#106 - This mom found 4 ways to make money on Amazon with Kate "Ecommerce" | The Corey Ganim Show

#106 - This mom found 4 ways to make money on Amazon with Kate "Ecommerce" | The Corey Ganim Show Speaker 2: All right, welcome back to The Corey Ganim Show. So this week we have Kate Humphries. Kate Humphries is one of my right-hand collaborators. Her and I met at Miami Seller Conference a couple of years back. And she is a fantastic person. You're going to hear her entire story. She's got an awesome corporate background that's translated really well into what she's doing as an entrepreneur and into what she's helping us do with the Wholesale Network and some of our other businesses. So Kate, happy to have you on the show. I think we had you, this has been maybe even like a year ago. We had you on in the past and it's really good to kind of have another one-on-one episode. Speaker 1: Yeah, no, thanks for having me. I'm excited to get on here and chat about what we've been doing lately and what we've been working on. So thanks for having me. Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. Now, why don't you give everybody kind of your background, give everybody your elevator pitch on kind of who you are and what you do. Speaker 1: Sure. So I used to work in corporate and I left my corporate job when I started having kids and Left it to make internet money. So I'm doing a couple of different programs online, different ways to make internet money, but essentially just building up that freedom to be available for my kids and my family and also still make money and contribute to the household. And I'm doing a lot of that through networking. So lots of kind of conferences and events and things like that and networking myself into opportunities and sharing that with other people, especially moms, to show them how they can do the same and earn some internet money. Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that I like about your approach is I feel like you do a good job of focusing on moms, people that are in your position that have young kids and that might be working a job that takes them away from them or might just be working a job that they don't like. And your messaging is, well, hey, You don't necessarily have to do that. There are ways to make money online so that you can work from home and spend more time with your kids. Is that your main message? Am I getting that right? Speaker 1: Totally. Yeah. So I think the thing is when I was in corporate, especially like I've worked in corporate and government and then private consulting, but when I was in those roles, it's not that I hated them. They just, they weren't that fulfilling. And I didn't like having to be at the office at a certain time and not leave until a certain time. And then having kids like, They're always sick. They always need something. This morning I dropped Ryan off at preschool and he forgot his jersey for superhero day because he was David. Speaker 2: Oh no. Speaker 1: Right? So then he's like, I was like, do you want your jersey or do you want to just wear a cape at school? And he's like, I want to, I want my jersey. So like, I think it was like nine 15. I'm like, I'll go home, grab the jersey, bring it back. Like, it's fine. I'm like, my, my boss isn't going to call me. I'm like, where the hell are you? Blah, blah, blah. Like it, I have the flexibility to do that. And I can just work a little bit more in the afternoon if I need to, but just that, that flexibility is huge with little kids because you can be present there. And I, like, I feel it's a little bit of a crunchy mom thing maybe, but from zero till seven is when your kids like really develop their internal monologue and their inner voice of what they think and how they speak to themselves. So for me, it's really important to be as present as I can be as much as my kids are still in daycare. We take them out of daycare all the time. They're home a lot. They don't go for full days. So being able to be available for them in like what I think are those critical years is huge. And when I was working in an office, it felt like I couldn't do that. And I want other moms to know that there is internet money to be made. It's not an MLM pyramid scheme scam thing at all. It doesn't have to be like the beach body workout all the time stuff. There's a lot of other ways you can segue your professional experience into making internet money, like just doing it online. It's hard to see. And then once you see it and you're in there, you're like, oh my gosh, there's so many opportunities. I can't pick one. And that's where I'm at right now. I'm like, I want to do them all. They're so exciting. Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah. It's not one of those things where you've got to go pitch all your friends and family on the next multi-level marketing scheme, right? There are so many different ways to do it that don't involve that. And that are, you know, depending on your skillset can be better suited for you or better suited for somebody else. Now, you've got a lot of different things going on. You're making money in a lot of different ways. And we'll get to that here in a second. Before we do, can you give us just more of your corporate background? Like what skills did you develop in that setting that have now translated to what you're doing here? Speaker 1: Sure. So we were talking earlier about the budget for the Wholesale Network and organizing that. And sometimes I look at it and I think, oh, what am I going to do here or there? And then realizing that when I worked for Shell, it was oil and gas. I was the environment and regulatory coordinator and my senior, I was a junior when I started and the senior quit out of nowhere and my boss got fired and my manager got fired like it was bad. So I was the only one left there. And so corporate was messaging me being like, hey, have you done the budget for next year? And I'm like, what? So I looked at the budget and it was $7 million that I had to decide like, It was 4 million of capital, no, 4 million of operational expenses and then 3 million of capital expenses. And I had to plan out all the programs for the next year. And I was like, I can figure this out. Cause like, nobody's going to tell me I'm doing it wrong. Speaker 2: So, and this is pre-ChatGPT days, right? Speaker 1: Yeah. Like I was just learning Excel. I feel like that's basically where, and there was not really a lot of help for that. I remember going to the engineering lead and being like, Hey, do you know what I'm supposed to be doing? And he was like, no, I don't know anything about that. Speaker 2: He's like, not my job. Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. He's like, not my monkeys. So just putting together like that budget and that plan and yeah, it's not perfect, but like give it a go, put it together and it worked out fine. Like it's not, the world's not going to end. It was fine. Or things like having to cut the budget and they were like, You need to cut $200,000. So going through and saying, hey, regulatory wise for compliance, what do we have to do and what are like nice to have? So then going through and making those decisions for the department and being able to go to my boss's boss because everybody else was fired and say, here's the $200,000 that we cut from the budget for next year. So we are on target for whatever cuts we're making. So that part was really cool. I'm working for a big company like that. Like they're a global company. Pretty huge. And I think they're in the top five companies in the world. Does that make sense? Top 10. I think they dropped to 12 last year, but they were in the top 10. And then I worked for government for a little while and in the environmental and consulting and industrial realm, and then went to consulting, like just regular consulting, which was the job I was at before I came into internet money and all of that. So yeah, I've tried a few different things, kind of government, public, corporate, and I enjoyed them, but this is way better. Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Well, the overarching theme across all your roles seems to be just a willingness to figure it out and an ability to figure it out. And I think that is one of the most key traits of an entrepreneur is simply the Not only the ability to figure it out, but also the willingness, right? A lot of people, when they come to a crossroads or they come to a situation that's just a bit more challenging than they're used to, they don't take the time and they don't take the effort to figure it out, but that's what it takes as an entrepreneur to be successful. So let's kind of let that lead into what you're doing now as an entrepreneur, as, you know, I guess a member of the Wholesale Network team as well, right? What are all the different ways that you're making money? Speaker 1: Sure. So yeah, to your point there, it's, it's like, you've got to be delusional, just a little bit delusional enough to think that you can do it and figure it out. And that's definitely like what I've got there and that resiliency. And I've always kind of had that, especially with the corporate role. It was really challenging learning all of that. So so now what I'm working on, there's a few different kind of areas. One is the Amazon influencer program. So it's you don't have to post on your social media. You don't have to post your face. Those are the parts that I love about it. It's literally just reviewing products and then putting them up on the Amazon pages like the product pages. And then when they make a purchase, you get a commission on that. And you can earn really good money. So I did a bonus program that they had and they said not to talk about it, but like, it's fine. Speaker 2: Okay. It's Amazon. Speaker 1: Amazon's like, don't you talk? I'm like, I'm going to tell people. It was great. They paid like, I don't know what it was, a hundred bucks a video or something. So I made like six grand Canadian in January. Speaker 2: So just for one video? Speaker 1: Well, no. So I did like 70 something videos, like a whole bunch. Speaker 2: But I'm saying they were paying a hundred bucks a video just for what, like a 30, 40 second video? Speaker 1: 30, it had to be 30 to 60 seconds. And the item had to be less than $10 on their plan. Speaker 2: Oh, I would have, I would have done that. Like, I wish I would have known about that. That's easy. Speaker 1: This is the thing. This is where you're like, oh, luck is when, um, was it preparation meets opportunity. So you've got to prepare and you've got to apply to the influencer program. And then it's an invitation. Yeah. He emailed me and said, we're inviting you to be part of this program. So like you should get in at a hundred percent. Speaker 2: Yeah. A hundred bucks a video. Hell yeah. Speaker 1: Right. Speaker 2: But that was a one-time promo, right? That's not a normal thing. Speaker 1: No, but they do it like once or twice a year, I think. So it hasn't come back around, but it hasn't been like a full year yet. So I'm excited to see, like this one was a push for items under $10. Cause I think they were trying to compete with like TMU and all of that, but then they'll have another kind of push on a different sector that they're trying to market. Yeah, but there's, I was going to say, so there's a guide in my stand store on my Instagram and it's just free and it's how to get into the Amazon Influencer Program. So I'm going to hold you. Speaker 2: So is that just go to your Instagram and that's just the link in your bio? Speaker 1: Yep, link in bio and you just put in your email and I'll send it to you. It's 110 pages long. Speaker 2: What's your Instagram? Speaker 1: It's Kate.ecommerce. It's down on the screen here too. Speaker 2: Okay. Kate.ecommerce. Yeah. And we'll put that in the description if you're watching on YouTube and then the show notes if you're listening on the podcast as well. Now, so just out of curiosity though, that six grand that you made making a hundred bucks a video, how long did it take you to make those 70 videos that made you that six grand? Speaker 1: I honestly, so I bought a few things for it, but you can just review stuff you have around your house. And use like a seller app to scan it and see what the price is to make sure it's under the $10 or whatever. It had to be in a certain category as well. So there's apps that you can use to do that. And I bought a few things because I needed them and I thought they'd be more like $7. And then I just went to my mom's house and she's got like in her bathroom, she's got a whole cabinet and it's like nail polishes and beauty products and like just like trinkets and stuff. And there were so many things that I could scan, even without the barcode, scan using the Google Lens and see what they are and see how much they are. And I just ripped through her entire bathroom and reviewed everything that I could find. And it literally took like maybe two hours. And then I just trimmed the videos. So the beginning part and the end part were off and uploaded them. Speaker 2: That's actually so smart is scanning those items with Google Lens to figure out what they are, or at least to figure out like a barcode or define a corresponding Amazon listing easily. Speaker 1: Yes, that's right. The Amazon listing. Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's so smart. So in the Amazon Influencer Program, that pays you recurring revenue, right? So it's my understanding of how it works is You make a few of these videos on these listings. When customers are looking at these listings, if they're kind of scrolling across the listing and they see your video and then they watch your video and then they buy, then Amazon pays you a small commission. And I guess the idea behind it is, well, hey, if Kate's video helped to influence this person to buy this product, And she gets a small sales commission and we're talking what, like a few cents per video, right? Not a lot. Speaker 1: It's not very much at all. It's like some of them are 2%, 4%, like sometimes 7%. I think the highest is 11, but I have to look at the chart again. But yeah, I hadn't focused too much on the recurring revenue, although there is a lot of opportunity there. And then it's just like every one of these different internet opportunities is like a rabbit hole. So you start down there and like John Muscarello with Side Hustle Experiment, he is doing user generated content. Speaker 2: Yeah, he's crushing it. Speaker 1: He's crushing it and getting reviews. So he literally just has like these giant mail buckets full of products that come to him and he's