The Amazon Files: The Real Truth About Selling Online Kristin Ostrander

Today one of my favorite clients and friends, Michelle Maple, returns to the show to talk about how she went from zero to six figures in her first fourteen months on Amazon. Michelle started her business doing retail arbitrage in September 2018, and she opens the episode by discussing how she transitioned from that to wholesale bundling (with a little help from my courses!) within six months. She describes feeling that arbitrage took up too much time with “running errands” and instead being drawn to the creative and research aspects of bundling. Michelle also talks about changing the structure of her business to a one-person operation and deciding to scale back in order to find a good work/life balance. She recommends using checklists to keep on top of all the steps needed when listing and developing a routine and a schedule to help keep you on track when you’re feeling scattered or overwhelmed.
Next, Michelle shares some of her figures from this year, during which she’s already done six figures, and her goals as we move into Q4 and holiday season. Then we discuss the importance of actively considering how you can become more excellent at your business and whether slowing down would benefit you in the long run. Michelle also advises those new to bundling and maybe overthinking things to take the step forward and put their bundles out there because your best learning only happens after you send them. And we close out the episode with Michelle’s advice to maintain a flexible mindset toward change so that you’re ready and willing to adapt whenever Amazon changes the rules.
You can hear other success stories and share your own in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. Join our Facebook group with today’s codeword MAPLE to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.

This week on the Amazon Files:
Transitioning from retail arbitrage to bundling
Becoming a one-person business and scaling back
Staying motivated and being in the moment
Developing a routine and schedule
Committing to excellence and adapting to change

“Stepping back does not mean failure, it does not mean that we’re going bad or going in the wrong direction. You actually gave yourself space to figure out the next step while the numbers are dropping. And that’s perfectly okay. As a matter of fact, that’s awesome and healthy.”
- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:
“I was literally in Disney World when my phone dinged for the first time, and I had a sale, and it was like, ‘Well, this is cool. Here I am in the happiest place on Earth, and I’m selling something.’”
“One of the things that I’ve learned is the parts of the business that I try to just push through and force are the ones that come back to smack me upside the head and say, ‘Nope, you didn’t do this right, and that’s not gonna work.’”
“I do feel like there’s a lot of hats, and it is hard to escape. I just try to tell myself, whatever piece or whatever moment I’m in, just trying to be in that moment because I’m not going to do anything very well if I’m not.”
“I think for the new people and those that are overthinking, you have to start somewhere. You’re not going to learn all of this in your office by yourself with nothing listed. You know, you have to take the step forward.”

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Grow Your Amazon Business!
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon sellers along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert and your host, Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us your honest rev

Today I’m joined by the amazing Tyler Jeffcoat, accountant, e-commerce expert, and co-founder of Seller Accountant, accounting experts for e-commerce sellers. Tyler’s here to talk to us about bookkeeping, minding our business, and knowing our numbers because we can’t make profit if we don’t know what kind of numbers we’re working with. First up, Tyler shares his journey from setting up a healthcare startup to deal with his grandparents’ Alzheimer’s issues to realizing that he could use his accounting know-how to help Amazon sellers make money. He then takes us through some basic bookkeeping tips, including what accounting resources to spend money on, and common mistakes like aligning your sales with payment dates instead of sales dates.
Tyler also encourages everybody to develop good bookkeeping habits, like blocking off thirty minutes weekly to do your finances, and we both recommend educating yourself and hiring someone to do the parts of business you don’t enjoy or know nothing about. Tyler then sets out some of the services that Seller Accountant offers, from courses on subjects like basic inventory management to bookkeeping services that get through the most stringent due diligence in the world. And finally, I close the episode by asking Tyler about the role bookkeeping has when you’re looking to exit your business. Tyler responds that having your accounts transparent and in order is something that investors really appreciate and good bookkeeping, whether by you or a service you hire, is the best way to ensure that.
You can learn more about thrifting and auctions in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. Join our Facebook group using the code word bookeeping to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.

