Athena is the mastermind behind the mastermind. Founder of China Magic – a 12-Day Sourcing Trip for Amazon Sellers, she helps Amazon Sellers scale to 7-8 figures through unique Events, Sourcing Trips and Masterminds to make life and business changing shifts towards more profit, prosperous relationships, and ultimate freedom.

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> Here’s a glimpse of what you would learn….

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley interviews Athena Severi, co-founder of Titan Network. Athena shares her expertise on scaling e-commerce businesses from seven to eight figures, emphasizing leadership, goal clarity, and the power of networking. Key insights include the importance of actionable steps, perseverance, and continuous learning. Athena also highlights the value of meaningful relationships and hiring the right talent. The episode provides practical advice for business owners aiming for sustainable growth, encouraging them to embrace challenges and focus on high-impact activities.

Here are the 3 action items that Josh identified from this episode:

 

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Episode Sponsor

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by eComm Breakthrough Consulting where I help seven-figure e-commerce owners grow to eight figures.

I started Hadley Designs in 2015 and grew it to an eight-figure brand in seven years.

I made mistakes along the way that made the path to eight figures longer. At times I doubted whether our business could even survive and become a real brand. I wish I would have had a guide to help me grow faster and avoid the stumbling blocks.

If you’ve hit a plateau and want to know the next steps to take your business to the next level, then go to www.EcommBreakthrough.com (that’s Ecomm with two M’s) to learn more.

Josh Hadley 00:00:00  Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough podcast. I’m your host, Josh Hadley, where I interview the top business leaders in e-commerce. Past guests include Kevin King, Aaron Cordovez and Michael E Gerber, author of the E-myth. Today I am speaking with Athena Severi, the co-founder of Titan Network. This episode is brought to you by Ecomm Breakthrough, where I specialize in investing and scaling seven figure ecommerce brands to eight figures and beyond. If you’re an ambitious e-commerce entrepreneur looking for that coach or consultant who can help take your business to the next level, reach out to me directly at Josh at Ecomm Breakthrough. Com. That’s E-comm with two M’s. And let’s turn your dreams into reality. Today I’m excited to introduce you all to Athena Safari. Athena is the mastermind behind the mastermind. She is the founder of China magic, a 12 day sourcing trip for Amazon sellers. She also helps Amazon sellers scale from 7 to 8 figures through unique events, sourcing trips and masterminds to make life and business changing shifts towards more profit, prosperous relationships and ultimate freedom.

Josh Hadley 00:00:50  So with that introduction, welcome to the show, Athena.

Athena Severi 00:00:52  Josh, it’s an honor to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Josh Hadley 00:00:55  Athena, love having you on the show because you have a unique perspective where you truly are the mastermind that sits behind all these masterminds. Okay. You’re bringing all these people together. And over the past decade, you and your team have watched. I don’t know, hundreds, maybe thousands of sellers go through and be able to scale their businesses from 7 to 8 figures. And I want to talk about that topic today. In all of your experience, you’ve provided these masterminds and events and speaking opportunities for people. However, I think there’s probably like a common theme that you’ve seen of what’s the difference maker between the brands that are able to scale and bust past seven figures, to go to eight figures and beyond? So, Athena, on that topic, what is it that you feel like you’ve seen over your past decade that you feel like is making all the difference in these brands being able to scale?

Athena Severi 00:01:40  Well, Josh, it starts with the leader.

Athena Severi 00:01:42  It starts with the person who’s creating the brand and creating the business. And I think a huge part of it is truly knowing where you’re going with your business. Understanding what your ambition level looks like and then the connection between the goal and action is so important. I hear too many people saying like, I want to achieve this, I want to achieve that. And then you find out that within the last few months, like, how many moves have they made with enough velocity to actually get them there? Right. And there’s ways that we can talk about today to actually create that velocity and to skip through and to kind of push past what would normally take somebody years. We can do it in months leveraging the power of connection.

Josh Hadley 00:02:19  I completely agree. And to be honest with you, all the big shifts that we’ve had in our business, I can trace back to attending an event where it’s just like it’s a simple mindset shift or it’s an unlock that makes all the difference. So Athena, maybe walk me through some of those things that you’ve seen shift in sellers minds that that unlock kind of that next level for them.

