659. Skyrocket Your Sales: The 7 Best Places to Sell Your Products Right Now

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Product Boss Podcast - Episode 659: "Skyrocket Your Sales: The 7 Best Places to Sell Your Products Right Now"

Release Date: January 27, 2025

Introduction

In Episode 659 of The Product Boss Podcast, host Jacqueline Snyder delves into effective strategies for product entrepreneurs aiming to amplify their sales. Titled "Skyrocket Your Sales: The 7 Best Places to Sell Your Products Right Now," this episode is a comprehensive guide for makers, manufacturers, artists, and food and beverage businesses looking to expand their market reach and boost revenue. Drawing from her two decades of experience and featuring actionable insights, Jacqueline equips listeners with the tools needed to navigate the dynamic landscape of product sales.

Understanding the Sales Landscape

Jacqueline begins by addressing the common challenges faced by product-based businesses. Many entrepreneurs struggle with visibility, customer acquisition, and sustaining consistent sales. She emphasizes the importance of diversifying sales channels to mitigate risks associated with relying on a single platform.

"When you sell on a platform like Etsy, you're selling on borrowed land. You don't want to have all your eggs in one basket." [09:15]

The 7 Best Places to Sell Your Products

1. Own E-commerce Website

   Establishing an independent e-commerce site is paramount. Jacqueline likens it to owning a piece of real estate on the internet, providing full control over branding, pricing, and customer experience.

   • Benefits:

     • Ownership & Control: Complete authority over your store's look, feel, and functionality.
     • Brand Building: Develop a unique brand identity that stands out from competitors.
     • Direct Customer Relationships: Foster deeper connections with your audience through personalized interactions.

   • Tools Recommendation: Shopify is highlighted as a user-friendly platform that scales with your business needs.

   "You own that website. Imagine it being your own little piece of land on the Internet." [10:45]

   Jacqueline encourages entrepreneurs to leverage Shopify, mentioning a free trial available at productboss.com/shopify.

2. In-Person Markets (Direct to Consumer)

   Participating in physical markets allows for direct customer engagement and immediate feedback, essential for refining products and understanding market demands.

   • Strategies:
     • Feedback Collection: Gain insights into customer preferences and pain points.
     • Email List Building: Collect email addresses to maintain ongoing communication.

   "But here's the deal. We're going to move into this year without the chaos. It does not need to feel this overwhelming." [01:42]

   "I need to say it to you here because I can't tell you how many people I'm like, do you have an email list? No, I haven't started it yet." [12:50]

3. Wholesale (Online and Traditional)

   Wholesale offers a pathway to bulk sales and partnerships with retailers. Jacqueline discusses both modern online platforms and traditional methods involving sales representatives.

   • Online Wholesale Platforms: Fair and Bulletin are mentioned as contemporary solutions that connect brands with retailers, though they come with their own set of challenges such as learning curves and return policies.

   • Traditional Wholesale Methods:

     • Sales Representatives: Engaging reps who earn commissions based on sales performance.
     • Trade Shows: Participating in events like New York’s Coterie or Nashville’s markets to showcase products directly to buyers.

   "Wholesale regular wholesale... I teach this step by step inside of Multi Stream Machine." [14:30]

   Jacqueline advises entrepreneurs to treat online wholesale platforms as supplementary tools rather than sole sales channels.

4. Amazon

   Leveraging Amazon’s vast customer base can significantly boost sales volume. With services like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), sellers can streamline logistics and focus on scaling their business.

   • Advantages:
     • Built-In Customer Base: Access to millions of potential buyers.
     • Fulfillment Services: Amazon handles storage, shipping, and customer service.
     • Global Reach: Opportunities to enter international markets effortlessly.

   "1 in 4 households in America have Amazon Prime." [16:10]

   Jacqueline shares success stories of entrepreneurs who have expanded their reach internationally through Amazon, minimizing the complexities of shipping and distribution.

