Today's episode is a follow up from our episode with Dr. Christopher Erickson 7 months ago about inflation and where we are now and what this means to small business owners. Dr. Christopher Erickson is a professor of economics at New Mexico State University and has been in several episodes of our podcast. Check out our previous episodes with Dr. Christopher Erickson. ZC 41 – Ask an Economist, What is “Opportunity Cost” https://zonconpodcast.com/podcast/zc-41-ask-an-economist-what-is-opportunity-...
Dec 17, 2021•31 min•Season 4Ep. 89
We are very excited talking with Kata Phipps again for the third time. Kata is one of the best in Amazon product development. Her Amazon journey started in watching YouTube tutorial videos and now has exited a business. She is an expert at delivering good quality products. Listen as she shares her best tips and tricks that you can apply to your Amazon business. Listen to our previous episode with Kata Phipps. ZC 54 – 2021 Predictions with Kata Phipps https://zonconpodcast.com/podcast/zc-54-2021-...
Dec 10, 2021•38 min•Season 4Ep. 88
We chat with Mark Norton again about his strategies to effectively and properly launch a product on Amazon. Let's listen as he shares how he climbed at the top of his niche. According to BSR (Best Seller Rank), every single product ranked #1 in all of Amazon UK particularly in the music category. Mark shares 6 steps on how you can properly launch your product to help you build, manage and grow your business on Amazon. 6 Steps to Launch a Product 0. Plan Everything 1. Knowing Your Logistics 2. Pi...
Dec 03, 2021•51 min•Season 3Ep. 66
Top Action Items for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas buying season 9. Know your dates! 8. Do a keyword gap analysis 7. Adjust PPC budgets 6. Add “gifting” keywords to your title and listing copy 5. Add “gifting” images to your listing 4. Create a holiday-themed storefront 3. Make sure your listings and stock are ready for Lighting Deals 2. Blast your audience! 1. Add a >=20% clip coupon. This will qualify you for the BF/CM deals page! Google Doc with 28 more tips! https://docs.googl...
Nov 24, 2021•15 min•Season 4Ep. 87
In this second half of our in-depth interview with Chris Rawlings, he tells a very interesting story on how he sneaks in backstage pretending to be security just to get to the event where he met startup founders. His first startup, Judolaunch, eventually went downhill after one of his investor was staging a hostile takeover of the company. At this point Chris just hit the rock bottom but he didn't give and started a new company, Sophie Society . Listen to our previous episode with Chris Rawlings...
Nov 19, 2021•38 min•Season 4Ep. 86
Our guest today, Chris Rawlings, is the founder of the tech startup, Judolaunch . This is the first part of his in-depth story about how he built his brands and became successful in the e-commerce space. Chris started in the university physics, working in the solar business, became a star in the Silicon Valley until he essentially worked his way into creating and running a successful private label business. Listen as he shares his rise and fall or we'll call it the "rags to richest rollercoaster...
Nov 12, 2021•44 min•Season 4Ep. 85
Our guest today is best known as the founder of Beast Gear, Ben Leonard is the classic millennial entrepreneur. He built a business on a laptop, in a cupboard, in his spare time. The difference? Ben grew an international 7-figure business and successfully exited after 3 years; the business holy grail. Now Ben is doing it all over again and helping others to do the same with his e-commerce brokerage – www.ecombrokers.co.uk . Get in touch with Ben on these links below. ben@ecombrokers.co.uk https:...
Nov 05, 2021•35 min•Season 4Ep. 84
Your brand is a very important part of your business. It's important not only to leave a memorable impression on your customers but it's the best way to identify yourself from your competitors and let them know your product is the better choice. Today, Ryan shares a few important ways to elevate your brand and its significance on consumers' behavior. We talked about BRANDING on a previous episode with Joe Bezdek. Click the link below to listen to the episode. ZC 05 – Why and How to Build the Bes...
Oct 29, 2021•51 min•Season 4Ep. 83
In this episode, our guest Amber English shares her story on how she started selling on Amazon with her brother, Benjamin. The brother-sister duo was a success making their brand hit 2-million a year in sales. Today, Amber shares some pro tips and her best practices on how to use Amazon Posts to engage with your potential audience and promote your brands on Amazon. Stay tuned for the next episode where we get in-depth about Amber's Amazon journey. Learn more about Amazon Posts by visiting the li...
Oct 22, 2021•29 min•Season 4Ep. 82
This is the last part of the "Selling the Biz" series and yet we are still excited to share more about the process of selling a business. Part 4 is our interview with Andrew Voda - Sales manager at Empire Flippers. Andrew works with sellers and manages the Business Advisors who specialize in working with sellers. Empire Flippers specializes in helping people buy and sell online businesses. Empire Flippers is the number 1 “curated marketplace for buying and selling established businesses.” ZC 78 ...
