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Business

The Brand Builder Podcast

The Brand Builder Podcast show gives a behind the scenes look at some of the world’s most successful brands and gives you the keys to what is working right now.

This podcast is presented by Capitalism.com with host Max Kerwick.

Latest Episodes:

Playbook For Amazon Success: Biggest Lessons Learned w/ Jeff Lieber Jun 24, 2019

Show notes

Today's episode is the Playbook for Amazon podcast! Jeff Lieber from Turnkey Product Management welcomes listeners to the show that is dedicated to helping you amp up your Amazon game.

TurnkeyProduct Management sells 8 figures per year on Amazon for it's clients, if you're looking for actionable tips, lessons and mistakes to avoid in your own business, you've come to the right place.

Key Takeaways

[2:19] Jeff launches the podcast by sharing where he is from and how it led him to where he is today.

[4:48] Launching physical products on Amazon was one of the many business models Jeff studies, and the one he adopted — he began his online marketing career with pet products.

Mistake: Ordering 15k worth of pee pads — a full container of goods!

Lesson: If you are just launching a new product line, you can do test orders or air ship a couple of boxes.

[7:07] Jeff's forays outside of the pet niches — hot fads which ended up fading…

Mistake: Not building a company or a customer list.

Lesson: Don't chase trends, focus on your core business first.

[8:09] How did he decide to go all in?

Tim Ferris' fear setting exercise for making big decisions:

1. Write down and flesh out what your biggest fear look like — what is the worst possible scenario.

2. Write down the best or even the average scenario.

Decide if you are willing to live with the worst case and if the bst case is worth the risk!

[12:04] From jumping into his own company to being asked by friends to help them establish their business on Amazon, Jeff explains how he began consulting and how Turnkey started (they're still a client today!)

Lesson: Sometimes the best businesses don't start out as an idea to fill a niche but evolve from a natural need in the marketplace and often times from saying yes and being of service to someone else!

[15:10] Once you have a little bit of success, be careful of shiny shiny distractions (often under the guise of income diversification).

Mistake: launching too many companies!

Lesson: it's very very difficult to manage many companies! And they end up all growing at an equally crappy rate.

Jeff Hoffman (PriceLine) once said: "I only did one thing at a time — don't try to get a gold medal in 6 different events".

[16:43] Chose the one thing you like doing the most, for Jeff it was Turnkey — not pet products.

Lesson: Do what you are most passionate about! And work with other people that are passionate and complementary to you, you will multiply returns.

[22:00] Jeff will be digging into the lessons he learned and mistakes you can avoid while selling your business and when you need to hire, in coming episodes, tune in for some great tips and more!

Thanks for listening!

Mentioned in this episode

PlayBook for Amazon podcast

Capitalism.com/Amazonclass

Max@brandbuilderstrategy.com

Hiring Secrets: How You Can Build The Right Team And Free Up Your Life w/ Nathan Hirsch Jun 17, 2019

Show notes

Nathan is Founder and CEO of FreeeUp, an outsourcing company geared for e-commerce and Amazon businesses, he is also an accomplished Amazon and e-commerce seller himself!

Are you thinking about hiring, or have you ever had a bad hire? Hiring can be an expensive and frustrating endeavour for first timers. Nathan offers some guidance for entrepreneurs on how to crack that tough hiring nut!

Key Takeaways

[5:41] It's hard to scale a business without a workforce, but for some reason people give up on hiring.

[6:12] It's not taught in school but hiring is a business function, just like marketing: it has to be done.

[10:00] It's not me, it's them… Why are your hires not working out? (It's probably you) You need to analyse your interview process, your questions.

[11:35] The application process needs to be iterative: if a bad hire does get through, you have to analyse the process to figure out why and upgrade it so it doesn't happen in the future.

[12:55] Max shares the types of hiring turning points he usually sees with his clients.

1. You are generating enough income to begin hiring my first task, usually freelance.

2. You are at 7 figures, should you keep hiring freelance or should you bring someone in house?

In terms of in house or freelance there is no right or wrong, only pros and cons and it depends on you: what's your management style?

