1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:04,110 When you've been in business for multiple generations, learning new 2 00:00:04,150 --> 00:00:07,534 skills like the world of e commerce and Amazon can be 3 00:00:07,582 --> 00:00:11,262 tough. What do you do first? Who do you hire? Will 4 00:00:11,286 --> 00:00:15,062 you cheapen your brand or hurt your relationships if you start selling in a 5 00:00:15,086 --> 00:00:18,926 new way? Our guest today talks about those questions 6 00:00:18,958 --> 00:00:22,758 and more, including some great ways to make sure that Amazon 7 00:00:22,814 --> 00:00:26,630 doesn't just build sales, but it builds entrepreneurial skills 8 00:00:26,670 --> 00:00:30,370 in your team as well. Plus, Henry will share his 9 00:00:30,410 --> 00:00:34,234 ideas about how building a brand on Amazon is a lot like building an 10 00:00:34,282 --> 00:00:37,778 audience for this podcast. All this and more coming 11 00:00:37,834 --> 00:00:41,258 up on this episode of Building Unbreakable 12 00:00:41,394 --> 00:00:42,350 Brands. 13 00:00:45,450 --> 00:00:48,986 Welcome to Building Unbreakable Brands, the podcast where we talk to 14 00:00:49,018 --> 00:00:52,858 business leaders with a generational mindset. I'm Meghan lynch. 15 00:00:52,954 --> 00:00:56,728 I'm an advisor to family businesses and founder of Six-Point, a 16 00:00:56,744 --> 00:01:00,376 brand strategy agency that helps generational brands honor their 17 00:01:00,408 --> 00:01:04,080 past while evolving for the future. Today, my guest is 18 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,140 Andrew Morgans. Drew has 14 19 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,600 years of experience in entrepreneurship and working with brands on 20 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,112 Amazon. He and his team at Marknology have worked with 21 00:01:15,176 --> 00:01:18,960 hundreds of brands on Amazon and e commerce, including some 22 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,048 Fortune 50 companies. Welcome to the show, 23 00:01:22,104 --> 00:01:25,888 Drew. Thank you, Meghan. It's good to be here on the show, 24 00:01:25,944 --> 00:01:29,648 and it's good to be talking again. Yeah, yeah. Always enjoy our conversation. So I'm 25 00:01:29,664 --> 00:01:33,008 really looking forward to this. I'd love 26 00:01:33,064 --> 00:01:36,784 to. I think there's kind of, like, two pieces 27 00:01:36,912 --> 00:01:40,256 of who you are that I'd like to bring into the 28 00:01:40,288 --> 00:01:43,168 show. The first is your 29 00:01:43,264 --> 00:01:47,088 expertise in e commerce and selling on Amazon, because I think that 30 00:01:47,104 --> 00:01:50,928 that could be really valuable to listeners. And then the second is more 31 00:01:50,944 --> 00:01:53,964 of, like, your personal story, story and journey with 32 00:01:54,052 --> 00:01:57,476 marknology. So I think let's start with the 33 00:01:57,508 --> 00:02:00,840 expertise and see if we can give folks some value 34 00:02:01,420 --> 00:02:04,884 and takeaways right off the bat, and then we'll get a little bit more into 35 00:02:04,932 --> 00:02:08,360 your backstory. So 36 00:02:08,860 --> 00:02:11,836 I think, I know that there's millions of e 37 00:02:11,868 --> 00:02:15,476 commerce podcasts and YouTube videos and stuff with a lot of 38 00:02:15,508 --> 00:02:18,480 tips and tricks, but our audience 39 00:02:18,660 --> 00:02:22,392 is generational brands, like brands that 40 00:02:22,416 --> 00:02:24,860 have been around for, in some cases, 41 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,376 5100 or more years and so well 42 00:02:29,448 --> 00:02:33,296 before e commerce was a thing. And so I'd 43 00:02:33,328 --> 00:02:36,952 love to kind of just, like, pick your brain a little bit from that 44 00:02:37,016 --> 00:02:39,820 standpoint of, like, brands that 45 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:44,128 have existed and have skill sets and teams 46 00:02:44,184 --> 00:02:47,740 and processes that have nothing to do with e commerce and 47 00:02:47,780 --> 00:02:51,548 how they start to evolve to take advantage of e 48 00:02:51,564 --> 00:02:55,292 commerce and some of the, like, things that they 49 00:02:55,316 --> 00:02:57,320 should be thinking about. And 50 00:02:59,620 --> 00:03:02,868 I'd love to kind of start with like some 51 00:03:02,924 --> 00:03:06,724 mindset questions because I feel like when I'm talking to generational 52 00:03:06,812 --> 00:03:10,548 brands, some of the things that they get tripped up on are 53 00:03:10,644 --> 00:03:14,284 not so much the technical how to's, but more about like 54 00:03:14,332 --> 00:03:17,898 the mindset of how they approach. So I'm curious, 55 00:03:17,954 --> 00:03:21,442 from your standpoint, is an existing 56 00:03:21,506 --> 00:03:24,954 brand with a long legacy, is that a 57 00:03:25,002 --> 00:03:28,506 plus in the e commerce game or is it a 58 00:03:28,538 --> 00:03:32,370 roadblock? But 59 00:03:32,410 --> 00:03:35,470 without just answering yes or no? I think that 60 00:03:36,970 --> 00:03:40,602 it's a good thing, but it's a good thing with expectations 61 00:03:40,706 --> 00:03:44,396 of there's an unlearning that has to happen and just the way you've done 62 00:03:44,428 --> 00:03:48,164 things before in order to, you don't have to change all of those things, 63 00:03:48,212 --> 00:03:51,892 but you have to change an unlearning in an area in regards to e commerce. 64 00:03:51,996 --> 00:03:55,588 Like, so you've done things your way, you've done things a long 65 00:03:55,644 --> 00:03:59,492 time. There's a reason you're still around because things have been great, 66 00:03:59,556 --> 00:04:03,132 you've been working them. But there's a difference in a brand made for e 67 00:04:03,156 --> 00:04:06,972 commerce and a legacy brand trying to make that leap into e commerce. 68 00:04:07,036 --> 00:04:10,712 And so there's just a lot more patience required. I 69 00:04:10,736 --> 00:04:14,552 think a mindset of like, I 70 00:04:14,576 --> 00:04:18,120 don't know what, I don't know and I'm open to like, 71 00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:21,832 learning what that looks like. You know, I love working 72 00:04:21,896 --> 00:04:25,688 with, you know, let's say in this case a legacy brand over. I 73 00:04:25,704 --> 00:04:29,464 think of it as an advantage because they know their products, they know their customers, 74 00:04:29,512 --> 00:04:33,304 they know their brand stories, they know what they do well. They know, you 75 00:04:33,312 --> 00:04:36,782 know, they've got manufacturing down. They've worked out all of these different 76 00:04:36,936 --> 00:04:40,762 things through the years that now will not be a problem, if that 77 00:04:40,786 --> 00:04:44,138 makes sense. These are things that build off of. And in the other 78 00:04:44,194 --> 00:04:47,922 side, sure, maybe it's more e commerce forward. This other brand is more e 79 00:04:47,946 --> 00:04:51,594 commerce forward. And they've been thinking e commerce since they were created five years ago 80 00:04:51,642 --> 00:04:55,266 and they're trying to come into Amazon, there's still a lot of that 81 00:04:55,458 --> 00:04:58,510 stuff they're working out or fixing or. So 82 00:04:59,090 --> 00:05:02,350 it's one thing I've always said with, when it comes to Amazon is, 83 00:05:02,900 --> 00:05:05,412 you know, how you want to be a seller or how you want to approach 84 00:05:05,476 --> 00:05:09,092 e commerce. You get to pick the problems that you want. You get to pick 85 00:05:09,116 --> 00:05:12,372 your problems. Do you want to sell through resellers, you want to sell through wholesalers? 86 00:05:12,396 --> 00:05:16,196 Do you want to sell direct? Do you want to sell to Amazon directly? 87 00:05:16,308 --> 00:05:19,476 Do you want to sell just on your website and not on Amazon? Because each 88 00:05:19,508 --> 00:05:22,080 one that you choose comes with a different set of 89 00:05:23,100 --> 00:05:26,280 problems and obstacles. And 90 00:05:27,300 --> 00:05:30,836 so are there more obvious 91 00:05:31,028 --> 00:05:34,524 paths out of those problems or 92 00:05:34,572 --> 00:05:38,420 options that you think suit a legacy 93 00:05:38,540 --> 00:05:42,092 brand or a brand with kind of like a strong operational 94 00:05:42,196 --> 00:05:45,920 foundation, but maybe not kind of like the e commerce chops? 95 00:05:46,420 --> 00:05:50,236 Well, in regards to Amazon. Okay, so e commerce is 96 00:05:50,268 --> 00:05:53,956 more broad for anyone listening. That could include, like Walmart and Target 97 00:05:54,028 --> 00:05:57,058 and Chewy.com and Wayfair and Home Depot. 98 00:05:57,244 --> 00:06:01,014 So e commerce is not just website and Amazon. It's kind 99 00:06:01,022 --> 00:06:04,510 of like these marketplaces, your website or Amazon. But in the context of 100 00:06:04,550 --> 00:06:08,206 Amazon, there's a big, big part of being 101 00:06:08,238 --> 00:06:11,406 successful on Amazon that is operational efficiency. 102 00:06:11,558 --> 00:06:15,326 Okay? If you're always doing pallet in, 103 00:06:15,358 --> 00:06:19,094 pallet out, it's a learning curve to understand how to ship products 104 00:06:19,262 --> 00:06:23,054 either into Amazon in bulk or on your website, shipping to individual 105 00:06:23,102 --> 00:06:26,438 customers or whatever that looks. That's a big hurdle for a lot of brands that 106 00:06:26,454 --> 00:06:30,214 have never done that before. For now, if they're good at operationally, they're going 107 00:06:30,222 --> 00:06:33,690 to adjust just fine. It just is a change. Right? So 108 00:06:34,590 --> 00:06:37,710 I would say on the operational side of Amazon, and there's a lot of, like, 109 00:06:37,750 --> 00:06:41,370 data scientists, a lot of those, like for our workweek, people 110 00:06:41,670 --> 00:06:45,374 that, you know, engineers that can actually 111 00:06:45,422 --> 00:06:49,046 do very well on Amazon because their mindset is just 112 00:06:49,118 --> 00:06:52,862 operations, operations, organization and operations. And so they will be 113 00:06:52,886 --> 00:06:56,674 successful to a certain extent. And then there's another side that is like, 114 00:06:56,802 --> 00:07:00,602 well, it's one thing to sell to Walmart in 115 00:07:00,626 --> 00:07:04,210 a vendor relationship and have that relationship, or to Home Depot or to 116 00:07:04,250 --> 00:07:07,706 Sunfresh grocery store, Hy Vee, that's a one on one 117 00:07:07,738 --> 00:07:11,458 relationship. You make that relationship, they help you sell in those stores or help you 118 00:07:11,474 --> 00:07:15,210 sell in 50 stores. Whenever you're selling an e commerce, you're really selling 119 00:07:15,250 --> 00:07:18,962 one to one. And for a lot of legacy owners or 120 00:07:18,986 --> 00:07:22,546 founders that have never done that before, one is like talking to 121 00:07:22,578 --> 00:07:25,986 another colleague that's like on my level, owner to 122 00:07:26,018 --> 00:07:29,418 owner or vendor manager to manager. 