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

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.”
 
Related Content:
2022 Workshops - Coupon code: workshop50
Wholesale Bundle System Graphic Rhythm Design
Email questions
Learn With Us
Coaching The Amazon Files Hub
Wholesale for the Holidays live class

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

On today’s episode, I’m talking to the amazing Cyndi Thomason, a speaker and thought leader in the e-commerce community, to talk about her brand new book Motherhood, Apple Pie, and All That Happy Horseshit and discuss the choice moms often face between continuing their career or starting their family and working from home. I start the episode by asking Cyndi where the amazing title for her book came from, and she shares a story from her corporate days when a board member used that phrase in response to a passionate speech she’d just made. She explains that the phrase stuck with her, and she eventually decided to transform its flippant negativity into something positive by using it as the title of the book. This leads her to discuss how the book originated from her desire to empower women faced with the choice between a corporate job and motherhood. Around twenty years ago, Cyndi herself left the corporate world to raise her daughter, and while it was the right choice for her, she shares that she didn’t expect how much she would miss the achievement mentality of her job and how lost she would feel without it. Her book, she explains, is about how to integrate motherhood, business, and time for oneself to avoid losing your identity to just one element.
Next, Cyndi and I get a bit deeper into her book as she introduces the concept of the sacred space. This involves finding an activity that lets you lose track of time and get into the flow without thinking about the stresses in your life, and then carving out time to stay in touch with it. Cyndi explains that finding and maintaining this sacred space will improve your ability to make decisions and feel fulfilled. We then move on to discuss Cyndi’s idea of rubber balls and glass balls (i.e. those tasks we can let bounce and the ones we can’t allow to smash) and how differentiating between the two and scheduling accordingly can be a major help in finding balance in your life. I then ask Cyndi about avoiding guilt for scheduling time for yourself, and we discuss the importance of setting boundaries, including between you and your kids. We both share stories about setting boundaries as parents to demonstrate that while it might be emotionally tricky, modeling boundaries will benefit both you and your children in the long run. And finally, we close the episode by discussing the framework Cyndi introduces in her book, especially the importance of true self-care, including real rest from stress and distractions, and of figuring out who you want on your team for your business and personal life, and reaching out to them for support and understanding.
You can come talk about motherhood, apple pie, and happy horseshit in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. You can join our Facebook group with today’s codeword APPLEPIE 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:
The origin of Cyndi’s book and its title Parenthood vs. the corporate world
Finding your sacred space
Glass balls, rubber balls, and time-blocking
Modeling boundaries
Cyndi’s framework for integrating motherhood, apple pie, and happy horseshit
Defining and applying self-care
Developing your personal and business support teams

“We’re not built to always serve and always work and always consume. We are built for rest in some ways. And that includes not just sleep but rest from decisions, rest from bombardment and confusion, rest from the damn phone that’s literally an attachment to our hands.”
- Kristin Ostrander
 
Quotes:
“I’m like, well, what’s wrong with motherhood? And what’s wrong with apple pie? I mean, to me, it kind of symbolizes, you know, small business, and growth, and the effort and hard work. I mean, to me, it was always a good

I’ve heard a lot of complaints lately about the Amazon world becoming saturated and the opportunities to make money within it becoming diminished, with people getting worried that Amazon may no longer be a viable business option. If you’re in that camp, wondering if Amazon’s still right for you, today’s episode will help you navigate that question, get clear on your goals, and guide you through three simple steps to grow your business. First up, I tackle whether it’s still possible to make a decent salary at home with Amazon, the answer to which is yes. In fact, with the rise of mobile commerce (m-commerce), the opportunities to make money on Amazon are growing—the only difference between taking advantage of them or not is how much time, money, commitment, and action you’re willing to put in. I then discuss the importance of figuring out what you want for yourself and getting clear on what you want from your business. It’s easy to get stuck by our fears and avoid moving because we’re scared to make mistakes, so I emphasize focusing on the next logical step to get what you want instead of getting overwhelmed trying to leap over a cavern of black holes.
To help you make that next move, I next present three simple steps you can take to grow your business, steps that helped me in my journey to making six figures on Amazon. The first step is based on my observation that no one successful does everything by themselves: hire some help. This can be intimidating, but I discuss how we’re all familiar with hiring people and point out that hiring help doesn’t have to be as expensive as you assume, plus it will bring huge dividends in the long run, both in time and money. Step number two is looking at your numbers to figure out what needs to change—because there’s always something that needs to change. This is something people tend to make excuses about—they don’t have time to look at their numbers, they’ve got too many other things to do—but if you don’t know your numbers, you’ll never know all the ways you can reduce expenses, increase margins, increase your ROI, and so on. I advise that being intentional about ensuring you’re making the most money you possibly can out of the work you’re doing and avoiding waste are crucial parts of what business owners do, so get rid of the excuses and make time for it. And finally, the third step is investing in yourself and your business through education. If you want to make more money, one of the major things you can do is learn a new skill that gives you a new expertise and will level you up. Therefore, I recommend figuring out what new skill would give you the potential to earn more money in your business and investing time and money into achieving it.
You can find plenty more advice on the Amazon FBA world in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. You can join our Facebook group with today’s codeword now 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:
Are there still opportunities with Amazon? (Yes)
Deciding what you want for yourself
Getting clear on what you want from your business
Three simple steps to growing your business
Step #1: hire some help
Step #2: look at your numbers
Step #3: educate yourself
“You deserve it, you can want it, you can have it, even if it seems so far away from where you are right now. There’s an opportunity for people to earn millions of dollars from their homes in 2022.”
- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:
“Can I make a decent salary at home with Amazon, like all these other people are saying that they’re doing? The answer is yes. The answer is absolutely, yes, you can do that. And it is still a viable opportunity. As a matter of fact, there are people who started after