Athena Severi 00:02:38  So as I mentioned, I think clarity is key, right? So if let’s say you get very specific about the fact that right now you’re at 3 million in revenue, and in the next 12 months you want to get to five, right? We need to break that down. And we need to really understand what those actions are that are going to get there. And I know this sounds so simplistic. And for a guy who’s like in the 7 or 8 figures, they’re like, haha, that’s cute! The reality is the amount of sellers that we sit down one on one with, and we take a look at their plans and we take a look at the actions that they’ve been taking, and we take a look at how many things they’re doing themselves. They should be delegating to other people. And we see that they’re still taking on tasks that are five, ten, $20 tasks when that should be delegated. When we take a look at their books and their PNL and we look at their pipeline and we look at all these different things, like, unless you have these things aligned and you know where you’re actually going and you have clarity on them, you’re still playing amateur hour and you’re going to get amateur results, right? So I think a huge part of it is the guys who actually achieve it, unless they’re doing it off of luck, a lot of it is just having that laser focus on.

Athena Severi 00:03:35  I am getting to this here by doing these steps and knowing what those actual actions are, and paying close attention to every single detail and writing it like, like crazy, like those are really the ones that I see actually get there.

Josh Hadley 00:03:49  Yeah, I love that perspective. And, you know, I would also tend to agree. So I have a lot of people that come up to me at events that want to, you know, pick my brain. They want to learn more. They want to. They want to get to eight figures, right? They want to hire out a team. They want to do all the things that they hear other people talking about on stages. However, one of the common patterns, patterns that I’ve seen between the brands that are actually able to scale and move on versus the ones that just continue to get stuck in the rut, is the pace of learning. And when I say learning, it’s not me listening to the podcast episode, right? It’s not me listening to the speaker on stage.

Josh Hadley 00:04:21  It’s not me listening to my business coach. When I say learning, it’s actually saying, okay, I heard something good. I then implement it into my business. So it’s that taking action and implementing it into the business that I think makes all the difference. Because, look, there is no there is no secret that these eight figure sellers are like not telling you. Right? Like when I get on stage, as in I speak like I’m laying out, like, here is the playbook, ladies and gentlemen. But do you know the number of people that actually implement the things that I talk about on stage, like you’re talking like, less than 10%, maybe even it’s less than 5%, right. And they just don’t do it. And so like I think like learning is the implementation, the action taking stage more than it is? Like, oh, like I went to these events, I heard some cool things. Here’s the greatest PPC hack. Like, I feel like there’s a lot of people that, just get spun around in just kind of like always wanting to learn, but never actually making a difference in their business.

Josh Hadley 00:05:13  Would you agree with that?

Athena Severi 00:05:15  Oh, gosh, 1,000%. And I think that’s a huge reason why I’ve been trying to hack the system on how to get people to actually follow through, like down to having accountability, down to all of it, because there’s such a disconnect between, you know, the concept of what people want to achieve and then the reality of what they’re actually putting into action, which is exactly what you just said, which I couldn’t agree with more.

Josh Hadley 00:05:37  Yeah. So, Athena, so with that being said, you do organize a bunch of mastermind events and meetups for sellers, which is awesome. But we also just talked about how like, it’s not all about just like the things that you hear on the stage, right? Like it’s not just showing up to those events that’s going to be changing in your business. What are the mental unlocks that you feel like the eight figure nine figure sellers have that. Maybe the seven figure sellers that get stuck don’t have.

Athena Severi 00:06:01  I think it’s part of it’s the ability to think bigger, like believe it or not, like it’s orders of magnitude, right? Like if you can launch a product and you have the systems in place and you know what you’re doing, it’s like it’s being able to do that times a factor of ten or a factor of 15, and having the right systems in place so that you can actually get to those levels.

Athena Severi 00:06:20  And really, again, it’s being a professional. You’ve got to understand your cash flow. You’ve got to understand, you know, your pipeline. You’ve got to understand all of it. Because I see people who in their attempt to scale, they end up getting into cash flow crunches where they’re chasing, like we talked about the other day when you were doing a beautiful exercise with your young son. On how he was selling his keychains that were $5, and I prepaid for it, and you were talking about how, you know, a lot of sellers don’t even understand cash flow. So it’s like, I think that there’s just these business factors that people need to really have in place and understand. When most people are chasing the hack, most people are chasing that, like whatever thing they think is going to be the Holy Grail, when a lot of what really makes these businesses run is the basics. It’s having the right systems, the right plan in place, putting one foot in front of the other and not thinking that they can do it all.

