← The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast With Steve Chou
The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast With Steve Chou
638: The Ecom Strategies Worth Stealing from Sellers Summit 2026
00:46:54
In this episode, we're going over key takeaways from Sellers Summit 2026 in Fort Lauderdale, walking through every session from AI-powered ad creative and TikTok Shop launches to sourcing strategies, Reddit SEO,
Loading summary
Transcript239 lines
- [00:00]
A
Welcome back to the podcast, the show where I cover all the latest strategies and current events related to E commerce and online business. In this episode, we're going to go over key takeaways From Seller Summit 2026 in Fort Lauderdale, walking through every session from AI powered ad creative and TikTok shop launches to sourcing strategies, Reddit, SEO and what buyers actually care about in the current M and A market. And by the end of this episode, you'll have a full picture of where e commerce is headed and a list of things you can actually put to work this week. But before I begin, I just want to take a second to mention that I have a free e commerce community that I'm incredibly proud of and would love for you to be a part of. It is a place where real sellers come together to share wins, troubleshoot problems and support each other through the ups and downs of building an online business. You can join completely free over@mywifequitterjob.com community and I would love to see you in there. That's mywifequitterjob.com community. Welcome back to the My wifecutter Job podcast. Tony and I just got back from Seller Summit and I'm tired. I'm still excited though. I'm still amped.
- [01:08]
B
I know. I love the post conference. High it, like you can write it for like three or four weeks if you, if you're, if you're strategic.
- [01:15]
A
So I actually didn't even look at emails pretty much for like the last five days. And then I tried the other day and I, I think it was like a thousand emails or something like that. Pretty crazy.
- [01:25]
B
Oh, okay. I thought you were going to say conference emails. I was like. Because I always love reading the post conference emails.
- [01:30]
A
Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, so this time it was, it was gonna be like the last seller summit and so we got all these, you saw them, right? We got all these emails saying, hey, don't, don't, don't stop the event. Which event are we gonna go to?
- [01:46]
B
Yes.
- [01:47]
A
And it was just this huge outpouring of, of love, I want to say.
- [01:51]
B
Yeah, so what I, what I realized when I was there is that there aren't actually a lot of e commerce events that are like ours. And there are, I mean, there. And there are a couple other really good events. So. And I'm not, you know, we don't like to knock other events and things like that, but we do definitely have a different environment and I think for a couple reasons. One, we are not like for only beginners, right? So if you're a beginner, you can come and you feel absolutely welcome and you will learn a ton and you'll get yourself a head start in your business. However, our attendees are primarily not beginners, right. Most people have a product and they're already selling. Now within that window, we actually do have like a huge variety, right? We have people that are, you know, still in those early phases. You, you've got one or two products, you've got your Amazon listing or you got your Shopify listing up, but you're not like doing it full time. So we have a people that are in that space, but we also have a large percentage of people who this is their full time job. They are full time sellers. And, and it varies between like a lot of solopreneurs or people who have like one or two VAs up to like there are some people that come with like really big teams, right. Have multiple employees and things like that. And I think that is one thing that makes us a little bit unique is that a lot of events cater to like only beginners, only like eight figure sellers. And they. The people in the middle get lost. And I think that is like the people that I heard from specifically were all the people in the middle people doing a half a million dollars a year, right, who feel like they don't really fit in at a lot of other places. And then the other thing I think too is that sometimes you can go to these events and they feel very like bro fest, right? And we've talked about this. I don't know if we talked about on the podcast, but we've talked about it. Personally, our event is definitely 50, 50, like 50% female, 50% male. And so I feel like there's. It doesn't give that same vibe as some of those events where it's like, let me get the money gun, you know, and people are like, you know, all that stuff, which I just feel like that, that there's a place for those events, right. Like, and if that's your thing and, and also there's a place, I think some of those events are more like motivation and cheerleading. And that's. I mean we want to motivate you, but we're definitely not like on the stage, you know, with a T shirt gun. Even though I want a T shirt gun so badly, I want to shoot T shirts out at seller summit. But anyway, I think those two things really make it an event where people feel very comfortable. And so to me that was the question I got from a lot of people at the event, like, hey, I heard this might be the last year. Like, where am I going to go? These are my people. You know, that kind of thing. And I started thinking about. I was like, yeah, you know, definitely is a little bit of a one of a kind in that respect.
- [04:36]
A
I want to say the females outnumbered the men. We should. We should check.
- [04:39]
B
I think they did. I didn't want to say that. It's also hard to tell because, like, we don't obviously count. And sometimes with names, like, obviously I have a name that could be either. Right. Um, so anyway, I think we probably are. Are definitely skew a little more female. Although obviously, guys are always welcome.
- [04:58]
A
Yeah. So we've been running this event for 10 years, and I want to say this is among, like, the top three.
- [05:04]
B
Yes.
- [05:05]
A
For me this past year.
- [05:06]
B
I agree.
- [05:07]
A
And a couple of things we did to switch it up this year was we made everything single track.
- [05:12]
B
Yeah.
- [05:13]
A
And we shortened the talks to 30 minutes and we added in more networking time, which I believe were some of the gripes about, like, the prior year. Like, people did not like having to choose which talk they had to go to at any given time.
- [05:26]
B
And, you know, it's. I hate saying these things because, like, I'm the one who schedules everything. So I feel like I'm like, oh, feel sorry for me? I'm not saying that. But what I don't like is that it's really hard to figure out what talk you can put against another talk. Because in an ideal world, you're like, okay, we have a Shopify track, we have an Amazon track. Right? But. But there's a lot of topics that really cover both. Right. Like, they're really more marketing specific topics. Or like JK's talk. Right. Sourcing. Right. Whether you sell on Amazon or you sell on your own site, that talk was applicable. So it's like, well, where do you put that talk when you have two tracks? Right? And then what would happen is sometimes you would have a talk that was like, so Tiffany Ivanovsky is a perfect example. Tiffany doesn't matter what she's talking about. People like to hear her talk. She's just a favorite. So. So you got mad at me last year cause I put you at the same time as Tiffany.
