you
hey lindsey how are you doing i'm okay how are you good nice to see you how was your weekend
oh boy it was good i can't remember like like which way is this gonna go
yeah now we've had um monday was a holiday and then yesterday it was so cold here that
they canceled school so i'm like like i was like wait what did i do this weekend because i
barely know what day of the week it is i i get you i honestly my days are off even just from
monday being a holiday like and what's funny is that you would think i'm like oh yeah yesterday
felt like what they say feels like tuesday no it's opposite i'm like today feels like thursday
it's like is the week over yet i'm i'm lost no we had last week we had no school on thursday
and then had a two-hour delay on friday then the holiday monday no school yesterday
and it's it's literally it feels like winter break again and so yeah yeah that'll do it
that'll absolutely do it who else we got more people in the waiting room we're supposed to
be getting a ton of snow this weekend so we're probably not going to have school again next
monday yep i can't relate to that right now totally no i'm sure you can't my door is open
there is snow on the ground so no not even close i do have a blanket on my lap though because i'm
like i have to try to make myself cold like i have spandex shorts on like be cold enough to
have a blanket you know so you can be cozy yeah like i want to be cozy i want to feel the cold
and be cozy michaela where are you what's your weather like i'm in virginia so i don't have snow
yet but you're supposed to get the storm this weekend too aren't you yes and i'm flying out
on tuesday oh yeah i saw a teacher last night at dance that teaches at my kid's school and
she said that they're telling them to send a snow pack at home for the week the entire week
so now i'm trying to like is my flight gonna take off who's gonna keep my kids because my
sister has my kids but she runs a business she has a she runs a restaurant so i'm like now i
have to figure out who's gonna keep my kids while she works oh my oh so yeah but she was like worst
case scenario like i'll make them a little playroom in the office and they can hang out at the
restaurant which they would probably be psyched about but yeah they probably talk about that for
the rest of their lives 100 but i don't know if they can handle that all week a lot yeah a week
is a long time yes but also my flight has to take off so that's the most important part yes i feel
like if i can get to charlotte we'll be good but our we're flying out from our local
airport, which has one gate. Oh, no. Yes. So, they have 48 hours to clean the snow off
of the runway to get me to Charlotte. Yeah, that's the hard part about that, like the
middle or kind of lower middle of the United States. Like I grew up in Tennessee in Chattanooga,
and it was the same as like, it really didn't take much of anything to really throw us all
into chaos. Yeah, because they're not prepared for it. Yeah, they're not prepared. And we
got really kind of like probably more problems with ice, honestly, than we did anything else
was just like, it would rain or sleet and melt enough and freeze overnight. That was
always kind of a problem. Hey, Casey, nice to see you. Yeah, my husband is already like
setting up for a generator. Oh, my God, just add that to the list of worries. Because if
we lose power, like one of us, obviously him, not me has to stay here. We don't want
him to say we want him to be able to go next week, too, though. Oh, I I'm a nervous wreck
on a flight. If he's not on that flight, like I'm gonna be drunk when I get there. Like
Steven and Chelsea are gonna pick me up from the airport. I was like, you're like, you're
like being escorted off out of the airport. Like, she was just nervous. That's so funny.
Well, what do you guys is anybody have any support needs questions? Anything you want
to share? Steven? Like, doesn't have to be a question to be like, want to share?
I'm trying to pull information from Facebook groups, like, posts that I guess, like, common
discussion questions that people have within my topic. And it's not fun. And it's not easy.
And it's a lot of scrolling through nonsense.
Little tedious. Definitely. How much do you need to like, ideally, do you need to pull?
Like,
I feel like if I could find the right group, that's like really active, it probably wouldn't
take that much. But a lot of these groups, most of the I feel like Facebook groups are
kind of I don't know if I want to say like, they're dying out. Like, I don't feel like
there's like popular as they used to be. So, you know, and I haven't, I haven't really
participated in any Facebook groups in a while either. But you know, it used to be like,
when somebody made a post, there would be a lot of like, conversation on it and stuff.
And a lot of the I just haven't found a like, super active group yet, like all the groups
that I've seen, like, it's a lot of the head of the group posting, there's not a lot of
communication happening.
Yeah, I see that.
So if I find the right page, probably not a whole lot. But until I find that right group,
I'm just
could you do a similar thing on Instagram, but instead of obviously, it's like groups,
you're looking at, you know, like, almost like the sum of the interaction between creator
and like followers, like it's less discussion, because there's not room for like
discussion. But people do have questions. There are like,
caught like content topics, I suppose. I don't know, maybe that might be more relevant.
Yeah, I might.
Because it so like, um, I was trying to search like the Facebook ad library. And my, my
niche is Christian women slash wannabe business owners, right? How do you search for that?
Because it's like, it's too long, right? Like you got like, you can be like a Christian
entrepreneur, or you can be a Christian mom, or you can be a mompreneur. But it's when you
put it all together. Yeah. Because the I feel like the Christian aspect of it is more just
the flavor than it is the topic. Yeah. But it's hard to find the balance.
Yeah.
That's what I'm working on. What is everybody else working on?
Anybody has groups?
What you got, Casey?
How are y'all been a hot minute since I've been on. So here I am. Okay, my, with all my all my
glory. Um, oh, I'm sorry, Lindsay was actually on before me. Did she want to talk?
Cause I just jumped in.
Okay.
Sounds good.
Um, yeah, I, okay.
So obviously with my product, it's been really, really, really, really freaking slow and it
makes me sad, but I know you had told me not to do this, but because of my mental capacity,
I did end up getting somebody, um, involved with my brand story, my, and I will have to
say it looks great.
They've got my campaigns going hopefully in the right direction, but I don't know.
My life is just a circus right now.
So I don't know if you want to like look at it and see, and then I know all of these people
are doing this like business accelerator and I feel like I just haven't kept up with
it.
So I don't know.
I just, I guess I just would love some guidance of like, cause I mean I jumped on this bandwagon
obviously to create a product, right?
Because that's where the, that's where everything was going and I was like, okay, I'm doing
this.
Now that I have so much money invested in this product and I do solely 110% believe
that it will do very great things eventually.
I'm like, what piece of the puzzle am I also missing?
So maybe Lindsay and Michaela, you can help me with that because I just don't, I don't
know.
I guess.
Yeah.
So when did you bring someone on?
Uh, it was, let me look, but it was like a month and a half ago.
Okay.
Yeah.
They've been handling pretty much all of the launch then generally.
Yeah.
And to be honest, I, I might've totally screwed myself by including them because number one,
it's a lot of money.
Um, but then I just feel like with the holidays, it's like they're on vacation, but it's like
six people on the team and there's like one person in London, one in Miami, one in Mexico,
one in Italy.
And it's like, just to get them all on the same page, I feel like I'm a part of their
group because I feel like I'm kind of keeping them together.
Okay.
Who is it?
What's the name?
Econcy?
I've vaguely heard, yeah, of them.
Yeah.
I know Lisa, I don't know if you also deal with Lisa or Lisa's on, she's one of us, but
I was going to get on a call with her today because I know she has, she's with a different
group.
I think Sophie's Society or something.
Yeah.
And I just, I wanted to see if she deals, you know, she, she's experienced the same
things I have because like, I'm on the verge of like letting them go, but then they've
done a great job with my listing.
So anyway, I'm just rattled at this point, but I'm, I'm like frustrated, but then I'm
like, I can't keep just cranking out money and then obviously paying towards my PPC and
then like not having sales on top of it because I feel like my sales were better before I
got them involved and they're like, Oh, it's an algorithm.
It's blah, blah, blah.
It's this.
It's that.
But then I'm like going on week seven of being with them and I'm like, yeah, um, how, what
is your contract with them?
Is it like a certain amount of time or it's spent a month so I can let them go anytime.
Like I said, I might've just totally, no, no, no, you didn't like also remember, I know
it, it feels like an expensive lesson, but also remember like either way you're learning,
you're doing all this for the first time.
So it's, you know, you're just kind of figuring it out.
