Shownotes
- Part 1: Why eBay
- Part 2: Selling on Amazon Handmade <– YOU ARE HERE
- Part 3: Build the Perfect Shopify Website
- Part 4: Introducing Facebook Shops
- Part 5: Everything You Need To Know To Sell On Etsy
- Part 6: Confused About Google My Business?
BUSINESS BUILDING INSIGHTS
- Don't fall into a saturation mentality. There is space for you even in a crowded field. The key is to provide great photos, product descriptions, and going behind the numbers to see what's working.
- Start thinking with a business mentality over handmade mentality.
- Showing up on multiple platforms increases your visibility and builds traction for continual sales.
- No matter where you currently are, the end goal should always be to have a website that you own. Don't rely solely on ecommerce running through a third party.
- Think of words that your customers will type into the search bar to find your product. These might not be the same words you'd use. Get in the buyers mind.
- You have to be consistent in all your efforts to reach your goals.
CONTACT LINKS
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Gift biz unwrapped episode 275,
Speaker:but you have to create those words that these buyers go
Speaker:find in order to even see your item inside of their
Speaker:search results.
Speaker:Attention gifters bakers,
Speaker:crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.
Speaker:Now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is give to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode,
Speaker:packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow.
Speaker:Your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there it's Sue.
Speaker:And as always,
Speaker:I'm honored that you've decided to spend some time with me
Speaker:today. And if you're new here,
Speaker:you've joined at a fabulous time.
Speaker:Obviously you can go back and listen to all the past
Speaker:shows, but we've just started a new series all about e-commerce
Speaker:meaning online sales platforms.
Speaker:It can be so confusing.
Speaker:Which one should you be on more than one?
Speaker:What about your own website?
Speaker:If any of these are questions you've asked yourself,
Speaker:then join the team because I hear these questions asked all
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:So I decided over a six week period to cover the
Speaker:top sales channels and give you all the goods.
Speaker:By the time we're done with this series,
Speaker:you'll understand the strengths of each channel.
Speaker:Be able to determine which one or ones are right for
Speaker:you and how to make your chosen platform work to sell
Speaker:your products,
Speaker:all the tips and tricks last week,
Speaker:we covered eBay.
Speaker:So if you haven't listened,
Speaker:go back just one podcast episode to get that covered.
Speaker:E-bay you may be saying to yourself that isn't necessarily a
Speaker:platform I'd consider.
Speaker:Well, stop right there.
Speaker:Give Christy a chance to explain it and then make your
Speaker:decision. You may hear some things you hadn't thought of before.
Speaker:I know I did today.
Speaker:We're going to be covering Amazon handmade.
Speaker:We all know the attention and heightened activity Amazon has had
Speaker:these last months.
Speaker:Did you know,
Speaker:there's a separate section on Amazon,
Speaker:specifically for you to sell your handmade products with massive activity
Speaker:on Amazon.
Speaker:Overall, it may be the time to have a presence there,
Speaker:but only you can decide and to help you do that.
Speaker:Let's dive into the show.
Speaker:So today gift biz listeners,
Speaker:I have a wonderful treat for you.
Speaker:I have Dana Midkiff with us.
Speaker:She is an Amazon handmade specialist.
Speaker:Seven years ago.
Speaker:Dana started handmade journey today.
Speaker:She has built a brand developed numerous product lines and mastered
Speaker:handmade operations through the years she scaled her business so that
Speaker:she could quit her corporate job.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Amazing. And she's hired almost 20 part time employees and soared
Speaker:above six figures a year.
Speaker:All on Amazon.
Speaker:Dana has researched,
Speaker:tested, analyzed,
Speaker:and hustled to find what works and now shares her learning
Speaker:with all of her handmaid clients.
Speaker:And we get to tap into that knowledge today.
Speaker:Dana, welcome to the gift biz on wraps podcast.
Speaker:Hi, thanks for having me So excited.
Speaker:You are here.
Speaker:I'm going to kick it off in a traditional way in
Speaker:that is by having you describe yourself through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to select a color that you love
Speaker:and a quote or a motto or saying that resonates with
Speaker:you, what would your motivational candle look like?
Speaker:Absolutely. So my color is definitely going to have to be
Speaker:pink. It's been my favorite color,
Speaker:my entire life.
Speaker:I actually named my business around it.
Speaker:My business name has pink in it.
Speaker:And the saying on my candle would a hundred percent be
Speaker:dare to dream,
Speaker:not trying to steal from like famous book quotes or anything.
Speaker:But growing up,
Speaker:I was very type a,
Speaker:I only had certain dreams within my repertoire.
Speaker:Did not think that anything like this would ever be part
Speaker:of my life.
Speaker:And so when I finally brought myself to dreaming about something
Speaker:bigger than a corporate world and working for the man,
Speaker:the entire world opened up for me.
Speaker:So learning how to dream and daring to dream has been
Speaker:basically the mantra that I've tried to live by for the
Speaker:last several years.
Speaker:And it served me well,
Speaker:That does beg the question,
Speaker:actually two questions.
Speaker:What's the name of your business?
Speaker:It's pink door Reeves.
Speaker:W R E a T H S.
Speaker:I say that.
Speaker:And people are like,
Speaker:what did she say?
Speaker:Cause they think that I said reefs or something,
Speaker:but we're talking about reads.
Speaker:Like you hang on your front door.
Speaker:We make them for all year round,
Speaker:lots of seasons.
Speaker:Obviously we're very seasonal.
Speaker:So the end of the year is more busy for us,
Speaker:but it's raised that,
Speaker:that you can hang on your door from January to December.
Speaker:Beautiful. And I love wreath.
Speaker:So that's Perfect.
Speaker:Perfect. And to share with us a little bit about that
Speaker:point where you decided,
Speaker:okay, I'm done working corporate,
Speaker:like I'm not going to do that because I think a
Speaker:lot of people,
Speaker:our listeners here included think that,
Speaker:see other people doing it,
Speaker:but when they turn the mirror over to themselves,
Speaker:they're like not so sure.
Speaker:What was the pivotal point that made you actually do that?
Speaker:Not quit corporate,
Speaker:but start like get the idea.
Speaker:Yeah. So I started the business basically to pay off credit
Speaker:cards. Like how most of us start we're taking this,
Speaker:maybe this talent or we're browsing Pinterest and figuring out what
Speaker:it is that we think we want to try to make
Speaker:to pay off that couple of hundred dollars that we just
Speaker:can't seem to knock away at.
Speaker:And so when it started with that,
Speaker:I was a CPA.
Speaker:So I was working long,
Speaker:long hours.
Speaker:I was doing taxes and audits and trying to do this
Speaker:on the side,
Speaker:trying to hustle and a couple years in doing 60 hours
Speaker:a week and then turning around and doing this job,
Speaker:running this business basically from 9:00 PM till midnight,
Speaker:every night.
Speaker:Cause at that point I had two children.
Speaker:It became a moment of sitting on the stairs in my
Speaker:living room,
Speaker:really just crying my eyes out,
Speaker:going. I cannot do both of these things anymore and having
Speaker:the discussion with my husband.
