Awesomers.com

Here's an AI overview that reviews the very first Awesomers episode. https://awesomers.com/1 Awesomers: A Detailed Briefing This briefing analyzes content from the Awesomers Podcast, focusing on episode one and the website's core message. The analysis highlights key themes, important facts, and philosophies presented by Steve Simonson, the podcast host and a seasoned entrepreneur. Core Themes: Awesomer vs. Normie: The content establishes a distinct dichotomy between "Awesomers" and "Normies." Awesomers are characterized as proactive individuals who challenge the status quo, embrace continuous learning, and strive to create value. They own their mistakes, focus on the big picture, and believe in abundance. Conversely, Normies are often portrayed as risk-averse, reactive individuals who blame circumstances, get bogged down by problems, and operate with a scarcity mindset. Pay It Forward & Abundance Mindset: The podcast is deeply rooted in Zig Ziglar's philosophy: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” This "pay it forward" mentality underscores the importance of helping others without expecting anything in return. It's closely tied to an abundance mindset, believing that there's enough success and happiness for everyone. Strategy, Systems, & Scale: Simonson emphasizes the importance of a three-pronged approach to business success: strategy, systems, and scale. He encourages entrepreneurs to develop their own unique strategies, implement robust systems (like his https://parsimony.com ERP system), and leverage the power of collective growth through e-commerce associations like https://empowery.com Important Ideas & Facts: Knowledge is Equity: Simonson repeatedly stresses the importance of continuous learning, stating that “knowledge is equity.” He highlights successful individuals like Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates who dedicate significant time to reading and knowledge acquisition. He encourages listeners to invest in their intellectual capital as it's a valuable asset that can never be taken away. Focus on Strengths: Instead of dwelling on weaknesses, Simonson advocates for doubling down on one's strengths. He believes that individuals and organizations should focus on their areas of excellence and build teams that complement each other. Sustainable Strategies over Quick Fixes: While acknowledging the appeal of "hacks" and quick fixes, Simonson cautions against relying on them for long-term success. He emphasizes the importance of developing sustainable strategies grounded in sound business principles. Notable Quotes: "Equity over the long run is the most important strategic indicator that your strategy is working." This quote emphasizes the need for focusing on long-term value creation rather than short-term gains. "Knowledge is equity; nobody can take knowledge away from you." This statement reinforces the importance of continuous learning and knowledge acquisition as a valuable personal asset. "Wherever you are in life today, it's because of all of your decisions up until this point." This thought-provoking quote encourages listeners to take responsibility for their choices and their impact on their current situation. "Awesomers understand the world of abundance and disregard the scarcity mindset." This quote highlights a key difference in perspective between Awesomers and Normies, emphasizing the importance of believing in limitless opportunities. "Awesomers do the right thing, even if nobody is looking." This statement underscores the importance of ethical behavior and acting with integrity regardless of external validation. Overall, the Awesomers Podcast promotes a philosophy of proactive, value-driven entrepreneurship, encouraging individuals to embrace an abundance mindset, focus on their strengths, and continuously learn and grow. Additional resources: https://symoglobal.com https://catalyst88.com https://stevensimonson.com

Here's a unique podcast made by AI - using NotebookLM. https://parsimony.com - Main ERP site https://ai.parsimony.com - AI Tool Kit Site https://automate.parsimony.com - GHL Access for Marketing https://chat.parsimony.com - ChatBots within 5 mins! https://stevesimonson.com https://catalyst88.com https://empowery.com Parsimony is a business operating system that helps businesses manage many aspects of their operations. It can be used for things like inventory, supply chain, finance, human resources, and customer relations. Parsimony is unique because it brings artificial intelligence into these systems. The system is scalable, meaning that it can be used by businesses of all sizes, but it is especially experienced with multi-channel e-commerce, distribution, and light manufacturing companies. Some of the services they offer are custom software development, mobile app development, web development, and software consulting for ERP business operating systems. The main thing Parsimony does is secure cloud hosting of Parsimony ERP versions that are unique to each client. In addition, they offer services such as text AI chatbots, inbound and outbound voicebots, and marketing automation. Parsimony puts a big emphasis on training and has courses available online through its website. These courses teach people about how to use the system, like how to do accounting, make purchases, manage sales, work with CRM, handle project management, and more. The goal is to help users learn the system so they can use it well. The founder of Parsimony is Steve Simonson. Steve has started, built, and sold many companies over the course of his career as an entrepreneur. His goal is to help empower other entrepreneurs and he does this by providing the tools and resources they need to succeed. Simonson believes that the systems are what should run a business, and people should run the systems. He has a lot of experience with global sourcing and supply chain management and he uses that experience to help businesses get the most out of their operations.

We are launching this episode called "Chairman's Circle" - a circle created 10+ years ago. These episodes will talk or discuss random rants about important topics that help reinforce important lessons for leaders and build value in the concept of the Chairman’s Circle. The goal of the Chairman Circle is for Steve to help Companies with a strategic vision for transformational change and allows us to spotlight companies that are dedicated to the growth of their business in the next years. With some Scooby snacks on the to keep and help Steve and his team not financially annoyed in the Chairman's Circle would mean a lot us. We are set and ready to go! Join us in this and more episodes of the Chairman's Circle.

It is sad to say goodbye but we know this is not a Goodbye for us. This is last episode to wrap up 2022 - saying goodbye to 2022 and saying hello to 2023. Time Management is one of the valuable ways to say hi and hello and welcome 2023 with a bang! in this last and final episode of Founder Foundations, Steve talks about Time Management as the process of organizing and planning how to divide your time between different activities. Get it right, and you'll end up working smarter, not harder, to get more done in less time – even when time is tight and pressures are high. The benefits of time management generates a lot of positive results because it can: - Decrease stress and increase productivity and efficiency - Gives you a better professional reputation - Increased higher chances of advancement - More opportunities to achieve your life and career goals When you properly manage your time, you start feeling more in control, with the confidence to choose how best to use your time. In business or in life, you will be more relaxed and have the positive thinking and be in a great place to help others reach their targets, too. Welcome 2023 with TIME MANAGEMENT and see you in the next exciting episodes of Awesomers Podcast! For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

"CONFLICT MANAGEMENT is the process by which disputes are resolved, where negative results are minimized, and positive results are prioritized. This critical management skill involves using different tactics such as negotiation, and creative thinking, depending on the situation." In this 2nd to the last episode of Founder Foundations, Steve talks about Conflicts that hampers the productivity of the team and the employee in General. Power Delegation and Conflict Management has the goal to minimize the potential negative impacts that can arise from disagreements and increase the odds of a positive outcome. When conflict in the company is resolved effectively, it leads to positive results and comes in many benefits, such as accomplishing goals and strengthening relationships within the team. But conflict can also be damaging. If handled ineffectively, conflict can quickly turn into personal dislike, and even lead to a breakdown of relationships. Let's resolve the issues and learn from this episode! For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

We are coming up near the very end and today's episode is the first of the last three. Steve will talk about Building Position Agreements inside the Company. This is intended to be far looking and in fact, there may be some positions that are still empty or does not exist yet. Creating a 5-year objective for the Business will help you create Position agreements in every department. Job titles help potential employees find an open position that aligns with their talent and experience. It includes the daily tasks and projects you complete. Every employee has a job position that includes specific duties and responsibilities that help the company reach its goals. The Company and management team evolves over time. Members of your team may wear several hats until the company grows and the company can afford the additional team members. For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

Coaching and Mentoring - What does that mean? In this episode, Steve will share with us what his thoughts are about Coaching and mentoring an employee and why it will make them more valuable to your organization so they can develop, hone and enhance their skills—both professionally and personally. By being interested in the growth of your staff, you're showing them that you care about their progress. And this can increase their loyalty to you. According to https://www.researchgate.net/publication/, "Coaching aims to enhance "self propelling force" of an individual to work effectively. Whereas, the mentor has expertise to guide and influence other individuals in a positive way, that leads to the development of an employee's career in an organization." As Founder, by coaching and mentoring your employees, you'll engage them on a more personal and professional level. The special attention they receive from you - not just their boss but their mentor will make them feel more valued. You are the catalyst to helping your employees achieve goals, employees will be encouraged to keep working hard and providing value. We are more than a Podcast - WE ARE A MOVEMENT! For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

What are Business Development Meetings (BDM) and Why are they important? In today's episode, Steve will walk us through what BDM's are and why it is so important in every emerging organization and teams. The goal of each meeting is to discuss other matters with the employee or team members the plans they have for each week, roadblocks that hampers them to move forward and accomplish a certain task, career development, and ask questions and get direction to navigate the responsibilities and tasks an employee is and will be working on. BDM's are also good time for Manger-Employee to ask what they consider to be their strengths and weaknesses. Ask if there are things you haven't demonstrated yet that they're looking for, and what each of the parties need to learn to do well. Ready to start your Team BDM's? Then, join us today for another fruitful session with Steve! For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

WHAT IS A FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ITS TYPE? In this episode, Steve will walk us through the different types and functions of an organizational structure and why is it important to organize a company into different departments based on the area of expertise. The main advantage of having a Functional Organization is that each department focus on one area of work and specialization where each team and staff becomes more productive because they have the ability and skills to accomplish what they do. each employee is accountable to clear lines of management and with these comes clarity to understand their roles and others' roles. Get ready to put your headphones on and learn the basics of Functional Organization. For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

In today's episode, Steve talks about SYSTEMIC MANAGEMENT that will help every Founder and manager achieve the desired goals in most aspects of the business. Is it reasonable that everything on Planet Earth can be a system? YES! Building a system = reasonable and predictable results, a Formula that Steve shared in Seller Systems and Seller Cruise to help every Founder and Entrepreneur achieve the success they have aim for. In Management, systemic management is an important approach that focuses on the management process rather than on the final outcome. The goals to this approach to management were: To create specific processes and procedures to be used in job task completion. To ensure that organizational operations were economical. For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

What is management system? According to https://www.iso.org › management-system-standards, "A management system is the way in which an organization manages the interrelated parts of its business in order to achieve its objectives". In Today's episode, Steve will share with us his thoughts about Management system and why it is important to have an effective management system based on the controls structured and optimized processes to product predictable results. For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

What is Strategic Financial Management and why is it important? According to https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/strategic-financial-management.asp, "Strategic financial management means not only managing a company's finances but managing them with the intention to succeed—that is, to attain the company's long-term goals and objectives and maximize shareholder value over time". In this episode, Steve will be doing a heart-to-heart conversation about Impostor Syndrome for the hours he spent in a project that he thinks for a good cause. Steve also threw a question about the things that we hate particularly this episode because his whole point is to know if someone will give a crap with the lessons he is giving to the General Audience. Ready to throw in the feedback? Listen and be with us in this episode! For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

According to Brian Tracy, "Your business will be successful, generating steady, predictable sales and cash flow, to the exact degree to which you develop systems that put as much of your business on autopilot as possible". Until our business control level is systematized, it exists largely in the mind of the individual who knows how to do it. As a result, it cannot be duplicated or replicated. If the person who knows how to do the job is not there, the business can eventually grind to a halt. So what does control lever means? Financial Control Levers? In this episode, Steve talks about levers in the Finance side that evolves around: 1. Margins or return on sales 2. Asset turnover and 3. Financial leverage For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

Most businesses fail because the lack of Cash Capitalization and “Cash Flow Management and Systemization” is not the most exciting aspect of their business. In today's episode, Steve talks about Cash Flow in the deeper sense of it as this is the fuel that operates the business. Businesses stand a better chance of surviving critical business junctures when they know what cash they should have coming in and going out. This requires having a reliable forecast for future monthly expenditures while keeping track of cash on hand. Join Steve and understand that the right cash management and awareness in place, small businesses can react to changing circumstances. For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

Budget Systemization - What is it? In this episode, Steve talks about a very "sexy" topic. We often discuss budgeting in our firm, and I often write about budgeting because it is such an important topic in any company. Good news: Valuable strategic element of the business bad News: IT TAKES WORK Having a budget will help you manage your business and will help you remove the day-to-day "tasks" on your plate and to create a successful budget, every Founder/Leader or business owner needs to: - Establish Strategic Objective that gives you your roadmap - knowing the revenue and the associated overhead expenses. - Set goals and objectives that push for growth and efficiency, but keep those goals and objectives realistic. There is nothing more demoralizing than to have an unachievable goal. - Start your budget planning process early. For a calendar with year end at December, start no later than August of the current year. - Measure your actual results every month versus budget, and hold people accountable. Ready to learn about Budget Systemization? Let's go! For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast  If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers    If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS are dashboard of your business as the data or numbers tells you where your money is going, where it is coming from, how it is spend, how much profit and loss is in the business. In today's episode, Steve will show us granular information in the operation and how to analyze them and how each of these financial statements work together to give every business owners or Entrepreneurs get a full picture of the Company's financial health. The 5 types of financial statements you need to know: - Income statement - Cash flow statement - Balance sheet - Note to Financial Statements - Statement of change in equity For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast

Finance Systems provide Businesses with an accurate and complete information in one place. Join Steve today as he talks about how Finance Systemization forecast future cash flows and helps you, the Founder and Leaders help your leaders to better manage working capital and further optimize your daily, monthly and year cash flows. For more Awesomers podcast episode, click https://awesomers.com/podcast If you have not subscribed to the Awesomers YouTube channel yet, press that SUBSCRIBE button https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers If you are also on SoundCloud, follow Awesomers SoundCloud by pressing that FOLLOW button https://soundcloud.com/awesomerspodcast Let's ride together!

In today's episode, we are moving towards learning Finance Systems and Steve shares a blueprint on the Financial modules which is critical and important but often ignored by Entrepreneurs. Financial systems are scoreboards than albatross, a stress or a pain because it often shows us the status of the business and how well Entrepreneurs understand the business. Stay tuned with Steve today and make sure you have your favorite snacks and drinks on because this episode is just the beginning of our Financial ride together.

In this episode, Steve will talk about Strategic Marketing Systemization. - Who are market - Who are Customer - X number of leads that needs to be generated this year and next years based on our conversation rate - Average Order Value (AOP) or Average Sales - Cost per acquisition Steve will walk us through a more strategic system that allows us to be more flexible in changing our strategy backed up by data. As they say "Rinse and Repeat" is one of the effective way to enhanced and be more successful in implementing your system, learn from today's episode - Rinse and Repeat!

Steve is taking us to a topic that builds loyalty and trust. BRAND IDENTITY - is an essential part of building a good and lasting relationship with your customers. Brand identity plays a significant role in differentiating your business from our competitors in the market. The uniqueness of your brand enables you to stand out of the crowd to potential customers in the market. Join Steve as he shares his thoughts on how you can create that lasting brand identity and image.

In the previous episodes, Steve discussed the core components of marketing and topics that pushes the business to scale up. In this episode, Steve will talk about Branding and Positioning and the differentiation of the brand so you can tie the whole story together. Brand positioning - What is it and why you need it? What is your Unique Selling Proposition (UPS)? Who are your Customers and Competitors? Put your headphones on and get ready to position your brand and understand the difference of what is Positioning and Differentiation.

Today's segment is part of the longer version of the Founder Foundations Mini-Series. Steve gives a top-level inputs to get bases of understanding of our core mission and behavior as well as tasks that we must accomplished to produce strategic objectives. We will often look into the gaps that creates problem and the competition that will inspire you to make your product grow.

In this episode, we will talk about your Geographic Targeting. In business, geographic targeting is vital. When building a brand, you have to take into consideration why you need to make careful mapping of the market and locations and where you can better position your brand and strategize your plans in each areas. Geographic Targeting is a component that competently complements a marketing strategy to target products or services on the basis of where their consumers reside and where you can leverage division of growth.

What is a Customer Avatar and Why is it Important? In today's episode, Steve walks us through the marketing functions. As a leader, the key factor is to help our leaders identify and understand our perfect customer - the type of person who want to purchase our products and services. As we define our Customer Avatar, we can have a clear understanding of what it is about and why it is important and why finding and creating this will help you find and reach your target market and become successful in the business.

For today's episode, Steve will provide us insights about our Company structure, leading our team and a brief introduction of Marketing and help us understand why Marketing is important. Marketing is not necessarily advertising buy it is a form of communication between a business house and its customers with the goal of selling its products or services to them. Understanding customers behavior will help each business create plans that attracts the customers get to you and converting them to buy from you - repeatedly. Goods are not complete products until they are in the hands of customers. Marketing is that management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. Are you Ready? Learn more from this episode and get ready to Market.

What is Time Management and Why is it Important? In this episode of Founder Foundations series, Steve shares with us why Time Management is so important and why it is the key skill as a Founder and Entrepreneur to personal and business success. Time clicks away every second of every day and it is not something we can buy. Time must be considered precious and how we choose the use of the time - especially in the business side deserves consideration. There's a lot of ways that time is stolen from you. May today's episode help you grasp the importance of time and why it needs to be spent in a way that it brings relevance to you and your business.

In this episode of the Founder Foundations, Steve will talk about how we can grow our business using system and having people manage these systems. Real World Systems. What does that mean? It means that we are going to deal about the realities of being a Manager - in fact, it is challenging it's the hardest thing. By bringing in complementary resources to help us in our weaknesses in their strengths and this is where the real world management comes in. As a Founder and Entrepreneur we have to understand all the WHY's that we learn across. Sit back and relax and learn what it takes to manage real world systems.

In this episode, Steve will talk about Key Frustrations and how we can solve them. believe it or not, there is always that systemic ways to solve these frustrations and avoid mistakes that will frustrate us more. Creating systems to solve frustrations may sound weird but frustrations come because either there is no system or the current system does not exist. By having a process to deal frustrations, it will help you and your team how to solve and deal with them and how you can work together for these frustrations not to happen again. Join us in this episode and get ready to solve life's frustration.

In today's episode, Steve explains the importance of having a Company with a solid foundation so that a Founder don't have to be the solution for every problem that comes up. What is a Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and how do we make sure we measure and manage the business correctly? If we do not measure our business, we are not managing it. Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure a company's success versus a set of targets, objectives, or industry peers. KPIs can be financial, including net profit or the bottom line, gross profit margin, revenues minus certain expenses, or the current ratio. Stick around for today's video and understand how KPI's can be relevant to your business.

We have been going through some of the things not only for Founders but also for the Leadership team that are working with the Founders so we can get on the same page. In this episode, Steve shares important experiences and powerful lessons that gives personal clarity and we can do so if the Leadership team understands the expectations and objectives.. Reinforce the importance of having a Company Origin story and better have a clear understanding in Finding your Company's WHY.

What is the Strategic Objective? Essentially it is helping define a more objective terms and articulation of what your objective is. The idea of having a highly flesh out strategic objective is largely non-sense. We started our Entrepreneurial journey as a side-hustle or as a necessity but the idea of adding formality or making giant proclamations about where we are going is idiotic. We can't just do everything from the onset perfectly especially if it's your first time out. Learn more from Steve on how you can strategize your objectives correctly.

In this episode of the Founder Foundations Mini-Series, Steve will be talking about the importance of Finding Your Why - Why it is important, how to start it and how to discover your purpose for yourself and for your team. Finding your "Why" is a statement of purpose that will describe why you do what you do and why you live life with a mission. Your calling. Your Conviction. Stick around and let's navigate together in Finding our Why's.

Today we are going to do about a little bit of episode about Systemic Thinking. Systemic Thinking is really intended to help you break the paradigms of normal - meaning things you normally do, you should stop doing. Many times, Entrepreneurs have this core method that they do things with. They call it working on your business not in your business - Chaos right? Learn more from Steve in today's episode and be the best you!

When we think of Executive or Leadership training, we only think of ourselves? In this Episode, we are beginning today a new series as Steve's holiday gift for everyone. Whether you are listening now or in the future, Steve wants to provide you 31-days of trainings on how to train Executives in our Company. Sit back and relax and enjoy the next 31 days full of learnings with Steve. For more Podcast Episodes, visit https://awesomers.com/podcast

Here we are, one more time to talk about - the WORLD that we live in. We will be specific with a part in the World - Vietnam and why Steve thinks that Vietnam is important, why it is underutilized and misunderstood why it fits in the Global Supply Chain. Listen to this full episode and learn more from Steve. Watch this full episode and learn more from Steve. If you haven't subscribed yet to Awesomers, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@awesomers and click "SUBSCRIBE" button and learn more how you can be an Awesomer!

In this Episode, Steve makes a special announcement that is known to a few folks around him. Retirement. The first retirement began in 2012 and went on a vacation, more time with himself and his love ones but that retirement gave a negative impact on himself. What Retirement 2.0 looks like for Steve? He will do everything he can to eliminate the things he does not want to do and will focus more of his energy on the things that makes him and the people around him move forward with a positive impact. Watch this episode and learn what matters most in life.

Every wonder why we make mistakes? Life mistakes? Personal Mistakes? What if that mistakes is a sourcing mistake affecting our business and our clients? What will you do? In this episode, Steve shares 7 powerful Vietnam Sourcing Mistakes that anyone can commit in sourcing eCommerce Products. With these 7 powerful mistakes, Steve also shares how one can avoid them. It's not a mistake why you are here. Sit back and relax and enjoy the wonderful ride to learning the Top 7 Vietnam Sourcing Mistakes and how you can avoid them. #MentorMonday #Top7VietnamSourcingMistakes #awesomers #Empowery #ProductSavants

In this episode, Steve walks us through Negotiation techniques that will help Amazon FBA Sellers learn the basics, terms and the importance of NEGOTIATION. More information that you can use as reference: INCO TERMS: https://empowery.com/2020-inco-terms/ Join Empowery Mastermind and surround yourself with the best! www.empowerymastermind.com Poorly Made in China by Paul Midler: https://www.amazon.com/Poorly-Made-Ch... Craving for more? Click the link below and take a look at this exciting course https://empowery.com/courses/12-weeks... #negotiationskills #Negotiation101forAmazonFBASellers #Awesomers

Steve Deep dives a topic close to his heart - Company Story. He will also be taking us to the different Company stories like of TOMS SHOES, WARBY PARKER, CHIPOTLE, and BACK RUB. This Episode applies to all that are building your brand - your Company story. At the end of the episode, you will learn the importance of: - Your Story is just as valuable (everybody started somewhere for some reasons) - The basis of a story - AND MORE! Sit back and relax and we will take you to a full dimension ride to building your Story.

In this episode, Steve talks about Finance deep dive and the important points when setting up a Finance or accounting system. Steve will concentrate on the Post-Sale process using Parsimony to explain how the DocWalk - Order to Cash process works (it works for us - hopefully it will for you) To learn more about Parsimony.com, visit https://parsimony.com/ Parsimony is your One System for your marketplace business.

In this Episode, we will talk about Product Sourcing as a process. The objective is to share with the audience is the mechanisms that we have. Steve shared a presentation to help the viewers and listeners understand the process of Product Sourcing and why it is important: - Product Sourcing 101 - Product Discovery - Supplier Qualification - Item Selection - Product Introduction - Use of system tools like Parsimony to manage and assign tasks regardless of where you are, this process is applicable. Join Steve and the team in his sourcing Steve trip to Vietnam on April 2023 and apply the learnings you have from this episode! Stay tuned for more updates about the Sourcing Trip in our website. To know more about this Trip, visit: https://catalyst88.com/april-2023-sourcing-with-steve-vietnam/

In this episode, Steve wants to give a time to express the "frustrating old Steve" where he saw posts in Social Media channels like Facebook. The posts reflects somebody's inexperienced and looking for some solutions. Steve will shallow dive and discuss how to get high quality products in China and how to check and inspect the quality - the RIGHT way and how to avoid customer complaints that will lead to business loss. https://awesomers.com/259 - show notes https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory

In this episode, Steve talks about Who and How to Use SinoSure. 1. What is it? 2. How it works? 3. How it applies to other Countries? Steve also mentioned that he rarely trust Companies that they do not know SinoSure - a State-Owned-Enterprise (SOE) in China. SINOSURE promotes Chinese exports of goods, technologies and services, especially the exporting of high-tech and high-value-added capital products such as mechanical and electrical products. In this way, the company further supports economic growth, employment, and international balance of payments. If you are buying and importing products from China, make sure that you understand how Credit Insurance Companies work. To know more about Sinosure, visit this link https://www.sinosure.com.cn/en/Sinosure/Profile/index.shtml https://awesomers.com/258 - show notes https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory

Steve is giving us an overview with us the lay-out of the upcoming Festivus event on December 8-11, 2022. 1. For those are are planning to attend, a Deep Preview into it and decide to get on board 2. For those who are attending, a better overview to help you plan your day Steve made some shoutouts to those who made and are making the Festivus event POSSIBLE! Get your ticket right now! Festivus 2022 is Powered by Elevate Brands https://empowery.com/event/festivus-2022/ https://awesomers.com/257 - show notes https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory. Give this a link, comment, and share please! https://empowery.com/

Why does one company fail and another succeed if they both sell online? Let's dig in and talk about that for a few minutes. SURVIVOR said it well: OUTWIT, OUTPLAY, OUTLAST! Don't forget to grab your https://Festivus.live tickets now. Use promo code AWESOMERS50 to get 50% off General Admission or VIP tickets. Limited quantity and restrictions apply.

In this Episode, Chelsea Cohen, the Co-Founder of SoStocked.com shares her story on how she started the business and her journey towards making SoStocked.com the First Amazon Inventory Management and Forecasting Software That'sFully Customizable and Fully Understandable. Learn more from Steve and Chelsea in this Podcast episode! To know more about SoStocked and Chelsea, visit these links below https://empowery.com/directory/sostocked https://www.sostocked.com/ https://www.sostocked.com/Tools/ https://www.sostocked.com/Connect/ (to connect with Chelsea)

In this Episode, Steve share’s his point of view on the investigation of Amazon’s business practices as gives the context on how Empowery sees the world and how to adopt good business practices. There is always something great in seeing the good in every bad. It allows us to reflect in ourselves our own and our business’s integrity. Discover more ways how you can adopt good business practices in your business. Learn more from Steve in this Podcast episode! Read this Article to know more about this feature story: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/sec-is-investigating-how-amazon-disclosed-business-practices/ar-AAVW2XZ

In this Episode, Steve share's his point of view on the interesting and momentum-shifting in the E-Commerce and Amazon Selling Community. Explore more about the China Lockdown and the concept of Aggregators and the ability to execute your business.Learn more from Steve and this Podcast episode!

In this Episode, Steve share's his point of view on the driving factors and challenges affecting businesses because of the impact of Politics, GeoPolitics, and other issues affecting businesses around the World. He thinks that to create a strategic approach, every business must be: Logistics Driven, Product Driven and Sales Driven. Learn more about Steve's vision and how he can help business owners overcome these challenges. Steve is holding holding a Masterclass in the UK on April 2022. To reserve your seat, in April, visit the link below: https://scaleforetail.com/upcoming-events/april-masterclass-2022/

Steve and My Amazon Guy, Steven Pope talks about their eCommerce Vision, Seller Central, Technical advice to improve sales. With more than 300 brands consulted for, Steven Pope sees trends and speaks about how to improve traffic and conversion and grow sales faster. #empowery #fba #fbaseller #amazonseller #amazonfbaseller #ecommerce #entrepreneur

Steve talks about the 50-50 10-10 2-2.com Challenge. Let's not talk about New Year's Resolution and failures. Let's talk about how you can rise up and be more engage by joining this Challenge for your business and personal success. #empowery #fba #fbaseller #amazonseller #amazonfbaseller #ecommerce #entrepreneur

We're talking about Amazon FBA news, China and supply chain news, and whatever comes up during this short LIVE broadcast.

What Steve thinks this 2022 and the topics he will be sharing.

The Awesomers Episode with Jacob McQuoid from Avask Group

Sourcing with Steve Our mini-series about sourcing in India opened up with Steve talking about some of the potential that India has for brand builders. If you haven’t had a chance to read that check out PART 3 right now.

Sourcing with Steve Our mini-series about sourcing in India opened up with Steve talking about some of the potential that India has for brand builders. If you haven’t had a chance to read that check out PART 2 right now.

Sourcing with Steve Our mini-series about sourcing in India opened up with Steve talking about some of the potential that India has for brand builders. If you haven’t had a chance to read that check out PART 1 right now.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. The last chapter in our mini-series helps highlight some of the distraction tactics and other behaviors that China is engaged in at present. Perhaps more importantly we also learn how the instability of production can be something that negatively impacts amazon FBA sellers and ecommerce operators at large ability to procure enough inventory. Supply chain disruption comes from 3 primary areas: Labor, Energy and Raw materials. Companies engaged in product production must have a consistent supply chain to manage those 3 key ingredients. The lack of any one of these 3 components means that the supply chain is failing. Steve speculates about the future of China and it's competitiveness. Additionally Steve shares suggestions about where to consider manufacturing in the future and how to structure your own mental framework to deal with the present day problems while planning for the future.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. Part III of this series focuses on causation of the issues at hand, beyond Covid, and specifically into the inflationary pressure driven by changing Demographics. Your ability to understand how populations are changing gives you an edge in planning your products, production, supply chain, and even your products and selling strategies. The world population is changing in large ways and the most critical parts of the supply chain in China, Japan, Germany and most of Europe have shrinking populations which removes their ability to operate as a consumer based economy and forces them to export to survive. Furthermore the aging population changes the dynamics of how economies work especially related to the retirement populations being larger than the working and tax paying populations so your understanding of this can help you position your business properly.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. This episode dives into the recognition that we may be experienced COVID the sequel over the next 12 months. Instead of everything returning to normal as we all hope the reality is that the complicating factors are pushing us toward more supply chain issues, higher prices, and unpredictable shipping costs. Every single part of the supply chain remains under pressure, especially when crossing borders. Your ability to understand the reasons why and then develop your own strategy on how to cope with these realties gives you an edge over those who do not yet understand these realities.

SOPBox.co presents a DUALcast podcast for SellerSessions.com and Awesomers.com Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson are teaming up to share some background about what has happened in China and the global economy since the covid-19. The context and background help us remember some of the key breaking points that have continued to impact the global supply chain to this very day. Data points combined with commentary will help you understand the background for this China Reality Check 4 part mini-series. When you have this information you will be better informed about the current events and more importantly what you as an Amazon seller or ecommerce entrepreneur should think about now and going forward when it comes to sourcing, inflation, and product production.

Steve Simonson shares his invite on the upcoming Wizard of ECommerce event on October 16, 2021 in Miami. The event will highlight the importance of Strengths Based Leadership. Steve shares will be sharing his inputs too on The Changes in the Global Supply Chain and why it matters in today's World. Please click the link below for the Wizard of ECommerce event on October 16, 2021: https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/events/281239537 Don't forget to check out https://parsimony.com and https://sopbox.co/ for SOP technology FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://OnlineMerchantsGuild.org and https://Empowery.com to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - https://awesomers.com/238 Steve Simonson shares his inputs about Evergrande on International Trade and why it matters. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/237 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/236 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/235 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/234 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/233 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/232 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/231 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/230 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/229 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/228 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/227 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/226 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/225 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/224 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/223 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/222 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/221 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/220 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/219 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/218 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/217 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

For Show notes and details https://awesomers.com/216 Steve Simonson shares his most important series of business lessons with this Axiom Mini Series. FBA sellers know that it's important to rally together with the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/ and https://empowery.com/ to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

Goto https://awesomers.com/215 for show notes and details. Steve Simonson takes a moment to share his Axiom 0 - the most important of all the axioms and why this axiom has been important for his businesses and leaders to put into place. I DON'T KNOW NUTHIN' ABOUT NUTHIN' It may seem simple. It may seem silly, but it helps us set aside our bias and approach subjects with an open mind. It doesn't mean we set aside our gut feel or ignore our experience it just means we approach the business decisions with a level of humility. Someone is always smarter and there are always ways to make improvements in your business or life Don't forget to check out https://parsimony.com for SOP technology And join the non profit member owned https://empowery.com eCommerce Cooperative. And if you are an aspiring podcaster reach out to https://catalyst88.com to see if your show ideas work for this podcast network. We can help you with production, marketing, and monetization - you just create the content. :)

Today Steve Simonson shares some insights about the current hot topics related to all FBA Sellers and really any eCommerce marketplace entrepreneurs.  https://Awesomers.com/214 The news topics change from time to time, but the impact to FBA sellers has become increasingly impactful and it's important to rally together with the https://OnlineMerchantsGuild.org and https://Empowery.com to help harness our own voice with law makers and platform owners.

https://awesomers.com/213 Amazon FBA sellers are facing daily barrages of changes and increasing prices. Today Steve Simonson pulls some shareholder only resources from Empowery.com to share with the Awesomers community. Empowery.com is a non-profit member owned cooperative with lots of resources and solutions to problems EVERY seller faces. They have the solution to your pain point so why are you waiting to solve it by joining? ---> https://kartra.empowery.com/join

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - https://awesomers.com/209 Melissa Simonson joins the Awesomers.com podcast to share some of the insights about the upcoming Emopwery Festivus online holiday celebration. Empowery Festivus Register now or get access to the recordings: https://bit.ly/EMPFestivus What if there was an online event that was more like FUN masterminding mixed with actionable information? There is. Empowery Festivus. Presented by the Bestivus. For the Empowerment of the Restivus.

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - https://awesomers.com/208 Tim Jordan joins the broadcast today with Steve Simonson in this part of a mini-series about how to re-rank products that ran out of FBA stock. Is it possible? Is there hope? We'll find out today in Part 6 of this special expert insight series on this important topic. This mini-series has a blog post to help consolidate the topic into one page:  https://awesomers.com/blog/podcast/how-to-re-rank-a-product-on-amazon This critical topic has different opinions from experts from around the world. These comments are collected to help YOU the seller find a way forward when facing these complex issues. Consider these resources to help your business: https://empowery.com - the non-profit member-owned co-op https://catalyst88.com - the eCommerce focused global mastermind  https://stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson Have you checked out https://productsavants.com? Do you agree with Steve's comments on today's show? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on Twitter or Instagram @stevesimonson and let him know just how wrong he is. ;)  The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Neither Awesomers.com nor Steve Simonson personally has any direct affiliate relationships. Any promotion or affiliate links are Empowery links provided for the sole benefit of that vital non-profit member-owned cooperative. Steve owns an investment interest in SellerChatBot.com, Parsimony.com, and Duvall Co-op Management.

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - https://awesomers.com/207 https://bit.ly/PPCNINJA <--- Click to learn more about PPC NINJA. The PPC Ninja leaders, Bernie Thompson and Ritu Java, are joining the broadcast today with Steve Simonson in this part of a mini-series about how to re-rank products that ran out of FBA stock. Is it possible? Is there hope? We'll find out today in Part 5 of this special expert insight series on this important topic. This mini-series has a blog post to help consolidate the topic into one page:  https://awesomers.com/blog/podcast/how-to-re-rank-a-product-on-amazon This critical topic has different opinions from experts from around the world. These comments are collected to help YOU the seller find a way forward when facing these complex issues. Consider these resources to help your business: https://empowery.com - the non-profit member-owned co-op https://catalyst88.com - the eCommerce focused global mastermind  https://stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson Have you checked out https://productsavants.com? Do you agree with Steve's comments on today's show? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on Twitter or Instagram @stevesimonson and let him know just how wrong he is. ;) The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Neither Awesomers.com nor Steve Simonson personally has any direct affiliate relationships. Any promotion or affiliate links are Empowery links provided for the sole benefit of that vital non-profit member-owned cooperative. Steve owns an investment interest in SellerChatBot.com,  Parsimony.com, and Duvall Co-op Management.

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - https://awesomers.com/206 Andy Slamans is joining the broadcast today with Steve Simonson in this part of a mini-series about how to re-rank products that ran out of FBA stock. Is it possible? Is there hope? We'll find out today in Part 4 of this special expert insight series on this important topic. This mini-series has a blog post to help consolidate the topic into one page:  https://awesomers.com/blog/podcast/how-to-re-rank-a-product-on-amazon This critical topic has different opinions from experts from around the world. These comments are collected to help YOU the seller find a way forward when facing these complex issues. Consider these resources to help your business: https://empowery.com - the non-profit member-owned co-op https://catalyst88.com - the eCommerce focused global mastermind  https://stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson Have you checked out https://productsavants.com? Do you agree with Steve's comments on today's show? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on Twitter or Instagram @stevesimonson and let him know just how wrong he is. ;)  The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Neither Awesomers.com nor Steve Simonson personally has any direct affiliate relationships. Any promotion or affiliate links are Empowery links provided for the sole benefit of that vital non-profit member-owned cooperative. Steve owns an investment interest in SellerChatBot.com, Parsimony.com, and Duvall Co-op Management.

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - https://awesomers.com/205 Paul Harvey is joining the broadcast today with Steve Simonson in this first part of a mini-series about how to re-rank products that ran out of FBA stock. Is it possible? Is there hope? We'll find out today in Part 3 of this special expert insight series on this important topic. This mini-series has a blog post to help consolidate the topic into one page:  https://awesomers.com/blog/podcast/how-to-re-rank-a-product-on-amazon This critical topic has different opinions from experts from around the world. These comments are collected to help YOU the seller find a way forward when facing these complex issues. Consider these resources to help your business: https://empowery.com - the non-profit member-owned co-op https://catalyst88.com - the eCommerce focused global mastermind  https://stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson Have you checked out https://productsavants.com? Do you agree with Steve's comments on today's show? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on Twitter or Instagram @stevesimonson and let him know just how wrong he is. ;)  The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Neither Awesomers.com nor Steve Simonson personally has any direct affiliate relationships. Any promotion or affiliate links are Empowery links provided for the sole benefit of that vital non-profit member-owned cooperative. Steve does own an investment interest in SellerChatBot.com, Parsimony.com, and Duvall Co-op Management.