123 00:07:29,594 --> 00:07:33,082 Then you're like, well, I know what Walmart cares about. I know what Target cares 124 00:07:33,106 --> 00:07:36,530 about. I know what Amazon cares about. I don't know what Sally or Jim or 125 00:07:36,570 --> 00:07:40,250 Bob or whatever exactly cares about. So there's 126 00:07:40,410 --> 00:07:44,234 that hurdle of, I guess, like knowing. It's like almost getting so granular 127 00:07:44,282 --> 00:07:47,626 that you know what your customers want. I think that's a super healthy thing for 128 00:07:47,738 --> 00:07:51,426 a business to know and understand. But it's also a huge leap. If they've 129 00:07:51,458 --> 00:07:55,182 never done that before, they've never on that one to one level. So, 130 00:07:55,246 --> 00:07:58,486 you know, a legacy brand could have great brand awareness on 131 00:07:58,518 --> 00:08:02,310 Amazon. And if there's already a bunch of people searching for their brand or resellers 132 00:08:02,350 --> 00:08:05,926 selling their brand, that's a huge advantage. We're going to come in, we're going to 133 00:08:05,958 --> 00:08:09,502 automatically get search traffic, we're going to get organic traffic. There's going to be people 134 00:08:09,566 --> 00:08:13,318 knowing about us. It's not as if we're launching in a new market. No 135 00:08:13,334 --> 00:08:16,730 one knows of us. We've been here, we've been established and things like that. So 136 00:08:17,030 --> 00:08:20,788 kind of a big question, you know, but I think that it kind 137 00:08:20,804 --> 00:08:23,716 of is on a brand to brand level. And what I do know about legacy 138 00:08:23,788 --> 00:08:27,532 brands, family owned businesses, businesses have been here a while. They have their way of 139 00:08:27,556 --> 00:08:31,380 doing things. It's like you think about a gentleman, 140 00:08:31,420 --> 00:08:35,132 like, you know, as we get older, it gets harder and harder to change our 141 00:08:35,156 --> 00:08:37,868 ways, so to speak. And I think the same thing can be said of a 142 00:08:37,884 --> 00:08:40,796 business. Like as we get older, it gets harder and harder to change our ways. 143 00:08:40,828 --> 00:08:44,668 So when I'm working with them, I definitely think of like, it's a custom 144 00:08:44,764 --> 00:08:48,412 solution to figure out what their particular things 145 00:08:48,476 --> 00:08:52,164 are, what their challenges are, what their opportunities are. Even their opportunities 146 00:08:52,212 --> 00:08:55,812 and challenges both come in a custom kind of way. So it's, it really has 147 00:08:55,836 --> 00:08:58,760 to be relationship, it has to be a good relationship 148 00:08:59,340 --> 00:09:02,916 with us and them to be able to communicate what those needs are, what those 149 00:09:02,948 --> 00:09:06,620 obstacles are and then create a custom solution for them. But I definitely 150 00:09:06,660 --> 00:09:10,500 see any business that's been in business over ten 151 00:09:10,580 --> 00:09:13,932 years as a huge plus to our relationship. Yeah, for 152 00:09:13,956 --> 00:09:17,732 sure. Yeah. So one of the things I hear you saying is almost that 153 00:09:17,756 --> 00:09:20,160 they need to start thinking about 154 00:09:22,020 --> 00:09:25,532 a change in their customer. Right. That if they mostly 155 00:09:25,596 --> 00:09:28,720 sold through wholesale channels 156 00:09:29,100 --> 00:09:32,908 and had those wholesale sales relationships where it's kind of 157 00:09:32,924 --> 00:09:36,120 like a one to many opportunity, 158 00:09:36,460 --> 00:09:39,916 the way you're pitching the product, the way you understand your 159 00:09:39,948 --> 00:09:43,436 customer and their needs is really different than 160 00:09:43,588 --> 00:09:47,004 that direct to consumer relationship. So even if 161 00:09:47,052 --> 00:09:50,868 you have been in business 100 years and you feel like, oh, I 162 00:09:50,884 --> 00:09:54,292 know exactly what my 163 00:09:54,476 --> 00:09:58,280 one to one or my kind of like one to wholesale customer 164 00:09:58,700 --> 00:10:02,196 wants and needs, there's almost this 165 00:10:02,268 --> 00:10:06,108 beginner's mindset that they need to just start over and 166 00:10:06,164 --> 00:10:09,980 think differently about, oh, I might find out 167 00:10:10,020 --> 00:10:13,724 that the consumer on Amazon cares about something 168 00:10:13,772 --> 00:10:17,316 really different than what I'm used to talking about. And so how do we start 169 00:10:17,348 --> 00:10:21,076 to shift the messaging? Exactly. And 170 00:10:21,228 --> 00:10:25,012 it's your trying to broaden your horizons as a business that's why 171 00:10:25,036 --> 00:10:28,484 you're looking to e commerce. You're trying to find more opportunity. And I'm just saying 172 00:10:28,532 --> 00:10:32,036 that mindset wise, that opportunity comes with a lift. 173 00:10:32,188 --> 00:10:36,028 That is, I need to know what the actual people want 174 00:10:36,124 --> 00:10:39,228 or what they're searching for. And it's an opportunity because it might help you develop 175 00:10:39,284 --> 00:10:42,596 more product. It might help you come up with ideas of improving your product. There's 176 00:10:42,628 --> 00:10:46,380 all of these advantages to having that relationship, one to one, but yes, 177 00:10:46,420 --> 00:10:49,884 very much so. Instead of just knowing exactly what the buyers at Best Buy 178 00:10:49,932 --> 00:10:53,692 want and developing product for the buyers at Best Buy because you've been doing 179 00:10:53,716 --> 00:10:57,220 it for 20 years or something like that, you're now thinking past that 180 00:10:57,260 --> 00:11:01,100 buyer. And so you need a partner like Mark knowledge or someone in house or 181 00:11:01,140 --> 00:11:04,364 someone on your team that's now taking the place of that 182 00:11:04,412 --> 00:11:08,260 buyer, so to speak, to know what's cool, to know what's trendy, 183 00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:12,092 to know what the customers of that marketplace want. Yeah, 184 00:11:12,156 --> 00:11:15,340 yeah. And I mean, speaking about 185 00:11:15,380 --> 00:11:18,756 relationships too, I feel like one of the other big 186 00:11:18,828 --> 00:11:22,204 roadblocks that I hear with, with legacy brands, particularly around 187 00:11:22,292 --> 00:11:25,924 Amazon, for whatever reason, is that it feels 188 00:11:26,092 --> 00:11:29,236 like a loaded decision. Like, it, like, 189 00:11:29,388 --> 00:11:32,820 oh, if we start selling on Amazon, it's going to 190 00:11:32,860 --> 00:11:36,708 somehow damage those wholesale relationships 191 00:11:36,804 --> 00:11:40,280 or damage the perception of the brand or 192 00:11:41,100 --> 00:11:44,524 have ripple effects that maybe they 193 00:11:44,572 --> 00:11:48,316 don't really understand. Like, I find that there's not a lot of 194 00:11:48,348 --> 00:11:51,852 data around the fear. It's just this like fear of like, oh, if we go 195 00:11:51,876 --> 00:11:55,196 onto Amazon, it's gonna have negative 196 00:11:55,268 --> 00:11:58,492 consequences for us in some way. And usually around 197 00:11:58,556 --> 00:12:01,768 relationship. Is that something that you've either either 198 00:12:01,944 --> 00:12:05,584 seen actually come true or that you've encountered 199 00:12:05,632 --> 00:12:09,260 brands being worried about? Yes, yes, yes, yes. 200 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,552 One, it is a fear mainly because this space is new. Like, I've 201 00:12:14,576 --> 00:12:18,208 been doing it going on 15 years I've been in the Amazon space. So 202 00:12:18,224 --> 00:12:21,896 I've seen a lot, but it's changed drastically from when I 203 00:12:21,928 --> 00:12:25,720 started to where it is now. And the level of expertise that you're getting 204 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:29,376 either on your team or you're hiring or you're finding to help you do 205 00:12:29,408 --> 00:12:32,692 that, might not know enough to think what are all 206 00:12:32,716 --> 00:12:36,100 the repercussions of launching on Amazon and not 207 00:12:36,140 --> 00:12:39,892 understanding our wholesale relationship? Like, so a lot of brands 208 00:12:39,916 --> 00:12:42,960 that have never sold an e commerce don't have reseller agreements 209 00:12:43,620 --> 00:12:47,468 with their distributors. They don't have any agreement in place that says 210 00:12:47,644 --> 00:12:50,836 you can sell on your website, you can tell sell on your brick and mortar, 211 00:12:50,868 --> 00:12:54,580 but you can't sell on Amazon where we also can be or you can't sell 212 00:12:54,620 --> 00:12:58,058 in some of these general marketplaces that everyone else is. So a 213 00:12:58,074 --> 00:13:01,330 reseller agreement is something that a lot of brands haven't thought about but that they 214 00:13:01,370 --> 00:13:05,026 need with their distributors and their wholesalers. The other thing is 215 00:13:05,138 --> 00:13:08,354 a lot of people are selling to maybe one distributor that's then selling to a 216 00:13:08,362 --> 00:13:11,970 whole bunch of wholesalers and they have no real control over who all those wholesalers 217 00:13:12,010 --> 00:13:15,786 are. So they don't know who's selling really. They just don't really have a handle 218 00:13:15,818 --> 00:13:18,498 on it. It's kind of been like, I want that one to one relationship and 219 00:13:18,514 --> 00:13:21,950 then they have the one to many the same way. So it's like 220 00:13:22,370 --> 00:13:26,114 one is just understanding, you know, how your business is Randhennen two 221 00:13:26,162 --> 00:13:29,810 is having honest relationships with them that say like, look, we value this 222 00:13:29,850 --> 00:13:33,482 relationship, but e commerce and Amazon is also important 223 00:13:33,546 --> 00:13:37,018 to us and we need to, we need to see what that opportunity is. You 224 00:13:37,034 --> 00:13:40,698 know, the biggest, you know, the biggest loss of money, I guess, of revenue for 225 00:13:40,714 --> 00:13:44,522 a business is to sell to a distributor or wholesaler that then is selling 226 00:13:44,546 --> 00:13:48,362 on Amazon and taking advantage of that marketplace when you could do it directly. They 227 00:13:48,386 --> 00:13:51,626 don't, they're not getting any advantage off of Amazon if they have their own brick 228 00:13:51,658 --> 00:13:54,482 and mortar, they have their own website. Amazing. But if they're just selling on a 229 00:13:54,506 --> 00:13:58,216 general marketplace, that that should be the brand. The brand should own 230 00:13:58,248 --> 00:14:01,224 that so that they can know that. So I guess what I'm trying to say 231 00:14:01,272 --> 00:14:04,688 is there's a whole lot of different scenarios based on kind of how the company 232 00:14:04,744 --> 00:14:08,592 is set up. It comes down to communication and knowing how 233 00:14:08,616 --> 00:14:12,096 to have those, those communications. It could be that you choose one 234 00:14:12,128 --> 00:14:15,736 wholesaler that can, that can represent you on Amazon or two, or 235 00:14:15,768 --> 00:14:18,832 maybe they get, they're getting a certain line of your product but not other lines 236 00:14:18,856 --> 00:14:22,672 of product. Or maybe you're giving them exclusive deals on certain things but 237 00:14:22,696 --> 00:14:26,320 not on other things. Or maybe there's standards that they need to maintain. 