Speaker:Okay, well,
Speaker:what does this look like for the next 10 or 20
Speaker:years? Am I going to keep being corporate or am I
Speaker:going to actually pursue what this might actually be able to
Speaker:be something more?
Speaker:So then we took the steps of trying to go part
Speaker:time, figuring out if we could make the finances work.
Speaker:And basically as soon as I did that,
Speaker:it skyrocketed and it became the apparent obvious choice that I
Speaker:could do this.
Speaker:I could make it work and I could not have to
Speaker:work for a corporate environment,
Speaker:the rest of my life.
Speaker:So that is interesting.
Speaker:All these things you're saying,
Speaker:Dana are just triggering me with the questions,
Speaker:but not everybody sees something sky rocket right away.
Speaker:Right. What were you doing that you thought got the traction
Speaker:so quickly?
Speaker:So I started my business in 2013.
Speaker:I did not quit my job and talk to her of
Speaker:2017. The big transition point kind of transitioning into what I
Speaker:have become at this point is an Amazon expert because the
Speaker:transition point was when they opened the Amazon handmade in October
Speaker:of 2015,
Speaker:in that I had a PostIt that sat on my desk,
Speaker:anybody who follows me,
Speaker:who's seen my Facebook and how I kind of started this
Speaker:journey. I had a posted that sat on my desk at
Speaker:my corporate job that said,
Speaker:get on Amazon or something like that.
Speaker:And it was this idea of,
Speaker:well, how do I do this?
Speaker:And then I found out that they were opening this handmade
Speaker:category and I jumped in both feet,
Speaker:like ready to go,
Speaker:learning everything I could figuring out how it was that I
Speaker:could scale.
Speaker:And as soon as I got on there,
Speaker:the traction picked up,
Speaker:I'm an Etsy seller.
Speaker:That's where I started.
Speaker:Well, I started inside of just selling in my community and
Speaker:stuff. But as most handmade artists are,
Speaker:we gravitate.
Speaker:If you're doing these handmade artistry,
Speaker:things you're gravitating towards Etsy.
Speaker:So I did that,
Speaker:but the sales and the increase just by getting seen by
Speaker:so many more people on Amazon was a game changer for
Speaker:me. Interesting.
Speaker:Well, you know,
Speaker:Etsy for a long time was really the only player for
Speaker:handmade specifically.
Speaker:So that makes total sense.
Speaker:So it's almost like that little sticky note just like came
Speaker:to life for you.
Speaker:Like you put it out into the universe,
Speaker:Amazon heard and started handmade.
Speaker:So let's just go with that.
Speaker:Yeah. A lot of people are intimidated by the idea of
Speaker:it. Cause they think that you have to have the UPC
Speaker:and you have to be this legitimate product.
Speaker:And that's what the handmade category changed was the ability to
Speaker:adapt to the people like us who are just making a
Speaker:crochet blanket or a candle or whatever it is that you
Speaker:decide that your passion is.
Speaker:You don't have to fit into that Amazon mold anymore.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. So I think you've already answered this,
Speaker:but let's do it one more time just to underline it
Speaker:as a statement.
Speaker:Why do you think Amazon handmade is the best place?
Speaker:When now there are a number of them Options out there?
Speaker:Absolutely it hands down.
Speaker:It's the users and the users flocked to Amazon because of
Speaker:the way that Amazon structures our platform.
Speaker:They hold their sellers to a really high standard.
Speaker:They hold their buyers to a really high standard.
Speaker:They make sure that what you're doing is actually providing the
Speaker:utmost customer service to their people.
Speaker:And in doing that,
Speaker:the customers flock to Amazon.
Speaker:So you're used to getting the things in two days,
Speaker:or you're used to being able to contact an Amazon customer
Speaker:service, to answer your questions and stuff.
Speaker:All of those things are still required of an Amazon seller
Speaker:who's selling inside of handmade.
Speaker:And so being able to provide that business model that fits
Speaker:into what Amazon needs of excellent customer service,
Speaker:great products,
Speaker:being able to fulfill in high quantities,
Speaker:all of these things have launched into a different type of
Speaker:handmade business than what you might necessarily see on Etsy.
Speaker:Okay. I mean,
Speaker:when you go to Etsy,
Speaker:you're specifically thinking handmade.
Speaker:That's what that was always about.
Speaker:Correct. But now Amazon with a handmade division also has a
Speaker:lot of other users over and above handmade that could then
Speaker:gravitate over there too.
Speaker:And there's a whole audience out there who don't even know
Speaker:that Etsy exists.
Speaker:Like as long as that's,
Speaker:he's been around a lot of handmade people know that they
Speaker:exist and the people who have decorated for their daughter's first
Speaker:birthday party,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:Etsy exists.
Speaker:But the people who just basically do some online shopping and
Speaker:they really only do it through Amazon,
Speaker:they have no clue that there's this handmade platform out there.
Speaker:So if you get onto the platform that they're used to
Speaker:shopping on,
Speaker:it's a game changer.
Speaker:Right. I can also only imagine what we've been through with
Speaker:2020 right now that everybody's getting everything from Amazon already.
Speaker:So have you seen from some of your clients that they're
Speaker:increasing even more because it is Amazon?
Speaker:Yes. Everybody in general,
Speaker:at least the people that I have talked to on Etsy
Speaker:and on Amazon in general have seen major upticks in the
Speaker:last couple months,
Speaker:just because people who never knew how to online shop or
Speaker:people who had only dabbled into it,
Speaker:had to figure it out in the last couple months.
Speaker:So everybody's seen a big uptick,
Speaker:but I mean,
Speaker:I have hit sales goals now that I was hitting,
Speaker:not until October of last year,
Speaker:I've already hit them in June of this year.
Speaker:I'm hearing the same thing over on my end.
Speaker:You're not going into local shops anymore.
Speaker:You're buying everything on it.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:And for yourself,
Speaker:just regular things that you're needing the toilet paper you're even
Speaker:buying on Amazon now.
Speaker:Alright. So for those people who don't know,
Speaker:cause I want to take this from the top.
Speaker:Can you share with us the different elements of Amazon,
Speaker:of which handmade is one of them As far as categories?
Speaker:Or what do you mean?
Speaker:Yeah. Amazon handmade is a specialty unto its own under the
Speaker:umbrella of all of Amazon,
Speaker:right? Yes it is.
Speaker:And one of the biggest confusions that I get from my
Speaker:clients is understanding that handmade is simply a category.
Speaker:And so they think that in doing that,
Speaker:that you still have to send the items out on your
Speaker:own, just like you do on Etsy.
Speaker:And so when you see that you have these items that
Speaker:you go on and shop on Amazon and you see this
Speaker:prom badge of things that can get to you in two
Speaker:to five days or in the middle of April,
Speaker:it was about 30 days,
Speaker:but we all adjusted,
Speaker:you see this prime badge that's on there and you think,
Speaker:Oh well I'm selling in the handmade category.
Speaker:That's not something that applies to me,
Speaker:but that is simply a method of fulfillment.
