How To Create Killer Amazon Listings & A+ Content In 2022 with Mac Schlesinger

In episode 312 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Mac discuss:

• 01:30 – How Kevin And Mac Met
• 02:00 – Serious Sellers In Brooklyn
• 04:00 – Mac’s Background Story
• 09:45 – Making 7-Figures In His Brand But Not Making Profits?
• 11:30 – Finding His Core Specialty In The Amazon Space
• 18:00 – Starting His Company That Serves Amazon Sellers
• 21:00 – Big Mistakes Sellers Make In Their Listings
• 22:30 – The Hardest And Easiest Products To Make Listings For
• 23:50 – Let’s Talk About The Regular And The Premium Amazon A+ Content
• 26:30 – How Much Does Mac’s Services Cost?
• 28:00 – How Important Is Keyword Research?
• 28:30 – Starting A Big Amazon Event/Conference
• 32:20 – Mac Sheds Some Light On The “Viral” Incident Before Powwow
• 38:45 – When Will Be His Next Event? Expanding As A General Business Event
• 39:15 – How To Get In Touch With Mac Schlesinger
• 41:30 – The Golden Nugget Tip Of The Week

Transcript

Kevin King:

This is episode 312 of the AM/PM Podcast. In this episode, I’m speaking with Mac Schlesinger. Mac grew up in upstate New York, and didn’t really even speak a whole lot of English at home. Actually, it’s his second language, but he saw an opportunity in e-commerce and decided to take it and started drop shipping, started doing a lot of retail arbitrage and things like that. And that evolved into seven-figure private label brand, which evolved into him starting one of the top agencies that help sellers develop their listings. And now he’s actually partners in one of the big shows out there called The Powwow Show. So a lot of interesting stuff in this episode. I hope you enjoy it.

Kevin King:

Mac Schlesinger. Welcome to the AM/PM Podcast. It’s so good to have you here today. How you doing, man?

Mac:

Thank you, Kevin. It’s my honor to be here, yeah. Wow.

Kevin King:

Yeah, I know. I think we met like several years ago at like one of the big events up in Brooklyn, Ed’S event, the ASGTG event, I think. Is that right?

Mac:

Yeah, that’s where we met. Probably like–

Kevin King:

Yeah, those are some pretty awesome events. If you’re listening to this and you’ve never been to one of the ASGTG events, ASGTG, you can just Google that. It’s an event that’s held once a year. Ed Rosenberg puts it on up in the Brooklyn area, and it’s one of my favorite events to go to. You have a lot of huge sellers, You know, a lot of people don’t realize that, like something like, I think Amazon came out as a statistic a few years ago. Like 7% of all the sales on Amazon come outta one zip code in Brooklyn. And there’s like some serious, serious sellers up in that area that just kind of, you don’t see them at the Prosper Show. You don’t see them at the Seller Cons. You don’t see them at a lot of the other shows. They just kind of stay in their own little world up there. But they just some super smart guys and gals that are just crushing it and so I was at that. I’ve spoken at that event a few times and met Mac there. What is it about that community up there that just makes them just so good at selling?

Mac:

Yeah, listen, it’s very interesting how we got into it, but how it developed like that. But knowing my people, it’s like a community of hardworking, dedicated and very sophisticated, talented people, which especially as what knows, like we don’t have a lot of like world education. We don’t get to college and stuff like that cuz we grow up learning and teaching our stuff. But when it comes to the business world, so since we don’t have all these professionals, I mean, these days it’s much more common that people go to college. But back in the day is, there was no such thing as going to college or to school to learn all this business-related stuff. So when the whole Amazon e-commerce thing came up, which is didn’t really require a lot of business education and stuff, it just, finding good products, listing it and selling it and figuring out,

Kevin King:

I think you said English is not your first language. So where are you originally from? What’s, what’s your background story?

Mac:

Right. So I grew up in upstate New York. I mean, it’s in a Jewish community. It’s actually in Monroe, which is like more like a very closed community, which is we speak mainly Yiddish. And by the way, throughout the podcast, I might make some mistakes and then say different things. Cause English is not my first language, so I have to think twice before I say something. So it’s not, doesn’t come naturally, but we’ll figure it out. So basically the way I grew up, we didn’t really speak English for until I become like a teen or like, it’s probably 17, 18 years old.

Kevin King:

So even though you’re in the US, in upstate New York there, it’s all Yiddish at home. So it’s like a self-contained kind of environment.

Mac:

Yeah. So we speak mainly Yiddish at home and it’s cool in everywhere. I mean, it’s cool. We learn English, like the language and writing, reading, math, and all these different stuff. Yeah, some education, but it’s not the main focus. It’s like just a side thing. So

Kevin King:

Once you kind of went off on your own or kind of left your parents’ nest while, what were you doing?

