September 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Ever wonder why some brands crush it on Amazon while others spin their wheels? Today we’re cracking open the playbook that actually works. My guest has more than 15 years in the trenches of e‑commerce—launching products, winning the Buy Box, navigating FBA curveballs, and turning ad spend into profit without lighting money on fire.
Neil Twa is the CEO / Co-Founder of Voltage Holdings, a company specializing in launching, consulting, selling and acquiring brands with a focus on the e-commerce channels such as Amazon FBA and multi- channel. More than fifteen years of experience as a selling private label products on Amazon and his company.
Give Away: Claim Your Free Book by going to this link https://www.voltagedm.com/freebook and enter the discount code JUSTMINDING, and our system will handle the rest.
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/neiltwa/
Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/neiltwa
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/neiltwa/
Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@fbabusinessbuilders
X - https://twitter.com/voltagefba
Remember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss "Information That You Can Use." Share Just Minding My Business with your family, friends, and colleagues. Engage with us by leaving a review or comment here or on my Google Business Page. https://g.page/r/CVKSq-IsFaY9EBM/review Your support keeps this podcast going and growing.
Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can support you in getting more visibility on your products and services.
Neil Twa is the CEO / Co-Founder of Voltage Holdings, a company specializing in launching, consulting, selling and acquiring brands with a focus on the e-commerce channels such as Amazon FBA and multi- channel. More than fifteen years of experience as a selling private label products on Amazon and his company.
Give Away: Claim Your Free Book by going to this link https://www.voltagedm.com/freebook and enter the discount code JUSTMINDING, and our system will handle the rest.
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/neiltwa/
Facebook - https://web.facebook.com/neiltwa
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/neiltwa/
Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@fbabusinessbuilders
X - https://twitter.com/voltagefba
Remember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss "Information That You Can Use." Share Just Minding My Business with your family, friends, and colleagues. Engage with us by leaving a review or comment here or on my Google Business Page. https://g.page/r/CVKSq-IsFaY9EBM/review Your support keeps this podcast going and growing.
Visit Just Minding My Business Media™ LLC at https://jmmbmediallc.com/ to learn how we can support you in getting more visibility on your products and services.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Just Minded My Business Media LLC, where you
get information that you can use.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm your host, Ida Crawford. But before we dive in,
subscribe to Just Minding My Business on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And wherever you get your podcasts shape Just Minded my
Business with your family, friends, and pile leaders. Engage with
us by leaving a review or comment. Your support keeps
this podcast going and growing. Visit our website at JMMB
mediac dot com to learn how we can support you
(00:42):
and get more visibility on your products and services. So
grab a cent of paper and get ready for information
that you can use.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Are you a woman owned business ready to amplify your
VOE and grow your business? Join assist as Circle Empowerment
Network and step into a community that truly supports you.
Boost your visibility with our SEO optimized platform and connect
in our vibrant LinkedIn group. Showcase your achievements in our
(01:17):
quarterly magazine and shine in live interviews. Want a broader platform,
Gain access to exclusive discounted opportunities to feature your brand
or insights on conversations that matter that airs on Roku
and fireTV. Join us on September seventeenth, twenty twenty five
at seven pm Eastern Time. To learn more about assistus
(01:41):
Circle Empowerment Network, visit our website at https colon slash
slash asistcircle dot org. That's Asistascircle dot oorg. Click on
the What's going on tab and get registered.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Welc on to just minded my business.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I hope you are having an amazing day and I
am so excited to bring to you Neil Troi, who
is the CEO co founder of Voltage Holdings, a company
specializing and launching, consulting, selling and acquiring brands with a
focus on the e commerce channels such as Amazon.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
FBA and multi channel.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
More than fifteen years of experience as a selling private
label products on Amazon and his company, Neil is here
today to talk about his new book, co authored with
Reed Larson, Almost Automated Income with FBA Build a profitable
lifestyle driven Amazon business exit for millions even without any.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
E commerce experience. Wow, welcome Neil. That was a mouthful.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'm so happy that you're here. As we were just
talking prior to going on air. You know, I get
the notification sell on Amazon and all the time and
you know, I look at it and I think to myself,
how do I do that?
