Podcasts about chinese amazon

In this episode, Dave talks about the recent IPO of a major Chinese Amazon seller, SainStore, and explores key insights from their filings. He covers the diverse brand strategies employed by the company (and a lot of other Chinese companies, in fact), the viability of the aggregator model in China, and the company's profitability metrics, inventory management practices, and even their social credit score.  Another Amazon seller has gone public... but in China.  It seems that the aggregator model has been working well over in the East, but what specifically are they doing to succeed?  Here's the 5 takeaways that I learned when looking over this company's IPO fillings.  Struggling with tariffs? Unsure about upcoming changes? Let's talk! With Portless, you only pay tariffs after your customers pay you – so your cash always moves faster than your costs. Schedule a risk assessment and leverage tariff deferment today. All new customers get $1,000 to reinvest in their business. The Big Takeaways The aggregator model in China is thriving, with companies creating multiple brands in-house (rather than purchasing companies at 4x and 5x). Profit margins for major Chinese sellers are significantly lower than Western expectations. SainSmart holds about 25% of their revenue in inventory, which could turn out to be a HUGE risk in cash flow. The social credit score in China is a real and impactful metric for businesses. 75% of SainSmart's revenue comes from Amazon, but they also diversify across other channels that you wouldn't expect. The need for sellers to chase off-Amazon sales for better pricing power is ABSOLUTELY crucial. Chinese sellers are adept at utilizing multiple sales channels, including lesser-known marketplaces. The business model for Amazon sellers is evolving towards higher revenue with lower margins. Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction to Chinese Amazon Sellers Going Public 02:12 - Diverse Brand Strategies of Chinese Companies 04:37 - The Aggregator Model in China 06:31 - Profitability and Revenue Insights 08:28 - Inventory Management Strategies 10:52 - Understanding China's Social Credit Score 12:12 - Revenue Channels Beyond Amazon As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, leave a comment down below if you're interested.  Don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content.   Thanks for listening! Until next time, happy selling!  

After visiting a conference recently, a friend of mine told me about a place in where all of the biggest Amazon Sellers (and all the black hat tactics came from) in China congregate: China's New South City. In this episode, Dave talks about his visit to New South City in China, what he found while he was there, and why this place exists.  Let's be real – email marketing isn't flashy, but that's what makes it great. Who needs chaos when you can have steady, reliable results? That's where Omnisend email and SMS comes in. Check it out today and use code ECOMCREW. Ever heard of China South City? It's where all of the top Chinese Amazon sellers congregate and work together. This is also the place where Chinese black hat Amazon tactics comes from.  Dave decides to visit China South City during a recent trip to Asia, and shares what he found, some insider information that he found out about after talking to sellers there, and some of the black hat tactics Chinese sellers are using.  The Big Takeaway: China South City is a massive hub of the biggest Chinese Amazon sellers in Shenzhen, China. Chinese sellers are getting subsidies from the government to encourage exports into other countries. Having all sellers within the same area also encourages collaboration and networking among sellers, unlike in the US or the West in general. Chinese sellers inspect a higher percentage of their products more than Western sellers. Many Chinese sellers operate multiple Amazon accounts for security reasons. The 2021 Amazon ban wave had a significant impact on Chinese sellers; reducing China's overall trust in Amazon. Because of the ban wave, Chinese sellers are also diversifying their sales channels beyond Amazon. Temu is starting to become one of the key places for growth among Chinese sellers. Live selling is a major trend in China, with dedicated studios for streaming in each floor. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to China South City 02:53 - The Structure and Purpose of China South City 06:10 - The Community of Amazon Sellers 09:00 - Operational Strategies of Chinese Sellers 11:52 - Challenges Faced by Chinese Sellers 14:45 - The Impact of Amazon's Account Suspension Sweep 18:05 - Tactics and Strategies of Chinese Sellers 20:57 - Diversification Beyond Amazon 23:47 - The Rise of Live Selling in China 27:12 - Conclusion and Final Thoughts As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested.  Don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can.  Thanks for listening! Until next time, happy selling!

In this episode, Dave takes a look at one of the biggest Chinese Amazon sellers' documents and reveals how much they were making, how being suspended by Amazon affected their revenue, and how they bounced back well enough to go public.  Today's episode is sponsored by Autron. Maximize your ROI with Autron's real-time algorithmic bidding, optimizing every ad dollar for smarter spending and higher returns. Start optimizing today and get 30% off for 3 months! This Black Friday, we'll be having the biggest deal of the year on our Develop a Profitable Product course + Advanced Amazon Market course + an amazing discount AND a big bonus for those who signup for the waitlist here. Sign up now! Timestamps 00:00 - Unveiling the Secrets of O Group 10:00 - The Aftermath of the Amazon Incident 20:02 - Strategic Shifts and Market Adaptation As always, if you have any questions or anything that you need help with, reach out to us at support@ecomcrew.com if you're interested.  Don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes if you enjoy our content. If you have any questions, send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com. We'd love to help you in any way we can.  Thanks for listening! Until next time, happy selling!

Howard Thai, the legendary "Professor of Amazon," is back to share his game-changing insights straight from the playbooks of top Chinese Amazon sellers. Curious about the secret tactics that can revolutionize your Amazon product launch? He'll reveal how to optimize your listings, uncover top-performing keywords, and navigate the surge of Chinese sellers on TikTok Shop following recent policy shifts. Plus, get a glimpse into Howard's unique journey, his time in the US, his return to China, and his passion for the epic anime Naruto. Our conversation doesn't stop there. We'll dissect the global selling opportunities on TikTok Shop, highlighting the stark differences in ease of access for Chinese sellers compared to others. Learn the proven strategies for success on the platform, including the importance of daily multiple video postings, leveraging affiliates, and smart ad usage. Discover the potential of live shopping and the groundbreaking impact of AI influencers in China, and how US sellers can adopt these innovative practices. Lastly, we'll tackle the escalating challenge of ranking products on Amazon amidst soaring PPC costs and the growing emphasis on external traffic. Howard shares actionable insights on using external deal sites like DealNews and Woot to drive traffic and boost product rankings. Dive into practical advice on securing initial reviews and sales through varied promotional tactics, including social media and PPC. Plus, get an insider look at different deal strategies to maximize visibility and sales, and hear about exciting travel plans to China with Howard, promising new adventures and networking. In episode 599 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Howard discuss: 00:00 - Strategies From Top Chinese Amazon Sellers 05:13 - Global Selling Opportunities on TikTok Shop 07:33 - Strategies for Amazon-Selling Success 10:24 - Strategic Launch Using Outside Traffic 11:03 - Ranking Products With Deal Sites 21:03 - Inventory Management in Sales Transactions 23:05 - Amazon Inventory Strategy and Temu Marketplace 31:30 - Mastermind Event in China ► 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