238 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,312 So a lot of them are just, they're just distributors that had access to the 239 00:14:29,336 --> 00:14:33,176 product. They're not actually e commerce pros. And so you're leaving a lot of money 240 00:14:33,208 --> 00:14:36,752 on the table by not having optimized listings or not launching new product 241 00:14:36,816 --> 00:14:39,664 correctly or not tracking the data. So it's kind of really 242 00:14:39,712 --> 00:14:43,488 understanding what model you're in. Are we starting at blank and we can 243 00:14:43,504 --> 00:14:46,352 just really protect it and do all the right things from the beginning, have the 244 00:14:46,376 --> 00:14:49,760 conversations we want to have, make sure we ensure map 245 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:53,646 pricing is correct. I, you know, having that or it's, it's 246 00:14:53,678 --> 00:14:56,198 already out there. It's a mess. We need to clean it up. Which way do 247 00:14:56,214 --> 00:14:59,370 we want to go forward? I can tell you that 248 00:14:59,870 --> 00:15:03,126 countless, countless, countless times we have pushed 249 00:15:03,158 --> 00:15:06,822 wholesalers or resellers off of Amazon, let the brand go, direct 250 00:15:06,886 --> 00:15:10,390 themselves on Amazon, and not missed a beat in regards to 251 00:15:10,430 --> 00:15:14,246 revenue, and only seen more increased profit. Because instead of selling at 50% 252 00:15:14,318 --> 00:15:17,566 or less, or whatever that is, to that wholesaler, we're now selling at 100% of 253 00:15:17,598 --> 00:15:21,402 retail and managing the relationship ourself. The 254 00:15:21,426 --> 00:15:25,106 difference is just a distributor that's selling on a whole bunch of 255 00:15:25,138 --> 00:15:28,922 different marketplaces and a whole bunch of different avenues and ensure they've got the 256 00:15:28,946 --> 00:15:32,706 logistics and operations down to sell your product. But they're not true e 257 00:15:32,738 --> 00:15:36,466 commerce pros. And so I think just 258 00:15:36,498 --> 00:15:39,530 a lot of opportunity left on the table. So I think it's a fear that 259 00:15:39,570 --> 00:15:43,298 you just need to have an expert to help walk you through. Honestly, if it's 260 00:15:43,314 --> 00:15:47,106 a real fear for you and your business, um, talk. It's like talking to 261 00:15:47,138 --> 00:15:50,858 a doctor or a coach and saying, hey, this is where we are. 262 00:15:50,914 --> 00:15:54,578 These are some of the, the situation. This is where our wholesaler, our resellers 263 00:15:54,634 --> 00:15:58,306 are, um, are they already on Amazon? Are they not on Amazon? Do we 264 00:15:58,338 --> 00:16:01,666 have, like, you know, reseller agreements in place? Do we not, do we want those? 265 00:16:01,698 --> 00:16:05,002 Do we have map pricing? Do we not have map pricing? All of them can 266 00:16:05,026 --> 00:16:07,706 be navigated. That's what I can tell you, is that all of them can be 267 00:16:07,738 --> 00:16:11,388 navigated. It just takes a custom approach, I think. Yeah, 268 00:16:11,444 --> 00:16:14,240 yeah. And it sounds like probably just 269 00:16:15,300 --> 00:16:19,052 that a lot of the fear likely comes from not knowing 270 00:16:19,076 --> 00:16:22,668 what the options are or also not knowing 271 00:16:22,844 --> 00:16:26,588 what the potential solutions to the problem might 272 00:16:26,644 --> 00:16:30,468 be. So it starts to kind of build up in people's minds versus, like, it 273 00:16:30,484 --> 00:16:34,300 sounds like, you know, just kind of spreading it all out on the table and 274 00:16:34,340 --> 00:16:37,920 looking at it kind of releases that anxiety. 275 00:16:38,980 --> 00:16:42,540 It's nothing that's done overnight, like people for, I guess people just, like, 276 00:16:42,580 --> 00:16:45,532 assume it's like, I got to rip the band aid off and remove all my 277 00:16:45,556 --> 00:16:49,268 wholesalers and do all that thing. No, very often it's 278 00:16:49,284 --> 00:16:53,068 a year process. It's a year of getting ourselves set up so 279 00:16:53,084 --> 00:16:56,636 that we can backfill behind them and make sure we're stocked so we're not just 280 00:16:56,668 --> 00:17:00,380 ripping the rug out from under them and then having the conversations, maybe 281 00:17:00,420 --> 00:17:04,156 giving them a six month Runway before we take over. And there's so 282 00:17:04,188 --> 00:17:07,921 many different ways that you can do it. That's not just like wham, you know, 283 00:17:07,945 --> 00:17:10,801 if you know that you need to be there eventually, you know that your e 284 00:17:10,825 --> 00:17:14,281 commerce needs to grow for you to be a business that's sustainable 285 00:17:14,345 --> 00:17:17,969 and these are avenues you want to take. Okay, let's move 286 00:17:18,009 --> 00:17:21,849 into that relationship slowly. You know, I think everyone 287 00:17:21,889 --> 00:17:24,665 just thinks of it, like, what I have to do right now. Oh my God, 288 00:17:24,697 --> 00:17:28,017 that would be impossible. We would upset so many people. And it just doesn't have 289 00:17:28,033 --> 00:17:31,337 to happen that way. You know, it's just you can 290 00:17:31,353 --> 00:17:33,109 meticulously move through the issues. 291 00:17:36,540 --> 00:17:40,108 You're listening to building unbreakable brands, the podcast all about 292 00:17:40,164 --> 00:17:43,940 brand stewardship and crafting an enduring legacy. I'm speaking 293 00:17:43,980 --> 00:17:47,820 with Andrew Morgans, who has 14 years of experience in 294 00:17:47,860 --> 00:17:51,604 entrepreneurship and Amazon. Drew loves building 295 00:17:51,692 --> 00:17:55,236 teams and being part of a team and absolutely loves e 296 00:17:55,268 --> 00:17:58,940 commerce. So, Drew, I'd love to just talk 297 00:17:58,980 --> 00:18:02,364 a little bit about. Okay, we talked a bit about mindset, but to talk a 298 00:18:02,372 --> 00:18:05,554 little bit about technical skills and this idea 299 00:18:05,642 --> 00:18:09,410 of building a team. So let's say the 300 00:18:09,450 --> 00:18:13,210 company historically has expertise 301 00:18:13,330 --> 00:18:17,106 in a variety of different areas, but it doesn't include Amazon, it 302 00:18:17,138 --> 00:18:20,682 doesn't include e commerce. How do you start going 303 00:18:20,746 --> 00:18:24,034 about building a team, building that 304 00:18:24,082 --> 00:18:27,698 expertise in house or with a 305 00:18:27,714 --> 00:18:31,172 partner? Yeah, so Marknology, like, you 306 00:18:31,196 --> 00:18:34,876 know, humble plug here. But really just to explain why I built the business 307 00:18:34,988 --> 00:18:38,484 is like, you know, I've really built mark knowledge to bolt alongside 308 00:18:38,572 --> 00:18:42,404 another team's team. So we're like a fractional, we're not 309 00:18:42,412 --> 00:18:45,924 just marketing because we help with operations and everything. Right? So we're a fractional team 310 00:18:45,972 --> 00:18:49,804 that helps with these things because I found that so many 311 00:18:49,852 --> 00:18:53,612 companies are lacking all of those pieces. Maybe they have 312 00:18:53,636 --> 00:18:56,444 one piece, maybe they have two pieces, but they don't have all of them. They 313 00:18:56,452 --> 00:19:00,050 don't have a writer in an advertising or media buyer 314 00:19:00,590 --> 00:19:04,326 in a designer for the marketplaces or someone that can move 315 00:19:04,358 --> 00:19:07,846 through all the admin and the customer service. So Marknology is 316 00:19:07,878 --> 00:19:11,414 essentially built not to run everything hands off for someone. 317 00:19:11,502 --> 00:19:15,254 It's to bolt alongside another team. Like we work in partnership 318 00:19:15,302 --> 00:19:17,598 like that. That's why I say I like building teams. I like being part of 319 00:19:17,614 --> 00:19:21,206 a team. And that's kind of how we built our business. If you're going to 320 00:19:21,238 --> 00:19:24,854 build an e commerce department in house, 321 00:19:24,942 --> 00:19:28,728 let's say one way would be to hire 322 00:19:28,784 --> 00:19:32,312 for that. Probably doesn't have all the experience. Built an agency. 323 00:19:32,456 --> 00:19:35,336 Talk to that agency, tell them that you're trying to build an in house team. 324 00:19:35,408 --> 00:19:38,968 Let them educate that team and then let them take over. But let's say you're 325 00:19:38,984 --> 00:19:42,832 just going to do it all yourself. Hire for it, not partner with an agency 326 00:19:42,856 --> 00:19:46,560 or a consultant. Think about what you do have and what you're good at. 327 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,300 Okay, so if you have an operations 328 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,520 person, great. If you are the solo entrepreneur 329 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,272 wearing everything, okay, great. But know what kind of, what you have 330 00:19:58,296 --> 00:20:00,832 to bring to the table and then say, what are all the things that I 331 00:20:00,856 --> 00:20:04,136 need to solve for to be good at this thing that I'm 332 00:20:04,168 --> 00:20:07,888 doing? Maybe that's, maybe that's reading YouTube. By listening to 333 00:20:07,904 --> 00:20:11,008 YouTube, they're reading a book or something. But figure out what those pieces are that 334 00:20:11,024 --> 00:20:14,616 you either have or you don't have. Maybe that's a design team for 335 00:20:14,648 --> 00:20:18,408 graphics. Maybe that's someone that can write some SEO and product descriptions. 336 00:20:18,464 --> 00:20:21,848 Maybe that's someone that can understand and learn how to send product into FBA and 337 00:20:21,864 --> 00:20:25,664 get them back. Maybe it's someone that's good at advertising on Google and your team 338 00:20:25,712 --> 00:20:28,780 that can try to take on the advertising in Amazon. 