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Well, I mean in civil terms, Well, thanks for having
me on, I appreciate it. If you are considering building
a business, I have personally found that, in now eighteen
years of experienced e commerce has been one of the
best places to take an aspiring entrepreneur and teach them
how to sell a product, even if.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
They have no idea what it is yet, or what they.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Will sell, or even who they'll sell it to, and
then teach them a process by which they can do
it and become successful with it. I've launched over a
thousand businesses that way in the last ten years. I
have twenty one brands of my own that we run
inside of Voltage, and I've taught a lot of business
owners have become CEO operators and come to that real
understanding that with the right processes and technology and people,
(04:06):
you can learn how to sell physical products on Amazon,
specifically in brands you're familiar with private label brands. Okay,
so if you've bought a product, if you've appreciated a
certain kind of shoe brand, or a shirt or a
purse brand or whatnot, we have discovered in our process
that instead of flipping products and arbitraging and wholesaling and
(04:27):
this kind of stuff which does give you short term profits,
short term gain, it is a little bit more of
a side hustle or hobby style business. And with our
background in business building, while we started that way, you know,
twelve years ago, we quickly moved into brand building because
we're creating something that has a longer term intrinsic value.
It becomes a saleable asset, and within four or five
(04:50):
years that can become a pretty considerable salable asset.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Wow. Wow. So a lot of people think or may
thing that you need some kind of normal training. Of
course you need some type of support, but how do
you make a successful mline business with no college or forage? Right?
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Because that was my story University of Hard Knocks. So
I encourage people who may be listening to this is
there's a way to gain leverage and knowledge from someone
who's already given that experience and already gone through those problems.
I've faced a business bankruptcy, so I know where that works.
So I've had highs in my business and made lots
of money, so I understand how that works. And kind
of understand the middle of the road scenario because I
(05:33):
was an employee until two thousand and seven and left
my corporate gig at IBM to become an entrepreneur. And
then it took me about four or five years to
discover that I didn't quite know exactly what I was
doing yet and had to kind of fumble my way
through that process until I found a mentor who really
taught me the components and fundamentals of business that I
was kind of missing. See, I was in that corporate
(05:56):
environment and they shielded me from so many things I
didn't understand, right. But once you're on your own, you're
the dishwasher, you clean up, you're the last man standing,
you pay for the taxes, you do all.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Of it right.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
And that can be a little disconcerning for people who
have never had any of that experience. And so what
I help people do is bridge that gap when taking
my experience in training and helping them go faster and
easier than going and alone by simply teaching them all
the things they should do and all the things they
should avoid. So you can go out to places like
you know, YouTube and stuff is a great educational tool,
(06:27):
and I encourage everyone to go learn how to sell
physical products and commerce and figure out what they need
to do. But in the end there's always a gap,
and knowledge that replicates your time faster reduces the time
frame and the risk when you work with other people
to support you. And I have hired mentors and paid
ten twenty fifty thousand a year and mentorships in order
(06:47):
to get closer to people who help me level up
my business through mentorship and relationship, through understanding the right
technologies to use, how to apply those technologies to my business,
how to maximize profits, how to deploy AI correctly into
my business, how to properly know who to trust with
my finances from accounting, and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And that has been.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Years of relationship driven business and trial and error that
have given me an opportunity to replicate a process with
less risk in a shorter period of time than most
people can do it going alone.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Do.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
I encourage everybody to try absolutely right, because without try,
we can't fail, and without fail we can't go forward,
and without understanding how to go forward, we can't actually
see ourselves in the process of being successful. You could
send on the couch and wish to be successful. But
if you never get off the couch, you're never going
to have that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
So so true, so true, you said a mouthful, because
we all I come from corporate America as well.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And you know when I left and started my business,
you know, like you said, you shield it from so
much stuff that you need.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Yeah, you don't always understand the intricacies of what it
means to cash versus a cruel in your accounting?
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Which one do I choose? What the heck do they
even mean? Right?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (08:04):
If I'm going to sell a product, well, what the
heck do I even sell to make this work?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Right? Who do I sell it to? Another big question? Right?
Speaker 5 (08:11):
And of course if I do that, how do I
make money in that process? How do I get my
numbers correct? And these are all big questions that everybody has, frankly,
and with training, you can understand that process. And in
any business, right, there is a profit and lost statement.
There is an offer, a service, a product that is provided.