- [06:19]
A
Exactly. That's the real reason we went single track.
- [06:22]
B
But the pro. The problem is even people who will never do what Tiffany does want to hear her talk because she's got so much energy and she's really a motivating person just for E commerce in general. So I think the one track definitely solves that problem. And also, if it's a topic that, like, you're just like, I do not care. I will never do this in my whole life. This, then that's your time to go talk to sponsors or go time to have, like, get a coffee with somebody. It gives you a little bit of extra neck. Check your email. Right. Like, catch up on a little bit of work. And because the talks are only 30 minutes, it's not this huge time gap. Right. Where you're like, what am I going to do for two hours? It's like, no, you've got 30 minutes. Go to the bathroom, check your email, talk to Steven Weigler, and come back in.
- [07:04]
A
And I know the speakers liked it also.
- [07:06]
B
Yes.
- [07:06]
A
Because they're speaking to a full room.
- [07:09]
B
Yes.
- [07:09]
A
And when there's more people in the room, you just naturally feel more energized talking on stage. At least I do know.
- [07:15]
B
I thought the energy from our attendees was fantastic. Like, they were all very much into it. Yeah. So I thought the one room part of me was like, why didn't we do this sooner?
- [07:27]
A
Yeah, I know. And also got to wait 10 years.
- [07:29]
B
I know. The 30 minute talk thing was something that I took from a couple other events I've been to in the past year. And what I realized was, and we have, like, this is no shame on our speakers. Our speakers are phenomenal. But someone like Brett Curry, who is, like, so knowledgeable, knows so much, and you give him an hour talk, he is going to fill that hour. Right. And he's going to fill it like, he has 122 slides. It's all going to be awesome. But there's no possible way you can do all of that. Right. There's just no way you can walk away from that and go, I'm going to do everything Brett said. But when you give Brett 30 minutes, he focuses on one or two things, and then people are more likely to take that action. They're more likely to be successful. And so I think it helps speakers. Right. Like, narrow down what they want to talk about instead of saying, hey, you've got to fill. Fill a full hour. And it helps attendees where it's like, hey, I can come away with this talk with two things and be successful.
- [08:26]
A
I know it helped me out a lot because for some reason, I tend to condense everything down naturally.
- [08:33]
B
Yeah.
- [08:33]
A
And so it's actually hard for me to fill up an hour. Like, I can cover, like, three topics in an hour.
- [08:37]
B
I know. I was like, do you need a little Extra time. You were like, no, no. I do not know.
- [08:41]
A
It was. It was perfect.
- [08:43]
B
Yeah.
- [08:43]
A
So, all right. Should we talk about some of the sessions?
- [08:47]
B
Yeah, well, we already talked about JK a little bit, but his talk was one where I was like, I mean, I'm not an E Commerce. Like I don't have my own store anymore, but I do kind of do. But anyway, yeah, I work with E commerce sellers though, and I interact a lot with people that are in E Commerce. I. He gave, I think he had five tips. Once again, great. Five very actionable things you could do about how to get your cost down. And some of them were like, oh yeah, why am I not doing that? Like, one of the things was like shrinking your packaging. Right? Like changing the way you package your items.
- [09:19]
A
Yeah.
- [09:20]
B
And you listen to that and you're like, oh, yeah. Of like. Like those types of talks are my favorite because it's like, this stuff is so easy to do. I can go home tomorrow and make that change and immediately save money. Money.
- [09:34]
A
Have you ever wondered how much your business is actually worth now? I sold one of my businesses through Quiet Light and honestly, just getting that initial valuation changed everything for me. Not because of that number itself, but because of what came with it. My advisor walked me through exactly what buyers would be looking for, how I needed to restructure my accounting, what documentation I was missing, the gaps in my financials that might kill a deal before it even starts, and stuff that I really had no idea that mattered when it came to selling a business. And here's the thing, I wasn't even ready to sell yet. But knowing what I needed to fix meant that I could actually start preparing. And I now had a roadmap. Everyone at Quiet Light has built or sold businesses themselves. So my advisor told me what needed to change. It was actually coming from real experience, sitting across from buyers. And by the time I was ready, everything was positioned right and we attracted serious buyers. So if you've been thinking about selling someday, even if that day feels way far off, just getting a free valuation from Quiet Light will make a huge difference. You'll learn what you need to fix right now so you're not scrambling later. And if you're interested, go over to quietlight.com I mean, there are some negotiation tactics too that he went over like that are just no brainers. You just have to ask for them.
- [10:48]
B
Yeah.
- [10:49]
A
So what was funny about JK's talk was last year at Seller Summit, we had a couple talks about because it was at the height of the tariffs Last year and we had talks on how to source in the usa. Everyone, you know the, the, the trend was sourcing away from China, Right. Well, it turns out like during my keynote I just had a. Had everyone raise their hands. How many of you guys changed your sourcing away from China?
- [11:13]
B
And nobody. Right? Yeah, it was like two people or something.
- [11:16]
A
Because it's hard, Right. China makes everything. And so that's why I thought JK's talk was really applicable. Like if you can't switch or you're not willing to switch, at least get a better deal with what you're sourcing.
- [11:26]
B
Yeah. And I thought what I, what I like about JK1, he's been a long time, I think he said this was his fifth seller summit and he's always come to the events, he's always provided a lot of value to our attendees. And it was really fun to see him up on stage this year.
- [11:39]
A
Absolutely. And he's been in actually my class for a decade almost. Yeah, yeah.