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - https://awesomers.com/204 Ankit Jain is joining the broadcast today with Steve Simonson in this first part of a mini-series about how to re-rank products that ran out of FBA stock. Is it possible? Is there hope? We'll find out today in Part 2 of this 6 part special expert insight series on this important topic. This mini-series has a blog post to help consolidate the topic into one page:  https://awesomers.com/blog/podcast/how-to-re-rank-a-product-on-amazon This critical topic has different opinions from experts from around the world. These comments are collected to help YOU the seller find a way forward when facing these complex issues. Consider these resources to help your business: https://empowery.com - the non-profit member-owned co-op https://catalyst88.com - the eCommerce focused global mastermind  https://stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson Have you checked out https://productsavants.com? Do you agree with Steve's comments on today's show? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on Twitter or Instagram @stevesimonson and let him know just how wrong he is. ;)  The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Neither Awesomers.com nor Steve Simonson personally has any direct affiliate relationships. Any promotion or affiliate links are Empowery links provided for the sole benefit of that vital non-profit member-owned cooperative. Steve owns an investment interest in SellerChatBot.com, Parsimony.com, and Duvall Co-op Management.

https://awesomers.com/203 Liran Hirshkorn is joining the broadcast today with Steve Simonson in this first part of a mini-series about how to re-rank products that ran out of FBA stock. Is it possible? Is there hope? We'll find out today in Part 1 of this 6 part special expert insight series on this important topic. This mini-series has a blog post to help consolidate the topic into one page: https://awesomers.com/blog/podcast/how-to-re-rank-a-product-on-amazon This critical topic has different opinions from experts from around the world. These comments are collected to help YOU the seller find a way forward when facing these complex issues. Consider these resources to help your business: https://empowery.com - the non-profit member-owned co-op https://catalyst88.com - the eCommerce focused global mastermind  https://stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson Have you checked out https://productsavants.com?

https://awesomers.com/201 Steve Simonson hosts a live hangout for global eCommerce entrepreneurs talking about hot topics for Amazon Sellers and doing some live Q&A. https://www.stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson

I made a post to update everyone about one year after my announcement of having Stage IV cancer. The theme of the update will revolve around one of my axioms: DO WHAT NEEDS DONE - WHEN IT NEEDS DOIN'. The original post about the arrival of my cancer is at https://awesomers.com/158 Today's post with the update, spoiler alert, it's good news is here: https://www.facebook.com/steve.simonson1/posts/10222077833362196 Both posts brought an outpouring of support and questions so I wanted to just give a quick overview of where I stand for everyone since I can't respond to all of the messages directly. (over 120 and counting) I'm going to turn this into https://awesomers.com/202 just to memorialize these thoughts and be able to direct people with questions to a single update. As in all things, I'm always looking for a system to make things easier. Steve Simonson hosts a live hang out for global eCommerce entrepreneurs talking about an upcoming FREE mastermind in Mexico.  To learn more about that mastermind goto: https://catalyst88.com/mexico  Steve talks about PRIME day and other Amazon Seller important topics.

https://awesomers.com/200 Steve Simonson hosts a live hang out for global eCommerce entrepreneurs talking about an upcoming FREE mastermind in Mexico.  To learn more about that mastermind goto: https://catalyst88.com/mexico  Steve talks about PRIME day and other Amazon Seller important topics.

https://awesomers.com/199 Steve Simonson and Paul Rafelson talk about the news of the Amazon Sellers and agencies that were indicted by the Department of Justice after an exhaustive investigation by the FBI. The actual indictment is here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/press-release/file/1317976/download?fbclid=IwAR29kMV5sngTz-vWA1-FOPMJNXin1Reohw_jATWDfUN3aNIMN5x3dVMhW8c Read the allegations yourself and see why the alleged behaviors are so outrageous. Here are some of the news links that elaborate on this story: https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2020/09/19/amazon-reacts-to-federal-indictment-of-seller-consultants/ https://www.engadget.com/amazon-third-party-seller-bribery-scheme-214225399.html https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-marketplace-fraud-scheme-six-indicted/ https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/19/21446549/six-people-indicted-amazon-bribery-marketplace-third-party-sellershttps://nypost.com/2020/09/19/six-indicted-by-justice-department-on-conspiracy-to-pay-bribes-to-amazon/ https://www.pcmag.com/news/feds-amazon-staffers-took-bribes-to-prop-up-sketchy-merchants-products Paul's casual Friday dress aside, Steve and Paul talk through the indictments and some of the impact it may or may not happen on other sellers and topics that deserve consideration in the future.

https://awesomers.com/198 Steve Simonson and Kevin King are joined by Melissa Simonson to talk through the VIP ProductSavants customer benefits including access to BRONZE level Empowery cooperative resources! Kevin and Steve take questions from the audience and talk about the process of generating ideas and then bringing a private label product from concept to purchase order ready status WITH economic viability. Unicorn ideas shared with ProductSavants VIP customers are hard to bring to the market, but they are worth it. To learn more about the co-op goto https://empowery.com

https://awesomers.com/197 Steve Simonson talks about the stupid questions people ask and why you should learn how to use google if you want to be an entrepreneur. Of course, the difficult questions are the right things to bring to the community to ask for help. Steve goes into FAQs that Amazon FBA sellers often ask and he tries to add context and information to help entrepreneurs of all kinds advance their businesses worldwide.

Show notes: https://awesomers.com/195 Kevin King and Steve Simonson talk about the https://ProductSavants.com concept that takes Amazon Sellers from the wilderness of risk and chaos into the robust metropolis of vetted product ideas and purchase order ready sourcing. The team discusses the value of ideation, product testing, data validation through the concept of finding suppliers and factories that can fulfill the orders in a professional way. This VIP customer experience is something everyone can learn from because the concepts apply to all private label businesses.

https://awesomers.com/196 Video version: https://youtu.be/yqsPqUegW4c Steve Simonson shares the most important news for Amazon Sellers, talk about hot topics for FBA sellers, and overall general conversation.

Podcast Show details: https://awesomers.com/194 THIS IS MUCH BETTER ON VIDEO. CHECK OUT https://youtu.be/UGy9F3rcc8g Today Jessica Riser joins Steve to talk about how to set up the Merchandising Process, why it existing, how it relates to the product development and launch process and then goes into the detail of entering the data into Parsimony. Details about inventory item database entries and inventory management. All of the key data points required to manage product catalogs for private label sellers to get the item through the Merchandising process. Steve and Jessica go through the process of project management and item management from an eCommerce perspective. They even talk about the concept of naming conventions, range or sub brand management and more. The software being used is https://parsimony.com

https://awesomers.com/185 The great Danny McMillian has been doing daily podcasts and here a couple of us join Danny to talk about this milestone and thank him and the https://sellersessions.com community has helped Amazon Sellers around the world. To see more episodes goto: https://awesomers.com/podcast

https://awesomers.com/186 Seller Sessions and Awesomers.com DUALCAST! Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson talk about the Dunning-Kruger effect and how it impacts entrepreneurs around the world. Watch out for YOUR susceptibility to fall prey to the Dunning-Kruger effect - especially during these uncertain times. To see other episodes goto: https://www.awesomers.com/podcast and https://sellersessions.com

https://awesomers.com/189 Learn about how Multiplymii focuses on building an Amazon business through thoughtful HR and team building in a unique way and how it can help your Amazon business.  If you haven't checked out MULTIPLYMII be sure you go to: https://empowery.com/contact and get your special offer and help the Empowery co-op WHILE you save money as well. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review.  https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

Show Notes - https://www.awesomers.com/190 Learn about how Marketing with Emma focuses on storytelling and copywriting and how it can help your Amazon business.  If you haven't checked out MARKETING WITH EMMA be sure you go to https://empowery.com/contact and get your special offer and help the Empowery co-op WHILE you save money as well. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review.  https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

Show Notes and Details: https://awesomers.com/191 Learn about ZONGURU and how it can help your Amazon business. Some of the unique features of ZONGURU include finding niche products, a special connection to Alibaba and many more. If you haven't checked out ZONGURU be sure you goto: https://empowery.com/contact and get your special offer for ZONGURU and help the Empowery co-op WHILE you save money as well. https://awesomers.com/191 Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review. https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

Show notes with slides https://awesomers.com/192 https://SellerSessions.com and https://Awesomers.com DUAL PODCAST! Danny McMillian and Steve Simonson talk about changes in people's behaviors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We all can see the changes in our own lives, but what do those changes look like across a wide range of demographics? The Channel Advisor SAAS company polled over 1000 active US based shoppers to find answers about online shopping behaviors. The research completed by Channel Advisor has been very helpful to understand the consumer behaviors. So many main street stores have been closed over the past few months that the pure fact exists that options are limited. What changes in shopping habits have been created and will they last? See all of the slides at https://awesomers.com/192

Show Page: https://awesomers.com/193 Seller Sessions and Awesomers.com DUAL CAST! Danny and Steve are joined today by Paul Rafelson.Amazon Sellers Celebrate victory against "THE MAN" on Awesomers and Seller Sessions Dualcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review.  https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

Awesomers.com/182 has both the audio and video version of this on display. You need to watch the video of this to really see the power. Can you build traffic to a website that is not on Amazon? We're trying a new network that has lots of traffic - but we are not sure about sales conversion yet, but we'll do a LIVE experiment and share some of the traffic data. Steve shares a recent acquisition or two and how we try to pivot during the coronavirus. We cover:  Traffic Strategies Restrictions Brand Building Shopify TrafficWoo Commerce Traffic

https://awesomers.com/188 Problem: You want to expand your Amazon marketplace business to Europe but you are worried about the language issues that exist in the different EU marketplaces and YOU only speak ONE language. Yana and YLT Translations are an Empowery Co-op aligned resource to help make your transition into the EU easier. Jana and Steve talked through some of the challenges with expanding and how proper solutions from YLT can help you do more than just literal translations - you can actually localize to your target audience. Melissa at Empowery can connect you with a personal introduction to Jana for VIP service! Go to https://empowery.com/contact for a personal introduction.

https://awesomers.com/187 Problem: You want to expand your Amazon marketplace business to Europe but you are worried about the complexity and compliance with VAT and all of the various tax and accounting ramifications... Melanie and Avask Accounting are an Empowery Co-op aligned resource to help make your transition into the EU easier. Melanie and Steve talked through some of the challenges with expanding and how the solutions can bring order from Chaos.

Awesomers.com/184 for show notes on this Seller Sessions and Awesomers Dual Cast.

What is the most effective ranking strategy for Amazon, Walmart, and building your brand? Paul Harvey will tell us all about itAmazon Ranking Strategies. Chat Bots Brand Building Rankster The role of brand awareness in launching new products is often mis-understood. Rebates to customers are a great way to get the word our about a new product that is coming into the market, or to re-launch a product that has lost momentum in the marketplace. This LIVE episode streamed to different places including:  Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review. https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

https://awesomers.com/180 Empowery.com and Awesomers.com DUALCAST! How can Amazon Sellers capture Loan program benefits from the US SBA PPP?The PPP 350 Billion is gone...But, maybe it's not too late.There is talk of another 250Billion in allocation to PPP. This LIVE episode was streamed to different places online. And a few days later the PPP program was "out of money", but sources tell us that there may be a future allocation so if you can make an application at BOEFLY do it, just in case there is any opening.REMEMBER - there is no application or loan fee allowed under PPP so don't let that scare you away. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review. https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

https://awesomers.com/179 Danny McMillian, Kevin King, Kian Golzari and Steve Simonson talk all about how to not be constrained to a single sales channel. How can Amazon Sellers diversify off Amazon? Progress, NOT Perfection Context Matters Your WHY should guide you. The panel will discuss some of the issues around multi-channel sales and the trade offs each of the alternatives brings. This LIVE episode was streamed to different places online. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review. https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

https://awesomers.com/178 AMAZON FBA SELLER LIVE BROADCAST WITH NEWS ITEMSWe talked about some of the alleged price gouging newsWe talked about the delays and bringing inventory intro Amazon and why that's happeningWe talked about the probability that PRIME DAY will be delayedWe talked about how to deal with the current COVID-19 crises for Amazon FBA SellersWe talked about the SBA PPP loan program at the high levelWe talked about thinking timeWe talked about the need to be strategic and not lose your mindThis LIVE episode was streamed to a series of different places and we're curious to see if YOU like this live format.Don't forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review. https://awesomers.com/podcast

https://awesomers.com/177 Today Steve talks about the Butterfly Effect, which is part of chaos theory,  from the coronavirus on global trade and some of the potentially surprising results that are happening or likely to happen in the near future. What are the realities that we face as Amazon FBA Sellers as a direct result of this coronavirus and how are all of these issues connected? Steve shares some examples of how this problem is having surprising and material impacts to business right now and he speculates that the worst is still ahead. https://awesomers.com/177

https://awesomers.com/176 - show notes As always Amazon keeps us jumping. On March 17th Amazon FBA announced they will stop accepting new incoming orders temporarily for non-essential items. Amazon will tell you if you item is essential or non-essential.Steve discusses speculates as to why this is required and talks about what Amazon Sellers can do now to respond. The Empowery vetted 3PL https://3plogistx.com is still accepting new customers and if you have the need you should get moving quickly before they have capacity issues too. Think about the big picture and don't be part of the problem. This too shall pass. Those who adapt can not only survive, but thrive.  https://awesomers.com/176 - show notes

https://awesomers.com/175 for show notes and links Update: What's happening - all previously planned travel is off. Let's help Flatten the Curve! Don't be part of the problem. Events this week --> Amazon Seller Game Night https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jL7q1JlFSGWlMxdVSfSwBw Product Savants - KevinandSteve.com Reveal Webinar https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HiOUhR6ZSBipakIZg9yM3Q Empowery sent a FREE guide from the Business Practice to it's members, but you can get one for FREE too. - https://empowery.com/contact - just ask for the Business Practice CoronaVirus Planning Guide by Michael Shinnick Here are some of the key areas to consider during this crisis: 1 - Focus On Cash From a business perspective this is critical. Bring the business back to its basic element. Is it generating cash or burning it? More especially which investments in the business are generating or burning cash? 2 - Get Finance In Place Now The old adage of ‘Cash is King’ is so very true and especially so in uncertain times. There has already been positive measures announced by the Irish banks and Government this week aimed to help Irish businesses affected by the impending crisis. Similar steps have been announced in the USA and other countries. 3 – Plan To Work From Home This is not always possible for every business nor for every role in a business but it is prudent with this virus to at least trim down the number of people in the office/building etc. 4 – Staffing Cuts/Changes This may not be necessary and it is fairly obvious that certain sectors (like travel, hospitality etc) are suffering the most right now and may need to look at some or all of these measures. Others may not need to go here at all but I am including them for completeness sake. Let’s be honest the biggest single cost on most businesses Profit & Loss account is wages/salaries. 5 – Communication It is important for those in leadership roles to convey a sense of calm and exude the confidence that they have matters in hand, so as to avoid unnecessary panic. 6 – Keep Marketing & Selling “For a business not to advertise is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but no one else does” – Stuartt H. Britt 7 – Double Down On Your Existing Customers Remember “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." Your current customers are the opportunity to make more sales without incurring the costs of finding a new customer 8 – Be Level-Headed and Stay Positive >>Panic and worry never helps >>Look for small wins every hour/day >>Sometimes less news is a good idea – turn it off 9 – And ..... Finally......Take a chill Pill!!!! Relax, this is very likely very temporary .....so plan, Don’t panic. https://awesomers.com/175 for show notes and links

https://awesomers.com/173 - Show notes - How to ask for feedback from customers Today Steve is joined by John Lee with PickFu and learn about how this "happy accident" is the business model today that works so well for them AND the entrepreneurial customers. Learn from the experts about how YOU can gather customer feedback in a fast, focused, and HIGHLY effective manner.John shares how the process works and the discussion about why this customer feedback is important and even talks about certain use cases where entrepreneurs can get qualified feedback from a REAL audience in the fastest way possible.   Learn about the evolution of this idea and why it matters to your business. Goto https://Empowery.com/contact and ask how YOU get the INSIDER deal on PickFu right now.Take action based on REAL data and customer insights without spending too much time or money! https://awesomers.com/173 - Show notes - How to ask for feedback from customers

https://Awesomers.com/174 for show notes and details. Today Steve did a random Facebook live to share some of his thoughts about the impact of the Corona Virus now referred to as Covid 19 and why it matters to entrepreneurs in general and specifically how does it impact Amazon Sellers. Steve is joined by other Amazon Sellers who also share their own perspectives and opinions and in some cases, the discussion focused on what sellers need to consider to be prepared for the uncertainty that approaches. The Greem Screen was not activated today - sorry about that. Steve was just jumping online to add value to the Awesomer community. Some resources mentioned: https://empowery.com https://parsimony.com https://productsavants.com https://symoglobal.com https://Awesomers.com/174 for show notes and details.

https://awesomers.com/171 for show notes and links Today's guest, Laurel Bloomfield, will share her experiences about inventing a product and then how she developed the idea, patented it, and then developed BIG BOX customers. Laurel talks a bit about her origin story and shares a bit of her journey from ideation to exit. She shares her own very hard work ethic and what it takes to evolve from cattle ranching to ecommerce sales. This unique view about a VERY niche market gives entrepreneurs keen insights about what it takes to go from concept to reality and then how to capitalize on that reality.  https://awesomers.com/171 for show notes and links

https://awesomers.com/169 - Show notes. Today Steve Simonson and Paul Harvey talk about one of the most effective ways brands can drive awareness and engagement through advertising and product rebates.  Rebate marketing has been around forever, but only recently have modern technologies been adapted to help consumers gain awareness about new brands and micro brands. Check out the History of Rebate Marketing. Paul talks about http://SellerChatBot.com and why messenger bots are a critical part of a customer acquisition and engagement process and further how a new DONE FOR YOU service from SellerChatBot called Rankster can help you execute awareness marketing campaigns without burning too many calories yourself. Busy entrepreneurs need to delegate and find solutions instead of trying to do everything themselves. STOP BEING THE BOTTLENECK! Paul has recorded special training to help your team manage your bot flow marketing. Better still, Paul announced the advent of round 2 of BETA customers into RANKSTER which is a great way to gain ranking without you having to do the work.  Get over to http://sellerchatbot.com/rankster and sign up for the webinar to see if you can squeeze into the next BETA round. https://awesomers.com/169 - Show notes.

PODCAST SHOW NOTES - Canton Fair 99% Cancelled Wuhan Corona Virus Amazon  Steve dives into the facts about the Pazhou complex sending notice that the fairgrounds are closed indefinitely which means in all likelihood the canton fair spring 2020 will be cancelled. The Canton Fair organizers also send a message that told exhibitors to expect cancellation and stopped short of officially declaring the fair closed, but the nuanced message was a clear indication of what's to come. Even if the Canton Fair somehow carries on - I RECOMMEND NOT GOING.The is a reason so much of China is on Lockdown and why so many unprecedented actions have taken place. One of the best visualizations, thanks to Megla Bhardwaj for sharing, is  https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html Although the China team members speculate that the peak is near or perhaps 7-10 days away, Steve points out that the CHINA authorities are saying that timeline more often than outside experts who suggest the peak is still many weeks away(at best). The fact that China is taking so many steps appears to have contained it to within China, and we hope that they can get it under control ASAP. We wanted to bring real people who are responsible for hundreds of containers and let them tell you what they are experiencing. We don't know who is right and we hope for a immediate containment and elimination of this virus. Top News Right Now about the Wuhan Corona Virus: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/04/asia/wuhan-coronavirus-update-intl-hnk/index.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/health/coronavirus-pandemic-china.htmlhttps://www.businessinsider.com/china-healthcare-system-coronavirus-outbreak-2020-1 https://interestingengineering.com/potential-cure-to-wuhan-coronavirus-discovered-by-thai-doctors https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-china-outbreak-epidemic-wuhan-1485354 https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/03/802212047/coronavirus-cases-have-more-than-tripled-in-past-week-17-000-now-sick-in-china I warned Amazon Sellers last week not to travel to China until at least June (or we know more) and now the US Government is catching up. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/china-travel-advisory.html DO NOT GOTO THE CANTON FAIR even if by some miracle it does open up - it's not worth the risk! I've heard most people are getting refunds from organized trips, but I've heard a couple people asked for a refund and got shut down by a specific trip. I recommend retaining an attorney because Force Majeure should allow you to break any contract and get a full refund. Anyone not offering this without a hassle appears to be ripping you off. Message me with examples of tour refund rejections and I can refer you to an attorney.  https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

https://awesomers.com/170 PODCAST SHOW NOTES - Wuhan Corona Virus Amazon Seller Personal Update with SymoGlobal China Team Today Steve Simonson is joined by a few members of the SYMOGLOBAL.com China team. We check in with the team leaders to be sure they are alright and we ask about the situation in China and what they think about the current response as well as the potential for recovery. We also dive into the timing of factory openings, what impact any delays may cause, and there is further discussion about some of the regional supply chain realities that exist as a result of the current situation.One of the best visualizations, thanks to Megla Bhardwaj for sharing, is https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html Although the China team members speculate that the peak is near or perhaps 7-10 days away, Steve points out that the CHINA authorities are saying that timeline more often than outside experts who suggest the peak is still many weeks away. The fact that China is taking so many steps appears to have contained it to within China, and we hope that they can get it under control ASAP.We wanted to bring real people who are responsible for hundreds of containers and let them tell you what they are experiencing.We don't know who is right and we hope for a immediate containment and elimination of this virus. https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory. Consider these resources to help your business: https://www.empowery.com - the non-profit member owned co-op https://www.catalyst88.com - the ecommerce focused global mastermind https://www.stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson

https://awesomers.com/168 for full show notes: PODCAST SHOW NOTES - Counterfeit Crackdown on Amazon, eBay, and More... If you sell on Amazon with any degree of success you have experienced other sellers "hijacking" your listing. There are legitimate times where multiple sellers sell the same product, but if you are the inventor, brand owner, and single source for your own product line the legitimate reasons goes down by a factor of 100. Yes, for the less experienced sellers it is important to understand that people can purchase from you and resell your product. The so called "FIRST SALE DOCTRINE" allows anyone who buys your product to resell it without threat of copyright or other IP infringement. This applies to products you purchase too. So the retail arbitrage business is something that can not be stopped as long as there is an economic incentive AND as long as the goods being sold are authentic. But more importantly brand owners who do tons of giveaways and then are mad that those people who got the product for FREE are reselling it on their listing are experiencing an unintended consequence. Less reputable platforms that help drive brand awareness through discounts or rebates are driving good sellers crazy when they promote their brand only to have the lucky recipients of deeply discounted goods and even FREE products show up on Amazon and sell against then with, at times, ZERO cost of goods.  That's hard to compete with, but it is manageable to avoid those types of platforms or tactics that lead to the problem. A customer who purchased the product can also make a legitimate sale as long as they list the item properly. For example if they have opened it, they should not list it as NEW. Amazon warehouse deals can also list items that were lost and reimbursed to sellers, but later they were found, that is a legitimate type of listing that a seller may not like, but there is no recourse. The more disturbing issue is when you have a listing and sellers jump on your listing and offer to sell your brand and your product, despite the fact that it is NOT the same product. Those sellers are actively selling counterfeit products and engaging in fraud and deception. The problem is that the online platforms, up until now, have had little incentive to crackdown on those behaviors. Unlike Louis Vuitton or Cartier small brands don't have a budget to threaten Amazon or the sellers, instead we try to rely on brand registry which is purported to help resolve hijacking, but in reality it does very little to stop hijackers.   Part of the problem is that platforms like Amazon make it too easy for bad actors to spin up new seller accounts. They knowingly engage in black hat tactics using these disposable accounts without regard for the law or for consequences because they are largely based in China. Amazon also actively solicits China based sellers in spite of the facts about the risks. https://awesomers.com/168 for full show notes with much more detail.

https://awesomers.com/166 PODCAST SHOW NOTES - Special Guest Expert Maayan Gordon Let's talk about TikTok - and why it matters to Amazon Sellers and eCommerce companies in general.Our expert Maayan Gordon (who has over 1.7 million TikTok followers) will help us decode the mystery that is TikTok. Technically if you are under the age of 25 you probably already have it installed, but if you, like me, had the chance to watch Gilligan's Island you probably have no idea what TikTok is and how to use it. Even if you have heard the name you are unlikely to have the app installed or understand the opportunity. Top 10 Things To Know about TikTok for 2020  1. Tik Tok has had over 1.5 Billion downloads. Facebook's attempt to copy TikTok called Lasso has only had around 70,000 downloads. The start up has the edge! 2. The vast majority of TikTok users are Gen Z. Around 66% of the current user base are under 30 years old. This is not a surprise to Steve because he is almost 50 and doesn't have the TikTok app. (yet) Adults, especially millennials are downloading an a VERY rapid rate in late 2019 and early 2020. The inflection of users may be happening. 3. Americans alone have invested over 23 million dollars on TikTok's virtual currency. Why? They want to buy stuff. Although the American share of users is only around 10% globally on TikTok they account for almost 1/4 of the total purchases. There are several lessons in there. Global in app purchases in 2019 passed 75 million dollars. This is mostly used to send EMOJIS!!!  4. Only 4% of American brands are marketing on TikTok. That means YOU are likely in the 96% that has not yet adopted the TikTok marketing. Go where others are not. Short form Video is relatively new to marketers and will require some effort to get it right. 5. India and China followed by SE Asia represent the largest user bases for TikTok. Although North America and the EU are growing if you have a business that can sell in India (Amazon Sellers in India) or China you have unique conduits to help you build your brand. Note: in China the app is called Douyin - but it is the same overall. 6. As Maayan referenced in the podcast users want an escape. They want to be happy. They watch TikTok to check out for a bit, just like watching TV in the old days. The average user spends 52 minutes per day watching TikTok. 7. In most countries TikTok is dominating on Android based devices. This is due in part to the most popular countries and their user base. iOS may trail, but they spent far more per user on TikTok - which is a normal dynamic.  8. The Top 50 TikTok creators are followed by 7.6% of the World's population. The amount of people following them is more than the population of many western countries COMBINED.  9. TikTok is growing faster. 10. Engagement is NOT awesomer yet on TikTok. People log in everyday to other social platforms like Instagram (95%), Facebook (96%), and SnapChat (95%). TikTok has only 29% daily engagement from it's total user base. Those who do login are very engaged however, but this is one key statistic that TikTok will continue to focus on. https://awesomers.com/166 https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

https://awesomers.com/167 PODCAST SHOW NOTES - WUHAN CORONA VIRUS TRAVEL WARNING From Steve Simonson below:  January 24 2020 I would avoid going to China until at least June to see how this virus will unfold. For those of you who know me I evaluate data and make calm decisions. I am not one who reacts to news. I have never warned against travel to China or Asia before including going to Hong Kong during protests in 2014 and 2019. That said: China has taken the unprecedented move of closing Shanghai Disneyland, tourist parts of the Great Wall, all 70,000 movie theaters and many other areas effective immediately. This is something that has NEVER happened and the fact that it is during Chinese New Year is a devastating admission of the serious situation. The financial consequences are huge, but life must be protected. All airlines and trains and reputable tour groups are offering free refunds or rebooking. There is a chance if this continues the Canton Fair schedule may be modified due to the huge gathering of people. I WOULD NOT plan on canton fair this spring. I’ve been going there on and off for the better part of 18 years, but this year the risk isn’t worth it. The rate is infection is increasing rapidly and based on the last outbreak (SARS) there will be 4-6 months to contain this situation. The face masks in China are all currently sold out. I WILL NOT BE HOSTING any trips to China or Asia in general this spring. For my friends who live in China please do not take this lightly. I have watched the swine flu, bird flu, SARS and other threats in the past, but this is by far the most serious. The rate of diagnosis is likely to multiply by a factor of 10x in the next week or so. In my opinion travel to China for the next 4 months is unwise. I will be monitoring and will update if anything changes. I would welcome a quick end to this outbreak, but the odds are against it as we sit here today. IGNORE THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL. Top 10 Things To Know about Wuhan Corona Virus  1. As of January 26th 2020 there are close to 3000 people in China with the virus and nearly 60 have died as a result. 2. More than 5 Million people were allowed to leave Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, despite the fact that they could be infected. 3. About 50 million people inside of China are under a quarantine mandate to try and get a handle on this epidemic.  4. Some other countries have a handful of cases which originated in Wuhan. 5. The rate of spread between humans is each person can infect 2.5 to 3.5 others which means this virus can self sustain indefinitely. 6. Speculation as of now is that this virus could be twice as bad as SARS and cause immense economic damage to China, Hong Kong, and some neighboring countries. 7. Importers should take special note that factories may not come back online at the normal time following Chinese New Year. This could cause significant uncertainly throughout the supply chain which will cause a snowball effect of delays. 8. There is no reason to put yourself at risk. Steve recommends avoiding China at least until June 2020 based on the information we have today. 9. Yiwu has been closed until Feb 21st, 2020 as of this recording. That could push farther. It is also possible that this will impact Canton fair, possibly even cancelling it. 10. China is taking unprecedented steps to help contain the virus. Closing all 70,000 movie theaters during Chinese New Year, when 7 MAJOR films were set to debut, closing Shanghai Disney, parts of the Great Wall, cancelling Spring Festival celebrations in countless cities and terminating travel in so many parts of the county are all good steps to help deal with this situation. We don't know if it will be enough yet.WE DON'T PANIC. WE SHARE OUR AWARENESS TO STOP THE SPREAD OF THIS VIRUS! Https://awesomers.com/167

Steve talks about the news of the recent Tariff changes related to the "Phase One" trade deal between the USA and China. The news about the so called phase one trade deal with china has resulted in many people wondering about what it means now and the future and Steve talks about his view on the deal and what that might mean for 2020 and beyond. Overall this is a positive step for Amazon Sellers, but we should remain vigilant about the future since uncertainly remains certain. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-china-trade-deal-heres-whats-in-the-us-china-phase-one-trade-deal/ https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/4/18126061/tariff-man-trump-china-tweets-memes-stock-market https://thehill.com/opinion/international/474840-christmas-tariffs-for-santa https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50784554 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/12/18/no-wakanda-is-not-trumps-next-tariff-target-despite-being-removed-us-free-trade-list/ https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/china-cuts-america-a-break-on-tariffs-after-phase-one-deal https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/474855-trumps-phase-one-trade-deal-undercuts-the-anti-tariff-crowds-arguments https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-says-u-s-is-very-close-to-a-big-deal-with-china-on-trade-11576162614 https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

Amazon Seller Women's Conference https://awesomers.com/164 - show notes Melissa Simonson joins Steve Simonson on the Awesomers.com podcast to talk about the upcoming Empowery Women's conference in Feb 2020. This important event will set the stage for Women oriented content, networking and other important issues that are unique to Women in ecommerce. https://www.empowery.org/womensconference Melissa shared some of the original vision why a Women's conference is happening and why it is important for Amazon Sellers, Female Entrepreneurs, and Amazon Sellers in general.This unique venue combined with powerful speakers, 100% of which are female, will provide compelling content along with the opportunity to built lasting relationships though networking with the attendees and speakers. Get your ticket right now! https://awesomers.com/164 - show notes https://awesomers.com/podcast - for full show directory.

https://awesomers.com/163 - show notes Focus on Strengths It's the single most important driver of team performance - and yet, less than 2 out of 10 employees strongly agree that they get to use their strengths at work every day. Steve Simonson and Michael Pinkowski share some of their strengths and talk through how those strengths impact their decision making and their careers. As entrepreneurs, we are usually not great managers and therefore we will often look for the easiest path instead of the right path when it comes to the supervision and orchestration of our teams. That typically means that we abdicate the responsibility and then we are surprised and even mad when the new hire didn't execute with excellence. Building a culture based on strengths is immensely more powerful than building it based on fear. As you focus on a culture of strengths you build skills and processes that can create a predictable result every time for the business. This is the key to growing in a sustainable way. Steve and Michael share some of their personal stories to help you understand how this data-driven philosophy works in real life. To get started goto: http://gobestrong.com/go Take the assessment, get the insider help videos and coaching from Michael. Make a decision to invest in yourself today! https://awesomers.com/163 - show notes

https://awesomers.com/162 --> Show notes News is happening every single day that impacts Amazon Sellers and eCommerce companies in general and here are a few that caught Steve's eye this week: 1) Amazon admits it uses marketplace Seller data to come up with products.  https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/amazon-uses-aggregated-data-from-sellers-to-build-its-own-products.html 2) Amazon responds to some Seller concerns, but ignores others. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kirimasters/2019/11/20/amazon-addresses-some-seller-concerns-ignores-others-in-antitrust-inquiry/#3e285b883445 3) Amazons written response to FTC Anti-Trust Inquiry.https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU05/20190716/109793/HHRG-116-JU05-20190716-SD038.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0o-I9gyz7rvIIuM5Qv2wDDe0pD5XoBCHcGIM0iZeNiWu55gUc6HTU8DVk Top Take Aways: Forcing Brands to match prices of "competitors" Buy Box factors remain elusive. Amazon Seller count lower than press estimates. Amazon eludes details about their own brand placement. MSRP pricing vs. Sale pricing is weird. Amazon's unfair use of data, placement, and external competitors is damaging US businesses. Don't forget that we must remain calm and carry on a dialogue to get change to happen. Losing our minds and yelling will not solve this situation and I believe there are ways to make improvements without the government getting too involved and without Amazon unfairly using its power.  https://awesomers.com/162 --> Show notes

https://awesomers.com/161 - show notes and webinar links Do you want to reduce your employee attrition by up to 73%? WEBINAR REPLAY - https://vimeo.com/374560745 Today on the Awesomers.com podcast we want to talk about the most important natural resource you have in business: people.Let's focus on how to grow your company by leveraging the strengths of the individuals in your company instead of concentrating on what's wrong with them. Michael Pinkowski from Go.Be.Strong. joins Steve to talk about the most impactful cultural system that can work in any business: Strengths Based Leadership. Starting with a simple assessment Entrepreneurs can first know themselves and start learning how to harness and develop their own strengths and THEN help they key team members do the same thing. This process takes work, but the payoff can be extraordinary.If you want to grow from $1M a year in sales to $10M a year in sales or even $50M a year in sales - the dirty little secret is that it will take people to create a real sustainable business with equity. YOU as the leader have to get good at leading people. Even if you don't like it. Even if you think you can't do it.You can do it and you can even get good at it. Listen to Michael and Steve talk through some of the history of the Strengths concept and how you can leverage this key system to enhance your own business today. http://gobestrong.com/go https://awesomers.com/161 - show notes and webinar links WEBINAR REPLAY - https://vimeo.com/374560745

https://www.awesomers.com/160 for show notes page and links This was originally recorded in 2018 with Patrick Maioho talking about the impact of the first round of China Tariffs that were just being implemented. Patrick is a global sourcing expert who has deep experience in China as well as many other countries. This conversation is enlightening and eye opening for anyone impacted by the China USA Trade War and specifically talks about the impact of Tariffs. If you don't know about how the tariffs work this conversation is for you. https://www.awesomers.com/160 for show notes page and links *lightly edited - not full edit.

https://awesomers.com/159 On October 12th China and the USA announced a "phase one" trade deal. Was it really a deal or was it just a cease fire? That's more of an academic question, but here are the key take aways: 1) Ratching down rhetoric is better than going farther into the abyss. 2) No formal deal has been inked, so we don't know if this will actually get over the finish line, but the USA has honored it's promise to waive or otherwise defer the additional 5% tariff that was expected to be applied as of October 15th. 3) Besides the press conferences related to the Washington DC based meetings and related press coverage we don't have alot of facts. Which leaves us to guess about what has been "agreed" to and what comes next. And since the absence of information leaves me OPEN for speculation, here we go: 1) China got something it wanted. Waiver or delay of the 5%. 2) USA got something it wanted. A committment to buy US Agriculture products in the amount of 50 Billion dollars. (The devil, however, is in the details since we don't know over what time period that represents.) Both the USA and CHINA could use some political wins on this trade war front and this was likely a good start for both. The fact that the USA is bringing in billions in tariffs gives the USA some power to mitigate those industries hardest hit with retalitory tariffs. The same applies the the added tariffs for items coming into China. China has a high interest in maintaining it's manufacturing base. Here are some things to watch for: What happens to the next round of tariffs set to take effect on December 15th? How will the African Swine Fever impact China's inflation and related US Ag purchases? What impact, if any, will the Hong Kong situation have short or long term? How will the Chinese delegation read the US Election and factor that into their results? How will the Impeachment inquiry impact the Trump strategy on trade in China or elsewhere? (Turkey, EU, Etc..) How will a prolonged trade way impact the global economy? Will the Congress play politics on the Canada-Mexico-USA new agreement? Will any tariffs get rolled back? If so when? https://awesomers.com/159 Stay tuned into this dynamic situation!