This week on the Amazon Files:
How Tyler moved from healthcare startup to e-commerce
Basic bookkeeping tips and common errors
Cultivating good bookkeeping habits
Seller Accountant’s services
Bookkeeping’s role in exit strategy

“I’m all about education. If you don’t know, learn. Don’t hide from it, learn from it. Learn enough to not screw yourself over.”
- Kristin Ostrander
Quotes:
“I was like, wait a second. This is not Amazon sending me and Emily this stuff every day. It’s actually these sellers. I was like, unbelievable. And it just immediately became this kind of clear hero in my mind, was like, Bezos is gonna get paid, Shopify is gonna get paid. I want the seller of this kind of one to ten million, or maybe half a million to two million brand to make money.”
“If you give yourself the gift of that thirty minutes a week to either pursue education or understand your numbers better, you’re going to be doing better than 90% of your Amazon Seller brethren out there. And so, if I could invest thirty minutes a week and become better than 90% of my competitors across the world, man, that’s a pretty good return on investment.”
“We were involved with almost $90 million in exits last year where sellers were selling to aggregators and other investors. And our bookkeeping got through the most stringent due diligence in the world to get out of that.”
“I had a client last year that had his number. We’d gone through the exercise, an investor offered him that number, but he was afraid he was missing out, and he said no. Of course, the market kind of went down a little bit at the end of last year, and he didn’t get his number. And so, if you know what you want, then you can guilt-free let it go when that number pops up.”

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Return O

Today, I’m welcoming back one of my favorite guests, Scott Zilke, aka The Bearded Picker, an expert in Amazon FBA and eBay flipping. First up, Scott tells us what he’s been up to in the last few months, including changing his business model, reworking his eBay store, and redesigning his storage setup. Then we chat about our shared love of thrifting and yard sales, and both of us emphasize the importance of finding a balance between making money and having fun, something that’s much easier when you do what you love and delegate what you don’t (Scott recommends hiring an accountant!).
We also talk in detail about the processes involved in yard sales, estate sales, and auctions (both online and in-person) and emphasize that knowledge is a weapon you can wield to your advantage, whether that’s how the business of flipping works or what items are particularly valuable in a specific market. Scott then discusses the importance of looking forward, knowing where your audience is going, and embracing change to ensure you don’t lag behind and give yourself every profit-making opportunity possible. And finally, we wrap up the episode by focusing on the importance of surrounding yourself with a positive and supportive community and trying to push out the negative. Life is too short to be miserable, so stop waiting for the perfect time, follow your passion, and spend time with the people you love.
You can learn more about thrifting and auctions in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. Join our Facebook group with today’s codeword PICKER to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.

This week on the Amazon Files:
Scott’s background and what he’s been up to recently
Finding the balance between business and fun
  Yard sales, auctions, estate sales, and thrifting
Using knowledge to your advantage
Being forward-looking in business and life

“If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, you don’t do it for the money. That’s part of it, but you do it for the passion, you do it because you can’t do anything else because nothing else suits you.”
- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:
“I kept telling people, do what you love, do what you love, but the light never came on. It finally… I was selling some stuff, I’m like, why am I doing the dropshipping for somebody else whenever I can be making all the profit? And that was where the light came on.”
“One thing I have preached and I’ve tried not to do is never, never rule, never, never legislate out in your business the fun part. You’ve got to have fun, you got to enjoy this. There’s a reason you do this, and you made it into your business, but the accounting, all that crazy stuff can drag you down, you’ve got to have the fun stuff.”
“If you sit around and complain and moan and groan, you’re behind everybody else who’s going, ‘You know what? I can do this and that.’ These new rules, you adapt to the new rules.”
“I’m a firm believer that, you know, find the remote, find the cable, find the whatever because they’re not gonna charge you. There’s a VCR there, they’re not gonna charge you any extra with a remote or without the remote. But you sell it for a lot more money on eBay or Amazon with the remote.”
“Follow your passion, do what you love, surround yourself with positive people. You only get one shot at this go-around. Make what’s important to you.”