[15:44] Should you hire specialist or focus on training one individual? Project based people keep you flexible and you can build a good rolodex of individuals that fill certain niches. Agencies can help you maintain a stable workforce.

[18:12] The biggest turn off for agencies is the same for everyone, and Nathan recommends working with small agencies (5-10) to build a relationship with an available owner, and ensure pricing and result.

[20:42] Being successful at hiring is usually about hiring the right level: there are 3 levels of people you can hire.

1. Low level: they will follow your existing systems (you have a strong SOP and you know what you're doing.)

2. Mid range: specialist (they know what they're doing.)

3. High level: expert freelancers that bring in their own strategies and systems (when you don't know what you're doing.)

[23:35] What is the minimal amount of SOP to bring to the table for a new hire?

1. Information about your business and what the goals are: what does success look like?

2. Be very clear on the "Do not do" part of the SOP.

[26:42] Nathan shares his most important advice for people new to hiring:

1. Know what you're looking for.

2. Interview for skill, but also attitude and communication!

[29:22] How do you handle when you need to hire better than you?

[30:50] It's critical to diversify when you hire, give your systems redundancy! You don't want to have your only supplier drop you, and your only manager quit on the first day of your vacation — true story…

[31:44] Mention this podcast on Freeeup.com to get a 25$ credit.

Mentioned in this episode

Capitalism.com

Max@brandbuilderstrategy.com

Ads That Work: How Dr. Yev Marusenko Uses Smart Social Marketing To Sell Jun 10, 2019

Show notes

Today's episode is about really rigorous data based approach to social media advertising.

Tev Marusenko, PhD, takes a very academic approach to data collection, integration and management he shares the tactics he's used in his own business endeavours.

Key Takeaways

[6:07] Max introduces DOCTOR Yev Marusenko, and asks him to talk a bit about himself.

[8:59] After getting his PhD, Yev opted for a career change from theoretical academia to marketing and it turns out there are many transversal skills.

[13:00] Establishing a brand and then marketing or building the brand by testing? Heroclip had huge growth goals and that required both approaches at once.

First, you need branding so: branding strategy sessions! Heroclip is a carabiner, it could have been sold just as a carabiner— mind the competition! — but it already looked different so they spend a great deal of time thinking about what it actually does and how it differs for the customer. Reading branding books, articles, workshops and knowledge sharing.

Second comes the testing, integration and data management and that's more of a word by word process of tweaking and iterating.

Brand optimization [20:28] Yev explains how he sets up a data collection campaign.

Your metrics require variety: you need to test a sizable sample to test (10 taglines for example) and you will need to choose or more measurements (clicks, or shares, or comments, etc.)

From there, Yev usually picks the top 10% regardless of performance and moves on to analysis.

Which brand assets can you test? [25:45] What decides the brand assets that you can test? There are easier and harder ones to get at and generally, the harder assets to get data for are the ones that make the most difference.

Easy (static elements): taglines, headlines, short form copy, images.

When dealing with images, you have to consider 2 aspects:

1. The content to the image (logo, text, etc.)

2. Design aspect (border or no border, tilt, etc.)

Hard (evolving elements): anything about the customer journey.

Where do they go after clicking on your link, the order of the content they view, are they more analytical or emotional… this involves a lot of iteration.

[29:00] Max emphasizes the importance of those evolving elements in brand building, typically people associate brand with static elements.

Starting out with data testing [30:27] for someone who is new to Facebook ads, how do they integrate this kind of strategy?

Don't get too overwhelmed: start with two customer touch points and practice your interpretation skills!

Yev and Max discuss an example on testing website page click through and feature responses that answers two questions in one.

[38:07] Yev created software that attributes sales to people and figures out how much they're spending with regards to how much you spent to bring them in.

Zontracker does 3 things Amazon businesses can use:

1. Tracks the sales in Amazon coming from Facebook ads.

2. Pulls Amazon customer data into Facebook.

3. Optimize for Amazon purchases within Facebook.

[47:12] Max signs off and invites listeners to connect with Yev on Facebook and LinkedIn!

Mentioned in this episode

Capitalism.com

Max@brandbuilderstrategy.com

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Brand? Jun 03, 2019

Show notes

Because you asked: today, we diverge from the usual interview and Max breaks down the very concept of 'brand' into easily digestible parts.

