Awesomers.com

“Be willing to put in the work to get to where you want to be; no more, no less.” On today's episode, Steve introduces us to guest Casey Gauss, CEO and Co-Founder of Viral Launch. Here are some key points on today’s episode: How Casey built his company, Viral Launch. Casey’s origin story as a young entrepreneur. How important it is to focus on your happiness. His prediction for Amazon and why it’s important for businesses to be optimized on the platform. So subscribe to the Awesomers podcast and learn more about Casey Gauss and his amazing entrepreneurial journey. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:22 (Steve Simonson introduces today’s guest Casey Gauss, CEO andCo-Founder of Viral Launch.) Steve: This is episode 27 of the Awesomers.com podcast, as always you can find show notes available at awesome Awesomers.com/27, that's Awesomers.com/27. Today my special guest is Casey Gauss which is a great example of an entrepreneur breaking out a normal and dropping out of college and jumping into the E-commerce world. Now Casey is a Co-Founder of Viral Launch which was a platform built and designed as a software, as a service platform to help Amazon sellers source launch and dominate on Amazon.com in the Amazon Marketplace to be more precise. So these are all third-party sellers. I was fortunate enough to meet Casey way back in the old days when he had just began and I really saw what wonderful potential this young fella had. And he's a brilliant guy regardless of his age. Certainly wisdom beyond his years and his quest for analytics, for measurement and performance is consistently above average for sure. That's what makes him Awesomer. Successfully, his company's performed over 30,000 product launches with 7,000 plus brands that are responsible cumulatively for billions of dollars and sales on Amazon. They've helped multiple products achieve number one best seller in their top level category in Amazon which is a great achievement. And fundamentally he has built this company which is a size at least of somewhere between 48 and 58 people at this point. And he's brought together extremely talented, developers and creative people and coaches and now management as well. So it's a real great pleasure to have Casey on the show today. Welcome back Awesomers, here we are again talking about all things awesome and today I have a very special guest Casey Gauss. How are you Casey? 3:02 (Casey starts to talk about Viral Launch.) Casey: I am doing wonderful Steve. Thank you so much for having me on this podcast. Steve: Definitely my pleasure. Help me pronounce your last name. I don't know that I've ever gotten it right yet.

Your personal why is what gives you motivation. It really is an extraordinary opportunity for you to find yourself empowered to go on and take on the world. For today’s Awesomer Insights episode, Steve talks about the importance of finding out your personal whys. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: What you need to establish your personal why. The different phases of building a company and why knowing your whys can help you make decisions that are aligned to your goals. Why you need to write your own eulogy and think about how you want to be remembered and more. So put on your headphones and be inspired to take action in knowing your personal why. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1.15 (Steve introduces today’s topic - establishing your personal why.) Steve: Welcome again to the Awesomers.com podcast everybody. My name is Steve Simonson and I'm thrilled to have you with us today today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics and that is the idea of establishing your personal why. Now there's been recent discussion the past couple years by an author. Turns out he's a great author and thought leader named Simon Sinek and he talks about finding your why and that book is a great book and we'll probably talk about it later on a an episode of our book of the week but that's more about finding a company why and why a brand should exist and what a brand stands for. And what I'd like to talk to you today about is the idea that you need to understand your own personal why. Why are you doing this, well you know whatever it is you do, why are you doing it? And what's the point of it and it goes far beyond the day-to-day I need to put food on the table or my kids need a new pair of shoes. It's really about what drives your fulfillment and your satisfaction in the long run and I can't stress this enough. So you're listening to episode number 26 of the Awesomers.com podcast you as always can go to Awesomers.com/26 to find the show notes and details. That's Awesomers.com/26 so as we embark on this journey today talking about the mission of finding a person why, I want to really articulate why I believe it's important when you understand your why and the why really should be broken down into two or three sentences that really resonate. And I'll come back and we'll talk about that later as I go through some of the process but today we're going to talk about that exact process and we're going to give you some of the tips and hints and on the show notes pages, we'll probably even give you a worksheet to kind of help you work through it as well. I truly believe in this process. It is really important and it doesn't matter whether you

