Brad Allen 3:56
So I was doing retail arbitrage and I got really into it. It was actually kind of unique. It started off where I was really into eBay growing up. So I was always selling stuff just like as a kid throughout the house, whether it was mine or not. I was grabbing like antiques from the basement and like selling stuff out of the garage. And I think that’s where I got kind of, introduced to e-commerce and kind of obsessed. So that kind of it was always on the side and I was doing that through grade school, high school and then into college. And I learned about Amazon FBA and I think 2012 and as an eBay guy, it was like blew me away out because I was the guy waiting in line at the post office and having to deal with customers. So the fact that you could just send up bunch of items in Amazon will ship it and take care of customer service was very appealing to me. So I just started watching videos. And the easiest way to start, which I don’t know how many people really started out like this, but I’m sure some, but I was going into odd lots and Walmart’s and just buying toys or whatever I could find. And essentially, I was just kind of learning that process. So, that was a good way to like get my feet wet into Amazon FBA. And then life kind of happened where that was put off to the side, I was in the corporate world for a while, not doing very well. I just was not very passionate about what I was doing. And I got a call from a buddy, I was living in South Florida. I’m from Ohio, originally. And I gotten fired from one job, I was working for good companies, they’re like fortune 500 companies. And I kind of noticed right away that the people that were successful, were extremely passionate about the company, and they had just drank the Kool Aid. And I just didn’t care, really, I thought our products were overpriced, which is not the mentality that you want to have when you’re trying to sell something. So I was just kind of just doing enough not to get fired. And my friend in Columbus had called me and said, hey, I just bought this epoxy coating company. So what we’re doing is we’re installing, like showroom floors in garages, the garages in Columbus or the Midwest are all cracked and spoiled. So this was December, and he’s like, hey, I can’t pay you that much. But this will be our company. And I’ll share profits with you. So I wasn’t really doing much in terms of growing personally or professionally, although I was in South Florida, which was pretty cool for an Ohio guy. I took him up on it. And I remember it was December, I go from this cushy sales job in South Florida, even though I didn’t like it. And then all of a sudden, I am installing garage floors in the suburbs of Columbus in December. We’re using like heaters to keep ourselves warm. And the funny thing was, I actually was enjoying it more, because it was ours. So that kind of like turned on the light that, the way that I’m going to be successful is if I’m doing something for myself, or as a team. And that kind of drew me back to this e-commerce stuff. And like I was saying, I had learned about the Amazon FBA and I had this background in eBay. So I remember in one of your podcasts, you were talking about how after work, you would go home and just watch videos. Because you kind of saw that as a while. But you know, what you have to do is you have to put in the time, even after a long day of work when most people are just watching TV, or they want to decompress. I was just drawn to just scanning eBay, looking at Amazon. And I was wondering if there was an opportunity for products that I could buy on eBay and flip on Amazon. And I kind of just somehow stumbled upon this category of high-end skincare. And I was noticing that there was these really like high-end brands that were selling for almost nothing on eBay, because like who’s going to eBay to buy their $100 Kate Somerville serum, they’re gonna store somewhere else. So I started just buying a couple products. And the prices were 50 to $100. And I’m flipping them for 100 to 200 plus dollars on Amazon. And I’m doing FBA. So, that person has a little bit more faith in buying on Amazon when they’re buying it prime and they have right determinative if it’s big. So I started creating some systems where, I had this whole list of all the products that were doing well, I used EZ Sniper, which was a program that would bid at the last minute during these auctions, and I started contacting sellers and saying, Hey, if you have these products, I’d love to buy them from you. So they were cutting me deals, and all of a sudden I started to see some success. And it was like amazing to me that like, because the products were so small, but the prices were so high, so it was easy to ship in. And then my revenue kept growing. And then, kind of the theme is I’ll become obsessed with these niches. And that niche, I just started to really understand well, and I was wondering, I wonder if I can buy some of these products online, not from eBay. And a lot of these brands are gated because they’re big brands. But there was these European products that they only sell it dermatologist in the States. So I started researching on Google, and there was nothing on the first couple pages. So then I was searching deeper. And then I’m like, on seventh or eighth page, and there were these retail stores selling them in Europe. And these products were selling for 185 to $250. And I was getting them for 55 to like $75. So I contacted this guy in Cyprus, I just emailed him, he had a website, and we kind of worked something out. And then I had like a couple other retailers. So now I have like six or seven products that I’m essentially importing. And then I hired a 3PL, so I’m just shipping it to them. And then it was super easy. I mean, all of a sudden, I started making really good money just on six or seven products. And the idea was that Karen, or Susan goes to the dermatologist and gets this European product. And then she doesn’t want to go back there to buy it, she goes online, and there’s no options. Because unless she gets to the fourth or fifth page, she can get it from Europe, but then has to wait 10 days, so I’m offering it to her on Amazon Prime. It’s kind of expensive, but not anymore. She’s paying a dermatologist. So it was a really creative arbitrage opportunity. And eventually I started making enough money where I was making more money than I was with the other business. And I’d always had a dream to live in another country. So I was like, I’ve made it this is it, like, deep down, I knew it was just retail arbitrage. It wasn’t real business. But I kind of just took a risk, and I had always wanted to live in another country. So I moved to Buenos Aires and ran that business for about a year and then traveled over to Africa and was legitimately doing that like Tim Ferriss Four Hour Workweek I was working like four hours. And making good money and enjoying traveling. But eventually that caught up to me. That’s not sustainable. I moved to San Diego and then one morning I woke up and I got that dreaded, your selling privileges have been suspended? That kind of ended that whole era of just traveling and not doing much work and just benefiting from having a creative strategy that eventually was going to catch up to me.
