Podcast appearances and mentions of steve simonson

Learn how to protect your Amazon and E-commerce business from tariff risks as top experts share strategies for long-term success in tariffs, sourcing, and shipping on this episode. ► 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 What if navigating the complex world of tariffs could become your competitive advantage? Join Carrie Miller as she hosts industry veterans Steve Simonson, Chad Rubin of Profasee, Burak Yolga of Forceget, and Rob Hahn from Pattern share invaluable strategies for Amazon businesses grappling with the ongoing challenges of tariffs. We tackle the pressing issues of adapting sourcing practices, ensuring supply chain visibility, and building resilient operations amidst political and economic changes. Whether it's mitigating tariff impacts or exploring new sourcing opportunities, our experts equip you with the tools to thrive in an ever-shifting global market. This conversation takes a deep dive into the art of negotiation with suppliers. Discover the power of clarity and specificity in agreements, and learn how persistence can lead to advantageous deals. We also explore the concept of Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) importing, weighing its convenience against potential risks. Building long-term, cooperative relationships with suppliers is crucial, and our discussion highlights strategies to ensure mutual benefits in dynamic environments. Additionally, we delve into the intricacies of international trade, examining the shift from China to other manufacturing hubs like Vietnam and Mexico. As we explore global manufacturing diversification, we emphasize the need for strategic, long-term planning in response to geopolitical and economic disruptions. From the challenges of relocating production to understanding HTS codes and tariffs, we offer actionable insights for setting up your business for success. Our discussion also touches on the nuances of bonded warehouses and free trade zones, providing guidance on optimizing costs and cash flow. Tune in to gain practical advice on maneuvering through the complexities of the global trade landscape and ensuring your business remains resilient and future-ready. In episode 670 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie, Burak, Chad, Rob and Steve discuss: 00:01 - Navigating Tariffs for Long-Term Success 05:23 - Brands' Pricing and Supply Chain Strategies 09:06 - Amazon Pricing Strategy Considerations 11:09 - Negotiating Terms and DDP Importing 14:12 - Navigating Tariffs and Import Strategies 16:35 - Navigating Tariffs in E-Commerce Space 19:43 - Navigating Supplier Pricing and Taxes 23:36 - Understanding Bonded Warehouses and FTZs 25:15 - Importance of Shipping and Invoicing Carefully 30:03 - Global Manufacturing Diversification Trends 30:30 - Exploring Opportunities and Managing Volatility 33:12 - Trade-Offs and Market Targeting Strategy 35:24 - Global Manufacturing and Tariff Strategies 38:51 - Navigating Tariffs and Economic Trends

In this episode of Lunch with Norm, we dive into a critical topic that every private-label Amazon seller needs to prepare for: the potential impact of Trump tariffs as he takes office in January. Norm Farrar sits down with e-commerce expert Steve Simonson to unpack the risks, challenges, and strategies for navigating the turbulent waters ahead. 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.

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.

Hosts - Allan Wishart, Reg Feyer Segment 1 - Steve Simonson, UNBC Mens soccer coach

We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Principal Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. 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. Amazon updates its dietary supplements seller's policy https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2024/04/05/Amazon-updates-its-dietary-supplements-seller-s-policy# eBay Uses AI to Deliver Personalized Recommendations to Fashion Shoppers https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/ebay-uses-ai-to-deliver-personalized-recommendations-to-fashion-shoppers/ Magento bug exploited to steal payment data from ecommerce websites https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/magento-bug-exploited-to-steal-payment-data-from-ecommerce-websites Amazon invests $25 million in a 10-year research collaboration to advance AI https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-invests-25-million-in-a-10-year-research-collaboration-to-advance-ai Amazon announces over €700 million investment in robotics and AI powered technologies across Europe https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/innovation/amazon-announces-over-700-million-investment-in-robotics-and-ai-powered-technologies-across-europe Exclusive: The FTC is probing Amazon's new controversial fees in its $140 billion seller business https://fortune.com/2024/03/08/ftc-amazon-seller-fees-inbound-placement-low-inventory-antitrust/ We're proud to announce the launch of the new and improved Freedom Ticket course! Our award-winning, best-in-class FBA course has been streamlined and updated, so it delivers even more value in less time—setting up Freedom Ticket students just like you for sustainable Amazon success in 2024 and beyond. https://www.helium10.com/blog/freedom-ticket-fba-course/ And, for an added edge in the e-commerce arena, Carrie Miller shows us a savvy strategy for leveraging Helium 10's Cerebro for your Walmart listings, serving up another round of invaluable tips and tricks for selling on Walmart.com. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers: 00:46 - Supplement Policy Update 02:05 - Ebay Utilizes AI 02:57 - Magento Payment Vulnerability 03:36 - Amazon Invests in AI 06:35 - FTC Probing about New Fees 07:15 - New Freedom Ticket Course 09:35 - Pro Training Tip: Cerebro for Walmart Transcript Carrie Miller: Amazon updates its dietary supplement sellers policy. Amazon and eBay invest heavily in AI for their e-commerce platforms, and what does the FTC have to say about all of the new fees for storage that Amazon has imposed? This and so much more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz. Bradley Sutton: How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think Carrie Miller: Welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast hosted by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and this is our weekly buzz episode, where we give you all of the latest Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce news. We also give you a serious strategy for serious sellers at any level. So let's go ahead and see what's buzzing. Okay, so let's go ahead and get into our first article, and this first article is about how Amazon is updating their dietary supplement sellers policy. Now, this is kind of a long time coming. This has been in the works for a few years, and so basically, what's happening is, instead of the seller being able to send in their third party testing and certificates and just submit them through Seller Central, now the analysis has to be done and sent straight from a lab to Amazon. So it's actually a more direct approach. They want to make sure they can really verify that these supplements have been third-party tested, and that goes for all the compliance that they have. So what it says is that if you want to ensure that your listings are compliant with the policy, that you just need to go to manage your compliance dashboard and initiate the test for each of these products. This actually came about because there was a private lab that was actually testing the quality. So the quality some of the dietary supplements on Amazon was requested question repeatedly over the past several years and they found that maybe some of the supplements didn't have exactly what they said in them. So this is probably a really good thing for consumers and, you know it'll help the sellers to really be able to verify that their products are really legit and what they say. They are so curious to know what you think. If you are a nutritional supplement seller, what do you think about this new qualification that you have to or compliance thing that you have to do? Carrie Miller: Okay, next article is about eBay, and eBay is actually using AI to deliver personalized recommendations to fashion shoppers. Now, this, I think, is really cool because a lot of stuff on eBay is used and so when somebody looks at some sort of a style, they actually are going to recommend similar style products. It's going to be based on the previous 10 clicks, so sometimes this could be good and sometimes not, because maybe somebody clicked on something they like. I don't like that, but it could get quite a few more sales and more exposure for sellers because it'll start recommending these similar styled clothing items to buyers. So I think this could be a really cool thing. They're starting with fashion and then they're going to move out to other categories, and this could be a really good thing for especially eBay sellers when you're selling used items, to help people to find your items much faster. Carrie Miller: And the next article is about Magento. Magento has had a bug that really exploited the payment area, so it basically left vulnerable to bad actors to be able to steal payment information data on your Magento site. There are 150,000 Magento sites. There are over 150,000 Magento sites out there site. There is a fix for this, and so you can basically download the fix or upload the fix. However, it works usually with a developer and you can make sure to secure your website so that you do not have somebody that can go in and steal your payment information. Carrie Miller: And next, this is a really interesting piece of news, and that is Amazon is investing $25 million in a 10-year research collaboration to advance AI. So they're doing this with the University of Washington and the University of Tuscuba I don't know how to say it and NVIDIA, and they're all focused on AI. So I think this gives sellers a really good opportunity to really focus on AI in the next few years, because this is the direction that Amazon is going. So the more that we can stay on top of it, the better that we can sell our products and get what you know get the products that we want to get into the customer hands. Um, so it's going to be, I think, a lot of innovation over the next few years. In addition to that, they have invested $700 million in robotics and AI-powered technologies in Europe. Some of the things I think these are really cool to look at how the Amazon warehouse does things, but they're actually. They have this innovation lab that's in Italy, and this is where scientists go all over the world where they're investing in these technologies, and this is where scientists go all over the world where they're investing in these technologies, and some of the technologies that have come out of here are really quite interesting and I want to scroll down and show you. Carrie Miller: So we've got the universal robotic labeler. So it's a high-speed auto-labeling technology so this is kind of how it looks and they can basically quickly label all those packages. And then there's a universal item sorter and they can basically quickly label all those packages and then there's a universal item sorter so they can use these machines to sort all the items and make sure they're sorted efficiently to deliver them to the locations every day, and they're usually sorted into where their similar locations or destinations are. There's an automated tote retrieval, which I think is really kind of an interesting thing. They basically have these totes where they put all the products in to be packaged so really interesting. They have a bag containerization all kinds of really cool stuff. An automated guided cart that goes through the Amazon fulfillment centers and a flat sorter robotic induct so if anything falls off or they basically can pick things up and put it back on where it needs to be. And a palletizer it's a robotic palletizer. Really interesting stuff here Automated packaging, so basically they wouldn't even need people, which is crazy. Carrie Miller: And then Amazon robotics floor so really interesting stuff that is coming out of Amazon and so I think the more they already are using robotics and a lot of these technologies in their Amazon warehouses. So the more time that goes on as they continue to research, I think there's gonna be more of this involved. Obviously, people are going to need to be there to operate in these types of machineries, but probably less people involved. But it's also going to be important, you know, just because there's also a lot of investment going into AI for the actual platform itself. So we really need to stay on top of AI, make sure that our listings are going to be something that the AI can read and deliver to customers, so definitely something to keep on your list to stay up to date on that information. Carrie Miller: The next article is from fortunecom, basically, and they have a whole article about the FTC and how it's basically probing and questioning Amazon's controversial fees, and this came after a lot of outrage from sellers over the fees. So they have been looking into this because of know just so much has been going on. There's been a lot of noise about this, so we'll have to wait and see what the FTC thinks about this, what they're going to do about it and if it's something that they can do something about. So we'll stay tuned on that, all right. So that is all for the news that we have this week. Carrie Miller: Okay, so let's go ahead and get into the Helium 10 feature updates. Now, this is one of my favorite updates that we have, and that is we have Freedom Ticket 4.0. This is perfect for beginners as well as advanced. There's something for everyone here. Kevin King is leading this Freedom Ticket 4.0. And so you've got a lot of great information from Kevin King on how to get started with your business. We also have a bunch of expert guests that are really giving you some really great information. So if you are advanced, you're going to have that. If you're a beginner, we have stuff about product research, how to find your product, how to calculate profitability correctly, how to know when to pay yourself insurance all that great stuff so that you are fully prepared for your business. But for any of those who are more advanced, you've got also some great modules like, for example, the power of AI for Amazon sellers. That's done by Steve Simonson. Carrie Miller: There's some stuff about exiting your business. We have Scott Dietz from the Northbound Group, and he talks about beginning with the end in mind, because your exit is going to be where you make most of your money from your business. Then we also have some listing, content, optimization things, how to help your customers find your products, and, if you go down even further, we had Destaney Wishon, who talked about pay-per-click advertising, did a great job in explaining pay-per-click advertising and how to utilize PPC on Amazon. We have some great information about supply chain logistics how to source and ship your products and so we have some expert guests on that. And we also have some great information from eCommerce Chris on compliance, which is really, really important to make sure that you don't get banned from Amazon as a seller, that you stay in good compliance with their policies. Carrie Miller: And I think one of my favorite modules on here was finding and hiring VAs and managers for your business. Josh Hadley led that one and really did a very good job, step by step, of showing how to hire the best talent for your business. So if you're advanced or if you're a beginner, this is perfect for you, and if you have employees, you can have them take this course If you want them to be better versed in the Amazon world, help them to understand, get a really good education on how Amazon works. This is perfect. You can have them go through the course and they're going to learn so much, but it is for everyone. I learned so much even just listening to some of these experts that talked about all these different topics. So just listening to some of these experts that talked about all these different topics. So definitely check it out, you are going to love it. Carrie Miller: Okay, so now I'm going to go ahead and get into the training tip of the week, which is Cerebro for Walmart. A lot of people don't even know that we have Cerebro for Walmart, but it is an incredible tool to optimize your Walmart business by helping with your listing optimization and your pay-per-click advertising. So I'm going to go ahead and share my screen and show you how this works. So what you're going to do is you're going to go to Cerebro and you need to make sure to choose Walmart, which is way at the bottom. So usually it's at amazoncom, but you want to scroll all the way down here to walmartcom and you want to choose the walmartcom market. Okay, the next thing you want to do is you want to go to walmartcom. Now I have just chosen garlic presses here and we do. Carrie Miller: Just another note we do have x ray for Walmart here, but I like to pull x ray because I like to use this to find the product IDs, and this is basically where this is like an ASIN on Amazon, but they have product IDs. Another way you can find it is by just going to the actual listing, and you can you can scroll over to the very right, the very far end of it, and it's at the very end. It's this number, right here is the product ID number. So what you're going to do is you're going to basically copy that product ID, so I can just copy it right here and I'm going to put it into Cerebro. Now you can do more than one product ID at one time, but I'm just going to do this one, and this is going to pull up all the keywords for this particular product ID. Carrie Miller: That shows you all of the keywords that they are ranking for organically and sponsored, so you can see down here all of their keywords. You can see the search volume on Walmart and you can see it on Amazon. Now, I wouldn't be dismayed about the low search volume. You still are going to make sales Even if there's a low, low search volume. I've made some good sales on those keywords for my own business. Carrie Miller: But something that I love to do too is I like to sort by the sponsored rank. So I like to see exactly where my competitors are advertising. So this is going to show pretty much their exact strategy, because they don't have as many. A lot of people are using exact keywords, exact matches, so this is going to show you exactly where they are advertising. It's going to give you a huge list of really good keywords that you can utilize in your listing. And another thing you can do is you can just sort by organic rank. You can clear these filters. I had them on, I think, a little bit earlier, but see, there's actually even more keywords here that they're advertising on, and so we can see that there's a lot of really good keywords that are going to be very, very relevant. By just sorting the sponsored rank, you can see the organic rank. I sometimes like to filter by organic rank to see where they're ranked, maybe one to 10. You can also sort by volume. Carrie Miller: On Walmart or on Amazon, you can sort by phrases containing. So maybe you wanted to just see. You know, press all the phrases containing, press and, basically you know, pull up a bunch of very relevant key terms, and so this is an incredible tool to help you to find those keywords for Walmart, and it's definitely helped me. I've done a great job with these keywords on my pay-per-click advertising. The exact matches have done really well. So if you take the time to do this research, maybe take the top 10 to 20 keywords that you want to focus on on Walmart I think it's a really good strategy. Carrie Miller: Really write them into your listing. Make sure that you have these keywords in your title the main one that you want to focus on, at least in your title. Don't keyword stuff, because they will actually penalize you on Walmart for that. Have your main keyword phrase in there and then write these keyword phrases throughout your listing to optimize it and also start your pay-per-click advertising with these exact match terms and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results that you see. That is all that we have this week for the Weekly Buzz. Thank you so much for tuning in and we hope that you check out ou