You just kind of have to figure out which one's
(08:33):
most exciting to you. I got into digital marketing for
a while and found out it was really exciting to
do what's called affiliate marketing.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Are you familiar with that affiliate marketing?
Speaker 5 (08:41):
Yes, Yeah, got really good at it. Actually found out
I was really good at the aptitude. The problem was,
it's like quicksand it's constantly shifting. When you are affiliate
aning somebody else's product and they decide to not offer
that anymore, or they change the relationship of the affiliate,
I'm subservient to whatever they're wanting to do with their products,
and that got kind of frush trading and I couldn't
(09:01):
control the outcome. So as I got into the physical
product side, with the manufacturing and being able to control
the brand, I got to control the entire business. So
I kind of graduated from an entrepreneur into a business owner.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Okay, and I think that's kind of what we all
do as we moved through the business world.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
You certainly can. Yeah, So how do you.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Know if a business is even going to be profited?
Speaker 5 (09:30):
Yeah, that's a great question. We call it going by
the numbers and then the fundamentals of business when you
get down to it. You can't run your business on
gut feel at the end of the day, so there's
no guessing right when it gets down to products and
you know the portfolio of products, all right, a number
of products that we create inside of a brand. Each
product individually has to have profitability, not gross profit or
(09:53):
gross margin, but actually net profit.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
A lot of people.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
Confuse those things and they say, well, i'll have eighty
percent gross margins, this is going to be profitable, but
in actuality it's not. They have to understand the cost
of goods and everything that goes into creating one unit
of that product in order to sell it into the market.
So if we understand that, then we set a certain
principle of business and a business best practice that says, well,
(10:17):
for us, we don't want to sell a product that
doesn't make more than twelve dollars in net profit per unit.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
That's what we keep. It's all that really matters at
the end of the day.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Right, So, after my cost of goods and all the
material cost, logistics and freight and manufacturing and warehousing and
anything that applies that one unit of product getting sold
to a customer, what falls out the bottom of all
of that in the net is what I keep, and
I want to make sure it's more than twelve dollars.
So if it's twenty four and thirty six and forty eight.
(10:46):
Of course, I just make more money on each product
that is sold. Therefore, I can now reinvest in marketing,
I can pay myself, I can pay other people to
replicate my activities, and I can make my business not
only a going concern, but a profitable go concern. So
you just have to establish what are the numbers that
work for you and in business, you know, for us,
(11:06):
we discovered that anything less than twelve dollars in net
profit per unit isn't worth selling because once you get
to the platform fees like Amazon has fees, and once
you get into the market and discover where you can
sell the product, which is your retail price point, you
have to ensure that those numbers work. If they work
for every product in your brand, then your brand becomes profitable.
(11:28):
If your brand is profitable, then your business is profitable.
So it really starts at the grassroots. And here's the
thing about selling on a platform like Amazon or even
TikTok or Shopify or your own website. If the product
you choose is not only not profitable, but not the
right product, the rest of this stuff doesn't work. And
that's where a lot of people get kind of concerned,
(11:49):
so we built the process to kind of solve that problem.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So, of course there's always looking at costs go up, you.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Know, always fee goes up, things go up on time inflation.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, creating that product goes up, and in
today's world we already see.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
That can absolutely happen. Yeah, but here's a fascinating thing.
You might even see this in your area line of
work as well, and maybe somebody who's listening to this.
The demand for products on Amazon, for example, just as
one platform type has not changed in the last six months.
It is still five over five billion impressions a month
on that channel, over two hundred million prime users. What's
(12:32):
changed is people's ability to get certain products because the
platform itself, by Amazon's own admission, seventy two percent of
people selling on Amazon or third party sellers like us,
So the majority of those products you see on Amazon
are being sold through mechanisms like mine. And with that,
you realize the small businesses that are on there, of course,
have been impacted by certain things that have occurred in
(12:53):
the last six months, which means that a number of
sellers are no longer in that platform. For those who
are running their business is more effectively with greater profits.
We're actually seeing a thirty percent boost in traffic and sales,
so the reciprocal thing is occurring.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Those of us that are in.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
The market are actually gaining more market share, which is
really fun to watch. And this time, having gone through
the COVID in twenty twenty, is much different. It's much
different because the price and cost of products is considerably different.