Using the right resources is important when learning anything, but it's essential when learning Mandarin pronunciation. Here are 24 great resources, most of them completely free! #learnchinese #pronunciation #resources #free Link to article: 24 great resources for improving your Mandarin pronunciation: https://www.hackingchinese.com/24-great-resources-for-improving-your-mandarin-pronunciation/ Hacking Chinese Pronunciation: Speaking with Confidence: https://pronunciation.hackingchinese.com/ Why learning Chinese pronunciation by using English words is a really bad idea: https://www.hackingchinese.com/why-learning-chinese-pronunciation-by-using-english-words-is-a-really-bad-idea/ Pinyin chart - Chinese Pronunciation Wiki: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/pronunciation/pinyin_chart Mandarin Chinese Pinyin Chart with Audio - Yabla Chinese: https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php Mandarin Chinese Pinyin Pronunciation (Better Chinese) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwyQK62tO_U Mandarin Chinese Alphabet & Introduction to Pinyin | ChinesePod : http://chinesepod.com/tools/pronunciation/?affid=871369 Improve your Mandarin/Chinese pronunciation using YouTube: https://youglish.com/chinese A guide to Pinyin traps and pitfalls: https://www.hackingchinese.com/a-guide-to-pinyin-traps-and-pitfalls/ How learning some basic theory can improve your pronunciation: https://www.hackingchinese.com/how-learning-some-basic-theory-can-improve-your-pronunciation/ The Hacking Chinese guide to Mandarin tones: https://www.hackingchinese.com/the-hacking-chinese-guide-to-mandarin-tones/ Learning the third tone in Mandarin: https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-the-third-tone Mandarin Chinese Phonetics (Zein.se): http://www.zein.se/patrick/chinen8p.html Chinese Pronunciation - Sinosplice: http://www.sinosplice.com/learn-chinese/pronunciation-of-mandarin-chinese/ Standard Chinese phonology - Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology The Sounds of Chinese (Amazon): https://amzn.to/4dBlsp2 Review: The Phonology of Standard Chinese: https://www.hackingchinese.com/review-the-phonology-of-standard-chinese/ Improving your Chinese pronunciation by mimicking native speakers: https://www.hackingchinese.com/mimicking-native-speakers-way-learning-chinese/ Learning Chinese pronunciation as a beginner: https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-pronunciation-as-a-beginner/ Improving pronunciation beyond the basics: https://www.hackingchinese.com/improving-pronunciation-beyond-the-basics/ A smart method to discover problems with tones: https://www.hackingchinese.com/a-smart-method-to-discover-problems-with-tones/ Get to know your Chinese voice to level up your speaking ability: https://www.hackingchinese.com/know-your-chinese-voice Chinese Pronunciation - Sinosplice: http://www.sinosplice.com/learn-chinese/pronunciation-of-mandarin-chinese Using speech recognition to improve Chinese pronunciation, part 1: https://www.hackingchinese.com/using-speech-recognition-to-improve-chinese-pronunciation-part-1/ Tone Training Course (WordSwing): https://wordswing.com/tone-training-course/welcome How to learn to hear the sounds and tones in Mandarin: https://www.hackingchinese.com/how-to-learn-to-hear-the-sounds-tones-in-mandarin/ Using Audacity to learn Chinese (speaking and listening): https://www.hackingchinese.com/using-audacity-to-learn-chinese-speaking-and-listening/ Praat: doing Phonetics by Computer: http://www.praat.org/ Pleco Software: https://www.hackingchinese.com/go/pleco/ AllSet Learning Pinyin: http://www.allsetlearning.com/products/allset-learning-pinyin More information and inspiration about learning and teaching Chinese can be found over at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.hackingchinese.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music: "Traxis 1 ~ F. Benjamin" by Traxis, 2020 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)

Chinese Amazon sellers are growing and getting better at listings - adopting AI to make better photos, videos, and A+ content. How can you, a U.S. brand, differentiate your business from this kind of saturation? Listen and learn from Andy Isom, a YouTuber, a Podcaster, and a Business Coach, as he teaches how to build an Amazon brand that distinguishes itself from Chinese sellers. Episode Notes: 00:30 - Andy Isom Introduction 03:15 - Selling on Amazon with Andy Isom 05:30 - Transparency to Audience 08:40 - Analyzing Brands 10:25 - Chinese Third-Party Sellers 10:55 - Advantages of U.S.-based Sellers 12:10 - Chinese Brands Utilizing AI 12:40 - The Need to Separate Your Brand from Chinese Sellers 13:35 - Conversation-piece Products 17:20 - Building a Brand Community 18:40 - Unrealistic Expectations When Starting Out 20:55 - Kickstart Models 22:30 - Using AI for Generating Product Concepts 23:35 - Difference Between New Sellers of Then and Now LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andyisomPodcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/52L8k1GbdWb4mngZNp92b7 Related Post: Yes, E-Commerce in Latin America Is Worth It

In this episode, we talk to a seller from Shenzen, China, about her Amazon journey from startup to exit. She also sheds some light on Chinese sellers' advantages, mindsets, and tactics.

Sometimes, and mostly outside of China, Alibaba is referred to as the Chinese Amazon, but in reality, it's very different and much larger.Alibaba Group president Michael Evans shares how Alibaba grew to become the world's largest online commerce company serving nearly 1 billion customers each month, how it's different than its Western counterparts, and what international companies need to know in order to succeed in the China consumer market. Michael also shares how he sees the future of retail and how Alibaba creates new businesses that are innovative and different from what you see elsewhere. He also explains how Alibaba is using its platform to help its merchants understand consumer trends, manufacture more efficiently and make the future greener.

In this first episode, Tika, Golden and Sid discuss the new Apple M1 chip after 3 months of usage, the consumer side of NFTs and our thoughts on the future of them, and TaoBao - the Chinese Amazon where we learn that you can buy almost anything and it being delivered to your doorstep.

2021 has been a rosy year for China-based Amazon vendors looking for exits. Roll-ups, or brand aggregators, have been flooding China's export-oriented e-commerce market with capital to scoop up sellers.

2021 has been a rosy year for China-based Amazon vendors looking for exits. Roll-ups, or brand aggregators, have been flooding China's export-oriented e-commerce market with capital to scoop up sellers.

For full show notes go to https://globalfromasia.com/chinese-seller-response/ The post GFATV 359 ​​​​Chinese Amazon Sellers React to Mass Banning appeared first on Global From Asia.

Today's show is a special edition, an experiment. As you may know, Mike Michelini is back in Shenzhen and back having meetups and gatherings (can't help himself). During the meetup with international and Chinese sellers, we decided it would make an amazing and unique GFA podcast to talk to the Chinese sellers and get their insight on what this crackdown ... Read More The post Chinese Amazon Sellers React to Mass Banning appeared first on Global From Asia.

Today's show is a special edition, an experiment. As you may know, Mike Michelini is back in Shenzhen and back having meetups and gatherings (can't help himself). During the meetup with international and Chinese sellers, we decided it would make an amazing and unique GFA podcast to talk to the Chinese sellers and get their insight on what this crackdown ... Read More The post Chinese Amazon Sellers React to Mass Banning appeared first on Global From Asia.

It is sometimes hard to imagine the regional differences in terms of apps due to the overwhelming dominance of Silicon Valley in the Western World. Whether you are in Europe or the US you probably have a core set of apps that is similar. From Facebook to Amazon, these apps are synonyms to the needs they fulfill. However, in China, many of these apps cannot be used and thus creates a very different tech landscape. You have probably heard of Alibaba, the Chinese Amazon (-ish) or WeChat etc. In today's episode, we wanted to go through some of the most popular apps so that you can have an idea of how the tech landscape looks like. Find us on @ProductiveLazySundays on Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram

Hundreds of Chinese Amazon sellers face suspension of their accounts due to shady selling practices in the marketplace. In the last several years, Amazon has been cracking down on black hat tactics on their platform, identifying those that used fake reviews and found illegal ways of obtaining them.  In 2020, Amazon prevented more than 200 million suspected fake reviews meant to manipulate customer perception and purchases on the e-commerce store. --- You can also join our weekly Amazon Newsletter for more relatable content — Sellerbites! Visit sellerbites.com IG: https://www.instagram.com/sellerinteractive/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sellerinteractive

Hundreds of Chinese Amazon sellers face suspension of their accounts due to shady selling practices in the marketplace. In the last several years, Amazon has been cracking down on black hat tactics on their platform, identifying those that used fake reviews and found illegal ways of obtaining them.  In 2020, Amazon prevented more than 200 million suspected fake reviews meant to manipulate customer perception and purchases on the e-commerce store. --- You can also join our weekly Amazon Newsletter for more relatable content — Sellerbites! Visit sellerbites.com IG: https://www.instagram.com/sellerinteractive/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sellerinteractive

For full show notes go to https://www.globalfromasia.com/china2020/ The post GFATV315 Learn From Chinese Amazon Sellers appeared first on Global From Asia.