7 Figure Sales Off Amazon Today, Danny is joined by Phil and Ian to discuss their multi 7 figure Amazon business and the hard yards they have put in to reach 7 figures off of Amazon as well as on it. Background and Initial Success: Embarking on the Amazon Journey: Ian and Phill, longtime friends turned business partners, started their Amazon venture around 2020, transitioning from conventional careers to the dynamic world of online retail. Their initial journey to seven figures was marked by innovative strategies, leveraging their unique insights and backgrounds. The Leap to DTC: Highlighting their adaptability, they expanded beyond Amazon, achieving their first million in sales through direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels within a year, demonstrating the significant impact of diversifying sales platforms. Strategic Insights and Tactical Wisdom: Focus on Product Niches: They discovered a lucrative niche in men's lifestyle and gifting, modernizing a traditionally stagnant market segment. This strategic pivot was crucial in differentiating their brand and commanding premium pricing. Community and Engagement: Emphasizing the power of community, they fostered a dedicated customer base through social media and influencer partnerships, leading to explosive growth and customer loyalty. Adaptability and Learning: Their journey underscores the importance of adaptability, learning from early missteps, and refining strategies to align with evolving market dynamics and consumer preferences. The Path to Scaling: Diversifying Revenue Streams: Expanding into DTC and exploring retail opportunities, they leveraged their brand's growing reputation, underpinned by a strong community, to tap into new revenue avenues. Strategic International Expansion: Although challenging, their foray into international markets like the UK, Germany, and Canada aimed at global brand presence, despite the complexities involved. Key Takeaways for Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Simplicity and Focus: Their narrative reinforces the value of focusing on core competencies before diversifying, advocating for a "keep it simple" approach to business growth. Customer-Centric Innovation: Engaging with their community for product validation and ideas has been a cornerstone of their strategy, ensuring that their offerings resonate with their audience. Strategic Hiring and Team Building: The importance of assembling the right team, emphasizing attitude and cultural fit over just skills, has been pivotal in their continued success. Conclusion and Forward Look: Ian and Phill's journey is a testament to strategic agility, customer-focused innovation, and the power of community engagement in the e-commerce landscape. As they steer their business towards the eight-figure horizon, their story offers invaluable lessons on growth, resilience, and the entrepreneurial spirit. Upcoming Events and Contact: Stay tuned for upcoming developments from Ian and Phill, and don't miss out on connecting with them through LinkedIn for more insights and collaborative opportunities. Seller Sessions Live May 11, 2024 Join us at the forefront of e-commerce innovation and strategy at Seller Sessions Live in London. Secure your spot and take advantage of the knowledge shared by industry luminaries like Brandon Young, Colin Rodger, Steve Simonson, and many more. Grab your tickets now at sellersessions.com/live2024 and enjoy a special discount using code: 202450. This event is a must-attend for anyone serious about scaling their online business and staying ahead in the dynamic e-commerce landscape. Brought to you by: Databrill Exhibitors Include: Uncapped, Getida, VAA, AVASK, Ecom Brokers, Kata Logistics, Data Dive Tools, Mint Accounting, MultiplyMii, Zignify, Intellivy, East West Basics, and Ecomcy. P.S. Interested in Sponsoring? Get in touch. Testimonials: Michele Venton: "The first of its kind!” Steve Consalvi: "Best seller event so far!" James Cissel: "Insightful and actionable.”

China's Slow Meltdown For Amazon Sellers Welcome to another enlightening episode of Seller Sessions, where host Danny McMillan engages with the ever-insightful Steve Simonson. This session dives deep into the evolving dynamics of global logistics, supply chain intricacies, and the strategic foresight needed in today's unpredictable market landscape. Unpacking the Logistics Landscape: A 2024 Outlook Current Climate Overview: Steve Simonson shares his expertise on the logistical challenges and changes as businesses transition into 2024, emphasising the importance of adaptive strategies in the face of unforeseen global shifts. Supply Chain Insights: Discussion revolves around the post-COVID supply chain recovery, unexpected hurdles, and the criticality of staying agile amidst fluctuating container costs and transit times. Strategic Foresight and Adaptive Planning Forecasting Faux Pas: Simonson reflects on past predictions, highlighting the unpredictable nature of supply chain disruptions and the necessity of resilient planning. Real-time Adjustments: He shares anecdotes of swift strategic shifts his team made in response to the dynamic global trade environment, underscoring the essence of flexibility in business operations. China's Economic Conundrum: Impact on Global Sellers China's Slow Meltdown: A deep dive into the economic and industrial challenges within China, including liquidity crises and the effects on manufacturing sectors and global sellers. Navigating Manufacturing Uncertainties: Simonson offers valuable advice on mitigating risks associated with factory closures and capital constraints, advocating for strategic negotiations and the importance of securing favourable terms. Diversification and Global Manufacturing Shifts Beyond China: Exploring the strategic shift of manufacturing bases to countries like Vietnam and India, considering their proximity advantages, labor dynamics, and industrial capacities. India's Potential Unpacked: A nuanced look at India's burgeoning role in the global manufacturing landscape, balancing its skilled workforce against the backdrop of technological and infrastructural development. Leadership and Organisational Growth Blueprint for Effective Leadership: Simonson is set to lead a workshop focusing on foundational leadership qualities, strategic decision-making, and cultivating a culture that aligns team satisfaction with customer happiness. Future-Proofing Through Learning: Emphasising the importance of continuous learning, embracing mistakes, and the relentless pursuit of improvement in leadership and organisational success. Summary / Round-Up This episode with Steve Simonson offers a treasure trove of insights, from the intricacies of global logistics to the strategic nuances of leadership in uncertain times. As businesses navigate the unpredictable waters of 2024, Simonson's advice stands as a beacon for adaptable, forward-thinking strategies that can help steer companies towards sustained growth and resilience. Stay tuned for more enriching discussions on Seller Sessions, your go-to podcast for expert insights into the e-commerce world. Seller Sessions Live May 11, 2024 Grab tickets – https://sellersessions.com/live2024/ Get £50 off using Discount code: 202450 Brought to you by: Databrill Exhibitors Include: Uncapped, Getida, VAA, AVASK, Ecom Brokers, Kata Logistics, Data Dive Tools, Mint Accounting, MultiplyMii, Zignify, Intellivy, and Ecomcy. P.S. Interested in Sponsoring? Get in touch. Michele Venton: "The first of its kind!” Steve Consalvi: "Best seller event so far!" James Cissel: "Insightful and actionable.”

In today's episode of the Matt Clark Show, we dive into a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of entrepreneurship and personal growth: addressing problems while they're manageable. Drawing from personal anecdotes and the wisdom of successful business figures, I'll illuminate how every significant challenge starts as a minor issue.We'll explore a transformative approach to confronting the problems you might be avoiding, whether they relate to finances, team dynamics, or product quality. I share a compelling story about our financial oversight and how a presentation by Steve Simonson changed my perspective on managing business finances. This episode is packed with actionable advice: from writing down your problems to get them out of your head, to taking that first small step towards resolution, and applying Granny's Rule of "eating your carrots before your dessert."This isn't just about business; it's a life lesson in proactivity and the power of early intervention. Whether you're an entrepreneur facing business challenges or someone navigating personal hurdles, this episode offers the insights and motivation you need to tackle issues head-on, when they're still small and manageable.Join me as we discuss strategies for not just identifying but also taking immediate action on the problems at hand, ensuring they don't grow into insurmountable obstacles. Let's learn to face our challenges early, making our entrepreneurial journey and personal life smoother and more successful.