partnered with these brands and they send him free product so he can do reviews and post them online. So he gets a free product, he can keep it or sell it, reviews it, gets paid a commission when people buy it and like can earn money recurring monthly on those videos. Speaker 2: What's cool about his model is that, so obviously he's making multiple thousands of dollars per month in the, you know, commission revenue for making the videos. And then you're talking about the amount of free product that he's receiving is at least another few thousand per month, right? So if he had a really good system in place for getting that stuff sold, even at a small discount, right? If it's not, if he had to take it out of the box to review it, for example, You're still talking four or five plus grand. I'd probably assume five to 10 grand a month in profit, if not more. I mean, some of these UGC guys can make a ton, way more than 10K a month. So yeah. Speaker 1: There's guys that make 15,000 a month. And I don't even think that's including the free product. Speaker 2: Right. I mean, the free product's probably another 40, 50 grand a year at least. Speaker 1: And then if you, so there's those pieces in the reviews and then the user generated content, you can like pitch a brand and say, Hey, listen, I love your product. I will do three videos that are kind of organic material on how I like the product or how I use it and you can put it on your own socials. And so the brand puts it on their socials or their website or whatever and uses that as marketing material that's more organic and it has a better conversion rate and they'll pay you like 500 bucks for three videos. Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Such a good way to make money. I mean, there's so many ways to do it in 2025 and beyond. I mean, the thought of just going and working at I mean, anywhere really. To me, it doesn't make sense. Speaker 1: I can never do it. Like I just, now that you've seen the other side, it's like these guys, these 20 something year old Amazon guys are like, Oh, I'm getting out of the matrix. Everybody has to get out of the matrix. And I was like, Oh, and now I'm out and I'm like, Oh my gosh. No, come on. It's better. Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah. Seriously. Well, that's awesome. And obviously you have your own Amazon business going on as well. How long have you been selling on Amazon again? It's been years, right? Speaker 1: Four years. Speaker 2: Four years. Okay. Yeah. Which honestly in this space makes you kind of a dinosaur. Speaker 1: Thank you. Speaker 2: Yeah. Because most people don't last very long and it's very wishy-washy. A lot of people come and go. So four years is longer than most. Now, What are you focused on as far as your Amazon business is concerned? Are you doing wholesale? Are you doing arbitrage? Speaker 1: For sure. So I tried a whole bunch of models. I did used books from like the Goodwill. And the Goodwill in the States, you can get used books for like 20 cents. In Canada, they're like $5 to $7 a book. Speaker 2: Wow, that expensive? I mean, they've definitely gone up in the States, I mean, with inflation and everything. But still, you're probably talking two, three bucks a book, if not less. Speaker 1: The minimum is like $4 for a book in Canada. Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, that's excessive in my opinion. Speaker 1: So bad. So I tried the book thing just to kind of get a feel and proof of concept for Amazon. I've done the retail arbitrage and the outlets down at Nike. Like I live in Canada, but I've gone down to South Carolina actually and hit the outlets or Florida and sent that into Amazon just to see if I could do it. Honestly, it was like an experiment and then went into online arbitrage and had a prep center in the States, which was great. And recently I've been doing more wholesale. So for the last probably two years, Wholesale and then more specifically brand direct. So I know that's something that we work on in the Wholesale Network and we've talked about a lot, but I used Smartsnout and I found a product and a company essentially that was selling really well in the States, had great sales rank and everything. And then I look at their Canadian sales and they only had a couple of their products here, but they were selling really well. But the thing is, nobody wants to do the work to import them from the States to Canada because it just seems like too much, especially with the tariffs and all the crap going on right now. Like fair enough, but I was like, I've done regulatory. I'm sure I can fill out a form. Like if, if these idiots, I can do it, you know? Speaker 2: Right. Speaker 1: So then I just bought half pallet. That's the other thing. It's accessible to be able to go into wholesale. I thought, I don't have $10,000. I can't put my money in debt to start wholesale. But like my half pallet was like maybe a thousand dollars, like $900. It really was not bad. So I connected directly with the brand and said, this is what I'm interested in. What's the best price you can give me on this product? And like, how many do I have to buy? And they wanted me to buy a full palette. I said, that's too much to start. Let's do a half. And they shipped it to my PO box in the States. And I drove over in my pickup truck and put the product in the back. I look like a crazy lady. Speaker 2: That is awesome. Speaker 1: Oh, gosh. Speaker 2: For those of you watching on YouTube, there's a lot of fireworks going on in the background. That must be like an effect of Riverside, something like that. I don't know. Speaker 1: No, I thought it was a Zoom thing. So I'd pile it on the back of our pickup truck and like cover it up and not cover it up, but hold it down. And then I would come through customs, the commercial customs line and with all the big 18-wheeler trucks. And I literally was reaching up out the window to give them my paperwork and you can't reach it because the toll booths are built so high for these truck drivers. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Anyways, the whole thing is totally ridiculous. Speaker 2: That's hilarious. Speaker 1: I look insane. Everybody thinks I'm in the wrong line when I'm going through the commercial, but I'm like, I have to go through these lanes. I can't go through the regular, regular lanes. Anyways, so imported this product and then I've been connected directly with the brand in terms of what are we trying to sell and what other products would you like to get on the market? And they just messaged me. They emailed me yesterday. I was telling somebody this story. So I bought a palette. It was $1800 and I got a new, I'm in Canada, so I got a USD credit card. It was a US address and the bank screwed it up and didn't have my US address on there. So when I went to pay for this pallet with my brand direct, it had to try four times and it got declined four times. Speaker 2: Oh no. So you probably looked like, they just looked at you and they were like, this girl has no idea what she's doing. Speaker 1: They're like this mom sitting in her basement. It's like no credit in the States and can't buy these pallets. Oh my gosh. Speaker 2: Oh no. Speaker 1: It's so embarrassing, but also, who gives a fuck? Speaker 2: You have nothing to lose. Wait, what