this product. But if you say you know I'm, I want to add a language, like you talked about Bradley, or I want to write this like Dan Kennedy, You know one of the you know very, very best copywriters, or maybe you don't know the name of great copywriters. You go who are the top five copywriters, right, that are direct response copywriters, or who's the best you know, fantasy writers, whatever and then write it in whatever style that you're looking for. So, having a writing style, having an audience that you're trying to reach, is just adding extra dimensions to that. You know, first, single dimension concept right, I just need a listing. No, you need a listing written in a style for a platform to an audience, in a tone, right. And the more of these dimensions you add and there are far more that you could go the more personality comes out of that and that's really what you're looking for. You want the AI to help bring forward your own personality and I highly recommend people add additional dimensional layers and they will have better results.   Bradley Sutton: Switching gears a little bit and, who knows, maybe this conversation will, or the answer might be some version of AI. But you are in, you know you network a lot, you go to events, you talk to a lot of Amazon sellers and I'm sure you have felt the sentiment this year. It's probably, I would say, the most negative it's been in a while as far as new fees and profitability and competition. And hey, now there might be almost like Teemu-ish thing going on where Chinese sellers can sell directly and ship directly and stuff. And so what is your advice to those people who maybe have a little bit negative connotation compared to before as far as selling on Amazon, not sure how they're going to proceed?   Steve: Well, the first is, if they can get on the screen, I'll just pat them on the head. Hey, little buddy, it's going to be okay. So you guys can line yourself up if you're feeling down, and go in for the pat. Listen, I've been around a long time, right? Dinosaur is you know? They're the young upstarts compared to me. So I've seen these patterns happen for multiple generations of e-com. Right, believe me, back in 99, 2000,. It was the glory days. Then 2001, 9-11 happened and it was a nightmare and everyone hated everything. And the dot-com crash happened. And then it got really good again in the mid-2000s and everybody's flying high. And then the housing crisis and financial crisis globally happened and everybody hates everything again. Right and so and again, these continue to happen. And so my, my mission for true entrepreneurs is if you're going to be persistent, if you're going to be in the game, expect ups and downs. Do not play that just straight up line. There is no line that looks like that, even those crazy hockey sticks that you see. That you know from companies there were little iterations of up and down all the way, and I just want people to know that. You know, persistence is really part of the game and you know if you go to relentless.com. Do you know where that goes, Bradley? I do not. It goes to Amazon. And the reason why is because Jeff Bezos said if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you better be relentless so you can check it out right now, relentless.com for anybody out there. That's what you got to be. And so listen, it's okay to. I always say take one lap and go. This sucks, I wish this didn't exist. These fees, this competition, this problem, this whatever. And then get to work and try to solve it or come up with a strategy to get over the obstacle. That's your choice deal with it or get out of the business, and I think serious people have to get serious about business, so they should listen to a podcast for serious sellers. I don't know. There you go.   Bradley Sutton: Double clicking on your little dinosaur comment. You know, if I'm not mistaken, you even at one point kind of retired and got out of the game and then you got back in. How does somebody know when it's time to? You know, I'm not talking about the, you know long sail into the sunset or anything, but hey, it's time to just relax and enjoy life, or no, you know what? I still need something that drives me. You know, because it's not an age thing. You know like, I know people in their late 20s who retire because they've had enough success and they've accomplished what they want to. I know people in their 80s who are still working strong. So how does the entrepreneur get to a point where it's like you know what I'm ready to, kind of like, relax a little bit.   Steve: Well, the first thing is, you know, everybody's got their own context of where they came from and where they want to go. So don't let me project my stuff onto you guys. But I can tell you retirement 1.0 sucked right. It was awful, and it's not a question of you know. Could I do anything I want? Yes, I could, but my friends couldn't come out and play right, and my family got tired of being on vacation. My kids were tired of being on vacation. Now people can go oh, crying me a river. What kind of first world problem is that? But it's still a real problem, right? Because I did not enjoy it. And then I felt guilty, because I'm living a life that anybody would kill for and that doesn't make you feel good. So my brain is not wired to kind of check out. And so retirement 2.0, which I've recently begun testing we're in beta is basically just trying to say well, listen, I don't want to work 80 hours and I don't want to work any hours on things that I don't like. So over time you'll find things that you like or don't like and start positioning even your role within your current company on the things that you like to do. By the way, somebody loves to do the thing that you hate the most. Right, and I had this realization. One of my finest team members she's been with me gosh, it's probably coming up on, you know, 25 or 30 years she loves the thing that I hate the most. So I kept doing the details and very complex Excel sheets and forecasts and inventory and things that I hated doing far too long. When I was able to turn it over to her kind of an exasperation because I'm a terrible manager and I don't know anything. She's like, oh, thank God, I've been dreaming about this and I just couldn't imagine in my own small brain that, like somebody else, would love to do this thing. So remember that there's so many different people. Somebody wants to do the things that you hate to do. So please, the faster you can excuse yourself from the things you hate, get the people who love to do those things and then you'll start to chart. You know, chart your course, whether it is a financial course or a lifestyle course or whatever it is, towards, you know that, that bright future. Me, I, I have to do stuff. My brain will not allow it to stop and you know, that's why I try to spend so much time helping entrepreneurs. I want them to come on vacation with me and let's go play.   Bradley Sutton: That's good advice. You know I asked myself this question. You know, sometime of wondering, hey, well, when is it time to? You know, to hang it up, as it were. But I wouldn't be doing what I do if I wasn't feeling, you know, fulfillment and motivation from it. So as long as I still can, I'm still going to keep on trucking. Now, speaking of pre-retirement 1.0, one of your previous lives you were heavy into sourcing and things like that. I'm sure you keep your pulse on that industry as well. What should Amazon sellers these days be thinking about when it comes to, hey, I'm competing sometimes with Chinese factories. Now, hey, there's tariffs, you know, should I be considering India and Pakistan and Vietnam? Hey, you know, shipping prices are fluctuating like ridiculousness, you know, like as if it were still COVID. You know what's some just general advice you can give sellers who are, you know, thinking about those kinds of issues.   Steve: General advice get in the bunker and prepare for war. It is yeah, it's we still the companies I sold, we still have me and my team still have some supply chain responsibilities. So we're interacting frequently in this space and I just got off the call with some sourcing folks I have in Pakistan just before our conversation, and all of the things you just brought up are annoyances. They're just part of the thing. I did not predict shipping getting spicy again, but I did predict some of what I call kinetic action over the last couple of years. We've said the people who follow geopolitics. We've said there's going to be more kinetic action, which is a nice way of saying people are shooting stuff at each other, which is terrible. What that means is these supply chain disruptions are unexpected. The fact that the Red Sea is kind of closed for business is insane. Nobody had that on the bingo card, right. So everybody's going around the South African. I just saw two ships going around the Arctic on their way to Holland. So from China around the Arctic to Holland, and at some point they'll need icebreakers there. So there are unique things and unique challenges that we face, but it's kind of like take a beat, look at the immediate picture. Right, you have your short term. I got a ship product. Now deal with that, overcome whatever the obstacles, pay what you have to, and then think about all right now, in six months, what does it look like? And is there a way I can avoid this, whether it's resourcing elsewhere, nearshoring or onshoring.   Steve: But I can tell you like right now we have a very complex project and I've got people in Pakistan and India and it is very difficult to solve this problem. But that's why there's a moat right, and everybody who's complaining about how difficult or hard or whatever all of those are moats right. This is your advantage. We're, ultimately, most Amazon sellers are not manufacturing the product ourselves. We have somebody else do that. So what value do we add? We add all the value of solving the problems throughout that supply chain and then into the marketing side, like all of that is our value add, and we either add value and deserve what we make or we don't. And we deserve what we make right, and this is a very important point Our value that we're adding is overcoming all of these problems. So guess what? That's why they you know you get paid. You got to deal with the trouble.   Bradley Sutton: All right, before we get into your final strategies of the day. How can people find you reach out to you on the interwebs out there?   Steve: The awesomeers.com podcast still records videos from time to time and I have a whole founder series directed at folks. Just, it's almost like a little mini course for you. It's free, it doesn't, you know, doesn't take anything to do it. You can find me at parsimony.com just steve at parsimony.com. I spend most of my time on software and AI, trying to smash those things together in an enterprise way, right? So anybody who's doing you know 5 million, 10 million. If you're doing 10 million or more and you don't know what ERP is, you are unnecessarily driving yourself insane. But I recommend not going insane. Systems are better.   Bradley Sutton: Usually better not to. Yeah, yeah, you know.   Steve: I'm not a doctor, I'm just thinking.   Bradley Sutton: There you go, all right. Now, you know, can you give us a couple of 30 or 60 second tips? Could be about traveling, could be about AI, could be about sourcing, anything you want.   Steve: Well, one thing, I mentioned earlier that chat bots are going to be a big thing for early adopters in the next 12 months. But I want to call out one of my favorites, bland.AI is a voice customer service tool. And that company is an example of it. I'm saying this concept is coming to a voice line near you, and especially for brands who have the capacity to pay nine cents a minute to interact with customers. You train it on your own data and then this bot can be a sales person for you, a customer service person, and it's really really good. Bland.ai, amazing types of technology. I'm not suggesting this is the only company. There are many and many more.   Bradley Sutton: Is that the one that at Billion Dollar Seller Summit we were waiting for the helicopter, and then you're like here I'm going to call this, Okay, yeah, yeah, I remember that. I remember that it was kind of it kind of blew me away, yeah.   Steve: It's still the great example of what if you could just call a number and talk to a AI like a human, which is the ironic twist, and stop yelling representative a thousand times right, which is the ultimate nightmare. So all the big companies are moving this direction. I think small brands have this opportunity to, in the same way that AI can supercharge you know, a non-English speaker into beautiful English language listings, which should be a warning to everybody. Small guys can do what big guys do, right, whether it's video, voice messaging, AI levels of playing field. That is the most important point. So if you feel scared, if you feel nervous, talk to your friends, figure out those easy use cases, but don't be afraid of it. Embrace the fear and get to it.   Bradley Sutton: Thank you so much for joining us. We're definitely going to have you back. You know, unless you're on retirement 3.0 and full launch mode, we'd love to have you back next year to see what you've been up to, and I'm sure I'll be seeing you at an event. Are you going to Amazon Accelerate?   Steve: Yeah, yeah that one. I actually live in Seattle, so a good chance   Bradley Sutton: I know, I was like about to say just maybe walk there, ride a bike or something.   Steve: Yeah.   Bradley Sutton: All right, well, I'll be seeing you at Amazon Accelerate along with everybody else and thanks a lot for joining us again.

Have you ever wondered how to conquer competitive markets without relying on PPC? In our latest episode, Melisa Vong, a Serial E-commerce Entrepreneur & Investor, returns after nearly three years to share her journey of exiting two successful brands in the beauty and supplement niches using innovative strategies. She dives into her unique approach of utilizing Reddit for Amazon sellers and stresses the importance of a diverse product catalog. Melisa also unveils her rapid product launch methodology, which employs extensive A/B split testing to constantly refine and improve her tactics. But Melisa's entrepreneurial flair doesn't stop there. She takes us on an exciting detour into the world of escape rooms, revealing how her Amazon-selling success funded this new venture. Melisa talks about why she chose to become a franchisee instead of starting from scratch, and the benefits of partnering with an established brand to manage logistics and technology. She opens up about the investment required and how a side hustle turned into an unexpected career opportunity at the franchise's head office. We also explore cutting-edge marketing strategies for e-commerce, including the use of Advite.ai to monitor Reddit threads for promotional opportunities. Melisa highlights how personalized branding can set you apart in crowded markets and discusses innovative tactics like Google redirects to drive external traffic to Amazon listings. Tune in for a wealth of practical tips and inspiring entrepreneurial insights, and find out how to connect with Melisa online to keep the conversation going. In episode 580 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Melisa discuss: 03:47 - Success in the Competitive Supplement Market on Amazon 10:12 - The Impact of Creative Marketing 11:37 - Franchise Escape Room Side Business Discussion 13:43 - Potential Partnership Opportunity With A Game Company 18:11 - Melisa's Passion Project 22:26 - Innovative Marketing Strategies for E-Commerce 22:30 - Reddit Strategy 26:23 - Label Variation for Product Packaging 28:21 - Enhancing Customer Engagement With AI 30:40 - Heat Maps Strategy 32:18 - Targeting Dog Breeds for Marketing 33:29 - Networking and Escape Room Fun ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today, we've got Melissa back on the show who's going to talk about how she's exited a couple of brands. She's had success in competitive niches without even using PPC. She's got a cool Reddit strategy for Amazon sellers and now how she's using her Amazon income to start an escape room business. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Bradley Sutton: Hello, everybody! And welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. I just had somebody recently on the show. I forgot who it was, but I was like man. It's been like forever since you've been on the show. It might be a record. Well, whatever it was for him or her, you have broken that record because I'm looking at my notes from Mel here and the last time you were on the show was 2021. So almost three years in between I've been trying to get you back. Melissa, you're just so hard to get a hold of. You're such a busy, busy boss lady. Anyways, how's it been going? Melisa: I know. I'm so sorry it's been a while but I'm excited to be back and thank you for your persistence and your patience with me. You know what they say the fortune's in the follow-up. So there you nailed that. But I've been awesome, you know, keeping busy not just Amazon, but kind of just dabbling in different worlds, and it's been fun, yeah. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, we're definitely going to talk about some of that stuff. You know I follow you vicariously a little bit through Instagram. It's kind of interesting to see some of the things that are going on your side. We're definitely going to dive into that. But if anybody wants to get more of Melissa's backstory, we're not going to completely rehash it here. Check out episodes 111 and also episode 302. All right, so episode 111, episode 302, you could learn a lot about her history and actually, one of the, were you in the? I don't think you had exited at the time in 2021, had you exited that? Was it a supplement brand or a beauty brand that you were doing back then? Melisa: So I exited a beauty brand and then also the following year exited in a supplement category, so still currently selling in supplements. I think when we last spoke, we did close out our exit. Bradley Sutton: What kind of beauty products was it? Melisa: So it's like natural and organic skincare. So things like castor oil. I know we've talked about it a couple times in previous so it's like vitamin c serum skincare. You know, moisturizers. Bradley Sutton: I'm all into that kind of stuff. As I get older, you know, like I've been, I've been going like I got it here on my desk been going heavily into k-beauty products. I got these products called Be Wants and it's funny because I always talk about collagen peptides on my podcast and stuff right, this is like collagen lifting cream, collagen essence toner the secret to looking like I do when I have a 23 year old daughter. So there it is Korean beauty products. That's the secret. Bradley Sutton: Now that, you know, beauty products and supplements are cliché as far as the most difficult things to break into. And then, of course, oh, maybe you, you know, somebody might say, oh yeah, she had a beauty brand. Maybe she started when it wasn't so, it wasn't so competitive, way back when, and that's how she was able to exit. But right after that, you said you went into supplements and were so successful. What's some of your secrets? Melisa: Yeah, obviously everyone kind of thinks that supplements is this weird and uncharted territory and it really is. It's a whole different ballgame in terms of how competitive it is, but from not just a black hat, you know perspective, because there are a lot of things that people will do to try to bring you down and it's unfortunate. But sometimes it's just about having a very wide catalog and just having you know a number of different products rather than just relying on one cash cow because then if you only have like one, really you know one real cash cow product that's bringing in all the money, if it goes down, then you're kind of screwed. So we kind of had to move quickly when it came to launches. So it was just speed to market. Just every quarter we were launching you know three, four new products, just consistently. And that gave us a lot of practice on launches and figuring out okay, what's working, what's not working. So we were able to kind of figure out and do a lot of AB split testing and see, okay, now we have like an actual template that we can work off of. Melisa: And supplements is one of those easy things where really you don't have to reinvent the wheel, it's really just slapping on. You know a label on a bottle and branding does pay a big. You know it's a big part of it in how you can differentiate yourself. But one thing that we did even now because we're still in the supplement space, so even though we sold that company moved into a little bit more of a niche supplement space. So now we sell gummies in particular and I also sit on the board for another company, which is like pharmaceutical crafted supplements. So a little bit more niche where it's like multi-ingredient formulations, so you can no longer just launch single ingredient products anymore and think you're going to rank for those super high volume keywords now we're relying- Bradley Sutton: Let me launch a vitamin c or some vitamin d and crush it. Melisa: Yeah, no, like you always use the example of collagen right there you no one should ever go into the collagen market these days. Even you know, five years ago it was very, very hard to break into collagen. So rather than focusing on collagen, we focus on solutions. So things for hair growth, things for, you know, hair, skin nails is also another big keyword, things like that. You want to go after more of those long tail keywords, but ones that target specific problems that people are having. So that's kind of what we've kind of shifted into, and then also doing things that you know are kind of following a trend as well. Melisa: So, for example, you know, there was that whole big craze it still is a craze where people are taking semi-glutides which are like Ozempic, you know, Manjarono, things like that for weight loss, and obviously with that comes a lot of side effects. So we were able to create a custom formulation that targets and helps with a lot of those side effects. So that really helped us gain a lot of traction because no one else was doing it. So we're creating different solutions for these problems. That kind of became more popular and more in, you know, more searched. So if you pay attention to different trends, keywords, things like that, sometimes you can get ahead of the trends. So, rather than trying to arrive a wave that's already dying, you're almost positioning yourself for the wave before it happens, and that's what any good surfer knows. Bradley Sutton: Something crazy. I don't remember if it was your beauty brand or your supplement brand, but you were talking about. At one point you were doing like 400 K of sales a month and you were not using PPC. Now, was that for the beauty brand or also for the supplements? You weren't doing PPC. Melisa: For both. Yeah, we never really focused too much on PPC. We did have a little bit for the beauty brand, but for supplements in particular, we focused on velocity, because if you can sell at a slightly you know lower price point and remain competitive, still making a profit. Our goal was not you know the amount of profit we're making per product, it was how much we could actually sell, how many units could we actually get out the door. Because not only that, we get more exposure to the customers if someone buys a product once, it's easier to sell to someone again rather than trying to sell to a new person. So we make it very easy for people to purchase our products because they're affordable, right. So not only that, it's negotiating with your suppliers. Melisa: We now have brought on our supplier as a partner in one of our brands, so we have the best terms. We have net 90. We don't have to pay them and it's basically until most of our stock is already sold, which is it puts us at a huge advantage compared to some of our other competitors, right, where you have to pay for it upfront, before it even gets sent into Amazon. You know, Amazon takes like four weeks sometimes to check in your inventory, depending on the season. So things like that definitely make a difference in helping us remain competitive. But the reason why we weren't needing to spend on PPC was because we were riding the wave of other people spending big marketing dollars to educate our customers for us and we just had to make sure we were positioned next to them. Bradley Sutton: Like direct influencers, or just riding the wave of just like search terms that were generic and those people weren't even necessarily pushing you? Or is it a mixture of both? Melisa: Right. The search terms and then also the branded search terms as well. But you know the whole craze with apple cider vinegar gummies, right? So there was that big company that they launched apple cider vinegar gummies. They were the first to do it. They were spending so much money trying to get Ellen, you know, on the Ellen Degeneres show, all these different outlets like paying out the Kardashians to promote this product and they were educating people for us on, okay, this is what this product does. Melisa: We just had to make sure we were showing up for the right keywords and showing up for their brand keywords as a cheaper alternative. So even if we could just get like a small percentage of their market share, people are going to try us. Just because we were undercutting them a little bit. They were charging, you know, a pretty high price point at the time and now there's so many different players in the space, so obviously it's kind of like a price race to the bottom now. So we don't currently sell it because that was in our previous brand that we sold. Melisa: But that was one of the things where, like, we saw the trend, we're like, okay, they're already spending so much money on marketing, we don't have to spend it ourselves. We just have to make sure that we show up in the right places at the right time because that's what marketing is. It's all about. You know, being there when someone needs something and the more times you can be in front of someone when you know, the time kind of persists because not everyone's going to need to buy certain things at that exact moment, so the more times that you can actually position yourself so that when they are ready to buy and you're there, you're more likely to be able to convert. Melisa: Like the cool thing about marketing is not just about how you say something but like there's so many different ways that you can say something. So like if you walk down the street and you see two different coffee shops, for example, right, and both of them have a sign out, one maybe says, like you know, we sell hot liquid from brown beans, and then the other is like hey, our coffee is stronger than your Wi-Fi. By the way, we have free Wi-Fi, you know? Like which one are you going to go to? There's so many ways to say we sell coffee. So it's really cool, because it's such a fun game of finding the most creative ways to say something. 0:11:04 - Bradley Sutton: I like it. Now we're going to get back to your e-commerce strategies, but one thing, as I was mentioning, I live my life vicariously, sometimes through Instagram, and so I've noticed you know, you've done some side hustles and some other endeavors and investments, which I think is important that e-commerce sellers think about the next step too. It could be, for some, a hobby, like, hey, I've always wanted to do this, but now I have the means to do it because of my Amazon business, or they've exited and now they want to. You know, hey, what else can I get into? So I think it's something that a lot of Amazon sellers aren't thinking about. But maybe, talking about your experiences, you might stir some creative juices. Bradley Sutton: But one of the things that you decided to do and I'd like to just get into, like how you came to that was doing an escape room. So was like escape room something that you always like doing yourself, and you're like, oh, this is a passion project. Or were you like, oh man, there's in this area, there's a need for this. I think I can make some money off of it. How did you come? You know, land on that as your side hustle, kind of thing. Melisa: Yeah, I love escape rooms. I think, as entrepreneurs as well, we naturally are good problem solvers, so these are kind of like fun problems to solve, right. They put you in a situation where you need to complete all the puzzles and then you have to escape. But it's usually immersed in some sort of storyline, which makes it interesting. So essentially you become like the main character in a little video game and it's a lot of fun. So it's good for team building. We like doing it with family. Melisa: You know friends, other entrepreneurs I've met on my travels. I'll be like, hey, like I know we just met, but like, call me crazy, let's do an escape room together. I know it's crazy walking you know strangers in a room for an hour. Anything could go wrong. But some of like the strongest partnerships and I guess relationships I've had are, you know people I've done escape rooms with because you kind of see this different side of them and you work together. You're almost like you know how trauma bonds people. Well, this is like you're in a high stress environment where, like, you need to escape by a certain time and you know, naturally we're all competitive people, we're entrepreneurs, business owners, so it was like really cool seeing people work really well together to get towards a common goal. And then you know some of those people I still talk to today and it's really, really cool. Bradley Sutton: Now is this something that, like you, 100% did from scratch, or you bought into a franchise or something, or you just started your own brand and built it all yourself. Melisa: Yeah. So I am a franchisee, which is, I thought it was the best way to, you know, get into this space, because for me to learn everything from scratch, you know, like, how to program controllers, the logic flow, writing all the storylines. You know the prop building all that stuff. You know CNC, build it like printing 3D printing, all that stuff you know CNC building like printing 3D printing, all that stuff like that would be way too much for me to do as a single person. Sure, I could hire out teams, but it just made more sense to partner with an existing company. So I ended up doing some of their games. I was like you know what? These are really great. There's obviously some room for improvement, as well, which I would be able to take care of on my side for my specific location. Melisa: And then, you know, fast forward, they love what I did so much with my location that they actually offered me a job, which is crazy. Now I haven't accepted it yet, so it was like we're still kind of talking back and forth, but it would, you know, consist of some equity in the overall franchise, as well as, you know, a cushy paycheck. So it's it might be a cool thing for me to do or even as a consultant for them but they want to bring me on as part of the head office teams. I think that would be kind of cool and I really thought I'd, you know, have another job again after having a job for what? Eight years, eight-nine years now being self-employed. So yeah, it'd be definitely interesting, for sure. Bradley Sutton: Now, for this kind of thing. You know what kind of investment. Obviously there's a franchise, you know fee, and then there's, you know, construction and you know training new employees and getting everything together. So, like how much would I need? I mean, obviously you know I'm in California, it might be different than wherever you did yours, but you know we talking a hundred thousand, 200,000, $300,000 that somebody would need to be able to start an endeavor like this. Melisa: Right, so I mean out of pocket, you'd probably need at least $150,000, but it could be upwards of 500,000. Most of it would be covered by like SBA financing in your case in the States because it's an existing franchise. It's a lot easier to get you know that friend or that funding for a brick and mortar business, so that's also the appeal of it as well. So to be able to have you know outside sources or using other people's money we all know how great that is. Melisa: But in terms of like construction, that depends on the size of the space. So if you want to do you know, the bare minimum is you need at least 2,500 square feet of space. That's going to provide you with four different games. But if you want more space, obviously you can have a lot more space to work with, but it's going to cost you more in construction. So, depending on the space that you find, if there's already existing infrastructure like it has drywall, it has drop ceilings, the HVAC is already installed, it has bathrooms and you have very minimal to work with your costs are going to be much lower than if you were to work with an empty shell building. So for me, I literally moved into a building that was like completely empty. It was gutted they call it vanilla shell so I had freedom to do whatever I wanted with that space. Melisa: And it is very, very, very tall. It has like super tall ceilings. It's like 17 and a half feet tall. So obviously that's a lot more paint that I have to pay for, so it does get more costly, but it could run you, like I said, anywhere from 150 to 500,000. But in terms of like ROI, it just made so much sense because I went to a franchise show, checked out so many different business models the food space. You have all this overhead cost in terms of inventory. You have food costs. You have spoilage right. Food that doesn't get bought, or, like you mess up, you cook it improperly, so there's a lot that could go wrong, whereas this, you build it at once and then that's your main cost. The only thing you have is your rent and then the employees to run it, which really doesn't take that many people to run an escape room. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, that's something I noticed when I did my escape room with my family. It was like two people or one, you know, just the front desk person. There might have been somebody cleaning or something like that. Just thinking from an e-commerce seller's viewpoint, at what stage or what level of person should you say, hey, you know, I mean not necessarily escape room, but just anything you know like this, like what you know. Like hey, if you're making less than a million dollars a year and you're doing everything on your own a hundred percent, don't be trying to think about you know doing this. Or hey, once you get to the level where you've got two-three employees in your business on autopilot, or hey, you should not even think about this unless you hit this kind of you know revenue or profit, or like. What kind of guidelines would you suggest to people out there who might be like, hey, I've always wanted to do something on the side for some more steady income perhaps. How would you advise them? Melisa: The thing is there's so many ways to make money these days that don't require a lot of, I guess, startup capital. Especially when it comes to affiliate marketing or high ticket sales things like that. I always recommend, if you need to make some extra cash, get really, really good at sales. That's going to be, you know, the biggest skill build and investment that you can make into yourself. But also, if you just need to make cash, like sell for someone who has something really awesome to offer and you can make a big commission from that, right. But if you want to start like an actual, I guess for me this is very much like a passion project because I love escape rooms and it's kind of like I wouldn't say a side hustle at this point because it does require a lot of time and effort, just in the beginning at least. But once you have it up and running for about six months and your staff is trained, you have a manager, you know you could step away. That's why I was able to go to Hawaii. I was able to, you know, be in Hawaii with you for BDSS and take time off and not have to worry and like I'm not there right now, but I have staff there right now who are running it while I'm gone. I'll probably stop in later because we're doing a really cool collaboration with this local influencer. He has like 14 million subscribers on YouTube but we're getting him to do one of our escape rooms so I'm really excited for that but there's like so much opportunity for collaboration. Melisa: Anyways, in terms of how much you need comfortably to start something like an escape room or franchise, I guess in general it really depends on the franchise. You know McDonald's, it's going to require you at least a minimum one million dollars, right. Subway's a minimum 500, 000. This escape room very low entry compared to some of these bigger franchises. So, like I mentioned, 150 to 500, 000. But a lot of that is covered by the bank loan. So, as long as you have in excess capital, be able to float. Melisa: You know the time during construction. But there's ways to negotiate free rent during the construction period, which is pretty. It's often offered depending on you know the space that you're looking pretty. It's often offered depending on you know the space that you're looking at. If it's been empty for like a year and they want to put someone in it. They don't mind giving you four or five, six months free rent while you do construction, until you're up and running. So I'd say you know you would want probably half a million in assets before thinking about doing something like that, just because, in case something happens, it's always good to have a rainy day fund. Bradley Sutton: You know, I think it's funny because a lot of people obviously complain about Amazon and the problems that sometimes it has and new fees and this, you know, screw up by Amazon, or they lost my inventory, but they don't realize. Hey, businesses have trouble, too. So, like you just mentioned your fire thing, but then also, when you got started, did you like even get robbed, like right away, or something like that? Melisa: Yeah, we had a break in and, funny enough, a month ago we had another break in, but twice in one night. So it's just a different set of problems, right. Every business is going to have its own unique problems itself. Sometimes I joke, I'm like, oh, maybe I should just do an e-commerce. But I love what I do with the escape room. Obviously, it's very fulfilling. Melisa: I get to hire students. I have this amazing work culture. You know some of my employees they'll come to work even on their day off. Like it's so cool seeing that and to be able to provide that kind of and give back to my local community, providing a place of work where people can grow as individuals who can build these different skills. Just from customer service standpoint and, you know, learning the ins and outs of the business and being a key holder, things like that and being in proximity to me, because I have one girl that works for me and she's also kind of in the e-commerce world as well, so she's almost like my little pupil, little protege. So it's kind of cool just having that know mentor-mentee relationship as well. Bradley Sutton: Nice, nice, all right. Now, coming back to e-commerce, you know you won best speaker at Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You did some cool magic tricks. I remember too. But you know, obviously we're not going to rehash the whole entire Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You got to go to Billion Dollar Seller Summit, guys, if you want to get that good data. But I wanted know, like, maybe you can bring out one of the topics you did, maybe either the site map one or the Reddit one, your choice. But what do you think is relevant here in middle of 2024, that on one of those topics that you think that can help our sellers out there? Melisa: Yeah, I think that Reddit would be a cool topic of discussion just because it's such an underrated social media platform. Like cool topic of discussion just because it's such an underrated social media platform. Like when you think social media, you don't really Reddit is not at the top of your mind, but it's a really great place for people to do research. So most of your customers are still in their research phase, so you want to show up when they are doing their research. Right, and that's where, if you have all these different threads that you are consistently mentioned in, it's going to be so much easier when it comes time to them actually pulling the trigger to actually want to buy from you. Melisa: So there's this really cool tool called Advite that we use. That helps us A-D-V-I-T-E dot AI, I believe, and they use AI to basically scrape Reddit and all the different threads and it will actually ping you whenever there's a relevant thread that you should maybe comment on. It's almost like help a reporter out, but like, for you know people, just random people that need answers for questions, and it's usually very unique questions too, like whenever I have a specific problem unique to myself, I always like type in, like, okay, this is the problem I'm having and I put Reddit at the end because I know someone in the world has had this problem before. Maybe someone has a solution. So it's really cool because these threads they obviously live there as like a forever forum and once you've recommended your own product or whatever it is, or your own solution on it, it stays there. Melisa: So other people who might have that problem will end up coming back to that thread and you can hit people and it's very evergreen. It's like it's there. It's almost like you posted it once and it's going to be there forever for people to come back to. So that's definitely something you should keep in mind when trying to warm up your potential customers. And if you use Advite, it's going to ping you all of those different threads. Just be on top of posting, contributing, getting that good karma, those upvotes, things like that, and you can even get other people or higher VAs to comment on your behalf on different ghost accounts. And as long as you can show up multiple times, people are going to be like oh yeah, I remember that brand. I've seen it pop up a couple of times. That's the brand I'm probably going to choose because you know so many people have recommended it. Bradley Sutton: So now I see you active sometimes in the Helium 10 Elite Facebook group, you know. So obviously you're doing something on Amazon now, but you exited the other brand. Are you still working with that brand you exited, or you went and started another one? Or what exactly are you doing in the Amazon world these days? Melisa: No. So we've exited that brand and then started shortly after another supplement brand. Thankfully, we didn't have like a very strict non-compete, so we were able to get into that space and then also dabbling in pet supplements as well. So another cool thing is that we're kind of looking into is customization of packaging, because nowadays, like you, really do have to do things different. Amazon just announced that they're making it so much easier for Chinese sellers to be able to ship their products straight from China. So that's going to change the game a lot. And if you don't have a solid brand or you're not connecting personally with your customers, then you are going to have a very rough time once that starts kicking in and all of your the Chinese competitors are undercutting you. So things like the kitchen industry are going to get really disrupted, like things that don't really have a lot of branding. You know, like most people can't really brand a garlic press. People are just going to buy the cheapest one that they think is going to for them. Melisa: But in terms of like supplements, especially things for pets, like it's such a personal thing, like people will spend as much money as they can for their pet. They have the budget spread because it's like their second children really, especially for millennials, right, who can't afford children. Like pets are our new children. But yeah, in Hawaii, actually, Janelle page, she mentioned something in her presentation about Jones Soda Company, how they would let people vote on different photos to put on the bottles. So we kind of want to implement something similar where we actually have our customers, dogs, photos on the bottles of our products. So that's something that we're kind of logistically exploring right now and I think that everyone should be kind of forward thinking like that, if you can to personalize it, or even if you can't, you can, you know, do a lot more blanket. Like for this print run, we're going to feature one of your dogs, so get everyone to post selfies with their dogs, with your product, and that's a good way to generate more content for your company. So doing things like that aren't as difficult to implement, especially if you don't do the manufacturing yourself. Melisa: Difficult to implement, especially if you don't do the manufacturing yourself, but with labels nowadays, like it becomes a lot easier, as long as you can get them all printed on the same roll. We do have, I think, our manufacturer for labels. They allow you to have as many different variations of label as you want. Which I think is cool. So if we had even like a hundred different dogs that we like have on this bottle, so we had even like a hundred different dogs that we like have on this bottle, so it's not like a consistent one, but then at least when we do go to retail people are going to see oh, this is the same dog as my dog. Like I'm going to buy that just because my dog is on the product. Bradley Sutton: All right, yeah, I like that. I think I always wonder about you know how, when your listing goes down on Amazon, that there's a dog page, that, like I always wondered. It was like are those Amazon employees dogs? Or something like that. It was a similar vibe, I guess. Bradley Sutton: Okay. That's pretty cool. Now what? What's one thing new you're doing with this supplement brand that's working, and what's one thing that you're not doing? That you did with the other ones because, like you know, the Amazon world has changed off of. Melisa: So I guess something new that we've done is, I mean, it has been pretty consistent across all of our brands is just doing like variations of Supreme URLs I know Super URLs and that kind of graduated but we've been doing a lot of Google redirects, so making sure that we have a lot of external traffic coming into our pages because before we weren't doing any of that, it was just strictly. We were so Amazon focused. We were just like let's rank for keywords on Amazon, like let's just make sure that we're good here. But now you can't just rely on Amazon anymore. You have to be well-rounded in on different platforms. And we've been doing a lot more social media. It's obviously a lot more work but once you have the systems in play, it kind of makes it easier when you have VAS pumping out that content for you. But yeah, we've been doing a lot more content. Like content is king. You know how they say attention is the new currency, like that rings true and truer than ever. So one thing I am trying to do is become more comfortable in front of the camera and almost like pull things that I'm doing from the retail side of things, like from the, from brick and mortar into our e-commerce. Melisa: So like, for example, knowing the life cycle of your product is so important because then you know, okay, especially because we're in consumables we know when someone's going to run out of their product. Usually, it's either like a 30-day or a 60-day supply. So if you can, you know, send out an email to your customer a couple of days, or, if not, like a week, before they're about to run out, or even just like as they're about to run out. You're going to raise, you're going to have that top of mind awareness and you're going to be there at the right time. You're going to be there when you know your customer is going to need you and then it's going to, you know, trigger something in their brain. It's like oh yeah, I'm about to run out, I should probably order more. Melisa: So we've been sending out like emails or follow-ups for our customers, even with like review generation. What we do at like the escape room, for example, is we do have like a funnel, almost, where people would like leave us almost like feedback and then we convert it into a review but now we've been doing it as like more personal. I'm trying to find AI tools to help us automate it a little bit more. But basically we have like a selfie of us holding like a whiteboard and then we would just put like the person's name on it and be like thank you so much, like so and so, or whatever, and just thank them for their feedback. And then they're like, oh my God, like this is so personal, like of course, I'll leave you a review, you know. So, trying to do like more personalized things like that, and I think AI is going to make it so much easier. And yeah, that's the other thing, right, AI, implementing so much AI and everything in all aspects of our business has been so different because, like a couple of years ago. Bradley Sutton: Obviously you're probably doing 10 different things, but if you were to say the most impactful, what is the most impactful AI thing that you've implemented? Melisa: Using Midjourney has been a huge game changer for us as well, because now content creation for us is so much easier and so much cheaper, even product images. So before, if you wanted to get a really high quality product render with crazy you know, like crazy fruit in the background, things like that you'd have to pay someone a lot of money to just get one photo, like from a photographer. But now AI can literally generate it and it costs you pennies on the dollar. And then copywriting oh my gosh, copywriting is so much easier now. So that's why we're doing a lot more email marketing too. Bradley Sutton: Last couple of questions here. Favorite Helium 10 tool. Melisa: Favorite Helium 10 tool. Well, the one that I use on a daily basis is obviously the Keyword Tracker that helps me keep on top of everything, but also the map that shows you, you know- Bradley Sutton: Inventory heat map and sales heat map. Melisa: And seeing like the clusters of customers and where most of your inventory is and kind of tailoring to that, because we've been doing a lot more location targeting as well. So kind of what I mentioned earlier was knowing what to show someone at the right time. So taking a page out of like Tim Hortons book, for example, I don't know if you know Tim Hortons, but that's like a coffee company in Canada, Bradley Sutton: That's like Canada. Yeah, I know, I know about it, yep. Melisa: Yeah. So they have an app where they'll show you different deals based on your location, but also who you are as a person or as an individual shoppers like personalized coupons, things like that. So there's this one platform we were using, called Aviva, for the longest time, where we can on our website. If someone visits our website, we can show them different popups based on their location. Melisa: So we can show them like a very personalized experience when they arrive to the website. So knowing where our customers are super helpful, and I think the Helium Heat Map tool is cool for that just seeing where our inventory is as well, because then you're going to have, like that, faster shipping. So you know that. You know it's going to show up as prime or even same day shipping sometimes, so being able to focus on a specific area is also super cool. Bradley Sutton: When you look at the sales heat map and see, like, where your sales are concentrated, do you do anything based on that, like, do you actually run Google Ads or something that geolocated you know, to areas that you're not doing well, or you double down on the areas you are selling? What's the action that you take after looking at that? Melisa: Yeah, we usually double down on the areas that have high concentration of our customers because that's where they typically are and sometimes it surprises you where some of your customers are. Like, we do get a lot of customers in New York. Obviously, it's a big city, but I think a lot of people during COVID they were lonely in their condos but because it's very constricted you get a lot of small dogs. So we'll start like doing like when we do our targeting for Facebook ads and things like that, we'll actually show a lot more smaller dogs in New York versus, like you know, in Texas maybe they have bigger yards, things like that. We're going to show the bigger breeds so that way we can hit more of our demographic. Bradley Sutton: I used to have a great Pyrenees, because I have a big lot here and I would actually have. I had goats and pigs and stuff and that's like a livestock guardian. But yeah, somebody in New York City would not have a great Pyrenees, which is the gigantic dog. Okay, cool If I were to give you the keys to the Helium 10 product team, like, hey, you're our CTO for the day and you're like Helium 10 needs to have this feature in an existing tool or it needs to make this new tool that we don't have now. What would it be? Melisa: Yeah, you guys don't do that anymore, but if you can create your own Google redirect URL targeting keywords, that would be cool. Okay, because I use that regularly, especially for launches especially for launches. Bradley Sutton: All right, how can people find you on the interwebs out there if they want to follow you or maybe connect? 0:33:34 - Melisa: You can follow me on Instagram @melisa with one S, my mom's felt my name on a member certificate, so it's very fab of her. Or you can email me. Linkedin is also a good one. I'm starting to be a little bit more active on LinkedIn, but yeah. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, Melisa. Thank you so much for joining us and I'm going to have to go to your escape room. But don't judge me on how slow I am. Sometimes it takes me up until the very last deadline to try and get out and I sometimes have to have help from the guide in those things because I don't think well in those kind of high pressure situations. But I'm going to give it a try. Hope to hang out with you at an upcoming conference soon. Melisa: Yeah, absolutely. I can't wait to catch up with you somewhere in the world. We always see each other, you know, in our travels.

With Prime Day announced for July 16 and 17, Norm and Kevin King discuss what Prime Day really means for sellers in 2024. Does the hype online really add up? The duo also discuss several money and time saving travel hacks that you can implement to make travel more comfortable as an entrepreneur travelling the world. Find out on today's Lunch With Norm. Join the Beard Nation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lunchwithnorm Sign up for our Newsletter - https://lunchwithnorm.beehiiv.com/   More about Kevin... Our guest mentors sellers collectively do over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon. You may know him from the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is known for his hit newsletter Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club: Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more. For more information visit https://Startup.club This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics: Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice. Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan. For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

What if your marketing strategy is targeting the wrong audience altogether? This episode of Brand Fortress HQ takes you through a pivotal realization by Mike at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit, where he identified the necessity of shifting his focus from the end users to the actual buyers. Mike discovered that the majority of Amazon purchasers are women, leading him to reframe his approach to appeal to wives, thus highlighting how high-end pool cleaning tools can enhance family time by freeing up their husbands' schedules. By understanding that emotional appeal can be just as vital as logical reasoning, Mike shares how this shift can expand your customer base and improve engagement.We dive into the complexities of Amazon purchasing patterns, especially when multiple users share a single account. Gender roles and shared accounts can skew analytics, potentially causing inaccurate targeting. Listen as we break down effective strategies for analyzing and refining customer avatars through Amazon's powerful data tools. From virtual bundles and custom landing pages to targeted sponsored brand ads, we discuss how to leverage these resources to better understand and reach different demographics. Plus, learn how tools like PickFu can help you fine-tune your messaging before launching broader tests on Amazon.Finally, we emphasize the importance of the post-purchase process and the invaluable insights gained from customer feedback. Surveying customers to understand who bought the product, who they bought it for, and their motivations can significantly refine your customer avatars and marketing strategies. Engaging with your audience through surveys not only provides crucial data but also fosters a sense of involvement and loyalty. Tune in for an episode packed with insights that could revolutionize your approach to customer targeting and engagement, helping your brand thrive on platforms like Amazon and beyond.