Ever wondered how the savviest of e-commerce entrepreneurs keep their profit margins healthy amidst rising industry costs? Buckle up as Benjamin Webber, a true maverick in the Amazon FBA realm, rides through the podcast to share his unique tactics. He's not just playing the game; he's changing it by using his own truck as an Amazon carrier, slashing his shipping expenses, and keeping his company's financials robust. With a 10% hike in gross sales and an ever-expanding team, Ben breaks down the logistics of becoming an Amazon carrier, the operational efficiencies that keep his business ahead, and why sometimes the best move is to quite literally take the wheel of your product distribution. The chessboard of global e-commerce is complex, but Ben is a grandmaster at maneuvering his pieces. He unveils his strategies for managing inventory across continents, discusses the art of optimizing check-in speeds, and serves wisdom on tackling geographic conversion issues. His narrative takes us through the meticulous dance of manufacturing diversification—from Asia to the Americas—and the savvy logistics of East Coast shipping. As Ben's company eyes a leap into Amazon's global marketplaces, he lays out his blueprint for facing the squeeze of shrinking margins, fortifying supplier relationships, and negotiating like a pro. In a world increasingly driven by AI, Ben has mastered fusing technology with human creativity. This episode isn't just about listing optimization and tweaking ad strategies—it's a glimpse into an advertising revolution dictated by sponsored rank and AI's role in it. And when it comes to product development, Ben and his team are tapping into AI to conjure up innovative solutions to everyday problems. It's a thrilling ride through the intersection of data, technology, and human insight, where Ben exemplifies the adventurous spirit of online selling. Join us, and let your e-commerce curiosity be captured by his exceptional vision and trailblazing tactics.   In episode 529 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ben discuss: 00:00 - Amazon Carrier Strategies and Profit Margins 06:45 - Optimizing Amazon Stock Check-in and Distribution 09:08 - Inventory, Manufacturing, and Global Expansion 10:52 - Product Warehouse Benefits  15:43 - Amazon Advertising and Listing Optimization 16:52 - Analyzing Conversion Rates and Product Quality 24:31 - Factors for Retiring Products  25:33 - Warehouse Efficiency and Competitor Analysis 31:50 - Using AI for Product Development 33:52 - 2024 Tips and Unique Strategies ► 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 popular guest back on the show, Ben, who's got very unique strategies, such as he made himself an Amazon carrier so that he can deliver with his own truck his FBA replenishment orders 15 minutes away from him for free. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image, or Amazon changed their shipping dimensions so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me/alerts. 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 completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. You've got a serious seller back for, I believe, the second time here on the show, Ben. How's it going, man?   Ben: Good, how about yourself?   Bradley Sutton: I'm doing just delightful. So I take your North Carolina, which is why I switched hats here at the last second rock in this Charlotte hat. Here Is Charlotte where you're at, or what part North Carolina are you on?   Ben: Yeah, I'm in Charlotte.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, been out there long yeah.   Ben: I came here in 2002 and never left.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, all right. So if you guys want to get more of his backstory, guys write this down episode 379. We went a little bit more into his background there, so we're not going to go too much. You know more into. You know how his superhero origin story, want to catch up and see what cool stuff he's been he's been working on. That was a great episode, by the way. In there he talked about how he had a three million dollars in retail arbitrage sales and he has his cult following now in the Amazon world on the speaker circuit. A lot of cool stuff we talked about in that episode, including you know how to hire for your Amazon businesses and whatnot. But let's just catch up. You know now we're in 2024. You know I think the last time you're on the show was like end of 2022 around there, so it's been, you know, full year. How was your 2023?   Ben: It was good. Our big priority was expanding obviously expanding product lines, and then just figuring out the best ways to manage what we have so that we can grow and scale as efficiently as possible.   Bradley Sutton: How many employees are you guys up to now?   Ben: So we have the warehouse and then we have an international team. So collectively we're between 60 and 70.   Bradley Sutton: Excellent. Now what was you know, just from a gross sales overall, all channels, if you were to compare 2023 with 2022, how did you guys do?   Ben: We're up maybe 10%, so it didn't really push too hard this year.   Bradley Sutton: Now, something that I think a lot of sellers might have said compared in 2023 to 2022, is profit margins were down due to increased cost, whether that be inflation or cost of goods, Amazon fees, PPC how was your profit margin?   Ben: Yeah, it definitely went down a little bit, not as bad as I guess a lot of people have. That I've talked to have run into. But one of the big things that helps us and I think we talked about this before is just that because we are in Charlotte and there's a CL2, the CL22 warehouse is in Charlotte we're able to deliver a lot of our own inventory. So we're a last mile delivery driver or delivery provider for Amazon. So we don't have to pay to ship in to Amazon. We pay somebody $15 an hour to drive a truck with 12 pallets and they're 20 minutes from our warehouse. So as far as the inbound shipping costs and those expenses, those don't really hurt us too badly.   Bradley Sutton: So that whole, so you ship everything then from your manufacturing to your warehouse and then so that that quote unquote landed cost that ends up being your cost to Amazon as well. Essentially, yeah, how did you even know that that was possible to do?   Ben: Several years ago we were about to stock out of. As you know, we sell a lot of fourth quarter products and kind of joke toy products, and we're about to stock out of one that we sold between 800 to 1000 units a day, which is a fairly substantial issue. So we actually loaded up a cargo van and drove the cargo van to Amazon, talked to us our way through the front gates to deliver it and they took it and so we did that once. Then we did it again and we got through again the third time. They're like no, you can't do this and so like, okay, but somehow we have to be able to do this. So we looked into Carrier Central and figure out how we could become a last mile carotter, which is incredibly easy. It takes about 15 minutes to fill out a form and then you have to show that you can back in and out of a parking spot Incredibly easy. So in that January we bought a truck and the rest is history from there. But it was. It came about because we were about to stock out and panic and we're like well, what's the worst that can happen?   Bradley Sutton: So then theoretically you can also do this service for other people, that you would be the carrier and then other people can just store their product here at warehouse and then you would deliver. But for now you just pretty much do it for yourself. Is there like was there any kind of minimums? Like, hey, you have to have a dock high truck, you have to, it has to be this size, it has to be order, you know, like it has to be at least X number of pallets, or what kind of requirements was it.   Ben: So basically it had to be palletized and it required a dock high truck, and I forget there was. There's a code you have to send them that you get for just having a truck, so it doesn't really matter, you're going to have it anyway. But dock high and palletized products. And what we did was we looked up what the largest truck that we could buy without having to have a CDL was, which in North Carolina, is a 26 foot box truck, and so that holds 12 pallets.   Bradley Sutton: Did you have to have, like a company that's a registered trucking company or something?   Ben: Nope, I actually had a friend who was trying to do this for some of their products because they were just the same issue where they're about to stock out and Amazon wasn't checking them in fast enough. And one of the benefits of what we do is and this is I don't know how long this will stay that way, so I'm probably going to jinx myself by saying it, but our stuff gets checked in faster than anybody else's. So, like this year, we had stuff that we delivered in December that was checked in three days late.   Bradley Sutton: We were able to pick that exact DC to get the stuff into when you're creating your transfer shipments.   Ben: There are a number of softwares that you can use that let you pick and direct where you want it to go to.   Bradley Sutton: But what is that? So that's not something that you can do on your own, just in seller central.   Ben: It. Well, yes and no, it's not something that you can directly do, but typically if you're sending case packs in, they're going to try to send that to the largest distributor center nearest you or distribution center nearest to you. At least that's what we've seen Even before, like when we weren't using a software for it. We're sending about 65 to 70% of our case packs all went to Charlotte, so they're still trying to keep stuff. As far as the case packs that, they're just sending them to the nearest large distribution center. At least that's how it worked out for us.   Bradley Sutton: Now, have you looked into, or do you know yet, how this change to their shipping program is going to affect you, if any at all, with this whole thing where people now have to pay if they're only sending it to one location? I mean, even if that's the case, it's still got to be better. I'm assuming that you'd still choose that.   Ben: Yeah, it'll cost us more now, but it's still better to deliver to ourselves. The bigger issue, honestly, was the minimum stock levels. Because we're able to deliver so quickly and because we know that Amazon is checking in so quickly, we've been able to run very, very, very lean, and that's going to get.   Bradley Sutton: They're going to punish you now, right?   Ben: So now we're going to have to put. Over the last month we've been having to send way more inventory than we ever had before in because we have to meet the minimum stock requirements to not get charged, though I had the fees there, so that's honestly the bigger issue for us.   Bradley Sutton: Have you ever taken a look at in Helium 10, at our inventory heat maps to see what they do with your inventory day by day and then how long it takes them to distribute? Because sure, you can get it checked in, but if everything just sits there in Charlotte for a week and then all of a sudden somebody's in Portland and their buy box says yeah, two weeks delivery date, then that might be conversion issue for certain geographic areas. Are they getting your inventory out to the country pretty fast?   Ben: Usually within two weeks, but it is something where there's definitely some gaps, where we have been not fulfilling the West Coast, for example, is efficiently, as we probably could be.   Bradley Sutton: Now, what about the fact that you're I mean I'm assuming you manufacture your stuff in China, India or where you?   Ben: manufacture it. So we have manufacturing in China, Mexico, India, Canada, the US and I want to say Vietnam as well.   Bradley Sutton: So what about the stuff coming from Asia, the fact that you're not, that you're sending it to you in the middle, not completely in the middle, but is it coming to the East Coast port first, or is it coming to California?   Ben: We send a lot of it through Savannah Georgia.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, okay, and so, even if it wasn't going to your warehouse, is that where you're routing it? In the old days, if you were going directly to Amazon, it would still go to the East Coast first.   Ben: We always sent directly to our warehouse just for having the flexibility. For a lot of our products there are varying pack sizes and we'll repackage as needed in the warehouse to make sure that we're filling the ones that we need to. So we've always sent it to ourselves first For that reason. Then also just from a flexibility standpoint as far as inventory management, where if you send it from China you're basically going to have to send in 90 to 120 days to make sure that you're covered or just have constant orders going. If we send it to our warehouse first, we can keep the Amazon fees lower for storage by storing it. For what amounts to about? I think last time we calculated it we're paying like $6.50 a pallet or $7 a pallet, something like that, to store it at our warehouse. So the amount of money that we're saving off of the Amazon fees by storing it to ourselves and then sending in smaller shipments versus sending in the bulk ones that a lot of people do.   Bradley Sutton: All right, makes sense. Yeah, I was worried a little bit at least. Like, wait a minute, you know like some of your savings might be gone if you're still having a bring things into the port and like California. And then you got to ship it all the way Right, stick it on trains or trucks to go all the way to North Carolina. But the fact that it's coming into already on the East Coast, that doesn't make it too bad. Okay, so that's pretty cool.   Ben: Honestly, that's one of the things that we're looking into for 2024 is seeing if we want to find a 3PL out on the West Coast so we can send some inventory there for the heat map issues that you were bringing up, where we can send stuff to the West Coast DCs from there and then keep doing everything else from Charlotte so that we can make sure that we're covering the country. And also, if there's a way to bring stuff in and have it on the West Coast already, then it just makes things easier.   Bradley Sutton: Now what other you know? We've been talking about Amazon USA. What other Amazon marketplaces are you selling on worldwide? And what about other domestic here in the USA marketplaces like Walmart, tik Tok, etc.   Ben: Honestly, we haven't pushed that hard on the non-domestic Amazon sites just because our logic has kind of been well, the US is the largest market. If we're able to successfully sell something here, we're going to be more successful than selling something in another market. So we would rather come up with a new product to sell in the US versus taking the time and energy to push externally. But that is something that started to change over the last year. We are in Canada, we're in the UK and we're going to expand through Europe over the next year as far as Amazon, and then we have our own Shopify sites for all of our brands, and then we do a good bit through Walmart as well.   Bradley Sutton: What's your strategy, like you know, going into 2024, now that margins are decreasing, I mean, are you raising? Are you planning to raise prices? Have you raised prices? Trying to cut costs in unique ways? Pull back on advertising? How does somebody you know, because it's not like you know, this is just something that you're facing, like we talked about earlier. A lot of people are facing it, and some worse. Why do you think, other than the shipping thing, you haven't been hit as hard as others. And what's the plan to you know? It's not like costs are going to go down anytime soon. So how are you going to? You know, stay above water.   Ben: Yeah Well, I mean, one of the things is, before we started the podcast, you and I were discussing how you were just in China and like going and meeting with your manufacturers and actually having those conversations, you can get better rates, you can get better terms, you can get a lot of benefits. You can also see what they can and can't do and find a lot of products that you can make with the same manufacturer. And the more things you buy from one manufacturer, the better rates you're going to get on each of those orders. So going directly to your manufacturers and talking to them is a way that you can massively improve your, your costs and also the terms you have. Like, with some of our, some of our manufacturers, we don't pay until 90 days after the products has come to our warehouse.   Bradley Sutton: How long have you been with those manufacturers?   Ben: I like to ask for some Wow yeah.   Bradley Sutton: And have you visited them there in where they're at and got out to meet and stuff like it?   Ben: And met their family, took their kids presents like or we're very close with them. But it's something that you can like you, that's something that you can build. And again, even if it's somebody that you aren't close with, the more that you can, more you buy from them, the more likely they are to give you better rates, better terms etc. So that's one thing. As far as the advertising goes, one of the things we started really pushing over the last probably six months is just kind of figuring out what are where our product deserves to be ranked based off of price, quality, everything else compared to our competition on specific keywords, and adjusting our advertising based off of that. So if we look and we say like, okay, we're really the fourth best product on this keyword, we're not going to push heavily for our with our advertising to try and get to the number one spot, because eventually we're just going to drop back down to the number four or we're going to have to keep spending a ton of money. So we've adjusted our ad spend to match where we feel like we should be on that keyword and if we drop below that then we'll raise it. But if we're there we'll leave it basically where it is, and that's actually significantly improved our profitability, because we're not spending as much to rank up on something that we won't stick. Because you're not going to stick at the top, then why are you trying to get there? It's not going to, you're just wasting money.   Bradley Sutton: So are you like you know? Obviously, like you said, you know, price is an easy, easy one to know. If you quote unquote deserve to be there. You're looking at, like conversion rates by keyword and search, career performance or things like that, or what are some other factors other than just strictly price?   Ben: Yeah. So we'll buy every single product and bring it to our warehouse and do comparison tests so we'll look and see like okay, this one, like, let's say, we're selling a paper plate we can see like, okay, if we put sauce on this for an hour, it leaks through Ours doesn't. So for the sauce we rank better than them, or the size that it takes or the amount of weight they can hold. It can hold as far as food, things like that, where you're just testing to see the quality of your product versus theirs. So it's not just the quality of the listing and conversion, it's also the quality of what you're actually offering to the customer.   Bradley Sutton: That's interesting. I've never heard of somebody doing that. Where it's like at the keyword level, how do we stack up so that we deserve you know to. You know like, like a product could do really well, like in that situation, for like a keyword like heavy duty plates, or you know big meals or some, or for you know watery foods or something like that, whereas maybe another one would be, you know, floral looking plates, where it's more aesthetic and you could rank or you could rate, I should say, differently for each keyword.   Ben: Exactly and it also helps you figure out which way you want to direct your, the copy and photos and everything that you're putting out for the listing, as you see like, because I mean, everybody is doing competitor research before to figure out, okay, how can I say that I'm better than this one? But if you don't keep doing that throughout it, you're going to get passed off. But also, if you look at it on a keyword level, like we're doing, you're able to save a lot of money on advertising by not bidding on things you shouldn't.   Bradley Sutton: Now, speaking of listing optimization, you know that was one thing that we focused on the last episode I remember. You know you talked about. You've got some listings that are 100% puns and a different, you know, and that helps with your conversion and stickiness of customers. What are you like? Are you guys using AI? That's something that's just kind of blown up, probably since the last time we talked. What other listing optimization strategies you're doing in the last year?   Ben: Yeah, and, like you said, ai is massive. I mean the ability to identify a customer avatar immediately, to put the reviews in and pull whatever, extract whatever data you need to from it with like quickly, efficiently, and to have essentially a professional copywriter write your listings for you. One of the things that I enjoy doing, which has led to some good results and some terrible results is to pick like a few famous copywriters or famous advertisers that I find interesting and then have them have a conversation about the product. So if you say, like these four people discuss paper plates and why someone would buy them, and then they go through and the AI talks like those people and has a conversation, and you can see people who are way smarter than me discussing how they would sell it, why they would sell or what they think people would be directly interested in and how they would position it, and so I like doing that. Also for coming up with brand names If you have like the top branders in the world, you can just say have these people discuss what my brand should be if I'm selling X product. So kind of expanding outside of just saying write me a bullet point with the including these keywords with 250 characters or less and yada, yada, yada. Trying to like, think outside the box a bit more, to be more unique, because at this point anybody can use AI. It's trying to figure out ways to use it in ways that other people aren't yet and especially trying to get add to what the AI is doing, add emotional language to it, because AI is okay at emotional, but not great. So if you can put something in that appeals directly to the customer while still using the the pitches from the AI, we've had really good success with that.   Bradley Sutton: Now what, if anything is, would you say, is the biggest difference when you're taking one product from Amazon and making a listing on Walmart, Like, have you seen something that definitely works and something that you always have to change because it's completely different on Walmart, or is the general structure always pretty much the same and you're just doing the little things that you know, the little requirements that Walmart has, in order to differentiate it?   0:21:40 - Yeah, I mean we are trying to obviously match what Walmart says, but it just seems like on Walmart you want to be way more direct. Like, keyword stuffing doesn't work as well there. It seems like there, at least for us. It hasn't May for other people. But just being more readable and fluent with the way that we create the listings has led to better results versus just trying to stuff too many keywords into it as we possibly can.   Bradley Sutton: What else are you doing differently Something we haven't talked about in this episode or the last one, I mean, you know to manufacturing in USA and keeping respectable profit margins. Having 70 employees, this is not something that, you know, like any Amazon seller can achieve. There's got to be some more other unique things that have helped you reach this level. What do you think those are?   Ben: Now you're putting me on the spot. I think the you know that I have three main partners that I've worked with from the start and I think one of the things that we've done really well is division of labor and creating the SOPs and the backbone for everything that we need in order to run the business, so that we don't have to be involved in the day to day as much as we used to and had to at the start. So we are able to look into things like Amazon fee changes. Look into things like okay, how can we get to China and improve our costs and fees there. Like having the flexibility by building a powerful team to and like our team is. I mean, I would say our VA's are probably smarter than me, so they're better at the job that I am at this point. So like being able to get to that point where you're able to have the flexibility to scale mentally going forward has been massive and we actually like, from the start, the way that we kind of divided it was, we had one of my partners was focused on incoming products. The other was focused on running the warehouse. My role was mostly building the products on the marketing side, and then we had one person whose role was essentially figuring out how we're going forward. His job has always been to push things forward, to figure out what we need to do and then having him he is very, very good at systems so he'll be able to come in and look at what we've done and see the systems we built and say, no, you all are idiots, change these three things. That's going to be much better.   Ben: So, like, being willing to constantly, always, constantly be improving on what you're doing Is one aspect of it, but also always looking forward. So figuring out, like, how do we dodge whatever the next big thing is and I mean, if you look at the and I know you know Steve Simonson, but like whenever he's talking, he's always talking about, okay, what's happening in China now and how is that going to impact things? A year for now, it's two years, or now five years or now.   Bradley Sutton: So even just looking ahead at stuff like that, where You're able to make decisions that mean that you're not going to be Sure changing yourself in the long run for a bigger game, now, I think something that successful sellers also have to know how to do is when to pull the plug on on products and everybody and this is one of those things that there's not one size fits all, everybody has their own criteria. How do you guys decide what to what to retire as far as the product goes? Is it strictly just you know a profit margin? Is there a certain sales velocity that you need to to maintain? Is it you know? If the reviews dip below a certain you know point, what's your decision-making factors on it?   Ben: Honestly, one of the the biggest things we care about is how annoying it is to deal with. So just just being perfectly honest, because we do have, we do have a very wide catalog at this point Counting our kind of variations. We have over a thousand skews. So when we're looking at things and figuring out what we want to do, if the way, if we're sending it to the warehouse and the warehouse has to touch it four times, even if it's making more money, we may want to cut that faster than something the warehouse doesn't have to touch. So we look into not just the profitability of the product but also the profitability of the product compared to the labor, how labor intensive it is. And Also, if the warehouse people don't like dealing with it, then and we're not making much money on it and why keep dealing? Why keep doing it? So that that is one of the big things. But beyond that it is Almost exclusively profit, profitability. Like I don't really care if I'm selling something a hundred, a hundred units a day, if I'm making $12 a day on it. I would rather sell one thing for $12 and a hundred things on the flip side, what is?   Bradley Sutton: are the triggers where it's like, hey, we need to Launch this product, or we need to launch this you know new thing for this brand, or hey, we need to launch a new variation? Are you guys just? Do you have a department that's just constantly looking at new opportunities per brand, or or you're looking for certain signals in a market? How's that work?   Ben: Yeah. So I mean we do look at every single review that we get and and. So if we see a lot of reviews come against saying I wish this were larger, I wish this were a different color, like the obvious things like that Are things that we that play into it, or we're getting negative feedback saying there are all these issues, then solving the issues is a very easy way to improve on that. But the the other aspects of it are Just. If we look and we see a competitor come in and they're doing something different and it looks better, it's doing better, it's taking sales away from us, then we figure out, okay, how do we beat that? What can we do differently? So a lot of it is competitor and customer driven, as opposed to Keyword or sales velocity driven you know you talked about.   Bradley Sutton: You know you've Use helium 10 for years and your team has what. What is the number one thing you're using helium 10 now for? And if you were to Join our product team for a few days let's say you were to you were to be in charge of our product team what would be on your wish list on, like, how you would add something to helium-10 that we don't have right now. That would make your lives as on the Amazon side, yeah, easier the conversion rate trends for that keyword For each individual product.   Ben: So if you're looking at it, you can see like, okay, this one is selling this number this month a day, but being able to go in and figure out if their conversion rate is moving up and down month over month, as opposed to just sales moving up and down month over month, because I think that the Conversion rate is just getting more and more important and at the keyword level, not just the overall conversion rate, but even at the keyword level.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, yeah, I'm dead. That's definitely the top of my list as well. You know, once Amazon, you know, make search query performance available in the API, then then that's like yeah, to me that's like a must-have for sure. All right, so now I knew you. You know you were like a nationally ranked tennis player back in a. You still get on the courts every now and then. What were your main hobbies last year of? You know like, hey, you need to get away from the Amazon world and just, you know, enjoy yourself. Yeah, what were you doing?   Ben: So the US National Whitewater Training Center is in Charlotte so I learned how to whitewater kayak so I got a membership there. It's a closed course that they controlled the the flow of the water, so it could be anywhere from a class 1 to a class 5, depending on the day that you're out there with the rappers they're going to be. So that was my kind of fun. It was a 10-minute drive from our warehouse. So go Do some kayaking and then they have Like. On Thursdays they had concerts and stuff so you can go Hang out and be around people.   Bradley Sutton: Now Is that just a local hobby for you, but or or? Now that you know I knew you travel sometimes too, or have you know when you travel? Have you ever gone real like a whitewater kayaking?   Ben: I have once and it's way more terrifying. That's what I was about to say.   Bradley Sutton: That would be a little bit scary if you're just doing a controlled environment one thing, but then to Be out there Okay.   Ben: Yeah, when it's big stuff of a controlled water flow, if you flip over it's like, okay, I can handle this. If it's not controlled, we're the rocks. I don't know what's happening. I'm about to die, so that's not quite as good. But one of the things I've tried to do Well traveling is trying to try and go fishing Everywhere I go.   Bradley Sutton: What were some of your cool places you've been to in 2023?   Ben: Yeah, so I went to Fiji for the first time, Wow did you stay in over water like a over? Sadly, no, that was. I was not on an island that was conducive to that, so I'll have to. They'll have to be added to my next trip.   Bradley Sutton: That's on my bucket list, fiji I've never been there.   Ben: Yeah, it's, it's a beautiful place. I went to Estonia To the ambition event there, which I'd never, never been to Really Eastern Europe before, so that was a lot of fun to get to go and meet a lot of the sellers there and get to explore An area in a culture that I'd never gotten to experience. So I always enjoy getting to do stuff like that. Try to think of one more. I started in Greece in college and I got to go back there this year, so I'm going to go back and see what I saw in college and appreciated a bit more as an adult, from a historical perspective. Yeah, as opposed to the 21 year old kid who's just like if alcohol here, I need all of it.   Bradley Sutton: Yes, your priorities are a little bit different at that age, I think it's like getting to go on an adult trip there was.   Ben: It was a nice change.   Bradley Sutton: You know, before we get into your final strategy of the day, if people wanted to reach you or find you on the interwebs, how can they find you out there?   Ben: Facebook is probably the easiest. It's just Benjamin Weber and I think I don't have a picture of myself there. I think it's a picture of the Frank Lloyd Wright falling waters house. So if you, if you see a Benjamin Weber with a house, that's probably me.   Bradley Sutton: Now we're at the stage where we asked for your 30 or 60 second tip. You already gave us a doozy, you know, with that, looking at the how you rank at the keyword level as far as how you deserve to rank. So do you have another one for us?   Ben: I mean, obviously everybody's talking about AI now, but using that within your product development to expand on what you're doing. So one of the things that we used to do with our Entire staff was, every day, as a kind of learning, mental strength, mental training exercise Say what are 10 things that you would pay $50 to never have to deal with again. Then we look to see if we can make products out of those, and so we had this massive list of Thousands of these. Now we do that with AI. So we're going into AI and saying what are problems like, let's say you're in the kitchen category. You would say what are 1020, however many things you want to say things that people would pay 30 dollar, 10, what are 10 problems that people would pay $30 to solve In the kitchen, so they don't have to deal with that every time they're doing it and then see what results come back from that and look at the products that come from it. So it's a way to get essentially consumer research via questions with AI, versus having to go in and look things up. So just using the, the AI as a creativity exercise can be Incredibly huge for coming up with new product ideas, and that's where the last, like seven products that we've made have come from us Just typing questions like that into AI, and there are things that no one is selling on the market right now.   Bradley Sutton: All right. Well, ben, thank you so much for joining us Again. You've definitely given us some insightful tips and you've got some very unique things that nobody else is doing, you know, like being your own Amazon last mile carrier, and everything is less, less great, and so I'll love to see what you do in 2024, and then we'll bring you back in 2025 and see how things are going.   Ben: It sounds good. Thanks for having me.