Athena Severi 00:07:08  I still see guys who are doing, you know, multi seven figures with a couple Vas when in order to scale to that next level, they need to get out of their own way. So there’s just like a lot of these very key business perspectives that apply to an Amazon seller. They’re like an Amazon I want to just like debunk this. An Amazon seller is a person who owns a brand and is leveraging Amazon as a platform, right? Like we got into some weird thing years ago, or it’s like you’re some other know you are a brand owner and you have to use business principles that are going to get you to a higher level if you ever want to not just achieve eight figures. But here’s the tricky part. Sustain it.

Josh Hadley 00:07:44  Yep. And here’s what I love about that comment there. Athena. Right. It is true. Like if you just consider yourself like, oh, I’m just a seller and I make some money on Amazon, in my mind, I see that as a mental shift between like, I am a business professional.

Josh Hadley 00:07:58  I am a business owner. I am a business man or woman versus. I am a seller. A seller implies like I’m just making some quick cash here on the side. It’s like a side hustle. Now look, for some people, that’s exactly what they want. And if that’s what they want, then that’s great. But just like, don’t hold yourself. Like, don’t compare yourself to the other people that are actually business owners because they need to they’re operating in a different mindset. And so on that note, Athena, I’m thinking about this, the things that so this would maybe fly in the face of like what you guys do, which is putting together a bunch of events and bringing people together. But you just said it yourself, right? The operating a business like the system’s already there. There are a lot of courses out there. Titan has one of them. You know, seller systems is another. There are multiple like business operating systems in the Amazon e-commerce ecosystem. In my opinion.

Josh Hadley 00:08:44  It provides the basic foundation of how you need to be able to like, actually run an e-commerce business. But yet people continue to go. They are attending the webinars. They’re attending all the different conferences and they can’t get enough of the conferences. Like, sometimes I look at the people that are always somewhere traveling and I’m like, so when do you actually work? Right. When do you actually implement the things that you are learning. Right. And so my advice and recommendation to a lot of those people that are like continuously looking for that next golden nugget or hack, I promise you it’s not the hacks that get you from 7 to 8 figures. I promise you, it’s being a business owner and implementing business operating systems that will allow you to scale faster. Okay. And then it is the networking that comes. And from my perspective, the thing that here’s why I do the networking that I do. And this has been one of my biggest unlocks as we’re trying to scale to nine figures right now.

Josh Hadley 00:09:33  I know that the best people that I will be able to hire because it’s all about people, right? I listen to Alex Rossi. What was his year in review for the past few years is like, I have learned more and more and more how like people is the number one thing in business, right? It’s who are you surrounding yourself with in terms of who is your team? You bring on really, really smart people that can run circles around you and great, like your business is going to scale. You bring on crappy people, right? You’re going to be frustrated and life’s not going to be great. And so with that being said, the networking in my opinion, comes to, hey, who knows a really good Amazon PPC marketer, right? Whether it be an agency or it’s a person or who knows a great brand manager, who knows a great sourcing agent, right? It is those relationships that you can tap into with your network that identifies and can help you provide the right, who and your business faster than if you just try to go it alone.

Josh Hadley 00:10:23  So Athena, tell me more about that. Like is hiring. Do you see that as an important aspect of it? How have you seen kind of like connections within the community be able to like really like help scale people’s brands?

Athena Severi 00:10:34  Yeah, I think that’s huge. I think that there’s three routes that someone can go when they do the training themselves and they implement right to is they hire an internal team or three, they get a professional. And I think those three things are things that you have to really understand what your special skills are and where your focus needs to be. And I think one of the biggest things that I get asked is like, where do I put my focus? Like where should my energy be? When I get up in the morning? What tasks are the 20% that actually lead the rest of the 80%? And I think really having a good handle on that is huge. And then as you mentioned, like connecting with other people, I think one of the things that we need to stop is reinventing the wheel.

Athena Severi 00:11:09  Right. And like thinking that somehow I talk to people who are like chasing that hack. And there are systems that have been found over the last, you know, many, many, many years that if you just actually take that system and you implement it, you’re going to speed up your progress tremendously. And so I think it’s those guys who are like still, you know, do it yourselfers when they’re trying to get to that next level that just really struggle.