I don't want you to feel like you need to beat yourself up or anything like that.
Um, I'm not as familiar with Econ C. I know Michaela uses Brennan, right?
Um, so previously he was a coach with us.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with him, Casey.
Um, but he has his own PPC management company who I think generally all of our students
who do use him really like him.
His business is in fruition.
Um, if you want to make a note and you can look him up, he's definitely, I mean probably
Econ C, him, a lot of people are gonna be a lot cheaper than Sophie's Society.
So Sophie's Society is extremely expensive.
Granted, do we consider them probably the best of the best?
Yes.
But they're also a thousand dollars a month.
Um, and you.
Wait, I'm paying 1500.
Like I'm getting screwed right now.
I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I'm just like, but like, there's so much outside.
out of my control right now that I'm having to deal with.
I mean, my mom is like using and abusing drugs
and she's like in the process of like,
hopefully I'm like getting her an intervention situation
because I'm doing it by myself.
So like my mental capacity to like keep this going,
it's just all kind of happened
and fallen on me at the same time.
So I just, yeah, I want you to see what I have going
but I would love that information
if you can drop it in the chat.
Yeah, so his is,
Mikayla, you wanna drop it?
Do you mind?
That would be awesome.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, I just, you know,
and also just keep in mind like EconC
might be like offering different things, more things.
Like if they do a lot of like branding stuff
then it might be different.
But if the cost is definitely a big concern,
there's definitely great options elsewhere.
What all did you say was included, Casey?
Yeah.
Well, you know, they're actually doing some AI stuff
with my photos.
They changed my main image.
They did a brand story, which is absolutely beautiful.
Like they've, I have A plus content now.
I mean, they've done a really, really good job,
but like, you know,
they're rushing to get off the call with me every month.
I mean, every week.
The project manager is in a different country,
but she's also like never on the call
and she doesn't really talk.
I'm just like, and then, you know, they just kind of,
but I think the fact that there's like six to eight people
and there's always new people on the call
and I'm like, who are you?
Like, who are you?
I'm the one paying for, you know,
like you need to introduce yourself
because I just feel like less is more
when it comes to a group
because it's like, not everybody can be on the same page
and it just causes a lot of like miscommunication,
a lot of just like lack of, I don't know,
like a team, you know?
Yeah.
So I have, I'm with, like she said,
I used Infruition, which is Brennan.
I know some of the other girls use,
it'll hit me in a second, but he's,
I think he's in Canada.
Oh no, I'm thinking of somebody else then.
No, they, he uses, it's, I don't know.
There was Hazan and then there's Haman.
There were two different people
that a lot of people were using,
but I know like me and I don't know if you know,
if you've seen Cappy in the group.
Yeah.
So Cappy uses Brennan, but theirs is,
right now, now he's expanding.
Like he's, they're working on my listing optimization
and stuff right now.
But right now, like I pay them for PPC
and that's what they do.
And they're really good at PPC,
but they're not doing all that extra stuff.
And so, you know, they're not gonna,
right now they're not doing like the AI,
they're not doing meta ads, nothing like that.
But I pay them $300 a month and they do my PPC.
And I don't have a call with them,
but I get every week, I get a report.
I have one set person, her name's Erica.
I know they have different ones,
but Erica is the one that I deal with and Cappy.
And she sends me a report every single week
and it goes over, you know, there's a detailed report.
And then she sends me like a little blurb
with her input on it.
And then she tells me like, hey, this is what we've seen.
This is what we're doing moving forward.
And I'm trying to think of anything else.
And then like, I think twice.
That sounds like a dream.
Yeah, like two different times,
like I've like reached out,
cause you know, Brennan, he's just getting started.
So like, I've reached out to him a couple of times
with questions and gotten on calls with him
to try to like work through things.
But they have hired, they are trying,
they're gonna add additional services,
but they are like, he is like, he knows PPC.
Then she sent the link I was getting ready to do,
but she got it.
Thank you so much.
I beat you.
Yeah, I would also just like,
it's okay that your bandwidth is not
where you wish it would be,
that you have other priorities.
So I just wanna like kind of validate
that you have that stuff going on.
Like, I don't look at you having hired someone
as a downside as a bad thing at all.
Like you evaluated your bandwidth
and you made a decision.
That's great.
Yeah, well, I appreciate you saying that.
Yeah.
Like I can't take any,
my mental capacity is like tapped out.
Like.
Yeah, I get it.
We all have those times.
Like last year, I was, I love PPC
and I ran my own PPC for a long time,
but I also hit a point where my bandwidth
was completely tapped.
And I was like, I can't think about this anymore.
Someone else needs to do that.
So like I brought on someone for a little bit.
So it does happen.
And you're getting, now you're getting well-versed
in like what your options are out there.
I think for.
$1,500, it's a lot.
So I would, you know, if you're gonna spend that,
I'd rather you go to Sophie's, you know what I mean?
Like, I'd rather you go to Sophie's
to type your business card.
And it's just like, when I, you know,
he was talking about how the guy
that actually is in charge of my PPC,
cause it's like one person I get on the call,
she talks about the, you know, A plus content
and my actual content and my listing optimization.
And then the other guy, you know,
he gives me all these charts and he's like,
okay, you know, I see my sales going from like six a week
and like one or two a day to like zero,
like week after week after week.
And I'm like, and I even got on a call
with the owner of the company and I got this,
I got their information from Zignify
cause I was working with them.
I'm not working with them anymore.
And so she's like, have you heard about this company?
And I'm like, no, not yet,
but I'll get on a call with them
and see what they have to say.
So I was just like, okay, their presentation was great,
all the things.
So I'm like, okay, what the heck?
But I really did think he just, he's telling me,
he's like, okay, we're spending less,
your click-through rate is higher.
I did throw in a few more campaigns,
but he was telling me that the campaigns
that I was running before that I was getting,
I was actually getting sales on,
he told me, he said, this is actually going
to negatively impact your organic ranking.
And I'm like, okay, how does it,
like, how does it do that?
And you know, I'm learning.
So he explained it in a way I didn't really understand,
but I'm just like, are you just telling me this
because you're just trying to hold me on
for another month to see?
And I mean, I'm not paying him anything else.
I'm gonna just probably get,
I'm gonna probably get through this month, but.
Yeah, why don't you pull it up?
So like pull up your campaign manager.
Okay.
Sorry, if any of y'all have anything else
y'all want to bring up, you're welcome to do so.
Okay, I'm sharing my screen now.
Am I in the wrong?
Go back to the Amazon, or sorry, they updated.
So like, I'm, I kind of am still orienting myself.
I don't like the new one, to be honest.
I just switched over to the other one.
And go back to the menu on the left, yeah.
I just, my phone just updated and this updated
and this updated, and I'm like, oh my gosh,
I don't like this new stuff.
Okay, so this is basically what I have going.
I just want your honest feedback,
because I'm just like, I am.
I'm gonna do remote control,
so I can click around if that's okay.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah, and I just, I was like, okay,
well, if my click-through rate is higher,
and I'm getting more impressions,
and he was explaining the click-through rate
and blah, blah, blah, and what that should be at,
and I'm like, okay, well, the click-through rate from there,
like, I'm supposed to be converting sales, right?
Yeah, ideally, yes.
Yeah, so I just, I feel like what I'm spending
versus what I'm selling is just kind of gross, actually.
So, let's see.
It's just, I don't know.
It's been much slower than I thought it would be.
I mean, I think I've sold like 75, roughly.
I have 28 reviews.
My reviews have been great.
People are actually very happy with the quality.
They're surprised with what they get in the mail.
I've had a lot of people say,
they're surprised with what they get in the mail.
That's great.
How many reviews do you have?
28, but obviously some of those, I did the Vine program,
so those are not all like organic sales, obviously, but.
Okay, so let's, this is just like a very cursory glance.
Like, I'm just gonna look from month to month.
And to me, what it sounds like,
there's a lot of different strategies
and ways to approach PPC.