The global landscape is rapidly changing, and businesses must adapt to survive and thrive. Supply chain diversification, manufacturing alternatives, and careful consideration of geopolitical risks are essential in navigating this uncertain terrain.China, the world's factory, is faced with a myriad of problems ranging from economic instability, debt, political tensions, crumbling infrastructure, and a fast-declining manufacturing industry.Small businesses and sellers should be taking proactive steps to secure their future and diversify their supply chains before they get disrupted.In this episode, I sat down with Steve Simonson, a Global Entrepreneur and Founder of the e-commerce association Empowery.com.Our discussion centered around the rapidly changing global landscape, with a particular focus on the challenges and opportunities facing product brands and small businesses amid escalating geopolitical tensions.Steve Simonson predicts that these tensions may lead to more kinetic actions, including wars, which could disrupt global trade and geopolitics.So, what does all this mean for small businesses and sellers?It's time to look at alternative supply chain options seriously. Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, the E.U., Turkey, and India are all viable options. But they possess different strengths and challenges.But there is also a possible U.S. onshore manufacturing renaissance, coupled with a strategic North American alliance, that seems to be on the cards.Tune in to gain valuable insights and expert advice to help you navigate the complex world of global business and supply chains.Key Takeaways- Intro (00:00)- The Global Chaos Curve and its implication for sellers (01:44)- China's economic stability and manufacturing decline (10:09)- Supply chain alternatives to China (19:59)- Diversifying to ASEAN countries (27:33)- Always get on TERMS when buying from China (29:36)- Manufacturing renaissance in U.S. and North America (37:43)- E.U. supply chains (40:32)- Onshoring back manufacturing to North America (43:56)Additional Resources:Connect with Steve Simonson- Website and podcast platform: https://www.awesomers.com/- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesimonson/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevesimonson- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.simonson1/----- 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!