So is it just a logo?

Key Takeaways

[2:49] Max asked the community what it is you would like to see on the Brand Builder Podcast and you responded!

Over the next few weeks and months, he'll be covering a lot of the questions raised but for today:

What do we mean when we talk about brand?

[5:15] A lot people think of brand as logos, palettes, packaging, marketing funnels and copy... All of those things are important aspects, but they are not enough.

Your brand is the collective emotional response to your product or service, and that includes your customer's expectations, memories, stories and relationship with regards to your company.

[6:32] In a perfect world, you are not selling someone something the one time, you are entering in a relationship that will last and spans months, years or even a lifetime.

That relationship is built on three principles:

1. Brand promise — the guarantee, quality and efficacy of your product

2. Meaningful differentiation — how are you different in answering your customer's wants and needs

3. Elevating your customer — help them be the hero in their own story

[9:42] Your brand is the only thing that will keep your customers with you when the competition pops up.

[11:22] So brand is something you have do across every single touch point with your customer, and each of those points is an opportunity to strengthen or weaken that relationship.

Reinforcing that relationship requires two things:

1. Agreement on brand direction — you need to know where you are headed

2. Consistently strong communication — everytime someone gets something from you is an opportunity

[15:00] The best brands in the world are built with a specific customer in mind, a singular message that resonates with that customer and they communicate that message consistently across all channels.

That is how you build the equity that makes your brand valuable.

[16:30] Max recaps and invites listeners to share their comments, questions and suggestions with the Capitalism.com community.

Thanks for listening! Visit capitalism.com/events for upcoming events and additional content.

If you have feedback, guest ideas or topics to explore for this podcast, email max Kerwick at max@brandbuildingstrategies.com

Because it really does make a difference: don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on iTunes.

Mentioned in this episode

Capitalism.com

Max@brandbuilderstrategy.com

How To Build A Sellable Brand: 7 & 8-Figure Exits w/ Coran Woodmass May 27, 2019

Show notes

Dreaming of the big payday?

Coran woodmass shares his secrets on the brands getting bought and sold today. How does he know?

His registered buyers have over 830 million available for buying product brands: Coran is the Founder and Managing Partner at FBA Broker, the first company to focus exclusively on physical products that have an Amazon sales channel.

Want to know what's killing it in the ecommerce space and what criteria business buyers look at before acquiring?

Key Takeaways

[3:43] For the last 2 years, FBA Broker has been producing a monthly business price guide that tracks and reports on all the public business sales in the industry.

The last 12 months were dismal, the market is flooded with low quality small businesses leading to record low sell through rates.

Comparatively, record levels of capital is being raised to acquire physical products brands.

[7:50] In the 2 to 5 million range, the sell through range is 39% whereas in the 100k range, we're looking at 13%.

So what is working? Brands. Here are the 5 elements for a brand to always sell, regardless of market condition:

1. Brand synergy — repeat sales to one demographic

2. Product uniqueness and diversification — don't rely on one hero product

3. Revenue diversification — keep the 30% rule in mind

4. Size — most buyers are not interested below 1 million revenue

5. Growth — Year over year trend

Coran also shares a very important buyer criteria: margins, they are all looking for healthy margins. 30% is the average tracked.

[14:54] What if you don't have the 5 key elements? Build or acquire them! Coran explains how to do just that.

1. Think like a bigger business

Look offline: US based businesses valued under 50 mil present the greatest legal investment opportunity available. The next 15 years will be the largest intergenerational transfer of private biz in the history of the world worth an estimated 10 trillion.

2. Think strategically

Vertical, Horizontal, operations, shared services, logistic, supply chain: what you want is multiple arbitrage: buy low, combine, sell for a much higher multiple.

3. Get money (Where the f*ck do I get the money?)

There is zero shortage of capital in this world. The shortage is in entrepreneur-led operational teams that know how to deal with product brands.

If you can find the good deal, you will get the capital, if you have an operations team and you find the deal you can get all the capital you want.

