381 : Nick Shucet – Belief in yourself is the place to start your Amazon Journey

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Nick has a multi success approach to selling on Amazon. See he believes it starts with mindset, then add in Diet, fitness, meditation along with a desired lifestyle to get you in the best position for successfully selling on Amazon. It is like life, a formula. Sometimes more of one area is needed and some days one other. So get the basics right, adjust as needed and get your business cranking.

Mentioned:

Mind your grind – Nick’s blog where he talks about all the above along with selling on Amazon.

Romanstide – Nicks site where they help brands adapt to selling on Amazon.

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Here is transcript- It is automated so it is not perfect but it does seem to get better over time.

Nick:                                      [00:00]                     Things and tolerated a lot of crap from each other or you know, speaking from my side of things that, um, you know, that I, I did it for the child and when I, when I look back at that thing, we had a relationship just, you know, based on a lot of lies pretending to be someone we weren’t in order to keep things comfortable. And I learned a lot from that. And when I met my current, well my only wife, my current wife, um, you know, I was just very up front and that was the lesson I learned. I was, I was, I learned that I needed to be 100% honest with who I, who I was, the mistakes I’ve made and who I wanted to be. I didn’t want to have to live a life where I had to hide anything anymore.

Cool voice guy:                  [00:46]                     Welcome to the ECOMMERCE, but where we focus on the people, the products, and the process of even commerce selling today, here’s your host, Steven Peterson.

Stephen:                             [01:00]                     If you’re ready to set up a strong, reliable accounting system when it’s a real strong foundation for your business. We think we have the answer for you. If this is from accounting, we will go. You’re here listening to us on this podcast. We set up a course and it’s called Amazon accounting. Simplified. Yup. Simple. And we only say Amazon yet it’s really all across ecommerce. We’re talking about integrating quickbooks into your existing or new ecommerce business and new is great because you could set it up right that way, but, but if you have an existing business, how do you integrate? How do you get quickbooks online specifically? How do you get set up in there? Well, we have modules. There’s over 48 modules that will walk you through each one of those steps. I’m going to talk about cost of goods and I didn’t even talk about it.

Stephen:                             [01:41]                     We’re going to dive in, parse it, peel it back, and help you understand what it takes. How about chart of accounts, setting up the right accounts, ones that you can use to make decisions. We’ve had hundreds of clients and we come up what we see it have seen as the best practice and I think that’s going to be the best thing for you. Reconciling 10 99 from paypal and Amazon. Good luck. Challenging. Well we’re gonna we have modules, unique modules for each of those because they are unique and so vendor management, accounting for Amazon loans, it goes on and on. I’m just skimming the top. There’s 48 plus modules and more will be added over time. It’s going to help you get up, get set up or get caught up with strong foundational accounting books. Um, we use it to help make decisions. We use it to help predict cash and cash pinch points.

Stephen:                             [02:28]                     What you’re going to have, if you’re buying inventory and you’re waiting to get paid for it, you’re going to run out of cash at some point. Wouldn’t it be great to know? You’re just not great that it happens, but it’s great to know when it’s going to happen so you can plan for it. You can make different decisions based on real solid information, historical information that you keep building. That’s part about quickbooks online is our CPA signs right in and does his tax voodoo right through the system. And so I don’t have to hump it over there and we can get a little better rate by doing that. So how do you find out more about it? And again, you should look into it. AMZ accounting, simplified.com forward slash, podcast I’ll say it again, amz accounting, simplified.com forward slash podcast check out all the different modules.

Stephen:                             [03:09]                     Checkout what you can do if you really want to get your house in order. If you’re really looking to get that building block established and in locked in place, and then you can build from there, then we recommend the course. So you’re looking for an advantage to help you Wu brand. Well, one of the tools that you can use as scope. You could check out the product and then check out their competitors and find the keywords that are competitors are using and check out theirs and see that they’re not. And then say, okay, I’ve got an idea. Let me do this. Let me enhance your brand. That’s the thing you can bring to the marketplace. When you can enhance the brand, you’re going to win that account. So try it. You get a free trial, but seller labs.com forward slash, scope use the code omentum and save 50 bucks.

Stephen:                             [03:50]                     It’s a free trial. Try it and see if you can enhance the brand. Add an important member to your Amazon teams. Solutions. Four ecommerce. Yep. Solutions Four ecommerce. Karen lockers team helps manage our Amazon account. We pay full price just like everybody else. We’ve been using her for a couple of years. And the reason is is because of the results. We modify a lot of listings, especially in wholesale because we’re trying to enhance that listing, right? We’re trying to help the brand. And so guess what? That’s the type of service that we get from solutions for ecommerce. So it’s solutions, the number four e-commerce dot com forward slash, wholesale and you can get $50 off her service. Go try it, give it a shot and say, hey, could you help me get this listing in line? And guess what? That allows you to go out and develop relationships with wholesalers, and then the work gets done by Karen and her team.

Stephen:                             [04:40]                     I can’t recommend it enough. We use it again. We pay full price solutions, the number four e-commerce dot com forward slash wholesale save 50 bucks. Get that important part of your team working for you. If you’re ready to learn about wholesale, then I suggest best from the nest and Robin Johnson, her unstoppable Amazon Academy will help you learn from basically even opening account if you’re brand new to Amazon, but then all the way to brand building, how do you, how do you enhance the brain? How do you have that conversation? There’s 300 plus videos, probably more than that by now. So very simple, little as $49 a month. Best from the nest.com forward slash m that’s it. Best from the nest.com forward slash m checkout the services that they offer, checkout some of the events that she hosts. Do you want to go walk around ASD? Check it out best from the nest.com forward slash.