Josh Hadley 13:27
What was it that caused the suspension then?
Brad Allen 13:32
I was doing a lot of volume. And there were a couple of complaints of people that said that the products were inauthentic, which they were definitely authentic. I had sold 1000s of products, but Amazon said, hey, we need manufacturer’s receipts. And not only did I not have those, but I had retail receipts from Europe. So I submitted that. And they didn’t accept that, I hired a lawyer. This was a very expensive process, I had all of this product that couldn’t sell unfortunately, I hadn’t been like saving my money. So I was like, in a really bad position. And then it was kind of my options were, hey, go back to the corporate world, or, like finally buckle down and figure out private label. This was something that I was, I knew about it was just the elephant in the room, but I knew that it took a lot of work and effort to figure it out. And I was too comfortable. So I’ve learned that like if you’re comfortable even if you have a successful private label business, there’s always changes going on. There’s always competitors that are doing different things that are going to surpass you. So if you aren’t constantly working on your business, then someone’s gonna pass you by. So that was like a huge lesson that I learned, but also it’s one of those things where getting my account suspended was the best thing that happened to me.
Josh Hadley 15:08
Interesting. I love that. And I think that that is every I think Amazon sellers like worst nightmare, right? You wake up and it’s like OMG like it always disappeared overnight. So is that where and then correlating with that you were also 400k in debt from that, was that a separate?
Brad Allen 15:28
Yeah. So then, as I tried to find some products, or essentially, I just went all in on learning as much as I could. So every article, every YouTube video, I was listening to podcasts. And there was, it’s funny, because, like, I still remember where I was when I heard like one podcast that really resonated, and it was, I was trying to, like, just find an easy way to get into private label, just to learn it. And I’ve always been a person that will just take a step forward before you have everything organized and ready to go. Like imperfect action, I think is really important because and like in a lot of, in life in general, a lot of people hold back because they think that they need, I need to lose this amount of weight, or I need to know PPC and all this stuff before I get started. But I would always just dive in. And then so I was looking for an opportunity where I could just dive in and learn. And yeah, I listened to a podcast, where they talked about it was a woman, she was talking about the gift category. And talking about how it’s really easy to get started. You don’t have to buy from China, there’s plenty of promotional companies in the States. Just create a design, slap it on some sort of vehicle, whether it’s a t shirt or a wineglass and then create the listing and then just go from there, do some keyword research and then start reviewing the data. And then you know, seeing exactly what you have, and then learning along the way. So that’s actually I bring up wineglasses. But I also went to I don’t know if you remember like merch by Amazon, like back in the day was?
Josh Hadley 15:29
Yep, yep.
Brad Allen 15:58
Did you have a merch by Amazon account?
Josh Hadley 17:28
We still have a merch by Amazon account where we have team members that just upload designs there on an ongoing basis. It’s not by any means the majority of our revenue, but it’s a fun little side hustle. And yeah, mom actually gets to be involved on that side of the business. So for me, it’s a fun way to like, you know, gives my mom something to do and allows her to work from home and stay engaged in, in what we’re doing as a business. So I see it as, like a side hustle or hobby, you know what I mean?
Brad Allen 17:59
Yeah, that’s cool that you can get her involved. And because that’s not a major part of your business, but you can include her and she can do some income. And then also it’s like a creative outlet. Because you’re coming up with designs, and, you know, seeing what’s trending. And that’s essentially what I do with a lot of my business. And yeah, I just love that creativity aspect of merch by Amazon.
Josh Hadley 18:24
Yeah. So where did this 400k in debt come from then?
Brad Allen 18:29
So then…
Josh Hadley 18:29
I’m waiting for you to get to, you keep leaving the flip hangers.
Brad Allen 18:38
So I kind of took those two ideas of the merch by Amazon where you’re outsourcing this design work. And then I launched a couple like wine glasses. And I was like, oh, well, I’ll just outsource this design work. Stay in this gift category where it’s just endless the opportunities, in terms of niches like gifts for Dad gifts for mom, llama lover gifts, I mean, gifts for runners, there’s an insane amount of opportunities there. So I ended up finding like a higher-end vehicle than like instead of the wineglass that I could display my designs on and these just like really took off. And no matter what I put out there, it would just land like I would rank really quickly. So all of a sudden, this was in 2019. Simultaneously, my friend was interested in Amazon. So I just kind of started teaching him everything that I was doing, and I was like, hey, this product I have is awesome. You just need to create some designs. I’ll show you how. And we will both we will launch at the same time or like consistently, but we’ll stay out of each other’s categories. So I was doing that I was like this, capital might be an issue. So I will use some of his, you know, the profits that he makes and put into my business, like Little did I know, like, exactly how much capital that you needed to run these businesses. So I think in 2019, we did like just under a million. And then, during COVID, in 2020, we did like four to five times. So, and all of our 50% of our revenue, because we’re in the gift category comes in November and December. So I all of a sudden, was doing five times, and then it was all on the back end. So I wasn’t doing a great job of saving money before I started this venture. So all of a sudden, I needed to buy all of this inventory to keep up with the growth, and then also have the product for that those last couple of months. So then around, like, a little after summer, you know, I’m like, I have to buy all these containers, and like, I don’t have the money to do this. So I had a business, account and then a personal account, and I had personal credit cards, so I was just opening, whoever would give me a credit card. I mean, some of them were small, like, because it got to a point where the credit card, like this guy’s got like 15 credit cards, and then I was taking small loans through my Amazon account out, the bank wouldn’t give it to me. And then all of a sudden, I’ve been doing well, the year before, and, like, had some money, I should have saved more of it. And then I’m at a point where I have to keep on buying inventory. And I remember, I was just like eating ramen, and it’s funny, because I like had a successful business,
Josh Hadley 21:40
Man, you’re seven figures seller, plus, and then you’re eating ramen.