5. Social Shops (TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping)

   Social media platforms have evolved into powerful sales channels, allowing brands to reach audiences where they spend most of their time.

   • Pros:

     • Viral Potential: Content can rapidly increase brand visibility.
     • Live Sales Features: Platforms like TikTok offer live selling events, akin to traditional TV shopping channels.
     • Integrated E-commerce: Seamless shopping experiences within social apps.

   • Examples:

     • A student selling art books who grossed over a million dollars in 10 months on TikTok Shop.
     • A psychic selling crystals and tarot cards thriving on Instagram.

   "A student sells a million dollars in 10 months on TikTok shops." [17:00]

   Jacqueline notes that while social shops require savvy content creation and understanding platform algorithms, they can yield substantial sales growth when executed correctly.

6. Affiliates and Creators

   Partnering with influencers and affiliates allows brands to tap into existing audiences, leveraging the trust and reach these creators have cultivated.

   • Benefits:

     • Extended Reach: Access to diverse and engaged audiences.
     • Credibility: Influencers can lend authenticity to your brand.
     • Sales Growth: Affiliates can drive significant sales through their promotions.

   • Strategies:

     • Relationship Building: Foster strong partnerships with relevant creators.
     • Targeted Collaborations: Align with influencers whose audience matches your target market.

   "Let them do the selling for you." [17:30]

   Jacqueline shares an example of a student with a jewelry company who collaborates with women influencers over 50, resulting in impressive sales figures.

Additional Strategies and Tools

Beyond the primary sales channels, Jacqueline underscores the importance of supporting systems:

• Email Marketing: Utilizing platforms like Klaviyo to manage and engage with your email list effectively. Email remains a direct and reliable channel for driving sales, independent of social media algorithms.

  "Emails really get you connected with your customers." [13:58]

• Inventory Management: Implementing tools like Katana ensures streamlined operations, accurate stock tracking, and timely reordering, reducing chaos and enhancing efficiency.

  "With Katana, you are going to save time... and focus on what you do best." [02:24]

Key Takeaways

1. Diversify Your Sales Channels: Relying on a single platform can be risky. Expanding across multiple channels ensures stability and broadens your market reach.

2. Own Your Assets: Building and maintaining your own website and email list provides control and security, safeguarding your business against platform-specific risks.

3. Leverage Both Online and Offline Methods: Combining digital platforms with in-person engagements maximizes customer interactions and feedback opportunities.

4. Utilize Technology to Streamline Operations: Tools like Shopify, Klaviyo, and Katana can automate and simplify complex business processes, allowing you to focus on growth.

5. Build Strategic Partnerships: Collaborating with affiliates and influencers can exponentially increase your brand’s visibility and credibility.

Notable Quotes

• "You own that website. Imagine it being your own little piece of land on the Internet." – Jacqueline Snyder [09:15]

• "Collect email addresses... you own your email list." – Jacqueline Snyder [12:50]

• "1 in 4 households in America have Amazon Prime." – Jacqueline Snyder [16:10]

• "A student sells a million dollars in 10 months on TikTok shops." – Jacqueline Snyder [17:00]

• "Let them do the selling for you." – Jacqueline Snyder [17:30]

Conclusion

In this episode, Jacqueline Snyder provides a roadmap for product entrepreneurs to enhance their sales strategies through diverse and effective channels. By owning their own e-commerce platforms, engaging directly with consumers, leveraging wholesale opportunities, tapping into massive marketplaces like Amazon, capitalizing on social shops, and partnering with affiliates and creators, entrepreneurs can build a robust and resilient business. Additionally, integrating essential tools for email marketing and inventory management further streamlines operations, enabling business owners to focus on their creative and visionary pursuits. The Product Boss Podcast continues to empower product-based businesses to reach new heights, fostering success and the creation of dream lives.

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Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is the Product Boss podcast. I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours.

[B]

Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or.

[A]

Food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all.

[B]

I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into successful business.