On today's Lunch With Norm, Norm shares his experience at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and Level Up in Hawaii, and shares a special announcement about Lunch With Norm.   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club   Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem.   Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.   For more information visit https://Startup.club   This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics   Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice.   Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan.   For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   In this episode, the CEO of Sophie Society and an engineer turned entrepreneur,  Chris Rawlings, and Andrew Erickson, are here. Today, we discussed the Impact of Chat GPT 4o. They created multi-million dollar brands and designed and launched over 100 private-label products.   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

Gracey Ryback, the Amazon and TikTok influencer phenomenon with over 1.3 million TikTok followers, joins us for a compelling conversation on the AM/PM Podcast. Gracey shares her inspiring journey from a career in sales to becoming a full-time content creator in the e-commerce space. Her accidental rise to fame, driven by a passion for deals and saving money, offers a fascinating look into the world of influencer marketing and the organic growth of her platform. Listen as Gracey recounts her viral video successes, including a walking pad treadmill video that reached 2 million views, and learn about her innovative methods for discovering genuine Amazon deals.   In this episode, we break down the intricacies of creating engaging TikTok content and the art of viral marketing. Gracey provides valuable insights into the process of finding and promoting deals, emphasizing the importance of transparency in discount claims amidst Amazon's evolving pricing policies. We also explore the evolving aspirations of young people who dream of becoming influencers and the parallels with the unexpected success of third-party sellers on Amazon. Gracey's journey highlights the passion and dedication required to succeed in the influencer industry, and she offers advice on navigating the common pitfalls of trying to model oneself after established personalities.   As our conversation unfolds, Gracey discusses her involvement in the Amazon community, attending events like the Billion Dollar Seller Summit, and the enriching experiences gained from networking with successful entrepreneurs. She reflects on her recognition in the Dream 100 and the challenges of sustaining audience engagement in live streaming. Looking ahead, Gracey shares her thoughts on the future of her career, including potential opportunities like starting her own brand or collaborating with an agency. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the influencer industry, effective content creation strategies, and the ever-evolving landscape of e-commerce on Amazon.   In episode 397 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Gracey discuss: 07:44 - How To Find Good Deals On Amazon 10:52 - Sourcing Deals Online for Savings 14:45 - Building Audience Engagement Beyond Social Platforms  18:31 - Changing Perceptions of Career Choices 25:59 - Creating Engaging and Efficient TikTok Videos 27:29 - Importance of TikTok Video Hooks 33:21 - Love for Work and Growth 34:35 - Amazon Community Involvement and Future Plans 41:11 - Helium 10 Elite Membership Benefits 42:47 - Influencer Marketing and Live Streaming 44:53 - Building Loyalty Through Consistent Live Streaming 47:53 - Influencer Brand Relationships and Expectations 49:42 - Navigating The TikTok Creator Studio 55:07 - Managing Brand Expectations for Virality 58:00 - Kevin King's Words Of Wisdom

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with an Amazon mentor, Kevin King! We discussed the marketing misfits. Find out business is all about business and marketing. Our guest organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and his successful newsletter - the Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro   Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post-purchase marketing. Finally, your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years of experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset.   For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club   Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem.   Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.   For more information visit https://Startup.club   This episode is brought to you by VAA Philippines   VAA offers Amazon sellers access to high-quality and reliable virtual assistants from the Philippines.   VAA invests in their virtual assistants through a thorough screening process, intensive Amazon training, ongoing professional development, and support. Hiring through VAA gives Amazon sellers peace of mind with a dedicated, skilled and motivated virtual assistant who is committed to a long-term working relationship. The company's founders have a deep understanding of the Amazon marketplace and ensure that their virtual assistants are always up-to-date with the latest tools and trends.   For more information visit https://www.vaaphilippines.com   This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics   Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice.   Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan.   For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   In this episode, an Amazon mentor, Kevin King, is here. Today, we discussed the marketing misfits. He organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit along with his successful newsletter - the Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, VAA Philippines, Post Purchase Pro, Seller Basics, and HONU Worldwide...   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Target, Walmart shoppers seek home goods, grocery delivery online https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-walmart-shoppers-seek-home-goods-grocery-delivery-online-2024-05-22/ Join the Amazon Ads team and our very own Bradley Sutton on June 4 and 5 for a free virtual event to help you maximize your brand and performance marketing during Prime Day, coming back this July. http://h10.me/primeads Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul — and a monthly subscription price https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/22/amazon-plans-to-give-alexa-an-ai-overhaul-monthly-subscription-price.html New Beta Amazon Advertising Product Launch - Canva Connect https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeffreycohen_la-canvacreate-activity-7199484241636728835-1SAS/ TikTok unites ad tools (including new AI-driven products) with TikTok One hub https://www.tubefilter.com/2024/05/23/tiktok-world-ad-announcements-ai-symphony-one-shop/ Amazon Ramps Up Logistics Expansion to Speed Delivery, Reduce Costs https://www.pymnts.com/amazon/2024/amazon-ramps-up-logistics-expansion-to-speed-delivery-reduce-costs/ Amazon continues laying the groundwork for Prime to be to sports streaming what ESPN was to cable. https://www.axios.com/2024/05/19/amazon-nba-deal-nfl Will Walmart Dominate Virtual Retail? https://retailwire.com/discussion/will-walmart-dominate-virtual-retail/ In another part of our episode, Bradley highlights the latest from Helium 10, starting with a must-have Prime Day preparation checklist courtesy of Carrie at Helium 10. Tune in for updates on Adtomic's new features, including advanced custom PPC rules and insightful metrics that could be game-changers for your strategy. Don't miss our training tip that leverages Cerebro's historical data for seasonal product research, exemplified by a dive into Valentine's Day candy keywords that could give you an edge in the market. Whether you're new to the e-commerce scene or a seasoned pro, these discussions are packed with actionable advice to help you stay ahead of the curve. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:58 - Online Sales Surging 02:54 - Amazon Prime Day Ads 04:06 - Amazon Alexa Update 06:05 - Amazon x Canva 07:02 - TikTok One Hub 08:12 - Amazon Size Chart Tool 09:02 - Amazon Logistics Plans 11:33 - Amazon x NBA 12:42 - Walmart Virtual Retail 14:28 - Prime Day Checklist 14:58 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts 17:05 - Get A Free Demo Of Adtomic 17:13 - Pro Training: Cerebro's Historical Data Analysis ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: E-commerce reaching levels it hasn't released since COVID. Big changes coming to Amazon Alexa. Walmart releases a new virtual shopping environment. These stories and more on today's Weekly Buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the new stories and goings on in the Walmart, amazon and e-commerce world. We also give you training tips of the week and let you know what new features that Helium 10 has that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. Bradley Sutton: We've got a lot of articles today. I keep saying this guys, it's so weird how things just come and go Like I remember last week there's like three articles that was worth reporting on. This week we've got about eight, nine, so let's go ahead and hop right into it. The first story is from Reuters.com and it's entitled Target and Walmart shoppers seek home goods grocery delivery online. Now, this article was kind of talking about Walmart and Target, not too much about Amazon, but what is interesting here is that it's saying, hey, US online spending experiencing a rebound, spurred by high gas prices, convenient delivery options and a surge in deals following a brief post-pandemic slump. Us retailers say Now the key stat here I wanted to bring out where it says here e-commerce sales made up 16% of total US retail sales in Q1 this year, the highest since they peaked at 16.4% when, during the height of the pandemic, in 2020 Q2. So a lot of you had, you know, super, you know huge sales during COVID perhaps, and maybe some of the sales slumped off afterwards. Well, this is kind of interesting. We're seeing some big numbers according to this article here. Now. Target especially says it's online sales returned to growth in the Q1 after more than a year of decline. So a year, week over week, it was declining and then finally, target start had an increase and that's probably going to keep going because of their upcoming release of Target 360. Walmart had a 22% surge in online sales last week, which exceeded the 17 percent growth recorded during the strong holiday season. Now, this again is interesting because, if it continues, what does that mean? That means good news for you guys. Again, this article didn't talk too much about Amazon, but if there is a general increase in online sales, you got to know that Amazon's got to be a part of it, since Amazon is the, you know, the biggest online sales channel or platform out there. So let's keep a close watch on this. Are your sales up the last few weeks? Hopefully they are. Bradley Sutton: Next article is just from Seller Central. An announcement on your dashboard you might have seen. There's Amazon. I think this might be one of the first ever. I don't remember this before Amazon Ad Summit, especially for Prime Day. All right, so this is June 4th and June 5th and it says here don't miss the chance to join our Amazon ads experts for exclusive workshops, in-depth discussions and more. Now, the cool thing is it's almost all Amazon employees who are doing this, but if you go ahead and register for this h10.me/primeads, you'll notice that on the signup page there's an outside expert. There. There's only one outside person, and this is a guy here with the name of Bradley Sutton. So check me out, guys. I flew out to Amazon's headquarters in New York to film this and it was pretty cool. We went over some just general strategies that sellers of all levels can learn from. So if you want to learn from the Amazon speakers and yours truly, again, go ahead and register for this. This is not a Helium 10 event. This is 100% Amazon. You can even see this in your Seller Central. Again, go to h10.me/primeads and register for this training that's coming up. Bradley Sutton: Next article is from CNBC and it's entitled Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul and a monthly subscription price. Now, this hasn't been confirmed by Amazon yet, but according to this, hey, amazon is supposedly not going to include Alexa free of charge in Amazon Prime subscriptions anymore and it's going to offer like a more generative AI kind of feel to it. Because, you know, like Alexa believe it or not is like 10 years old now and it's kind of like almost antiquated, you know, when you compare it to a lot of the generative AI things that you see out there. So, again, there's no comment from Amazon on this, but it's going to be interesting to see why, because how is this going to affect shopping with Alexa? We've been talking about for years how you know you should probably optimize your listings for Alexa, but the you know, until now, sales from Alexa is not that great, right, and it's probably because the experience is not that intuitive, right. But if there's this huge overhaul with Amazon Alexa. It would kind of like be you know. Go without saying that the shopping experience might be a lot easier on there. And now, all of a sudden, it could be exponentially more important that you do optimize your listings for the Amazon Alexa AI, whatever it's going to be. So just something to keep your eye on. I'm not 100% sure this is going to be like a big thing for Amazon if they start charging, I mean, who knows, like I'm not even sure I'm going to pay for it. If it's like $3 a month, since I have like a million Alexa devices in my house, sure I'll pay $3 a month, but if they're going to be like oh yeah, you want generative AI and it's going to be $30 a month, I might just go ahead and give up my Alexa devices because that that might not be worth it. So again, let's. And how it's going to affect shoppers and sellers. Bradley Sutton: Next article is not really an article, but from our buddy Jeff Cohen from Amazon. His LinkedIn post talked about Canva. There's going to be a new kind of like collab between Amazon and Canva so that you can seamlessly connect Canva to your Amazon ads creative library. You know, as we know, there's a lot of like generative AI tools where you can create images. Even Helium 10 has that in Adtomic and even other parts of our tool suite. But it's going to be interesting to see, hey, what new features does Canva allow you to do that the generative AI couldn't Like. For example, generative AI the one that Amazon has doesn't really allow you to put text on images. So if you're trying to create infographics or something like that, you really can't. You still have to go to Canva outside right. So maybe this could all be now in one you know kind of like process. You can go ahead and create infographics with text thanks to this Canva integration. Let's see how that works out. Bradley Sutton: Next article is from tubefilter.com and it's entitled TikTok unites ad tools, including a new ai driven products with TikTok one hub. All right. So this is a an appeal to advertisers. It said um, where they talked about some new things coming to TikTok, including an ai driven tool named TikTok symphony and a marketing optimization solution for TikTok shop. Now this is especially going to affect those who are doubling advertising with their TikTok shop strategy. These new improvements, this article says, will enable new opportunities for advertisers who are already seeing strong returns on TikTok In a newsroom post recapping TikTok world, the app noted that 61% of users have made a purchase either directly on TikTok or after seeing an ad, while 79% of TikTok users show a preference for brands that demonstrate a clear understanding of how to create content specifically for the platform. So, hey, you know we've talked a lot about TikTok shop. I'm not selling on TikTok shop yet. I'm going to very soon. But let me know those of you who are also selling on TikTok have you seen this new platform yet and do you think it's going to help you with your advertising? Bradley Sutton: Going back to Amazon Seller Central for the next article here, something entitled brands can now add size charts with the new self-serve tool. So, you know, are you selling in apparel or do you have a product that has like size variations? Well, now there's this brand new tool that you're automatically going to be enrolled in if you have brand registry, and this new size chart tool is going to have features such as existing size chart templates that can be used for new charts, the ability to apply a size chart from a single product to up to 1000 ASINs across entire product types. So you're not having to make 1000 different size charts anymore, you just create kind of like one template and then apply it to the rest of your products. You can also receive real time instruction to improve your size chart accuracy. So if you want to get more information on this, go ahead and check your Seller Central dashboard. Bradley Sutton: Next article is from Payments.com. I found this one interesting. It's entitled Amazon ramps up logistics expansion to speed delivery and reduce costs. Now, in the past and weekly buzz, you know we've talked various times about Amazon like downsizing their footprint as far as warehouses goes. But now it says, hey, amazon has leased, bought or announced plans for over 16 million square feet of new warehouse space in the US this year alone, according to this report, and this is in addition to they're already over 400 million square feet of real estate. It also mentions how it says they've overhauled their domestic shipping network, shifting from a centralized network to nine regions that are designed to operate independently. All right. Now, again, they're trying to get goods closer to consumers, enabling faster delivery times and lower cost, it says. In Q4 of 2023, amazon reported more than 65% increase in orders delivered same day or next day in the US compared to the previous year. Bradley Sutton: Now, it says, to support this new approach, what is Amazon doing? Well, we know what Amazon is doing. Right, it says here it's requiring itself and third-party merchants on the platform to hold inventory across multiple locations rather than in a few centralized places. Well, that's a nice way of saying that, causing Amazon sellers to pay more fees if we only send it to one or two locations, as opposed to spreading it across the country. But also something interesting says the company has been opening inbound receiving centers, which are warehouses that are from like 600,000 to 1 million square feet to store goods across the country. All right, so they're opening up smaller warehouses in rural areas as well for last mile delivery stations. So it's going to be interesting how Amazon kind of like you know, expands their network. How Amazon kind of like you know, expands their network. You know it talks about here that this is partly maybe in response to Walmart being able to fulfill through all their 4,600 stores. Right, so Amazon's, like you know, amazon doesn't have stores across the country as much as Walmart does, so it wants to get a little bit closer to the consumers to give faster delivery time. So, again, all of this is something that's going to affect Amazon sellers. It already has. Part of this is causing us to have new fees, but then is this, you know, faster shipping time going to cause customers to order more from us. You know, then, maybe in the long run, this could actually help Amazon sellers. Let's see how this works out. Bradley Sutton: Next article is from Axios.com. It says Amazon's big league ambitions and, just briefly, it's talking about how, you know, amazon might be part of this bid with, like NBC, to broadcast NBA basketball, professional basketball games. It talks about it has a deal with the NBA. It's been doing football, you know, like a Thursday night football for the last few years. It's talking with a regional sports network, one that I used to watch my LA Clippers on, where they're going to try and pull it out of bankruptcy and maybe get games on Amazon. Now, this is it. Why would you care about this? Maybe you're not a sports fan like I, am right, but this is important because we all know that Amazon is really pushing sponsored TV and all these new ways for average sellers to be able to have ads on their streaming platforms or another kind of like media in which you, potentially, might be able to run ads, and so the more deals that Amazon makes like this, the more opportunity for you to get your products in, you know, in front of different audiences. Bradley Sutton: Last article of the day is from retailwire.com and it's entitled will Walmart dominate virtual retail? All right, so this is kind of interesting. Virtual retail All right, so this is kind of interesting. It says Walmart has launched a virtual shopping flat platform called Walmart Realm. All right, now, this is an innovative marketplace, it says, that includes a unique blend of influencer led virtual stores and it creates an immersive shopping experience for consumers. Now, part of this is like these. Virtual, it says consumers. Now, part of this is like these virtual. It says fantastical worlds of shopping that it creates in virtual environments that allow users to interact with products, but they all also offer nostalgic online games, making the shopping process engaging and entertaining. Now, it says, at the core of this, this Walmart realm, there's distinct virtual shops that are led by influencers and inspired by social trends and, for example, a few of these. One of them is called so Jelly. This is described as an underwater playground filled with vibrant colors and whimsical surprises, providing a playful shopping experience. Now, it says, in addition to these themed shops, it's also going to have content from their creators, enhancing product discoverability and engagement. Now, for those watching this on YouTube. I'm just going to play this video here where you can kind of see a little bit of how this virtual world is. It's kind of wild Like I'm not sure if I want to shop in this kind of thing, but hey, this could be the future of online shopping and Walmart could be a pioneer in this. I'm sure, if it's successful, we'll see that coming to Amazon as well. Bradley Sutton: All right, that's it for the news this week. One quick note before we go into our next feature is Carrie, here at Helium 10, made a cool checklist, a printable PDF that you can use as a kind of like guideline for what you need to do to prepare for Prime Day. So in order to go and download this checklist for free, go to h10.me forward slash prime list, h10.me/primelist, and then you can just enter in your email and we'll email you this PDF for free help you get ready for Prime Day, which is coming in July. All right, let's get into our new feature alerts from Helium 10. And these are going to be from Adtomic. There's actually nine different updates this week. I'm only going to mention a couple of them and then refer to some of the others, and you know, for those of you using Adtomic, you can hop in there. Bradley Sutton: Now. One of them is you know you've always been able or not always, but for the last couple of months you've been able to create custom rules in Adtomic so that you can kind of like help reach your own goals for your bidding right Now. A lot of you guys had feedback on what you would like to see, and so now we have, more than ever, different criteria so that you can design your own PPC rules, like you've always been able to make it off of hey, if my ACoS is above this and below this. But now you can do it all based on things like the impressions, the current bid, the conversion rate, the click-through rate, the number of PPC orders spend, et cetera, et cetera, and then even the actions. You now have more options Like, for example, instead of just increasing or decreasing the bid based on the criteria that you put, you can say, hey, take the cost per click and multiply it by this target ACOS, right? Or multiply the current bid by this target ACoS. There's a lot of new features that you guys ask for and that we now have. So if you haven't checked out the custom bid rules in Adtomic lately. Make sure to hop in there and do it. Bradley Sutton: Another thing that we have here in Adtomic is on the analytics page. You guys wanted to start seeing some of the Amazon metrics that we didn't have in Adtomic, such as impression rank and impression share. You're going to be able to see that now on the analytics page of your Adtomic dashboard. Now, I mentioned that that's just a couple of the new updates to Adtomic. Some of the other ones are you can add keyword harvesting and negative rules in the campaign builder. You can now sync your data on demand from Amazon to Adtomic. You're going to be able to see day partying heat maps now and when you're creating day partying schedules. The list goes on and on. Make sure that you are up to date with everything that is in Adtomic, and if you guys haven't used Adtomic, interested in trying it out, go to h10.me/adtomic for a demo. Bradley Sutton: Now let's get into the training tip of the week. So we were at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Kauai, Hawaii, and it was interesting that, for a hack, Carrie mentioned something about doing historical analysis. Now, this is something that's not new, like it's been around for two years and most of these. I think there's only two people in the room had said they had used this before. All right, so I was like you know what this needs to be our training tip of the week, because it's super valuable, my opinion, one of the most valuable things that we have here at Helium 10. Now let me set the stage here for the first use case of looking at historical data on Cerebro and, by the way, this is for those of you who have the diamond plan and up. Now, let's say you're in a seasonal niche, or looking at a seasonal niche Like right now we are in what? May-June of 2024. Bradley Sutton: Valentine's Day passed, and if you were to look up a certain product in Cerebro for now that was maybe a top seller for Valentine's Day, you might not be able to see too many good keywords, right, you're not going to know what were the main keywords for it during Valentine's Day, because already Valentine's Day was months ago, right Now. Here's an example. Let's say I was using a Helium 10 Amazon brand analytics tool in Blackbox and I was like, hey, during February 18th to February 24th, let me look for keywords that had 2,000 search volume each, that had the word Valentine's in it and that got some sales and I could see a whole bunch of keywords here, such as Valentine's Day decorations, men's Valentine's gifts, etc. And then here's one Maybe I'm interested in Valentine's Day candy and for that week of February, right before Valentine's Day, I see that the number one purchase product, or the number one click product was Reese's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter. All right. Now, if I look at on Amazon, now that that product here in May and June, I can see that this product isn't even in stock. There's not even a buy box here. All right. Bradley Sutton: So if I actually ran it in Cerebro right now and I was like, hey, what keywords is this product ranking in the top 10 for? As you guys can see what I've done here, for search volume of 500 or more, look what comes up? Zero, there's no keywords that come up for it. Right. So it's like if I want to get ready for next year for Valentine's Day and I want to really, you know, do well with a Valentine's Day candy or something I'm kind of like, not, you know, able to see, what keywords do I need to put in my listing? I can't, I don't want to wait until February to actually see. But then this is where the historical Cerebro comes. All I have to do is hit this button right here called show historical trend. And then I want to go back to February, right, first of all, I can see here, and if I hit the show historical trend, I'm going to be able to see the history of how many keywords, month by month, that this product has been ranking for. And then when I actually go into February of 2024, I do that same exact search. Hey, what were the keywords that had 500 search volume, whereas ranked between one and 10. And now I see over 10 keywords here, all right, like, for example, reese's hearts or Valentine's Day Candy 2,000 search volume. Valentine's Treats 20,000 search volume. During February that keyword was nowhere to be found right now because nobody is searching Valentine's Treats, right? If you're searching Valentine's Treats in May and June, you got some relationship problems, probably. So this is the first way in which you can do this Looking at seasonal products. Bradley Sutton: Take a time machine in Cerebro to go back and look at when that product was really at its peak in its season. What keywords was it getting sales from? And now, you know, maybe come the end of this year, November, December the search volume for those Valentine's Day keywords is still low. That's when I want to get my product maybe in stock and start ranking for those keywords and then come February everybody's going to try and like, play catch up to figure out what's the main keywords. I'm already on page one for all. What are the best keywords for that product in Valentine's Day? All right? So that's use case number one. Here's use case number two. Let's say that you are checking out your competitor, like right here, here is a rival coffin shelf. This coffin shelf is actually the Amazon's choice for coffin shelf right now, not the helium 10 one. And I'm looking here at the BSR chart history, all right. So I can see with this helium 10 BSR chart, looking at last year's. So I can see with this Helium 10 BSR chart, looking at last year's, I can see that, wow, look at this, like in December or you know, the sales were pretty okay, especially in the middle of December, right, look at this BSR of less than a hundred thousand sometimes. But then look what happens in January They've got like 200,000 BSR. So the sales really went down when you look at December of last year to January of this year. Bradley Sutton: So, again, let's look at their Cerebro, right? So I just run Cerebro on them and I could do that with one click. I just hit keywords right here on their product page and sure I can see where they're ranking for right now. But what I want to do is hit the show historical trend and then I'm going to open up in two windows hey, what were the keywords that it was getting in sales from in December compared to January? So, for example, here I opened up their December keywords that's when their sales were popping Right and I just did a filter of hey, what were the keywords that had a thousand search volume where it was ranking in the top 10? You could see there's 10 keywords that it was getting sales from right here in December. Now, in another window, I'm going to run the historical trend again and take that time machine. I just took the time machine to December of last year. Let's take that time machine to January of this year Remember, that was the month that I saw they had low sales. And look at this there's only six keywords that hit that criteria of a thousand search volume, organic rank one through 10. So now what is the next step? Well, the next step is all right. Bradley Sutton: Where were the keywords where they maybe lost their rank. You know, I could see here, coffin bookshelf is on both lists, so they. They kept their rank right there. But look at this keyword here emo decor thousand search volume. They're organic rank two. Look, when I hit January, they aren't. They aren't even in the picture for emo decor, right. Look at this keyword gothic shelves, 1100 search volume they're organic rank four. Oh, gothic shelves right here, they're still organic rank six. So that's not a good example. Here's another keyword here gothic bookshelf, thousand search form. There are page one, position three during December. But in January they were no longer there in the top 10 for that keyword. So now, all of a sudden, I have a picture of my competitor, or this could have been my product, right, if I notice a big drop in sales and now I know like, oh shoot, this product lost sales because they lost rank on these certain keywords. I can do this the opposite way. What if I saw a month where sales increased a lot? Well, I'm going to look at the previous month and say, hey, what keywords did it all of a sudden hop into the top 10? And now I know, wow, these are keywords that are money driving keywords, because there's a direct correlation with them getting the top 10, with their sales increasing. So there's so much possibility that you can do with this. Bradley Sutton: Guys, this is like probably one of the top three features, if not top two, in the entirety of Helium 10. And a lot of you are sleeping on it. So, if you've got the diamond plan, this used to be a Helium 10 Elite only and I was like, man, this is too valuable even for Helium 10 Elite, like I would pay Helium 10 elite just to get this. And then we moved it down Like we always do with everything down to the next plan, and now it's only. It's available even if you have diamond. So, guys, if you have diamond, you got to be taking advantage of this. If you don't have diamond, this, in my opinion, pays for itself. This one feature is like what diamond should be, you know, like that makes diamond worth it. For me, I would pay double just for this feature. That's how valuable this is. So, guys, make sure to make use of Cerebro Historical Trends. All right, that's it for the news and features and training of this week. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

Stepping out of the familiar can be as terrifying as it is thrilling—just ask Sumana Sanjeeva. From the structured corridors of banking to the wild frontier of e-commerce, her journey is a tale of audacity and strategic genius. Sumana unfolds her narrative, revealing how she took a gamble on an Amazon business, multiplying her investment fivefold, thanks to a voracious appetite for learning and keen business acumen refined through industry masterminds and networking events like the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.    Imagine diving into a new venture, armed with nothing but a courageous heart and a vision. That's what Sumana did, securing an SBA loan and leveraging her home to buy into an Amazon business she barely understood. Her candid recollection of those first days, deciphering the alien world of the Amazon Seller Central and grappling with inventory management, paints a vivid picture of the entrepreneurial grind. Sumana's tactical approach to financial planning and business growth, including navigating the intricate dance with brokers and aggregators, is nothing less than a playbook for aspiring Amazon sellers.   As we follow Sumana's journey, we step into the shoes of someone who's not just conquered e-commerce but continues to reinvent success on her own terms. Now, as she prepares to sell another brand and anticipates attending BDSS for further enlightenment, her story serves as a beacon for those yearning to venture beyond their comfort zone. Sumana's invitation extends beyond this episode ready to connect and share the wisdom of a journey well-traveled. In episode 389 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Sumana discuss: 00:00 - From Banking to Amazon Millionaire 03:19 - Event Planning For Networking Events 07:32 - Career Path in Banking  11:32 - Discovering Amazon Business Listings  15:46 - Starting An Amazon Business With SBA Loans 20:49 - Adapt to Business Challenges Quickly 27:30 - Business Strategy and Growth Through Acquisition 30:26 - Inventory Management and Profit Growth  33:47 - Selling a Business for Millions 35:18 - Valuation Discrepancy in Business Sale 37:34 - Multiple Offers Lead to Successful Sale 45:22 - Entrepreneurial Success and Future Plans 48:20 - Success Through Smart Business Decisions 51:20 - Kevin King's Words Of Wisdom

Listen in as we team up with e-commerce maestro Kevin King to uncover some of his most closely guarded Amazon strategies and hacks, designed to both save you money and significantly boost your profits. In this first installment of a two-part series, Kevin generously shares insights from our new and latest version of the Freedom Ticket course, revealing the fundamentals of branding, product selection, and customer service—essential knowledge for any serious Amazon seller. Not only do we cover these basics, but we also tease some of Kevin's 'ninja' strategies, giving you a taste of the powerful tactics he discusses in the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind Program. Our conversation with Kevin continues as we tackle the world of Amazon PPC, emphasizing the crucial role of conversion rates in successful campaigns. We delve into the importance of understanding and optimizing your brand entity score and the innovative ways you can leverage tools like Amazon Comprehend within your Q&A sections to boost product rankings. The dialogue shifts to the evolving landscape of AI, examining its transformative effects on e-commerce. Kevin and I discuss how savvy sellers are utilizing AI tools to generate everything from compelling images to high-quality video content, and even crafting targeted ads with platforms like AdGen AI. Wrapping up this content-rich session, we focus on strategies to maximize conversions and enhance the overall customer experience on Amazon. Kevin shares practical tips on pricing strategies for attracting product reviews, the psychological impact of using an 'index image' to display product benefits, and the importance of establishing a unique guarantee that resonates with your audience. Moreover, Kevin illuminates the potential goldmine of including optional insurance charges in direct-to-consumer sales and the art of presentation in online retail. Tune in to hear how these tactics, along with high-quality visuals, can revolutionize your approach to online sales in the era of AI-driven e-commerce. Stay tuned for part 2! In episode 548 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss: 00:00 - Secret Amazon Hacks With Kevin King 04:41 - Helium 10 Elite Training Webinar Hacks 06:06 - Improving Amazon PPC and Brand Entity 09:41 - Maximizing Q&A for Keyword Ranking 13:53 - Answering Questions on Amazon for Ranking 17:03 - Maximizing Rewards With Business Credit Cards 21:38 - AI Tools for Amazon Sellers 26:05 - Maximizing Conversions With Product Indexing 26:49 - Maximizing Reviews With Dummy Listings 31:15 - Testing Guarantee Names With Helium 10 31:25 - Direct to Consumer $4 Insurance Strategy Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today is part one in a two-part series with Kevin King, who's gonna open up some of his top Amazon hacks and strategies with you guys for the first time in a while. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Bradley Sutton: Are you looking to learn how to sell on Amazon? The Freedom Ticket course made by Kevin King is one of the most popular courses ever created for Amazon sellers. It's got over 90 modules and 40 hours of detailed, step-by-step training to help get you started on your entrepreneurial journey. Now this course costs $997 but Helium 10 actually covers that cost of the course for any Helium 10 member. Find out why tens of thousands of students love this program by going to h10.me/freedom ticket. Don't forget that if you do sign up for a Helium 10 account, don't pay full price. Use our podcast discount code SSP10 to save 10% off for life. Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And every year, every two years, Kevin King comes on and opens up with our audience some of our best hacks. And now, for the first time ever, we're actually opening that up right here on the podcast. So we are going to go ahead and have a recap of some of Kevin's top strategies that he opened up with a live audience and let's see what you guys think. There are some killer ones here. This was supposed to only be an hour, so I thought I could fit into one episode, but hey, Kevin had too much fire, so we're actually splitting this up into two different episodes. Here's part one. Hope you guys enjoy it. Bradley Sutton: We're going to be revealing some things that a lot of Amazon sellers maybe have never even heard of, and these are things that are designed to help you save money and make money. Two of the things that maybe is the reason why you're even in this Amazon game in the first place right. Now, something that's important, though we're going to be talking about hacks, if you want to call them that, or kind of ninja strategies you see that little ninja logo on the bottom right there but selling on Amazon is not just about knowing the latest hacks and tricks. These definitely can help but remember, we are not trying to take away from the very valid point that you have to know about branding, how to pick products, how to do keyword research, how to do your accounting, advertising, customer service. The fundamentals are still very important and so we've got the Freedom Ticket Program if you guys are interested in that. So some of you might, after watching this, be like, wow, you know what? I am not of this level yet. And don't worry, you're still going to be able to get value out of this regardless of the level you are. But if you're like man, a lot of this stuff is over my head. He's using terminology I haven't heard of. Freedom Ticket Program might be for you. That is something that beginners all the way to advanced sellers can take as a refresher course on the fundamentals of Amazon and we have a brand new one - brand new version first time in over two years. The fourth version of Freedom Ticket is coming out imminently, just in a couple of weeks. So make sure to stay tuned for that. Anybody who is already a Helium 10 member, you guys will be able to get access to that. Bradley Sutton: Now, I mentioned that Kevin is one of the main trainers of our Helium 10 Elite Mastermind Program-that's the one that I've been a part of since, way before I even worked at Helium 10 and probably the most popular thing that's part of this mastermind is every month, Kevin gives his ninja hacks. He gives like usually seven ninja hacks, and these are quick, actionable nuggets of knowledge that can help you immensely in your Amazon business. I think a lot of these hacks that he gives every month are valuable to the majority of Amazon sellers, and with those hacks, two guest speakers join him on these trainings and they share the latest strategies that's working right now. And so that is the basis of what Kevin is going to be talking about today. Today, instead of this being behind the closed doors of the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind, which most of the year is closed, he's opening up some of his favorite ones from the past doors of the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind, which most of the year is closed. He's opening up some of his favorite ones from the past couple of months with you, so you're going to get a sneak peek, without actually being Helium 10 Elite members, on the kind of level of knowledge that being part of this mastermind can help you. Kevin King: Welcome everybody to this webinar. Like Bradley said, we do this every single month, usually on a Thursday. It varies on the exact Thursday, sometimes around the middle of the month, but we do a Helium 10 Elite training and what I want to do today is basically, like Bradley says, open up the doors and share some of this with you. So I've gone through from the last few months, some of my favorite stuff. Then I'm going to share that with you today, absolutely free. So some of it will be the ninja hacks, the first six or so things that I have seven ninja hacks. That's what I do every single month. So I have seven of them here for you today as well. I'm going to share six of them with you, and then the seventh one, which is the one Bradley just talked about, where someone made a million dollars selling over a five-day weekend. I'm going to show you that hack. You've got Easter coming up, Mother's Day coming up. It could make a huge difference for some of you. So that'll be at the very end, so make sure you stay to that. If you leave earlier, you're going to miss the number one hack that could make you a lot of money and I've taken a few slides from some of the presenters that have been in the Helium 10, the guests and a couple. Just a little section of some of what they presented, and you know, when they presented it, they presented it their way and in their voice. I'm just going to give you a quick little summary of those, just so you can get a taste of the kind of stuff that you find in Helium 10 Elite and share that with you. And you're going to find some actionable, good stuff today. Kevin: Number one this is something that you're going to fail at. You know, everybody's always like PPC. I hate PPC. It just drives me crazy. You know, and you're going to actually fail at PPC unless you fix this metric. This is something that nobody really talks about. Aaron Cordova is actually the one that shared this, and I think Destaney Wishon has talked about it and a few other people have talked about it. But if you don't actually take a look at this metric, your PPC is just going to drive you crazy and cost you through the nose. Kevin: What you want to do is you want to check the benchmark conversion rate for your brand. Now you're going to need brand registry. So if you don't have a trademark filed and you're not brand registered, you won't be able. What you want to be checking for is, if you're not at the bare minimum median conversion rate for your category, you're most likely going to be spinning through the nose on your PPC and it's just not going to work like you want it to be. Your ACOS is going to go and your TACOS are going to go through the roof. This video here is about a minute video. I'm going to play it. I'm going to have to hold up a little speaker next to my microphone because for some reason the Zoom is not letting the sound, but Aaron is going to explain this to you on this video. Here we go. Aaron: Basically, you find your conversion rate compared to everybody else. You go to campaign manager okay, campaigns. If you know how to get the campaign manager that you have other problems, campaign manager, you go here. Then you go to the side it's called insights and reporting. You're going to get a brand metrics okay, the brand metrics are awesome. Okay, in here you're going to pick your brand. You're going to get brand metrics, okay, the brand metrics are awesome. Aaron: In here, you're going to pick your brand. You're going to pick a category. In this case, I'm going to pick sports water bottles. Okay, select that guy and continue. Okay, then you're going to go in here and you're going to press this little view detailed metrics for your brand in this category. This is going to be horrible. I apologize, this is something we haven't really worked on very well. Check out this. Customer conversion rates your brand 4.9%, category median 10 and sometimes a lot of them, they show the category top okay. This is an embarrassment. This listing is an embarrassment. Okay, it is half as less than half as good as the median, which, when you're just at the medium, your product probably will not even be profitable because you're literally average, essentially horrible. But this is how you open the door to see if you're going to have a best seller at the very, very, very, very minimum. You got to be at the category median. Kevin: If you're not, at that category median then you need to adjust your listing. You need to fix your product page. You need to fix your product page. You need to fix your listing so that you can convert higher. Otherwise you're going to be fighting an uphill battle on everything. All right, that's number one. Number two this is how you can boost your brand entity score. How many of you ever heard of a brand entity score? I bet there's hardly any of you out there. There might be a couple of you have heard of a brand entity score. Does anybody know what the brand entity score is? Everybody has one on Amazon. Kevin: If you're a seller on Amazon and this affects your rank, it's a score that Amazon does. There's a lot of factors in the A9 that affect your rank. There's a ton of factors but the brand entity score plays a major role in how do you rank and you can affect this with your Q&A section. Amazon doesn't just look at your keywords. They don't just look at your title and your bullet points and your back-end keywords. They're reading everything. They're reading the Q&A section. They're now using AI to analyze your images. They're taking a lot of stuff into account when they're going to rank you and the Q&A section plays a major role. So if your Q&A section is fairly empty, that's a problem. You section is fairly empty, that's a problem. You need to get that full. That's one of the ways that some people, when they first start out and they have no reviews, they fill their Q&A section and you watch what you can do. You can rank a lot quicker. But this brand entity score is something you want to pay attention to. Kevin: How do you find it? There's something called Amazon Comprehend. Now this was shared by Matt over at ClearAds, originally on LinkedIn, and then he presented it in detail at my recent Billion Dollar Seller Summit and then we've shared it here as a hack. He's allowed me to share part of it, so I can't show the whole thing, but he allowed me to share part of it in my newsletter and here. Kevin: But it's called Amazon Comprehend and what you want to do, you can access this. There's a link there at the bottom. It's on AWS, on Amazon AWS, and it's an API. So it takes a little bit of programming know-how or how to get into this thing. It's not too bad but it's not like straightforward. Kevin: But with this Amazon Comprehend, once you get access to the API, what you can do is you can maximize your Q&As for keyword ranking. So the Q&A section on Amazon on your product. You want to maximize that for keyword ranking. So what you want to do is you want to remove the bias from search. So your description and all the content on your listing, they have a bias towards the seller of the product. So Amazon knows that you're optimizing your listing like you're making this the best and you're like saying that my product is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But Amazon's like how do we know that Kevin can say his product's the best, but maybe it's actually not so good despite what he says or whatever claims he's making? So we want to know from the customer what do they actually think? And let's take what they actually think and factor that into how we're going to rank this product. So they use the Q&A section and reviews both of those to do this. So if you don't have reviews and Q&A, you have a bias. Kevin: So what you want to do is you want to come in and gather questions that people might be asking about your product. So how do you do that? If you don't know, if you don't have legitimate questions and people haven't asked real questions yet, you can go out to tools like Ahrefs or Semrush. Those are big SEO tools so they have a free aspect and there's a paid aspect. Or you can go to answerthepublic.com. That's Neil Patel's company. Neil spoke at the Sell and Scale Summit Helium 10 did about a year and a half ago. But answer the public and you can just type in a keyword. You can type in you know, if you're selling dog bowls, slow-feed dog bowls, you can type slow-feed dog bowl into answerthepublic.com and it'll spit back. It goes out and reads Reddit and all these different forums and says these are the questions people are asking about slow-feed dog bowls. So you can take those as a seed and you can then use those and have someone ask those on your Amazon listing and then you, as the seller, answer them just to get some in there. But you're going to answer them in such a way that you want to make sure that you answer yes or no. Amazon is looking for yes or no answers. Big answers are great, but if you can start, if someone says, does this slow feed dog bowl keep my dog from having diarrhea, you want to try to phrase your answer in the form that you say yes or no and then you can say other stuff and put additional keywords in there for ranking and all this. Kevin: But they're looking for yes and no answers to questions and that's how they can guide. Like, if someone types in slow-feed dog bowl stomach problems or something they're going to know, yes, this one actually helps it. So you want to get multiple questions in there and then what you're going to do is you're going to use Amazon Comprehend. Before you put these questions in, you're going to actually and the answers, you're going to use it to actually get a score. So it's going to return the sentiment. So you're going to ask the question, show that, upload that into Comprehend, put the answer and then make sure you're getting a high percentage of confidence. Amazon Comprehend will give you a score back. It's on like a zero to one scale and it will give you a score back and you want a high level of confidence towards Amazon interpreting your response as positive or negative. Kevin: Now you can also do this and go look at your competition's reviews. You can gather it from there. You don't have to go to answer the public. You can get what people are asking on other people's products and use those and once you find the ones that have the high confidence. Then what you want to do, uh, which one? Like I said, is zero to one, but one is the highest. Those are the ones that you want to get onto your listing and those are the ones you want to put onto your listing. Kevin: So what you're going to do is you're going to these newly found questions that score high on the confidence, using Amazon Comprehend. You're going to go and actually, either maybe you have a buyer account that you buy stuff from Amazon you can ask the question or you can get your friends or family or someone to ask a question. Remember, this is not review, so it's okay. You can get someone to ask a question. Or, if you're on a Facebook group, say, can you ask this question? And then you go in there as the seller this is important, it gives you a little bit more weight and answer the questions. Whenever someone asks a question, Amazon pings. I don't know what the number is now three to five, ten people says, hey, do you know the answer to this question? But one of them is always the seller. You want to be the first to try to get in there and answer before someone else does and messes it up. They may answer too but you want to get yours in there as quick as you can, so you go in and answer it with that yes or no or whatever. When you ran it through Amazon Comprehend whatever it gave you as the highest score and this is going to help you rank on Amazon. It's a pretty cool little technique. Kevin: Here's another way. Everybody's always got cash flow problems. Money, money, money, money, money. How do I pay for this? How do I pay for that? Not everybody has a rich uncle or deep pockets. If you have decent credit, this is a way that you can actually extend your supplier payments for 60 days with zero interest. It's pretty cool. It's called the Amazon Plum Card, so if you have decent credit I don't know if this is available to people in other countries. I'm not sure what their exact rules are on what countries you have to live in to get this. Obviously, US citizens can get it, but Amazon has a whole bunch of, I mean sorry, American Express has a whole bunch of different cards. The Plum Card actually gives you discounts for paying early. So if you charge all your PPC or you charge whatever you want to charge suppliers. Whatever you want to charge, if you pay it early they'll give you a 1.5% discount. Or they have an option where you can extend it for 60 days and don't have to pay any interest as long as you pay the minimum due. You got to make a minimum payment. As long as you pay the minimum due, they'll give you 60 days to pay that. So this can be a great way. If you're trying to juggle some cash is to use this card. Kevin: A lot of you are saying, Kevin, that's all great, but my supplier doesn't take credit cards. How am I supposed to pay my supplier with credit cards? I always have to wire money or use Alibaba Escrow or something or whatever. Actually, there's a service called Melio. This one right here, Melio Payments that allows you to actually pay by credit card anybody, so you can pay suppliers. They do charge a fee, so it costs you about 2.5% to 3% roughly. So they do charge a fee because they get hit with processing fees but that fee is often less than what you would pay in interest or to get a loan, or origination fees or something else, and so that is an option, especially if you combine this. Kevin: If you're really cash flowing, you can go to bankrate.com and you can do a search for 0% interest credit cards and there's a lot of credit cards that have 12, 15, 18 months of 0% interest. So if you go there and actually apply for one of those credit cards, you have decent credit. You can get a 0% interest credit card that you can ride out for a while, while you're growing your business and use Melio payments to pay it. You're basically paying a 3% fee, which is basically a 3% interest, which is dirt-cheap in today's world. Now another credit card you might want to consider, if you're already selling and you're running a lot of PPC especially, is the Amex Business Gold Card. This is not the regular gold card, not the consumer gold card. It has to be the business gold card but it gives you 4x points on all your PPC spend up to $150,000 per card. So you can get 600,000 points on one single card in a year. Kevin: And I know one of the guys that comes to one of my events, the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. He actually, and I'm not sure if he's in Helium 10 Elite or not, but he has like 10 of these cards. He lives in Brazil and he cycles through them, so as soon as one hits that $150,000 on his PPC spin, he just swaps out the card. He says he's flown first class everywhere in the world and hasn't paid for a plane ticket in years and flying first class with him, his wife, his family, that this card is an amazing card for that. So there's different credit cards for different purposes but those are two that you might want to consider and you can transfer these to different airlines. You can transfer them to hotels. Kevin: You know Bradley is always going out to the, he's always doing the Maldives honeymoon strategy. He's been out to the Maldives three or four times. A lot of you may not realize that's not Helium 10 sending him out there. They're not saying man Bradley, good job, dude, here's a free trip to the Maldives. No, he's using his miles and his points to go out there on his own and do this stuff for you. But this is one of the ways he knows how to do this. There's another site called points.me where you can see what's the best place to transfer stuff. Kevin: There's a ton of stuff around this but I just want to show you this. Really cool. We could talk about this for hours of all kinds of cool stuff you can do, but I just want to show you these really quick. Now here's some AI. AI is the hot thing right now. Everybody's AI, this AI, that. There's some stuff that everybody's just sticking AI on the end of everything, even if it's not really AI. But I want to show you 11 really cool tools. There's a lot more but these are just 11 tools that you may find useful in selling e-commerce, that may come in useful in helping you with your images or helping you with research, or helping you with a few different things. Before I do that, if you have not seen this, this is from Sora, S-O-R-A, and this is video. It's not publicly available yet, but karavideo.ai has a wait list right now and they're gonna be the first to offer this. Kevin: This is studio level quality imagery on by video by prompting. So you type in a text prompt, you type in a paragraph, say I want a video like this and it will make the video up to I think it's 30 or 45 seconds right now, maybe up to. It's going to get to where it can do much longer videos and entire movies, but it's amazing. I'm going to play this for you. There's no sound on this, so I'm going to play this for you. Kevin: But this video here of these mammoths walking and these people walking through a Tokyo with the cherry blossoms, this little animation here. This was all done in minutes by typing in a prompt. So, like those mammoths, this was the prompt that was used. That's the exact prompt. Several giant woolly mammoths this was the prompt that was used. That's the exact prompt. Several giant woolly mammoths approached, treading through a snowy meadow, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what made that video. Kevin: In fact, there's movie producers now that are saying this is going to change everything. We're going to be able to do entire movies without movie studios. It's crazy. You're going to be able to do product videos and lifestyle stuff and all kinds of crazy stuff with it. So keep your eyes on this, and I would recommend you get on the list at karavideo.ai so when this opens up, you get some of the first access to it. They're a little bit worried about how authentic this is right now, so they're putting in some safeguards, but it's really cool technology. Kevin: Now, notice there was no sound on this one, because this doesn't make the sound, it just makes the video. So you need sound. So what has happened is ElevenLabs has a tool that will take a quiet video for example, that mammoth and it will analyze what's in the video and it will make the sound of, like the mammoths crunching the snow or making their horns their sound, you know. Whatever. This is an example of a video I'm about to play here. It may be a little bit hard to hear I'm going to hold the speaker up to it of a video I'm about to play here. It's maybe a little bit hard to hear, I'm going to hold the speaker up to it, but this video was made with a prompt, silent. And then this ElevenLabs went in, analyzed the video, what's in the video, and added all the sound effects using AI in a matter of minutes. So let me. AI audio: In a place beyond imagination, where the horizon kisses the heavens. One man dares to journey where few have ventured. Armed with nothing but his wit and an unyielding spirit, he seeks the answers to mysteries that lie beyond the stars. Kevin: This is pretty cool stuff. You're going to be able to do some amazing stuff with your products, with your advertising, with everything. This is coming and it's important to stay on the cutting edge of this, because if you're first mover in a lot of this stuff, you're going to have major, major advantages over your competition. Now there's more to this, though. It even gets cooler. You can actually now do ads with AI. These ads will go out and this adgen.ai will actually go to your Shopify site. It will go to your Amazon listing. You can put in the URL of your Amazon listing and it will create ads formatted perfectly for Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, everywhere, automatically based on that. Then you can do some modifications, but it's really cool. So you can give it a brand name, you can give it a URL, you can give it a subject and it will automatically create the ads for you. This is another one Pika Art which will take a still photo and add animation to it, and then you can automatically change it. You can just type in the background and it automatically changes. It's called pika.art. You can change your top. Here you have a monkey. Let's put some sunglasses on him. You can do this. You can just drop in a still image that doesn't move and you can add movement to it. It's really cool where this stuff is going. This is a prompt. You can take a screenshot of this. I'm not going to go through the whole thing or you'll get this in the replay. They'll show you actually how to use peak art to add movement, which can actually dramatically increase your engagement rate on social media or any kind of advertising you do. It's amazing stuff. There's crazy stuff that's out there. Kevin: Now some additional tools, Chad Rubin went through a bunch of AI tools and he said these are some of the ones that he considers to be the god mode of AI frameworks. I'm just going to buzz through them really quick. You can take notes and go check them out later. One is called booth.ai. It generates studio-quality product photos in minutes, so you don't even need a photographer anymore. Another one called CopyMonkey. This optimizes your Amazon listing. There's others like Shoelix, and there's quite a few out there that will do this, but CopyMonkey is one you might want to check out. There's ReviewScout, which, if you're a reseller or a wholesaler, it'll give you deep insights into the competition and buyer box trends for wholesalers or resellers. There's one called MContent, which also helps you do all kinds of great imagery change out backgrounds, put your product in special scenes. They just introduced some new cool tools just this week, so MContent is really good. He's presented on the Helium 10 Elite as well. Kevin: DoMyShoot's another one that will help you do all your visual content. So basically it's AI as your photographer. Instead of spending $5,000 to take everybody to the beach, you can upload your product and put it in any kind of scene that you want. frequently.ai is another one that's really, really good. Another that has all kinds of answers to all kinds of questions. Another one is the valky.ai, or some people know it as Shoelix. That one's another one that's really popular. So these are all some cool Amazon or AI tools for Amazon sellers. Another one is iphoto.ai will help you create your listing images where you can upload your product and drop it into all kinds of scenes, modify it, do testing on different images and different backgrounds. It's really really cool. So those are some of the AI tools that are out there. Kevin: The number five here. This is from Ayana at YLT Translations. She presented on the Helium 10 Elite and she said you know, this is a cool little trick on how you can get more reviews. So you have to be selling in additional marketplaces. If you're just selling in the US marketplace, this won't work. But if you're set up to sell in other marketplaces, you know Amazon combines the listings. When you don't have a lot of combines the reviews, I'm sorry. When you don't have a lot of combines the reviews, I'm sorry when you don't have a lot of listings from other marketplaces. So what she's saying is you can create dummy ASINs and of your target products and then list them in all the different marketplaces. Now someone buys it, that's okay, but you can also create dummy ASINs and then what you do is you and each one of those make sure they're in all the same browse mode. She has the steps here make sure that the localized listing is live, at least the tile and some bullet points, so you put a legitimate you know it's localized and it's in the right language and it's written right and put a really low price so that viners don't get hit, because most people don't realize that sometimes, when your price is high, vine reviewers don't take your product even though they might want it, because once they hit $600, they have to pay taxes on it. Kevin: So a lot of people don't realize that in the United States that anything over $600 in gifts, they get a 1099 from Amazon at the end of the year. So if they got $10,000 worth of products at retail price and they then have to pay, Amazon says this is what we gave you in gifts. It's just like winning. If you went to the Price is Right or a game show or Jeopardy or something, you have to pay taxes on those winnings. Or if you went in Vegas over $10,000, you got to pay taxes. So this is a lot of times, they won't take your product if it's a $49 product because they're like ah, that's just going to add to my taxes. But if it's temporarily $9.95 while you're getting the vine reviews and then you put it back at $49.95 later, they might take it. So you want local low pricing and then you go out and you get. Kevin: You do vine reviews everywhere and then they'll all combine together. If you do them in multiple marketplaces and if you really get do this right, you can get up to 2,400 different ones. And some of the ways you can do these. You know these quote-unquote dummy listings that she's got on the right-hand side there. You just do different colors of a product. That's kind of like a dummy listing. It's like, okay, I have azure, I have a cobalt, I have a navy, a sapphire sky teal, and then you could have your supplier make just a couple of each of these colors and then you send those out. This is a really cool way to actually get your reviews up and then, once you get enough reviews in a marketplace, it wants to keep sharing these. It'll just share that marketplace usually, but this is a way that you can get a running start. It's a pretty cool little technique. Kevin: This is from Matt Koston. He presented a couple months ago on Helium 10 Elite and this is one of his tricks. That he showed is this is how you can convert like crazy with what he called an index image. This he calls it the. It's the image in your listing that will be the top reasons why your product is the best. This is not your main photo. This is not your photo number one. This is what he calls this photo number two, and it's an index of your products. Is why I think it's why he calls it the index damage, and what he says is you need to number the benefits. A lot of people are using call-outs, they use infographics but they don't number them. He runs a company that does testing and split testing and all kinds of stuff and he says that they've tested this to the end of the earth and back and this is what works. So you want to actually have numbers like this. So something like this should be your second image the five reasons you love, or the seven reasons, or the three reasons. Kevin: Odd numbers are always better than even numbers. Three, five or seven or nine always work the best. Why do I do seven ninja hacks every month for Helium 10 Elite? Seven is a magic number when it comes to psychology. But here he's got the five and look, there's numbers. That's important. He just doesn't list them. People like order and when they see numbers, their mind can sort it and they can read it quickly and it makes sense to them. So the numbering system here is critical, not just the fact that he put the main point, the main benefit and capital, and then explained it in bold and a little bit larger and then explained everything else below it in light blue. But he's got these numbers. That's the critical thing is numbering it. Kevin: And then you notice here. On the third one, there's a US flag. US flags for Americans can up your conversion rate dramatically. You don't have to have a product that was made in the USA. You can say you're a USA company. Now, if you're going to say it's made in the USA and put a flag, it needs to be made in the USA, don't lie. You can say we're a small US company and you can have a flag. Kevin: Now, I see people sometimes make mistakes where they put a flag and they put it inside their graphics or their photos and they don't put it in red, white and blue. They put it in green or they put it in some other color. Never, ever, do that. The flag always needs to be in red, white and blue and look like an American flag. Don't change the colors on it to make it fit the graphic it needs to look because that instantly says a message. But these little things can convert really really well for you. Kevin: It also says add a golden guarantee. Amazon automatically guarantees if they don't like the product they can return it. But you want a golden guarantee. You almost want to name it. Give it some sort of crazy name the PX22G guarantee or something. Don't just say it's money back guarantee or 100% money back or satisfaction guarantee. That's all just common. Give it some sort of crazy name - the dog barker, the tail wagging guarantee or something like that. The outlandish almost ridiculous in your guarantee name. So here's some examples 100%, no mosquito bites guarantee. Bottom of the bottle guarantee, lifetime never lost guarantee. Give it some sort of name like that, not just money back or your satisfaction guarantee or some general thing. Give it a name. It resonates with people and will help your conversions. Like I said here, the generic like 30 money-back guarantee gets just lost in the noise. Test your guarantee names too. You can use Helium 10 to do that. There's other tools out there, but Helium 10 has it built in. Where you can, actually they have a relationship with PickFu but you can do it through Helium 10 and test the guarantee names as well. The number of sales you make is far higher than the people who will take advantage of the guarantee. So don't worry about a guarantee. Kevin: I have something in one of my things I do direct to consumer and I have a $4 insurance charge. It's optional but it's automatically on the order form. They have to cross it out. If they don't want it, it fills it in, but then they cross it out and about 30% or 40% of the people pay that $4. And every year, if I send out 5,000 orders, I might have three people take me up on it. And so, out of 5,000 orders, if 40% take it, that's 2,000 people that pay me $4. That's eight grand and I had to replace three orders. There's big money in this. So don't worry about a lot of people taking advantage of it. Some will. Kevin: There's also something called the squeezed benefit test. You take a look on the left. This is the original graphic that someone had. Has all the bullet points. This is what you normally see and what most of you're probably doing. But look at the one on the right same type of stuff but much easier to read, numbered, organized with icons. This converts people on Amazon buy photos, they don't buy products. I think Perry Belcher originally said that they buy photos, they don't buy products. So your photos are crucial to your conversion and they're going to become even more crucial with AI. This is the test. And look at the difference, even of people, it's 76%. That's 100% certainty that this is a much better option. So this is a cool little tactic that you can do.