Stephen:                             [05:35]                     Emr. It’s time to get the listings, right. So what should you do? You should get your images right, right? So amazing freedom has a program to help you do that. And we’ve used them. It’s phenomenal what they can do. You got to go look at this. So you go to amazing freedom.com, forward slash photos and take a look at the examples of what you can do with an image you take and you them some sample images. Um, some simple images. And then what they do is they take and insert them with lifestyle photos. And so all of a sudden you’re going to see an example of what a plain image looks like and then what it can be enhanced to. Why is this of value to, while you were in the wholesale business? And guess what? You want to add value to the brand. And this is just a simple way to do it. Therefore, all those kinds of services, scroll down to the bottom. If you really want somebody to help really improve this service and you want to bring value to that brand because you want to exclusivity, the services that they offer for listing enhancement will blow your mind. So again, it’s amazing. freedom.com forward slash photos, take a look at what you can do for your brand

Stephen:                             [06:42]                     that you’re trying to get. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. This is episode 381, Nick Schou cat. Um, the first step is to believe in yourself. Yup. That’s a title. I stayed with it because, you know, the dude’s 31 and he sang such Weiss things, you know, as a dad who has a son about his age, it gives me pause to, to get excited, um, that that generation has figured it out. And so if you’re in that generation, believe in yourself, that’s it. That’s that there’s your permission, right? If you’re not in that generation, if you’re older and you’re my generation, believe in yourself. We used to define ourselves by our jobs, right? Oh, Steve, what do you do for a living? Right? That was it. Well, guess what? None of that matters anymore. The world is changed. Believe in yourself because I do. So let’s get into the podcast. Very cool. All right. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. I’m a little sick so you’re gonna have to put up with it, but I wouldn’t put off the interview because I get excited when I see, especially a couple of figuring this out. Um, when you can work together with your spouse, figure it out and then offer help to others because you figured it out. I just think it’s such a great story and there are young way young Nick Schou. Kat, welcome nick.

Nick:                                      [08:01]                     Thank you. Appreciate you having me on.

Stephen:                             [08:03]                     All right. Let’s get it out of the way. How old are you? I’m 31. All right. You’re young relative to me. All right. That’s fair. Um, there are younger, I mean, have you ever seen some of these 18 year olds that just adapt to Amazon like instantly and say, oh my God, if I would’ve known at 18 what I know today?

Nick:                                      [08:21]                     Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got a two guys that I work with a lot and uh, I follow them very often and there are a few years younger than me and they make my sales look small. Uh, and I’m always going to them for advice and they’re in their early twenties.

Stephen:                             [08:39]                     They have no fear. Right? I mean, somebody said that to me once, you get three shots at in life, and I think it’s even more than that today, but you know, it was like, Hey, when you’re, you know, 18, 19, 20 are fresh out of college, then you know, usually you get married in the middle of life you have two incomes, so that helps you another shot. And then once the kids are off to college, you get another shot. I think today, um, some of these kids aren’t going to college because they know computers better than any college can teach them. They have no fear and they see the lifestyle that you guys, I mean, you guys are a good looking couple. They’re sitting there saying, that’s what I want. I can do that too. Is that fair?

Nick:                                      [09:19]                     Yeah, absolutely. You know, the, the Internet and technology just, just changed everything. And that generation, uh, you know, that just came out of college and that age group, they were really able to capitalize on that, that technology and the leverage that it offers a in the world of online sale.

Stephen:                             [09:40]                     I tell this story, listeners have heard this a million times. Computers came out in my high school my senior year midway and so we didn’t have access to it. So anybody your age even has grown up knowing nothing but so it’s a big advantage. All right, so tell me what you were going to do because generationally you’re kind of fit that bill to what were you going to do with your life?

Nick:                                      [10:03]                     Yeah, so I was just going to go to school and uh, go to college and, and get a job. Um, I really didn’t have any other direction, uh, in my life. Other than that, my father was very successful in his career, but he was always very busy working and I think he kind of just fell into his position also just by working hard and being good at what he was doing. So he kind of just left me out there and not left me. But he allowed me to be out there on my own to kind of develop my own, my own path in life. And, um, I just wanted a job that, you know, would allow me to afford the things that I wanted to have in life. And most importantly, I was hoping I would get something that would, would let me go surfing when the waves were good.

Stephen:                             [10:55]                     When you look back at your dad working in that career, it sounds like he had a big job. I assume it came at a cost, right? And this isn’t meant to sound negative, but when you look back, are you willing to make that same commitment to costs that he did? Do you think that’s in you?

Nick:                                      [11:16]                     No, I’m, I think I learned a lot from, from his mistakes and we’ve had this conversation multiple times and, um, you know, he was doing what he thought was best because that’s just, you know, what society society had taught us. He was providing for his family financially. And that led me to grow up in a way that, uh, when I had kids, I wanted to be able to be there more often and be able to financially provide for them. So that has a lot to do with why I continued to work so hard at what I’ve, I’ve been able to build. Um, even though that’s not how I got into what I’m doing

Stephen:                             [12:05]                     currently. So, so those two keys were, were like, that’s the, that’s the deal. Those are absolutes for you. Yes. It’s very cool that you and your dad have had this conversation. Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of people do, um, frankly, because a lot of parents still don’t understand what we do. All right. So what were you going to do? So this, you fell into this, but what were you, what was going to happen?

Nick:                                      [12:35]                     Well, you know, I’ve tried numerous things that had a at failed. I was just not very employable. Um, you know, I always had trouble at staying consistent, uh, at following other people’s directions. And, uh, I guess if I was not doing this, I probably would’ve stayed at my job in the sanitation district. Uh, you know, which I was working at a sewage treatment plant, which, you know, on paper everything looked good and we got paid good and had good benefits and, and all that stuff that we’ve looked for in a job.