GFA315. Today, we have Can Chan who is an influencer and we are going to talk about Chinese sellers. Can gives us insights on difference and evolutions of Chinese Amazon sellers and Chinese e-commerce sellers. He talks about how he got into ecommerce and then eventually on Amazon. Let’s tune in. For full show notes, check out GlobalFromAsia.com/china2020. The post Ecommerce Strategies To Break Through in The New Decade with Can Chan appeared first on Global From Asia.

Business Day TV — Caroline Cremen from Adviceworx chose Alibaba as her stock pick of the day. "My stock pick is Alibaba, people think of it as being the Chinese Amazon but it is much more than that, it has financial services, it's also the world's third biggest cloud provider after Microsoft and Amazon. Its PE is very attractive relative to Amazon and the growth potential there is enormous. Alibaba has about 40 percent year-on-year revenue growth and a very large cash balance, so yes, invest in China but, invest in good single companies not the market. "

Alibaba Welcome to the History of Computing Podcast, where we explore the history of information technology. Because by understanding the past prepares us to innovate the future! Today we're going to look at a company called Alibaba. 1964. This was the year that BASIC was written, the year Kleinrock wrote history first paper on package flow and design, the year the iconic IBM System/360 shipped, the year Ken Olson got a patent for the first magnetic core memory, the GPS (then called TRANSIT) went live. But some of the most brilliant minds of the future of computing were born that very same year. Eric Benioff the founder of Salesforce was born then. As was tech writer and editor of Fast Company and PC World Harry McCracken. Obama CTO Megan Smith, a former VP of Google, Alan Emtage of Archie, and Eric Bina an early contributor and coauthor of Netscape and Mosaic. But the Internet stork brought us two notable and ironically distinct people as well. Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Jack Ma of Alibaba. You would need to have been living under a rock for a decade or two in order to not know who Amazon is. But just how much do you know about Alibaba? But Alibaba makes nearly 400 billion dollars per year with assets of nearly a trillion dollars. Amazon has revenues of $230 billion with assets just north of $160 billion. For those of us who do most of our shopping on Amazon and tend to think of them as a behemoth, just think about that. 7 times the assets and way more sales. Alibaba is so big that when Yahoo! got into serious financial trouble, their most valuable asset was shares in Alibaba. If Alibaba is so big why is it that out of 5 Americans I asked, only 1 knew who they were? Because China. Alibaba is the Amazon of China. They have also own most of Lazada, which runs eCommerce operates sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Like Amazon they have supermarkets, streaming services, they lease cloud services, their own online payment platform, instant messaging, a pharmaceutical commerce company, sponsor FIFA, and a couple of years after Bezos bought the Washington Post, Alibaba bought the South China Morning post for a little more than a quarter billion dollars. Oh and you can get almost anything on there, especially if you want counterfeit brands or uranium. OK, so the uranium was a one time thing… Or was it? Oh, and I'm merging a lot of the assets here that are under the Alibaba name. But keep in mind that if you combined Google, eBay, Amazon, and a few others you still wouldn't have an Alibaba in terms of product coverage, dominance or pure revenue. All while Alibaba maintains less employees than Alphabet (the parent of Google) or Amazon. So how does a company get to the point that they're just this stupid crazy big? I really don't know. Ma heard about this weird thing called the internet after he got turned down for more than 30 jobs. One of those was frickin' KFC. He flew to the US in 1995 and some friends took him on a tour of this weird web thing. There he launched chinapages.com and made just shy of a million bucks in the first few years, building sites for companies based in china. He then went to work for the Chinese government for a couple of years. He started Alibaba with a dozen and a half people in 1999, raising a crapton of money, saying no to sell assets but yes to investments. Especially Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, who gave them a billion bucks. And they grew, and they got more and more money, and sales, and really they just all out pwned the Chinese market, slowly becoming the Chinese eBay, the Chinese Amazon, the Chinese google, the Chinese, well, you get the picture. They even have their own Linux distro called AliOS. They own part of Lyft, part of the Chinese soccer team, and are a sponsor of the Olympic Games. Maybe he buys companies using AliGenie, the Alibaba home automation solution that resembles personal assistants built into Amazon Echo and Apple's Siri. Ma supposedly has ties to Chinese President Xi Jinping that go way back. Apple makes less money than Alibaba but their CEO gets to go hang at the White House whenever he wants. Not that he wants to do so very often… Bezos might be richer, but he doesn't get to hang at the White House often. Makes you wonder if there's more there, like… Nevermind. Back to the story. When Ma bought the South China Morning Post the term “firmly discouraged” was used in multiple outlets to describe other potential bidders. Financial reports have described the same from other acquisitions. Through innovation, copy-catting, and a sprinkle of intimidation, Alibaba became a powerhouse, going public in 2014, in an IPO the raised over $25 billion dollars and made Alibaba the most valuable tech firm in the universe. Oh, Ma acts and sings. He rocked a little kung fu in 2017's Gong Shou Dao. It was super-weird. He was really powerful in that movie. Strong arming goes a lot of different ways though. Ma was reportedly pressured to step down in late 2018, hading the company to Daniel Zhang. I guess he got a little too powerful, supposedly bribing officials in a one-party state and engaging in wonktastic account practices. He owns some vineyards, is only in his mid-50s and has plenty of time on his hands now to enjoy the grapefruits of his labor. This story is pretty fantastic. He was an English teacher in 1999. And he rose to become the richest man in China. That doesn't happen by luck. Capitalism at its best. And this modern industrialist rose to become the 21st richest person in the world in one of the most unlikely of places. Or was it? He doesn't write code. He didn't have a computer until his 30s. He's never actually sold anything to customers. Communism is beautiful. And so are you. Thank you dear listeners, for your contributions to the world in whatever way they may be. They probably haven't put you on the Forbes list. But I hope that tuning in helps you find ways to get there. We're so lucky to have you, have a great day!

Business Day TV — Caroline Cremen from Adviceworx chose Alibaba as her stock pick of the day. "I know that we've got a bit of a risk appetite in the market right now but I'm going to pick Alibaba, which if you want to loosely translate it is Chinese Amazon, except it is multiples larger, the revenue growth is in excess of 30%, the earnings per share growth is in the excess of 25%, they've got cloud computing, they've got retail, they have food delivery services and they've got their own payment system. I think there is a bit of a turn from the Chinese consumer from using American products, the rhetoric will actually laps so I think they're certainly in a great position to increase their market share because their penetration is still relatively good and there's a lot further that they can go."

In this episode, Richard Ren joins us in this episode to talk more about how factories in China "audition" to sellers in the Canton Fair. An overview of the processes, listen to this insights from inside China. Connect with Richard Ren: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richard.ren.50 WeChat: richardzren Connect with Danny: https://sellersessions.com/agency/