[22:24] Coran's parting thoughts: pay attention to your mindset, read as much as you can, participate in events, hang out with people that are not holding you back from your crazy dreams: be with like minded people, pay for all access, VIP, join the backroom!

Have questions? sales@thefbabroker.com

Thanks for listening! Visit capitalism.com/events for upcoming events and additional content.

If you have feedback, guest ideas or topics to explore for this podcast, email max Kerwick at max@brandbuildingstrategies.com

Because it really does make a difference: don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on iTunes.

Mentioned in this episode

Capitalism.com

Max@brandbuilderstrategy.com

The FBA Broker

The Secrets And The Mindset Of The $100m+ Man w/ Joel Marion May 20, 2019

Show notes

Joel Marion is the founder of Biotrust Supplements but he caught Ryan's eye when his own personal brand blew up overnight. How do you develop the right mindset around advertising, marketing and brand building in 2019.

Tune in for some actionable strategies on how to scale your business and your message 10x bigger and 10x faster. The proof is in the results: from 0 to 100 million in one calendar year. More than once

Key Takeaways

[3:57] Joel introduces himself and explains that the strategies he's about to share are all things he has spent the last decade successfully implementing into his business ventures.

[10:48] When it comes to income vs impact opinions differ, Joel sets everyone straight:

Go for impact and income will follow? Nope. You may have a fantastic products but it will go unsold if insufficient energy is focused on generating sales.

Go for Income and impact will follow? Nope. If you only push the sale and don't have a great product, you will have short lived income.

In truth, both are equally important: you can't have scalable impact without scalable income.

[14:12] Everyone needs traffic to convert customers but traffic is an auction: pay more, get more. So the lion's share of traffic goes to the one who can pay the most for it, without fail.

Organic growth is very nice, but it's not repeatable or sustainable. The only 2 sources of scalable traffic are the ones you pay for:

1. Warm traffic (pay for someone's audience)

2. Cold media (CPA, CPM, CPC)

[21:05] "Okay Joel, how can I afford to may more than everyone else, Joel? I'm not rich, Joel!"

To scale a business you have to dial in these 2 aspects of your business:]

1. Front end — Increase traffic to acquire more customers.

2. Back end — Build a sales funnel and monetize your customers.

To scale a business fast the trick is to get confident enough to go negative upfront to increase traffic, and maximize your sales funnel.

How do you get confident enough to front all this advertising money and fast-track your front end?

KNOW. YOUR. NUMBERS. [24:13] This is actually the name of the game. Do you know your cost to acquire a customer, down to the dollar? Do you know your cost to acquire a customer for every traffic source?

You need to figure out what is the value of that customer at 2 weeks, 60 days, 90 days, 180 days.

This is the information you use to determine how long you will be in the hole before you break even. If you know exactly when and how much a customer will pay you, you can know how much to pay to acquire that customer and how long you can front the money for it.

How do you maximize your sales funnel and fast track your back end?

UPSELL [27:07] You should upsell immediately, on the order confirmation page, on the order confirmation email. The shipping confirmation email has a 95% open rate, you never see that elsewhere, use it.

[40:46] The real scaling of a business comes from dialing in the back end, knowing your numbers and being able to comfortably lose money upfront.

Learning all of this is complex and complexity can be scary, but the more you put yourself in complex situations, the less fear you will feel.

[51:34] Joel recaps the 4 steps to scale any business fast:

1. Maximize front end offers through testing, optimization and refining your marketing skills — never outsource marketing.

2. Dial in your back end and know your numbers, know your numbers, know your numbers.

3. Do the work and get comfortable with back end reporting.

4. Be willing to go negative upfront to outbid your competition — don't go beyond 180 days.

Thanks for listening!

Mentioned in this episode

Capitalism.com

Other Joel Podcast

Dan Fleishman — social media presence build

1 Million Per Month On Shopify Alone: How I Started Selling Online Without Touching Amazon w/ Garret Akerson May 13, 2019

Show notes

Today's episode is a keynote by Garrett Akeson on the company he bootstrapped with his wife: Kindred Bravely. He shares a mountain of examples on how they company managed different aspects of growing a business out of Amazon.