Stephen:                             [13:16]                     And, and so it’s funny cause I was just sitting there, I drifted off cause my son worked at one when he went to Drexel, he worked at a sewage treatment plant and he’s like, you get past the smell once you get past that, all of a sudden it is an actually fascinating job, a good career, and you could have it for life. Right. I mean it would give you a good pension and all the rest of that stuff.

Nick:                                      [13:35]                     Yeah, absolutely. Definitely a definitely a good job for someone to get if that’s what they’re looking for. But that’s not you. No, not at all.

Stephen:                             [13:45]                     Was it because you got your significant other at that point or was it still just you knowing that you did not want to do it?

Nick:                                      [13:53]                     Uh, you know, there’s kind of a, there’s a lot to, to that story and kind of how it all happened and I’ll try to keep it short as I can look at it.

Stephen:                             [14:04]                     The summary, I knew I’d find this story

Nick:                                      [14:07]                     and I’m always down to share my story. That’s, that’s, uh, what I’m working on right now and why I put together a website and what I really want to do now that I have the time to do it. Um, but basically, you know, I was, I had trouble as a child. I was, I was in and out of trouble because I had a lot of ambition, a lot of things I wanted to do, but I didn’t know how to do it. Um, so that kind of led me to, to chase that ambition. Wait, wait, wait, wait,

Stephen:                             [14:38]                     wait. What does that mean? You didn’t know how to do it. I mean, you didn’t have guidance. You didn’t have the attention span. You weren’t willing to put in the time. I mean, to be fair, what would it be?

Nick:                                      [14:47]                     Yeah, I’d say a mixture of, of a couple of those. I didn’t have the guidance, you know, I didn’t know how to get access to capital to start a business. Um, I didn’t know how to handle large amounts of money. Um, I didn’t. Um, so I didn’t have the guidance and, uh, that was definitely a big part of it because, you know, I wanted someone to kind of just take me under their wing and say, you know, what, do these things do this, do that. You know, I’ve walked this path and, and, and I’ve gotten to where you want to be and these are the things I think you should do. Um, can I ask a question about that? Yeah, absolutely.

Stephen:                             [15:29]                     So what in your mind, it was just like basically running into Steve at a coffee shop and saying, Steve, give me the keys to the kingdom. Right. That’s, that’s how you thought the conversation would go

Nick:                                      [15:42]                     somewhat. You know, someone who would be willing to, to mentor a kid that had a lot of drive and energy and, uh, was willing to take risks. I’ve always been a risk taker. Um, and you know, I think as a child we’re kind of looking for, for that superhero moment, you know, especially as a boy, you know, where, where something just magical kind of just appears and um, you know, you kind of just just give it everything you’ve got, but it doesn’t always, it doesn’t work out that way, obviously. You’ve got to go out there and find it in my path to going out there and finding it led me to some pretty, pretty bad places, which ultimately I’m grateful for because without that, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Stephen:                             [16:32]                     So it became foundational for you. That’s where, yes. You know, I think about a lot of, uh, parents who tried to guide their kids or try to give them free reign. Right. You just don’t, you don’t know what to do. I know if your parents, if you’re a parent yet, but I’m a grandparent now and it’s way different for me now. Yes. And the fact that they’re girls where I have two boys makes it even more chat. They just cry and I don’t know what to do. Right. But you try to still influenced, but yet you want them to spread their wings. And so you were kind of teetering on the edge. You lean towards the, what you would say is the wrong side, but it really firmed you up in the long run. Don’t, don’t, it doesn’t everyone have to skin a knee, right? I mean, isn’t that kind of the term that we should be following?

Nick:                                      [17:18]                     Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think it’s, uh, it’s very important that we don’t run away from the possibility of making a mistake or, uh, you know, seek perfection in everything that we do because it’s that process of failing where we really learn who we are and what we are capable of.

Stephen:                             [17:38]                     Well, can you give us an example? Something that you failed at that now is like foundational for you? Okay.

Nick:                                      [17:45]                     Yeah. So I do have two kids. I have one seven year old and six month old, a baby girl and a seven year old is from a previous relationship. And I got into that relationship in my, my late teenage years. And because of the way that I grew up with my, my parents divorced early and my father was always away at work. It was very important to me that I did not make that same mistake in that first relationship with, uh, with who I had a child with. I wanted to be there. I wanted us to be together. But the bottom line is that we were just two very different people and I was trying to make something work for the sake of this idea I had that I needed to do things a certain way because of what I lacked as a child.

Stephen:                             [18:34]                     Yeah. We’re doing the Brady bunch thing, right. You saw the Brady bunch show and you’re like, that’s how, how should be right. Not what I came from. Right. And now you know that that’s not true. None of that’s true. Right. Hmm.

Nick:                                      [18:46]                     So we dealt with a lot of things and tolerated a lot of crap from each other or, you know, speaking from my side of things that, um, you know, that I did it for the child. And when I, when I look back at that thing, we had a relationship just, you know, based on a lot of lies, pretending to be someone we weren’t in order to keep things comfortable. And I learned a lot from that. And when I met my current, well my only wife, my current wife, uh, you know, I was just very upfront and, and that was the lesson I learned. I was, I was, I learned that I needed to be 100% honest with who I, who I was, the mistakes I’ve made and who I wanted to be. I didn’t want to have to live a life where I had to hide anything anymore. Um, it’s pretty mature dude, right? Yeah. You know, hiding things. It’s one of the toughest things to do, you know, and it’ll just, it’ll wreck you mentally, physically, and emotionally. And I wanted to make sure that I had never put myself in a position to where I had to live a life like that. Again.

Stephen:                             [19:53]                     Let me ask you a question about your dad. And this is a personal question. You don’t have to answer it. Has He, he’s seen you become this person that you’re talking about now. Open, honest, all out front, all my, all my sins right up for everybody to see. He seen that, correct? Yes. What’s he say about that?

