#312 - How To Create Killer Amazon Listings & A+ Content In 2022 with Mac Schlesinger

#312 - How To Create Killer Amazon Listings & A+ Content In 2022 with Mac Schlesinger Speaker 1: This is episode 312 of the AM-PM Podcast. In this episode, I'm speaking with Mac Schlesinger. Mac grew up in upstate New York, didn't really even speak a whole lot of English at home. It's actually his second language. But he saw an opportunity in e-commerce and decided to take it and started drop shipping, started doing a lot of retail arbitrage and things like that. And that evolved into seven figure private label brand, which evolved into him starting one of the top agencies that helps sellers develop their listings. And now he's actually partners in one of the big shows out there called the Powwow Show. So a lot of interesting stuff in this episode. I hope you enjoy it. Unknown Speaker: Welcome to the AM-PM Podcast. Welcome to the AM-PM Podcast, where we explore opportunities in e-commerce. We dream big and we discover what's working right now. Plus, this is the podcast where money never sleeps. Working around the clock in the AM and the PM. Are you ready for today's episode? I said, are you ready? Let's do this. Let's do this. Here's your host, Kevin King. Speaker 1: Mac Schlesinger, welcome to the AM-PM Podcast. It's so good to have you here today. How are you doing, man? Speaker 2: Thank you, Kevin. It's my honor to be here. Wow. Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. I think we met several years ago at one of the big events up in Brooklyn, the ASGTG event, I think. Is that right? Those are some pretty awesome events. If you're listening to this and you've never been to one of the ASGTG events, you can just Google that. It's an event that's held once a year. Ed Rosenberg puts it on up in the Brooklyn area. It's one of my favorite events to go to. You have a lot of huge sellers. A lot of people don't realize that Like something like, I think Amazon came out as a statistic a few years ago, like 7% of all the sales on Amazon come out of one zip code in Brooklyn. And there's like some serious, serious sellers up in that area that just kind of, you don't see them at the Prosper Show, you don't see them at the Cellar Cons, you don't see them at a lot of the other shows. They just kind of stay in their own little world up there, but they just, some super smart guys that, and gals, that are just crushing it. And so I was at that, I've spoken at that event a few times, met Mac there. What is it about that community up there that just makes them just so good at selling? Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, it's very interesting how we got into it, but how it developed like that. But knowing my people, it's like, you know, it's like a community of hard-working, dedicated and very sophisticated, talented people, which officially, as the world knows, we don't have a lot of, like, world education, you know, college and stuff like that. Because we grow up learning and teaching our stuff, but when it comes to the business world, since we don't have all this professional, I mean, these days it's much more common that people go to college and stuff, but back in the day, there was no such a thing as going to college or to school to learn all these business-related stuff. So when the whole Amazon e-commerce thing came up, which didn't really require a lot of A lot of business education and stuff. It's just finding good products, listing it, selling it and figuring it out. Speaker 1: So English is, I think you said English is not your first language. So where are you originally from? What's your background story? Speaker 2: Right, so I grew up in upstate New York. I mean, it's in the Jewish community. It's actually in Monroe, which is like a more, it's like a very closed community, which is, we speak mainly Yiddish. And by the way, throughout the podcast, I might make some mistakes and say different things because English is not my first language. So I have to think twice before I say something. So it doesn't come naturally, but we'll figure it out. So basically, the way I grew up, we didn't really speak English for until I became like a teen or like probably 17, 18 years old. Speaker 1: So even though you're in the US and you're in upstate New York there, it's all Yiddish at home. So it's like a self-contained kind of environment. Speaker 2: Yeah, so we speak mainly Yiddish at home and school and everywhere. I mean, it's cool. We learn English, like the language and writing, reading, math and all these different stuff to get some education, but it's not the main focus. It's like just a side thing. Speaker 1: Once you kind of went off on your own or kind of left your parents' nest, what were you doing? Speaker 2: So basically the way it works is we grow up, we go to school, then we go to different schools, and then we usually get married between like the 18 and 25, that range. And usually when we get married, we have to go out and make a living to provide for our family. That's when we started thinking, okay, I mean, with the lack of education and knowledge of English and the other world, what can we do? So that's when all of this and since like 10 to 20 years ago, since the whole e-commerce thing started happening, then that's when a lot of our community started going in there because we were very good at selling and finding products and doing this type of stuff. Speaker 1: And e-commerce is kind of easy to actually do it within the community. I mean, you don't have to go out there and you can do everything online without having to go out and interact, you know, in all these other situations that might not be the