https://awesomers.com/158 An Update About Steve's Health: Today I am sharing a health update. Last Friday I began treatment for Stage IV Melanoma Cancer. Although this news is not my favorite thing to share I wanted to give you some context and provide my insights on what it means for the short term for me: 1) I remain otherwise healthy and strong and relatively young to fight this disease. I have no symptoms or effects and we would’t recognize this was even happening without a series of internal scans that have been happening over the past several months including recent biopsies that have confirmed the nature of the challenge that lies ahead. 2) My treatment will be in the form of Immunotherapy which I am told is a more effective version of chemotherapy and should have fewer side effects. I didn’t have any bad side effects from last Friday’s treatment for example. 3) In spite of my first treatment happening last week, I will still depart for China on the 18th for a sourcing trip with some great entrepreneurs and my kids are even coming along. The trip will continue without any impact. 4) My future schedule will be adjusted to accommodate the more frequent hospital visits, but in general I will carry on with my most important priorities which includes the Empowery Cooperative, The Awesomers podcast, and other "network effect" businesses. My lower priority businesses will be sold or discarded and I will divest in most larger consumer focused businesses that I am involved in to put focus on my priorities which include my health, my kids, and my entrepreneurial community related activities. 5) I am a very private person overall so sharing something of this personal nature is not normal for me. I share only to help those of you who are emailing me, messaging me, and otherwise asking me for some kind of help that I may be delayed in responding to you. As a matter of fact for those in need of assistance I would recommend posting in one of the online facebook groups or asking the Empowery.com/contact support area to see if they can help you before contacting me. I will be slower to respond if I can find the time. I have always been serious when I say that I am "At Your Service" to my fellow entrepreneurs and that mentality is not going to stop. However, it is logical to assume that my focus and immediate priorities will be on my recover. There is no doubt in my mind I will overcome this illness and although I wouldn't volunteer for this assigment, now that I have received it I am thankful for the clarity and overall sense of purpose that it gives me; even with a greater sense of urgency. There are many important things happening in the entrepreneurial community. Kevin King is holding the Billion Dollar Summit in November and I will be there to help unveil the next "BETA" round for the KevinandSteve.com project. Shhhhh..... The announcement of the Women’s Conference has been met with enthusiasm in the community and I have no doubt Melissa Simonson and the team will make that a very successful event. empowery.org/womensconference Sincerely, Steve Simonson Founder https://awesomers.com/158

Podcast Shownotes: https://awesomers.com/157 How about a little humility? Too often we see people showing off private jets, fancy cars, and projecting this lifestyle that IMPLIES that they have arrived. And how did they "arrive"? They were super smart and you should listen to them, better yet, send them some money and you can have what they have. However, rarely does those brag posts show the debt that the person is in. These modern millennial show-offs remind me of one of the original BS artists from America's so-called "Greatest Generation." Many people believe that TOM VU one of the clearest example of scam presentations ever. My point is that the current version of these are those ding dongs you see parading around on their private jets, posting every 3 hours them drinking champagne with the pretty people, or some other variation of illustrating that YOU suck and they are winning. The truth is often far different. My experience shows me that Zig Ziglar, as usual, is right on the money. Start from a place of NOT knowing. Start from a place of humility. Even if you have knowledge or skills about the topic at hand, set aside your bias and your preconceived notions and prepare to learn by accepting new input. Your ability to compare data, gather potentially new information is significantly impaired if you don't take the time to step back and prepare for a paradigm breaking moment. Now, many times, your guy is right and as you discuss whatever the current situation is, or occasional crisis, you may know the right answers before hearing all of the data. In addition to keeping yourself open for a potentially new and paradigm-shifting breakthrough you are allowing your team to share their views and inputs. THAT is leadership. THAT is necessary. The best people do want to follow, but they want to feel like they are part of the journey. The old saying from H Jackson Brown, Jr is, "Every person that you meet knows something you don't; learn from them." Don't be one of the "know it all" scum bags from the TV or now from the GRAM. Yes I'm hip. I've hear about Instagram. Be someone who can take a step back and learn, or even be wrong. That's when you will find the best results within your company and your team. Podcast Shownotes: https://awesomers.com/157

https://awesomers.com/156 for full show notes. Today Steve is sharing some updates about the Seller Sessions SELLERPOLL and his impresions of the program. VOTE NOW - https://sellersessions.com/sellerpoll-vote/ Steve went onto share his thoughts about the LINKEDIN case against web scraping public data and the potential ramifications with Amazon's TOS. Steve also discussed the South Carolina case where Amazon is liable for back sales tax on marketplace sellers sales and why this precedent is so important. Steve briefly talked about the current Trade war between the USA and China and what that means for sellers around the world. Consider this program to diversify:  https://www.empowery.org/goglobal Consider expanding your brand into Costco: https://www.empowery.org/costco-discovery Finally the topics of some of the cool new things that are happening here: Empowery Co-op: https://www.empowery.org/membershipParsimony Software: https://parsimony.com/parsimonyfreeSymoGlobal Photos: https://symoglobal.com/servicesKevinandSteve.com Secret Project: https://www.kevinandsteve.com/home https://awesomers.com/156 for full show notes.

https://awesomers.com/155 for FULL Show Notes Today Steve talked about his recent trip to Europe with his kids to help Awesomers understand his recent absence. Steve went onto share a summary of his 3 different community based initiatives: 1) https://Awesomers.com - Website, Podcast, Mailing List, Facebook Group - 100% FREE eCommerce Community Support 2) https://Empowery.com - A non-profit member owned cooperative to help leverage buying power and bring a unified voice to sellers. We can be: Independent. Together. 3) https://Catalyst88.com - The VIP high level mastermind focused on top performers looking to take their business to the next level. Steve shared why each of these distinct ideas exist and a little about how they came to be. Further into the episode Steve shared his views about the new Parsimony.com FREE version that allows Amazon Sellers to take control of their ASIN level listing changes and reviews including monitoring, alerts, notifications, and even project management to create advanced levels of automation. The robust system is only being opened to a tiny degree because we don't want to overwhelm users with the full ERP advanced feature set which is there, but it perhaps a bit intimidating to newer ecommerce users. Steve went on to talk about the Entrepreneurial "defect" when it comes to managing people. Our instincts and vision as entrepreneurs is exceptional, however, our management capabilities are often NOT SO AWESOMER! Steve mentioned the https://gobestrong.com resource to start to learn about YOU first and get to know your strengths and then roll out strengths training to your other team members.  And for goodness sake, build a team and create a culture to unlock the highest performance levels in each of the individuals. Stop treating people, especially freelancers, like disposable tissues. Steve mentioned his personal website stevensimonson.com as a place to try and keep track of some of the projects that Steve is working on. It's hard to keep track of them all!Don't forget to click the JOIN US link above to get sent some of our FREE processes to help get your company pointed the right direction. Steve is always busy hatching new schemes. Stay tuned to Awesomers for updates on current projects. https://awesomers.com/155 for FULL Show Notes

https://awesomers.com/154 Steve welcomed Zack Leonard who is the President of GEMBAH. GEMBAH is a product design and development company that is built to empower entrepreneurs, especially those Amazon FBA Sellers, who need to help with product differentiation. Everyone talks about finding product opportunities that you can differentiate, but few have a systemic path to that differentiation. So today's podcast is a conversation between Steve and Zach about the typical product design process. Zach walked through each of the steps and even included the graphics shown below as a reference for the Awesomer audience. The concepts behind product design are something that every Amazon Seller should at least become aware of, but more likely, the opportunity to make design improvement and create assets in your business such as molds or patents. There are so many possibilties! GEMBAH is an aligned and authorized Empowery Co-op vendor so don't hesitate to contact them and learn more about how they can help you. Empowery members can contact Empowery for a personal introduction and to be sure you get access to all of the extra perks and bonuses that are part of your Empowery membership. Don't forget to share this important episode with your fellow entrepreneurs who need product design advice! https://awesomers.com/154

https://awesomers.com/153 Sourcing In India Facebook Group Meghla's Sourcing to India Trip Steve and Meghla shared a conversation about her background and the incredibly diverse world locations she has lived in and her work experience with Global Sources that give her a unique and very experienced perspective about sourcing in general.  Meghla went on to discuss why she believes India is a viable alternative to China and she shared best practices about how to develop relationships with factories that transcend the email or skype conversations and help deliver a more positive result which can include better terms, better quality, timing, etc... The trip in India will be something worthwhile and will I believe it gives those who participate an edge when it comes to building on a new sourcing supply line. If you don't already have plans to goto India - this could be the exact solution you are looking for. Understanding international trading and sourcing requires learning and it requires new solutions to emerging problems. https://awesomers.com/153

Steve welcomes the God Father of entreprenuerial podcasting John Lee Dumas. JLD is known for hosting the long running Entrepreneurs on Fire Podcast which has over 2000 episodes. Steve asked JLD about his formative moments when he was beginning, what he takes the most pleasure in doing today and his recommendations for Amazon Sellers about how they can build their business today. JLD is a true entrepreneur and has been sharing, inspiring, and building his business and products for years. We are big fans of his podcast and really love his consistent message to take action and FOCUS. And finally, it was announced that the Sourcing with Steve trip has been officially announced. https://liranandsteve.com

https://awesomers.com/152 From Vietnam Steve joined today to talk to Awesomers about an upcoming webinar about the TOP 7 Sourcing Mistakes that Amazon Sellers make. REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR RIGHT NOW: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/36b4ec2d373d23647c24e00bf0acd2b8 Steve talked about some of the common mistakes that are STILL being made everyday by Amazon Sellers. These mistakes can have a big impact on the sales, growth, and opportunities for Amazon FBA marketplace sellers. The most important part is that these mistakes are absolutely preventable!Steve went into some detail about the upcoming trip to China in October. Steve is joining forces with Liran Hirshkorn, Andy Slamans, Oksana Brookie, Melissa Simonson, and Bell Isabell for this trip so it will be EPIC in every possible way! If you want to learn from experts how to create a global supply chain stay tuned here on Awesomers.com and sign up for the FREE webinar right now. And if you are interested in going to China don't hesitate. The prices go up every week based on availability, hotel costs and other variables.   REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR RIGHT NOW -> https://zoom.us/webinar/register/36b4ec2d373d23647c24e00bf0acd2b8 To get details about the Sourcing with Steve China trip click below: http://www.LiranandSteve.com Consider these resources to help your business: https://www.empowery.com - the non-profit member owned co-op https://www.catalyst88.com - the ecommerce focused global mastermind  https://www.stevensimonson.com - learn more about the founder Steve Simonson Don't forget that the Empowery eCommerce co-op is there to help you cope with the ever-changing market!

https://awesomers.com/150 Steve was joined by Bernie Thompson and Ritu Java to talk about Amazon Seller PPC Hacks and techiques that can help ANY Amazon Seller. Bernie and Ritu talked specifically about a couple MAJOR strategic changes they have made over the past 12 months in reponse to the SMART DUMB algorithms that are used by the Amazon Sponsored products auction alogrithms. This is a MUST listen to episode. PPC Ninja is an aligned Empowery Co-op Vendor so that means there are great offers to help members maximize services while minimizing prices. Don't forget to get the FREE self audit tool at PPCNinja.com or better yet, get the experts to conduct an audit tell you what's working and what's not! https://awesomers.com/150

https://awesomers.com/149 Steve talked about the origin of Amazon Prime Day and what Amazon Sellers need to pay attention to during the actual Prime Day event. Steve talked about the recent third circuit court of appeals ruling that says Amazon can be found liable for product liability for the products sold on its marketplace. THIS WILL HAVE HUGE impact. Contact the non-profit e-commerce co-op https://www.empowery.com/contact for a FREE no-obligation introduction to insurance resources that can help you. Steve reinforced the issues with California regarding state sales taxes being unfairly forced on marketplace sellers. The battle continues to rage on. Support the https://onlinemerchantsguild.org so that marketplace sellers have some representation! Steve mentioned the new California marketplace sellers rights bill which is actually the potential for good news from California. Steve updated everyone on the status of the https://KevinandSteve.com project. And finally, it was announced that the Sourcing with Steve trip has been officially announced. https://awesomers.com/149 >> GET CHINA SOURCING DETAILS: https://symo.kartra.com/page/Yzo89 <<

https://awesomers.com/148 Steve shares his views about sourcing from China and the added complexity of the tariffs that have been imposed by President Trump. He goes into some topics about China, India, Vietnam, and other alternative countries. Steve asks you the listener to consider your options and plan for a dynamic future. Consider resources: www.empowery.com www.catalyst88.com www.stevensimonson.com Don't forget that the Empowery eCommerce co-op is there to help you cope with the ever changing market! Have you checked out KevinandSteve.com? https://awesomers.com/148 Thanks for being Awesomer! Do you agree with Steve's comments on today's show? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on Twitter or Instagram @stevesimonson and let him know just how wrong he is. ;) The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page.

https://www.awesomers.com/147 <-- Show notes FTC and DOJ negotiate jurisdiction over anti trust of big tech companies. Apple, Alphabet (owns Google, Amazon and Facebook) are in the cross heirs of the government for anti-competitive behavior.  https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/03/alphabet-apple-amazon-and-facebook-are-in-the-crosshairs-of-the-ftc-and-doj/ The FTC will investigate different aspects of Amazon’s business model. https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/6/4/18651694/amazon-ftc-antitrust-investigation-prime Jeff Wilke, which is the #2 most powerful Jeff at Amazon says criticism is warranted, but company breakup is too far. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-retail-chief-says-scrutiny-is-warranted-but-companys-breakup-is-not-2019-06-05  Wilke claims: But Wilke said that no one inside Amazon shares seller data to create new products and said that its private-label brand business accounts for less than 1% of sales.  (of course the fact that Chinese Sellers have all of this data and use it regardless of “rules” or “policies” at Amazon show that any goes inside Amazon. His claim of less than 1% of sales is interesting because other places claim the private label sales rate is much higher. Prime Day Inventory is due into Amazon by June 27th. https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2019/06/06/amazon-prime-day-inventory-is-due-by-june-27/ Past Prime Day:  July 15, 2015 July 12, 2016 July 11, 2017 (kicked off on the 10th and ran for 30 hours) July 17, 2018 (kicked off on the 16th and ran for 36 hours)   This year it is predicted that Prime Day will begin either July 9th or 16th. It is still not announced. Amazon’s multi-channel FBA service may in and of itself be anti-competitive. https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-delivers-items-bought-on-ebay-or-etsy-ftc-interest-2019-6 Amazon faces so much pressure that stories about sellers asking for review reversals could cause a back lash. https://www.insider.com/amazon-seller-negative-review-reddit-2019-5 The pressure for both Amazon and Marketplace sellers will increase as these types of stories keep coming to light about 5 star reviews flooding in. https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-flooded-by-fake-five-star-reviews-2019-4?_ga=2.68271763.349584577.1559841136-151385749.1559841136 Amazon successfully defended a $300,000 product liability lawsuit regarding a fire that was caused allegedly by a product purchased on Amazon. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2019/06/04/528240.htm The case was dismissed on summary judgement saying that a “publisher of third party’s information” has no liability. It went to the appeals court which agreed that Amazon was not the seller. The likely result is that product liability insurance for sellers may face increased validation as a part of their ability to sell on Amazon. Amazon continues to push this “marketplace” concept although some would argue that it’s control and market share make it a monopoly vs. a marketplace. https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/06/02/amazon-wants-to-be-more-like-ebay-less-like-walmar.aspx eBay suggests strongly that FREE SHIPPING should be part of every seller’s strategy.  https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2019/06/04/ebay-says-sellers-can-offer-free-shipping-without-a-big-risk/ Buyers at Amazon and eBay know how to work the system: https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2019/6/1559587375.html eBay commits to a more positive seller experience. https://tamebay.com/2019/06/ebay-3-seller-focused-strategies-velocity-protection-and-comfortable-selling.html https://KevinandSteve.com Thanks for being Awesomer! https://www.awesomers.com/147 <-- Show notes

https://awesomers.com/146 <--- Show Notes SALES TAX ALERT: If you want to help support California removing any back sales tax liability that is trying to be forced down the throats of amazon sellers please support this webinar. OMG and Fiona Ma have been instrumental in improving the sales tax nightmare that is California. This webinar is a fundraiser. Go help and through some $$ in even if you can't attend or pay full entry. This situation can impact all sellers and a proper resolution would help entreprenuers around the world: https://secure.actblue.com/do…/onlinemerchantsguild-webinar… (I have no affiliation or other financial connection, I just believe in the cause!) If you sell anything in California you should support this important cause. The typical scumbag politicians that are trying to ruin the lives of emerging entrepreneurs should be help accountable for ignoring the fact that Amazon has been and always will be the retailer. If you are an Amazon Seller thinking about expanding to eBay you need to know some of those eBay specifics. 7 Top eBay Seller Tips 1) OLD STUFF DOESN'T SELL: Take a minute and end and then re-list any old and stale listings that haven't sold in 12 months or more. The reason why is that Ebay keeps a percentage of how many stale vs. popular items you have. The higher the amount of stale listings the more likely they will suppress you as a seller in search. This means that your account may be active, but your items are not showing up in search. 2) FREE SHIPPING & 30 DAY RETURNS: Offer free shipping and 30 day returns. People who buy online have high expectations when it comes to shipping and no risk returns. Even if you think it hurts in the short run or you are worried that buyers will abuse the returns policy, Ebay says they favor those sellers that have these features. Without question these features will increase your listings visibility. 3) FRESH SELECTION: New items and sellers that are consistently adding new items will always get a bump in the eBay algorithm. Ebay wants to keep things fresh and visitors are excited when they see new selection as time goes onwards so if they see you are consistently adding new content, they will bump your listings. Even if you edit or modify existing listings this can also help the algorithm know that the content and listings are fresh. 4) TITLES MATTER: Use as MUCH of the title text as you can, but don't fill it with crap words like NEW, RARE, CHEAP. LOOK, etc., as that will actually hurt you more than help. Also, use caps for the first letter of each word, but NO words in all caps, and certainly no full titles in all caps. eBay's algorithm will not reward spammy titles, but it will rank relevant well crafted titles that match search intent. 5) A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS: Add as many pics as you can add to a listing. Ebay bumps items with multiple pictures, so the more photos you add, the higher your listing will go. Your listing quality is impacted by the quality and the quantity of the images presented. 6) BIG DATA FOR THE WIN: If you are not already adding these data pointes please use item specifics. Ebay added this in the recent past and pushes this as their way to build a "catalog" and compete directly with Amazon. The more info you can add there, especially if it has a UPC, the better. Your ability to populate data specifics will differentiate you from listings with poor data sets. The algorithms will reward data by showing your listings more often for relevant searches. This will result in more sales. 7) METRICS MATTER: eBay is cognizant of the buyer experience like any other marketplace. If you embrace features like offering free shipping, free returns, getting top rated status, keeping all your seller metrics in line, and then use marketing functions to promote your listings you can drive visibility and SALES through the eBay selling channel. https://awesomers.com/146 <--- Show Notes

https://awesomers.com/145 --> Show page Since as a country we now seem to manage international policy on Twitter, the American President Donald Trump tweeted and escalated the Trade dispute recently. We think he did it just to make Steve look wrong. In today's show, Steve breaks down where we are now and what it means.As always, take a deep breath. There is a solution to every problem.But the enhanced rhetoric is a reason to pay close attention. Based on all of the facts we have we should pay close attention to the time frame of June 1, 2019, as a reference point. If both China and the USA start to smooth out the talk and especially if we have a "pause" button again then there is a real possibility we can ride out the storm. However, given the day to day escalation of this war of words, it does appear that Steve's assessment of this being a trade kerfuffle may have been wrong and that Trump is playing to win and the Chinese are playing to not lose. This means Trump has to come out with a full house to brag about it so he can be re-elected. President Xi just has to wait out Trump's term and put pressure points on Trump voters (farmers, blue collar, even some high tech, and USA manufacturers) and hope that someone else is elected President. That said, Xi will have to pull a straight flush to beat Trump if he remains in office because manufacturers are setting up all over the world outside of China. China faces the largest potential exit of capital in its history and the ongoing trade with other countries WILL impact China. Yes, China does have a rising consumer economy of its own but they can not service their massive off-balance sheet debts and shadow loans without continuous surplus from the USA. All of China knows this.There are a ton of factors in play that Steve talks about in the podcast today far beyond simple tariffs.If the winds are blowing negative after the first part of June Steve will start moving as much manufacturing as possible out of China. He estimates he can move 90-95% of product out of China over the next year.The risk is that this whole "trade war" could be a head fake. Trump and Xi could settle this suddenly one day and the cost and effort of moving will be a heavy burden to bear. The opportunity cost of moving and the risk of it being unnecessary are all part of the equation that Amazon Sellers, e-commerce importers, and brand builder must consider. Steve is preparing his team to start sourcing the same products outside of China for Empowery members as well. If you buy products from China and ship them anywhere you should pay attention. If you buy products from China and ship them to the USA you should subscribe, join our email list, and stay plugged into this information every single day. There is always opportunity in chaos! https://awesomers.com/145 --> Show page

https://awesomers.com/144 - Show Notes You can find sourcing opportunities no matter where you go in China. It's about your attitude and your own responsbilities to make good decisions AND to participate in the development process. The Canton Fair has massive scale and opportunities. China in general is a wonderful place to source and the Canton fair specifically is a great place to go to learn more about China. There are all kinds of different product opportunities. You can really accelerate your business in China by attending a fair like this. Other sourcing methods can work too - don't feel stuck if you didn't goto the Canton fair. For example Yuwi is sometimes called "Christmas City" because so much of that year round trade zone is focused on Christmas related items. That opportunity is also huge. The trade issues continue to make news between the United States and China, but an important thing to remember is to be patient and that you can't control it so don't put too much energy into worrying about it. Things are proceeding and there appears to be a general sense of optimism to see some progress that is pro-trade and helpful for Amazon sellers and e-commerce sourcing in general.And regardless of USA-China situation there are many other choices and more coming in the future if there is a failure to resolve this issue. Remember that dealing with China regarding pricing and everything else is an equation - not a single action step to win. You must learn the process over time. Taking care to balance the Ying and Yang of pricing and quality is an essential skill. The Empowery Seattle Summit is almost here. This small mastermind/conference is an unpredecented opportunity to get up close and personal with industry experts. Click on the Seattle Summit below. Kevin King and I are making a big reveal in Seattle at the Empowery Seattle Summit and it's EXCLUSIVE for attendees. Then we're going to do it again in Austin at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You must be an attendee to get that insider benefit. ;) FINAL THOUGHTS: Join Steve as well as a group of brilliant e-commerce entrepreneurs including Kevin King, Tim Francis, Erin Taylor, Steve Simonson, and many more at the Empowery Seattle Summit. This in person event will give you the chance to network in the most meaningful and productive way that you have ever experienced! (Speaking of Kevin King and Steve Simonson you should find out what the buzz is about over at --> https://kevinandsteve.com) Put this event on your calendar right now: https://www.empowery.org/2019-seattle-summit The Empowery 2019 Seattle Summit. This will be 3 intensive days with Steve with a surprise field trip! This is the most extraordinary value you will find for a hybrid between a conference, training session, and mastermind. IT WILL BE AWESOMER! Get your tickets before the low price goes away. https://www.empowery.org/2019-seattle-summit Thanks for being awesomer! https://awesomers.com/144

https://awesomers.com/143 - Show Notes Page TOP 6 Canton Fair Tips 1) Make sure you know which phase is relevant to your business or product sourcing requirements! Don't plan your trip until you know the dates for each phase. The three phases are very different: Phase 1: Electronics & Household Electrical Appliances, Lighting Equipment, Vehicles & Spare Parts, Machinery, Hardware & Tools, Energy + Resources, Chemical Products, Building Materials, International Pavilion Phase 2: Consumer Goods, Gifts, Home Decorations Phase 3: Office Supplies, Cases & Bags, and Recreation Products, Medical Devices and Health Products, Food, Shoes, Textiles & Garments, International Pavilion 2) Register Online Ahead of time and don't ever lose your badge. The process, even online, is a pain, but it sure beats waiting in long lines at the fair. If you value your time you will heed my advice. 3) Your attire will define you so dress the part. If you don't have a fortune 500 business card or a long established history of trading in China the factories will often decide who they should work the hardest to "earn" the business based on the impression you make. In a face culture how you dress can make a difference. 4) We use evernote with photos to capute event details so we can refer back and share as well. Capture all of your photos, business cards, product photos, catalog photos, selfies with the sales person and the boss on one Evernote that is specific to that single visit. It's free and it's easy to share.  5) Negotiating is a normal part of the buying process. Don't forget to qualify the source so you know who you are buying from. If you don't feel comfortable negotiating then learn how to live outside your comfort zone. Don't over negotiate the price without clear specifications or you will find the factory will engineer the product quality down without you noticing it just to say yes to your price. That never works in the long run. 6) Bring a bag or backpack if you want to collect the product catalogs or other information. There are opportunities to get catalogs, cards, sometimes even samples, or other little takeaways and a backpack is the easiest. Especially if you take the subway back and forth to the show. Although the success of your mission shouldn't be the gross weight of what your brought back it can be helpful to have good reference materials later. Also note that in an ironic twist the catalogs are often superior to the factory websites for product selection. This is due in part to the factories not wanting their competition to see all of their products. So it's time to go old school. Kevin King and I are making a big reveal in Seattle at the Empowery Seattle Summit and it's EXCLUSIVE for attendees. Then we're going to do it again in Austin at the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. You must be an attendee to get that insider benefit. ;) KevinandSteve.com - https://www.kevinandsteve.com/home The Seattle Summit - https://www.empowery.org/2019-seattle-summit Billion Dollar Seller Summit - http://www.billiondollarsellersummit.com https://awesomers.com/143 - Show Notes Page Youtube Video Version: https://youtu.be/PulgilNjHvs

https://awesomers.com/141 - Show Page PODCAST SHOW NOTES eCommerce Launch Summit - FREE training - https://rebrand.ly/ELSsimonson 1. It's FREE to particitpate! That makes this summit a no-brainer. 2. It's virtual so you don't need to travel anywhere. Travel sucks - so skip the pain and enjoy in the comfort of your own home or office. 3. This can accelerate your entreprenuerial journey. The experts share their knowledge so that you can skip some of the pain! 4. Network with other like minded entrepreneurs The a community of ambitious individuals working towards the same goal. 5. Participate in Workshops Take action by paying close attention to the workshops with step by step instructions. 6. Browse the Marketplace Special offers to some limited time opportunities to create instant wins! 7. Free during LIVE presentations You can watch without any cost, but you'll probably want the lifetime pass to get the most value and playback ALL of the content anytime. 8. Discover Money and Time Saving Tactics The speakers and vendor partners will reveal some of the best techniques and tools to save you time and money on this ecommerce journey. 9. Learn how to balance mindset with delivery. This laser focused summit gives you the chance to talk through the exact steps of private label selling. 10. It's built for YOU If you are just starting out or even if you are an advanced seller there are many lessons about how to simplify, scale, and leverage your time and business for more profit. Kevin King will share 6 mind blowing strategies on how to pick products that will WIN on Amazon's marketplace. Elana Saris will share 5 biggest mistakes people make when sourcing from China Steve Simonson will share 5 Supply Chain Secrets Michael Bitler will talk about how to create an optimized Amazon listing Bradley Sutton will dive into keyword research and listing optimization strategies on steroids Philip Jepsen will talk about using Amazon Data to exapnd your business Paul Harvey will share his insider tips for facebook messenger specifically for Amazon Sellers! And Many More... REGISTER NOW FOR THE SUMMIT https://rebrand.ly/ELSsimonson https://awesomers.com/141 - Show Page

https://awesomers.com/140 show page Steve talked about several news items. 1) Jeff Bezos claims Amazon is getting beat by 3rd party sellers, so stop saying Amazon needs broken up. Steve shares his views on why that arguement is absolute💩💩! And he totally ignored this wildly unfair situation positioning their own brands above 3rd party sellers!: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/03/amazon-removes-special-promo-spots-for-private-label-products.html Articles refercing Bezos' letter: https://www.pymnts.com/amazon/2019/bezos-shareholders-letter-third-party-sellers/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/in-amazon-shareholder-letter-bezos-says-aws-targeting-specialized-databases-for-specialized-workloads/ 2) Steve talked about brand analytics and demographics which are a step in the right direction. Amazon did recently talk about the fact they removed the pricing parity requirement as a way to try and appease politicians calling for the company to break up. https://www.retaildive.com/news/amazon-caves-on-seller-pricing/550388/ Hopefully these improvements are only the beginning. The article below the Amazon PR machine which touts 50 other ways it is helping sellers. https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2019/04/09/amazon-sings-50-ways-to-help-your-seller/ 3) Steve mentioned that Amazon is going to start adding retail taxes to FBA services which the great Paul Rafelson thinks is an illegal take on cost of goods sold, and we think he is right! Check out the Online Merchants Guild to support their legal efforts to fight the man! The Guild's efforts to get Amazon to collect taxes and stop the states illegal collection activities is bearing fruit. https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/treasurerletter/ Amazon gets pressure to do the right thing from sellers like us, the OMG, and Fiona Ma: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/new-treasurer-americas-populous-state-taking-amazon-114917764.html Then this happened: https://abc7news.com/business/california-online-sales-tax-increases-/5228284/ Now we just need to get them to stop their criminal like collection activities seeking back taxes from sellers instead of from Amazon. Steve called out the BETA concept for cross border trade that the Empowery Co-op is testing: What if you could be in business in Europe in less than 30 days** with no European entity, no VAT tax headaches, no forms, no employess, and almost no risk? GET ON THE LIST NOW ** Time to launch will vary based on lots of seller variables, but less than 30 days is possible from the time your application is approved. https://awesomers.com/140 show page

https://Awesomers.com/139 Show Page What if you could be in business in Europe in less than 30 days with no European entity, no VAT tax headaches, no forms, no employess, and almost no risk? What if you could prove that your product has value on new European marketplaces without the pain of entering? What if there was a resource that could create the listings in 5 languages, monitor those listings day to day, manage your sponsored products ads ALL for less money than a strong VA? What if you could solve this nagging problem of European expansion immediately with no hassle and virtually no risk? Empowery is in the process of vetting a resource that we believe can be the tip of the spear for your entry into Europe. The idea is innovative, affordable, and highly attractive from an ROI perspective. Here's what they will do: 1) They WILL help you get your product imported and they will manage all of the incoming VAT and they are the importer of record. 2) They WILL create your optimized listings for the 5 main languages for all EU marketplaces. 3) They WILL oversee the FBA inbound process to get the products live ASAP. 4) They WILL deal with any BREXIT headaches so you don't have to. 5) They WILL manage and monitor the listings to be sure they are optimized and set to sell for each country. 6) They WILL manage your sponsored products ads within the base contract. 7) They WILL report and pay all NET proceeds after Amazon expenses and VAT to you on a regular basis with full transparency. 8) They WILL monitor your inventory across the PAN EU FBA fulfillment centers to be sure your product or products are properly positioned. 9) They will communicate regularly about the strategic needs of the product(s) to be sure you are able to sell more products. AND.... 1) They will design a compensation structure that is 100% aligned with the brand owner. 2) They WILL NOT compete against you. They will sign a non-compete on your item, but that doesn't exclude other brands from selling similiar items through this concept. 3) They WILL NOT going to bring on products they don't believe are viable or are otherwise potential problems in the EU. They always have first right of refusal because their success is tied to your success. THIS IS A LIMITED BETA program by application only. However, the Empowery eCommerce Co-Op is currently vetting this resource before sharing the details, but we want to know what you think? Please feel free to comment with your views of this concept. Do you like the idea? Why?Do you hate it? Why?Do you like it, but you want to know how much it costs? It appears to be very unique solution for non-EU sellers to test a product a several products in the EU before jumping off the cliff of PAN EU registration. This concept could be the tip of the spear to help you get into Europe. Once the idea is validated there are ways to help it scale and other resources that Empowery has to help with ranking and scaling in Europe. We're anxious to hear your feedback...GO! https://Awesomers.com/139 Show Page

https://awesomers.com/138 <-- full show notes with links here There are lots of opinions about when ecommerce began, but according to ecommerce-land.com it all began in 1991 when the Internet was commercialized. Here is a snippet: History of ecommerce dates back to the invention of the very old notion of "sell and buy", electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the Internet. Ecommerce became possible in 1991 when the Internet was opened to commercial use. Since that date thousands of businesses have taken up residence at web sites. At first, the term ecommerce meant the process of execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which gave an opportunity for users to exchange business information and do electronic transactions. The ability to use these technologies appeared in the late 1970s and allowed business companies and organizations to send commercial documentation electronically. Many pundits wonder, especially when they are on camera, if ecommerce is going to kill traditional retail stores. A Forbes article written by Steve Dennis takes that question head on. We have our opinions on this topic as well, but overall the death of retail is over hyped. What is true is that the landscape is changing and those who fail to adapt will go the way of the dinosaur. Snippet: It seems as if those who spend a lot of time worrying about the future of retail have fallen into one of two camps. There are the “retail apocalypse” proselytizers who would have us believe that virtually all shopping will eventually be done online, that most brick-and-mortar stores are doomed and that anyone who says otherwise is a dinosaur. At the other end of the spectrum are the disruption deniers who acknowledge that the retail climate is indeed changing but who take comfort in the fact that physical retail is still growing and, more notably, that e-commerce represents “only” about 10% of all retail. Too many people ask the wrong questions about ecommerce making them rich or wealthy. If you start a business trying to get rich you are headed for trouble. If you start a business to help someone solve a problem you are far more likley to find "legs" for that business. Luckily the world we live in today allows you to pursue a business, which focuses on solving somone's problem, in a far easier way than ever before. eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Amazon, Wordpress, Wix, Square, and many others are not going to make you rich. However, you can create a business that creates equity and ultimately even wealth if you think about creating something that actually has value: e.g. a brand vs. trying to spin up a aliexpress to shopify site that has nothing of inherent value. https://awesomers.com/138 <-- full show notes with links here

See more at https://awesomers.com/137 1) What is Amazon Project Zero? Amazon Services, which is responsible for the marketplace and all Amazon FBA Sellers has developed the Amazon Project Zero in response to the ongoing epidemic of counterfeit items and brand hijackers. Using the word epidemic is our own characterization of the wild west situation that is often at play on the Amazon marketplace which can devastate sellers and negatively impact the shopping experience at Amazon.com. In fairness, here is Amazon's official declaration about Amazon Project Zero:"We are excited to announce Project Zero, a new program that empowers brands to drive counterfeits to zero. Project Zero combines Amazon's advanced technology, machine learning, and innovation with sophisticated knowledge that brands have of their own intellectual property and how best to detect counterfeits of their products." 2) How can I join the Amazon Project Zero program? Right now Amazon is limited the program to certain brands that were invited. Although this is common in the beta phase to be sure the flow of the concept and services offered are working, you do have to wonder why the big PR push about it if most sellers don't have access. The project starts in the U.S. only, but there are counterfeits worldwide. One argument is that Amazon is trying to send a strong signal to the bad actors who perpetrate this fraud on the Amazon marketplace on a regular basis, basically telling them their time is up. Another perspective is that this is only a PR stunt to reduce the bad publicity that Amazon has been getting in recent months related to the rampant sales of counterfeit items. Here is the official statement from Amazon: "Project Zero is currently an invite-only experience available in the U.S. We are adding brands as quickly as we can, while ensuring a high quality experience. Brands that are not yet enrolled should join the wait list and we will let them know as soon as we are ready to add them. See more at https://awesomers.com/137

https://www.awesomers.com/136 Top 8 ChatBot Questions for Amazon FBA Sellers 1) What are chatbots? Chatbots are pieces of technology that help respond LIVE to customer interactions. The engagement between a chatbot and a user is very high and the opportunity to create unique and wonderful experiences exist right now. 2) How can chatbots improve customer service? Chatbots will be able to answer basic customer inquiries and even supply transaction related data on a LIVE and INTERACTIVE basis. Additionally chatbots can be triggered using marketing flows to help qualify and segment customers which brings higher custom experiences to each user which can then lead to more sales and happy customers. 3) What are the best chatbot tools? For Amazon FBA Sellers the clear advantage goes to SellerChatBot with ManyChat also offering some high functionality. A specialized, yet unlimited solution can be had for less than 70USD per month.There are other platforms including chatfuel, Aivo, Botsify, ChattPeople, Flow XO, Imperson, and more.. Before you know what the best solution is you must first ask yourself what is the purpose of your chatbot. If you need AI features or NLP (Natural Language Processing) to help manage large volume on your own website you should look for more specialty types of solutions. Enterprise level chatbots can cost 2,000 - 20,000+ per month for the highest levels of volume and technology. 4) Do Chatbots work with Zapier? Manychat is one example of using the zapier integration to help it bridge data gaps that may exist. For example if you are an Amazon seller and you want to launch a new product using chatbots you may choose to distribute one time use coupons so that customers can get a special offer. Manychat does not have this function built in so you must use zapier to connect to a google spreadsheet and then past the codes into the spreadsheet and let zapier distribute those back to manychat. SellerChatBot which offers Amazon FBA Seller features has coupon code distribution and keyword distrbution built in. 5) Do Chatbots work for eCommerce? Some livechat driven software that allow customer service agents to chat with customers also have a programmable chatbot mode to allow some questions to be answered automatically. The best systems integrate with the CRM to track all customer correspondence with the chatbot so that your marketing and sales teams can see the interactions between customers and humans or artificial intelligence. 6) What are some chatbot examples? For the super secret KevinandSteve.com project we created a bot flow that allows customers to get into the bot list so they can stay informed as we start to share the details about this important project. To check out that facebook messenger bot flow go here: https://m.me/2511879378853219?ref=5c8831a52d74ce0a039e6db9 7) What can ChatBots do? 8) What is the best chatbot for an Amazon Seller (or FBA marketplace seller)?