[A]

And what are the strategies that they.

[B]

Have used to make more sales and.

[A]

Be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about.

[B]

Whether you're just starting out or you're.

[A]

Looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the.

[B]

Permission to chase your dreams, no matter.

[A]

How big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Hey, hey, Product bosses.

[B]

I know a lot of us want to get organized. That's my word of the year. One of them is discipline. And it's that discipline and kind of getting organized and staying organized and really kind of minimizing my overwhelm this year. So if you're anything like me, you're probably juggling spreadsheets or you might be guessing, like what stock do I actually have on hand or do I have enough to make these raw goods, Right? Especially if we've just come out of the hol and maybe you're just crossing your fingers that you have the right stock levels or that when you restock, you order the right amount. But I know that a lot of times when we're sitting in inventory, it's actually just chaos.

[A]

It's like, is this organized?

[B]

Is it organized in my head, Is it organized on a spreadsheet?

[A]

I have a piece of paper jotted down somewhere.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

Right?

[B]

But here's the deal. We're going to move into this year without the chaos. It does not need to feel this overwhelming. Because what if managing your inventory could actually be simple, right? Simple and not stressful and actually really informative. That's where Katana comes in. Now, I love Katana. It is the inventory management software that I have recommended for years and it's built specifically for product based businesses like yours. And with Katana, you are going to save time. You are going to know the exact details about your inventory, especially when it comes to time to reorder and how to streamline your operations, all so that you can focus on what you do best, which is being the visionary, which is being creative and making amazing products and taking care of your customers and focusing on sales.

[A]

So if you are ready to ditch.

[B]

The overwhelm and get your inventory under control, I'd love for you to schedule your free demo for [e-mail] katana and you can see how Katana can be a game changer for your biz and make 2025 a breeze.

[A]