most comfortable or might not be the most what you're... Speaker 2: Right. And you don't really have to go out in the public world or the corporate world and do things. You can just sit in your dining room or your basement and build an empire. So I personally, yeah, that's also... I think I was like around 18 to 20 years old, I started getting interested in like knowing the world a little bit more, like, you know, it's not again, like all these phones, computers and laptops. And that's what I started figuring out, what can we do with this? So I always had a drive to do that, like eCommerce in general, I don't know if it was because it became popular there, or that's my General nature, which I remember when I started, I was still young. I didn't even know what's going on in the world. I just liked the idea of, let's say, taking products from my parents' house and trying to sell it or take stuff from my friend. My friend had an old phone or old thing and I find a way to sell it on eBay or whatever the other marketplaces used to be back then. So that interests me a lot. So when I grew up and I started reading, I was kind of in the mode that where I need to start working, I need to get to build something and make a living. And that made me more interested and more serious about So that's why I tried all these different types of online selling, like different marketplaces, dropshipping, all this different stuff. Speaker 1: And so this is when you were in your early 20s, you're still pretty young, 18 to 20, you said? Speaker 2: Yeah. The more I got into it, I remember like I used to go to thrift shops and local shopping malls and find deals and resell it, like buying my own mannequin and putting on clothing and taking pictures of my phone and selling it. It was fun. The more I did it, the more I realized, okay, what's next? What's next? I want to go to the next step. I want to get real. Until I got into, I mean, I got into the private label became then like a trend back then, like buying stuff in China and you know, like all this stuff and I had zero knowledge about it. So I remember I took a course, a quick course about the whole idea just to get an idea like how does it work? What does it entail? Is it only made for like this rich people out there that, you know, that build companies or it's also for like people like me and I'm sitting here in my dusty basement and maybe I can figure out, maybe I can do it as well. So that's when I got into it. I followed the course and I got more familiar with the whole idea of e-commerce. Like really, I mean, really, I'm not just like taking pictures in America, I mean like real, Buying stuff, negotiating and sourcing and creating a brand and trying to sell it and the whole idea. So that's how I got started and then this took me to more and more. Speaker 1: That's awesome. Are you still selling today? Speaker 2: No, so basically, so that got me into doing more stuff, and especially the private label. So when I started private label, I gave up on the clothing and because all these courses was trying to recommend you to find small, lightweight products, you know, all these rules and stuff. So I started doing swimming gear which is like swim goggles, bathing caps, all these swim related products and then also fitness products like all these rubber bands, resistance bands and some other exercise fitness related products. So I basically tried both of them and the swimming products was more successful so I stick to those like I created a brand. The logo and the whole thing and that was going pretty well. I did that for a few years and later on I got into more like the services world. We'll talk about later how I got into it. But once I got into the services, I stopped selling products. Right now I'm not selling any products. I'm mainly focusing on servicing other sellers to help them. Speaker 1: So on the sales side, what kind of sales did you build that swimming brand to? Six figures? Seven figures? Speaker 2: Yeah, it got to seven figures, but since I was so bad at business, financials and all this stuff, I mean, I know that I made a lot of sales, but It wasn't so profitable because I didn't know what I was doing. It was just trying things and figuring things out. But I built it to seven figures. I could have built it more, but I kind of got stuck where like at the same time I was growing my family and I already had like two, three kids back then. And I was kind of, you know, the pressure of providing like bringing income. So this, I mean, made a lot of money in and out, but it didn't really, at the end of the month, I couldn't figure out, you know, to make a living off it. So I was kind of forced to take another job like while I was already I was sort of an entrepreneur like all of this. I was supposed to take a job, make an income, a living. That job actually got me into where I am. Speaker 1: So that happens a lot in this business where you have people, they're entrepreneurs, they get into it, they're selling, they're doing six, seven figures, they've got cash flow, but at the end of the day they're really not Business people per se and they're not making they're not actually making money. They got cash flow, but they're not actually making money and so what happens a lot of times is those people along the way they learn some things and I see that a lot of them then turn into a service provider. They become a PPC agency or they become a listing agency or they they they they take some sort of core thing that they were actually good at and part of their business and then they make that their new business and that's kind of what you did, right? Speaker 2: Right. So by me, it was a little