Their strategy, from what I'm hearing at least so far,
is that their strategy is not focused necessarily
on getting orders immediately.
Like, it seems like they are kind of working
almost from like the bottom-up rate,
where they're like, okay, let's tackle click-through rate,
let's get that really great.
And then the next stage, and then the next stage.
What is hard about that is that it is costly,
and it takes time.
So you have to be able to have money to spend
to do that process basically
before you're bringing in like more.
And I mean, I'm not opposed to spending the money.
Like, I know this is a new business.
I know I have to put money into it to make it work.
And like, he actually showed me like the projection
of like all the way to May,
and it shows obviously more and more and more sales
every month, and like May shows like $10,000 worth of sales.
And I'm like, okay, this is great.
Like, if this is the way it's gonna freaking go,
then let's go, you know?
But obviously, it's, and he is doing a lot of data
on the backend with like looking at specific my competitors,
because they've been selling,
a lot of them have been selling like selling forever,
and they have hundreds of thousands of reviews.
So like, I know I am up against competitors
that do really, really, really well.
So I think he's like doing some negatives,
like campaigns on certain things,
and then like just trying to find my little niche
of which keywords,
because I know that's what he's doing.
So he showed all that to me.
Yeah, which is good.
So, I don't know.
Let me,
just a little slower with me doing it.
Okay, so first month has been click-through rates
were about 0.2, ACOS, I don't know.
Okay, so then I'm just gonna look at December.
Yeah, but I just know ACOS is also like,
I mean, all those percentages
are like through the roof now,
which I know they're gonna be high at first, but.
Okay, let's see.
Click-through rate definitely went up a lot.
That's a huge jump in a month, a huge jump.
I mean, is that good?
I mean, is that-
Yes, that's really good.
Like this was 0.2, what does it say, 0.21 before,
and then in December, it went all the way up to 1.22.
An entire percent in a month is a lot.
Like, that is a lot.
And then, Casey, when did you go live?
Lindsey's asking on Amazon, it was November.
No, beginning of November, I think.
Like mid-November, I think,
but I didn't get them involved
until like beginning of December.
Okay.
And let me look at January so far.
Okay.
This is not a good jump.
Okay, so we jumped way up in December, which is great.
Part of, one thing we do wanna keep in mind,
your item is highly giftable.
So, you know, the drop-down icon
the drop-down after Christmas and New Year is significant.
Like a lot of times, a lot of categories,
like it's a lot slower.
However, this is pretty significant.
Like this was at what, like 150 and jumped up to 600.
Like, here's what I, and here's what I, how do I say this?
No, I want the, I want you to hit me hard with this.
Yeah, no, I mean, I don't wanna say it's wrong or bad
because like I said before,
there is a lot of different ways to go about doing it.
For me and for the majority of our community,
for the type of clientele, like students that we have,
typically this does not fly
because this is a lot of money going out the window
without sales coming in.
Are there businesses that that works for
and they have that kind of cashflow?
Yes, but I do, I would not want to ask
any of our students to sustain this type of spend
with this type of results.
Like the click-through rate dropped
almost a whole percent again.
And your ACOF went absolutely so haywire.
So for me, part of that would be,
you know, when I.
I have when I'm going to work with someone for PPC, I'm like,
look, these are the parameters that I am giving you. I can give
you this much budget per day, it needs to be really efficient. So
those ads need to be performing. So that means that a cost needs
to be dropping, ideally, and click through rate ideally going
up. But you know what I mean? Like for me, I'm never going to
be okay with my a cost being over 100%, let alone 600 400%.
Okay, that's what I thought. And I mean, I know I'm very new at
this, but I'm smart. Like, I just thought these numbers, I'm
like, okay, these a costs, percentages are really high. I
have a lot. I mean, I'm spending a lot. But I just feel like
after I handed it over, it's like, I'm not. I mean, I had to
pay Amazon like 100, wait $800 last month. For God knows what,
which is not a lot. But you'd want for me, it's like, Okay, I
want to see so much sales for that. Right. And I can see I can
follow whatever the strategy that they are utilizing how he
said this is going to drop the ads that you had set up like
that's definitely what is happening. But it would be a
trade off if I was looking at the new campaigns they set up,
and we're seeing it like a give and take, right? Like, okay, the
new stuff that they're doing is, is working, like it's spending
and it's getting sales, but holy moly, like $100 and 119 clicks
with no orders is just as hard for a lot of our communities.
It's really hard for our community. Again, I'm not I'm
not classifying it as bad or wrong. I'm just saying it's not
something I'm willing to do. And I don't think the majority of
our students are willing to do.
Okay. Okay. I mean, that's what I thought you would say. And I'm
I appreciate. I just I feel the same way. I'm like, I'm willing
to put the money in for it. If if I'm getting sales in return,
but like, these last four weeks, he's, he's like, Oh, impressions
are better, clicks are better, click through rate is better,
spending is higher and a cost is higher. I'm like, this does not
look like it's necessarily going in the right way.
You know, we don't want a cost to be higher. Exactly. A cost to
be lower rate to be higher and a cost lower. We don't want to be
higher. We don't want to be high. We want to be low while
making a lot. So I feel like Casey, what I'm hearing is like,
you're gonna let them go. Yes. I have to finish out the month,
of course. I'm like, I just need to tell him like, I don't want
that percentage going any higher. And like, I'm spending
way too much with no sales coming in.
Yeah, and you can give them even for the end to the end of the
month, you can give them some parameters like, hey, I need to
get these campaigns. Like I understand click through rate
higher, but it's too much spend without any order. So in the
next 10 days, can we work on bringing a cost down? And just
like slow and that will be a little bit of a process getting
it that way. Um, Lindsay says in that last example of the $100
spent no sales, why is that still active when it isn't
working? It's dated six weeks ago.
I know, I know. And he told me he was gonna lower my cost
budget, like my cost budget last last week on Monday. And then
this last Monday, I guess, two days ago. He was like, I said,
I thought you said you were gonna lower it. And he's like,
Oh, I was off on vacation for three days. And I'm so sad. I'm
like, dude, this is my freaking money. Like, what are you doing?
Yeah, I need you to do this and manages at $1,500 a month. Like,
I should be you should be looking at it every day.
Multiple times a day. Yeah, I like it to me. Yeah, I don't I
try to like when I'm hearing students talk about so I try to
just keep a neutral mind. So I'm like, there's two sides to every
story, right? So like, in my head, am I trying to give them
the benefit of the doubt that they have a strategy going on
that I'm sure does work in the long run. I just think it's not
working for you. Right? Yeah, I agree. I agree. And I'm over
here like, okay, well, they totally these numbers and you
like want to hold on to that because that's what it's showing
as far as like, how they do things. And I'm just like, dude,
this is not this is not helping me at all. It's me in the
negative. And I just don't.
Yeah, and I also want to say Casey, like you can
I'm saying this knowing that your bandwidth is really tapped, so this is probably not
going to be reasonable for you, but even if you were like in these last 10 days, you're
like, okay, please don't touch my campaigns anymore.
I won't be continuing.
Just please don't touch them.
You could go in there and do some adjustments if you really wanted to.
I know I can talk to you, because I'm still paying for the Rainmaker stuff, and I hope
to continue.
I'm like, why am I getting this expensive outside company to do this when number one,
I have videos, I have tutorials, I have all these things, and then you can jump on these
calls.
Yeah, but your bandwidth is tapped, so that's why, which is fine.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm interested in talking with Brennan, though, and he might be able to clean this up a bit.
I mean, I'm even like, okay, let me ... He gave me 10 extra days because of how big of
a circus it was at first, the owner, and I'm like, just give me my money back.
I should tell him that.
It's just not anything I thought it was going to be, so that's why I was like, I need Gabby
to look at this, because ... Yeah, and honestly, I don't claim to be an
expert anymore at all.
I just liked PPC for a while I was learning it.
I haven't been staying on top of learning it, so within the last six to eight months,
the strategy for it, there's things that change constantly, or Amazon probably changes constantly,
but I can definitely just give the basics of like, this is kind of what I see in our
community.