Hey, hey, product boss. Welcome back. It's Jacqueline. I am so excited to dive into this exciting, exciting episode. Okay, so I can't tell you how often I get asked by people, you know, I have this product, I have this idea, what should I do? How do I sell it? Right? They, they always have. I think, you know, we come up with these amazing ideas or we get inspired and we're like, I can make that or I can sell that product. And then a lot of times we're not sure. Then we're like, we, we find the easiest way forward. So I'll say that I'm grateful for, but that a lot of people do go on a site like Etsy, for example, because Etsy is a sales platform. They do the majority of the, the marketing for people to bring them in, you know, for people to know about Etsy, that they can shop on Etsy. Right? Etsy does that marketing. They bring the customers to the platform and then you are responsible for getting people to discover you on that platform. Right? But they handle the transactions. They handle so many things on there. And if you know my story with my mom as a maker and as an artist and growing up, that was the game changer for her where she, you know, as I was growing up, she would sell to friends and family. She would go and do like little in person pop up markets usually at like a church or temple during the holidays. But that was it, right? And she always was so afraid. She's like, I don't know how, like do I write, get a check from them? How do I pay my taxes? Like, she always had these questions and she had to figure it out on her own. And so a platform like Etsy kind of handles it for you, right? But here's the deal. When you sell on a platform like that, you, you're selling on borrowed land. Because we know and you know that if you've ever sold on a platform like that or something ever went wrong, a customer can complain. Someone can say, actually this happened to one of my mom's bestsellers where someone was like, oh, it's a copyright infringement. It was a company from the uk and I looked the product and I had nothing to do with it. But platforms like that oftentimes don't necessarily protect the seller or the shop as much as they do the other side. So super frustrating, right? Like, you can. I know people who have had stores shut down, had best listings removed, right? It's. It's scary and I don't want you to have all your eggs in one basket, you know, and then we can think about other ways that people sell. If you have a brick and mortar and you are relying on foot traffic, right, People to discover you and walk through the door. So much of where you are on a street or in a town and word of mouth gets people into your store. Or maybe you're like me when I started my product business and I launched my website, right, I paid all the money, got a website created, launched it and thought if I build it, they will come. And nobody came. And I. And I did not know how to get people to discover me on. On the Internet. They didn't know to look for my company, you know, so there's all these ways that I think, or, or maybe in the new way, right, People are up on social media. Like we start social media accounts and we're trying to get people to know about us and know about our brand and, and, you know, engage with us and, and shot all the things and then it's like, same thing. It's a little bit crickety, A little bit crickety. So it's really frustrating. So I get it. And what I know, like, the biggest changeover for me, the thing that was like, went from like, trickles, like, like very trickly trickles. I'm. I've got the words today, don't I? Just tiny drops of water coming out. If you imagine like a faucet that's like closed, but it's got a little bit of a leak, that was like my sales, right? Just a drip, drip, drip, long pause, drip. And I needed it to. I needed that faucet to turn on. I wanted to hear the waterfall, right? That's what I wanted my company to do. I was in it. I had invested into it. I invested my money, my time. Like, I had limited resources. This thing's gotta work. Am I right? And so that's when I started thinking about how can I sell my product and where can I sell my product? Where the customers are. That is such a big part of, like, where are customers built in? Because they were not built into the Internet. For me, right? And when I had started my business, there was no social media in the way that it is now, in the way of using it for product discovery and marketing and all the things, right? We were still just following each other and saying like, oh, look at that cute picture of your baby or your dog or your vacation or your food. So what I wanted to put together for you here were the seven best places to sell your products right now. Right now. Where can we get up and start to sell? And this is what I discovered in my business when I launched it. And I was like, okay, I built the website, it's there, there. But what do I do? Like, how do I start to make money? How do I start to make my initial $20,000 investment back and then build this business to the dream that I had in my brain, right? I remember doing like a little quasi business plan. And I had calculated that if I sold 7,500 cuffs, I'd make a million dollars. That was my number. I was like, oh, 7,500 doesn't seem that hard. It does when nobody is buying from you. But it in my head, I was like, oh, that's only 7,000 ish cuffs. I could do that, right? It was at silly naivete. And so, you know, I looked at it and I said that. But then I was like, nobody's buying. Where do I go? How do I sell? And so I really needed to discover, like, what was the best way for my business. So let's jump in and talk about it. So the first sales channel to sell your products right now. And while I say that E comm and having an E commerce site was hard for me, I also believe that it's essential. So why do I believe that it's essential? So the first place to sell would be by having your own website. Why? Because you own that website. Imagine it being your own little piece of land on the Internet. Imagine, you know, Main Street USA or Main street wherever you live in this