amazon journey

Joe Cardillo quit his first job out of college after a year to start selling on Amazon. In late 2017 did $30k in sales his first month. Have since launched 3 brands and 12 products.

Get 30% off Jungle Scout.

Joe met Greg Mercer at Ryan Moran's Brand Builder Conference in Austin TX. "I joined the JS team shortly after, where I work in marketing since 2018. Amazon is a side hustle for me, spent ~5 hours per week on it right now. I really love the entrepreneurship mindset and talking product research/branding."

Joe has launched products in baby goods, cat collars, and Apple airpods.

Jungle Camp - Went to Indonesia to do a cultural get together every year to connect.

Jungle Scout was the first chrome extension for product research.

Jungle Scout has a supplier database using import records.

You can click a sku and see unit and sales counts over time now in Seller Central. In Jungle Scout you can put your cost of goods in and other personnel costs.

Jungle Scout can automate request a review button.

Growth Hacks:

1. Create  irresistible product page to improve conversion rates. Have dozens of designers create design to pick the winner.  https://99designs.com/. 
2. Target keywords with less comeptition. 
3. Blackhat tactics are dying, avoid.
4. Create authenticity of your product.

JS predictions for 2021: https://www.junglescout.com/blog/amazon-predictions/

Adam Heist runs a great YouTube channel for Amazon sellers. So today we bring him on to talk about his Amazon journey.  Adam owns 3 Amazon brands. 

"Amazon is not hard, it's just a lot of moving parts, graphics, copywriting, logistics. I was surprised how many papercuts had to be had."

Mental game Mondays. "The game is 100% mental because it is a gauntlet." SHTF

"Amazon has made sellers lazy. Because Amazon (solved) the fundamentals." 

Adam used a California data request to get 22 zip folders of data from his personal Amazon account. Amazon tracks your IP address, searches, purchases. They track and tag your searches that originate off Amazon.

Fan of Google, Facebook, Pinterest ads, especially at launch.

Do all the things B2C brands do off Amazon. List building, content generation, you name it.

Have your "Amazon degree." 

Evaluations of Amazon businesses are undervalued. "I predict evaluations are going to go 3.5-6x earnins." 10 major players int he aggregators. 3 busineses have raises more than 100 mil each to buy Amazon brands. 

Adam helped a large  Fortune 300 Energy Company buy electrical companies across 13 states. He runs his Amazon businesses in similar fashion. Spreads his Amazon portfolio across both building and buying.  30% building, 70% acquire. For Adam it's all about unique deal flow.

Professional Era.

Client of My Amazon Guy 1.5 Years. Wayne: 'Lowered ACOS and “saved my business.”' Lens Swap is a sunglasses lens replacement company. 

• Started on eBay. 
• Read a book Rich Dad Poor Dad (Endorsed by MAG too!)
• I was on a sales call, customer said “Like a Lens Swap?” And that’s how business was made.
• What makes you a serial entrepreneur?
  • My kids screaming
  • Misconception of money
• Name of game is making money
• Troubles & Mistakes
  • Have a mentor!
  • Taxes
  • Was working two jobs, 45 hours + 20 hours. Somehow have family time.
• Amazon is not passive income
  • Takes daily grind effort
• First love - motorcycles. Moved out at age 14 to buy a dirtbike and became a  young entrepreneur. 

Josh Gilliam, Owner of Coletti Coffee, who is Army Chaplain in Germany selling on Amazon.com in the US sits down to talk about his experiences and how religions and business go together.

So you are an army chaplain... Why did you go into business?

• What has religion taught you that you apply to business?
• Does moving around a lot in the army affect running your ecom business?
• Sizing up your day.
  • Decide what I can tackle today to win, beat anxiety.
  • Pray over things.

So not only are you a family man, you hold a full time job, AND you side hustle an ecommerce business. How do you balance everything and would you recommend others attempt the same feat? 

• Josh has 8 kids and one on the way (6 girls and 2 boys).

What mistakes have you made that others can learn from?

• Over the last 5 years, there’s been a lot of times I’ve wanted to quit.
• Lost $25,000 bank theft.

What decisions did you make that have paid off and you would recommend others to follow?

• Creating SOPs
• Networking
• Listen to podcasts

Where do you want to take the business? Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

• Fund a commission, getting the good news of forgiveness around the world.
• Million dollars a year to that cause. Committed to giving all profit to charity.

If you want to get in touch with Josh for any reason: josh @ coletticoffe.com

Every story starts with a stranger comes to town or a man goes on a journey. Today we talk to a man who has gone on an Amazon Journey and we’ll ask him what went right, what went wrong, and where he is heading next. Running an Amazon business - all that credit is on you. But so does the demand and risk.

Jon Elder is a Black Label advisor and grew his Amazon business to more than 10-million in sales but has since sold it off in 2019. Jon joins me now, thanks for coming on the My Amazon Guy Podcast.

1. What went right
   1. Star conservative. No battery, no supplement.
   2. Picked categories with only 2 sellers, and medium amount of sales.
   3. Improved product and marketing.
   4. Move slowly.
   5. Ordered samples from multiple factors.
   6. Speak as if you are the owner of a large company.
   7. Stick to your passion.
2. What went wrong
   1. $80-120 item high seller made big mistake and got credit out to launch too many color variations. Launched way too many colors with flops. $20 a unit.
   2. Launching too many categories.
   3. Focussed on too many brands.
   4. 25% of products failed
3. What have you seen change this past year
   1. Branding is now more important. A+ content. AOV.
   2. Focus on product packaging.
   3. Amazon went from bare bones platform to branded atmosphere. Videos. 
   4. More competition
   5. Highest cost was in PPC
   6. Made in America
      1. Hard to find factory for test order
   7. Quality of product and customer service is way up

Bio:

Jon Elder is the founder of Black Label Advisor, a custom tailored consulting firm specializing in Amazon FBA that helps sellers optimize their business and dramatically increase their sales and profit margins.  

He first got his feet wet in the Amazon private label world in 2014 while still working in the corporate commercial construction industry.  He has always had a passion for entrepreneurship and working at the same job the rest of his life was just never enough.  He launched his first product and soon grew his FBA business to over $10 million in sales between five well known brands.  In late 2019, he sold his entire FBA business and lived to tell his story.  

In his time off, Jon enjoys spending quality time with his wife and son in North Texas. It's not uncommon to find him walking the local trail network or at a BBQ joint.   

• 2:20 - How does an 8-figure seller conduct product research?
• 6:12 - Coordinating proper margin calculation.
• 8:46 - What product launch methods are most effective with current Amazon algorithms and protocols?
• 10:30 - How Fernando is managing product rebates.
• 12:18 - Calculating rebates versus discounts/giveaways.
• 14:46 - Fernando’s strategy for managing inventory.
• 17:34 - Strategies for effectively outsourcing employees.
• 26:14 - How Fernando communicates with his team of outsourced help.
• 29:44 - In what ways has Manychat benefited Fernando’s business?
• 31:14 - What does a typical work day for Fernando look like?
• 33:07 - Fernando’s predictions for Amazon ecommerce for the next year.
• 36:24 - Pixelfy.me
• 38:35 - Where to find Fernando online.