Amazon AntiTrust Lawsuit Roundtable with Steve Simonson, Tim Jordan, Adam Hiest, Liran Hirschkorn and Paul Rafelson   Today, I am joined by Steve Simonson, Tim Jordan, Adam Hiest, Liran Hirschkorn and Paul Rafelson. The topic of this roundtable is the lawsuit filed by the FTC which has been gaining momentum over the last few days.   Key parts of the lawsuit   Anti-Discounting Measures: Amazon's fair pricing policy makes it impossible for sellers to offer lower prices on competing platforms.    Prime Eligibility: It's claimed that Amazon conditions a seller's ability to have their products marked as "Prime" on using Amazon's fulfilment service, which can be costly.      Search Result Biases: There are concerns that Amazon might be prioritising its own products in search results, even if other products are of better quality.   High Fees for Sellers: The FTC points out that Amazon charges various fees to sellers, which can amount to nearly 50% of their total revenues.   Degrading the customer experience by replacing relevant, organic search results with paid advertisements—and deliberately increasing junk ads that worsen search quality and frustrate both shoppers seeking products and sellers who are promised a return on their advertising purchase.   Amazon's surmised response?   Amazon is contesting a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), arguing that the lawsuit is misguided and would, if successful, harm consumers and the many businesses that sell on Amazon.   1. *Customer-Centric Innovations:*    - Amazon believes its innovations and customer-centric focus have benefited consumers through low prices and increased competition in the retail industry.    - The company has cooperated with the FTC in the past and respects its role in protecting consumers and promoting competition.   2. *Misguided Lawsuit:*    - The current lawsuit by the FTC is seen as a radical departure from its role, with Amazon arguing that it is misguided and would force Amazon to engage in practices that actually harm consumers and businesses, such as featuring higher prices and making Prime more expensive and less convenient.   3. *Allegations of Anticompetitive Practices:*    - The FTC alleges that Amazon's pricing practices, Fulfilment by Amazon offering, and Amazon Prime are anticompetitive, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding of retail by the Commission.    - Amazon argues that its model is pro-competitive, and the lawsuit could negatively impact consumers and businesses selling on Amazon.   4. *Low Prices and Competitive Offers:*    - Amazon is proud of the low prices and competitive offers it provides to customers and has enabled third-party businesses to sell their products alongside Amazon's.    - The company invests in tools and education to help third-party businesses offer competitive prices and does not highlight or promote offers that are not competitively priced.   5. *Support to Independent Sellers:*    - Amazon has lots independent businesses selling on its platform and provides support and services to help them succeed.    - The company has invested billions in resources and services to support sellers at every stage of their journey, providing them with data, insights, and various features to manage their businesses effectively.   6. *Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA):*    - FBA is an optional service where Amazon handles product storage, packaging, shipping, returns, and customer service, allowing sellers to focus on growing their businesses.    - Amazon argues that FBA is competitively priced and offers significant benefits to independent businesses, contributing to job creation and investments in the economy.   7. *Innovation and Amazon Prime:*    - Amazon continues to innovate to delight customers, with Prime being a prime example, offering more than just free shipping.    - The company has invested in making Prime better for customers, achieving faster shipping speeds and allowing sellers to offer Prime shipping on their own sites, which has been beneficial to both consumers and sellers.     8. *Thriving Retail Industry:*    - Amazon operates in a vibrant and varied retail industry where over 80% of all retail products are still bought in physical stores.    - The company argues that the FTC's complaint grossly mischaracterizes the retail industry and ignores the dynamic competition that benefits consumers, with numerous options available to consumers and sellers.    - Amazon sees itself as a part of a massive and robust retail market and not as a monopolistic entity, with the FTC attempting to narrowly define markets to make Amazon appear more dominant than it is.   9. *Commitment to Consumers and Sellers:*    - Amazon is proud of its role in spurring low prices, innovation, and competition across retail.    - The company fundamentally disagrees with the FTC's allegations and approach to antitrust, vowing to contest the lawsuit and continue inventing to put consumers and businesses first.    - Amazon believes that the FTC's approach, if successful, would harm consumers, hurt independent businesses, and upend long-standing and well-considered doctrines.   Final Summary: Amazon is defending its practices and innovations, asserting that they have always been in favor of consumers and sellers, providing low prices, options, and competition in the retail market. The company sees the FTC lawsuit as fundamentally flawed, misrepresenting the retail industry and Amazon's role in it. Amazon is committed to contesting the lawsuit, maintaining that the success of the FTC in this case would result in anti-consumer and anti-competitive outcomes, harming both consumers and the independent businesses selling on Amazon.

Hosts - Allan Wishart, Reg Feyer, and Frank Peebles Segment 3 - Sheldon Bjorklund, Men's Fastball Segment 4 - Steve Simonson, UNBC Men's Soccer --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/boomercasts/message

We're back with another packed AFTN Soccer Show. When we say it's a bumper episode we mean it, and there's something for everyone as we chat Vancouver Whitecaps, Major League Soccer, Leagues Cup, Vancouver FC, Canadian Premier League, League1 BC, and the women's World Cup. We kick things off with the Whitecaps as we look back at their exciting and ultimately heartbreaking Leagues Cup loss to Mexican side Club Leon in a penalty shootout on Friday night. It was a great game on the pitch and a fantastic atmosphere off it. We also chat with 'Caps coach Vanni Sartini to get his thoughts on both the new tournament and the MLS All-Star game. The other big Whitecaps news this week was the departure of Julian Gressel. We break down the trade to Columbus Crew and chat with Vancouver's Sporting Director and GM Axel Schuster about the transfer and what's next. One man tipped to move into the Gressel-shaped hole in the side is Ali Ahmed and in our feature interview this episode we catch up with Ali to chat about a whirlwind year that's seen him sign a MLS deal, score his first Whitecaps goal, break into the national team, and that scare incident in the Pacific FC game. We also look at the dramatic end of the regular League1 BC season, chat with TSS Rovers women's head coach Chelsey Hannesson after her side book their place in the playoffs, and talk to Victoria Highlanders head coach Steve Simonson after his side topped the regular season standings and booked their place in next year's Canadian Championship. All of that plus Vancouver's FC's latest loss, the new signing mechanism for young players in the CPL, and look at the early games in the 2023 women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and the battle ahead for Canada to get out of their group. Here's the rundown for the main segments from the episode: 01.28: Intro 04.52: Whitecaps' Leagues Cup excitement and heartbreak 31.50: Vanni Sartini on what the Leagues Cup means to him 38.28: MLS All-Star game shellacking does league no favours 48.44: Julian Gressel traded to Columbus 62.30: Axel Schuster on Gressel trade 86.23: Ali Ahmed interview and discussion 108.45: Chelsey Hannesson interview and L1BC women's division chat 119.08: Steve Simonson interview and L1BC men's division chat 132.05: Vancouver FC and CPL discussion 158.14: Disappointing start for Canada at women's World Cup 168.32: Wavelength - Brian Clough and JJ Barrie - You Can't Win Them All

Time is almost up to come to the Amazon Collective Mastermind Regina and I are holding in June this year, between the 18th and the 22nd in beautiful Ubud, Bali. You'll be joined by our invited VIP guests, Kirsty Verity, Leo Sgovio and Bradley Sutton and Steve Simonson. To apply, simply head to www.theaustralianseller.com/collective where […] The post TAS 144 – Leo Sgovio & Kirsty Verity chat with Regina Peterburgsky from Women on Amazon Podcast appeared first on The Australian Seller.

Time is almost up to come to the Amazon Collective Mastermind Regina and I are holding in June this year, between the 18th and the 22nd in beautiful Ubud, Bali. You'll be joined by our invited VIP guests, Kirsty Verity, Leo Sgovio and Bradley Sutton and Steve Simonson. To apply, simply head to www.theaustralianseller.com/bali where […] The post TAS 143 – from $6,000 to 7-figures – Mari and Fernano from Living in a Bubble appeared first on The Australian Seller.

In this episode, we welcome back Steve Simonson to talk about AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and more on how to leverage them to skyrocket your Amazon business. 

