Moving Forward is also available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
Scott Voelker is an entrepreneur and host of The Amazing Seller podcast: a fantastic knowledge hub on starting and growing a business on Amazon FBA. Today Scott will share with you some incredible knowledge bursts on starting a business on Amazon so you can enjoy greater freedom while building a business that scales.
Successes at a glance:
Entrepreneur who started and grew a 6-figure photography business with his wife and then launched a highly successful business with private label products on Amazon FBA. Moreover, Scott has taken his successes in both photography and Amazon FBA to create online communities and courses to help others succeed.
Host and Founder of The Amazing Seller: a podcast and knowledge hub for starting and scaling an Amazon FBA business.
Author of several books:
How Scott gets inspired to conquer the day:
For Scott, his number one inspiration to make the most of each day is his family. Spending more quality time with his family, as a father and husband, was his main driver in becoming an entrepreneur. The biggest reward Scott has gained in becoming successful is having more freedom to see his kids grow up. Really, you can’t put a price tag on that. Scott is very present when talking about the benefits of having a scalable business that supports that lifestyle. Second, in growing successful businesses in the photography and Amazon FBA space, Scott has discovered a love of teaching and knowledge sharing. Through podcasts, online communities and courses, Scott is able to gift of his experience and expertise; passing on his wisdom so others can succeed and succeed big. Moving Forward listeners, Scott’s story is what it means to move forward. Scott’s two drivers are ones many of us share: 1) to create a lifestyle that affords us more time with family and loved ones; 2) to find a purpose. Keep in mind Scott started where many of us do. He worked very hard in a traditional career – actually, Scott worked in an industry that is harder than most. Prior to become an entrepreneur, Scott worked in construction, a field that is both physically and mentally demanding, often with long hours in sometimes brutal weather. He had no formal business education but what he did have was the curiosity, determination and grit to take that entrepreneurial leap. I hope you can benefit from Scott’s inspiration and move forward.
Setback or failure that led to pivot and shift:
Three years ago, before getting into Amazon FBA and finding success with The Amazing Seller, Scott launched a marketing and business podcast. By then Scott had already grown a successful photography business with his wife so he wanted to pass on the marketing and business lessons they had learned as entrepreneurs. After around 20 episodes, Scott found he wasn’t resonating with an audience; he wasn’t reaching the people he wanted to help. Scott decided to make a hard pivot and stop that first podcast series. Although, Scott shares this story as an example of a “failure” or “setback,” it was more of a stepping stone to later success. From that first attempt, Scott learned how to setup and launch a podcast. This would be critical for him later on when he got into the Amazon FBA space and launched The Amazing Seller. Today, Scott’s website and podcast reaches countless people and the response has been tremendous. Scott is living his goal of reaching and helping as many people as he can. Moving Forward listeners, it takes a lot of guts to try something new: especially something that puts you out there like a blog or podcast. And it would be easy to give up after that first try doesn’t succeed. 20 episodes is already a library of content. However, what makes Scott’s story so impactful is that he didn’t give up. He made a pivot. He continued on his entrepreneurial journey and then when he achieved another amazing success within the Amazon FBA space, his experience in podcasting allowed him to launch his second series, The Amazing Seller, which at 240+ episodes is still going strong. Moreover, Scott’s determination to keep moving forward is why he is now able to help so many others find success as entrepreneurs. Imagine if Scott had decided to turn in his mic after that first podcast series? Moving Forward listeners, it’s not just about having the gumption to start something, it’s being able to recognize when it’s time to pivot and refocus that keeps us moving forward.
Knowledge Bursts (on Amazon FBA):
What is one thing you should know about picking a product to sell on Amazon FBA:
As Scott shares, do your homework. Before getting into Amazon FBA, spend time on the product research stage. Moreover, focus on picking a market rather than a product. Often, we think of selling a product as focusing on “what to sell” rather than “who to serve.” By looking at markets, you will get much better clarity on which product(s) to explore as a seller.
For more great info on getting started, check out The Amazing Seller: Scott spends a lot of time on his podcast talking about products, markets and more!
Purchase Scott’s book: Amazon Selling Blueprint – How to Find and Launch Your First Private-Label Product on Amazon in 90 Days or Less.
Marketing practices for a new seller to stand out (is it too crowded for me to enter?):
Scott starts with this reminder: Amazon is a big place serving a very big market. Don’t let the large number of sellers scare you from exploring this as an option. There are always new products coming to market, new markets arising from new products and new customers to serve.
Second, Scott shares this incredible marketing tactic: explore what your competitors are doing, especially the customer reviews. Read what they’re doing well and getting high marks on but also the pain points customers are providing in their feedback. Keep those in mind as you are launching a product and address those pain points (as well as the benefits) in your product and ad copy – in other words, let your product become a solution. Huge knowledge burst!
Favorite app / website / resource or productivity hack for maintaining or growing your Amazon FBA business:
Jungle Scout: an incredible tool for doing market research on products for starting or scaling a business on Amazon FBA. Think of Jungle Scout as a product and market research team doing all of the heavy lifting in helping you find products, identify markets and looking at key factors such as sales velocity and trends.
Episode 056 of The Amazing Seller: Scott interviews Jungle Scout Founder, Greg Mercer, on how he grew a 6-figure per month Amazon FBA business.
Episode 161 of The Amazing Seller: Scott interviews Greg Mercer on how to use Jungle Scout for the product research phase.
Support the Podcast:
The Corporate Cliches Adult Coloring Book: makes the perfect stocking stuffer or white elephant gift.
Try out Audible (affiliate link).
Try out Amazon Prime (affiliate link).
Scott’s Advice for you to Move Forward:
Scott provides a very unique and cool way to look at the entrepreneur’s journey: providing the revenue stream isn’t the challenge, it’s getting thru the obstacles to get you there that is. Key to this is understanding your why. If you’re at your cubicle and counting down the minutes so you can get out of the office and you keep feeling the tug that you want to be home with your family, you have to know your why. Collecting a paycheck is not enough. Let me repeat that, collecting a paycheck is not enough for a why. As Scott puts it: money is great, but what is it giving you? Is it simply for the “shiny red car” or the new toy? Ask yourself is that enough to keep you in that cubicle? And as Scott shares on today’s episode, his why is what drives him to do what he does. It’s two-fold: 1) spending time with his family and 2) helping others succeed. Everything Scott does revolves around those two whys. To figure out your why, Scott recommends this exercise: picture your perfect day down to the last detail. What would it look like? What are you doing? From there figure out the why. Once you have figured out the why, move on to the what and eventually, the how. Or as Scott puts it, the W-W-H. The why should always be driving you, it’s what causes you to spend your years-months-weeks-hours doing what you do on a daily basis, whether it’s working in a job or starting a business. The why will take you thru the tough times. The what is getting to brass tacks. How much money do I need to leave this unsatisfying job and fulfill my why. And finally, the how is the bridge to get to that number. Moving Forward listeners, Scott Voelker has just provided you a blueprint. Not just for success on Amazon FBA but for your life. Follow the W-W-H, pivot, shift course and start moving forward today.
Connect with Scott:
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