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7 Tips for Purchasing Courses

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Should I buy (fill-in-the-blank course)?

If you are anything like me, you have asked yourself this question a few times. While we have created an incredibly successful course with The Wholesale Formula, we still personally invest in learning and take lots of courses we believe will help us in our own entrepreneurial journey. I personally don’t believe the need for learning ever goes away, particularly in evolving markets like Amazon.

The changes make it exciting, but also make it necessary to continue to learn. That being said, we have taken a lot of courses between myself and Eric, and have bought even more for our team members. Needless to say, we are huge proponents of learning.

So, how do you know if a course is right for you?

That I really can’t answer (as a lot of this depends on your personality), but I can tell you the process we use to determine if a course is right for us.

1) Will I use this course?

While this seems like a pretty easy question, I think it has the most bearing on your success. I believe the number one reason for failure in ANY course is due to not taking action. That applies to us as well. In the past, we have bought courses and not taken action on them.

As you would expect, we didn’t reach our desired results.

Is that the fault of the course? No. It was our fault for not taking action. So, now we ask ourselves this question. If I spend this money, will I take action? If the answer is yes, we will proceed with the following questions.

At the end of the day, buying a course doesn’t help you. Using the information in a course to shortcut your learning curve certainly can, we just have to make sure that we are prepared to do that.

2) Can I afford this course?

Simple enough, right?

I think this goes a bit deeper. It’s not just about the money for the course. The course has its fee, but enacting the business model also usually requires capital. Beyond the price of the course, do we have the appropriate amount of capital to make it work?

For example: with wholesale, we suggest people have a minimum of $2000-$4000 in available capital before starting a wholesale-based business.

If you can’t afford a course, it’s not going to be a good fit. No matter how hard you work, if you don’t have access to the required capital to make it work, you won’t see success with the program.

3) Who teaches the course? Are they active in the industry?

This matters a lot. If the person selling the course is active in their industry it says a couple of things:

  • They believe in what they are teaching.
  • Their strategies are more likely to be up-to-date and effective.

For example: in our case, the strategies we offer in The Wholesale Formula course are the exact same strategies we use in our business. This means our TWF folks are the beneficiaries of the awesome new and fresh strategies that we test live in our business.

4) Are these people getting the results that I want?

I believe that this is important. In general, we are positive people. When we do things, we assume that we will be successful. With that mindset, the most important question is, when I succeed is this what I want to be doing?

I think there is more to it than making money. Does this business model provide the lifestyle that you want?

Our goal in this step is simply to make sure the result actually aligns with what we want.

5) Does the course have a refund policy?

A refund policy serves multiple purposes!

  • It shows they have confidence that their product will work.
  • It gives people an easy exit strategy.

Let’s face it, some things just don’t fit. That happens to everyone on occasion.  With our course, we have a generous thirty-day no-questions-asked refund policy. This was important for us because we realized that our course and model isn’t for everyone. Our goal isn’t simply to get more clients, but to help as many clients as possible actually succeed, so we wanted a refund policy that shared that philosophy.

We have NEVER turned down a refund request inside of our 30-day period. Not once.

This is one of the things that I immediately check for when looking at a course for myself. The aspects that I care about are:

  • Is the refund policy clear?
  • Does the refund policy give me time to see if the product fits my goals?
  • Are there contingencies to the refund policy?

Those criteria are all important for an encompassing refund policy. I never want to feel like I am in a position where I might not get a refund if the product doesn’t align like I imagined. Instead, I want a clear policy that is easy and gives me a chance to see if I understand the model and it makes sense.

6) What type of testimonials do they have?

I believe it to be critically important you see that people are taking the class and are succeeding with the material. Testimonials show a lot about a course. You get to hear others’ experiences and, even more importantly, you get to see that people feel strongly enough to leave a testimonial.

The alternative is that you are looking at a new product. We have taken a few first-time products with great success, but they were advertised as such. If it is a course that has been established before, I certainly want to see some testimonials.

7) Does the course present the material in multiple ways?

I am generally a video person, but with complex concepts, I love to be able to read through the material or see some graphic examples. When we are considering a course, it’s important to us that the material is presented in multiple fashions to make sure that I am most likely to learn the material.