came of it? Did it go through? Speaker 1: Eventually, I called the bank and sorted it out. They changed the address and then I called the guy back and I was like, hey, it's me again. Speaker 2: He's probably like, oh, here we go. Speaker 1: Yeah, he's like, hey, what's going on? I was like, can you try it one more time today after 10am because they changed the address and it should go through. So then he messaged me. It finally was like, hey, it finally went through. Hooray. And I was like, so embarrassed, but thank God. And then in the email just below, he's like, hey, also, we have this palette of this product that's similar to what you're buying. It's discontinued. We're trying to move it. Would you like to try and sell it in Canada? So even though it was like an embarrassing situation, which like I kind of don't give a fuck, but like also I'm like, that's awful. It develops that rapport with him so that he can then be like, Hey, do you want this? He knows I'm not going to be like, Oh, you're stupid trying to sell me this. Cause like, I look like the stupid ones. It doesn't matter. Speaker 2: He's got nothing to lose on that case. Speaker 1: You want this product. So I've been evaluating that to see if we could sell it in Canada and bring it in and whether it works or not, like if I can even make it work and not necessarily turn a profit on it, but just, Like turn the product over and move the product for him that develops even more rapport right to get better deals and better pricing and all of that. So I'm going to try and see if I can get the product into Canada and move it for him. So. Speaker 2: Well, there's really nothing that will build rapport quicker with one of your, whether it's a brand or a distributor, is then taking some of their stock off their hands, right? Stuff that they're having trouble moving, or in this case, a product that's discontinued, that I'm sure that they're having trouble moving, but if you can take that off their hands and get them paid in the process, They will love you forever. And there's so many more additional deals that'll come from that. So again, even if you have to break even or only make a buck or two, I think it's totally worth it. Speaker 1: I agree. I agree. It's a good opportunity. And it's cool that he would just think to bring that to me, right? He's got all kinds of other distributors. There's been other times he calls and he says, other people from Canada are contacting me and they want to buy this product that you're mostly buying. Do you, I want to ask you first, do you want to buy this palette? And I'm like, yes, send me the palette. Don't sell it to other people. So like that's huge. Speaker 2: Well, and so you found this brand, kind of walk us through how you found this brand. So you said you found them on SmartScout. What are the actual steps that you went through? Speaker 1: So I went in to look, I'm trying to remember because it was so long ago, it was more than a year ago, but I went into SmartScout and I used, I think the product tool and then- You mean the brand's tool probably? I don't even think it was the brand tool. Speaker 2: I feel like it was product because they do have a product tool where they have basically a database of every ASIN on Amazon. Speaker 1: Yes. So I went in and I'm sure it was the product one. And so I looked at how, looked at the rank, looked at the product. It looks decent. And then went over and looked at, on Keepa, I think, and checked it on Keepa. I tried to look at all of them. So I looked at SmartScout, I looked at Keepa, I looked at SellerAmp. And I was like, on SellerAmp, I was like, this is selling, I don't know, like 1000 times a month or something. And it had 12,000 reviews, like it had a ton of reviews in Canada. Speaker 2: And this is in Canada. Yeah, which is significant. Speaker 1: Yeah. So then I looked at the number of sellers and the price. And I was like, well, if I could get it for this price, and then I have to account for the exchange fees because I'm Canadian to American and I'm back and the shipping and the tariffs because we have tariffs. So I had to like classify the product based on the code and then see what the tariffs were. And I ran the numbers. I was like, this actually turns a profit. So then I was like, well, do I go to a distributor or just go to the brand? I was like, I'm just going to call a brand direct so that I linked in and found the guy from the company and called him up and was just super friendly as if I already knew him. And he was like, okay. And then he's like, So me that fell at the start and like it just kind of evolved from there. We had a conversation last week where he's got there's actually three brands under their kind of umbrella brand and he said, I don't know why everyone calls about this one product the one that I'm selling and not the other two brands. And I said, they're not on Amazon like on Canada. And then he was talking about how they're having issues with resellers not following map and they can't control their supply chain. And they have an Amazon rep because I said, can I help you with the Amazon side of things and get kind of your e-commerce in order and get a more cohesive brand online? He said, no, we have a consultant who we work with. And I was like, okay, that's fine. I said, what about on the Canadian side? So trying to like help where I can and then his pain points. And I said, have you considered For people who aren't following MAP or you don't know where they're getting their supply, have you considered doing the transparency codes? And he was like, right. We, our consultant never mentioned that to us. And I was like, okay, well, here's what it is and here's how it works. And that could be a good opportunity and something to try to help control your supply chain and keep your prices where you want them. So I need value like that to just kind of find their pain points and then bring value or bring solutions. And I don't know how exactly I would implement it, but I can figure it out. So yeah, pitched him on that and he sounded interested. So he was going to talk to the owner and see what he thought. And then we'll go from there. I'll just stay in contact. Speaker 2: Well, that's just another one of those situations where, like you said, you'll just figure it out. And that goes back to that ability that you've kind of displayed throughout your whole career is just the ability to figure things out. And I love what you did there in focusing on his pain point. It's like, well, hey, if you're having trouble with unauthorized sellers and you can't figure that out, here's a solution to that problem. Oh, your current consultant hasn't suggested that? Okay, well, here's what it is and here's how it could benefit you. And by the way, if you want my help, I'm happy to help. And I'm sure that there's a follow-up conversation that's going to come out of that. And whether or not they choose to work with you, that relationship with that consultant probably isn't going to last forever. So if you can stay on top of them for that specific opportunity, then that could be great. But in the meantime, obviously, you'll just keep selling the The one brand that you've been selling and continue to be a great customer that pays their bills on time. Speaker 1: Yeah. That'd be amazing if it turned into