Mac:

So basically the way it works is, we grow up, we go to school, then we go to different schools when in those, and then we usually get married between like the 18 and 25 that range. And usually, we get married and we have to go out and, make a living to provide to our family. So, that’s when we started thinking, okay, I mean, with the lack of education and, and knowledge of English and other world, what can we do? So that’s when another, and since like 10-20 years ago, since the whole e-commerce thing started happening, then that’s where a lot of our community started going in there. Cause we were very good at selling and finding products and doing this type of stuff. So,

Kevin King:

And e-commerce is kind of easy to actually do it within the community. I mean, you don’t have to go out there and you can do everything online without having to go out and interact in all these other situations that might not be the most comfortable or might not be the most what you’re–

Mac:

Right. You don’t really have to go out in the public world or like the corporate world and do things. You could just sit in your dining room or your basement and build an empire. So I personally, that’s also, I think it was like around 18 to 20 years old, I starting getting interested in like, knowing the world a little bit more. Like I started getting like all these, you know, the phones, computers, and laptops. That’s what started figuring out what can we do with this, document this. So I always had a drive to do that. Like E-commerce in general. I don’t know if it was cause it became popular there or that’s my general nature, which I remember when I started, I was so young, I didn’t even know what was going on in the world.

Mac:

I just like the idea of, let’s say taking products from my parents’ house and trying to sell it or taking stuff from my friend. My friend had an old–, I dunno, like old phone or old thing. And I find a way to sell it on eBay or whatever the other marketplaces used to be back then. So that interest me a lot. So when I grew up and I started reading, I was kind of in the mode where I need to start working. I need to get to build something and make a living which got me more interested and more serious about doing these things. So that’s why I tried all these different types of online selling, like different marketplaces, drop shipping, all these different stuff.

Kevin King:

And so this is one of, you in your early twenties. You were still pretty young, 18 to 20 you said?

Mac:

Yeah. Yeah. The more I got into it, I remember, like, I used to go to thrift shops and local shopping malls and find deals and resell, like buying my own mannequin and putting clothing and taking pictures on my own and selling it was fun. So, I mean, the more I did it, the more I realized, okay, what’s next? What’s next? Like, I wanna go to the next step. Like I wanna get real. Until I got into, I mean I got into the private label became like a trend back then buying stuff in China and like all these stuff. And I, I had zero knowledge about it. So I remember I took a course, a quick course about the whole idea just to get an idea, like how does it work?

Mac:

Like what does it entail? I mean, is it only made for like this rich person out there that they’re both million-dollar companies or it’s also for like people like me? I’m sitting here in my dusty basement and maybe I can figure out, maybe it’s not, maybe I can do it as well. So that’s when I got into it. I followed the course and I got more familiar with the whole idea of e-commerce. Like really, I mean, real e-commerce. So not just like taking pictures in America, I mean like real buying stuff, negotiating and sourcing and creating a brand and trying to sell it and the whole idea. So that’s, that’s how I got started. And then this took me to more and more places and ideas.

Kevin King:

That’s awesome. Are you still selling today?

Mac:

No. So basically, so that got me into doing more stuff and especially the private label. So when I start a private label, I gave up on the clothing and cause all these courses was trying to recommend you to find small, lightweight products, all these hurdles and stuff. So I started doing swimming gear, which is like Swim goggles, bathing caps and all these swim-related products. And then also fitness products, like all these rubber bands, these resistant bands, and some other exercise fitness related products. So I basically tried both of them and the swim products was more successful. So I stick to those. Like, I created a brand, the logo and the whole thing. And that’s it was going pretty well. I did that for a few years and later on I got into more like the services, Well, we’ll talk about later how I got into it. But, so once I got into the services there, I stopped selling products. So right now I’m not selling any products. I’m mainly focusing on servicing other sellers to help them succeed.

Kevin King:

So, on the sales side, what kind of sales did you build like the swimming brand? Like six figures, seven figures? What kind of?

Mac:

Yeah, it got to seven figures, but since I was so bad at like at business, like financials and all this stuff, I mean, I knew that I made a lot of sales, but it wasn’t so profitable. Cause I didn’t know what I was doing. It was just trying things and figuring things out. But I built it to seven figures. I could have built it more, but I kind of got stuck where, like, at the same time I was growing my family. I already had like, two, or three kids back then. And I was kind of the pressure of, of providing, like bringing income. So this, I mean, it made a lot, a lot of money in and out. But it didn’t really, at the end of the month, I couldn’t figure out, you know, to, to make a living of it. So I was kind of forced to take another job. Like, while I was already sort of an entrepreneur, like all these, this, I was forced to take a job, make an income, a living. And that job actually got me into where I am.