world. And it's the store that that's there, right? This is your little bit of real estate. This is your shop that people can come shop from. It's something that people can't take away from you. God forbid it ever gets hacked. But despite that, you have the URL, right? Like, this is your website, this is your store. So when you meet people, you have a place to send them to shop from you. You get to develop your brand. You really get to stand out amongst the competition, right? You get to to create this virtual place for people to buy you get to charge what you want to charge, get to run promotions and it's a place of discoverability. So imagine you're out with somebody and you know you're wearing a bag that you made and someone comes up to me like oh my God, that's so cute, where'd you get it? And you're like, oh this is mine. I, I make bags like this or I sell bags like this. Oh wow, where can I get it? You know, you'd be like, well you can go to Etsy and find me. And this is my, it's so hard to find shops on Etsy, I can't even tell you. Like I don't know if they've improved that site but if I was like to type in your name, do I find it? You know, or you could be like, well you can go on Amazon or you can, I don't know, find me at the local market on Saturday. Like you have all these things. Or you could say go to my shop. Com. Here it is, right? Oh cool. Thank you for sharing that with me. Oh amazing. You know, and be like, hey, I can give you a friends and family discount. Like use this code, right? So easy. You can have coupon codes, you can reference people to it, you can drive traffic there and you can build your email list on your own e commerce site, which is another core fundamental thing that I truly believe that you need as a product based business, really any business. Because what are the things you own? You own your email list and you own your website, right? That can't be taken away from you. The Internet, like meta can go down, TikTok can, you know, disappear from the States, like all of social can disappear. But if you have an email list and if you have a website, you got something there, right? So I like to think of it as like the foundation, as my like security, as my safety net, right? By having these things there maybe right now it's not transacting the way I want it to do, but I plan on building, building a money making machine, right? I plan on getting multiple sales channels and then long term this like momentum will build and then people will start to buy from me. And that's exactly what happened for me with my brand. Okay, I had the website but I didn't have the customers so I had to go to where the customers were. So let's go to what I did next. Okay, so, so first place to sell place that you want your products up on is having an E comm site. Now real quick, I'll just tell you really quick. I love Shopify. I love Shopify. And if you go to the product boss.com shopify we actually have a link for a free trial for you. If you're like, hey, I want to go discover there are so many platforms out there that you can be on. But the reason I really like Shopify and I'm going to double down on this is because it's built to grow with you. It has like super user friendly templates that are meant for E commerce. The email platform that I love collaborates really well with it. It's got so many extensions and apps like the multi, multi, multi million dollar product businesses that I know are on there as well as startups. And when we, we've been had meetings with Shopify, they've been on the podcast. I've been on their podcast. The thing is I think I have maybe I haven't, I have no idea. But they've been on our podcast. Don't quote me on that. I remember them saying like, you know, and this is how I started my business. I had to do coding and I had to like get a, an E commerce like cart, like a shopping cart and attach it to another type of website. I think I use like 3D. Cart was the company that I used and it was like I had to code, I had to get designers, it was a whole thing. So you get to override all of that with a site, with a, using a tool like Shopify because they are the number one for E Com. Right. So I'll drop that link down below. But that's there for you if you, if you want it. All right, so the second place that I would recommend or like an easy, an easy place, a place for you to get feedback right away if that's something you're looking for, is to jump to in person, in person markets. Now there are a lot of you listening that you're like, I do them and they are exhausting. I get it. Right, I get it. But what you're doing to start is not what you're going to do for. I just want to put that out there. And one of the fastest ways that I've ever had feedback, I've been able to pay attention and understand what people want, what they desire, what they like, what they don't like. You know, to get in a conversation was at in person markets. So what I did when I had my brand is I started going to shows like Unique LA or the Rose bowl flea market. The there was like downtown art fairs that you could get a booth so that's what I did. I was like, where can I go? Listen, my parents used to sell denim and jewelry back when they immigrated to America at flea markets here in la. So I am just repeating, repeating it, right? I have no problem with it. I love the energy of in person. Now if it's every day of every weekend and my whole business relies on it, that gets to be a lot. And there's other ways to solve for that. But to start, or if you're looking for direct feedback, if you have a product and you're not selling and you have a website, because guess what, you go, people walk up, you get in a conversation, they start to discover the product. You start to see what people are leaning towards and what they want. Right now you're starting to get information of, like, what's your bestseller? Or developing what you're known for. And my friend, hot tip, you better be building your email list when you meet real people in real life. Because when they walk away from your booth or your table or your display, they're gone. Poof.