Time is almost up to come to the Amazon Collective Mastermind Regina and I are holding in June this year, between the 18th and the 22nd in beautiful Ubud, Bali. You'll be joined by our invited VIP guests, Kirsty Verity, Leo Sgovio and Bradley Sutton and Steve Simonson. To apply, simply head to www.theaustralianseller.com/collective where […] The post TAS 142 – Building a Brand on Social Media to $6M revenue in 3 years – Ben Leonard explains appeared first on The Australian Seller.

In this episode, we are excited to have Steve Simonson, Founder and CEO of Symo Global, as our special guest. Symo Global has companies in Hong Kong, the USA, and the EU. Steve Simonson is a lifetime entrepreneur having founded, purchased, built, and sold numerous companies over the past 3 decades.Along the way Steve's companies have been publicly recognized with three consecutive years on the Inc. 500 list, multiple listings on the Internet Retailer Top 500, Washington State Fastest Growing Business as well as a number of other company accolades. Steve was also a finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.Steve brings his deep expertise as a leader and operator at many companies which he has taken to from start-up to exit.During our conversation with Steve, we have discussed various aspects of sourcing,  including the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities. Steve shared his insights and perspectives on these topics, providing practical advice and inspiration for  entrepreneurs and business owners looking to stay ahead of the curve.The SYMO Global team can help you find a China, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Mexico, United States or Taiwan based supplier for a specifically targeted product.As the founder and CEO of Symo Global, Steve brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our podcast, making this episode a must-listen for anyone looking to gain insights into the e-commerce industry and stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices.Join us on the Post Purchase PRO Podcast as we explore the world of sourcing with Steve Simonson. Don't miss out on this informative and inspiring conversation!Reach out to Steve at ceo@symoglobal.com#GlobalBusinessGrowth#InnovationInBusiness#SuccessStrategies

Hosts - Allan Wishart, Frank Peebles Segment 1 - Steve Simonson, UNBC Men's Soccer coach Segment 3 - Robin McConkey, City Recreation Department --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/boomercasts/message

Brian Johnson is the Co-founder of Canopy Management, a full-service digital advertising agency for Amazon brands. In addition to Canopy Management and his 20-plus years of experience, Brian has helped over 20,000 brands grow $1 billion in Amazon sales via his Amazon advertising consultancy. As a result, his products and services continue to keep him in high demand with small and large market companies globally.  In this episode… Amazon is not only a best-selling e-commerce channel, it has also become a trustworthy product advertising platform. Positive advertising provides product visibility, increasing sales and profitability. So as a seller, what must you do before creating a successful advertising campaign? Entrepreneur and business leader Brian Johnson recommends taking these steps into accountability. Consider how to differentiate your product listing and constantly be innovative, conduct a top 20 term search, and understand why customers purchase your products.  In this episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley welcomes the Co-founder of Canopy Management, Brian Johnson, to discuss Amazon advertising and product optimization. Brian shares his first experience with Amazon changed his life, how he launched his first course, his advice on how Amazon sellers can grow beyond eight figures, and the most common images brands use for product optimization. Resources mentioned in this episode: Josh Hadley on LinkedIn eComm Breakthrough Consulting eComm Breakthrough Podcast Email Josh: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.com Hadley Designs Hadley Designs on Amazon Brian Johnson on LinkedIn Canopy Management Brian's Gift: Free Strategy Session Email Brian: Brian@CanopyManagement.com Special Mention(s): Steve Simonson on LinkedIn Kevin King Steven Pope on LinkedIn Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It by Chris Voss Review Monitoring Acquisition Alex Hormozi on LinkedIn Leila Hormozi on LinkedIn $100M Offers: How to Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No by Alex Hormozi Related Episode(s): “Kevin King's Wicked-Smart Tips for Building an Audience of Raving Fans” “Four Critical Pillars for Amazon Listing Optimization” “Actions You Must Take To Prepare Your Business for a Recession”

Dr. Travis Zigler is the Founder of Profitable Pineapple Ads, a consulting agency for Amazon sellers who want to grow their business through advertisements. Before founding Profitable Pineapple Ads, Dr. Zigler honed his selling chops as an Amazon PPC coach. Dr. Zigler is also the CEO and Co-founder of Eye Love LLC, an eye health and wellness company he co-owns with his optometrist wife, Dr. Jenna Zigler, providing premium quality eyewear and eye supplements. In this episode… If you're an Amazon entrepreneur who's hired agencies to manage your pay-per-clicks in the past, you know it can be a daunting experience. The agencies make promises they're unable to fulfill, don't provide data in a timely manner, and in the end, you get little return for your investment.  Exitpreneur and Amazon seller Dr. Travis Zigler experienced this firsthand. Although well-versed in Amazon PPC, he still chose to hire agencies to manage his product PPC. Unfortunately, he was unsatisfied with the services. So what did he do about it? He hunkered down and learned the ins and outs of PPC and created his own method. The method has proved to be so effective that he decided to become a PPC coach and consultant.  To learn more, join Josh Hadley in this episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, as he chats with the Founder of Profitable Pineapple Ads, Dr. Travis Zigler.Dr. Zigler shares his journey with his agency and the services it offers, his exit from his first entrepreneurial venture, and the latest tactics he's implemented to increase organic sales on Amazon with his clients. Resources mentioned in this episode: Josh Hadley on LinkedIn eComm Breakthrough Consulting eComm Breakthrough Podcast Hadley Designs Hadley Designs on Amazon Dr. Travis Zigler on LinkedIn Profitable Pineapple Ads Agency Free Lead Generation Course gift from Dr. Travis Zigler Amazon PPC Pros Work for Profitable Pineapple Ads Special mention(s): Steve Simonson on LinkedIn Steven Pope on LinkedIn Kevin King Amazing Selling Machine Matt Clark Jason Katzenback on LinkedIn Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki Google Workspace Ryan Moran on LinkedIn Capitalism Related episode(s): “Actions You Must Take To Prepare Your Business for a Recession” “Kevin King's Wicked-Smart Tips for Building an Audience of Raving Fans” “Four Critical Pillars for Amazon Listing Optimization”

In this session I am joined by Brandon Young, Liran Hirschkorn and Steve Simonson.   We will take a look back on 2022, as many of you know this year has been a testing year for sellers with margin suppression, the war, rising TACoS to name a few. But like anything, you take the rough with the smooth and it just makes you more resilient, you get better at what you do; as entrepreneurs, it tests the problem solving muscle  - Which for most, has had a very good workout.   We will also discuss what lies ahead, so if you want to hear from three guys who have been around the block then please tune in!   Brandon Young is an 8-figure Amazon seller, active course instructor, and YouTuber. On his YouTube channel, he shares the latest information about the private label business model, Amazon's ever-changing Terms of Service, and the world trends he sees that will affect sellers. He also sells courses on his Seller Systems platform for beginners, sellers who have specific issues they want to work on, and those looking to start or completely revamp their Amazon FBA business. His unique strategies for private label include data-based keyword and product research strategies as well as using social media and chat bots to drive traffic.   Brandon Young has been in the ecommerce industry since 2013 when he started selling on Amazon FBA. He has seen many changes in this industry over the years and plans to continue sharing his best tips with other sellers so they can increase their profits and grow their businesses.   Liran Hirschkorn is a serial entrepreneur and e-commerce expert. After growing and selling an Internet life insurance agency in 2014, Liran decided to get involved in e-commerce and selling on Amazon.   He started several eCommerce brands that have sold millions of dollars on Amazon since. Today he is widely followed as a thought leader and speaker on marketing and selling on Amazon, and he is CEO of Incrementum Digital — an Amazon Focused Marketing Agency.   He lives in Long Island, New York with his wife and daughter.   Steve Simonson is a lifetime entrepreneur having founded, purchased, built, and sold numerous companies over the past 3 decades.   Along the way Steve's companies have been publicly recognized with three consecutive years on the Inc. 500 list, multiple listings on the Internet Retailer Top 500, Washington State Fastest Growing Business as well as a number of other company accolades. Steve was also a finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.   Steve brings his deep expertise as a leader and operator at many companies which he has taken to from start-up to exit.   What does Steve do today?   His company operations today are managed through his holding company: SYMOGLOBAL.com and his FREE entrepreneurial support site and podcast platform: www.awesomers.com

On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with lifetime entrepreneur, Steve Simonson! We discuss selling over 1 billion in sales, and what's next for Amazon. Today, find out what our guests journey to 1 billion sales was like including his biggest hurdles, what the areas to focus on in the future are for entrepreneurs, and what sellers are doing wrong.  Our guest is a lifetime entrepreneur. He has founded, purchased, built, and sold numerous companies over the past 3 decades. Along the way, his companies have been publicly recognized with three consecutive years on the Inc. 500 list, as well as a number of other company accolades. He was also a finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. 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, lifetime entrepreneur, Steve Simonson is here. Today, we discuss selling over 1 billion in sales, and what's next for Amazon. Steve's companies have been publicly recognized with three consecutive years on the Inc. 500 list, as well as a number of other company accolades This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, Post Purchase Pro, Clear Ads, Jeff Schick Legal and HONU Worldwide.

Steve Simonson is the Managing Director of Symo Global, a consulting firm composed of veteran high-level executives with a mission to support and aid companies to achieve their goals. Steve is also a lifelong entrepreneur who has built, purchased, sold, and founded several companies over three decades. Additionally, Steve's companies have been recognized for three years straight by Inc. magazine and have been on its Inc. 500 list. Steve was also a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. In this episode… Some may say a recession is approaching, and others believe we're already living in one. While businessman Steve Simonson agrees with the latter, he does not believe these are doom and gloom days. Instead, Steve challenges fellow business owners to strategize in order to come out triumphant on the other side. So, how should entrepreneurs go about doing this?  A lifelong entrepreneur, Steve spends plenty of his time collaborating with intelligent people. He's learned plenty through trial and error, and what he did not learn from experience, he achieved from brainstorming with some of the greatest minds in free enterprise. As a result, Steve knows how to navigate business in a booming or a shaky economy. In this episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, Josh Hadley sits down with Steve Simonson, the Managing Director of Symo Global. Steve discusses the actions entrepreneurs must take to prepare their businesses for a recession, including implementing a product profitability analysis and liquidating non-earning inventory. Plus, Steve answers Josh's rapid-fire questions. So entrepreneurs, grab a pen and paper because you do not want to miss what Steve has to say! Resources mentioned in this episode: Josh Hadley on LinkedIn eComm Breakthrough Consulting eComm Breakthrough Podcast Hadley Designs Hadley Designs on Amazon Steve Simonson on LinkedIn Symo Global Steve on Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Awesomers.com Podcast “Steve Simonson - 7 China Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” Manny Coats on Linkedin Helium 10 Kevin King Product Savants Parsimony Empowery eCommerce Cooperative EmpoweryMastermind.com Travis Zigler on LinkedIn The E-myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E Gerber E-Myth Mastery: The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World-Class Company by Michael E Gerber The End of the World Is Just Beginning by Peter Zeihan Mark Vadon on LinkedIn Jay Steinfield on LinkedIn Lead From the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity by Jay Steinfield

Steve Simonson joins me today,  to chat about the current climate and the impact on sellers. Patterns often repeat themselves, focussing on PNL per product and dialling in on the products with a strong profit profile. With consumer uncertainty, we need to focus on “not being” over leveraged, turning trash into cash and being lean on inventory. Rigouse economic scrutiny is a must and budgeting by justifying and approving all expenses for each accounting period, rather than basing it on your past spending.

In this episode, we welcome Steve Simonson to share his insights on what's currently happening and where the future is headed in the world of sourcing and logistics.