Kevin King:

So that happens a lot in this business where you have people that, they’re entrepreneurs, they get into it, they’re selling, they’re doing six, seven figures. They’ve got cash flow, but at the end of the day, they’re really not business people per se. And they’re not actually making money. They got cash flow, but they’re not actually making money. And so what happens a lot of times is those people, along the way, they learn some things. And I see that a lot of them then turn into service provider. They become a PPC agency, or they become a listing agent. Or they take some sort of core thing that they were actually good at part of their business and then they’d make that their new business. And that’s kind of what you did, right?

Mac:

Right. Yeah. So by me it was a little bit different. It wasn’t like, okay, you know what, I can’t make money from selling let’s, that does services. Cause actually happened by accident. And it happened by other people. Cause basically once I told you, I got into their job, which was my position was made basically to manage the Amazon account and build up all the listings. Basically, it was a very big company. They were very popular on eBay and they wanted to build up an Amazon account. So I went in and I built up the whole–, I rebuilt all the listings, all the stuff. So that was also a part which I figured things out about myself, like who I am, what I’m good at. So since I was doing that, I figured out, I mean, people around me, like my coworkers and stuff like that, they realized that my specialty is not the, it was more the creative part, which is like creating the listings and images and fixing up all these mistakes like keywords and stuff like that.

Mac:

And actually, I had a few coworkers who they left their job and they went, either started their own Amazon company or they were and started working at a different Amazon company. So they hired me on the side to make the listings. I didn’t even know why, I mean, I’m, back then, back the. My issue was like, I have very low self-confidence, like to know what I’m good at, and what I do. So I mean, I’m very grateful and thankful to all these people that they recognize what I’m good at. And they actually supported me. Like they pushed me to do it. So I was like, me, why do you want me? I don’t know. They told me, Mac, this is what you are good at. I want you to do it. So I was like, okay.

Kevin King:

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. So you found your calling there and within this selling on Amazon, this e-commerce space, and that’s, that’s building listing. So, so then what’d you do? You spun that off you worked for them for a while, got

Mac:

No, So basically I started the job at the same time. And on the side, like to at night, I do the listings for, for them, like for my friends, my ex-coworkers. So, but at some point I was like, I think after a year working there, I was like okay, what’s next? Like, I’m working at this job, I’m making like, I think $700 a week, what’s next? Like, I can’t keep on doing this for the rest of my life. So I started looking into different things. First I was thinking maybe should go back into my Amazon company, like the swimming product, maybe build it up and there’s so much potential. Maybe build it up, focus on it, maybe, I don’t know. I was so confused. And one day, actually, it was very interesting cause we have, like, in our community, we have like a different WhatsApp group.

Mac:

You know, that’s groups on WhatsApp among Amazon sellers. We discuss people discussing ask questions. I mean, by now I have my own group actually. But back then it was, was a very popular group out there. And someone asked who they recommend for listing, like, to build out the listings. And someone somehow posted my name. Like back then I didn’t do it as a living. I didn’t even as a business, I just did a favor here and there. So he posted my name and people started contacting me. I was like, who posted my name? I’m not doing it. This is not my business. And it was very interesting. But, but at the same time, I was like kind of desperate to leave my job and I wasn’t sure which route I’m going. So I decided you know, maybe I should take leave.

Mac:

So I responded to one of them. I told them, yes, I’m doing listings. How can I help you? So he said that he has, they have a lot of products and they want to redo the listings cause it was done very poorly. And they’re ready to enhance it. And I had zero confidence, zero knowledge. Like they rely on me to build up the listing. What happens it flaps if it’s this–. So they said, You know what, let me give you one listing. If we like it, then we’ll give you many more listings. So I was still working at the job. So over the weekend or the nights I worked on that one listing, I perfected, it was, was amazing. It was beautiful. Then I sent it to them and they was like, Wow. They’re very intrigued. They’re very surprised how good it is.

Mac:

They want me to do all of the listings, like 40, 50 listings. And I was still working on the job. So I didn’t know how I’m gonna manage, how I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna finish it. And I didn’t wanna tell them that my situation, cause I wanted them to feel like they can rely on me. But inside me, I know, I knew that I’m not ready for it. So I, I saw, I told them, okay, no problem. So I will do it. We’ll figure it out. At that time, I realized, you know what, I have this opportunity. I mean, it doesn’t promise me any long-term things, but at least, and now I’m desperate to leave the job and I was looking for something and this is what I found. Now I’m gonna give notice to, said I’m gonna give notice to my ex-boss and I’m gonna leave the job. I’m gonna focus on, on these listings. I mean, it’s 40-50 listings. It can take a while. And I make a nice amount of money and I can live off probably like a for few weeks. So I jumped in. What,

Kevin King:

What did you charge per listing back then?

