My Amazon Guy

Send us a textWhat are the secrets to sourcing products? Today we talk to an expert who will reveal his 7 secrets. Norman Farrar is a entrepreneur who provides online marketing and managed eCommerce solutions for brands. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz and 20th Century Fox. Since the early 1990s, Norman has focused on helping entrepreneurs optimize their operations and unlock their business’s potential.Pay my tax - experience is key to sourcing.Inspection and broker nightmare story - liner on wipes was not in place. 4 containers wasted.Buy a factory if you can.Secret 1 Never contact online suppliersAlibaba is a broker.5 brokers are bad.30% tax foreignerNo manufacturer will talk to you directly for 1000 units MOQ.Brokers are good - but only for beginnersSecret 2 Do not pay or get quotes in USDIncreases 5-20% extra due to hedge due to RMB fluctuationSending money through bank - foreign exchange company like seller funding can be very beneficial and saves cost.Secret 3 Know when to negotiate your prices.Don’t negotiate packaging or insert.Negotiate the product pricing. Then talk packaging. Can bring packaging to manufacturer.Store extra packaging at manufacturer if needed.Tell them I’m shopping around and go silent.“I talked to my manager and they approved an extra 7 cents”Secret 4 EXW, I’ll take care of it, instead of FOBEXW works FOB costs 30% moreTalk to freight forwarder that’s what you want to pickup.Secret 5 - Supplier is not a ShipperThey will use their buddy.Never use a site for instant shipping quotesHidden feesSecret 6 - HTS CodeHarmonized tariff systemSave money with proper code. Example: Magnetic tape 4.9% + 25% in duty classification cost $2400 + $13,000. Reclassified 2.1% truthfully saving $14,500. Was classified under aluminum. We looked at it and reclassified as item displayed as warning.Secret 7  - Inspections - HAVE ONECost is low $300 or less.Inspect agent doesn’t know what to look for, give them instruction. Example: Skateboard - inspector had to test going left, right, pulling.Bonus Secret- Consolidate SamplesSave a couple hundred bucks in shipping costs.Packaging - wooden box can drastically increase value.BIGGEST Golden nugget - Think about how you communicate. In states we use Purchase Orders or POs. In China POs are paper. Pro forma protects you - molds being reused by manufacturer. .Acceptable defect rate in Pro forma for credit.Who owns the product?MoldsGet in contact with Norm for product development, sourcing, honuworldwide.comOr email Norm at norm@honuworldwide.comhttps://honuworldwide.com/product-sourcing/Future of manufacturing, coming to the states any time soon?Support the show

Send us a textVirtual Bundles - Out. Recommend ignoring.Video advertising - In, hottest thing to do right now.NARF - remote fulfillment, may be coming out of beta in next 2 weeks. Keep an eye out if you haven’t gotten access yet, you might soon. This is shipping out of USA FBA into Canada and Mexico for an easy 3% sales growth.Custom Brand Headline ads - still under tapped.Display ads - category targeting still a great under tapped area.Negative keywords - why do agencies still ignore this?Support the show

Send us a textOla Gambari is a co-owner of a million dollar empire Fresher Products with brands Hungry Fan, Arctic Chill, Grillhogs, and more. Today we talk to Ola about his journey. What went right, what went wrong, and how he built his 7-figure business. www.hungryfan.comOla as I understand it you’re an actual Nigerian Prince? Is Amazon passive income for you?Tell me your Amazon journey.Started one sku out of China. Hungry Fan - tailgating.What went right?Hiring My Amazon GuyInventory managementHigh quality productsWhat went wrong?Keyword management - incumbency got beat eventually.How do you beat your competitionBetter productsThicker moldsNext for Fresher ProductsImproving packaging.More products.Brand buildingKeeping sane during COVIDTrail mixBig changes coming?Amazon monopoly will have to stop doing anti-fair marketplace practices.Support the show

Send us a textYour inbox should be at 0 unread each day. This podcast talks about the organizational strategy behind a zero unread inbox.OrganizationWon’t miss anythingCreate templates for copy and pasteIntroCalendar setups - calendlyFiltersMark as read and dump into a labelAuto spam Don’t use email folders to retrieve information.Fast Company: “REFRAME THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR INBOXQuick: Look at your inbox and see how many messages have been sitting there for 24 hours or more. If the answer is anything other than “zero,” it’s time to step back and reevaluate your strategy for managing email.When you stop and think about it, it’s actually pretty obvious: Having a giant list of pending messages in your face all the time isn’t an effective method of organization. How often do you lose track of emails or realize you never got around to taking care of something you meant to handle several days ago? Being visually overwhelmed tends to lead to those sorts of issues rather than efficiency.That doesn’t mean you have to answer every email immediately, of course. For most of us, that’d be impractical. It just means you have to make it your goal to deal with every email in some way soon after you see it.For every email you encounter, choose from the following fast-triage options:If a message requires no action on your behalf, archive it immediately.If a message requires a simple reply that you can knock out in a minute or less, respond right then and there—and then archive it immediately.If a message requires some level of thought or response that you can’t get to right away, snooze it to a time and date when you will be able to handle it—whether it’s later that same day, sometime the following week, or on a Friday two months down the road. That’ll get the message out of your way so it doesn’t serve as a constant source of distraction. And then it will reappear and grab your attention when the time is right.”#zeroinbox #organization #efficiency #toolsSupport the show