bit different. It wasn't like, okay, you know what, I can't make money from selling and let's do services because it actually happened by accident and it happened by other people because basically once I told you that I got into that job, which was my position was basically to manage the Amazon account and build up all the listings. Basically, it was a very big company that did all the, it was very, they were very popular on eBay. They wanted to build up the Amazon account. So I went in and I built up the whole, I rebuilt all the listings, all the stuff, so that was also a part which I figured things out about myself, like who I am, what I'm good at. So, since I was doing that, I figured out, I mean, people around me, like co-workers and stuff like that, they realized that my specialty is not, it was more the creative part, which is like creating the listings, Enhancing images and fixing up all these mistakes like keywords and stuff like that. And actually I had a few co-workers which left, they left their job and they went either started their own Amazon company or they started working at a different Amazon company. So they hired me on the side to make the listings. I didn't even know why or how. I mean back then I had very low, my issue was like I had very low self-confidence like to know what I'm good at, what I do. So I I mean I'm very grateful and thankful to all these people that they recognize what I'm good at and they actually supported me like they pushed me to do it. So I was like, me? Why do you want me? I don't know. They told me, Mac, this is what you're good at. I want you to do it. So I was like, okay. Speaker 1: That's awesome. That's awesome. So you found your calling there and within this selling on Amazon, this e-commerce space and that's building listings. So then what do you do? You spun that off, you worked for them for a while? Speaker 2: No, so basically I stayed at the job at the same time and on the side, like at night, I did the listings for them, like for my friends, my ex-co-workers. But at some point, I was like, I think after a year working there, I was like, okay, what's next? Like I'm working at this job, I'm making like I think $700 a week, what's next? I can't keep on doing this for the rest of my life. So I started looking into different things. At first I was thinking maybe I should go back into my Amazon company and like the swimming product, maybe build it up and there's so much potential, maybe build it up, focus on it. Maybe, I don't know, I was so confused. And one day, actually, it was very interesting because we have like in our community, we have like the different WhatsApp groups. You know, there's groups on WhatsApp, among Amazon sellers, we discuss people discussing, ask questions. I mean, by now I have my own group, but back then it was a very popular group out there. And someone asked who they recommend for listing, like to build other listings. And someone somehow posted my name. Like back then, I didn't do it as a living. I didn't do it even as a business. I just did a favor here and there. So he posted my name and people started contacting me. I was like, who posted my name? I'm not doing it. It's none of my business. And it was very interesting. But at the same time, I was like kind of desperate to leave my job and I wasn't sure which route I'm going. So I decided, you know, maybe I should take the leap. So I responded to one of them. I told them, yes, I'm doing listings. How can I help you? So he said that he has, they have a lot of products and they want to redo their listings because it was done very poorly and they're ready to enhance it. And I had zero confidence, zero knowledge. They rely on me to build up the listing. What happens if it flops? So they said, you know what? Let me give you one listing. If we like it, then we'll give you many more listings. So I was still working at that job. So over the weekend or in the nights, I worked on that one listing. I perfected it. It was amazing. It was beautiful. Then I sent it to them, and they were like, wow. They were very intrigued. They were very surprised how good it is. They want me to do all of the listings like 40-50 listings. And I was still working on the job, so I didn't know how I'm going to manage it, how I'm going to do it, how I'm going to finish it. I didn't want to tell them my situation because I wanted them to feel like they can rely on me. But inside me, I knew that I'm not ready for it. So I told them, OK, no problem. So I'll do it. We'll figure it out. At that time, I realized, you know what? I have this opportunity. I mean, it doesn't promise me any long-term things, but at least now I'm desperate to leave that job. And I was looking for something. And this is what I found now. I said I'm going to give notice to my ex-boss and I'm going to leave the job and I'm going to focus on these listings. I mean, it's 40, 50 listings. It can take a while and I can make a nice amount of money and I can live off probably for a few weeks. So I jumped in. Speaker 1: What did you charge per listing back then? Speaker 2: So I think it was $100 a listing. Speaker 1: $100 a listing? Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Wow. Speaker 2: Because I didn't even know the market, like how much to charge, how much to, how many hours it takes me per listing. I just throw a price. Okay, $100. I say, let's do it. Speaker 1: Wow. Okay. No wonder they said here, if they like the first one, here's 40 more. Unknown Speaker: Yes. Speaker 2: And I'm sure that when, if they, when they went to the other professional companies, it was like two, $300. It was like a hundred dollars a listing and it was doing a pretty decent job. Then why not? Let's get, let's give him everything. So I quit that job. And I got into these listings, I started figuring out, I was working non-stop, like many hours, like night, during the night and day to finish all the listings because I had to present, you know, I had to act to them like I'm a professional company and like I know what I'm doing, even though I know that I'm not. So I did that and then after that was done, it took me like probably two weeks, three weeks to finish everything and everything was good, it was perfect and then they wanted to give me more and but they said that I have to wait for the season, like it's a whole process or whatever, so then I found myself in A place where I, okay, I quit my job. I finished this 40, 50 listings. What's next? How do I get, if I want to do that, how do I get more listings? That kind of pushed me to start telling people what I'm doing. I mean, for me, it was very hard. I never really wanted to get into the service business because I was always like a very shy and quiet. I like to work in my corner and not talk to people, just do my thing. But since I got into the job, I realized that I need to start going public and telling people what I do and start selling myself. Because otherwise, how am I going to get more listings? So that kind of pushed me to do that. So I started going out. First, I decided, you know what, let's make it official. I'm going to start a company, come up with a name. The funny part is that two weeks after that, there was like a little event in my community. It wasn't like a big event like this. It was more like this little event in someone's house. And they called me. They asked me if I want to If I want to exhibit there, like be a sponsor, and it was funny because I had no idea what a sponsor means, what exhibit means, like what am I supposed to do? How does it work? They said, no, you just have to come with some business cards and talk to people, tell people what you're doing. I mean, at first I didn't want to do it because I was, as I said, I was very shy and I couldn't see myself going into a networking event and talking to people. I'm going to people, tell them, hey, I do listings, how can I help you? But then I realized that this is what I do. I jumped into it. Now I have to figure out how to get it done. So I kind of pushed myself and I actually did it. I created like a, I remember like back then I created like a overnight, like a night before the event, I realized that I need some content to show people what I do. So I created like, I put together like a quick brochure, like what I, what my services and the pricing, because I tried to copy, I tried to look at other companies, what people So I tried to come up with something then I bought some quick like cheap business cards and a local printing company and I went to that event and people started to get to know me. Speaker 1: When was this when this listing process started, when the company that hired you to do the 40 and then you went to the house and how long ago was that? So that was at the end of 2016. Okay, about six years or so almost. And so since then you've become one of the go-to people for if they want to create listings, if they need marketing strategies or A plus content or their listings. How big is the company now? What's the name of the company and how big is the company now? Speaker 2: So the name is called, the company name is Best Seller Listers. So that's the company name. Speaker 1: So how many people are working for the company now? Speaker 2: So right now we have 14 people. It's a combination of some project managers, designers, writers. I mean, I used to have more, but then I realized that it's not about having more, it's about sticking to the We picked employees and once it got out of control it was too much, it was growing too fast. So now we have like 14 and everything works on the system with all the processes and softwares and it runs very smoothly. Speaker 1: So it's not you doing everything anymore. You got a whole team. Speaker 2: That was a challenge because the more I started promoting myself and getting more of this, more work and more clients, I started slowly hiring a listing guy. I mean, then I rotated so much to find the right people, but then I extended. Now we do product photography, now we do graphic design, now we do EBC, now we do storefront. So slowly it started growing more and more. Speaker 1: So what do you see when someone comes to you right now, when a new client comes to you and they've got their listings up, what are some of the key things that you see immediately like, oh my gosh, we've got to fix this, this and this. What are some of the big mistakes that a lot of sellers that are doing their own listings or maybe they had another company do them that you're having to constantly correct that people need to be aware of? Speaker 2: Right, so usually people contact me all the time like, please look at my listing, see you. I know that we have so much more potential, but it's not where it's supposed to be. Like, what can you do to enhance it? So the first thing I look through, I mean, obviously you can do like a deep research, but You can quickly see on a listing, first of all the size of the title, the bullet point, the description to see if they have anything at all. A lot of people come to me and they're very surprising that people, I mean back in the days it wasn't so necessary, it wasn't so competitive, so it wasn't so necessary to have like a real optimized listing in order to succeed. But now you can see people are still from especially people from back in the day They still have this old-fashioned listing which is very not optimized you can see right away that it's missing But even even if so, what's an old-fashioned listing? Speaker 1: What's an old-fashioned listing look like just for those listing? What would that be like a really short title or that be like no bullet point? What's an old-fashioned listing? Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a very simple title I mean It's very simple like, I don't know, a plastic water bottle, 2 oz, you know, like 12 oz, whatever. It doesn't have any Q and A. Also, the pull-up lines, like it's very ultra action, like BPA-free, like all this very dry, you know, you can have so much more. People have to realize that a listing is like you're a salesperson, like you walk into a store and you want to know more about a product, the salesperson comes over, he explains to you everything about the product. On Amazon, you can't have this, so this has to be your listings. Speaker 1: So what kind of listings do you think are the hardest to make? Are there certain products that are just maybe harder to make a listing for and other products that are just really easy to make a listing for? Speaker 2: Oh, it's pretty interesting. I mean, there are definitely certain categories, for example, when it comes to like complicated product, which is products which are not like everyday products that you have at home, you're familiar with. It's more like industrial types of products, construction types of products, which is like, has like different specs and different stuff, which you have to research and get information. So that that's more complicated. And to make sure that it's usually you have to go back and forth until you know, you get all the information right, because it's not really part of the creative stuff and more like the technical stuff, which you have to get right. So if a product has a lot of electronics, sometimes it has a lot of technical information and if you make a mistake, if you put the wrong information and people buy it according to that information, then you get like negative reviews because it's the wrong information. So that's a little more tricky. But if it's like a regular everyday product that people, I don't know, toys or kitchen products that you have at home and doesn't have a lot of features or technical specs, then these are more easier. Speaker 1: So what about A plus content or EBC, some people call it, and then there's a new one that Amazon, you know, that just announced the premium one that used to cost like 250 grand or something, you know, for the big brands. And now they just open it up to everybody for basically for free, at least for a while. What kind of difference do you think those actually make if you have that? And what are some mistakes that people make when they're creating those? They're using the same pictures over and over again, are they? What are some things that people need to be aware of when it comes to A plus or EPC or some of the new stuff that's just been announced? Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, since we deal with a lot of sellers every day about this stuff, and some sellers are like, I don't know, is it important to spend the money for it? I don't know. Especially someone that has like 100 listings, he needs to spend a lot of money to get it done. So they kind of defense if it's really important or not. But the truth is when it comes to the A plus part, which is, I mean, The regular listing, you have basically the space of the bullet points and the main images. That's all you have to really try to sell your product. But sometimes, especially with the limitations that Amazon has, how big the title can be and what information you can have on the images and how big the bullet points can be, you don't have a lot of flexibility on really explaining your product and showing off your product. It's supposed to be so the A+, EBC, it gives you a much bigger real estate to really explain your product and really excel your product. I mean now with the premium A+, that's a blessing because I don't know if you saw like the difference between the A+, I actually just made an article like explaining the difference between the regular A+, and the premium A+, you can have so many different like banners, You can, for example, we just did like this for a flashlight. It has like different modes. So on the premium A+, you can click a button and it shows the actual difference of the flashlight, how strong it goes, how big it is, even something that extends. You can click a button, it extends, it goes smaller. It's very cool. What you can do with the Premium A+, besides the fact that you can put it in a video, but even without a video, you can have so many different... So, especially when you have A+, especially Premium A+, there's no doubt. I mean, when a customer goes into your product and if it's done really well, then there's almost no chance for a customer to leave your listing without a sale, you know? Speaker 1: So, would you recommend then everybody that has maybe just the old A+, they need to upgrade to the new Premium? Should that be a priority? Speaker 2: I mean, obviously, but the problem is that it's, I mean, it costs a lot of money to do it. I mean, I'm sure that most agencies, most designers will charge a lot of money to get it done because it's a lot of work. It's not just like a few pictures here and there. And you asked me about the mistakes people do, and I see it so many times that people come to us, they want to enhance their listings, they come to us with a very poor A-plus content, which is just a logo and the same picture that they use on the top, like the main images. It doesn't really say anything. It's misproportioned, like the layout and the whole thing. Basically, it has to show like a big page, like a website, like a landing page. Speaker 1: So what does it cost actually to use a company like yourself? What's just a general ballpark? If I said, hey, here's my listing, I want you to redo it. I want a total listing makeover from top to bottom. A+, premium A+, just what would I be looking at? $1,000, $2,000 or what would I be? Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, obviously there are different agencies out there, different people out there. Everyone charges their price. But for example, my company, we have like different packages, which includes like the content, the photography, the graphics, A+. Right now the top package is like $1,200, which gets you everything, like the full listing copy, photography, seven nice graphic images, and a beautiful A-plus content. So now that we started doing the premium A-plus, it's going to be a lot more, probably like in the $2,000 range, because it's much more work. But yeah, that's approximately it. So it's like a small investment. I mean, if you look at it per product, it's not a lot of money. You spend $1,000 or even let's say $1,500 once and And it's on forever, you know, you don't have to redo it every day. Speaker 1: Are you also doing the keyword research or do the clients come to you with like these are the keywords I want to target or is that part of the deal as well? Speaker 2: Yeah, that's part of the deal because we train our team like especially our writers and this to really master like the keyword part of the Because the writers are like professional writers, they know how to sell like a sales copy, but the keywords are totally different. So we have like a team, we work together, the project manager, the writers, and then we have a keyword specialist that specializes in that part. So all together, putting together a beautiful puzzle. Because a listing has to be a combination of 50% for the algorithm, 50% for the customers. So the keywords is a very big part. Some sellers only focus on the keywords because they think that once the algorithm has it, it's good. But the truth is, the algorithm is not buying your product. I mean, maybe they bring up your product, but they're not actually clicking at the cart and buying it. So that's what our customers are doing. So you have to make sure that it has the perfect balance of the algorithm bringing it up and having a good sales copy for the conversion to get a customer to click at the cart. Speaker 1: So now you're doing something besides the listing service. You've come really out of your shell and you're actually putting on events as well. Is that correct? Speaker 2: Yeah, that's also interesting. So that's what I said in the beginning. The more I built myself up, one thing got me into the next thing, because I always think that way. What else? What's next? So it's interesting that from running that company and getting a little popular on LinkedIn or WhatsApp or whatever, where I try to help the community, And people started asking me like, how about you do start doing events like get people together and learn from them. So I was like, I don't know, there's so many events out already. Why do I need to make another event? So people said, no, but you have like your own style, your different type of personality and people enjoy this. So it was interesting. So I basically, I never really wanted to do like this big operators because I couldn't think so big back then, back in the days. So I never imagined myself like running a big show. So I started by I wanted to do more like a chilled event. I love when people come together and have a good time on my expense. So I wanted to do like a, right now I live in Towns River, Towns River, New Jersey, which we have like big properties and stuff. So I wanted to do in my backyard like a little get together networking event for sellers and have a good time. You know, the barbecue, smoking, cigars and DJ, you know, like this type of stuff. And I discussed it with a few people, but I couldn't do it. I was like, should I do it? How should I do it? Until I got Joel Wall. You probably know Joel? Joel Wall? Speaker 1: I think so, yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah, so he basically, he used to be my neighbor here. And we once did an event for a real estate company in my backyard. And like a similar thing that I had in mind and because they basically was looking like it was back to COVID. People couldn't do events like in the event venues. So they were looking for a nice backyard where they can do it. So they found my backyard somehow and I did it for them. That's when I realized how about we do the same thing. So Joel also came. So that's when we realized how about we do the same thing for Amazon. We can do the same thing on Amazon. Like call people over, like bring a party planner, build a nice thing. And we actually started posting it. We wanted to hear feedback from sellers. And surprisingly, a lot of sellers were like, sure, of course, we'll do it, we'll come. Excited. Speaker 1: And that's called Pow Wow, right? Speaker 2: Yeah, Pow Wow. Speaker 1: And you do one in New Jersey and then you do another one, I think, in the Florida area, right? The Miami area? Yeah. Speaker 2: So we started in New Jersey, which is our area, Lakewood, New Jersey, where all the three of us live in. You know, Tom's River, Lakewood, Jackson, we live in the area. And this is where we did it the first time, just test the waters to see what we're doing. And thank God, it was like a very successful. People showed a lot of interest. And because we, the three of us, we are like very different personalities, like it's not like a serious, I mean, We have the combination of being serious, professional and fun. So that's why it works. Speaker 1: So how many people come to APAL? What's the attendance usually? Speaker 2: So the first event was like a small venue. So we limited to like, I think it was like three, four hundred attendees. And then we grew, it was like six, seven hundred, kept on growing. And then the next event, we're aiming for 1,000 attendees. So it keeps on growing because the more we do it, we're doing bigger venues and bigger stuff. So it keeps on growing, thank God. Speaker 1: Now something happened along with one of these events. There was a post that kind of went viral or something, right, that actually caused some trouble. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding or something around that. Is there anything you want to clear up on that? Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an episode for itself. Basically, yeah, it was actually me. We were actually working on an event, which was, we called it the aggregator show, because as you know, like the whole industry, it's now to the aggregator field, like people are selling their companies, aggregators are buying the companies. So we wanted to do an event, like specifically for this. Category, so we did an event, we called it the Aggregate Show, and it was here in New Jersey. It was more like a smaller, upscale, exclusive event. It happened basically, I think a week before the event. I was kind of in some mode, I mean, it was after a party. I wasn't drunk, but I was like a little tipsy. So I came up late at night and I was kind of in the mode of, okay, because usually when it comes to events, like usually the last week or two is when crunch time hits. That's when people really sign up, people get interested. So I was like, okay, I gotta start doing something like, let's continue. I mean, I didn't start because we kept on promoting it for weeks and months, but I was like, okay, what else can I do? And especially I was a little tipsy, so it wasn't hard. You know to brainstorm stuff. So I I think was back then it was it was a few days before the I mean in the news It was more powerful like the news about like the whole war between Russia and Ukraine. Mm-hmm So I mean by the time I posted it wasn't anything serious going on. It was just like thoughts or saying that it's gonna happen maybe whatever and And I was like, we are here building like, one of the biggest events in the Amazon industry. I was like, I don't even remember the exact content, but I basically made like a, so I basically compared building like the biggest Amazon event and going like next week, it's going to happen, whatever, to the Russia-Ukraine war somehow. I don't even remember the context. But I posted it and was late at night I was like 1 o'clock a.m. Mm-hmm and right after I posted it I went to sleep like I posted and I went to sleep I didn't think about it and I didn't think what I what I posted just you know Like any any other post post and move on And then in the morning, I woke up in the morning and I see that my phone didn't stop ringing. My wife was like, I went to the shop, my wife was like, your phone keeps on ringing. My partners are calling me, companies are calling me like, what happened now? I mean, I couldn't even think what happened. So I took a shot. I was like, I don't know, we'll see you later. We'll get dressed and we'll see what's going on. And people were like, no, no, you don't have time for that. And I looked at my phone, I was like, please delete, please delete the post immediately, please delete the post. I was like, what is that post? Which post are you talking about? Like, well, what's happening? Then I went on and I realized that I posted that post, which was a bad mistake. And because that night, it was funny because that night when we woke up, that's when the whole world started like more like officially, like things started to happen. So it was like bad timing. And the first thing I did, I deleted the post before no one was going on. I deleted the post because I know it's wrong. And then I started waking up, started getting, I was like, what is happening? Why should I delete it? Why did I post it? Why should I delete it? And then I saw what people are saying. So it was a whole mess. So that was a week before the event. And I got into the office and I realized that a lot of the vendors and some of the attendees or speakers, whatever, they got very sensitive about it. And which was right, because it was a very bad mistake. And they were like, they don't want to, they want to back up. They don't want to be part of this, an event that writes this type of content. So obviously, I mean, for me, I didn't even know what I was doing. I didn't even know how bad it was. To be honest, for me... Since I'm a person that I don't really follow the news, I don't really know what's going on, I just hear from here and there, and I try to use the current situations on my marketing account. This is what all this marketing is called. I didn't even realize how sensitive it is to certain people. And then once I started seeing what's really going on in the world, in the world, I was like, wow. I mean, I felt bad for myself for doing it. Like, man, you can't do that. But the truth is, back then, I didn't even know what service. And also, I mean, people took it out of context. Which was the wrong impression, which people thought I'm a bad person, like, how can you write such a thing? But the truth is, I mean, if you know the whole thing, I didn't even know what I'm doing. Also, as I said, English wasn't my first language, so when I'm