Mac:

So I think it was a hundred dollars a listing.

Kevin King:

A hundred dollars a listing?

Mac:

Yeah.

Kevin King:

Wow.

Mac:

Cause I didn’t even know the market, like how much to charge, or how many hours it takes me per listing. I just threw a price. Okay. A hundred dollars I to do it.

Kevin King:

Wow. No wonder they said here, if they like the first one, here’s 40 more.

Mac:

Yes. And I, I’m sure that when, when they went to the other professional companies, it was like two, $300. It was like a hundred dollars a listing is doing a pretty decent job. Then why not? Let’s give them everything. So I quit that job and I got into these listings. I started figuring out I was working nonstop, like many hours, like night, during the night day to finish all the listings. Cause I had to present, I had to act to them like I’m a professional company. Like I know what I’m doing even though I know that I’m not. So I did that. And then after that was done, it took me like probably two weeks, three weeks to finish everything. And everything was good, it was perfect. And then I wanted to gimme more. And but they said that I have to wait for the season.

Mac:

Like it’s a whole process, whatever. So then I, I found myself in a, in a place where I, okay, I quit my job. I finished this 40 – 50 listing. What’s next? Like how do I get, if I wanna do that, how do I get more listings? That what kind of pushed me to start telling people what I’m doing. I mean, for me, for me it was, it was very hard. I never really wanted to get into the service business because I was, I was always like very shy and quiet. I like to work in my corner and not talk to people. Just do my, my thing. But since I, I got into the job, I realized that I need to start going public and telling people what I do and start selling myself cuz otherwise how am I’m gonna get more listings?

Mac:

So that kinda pushed me to do that. So I started going out first I decided, you know what, let’s make it official. I’m gonna start a company, and come up with a name. The funny part is that two weeks after that, there was like a little event in my community. Like, it wasn’t like a big event like this, it was more like this little event at someone’s house. And they called me they asked me if I wanna exhibit there and like, like be a sponsor. And it was funny cause I had no idea what a sponsor means, or what exhibit means. Like what am I supposed to do? How does it work? I said, they said, no, you just have to come with some business cards and talk to people, tell people what you do. I mean, at first I didn’t wanna do it cause as I said, I was very, very shy and I couldn’t see myself going into a networking event and, and talking, going to people tell ’em, Hey, I do listings. How can I help you?

Mac:

But then I realized that this is what I do. I jumped into it. Now I have to figure out how to get it done. So I kind of pushed myself and I actually did it and I created like I remember like back then I created like an overnight, like a night before the event, I realized that I need some content to show, show people what to do. So I created, like, I put together like a quick brochure, like what I, what my services and the pricing. Cause I tried to copy, I tried to look at other companies, what people do. So I tried to come up with something. Then I bought some quick like cheap business cards and a local printing company. And I went to that event. And people starting to get to know me. When,

Kevin King:

When was this, when this, this listing process start, when the company that hired you to do the 40 and then you went to the house, and how long ago was that? So

Mac:

That was at the end of 2016.

Kevin King:

Okay. So about six years or so almost. And so since then, you’ve become one of the go-to people for, if they want to create listings, if they need marketing strategies or A+ Content or their listings. How big is the company now? What’s the name of the company and how big is the company now?

Mac:

So the company name is Best Seller Listers. So that’s the company name. And that’s–

Kevin King:

So how many people are working for the company now?

Mac:

So right now we have 14 people. It’s a combination of some project managers, designers, and writers. I mean, I used to have more, but then I realized that it’s not about having more of it’s about taking to the employees and, and, and doing, once it got out of control was too much. It’s growing too fast. So now we have like 14 and everything works. And the system with all the processes and software, it runs very smoothly.

Kevin King:

So it’s not you doing everything anymore. You got a whole team.

Mac:

That was a challenge. Cause the more I started promoting myself and getting more of this, more work and more clients. I started slowly like hiring a listing guy. I mean, then I wroted so many, so much to find the right people. But then I extend now we do product photography, now we do graphic design. Now we do PPC and now we do storefront. So slowly it’s started growing more and more.

Kevin King:

So what do you see when you, when someone comes to you right now, when a new client comes to you and they, they’ve got their listings up, what are some of the key things that you see in me? Like, oh my gosh, we gotta fix this, this and this. What are some of the big mistakes that a lot of sellers that are doing their own listings or maybe they had another company do ’em, that you’re having to constantly correct that people need to be aware of?