Speaker:And that is where it's been.
Speaker:The game changer for me is actually using these Amazon warehouses
Speaker:and doing what's called FBA,
Speaker:which is fulfilled by Amazon.
Speaker:So you can sell something in the handmade category,
Speaker:but you can either choose to fulfill it yourself.
Speaker:Like you would normally an Etsy order or whatever type of
Speaker:order if you're selling on Shopify or something,
Speaker:or you can send your items into an Amazon warehouse and
Speaker:have them send those items out to the customers in the
Speaker:two to five day turnaround.
Speaker:So that's possible for any product that's sold on Amazon,
Speaker:whether it's in the handmade category or not.
Speaker:That is correct.
Speaker:That is simply the fulfillment channel of how it is getting
Speaker:to the customer.
Speaker:It has nothing to do with what category you're selling in.
Speaker:Okay. Got you.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So we've talked about visibility.
Speaker:We've talked about the customer service and the usage and just,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's a very smooth,
Speaker:clean platform.
Speaker:We've all by now.
Speaker:I can't imagine any single listener who hasn't purchased now on
Speaker:Amazon in one way or another,
Speaker:right? Yes.
Speaker:So let's talk about if they haven't been on before,
Speaker:I'm thinking the best thing to do is just go ahead
Speaker:on to Amazon and look at the handmade category to get
Speaker:a feel for the types of businesses that are there.
Speaker:Yes. Because Amazon sells pretty much everything.
Speaker:I would suggest that Amazon could be a fit for anybody
Speaker:at this point.
Speaker:Right. It really is.
Speaker:I struggle when people have the whole saturation mentality because they
Speaker:have it a lot on Etsy as well.
Speaker:And so they look at it and go,
Speaker:Oh my goodness,
Speaker:well, everyone is selling baby blankets.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:there's no way I could find success in that.
Speaker:Well, they're also selling it on Amazon.
Speaker:The difference that you can provide to your customers is great
Speaker:photos. Great copy,
Speaker:great information to try to get that sell.
Speaker:So it's not something that you have to give up and
Speaker:decide not to pursue on any of those platforms.
Speaker:It is absolutely something that you can pursue and find great
Speaker:success. You just have to have a business mentality about it,
Speaker:having this handmade mentality that,
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:I'm just someone who's doing a little hobby.
Speaker:You're not going to turn around and be the seller that
Speaker:I am until you take it and grab it by the
Speaker:reins and do everything that you can to try to sell
Speaker:to these people.
Speaker:Right. I mean just how we are all in different places.
Speaker:And we go buying things differently.
Speaker:Like we all go to different restaurants for dinner.
Speaker:Right. Right.
Speaker:If we like handmade products,
Speaker:why wouldn't we go to different places?
Speaker:Possibly even online.
Speaker:I even have talked with people who have Amazon handmade and
Speaker:are also in Etsy,
Speaker:like different audiences.
Speaker:Yeah. And I still fell on both.
Speaker:Yeah. You still sell on a T also.
Speaker:I do.
Speaker:Yes. It's nowhere near.
Speaker:It's about 5% of my now at this point,
Speaker:but yes.
Speaker:And I have my own website as well for Shopify.
Speaker:Okay. So let's talk about that.
Speaker:I think that's so important.
Speaker:So why do you have your own website?
Speaker:I know it's a big question,
Speaker:Dana. No,
Speaker:the answer is you don't want all your eggs in one
Speaker:basket. I mean,
Speaker:it's something that takes a lot longer to get that traction
Speaker:and that audience,
Speaker:but you own that audience,
Speaker:any type of business that you're running,
Speaker:working on,
Speaker:not building it on someone else's platform is the end goal.
Speaker:Is am I aware I want to be in that part
Speaker:of my goal?
Speaker:No, I still thrive in.
Speaker:I'm still employing as many people as I am because of
Speaker:Amazon. But the trajectory is to even get those customers to
Speaker:become so brand loyal that they find me inside of other
Speaker:platforms, mainly my own website.
Speaker:Right. And hopefully then you have an email address so that
Speaker:you can track them,
Speaker:show them new designs,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:product extensions,
Speaker:whatever it might be.
Speaker:Not through Amazon though.
Speaker:I know that.
Speaker:Yeah. That's the tricky thing is Amazon owns their customers.
Speaker:So you can't really reach out to them after the sale
Speaker:or they're pretty picky about wheat can put inside of your
Speaker:packaging when you send it to the customer.
Speaker:But if you can create that brand to where they go,
Speaker:Oh my goodness.
Speaker:I really love this pink door reads that I got.
Speaker:Let me just Google pink door Reese.
Speaker:Well, if they do that,
Speaker:then they're going to find my website.
Speaker:Oh, Okay.
Speaker:Got you.
Speaker:And honestly,
Speaker:in terms of passing on all the information,
Speaker:that's not unique,
Speaker:right? Like most of the platforms,
Speaker:Etsy doesn't pass on information.
Speaker:eBay doesn't pass on information.
Speaker:Well, Etsy is a little more lax in it.
Speaker:They don't discourage you directing sales to your website.
Speaker:Like the information that you can put inside your package,
Speaker:you could put www dot
You're not allowed to do that inside of Amazon.
Speaker:So they are definitely the strictest.
Speaker:Okay. Alright.
Speaker:Well I want to talk specifically Amazon.
Speaker:So we keep everybody really focused here.
Speaker:So we don't get confused with all the different platforms,
Speaker:but that was a really interesting and good comparison.
Speaker:And now that I've said that I do have one other
Speaker:question, the comparison kind of for you,
Speaker:someone told me a long time ago that Amazon is more
Speaker:of a,
Speaker:just a volume play because you're providing the product to Amazon
Speaker:or fulfilling it yourself,
Speaker:but you're virtually trying to sell through product.
Speaker:So it's a value in play versus a relationship play,
Speaker:Which is more what your website would be correct.
Speaker:And I don't think I would argue with that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I see the sales that I see because I am selling
Speaker:in volume.
Speaker:I'm just reaching a larger number of people with that ability,
Speaker:the brand loyalty and that kind of thing.
Speaker:As far as selling that feeling and that excitement,
Speaker:you can do that some inside of Amazon with beautiful photos
Speaker:and making these sentences sound fantastic inside your descriptions,
Speaker:but you can only do that so much inside of simple
Speaker:listing that Amazon creates for you.
Speaker:Okay. Say you're selling in volume.
Speaker:Are you selling like wholesale?
Speaker:No, I'm just mass producing breathe.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:So you're mass Producing wreaths,
Speaker:sending them over for them to fulfill to individual customers.
Speaker:Correct. Got it.
Speaker:Okay. Let's take it from the top.
Speaker:If someone were to decide that they wanted to start an
Speaker:account with Amazon,
Speaker:what is it They do.
Speaker:If you go on to Amazon,
Speaker:if you just Google Amazon handmade,
Speaker:it will come up with the application page.
Speaker:And they're going to ask you questions.
Speaker:It is,
Speaker:if you're familiar with the handmade community,
Speaker:it's basically a juried type platform that you're getting onto there.