Send us a textWe did a podcast with Welcome to Growth with Jonathan Lyman and Dillon Carter and these guys were a blast to talk to. So we invited them onto the My Amazon Guy podcast to talk about how they are launching a coffee brand. How to go liveSee Amazon as an acquisition channel. See high life time value from repeat orders.Just getting started in Amazon. Found source for roaster local and 30% cheaper per bag than the next cheapest on the list.Why choose Amazon over some other platform?Dillon owns Vendrive.com - wholesale resellers. Goaura.com - Repricing tool.Decision making - successful business vs having employees. Difference between running an Amazon product ecommerce business vs SAS company.Get Amazon Consulting at https://myamazonguy.com/#KenmoreCoffeee #LaunchingAmazon #StartingSellerCentral #JonathanLyman #DillonCarter #Vendrive #GoauraSupport the show

Send us a textFramework - Agency Best PracticesBelow is the most important conceptual framework of the MyAmazonGuy Agency. Every task you work on should follow these basic parameters.Understand the Scope.Review contract terms if new projectReview request from client/Steven.Ask questions if anything is unclear.Raise flags if you think project will take a long time.Example: You need to complete a storefront for a client but they have 1000 skus.Solution: Use best selling products, examples from each category, but do not list every single sku.Complete the work.Complete the task to the scope.Most clients are comfortable with us making changes and going live prior to their review. When in doubt, ask Steven. And ask the client for permission to go live.Example: Draft of EBC or storefront, then ask Client to review and go live.QA it (Quality Assurance).QA your own work by reviewing whether the completed task is what was requested.Have either Steven or another person review the work.Report the work back to the clientBuild an email showcasing that the task was completed.Screenshot of before and after if it is visualLink to where the work can be seen. ASIN detail page for example.If it’s a text change to titles, create a google sheet listing the before titles, with another column for proposed titles, so the client can review the work before we implement it. Call to actionIs there anything requiring approval, ask the client to approve, ask the client for feedback etc. If the email is just informative, no CTA required, otherwise be sure to always ask for something.Further Context:Action strategyAll actions boil down to 3 typesDo itIf the action takes less than 2 mins, just do itDelegate itAre you the right person to do it? If this is going to take a lot of time, consider delegating to VA team. And document to Asana.Defer itIf the action will have no positive impact, don’t do it.If the action will have modest impact, but is not worth doing now, document it on asana. Schedule it for later.Why are we doing somethingTo increase salesTo make the client happyWhat do we want the client to understand? Feel? Expect? = Outcome visionTo make Steven happySupport the show

Send us a textPriorities shift a lot, so how do you know what the most important action is to take right now? Here's our prioritization tree that we use at My Amazon Guy.Stranded/Closed Listings - Anything that prevents an active item from selling.SuspensionsListing yanksPolicy violationsHazmatShipments -Items that need to ship into FBA. Keep at 60-90 day supply.Account Launches, data work to get items into Amazon.Day 1 client delivery - competitor researchDay 2 keyword search termsWeekly reportingA+ & EBC/Storefront launches.Advertising checkins - weeklyWaiting on client responses use following methodology2 Day Mark - Follow up with email7 Day Mark - Follow up with phone call and email14 Day Mark - Follow up with phone and emailSupport the show