Mac:

Right. So usually people count me all the time, like please look at my listings, see what I know that I have. We have so much more potential. But it’s not where it’s supposed to be. Like what can you do? So the first thing I’ll look through, I mean obviously you can do like a deep research, but you can quickly see on a listing, first of all of the size of the title, the bullet and description to see if they have anything at all. A lot of people gonna doing very surprising that people, I mean, back in the days it wasn’t so necessary cause it wasn’t so competitive. So it wasn’t so necessary to have like a real optimized listing in order to succeed. But, but now you can see people are still, especially people from back in the days, they still have this old fashioned listing, which is very not optimized. You can see right away that it’s missing. But even if–

Kevin King:

So what’s an old fashion listing? What’s an old fashion listing look like? Just for those listing? What would that be like a really short title or would that be like no bullet point. What’s an old fashioned listing?

Mac:

Yeah, it’s like a very simple title. I mean, very simple. Like, I don’t know, plastic water bottle, two ounces, you know, 12 ounce, whatever. It doesn’t, doesn’t have any. Also the bullet points, like it’s very old fashion. Like BPA-free, like all this very dry. You know, you have so much more people have to realize that the listing is like you’re a salesperson. Like you walk into the store and you want know more about a product. The salesperson comes off and he explains to you everything about a product on Amazon can’t have this. So this has to be your listing. So

Kevin King:

What kind of listings do you think are the hardest to make? Are there certain products that are just maybe harder to make a listing for and other products that are just really easy to make a listing for?

Mac:

It’s pretty interesting. I mean there are definitely in certain categories, for example, when it comes to like the complicated product, which is products that are not like everyday products that you have at home that you’re familiar with. There’s more like industrial types of products, construction types of products, which is like, has like different specs and different stuff, which you have to do research and get information so that’s more complicated. And to make sure that it’s usually you have to go back and forth until you know you get all the information right? Cause it’s, it’s not really part of the creative stuff. And more like the technical stuff which you have to get right. So if a product has a lot of like electronics sometimes has a lot of technical information. And if you make a mistake, if you put the wrong information and people buy it according to that information, then you get like negative reviews. Cause it’s, it’s the wrong information. So that’s a little more tricky. But if it’s like a regular everyday product that people, I don’t know, toys or kitchen products that you have at home and doesn’t have a lot of features or technical specs, then these are more easier. So

Kevin King:

What about A+ Content or APC some people call it. And then there’s a new one that Amazon, you know, that just announced the premium one that used to cost like 250 grand or something, you know, for the big brands and now they just open it up to everybody for basically for free, at least for a while. What kind of difference do you think those actually make if you have that? And what are some mistakes that people make when they’re creating those, They’re using the same pictures over and over again. Or what are some things that people need to be aware of when it comes to A+ or EPC or some of the new stuff that’s just been announced?

Mac:

Yeah, absolutely. So I mean since we deal with a lot of sellers every day about this stuff and some sellers are like, I don’t know, is it important to spend the money for it? I don’t know. Especially, someone that has like hundred listings, he needs to spend a lot of money to get done. So they kind of defend if it’s really important or not. But, but the truth is, when it comes to the A+ part, which is, I mean the regular listing on the, you have basically the space with the bullet points and the main images. That’s all you have to really try to sell your product. But sometimes, especially with the limitation that Amazon has, how, how, how big the title can be and what information you can have on the images and how big the bullet points can be.

Mac:

You don’t have a lot of flexibility in really explaining your product and showing of your product. It’s supposed to be, So the A+, APC actually it gives you a much bigger real estate to really explain your product and really excel your product. I mean now with the premium A+, it’s, that’s a blessing. Cause I dunno if you saw it like there, the difference between the A+ actually just made an article like explaining the difference between the regular A+ and a premium A+. You can have so many different like banners, you can, for example, we, we just did like a, just for a flashlight, it has like different modes. So on the premium A+ you can click a button and it shows the actual difference of the flashlight, how strong it goes, how vague.

Mac:

Even something that extends, you can click a button, it extends, it goes smaller. Like it’s very cool. But you can do with the premium A+. besides the fact that you can put in a video, but even without a video can have so many differences, So especially when they have A+, you have especially even premium A+. There’s no doubt. I mean, when a customer goes into your product and if it’s done really well, then there’s almost no chance for a customer to leave your listing without a sale, you know.

Kevin King:

So would you recommend then everybody that who has maybe just the old A+ they need to upgrade to the new premium? Would should that be a priority?

Mac:

I mean, obviously, but the problem is that it costs a lot of money to do it. I mean, I’m sure that most agencies, and most designers will charge a lot of money to get it done. Cause it’s, it’s a lot of work. It’s not just like a few pictures here and there. And you ask me about the mistakes that people do. And I see so many times that people come to us, they want to enhance the listings. They come to us with very poor A+ Content, which is just their logo and the same picture that they use on the top, like the main images. Like, it doesn’t really say anything. It’s disproportion like the layout and the whole thing basically has to show like a big page, like a website, like a landing page.