For instance, here's an example.
In December, this is the bid adjustment, so it's applying extra oomph to your bid to be
in a certain spot in the search results, so top of search would be that first handful
of ones you see, the rest of the search is kind of bottom of that page, and then product
pages is showing up in a certain spot on other people's listings, basically, so for this,
they're trying to push your top of search placement.
They have 30% this month and last month for your top of search, even though you haven't
gotten a single sale.
You're getting a lot of clicks, like your click-through rate, but you're not converting.
What I would do is, I like to follow, for me, I like to follow the ACoS, and to me,
this ACoS, I'm at least converting better sales-wise, and the rest of the search is
my click-through rate a lot lower, sure, but I can appreciate that this is a pretty good
ACoS.
This is like a really good ACoS for a launch page, so any of these switched, or this would
be at zero, and this at 15 or whatever, and then they left that, which is fine.
Because it seems like it's trending, and even the stuff that I did myself that you helped
me with, and you're like, just let it sit, let it sit.
I felt like it was trending in the right direction, because number one, I was a new seller, too.
I was getting sales off of those, but then I got them involved, and they just moved,
changed a bunch of stuff, and it was like zero orders, zero orders, and I'm like, okay,
this doesn't seem like it's trending in the right direction, especially with 412% ACoS.
A lot.
Okay, I hope I just totally didn't mess everything up, but.
No.
And so, for instance, we talked about kids tent and play tent being very, those are pretty
broad keywords.
Like, someone is looking for who knows what kind of style of play tent, kids tent.
And that's not a bad thing, but I would, so for me, I'm like, okay, I'm going to probably
expect this campaign to cost a little bit more, because the buyer intent is more vague.
People are kind of clicking around a lot more.
They're just, oh, I like this one, I like this one, let me look at this one, it's not
super specific.
Right.
So, there's two, kind of a couple ways of looking at it, so for play tent, we've got
a lot of clicks, but no orders.
You could leave it, because again, it's like, I want to be trying to rank, or trying to
appear to this crowd, but it's not very efficient, and it doesn't help your ranking a whole lot
when you're getting a lot of clicks, but no orders.
What is communicating to Amazon's algorithm that you're not the best pick for that keyword,
so it, over time, will affect your ranking.
So for me, it's like, all right, that's a lot of clicks.
I'm probably going to drop my bid down a little bit
because I don't want to try to show up
for that keyword as much anymore.
That's just kind of like what I see.
And I know we've gone over this before,
but I'm just like kind of walking through what I would do.
And then do you know, as far as like a lot
of these new campaigns they put in there,
how, like, when did they,
when did those campaigns start running that they did?
Was that all December?
So the first week they do like all the data.
So they like try to figure out the ranking keywords.
They look at my competitors.
And then it was like the second,
it was the second week that they,
let me look real quick.
It was the second week that they,
started doing the changes.
Okay.
Yeah, there's just a lot,
but they have a lot of campaigns that haven't done anything.
I know.
I, so I am a little confused about that.
Like, I'm just, okay, they have a lot of campaigns going,
but-
But I got on a call with Vince, the owner,
and cause he's the one that initially did my audit.
And he tells me if this is something that,
they will be able to help with,
cause he said, there are listings,
there are products that we look at,
we do an audit and we say, sorry, we,
like, this is not, I guess,
maybe like worth their time or whatever.
I don't know.
And he said, he did my audit,
but then he like introduced me to a team
and I even asked him, I'm like,
there's a lot of moving going on
and lots of miscommunication.
And I feel like that, that's like,
it's just, I don't know.
It's just, it never really sat well with me.
So I got on a call with them and I'm like,
are you overseeing what Ozench is doing?
And, you know, some people are not on the calls.
And to me, I feel like they need to be on the calls.
And I'm like, this is not just like change I'm giving y'all.
Like this is, this is like,
it should be treated as a,
like, you know, a business transaction.
I don't know.
I don't.
So let me ask you this, okay?
So stepping into your business owner mindset,
what are your next steps?
I would love to just message them and say,
thank you so much for your time.
Like, we're gonna be done here.
Don't touch my campaigns.
Like, I'm gonna basically like take y'all off of everything.
Maybe just continue with the original ones I started
and see how that goes.
The ones that I've-
Here's what I recommend.
If you can, don't turn any of them off.
If they're spending a lot,
you can go in and like turn down bids for the time being.
Like the next 10 days, just like turn them lower
if they're worried about spend,
but try not to turn them off if you can help it.
Okay, okay.
And I mean, I would have to say, like I told you,
she did a great job with my,
like the things that she came up with
because I did end up getting that Daniel guy from Fiverr
to do my infographics.
And I do really like what this Myra girl did to my listing
because it's just, you know,
the people look a lot more real and not so AI'd.
And it's, they're pushing it really for like
fostering that creativity and giving consumers
and people that are looking at my listing,
like an eye for what they can buy this tent for.
Also like a gifting thing.
So they put a bow on the bag
and they showed the bag.
So they did a really good job with that.
It's just, I feel like my PPC should be going
in a different direction, which is super frustrating,
but it is what it is, you know?
I mean, does it help, like having next steps,
does that at least help kind of give a little bit of relief
and clarity and calm to you right now?
Yeah, I just, I know it takes time
and I've only, this is only my second month.
So I get that, but I guess because I saw those sales
at first, but it's also the time of the year.
And I know January is not a very popular time
for probably any of the sales.
So I just, I know it takes time.
a kid's play tent.
So I'm trying to take that into consideration,
And I've only, this is only my second month.
but I also know too that like the spring is popular
So I get that, but I guess because I saw those sales
for those and then the summer of course.
So I really wanna make sure all my stuff is like set
and trending in the right direction.
It's just been hard to see so much money go out
on the PPC side and not seeing these sales come in
like they were before.
Yeah, I think we all feel the same right now.
I'm like, I have so much faith in my product
and I think it's gonna be really, really great,
but I'm like, the time is just going too slow.
All right, well, let's check back in.
If you don't have a call set up with me
in the next couple of weeks,
maybe get in there and schedule.
I don't, and I need to,
because I have been off my rocker lately, I should say.
Just in case I'll drop my link again.
Christy, how are you doing?
I'm doing fine.
I'm gonna also grab your link and schedule a call
because I don't think I scheduled any call
with you in January.
So yeah, one-on-one.
Yes, please do.
What do you want?
Oh my God, my dog.
So many things, so many things.
Oh man.
So I guess I have two very different questions.
And so I start with one question.
I have my Lunchbox brand launching two additional colors.
So I'll have like three ASINs total with that.
And in the Lunchbox,
it has like a snack container and a sauce container.
And so the store manager team recommended
that I just sell the snack containers
or just sell the sauce containers separately.
But they're completely different keywords.
Those would be like snack container instead of Lunchbox.
And so I was kind of gonna grow the brand.
I just, oh, I have it here somewhere.
I got a sample in the mail for the next like bento box
that has a thermos container in it.
So it's like a cold pack,
plus you have like a warm container
to keep like soups or something all together.
And that would be the same TSERK.
So it could go on the same listing,
as an option that they would click.
And so, I mean, in an ideal world,
I'll do all of the above.
But in a real world,
I need to kind of spread out my resources
in a cash efficient way.
And so I was kind of wanting to think through the process
for deciding if I should do those snack containers or not.
If you did the snack containers,
how much would they retail for?
I think like $14.99.
Okay, so it'd be like a really cool like upsell,
like complimentary product people could bundle,
like they could get together,
like really increase the cart value.
Okay, I don't know, it's hard.
I mean, part of me wants to say go with your gut,
because I think you make really great decisions.
Like, so kind of trust your decision making,
you know, process and strategy.
And I think, I don't think either one is wrong.
There is different approaches.
On with the snack containers,
it is that like this is a complimentary product,
you could increase that cart value.
Which could help with like increasing like brand loyalty,
because now someone is thinking about
like buying multiple products from you.
That's just kind of where my brain is going.
