Shownotes
When you look at why many (most) businesses fail it is usually tied to financing issues. (Mostly underfunded) According to Mark “banks are the foil of the unsuccessful entrepreneur.” So are you leveraged correctly? Are you looking for a long term strategy to handle cash timing in your business? Mark wants to get you thinking about other than standard methods. (Remember why most businesses fail)
Mentioned:
Sponsors
Viral Launch – Save $50 with this link (Use coupon code: Momentum)
SPECIAL OFFER FOR MY LISTENERS ONLY
Gaye’s Million Dollar Arbitrage List
Tactical Arbitrage – Get an 10 day free trial with code: “Tactical”
Freeeup– Save 10% (forever) and get an instant $25.00 voucher for your first hire.
Amazon Accounting Podcast: Before we get into the chart of accounts we want to mention our course: AMZACCOUNTING SIMPLIFIED
WE CAN HELP YOU CREATE YOUR CUSTOM ACCOUNTING SYSTEM WITH QUICKBOOKS ONLINE AND MASTER YOUR AMAZON FINANCIALS
You’re overwhelmed with accounting software options and are afraid you’ll pick one that might limit you down the road.
You have no idea how to adjust your Amazon deposits for gross sales, refunds, and fees.
You’re confused about the difference between inventory and cost of goods sold not to mention how to track them.
You’ve invested so much time reading blog posts, downloading free accounting resources … now, you’re stuck on information overload AND still don’t know where to start! Then consider joining a program to help you build a foundation. One that can evolve with your business. One that can help you get control of your business once and for all.
Are you overwhelmed thinking about your business accounting? Do you not know where to start? That’s why we do this podcast. We want to help you the seller. Remember we are sellers too. After working with hundreds of clients we have we think the best simple chart of accounts you need to get your accounting system started. We have the answer…..
Sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get your copy!
Here is transcript- It is automated so it is not perfect but it does seem to get better over time.
Mark: [00:00:00] Products to make this whole thing work in the realm of the real. Right. Um, so how do we do it? I mean it needs tools to make that power, uh, of being your own source of financing come to fruition. So, you know, I am a certified financial planner and when I was going through my CFP training, they put you through your paces, Stephen. I mean it’s like it’s a four year. It took me about four years and I say me, but it’s actually me and my wife went through that together cause it was her sacrificing as much as me to get the CFP credentials. Um, and I probably read up and studied over 450 financial products that are out there.
Cool voice guy: [00:00:38] Welcome to the ecommerce momentum podcast where we focus on the people, the products, and the process of ecommerce selling today. Here’s your host Steven Peterson.
Stephen: [00:00:52] So you’re looking for an advantage to help you Wu at brand. While one of the tools that you can use this scope, you could check out their product and then check out their competitors and find the keywords their competitors are using and check out theirs and see that they’re not, and then say, okay, I’ve got an idea. Let me do this. Let me enhance your brand. That’s the thing you can bring to the marketplace. When you can enhance the brand, you’re going to win that account. So try it. You get a free trial, but seller labs.com forward slash, scope use the code omentum and save 50 bucks. It’s a free trial. Try it and see if you can enhance the brand. Add an important member to your Amazon teams. Solutions. Four ecommerce. Yep. Solutions Four ecommerce. Karen lockers team helps manage our Amazon account. We pay full price just like everybody else.
Stephen: [00:01:36] We’ve been using it for a couple of years and the reason is is because of the results. We modify a lot of listing, especially in wholesale because we’re trying to enhance that listing, right? We’re trying to help the brand and so guess what? That’s the type of service that we get from solutions for ecommerce. So it’s solutions, the number four e-commerce dot com, forward slash, wholesale and you can get $50 off her service. Go try it, give it a shot and say, hey, could you help me get this listing in line? And guess what? That allows you to go out and develop relationships with wholesalers. And then the work gets done by Karen and her team. I can’t recommend it enough. We use it again. We pay full price solutions, the number four e-commerce dot com forward slash wholesale, save 50 bucks. Get that important part of your team working for you.
Stephen: [00:02:25] It’s time to get the listings right. So what should you do? You should get your images right, right. So amazing freedom has a program to help you do that. And we’ve used them. It’s phenomenal what they can do. You got to go look at this. So you go to amazing freedom.com, forward slash photos and take a look at the examples of what you can do with an image you take and you give them some sample images. Um, some simple images. And then what they do is they take and um, insert them with lifestyle photos. And so all of a sudden you’re going to see an example of what a plain image looks like and then it can be enhanced to why is this of value to while you were in the wholesale business. And guess what? You want to add value to the brand. And this is just a simple way to do it.
Stephen: [00:03:08] They offer all those kinds of services. Scroll down to the bottom. If you really want somebody to help really improve this service and you want to bring value to that brand because you want it exclusivity, the services that they offer for a listing enhancement will blow your mind. So again, it’s amazing. freedom.com, forward slash photos, take a look at what you can do for your brands that you’re trying to get. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. This is episode 387 Mark Willis. Okay, this is definitely a little different. Um, and it’s kind of a real current kind of thing and it’s, the reason I had mark on is I’m very intrigued by this philosophy of self banking. Um, and you know, it takes us a while to get there. We kind of establish a foundation why it’s kind of becoming that issue. And I think the y is going to connect with a whole bunch of you.
Stephen: [00:04:01] It connects with me. So even if it’s just I’m speaking to myself, if somebody accused me to have, uh, not long ago, um, then I am. Um, but I think there’s several people who are struggling and trying to figure it out. And they get in this cycle and they borrow money, they pay it, they borrow money and they pay it, but they’re not getting ahead. Right. Their business is growing or it’s not, but they’re not putting more in their pocket. They’re not putting more away. They’re not establishing that emergency fund. Right. That they speak of. So this is a possible idea. Um, and I’m not saying it’s the only idea, and I’m not saying it’ll work for you, but I want you to get you thinking about there are other options. And if you’re not working on your business as an it says, then you’re going to be in trouble because you’re working only in your business.