- [11:44]
B
So that was fun. And then the next speaker that we had, it was funny, you told me we were going to have Jeff Skolnick talk about Reddit and I was like, what? Like, nobody cares about this. And I was obviously lovely person. I really enjoyed getting to know him. But the whole time I'm like, is this going to be like, why are we doing this talk? Like, who's on Reddit? Well, let me tell you, I had more people come up to me about Jeff's talk than any other. Even my own talk at the event. People came up to me, I was like, you're going to tell me how great I did? No, you're going to tell me how great Jeff did. Thank you very much. People were so fascinated. And I think that's the other thing that like makes us a little bit unique is we kind of go out like on a limb with some talks, right? Like, hey, this is something people are doing. It's a strategy that works. We're going to give you a 30 minute talk on it. He did an excellent job of giving you strategies of how to make Reddit work. In fact, one of my clients yesterday was like, so I went on Reddit and I was like, oh, no. But anyway, fascinating talk. Definitely something I wouldn't say. If you didn't attend the event, you got to get the recordings because that talk alone was really an eye opener on something that I would say most of your competitors probably are not doing.
- [12:54]
A
Let me just give the background on that. The reason why I asked Jeff to talk about Reddit is because ranking and AI search is becoming a lot more important. Right. Very few people are clicking on the 10 blue links and more people are looking at the AI overviews when they're shopping. And so the way you get on AI overviews is by ranking in Reddit or not ranking in Reddit, just showing up in Reddit. ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. They all rely heavily on Reddit content. So that's what the talk was all about.
- [13:25]
B
And I love that he just told you exactly, like if you've never logged in on Reddit, he told you exactly what to do to not be spammy. Right? Is that the other thing?
- [13:35]
A
What's funny is I used to actually be pretty big on Reddit way back in the day.
- [13:38]
B
I know Christina.
- [13:39]
A
No, no, no, not as Christina, as myself actually. And I actually got a large amount of traffic to my blog from Reddit way back in the day.
- [13:47]
B
Yeah.
- [13:48]
A
And then I got banned. I got Shadow banned. Right. Because Reddit, they'll ban you without telling you. And then all of a sudden like your, your account doesn't do anything and you think you're still alive, but in fact you're not.
- [14:01]
B
So yeah, that was a really interesting talk and literally I had more people come up to me about that talk than any other talk at the event, which was shocking to me. But he's, he's a really good teacher too. You just kind of want to listen to him and learn. And I really liked his approach. And then of course another Jeff. We had two Jeffs back to back. Jeff Oxford, who talked about SEO and aeo and I don't know, Jeff always just does such a great job and I love that he only had 30 minutes because he's another one that can deliver a full hour of just like absolute crushing information. But you kind of are like, I can't do this. But like with a half hour I walked out of there and I was like, oh yeah, this isn't that hard.
- [14:45]
A
I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a free resource that I offer on my website that you may not be aware of if you are interested in starting your own online store. I put together a comprehensive six day mini course on how to get started in ecommerce that you should all check out. It contains both video and text based tutorials that go over the entire process of finding products to sell, all the way to getting your first sales online. Now this course is free and, and can be obtained@mywifequitterjob.com free. Just sign up right There on the front page via email. And I'll send you the course right away. Once again, that's mywifequitterjob.com free. Now back to the show.
- [15:24]
B
Yeah.
- [15:25]
A
What I was fascinated about his talk in particular is everything he teaches is backed by evidence that he gathers.
- [15:32]
B
Yes.
- [15:32]
A
He doesn't just pull random stats across the web. He has enough clients and enough. He actually writes all his own apps too, believe it or not. And he gathers these stats and he proves everything that he's doing. So I trust him for everything that he does.
- [15:47]
B
Yeah. And he's so great. Like another thing that I like about both Jeff's, but Jeff Oxford's been to several seller summits is that he's always available, like during the event. Talk to you Roundtable really help people. I mean, especially because he does. That's what he does for a living. Right. He has an agency, but he's more than happy to chat with people, give them, take a look at their website and give them some really good advice. So I felt like that was another one where you left with like one or two really practical things that you could implement right away.
- [16:15]
A
So what was funny is he wasn't sure if he'd have permission to come to Seller Summit this year, so he actually brought his entire.
- [16:21]
B
I know. He brought his whole family.
- [16:23]
A
Yeah. Because the. The venue is right on the water, like on the beach. So his family went on the beach while he gave his talks. So it worked out.
- [16:31]
B
Yeah. It's definitely like if I was speaking at Seller Summit and I wasn't like running the event, I would 100 make it a vacation. Like, it's just so nice over there.
- [16:41]
A
The weather was much nicer this time too, because we moved it up a couple weeks.
- [16:44]
B
Yeah. Little bit. Little bit cooler for those of you who are not from Florida. And then we had Ian Page, who. Oh, my goodness. TikTok shop.
- [16:55]
A
Let me set the stage for that real quick. Okay.
- [16:57]
B
Okay.
- [16:57]
A
So Amazon is losing discovery and research. What I mean by that is people aren't discovering new products on Amazon anymore. They're discovering it on TikTok Reddit and then they're doing research on AI and then when they know what they want to buy, then they go to Amazon. So TikTok shop is. Is a huge opportunity for a lot of people.
