He left his engineering job and travels full time without touching inventory due to Amazon REPLENS
Summary
TLDRJim welcomes listeners to a podcast interview where proven Amazon coaches Brian and Robin interview Matt Hassler, a newer coach who found success on Amazon. Matt started selling online in 2022 after his mom suggested it to support their real estate business. He quickly transitioned to a travel lifestyle, living in an RV with his wife. Matt credits the proven Amazon course and coaching for accelerating his growth, especially with sourcing and backend details. He now specializes in tools, offering wholesale and branded bundles. Matt enjoys coaching to pay forward the support he received, emphasizing flexibility to meet clients' unique goals on their Amazon journey.
Takeaways
- 😊 Matt started selling on Amazon in 2022 and was able to quit his engineering job to travel full time by January 2024
- 👍 Coaching helped accelerate Matt's business growth by improving his sourcing techniques and optimizing backend systems
- 🚌 Matt and his wife now travel full time in their fifth wheel camper while running their Amazon business remotely
- 💡 Matt focuses on tools and home improvement products which are easy for him to source and ship using prep centers
- 📈 Matt still does some online arbitrage but is transitioning more into wholesale and planning to launch private label products
- ✅ Having an assistant handle administrative tasks freed up 15 hours a week of Matt's time to focus on business growth
- 💰 In just over a year, Matt has grown from his first sale to over $30k monthly sales now
- 🤝 The networking and connections available through the coaching program are as valuable as the coaching itself
- 👩💻 Matt enjoys helping other sellers succeed by using his engineering background to systematize processes
- 🔐 Properly verifying your identity information with Amazon now can prevent issues if you get selected for ID verification later
Q & A
What business model was Matt using when he first got started selling on Amazon?
-Matt was using the RA (retail arbitrage) and OA (online arbitrage) models when he first started selling on Amazon. This involved finding discounted items online or in retail stores and reselling them for a profit on Amazon.
How long did it take Matt to transition to selling on Amazon full time?
-It took Matt around 18 months to transition to selling on Amazon full time. He made his first sale in September 2022 and went full time in January 2024.
What lifestyle is Matt and his wife currently living?
-Matt and his wife currently travel full-time in a fifth wheel camper. They go south in the winter to places like Florida and travel north in the summer.
What business model is Matt transitioning his business to focus on?
-Matt is transitioning his business to focus more on wholesale and private label. He finds wholesale allows him to scale his business faster by being able to invest more capital.
How does Matt run his Amazon business while traveling full-time?
-While traveling, Matt relies on virtual assistants to help manage parts of his business. This allows him to focus his time on higher priority tasks.
What value did Matt find in the coaching program?
-Matt found the coaching program helped accelerate his growth tremendously. He estimates his sales increased 40-50% within the first couple months of getting coaching.
Why did Matt decide to become an Amazon coach?
-Matt enjoyed the networking opportunities coaching provided. He also finds fulfillment in helping others succeed in building their own Amazon businesses.
What systems is Matt focused on building out right now?
-Matt is focused on building out systems in his business to free up more of his time. The goal is to build a sustainable business that provides him and his wife more freedom.
What technique does Matt use when working with clients who don't have an engineering background?
-Matt takes a very systematic approach to break things down step-by-step for clients without an engineering background. This helps ensure no details are missed along the way.
Where can people reach out if they want to work directly with Matt?
-If people are interested in working with Matt, they can call the coaching office and request to work with him. The coaching team will get you set up to work together.
Outlines
😊 Introducing guest speaker Matt Hassler
Jim introduces guest speaker Matt Hassler, a coach on Jim's team. Matt was formerly an engineer but now travels full time in an RV with his wife running his Amazon business, which started with the proven Amazon course repins model. Jim mentions the prep center network resource for people interested in using prep centers to receive inventory.
😃 Invitation to attend The Proven Conference 2024
Jim invites listeners to attend The Proven Conference 2024 happening May 23-25. He mentions there is a scholarship program available for those who can't afford the ticket cost. The conference provides an abundant mindset community.
😊 Brian and Robin interview Matt Hassler
Brian and Robin welcome Matt Hassler to interview him. Matt got into Amazon selling to support his real estate business. He went full time in January 2024 and is now pivoting to wholesale and private label. His business growth accelerated after joining coaching.
🔨 Matt's engineering background helped with analytics
Matt shares how his engineering background helped him with the data analytics of selling on Amazon. Joining the coaching program accelerated his growth by optimizing his time and providing helpful techniques.
🛒 Still doing some online arbitrage at 60% of sales
Matt is trying to transition his business to more wholesale but still does mostly online arbitrage, which takes little time to maintain. He has two virtual assistants, one for admin work, which saves him 15 hours per week.
📈 Targeting more wholesale and private label next 12 months
In the next 12 months Matt is targeting fully transitioning out of online arbitrage and focusing efforts on expanding wholesale and launching private label products to increase margins and diversify.