What if you can make your business operate without you day to day? On today’s podcast, Steve Simonson introduces us to another book of the week episode, Built to Sell by John Warrillow. John made a story instead of a long checklist that addresses this particular question. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: The main philosophy behind Built to Sell. How to engineer your desired outcomes. Why you should align your people with your objectives. And the number one mistake most entrepreneurs make according to John Warrillow. So let’s get to know more about our Book of the Week and find out how you too can put your business on autopilot. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:11 (Steve introduces today’s book, Built to Sell by John Warrillow.) Steve: Welcome back Awesomers, this is Steve Simonson and today we are recording episode number 25 for the Awesomers.com podcast series. You can always go to Awesomers.com/25 to find the relevant show notes, details and perhaps a link or two that we might mention along the way. So this is another book of the week episode and today my book is Built to Sell and I'm not sure I pronounce his last name but John Warrillow, is how I'm going to give it a go. And John's written a nice book and that is in a parable format right. He's made a story instead of like a long checklist that talks about some of the lessons that need to be learned from his perspective in this particular book. So first let's let's fly up to the 30,000 foot level. The idea of Built to Sell would be that you’re engineering some outcome like running a business and that you're building it to sell. Now this is a very important concept, even if you're not preparing to because you want to build it in such a way that it has value. And regularly I talk about this idea of equity, you're building equity. So sometimes we're building intellectual equity, we do that by reading books and learning in general but other times you're building financial equity. And when you're starting a company, you’re building a company, may be part of your objective is to sell that company and get a financial reward. So if you're building the company to sell that's okay, that's something that people do and in fact it's a very good outcome if you plan for it. So one of the key concepts here and I think that this is

Dropshipping on Shopify is one of the easiest ways for beginner entrepreneurs to start their own store. On today’s Awesomer origin story, Steve introduces us to Huy Nguyen, a young entrepreneur who leveraged the power of Amazon to grow his business. Huy is a global traveler who is now offering services to other sellers to help them start their own Shopify dropshipping store. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: How Huy traced back his roots to Vietnam. The number one skill he needed to learn to start dropshipping. And why it is important to learn and explore new tactics and keep an open mind in business and more. So join us on today’s episode and find out all about entrepreneurship, dropshipping and Amazon from Huy’s amazing journey Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:31 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Huy Nguyen.) Steve: This is episode 24 of the Awesomers.com podcast and as always you can go find the show notes at Awesomers.com/24, that's Awesomers.com/24. Just use the numbers, you don't need to spell it out. My special guest today is Huy Nguyen and Huy is a great example of a somebody who's young and energized just getting the job done. I really think of him as a classic example of that young entrepreneur who is highly engaged in growing his business in every possible way. By leveraging the power of Amazon using a world-class training that Huy was exposed to early on, he's been able to jump start his online businesses today. He also has a dominant position for his Shopify stores which is a great diversity diversification and he's now offering services to other sellers to help them start a Shopify store that is built around the concept of dropshipping. So the overhead and startup is extra low. Huy is a global traveler, a bright entrepreneur and young and full of passion for the E-commerce business. I've been lucky enough to travel with Huy around the world through China and a number of different events. He’s a great businessman and I'm thrilled that we all get to learn from him today. Welcome back Awesomers, here we are again today. Steve Simonson coming into your life, talking about what makes Awesomers and talking about another Awesomer origin story. We're happy today to have a good friend of mine. Huy Nguyen with us. Huy how are you buddy? Huy: It's good Steve, very good. Steve: Glad that we actually woke him up nice and early because as I understand you are presently in Asia, yes? Huy: Yes I am, I'm currently in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh right now. So it's about just seven right now.