339 00:20:29,170 --> 00:20:32,930 Regardless, not understanding what someone has as far as on their team 340 00:20:32,970 --> 00:20:35,898 is important. So, like kind of, it's almost like, let me, let me see what 341 00:20:35,914 --> 00:20:39,170 I have on my team, see what kind of the hierarchy I have and see 342 00:20:39,210 --> 00:20:42,346 what could fit there. A lot of times it's like one person that's done their 343 00:20:42,378 --> 00:20:46,226 social media or their digital marketing and they're 344 00:20:46,258 --> 00:20:49,550 having to do everything and they're wearing all of the hats. 345 00:20:50,290 --> 00:20:54,002 That's the realistic situation. Even the biggest companies, I think, in 346 00:20:54,026 --> 00:20:57,230 America, some of them have four or five people on their e commerce team. 347 00:20:57,610 --> 00:21:01,198 And so it's almost just like everyone's overwhelmed, everyone's having to learn 348 00:21:01,254 --> 00:21:04,406 everything. And I realized that 349 00:21:04,438 --> 00:21:08,182 quickly. Wow. E commerce doesn't stop. It just continues 350 00:21:08,206 --> 00:21:11,494 to evolve. And so you have to have almost like a learning team as well. 351 00:21:11,542 --> 00:21:15,262 If you have someone that had skills five years ago and they haven't leveled 352 00:21:15,286 --> 00:21:19,022 up, those skills today, they're outdated. So it's really, I guess, just 353 00:21:19,046 --> 00:21:22,798 a true assessment, an honest assessment of you and your team and 354 00:21:22,814 --> 00:21:26,662 where you're at, then finding or identifying what those areas are that you 355 00:21:26,686 --> 00:21:30,402 think you'll need. Okay. And then saying what, what kind of time is 356 00:21:30,426 --> 00:21:34,186 that? Okay, do we have the resources or not? And then, and then 357 00:21:34,218 --> 00:21:37,882 trying to solve for those things. I know that's kind of a vague 358 00:21:37,946 --> 00:21:41,738 answer, but there really isn't one person I think that you can hire 359 00:21:41,794 --> 00:21:44,826 that can fill the whole team. So it's, it's really, you need to identify those 360 00:21:44,858 --> 00:21:47,818 pieces kind of see what we can do ourselves and then say, where do we 361 00:21:47,834 --> 00:21:51,450 need help? Yeah. One of the things I love to do, both with 362 00:21:51,570 --> 00:21:55,388 my own company and with clients, is to do, like, a 363 00:21:55,404 --> 00:21:59,236 gap analysis of exactly that, of, like, really paint the picture of 364 00:21:59,308 --> 00:22:02,916 where we want to be or what success looks like, and 365 00:22:02,948 --> 00:22:06,748 then really paint a picture of where are we now? And then 366 00:22:06,764 --> 00:22:10,484 it almost starts to answer the question for you. Right. Of like, oh, 367 00:22:10,572 --> 00:22:14,260 right, we want to be here. We're here. What are the building 368 00:22:14,340 --> 00:22:18,020 blocks that we need? And I know 369 00:22:18,060 --> 00:22:21,240 for you, one of the things that you are 370 00:22:21,970 --> 00:22:24,670 a strong believer in is 371 00:22:25,250 --> 00:22:28,994 that kind of like a more slow and steady 372 00:22:29,042 --> 00:22:32,882 approach of what's the next right step, and not to assume that you're 373 00:22:32,906 --> 00:22:36,706 going to close that gap really quickly. I'm 374 00:22:36,738 --> 00:22:39,870 curious, as you start to look at 375 00:22:40,450 --> 00:22:43,674 teams or gaps or what those next 376 00:22:43,722 --> 00:22:47,274 opportunities are, how do you help figure 377 00:22:47,322 --> 00:22:51,034 out what is that next right step? Whether it's a brand coming 378 00:22:51,082 --> 00:22:54,854 onto Amazon for the first time or looking at how mark 379 00:22:54,902 --> 00:22:58,558 Knowledgey can help a team kind of like, take that next 380 00:22:58,614 --> 00:23:02,070 level. How do you go about figuring out, like, what is the next 381 00:23:02,230 --> 00:23:05,334 thing to do? Some of it is just through 382 00:23:05,502 --> 00:23:09,198 onboarding and really communicating with them about where their pain points 383 00:23:09,254 --> 00:23:13,006 are and where they've struggled. Have they tried to launch and just can't find the 384 00:23:13,038 --> 00:23:16,886 resources? Have they tried to launch and just don't have the expertise? That's a completely 385 00:23:16,918 --> 00:23:19,290 different thing, resources versus expertise. 386 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,920 Sometimes they have an entire creative team that's amazing. They just 387 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,712 already have a crazy schedule and there isn't any time for Amazon, like, you 388 00:23:27,736 --> 00:23:31,304 know, or they've already got a great media team, but they, 389 00:23:31,432 --> 00:23:35,176 they're not willing or have the bandwidth to come over here. So it's like 390 00:23:35,288 --> 00:23:39,136 a lot of times we find ourselves where I'm asking them questions to say, 391 00:23:39,168 --> 00:23:42,328 what's the we? Maybe you know what to do, but you just can't get it 392 00:23:42,344 --> 00:23:46,056 done, so to speak. And so it really comes down to those first 393 00:23:46,088 --> 00:23:49,760 few questions with them. If they haven't launched at all, it's a lot easier because 394 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,556 they haven't come across any problems, problems yet. And so I'm like, essentially, 395 00:23:53,588 --> 00:23:56,604 who's on your team? Who's going to have the bandwidth to meet with us, talk 396 00:23:56,652 --> 00:23:59,956 with us, give us assets, give us, you know, give us feedback on what we're 397 00:23:59,988 --> 00:24:03,524 doing, give us cost of goods? Okay, we have that resource. 398 00:24:03,652 --> 00:24:07,348 Now let me be your guide, your project manager, and tell you what to focus 399 00:24:07,404 --> 00:24:11,052 on. Like a coach that's different than coming into an operation that's 400 00:24:11,076 --> 00:24:14,828 already going and trying to say, hey, what are the gaps that we need to 401 00:24:14,844 --> 00:24:18,508 fill first? Because they might have a major issue 402 00:24:18,564 --> 00:24:22,400 happening with, like, a top selling asin or a top selling product that's down 403 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:26,776 or a new product that needs to come to market really quickly. And I 404 00:24:26,808 --> 00:24:30,176 see, you know, I need to know that through communication with them and then the 405 00:24:30,208 --> 00:24:33,344 normal things that we would do take a backseat to that emergency when we're coming 406 00:24:33,392 --> 00:24:37,032 on board. So it really comes down to just one. I mean, I can look 407 00:24:37,056 --> 00:24:40,696 through the account and get 70% of probably what I need as far as, like, 408 00:24:40,728 --> 00:24:44,176 what we should focus on. The rest of it comes from just having great 409 00:24:44,208 --> 00:24:48,008 communication with them, conversations of having done this 15 years and 410 00:24:48,024 --> 00:24:51,750 kind of knowing what to ask. And I, you know, were you guys 411 00:24:51,790 --> 00:24:55,614 struggling? What do you feel good about? You know, sometimes, you know, you'll see 412 00:24:55,622 --> 00:24:59,102 an account that grew by a million dollars year over year. And I talked to 413 00:24:59,126 --> 00:25:02,902 them and they're disappointed, you know, whereas if I, if I hadn't talked to them, 414 00:25:02,926 --> 00:25:06,654 I'm like, wow, okay, a million, you know, 100% growth. Wow, it's incredible. 415 00:25:06,782 --> 00:25:10,110 And they're like, yeah, but my boss, you know, me and my boss, we set 416 00:25:10,190 --> 00:25:13,758 projections and we were supposed to be at 5 million. Okay, well, now they have 417 00:25:13,774 --> 00:25:16,766 a sales problem when, when really, if I hadn't talked to them, it just looked 418 00:25:16,798 --> 00:25:20,584 like they crushed it. So it really just comes 419 00:25:20,632 --> 00:25:24,160 down to really understanding the team or the person on the other 420 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,540 side of the call their goals, 421 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:31,816 saying, okay, if this is the goal, if it's profitability, okay, let's do these 422 00:25:31,848 --> 00:25:35,616 things. If it's top line sales, let's do these things. If it's simply 423 00:25:35,648 --> 00:25:39,256 getting our first sale, let's do these things. So kind 424 00:25:39,288 --> 00:25:43,088 of a strategy based off of goals and 425 00:25:43,144 --> 00:25:46,866 then identifying those goals through communication. Yeah. I 426 00:25:46,898 --> 00:25:50,714 do find that one of the 427 00:25:50,762 --> 00:25:54,266 things that people often skip over 428 00:25:54,418 --> 00:25:58,250 is that goal setting piece that they'll 429 00:25:58,290 --> 00:26:00,990 jump onto a platform like Amazon 430 00:26:01,650 --> 00:26:03,670 with very vague 431 00:26:04,210 --> 00:26:08,018 expectations or not a real clear picture 432 00:26:08,074 --> 00:26:10,270 of what success looks like. 433 00:26:12,860 --> 00:26:16,700 Have you seen companies do that? Or like, what 434 00:26:16,820 --> 00:26:20,396 to you is like the most important piece about answering some of those goal 435 00:26:20,428 --> 00:26:23,812 setting questions? It's very common, I think, as human 436 00:26:23,876 --> 00:26:27,600 beings, we go do a lot of things without clear goals set. 437 00:26:28,740 --> 00:26:31,876 Very rarely do I go to the grocery store and have my complete list written 438 00:26:31,908 --> 00:26:35,628 out, because as an example, or the gym. I know I want to 439 00:26:35,644 --> 00:26:37,748 go. I know I want to spend a certain amount of time, but what am 440 00:26:37,764 --> 00:26:41,576 I trying to do in here? Um, you know, the difference in having a goal 441 00:26:41,608 --> 00:26:45,256 versus not is the difference in feeling, feeling, um, 442 00:26:45,408 --> 00:26:49,112 accomplished or not. Right. So, as an agency, it's very important for me to 443 00:26:49,136 --> 00:26:52,880 stay in business or stay in partnership or stay in relationship by saying, hey, 444 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,660 what are your goals of me and what are our goals together? 445 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:00,576 Um, so that we can have a benchmark of are we moving toward them or 446 00:27:00,608 --> 00:27:03,872 moving away from them? You know? And so sometimes we even have software to help 447 00:27:03,896 --> 00:27:07,592 us do that with profitability or certain things like that. Because if they're saying 448 00:27:07,616 --> 00:27:10,874 they're not making money on Amazon, what does that mean? You know, what, what are 449 00:27:10,882 --> 00:27:13,578 we, what does that mean? We're not making money. You're not making enough. You're not 450 00:27:13,594 --> 00:27:17,426 making any at all. We're losing money. You know, that's. Sometimes people have so. 451 00:27:17,538 --> 00:27:21,146 Such a hard time articulating that, especially if they're already overworked before we get 452 00:27:21,178 --> 00:27:24,898 there. So part of having a good team and a good partner is simply 453 00:27:24,954 --> 00:27:28,242 having a team that proactively is going to help you set those goals. And if 454 00:27:28,266 --> 00:27:32,034 you say, I don't know what we should be doing, Andrew, help 455 00:27:32,082 --> 00:27:35,802 me. We will. We will say, hey, here's a goal right in front of us. 456 00:27:35,826 --> 00:27:39,122 Let's get to a two to one roas on ad spend. Let's try to get 457 00:27:39,146 --> 00:27:42,878 subscribe and safe numbers up. Let's try to get to break even in profitability. 458 00:27:42,974 --> 00:27:45,654 Let's try to get to 10%. Let's try to get to 20%. Let's try to 459 00:27:45,662 --> 00:27:49,286 get to 30%. If the brand doesn't know where they're 460 00:27:49,318 --> 00:27:52,686 going or what they should be doing. Cool, then let me 461 00:27:52,718 --> 00:27:56,462 lead type of thing. If not, tell me what you want and I'll 462 00:27:56,486 --> 00:28:00,210 help you get there. Yeah, yeah. I think that that is 463 00:28:01,070 --> 00:28:03,814 so important. I just hope that 464 00:28:03,982 --> 00:28:07,770 listeners hear that both that, 465 00:28:08,150 --> 00:28:11,742 number one, I love the example of you can go to the 466 00:28:11,766 --> 00:28:15,430 gym and spend time in the gym, and, yeah, I mean, you get a workout 467 00:28:15,470 --> 00:28:19,126 in, you might feel okay, but that's so different than going in and being like, 468 00:28:19,158 --> 00:28:22,878 okay, I've got a workout plan that I'm gonna run. 469 00:28:22,974 --> 00:28:26,710 And how you feel when you leave 470 00:28:26,750 --> 00:28:30,366 the gym is a totally different mindset. 