Brad Allen 21:46
Yeah, we were low to mid-seven figures at that point, 2020. And I didn’t foresee the amount of capital. So yeah, that was very stressful. But I’m kind of definitely a risk taker. So it didn’t bother me as much as it might bother someone else. I kind of had that, you know, oh, this wall workout. And we had a couple of like, containers get caught up, and then I got worried. So it’s been in the gift category, especially as you’re growing is always risky. But apparently, there’s some sleepless nights, but I can handle it. So yeah, I had that debt. And then eventually, when I got ripped off on interest rates and all that, but there was no other way. But we made all that money and then some and then that we finally got over the hump that year. So that’s where all that debt came into play. So it was kind of funny to just try to, it felt amazing to start paying those off. Like when all that money. November, December, your accounts just bulging. And it felt great to pay that off.
Josh Hadley 23:00
Yeah, but I’m sure that was a, probably a pretty scary or stressful moment. As you’re like, all right, here goes all the wire transfers for all of this inventory. I hope it pans out like I hope, right? And it did, which is good, right?
Brad Allen 23:18
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it could have not like, I mean, this last year, I had a container that didn’t show up in time for Christmas. So we were okay. But if that would have happened, previous year that would have been detrimental. And then you have your loan people and credit card people saying, hey, you have pay this off. So yeah, I’m very grateful it worked out. Looking back, I should have been a little bit more nervous and worried than I was, but I’m kind of glad that I took that risk.
Josh Hadley 23:49
So what’s the lesson learned there, if you were to just kind of sum it up, they’re specific to building your private label brand, and you had to spend 400k And, and dive into some loans which you said was a little risky, any deviation of something getting held up could have been tremendously impactful on the negative side of your business. So what’s the lesson learned there for other sellers that are listening?
Brad Allen 24:15
The lesson learned is don’t underestimate how much you’re going to grow, or how much capital that you’re going to need. So, you hear a lot of people say, oh, everything that I make I put back in the business. And, you know, I realize that there’s a reason why they do that. Because, yeah, if we were only growing two times, it wouldn’t have been as big of a deal, but you never know exactly what your growth trajectory is going to be. And if it’s intense and you don’t want to like scale that growth back because you don’t have the funding. So financially, maybe try to figure out what your goal is or what’s realistic. Yeah, and make sure that you are putting that money back in and not spending that money foolishly because it’s a long term play, as opposed to like, don’t buy that car just because you like think, oh, I have like a one or $2 million business, I’m making us money, all the really great entrepreneurs, they really will not, they’ll live within their means and below their means while they grow. And I had always heard that, but like, I really, obviously understand it that well. So I would say that, and then also, yet, the different a lot of people look at Amazon, and I have tons of friends that say, oh, I want to get into it. And I look at these people, and I’m like, I don’t know that they have that risk tolerance, where they can actually put everything on the line. And that’s just entrepreneurs in general. Where, yeah, like, it’s one thing to say, oh, I want to make more money, and I want to have my own business. But you also have to realize that you’re gonna have to really take some risks. And a lot of these billionaires, I mean, you hear stories, how they go broke, they go, they’re like, oh, I’ve been broken rich, a certain amount of times. And that’s because they take risks. So yeah, realize it, like being financially intelligent, maybe forecasting, which I didn’t do, and then also being able to take those risks, some of the risks I was taking, were just almost kind of foolish, but like it worked out. I think that’s just sometimes I don’t think of that, I just think it will work out, which is probably, it’s worked out so far, probably a good trait to have. But maybe I need to be a little bit more responsible about that at the same time, because, obviously, that was a very stressful situation to put myself in.
Josh Hadley 27:04
Yeah, yeah. And I think that that is an important takeaway for anybody trying to scale up a business. You know, when we started our business, we started and I worked for American Airlines for five years, right? While we kept building the business, and I used my salary from American Airlines as that I call that my venture funding, right? That’s what we lived off of. Because when you’re in the physical product space, it requires a lot of capital to have to purchase new inventory, to be planning for upcoming events and seasonal spikes. And it does require a lot of capital. And so you do have to invest that you can’t just say, hey, I’ve got a seven-figure brand now, where’s my Mercedes? Where’s my Tesla, or whatever that is, like, don’t inflate your lifestyle as your business grows instead, like, just keep pumping into that business and down the road, you can reap those benefits. Brad, I want to get into, you’re in a very competitive category, right? You’re in the gift space. Now, I think many people as they listen to different podcasts and courses, they try to avoid gifts in general, because a lot of those gifts are kind of like broad keywords, right? Now, they have a ton of search volume, right, like gifts for mom, or Christmas Gift Ideas for the wife or something like that. There’s a lot of search volume for them. But at the same token, there’s a lot like, there’s just a ton of different results. And so you’re like, wait, what is the Amazon customer actually searching for? So what’s been your experience Brad, with your you’re trying to target some huge keywords that are very competitive? How have you found success there? And what do you attribute it to?