As entrepreneurs, we all face challenges along the way. Surrounding yourself with the right people, having a positive mindset and plan of action can help you get through it all. On today’s episode, we get to know Tyrone Odiowei and his classic rags to riches story. Tyrone is a consistent Amazon top earner and founder of the Inner Circle Mastermind. Here are more awesome details on this podcast: How Tyrone leveraged a terrible work situation to kickstart his E-commerce journey. The challenges he encountered along the way and the valuable lessons he learned from them. How to take advantage of any negative situation. The importance of having an Awesomer mindset and understanding your limitations to achieve your own level of success, and more. So listen to today’s podcast and be inspired to take action and overcome challenges on your Awesomer journey. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1.15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Tyrone Odiowei.) Steve: This is episode 23 of the Awesomers.com podcast and as always you can go to the Awesomers.com/23 webpage. That's Awesomers.com/23 to find all the show notes and relevant details about today's episode. Now today I'm lucky because we're interviewing Tyrone Odiowei and he's really a classic rags to riches story. And as recent as 2015, his future looked very bleak indeed. He was unemployed, living on less than $400 a month and he had just dropped out of college after considering going into medicine but realizing that wasn't his passion. He got fired from his first paid job no less than ten days after starting. It was not awesome and what he did then is he was able to leverage kind of a really weird and terrible situation he had with his employer and he won a little Scooby Snack of compensation out of that and he's gone on to double down in the E-commerce world. His first three months of business, Tyrone reached over 20,000 a month in gross sales and has gone to grossed over a million dollars in online sales including many months where he's exceeded extraordinary numbers. He's experienced many of the ups and downs along the way as we all have including suspension issues after reaching 150,000 a month in sales. Imagine the pain that is involved when you get suspended when you're doing that kind of volume. Tyrone has spoken at many conferences across the US and Europe and he shares his knowledge and experience within the online marketing space particularly Amazon related regularly. Tyrone also hosts his own mastermind and is generating big influencers in the E-commerce space at large. Tyrone's main focus is scaling his

Some people start one successful business after another while others fail to succeed. On today’s episode, Steve introduces us to Paul Baron, co-founder of Physical Product Pros, a second-generation Colorado native and lifelong entrepreneur. Paul is also a sought-after consultant and many of the things that he's doing in his life today are focused on helping others. Here are more gold nuggets on today’s episode: How Paul started, failed and persevered as an entrepreneur. Why you should be constantly learning and be doggedly persistent. What messenger bots are and how you can use it to initiate a conversation and take people through your sales funnels using predetermined yes/no answers. So hit the play button and find out how you too can start on your entrepreneurial journey! Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:16 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Paul Baron.) Steve: This is the Awesomers.com podcast episode number 22 and as always you can go to Awesomers.com/22 to find relevant show notes and details. My special guest today is Paul Baron who is a second generation Colorado native. He's also a husband, father and entrepreneur. Between the ages of five and thirty, some of Paul's entrepreneurial misadventures included shoveling driveways in the winter to make money for skiing, running paper routes, carting lawn, care equipment around town inside a Geo Metro and of course this is defying the laws of physics but he did it anyway, everybody. He's also run scrap metal recycling routes with his uncle. Starting and failing in the videography business, starting and failing a web design business and as we all know it's not really failing. It's just learning and gathering data points along the way. Really great episode where Paul shares some of these beginnings and some of the things he's been able to do and put together since those not so auspicious started up moments. And I just love a good Awesomer origin story where we're able to see some of the past, see some of the struggles and then we get to see the chapter that he's on right now. And I can't wait to see his future. I know everyone will join me in welcoming Paul to the show. It's going to be a great one everybody. Welcome back to Awesomers.com podcast this is Steve Simonson and I have a special guest today Paul Baron. Paul, how are you? Paul: I am fantastic Steve. Thanks for having me on.

One of the biggest challenges faced by entrepreneurs is deciding on the patents, trademarks and other protection mechanisms for their business. On this episode, Steve introduces Richard Goldstein, a patent attorney, entrepreneur and marketer. He is also the author of the American Bar Association's Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent. Here are more awesome takeaways on today’s episode: How Rich works with E-commerce sellers to help them protect their innovative products and avoid problems when sourcing. The abundance mindset and why he believes in it. Why relationship is the foundation of accomplishment. How product patent works, the steps in applying for a patent, the different types of patent and more. So subscribe to the Awesomers podcast and learn how you too can have patent protection for your business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:30 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Rich Goldstein.) Steve: This is Awesomers.com podcast episode number 21 and as always to find show notes and details you can go to Awesomers.com/21, that's Awesomers.com/21. So today my guest is the great Rich Goldstein. Rich is a patent attorney, entrepreneur and a marketer. He would say marketer but I threw in the marketer because it's fun. He works with E-commerce sellers to help them better protect their innovative products as well as helping them avoid problems when sourcing products that they intend to sell. He is the author of the American Bar Association's Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent and that's a book I highly recommend for any entrepreneur to give you the basic overview of what the process of getting a patent is all about. We're really lucky to have somebody as smart and as capable as Rich joining us. To talk about the process of finding out about patents, learning if the product we want to sell’s already got a patent on it or even if it has a patent can we still sell, and if so on what conditions. There's so many things related to patents so this is going to be an exciting episode for you to learn lots about patents. Awesomers this is Steve Simonson and we're back on the Awesomers.com podcast today joined by special guest Rich Goldstein. Rich, how are you buddy? Rich: I'm doing well Steve. How are you? Steve: Doing great and thrilled to have you on today. And Awesomers, you're in for a treat today because so often we talk about product development and the intellectual property patent and all the headaches that go along with that. And today we're hoping that Rich is gonna