471 00:28:30,438 --> 00:28:34,262 And I feel like, again, if you don't know what you should be 472 00:28:34,286 --> 00:28:37,824 doing in the gym, you would go to a coach and they would help you 473 00:28:37,872 --> 00:28:41,392 say, like, okay, here's a workout plan. Week one, this is what you need to 474 00:28:41,416 --> 00:28:44,800 do. And so I think for people to 475 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,640 understand that that same option 476 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:52,448 is available for them for almost any aspect of their business. 477 00:28:52,504 --> 00:28:55,540 Like we're specifically talking about Amazon. But I feel like 478 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:00,416 that skipping over the goal setting and just jumping straight into the gym 479 00:29:00,488 --> 00:29:04,190 is like one of the most common things I see. 480 00:29:04,270 --> 00:29:07,222 People kind of have a vague idea of what they want but they don't really 481 00:29:07,286 --> 00:29:09,726 have a clear sense of what success looks like. That coach is going to say 482 00:29:09,758 --> 00:29:13,286 like are you trying to lose weight? Are you trying to like get wedding ready? 483 00:29:13,318 --> 00:29:17,054 Are you trying to gain mass and gain muscle? Are you trying to just have 484 00:29:17,102 --> 00:29:20,782 like, you know, healthier heart rate? Like, you know, like what are 485 00:29:20,806 --> 00:29:24,238 you trying to accomplish? And then they're going to help you go get that with 486 00:29:24,254 --> 00:29:27,878 a different set of goals you're going to do. Trying to gain muscle mass, it's 487 00:29:27,894 --> 00:29:31,416 going to be different than trimming your waist or sometimes they go hand in 488 00:29:31,448 --> 00:29:35,264 hand, right? Yeah. Like profitability. I think within Amazon, 489 00:29:35,312 --> 00:29:39,000 you know, for anyone not that doesn't know all the different areas 490 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,848 of Amazon, there's a lot of agencies or softwares that solve one part of 491 00:29:42,864 --> 00:29:46,592 that. They'll solve advertising, they'll solve the content, they'll solve 492 00:29:46,696 --> 00:29:50,472 SEO content writing, they'll solve like case resolution management, 493 00:29:50,576 --> 00:29:53,700 they'll solve review, gathering all these things. 494 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,912 Martinology is a full service agency because I believe all those things work together and 495 00:29:57,936 --> 00:30:01,480 we just try to offer, we offer all of that as one 496 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:05,040 service. But there's very much individual experts 497 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,904 and firms built around that. What I'm saying is that each of those areas 498 00:30:08,992 --> 00:30:12,832 as well needs its own set of goals and KPI's, the 499 00:30:12,856 --> 00:30:16,488 overall account goal could be profitability. Well, how do we get there? We work on 500 00:30:16,544 --> 00:30:20,208 sales and getting more views and eyeballs and traffic 501 00:30:20,264 --> 00:30:24,016 and we also work on conversion rate and customer retention 502 00:30:24,088 --> 00:30:27,784 and these types of things. So you could have goals of trying to improve 503 00:30:27,832 --> 00:30:31,560 our conversion rate and you could have goals of improving our branding or 504 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,220 market share or you could have goals of 505 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,736 reviews. Let's try to get our reviews to a certain level. Or you could 506 00:30:38,768 --> 00:30:42,496 have, let's try to get new to brand customers. Let's try 507 00:30:42,528 --> 00:30:46,200 to improve our subscribe and saves. Let's go out there and see top line sales 508 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:50,016 like what we can do with PPC. We're trying to grow sales and stay 509 00:30:50,048 --> 00:30:53,888 profitable. So each like, you know, we could say, hey, I want to, we 510 00:30:53,904 --> 00:30:57,406 have a thousand listings and I want to get ten new 511 00:30:57,438 --> 00:31:01,110 SEO rewrites done per month where I'm like, I want 512 00:31:01,150 --> 00:31:03,942 our listings to be gone through with a fine tooth comb. Make sure we have 513 00:31:03,966 --> 00:31:07,670 keywords in there that are driving sales for us. We have a lot to do. 514 00:31:07,790 --> 00:31:11,086 So what do goals look like for us? Well, we're going to improve 515 00:31:11,158 --> 00:31:14,438 SEO. It's going to take us twelve months to get through 516 00:31:14,494 --> 00:31:18,326 120. We're going to at the same time work 517 00:31:18,358 --> 00:31:21,846 on starting to run advertising on each of those 518 00:31:21,878 --> 00:31:25,254 skus as we get them rewritten and feel strong about them. 519 00:31:25,382 --> 00:31:29,226 And let's also make sure that the listings that we're rewriting that we're doing with 520 00:31:29,258 --> 00:31:32,810 advertising have a full stack of images. Or like, you know, let's, 521 00:31:32,850 --> 00:31:36,050 let's, let's make sure the storefront's getting updated as we add new products. 522 00:31:36,130 --> 00:31:39,778 So think of it as like a moving organism. 523 00:31:39,874 --> 00:31:43,706 You know, that we have goals all over the place, that a good, a good 524 00:31:43,738 --> 00:31:47,242 team or a good manager on the inside of a company or on the outside, 525 00:31:47,346 --> 00:31:50,498 we're probably working together. Like, honestly, it's a good manager on the inside and a 526 00:31:50,514 --> 00:31:53,946 firm like us working together. Just say what needs our attention 527 00:31:54,018 --> 00:31:57,696 first, what does a goal look like for three months, six months, 528 00:31:57,728 --> 00:32:01,432 nine months, twelve months? And then as we set those a 529 00:32:01,456 --> 00:32:05,208 benchmark, are we moving toward them or moving away from them? Are 530 00:32:05,224 --> 00:32:08,680 they getting done or not? You know, that's the only way to really tackle Amazon, 531 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,232 I feel like, is to really set those goals, go out there and get them 532 00:32:12,296 --> 00:32:15,904 and set them in an attainable way. Like, you know, times people are like, I 533 00:32:15,912 --> 00:32:19,048 want a five to one roas when they're at a one to one. So anyone 534 00:32:19,064 --> 00:32:21,760 that doesn't know, it's like, spend a dollar to make five or turn on as 535 00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:25,404 spend well, okay, but like, can we set a goal from going from 536 00:32:25,492 --> 00:32:28,436 one to one to one to two and then one to three and then let's 537 00:32:28,468 --> 00:32:32,076 get, let's feel accomplished as we move toward that goal. You know, and 538 00:32:32,108 --> 00:32:35,900 um, maybe even reassessing and saying, we initially had a goal of five 539 00:32:35,940 --> 00:32:39,636 to one. I feel like on this platform, a healthy one, a healthy, realistic 540 00:32:39,668 --> 00:32:43,508 goal for us is three to one. Okay, if that's the case, how do 541 00:32:43,524 --> 00:32:47,044 we adjust to still make this platform work for us? And just being 542 00:32:47,092 --> 00:32:50,852 flexible like that, being, having that entrepreneurial hat on as you're learning a new 543 00:32:50,876 --> 00:32:54,296 area of your business, if we're talking to like, legacy brands and being like, look, 544 00:32:54,348 --> 00:32:57,992 this is an area that's new for us. Instead of being so used to 545 00:32:58,016 --> 00:33:01,416 being amazing at everything we do, this is a new thing that I'm 546 00:33:01,448 --> 00:33:05,160 learning my mindset around. It is like, I can do hard 547 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,392 things, I can do new things, I can still learn new things. I think, like 548 00:33:08,416 --> 00:33:11,720 you said, that mindset thing of starting with it is. These are all new goals 549 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,456 for me. These are all new challenges for me. I want to get some 550 00:33:15,488 --> 00:33:19,288 taste of success early. Yeah. Yeah. I 551 00:33:19,304 --> 00:33:22,912 do feel like for companies that have this 552 00:33:23,056 --> 00:33:26,880 generational piece, oftentimes they are 553 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,408 the most entrepreneurial in G 554 00:33:30,464 --> 00:33:34,240 one, the first generation, because that's the founder. 555 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,176 That's when everything's brand new. And then by the time you 556 00:33:38,208 --> 00:33:42,040 get to the second 3rd generation and 557 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:45,456 beyond, you can sometimes lose that 558 00:33:45,528 --> 00:33:49,100 muscle. So it almost sounds like if you thought about 559 00:33:50,180 --> 00:33:53,620 entering a new channel like Amazon, 560 00:33:53,780 --> 00:33:57,600 entering the world of e commerce, becomes an opportunity 561 00:33:58,540 --> 00:34:02,388 to bring back that entrepreneurial muscle that maybe 562 00:34:02,484 --> 00:34:06,332 might have atrophied a little bit within the company and 563 00:34:06,356 --> 00:34:10,004 really start to build new skills around it that, yes, 564 00:34:10,052 --> 00:34:13,596 serve you well to build sales on Amazon, 565 00:34:13,708 --> 00:34:17,452 but then also could apply to other areas of 566 00:34:17,476 --> 00:34:21,276 the company. Just make you more entrepreneurial overall. Is that something that you've ever 567 00:34:21,388 --> 00:34:25,108 seen happen? 100%? Like, I'm glad you're 568 00:34:25,124 --> 00:34:28,060 glad you brought that up. That's like, it's amazing because I would love to talk 569 00:34:28,100 --> 00:34:31,908 about oftentimes I'm seeing. I have 570 00:34:31,924 --> 00:34:35,520 two clients in my mind right now, like from last, speaking to them last week. 571 00:34:36,780 --> 00:34:40,292 One of them is a daughter that is like third 572 00:34:40,356 --> 00:34:44,076 generation. Um, her dad's business 573 00:34:44,148 --> 00:34:47,932 closed in 2020 as a restaurant. A series of restaurants closed them, 574 00:34:48,076 --> 00:34:51,812 um, as a legacy project, like taking it forward. You know, they made a good 575 00:34:51,836 --> 00:34:55,444 amount of money on the sale to exit, but she's taking their sauces 576 00:34:55,532 --> 00:34:59,212 and turning it into an e commerce brand and like carrying that forward. Okay, so 577 00:34:59,236 --> 00:35:02,756 a lot of times I'm seeing third or fourth 578 00:35:02,788 --> 00:35:06,244 generation, honestly, like kind of getting the entrepreneurial bug again. 