Steve shared this Awesomers podcast with an emphasis from an insider's perspective on why Empowery is an important part of the ecommerce eco-system.  Steve shared the philosophy for Empowery being a catalyst for positive change within the eCommerce industry and why the concept of leveling the playing field is important for ecommerce entrepreneurs everywhere. The co-op is something that is special, unique, and built for YOU. Join Steve as well as a group of brilliant e-commerce entrepreneurs including Kevin King and many more at the Empowery Seattle Summit. (Speaking of Kevin King and Steve Simonson you should find out what the buzz is about over at kevinandsteve.com) Put this event on your calendar right now: The Empowery 2019 Seattle Summit. This will be 3 intensive days with Steve with a surprise field trip! This is the most extraordinary value you will find for a hybrid between a conference, training session, and mastermind. IT WILL BE AWESOMER! Get your tickets before the early bird goes away. https://www.empowery.org/2019-seattle-summit June brings a MASSIVE Amazon Seller event now called SELLERCON. Right now there is a huge discounted rate on the tickets so you should grab that bargain right now. It is predicted that over 3000 sellers will converge on Vegas for an unforgettable event. It's possible Steve may even speak there again...although nothing is planned right now. ;) To see a past speech go here: https://youtu.be/rxSOgx579Rk As a bonus, if you use this link -->> SELLERCON <<--

Steve opened with a couple stories about dealing with China based companies and their lack of understanding about the normal risk vs. reward profile. Steve shared examples of failures of risk and the recognition that the riskier the idea the higher potential reward. Steve encouraged risk mitigation and ongoing management to stay sane and safe, but overall to follow your gut feel. Join Steve as well as a group of brilliant ecommerce entrepreneurs including Kevin King and many more at the Empowery Seattle Summit. (Speaking of Kevin King and Steve Simonson you should find out what the buzz is about over at kevinandsteve.com) You should put this on your calendar right now! The Empowery 2019 Seattle Summit. This will be 3 intensive days with Steve with a surprise field trip! This is the most extraordinary value you will find for a hybrid between a conference, training session, and mastermind. IT WILL BE AWESOMER! Get your tickets before the early bird goes away. https://www.empowery.org/2019-seattle-summit June brings a MASSIVE Amazon Seller event now called SELLERCON. Right now there is a huge discounted rate on the tickets so you should grab that bargain right now. It is predicted that over 3000 sellers will converge on Vegas for an unforgettable event. It's possible Steve may even speak there again... ;) To see a past speech go here: https://youtu.be/rxSOgx579Rk As a bonus, if you use this link -->> SELLERCON <<-- You can try these discount codes to save on top of the already discounted pricing: LASTCHANCE - Should save 35% Off. We don't know when that will expire. If LASTCHANCE isn't working try SELLER20 discount code to save 20% off the current prices. * *Plus Empowery shareholders who use that earn additional cash back. As a triple bonus those who use the link can join a special VIP Invitation list for a casual no-host meet up with Steve Simonson in Vegas during the event. It will be your chance to come and hang out and talk business. Once you make your purchase just goto empowery.com/contact to get your name on the VIP Invitation list. :) Thanks for being awesomer! Steve Simonson has no personal affiliate deals with any of the named resources and his time is volunteered for the benefit of the Empowery eCommerce Coop. Do you agree with Steve's comments on today's show? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on twitter or instagram @stevesimonson and let him know just how wrong he is. ;) The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Please take a minute about engaging with the show’s sponsors if you find what they’re doing as valuable to you. For the avid listeners, Steve wants to thank you personally for listening and if you haven't already would you please subscribe and leave a review? Check out the Empowery.org site to learn more about the Empowery membership, vendorship, or affiliate partnership as well as the upcoming conference in Seattle. Neither Awesomers.com nor Steve Simonson have any affiliate deals. Any promotion or financial links are Empowery links for the benefit of that vital non-profit member owned cooperative.

Steve opened the show talking about the Chinese New Year and pointed out that there is no reason to get too worked up about those who are in the fear mongering businesses who talk about Chinese factories shutting down or 40% of factory workers not returning to the factory. This is normal and this kind of talk happens every year. Although the economic headwinds are strong in China we do not see any signs of massive issues there today. Steve talked about some of the good news for Amazon Sellers which includes the idea that some FBA fees are being lowered. He went on to suggest that prices will remain elastic and bend with the supply demand curve as it always has. It is welcome to see these fees lowered, but Steve pointed out that using 3PLs or other inventory staging ideas is a smart way to prepare yourself for future unanticipated price hikes which are inevitable. If you are interested in hanging out with Steve he will be in Costa Rica from Feb 13th-20 at a mastermind event. It will be fun and although that event is exclusive and closed, he is happy to hangout and have a drink when he is not otherwise tied up with the event for any awesomers out there. https://www.amzandbeyond.com/ How about Traffic and Conversion? Steve will be headed down to San Diego on Feb 22nd and if you are down at T&C go ahead and reach out to Steve on twitter, facebook, linkedin, or your favorite social media and he can tell you where he is going to be each evening after the show. There will be thousands of AWESOMERS in one place. https://www.trafficandconversionsummit.com In March come to Vegas and hang out with Steve at the Prosper Show. He will be on a panel with other Amazon Sellers and talk about some of the challenges selling on Amazon, especially at scale. https://www.prospershow.com There will be tons of opportunities to hang out all around the Vegas area! Don't forget to use the discount code SPEAKER19 to save $100.00. If you are in or around Prague in the Czech Republic March 28, and March 29 you should consider coming to the European Seller Conference. Steve will join a panel to help talk about the best ways sellers can grow their business. https://amzsummits.com In April Steve will likely pop over to the Canton Fair, probably around Phase 2. It is an extraordinary event and China is now of Steve's favorite places to find the VERY BEST meals on the planet. Yes, for those who haven't dined well in China - you are doing it wrong! http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.aspx In May you should put this on your calendar right now. The Empowery 2019 Seattle Summit. This will be 3 intensive days with Steve with a surprise field trip! This is the most extraordinary value you will find for a hybrid between a conference, training session, and mastermind. IT WILL BE AWESOMER! Get your tickets before the early bird goes away. https://www.empowery.org/2019-seattle-summit June brings a MASSIVE Amazon Seller event now called SELLERCON. Right now there is a huge discounted rate on the tickets so you should grab that bargain right now. It is predicted that over 3000 sellers will converge on Vegas for an unforgettable event. It's possible Steve may even speak there again... ;) To see a past speech go here: https://youtu.be/rxSOgx579Rk As a bonus, if you use this -->> SELLERCON <<-- link you can use the SELLER20 discount code to save even more. Plus Empowery shareholders who use that earn additional cash back. As a triple bonus those who use the link can join a special VIP Invitation list for a casual no-host meet up with Steve Simonson in Vegas during the event. It will be your chance to come and hang out and talk business. Once you make your purchase just goto empowery.com/contact to get your name on the VIP Invitation list. :) Thanks for being awesomer! Steve Simonson has no personal affiliate deals with any of the named resources and his time is volunteered for the benefit of the Empowery eCommerce Coop.

Today Steve explored the dark side of Internet Marketing and expressed his frustration with the constant raising the bar of FOMO and marketing puffery - especially aimed at eCommerce entrepreneurs. This is episode 132. Steve mentioned that he has FOMO "Fatigue". For those keeping score at home, FOMO, is the cool hip internet way of saying FEAR OF MISSING OUT. This concept is powerful in marketing. Perhaps the most powerful. However, Steve laments that it appears to be overused. As the show continued Steve talked about the difference in how he prefers marketers to be transparent and honest as opposed to routinely manufacturing fake scarcity. As one example Steve talked about the founding of the Empowery eCommerce Cooperative and how the intent is to drive awareness, engagement, and interest in the non-profit member owned organization, but NOT to constantly warn prospects that the sky is falling. Will the truth and transparency strategy work? Will entrepreneurial business owners see the benefit of their membership both now and in the future? We'll see. It's a live case study. Do you agree? Connect with us using the below or find Steve on twitter or instagram @stevesimonson and let him know what an idiot he is. ;) The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Please take a minute about engaging with the show’s sponsors if you find what they’re doing as valuable to you. For the avid listeners, Steve wants to thank you personally for listening and having some of your time. So, sit back and listen to today’s episode as Steve further discusses the show’s path and plan. Check out the Empowery.org site to learn more about the Empowery membership, vendorship, or partnership as well as the upcoming conference in Seattle at the end of March or early April. Awesomers.com/132

Steve recorded a new episode welcoming back the entrepreneurial audience to 2019 and talking about how to build eCommerce businesses that result in equity vs. just burning a bunch of calories on a business that might make a little money, but has not inherent sellable value. The audience will still be able to keep in touch with the team online through the website and the Facebook page. Please take a minute about engaging with the show’s sponsors if you find what they’re doing as valuable to you. For the avid listeners, Steve wants to thank you personally for listening and having some of your time. So, sit back and listen to today’s episode as Steve further discusses the show’s path and plan. Check out the Empowery.com site to learn more about the upcoming conference in Seattle at the end of March or early April.

EP 130 - Steve Simonson - Dec 8th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 129 - Troy Remelski - P3 Dec 7th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 128 - Troy Remelski - P2 Dec 6th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 127 - Troy Remelski - P1 Dec 5th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 126 - Rob Jackson - P3 Dec 4th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 125 - Rob Jackson - P2 Dec 3rd 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 124 - Rob Jackson - P1 Dec 2nd 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 123 - Troy Johnston - P3 Dec 1st 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 122 - Troy Johnston - P2 Nov 30th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 121 - Troy Johnston - P1 Nov 29th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 120 - DavidPaul Doyle - P3 Nov 28th 2018 by Awesomers.com

https://Awesomers.com/110 - For Show page The history of Steve's first e-commerce sale and the "funny", yet true story of how it all began.

EP 118 - DavidPaul Doyle - P1 Nov 26th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 117 - Michael Krakaris - P3 Nov 25th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 116 - Michael Krakaris - P2 Nov 24th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 115 - Michael Krakaris - P1 Nov 23rd 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 114 - Steve Simonson - Nov 22nd 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 113 - Omer Cakir - P3 Nov 21st 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 112 - Omer Cakir - P2 Nov 20th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 111 - Omer Cakir - P1 Nov 19th 2018 by Awesomers.com

My First Million Dollar Day by Awesomers.com

EP 108 - Daniel Ameduri - P3 Nov 16th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 107 - Daniel Ameduri - P2 Nov 15th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 106 - Daniel Ameduri - P1 Nov 14th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 105 - Steve Simonson - P2 Nov 13th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 104 - Steve Simonson - P1 Nov 12th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 103 - Luz Gonzalez - P3 Nov 11th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 102 - Luz Gonzalez - P2 Nov 10th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 101 - Luz Gonzalez - P1 Nov 9th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 100 - Steve Simonson - Nov 8th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 99 - Mary Shores - P3 Nov 7th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 98 - Mary Shores - P2 Nov 6th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 97 - Mary Shores - P1 Nov 5th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 96 - Steve Simonson - Nov 4th 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 95 - Achilleas Daskalakis - P3 - Nov 3rd 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 93 - Achilleas Daskalakis - P1 - Nov 1st 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 94 - Achilleas Daskalakis - P2 - Nov 2nd 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 92 - Margarita Poluyko - P3 - Oct 31st 2018 by Awesomers.com

EP 91 - Margarita Poluyko - P2 - Oct 30th 2018 by Awesomers.com

Obstacles are Stepping Stones to Success Part 1 On this episode, Steve’s special guest is Margarita Poluyko. Margarita with her brother Igor is a brother and sister team from New York City who have been leaders in the Amazon space for nearly a decade. Here are some interesting lessons from this episode: How an immigrant like Margarita found starting a business is a more viable path to success than competing with American jobseekers. When starting a business, be aware of cycles and how things work. Why you should take responsibility for your successes and failures as an entrepreneur. So, sit back and listen to Margarita’s amazing story and be inspired. 02:12 (Steve introduces Margarita Poluyko.) 06:35 (Margarita shares her origin story.) 11:56 (Margarita shares her defining moment shifting from an employee to becoming an entrepreneur.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 90 of the Awesomers.com podcast series and this is just like any other episode all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/90 to find the show notes and relevant details. I do want to take a quick moment to just talk about this is the middle point to my promise of delivering 180 episodes in a row every single day for you Awesomers out there and we've watched the downloads continue and I'll be honest I haven't yet figured out how to track subscriptions and things like that, but I'm excited by this process. We're spending a terrific amount of time and extraordinary amounts of money producing these episodes. So, we sure hope that they're helpful and instructive to you. As mentioned earlier, the middle point on my first day promised to deliver 180 episodes is number 90 and we're right there right now. 02:12 (Steve introduces Margarita Poluyko.) Now, I'm going to introduce you to my very special guest today for part one of a three-part series with Margarita Poluyko and I apologize Margarita if I got your name wrong. I'm just not that good at pronunciation. So, Margarita in immigrated to the United States from Belarus as a teenager and like many immigrants before her found starting a business more viable as a path to success when could then competing with entry-level jobs with American youth who had expensive degrees and existing networks of people. So, literally starting out with nothing, Margarita worked extremely hard to build a life for her family in the U.S. After working several traditional jobs that didn't really go anywhere, Margarita decided to pursue a life of entrepreneurship in a wide variety of fields including real estate, mortgage, insurance and now product-related businesses. There were a lot of ups and downs along the way

Story Time with Steve - Negotiation Tips and Axioms to Follow Today is a special episode with a different kind of format - Story Time with Steve. Steve shares with us some of his negotiation tips and axioms relating to the time he saved $700,000 on a lease. Here are some takeaways on today’s episode: If you're ever negotiating for a lease and you want tenant improvements done, put those on the landlord. Beware of unintended consequences. It always costs more and it takes longer. When you're negotiating, keep things aligned in everybody’s mutual interest. So listen and learn amazing negotiation tips and axioms from Steve’s experience. 01:15 (Steve introduces today’s episode.) 04:28 (Steve talks about one of the ideal situations when negotiating.) 16:21 (Remember that landlords think about the big long-term picture.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve introduces today’s episode.) Steve: Everybody Steve Simonson back again with another Awesomers.com podcast and today is episode number 89 of our podcast series. All you need to do is run on over to Awesomers.com/89 to find out some of today's show notes and details and maybe even a transcript. Sometimes we flow transcripts in for you to make them easy to search. So today is a different kind of episode. We call it story time with Steve. Now what this means is I'm going to tell you kind of a story and experience and then try to give you a couple takeaways or maybe action steps that you can think about as it relates to your own business, your own life, from this story. So this is a story that I'm going to tell you and these stories are not in any particular order. It's just kind of what strikes my fancy at the time and in particular, today I need to record an episode so that we can keep the the publishing train running. As you may know, we've already published 88 episodes. That's a lot and we've done that in 88 days which is destroying my life, frankly. It's a lot of time and definitely is something that although I enjoy it while I'm doing it, the things that are pushing to the side are definitely starting to add up. So my point is, it's story time, I'm going to just kind of take you through an experience that I had tell you why I thought it was important and then of course you'll be able to investigate yourself whether or not you find that to be interesting. So first of all, this story is back in probably about the 2009 range. I had helped a Chinese company buy some assets of a bankrupt company and they were moving those assets from an old lease to a new lease. So just in terms of context, they had to get out of the old lease in a relatively fast order and when you do that

Benefits of Using Profitability Analytics Tool in Your Amazon Business Part 3 Today’s episode is part three of a three-part series with Vladi Gordon, co-founder of sellerboard.com, a profit analytics service for Amazon sellers. Vladi has worked in the software business for many years. Here are more interesting takeaways on today’s episode: Vladi’s background and experience. Amazon profit and business model killers. How Vladi developed tools for Amazon sellers. Vladi’s mission and vision for his company. Join us on today’s podcast and let’s get to know Vladi’s amazing journey one more time. 01:17 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Vladi Gordon of sellerboard.com.) 02:34 (Vladi talks about hidden Amazon fees or other fees.) 09:40 (Vladi talks about profit killers and profit and loss and cash flow.) 15:15 (Vladi shares his mission and vision for his company.) 18:06 (Vladi talks about the future of Amazon.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, “You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.” It doesn't matter where you came from, it only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:17 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Vladi Gordon of sellerboard.com.) You are listening to Episode Number 88 of the Awesomers podcast series. So, the veterans of the podcast know that all you have to do is jump on over to Awesomers.com/88. 88 is quite the lucky number in China. I also used 88 because that was a year I graduated from high school. It's also the speed that you need to travel in the DeLorean if you're going to go back to the future, I think we all know that. So today's a very special episode and we're nearly halfway to my commitment of 180 episodes total at least for the first six months. So, today is part three of our three-part series with Vladi Gordon. And we've been talking about some of Vladi’s background and experience and we've also been talking about some of the Amazon profit killers and how he has developed some software to help sellers get control of that. And so you’re going to love today's episode because we dive further into some of those profit killers. And I even throw a bonus profit killer too in as well, so you won't want to miss it. I am thrilled that you're here listening.I hope you're subscribing, sharing and saving this with everybody around you. And you know without you we can't get the job done, so thank you. 02:34 (Vladi talks about hidden Amazon fees or other fees.) Vladi: Okay so the third one is the -- I call it hidden Amazon fees or other fees. So normally everybody knows about the FBA fee and the Commission and maybe about storage fees and you know what else have we got, that's pretty much it. You know everybody talks about these ones, but actually Amazon has like I counted more than 70 types of different fees. And you can see them all in your

EP 119 - DavidPaul Doyle - P2 Nov 27th 2018 by Awesomers.com

Benefits of Using Profitability Analytics Tool in Your Amazon Business Part 2 Today’s episode is part two of a three-part series with Vladi Gordon, co-founder of sellerboard.com, a profit analytics service for Amazon sellers. Vladi has worked in the software business for many years. Here are more amazing lessons on today’s episode: Why bookkeeping is crucial to your Amazon business. Why quality assurance or some sort of inspection process is vital before shipping out. The profit killers that a lot of times entrepreneurs tend to overlook. So listen, enjoy and become inspired by Vladi’s amazing Amazon success story. 03:18 (Always do your bookkeeping if you’re an Amazon seller.) 05:04 (Always make sure your business model is healthy.) 07:27 (Steve gives an example of when items gets tagged as oversized causing excess charges.) 09:32 (Steve talks about how important it is to do quality assurance or some sort of inspection process before shipping out.) 12:27 (Vladi talks about the biggest profit killer for an Amazon seller.) 17:41 (Vladi talks about the second biggest profit killer for an Amazon seller.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, “You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.” It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you’re launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high- resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listings photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more because the picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 87 of the Awesomers podcast series. And for those keeping score home just run on over to Awesomers.com/87 and you'll find today's show notes, details and even some links that we talked about. With today's featured guest, coming back to us for part two of three is Vladi Gordon. And we talked to Vladi about some of the important things that I think a lot of times entrepreneurs overlook and that’s these profit killers as Vladi calls them. I sometimes call them black holes or other fun titles because any time you don't know where the money is going it can be a very destructive situation in your business. So it's really important to get that financial house in order. And I know, if you're anything like me that doing the financials and doing the bookkeeping that's kind of like, “ I'll get to it when I get to it” or maybe you've even hired somebody and you’re like yes, they’ve got the monkey, I don't really want to interface with it that much. I started out like that. I can assure you it certainly is not something that I would recommend. Don't find yourself scared about finance and your lack of understanding can be overcome. It's something that you can absolutely solve and we talk about that a lot in today's episode, looking for some of those profit killers. Go ahead and jump into this episode and learn some more about how to get your business running right. Steve: Okay here we are back again everybody on Awesomers.com podcast with Vladi Gordon.

Benefits of Using Profitability Analytics Tool in Your Amazon Business Part 1 There are huge commercial advantages in using profitability analytics software in E-commerce businesses. It can provide accurate and real-time view of your profit and calculate indicators and presents them in an actionable form. On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces us to Vladi Gordon, co-founder of Sellerboard. Sellerboard is a profit analytics tool for Amazon sellers. Vladi has worked in the software business for many years, building and managing various software products and projects for E-commerce companies. Here are some of the things that Vladi shares on today’s episode: Vladi’s origin story growing up in Moldova. What Sellerboard is all about and how it helps Amazon businesses. The advantages and disadvantages of selling trend products on Amazon. So put on your headphones and be inspired by Vladi’s amazing Amazon success story. 02:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Vladi Gordon of Sellerboard.) 09:06 (Vladi shares the defining moment that put him on the road he’s in today.) 10:44 (Vladi shares the impact of the book Good to Great to his life.) 15:20 (Vladi shares the first time he launched a product in Amazon.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You're listening to episode number 86 on the Awesomers.com podcast series. And as you may have guessed, all you have to do is run over to Awesomers.com/86 to see relevant show notes and details and maybe some of the links that we talked about in today's episode. Now today is part one of a three-part series with Vladi Gordon and we'll talking about some of the fun things that he's been through in terms of his experience and his background with software development working for Big Blue also known as IBM in his prior career and then that evolving into kind of the Amazon side of the business and then ultimately back into software. It's kind of like a ricochet -- software, Amazon, software. And today we're going to talk a lot about that journey. And we’ll also talk about as Vladi calls it five Amazon profit killers. So you are going to love today's episode. I'm glad you're here. I hope you're glad to be here too. 02:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Vladi Gordon of Sellerboard.) Hey, Awesomers. It's me, Steve Simonson, and I'm back again with another episode of the Awesomers.com podcast series. And today I'm joined by Vladi Gordon. Vladi, how are you, buddy? Vladi: Hello, Steve! Thanks for having me. Steve: Great! Glad to have you indeed. And I've already read in kind of your background and your bio a little bit to tell people a little bit more about you from the

How to Sell Millions on Amazon Using SEO and Marketing Tools Part 3 On this episode, we continue with Steve’s special guest Andy Arnott, Founder and CEO of SellerSEO. This is part three of a three-part series. Here are some amazing takeaways from today’s episode: The inspiring success story of Under Armour. Why being an entrepreneur is not an easy path and usually harder than having a regular job. How you can build a lifestyle that works for you in this day and age of the so-called digital nomads or the freedom lifestyle. Listen once again as we hear it from Andy’s experience and personal journey as an Awesomer entrepreneur. 01:15 (Steve talks about today’s episode and special guest, Andy Arnott of SellerSEO.) 02:34 (Andy shares the big lesson he has learned in his journey so far.) 16:32 (Andy on some of the tools he uses on his day to day life.) 22:37 (Andy shares his final words of wisdom to Awesomers listening.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve talks about today’s episode and special guest, Andy Arnott of SellerSEO.) Steve: It's happening right now. You are listening to episode number 85 of the Awesomers.com podcast series. And the secret is out just hop on over to Awesomers.com/85 and you'll be able to find all of today's show notes and relevant details. Now again Andy Arnott, not Ar-not, Arnott! We already covered this Canadian ground. Andy joins us again for three, part three of our three-part series where we've talked about his origin story and some of the evolutions that he's gone through in his very interesting career and kind of where he's landed at today. And I think you know, it's a really interesting thing too to be able to operate more than one company at a time and to be able to continue growing and responding to the marketplace at large. And so that's definitely what he's doing with his ongoing efforts to help entrepreneurs. Okay without further ado. Let's jump into today's episode right now. Okay, we're back again everybody. Steve Simonson joined today by Andy Arnott and we're talking a little bit about the kind of Andy's journey and some of the defining moments he's been through but I wonder Andy, I teased this before the break, was there a big lesson that you've learned on your journey so far that gosh you wish you had learned it earlier or you feel really compelled to share it today with other folks who haven't faced what you faced? 02:34 (Andy shares the big lesson he has learned in his journey so far.) Andy: Yes, that's I mean, that's one of the biggest things is you know always to never stop learning. I mean even though now I kind of

How to Sell Millions on Amazon Using SEO and Marketing Tools Part 2 On this episode, we continue with Steve’s special guest Andy Arnott, Founder and CEO of SellerSEO. This is part of two of a three-part series. Here are some amazing insights from today’s episode: How Andy started his Android app business and his brush with Google. The story behind Andy’s decision to focus all his energy selling in the Amazon Marketplace. How Andy’s wife helps him do the Amazon side of the business while he does the SEO side. So put on your headphones and join us to learn more about Andy’s journey and success in Amazon. 05:00 (Andy shifts from being an air traffic controller to starting his Android apps business.) 10:42 (Andy starts to sell on Amazon Marketplace.) 16:53 (One of Andy’s weaknesses is delegating.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 84 in the Awesomers podcast series and all you need to do is run out over to Awesomers.com/84 to find today's show notes and details. Now, our special guest again continuing is Andy Arnott and Andy is joining us for three-part series. This is part two of the three-part series by the way and he's an Amazon seller and a software builder and has really done an awful lot and we're going to dive more to those details about his journey in this episode that you're listening to right now. So, back to the air traffic control. Now, was that high stress and was that something that that you thrived on or did you – did it start to wear on you? What was your experience with that? Andy: I actually worked at a smaller kind of regional airport and it wasn't like – I mean we still did shift work, but we didn't have to work overnight. But yes it was stressful and it was – the funny thing is I equated a lot to if you were ever a server or a bartender you know it's at least at our airport it was very much the same way where you'd be sitting there twiddling your thumbs for an hour and then all of a sudden you'd get 30 airplanes that show up at one time. You got to figure out how to get them on you know two runways, so that was – yes that was interesting. I kind of thrived on it for the most part though. I did a lot of training of the new people coming in once I kind of got established and so that was kind of fun for the most part. Steve: Yes, it comes and goes I'm sure. Andy: Right. Steve: Now, would you say that air traffic control is kind of your first proper job out of school? Andy: Yes, it was, it was. Yes. I stuck with it for a long time, which is kind of crazy in this day and age. Most people don't, but you know it was a solid job and it kind of enabled me to be

How to Sell Millions on Amazon Using SEO and Marketing Tools Part 1 SEO and digital marketing plays a large part in getting your Amazon product listings in front of more people. On today’s part one of a three-part series, Steve introduces us to Andy Arnott. Andy is the Founder and CEO of SellerSEO, a service that helps Amazon sellers automate and optimize their businesses. Some of the key takeaways from this episode are: How Andy made the decision to shift from having a career in aviation to being an entrepreneur. The businesses he started at a very young age. The challenges he faced while managing his businesses. So listen to today’s podcast and learn more about how you can take advantage of SEO and marketing tools to grow your Amazon business. 05:59 (Andy shares his origin story.) 08:36 (Andy talks about his parents.) 14:04 (Andy talks about his college degree.) 15:50 (Andy talks about his early businesses.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 83 of the Awesomers.com podcast series and all you have to do is pop on over to Awesomers.com/83 to find any little details, show notes links and things that we talk about in today's episode. Now today is part one of a three-part episode with the entrepreneur Andy Arnott. Now, Andy started selling on Amazon back in 2013 and hit seven figures within the first eight months. Before starting his Amazon business, he worked for the U.S. government in the aerospace industry and ran a seven-figure Android app business. We're gonna talk a little bit about both those experiences. In 2015, he got his first Amazon-related SAS product, software as a service, that got Amazon sellers reviews. In 2017, he launched AMZ Blitz, an Amazon product launch and rank company and in 2018 he rolled out a new feature called SellerSEO, a service dedicated to helping sellers automate and optimize their Amazon businesses. He continues to sell millions on Amazon and through his coaching and software he's helped thousands of Amazon sellers grow their businesses. Now, Andy is a great guy to listen to and learn from and his origin story is as always inspiring and helpful to understand everybody's journey. It really is instructive and fun. Let's dive into today's episode. This is again part one of a three-part series with Andy right now. Everybody, Steve Simonson back again with another episode of the Awesomers.com podcast series and today we're joined by Andy Arnott. Did I get that spelling or the pronunciation right? Andy: You did. You nailed it and which is fine because I get the French one a lot, you know Arnott. They think the double T is silent and

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice The Work in Half The Time Book Review Scrum is a framework for software development and project management which focuses on the team working as a unit to reach a common goal. Today’s podcast is a Book of the Week episode. Host Michael Pinkowski, introduces us to the book, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice The Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland. Here are some major key points on today’s episode: Scrum’s first concept - collaborate. The 3S words - Scrum master, Sprints and Stand Up. How Scrum relates to happiness. The questions to ask everyone at the end of each sprint. So jump aboard and learn how you too can use Scrum to improve productivity in your team. 01:15 (Michael Pinkowski introduces the Book of the Week, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice The Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland.) 04:34 (Scrum started when author Jeff Sutherland worked with the FBI on a project called Sentinel.) 24:37 (Time is no longer a linear arrow but a cycle.) 27:13 (Michael discusses some of the axioms in the book.) 40:24 (How to apply Scrum in your business.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Michael Pinkowski introduces the Book of the Week, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice The Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland.) Michael: Hello, my name is Michael Pinkowski and welcome to Awesomers.com. I am your sometimes guest host to give Steve a break from doing all these. And this is episode 82. We're going to do a book of the week, this week, if you are ready. And the book is Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice The Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland, he is a co-creator of Scrum. Scrum is, this a development platform, it's a way of developing software, working on projects things like that, you probably heard about it, I'd heard about it. And number of years ago, I ran across this book and I just thought, man I really like these principles. I really want to know more about it and so I read it, I've listened to it again and again. And now in my current position of trying to get a company growing and do a lot of software development, it came back into my mind and I thought I'd share it with all of you. So let's get into a little bit, first of all they say in a small company that everyone is in sales and that's true, because you know, nothing happens until somebody makes a sale, but it's also true that everyone is a project manager, right? In a small company Steve and I used to say all the time, everybody's got three jobs you know, somebody would come in and say, “But, but, but, what about? I don't know how to do this.” We'd say, “Listen,

Hypnotic Copywriting for Amazon Part 3 This is part three of a three-part series with Diane Boerstler. On this episode, she talks more about writing hypnotic copies and how she differentiates me-too products. Here are more golden nuggets from today’s episode: How Diane started with NLP. The most common mistakes most people do in their sales copy. What is a hypnotic anchor and how can it generate more sales for your business. So join us on another episode with Diane and learn amazing copywriting techniques. 02:46 (What is the hypno copy idea? Diane answers this important question.) 06:48 (Diane offers 10x guarantee and 365 days of unlimited edits to her customers.) 12:58 (Diane answer the question - is there a standard mistake that most people do in their sales copy?) 16:45 (Diane shares her words of wisdom to Awesomers.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to podcast episode number 81 on the Awesomers podcast series. All you have to do is hop on over to Awesomers.com/81 and you can find all of the little details and show notes and even a transcript of today's episode and give you a quick way to search through some of the amazing things that are shared by our special guests and of course today our special guest is Diane Boerstler. This is part three of our three-part series with Diane and it's really a great time to you know catch some really gold nuggets and I have to tell you at the end she really drops a key, very important gold nugget about branding and about strategy that you will not want to miss. It is one of our very clear deliverables. There's so many things that we talked about in these episodes and often the clues are may be more nuanced or subtle but I'm hoping that the patterns really are something that you start to pick up on and that you'll see over and over as we talk about these things. How they apply to you. But today Diane just drops it right on out for you and you're going to be able to see that in today's episode. You're not going to want to miss it. I have to tell you that I am thrilled that you're here. I'm so glad you've joined us. I am glad that you subscribed. I'm glad that you shared this and I'm glad you left us a five-star review and if that hasn't happened, if any of those things hasn't happened, I'm projecting my will upon you. See if this hypnotic copywriting strategies are working for me after three episodes. I should be learning something. Get over and leave a review. Thanks guys. Let's get into today's episode right now. 02:46 (What is the hypno copy idea? Diane answers this important question.)

Hypnotic Copywriting for Amazon Part 2 This is part two of a three-part series with Diane Boerstler. On this episode, she talks a little bit more about her background and some of the common mistakes and challenges faced by E-commerce entrepreneurs today. Some of the key takeaways from this episode are: Diane’s advice on what to do about the biggest challenge she hears from entrepreneurs. Having a weekend list and a wants list. Why she is called the hypnotic Amazon Copywriter and the wolf of Amazon. 05:25 (Diane says you have to be willing to give things up.) 14:24 (Diane finally takes a break.) 17:21 (Diane talks about her business.) 18:21 (Diane, the hypnotic Amazon copywriter and the wolf of Amazon.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 80 of the Awesomers.com podcast series. All you have to do is pop on over to Awesomers.com/80 to find today's show notes and details. Now, just as a quick check-in, when I did my first show about 80 days ago, I said I would do 180 episodes every single day to be sure that we gave the Awesomers and the entrepreneurs out in the world something to listen to every single day. We do this free of charge as you know and it's something that we have a high amount of passion in. Recently, in the last week or so we've pivoted into the shorter episodes to try to make sure that we match the factory production schedule with the consumption rate, the consumption rate to say it more properly of our audience and our point is to try to match your needs with our output as opposed to over-delivering every single day where people were getting behind in listening to current episodes. Now, I hope that this has been useful to you and we certainly welcome your feedback. All you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/contacts to leave a bit of that feedback. Now, I want to remind you that this is part two of a three-part series with Diane Boerstler today. We dive a little bit more into her background and we talk more about some of the common mistakes and some of the common challenges faced by E-commerce entrepreneurs and really anyone who's trying to build a business. Messaging and copywriting and defining what you do and why you do it is so much easier when you have experts to help you along the way and Diane certainly is an expert that can help each of us. Let's dive in and listen to today's episode right now. Let me ask you again. So, I love some of these defining moments these are very important. Is there a big lesson that you've taken away from kind of all of this stuff put together?

Hypnotic Copywriting for Amazon Part 1 Any smart entrepreneur knows that copywriting can incredibly increase sales and conversions. On today’s part one of a three-part series, Steve introduces Diane Boerstler. She is a master certified NLP practitioner and trainer. Clients kindly refer to her as the hypnotic Amazon copywriter and the wolf of Amazon. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: Diane’s inspiring origin story. How she juggled family life and business. Some of the brain hacking efficiency techniques she followed to launch a successful business and more! So put on your headphones and learn how you too can use hypnotic copywriting to increase your sales. 05:59 (Diane shares her inspiring origin story.) 12:31 (Diane talks about her first job in executive recruitment.) 18:28 (The other defining moments in Diance’s life.) Welcome to the awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:17 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Diane Boerstler also known as the Hypnotic Amazon Copywriter.) Steve: You are listening to awesomers.com episode number 79. All you have to do is pop on over to awesomers.com/79 to see all the relevant show notes and details about today's episode. Now, today is part one of a three-part series with our special guest, Diane Boerstler and she is an MNLP who clients kindly referred to as the hypnotic Amazon copywriter and the wolf of Amazon. And by the way, wolf of Amazon - pretty good copywriting right there because that reminds me of the Wolf of Wall Street. So already a really positive association. Diane is a top-ranked international business growth expert who's helped generate massive profits for small companies globally by leveraging the power of hypnotic NLP infused sales copy. And later I asked, “What does NLP means?” And she points out it means a neural linguistic processing or something like that I don't want to say it wrong but she clued me in and gets me educated. So not only does she work on that in NLP and few sales copy, she helps on the business mindset shifting strategies. When she's not cranking out high converting copy or implementing business growth strategies, you'll find her walking on the ocean with her husband and four kids running the community PTSA, supporting philanthropic events - as if I've never heard of that word - and guiding her School District and the Washington State Legislature on education policy as an elected Orcas Island School Board director. So this episode, we dive in with Diana. We just talked about a little bit of her origin story and I would get right to the heart of what makes you know her business and what makes her tick as well.

