As you may or may not know, i had the pleasure of interviewing Will Mitchell the CEO of StartupBros…
This was a big deal for me!
I’ve followed Will for the last five years and i can safely safe I’ve learnt A LOT from doing so.
I started chatting to Will a few months back about the possibility of setting up an interview…
He’s a busy man but agreed to jump on a call almost instantly!
You may be thinking, “Nick, why were you so keen to set up a meeting with this guy?”
Well the truth is, i knew that i could learn a lot from Will, the chances are you could too.
When it comes to importing products and selling things online Will is someone with A LOT of experience.
I thought i’d write a blog post to document everything i learnt from our 45 minute chat…
That way maybe you can learn something new too…
If you take the time to watch this video and digest the advice Will provides i can almost guarantee you will learn something useful.
Throughout the video i had a couple of “light-bulb moments” that will change the way i think about my own online business.
I want to give you the chance to have the same lightbulb moments…
Why? Well because i’m nice like that.
The Full Interview – Will Mitchell
If you haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, here is the full interview.
If you haven’t got the time i’d recommend making the time to watch this interview…
My brother called me a few days a go to say, I’ve just watched the interview you did with Will… He makes it so easy to understand!
I thought about what he said for a second and thought, Yes actually he really does make it easy!
If you’ve got any questions just jump in the comments on the video, Will’s going to keep an eye and answer any questions you might have.
Anyway, let’s get stuck into this article…
I want to run you through five important things i learnt from the Interview.
#1 The Importance Of Taking Action
I mean taking action was how i set up this interview.
I emailed Will and asked if he’d be able to make the time…
From this single piece of action, i have created a hugely valuable relationship.
I’m not saying everyone or everything you do will bring you the results you desire…
In the past i have asked plenty of other people that responded with No…
You’ve got to be willing to persevere.
Will said something i found pretty interesting…
“The easiest way to procrastinate is learning”
This is true and struck a chord with me, that’s for sure.
Quite often i kid myself into thinking right one more book and i’ll have the knowledge i need.
Reading and learning is important but it’s nothing unless you put it into practice.
Will’s reasons for becoming a fairly successful young person has a lot to do with the age at which he started taking action.
Will started selling products at the age of 12…
Now they may have been counterfeit products and eventually he got shut down but that’s not the point.
The mistakes he made allowed him to learn and grow as an Entrepreneur.
How do you learn to become successful? Learn not how to become successful first.
Now, I’m not saying you should go out there are sell fake Gucci watches or bags…
That would be illegal…
I’m simply saying the real learning begins when you get started.
Sure, you should make the time to plan and research but then you’ve got to jump right in.
The same was true for us at eBusiness Boss…
We decided to set up an Amazon business…
We made a plan, did the research and got started.
The mistakes and the lessons began there.
It’s no secret that the knowledge i’m most proud of has been born from HUGE mistakes.
I’d encourage you to get out there and start making mistakes, just don’t do anything illegal.
#2 Think Big Act Small
I’m a huge fan of ambition!
I believe we should all have huge, outrageous dreams…
The bigger the better in my opinion.
Having the dream is great, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
I could walk around town all day thinking about my big, outrageous dreams…
As useful as that may be in moderation, simply doing that is NOT going to make it happen.
The small actions we take each day will determine our success (Or lack of it).
Will’s advice is simple…
Think BIG! But what’s the smallest thing you can do today to make this dream happen?
I love another one of the phrases Will used in the interview…
“How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.. Right?”
Now, don’t get me wrong… I love Elephants, i’d never want to eat one.
But i love the metaphor and the meaning behind it…
Big tasks have to be done bit by bit.
I think we can all get stuck, looking at other peoples success thinking… I want to be at their level!
This is a giant waste of time…
“Don’t try and start chapter one of your story at someone else’s chapter 10.”
Another solid quote from Mr Will Mitchell.
#3 Imagine Your Customer As The CEO
This is a great way to think, there is no doubt about it.
“A lot of people spend time doing things that customers don’t and won’t care about”
When Will said this it got me thinking…
Most of the time the tasks can have very little value to the company.
Look at what you are doing with your time, is that task adding anything to the customers experience?
When you are looking at potential products, look at things from a customers perspective.
Imagine the customer as your boss, what would they want you to do for them?
Companies that think like this are destined for long term success.
Most successful companies come from an obsession with the customers experience, a lot of innovations demonstrate this.
Usually innovations come from people recognizing that something causes the customer some form of pain…
Let’s take hoovers for example…
For years you’d have to use a hoover restricted by a cord and plug socket.
When you have finished hoovering a room, you’d unplug and move to the next room to do the same task again.