I realize that some of you may not care about all of the things mentioned here, and that is perfectly okay. My goal with this article is to help you learn to make the best decisions possible for your business, by sharing the methodology that we use in our own.

Ready to Get Ungated?

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Getting categories ungated could be the single most intimidating process Amazon sellers go through. The secret is, once you go through the first one, the rest of them really aren’t intimidating at all. In this article, I will spill the beans and help YOU have the necessary information, and hopefully help you gather the courage to push forward and go through this process.

Let’s first look at it from the perspective of WHY it really should not be intimidating. For what it is worth, this is likely the single most common question that we receive or at least a derivative of it.

“How do you get ungated?”

In reality, there are a couple of ways to navigate this process, but we have one that we suggest over ALL others.

  • Supply Amazon with Invoices from wholesale companies
  • Be a registered manufacturer with the FDA

I would highly advise against the latter choice (unless you already have those credentials.) If you register with the FDA you open yourself up to all forms of government inspection, etc. Then, imagine trying to explain to the FDA you simply were trying to get your Amazon account ungated in the Grocery category.

I’m sure that would not be “cool” with them. Don’t do it. The other way works just fine.

To really get a good idea of WHY Amazon requires this, let’s look at the policy in general. With Grocery, Health, and Beauty particularly, this is really self-explanatory. If you are selling in these categories, you are selling things that people either ingest or use topically. Either way, if you have suspect handling procedures, that could provide a risk to consumers. Amazon has realized businesses are much more likely to have “safety measures” than people and require this as a form of admittance to show that you are a “real” business.

Now, before I proceed, I want to make one thing abundantly clear…

In most cases, I am very pro-service. I LOVE services that save me time. As an entrepreneur, it is the one resource that I cannot “buy” more of.

However, in the instance of ungating, I would advise against using these services. The main reason is it is VERY hard for them to be TOS compliant. Effectively, to get through the gate, Amazon needs to see that you are buying products from approved vendors, and have the invoices to prove it.

Outside of signing you up for wholesale accounts and placing orders for you, there is nothing they can do!

So, if you get approved through these services, and they don’t sign you up for wholesale accounts and place the orders for you, they have given you inauthentic invoices that can get your account permanently banned. Or, even worse, they could have registered you as an FDA registered manufacturer.

Either way, bad news!

That being said, there really isn’t any reason to go that route and risk your Amazon account or, even worse, possible government fines (which are MASSIVE.)

The other way you often see people trying to get ungated is by going with the distributor ‘de jour’ that is working (at the time) and getting Amazon invoices that way. I know for a while the go-to was Pricemaster. Not sure if that is still the case, or if that one is even still accepted by Amazon. Either way, after you finish this article you won’t need it.

Before we jump into the “how-to”, I did want to point out that If you follow our instructions, you will get in. This is not a hack, or cheat, or short-cut. This is EXACTLY what Amazon wants. When you do things the right way, Amazon WANTS to work with you. They want to approve you to sell in categories.

Complete the following steps to be ungated in a category:

  1. Locate three brands, in the category that you would like to be ungated for. We suggest using the TWF methods to do this, and actually locating brands that you will want to work with in the future.If you are uncomfortable, find three products that you would use in your home, or would not mind using. This part will be unnecessary but may help to ease your fears.
    We prefer to be brand direct here.
  2. Purchase a product or two from each brand in commercial quantity. Commercial quantity is generally defined as 30+ units.Bear in mind, the most important aspect here is NOT being profitable (though if you can be great), the most important aspect is getting ungated. You can lose money on the order and still win.

    This product needs to perfectly match the Amazon detail page.

    Ask that you be given a paid invoice for your order (most will do this anyway).

    When you register your account with the company, make sure that it matches your Amazon Account Info that is on Seller Central.

  3. Annotate your invoice.On your invoice, you should write the ASIN the product corresponds with.

    You can similarly use a program like Snagit. For an awesome guide on annotating invoices, please read our good friend Nate McCallister’s article here:
    https://entreresource.com/amazon-not-accepting-invoices-brief-rundown-properly-validate-suppliers-amazon/

     

  4. Send Amazon the information, and if you are rejected don’t panic.If you are rejected for whatever reason, make sure your invoices have the required information and are generally acceptable.
  • Supplier Information (company name, phone number, address, website)
  • Buyer Information (company name, phone number, address, email)
  • Invoice Date (must be in previous 90 days and visible)
  • Item Name/Description
  • Item Quantity in Units

At that point, if your invoice is correct, you can annotate the various parts of the invoice, as that will help the Amazon rep make the correct decision. Similarly, you can also get a Letter of Authorization (use the brand gating template) to give along with your invoices.