Josh Hadley 00:11:31  Yeah, I completely agree. There’s a lot of people. And sometimes the thing I, I even find a lot of sellers. Right. And I call them sellers because they have this mindset. How cheap can I go pay a VA overseas. Right. And they, they, they are proud of the fact that they’re paying somebody 2 or $3 an hour. Whereas for me, if I go hire somebody overseas, I want management level staff. I want management level capabilities from these people. That means I’m probably not paying somebody in the Philippines 2 or $3 an hour, right? I may be paying them 10 to $15 an hour, right.

Josh Hadley 00:12:03  That’s a really good wage over in the Philippines, right? It is. But like, that’s the type of talent that I’m after. And, you know, one of the biggest shifts that I’ve had recently at data is like, I’ve reread the book, Who Write by Jeff Smart, and it’s all about how do you attract and hire a level talent in your business? If it’s all about the people and it’s not yourself, like, I think it’s going to be pretty rare, you know, maybe I will help this, but to have solo business owners with just a couple Vas scaling to eight figures. Right. I think that’s that’s a tall order. But I know for certain you’re not getting there. You’re not getting to nine figures with yourself in a couple of Vas. Right. It truly does become like you’ve got to have a leadership team. And so in the book who talks about like, who do you need to hire for this role? It’s not how, it’s who. Right. And there’s different levels as you scale up as a business owner.

Josh Hadley 00:12:54  but I’m curious, Athena, because I feel like you’ve also within the tight network, you guys have surrounded yourself with really wicked smart people. So tell me the importance of, like, how Titan has grown by surrounding yourself with the right who’s.

Athena Severi 00:13:07  So this has been sort of my quest for the last ten years, is finding the brightest minds and bringing them together. Because our motto is together we’re stronger. And I truly believe that. Like, if I put you in a room with some of my top guys and you guys are having conversations on what’s working for you, you know what’s working for the other person. We literally just had an event a couple of weeks ago. There was about 48 figure and above sellers, and the amount of knowledge and exchange that was going on in those three days. It wasn’t just because of the level of seller, it was because of the depth of trust that was created amongst them. Right. They’re not going to tell you. I mean, one guy came in and dropped a hack that has to do with bundles, and it has to do with PPC, and that’s all I can say.

Athena Severi 00:13:45  That absolutely blew the minds of absolutely everyone. So like we’re not entitled. We say hacks don’t scale. But this specific one was like a complete game changer and everyone’s eyes just completely lit up. So I think that like one of the things that I’ve worked on since the beginning, and it really comes from my first experience at an event, is seeing that the people on stage, most of them are service providers, right? And they’re scratching the surface. Some of them are very smart, you know, but they go up there and they’re just giving you just a little bit to understand kind of the basics, because how much can you really get into in 30 or 40 minutes? Right. And then a lot of the problems with that is that, okay, let’s say you go on stage, you blow their minds. Yes, there’s a lack of implementation, but also they can’t reach you. Right. So when we created Titan, the whole idea was to bring through some of the brightest people, but then have them on hand so you can actually access their training.

Athena Severi 00:14:31  They put together the systems. And if you have questions or things that you need help with, you’re able to actually work with them. That’s why hiring a coach or having, you know, a mastermind where things are actually structured, give somebody who is trying to achieve that higher level the support that they need to actually fully get these things in place so that they see the results of it. And it’s not just another Facebook group, another, you know, presentation that you’re not actually implementing in real time. And don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of value in those presentations. You know, we’re heading to the billion dollar seller summit, some brilliant people there. You know, we’ve all gotten tons of value. there’s some really, you know, good events out there that you can pick up on stuff. But I do think that that follow through and that connection afterwards is key.

Josh Hadley 00:15:07  I love that you’ve taken me down another rabbit hole. that I think is this. I think a lot of people, and I know I didn’t necessarily know this when I first started going to events, and it’s become more apparent to me that, you know, with the more events that I’ve attended, you said it right.

Josh Hadley 00:15:24  It’s less about who’s speaking on stage and what they’re sharing, because you’re right, most of them right. Unless you get into certain rooms where it’s only the actual like business owners that are sharing what’s working in their business. Most of the bigger events that you go to are going to be a bunch of different agencies or service providers that are trying to sell you on their services, so they’re not going to give you everything. They’re just going to like scratch the itch and then you’re like, oh, I got to learn more. Oh, these guys can solve this issue for me. that’s not the purpose of going to the events, right? Like, I have never found success from listening to somebody talk and then going and hiring that agency or that person or whatever. Okay. but and I say that as myself as a speaker. Right. Like I will speak. I don’t even have a service to offer people. but what I am, what I have learned is this when you go to the prosper show, when you go to Ms..