Brad Allen 28:54
I think, so as I was saying, a lot of the products I have, it’s all about the design, so you can kind of overcome some of those obstacles of the amount of competition and similar products by having winning with a design so, and you can really find that out quickly. So there is the whole keyword strategy. So let’s say that I have a product, it’s like a gift for a mom, and you don’t really know how well it’s gonna do. You might not want to target gift for mom, like as your main keyword exact or phrase term right away, because you have zero reviews and you might just spend a ton of money. So yeah, some of the strategies I’ve done is maybe find a longer tail keyword that it might fit into, or maybe it says best mom ever on it. So why don’t we target that because, It’s a lot more likely if someone’s going to be searching for that, and then that will make sense. But yeah, I’d say creativity, what I’ve learned just for being in a space is, there’s not a lot of creativity, especially compared to Etsy, or Pinterest, or even go on, like red bubble. And there’s so many ways to find some creative ideas, and they’re not on Amazon, because Amazon, essentially is there’ll be, phrase, and then it’s a lot of Chinese sellers, and they just copy that exact same phrase, and maybe try to change around the design. So if everyone has that same phrase, and let’s say it’s even on the same product, and you come up with something that you either you think is clever, or you think is work, or it’s will work, or it’s doing well on Etsy, and then I use PickFu a lot. So, it could be two designs that are similar, or it could be, hey, here’s one design I like, that I think is funny, but here’s another design that’s completely different, my target markets 30-year-old women to six-year-old women like the target market, so, I will pick those and my PickFu when I create the campaign, and then have those side to side, and the thing with PickFu through two is people will write like paragraphs, so yeah, some really good, you get some really good info. And then also, the people that are buying on Amazon, sometimes I’ll have a really what I think is a really cool design, and then one, it’s just like n, and then and then I’ll run the poll, and everyone picks the eh one, just the, the, the I don’t like it’s people don’t take risks. And that’s like, kind of how a lot of things are, like, even like in the movie industry, they’re doing a lot of sequels. And like, all the algorithms are like, telling you what people like. And everyone’s so scared to go like outside of what the algorithms are telling them, because then you’re taking a risk. And it might benefit you. And I’ve had a couple products where I’ve launched them, and right away, they’re like, they just convert, convert, convert. And then all of a sudden, you have a unique product, that maybe the product itself is not unique, everyone, let’s say it’s like a coffee mug, everyone has that mug, but everyone’s mug says essentially the same thing in a different design, and you come up with something different. So now and that’s why you got to buy a lot of inventory if I really like, you know, an idea, because then you don’t want to run out. But yeah, then you start gaining rank, you start getting your reviews. And then when the sellers come in to rip you off, you’re so far ahead of the game, that them just having a lower price isn’t really gonna bump them up. A because they can’t copy your design exactly. But B you just have too much momentum going. Yeah, so I think the way that you in competitive situations or competitive categories, you just have to be more creative than other people, especially in the gift category. I mean, I don’t know that that applies in every category. But that’s kind of what I’ve noticed.
Josh Hadley 28:54
Yeah, I think yeah, I would echo 100% of that, where Amazon really is not the innovative platform where new ideas are coming, right. Typically, it’s all those other platforms you mentioned, Pinterest, RedBubble, Etsy, like, that’s where a lot of like, quick new ideas kind of come to light. And then Amazon, I feel like is one of the last places that you see innovation in terms of creativity and new product ideas. And so I think that does leave room for opportunity. Now, Brad, you mentioned earlier in some of our earlier conversations that you have some unique tools that you found to help maybe identify some trends, or to identify what’s selling well on Etsy, because it is a completely different marketplace. So do you mind walking through some of the tools that you use that allow you to move into a very competitive marketplace? But because you’ve done all this research and data, you can place a $400,000 purchase order and be like I’m all in and I’m confident in what I’m doing here?
Brad Allen 34:32
Yeah, absolutely. I’ve always used Etsy in general. And if you go to Etsy, and I’m just going to go right now just to look through stuff. So if there’s a keyword that I already know, then you know, that’s obvious. I can just type that in on Etsy and kind of see and what’s selling.
Josh Hadley 34:55
Brad if you want to share your screen you can share your screen here we can do a quick demo. So for our listeners, as well, check out we post all of the videos as well on YouTube. So if you’re listening to this audio version, know that there will be a video version that you can come check out. And Brad will have a little demo here for us showing us how he works his magic. All right, we’ve got the screen up and running.
Brad Allen 35:23
Okay, so if I just type in gifts for mom. So the popular now usually, like that’s how I used to find out like what’s popular, like you can look at all these. The way that Etsy does it though, is like some of these might not be good sellers. And you just assume it’s not like Amazon where like absolutely the best products are at the top that aren’t sponsored. Yeah, they just kind of like constantly are moving this stuff around. So look at the popular now. And some of this stuff’s custom. So you’re not really going to make any money doing custom on Amazon. But yeah, so just look at some of these, like ideas. And then you can also like read the reviews. So that’s one way and then like, I just like really getting into it like clicking on this. And then now like, oh, this is cool. This is personalized, but maybe there is another option. And then like seeing what else this person offers, where once again, this is custom. So probably not the best idea. But what I found is a website called E-rank, so this is free. Yeah. And then when you get the extended version, it’s like $30 a month.
Josh Hadley 36:46
Yeah. And to go back as you log in here, I want to sell on Etsy, it shows you like hairs popular now. And then here’s like, best seller, right? Are those good indications that those are actually moving on Amazon, like, on Etsy, like popular now is a good indicator or his best seller and indicator?
Brad Allen 37:08
Well, both of those any sort of tag like that is good information or is good. Like those are popular products.