The vast majority of the time this last step is NOT necessary. You should be approved without issue using your invoices alone if there aren’t HUGE problems with them. Also, it is important to say most vendors are flexible and will tailor the invoices to your needs.

So, there you have it. If you can do that, you can get ungated. I realize the concern here is that:

“What if Amazon doesn’t let me in?”

You have to understand that simply isn’t going to happen. Amazon rewards people who do things correctly, and this is the process that Amazon WANTS you to follow. This is their preferred approval process because it gives them the information they need from the most legitimate possible sources. Just realize that this is a low barrier of entry for the opportunity to carry lots of new products. Likewise, with Amazon, hurdles NEVER go down, they only get higher (so you should do this sooner than later).

Until next time!

The Best Books for Business

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One thing I’ve learned for certain? Books provide nourishment for the entrepreneur’s mind. I personally believe that reading and researching is a fundamental component for growth in an entrepreneur’s business. The fact that you are reading this blog post means that you also believe in reading and growing. So, kudos to you for that!

I wanted to make a blog post about some of the better books that I have read that have influenced my personal outlook on business. While I have read more than what’s on this list (some better than others, I can tell you), many of the things I have read are targeted towards a specific type of business.

For example, Russell Brunson’s Dotcom Secrets & Expert Secrets are two incredible books, but they are very much marketing-specific books.

The following are books I have read, that I would call “timeless business classics.” They are all great for your mindset and each deserves a place on your bookshelf.

 

Rich Dad, Poor Dad 

Rich Dad, Poor Dad covers the fascinating topic of learning to think like an entrepreneur. In my opinion, it shows the dichotomy of having an employee vs. employer mindset. It goes through scenarios where you get to “look” at how each person thinks.

Great book, and cannot suggest it enough.

Paperback, Kindle, and Audio versions available.

 

The E-Myth Revisited 

This book should be required reading for ANYONE who is thinking about starting a business. Most entrepreneurs believe if you work hard enough you can achieve anything, which is not entirely true. Work ethic, in and of itself, will certainly help you to succeed, but will not guarantee your success! This book helps to drive home the importance of building systems that help you develop a truly scalable business.

The one thing that we don’t have is “more time”. ALL entrepreneurs, and people in general, have the same 168 hours in a week. This book stresses the importance of building systems that allow you to operate your business without investing more of your personal time.

Paperback, Kindle, and Audio versions available.

 

The Goal 

This book is an amazing read. It focuses primarily on the “Theory of Constraints”, which is a way to learn to systematically solve problems. The book is written in the form of a story about a gentleman who is running a failing factory, and the steps he takes to turn the factory around.

Effectively what this book teaches you to do is look at a process and assess and remove bottlenecks from your business. By removing these bottlenecks, you are able to increase production, while lowering labor and waste. Many of the principles taught in this book are also used in the lean manufacturing and production processes, as those processes are based around waste reduction and constant improvement.

If your business involves processes, this is a can’t-miss book. It will fundamentally change the way you look at problems and teaches you to take a much more thorough approach to problem-solving.

Paperback, Kindle, and Audio versions available.

 

Good to Great 

This book has been one of the single most influential books in helping me to understand business. I believe many entrepreneurs are their own worst enemies. They suffer from the “shiny object syndrome”, where they put some effort into a lot of stuff, but really don’t become an expert at anything.

One of the major reasons for our success has always been the fact that, for better or worse, we are generally not trying to support several different strategies, and instead focus on one thing. In Good to Great, this is called the “hedgehog concept,” and is something that EVERY entrepreneur should learn about.

Paperback, Kindle, and Audio versions available.

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People 

Along with Good to Great, I believe that this book has had a profound impact on how I try to operate within our business.  Beyond being incredibly applicable in business, this book is amazing for helping people learn how to communicate in a more efficient manner.

Whether you have aspirations to run a multi-person company or not, this book will help you. It will help you to learn effective communication strategies that can be used in all facets of life.