Unethical Chinese Amazon Black Hat Tactics with Kevin King Contents: Amazon Black hat in China - What Chinese sellers are learning Amazon's response to Black Hat Is it worth spending time worrying about Unethical black hat tactics in Amazon? Yes it is serious. Kevin likes to keep to white hat on Amazon. But he likes to know what’s Chinese Amazon sellers are doing. Amazon Black Hat training in Canton Kevin was speaking at the  MDS - Million dollar seller group with Brandon Young They were invited to an event. It’s a weekly meeting on Amazon black hat tactics- and there were 1300 people there! It was a Sunday meeting - and it was all about reviews. The following meeting completely new topic. Chinese Communist Party is involved with Amazon Black Hat Strategies They were in a side room with a promoter. Then Kevin heard a loudspeaker - the Communist Party turned up. If you have over 1000 people at a gathering, you’re required to ask the Communist Party. Being a good citizen - like a mini pep rally. In USA, they pledge allegiance; in UK, you might sing something! [not really! - ed.] Professional events for Amazon Black Hat There are 1300 people - nice room, 5 screens (like a big football match) - host is beautiful. The 5-6 speakers that spoke (in Chinese) were all about getting reviews with Amazon Black Hat tactics. These guys paid 30 RMB - $6-7 to come to the event The info was things that in the USA, Europe, you’d pay $5-10K to learn! Kevin and Brendon presented on  white -hat tactics - using Manychat (Brendon) and  postcards (Kevin). To check out the "Helium10 Elite" online mastermind (formerly "Illuminati Mastermind") lead by Kevin King and Manny Coates, go to https://pages.helium10.com/register-elite?crsh_reqid=374520  Chinese style product research The next day they did a special event for $300 each  About 60 people came. Brendon asked: how are you finding products? Their system was look on Jungle Scout to figure out what to sell - get it made - and then use Black hat techniques to get it launched.    Amazon Black hat tactics being taught in China How to get 2000 buyer accounts. How to get 2000 credit card numbers eg bank of America will give you 600 of them! They have the inside SOPs from Amazon. eg “Don’t leave a review within 14 days” However, most don’t do social media. Why Chinese sellers use Amazon black hat techniques One of the guys came over to the hotel - been in Wall Street Journal - spoke to a few of the guys. Kevin asked him point blank - How do we compete with Amazon black hat users in China? Why are they teaching black hat in China? The reason why is “because it’s super competitive in China. There are 1.4 B people here! Also we’re “communist capitalists” - if we see an opportunity to make money, we need to grab it. We’re not trying to build a brand. We don’t care about having 50 amazon accounts.  Also, we don’t know whether the Chinese gov’t will make it illegal or tax us a lot. “ In the US or UK, economies more democratic. The situation in China is different. Amazon Seller Black hat users - who is doing this? Most of the 1300 people at the event turned out to work for big companies - Kevin’s US friends say: Only about 60 companies in China  cause all the issues. There is one doing $1B sales. They have 3 floors of a building, with 1000 people per floor. They have people responsible for 5 products on Amazon; same products on eBay, 5 other guys. Also they work almost non-stop - “9X9X6” - 12 hours a day, 6 days a week (9 am -9pm) Work for $1000 a month! Launching product after product - don’t care if 4/5 fail. Amazon courting Chinese factories Amazon is courting Chinese sellers - lightning deals etc. Amazon is all about giving the customers the best price - that’s why they’re courting the Chinese so heavily. Marketplace plus - 40% of all active Amazon seller accounts are coming out of China.

GFA248. Today we are back at Amazon FBA with a fascination discussion about the toy industry. Many of you heard about Toys R Us filing for bankruptcy, today we share how that has rocked the toy industry from Chinese factory to distributors, to retailers around the world. For full show notes, check out GlobalFromAsia.com/episode248. The post Toy Industry Shakeup & Chinese Amazon FBA Brand Expansion with Thierry Bourret appeared first on Global From Asia.