Steve Simonson - It’s Only a Mountain Book Review This is an inspirational story about a father and his commitment, drive and love for his nonvocal quadriplegic son. On this episode, Steve introduces us to the Book of the Week, It’s Only a Mountain by Sam Nall. The most important key points you will get from this book are: How to shift to the right mindset when going through great obstacles. The importance of having the courage to do whatever it takes in life. The challenges in taking care of a handicapped loved one and how you can find inspiration and great purpose in it. So, take time to listen as Steve reviews the book It’s Only a Mountain, a wonderful story about the love between a father and his son and what they have accomplished together. 01:45 (Steve introduces It’s Only a Mountain as the Book of the Week.) 03:22 (Steve shares one of the previews of the story.) 04:47 (Steve talks about Dick and Rick Hoyt’s origin story.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Hey everybody, it's me Steve Simonson. I'm back again with another Awesomers podcast episode and this Episode Number is number 78 of the Awesomers podcast series. And the procedure if you wish to find more details, show notes, etc. is to just go to Awesomers.com/78. Now today we're doing a Book of the Week episode and I wanted to share that the Book of the Weeks are important and even though we don't do them every single week we drop them on as often as we can. 01:45 (Steve introduces It’s Only a Mountain as the Book of the Week.) We're doing today's episode about the book It's Only a Mountain, It's Only a Mountain and it's written by Sam Nall, but the book is about what we call Team Hoyt and it's Dick and Rick Hoyt who are some of the most incredible – like the subtitle says Men of Iron, some of the most incredible inspirational stories you've ever seen. Now this is a true story. This is like a you know kind of various biographies and sub biographies throughout the book and it's a true story of a dad who literally took his quadriplegic son who was also nonverbal and took him around and ran triathlons and ran marathons and this if you have never heard the story it really is truly inspiring and it's an amazing thing. And I love the title because it starts out with this concept that indeed it's only a mountain right and that points to the idea that you can climb any obstacle, you can overcome any challenge that's necessary and in this case you know Dick Hoyt said he wanted to help his son be a really high functioning you know kind of member of society and an athlete. And I just want to tell you for those who may be listening or watching on the video version, I had the great

How a Virtual Summit Can Help You Grow Your Business Part 3 On this episode, Steve continues his talk with Augustas, a brilliant entrepreneur born in Lithuania who also organizes virtual summits. This is the last of a three-part series where Augustas shares some memorable stories, words of wisdom, and valuable tips including: How Trello and WhatsApp helps him in his business day-to-day. The importance of giving value to the other people. The importance of starting out with the attitude of gratitude. So let’s listen to this exciting episode and learn from Augustas’ inspiring story. 05:19 (Augustas shares his future plans on his next virtual summit.) 11:49 (Steve encourages entrepreneurs to take a victory lap after an accomplishment.) 12:52 (Augustas shares the tools he uses in his business day-to-day.) 14:51 (Augustas’ final words of wisdom.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: I've got great news, you're listening to Episode Number 77 of the Awesomers podcast series. And all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/77 and you can see today's show notes and details. You may be happy to know that 77 is one of my Keno numbers. So, you might want to write that down and play 77 and 44 at your next Keno event in Las Vegas. Now, Augustas Kligys is our guest today, a brilliant entrepreneur born in Lithuania and now based anywhere in the world that you can imagine. He's been all over the place and he's shared part of that journey with us in the first two parts of this three-part series. Today is part three of that three-part series and we're going to kind of get into some of his future plans and some of the things that he talks about that have been helpful to him and how he has operated his virtual summits business now going to even physical summits next year in Prague, well, March of 2019. It depends on when you listen to this. It could be already after the fact when you're listening to this. So, let's jump in today and get the last of this three-part series going right now. Augustas: I don't have stories that, “Oh, Augustas, your summit helped me to become a millionaire,” but I do get all the time appreciation emails. I have a couple of fans who are following me all the time. But yes, with every summit, I get to know some new names, new people who are really grateful for the information they have listened during the virtual summit. Yes, it makes me feel very, very positive. And of course I do make profit from selling all-access passes, but this is just an additional energy I get which motivates me to continue this work. So, always when I do anything in this, well, in virtual summits and when I think of newsletters I'm thinking of

How a Virtual Summit Can Help You Grow Your Business Part 2 On today’s part two of a three-part series with Augustas Kligys, also known as the “Virtual Summit Guy”, he shares more insights on his virtual business and his motivation behind it. Here are more awesome tidbits on today’s episode: How virtual summits motivate people to set their goals and dreams. Why serving people means helping and giving them value. The defining moments in Augustas’ journey. There are a lot of amazing lessons on this episode, so be sure to listen to know more about how you can give back to your community and empower fellow entrepreneurs. 02:29 (Augustas talks about how he manages virtual summits.) 06:18 (Augustas shares the reasons why he chooses Prague as the next place for his virtual summit.) 11:54 (Augustas shares his defining moment that sets him on the virtual summit path.) 15:40 (Augustas shares what virtual summits are for.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson, and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. You are listening to Episode Number 76 of the Awesomers.com podcast series and by now I think the secret is out. All you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/76 to find today's show notes and relevant details as well as sometimes even a transcript of the entire episode that you can search through to find any key points. It really is something that we put a lot of time and money into to try to make your life easier, so be sure to check that out. Now, this is today part two of a three-part series with Augustas Kligys and we are talking about some of the ideas that he had in putting together his Amazon summits, these online virtual summits. We talked about yesterday you know where he came from and a little bit about his origin story. We are going to dive further into that and talk about this evolution of information and how people are consuming information online. In particular, this concept that heck you can hold a virtual summit that a lot of people are able to engage in and participate in. They can do it live for free and then later they can buy an all-access pass if they wish to get further access to those speeches and the expert presenters that are on there. So you're going to love again today part two of the three episodes with Augustas. Let's dive in right now. 02:29 (Augustas talks about how he manages virtual summits.) Augustas: Yes. Actually, I'm trying to be very neutral myself. Sometimes I know that speakers contradict each other even during the same event and maybe some viewers point that out, but I always, from a long time ago, I try to be neutral and not to judge opinions of others. So, I always let the audience to judge or to accept what they want, what information they want

How a Virtual Summit Can Help You Grow Your Business Part 1 If you are running an Amazon FBA business and looking to learn how to successfully sell your products and move to the next level, a virtual summit is a powerful tool that you can explore. This is part one of a three-part series with Steve’s special guest Augustas Kligys. Augustas is who people call the “Virtual Summit Guy”. Some key takeaways from this episode are: Why Augustas is known as the Amazon Summits Guy. As the founder of the Orang Klik company, Augustas shares the best and most current information about Amazon FBA to help sellers succeed in Europe and worldwide. How Augustas came up with the idea of using a virtual summit with the Amazon FBA marketplace at the center of the curriculum to help entrepreneurs grow their business. So sit back and listen as Steve’s special guest Augustas Kligys talks about virtual summits and how these summits help entrepreneurs like you connect with leaders in your field and potentially earn serious revenue. 05:30 (Augustas is the Amazon Summits Guy.) 11:01 (Augustas defines what a virtual summit is.) 15:36 (Augustas tells us his origin story.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 75 of the Awesomers.com podcast series and today is another part one of a three-part series with Augustas Kligys. I think I get it right here on the read in, but believe me I'm not going to get it right in the episode. You'll hear my shame several times. So, Augustas is a really brilliant guy and I really enjoyed our time together. He's originally from Lithuania and he's created or started out by creating the European Private Label Summit as a virtual summit online in 2016 and 2017 as a means of helping other Amazon sellers capitalize on the thriving E-commerce market. Now in 2018 and 2017 by the way, he produced two other online conferences targeted at global Amazon sellers, one of them called AMZ Seller Summit, which got a record number of over 3,300 attendees and during his last virtual summit AMZ Q4 Strategy Summit he got thousands more visitors to join as they listened to experts share their tips and tricks for the most important quarter of the year at least if you're in retail the quarter number four. Now, Augustas is often just simply known as the Amazon Summits Guy and he's committed to providing others with the opportunity to achieve success by offering powerfully informative expert sessions and guides to becoming a top seller. In March 2019, Augustas invites European private label sellers to his first ever live event in Prague and we're going to talk a little bit about that. He calls it the European Seller Conferen

Money Talks - Financial Learning Tips from a Chief Investment Officer Part 3 Today is the last part of a three-part series with Greg Silberman, CIO of ACG Wealth. Greg is responsible for managing the firm's Global Investment Portfolio, as well as supervising the implementation of the company's Asset Management Strategies. Here are more key points on today’s episode: Diversification as the best way to help clients achieve their goals. The advantage of having business experts on your team. Why patience is definitely a virtue. Investing is not one size fits all. So join us on today’s episode and learn all about managing and growing your finances. 01:11 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Greg Silberman, CIO of ACG Wealth.) 02:13 (Greg talks about the importance of getting an expert looking after your business.) 07:37 (Greg shares his predictions about the future of the market.) 13:55 (Greg shares his knowledge about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.) 18:32 (Greg gives his final words of wisdom to the Awesomers.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT Empowery, the name says it all. Connecting E-commerce entrepreneurs with great people, ideas, systems and the services needed to sustain business dynamic into growth. Empowery is a network; a cooperative venture of tools and resources to make you better at what you do. Because we love what you do. We are you. Visit Empowery.com to learn more. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:11 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Greg Silberman, CIO of ACG Wealth.) Steve: Okay, everybody we're back again Steve Simonson joined today by Greg Silberman on the Awesomers.com podcast series, and we've been talking about investments in various strategies and ideas about how to get a look at least from the 30,000 foot view of investments. I definitely agree as you talked about before the break, Greg, that you know the idea of being diversified is a fine idea whether it's a range of stocks or you know range of even private equity types of deals. You know there may be some allocation towards that higher risk but high reward stuff. But do you have a basic or easy to understand idea that would help us say, “Hey, why should we use somebody like ACG, somebody who's a wealth specialist versus just going and you know putting all the money in one of these mutual funds.” And you know they got ten thousand stocks so that's super diversified. That's got to be better. At least that's what they would tell us. How would you guys respond to that kind of issue? 02:13 (Greg talks about the importance of getting an expert looking after your business.) Greg: Steve, that is, you touched on kind of the million dollar dollar question there. So let me tell you my answer and obviously there's no right or wrong answer to this. My view is that in investing, there is a season and a time for everything. And so that means there is a season for mutual funds, there's a season for ETFs, there's a season for Robo-advisors, and there's a season for private equity, okay. I don't know when those seasons are. They don't, certainly don't ring a bell and say, “You know it's now time to go into bonds,” or whatever the case may be. So again, diversification is probably the best way that I can help my clients achieve their goals. That means,

Money Talks - Financial Learning Tips from a Chief Investment Officer Part 2 In business and finances, diversification is always the key. It’s all about exploring new markets and taking new risks. Today is a continuation of a three-part series with Greg Silberman, CIO of ACG Wealth. Greg is responsible for managing the firm's Global Investment Portfolio, as well as supervising the implementation of the company's Asset Management Strategies. Here are more takeaways on today’s podcast: Greg’s professional experience working with J.P. Morgan. His experience as a Chartered Financial Analyst. Why the more wealth you generate, the more diversification you should have. So listen to today’s episode to learn more about financial diversification as a means of managing risks. 00:41 (Steve recaps the last episode.) 01:44 (Greg talks about J.P. Morgan.) 04:27 (Greg shares his experience as a Chartered Financial Analyst.) 11:50 (Steve and Greg talks about business venture.) 14:55 (Greg’s talks about ACG.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. 00:41 (Steve recaps the last episode.) Steve: It is a fascinating story, first of all it's hard to top hot audit talk. But when you get into derivatives swaps I mean come on we're good, we're just laying it out there for these guys, pure gold baby. So now, I love nerdy stuff and I'm a kind of a longtime computer guy Linux and all that from way back. So I definitely appreciate the fact that you were the guy at a world-class firm still to this day, J.P. Morgan would be a top five, or top three firm, if not the number one firm. What a great experience, and what a great opportunity for you to be there on the ground floor. By the way, that image you painted kind of seeing that the stock floor kind of opened up that very telling. Because that exciting floor atmosphere was something I think drew a lot of young people and especially those numbers, fascinating that you saw that. Once you got to J.P. Morgan, you started in that derivative business did you find that resonated with you, did you like that more than anything? It sounds like you did. 01:44 (Greg talks about J.P. Morgan.) Greg: I did. No question about it. I try to brush up as best as possible my visual basic skills and so I would create VBA scripts, to help. And then the whole question of valuation and linking into Bloomberg terminals and getting real-time valuation and front office to back office. It was just a wonderful experience and a great organization. But again Steve, it was just the scale which was just which just blew me away, I mean the notional value of these derivatives. Were in the hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. You speaking to a South African boy key, as we call him like a little South African guy, who was used to dealing with rands and Saints. It was just compelling for me and I thought it was almost like a puzzle, like I needed to figure out how this puzzle worked, and certainly most. So I had always been the case, but became even more of a market student went ahead and did my CFA and read all the market grapes, and the great traders, try to follow and understand. And I think that's when my education really did begin, because being an investor is very much again leaning back onto my psychology viewpoints. Being an investor is very much about

Money Talks - Financial Learning Tips from a Chief Investment Officer Part 1 Behavioral Finance is crucial in identifying and understanding why people make certain financial choices. On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces us to Greg Silberman, CIO of ACG Wealth. Greg is responsible for managing the firm's Global Investment Portfolio, as well as supervising the implementation of the company's Asset Management Strategies. Here are some key points on today’s episode: Greg’s origin story growing up in South Africa. How he started his professional career as a Chartered Accountant. The different kinds of clients they serve at ACG. So listen to today’s episode to learn more about Behavioral Finance or the Psychology of Investors. 01:35 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Greg Silberman, CIO of ACG Wealth.) 03:39 (Greg talks about his origin story.) 05:53 (Greg talks about the kind of clients they serve at ACG.) 12:13 (Greg talks about his first job.) 16:36 (Greg shares his defining moment.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:35 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Greg Silberman, CIO of ACG Wealth.) Steve: You are listening to Awesomers.com episode number 72. And all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/72 to get the show notes and details and perhaps any links we've discussed throughout today's episode. Now today is the first part of a three-part series with Greg Silberman. Greg is the CIO of ACG Wealth and as you'll find out later CIO in this case means Chief Investment Officer. He brings more than 16 years of market experience in Europe, Asia and North America. Greg is responsible for managing the firm's Global Investment Portfolio, as well as supervising the implementation of the company's Asset Management Strategies. Prior to joining ACG, Greg served as a Director of Alternative Investments at Wilmington Trust where he was responsible for managing more than, wait for it.... 2 billion in private equity hedge fund and other real estate assets and he was also instrumental in the launch of the successful

6 Famous Failures Who Refused to Give Up We all face adversity. Don't let your setbacks stand in your way. On today’s Awesomers Insights episode, Steve talks about some of the famous failures in history. Here are important takeaways on today’s episode: The famous failures of all time including that of Michael Jordan, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, the Beatles and Albert Einstein. “Am I worth it? Am I smart enough? Am I fast enough?” Some of the questions every entrepreneur asks themselves. The common challenge extraordinarily successful people had to face. So be inspired by today’s episode and remember that failure only brings you another step closer to success. 01:15 (Steve opens up today’s episode.) 05:23 (Steve’s axiom 10 - fail fast.) 06:08 (Steve talks about one of the first famous fails in history.) 08:36 (Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for “lacking imagination and original ideas.”) 11:52 (Steve Jobs was fired from Apple for presumably lacking vision.) 16:14 (Oprah was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she “wasn’t fit for television.”) 17:57 (Decca Recording Studios on the Beatles: We don’t like their sound.) 19:54 (According to Albert Einstein’s teacher, he would never amount to much.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve opens up today’s episode.) Steve: Everybody it's me, Steve Simonson and I'm coming back to you again with another Awesomers episode. This is Awesomers.com episode number 71. So the super secret handshake is just go to Awesomers.com/71 to find all the show notes and details. Now today, we're doing a little bit of a pivot for you. So the first thing I wanted to share with you is that you know we've been producing content faster than our audience can consume it. So in many cases, the average day of content output is around 60 minutes, yet we realize that you know with all your business going and all your daily activities and even other podcasts - I can't believe you listen to other podcasts instead of just me. But, no. Dare I say that there are other podcasts in this world that you're listening to. It's hard for everybody to consume and keep up with the output of our production, of our factory at Awesomers.com so we're gonna start breaking the show in the 15 to 20 minute segments. So even if I'm doing a long-form interview like the origin story which all parts of that are very interesting, we're gonna break that into again 15 to 20-minute slugs so that you can kind of download and consume it at a reasonable pace. And our mission is to deliver these daily podcasts because we want to give you something you can collect, something you can count on seven days a week.

Get Ahead of the Game With Business Automation Software Software and automation tools have become essential for businesses to stay competitive. By investing in the right system, business owners can improve productivity, revenue and efficiency. On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces us to Stefano Starkel, Co-Founder of Zon.Tools. Stefano is a brilliant entrepreneur and has been living a unique and free lifestyle for many years. Here are some key points on today’s episode: Stefano’s origin story. How he started in the E-commerce business. His take on the Catalyst88 Mastermind group. What Zon.Tools is all about and how it helps E-commerce entrepreneurs. So listen to today’s episode to learn more about growing your business with the right software and tools. 01:35 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Stefano Starkel of Zon.Tools.) 10:36 (Stefano talks about his origin story.) 32:44 (Stefano talks about how he started in the E-commerce business.) 56:53 (Stefano talks about Zon Tools.) 1:06:34 (Stefano’s final words of wisdom.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:35 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Stefano Starkel of Zon.Tools.) Steve: You are listening to Awesomers.com podcast episode number 70. And that is a pretty fun little benchmark there, episode number 70. And all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/70 to find out all the links and interesting details we may discuss in today's episode. Now today I'm joined by my very special guest and very fun entrepreneur, Stefano Starkel. Stefano is a brilliant entrepreneur and has been kind of living a unique and free lifestyle for these many years. He definitely never fit in the traditional box and as you will hear in part of his origin story today. He was able to just kind of figure out things as they came to him and as he got more and more experienced, he got better and better at it. And today that's culminated in an exciting new enterprise, relatively new, maybe a year or so into it, where he helps Amazon sellers manage their pay-per-click advertising in a much more scalable, much more systematic way. And I'm proud of what he's done. I've watched his progress for at least two years and it's really exciting to see somebody who's so inherently smart, has such great business acumen, apply those skills and he's able to kind of transcend the ordinary and jump into the extraordinary. And that's always something that I think Awesomers are trying to do even when they don't know they're trying to do it. It's just part of your DNA. It's part of what pushes you. And when you feel yourself being pushed or pulled in some cases towards a

Making the Magic Happen in Your Business The magician’s mindset is all about making the impossible possible in your own life and being productive with it. On this episode, Steve’s special guest is Victoria Mavis. Victoria is a professional magician and an entrepreneur. She hosts a podcast and has written a book called How Podcasting Can Change Your Life: Unleash Endless Possibilities. Some key points discussed in this episode include: The Magic Mindset - how to bring surprise and delight into your mind to add more fun and excitement in your daily life. Using magic as a tool of communication for your business. How to get out of your routine thinking, a pattern interrupt so you can get more ideas for your business. So listen to today’s episode and get new insights from a professional magician and an accomplished entrepreneur on how to improve your business. 05:14 (Victoria introduces her book, How Podcasting Can Change Your Life.) 07:58 (Victoria tells us her origin story.) 18:47 (Victoria talks about her defining moment - the moment she decided to become an entrepreneur.) 30:42 (Magic is also about communication.) 36:25 (Victoria gives a trick on how to get out of your routine thinking, a pattern interrupt, so that you get more ideas for your business.) 39:52 (Victoria predicts the future of magic and entrepreneurial businesses over the next five years.) 47:16 (Some final words from Victoria for the Awesomers listening.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You’re listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: This is Awesomers podcast Episode Number 69 and all you have to do is go over to Awesomers.com/69 to find the relevant show notes, details and even a bonus link or two about what we are talking about in today's episode and that episode is very interesting indeed today because we're joined by Victoria Mavis. And Victoria is an extraordinary magician, an accomplished entrepreneur in her own right and she actually – it's very interesting because she started in magic at the very early age of 4 with a trick that her dad taught her and then on her 7th birthday she got her first magic set and started performing her first stage show. Now, she's a well-known worldwide known by the way magician, she hosts a podcast and she's written a book. So, Victoria shares all kinds of really interesting things about you know how to bring surprise and delight and magic into your mind as she likes to call it the Magic Mindset and that helps you do improvisation, it helps you clear your mind and it helps you kind of add a little bit of fun and a little bit of excitement into your daily life instead of being stuck in the daily routine. So, I found Victoria's story very interesting and I know that

Part II Steve’s 11 Axioms to Help You Win More in Business and Life Axioms are very important in conducting business and serve as guardrails in our personal and professional lives. On this Insights episode, Steve talks about the second part of his personal axioms. Here, he discusses his axioms one by one, provides examples and life situations on each and also encourages Awesomers to apply them in their lives. Here are more awesome takeaways on this episode: Axioms 12 to 22 and a detailed explanation for each. Why starting with something is better than starting with nothing. Boomerang delegations and how it can be avoided. So, sit back and learn how you too can apply Steve’s personal axioms in your daily lives. 01:15 (Steve talks about today’s episode - a continuation of Episode 58 where he talked about his personal axioms.) 03:04 (Steve talks about the importance in putting all your best in everything you do.) 12:13 (Steve wants to stress out that before doing anything, you need to check first if the juice is worth the squeeze.) 18:39 (Steve talks about how to avoid boomerang delegation.) 27:07 (Steve links his axiom 17 to the Golden Rule.) 31:34 (Starting with something is better than starting with nothing.) 36:52 (Steve talks about proper setting of expectations.) 45: 40 (Steve talks about the law of parsimony as a close component of Occam's razor.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve talks about today’s episode - a continuation of episode 58 where he talked about his personal axioms.) Steve: Everybody, Steve Simonson back again with another episode of the Awesomers.com podcast series, and you may be surprised to know, but this is Episode Number 68. So, all you have to do is go to Awesomers com/68 and you'll see all the magic behind the scenes, show notes, and details. Sometimes we even throw in a transcript in there for you, which makes it easy to search and maybe easy to copy and paste for your own usage. Now today is an Awesomers insights episode and this is Steve's axioms part two. So, in Episode Number 58 of the Awesomers series, I gave my first half of my axioms and today I'm going to give you part two of those axioms as well. I want to call your attention to the idea that insights episodes are where an expert or at least me proclaiming myself as an expert comes on and share some of the insights and some of the tips and hints, and this is one of those types of episodes. So, in our first part of this series by the way, this particular episode, we talked about the first 11 axioms that I've shared, and I think those are very, very important.

LEARN HOW TO BECOME A POWERFUL PUBLIC SPEAKER Learn how to pitch, present and persuade by using interesting, compelling stories in your public speeches. On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces us to Victor Ahipene, Leader of the Public Speaking Blueprint. Victor is also an entrepreneur, author, speaker and podcast host. Here are more key points on today’s episode: How Victor became a speaker. The power of communication and storytelling in business. The Public Speaking Blueprint and how listeners can also get a copy. So, listen and learn how important it is to communicate with customers using the power of stories. 01:30 (Steve introduces today’s guest Victor Ahipene.) 03:35 (Victor talks about his origin story.) 04:30 (Victor talks about his experience about being a speaker.) 15:29 (Victor talks about the Public Speaking Blueprint.) 1:00:53 (Victor tells us how to get his blueprint.) 1:03:10 (Victor’s final words of wisdom.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:30 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Victor Ahipene.) Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 67 of the Awesomers podcast series. And that's Awesomers.com/67 to find today's show notes and relevant details, etc. Now today, I am joined by Victor Ahipene. Now, Victor's a very interesting young man and somebody who I find to be fascinating, because he's been speaking from the stage since he was literally 13 years old. And we talked about that kind of in-depth in today's episode. This went on to lead him to do more speaking and he has won national accolades at competitions becoming one of the youngest ever to qualify as a public speaking teacher at only age 17. And this passion for public speaking got filed away for a bit while he was at university, and became a physiotherapist. And it wasn't until he jumped into the entrepreneurial world that this love for speech and speech making was reignited. And today being able to help other people get their message out to the world, and leveraging that message using public speaking as part of what he loves to spend his time doing. And since all of that kind of was put together he's really been on a mission and a sense created three top ranking, top rated and ranked podcast. He's been a keynote speaker around the world and he's helped hundreds of others share their message and make an impact in their various industries and sessions. So, it's something very inspiring and I know we're going to learn a lot from today. I am thrilled that you're here and I hope that you're thrilled to be here as well. Everybody, it's me Steve Simonson and we're back again with another Awesomers.com podcast and today I'm joined by

Steve Answers Live Questions from Awesomers Join us as we present another live question and answer session with entrepreneurs and Awesomers from around the world. Today’s episode is a back talk episode where host Steve Simonson answers questions from a live audience. Here are some important discussions on today’s episode: New E-commerce legislation, sales taxes, tariffs and what it means for your business Handling positive and negative reviews on Amazon DHL’s new cross-border COD service Getting ready for Q4 - giveaway promotions, lightning deals and store management So listen to today’s episode and learn more about our exciting discussion with Awesomers army of listeners. 01:21 (Steve introduces the back talk live episode.) 04:54 (Steve talks about the bribes and other dirty rotten scoundrels in China.) 20:03 (Steve talks about tariff.) 24:49 (Steve answers questions about sales taxes.) 27:26 (Steve talks about DHL.) 38:59 (Steve answers more questions about PPC and Amazon tools.) 41:58 (Steve talks about the indexing problem at Amazon.) 49:06 (Steve answers a question about patented products.) 52:35 (Steve answers questions about shipment inspection.) 57:57 (Audience question - does anyone use more than one vendor for the same product SKU?) 1:00:37 (Steve answers the last question and wraps up the episode.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:21 (Steve introduces the back talk live episode.) Steve: Awesomers.com podcast series episode Number 66. And today we are doing another back talk live episode, and this is where we join some members of the community live. If you want to find the community and go to Facebook and find the Awesomers.com Facebook Page there's also the Awesomers.com Professional or Amazon Professional Sellers Group which you can join. And this allows you to do a little bit of interaction and a little bit of socializing maybe some Q&A on a regular basis where the community can help you out and it's over 5,000? I don't remember, 5700 members of that? And that's been going a couple years even before the Awesomers podcast kicked off and part of the purpose was just to help people in a free way and give them an opportunity to ask questions and help each other as well. And I should tell you just as a matter of interest, that particular group has almost 2,000 banned people from the group. Because when somebody comes and they show up and they're just self-serving or they're mean or they're just like “hey I can get you blackhat reviews” or any other kind of skullduggery or tomfoolery we just ban them. Well we don't bother, we don't have time to say, “Hell no. Follow the rule. Did you read the

How a Leadership Coach Can Lead Your Business to Success A leadership coach can be a great catalyst in helping people build the business and life of their dreams. On today’s episode, Steve’s special guest is John Ramstead. John is a former Navy fighter pilot, a leadership coach and an international podcast host. He is also the author of the Top 100 Leadership Blog for Executives, Managers and CEOs. Some of the key points you will learn from this episode are: The concept of a rising tide lifts all boats - a defining moment for John, something he learned from one of his lightning bolt experiences. How John transformed himself from being a military man to an entrepreneur. How having self-awareness can help you as an entrepreneur to get better results than what you’re getting right now. So sit back and listen to this episode and let John help you discover your core values and increase your results through his life-changing experiences. 05:03 (John Ramstead talks about his origin story.) 16:54 (A defining moment – the concept of a rising tide lifts all boats.) 20:54 (John talks about his transition from being a military man to being an entrepreneur.) 41:37 (Self-awareness is the first step of emotional intelligence.) 54:46 (John discusses how to be a purpose-driven leader.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You’re listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to Episode Number 65 of the Awesomers.com podcast series, that's Episode 65 and all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/65 to find all the show notes, transcripts, details, links, etc. Today, I'm joined by John Ramstead who's kind of like a virtual coach. He helps you discover your core values and kind of unleash the results and the ability to double your results from inside. Now, John is a former Navy fighter pilot. He's a current leadership coach and an international podcast host and author of the top 100 leadership blog for executives, managers and CEOs. One of the things I love about John is that you know he's like a lot of us. Growing up, he wanted to go into the military and get in the Top Gun and he's like, “Gosh, that'll never work for me. That's not going to happen.” So, he ended up you know taking a detour, which we'll talk about in today's episode. Later only to come back and say, “Yes, you know I do want to give it a go. I am going to take that risk.” And he was able to get into the Top Gun Academy and just the week before a lightning bolt strikes. So you know here we've got a guy who's an incredible, you know accomplished achiever yet had to face lightning bolts and John talks about you know kind of his stories and his origin story in gripping detail today.

How to Use a Crowdfunding Campaign to Launch Your Business Crowdfunding can be an extraordinarily powerful part of your marketing launch for a new product. On today’s podcast Steve Simonson introduces Shirley Tan, the inventor of the Posture Keeper. She's also the author of Ecom Hell, founder of the Systems Coach and the original founder of AmericanBride.com. She also worked at Yahoo as a Director of Product and part of the growth team. Here are more amazing takeaways on today’s episode: How Shirley invented the Posture Keeper. What crowdfunding is all about and how to set up a campaign. The top crowdfunding platforms: Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. So listen to today’s episode and know more about creating a successful crowdfunding campaign for your next product launch. 01:38 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Shirley Tan.) 03:19 (Steve asks Shirley about her background.) 07:39 (Shirley talks about her origin story.) 32:11 (Shirley talks about Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.) 56:10 (Shirley’s prediction about the future of Posture Keeper.) 58:37 (Shirley’s final words of wisdom.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:38 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Shirley Tan.) Steve: You are listening to episode number 64 of the Awesomers.com podcast series. And we have a tradition, all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/64, to figure out all the show notes and details and see all the things that we put together for each episode. It's really quite a bit of work and quite a bit of effort, so we hope that you get on over there and check that out right now. Today's episode features Shirley Tan. Now, Shirley is the inventor of the Posture Keeper. She's also the author of Ecom Hell, founder of the Systems Coach and the original founder of AmericanBride.com, which was eventually sold to The Knot which is the number one wedding portal site in the world. She also worked at Yahoo as a director of product and part of the growth team, that's a lot of experience. As an early E-commerce pioneer with more than 20 years of experience as a retail and wholesale and even E-commerce executive, Shirley has consulted with small and mid-sized companies, working to optimize their business processes for sustainability, profitability and saleability, that's the ability to sell you. And once you have all of those abilities then you have scalability. Shirley helps business clients operate like large companies using proven processes and systems to grow, and then prepare them for that eventual exit or sale. Currently, consultancy is on pause while Shirley pursues bringing this new product, her invention, Posture Keeper to the market. This is a lumbar support system that

Building Your Success by Helping Others Succeed Entrepreneurs should not only focus on achieving and building their own business but also in helping others around them. Because only when we help others succeed, can we truly become a winner in life. On this episode, Steve’s special guest is Chelsea Cohen. Chelsea is a young entrepreneur who has her own successful E-commerce business. Together with her husband, Ari, they created badassbusinessbuilders.org. Here are more golden nuggets from this episode: The defining moments that helped her along the way. How she’s in favor of hands-on knowledge than getting a degree. The tools that Chelsea Cohen used in improving her business. What Badass Business Builders is all about and how it helps entrepreneurs. So join us on today’s episode and find out how you too can succeed in business while helping others. 01:32 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Chelsea Cohen, a successful E-commerce entrepreneur.) 03:57 (Chelsea talks about how she and Steve knew each other.) 11:50 (Chelsea explains why she doesn’t want to get a college degree.) 15:45 (Both Chelsea and Steve talk about their defining moments which helped put them on their path today.) 20:33 (Chelsea shares the lessons that she learned along the way.) 25:38 (Chelsea shares the time she almost gave up.) 30:03 (Chelsea talks about some of the best days in her life.) 37:04 (Chelsea talks about the tools/resources she use in improving her business.) 41:08 (Chelsea talks about the future of Amazon.) 49:03 (Chelsea talks about how she got rid of the things that are not profitable in her business.) 55:32 (Chelsea imparts final words of wisdom to Awesomers.) 57:14 (Chelsea explains what they do in Badass Business Builders.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson, and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to episode number 63 of the Awesomers.com podcast series, and all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/63 to find any relevant show notes, details, and links that we've discussed here in today's episode. 1:32 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Chelsea Cohen, a successful E-commerce entrepreneur.) Now today, my guest is Chelsea Cohen, and Chelsea's a bright, young entrepreneur, and she's been running her own successful E-commerce business for over 3 years, grossing well into the 7 figures just in a single year. And she's also been working to help other Amazon entrepreneurs and E-commerce people, including doing live group and one-on-one coaching for Ryan Moran's Freedom Fast Lane within the tribe. Now they went on, Chelsea and her husband, Ari, have went on to build a website to help entrepreneurs and do it in a constructive way so that (a) it didn't

Logistic Services and Why it is Important for your E-commerce Business The E-commerce logistics industry is the cornerstone of action and every E-commerce company has logistical concerns and needs that have to be addressed efficiently. On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces to us Joe Lynch, kingpin of logistics. He is also the founder of The Logistics of Logistics, a podcast host, blogger and industry leader. Here are some key points on today’s episode: His company The Logistics of Logistics and how he helps E-commerce companies. Expert insights on logistics and transportation. The importance of supply chain in business. So stay tuned to today’s episode and find out more about the right logistics solutions for your business. 01:37 (Steve introduces us to today’s guest, Joe Lynch.) 05:44 (Joe talks about The Logistics of Logistics.) 11:19 (Joe talks about his origin story.) 50:03 (Joe’s prediction about the future of logistics.) 56:41 (Joe’s final words of wisdom.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:37 (Steve introduces us to today’s guest, Joe Lynch.) Steve: You are listening to episode number 62 of the Awesomers.com podcast. And our tradition is just go to Awesomers.com/62 to find links to any of the relevant details or things that we discussed here in the episode, as well as a full transcript and things like that make your life a little easier. So today my special guest is Joe Lynch and he is a great guy and certainly an absolute kingpin of logistics. A really really experienced guy and we're going to talk a little bit about his origin story and where he came from and how he built this very specialized skill of logistics. Now he owns a company called The Logistics of Logistics which includes a podcast, blog and other service offerings. And The Logistics of Logistics has been around as a blog in a business for over 10 years and a ton of time in this dynamic environment and dynamic space. Plus he's built a following on LinkedIn, a group with over a hundred thousand followers and participants. So it's a very niche specialized area of logistics yet that it's such a massive area as well. So a very interesting range of experience and we're going to dive into that right now. Hello Awesomers, it's me Steve Simonson and here we are again on the Awesomers.com podcast. And today I have a very special guest Joe Lynch. Joe, how are you? Joe: Very good Steve, thanks for having me on. Steve: Certainly my pleasure. Logistics is very near and dear to my heart. So I can't wait to dive into some of these things. And I've already given the audience kind of the top-line view of you. I've read your bio in and so forth at the top of the episode

An Inspiring Self-Publishing Success Story Not everyone is born into equal circumstances but as long as you have passion, faith and dedication, you can do anything you want in this life. On today’s podcast, we are joined by Otakara Klettke, author of the book Hear Your Body Whisper. Otakara shares her transformative story as a young girl from what was then Czechoslovakia, coming to a foreign country, and fulfilling her dream of becoming an author. Here are more awesome takeaways on today’s episode: The inspiring story of Otakara’s father as a musician in World War II How she self-published her first book Her advice to aspiring authors And why you have to take action one day at a time and stop worrying about things you don’t have control over. So put on your headphones and be inspired by Otakara’s amazing story of survival and success. 01:17 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Otakara Klettke author of the book Hear Your Body Whisper.) 05:29 (Otakara shares how she came up with her first book.) 14:28 (Otakara talks about her origin story.) 26:14 (The defining moment in Otakara’s life that put her in the path she is in today.) 35:09 (The production lessons Otakara had to learn working on her first book.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:17 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Otakara Klettke, author of the book Hear Your Body Whisper.) Steve: You are listening to episode number 61 of the Awesomers.com podcast series. Now what does that mean? That means you can go to Awesomers.com/61 to find any of the show notes and details related to today's episode. Now today my special guest is Otakara Klettke. And she as a young child was very sickly so much so that she couldn't even carry her own books to school. Now she wrote a book called Hear Your Body Whisper where she shares how she basically said no to the limitations of her own health problems, left doctors in the dust and started to live her own life to the fullest. Currently, she lives on a ranch with her husband and daughter, a beautiful cascade mountain range in Oregon raising lots and lots of pets. We're going to talk about that for sure. And taking every chance possible to go on road trips with her homeschooled daughter. Now how'd she do it? She basically you know said no and she escaped that special diet, constant visits to the doctors, surgeries, hospital stays and she went on to become a fitness trainer, adventurer and even a TV reporter all while keeping her body in top shape since growing up. So this is a really transformative story and I'm glad that you guys are here to join us. And I know that you're going to take something away

The Miracle Morning Book Review What if you could miraculously wake up tomorrow and any or every area of your life was transformed? What would be different? On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces us to another book of the week episode, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. Here are more golden nuggets on today’s episode: The main philosophy behind The Miracle Morning. The movie Rudy based on Rudy Ruettiger’s life and why it is one of Steve’s favorite. SAVERS - an acronym for the six things that we need to focus on each and every morning. The 30-Day Habit Mastery Strategy. So let’s get to know more about our Book of the Week and find out how you too can transform your life, one morning at a time. 03:23 (Steve introduces the book of the week, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.) 03:28 (Steve shares some background information about Hal Elrod.) 05:20 (Steve talks about the movie Rudy, based on the life of Rudy Ruettiger.) 07:08 (Steve talks about SAVERS.) 29:21 (Steve talks about the 30-Day Habit Mastery Strategy.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 03:23 (Steve introduces the book of the week, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.) Steve: Everybody it's me Steve Simonson and we're back again for another Awesomers.com podcast. And guess what? Today's episode is number 60, that's podcast episode number 60. I can hardly believe it. All you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/60 to find today's show notes, relevant details and things like that. Maybe links that we talked about along the way. Although today mostly I'm going to be talking about a book because today is a book of the week episode. But before we dive into that, I want to just comment that we're a third of the way through the commitment that I made to record a hundred eighty daily episodes. So when I started in Awesomers.com/1, that's our first episode. I laid out our vision, mission of values and I committed the hey listen I'm going to record a hundred eighty episodes. That's a lot of value that I'm trying to deliver to you and I'm going to do that regardless if anybody listens or not, to be honest. Because once I make that commitment, then I'm accountable to it, especially publicly there's no way I'm getting out of it. And so as of today, as of this recording, I'm already a third of the way there. And I hope that you guys are getting value and I hope that's something that you'll take a minute and go leave us a review if you haven't already. Believe it or not when I read those and luckily we've been blessed with positive reviews thus far, I'm sure I'll get a couple trolls that are beating me down at some point. But it's such a positive reinforcement for me and an encouragement for