Okay, I realize that this isn’t your super-detailed traditional book report, but I wanted to simply draw attention to some of the books that have really helped to shape my personal business philosophy.

Paperback, Kindle, and Audio versions available.

 

Check them out, as they are all amazing reads. Also, be sure to let us know of some of your favorite business books!

Don’t Settle, Reach!

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Those are all phrases we have, at some point, muttered. The problem with those phrases is they are accepting of mediocrity. They predispose we are willing to accept “good enough”. While greatness may or may not be attainable, you sell your dreams short by accepting less. The fact is you have chosen to run and operate your own business. You have taken that chance, putting your time and money on the line, you owe it to yourself to accomplish whatever is possible without restriction.

In truth, by human nature, we condition ourselves to accept excuses. We accept good enough because that is what is easily attainable without real resistance. We meet resistance, then settle, because, well, it’s the easiest thing to do. We tell ourselves it’s reasonable because other people do it. Ask yourself these questions:

Did you start your business because other people were doing it?

Did you start your business because you wanted something?

Have you accomplished what you set out to do?

Do you want MORE?

The reason I think good is the enemy of great is it clouds our judgment. It makes us think that we have what we want. That we shouldn’t push through the resistance barrier to achieve something more. It tells us to stop and stand pat because that is normal. If you are an entrepreneur, YOU AREN’T NORMAL. You are the exception. By that logic, you should try to achieve exceptionally. You should shoot for the unattainable, and keep moving forward.

The difference between the good entrepreneur and the great entrepreneur is the great entrepreneur didn’t let something hold them back. Whenever conventional wisdom said you have done well, they realized they were just getting started, and they could accomplish more. They found ways to press on whenever things got tough. What I come to realize is the difference between myself and Richard Branson isn’t that they are inherently smarter than me… It’s that they didn’t take no for an answer. They didn’t settle for second best. They always wanted to progress, to innovate, to automate, and to move forward.

If you have achieved what you set out to achieve, did you set your sights too low? Are your targets based on the preconceived notion that the level of success that you are achieving is really all you need to achieve? Reanalyze your aspirations and targets and figure out for yourself, do you owe it to yourself to shoot for something more.

To give you an idea, one of our former students, John Chartier, is someone who has gone through this process recently. John had created a comfortable business, learned to minimize the time spent on it, and had truly developed a passive-style income. His business ran with minimal investment (either time or money), and he made more than enough to live comfortably off the profits for the foreseeable future. There was a point that I was talking to John and his tone changed. He went from happy to thinking “I can do more.”  He knew he could grow his business, but wasn’t necessarily sure on the steps he should take.

If you have followed John, you too have got to see this journey. He started posting more, dedicating more time to learning, dedicating more time to his business. In the past few months, John has rededicated himself to his business, went and leased a warehouse, expanded beyond the lines that were comfortable, introduced new strategies, and introduced new philosophies to grow his business. Now, John has a new goal, he wants to break $1M in sales next year. John has truly analyzed his targets and set new goals!

Great is a relative term. To me, being great simply means achieving a level beyond my grasp. After you achieve that, don’t settle! Instead, like John, realign what a new target for greatness is, then shoot to achieve it. Analyze your business, analyze your situation and develop a road map to help you achieve what you haven’t already.

Have you let Good stand in the way of Great? How will you make sure that you are getting the most out of your business? Let us know.

Cash Flow is King

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What is cash flow? Cash flow is the total amount of money being transferred into and out of a business. The higher your cash flow, the more liquidity you have. Having great liquidity allows you to focus on reinvestment and gives your business a “take a shot” mentality. We experiment with products that sell in volume, as we are able to easily get away from bad investments.

We make it known to anyone who asks how important cash flow is to our business. Our goal is to expand our sales and, in turn, expand our profits through volume. We believe this philosophy works on many levels. Here are some of the reasons we have geared our business to be incredibly cash flow oriented.