Oct 15, 2021•36 min•Season 4Ep. 81
This is part 2 of our 4-episode series on exiting and today Mike and I are talking about the "HOW" on selling a business. In this episode we reveal how we went about finding the right buyer and the pros and cons of doing it. We also talk about other stuff that is very important in making the exit possible especially if you are going to sell a business for the first time. You can listen to our previous episode with Mike Yeh on the link below. ZC 46 – How to Organize a Million Dollar Team with Mik...
Oct 01, 2021•45 min•Season 4Ep. 79
Today we're starting this series of episodes about selling a business. This is part 1 of our 4-episode series on how we sold our business. Like anything with value, a business is an asset just like a car or a house, these are assets. In this episode, Mike and I talk about WHY we sell a business and the what motivated to sell our own business. You can listen to our previous episode with Mike Yeh on the link below. ZC 46 – How to Organize a Million Dollar Team with Mike Yeh https://zonconpodcast.c...
Sep 23, 2021•33 min•Season 4Ep. 78
In today's episode, I will be sharing to everyone my steps to personal wealth and charity. Being a money nerd is not just about having what you need or want, it’s about being efficient with your spending and investing. Here are a few steps you can follow or tweak whichever works for you best. Get an education Become debt-free Cruise control retirement Build a cash flow business Build a disruptive business Become a philanthropist Listen to previous episodes featuring Dr. Christopher Erickson. ZC ...
Sep 10, 2021•21 min•Season 4Ep. 77
We are starting a new season! In this episode I'm going solo to discuss about something we should do to effectively grow our business. For every task we do, we want to ask the question if it is an efficient use of our time. I’ve found that using this “Task Test” makes it easy to figure out if we should be doing this task. Eliminate Is this task actually useful? Does it make a drastic change in your business when it is done? Will nothing happen if it never gets done again? If so, ELIMINATE THE TA...
Sep 02, 2021•11 min•Season 4Ep. 76
What a good opportunity to sit down and chat with our guest Conor Hawking today. Conor is also one of the Titan Leaders from the Titan Mastermind . Originally from Ireland then moved to the United States where he in a small kiosk selling christmas ornaments in malls and then business started growing and growing from multiple 6-figures to a 7-figure successful business. What’s your big WHY? Why do you do this? Having that flexibility to work and travel anywhere, creating a better life for myself ...
Aug 13, 2021•44 min•Season 3Ep. 75
In this episode, our guest Elaine tells a very inspiring story about how she started a small business and now exiting one of her brands. Elaine started sourcing from China and building her e-commerce brand when she was in high school. After a lot of research, she found her suppliers on Alibaba. ZC 06 – Travel the World and Pay No Income Tax with Jack Fallon https://zonconpodcast.com/podcast/zc-06-travel-the-world-and-pay-no-income-tax-with-jack-fallon/ What’s your big WHY? What motivates you to ...
Jul 02, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 74
Our guest today is a serial entrepreneur and a digital nomad. Anthony Cofrancesco has started several businesses in travel hacking, photography and marketing. He used to worked at Amazon early in his career. Anthony is now the Industry Liaison for PickFu, an online platform that allows people to run polls and get fast feedback from consumers in a matter of minutes. What’s your big WHY? What motivates you to build something new and grow it? I want to build things. For me, what’s really cool is th...
Jun 24, 2021•55 min•Season 3Ep. 73
This is the second part of our chat with Anatoly Spektor. If you haven't listened the first part of this episode, check here: ZC 71 – Work from Anywhere You Want While Traveling In this episode, Anatoly tells us a whole big story about how he started out in Latvia, went to Canada and finished a degree in software development and then used that career to build up his own Amazon business. Justin Dyson’s Episodes ZC 48 – From Dropout to Multi-Millionaire – Justin Dyson’s Origin Story ZC 51 – 5 Fund...
Jun 18, 2021•35 min•Season 3Ep. 72
In today's episode, Anatoly Spektor shares his experiences while living the digital-nomad lifestyle. Yes, it's possible to find a balance and successfully run a business from the road, relying on time management and careful planning. He started working part-time as a software developer in his school while studying. Join the Titan Webinar June 15, 2021. This webinar is a Masterclass about Listing Conversions. The following topics will be covered in this masterclass. Buyer intent Go behind enemy l...
Jun 14, 2021•48 min•Season 3Ep. 71
This is the part 2 of our interview with Erin Graybill and in this episode we cover everything we want to know about how to build an effective team. Erin Graybill is the founder and Managing Director of Luxe England – a UK based company that specialises in beauty and lifestyle products with the purpose to exceed the expectations of its global customers through high quality, thoughtfully designed bundles. In five years the business grew from being a side-hustle, to 7 figures through a blend of Am...
