Podcast Episode 206 – How to Future Proof your Amazon FBA Business

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Episode 206 Transcript:

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:01.8] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Full-Time FBA Show. In each episode, it’s our goal to help you turn part-time hours into a full-time income, selling almost anything on Amazon. Now, your hosts of the show, Stephen and Rebecca Smotherman.

[WELCOME]

[0:00:21] STEPHEN: Welcome to episode number 206 of The Full-Time FBA Show. Today, we’re talking about how to future-proof your Amazon FBA business. How to make sure that in the future, your Amazon FBA business is going strong and continues to grow and keeps going well, and someone to talk with us about that today is my wife, Rebecca. What is up, Rebecca?

[0:00:40] REBECCA: Hey there, looking forward to getting into this topic. It’s one that you and I talk about on a regular basis and it’s really important if you’re wanting long-term terms success to keep these things in mind and so I’m excited to get into this topic today.

[0:00:52] STEPHEN: Yeah, it’s going to be good. It’s going to be good for beginners, who we want to make sure are set off on the right path, and for those of you who have some experience selling on Amazon, maybe there’s some tweaks or things you can add to make sure that your Amazon FBA business is future-proofed and we’ll talk about that today.

[CONVERSATION]

[0:01:12] REBECCA: When most Amazon sellers first get started, it’s probably likely that they’re hoping that they can ride the wave of Amazon FBA reselling for e-commerce profits for as long as they can. They’re going on that momentum and just going along, hoping that Amazon will be the last income stream that they will start and that they can just ride that all the way to retirement.

That’s what a lot of people are thinking, maybe not all but a lot of people are thinking that, and so today, we’re going to share our best tips on how you can future-proof your Amazon FBA business so that could be a possibility for you.

Future-proofing is basically about preparing yourself and your business for long-lasting success. It’s about creating more opportunities and predictable growth, regardless of any economic downturn or recession that may or may not happen. So to help you future-proof your Amazon business, let’s get into our best tips.

[0:02:12] STEPHEN: Yeah, we got some tips for you, we’re excited to share them. Tip number one is probably one of the most obvious but learning to prioritize learning and development. You know what? Guess what? The fact that you’re listening to this podcast means that you value the process of learning and learning is fun. Learning is good, especially when you’re first starting it off it’s you know, it gives you some momentum, it gives you some energy, and you probably know that beyond this podcast, we’ve got a blog.

We’ve got a YouTube channel and digital courses that could help you turn part-time hours into a full-time income and we’ve said it before, we’ll say it again, the more you learn, the more you can earn and there is so much to learn. So much to learn out there but this tip is not just about learning, it’s also about development. Meaning, taking what you learn and actually applying it and putting it into action.

Too many people love the learning process but are scared to death of actually doing something and I totally get it. It can be hard to try new things, put some of your money on the line, and there’s comfort in what you already know, that’s why it’s called the comfort zone but the real magic happens when you’re outside of your comfort zone. So let’s get uncomfortable, put what you learned into action.

So start prioritizing learning and putting what you learn into action and just repeat that process again and again, and that can help future-proof your Amazon business.

[0:03:27] REBECCA: Okay, the second thing that we wanted to talk about today when it comes to future-proofing your Amazon business is that you need to be using the most effective tools that are out there for a variety of reasons you need to be using the most effective tools.

One of the necessary steps to building a business that is flexible, adaptable, and also will last through time is by staying up to date with all the latest tools that are available to you within that industry or that business.

So anytime you hear about a new tool, check it out and see if that new tool offers a free trial, and then, take advantage of the free trial, test it out for free, maybe pay for a month or more of a – so that you can maybe pay for a month if you’re looking for more rounded understanding of that tool, some more experience with it and what it offers.

You just want to try things out and see if they can help you and streamline things for you and even if you have a tool that’s already working for you, you might find a new one that works even better. I know that when Stephen first started selling on Amazon back in 2011, he used an inventory listing tool that had a companion retail arbitrage sourcing app.

But after he’d been using it for about three years, he learned about Inventory Lab that was now on the scene and it was so good when he tried it out. Even though he’s been using this other one for so long and he switched and so now, we use Inventory Lab and its companion are a sourcing app called Scoutify.

We’ve used them for about nine years now but we’re not married to Inventory Lab. If we find one that we like better, you know, of course, we would switch to that better tool and we would also share that tool with you too. So keep in mind that sometimes newer is better, not always, but make sure that you’re staying up to date on what is most effective as far as tools and services in the industry.

[0:05:21] STEPHEN: Yeah, absolutely. The third thing to consider when thinking about future-proofing your Amazon FBA business is to cultivate a marathon mindset and this is something we’ve talked about you know, on the podcast multiple times. Some people want long-term success on Amazon, but they have more of a mindset of a sprinter.

They train for short spurts and they do a little here and a little there and they don’t train for being successful in the long term. You know, during unpredictable times, resilience is necessary to future-proof your success. Learning to bounce back from failures and adversity, and to become adaptable to the change that’s going on around you.