    1. We are able to take more chances. This allows us to constantly invest in products and allows us to simply keep the cream of the crop or the profit-producing products. Products that don’t work out are not restocked. The rate of sales makes the impact minimal for products that don’t work out. It really is like ripping off a band-aid.
    2. We aren’t forced to be reactive. We have a constant gauge of how our products sell. We don’t hope to sell certain products, we expect them to sell and are able to allocate our funds accordingly. If you are buying products that don’t promote fast return and increase your cash flow you will often find yourselves marred in products that are simply a crapshoot. You become cash-out dependent on your sourcing.
    3. Fast-selling, higher velocity products are more consistent. This DOES NOT mean you will never lose money on them. However, the money lost is generally minimal and you can reinvest and recover quickly. Products with less demand will become more volatile. For example, if you have a product that has 10 sales per month, and 20 sellers. That means that 20 sellers are doing their best to be one of the small numbers of sales. This generally will start more “race to the bottom” situations, and usually leads to less consistency. That means big margins may not remain big over time.
    4. Products naturally create a margin for themselves. With higher velocity products, you generally have to purchase more, which in turn leads to larger discount structures with your suppliers. Then you are processing larger batches of product, which drives your cost per unit processing time down significantly. These products have a much lower carrying cost in general.

We have focused our entire business on this model. When we purchase products, we expect they will sell quickly and recoup our investment. Sometimes investments fail, and you miss, but utilizing this strategy will allow you to recover quickly. The main goal is to simply find as MANY targets as possible and take chances accordingly.

Cash flow is a huge part of any business. Focusing your cash flow on tighter investments, or timed investments will inherently improve the health of your business. Not to mention, it will inherently create more opportunities for you over time, which allows your entrepreneurial spirit to take over and you to find new creative ways and strategies to employ to make money.

How important is cash flow in your business? What can you do to increase your cash flow? Write me back and let me know what you think!

Your Prime Day Prep Guide

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Once again, it is Christmas in July! Unlike most holidays, however, you won’t be celebrating with your family eating turkey and dressing. Instead, if you are anything like us you will be fervently glued to your computer screen, pushing the refresh key, and furiously pumping your fist with the insane amount of sales that are taking place.

(That is our process, anyway. Don’t judge!)

The very first ever Prime Day was two years ago. There were a lot of things that went right, and a lot that went wrong. There was much criticism from the customer side that the deals weren’t very impressive. As a seller, I can tell you that it DID NOT affect our sales in any negative way. In fact, around that time in particular we were averaging around $10k/ day in sales. On Prime Day that year, we did over $30k in sales.  Then, the second Prime Day was also not a disappointment. Our sales were about 50% higher than usual, but our inventory was significantly more stacked with day-to-day (like food and health and wellness products) items as opposed to more destination items like toys and shoes.

One of the concepts that truly applies here is “a rising tide raises all boats.” On Prime Day, Amazon gets so many customers on their website that whether you sell the hottest product or Christmas lights, your sales will likely see a sizeable jump.

So, from a seller’s perspective, Prime Day was a complete success both years. To be honest, we were WELL underprepared the first year (even though our inventory was more suited for it), as Prime Day exceeded all expectations. It was almost like a second Black Friday for our company! One point you have to realize is it doesn’t matter what you sell, or if you have any of the Lightning Deals being advertised. Our sales increase was with no Lightning Deals, and with standard run-of-the-mill products!

So, regardless of what you sell, or if you are offering Lightning Deals on that day, Prime Day can have a huge impact on your company. My goal with this article is to help you prepare for Prime Day, and give you the best opportunity possible to succeed.

1) Pricing

I want to preface this topic with the fact there are definitely multiple schools of thought on this subject. I will try to address it from several angles, so hopefully, you can apply it to your business and model.

In terms of selling the most product on Prime Day; if that is your goal, and your business operates on liquidity, then you will ultimately want to be competitive in your pricing. Our company is based around liquidity and likewise wants to move as many units as possible of various products, so our prices will be competitive come Prime Day.

(TIP #1) To maximize unit sales, price competitively. Particularly look at this approach if you have price flexibility and are looking to move a lot of units of a product.

If you are an RA, OA, or thrift-based seller, this approach may not be best for you. In those instances, you should look to maximize profits. I realize this thought may be commonplace, but I wanted to make it here.

The more your business is volume-oriented, the more you can work on lower margins. Conversely, the less volume-oriented your business is, the more important it is to seek higher gross margins.

Scale minimizes the amount of distance between Gross and Net margins through efficiency. This is particularly true in processing and shipping.