[B]

Forever.

[A]

I don't care if they're following you on Instagram because guess What? Or on TikTok, because guess what, they have to engage with your content for the algorithm to show it. They're not gonna find you. I so many times I'll like, screen grab or do a little bookmark save, because I'm like, I wanna come back to this. And I know the algorithm is just gonna disappear into my algorithm. So do me a favor and do you a favor and do them a favor by collecting email addresses. And part of what I teach inside of our signature program Multi Stream machine is how to grow your email list and then what emails to send. But this is like just so crucial. I need to say it to you here because I can't tell you how many people I'm like, do you have an email list? No, I haven't started it yet. Right. Or are you emailing? No, because I don't like getting emails, so I don't email email people. Now, this is a whole other podcast episode, so just ignore this side tangent. But I hope you're getting what I'm laying down here, which is getting in front of other people, other people's audiences, and then capturing their information so that you can contact them and market to them. Because if you do not contact them and market to them, you're not going to sell, you're not going to make sales. Right. And the whole point here is that we're making products that we want to Sell. So that would be my first place I would be doing in person, direct to consumer, right to the general customer.

[B]

Hey friend. Okay, I want to talk about something that I know that you really need. But so many people have all the reasons why they don't do this. We really need is we need to build an email list. I'm going to tell you that there are two things that you need as a product based business. You need an email list because that is your asset, you actually own that and that's a direct communication with your customers. And you need your own website because you can't build on borrowed land. But right now I want to talk about email marketing because email marketing is actually the way that you are going to drive sales in your business. It's the way that you're going to stay connected. Forget thinking that social media is the way, because guess what? The algorithm chooses who they want to send your images and reels and all the things too. But emails really gets you connected with your customers. So if you feel like you're trying to connect, you're trying to sell, and you feel like you're wasting hours trying to get the job done, or you feel like you would just like an easier way. My friends, this year it's time for a change. And that change is Klaviyo. It is the number one email and SMS marketing platform that I recommend specifically for product based business owners. Did you hear that? It's for product based business owners. People who sell products online. And the reason why it's so amazing is that it's got these incredible capabilities and it's seamless with so many of the tools and the platforms that we recommend. So with Klaviyo, you can send personalized messages, you can automate campaigns, and here's the best part. You can boost your sales and your revenue without having to do much more than type in a few things into your keyboard. Okay, so Klaviyo makes your emails feel like they are talking directly to your customers, right? Your customers are going to feel like it's a one on one conversation with you. And it's super easy to set up. Even if tech is not your thing. Trust me, tech's not my thing either. And this is amazing. So if you're ready to see it in action, I'd love you to get started for free. Now all you have to do is head to the productboss.com klaviyo. That's the productboss.com/k L A V I Y O and turn your email list into Your best performing sales channel that you own. Hey friends, are you unsure of what to say on social media or what to even send in your weekly emails? Well, what if creating content could be easy? Would you be looking for a shortcut to creating consistent content? Yes, consistent content. Because you know, consistency is key. Well, let me tell you, you are not alone when you feel like you're struggling on what to post or what to write in emails. And we know that you have that product part of your business down. But, but as you're listening to this podcast, you probably already know that to get more people to your products, to buy your products, you need to create great content. Oh, I know, I see. I keep saying content and that's the dreaded C word. And we can't tell you how many product bosses tell us that they want to create great content for their audience and their customers, but they don't know what to say or they are so busy they can't find the time, or they really, really, really don't want to be the face of their brand. Well, no worries because that's exactly why we created a year of content. It is cut to creating consistent content that resonates with your audience and brings more loyal customers who can't wait to buy your products. If you want to see how easy this is and how easy it is to create content for your audience and your customers, head to www.ayearofcontent.com.

[A]