Speaker:So they're asking you questions as far as what percentage of
Speaker:your items are made by you.
Speaker:If you're outsourcing your stuff,
Speaker:how many employees you have because they are trying to keep
Speaker:from these things,
Speaker:being Chinese sellers or someone who is creating a facility that
Speaker:is employing 200 people.
Speaker:That's just making the same widget over and over again.
Speaker:That's not what they're wanting inside the handmade category.
Speaker:And so you're going to fill out this questionnaire that is
Speaker:basically proving to them.
Speaker:Yes, I am Susan Smith who is sitting on my couch,
Speaker:making these blankets one by one.
Speaker:This is the pictures of me doing it.
Speaker:It's just me.
Speaker:And maybe my mom helping me or whatever.
Speaker:You're playing up that aspect that,
Speaker:yes, I am handmade.
Speaker:I am not the rest of what you see in the
Speaker:95% of the other categories of Amazon.
Speaker:No business too small then.
Speaker:Correct. Okay,
Speaker:wonderful. So you fill out an application and then you have
Speaker:to get approved.
Speaker:Yes, they will approve you or not.
Speaker:And then you go on and you start listing.
Speaker:Now the biggest hurdle that people have,
Speaker:if you are in an Etsy mentality,
Speaker:is that the setup of those listings is drastically different.
Speaker:Once you kind of get the gist of how amazing Amazon
Speaker:is, as far as the SEO backend search engine optimization is
Speaker:what I mean by that.
Speaker:If no,
Speaker:one's familiar with what SEO means,
Speaker:but you have to create those words that these buyers go
Speaker:find in order to even see your item inside of their
Speaker:search results.
Speaker:But Amazon truly gives you lots of ways to have that
Speaker:information be found to your customers in lots of occasions and
Speaker:events and different ideas for what they could purchase it for.
Speaker:And you're really limited in that on Etsy.
Speaker:And so the broadness that Amazon gives you in that is
Speaker:a little bit intimidating to people sometimes.
Speaker:Okay. When you're starting,
Speaker:are there a certain number of products that are recommended to
Speaker:put up right away?
Speaker:Could you start with just one?
Speaker:You could absolutely start with one.
Speaker:There are people out there who have an entire Amazon business
Speaker:built around one product are most of them,
Speaker:those handmade?
Speaker:No, but think about someone who sells a certain type of
Speaker:item, say that they've sold on shark tank or something.
Speaker:Their Amazon account literally is just one product.
Speaker:So that idea that it's not so much of a number
Speaker:base it's that you get good traction that you provide good
Speaker:customer service.
Speaker:Amazon cares about the feedback that these customers are coming back
Speaker:and giving as to how you've provided this customer service to
Speaker:them after the sale.
Speaker:So it's not necessarily,
Speaker:some people say that there's a magic number on Etsy,
Speaker:as far as like that hundred listing threshold.
Speaker:I wouldn't necessarily say that's the case on Amazon.
Speaker:They more care about,
Speaker:do you have five good products that you can provide excellent
Speaker:customer service over and above just putting up a hundred products
Speaker:that might be sub par.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Well, I kind of feel like I'm thinking of my own
Speaker:habits on Amazon.
Speaker:I'm going,
Speaker:looking for a certain product,
Speaker:not necessarily looking for a certain business.
Speaker:Right? Right.
Speaker:So you're going to search based on the product you're wanting
Speaker:to buy.
Speaker:Now, if you really like that product and you want to
Speaker:see what else they have in their store,
Speaker:then that would be an extension of that.
Speaker:But you first start with always searching for the product.
Speaker:Correct. And that's where the,
Speaker:like the brand loyalty that we talked about.
Speaker:They're not necessarily coming and searching for my brand.
Speaker:Some people do,
Speaker:but they're not searching for my brand on Amazon.
Speaker:They're just searching for a high quality Halloween reef.
Speaker:Okay. And find nature.
Speaker:My stuff shows up.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:Okay. So we have our products online.
Speaker:How do we decide if we want to fulfill by Amazon
Speaker:or do it ourself?
Speaker:Do you want to do hands off and just sit back
Speaker:and watch the money come in.
Speaker:You want to take each individually?
Speaker:Is that a loaded question?
Speaker:No, it really is.
Speaker:A lot of it is.
Speaker:What's your ability.
Speaker:Like a lot of people I tell them to kind of
Speaker:get a comfort level with Amazon,
Speaker:with fulfilling the orders to the individual customers first get used
Speaker:to their messaging system,
Speaker:get used to the SEO and figuring out what words and
Speaker:where to put those inside of the listing before you turn
Speaker:around and just make a hundred of an item and send
Speaker:it into an FBA warehouse.
Speaker:It's not necessarily going to bode well for you.
Speaker:If you haven't still done that groundwork at the beginning to
Speaker:help get that item to be something that is going to
Speaker:actually put in front of people.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:And then I just remember when I'm out at exhibiting at
Speaker:trade shows in regular times often,
Speaker:and Amazon always is coming up to me,
Speaker:wanting me to be on Amazon.
Speaker:Now it wasn't Amazon handmade.
Speaker:It was just Amazon overall.
Speaker:And one of the things that first off,
Speaker:I need to have the email addresses for my product to
Speaker:work because I sell software in conjunction with a product.
Speaker:But also I wasn't as comfortable with the overrun that they
Speaker:needed. I think,
Speaker:I don't remember if it was two,
Speaker:three, 5% overrun whereby if someone returned something,
Speaker:you never got it back,
Speaker:it was just like lost product,
Speaker:kind of like spoilage.
Speaker:Is it that way in Amazon handmade as well?
Speaker:Well, it's essentially that you have to kind of build these
Speaker:things into your business and into your costs.
Speaker:So do you have more things that a customer might abuse
Speaker:the system a little bit inside of Amazon?
Speaker:Absolutely. But I always tell people,
Speaker:if you are running a handmade business,
Speaker:the pricing is a lot of times what is tripping people
Speaker:up because they look at it and go,
Speaker:Oh my goodness,
Speaker:nobody's going to pay $15 for this.
Speaker:Let me just charge seven.
Speaker:Well then you don't have that margin in there built in
Speaker:for the times that the refunds happen or that the damage
Speaker:has happened inside of Amazon.
Speaker:Do those things happen more frequently?
Speaker:Yes. Because you are hands off.
Speaker:So you might have an item that Amazon says is damaged,
Speaker:but you have the ability turn around and pull that item
Speaker:back into your own home or your own warehouse or whatever
Speaker:you're working out and see if it's actually damaged or not.
Speaker:It's not that they just take everything and dump it into
Speaker:dumpster and you never see it.
Speaker:And you get the money back.
Speaker:The Amazon says you should or shouldn't get,
Speaker:you have more freedom in that.
Speaker:Okay. That I didn't know.
Speaker:Okay. Yes.
Speaker:There's a lot of misconceptions out there that,
Speaker:you know what,
Speaker:you just send this stuff off and maybe I sent $500
Speaker:worth of stuff,
Speaker:but I'm only going to get $250.