As we were on the ground dealing with that growth
during that twenty twenty period, a lot of people were focused,
of course on health and wellness and family and the
(13:31):
concern that was happening there right naturally, but us running
the business during that timeframe, that was our primary focus.
And what most people don't understand is that at first
quarter of twenty twenty, we saw ten years of growth
in three months, we saw hypergrowth, right, but we also
saw the costs of those products and the containers of
those products go up very, very dramatically, like five to
(13:52):
six times of per container what we normally charge to
or get charged. That isn't even close to what we're
dealing with right now. So product is moving products completely available.
Product is only about two times more than it was
about four or five six months ago. That is nothing
compared to what we saw in twenty twenty to twenty
twenty three. Just to give you some context. Okay, what
(14:14):
people are seeing though, because they're not focused on their
health and wellness and other stuff, because that's not a
thing right now, right, not to the degree it was.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
As we all know.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
They're more focused on well tariffs, They're really focused on
all these other things they think are more nive, negative
and in actuality, all it is for those of us
in the ground, those of us in the business, it's opportunity.
It's probably some of the greatest opportunity I've seen in
many years of doing this business.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yes, yes, and at the age and you're right, these
things look negative, but how do you make it a positive?
For you?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Understanding opportunity is always a factor in every change. Now
with my business, my products and my brand, one of
the benefits I get and for those listening you should
understand this, I get to move with the market, right
because I control the effect of my brand. If prices
needs to raise a little bit, they raise a little bit.
If they need to come down a little bit, they
come down a little bit. It's what's called elasticity of
(15:07):
supply and demand. Right, it's economics, and so as the
market moves, you move with the market, and that's the
beauty of it.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Right.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
And physical products, Like second oldest profession in the world
is selling products. I'm not into the first one myself,
which is more prominent now, I think in other online platforms.
I'm into the product side, not that product side. And
there's always a demand for those products. There always is, right,
I mean, you still need products, you still have a life,
you still have to cook, you still shop, you still
(15:36):
do things. That need doesn't go away, right, And even
if the price changes, that need still has to be there.
So we look for products and opportunities that create that
and then we literally follow what we call our green
light process to determine which ones are profitable, which ones
are in demand, Which ones Amazon's literally telling me from
the data that this customer need and this intent are
(15:56):
in demand. So simply provide a product to that market.
When the data tells me it's green light. I test
that product out in the market to see what the
market will bear.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
So pretty much, give the people what they want.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Give the people what they want.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
See if I come in and I say well, I
have to sell this product or what about this, or
I need to do that. You are attempting to tell
the market what it wants. I'm not even smart enough
to do that. Only like less than one percent of
the world Elon Musk or whatever could create something and
tell the rest of the world this is what you want.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Everybody's like, yay, we want that.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Ninety nine percent of us are like, well, we're following
what the rest of the world's sort is doing. What
we're doing is we're innovating. We're not inventing, right, big difference.
We're innovating, we're not inventing. So with innovation and meeting
the market demand or what's called that customer need for
a product. Okay, which could just be like a sandbox
for kids, I want to create the best sandbox for
(16:48):
kids in the market, and I want to get my
brand in my product in front of that market and say, hey,
what about mine. Here's an option, what about this one.
It's got a slightly different feature, it's got a different base,
it comes with some discorent accessories. Right, this is my product,
what do you think of it? It's really not more
complicated than that. At the end of the day because
I know the market once though, is I can see
that the data is selling, you know, fifteen thousand units
a year. I know there's a demand. I just have
(17:10):
to put a product in there and find out can
I capture.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Some of it?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
That sounds so simple the way you explain it, you know,
but a lot of people think about it abstractly.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Well, yeah, that's a great way of putting it. And
you know why I think that happens. You end up
with the idea, maybe from conditioning, maybe because of the
way we see consumerism, maybe because you know, movies pushed
it on us a little bit, or television or whatever media,
and we think it's all all all about the product first,
and so we must engineer this product. We must invent
(17:43):
this thing that no one's ever heard of, and if
we don't do that, we can't make any money.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Is that sound right?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Yeah, it's the old If you build it, they will calm.
Remember that movie, the Field of Dreams movie.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
I think a lot of us got caught up in
the idea that if we build it, they will come.