Now the next thing that I did that I would recommend to you too is wholesale. And I love wholesale. And there's two ways that people are doing wholesale right now. One, and I know a lot of you are probably doing this, you might be on the website fair fair.com or my good friend Allie Krigsman. She's, she's a co founder of Bulletin Co. Right. So both are places that are different than how when I was running my business where I would either contact the stores directly or I had a sales rep, like a sales rep that or a rep group or a road rep that represented my brand and would go around the country or you know, we had one in Japan and then they would get me orders, like wholesale orders. And so there is that kind of wholesale and then there's spirit.com, which like over it basically cut out the middleman. So it got out, cut out the rep and it allowed retailers to discover brands through a website. Now the feedback that I've heard recently and listen, I'm, I'm all in for tools and ways to help, but again, it goes Back to exactly what I said about Etsy. I do not want all your eggs in one basket. So I know a lot of you are unfair or getting on fair and some of you find it to be working well, some of you have had issues with it, right? There's like different things in it that maybe like you're dealing with like the learning curve or when they make returns. There's just stuff, there's this stuff that's not as typical in wholesale that is happening on these platforms because these platforms are trying to problem solve for the retailers and problem solve for the sellers like the brands. But there's gaps in it in a lot of ways. And sometimes I believe, and I've heard that the quality of the buyer on sites like these is maybe not as great because they could just be a random person, they could be another like small business like us that we're just trying to figure it out and they're buying from you online. So you know, it's, it's, it is what it is and it's a tool. So I would only have fair and bulletin as a tool in my tool belt as one sales channel or platform to be discovered on. But what I love and truly believe in is wholesale, wholesale, regular wholesale. And when I say regular wholesale, for those of you out there that are like, I didn't know you could do wholesale outside of fair, which I know is bonkers, but that's how much it's like come into the zeitgeist of product people is the way I teach how to do wholesale. And I teach this step by step inside of multi stream machine where it's like how do you create a store list? How do you discover stores to sell to, right? Where would you sell? How do you find their information? How do you find out who the buyers are and then how do you contact them? What do they need to see to, you know, potentially enter into a relationship with you? And then how do they buy from you? And you can go two ways, right? Like you can go through the method that I teach and then send people to FAIR to transact. Then you're not paying any commission or you can do it totally off a site like that, which is like the old school way of processing transactions and taking purchase orders and all the things and then the other way that you can do wholesale. So I did wholesale in two ways. First I did wholesale with finding a sales rep. I went knocking on doors at showrooms because this is when showrooms were still. I think fair is kind of. And the pandemic has kind of shifted the market again. But in downtown la, I went to the fashion area, I went into the fashion buildings with where the different showrooms were and I knocked on doors and I was like, hey, I've got a brand, I'm looking for a rep. And that's how I got my first rep. And I went through several different reps and representatives of your brand do take commission and that's great. And that's okay because that's how they get paid. And when they get commission they are driven to make more sales for you. Right. Who would give ten thousand dollars for fifteen hundred? Yes. A hundred thousand dollars for fifteen thousand? Yes. So the way I first started was I had a sales rep and a showroom and they went on the road, they contacted stores, they did trade wholesale trade shows and all that. And then I did it myself. So. So that is one of the places to sell. So I said wholesale. And it could be an online sort of thing where you're contacting them online and you're doing it like just picking up and calling. The other way to do this is in person, but B2B. So shows like New York, now coterie, if you do the Atlanta market, Dallas market, there's a market in 10 in Nashville I think, or in Tennessee, there are different markets that buyers will go to and you pay a booth fee and at that booth you will then, you know, make sales hopefully. And I recommend to you, and this is something that a major sales rep had also recommended to our students was sometimes before you make the investment into the show because they can be quite costly, you could go and walk the show first so you can go to an event, you can go to a show as a guest, walk around and see if it's got the vibe, talk to people, say like would you recommend the show and then you can choose to do the next one. So that would be another in person selling wholesale business to business. Okay, so let's talk about another place to sell your products right now. So I've covered E Comm, I've covered in person, direct to consumer, wholesale, online and then wholesale in person. Then another place to sell would be Amazon. Amazon has a built in customer base. It's insane that like I think 1 in 4 households in America have Amazon Prime. Obviously if you're listening around the world, depending on if Amazon functions well, like you know, like in the UK or in Canada, you know, Amazon's a little bit different than in America where we get everything delivered every day, all the time via Amazon. And that's Also