Josh Hadley 00:16:14  Titan events, seller systems, events, billion dollar seller events, the magic all sits in what’s happening off the stage. And those side conversations and the relationships that you build with others. And you are going to continue to find those, those same people that show up at different events. As you deepen those relationships, you are going to be able to have those conversations like you just talked about Athena, where it’s like these eight figure brand owners are sharing with each other, like, hey, this is actually what’s working in my business, by the way. Don’t let anybody else know, because this is like a loophole in the system. Or we found this, this thing that’s working really well. And like, those are the things that will never get talked about on a podcast or on a stage or anything like that, because it doesn’t. We don’t want the word to get out. And so it truly does come to like what when you show up at these events. Who are you talking to? How many conversations are you having in the hall? that’s where all the magic sits.

Josh Hadley 00:17:03  now, Athena, I want to transition before we start wrapping up here. I want to transition to what is the mindset look like for somebody that’s able to scale? Because I think, like a business owner mindset is going to be different than somebody that’s just quote unquote a seller. And I think it stems from risk and perseverance. Tell me why you think those are two like critical components for somebody being able to, like, build an actual business behind them?

Athena Severi 00:17:25  Yeah. I mean, even in your intro, one of the three people you mentioned who’s one of the larger sellers you’ve interviewed, he’s a guy that I got started on Amazon almost ten years ago, and I got to see his entire career go through. I’ve gotten so many people into this industry, guys who already 6 or 7 figures into the 8 or 9. so I do think that I’ve seen a lot and I’ve also seen a lot of people fail. right? And that’s not something that people talk enough about. And I’ve seen kind of all of it.

Athena Severi 00:17:51  And I will tell you very clearly. Perseverance is probably one of the biggest factors, right. I had the joy of sitting in a room with the guys who created NordicTrack. what? Their son is actually a Titan member, and I was able to enjoy learning about their 40 years in business. Are you familiar with NordicTrack? The machines a huge household name. But if you if you talk to them, they had more than one bankruptcy. They’re board had done mutiny at one point. They had like all the stories and these are public stories of, you know, like think about you’re selling these giant machines in actual physical stores. And then the way that people do business shifts and like things like Sears is no longer a thing. And so, like, you have to move from physical stores to now e-commerce, but you’re selling machines that way. Who knows how much, right. And so the reason I’m bringing this up is because it’s that resilience, it’s that openness to change. It’s that not having an ego and not I mean, you’re NordicTrack.

Athena Severi 00:18:45  You think you’ve made it right. No. These guys are inquisitive. They’re asking questions. They’re learning, they’re growing. They’re networking at all times. They are learning from people. They’re reading books. They’re understanding. And so I think that if, if, if I could impart anything on anyone, just from my observations, it’s really being open, losing that ego and really trying to absorb the wisdom around you. I think that as we get older and more mature as business owners, we start to see that there is a wisdom with business in general that we should all be students of, you know, leadership skills, understanding, like every detail, like whether it’s finance, like you need like people you’re talking about Alex Ramsay like understand it. Like hiring the right people is is the difference between everything. So I think like I think when it really comes down to the guys that I see successful and the ones that, you know, sometimes they come into Titan. They might not have a ton of resources, but I’m like, this guy’s a winner.

Athena Severi 00:19:39  Positive mindset, perseverance, thirst for knowledge, lack of ego and being able to truly build that momentum. And here’s another one going deep enough. Like people. The reason we created is because no one had gone deep enough into every topic. Like even just the concept of brand, the concept of product development. I created China magic because I could see that a lot of Amazon sellers to this day. By the way, Josh, guys still go, guys who even go to China and think they have amazing relationships with their suppliers. Do you know how many layers there are to understanding how to do business in China? No, really. In terms of like negotiations, cash terms, you know, we have 90, 120 day terms with a lot of our suppliers, right? We’ve had guys finance our Q4 because at the level of business that we’re at, like cash flow is crazy, right? Like understanding the difference between, you know, having 7030 terms and working with Alibaba versus somebody who’s been to China, who has some sort of level of terms and relationship versus like there are levels deeper and deeper in terms of like truly having a relationship with your supplier when things like tariffs come up or like during Covid when things were really crazy, like having that depth of relationship has been able to make or break a lot of these brands and for our own brands.