Speaker:Cause Amazon tells me whatever happens,
Speaker:happens. Sorry.
Speaker:You're tough out of luck.
Speaker:That's absolutely not the case because they want you to stay
Speaker:and keep listing.
Speaker:Right. And now that there's competition all the more so is
Speaker:my thinking.
Speaker:Absolutely. Okay.
Speaker:And talking about price,
Speaker:I mean there's pros and cons.
Speaker:If they're fulfilling,
Speaker:then you're not boxing it.
Speaker:You're not taking the time in behind,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in a warehouse storing all of it,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:So there's pros and cons again,
Speaker:to consider as you're pricing everything,
Speaker:we're going to cover more about pricing right after a quick
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Speaker:Speaking of pricing though,
Speaker:I'm sure you can't just list for free and they'll send
Speaker:out for free and all of that.
Speaker:So how does an account work on the financial side?
Speaker:So you say that you can't list for free,
Speaker:but you actually can.
Speaker:There's no 20 cent listing fee like ft charges per listing.
Speaker:You can literally put your items up at no cost to
Speaker:you. Unlimited amount of items.
Speaker:Correct. Okay.
Speaker:Yes. Until you actually turn around and make that sale.
Speaker:So they do take a 15% referral fee from the sale
Speaker:of the item,
Speaker:whether you're selling it or whether they're selling it.
Speaker:Okay. So if you have a hundred dollar item,
Speaker:they're going to turn around and take $15 from that item,
Speaker:no matter how you sold it,
Speaker:if they were the ones who fulfilled that item,
Speaker:then you've got an additional fee over and above that $15.
Speaker:But you've got consider,
Speaker:like you said,
Speaker:you're not shipping that out to the customer.
Speaker:You're not actually taking the labor to box that item and
Speaker:print that packing slip and print that label and do all
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:So you got to take into consideration that additional fee is
Speaker:something that doesn't necessarily have to be as scary as it
Speaker:sounds. Now.
Speaker:That's not a set fee.
Speaker:A lot of people say,
Speaker:well, what's the percentage of that.
Speaker:I hear these crazy numbers where Amazon takes 30% and this
Speaker:and that.
Speaker:Well, it depends on the size of your item.
Speaker:It depends on the weight of your item,
Speaker:a lot of different things.
Speaker:So they're going to take a pick and pack fee from
Speaker:everything that's simply the labor for them and going and picking
Speaker:it out of their warehouse.
Speaker:And then the,
Speaker:basically the additional percentage of that is based off the size
Speaker:and the weight and that kind of thing that they're shipping
Speaker:out. So it's not a dollar amount that I can sit
Speaker:here and say,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:no matter what,
Speaker:going to pay 33% of the sales price to Amazon,
Speaker:it sounds like you just have to trust them.
Speaker:You do,
Speaker:you do.
Speaker:And that's hard for some people.
Speaker:And I completely get that.
Speaker:If I had tried to do Amazon FBA,
Speaker:when I was just starting out in 2013,
Speaker:I probably wouldn't have given them as much rain as I
Speaker:did in side of 2016,
Speaker:2017, because I had those margins built in,
Speaker:I had a little bit to play with and I was
Speaker:okay if some things kind of didn't go right in my
Speaker:learning process.
Speaker:Okay. So two questions.
Speaker:Do you have to be exclusive with your products on it
Speaker:Amazon? No.
Speaker:None of my items are only exclusive to Amazon.
Speaker:I sell the same things on my Shopify and Etsy.
Speaker:Okay. Do you change the prices on different platforms You used
Speaker:to have to have them price no higher.
Speaker:Basically. They didn't want you to be able to get it
Speaker:cheaper anywhere else than Amazon.
Speaker:They have changed that in the last 18 months or so.
Speaker:It was basically deemed illegal for them to tell you that
Speaker:you cannot do that.
Speaker:You can.
Speaker:And a lot of people do have their items priced higher
Speaker:on Amazon than they do on their Shopify or Etsy websites.
Speaker:Okay. Good to know.
Speaker:And so if you sell on Amazon and they fulfill,
Speaker:are you able to provide any type of box stuffers or
Speaker:brochures or anything that go with your product?
Speaker:You can add stuff into it that has to do with
Speaker:the product itself.
Speaker:You can even brand it as far as having your logo
Speaker:or that kind of thing.
Speaker:Well, you cannot have anything that basically what Amazon signifies as
Speaker:taking the sale off of their platform or taking the communication
Speaker:off of their platform.
Speaker:So you can't have an email address where they can contact
Speaker:you at your Gmail.
Speaker:You can't have a website where they turn around and go.
Speaker:Now I say this,
Speaker:but people go,
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:I'll just got the tuba lipstick in the mail last week
Speaker:from the Amazon.
Speaker:And it had these packages in it.
Speaker:Well, yes,
Speaker:those people are breaking the terms of service.
Speaker:Could you get away with it?
Speaker:Possibly. Do you want to risk getting away with it?
Speaker:No, it's not.
Speaker:That's not how you should be handling your business,
Speaker:whether you're fulfilling it yourself or fulfilling about Amazon.
Speaker:You're not allowed to put that sales tactic outside of the
Speaker:Amazon platform in any of your stuff.
Speaker:Right. But if the person who,
Speaker:for your example,
Speaker:didn't get it fulfillment through Amazon.
Speaker:It was probably someone at home who slipped that in.
Speaker:Cause Amazon wouldn't have allowed it in the first,
Speaker:Well, Amazon's not opening everything.
Speaker:Okay. They're sitting in the packaging that you send.
Speaker:So if someone turns around and think about it,
Speaker:you'd get a lot of these things in these plastic,
Speaker:poly mail.
Speaker:If you're somebody who sells handmade,
Speaker:you may sell your items in a poly mailer.
Speaker:You're going to send it to Amazon,
Speaker:possibly in that poly mailer.
Speaker:Okay. So whatever's in that poly mailer.
Speaker:Amazon's not turning around and opening that up to see what
Speaker:type of brochures and stuff that you've added into every single
Speaker:item. Got it.
Speaker:Okay. They're not filtering that stuff out.
Speaker:You just run the risk of,
Speaker:if they do do checks on those items,
Speaker:you don't want that stuff in there.
Speaker:Cause it could shut you down Out a brochure that lists
Speaker:all the craft festivals you're going to be at,
Speaker:for example.
Speaker:So Amazon is not super specific in what they tell you.
Speaker:They simply say don't direct the sale off of the Amazon
Speaker:platforms. So there's some lawns there that are basically tell people,
Speaker:you have to decide how risky you want to get with
Speaker:that. You have to decide how you want to interpret that.
Speaker:You have to decide what part of your business that this
Speaker:is important enough for me to put this information in here
Speaker:versus deciding not to put this other information in there because
Speaker:this one is borderline.
Speaker:Right? Yeah.
Speaker:And so you decide,
Speaker:look, I,
Speaker:I feel like that if Amazon were to confront me on
Speaker:this and say,
Speaker:you really shouldn't have this in there,
Speaker:I feel like I could stay in my ground and justify
Speaker:it. And so,
Speaker:and so great.