Josh Hadley 37:15
All right, we’re in E-rank.
Brad Allen 37:16
All right. So this is just such a cool tool. So you can go to like what I like to do, and I’m just new to this too. But if you go too hot, this shows you for all of these different platforms, what’s trending, which is pretty amazing. So even like red bubble, some of these Halloween, obviously, it was just there, but they have just, unique keywords that you might not be thinking of. And then within that, you can really start doing research. So you can start with something real broad. So let’s go to Etsy. And like minimalist, like, that’s interesting, at five, there’s probably a lot of ways that that can go. Yeah, so you click on that. And this gives you a ton of good info. So this is Etsy, it’s telling you the search trend in the US. So obviously, there’s a big spike in December. So this has been kind of popular for a while. It’s not like, moving up, but Etsy competition for this words very high. And then it just starts giving you all of these other keywords. This might be interesting to you, but the minimalist wedding invitations and templates are popular. And then you go down, and then it’s gonna give you a bunch of similar keywords, which this is powerful. And then also within the Etsy platform, it’s telling you like, where there’s opportunities. So minimalist wallet, there’s not a ton of competition on Etsy right now. And it’s telling you to Google searches of 22,000. And then right there, you can click and see the Google Trends. And then if you go down here, now it shows you all of the top listings, so you can filter this so we were just talking about some of the tags that it had. But if I want to filter this by hearts, which is going to show you which products have sold the most all of a sudden you’re able to see exactly for that minimalist what people are buying, like the top products, so some of these the only downfall of this is that these are over an accumulation of potentially years that’s a lot of hearts. Yeah, that’s still you’re getting 146 daily views. So like, just use all the tools, they’re there. And this is a lot of jewelry. So I mean, it depends what you’re looking at, but like if we go to there was another one I just saw that was interesting, minimalist. Just right here. There’s like if you’re one of those people that likes to do research, I mean, this is the holy grail.
Josh Hadley 39:59
You could spend all going through all this.
Brad Allen 40:02
This is just the Etsy. So if you want to like go into something else, there was minimalist decor was a big one was. So that doesn’t have huge surge. Let’s see if there’s another one. That’s very high. Let’s see if there’s another opportunity.
Josh Hadley 40:19
And it also shows you I like how as we look at this, it also shows you like the level of competition, right? Yes. Etsy competition. It has it ranked like very high, high, medium, low, very low, right?
Brad Allen 40:33
Yeah. And then even like, this is interesting, happily ever after competition low, there’s 50,000 searches. So this is obviously just a phrase. So I guarantee there’s an opportunity where you could put this happily ever after on some sort of sign or cup or mug. And then, you would just have to cross reference with what’s on Amazon. If that many people are searching for it on Google then I’m sure on Amazon, they are to see it happily ever after. I mean, this is very low, very low. I don’t know much about it. And Etsy does a lot of SVGs, which is just, little…
Josh Hadley 41:15
Like templates.
Brad Allen 41:16
Yeah, templates. Here’s these wedding can coolers. Like these are like murdering right now. And like, these are just can coolers. So why not put it on like a tumbler or something else? And I’m sure that that’s on Amazon. But how about you just do a better design and like how many people are on Amazon and like, look at all these creative ways that people are putting it. And then let’s go to Amazon, and then just type in that and see how it auto-filled those sign? 7000 People are searching that a month. And then yeah, you can start getting reviews here. But if I just typed that, I mean, there’s a lot of signs, there’s then there’s books like this is potentially a great opportunity, because 7000 people are searching for this. And they’re not searching, I’m assuming for like all these audiobooks, or maybe they are like, I guess you could find out. But we see on Etsy, that there were no audiobooks, and there was that many people searching for it. Yeah, this could be one of those situations where you could come up with a cool product, no one’s targeting this that has physical products, except for these two people. And these aren’t even selling that well. So if you grab a hot selling product off of Etsy, and then target just have the beginning of your title happily ever after gift. Yeah, you have it, you potentially I mean, I don’t know how it’s gonna work out. But you potentially have this whole keyword yourself. Like, there’s no cups? And like, once again, you can find out what the longer tail keywords are. So yeah, I just and that’s just like one example. I feel like if you spend some time in there, and you have some ideas, and you can use helium and Jungle Scout to cross reference some of the words and see how they’re doing with Amazon, that there’s a ton of opportunity. So that’s the trends. And then monthly, but yeah, a lot of this is Halloween stuff. So it’d be interesting to see, like, if it wasn’t, but yeah, so I think this is a really cool tool. And just using Etsy in general, and then Pinterest seeing top pins. And it doesn’t have to be, I’m in the gift category. But I know decor is a big one. And you can make a lot of money doing that. And there’s a ton of products on really creative products on Etsy, that you could just kind of mimic and get from China and bring over to Amazon and really make a lot of money.
Josh Hadley 43:24
I love that any other software tools that you use E-rank looks like it’s amazing. Any other tools that you use them besides Helium 10.
Brad Allen 44:04
I mean, I use the brand analytics on Amazon a lot. So essentially, that shows you this same stuff where it’s the top 20. But then this is kind of one of my hacks, but I’m in the gift category. So in brand analytics, I’ll just type in the word gift. So it will tell me all of the top keywords that have the word gift in it. Don’t go to brand analytics and be like, all right, well like iPhones, number one, this is number two, throw in a word that’s part of whatever you’re selling, and then see what it spits out because then it’s telling you what people are searching for and what’s ranking the highest, like, closer to the category that you’re in than just completely broad. So I use those two, and then I follow a lot of my competitors, and just kind of see what they’re doing and like where they’re ranked and what they’re coming out with. There’s some aggregators in my space now. So it’s interesting to follow them and just see kind of like, what they’re doing.