Nick:                                      [20:11]                     Uh, he’s always encouraged it and he’s always been there for me and he’s always supported me through all the mistakes that I had made. Um, you know, as when I was younger, I wish he would have, you know, picked me up and shook me and you know, smack me around a little bit and, and you know, put me on a different path. But, um, you know, the important thing is that he never left me hanging. And without him I probably wouldn’t have made it to where I am today, but he encourages me to, to share my story, you know, he wants me to write a book. Um, and just get out there and hopefully reach someone. Uh, you know, that was like, that’s like me when I was 18, 19

Stephen:                             [20:59]                     years old. You know, that’s, uh, that’s my mature dad. Somebody who’s going to let you basically say, Dad, you didn’t do your job right. And, and I know that that’s not true, but that’s what he’s going to feel like. But he’s saying, hey, if we could help somebody else, maybe I can do it right this time. That’s a, that’s a cool dad. That’s a very cool guy. I like him. I like him already.

Nick:                                      [21:20]                     Yeah, he’s awesome. He just retired and he’s a full on into photography and a street photography and, and it’s a pretty cool to see him, you know, at, at that age you get so excited and just wrapped up into something and,

Stephen:                             [21:36]                     and just chase it. When you listen, when you just said that, what other things has that done for you foundationally? I mean, when is it a do or die kind of thing now? Um, is, is it, you have those absolutes? I’m just trying to think of what else. If somebody takes a stand. Um, I just had Aaron Walker, I just saw him this past week and he talked about masks, guys wear masks, right? We have to pretend, hey, how’s everything going nick? And you’re going to be like, oh, everything’s great. In the meantime, your business is going down, the tubes are, your relationship’s gone out to write those mass. So if you take that all off and you have those absolutes, what are the things, is that led to in your life?

Nick:                                      [22:17]                     Um, you mean like the, the things that I absolutely have to have?

Stephen:                             [22:23]                     Well, I guess, you know, I guess just taking a stand, maybe, maybe that’s, maybe I asked, maybe you’ve already said it, but it just seems to me you have certainty. You have surety for 31, you have kind of a, you know, I know you don’t know the future, but you’re pretty sure where you’re going. To me, that steadfastness or that knowledge is, is, that’s a big foundational block that most people are missing.

Nick:                                      [22:49]                     Right. Okay. Yeah, no, I know what you mean. For me. Um, it had to do a lot with just breaking put. I put myself into a situation where, you know, my whole world and kind of shattered and I had to embrace a lot of kind of philosophical

Nick:                                      [23:11]                     information out there in the world when it came to building myself back up. And really it has to do with, uh, first off, really just believing in, in myself and brother people out there and, you know, believing in yourself. And for me, I know I lacked that belief, so I had to rely on other people who had been through what I went through and had accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. So even though I couldn’t believe in myself, I was able to look around and see other people had done these things and I had to accept that I have the same potential as them. So that’s really where the steadfastness comes through, uh, for me as, as I believe I can get myself through, through just about any situation, because at the end of the day, anybody can get themselves through any situation. It’s just up to them to make the decision if they’re gonna do it or not.

Stephen:                             [24:13]                     Well, it does help that you have, uh, uh, a true love with you now. Right. That does, I assume, fill in any of those gaps. Is She your biggest champion now? Yes, absolutely. That’s cool. All right. So tell us how you fell into this world, right? So your life was take a turn, you’re trying to introspectively look at what point did you find out about Amazon Shopify selling stuff?

Nick:                                      [24:38]                     Yes. So I was a, I had that job at the sanitation district and I had, I was doing shift work and I was coming out of that bad relationship and I was depressed from that. And then I was doing the shift work. So I’m trying to sleep during the day and work at night. And that didn’t help with the depression. And I got into a car accident. I fell asleep at the wheel three times. And on the third time I said, you know, this is enough. I’m going to, I’m going to quit this job. And I quit and started a landscaping business with a friend. Um, that went terrible and I lost like $20,000.

Stephen:                             [25:18]                     What went terrible? But what, what did it teach you about yourself there?

Nick:                                      [25:22]                     A big part of it was I shouldn’t have gone into a business into business with, with my friend. Um, we were, we were two very different people who thought we thought we would compliment each other, but really we both just one in tech kind of have things our way.

Stephen:                             [25:43]                     The Dave Ramsey would say, you don’t build risk until those models. Everything’s great, everything’s great. You only build it for the best. And you’ll probably look back at that relationship and saw things in him that probably came a parent and vice versa. Do the same to you. And that’s fair. Okay. All right. So that didn’t go so well. So strike two.

Nick:                                      [26:02]                     Yeah. So, uh, I was, uh, gone through a pretty hard time. I had to move back into my father’s place, uh, because I had lost a bunch of money and I was having trouble getting a job. And my friend, uh, was a part of some marketing thing where they were selling training, how to sell on Ebay for $20 a month. And I hopped on that because I didn’t really have any other options and I had the time to, to follow the process. And I did, I think it took like three months before I sold anything. Um, but then it took off pretty fast. Um, and then I bought the training to sell on Amazon. That took another 90 days to get into the buy box on Amazon. But when that happened, uh, my Amazon account got shut down that week because I had sold so much stuff in such a short amount of time. Uh, they hit me with a velocity review.

Stephen:                             [27:00]                     No, I would assume you were drop shipping at that point. Correct. All right. And so that’s pretty normal. Any you’ll drop shippers. And then again, in our pre call we talked about this. I have a friend that did millions and millions, so I’m not looking down at it, but those are definitely some of that throttling issues that occur. Um, and so, but you didn’t give up. You know, it’s interesting that you took on Ebay and it clicked. Then you took on. Was there something different about this line of business versus the landscaping versus working in corporate America? I mean, it, was there something that connected with you?