Ever wonder what it takes to turn your Walmart product listings from lackluster to lucrative? Ryan King, the savvy CEO of BlueRyse, joins us on the airwaves to share his expert strategies for maximizing your presence on Walmart's digital shelves. Together, we navigate the intricacies of PPC, the subtleties of listing optimization, and the crucial metrics that could make or break your profits. Ryan's advice, drawn from the cutting-edge tools of Helium 10, affords a masterclass in finessing your financials and leveraging Walmart's ever-growing online platform for unparalleled brand growth and diversification. In the vast sea of selling at Walmart, standing out is an art form, and we've got the brushes and palette to help you paint a masterpiece with your product listings. Our journey reveals how to ensure your offerings are not just indexed, but also scoring high on Walmart's listing quality score. We cover all bases from the precision of backend attributes to the finesse required in product type optimization. We also dissect the importance of competitive pricing and swift delivery, how to ace the A/B testing game, and even how Walmart's fulfillment services can provide a much-needed boost in ranking. As the curtain falls on this episode, we've left no stone unturned in the realm of Walmart PPC and the emerging tactics of brand conquesting. Imagine targeting competitor brand terms, a concept newly possible on Walmart, and the advantage it hands you in the grand chessboard of ecommerce. Wrapping up with a flourish, we dabble in the complexities of SEM strategies and the nuances of bidding wars, closing with a heartfelt word of thanks to Ryan for his insights. So, tune in and equip yourself with the secrets to selling success on one of the world's most formidable marketplaces. In episode 546 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie and Ryan discuss: 00:00 - Walmart Listing Optimization for Increased Sales 01:47 - Expert Insights on Walmart Brand Performance 04:54 - Leveraging Social Proof in E-Commerce 08:58 - Optimizing Search Terms on E-Commerce Platforms 12:48 - Maximizing eCommerce Channel Expansion 18:07 - PPC Strategies & Updates for Walmart 24:19 - Untapped Brand Defense Opportunities 29:42 - Expanding Opportunities in Walmart Marketplace 32:36 - Optimizing Walmart PPC Bidding Strategies 36:26 - Tips for Completing Applications Successfully 40:00 - Secret Strategies Ryan Uses ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Carrie Miller: Walmart PPC and Listing Optimization Strategies to increase sales on the Walmart marketplace. This and so much more on today's episode. Bradley Sutton: How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. What was your gross sales yesterday, last week, last year? More importantly, what are your profits after all your cost of selling on Amazon? Did you pay any storage charges to Amazon? How much did you spend on PPC? Find out these key metrics and more by using the Helium 10 tool Profits For more information, go to H10.me/profits. Carrie Miller: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast brought to you by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and I will be your host, and this is our Winning with Walmart Wednesday, where we go over all things Walmart, we tell you the latest and greatest news about Walmart, we answer your questions and we have an amazing Walmart expert guest. I'm going to just tell you a little bit about some Helium 10 tools, because I haven't really mentioned these a lot lately. I wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that Helium 10 does have a lot of amazing tools that support Walmart. So we have X-Ray. It's going to help you with sales estimates and so much more. We have our Cerebro and Magnet tools that help you find amazing keywords for your listings. We also have our Profits tool and our Keyword Tracking tool. In addition to that, we have Adtomic, which is our paper click advertising management software, so that is extremely helpful. We've added day parting and a lot of other amazing things to Adtomic, so it's definitely the best it's ever been and highly recommend checking that out if you haven't checked it out. All right. So today I want to bring on our guest, and I'm really, really excited to have him on today and his name is Ryan King, and so thanks so much for being on. Ryan is a CEO and co-founder of BlueRyse, which is a Walmart agency, and I've actually known Ryan for a few years now. We met at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and we definitely connected on Walmart stuff, so he's definitely an expert in the field and I'm really excited for him to share all of his knowledge with everyone today. I know he was on last year, but for anyone, Ryan, that doesn't know you, can you go ahead and tell a little bit about yourself to the audience? Ryan: Certainly. Yeah, thanks for having me on here, Carrie. Glad to be on this episode here of the Serious Sellers Podcast, specifically talking about Walmart. So yeah, BlueRyse is a full managed service agency focused specifically on Walmart. We've been operating with third party and first party brands since early 2020. And our focus is on everything from content optimization, ad management, catalog management, interfacing with Walmart personnel, all these other elements with regard to, ultimately, the focus of maximizing Walmart brand's performance on Walmart.com. Carrie Miller: I want to first start out and just ask you, because you've been in this Walmart game for quite some time, what do you think the main advantages are for third party sellers to start selling on Walmart and do you think it's a really good opportunity? Ryan: Yeah, absolutely. It's a great opportunity. I think the advantages have continued to grow over the years. They haven't diminished. One of the reasons we saw the opportunity on Walmart was as brand owners ourselves. We began and launched and grew brands on Amazon back in the day, starting in early 2013. And we were looking for ways to, as brand owners, de-risk a bit, diversify revenues back during the aggregator boom. Part of the factor was how do we increase multiples, all those kind of elements? I think all the principles remain the same as to why those would be advantages. If you're truly building a brand, then you're looking to identify what are the channels that make sense to increase sales, increase profits overall and to de-risk. So that's one advantage of finding other marketplaces, other channels to sell through. Beyond that, there's just the fact that Walmart is pushing heavy and has been pushing heavy into the online marketplace space. They understand that for them as a business, as a retailer, while they're the number one retailer in the world, e-commerce certainly has been a major growth factor for others competitors like Amazon and everybody else, and so Walmart understands that they need to compete in the digital shelf. That means they want more sellers, they want a broader assortment, they want great products so that more shoppers come and have a great experience. So that has led to Walmart heavily focusing on building out their third-party marketplace over the last several years. I would say a couple other that come to mind social proof and reviews and ratings have been always on the forefront of e-commerce sellers' minds, especially in the Amazon space, such large motes. I haven't looked at this example in a while, but earbuds, Bluetooth earbuds. When I looked at it, probably two years ago, the average review count for Bluetooth earbuds on page one for Amazon was somewhere around 40,000. At the time, the average review count for that keyword, which was a high volume keyword, on Walmart was around 800. And so just the opportunity to enter the market. You know, if you had wished you had. You know the buzz for a long time was Walmart is Amazon of 2012 or whatever it may be. Walmart is in its own right of maturing marketplace these days, but the opportunity still exists. In that way, I think, the other ones. There is a bit of a different shopper base, and so if you have a broader assortment, your heroes on Amazon or other marketplaces may also translate to be your heroes on Walmart and you can just get a continued growth of that assortment. However, we also do see because it is a different shopper, a different marketplace, sometimes some other products that may not be performing as well in your catalog on Amazon might be your top performers on Walmart for various reasons, and so it breeds new life into your catalog, potentially. And then, finally, if you really want to identify ways of growing the brand, and maybe brick and mortar retail is a desire of yours at some point, then there is a credible pathway to getting products into brick and mortar. We work with brands all the time. Who that is part of their play, whether they've begun with conversations with merchants first, and it's a let's test and see and let's get it in, or if they're native e-commerce or D to C first, and they're, they're engaging with us in order to optimize and maximize performance planning on that conversation in the future. We see those dots connect quite consistently to at least get a conversation. So all the above and then, for those who have FOMO you know, to kind of trigger the FOMO, that it's, it's a bit of this is the opportunity to get in now, even if it's maybe a mid to longer term play for some brands. Get in now while you, while the opportunity is there, while there's more access to account managers and others who are aligned incentives with you, to get your assortment online on their marketplace. Carrie Miller: Yeah, amazing, yeah, those are all really amazing reasons. The next question I have for you is you know, people are always wanting to know how can I, you know, increase my sales on Walmart. So what are some strategies you have for listing, optimization and just increasing sales on Walmart? Ryan: Yeah, you know, I know a lot of these have probably been covered repeated ways, but it bears repeating again would be step number 1 is making sure you're not just If you're gonna, if it is a secondary or tertiary marketplace in your mindset and strategy and you're not paying attention to the unique ways you need to optimize for Walmart, then unless you're kind of the you hit the trend at the right time in the in the search volume at the right time, Walmart with an optimized listing, you're not gonna see great sales lift. And so Step one would be, know the Walmart marketplace. Understand how the algorithm works, understand what product listing optimization means, understand that it needs to be original for Walmart's marketplace and how that impacts sales. And so if I was looking and we can talk about I know we've talked about this several times in the past to some key things to look at, let's just jump forward and assume you're on the marketplace, you're trying to grow sales in your troubleshooting, first step I go to is on the listing itself. Or actually the first step would be double check search term volumes, and this is easy. Segue into talking more about Helium 10 tools, because that's what we use is look at your category. One simple way to do it you can either start with your own listing or you start with competitive listings. But one way we like to do it is as well as you go to Walmart.com, go to the category and sort by bestseller, you'll probably get a lot of 1P brands, meaning in store brands, those they're popping up at the top list. But go ahead and pull up X-ray if you have Helium 10 X-ray and scrape the Top 10 out of there and then plug those in, analyze them through Cerebral and get that, that search term volume list, and identify where are the search volumes? Are you optimized for those? One thing to call out if you're in a consumable space or anything that might be more related to grocery, for example, Amazon search volumes, you might have found success with different types of search terms. But there might be high volume search terms on Walmart you haven't even optimized for Because Amazon wasn't a grocery first type marketplace or that type of place. So there's, there can be high volume keywords that would not even exist really On the Amazon marketplace that are going to be high drivers on Walmart. So identify, get, make sure you're looking at the right search terms. Secondly is just make sure you're indexing and ranking before you even think about ranking. Are you indexing? And one of the fundamental areas that you've got to look at to make sure you're indexing properly is your category. Are you on the right shelf path? But if you go into growth opportunities and you click on your listing in your kind of table of products that show up there product type widget will show up and look at that product type and I didn't try and identify. Is this the right? Does this fit? Product type determines what the back end attributes are on your listing that you need to fill out and, just as a quick aside, you need to fill those out as exhaustively as possible. It's only getting more and more important to do so. While your listing quality score is not as heavily Impacted by attributes as it used to be, your visibility and relevance are, and they only increase increasingly. Be so. So fill those all out. If, even if it's a not applicable, you know, even if it's saying sports team and you're a toothpaste brand, you know, make sure you just say none are not applicable, whatever is there, and then test the product type. We've talked about this in the past and we can talk about it again if you like. But testing that makes sure your listings are optimized. So the algorithm on Walmart's giving you quantitative feedback Between your content, which is your back end attributes, your title, images of long and short descriptions, and are you at? You get mostly ranking benefits around 80%. But if your long term play is really to be best in class and to open up other doors with potential features and other things, 95% or higher is your goal offer. So price parity with other marketplaces is key, and speed of delivery. So, whether it's using something like a deliver, we heavily recommend just using Walmart fulfillment services. They continue to get broader distribution. You're instantly credited in the score with utilizing theirs and getting 2 day delivery. So use the levers that Walmart's given you on the marketplace, and we can talk further about other ways. If someone's listening saying I've done all that, I'm at 95%. I don't know what else to optimize. We're using WFS. There are other things to continue to do. We could talk about whether that's how do you look at imagery in a way to convert? How do you utilize advertising? How do you drive external traffic to listings? What's its impact? We go a variety of ways. Maybe the last thing I'll say, though, is the first question. The last thing I'll say is maybe the first question you should ask yourself is what's your overall business case? So sometimes we have sellers come to us and they're saying I don't want to do anything, Amazon's my main channel. I would like to sell in Walmart. What can I do? And there's going to be certain limitations. If you're saying I don't, price is going to be determined by my other marketplace, not by Walmart, or something like that, you've got to be aware of those and what you're long, how the impacts, the levers you can pull on Wal-Mart. Now there's some interesting features coming out, like couponing and different things that can maybe allow for greater flexibility there. Carrie Miller: Can you talk a little bit about how to product AB test your product type, because I know you mentioned that In there. Just how to optimize, because I know you know certain product types reach more keywords. So how do you just keep track of the keywords that you? Maybe you Get impressions for an ad or like how do you really determine which one has better keyword reach? Ryan: You can do. There's various methods. It's whether you're doing advertising. You're just saying we're not. We're not getting on to your goal when you're running advertising for any keyword. Really, if you're using search and grid, which is a sponsored product, that's what most people are thinking about when they're leveraging advertising on Walmart, you're competing for Page 1. It makes sense that from a conversion standpoint, most people aren't going to Page 2, Page 3, but literally you're competing for Page 1 because the Top 4 positions are awarded potentially for the keywords in the categories for sponsored product and the next 2 out of every 10. But you've got, on average, around 40 products on Page 1 of the listing of the search results. Those same positions are being repeated across every page. There is no, I didn't get position 1 Page 1. Maybe I'll get position 1, Page 2. Position 1, Page 1 is repeated across every page. You've got to compete for those top positions. In order to do that, keyword relevancy matters. You'll get the signals If I'm showing up and position 200 from my ad reports or whatever. Or if you're using Helium 10 again and Keyword Ranking Tracking and maybe turn on boost for those keywords where it may be and track on a real-time basis best you can, how you're performing on those keywords. Obviously, make sure it's in your title. Title has the highest ranking, has historically had the highest ranking influence on keywords. You can only get about 1 or 2 in there because you don't want keyword stuff. Then in your description both points, all those things as well. Make sure it's in your listing. If it's in description and key features, repeated just a couple of times, make sure it's readable and flows naturally. Once you've made sure it's in there, then track, get your baseline. It's not truly an experiment if you didn't really record ahead of time. Am I running an experiment? Otherwise, we use the word experiment like when we just tried something and failed but we don't know what we learned. Get your baseline, see what your rankings were. Before you try something, use Helium 10's Keyword Tracker. Then go into growth opportunities, go into pick that listing, get to that middle widget that says product type. Make sure you record which one you are right now. I've used this example in the past with you, Carrie, I believe. But one case study we did was involving a client who was in herbal supplements. Their product type it was an herbal supplement and their product type was actually an herbal supplement. The product type was a one-to-one exact match. You would assume this is the best product type to be in, but we weren't indexing for them, no matter what we did for probably 10 to 15 major keywords that we knew they should get. We went to that widget. You pick. I think it's a reporting issue. It doesn't say switch product type or anything. You have to click the link that says reporting issue. It'll give you usually 4 to 5 choices of other product type. You think it is. Basically what it's doing is creating a support ticket for you and you can submit that request of change. It's not a guarantee that it'll happen, but persistence pays off. We recommend making requests of that change once you've been informed that changes happen. Then watch for us. What we saw was in that product, all the keywords we needed were instantly indexing for and began ranking within the first couple of pages of results. That was the beginning of the journey. That's a general standard practice for us in making sure we're in the right product type as well. Carrie Miller: All right, that's really good. Yeah, that's a really good strategy. I've used your example many times because people ask me about that a lot. Usually, when they get in the right product type, they start to see a lot more traction. Thanks for sharing that. I want to get into advertising because we haven't talked a lot about PPC on Walmart, on our podcast here for Walmart. I think a lot of people have questions about it. I wanted to just get your. I know you have some basic strategies or just thoughts about PPC and then also some new things that are coming that you think people should take advantage of. Then, once we're done with that, we'll get into some questions from the audience. Ryan: By way of really brief recap for those that have been around the Walmart space, I've heard of it over the past couple of years. A lot of people were shy about getting into Walmart PPC in the earlier days because it used to be a first bid auction, which meant fundamentally different than how you would be used to utilizing Amazon. Whatever you bid is what you paid. People were just blowing through their entire budget because they were trying to figure out if they could get a keyword to rank and they thought if I just spend more, I'll get placement. In those cases they were bidding $4 a click and they were winning position 40. They were getting the click and they were spending $4 for a click on position 40. The good news is shift to second bid auction. That's been around for quite a bit now. Really, what you're talking about when we're talking about PPC is fundamentally you've got a sponsored product, which is broken down into two types of campaigns: auto and manual. You've got search and grid placement. You've got item carousels that you can get in search results. You can get item carousels on product detail pages as well as next to the buy box placement. You've got on the manual campaigns, you've got exact match, phrase match and broad match, then auto campaign is what it sounds like. You're letting the algorithm do its thing. You've got some placement modifiers. You can do modifiers for app, desktop and mobile. In some other ways you can tweak things. The big thing to know still with Walmart PPC is it's heavily influenced by algorithms. Determination of are you relevant for those keywords, and so that has a. I mean that's common practice and most ad retail media platforms. But it's a heavy influencer on Walmart. So you do need to approach it from an organic signal, cell signals as well as PPC. When you're trying to rank through PPC you just can't spend your way to the top. You need to be in striking distance. The top 256 organic ranking results qualify for placement and searching grid, but you're ultimately trying to outperform whoever's in position at least 40, or at least position 30. And so it's usually a hand and glove kind of operation of how you're going to drive signals to the platform for purchase intent, showing that relevancy, and then continue increase your PPC so that you're stair stepping your way up to, ideally, somewhere in those first four positions or somewhere on that page 1. Carrie Miller: How do you get to those 200 and it's 256?, like if you're at spot 300, how do you get down to that spot? Ryan: Yeah, it depends. It's really specific on the categories. You know, the one other element when we're talking about keywords and search volumes on Walmart is there's not as many long tail keywords. The keywords just don't go as long. So you're probably going to see a significant drop off on volumes after some of the major keywords in a lot of categories. Maybe long tails, around two to three keywords long, are going to start dropping off significantly. As kind of a frame of reference, we would say, if you can find keywords up over, if you're finding 10 keywords in your category that are relevant to you, up over 7000 in search volume, that's pretty good. There's. There are ones way bigger, but identifying those to go for to get in the top 256, you may pretty quickly already appear there. I would say pick your, maybe not the biggest keyword to put in your title right away, but maybe that second tier keyword to put it in your title and some other places, and then plan on changing it over time as you grow. But some ways to drive traffic you know whether a lot of sellers already have, whether it's influencer traffic, whether it's Google ads traffic, whatever else, if you already have a traffic funnel that's leaning to DTC or anywhere else. Consider splitting a little bit of that traffic over for a period of time to Walmart at least, and you'll be rewarded. A lot of the signals of external traffic are rewarded heavily on Walmart behaviors like certainly purchase, but even behaviors like we've, you know, add to cart purchase. Any of those elements are signals that register with the algorithm and help sending signals of relevancy to get you in that top 256. The biggest one being someone searches, finds your products and purchases. So anything you can do to do that is a big help to get that going. Carrie Miller: All right, that's very interesting. And then also, you've mentioned conquesting as something everyone should be doing. Could you just explain what that is on Walmart and you know how people can start utilizing this? Ryan: Historically you could not do brand cron questing on Walmart. You can't. You obviously can't put trademark terms in your listings. That's just a copyright issue but an advertising. Until just very recently you haven't even been able to brand conquest. Really, there's kind of some ways around that. But now you can kind of the headline. So what we'd recommend is for those brands that are starting to show some relevancy or do things and you know there are heavily branded search terms on Walmart. We've noticed Walmart is leans typically more in a lot of categories towards branded search terms with high volume. So this has been untapped opportunity for a lot of brands. Unless you're running an auto campaign to get you, you get buy box placement, you know, just under their buy box on their PDP. So now you can actually set up a manual search, a manual campaign, and you have to have, you have to use exact match keywords and you can use. Just put in every variation of that brand name in there and you can win. You can't win position 1 or 2 with that brand, but you can get beyond position 2. In most cases you're eligible to actually show up in grid for their terms and so that's one that most brands that have not been playing defense as much may still be asleep on right now. So it's a good opportunity, at least for now, until some of those brands start allocating defensive budget in that way, those brands will be again because of relevancy and how it impacts how much you have to pay to win versus someone else that's more relevant. Brands are going to effectively get a discount for defending themselves because they're the most relevant one, so they're going to have to pay less than you to defend. But if they're not really bidding on it at all, this is a great opportunity. Carrie Miller: I think that's really exciting because I haven't actually done that strategy at all yet. So I'm going to definitely get on that today and see what I can find, because I have found so many branded search terms that I think would be really great to target in the past, but I wasn't able to. So that's really good, okay, so let's go ahead and get into questions from the audience. So I'm going to start with this question here. It says I have two questions. So what type of keywords are better for sponsored and manual campaigns? And I guess that's one. Ryan: I would kind of say what I said earlier probably is it depends on what stage of the lifecycle you're in at Walmart. So if you're trying to build relevancy and it's a new product without much sales history yet, I would probably recommend starting with exact and maybe phrase in a manual campaign of those kind of second tier keywords. Go after the long, the longer tail, build the relevancy there. Every conversion is going to help with relevancy of other keywords in your listings. So begin and stair step up. Another great strategy is at the same time you might want to often will will wait a little bit to do auto campaigns or maybe do it also at the at the same time that we're starting some manuals, but with a low spin threshold, so it doesn't go crazy and pick unirrelevant keywords, irrelevant keywords, but using ultimately gold. Also be using automatic keyword campaigns or automatic campaigns to harvest the performing keywords into your manual and put those into exact match. And then the last tip I would give is using the bid modifiers in manual campaigns to really kind of take over. If you have auto campaigns as well, manual campaigns are going to perform really well in search grid and so you want your manual campaigns really doing the work for those high, high volume keywords in your grid versus maybe your auto. So that'd be a few of the tips I'd give you. Carrie Miller: Let's go to the next one. It says I heard you say that more 1P sellers for more might be moving to 3P. Is that good or bad for other sellers? Ryan: I certainly thought I didn't. I don't recall saying it, but I made up. Yeah, so the Walmart basically is leveraging the third party marketplace for a lot of reasons. One of those is historically with 1P Brands, meaning brands that Walmart has entered into a contract relationship with, where they're owning inventory and setting the retail price, those things. One of the ways that Walmart wanted to test out more of the assortment with a brand, develop a meaningful relationship, would be they would select a small subset of the products, get them in-store and distribute or online and Walmart would manage everything. Then they used to tell brands that they would do. Another program called DSV. I won't go into all of it, but it was still in an owned relationship. What we've seen is a shift more towards merchants, buyers, telling brands to put the remainder of their catalog on the third party marketplace now that it's become more mature. Is it good or bad for sellers? On one hand, good in that as you have more recognizable established brands continue to increase their assortment on the marketplace. That's bringing more shoppers, more eyeballs to the marketplace. That's good for everybody. Bad, meaning more competitive. Advertising on keywords, certainly retail media ad spend we've seen increase year over year as Walmart grows the program. That's the natural life cycle of any platform. It will certainly get more competitive. Margin's may decrease over time. If you maybe have had your business model has been dropshipping and just trying to find those places where 1P brands are there's gaps, where 1P brands aren't really owning the marketplace. I still think there's a lot of opportunity there on the third party marketplace, but they're starting to catch wind of it on Walmart as well. There's challenges there bit of both. I think there's plenty of opportunity as Walmart's marketplace continues to grow. I don't think we need to be worried right now about, are you getting squeezed out of any opportunity? This is still early stages on Walmart's marketplace. Carrie Miller: I agree there's still tons of opportunity. The next thing is is there a way to get your products from WFS or Walmart probably into in-store? Do you have to apply or be invited to have your products in Walmart stores? I think this is a good question because it seems like with open call, it's just US products, but is there a way for products that are made in other countries? If you can expand on just that whole process, I think a lot of people are curious about this. Ryan: Yeah, you mentioned open call, which is for US manufacturers. There's been different times where I think two years ago, two to three years ago, they gave FirstBot at the Apple to Walmart marketplace sellers. They got to apply first and got an opportunity. Outside of that opportunity there is if you're growing an account, if you're seeing sales and showing volume, showing growth. Some of the stepping stones would be identifying if you could get an account manager or a strategic account manager to work with on your account, identifying category manager, somebody else to begin discussions with. That starts with usually getting opportunities turned on and growth opportunities, whether that's seasonal promotions, whether that's flash picks, other elements as you continue to invest and show performance there. Walmart's team they are brick and mortar team and they're a marketplace team or basically one team. A lot of buyers and merchants will look across their whole category, even on the third party marketplace, as they're evaluating opportunity. These conversations could happen and you could ask for an introduction. We've had clients that have just a category manager. Somebody else has reached out and said would you be interested in talking with a merchant about potential opportunity for in-store? There's a lot of pathways. I don't think there's a defined Walmart's probably not going to lay out for you. Here's how every marketplace seller can contact a merchant but continue to invest in sales and growth on Walmart marketplace and those conversations certainly can happen. Carrie Miller: Yeah, that's exactly what I always hear from Walmart directly. They say to prove it on the marketplace, basically All right. Next, this is a good question: Any insights on the new SEM feature? Will that feature help ranking or index on keywords used as a GG search, maybe Google search? Ryan: We've had a few that we've worked, we've tested out. Sem. Vertic is still out right now in the early stages. Any kind of early testing. As far as depending on the goal, if the goal was measured by, do we see direct conversion at a higher row, as than you would for sponsored products, which is lower in the ads funnel, more towards conversion anyway than earlier consideration steps in the funnel. It's a lower conversion at this point but there are potential advantages. I'm still waiting to clarify this element. I believe it's true, but again because we haven't worked with a lot of resellers or people that are competing with others for their own buy box. I did hear in a recent webinar and I haven't been able to go back and fact check again by one of the product developers for SEM that one of the impacts of SEM is that you could run SEM even when you're not presently in the buy box and you could drive traffic to your instance to get the sale. For those who are struggling to win buy box, that may be a pathway to getting more sales and conversions by ads aren't going to serve on marketplace when you don't have buy box but if you're running SEM. It sounded like and again I need to. I try and fact check everything before I say it and I heard it said once and I want to make sure I heard it specifically, but that definitely perked me up and I need to go back and verify. I believe what was communicated was you can run SEM through Walmart when you're not in the buy box and direct to your instance of you owning the buy box when traffic gets there. That's one opportunity. Carrie Miller: Let's see. I've only been selling on Amazon since October. I have 9 reviews and 1 seller feedback. Is this enough to apply to sell on Walmart? Ryan: The exact criteria aren't shared publicly as to what is in that decision factor. There's a lot of factors. I'll see you all next video. What ultimate? I think that the safest thing to say is what Walmart's looking for is that you have established yourself as a company that shows that you're making good products, strong history of seller satisfaction, so customer support, and that you're a legitimate company looking to do business. The other factors they're looking for are your products, a meaningful addition to the marketplace? So are you adding products to the marketplace that makes sense to them? That's a really broad filter and subjective maybe. So I can't tell you what that looks like. If you have 9 reviews, maybe on one product and it hasn't been as long I'd probably have a lot more questions as to why you want to jump to Walmart at the moment. Maybe you see the opportunity and that might be the primary marketplace that you want to pivot to. Those are my initial thoughts. It'd be hard to answer further without knowing more context. Carrie, I don't know if you have any things. Carrie Miller: Well, they said something, too, about that. They have one product with multiple variations, and I actually have seen other sellers that have one product with multiple variations get on there as well because it's a new, interesting product or really something that would work well on Walmart. So it is really dependent on that, and I've seen some people get on very easily, having not sold for very long, and then others have a harder time. So it is kind of interesting how it's a little bit subjective on there. Ryan: And what? Carrie Miller: Definitely want to be established. Make sure all of your stuff is matching. That's the biggest thing. Your address needs to match and everything needs to be tight on your application. But yeah, anything else that you want to add. Ryan: Yeah, no, sorry for stepping on you there. Yeah, no, that was basically what I was going to say too. If you get an initial reject, don't assume that is because a human looked at your application and determined you were not a fit. A lot of the rejections can happen because the bot has looked at, maybe your information, has did not match between what you submitted and what maybe is included in your business documentation. To illustrate the point is we talked about 1P brands coming over to a three P marketplace at the request of merchants. We still get  1P brands that get rejected when they've applied on their own to 3P marketplace after they've been through even more rigorous vetting because they're in a 1P relationship already. So the bots may trip on it and it's worth reaching back out to try and appeal if you need. Even if you get the message of there is no appeal, there are usually ways to find out. Carrie Miller: And I'm going to just take one last question. We've had a lot of amazing questions. We're kind of running out of time here, so this one is what bidding strategies have you found most effective for optimizing Walmart PPC campaigns, and why? Ryan: Big question yeah. Carrie Miller: That's all I'd like to just answer. Ryan: We could do a whole another episode on this one Bidding strategy found most effective optimizing PPC campaigns. So depends again what your goal. What do you mean by optimizing? Do you mean optimizing for growth, which is going to be a lower TACos, ACoS, low RoAS, potentially because you're looking to increase market share and it's a longer play? In that case, that sponsored brand, sponsored video. I didn't talk about sponsored video. If you're looking for what's the quick wins with a higher ROAS, things like look in your category, look at the search terms Our other brands are already using sponsored video. There'll be one placement on mobile or on desktop for that search term on any page, and if you're not seeing those, that's low hanging fruit. I would go for a sponsored brand. You've got to be brand registered first, but once you're brand registered, you can create sponsored video ads. So that's one way out. Optimize I would just make sure that to optimize a PPC campaign, I think that the basics of making sure your listing is relevant and make sure your listing is optimized first, and so that'd be one major factor that we see just a lot of brands miss. They think they've got the bid strategy right and that they've got the campaign architecture correct. But if you don't have high relevancy already for those keywords, you're not going to take a lot of ground. So in general I would say you want to, in any given campaign, not oversaturate your ad groups and not oversaturate with keywords in each ad group. So maybe up to five keywords in an ad group and maybe three to five ad groups in a campaign so that you can be tracking where that spend is really going and tweaking from there. But then I'd also say the biggest level ups we've seen is when you combine really the PPC optimization with organic. So blend consider offsite traffic advertising as well in some way to blend and improve the performance of PPC. So PPC will get cheaper for you when your relevancy grows and you'll be able to maintain it more. So that's often an efficient way to optimize a bit more. No otherwise to that. But I'll end there for now. Carrie Miller: Thank you again so much for joining us. I think this has been a really fantastic episode full of a lot of information for everyone. I'm sure everyone that's listening will want to go back and listen to this again. But thanks again for all of your expertise in sharing the secretive strategies and we really appreciate you and we'll probably hope to have you on again another time soon.