Innovation: Key to Startup Success Startups are important in bringing innovative and fresh ideas to life. On today’s episode, Steve’s special guest is Steven Hoffman also known as Captain Hoff. Steven is an angel investor, partner at Founders.VC, serial entrepreneur and author of the book Make Elephants Fly. Some of the highlights of today’s episode include: The difference between an incubator and an accelerator. Raising outside capital, when it’s a good idea and when it’s not. Key insights you can gain from the book Make Elephants Fly that will help increase your chances for success. So, sit back and listen to this episode as Steve Simonson and Steven Hoffman discuss processes and methodologies for innovation and startup businesses. 01:29 (Steve introduces today’s guest Steven Hoffman, author of the book Make Elephants Fly.) 07:04 (Steven talks about his origin story.) 25:41 (Steven explains the difference between an incubator and an accelerator.) 28:16 (Steven talks about raising outside capital, when it’s a good idea and when it’s not.) 32:44 (Steven talks about his book Make Elephants Fly.) 53:11 (Steven predicts what the future holds for emerging companies working with Silicon Valley.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You’re listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You're listening to Episode Number 59 of the Awesomers.com podcast and all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/59 to find any of the show notes and details and even a transcript of this particular episode. 01:29 (Steve introduces today’s guest Steven Hoffman, serial entrepreneur, angel investor and author of the book Make Elephants Fly.) Steve: Now today I'm joined by Steven Hoffman also known to insiders as Captain Hoff and he is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and partner at Founders.VC which he's also a limited partner in August Capital and an author of the book Make Elephants Fly. Hoffman is also the Captain and CEO of Founders Space, which is one of the world's leading incubators and accelerators with over 50 partners in 22 different countries. Now, he's always been innovating in his life. Captain Hoff has tried more professions than cats have lives including serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, angel investor, studio head, computer engineer, filmmaker, Hollywood TV exec, published author, coder, game designer, animator and voice actor. That's a lot of stuff to do. While in Hollywood, Hoffman worked as a TV development executive at Fries Entertainment known for producing over 100 TV shows, which was acquired later by MGM. He went on to pioneer interactive television with his venture funded startup Spiderdance, which produce interactive TV shows with NBC, MTV, Turner, Warner Brothers, History

https://awesomers.com/58 Part 1 - Steve’s 11 Axioms to Help You Win More in Business and Life Axioms are critical in conducting business and serve as guardrails in our personal and daily lives. On today’s Insights episode, Steve talks about his first eleven axioms which he learned and continuously tries to infuse in running his own businesses. He also encourages his listeners to learn and apply these axioms in their own day to day lives. Here are more awesome takeaways on this episode: Axioms as a critical factor to ongoing success. Steve’s eleven axioms and detailed explanations for each one. What cost per acquisition means. And why it’s okay to fail fast in running a business and a lot more. So put on your headphones and learn valuable insights from Steve’s 11 axioms in business and life. 01:15 (Steve opens the podcast by giving a short overview on today’s topic.) 02:39 (Steve starts giving his axioms, starting with axiom zero: I don’t know nothing about nothing.) 06:08 (Axiom number one - “You can’t have a world-class brand in a single channel.”) 08:41 (Axiom number two: you don't have a “real business” until you can pour money in the top of the funnel and have a predictable, repeatable, and profitable cost per acquisition at the bottom of the funnel.) 12:12 (Axiom number three: Every upgrade is a downgrade at first.) 15:22 (Axiom number four: Beware of unintended consequences.) 19:22 (Axiom number five: Data-driven decisions outperform emotional driven decisions in business.) 23:03 (Axiom number six: Do what needs to be done when it needs doing.) 28:55 (Axiom number seven: I'm getting tired of being right all the time.) 32:23 (Axiom number eight: We're flying the airplane while we build it.) 37:13 (Axiom number nine: No score, no game.) 41:22 (Axiom number ten: Fail fast.) 45:15 (Axiom number eleven: Do more with less.) 49:16 (Steve recaps today’s episode.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve opens the podcast by giving a short overview on today’s topic.) Steve: Hey, everybody. It's Steve Simonson, and we are back again for another Awesomers.com podcast. This is episode number 58, and we're going to talk a little bit today about Steve's axioms. These are my axioms for how we conduct business and are my general philosophy and a philosophy I tried to infuse throughout the organizations and the people that I deal with, and I've referred to these axioms in prior times, prior episodes and quite regularly actually throughout my career. Sometimes, I'll just repeat things over and over, and some number of years ago, five plus years probably at this stage, I decided to name them axioms

The Value of Human Connection in Content Marketing Content marketing is all about storytelling and using the power of human connection to approach your customers. Today’s guest is Whitney Cole, Owner of The Mission Maven. Whitney is a consultant speaker and writer. She translates difficult technology concepts into simple approachable and readable content for your ideal customers. Here are more valuable insights on today’s episode: How Whitney started in the health tech space. The three pillars of content creation. What her company, The Mission Maven, is all about. And why you should focus your resources on where your customers are. So listen to today’s episode and learn more about how you can leverage the power of content marketing in your business. 01:37 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Whitney Cole of The Mission Maven.) 8:50 (Whitney talks about her origin story.) 20:02 (Whitney shares the business tools she uses in her daily life.) 22:49 (Whitney talks about her journey in the Health Tech space.) 37:13 (Why you should focus your resources on where your customers are.) 47: 21 (Whitney gives a little bonus for the Awesomers listening.) 48:46 (Whitney’s final words of wisdom.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:37 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Whitney Cole of The Mission Maven.) Steve: You are listening to podcast episode number 57 for the Awesomers.com podcast. And that's right episode number 57. All you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/57 to find all the show notes and the fun little details and links and things like that. But we may talk about throughout this episode. Now today Whitney Cole joins the podcast and she is talking about her company and her concept of creating a mission. And she calls herself The Mission Maven which I find to be both clever and great marketing and accurate. Now as a by way of background, Whitney is a consultant speaker and writer on a mission to help life-saving, life-changing technology, breakthrough the noise and achieve mass user adoption/three-step process, amplifying the messages of Health Tech companies, increases user engagement and drives customers to buy. She translates difficult technology concepts into simple approachable and readable content for your ideal customer. And I'm really excited to have Whitney join us today because she's going to talk about all the important things that it takes to connect with that audience and to synthesize your message down into something that's usable. So you're thrilled to be here because I'm thrilled to have you here. And we're going to get into this episode right now. Welcome back Awesomers, it's me Steve Simonson and I'm back again with another

Five Keys to Building a Great Brand On today’s part two of a two-part episode series, we are reintroduced to Rick Cesari, a pioneer in the Direct Response advertising industry. Rick has helped take companies like GoPro from a start-up to over a billion dollars in sales in just a few short years. Rick is also a best-selling author, speaker and consultant and a brand strategy guru. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: Why every brand infomercial should start with the brand logo. Diversification - promoting your brand in different markets not just on TV or online, but also in lower level markets such as state fairs and trade shows. How to distribute your brand in different channels and let consumers buy your products where they want to purchase them. So, sit back and listen to know more about brand response strategies from Rick Cesari and build your business like a billion dollar brand. 5:28 (Rick talks about his experience working with GoPro.) 13:38 (Ricks tells us every GoPro spot starts with a brand logo.) 29:06 (Rick gives examples of tipping points related to GoPro.) 36:54 (Rick tells us how OxiClean became one of the big brand names that everybody knows today.) 56:03 (Rick talks about his first book, Buy Now.) 58:22 (How listeners can download the Five Keys to Building a Great Brand at rickcesari.com.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: This is Episode Number 56 of the Awesomers.com podcast series and the insiders already know that all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/56 to get today’s show notes, details, summary, even a link or two that we throw in there from time to time, all of that details waiting for you at Awesomers.com/56. Now today Rick Cesari is coming back to us for Part 2 of this two-part series where we've been talking about how you can build a billion dollar brand. Now, I want to reinforce Rick’s book just dropped yesterday and today it's available for you as well. Go find the book and we'll put the links on the website as well. You can go to Awesomers.com/56 to find the links, but we're going to buy his book because we want to learn how to build billion dollar brands and we're going to leave a review about his book because we're good people and we pay it forward and we understand when valuable content like this is delivered we're going to do the right thing. Now, just a little bit about Rick’s background in case you didn’t join us in Part 1. He’s helped major brands like GoPro, George Foreman Grill, the Juiceman and many more built into massive massive well-known brands. I don’t think there's anybody in the America that you can go to and say you

Billion Dollar Branding with Direct Response Marketing Techniques Direct response marketing is a great tool for any business to engage with their target customers and drive immediate action to buy. On today’s part one of a two-part episode series, we are introduced to Rick Cesari, a pioneer in the Direct Response advertising industry. Rick has helped take companies like GoPro from a start-up to over a billion dollars in sales in just a few short years. Rick is also a best-selling author, speaker and consultant and a brand strategy guru. Here are more key points on today’s episode: His new book called Building Billion Dollar Brands. How he learned marketing firsthand. How you can download The Five Keys to Building a Great Brand from Rick’s website. His marketing experience with big names such as Juiceman, Sonicare and George Foreman Grill. So listen to today’s episode and learn valuable insights about Direct Response Marketing and how it can help your business. 1:36 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Rick Cesari.) 4:07 (Rick talks about his origin story.) 21:42 (How Rick learned marketing by actually doing it.) 27:17 (How to download The Five Keys to Building a Great Brand from Rick’s website.) 39:26 (Rick talks about George Foreman Grill.) 55:30 (Steve shares a story about a time he launched a product with a huge apparent value.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:36 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Rick Cesari.) Steve: You are listening to the Awesomers.com podcast episode number 55. And as the tradition has been well-established, now all you have to do is go over to Awesomers.com/55 to find all the relevant show notes, details, links and in this case a link to the very special book that is being released today by our special guest Rick Cesari. Now Rick has helped major brands including brands you've heard of GoPro, George Foreman Grill and others. Put together these billion dollar brands all through Direct Response Advertising as we like to call it. His current book that he's just released and now available is called Building Billion Dollar Brands and it aims to put valuable knowledge of the big brands in the hands of inventors, small business owners, entrepreneurs of any kind Amazon sellers, E-commerce guys and others to create innovative successful marketing campaigns. Now Rick is a best-selling author, speaker and consultant and he's a brand strategy guru for sure. And we're lucky that Rick today is bringing us his expertise to talk about branding and video marketing and so much more. Today is a very special episode because we're going to do a part 1 episode out of a two part series with Rick and these are both long-form interviews

Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Great Assistant As an entrepreneur, we need to make sure that everything we do has a positive return on investment and that includes getting a great assistant. On this episode, Steve’s special guest is Tim Francis. Tim is an award-winning entrepreneur from Canada and the founder of ProfitFactory.com and GreatAssistant.com. Here are more valuable information on this episode: The difference between hands and feet work and head and heart work. Coming up with Decision Making Guidelines (DMGs) so that employees can operate on their own. The difference between having a consumer mindset versus a producer mindset. And the real value of having a great assistant in an entrepreneur’s daily life. So, sit back and listen to today’s episode as Tim and Steve discuss how entrepreneurs can transition from business operators to business owners by having great people on their team. 1:53 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Tim Francis, founder of Great Assistant.) 4: 14 (Tim talks about what he does day to day.) 11:26 (Tim explains the difference between hands and feet versus head and heart work.) 13:56 (Decision Making Guidelines, a user-friendly term for operating principles.) 39:44 (Tim talks about the consumer mindset versus producer mindset.) 56:22 (Tim explains the value of a great assistant.) 1:13:26 (Tim imparts final words of wisdom to Awesomers.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers.com podcast episode series and this is Episode number 54 and as always all you have to do is go on over to Awesomers.com/54 to find the relevant show notes, details and the links that we talked about throughout today's episode. By the way, don't hesitate to leave us a comment on that page or why not leave a review while you're online and go to iTunes or Google Play or wherever your favorite place is. Leave us a review and let us know how we're doing. We're trying our best, but we're 54 episodes into this baby. Now, we're dropping them daily so we hope were doing something that you find to be of value. 1:53 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Tim Francis, founder of Great Assistant.) Now today my special guest, you're going to love it, his name is Tim Francis and he has done a number of things in his time and we're going to talk about that in today's episode. But one of the things is he's the founder of Great Assistant, which helps entrepreneurs get – wait for it, a great assistant. What a clever and descriptive term right. Now, for five years he failed again and again with trying to hire assistants and he kind of talks about some of that journey with us today.

Steve Simonson - Poorly Made in China Book Review Chinese manufacturers have transformed their country into the world's export powerhouse which attracted a lot of foreign businesses. On this episode, Steve introduces us to the Book of the Week, Poorly Made in China by Paul Midler. Paul has worked in China for close to two decades and has amazing insider revelations about doing business with China. Here are more awesome takeaways on today’s episode: How Chinese manufacturers widen profits and margins through “product fade”. The “Counterfeit Culture” of factory owners. The principle of “Guanxi”. And the other things that can go wrong when companies shift production to China. So, if you do business in China or plan to do so in the future, take time to listen as Steve discusses this book in-depth and get valuable insights that can benefit your business. 2:03 (Steve introduces today’s Book of the Week, Poorly Made in China by the great Paul Midler.) 05:00 (The concept of Product Fade.) 9:32 (Steve talks briefly about one chapter of the book called Price Go Up.) 16:08 (Steve shares a story about a joint venture between North American and Chinese companies.) 20:24 (Steve iterates why Poorly Made in China is a must read.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: Hello again Awesomers. It’s Steve Simonson and I'm coming back to you with another Book of the Week episode. Now, this is episode number 53 and so as our tradition has established all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/53 to get the latest show notes, details, any links and so forth. Sometimes we'll even throw in a bonus or two on that page, so definitely you want to get Awesomers.com and check that out and while you're there don't forget maybe check out the mailing list. We don't spam you with a bunch of stuff to buy. We just send you kind of helpful things, a lot of the things that we've talked about on the show with actual processes and procedures and ways for you to kind of act on these things, so it's all free nothing to worry about and I encourage you to do that straight away. 02:03 (Steve introduces today’s Book of the Week, Poorly Made in China by the great Paul Midler.) Now, today is again another Book of the Week episode and we're going to talk today about one of my favorite books and it is called Poorly Made in China by the great Paul Midler. Now, Paul is a brilliant author, but he goes far beyond just an author. He's lived kind of all the stories that he outlines in the book and as someone who's been trading with China since you know way back since maybe 2002 is when I first went there

Built to Scale: How Systems Drive Business Growth Systems are a foundational piece of a successful, highly efficient and profitable operations. Today’s guest is Trent Dyrsmid. Trent is a serial entrepreneur, husband and father. His three private companies generate millions a year in revenue. One of his first companies was even named as Canada's Profit 100 fastest growing private companies two years in a row. He also created Flowster, a platform for building standard operating procedures. Here are more golden nuggets on today’s episode: Trent’s origin story. How he documents systems using the “CTODD” method. The importance of having systems when running a business. What Wholesale E-commerce Business Systems (WEBS) is all about. So listen to today’s episode and learn more about how you can build systems to rapidly scale your company. 1:37 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Trent Dyrsmid.) 3:27 (Trent talks briefly about his business.) 8:03 (Trent talks about his origin story.) 11:58 (Steve shares his story as an aspiring fighter pilot in high school.) 13:02 (Trent reflects on one of his life’s defining moments.) 35:28 (Trent talks about his favorite business tools.) 45:36 (Flowster as a platform for building standard operating procedures.) 49:17 (Trent talks about WEBS.) 1:02:07 (Trents final words of wisdom to Awesomers.) Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:37 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Trent Dyrsmid.) Steve: You are listening to episode number 52 of the Awesomers.com podcast series. and as we've established a tradition at this stage, all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/52 and you can see all of today's show notes and details and get any little links and things that we talk about in today's episode. Now today my special guest is Trent Dyrsmid and I think I got that right but I never know. And Trent is a serial entrepreneur, husband and father. His three private companies generate millions a year in revenue. Profit magazine even named Trent's first company as one of Canada's Profit 100 fastest growing private companies in two years in a row, before he sold it for seven figures way back in 2008. If you want to discover how to create business systems that will allow you to rapidly scale your E-commerce company, Trent is a great guy to follow. I really appreciate Trent's kind of systemic perspective and his foundation that the systems run the business and the people run the system. It's a great testament to his accomplishments that he's been able to systematize and just keep replicating that success over and over again.

Taz Ahsan - Balancing a Successful Amazon Business and a Day Job Successful entrepreneurs view challenges as opportunities. This is what sets them apart from the rest. On today’s episode, Steve talks to Taz Ahsan of tazahsan.com. Taz is currently a program manager for a big tech company and a self-made Amazon success story. He also runs a podcast series, the Amazon Entrepreneur podcast, that aims to help entrepreneurs turn those dark times to milestones. Here are more interesting highlights of today’s episode: How Taz does a massive balancing act working his job, managing his Amazon business and running a podcast series. Why we should help our self first to make a bigger impact. The advantages of getting a mentor. His daily morning routine and how it helps him with his busy schedule. All ears here as we learn today how to be like Taz, a true Awesomer who turns challenges into defining moments. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You are listening to episode number 51 of the Awesomers.com podcast. And as our tradition has become, all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/51 to find the relevant show notes and details, including any links and things that we talked about like our special guest on the podcast. 01:36 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Taz Ahsan, a top Amazon seller.) Steve: Today, my special guest is Taz Ahsan and he's just getting really as a successful Amazon seller and he's been doing it in a year or two now. And he tells us about his story and his journey. What I love is the fact that he's sharing live his journey where he's still working a full-time job but he's already putting together a business. He's putting himself out there, I should say, trying to learn and trying to get better, finding mentors, networking and all those things that really show a commitment to being a success. Now, Taz started out as a young person out with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Despite his success in selling on Amazon, it didn't start there, his motivation wasn't money. He just wants to achieve and he enjoys the thrill of success. When he was a kid, even as young as eight or nine years old, he was already negotiating with his parents. In high school, he burned CDs that he would sell. He didn't grow up in a wealthy family so he had to take action to get the things that he wanted or needed and that drove him into being a successful entrepreneur. Taz is always about learning what you need to know and when you need to know about it and that I really respect. That is kind of one of my axioms: Do what needs to be done when it needs doing. Which, by the way, I lifted from a great mentor of mine, the great Terry.

Why Email Marketing Should be the Cornerstone of your Digital Marketing Strategy Email marketing is a crucial part of any digital marketing strategy and is a vibrant way to create and foster relationships. On this episode, Steve’s special guest is Simms Jenkins. Simms Jenkins is the founder and CEO of BrightWave, North America’s leading email marketing agency. He is the author of two books, The Truth About Email Marketing and The New Inbox. He is also regarded as one of the leading experts in the email marketing industry. Here are more awesome takeaways on this episode: The evolution of BrightWave as a company. The challenges faced by marketers today and how to overcome them. Simm’s predictions on the future of digital marketing. So put on your headphones and find out how to integrate email marketing techniques into your overall marketing plan. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave.) Steve: You are listening to the Awesomers.com podcast Episode number 5-0, that's Episode number 50 everybody, that's kind of like a little milestone and as always all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/50 to find all the show notes and details, relevant summaries and transcripts, etc. Now today my special guest is Simms Jenkins and Simms is the CEO of BrightWave, which is North America’s leading email marketing agency. The award-winning firm specializes in elevating email marketing programs that drive revenue, cut costs and build relationships. Simms has helped lead the BrightWave marketing team to establishing a world-class client list including Aflac, Chick-fil-A, Cox Business, Google, Phillips66, Porsche and so many more. The agency has been ranked among the fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine for the past three years consecutively, that's hard to do by the way. Simms was also awarded the prestigious AMY Marketer of the Year Award from the American Marketing Association for being the top agency marketer and the Email Marketer of the Year at the Tech Marketing Awards held by the Technology Association of Georgia. Jenkins is regarded as one of the leading experts in the email marketing industry and is regularly cited by the media as such and called upon by the financial community to provide marketing insight and consultation. Simms is also the author of two definitive and highly regarded books about email marketing, which we talked about in this episode including his most recent work called The New Inbox. His first one was called The Truth About Email Marketing and I found it’s very instructive back in the day when it first came out.

The Powerful Benefits of Having an Accountability Partner Taking care of your mindset and having a good support system is probably the best thing you could ever do for your business. On today’s episode, we are introduced to Mitch Russo, President and CEO of ResultsBreakThrough.Com. Today Mitch helps businesses create recurring revenue streams by using his proprietary certification training and podcasts with super-smart business owners. He's also an avid traveler and landscape photographer. Here are more key points on today’s episode: How Mitch started his entrepreneurial journey. The importance of having mentors and accountability partners. Why persistence and just pushing through adversity is a key lesson. His company resultsbreakthrough.com and how it helps businesses reach goals. So listen to today’s episode and learn more about how you can create the right mindset and find a connected community. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:29 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Mitch Russo.) Steve: This is episode number 49 of the Awesomers.com podcast to find the show notes relevant details, etc. Just go to Awesomers.com/49, that's Awesomers.com/49. Now today I'm going to introduce you to a great guest named Mitch Rousseau. Now at the very young age of 16, he was a lead guitar player for his high school rock band. Besides the best way ever to meet girls that taught him how to build, run and promote a business. His band, absolutely free, was the highest paid high school rock band in his school district. Making over $500 a night and by the way that was in 1970. I can't do the the inflation math but I think that's about 1 billion dollars in today's numbers. In 1985 Mitch co-founded Timeslips Corp which became the largest time tracking software company in the world. In 1994 Timeslips was sold to Sage which is a very large finance company. And Mitch went on to run all of the Sage US as the chief operating officer a division with 300 people. And a market cap of over 100 million dollars. Mitch was nominated for Inc Magazine's Entrepreneur of the year on two separate occasions in 1989, in 1991. Later Mitch joined longtime friend Chet Holmes and Tony Robbins and together created Business Breakthroughs International. A company serving thousands of businesses a year in coaching, consulting and training services. Mitch was the president and CEO of that enterprise after the untimely death of Chet. Mitch left Business Breakthroughs to help others build their businesses as a consultant specializing and working with call centers with large volume leads row and helping fortunate coaching organizations scale.

SEO is Not Dead: Why SEO is Still a Crucial Part of Digital Marketing A successful SEO campaign can deliver more traffic, increase customer and leads as well as help your business get to the next level. Today’s Awesomers guest is Jason Berkowitz, founder of Break The Web and SEO Services New York. Jason has managed marketing campaigns for some of the world’s most significant brands. Here are more key points on today’s episode: What is NLP (Natural Language Processing). How to keep up with Google's ever changing algorithm. Why Amazon can be following a similar path to Google in regards to customer and search experience. What to do if your website is not ranking. So listen to today’s episode and learn expert insights about SEO and Digital Marketing and how it can help your business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:53 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Jason Berkowitz.) Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers.com podcast episode number 48 in our growing series. Our daily drops are just keep adding up, don't they? Our tradition as we've established over these last 48 episodes. All you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/48 to see relevant show notes and details and perhaps even a link or twos that we throw in. Sometimes we're forgetting the links. If you notice that by the way just go to our page and comment, leave us the contact form and leave us a comment tell us what we did right or tell us what we did wrong. Either way we welcome your feedback. Now today my special guest is Jason Berkowitz. And I really enjoyed my conversation with Jason because we got into some of the nitty-gritty and some of the history behind SEO. Now a little background on Jason, little context. Since 2009 Jason has been an active leader in the New York City Digital Marketing Community. Founding two successful firms, Break The Web and SEO services New York. Since the inception, Jason has managed marketing campaigns for some of the most significant brands of the world. And he carries a unique philosophy when it comes to campaign success. In his spare time Jason could be found falling from the sky as an amateur skydiver. This is not a chicken little story. We definitely are not worried about anything fallen from the sky. And we talked about in the episode SEO is alive and well. And I believe that some of the techniques that the Jason shares and some of the concepts that he shares within this will be very instructive to any digital marketer or E-commerce entrepreneur or really any offspring who wants to understand the internet in general out there. Hello Awesomers, it’s Steve Simonson and I'm back again.

Great entrepreneurs know that a healthy body equates to a stronger and empowered mind. On today’s episode, Steve talks to Jay Kali AKA The Strength Architect of Kali Coaching. Jay is a coach and fitness specialist who helps build strong, motivated and empowered women. Here are more awesome takeaways on today’s episode: What Kali Coaching is all about and how it can help women entrepreneurs. Finding your personal why. Training smarter versus training harder. The evolution of fitness, according to Jay. So put on your headphones and learn how you too can have a healthy, well-balanced life as an Awesomer. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers.com podcast episode number 47 and those numbers are just racking up faster than I can keep track of. I have to tell you. The secret for you is, all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/47 and you can find relevant show notes and details and things like that. You can also join the mailing list and I think that's probably a pretty good idea for you because we send you lots of free stuff - videos and even processes to help you find your personal why or to help you with your company origin story or to give you some financial overviews 101, an ERP 101 and other things. It's just drip fed out to you, there's no sales pressure. We're pretty easy-going guys and I think that it is Awesomer and you should be on that list for sure. 02:03 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Jay Kali.) Steve: Today, my special guest is Jay Kali. I probably pronouncing his name wrong as is my custom but Jay is such an amazing guy and I really enjoyed my time with him. Jay is known as the strength architect with three fitness facilities success stories to his name. He is an Iraq war veteran. Jay is a man characterized as a true fitness nutrition and mindset empowering powerhouse. Jay is a contributor for Women's Health and Fitness magazine as well as Consumer Health Digest and also Smart Healthy Women. He was also featured on ABC 24's Good Morning Memphis. Jay has been a guest on many top performing webinars, webcasts and other online training seminars. Jay is an American-born expat who had moved to Cancun and he's taken the health fitness and nutrition industry by storm since he moved down to Cancun back in 2012. His well-known 3-step health and weight loss ideology which has successfully transformed countless women stuck in the ruts. They're stuck trying to lose pounds and trying to break through plateaus. He's helped them do that. Jay's mission is to help women specifically create long-lasting healthy lifestyles within just eight weeks that they can go on and maintain for life.

On today’s Book of the Week episode, we are joined by Steve’s friend and partner, Michael Pinkowski. Michael talks about the book, Good to Great by Jim Collins. This book describes how good companies transition to great companies. Jim and his team researched and identified 11 companies that made that leap. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: The level 5 leadership - leaders that are humble, but driven to do what’s best for the company. The three buckets - disciplined people, disciplined thought and disciplined action. The Hedgehog Concept - the story of the hedgehog and the fox. Bonus - Michael talks about his favorite non-business book that also relates to these concepts. So sit back and listen as Michael presents one of the bestselling management books - Good to Great by Jim Collins. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: Hello Awesomers! Today, we have a special episode for you and this is Episode number 46 of the Awesomers.com podcast series. And the great news is I've had my friend and partner Michael Pinkowski come on to join us to record this Book of the Week episode. Now, the book he's going to cover is called Good to Great by Jim Collins and it's a book that I've read a couple times at least and it's a book that I believe in. Even though it's a little bit of an older book, the lessons in there are quite timeless in my opinion. I think Michael does an excellent job of talking that through. You know, Michael is such a very smart presenter and teacher that he really gives a great rundown of this very important book. I do think it is a staple for any person who's serious about business and Jim Collins, his terminology and his concepts have stood the test of time. And things like saying you know should have BHAG right that's a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal or the Hedgehog Principle, all these things you will find commonly referred to in today's business vernacular and it's all a result of this very important book, so I'm glad you're joining us. The book Good to Great is going to be presented by Michael Pinkowski in this very special episode. Michael: Hello. This is Michael Pinkowski and you are listening to Awesomers.com. This is Episode 46. So you can find show notes at Awesomers.com/46 and we're going to do a Book of the Week episode. Steve asked me to step in and bring one of my favorite books and I've done that. So, here we go. All right. So when Steven invited me to be a guest host and do Book of the Week I said, “Oh, the first one I got to do is Good to Great.” That's the one. This is a book I come back to - I've read three or four times probably, kind of reviewed it again in preparation

Business is really about relationships. This is not about a one-time sale. Relationships build equity in a brand. Today’s guest is Andy Slamans, partner at Amazing Freedom Agency which is a company dedicated to helping E-commerce, sellers and brands win on the Amazon platform. Here are more key points on today’s episode: How Andy started his E-commerce journey. What is Amazon FBA and how it can help with scalability and flexibility. Why product images are one of the most defining parts of your conversion metrics. What the Amazing Freedom Agency is all about and how it can help your business. So listen to today’s episode and learn more about building a successful Amazon brand and E-commerce business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:37 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Andy Slamans.) Steve: You are listening to episode number 45 of the Awesomers.com podcast and as the secret is finally been revealed, all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/45 to get all the relevant show notes and details and that includes even sometimes links that we promised to put on there. Sometimes we actually do that. Today my special guest is Andy Slamans. And his adventures on Amazon started while he was working full time as a house parent caring for living with 12 at-risk high school boys. And we dive into that a little bit today. It's a very interesting story how Andy kind of came into this line of working and his journey so far. Andy knew it was time to leave his full-time job but his home looked like a prep and pack warehouse from all the inventory that was moving through it on a daily basis. And for any of us who run E-commerce businesses or even Amazon based businesses, there's probably been one time or another that living room down. He was full of boxes and your packing and picking stuff. It's a crazy environment for sure. Andy has launched over a hundred products on Amazon, is now focusing on two multi-million dollar brands is growing the right way on Amazon and he's a partner. And Amazing Freedom which is a company dedicated to helping E-commerce, sellers and brands win on the Amazon.com selling platform and he's a true giver and somebody who really cares about his fellow man and his fellow entrepreneurs for that matter. And it's something that I think that all of us can learn from is how can we make it a big impact on other people's lives. And I certainly personifies that and lives up to that in every possible way. Hey Awesomers, here I am Steve Simonson and I'm back again with another episode of the Awesomers.com podcast. And today we're lucky because we are joined by a very special guest Andy Slamans. Is that correct pronunciation?

Affiliate marketing is a powerful channel that reaches and influences consumers worldwide. On this episode, Steve introduces a special guest, Jamie Birch. Jamie is a world class expert in digital and affiliate marketing. He founded JEBCommerce and is constantly negotiating long-term profitable relationships inside and outside of the affiliate channel. Here are more awesome tidbits on today’s episode: How the book E-Myth Revisited influenced his entrepreneurship journey. Why affiliate marketing is not dead. What is a cash flow statement, how to fill it out and what is a P&L. The biggest thing Jamie learned in his business and how it has helped him grow his company. There are a lot of amazing lessons on this episode, so be sure to listen to know more about affiliate marketing and how it can help your business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Jamie Birch) Steve: You are listening to Episode number 44 of the Awesomers.com podcast and, as always, you can just go to Awesomers.com/44 to find relevant show notes, details and even, sometimes, a link or two. Now, today, my very special guest is Jamie Birch and he is an absolute professional in digital marketing. I've known Jamie for a long, long time and we get into some of that story and his origin story in today's episode. But a little bit about Jamie is really, he describes himself as a father, a teacher and an entrepreneur. He's also kind of an affiliate manager at heart. That's kind of how we got a start. But he founded over time a company called, JEBCommerce, and that has led him into all kinds of activities. When Jamie first started at Coldwater Creek, which is a top five national women's apparel retailer, he took it to an affiliate channel, was doing several thousand dollars a month to a thirty-five million dollar a year channel for them. That's how powerful affiliate marketing can be when it's done right. Over time, as the Manager for SEO and SEM campaigns, he pioneered performance-based relationship outside of even affiliate marketing and he's always been about negotiating long-term profitable relationships inside and outside of the affiliate channel; and, that basis of philosophy and experience is what he built JEBCommerce. Now, he's all about helping his clients and building the company. You're going to find out lots of fun, facts and details about how that channel works. I can't wait for you to get a listen to this episode. Thanks for joining us today! Steve: Hey Awesomers! Welcome back. It’s Steve Simonson and guess what?

Storytelling can be a great marketing and sales tool in creating human connections in the business world. On today’s episode, Steve’s special guest is Tom Jackobs. Tom is what he calls himself an impact pilot of his business. He has over 30 years of entrepreneurship experience and he helps other entrepreneurs generate more income through better selling strategy using the power of stories. Here are more key lessons on this episode: Using storytelling as a way to increase sales. What the Dramatic Impact Story Academy is all about. How to make an emotional connection that transcends the sales process. The Dear John Letter to Amazon as a real world example of storytelling and more. So listen to today’s episode and learn how you too can leverage the power of storytelling to grow your business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 00:01:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Tom Jackobs.) Steve: This is episode number 43 of the awesome Awesomers.com podcast and you can just go to the Awesomers.com/43 webpage and you'll be able to find all the show notes, relevant details and even a link or two from time to time. Everything about this episode will be right there, Awesomers.com/43. Today my special guest is Tom Jackobs. Now to say Tom has been through a few things in his 30-plus years of being an entrepreneur is an understatement. He's definitely had more failures than successes, but wouldn't have it any other way. He sold his fitness business which he owned for nine years. Now after he'd made that sale of that business, he went on to become the impact pilot, which is a business designed to help entrepreneurs generate more income through better selling strategy and using stories to sell. Man oh man, I can't tell you how much I love storytelling as a methodology of marketing and sales and communication in general. It's really really effective. Now tom has a BFA degree from DePaul University in Chicago and he holds his private pilot license for single-engine airplanes, which he's had a lifelong dream and he achieved that over five years ago. Now I wanted to say a side note, he doesn't try to have impacts in that part of his piloting, but for selling he wants a big impact. Now, he's been a contributor to CBS radio in Houston and a guest on Great Day Houston, Univision television, Fox 26 News and many other Houston-related TV programs. He's also been a presenter at the Small Business Development Center in Houston, Texas. Tom has a really unique way of kind of just cutting right through it and getting to the heart of storytelling. Every one of us, in fact you listening, you have a story to tell. This really is the genesis of the Awesomers.com podcast.

Sales is a fundamental part of doing business. It doesn't matter what business you are in, you need to understand how to present your offering and how to convince other people to listen to you. On today’s episode, Steve introduces Andy Paul. Andy's had a successful sales career that has spanned literally four decades. He’s a global sales expert, hosts the Accelerate! podcast and also authored the Amazon bestsellers Zero Time Selling and Amp Up Your Sales. Here are more takeaways on today’s episode: Andy’s newly launched program called The Sales House. How to use data to help you make unemotional hiring decisions. Why having the right people who can build effective relationships both internally and externally are the key to scaling your business. And the four core habits you need to understand to establish relationships. So put on your headphones and learn how you too can master the art of selling. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:13 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Andy Paul). Steve: You're listening to episode number 42 of the Awesomers.com podcast. As always, you can go to Awesomers.com/42 to see all the show notes and relevant details. Today my special guest is Andy Paul. Now Andy's had a successful sales career that has spanned literally four decades. He sold everything from women's shoes to complex communication systems that sold for tens of millions of dollars. He's closed over half a billion dollars worth of products and services, selling for companies ranging from small businesses to some of the world's largest enterprises. Since he founded his company in 2000, he's been on a mission to educate sales leaders and sales professionals about the power of continuous education to transform their own performance. His message is getting out more and more as people are paying attention. He's actually number eight on LinkedIn's list of top 50 global sales experts and that's a hundred forty thousand people strong in terms of his following over on Linkedin. That's impressive indeed. His podcast Accelerate! has over 660 episodes. Good lord! That's a lot of episodes. His podcast Accelerate! by the way was also listed on Inc’s list of the top ten leadership podcast. Very impressive indeed. And his two award-winning books Zero Time Selling and Amp Up Your Sales were both Amazon bestsellers. What can't this guy do, right? Now, recently Andy has launched a new program called The Sales House and he's trying to help sellers today educate themselves and be able to be successful in such a dynamic and rapidly changing world. And we're going to dive into all of this and how it applies to you as we get in today's episode.