Josh Hadley 45:17
How are they doing in general? Because I know everybody talks about the aggregators, and they’re not doing so well, when it comes to actually running the businesses at this point?
Brad Allen 45:26
Yeah, so the, the one aggregator there, they were one of the ones that were smart that and they kept on their brand owner. And that those, it seems like the aggregators that kept on the brand owner, and they work together, have done really well, like, especially during the big downturn, as opposed to the people that just thought they could figure it out themselves. I mean, as you know, like, when you’re in a niche, like, you become obsessed, and you know it would take them years to get caught up to where you are in terms of like, what you know about that niche, and like, just simple mistakes that you can stay away from, and like, who to follow, and like whether a product would work or not. So that’s something I’m not sure that they accounted for. And I think that, yeah, it’s so valuable, so the aggregator in my space has done, they do a better job than I do of, they’re bringing outside traffic, I think they’ve done some good stuff on changing the branding the boxes, but they’re not really coming out with new designs. So I will come out with new designs, and then like, look at the ranks of my products, and like notice that they’re higher than their main products, because it’s new. And it’s something that’s trending, it’s something that’s different. So I can kind of overcome my lack of like, I don’t have a team of 30 people running the brand, but if I can be more creative than within this category, that’s a huge advantage. So I think they could be doing better if they were actually launching more products.
Josh Hadley 47:16
And I think it’s so important here, I think you lead onto an important aspect. This goes back to one of the mistakes you made earlier, right? If you kind of think Amazon or just playing e-commerce, in general, is a passive income stream, like you’re sorely mistaken, because one of the most important things is that you’ve got to stay engaged. And the best way to grow is by releasing new products on an ongoing basis, even big brands that are doing 50 million plus, they’re launching new products on a consistent basis, because they know that that’s what’s required to stay relevant. Plus, I’ve even heard a previous podcast guest, Matt Altman shared with his experience. He believes that part of the eight-nine Amazon ranking algorithm is when was the last time that this brand launched a new product on the platform. And so Amazon, I think is favoring brands that are bringing new products onto them. And he said, when he’s launched a new product, he even sees some of the older products maybe even get a little bit of a bump, because Amazon wants you bringing more and more onto their platform. And I tend to agree now we know won’t know the true story of how much way Amazon does or does not give to launching new products, whether they do give you an organic bump or not. It is a good sound business strategy that I would recommend every business owner be implementing and always focused on new product development, new product research, because as you noted here, the trends change over time, and you’ve got to stay relevant and come out with new stuff. Would you agree?
Brad Allen 48:56
Yes, I would. How often are you? Because you have so many skews? How often are you coming out with new products? And it’s probably I don’t want to say easy, but you have it down where you can come out with new products easier than someone that maybe isn’t in that category.
Josh Hadley 49:13
Yeah. So we go into two new category like product categories every single month. That’s like our annual plan. Our number one priority is like two new categories a month. So what that requires, like if you do the backwards planning for all of that, what that means that I have to have a team that is analyzing and identifying 20 new product ideas every single week, right? Then from there, once a quarter, we’ll break it down and say all right, here’s our top 10. Every week we’re generating 20 new ideas. But then on top of that, once a quarter we’ll sit down and be like alright, let’s look at the top 10. Which ones are the best here? And then from there, we go through the analytics we review all the data that our team puts together Then we say, all right, this one passes our test. Let’s plot this on our roadmap. And so right now, we kind of have 18 months’ worth of like products that we know we’re going to be launching. And that’s my job is to make sure that we stay ahead there. Because I know that that is the lifeblood of the business. And what’s interesting, too, and you’ve seen this yourself, I believe that sometimes the things that you think you’re gonna move in and just absolutely crush, you’re like, it ends up being like flops, and you’re like, okay, but then the stuff that you’re like, ah, well, whatever. Like, I’m not overly impressed by it, but let’s throw it out there. And that just shoots to the moon, right? So it’s kind of using that entrepreneur mentality, you alluded to it earlier, that like, you just got to stay in motion. And you’ve got to carry that momentum instead of coming home or having to like, hey, it’s five o’clock, I’m gonna sign off, I’ve got to go watch the football game. And I’m just gonna veg on got to watch my Netflix series tonight. Like, if you do that, like, I’m happy if my competition’s doing that, keep doing it, right, you keep watching the Netflix series, because at night, I’m hustling, right like that. It never ends. And that’s how we continue to stay relevant. And then and pushing out new ideas. Always testing, always innovating, I feel like is the lifeblood of any good business that wants to grow and succeed.
Brad Allen 51:28
Is the creating the new products and coming out? Is that one of your favorite parts of the business? Or what are you drawn to the most out of all the aspects of running Amazon business?