I love, I love the PPC,
I get so jealous of like the PPC campaigns
that require two or more products.
I'm like, oh, I don't have that.
So you could have like, there's certain campaigns
that would be great for having two or more products.
But it is a separate, it is a separate like,
than like PPC add on,
because it does like, to your point,
it does have its own,
its own TSCRKs, its own campaigns, things like that.
Versus adding the variation
where it's just on your listing,
almost is like getting like more bang for your buck
PPC wise, because you're paying what you're paying PPC wants.
But having like advertising kind of multiple options,
if they were me, like,
what attracts me is probably the first option.
But that's, I don't think that either one is wrong.
And I think tying it back in.
to what does your hero, your target audience want and need, and what is the best solution
for them could also help bring clarity to the solution to the like what you're deciding.
Did you know your audience better than I do for sure?
Um, yeah, I mean, any one of us who have kids that we pack a lunch for is that are the target
audience, right? So you know yourself and what you would choose and you probably know a handful
of people and what they would choose. Maybe I have to, you know, get them to pull the social
media channel and see. Could you do an IntelliVee poll?
You know, I've done probably like six IntelliVee polls and I honestly don't think that they do a
good job of getting like my real target customer. Okay. I was like, I mean, I'm a little annoyed
with like people in that like 55 to 64 age bracket answering my polls like very clearly like I don't
You can't filter that. I could, yeah. So I would. So yeah, I should. Yeah. Maybe I'll try the social
media approach first and then I'll go to IntelliVee if I don't feel like I have enough data to answer
the real question. Yeah. And the store manager was also like, don't buy a million units. Like,
just try to buy a hundred. You know, there's no nothing to say that you need to buy 500 units on
the first pass because you're going to pay storage fees on the back end. And so it's like on the one
hand, I'm just kind of like, oh, you know, I could try both and do a hundred units of each and then
see what happens. But, you know, it's like the stupid like doubt in the back of your head is
like, oh, we're fixing to be here in Chinese New Year. And so it's like you put all that effort in
and then you're like right in the middle of Chinese New Year, you're not going to get any more
product if you go out of stock in the beginning of March. So, okay. Thanks. I'll do the social
media poll and maybe the IntelliVee poll. And also just a reminder with your target audience,
it's even, you know, this too, it's more specific than even someone who's packing a lunch for their
kids because there's a lot of us that do this. I care less about what I'm packing and like,
so I'm sort of your target audience, but not like your core. Like if I saw you and I was enticed
with like, I mean, now I know you, so I'm biased, but like, if I didn't know you and I'm like
looking at listings, I'm like, okay, like, let me kind of see the price. Like I'm a tight budget
kind of person. Like, you know, it's got to work. So, but someone who is just like really committed
to using like the stainless steel and stuff like that, they're not going to be considering other
options that are not stainless steel. So that I would think about that person and their mentality
and what they're, what are they packing for their kid? Like where, what kind of schools do their
kids go to? Like, you know, what are their values and what does that mean about even the small
decisions of what they buy for a lunchbox or snacks or things like that? That's my class.
I want to get to Lindsay's question real quick. I'll try to stay on a few minutes over, but I have
another call at noon. So is there anybody, she said, I'm literally here because I did my first
IntelliView poll yesterday and my product loss, and now I just want to quit everything. So I would
love to hear, I know a couple of you could chime in on this. I have thoughts, but I want to hear
from everyone else too. I will say, I wasn't even going to bring it up except Christy mentioned
the IntelliView poll. Like I literally am just in the room to listen to other people for like,
to be in the room with solutionaries, because I tried other ways to get some encouragement
this morning and was like, nope, this isn't working. So I wasn't even going to like pose
any questions about anything today. I'm glad you did.
Does anybody want to chime in before I do? What's your product? It is a yoga mat towel.
What did the IntelliView poll actually say about it? So again, like very first one, but my two
takeaways were, so I had, I did a hundred responses. I had 18 positive votes and 16
negative votes. And the overwhelming majority of those votes were about the design of the towel.
which the design of the towel is one of my innovations.
It has alignment lines on the towel design itself.
What you see mats that have those,
but there is not a single yoga mat towel
that I can find on the market anywhere
that has alignment lines on it.
And then my second takeaway,
the winner of the poll was the cheapest
and the loser was the most expensive.
So it seems like an innovation doesn't really matter.
See, this is my problem with IntelliView, Lindsay.
This is like, I feel like people are using IntelliView
as like a part-time side hustle
and they're just answering questions to make money.
And so the people who are answering the poll,
in my opinion, I don't have any like data to support this,
they are not upper middle class wealthy people
who are maybe your target audience.
They are people who are like hustling
and maybe that's not your target audience.
If what you're trying to make is something
that's innovation and value-driven instead of price-driven.
If you want price-driven information,
I think IntelliView is like very good
because like if you just put like your towel
with everybody else the same price
and then ask them the questions there,
you would probably get more thought
around what it is you're selling
or what photo you're trying to use
as your main image or whatever.
But if there's something less expensive,
I feel in my experience of like five or six polls,
that's what they're picking.
I agree a little bit with what Christy is saying.
You really have to manipulate their thought process
with the prompts that you give them
and the situation, the scenario.
So I like her example of like you don't even have
to have the price included in there,
it's just they're looking at it based on picture alone,
which will still get you some hilarious idiotic responses
because people are just making so much assumptions
based on a picture.
My encouragement to you is that literally
like everybody loses their poll, loses, okay?
So I don't think I've gotten on a call with somebody
who has like quote unquote won their poll.
So I just kind of want to like give you that.
You're also putting up competitors
who mostly have already optimized their main image.
So the image you're pulling has been tested,
whereas the one you're putting up has not been tested.
You don't know that that's the best image
for your product yet.
With that said, design innovations are highly personal.
So remember that you're pulling 100 people,
not the thousands and millions of people
that are on the Amazon platform.
And design is preference.
So you will have people that are attracted to your design.
And also there is still ways to manipulate
consumer psychology within the listing, even with design.
You know, you could throw up a color
and you can angle it any sort of way you want to.
It's a relaxing, it's soothing, it's invigorating,
it's whatever, like the level to which
we can manipulate people,
and I love using the word manipulate
because it's just so satisfying in this context,
is like insane with our listing and our main image
and like our thumbnail.
So I just want to encourage you to like look at it
from a marketing perspective.
What are these people saying?
What are they like perceiving?
And what is, how many times have you asked this question?
Oh, Mikayla's asked this question
about 12 Months to a Million at least twice in my, yeah.
But a great book to read.
Well, he, in the book, he launches a yoga mat.
In the, like that's what his example is,
is him and his partner launched,
they didn't even do yoga, obviously.
No, neither.
But they like went into Facebook groups
and said like, hey, we're trying to,
to Facebook groups of people that do yoga.
And he said like, hey, I'm trying to design
the perfect yoga mat for you.
Can you help me design it?
Like, what do you think about this?
Do you like this or this better?
And so like people gave him the input
and he took what he wanted out of that or whatever,
but then he already had an audience
because these people are like,
hey, I helped design this, right?
Like, they feel like they're part of the story.
So it's kind of a double, you know, benefit there.
So like go into the Facebook groups
where the yoga moms hang out, yoga women,
old retired ladies that are.
doing yoga that have plenty of money, they're not worried about
whether one costs them $10, and one costs them 20, they want the
one that they want. And then ask them, you know, hey, what do you
think about this? And you can even word it in a way so they
feel like it's their idea. I had this idea of doing this, like,
what do you think about that, even though you've already
designed it, like, let them make them feel like they're part of
that and then sell it to them.
Yeah, yeah. Think about it all from a marketing, you're just
looking to see how people are perceiving. So this is all going
to influence your listing later on when you're setting all that
up. You know, just in your infographics, like your images
and stuff, like how you present it to people, that's what you're
looking for. So you don't lose or win, you just get feedback
that helps you make hopefully informed decisions soon, you
know, when you're launching. Casey, what did you want to add?