Selling a company is the entrepreneurs' dream goal, but what to do after the exit is daunting. Some sides say to stay away from building another business right away while others say it's important to keep a toe in the pool at all times. Today's episode is about what to do (or not do) after you sell your business. We discuss drive, purpose, and the type of work business owners want to do once they achieve financial freedom. Today's guest, Nate Ginsburg, dabbled in a variety of entrepreneurial ventures before he got into Amazon and FBA about 4 years ago. About a year into his business, he took in a partner and sold off about half of the company to him. In 2018, they sold the US side of the business to a Chinese investor. When he sold the business and made a hefty profit, Nate found himself questioning what he wanted to do next. Today we get into the many ways he is fulfilling his need to always be doing something, both personally and professionally. Episode Highlights: The history of Nate's entrepreneurial journey. The trajectory of his Amazon FBA business and how the sale came about. How Nate and his partner structured the relatively atypical sale. Nate's motivation for selling. The importance of free cash flow in a business. How Nate moved on from the sale to pursue new things. What brought about the new deals he's involved in and what's next for Nate. The importance of assembling the right team in moving your business forward. How the helping and connecting pieces of what Nate is doing these days can play into future deals. Focusing on the big picture in your business role – the recurring notion of working on your business rather than in your business. Transcription Joe: So you and I had a chance a few weeks ago to hang with Ryan Daniel Moran and talk to him a little bit. We had him on this podcast and one of the things that he talked about was what to do after you sell your business. He talked a little bit about planning in advance but his advice was take some time off; don't do anything business wise and that was his mistake looking back. You just had Nate Ginsburg on the podcast to talk about that very same thing if I am right … correct? Mark: Yeah that's right. So Nate has an interesting story. He sold his business last year; not through us. It wasn't through a broker. It was a deal that just kind of worked out on its own. But he found himself after that sale questioning what he wanted to do next. It was a lot of this … you're so used to all this hustle, hustle, hustle, and the next thing you know you're just kind of left there wondering what is my purpose? What do I enjoy? What I want to be doing next? And so he really went on kind of an almost spiritual journey here of really evaluating how does he want to spend his days, how does he want to spend his time. And he came to the conclusion that he really wants to be someone who shares in helping other entrepreneurs and then also doing some investing as well. So this episode has a lot of layers to it definitely talking a little bit about general entrepreneurship and that drive that we all have to do things and that hustle. But also what do you do when that drive kind of dries up or when you aren't having that in front of you or maybe you're hustling for all the wrong reasons. So that's definitely the topic in this but we also have this interesting wrinkle in here that he's bought two businesses since then. One of the businesses he didn't buy entirely. He bought just a portion of it and is more of an investor. And I know a lot of our buyers they ask us about that. Do you have deals where an owner wants to stay the yacht and he's successfully done this before on deals. We've talked a little bit about that as well. So a lot of different layers to this, if you like just general entrepreneurship discussion that's really where this kind of falls into of entrepreneurship drive, finding your true purpose in life and your work, and purposeful work, and then finally getting into some more creative deals when it comes to acquisitions. Joe: I think it's always great to hear people's stories and how they did it. It may not always directly relate to your life and what you're doing and what your goals are but you can always take bits and pieces of it and leave the rest behind. So let's go to it. Mark: Yeah absolutely. Let's go. Mark: Nate thank you so much for joining me. Nate: Thank you for having me. Hello from sunny Los Angeles. Mark: And now you're actually just up in my neck of the woods up here in Minnesota and normally I would tell anyone hey if you're up here in Minnesota up in the Twin Cities reach out. You did and I happen to not be here this past week so we missed each other. Nate: Yeah we missed each other but I'm glad to connect now. And yeah Minneapolis is my hometown. I was back … I was in New York for the summer and then attended Burning Man and then after Burning Man I went to Minneapolis to hang with the family and kind of decompress and now I'm on the road again in California and then making my way back towards Asia where I spend a good chunk of the winter. Mark: All right pretty cool. I've been following you on Facebook for a little bit now and I'm just kind of looking at some of your Facebook posts especially from your … I think you call it the summer of hustle 2018 New York City. And you talked in a few of your posts about your eagerness just to share some of this stuff that you're doing as an entrepreneur. And so I thought hey if you want to share we have an audience. Let's talk, let's start sharing. Nate: Yeah. Mark: I saw one of the images of you doing a photo shoot, a yoga photo shoot in the middle of the street. Nate: Yeah. I mean … so after I sold the business last year and you know after that I had a lot of these questions around like what to do next and what's important and what direction do I really want to be going in? And that's where some of this … it's got all these questions of what am I good at, what's my unique ability, all these kind of things and really trying to uncover and understand what I'm best at. How I can add value, what I enjoy, and yes some of the things that I've … I mean not that this is totally new or not like new information but just useful to kind of like specify or articulate is that I do … I really enjoy sharing, I enjoy teaching, I enjoy helping others. And so that's in part of the Facebook stuff of trying to share more and post more and connect and help and inspire. The yoga stuff I'm also really into yoga. I've been practicing pretty regularly for the last five or so years. And I was hanging out with a friend of mine in New York who … I mean she has an amazing personal brand and Instagram following of 400,000 people. And she was just kind of encouraging again like you should do this and in the trying to stay with pushing yourself to do things even if they're a little bit scary. Yeah, I ended up doing this photo shoot in New York. I got some cool pictures in front of the middle of the street doing head stands. It was a little bit scary but also fun and people seem to like it. Mark: It's pretty fun. It's fun to kind of troll around and take a look at what you've been doing in the past there and like you said pushing yourself which is always fun to talk to people that have been doing that. Let's back up a little bit, let's talk about selling your business last year. Was that the first business that you owned or how many businesses have your owned before you sold that business? Nate: Yeah so that's the first somewhat significant one I've … over the last six or whatever years I kind of dabbled in a variety of things. I have actually sold a few small content websites. This was years ago but nothing that significant. And then I got into that business which was e-commerce, Amazon FBA. I guess I got into it three years ago now or four years ago or something and yeah that was the biggest, I made the most money, built into the biggest operation. So then that was the I guess most notable sale but I guess actually though just kind of back up I've kind of sold that business twice. And what I mean is I started the business myself three or four years ago and then about a year in I took on an investor partner. My friend and now business partner Travis. So then I sold him 49% of that business which was I guess kind of that type of a sale and then a year later is when we had the opportunity to … again we didn't sell kind of the whole thing. We sold the USA distribution side which is actually the one that was making basically all the money. And so we sold that which was for just under a million which is kind of what I was kind of posting more or sharing about but then are actually still operating the EU side of that business which at the time that we sold wasn't at a place or wouldn't make sense to kind of include in the sale but now hopefully going into next year or maybe Q1 or Q2 next year hopefully we'll be looking to sell that remaining side. Mark: So how did that work as far as selling just a portion of that? I mean usually, you have these non-compete agreements in place. People typically want you out of the industry that you're in. So as the owner you know that business … that product really well. Usually, a buyer wants to take over the business and have room to expand and especially with Amazon, it seems like international expansion makes the most sense. So how did you guys … without getting into details you can't get into how did you structure that? And what was sort of the appeal of that? Nate: Sure. So it's a good question and yeah I guess I'd say our sale was somewhat not so typical and I guess there's a lot of different ways that sales wouldn't be typical but yeah ours was not … this wasn't like oh we want to … like oh, let's sell this business and let's put together a prospectus and let's contact brokers and contact the buyer. Ours was like … I mean I was catching up with my business partner Travis. I was in Vietnam. It was in the spring of last year. I'm catching up with Travis and so Travis had sold a couple of businesses himself to this big Chinese Amazon selling company and they have software and a big operation. And so Travis had sold some of his businesses to them before. And we were talking and catching up and he just kind of casually mentioned they might be interested in buying more businesses would you want to sell? And long story short I was interested. Three days later I was on a plane to China to meet with them to try to make out this … work out this deal. And yeah we ended up coming to an agreement for the USA side. And it's kind of interesting and I mean some of this is speculative. I mean I don't know some of these things for sure as to like what their motivations were but that business was rolled up or had some sort of a merger acquisition with a big publicly traded company shortly following their acquisition of my business or the USA side of my business. And so I think that they were just trying to acquire businesses to build up and show more revenue and sales for their … looking forward to their acquisition merger roll up whatever kind of thing. And so yeah that's … I mean again I don't know this for sure but that is kind of my theory or my why I think they were kind of interested which kind of explained the atypical nature and kind of structure of how it played out. Mark: That's fascinating; right place, right time, and right connections as well. What was your motivation? I mean when Travis came to you and said would you be interested in selling. Did you always plan to sell or was it kind of like he has you know like … it actually doesn't sound that bad or— Nate: Yeah. Mark: How… why the yes? Nate: So in my experience with e-commerce and especially with a lot of these Amazon FBA businesses … and this is also a motivation for why I sold half of the business to Travis previously and then selling this is like you can do some really impressive revenue numbers and profit numbers. And I say profit in quotes because your profit is generated or on the books it looks like revenue minus cost of goods minus expenses. And let's say we were selling a lot; 100,000 a month $150,000 a month and then our profit would just say 30% of that or something which is sizable but at the end of every month it's not like the bank account was going up by X thousand dollars each month. The money comes in it needs to go back out for more inventory or you're launching a new product and that comes out of pocket. And so when the business really started to take off our sales was growing but my bank account was still not growing like I wanted to. And I was … the reason I guess for those businesses was very financially motivated. Like I'm trying to run this business to fund my life and build some security into my finances. We were selling a lot of stuff and that's great and we had a lot of profit but it wasn't like the bank accounts were just kind of stacking. And so with a business like that my kind of thought is that where you really stack your bank account is from some sort of sale opportunity. And that's what happened when I sold the half of the business to Travis previously that brought in a bunch of money into my bank account and then again selling the half to the Chinese company got money into my bank account. And so yes so that was some of the motivation and yeah I think we just had a good opportunity. I mean there's a lot of opportunities certainly still there was and is selling on Amazon but there's also different risks and challenges and I thought that this was a good opportunity to take some more chips off the table and then parlay that as like another step up and step forward for my life career allow me to pursue newer and different and better opportunities. Mark: Yeah and I want to move on to some of that and sort of what happened after but I want to stop real quick and make a point because I think you make a really good point here. You said something that I think people need to keep in mind when you're looking at a P&L for any business for sale specifically an e-commerce business that's growing. The profit does not equal capital. It is not the same thing. So if you're looking at a business that is growing and has $150,000 of profit that's not necessarily the cash flow; it's not necessarily 150,000 in positive cash flow. That's a problem that we see a lot with people growing and when they get to a certain point the same reasons as what you faced you know you've been putting in the hustle, hustle, hustle, the business is growing, in some ways it would almost be nice if it leveled off because then you're not … you just aren't actually seeing or realize some of that profit as opposed to consistently reinvesting into the company. Nate: And just to kind of add on that I learned … so I had an opportunity to attend this really awesome entrepreneurship summer camp program put on by Simon Black and the guys at Sovereign Man and one of the … I mean I've learned a ton from them but one of the points that they hammered home which has really stuck with me is when you're looking at a business the importance of free cash flow and like free cash flow being really the only thing that is important; it's not revenue, it's not profit, it's free cash flow that's what's going to pay back to investors. That's what's going to actually go into your pocket. And yeah my Amazon businesses had horrible free cash flow and so having an opportunity to sell that and get the cash part of that motivation. And then also the focus on free cash flow has really been a big driver for the investments that I had ended up making since then. Mark: Alright we're going to get to those but I want to talk a little bit about the post-sale situation that you find yourself in. Because I tell people this all the time when they're selling especially their first business; the first thing that's really taken off and that's have a plan for after the sale. I know when I sold my first business my plan was look I did it once. I was young. I was like 25, 26, maybe a little bit older than that but it doesn't matter how old I was, I was pretty stupid because I looked at it and I'm like oh my gosh this is so easy. I tell people how to start businesses. I tell people how to make money and everyone goes off and does it. I was able to do it with this company and then at that first year I struggled. I couldn't find anything that was actually going to really take hold. I didn't know what I wanted to do. You had sort of the same situation, not necessarily struggling in finding a new business but kind of understanding purpose. Is that fair? Nate: Yeah I know definitely. I mean it's crazy the last year or so after selling that business. A lot of new opportunities and also challenges come up and you've had … it's like for a short while after the sale at least for me it's like ah like everything's great and you're just happy this happened. But then I guess pretty quickly after at least for me I can only … I mean I love yoga, I love being healthy and having a healthy lifestyle and that's great but you can only at least for me that's only a part of life. And after a period I just get really antsy if I'm not being productive working towards something and figuring out what that is, what's the next direction? In a lot of ways, it's like starting over. And so yeah, that was a lot of what kind of followed the sale and what I … so like I'm a people person. I love people. All the best things in my life and opportunities and friends and … it has all happened because of people that I know or had the opportunity to meet and connect with. And so what I tried to do or did is just meet and talk to as many people as possible. And that's been a big and still is like a driver of … I knew like okay well like I've got more time and I've got more money and I've got more kind of options and so I'm just going to try to meet and connect and talk with as many people as I can. So I went to a bunch of events. I was literally flying around the world meeting up with friends in different places and meeting new people and getting different perspectives. And yeah that was actually something that towards the end … so I sold the business in it was like May. Early May was when it was finalized. I got the money and then a lot of that summer I was flying around. I attended a couple of different events. And by the end of the summer, one of the things I kind of concluded was … it kind of like was a confidence in pursuing more investments. So I want to and can get involved as an investor and that's what kind of started this deep dive into just what does that even mean, what are the different structures, how can things be structured, where do you find deals, how do you make deals happen. And so that was … yeah, I guess from talking to and meeting a lot of these different people I was kind of able to realize that yes this is a direction that I want to go down. And also it's just like part of it is confidence of just okay yeah I can do this. I can add value. And yeah, I guess as a first time, investing in a business I don't know that was definitely something for me. I'm just kind of … you know the confidence of it no like you can do this. Mark: All right let's jump into that because I think that's going to be the heart of what we really want to talk about here as well and that is investing in companies. I mean so much of what we do at Quiet Light Brokerage is all about these asset deals. Or if somebody's selling they're selling 100% of the company, the business transaction closes, you got one buyer, you have one seller; nice, clean, simple. It sounds to me like you're doing something a little bit different than that though. You're investing in companies as opposed to buying a whole or maybe I shouldn't assume and let you explain a little bit of what you're doing. Nate: Yeah so it's … I guess it's ended up being kind of a combination of both. And I'm not … I think it has benefits of both and I kind of I guess in the two deals that I've done the last year have … one of them has been invested in and the other one has been bought outright. But in all of them I have partners. And so I invested with Travis who invested in me. We've invested in a business last winter and then also again with another partner we bought outright a business. I mean for me getting involved in a new business it's a lot of … a lot of this kind of came down to again what am I good at, what do I like, why am I doing this. And with the first business, I guess it's like a similar kind of a checklist of things of I want to get into a business where I can personally have an impact. I'm not looking to be a passive investor. I'm also definitely not looking to micromanage but I want to be able to help push the business forward and give my capital the biggest chance and boost of having a good return. And so by investing in a business which was like the first one my kind of role is I mean I have somewhat regular communication with the founder and we hop on calls whether it's every week or every other week and kind of help identify the priorities and make connections and make intros. And so that's something that I thought that I'd be able to have an impact while not … I didn't want to buy myself a job. And with any of these things that's not what I'm looking for. I'm happy to be involved and I want to be involved but I'm also not trying to buy myself a job. And then kind of with the more recent business that we bought outright really like part of the motivation and thinking behind getting involved with that business was that being really intentional about the role that I was going to play. And with that business, I knew I had people on my team from some of the other businesses in the e-com stuff that I knew that I could bring over to kind of plug in to handle some of these different parts of the business that I didn't want to or wouldn't be very suited to handle. And so even though we bought outright the business it wasn't like I was just stepping in myself to kind of operate it. And [inaudible 00:22:17.2] any of the businesses like what I … one of the ways I think that I can add the most value is by kind of assembling the team that is able to run it. And that's something even with the business that I invested in I've been pretty active or my team has been pretty active in hiring new people for the different roles as well as for the business that we actually bought that was really what my role has been is like getting the right people in place to manage their different … the things that they're better at than I am which then allows me to … I mean I'm more involved with that business than the one that we invested in because Brent is the operator of that and I'm still … I guess let's say like CEO but I'm not … my role is still more like finding the right people to do their job and helping them as opposed to me more like in the weeds in the operations. Mark: So it's with the business that you invested in. I have this question from buyers all the time you know do you have people who want to sell just a portion of their company? They're looking for sort of that role. Do you mind if I ask how you came across this deal? Was this through a broker or a—? Nate: Yeah so that one was through a broker. We bought it on Empire Flippers and was totally … it came out of nowhere honestly. So another rule that I've learned from investing or it's maybe the cardinal rule is like you make your money when you buy not when you sell. And one thing when I was kind of decided that I wanted to invest or buy a business and one of the first things that we started to do was look at all the brokerages. I was looking at yours as well as … just like trying to see what the deals look like. And one thing that we found is that the deals that are … generally, if you find them on a brokerage they're fairly valued and as would make sense. And not that I'm … I'm not trying to rip anybody off at all but as a buyer I'm looking for the opportunity to buy a good discount or get involved at a discount. Again you make your money when you buy not when you sell. And so that had kind of turned me to look elsewhere for investment opportunities which led to the first investment. And then my business partner Travis, this was a couple of months ago sent this listing. It's a cryptocurrency publishing website and it was selling at … I mean it was a relatively young site. It was only making money for six months or so which had the multiple low. It was selling at a 22X monthly … last six months monthly profit which I know for an average website business a 3X multiple is somewhat standard. So we were getting it at less than 2X multiple and so that got our attention. And this was listed and then I hopped on a call with the seller two days later and then there were other interested buyers so we just had to move fast and pull the trigger and bought it. So yeah that's what kind of happened with that one. It just kind of fell into our lap and we thought it was a good opportunity and had to act fast. Mark: Yeah I like the saying that you make money when you buy when you're investing, you don't make when you sell. That's absolutely right. For the seller that was looking to … that you just invested in was he actively looking for that or was it something that you suggested? Nate: Yeah so that one, so kind of back to what I was saying when I first got started interested in buying or investing in businesses the first place that we were looking was the easiest place to look; all these brokerages. And again there's a lot of great businesses and they're generally pretty fairly priced and then one of the things I realize is that if I wanted to get the best deals or getting things where I would have opportunities that were not to get into a bidding war with other people I had to find those deals myself. And so that's kind of what started then. I started like … and part of that all leading into sharing more and sharing my story and going on podcasts and just kind of being intentional to try to develop and build a personal brand so that … so I was doing some of these things last fall and that's what kind of got the conversation started with Brent and the Amazon advertising business that eventually led to us investing in it. So it wasn't … he wasn't looking for … looking to sell, looking for partners. It was like I was kind of starting to share this and we previously had a relationship. I don't remember exactly how it was brought up. Maybe it was just like hey, by the way, I/we might be interested in investing and partnering up and he was like yeah I would be interested in continuing that discussion with you and Travis to get involved and so that's what led to that. It wasn't … they certainly weren't actively seeking investment. It was more like we … yes, somehow the dots were able to connect with us kind of putting it out there and kind of starting that conversation. Mark: Yeah that's pretty cool. I know there are probably a lot of buyers out there listening and being slightly jealous that you were able to pull a deal like that off. What does the future hold for you are you going to continue to buy or are you looking for more opportunities to invest? Nate: Yeah definitely. I mean it's kind of … so it's come together a little bit in the last couple of months or so but I will say that I … well as a kind of a side tangent personally I got very sidetracked by crypto last winter as many people did and— Mark: Back when it was trading at high levels right? Nate: Right. I mean it was exciting and so when I sold the business last spring I dumped a pretty good chunk of that into bitcoin, ethereum. I was starting and that kind of got me into ICO's over the last summer which was early enough before the big run up in November-December that come December-January I was way up. Unfortunately, of course, I didn't cash out at the top but from that then I kind of like … I mean I was kind of going in this direction and I had made this investment in Brent's business and was generally enjoying that. I'm trying to put myself out there more and find more opportunities. And then this crypto stuff spiked and I kind of put everything on hold. I'm like alright I'm diving in here. I started going to events and flying all around trying to see what's going on. Then fast forward a couple of months and the market was not where it was in January and some of those same kind of questions came back up of like is this what I want to be doing? What do I want to be doing? What's important? And it was kind of again like revisiting a lot of these things in direction and what do I want to do. And then this new site became available so we kind of jumped on that. And then the last couple of months have been … I'm kind of happily busy working on that and it gives me stuff to do. And some of the stuff that I've learned is that I'm certainly happiest when I have a project. And it's not … I mean money is important obviously but it's not just about having as much money. And time is important but you don't want to have all the time. It's important. You want to have enough free time. I think balance is really important but also having the balance towards productive work and having a project that you can work on and make progress and connect with people and be excited about is a really … like I've realized is maybe the most important factor for just my personal happiness. Anyway so that site came around and I had the opportunity to get involved and I have been working on that and getting the people and pieces in place to keep that moving forward. And that's kind of solidified what I see as my direction of continuing to find … putting myself out there, sharing more, hopefully attracting new and better opportunities. And when the right opportunities come along and when I have the time and the interest and the right opportunity kind of all lines up get involved with a new business. So that's sort of where I mean I'm not sure if I'm quite there yet because there's still quite a bit working out with the crypto site but fast forward a couple of months the idea is to continue to share more, put myself out there, connect more, just really finding opportunities to connect with and help other entrepreneurs as priority. And then also if down the road whether that's in three months or six months or whatever when I'm looking to make the next investment to bring into the portfolio that also can put me in a position to be able to get access to good deal flow. And then I think the idea is getting involved with more and better businesses and bigger businesses going down the line while also kind of trimming or unloading different ones in the portfolio moving forward to just kind of have a better and especially now focusing on cash flow generating portfolio and moving forward. Mark: Cool. Yeah, the point of while connecting with other people I think people asked me a lot about the team that we built at Quiet Light Brokerage, where did I find some of these people that are working as brokers because as most of the listeners know everyone that works here at Quiet Light were all entrepreneurs. We've all started, we've all bought, and we've all sold our own internet based businesses. And frankly, the resume of my team completely drove some of the things I've ever done in my life. And I try to explain I've never actually actively recruited any of our guys or Amanda for that matter I'm sorry if I said just guys but the entire team. I haven't actively recruited anybody. And so the question comes to why, why do they do it? So much of it is exactly what you're talking about there; being able to connect. Finding that business where you're passionate about the business itself but also having the ability to connect with other intelligent entrepreneurs who share that same drive, that same desire for life and working in a project working towards and a goal; really, really cool. I think that's an interesting self-reflection that you've kind of come across over the past few years since you sold your last business that that's what you want to be doing. Have you thought about with the current businesses what you're going to do if they get to that point where now it's just another job? Nate: I mean … so I've kind of had … so something that I guess I gotten a lot of experience with and that I enjoy has always kind of been hiring in my businesses. And so I know many people kind of struggle with delegating and I think if anything I kind of error too much on the other side where if I ever catch myself doing something or I'm just like why am I doing this, it's just like as quickly as possible like who can I give this to? How can I find someone else to do this? And so because I'm very mindful and aware of … and increasingly so of what I spend my time on; is this my unique ability? Is this my superpower? Should I be doing this? Again also mindful of balance, like I'm not … there's a lot of things that I enjoy in my life and there's a lot of different pieces that I think contribute to having a good life. It's not just business and so if things are kind of starting to get too time consuming or heavily on the business side or if I find myself kind of doing some things that I don't think I like I think that even maybe a step before that kind of happening I would kind of be aware and look to delegate that to someone else on my team or find a way to change that situation. Because at this point in my life and career I want to work and I want to be productive but I want to do it in ways where I can have the biggest impact. And I know that there are certain activities where I can have a really big impact and it's just not like … and I also know that on the other side there are activities that don't have a big impact and so I'm just trying to focus on the big impact activities and the least amount on the lower ones. And so yeah I would I think maybe a step before it gets to the point where I'm doing all these things I don't want because I am quite mindful and intentionally thinking about these things I'd kind of like made a strategy or a plan to offload or get some of those things off my responsibility. Mark: Really cool. I love the whole purpose driven entrepreneurship that sort of outlook of things. Nate thanks so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Nate: Yeah thanks for having. This is a lot of fun and yeah if anybody has questions, comments, ideas, wants to connect like I said I love people, I love connecting with people. Anything I can help with feel free to reach out. My website is nateginsburg.com or nate@nateginsburg.com. If you like inspiration and also yoga balance stuff feel free to check out my Instagram Nate Ginsburg. Yeah, I'm happy to connect and chat. Mark: And you also know quite a bit about Amazon marketing which is actually what we originally were going to talk about but I got sidetracked here but you know this amount about that. Nate: Yeah if anyone is looking or interested in the Amazon space I have a lot of experience there as well as a team with a lot of experience in those things. And yeah I'm broadly open to opportunities and chat. I'm always looking for win-wins and yeah I would love to connect and help if I can. Mark: Alright very good. Hey, thanks, Nate. Nate: Yeah thanks for having me. Links and Resources: Nate's Website Nate's Instagram SellerPlex.com