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Grow Your Amazon Business!
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon sellers along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert

Happy July 4, everybody! Everything is red, white, and blue right now, but soon it’s gonna be orange and black for Halloween, so this week’s episode is all about preparing for Q4 and its set holidays and avoiding some of the common mistakes in the prepping process. First up, I discuss the importance of advanced inventory management and planning, including capitalizing on Prime Day to generate extra income you can spend stocking up for the Q4 holidays. I also advise taking advantage of wholesale terms and dating—not the Tinder kind of dating, but ways of postponing payment for inventory to buy you time and get all kinds of rewards and benefits. And, as always, make sure you have plenty of stock so you can replenish if and when necessary.
My next bit of advice is to pay attention to listing creation and shipment timing. You want to hit the sweet spot with your listings so that you can grab the algorithm and have it index and rank you for your keywords, so create new bundles early and ship new shipments ASAP. And since FBA warehouses are overwhelmed in July and August, go for smaller shipments and use case packs to help faster processing. And the last thing I recommend you guys do is to ignore the shiny objects and stop chasing the trends, which aren’t reliable and won’t pay the bills long-term. Instead, sell the boring stuff, the “rusty trusties,” the white Christmas lights and repair kits for inflatable decorations. And stay in your lane—Q4 isn’t the time to jump into new niches, it’s when you go and rake in the dough!
Come chat about wholesale, holidays, and more in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. Join our Facebook group with today’s codeword HOLIDAYS to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.


This week on the Amazon Files:
Advanced inventory management and planning
Wholesale terms and dating
Listing creation and shipment timing
Shipping case packs
Selling boring stuff

“You don’t have to jump into trends. You don’t have to jump into zones that you’re not comfortable with. Stay in your lane for a while because you’re better in your lane.”
- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:
“You cannot sell what you don’t have. And in order to make enough money, and in order to have enough inventory for Q4, you need to have money to purchase that.”
“If you’re launching a Christmas thing in May, you might be hard-pressed to get traffic, and then you’re losing indexing and ranking. So you want to be close to the holidays but not so close that you can’t grab the algorithm and have it index and rank you for those keywords. So getting your listings done and in and on early is really important.”
“Stop chasing the hot trends. Stop. There’s hot trends every single Christmas season, and there’s always that one thing that people are waiting around in line for. Like, years ago, it was the Speak Out game, then it was fidget spinners, the TikTok leggings… Trends, they come and they go so quickly. So many people get stuck on these. There’s plenty of profit in other things. Don’t chase the trends.”


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Grow Your Amazon Business!
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon sellers along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert and your host, Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us your honest review. Don’t forget to share your favorite episodes with your friends on social media! Use the codeword HOLIDAYS to join us on

This year, Amazon is holding not one but two Prime Days, so in today’s episode, I’m focusing on maximizing your profit during this event. After a word about the live class I’m running on doing wholesale for the holidays, I dive into what you can do to prepare your existing inventory for Prime Day, including checking and updating your listings, raising your prices, and making sure you have everything in stock.
Then I take off my wholesale bundle queen crown for a minute to talk retail arbitrage and taking advantage of summer clearances to get seasonal inventory you can sell quickly and build up some cash to spend in preparation for Q4. I’ve got a whole list of items to share with you, from garden hoses to patio pillows to pool accessories, as well as back-to-school items, that can be bought at low prices and flipped on Prime Day for a quick profit. And finally, I explain why, while raising your prices before Prime Day seems counterintuitive, it’s really effective in the frenzy of getting and saving that such events provoke.
Come chat about Prime Day and more in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. Join our Facebook group with today’s codeword primeday to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.
 