👨💻 Matt enjoys providing coaching tips
Matt enjoys being a coach to provide helpful tips to others from his recent experience, as well as the networking opportunity it provides. He looks forward to working with new coaching clients interested in tools and home improvement.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Amazon
💡coaching
💡prep centers
💡online arbitrage (OA)
💡Proven Amazon course
💡wholesale
💡private label
💡niche
💡branded bundles
💡replenish
Highlights
Matt and his wife travel full-time in their fifth wheeler while running their Amazon business
Matt started with retail arbitrage and online arbitrage, and has now transitioned primarily to wholesale and building his own brands
Coaching helped accelerate Matt's business growth significantly
Having an assistant take over administrative tasks freed up 15 hours per week for Matt
Matt enjoys the freedom and flexibility to travel full-time and set his own schedule
Matt focuses on tools and home improvement niche since he has experience in that area
Matt aims to transition more into wholesale and branded bundles for higher margins and more security
It's valuable to have a coach who recently succeeded themselves using current information
New success stories show this business model still works despite claims of saturation
The coaching program is flexible to meet each student's unique goals and challenges
Matt enjoys helping others succeed and experience the same freedom he has
Amazon is now verifying identities of established sellers due to changing regulations
Identity verification gets difficult if you've provided Amazon false personal information
Update incorrect account info now before needing to go through identity verification
Special proven pricing will be offered for Jeff's services at the upcoming conference
Transcripts
welcome to silent Sales Machine radio
business building Warrior I'm so glad
you're going to join us today for a
fantastic conversation with three people
who I have a great deal of respect for
I'm going to turn the microphone over to
them in just a minute you're going to
meet one of the newer coaches on our
team and he's going to be interviewed by
a couple faces you're probably names
you're probably familiar with at this
point if you've listened to our show for
more than a few weeks Brian and Robin
Joy wson are going to interview him for
this episode today you're going to meet
Mr Matt Hassler he's like I said a coach
on our team now he was a coaching
student before that he was a proven
Amazon course student and as you've come
to expect from the hundreds of episodes
before this one he's a great success
story of The Proven Amazon course
systems that we teach here he was
formerly an engineer as you'll hear but
he now travels full-time with his wife
they've got a fifth wheeler they go
where the sun is shining they go south
of in the winter they're able to run
their business with a very flexible
lifestyle making more money than they
were before on the road what a cool
lifestyle that is that they've been able
to carve out he shares all the details
of that today so I won't dive into it a
whole lot but I will tell you this they
started off with the repins model and
they still have most of their business
there and what that means is they're
helping fill the underserved shelf space
at Amazon very systematically using the
strategies that we teach here filling
the underserved Shelf space at Amazon
they don't touch their product because
remember they're on the road they're on
the go constantly they never see or
touch their product it's sent to prep
centers and they break down how that
works today as well as you hear that
part of the story there's a free
resource for you if you want to go
investigate what prep centers are out
there go to prep Center network.com and
these are the places that will receive
your inventory on your behalf if you
shop online and you want to sell it on
Amazon well they'll receive it inspect
it lab it slap some stickers on it send
it into Amazon on your behalf of course
they charge you a couple dollars to do
it but it's a beautiful business model
that's helping a lot of people
especially International students or
those who don't want to have their
inventory in their own house so this can
be a hands-free model as you've heard
again from dozens of interviews over the
past few years where we've talked to
successful proven Amazon course students
now you need to know this if you really
like what you hear today and you want to
take the next steps which I think
there's going to be a lot of people who
have that feeling after they listen to
this show you need to go to silent
jim.com
Booka call all one word book a call and
get on our schedule let's have a
conversation let's find out how your
business is doing where you're at maybe
you're completely brand new that's great
we want to talk to you maybe you've been
doing this a while and you just need
some expert help to get your business
rolling better faster more efficiently
you're ready to scale those sorts of
things we've got 60 coaches on our team
and you're about to meet three of them
in just a moment when I turn the
microphone over to them so get on our
calendar let's have a conversation maybe
all you need is a few free resources
maybe all you need is a little shove in
the right direction we're going to give
you that or maybe you're ready to move
forward quickly you've got the margin in
your life you've got the time and the
financial margin the mental and
emotional space in your life right now
the relational margin you've got a
supportive spouse who says yeah okay
now's a good time for us to do this
right if you've got that margin then
maybe coaching makes a lot of for you
and we have like I said 60 great coaches
and here's something that all of our
coaches have in common if you haven't
heard me say this in a while they all
started off as clueless newbies they all
used The Proven Amazon course there's a
link to that by the way at silent
jim.com they used that course to get
started they built a beautiful business
they demonstrated that they had a
leadership and teachers heart they have
a lot of empathy they love seeing others
succeed so when you get that comb
combination it's such a potent