another way that if you are overseas, like I coached one of our students, our multi stream machine students on this. She's, she was selling cosmetics out of Australia and she wanted to get into the US market and I said, well, why don't you get on Amazon in the US Then all she has to do is ship from Australia to the fulfillment centers and at Amazon and then Amazon will do the distribution for her so she doesn't have to ship every order. Right? Same thing with someone in the uk. She also, she was making products for chiropractors and same thing. She wanted to enter the US market actually in Canada too. And so Amazon was the way to enter the US market where they could make it available to people in the US Because Amazon is such a strong marketplace for us here and that they didn't have to deal with individual sales to individuals and dealing with like import and export and all the things, right? And then if you, wherever you are, if you want to sell to the Amazon in your country, what's cool is that it has a built in customer base. People go to Amazon to search things. It's like they, they go on and they type in, I'm looking for, I know what I just bought my husband, like things that like, like balance out like a platform obviously. Books, clothes, shoes, like my daughter just got running shoes on Amazon. All sorts of things, right. I get this like rosemary oil on Amazon. So people are buying stuff on there. So that is a great platform to get onto. And yes my friend, every single one of these platforms most likely will have a fee associated, but that's the cost of doing business. All right. And then the other fear that you might be having about a platform like Amazon is people are gonna copy me or knock me off. They'll never gonna copy you if you're really, really, really successful. That's, that's part one. Part two, if you are really, really, really successful, then it's your job to stay ahead. Like no matter what. If you're selling online, direct to consumer on your own website, on social media, wherever you're selling, if you get really successful, people will copy you. So it's part of being in business and being successful. So don't let any of these kind of thoughts get in the way of you considering what would resonate with you and your business, right? Like what would be a cool platform for you? I love Amazon for people who are like, I want a little bit more of a hands off approach to my business, meaning they only have to ever deal with shipping the product into Amazon and then Amazon handles fulfillments and returns. Right? And so you're more so doing the techie tech stuff, not the constant like customer service returns, even marketing, like you don't really need marketing. So front forward, if you have it happening on Amazon and you're only shipping when you need to ship and restock Amazon. Okay, So I love that for that. All right, so let's dig in the last couple ones here. Social and social shop shops, right? We have a student of ours right now that sells art books and she cleared like a million dollars in 10 months on TikTok shops. Okay. Kind of bonkers. And I don't know that TikTok is right for everybody. And I think you have to know how to play the game on there and you have to know what kind of content to create. But things go viral and sales happen. And I've seen this happen for my students. I have a student that is a psychic that also sells crystals and tarot cards. She crushes it on there, right? So many people crush it in different ways on. On a platform. Platform like that. So social shops like TikTok or like Instagram, where they've. They've allowed for the integration of E Comm happening on there. And in fact, even TikTok right now is doing live sales so you can host your own live show and sell live, which is kind of bonkers, right? Which is like qvc, hsn, so you could have your own show. So social shops, if that is the game you want to play, and I say game like you want to get into that and you, you like it and you want to learn about it and it. And it's a calling to you, then that would be a place to do it. I will tell you that in all the ways I'm sharing with you right now, you also don't have to do social. I'm giving you permission to say that's not for me. And that's okay. Because these other ways that I'm teaching you are other ways that you can make sales. So the final one is through other people's audiences is by working with affiliates or creators. Let them do the selling for you. So you partner with affiliates or creators and then you work with them to become partners with you to sell your products. And that is a way that then again, you don't have to do a lot of the marketing. You just have to do the relationship building, the relationship management, the way to reach out to them, to find the affiliates to talk to them about potentially doing it. And then, you know, you get someone right now. We have another student. He has a jewelry company. He sells pearls. So shout out to Brian if you're listening. And he has like this handful of affiliates. They're creators or influencers and they're affiliates to his brand and they are women that are 50 plus and he's like, they crush it. Like crush, crush, crush it because his, his product, the product market fit fitting with the women that are talking about it and them, them being like the example to other women that are following them. They sell so many units of certain ones of his products it's unbelievable that they're his best sellers because of these creators and affiliates. So that would be another place that you can sell. So to recap for you the places that we talked about, we've got number one, E Commerce, two in person direct to consumer, three wholesale, four in person business to business, this wholesale. Okay. Five Amazon, six social shops and seven affiliates and creators. All right, my friends, I'll see you in the next one.