Send us a textGet Amazon Consulting at https://myamazonguy.com/Pros & Cons of Hiring An Individual Employee vs. An AgencyWhen your company needs additional “hands on deck,” the first option most companies think of is to hire another employee to join their company. While that may work for many companies, for others the cost of hiring someone and adding on another full-time salary to an already-tight payroll may not be an option. However, the need for additional help does not go away.Before a company makes a final decision, it’s time that they sit down and determine the pros and cons of hiring another full-time employee.Pros to an Individual Employee:The person hired works exclusively for your company.You have their undivided attention as they do not have to work for several companies at one time.The only fee you have to pay to hire that person are those associated with their salary and benefits.May make budgeting easier.Cons of Hiring an Individual Employee:The individual can only work so many hours (if your company needs more support, one person may not be able to do all the necessary work)One person will have limited working knowledge and skill sets.Teaching an individual employee all the new skills you need them to know could take quite a bit of time.You have to pay the person’s entire salary and all their benefits which could get costly.On the other hand, you could hire an agency that specializes in that specific area of expertise and engage them to do the work you need. This way you won’t have to worry about the one person you hire having enough work or too much work to handle. Here are some advantages of hiring an agency to do the same job as an individual employee would do:Advantages of Hiring an Agency:You get the expertise and knowledge of multiple people working for your company.Those employees are specially trained in what their agency does making them “experts” of some sort in the industry in which they work.Multiple employees mean that they have more work hours to put towards your projects and business needs.Hiring the services of an agency is generally much cheaper than paying an entire employee’s salary plus all of their benefits which saves your business money.Agency is the Best ChoiceThe agencies come out being the best choice as they are usually are a lot less expensive than paying someone’s entire salary and their benefits, which can get exceptionally costly. More employees working with your company means that have you have a versatile group of workers that help your business get things done. Moreover, many agencies have a plan that only requires you to pay for the work hours and services you will use based on your business needs. That can also help save you extra money.https://drumcreative.com/hiring-an-agency-vs-individual-employee/Which is the better option: Boutique or Full-Service Agency?You and your business need to define your budget, values, current needs, and growth potential before deciding on the right type of agency. Both options can provide valuable marketing solutions for your business.If you are focused on quality and personal attention, then the boutique agency is your ideal option.Boutique agencies will take the extra time and focus on learning your situation and world, designing a marketing plan customized for your company, and then execute it and provide education on ongoing improvements.These agencies are also much more responsive and attentive to your continually changing needs. But if you are operating on a lower budget and do not have the time to talk through marketing ideas throughout the week continually, yoSupport the show

Send us a textJust in time learning: Learn it literally right when you need to execute it. Scale of No Return: Build a business that has to operate at a higher level and can never go back or it will fail.The downside is it could affect planning, may be rough around the edges.The good-side to it is you execute in an agile fashion, focus on specific areas, and let the action dictate the strategy.In today’s age there’s massive amounts of information and just in time learning is hotter than ever. I think the biggest struggle is locating good sources of information that are qualified for what you need to know when you need to know it. This is why our clients generally hire us as experts to come in and fill gaps and teach because it would be more cost effective to pay us than to spend hundreds of hours trying to learn what we already do in minutes. Another topic I’ve thought a lot about this past month is the Scale of No Return.I’m coining this phrase, I google exact match on this phrase and no one is using it like I intend.What I mean by Scale of No Return is when you’ve built something that becomes so big and so powerful, it forces you to run the business differently and you can never return to how you were previously running it. It’s the scale that forces you to systemize and organize things, and you’ll never go back to the way you used to do things, because literally you can’t. Your scale is so big and the complexities are so much higher that you’re forced to operate at a higher level.Why does this matter? Because everyone listening to this podcast is trying to scale, and scale quickly. Growing is good. We’re all growth hackers. But what happens if it works? I mean really works. Are you planning for success?My phone is ringing off the hook the past 80 days. I’m struggling to keep up with both acquisition and maintain operational excellence. You look at other ecom players like PayPal, I tried to chat Paypal today and it was a 5 hour chat wait list.I ordered an office chair, I’m talking luxury office chair from the the mercedes bendz version of office chairs, and I disliked it and tried to return it. It took 7 days for the company to get back to me and that was literally the fastest they could do. Operational strains right now a real thing. Gold hit $1900 this week. That’s up from $1700 from earlier this year. And up $100 in the past 48 hours.Supply chains are breaking down.I believe the economy, especially as it relates to supply chains and ecommerce is at a collective scale of no return. This black swan event called COVID is going to make things change. Force them to change and never go back to the way it was.Businesses are making decisions today that are rapidly changing. They can’t keep up.The reason I’m keeping up is I put systems in place, hired up, and spent 200 hours creating a scientific method to build a culture, classify candidates, and build a profile to hire the right people to execute my vision.Some of you listening might ask why I would share all of this? Why share anything that could be a weakness, or if it’s a strength it’s a trade secret. That’s because I made the decision to be an authentic tell all agency. We grow sales. That’s where I want to hang my hat with clients. I know if I can grow my clients sales, they will keep paying me. And it’s working. Sales are up considerably for our clients, and quickly based on results. We onboarded one client 2 weeks ago at 40k in weekly sales. We got them to 57k a week already in under 14 days. That’s hard to replicate, but we do it again and again because I SOP’d my entire business. It’s a nSupport the show

Send us a textEvery 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.What went rightStar conservative. No battery, no supplement.Picked categories with only 2 sellers, and medium amount of sales.Improved product and marketing.Move slowly.Ordered samples from multiple factors.Speak as if you are the owner of a large company.Stick to your passion.What went wrong$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.Launching too many categories.Focussed on too many brands.25% of products failedWhat have you seen change this past yearBranding is now more important. A+ content. AOV.Focus on product packaging.Amazon went from bare bones platform to branded atmosphere. Videos. More competitionHighest cost was in PPCMade in AmericaHard to find factory for test orderQuality of product and customer service is way upBio: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.   Support the show