Are you up on all the changes that are happening with Amazon? Are you aware of the growing number of Amazon sellers in China and their tactics to get an edge over their competition? On this episode of The Amazing Seller, you’ll hear from Scott as he welcomes David Bryant to the podcast. In his conversation with Scott, David opens up about why he moved to China, what he’s learned in this time there, how Chinese sellers approach their Amazon business, what corrupt Amazon employees are doing to take advantage of their positions, and so much more! Don’t miss a minute of this eye-opening episode featuring David’s expert insights! Getting a “Boots on the ground” perspective. How can a seller like you really understand what is going on in booming ecommerce industries in countries like China? Does the average ecommerce seller have the resources and time to take a flight over there? No! Thankfully, the TAS community gets access through to a “Boots on the ground” perspective from ecommerce expert, David Bryant. David took his family to China for about a year to deep dive into the exploding ecommerce scene there and to learn all of the ins and outs. To hear all about David's experience and how sellers like you can learn from his observations, make sure to listen to this valuable episode of The Amazing Seller! Watch out for shady tactics. If you’ve been around the TAS community for very long you know that Scott is passionate about helping sellers like you get an ecommerce business up and running the right way. There are way too many “Get rich quick” schemes out there who sell “Blackhat” tactics, few are willing to show the ethical way to success. On this episode, you’ll hear from special guest, David Bryant as he explains how some sellers in China are gaming the system by using shady tactics. The goal is to help sellers like you understand what you are up against when it comes to the competition and to explore some ways to safeguard your business. You don’t want to miss this helpful episode! Amazon is still the best starting place. Scott often gets the question, “Is it a good idea to build my ecommerce brand on Amazon?” Time and time again, Scott goes back to his answer, yes! In almost every case, Amazon is the best location to get your brand off the ground and gaining momentum. Why is Amazon the best platform? It has everything you need, already baked into the platform! Once you’ve built up that brand and you get to the point where things are running smoothly, then comes the next phase, building a channel outside of Amazon. To hear how Scott has seen this whole process play out successfully, make sure to listen to this episode of The Amazing Seller! Don’t rely on Amazon alone to build your brand! One of the primary takeaways from David’s helpful insights about his time in China is this, make sure to expand your business off of Amazon! While it’s still the best place to start, you can’t expect things to stay the same forever, you’ve got to diversify. Scott has seen too many businesses go under due to the fact that they failed to seek out additional channels that would have allowed them to put their brand in a position for long-term success. You can do this, you can start right now by brainstorming different channels to expand your brand too. To hear more about this important topic, make sure to listen to this episode of The Amazing Seller! OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER [0:03] Scott’s introduction to this episode of the podcast! [5:10] David Bryant joins the podcast. [7:00] What led David to move to China with his family? [9:40] How are Chinese Amazon sellers approaching their business? [12:00] Buying fake reviews and other, “Blackhat” tactics that are popular in China. [18:00] How corrupt Amazon employees are abusing their power. [23:40] Why people can still “Game” the Amazon system? [26:00] Yes, it is still a good idea to start your business on Amazon. [27:00] How internal seller reports are being used by corrupt Amazon employees. [33:30] Why Chinese sellers are using multiple seller accounts. [40:15] Closing thoughts from Scott. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE www.theamazingseller.com/330 www.tasinnercircle.com www.theamazingseller.com/js www.ecomcrew.com www.theamazingsellertv.com www.theamazingseller.com/pace