something bigger and that's kind of the play and it's been a long-term play. Like I've been purchasing from them for over a year. And I kind of know the setup and the players and who their consultant is and went and found their consultant on LinkedIn. So I've got a really good idea of like who they are and what they're about. So yeah, I've got kind of the landscape and it positions me well to be able to take that over if there's ever an opportunity. That'd be amazing, yeah. Speaker 2: The fact that you went through LinkedIn too, I think is just so... I feel like we say it a million times, but people still don't do it. LinkedIn is so ridiculously powerful when it comes to outreach, because think about how many emails and even phone calls these brands are getting during the average week. Some brands, 50, a hundred or more. When you reach out to their reps or the owner directly on LinkedIn via sending a connection request and attaching a note that says that you're interested in buying in bulk and you want to see who it is there that you need to talk to. 30, 40% of the time they're going to reply. And the beauty of going through LinkedIn is more than likely they're going to get a push notification on their phone with your message right there on their home screen. And they're going to get an email that says, Hey, Kate Humphrey sent you a new connection request with a note. Here's the note. So it pings them twice and they're, they're getting zero pitches per week on LinkedIn from, by the way, people who want to be their customer. Not even sell them anything, right? It's just such an unsaturated strategy. Speaker 1: LinkedIn. So we talk about, I'm working with Courtney Johnson on her Sunrise Content Club. And she talks about how LinkedIn is so cringe, but it honestly, if you post one time a week, you're in the top 1% of LinkedIn users. That's all you do. And you're in the top 1%. LinkedIn is like social media and Facebook that you're allowed to use at work. It could be the exact same message from the exact same person. If it comes to your work email, you're like, oh, I've got to respond to them. I don't want to. I'll deal with it later. If it's on your LinkedIn, you're like, oh, now I really have a legitimate reason to be on LinkedIn and be exploring and hearing who's this person and what's their background and what have they done. Speaker 2: Such a good point. Speaker 1: Yeah. It's more personable and interactive and you're just more likely to get a response, I feel like, honestly. Speaker 2: And I swear to you, if you're a service provider on Amazon, well, this works well for us too, those of us who are doing brand direct. I mean, I've gotten a ton of supplier leads just from posting on LinkedIn. But really, if you're a service provider on Amazon, and if you post regularly on LinkedIn, you are going to get a ton of clients. Somebody who does a really good job of this is Chris McCabe. He's not an attorney, but he's basically a Account health slash suspension and reinstatement expert. So he posts on LinkedIn just about every day, if not every day, just talking about, you know, clients that he's working with, situations that he's run into, horror stories of the, of incorrect appeals that other consultants have filed for his clients, right? Just lots of really interesting content. And I know for a fact, because I've talked to him, He gets a ton of leads through LinkedIn, right? Probably multiple per week just from posting content. So yeah, it works really well for wholesale sellers like us for attracting brands. If we just talk about the brands we're working with and kind of how we're building the business. And it works just as well for service providers too. And spoiler, not just in the Amazon industry, in any industry, right? Any, really any B2B industry, you're going to be, you're going to make a lot of money if you just start posting on LinkedIn. Speaker 1: And posting on LinkedIn just keeps you top of mind. Like when someone, Oh, I had an account issue. And they're like, well, who's that guy that I saw posting on LinkedIn about fixing that person's. And if it's a story about like this, this other consultant was so horrible and sent in this appeal that made no sense and didn't get them anywhere. And if Chris McCabe fixed that and told that story in his LinkedIn, the person's going to remember that. And that's better than any marketing or advertising, I would think. Speaker 2: Yeah. And the thing about staying top of mind too, is that a lot of times people are not going to need your product or service right away, but they are going to need it down the road. And if you're posting consistently and consistently staying in their newsfeed, you are going to be the first person they go to. I mean, I can't tell you how many times, like when I look on LinkedIn, there's one guy in particular that I knew I was going to buy his course. I just wasn't ready to buy it right then. I was planning to do it two, three months later. And every day when I log into LinkedIn, his posts are at the top of my feed. He's posting every day. And then when I was ready to buy the LinkedIn course, I bought it from him. So it works the same way for you. I think if you're a wholesale seller and you want to attract brand direct opportunities to you, You're posting on LinkedIn every day. Brand owners are seeing your stuff. They're probably not going to reach out on day one. They might not even reach out on day 300, but eventually over time, they are probably going to reach out to you first because you've been top of mind insight constantly for a long time. Speaker 1: It builds trust. It builds rapport. And yeah, it's huge. This kind of plays into the personal brand piece. So I know that you do a lot of personal branding and through the podcast and your content and all of those pieces and personal branding, something that I've been looking at as well recently. And I don't have a clear path on what that looks like, but right now I'm just trying to put out more content, have more conversations, more networking. And I mean, it's building. There's other opportunities that have kind of come up. Even over the last three months that wouldn't have happened before that if I didn't have that personal branding piece. So do you have any advice on the personal branding front and if somebody were to like invest in creating a personal brand or some kind of easy actionable tips for how to create that personal brand? Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. So I think first of all, you got to identify what your key, whether you're better on video or whether you're better at writing, right? Because that's really the two, I think the two key ways to kind of build your brand is either on video or by writing. So determine which of those is your strength. Personally, I think video is a little more powerful because people want to see you. They want to get to know you. And with AI doing its thing these days, a lot of writing is just noise. So unless you're an exceptional writer, it is harder to break through the noise. Creating written content. Now, when it comes to getting on video, this is a tip that I gave somebody in a podcast yesterday. This is something that I did for six months straight is every day I would record a 40 second or less video of me just talking into the camera, giving one tip about something that I'm knowledgeable about. Right. And I made, I was strict at keeping it under 40 seconds because I wanted to really practice being concise and presenting a clear message. So if it was 41 seconds, I would delete it and start over. But the idea, if you record a 40 second or less video every day for six months straight, you'll get, you know, you'll, you'll be a lot more confident on camera. You'll be a much better storyteller, much better at Explaining your points in a concise manner and that will really set a strong foundation for your content creation going forward. Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense. Getting those reps in. I mean, by the time you have that many reps, you can't still be bad. Like whether you're trying or not, you're going to get better no matter what. And with the, so I was thinking of the writing versus the video piece. I know the video for a lot of people, they're not comfortable being on video or getting started. Like for me, getting started was hard and putting my face out there. And like I had a full-time corporate job and so I didn't want anyone to see me or know who I was either. But one of the things that Reezy said at Miami Sellers Conference, I don't know if I've said this before, but he's like, you know, I've been doing this for like three years ago, two years ago. He's like, the first time you pick up that camera, it's so heavy. Like it's so heavy. And he's like, you just got to do it. And I think of that all the time and being like, just try it, get started. It's not going to be perfect. It might not look fantastic, but get the reps in and like, it will get better and it'll get easier. You stop, you stop caring as much. Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. And something I've been thinking a lot about recently is like, you know, it wouldn't like if you go like all the time, even still, I've been doing it for two and a half years now almost. I'm just walking down the street and I'm like, oh, I want to like pull my camera out here. Like it feels so cringe. Like people are going to look at me. You know, what am I going to say in this video? I look stupid. And I think to myself, I'm like, honestly, we're all going to die. And like, nobody's going to give a shit. Speaker 1: I think about that all the time. We're all going to die. And no one gives a shit. No one cares what you're doing. Nobody, nobody at all. So I'm like, if I could help like one mom figure out how to make a hundred bucks on the internet or like a thousand bucks on the internet, why wouldn't I do that? Why, why would I play small and like keep it to myself if I could help somebody else just because I don't want to look cringe. Like that's, It's irresponsible of me to keep it to myself. That's how I feel, honestly. Speaker 2: No, and I completely agree. I completely agree. Now, one thing when it comes to written content, so if somebody listening does decide, well, hey, I feel like I'm a good writer. I want to start off on either Twitter or LinkedIn or even something like a medium or, you know, one of these kind of like writing platforms. Well, really, this only applies to other social media like, you know, Twitter or LinkedIn. But really, the key to growth there is one, publishing every day, and then two, commenting on other people's posts, right? Engagement. Engagement is really going to be the key to growth, especially in the early stages. Because early on, you're not going to get a lot of impressions on your posts. Not many people are going to see your content. So the best way to get your name and therefore your profile in front of more people early on is to go and comment on other people's posts, other people in your industry, bigger influencers, where a lot of people are going to see their comments. And if you can add a really good, thoughtful comment to a big post, It's not unrealistic to get hundreds, if not thousands of eyeballs on your comment and on your profile as a result. And then some people naturally are going to go and follow you, assuming you have an optimized profile. So really make sure you have an optimized profile and then go engage with other people's stuff every day. If you're taking like the written approach. Speaker 1: Yes. And one of the things that I'm trying to get more comfortable at, especially on LinkedIn, instead of just being like, Oh, congratulations on your promotion or congratulations. I mean, not on people's promotion posts, that would be rude. But saying something a little more contrary or bringing a different opinion or a different perspective and not being afraid to kind of, I don't know, go against the grain a little bit and start a conversation. Even if people say, that's so stupid, I think that's the worst idea ever. Engagement is engagement. So I'm trying to try that more without worrying too much that I'm going to be cancelled or my reputation is going to be cancelled or whatever, you know. But I think that that's powerful as well. Speaker 2: Absolutely. And really the best way to engage, the best engagement is you just genuinely reacting to the content. So if it's a, let's say it's on Twitter and you're reading a thread about how to do X, Y, Z. I mean, a really good comment, some really good engagement would be pointing out which particular point you enjoyed and maybe adding, you know, one or two points about why you enjoyed it or how it's applied to you or your situation. Just genuine, insightful stuff, not ChatGPT generated That's the one thing that I think really ruins somebody's brand and you see it so often, especially on LinkedIn, are these ChatGPT or just AI-generated comments and AI-generated engagement. To me, I think that is probably the most unprofessional. It's such a bad look to me. If I see you If I'm posting like a ChatGPT comment on my stuff, I automatically just think you're a clown. Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: So I'm sure that other people think the same way. And it's just, yeah. So it's just hard. It's easy to stand out and just be a normal person. Speaker 1: Yeah. It's not as genuine. You see, there was an influencer. I was looking at her stuff the other day and every time somebody commented, and it's not like the many chat reply that's like, Hey, it's in your DMs or DM messages. It was meant to sound like it was her commenting, but they were just such bland, like generic comments that didn't match the tone of what the person had written as the comment. Like the responses weren't matching. So I was like, that's interesting, but I know she's got a marketing team behind her now, so they're probably pushing that right to help engagement and like the pure volume of what she's trying to do. Speaker 2: So yeah. I mean, for some people, you know, I guess some people it works, but yeah, for me, I don't think it's the best strategy personally. Speaker 1: Fair, but the personal brand makes sense. Speaker 2: Well, let's transition into talking about how you got to working for us inside the Wholesale Network, right? So I remember, at least the way I see it, we met at Miami Seller Conference. I guess this was last year, not two years ago. But we kind of met briefly in the lobby, right? I got to meet your family and we kind of just said hello because we recognize each other from social media and left it at