- [17:19]
B
Yeah. So the one thing I really liked about Ian's talk and I feel like some. Especially because Ian runs an agency. Right. Bullseye Sellers, one of our sponsors, they sponsored last great team. I feel like a lot of times when you have an agency talk. They like cloak everything with, like, well, the price varies, it depends. Like, he was like, if you want to do this, it's going to cost you X amount of dollars. If you want to do this, it's going to cost you this. If you don't have an audience, it's going to be this. Like, he was like, very honest about, like, not necessarily. Like, it wasn't like, we're going to charge you, but like, this is how much you're going to have to spend to get your products out there, run advertising, do all these things. And I feel like so many times people that have like an interest in you working with them, which obviously he. One, he was like, don't work with me, work with me. Here's how you do it. Right. So first of all, like, I love that approach. And then two, you know, for like the, the most extreme tier, I think it was like close to almost 100 grand, right. Not to pay him, but to like, what you're going to spend as a store to get it up and going. And to me I was like, thanks for like actually telling us the truth and not making everything sound like this big fairy tale of TikTok, Right. Where people are just going to go and it's going to be free money and, you know, all this, all these things and everyone's going to immediately buy all your products. So anyway, I thought he presented a really realistic view also, a very doable view.
- [18:40]
A
So most agencies go up on stage and they make it sound so complicated.
- [18:45]
B
Yes.
- [18:46]
A
That you hire them. That's the typical MO of an agency.
- [18:49]
B
Yeah.
- [18:50]
A
The reason why Ian and I get along so well is because he actually tries to talk you out of it.
- [18:56]
B
Yes.
- [18:56]
A
Right. He gives you like the nitty gritty of everything. And then he, you'll notice, like he provided both costs, like if you were to do this on your own, which is totally doable. He said, this is how much it's going to cost you if you hire an agency. This is what's going to cost you here. The benefits of going with an agency here are the benefits of not.
- [19:13]
B
Yeah. The whole time he was giving the talk, though, you know, one of my clients was there and in my mind I'm like, don't, don't say you want to start TikTok. Don't say you want to start TikTok. Like, don't make it so easy. That. But yeah, and I think it's interesting because I feel like people right now have a love hate relationship with TikTok, right. It's feeling a lot like Amazon. People either, like, are like, I love it or I can't stand it, but I definitely think that it's a place where you need to be as a brand. I don't think you can avoid it for much longer.
- [19:46]
A
Depending on what you sell, of course.
- [19:48]
B
Yes. And he was very specific about that too. Right. If you sell in these categories, it's pretty much a no brainer if you, you know, there's definitely categories where you should not be, you need to worry about.
- [19:59]
A
Yeah. And then we already kind of talked about Brett Curry, but YouTube has this similar model as TikTok Shop. Like, you get creators, affiliates, and it's just another platform that's. I think they're playing a little bit of catch up to TikTok. But it's up and coming and, you know, Google and YouTube have a lot of money throughout the problem.
- [20:18]
B
Yeah. And then Chuck Mullins from Quiet Light got up and talked about basically the state, the state of selling your business. And he, you know, I really like. I don't know what is. Maybe it's my personal preference, but I love talks when he's like, I have company A, company B, company C. Here's what they have. Which one sold for the best multiple? And you have to like, I'm like, I want to win so badly. Although I have no idea what the answer is. I'm like, so competitive. Um, but it was really interesting, like, what companies, the company that you like think on the surface sells for the most or the best multiple was like, the least. And so just hearing it from someone who does this every single day, day in, day, out of the things that you need to be thinking about, if this is in your roadmap for your business. The other thing, and I loved this analogy, is he said, too many people think about selling your business, like selling your house. Right. You put flowers in the front, you paint the walls, you repair everything. And he was like, absolutely. Do not do that in your business. Because people are looking for a fixer upper right. Like, that's what makes your business valuable. If your business is absolutely perfect, people don't see an opportunity versus what people are used to selling. Right. A house. Most people have bought and sold a house or two in their lifetime. You're like, conditioned to like, oh my gosh, get rid of everything, remove all our family photos, paint all the walls, fix it, you know, fix the broken light socket. And he's like, don't do anything. Like, obviously there's certain things you need to do, you know, to make it sellable. But to me, that was, like, the most. That was the best point. And then the second best point was make your business so that someone can get an SBA loan.
- [22:02]
A
Yes.
- [22:04]
B
I was like, I mean, it makes total sense. Right? But if, like, someone can get an SBA loan, the ability. The quicker it sells, the better the multiple. Like, the details were really interesting. So definitely worth a listen because I. Even though I'm not selling a business anytime soon, I was like, wow, this is all, like, really good information to just have if you ever are thinking that that is on your. In your path at some point.
- [22:29]
A
I mean, I think that's going to be the end goal for a lot of people's businesses selling it. Right. And there's actually a lot of things that you need to do, you know, before you're able to sell or to maximize your selling power. And so if you guys are listening to this and you have a business, I would advise that you go just make an appointment with Quiet Light and just get your business evaluated to see how much it's worth.
- [22:50]
B
Yes.
- [22:50]
A
Like, I'm always curious how much my business are worth, and I'm sure you guys are, too. And then they'll set you straight on, like, the best practices, because maybe you're not ready to sell right now, but if you want to sell within, like, the next three years, there is a series of steps that you need to take to make sure you get, like, the maximum valuation.
- [23:08]
B
And I've talked to a couple people who have, like, longtime sellers, some of attendees who are not ready to sell right now, but are in the. You know, it's definitely something that they are thinking about in three to four years. And they have all met with either Chuck or Ian or Pat was there last year. And basically they pointed out some, like, red flags, right. In their business where it's like, hey, this is something that you do need to fix in order for it to be sold. And so they're now, like, basically changing a little bit of their strategy moving forward so that they can do that. So I think that alone is, like, very valuable to have them there.
- [23:41]
A
Yep. And then we have Scott Cunningham. Oh, my gosh.
- [23:44]
B
Like, what is like, I didn't realize he was such a rock star. He got, like, mobbed after his talk.
- [23:49]
A
You can tell that that guy speaks regularly.
- [23:52]
B
Oh, my goodness. Yes. Yeah.