Well, someone decided to innovate, being restricted by a cord was a form of pain to some customers.
In that moment a product solution was invented, the cordless vacuum cleaner.
This is a product with the customers experience in mind.
If you have a business or maybe just a product idea in mind, you could do something effective right now…
Take the time to think about your customer, are there any pains you could help them with?
Imagine that you are the customer, what would you want done differently?
This could be one of the most valuable things you do.
#4 How To Test Before You Launch On Amazon
This was most definitely a light-bulb moment for me…
Even talking about it gets me excited.
Selling on Amazon in 2019/2020 is very different to what it was in 2015.
Back then you could put up a product, get a load of reviews and away you go…
That’s not how things work nowadays…
Before you launch anything you can find out what customers want from you.
That sounds insane but it’s true…
You can work out what the logo should be, what colour the packaging should be, what it should be called etc etc.
How on earth can you do this without launching a product?
Well if we think about creating a logo as an example, how would that work?
Will actually explains the whole process very well in this article.
It’s well worth a read.
He shows how he used this process to come up with the StartupBros logo!
The theory behind it is brilliant…
For the above method to work you will need an existing pool of people you can talk to.
If you don’t have an existing audience you could use a tool like Picfu…
I’ll be honest, before chatting with Will i had no idea tools like this existed!
With Picfu you can test different ideas…
You can get real feedback on pretty much anything!
Before you decide on the colour of your packaging, why not find out what the market wants?
Can you see how powerful this is?
Game changer!
If you are struggling to work out what your market wants, all you need to do is ask them.
It really is that simple.
This simple method will help me no end.
If you don’t want to do either of the above you could get involved in a related reddit or facebook community and start asking people questions.
Be open and honest without revealing all of your information, ask them what you could do to help them with their problems.
This was probably my favorite take away from the interview, thanks Will!
#5 Left Vs Right Brain Thinking
This was another massive light-bulb moment for me…
Now as Will says…
“There are two ways to win on Amazon, the first is the data centric, amazon algorithm way”
This way you are constantly learning about the most recent ways to trick and manipulate Amazon to show your products at the top.
Now i always have Amazon’s algorithm on my mind and to be honest it stresses me out!
By focusing on this side of things i’m constantly trying to figure out the ever changing landscape of Amazon.
Each week things change and if you rely on this method you are in for a bumpy ride.
Will refers to this as left brain thinking…
Will advises all of his clients to go with the opposite approach.
Largely due to the fact that the left brain way of thinking is dominated by black hat tactics and systems you and I would struggle to compete with.
In Will’s words: “There is a lot of Tom Foolery going on”
I think most of us are fully aware of this and the shady tactics some people are using.
The alternative way of thinking is the right brain approach…
With this approach you need to focus your attention on the customer and their experience.
That instantly sounds a lot easier!
When Will said this i honestly felt like a weight was lifted from my shoulders, there is another way!
This approach is difficult to describe in words but Will does well to explain it.
Will encourages you to play the right brain game…
Immerse yourself in your market and truly take the time to understand your target customer.
Let’s get practical here…
For this example Will talks about the process of selling a gun holster.
The left brain competitors would direct their focus on getting the product to the top of Amazon.
The right brain thinkers will be thinking more about the consumer and their experience…
If they’re interested in guns, the consumer may value the idea of protecting their family.
On the whole the majority of your target audience could be interested in supporting the National Rifle Association (NRA)…
They might think about idea’s like approaching the NRA to endorse the product.
Using an NRA logo on the product and in your marketing images could give you a huge advantage over your competitors.
This idea has come from Will putting himself in the customers shoes.
Focus on this way of thinking and you have to chance to create a superior product and experience for your customer.
Can you see the power of this sort of thinking?
Who’s going to win in the long term… Good products or shady tactics?
I know which one i’d choose.
I can see the long term value in this strategy…
The Amazon algorithm changes everyday, your target market doesn’t…
What a light-bulb moment that was for me!
Closing Words – A Lot To Think About
I took a lot from this interview, i really hope you found value in it too.
If you want to learn more about Will and his company Startupbros, head over to the blog and start reading.
Seriously go and do this right now.
This conversation has changed the way i’m now thinking about my business…
It’s going to effect the products i launch on Amazon next year, that’s for sure.
It all came from me getting out there and taking action.
What small task could you do today that you may thank yourself for in a few years time?
Work out what it is and go and do it.
I think i’ll be thanking myself that i took the time to start building a friendship with Will.
He’s a good guy and someone well worth following.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions let me know below.
More Soon,
Nick
eBusiness Boss
from eBusiness Boss https://ift.tt/2LXyySr
0 Comments