Speaker:That's your business decision.
Speaker:It's not something that I can tell you.
Speaker:Yes. Amazon will shut you down or they won't,
Speaker:it's a very gray area and they kind of leave it
Speaker:up to you to interpret that.
Speaker:But in doing that,
Speaker:you know that if they come back at you and say,
Speaker:okay, this isn't allowed and you might have to face the
Speaker:consequences of that,
Speaker:right. It might depend on how nice the person is.
Speaker:You're talking to them.
Speaker:Absolutely very subjective there.
Speaker:So seller central is nothing that basically do you contact on
Speaker:the seller side of Amazon seller?
Speaker:Central is nothing but inconsistent.
Speaker:So, Okay.
Speaker:So it's inconsistent,
Speaker:but how do you feel the support is when you have
Speaker:questions or need help with something Instead of the actual handmade
Speaker:department, they are very,
Speaker:very strong in their knowledge and in their support of their
Speaker:handmade artists.
Speaker:For the most part,
Speaker:a lot of times,
Speaker:what people don't do is when they're having an issue with
Speaker:a customer,
Speaker:they're having an issue with an item,
Speaker:they just go and contact basically the general Amazon and those
Speaker:people have no clue what to do with handmade items.
Speaker:They don't know the special rules that were allowed.
Speaker:They don't know the special return policies that were allowed.
Speaker:And so when you go and contact basically general Amazon,
Speaker:you're going to get a lot,
Speaker:a lot of different information.
Speaker:And that's very frustrating to people.
Speaker:But if you do it through the specific handmade tools that
Speaker:they give you,
Speaker:then a lot of times you will get a very consistent,
Speaker:strong answer to help you out.
Speaker:Okay. That's a huge tip.
Speaker:So if you're on the platform and you have questions or
Speaker:challenges, make sure when you're going to support you go into
Speaker:Amazon handmade.
Speaker:Yes. Okay.
Speaker:Wonderful. How about advertising?
Speaker:It is a huge part of my business.
Speaker:Okay. As it should be for a lot of people,
Speaker:like once you've become substantial and you are looking for consistent
Speaker:sales, I can tell you a lot of people who are
Speaker:a hundred thousand dollars sellers on Etsy,
Speaker:there's no way they could be that way without advertising.
Speaker:I feel like it's a certain part of kind of your
Speaker:overhead that have to build in to getting consistent sales and
Speaker:getting traffic that constantly drives.
Speaker:Because if you get that traffic that comes to one of
Speaker:your items,
Speaker:it's going to bring up the quality of all of your
Speaker:items. It's going to bring up the traction and the visibility
Speaker:that you get on some of the ones that either you're
Speaker:not advertising or you're not spending advertising dollars as hound,
Speaker:right? I mean,
Speaker:the trick is to be selling more than your advertising costs.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yes.
Speaker:But I think so many people are hesitant to do that
Speaker:and they just want to get onto the best platform that
Speaker:can give them the most visibility for nothing.
Speaker:Right. Then they want it to come free and they're like,
Speaker:Oh, well I'm already paying Amazon these fees.
Speaker:Then they should just let me be found in front of
Speaker:other people.
Speaker:Won't that's not how the world works.
Speaker:That's not how the business world works.
Speaker:You still have to pay for that placement and you still
Speaker:have to pay for the data because that's a lot of
Speaker:it is inside of Amazon.
Speaker:That's where your data comes from and figuring out what search
Speaker:terms are working and what's not working and what things people
Speaker:are trending towards.
Speaker:And that data all comes from running ads on Amazon.
Speaker:Oh, good point.
Speaker:Okay. So you are on at T first.
Speaker:At what point once you started your business,
Speaker:did you start throwing dollars into ads?
Speaker:It took me probably a little longer than it should have
Speaker:just because I did have that handmade mentality.
Speaker:I had my stuff priced really low and it was like,
Speaker:well, I don't want to give away 15% of the sale
Speaker:to ads and not really understand.
Speaker:But now when I coach my clients through their SEO and
Speaker:their ads and figuring out where to go from here,
Speaker:I like to try to tell them,
Speaker:okay, yes,
Speaker:we may only give Amazon $5 a day right now,
Speaker:but you start to get data from that and you start
Speaker:to get sales and they turn around and make that $5,
Speaker:$200 in sales.
Speaker:Well, I want you to remember that you keep that traction
Speaker:going. I want you to get to a place where you
Speaker:say yes,
Speaker:Amazon, you can take that $200 a day in advertising fees
Speaker:if it turns around and makes me 20 grand.
Speaker:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker:That idea that,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I might spend $200 today on advertising.
Speaker:Well, yeah,
Speaker:but also make 10 grand,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:or whatever that number.
Speaker:It is,
Speaker:whatever that conversion is.
Speaker:I try to keep my conversion rate.
Speaker:My advertising cost of sales rate below 10%.
Speaker:That's obviously higher during holiday seasons and stuff,
Speaker:but realistically,
Speaker:I try to keep it to where I only spend 10
Speaker:cents to make a dollar.
Speaker:And you're saying that the more you advertise,
Speaker:the more knowledge Amazon has.
Speaker:So the stronger your dollar performs as you continue on.
Speaker:Yes. How long Do you think you need to,
Speaker:let's just go with your $5 a day that you were
Speaker:talking earlier,
Speaker:which for a lot of people,
Speaker:when that adds up to a month is a huge chunk
Speaker:of money,
Speaker:Right? Oh yeah.
Speaker:So How long do you need to do that?
Speaker:Now we're going to say that there's a market for your
Speaker:product. Okay.
Speaker:Because we know that there are some products that just aren't
Speaker:going to sell.
Speaker:We think they're great,
Speaker:but no one's going to pay for it.
Speaker:Okay. So it's not that kind of product.
Speaker:Okay. It's a product that will work.
Speaker:How long do you need to be making this investment before
Speaker:you can really see this is working and I am getting
Speaker:the, is it a build?
Speaker:It's a tricky question because so much of advertising is built
Speaker:on your SEO.
Speaker:So you could turn around and put $5 a day into
Speaker:something or $200 a day.
Speaker:But if your title literally says burlap,
Speaker:pumpkin, okay,
Speaker:that's not enough.
Speaker:That's not enough for Amazon to go off of in order
Speaker:to figure out what it is you're selling and who wants
Speaker:to see it,
Speaker:they'll take your money,
Speaker:but they won't really be applying it in a way that
Speaker:is necessarily beneficial to you or your product or your business.
Speaker:Okay. It's how much groundwork you've done and figuring out that
Speaker:people that want to buy your product and what it is
Speaker:that they're looking for and making sure that those words are
Speaker:something that Amazon can find you for.
Speaker:So on Amazon,
Speaker:yes, you may be selling a burlap pumpkin,
Speaker:but you also need to have the words in there,
Speaker:like Halloween decoration or Thanksgiving table decoration.