Nick:                                      [27:34]                     Uh, it was the ability to control my own schedule and more importantly to be immediately rewarded for putting in more work. MMM. You know, a lot of people were in a job position, you know, where they’re looking for the raise a year down the line and they have to commit to working, uh, hard for another year to get to that point. But in this business, you know, I can walk out my door right now and go work my butt off and send stuff into Amazon and, and have money in my pocket. And two weeks,

Stephen:                             [28:10]                     Daniel Lapin Rev, Reverend Daniel Lapin, um, uh, rabbi Daniel Lapin, excuse me, sorry, don’t want to offend them. Um, says that the applause you get is the money that your customers give you. Right? So you’re immediately getting applause when you think of it. Is that a generational thing? Where is that just your nature that, that aggressive, uh, you, you mentioned this early on that, that, that’s your nature. You were one of those.

Nick:                                      [28:34]                     Yeah, I think that is my nature. You know, I’ve had some, some things in, in life that I just naturally enjoy doing that have kind of taught me my, my natural way of operating. And I try to work in line, uh, with, with that as much as possible because it just makes things easier. Let’s smart dude.

Stephen:                             [28:58]                     I mean, if, you know, it’s Gary v would say if you know yourself and you align your life with in, in line with that and outsource the rest, that’s absolutely. Would you say your wife fills in a lot of those other things?

Nick:                                      [29:13]                     Yeah, she’s, um, she’s, she definitely does a, she’s, she’s, um, you know, much more tearing patient, uh, and sweet and loving, uh, then you know, then me, whereas I’m kind of focused on, on growth and, you know, keeping my circle small and only surrounding myself. Yeah. A certain people. Um, so yeah, we definitely compliment other very well and learn a lot from each other. That’s so cool. It’s like an emotional Iq. Love that stuff. Okay, so your account gets shut down. You’re probably thinking about giving up on this at this point. What changed? Oh, well, luckily I was very, very lucky to have a great support group. You know, we hear all these nightmares about, you know, pyramid schemes and affiliate marketing and things like that. And of course a lot of them are true, but, um, I really lucked out and had a great team of people around me in this Facebook group. Um, and they just told me what to do and, and I trusted them and I listened and I was able to get reinstated within seven days and I just kept at it. Just followed the process.

Stephen:                             [30:33]                     When, uh, when you think about helping people now, does that play back in your mind? I mean like day in and day out, like, oh my gosh, you know, I wouldn’t be where I was other for the, that group of people that you trusted in that Facebook group?

Nick:                                      [30:47]                     Absolutely. 100% I want to be involved in, in something like that again. And it would be great if I could create something like that. That’s awesome. Okay. So you get reinstated. When did you find out about Fba or why did you want to leave, drop shipping it and become, get into the physical product side of it? Well, I can see the writing on the wall, uh, with, with drop shipping online retailers started to catch on and they were starting to a shutdown accounts and you know, even mentioning the term drop shipping when you would get on the phone with them, uh, to talk about what was happening. Um, and Amazon customers were catching onto a complaining about receipts and Walmart boxes and, and things of that nature. And then you get a to z claims and then it affects your account metrics. Um, so I wanted out, because this was my, this was my golden ticket to the life. I had always wanted a son. I didn’t touch anything, never touched a product. It was all generally automated, right? Yes. Not Too much customer service, but I mean, you could literally be sitting on a beach. Yeah. Handling this bit. This was your world. Yeah. But what you’re describing is not necessarily your world, right? Yeah. It’s not, you’re relying on a lot of other, other parties to keep that dream going. Um, so you had that in you. I mean, cause I think this is

Stephen:                             [32:16]                     be the point where a bunch of people would walk away again because you’re looking at the barrier to an FBA business and you’re saying, oh Jesus, I’ve got to get a prep center. I got this, I got all these, Oh, I’m out. As opposed to, like you said, this was pretty passive, right. I mean it’s really building links and that whole jazz.

Nick:                                      [32:33]                     It was, it was tough, man. It was a scary transition. Um, and it was slow transition. The cashflow is so different, um, because you’re purchasing product up front and waiting and waiting for it to sell. And uh, you know, it took about nine months really to, to get the hang of it. And I made a lot of mistakes.

Stephen:                             [32:56]                     Hmm. I’ve got a warehouse full of those mistakes I can truly relate to. They still make them every so often, you know? Um, when you look back to why you were able to make that leap and, and I don’t want to put anybody else down cause I don’t mean it to be, I mean like positive stuff. What would you say was the thing that really gave you the ability to get past that? I mean, is it back to your aggressive nature, your assertiveness, your can do, or is it your dad believing in you and pushing you and kind of pushing you along? Or is it the loving wife who believes in you? I mean, or is it all above? And that’s probably the answer is all of the above.

Nick:                                      [33:32]                     Yeah, it’s a combination of all, all of the above. But the main thing was you had keeping, keeping my eye on the prize of building that lifestyle, of being able to work on my own time. Um, being able to build a life for myself where, you know, if the waves are good today, I can go surfing. If I want to go to Mexico, I can, I can get a plane ticket and go to Mexico if, you know, if it’s Thanksgiving or Christmas, you know, I don’t have to ask anyone for time off. I can just, I can just go do it. Uh, so that was real important to me, uh, to keep that, that control. And that’s definitely a big part of what kept me motivated in addition to being able to raise my and my son and future children the way that I wanted to by being there as much as possible.

Stephen:                             [34:21]                     So when you look, let’s not criticize others, but when you look at the people that you didn’t successfully make that transition were, or could you point to anything? Or is it just not keeping their eye on the prize? I mean, is that going to be the answer or is there something else that you’ve seen?

Nick:                                      [34:39]                     I, you know, I, I think a lot of

Stephen:                             [34:42]                     peoples,

Speaker 5:                           [34:44]                     mmm.