Josh Hadley 51:40
Yeah, it’s definitely changed over time. And I think that every founder needs to go through these individual phases. Right? At the beginning, it was just my wife, and I right, and it was me doing everything, like do the product research, look at the opportunities, then once we have the product designed, I need to do the keyword research, I need to do the copy for it, I need to take the images and build the listing, right. So at first I was doing it all, but what I’ve been able to effectively do is like, identify where my zone of genius is, and where my zone of genius really comes into be as, like, the creative aspect of looking for new product opportunities, right? So for me, it’s can my team share with me, here’s some of the new ideas that we presented, then I can say, oh, I like this one, why don’t we merge it with this, we could then get some of the keyword data from over here that could feed into this product. So for me, it’s kind of like mashing it all together. And like creating something kind of newer ish in the market. Now I’m not an inventor by any means. But that’s kind of like my sweet space. And I know that like that’s really difficult to train somebody or create an SOP around like, well, you’ve got to look at this, then look at this, and then just kind of like intuitively know that if you did x, y, z, you’re gonna have this result, right? It’s hard to like, how would you tell somebody go paint like Picasso, right? It’s like, well, it was his own, like, it’s an art form in and of itself. And so that’s where I know, like, that’s my zone of genius. That’s where I provide the most value to the business. So what we have done is, how do I be able to spend most of my time in that zone of genius, right? And so over the last five years, it was, okay, hey, we found somebody that can do the keyword research for me. All right, perfect. We get that I’ve created an SOP, we got that in place, right? Then from there. I was like, Alright, now we need somebody that’s doing our listing images, okay, we get that person in place. We get a project manager in place that’s managing and making sure that we go through all of the SOPs that I’ve created, then you add in PPC like, but we’ve done this one step at a time. Yeah, a very methodical, and is there still a lot of tasks that I’m doing right now? Yeah, like, I still am the one that goes in and approves many tasks, and still works with many of our suppliers. And we hired a new VP of Operations now and he’s moving in to be that person, that’s going to be the point of contact with those manufacturers. So it’s like just taking it one step at a time. But I think it is important, like you mentioned, like, I understand my zone of genius, I understand where I provide the most value to the business, how do I get everything else off my plate, but do it sequentially. And create SOPs and hire team members, get them up to speed where they’re doing it? 80 to 90% as well as I was doing it, and that will be good enough.
Brad Allen 54:41
Yeah, I like just how you mentioned that. You don’t have to do everything all at once. Just take steps because then you get overwhelmed and you don’t end up doing anything. Yeah, if you’re like, hey, this is we need to figure out how we’re going to run ads and either like delegate it to someone else or create a team. And then like after we’re done with that, then we can figure out supply chain. And I just think that’s important. And something I’ve kind of figured out too is that, yeah, you got to narrow down, you got to do everything, one step at a time, because then you’re just gonna get overwhelmed and you’re not going to, make the right decisions or make any decisions if you don’t just take it step by step.
Josh Hadley 55:26
Yep. Totally agree. Brad. I know, we’re running up on time here. This has been a great conversation. I think a lot of people have got some great ideas from here. One other question I did want to ask you is as it relates to including the keyword gift, in your title, I’ve heard different opinions. That’s a no, no, or yeah, Amazon’s okay with that. What’s the rule that you’ve seen, like, including the word gift in titles?
Brad Allen 55:49
Yeah. So yeah, that’s really how I especially in the beginning, when I launched, that was my main strategy, and no one else was doing it. And that’s why I was ranking so high. And then all of a sudden, like, everyone started using that strategy. I’ve had no issues every once in a while, they’re like, the phrase cute gift is one that they will give you like, I’ll create a listing in the say, this isn’t against Amazon rules, you have 10 days. If not, we’ll suspend it. But yeah, like knock on wood there. It’s definitely really important in terms of, having that in your first four or five words. Because that’s what people are searching for. So and you’ll see, like, a lot of people are using it. So yeah, I’ve gotten like, you know, I guess a hand slap or just a warning on a couple and I’ve just created within the last month, maybe four or five products, and they all have gifts in the first four words. Yeah, I would say, you know, go ahead and do it. It’s really, really important, especially if you have a great product, and you’re going for one of those high-volume Hero words like gift for dad or mom gift.
Josh Hadley 57:14
Yeah. Make sense. You heard you heard it from the man who’s selling all the gifts. So I think everybody doesn’t need to be as worried about that, including the word gift in your title. That is okay. All right, Brad. As we wrap things up, I’ve got my three final questions I want to ask you. But before we get to those, I’d love to leave the audience with three actionable takeaways from each episode. Here are the three takeaways that I noted. Brad, let me know if you think I’ve missed something here. So action item number one, in takeaway is that you cannot view your business as a passive income business. If you do, that’s okay. But just know that you’re not going to grow that brand, to probably eight figures and beyond, you need to actively be managing it. And so number one is just, you need to set an annual plan for your business. And then you need to go execute it. If you truly have in your heart that you want to grow your brand to the next level. You’ve got to be paying attention to it, you’ve got to be working on it on a daily basis. So that would be action item number one. Takeaway number two, I think is the lesson we learned with like cash flow management, right. And this also kind of correlates with like being actively engaged in your business, you need, with a physical products brand inventory is going to be what can make or break your business in terms of cashflow. And so it’s important to understand like, you’ve got to in first invest the money in the inventory before you’re going to start getting paid back on that inventory. There’s a few things that you could dive into. And we didn’t do this today in the episode. But that’s why it can be so important to create some very favorable terms, payment terms with your supplier so that maybe you could even start generating revenue on those units before you’ve actually paid that invoice. We currently have that set up with some of our manufacturers and it makes the world of difference there. They’re kind of financing our business and being able to launch new products more quickly. And we can more manage the cash flow of the business to stay alive. And then action item number three, I think last but not least, is you’ve got to bring creativity to the Amazon marketplace. And Brad did an excellent job you shared us a great tool e-rank. And then you did a quick demo for us of how you can identify what’s trending on other platforms that are even more creative, right Etsy, RedBubble, Pinterest, and then how you can take some of those ideas and move them over to Amazon because that’s where the least creative space genuinely is and it’s a great opportunity. So those are my three takeaways. Brad, is there anything else that you would add that I’ve missed?