579 00:35:06,372 --> 00:35:10,086 Yeah. Which is just as common. And just to harp 580 00:35:10,118 --> 00:35:13,806 on that, Trenton is another guy, a close friend, taking his father's 581 00:35:13,838 --> 00:35:17,358 business. That was medical. Like 582 00:35:17,414 --> 00:35:21,190 medical devices, like a wrist brace or an ankle brace 583 00:35:21,230 --> 00:35:23,910 or a back brace, things like that, that you would get at the doctor's office. 584 00:35:23,950 --> 00:35:27,686 And they used to sell doctor's office to doctor's office. So different 585 00:35:27,758 --> 00:35:30,830 packaging. It's all about relationships with the private 586 00:35:30,910 --> 00:35:34,724 offices more that relationship, like we talked about, completely different 587 00:35:34,772 --> 00:35:38,060 than selling to the person buying on Amazon. That's fitting it themselves 588 00:35:38,180 --> 00:35:41,732 and those kinds of things. He's wanting to push the business into e 589 00:35:41,756 --> 00:35:45,292 commerce. It hasn't been easy because we have all of these things to 590 00:35:45,316 --> 00:35:48,988 fix, like the images and the size charts and returns. 591 00:35:49,124 --> 00:35:52,840 But we've gotten profitable in the last five months, which is a huge success story. 592 00:35:53,420 --> 00:35:57,188 First, we got top line sales, 30, 40, 50,000 a month. On Amazon. And 593 00:35:57,204 --> 00:36:00,856 then we were like, then let's get profitable after we figure out how to sell. 594 00:36:00,928 --> 00:36:04,280 Yeah. And so we're going through that and we just got profitable. But those are 595 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:07,616 both third generation family owned 596 00:36:07,648 --> 00:36:11,320 businesses where the, the new, the 597 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,136 new regime, so to speak, the new leadership is like, I want to take 598 00:36:15,168 --> 00:36:18,376 us into a new area to try to bring life into the business. What I'll 599 00:36:18,408 --> 00:36:22,216 say to that, so that that happens frequently with us is I'm sure 600 00:36:22,248 --> 00:36:24,816 they can lose it. They, maybe they don't know how because they haven't done it. 601 00:36:24,848 --> 00:36:28,056 But I do feel like the bug is, is in there like the entrepreneur 602 00:36:28,088 --> 00:36:31,872 bug. But I think when I talk mindset, sometimes it's 603 00:36:31,896 --> 00:36:35,128 not even getting the person listening to this that's excited about e commerce in the 604 00:36:35,144 --> 00:36:38,928 right mindset. It's that you have to be the advocate to the old leadership. 605 00:36:38,984 --> 00:36:42,624 Yeah. Yeah. And you have to help dad, help mom, 606 00:36:42,792 --> 00:36:46,568 help uncle, help whoever get to 607 00:36:46,584 --> 00:36:50,344 where we need to be to be successful on those platforms. And 608 00:36:50,472 --> 00:36:53,808 you're the communication barrier there. Like a lot of them, I know, are not in 609 00:36:53,824 --> 00:36:57,312 full control of the business at that point. There's still dad on the board, there's 610 00:36:57,336 --> 00:37:00,506 still mom on the board, still family on the board, and they're having to, like, 611 00:37:00,538 --> 00:37:04,362 say, hey, I want to do this thing, guys. This is the mindset we have 612 00:37:04,386 --> 00:37:07,170 to have. We have to be patient in this area. We have to think about 613 00:37:07,210 --> 00:37:10,730 prioritizing these things. Yeah, sure. We have Sally over here 614 00:37:10,850 --> 00:37:14,650 that does social media, but that doesn't mean that she's able to manage, you know, 615 00:37:14,690 --> 00:37:18,098 10,000 a month in PPC spend on Amazon or something like that. And 616 00:37:18,114 --> 00:37:21,578 so that person is the advocate to the old guard. 617 00:37:21,674 --> 00:37:25,090 And that was a mouthful. But I wanted to kind of explain like one, actually, 618 00:37:25,130 --> 00:37:28,866 I see a lot of that. They want that entrepreneurial spirit, but what I 619 00:37:28,898 --> 00:37:32,042 know and I don't necessarily always see and know in the relationship is they're having 620 00:37:32,066 --> 00:37:35,802 to go back to dad, back to mom, back to the board, and 621 00:37:35,826 --> 00:37:39,282 continue to sell them on their new idea over and over and over to get 622 00:37:39,306 --> 00:37:43,114 buy in. Right. Yeah, it almost becomes, you 623 00:37:43,122 --> 00:37:46,786 know, I think it also kind of goes back to goal setting and alignment there, 624 00:37:46,858 --> 00:37:49,350 too. We're making sure that 625 00:37:50,210 --> 00:37:54,026 the, you can put, I think one of the 626 00:37:54,058 --> 00:37:57,850 best ways to make that sell internally is to be able to 627 00:37:57,890 --> 00:38:01,562 say, okay, this is what we're trying to achieve as a company, 628 00:38:01,666 --> 00:38:05,070 as a family, as a brand, and 629 00:38:05,490 --> 00:38:09,338 this is how Amazon fits into that and rolls up 630 00:38:09,354 --> 00:38:13,186 to it. And this is what it might look like, so that everybody 631 00:38:13,218 --> 00:38:16,962 kind of understands why it's 632 00:38:16,986 --> 00:38:20,394 not just something that's like cool or 633 00:38:20,442 --> 00:38:24,242 trendy, but it's something that's actually serving the 634 00:38:24,266 --> 00:38:27,986 goals of the business, whether that's longevity, 635 00:38:28,138 --> 00:38:31,626 or building sales or building profitability 636 00:38:31,818 --> 00:38:35,658 or R and D or whatever it is. I think 637 00:38:35,674 --> 00:38:38,870 that there's lots of different ways that it could roll up into that. 638 00:38:40,610 --> 00:38:44,066 It's essentially a lot of times the family or the 639 00:38:44,098 --> 00:38:47,556 board or whatever that relationship looks like in that company is 640 00:38:47,698 --> 00:38:51,416 the PE firm, right? Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, is that it's 641 00:38:51,448 --> 00:38:55,176 almost like pitching for investment. Every fiscal 642 00:38:55,208 --> 00:38:58,776 year you have to get buy in. And some of that comes down to setting 643 00:38:58,808 --> 00:39:02,520 good expectations and so the investors or the family can see the 644 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:06,304 progress and the end goal in mind or how we're going 645 00:39:06,312 --> 00:39:10,112 to get there. You're having to constantly sell to them and oftentimes, let's 646 00:39:10,136 --> 00:39:13,824 say that we're the agency trying to execute on that. I'm not getting 647 00:39:13,872 --> 00:39:17,384 to talk to that board or that, whatever. 648 00:39:17,432 --> 00:39:20,700 So it's the mindset of the founder, whoever's 649 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,672 championing like the e commerce, to then 650 00:39:24,856 --> 00:39:28,696 understand it very well, to then be able to communicate it back. Yeah, 651 00:39:28,768 --> 00:39:32,568 yeah. But what a cool skill set to be 652 00:39:32,584 --> 00:39:35,816 able, like, as a next generation leader of the company. Like 653 00:39:35,888 --> 00:39:38,580 that's, that's like 654 00:39:39,810 --> 00:39:43,322 an expensive degree at a good business school, 655 00:39:43,466 --> 00:39:47,210 to be able to communicate that well, to put together a plan, 656 00:39:47,290 --> 00:39:51,090 to put together a team, to get metric, to really kind of create 657 00:39:51,130 --> 00:39:54,818 the pitch deck and what a 658 00:39:54,834 --> 00:39:58,658 cool opportunity as a way to build skills that 659 00:39:58,714 --> 00:40:02,482 not only benefit the family and the business, 660 00:40:02,586 --> 00:40:06,434 but also would benefit you. You could take those to any company and 661 00:40:06,442 --> 00:40:09,718 it would be the same thing. You know, you could pitch up the line at 662 00:40:09,734 --> 00:40:13,478 a Fortune 500 company and it would be the 663 00:40:13,494 --> 00:40:16,422 same thing of like, you know, what are we investing in and how and why? 664 00:40:16,486 --> 00:40:20,102 So, yeah, I think some comes down to 665 00:40:20,126 --> 00:40:23,550 picking a good partner, just like any relationship. And if you pick the right partner, 666 00:40:23,590 --> 00:40:26,490 they're going to understand what your goals are as 667 00:40:28,030 --> 00:40:31,766 a third generation, you know, CEO or C 668 00:40:31,798 --> 00:40:35,462 suite or founder, like now taking the family business, like, you know, a 669 00:40:35,486 --> 00:40:39,238 good partner is going to understand the conversations that you have to have internally to 670 00:40:39,254 --> 00:40:42,678 get buy in on this, whether you're the decision maker or not, and help you 671 00:40:42,694 --> 00:40:46,398 do that, help you, help you relay that message back, 672 00:40:46,454 --> 00:40:50,102 help you set goals, help you like, understand where we are and 673 00:40:50,126 --> 00:40:53,902 what, what a good expectation is around it. To 674 00:40:53,926 --> 00:40:57,622 me, like, we're talking about partnership and relationship and like, to me, 675 00:40:57,646 --> 00:41:01,062 that's what it is, and if it's a good one, they're helping you communicate. My 676 00:41:01,086 --> 00:41:04,782 job is not just to sell a bunch of stuff on Amazon. It's to 677 00:41:04,806 --> 00:41:08,358 help us get Runway to get to that point where we're selling a lot of 678 00:41:08,374 --> 00:41:12,062 stuff on Amazon. You're listening to Building Unbreakable 679 00:41:12,126 --> 00:41:15,774 Brands, the podcast all about brand stewardship and crafting 680 00:41:15,822 --> 00:41:19,350 an enduring legacy. I'm here with Andrew Morgans, whose 681 00:41:19,390 --> 00:41:22,730 company, Marknology, is also a family business. 682 00:41:24,030 --> 00:41:27,510 So, Drew, I want to just kind of switch gears a bit. We've been talking 683 00:41:27,550 --> 00:41:31,230 a lot about Amazon and your expertise there 684 00:41:31,310 --> 00:41:35,026 and how companies can make that leap. But I'd like to just talk 685 00:41:35,058 --> 00:41:38,522 a little bit about Marknology and your journey 686 00:41:38,626 --> 00:41:42,410 as an entrepreneur. Who 687 00:41:42,450 --> 00:41:45,826 else? What other family members are in business with you at 688 00:41:45,858 --> 00:41:49,522 Marknology? Well, when I started 689 00:41:49,626 --> 00:41:52,746 doing Amazon services, if you want to call that Amazon 690 00:41:52,778 --> 00:41:56,626 Consulting, no one understood what it was. No one was going to school for 691 00:41:56,658 --> 00:42:00,122 it. There weren't courses online. There weren't youtubes. There weren't blogs on 692 00:42:00,146 --> 00:42:03,388 it. There was me. There weren't vas 693 00:42:03,564 --> 00:42:07,020 overseas, at least not that I had access to getting trained or anything like 694 00:42:07,060 --> 00:42:10,800 that. So for the longest time, I was a little too early. 