Nick:                                      [34:46]                     Failures, anger and frustration. I think it stems back to, to self confidence. And I probably say that just because that was my experience.

Speaker 5:                           [34:58]                     MMM.

Nick:                                      [35:00]                     But I, I think if people just believed in themselves a little more than they would be willing to, to have more patience with themselves and the process and put in more work, um,

Stephen:                             [35:15]                     to get the answer. Is it, is it more work that’s gotten you past the hardest points?

Nick:                                      [35:20]                     Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You know, learning, learning more, reaching out to people, networking, asking questions, not being afraid to ask a question. I’m not being afraid to look dumb or feel dumb, um, because I don’t know.

Stephen:                             [35:38]                     And, uh, you know, really just, just putting myself out there and getting over all of the fear associated with doing that as a guy. That’s really hard. I mean, it really is. Ask Your Dad, it would be really hard, right? Generational. But I think, again, this is another positive thing about generations. This stuff becomes a little, there’s so much data, there’s so much to know. No one could possibly know it all. And I think that that’s so cool, you know? Um Hm. All right, so, so you start having some success. Um, and at that point were you married yet or did your wife come into the, when? When did she come into the business?

Nick:                                      [36:18]                     Uh, she came into the business a couple of years ago, like two and a half years ago. And, um, she was working at Geico and, uh, things were going pretty well for me. And you know, she would be at work and this is what I lived close to the ocean front and I’d be, I’d be out there riding my bike around, you know, down at the boardwalk,

Stephen:                             [36:41]                     stuff like that. And she got frustrated and she saw that dude, you can never post pictures of yourself and those sort of never, but what, what did you, and this is a fair question, um, could you guys are younger, what did you expect for her to come into the business and do and how, how is that the roles she’s fell kind of moved into or is it different than what you expected?

Nick:                                      [37:07]                     I think some chains now with, uh, with our newborn. Um, in the beginning, you know, she was helping me fulfill orders and handle

Stephen:                             [37:16]                     customer service and look for more products to sell. And it was kind of my dream for her to take a more of a, um, you know, CEO or a chief of operations role or something like that. Um, but with our, with our child being born, she’s, you know, she’s full on into to being a mother and raising our child and uh, but she still helps a lot with, uh, you know, sourcing new products and other tasks like that. You know, I think that would be a big advantage as a new mom, I’m seeing products, right. Cause she’s seeing everything. She knows what issues are. She’s in these groups. I think that’s a good advantage. I’m sure there’s a whole bunch of baby products that have come across your desk saying, Hey, take a look at these nick. Hey, check this out. We could use. Yeah, absolutely. That’s a pro tip right there. Yep. All right. So when, if you pulled back and said 100%, I have the strengths. What would you say they are and not an ego thing. It’s real.

Nick:                                      [38:24]                     Uh, I think I’m, I’m pretty good at looking at data and figuring out what to do with it.

Stephen:                             [38:32]                     Um, I’m not good at gathering the data, but if

Nick:                                      [38:36]                     you give it to me, I can, I can look at it and figure out what to do. Um, I’ve been good at putting our team together and training the team and giving them a direction and keeping them on, uh, on task. Uh, and also I think it’s just, um, you know, my, it sounds like an ego thing, but I really do believe I can accomplish whatever I set my mind on. But at the same time, I believe that anyone can do that.

Stephen:                             [39:13]                     So it’s belief in yourself, knowing yourself, um, all those things put together. Um, then you have a couple of Shopify stores to what led you off of Amazon into kind of doing your own thing also?

Nick:                                      [39:29]                     Well, uh, you know, just kinda like drop shipping, right? We relied on other retailers for products. We relied on the Amazon marketplace to be able to sell those products. Uh, so I just want to have another stream of revenue coming in that does not fully or that does not rely on something else. So I’m trying to develop something and be successful at it that, that’s mine. And that cannot be taken away from me.

Stephen:                             [40:00]                     Yeah. So where you can collect the customer. Damn. It’s a beautiful sight. I’m going through it right now. One of them. I mean, it’s phenomenal. Great photos, great descriptions. I can see you knew what you were doing. Thank you. That’s very cool. All right, so looking back, um, you’re not regretting your decision. Obviously everything isn’t easy though, is it? I mean, how do you handle now when these challenges come because they still must come to you, you’ve got a big business, you’ve got more responsibility than you’ve had, right? You’ve got focus, you’ve got a team. How are you addressing these challenges when they come now?

Nick:                                      [40:38]                     Um, I just try to be as understanding as possible when someone on the team makes a mistake. Um, and, you know, let them know that I’m, I’m certainly prone to making mistakes and then I’m here to help them as much as possible. Um, if it’s a problem that Amazon or a customer throws at us, um, then I, if it’s not something I don’t know how to handle a, then I’ll reach out to my network of other Amazon sellers and ask them for help. Um, and the other part to that process as being as helpful as I can. Yeah. Uh, when, when other people have problems because you know, it’s Karma, it’s you, you get it back eventually and it’s worked out well for me so far.

Stephen:                             [41:31]                     Yeah. You’ve, you’ve referred to that a few different times. It’s just so powerful. And I tried to tell people that all the time. You can’t be shy out there about, like you’re saying, asking questions and that people want to help. I mean, is that where Romans tied came from?

Nick:                                      [41:46]                     Romans tied came from, uh, the idea of getting into the wholesale side of Amazon and then it turned into a, hopefully helping brands, uh, working directly with brands to become successful on Amazon. Um, my motivation to help individuals is where the mind your grind website came from. And, and my Instagram page.

Stephen:                             [42:19]                     Hm. The, uh, uh, when I look at a woman’s tide, Rome wasn’t built in a day. I think it’s genius. I get it. Mind your grind is designed for single sellers or companies that are looking to improve. Is that, what is that the best way to say it?