- [23:54]
A
I had just met him maybe a couple of months prior, and we instantly hit it off because we. We had the same principles and same values. Right. Own your own store, own your own email. List the brand storytelling and all that stuff. So he gave a really amazing talk on how to use storytelling to boost your business, specifically with meta ads, email marketing, and that sort of thing.
- [24:18]
B
He also gave everybody his free AI tool that basically everything that he talked about, it allows you to do those things within this tool. Kind of following the story brand model.
- [24:32]
A
Yeah.
- [24:33]
B
Now, I have a question for you. We might have to edit this out. I don't know if people buy the recordings, do they also get access to that tool or was that a $10.
- [24:40]
A
They do.
- [24:40]
B
Okay.
- [24:41]
A
They do.
- [24:42]
B
I didn't want to, like, jump the gun, but it's funny because, like, as soon as he, he gave this really great presentation and then he's like, I'm going to give you the framework, you know, at the end. And as soon as he put that QR code up, it was like the wild west of cell phone photos. Right. Like, everyone's like, whipping out their phone, taking the photos anyway, get grabbing that QR code. So that's exciting. I'm glad he's give. That's very generous. Generous of him to give that away to everybody.
- [25:09]
A
Absolutely.
- [25:10]
B
Yeah. And that wrapped up day one.
- [25:12]
A
Yep.
- [25:13]
B
And I will say we. It's. It's kind of become a little bit of a Seller Summit tradition. I don't remember exactly how it started, but we do tacos and margaritas at the Mexican restaurant for everybody. So I don't know any other conference that feeds people dinner. So pat ourselves on the back for that one. And. And shout out to Pam and Rick from hyc.
- [25:36]
A
Yep.
- [25:36]
B
Shout out to Pam and Rick from rpc.
- [25:39]
A
Oh. Oh, my goodness. We're gonna have to edit that one out. So let me just a quick, quick story about that. Like, when we first started seller summit in 2016, it was very hard to get a sponsor.
- [25:51]
B
Yes.
- [25:51]
A
Like, no one wanted to take a chance on a conference that had no track record. And Pam was one of those people who took a chance on our company. And so I'm very appreciative.
- [26:00]
B
Yes. And so they sponsored our taco and margarita night. It's. It's one of my favorite parts of the event because, like, the first day is over, people have started to network and meet friends and things like that. So everyone is like, I feel like Tuesday night, it's a little bit of like, you're trying to figure out who, you know, trying to find people. You're just like, you know, people. First timers are sometimes a little nervous. And I'm always trying to find first timers to Say hello and like, kind of connect them. By the second night, everybody's like, best friends and I've been removed from that. Like, no one wants to talk to me anymore, so. But I love that night. And I will say, Pam, if you haven't met her, holy cow. Like, she just is. She just can go and go. Like, I'm like, do you sleep? Do you need to, like, take a break from talking to people? Like, I think the very last night of the event, she was like, up on the top. We were up on that deck. And she's like, has a little circle of, like, people that she's helping. And she even told me she's like, none of those people are going to work with me. And she's like. But she's still like, you know. Absolutely. Giving them all the information, helping them out with their logistics and. Yeah, and the other funny thing is she brought all this swag this year, like water bottles and all this stuff, and people thought she was selling it. So we had to make a sign that said free because people thought she was selling RPC swag.
- [27:21]
A
They were nice, right? Were they Stanley's? I can't. I don't. I don't know.
- [27:25]
B
Yeah, water bottles and like these little. I love those little clear pouches because you can use them when you fly. Anyway, so. But people were trying to, like, pay for them, so Arden had to make a little tag that said this is all free. So anyway, Wednesday night wrapped up with a dinner party and of course I tried to go to bed at a decent hour. I don't know what time everyone shut down the restaurant there, but that was always a fun night. Plus, I had to get ready for Thursday because we had another full day of sessions and.
- [27:53]
A
Yes. So we started off the morning with Liz and Dana.
- [27:57]
B
Yes.
- [27:57]
A
They were talking about how to take customer feedback and convert those into AI generated videos. I actually ran through their talk yesterday and implemented some of the videos.
- [28:08]
B
Awesome.
- [28:09]
A
And it works really well. Like, this will save a tremendous amount of time for meta creatives, meta videos or even just like short promotional videos that you'll have on your website. Yes, it was amazing.
- [28:22]
B
Yeah. And what, what I loved about it was they used one of our attendees, Kelly. Kelly Dream.
- [28:27]
A
That's right.
- [28:28]
B
They used. And actually they used some of your stuff too as a demonstration. So instead of just kind of doing all theory and not anything practical, they actually took products that people are selling, ran, got the reviews off the website, ran it through all the, all the tools that they're talking about, and it really is doable. It's not something that you're like, oh, well, you know, I'm probably never going to do that. Like a hundred percent you could do this. Like you said you did it in afternoon. Um, people could like.
- [28:57]
A
I mean, I ran through it yesterday. It took about 30 minutes. And what's nice is I kind of felt like a director. So you produce a video and then you just tell it in just regular words what you don't like about it, and then it fixes it on the fly and gives you a video that you can use for like an ad or. Or whatever. Social media.
- [29:15]
B
Yeah. So that was awesome. And I have to say I told Liz this, you know, yesterday and after the event. I mean, we've known Liz for a long time. Last. The last year she gave the closing keynote. She did a phenomenal job. And I hated. I don't want to get too far off tangent, but people don't like to make videos, people don't like to do the webinars, people don't like to go live. I will tell you the difference in Liz's like stage presence in the last like 18 months because she does webinars every week, she goes live every week, she does office hours. Is like, she was good before, she's fantastic now.
- [29:48]
A
Absolutely.
- [29:49]
B
She's like a. She's like a paid speaker. Right. Like someone that does this for. She got up there and she had like this stance and I was like, oh, oh. We're like big time.
- [29:57]
A
Right.