combination we seek those people out we
recruit them onto our team we turn them
into coaches and then they help spread
what so many of us have now realized
which is the internet is the greatest
tool for multiple streams of income and
a flexible lifestyle that's ever been
seen right now is the greatest time in
human history to be alive if you want to
launch and grow multiple streams of
income and we use the internet to do
that these are people who understand
this so we've got three coaching teams
you're about to meet one of the coaching
team leaders Brian and Robin Joy Olsen
as well as one of the coaches that works
under them Matt Hassler enjoy this
conversation they give a lot of specific
details you might want to take notes I
think this is a high impact episode
that's going to help a lot of people
including you if you're positioned well
to take the next steps and learning what
we teach around here hey we really hope
to see you at the proven conference if
you haven't heard us talk about it yet
go to this website it's three words th
proven conference.com May 23rd through
25th of 2024 the people you're about to
meet are going to be there a bunch of
our coaches hundreds of listeners to
this show hundreds of people are already
registered if you can't quite justify
the expense we've got a scholarship
program you need to check out we want
you there especially if you're new to
our community we really want you to come
experience this event no admission
charge whatsoever we just want to show
off what we've built we're able to do
this because of the generosity of
numerous sponsors who've helped fli the
bill for the event so you can come and
just enjoy the event no pressure just
come see the reality of what's happening
around here be immersed in this
abundance mindset you always serious
talking about where sure we Face
struggles there's a lot of challenges
but we know that there's always a
solution there's always a way to Pivot
there's always a way to continue moving
forward successfully if you got the
right mindset the right people and the
right programs surrounding you you're
going to do great so that's what we do
here we'd love to have you join us live
if at all possible so get over to that
website The Proven conference.com click
on the button for the scholarship if the
money is a challenge for you right now
to be there with us and we'd love to
help you out all right let's jump into
the episode Brian and Robin Joy take it
away all right we're uh joined today
special guest Matt Hassler I'm sorry I'm
calling you Matt your screen says
Matthew do you have a preference most
call me Matt at this point all right so
uh that's what we call our son our son's
named Matt only Matthew if he's in
trouble so yes I'm not used to saying
Ma so anyway thanks for joining us on
the call today um we want to just uh
highlight kind of your business and talk
about you joining the coaching team and
what that's been like for you and why
don't you just give us a little bit of
background about how you got started in
the Amazon space and maybe take us up to
where you are today sure so um I guess I
started looking into the Amazon space uh
summer of 22 my mom had introduced me as
a way of trying to make additional money
to support our real estate business
business quickly realized it was a
pretty legitimate approach to making
additional money got my LLC started in
July first sale on Amazon in September
of 22 um and then since then you know
just did a lot of RA and OA initially
finally made enough to transition to
fulltime here just last month January of
2024 and um our businesses thank you
it's it's been that's honestly helped
our business grow a lot um and now we're
switching to um primarily wholesale
we're pivoting and then also towards
brand
great that's exciting stuff so what was
compelling about the Amazon business to
you when you were first looking at it
and the second half of this question is
you mentioned real estate are you still
doing that or did you elect to go in the
Amazon Direction versus Real Estate sure
the first question was what made it seem
like legitimate and worth pursuing so a
lot of it seemed very technical you know
it's reading graphs making sure you
understand it um it for me it was easy
to determine if the buying decision was
good or bad my background is engineering
so all the analytics um made a lot of
sense to me and then seeing so many
success stories made me feel that you
know anyone can do it with enough hard
work and determination so it seemed
quite viable at this point we still have
some real estate but we travel full-time
now so it's more difficult for us to um
actively invest in our hometown so you
travel fulltime is that what you said
that's exciting yeah we rocking the
camper life so we're in Florida because
it's cold out yeah uhuh so go where it's
warm I was say you follow the sun yeah
absolutely we'll go north in the summer
and St in Florida in the winter and how
big is your family Matt uh it's just me
and my wife Hing have children in a
couple year but that helped for a while
trying to do this plus the corporate
life yeah and so for sale in you said
September of 22 and then you went
full-time in your Amazon business in
January of 24 so not even 18 months
really and you and you scaled your
business up tell us a little bit about
what that Journey was like sure so in
the beginning was um very much ra and OA
you know kind of going within my Niche
which was like tools and Home
Improvement for me diving into like a
niche really helped me familiarize
myself and identify um I guess items I
was passionate about but also realize
which items seem to be more profitable
did some liquidations and by
liquidations that just me like outlets
and stores closing but you know
legitimate purchases with invoices Etc
and then scaled into further awaya we I
joined coaching back in November of 2022
and that really helped accelerate my
growth and um you know started with a
prep Center in December of 22 because we
were up to about 30,000 sales in a month
at that point and then started doing
Wholesale in July of 23 and um I guess
up until now it's just been trying to go
a little bit more to wholesale because
your time becomes so valuable as you
scale um trying to put in all the