Speaker:Okay. If you don't give Amazon those words,
Speaker:your ads,
Speaker:aren't going to do anything,
Speaker:right. Because who's going to just search for burlap pumpkin.
Speaker:No, one's going to find it Right.
Speaker:That may be exactly what you sell.
Speaker:You may sell a pink baby blanket.
Speaker:Okay. But there's a million and a half other ways to
Speaker:describe that pink baby blanket.
Speaker:And you have to give Amazon as much ammunition basically in
Speaker:order to get those out in those search terms,
Speaker:to where those ads can actually make sense for more people.
Speaker:Okay. Good point.
Speaker:So let's say we put ads up,
Speaker:we go a week or so and not see any traction.
Speaker:Then maybe you need to go back and look at your
Speaker:words, look at your titles,
Speaker:but don't just discount and say,
Speaker:okay, ads don't work.
Speaker:Absolutely don't do that.
Speaker:Like I tell people to give it,
Speaker:like, if you're going to really,
Speaker:really commit to this,
Speaker:give it a good six months of constantly going in every
Speaker:week and tweaking these things,
Speaker:learning the reports and the data that it gives you.
Speaker:Another kind of caveat to that.
Speaker:You said a week Amazon's reports are notoriously 24 to 48
Speaker:hours behind.
Speaker:So realistically,
Speaker:if you only wait five to seven days,
Speaker:you might only have three days worth of actually good data
Speaker:there. So you want to try to wait it out two
Speaker:or three weeks,
Speaker:let Amazon just kind of churn through your listings,
Speaker:let them turn through your SEO,
Speaker:figured out what it is you're selling,
Speaker:and then take that data that they turn around and give
Speaker:you. And they may tell you,
Speaker:okay, you sell a pink baby blanket,
Speaker:but someone's also looking for a few HSA baby blanket.
Speaker:Okay. Well,
Speaker:I need to add fuchsia into my search terms.
Speaker:Okay. I need to add patient into my title,
Speaker:wherever it be,
Speaker:then Amazon can turn around and churn through that word now.
Speaker:Okay. So it's a constant building of having items being found
Speaker:of being on the platform long enough that Amazon can figure
Speaker:out what it is you sell and constantly giving them additional
Speaker:information as to what it is you sell Based on the
Speaker:learning. Cause it just gets richer and richer over time.
Speaker:Absolutely. So when you're first getting on,
Speaker:let your ads run for say two weeks,
Speaker:then start looking weekly thereafter.
Speaker:Yes. I wouldn't touch it for the first two weeks.
Speaker:Just let it do what it wants to do and then
Speaker:try to pull some data and figure out where you're going
Speaker:to go from there.
Speaker:Okay. And the same thing for any new product that you
Speaker:add, then give it some time first before you're looking at
Speaker:it. Yes,
Speaker:absolutely. What would you say a couple of the biggest mistakes
Speaker:people make on Amazon?
Speaker:Couple of the biggest mistakes.
Speaker:That's a good question.
Speaker:A lot of times it's not doing the SEO work ahead
Speaker:of time that you've started out and you see that someone
Speaker:like me has had found huge success.
Speaker:So they're like,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to go put up my burlap pumpkin.
Speaker:And they haven't figured out who these people are.
Speaker:They haven't actually sat down and done the legwork.
Speaker:So Amazon gives you this really cool thing in the back
Speaker:end, as far as what Etsy would refer to as your
Speaker:tags inside of Amazon,
Speaker:it's basically just this search terms box where you can give
Speaker:Amazon up to 249 characters of literally just brain dumping,
Speaker:a bunch of words.
Speaker:And when I go into people who haven't followed me or
Speaker:haven't learned all of these tips and tricks,
Speaker:most of the time,
Speaker:they're literally not maximizing out that box,
Speaker:maximizing out all of these fantastic words that Amazon can use
Speaker:in order to help you get found for so many occasions
Speaker:and gifting ideas and all kinds of things.
Speaker:So the example I like to get on Etsy,
Speaker:you might say that you sell a pink baby blanket,
Speaker:okay. But they only give you so many characters inside your
Speaker:title, and then you want your tags to match and you
Speaker:want all this and that.
Speaker:Well, Amazon allows you to also get found for gifts for
Speaker:girl, baby shower and gift for daughter and gift for granddaughter
Speaker:and gift for there's all these additional words that Amazon lets
Speaker:you get found for because that's how they search on Amazon.
Speaker:And so not maximizing that potential for only getting found for
Speaker:pink baby blanket,
Speaker:but also getting found for the 200 other different combinations of
Speaker:words that might help come into play.
Speaker:Right. Right.
Speaker:So you want to fill those boxes for every single product?
Speaker:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker:Because Amazon knows what to do with it,
Speaker:but you've got to give it to them.
Speaker:The other item that I would say is probably what we
Speaker:touched on before is not advertising,
Speaker:not understanding the ads.
Speaker:And so they just either choose not to do it or
Speaker:they only do it.
Speaker:Half-heartedly look at it.
Speaker:And they're like,
Speaker:Oh, well Amazon took 50 cents on every dollar.
Speaker:It wasn't worth it.
Speaker:I'm going to turn it off and just walk away.
Speaker:Yeah. You really have to give it good,
Speaker:consistent effort.
Speaker:Same for Etsy.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:any business that you're running,
Speaker:you don't want to be losing that drive to constantly find
Speaker:the new ways that people want to see you and learn
Speaker:the new tips and tricks.
Speaker:Like you have to be in it for the long haul
Speaker:here, picking your item and then having it have exactly the
Speaker:same titles and words and stuff.
Speaker:Three years later,
Speaker:isn't going to get you a million dollars Unless it's working
Speaker:from the start.
Speaker:Then you want to keep it that way.
Speaker:Right? Like some products you might just land it.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:But there's always going to be that going in and tweaking
Speaker:and figuring out,
Speaker:okay, well this word,
Speaker:maybe isn't working so great.
Speaker:Let me try to filter in something else that might bring
Speaker:me even more sales.
Speaker:Okay. Good sales are good,
Speaker:but you can always make it better,
Speaker:but constantly moving in and out for words that aren't performing
Speaker:well. Got it.
Speaker:So do you have someone now inside your business who focuses
Speaker:totally on that?
Speaker:Looking at the words strategizing,
Speaker:That's still me,
Speaker:my head wraps around it.
Speaker:So well,
Speaker:my girls are really,
Speaker:really good at going through the systems that I've put in
Speaker:place and the logistics and that kind of thing.
Speaker:I have found the huge success I have in learning to
Speaker:delegate things that I know that I can't do as well
Speaker:as maybe someone else can,
Speaker:this is still one of those things that I know I
Speaker:still do.
Speaker:I still do better than everyone else.
Speaker:So it will still be on my repertoire.
Speaker:Well, that's wonderful.
Speaker:And it's a great example.
Speaker:Just the whole story that you just talked about is a
Speaker:great example that you just don't put it up there,
Speaker:see results and say it doesn't work.
Speaker:You continue tweaking it over time all the time.