In the Amazon FBA world, there are so many Facebook groups and YouTube channels and blogs and gurus and podcasts and tools and software shoved down our throats that it’s really hard to stay focused. So, in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about how you can stop analysis paralysis forever. We’re going to stop overthinking, we’re going to stop overanalyzing, and we’re going to start taking some action. First up, I talk about the decision fatigue we all feel as business owners and how to make your life easier with a checklist you can run through before making choices about what tools you want to invest in. I also address the causes of analysis paralysis, including the fear of missing out (FOMO) and how to avoid letting it influence your decisions, before returning to the checklist with the first question: what goal does this tool help me reach, or problem does it help me solve? I then share a recent story of me not asking this question before purchasing a course on Pinterest strategy because I was sucked in by a big discount and use it to illustrate how letting FOMO guide your choices leads to waste.
The second question to ask is if this tool fits into your budget both in terms of money and time. This question is so important because it can help you set aside your emotions, focus on what your business needs right now, and act on that rather than any feelings of fear. It also makes you consider the specifics of your business circumstances, which leads me to the third item on the checklist: does this make sense for my business? Everybody’s business is different, which means the best tool for me may well not be the right one for you, so you have to do your own research into how the tools you’re interested in work and if they will fit your business. That means not relying on other people’s advice or testimonials until after you’ve looked into how the tool might fit your preferences (even down to such mundane details as color schemes!). Then I take a minute to emphasize that tools and products and services are not permanent—you can always cancel them—and that you don’t need to feel guilt for doing so. You’re not hurting anybody’s feelings, you’re just doing what’s right for your business, so allow yourself to let go guilt-free. And the final piece of the checklist isn’t a question, it’s a task: set a deadline for your decisions. Lots of people need time to contemplate before making a decision, and it’s good to think before inputting your credit card details, but setting a deadline stops procrastination, getting stuck in research mode, and allowing feelings to fester.
You can find plenty more advice on the Amazon FBA world by joining the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. You can join our Facebook group with today’s codeword STOPAP 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:
Reducing decision fatigue
The causes of analysis paralysis
Choosing tools with your goals in mind
Don’t fall for FOMO
Budgeting for time and money
Choosing the best tools for your circumstances
Say 'no' and let go of the guilt
Tools are not permanent or personal
Creating deadlines for your decisions
“Ask yourself those questions, learn those processes, and then be proud of yourself instead of feeling guilty or shame or FOMO, or all that kind of stuff. Be like, I’m proud of myself that I made the best decision for my business in the moment.”
- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:
“Oftentimes, what happens? We get analysis paralysis, and we’re just spinning that wheel that’s loading and loading and loading, and we have 412 tabs open at a time. What we generally end up doing is procrastination and/or nothing, nothing at all. And then the next day, we spin the sam

On today’s episode, I’m joined by awesome entrepreneur Mark Davis, founder of Snack Hut, his company for wholesale bundles. Mark has over ten years of experience in liquidation, brick-and-mortar, private label, wholesale, retail arbitrage… all the things you guys are interested in. He’s actively, consistently, and profitably on Amazon, and he’s here today to share his expertise on everything from reverse wholesale to packaging decisions to having patience and not giving in too fast. Mark starts off by telling us how he got into liquidation, flipping customer return pallets before moving into retail and online arbitrage and finally deciding to focus on wholesale. He then introduces the concept of reverse wholesaling, which picks on Amazon listings that could be improved and obtains exclusive sales contracts by demonstrating how they could perform better. This has been a really successful approach for Mark, but as he explains next, he wanted to get in on what these manufacturers were doing and started researching private labels, which hooked him with the prospect of owning the buy box and being able to protect your listings. He then tells the story of watching an unboxing video, getting the idea for candy boxes, and—with his wife’s assistance—making the first order that would lead to Snack Hut being born.
Next, Mark talks us through the early days of Snack Hut, from packaging decisions to production processes, before we tackle the challenges we’ve come across in wholesale bundling and ways to overcome them. In particular, Mark emphasizes how getting your production processes in place can save you significant amounts of time per week, which can then be invested in learning how to take the next step in your business. He also stresses the importance of having patience and setting long-term goals, having seen too many people get impatient and quit before they’ve given their business a chance to succeed. As an example, he points out how many people insist that retail arbitrage is dead, despite there still being plenty of money to be made there, then we discuss how wholesale bundling bridges the gap between RA and private label without requiring twelve months and fifteen grand. We also talk about retail distribution as part of building a sustainable, sellable brand and how Mark is using Amazon as a launchpad to build up the Snack Hut brand outside of Amazon, increasing its value and making it more appealing to aggregators when it comes time to sell. And we close the episode out with the great news that Mark will be guest hosting some training in our Amazon Files Hub community in June, so all you wholesale bundle students can learn even more from him!
You can ask Mark more questions by joining the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. You can join our Facebook group with today’s codeword SNACKHUT 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 Mark got into liquidation, retail arbitrage, and online arbitrage
Reverse wholesale
The dreaded sell-out
What Mark likes about bundling
How Snack Hut was created
Making packaging decisions
The challenges of wholesale bundling
How wholesale bundling has changed Mark’s business
Freeing up time to learn
Having patience and putting the work in
Planning your exit
Remembering retail is an option

“One of the things I love about wholesale bundles is really that it’s poor man’s private label, and I’ve been saying that for a really long time. It’s a way to get the benefits of a private-label-style product, owning the buy box, owning a brand, owning these things but without twelve months and fifteen grand.”
- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:
“I joined a Facebook group called FBA Rockstars. And it was there that I firs