Join us on this episode of the AM/PM podcast where I sit down with the multifaceted Abe Chomali to explore his journey world of e-commerce, entrepreneurship, and owning an Amazon PPC agency. As a veteran in retail and now at the helm of a flourishing E-commerce agency, Abe offers a lot of insights into the significance of networking and industry events, sharing how these gatherings serve as critical conduits for growth and building connections. Listen in as we chuckle over Abe's famed beard and its role in personal branding, while also retracing his remarkable evolution from mail-order work to Amazon mastery, an intricate dance akin to clockwork precision.   As the conversation unfolds, we tap into the nuances of managing a PPC agency, stressing the importance of personalized and transparent client relations. Discover the collaborative strategies his agency uses, including the integration of tools like Slack, to keep brands in the loop and drive toward their goals. Abe and Kevin dissect the hiring process for agencies, underlining the need for a blend of numerical acuity and agile thinking to navigate Amazon's dynamic terrain. Tune in to learn about the Amazon PPC tactics that truly add value to your Amazon FBA business, as we navigate the shiny distractions in favor of tried-and-true ad placements like Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands.   Wrapping up this insightful dialogue, they dive into the steps one agency owner took to dramatically boost operational efficiency and client rapport. Hear how the introduction of ClickUp and the strategic placement of a traffic manager can revolutionize business workflow. The episode also peeks into our unique interview tactics that aim to build a harmonious team dynamic. We don't just talk shop; we also celebrate the cigar culture and its ability to foster profound connections amidst the fast-paced buzz of the business world. Sharing anecdotes from events like the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and the Collective Mind Society, I reflect on the transformative power of these experiences in forging deep personal and professional ties. In episode 384 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Abe discuss: 00:00 - E-Commerce Entrepreneurship and Amazon Success 12:39 - Client Collaboration for Effective Communication 16:10 - Adapting to Changes in Amazon Algorithms 19:19 - Common Mistakes in PPC Management 22:58 - Effective Keyword Campaign Strategies 24:24 - Improving Agency Efficiency and Client Communication 27:59 - Effective Interviewing Techniques for Staff 34:26 - Brand Acquisitions, Challenges, and Changes 39:16 - Deepening Connections Through Cigar Conversations 43:46 - Importance of In-Person Networking 47:38 - Business Event Experiences and Connections 49:14 - Collective Mind Society Trip Experience 53:41 - Cigar Lounge Discovery and Membership Benefits 57:00 - Kevin's Words of Wisdom

We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week. California man receives dozens of Amazon packages he never ordered https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/02/15/mysterious-Amazon-packages-Woodside-California/6441708019084/ The Amazing Ways Walmart Is Using Generative AI https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2024/02/15/the-amazing-ways-walmart-is-using-generative-ai/ Sponsored Brands video introduces vertical video creatives on the advertising console and Amazon Ads API https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-brands-video-introduces-vertical-video-creatives/ The final leg of our journey takes us to the launch pad of Helium 10's latest tool, akin to Surfer SEO, but built for conquering the Amazon listing optimization battlefield. Bradley shares his journey from four months in the trenches, crafting over 150 listings to decode the Amazon algorithm for ranking. And for those hungry for knowledge, we spotlight an array of events and webinars, including a keyword research masterclass with Jason from Vitacup. Tune in for these insights and more, as we provide serious strategies for serious sellers looking to make their mark. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 01:21 - Amazon Brushing 03:26 - New Brand Metrics 04:30 - Walmart AI 06:40 - Amazon Vertical Video 07:40 - FBM Returns 08:30 - FBA Inbound Placement Service 17:39 - 3D Models 18:55 - Upcoming Online and In-Person Events 23:00 - Helium 10 Seller Connect Forum 23:23 - New Feature Alerts ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Amazon's new FBA inbound placement service fees are going live in a couple of weeks. Walmart's integrating generative AI Vertical video PPC ads are now live. Helium 10 releases its most requested tool of 2023 for sellers. These and many more stories on today's weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 weekly buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on and news articles in the e-commerce world and we let you know what new Helium 10 features there are and we give you training tips of the week that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing. Got a few articles today, but a little later on I'm going to give you guys a complete breakdown of that new FBA inbound inventory fee service that is coming out soon. Some sellers are saying they might have to pay double what they used to. Is that really true? I'm going to break down some things inside of Project X to show you what the fees are going to be, and make sure to stay to the end, because we also have exciting, exciting new tool announcement that's in beta for Helium 10 members.   Bradley Sutton: All right, let's go ahead and hop into the news. The first article today is from upi.com and it's entitled California man Receives Dozens of Amazon Packages he Never Ordered. Does that sound familiar to you? This sounds like things that were happening years ago that maybe some of us thought you know went away. But basically, this guy in California yesterday he says he received dozens of mysterious Amazon packages at his home over the course of six months. Now, first he just started with a couple of envelopes, he said, but then a lot more products were coming. All right, the name on the label wasn't his name, it was somebody else's name, and he at first thought that, you know, just maybe there was a mistake that happened. But more and more packages sooner arriving, everything from, says, solar panel cables, video game consoles, digital picture frames, portable spas. And then he said he eventually just stopped opening them and just simply sent them back. All right, somehow his card actually started getting charged.   Bradley Sutton: Now, that's separate than what I'm talking about or what this guy I think is talking about here, but basically this is the Black Hat method of brushing. Even this article talks about brushing. Like I said, this is like circa 2020, when this thing happened. And then this article says hey, brushing involves Amazon sellers sending packages to random addresses so they can artificially inflate their number of positive reviews. So the way that brushing works is kind of like these sellers they get somebody's real address and then they just use all these different Amazon accounts and send products to that address and then that allows them to do like a verified review. For me I wouldn't be sending it back. You know me as an Amazon seller. I'm gonna think like an Amazon seller. If one of those companies is gets my address and they're gonna use me for brushing, give me all those products, I'm gonna put it right back on Amazon and make some money off of it. But that's interesting. I wonder if this is just an isolated case or is brushing making a comeback. Hopefully Amazon cracks down on that, because you know shouldn't be doing any of these shady shady behaviors, in my opinion.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is from Amazon Seller Central, and it was a news article that came out and says increase sales with new metrics available on the build your brand page, all right. So this is something that a lot of us might not even know is in Seller Central. All right, you have to like if you're using a sub account, you actually can't see it off the bat. You have to go and to the admin account and give yourself the rights to this. But basically, this what Amazon announces hey, there's gonna be four new key metrics that allow you to measure your brand's performance branded search ratio, star rating, brand conversion rate and repeat customer ratio. All right, so there's gonna be actionable things that you can do. Go to the build your brand section of Seller Central, scroll down and then if, for the brands that you have brand registry, you are going to be able to see, for the different countries, these new metrics. Again, branded search ratio here's one about the star rating. It's gonna give you a whole bunch of insights on things that it wants you to do how to increase your conversion rate, et cetera.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is going to Forbes now and this one is entitled the amazing ways Walmart is using generative AI. Now, a lot of this didn't have to do with Walmart sellers, but if you scroll down in this article, there's an interesting tidbit here where it says here under the section, where it says under the section improving the shopping experience, it says there's also a new text to shop feature that lets customers ask for what they want by texting Walmart. All right, so there's a simple text chat powered by AI technology. Customers can search for items, add or remove products from their cart, reorder products and schedule delivery or pickup. Like, Walmart seems to be beating Amazon on this one at least, but if this is only in beta, well, you can't really say that it's beating Amazon if it's not widespread. But that's interesting, like, will that increase sales for third party sellers using the Walmart app If people can just start texting and ask questions? Will Amazon roll out their version of this, which has also been rumored?   Bradley Sutton: Another thing that Walmart says they're launching is they're introducing a new online AI shopping assistant designed to help shoppers find the best product for their needs. So this AI is going to recommend relevant and related products based on, like, you're throwing a certain party or you have a certain age kid who has a need and you just, instead of like searching for keywords, you kind of like explain the situation and they'll give suggestions. Now, you know, part of me the skeptic is like I can't imagine how this is going to work because, like you know, like what I'm going to say hey, I've got a 19 year old kid who got his first new car, what products would he like, you know? Like, is it really going to know exactly what? But then again, guys think about it. How many times is this happening? You, where I don't know, you type in a search, or sometimes even you just are having a conversation with somebody. You go back to your phone and you're getting hit with ads, like about that very thing that you were just asking. You know it's got to be AI doing that. I don't know. But so, who knows, maybe AI is a lot more advanced than I give it credit for.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is from Amazon Advertising and it's entitled Sponsored Brand Video introduces vertical video creatives on the advertising console and Amazon API. So now when you're creating sponsored brand video ads, you are going to have an option to choose from creative assets. It says upload video, horizontal or vertical, alright. So a lot of people have had access to this for a few months now, I guess in beta, but now this is the official announcement. It looks like it's rolling out to everybody else. I've heard a lot of good feedback on how the vertical video looks, especially obviously in mobile browsers, which is what, or the mobile app, which is what it's designed for. So take a look at your advertising console. Do you have that available? It says it should be available united across North America, south America, Europe, middle East and Asia Pacific for sellers for that Next article, going back to Seller Central again, and it's entitled instant replacements are available for seller fulfilled returns.   Bradley Sutton: Starting on this week, buyers will be able to request instant replacement for items sent using the prepaid return label program. You see me shaking my head. Those of you watching on YouTube. They were on this Seller Central article, 468 down votes and only 55 up votes. Up votes. So this is something that if you're doing fbm, you know, like myself, it's like might be a little scared. What now? Just a customer can just instantly get a replacement and I have to ship it to them and they have like 30 days to return it. They might not return. I got to start keeping track of if they return it, if they return the right product. But we know, you know that Amazon is very customer centric and so I guess you know this really shouldn't surprise us all. Right now.   Bradley Sutton: Let's do a deep dive, guys, into the 2024 FBA inbound placement service fee. That's. This is just one of the couple things that amazon, or a lot of amazon sellers are very scared about this new in inbound placement service fee, and then the low inventory fee. That's going to come a little bit later, guys. This is coming now, march first. All right, so you look up, if you, if you want to get some detail on this, just go into your Seller Central and type in FBA inbound placement service and you you'll get this article. But let's do a deep dive into some of these things that that it says. Now, basically, what's going to happen is that you are going to start getting charged if you are only sending to one location, for example. All right, you're going to get a per unit charge based on the size of your product and based on where it's going uh, west coast, middle or, or uh, Midwest, I don't know, central area or east coast. Now, this is going to be interesting because, according to this article, this service fee is going to hit you 45 days after your shipment is received. So you've got a little leeway in there. So the first charges are not actually going to happen until mid-April, but it's going to be in effect starting in March.   Bradley Sutton: Now, the only way to completely skip this fee is if you accept Amazon's suggestion to ship to four different locations. I mean, that's only if Amazon tells you to ship to four different locations. You know, for me in the past a lot of times it's sometimes two locations, sometimes three, sometimes it tells me to only ship to one. So like I'm wondering how that's going to be. Is Amazon going to like force me to send it to one and I still have to pay, no matter what? But if you send to four or more locations, amazon is going to waive this fee. If you ship to two or three locations only, you are going to get a surcharge per unit that you were sending to Amazon and if you only send to one location, it is going to actually be the highest fee.   Bradley Sutton: Now, how does this affect sellers? Well, everybody has different preferences. I'm here in Southern California. What do I want to do? I want to send to one location and I want it to be in Southern California. It's going to get there super fast, right, and the shipping is very like sometimes half what it is if I ship it, like all the way to an FBA DC in New York or Florida or something like that. But now I've got to start thinking what do I choose? Do I choose to send it to multiple locations? Is it going to be expensive? Am I going to get a surcharge? Or should I just send it to one location and I save on the shipping fee because it's so close, but I just pay this extra fee?   Bradley Sutton: Let's start breaking down what some of these fees are. I'm not going to go into detail on this table here. You guys looking at YouTube, you can take a look at the screen here or just go into your Seller Central. But, for example, like if you have a small size box size 15 by 12, by 0.75, less than one pound you're trying to send everything to one location, you are going to get a 21 cent to 30 cent charge per unit. If you're sending to two or more that same package, you're going to get 12 cents to 21 cents per unit and, like I said, if you send to four locations or more, it is no fee. All right, so let's go ahead.   Bradley Sutton: What I did was I actually went to my. This is what I suggest you guys do to go into your Seller Central and go into your shipments and look at your old shipments to see what's going on. For example, here is one of my shipments that I did late last year. This was for, I believe, the large coffin shelf, so this is an oversized box, and they had me send I only sent 20 units, for whatever reason I think it was right before I ran out and it had me sent to two locations. All right, so two locations, and one of these was in Washington. Okay, so, as you can see right here, for these 10 units, because this is a huge oversized box, I got charged $25. All right, so about $2.50 per unit, all right, the other 10, it had me send all the way to Delaware, all the way across the country, and it actually cost me $35 for those same amount, 10 units. All right, so you can see how much more it was by sending it to the opposite coast, and the one in Washington wasn't even that's not even close to me. Like I said, I'm in Southern California, so if I were to send it to California, it would have been cheaper, right, it might have been like what less than $20, right Now, what you do to calculate this out?   Bradley Sutton: You go type into your search in Seller Central revenue calculator. All right, type in revenue calculator. We're going to have this in Helium 10 eventually too, but for now, go ahead and use a Seller Central. It's a little bit more difficult to use but it has the details you need for this new fees. Go into Seller Central, find your product this one that I just did and put how many units you're going to you're going to send. So I'm going to say, hey, I'm going to go ahead and inbound 20 units of this product.   Bradley Sutton: And now if I were to ship it to one location only let's say it has me ship everything to Spokane, Washington I'm going to pay $2.70 per unit to ship this to Amazon. That's do you remember what it was? In Washington, it was $2.50. That's more than double just for shipping to one location. Now, in this shipment I shipped it to two locations, you remember. So if I ship it to two locations, I just hit this partial shipment splits and it brings down the price to $1.57. But still, that's now $31 more I'm paying for shipping. Do you remember total? On those two shipments I only paid $55. Well, now that $55 shipment just became $80 a shipment, all right, and that's only 20 units, that means I'm paying $4 just to get it from my warehouse to Amazon. So you can see that there's a decision you have to make. Like what if I could send everything to San Bernardino? Right, if I send everything to San Bernardino and I pay $2.70, but I save a whole bunch of money on my shipping, the shipping price would have to be $2.70 cheaper than what it would cost to send to multiple locations into the East Coast in order for it to be worth it. But again, it's not just the price. Now you got to think well, if I send it to Delaware, it might take like six days to get there, another few days to check in. If I send it to California, it'll get there the next day, maybe just a couple days to check in. So there's all these things you are going to have to start kind of like calculating out.   Bradley Sutton: Let me show you another example. Another shipment I did this was actually from this year was the smaller coffin shelves and I sent like 80 units total. All right. Now take a look. I sent one shipment to California. 30 units cost $25. All right. So like what? 80 cents per unit? At the same time, it had me send some more to a different warehouse in California. It was only 10 units for $8.57. So 85 cents. And then, lastly, it still was in the West, but it had me send another 40 units to Henderson, Nevada, and it cost me 37 bucks, so a little over 90 cents. All right, so the average for this 80 units I was paying. What about? I paid about 80 cents per unit to ship and I didn't pay any fees. Right, if I do the same exact shipment after March 1st? Conversely, here is one more shipment I did separately and I sent 100 units all together and it went to Southern California and it only cost me $70. All right, so that's 70 cents, about 15 cents cheaper per unit than those other ones I sent all over the place. All right, so again, these were two separate shipments, very similar in scope. One had me send to three, one had me send to one.   Bradley Sutton: What's going to happen if I have this same scenario in a couple of weeks, starting in March? Let's go back to that revenue calculator. I go ahead and put the coffin shelf in here and I say, hey, 100 units, the same exact shipment to California, to the West, 68 cents per unit. Do you remember what it cost me Originally? 70 cents. This is doubling the cost of what I have to send, or how much it cost me to send it in the old days, literally doubling my cost. Now, what about that other one where it had me send to three different locations? All right, it's still not four. It didn't have me send it to four, so I have to hit the partial shipment splits. I select three locations and now I see that it's going to cost 33 cents extra. It's not double, but now my price goes from 80 cents to $1.20, which is almost the same as the 70 cents plus 70 cents that I pay if I send it to one.   Bradley Sutton: Is your mind kind of like spinning in circles with all these things you guys have to calculate? Now? I'm sure there's gonna be hopefully easier ways that Helium 10 can help you decide which one is going to be better to use. But again, you can't just blindly do your shipments anymore. You have got to really think about what's going on. All right, let me know in the comments below what are you seeing. Go ahead and put in some of your old shipments in there and let me know what you're seeing in your account. All right, last article of the day. It's actually just a post from LinkedIn.   Bradley Sutton: I wanted to give a shout out to Jason from Vitacup and he talked about the release of Amazon's 3D photos. This was something that we talked about like about four or five months ago, when they announced that Amazon Accelerate, and now he is reporting that he's seeing it out there in the wild. Now we actually saw this a couple of days ago because when I was setting up that brand rights that I talked about earlier how I had to give rights to do that to my sub-accounts this was one of those new ones that you have to give rights to.   Bradley Sutton: So if you guys are giving rights to see the brand, go ahead and click this 3D models thing. You have to have the seller app and then it's gonna allow you to take pictures from all sides using your mobile phone and then it's going to allow you to be enrolled in this 3D beta that Amazon has going right now. So take a look to see if you guys have access to that. Now, the reason why I wanted to give Jason a shout out here was he's actually gonna be a special guest next week in a keyword research webinar. He's an eight-figure seller and he's gonna give us his best keyword research strategy. So that's just one of the many online and offline events coming up for myself and the evangelist here at Helium 10 over the next few weeks. Shivali now is going to let you guys know of all the other events that's going on.   Shivali Patel: Hi there. We have tons of online and in-person events over the next couple of months, so let's just quickly run through them so you're in the know and can potentially even plan ahead. First up, we have the virtual Billion Dollar Seller Summit from February 20th to the 22nd. Bradley is a speaker and if you plan to attend his session, you can take $150 off the price by using the coupon code BDSS2024. Again, that's just BDSS2024. At h10.me/bdss, you can also sit down with Bradley at the Sellers Edge training this upcoming week where he's gonna start a conversation with a guest eight figure seller and they're going to talk shop on keyword research strategies for Helium 10, amazon Product Opportunity Explorer, Search Query Performance and so much more. Get registered at h10.me/edge2. The two is just the number and it's not spelled out. On March 1st to 2nd, if you're interested in remotely anything Walmart and you're located on the other side of the world from me, perhaps you'll be able to make it out to Ecom Seller Summit and say hello to Carrie, who will be speaking. Visit h10.me/australia to grab a ticket. You can use the name, Carrie, as a code to save $50 and catch her session in person.   Shivali Patel: The week right after Australia, we have the Prosper show in Las Vegas, where Bradley and Carrie are speaking, but all three of us will be there. Go to h10.me/prosper to reserve a spot and come swing by the Pack View and Helium 10 booth so we can get acquainted. Don't be shy, even if you see us just walking around. Now. If Vegas is too far for you, as is Australia, then I have the perfect in between event for you, and that is going to be held from March 13th to 16th in Prague, Czech Republic. I'm opening up the conversation for strategic innovation that leads to increased profits and so much more. The link for this event is h10.me/prague. You can use my code Shivali50 for a 50 euro discount. If you don't know how to spell my name, that's S-H-I-V-A-L-I 50 for a 50 euro discount.   Shivali Patel: There will be an Amazon sponsored seller meetup in Manila, Philippines, so save or mark the date for March 21st. Bradley will be attending, but we don't have a sign up page yet. We'll keep you posted, though, and I will also be speaking at amazing day summit and attending the Amazing Days Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria. That's going to take place on April 3rd, 4th and 5th. These two events are just days apart, so perhaps it's the perfect excuse. You need to come out and spend a week in Bulgaria. If you'd like a ticket, go to h10.me/bulgaria and use the code Helium10 for a 10% discount.   Shivali Patel: The last couple of events you can anticipate some more in-person Bradley time are going to be the seven figure seller Japan mastermind in Okinawa. I might make it out to Japan, but it's still up in the air, so I guess you'll just have to come out to find out. The link to learn more about the Japan event is h10.me/japan. However, Bradley will definitely be speaking at Seller Velocity, as you can see here. So naturally I've got a code for you and that's going to be BRADLEYFIRST in all caps. You can put that into motion at h10.me/velocity. Look, guys, at the end of the day, each of these events are packed with incredible sessions, knowledgeable, expert speakers and the invaluable opportunity to network and honestly, I couldn't tell you just how many connections I've made by attending these events and the strategies I've learned to implement into my own business so I can take it to the level I'm hoping towards. So, really, if you can come, come, we'd love to meet you in real life and we'll see you there.   Bradley Sutton: All right, thank you, Shivali, for those events. I hope to see you guys at some of them. One quick thing, guys if you didn't get our notice we have a new message board or forum. That is on our website. So sign into your Helium 10 account and then go to forum.helium10.com and you'll be able to post messages there, interact with other Helium 10 users and see some announcements and strategies that myself and Carrie and Shivali are doing. So, again, forum.helium10.com. All right, let's get into our Helium 10 new feature alerts.   Bradley Sutton: The new tool that Helium 10 is coming out with right now is probably the most asked for tool last year 2023, of what, when I was on the road, people asking about this and something even beforehand I had in mind. Now, before I get into how to use a tool, it's kind of important to understand the background of how we even came up with this. This wasn't like my idea or something, but it's something that's been on my mind for a while Now. As you guys may or may not know, I used to run the content team here at Helium 10. And now I still write blogs to help out the content team, and something we've always used is this software. The one that we're using right now is called Surfer SEO and it's really cool Like we have blogs for SEO, right, and it gives me all of my kind of like titles that I need to have and then all of the main keywords that I need to put in blogs and it tells me how many times I need to use it, where I have to put it and, as I'm writing my blog, it gives me the score of how I'm going to be ranking for Google SEO and it tells me also how I'm doing compared to other blogs about the same subject. And so I've always thought, well, you know, like that would be kind of cool thing to have for Amazon sellers.   Bradley Sutton: And Amazon sellers thought the same way. One of the you know, as I was touring everyone said, hey, we like a tool that allows us to kind of like take, hey, the best keywords from Helium 10, but then helps us to understand where we need to put it in the listing and how it kind of stacks up for the Amazon algorithm and then how my competitors are doing it. All right. So I'm going to show you guys how to use this new tool. It's in listing builder, but let me just tell you right off the bat like. I actually spent, you know, like four months on a case study, making like more than 150 listings in different accounts and trying all these different things that kind of like the best they can decode the Amazon algorithm to see, hey, what forms of words work best for the Amazon algorithm, what helps the ranking, what kind of frequency, what does it matter where the keywords are, et cetera. So I did a lot of work on this, but let me just say there is no buddy out there myself included who can tell you exactly how the Amazon algorithm works. It doesn't work that way. All right, it's not like I can just give you an exact formula, but what we, what I've been able to do here is get it to a formula here that will give you the best chance at having good SEO for your Amazon listing. All right, so where you find this tool is now in listing builder, all right.   Bradley Sutton: Now you're gonna see a little bit of different things here. There's some things that, based on when you're seeing this video, it might be different Later on, like these colors might be gone. You're gonna have the number here of how many times the keywords came up. We'll update this video later, once this tool is fully finished. Like I said, it's in beta. But the first thing you do is just like you normally do with your keyword research. You're first gonna get all your best keywords from Cerebro, whatever other tools you have, stick them all now into listing builder. Before I didn't have you do that, remember, I said, hey, only get your 20 best keywords, right, and then the rest of the keywords just find the individual words. That's no longer.   Bradley Sutton: With this new tool. You can go ahead and throw all of your keywords into listing builder at once. You don't have to separate the best and the worst. One of the reasons why is because now we have the Cerebro competitor performance score. Again, this is from Cerebro and it tells you what are the most important keywords for this niche, based on what the listings are all ranking for. Very highly, all right. So I put all 116 phrases right here. I also see the search volume and it breaks it down here on the top to all the one and two and three word parts of these phrases, so that I can see hey, what are all of the individual keywords that are showing up here, what are the two and three word phrases that show up in multiple phrases? Now, after you get your keywords in here. You scroll down, you're going to see your original listing quality score if I already made my listing here on the right-hand side, and that's just based on Amazon best practices, like you know how many characters in your title, things like that. But the new part here click on Keyword Performance Rank and what you're going to want to do is add your competitors. Okay, so this is something new. So this here is a bat-shaped bath mat that I was doing. So I went to Amazon and I wanted to put in all of the top bat mats here and I just pasted all of the ASINs or I could have just selected it right here in this Add Competitors section and now, instantly, based on these keywords that I already got from Cerebro, it is going to give me a score for every single one of these competitor listings that we see right up here, and actually the number one listing just happens to be the product that is selling the most, all right, so it kind of shows that, hey, this formula is a pretty decent indication on how you might be doing in the niche, potentially, all right. So that's what you're going to see right here when you click on Keyword Performance Rank, and then once I make my listing now it's going to give me a score. So right now I'm not first, all right, I might need to tweak my listing a little bit. This is only version one of my listing. It says I'm second out of 10 competitors. All right.   Bradley Sutton: Now, if you want more detail on what is going into this Keyword Performance Score, well, it is based on a lot of these kind of like match types. There's five of them that I kind of pinpointed with all of my tests that I was doing, and it also has to do with where in the listing it is. You know title is the absolute most important. Search volume is something that is factored into the score as well. The points is the next, and then description right, and then you get different points based on the search volume and then based the highest points for a keyword is exact match, like if the word is coffin shelf, you put coffin shelf and then that's an exact match. The next one that you also get points is plural or singular match, so like it's coffin shelf or coffin shelves, right. Next is a phrase match, but a partial phrase match, all right. So it gets really down and dirty. Guys Like I did a lot of work trying to come up with this formula. So when you get into this tool, put your mouse over the little eye, the little information, and you will see, kind of like, what all of these different match types mean. And then, as you are making your listing, you will literally see this score change based on these factors, right here.   Bradley Sutton: Now, remember, keyword stuffing is not suggested. You, I did see that some kind of like duplication of keywords is good in some circumstances, but you're not going to get points, extra points, by putting the same keyword five times in a listing. The first time you put it, and if it's in phrase form, that can get you the most points. If you have it again, that actually can kind of like let Amazon know you're especially relevant for it. So you are going to get some credit. But as you play around the score you'll see that it's not the full credit as if you like the same one that you put in the title.   Bradley Sutton: Now again, I'm not going to sit here and say hey for a fact. If you get the top keyword performance rank out of your competitors, that's going to guarantee that you're going to get the most sales. Obviously, a lot more things have to be considered when you're talking about getting sales on Amazon. But this is what I came up with and our data scientists. I'm not smart enough to make like full formulas here. I had to get the data scientists help, but this is what we found will give you the best chance to really make sure that Amazon knows that you're relevant. I'm going to have a few workshops coming up on just general listing optimization techniques, but once you have all that down, this is what is going to help you really bring your keyword research and your listing optimization to get the best bang for your buck.   Bradley Sutton: So I want you guys to try out this tool. Like I said, it's in beta right now. New things are being added to it every day. If you have a diamond counter hire. Elite members have been playing with this for weeks, but now it's to a point where, like, hey, if your diamond are higher, for now, we want to get your feedback too. So please give this a spin and then, if you have any questions or comments on it, reach out to customer support and let them know about it, and we'd love to hear from you to see what you think about this tool that everybody was asking so much for the last year or two. All right, guys, thank you very much for joining us on this edition of the weekly buzz. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

Ever found yourself magnetized by a speaker's presence, hanging onto every word as if it were a personal message just for you? That's the power of authentic charisma, and our special guest McCall Jones, an electrifying speaker from Funnel Hacking Live, knows it all too well. Together, we tackle the art of becoming an attractive character in the business realm, sharing stories and strategies on how embracing your unique personality can skyrocket engagement and build a loyal following. From the nitty-gritty of marketing beyond Amazon to the nuances of public speaking, McCall spills the beans on cultivating trust and leadership through genuine connections.   There's a certain magic in the way a leader conveys their message—whether on stage, through a webinar, or across social media platforms. Our conversation with McCall Jones dives into the transformative impact of an "attractive character" and how it transcends mere appearance, blending substance with style to create a resonance that truly captivates an audience. As we dissect the charisma styles that define our essence—entertainment, compassion, authority—we realize that an individual's unique mix is their superpower. This episode is a playbook on recognizing your inherent charisma, wielding it to charm the masses, and mastering the fine balance between attention, engagement, and conversion.   Wrapping up, we leave no stone unturned about the role of charisma in your Amazon business' success. It's not about emulating heavyweights like Tony Robbins; it's about discovering and honing your charisma counterpart to amplify your strengths. We open up about the common pitfall of trying to appeal to everyone and how, by being unabashedly you, you'll naturally attract the right tribe. So, if you're ready to unlock the secrets of authentic charisma, to enchant and convert with the real you, this is your call to tune in. And for those yearning to dive deeper, join us in Hawaii for the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and Level Up event, where McCall will be casting her spell of wisdom.   In episode 381 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and McCall discuss: 00:00 - Attractive Character and Charisma Model  07:36 - The Power of Charisma in Marketing 12:40 - Effective Communication for Video Success  15:59 - Engaging Characters in Videos  16:15 - Creating Charismatic Presence in Speeches 23:55 - The Importance of Warming Up  26:18 - Engaging Audience Through Pain and Consequences  30:06 - Importance of Engagement and Audience Response  33:04 - Understanding Attention Span and Charisma Style 40:25 - Different Charisma Styles in Convincing People  46:19 - Maximizing Personal Style for Effective Communication  46:43 - Charisma to Attract and Convert Audiences 50:41 - Authenticity in Online Marketing 56:10 - Testing Influencers for Brand Alignment  1:00:27 - Understanding Your Brand as a Character 1:00:39 - Kevin's Words Of Wisdom

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with an Amazon mentor, Kevin King! We discussed what Amazon sellers need to know in 2024. Find out the search for the consumer side has changed. Our guest organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit along with his successful newsletter - the Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro   Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post-purchase marketing. Finally, your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years of experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset.   For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club   Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem.   Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.   For more information visit https://Startup.club   This episode is brought to you by VAA Philippines   VAA offers Amazon sellers access to high-quality and reliable virtual assistants from the Philippines.   VAA invests in their virtual assistants through a thorough screening process, intensive Amazon training, ongoing professional development, and support. Hiring through VAA gives Amazon sellers peace of mind with a dedicated, skilled and motivated virtual assistant who is committed to a long-term working relationship. The company's founders have a deep understanding of the Amazon marketplace and ensure that their virtual assistants are always up-to-date with the latest tools and trends.   For more information visit https://www.vaaphilippines.com   This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics   Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice.   Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan.   For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   In this episode, an Amazon mentor, Kevin King, is here. Today, we discussed what Amazon sellers need to know in 2024. He organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit along with his successful newsletter - the Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, VAA Philippines, Post Purchase Pro, Seller Basics, and HONU Worldwide...   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with an Amazon mentor, Kevin King! We discussed Black Friday Recap and Heading into 2024. Find out how can you stand apart from the competitors going into 2024. Our guest organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit along with his successful newsletter - the Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro   Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post purchase marketing. Finally your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset.   For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club   Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.   For more information visit https://Startup.club   This episode is brought to you by VAA Philippines   VAA offers Amazon sellers access to high-quality and reliable virtual assistants from the Philippines. VAA invests in their virtual assistants through a thorough screening process, intensive Amazon training, ongoing professional development and support. Hiring through VAA gives Amazon sellers peace of mind with a dedicated, skilled and motivated virtual assistant who is committed to a long-term working relationship. The company's founders have a deep understanding of the Amazon marketplace and ensure that their virtual assistants are always up-to-date with the latest tools and trends.   For more information visit https://www.vaaphilippines.com   This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics   Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice.   Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan.   For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   In this episode, an Amazon mentor, Kevin King, is here. Today, we discussed Black Friday Recap and Heading into 2024. He organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit along with his successful newsletter - the Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, VAA Philippines, Post Purchase Pro, Seller Basics, and HONU Worldwide..   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

Unleash your full potential and be the Amazon seller who stays ahead of the curve. This podcast episode is your ticket to gaining an edge in the competitive world of Amazon selling and affiliate marketing. Our guest, the accomplished David Katz, shares his unique insights on the latest strategies for launching products on Amazon, especially now that Search, Find, Buy is no longer available. David's firsthand experiences as a consultant for a transitioning beauty brand and his ability to adapt to ever-changing market dynamics will guide you in mastering the art of Amazon selling.   We also explore the exciting world of affiliate marketing, the structure of affiliate programs, and their benefits for brands and influencers. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at an expansive network of over 500 affiliates that includes influencers, media publishers, and deal sites, and how you can tap into this network. We discuss everything from deep linking to affiliate link integration and commission stacking, helping you understand the technical aspects of Amazon's affiliate marketing.   Finally, we unpack the world of influencer marketing, affiliate programs, and the role of deal sites in boosting product exposure. David's fascinating insights into commission-based payments and his own experiences with earning through influencer work promise to enrich your understanding of the perks and challenges of this model. We wrap it all up by underlining the importance of networking and building relationships in this industry and sharing details about the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and newsletter. This episode is a goldmine of practical tips and information, designed to prepare you for success in e-commerce and affiliate marketing. Don't miss it! In episode 374 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Nate discuss: 00:00 - Growth Strategies and Networking in E-Commerce 01:28 - Amazon Accelerates Show and Networking Experience 07:38 - Qualifications and Strategies for Amazon Sellers 08:26 - Salary Based on Performance and Growth 15:14 - Affiliate Marketing for Amazon Sellers 18:37 - Affiliate Program Structure and Network Expansion 23:59 - Deal Sites as Top Affiliate Niche 35:09 - Commission Safeguards and Live Links 39:40 - Understanding Commission-Based Influencer Marketing 40:24 - Affiliates' Role in Product Selection 50:01 - Trends in Furniture and Beauty Purchases 52:16 - Verifying Identity on LinkedIn and Business Strategies 54:10 - Kevin's Words Of Wisdom For The Week