Amazon has changed a lot over the last 12 years or so and in our experience of over a decade of selling on Amazon, there is never an Amazon change that will ruin your success. Although some people act like the sky is about to fall, there are ways to react and act and be able to make these changes, maybe make them work for you.

But there’s never going to be a change that’s going to really shut yourself, that’s going to shut your Amazon business down for good. I mean, unless you break the rules and you know, Amazon tells you that Amazon will shut down but if you stay with Amazon’s rules, there’s not going to be something that can really hurt you immensely.

A marathon mindset understands this is a long process but by following the path set out before you, maybe by a mentor, you are going to end up getting past those speed bumps and roadblocks, and you don’t let those failures or problems stop you from continuing on the path to personal growth.

Almost all marathon runners experience a hard moment during the marathon when your body is telling you, “Stop, quit running” but the committed runners know that if they stick with the process, if they can break through that wall, they will find a renewed energy, like a runner high on the other side of that – well, on the other side of that hard time because those hard times will come in your Amazon business but usually, the success is just past those hard times if you stick with it.

[0:07:13] REBECCA: Okay, the fourth thing we wanted to cover today is that you should document your accomplishments or journal your accomplishments. I don’t know, some people don’t appreciate that we ask them to journal or recommend that you journal. So if you don’t like to journal, record it, document it, whatever word works best for you.

[0:07:33] STEPHEN: “Dear diary, today, I sold” you know.

[0:07:35] REBECCA: Yeah, I mean, and this could be writing, it could be typing, it could be opening up a voice memo on your phone, whatever. So, we’ve talked about writing down your goals in the past and most people probably already heard about the goal-setting process. If you are new to that concept of setting goals and the process that you go through in setting and recording your goals, be sure to check out an episode that we have, episode number 64.

You can find that at fulltimefba.com/64, but beyond just setting your goals, one thing that a lot of people forget to do is to go back and keep track of your accomplishments. Journal your accomplishments. You know, the things that you would count as wins in your experience. So as humans, we have a very bad memory over time and as middle-aged humans, we especially do, and then when things get hard, we could forget about how things went when they were going well.

So it’s a really good idea when things are going well, when you’re experiencing successes to write those things down, to keep track of it, have a dedicated place where you’re writing down things that you feel are wins for your business and that way, you have something to go back to and remind yourself that things can go well. If even if they’re not going well now, they can go well. They have gone well in the past and they will go well again in the future.

So we suggest journaling about your wins not just listing them because sometimes there’s magic in those details. So not just like write down a three-word blurb about what happened but like write down full sentences or if you don’t enjoy writing, type it out.

Do that voice memo, where you just kind of stream of consciousness talk about what happened because as you go through this again in the future, you might read through it or listen to what you’re saying about these accomplishments and it could just spark an idea for you to implement in your business or you might come across an old idea that you had at one point that you just stopped.

Either it stopped working for you and you could try it again or you drifted and no longer were doing it and you thought, “Oh yeah, that really worked for me. I need to pick that back up again.” So when you’re journaling and recording your accomplishments, be sure you go back from time to time, schedule that into your schedule to go back and go over those journals so that it could just refresh your mind and your business in the long run.

[0:10:00] STEPHEN: The next thing we’re going to talk about when it comes to future-proofing your Amazon FBA business is to grow and maintain a strong network. Most Amazon sellers are solopreneurs. They are on your own and it can be kind of a lonely job. I mean, besides helping with the loneliness, starting and growing your network of Amazon sellers can be a huge part of your long-term success selling on Amazon.

You know, when you have a small group of trusted Amazon sellers to meet up with from time to time, it can be huge. In fact, I want you to listen to this two-minute clip from Kristy Winter from episode 195, when I asked her to tell me what are the most important factors of her Amazon FBA success and she talked about this exact same concept of building up a support network. So listen to this quick two-minute clip from Kristy.

[CLIP]

[0:10:50.2] KRISTY: The thing that has helped me the most in that is that I have a group of people around me, they’re all Amazon sellers. You can’t go into the normal world and talk to somebody about Amazon because they look at you like you’re crazy, they don’t understand what you’re talking about. Even if they’re business owners, they still – this is a niche and you know, most of the world around us does not understand what it is to be an Amazon seller.

However, if you find other Amazon sellers who are successful and are willing to help and be helped, which is I’m very fortunate, I found a great group of women who, you know, we’re all female sellers. This is our only job, we wanted to do this to be home with our families. So I have a great group of women around me and we mentor each other, you know?

If I have an issue, I will put out on our message board and at least one or two are going to message me back and say, “Oh, this is what I did” or you know, if I have a question about a product I really am on that, you know, where you’re on the hair-trigger between pulling the trigger on it or just backing off and saying, “Wait, maybe I’ll just wait.” I’ll message and say, “Hey, what do you think about this?” you know?

It’s not like we are in competition with each other, don’t get me wrong, you know? A lot of us are on the same listing, not all of our listings are the same but you know what we have understood is our helping each other makes us money, you know? So that’s why we can, although we’re competitors, we can pull together and have this group that helps each other and sometimes we get annoyed with each other and that’s part of being friends, you know?

Sometimes our programs are not doing what they should be doing, you know? So we work it out.