695 00:42:12,420 --> 00:42:16,124 I was doing this on my own, and I started just getting really busy 696 00:42:16,292 --> 00:42:20,076 and overwhelmed with the amount of work I was getting. And 697 00:42:20,228 --> 00:42:24,076 so my sister was in engineering school, my older 698 00:42:24,108 --> 00:42:27,888 sister, and we grew up in Africa together. She was 18 699 00:42:27,944 --> 00:42:31,696 when she came back. I was 16. So we're a close family, but 700 00:42:31,728 --> 00:42:35,072 she was going to getting her master's in Florida at 701 00:42:35,096 --> 00:42:38,936 USF. I was in Kansas City. And I just 702 00:42:38,968 --> 00:42:42,464 was like, sis, like, I need help. It was a lot of excel 703 00:42:42,512 --> 00:42:46,272 spreadsheets, CSVs, and I was like, vern, I need help. So while 704 00:42:46,296 --> 00:42:49,616 she was going to school, she started helping me remotely from 705 00:42:49,648 --> 00:42:53,118 Florida, like crank through a lot of these projects. And so she was kind of 706 00:42:53,134 --> 00:42:56,566 the first, my first employee or first partner, whatever you want to call 707 00:42:56,598 --> 00:43:00,350 it. And then, you know, if we've been doing this, I think 708 00:43:00,430 --> 00:43:04,046 she moved year four, year five of the business. She came, she, like, 709 00:43:04,078 --> 00:43:07,782 finished engineering school and honestly gave up that career to 710 00:43:07,806 --> 00:43:11,294 come help me build mark knowledge. So Veronica was, was number one employee 711 00:43:11,342 --> 00:43:15,118 and sister to join. Shortly after that, my younger 712 00:43:15,174 --> 00:43:18,952 sister, an absolute genius. Uh, we were lucky to get her. 713 00:43:18,976 --> 00:43:22,160 She was in school for equestrian science and really working with a lot of like, 714 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:25,968 champion horses in Ocala, Florida, and really pursuing. We grew up 715 00:43:25,984 --> 00:43:29,096 kind of like Tarzan kids, you know, so it just makes sense, if you think 716 00:43:29,128 --> 00:43:32,736 about it like that she was working with horses and she's 717 00:43:32,768 --> 00:43:36,360 absolutely amazing with animals, but she came and joined 718 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:38,928 and really switched up what she was doing in life to kind of join what 719 00:43:38,944 --> 00:43:41,632 me and sis were doing. We were just, like, growing this thing. I'm like, I 720 00:43:41,656 --> 00:43:45,488 think I'm on to something, guys. Like, I'm winning with some brands like this. 721 00:43:45,504 --> 00:43:49,244 It just seems like it's hot. Like I need help. So there's. The first two 722 00:43:49,352 --> 00:43:52,908 were my sisters, but since then 723 00:43:52,964 --> 00:43:55,880 I've got a cousin 724 00:43:56,580 --> 00:44:00,400 that's joined us now for the last five years, and 725 00:44:01,020 --> 00:44:04,852 I've retired my mother and my dad, 726 00:44:04,916 --> 00:44:08,612 actually. It's all like a weird story in some ways, but my parents grew up 727 00:44:08,636 --> 00:44:12,180 overseas and they were teachers. They were english teachers in 728 00:44:12,220 --> 00:44:15,804 French Africa. And so I had my dad help 729 00:44:15,852 --> 00:44:19,606 me with our SEO team, our writing team, our content team, 730 00:44:19,638 --> 00:44:23,350 and really helped me create some processes in there for training and for educating. 731 00:44:23,390 --> 00:44:27,166 So everyone's had a little bit, has touched it a little bit. But right 732 00:44:27,198 --> 00:44:29,970 now I would say I've got two sisters 733 00:44:30,630 --> 00:44:34,410 and a cousin, and my mom 734 00:44:35,190 --> 00:44:38,462 helps us with a lot of things, if I can put it that way. She's 735 00:44:38,486 --> 00:44:42,198 not officially an employee, but more so, like, 736 00:44:42,254 --> 00:44:45,710 she's not going anywhere. So she's here all the time and helps us is. 737 00:44:45,790 --> 00:44:48,890 She's absolutely a saint. So I guess that makes 738 00:44:49,230 --> 00:44:52,846 five. Yeah. Yeah. That's. How has it been working 739 00:44:52,918 --> 00:44:56,590 with siblings in the business? I know 740 00:44:56,630 --> 00:45:00,290 that can be tough. There's been challenges later, 741 00:45:00,910 --> 00:45:03,774 you know, at the same time, oh, my God, this 742 00:45:03,942 --> 00:45:07,606 entrepreneurship is so hard. And I would not 743 00:45:07,638 --> 00:45:11,286 rather have anyone else in my corner but them. They're 744 00:45:11,318 --> 00:45:14,990 willing. The lows, the highs. It's not just like they're abandoning ship or taking 745 00:45:15,030 --> 00:45:18,524 a paycheck somewhere else. They could be paid very, very, very 746 00:45:18,572 --> 00:45:22,420 well. Both of my sisters, the older and younger one, combined, we have like 747 00:45:22,460 --> 00:45:26,124 60,000 hours on Amazon. And I'm telling you, you can take that to 748 00:45:26,212 --> 00:45:29,972 a company and get paid pretty well with that experience. So they've 749 00:45:29,996 --> 00:45:33,524 stood by me. It's been an amazing experience. And 750 00:45:33,612 --> 00:45:37,356 honestly, our family was kind of like in all the four corners of the 751 00:45:37,388 --> 00:45:41,156 world, so to speak, for a while, post Africa years and things like that, 752 00:45:41,188 --> 00:45:44,876 going to college, moving away, and this brought us back 753 00:45:44,908 --> 00:45:48,420 together. And honestly, like, I absolutely love it. 754 00:45:48,580 --> 00:45:51,804 I get to work with, they're my best friends as well, so I get to 755 00:45:51,812 --> 00:45:55,572 work with my best friends. Building something that's changed 756 00:45:55,596 --> 00:45:59,308 our family's legacy, changed our family's, like, path, like, 757 00:45:59,484 --> 00:46:02,636 in ways that I can't even share on this podcast, probably without getting a little, 758 00:46:02,668 --> 00:46:06,348 like, emotional about it, just in a big, big way. 759 00:46:06,404 --> 00:46:10,020 And sure, there's challenges around maybe 760 00:46:10,060 --> 00:46:13,572 letting someone go that someone on the team doesn't want to let go or 761 00:46:13,596 --> 00:46:17,352 like someone needing to level up, that's not leveling up or 762 00:46:17,376 --> 00:46:21,184 someone taking a break when they need to push or just 763 00:46:21,232 --> 00:46:24,976 family things, but always done with love. And I think 764 00:46:25,008 --> 00:46:28,672 that kind candor kind of concept, and it's something we've all learned. 765 00:46:28,736 --> 00:46:32,208 I think one thing it's really done for us is 766 00:46:32,344 --> 00:46:35,976 we respect each other in a way that we couldn't have 767 00:46:36,008 --> 00:46:39,832 done if we hadn't built this together. We would have loved each other and respect 768 00:46:39,896 --> 00:46:43,560 what each other did, but we wouldn't have known. I wouldn't have known about engineering. 769 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:46,424 I wouldn't have known about equestrian science in the same way or whatever, but I 770 00:46:46,432 --> 00:46:49,924 get to see them be great every day. And there's a respect 771 00:46:50,012 --> 00:46:53,680 level that I think we have that a lot of other families might not have. 772 00:46:54,540 --> 00:46:58,172 Just so I don't know if I can leave it at that, but it's 773 00:46:58,196 --> 00:47:01,628 just, I love it for the ups and the downs. 774 00:47:01,724 --> 00:47:05,476 Yeah. Yeah. I do think that you learn so much 775 00:47:05,508 --> 00:47:08,160 when you're working with family, and 776 00:47:10,860 --> 00:47:14,172 there are those opportunities that I think it always gives 777 00:47:14,196 --> 00:47:17,910 families the opportunity to let the struggles bring them 778 00:47:17,950 --> 00:47:21,742 closer or let it become 779 00:47:21,846 --> 00:47:25,486 something that drives them apart. And it sounds like you guys are walking that line. 780 00:47:25,518 --> 00:47:29,030 Well, to let it be some glue. We went through wars 781 00:47:29,070 --> 00:47:32,502 together in Africa, like, legitimate war zones. Like, we lived in 782 00:47:32,526 --> 00:47:35,798 Congo, Africa. We, like, you know, so as far as a family 783 00:47:35,894 --> 00:47:38,930 unit, you know, we have always, like, 784 00:47:39,470 --> 00:47:43,262 binded together in the hard times, there was nowhere to run. So, like, our 785 00:47:43,286 --> 00:47:47,126 default setting is to, like, come together and, like, figure it out together. 786 00:47:47,198 --> 00:47:49,890 And I think it's almost like an entrepreneurial superpower, 787 00:47:51,550 --> 00:47:55,342 growing up the way that we did and then going out and get educated and 788 00:47:55,366 --> 00:47:59,206 then coming back together and, like, building something together. Yeah. 789 00:47:59,238 --> 00:48:02,838 I think as much as I've, like, feared what 790 00:48:02,894 --> 00:48:06,294 could happen, and you hear all of. I mean, all of society is like, especially 791 00:48:06,342 --> 00:48:09,890 in 2024, is like, you know, family can't work together 792 00:48:10,010 --> 00:48:13,578 and, like, you know, and I just completely believe differently, 793 00:48:13,634 --> 00:48:17,306 and it helps to have very good people. Right? 794 00:48:17,338 --> 00:48:20,858 Like, I can't judge everyone's family and everyone's siblings around greed and 795 00:48:20,914 --> 00:48:24,450 around all those types of things, but with my family, there's, 796 00:48:24,490 --> 00:48:27,562 there's none of that, really. So we have, we've always had the same mission in 797 00:48:27,586 --> 00:48:30,986 mind, which is to build a legacy. We actually call this the Legacy 798 00:48:31,058 --> 00:48:34,730 chapter. Right now, we've had legacy in the past, and our families, our families 799 00:48:34,770 --> 00:48:38,426 go all the way back to the beginning of this country. Like, my 800 00:48:38,458 --> 00:48:42,086 sisters, they have the Daughters of Liberty certificates and things like that. I'm very proud 801 00:48:42,118 --> 00:48:45,918 of that, that we've just been here a long time and 802 00:48:46,054 --> 00:48:49,750 like, so the family has had legacy, like, if that makes sense. 803 00:48:49,790 --> 00:48:53,542 And it's came and went and comes back again and goes away again. But 804 00:48:53,566 --> 00:48:57,094 for us, like, this is a rebuilding of our legacy as a family. And it 805 00:48:57,142 --> 00:49:00,974 started with wanting to take care of my parents. And then from there it's just 806 00:49:01,022 --> 00:49:04,542 grown. There's 25 of us, right? So there's 807 00:49:04,646 --> 00:49:08,402 20 plus that aren't family members that now we 808 00:49:08,426 --> 00:49:11,946 feel like we're building legacy together. Love 809 00:49:11,978 --> 00:49:15,602 it. You're listening to Building Unbreakable Brands, the 810 00:49:15,626 --> 00:49:19,386 podcast for leaders with a generational mindset. My guest is 811 00:49:19,418 --> 00:49:22,790 Andrew Morgans, who helps people sell things online. 812 00:49:23,250 --> 00:49:26,434 As Andrew puts it, it's kind of like a game, but for making money. 813 00:49:26,482 --> 00:49:30,106 Instead. We're going to turn the mic now over to see what my 814 00:49:30,138 --> 00:49:33,684 son Henry can learn from Drew by asking him some of, of his 815 00:49:33,732 --> 00:49:36,280 questions as the voice of the next generation. 