Speaker:Like it's part of your job.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:So I think like for a mindset that's really important too,
Speaker:to know that,
Speaker:Oh, well I just can't do this cause it's not selling.
Speaker:It's not that it's that you've got to learn the right
Speaker:mixture, the keywords or the titles or quantities even.
Speaker:Yep. Well,
Speaker:on Etsy,
Speaker:it's different.
Speaker:And that's the mentality that it's kind of hard to overcome
Speaker:as Etsy.
Speaker:Once you get those certain tags that work really,
Speaker:really well.
Speaker:If you're selling something that isn't seasonal and you don't have
Speaker:to change those things out once you've figured out those tags,
Speaker:that work really well for you,
Speaker:you're not doing much tweaking.
Speaker:You're letting that run and letting its Etsy run with that.
Speaker:Amazon gives you so many more opportunities to add words into
Speaker:your backend,
Speaker:that it's just an endless ability to adapt and grow and
Speaker:improve totally different platforms.
Speaker:Absolutely. You kind of feel like they're similar because they're both
Speaker:handmade focused.
Speaker:They're both online,
Speaker:but completely different.
Speaker:Yes. And you can use both of them in tandem,
Speaker:but to your point,
Speaker:find the one that brings you a result of your clearly
Speaker:seen it on Amazon.
Speaker:Yes. You're not the first person I've talked to who has
Speaker:had a similar experience going from Etsy and Amazon.
Speaker:Not making any other comments than that.
Speaker:I'm just saying that part.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Is there anything else big about Amazon that we need to
Speaker:cover? Honestly,
Speaker:the information that I just gave your listeners is probably overwhelming
Speaker:to them in general.
Speaker:They're probably going okay.
Speaker:Now I have 400 other questions.
Speaker:Well, I mean,
Speaker:I know there's a lot there.
Speaker:I'm not downplaying that it's a lot of information.
Speaker:What would you say to someone who's thinking about starting?
Speaker:What would be your words of recommendation to them?
Speaker:Try it.
Speaker:And don't give up in the first week,
Speaker:like you're going to get into it and it's the back
Speaker:end of that of setting up that listing is going to
Speaker:look intimidating.
Speaker:I can't even count the number of people who have said,
Speaker:Oh, well I got into it.
Speaker:And the dashboard,
Speaker:I literally got to the dashboard and I got accepted and
Speaker:they didn't know where to go from there.
Speaker:So they just quit and just never did it for three
Speaker:years. So don't give up,
Speaker:play around with it,
Speaker:just click around,
Speaker:just figure it out.
Speaker:Little by little.
Speaker:I still have listings that when I put them up in
Speaker:2015, because I have so many listings at this point,
Speaker:they look awful.
Speaker:So it's a constant improvement.
Speaker:It's not expected for you to have a perfectly SEO listing
Speaker:up on the very first day,
Speaker:play with it,
Speaker:figure it out,
Speaker:just constantly look at it and learn.
Speaker:I'd almost suggest when you're getting on any new platform set
Speaker:aside time to really figure it out.
Speaker:Don't just kind of like how,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:people will do with social media sites.
Speaker:Oh, I got my Twitter handle.
Speaker:So now I'm on Twitter,
Speaker:right? Well,
Speaker:you can't do that on a site and sell your product
Speaker:and expect it to work for you.
Speaker:You got to get to know the platform,
Speaker:how to use it.
Speaker:The intricacies you've shared so much gold about Amazon,
Speaker:but you've got to dedicate your time yourself to learning it
Speaker:For you.
Speaker:Yeah. This is not a 3:00 PM on a Friday project.
Speaker:Guess not in any stretch.
Speaker:Yep. A little bit more about what you do.
Speaker:The clients that you're attracting,
Speaker:how you're working with them and how people can find you
Speaker:if they're interested.
Speaker:Absolutely. So my main business is the pink dories that we
Speaker:discussed, but my coaching side of it is helping people overcome
Speaker:these questions.
Speaker:I have a free Facebook group that you can find I'm
Speaker:on Facebook and Instagram at Dana Midkiff coach.
Speaker:And inside of that is lots of people who are helping
Speaker:each other.
Speaker:We are learning the process together.
Speaker:We are learning the platform and I'm helping them through a
Speaker:lot of the questions that people have.
Speaker:Realistically, a lot of the times,
Speaker:as they start out inside the platform,
Speaker:there's a lot of people in there who can help you
Speaker:through it,
Speaker:including me,
Speaker:who just see the passion that we all have and the
Speaker:excitement and know the success that can be had.
Speaker:But that's where we're hanging out is on Facebook and Instagram
Speaker:at Dana Midkiff,
Speaker:coach. Beautiful.
Speaker:I think those groups are so important to not only is
Speaker:it another place to get support,
Speaker:but Dana,
Speaker:I'm sure Amazon handmade continues to change.
Speaker:And where are you going to find out about it directly
Speaker:from them perhaps,
Speaker:but in groups to really understand what it's all about and
Speaker:what it is can mean to you.
Speaker:Those conversations are so valuable.
Speaker:That's a hundred percent where the learning happens.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:This has really peaked my interest.
Speaker:Well, first off I have to go and check out all
Speaker:your rates.
Speaker:I have to just say,
Speaker:but really great information.
Speaker:I appreciate so much you coming on and sharing a lot
Speaker:of what you know about Amazon handmade.
Speaker:Thank you so much,
Speaker:Dana. Thank you for having me Stuff.
Speaker:Yes. I'll always continue to reinforce that the end goal should
Speaker:be for you to have your own website,
Speaker:but as you're starting or as a channel,
Speaker:in addition to your website,
Speaker:Amazon handmade might be just the thing while it's still summer
Speaker:traditionally, a slow season.
Speaker:And particularly this year with the craft shows and festivals canceled,
Speaker:I'm thinking this might be a good opportunity to gear up
Speaker:for the holidays by taking some time to select a second
Speaker:sales channel online.
Speaker:Remember this is part two of a six part series.
Speaker:We've now covered eBay and Amazon handmade up next week.
Speaker:We're talking all things,
Speaker:Shopify. This is my go to recommendation.
Speaker:When you're ready to build your own website.
Speaker:Remember I just said that this should be your ultimate goal,
Speaker:right? Your own website.
Speaker:Make sure to subscribe to the show.
Speaker:If you haven't already,
Speaker:that allows the next episode to automatically be downloaded,
Speaker:ready and waiting for you.
Speaker:First thing next Monday morning,
Speaker:did you know that if you're not subscribed,
Speaker:sometimes it takes hours for the episode to become available to
Speaker:you, but not when you subscribe.
Speaker:So take a moment and go do that now.
Speaker:Okay. Shopify next week.
Speaker:And until then a reminder that you can join us over
Speaker:in the breeze for a live Q and A's about any
Speaker:of your business questions.
Speaker:I look forward to seeing you again next week,
Speaker:be safe,
Speaker:be well and bye for now.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift is breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week to get
Speaker:reaction from other people and just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making my favorite post every single week,
Speaker:without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what,
Speaker:aren't you part of the group already,
Speaker:if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search
Speaker:for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.