Nick:                                      [42:35]                     Uh, mine. Your grind is really, uh,

Stephen:                             [42:38]                     just

Nick:                                      [42:40]                     about me. It’s uh, it’s like my journey and my path and I’m going to share a lot of stuff on there about my past, which I think will really help a lot of people who have been through in some similar situations. And my goal with that website is, is to just let people know that like, Hey, I, I’ve been there, I’ve been probably in worse situations than a lot of people and I’ve gotten out of them and these are the things that have allowed me to do it. Uh, becoming an entrepreneur, uh, keeping myself healthy, setting goals and Jim and just, just not giving up. Uh, when things get hard

Stephen:                             [43:28]                     cause they do get hard always. You know, how about this, you, you’ve met a lot of successful sellers. Have you, have you found that your kindred spirits storywise with a lot of them, a lot more than you ever would have thought?

Nick:                                      [43:41]                     Oh yeah, absolutely. We, when I find myself opening up to people, uh, I typically get the same thing back.

Stephen:                             [43:48]                     Yeah. Just, just mentioned somebody in your family has cancer and you’re going to hear 99% of the people in the room has somebody that can connect with anything. And so I think, I think this mask story, again, it comes back to it. And so mind your grind is your Instagram handle, is that correct? Yes. Okay. And that’s the one that you can find out a lot of this personal stuff and that’s quite frankly how we met. Um, okay. So it sounds like to me, you’ve got it all figured out. I think you’ve got it. You’re right on track. Nothing’s going to stop you.

Nick:                                      [44:21]                     Yeah, I’ve got it. I’ve got a couple things figured out. I’m always looking for ways to improve. And um, you know, being in a great husband and a great father is always, always a work in process. And I have a lot to learn. And in that regard.

Stephen:                             [44:36]                     So when you’re giving advice out there, what’s the advice that you’re giving others? Because again, it’s this holistic approach, which I appreciate that it’s not just, hey, here’s how to run your PPC. That’s helpful, but there’s more to the story, right? Cause when you get that figured out and your marriage is on the rocks or your kids hate you cause they haven’t seen yet, that’s not good. So, so talk about that a little bit more.

Nick:                                      [44:59]                     Yeah, I think that’s a big, it’s such an important thing and I think a lot of people give advice just because they like to hear themselves talk and they like to feel good about themselves and they don’t really have any regard for an individual’s unique situation. And, um, that’s really what I want to do with mind. Your grind is, is get to know someone, get to know their struggles, their daily struggles, um, and where they have time to work on the goals they have set for themselves and how I can help get them there in the simplest way possible. You know, in this day and age, because we have information overload, we typically make things more difficult than they need to be and we don’t really give a process the proper amount of time it deserves to see if it’s going to work for us or not.

Stephen:                             [46:02]                     Ooh, so, so you can’t just leave us there, you got to take us in there. How do we, how do we make these changes? What’s the, are they simple steps?

Nick:                                      [46:11]                     Well, we’re going to try and make them simple. If I’m giving them advice in, and I’m, it’s hard for me to give a general advice because like I mentioned, I like to get to know someone. But for example, if someone’s trying to, let’s say they want to lose weight and they’re trying to utilize a diet to lose weight, well, you know, you can’t just, you can’t just say, hey man, you need to do the Keto diet or a, you know, hey man, you need to stop eating less. Or, you know, you need to get better at cooking. Um, you really need to understand what that person’s day looks like. You tell someone who has three kids and a full time job that they need to, you know, Cook more food. They’re going to be like, well, what the heck man? Like, you know, when am I supposed to do that?

Nick:                                      [47:00]                     Um, and because things are tough when you’re in a situation like that. So me, I’d say, Hey, there’s research out there that says if you have 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, that that could help you lose weight. Do you have a three minutes in the morning to shake up a protein shake before you head out the door? Oh, okay. You do. All right. Yeah. I want you to do that. Uh, for seven days and I’ll talk to you on the seventh day and uh, you with them on the seventh day, get some feedback, see how they’re doing and, and you move on to another thing. And what it boils down to, the general advice I can give is it has to do with building habits and you have to identify what your goals are and then you have to choose habits that allow you to get to that goal.

Stephen:                             [47:53]                     You know, one of the cool things on your mind, you’re growing your website. As I look at it, I’m sitting here thinking about this, you’ve got diet, lifestyle, meditation, mindset and fit all things that we need to work on. And then in the center is this kind of one thing selling on Amazon and it’s funny, and in our world, you’re my world. We have so many people that can do all these different things because we’re so fortunate to be able to sell on Amazon. Is that fair? Yeah, absolutely. I just think that you know, more people who are looking for an easy way to make money. This is not easy. Selling on Amazon is not easy. When you figure it out, it’ll change. Okay. Just get ready for it. No matter what you do, it’s going to change without nobody’s gonna call you and say, hey nick, you know, this is Jeff Bezos here, so I’m gonna make some changes that cool with you. Right? That’s not gonna happen. But when you adapt, I would say that having the right mindset, having, getting that meditation and getting your fitness right and your lifestyle that allows you to adapt to the changes, right? When you think about your friends at your age too, they are the able, for the most part, to be able to focus on all these other things. Now, does that break your heart? I mean to, does that hurt like hurts, doesn’t it?