systems in place which is why I also
have two vas to help in that side of it
okay so you got two Bas and they're
helping you with the wholesale side one
is is now dedicated towards brand
bundles and doing the listing creation
she was full-time OA the other one's
been helping me with wholesale and she's
been transitioning to the admin role to
help forget my time as we work with more
suppliers that's great I think the admin
role is one of those you know outsourced
roles that is often overlooked we tend
to focus on sourcing or well it's
usually sourcing everyone wants to
Source the sourcing but how the
transition of those tasks those
administrative tasks gone and and what
kind of time did you get back from that
sure so um I also started with the
source inside of it um you know it's a
really good way to fill out the employee
after working with her for four or five
months I switched into the admin role at
once I felt like I could trust her
because she at this point she has access
to most of our acents she can at least
see them but when I actually did I did a
calculation on it last week I saved
about 15 hours a week right now of my
time um and she's only doing admin
parttime so we're pretty much one to1
ratio and she's doing a better job at
many of the T than I am or was so um
definitely valuable we usually find that
to be the case as well because they only
have this much of the business to worry
about so they can focus on it and I
don't mean like it's a small it's just
it's a very important part of the
business too but that's the only part
they're focused on whereas the business
owner you're focused well it's hard to
be focused because you're doing
everything precisely easily distracted
and overthinking things that you need
somebody to just accomplish right and
miss and missing the important task that
we don't necessarily want to do
reviewing my prep Center sheet sometimes
take two or three weeks because it was
my least favorite
task yeah that's something that you
mentioned before um we hit the record
button here but not in addition to two
subcontractors you also have two
outsourc services that are your prep
centers correct yep we have one in a
taxfree state which is proven prep you
know it really helps because we do a lot
of a high dollar items so saving that
sales tax and then we have one located
in the midwest which is for our
wholesalers because we're not concerned
about the the sales tax but they seem to
have really fast check-in times and it's
kind of centralized interesting that is
interesting we don't have a prepper
Shopper shipper in the midwest anymore
but when we did we found the same thing
typically like there's everything sort
of comes together there very closely and
so whenever we were shipping things out
from Ohio they were typically received
in like two or at least they arrived
within two days and then you know the
receive the standard receiving process
but for us that's better because when we
were shipping from Colorado that could
take two three days four days to get to
California for the longest time that was
our Primary Prep
Center y I'm noticing the same thing
even through Q4 we were actually having
check-in times in four to five days wow
that's great that's a good a good tip
helps you turn your money a little
faster huh yes it does yeah so let's
maybe move on to the coaching space now
you you were a coaching client before
you um found success in the business you
mentioned that it accelerated your
business what was that were there any
what were the key things that kind of
stood out to you in that sure so um for
me the coaching was very valuable you
know with having a proactive and
reactive coach in the beginning I was
spending significant quantity of times
trying to do OA sourcing um at night so
I kind of conveyed that to my proactive
coach and he showed me the bot scraping
technology that was initially came out
and for me that was a lot of fun I had
some coding background and I guess that
helped provide me with different
Alternatives that I wasn't looking at
and you know essentially all of our
calls kind of just focused around the
sourcing which even to this day we're
always Capital constrain now we're no
longer looking for products that
combined with your all's uh keepa
courses um have pretty much taken care
of me for the past year and then the
reactive coaches so I had only been
selling for about two or three months at
that time and I remember calling my PR
my reactive coach two or three times a
week and just asking a bunch of
questions we were filling the 30 minutes
but it was nice to have somebody that I
could count on to provide the answers
and you know I can spend two to three
hours researching a single answer but he
was showing me even faster methods I was
finding myself so when you're I was
already working 50 to 60 hours a week
trying to do 30 hours on Amazon all of
those hours saved from the coaching
sessions really added up quickly so it
feels like you get you get on the fast
track when you're working with coaches
yeah absolutely I think I think I've
posted a couple times in the Facebook
group that you know the people that are
going to be successful will be
successful regardless of my opinion but
the ones that go down the coaching route
that would have also been successful
will be you know tremendously
accelerated and when you think about the
costs associated with that you know my
sales probably increase 40 or 50% within
my first month or two of coaching so it
easily paid the course back wow yeah
that's awesome so you said you sold your
first thing in September and then in
December you got into coaching is that
right correct so that does help you
scale up much faster but you already had
some experience you were trying some
things out on your own and then uh just
the sanity check that you were getting
from the coach or the the validation of
what you thought was already working uh
was what helped accelerate your
experience yeah I was spending
significant quantity of hours on the
sourcing side so some of the techniques
that I was taught really helped me save
time on on that end and then some of the
backend um systems my reactive coach was
pretty Technical and detail oriented so