Brad Allen 1:00:07
That was a good summary? I think you nailed it.
Josh Hadley 1:00:09
All right. All right, Brad. So let’s wrap it up with these last questions. What’s been the most influential book that you’ve read and why?
Brad Allen 1:00:16
I’ve been doing a lot of some, like personal growth type books, but they do correlate to business. There’s a book called Psych-Cybernetics by I think his name’s Maxwell Maltz. And a lot of, you know, what he writes about, I mean, there’s a lot of brilliant stuff that he writes about, and a lot of personal growth books, or self-help, or however you want to categorize it are based on a lot of his beliefs. But after reading it, I realized that I think some of my success in the Amazon space can be attributed to consistently thinking and creating goals in my head. And like, subconsciously, your body will move towards those goals. It’s like a goal striving, being and it just needs direction. So in the shower, on a run, just thinking about, like, what if I did 2 million? What if I did 4 million, as opposed to a lot of people have the negative what ifs, and just creating like a crystal clear picture of what you want your business to be, and keeping that in your mind and your conscious. And then hoping that your subconscious, eventually will start taking those actions. And I think that that was a huge part of me growing my business. And I’ve been intrigued in applying that to other parts of my life too. And I not like some people say, like, the manifestation and like, use those words and get like turned off. But he breaks it down scientifically about how the mind works with the body. And what happens when you create these very vivid goals, and keep them in your mind, and in your consciousness constantly, like the great things that can happen.
Josh Hadley 1:02:15
I love that I’m a big believer in mindset as well, and visualizing what success looks like to you and the minds of powerful force that can figure out the way to get to what you have visualized in your mind. So that’s a great summary, Brad, love that I’m gonna have to check out that book. Next question is, what is your favorite productivity tool or resource?
Brad Allen 1:02:39
I’m really bad with this. Let’s see. I mean, honestly, I just bought a big whiteboard. And I didn’t have one before. So waking up and seeing those goals every day, like in terms of apps, I mean, I just, I don’t use anything different than everyone else is using. I’m kind of like old school, when it comes to that. I do like to use, I have a couple other businesses with people. So utilizing slack, so that I’m not constantly on my phone. So any way that I can use Slack as just a platform to like, combine ideas, and then have those readily available, and then find that whiteboard and like every morning, waking up seeing some goals that I have, and then also what I want to do that day, it’s like, unavoidable. And instead of even having an app on my phone, or just like, in my mind, those are two things that have been helpful for me.
Josh Hadley 1:03:43
I love it. I love it. Get back to the basics. I love the whiteboard. All right. Last question, then, who is someone that you admire or respect the most in the e-commerce space that people should be paying attention to? And why?
Brad Allen 1:03:56
Well, you had mentioned him before, I think he was on the show, but Kevin King, when I first started, I went to that I was talking about how I went to that billion dollar Summit. And when I went there, I literally like didn’t even have a brand. We were just like filling it, we would create products and just fill in like a name of whatever the product was. And the amount of people that he brought together for that summit, I thought was amazing. Yeah, just listening to him talk. He knows his stuff so well is he’s a very kind guy, but he’s also like, kind of no-nonsense at the same time, which I like. There’s like a combination of that. And he puts on a good Summit. And I think he’s just a wealth of knowledge, and an easygoing, humble guy. So I think that if you haven’t, like heard of him and most people have, he’s a great person to just start following and he knows everything that you would need to know in terms of being successful at Amazon? And if he doesn’t, then he’s connected to the people that do.
Josh Hadley 1:05:08
Yep, I definitely encourage our guests to go. Or our listeners to go take a listen to Kevin Kings podcast interview that we recorded. He is one of the first five I believe that was posted. So scroll back down and take a listen to that one. But, Brad, thank you so much for joining us. If people want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way to reach out to you?
Brad Allen 1:05:29
I just probably Instagram. AllenBrad85 is my handle. Yeah, I’m not really out there that much. We’re working on the brand and everything. So that’d be the best way. But hey, I wanted to mention that. I’m sure your listeners haven’t or maybe you brought it up. But you did win that hat contest at the last Billion Dollar Summit. And I thought that was really impressive. There was a lot of very successful high-level sellers, and you had the best hack and beat them all and won the money. So I just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware of that, because you’re a humble guy.
Josh Hadley 1:06:13
Well, thank you for that, Brad. Yeah, that is true. I won the hat contest at the most recent Billion Dollar Seller Summit. And yeah, I was on stage with all the big guys that you could imagine. So I was humbled to, the audience selected me and my hack is the win. But it’s fun. And that’s what’s so fun. When you show up to that Billion Dollar Seller Summit, and any Amazon conferences for the most part. BDSS is still probably one of my favorites. You go there. And just by showing up, you’re rubbing shoulders with people that maybe don’t even have a big voice or name that you’ve never heard of. But they’ve got some amazing knowledge to share. So it’s all about learning and staying fresh on that, which is just why I show up to and I’ve learned a lot from you today. Oh, thanks, man. Awesome. Well, thanks again, Brad. And hopefully, we’ll have another episode that we’ll record in the future and see how things have progressed in the gift space later on.
Brad Allen 1:07:11
Cool. Sounds good. It was great talking to you.
Josh Hadley 1:07:13
All right. Thanks, Brad.
Brad Allen 1:07:14
All right. See you.
Outro 1:07:16
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