The following suggestion may be more realistic if you are operating at less scale. Again, you have to realize there will be a HUGE amount of sales taking place on Amazon during Prime Day. You can prepare for that and look at opportunities to increase your margins by finding products with good volume, where there is not a sufficient number of units in stock to meet the expanded demand.

For example, if a product ordinarily sells 25x a day, and the lowest Prime price is $15, but that seller has 54 units in stock, and the next price is $18. It is reasonable to assume with a 3x increase that the seller with 54 units will sell out, and you can easily sell your units at $18.

This is an incredibly simplistic example to point out you can start looking at your inventory now and looking for opportunities where there is a gap in pricing. You can expect if you are priced in the second position, or in a position of realistic expectation, you can garner extra profits on the items you sell.

(TIP #2) If you are looking to move fewer units, and make additional money from the sale of those units, look for opportunities where gaps may occur, and price to take advantage of those gaps in the market.

Another strategy you can examine as a possibility in your business is sacrificing sales on Prime Day to get more sales vs. the depleted inventories *after* Prime Day. People will move a lot of units, and there will certainly be opportunities to maximize profits after Prime day for one or two days (on some products). I suggest using caution here, as this window will be smaller than in Q4, and hard to hit. Also, the opportunity may be hard to spot.

Either way, you should REALLY examine your pricing before Prime Day and develop a plan that works best for your business.

Make a plan… Execute your plan!

2) Arbitrage Opportunities and AZ to AZ Flips

Prime Day will clearly be wrought with opportunity as a seller on Amazon. Lots of people will come and join the festivities, and as we know this going to help all of us make more money!

So, being a seller on Prime Day will be a great time. I promise you will see MORE sales screenshots on that day from various sellers than most other days of the year. Why? Because people will be happy and wanting to celebrate! If this isn’t your thing, I would suggest not looking at Facebook during Prime Day and for a couple of days afterward.

Now, the next pillar of Prime Day is all of the opportunities as a buyer, and there will be plenty!

If you are doing Amazon to Amazon Flips on Prime Day, make sure that you mind Amazon’s rules about buying Lightning Deals, using a Prime Account to buy for resale, and quantity limits. It’s simple, no deal is worth losing your account. I am not here to spout Amazon policy.

Read it, follow it!

However, on Prime Day, you should notice a plethora of deals outside of Amazon! That’s right, folks, the whole eCommerce world should be a big bowl of gravy. Companies are competitive. They want to win. So, many companies will be matching Amazon’s crazy awesome deals, as well as be adding deals of their own.

To take advantage of some of these opportunities, you should start following the social media accounts of other retailers, signing up for their newsletters, and visiting their sites for any announcements. These sites will likely have tons of opportunities.

On Prime Day, as deals get announced, check other retailers for similar products and sales. This is important, it may be MORE beneficial to purchase the same deals from other retailers, as they may have looser quantity limitations than you might find on Amazon.

3) Shipping & Stocking Your Inventory

I realize that the hour is upon us. However, right now is when serious money can be made. Before huge events like Prime Day or Q4 Peak season, it is important that you get as much inventory into Amazon as possible.

When lots of people are shopping it generally means that you are more likely to sell your inventory. Now, in terms of sales increases, those will vary based on items. If your inventory is more destination-based you may move 3x+ the amount of inventory that you might move on other days. Whereas, if your inventory is day to day need-based, then you may move 50% more.

Either way, you are likely to see an increase in sales (but this ONLY happens if you have the inventory to support it).

(TIP #3) If you are loading for Prime Day, we suggest using parcel shipping (like UPS or FedEx) to prevent problems with long receiving times associated with freight shipping.  There could be nothing worse than sending in extra items for Prime Day only to watch them not get received.

The heavy increase in sales will also create other opportunities. For example, as things sell out on Prime Day, there will be replenishment opportunities for people who can send in items immediately following Prime Day, where they can get high prices on sold out or low inventory products.

(TIP #4) Watch out for product opportunities for products that sell out on Prime Day!

My goal with writing this article is to help you prepare to take advantage of a HUGE opportunity with Prime Day, as well as give you some insight into how we plan to navigate and prepare for it. I sincerely hope that you found something useful, and something that will make you extra money.

Be excited…Christmas is coming!