[0:12:39] STEPHEN: Yep, that’s awesome.

[0:12:41] KRISTY: But at the end of the day, it’s that.

[0:12:42] STEPHEN: Yeah, definitely.

[0:12:43] KRISTY: I would not be successful without this group.

[CONVERSATION CONTINUED]

[0:12:46] STEPHEN: All right, so Kristy was one of the people who we’ve helped get to a place in her Amazon business where she’s making a full-time income and she said one of the best things in her process was a group of people that she could bounce ideas off of and get some support and if you want to hear the full interview with her, you can go to fulltimefba.com/195 for episode 195 so you can listen to that full interview there.

So you can see that growing and maintaining a strong network of people who are going through what you’re doing can definitely help future-proof your Amazon FBA business. Now, it’s not going to happen overnight. You know you can try to find and connect with people of like-minded Amazon sellers either locally or online, that kind of needs to be on your radar. Finding people online would be through our Full-Time FBA Facebook group, which you can go to fulltimefba.com/Facebook.

If you end up connecting with somebody there, that would be awesome or maybe you can do a local meetup. You can go to fulltimefba.com/meetup to go to a website that kind of organizes meetup groups over specific topics. You know, maybe you might connect with someone there and be able to kind of form together a little social network but just going through this by yourself is not a good idea.

I mean, it’s doable but it’s going to be so much better and a better way to future-proof your Amazon business if you have a group of people that you are doing this with.

[0:14:01] REBECCA: And finally, one of the things that we highly, highly recommend if you want a future-proofed FBA business is to find a mentor and let them guide you. In any great epic movie, there is a lead character who is on a journey against insurmountable odds. That’s basically what those movies are, can be boiled down to.

[0:14:20] STEPHEN: Right.

[0:14:21] REBECCA: And this journey is one that they cannot accomplish by themselves but then along comes a mentor, who helps show the hero the way on that hero’s journey and teaches them some vital skills, prepares them for the path ahead. We’re talking about Luke Skywalker with Obi-Wan Kenobi or with Yoda, Harry Potter with Dumbledore, things like that, the list goes on.

A quality mentor can really help future-proof your Amazon FBA business for long-term success and that’s why here at Full-Time FBA, we offer mentorship in multiple ways. We have digital courses that can help show you the way but the best way that we can help guide and support you is through our flagship coaching system called The Full-Time FBA Coaching Program.

This coaching program is a 12-month group coaching program, so you are getting the mentorship and that social network that we were talking about and it will help you start making a full-time income by the time that that 12-month coaching program concludes. You can find out more about this coaching program by going to fulltimefba.com/coaching.

[0:15:25] STEPHEN: Yes, we would love to help you show you the way toward making a full-time income selling on Amazon and show you even more ways to future-proof your Amazon FBA business and if you’re looking for a taste of what we offer, we do have a free webinar tonight, September 18th. I know most of you listen to this on a replay well after the day it drops but if you just happen to be lucky enough to be listening on the day this drops, go to fulltimefba.com/stuck because we’ve got a webinar for you and don’t worry, we got that link.

We’ll also get you to the replay if you’re listening to this in the future but we’re going to talk through why your Amazon FBA business is stuck and how to get unstuck and again, I understand our listeners don’t always listen on the day it drops, so no matter when you hear this on September 18th when the episode drops or sometime later, if you go to fulltimefba.com/stuck, you’ll have one of three options.

You can either sign up for the webinar or you can watch the replay or you can sign up to be notified the next time we host our popular get unstuck webinar in the future. So no matter when it is when you hear this, take a few seconds, head on over to fulltimefba.com/stuck, and sign up for this webinar today.

[CLOSING CONVERSATION]

[0:16:30] REBECCA: Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of The Full-Time FBA Show. As always, we have the show notes and transcript for you at fulltimefba.com/206 because this is episode number 206 and you’ll also find any links that were mentioned in this episode at that link, fulltimefba.com/206.

[0:16:47] STEPHEN: And next week on the show, we’re going to talk through how to get the most from your online arbitrage descriptions.

[0:16:53] REBECCA: Descriptions?

[0:16:54] STEPHEN: Did I say descriptions?

[0:16:55] REBECCA: You did.

[0:16:56] STEPHEN: I will start this over, and next week on the show we’re going to talk about how to get the most from your online arbitrage subscriptions. Whether it’s a deal list providing you products to purchase or consider purchasing, whether it’s a tool that helps you save some time and make some money on online arbitrage, we’re going to talk through how to make the most from those subscriptions so that hey, you are able to save time and make some good money with online arbitrage descriptions – I did it again, with online arbitrage subscriptions. So we’ll talk about that next week on The Full-Time FBA Show.

[OUTRO]

[0:17:30] ANNOUNCER: That is all for this episode of The Full-Time FBA Show. So head over to fulltimefba.com/podcast, where you will find the show notes and links from this episode. While you’re there, subscribe to our newsletter where you’ll get several free downloads of our popular and helpful Amazon FBA resources. Now, take action on what you have learned today, so you can find success at turning part-time hours into a full-time income with Amazon FBA.

[END]