Join us as we present a live question and answer session with entrepreneurs and Awesomers from around the world. In this episode, Steve tackles the important questions about Amazon, dropshipping, Shopify and consumer-driven products. More interesting tidbits on today’s episode: What is Amazon review purge and how it can affect your business. What service elements to include in a feedback sequence for your customers to get better reviews. How to know if Amazon FBA is a viable economic model for you. And many more! Stay awesome and listen below to know more! Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: This is Episode 5 of the Awesomers.com podcast. That's episode number 5 and you can find all the show notes and relevant details by going to awesomers.com/5. That's awesomers.com/5 to see all of the relevant show details. This Episode is a little bit different because we do a live question and answer session with entrepreneurs and Awesomers from around the world. From time to time, we'll post these live Q&A sessions. They'll be posted on Awesomers.com and various places on Facebook and for those who join us live, they'll get the chance to answer questions sometimes on video, sometimes on audio and sometimes just through the live chat function. But between myself, Steve Simonson and sometimes special guests we'll try to answer your questions to help you the best we can so what a great opportunity for the community to be involved and become part of the show and this is one of those episodes, it's our first one so nothing's ever perfect but we're always trying to improve so thanks for listening and again this Awesomers podcast number five. Steve: Okay everybody welcome back awesomers.com today we are doing a live session, a little Q&A. You might think of it as talkback or perhaps even back talk depending on who asks a question but either way we want to just talk a little bit about what's happening out there. One of the things that has has caused a significant amount of consternation in the Amazon world is this so-called review purge and the the change in terms of service at the end of 2016 created a whole series of events from Amazon trying to respond basically to some bad PR they got. I think it's the New York Times there's some big publication that said, hey everybody's gaming the system of reviews on Amazon and it's overt, it's naked, it's ridiculout. Why are you letting people get away with it Amazon if reviews are supposed to be credible and if that's supposed to be kind of your sense of trust with a customer.