Today's episode is the 2nd part of our Top 3 favorite books and why mini series. This mini series is a collection of our guests favorite books along with the reason why and how those books impacted their business, mindset, and well being, and why they recommend them. In This Episode: [00:50] Vanessa Hung [01:30] Elizabeth Green [01:58] Aleksej Leal [03:07] Barbara Boschen [04:25] Anthony Cofranesco [05:55] Yoni Kozminski [07:16] Steve Simonson [08:10] Daniela Bolzman [09:40] Michael Pinkowski [11:40] Noemi Bolojan Links and References: Wizards of Amazon: https://www.wizardsofecom.com/ Wizards of Amazon Courses: https://wizardsofamazon.mykajabi.com/a/27566/x6Kwkz6p Wizards of Amazon Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/ Wizards of Amazon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WizardsofAmazon/ Wizards of Amazon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wizardsofecom/

In today's episode, we welcome Steve Simonson to help us assess the state of e-commerce and what we can do to overcome the challenges that are coming.Steve Simonson is a lifetime entrepreneur having founded, purchased, built, and sold numerous companies over the past 3 decades.Along the way Steve's companies have been publicly recognized with three consecutive years on the Inc. 500 list, multiple listings on the Internet Retailer Top 500, Washington State Fastest Growing Business as well as a number of other company accolades. Steve was also a finalist in the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.Steve brings his deep expertise as a leader and operator at many companies which he has taken to from start-up to exit.What does Steve do today?His company operations today are managed through his holding company: SYMOGLOBAL.com and his FREE entrepreneurial support site and podcast platform: www.awesomers.com as well as the exclusive mastermind group www.Catalyst88.com.Short term, Steve's focus will be on two newer entrepreneurial-focused startups. Parsimony.com is a complete ERP system for e-commerce entrepreneurs. The new Empowery eCommerce Cooperative is a member owed COOP designed to help members gain access to products, services, and a community they need while banding together to save money. www.empowery.comSteve is especially passionate about entrepreneurship and is inspired by the great Zig Ziglar quote: “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want.”==================================Steve Simonson

In this Episode, Steve share's his point of view on the driving factors and challenges affecting businesses because of the impact of Politics, GeoPolitics, and other issues affecting businesses around the World. He thinks that to create a strategic approach, every business must be: Logistics Driven, Product Driven and Sales Driven. Learn more about Steve's vision and how he can help business owners overcome these challenges. Steve is holding holding a Masterclass in the UK on April 2022. To reserve your seat, in April, visit the link below: https://scaleforetail.com/upcoming-events/april-masterclass-2022/

Steve Simonson returns to chat about the impact on metals, gas, oil and plastics from the current situation the world faces and those affect on both sides. Prices are increasing already in homes across many countries. Energy, people, materials and production are key drivers for brand owners across many product categories on Amazon. From internal circuit boards in electronics to plastics that account for many underpinned components that drive manufacturing.  ___________________________________________________ Grab Tickets for Seller Sessions Live Brought to you by Thrasio on May 7, 2022 Featuring: Ivelin Demirov, Tim Jordan, Destaney Wishon, Adam Heist and many more Hosted by: Danny McMillan,  Sharon Even, and Izabela Hamilton  Grab Tickets at: https://live.sellersessions.com/ Conference tickets include the “Afterparty brought to you by BetterAMS and Clear Ads”. Purchase tickets to the VIP Dinner “brought to you by Avask” https://live.sellersessions.com/ Big Thank you to our sponsors: Seller Sessions Live in brought to you by Thrasio (May 7) The VIP is brought to you by Avask (May 6) Afterparty is brought to you by BetterAMS and Clear Ads (May 7) Thank you to Perpetua, YLT Translations, SellersAlley & Pinformative ___________________________________________________ Grab tickets for Branded By Women Live brought to you by Branded.  Hosted by: Sharon Even and Izabela Hamilton Featuring Yael Cabilly,  Melanie Shabangu, Olivia Jones, Amy Wees, Cassandra Craven, Jana Krekic, Michele Venton, Cara Sayer and Kata Phipps. Tickets: https://brandedbywomen.com/ Big Thank you to our sponsors: Branded, AVASK, Helium 10 and Multiplymii

By all accounts, 2021 was a pretty crazy year.  Although just because things are happening around doesn't mean they have to control your destiny. But you still need to understand what is happening in the world around you that could affect your business so that you can make smarter decisions. In this episode, I welcomed Melissa Simonson to have an interesting discussion on what happened in 2021 for ecommerce/Amazon sellers. And we pulled out our crystal ball to make our predictions on how things will go in 2022….   Resources Mentioned Eva Empowery Melissa's brother, Steve Simonson on Maximizing Ecommerce   Connect with Melissa Instagram LinkedIn   Connect with Kevin Facebook Group Instagram LinkedIn

It's not a secret there's been a global supply chain disruption due to the pandemic. Most business owners, myself included, are affected by it. While some have already engaged secondary supply chains in other countries, we are here to discuss how we should prepare and manage this China supply chain crisis. In this episode, we'll see both sides of the situation and our options. Given what's causing this supply chain disruption is not only due to global pandemic, our businesses should be resilient to take the blow. Adapting to changes as it happens should also be included in business plans and budget. How? Let Steve enlighten us as to being resilient and knowing how to move forward when situations don't favour us. So don't miss out and tune in! In This Episode: [00:39] Welcoming Steve Simonson on the show. [03:08] Symptoms of the problems. [06:30] Developing critical thinking. [11:00] Advice is to maintain. [13:30] Moving on. [17:45] 3 things that matter. [20:20] Raising prices. [27:20] Getting better. [28:30] Paying more or investing more for the future. [40:20] Lack of supervision breathes the problem. [43:40] Being aware and figuring out what to do.   Guest Links and References: WEBSITE: https://stevensimonson.com/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevesimonson INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/stevesimonson/   Book References: Poorly Made in China by Paul Midler What's Wrong with China by Paul Midler Red Roulette by Desmond Shum     Links and References: Wizards of Amazon: https://www.wizardsofecom.com/ Wizards of Amazon Courses: https://wizardsofamazon.mykajabi.com/a/27566/x6Kwkz6p Wizards of Amazon Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/ Wizards of Amazon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WizardsofAmazon/ Wizards of Amazon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wizardsofecom/

Today is the Second leaderboard show of the year. Where you get to see who is in the first 15 places over the usual 9 categories. SellerPoll 2021 is brought to you by Fortunet.... Voting closes on Nov 24 and the live show will take place Nov 25 2021 To see who is in the top 5, make sure you tune in to the show.... Outstanding Contribution 1//// 2//// 3//// 4//// 5//// 6 Meghla Bhardwaj 7 Athena Severi 8 Liran Hirschkorn 9 Kevin King 10 Steve Simonson 11 Steven Black 12 Eric Castellano 13 Casey Gauss 14 Scott Needham 15 Saad Aqeel Software Company 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 Smartscout 7 Titan Tools 8 Datadive 9 Seller.tools 10 Sellerboard 11 Inventorylab 12 Ppc Ninja 13 Sostocked 14 Feedbackfive 15 Seller Seo Service Provider 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 Getida 7 Ecom Attorneys 8 Unicargo 9 Rich Goldstein Patent Law 10 Urtasker 11 Incrementum Digital 12 Buyboxer Services 13 Online Merchants Guild 14 Multiplymii 15 Ecomxprt Amazon Consultant 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 Liran Hirschkorn 7 Dan Ashburn 8 Amy Wees 9 Mohammad Jalil 10 Anthony Lee 11 Eric Castellano 12 Steven Black 13 Ashley Armstrong 14 Paul Harvey 15 Usama Shahid Facebook Group 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 Amazon Fba High Rollers 7 Sourcing From India 8 Amazon Fba Heroes 9 Amazon Seller Tribe 10 Unstoppable Fba 11 Orange Hat Marketing 12 Amazon Fba Rockstars! 13 Amazon Fba Competitive Edge 14 Sourcing With Kian 15 Amazonlit Youtube Channel 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 Jungle Scout 7 Amazonlit 8 Amazing.com 9 Full-time Fba 10 Sourcing With Kian 11 Samer Brax 12 Private Label Masters 13 Seth Kniep 14 Brock Johnson 15 Viral Launch Podcast 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 The Amazon Seller Podcast 7 The Smartest Amazon Seller 8 Ecommerce Momentum Podcast 9 Ecom Crew 10 The Amazon Entrepreneur 11 The Amazon Fba Private Labeler Show 12 Awesomers.com 13 Keyword: The Amazon Insider Podcast 14 Crossover Commerce 15 Follow The Data Event Conference 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 Orange Klik 7 Prosper Show 8 Titan Event Cancun 9 Amazon Accelerate 10 Canton Fair Online 11 Endgame Network Workshop 12 Asgtg 13 Global Sources Summit 14 Austin Seller Meetup 15 Billion Dollar Summit Amazon Training Course 1 //// 2 //// 3 //// 4 //// 5 //// 6 Amazing At Home 7 Esellersri 8 Endgame Access 9 Amazing Selling Machine 10 Fast Track 11 Amazon Ppc Ams Course 12 The Last Amazon Course 13 Private Label Mba 14 Marketplace Superheroes 15 Amazing Freedom If you want to ask your audience to vote in any of the categories please use the official promo material https://drive.google.com/.../1zIxU0mCcxXTXpxflnWX7sZBJ... Remember, there is a difference between begging and asking, you know where the line is. If people rate you, they will vote for you X

Today is the first leaderboard show of the year. Where you get to see who is in the first 15 places over the usual 9 categories. SellerPoll 2021 is brought to you by Fortunet.... Voting closes on Nov 24 and the live show will take place Nov 26 2021 To see who is in the top 5, make sure you tune in to the show.... Outstanding Contribution 1 ---- 2 ---- 3 ---- 4 ---- 5 ---- 6 Amy Wees 7 Liran Hirschkorn 8 Athena Severi 9 Steve Simonson 10 Kevin King 11 Steven Black 12 Scott Needham 13 Casey Gauss 14 Eric Castellano 15 Saad Aqeel Software Company 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 Smartscout 7 Inventorylab 8 Seller.tools 9 Titan Tools 10 Sellerboard 11 Ppc Ninja 12 Feedbackfive 13 Feedbackwhiz 14 Data Dive 15 Sellerise Service Provider 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 Getida 7 Ecom Attorneys 8 Rich Goldstein Patent Law 9 Unicargo 10 Online Merchants Guild 11 Buyboxer Services 12 Incrementum Digital 13 Urtasker 14 Ecomxprt 15 Bobsled Marketing Amazon Consultant 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 Liran Hirschkorn 7 Dan Ashburn 8 Amy Wees 9 Anthony Lee 10 Steven Black 11 Eric Castellano 12 Ashley Armstrong 13 Paul Harvey 14 Brad Moss 15 Usama Shahid Facebook Group 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 Sourcing From India 7 Amazon Fba Titans 8 Amazon Fba Heroes 9 Amazon Fba Sellers - Amazon Fba Titans 10 Amazon Seller Tribe 11 Unstoppable Fba 12 Amazon Fba Rockstars! 13 Orange Hat Marketing 14 Amazon Fba Competitive Edge 15 Sourcing With Kian Youtube Channel 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 Jungle Scout 7 Amazonlit 8 Amazing.com 9 Full-time Fba 10 Samer Brax 11 Private Label Masters 12 Sourcing With Kian 13 Brock Johnson 14 Seth Kniep 15 Viral Launch Podcast 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 The Amazon Seller Podcast 7 Lunch With Norm 8 Ecommerce Momentum Podcast 9 Ecom Crew 10 Awesomers.com 11 The Amazon Entrepreneur 12 The Amazon Fba Private Labeler Show 13 Crossover Commerce 14 Follow The Data 15 Keyword: The Amazon Insider Podcast Event Conference 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 Seller Summit 7 Titan Event Cancun 8 Amazon Accelerate 9 Prosper Show 10 Canton Fair Online 11 Global Sources Summit 12 Endgame Network Workshop 13 Asgtg 14 Austin Seller Meetup 15 Billion Dollar Summit Amazon Training Course 1 ----- 2 ----- 3 ----- 4 ----- 5 ----- 6 Amazing At Home 7 Esellersri 8 Amazing Selling Machine 9 Endgame Access 10 Fast Track 11 The Last Amazon Course 12 Marketplace Superheroes 13 Amazon Ppc Ams Course 14 Amazing Freedom 15 Private Label Mba If you want to ask your audience to vote in any of the categories please use the official promo material https://drive.google.com/.../1zIxU0mCcxXTXpxflnWX7sZBJ... Remember, there is a difference between begging and asking, you know where the line is. If people rate you, they will vote for you X