Join us on a journey as our special guest, Ritu Java, takes us from her beginnings in India to her experiences in Japan, ultimately transforming her into a data-driven entrepreneur. With a unique perspective on the blend of culture and commerce, Ritu shares insights on how she leveraged her expertise in data and analytics to excel in Amazon PPC strategies. You'll also hear her intriguing tales of running an Etsy store from Japan and overcoming the complexities of helping Amazon sellers worldwide. The conversation doesn't stop there. Discover how AI has become a game-changer in running Amazon PPC campaigns as we discuss our personal experiences combining AI with other data sources to optimize campaigns. Listen as we unveil the advantages of using chat GPT for keyword research and translation over traditional methods like Google Translate. This episode offers a unique perspective on integrating AI into workflows and SOPs, driving efficient and effective results. We also underscore the value of incorporating AI into Amazon PPC strategies for successful product launches and campaign management.   To cap off this enlightening conversation, we tackle the future of Amazon selling and the role AI plays in it. From generating keywords for Amazon searches to creating images for sponsored brand ads, we unravel how chat GPT and mid-journey can elevate your selling game. Don't miss out on our tips for creating effective lifestyle photos and the significance of close-up product images. We also shed light on the evolution of Search Query Performance on Amazon and share our strategies for effectively managing and analyzing data. In episode 515 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ritu discuss: 00:00 - AI Power for E-commerce Sellers 07:54 - Utilizing AI for Amazon Sellers' Success  09:05 - AI in PPC Strategy With Chat GPT 20:52 - Search Term Modifiers and Word Order  23:04 - Enhancing Amazon Ads With AI 31:24 - Generating Posts Using Canva and Amazon  32:19 - Utilizing Search Group Performance Data 33:47 - Optimizing Data Strategy for Efficient Analysis  41:23 - Convert Snapshot Data to Time Series ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got a first time guest who I think is probably top five in the world these days as far as actionable Amazon strategies, and she's going to give us an absolutely value-packed episode full of tips on generative AI, PPC and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. How can you get more buyers to leave you Amazon product reviews? By following up with them in a way that's compliant with Amazon terms of service? Bradley Sutton: You can use Helium 10 Follow-Up in order to automatically send out Amazon's request, a review emails, to any customers you want. Not just that, but you can specify when they get the message and even filter out people that you don't want to get that message, such as people who have asked for refunds or maybe ones that you gave discounts to. For more information, visit h10.me forward slash follow-up. You can sign up for a free account or you can sign up for a platinum plan and get 10% off for life by using the discount code SSP10. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We've got a special guest today Ritu. So, first of all, we're going to get into your backstory about how we can even talk in Japanese, because that's something that's crazy. Were you born in Japan or were you born? Ritu: I was born in India, but I lived in Japan for 17 years. Bradley Sutton: So from what age? Ritu: You want to know how old I am. Bradley Sutton: No, no, no. From what age were you living in Japan? Ritu: Mid-20s. Yeah, so mid-20s. Bradley Sutton: Also was, so you didn't go to school in Japan. Ritu: No, I didn't. I went there as an adult. I was working at a company and I take company 17 years. Bradley Sutton: Yes, that means you had to have gone there when you were a child. Then because you can't be over 25 years old. So I don't know what's going on here. Ritu: That is very cute. Bradley Sutton: I was all the reason. I was asking if you grew up because I wore this shirt today. Do you recognize this character here?  What is this? Ritu: Yes Doraemon. Yes, I grew up with Doraemon when I was a little over there, that's awesome. Bradley Sutton: Yes, I grew up with Doraemon when I was a little over there, that's awesome. I know a little bit about you, but I for some reason had this idea that you actually grew up in Japan and that was why you were so fluent in language. Once you go as an adult, it's a little bit harder, unless you really immerse yourself in the culture. Ritu: I did. I really immersed myself in the culture. I went there just for a year, honestly, and ended up staying 17. It's so crazy how that place had such a big impact on me. It was such a stark contrast to where I grew up, which was India. Bradley Sutton: Whereabouts in India. Ritu: In Delhi, the capital city of chaos that's how I describe it from chaotic to super orderly. You can imagine what a difference, that is A stark difference from the world I knew. I was just drawn to the calm and the orderliness of that place. How things were punctual, everything happened as expected, there were no surprises, everything was planned in so much detail, which I kind of liked. I think where I'm at right now is a nice middle ground, because I think I like the chaos. It has energy. It has a certain type of progressive energy that all of us need, especially as entrepreneurs. We need that energy to be able to kind of keep moving forward. But then I also like the organizational skills that I picked up while I was in Japan, because you need that to have good execution. I think best of both worlds is what I'm trying to be at right now, trying to draw from both my cultures. Bradley Sutton: Then did you go to university in India. Ritu: I did. I'm an engineer. I did my electronics engineering from India. I went back to school much later in life. I went back to school in the US and I did a course in data science, which is why I'm very attracted to PPC and data and data analytics and that sort of stuff. Bradley Sutton: When you graduated with the electrical engineering degree, did you start working in India, or is that when you went to Japan? Ritu: Yeah, I started working right away and I started working in India and I worked for an IT company and it was a pretty long stint there as well, like I was very interested in technology right from the start and it kind of aligned with my life's goals and stuff like that. At the time. I mean, little did I know that I would completely switch at a certain point. When I was in Japan I worked for not only the company that I was in India, I kind of went to their Japan office and I started helping them out. But then later on I switched to a more technical role at a school, at a high school, American school in Japan, and then I had my kid and took a break from work and then I kind of dealt in a little bit of entrepreneurship. I started running my own business. I had an Etsy store. Yes, in Japan, while I was in Japan, I started my Etsy business selling jewelry. It was like kind of one of a kind jewelry and I realized that, gosh, it's not enough just to create a listing and people are not going to flock to that listing. So I had to teach myself a whole lot of stuff like marketing advertising. So I learned Facebook ads, Google Ads, blogging, YouTube, all of that stuff. Bradley Sutton: So Etsy in the United States, or is there an Etsy in Japan? Ritu: No, there's an Etsy in the United States, but I was selling on the US market from Japan. So I was producing my stuff there, but I was shipping it worldwide wherever there were shoppers. But shipping costs are exorbitant. Sending stuff from Japan it's very expensive. Yeah, so mostly was attracted to the data side of things. Yes, I have both left and right brains, because the creative side was just all my creations, the jewelry that I made. But then I needed the data science side of things to kind of round things off and make money out of my business, because everything we do here is based on data and I know he's intended the data company. So is PPC Ninja. We might think that we're in the business of selling goods, but actually we're in the business of leveraging data. So that's why it was so important for me to get that knowledge and make sure that I'm kind of ready to go with my own endeavors. Bradley Sutton: Now. So, Etsy was kind of like your first online marketplace. Now, did you ever end up selling on Amazon or did you go straight into software and consulting etc. Ritu: Yeah, so I've never sold on Amazon, but I've helped businesses sell on Amazon. So it's basically the data side of things. So, I only sold on Etsy. I sold on my own website for a bit, but then I have never sold on Amazon myself. But PPC is where I'm focused on. Bradley Sutton: Okay, cool. Now you talked about having an analytical mind, and that's kind of like what you're known for. When you've spoken at events like Billion Dollar Seller Summit and others is especially in the last couple of years, you're one of the go-to people as far as AI and things like that, now me, I'm a little bit behind. I use even on this podcast, we use AI to generate title options and transcripts and things like that, but I would say I'm not one of those full force ahead like, hey, ai is going to replace hours and hours of work. I haven't really adopted it to that effect. So, the typical Amazon seller what are some things that you don't have to be a seven, eight, nine figure seller but just like any Amazon seller if they have not started utilizing AI to help them in their operations or business? What are? Let's take it to that spectrum first. What are some things that you think that any Amazon seller could benefit by utilizing AI? Ritu: Yeah, there's so much. Actually, the magic happens when you start combining things. So AI by itself may not be the be all and all of things, because it's not going to operate in a silo. You've got to combine it with other pieces of data that you have access to. For example, just this morning I was preparing for a new product launch for one of our clients and I'd got all my data from Helium 10. I was at the stage where I have to come up with some keywords for broad match campaigns. I wanted to make sure that all the right keywords are in there, not just the long tail ones with high search volume, but I wanted to make sure that I'm capturing all the seed combinations of important words that make sense. So what I did was I exported the Helium 10 cerebral analysis and I fed it to chat GPT and asked it to come up with two words and three word combinations of seed keywords that would perfectly describe this product. Now what I'm going to do next with that is basically convert that into broad match modifiers, which basically means you add a plus sign in front of all the seeds and then I'm going to create campaigns with it. So that's something that I do at every launch. I generally don't skip that step. It's an important one for me. So, in addition to all the long tail keywords, I will come up with enough seed words that will run at a slightly lower bid but will be like a discovery campaign for me through the broad match modifier channel. So that's kind of one thing that I do. Ritu: Then, like yesterday, I was doing another one for another client, where we have a list of keywords that we discovered from the search query performance report, which is kind of this new, very valuable piece of data that Amazon is giving us these days. So from there I was able to come up with a structure for sponsored brand headline ads and I didn't have to do the work. I just fed that entire list to chat GPT and said, hey, organize this into groups of very related words and then give me a headline ad which is less than 50 characters, because that's the amount Amazon will give us. And then it did that for me. I also gave it one other important instruction, which is to make sure that one of the keywords or a very close variant of that keyword in the group must be included in the title, and that's basically my way of saying, hey, I want this to be a lower funnel ad, not a generic kind of upper funnel ad, because my sponsored brand ads tend to be more focused on ROAS rather than brand discovery and brand awareness. So those are some of the ways that I'm using it almost on a daily basis. I had switched to chat GPT plus a long time ago. I've been paying for it and it's totally worth it. Bradley Sutton: So there's how much is it for somebody to subscribe to? Ritu: that it's about $20 a month. It's not much at all, yeah, it's just $20. And what it gives you is all the beta features, all the new stuff. So right now you can actually upload files very easily. You can upload any kind of file to almost any kind of file to chat GPT and then ask it to analyze, analyze the file and then you can ask it a bunch of questions. So it's just made life so much easier. And I mean I think sky is the limit with what you can do with AI. It's like I always, always feel like I'm not using it enough, even though I'm using it probably quite a bit more than a lot of people, but I still feel cautioned to use it more. Bradley Sutton: Okay, interesting, interesting. So there's some of the ways that you can use it in PPC. Now I remember you presented something. I've seen you speak, you know, various times, but I don't remember which event, this or what it was. That might have been a billion dollars, but where were you doing? You were doing like translation, using like Helium 10 because, like you were doing research, you weren't translating the English keywords. That's obviously a big mistake that some sellers make. Hey, I've got my Amazon USA listing, let me just translate it. Or let me just translate the keywords. No, you need to do the research in that marketplace. So you switch Helium 10 to Amazon Germany, for example, but if you're not a German speaker, you just see all this Deutsch keywords and you don't really know what it means. Or so they're doing it in Amazon Japan and they don't speak Japanese like you, so they might not know. So what's your? I'm not sure if it was AI or just something in Google you were doing to kind of like make that process a little bit easier. Ritu: Yeah. So what we've done is we have integrated chat GPD right into Google Sheets, and we had to write a little bit of code for that. But once we did that, what's happened is that we have these ready to go sheets where we simply change the prompt and add a bunch of keywords and then it will just translate into whatever language, right? So? And I've noticed that any translation done by chat GPD is way better than Google Translate and I've tested it, especially in Japanese, because I can read it. I know that the quality is much better. Ritu: Just to give you an example chat GPD will use the right combinations of Kanji and Hiragana, whereas Google Translate will not. It just doesn't do a great job. And if I tell chat GPD to give me a translation in all four different scripts, that's, kanji as well as Hiragana, Katakana and the Roma G, it will give all those to me. It's a no-brainer to use chat GPD for that sort of thing rather than Google Translate and then other languages as well. Like we're just onboarding this client that has four markets and we have no speakers of those languages on our team. But with chat GPD, we can simply include that into our SOPs, into our workflows and just use those sheets to kind of get the final product out. So it's really great the combination of Helium 10 and chat GPD workflows. They work really well for us. Bradley Sutton: Okay, cool. Now going back a little bit, just remember you were talking about broad match modifiers. There might be people out there who don't know what that means. Can you explain that a little bit? Ritu: Yeah, yeah. So a broad match modifier is a type of broad match, so when you're setting your add up, it'll still be a broad match. However, by simply adding a plus sign before every part of the keyword which means if it's a two word keyword, then both the parts will have a plus sign in front of them what you're gonna ensure is that the buyer search must include those words in exactly that format in order for that match to happen. So this eliminates any kind of kind of synonyms or related words that Amazon might try to kind of connect to, which you don't think need to be there. So at this point, amazon is even replacing exact matches with weird sort of words that it thinks are similar. So we don't want that, because we've done all of the research to find out which exact version of that keyword is giving us the highest search volume, so we wanna stick to it. Ritu: In order to make that happen, we're actually finding ourselves doing more and more work with broad match modifiers, because all the other match types are being weird anymore. Like exact matches are not behaving like exact matches. Same thing with phrase match and broad match anyway, always was a bit too broad and it was always kind of giving you all kinds of weird matches for sponsored brands, but then it started doing the same thing for sponsored products as well, and that makes it a little challenging. It can be wasteful. So yeah, broad match modifiers is a great way of making sure that your matches are clean and that they don't bring in kind of extraneous, superfluous words that you shouldn't be targeting. Bradley Sutton: Do you use that 100% of the time when you have a broad campaign? Ritu: So you always have if it's a three word phrase. Bradley Sutton: You'll put the plus in between each of the. Ritu: Yes, 100% of the time. We've been doing it for the past two years and we actually future proved ourselves because we knew this was coming. It's kind of like Amazon always follows Google. So we knew this was coming because Google introduced broad match modifiers first. Now they've already sunset it. So I don't know where this is gonna end up for Amazon, because what I've heard and I don't wanna just speculate, but what I've heard people say is that Amazon might be moving toward a future where there aren't any match types. There's only a word, there's only a keyword, and then it figures out how to match it the best way. Now it's plausible, especially in this AI world. It's plausible that that might happen. But in the interim, I'm betting on broad match modifiers and exact match. Of course, can't do much about the fact that Amazon isn't treating exact matches the way they ought to be treated, but that's the best we have right now. Bradley Sutton: So what would the difference be between using broad, doing broad target with modifiers compared to phrase for the same, the same, you know, like coffin shelf, like. So if I do coffin plus shelf in broad or coffin shelf in phrase, what's the difference in the potential? You know showings of that keyword. Ritu: Yeah, no, I think the showings of that keyword might totally depend on the bids and they might also depend on relevancy. So it's very hard to predict which of the three match types are gonna win. You know that's been a struggle. I mean you can't really say if you put coffin, what was it? Again coffin shelf. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, coffin shelf. Ritu: Yeah, if you say coffin shelf broad coffin shelf phrase and say coffin shelf exact, what we would want it to do and what would be logical is that if I had a higher bid for exact match, then you know all the searches should come in match through exact match. But that's not always the case. You know, we've seen so much variability there. It also depends on which campaign, you know, starts out those keywords and then each campaign has its own story, its own history. Because let's say, you combine that keyword with a bunch of other keywords and let's say those other keywords got a majority of the early data points, like it started hitting some other words coffin longtail words Before it hit your coffin shelf word, then what happens is that this word starts getting starved of impressions, the other words start to take dominance and these words that get starved of impression give you the false impression that they're not working, whereas it's just a matter of how things started off, like what were the set of searches on that day, on that very moment that Amazon decided to match? Ritu: And then it's going to just take its cues from whatever little data it has in the beginning, because that's all it has to play off of, and then it just keeps giving more and more and more impressions to the early data points and everything else just gets ignored, you know. So it's like a game Like PPC is a game that you know you've got to be able, you've got to be willing to keep playing, trying different things, different ways, moving things, you know, trying it in a different match type, in a different campaign, restarting, stopping, all of that you know. Bradley Sutton: Okay now you know like, for example, if I just do you know, going to this same example, you know coffin shelf, no modifier and broad. You know, yeah, nowadays you know something crazy can come up with, like, you know, spooky decor.You know, potentially it could even come up not even including the word, but ones that are traditional, would be like, you know, coffin shelves for men, coffin shelves for women, but then also it could be coffin shaped shelf, like it could insert a word, or shelf shape like a coffin. You know, like changing the order, but if I put that modifier in there, does that force it, in your experience, to be only longer tail, like it's coffin shelf has to be in there as a phrase and then it's only putting words at the beginning or the end, or still. It could switch it up a little bit. Ritu: Yeah, it will switch it up. So coffin shelf could be shelf coffin even. As long as the word shelf and the word coffin both exist in the match, it will match. Yeah. Bradley Sutton: Okay, going back to Helium 10, now I was looking at, I did it. I still haven't seen your replay of your presentation you did for Helium 10 Elite a few months back. But I was looking at your slides and there was something that you were talking about magnet and seed keywords and just by looking at the slide I couldn't tell what the strategy was. So can you explain what are you doing? I'm not sure if this has to do with chat, gpt or, but just how are you using magnet in a unique way? Ritu: Yeah, so what I do is basically I start off my keyword research by looking at audiences, like who is the right target audience for a product, right? So that's my first step. Now the audience list will help me figure out what words these people use. So if it's a garlic press and let's say there's five different types of people, there could be just regular straight up chefs, there could be restaurant owners, there could be whatever. So there's like five or six different types of people who might use a garlic press. Ritu: Now I ask ChatGPT to tell me all the words that these audiences or avatars are likely to use when they search on Amazon. So I'm actually starting from a suggestion of a seed keyword. That's my starting point, and then I use those seed keywords that chat GPT generates to go and dump that into magnet. And then I use the expand option the second one, not the first one and that basically gives me all of the keywords and their search volumes, and that's what I need Basically. Ritu: I wanna kind of run it by search volume information to figure out if it is really a word that I should be going after. Now I don't always come up with those words, probably because the search volume is too low, in which case I don't need to worry about it, but I can still use that information as broad match modifiers to just generate some sort of discovery. So like, for example, eco-friendly. I don't know if there's any sort of garlic press that's eco-friendly, but let's say someone in that audience wants an eco-friendly garlic press made out of bamboo or whatever. I will still create broad match modifiers that have those important words in that combination so that I can at least start to do some keyword research through an ad rather than through existing search volume data. Bradley Sutton: Okay, cool, switching gears from keywords now to images. I know you've talked about mid-jurdy Canva. Have you played around at all with the new Amazon one that they made kind of for sponsored brands? And then, if so, what's your results? I've had very different, like some of it are absolutely terrible, but then I know that part of it's because I don't really know how to prompt them. I'm not very good at prompting, but what's your experience with the new Amazon AI image generator for sponsored brand ads? Ritu: Yeah, I mean it's not bad for someone who's really struggling with image creation in general, but it's not really usable for every case right? In some cases, it's gonna be hard to come up with the perfect background for your image. The other trouble I have with it is that the product image is too small on the canvas, and that's not how I like my sponsored brand headline ads Generally. This is a tip actually for our listeners when you create a sponsored brand lifestyle photo, the biggest mistake people make is that they fully capture the lifestyle setting in which that product is being used, but then the product itself is so tiny. That's a big mistake. That shouldn't be the way right. The way to do it is to have the product front and center. It has to be blown up right in the middle and then you could maybe suggest what the background is. You might just use suggestive creatives rather than have it in absolute terms. It's being used in the setting that it's being suggested, so for that reason I generally like to request for zoomed in, highly close up type of images so that we can have better conversion rates. Ritu: And there's a story that I just wanna share here real quick. We had one client with a dog product and the product was being used on a dog that was sitting in the lap of a woman on a sofa, and then there's a living room in the background so you can imagine the size of the product. It's like so small you can't see it right. So then what we said to this client was give us a zoomed in image. So then they zoomed right in, so all we see now is the pop and we see the product. Right. So it completely changed the metrics for that ad and then we started using that particular image for many other of their sponsored brand headline ads, and then the rest is history. Ritu: They really started growing after that. But the point is that close up images are more important than pretty images, right? So pretty images anyone can create pretty images. You wanna make them highly converting images and for that reason I might not use the Amazon's AI generated images right away, unless they become better, unless they can kind of keep the product as the hero it needs to be, front and center. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out any prompt that can help me get to that stage, but I'll keep testing. I'm not sure yet. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, so then what outside of Amazon? Then, like I said, I know you're using like mid journey, which is another one that's not too expensive it isn't like 10 bucks a month or something like that to use mid journey, or yeah. So then what if somebody is like all right, you told us what some basic stuff that people how chat GPT for 20 bucks a month can help Amazon sellers. What is something that Amazon sellers of any level can use mid journey for? That's kind of simple and definitely adds value. Ritu: Yeah, I think mid journey is definitely the leader and if you can learn to use it, there's nothing like it yet. But even straight up, chat GPT is now getting pretty good with images, so you can describe whatever you want and then it is connected to dolly in the back and then it generates those images and gives them back to you right in your chat GPT prompt, right. So if you have the paid version, then you can start testing that as well. Bradley Sutton: Okay, so let's say I've got all right, I've got a pretty nice image. You know, maybe it's a white background image or something of my product. Would the first thing I should do with experimenting with AI and mid-journey and things? Would it be making an infographic? Would it be trying to make a lifestyle? Like I remember in the early days of AI, like you could never put a human being in there because they would have like 17 fingers and just crazy faces and stuff like that. But like what should I do then? What kind of images? Or is it not really don't use it for your main images, but use it for, like, the sponsored brand and sponsor display, things like that? Ritu: Yeah, so okay, I think we need to think of images as layers, just like we think of layers in Photoshop. Right, there's layers like a background layer. So if you want just the ambience, the mood, the background, you generate that layer independent of anything else. That's one way of going about it. And then you layer in your product. You have your kind of no background product. Then you can always place it right in the middle, do those sorts of things. So it would probably be a two or three step process where you think of each layer separately, even the humans. You could bring humans in from a different source. You can get humans from there, you can get your backdrop from somewhere else and then you can get your product from your own product images and put them together. That would probably give you the best results. Ritu: But if you tried to have mid-journey to all of that, you might experience some failures there or some surprises with, like you said, 17 fingers and stuff. Now, mid-journey, the latest versions of it are getting better and better, so it's very human-like and it doesn't appear awkward. The facial expressions aren't awkward anymore, so that's good news, just means that we're going in the right direction. It's only gonna get better from here. So I would think of layering as one concept, and then, of course, where you wanna apply it is another thing infographics. I don't think chat, gp or even mid-journey would be good for infographic other than just generating the background for it, because text it still doesn't do a good job with text. You'll have to use some of your other tools for text. So again, it's layering, combining tools and coming up with the concept. So yeah, those are some of the ways in which you can use images. Ritu: Now posts is another interesting one. A lot of people are using mid-journey for generating posts, and that's a good way of generating lots of posts content, because Amazon doesn't allow you to repeat an image twice. So what you can do is you can have Dali or even Canva. I've used Canva AI, which is different from Canva normal. I can explain the difference, but anyway. So Canva AI can generate based on your description of what kind of backgrounds you want, and then you just slap in your photo your kind of hero image on top of it and there you have your posts. It takes barely any time to create like 20 different posts and most people don't realize this, but posts are free advertising. I would highly recommend generating posts on a regular basis and take advantage of it. Bradley Sutton: I've seen them more in search results lately too. Ritu: Posts. Exactly, it's one of those widgets that comes up. Bradley Sutton: That never happened, like six months ago or something. But, now it's right there on page one, so it's important to do, I agree. Ritu: Yeah. Bradley Sutton: All right. So earlier you talked about search group performance. I love search group performance. My self is just like it's stuff that three, four years ago we would have. I would have bet a million dollars that Amazon would never release this kind of data to the public, and Amazon definitely has come a long way. What are some other ways that you're using search group performance, analyzing the data that Amazon gives? Ritu: Yeah, so search group performance. Like you said, it's unbelievable that Amazon is actually sharing this information out, so it's really up to us to take advantage of it as soon as possible. Almost feel like time is of essence here, because everybody's going to have access Everybody has access to that information. But right now most people are in the state of overwhelm. They're like, oh, I have this great data, but I don't know what to do with it. So most people are stuck at that stage. Ritu: But if you want to take the next step, then I would suggest start downloading those reports right away, because these things also get lost. Amazon discontinues things that you think they're going to be giving us forever and forever. For example, the brand analytics data that used to be I don't know millions of rows has certainly been compressed to just 10,000, and so on. So I mean there's a loss there that cannot be replaced. So I would say, number one start downloading your at least your monthly data at the ASIN level and then stitching all that data together, and by stitching I mean maybe putting it into a data warehouse. We use BigQuery in order to bring data in, and the way to stitch it is by making sure that your reports have some extra columns like the date column has to be there Then you have to make sure that you have the brand name in it and you want to make sure that your market is in this, so that when you stitch all that information together, then you can use a single report like a looker studio to dip into the data warehouse and you can basically use switch filters to switch between your different markets. So if you plan your data strategy well, then you will be able to use it more efficiently than just using it in a throwaway style, which most people do. Ritu: Most people go download a report, they look at it, they stare at it and they're like, ok, whatever Done, and it's thrown away. You don't want that. You want a system. You need an ecosystem for managing your data so that you can look at those from time to time. You get a month over month review. You get a month over month trend. You can see if anything has lost its search volume over time. It's so easy to check that at a search term level. Once you have stitched all that information together and is available in maybe something like a looker studio, how about something that's good? Bradley Sutton: it's important to understand the you know, like how to get started and not just like, all right, let me. Let me just look at search career performance or this data, just, you know, in the UI on on Amazon. But then what's the next step? Now I've got everything in my data warehouse and stuff like, for example, me. One of the things I like to look at in search career performance is comparing the conversion rate by the keyword for for just the overall niche, compared to my own. You know my own conversion rate. But you know, I think that's probably one of the most no brainer things. What are some other maybe not so common things that you're looking at when, when you get all of that data into your, your data warehouse, and start you know, start looking up stuff? Ritu: Yeah. So one of the things that I find really interesting is the average price per search term. So this is you know, amazon gives you the average price and that, basically, is a good indication of whether that search term is going for cheaper products or is it going for slightly more expensive products. Just to give you an example, let's say you have the word lotion right Now. You have a $50 lotion by L'Oreal, maybe, and you have a $5 drugstore brand Same thing, selling lotion. But if you're going after, if you're looking at the search term lotion, whatever, daily lotion or whatever and if you see that the average price for that search term is going at $6, let's say that's the average price of the product being sold. That is telling me that, no matter what I do to compete on that, on that search term, it's going to be hard because I'm going to be competing with lots and lots of cheaper brands. So we actually have filters on our search terms or search query reports, so that we only look at those searches that are in the ballpark of our products price point. That basically eliminates a lot of the noise, because otherwise you might be led into thinking that gosh, this is a great keyword and then you spend lots of money on it and ends up being a high cost scenario. You don't want that. So you look at both of the things one that you mentioned, which is what we call strength, keyword strength, which is determined as a ratio of purchase share and impression share. If you can get that ratio to be above one, then that's a good keyword. That is strong, inherently strong, because you're winning more of the purchase share than you're winning of the market, which basically puts it in a good spot. Ritu: And then the second one would be the filter on price. The third filter I would put is search volume, because, again, we don't want noisy, insignificant terms to distract us. And I think the fourth filter I would put there is data sufficiency, like how many sales have you had for that keyword over that period of time? So yeah, those would be the four filters to kind of get everything else out. And then, yeah, I mean that would be our way of figuring out which search terms are good. Then the other use cases of that would be to stitch that data with your ad data. So when you stitch those two together you can find gaps in a systematic sort of way, not just like a one off, throw away kind of way, where it's always being merged and it's always coming together and you can always see these are the ones that I'm not advertising yet. And then, yeah, I think those were the two main ones. Ritu: The third, slightly more advanced one, is when you want to figure out if a search term is good for product A, product B, product C, product D off your catalog because they might be sharing those keywords. Then you can see relative strength across your different products and see where you want to channel your information. Now that comes with the caveat, and that caveat is that there's a very high halo sales ratio on Amazon, which means you might be directing traffic to one of your product variations and something else is actually getting picked up eventually. So you need to know all of the. You need to know all those pieces in order to make the right decision and essentially in terms of using your, your traffic source as a fire hose, literally, and saying, okay, I want to direct it to this product and not to this product. Unless you know what the halo sales are, you could be off. Bradley Sutton: Yeah. Yeah, well really great stuff. Now, before we get into your last strategy you know, maybe it could be a PPC strategy, since that's your specialty how can people reach out to you if they, you know? How can they find you on the interwebs if they want to? You know, get some help with some of the stuff that you've been talking about today. Ritu: Yeah, absolutely so. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm pretty active there, so just look up my full name, Ritu Java, and you should be able to find me there and just say hi and I'll be happy to help. Yeah, and other ways, you can just reach out to our website, ppcninja.com or anywhere else. You see me. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome. Now we have some of we do on our show. We call it TST. That's the 30 second tip. So you know you've been giving us lots of great tips and strategies, but what's like a hard hitting one you can give us in 30 seconds or 60 seconds or less. I'm not going to cut you off, go ahead. Ritu: So I think that you know we're all sitting on tons and tons of data and we don't know how to use it. I would suggest start thinking of strategies to use your data by connecting them up. Every piece of data that we get from Amazon or other sources, whether it's keyword rank tracking or search volume data, or your ads data or organic data. Also, you know competitor data and stuff like that. It's in different locations, it's hiding behind wall gardens and stuff like that. Ritu: You want to figure out a system to bring it all together, and I would recommend using a data warehousing strategy to start bringing everything together so that you can start looking at it holistically. So I would recommend start to think of simple ways in which you can convert your snapshot data into time series. That that would be my advice, and time series is basically for people who don't understand that. It's basically assigning dates to all your downloads. If you're downloading a business report, make sure you add a column and put the date there so that that becomes a way of identifying when that event happened. When you're connecting so many pieces of data together. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, Awesome Well thank you very much. Thank you so much for your time. Ritu: Than you so much Bradley. Bradley Sutton: This was really awesome, awesome and we'll definitely be having you back on the show sometime next year to get your latest strategies. Ritu: Awesome, we'll look forward to that. Take care, Bradley, have a good one.  

Today, we've got a heavyweight in the eCommerce industry - the legend himself, Kevin King.Kevin's journey in the world of direct marketing and eCommerce dates all the way back to 1989. Yeah, you heard that right! He's been an integral part of the game since before it became the powerhouse it is today.One of the pioneers in the Amazon marketplace, Kevin's got a wealth of experience and a knack for staying ahead of the curve.Kevin is not just a seller; he's an educator. He's the brains behind the Billion Dollar Sellers Newsletter, delivering insights that have propelled countless sellers to success. And also the mastermind behind the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.And if that's not impressive enough, he's the man behind the number one course for Amazon sellers - Freedom Ticket. With over 160,000 students under his wing, it's safe to say he knows a thing or two about navigating the complexities of the eCommerce world.In today's episode, we'll explore how he's seen the industry transform over the years and what he envisions for the future of eCommerce.We'll unravel the secrets behind successful selling strategies and get a glimpse into the mind of a true industry innovator.So, buckle up for an insightful ride with Kevin King. It's time to learn from the best and stay ahead of the curve. Stay tuned!Key Takeaways - Intro (00:00)- Kevin's entrepreneurial journey (02:45)- First eCommerce ventures (15:44)- Owning the customer and your own distribution channels (21:33)- Getting started with Amazon (23:36)- Advice for people getting into eCommerce (27:05)- The key to maintaining a high margin (35:16)- Best performing marketing tools (39:04)- The power of a newsletter (42:46)- Why we should pay attention to TikTok (51:03)Additional Resources:- Billion Dollar Sellers Newsletter: https://www.billiondollarsellers.com/----- Schedule a FREE consultation with the Ave7 team- Grab the FREE Amazon Seller Central Checklist- Get the book “The Amazon Jungle” book by Jason Boyce- Learn more about Avenue7Media----Day 2 Podcast has a goal of helping Amazon sellers learn how to launch, grow, and protect their brand on the world's largest online marketplace (and beyond).Follow us on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode!

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with an Amazon mentor, Kevin King! We discuss Mastering Amazon FBA in 2023. Find out the tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday/ Q4. Our guest organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.   This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro   Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post purchase marketing. Finally your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset.   For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club   Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.   For more information visit https://Startup.club   This episode is brought to you by VAA Philippines   VAA offers Amazon sellers access to high-quality and reliable virtual assistants from the Philippines. VAA invests in their virtual assistants through a thorough screening process, intensive Amazon training, ongoing professional development and support. Hiring through VAA gives Amazon sellers peace of mind with a dedicated, skilled and motivated virtual assistant who is committed to a long-term working relationship. The company's founders have a deep understanding of the Amazon marketplace and ensure that their virtual assistants are always up-to-date with the latest tools and trends.   For more information visit https://www.vaaphilippines.com   This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics   Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice.   Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan.   For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   In this episode, an Amazon mentor, Kevin King, is here. Today, we discussed Mastering Amazon FBA in 2023. He organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, VAA Philippines, Post Purchase Pro, Seller Basics, and HONU Worldwide..   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

In episode 502 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Swapneel discuss: 00:00 - Selling on Amazon And Scaling Rapidly 14:18 - Product Launch Strategies and International Market Approaches 12:47 - Scaling a Multimillion-Dollar Business Solo 17:52 - Product Research and Potential Products 20:39 - Issues With Suppliers and Product Lifespan 23:42 - Product Launch and Maintenance Strategies 34:40 - What's Next For Swapneel? 38:52 - Swapneel's 60-Second Tip ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got a very unique seller. He sold over $10 million over the last couple of years, has 60 products in over 10 marketplaces and launches a new product every month. Guess how many employees he has? Zero. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Black Box by Helium 10 houses the largest database of Amazon products and keywords in the world. Outside of Amazon itself. We have over 2 billion products and many millions more keywords from different Amazon marketplaces, from USA to Australia to Germany and more. Use our powerful filters to search through this database for pockets of opportunity that you might want to get into with your first or next product to sell on Amazon. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash black box. Don't forget you can save 10% off for life on Helium 10 by using our special code SSP10. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world and from the other side of the world. We've got a serious seller here that is joining us for the first time in the show. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself, since it's your first time on the show. Swapneel: Hi, my name is Swapneel and I'm from India. Been selling on Amazon from the year 2014 and, as a full term, from last four years. Bradley Sutton: So yeah, were you born and raised in India? Swapneel: Yeah. What part Rajasthan, Jodhpur. Bradley Sutton: Okay, all right. And have you lived all your life there or have you moved around at all? Swapneel: Yeah, so when I was like 19 years old I went to New Delhi like for my university for five years and then right now I'm like kind of digital nominate, so I don't really live here anymore, but just maybe like two, three months a year just to visit my family, because my family still live here. Bradley Sutton: Okay. Well, what did you go to a university for? Swapneel: I did law so. Bradley Sutton: I wanted to be a lawyer. Swapneel: Yeah, so I did law for five years and I specialized in intellectual property rights. Bradley Sutton: How does one go from five years studying law and then all of a sudden, e-commerce? Not a natural transition there? Swapneel: No, I was doing part time, like other than focusing at university. I was working as well All my university years. Any commerce yes, I was selling on Amazon from 2014. And yeah, so, and I did. Well, how did that? Bradley Sutton: happen, though, because that's still not typical. It's not like okay, yeah, during the day I'm going to study law, during the night I'm going to sell on Amazon. I mean like especially in 2014, when hardly anybody was doing it, so how did Amazon even get on your radar? Swapneel: So, even before Amazon, I was doing a lot of other platforms like eBay, and there are some other local marketplaces like traders shop clothes, so, and you know, in 2013, amazon entered in India, but in 2014, they opened for everyone, and I knew that Amazon is a really big e-commerce company and I should be there and yeah. So, but, like, even before I went to university, I was making, you know, some money like some, doing some other stuff like flipping goods from online to offline. Bradley Sutton: So, like you've always been like kind of like I had an entrepreneurial mindset in one of those early age. You trying to make some action, okay, now it's making a little bit more, a little bit more sense, okay. And then things started getting bigger so that when you graduated from university, did you just go full time into into e-commerce then yeah. Swapneel: So that that time, like for me the money was pretty big motivation thing. So in my first year of the university I wasn't sure how much I would be making as a lawyer. But on the second and third year I got to know from my seniors like what is the actual situation and I realized that man like I need to put like at least 10 years in law if I really want to make some serious money in this field. Bradley Sutton: Now back in 2014,. I'm assuming you were selling an Amazon USA. Swapneel: No, I just did in India. That's where Amazon. Bradley Sutton: India was active in 2014. Yes, yes, I didn't even know that. Okay. Swapneel: Interesting, yeah, but it was very new. It was really new they didn't do reselling or private label. Yeah, so I was just doing reselling. I used to buy a lot of stuff from USA, mainly from Amazon.com, and then selling in Amazon India. Yeah, Interesting. Bradley Sutton: Okay, yeah, at what year did you first hit the seven figures? Swapneel: The 2021, yes. Bradley Sutton: 2021  okay, and at that point were you one hundred percent private label or were you still doing like some reselling and things? Swapneel: I was doing both and like I feel like so, in 2020 I launched a lot of private label products. During all the, like you know, doing the first lockdown, I was just focusing on all the products launches I will be making, doing product research and my first product has really contributed a lot for my private label journey, like I started with one product and then just my. Bradley Sutton: You're still selling that product now. Swapneel: Not anymore, because the demand is okay. Bradley Sutton: Can you tell us? Swapneel: what it is, then, yeah, sure. Bradley Sutton: I can show. Go ahead and send me the link over in the chat and let me pull it up on my screen. Let's see here. Okay, I see what this is, so let's pull it up here so everybody else can see. There we go, all right. So this is like a, like a USB capture card I'm looking at here. And how did you find this Like? How did you even decide that this was going to be your product? You just got it randomly, or? Swapneel: what. So for me, like one of the criteria to search the product is checking the new launches of my competitor or and see like if I can have that same product in a very less turn around and can enjoy the party. So that's what's my like, I mainly do. And during that time I saw like a lot of people were seeing selling this product but they were doing MFF, like they were not doing full fill by Amazon and like, even though the product demand was there, but they were, I don't know why they didn't did FPA. And I knew one thing like as soon as I will do this FPA, the product doesn't have any. Like you know, any of my computer doesn't have a lot of reviews and if I will do full fill by Amazon, then I can, you know, sell a lot of goods as well. So how many? Bradley Sutton: how many at the peak? Like? How many units of this were you selling a month or a day? Swapneel: I was selling like I was selling like a month I was selling more than 1500 units in India. Bradley Sutton: Wow, wow In Amazon India. And yeah, okay. All right so then you're like, okay, wow, yeah, this is definitely better than reselling, or I have to get a little bit and stuff you could just Well. Did you manufi, did you get it from China, or did you get it from there in India? Swapneel: Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, I got through some of the suppliers in China. Yeah, but the best thing about this product is not just selling, but the margin I had. So I was buying this product like for $5 and was selling for like this product for around $40. Bradley Sutton: Wow, very nice. Yeah especially in India you're still living in India that the money goes even farther. Swapneel: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Bradley Sutton: How long until you bought your parents a house? Swapneel: So I bought the like. You know, as soon as my business started picking up in doing COVID, my family was already super excited. So they already finalized, you know, like don't worry about being a lawyer anymore. Bradley Sutton: No, forget that you know like, hey, this Amazon is good, huh, okay. Swapneel: Yeah, but that you know definitely I was in a bit of stress situation. It's a really big thing, you know so, but that stress really motivated me to push myself further and focusing every small details of my finance, my product. So, yeah, I was a stress, but at the same time I was able to, you know, do better in those situations. Bradley Sutton: So 2021 hit that $1 million mark. How much did you sell last year in 2022? Swapneel: I did $5.4 million. Bradley Sutton: I mean, getting to $1 million is impressive enough. How did you go from $1 million to $5 million just in one year? We're just launching tons of products, or you had some products go viral Were you launching to other marketplaces. How did you increase so fast? Swapneel: So, like I was doing some international markets before in and out, like you know, kind of drop shipping back in 2018 in UK and some EU market also in USA but it was not, like you know, full time or doing throughout the year. Sometimes my accounts were also suspended because of drop shipping. But back in 2021, I started again focusing on the international markets, but still was not doing like a full-fledged business. And back in like 2022, I expanded my business in a very serious manner, like in whole of EU UK, Canada, USA. I know everything how to do an average because I had a lot of experience. And also in 2020, I did my business in Austria as well. So that has really helped me a lot. You know, like provided me enough money to expand in those other markets. Yeah, so that was one of the things like really helped me. And like I was just using my suppliers, which I'm already using in India, and I know that, whatever I would be selling the same product in USA, I would be doing 10X more at least. So that has changed a lot. And also my negotiation skills really helped me because a lot of my suppliers started giving me credit and I utilized those that credit in a very efficient manner like, yeah, you get loan and if you just spend on yourself, then it's not a good idea, but if you utilize pretty well in the business, then definitely it helps. So that's what helped me in 2022. Okay, All right. Bradley Sutton: Now it's coming up. We're now here in Q4 in 2023. Are you going to do better than last year? Same Worse. What do you think you're going to end up with this year? Swapneel: So this year it would be exactly the same what I did last year, because the situation has changed a lot this year. Firstly, I'm traveling whole of this year and it's just maybe like 40-50 days. That was in India. Other than that, I was traveling full time. I was just came, like three, four days ago, from like a four month of trip. I was in North and South America. So this year I was like pretty relaxed and also a lot of things happened at Amazon as well. So Amazon is, I think, are really not smooth at Amazon, so trying to fix those things as well, all right, so now you've got this five months, you've got this five, six million dollar business. Bradley Sutton: You're traveling, enjoying yourself, not working like 100 hours a week, so you must have 20 employees supporting you, huh. Swapneel: Oh, not at all. Bradley Sutton: How many total employees have you had the last few years? Swapneel: So in India I just had one accountant and one person who manages, and then there is one guy from at Veros. That's it in India. But I never had any employee anywhere else, even though my Indian business is not even like 7%. If I compare to my last year's sales revenue, my Indian business was just 7%, but for the rest 93% revenue, I never had any employee. So for your Amazon. Bradley Sutton: USA business and in Europe you have zero employees, just you. Swapneel: Yes, yes. Bradley Sutton: Well. So I mean, people listening to this might ask a question well, like, maybe that makes sense. You know, like if you're working like 90 hours a week and have no life and just stay in your basement and work all day, but how in the world do you scale a business so much? And you're the one who has to answer the customer service, you're the one who has to find a line of their products, you're the one who has to do the keyword research, you're the one who has to make the listing, you're the one who has to fight with Amazon if customer support, if something happens, how in the world can you run a five, six million dollar business just by yourself and not even working really full time? Swapneel: So the one of the best thing with Amazon is their FPModels. So a lot of customers, don't you know, reach out to you if they have any issues with the delivery and all the stuff, and that is one of the reasons why customers, you know, contact to the seller at first place, other than the warranty and all the stuff. And also I was doing a lot of reselling as well in US market, so the brand has to take care of those stuff. So a lot of time was saved for sure, yeah, so, and I had really good partners, for example, with the Logistic thing. I have a really nice shipping agent and that really, like you know, eases my work a lot, just sending the details of the labels and everything and just telling you where to ship which market. They take care of everything. So for me, the main goal was just to, like you know what I can do to improve my revenue, and also sometimes I used to use some freelancers if I was not really good with something. So, yeah, that's it. Bradley Sutton: So how many marketplaces now are you in? So right now I'm in USA, Canada, UK, whole of the EU, UAE, Japan, Australia, India, but more than 10 marketplaces, probably, and are you selling the same products across the board, or, like, some products are only sold in EU, or some products only in USA? Swapneel: Each market is different. For example, in India I can sell mostly a lot of products, but not very high end products and which are technical. Each country the situation is really different. Sometimes there is a really low like maybe a local company who is doing really good and have a lot of reviews, and maybe you don't have any kind of competitive advantage, even though I will try or push, try to push. So for me it's more like market specific strategies, because not all markets are same and every market is completely different. Bradley Sutton: Okay, now what's your, what's your process? Like, how many products are you launching or actually until now active? Approximately how many skews, different skews, you know, like if you're selling the same one product in USA and Canada and Europe, just count that as one. But just roughly, like you know, 20 skews in all marketplaces, 100, 300, like roughly. What do you think? Swapneel: So, like beginning of this year, I was also doing a lot of reselling, but now I'm not doing business with one of the company I used to do and that has definitely contributed a lot to my last year's venue. But things have changed. Bradley Sutton: So private label. Then how, yeah, how many skews are you doing? Swapneel: So currently I'm launching like every month at least one new product in private label and so and some I also take off the old you know, which are not really performing really nice and not what my efforts or the you know margin is shrinking a lot, so I just cut off, you know, those products. So right now maybe like 60, 70 products 60 or 70 products. Bradley Sutton: All right, walk me through. Have in mind your last product you launched. Like, when was the last product you launched this month? Last month? So have one product in mind. You have it in mind? Mm? Hmm, you got it in mind. Ready, yeah, yeah. Swapneel: Okay. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, Now was it July that you launched it. Swapneel: Yeah, oh. Bradley Sutton: I guess that one product you have in mind. What month did you discover it, or what month are you like? All right, this is what I'm going to plan to launch. You know we talking January last year. You know what was it? Spring when was it? Swapneel: So in April and May I was in China and I was looking around some products and then I found some product which is doing good in the US market and I contacted some suppliers. When I was in China I visited the factory. So it was in May, in the month of May. Bradley Sutton: But which came first. You found the product, or, like you found the idea in China, or you had done some research when you were still in the USA and then went to China. Which one was first? Swapneel: Sometimes, you know, because of some advertisement or anything if I find I just keep on. Like you know, at least every day when I'm doing product research I spend at least one hour on Amazon just browsing and doing really nothing, checking what's going on and if I can add something value on that product. So then I just found one product and I was doing more and more research and then seeing like I do check, like you know, if any product is launched recently and the rank is going crazy, it means this product could be a potential. So this is one of the reasons. And then to validate, I check the data how much volume it says in a month and other than that. Bradley Sutton: What are you looking for? Like are you checking how many do you have, like a limit? Like oh no, there's already 30 people selling this, so it's too late. Or like what's your what are some criteria? Is that you're looking for when you're doing your validation? Swapneel: So I check if this product is a really advanced, then how the product you know like before generation did, for example, like which was not that innovative enough. It was a basic product, but how much that product was doing, how much is the reviews for that product. Is a really really established and do I have chances of getting success or not? So I do check all these things and I also do the search result how much is a search volume for this particular product? And to check whether this product is seasonal or not. Bradley Sutton: So okay, so, so then you did all that with this product, and then your next step was you actually went to China to like check some suppliers for it, or what was the next step after you're like you know what, this looks really good, it passes my test. What was the next step for you? Swapneel: So I was already in China during those time in April and May and I felt like visiting the factories and you know it's a really good idea rather than just chatting them. I visited factory and I did all the customization with them and, yeah, so ordered like I can also negotiate better. For example, they gave me a price for 10,000 units but I said, hey, it's a new launch and you know, then I try to get the same price for like maybe four, five thousand units and at the same time I make sure that if this product is not really doing good or it's very new in already UK or the U market, then I make sure that I launch the same product in all across the market places all at once. Bradley Sutton: So this one product that you launched in July, the one that you have in mind was that only for USA, or was that one that you had launched in other places? Swapneel: Yeah, at the same time I was launching UK and U for that product it was Enslafrom. Bradley Sutton: On the subject of suppliers, have you ever had issue with your suppliers where they sell your product to other people? Swapneel: Oh, A lot of suppliers do that a lot of if not that, then how do you handle that? That is one of the reason, like why a lot of my products don't have a long life long life in case. Like you know, like people do a lot of drop shipping like tick tock products and Instagram, really, you may see so most of my products are also related to that as well. Not all, but at least 30% of the product. So I sell it. The trend is going on and, yes, then eventually the trend dies, or so it's not like I can sell the same product for another 10 years as well. Bradley Sutton: Interesting. Yeah, so you. So you don't get really emotionally attached to the product because you know that. You know, like now are all these products you're launching similar brands, or or you always starting just different, random brands. Swapneel: So I have some products, specific brands, and some brands are just used for any miscellaneous products. Bradley Sutton: Okay, all right. So then, this product. You were there in April and May. You happen to be in China. You were browsing Amazon. You found it. You found a new supplier for it, got it ready, 4,000, 5,000 units, shipped to Europe and to US. What's your, what's your launch strategy? Like, like, like, how do you, how do you what some techniques use? Like, how are you getting to page one? Are you just using, you know, ppc? You have any special techniques that you can share? I? Swapneel: Use very basic first of all. Obviously, your product should have really nice photos, should classify why your product is better than any other product in the market. Bradley Sutton: How do you get nice photos? Do you have like a studio? Swapneel: You do business with or what. So I first will try to work directly with the supplier so that I don't have to spend a lot of money upfront For these photos, even because I'm not sure whether how the product will gonna do. And then, if I cannot get anything, then I try to look at fiber to find some people who can do for me, and Then also do the nice a plus content, make sure the bullet points are really good, everything this is a really basic thing to start with, and then, since I launch a lot of products and a lot of market, I Utilize one of the best tool of Amazon, that is, amazon wine, because that really help you. And If you will launch a product in a lot of market, then you get a lot of reviews as well, for example, in the US. Bradley Sutton: My view just oh and all the reviews are stacked together, then you be Like you get 20 vine reviews in USA, 20 vine reviews in UK in the same ascent. Now you've got 40 reviews instead of I mean, I'm sure many people do that, but you know, it's just kind of just dawned on me like that's a good, that's a good strategy to have and another reason why you should launch on the the same ascent, okay. And then you find the keywords from helium 10, like you use Cerebro or what tool are using. Swapneel: So for me, because some of the products are really new in the market, there are no competitors as well, so it's really difficult to focus. You know which would be the keyword. So I just use Amazon automatic ads to check all the keywords which are performing and by or but. Maybe every week I try to optimize and seeing if some of the keywords are element, trying to put in the negative list, so, and trying to make sure that those keywords are on the product title bullet points. Yeah, yeah, to improve, to improve, so like just very basic, to like no things I use. And Once, like initially, you always get very good reviews because of the wine, because normally people don't put a lot of negative reviews, they leave mostly positive reviews. So you already got initial pull, you know, for your product. Yeah and Then it is totally depends upon the actual customers reviews. If the actual customers are Giving me good reviews, then I can be sure that this product is really doing good and Then I can have that as a long-term product as long as there is a sale for this product. And then I started improving more of my ASIN by putting videos, doing, you know, whatever things I can improve for this product, then putting some Warranty-related things, making sure the customer is always happy. Yeah, I feel like if you sit on Amazon, you should always align your values with what the values of Amazon are. Yeah, so I just make sure that and I take every detail of the customer to further improve the product as well, like checking voice, you know, a voice of customers. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, so now you know, thinking back then, from April, your product research phase to Negotiating, negotiating with suppliers, you know, getting samples and doing your customization, like you said, sending it to the marketplaces, creating the listing in the different marketplaces, managing those PPC campaigns in the first few weeks to launch that product that you launch in July, up until, let's just say, august. You know, so one month into the launch Approximately, how many hours do you think that you spent doing all those things? Swapneel: Oh, one of the so one of the most interesting time for me when I launch the product is the first sale. I look at the velocity of then another cell, how fast I can. I'm getting another cell. Then you know, checking the performance each day and whether it's improving or not. And, yeah, I closely check every detail during those time and for me, whenever it's my first launch, my goal is not to make profit at all and I will focus on that. Yeah, for me, the main focus is just to see how good is the product and how is the demand actually, because if your product reviews are good and you are early, more Than you can make money for years for sure for this just one product. Bradley Sutton: Okay so, but then how? Same question like the how long do you think you spent up until you know, after those first few weeks of spending a lot of time checking the sales? You know like, do you think it took you 50 hours from April to July or to August for that product? Was it 10 only, or or approximately? How long did, uh, did you actually put actual work into that product? I must say like maybe, yeah, for 30 hours at least okay, so about 30 hours of work for the one product, and then now, like, let's say, a product gets mature. You know, now you are making profit. Now it's kind of taking care of itself. Like how much time in a month do you spend on that product, would you say you know because I'm you know, you're probably having to do your ppc and, and you know, check reviews, customer service. Is it like one hour a month because you almost have nothing to do? Is it five hours a month for that one product? What would you say? Swapneel: so if the product is really doing good, then the first important thing is to make sure that I have stock for this product, sure? So I negotiate with the supplier and, you know, try to to make sure that I have stock, and then I'll look at the competitors if there is something innovating they are trying to do and if I can implement the same as well, you know, as soon as possible, maybe one of my suppliers putting some new product as a free or, you know, trying to value add, then I also make sure that I do some value addition as well, because, just because of this stuff, I don't want my product rank to go down yeah, so how long does it take? Bradley Sutton: you know, like, what is your maintenance phase for a product? For that, for that? We're talking about that same product, you know. Now you know it's October, that product you launch in July. Thank you, how much time are you spending on that product? Swapneel: so right now I felt that this product reviews are not really doing great and I'm not motivated enough right now to do further, even though even without advertisement right now I'm getting sales for those products. But if I'm trying, this is a low value product. So if I'm trying to invest a lot in the advertisement it's not really giving me a lot of fruitful results. So right now I'm like, okay, once this product is sold I will not start again, but then, but, but still. Bradley Sutton: How much time is it are you spending on so? Swapneel: every day. I always wait for the helium, then emailed about my performance, and it gives me all the units I sold in each of the market and that really give me a lot of idea. If something is going interesting, then I try to figure out why it's going like that. And, for example, yesterday I definitely checked on that product and I was saying like, okay, I'm getting sales, not doing anything. And then I checked the reviews are there any improvement in the reviews or is there a possibility of me I take that as a possibility if I can, you know, sell this product for a long time. But yeah, I see that I still have some stock left and the other variation is that really go good, I didn't have that, but I'm still wait and watch. Right now I'm not trying to buy something. You know more from us at first yeah, let's see. Bradley Sutton: So you think maybe less than one hour a month you spend on it now yeah, maybe two hours yeah, so so now we can, we're getting a little bit clearer picture of how you, you know scaled up and still can be by yourself. Is, you know, like, hey, maybe to find and and vet the product and and all the work to launch it only took you 30 or 40 hours, and now that it's in maintenance mode maybe you're only spending one or two hours, you know, per per product a month but, I remember you telling me you know that you're leaving money on the table, probably because you're not using, like, all of the tools, or you're not doing all of that, the analytics, since you're by yourself. But still, even with not doing everything that you could be doing, you're, you're, you're doing millions of dollars. And then what? What is your like profit margin, would you say, after your expenses for for your business? At least 15, 15, 20 percent so always want to make 15, 20 percent. If it dips lower then then you go ahead and cancel that product. Swapneel: If it goes less than 8%, then definitely not worth it at all. Bradley Sutton: Yeah. So what's the future hold for you? Are you just going to keep doing what you're doing, like this, and just do stuff by yourself, launch a product once a month and things like that and then put on maintenance mode, or are you going to like you know what? It's time that I need to start delegating some of my tasks and maybe take some employees on? What are you going to do next year, in 2024? Swapneel: So ever since I was at our BDSS event, that has completely transformed how I see things and how better I can do, and from that time on was obviously I was struggling, so not focusing a lot during all those months, but right now I'm just thinking like every day. Once in a while I have thought about the delegation and what all things I expect from someone, and I'm right now in phase of hiring people, because I know one thing that I can do a lot better what I'm doing right now If I have people. For example, I have a lot of products in Australia. They do really good for me, but I feel I'm so stupid that I'm not sending the inventory on time there. A lot of my products are mostly on outdoor stock and if some market is doing really good, then I don't focus a lot on the market which don't perform well. For example, my USA and UK and EU market do such so better especially Germany, UK and USA that I don't put a lot of efforts in Canada, Australia, Japan, India and also I feel it's really bad because I have all the resources, all the infrastructure. All I need to make sure is ordering the right quantity and making sure that I have stock for those products. That's it. Yeah, so I'm losing just that. Bradley Sutton: That's the first thing that you're probably going to want to hire for is like, hey, I need somebody just 100% managing my supply chain, making sure that I'm not running out of stock anywhere. Okay, All right. So what would you say is your I mean, I'm assuming USA is your number one marketplace what would you say is your number two, three and four marketplaces out of all those that are going on UK? Swapneel: UK, I feel, can do a lot better as well. I really I'm very happy with UK market, a lot better than US market, because I feel the competition is less, the margin is a lot better than US, but overall sales it's number two. Bradley Sutton: You're saying next to USA. Swapneel: Yeah, yeah, right, okay, so far. Yes, so UK would do better than US maybe for me. Bradley Sutton: Oh really, wow, that's pretty impressive. Okay, interesting, all right. So, yeah, you got inspired by going to Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You can see all the strategies that people are using, and these are strategies probably your competitors are using and you're not you know. So, yeah, it's like when you go to events like this, it can open your mind as far as as you know, seeing what, what is possible out there. Okay, so, other than hiring, finally, some help. What are some other goals for you for next year? Swapneel: Focusing on external traffic, because this is a huge thing, really really huge thing, because I see a lot of products on Amazon having 30, 40 reviews and then there's a competitor having 20,000 reviews and they are on the top five products. Why? Because they're getting external traffic. So external traffic is a really huge thing and I think I should have some strategies to work on that thing. Maybe TikTok release, Instagram release, and I'm really like focusing a lot to get some people on board related to marketing, because that's where I feel I'm really not good at all. So, trying to work on that and, yeah, I think that can be really big thing for sure. Bradley Sutton: Okay, all right. Well, I wish you all the best of success. You know I've seen you already at a couple events this past year and hope to see you again at some other local events. And yes, please definitely start hiring people and get some help that you need, and then you'll be able to travel even more, you'll have some more time on your hand and you can enjoy what's your favorite place that you or craziest thing that you have done living as a digital nomad the last couple of years. Swapneel: So I'm kind of and really in juggy right now. So I do skydiving, mostly a lot of sports, mostly a lot of sports related to air, you know. So when I was in like just a few weeks ago, I was in north of Washington and I did some being walking on a plane, like almost eight years old plane. I was walking on that plane and that was one of the craziest thing. Bradley Sutton: Like on the wings and stuff. Swapneel: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was really a show. Bradley Sutton: No, thank you, thank you. Swapneel: For me, like selling on Amazon is just giving me freedom to do what I love the most. I just need financial freedom. That's it, Because that's it Like it. And such a beautiful thing like selling on Amazon you can work and travel at the same time. Bradley Sutton: Yeah Swapneel: Whenever I'm traveling still not many people very rarely meet someone who is selling on Amazon, to be honest, especially of my age group and they're traveling because either they quit the job or they just got two weeks off from office. Bradley Sutton: That's yeah, yeah. And they have to go back to work but not you yeah. Swapneel: So, yeah, this is a really like, really nice life, you know as a digital moment. But only bad thing is that when I'm traveling, I cannot focus a lot on my work. So I feel like, from going forward, maybe next few months or years, I would like to live at one place a lot more so that my work doesn't hinder. And obviously, if you will, if I want to approach eight or nine figure in coming years, then I cannot do by just one or two hours a day. I need to put more efforts and really need to be very cease at work, because big money comes with big responsibilities as well, I guess. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, all right. So why don't you leave us with a 30 second tip or 60 second tip? It could be either like an Amazon strategy, or maybe it's a strategy for traveling, for how to live as a digital nomad, a strategy for Amazon India. It could be about anything, so go ahead and give us your strategy. Swapneel: So I feel like there would be always a stress when you are selling on Amazon and you always need to have a patience, because Amazon will not fix your stuff in five minutes, even if your listing is gone, your account is gone or whatever. So the most important thing you can focus is on your mental health and you should prioritize that thing, because in life you may make a lot of money you can on the other day, if your account is suspended, you are bringing your nothing. So, but one thing can always help you is your mental health, and I think exercising is one of the best things, because that has changed completely me. I still remember how I was doing the first lockdown and how the journey from last three was not at all smooth at all, but not at all, like you know, not very smooth at all, but going workout and not stressing that helped me to not to stress. So I think, yeah, everyone should do this if you are especially selling on Amazon, because you don't have a lot of social life as well when you're selling on Amazon, except traveling, Okay, all right. Bradley Sutton: Well, that's good for everybody to follow. I wouldn't follow the having zero employees for $6 million business, but everything else is kind of you know, something that I think a lot of people can do Well. Again, thank you so much for joining us and I hope to see you in person sometime next year. Swapneel: Absolutely Can't wait to see you again. Thank you so much, Bradley.