Kevin King:

So what does it cost to actually, to use a company like yourself? What’s it just a general ballpark. If I said, Hey, here’s my listing, I want you to redo it, I want a total listing makeover from top to bottom A+ premium A+ just–, what would I be looking a thousand bucks, 2000 bucks. So what some, what would I be?

Mac:

Yeah, I mean obviously there are different agencies out there, different people out there. Everyone charges their price. But, so, for example, my company, we have like different packages, which includes like content, photography, graphics, and A+. So right now the top package is like $1,200, which gets you everything like the full listing, copy photography, seven nice graphic images, and beautiful A+ Content. So now we start doing the premium A+. It’s gonna be a lot more probably like in a $2,000 range cause it’s much more work. But yeah, that’s approximate. So it’s like a small investment. I mean if you look at it per product, it’s not a lot of money. You spend thousand of dollars even let’s say $1,500 once and it’s not forever. You know you don’t have to do redo it everything.

Kevin King:

Are you also doing the keyword research, or do the clients come to you with these keywords I want to target or is that part of the deal?

Mac:

Yeah, that’s part of the deal. Cause we train our team, like especially our writers and this to really master like the keyword part of, cause the writers are professional writers. They know how to sell like’s, copy, but the keywords are totally different. So we have like a team that work together, the project managers, the, the writers. Then we have a keyword specialist that specialize in that part. So altogether put together a beautiful puzzle. Cause a listing has to be a combination of 50% for the algorithm, 50% for the customers. So the keywords is a very big part. Some sellers only focus on the keywords. Cause cause the thing that ones the algorithm it’s good, but it choose the truth is then the algorithm is not buying your product. I mean maybe they bring up the, your product, but they’re not actually clicking at the cart and buying it. So that’s what our customers are doing. So you have to make sure that it has the perfect balance of the algorithm bringing it up and having a good sales copy for the conversion to, to get a customer to click out the car.

Kevin King:

So now you’re doing something besides the listing service. You’ve come really outta your shell and you’re actually putting on events as well. Is that correct?

Mac:

Yeah. That’s also interesting how I got. So that’s what I’m saying in the beginning, like one thing that the more I built myself up, you know, one thing got me into the next thing, next thing. Cause I always think that way. Like what else? Like what’s next? So it’s interesting that from running that company and getting a little popular on LinkedIn or WhatsApp, whatever, where I tried to help the community and people started asking me like how about you do start doing events? Like get people together and learn from them? So I was like I don’t know, there’s so many events out there already. Why do I need to make another event? So people said no, but yeah, like your own style, your different type type of personality and people who enjoy this. So it was interesting.

Mac:

So I, I basically, I never really wanted to do like this big operators. Cause I couldn’t think so back then, back in the days. So I never imagined myself like running a big show. So I started by, I wanted to do more like a chill demand. Like I love when people come together and have a good time on my expense. So I wanted to do like a right now living in Toms River, Toms River, New Jersey, which we have like big properties and stuff. So I wanted to do in my backyard, like a little get together networking event for sellers and have a good time in order the barbecue with small gas and DJ, you know, like this type of stuff. And I discussed it with a few people, but I couldn’t do it. Like, I was like, should I do it? How should I do it? Until I got Joel Wall, I don’t know, you probably know Joel, Joel Wall?

Kevin King:

I think so, yeah.

Mac:

Yeah. So basically, he used to be my neighbor here and we once did an event for a re real estate company in my backyard. And like a similar thing that I had in mind. And cause they basically was looking like it was back covid. People couldn’t do events like in the event venues. So they were looking for a nice backyard where they can do it. So they found my backyard somehow and I did it for them. That’s when I realized how about we do the same thing. So Joel also came. So that’s when we realized how about we do the same thing for Amazon. We can do the same thing on Amazon, like call people over that can bring a party planner, build a nice thing. And we actually started posting it. Like we wanted to hear like, feedback from sellers. And surprisingly, a lot of sellers were like, Sure, of course we will do it will come excited.

Kevin King:

And that’s called Powwow, right?

Mac:

Yeah, Powwow

Kevin King:

And you do one in New Jersey and then you do another one I think in the Florida area, right? The Miami area.

Mac:

Yeah. So we started in New Jersey, which is our area, like in Lakewood, New Jersey where all the three of us live in, you know, Tom River and Lakewood and Jackson. Like, we live in the area and this is where we did it the first time. Just test the orders to see what you’re doing. And thank God it was like very successful. People showed a lot of interest. And the three of us, we have like very different personalities. Like it’s not like a serious, I mean we have the combination of being serious, professional, and fun. So that’s why it worked.