And if we don't build this really unique invent of idea,
this shark tank idea. No one's going to want to
buy our product. But an actuality innovation is happening continuously
all the time and evolving, and that gives you millions
of product opportunities that are out there, continuously.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Up for grabs.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
And if you are able to get into that, you know,
you launch that product. What we do is we have
it manufactured for us. We're not selling somebody else's product, right,
We're selling a product we create, manufacture, so it's our product.
With that, I can innovate the differences. I can approach
the market and say, hey, I got a slightly different
product variation than you got. To some people, that may
look like an invention, yeah, but to the market, it's
(18:36):
just another variation.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
It's an innovation.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
And with that, you know, I'm meeting literally a demand
that is twenty four seven, three sixty five. It already
exists on the channel, all right, with one hundred plus
you know, two hundred million Prime users who are buying
literally seven thousand units a minute, okay on Amazon, seven
thousand units a minute are transversing through It's the thing
is a miracle that even works. It's so large. From
(19:00):
the trucks, the ships, the planes, stuff being delivered. It's
just a giant ecosystem, and we can leverage that ecosystem
to deliver our products to the customers and I don't
even have to do that. That's part of my automation
is I give that product Amazon and its warehouses, and
it takes it to the customer and delivers it and
handles returns and other things, so I don't have to
do that.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That's a big win, right.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
That means I can do that on fifty acres in
the country with my family when we hope school and
I don't have to be at a warehouse or shipping
those products out of my garage every day. That's a
pretty big way to reach a really large market really fast, right.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Absolutely absolutely, And you made me think about it. I
had to buy a lawnmowre, which is one of those products.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
That you need it, oh need yep.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And the one thing that made me buy the lawnmower
that I bought it was like a fold it up.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
There's a feature of folding and somebody innovated a foldable
top to that and that it's your need and you
chose whichever product based on price point in need. That
made the most sense to you. And you didn't actually
see the product or touch it, did you.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I mean I was in the store. Now I'm an
Amazon shop a hard.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Okay, but you were doing a little browsing in the
front of somebody else's store.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I was in the store and the guy was explaining
the different models and men and he said, well, this
one can fold so if it's fed in the shit,
and I was like, that's the one for me.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
And you went actually went onto Amazon and bought it.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Actually I didn't. I bought it from loads.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
You did it, okay, But I do.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Buy a lot of things from Amazon.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Sure, I see stuff on TikTok that I like, right,
and then I'll go to Amazon.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
And then you go to Amazon and buy it. There's
a lot of that's happening. That's part of what we
call the holistic e commerce system. So if I have
an Amazon sales channel, which is just one sales channel,
but I end up on my own website or I
end up on TikTok, then every time someone you know,
touches some component of that, they're able to buy from me.
And if they don't like TikTok, they can buy on Amazon.
(21:00):
And if they find my website and don't want TikTok,
then they can buy on my website. So really, I
just want to get in front of as many people
as possible, across as many channels as possible for aspiring
entrepreneurs who need to learn some of the fundamentals of business,
who need to learn how to correctly market the products,
because what we tell everybody is we sell AI listings
to an AI engine, and that engine delivers products to
(21:22):
people because that's its job. So if I can get
it to understand my product the best, it will find
the best amount of people to give my product to,
which helps me out a lot, Right, So I don't
actually focus on the product as much as I focus
on that component that's the sales engine that makes everything go.
Do I create a bad, me too crappy product? No, No,
I have to create a good product. That's very important.
(21:44):
I have to create a great product.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Actually, But it's actually the second biggest thing.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
And there's what a lot of people get caught up
on in this is they think I have to engineer
the super duper amazing product and it's really difficult and
complex when in actuality, you can sell an established product
that you innovate two or three times, small changes, it
becomes a unique product. But it's really most important at
the end of the day that you learn how to
sell that product.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Right.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
In your example, if you had bought that lawnmower from Amazon,
you would have waited for a day or two for
it to show up, right, or maybe in a city
you could have gone to a box, or maybe you
have one hour delivery now, right, that's possible, But the
end result is you didn't. You would have not bought
that product. You would have bought it literally sight unseen
(22:27):
is what I'm trying to say, and the product would
have showed up. So the intent of the images graphic
copy itself is the most important thing I teach people
in their business is to literally sales fixes everything and
to understand that concept because then when they do that
really well, the products become a brand, and that brand
becomes something that lives on for a lot longer than
(22:49):
the products. Products to serve a particular role, right, and
they can serve a role for a certain amount of
time and then that changes, but a brand can live
on for a very long time.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yes, absolutely, wow, Neil. So if people want to connect
with you. How do they do so well?