he really helped clarify a lot of those
details that um a lot of the items I
just wasn't even aware of until we had
those sessions so I'd start with one or
two questions but it would just dive
into information that I didn't even know
to ask yeah that's great so you said you
were an engineer previously what uh
space were you in chemical engineering
but it was more of like a packaging and
um corporate role for like equipment
procurement okay all right and you loved
it so much that's why you're not working
there anymore I had a really good team I
enjoyed it but the freedom that comes
from uh you know doing Amazon you know
far outweighs those benefits plus we get
to travel full-time see the world and uh
I get to spend a lot more time with my
wife without traveling for work that's
great that's great now you're traveling
in your fifth wheel is that what you
said yeah it's a fifth wheel yeah so
your fifth wheel but you're conducting
your business on the road and um so kind
of describe what a normal day looks like
for you yeah so essentially my wife
works third shift so I just try to match
her schedule so my schedule's like a
little bit off compared to most people M
but um I wake up I review some of the
items Associated from my vas you know
whatever questions they would have and
then I kind of just go through I use a
um a task manager called like assana so
every day I know what task I'm going to
be doing and having some organization
associated with it but in regards to the
freedom I also just have the option to
match my wife's days so she's all Friday
so we're just going to go to Universal
for the day oh um and then she works
Saturday so I'll work Saturday so just
that flexibility really nice that is
great so funny story I didn't plan on on
talking here we go off screen yeah but
uh at The Proven conference last year
the Olsen coaching team put together
this little gathering and in walks Matt
and and you're like yeah I'm on your
team and we're like nah I don't think
you are but join us right join us anyway
and we all sat around and had coffee and
then Robin and I were talking after
we're like Matt Hassler is on our team
we didn't even know this right and is
just one of those things where you came
in as as a coach which was awesome and
there was just a Matt hadn't been able
the other Matt Matt Thompson hadn't
talked to us yet about you know you
joining our team and so we were stoked
to after we realized that that that you
actually were there and you're like hey
I'm on your team and um we had a nice
little gathering of Olsson team coaches
and
clients yes it was it was great but yeah
I remember that I was I was kind of
wasn't sure but because it was so busy
we had just been on vacation for a week
and then the proven conference and we
were so busy I had just missed the mess
I mean I'd gotten the message but I had
missed it and I didn't realize that so
my apologies for that but we are sure
glad that that was real that you are on
our team now yeah so so tell us uh tell
me or tell us both I guess what is it
that like appealed about the coaching
program to you to be a so of course the
the value I got from coaching was well
worth it but also just um the networking
associated with it so for one you get to
meet a lot of like higher end Sellers
and the networking that I've gained from
that has carried me much further than
even the coaching did and then it's also
a lot of fun so I enjoy like reading
through the Facebook messages and
responding to people and providing tips
because I know sometimes I've spent an
hour and then I just happen to finally
see a post that you know answers my
question in 30 seconds so to know that I
can spend the dedicated time to someone
that was all set my shoes just a year or
two ago and help accelerate them you
know when they hit like a new record it
almost feels like I hit a new record
because you know I was able to
contribute and if if I can help someone
else succeed and get this freedom I want
to make sure I can do that I think
that's a good that's a good point Matt
when you said someone who is in you were
in their shoes a couple years ago it is
nice some people you know oh I want this
Old season coach that's been doing this
forever and ever but what's really nice
about getting somebody who's just been
doing this for three or four years or
even two or three years is that they're
they have come up recently they have
proven this once again that it's current
and relative and they know what the
current issues are they're right in the
middle of it right now so that can be
really valuable for somebody who is
trying to follow in your footsteps and
uh somebody that you can lead with that
current knowledge and the the current
issues that you've just overcome with
the current uh state state of Amazon
I'll say that absolutely you always hear
how saturated it is now but we continue
to see like new success stories all the
time all the time yeah I just sent
another one to Jim today that told me
that he is doing 45,000 this month and
he just started in May last year so I'm
so proud of him I'm so excited when I
get those
stories yeah I was just digging through
the Facebook group to a little bit this
week there's like I didn't capture
everything in the last six months there
have been like 50 some success like here
was my year here was my quarter I just
started two months ago not like unlike
you started three months ago and I'm I'm
doing 40 or 50 Grand a month right these
are awesome stories that just go to show
that this is available for everyone to
get in there and
exploit people find a way yeah yeah I
guess there wasn't really a question
there huh no not so much but I agree
with everything you said we're very
experienced interviewers obviously yeah
well one of the things you said early on
was that with an engineering background
you felt like you took to this pretty
quickly but you know you work with
coaching client cents who AR don't have
an engineering background how do you
help relate what they need to know in
order to find success sure so um
essentially everyone that I've worked
with thus far they kind of all have the
same generic questions it's kind of just
like where do I start or how do I go
ahead and improve the system so we try