posting, I'm not really, like, sometimes it comes off wrong, is what I really mean. Speaker 1: So did a lot of people end up backing out? What happened in the end? Did the show go on? Speaker 2: Some people backed out and it was a problem because it was a week before the event. We spent a lot of money and we couldn't cancel the event. We started to figure out what's going on. So I decided that I have to resign. I mean, I deserve it. I did it. It happened. It doesn't matter if I didn't mean it or whatever, but it happened and people got offended by it and I have to take the responsibility. So I resigned from the event back then and so my partner went out to tell the people that I'm not involved anymore. So it was a mistake and I take responsibility and I don't want my partners and all these other people involved to get affected because of my mistake. Speaker 1: So are you still involved? So you resigned? Have you gone back to the company or are you still completely? Speaker 2: Basically, I resigned and I started focusing back on my other companies. So at that event, I went as an exhibitor with my companies, my two companies that I have. And after the event, I came back officially, publicly, and I came back like before. Speaker 1: Cool. I'm glad you were able to work through that and get that corrected. That's important. It's unfortunate that that happened, but I'm glad everything in the end has been settled and worked out. So when's the next Powwow event? Speaker 2: So the next one, we're working on a local event, which is more like a smaller specifically for the community, like in the upstate New York area, where I grew up, actually. And that's like a small intimate event. And then now we started to expand into like general business events, not only Amazon. So the Power Hour event is becoming more like a general It's not like an Amazon event company. It's a general event company, which we do Amazon events and we do other industry events as well. So now we're working on a B2B business to business expo for general business people. I mean, mainly in our community, but it's not limited to our community. It's like for everyone. Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, Mac, I really appreciate you taking some time today and sharing your story and talking about everything. If people want to reach out or find out more about you, what's the best place for them to do that? Speaker 2: So the main sources is basically LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn and WhatsApp. WhatsApp, I'm kind of active there. I have like a special WhatsApp account mainly for business. I mean, I have one personal, one For business, which I usually keep it active with posting statuses about mainly about the Amazon industry, like all the different news that's coming out and tips and tricks and have like the WhatsApp group, which is called like Amazon bestsellers, which is a very popular group among Amazon sellers. People are asking questions, helping each other. Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, Mac, I appreciate it again, man. I hope business keeps going well for you, and I'm sure I'll be seeing you in New York or maybe at a Powwow event. Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. It'll be an honor to have you come speak at our upcoming Powwow event. I mean, we'll be in touch with you when it is, where it is, to see if you're available, stuff like that. I mean, people love you in our community and people are looking forward to your speeches every time. Speaker 1: Awesome. Thanks, Mac. Appreciate it. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: I really like how e-commerce can give an opportunity to just about anybody, regardless of your education level or where you come from or what language you speak, as Mac is a perfect example of that. Started doing e-commerce, was successful, pivoted into finding his true passion, which is helping people build amazing creative listings, and now is doing the Powwow event to actually help other sellers and give back to the community and bring everybody together. So it's always a great story when I get to have a guest like Mac on the show. And don't forget to check out the Helium 10 Elite. Every month we do a live training about three to four hours long where we have several guests come on, talk about the latest strategies and techniques for selling on Amazon and e-commerce in general. I do seven ninja hacks. Plus as a Helium 10 Elite member, you get access to some really cool special tools that are not available to the public. You get increases in your limits on some of the things that you can do. One of those tools is a pretty cool tool where you could upload a list of keywords And then it spits back a downloadable spreadsheet that has a bunch of fields added to it. That's just one of the many tools. Plus as a Helium 10 Elite member, you get access to the weekly roundtables and including a roundtable that I do once a month where for two or three hours, we just talk about everything Amazon. We help each other out. If someone's got a problem with their account or needs an idea on something, we talk about the latest strategies, what's happening. So check out Helium 10 Elite if you haven't yet. Before we leave this week, I just want to leave you with some words of advice. If you want to buy things without looking at the price, then you need to learn how to work without looking at the clock. Again, if you want to buy things without looking at the price, then you need to learn how to work without looking at the clock. We'll see you again next week when we'll be talking about using Google to drive traffic to Amazon. Thanks. Unknown Speaker: Thank you.