Find out how you can successfully validate your business in as little as a three-day period, before even launching and raising capital. In this episode, Danny McMillan explains how he went from a struggling student with learning difficulties to an Amazon FBA expert and a serial entrepreneur. Here are more awesome gold nuggets about today’s episode: How Danny overcame lightning bolts and adversity and used them as an opportunity to reset his life. Why a steely determination is one of the most effective tools in the learning process. The right questions you need to ask to validate your business before doing anything else. And why Danny focuses on three different business models to avoid risks. Stay awesome and listen below to hear how you too can take charge in transforming your life and validating you business model. SHOW TRANSCRIPT Steve: Everybody today on the Awesomer’s podcast we're gonna talk with Danny McMillan. Here's a little bit about Danny's background: Danny's an international speaker on Amazon marketing and optimization and he's an active ecommerce seller in the USA and in Europe. Danny has an open collaboration and sharing at its core with a drive to dismantle, optimize and share his deep learning, analysis, research and even his trainwrecks with peers and the community at large so that you don't have to experience the same pain. He's a survivor of the former music industry and a start-up serial entrepreneur without a doubt. For the last couple of years he's been focused on Amazon FBA. He's appeared on numerous podcasts including his own Seller Sessions which is the number one podcast for advanced Amazon sellers and he contributes to the industry Bible webretailer.com. Danny's been a guest speaker at all kinds venues across the world including the Smart China Sourcing Summit, the European Private Label Summit, the Private Label World Summit, The Great Escape and ZCon and so many more. I am thrilled to have Danny McMillan with me today. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT Steve: Okay everybody, welcome back to Awesomers. It's great to be back and today we have a special guest, Danny McMillan. How are you Danny? Danny: I'm good. Thank you for having me. Steve: It's certainly a pleasure to have you and I couldn't help from the accent to notice that that doesn't sound American. Where are you from Danny? Danny: I'm based just outside of London but I’m originally born in London. Steve: Okay, fair enough. and so I know you and and I already know that you're Awesomer but help our audience understand kind of what you do in your day to day world. What do you spend your time doing mostly? Danny: Okay. My life is split into various different areas though my day starts with Asia into the UK into the US. I run three businesses. One’s an Amazon product business where we’re in Home Kitchen and in Topicals. I’ve also got an agency with my partner Ellis who is the guy behind Jungle Scout. We’ve got a PPC service agency that does automation. It’s managed accounts as well. We can do international page like multilingual PPC and we mainly manage large accounts. I also got a service business as well which is in the construction industry. I also host Seller Sessions which we publish three times a week and I also do public speaking on all things Amazon. Steve: So basically what you're saying is you only work in about half time. That’s a pretty light scheduled there, very impressive. Knowing how many pots you’re hands are stirring at one time, plates you’re spinning - whatever metaphor you prefer, do you find it rewarding to you or stressful to you? Danny: No, I love every minute of it. I enjoy what i do. If I didn’t like it, I’d have to get it removed from my life. I got to that age, I’m 42 now. I want to enjoy my life. This is going to be stressful from time to time but if you are passionate about what you do, that’s what gets you up in the mornings.

As business owners, we should know how to protect our assets to the best of our interests. In this episode, Paul Rafelson, a tax attorney and executive director of Online Merchants Guild talk about the legal aspects in running and keeping E-commerce businesses afloat. Here are more key points in today’s episode: How the modern economy has outpaced the government and state laws Expert insights about taxation and E-commerce laws The revolutionary way Amazon created a portal to the global economy where sellers can compete against giant big-box retailers And how you can join the fight against ignorance in today’s online marketplace and keep the window of opportunity open for everybody to succeed. So subscribe to the Awesomers podcast and learn the nitty gritty of the legal aspects in running your own E-commerce business. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. You are listening to Awesomers Podcast. Steve: This is Episode Three of the Awesomers Podcast, you can find show details and show notes by going to awesomers.com/3, again, that is awesomers.com/3 to find the appropriate show links, notes and details that we discussed throughout the program. Today, our special guest is Paul Rafelson, who is a tax attorney representing online merchants, and tax, and other business matters. Prior to advising online merchants, Paul spent over 12 years defending Fortune 100 companies in complex tax litigation matters, spending most of his career as in house counsel for the likes of Microsoft, Walmart and General Electric. Paul is also an adjunct professor at the Pace Law School where he teaches a state tax based constitutional law course, and he is the acting executive director of the new trade association for online merchants called the Online Merchants Guild. In my opinion, the Online Merchants Guild is a great new resource that will help each of us find legal advocacy and legal strategies as well as lobby through the association where we could combine our efforts. This can work really well and I am super excited about it. Don’t forget to subscribe and share this with a friend. It does not hurt to leave a review as well. We appreciate you guys sharing and getting the word out about the Awesomers Podcast. Thank you very much. Welcome back to Awesomers, Steve Simonson coming to you again. We have a very special guest, Paul Rafelson and he is a well-known expert in the field of, not particularly tax, or sales tax, but he has been a legal guy for many many years. Welcome to the show, Paul. Paul: Hey! Thank you so much. I am really glad to be here, thank you for having me.