Oh, Lindsay, I ran into when I did my marketplace poll, I'll
tell you real quick, I ran into not being able to find white
backgrounds of my competitors. So it's like, they already had
all the, you know, a stuffed animal close to the tent or a
pillow or something. I mean, I spent hours trying to find, go
through all their photos. And even though you're supposed to
put it against a white background, it's like, nobody
like even Amazon wants your stuff to be against a white
background, because it affects like your account, like health
or whatever. And I couldn't find any. So in in my prompt, I was
like, not looking at the accessories in the photos.
Because mine was against a white background. So even though
people in their reviews were like, oh, it's too simple, but I
feel like my tent, it's very simple, but against a white
background, it's going to look more simple than the ones that
have plush animals and like all these other accessories and a
blanket in front of it. And so it just that was kind of I
didn't do well because of that reason. So I guess you also have
to take into consideration what else is in the photo other than
which I know you already know that, but it affected my poll,
but I couldn't find like even the coat, my coach at that time,
couldn't even find it. And I even went to the extent of going
to Alibaba to try to find some of the competitors and find some
that didn't have all the extra stuff like you would see in the
infographic photos, and I could not find it. So that was really,
I didn't strategically choose competitors that their photo was
laid out the same way as my photo, so that that wouldn't be
a variable. But I did like some of the comments. Like, two of
them had yoga mats underneath the towel and had like the
corner flipped up so you could see the yoga mat, which I did
not have. Some of the comments liked that. So like that does
inform a decision like I could use a picture like that. But you
know, you know, Rainmaker says, you have to win your IntelliView
poll before you launch. And I'm like, well, crap. Like nobody's
gonna buy my product. Literally the last 12 hours I've been
texting my husband about how I'm quitting everything.
Don't do that girl.
Don't, don't quit just based on 100 people who may or may not be
your target audience. You're better off definitely launching
and just like leaving it to the Amazon masses to decide. But
also, you know, what Michaela just said, if you are in any
Facebook groups that target yoga, then you could post your
photo there and ask if people would buy it or what their
thoughts are, or hey, I just saw this cool product. What do you
think kind of and just see what sentiment is there?
Yeah, that's a good idea. I like the third person like I just saw
this product. The other piece, like I have two innovations, I
have the alignment lines. And then the other thing that I
added to it that I don't see anywhere on Amazon marketplace
is an antimicrobial treatment on the towel. So kind of like a
Norwex towel treatment. And I did get some positive feedback
on that. But
don't put that in your listing, because they're going to flag
you for a pesticide thing. And then they're going to make it so
that you're it will be suppressed and you'll have to
remove antimicrobial language unless you have the testing
documents to demonstrate that you can advertise.
that. So you could say it. Yeah, you can say it on the social media channels, but you're
like, I have a lunchbox and I said, there's no cracks. Like it has, I said it has rounded
bottom. So no mildew forms in the cracks and crevices. And they took down my listing for
like 10 days. And then I had to remove the word mildew. I could keep crumbs, but I had
to remove mildew and then they let it go back online. Wow. Well, I'm also like, I mean,
I can potentially have the manufacturer remove the silver ion treatment because if I can't
advertise that, then why do it? Yeah, I think you could say I have the silver ion treatment
and see if there's probably forums on Amazon help that you could ask to see if that would
flag their system. And then on your social media and other marketing, you could say something
about what silver ion treatment does. So you could advertise that you have it without saying
it's antimicrobial. Okay. Awesome. Well, thank you guys. Yeah. So how close are you to actually
like having it shipped in the Amazon warehouse? I have my golden sample. That's where I am.
And so like on my to do list for the last several weeks has been like bulk order question mark.
Because I don't have, I don't have the confidence yet. Post in the app.
Like, you could even post like a screenshot of your IntelliVie, the comparisons, and just say
like, hey, like, I didn't win. It could just be the price, but like, what do you guys think? Because
that way you're getting a room full of entrepreneurs and not random, like Christy said, not
random people trying to, cause everybody's trying to do these side hustles now. Like they don't
really care what you're doing or why you're doing it. They just care that they get their paycheck.
You know, I didn't have to do IntelliVie was not taught IntelliVie. Literally I got through the
course and then they started pushing IntelliVie. So I was like, I'm so glad I even like looked at
it. Like I already had my, like my first bull order was already in production and I was like,
maybe I should do this. And then the more I looked into it, I was like, I don't like this.
So I was thankful that I got to skip that step. I see the benefit in it. Absolutely. But I can
understand like the stress in it too. Yeah. Thinking that that's going to be a predictor of
how your product's going to sell is literally the roadblock for me.
Well, like I, what I've found in my market is that actually I found that my sales improved
when I raised my price. And that's different for every market, obviously. But for me,
you know, it's a kitchen home product and like there's, there's like Chinese manufacturers are
selling it for 15, $20. Right. And I was sitting like right around 20. And so I was like at the
high end of the bargain shoppers and, but away from the premium because like the premium is like
$33. So I increased my price and my sales improved. So that's not like, so, I mean,
if I had posted that on IntelliVee and there was a very similar design to mine that was,
you know, $15 and I'm posting mine beside it for mine, I'm selling for $27 now.
IntelliVee would have said, well, obviously the cheap one, because they're not actually
going to buy it. They're not actually going to use it. I'm not selling to them. I'm selling to
the mom who's thinking about feeding her family. Like, oh, I want something quality that I'm going
to, you know, put my food in, you know? So yeah, I would say the Facebook group is going to help for
sure. Yeah. I think you're better off doing a Facebook group than IntelliVee because I,
I would have to say I've done like three polls on IntelliVee and they were not all,
but there are so many different, there are so many variables that have to like go into play with like
a positive outcome. I feel like on IntelliVee, you know, so, and you have to pay for that too.
Right. Well, and then I hopped on like the Rainmaker community.
and I'm just scrolling like community posts
and I swear like 25% of the posts in the last 30 days
have been people wanting to know
how to sell their Amazon business.
And I'm like, nope, this isn't the encouragement that I need.
Oh no.
Well, that's a lot of what, I mean,
so when you start, when you get into this business,
like when I first started with Rainmakers,
like my goal, like people would talk about like,
oh, I wanna build a business to sell it, right?
And that was at the time,
like that was way out of my realm, you know?
But as my business expands, I see the big picture,
like, and that for some people, that is their goal.
It's not a, if they're selling their Amazon business,
it's because they can turn that profit
and do something else with it.
And that's, so I'm gonna, Chrissy, I'm gonna say it again,
12 months to a million.
I'm gonna start keeping a tally.
I'm telling you like, that is literally like his strategy
that he teaches is like build a business and sell it.
Like he didn't care anything in the world
about a yoga business, right?
He built the business to sell it.
And then he took that money
and he built another business and sell it.
So don't like, and also like, I mean, it's not in that,
it used to be worse in the Facebook group
than it is in the app.
But when I was at the stage that you're at,
I really had to like step away from the Facebook group
or at least retrain my mind
because people are a lot faster
to tell you the negative things than they are the positive.
Like we're not in there posting about the successes as much.
We're just, we're just living them, right?
But like the people that are going through negative things
and what you're dealing with now, that's a hurdle.
Like that's a hurdle that you're going through.
So you have a choice.
Either you jump the hurdle or you quit.
Yeah.
And there are certain people in the group now
and there have always been for the last three years
that when they get to the hurdles,
they might not actually quit,
but they're gonna post on the page
and act like they're going to, you know?
And then it's just, you get to a point
where like the hurdles are just part of the journey.
They're just, you just keep moving through them
and they seem huge.
Like my niece is, she's in college
and she's been living on campus.
Well, living on campus is easier.
The school figures it out for you.
Well, for next year, they don't have any on housing.
So she's jumping through this hurdle
of trying to find an apartment off campus.
Like to us, that's a small thing.
To a 19 year old, she's like calling me in a panic.
Like, what do I do?
And I'm like, these are the hurdles of life.
Like you, at this moment, this feels so stressful,
but in a few years, you'll be like,
gosh, I'm glad I did that then
because now it's not a big deal.