Athena Severi 00:20:48  Right. And so I think that, people need to go deep enough on every topic themselves or find somebody who has been able to go deep enough and hire them. And I think that that is like a lot of the wisdom that I’ve pulled from ten years of working with some of the brightest people in our industry.

Josh Hadley 00:21:05  I love it. Well said. Athena. Well said. as we wrap things up, I’d love to leave the audience with three actionable takeaways from every episode. So, Athena, let me know if you feel like I’m missing something here. Okay. Action item number one I’m going to say is your rate of learning. Okay. Your rate of learning is directly correlated to the success and your ability to scale in your business. And if you rewind this episode, when I talk about learning, it’s not, hey, how many podcasts did you listen to? How many books did you read? How many stages did you or how many conferences did you attend, or anything like that? The rate of learning is this did you hear something and then immediately implement it into your business? And honestly, the best way to learn is like whatever the issue is that you’re dealing with now.

Josh Hadley 00:21:44  Go find a podcast episode about that. Go find a book about that. Go find somebody that’s talked about on a stage right. Learn it just in time learning and then implement it into your business. That rate of learning and taking action is going to propel your business faster than anything else. Rather than just continuing to listen, listen, listen, listen just for the sake of making sure you’re not missing out on something. Action item number two is going to be all about that perseverance that we talked about. Okay I love your story there with NordicTrack okay. 40 year old household name brand right. That we feel like oh it’s been around for ages. Like surely like they’re good right. Like they are set. They have made it. And it’s the opposite. Right. It’s no they are still continuously pivoting. When Covid happened it dramatically affected them. Right. And look a lot of the the current e-commerce, you know, industry is like all up in arms about Amazon raising the fees and things like that.

Josh Hadley 00:22:37  And it’s like, look guys, you can whine and complain all you want, but Amazon A is not going to pull them back be they are only going to continue to increase. So guess what? That hard thing needs to be seen as a good thing, because it’s going to force you to level yourself up in business. And B it’s actually finally building up some decent moats around Amazon, which I’m 100% game for. That makes it that much more challenging for a new seller to get on the platform and to actually have success. And so you do need to see every opportunity as an opportunity to pivot and grow the brands that have been around for 40 plus years. Think of Apple story, right? Has Apple been the Apple that we know it has today for the past 50 years? Heavens no. Right. Like they have gone through lots of ups and downs and twists and turns. So likewise don’t be surprised when that happens in your own business. But lean into those things. I know it’s uncomfortable, and I’ve been there, right? We had to pivot our business during Covid when we primarily sold party goods.

Josh Hadley 00:23:28  That was a terrible business to be in, right? And then we pivoted, and we have since been able to grow and expand even further than I would have imagined otherwise. So see, those opportunities truly is what they are like. See the challenges as opportunities. All right. Action item number three. Get in the right rooms connecting with the right people and do it behind closed doors. Right. And I say behind closed doors, say, implying the fact that when you go to the conferences, it’s not about the people that are up on stage. It’s about the side conversations that you’re having with people at your table, the person that you connect with at lunch or breakfast or at dinner or go out for drinks afterwards. That’s where the magic happens. That’s where you’re going to be able to really, you know, pick somebody’s brain, but most importantly, build a relationship so that when you are looking for the right who’s in your business, you can reach out to your network and say, who knows this person that does X, Y, or Z? That’s where the best talent is going to come from.

Josh Hadley 00:24:16  So Athena, those are my three action items. Anything else you would add to that?

Athena Severi 00:24:20  I think that that established for me right there just why you are as successful as you are, because you were able to pull three very easy action items from our conversation and make them very simple and actionable. So well done, Josh. I’ve been able to hack the system to be able to create those relationships a lot faster. And I think that that’s why Titan is as effective as it has been. It’s amazing to me that you were able to bring me that clarity just now is I’ve literally been trying to hack the system of how do we get people to implement faster, to grow faster, and to connect faster so that those relationships can become solid so quickly. And that’s really, I think, where my brain is. So even even just talking to today, I think just brought a lot of clarity. So thank you for that.