Over the past few weeks we've been posting updates on Chinese sellers manipulating Amazon. While black-hat practices are particularly pronounced in China, not all Chinese sellers rely on these methods to be successful on Amazon. In this episode we are joined by Zack Franklin of AMZKungfu. Zack currently lives in Shenzhen, China, and he is a popular consultant for Chinese Amazon sellers. He has worked with a number of big Chinese companies helping them with marketing, software, and training. These companies rack up $150+ million in revenue individually, with one even getting acquired for more than $1 billion. The majority of sellers Zack works with do not rely on shady business practices. While many of us attribute the success of Chinese sellers to black-hat practices, Zack argues that successful Chinese sellers are doing a couple of things we are not... and these are not TOS violations. Chinese work culture One glaring difference between the Chinese and westerners is their work culture. The Chinese practice the so-called 9-9-6, which means that people work from 9AM to 9PM, 6 days a week. It's not uncommon for Chinese sellers to keep working into the night without a day off, until they see their products on page 1 of Amazon search results. The Chinese also work very fast. Most of the companies Zack works with have their own photography studio so they could get images for listings blazingly fast. Smart and efficient marketing If there's one thing we'd like you to take away from the episode, it's this: you can get 400 clicks to your Amazon listing for only $30 with Google Ads. Zack's clients were able to leverage a very simple technique to get PPC costs down and he talks about how to do it in detail in this episode. He also talks about YouTube pre-roll ads, best ad practices, and the virtues of not giving discounts to customers too early. Another tool in Zack's arsenal is Facebook Messenger. His clients find it to be a great way to get reviews and continue interacting with customers. If you want to know how we grew our Facebook subscribers to 50,000 people in less than a year, join our free Facebook Messenger webinar on September 25th. Connecting with fellow Amazon sellers Zack emphasizes the importance of meeting up with fellow Amazon sellers in order to learn from them. Chinese sellers are very aware of this and use it to their advantage. If you want to reach out to Zack, you can do so by going to his website at amzkungfu.com, or emailing him at zack.f.pro@gmail.com Resources mentioned: EcomCrew Facebook Messenger Webinar AMZKungfu Thanks for listening to this episode! Until the next one, happy selling.