Speaker 5 (23:06):
If you're looking for a way to create generational time
and wealth freedom and say the next three to five years.
If you want to create a business that has an
exit potential, and you want to talk to somebody who's
actually acquiring companies and helping people build them up, then
this is what I'm wanting you to take a look at. Okay,
you go to voltage DM dot com. That's voltage DM
dot com, Digitalmarket dot com, or just google my last
(23:28):
name or google me or this podcast. You'll find us
one way or another, and watch the presentation that talks
exactly about what we call our as Scene on TV strategy,
myself and my mentor who also wrote the forward to
my book, which is the original Shark from Shark Tank,
Kevin Harrington. He's an inventor of the Scene on TV
brand and has done a lot of business wrote the
forward for that, and we actually did a little presentation
(23:48):
that explains exactly how our business model works, the capital
and time and energy and investment required to really make
a serious go at this, and to give you the
framework and playbook by which you can use my people
and processes and technology to build a roadmap for the
next three to five years that builds a business that
becomes a saleable asset, a saleable asset that's worth more
(24:09):
in the end than at any time during the business
building phase.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
And so we teach you guys how to learn how
to do that. There's workshops and other information in there
for you to check out.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yes, indeed, So the book tell us what people will
be taken away from your book.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Well, if you are a reader, if you want to
understand strategy for e commerce, this is your book.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
It's not a tactical book. There's a lot of tactics
out there.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
I know that a lot of people have their tactics,
YouTube videos and guides and how to books. But really,
when it gets down to it, the fundamental component of
understanding the business, who to sell to, and how to
make it profitable is what a lot of people miss.
And so that's how we developed the book. The book
as a strategy guide was actually based off of fifteen
of my chosen podcasts. Then we turned the fifteen of
(24:56):
those into fifteen chapters. Each chapter as an expert in
different areas finance and product research and marketing, logistics, and
supply chain and reviews and pretty much everything you need
to know about this business model. And I interviewed them
and that became part of the chapters. And so there's
experts with resources and case studies and access to that
information within the book to help you frame an understanding
(25:17):
of what it takes to build a real business that
can create that generational time and wealth freedom when you
do it right.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Wow. So I'm know some people out there are probably
listening to this and scratching their head. Yeah, because they
want to start this. They don't know how, They have
limited experience, So without spending a half a million and
three to five years doing it, how can they get started?
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Well, the first thing we teach them how to do
is figure out what the heck to sell. And with
our software and tools, there's only three clicks now, that's
all it takes to go in to determine a product
location based on an idea or what we call a
customer need that's already being driven by Amazon, where they
need to place it in Amazon, and then which specific
product they actually need to select based on the data,
based on the demand and the data the products literally appear.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
From there.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
We teach them how to build that through our roadmap.
We coach them one on one every week as many
times as they need. We have weekly calls every week
to help support them. We have a very strong support
network to follow that process to success, and we do
it over a twelve month invite. It is an invite
only application process. This is not a course or a program.
(26:28):
If you're somebody who is a hard charging entrepreneur, a
high income earner, somebody who might be looking at franchises
or business building or business buying, if you're into real
estate and maybe even wealth without Wall Street strategies and stuff,
and you're looking at how something like this could fit
into your potential business future, or maybe a bridge to
get you from your my job of which was a
(26:49):
W two hel island to my heaven island, whereich is
kind of where I'm hanging out now with my family.
I teach people how to get through that and become
really great CEO operators and to get started through the
process of building an actual business, one that will sustain
them through years four and five. Because most people don't
recognize that businesses don't fail in the first year, they
(27:09):
fail in years four through five. It's about a ninety
two percent failure rate, and it is because they don't
learn what the eight percent understand, and that is the time, energy, attention,
and money require to dedicate to a business that can
become life changing if they can grasp that concept and
understand the idea of e commerce and business and get
(27:31):
past the idea that really a side hustle or a
hobby business is the way to do this if they
really think of it as a real business, real changing,
real opportunity.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Those are the kind of.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
Folks I speak to. Those are the kind of ones
I would invite into my group. It's a very small group.