Learn from Matt Clark’s entrepreneurial journey; how he became a CEO and co-founder of Amazing.com and how he has helped thousands of entrepreneurs build their businesses around the world. In this episode, Matt tells us his origin and backstory. We also have a lot of awesome takeaways including: How Matt joined his university’s Entrepreneurship program and understood the context of business firsthand from seasoned entrepreneurs. Why entrepreneurs are natural problem solvers and how they approach failures with the right mindset. What steps you should take to network and build relationships which can be pivotal to your success. And the very core principles of entrepreneurship which everyone should learn. Stay awesome and listen below to get inspired by Matt’s amazing story. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: That's episode number 6. You can go to Awesomers.com/6 to see the show notes and details. That's Awesomers.com/6. Today my special guest is Matt Clark who is the CEO and co-founder of Amazing.com. He's also a serial entrepreneur and an investor. He's been featured on amazing publications like Forbes, The Under 30 CEO and Business.com. Matt’s partner Jason Katzenback have created training programs that have helped thousands of entrepreneurs build their businesses around the world. Matt's commitment to helping others find their own path to success is something that is unique and enduring. One of the things I love about Matt and just his spirit of generosity is the fact that he doesn't just see a problem, he sees the solution and then often will create a training to help somebody live that solution. I really really appreciate how they approach things and I'm super excited to have Matt onboard. So again this is episode number 6 of the Awesomers podcast. Awesomers.com/6 to get all the show details.

Amazon is a large and complex ecosystem which can be hard to navigate. In Episode 7, we learn from James Thomson, former head of Amazon Services and partner and co-founder of Buy Box Experts and the PROSPER show, about his journey from being a top Amazon executive to starting his own businesses. You will also learn valuable key points such as: How he created educational opportunities for sellers and brands to become more attuned to the specifics of what it takes to be successful on Amazon. Why relationships still matter even in today’s technology-driven environment. Outsourcing and delegating responsibilities to team members who can execute with excellence. And why you should just break free from the traditional environment and just grab an opportunity and own it! So listen up and learn valuable insights on how to navigate Amazon, entrepreneurship and living an Awesomer life. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: You can find all the show notes and details at awesomers.com/7 that's awesomers.com/7. Today our special guest is James Thomson who is a partner in Buy Box experts which is a managed services agency supporting brands selling online. Earlier he served as the business head of Amazon services, the division of Amazon responsible for recruiting tens of thousands of sellers annually to the Amazon Marketplace. He has also served as the first fulfillment by Amazon manager. Prior to Amazon James was a management consultant and a banker or a big background. In 2015, James co-founded the Prosper show, a continuing education conference for large Amazon sellers and in 2017, he published a book the Amazon Marketplace Dilemma, designed for brand executives seeking to control their brands on the Amazon Marketplace and boy it's a wild west environment for the big brands for sure, even for the small brands. In 2018, he co-founded the Brand Authority Summit. James is definitely, constantly got his finger on the pulse of what's happening on Amazon and the e-commerce ecosystem at large and we're thrilled to have him. Again this is episode number 7 and don't forget to subscribe. Share this with a friend and leave us some comments on how you like this episode. Hey everybody welcome back to Awesomers! We're here on today's live podcast with a wonderful guest and it turns out that you can be an Awesomers and not even know it wouldn't you say that's true James? James: I'll let you decide what Awesomers means. I do what I like and I love doing what I'm doing so hopefully the story is interesting to those who are listening.

Today’s Book of the Week talks about the importance of assigning and delegating tasks to the right people in your organization. On today’s episode, Steve shares with us one of his favorite books, One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. Here are some of the awesome things you will get to hear on this episode: The 4 key rules on how to deal with the monkey. The difference between abdication and delegation. What a boomerang delegation is and how you can avoid it. And why experience is not just about what happens to you. It's what you do with what happens to you. So listen here and find out why One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey is one of the best management books that Awesomers should read. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1.15 (Steve talks about today’s book of the week, One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey.) Steve: You're listening to the Awesomers.com episode number 13. You can find show notes and some of the details and links and so forth that we may discuss today, you can go to Awesomers.com/13 that's Awesomers.com/13. So this is an Awesomers book of the week discussion and today we are going to talk about one of my very favorite books and I'm certainly glad to share this book with you. It's called the One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey. Now this is an actual an older book I think it was written in the late 80s. Maybe the most recent publication is late 90s but it's something that I've been aware of because we have used this type of book as a standard part of our management nomenclature for I don't know 15 or 20 years maybe. I don't really know how long, but a long time. As always with with these books I'd like to give a little bit of context right? So one of the things that is important to me about this book is that by defining some similar vocabulary within the organization and you'll find often that the books that we introduce are about sharing vocabulary with your peers, with your associates, anybody that's on your team. This is one of the most key vocabulary types that we use which is called the the monkey right? Who's got the monkey? Ultimately this is about