Jun 03, 2021•55 min•Season 3Ep. 70
Erin Graybill is the founder and Managing Director of Luxe England – a UK based company that specialises in beauty and lifestyle products with the purpose to exceed the expectations of its global customers through high quality, thoughtfully designed bundles. In five years the business grew from being a side-hustle, to 7 figures through a blend of Amazon FBA, B2B and website sales. Link to in-depth with Erin Graybill on Seller Sessions https://sellersessions.com/in-depth-with-amazon-seller-erin-g...
May 27, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 69
In this episode, we chat again with my Dad, Dr. Christopher Erickson about inflation and how it affects our small businesses. We will be talking about what is inflation? How is it defined? How does it affect our businesses? And will it be going up in the foreseeable future. How does it affect me? What affects inflation? Will printing a bunch of money increase inflation? Will low interest rates for a long time affect it? Why don’t we want deflation? Previous Episodes with Dr. Christopher Erickson...
May 22, 2021•36 min•Season 3Ep. 68
In this week's episode, we're talking with Michelle Seiler Tucker about how to structure businesses for exiting. Planning on exiting your business will prepare you financially and sometimes emotionally when you sell your business. Michelle shares her experiences in selling businesses and how she was nicknamed "The Closer" in her earlier years working for Xerox. What is your WHY? You got one life. Make it count, leave a footprint, create your masterpiece and be a contribution to others. Book/Podc...
May 13, 2021•43 min
Our guest today is a co-founder of AccrueMe - a new Amazon funding method. Don Henig was the former president of 3 of 4 divisions of NYSE listed company with 7,000+ employees. We chat with Don about his long career in business. He started out his career as the #1 paperboy in Long Island at the age of 11. That followed into a fruitful career in entertainment, several companies in the finance space, and eventually to Accrue Me. AccrueMe is a financing option that grows with you. You only make paym...
Apr 17, 2021•54 min•Season 3Ep. 63
Today we chat about the pros and cons of various funding sources for your Amazon business to help scale and grow and some of the pitfalls to avoid taking in external money. Originally recorded as an interview Andrew Erickson did on the Seller Sessions Podcast on March 24, 2021. Helium10 is our favorite tool for Amazon sellers. Use ZonCon10 for 10% off for life!! https://crushtrk.com/?a=1204&c=188&p=r&s1=...
Mar 26, 2021•35 min•Season 3Ep. 62
Free SOP to create your social media content: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zIHIAg9--rouovSpu0cfD8rUdkrjzobc/view?usp=sharing Today we chat with Ramon Salinas. Ramon runs a successful private label business and is a social media marketing expert. We get to know Ramon’s story starting in Mexico then moving to California as a young adult. He got a computer science degree and worked his way up to become a vice president for a large company. He took the Amazing Selling Machine (ASM) course and pl...
Mar 24, 2021•51 min•Season 3Ep. 61
The fastest way to become an Amazon Millionaire is to grow and sell your brand! Today we chat with Kevin Flaherty from Thras.io. They are a giant billion-dollar company that is looking to buy YOUR business. Yes, you! Listen to hear the most important things buyers look for in a business to buy and how to get top dollar. Interview Outline What is Thras.io? Who started it? Explain the "fastest billion-dollar company" claim Why are you buying up businesses? What are you looking for? Rank Reviews Ra...
Feb 26, 2021•47 min•Season 3Ep. 59
Direct link to the SOP on hiring a VA: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PlGZEXnFjde_HCm-o7hZtYWU122QbTvCyd0naTR9MNg/edit?usp=sharing In today's episode, we talk about the best way to hire a virtual assistant. If you want to grow, you need help! We give tips on where to go to find great (and cheap) assistants, how to write a job listing, and how to filter the applicants. We also talk about the first few things you should delegate in your business. Listen to the last episode to hear WHY you sho...
Feb 19, 2021•21 min•Season 3Ep. 58
Direct link to the SOP on hiring a VA: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PlGZEXnFjde_HCm-o7hZtYWU122QbTvCyd0naTR9MNg/edit?usp=sharing In today's episode, we talk about why you should hire a virtual assistant. If you want to grow, you need help! We give tips on where to go to find great (and cheap) assistants, how to write a job listing, and how to filter the applicants. We also talk about the first few things you should delegate in your business. Listen to the next episode to hear exactly how ...
Feb 17, 2021•22 min•Season 3Ep. 57
Dr. Travis Zigler is an optometrist turn eCommerce entrepreneur. He talks with us about building a brand around a mission. His mission is to help 1,000,000 dry eye sufferers naturally by the year 2030. Today he chats with us about the most efficient strategies for Amazon PPC. He tells us about the 80/20 principle in ad management. He also shares a lot of wisdom on how to have a happy fulfilled life. Travis's favorites book: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz and Profit First for Ecom Sellers by Cy...
Feb 06, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 56