During our last visit to Montreal to film new course videos, we came upon a new gathering for Amazon sellers called the Orange Hat Summit. Unfortunately we weren't able to actually join the summit due to time constraints but we did meet a Chinese seller who was a speaker at the summit. Ours was one of the most brutal conversations I had, and it spawned an article written by Dave, and this podcast episode. Although we were already familiar of the nefarious acts done by some sellers on Amazon, our conversation gave light to just how heinous some of these strategies are. We should point out though that these tactics are not exclusive to Chinese sellers, but it is with little doubt that China is often at the forefront of formulating these strategies. The following strategies are the most commonly used by Chinese sellers: Opening multiple seller accounts Some sellers have upwards of 20 accounts, some even under the name of their employees. This pads the risk of Amazon suspension--as one account gets closed, they just set up shop using another one. Rampant review manipulation Chinese sellers know that reviews = sales. Some sellers do something as innocent as rewarding buyers for 5-star reviews, while others buy reviews from review farms outright. Worse, however, is how they buy fake negative reviews against their competitors' products. Stolen buyer and seller data This one is the biggie. We've heard of Chinese sellers using stolen buyer addresses in America to send them products as part of a fake review campaign, but we had no idea just how huge this strategy has become. Apparently, you can pay some rogue Chinese Amazon employee (or someone who has access to a rogue employee) and request reports on any buyer AND seller. If a seller can find out certain information about a competitor's product, such as their sales and page view history, it can be extremely valuable.   All these strategies has made the playing field extremely unfair, especially when Amazon doesn't seem to care at all. Add to this the fact that Chinese sellers don't have the pressure of sales taxes, don't have to conform to high safety and quality standards, and are pretty much immune from lawsuits, and the entire Amazon atmosphere looks pretty depressing for the average American seller. With everything that's happening, it's tempting for any seller to try to dip their toes into the realm of black-hat strategies. But we know that a business built on sketchiness will not last long, and if and when Amazon finally drops the hammer, those who play by the rules will be left standing. If you want an in-depth detail of these strategies and how Chinese sellers pull it off, make sure to read this blog post written by Dave.   Thanks for tuning in to this episode. Until the next one, happy selling.

Many rumors in the air about Chinese competition on Amazon lead me to speak with my Chinese partner who is selling on Amazon and might be competing with you. I share the strategies behind the Chinese business selling on amazon FBA. You are probably one of the sellers who underestimates the power of Chinese Competition and need to hear what you can do about it here! You will learn: Why Chinese competition is a lot more powerful than you think The shockingly different strategy behind Chinese Amazon businesses What you can do to save your amazon fba income The unfair advantages from Chinese sellers FREE Web Class: "How to source your private label product in China, without getting screwed by Alibaba Suppliers" http://freetraining.me/SourceInChinaNow

GFA217. In this episode, we have Ricardo Li, a veteran in the Chinese cross-border export ecommerce space. Helping get eBay into China and Shenzhen - working alongside Chinese ecommerce sellers for years, he has unique insights and perspectives. In todays show we talk about Chinese Amazon history, the challenges the sellers face, and the opportunities in today’s market. For full show notes, check out GlobalFromAsia.com/episode217. The post History Lesson on Chinese Amazon FBA Sellers with Ricardo Li appeared first on Global From Asia.

7-figure Amazon Seller and brand owner John Zhou provides valuable insight into the upcoming gathering of the Chinese government on major issues in the country, and the possibility of factory shut downs due to non-compliance of environmental law. If certain factories are shut down temporarily or permanently, what will be the effects on Amazon sellers who source their products from China? Additionally, John shares his own personal Amazon journey and gives his two cents on tactics that have made him successful in the Chinese Amazon landscape.

Chris Buckley is a highly regarded and very resourceful correspondent for The New York Times, who is based in Beijing. He has worked as a researcher and journalist in China since 1998, including a stint at Reuters, and is one of the few working China correspondents with a Ph.D. in China studies. Chris’s coverage has included politics, foreign policy, rural issues, human rights, the environment, and climate change. He also has an informative and sometimes very amusing Twitter account. In this podcast, recorded with a live audience in Beijing, Kaiser and Jeremy ask Chris about his tradecraft and sourcing of stories about elite Chinese politics, his views on Xi Jinping and the anti-corruption campaign, and what we can expect from the 19th Party Congress this fall. Chris also talks about the joys of journalism in a country that makes it very difficult to do. Recommendations: Jeremy: Interactive infographic about the Party’s “Leading Small Groups” produced by the Mercator Institute for China Studies, Great Wall Fresh - restaurant and wild Great Wall hiking. Chris: Intentions: Examining my peers in the Republic 心路-透视共和国同龄人 by Mi Hedu 米鹤都 (on Chinese Amazon store), All Sages Bookstore (in Chinese)万圣书屋 in Beijing Kaiser: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie  

GFA143. For this week's show, we have Jeff Cohen, whom I met at the Chinese Amazon seller conference last August. He shared some of the tactics and evolution of how sellers handle feedback and how you can get your account banned from your Amazon reviews. For full show notes, check out GlobalFromAsia.com/episode143. The post Protect Your Amazon Account, Product Reviews Tips & Strategy with Jeff Cohen appeared first on Global From Asia.

In honor of this weekend's Season 3 premiere of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", we present an encore presentation of a special interview with voice actress and the voice of Spike the Dragon, Cathy Weseluck Cathy Weseluck is a canadian voice actress who is best known for her roles as the beautiful Chinese Amazon, Shampoo from the animé classic, “Ranma 1/2″, Near in "Death Note", Cybersix in the classic "Cybersix",  and more recently, the assistant to Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Dragon from the popular “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!”   When Dennis reveals he has a crush on the Chinese Amazon chef, what will happen when Dennis finally meets his crush? Will Shampoo “crush” Dennis into the ground if he tries to make a move? Can Dennis help Spike crush his fear of talking to Rarity, whom he has a crush on? Plus, Dennis talks with Mayor Mare about her presidential run in 2012.