to take like my background which is be
like a more systematic approach and try
to break down where um some key details
that they might be missing we can go
through in that process so like even my
vas I require them to break down the
step-by-step process and then have other
V8 review it um just to make sure no
details are missed so you know just kind
of going through and then whenever you
find success with it with a system we go
ahead and start recording that so that
way they can try to replicate it um and
I'm sure as you guys know once you find
like one or two products you know you'll
find significantly more around that area
and then just some slight adjustments so
I try to impose some of my analytics on
them and if that's where they're missing
or if they're already really strong and
it we try to figure out what other
shortcomings they may have yeah yeah
okay great now um you mentioned also
that uh you've still got some OA do you
have still some OA going yep we're about
60% OA U we're trying to transition it
into the wholesale business but when you
have 60% of your business as replans
that I only need to spend five to six
hours a month replenishing it's hard to
give that side of the business up it is
yeah yeah yeah so OA is online Arbitrage
which means you order everything online
and have it sent to your prep Center as
as opposed to going into the store and
purchasing it right yeah want to clear
that up in case anybody was wondering
why we keep saying OA and they didn't
know what that meant the acronyms yes
okay and so then you've added wholesale
and you also mentioned branded bundles
now where do you see your business going
over the next 12 months or so we're
essentially trying to Target not not
purchasing or not finding any more OA I
should say um trying to push really hard
into the wholesale just because um you
know as you start growing larger you
need faster ways be able to spend the
capital to make sure you're continuing
to grow and then trying to go down the
Branded bundle route for the purpose of
increasing our margins MH um as well as
provide us with some security you know
as it does become more saturated the
security associated with branded bundles
will allow us to be the only seller in
theory for a lot of the products um as
well as it diversifies and we can start
obtaining sales outside of Amazon alone
yeah that's true are you just selling on
the Amazon platform or are you anywhere
else I also sell on like Walmart and
eBay not to the same extent but uh
Walmart is one of one of our objectives
for Q quarter 2 to try to really
diversify we are within like the tools
and Home Improvement nich which doesn't
Fair as well in Walmart but it would
still be nice to have another 20 or 30%
uptick in sales okay nice now did you
work are you kind of a tools guy and
that's how come you started in that
space or was that just something that
seemed like a natural fit I used to sell
tools and um at a store and then I also
um was maintenance and Engineering for
seven years as an occupation so for me
it was familiar and I'd rather when I
was prepping stuff myself I'd rather
prep a $100 item than $11
items okay that makes sense like for me
I think when Robin got in I my my that's
your honey pot I like to call it your
honey pot right you always know you can
go back to that space and probably find
some more good things to sell there for
us that happened in the grocery space we
just always our honey pot is food well
that not honey though
uh oh I think we've sold honey before Oh
we have sold honey yeah yeah um
challenges with with food is expiration
dates which you don't have to deal with
with the tools so that's awfully
appealing too yes yeah it's very nice
I've learned a lot about the
difficulties associated with grocery
items in the past so much more difficult
to do with OA but I'm sure people find
great success with it as well yeah it
just depends on on who you are and what
works for you and that's one of the
things that I love about the coaching
program is that our mission is not to
put put put our clients in a box and say
this is how you step through this
program our mission is to help the
client meet their goals and they have
their unique challenges and their unique
advantages as well and we helped them
Point those out and it takes them in a
different different path sometimes than
where we went but because we have
experience that we've taken people
before through there we can we can still
helping out help them out a lot but I
really like the fact that it's not
really a you know in thebox sort of
program it's for the client yeah that
flexibility is really really nice
because almost everyone that I've worked
with thus far um you know while they
have some of the same generic requests
kind of like improving their sourcing a
lot of them also have very specific
goals that they want or slight
variations um where if it was you know
rigid they wouldn't be able to really
grow the way they wanted to yeah so also
wanted to ask you about as long as we
were talking about the Honeypot what we
find a lot of times is that people get
you know used to sourcing a specific
category or type of product and and we
really do want diversity within our book
of business so how is it that you
approach getting into a new category or
a new type of product when you're when
you're sourcing I'm G to be probably not
the best one to answer I'm about 95%
within the tools and Home Improvement we
at this point so we actually just got
our first like brand direct account
today um so for us the diversification
is in achieving the new distrib
distributor account brand direct
accounts or niches it's also when you
think about the general category might
have 1 and a. half million products
within it so you know we also abide by
like paradus principle where we know 80%
of our sales are going to come from like
20% of our suppliers so we Tred to
actually um build up the relations with
those Distributors to try to get better
margins and we've been successful in
pushing other people off of it by
knowing what their buy cost most likely
was ah so that was a roundabout way of
saying that we don't diversify probably
as well as others as much yeah yeah well
yeah you will though as you know time
goes by I'm sure you you will Mor