In this episode of the Fearless Sellers, host Joie Roberts interviews Kevin King, a seasoned Amazon seller who has sold millions. Kevin shares his journey from launching multiple brands on Amazon to conquering international markets. He discusses his experiences in designing products from scratch and finding success by understanding different cultures and markets through his extensive travels to over 90 countries. Tune in to gain valuable insights from the "king of Amazon" himself.   Timestamps [00:02:10] How travel influences product development. [00:05:23] Perception of the world. [00:07:01] American entrepreneurship and opportunities. [00:11:20] Teaching and mastermind evolution. [00:15:54] Scavenger hunt bonding experience. [00:17:09] Scavenger hunt in Austin. [00:21:34] Booking podcast guests without prep. [00:24:09] Selling hand sanitizers during COVID-19. [00:27:05] FDA approvals and Amazon challenges. [00:31:03] Hand sanitizer mix-up. [00:33:20] Customer list importance. [00:36:57] Direct-to-consumer list and shipping. [00:40:31] Pivoting in Amazon career. [00:43:19] A successful product launch. [00:47:05] Owning the audience. [00:51:23] Newsletters and spam filters. [00:54:53] Best travel hacks. [00:56:41] Travel hacks for saving money.   Kevin King is a seasoned seller in the field of selling on Amazon. He has achieved great success, having sold millions on the platform. Kevin is also the founder of the Billion Dollar Seller Summit, showcasing his expertise and credibility in the industry. With his extensive experience and achievements, Kevin King is a highly respected figure in the world of selling on Amazon.   Contact Joie on Instagram: @JoieRoberts.official Subscribe to Kevin King's Newsletter: https://billiondollarsellers.beehiiv.com/ Interested in learning how to build your own Amazon business from the leaders in the Amazon industry? Book your free consultation with Joie and team at www.AMZInsiders.org/apply Discount to Helium10: www.AMZProductSpotter.com

In this episode, we had the privilege of sitting down with the incredible Kata Phipps, a savvy entrepreneur who transformed her boredom into a massively successful Amazon-selling career. Rising from humble beginnings, Kata's drive led her from listening to podcasts and diving into free resources to learn how to sell on Amazon, to a spectacular multi seven-figure exit in 2021. She generously shares her unique journey, detailing her enterprising involvement in a network that sparked friendships with successful entrepreneurs and led to a treasure trove of invaluable lessons.   We dove into the fascinating world of selling on Amazon and examined the pivotal role psychology plays in driving business success. With a rich background in psychology, Kata and Kevin explored how comprehending customer sentiment and aligning team efforts with business goals can provide a competitive edge. The conversation further unfolded to reveal the profound importance of empathy in connecting with your customer avatar and expressing an emotional bond with your product.    Intriguingly, we also scrutinized the necessary aspects to position your business for success. The conversation underscored the significance of understanding your numbers, planning for the worst-case scenarios, and the power of informed questioning. Navigating through the experience of doing business in the US as a British national, we also touched upon the challenges she faced along the way. Make sure to catch Kata Phipps at the upcoming Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Hawaii. This episode is a treasure chest filled with practical advice, inspiring anecdotes, and key strategies for those dreaming of financial success and freedom!   In episode 363 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Kata discuss: 01:46 - Impressed by Meeting and Networking 09:36 - Chile Is A Really Cool Place 10:13 - Learning Psychology Helped Kata Succeed On Amazon 21:03 - Kata's Amazon Brand Exit And Talking About Wealth 21:56 - Orchestrating Her First Amazon Exit 22:34 - A Generational Change 36:54 - Becoming A Master Of One Thing 43:25 - Financial Independence and Generosity 44:07 - Customer Empathy As A Major Advantage 47:09 - What's Next For Kata? 48:05 - Entering The Supplement Category And The Deep Reason Behind It 56:30 - Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Hawaii 59:57 - Refreshing Conversation on Similar Philosophies 1:00:36 -  Kevin King's Words Of Wisdom Transcript Kevin King: Welcome to episode 363 of the AM/PM Podcast. My guest this week is none other than Katta Phipps. She's originally from Chile but living in the UK. Now she's got a different perspective than what you're normally going to hear and I really like it. I think she's one of the smartest women in this space smartest people in this space and she just doesn't like to work. She likes to, so she thinks of everything in terms of how can she do the least to maximize the most. She's already had a seven figure exit. She's on her way to another seven or eight figure exit. Now. She actually got her start listening to me on the Seller Sessions podcast, so this is kind of full circle for her coming back on the AM/PM Podcast. I think you're going to really enjoy this episode. Let's get it going. And before we do that, don't forget to sign up for the Billion Dollar Seller's Newsletter. It's totally free. It comes out every Monday and Thursday. So if you're interested in getting a billiondollarsellers.com, I think you'll find some really good, valuable, actionable tips and strategies in there. Plus, you'll learn a little bit more about me. Kata Phipps, welcome to the AM/PM Podcast. It's an honor to have you here. Kata: Well, it's an honor to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me. Kevin King: You're someone that I'd heard a lot about for several years through Athena and through some other people and kind of watched what you're doing from afar, but I didn't really get to actually meet you until I went to Seller Sessions. I think it was like the first time we actually got to spend some time talking. I think we might have met somewhere else briefly, but, yeah, spend some time talking to you like networking bar or something like that, and I was thoroughly impressed. I was like holy cow, this girl is sharp. I mean I knew she was smart but like she's like next level up there. So I was like I got to get her on the podcast and got to get her to come speak at BDSS. This is, this is good stuff. Kata: Thank you. Kevin King: You're welcome. How long have you been in this Amazon game? You've been doing this for a day or two, right. Kata: Well, funnily enough, it feels like a lifetime, but actually September 2018. Kevin King: 2018. How did you hear about this? What got you into this? Did you see something online? Did you have a friend that was doing it? Did you look for an opportunity? Kata: No well, I was bored. I was bored and I was poor. Both things are not good. Well, my husband he at the time was an active wing commander in the Royal Air Force for England and we were stationed in different parts of the world. So, being an officer's wife, it's not what it's all painted out to be and it definitely wasn't my path. So I was pretty bored. My clinical psychology is by trade, but I never really did get to practice from, since I moved from Chile, which is where I was born, to England when I married Matt. So basically I got to have a lot of degrees and I did a few masters. You know distant learning. I learned English through doing a masters in English, in psychology as well, during the time that I was following Matt around the world in his postings with the military. But actually it got to the point where I was just thoroughly bored and flower arrangements and dinner and fancy dressing was a longer career for me. So Matt comes back home one day had listened to a podcast on his commute back from Washington we were living in Maryland at the time in America and he says oh, I listened to this really cool thing about how to sell on Amazon and I listened to it and I thought I could do that. And then we started learning through free resources I could consume, basically. So I started looking at products and I fell in love with product differentiation and bundling of items that were frequently bought together, which wasn't really a thing back then. But I knew that I'm a bargain queen and I'm a very good shopper myself and probably with my psychology background, I sort of had a very good idea of what people were looking for when coming review. So we just decided to give it a go. So we went into debt and we ordered our first product and started just, you know, taking it one day at a time and spending several hours house cleaning while listening to your podcast. Kevin King: Do you remember which podcast that was that he heard originally? That got that set it off. Kata: Yes, so actually to me it's a very poignant day because the first of the podcast that I ever listened to was Seller Sessions, the first in-depth conversation that I think it was two part, and I remember this so vividly. I was cleaning the floor, polishing the floor, with a mop, head on son, and it was you talking to Danny on Seller. Sessions and I got to hear everything about your you know your days selling calendars and these and that, and I was thoroughly impressed with what you've done and I thought, gosh, imagine if one day I could be in Seller Sessions as a guest. And then I didn't even think about other time to ever get to meet you. But you know, then we decided to invest a little more and actually join a network I'm not sure if I can name it, but yeah, we joined Titan as members and we started learning from the ones that are now my friends and I thought, my God, these guys you know, justin Dyson at the time was the leader of and the coach of our group level revenue-wise is how it's split out. So we were having these weekly conversations and I thought, oh, my God, these guys are so amazing. I need to go to an event and actually meet them. If I'm in the room with them, I'm going to get to pick their brains. So we did it and then I went to China Magic and then I got to meet Danny and we became really good friends and life became a little crazy really, because everything sort of happened overnight, but at the same time feels like a long period of time of my life. Kevin King: That's kind of serendipitous, there, isn't it? The podcast you listen to with Seller Sessions. Now, danny is one of your best friends. He comes and hangs out at your house and you guys do stuff. I know he comes there like decompress and like get away sometimes and he's a good guy, really, really great guy. And then you're listening to me talk and now you're on this podcast, so it's like everything's like coming like a full circle. Kata: Today we're close in the full circle, but you know what? I have lived a life with no regrets and I think that the key to everything we have attained in life is actually that abandoned smile and said where? You know a lot of neuro-programming, linguistic, if you wish. I always knew I was going to be successful. I just didn't care or worry how, and I believe that if you put in the work and you're humble enough to learn from those that have done already, you always gonna get somewhere, and that's just how it happened to us. You know, if it's not us, it's not. Our success will learn from all of you guys in the industry that have done it previously, and I can't enough to share your knowledge, which is why we do it now as well through our own, you know, means as possible which part of Chile, Santiago, or the south or north, or which? I used to be a city girl from Santiago, yes, and now I live in the middle of nowhere, but yes, in England, but Santiago? Kevin King: A lot of people don't realize it, but Chile is probably one of the most European western thinking countries in South America because Argentina has, you know, boulevards that look like Paris and stuff, because all the a lot of Italians move to Around the time. A lot of people don't realize this, but around nineteen early nineteen hundreds there's a lot of people coming to the united states from Europe, going to stories of ls island, but the same time about an equal number of Italians especially we're going to to a, to bonus, a race in Argentina, and so Argentina has a lot of European influence. But Chile Is probably the most advanced, most western country in all of South America and I love that's because it's a lot of German, heavy German influence there, because yeah. You can go around and there's tons of German influence everywhere, in the countryside, in the cities and it's a. It's a really cool place it's. For those of you don't know what Chile is, it's the little skinny one on the on the far left side of South America that runs what three thousand miles from top to bottom or some crazy About like that, but everything from the deserts, the Atacama desert in the north all the way down to the I go kind of in the middle. What's that little city outside send the ago, where you can take a little cable car, all the colorful buildings, and then down into the south with the volcanoes and everything it, and then very typical South America. Amazing, yeah, I'm in Patagonia. It's amazing, amazing place. So did you meet your husband in Chile? Was he based there or do you meet? Kata: Another serendipity story which white, by the way, is one of my favorite words is kind of funny that you said it Assist the film. She says it is. But yeah, my was actually a couple of friends of his where going on a tree. But one of the friends had to call out last minute and my job team I'm winning the friend of a friend of a friend of mine was like oh my god is gringo. So here they don't speak any Spanish. I need to say the mark is a friend of my brother, is back in London. So what do I do? And I'm like, I know I go out. I was. I was a geek psychologist studying and I already had a song, so I was much more mature than all my friends that where. You know, I'm in our party. I work really hard since that, since a very early age, and so should I never go out. You can't bail now. Just get the gringos here. The get drunk with one glass anyway, that's a much. We can continue chatting. And then she said well, then I went on, the drinks were flowing and I didn't speak English, I didn't speak Spanish, but you know that my friend had the idea of saying If you kiss one of the gringo, so pay the bill and I am cheap. So I did, and here I am leaving my best British life. Yeah, no, it was that. Yeah, it was, it was really good. Actually, I'm really tell the languages throughout the years. Eventually we had a long distance relationship for about three years which Feed it both of our lifestyles, and then eventually, I suppose, we started running out of money to travel, so we just got married and here I am. Kevin King: We have a few things in common. I'm going through divorce right now, but my wife was Columbia and I met her in Columbia as a similar thing and I met her 2009 I think and I gone down there just as a tourist and the guy that's supposed to take me around contain me that day. So he sent the office girl. She's just like the office girl. She came and took me and we did a little trip on the, on the little snorkeling kind of trip, and we just kind of hit it off and so they went to dinner that night and nothing. Nothing happened there. But I'm learning Spanish right now and I take it in high school and I knew a little bit, but I was like trying to get a little bit better at it is like I'll come back in a year and I want to be able to speak in Spanish with you, for have a 15 minute conversation in Spanish and I was just half joking, but you know half but and she help me to it so like over the course of the next year, so you better be studying your Spanish. You said you're coming back in a year and so I ended up going back a year later and then we got together and we did long distance for seven years Before she moved to the United States. She was studying law at the time, so she wanted to finish her law degree, and so we. Then she came to the United States. So yeah, I just was mad. Kata: Fluent in Spanish, your husband no, we were just drunk, and now he would love me to say yes, but no, he understands a lot more than he let's on the you know, but no, I'm not, that's not yet speak fluent Spanish, but he understands some words which are probably not the best ones Very well when I lose my patience yeah, I was gonna say, I was gonna say I bet there's some Spanish that comes out sometimes when you're, when you're upset about something and he, I think he probably gets the picture pretty quick. Yeah, we speak a lot with looks you know I think about a funny Latino and some American people. You can say hello, which is you know. Kevin King: Your body, your background. You studied psychology, so that's come in. It's probably super helpful in your business, because a lot of people don't realize marketing psychology and if you understand psychology, you have a huge lag up when it comes to Business. I mean to market to any kind of business, especially e-commerce, because the fundamental principles is not what's the latest hack, what's the latest trick about this. I mean, all those things are cool, but if you don't understand the fundamental psychology of why people do things and how to motivate them to do things, your chances of success turn to luck verses Just make it happen. So how would you and a lot of people in our business they have no clue that those two are super closely related what would you say is to people out there that are don't realize is what's something they can do from their business point of view? Time it to the psychology says things that things that you given you a major advantage or something that's people should be thinking about considering. Kata: So from my tray. I think they're fascinating discoveries that I have had through my journey, which I didn't know how it was eventually going to. I thought if I get this going and I get the financial means and I can do psychology or therapy Like a pro bono type thing. But actually you're right and I discover quite early on in the game that it is very up to the great, to everything we do in this business. And I will say to, two things are the most important. One, number one Be humble enough to understand what the customers are saying. We already get that information for free in the form of reviews. If we put in the work to read what, how the customers are referring to a product, what they wish it was better, what they hate about, what they love about it, all the information is out there. The problem is that I believe and this is just my personal opinion as a seller the most successful you become, the less humble you are to truly Remember that ultimately, the customer is the one that you are serving and therefore you need to listen to what they're saying. Sometimes, probably eighty percent of the time, the key Was that typing I know what you would say is the right you will for that product. However, if you put in the work and you actually read reviews and you start picking out which now I can do very easily for you, just just just those terms that people are using and even within the US marketplace, several you know states use different ways to refer to the same product as well, much like it happened in all languages you can find all of that information right there and truly serve both the purpose and the emotional Conversion that they could be good to feel about any purchase. That will ultimately give you the hook to convert that into a sale, as opposed to the competition that doesn't care for providing that as an extra bonus. I think, not just sell something, not just serve a purpose, but also at that little something that will make them feel good in your copy about the money they just spent. It really works is really that simple, to me at least. And if you don't know how to then Delegate which is the second part in, it's also tied up with being humble enough to realize quite early on in the game what are you? You know gold, why are you really good at? And what you suck? What takes away you will to leave for me is PPC. I understand that I am a master and I exactly what you do and I exactly what I want to do. Do I want to do it for a life? No, I delegate straight away because, honestly, I just live too short. That's my, that's my mantra. So I understand what I'm doing. But Delegating is not just about asking someone with something to do, because that creates work for one right and I don't want to be spending my time teaching people how to do what I want them to do. I want them to become an extension of me. I want them to learn how my brain operates, how my brain requires reports to be delivered to me so they speak my language. And in order to do that, you just have to be a decent human being and understand the interest, the passions there, the motivation behind the stuff that you hire, so they can become that extension of you and they basically never leave you. So when I sell a brand, my team will never go with. That. It's not part of the deal, is non-negotiable. They wouldn't even go if they were off with triple the money and they have said so and they've been in the spot to be poached and they have a left because the culture I implement in delegating everything Is I value you and I genuinely do. I care for you. If I have a sale, I will share my financial extra. You know games with them because they were people to my success and I never forget that. I'm every morning grateful For having the people I have in my life. I contribute somehow to me being able to attain this and make sure that I communicate regularly. Is that I am also vulnerable enough to say I don't actually know that answer. Can you figure it out and then brief me on it? And that means that until I took on the vice president by presidency of time where work recently, I was called by my friends the dnb, which was a title that I probably carry around, which was the do nothing bitch, because that's what I wanted to be like. I wanted to do nothing. Kevin King: I didn't want to do that's the way to do it. I mean, that's exactly what I do is figure out what's your best at, what you enjoy, focus on that and then hire good people and get out of the fucking way. And that's absolutely and then treat them with respect, lead as you would want to be, lead and treat them as humans, not as as subjects or something like that that so many people do, or inferior. I think that's important thing that a lot of people just they just don't get that. This is my idea, this is my thing, is my money. I'm reaping all the rewards when, a lot of times, you could not have gotten to that point without those people under you to help you. I always remember, like when, when helium ten you know I've been, I've known mania and you're most started him ten back in twenty fifteen, twenty, yeah, twenty fifteen when they sold the company in twenty nineteen. One of the things that they actually did, which I think is extremely honorable, is, like every day I think they had like forty employees at the time they actually went out and they actually told everybody I don't know the exact words they said, but they basically said what, everybody, what is your debt right now? Not counting your house, your mortgage, your house but what? What's your credit card, that, what's your debt for different things, and tell us what that number is. and they paid it all off for everybody and yeah, and then they the other, the programming team, was in Serbia, so they flew over to Serbia and spent like a week with these guys, you know, taking them out to dinners and drinking and just having a good time. And then they, they change those guys lives. I don't know what they gave them, but they gave them enough money. Where was life changing for you know it, in Serbia, for these people? So that's what's the stuff that you gotta do, that most people just they don't get it. I just think everybody is expandable. Kata: Yeah, I think that the people you're referring to other people to have any wealth, and what I mean by this is you can make money and a lot of it. But to me, I remember very vividly the day when I said how my goal, which was to list, listening to Michelle and who is one of the first women in the industry that manage a big, big exit this is before aggregator times and all of that In twenty nineteen and she saw her business for a lot of money and she was very proud on sharing that. She managed to build this empire that she's just sold out. I'm sorry I'm in five years and I remember thinking of the time she did so well, my goodness, what an inspirational women. I'm gonna do that in half the time and that was my goal. Again, I'm competitive, not gonna lie about it, and I did buy away. But at the moment that we did have a first sex, it was actually not two and a half years, but it was two years, seven months. The first exit, the first big exit, generation wealth. What I thought I was gonna do when I had that money, and even when I was gonna heat the seven figures, I remember so clearly that day I thought I'm gonna be jumping off the walls and I'm celebrating. A drink, champagne and go crazy. You know what happened? Something overcame me and I just fell so grounded and I felt that I didn't need Any more stuff. I didn't need to celebrate, it was just a very profound moment of. This is what happens when you put in the work and all I could feel was a call to say how can I go? Rewards those that help me get here. And for the first time ever, my in the Philippines moved out and I see many of you know because you have stuff over there. People leave Hi family scene, the same complex in the same flat or whatever. She was doing so well that people around her neighborhood starts Spreading comments that she was sex worker. It was quite funny when she was telling me about this, because she had a washing machine that I had Provide for her as a gift and I gave her money so they could buy their own house and live on their own and it was really funny. But you know what? She still now so thankful for the fact that they are, for the first time in all the generations behind them, living in a place that they can go home of their own. And how beautiful is that with money that we will otherwise spend on a treat, you know, on a fancy holiday for four or five people in a family. It's just so crazy and it's honestly the biggest joy one could ever receive, and that's what I mean by that's the true wealth. For me, well, when you attain wealth is when you're knowledgeable enough to know you don't need the money. What you need is to spread awareness and almost like I feel like I had you have witness sorry if I offend anyone that I'm not going on the same. Hey, you know you can do better and you can fulfill all of your dreams. I know you can because I did hear me out. This is my story and I feel like I want everybody that caring off to actually Put the working, to listen and to do it for themselves. Of course, it doesn't resonate with everybody, is really easy to dream of it, but Not everybody follows through. But that's true wealth, you know, having the knowledge to replicate what you already attained once. It's for me, when you really did make it, and that's why I believe those people that you were referring to earlier and not quite that yet they're still not well, even though they have money because I haven't got that. Kevin King: Give me chills. I just when you're saying that, I had a little chill go down my spine because it resonates with me so much that you know it's Everybody when they're working and they think it's the things. They think it's nice to go on nice trip. You and I we take you know I see your stuff on social media uses I would go on nice trips. We fly first class or business class or what are we do? We do good things, we have nice things, but it's not about those, the things that you buy you don't take with you when you die. They don't become part of your legacy. It's the stuff that you do for others that becomes part of your leg and that you remembered. For Most people forget that and, like you said, you've had a couple exits now right on, but you had the first one, that first big one you were. You said you were set, you had enough money that you can live the rest of your life and you need to worry. And you're like, what do I do now? I help, let me help people, let me give back. And I remember someone years ago is actually a next door neighbor of mine. About twenty years ago he actually said something. He was. He was my landlord of this little duplex. I was listening. He was an older college professor. He's in this. I was probably my early thirties, he was in his seventies or something, and he told me one time you need to be out there working on his car in his little garage next to us and he was talking to me said the best thing you can do when you, when you make it, is actually to give back and take care of others. And that's something that A lot of people I don't think really appreciate and they just they think it's a game like I need to, I need more and more money, I need to, I need to be have fifty million, I need to have a hundred million, I need to have Private jet in the private yacht and all that. It's not really about that and I think that's important, important lesson that people Need. You want to make enough money so you have the freedom to do what you want and, like you said, you don't have to do the things you don't want to. But beyond that, what's more money going to do for you except create more problems in most cases? Kata: exactly, and they, you know it was actually said that I always heard about you know, the more money you have, the more what you have to put in Number one to keep it a number two, to learn how to invest it, which has been the crash course I've been taking for the last year and a half, trying to what Work my way around global taxation and a lot of another learning curve. And another thing under the belt to learn is how do we now maximize, how do we start investing? How do we make sure Our kids are good and they can actually go on to my son? I'm a very, very academic orientation person and god bless me with a small mom he plays rugby and an actress, both of which I will always say oh my god, you're not gonna make a penny in your life. However, they're both fortunate enough to have their parents so they can go and do the profession they love, because I need something, because my, my, what she said, I can afford to be an actress and just do the things I want to do, not to generate money, because you guys have money and it was quite funny Just how you know a brat that common was, but he actually really open my eyes is how beautiful is that to be able to say I'm really proud of you. Son, go be a teacher. Sadder cities teachers don't get compensated fairly, but it does what he wants to do. He can go and coach kids to learn how to play rugby. You know, I know us Bless us, we are so it is great and he's the biggest joy of success. I will say it's precisely those moments that don't necessarily go on social media but that just bring you back a little and say that this is great, you know how did you have, how did you orchestrate that first exit? Kevin King: you started in twenty eighteen. You listen to a podcast. You said I can do this. You started with a few things. You built a brand. What was your goal from day one? To have an exit. You said you listen to michelle, or was it? You were just trying to make some money to help the family out and to do something. And then it became let me have an exit, or what led to that first exit was a deliberate or was it built up? Kata: no, when, when we start, I wanted a side income and I think I have said the story for which, to some of you maybe time, but to me it's actually I resonate with a lot of people listening. Perhaps I wanted to be able to buy my underwear without having to use the joint account. You know, my husband will know whenever I bought niggas, as we call them here in the UK, you know, and the where or a brow whatever, or a birthday present to him, but he wouldn't have to see on this statement. I just want to buy a hundred bucks, that's all I want. That. We didn't really need much more. We weren't, like overly privileged like we are now, but we were. We're all doing alright. You know, we could have a simple life and I want to have five hundred bucks. So my idea was to start the Amazon thing so I could do a whatever mad was posted in the future with the military and continue to support his career, what I was doing. That and those five hundred quickly became thirty grand a month. That was the income I was in, where mad was something in the regional, I don't know ten to twenty percent of that. So you came to a point where we need to make a decision and I'm not. That time is when I went to china and first land of the concept of exiting the business. That was one year into our Amazon journey. We need to send figures with a very healthy profit margin Ten or eleven months into our Amazon journey how many products was that? Kevin King: how many skews was that one, and what? What category? Kids, okay, go ahead it was toys and games. Kata: Yeah, so we're a little bit crazy and it's not what we teach, just so you know, because this is just a very personal journey and one of the first thing, what you do is just to know what kind of game you want to play. And I'm a bit of a lunatic and I get bored really easily. So I know I knew that I needed rapid growth, or also we're just gonna move on to something else. So we only ever launched million dollar products and that's how my friends know me. The million dollars, q lady, because I never did, I never do, I never have no product. I haven't hit the seven figures so far. So we sold our brand with only five skews for multi seven figures because it is really well, but this is an aggregator or strategic buyer, or we saw two on a great and I was twenty twenty I guess that was twenty twenty one twenty twenty one okay yes, so Most of my friends by then, as I said, you know, they had hundred fifty skews that we're making the same money. So I was working literally One, one hundred and fifty percent what they were working because, although I had a lot of risk, my products have such demand, the we just we had different problems the problem of cash flow, the problem of running a business in the USA but, being british nationals, therefore we couldn't get lending in the UK nor in the US because war and city sense or a business established in either country it was. It was very difficult to grow on that respect but we just took chances and we made it happen. But yes, that the social, how the journey became to be, you know, multi, seven figures. And at that time I remember really, when I decided that I wanted to sell because it's your baby. You know you never Everybody sells a brand now wanted to let it go because it's a baby, right, and I remember at the time a lot of people in podcast will say don't get emotionally involved with your product. Just, you know, do Repeat and replicate, don't get emotionally attached that it. And I thought, no, actually you need to get emotionally attached because you need to be able to convey the message you need to be able to serve the avatar you chose and you need. So you have to be proud to be able to say out loud on the owner of this brand and this is what we do and check it out. What do you think? You know I respect everyone that does the. I'm gonna launch any. You know eighty percent of it steaks cool and the other twenty percent of rings and Ricky or have you? That's also very good. It's just not how I want to operate. I wanted to work very little and I want to return fast, so we start with that method. But we did have a lot in line and therefore you fall, having eight hundred thousand dollars worth of inventory and the hands of amazon became really scary oh yeah. It is at the time we really have to use and we need to sell two and a half meal worth of products during q four. And I was literally like why, if something happens over nine and they take me down for three months, I always had a plan of how I was gonna shift inventory not to get you know, I'm always like Mrs Potato head, I'm always ready for the day, but because I'll ask me to sleep despite my crazy. But but it was an idea. So I started thinking okay, well, if I see down now that when the aggregator model came to the table and I have conversations Not just they gonna do and free order of my business as well, otherwise cost me twenty K to sixty, according to who I'm gonna go with. I remember speaking with no found at the time and they were really good, really thorough, and we'll put a really nice plan together for me. It will cost me. You know what is worth, which is all that work and again, I'm cheap. So I didn't want to do it. So I listened to some of Scott's these free classes instead and I prepared my exit with his paradigm and just follow what he does, and he was so good at teaching how he does it, that I didn't need to hire him. So I didn't go with a broker. I went in myself and I sat at the table with a few aggregators and they ordered my business and they ordered my books, and then we sold to one and that was it basically how it happened, and I took the money off the table so I could, you know, re-invest and at that time I was at the same time launching the second brand, which also did very well and still doing very well. Kevin King: So the second have you had one exit or have you had two exits? Kata: I have had one exit and I have now three brands, one of which I'm launching next month. So I have two brands that I'm very excited for one's doing really well, but we don't really work on it. The team does it all. It's magic. It's all magic. We delegate very well. They are all super excited for it. So with them it's a very small team five people that's all there is to our mastermind company, umbrella, and we just rinse and repeat and we know what to do, we know who to work with and we do it over and over again and that's what we're doing. But it's only now, for the first time this year, that I'm actually going in a different direction and taking some, you know, sitting on the student's chair and going into a different category and just doing it all over again from scratch. Kevin King: You can't do anything in the children. You probably have a non-competer. Is that maybe for a few years in children? So this is in different categories, right. Kata: Well, there is a match I can disclose about, but it is within the category because I'm a very good negotiator. But yeah, it's not competing keywords. Kevin King: Okay, and is the plan to actually sell these at some point as well? Are you building these to sell from the ground up? Kata: Yep, my plan is always the same. I like to work with the mighty but yet small I don't have. I don't need the title of I run a night figure business. I have a night figure business, you know why? Because that's corporate and I don't like that. I like personalized family vibes. I like to get to know my people, work with them. I don't want to scale beyond that, it's too much work. I don't want to tap any other marketplaces. I've never sold anywhere. That's not America. I just rather become a master of one thing. Very well, I left the rest on the table of whoever wants to take it to the next level because it's a vanity title. So I might as well just get the money out of the table and do it again several times. And it just works. If it's what I want, it makes me happy. Kevin King: You're US only right. That's what you just said. So you're not selling, you're not doing any. All these people that say you need to diversify and go into other marketplaces or sell on Shopify or go to Walmart You're just Amazon and Amazon only. Kata: Yes, I don't believe. I believe that you can do it all. I don't want to, I don't need to and I don't believe that one should. I mean, everybody gets into this game because they want the freedom that it you know it markets, right. It's like oh okay, your freedom, and everybody changes the night to five for a night to bloody nine. That's the life of an Amazon seller, you know, and I don't want that. So if I go on to this big corporate thing, I have to hire more people and I have to oversee more people, and I have to stop being the visionary, which is what I am, and I have to stop doing what I love, which is creating hands-on with my product. I'm working really hard on product R&D and differentiating the heck out of them, so I actually have a proposition that brings value for the same money that the current offer it's providing customers. So I'm not scared of competition, of market density and all of that, because I know, I know how to read the customers and I can, if I can, provide something better through my contacts that I gathered throughout the years, whether it be in sourcing more efficiently, cutting costs what it needs to, and just stay in lean, then I can offer the customers for the same price something so much better. What's not to love? Of course, it's going to work in my books. Well, it has to not work so fast, so I'm going to touch with just now, just in case. But yeah, that's basically how I want to do it. So, yes, the method is, you know, just flying over the eight figures and ride them, then get and take the money out of the table and read some repeat. Kevin King: So what do you think is going to happen? You sold to an aggregator at the peak of the aggregator time in 2021, when multiples were getting out of hand and crazy. That stuff has all come down now. So do you have a little bit different approach and how you're looking at the exit for this one since that market? Is kind of changed, or is it still? Everything's still the same. Kata: No, no, to be honest, I don't have any different strategies. Of course, we did benefit of being able to have that experience. However, I don't believe that the multiple that we attained was crazy. It was actually what I thought it was worth. We might have done a little bit better upfront than others will do now, but the truth is, if you run a very lean company and you are very aware and you have the education behind you on your numbers which is the most important thing Everybody, just at the time especially, focuses a lot about revenue, revenue, revenue. The seven figures, whatever, and the contribution margin, such as the actual net, is nothing. So now my goal in the people like coach and with the people I work, is just from day one, you can actually be in the green. There is no longer a need to just go on to minus 10,000 and be in month three of a launch and still think it's going to work, because it's not necessary. There are other things that you can put into place, not just on the delegation stage, but also the educational aspect of what do your numbers are telling you, what are your actual KPIs, what are your systems? Everybody thinks that you get to be successful and then you implement systems, and that's wrong, because by then it goes to a sheet ton of money to bring in talent. If you hire people early, you can actually imprim the blueprint of your company and your business ways, if you wish, into them at a much cheaper price. And you hire potential rather than talent and learn together. And that's how I build my team based on potential, not necessarily talent, because it was cheaper and it continues to be cheaper. I still hire potential over talent when I can, so I'm not doing anything different. I know exactly what the number is that I'm going to let it go for. We just reverse engineer. This is the number we're going to let that brand go for and this is what we're going to do at every stage and this is how many skills we're going to need and this is the number of sales a day that we're going to have, and this is the average price and this is how much we can afford to have our cogs act. And we just keep it simple that way and it just works. Kevin King: I hope everybody out there listening is paying close attention to what she's saying, because this is the way that you do it and you get the freedom and the lifestyle that you want. It's not what most gurus and most other people are teaching, and this is maybe counter to what you've been taught or what you believe, but she's living proof of it and she's telling you exactly how to do this and it's music to my ears, because you don't hear this very often and it's the same thing I've always said People like Kevin, you're teaching all this, but you're not a nine figure seller. You're not even an eight figure seller. I've sold eight figures online, but you're not an annual eight figures per year. You're seven figures. Do you feel inferior or something, to some of these other people? There's other people in the space bragging about. They're doing 30 million and 50 million a year or whatever, and I'm like, no, not at all. I probably actually know more than they do and I'm living a different and better life and being able to do what the heck I want. I don't have all those headaches. You're really good on the systems and stuff. You're really good on the partnering with people. People like Kevin, how many VA's do you have? You have all these different things you do on Amazon, from the podcast to your newsletter, to the products that you're selling. You're still selling, right. Kata: It's very good. By the way, I'm subscribed and I have thoroughly enjoyed it, so I recommend everybody to subscribe too. Kevin King: Oh, thank you To the training that I do. I partner smart and so that's more of my things and I'm not trying to create more work or to create. There's only a certain amount of money that you need. My number is and I'll make good money, but my number if I have an exit is 10 million. If I have 10 million dollars in the bank and I just properly invest that not crazy invested, but properly invest that you can live off of if it's, say, it's 400 grand a year, you should be making more than that in interest in return, I can live off that company and then do what the hell I want Take care of other people, help other people out, like you have, and that's my whole philosophy. I don't need a private plan. I don't need a yacht. I don't need a $50 million mansion. If I want to splurge and supply business class, I'll splurge. I have the money to do it. But that's key in what she's saying. And I think another key that, if you haven't been listening closely to what she's saying, is she has, and correct me if I'm wrong but I think one of your major competitive advantages is customer empathy the way that you can get into their head some of that's the psychology background, some of that's what you said. You're analyzing everything but actually knowing and listening the customer is not always right. Despite that slogan that people say customer's always right, do what they say, that's actually not true. But you've got to learn how to listen to the customers and how to actually segment the customers, Because sometimes you have people buying from you that maybe you don't want buying from you. Sometimes you've got to fire customers, but if you can figure out how to carve out who those passionate people are and then find more of those and not worry about the others, it can make a huge, huge difference. And I think that's some of what you're kind of saying, that you're doing and why you can be successful and sleep at night with having just a few skews doing crazy seven figures per year, knowing that this is your moat and you're not worried. Kata: Yeah, well, obviously the first exit gave me that moat. I needed that. I needed to save the money off the table just to make sure that my family will be taking care of, regardless of what will happen in the future. But the reason we went back into Amazon is number one because it continues to be the biggest opportunity over time to generate financial income if you do it right quite rapidly. I don't think there is anything else, not even investment, that you can generate that much that quickly. We have, however, also put enough a lot of work after our exit and this is probably going to resonate a little bit more with more of the higher roles, as you have in your circle. But putting the education as well on to what to do with the money to invest in, I always remember I don't remember exactly who said it, but they said that when you have the money, you need to make sure that 20% goes into this, 20% goes onto that and this and that and just sort of split. And a lot of people believe that splitting your Amazon marketplaces or splitting Amazon, shopify and Walmart, for instance, is not having all the eggs on the same basket means. But what that to me actually means not having all the eggs on the same basket is take your money off the table. It doesn't matter if it's not the vanity number that you believe at that time that you need to call yourself as or be introduced when you speak at a gig or whatever, or when you're on a podcast. Take that money, listen to other people and do the following put twenty percent to real estate is not gonna grow exponentially, is gonna be like a six percent and you have you, but it's gonna be growth and it's gonna be safe. Then pull the twenty percent. Another type of investment with a higher return may work, may not work. Don't do crypto. We will. We lost fifty K on that. Kevin King: But that's a different story but it's okay but it's okay. Sometimes you gotta take risk and budgets. Kata: You had the money to risk and you are gonna change your life the money Exactly so long you're good with that money, never been seen again in your life, not changing go for it and then put all the twenty percent. Right now, for instance, I'm investing on different kind of things, that we're doing a roll up for some home based services in the US. In one way, I'm flying off to Chile on Monday because I I fell in love with a flat and I ended up buying nine, and now I'm. I've been learning about every and be hosting and I want to provide an experience, and I've been working with people and teaming up with people and calling my friends with money and getting them onto the project and we're doing that, which is amazing and I'm so excited for. And then I'm doing the brands. On the other hand, then I'm working with Wait, I don't know and I teach in the leaders how to coach people and working you know we're done and you know and trying to get this vision to change more people's lives. And then ultimately, which is my passion project is I'm going into a category that said I've never was gonna go to, which is the supplement one. So I'm gonna be very open about it because, much like my whole life, this was said in the PT. I was jumping on a plane to go see my mother, who is 59 years old and she's in the late stages of Early on said dementia and on five messages. So, sadly, she had a, she had a rough, and it starts when she was only 52. I, by the way, had the same gene, so that's why, also, I am motivated to live my best life now, before I forget. So just in case, in 10 years time I become my mother, I'm gonna have leave my best freaking life and I'm gonna have changed as many lives as they can, and that's social, my passion. But I was going on the street. I was really struggling. I was, I was successful. She didn't get to see that I had made it. She didn't get to see that I can only buy her clothes for her. She's bed balm has been for two years, that's and speak, that's a more. She just is terrible. It's Heartbreak and it takes away all the joy of any successes one could have. And I saw what I'm boarding my plane which, by the way, I only got to because friends such as Danny and ferries and some people you know that I'm my very close friends with cheering on me through what's that? You got this. Get on that taxi, go, you can. I didn't want to see her. I didn't want to face the fact that my mom was going to die. Oh, she was the one that person I left before. So I got that and I'm some boarding. This guy that I once met years ago, that I mentioned something about me being on the e-commerce world, of starting to be on From Chile, says hey, I have a friend who is a Nobel Prize nominee doctor and he is very old and he saw he's a first pharmaceutical testing and stuff to Catch by a blood test early on said dimension from the temporal cognitive decline. He but to be far more and he regrets it because he never really took off is too expensive for people and he now has a solution which is a preventative supplement for cognitive decline 20 years of clinical study, peer reviews, patented FDA approve everything and he needs a contact for e-commerce. That honestly happened when I was voting that plane to see my mother. So I got off the plane in Santiago and the first thing I did I want to meet with this doctor and I thought this is the universe telling me this is my passion project. Whether it works or not, I'm going to do it. So I took it on and now we're going to launch the heck out of it and we have pulled. I have pulled every ounce of my body on reading just about every single peer review journal that explains the science we have, this compound and all the difference from what already exists, all that for brain and focus and memory and what. Now, this is different. This is something that I can relate so highly with and I believe in through my background, obviously, and peer review on my geeky scientific part, and I'm gonna put it to the masses because you know what it's, one person, it doesn't cure. It doesn't mean that it's not going to happen. What it does truly is that it delays the onset of it. So if you tell me that it's going to delay my onset of any kind of cognitive decline two decades, I'm on it. And if that happens to just one person and never get to hear about it, at least I'm gonna. I'm gonna die happy Because I think it's going to be a revolutionary and I, again, I'm going against. Whatever I said and whatever everybody tells you about the category and what not, and I know nothing about supplements the truth One is is I had to learn everything this year. But I think we're now in a very good place and I have gained another skill set, and this is one that follows my heart. So we'll see how it goes. I hope that by the time where I how I can tell you I hit the seven figures again. You know, even though that's secondary to the actual thing, just to be able to do something, that means a little bit, a little more than just sales to me. I'm just so fortunate, to be honest. So that's gonna be that. That's gonna be exciting. Kevin King: That's incredible, actually that's, that's, that's really honorable. I'm very, very incredible. Congratulations on that and keep, keep that up. We need more people like you out there. Well, congratulate me when people buy it and I know it got a message no, but like you said, though it, even if it helps one person, even if this product doesn't work, it doesn't fail. If it helps one person, unit don't even know. You've done a very good thing for, for, for the world, and that that's, that's what matters, and you're in a position to actually do that, to help perfect strangers out, and I think this will do. Is there a patent on it or is there any protection on it? Or can people knock you off once they want if it takes off? Kata: Oh yeah, I'm ruthless. I pattern and copyright, even my listing PDF print copyright, absolutely everything. As I said, I'm Mrs Potato Head, before you hit me with an infringement, I got you three season this is lessons and I got the right number ready to go Because I do the work beforehand. That's the thing. You need to be prepared. You know, and it's going to be these guys and I'm going to be happy, so I'm ready to go for it. But you know a much like with everything you need to. I be so important, especially when you put in the work to differentiate something, whether it be a design or whatever you need to be aware of what is the worst case scenario? I'm prepared for that one and then you can sleep at night. Or your worst case scenario is Amazon mistakenly took you down. How the letter are they ready? There's thousands of free templates over. Just prepare one. Have it ready to go. You know, do the work beforehand, don't be reactive. Prepare for things, and that's what I mean by reverse engineer Everything. What can go wrong? What can I be hit with? Ok, is it going to be a matter of life? Now Q4, right at POSUS. What's going to happen? Is Amazon not going to take in your inventory with? Is your? Is your fulfilled by merchant of the ready? Have you got suicide your 3PL? Because guess what? People will buy you anyway, they don't care where it comes from, they just want to get the present purchase. You know, just have a plan. Have a plan for whatever that can go wrong, and then you can kill and just action that. I have the team at the ready. You know, document everything and ask questions. I ask for, ask questions with data. Don't go on Facebook and say, hey, I'm a sense of down my listing, what can I do, and they don't say why. They don't say what they actually did, what have they up tent already, what hasn't worked, and don't provide any data whatsoever. If you ask informed questions, people like you know you, Kevin, I'm sure you will be able to actually give a meaningful answer. But these people are happy to just buy the training or listen to the podcast and feel like they made it and it's not if you don't action it. You didn't really do it, did you? So it's it's. It's that it's putting the work and prepare before so you can chill and just let it Work is. There is no more magic to that. You know, plan your systems right, the description of the rules that you once gonna need. I have a full all chart with you know, hiring documents on what the role should be and how you're gonna measure and where they're gonna learn how to do things. Be sharp about what's free of the Dang it. Just send me a DM and I'll send you the whole thing. I don't care. That's why I build it for to share, you know. But do something, take action. Don't just listen without doing a thing. That's that's for me. It's being truly the key of how these rapid growth has happened to us. Kevin King: And you're gonna be in Hawaii in May of next year at the billion dollar seller summit. What are you looking forward to? On that? You're going to. You're one of the the keynote speakers at the billion dollar seller summit in Hawaii, and you've never been before, so what? I've never been what, what are you looking forward to? Or what, what, what do you, what do you think? What's in store? Kata: Well, what's in store obviously is a lot of fun. I love networking with people, though it's funny because I don't really like crowds and I don't really like many people, but the ones I do like. If. If I'm talking to you, you know it's because I want to. That's one thing You're never gonna get. What you see was you get with me. But I look for, actually, when I'm in disembarking, to see good, kind Hearted people to get to brainstorm a very rarely speak about Amazon itself or tactics or hacks and things like that, because that's what I do sort of with the people that I coach, you know, with my friends when they have one way of strategy, you know, content creation and whatnot. So I just like to engage again to know the real person. Like I love to have learned about how you met your wife today. That's the kind of conversation I look forward the most in this event, because I love to learn about little things behind it. I believe friendship is very hard to come by our age, especially in this industry, but when you do get a few good ones, they are keepers, you know, and I'm very blessed to have so up all the friends who my success didn't really Resonate you with that much and they switched off, fizzled away from us to ones are really rooting for us and really, really happy and allow us to be Unapologetically successful and inspiring. Because that's also a journey, you know, and I'm not gonna tell you just yet what I'm gonna be speaking about, but I'm hoping it's gonna be a very holistic view of how to how to attain your Amazon success and beyond, which I don't think many people talk about. Really, we still focus a little bit on. The hacks are really fun. I learned from them all but that's not what you're gonna get from me. You're gonna get hacks for life, I think that's awesome. Kevin King: Whatever they are, I know they're gonna be. They're gonna be awesome. What's been a. It's been great speaking with you today. I've really enjoyed our conversation here and it's it's been really cool. If people want to know more about you or follow you or See what's up, but what is there a good way to do that? Or if they I don't know if they wanted to get involved with, with, with Titan or with anything else that you're doing, or follow your journey. You said you might be making this supplement thing a little bit more public or something, or what's the best way to do that? Kata: I'm gonna. I'm gonna be documenting my life as a Dementia Kata. That's. That's something I'm working on at the moment. Just bring a vulnerability back to the table, you know, and talk about things Not many people talk about. But yeah, Instagram Kata Phipps or katatitanmembers.com. If you want to learn anything about how to systemize, if you want so, please log charge. Whatever Resources I have, I'm always super willing to give them to you. Just hit me up, give me a couple days and I go back to you. But yeah, it's, it's being great and I truly hope that someone can resonate that. You know, if I did it on the cheap, for free, so can you, because it's you know, it's a proven concept and I think it's a really cool one, and you're gonna get amazing friends along the journey as well, which is priceless in itself. Kevin King: So 100% thanks again, Kata. It's been really really great to have you here on the AM/PM Podcast. Kata: Thank you for having me. Kevin King: Great stuff talking with Kata. She agrees and has a lot of the same philosophies and thoughts that I have, which is Not the same as everybody else in this industry, so it's refreshing to see someone with that approach and I think it's actually One of the better approaches that you can take. A little bit difficult for some people to get their head around, but it's a great approach. She and I could have kept talking for quite some time. That our went really quick. I hope you enjoyed this episode. We'll be back again next week with another awesome episode. Got some really cool stuff coming for you. Be sure to sign up, if you haven't yet, for the Billion Dollar Sellers Newsletter, billiondollarsellers.com. Before we leave today, I've got some words of wisdom for you. How you do anything is how you do everything. Remember how you do anything is how you do everything, especially when people aren't looking. See you again next week.