Tune in for some practical tips on how to run a remote team, why culture matters and how much money you need to actually run ads!

Key Takeaways

[2:58] Garret introduces himself and his brand Kindred Bravely.

[4:54] Launching a business can have a clear path but it's rarely smooth, this talk will cover 7 areas to help you navigate growing a business:

1. Brand

2. Telling a story

3. Vision

4. Timing

5. Hiring

6. Culture

7. Remote teams

However, Garrett's overarching advice, will always be focus.

Brand [6:10] it matters from the very beginning, but don't be afraid to change if it doesn't feel right — Kindred Bravely was called Davy Jeans for the first three months!

Story [7:56] is what you use if you and to get out of Amazon, and that story is how you connect with your customers and how you build that relationship. So the first thing you have to do is get to know your customer, the numbers are there: use the information and identify the core values your customers resonate with.

Communicate your story and your values everywhere you can. Use imagery to create emotional connection and make sure all of your copy is brand coherent — you can outsources ads, but you have to keep your content in-house, no one can talk about you better than you!

Vision [13:08] is how you shape what's to come, build a vision for your company that projects far into the future, make it detailed and share it with the whole team so that everyone aims in the same direction.

Timing [15:11] means that there are never any guarantees. So getting off Amazon may not lead to greener grass. Garrett shares some indicators that the timing may be right for you.

At less than 200k per year on Amazon, don't bother with anything else, focus on increasing sales. When you hit 100 to 200k a month, now might be the time to start thinking about building your off channels.

You will need deep pockets for Facebook and Shopify ads, Garrett recommends no less than 100k dedicated in cash. Acquiring a new customer on Shopify averages 23$, you will burn through money to test your funnels, and your ads, and get your target audiences right. Let Amazon foot the bill for that, launch all your new products there!

Hiring [23:22] people that love what you do will ensure they require less management! When Kindred Bravely posted their first job application, it was a flood of their own customers that came, a flood of moms.

Garrett shares some tangible tips on hiring practices:

1. Use long form questionnaires that get really specific, this will enable you to screen out people that are not right for the job — Kindred Bravely uses a google form they developed in part from Topgrading questions.

2. Do skill specific testing — Kindred bravely does typing and phone typing tests since most of their work is with social media online.

3. Do group interviews to see people dynamics and immediately compare and grade applicants — Zoom is a good tool for this.

4. Don't be afraid of hard questions, they give you insight on the type of person you are meeting — Garrett shares the last question he always asks and what kind of insight it gives him.

5. Keep your 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices as potential employees on future positions.

Culture [28:39] ties in to vision and core values. By attracting applicants that identify with the brand it's much easier to build that internal culture and brand. Empower your employees to embody the vision and values both at, and outside of work — Garrett shares the Kindred Bravely monthly giving program initiative.

Remote teams [30:27] means that people rarely get a chance to meet, so you have to pay extra attention to building and fostering connection, support and growth for your employees in order to drive success.

Garrett shares how he adapted Ryan's TRIBE 5 into his own company culture and rembraded it BRAVE (Body, Relationships, Assets, Vigilance and time, Expansion) as well as integrated The One Thing's "One Thing" to implement quarterly 90 day goal sprints for his employees. Kindred Bravely also uses GetGuru as a way to centralize all company workings information including, vision, mission and values so that the employees always have something to measure up against.

[39:06] Garrett wraps up with details on Kindred Bravely's progression and talks about SBA loans — have a business plan and remember it'll take about 4 months to get the loan, Amazon lending — with high enough sales, and after having 3 years of financial history, you can get a traditional Bank loan.

Q&A [43:36]

Q. How do you figure out and reconcile salary ranges for full-time and part time positions in a remote setting?

A. Ask how much the applicant would expect to make for the job! Set yourself up into a negotiating position by asking 2 simple questions:

1. "How much would you like to make now or?"

2. "How much would you like to get in a year from now?"

With the answers to these, you get a range to work with.

[45:40] Max invites listeners to share feedback and suggestions for the show by sending him an email at max@brandbuilderstrategy.com. If you enjoyed this content, subscribe and review the podcast!