This week on the Amazon Files:
How to maximize your profits on Prime Day
How to prepare your current inventory for Prime Day
Taking advantage of summer clearance for retail arbitrage
Using your Prime Day profits to prepare for Q4

“Prime Day to me is optimizing my listing so my regular items sell continuously and making sure that I have stock of those items - you can’t sell what’s not there so making sure you have the stock, and then selling the season that we’re in so that you can get the faster sales so that you can build up that money and that capital profit to spend on Q4.”
- Kristin Ostrander
 
Quotes:
“I am going to teach you what to sell, where to get it, how to get it into Amazon, all the holiday action calendar to make sure you’re selling and sending in all of your items and when, so that they’re ranking for holidays, so that you’ve got all of the best holiday sales and wholesale. Why? Because these days, we cannot wait for retail arbitrage.”
“First of all, you need to know why. Why is this important? Why do you need to do this? This is not another gimmick or nothing else, it is just simply minding your business, right? You’re minding your business. I want you to mind your business. And with over 153 million Prime members globally, you’re going to take advantage of Prime Day.”
“This is why we want to take advantage of Prime Day because it gives us instantly more money to spend for the holiday season because we’re going to make fast, quick profit right now.”
“It’s really hard to find a bathing suit around here even in, like, September. They’re all gone. There’s none on the shelf, we have to turn to Amazon. So thank you for buying stuff from Target and flipping it, so I can buy bathing suits in November.”
 
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Grow Your Amazon Business!
Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon sellers along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert and your host, Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us your honest review. Don’t forget to share your favorite episodes with your friends on social media! Use the codeword primeday to join us on Facebook. Each week, Kristin hosts a live discussion on how to grow you

On this episode of The Amazon Files, I’m joined by returning guest Steven Pope from listings optimization agency My Amazon Guy. Steven is an amazing Amazon expert with a wealth of information on ecommerce, and he’s here today to share his expertise on Amazon SEO keyword practices and rankings. First up, since it’s been a little while since Steven was on the podcast, he brings us up to speed on what My Amazon Guy does and the growth it’s experienced over the last couple of years. He talks about the importance of happy employees and his aim to buck the trend of high turnover by creating a supportive culture even as stress levels in the workforce climb to all-time highs. After that, we dive into SEO, as Steven explains the impact of social trends on keyword data and how keeping track of these can reveal opportunities to improve your ranking and make more money. He also points out the importance of understanding the Amazon algorithm in order to get the most out of the keyword system.
Next, Steven runs us through the four SEO phases he runs (indexing, incremental indexing, strike zone, and the search query performance report (SQPR)) and how following these will improve your ranking with minimal effort. I also jump on Steven’s point about the SQPR to once again encourage everyone to get brand registry and trademarks for all the benefits they give you, including this report. Then Steven tells us about the courses he’s running through My Amazon Guy (including one on SEO), and I encourage everybody to invest in education, especially since Amazon doesn’t always make life easy for us! We then loop back to the SQPR, as Steven gives an example from his own business on how to utilize the report’s data to find immediate activity and action tips and also explains why he prioritizes traffic over conversion. And we close the episode with some advice from Steven on how to set the meta description of your brand store to get more exposure and control over Google and how much time you should set aside each week to spend on optimization, plus a couple of tips on raising your prices when other sellers are lowering theirs.
You can talk about SEO rankings and more in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. Join our Facebook group with today’s codeword MAG to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.

This week on the Amazon Files:
Social trends and keyword data Understanding the Amazon algorithm SEO phases The benefits of brand registry and trademarking Utilizing the Search Query Performance Report Traffic vs. conversion and volume vs. margin How to set your brand store’s meta description How much time to spend on optimization  
“I’d rather have margin all day long than worry about constant volume. I’m like, I don’t want to have to manage ten thousand pieces a day. How about just a hundred pieces a day at ten times the profit margin that you’re making? That’s a better deal for me.”
- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:
“I feel like I spend more time focused on people and their problems and what their challenges are than I do focused on trying to actually run the company, and that, quite frankly, is actually running the company, right? Like, it’s all about people.”
“If you put employees at the top of your pyramid and have clients and customers beneath the employee—because you can’t serve two masters, they can only serve one or the other—you will have happier employees, which will make happier customers and clients because happier employees do better work. It’s just bottom line.”
“If you are kind and understanding and help people feel supported and accountable, even in relationships, and marriage, and parenting, and anything like that, people naturally perform better when they feel supported