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with an Amazon mentor, Kevin King! We discuss selling on Amazon FBA 2023 Q&A. Find out what are the top trends for Amazon Sellers in 2023. Our guest organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.   This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post purchase marketing. Finally your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset. For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch   This episode is brought to you by VAA Philippines VAA is the world's only company specializing in Virtual Assistant services for Amazon sellers. We invest significant resources in our VAs, including a thorough screening and selection process, intensive month-long Amazon training for accepted candidates, ongoing professional development, and a warm, supportive community. You can rely on your VA as a dedicated employee who will deliver consistently high-quality work on an efficient, ongoing basis. And that means peace of mind for you. For more information visit https://www.vaaphilippines.com/   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more. For More information visit https://Startup.club   This episode is brought to you by Jeff Schick Legal Protect your business from legal threats that could severely disrupt your normal business operations. I designed my monthly retainer plan with the sellers in mind, because I've been in your shoes. For a very low, monthly retainer of $89, Get access to Amazon attorney Jeff Schick. Mention Lunch with Norm and receive 50% off the first 2 months. For more information visit https://jeffschick.com – drive online sales, increase conversions and help build your brand.   This episode of Lunch with Norm is sponsored by Surgo Marketing. Ready to take your brand to the next level on TikTok and Instagram? Surgo Marketing specializes in helping entrepreneurs and coaches build a profitable brand on TikTok and IG in less than 90 days.  With Surgo Marketing, you can build your brand, create incredible video content, and increase leads without spending a dime on ad spend. Visit surgomarketing.com today and elevate your brand.   This episode is brought to you by Rebaid. Attention sellers and brand owners! Are you looking for a way to reach more shoppers and promote your products? Try Rebaid! Rebaid's platform connects you with shoppers looking for great deals on exciting new products. We make it easy to offer promotional deals and handle rebate payments with seamless redemption and efficient processing. Don't just take our word for it, see why we have an Excellent rating on Trustpilot® and rave reviews from thousands of satisfied customers. Increase your sales and reach more shoppers with Rebaid today! For more information visit https://www.rebaid.com In this episode, an Amazon mentor, Kevin King, is here. Today, we discuss selling on Amazon FBA 2023 Q&A. He organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, Rebaid, VAA Philippines, Post Purchase Pro, Surgo Marketing, Jeff Schick Legal and HONU Worldwide.   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

Today, we're privileged to have an enlightening and engaging conversation with the one and only Kevin King. Before Amazon FBA and E-commerce, Kevin takes us back to his early days as a collector of sports cards, which eventually transformed into a lucrative venture during his college years. In a unique twist to the collectibles market, Kevin began featuring pretty girls on baseball cards. A fascinating story that takes us back to that era and Kevin's unique business strategy ties into the Amazon-selling industry today. Get ready to take notes as Kevin King, opens his treasure trove of Amazon seller hacks and wisdom from his vast experience in the business world. From unveiling the concept of intuitive eating that helped him lose a remarkable 70 pounds without dieting, to sharing insightful hacks, strategies, and resources for Amazon sellers, Kevin covers it all. He even takes us behind the scenes of his recently launched an Amazon newsletter and its intriguing and engaging content. Gear up as we switch gears to advanced Amazon seller strategies and explore the unfair advantages and perks you can get by being a Helium 10 Elite member! As we dive further into the conversation, you'll hear tales of success from Elite members and how their monthly training and networking calls help them gain insights from some of the top Amazon and Walmart in the space. Rounding off the episode, we anticipate the forthcoming Billion Dollar Seller Summit and the Level Up event. So, whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, an established business owner, or simply someone with a penchant for compelling stories, this episode is guaranteed to leave you inspired and filled with actionable advice. Don't miss out! In episode 491 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss: 00:00 - Kevin King's Amazon Seller Hacks and Journey 03:59 - Collectible Baseball Cards and Strip Clubs  10:16 - Kevin's Weight Loss Journey and Health Tips 24:05 - A Different Amazon Newsletter 27:40 - Increasing Engagement Through Opt-in System  40:00 - Benefits of Joining the Helium 10 Elite Program  42:52 - Catch The Next Billion Dollar Seller Summit 48:30 - 60-Second Tip: Automated Tool for Boosting Amazon Sales  ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton Kevin King is back on the podcast and, in addition to some cool seller hacks that he always has for us, he's gonna talk about a whole variety of topics like how he used to be a collectible card Manufacture and how he's lost 70 pounds in the last couple of years without even dieting. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you a six, seven or eight figure seller and want to network in a private mastermind group with other experienced sellers? Or Maybe you want to take advantage of monthly advanced training sessions with Kevin King, an expert guest? Do you want to come to our quarterly in-person all-day trainings at Helium 10 headquarters? Or do you want the widest access to the Helium 10 set of tools? For all of these things, the elite program might be for you. For more information on Helium 10 elite, go to h10.me/elite. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic Conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got the most serious sellers of them all, Kevin King, back on the show. Kevin, how's it going? Kevin King It's going. I don't know if I'm serious, though I'm more a I'm a seller, but I'm, yes. Bradley Sutton Some people might say you know as like they read my news I would say what is serious, like how serious is this guy? Yeah, yeah, the newsletter. We're gonna talk about that you know. There's definitely been some some things that people are saying that this isn't, this can't be serious, but we'll get it. We'll get into that. Kevin King A little bit depends on the total point of view, what you see, what's coming, yeah, oh my goodness, I can't wait, I want to talk right off the bat though, before I forget. Bradley Sutton You know, I don't think we've talked about this on the podcast before, or maybe you've alluded to it. I've heard you talk about it, but I've never actually dug deep like right now. Hold on, let me just pull something from my back wall here. I just hit it behind. I was sorting some some baseball cards and I'm actually flying to Japan on my own time personal time off and I'm setting up at a card show over there because my dad's had a business there. But I've heard you mentioned before that that you've dabbled in in the old days, in the, in the like sports cards or comics or what was it exactly in that industry. Kevin King Yes, I as a child back in the 80s, 70s and 80s, I collected the basketball cards, back when the I think it was tops they were big, they're like four, four by six size or something like that very Huge, and I collect I don't know. So I don't know when I started second, third grade. So I'm like that and I collected those, collected baseball cards, collected football cards and I was big into them and then I just kind of I grew out of it. I guess maybe I don't know, sophomore year, high school or something, just that was a little kid stuff threw everything in a box or actually put everything in a. I think I was going to throw it away. My mom's like no, no, no, no, don't throw all that stuff away. So she's threw it into about my mom's a hoarder anyway, but she threw it into a box. And then my senior year of high school, like seven years late, sorry, of college, like seven years later, yeah, I was like I damn, I need some money, man, I need a, I need a little extra cash. I was like what, how can I make some cash? I was like, wait a second. My mom, I think baseball cards now people are actually starting to pay real money for these things. I might actually have, you know, some crazy rookie card for Roger Clemens or something, I don't know. I called her up. You still got that box of stuff I was going to throw away. She's like, yeah, I was like I'm coming up to see you, um, you know, from mother's day or something, I'm gonna grab it from you. So I grabbed it and I went on and I sold to Sold a bunch of those. I had some rare stuff in there, made thousands of dollars just taking them into a hobby shop, you know, a comic book store or whatever, and trading them in. And you got some extra beer, money and cash that I needed when I was, you know, not doing so well, when I was 21, 22 and so that evolved, though into time and, uh, the earth was. When was this? Like 92, 93, so about three years after college, um, I was doing stuff, mark and I, you know, mark, from billion dollar stars on, we were doing, um, I'd started a magazine, uh, that dealt with strip clubs, actually, and it wasn't. There's no nudity or anything. This is the business side of it. It was, you know the business side of it. And and doing that, these, for some reason baseball cards have become hot to put strippers on. So it was everything from you know the cabaret, royal and Dallas to the dollhouse in Orlando, to playboy magazine was doing it, penthouse, all the anybody you know bikini, hawaiian, tropic bikini girls were doing it. It became a thing to put Put pretty girls on on baseball cards and these were being sold through traditional comic stars. This wasn't like in the adult shops and like the on the other side of the internet. These were like. Diamond comics was a big distributor back then in capital city comics Too, huge distributors that distributed all the comic book stores. You know they will have big boost at comic con in san diego. Um, they would put these things out and you will put them in packs. It became a huge, freaking business. Bradley Sutton We're selling cases of these and that's one of my first so you were the, you were the one who made them, or you were we made. I was one of the. Kevin King I was both. I was one of the companies, I was making them. Um, originally we had deals because I knew some of these club owners. So they're like yeah, do go ahead and do ours. You know that's good promotion for us and we'll do it. So I was doing them, I go to them. We would either shoot it or they give us stuff that we would. Actually I would design it. What's the back of the cards have? you know, in baseball cars I would have the stats and he had had susie, susie smith, stage name, candy, candy dropper, whatever, uh, five, six, 34, 24, 34, um, originally from san diego, likes men with uh, a short hair or whatever, um, you know, it would be something like that and I was like I need a better way to actually sell these. So a lot of people it goes back to what we do today. They're putting insert, insert cards, you know, register your warranty or get on our, join our vip club or something as one of the like the 11th card in a pack of 10, and they were sending it into the company stew physical mail. There's no internet back then and these companies were not doing anything. They're like the, the business cards in a fishbowl at the gym. You know, they just accumulate. And so I called up all these companies so what are you doing with your, with your, uh, your inserts? And I got there sitting there, said send it to me, I'll get them all typed in. I hired some company in Jamaica that would type these in for Four cents a piece or something, some crazy load number ended up building a mailing list of like 13 000 people off of this that had filled up for like a hundred different companies that were doing this and then as part of the deal I said well, I want to be able to you, I'll send you the list. I knew these guys wouldn't do anything with it most of them and I want to be able to have the right to mail it and I'm going to buy your cards from you wholesale and I'm going to create a catalog, a glossy color catalog that was sent in the mail, and Send these out and sell mine and yours. That became a huge freaking business that blew up and, um that we were able to ride that wave, uh, for quite some time and we were doing all kinds of really cool. Sometimes I have to show you. If I would know and you're gonna talk about this, I could have showed you some here but we did 24 karat gold signatures, like an ink with 20 raised 24 karat gold. We did and put them in like those, those crystal cases with screws on all sides. I mean this was like Serious, serious stuff. Bradley Sutton I mean people ahead of the time, because that, that's like what the industry has moved to is like these, you know, like one of ones, and like, hey, this is a uh, you know there's only 10 that have this signature. And now there's these companies that have them, where they actually come out Like every single one, like national treasures and stuff, where every single you know card in the set it comes in like this case, and it's all encapsulated in these plastic or these, these hard holders, and You're like doing this stuff. Yeah, it's 25 years before we were doing stuff for puzzles. Kevin King So at the back of the card we might do a set of, a subset of nine, so maybe this sets a hundred, but nine of them on the back is a puzzle piece. So you had to collect all nine, flip the cards over and put them in the right order to get another picture as a, you know, as a puzzle piece, like like a tic-tac-toe board. But you put them on the right order it makes another picture. Uh, we, yeah, we're doing all kind and but because of the nature of the products we were, basically I was limited in my marketing, and so it's where I cut my teeth, because I had to get super creative and super innovative on marketing. Because you know, you weren't allowed to. You know, if there was a facebook back there wasn't facebook back then, but there was they would not allow you to advertise it. So it caused us to be very creative in the way we did marketing. Um, we did a huge events. You talking about going to japan at the block blotch Blotch not beloggio, that's vegas, but the Belaj hotel in west hollywood on the sunset strip over there by the viper room and maybe some different name now, but there's a fancy hotel. In 1997 we brought in a bunch of the models Put out a thing and said you know, it's 500 bucks to come, and we had all these guys come like 300 guys, 400 guys, come to get, stand in line, get autographs from the girls on their cards, on 8 by 10s, and we did a party afterwards. It was it was different world. Bradley Sutton Interesting. Well, hey guys, you heard it first. Kevin King I never talked about it. It's not okay. Bradley Sutton I guess, heard, like you know Briefly, you're into collectible cards, you know, and I was like you know what? That's kind of up my alley. Let me ask him about that. So you heard it first here. Now, guys. Kevin King We had binders, you know, with the sleeves, and you put special, special binders. You would collect and, yeah, it was like it was full on full on Wow, interesting, interesting stuff. Bradley Sutton So, guys, we're doing this podcast a little bit differently. I'm doing everything backwards. You know, Kevin is known for his strategies and and Amazon. You know seller hacks and stuff like that. Well, we'll definitely get to that, but instead of doing at the beginning, we're gonna do that towards the end. If you guys have been listening to this podcast for a while, I've actually, you know, usually at the end of podcast, start asking people about their health regimen and diets and exercise and things like that, because 2023 is my year of health, where I'm asking, talking to guests. But we're gonna, we're gonna flip the script a little bit. Say to the end for the Amazon strategy. Now, Kevin, you yourself, wait, wait, can you look to your left really quick? Look to the side, Kevin. Where'd you go? Kevin? Where, oh? You disappear. You're so skinny now. You just disappeared when you, when you turn to the side there. How much weight have you lost this year? Kevin King I Don't know what the number is this year but in the last couple years about 70, 70, some odd pounds. I still got a ways. Still got a ways to go. But I'm probably another 50 or 60 and I'll be happy, but that'll probably take. Bradley Sutton That's impressive. Take me a few more years. Once you, I've noticed, you know, once you hit 40. It's like hard to lose weight, so you hit a number like that. That's pretty impressive. So let's talk about that a little bit. You know I Mean are. What are you doing? You're not, you know, starving yourself. You told me that before. It's not about, it's not about like starving yourself or necessarily counting calories or or working out seven hours a day or anything like that. But but how have you been able to, to steadily get to that when you're at now? Kevin King I've been. I've had an issue with my weight all my life. I've been up and down all my life and sometimes it's gotten a lot worse than what it what it is now. You know, right now about 260. I've been as high as like 360 in the past. In high school I was right around 200 when I most of my weight gain started when I left the house to go to college, to start drinking beer, eating pizza and just kind of kind of put it on and Didn't really care Too much. But then it, you know, as you age and I've been lucky, knock on wood, that I haven't had a lot of issues, not other than a type 2 diabetes, but no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, none of that kind of stuff that you would expect. I've been pretty good shape, even though been a bigger, bigger guy comparatively, and but I got to a point where it's actually my, my ex-wife, her. She always used to say if you can't take care of yourself, how can you take care of me? Which was a good little slogan and it's true, and so that kind of motivated me a little bit to To kind of in. So I tried every diet in the book. You know, everything from carnivore diet to Atkins diet, to Weight Watchers, to. Bradley Sutton Manny, get you on that carnivore at one point. Yeah, they're all stupid, he's, I know he's big on that. Kevin King Every one of those diets is stupid. I'm sorry if someone's out there's listening and thinks they're great. They're stupid. Every single one they do. They work, yes, they work short term. But how many times have you done the carnivore and you're right back to where you started it. But the key and I kind of learned this from my dad in a way, because he lost a lot of weight and kept it off for like 50 years he's skinny, I mean, he's like 130 pounds or something, but it's mindset, it's psychology. Eating is psychology. It's the people that you look at, all the people that go when they work out. They go when they work out and work their ass off and what they do after that. They go get a Starbucks and they just undo the entire workout. They just did by getting Starbucks with all the cream and all the whatever in it. I'm not coffee drinkers, I don't know all the terminology, but and they just completely undo it. But they feel good about themselves. I worked out and I had a supposedly a good coffee. It you've got to be conscious of what's in your mouth. So my, my ex-wife had found this woman. She's from Venezuela originally. She was listening to these, this podcast in Spanish, and she was a guest and she's talking about something called intuitive eating. You can look at, you can Google it. Google it intuitive eating. And she was talking about how this works. And so my wife At the time was like, let me, I want to do this. And so she called her up, started doing like launch. This woman lives in Miami doing long-distance consultations. And Then she said, Kevin, I think you'll really like her, she's really really good, you should try it. So, and to during COVID 20, was it? I'm into 2020 on Christmas time, 2020. I had my first call with her and started really in January 2021 and what she does is she doesn't believe in diets and she's like the head of the gastric that people of Miami I don't know what the damn thing is called, but something Uh, but she's like the top person of it, gmm. She's skinny, she's a Attractive you know, vince, a willing girl, but she's headed. This whole thing and her whole thing is, is intuitive eating. It's the psychology of eating. It's not about, you know, weight losses is about 80% what you put in your mouth and 20% everything else, and being conscious of what you eat, and so it. She's like Kevin promised me, you'll never go on another diet in your life. It's like done check mark. She's like if and if you get bad. If you get bad, if you go off rails on something Like you know, you go out and you you eat a gallon of ice cream one night because you're depressed or something. Don't think, well, shoot, I just ruined everything. I'm working at Might as well, eat another one the next day and I'll start a diet on Monday. Everybody always starts a diet on Monday or the first of the month. Okay on, on September, on August 1st, I'm gonna start. She said that's absolutely the wrong way to do it. She's like eat what you want. If you want a freaking Pizza, eat the pizza, but it needs to be. You want the pizza needs not be a five or six out of habit, but like a nine or a ten and go get the pizza, but be conscious of what you're eating. Maybe get a small instead of a large or whatever. And I had a habit. I had a bad habit like every night to relax, I would watch TV Just to, you know, unwind my brain and everything and spin an hour just watching mindless TV. You know, america's Got Talent or some stupid reality show or just whatever, just to kind of just wind down. And I would eat a box of milk guts. You know one of those, can those? I love milk guys because you could put three or four of them in your mouth, suck on them. You know, you put three or four in your mouth, they kind of meld together because they're caramel and so you're just sucking on it like you would a you know a butterscotch or something, and then, as it gets lower, you put a couple more in your mouth and they meld together so you can make a box last like an hour and a half. But that's 600 calories on a lot of sugar. I just I was in this habit of doing it every single night. She broke me of that. Now I have that maybe once a month. But she got me the thinking about things and she finds substitutes. Why do you like those milk duds? Is it the texture? Is it the carmel? Is it the way it taste on your tongue? There's something about it. Why do you drink so much soda? Is because you like the carbonation, that is, a specific carbonation. How about switching to this drink, not a period, not this, but this specific one, and it works. So you're, you're tricking your mind psychologically to still, because you have those cravings in those desires or those habits, and as you break in those you swap it. So she's told me, like Most dieticians would say, if you're drinking a coke, zero, you need to cut that out. You need to go to water. You know, hundred twenty eight gallons a day, or ounces a day I mean I got too much, that's a whale size. But a hundred twenty eight ounces a day, and and and, quit, cut, cut those out immediately. She's like no, if you're drinking six a day, just swap one of them out for a water In this, you know, and then have five and let's see where that goes. And but over time you start consciously eating things differently. You start looking at stuff. Am I eating because I'm hungry or am I eating because it's a habit? And now I'm at the point now where I have a private chef that comes once a week and cooks for me, and he used to make my lunches and my dinners. Now I'm just telling me one meal a day because that's all I want. So, and I'm not, I'm not eating half of it anyway. I eat, you know, a little bit of breakfast, protein shake, maybe a little cereal or piece of bread or something. But if I want a candy I buy. If I want an ice cream I get it, but I used to eat a lot of ice cream. Bluebell is my favorite to Texas company and you get across the south it's not everywhere but it's my favorite so I would have those little pints. I buy those little half gallon things or whatever they are last a couple days. I've had one right now in my fridge for two months and I haven't even opened it. It's a change in psychology or what I've done is like, okay, if I want that taste, I want that ice cream taste. I love that taste. It gets the hormones In me, it gets the things that satisfaction, those triggers that are in your body. I'll buy those small size cups. They're like for birthday parties for kids. You know there are 160 calories and I'll eat one of those and she's like, do you go back for a second, go back for a third? Like, no, I just, I just eat one. So it's it's some of its discipline, some of its mind over matter, just being conscious of everything that you eat. And that's the biggest thing in. The second is sleep is so important in in health and a lot of people especially. I mean you're a perfect example. You're working your ass off and sleeping wherever you could grab a nap here or there's a couple hours at night at one point. I know you're better about it now, but but most people dismiss how important sleep is for your overall health. And what woke me up to it is is a few years ago I was going to get life insurance and I didn't have life insurance before. But I got Marius, I better get some life insurance. And talking to the agent, they're like OK, there's, there's a what's your sleep apnea score? And I'm like. I just did a test and it was like 19, I had 19. Mild things or whatever it was, in a, in a period of whatever the measuring period is, that's OK, that's mild and what? What this insurance company told me is that you're at 19 times, maybe it's 19 times per hour. You sub, get subconscious, you don't realize it, but if it messes with your body and they said, if you're you get to 20, you're uninsurable on life insurance. I'm like what? And so I went immediately. I had my wife used to say I would snore. I would snore like a sound, like a Mack truck Coming down the street. So I went. I had a. There's a guy here in Austin that does a balloon, sonia plastic, so they go into your. I had a 70% blockage. I didn't know what, I just get used to it as you're living, you only realize it. But I had trouble in my nose. So you know, man, he just did it. I did a Marcus done a bunch of people done it. He has this technology is like these. One is doogie how's your guys that became an MD when he was 14 or something. So you know this technique. So it doesn't require the major surgery that and still get knocked out for like 15 minutes because and uses balloon and blows it up and opens all that up. That made a huge difference on my story. In my sleep Plus, I started using a sleep mask and I changed. You know, sometimes in your bed If it's hot or cold, temperatures are right, you're tossing and turning, you're not getting as much sleep, you wake up in this little bit of sweats or whatever. But there's something called the eight sleep mattress. Is the number eight sleep. That's freaking amazing. It's a mattress topper and you it's about two grand. It's not cheap, but you put it on top of your bed and then it you can set settings are you cold sleep or warm sleep? And you can do splits, so if your wife and you on one side, your partner new Can be off different. And then it measures you throughout the night and it ring and fit, that fits and stuff. Do this, but give you like your pulse rate and use some measurements during the night. But this like measures your whole body and like how often do you wake up, how, what kind of quality of sleep did you get? What was your heart rate, your hrv through the night, all this stuff and it Adjust after a week of testing. It figures out where what temperature is optimal for you. It's a way to just you can manually write it but adjust up and down either cold or hot, the temperature of the mattress. And this thing is so thin, it's super thin. It goes on top of the bed, has a little pump that you hide behind your bed with a little bit of water in it and it's brilliant. I mean I have a. I have a sleep number bed that has Like seven thousand dollars sleep number bed that has something similar built in that sucks compared to this Eight sleep. It's awesome. So things like that plus you got. You got to watch as a man. You got to watch your testosterone. So, as men, the number one thing is sleep, sleep apnea or sleep To stop, strong level in your diabetes level. Those three things play more in your health Then anything else. If you get on top of those, your chances of Of Having a long fruitful life and being there for your kids and your wife and when To enjoy your retirement or much, much higher intriguing stuff. Bradley Sutton Alright, so let's let's give somebody a quick tease. We're gonna talk about your newsletter you just started, why you started it and some of the stuff, but what's one of the either one that's come out already or something that's coming one of the strategies that you can share with our listeners who maybe haven't gotten a chance to read the newsletter? What's something you brought out in one of your newsletters that can write off the bad help sellers listening. Kevin King Yeah, I mean I just started April, august 14th. It's twice a week, it's Mondays and Thursdays. When I say newsletter, a lot of people roll their eyes but and cause I'm like, oh yeah, I get a newsletter from Helium Town, I get a newsletter from this software, and every time I get my email I get the company newsletter. Those are not newsletters, those are promotional emails for the most part. Go read our blog, go read this. A newsletter to me is more like a. What I'm doing is more like a magazine in a newsletter format. So it's action packed. Yes, there's a couple of ads and stuff in there from people that are paying for those, but it's action packed, actionable stuff. It's totally free. So, like, we just did a big one that's really resilient. The one that came out on August 28th talked about the A9 algorithm and so you know, Danny McMillan over at Seller Sessions did a big, big like document on it and we analyzed that and like, while that's good, that's not really there's more to it than that. So we took a look at Amazon Science, a big paper that came out and a couple of other things analyzed that and we talked about that and I've gotten so many people saying this is like the most amazing. It was written in a way that we can understand it. Sometimes this stuff gets too technical, plus some of the tips and tools that we put in there. We had a really cool resource for like getting. Sometimes, when you're trying to create your A plus content, your brand story, your brand pages, you're like what should I do? How should I tell my designer, a graphics person, to do and maybe you saw a couple here their ideas, or you give them some basic idea. But there's guys who listen. There's a guy in George. That's a similar library of 25,000 A plus pages and you can filter by it. I'm in the pet space, I'm in the space, I'm in the. It's got it all keyworded so you can search and get like, wow, that's a cool one, that's a cool one. I want my designer to do something like that or combine these two together. So I wish there were resources like that. I have something called the Dream 100. As you know, there's a lot of BS not Bradley Sutton's, but BS in this industry that with fake gurus and stuff. So I have every Thursday I come up, I put someone in the Dream 100, and I announced this is a legit person, you should follow them, trust what they say. So that'll get up to 100 people. It's only three right now, but that'll get up to 100 people over time. We do. I add a little bit of humor to it, so there's like I'll either call somebody out you know that's basically a fake guru or we'll put some crazy listing like hey, can you believe that this product is selling 100 grand a month on X-ray on Amazon? You look at it like holy cow. That's the craziest thing I ever saw. We do some of that, so it's a mix. And then I tell a personal story and each one's called a six second story. So when someone opens the news there, you gotta hook them right away and you gotta get them reading and engaged. And so I do. I personalize it and then I tie it to whatever we're talking about that day. Bradley Sutton So I'll personalize and reason. One kind of causes stir about some naked people, some balconies. Kevin King Yeah, but I do that. I want to. You know, I always say if you're not pissing someone off, you're not doing a good job. If you try to please everybody, you please nobody, and so I'm feeding my audience and so if that bothers you and it's gonna bother some people that might be religious or you know, depending that's okay. You can go find your information somewhere else. I'm fine with that. But the overwhelming response to that has been like holy cow, this is the best thing ever. This is don't stop. Can you do this every day? I can't believe it. One guy who sent me a message today is like this is so good I can't even take it all in. I just got three of my team members start reading this and we're dividing up sections of what to do, and so that's. There's so much out there. You know we do the helium-10 elite every month and we've been doing that since 2017 at helium-10, which is advanced level stuff, and in that I do seven ninja hacks every month and share those with the audience, and then, once those have become a little bit older, sometimes I share those other places, but the helium-10 elite people always get them first. Right now, I write everything on the current newsletter, but it's going to get to. I'll hire a staff, but I need to get to set the tone, figure out what works, what people like, what they don't like, and then I can feed everything I've written. For if I do this for three months, let's say, I can feed that all into an AI and then say have the AI write in the style of Kevin of the newsletters they don't know the exact style, the exact everything. So these are not AI newsletters, these are. We use AI as a tool, but AI is not writing these. Bradley Sutton So if somebody wants to go ahead and sign up, it's free right now. How can they do that? Kevin King Well, it's always going to be free. It's billiondollarsellers.com with an S, billiondollarsellers.com with an S. It's growing pretty quickly. So I think hopefully by this time next year there'll be maybe 50 to 100,000 people getting that twice a week and actually reading it that one. So my email list from all the stuff I do is big not as big as helium-10s or something, but so I could just blast this out to everybody. But I don't want to do that. I want people to actually want it and I have people now already saying I didn't get it, I didn't see it in my spam or what happened to it, and they're getting upset that they didn't get it. That's what I want. Is it to become habit-forming and become something people look forward to? When they see that Kevin King, BDSS, they're like, oh, this is something I got to read. If I can't read it right now, I'll save it until tonight or the plane ride tomorrow or whatever. That's where I want it to be. So it doesn't have to be. It's not a blast on my whole email list. You've got to double opt in. You can't just sign up and get it. You actually sign up and you got to click something else to say you really want to sign up and then you're in and that's on purpose and it keeps the open rates high, the engagement high, it's good for the advertisers that come into it, that support it with a little bit of advertising, and it's just good for everybody. It's people that want it. Bradley Sutton All right. So guys, make sure to sign up. It's one of the. I personally don't even read newsletters. This is like the first one. I actually just sit there and read and, just like Kevin said, sometimes he starts with a funny story, but it works. It like hooks you up and like laughing, sitting there, laughing like all right, I want to read more. I'm hooked in and from start to finish. It's long, it's like you're doing a lot of scrolling. Sometimes people say, oh, when you write an email, you don't want them to scroll, and they're like I got no problem scrolling, but it's written short. Kevin King It's written in a format so that you can skim it, but you'll see that it's using every trick in the book. There's no paragraphs more than two or three sentences. There's no. It's not long, and usually when I write it I have to go back and cut half of what I've written wrote out and it's straight into the point and we use a sense of humor. It's not just that opening story, but it's like we did something about in a recent one. So there's no such thing as the A10 algorithm. It's always the A9. There is no such thing, and the A9 of all is just like you did during puberty, but it's still named the A9. So we'll do stuff like that. It's not necessarily business-like or corporate-like, but screw that, put a personality to it and people love that and then as a reading they have a little smile or like I get it, or that's relatable. It doesn't sound like corporate speak or boring stuff. That's all on purpose. Bradley Sutton All right. Now you referenced Elite and how you saved the best hacks for there. Do you have any? Just for a sample, you can give some of the cool one or two of the cool hacks that you've given out on your seven ninja hacks that you do monthly in the Elite group.  Kevin King Yeah, sure, what's a good reason? We do this every single month. We talk about some of its tools, like CASPA AI, which is a really cool tool where you can shoot your product on your iPhone, just basic picture, upload it and then put it into any scene you want. So you're like, hey, I want my water bottle to be held by an Asian guy standing in the gym with some barbells behind him and he's holding it facing the logo out. It'll make a cool picture instantly using AI with that which you could use in your Amazon post or you could use in your maybe in your listing. You could use a lot of places. So we'll do cool tools like that. Or Melio payments, where you can use credit cards to actually finance your purchase, orders and stuff. We do things like. A recent one was about how to Get that there's a newer version of this item available. You know we covered that there's a new version of this item available. Like people like see that, how do I get my? You know if I you got a calendar or you got you just updated your product, how can you Link that to the old inventory so that people see there's a newer version available? We showed people how to do that. We showed people how to do the back-end stuff before anybody knew how to do the back-end and get a complete dump of your competitors Listings like all their attributes and everything before. That was really public information. Well, I was like a couple years before yeah, main stream. Yeah, we stuff like how to use a Hexa. Hexa, it's a beta program most people don't know about to create 360 degree pictures for Amazon listing. They'll do it for you for free and I think that's really really, really, really cool. We've done stuff like how to make money fall from the sky on your landing pages. You know you, someone hits on one your landing pages or one of your blog sites and they don't let's say they don't sign up. But you want to know who they are. There's tools out there that will actually Use IP and geo location to actually figure out, in about 50 to 60% of cases, who these people are, based on public data In the United States, Europe, you might have a few more issues with privacy, but yes, we don't care about privacy. So, unless it's medical, and so we, we can figure out that. I just went to Bradley's blog talking about the honeymoon and he's a no, I went there. You know, as he got a hit or his metrics, that there's a visitor session, but he doesn't know who they are. If he puts this little bit of code, then we can we put, we can figure out that. Oh, this was Kevin King because he was using this IP address of this computer and there's reverse matching. That knows that, oh, Kevin King went to this gaming side or went to somewhere else in the past 10 years From that same place. It must be Kevin King. Let's match it up again to this other database. So his, his email address is blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Puts that into a database. Then you can either email those people which I don't always recommend if you're gonna do that, you should use something like zero bounce to make sure the emails are valid or you can put them into custom audiences if you're running Facebook ads or any kinds things like that and you can retarget these people. You ever wonder how sometimes you went to a site and You're all of a sudden now I'm seeing this stuff all over my feed. Some of that's retargeting pixels, which is more private. But if you're wondering, how do they get me onto an email list? Or how did they get me from this this not a meta property into an X or Twitter property? Those two aren't the same company not sharing the same pixel. How do they do that? And this is some of the ways they're doing it. We also talked about you know, Howard. You've had Howard on the how tie on the on the podcast and he's got a little group called elites I'll forget the name of elites seller society or something like that and he's had every Thursday he has someone come on and talk about stuff and one of the things that just recently he had David, who's spoken at the billion dollar sauce on. You remember David from a, the ghost story. Bradley Sutton Back in 2019 he came on and he did some translating for him. One year at the billion dollars. Kevin King He came on and talked about you know what, what? How are things changing with the Chinese sellers? You know, Howard, he's like you know, ai is level the playing field as far as creating listings and stuff now for everybody. And If you someone's like a word that, how are they ranking? How are they getting reviews? What are they doing? He's like the number one way that Chinese sellers are getting Ranking. Right now they're using postcards, postcards through the mail and he's like, thanks to Kevin King, I'm like what he's like? Oh yeah, I did talk about that in 2019 when I did me and Brandon young went over there and spoke to a huge group in Shenzhen. Well, they took that and now he said that's the number one way that they're getting Review, ranking products and getting reviews. And and so I was like you know what? I think I actually did that In the US too. It wasn't. I just didn't give that to the Chinese sellers. And so I look back and I share that to the helium-ten elite. First way back, and I don't remember exact time, in 2018, some point, I did a presentation on postcards and it was cutting edge. Virtually nobody did it, everybody, you know. They looked at like, yeah, Kevin, that's like I I never heard of. I don't even check my mailbox. I don't know. I'm a millennial Nah who reads the mail like dude, you're missing it. And so nobody in the hardly anybody in the US did it, but the Chinese like, oh, this, this looks good. They did it and look what it's doing for him four years later. So that's the kind of stuff we do in helium-ten elite. If you freakin pay attention and implement Not only what I'm teaching but what we bring on Really good guests. You know I look for diversity, from PPC people to shipping people to you name it. You know sometimes you get a speaker. That's yeah, okay, but we get some really good people as three speakers, plus myself, on Every single one of the helium-ten elite, that's. You know, there's a lot of groups out there that that have trainings, but I think this might be the longest last, the oldest one period. It's continuous. There's others that have started and come and gone, but that and but I think since we started February at 2017, when it's called Illuminati, changed the name in 2019 to helium-ten elite, but it's been continuous, never missed a month since February 2017. So that's six and a half years. I don't know if there's any other Group. That has lasted that long at this point and guys. Bradley Sutton You know I told people this before. This is One of the secrets not the main secret to my success is Before I ever sold on Amazon, you know, before I even became a consultant. You know people thought I was crazy because it's mulling. I mean, like seven, eight, nine figure sellers going and paying 400 bucks to get in this Illuminati mastermind. I, I could see the value in it. I saw a webinar for something first of you and Manny, you know, way before I worked at helium-ten Year, more than a year probably before and and I actually joined Illuminati Just as a regular person who wasn't even selling yet and within like three, four months I had enough knowledge just from the Illuminati stuff and you know a couple other. You know courses I was taking, but mainly from the Illuminati, where I became like a pretty top-level consultant and and was, you know, launched my Amazon consulting career. You know which was my career before helium-ten, without even selling on Amazon, just because I was able to ramp up my knowledge super fast by being part of that Illuminati mastermind. Kevin King So and it's not just the guys exactly training- that's what we had, but more recently Helium 10's added a weekly call with all the people that want to participate. So I do one a month. I jump on once a month and then the other three weeks Bradley and Carrie and Shivali host them and we'll have anywhere from 20 to 40 50 people in there that are members of helium-10 elite. There's a lot more members in that, but you know some people are busy and for a couple hours Typically an hour or two hours everybody's on there on a zoom call, all on the screen. There's no agenda, no presentations Like what do you got a problem with? Oh, you know Amazon's blocking me from shipping this and anybody else ever dealt with this. And usually there's someone else like, oh, yeah, I've a. You know, maybe we me or Bradley or somebody knows the answer begin help them. But usually there's somebody else like, oh, have you ever tried this? Or this happened to me two years ago and I did this and you have this interactive conversation that you're not gonna get in a Facebook group. You're not gonna get anywhere else other than maybe an in-person event, which there's four of those a year to for helium-10 elite. Did you get to come to for free? That are that value right there. Sometimes I learned stuff in there, you know, I didn't know from somebody else that right there, connecting with other high-level sellers and being able to share is as valuable as the presentations, if not even more valuable in some cases, and I'm so. There's things like that, that that you're not gonna get anywhere else. Bradley Sutton Just last week I don't know if it was on your call or on one of the regular weekly one that you're not on there, it was before you. Either way was before you came on the call there was Elizabeth, who's an elite, elite member, and she was talking about how she's done like something like a two million dollars on TikTok shop Some crazy, some crazy number like that and so she was just like people were dazzled with what she was saying Just ran, you know, just like just randomly got on there. She was just one of their participants and was talking about that. Now we're actually gonna do a train. She's gonna do a training in October in the elite in-person workshop in New York where she's gonna show people I'll kind of like reverse engineer how she was able to get to this level of success that she's had on on TikTok shop, which is definitely a hot topic. Kevin King So that's hot, that's. That's big right now. That's big. If you're not paying attention to that, that's big. You know I had Perry Belcher. This will be coming out on the AM PM podcast in October. So be sure, but Perry Belcher if you don't know who he is, he's one of the top marketers in the space right now. He started digital marketer. Yeah, the big expo with 7,000 people I mean sorry, traffic and conversion is. He was one of the founders of that. He started digital marketer. He's really big in the marketing space and old-school marketing guy. One of the things he actually said on that podcast, among a bunch of other cool stuff, is that he's like if you're going from Amazon to Shopify, it's a mistake. You should not be doing anything on Shopify. He said we're finding far better success by setting up funnels with click funnels or high level or one of the other, and doing single product drives it. The conversions are way higher, the Sales are way higher than driving someone to a Shopify site where it's there's too many confusing things that can distract them and he's like that's where these Amazon sellers because I asked him for one of the mistakes people are making said that's one of the mistakes a lot of sellers. Amazon sellers are making right now, as they should be focused more on driving stuff to single products with upsells Rather than driving to a Shopify store. Bradley Sutton Here's all my 20 things my, my company sells, but yeah, yeah, I mean the tick-tock shop that there's, just whatever is cutting edge. You know we talk about an elite, so so it's actually the longest in history and that you know. Kevin just said it started in in 2017. So it's we're talking over six years, almost seven years. It's been closed for the longest time in history. I think the last time it was open was in March of this year I'm not sure by the time you guys are listening to this episode of its open, but sometime in in September, October, we're gonna open it up for a couple weeks or so. So this is the time to sign up. Guys write this down h10.me forward slash elite. H10.me forward slash elite. And even if it's not open right now, there's a button on there where you can join the waiting list so you can make sure that when it does open for the short window that it does, that, you guys can get in. But but you know the benefits are this is like the only way to really talk to Kevin. You know people Want to ask kept. You know want to hire Kevin as a consultant all the time. Kevin doesn't have the the bandwidth do that, but once a month he'll go on there and just live, you know, just in a regular zoom call. You can ask him anything you want. You can ask other people anything you want in the Facebook group. Or we have two weekly zoom calls now one at In the afternoon on Friday us time and then one that I actually hop on at midnight because it's 8 am UK time Every Friday and and we hit the, we hit the Europe. You know, all the European sellers and people in Asia, you know, can hop on a call and network with each other. We have four quarterly workshops. The next one's coming up in October, the fourth one of the year. We had one in, you know, during Amazon accelerate, September 11th, and now October, right during unboxed, we're gonna have one where we're gonna be talking about, like I said, tick tock shop, and also we're gonna have a PPC Expert and there's a whole bunch of other Advances of being on the elite program. So if you guys are interested to add this to your helium tenant count again, go to h10.me forward slash elite and Either sign up right there if it's open, take advantage or if it's closed, just just join the waiting list so you can hook up with Kevin that way. Kevin King There's some software tools to that. They get extra tools or extra capacity or something right. Bradley Sutton Yeah, elite members usually get access to tools like way before, like we just launched Some historical Cerebro. Elite members have had that for like a year and a half, you know, but now barely diamond members are getting it. Like a year and a half Later there's some tools like our elite analytics so that Kevin actually developed himself he gave the the kind of blueprint for it. That's still only elite members can can access that diamond members don't have access. Then that's been around for like two years. So lots of advantages, including networking and training that elite has. You know, back in the day, like I said, when I was an elite Illuminati member, it was only the. You know there's a I think there was a Facebook group Maybe at that time or something, but it was mainly just one of those training calls a month and that was enough value For me and now it's just like all you know tons, tons of other value. So guys, make sure to check it out. Another thing you know I'm wearing my my OG Billion Dollar Seller Summit shirt today from the very first one, from the very first one and the next one time and place In 2024 for the next billion dollars. Kevin King There's actually two. Come with the next Billion Dollar Seller Summit, May 18th to the 23rd in Kauai, Hawaii, which is gonna be amazing, and then right after that one from the 23rd to the 26th, I have a second event called level up, where we're? So the first, the billion dollar seller summits, mostly for Amazon sellers and all the traditional things that you're You're used to like you are Bradley from a billionaire, saw something, the level up, or switching resorts, take it, everybody that's staying, that chooses to stay, and they're going to the Waimea Canyon, which is the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. It's like a little Grand Canyon that you in Hawaii that then we're taking them on the Nepali Coast on a dinner cruise. The pop for the poly coast is where these mountains, these beautiful mountains, come right up to the edge of the water. It's just stunning Dolphins jumping everywhere, and so that's gonna be cool. And then we're switching to Hanalei Bay, to the one the chain, the ones 300 million dollar resort that just had a overhaul and it's like 14, $1500 a night to stay there, but we got a rate that's like way less than half of that For people coming to the event. And then we're doing it's called level up, so it's six speakers, only ones Amazon, the other five, or you know, like Perry Belcher just said, he's probably gonna speak at it, jason Flatlin is someone that's maybe speak at us, a couple other Molly Mahoney, it's probably gonna speak at it, and some some other, and then we're mixing that in with Some mind and body stuff, like we talked about earlier, because that's important for our engineers. So there's gonna be cryo therapy, there's gonna be a sound therapy lab where you listen to the bowls and it helps reset your mind. We're doing hot yoga, a bonfire on the beach, and so it's. It's gonna be pretty cool. We're doing a race. You know we did that race here in Austin. You were in that's that scavenger hunt we did a couple years ago here in Austin. People love that. So Probably problem one of the problems when you go to an event you don't get to see the place. You're like you see the hotel and maybe you see a bar or something with a restaurant. So we're doing we've got 25 Avis rental cars thing or 30 Avis rental cars all lined up and you're gonna broken the teams of four and you're gonna do an amazing race across the islands one day. So you're gonna see, then you're gonna be able to see the entire islands and experience the island. Quiet is a place where you're not gonna want to be sleeping aping in the back. You know you're gonna be like looking out the window after every turn going Holy Callis is beautiful. I've never seen something so beautiful my life. It's a drastic Park Island and so you're gonna, but you're gonna be able to see some cool stuff all in some back places that you wouldn't know they're not on the tours map. We're gonna take you to this one cool beach as part of the race. You're like, holy cow, I'm coming back here because nobody's here, nobody knows about this place. It's like a secret little beach. So that's. That's gonna be cool too. If it's your third or more trip, you're gonna get like a drastic park experience in a helicopter ride Over the island and stuff. So, like Bradley, if you're out there, you get. You get that for free, as, since you're a regular, since you've been to three, this is your third or more we're gonna take a helicopter around the island as a tour is amazing fly up to the inside. This 10,000 foot waterfall and a helicopter in land and this, this drastic park kind of vehicles gonna pick you up and take you through this Amazing like plantation kind of thing and to a VIP dinner that night. It's gonna be really, really cool. So, yeah, that's a billion dollar seller summit calm. If you want information on that, then in October I'm doing the billion dollar exit summit so the billion dollar exit summer, doing this with Scott Deets so somebody may know he's got the, the exit ticket or whatever it's called him and he them to Probably the top guy and helping people exit. He helped manning Guillermo exit Helium 10 help who's involved in that Done over a half a billion dollars worth of exits for Amazon sellers. So and you may be like, yeah, but right now I'm not thinking about exiting, but you, you might be in a year or two years and now's the time to actually start working on it now To maximize and add a couple extra million dollars to your exit. By working now, rather than waking up one day and say I want to exit, I want to be out of here in three months, you're gonna be shooting yourself in the foot. So we're doing a. It's very small 25 to 30 people in Austin, October 10th to the 13th called the Billion Dollar Exit Summit and it's hands-on. So he's bringing his whole team, so it's want some a lot of one-on-one stuff. It's not a bunch of presentations from all these random people. You're gonna walk out there with a plan like, okay, this is what I need to do specific to your business. So that's, that's happening in October. Bradley Sutton Awesome, awesome, alright. So, guys, billiondollarsellersummit.com to get more information on it. Alright, like always, let's go ahead and close this out with your 30 or 60 second tip that you can leave for the sellers out there, do you haven't checked out Levonta. Kevin King That would be a really good tip. I leave a NTA, I think calm, I think is the is the URL. But especially for the fourth quarter coming up. You know, offside Amazon traffic is huge for ranking. You know you get the 10% referral bonus if you're brand registered and it just helps you in your rank Even if they don't buy. If you're sending traffic from outside social media or outside media, blogs, whatever, even if they don't buy, it helps you on your rank. But these guys you know that's, but it's kind of a pain in the ass to go set all that stuff up. You got to find people on TikTok or you got to find blogs or you got to find these affiliates and like coordinate everything one-on-one, one by one, by one. These guys have got over a thousand of the top affiliates, from TikTok people to people who are in the affiliate business. That's what they do to blogs like USA Today. USA Today will do a holiday gift guide for pet products this year. If you have a pet product, you want to be in that gift guide in USA Today with two million people reading it online. You, these guys, can facilitate that in the way. It's seamless, the way it works is you just connect your Amazon account to their system and it automatically imports all your products. Once your products are in there, you can go in and cherry pick them like I only want to promote these three. I'm willing to give a 20% commission for you know this dog bowl and then that goes into their database, these thousand affiliates. When they're writing their stories and looking for things they can search that database. Oh, I want, I want to promote this dog. Well, he's given 20% Off. They just automatically pick up the code, the, everything. It's all done for them. They put it into their blog or their, their post or whatever, and it's all automated or you can go in there. I think they let you do 50 a day. You can reach out to people and they're growing really, really fast and they just had people on prime day the last, the July prime day. Do over a million dollars just off of outside traffic, off of this program on prime day, and just imagine what that does to your listing on Amazon and the internal Amazon stuff, how that's gonna get that file flywheel going. So that's that would probably be a tip of there under the radar. And you know a mission is here. They don't give me a kickback or anything for this, but that's a tool that I think any Amazon serious Amazon seller is a fool to not use. I'm an absolute fool to not actually take a look at that, especially for this fourth quarter, and get a strong competitive edge Over your competition get more like that. Bradley Sutton Guys in Helium 10 Elite. h10.me/elite. Kevin, thank you so much for joining us. I know you're traveling a lot more than you were in the previous years. I'll probably hopefully see you at one of these upcoming events and then, for sure, at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit next year. So Keep on. By the time I see you next time, you know I might not even recognize you're losing so much. Wait, hopefully you won't recognize me, because I need to. I need to get on the path. Kevin King Yeah, it's slow but by. Yeah. If we go along in a period of time, you know I've lost a bunch. Bradley Sutton I'm not trying to do it quick. All right, we'll see it. We'll see you next time you.