- [29:58]
B
Like. Anyway, so I just want to say to people who are like nervous because we're going to talk about this in a minute with Tiffany's Talk. People who are nervous about getting on video, making content, all those things, man, the more you do it, the better you get. And you can, you can look at. Liz is a great example of someone who started off pretty good and is now phenomenal.
- [30:16]
A
Yeah. Which leads us to the next talk, which I thought was phenomenal. Leah Segovio.
- [30:22]
B
Yes.
- [30:23]
A
He was giving out these automations that allow you to clone any Facebook ad that you see and just insert your product into it.
- [30:32]
B
Yeah.
- [30:32]
A
And he came out with this hat, this money hat. Broke the ice immediately. It was. It was hilarious.
- [30:39]
B
Yes. It was like this. I don't even know. It was like had battery powered or something. He had like flashing lights. It was. Yeah, I liked it. It was fun.
- [30:48]
A
But I thought it was amazing, the output that was so. I think he actually went through a complete example where he found an ad for. I believe it was some. Was it deodorant or something like that. I can't remember what the weight loss.
- [30:59]
B
He's did a couple. He had a weight loss one and a deodorant one. And then the one I won't ever. No one in the audience will forget is the baby carriage.
- [31:06]
A
Yes, the baby carriage. But what he did is like, he was like, okay, I sell a product that's a competitor. This.
- [31:11]
B
Yeah.
- [31:12]
A
He took an ad that he found from Facebook ads library and then switched his product in to that ad and he created this automation in N8N that he handed out freely to the entire audience that automatically generated these ads.
- [31:26]
B
Yeah.
- [31:27]
A
Pretty amazing.
- [31:28]
B
And you have to watch his talk because he gave some examples of when AI goes wrong and when it goes wrong, it goes really wrong. Right. And I will say, like, it's funny because like some of the stuff that we saw from that I felt like was like, oh, that's not, that's good. It's not great. But also I remember seeing stuff last year not from him, but from other people where it was like, it's so much better today than it was even six months ago. I can't even imagine where it's going to be in another six months.
- [31:55]
A
Yeah, I mean we say that all the time and it's been true for the most part.
- [31:59]
B
Yes. Were you the next speaker? Thank you.
- [32:02]
A
I was the next speaker. Right after the coffee break.
- [32:04]
B
I wasn't paying any attention.
- [32:06]
A
You guys know how I feel about the Shopify app store. I actually had some numbers to back me up this time. 60% of the apps in the app store are very easy to code up yourself.
- [32:18]
B
Yeah.
- [32:18]
A
The remaining 30 to 40% maybe you should pay for. But like there's a lot of people out there actually in the audience. I, I asked like, how many of you what's funny? I use these examples of specific Shopify apps that are just total rip offs. And I was like, how many people are using these apps? And actually a whole bunch of people were using them. So I taught them how to vibe code that those apps basically live on stage.
- [32:43]
B
Yeah, that was a good. I mean I felt like I already knew the talk only because you and I talk about this like every single week with each other. Of like, you're like, what app are you using that I could code this week? And I'm like, try coding this thing. So anyway, I thought it was a great talk and I felt like once again it was just enough information so that people can go home and at least replace. At least get started. Right.
- [33:05]
A
Even replacing, replace one of their $20 a month apps.
- [33:08]
B
Yeah.
- [33:09]
A
Yeah.
- [33:09]
B
Because once you do one, you're empowered to then take it a little further and do something a little tougher the next time around.
- [33:17]
A
And it was a level playing field. Like, I went through the whole process without even looking at the code, like.
- [33:22]
B
Yeah.
- [33:22]
A
Just as a, like a regular user.
- [33:24]
B
And this is when I need my T shirt gun and I can shoot out. It's just a little bit of code. T shirts to everybody in the. The audience.
- [33:33]
A
Okay, moving on.
- [33:34]
B
Yes.
- [33:37]
A
So I asked Isabella to talk because she has this amazing framework for doing product research.
- [33:45]
B
Yeah.
- [33:45]
A
And her track record is amazing. Like, if you do, if you follow her method of product research, you're almost guaranteed that your product that you launch is not going to be a flop.
- [33:55]
B
Yeah.
- [33:55]
A
And what's cool is she handed out this AI app that she developed where you enter in some parameters from popular Amazon research tools and it will give you like a number that's like a probability of success.
- [34:08]
B
Yeah.
- [34:09]
A
And so I thought that was very valuable.
- [34:11]
B
And I love that she did a live demo on stage.
- [34:14]
A
Yes.
- [34:14]
B
And the whole time she's like, she had already set it all up and she's like, I hope when I click Go, it doesn't like reset itself itself because everything had already been populated in there. But it was really interesting. And yeah, I think if you're, if you're interested in, in launching new products on Amazon or even getting started on Amazon, it was definitely a talk that you need to, need to hear.
- [34:34]
A
Yep. And then we had another one of our OGs.
- [34:37]
B
Yes.
- [34:38]
A
Give a talk. Chris Schaefer, he talked about like the one person Content machine.
- [34:44]
B
Yeah.
- [34:45]
A
Now if you were to talk to like a lot of the larger E commerce companies, they have like full teams that are dedicated to content, right? Yeah. But thanks to AI, it does not have to be that way anymore. And so you can put out the same similar output to an entire team by yourself. Now, if you follow Chris Shaffer's methods.