that. And we interacted a little bit throughout the weekend, but it wasn't until I think a couple of weeks later where Grant, our mutual friend, said, Hey, Corey, Because I guess I was in the market for a community manager. I wanted to bring someone on board the Wholesale Network team. And he was like, hey, you should go talk to Kate. She's really good. She has an operations background. She helps run the Miami Seller Conference. I think she'd be a really good fit. And so you and I talked on the phone. We agreed to I think we agreed to like a 60 day trial. Basically, hey, let's just try working together for two months and then reevaluate from there. To me, and I think to you too, it worked really well and it's still working really well. Speaker 1: Definitely. Speaker 2: Yeah. What's your thoughts on your role with the Wholesale Network and what is it that you do for us here? Speaker 1: Sure. I love it. I love networking and community building and all of those pieces, but I don't feel like I had enough knowledge or I guess held enough space to do it on my own and create my own community and I also didn't really want to. So then when you were like, I'm creating this community and I created it and I need somebody to help me problem solve and troubleshoot and keep the members engaged in all these pieces. And I was like, I don't know what exactly the role looks like in terms of what I'll do for tasks and duties, but. I said, I want to be involved. I agree with this. The wholesale angle to Amazon, I think is the future and where everything is going. Not even the future, it's now. And the brand direct piece was huge. So I was like, this is something I definitely am aligned with and want to get involved in. And I love problem solving. I love like breaking down the task into all its pieces to figure out what's the best way to do it. Things like managing the budget, I'm comfortable doing managing a team I've done before in like my corporate role. So that transitions nicely over into our team because we've got a number of team members. And so what I do, I think is like, you've got, we talked about this before where you're like the visionary and you've got the idea and you're like, here's all the things that I want to do. And it's like 20 things. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: So I go, okay, those are very cool. But we only have enough energy and time to do like two or three. So then we'll come down and distill them into these are what we're going to focus on. And then you and I sit down and break them out, like as a leadership team into here's our goals for the quarters. We call them our rocks and we use, um, the entrepreneurial operating systems, EOS. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: EOS. And so we lay that out and say, here's how we're going to approach the year and what we're going to try and do in terms of like revenue and value adds for the community and in-person events and how we can kind of partner with, like we partnered with SellerSnap for Miami sellers conference and we had the rooftop party. Like I thought that was really nice. Speaker 2: That was so much fun. Speaker 1: So things like that, where you can just like, I feel like add to the community and make it a better experience for everyone. And then we've got people like you and Cash and Jonah and experts in like wholesale and brand direct and in the field. And we bring, well, I mean, you guys are the coaches in there. And then we bring in experts who can help teach the community all the different aspects of different like software or tactics for creating listings where we'd call it on. Speaker 2: And he was like, yeah, he blew our minds. Honestly, it went way over my head. Kaj was like, oh, that was the best call ever. And I'm like, it was definitely good, but like, am I just dumb or do I just not understand this as much as I thought I did? Speaker 1: That's how I felt too. It was like in the mastermind group or was it in our? Speaker 2: It was in the mastermind. Yeah. Cause we knew it was going to be a high level conversations. We were like, let's, let's reserve it for them. Speaker 1: It was so interesting, but I agree. Like most of what he said went over my head. I was like, I just, I saw him at Miami sellers conference. I was like, oh, you were the guy on the call that was swearing the whole time. Unknown Speaker: Yeah, he did. Speaker 2: He did drop a lot of F-bombs. Speaker 1: It was great. It was so genuine and like he had so much knowledge and now we're connected. So he's like, I'm working on this business opportunity or that one. And then when you see him in person, you can talk about those things. I'm like, Hey, I'll let you know if we end up doing this event over here and like invite him. I love the networking aspect and being able to make it into a job where I get paid to do it is insane to me. It's so great. I really love it. The other piece with helping the community that I think of is I've gone to some conferences in Canada and networked in with the Walmart people, so the people who do their business account reps and account growth And health reps or whatever. And then some of the influencer program people for Walmart. So now I've got those connections. So we had somebody in the membership who was having an issue creating a listing and they posted this power of social media. They posted on social media on a story on Instagram. And said, Hey, does anyone know how to do an electronics listing for Walmart? And I messaged him and I said, I don't, but I have a guy like, give me your email. And so I connected them. And so the Walmart guy got on a call with him and helped him set up the listing. Speaker 2: And he, oh, that's awesome. Speaker 1: And I got a message. He sent me a screenshot. He's like, I made my first sale, like in Walmart. Speaker 2: That's awesome. No, that's so good. Speaker 1: Having that network is huge. It just, and having that community, I think of, Like making internet money and Amazon all that. It's not a solo sport. Like it's a team sport. So you've got to either find your team or get into a community or network at these events that we have and like get your crew together. So you have somebody to call when shit hits the fan or you have an issue like. It drops the time, like figuring out that listing might have taken four hours and it dropped it down to 30 minutes. I just love it. I love the sense of community in all of that. Speaker 2: Well, and I love that you're willing to take the time to connect people like that, even when there's no monetary gain for you. But really the ROI on that is huge for you because that person, even if it never comes back from them specifically, they're always going to remember you as the person that helped them solve that specific problem. And again, it might not come back to you at all. And it might be that that guy goes on to become, you know, top Walmart seller and you need something down the line and he can hook you up. Right. So you just, you never know. And I, I think there's so much value. We talk about this all the time, me and you, and just in connecting people and networking with people and meeting different people in different fields and seeing who could benefit from, from who else. And a lot of times you can monetize that. And there are some very, very wealthy people who