The Amazon Marketplace is a great place for any entrepreneurs to start their E-commerce business. Today’s guest is Regina Peterburgsky, Online Entrepreneur, FBA Seller, Mentor and Coach. Regina spends most of her time building Amazon brands and helping others do the same. Here are some key points on today’s episode: How Regina started in the E-commerce space. The ups and downs she encountered in business. Her book Thirteen Amazing Secrets of Amazon Entrepreneurs. And her upcoming website AmazingSecrets.com. So listen to today’s episode and learn more about building a successful Amazon brand and E-commerce business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:38 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s guest, Regina Peterburgsky.) Steve: Well you're listening to another Awesomers.com podcast. This one is episode number 41 and you can find the show notes and relevant details that we talked about today's show at Awesomers.com/41, at Awesomers.com/41. Today my guest is Regina Peterburgsky and I'm sure I'm mispronouncing her name but Regina is an extraordinary entrepreneur. And I'm thrilled that she is able to join us. And listen she's worked for 30 years without a salary job. Regina considers herself to be unemployable which is a trait that I think is common with a lot of different entrepreneurs. In fact, she had the realization about three years ago that the business she was in would not get her financial freedom. The goals she set for herself propelled her into becoming a new breed of the Amazon entrepreneurs. These are the folks that often call Amazon cornerstone businesses where they have decided to be in the E-commerce space but they're going to focus first on using the Amazon Marketplace. Gaining some leverage, gaining some scale, carrying on from there and it was a really great revelation she had. Within the episode, you're going to hear it live coming up just in a minute and a really great journey that she was been able to take herself through. She's been able to escape the nine-to-five rat race and build a lifestyle of her own dreams through building her business. Regina has tried her hand at many careers and life; succeeded in some, failed the others. That's just kind of how things go for us all. She's done everything from selling advertising, cars and insurance on commission, traveling the world as a tour director for ten years and she most recently, before her Amazon business owned a wholesale manufacturing and fashion business with two retail stores to boot. During the difficult time in her last business, the lights literally went on as she says that aha moment, if you will.

Entrepreneurs prepare for the future by setting up private wealth management and surrounding themselves with financial experts. On today’s episode, Steve introduces Frazer Rice. Frazer is a leading private wealth manager with 15 years of experience. He is also the author of the new book Wealth Actually and has been featured in the The New York Times, Daily Telegraph and The Journal news. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: A short background about the book Wealth Actually and why it is a must read for entrepreneurs. The two-pronged approach to finding good advisers. Why working with experts make a whole world of difference. And the future of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology and more! Stay tuned to learn more valuable financial advice and find out how you too can manage your assets like a true Awesomer. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon-ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Frazer Rice.) Steve: The Awesomers.com podcast series rolls onward everybody. You're listening to Episode number 40. Can you believe that word episode 40 already, just 40 days in, 40 episodes that's a drop a day for those keeping score at home. Now today I'm joined by special guest Frazer Rice and Frazer is a leading private wealth manager with over 15 years of experience advising millionaire and even billionaire families on financing including fiduciary and estate matters. Now, his clients have included business owners, hedge fund managers, real estate developers, corporate executive foundations and even so-called established families. Many very wealthy families have what's called family offices and he's been deeply involved in that over time. He's also the author of a new book Wealth Actually and has been featured in The New York Times, Daily Telegraph and The Journal News. He also hosts a podcast and blog related to politics, business trends and an entrepreneurship at frazerrice.com. I'm excited to have Frazer join us because as someone who's been directly responsible for managing not just millions, but even into the billions of dollars of people's cumulative wealth that's a responsibility and such a level of experience and expertise that all of us hard-charging entrepreneurs at any level whether you have a dollar or $10 or even a billion dollars we all need to have better education and better understanding on how do we deal with wealth as we're successful. Too often we run and we hard-charged towards this goal and then we're surprised when it actually pays off and we don't know what to do and there are so many unintended consequences I've seen for people, their families and other kind of unexpected tax hits that they

Entrepreneurs are constantly making a positive difference in the world and anyone can take part in it too. On today’s Awesomers insights episode, Steve talks about entrepreneurship, cooperatives, E-commerce and Amazon. Here are more key points on today’s episode: The three general propositions for a cooperative to work. How Empowery leverages the strength of its community. The Dear John letter project and why it is important. So join us on today’s episode and learn how you too can embark on your entrepreneurship journey. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:16 (Steve introduces today’s episode.) Steve: Today is going to be an Awesomers insights episode where we talk about something that's very important to me and you're going to get a very special opportunity to do something I think that is not a common thing. And I'm going to talk to you more about that here in a minute. Now this is Awesomers episode number 39. And it's surprising to me that we've already cranked out nearly 40 episodes. And this episode 39 is going to talk about something very special. But before we dive into that I wanted to share a couple things with you. First of all if you haven't been to Awesomers.com and you want to know about any show notes and details about this episode, you just go to Awesomers.com/39. Now if you just go into the regular Awesomers.com website by the way you can join our mailing list and you'll get drip fed some free stuff. We don't oppressively email your spammy trying to get you to buy a bunch of stuff is a matter of fact we don't directly sell anything. Often will refer resources to whether they're bookkeepers or a software program or things that we use and like but we're just not hard sales guys running out and beat you down to buy stuff. We share what worked for us and that's part of the the magic of working with the Awesomer community. And so this particular episode we're taking a little bit of a diversion from our normal interviews with either book reviews or the backtalk live episodes and even the interviews with entrepreneurs. Because we've got a very special opportunity. 2:51 (Steve talks about the Empowery Ecommerce Cooperative.) Steve: Now the Empowery Nonprofit Cooperative, so it's called the Empowery Ecommerce Cooperative if you haven't heard of it. I want to just give you a kind of a brief overview and then tell you something very unique that's happening right now. So the Empowery Ecommerce Cooperative is all about members joining together and the members actually own the coop. Each member has one vote, they have one share and they own the coop. So every member side to side owns one share and they all have one equal vote.

Selling on Amazon has become a popular hustle but building a seven-figure brand is no easy feat. On this episode, Steve’s special guest is Liran Hirschkorn. Liran has been in the online marketing space for the last 10 years and has built not one but two seven-figure brands on Amazon. He also helped built Amazing Freedom together with Andy and Nathan Slamans. Here are more valuable takeaways on today’s episode: Personal development as an intellectual equity. The key to success from Liran’s perspective. Liran’s prediction on the future of E-commerce and Amazon as a selling channel. So listen to today’s episode and learn more about E-commerce and building a successful Amazon brand. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Liran Hirschkorn.) Steve: This is episode number 38 of the Awesomers.com Podcast and as the tradition has become clear for those avid listeners, all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/38, that's Awesomers.com/38 to find relevant show notes and details. Now today my special guest is Liran Hirschkorn and he's been in the online marketing space for the last 10 years, that's a long time in the internet space. Before building brands on Amazon, Liran was a pioneer in selling life insurance online. We're going to talk a little bit about that in today's episode. Over the last four years, he successfully built not one but two seven-figure brands on Amazon by creating products that add more value to the customer and understanding keywords, search optimization, sponsored ads and all the little things that go into making an online business work on Amazon. Liran is also a partner with Amazing Freedom and The Amazing Seller Podcast, which provides training and services for Amazon brand owners. You can learn more about all of these great resources and ideas that Liran is involved in in today's episode. Steve: Welcome back awesomers. Here we are again, Steve Simonson bringing you another podcast and I'm pleased to report today Liran Hirschkorn is joining me today. How did I do on the pronunciation? Liran: Did great, thank you. Thanks for having me on. Steve: Yes, I'm betting about 50% and in baseball I'd be a genius, but when it comes to pronouncing names it's really, it’s not that good, so thank you for that. And thank you for joining us. I definitely - I have already kind of read the intro and kind of the bio to the folks so they know a little bit about you, but I always like to have the guest put in their own words kind of what they do today on a day-to-day basis and help everybody kind of hear from them directly. What can you tell us?

In today’s Internet revolution, the E-commerce industry is definitely the brightest star but many businesses encounter challenges along the way. On this Awesomers Back Talk episode, Steve talks about major E-commerce issues and answers live questions from Awesomers tuned in to Facebook and Zoom broadcasts. Here are more valuable insights on today’s episode: How to deal with FBAforward going out of business. The great review purge of 2018. How to handle cross border selling and more. So if you missed the live broadcast, don’t fret! Stay tuned and find out about newsworthy items that are happening as it relates to E-commerce and Amazon sellers. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You’re listening to the Awesomers Podcast. 00:1:15 (Steve introduces today’s back talk episode.) Steve: This is Episode Number 37 of the Awesomers.com podcast series and all you have to do to find the relevant show notes and details is go to Awesomers.com/37, as always Awesomers.com/37. Now today we're doing another one of the live shows what we call back talk shows and this is where folks like you have submitted questions either in advance or you ask them live and we try to field those questions and we also discuss a little bit of news. So at the top of the show, I talk about some of the newsworthy items that are happening especially as it relates to E-commerce and Amazon sellers and how some of those issues may be affecting different entrepreneurs and Awesomers out there in the world that we live in. Then we go on to answer some of the questions and deal with some of the ongoing issues that many entrepreneurs are facing especially again, E-commerce entrepreneurs that are focused on Amazon as a cornerstone business that Amazon Marketplace being so powerful yet just like anything this big there's little issues that need to be, you know, have the kinks worked out of it. And so as much as I really love and appreciate the opportunity to sell on Amazon and other marketplaces, but particularly Amazon because it's so large, I'm a big advocate for trying to get those little wrinkles ironed out and there are some pretty significant wrinkles and some blind spots honestly in Amazon's world that we want to help shine the light on a little bit and again, as always we'll keep the dolphin safe and get the bad fish out of the ecosystem right, save the Dolphins make sure that you know as they're sweeping the nets through and getting rid of all the criminals and all the bad guys out there trying to hack our accounts and steal our money and steal our listings and you know stuff

The Awesomers.com podcast, hosted by Steve Simonson, will showcase some of the amazing origin stories of Awesomers from around the world. There are so many truly inspiring stories from people from all walks of life, but most often the Awesomers that will be focused on will be those who are also entrepreneurs. We hope you will join us for this exhilarating journey!

Having a good legal defense is just as good as having a good legal offense. On today’s episode, Steve welcomes Karl Kronenberger, an indispensable resource and trusted advisor on issues relating to Internet law, media, and technology. Karl is a seasoned litigator regularly handling complex Internet law issues, such as Internet trademark and copyright infringement, spam litigation defense, Internet defamation and false advertising, cybersquatting, FTC lawsuits, data breaches, website agreements, and privacy disputes. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: Why ignorance is not an excuse, especially in E-commerce. The importance of being proactive in the health and beauty niche. The three founding pillars of Amazon: low price, selection and service. Trademarks, copyrights, cybersquatting, intellectual property, DMCA and other legal terms you need to know. So hit the play button and get valuable legal advice to help you protect your business in the long run. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn, and if you’re motivated to expand your mind, and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success you are on the right place. Awesomers around the world are on the journey to improve their lives and the lives to those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, “You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.” It doesn’t matter where you came from, it only matters where you’re going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you’re launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because SymoGlobal has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listings photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more, because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. 1.15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Karl Kronenberger.) You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. You're listening to episode number 35 of the Awesomers.com podcast and this is a secret everybody. If you want to find show notes and details just go to Awesomers.com/35 that's Awesomers.com/35 and you'll find any little notes and details. Sometimes we add in links to the book to other things we talk about and it's a great way for you to stay informed. Now, today, my guest is Karl Kronenberger and Karl is an indispensable resource and trusted advisor to his clients on issues related to internet law media and technology. A seasoned litigator, Karl has tried more than twenty jury trials and many more bench trials and he regularly handles complex internet law issues such as internet trademark and copyright infringement, spam litigation defense, internet defamation of false advertising, cybersquatting, FTC lawsuits, data breaches, website agreements and even privacy disputes. Karl thrives on litigating matters whether the legal terrain is uncharted as is often the case in the realm of internet disputes. As a former general counsel to technology and non-technology companies alike, he's handled many of the day-to-day legal issues these companies face including intellectual property issues licensing and distribution agreements and domain disputes. Additionally he handles a variety of transactions of business disputes for services technology and media companies. Karl's even a former prosecutor and an Army Jag Corps officer and he's both aggressive and creative in solving problems and he always maintains the highest level of ethical standards. Karl and his team are so awesome.

Digital marketing can help businesses maximise online presence, launch great products, attract more clients and grow their business exponentially. On today’s episode, Steve introduces us to David Somerfleck, Founder of Defacto Digital. David is a trained and certified court mediator, the author of five books, a former college journalism professor and education program director. Here are more key points on today’s episode: The importance of web design and lead generation for businesses. Why SEO is still a vital part of digital marketing. What a Cadillac problem is and how to overcome it. And the future of digital marketing according to David and more. So listen to today’s episode and find out more about Digital Marketing and how it can help your business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:38 (Steve introduces today’s guest, David Somerfleck.) Steve: This is the Awesomers podcast episode number 34. And our tradition has been established that if you want to find the show notes or any relevant details that we may throw in there, some bonus links etc. Just go to Awesomers.com/34, that's Awesomers.com/34. For any relevant show details. Now today our guest David Somerfleck is going to give us a little bit of a taste about web design and kind of refresh our memory how important web design could be. David is a trained and certified court mediator, the author of five books, a former college journalism professor and education program director. Founder of three different startups and an expert in digital marketing, SEO, website development, social media, content marketing, Google AdWords, Facebook advertising the list goes on and on. And he has a traditional boots-on-the-ground advertising background as well. David has been a certified business mentor for score, which is a division of the US Small Business Administration and a great little resource for some of those new CEOs that have never heard about it. He's done that for over five years where he's advised hundreds of businesses around the world. From large marketing agency owners to lawyers to E-commerce, retailers, copywriters, psychologists, mechanics even startup founders and accountants. We all need help sometimes, don't we? Now some of David's former clients include the City and County of Denver, Caribou Coffee, AOL Time Warner and even Microsoft. David's an active member of the internet society, the internet marketing association, the Collier County Bar Association and the International Webmasters Association.

How well do you love yourself? On today’s Book of the Week episode, Steve shares one of his favorite books, “Love Yourself Like Life Depends On It” written by Kamal Ravikant. Here are more lovely bits on today’s episode: The importance of truly loving one’s self. The benefits of meditation to one’s well being. And the different methods of meditation discussed in the book. Enjoy listening to today’s episode and find out how this book can make you love yourself even more. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said “You can have everything in your life you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.” It doesn't matter where you came from, it only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope you will join me on this Awesomers journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you are launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has s a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listings photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time, money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. Steve: Welcome Awesomers to the podcast Episode 32. And as always you can go to Awesomers.com/32. That’s Awesomers.com/32 to see the show notes and the details related to this particular episode. 1:33 (Steve talks about his favorite book Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It, by Kamal Ravikant.) This episode, it's been a while but it's the book of the week and we're going to talk through about one of my favorite books and this one's going to be a relatively short one, where I'm just going to talk through one of my favorite books called Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On it. And this is written by Kamal Ravikant, who is a brilliant writer but also a brilliant human being and a venture capitalist in real life. And I want to just start out by saying that this is a very quick and easy read so I didn't want to spend you know more time explaining why you should read the book than it would take you to actually read it yourself. But I want to just share a few words about why it's important to me and why I think it should be important to you. So first of all, I'm going to read the back cover to you because I want to give you a sense of where this book is coming from and even though this may not feel entrepreneurial, you know a lot of the folks out there that I interface with, we're in the business world, we're entrepreneurs, whatever. But remember that Awesomers are creatives of all kinds and so it doesn't matter if you're an artist or you're making a company or any variation you know. There's billions of billions of variations of being Awesomers so it doesn't matter where you're coming from. I still think it's an important thing in terms of maintaining a level of happiness and also remembering that we're also susceptible to the I don't know, the doldrums and even depression. And I think entrepreneurs are particularly susceptible to depression when momentum goes against us and so this book as simple as it may sound, to love yourself, that's the theme - spoiler alert, it is in fact called Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It but that theme is something that is not often discussed. And so this is a really important point that I hope you guys take home.

There are many ways entrepreneurs can save money and avoid debt by leveraging new tools and resources. On today’s episode, Steve introduces Will Moffett, founder of Upfund.io. Will is an entrepreneur, partner and builder of all kinds of different businesses. He's built many private label products within the physical products industry. Here are more lessons on today’s podcast: The why process and the idea of identifying what you don't want in life to find out what it is that you truly want. Will’s personal experience with the proverb “seek and you shall find”. His list of recommended books. And how Upfund helps E-commerce entrepreneurs scale and grow their business. So subscribe and listen to today’s episode to find out how you too can maximize your finances and avoid debt. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Will Moffett.) Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers.com podcast episode number 31 and as always you can find the show notes at Awesomers.com/31, that's Awesomers.com/31. Today my special guest is Wil Moffett. Will is an entrepreneur, partner and builder of all kinds of different businesses. He's built many private label products within the physical products industry and to do that he structured large teams from around the world including China to bring in that import and supply chain process all the way from China, private labeling, making your own brand all the way into the United States. And he's done that for a number of years now very successfully. He took a little pause because Will and his partner started an inventory crowdfunding platform that's helped raise millions of dollars for E-commerce sellers nationwide. That's called up Upfund.io. We're going to talk in detail about how that concept works, why it's really interesting for especially entrepreneurs who are trying to scale quickly but finding cash flow is a challenge and as always we're going to have fun. Okay Awesomers we're back again. Steve Simonson today joined by Will Moffett. Will, how are you buddy? Will: Hey! Wonderful Steve. How's it going man? I'm so glad you invited me. Oh man, I'm thrilled to be here. Steve: Will has his own podcast, FBA millionaires. What's it called? Will: Yes, FBA millionaires. Steve: That was a one-in-a-million shot there. Let me just say. But I've had the pleasure to be on Will’s show before I recommend, everybody go check it out, subscribe. It’s a very interesting business that we're going to talk a little bit about today. Plus we're going to talk about his origin story which is one of my favorite things to do.

Branding increases the value of a company and makes acquiring new customers a whole lot easier. On today’s episode, Steve introduces us to Tess Davis, Co-Owner of RGT Marketing. Tess is an industry expert on building brands and helping E-commerce entrepreneurs expand their brand and reach. Here are more key points on today’s episode: How RGT Marketing helps E-Commerce with their marketing and branding needs. Why brand awareness is crucial to your business, whether you are selling on Amazon or across multiple channels. How rebate management works. And the common problems most sellers encounter when launching a product. So listen to today’s episode and find out how you too can build a better brand for your business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:34 (Steve introduces Tess Davis, President and Co-Owner of RGT Marketing.) Steve: You are listening to episode number 30 of the Awesomers podcast, that's episode number 30. And you can find the show notes and details at Awesomers.com/30, that's Awesomers.com/30 as always. By the way, that's a secret code. Now today my special guest is Tess Davis, and Tess brings 20 years of experience in sales marketing and customer relations to RGT Marketing while her husband says she should run for mayor. She prefers to indulge her passion for helping entrepreneurs build their brands. She and her partner Renee have countless examples demonstrating success on Amazon and are expanding their influence to other platforms including Walmart.com, eBay and Jet.com. Tess and her husband enjoy living in the Tampa Bay area of Sunny Florida while they are waiting for their adult children to move out and give them grandkids. Sounds like there's quite an agenda there. Now one of the things that I love about Tess and Renee's company RGT, is that they are all about helping entrepreneurs build a brand. And building a brand is something that as I'd like to say feels long-term equity. So what sales channel you sell on if you are interested in learning how to build a brand and how to generate awareness and kind of get good positive experiences in the marketplace with your new products. This is an episode you should be paying close attention to. Okay Awesomers, we're back again Steve Simonson here bring you another podcast. And today I'm joined by special guest Tess Davis. How are you Tess? Tess: Hi Steve. Nice to be here.

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: Most entrepreneurs and business owners say their biggest human resources challenge is finding skilled talent. On today’s Awesomers Authority episode, Steve introduces us to Nathan Hirsch, Co-Founder and CEO of Freeeup.com. Nathan provides valuable insights about hiring pre-vetted freelancers specialized in E-commerce, digital marketing, virtual assistance and so much more. Here are more awesome takeaways on today’s episode: Nathan’s origin story and what led him to create Freeeup. The three different levels of hiring freelancers. The advantages of strength-based leadership. And the future of corporations and the freelance industry. So put on your headphones, listen to today’s episode and find out how you can scale your business by finding skilled and reliable talent online. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT: If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. 1:13 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Nathan Hirsch, Founder of Freeeup.com.) Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. This is the Awesomers.com podcast Episode No. 29. That's episode number 29 and to find all of the show notes just go to Awesomers.com/29. That’s Awesomers.com/29. Now, today my special guest is Nathan Hirsch and he's a great entrepreneur who's really helping solve one of the biggest problems that we find today when we're building any kind of company but E-commerce companies in particular and that is finding people, right? The old saying is “It's hard to find good people.” Well now, it's easy to find good people. Nate is in charge of a company called Freeeup.com with “three e's” by the way and we have special links in the show notes page and he's the co-founder and CEO of that particular company which is a marketplace that connects businesses with pre-vetted freelancers in E-commerce, digital marketing and so much more. Nate has sold over 30 million dollars online and regularly appears on leading business podcasts around the world. He's certainly an expert in this category and offers a wonderful and highly necessary service for E-commerce guys like me and we have personally used Nate for a couple of our different businesses and it's an experience that is unique and interesting and affordable and you get access to really high degrees of talent really fast so I'm super excited to kind of dive in here in this Awesomers authority episode. That's on Awesomers.com episode number 29. Okay, Awesomers, welcome back here we are in the Awesomers.com podcast yet again, and today we have a special guest Nathan Hirsch. Nathan, how are you? Nathan: I'm doing great. How are you? Steve: I'm very well, thank you. Do you prefer Nate or Nathan?

The magic of accounting is all about taking data and turning it into valuable information. On today’s Awesomers Authority episode, Steve Simonson introduces us to Jeremiah Kovacs, Founder of MuseMinded. He and his team have worked with hundreds of Amazon Marketplace sellers to automate and outsource their financial systems. Here are some key points on today’s episode: What MuseMinded is and how it helps Amazon marketplace sellers. The three phases of bookkeeping - data capture, data categorization and data presentation. The importance of having a solid financial system. And the three ways to approach sales tax and more. So subscribe to the Awesomers podcast and learn more about having an efficient and scalable accounting system. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:16 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Jeremiah Kovacs, Founder of MuseMinded.) Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers.com podcast and this is episode number 28. So all you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/28 to see all the show notes and details that's Awesomers.com/28. Now today my special guest is Jeremiah Kovacs who's the Founder of MuseMinded. Jeremiah is a really good example of somebody who is kind of born out of this Amazon related ecosystem because his firm specializes a hundred percent in accounting for Amazon centric firms since 2014. He and his team have worked with hundreds of Amazon Marketplace sellers to automate and outsource their financial systems helping them leverage their own time and energy to 10x their business and build towards successful seven-figure exits by leveraging the things that they're instead of the things that maybe we don't like to do. And we've talked in today's episode about just exactly how people treat finance often as an afterthought. We talked about the idea that it's a core function that needs to be done in your business to to do scorekeeping. Yet so many of us procrastinate it or try to do it in the worst way possible either ourselves god forbid or we hire resources that aren't really specialized, don't really understand. And today I think we're gonna have a great conversation about how we can solve that particular problem. Okay Awesomers. Welcome back here we are again today Steve Simonson, I'm your host and today we're talking with Jeremiah Kovacs. How are you Jeremiah? Jeremiah: I'm doing great. I'm doing really great, Steve. Steve: Good. Did I pronounce your last name right? Jeremiah: Yes, it's phonetic Kovacs. Steve: Okay good because I've got a history of mispronouncing names and I like to just come clean when I mess it up. So luckily you've got

The first step towards overcoming your fears is to face them. On this episode, Steve introduces Brad Axelrad. Brad is an event producer, consultant, strategist and podcast host having produced over 150 live events with top business leaders and best-selling authors. Here are more awesome takeaways on today’s episode: The philosophy behind Face Your Dragon. How to transform your fears into strengths. Steps to tame your dragon: find, face, and then ride your dragon. And the first step to discovering the number one hidden fear stopping you from earning what you're worth. So turn up the volume and listen to today’s episode to learn how you can face your dragon and transform your life! Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Brad Axelrad.) Steve: You’re listening to the Awesomers.com podcast episode number 33. That is episode number 33 which you can find as always in show notes at Awesomers.com/33. Now today my special guest is Brad Axelrad. And for over a decade Brad's been an event producer, consultant, strategist and podcast host having produced over 150 live events with top business leaders and best-selling authors. Now he's a proud founding member of the Association of transformational leaders of Southern California since 2010 and is a co-founder of the Association of transformational leaders in Costa Rica founded in 2017. On his Face Your Dragon podcast he interviews celebrities, thought leaders and icons like Don Miguel Ruiz, Ariel Ford, JP Sears and many more. Brad spent featured on numerous media outlets including NBC Nightly News, PBS television, The OC Register, LA Times, USC news and CBC News Canada. You're going to be glad you joined us today because Brad's going to help you face your own dragon and give you some of the techniques that he helps people overcome fear and stress and put yourself on a track towards mental wellness. Welcome back Awesomers, Steve Simonson joining you today again on the Awesomers.com podcast and today we're lucky we have Brad Axelrad joining us. How are you Brad? Brad: I'm great, it's good to be here. Steve: Well it's certainly a pleasure to have you and you know one of the things that you know the intro didn't really talk about but is this premise that you know being a consultant and a thought leader as you are, that you probably have you know kind of day-to-day responsibilities that you get into. And that's one of the things I like to start with this what do you do kind of on a day to day basis that would help our Awesomers out there understand kind of how you get by with your each of your days?

“Be willing to put in the work to get to where you want to be; no more, no less.” On today's episode, Steve introduces us to guest Casey Gauss, CEO and Co-Founder of Viral Launch. Here are some key points on today’s episode: How Casey built his company, Viral Launch. Casey’s origin story as a young entrepreneur. How important it is to focus on your happiness. His prediction for Amazon and why it’s important for businesses to be optimized on the platform. So subscribe to the Awesomers podcast and learn more about Casey Gauss and his amazing entrepreneurial journey. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:22 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s guest Casey Gauss, CEO andCo-Founder of Viral Launch.) Steve: This is episode 27 of the Awesomers.com podcast, as always you can find show notes available at awesome Awesomers.com/27, that's Awesomers.com/27. Today my special guest is Casey Gauss which is a great example of an entrepreneur breaking out a normal and dropping out of college and jumping into the E-commerce world. Now Casey is a Co-Founder of Viral Launch which was a platform built and designed as a software, as a service platform to help Amazon sellers source launch and dominate on Amazon.com in the Amazon Marketplace to be more precise. So these are all third-party sellers. I was fortunate enough to meet Casey way back in the old days when he had just began and I really saw what wonderful potential this young fella had. And he's a brilliant guy regardless of his age. Certainly wisdom beyond his years and his quest for analytics, for measurement and performance is consistently above average for sure. That's what makes him Awesomer. Successfully, his company's performed over 30,000 product launches with 7,000 plus brands that are responsible cumulatively for billions of dollars and sales on Amazon. They've helped multiple products achieve number one best seller in their top level category in Amazon which is a great achievement. And fundamentally he has built this company which is a size at least of somewhere between 48 and 58 people at this point. And he's brought together extremely talented, developers and creative people and coaches and now management as well. So it's a real great pleasure to have Casey on the show today. Welcome back Awesomers, here we are again talking about all things awesome and today I have a very special guest Casey Gauss. How are you Casey? 3:02 (Casey starts to talk about Viral Launch.) Casey: I am doing wonderful Steve. Thank you so much for having me on this podcast. Steve: Definitely my pleasure. Help me pronounce your last name. I don't know that I've ever gotten it right yet.

Your personal why is what gives you motivation. It really is an extraordinary opportunity for you to find yourself empowered to go on and take on the world. For today’s Awesomer Insights episode, Steve talks about the importance of finding out your personal whys. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: What you need to establish your personal why. The different phases of building a company and why knowing your whys can help you make decisions that are aligned to your goals. Why you need to write your own eulogy and think about how you want to be remembered and more. So put on your headphones and be inspired to take action in knowing your personal why. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1.15 (Steve introduces today’s topic - establishing your personal why.) Steve: Welcome again to the Awesomers.com podcast everybody. My name is Steve Simonson and I'm thrilled to have you with us today today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics and that is the idea of establishing your personal why. Now there's been recent discussion the past couple years by an author. Turns out he's a great author and thought leader named Simon Sinek and he talks about finding your why and that book is a great book and we'll probably talk about it later on a an episode of our book of the week but that's more about finding a company why and why a brand should exist and what a brand stands for. And what I'd like to talk to you today about is the idea that you need to understand your own personal why. Why are you doing this, well you know whatever it is you do, why are you doing it? And what's the point of it and it goes far beyond the day-to-day I need to put food on the table or my kids need a new pair of shoes. It's really about what drives your fulfillment and your satisfaction in the long run and I can't stress this enough. So you're listening to episode number 26 of the Awesomers.com podcast you as always can go to Awesomers.com/26 to find the show notes and details. That's Awesomers.com/26 so as we embark on this journey today talking about the mission of finding a person why, I want to really articulate why I believe it's important when you understand your why and the why really should be broken down into two or three sentences that really resonate. And I'll come back and we'll talk about that later as I go through some of the process but today we're going to talk about that exact process and we're going to give you some of the tips and hints and on the show notes pages, we'll probably even give you a worksheet to kind of help you work through it as well. I truly believe in this process. It is really important and it doesn't matter whether you

What if you can make your business operate without you day to day? On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces us to another book of the week episode, Built to Sell by John Warrillow. John made a story instead of a long checklist that addresses this particular question. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: The main philosophy behind Built to Sell. How to engineer your desired outcomes. Why you should align your people with your objectives. And the number one mistake most entrepreneurs make according to John Warrillow. So let’s get to know more about our Book of the Week and find out how you too can put your business on autopilot. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:11 (Steve introduces today’s book, Built to Sell by John Warrillow.) Steve: Welcome back Awesomers, this is Steve Simonson and today we are recording episode number 25 for the Awesomers.com podcast series. You can always go to Awesomers.com/25 to find the relevant show notes, details and perhaps a link or two that we might mention along the way. So this is another book of the week episode and today my book is Built to Sell and I'm not sure I pronounce his last name but John Warrillow, is how I'm going to give it a go. And John's written a nice book and that is in a parable format right. He's made a story instead of like a long checklist that talks about some of the lessons that need to be learned from his perspective in this particular book. So first let's let's fly up to the 30,000 foot level. The idea of Built to Sell would be that you’re engineering some outcome like running a business and that you're building it to sell. Now this is a very important concept, even if you're not preparing to because you want to build it in such a way that it has value. And regularly I talk about this idea of equity, you're building equity. So sometimes we're building intellectual equity, we do that by reading books and learning in general but other times you're building financial equity. And when you're starting a company, you’re building a company, may be part of your objective is to sell that company and get a financial reward. So if you're building the company to sell that's okay, that's something that people do and in fact it's a very good outcome if you plan for it. So one of the key concepts here and I think that this is

Dropshipping on Shopify is one of the easiest ways for beginner entrepreneurs to start their own store. On today’s Awesomer origin story, Steve introduces us to Huy Nguyen, a young entrepreneur who leveraged the power of Amazon to grow his business. Huy is a global traveler who is now offering services to other sellers to help them start their own Shopify dropshipping store. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: How Huy traced back his roots to Vietnam. The number one skill he needed to learn to start dropshipping. And why it is important to learn and explore new tactics and keep an open mind in business and more. So join us on today’s episode and find out all about entrepreneurship, dropshipping and Amazon from Huy’s amazing journey Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:31 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Huy Nguyen.) Steve: This is episode 24 of the Awesomers.com podcast and as always you can go find the show notes at Awesomers.com/24, that's Awesomers.com/24. Just use the numbers, you don't need to spell it out. My special guest today is Huy Nguyen and Huy is a great example of a somebody who's young and energized just getting the job done. I really think of him as a classic example of that young entrepreneur who is highly engaged in growing his business in every possible way. By leveraging the power of Amazon using a world-class training that Huy was exposed to early on, he's been able to jump start his online businesses today. He also has a dominant position for his Shopify stores which is a great diversity diversification and he's now offering services to other sellers to help them start a Shopify store that is built around the concept of dropshipping. So the overhead and startup is extra low. Huy is a global traveler, a bright entrepreneur and young and full of passion for the E-commerce business. I've been lucky enough to travel with Huy around the world through China and a number of different events. He’s a great businessman and I'm thrilled that we all get to learn from him today. Welcome back Awesomers, here we are again today. Steve Simonson coming into your life, talking about what makes Awesomers and talking about another Awesomer origin story. We're happy today to have a good friend of mine. Huy Nguyen with us. Huy how are you buddy? Huy: It's good Steve, very good. Steve: Glad that we actually woke him up nice and early because as I understand you are presently in Asia, yes? Huy: Yes I am, I'm currently in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh right now. So it's about just seven right now.

As entrepreneurs, we all face challenges along the way. Surrounding yourself with the right people, having a positive mindset and plan of action can help you get through it all. On today’s episode, we get to know Tyrone Odiowei and his classic rags to riches story. Tyrone is a consistent Amazon top earner and founder of the Inner Circle Mastermind. Here are more awesome details on this podcast: How Tyrone leveraged a terrible work situation to kickstart his E-commerce journey. The challenges he encountered along the way and the valuable lessons he learned from them. How to take advantage of any negative situation. The importance of having an Awesomer mindset and understanding your limitations to achieve your own level of success, and more. So listen to today’s podcast and be inspired to take action and overcome challenges on your Awesomer journey. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1.15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Tyrone Odiowei.) Steve: This is episode 23 of the Awesomers.com podcast and as always you can go to the Awesomers.com/23 webpage. That's Awesomers.com/23 to find all the show notes and relevant details about today's episode. Now today I'm lucky because we're interviewing Tyrone Odiowei and he's really a classic rags to riches story. And as recent as 2015, his future looked very bleak indeed. He was unemployed, living on less than $400 a month and he had just dropped out of college after considering going into medicine but realizing that wasn't his passion. He got fired from his first paid job no less than ten days after starting. It was not awesome and what he did then is he was able to leverage kind of a really weird and terrible situation he had with his employer and he won a little Scooby Snack of compensation out of that and he's gone on to double down in the E-commerce world. His first three months of business, Tyrone reached over 20,000 a month in gross sales and has gone to grossed over a million dollars in online sales including many months where he's exceeded extraordinary numbers. He's experienced many of the ups and downs along the way as we all have including suspension issues after reaching 150,000 a month in sales. Imagine the pain that is involved when you get suspended when you're doing that kind of volume. Tyrone has spoken at many conferences across the US and Europe and he shares his knowledge and experience within the online marketing space particularly Amazon related regularly. Tyrone also hosts his own mastermind and is generating big influencers in the E-commerce space at large. Tyrone's main focus is scaling his

Some people start one successful business after another while others fail to succeed. On today’s episode, Steve introduces us to Paul Baron, co-founder of Physical Product Pros, a second-generation Colorado native and lifelong entrepreneur. Paul is also a sought-after consultant and many of the things that he's doing in his life today are focused on helping others. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: How Paul started, failed and persevered as an entrepreneur. Why you should be constantly learning and be doggedly persistent. What messenger bots are and how you can use it to initiate a conversation and take people through your sales funnels using predetermined yes/no answers. So hit the play button and find out how you too can start on your entrepreneurial journey! Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:16 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Paul Baron.) Steve: This is the Awesomers.com podcast episode number 22 and as always you can go to Awesomers.com/22 to find relevant show notes and details. My special guest today is Paul Baron who is a second generation Colorado native. He's also a husband, father and entrepreneur. Between the ages of five and thirty, some of Paul's entrepreneurial misadventures included shoveling driveways in the winter to make money for skiing, running paper routes, carting lawn, care equipment around town inside a Geo Metro and of course this is defying the laws of physics but he did it anyway, everybody. He's also run scrap metal recycling routes with his uncle. Starting and failing in the videography business, starting and failing a web design business and as we all know it's not really failing. It's just learning and gathering data points along the way. Really great episode where Paul shares some of these beginnings and some of the things he's been able to do and put together since those not so auspicious started up moments. And I just love a good Awesomer origin story where we're able to see some of the past, see some of the struggles and then we get to see the chapter that he's on right now. And I can't wait to see his future. I know everyone will join me in welcoming Paul to the show. It's going to be a great one everybody. Welcome back to Awesomers.com podcast this is Steve Simonson and I have a special guest today Paul Baron. Paul, how are you? Paul: I am fantastic Steve. Thanks for having me on.