Josh Hadley 00:25:01  Awesome. Love it. It’s been a great conversation. Athena, I’ve got to ask you the famous three questions that I ask every guest at the end of each episode.

Josh Hadley 00:25:07  So, number one, what’s been the most influential book that you’ve read and why?

Athena Severi 00:25:11  I think I mean, so many books, but one that’s like really stuck out for me lately is ready, fire, aim. It goes through the different stages of business. Have you read that one? I have, oh, I love it so much. I think I need to reread it again because you’re just at a different stage at all times. It applies to any business, and I think it really establishes the failures and the successes that a lot of businesses I’m fascinated by history and learning about, you know, supermarkets that were around for 100 years and how one pivoted and one didn’t. You know, these are the things that can really help us as business owners open our minds to ways to always stay ahead. So I think that’s a really good book.

Josh Hadley 00:25:40  Love it. Great recommendation. All right. Question number two. What is your favorite AI tool or ChatGPT prompt that you’ve been using recently?

Athena Severi 00:25:46  I need to send it to you.

Athena Severi 00:25:47  It was one about being brutally honest and how to, like, get out of your own way. That was so powerful and so direct that it became kind of viral within Titan. People were sharing because it was asking them to have like a very high IQ and just be utterly brutal. And some of the things that said to myself and to others was just so spot on. So I’ll make sure to send that to you and you can put it in the notes of the episode.

Josh Hadley 00:26:08  We will put it in the show notes. How to have I pull you apart. I love it.

Athena Severi 00:26:13  Yeah, it was like roasting, but it was great.

Josh Hadley 00:26:15  Love it. Good. We could all use that. All right. Final question. Who is somebody in the e-comm space that you’ve done something. wicked smart recently, right? Whether it be PPC, whether it be sourcing, whether it be supply chain or project management, who’s doing some cool stuff in the e-commerce space.

Athena Severi 00:26:30  You know, I would like to give a shout out to Leyden Smithers, right.

Athena Severi 00:26:34  Just because with the tariffs, with the changes in China, the guy just went directly there and figured things out. And he’s leading our China magic trip in a few weeks, and he’s just been doing an incredible job, not just in leading Titan and trying to magic, but in our personal brands, which has made some very material shifts that have kept our brands healthy. Whereas, you know, if we would have just kind of been like, whatever, you know, he was just very proactive. So I think Biden’s doing some pretty amazing things.

Josh Hadley 00:26:58  Awesome. Well, we’ll have to pull his arm to get him on the show. Totally. Athena, this has been awesome. If people want to learn more about you, the Titan Network, where can they find you at?

Athena Severi 00:27:06  So Titan network. Com. You know, connect with us. Jump on a call with us. See if we can help you. China magic Trip.com. If you want to come to China with us and just reach out to me, you can find me on any social media platform.

Athena Severi 00:27:16  Athena. Safari. Josh, there’s just one little thing. If you wouldn’t mind, that I’d love to kind of impart on our final. Yes, please. I was going to go in for a five hour surgery. this was a couple years ago, and I was not scared, not even a little bit about it, until I actually had to walk out the door. And I had this thought, you know what? If this is the end. What if I never get to see my kids again? I mean, it’s five hours of being under that. That’s kind of a lot, right? So I wrote down a few sentences to my boys just on a little sheet of paper. right before I was walking out. And I know you’re a parent, and a lot of people can relate to that feeling of like, what would be that last message you’d want to leave people with, right? And I said, you know, a couple things. And then I said to my boys, I said, you know, I want you to live beautifully, right? And I think this Amazon platform is fantastic.

Athena Severi 00:27:59  E-commerce in general is amazing. It’s a vehicle to help you to achieve great things. But when it really comes down to it, what I wanted to impart as a mother, as my final words, in case they were, was to live beautifully. So I’d like to leave everyone with this last thought is live beautifully. Whatever you need to do to make your business create that life for you. In the end, that’s what it’s about. It’s about your goals, your achievement, your freedom, the people you love, the things that you do, the experiences that you have. And if there’s anything taking away from that, like sorted out with a lot of velocity so that you can take these years that you are on this planet and make them beautiful and impactful.

Josh Hadley 00:28:33  I love it. Well said Athena. Great way to sum this up. Thanks again for coming on the show today.

Athena Severi 00:28:37  Thanks for having me, Josh. You’re such a legend. Thank you so much.