Stephen: [00:04:44] You’re never going to get ahead. You’re just going to keep grinding, grinding, grinding, the world’s gonna Change, and then you’re in trouble. So in this case, it’s work on your business kind of podcast. And I think, uh, our guests, Mark Willis does such a great job with it. So let’s get into the podcast and then we’ll come back to the ecommerce momentum podcast. We’re excited about today’s guest. Uh, it turns out we’re kind of kindred spirits in our belief. Um, and what I’m very excited about, although this person’s not a seller, uh, per se like us, he has hundreds of clients that are sellers. So I always say, go for best practices, right? You do something once great. You talked to somebody else and they do it too, between the two of you can figure out a better way. When you get a group of a hundred, you’re going to figure out what’s the best way and so experiences the best, uh, the best, uh, way to, to growth and running a business.
Stephen: [00:05:35] And I think Mark Willis is here to help us figure that out. Welcome, mark. Glad to be here. Thanks so much, Stephen. I really appreciate you being here. Let me just read a couple a things about mark. He’s a certified financial planner. He’s from Chicago. Uh, he’s a bestselling author, which I can’t wait to hear about this book. He has a company called Lake growth financial services. It’s a firm in Chicago. Um, and I’ll have all these links in here and your cohost of a podcast, not your average financial podcasts. Correct? Correct. We like to keep the titles real simple and short. Yeah. Not your average financial podcasts. Um, and you know, it’s funny, I mean we’re going to get to your story and all the rest of that jazz, but what does not your average financial podcast mean
Mark: [00:06:21] to you? Well, I think there’s a lot that’s wrong with average financial planning. Uh, I mean w we’ll talk more about that later, but there’s, there’s a lot of mainstream financial, uh, pap out there, I’ll call it that. Uh, that simply isn’t giving thought to the realities of the stock market or to future taxation taxation or to, uh, your individual financial needs. A, you know, hey everybody, Max out your four one k oh wait, maybe taxes might be higher in the future. Is that a good idea for putting, maxing as much money into a tax deferred 401k if we think in, most economists do think that taxes might be higher when we go to take the money out. That’s just one slice of the big picture of what we’ve, we’ve tried to uncover in our show things that may, that you may have been told are true but might not actually be true. And so we just try to give folks the chance to think different about their money, their own personal economy and their own future. You know,
Stephen: [00:07:26] is you saying that I sit back and I think about, I had this discussion this morning and yesterday related to employment. Now our parents were, you know, go to work. Um, I think, I think, you know, I’m in my 50s, so my parents would have been world war two after World War II, they or there abouts. And so, you know, work was plentiful. Uh, you would go work in a manufacturing company because they were developed after the world war. Right. And they would go there and work for 30 years and get a retirement and then, you know, get a pension and uh, probably get health insurance for life or there abouts at that time, all that stuff was relatively normal. And so when we were in high school and then, you know, those of us who went to college, we were led to believe that’s the path you want to take because that’s still the path that was probably going on in the seventies and eighties.
Stephen: [00:08:20] And then it changed, right? And so that belief that we all had like kind of what you’re saying about, hey, you believe this tax thing is the right thing put away in a 401k oh, that stuff’s gonna benefit you in the future. Those things have changed. The world has evolved and I don’t think a lot of people have considered, we’re all in our fifties that’s it. We’re all struggling to figure that out. Hence the reason we’re all pursuing side businesses and then trying to develop it in a real businesses. Um, I didn’t think about taxes that way. I mean, I still would believe that Max out your four one k is the right answer. And now you’re saying, hey, Steve taxes could be higher, likely higher. And especially
Mark: [00:08:56] if you look at the election stuff that’s going on right now, they’re talking 70, 80%, you know, and, and, and so it’s completely different thinking. I mean, it’s like this whole generation has changed in or needs to change and think he’s a fair, oh yeah. Where was it written? In a the sky or on two tablets of stone that a retirement meant including a 401k. I mean, the 401k isn’t actually old enough to retire. I got its start in 1981. That was first issued 401k know what was going on and how did people save for their future before 1981, somebody had to do something to make sure that they lived and had a paycheck that lasted as long as they did. And what I love about the ecommerce space is one example is that it provides, uh, some interesting side hustle or even replacement income that you can take into your future years, uh, even if you’re not punching a clock at the day job.
Mark: [00:09:51] Uh, so that’s just, uh, you know, I guess it’s a reminder that just because things are the way they are today doesn’t mean that they’ve always been that way, or even that today’s way is the best way. Interesting. So in fact, I’ll say, I’ll say one more thing about this Ted Benna that the gentleman who discovered the salary deferral and election of the 401k and the tax code. So his name is Ted Benna. He is sort of known as the father of the 401k. We’ll, uh, about two years ago he came out and said that the 401k is a monster and it should be destroyed and we should start all the way over with helping our nation prepare for its future. Um, he said it’s been a total train wreck and a, it’s become something he could, he, he wished had had, uh, you know, if you could do it all over again, he’d point people in another direction, which I found to be fascinating.
Mark: [00:10:41] Yeah. That’s, uh, I guess, you know, they had the best intentions, I’m sure. Um, but it’s, the world has changed. Again, all this stuff changes. They don’t call mark and say, Hey, what do you think? The world just keeps changing without your input, doesn’t it? And nothing against the 401k. It has a place alongside the overall financial picture that somebody has a it, you know, after looking at your entire financial...