- [35:03]
B
And first of all, you just loved Chris Schaefer. Right. Like, he comes every year. He's. He's the last person to leave. He talks, you know, he wants to help everybody. His mastermind. I mean, I don't even know what happened in that room, but like, I'm pretty sure that they're all now got matching tattoos and are best friends for life. Like, they hung that, that group hung out the whole time. I don't know if you saw that. They were like fast friends and they're starting, you know, they're gonna meet throughout the year. And, you know, he just rocked it in there. And then I feel like with Chris's talks, he. He does all the content generation for like six companies, six e commerce companies. He was saying it's everything that he's doing, so you know that it's possible because he's the only one doing it. So anyway, that's what I like about Chris is he's never showing you something that he isn't already doing and working through. And so it's always very practical, useful information that you can. And also piggybacked on some of Dana, Michelle, and Liz's stuff with remotion. So anyway, there was like a tie in there that was nice that we didn't even know was gonna happen.
- [36:07]
A
So I actually checked out his freebies, you know, that he was giving out. There's actually a lot of stuff in there, and he did not gate it in any way. You click on it and you just get it all. Yeah, it's pretty nuts.
- [36:18]
B
So I guess we're giving those to the virtual passes too. They get that.
- [36:22]
A
They do.
- [36:23]
B
Okay.
- [36:23]
A
They get all this.
- [36:24]
B
This is getting to be too good to be true. I feel like an infomercial. And then we had Dave Bryant, who I had never met. In fact, I thought he was Asian. So I was like, right? Yes. And I also thought he was. I didn't know he was Canadian. So I was thoroughly confused when I saw his photo and realized that he was not Asian.
- [36:46]
A
Were you disappointed he wasn't Asian?
- [36:48]
B
A little, obviously. But he. I told him, I said, I don't know why I thought you were Asian. He said, well, I guess Mike Jackness had had another partner that was Asian. And that's probably why I was confused.
- [36:58]
A
Did he?
- [37:00]
B
I don't know. That's what he said.
- [37:01]
A
Okay. Oh, sorry. So just an intro. Dave runs e. Commercrew.
- [37:05]
B
Yeah.
- [37:05]
A
And he's been on the pod a bunch of times, so you guys probably know who he is. Yeah. But Mike used to be, like, the main spokesperson, I would say.
- [37:14]
B
Yeah. Not anymore.
- [37:15]
A
Not anymore. So, Dave, I wanted to see him speak. And I actually, to be honest, I wasn't expecting him to be that amazing.
- [37:25]
B
No. So I want to say, like, no one ever can top Tiffany for, like, laughs and audience like, response. Not. He was very close. I mean, he had people, like, shouting and laughing and yelling. I mean, he did talk about his whole knitting.com saga and. Yeah, it was. It was a very interesting talk. It was about what to do when your audience turns on you and how to Basically survive it. Which I think in this day and age is something that happens to more companies than used to because of the rise of social media. Right. Like, one thing on social media can basically take a company out of business. And so he basically talked through the stuff that happened with them and knitting.com and what they. Their plan of action and, you know, how they move past that and to build a successful company. But yeah. One amazing on stage two, super nice guy.
- [38:11]
A
Just like, I've never met a Canadian that I didn't like.
- [38:15]
B
That's true. Because also I was like, what is this? The Canadian show We had Scott and J.K. and Dave.
- [38:22]
A
Yeah, I didn't think about that. Yeah, yeah.
- [38:24]
B
I was like, Steve's doing something here. I don't know what it is. But anyway, I was. It was excited to finally meet him because I had heard so much about him. And it was also interesting to hear the story from his point of view and not Mike's because I had only heard Mike's point of view.
- [38:38]
A
Right.
- [38:38]
B
And it was a little bit different.
- [38:41]
A
But Dave is an amazing speaker.
- [38:43]
B
Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Crushed it. And then, of course, Tiffany, I know
- [38:49]
A
you put her last because just to energize the room.
- [38:53]
B
Yes, yes. She's. Oh, my goodness. It's hard to. It's hard to like. What do you even say about Tiffany? She just gets up. Doesn't matter what she talks about. This year she talked about the halo effect and how it's kind of like. It was interesting because we definitely try to get talks that piggyback or build. But this year it just worked out so perfectly because it was like. And this was on purpose is Day two was all about, like increasing your presence, building the efficiency. Right. With AI, using the tools. And then Tiffany kind of wrapped it up with this. Like, you need to be everywhere. And this is why. And showing us how, you know, kind of this similar stuff from the day before with, like, you know, people are finding you on TikTok but buying you on Amazon and how you create that content. And once again, just giving people. She did a live. She did a TikTok recording in front of the whole audience. You know, show people how it's okay to mess up, keep going. And basically explained why it was so important to be putting yourself, your brand out there and really, really, like, casting that wide net.
- [39:59]
A
Like I said, like, I could watch her do anything.
- [40:02]
B
Right.
- [40:03]
A
The prior year, she actually went on with my wife and did some live selling on stage, which I thought was pretty amazing also.
- [40:09]
B
Yes.
- [40:10]
A
And she. I think she Might have topped that performance with this one because she had all these video examples.
- [40:15]
B
Yes.
- [40:16]
A
And, oh, and she even recorded a live one on stage too.
- [40:19]
B
Yes, yes. And her example, she always talks about one of the things I love about her. She's just so real. Right. Like, and she talks about how if you are making these recordings for your brand and that sort of thing, like, if you mess up, it's okay. You should just keep. Continue to post and post those things. And she showed a couple of her mistakes. One of the ones was when she swallowed a bug when she was live.
- [40:39]
A
Yes.
- [40:39]
B
And she was like, choke. Anyway, like, the videos are so funny. She's. I love that she's okay to be embarrassed. Like, she doesn't get. She's probably embarrassed. But like, she's like, hey, this creates engagement. And so what you want is engagement for your brand, so it's okay to post those things.
- [40:56]
A
And then finally we had the last speaker of them all. The closing keynote was none other than Tony.
- [41:03]
B
Yes. It was so much fun. I had so much fun up there.
- [41:06]
A
You were not nervous leading up to it at all?
- [41:10]
B
I don't know why. Oh, I do know why.
- [41:12]
A
Why?