I can just get an apartment and do all the things.
It's the same thing.
Like there's just all these different steps
and there are gonna be people that jump in the group
to post all the negative aspects.
And then there are gonna be people that just do it.
Right.
Put your goggles on when you're reviewing on this.
I wonder if you can go to like a yoga studio near you
or talk like in your neighborhood
and to people who actually do yoga
and talk to actual customers that would buy a yoga towel
or like actually practice yoga
and ask them with your golden sample in hand
and they can feel the quality,
ask them like their thoughts and impressions
and what they feel is the most important thing
or the most impressive part of your product.
And then, you know, that's how you know
what you wanna market to them.
And I'm kind of holding on to like a couple
of the positive comments that were like,
this one seems the most thought out and beautifully designed
and like that would be the kind of person
that I would sell that to.
Yes.
And actually you saying that Lindsey,
I've gotten a lot of those on my reviews.
Like now that my tent is launched
and even though like I'm frustrated
and things are going slowly and I feel like I'm,
you know, I feel like I'm going upstream
trying to just like get sales
when I'm spending all this money towards PPC.
It's like, I'm holding on to those positive reviews
that I'm not seeing with my competitors
because I think that's just,
that's really what's keeping me going
because people do say, oh my gosh,
like the quality is amazing.
I have bought five tents and this is by far the best one.
So that's why I kept saying to Gabby earlier,
I was like, I feel very confident in my product.
It's just, when are these,
like Mikayla was saying,
saying like, when are these like, you know, valleys gonna
like, when are things gonna get better, basically. So
when did you launch Casey? I missed that. I think I launched
like mid November. So like, I'm so I've launched twice. Well, I
went out of stock. So same product, but like I launched
originally in January of last last 2020. I don't know.
Launched in January, right. And I would say that it about three
months is when I started to see like, okay, this is good. And
then I went out of stock. So, um, then I launched again. And
this time, so the first time I did the PPC myself, the second
time I hired the PPC out, and in my mind, I was thinking, well,
if I hire the PPC out, then it should happen quicker, right?
And I would still say so I launched again in August. And I
would say, probably still two months, three months before and
I mean, even like I had a month or two where I was paying Amazon
and they weren't paying me. So I think I and so I figured out
that I think three months is about what it takes for things
to really start to improve. Now, I don't like your ACoS at
all. Like I would definitely like, look into somebody else
for that. But I mean,
I'm just like, I don't. And the crazy thing is like, I like I
said, I, I have a brain on me, you know. And that's not even
that is not even my expertise. And I'm over here. And I also
launched another business and I paid somebody to do my website
and I totally had to recreate my website. And so like I'm
seeing this is they really talk you up with their product and
they're like, Oh my gosh, it's gonna be so great. But I don't
know, I'm just seeing that trend in my life at the moment. So I
just I'm seeing a lot of money going out. And thankfully, you
know, I actually had some money put away. So I did not have to
like take any, I didn't have to do a business loan, like
nothing. So I am very grateful for that. But I'm also just
like, I was hoping that they would move a little faster. But
I know it's gonna take some time to because a lot of my
competitors have like their own websites, they have multiple
tents. I mean, their reviews are trash, you know, they're not
great. And a lot of the ones that I got before even just
through when I was innovating my tent, and I ordered probably
like nine different tents. And I'm like, what am I going to do
with these? Well, some of them didn't come with the lights, or
they didn't come with instruction. So I'm like, and
they didn't even come with a bag. Like, I this is my bag
right here. It's like, it's in this cute little, and that's
what people really like. And it's just I'm seeing the
positive, but I'm not seeing the positive on the sales. So it'll
come so and I know it's gonna take time. And, but it's really
hard. Also, my husband's over here, and he doesn't fully
understand. And I'm hoping y'all kind of deal with some of the
same things because I'm like, he's like, have you had any
sales today? And it puts a lot of weight on me because I'm
like, no, like I, it takes time.
My answer to my husband has always been because he doesn't
understand it either. But he you know, he believes in me and
whatnot, which is very beneficial. You know, it helps
a lot. But my answer to him has always been like, I don't know
where this business is going. But I know God called me to do
it. And let me tell you what shuts him up quicker than me.
Nothing shuts him up quicker than me saying I don't know
where we're going. But I know God called me to do it. So I'm
just gonna keep I'm gonna keep following what he's telling me
to do. And he's like, okay, you're right.
Yeah, I love that.
Barbie is for me to
I know I just
Jesus.
Yeah, I, I didn't really think I would be putting so much. And I
know I keep talking about money because I'm just very new to
this. But I also have a $60 product. So it was a lot of
money to put forth. And like I said, I did it all the right I
felt like I did it all the right way. I got a trademark attorney
I, you know, so I've had a lot of peace with the process. And
that just gives me hope. You know, yeah, I understand
completely. I'm confident in what I put out and my husband
he's a gentle giant. Like he says the same thing. He's not
one that's like, Oh my gosh, you put, you know,
so much money into this, he's, he just, he's excited because
I feel like I put more of the pressure on myself
than my husband did, because I wanted to show him
that the money that we invested was coming back out.
And he, he never did that to me.
He was just asking me questions out of interest
and I did exactly what you did.
And I'm like, Oh, all this pressure on my chest.
I don't know.
Like, I don't know.
I don't know.
And it was me, like it was, it wasn't him.
It was me putting that pressure on myself.
Like, he's like, well, I'm just, you know, trying to ask.
But yeah.
What about you, Christy?
I know I've seen you on calls, but I haven't really,
how long have you been like launched?
My product launched in July.
And so I launched one color of this.
It's like a bento box set.
It's this green color was the first color.
It's dark in my office.
It's not, it's not like a olive green.
It's more like a mint green was the first color.
And then I have on the boat, a pink one
and what was supposed to be blue,
but it's actually periwinkle that is coming out in February
whenever it gets checked into the warehouse.
So it'll have three different colors.
It has a snap container and a sauce container
with the bento box.
So it's like a set.
That's the lunchbox brand.
I also have this affirmation.
I'm always on blur
because I have a really chaotic background
with this affirmation card deck,
which I haven't even started PPC on it.
I started like a FBM from my house in December.
I got really excited because I made one sale
in the first week that it was on FBM
and I haven't made another sale since.
And so I'm actually, I like, I'm so bitter at Jeff Bezos
and I don't wanna give him any money
for PPC for this product
because I feel like I can really sell it
direct to customer without PPC
because there's not a lot on Amazon
that are direct to kids.
And so I'm gonna put it on Etsy this week
and I'm gonna run TikTok in meta ads to my Etsy store.
And so that's kind of my game plan.
It's on Amazon.
I have some stuff like being checked into FBA now this week
but I'm not gonna do PPC on it
until I decide that I'm willing
to give Jeff Bezos more money.
The lunchbox market is super competitive
because most people, like Gabby said,
they buy what's at Target or Walmart
and it's like on sale for back to school.
It's like very like visual, like you can see it.
And it's like, oh yes, I do need this container.
And so they scoop it up when they're scooping up
all the pencils and stuff you would never buy on Amazon
because you just wouldn't.
You just like, you need three tiny folders
and you're gonna not need 20 of them
from Amazon or something.
Long story short, I launched in July.
I'm trying to like scale up
to have at least five ASINs before next July.
June is like really the back to school shopping season start
and so that's the plan.
Right now I'm making some digital products to put on Etsy
that are like lead gen for the lunchbox.
I have a Shopify store
that I'm selling that same lunchbox
and I actually have to pack two units today to ship
that I sold overnight on my Shopify store.
So I would say that my A cost is still in that 70% range.
I'm right there with you.
I don't, I am not profitable
but it's a very competitive market
and I am aiming towards having a profitable business
like a year from now.
Right.
Yeah.
Well, good.
That's, I mean, it sounds like you have a very,
I mean, you know, it's a practical item,
you know, it's like.
Yeah.
As far as the lunch, the bank go box goes.