Nick:                                      [49:06]                     Yeah, it does. And it definitely used to bother me a lot more because when you find something like, like these things that changes your life, you really want to share it with, um, with everyone around you. You know, it’s like, it’s like a drug addict when they first get sober, you know, they’re just, they’re out there screaming off the rooftops about how great it is and how life changing it is. But really no one really see

Stephen:                             [49:32]                     nick, you don’t know my soccer. So just, you know, Oh woe is me. Right. The Er thing. Right. But you do have those circumstances and you’re out there. I think at the right term is evangelizing, right? You’re out there saying, wait, I’m one of you guys. I came from that, those circumstances myself. But I was able to rise above it and I think that’s the right answer, right. Is to demonstrate rather than evangelize. Right. Demonstrate. And then there’ll be like, okay, I want to find out more. Have you been able to bring anybody into the business that’s actually performed? Yes, I have. That’s awesome. That’s very cool. All right. So as I’m sitting here thinking about your advice, because I think, I mean I want people to go check out [inaudible] dot com cause I think there’s so much of his advices out. There’s got a blog and he’s got a lot of good quality stuff in there and it’s all related to that diet, selling on Amazon, lifestyle, meditation, mindset and fitness. Give us, give us something that you think somebody can change tomorrow. So they’re listening to this will, I’ll be in Vegas next week. And so this will come out next week. I’m an in Vegas. I want somebody to listen to it that week and make a change in their life. What, what’s, what are you suggesting that they do?

Nick:                                      [50:42]                     Uh, well, if they’re looking to, to make some changes in their life and they’ve, and they’ve tried and failed, I would suggest that instead of looking at looking at things from a point of, I’m going to take this out of my life and I’ll go back to the diet example, um, I’m going to stop drinking soda. Well, that’s hard to do. It takes a lot of willpower. So I encourage people to say something like, I’m going to add a protein shake into my diet each day, or I’m going to add a vegetable juice into my diet each day. And what happens is, is that affects the way that our mind, uh, looks at this stuff is it’s easier to add things than it is to take them away. And as you add more and more things into your life that are good for you, you start to feel a little bit better about yourself and you start to have more willpower. And that’s when you can really start tackling those things that you need to take out of your life.

Stephen:                             [51:54]                     Dude, you’re 31. You’re not supposed to know that. You know, it’s just so funny though, as I sit and I get so excited about your generation, cause I have a son about your age and I get so excited because you guys have, you know, your dad’s had made mistakes, you know, and, and we understand that and we, we, oh, it’s horrible inside. Every mistake I made, I wear on my sleeve, I can’t help it. But man, when you see your boys, especially your boys figure it out, they know how to treat their women. They know how to be a good friend, be a good son. That’s, that means that we made a difference. We made a dent. So your dad made a dent at some point. That’s a big deal. Okay. So mind your grind a.com is where you’re going to find information about, you know, all these kinds of things.

Stephen:                             [52:39]                     And again, I appreciate you tackling this and I hope you change a lot of people. You have another site called Romans tide and if you’re a brand or if you’re interested in learning more about how to, how to do more things on Amazon, he’s got a marketing and consulting business. He can help you with PPC. You can help you with keyword data, he can help you with sponsored ads and all the rest of that jazz. So go to Romans, tide.com and there’s a let’s talk, but right now, don’t even have to put that out there. Um, before I ask my final question, um, is there the best place to get you or those two websites? They are an Instagram the best place to get you.

Nick:                                      [53:14]                     Yeah, absolutely. Especially, um, you know, if you’re looking out for some personal advice or want to get started on Amazon, um, minor grind is definitely the way to, if you’re a, if you’re a company looking to get your products on Amazon or you know, update some listings or whatever the case may be, then then check us out at Roman’s tide.

Stephen:                             [53:35]                     Okay. All right. Awesome. All right, so the goal of this podcast is to help people move forward and I think, you know, quite frankly, the whole episode is going to be about moving forward. Give us your best tip at best trick, maybe the best piece of advice you’ve gotten to move forward. Like not, not when you’re stuck, when you’re down in the Rut of it all. You sound like you’ve been there. What’s the best thing you could do to get forward?

Nick:                                      [54:01]                     Oh Man. Uh,

Stephen:                             [54:04]                     it’s bad. It’s lifespan right now, right nick, and then, man, how did you push through it? What is it?

Nick:                                      [54:11]                     You know, for me it’d be a big part of it was thinking of myself as a child. And, um, you know, we have these moments in childhood where we develop these ideas for our future. And I didn’t want to let, uh, I didn’t want to know that. I didn’t want to let little nick down, you know? Um, so if you’re really down in the dumps and you’re having a hard time, you know, try to think back to a time in your life where you had this great vision for yourself, for your future, for your family, your home, uh, you know, or where you a travel, whatever it was. Just take yourself back to that moment in time and then tell yourself that, that you can make it happen. That no matter where you are right now, that if you make the right choices and walk the right path, uh, that you can accomplish the vision you have for your life.

Stephen:                             [55:12]                     Dude, let’s do, you’re only 31. Again, not supposed to know. Hey Man, I really wish you nothing but success. Thank you so much.

Nick:                                      [55:21]                     Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

Stephen:                             [55:25]                     What a great guy. Um, again, what a great story. You know, somebody who’s messed up, kind of do over because he knew he needed to do over and worked his way through it. Now it was messy along the way. You’ve heard it in his voice. It wasn’t perfect every single time, nothing is, but he figured it out. So why can’t you next given you permission, right? Believe in yourself again. I’ll say it again. Believe in yourself. You know, we know the stuff junk happens. Junk is going to happen, no matter how perfect life is going, right? So guess what? You got permission. Go out there and kill it and build that lifestyle. Check him out. Mind your grind.com um, and, and just start, just start working on yourself. I’ll be right there along with you. Reach out to me if I can help in any possible way. ECOMMERCE, momentum.com take care.

Cool voice guy:                  [56:12]                     Thanks for listening to the ECOMMERCE momentum podcast. All the links mentioned today can be found that ecommerce, momentum.com under [inaudible] episode number, please remember to subscribe and the lake us on iTunes.

 

Stephen-Peterson

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