Kevin King:

So how many people, how many people come to Powwow? Is it, how many, what’s attendance usually?

Mac:

So the first event was like a small venue. So we limited to like, I think it was like 300-400 attendees. Then Miami, we grew, it was like 600-700 keeps on growing. So and then the next event were like aiming for a thousand attendees. So it keeps on growing. Cause the more we do it, like we do it in bigger venues and bigger stuff. So it keeps on growing.

Kevin King:

Now, something happened along with one of these events. There was a post that kind of went viral or something right? That actually caused some trouble. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding or something around that. Is there anything you want to clear up on that?

Mac:

Yeah. That’s an episode for itself. Basically, I yeah, it was actually me. We were actually working on an event which was, we called it the aggregator showroom. Cause as you know, like the whole industry, reached now to the aggregator field that people, people are selling their companies, and aggregates are buying their companies. So we wanna do it. We wanted to do an event specialized like specifically for this category. So within an event, we called it aggregated show. And it was here in New Jersey. It was like more like an intimate, like a smaller upscale exclusive event. And it happened basically I think a week before that event, I was kind of in some mode. I mean, it was after a party. Like I wasn’t drunk, but there was like a little tipsy. So I came up late at night and I was kind of in the mode of, okay, cause usually when it comes to events like usually the last week or two is when crunch time hits.

Mac:

It’s like, that’s when people need to sign up as people get interested. So I was like, okay, I gotta start doing something. Like, let’s continue. I mean, I didn’t start, cause we kept on promoting it for, for weeks and months, But I was like, Okay, what else can I do? Especially, I was a little tipsy, so it wasn’t hard to, you know, to brainstorm and stuff. So I I think it was, back then it was a few days before the, the, I mean, in the news it was more powerful, like the news about like the, the whole war between Russia and Ukraine. So, I mean, by the time I posted it wasn’t anything serious going on. It was just like a thought or saying that it’s gonna happen, maybe whatever. And I was like we are here building like one of the biggest events in the Amazon industry.

Mac:

I was like, I don’t even remember the exact content, but I basically made–, so I basically compared building like the biggest Amazon event and going like, the next week it’s gonna happen whatever to the Russia-Ukraine war. Somehow, I don’t remember. I didn’t even remember the contact, but I posted it and it was late at night. It was like 1:00 AM. And right after, after I posted it, I went to sleep. Like I posted and I went to sleep. I didn’t even think about it. And I didn’t even think what I posted, just, you know, like any, any other post, post move on. And then in the morning, I, I woke up in the morning and I see that my phone didn’t start ringing. Like my wife was like I went to the shop.

Mac:

I’m always like, Your phone keeps on ringing. My partners are calling me. Companies are calling me. Like, what happened now? I couldn’t, I couldn’t even think what happened. So I took a shower. I was like, I don’t know. We’ll see you later. We got the trust and let’s see what’s going on. And then people are like, No, no, you don’t have time for that. And, and I looked at my phone, I was like, Please delete, please delete our tic post immediately. Please delete the tic post. Like, what did I post? Which post are you talking about? Like, what is happening? Then I went down to my LinkedIn and I realized that I posted that post, which was a bad mistake. And cause at that night it was funny cause that night when we woke up, that’s when the whole world started.

Mac:

Like more like officially like things started to happen. So it was like bad timing. And the first thing I did, I deleted the post before, like before knowing what was going on, I deleted the post cause I know it’s wrong. And then I started waking up, started getting like, what is happening? Why should I delete? What did I post it? Why should I delete it? Then I saw what people are saying. So it was a whole mess. So that was a read before the event. And I got into the office and I realized that a lot of the vendors and some of the attendees or speakers, whatever they got very sensitive about it and which was right. Cause it was a very bad mistake. And they were like, they don’t wanna, they wanna back up. They don’t wanna be part of this, an event that writes this type of content.

Mac:

So obviously, I mean, for me, I didn’t even know what I was doing. I didn’t, I didn’t even know how bad it was was to be honest. For me, since I’m a person, I don’t really follow the news. I don’t, I don’t really, really like know what’s going on. I just hear from here and there. And I tried to use the current situations on my marketing account. You know, this is where the, all these marketing club, I didn’t even realize how sensitive it is to certain people. And then once I started seeing what’s really going on in the world, in the war, I was like, wow. I mean that’s, I felt bad for myself for doing it. Like, man, you can’t do that. But, but the truth is, back then, I didn’t even know what’s, And also, I mean, people took it out out of context, which was the wrong, like which people thought I’m a bad person. How can you write such a thing? But the truth is, I mean, if you know the whole thing, I didn’t know. I didn’t even know what I’m doing. Like also as I said, like English wasn’t my first language. So when I’m posting I’m not right. Really like sometimes it comes off wrong as what I really mean.