that's their entire That's what they do. They connect for a living and they make millions and millions and millions of dollars in the process. Speaker 1: I'm excited to explore that a little bit more. I've had a couple of investor calls recently to kind of Check out the investments. It was in like the environment regulatory space. And so I met at a conference that, oh, I see that you do environmental work. Can you look at this technology? So I signed the NDA, how to look at the technology and gave them my rundown. But essentially, the process would be I would connect them with somebody who's looking at investing or purchasing that, and then you would get a percentage of that deal is what they look at doing. Speaker 2: So you better get a percentage of that deal. Speaker 1: I spent some time. I got that. But I love that connector piece. I feel like that could be a really good direction for me to go, go in. The other piece with networking is like, for me, it feels very natural and I enjoy it and talking to people and kind of saying, what are you working on? What are you trying to do? And then the next person, same thing, but it can feel kind of I'm abstract and awkward. And so one of the things that I do is I think through like when I was in corporate and even now like we have our goals and everything for our work and for the business. And so I think through when I was in corporate, I had my like KPIs. So my key performance indicators and I had my top five that I had to do every year. So it'd be like I don't know, connect with hire three contractors or get the budget under this or whatever it is. So when I met these people, the Walmart group at the conference I was at, it's awkward, but I'm like, Hey, what are your goals for the year? Like, what are you in your role? Like, I know you say you're an account manager, but what the hell does that mean? So I'm like, yeah, trying to do in the next, three, six, 12 months. And they were like, then they got into like, I'm in the States and I'm trying to onboard international clients to get more Canadian clients into the Walmart space or have US people open up their Canadian accounts. And I was like, perfect. I was like, I'll hook you up with some of the like sellers in America on walmart.com and you can open up their .ca store. And now that you've got the support to support that essentially in that crossword, you can do it. So if he's trying to hit a hundred members, Who have like listed internationally and he's going to be able to do that if I send him 50 of them that puts him so much further ahead. Right? So I'm like, I'll just tell me what your goal is and your numbers and I'll help you anyway. I can that helps like narrow down your focus. You're not I mean, not that it's wasting time, but you can really make impact that way. So that to me is like a bit more of a formula for getting that might work for some people's brains. Speaker 2: Well, really all you're doing is you're solving problems for people by connecting them with, but really you're finding people who can solve other people's problems is what it comes down to. And the bigger the problems you can solve, the more money you're going to make. That's pretty much what it comes down to. I heard a story recently, it's kind of the last point I'll make on the connector topic, and then we'll go ahead and wrap it up. But I heard a story recently of a guy, this was back when, I don't remember the exact team, I guess, who was it that That moved to Vegas, right? What football team moved from like, was it Oakland? Was it the Raiders that moved to Vegas? Anyways, there was one football team was moving from one city to another. And, um, there was a guy that essentially made that happen. The owner wanted to move cities. And he ended up going to this guy who has a connection with, you know, folks at the city, lots of the, the heavy hitters in the destination city. And he said, Hey man, we want to move our team to that city. Can you help us out? And this guy ended up setting up a meeting between the mayor and the owner. And bottom line, the deal got done. And the guy who connected the dots made no exaggeration. It was somewhere in like the high seven or maybe even low eight figures as far as like the kickbacks and the royalties or whatever he was able to negotiate from that deal. Right. And unreal. And all really, if you think about dollars per hour, really all that took for him to do is probably One initial call with the first guy, one initial call with a guy he connected him to, and then just patience over the course of probably the year or two that that took to close. But that's just, it's crazy. There's so much opportunity. Speaker 1: So yeah, get in there and network and make the connections. And it doesn't have to be, sometimes it feels like it's a bit transactional in that, but it really doesn't need to be. It can be just a genuine What are you up to? How can I help out? I think of it as good karma. You're putting good karma and goodwill out there, and then it will come back to you at some point. It doesn't have to be one for one, but at some point down the line, a couple of years later, that's kind of how I've seen it work. And being able to make money off of that is so crazy to me. That's a new concept to me, and I'm like, that could be so aligned with what I enjoy doing. Speaker 2: Right. And it's really a matter of knowing when to monetize connections and when not to. So in the case of the example that I just made, yeah, moving the franchise to the new city was going to bring in tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue. So hell yeah, the connector should have been charging for that, right? But there's plenty of situations. In fact, I had a friend recently, a friend who's given me a lot of advice and given me a lot of his time and kind of helped mentor me. And he was looking for a new employee. And I referred somebody to him that I thought would be a good fit. And what I could have done is said, well, hey, you know, throw me a finder's fee or anything like that. But because of the specific situation, I was like, you know what? Like, you know, here's this guy. I think he'd be a good fit. Don't worry about it. Because it's knowing when it's really knowing when to monetize versus when not to. Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. I totally agree. Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. So, Kate, I've enjoyed the conversation. We're having a lot of fun. Inside the Wholesale Network. And so the folks that want to apply to that and join our community can do so at WholesaleNetwork.io. But Kate, in the meantime, tell people where they can find you. Where can people go and connect with you? Speaker 1: Definitely. So all my socials are Kate.ecommerce. I'm mostly on Instagram, Reels and TwitterX a little bit. And then LinkedIn, I've opened up my kind of goal when I quit my corporate job was to put all of myself out there on LinkedIn and what I'm currently doing with internet money. So I've put it all out there. It's on LinkedIn, Kate Humphries and YouTube as well. I started doing some YouTube videos to kind of share my story and my journey. So that's kate.ecommerce on YouTube as well. Speaker 2: Awesome. Well, Kate, we enjoyed it and we'll have you back soon. Appreciate it. Speaker 1: Thanks Corey. See you later.