Ritu Java is the Co-founder and CEO of PPC Ninja, a software tool and service provider managing Amazon ads for six, seven, and eight-figure brands. Ritu has initiated dozens of PPC mastermind programs, workshops, and webinars due to her self-professed passion for advertising and data science. She's also trained hundreds of Amazon sellers on PPC. Ritu started her e-commerce journey over 10 years ago, sharing her knowledge on over 100 podcasts, blogs, and conferences, including Global Sources Summit, The Billion Dollar Seller Summit, and The Prosper Show. In this episode… Amazon sellers use PPC data to determine their cost of advertising. Inflated data leads to overspending and wasting away profits. So how can you avoid sabotaging your advertising campaigns? Business leader and PPC guru Ritu Java of PPC Ninja recommends these three strategies: Devise a PPC budget, caution sponsored display ads, and perform periodic audits. Regarding a PPC budget, Ritu warns against allowances based on your competitors' TACoS. Instead, she suggests using a formula to determine costs. Besides being expensive, sponsored display ads can be ineffective since it targets audiences with specific interests, and may fail to generate sales. Audits ensure your PPC data is accurate, identify potential issues, track campaign performances, and provide you peace of mind that you're in compliance with Amazon's policies.  Join Josh Hadley in today's episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, where he interviews Ritu Java, Co-founder and CEO of PPC Ninja, about Amazon advertising strategies to maximize scalability. Ritu addresses PPC-to-organic sales, sponsored display ads, and the importance of routine audits.  Resources mentioned in this episode: Josh Hadley on LinkedIn eComm Breakthrough Consulting eComm Breakthrough Podcast Email Josh Hadley: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.com Hadley Designs Hadley Designs on Amazon Ritu Java on LinkedIn Email Ritu Java for a complimentary audit: Ritu@PPCNinja.com PPC Ninja PPC Ninja Mastermind Free PPC Audit Tool Special Mention(s): Kevin King Ryan Deiss on LinkedIn Michael E. Gerber on LinkedIn The E-myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber Amy Wees on LinkedIn Billion Dollar Seller Summit Amy Porterfield on LinkedIn The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt  Related Episode(s): “Kevin King's Wicked-Smart Tips for Building an Audience of Raving Fans” “Why You Need to Experience a Mindset Shift When It Comes to Hiring Leaders With Ryan Deiss” “Unlocking Entrepreneurial Greatness | Insider Secrets With E-myth Author Michael Gerber” “Ready to Increase Your Profits? New Exclusive Interview With Amy Wees About Sourcing From Mexico”

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with a mentor of sellers, Kevin King! We discuss the Amazon Essentials in  2023. Find out the strategies sellers should start doing in 2023, and where is AI heading when it comes to Amazon. Our guest also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is a regular on the podcast.   This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post purchase marketing. Finally your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset. For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch   This episode is brought to you by VAA Philippines VAA is the world's only company specializing in Virtual Assistant services for Amazon sellers. We invest significant resources in our VAs, including a thorough screening and selection process, intensive month-long Amazon training for accepted candidates, ongoing professional development, and a warm, supportive community. You can rely on your VA as a dedicated employee who will deliver consistently high-quality work on an efficient, ongoing basis. And that means peace of mind for you. For more information visit https://www.vaaphilippines.com/   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more. For More information visit https://Startup.club   This episode is brought to you by Jeff Schick Legal Protect your business from legal threats that could severely disrupt your normal business operations. I designed my monthly retainer plan with the sellers in mind, because I've been in your shoes. For a very low, monthly retainer of $89, Get access to Amazon attorney Jeff Schick. Mention Lunch with Norm and receive 50% off the first 2 months. For more information visit https://jeffschick.com – drive online sales, increase conversions and help build your brand. This episode is brought to you by Rebaid. Attention sellers and brand owners! Are you looking for a way to reach more shoppers and promote your products? Try Rebaid! Rebaid's platform connects you with shoppers looking for great deals on exciting new products. We make it easy to offer promotional deals and handle rebate payments with seamless redemption and efficient processing. Don't just take our word for it, see why we have an Excellent rating on Trustpilot® and rave reviews from thousands of satisfied customers. Increase your sales and reach more shoppers with Rebaid today! For more information visit https://www.rebaid.com In this episode, a mentor of seller's, Kevin King, is here. Today's topic is the Amazon Essentials in  2023. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is a regular on the podcast. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, Rebaid, VAA Philippines, Post Purchase Pro, Jeff Schick Legal and HONU Worldwide.   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

Join Andrew Morgans and Kevin King, a MEGA eCommerce entrepreneur, as they talk about his upcoming Billion Dollar Seller Summit, hosting meaningful events and his incredible founder journey.   Find Startup Hustle Everywhere: https://gigb.co/l/YEh5   This episode is sponsored by Full Scale: https://fullscale.io   Learn more about Billion Dollar Seller Summit: https://www.billiondollarsellersummit.com   Learn more about Marknology: https://www.marknology.com  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we're back for part 2 of this series with more keynote speakers of the Billion Dollar Seller Summit in Puerto Rico. Hear from the best of the best industry experts sharing valuable insights and actionable content.

In part A of this two-part episode, we get exclusive insights from keynote speakers at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit in June. Learn actionable hacks to boost your Amazon business today. 

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Of CPM Advertising on Amazon Ritu Java joins the show and uncovers some shady looking metrics to look out for… Offering crazy low ACoS and highly Questionable TACoS. Don't worry, we got you. Ritu will show you step by step on how to break this down to get to the real numbers. Also covered in this show: What is CPM advertising? What are Viewable Impressions? What are the pros and cons? Can VCPM campaigns cannibalise your organic sales? Why do VCPM campaigns have high ROAS? Last touch attribution in Amazon advertising Understanding reporting for CPM based advertising Similarities with DSP advertising Impact of VCPM ads on TACoS Using CPM advertising for the right reasons Ritu Java began her eCommerce journey as an Etsy seller over a decade ago and now serves as the CEO of PPC Ninja, an esteemed software tools and services provider for 6 to 8-figure brands, specialising in DSP and Sponsored Ads management. A passionate data science and advertising aficionado, Ritu has led numerous PPC mastermind programs, workshops, and webinars, while empowering hundreds of Amazon sellers with her expertise in PPC. As someone who is respected and valued for her insights, Ritu has shared her knowledge through contributions to over a hundred podcasts, webinars, blogs, and conferences, including the prestigious Prosper Show, Billion Dollar Seller Summit, Global Sources Summit, and PowWow, among others.

Mike and Kevin talk about the value of your time and setting priorities as an ecommerce influencer, the reward of being able to help other people out, and what the endgame is for recognized personalities in this space.    Being a recognized personality in ecommerce takes a toll, whether it be on your time, your energy, or even just struggling to manage your relationships with people. In this episode, we'll talk all about the value of amplifying your time as an ecommerce influencer, why we do what we do, and where this niche industry is heading—joining me for this one is a legend in the space, Kevin King.    Kevin is a highly regarded figure in the ecommerce ecosystem who's built a solid following for things like the Freedom Ticket Course and the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. He is also now the host of the AM/PM Podcast, which is among the best listens I can recommend to ecommerce sellers of all stripes.    Timestamps: The value of multiplying your time as an ecommerce influencer – 0:55 How I handle ecommerce consulting requests and other gigs – 5:30 Some perks and struggles of being recognized by people – 6:49 The rewards of helping ecommerce sellers and making a difference – 10:44 Kevin's experiences as a well-known figure in ecommerce – 13:05 What's the ideal endgame for ecommerce influencers? – 15:10 How Amazon and the ecommerce industry in general is shifting  – 20:24 Why government intervention is good for Amazon sellers – 24:55 What made Mike decide to move to Vegas – 28:06 What the Billion Dollar Seller Summit is all about – 30:15 How to get a hold of a replay package from the Summit – 39:44 Growing a podcast in the ecommerce space – 42:18   I want to thank Kevin for taking the time to do this episode with me and giving some invaluable insights all of us can reflect on. Check out some of the awesome stuff he's doing below: The Freedom Ticket Billion Dollar Seller Summit AM/PM Podcast   That's it for this episode. Happy selling and we'll talk to you soon! 

What To Expect on Amazon in 2023 Roundtable   What if you could see the future?   What if you could know exactly what to do, and when to do it?   What if you could be prepared for whatever comes your way?   This show is all about that. It's about knowing the right path to take—and having the tools at hand to get there. Join me as I'm joined by Kevin King, Leo Sgovio, and Mina Elias as we discuss some of the possibilities of what can be expected selling on Amazon in 2023 and some of the of the pitfalls that Amazon sellers can avoid along the way.   Leo Sgovio   Leo is an Amazon seller and innovative entrepreneur with a strong passion for digital marketing and technology.   With over 15 years of experience in the e-commerce space, Leo started his career as an SEO and Pay-Per-Click advertising specialist.   Throughout his career, Leo worked with companies such as Google and Adobe and Headed innovation at Viral Launch in 2018 and 2019.   After exiting one of his brands he founded Convomat, an influencer marketing solution for Amazon Sellers and he continues to launch new products on Amazon. Leo loves sharing cutting-edge strategies and growth hacks on how to succeed on Amazon.   Mina Elias   Mina is a chemical engineer by trade and an Amazon PPC advertising expert. After working at a corporate 9-5 job for many years, Mina spent every spare moment developing a deep understanding of the "ins and outs" of Amazon PPC advertising. Through experience and trial and error, he developed successful methods and strategies—and in time, grew a highly profitable brand that still exists today.   Determined to help others the same way others helped him, when he first started out, he started sharing all his learnings regarding Amazon pay per click advertising and selling on Amazon, on his own YouTube channel, in Facebook groups and on Podcasts. His knowledge and unique strategies for Amazon PPC appealed to people—so much so that Amazon sellers from across the globe sought his help to manage their Amazon PPC advertising campaigns! And so with a passion for teaching and helping others succeed like himself, Trivium was born! Kevin King Kevin King is one of the most well-known figures in the Amazon community. He's been involved in the industry since 1995, and it's been over 30 years since he last received a pay-check from someone else. Kevin has traveled to all 7 continents and 90 countries. He was named one of the Top 40 Direct Marketers by Target Marketing magazine, has been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and Entertainment Tonight national TV shows as well as the front pages of prestigious newspapers like USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. He's sold millions of dollars of products on Amazon and has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts. He's also a highly sought-after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide (he's spoken at over 30). He mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon.com in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with serial entrepreneur Kevin King! We are having an Amazon Q&A about steps to take to set up for success in 2023. Today, we go over the latest news, tips and updates with the one and only Kevin King. We take a look at current problems Amazon sellers are dealing with and possible solutions. Our guest, mentors sellers collectively do over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is a regular on the podcast. This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post purchase marketing. Finally your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset. For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more. For More information visit https://Startup.club In this episode, we are joined by Linkedin Influencer and entrepreneur, Cory Sanchez. Today, we learn how to drive millions of impressions to your brand using YouTube and Google Ads. Michael is the Founder of Mojo Global, an entrepreneur, investor, author and breakfast burrito aficionado. This episode is brought to you by Jeff Schick Legal Protect your business from legal threats that could severely disrupt your normal business operations. I designed my monthly retainer plan with the sellers in mind, because I've been in your shoes. For a very low, monthly retainer of $89, Get access to Amazon attorney Jeff Schick. Mention Lunch with Norm and receive 50% off the first 2 months. For more information visit https://jeffschick.com – drive online sales, increase conversions and help build your brand. This episode is brought to you by Clear Ads Clear Ads is a proudly unique Digital Advertising Agency, based in London, that helps Amazon Sellers advertise through Demand Side Platform & Seller/Vendor Central. ClearAds is proud to be a 100% Amazon agency. That means all of their account managers are entirely immersed in Amazon marketing services and Amazon DSP around the clock. They don't dabble in social media and they don't get distracted by content marketing. In fact, they guarantee that you won't find a more knowledgeable Amazon team than the ClearAds crew outside of Amazon itself. For more information visit https://www.clearads.co.uk/ In this episode, we have Amazon mentor and creator of the Freedom Ticket, Kevin King, on the podcast. Today, set up for success in 2023 with an Amazon Q&A with the King! Kevin mentors sellers collectively do over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, Post Purchase Pro, Clear Ads, Jeff Schick Legal and HONU Worldwide.

Kevin speaks with the top sellers and speakers at BDSS in Austin to share their hard-hitting strategies and wisdom to help you crush it on Amazon!

Kevin King of Billion Dollar Seller Summit will be on the Sellernomics Podcast and we will be talking about what you can expect at BDSS 2022! BillionDollarSellerSummit.com - August 14-18 - Austin, TX

Kevin King of Billion Dollar Seller Summit will be on the Sellernomics Podcast and we will be talking about what you can expect at BDSS 2022! BillionDollarSellerSummit.com - August 14-18 - Austin, TX Just one of the amazing talks happening at BDSS 6 next month: How to increase your Amazon sales with Google traffic without manipulating URLs (TOS compliant) "I'll reveal step by step strategies on how to increase your Amazon sales with Google traffic without manipulating URLs (TOS compliant). I will also show you how to target your ideal customers on Google without having an email list. One single tip will save you tens of thousands in advertising costs." Just a few of the other topics the featured speakers will be covering: "I'll be sharing how I'm getting 200 email leads per day AND converting them into paying customers on Amazon without paying a sh!* ton of money." "I'll reveal step by step strategies on how to increase your Amazon sales with Google traffic without manipulating URLs (TOS compliant). I will also show you how to target your ideal customers on Google without having an email list. One single tip will save you tens of thousands in advertising costs."

On today's Lunch With Norm, the King of Amazon is back, that's right... Amazon expert, Kevin King is here. In this episode, we look at what's happening in the world of Amazon, including Prime Day which is on the horizon. Is it really worth it? Find out what Norm and Kevin are currently testing out and what they are having difficulties with as a seller.  Kevin sells millions of dollars of product on Amazon. He has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts, and is a highly-sought after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide (spoke at more than 30). He also mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.For More information visit https://Startup.club In this episode, Amazon FBA expert Kevin King is here to talk about what's happening in the world of Amazon, including Prime Day which is on the horizon! Learn Amazon's new updates that are happening in the world of Amazon. Kevin sells millions of dollars of product on Amazon. He has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts, and is a highly-sought after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club.

Michelle Barnum Smith is a 20 year marketing veteran and has pioneered the use of chat marketing for Amazon sellers. Michelle is the Founder and CEO of Easybot (and Queen of Amazon Chatbots) where she teaches Amazon sellers how to drive sales with external marketing. Michelle is a featured expert in the Amazon seller world speaking at conferences such as Prosper, Billion Dollar Seller Summit, Traffic and Conversion,  Global Sources Summit and more.Michael and Michelle have a great talk about leveraging technology to help your ultimate goal, in this case increasing sales. Combining marketing and technology Michelle shares how chatbots are effective leveraging Facebook messenger.Why Facebook vs. email? Why chat bots? All this is made clear by Michelle in this episode.https://www.easybot.com#chatbots #FBAtools

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are back with the one and only Amazon FBA expert Kevin King! In this episode, Kevin explains what's happening in the world of Amazon and eCommerce in February. Hear about the relatable struggles Kevin and other sellers are facing in 2022. Kevin mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is a regular on the podcast. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.For More information visit https://Startup.club This episode is also brought to you by Sellerise. Take a deep dive into your business processes to make data-driven decisions and outperform the competition in an innovative way. Sellerise is a comprehensive solution for your everyday business needs with innovative tools like the PPC Dashboard, Smart Alerts, Review Requester, and Keyword Tracker. Everything you need to grow and scale your business is just one click away. Stand out from the crowd and conduct business whenever, wherever. Innovate your effort and work smarter, not harder. The difference is amazing. Sellerise is for professionals at every level of the business journey. Simply select the capabilities that best fit your needs. Visit https://www.sellerise.com This episode is brought to you by Zee Are you a private label seller looking to expand into larger markets internationally or need an experienced  import partner to keep growing? Zee makes selling your Amazon products abroad easy with excellent import knowledge, door-to-door solutions, customer service and scalability. Streamline your import process with Zee today to increase profit margins and continue to scale. Ready to expand your ecomm empire and take your Amazon FBA Business global? Visit https://zee.co to learn more! In this episode, Kevin King dives into what's happening in the world of Amazon and eCommerce.  In today's show we discuss the ups and downs of Amazon sellers. Kevin mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, Sellerise and Zee 

Kevin King is the Founder of Billion Dollar Seller Summit, an event for large sellers leveraging the Amazon channel. He is also the Co-founder of Freedom Ticket, a training and mentoring program for Amazon private label sellers. In addition to this, Kevin runs Helium 10 Elite, a webinar and networking program for advanced sellers looking to scale their businesses quickly. Kevin has been involved in e-commerce for over 25 years, and he first began selling on Amazon and eBay in 1999. Since then, he has developed, sourced, and sold hundreds of products on Amazon, generating millions of dollars in gross revenue. In this episode… There are many key steps involved in starting and successfully growing an e-commerce brand on Amazon. These include putting the right systems and processes in place, hiring the right people and agencies to work with, and implementing the right financial structures. However, with increased demand for private label FBA brands, it is also important for new brand owners to start their businesses with the mindset that they may want to sell a few years down the line. Because of this, brand owners should start preparing for an exit early. So, what do you need to know to effectively position your Amazon brand for a future sale? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Kevin King, the Founder of Billion Dollar Seller Summit and the Co-founder of Freedom Ticket, to discuss how FBA private label brand owners can prepare for an exit when starting their businesses. Kevin explains how his mastermind helps brands prepare for a future exit and shares the concerns his members have about selling their businesses. Stay tuned.

In today's episode, let's learn from Kevin King - Amazon Thought Leader, eCommerce entrepreneur, and esteemed speaker in the eCommerce industry. Kevin has been in eCommerce since the 1990s and has spoken at about 60 events all over the world. He's the expert mentor behind Freedom Ticket - a detailed training course that teaches Amazon sellers how to sell on Amazon. He also hosts the Billion Dollar Seller Summit for advanced Amazon sellers and is also a partner at Product Savants helping Amazon sellers and eCommerce entrepreneurs grow more quickly with hard core deliverables provided by the Product Savants team. Topics covered: Entrepreneur success Working smarter, not harder Building business relationships Job vs. Entrepreneurship Download our FREE Financial Planning Template for Amazon Sellers: https://bit.ly/multiplymii-free-financial-planning-template LET'S CONNECT: LinkedIn Instagram MultiplyMii Escala Successful Scales This podcast is also available on the Successful Scales YouTube channel.

Amazon seller Kevin King talks about effective amazon selling strategies for success when selling on amazon. Kevin King also covers myths of the quick win amazon product, public perception of amazon platform, and is this a good time to be an amazon seller? Do you feel that some new sellers are looking for a quick win on a product? How strong is the public's overall trust in the Amazon platform in 2020? Is this a good time to be a seller on Amazon? What are some of the pitfalls for new sellers when starting to sell on amazon? What do you look for when researching a "good product" to sell on Amazon? Do you feel Amazon is responsive enough to sellers' needs right now? Can you tell everyone about this new venture that you have going with Steve Simonson? How much time goes into selecting this winning product and factory that provides it? What was ecommerce like in the late '90s and early 2000s? What ecommerce platform did you start out on? Kevin King talks about when he used direct mail for marketing. What mistakes did you make along the way that you learned the most from? Kevin King coaches people that do over half a billion in sales yearly. Who does Kevin King look up to? How to contact Kevin King? Kevin King Bio - https://www.amzmarketer.com Kevin King has been involved in internet marketing and e-commerce since 1995. It's been 30+ years since he last received a paycheck from someone else. He's traveled to all 7 continents and 90 countries. He was named one of the Top 40 Direct Marketers by Target Marketing magazine, has been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and Entertainment Tonight national TV shows as well as the front pages of prestigious newspapers like USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. He sells millions of dollars of products on Amazon.com. He has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts and is a highly-sought-after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide (spoke at more than 30). He also mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon.com in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. About FeedbackWhiz - https://www.feedbackwhiz.com FeedbackWhiz helps Amazon sellers monitor, manage, and automate emails, product reviews, orders, and feedback. Build professional email templates with gifs, emojis, buttons, and attachments. A/B test subject lines and view open rate analytics. Send or exclude emails based on triggers such as refunds, shipment, delivery, feedback, and repeat buyers. Track and manage all product reviews. Instant notifications whenever a review is posted. Monitor all product listings and get alerts when critical events such as hijackers, buy-box loss, and listing changes occur.