One of the biggest challenges faced by entrepreneurs is deciding on the patents, trademarks and other protection mechanisms for their business. On this episode, Steve introduces Richard Goldstein, a patent attorney, entrepreneur and marketer. He is also the author of the American Bar Association's Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent. Here are more awesome takeaways on today’s episode: How Rich works with E-commerce sellers to help them protect their innovative products and avoid problems when sourcing. The abundance mindset and why he believes in it. Why relationship is the foundation of accomplishment. How product patent works, the steps in applying for a patent, the different types of patent and more. So subscribe to the Awesomers podcast and learn how you too can have patent protection for your business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:30 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Rich Goldstein.) Steve: This is Awesomers.com podcast episode number 21 and as always to find show notes and details you can go to Awesomers.com/21, that's Awesomers.com/21. So today my guest is the great Rich Goldstein. Rich is a patent attorney, entrepreneur and a marketer. He would say marketer but I threw in the marketer because it's fun. He works with E-commerce sellers to help them better protect their innovative products as well as helping them avoid problems when sourcing products that they intend to sell. He is the author of the American Bar Association's Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent and that's a book I highly recommend for any entrepreneur to give you the basic overview of what the process of getting a patent is all about. We're really lucky to have somebody as smart and as capable as Rich joining us. To talk about the process of finding out about patents, learning if the product we want to sell’s already got a patent on it or even if it has a patent can we still sell, and if so on what conditions. There's so many things related to patents so this is going to be an exciting episode for you to learn lots about patents. Awesomers this is Steve Simonson and we're back on the Awesomers.com podcast today joined by special guest Rich Goldstein. Rich, how are you buddy? Rich: I'm doing well Steve. How are you? Steve: Doing great and thrilled to have you on today. And Awesomers, you're in for a treat today because so often we talk about product development and the intellectual property patent and all the headaches that go along with that. And today we're hoping that Rich is gonna

Join us as we present a live question and answer session with entrepreneurs and Awesomers from around the world. In this episode, Steve tackles the important questions about Amazon, dropshipping, Shopify and consumer-driven products. More interesting tidbits on today’s episode: What is Amazon review purge and how it can affect your business. What service elements to include in a feedback sequence for your customers to get better reviews. How to know if Amazon FBA is a viable economic model for you. And many more! Stay awesome and listen below to know more! Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: This is Episode 5 of the Awesomers.com podcast. That's episode number 5 and you can find all the show notes and relevant details by going to awesomers.com/5. That's awesomers.com/5 to see all of the relevant show details. This Episode is a little bit different because we do a live question and answer session with entrepreneurs and Awesomers from around the world. From time to time, we'll post these live Q&A sessions. They'll be posted on Awesomers.com and various places on Facebook and for those who join us live, they'll get the chance to answer questions sometimes on video, sometimes on audio and sometimes just through the live chat function. But between myself, Steve Simonson and sometimes special guests we'll try to answer your questions to help you the best we can so what a great opportunity for the community to be involved and become part of the show and this is one of those episodes, it's our first one so nothing's ever perfect but we're always trying to improve so thanks for listening and again this Awesomers podcast number five. Steve: Okay everybody welcome back awesomers.com today we are doing a live session, a little Q&A. You might think of it as talkback or perhaps even back talk depending on who asks a question but either way we want to just talk a little bit about what's happening out there. One of the things that has has caused a significant amount of consternation in the Amazon world is this so-called review purge and the the change in terms of service at the end of 2016 created a whole series of events from Amazon trying to respond basically to some bad PR they got. I think it's the New York Times there's some big publication that said, hey everybody's gaming the system of reviews on Amazon and it's overt, it's naked, it's ridiculout. Why are you letting people get away with it Amazon if reviews are supposed to be credible and if that's supposed to be kind of your sense of trust with a customer.

On this episode, Steve introduces Hugh Taylor, the president of EconomyPR.com. Hugh is a seasoned marketer and he's a passionate player about helping companies go from where they are to where they want to be. Here are more awesome things you will learn on this episode: Why you need a niche so you can focus on your target customers. The importance of SEO on getting your profile found on Linkedin. Why wuality content is another form of equity. And the importance of adapting to change and never giving up. So pay attention to today’s episode and find out more about marketing, SEO and how to level up your Awesomers game. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Hugh Taylor.) Steve: This is the Awesomers podcast number 20 everybody. To find all the show notes and details about this episode just go to Awesomers.com/20. That's Awesomers.com/20, to see all the particulars about this episode. Today my special guest is Hugh Taylor, the president of EconomyPR.com. Hugh over the years has created marketing content for clients like Microsoft, IBM, Google, Oracle, and many others. He's also been a public relations manager for Microsoft SharePoint technologies. In fact, Hugh was responsible for generating the billion dollar juggernaut story that helped make SharePoint a high profile product for Microsoft, generating over 800 pieces of press coverage in just a single year. Hugh is a certified information security manager as well and lecturer at University of California, Berkeley: Law School and Graduate School of Information. He's author books and has done so many things but most of all he's consulted with dozens of entrepreneurs and crafted business plans to help these new ventures get funded. Hugh graduated with honors from Harvard in 1988 and his MBA from Harvard in 1992. Today, he lives in Cleveland Ohio. One of my favorite things about Hugh is he's extraordinarily, well educated, he's very articulate, he's a brilliant writer but he brings all of those skills to bear for Awesomers and entrepreneurs that maybe are not as big as Microsoft or Oracle or Google. He remembers how these little guys get started and he's a passionate player about helping companies go from where they are to where they want to be. I'm thrilled to have Hugh on the show today. Steve: Hi, everybody welcome back to Awesomers.com podcast. We're thrilled to have you here today. And today we have a very special guest, Hugh Taylor. How are you Hugh?

The best benefit of digital marketing is the ability to scale and spread your brand message to a large audience. On today’s episode, Steve introduces Yev Marusenko. Dr. Yevgeniy "Yev" Marusenko received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University as the first ever graduate from the new Environmental Life Sciences program. He is also the director of E-commerce and growth analytics at Heroclip. Here are more awesome things in this episode: Different marketing techniques in top platforms such as Facebook, Google and Amazon. Branding and marketing strategies for E-commerce businesses And the five methods of tracking and placing advertisements that convert into sales and profit. So put on your headphones and learn how you can too can bring your business to a whole new level using different digital marketing tools and strategies. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: This is episode 17 of the Awesomers podcast we're thrilled to have you with us today remember as always you can find the show notes at Awesomers.com/17. That's Awesomers.com/17. 01:30 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Yev Marusenko) Steve: Now today my special guest is Yev Marusenko and I hope I got that right, Yev I know I’ll try for perfection, but I'll give it another go here in a minute. Yev went from being a scientist to an entrepreneur which is a unique experience. He left his academic career as an Ecologist and sustainability expert and began trying to crack the Facebook advertising code as well as the Amazon algorithm and all things about marketing. Using his PhD knowledge of experimental testing and data analysis, he is the director of E-commerce and growth analytics at Heroclip. A hyper growth startup company changing the way you carry your stuff. This was featured on the ESPN gear we love spot the Heroclip very cool little products, so kudos to Yev and the team. Yev is frequently invited to present in private mastermind groups including Catalyst88.com mastermind group which is an exclusive 25,000 a year group of brilliant entrepreneurs and he was invited to speak there and show what's working including relevant case studies on how brands can go from spending a hundred dollars a day to over a thousand dollars

Today’s Book of the Week talks about the importance of assigning and delegating tasks to the right people in your organization. On today’s episode, Steve shares with us one of his favorite books, One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. Here are some of the awesome things you will get to hear on this episode: The 4 key rules on how to deal with the monkey. The difference between abdication and delegation. What a boomerang delegation is and how you can avoid it. And why experience is not just about what happens to you. It's what you do with what happens to you. So listen here and find out why One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey is one of the best management books that Awesomers should read. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1.15 (Steve talks about today’s book of the week, One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey.) Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers.com episode number 13. You can find show notes and some of the details and links and so forth that we may discuss today, you can go to Awesomers.com/13 that's Awesomers.com/13. So this is an Awesomers book of the week discussion and today we are going to talk about one of my very favorite books and I'm certainly glad to share this book with you. It's called the One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. Now this is an actual an older book I think it was written in the late 80s. Maybe the most recent publication is late 90s but it's something that I've been aware of because we have used this type of book as a standard part of our management nomenclature for I don't know 15 or 20 years maybe. I don't really know how long, but a long time. As always with with these books I'd like to give a little bit of context right? So one of the things that is important to me about this book is that by defining some similar vocabulary within the organization and you'll find often that the books that we introduce are about sharing vocabulary with your peers, with your associates, anybody that's on your team. This is one of the most key vocabulary types that we use which is called the the monkey right? Who's got the monkey? Ultimately this is about

Amazon is a large and complex ecosystem which can be hard to navigate. In Episode 7, we learn from James Thomson, former head of Amazon Services and partner and co-founder of Buy Box Experts and the PROSPER show, about his journey from being a top Amazon executive to starting his own businesses. You will also learn valuable key points such as: How he created educational opportunities for sellers and brands to become more attuned to the specifics of what it takes to be successful on Amazon. Why relationships still matter even in today’s technology-driven environment. Outsourcing and delegating responsibilities to team members who can execute with excellence. And why you should just break free from the traditional environment and just grab an opportunity and own it! So listen up and learn valuable insights on how to navigate Amazon, entrepreneurship and living an Awesomer life. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You can find all the show notes and details at awesomers.com/7 that's awesomers.com/7. Today our special guest is James Thomson who is a partner in Buy Box experts which is a managed services agency supporting brands selling online. Earlier he served as the business head of Amazon services, the division of Amazon responsible for recruiting tens of thousands of sellers annually to the Amazon Marketplace. He has also served as the first fulfillment by Amazon manager. Prior to Amazon James was a management consultant and a banker or a big background. In 2015, James co-founded the Prosper show, a continuing education conference for large Amazon sellers and in 2017, he published a book the Amazon Marketplace Dilemma, designed for brand executives seeking to control their brands on the Amazon Marketplace and boy it's a wild west environment for the big brands for sure, even for the small brands. In 2018, he co-founded the Brand Authority Summit. James is definitely, constantly got his finger on the pulse of what's happening on Amazon and the e-commerce ecosystem at large and we're thrilled to have him. Again this is episode number 7 and don't forget to subscribe. Share this with a friend and leave us some comments on how you like this episode. Hey everybody welcome back to Awesomers! We're here on today's live podcast with a wonderful guest and it turns out that you can be an Awesomers and not even know it wouldn't you say that's true James? James: I'll let you decide what Awesomers means. I do what I like and I love doing what I'm doing so hopefully the story is interesting to those who are listening.

Learn from Matt Clark’s entrepreneurial journey; how he became a CEO and co-founder of Amazing.com and how he has helped thousands of entrepreneurs build their businesses around the world. In this episode, Matt tells us his origin and backstory. We also have a lot of awesome takeaways including: How Matt joined his university’s Entrepreneurship program and understood the context of business firsthand from seasoned entrepreneurs. Why entrepreneurs are natural problem solvers and how they approach failures with the right mindset. What steps you should take to network and build relationships which can be pivotal to your success. And the very core principles of entrepreneurship which everyone should learn. Stay awesome and listen below to get inspired by Matt’s amazing story. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: That's episode number 6. You can go to Awesomers.com/6 to see the show notes and details. That's Awesomers.com/6. Today my special guest is Matt Clark who is the CEO and co-founder of Amazing.com. He's also a serial entrepreneur and an investor. He's been featured on amazing publications like Forbes, The Under 30 CEO and Business.com. Matt’s partner Jason Katzenback have created training programs that have helped thousands of entrepreneurs build their businesses around the world. Matt's commitment to helping others find their own path to success is something that is unique and enduring. One of the things I love about Matt and just his spirit of generosity is the fact that he doesn't just see a problem, he sees the solution and then often will create a training to help somebody live that solution. I really really appreciate how they approach things and I'm super excited to have Matt onboard. So again this is episode number 6 of the Awesomers podcast. Awesomers.com/6 to get all the show details.

As business owners, we should know how to protect our assets to the best of our interests. In this episode, Paul Rafelson, a tax attorney and executive director of Online Merchants Guild talk about the legal aspects in running and keeping E-commerce businesses afloat. Here are more key points in today’s episode: How the modern economy has outpaced the government and state laws Expert insights about taxation and E-commerce laws The revolutionary way Amazon created a portal to the global economy where sellers can compete against giant big-box retailers And how you can join the fight against ignorance in today’s online marketplace and keep the window of opportunity open for everybody to succeed. So subscribe to the Awesomers podcast and learn the nitty gritty of the legal aspects in running your own E-commerce business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. You are listening to Awesomers Podcast. Steve: This is Episode Three of the Awesomers Podcast, you can find show details and show notes by going to awesomers.com/3, again, that is awesomers.com/3 to find the appropriate show links, notes and details that we discussed throughout the program. Today, our special guest is Paul Rafelson, who is a tax attorney representing online merchants, and tax, and other business matters. Prior to advising online merchants, Paul spent over 12 years defending Fortune 100 companies in complex tax litigation matters, spending most of his career as in house counsel for the likes of Microsoft, Walmart and General Electric. Paul is also an adjunct professor at the Pace Law School where he teaches a state tax based constitutional law course, and he is the acting executive director of the new trade association for online merchants called the Online Merchants Guild. In my opinion, the Online Merchants Guild is a great new resource that will help each of us find legal advocacy and legal strategies as well as lobby through the association where we could combine our efforts. This can work really well and I am super excited about it. Don’t forget to subscribe and share this with a friend. It does not hurt to leave a review as well. We appreciate you guys sharing and getting the word out about the Awesomers Podcast. Thank you very much. Welcome back to Awesomers, Steve Simonson coming to you again. We have a very special guest, Paul Rafelson and he is a well-known expert in the field of, not particularly tax, or sales tax, but he has been a legal guy for many many years. Welcome to the show, Paul. Paul: Hey! Thank you so much. I am really glad to be here, thank you for having me.

Find out how you can successfully validate your business in as little as a three-day period, before even launching and raising capital. In this episode, Danny McMillan explains how he went from a struggling student with learning difficulties to an Amazon FBA expert and a serial entrepreneur. Here are more awesome gold nuggets about today’s episode: How Danny overcame lightning bolts and adversity and used them as an opportunity to reset his life. Why a steely determination is one of the most effective tools in the learning process. The right questions you need to ask to validate your business before doing anything else. And why Danny focuses on three different business models to avoid risks. Stay awesome and listen below to hear how you too can take charge in transforming your life and validating you business model. SHOW TRANSCRIPT Steve: Everybody today on the Awesomer’s podcast we're gonna talk with Danny McMillan. Here's a little bit about Danny's background: Danny's an international speaker on Amazon marketing and optimization and he's an active ecommerce seller in the USA and in Europe. Danny has an open collaboration and sharing at its core with a drive to dismantle, optimize and share his deep learning, analysis, research and even his trainwrecks with peers and the community at large so that you don't have to experience the same pain. He's a survivor of the former music industry and a start-up serial entrepreneur without a doubt. For the last couple of years he's been focused on Amazon FBA. He's appeared on numerous podcasts including his own Seller Sessions which is the number one podcast for advanced Amazon sellers and he contributes to the industry Bible webretailer.com. Danny's been a guest speaker at all kinds venues across the world including the Smart China Sourcing Summit, the European Private Label Summit, the Private Label World Summit, The Great Escape and ZCon and so many more. I am thrilled to have Danny McMillan with me today. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT Steve: Okay everybody, welcome back to Awesomers. It's great to be back and today we have a special guest, Danny McMillan. How are you Danny? Danny: I'm good. Thank you for having me. Steve: It's certainly a pleasure to have you and I couldn't help from the accent to notice that that doesn't sound American. Where are you from Danny? Danny: I'm based just outside of London but I’m originally born in London. Steve: Okay, fair enough. and so I know you and and I already know that you're Awesomer but help our audience understand kind of what you do in your day to day world. What do you spend your time doing mostly? Danny: Okay. My life is split into various different areas though my day starts with Asia into the UK into the US. I run three businesses. One’s an Amazon product business where we’re in Home Kitchen and in Topicals. I’ve also got an agency with my partner Ellis who is the guy behind Jungle Scout. We’ve got a PPC service agency that does automation. It’s managed accounts as well. We can do international page like multilingual PPC and we mainly manage large accounts. I also got a service business as well which is in the construction industry. I also host Seller Sessions which we publish three times a week and I also do public speaking on all things Amazon. Steve: So basically what you're saying is you only work in about half time. That’s a pretty light scheduled there, very impressive. Knowing how many pots you’re hands are stirring at one time, plates you’re spinning - whatever metaphor you prefer, do you find it rewarding to you or stressful to you? Danny: No, I love every minute of it. I enjoy what i do. If I didn’t like it, I’d have to get it removed from my life. I got to that age, I’m 42 now. I want to enjoy my life. This is going to be stressful from time to time but if you are passionate about what you do, that’s what gets you up in the mornings.

On this episode, Steve Simonson and his guest Manny Coats discuss the main issues that entrepreneurs face. Manny Coats, the host of the AM/PM Podcast, CEO and Founder of Helium 10, and co-founder of the Freedom Ticket, shares his personal and professional background, visions and insights on E-commerce and entrepreneurship. Here are more key points discussed in this episode: Manny’s origin story and his first experience as an entrepreneur. How to add value to your products. The importance of building communities and teams towards meaningful collaboration and more. To get firsthand insights and invaluable advice on entrepreneurship, stay tuned to this episode. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:17 (Steve introduces his guest, Manny Coats.) Steve: This is episode 19 of the Awesomers podcast and for those of you keeping score at home you can go to the Awesomers.com/19 webpage and you will find all the relevant show notes and links and things that we talk about in this episode including all the details about our special guest and that special guest today is none other than Manny Coats, my friend, and he is also the co-founder of the Freedom Ticket and CEO, and founder of the Helium 10 software program. Now, Helium 10 is a leading software company for Amazon sellers that provides a host of services and functions that really can help Amazon businesses. He is also the host of his own podcast known as the AM/PM Podcast which is a free resource for learning about everything related to the private label industry as a released is selling on Amazon in particular. I highly recommend if you sell on Amazon and you are thinking about selling on Amazon or any of the above, definitely go subscribe to the AM/PM Podcast right now. He has been involved in the online marketing industry since the late 90s, and he is a regular speaker at major Amazon conferences. He has also created one of the largest active communities of Amazon sellers with over 45,000 members. And again we will have that links to all of these things in the show notes. All you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/19. Everybody back, Awesomers.com Steve Simonson here and joined today by a special guest Manny Coats. Manny, how are you? Manny: I am excellent! How are you doing? Steve: I know you are! I am well as this is an actually a sunny day in Seattle which is a nice thing. It looks like it's sunny behind you in LA there, yes?

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: What are the keys to being a more effective leader? On this episode, Steve introduces the Awesomers Book of the Week, Strengths Based Leadership written by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie. The book is based on Gallup’s StrengthsFinder program that has been instrumental in many of his organizations. Here are more gold nuggets you will learn from this episode: The Barrier Labels of strengths and how it relates to determining your full leadership potential. Steve’s five leadership strengths: responsibility, self assurance, relator, ideation, and learner. How to identify bucket strength themes to become a more effective leader and more. So listen to today’s episode and find out how you too can use your unique leadership strengths towards becoming a better leader. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s Book of the Week episode.) Steve: Welcome back to the Awesomers podcast everybody. This is episode number 18 and as always, you can find show notes and details available at Awesomers.com/18. That's Awesomers.com/18. Now this is a book of the week episode and you'll find that we don't always space these out exactly seven days in between episodes, based on schedules of guests and so forth, but our objective is to encourage you and to suggest that maybe reading a book a week is a good idea. And internalizing those lessons in some of those books and so that you can improve your own you know knowledge and potentially help your organization. This week is about a very important book and something that it goes far beyond just a simple read. As some of our books are great simple informative reads, this one is a powerhouse. So without further ado let's get right to it. Steve: So today's book is called Strengths Based Leadership and this is a book that has been instrumental in many of my organizations for all these many years. Probably well over I don't know 10 or 15 years. I really don't know the exact count, but we definitely believe in the philosophy that is put forward by strengths based leadership. And we're going to talk about what that philosophy is and why we think it's particularly important to pay attention to. One of the most important aspects of this is the fact that it's based on research, it's based on science. And what we know is that patterns and behaviors within human beings are consistent. Somebody who has a particular pattern of behavior, they found

On this episode, learn how you can break the traditional system and build your own. Discover the journey of Kevin King, a serial entrepreneur who’s sold millions of products in Amazon. He's also been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Entertainment Tonight, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: How Kevin developed an entrepreneurial mindset early on his childhood. The importance of prioritizing experiences over material things and why freedom is the ultimate payoff. And more insights on his words to Awesomers: Take action, find the solution! So hit the play button and find out how you too can deliver actionable and tactical strategies to take control of your business and life. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. You’re listening to Awesomers Podcast . Steve: This is Episode number 16 of the Awesomers Podcast. And You can find all the show notes and details at Awesomers.com/16. That’s Awesomers.com/16 to find today's relevant show notes and details often we'll put in links that we discuss on the podcast itself. So, don't forget to go there to check out all the details on this particular show. 1:41 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Kevin King.) Now, today my special guest is Kevin King who is a serial entrepreneur and who's been involved in e-commerce since 1995. He's been featured on lifestyles of rich and famous and Entertainment Tonight, as well as, on the front page of USA Today in The Wall Street Journal. As a one-man show. He sells millions of dollars of product on Amazon.com, Walmart and more. He's a recurring guest on all the top FBA related, that's Amazon SBA related podcast, and a popular speaker Amazon’s on conferences. Because he delivers actionable, tactical strategies that can boost your Amazon and e-commerce sales, almost immediately. He also mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion dollars per year at Amazon in the Illuminati Mastermind. He trains new sellers using his popular Freedom Ticket Program. He runs private Facebook groups and so much more all through the amzmarketer.com platform. And again you'll have links to all these things in the Awesomers.com/16 show notes to be sure that you can find the great Kevin King wherever he is. Kevin to me is one of the my favorite guys that hang out with and talk to because he's a fun guy, he's a no-nonsense guy and you know he is just a get-down-to-the basic facts guy and that's something I really respect. I think you will, too. And enjoy today's episode.

“Go take action, do something, get into motion, go be an athlete, be an artist, be in love, be somebody, be yourself. You've got to make a difference, go be strong.” These are just some of the few words of wisdom that today’s guest shares with us. On this episode, we get to know Michael Pinkowski, President of Parsimony.com. Michael has been involved in E-commerce since building his very first transactional website in 1998. Since then, he has used his expertise to help multiple companies find success on the Internet. Here are some of the things he shares on this episode: His journey from a corporate executive to entrepreneur and founder of successful companies. Why it is better to figure out your strengths and goals; whether it’s money, security or growth and development. And how he helps E-commerce businesses get access to world-class technology and be able to deliver solutions that are sophisticated and affordable. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:15 (Steve Simonson introduces the guest, Michael Pinkowski of Parsimony.com.) Steve: Hey, it's episode number 15 of the Awesomers podcast and we've got a super-secret insider tip for you. If you go to Awesomers.com/15, you'll be able to find the relevant show notes links and details that we talked about today. So you don't have to worry about keeping track of it yourself. That is Awesomers.com/15 and we're going to have all the show notes there for you to try to make your life a little bit easier. Today's guest is Michael Pinkowski, who I've known for almost 20 years probably. Michael has been involved in e-commerce since building his very first transactional website in 1998. That's right kids 1998, that's a long time ago. Since that time he's used his expertise to help multiple companies find success on the Internet. In fact he was the COO of I-Floor, as they grew from a start-up $0 revenue to 50 million in sales in less than five years and was also the director of marketing for AEG stores which was acquired by Lowe's on their journey from about 50 million to over 100 million. Since that time he's founded his own companies brought his expertise to half a dozen other e-commerce companies. At this time Michael's putting all his energy on this new entrepreneurial focus startup called Parsimony com which is a complete ERP system for e-commerce entrepreneurs. Michael earned his MBA in finance and marketing from Ohio State University and he and his wife Jennifer, of over 30 years by the way. His wife of over 30 years have the two best boys in the world and live in Bellevue Washington just east of Seattle his battle cry as always is goal be strong. Michael

Just because you own a business doesn't mean you are a business owner. In this episode, Steve introduces the Awesomers Book of the Week. Written by Michael E. Gerber, E-Myth and E-Myth Revisited talk about entrepreneurial management and leadership. Here are more awesome things you will learn from this episode: Why having great technical skills does not mean you know how to run a business. The three different business systems: the hard system, soft systems, and information systems. How to focus on the big picture and work towards engineering your desired outcome and more. So listen to find out why E-Myth and E-Myth Revisited should be on every business owner’s book list. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s Book of the Week episode.) Steve: Again Awesomers, this is Steve Simonson coming back to you for another episode. Today's episode is a book of the week episode from Awesomers.com and our episode today is episode number 8 so you can go to Awesomers.com/8 to see show notes and relevant details about today's episode. So I want to just give you a little context of the concept of the book of the week show. So my principle is I'm going to share some of the books that have been deeply meaningful to me and instrumental in my journey and also those who have recommended books around me, I may also you know include those as part of our reviews. However most of the time I will have read this book. From time to time we'll even bring on the authors of these books as well so we can talk about the thinking behind the book and here's firsthand some of their philosophies on a live basis. I'm anxious to see you guys feedback about this but I do believe that learning is a key part of being an entrepreneur and I've talked in the past about how important thought leaders and some of the brightest minds in our world think about learning and that all the guys from Elon Musk and Warren Buffett and you know Sheryl Sandberg and so many others talk about reading as a critical part of our kind of evolution as entrepreneurs and as people and this always goes back to that concept of equity. This is intellectual equity where we're spending. So without further ado, let's jump in here. So today's book of the week is one that I think has been very very important in my journey and I've recommended this book

Jeff Cohen spent the past 15 years helping grow E-commerce businesses from small start-ups to multi-million dollar companies. On this episode, we learn more about Jeff Cohen of Seller Labs. Jeff shares his knowledge and viewpoint about the E-commerce world. Here are more gold nuggets in this episode: Why your network truly is your net worth. Today’s business is fast-paced and you need to embrace change. How mobile is going to be hypercritical in the future. And why he believes that retail stores are going to hit a point that stops and then come back. So pay attention to today’s episode, learn amazing insights from Jeff’s leadership experience and find out how you too can level up your E-commerce game. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 sec. (Steve Simonson introduces today’s guest, Jeff Cohen.) Steve: This is Awesomers episode number 11 and as always if you'd like to see the show notes and details we encourage you to go to Awesomers.com/11. That's Awesomers.com/11 and you'll find all the links and show notes and so forth there to help you navigate this episode and keep track of it without having to take notes. As you go through across, you're driving or flying or otherwise engaged, don't take the notes we'll take the notes for you. Awesomers.com/11 is how you find that stuff. Now today my special guest is Jeff Cohen and he spent the past 15 years helping grow E-commerce businesses from small start-ups to multi-million dollar companies. In fact, he was employee number four at Sellar Labs and was instrumental in transitioning the company from selling physical products to software. Recognized internationally as Amazon expert, Jeff speaks at conferences all around the world. Prior to joining Seller Labs, he was a CEO of campusbooks.com and they put together a very comprehensive SAS based program that helped put partners together with campus books and it was a very successful endeavor indeed. His work led to more than 10 million in new sales and increased profit margins. And prior to that Jeff was the founder and general manager for textbooks.com and was responsible to companies aggressive expansion from 12 million revenue to a hundred million while maintaining the exact same sales team. Now imagine that nearly 10 times the growth with the same sales team. This guy knows what's up. I'm a big fan of Jeff's and I've seen him at many conferences around the world and over the years and he's definitely somebody that Awesomer should pay special and close attention to. Welcome back Awesomers. Here we go again. I’m Steve Simonson and today my special guest is Jeff Cohen. Jeff, how are you?

E-commerce cooperatives make the E-commerce world a better and less lonely place. In this episode, Steve introduces Barth Getto of Empowery E-commerce cooperative. Barth wants to live in a world where no E-commerce entrepreneur ever feels alone and shares valuable lessons to the young Awesomers: The significance of a cooperative and its origin. There's always somebody smarter than you and why you should recognize and make the most out of it. How cooperatives can be beneficial to E-commerce and E-sellers by providing better influence, better negotiating power, better deals, and better vetting. So pay attention to today’s episode, learn amazing insights from Barth’s co-op leadership experience and find out how you too can benefit from joining Empowery E-commerce cooperative. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s guest, Barth Getto of Empowery E-commerce cooperative.) Steve: This is Awesomers podcast episode number 10. To see all the relevant show notes and details you can go to Awesomers.com/10. That's Awesomers.com/10 and you'll able to see the page that we've created to help you see the summary of this episode and related show notes. Now today our special guest is Barth Getto and Barth tells me that he wants to live in a world where no E-commerce Entrepreneur ever feels alone. Or has to vehemently defend to their friends and family while leaving that corporate job was a good idea. As an executive for 20 years, Barth has been working with large cooperatives in the flooring Industry and beyond. And he's kept experience in the know-how of joining together independent players that help level that playing field with vendors, and then arming them with tools, strategies and tips to help their businesses strive. He brings that experience as the President of the Empowery E-commerce cooperative to make the E-commerce’s world a better less lonely place. Barth is also an avid outdoorsman, triathlete, woodworker, golfer and a wannabe farmer. If you want to know the truth. Barth lives on an old dairy farm, 50 miles from Pittsburgh in a beautiful little setting in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Also, called idyllic but I haven't been there so I can't vouch for that. Anyway, we're

China offers extraordinary and game changing opportunities to entrepreneurs, but there are also caveats, road mines and lightning bolts that can happen along the way. On today’s expert insight episode, Steve Simonson talks about the top seven mistakes that business owners often make when dealing with China. Here are some of the awesome things you will hear in this episode: Steve’s axiom number zero - I don't know nothing about nothing and how it helps him in business. The number one mistake most business owners do in the beginning. Why a purchasing system is critical to the understanding of your profitability and your business in general and a lot more! So listen to today’s episode to find out these top seven mistakes and how you can avoid it. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT: If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s main topic, the top seven China mistakes that newbies often make.) Steve: Welcome Awesomers! This is another episode of the Awesomers.com podcast and my name is Steve Simonson and I’m excited to be here with you today. This episode is number 9, that is podcast episode number 9. So to find the show notes and relevant details pertinent to this particular episode, just go to Awesomers.com/9. Easy to find and makes a lot of sense as the old solid gold people used to say, “If it’s got a good beat, it’s easy to dance to”. So today we're going to talk about the top seven China mistakes that newbies have made or will make. And we're going to think about it and finally, not just newbies even veterans, even people who have been doing it a while will find them sometimes at odds with China. How you interact with them and how you secure your sustainable and systemic supply chain. I’m going to make a riddle out of that someday. I just want to share with you that China is a really fun place to do business. A really extraordinary opportunity, but there's also caveats, road mines and lightning bolts that can happen along the way and we are going to talk about some of those today. More importantly how to prevent them. This is an insight episode, as you may recall on Awesomers.com even though we are just starting. This is our ninth episode. We put together different show formats and this one is called an insight type of episode. This is where somebody like myself with a deep experience at a particular subject matter will

In this episode, learn how you can protect your business from scumbag companies trying to prey on entrepreneurs and business owners around the world. Steve lets us in on a letter he received from what seemed to be a legal government entity. Not only that, he shares more valuable information to help you spot a scam from a mile away: The Occam’s razor and why every business owner must understand its general philosophy. Why you should learn to trust your gut instincts when it comes to personal and business decisions. And how to solve problems like a true entrepreneur. Stay awesomer and hit the play button to know how you too can safeguard your business from predators and scam artists. Example Document: FAKE LABOR LAW COMPLIANCE NOTICE - Pretending to be from a government agency. They add a disclaimer at the bottom after past attorney's general have tried to stop this, but they continue on right under the nose of the state governments. They operate with the full intent to trick businesses into thinking they are responding to a government document. Even the email they use is intended to deceive. The pre-paid return envelope is titled: FILING LABOR COMPIANCE DEPARTMENT - as if it is some government office. The original envelope sent also tries to appear like a govenment communication using the same fonts as the IRS. This FLORIDA based company has created a PO box in Olympia Washington to imply that the Washington State Labor Compliance Department is the one that is communicating with me. It is such a shame to see this type of scam and predatory behavior to be tolerated by various government agencies. I am not interested in over regulation, but how about a reasonable minimum standard to NOT pretend to be a government agency when making solicitations via junk mail?? The Filing Labor Compliance Department is a total scam in my opinion and nobody should fall victim to their unscrupulous marketing tactics. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: Hi everybody, today we’re going to talk about one of my pet peeves. You want to know what it is. It’s the slimeballs and scumbag companies that are trying to prey on entrepreneur and business owners around the world. And in today’s episodes were going to talk about an exact sample where a company has sent a letter essentially indicating and looking like, even impersonating a government entity and giving us an impression that if we don’t comply, if we do not send them the money as they're showing on their piece of paper that somehow we'll be running afoul of the law.

Welcome to the very first Awesomer podcast where we bring you quality, actionable and inspiring content to help you on your Awesomer journey. In our first episode, we’ll hear it from the man himself, Steve Simonson. Steve is a successful serial entrepreneur who firmly believes in the philosophy of paying it forward. He has over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience and will share with us amazing words of wisdom including: Why equity over the long run is the most important strategic indicator that your strategy is working. Understanding your personal whys and its importance in mapping your chart towards the course to success. His personal Zig Ziglar mantra, “You can have everything you want in your life if you will just help enough other people get what they want in their life.” and the story behind it. And his core philosophy about entrepreneurship, the differences between Awesomers and Normies and the different paradigms that sets them apart Join us on our Awesomer journey and learn how you too can live a life of abundance, gratitude, and positivity! Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Welcome on Awesomers. This is a very first podcast for the awesomers.com brand new podcast and you're going to be able to find all the show notes and episode details at awesomers.com/1 that's awesomers.com/1 for all the particulars on this very first Awesomers podcast. Today we're going to talk about my own definition of what exactly an Awesomers is shortly but first I want to tell you about my vision for this podcast. Again my name is Steve Simonson. I'm thrilled you're joining me for what I hope to be an exciting adventure. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a little nervous if this podcast will be well received or not. I don't know if anybody will listen but I'm going to record it too just the same. I'm going to focus on my entrepreneurial lessons in part because it's my field of experience and not just experience in a theoretical sense, but you know tangible real life experience and I'm going to tell you a little bit about my story here in a minute. Of almost 30 years in business. This is my 30th year in business just starting now. So most of what I focus on will be things that entrepreneurs go through especially related to the e-commerce world because that's the world I know best but Awesomers existed in every part of life. For those that are building a business, my primary mission is to deliver content that will help you drive equity into your business.

Amazon offers countless business opportunities to entrepreneurs from all over the world. On today’s episode, we are doing a live Q&A session about everything Amazon. Steve shares his expertise and answers questions from a live audience that will help Awesomers understand more about how the marketplace works. Here are more valuable insights on today’s podcast: How to enhance Amazon reviews to boost sales. The three Amazon battlefronts: seller activities, buyer activities and ASIN activities. How to tap different sources of capital such as crowdfunding, hard money, Amazon lending and Inventory Financing. Amazon Advertising Cost of Sale, Sponsored Products and more! So pay attention to today’s episode and learn how you too can launch and grow your business on the Amazon marketplace. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 sec. (Steve Simonson introduces today’s episode.) Steve: This is episode 14 of the Awesomers.com podcast you can find show notes and details at Awesomers.com/14. That's Awesomers.com/14. Now, today is a talkback or as actually we like to call it an Awesomers back talk session where the audience gets a chance to ask questions. Of course the live audience was generated from folks who follow us on facebook and if you go to Awesomers.com you'll be able to find places to connect with us about for future live episodes. And today we talked about things from the beginner to the advanced levels. Everything from kind of the ongoing State of the Union so to speak talking about the things that are happening with E-commerce at large and Amazon Marketplace specifically and as some of the E-commerce guys asked me why do you talk about the Amazon E-commerce marketplace so much? And I remind of it well it's about 50% of the E-commerce business right now and whether we like that or dislike that is an irrelevant part of the puzzle. It just is what it is and so it's relevant to talk about what's happening in half of the market although I do think it's a much bigger and broader world than just E-commerce that's why we focus on. So sit back relax and enjoy kind of this live Q&A where we go through some of the the questions that were asked ahead of time as well as some of those that were thrown out during the live session and this is your chance to hear an Awesomer back talk episode and we hope you enjoy it. Steve: Everybody, Steve Simonson. Welcome back to the Awesomers.com podcast. Today we're going to do a live Q&A session and I just focus right in on myself there, to make sure you can get good

Today’s awesome guest talks about Poker, Pokemon and E-commerce. On this episode, Steve introduces Liz Herrera, an Awesomer who ignored the well-trodden path of traditional systems and who instead created an opener for one of the first E-commerce stores. Liz also shares some memorable stories, words of wisdom, and valuable tips including: Why you should start building a team no matter where the journey is. Achievement should be measured against your own benchmarks. The positive results of putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. And why you need to invest in yourself and find the right mentor. So let’s hear this exciting episode and learn from Liz’ story, struggles and successes. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1.23 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s guest, Liz Herrera.) Steve: This is the Awesomers.com podcast number 12 you can find all the show notes at Awesomers.com/12 now. Today my very special guest is Liz Herrera and in 1999 at just 22 years old, Liz ignored kind of the well-trodden path of traditional systems and business, and she instead created an opener for the very first E-commerce store and within 12 months she made their very first million dollars in profit. That's right! Not just sales. This is indeed a phenomenal feat for a young minority woman with no business pedigree, nor virtually an experience at that age, I mean who among us had experience at 22? However achievements like this are not typical for the extraordinary Liz Herrera. Now despite frequent discouragement from friends and family who did not necessarily believe in the industry. Liz was exploring, she didn't stray from that court journey to become an entrepreneur. In fact she's always been comfortable showing the world exactly who she is without regard for others opinions about her decisions and that's an Awesomer mentality for sure. Now because Liz has always acted in the direction her heart insists, Liz has made her millions many times over in all kinds of different industries. Liz Herrera is an internet entrepreneur, a former top 20 online poker earner in the world's top 20 by the way and her forte is recognizing opportunity in online marketplaces and quickly seizing upon it. After unexpectedly losing her many millions in poker due to the