816 00:49:37,700 --> 00:49:41,484 Hi, Drew. Hi, sir. How is selling 817 00:49:41,532 --> 00:49:45,052 things online like a game? How is selling things 818 00:49:45,116 --> 00:49:48,868 online like a game? Well, you know, like video 819 00:49:48,924 --> 00:49:52,620 games where you have all of these quests. 820 00:49:52,700 --> 00:49:55,812 Like, you have, like, you have quests and you can do these little side quests 821 00:49:55,836 --> 00:49:58,564 or you can do the main quests. You know, a lot of times you have 822 00:49:58,572 --> 00:50:02,308 to do the side quests to get enough, like, experience or, like, enough stuff to 823 00:50:02,324 --> 00:50:05,706 go do the main quest. And I kind of think of, like, 824 00:50:05,858 --> 00:50:09,650 tinkering on a website or on Amazon kind of 825 00:50:09,690 --> 00:50:13,250 like that you have all these little side quests you can do to, like, 826 00:50:13,330 --> 00:50:17,002 get your score better, your brand better, like, you know, get a 827 00:50:17,026 --> 00:50:20,794 score here. How did you do on this area? And if you're doing 828 00:50:20,842 --> 00:50:24,506 all the side quests, you get all the side quests done. It makes the 829 00:50:24,538 --> 00:50:28,266 main quest a lot easier. So for me, that's kind of how I think about 830 00:50:28,298 --> 00:50:31,586 it. I'm always thinking of every little challenge that I have when it comes to 831 00:50:31,618 --> 00:50:35,336 selling online as a 832 00:50:35,368 --> 00:50:38,712 game. And if I get the right scores, if I get the right answer, then 833 00:50:38,736 --> 00:50:41,980 I can go on to the next stage. That makes sense. 834 00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:44,940 Yeah. All right, 835 00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:49,312 what's your favorite item that you've sold? My favorite 836 00:50:49,376 --> 00:50:52,300 item that I've sold. That is a good question. 837 00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:58,800 I think it would be my very first product that I sold 838 00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:02,558 myself t shirt, and 839 00:51:02,694 --> 00:51:06,462 I came up with this idea for a football and baseball 840 00:51:06,606 --> 00:51:10,382 t shirt in one, and I really didn't know what I was doing at 841 00:51:10,406 --> 00:51:13,718 all. So that's why it was kind of more special, because I was just 842 00:51:13,774 --> 00:51:17,330 learning. And I basically 843 00:51:17,790 --> 00:51:21,510 posted on social media, on Twitter my very first tweet I ever 844 00:51:21,550 --> 00:51:25,330 made. I just posted a picture of my shirt, and 845 00:51:25,630 --> 00:51:28,050 the local, like, news company 846 00:51:29,150 --> 00:51:32,982 saw, like, saw my shirt and reposted it, and I got, 847 00:51:33,006 --> 00:51:36,638 like, 200 orders in the same day, and I was just, like, just 848 00:51:36,694 --> 00:51:40,406 starting selling online, and it was like, it was just 849 00:51:40,438 --> 00:51:43,774 like chi ching, like a video game. It was like I was winning, and it 850 00:51:43,782 --> 00:51:46,814 was just like, cha ching, cha ching, cha ching. And it was. It was a 851 00:51:46,822 --> 00:51:50,646 really cool moment for me. I feel 852 00:51:50,678 --> 00:51:54,406 like I can relate to that. Like, with the podcast, like, we put 853 00:51:54,518 --> 00:51:58,262 about three episodes out, and after a 854 00:51:58,286 --> 00:52:01,926 while, it's just like. And 855 00:52:01,958 --> 00:52:05,486 just, like, more and more listeners and more and 856 00:52:05,518 --> 00:52:09,214 more episodes and stuff like that. 857 00:52:09,342 --> 00:52:13,078 All right. How often do you work? Is 858 00:52:13,094 --> 00:52:16,798 it like a part time job or a full time? It is like 859 00:52:16,894 --> 00:52:20,550 two full time jobs. Honestly, I work a lot 860 00:52:20,590 --> 00:52:24,220 of because even when I'm done, there's 861 00:52:24,260 --> 00:52:27,948 things I wish I could have done that maybe are not saying you have to 862 00:52:27,964 --> 00:52:31,532 have this done today, but I just want to build the best business that I 863 00:52:31,556 --> 00:52:34,668 can be or the best business that I can have. And a lot of times, 864 00:52:34,724 --> 00:52:38,300 what I do as a business is I help other people's businesses. So it's like 865 00:52:38,380 --> 00:52:42,228 a business that I have to help mine and help others. And so a lot 866 00:52:42,244 --> 00:52:45,716 of times, I'm spending a lot of my time helping others. And so in my 867 00:52:45,748 --> 00:52:49,164 free time, I choose to work on my business. A lot of times, you want 868 00:52:49,172 --> 00:52:52,604 to. To call that free time, but I try to just 869 00:52:52,652 --> 00:52:56,348 find fun ways of, like, since I'm working all the time, I don't have 870 00:52:56,404 --> 00:53:00,076 a Henry myself. I don't have any kids, and I'm 871 00:53:00,108 --> 00:53:03,892 not married, so I have a dog, and I have family that works in 872 00:53:03,916 --> 00:53:07,588 my business, so it's all connected for me. It's a 873 00:53:07,604 --> 00:53:11,412 family business. And so I find ways of, like, maybe 874 00:53:11,436 --> 00:53:15,068 I'm working outside instead of inside, or maybe I'm taking a 875 00:53:15,084 --> 00:53:18,842 small break to go eat lunch with mom or something like that and 876 00:53:18,866 --> 00:53:22,402 coming back to it. But I work a lot, but it's. What do they 877 00:53:22,426 --> 00:53:25,706 say? If you enjoy what you do, you never work a day in your life 878 00:53:25,738 --> 00:53:29,210 or something like that? I don't know if that's true, but I will say 879 00:53:29,250 --> 00:53:32,866 that time flies when I'm working, and it feels like it just 880 00:53:32,898 --> 00:53:35,670 goes boom. It's like playtime's over. 881 00:53:37,410 --> 00:53:40,390 So, yeah, I work a lot, buddy. I work a lot, 882 00:53:41,410 --> 00:53:44,530 but I wouldn't have it any other way. Mm hmm. 883 00:53:45,230 --> 00:53:48,758 All right. Um, that's all the questions is done. 884 00:53:48,814 --> 00:53:52,366 I'm probably going to hand it over 885 00:53:52,398 --> 00:53:56,246 to Meghan, but, um, yeah. 886 00:53:56,398 --> 00:53:59,886 Oh, do you get in trouble if you call her Meghan instead of 887 00:53:59,918 --> 00:54:03,606 mom? No, you guys, I call her mom. I call 888 00:54:03,638 --> 00:54:07,050 her Meg. I call her Meghan. So, 889 00:54:07,350 --> 00:54:10,610 yeah, so that's Henry. Thank you. Thanks so much for 890 00:54:11,790 --> 00:54:15,566 answering his questions and for spending some 891 00:54:15,598 --> 00:54:19,118 time with me here on building unbreakable brands. As always, 892 00:54:19,214 --> 00:54:23,054 Drew, just really fun to chat with you and to hear a 893 00:54:23,062 --> 00:54:26,646 little bit more, both about your expertise and your advice for generational 894 00:54:26,718 --> 00:54:30,454 businesses and just learn a little bit more about you and 895 00:54:30,502 --> 00:54:34,214 your family team, both your nuclear 896 00:54:34,262 --> 00:54:37,836 family and youre a extended marknology family. So 897 00:54:37,988 --> 00:54:41,532 thanks so much for spending time with us. Thank you. And thank you to 898 00:54:41,636 --> 00:54:45,180 you and to Henry. If people want to 899 00:54:45,340 --> 00:54:48,924 connect with you to learn more about what you're doing, where's the best 900 00:54:49,052 --> 00:54:52,732 ways and places for them to do that? So I'm pretty active 901 00:54:52,756 --> 00:54:56,388 on LinkedIn, just posting, engaging, 902 00:54:56,484 --> 00:55:00,188 gathering content there. So obviously, as a business social media platform, 903 00:55:00,284 --> 00:55:04,120 LinkedIn is great. Andrew Morgans, there's not that many Morgans with an 904 00:55:04,160 --> 00:55:08,000 s, so you shouldn't have a hard time finding me through the list. But also 905 00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:11,640 marknology.com, we have good examples of our 906 00:55:11,680 --> 00:55:15,300 work, case studies, portfolio stuff. If you just want to learn more. 907 00:55:16,360 --> 00:55:19,896 I'm on Instagram. I don't know if our listeners are on 908 00:55:19,928 --> 00:55:23,696 Instagram, but that's kind of my personal social media, where I'm just posting 909 00:55:23,728 --> 00:55:26,888 my travels and my trips and my mindset. It's less like 910 00:55:26,944 --> 00:55:30,728 Amazon centric or e commerce centric. It's just more of like me as 911 00:55:30,744 --> 00:55:34,020 an entrepreneur. So there's a couple different ways, I guess, to engage. 912 00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:38,872 Right now, I'm in between podcasts. I'm excited to be on Meghan's. My 913 00:55:38,896 --> 00:55:42,608 own podcast got sold early in the year so that you can't 914 00:55:42,624 --> 00:55:46,368 just tune in and listen to me regularly. But hopefully I'll have something soon 915 00:55:46,424 --> 00:55:49,496 so that I can start engaging again and talking about the thing that I love 916 00:55:49,528 --> 00:55:53,336 so much. So thanks for having me on the show. And honestly, 917 00:55:53,368 --> 00:55:57,040 I'd love to hear from anybody, whether it's just chatting, no 918 00:55:57,080 --> 00:56:00,440 cost, nothing to risk there other than just getting to chat 919 00:56:00,480 --> 00:56:03,998 about what I love and love helping other 920 00:56:04,094 --> 00:56:07,606 people do, which is build legacy and build a brand that they're proud 921 00:56:07,638 --> 00:56:11,334 of. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, I highly recommend that listeners connect with you 922 00:56:11,382 --> 00:56:15,230 on LinkedIn. You post some great content on there and yeah, just such 923 00:56:15,310 --> 00:56:18,846 a great human and really generous with your expertise. So 924 00:56:18,998 --> 00:56:22,718 again, thank you so much for your time and thank you for being 925 00:56:22,774 --> 00:56:25,970 on Building Unbreakable Brands. Thank you. 926 00:56:30,660 --> 00:56:34,124 That was some great stuff from Drew. I love this 927 00:56:34,172 --> 00:56:37,756 idea of building new skills in a generational company 928 00:56:37,868 --> 00:56:41,628 around e commerce or Amazon as being an entrepreneurial 929 00:56:41,684 --> 00:56:45,356 endeavor of its own. That's so important because for a brand to 930 00:56:45,388 --> 00:56:49,052 endure, keeping a sense of entrepreneurship and innovation is just 931 00:56:49,116 --> 00:56:52,698 absolutely critical. So if you can look at opportunities 932 00:56:52,844 --> 00:56:56,382 for growth like this as not just revenue opportunities, 933 00:56:56,526 --> 00:57:00,326 but also ways to practice cultivating a true spirit of 934 00:57:00,358 --> 00:57:04,142 entrepreneurship within the company, it's just such a valuable way to 935 00:57:04,166 --> 00:57:07,878 think about it. If you enjoyed this episode, please be 936 00:57:07,894 --> 00:57:11,678 sure to share it with a friend or colleague. And don't forget to rate 937 00:57:11,734 --> 00:57:15,526 us and leave us a review. Thank you so much for listening to 938 00:57:15,558 --> 00:57:17,350 building unbreakable brands.