because you'll exhaust what you have and
need to go further right well I'm I'm
curious how does do you think this is
going to play out or have you have you
launched any branded bundles yet I
haven't really seen a whole lot of
branded bundles in the tools and Home
Improvement space so I'm curious about
you know how are you putting those
things together I don't want to know
your products but you have you had
challenges there so I meet with Nathan
on Monday to kind of like Nathan Bailey
get a get a yes Nathan Bailey you know
the expert of Brandon bundles to kind
one of the experts him in L to um ask
him to overlook it to look over it so a
lot of the brands are on the restricted
list but some of our Distributors that
we partner with allows us to access
items that aren't currently sold on
Amazon but through like utilizing
different softwares we're able to
identify that they indeed would sell
really fast and I actually found like an
inactive listing from two and a half
years ago um for the first our first
product launch and it's sold 250 a month
so I think we should be in pretty good
position that's great yeah that's
awesome that's great yeah well I would
say like what you're talking about is is
unique uh among the coaches that we have
on our team and I don't know we like
we've got people who do specialize in OA
we've got people who are out of the
country coaches in New Zealand and
Australia um we've got a coach in Canada
and most of them are doing what I would
call the normal things so like the
health and beauty
HomeGoods and food like that's primarily
where most people are and so you've got
a unique approach here which I I
appreciate and I want to just uh call
out that you are on the coaching team
you are taking new clients am I correct
yeah absolutely just switched a fulltime
last month so I have a lot more free
time um I only have a few students at
this point okay great so um if anyone's
interested in working with Matt when you
call the coaching office just mention
ask Matt for Matt ask Matt for Matt yeah
we'll get you hooked up yeah you may
talk to anyone at the at the coaching
office but yeah if you want to work with
Matt Hassler just let them know that and
we'll get you hooked up all the coaches
on our team and on the whole um Jim
cochrum coaching team in in general are
just amazing everybody's doing a really
great job and I'm really glad to be part
of that great Community the coaches is
great community in addition to the those
folks who are not coaches it's just a
great community in general we were
talking earlier this week about how
all the advantages that we get by being
a part of this community that's
supportive knowledgeable and um has good
leadership and we are lucky to include
you on that team Matt yeah thank you I
got lucky to be with you all well we we
we tried to dis we tried to say you
weren't part of our team I know I felt
it
anyway yes I am on your
team um well this has been a great
little session for us to chat a little
bit anything else you think we should
know about what your coaching style is
like or your business or um Amazon in
general I mean for me my like preference
and like you know my desires to go down
towards like the wholesale as well as
building the systems um all of us want
to buy back our time so by putting in
systems um trying to be very analytical
and build a business that we can sustain
and take the freedom and you know enjoy
time with our family is what I would be
passionate about improving for someone
else that's great I love that great
anything else Robin no I I'm just I'm
really happy to have you met now I'm
sure that some clients will call and
want to work with you because they
connect with you so I'm excited about
that too sure I look forward to working
with them too all right thanks so much
for your time Matt we'll catch up with
you soon thank you sounds good thank you
hey thanks for joining us today One Last
Thing Before I Let You Go once a week or
so typically on a Wednesday episode we
love to hang out with my good friend
Jeff schik he's our resident expert for
all things Amazon legal and policy he
always has a great tip or strategy for
us something to be aware of as sellers
what do you got for us this week Jeff
well I think the buzzword everyone is
hearing about right now is identity
verifications and uh and what does that
mean in the world of Amazon sellers so
uh this segment's really geared towards
helping sellers uh not not fear the ID
verification which will come at some
point and and know and understand why
it's happening and and how you can
protect yourself against becoming one of
horror stories that people hear about
now let me just ask you a quick question
Jeff before you go there because we're
even talking about I'm hearing from
sellers they've been selling for two or
three years yeah and Amazon's popping in
like hey we need to verify your ID and
then Panic ensues of course right like
everything from new sellers which that's
always been a bit of a challenge and
Amazon does like the little video review
thing now to verify identity so we're
talking about both of these right we are
uh mainly though it's the
the two to threeyear Old seller even
13-year-old sellers have reached out to
me saying they're getting hit with the
verifications and wanting to know what
do we do about it and how do we how do
we handle it so to Jump Right In the
reason why this is happening is that
there's been a couple us laws that were
passed that require Amazon to verify the
identities for high volume Merchants so
they've got to comply with these Federal
Acts in order to be compliant they also
another thing that's been going on is
there's been changes to the payment
facilitator laws and Amazon is what we
would call payment facil meaning they
accept payments on behalf of consumers
that are then remitted to a third party
aka the seller for those goods and so
because they're they have to comply with
these different payment facilitator laws
and these other you know laws like the
informed consumers act they now have to
go through and verify who they're paying
sounds easy it really is for the most
part pretty easy if you get one of those
verification you know letters which if
you know chances are if you haven't