Kevin King:

So did a lot of people end up backing out? What happened in the end of the show? Go on. Or did? Yeah,

Mac:

So some people backed out and it was a problem cause it was a week before the event, we spent a lot of money, and that we couldn’t cancel event. Like we started to figure out what’s going on. So I decided that I together my partner said, I have to resign. I mean I deserve it. Like I did it, it happened. It doesn’t matter I didn’t mean it or whatever, but it happened and people got offended by it. And I have to take their responsibilities. So I resigned from the event like then. And so my partner right now to tell the people that I’m not involved anymore. So it was a mistake. And I take responsibility and, and I don’t want the event to, I don’t want my partners, you know, all these other people were up to get to get affected cause of my mistake.

Kevin King:

So you still involved? Are you still involved? So you resigned, Have you gone back to the company or are you still completely

Mac:

Well, I resigned and I, I started going focusing back on my other companies after that. So that event, I went as an exhibitor to with my companies, my two companies that I have. And after that event, I came back officially publicly and I come back like before. Cool,

Kevin King:

I’m glad you were able to work through that and get that corrected. That’s that’s important. It’s un unfortunate that that happened. But I’m glad everything, in the end, has been settled and worked out out. So when’s the next Powwow Event?

Mac:

So the next one we’re working on a local event, which is more like a smaller, specifically for kinda the community, like in the opposite New York area where I grew up actually. And that like a smaller into event. And then now we started to expand into like general business events, not only Amazon. So the powwow event is becoming more like a general event company. It’s not like an Amazon event company. It’s a general event company, which we do Amazon events and we do other industry events as well. So now we are working on a B2B, business to business expo for general business people. I mean mainly our community, but it’s not limited to our community like

Kevin King:

Everyone. Awesome. Well, Mac I really appreciate you taking some time today and sharing your story and talking about everything. If people want to reach out or find out more about you, what’s the best place for them to do that?

Mac:

So the main sources is basically LinkedIn. You find me a LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Whatsapp, I’m kind of active there. I have like a special WhatsApp account mainly for business. I mean, I have one personal, one for business, which I usually keep it active, which posting statuses mainly about Amazon industry, like all the different news that’s coming out and tips and tricks. And have like a WhatsApp group, which is called like Amazon Best Sellers, which is a very popular group among Amazon sellers. People like are asking questions, helping each other.

Kevin King:

Awesome. Well, Mac, I appreciate it Again, man, I hope business keeps going well for you and I’m sure I’ll be seeing you in New York or maybe at a Powwow event.

Mac:

Yeah, absolutely. It’ll be an honor have you come speak at our upcoming Powwow events. I mean, we’ll be in touch with you when it is, where it is to see if you’re available, stuff like that. I mean, people love you in our community and people are looking forward to your speeches every time.

Kevin King:

Awesome. Thanks, Mac. Appreciate

Mac:

Okay. Okay.

Kevin King:

I really like how e-commerce can give an opportunity just about anybody regardless of your education level or where you come from or what language you speak. Mac is a perfect example that started doing e-commerce was successful, pivoted into finding his true passion, which is helping people build an amazing creative listing, and now is doing the powwow event to actually help other sellers and give back to the community and bring everybody together. So it’s always a great story when I get to have a guest like Mac on the show. And don’t forget to check out the Helium 10 Elite. Every month we do a live training about three to four hours long where we have several guests come on. Talk about the latest strategies and techniques for selling on Amazon and e-commerce in general. I do 7 Ninja Hacks. Plus as a Helium 10 Elite member, you get access to some really cool special tools that are not available to the public.

Kevin King:

You get increases in your limits on some things you can do. One of those tools is a pretty cool tool where you could upload a list of keywords and then it spits back a downloadable spreadsheet that has a bunch of fields added to it. That’s just one of the many tools. Plus, as a Helium 10 Elite member, you get access to the weekly round tables and including a round table that I do once a month where for two or three hours. We just talk about everything. Amazon, we help each other out. If someone’s got a problem with their account or needs an idea on something, we talk about the latest strategies, and what’s happening. So check out Helium 10 Elite if you haven’t yet. Before we leave this week, I just won’t leave you with some words of advice. If you want to buy things without looking at the price, then you need to learn how to work without looking at the clock. Again, if you wanna buy things without looking at the price, then you need to learn how to work without looking at the clock. We’ll see you again next week and we’ll be talking about using Google to drive traffic to Amazon. Thanks.

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