Mentioned in this episode

Kindred Bravely

Book: Double Double: How to Double your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less by Cameron Herold

Book: The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Tom Bilyeu: From His Kitchen To A Billion Dollar Food Company ("From Scratch") Apr 29, 2019

Show notes

In today's episode, Max Kerwick shares a keynote from the Capitalism Conference by Tom Bilyeu — the man behind Quest Nutrition and Impact Theory — a 60 minute compilation of all of his most valuable business secrets.

Tune in to hear what he learned on the path he took from hand-making protein bars in his garage to a multi-billion dollar brand.

Key Takeaways

[03:00] Tom introduces himself and explains how he was not a born entrepreneur: he even went so far as to deliver papers for free because he was afraid to ring the doorbells to collect!

[05:30] The two childhood goals Tom had zero idea how to achieve.

1. Become rich
2. Have 6 pack abs
[06:20] The king of menial jobs… So much so that everyone expected him to fail.
[08:10] Who is your white rabbit. Tom talks about his two very muscular rabbits.
[09:23] Tom's superpower — Nietzsche said it best to the people he cared for — suffering.
[13:40] After Tom endured his work and his riches without meaning, he quit, so he could start asking different questions. Failure and sadness are the only guarantee.
Know the odds, while you're striving for success and happiness, and do something you love.
[19:36] A unicorn company is a formula, the before and after pictures are there. But there ares difficult parts: being afraid, feeling stupid, lost and hopeless.
[20:49] To build your own unicorn company you have 2 jobs. Job 1:

- Develop your mindset and understand that what you believe is a choice: the Matrix has you, it's time to lift the limiting veil.
- Keep listening for job 2!
[30:00] From a decidedly utilitarian perspective Tom shares his method to develop usable new skills.

- Be an eternal student — you are not yet the person you need to be to accomplish everything you want to accomplish
- Meditate
- Be open to change, don't just talk about it
- Execute
- Develop grit
[34:00] Have an ego, everyone does, but have it about the right things. Make certain you pride yourself on things that will drive your goals, don't pride yourself on being right.
[36:45] Grit is sustained effort over time, persisting through your boredom and suffering, develop this faculty and learn to tell the difference between lack of grit and disinterest.
[38:24] One of the questions Tom hears most frequently is how do you find your passion? Like for building a Unicorn company there is a formula: Interest + Mastery = Passion.
[41:41] We said keep listening and here it is: Job 2, build your business, Tom breaks down the how to's:

- Find your why and make it blindingly clear
- Be transparent
- Focus on value, it's the only sustainable thing
- Be authentic
- Connect with your audience — Tom's tricks, get the green light from thought leaders and engage influencers to access their 1 000 screaming fans
- Add value (customers hate your content)
- Finally, execute and grind baby grind because it starts with a willingness to persist long after it's boring.
[1:01:30] The central mantra of Tom's life is "Just because you're incapable of something today, it doesn't mean that you're not capable of learning that thing. It's about who you want to become and what price you are willing to pay to become it".
Mentioned in this episode
Quest Nutrition
Impact Theory
Book: The Will to Power by Friedrich Nietzsche
Book: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink
Book: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Book: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Book: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Joy Remetta Super Fan Award
Jenna Marbles

How To Get Customers: Targeting The Ideal Buyers For Your Brand w/ Max Kerwick Apr 22, 2019

Show notes

Max Kerwick — BBP co-host and brand building secret weapon — speaks to a select group at the 8 figure exit workshop at Ryan's home. Who is your singularity, the figurative customer who is most predictive of your long term success?

Be weary of "busy moms" or "25 to 35 year olds" and their variance, establish your bullseye and aim for it. Tune in for some insight on brand design methodology: building an archetype on goals and interests, identifying its variants and gathering data.

Finding The 5% of Customers Who Will Increase Your Revenue By 90% w/ Steven Black Apr 15, 2019

Show notes

If you don't brand yourself, your customers will brand you. Max Kerwick talks to Steven Black about social listening, a great tool to begin or improve your ongoing market research processes.

Tune in for some serious advice: your social media channels are not secondary sales channels, engage with your customers! The importance of customer retention, abandoned cart sequences and stop apologizing for being in business.

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