gotten one yet you probably will it's
not a need to panic but it's really just
as long as your ducks are in a row
you'll be totally fine the biggest
issues we're seeing right now is really
comes down to people that are trying to
hide who they are are running into
issues so naturally if you are giving
Amazon false information because you're
trying to hide your identity you're not
going to pass an identity verification
suspension when they try to do it you
know it's it's kind I know it sounds
simple but I've had a couple
conversations with where they were
adamant that they wanted to make sure
Amazon didn't find out who they were and
they went to Great Lengths the problem
is is that if you give them for instance
a po. box and you say that you live in a
PO Box you're not going to pass an ID
verification suspension same thing goes
if you've got you know if you live at
123 Maple Street and your driver's
license says 123 Maple Street but you
give Amazon a address for you know 789
Oak Street that's going to raise a red
flag and the reason is not because you
may own the house on Oak Street but
they're going to look you up and they're
going to type your social security
number into a credit reporting agency
database most likely from Equifax or
xarion and they're going to pull up all
of your known addresses and it's going
to pull up hey he lives at this address
and what you know naturally is going to
happen is they're going to flag it and
say well we can't approve this because
experience says you live at 123 Maple
Street and you gave us all this
information showing you live on Oak
Street so unless you help us bridge the
gap how do we know one that you're not
stealing the identity of somebody on Oak
Street or how do we know that you're not
a terrorist that's just using some
random identity and address you it's all
all things that they have to worry about
so if you you know so sellers that are
having issues right now a lot of them
really come down to having wrong
information in there you know like it
tells you what please like one of the
questions is what is your place of
establishment well on Amazon place of
establishment is where you legally
reside unless un you're a big enough
business that you have a commercial
office space with a c you know a state
or county or city issue business license
and business utility bills and and you
know your your real legit business space
you know zoning permits and all that
sort of stuff then you should be using
your place of establishment address
would be your home address so when you
give them a UPS store that's not going
to fly when they when they Google it and
see that this is a UPS store that you're
claiming to live inside of makes total
sense
yeah so a lot of what we're seeing is
you know it's no reason to panic but if
you have made these simple mistakes just
go in and fix them now don't wait till
you get the verification to start fixing
them but certainly fix them before you
submit the verification like if you
forget if you listen to this episode and
you take no action you forget about it
and in three weeks you get a
verification suspension you say oh man
my place estment is still the UPS store
that's fine fix it then go through your
verification right don't think that
you're going to just go through the
verification and sail through it because
it won't H it won't happen they're going
to call you out on it and it's not going
to be a it's going to go from a 24 to 48
hour process to a you know three four
five six seven week process who knows
how long it depends on how many other
people are failed that have are in line
ahead of you right that makes total
sense it makes total sense why they
would want to do it and yeah part of
selling on Amazon is they need to know
you are who you claim to be helps them
fight fraud and you know fraudulent
transactions so makes total sense to me
yeah it's come up a good handful of
times in the Facebook group so I
appreciate you talking us through that
today Jeff good tips man absolutely yeah
thank you want to remind everyone too uh
Jeff shik is at Jeff shi.com just like
the razor you can put on retainer for a
few dollars a day anytime you have any
IP complaints or legal issues or policy
challenges I've sent your team some some
off-the-wall stuff I mean I've been
doing this a long time and I still run
into stuff pretty much weekly that I'm
like man I need someone who knows their
stuff you're the guys yeah thanks for
being a sponsor at the uh upcoming
conference as well the proven conference
you guys are coming bringing your team
how many of you guys are coming with it
with you this year so it's going to be
two of our five people although next
time you and I speak we might have six
people so uh but it's going to be two of
us that are coming to uh to the
conference and we look forward to seeing
everybody yeah we can't wait to share
we've got some exciting stuff in the
pipeline uh that's that we're going to
be announcing that you'll be first to
hear it at proven so make sure you stop
by we're going to have some special you
know proven proven offer for anybody
that wants to to learn more about what
we're coming up with and what we're
launching and it's going to be a uh a
special proven pricing too so awesome
yeah lots of good deals do not miss that
event thoven conference.com and you can
see on that page that Jeff is our top
sponsor we only got a couple top sponsor
spots Jeff grabbed one of them and we
certainly appreciate you making this
event possible and and you're behind I
don't know if I filled you in or not
Jeff but we've been able to offer for a
whole lot of people a bunch of
scholarships were created because of the
money that you guys helped provide for
the event where they can attend at no
charge so you're helping a lot of people
attend the event at no charge and a lot
of gratitude from them and from me for
making that possible this year so thanks
buddy thank you we really appreciate all
that you guys are doing so we're happy
to to be able to support it so thank you
outstanding well we'll do this again
next week what do you say sounds good I
man talk to you have more to share then
good thing see you all
right
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