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. The last chapter in our mini-series helps highlight some of the distraction tactics and other behaviors that China is engaged in at present. Perhaps more importantly we also learn how the instability of production can be something that negatively impacts amazon FBA sellers and ecommerce operators at large ability to procure enough inventory. Supply chain disruption comes from 3 primary areas: Labor, Energy and Raw materials. Companies engaged in product production must have a consistent supply chain to manage those 3 key ingredients. The lack of any one of these 3 components means that the supply chain is failing. Steve speculates about the future of China and it's competitiveness. Additionally Steve shares suggestions about where to consider manufacturing in the future and how to structure your own mental framework to deal with the present day problems while planning for the future.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com  Danny McMillan and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. The last chapter in our mini-series helps highlight some of the distraction tactics and other behaviours that China is engaged in at present. Perhaps more importantly we also learn how the instability of production can be something that negatively impacts amazon FBA sellers and e-commerce operators at large ability to procure enough inventory. Supply chain disruption comes from 3 primary areas: Labor, Energy and Raw materials. Companies engaged in product production must have a consistent supply chain to manage those 3 key ingredients. The lack of any one of these 3 components means that the supply chain is failing. Steve speculates about the future of China and it's competitiveness. Additionally Steve shares suggestions about where to consider manufacturing in the future and how to structure your own mental framework to deal with the present day problems while planning for the future.

  SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com  Danny McMillan and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. Part III of this series focuses on causation of the issues at hand, beyond Covid, and specifically into the inflationary pressure driven by changing Demographics. Your ability to understand how populations are changing gives you an edge in planning your products, production, supply chain, and even your products and selling strategies. The world population is changing in large ways and the most critical parts of the supply chain in China, Japan, Germany and most of Europe have shrinking populations which removes their ability to operate as a consumer based economy and forces them to export to survive. Furthermore the ageing population changes the dynamics of how economies work especially related to the retirement populations being larger than the working and tax paying populations so your understanding of this can help you position your business properly.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. Part III of this series focuses on causation of the issues at hand, beyond Covid, and specifically into the inflationary pressure driven by changing Demographics. Your ability to understand how populations are changing gives you an edge in planning your products, production, supply chain, and even your products and selling strategies. The world population is changing in large ways and the most critical parts of the supply chain in China, Japan, Germany and most of Europe have shrinking populations which removes their ability to operate as a consumer based economy and forces them to export to survive. Furthermore the aging population changes the dynamics of how economies work especially related to the retirement populations being larger than the working and tax paying populations so your understanding of this can help you position your business properly.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. This episode dives into the recognition that we may be experienced COVID the sequel over the next 12 months. Instead of everything returning to normal as we all hope the reality is that the complicating factors are pushing us toward more supply chain issues, higher prices, and unpredictable shipping costs. Every single part of the supply chain remains under pressure, especially when crossing borders. Your ability to understand the reasons why and then develop your own strategy on how to cope with these realties gives you an edge over those who do not yet understand these realities.

  SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com  Danny McMillan and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. This episode dives into the recognition that we may be experienced COVID the sequel over the next 12 months. Instead of everything returning to normal as we all hope the reality is that the complicating factors are pushing us toward more supply chain issues, higher prices, and unpredictable shipping costs. Every single part of the supply chain remains under pressure, especially when crossing borders. Your ability to understand the reasons why and then develop your own strategy on how to cope with these realties gives you an edge over those who do not yet understand these realities.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillan and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. The context and background help us remember some of the key breaking points that have continued to impact the global supply chain to this very day. Data points combined with commentary will help you understand the background for this China Reality Check 4 part mini-series. When you have this information you will be better informed about the current events and more importantly what you as an Amazon seller or ecommerce entrepreneur should think about now and going forward when it comes to sourcing, inflation, and product production.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. The context and background help us remember some of the key breaking points that have continued to impact the global supply chain to this very day. Data points combined with commentary will help you understand the background for this China Reality Check 4 part mini-series. When you have this information you will be better informed about the current events and more importantly what you as an Amazon seller or ecommerce entrepreneur should think about now and going forward when it comes to sourcing, inflation, and product production.

Steve Simonson, founder of iFloor.com, discusses the future of ecommerce and the latest developments in the sector and brick-and-mortar retailer selling online.

In this episode, we're happy to have Steve Simonson, founder of Awesomers and host of the Awesomers Podcast. Steve is a lifetime entrepreneur having founded, purchased, built, and sold numerous companies over the past 3 decades. He created Awesomers as a free entrepreneurial support site and continues to provide awesome content not only through his site but also through his podcast. Topics covered: Business as a financial tool Responsibility & accountability Shiny object syndrome Recognition of not knowing all the answers Failing as an entrepreneur Having a well-rounded team Enjoying the entrepreneurship journey LET'S CONNECT: LinkedIn Instagram MultiplyMii Escala Successful Scales This podcast is also available on the Successful Scales YouTube channel.

Steve Simonson, founder of iFloor, shares his expectations for the future of the floor covering business, and the progress made with e-commerce for the sector.

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.

A fascinating episode on how to build, "A Motivational Climate," on your team and in your sport. The fact is that a Motivational Climate already exists. The real question is, "Is the motivational climate you have on your team working for you?" Is it ego-driven or team driven? Does it foster an environment where players can take risk and make mistakes or does it punish them when they make mistakes? All of this is extremely important to consider when you are trying to create a healthy culture. There are basically 2 climates that exist: 1. An ego-driven climate or 2. A Mastery Motivational climate. Which one do you have? On your team and in your life? Listen to find out.For the teaching PDF email: info@theheroicmindset.comSteve Simonson contact - simonsoncoaching@gmail.comPlease send this episode to someone who could benefit. Thanks! Show notes:Basically In every group setting, there's a motivational climate. So it's a psycho social and involved environment that surrounds us that impacts our motivation, our mindset, and in sports specific, it's basically gives us the determinant on how we value success. It tells me what is valued, what behaviors are valued and what success is. And you have different types of motivational climates and there are two main ones. And based on those those two climates, in the interaction, those climates on a person, it's going to affect their motivation, and then affect their behavior. And so I thought, well, if we can learn how to create the proper climate, and the optimal climate based on who we're working with, and that's probably going to help us a long way in our in our coaching.You're basically operating you know within a couple of climates one is what we call an ego based motivational climate and what that is is one that references focuses highly on wins and losses, on outperforming other people, on on praising talent on on rewarding winners, things like that, punishing mistakes, you know, where whereas a mastery motivational climate is one that really focuses on controllables like self improvement and efforts and and doing one's best and overcoming obstacles and setbacks and, and based on these influences, and these climates are created by three, three groups of people. One the coach sets it to the peers around you help set this and three, especially with youth parents are significant other so you have these, these three, these three figures or sets of figures around you That are bombarding you with information and you're going to act according to all these, all these influences, and they can have a profound effect on how you approach how it's affects your motivation and how you approach your daily behaviors.Motivation is why we do what we do. If you think about that, why we do something, you can really get into the meat and potatoes of it with a player to understand why they're behaving the way that they do. So if I do something, because it's interesting to me, that's an intrinsic mindset, intrinsic motivation, versus I'm doing something because I have to do it.  So really, what we found is that the more intrinsic motivator or motivation, is that is autonomous to the player that's self directed is a higher from of motivation.  And so in a mastery climate, you're trying to develop the autonomous player, you're trying to have them work on controllables things that they can control, which is their effort and their growth. When you compare someone to somebody else, that's out of my control, I can work as hard as I can. I do the best I can. And then the superstar next to me gets all the credit. And that's a very demotivating thing for someone like me. So it's about looking at the type of environment that fosters fosters autonomy and fosters players to, to look at being personal best and overcoming challenges.

Ecommerce sales in the US were up 25% in the month of March 2020 as a result of the lockdown.  But will this trend continue post-coronavirus? What products are people buying? How is Amazon positioned to meet this increasing demand, and what will it take for third party sellers to be successful in ecommerce?  Ecommerce veterans and experts Tim Jordan, Kevin King and Steve Simonson answer these questions and more in this panel discussion held during Global Sources Smart Sourcing Summit.   Episode highlights:  Introductions Major trends / shifts in the overall US e-commerce industry as a side-effect of coronavirus Categories that will see a long-term increase in online sales Changes expected in Amazon FBA in coming months Which non-Amazon e-commerce platforms are emerging What will it take for third-party Amazon sellers to be successful on Amazon in coming months? How might the holiday shopping be affected One piece of advice for Amazon / ecommerce sellers as they navigate the impact of coronavirus Contact panelists: Kevin King - www.freedomticket.com Tim Jordan - www.privatelabellegion.com Steve Simonson - www.awesomers.com Join The Asian Seller community Facebook Group YouTube Meetup Telegram

Steve Simonson has been in the E-Commerce game since the '90s. Selling on Amazon since 2001, and has imported literally hundreds and hundreds of containers since then. You won't want to miss his experience in sourcing and supplier mistakes to avoid!  All coming up in this episode of the Amazon Seller Podcast.   Don't forget to check out our services to help you dominate on Amazon: ---> The Magic Image & Listing Service: www.amazingfreedom.com/magic ---> Amazon Reimbursement Service: www.amzprofessional.com ---> Amazon Sponsored Ads Management: www.Amazingfreedom.com/ppc ---> Amazon Arbitrage Selling Group: www.Amazingfreedom.com/arbitrage

An interview with Steve Simonson from Symo Global talking with Rob Stanley about Amazon FBA sourcing strategy when purchasing from china factories. Steve covers sourcing tips, common sourcing mistakes, and how to get started when sourcing amazon products from factories in china. Free FeedbackWhiz trial here: bit.ly/feedbackwhiz-podcast Go to China with Steve Simonson and Liran Hirschkorn: https://www.liranandsteve.com Topics: 1:11 - At what point should an Amazon seller go and visit the factories they buy from in China? 3:24 - How did Steve Simonson end up in China and Vietnam on his latest trip. 5:05 - Amazon Seller Benefits of attending a trade show in Hong Kong or China. 9:18 - Steve shares tips on attending some of the trade shows including Canton Fair. 13:40 - Beware if you plan on visiting a factory after Canton Fair. 16:06 - More tips for where to stay during the Canton Fair. 16:58 - Steps when going to visit a factory in China. 20:10 - How there are a different variety of Chinese factories with different qualities. 22:30 - What to expect when you arrive at a China factory. 26:01 - How to expand the line of Amazon products you sell from your current factory. 26:50 - Ask the factory who they sell to and what other countries they sell to. 28:10 - Some tips and questions you should understand when visiting and factory. 30:05 - Transportation tips when going from Factory to Factory in China. 33:28 - What items to bring while you travel in mainland China? 36:11 - When is Canton Fair in China? 37:00 - The basic process of ordering amazon products from a factory. 39:50 - The current Tariff issue and sourcing from Vietnam? 47:17 - Asking a factory to help with Tariff, Provide Net Terms and More. 51:26 - The process of paying the factory and how to pay them. 54:34 - Go on a factory sourcing tour and visit Canton Fair with Steve Simonson. About Steve Simonson: Steve's sourcing company is https://www.symoglobal.com. I am on a mission to help empower entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are often misunderstood by their friends and family. Not everyone understands what drives an entrepreneur. In my world entrepreneurs are ALWAYS welcome and never alone. My mission is being delivered by bringing the projects below to serve entrepreneurs. About FeedbackWhiz: 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.