So that's awesome.
Yeah, I just, I haven't,
I also haven't really gotten into,
like I was on the call before this
and I know Micaela, I think you were on too
but were you on that call before this?
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay, yeah.
Who hasn't been?
I haven't even, I have not done anything with that,
like the rainflow.
So is that something y'all would suggest me like get into
because I mean, I'm doing good enough
just like getting my products launched.
Are you on social media?
I am, yes.
So do you have a Facebook page for your?
I mean, an Instagram page for your brand yet?
I don't know.
So I have found, and consistently,
whenever I get my reports,
I have found that my organic sales are high
and that helps me a lot.
My ACOS is, I don't know, usually it's pretty low.
I'm happy with where my ACOS is.
But I think one of my biggest strengths
has come from social media.
And I did the media marketing course or whatever,
and I did all of that.
And so I've grown,
like my social media has like 61,000 followers on it.
And I did exactly what you taught to do, right?
So originally I was doing like all like PVC
is what they call it.
And now I'm just like strictly original content.
And that helps me a lot.
But another thing that helped me a lot is like my community.
Just like my personal Facebook page,
because people really love to buy from people they know.
And I was nervous to share at first.
Like, I don't know.
It took me forever to be like, hey, I'm doing this thing.
But people were so supportive.
And now they're like, whatever, like anything,
like it's just so helpful.
And that will give you a boost organically
if you can get them to like search and purchase from you.
So don't be like,
people think it's awesome when you do stuff like that.
So like, don't be ashamed to like share about it
on your personal page.
And also like, I definitely would lean into,
that's where there's no point in leaning
into the Rainflow stuff
until you get some other outlet outside of Amazon.
So I would focus on building the social media page up.
So do the, I think there's a course that talks about that.
Do the course on building your social media page up,
focus on that.
And then you go to Rainflow and make those connections.
But there's no point learning Rainflow until you have,
because you can't get any leads from Amazon.
Right.
Yeah, and I actually, that's what I did
because I didn't, to be honest,
it was just from the beginning.
It was, I had like four coaches
and I'm sure y'all also had this too,
but I also didn't,
I did the eight day challenge in literally eight days.
I'm like, I'm ready to go.
I was at home, I stay at home with my kids
and I just needed something outside of like being a mom.
And I signed up for this at like three o'clock
in the morning, like one January.
And actually I'm coming up on two years doing this,
which is, has been a lot longer,
but because of other things in life.
And like I said, like it just,
I have a three and five year old, they like run my life.
So I got this done at night when they were asleep
and then I would get tired.
But I also didn't see my phase two videos
and we were trying to figure out why I couldn't.
So there was kind of a glitch in my stuff
and I was able to get through
the 13 qualifying questions on my own.
And of course my coach at the time,
who was actually Erica,
and I think she just kind of left on her own.
She was like, how did you even get through these qualifying?
I was like, I don't know.
Cause she didn't see what I saw on my end.
So that kind of put a nasty like taste in my mouth at first.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so behind because of this.
So anyway, I finally,
and then I had to switch manufacturers
and I feel like you have kind of a same like story.
You had some ups and downs.
And so, bye Christy.
Is there something else you wanted?
Oh, she left.
Okay.
And so I just feel like there's been a lot of transformation
and a lot of changes.
Oh, for sure.
At the company.
And so it's just been hard for me
to like keep up with everything
because I feel like the people jumping on now
are not just, they're not innovating products.
They're just doing the AI stuff.
And so my mind is just like exploding
because I'm like, what else do I need
for my little business to focus on getting my...
So anyway, I did put my thing on my social media,
like Facebook page.
And my responses were overwhelming
because I have a really great community
and we know lots of people.
And I have like 46 shares in...
I think like in December I had like 45 sales and I think that was all community sales.
And then I did the Vine program.
And there's still quite a few responses I need for those.
Mine took a while too.
Yeah, that's been kind of frustrating because it's like,
it's like customer malfunction of not being able to put, I mean, it's like,
my stuff is all color coded.
It's like so easy as far as a manual goes.
It takes like 10 minutes to put the tent together.
I mean, I don't want to be ugly, but it's like a bunch of idiots trying to put this together.
And so they give you a four on social, you know, they give you a four on.
I always like, honestly, whenever I look at the reviews,
the comment is like you had difficulty assembling it.
I don't even listen to you because like nine times out of 10, I feel like you're an idiot.
I know, I know.
I'm just like, even, I mean, it's like the whole thing is color coded.
I just don't get it.
And when most of them say it was so easy to put together, blah, blah, blah.
It's like, why are you even putting this negativity on there?
Obviously.
Anyway, so.
My daughter got a tent last year for Christmas and I think it might have lasted 30 days.
Maybe.
Because it was all of the pieces that made it were cardboard.
Like the tubes.
Oh my gosh.
They were all like card.
I guess it was plastic.
Maybe it was plastic.
I don't know, but they were so flimsy.
It was like almost like the thick as a straw.
So like as soon as you lean up against it at all, it literally would just break.
And so we kept it like we like would tape it back together and keep going.
And then eventually I literally was just like collapse at all.
And it's.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
And I even have like, I even have ABCD on my polls and it's like I had all that printed on there.
So I'm super confident in what I have.
Yeah.
But yeah, I mean, that was very overwhelming.
So like you said, I guess I probably just need to make an Instagram page.
Yeah, I would definitely recommend it.
I've seen a lot of benefit from it myself and I've realized that the videos of like me using my product like showing it and whatnot.
Like even just like, I don't know if you've seen like the video, the like the reels that make me stop.
I watch a lot of the ones where like somebody's doing their makeup, but they're not talking about their makeup.
I don't want you to talk to me about your contour.
Like I don't care about that, but they're like talking about something random.
Right.
And but I stop and I watch those.
And so I've started doing something similar like because I have a butter crop.
So I like take videos of me like fixing my butter crop while I talk about something else.
And so I'm not promoting my butter crop, but they're like, oh, dang, I like that.
So like you could do something similar where you just like do videos of, you know, you putting together the tent.
And, you know, as you're doing it, like obviously it's so easy.
She's having this conversation with me.
And so then the questions start becoming about the tent and not about whatever it is that you're talking about.
I love that.
Do you think I'm like trending in the right direction as far as what I'm doing?
I feel like I'm just really hard on myself right now.
I mean, and I it's still shy of like two months that I've been launched.
So no, I think that it is very similar to what everybody else goes through in that phase because it is such a mind boggling experience.
Even if you're like thought you were mentally prepared for like the fees and all the stuff.
Amazon, it's it's a very difficult concept to master, you know, to understand.
And I feel like it takes a long time before you're like the days where it's like it would be easier to quit become less and less stuff.
Like in the beginning, like it was there were so many days where I'm like it would be it still it would be easier to just pack up shop and call it quits, you know.
And so it takes a little while to get past that.
Like give it, you know, give it six months at least.
And then you should I think you'll be feeling a lot better, you know.
Okay.
All right.
I'm going to get my children too.
Okay.
I gotta go get in line myself.
Okay.
Well, but message me on the app or something.
I mean, we can connect.
I mean, I have, you know, text me.
I can message me.
We can text or whatever.
Yeah.
I want to check out what you have because I, I need to, I need to do that.
I need.
I do currently have like something on my story.
And it's just about.
just real quick but it's like this and it's scrolling through and it's my tent
and there's like a link to my tent so yeah make sure you save that as a highlight reel too
okay yeah it'll stay at the top of your page so anybody that
ever comes to your page can easily access it okay yeah and then it shows me like right here
putting it together yeah that's cute down in the bottom it says something about a gift so
i'm trying to push it that way and you know i might have a few cells here or there but like
there's a lot of people that saw it so you know birthday gifts or valentine's or whatever
hopefully hopefully it'll well you're in a dead zone of kids getting gifts right now so
give it a couple more weeks all right girl thank you so much and thank you for letting
me pick your brain a little bit yeah yeah send me a message in the app we'll keep chatting
okay awesome all right bye