- [41:12]
B
I do know why. So two things happened. So I was nervous. So first of all, I knew that I had to start working on this talk like six months ago because if I didn't, I would be a wreck because I have so much else going on, like the week of the event. Like, I couldn't be, like, working on the talk. So that was number one. So I started it a long time ago, which was good because it gave me a lot of time to, like, iterate on it. Number two, Dana John Zemas, our closing keynote from 2023, sent me an article that she had written early that week. And basically it was with public speaking. When you get on stage, everybody in the room wants you to succeed because no one wants to sit through a bad talk. And I was like, that is so true. Like, I don't want to sit through a bad talk. So everybody in this, in the audience is cheering you on. They want you to be good because they don't want to listen to someone who's bad.
- [42:03]
A
Right.
- [42:03]
B
So it kind of like calmed the nerves a little bit knowing that, like, everybody in the audience is cheering for you. And then finally my kids were there, which was really cool.
- [42:13]
A
Yes.
- [42:14]
B
Not all of them, but a couple of them were there. So that was kind of fun. And also, like, my son is like, you know, that wasn't totally true. You were screaming at us the whole Time we were trying to pack orders. I'm like, everybody in E Commerce knows that. That's. I didn't need to share that information, but. So that was really cool. But Mike Barnhill had to. Had to go to a meeting on Thursday. And so when I was talking to him on Wednesday night, he was like, yeah, I gotta dip out. Like, at lunch. I've got this meeting. And I was like, oh, my gosh. So I had had a conversation with someone previously how having Mike Barnhill in the audience is the most empowering thing that you can have when you speak. Because he is, like 100% locked in. He is engaged. He is the person you want to make eye contact with because he is, like, all there, right?
- [42:55]
A
He's your biggest fan.
- [42:56]
B
He is your biggest fan. No matter who you are, he is your biggest fan, right? So then he tells me he's not going to be there the night before. And I was like, I was planning on locking in on Mike Barnhill and just being like, this is the Mike Barnhill talk, right? And so I was like, oh, are you kidding me? And, you know, and we just talked about it, and he's like, well, maybe I could. He's like, but I would have to change my flight because he was supposed to fly out of Miami and all this stuff because his meeting was in Miami. So sure enough, that dude paid money, changed his flight, came back to Fort Lauderdale for the closing keynote, and when I looked out and saw him in the audience, I was like, I've already won. Like, yeah, this is like. Like, this means more to me. Right? Seeing people that, like, have been so impactful in my life, like in the audience either as business friends, you know, whatever. So, yeah, it was really fun to get up there. I. I don't want to give too much away for people, but, like, I basically said, hey, don't go out of here with a big list.
- [43:52]
A
Yeah, no, there was. There was more to it than that. It's really hard to do a closing keynote also very hard. It's very hard. But you. You managed to wrap everything up nicely. Some very good takeaways with your infinite wisdom. I mean, you've. I mean, we've known each other for over a decade now. You've been through a lot coping with it. And. Shout out to Mike Barnhill, lead singer of Hydro Fighter. Yeah, he has an album coming out, I think, in the next month or so months.
- [44:19]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [44:20]
A
And it's actually. I actually really enjoy his music, so I always, like, giving him a shout out. I wear my Hydro fighter shirt, very proudly.
- [44:26]
B
I know I need to get a HydraFighter shirt. But anyway, yeah, so. And. And then Mike, in that whole conversation, he told me something else that I actually, I was like, you know what? This is like some of the best life advice I've ever heard. And he basically said, I wake up every day thinking that this could be the best day of my entire life. And I was like, I like that. I was like, what? Like, I wake up thinking this could be the worst day of my entire life.
- [44:53]
A
You've been beaten down by the rigors of life.
- [44:56]
B
And he told me that on Wednesday night and I woke up Thursday morning and I was like, today could be the greatest day that I've had in my entire life. That's. There's no reason why it wouldn't be. Right.
- [45:07]
A
Yeah.
- [45:07]
B
And I have been like, kind of carrying that all since Seller summits over and like, each day, I mean, like, every day is not a great day, Right? But like, I was like, you know what? You got to start the day that way. If the day beats you down, it beats you down. But like, I've been kind of on that path in the past week or so and I've like, I feel like I've been riding like the high because I'm like, yeah, you never know what's going to be the greatest day of your life. And I joked about it in my talk about like, our once in the lifetime, you know, warriors game and how, like, you know, business creates opportunities for you. Right. It gives you opportunities to do things that maybe you never thought were possible, whether it's financially, time, opportunity, the people you meet. And you've got to take advantage of those things. Right. You can't get caught up in the day to day. So for me, that was the biggest lesson I took away from Seller Summit. All the talks were fantastic. But waking up every day like, it could be the greatest day of your life is probably one of some of the best advice I've ever heard.
- [46:00]
A
I think everyone needs a little bit more Mike Barnhill in their lives.
- [46:04]
B
Absolutely. Closing keynote for 2027.
- [46:08]
A
Actually, that's not a bad idea.
- [46:09]
B
Oh, it's something.
- [46:10]
A
There is a 2020.
- [46:12]
B
It's been brewing. It's been brewing in my head.
- [46:15]
A
We are selling the virtual passes for Seller Summit 2026 on the website.
- [46:21]
B
Yeah.
- [46:21]
A
And we'll probably leave that open for maybe a month or so. Videos are getting edited. They should be up very soon. Hope you enjoyed this episode. The virtual pass for Seller Summit 2026 is still available if you want to catch all the Sessions, go to sellersummit.com and for more information and resources, go over to mywifequitterjob.com Episode 638 and once again, if you're interested in starting your own e commerce store, head on over to mywifequitterjob.com and sign up for my free 6 day mini course. Just type in your email and I'll send you the course right away. Thanks for listening.