The best benefit of digital marketing is the ability to scale and spread your brand message to a large audience. On today’s episode, Steve introduces Yev Marusenko. Dr. Yevgeniy "Yev" Marusenko received his Ph.D. from Arizona State University as the first ever graduate from the new Environmental Life Sciences program. He is also the director of E-commerce and growth analytics at Heroclip. Here are more awesome things in this episode: Different marketing techniques in top platforms such as Facebook, Google and Amazon. Branding and marketing strategies for E-commerce businesses And the five methods of tracking and placing advertisements that convert into sales and profit. So put on your headphones and learn how you can too can bring your business to a whole new level using different digital marketing tools and strategies. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. Steve: This is episode 17 of the Awesomers podcast we're thrilled to have you with us today remember as always you can find the show notes at Awesomers.com/17. That's Awesomers.com/17. 01:30 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Yev Marusenko) Steve: Now today my special guest is Yev Marusenko and I hope I got that right, Yev I know I’ll try for perfection, but I'll give it another go here in a minute. Yev went from being a scientist to an entrepreneur which is a unique experience. He left his academic career as an Ecologist and sustainability expert and began trying to crack the Facebook advertising code as well as the Amazon algorithm and all things about marketing. Using his PhD knowledge of experimental testing and data analysis, he is the director of E-commerce and growth analytics at Heroclip. A hyper growth startup company changing the way you carry your stuff. This was featured on the ESPN gear we love spot the Heroclip very cool little products, so kudos to Yev and the team. Yev is frequently invited to present in private mastermind groups including Catalyst88.com mastermind group which is an exclusive 25,000 a year group of brilliant entrepreneurs and he was invited to speak there and show what's working including relevant case studies on how brands can go from spending a hundred dollars a day to over a thousand dollars

On this episode, Steve introduces Hugh Taylor, the president of EconomyPR.com. Hugh is a seasoned marketer and he's a passionate player about helping companies go from where they are to where they want to be. Here are more awesome things you will learn on this episode: Why you need a niche so you can focus on your target customers. The importance of SEO on getting your profile found on Linkedin. Why wuality content is another form of equity. And the importance of adapting to change and never giving up. So pay attention to today’s episode and find out more about marketing, SEO and how to level up your Awesomers game. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit SymoGlobal.com to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 01:15 (Steve introduces today’s guest, Hugh Taylor.) Steve: This is the Awesomers podcast number 20 everybody. To find all the show notes and details about this episode just go to Awesomers.com/20. That's Awesomers.com/20, to see all the particulars about this episode. Today my special guest is Hugh Taylor, the president of EconomyPR.com. Hugh over the years has created marketing content for clients like Microsoft, IBM, Google, Oracle, and many others. He's also been a public relations manager for Microsoft SharePoint technologies. In fact, Hugh was responsible for generating the billion dollar juggernaut story that helped make SharePoint a high profile product for Microsoft, generating over 800 pieces of press coverage in just a single year. Hugh is a certified information security manager as well and lecturer at University of California, Berkeley: Law School and Graduate School of Information. He's author books and has done so many things but most of all he's consulted with dozens of entrepreneurs and crafted business plans to help these new ventures get funded. Hugh graduated with honors from Harvard in 1988 and his MBA from Harvard in 1992. Today, he lives in Cleveland Ohio. One of my favorite things about Hugh is he's extraordinarily, well educated, he's very articulate, he's a brilliant writer but he brings all of those skills to bear for Awesomers and entrepreneurs that maybe are not as big as Microsoft or Oracle or Google. He remembers how these little guys get started and he's a passionate player about helping companies go from where they are to where they want to be. I'm thrilled to have Hugh on the show today. Steve: Hi, everybody welcome back to Awesomers.com podcast. We're thrilled to have you here today. And today we have a very special guest, Hugh Taylor. How are you Hugh?