We've had less than three hundred people since twenty nineteen.
I'm only really looking for the needles in the haystack,
if you will, because it again.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Is not a course or a programmer or a course.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
I'm teaching real mentorship, business and CEO level experience to
give them that real opportunity to change their lives.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Okay, and how can people get the book?
Speaker 5 (28:07):
You could go to voltage DM dot com. I believe
we have a free copy. If I'm not mistaken, it
will be in the notes along with a code for
ten people who want to grab a free copy of that.
We'll put it in the notes. I believe Lenin sent
that over. So you guys have listened into this right
now check out the notes and description. I'm sure it
will be in there. There's ten free copies you guys
can get from our website, or you could if you
(28:27):
like Amazon and you want a book, you can go
to Amazon to and search for almost Automated Income with FBA.
If you do that almost Automated Income with FBA, you'll
find that book and you can just order it off Amazon.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah. So my next question, people don't necessarily have to have.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Their own product.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
That's correct.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
I'm going to show you exactly what the demand is
if you're willing to accept. Again, you mentioned it earlier,
the idea that there is something already moving, something already sellable.
I don't need to bring an idea or a construct
or a hard charging like I have to do this
or else kind of idea. What I need you to
come over and see is what's actually selling, what's the opportunity,
(29:06):
what's in demand? What can I sell? This starts generating
great money and income for my business. You don't need
to have a product idea. We'll show you exactly what
to sell.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, So the people that we see on Amazon when
we're all going to go shopping, are you pretty much
supporting a lot of those folks that we kind of
see selling?
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You probably see quite a few. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
We've sent over three hundred people, and since twenty nineteen,
I've done over one thousand businesses and twelve years that
I've supported, I've currently as mentioned, I have twelve brands
at twelve businesses that I support in product development and
ownership right now inside of Voltage to or Mind. And
then I have about forty three or so active clients
that we're supporting in our business Builders group right now
(29:50):
who are building up their own companies, becoming their own
CEO operators and we're mentoring them right now. And then
we're also in acquisition mode. So why I'm actually out
under a an acquisition strategy with my team from Patriot
Growth Capital. Patriot Growth Capital is a veteran backed, veteran funded,
veteran operated, an owned business that helped sixteen thousand veterans
(30:10):
last year. We have started a fund to acquire companies
with Voltage as the operating partner, so that we can
bring veterans into that business. We can employ them into
them the business, train them up, help them have purpose
and opportunity from the veteran community, and then within four
to five years, as long as they've reached their ten
thousand hours of certified progress in their business, they have
(30:32):
an opportunity to acquire that business from us. So we
really believe in giving people an opportunity to be a
part of that. So as we acquire these companies, we're
employing them into those companies.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Wow, that's amazing, that's amazing. I am so happy to
meet you, Neil. You have definitely taken a lot of
questions of how to build a profitable business in the
Amazon space. I absolutely love when I need to get
something it's Amazon.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
There's a lot of people that feel that way, and
you know, it's it is a tool. Let's call it
what it is. Some people don't prefer that tool. They'd say, well,
I want to own my own tool. I want to
use TikTok, or I want to buy my own way,
build my own website. And I'd say, every tool really
is an opportunity to build this the house. You just
might argue over the hammer versus a stick, or which
hammer you're going to use. But at the end of
(31:24):
the day, the purpose is to build the house no
matter what. Yes, and in the building of an e
commerce company, these are just sales channels, right, They all
have their pros and cons Most people need to understand
that when you become a business owner, your job is
to solve problems right in your business. Or if a
service or consulting or something is for someone else, you
solve problems in their business. And the better you're doing that,
(31:46):
the more you persevere at that process, the more successful
you will become. So business building is literally just nothing
but a series of solving problems. Amazon and all these
other companies have some problems, that have their challenges and
have their issues. But I think it's most important to
understand that in any of those channels or this business,
if you don't start with the fundamentals of the business first,
if you don't actually get trained on how to build
(32:08):
that company correctly, how to finance it correctly, and fund
it correctly and manage it correctly, it doesn't really matter
what you sell. The market may never find out what
you sell if you don't figure that out first.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Absolutely absolutely so, Again, how can my audience connect with.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
You sure, go to voltage DM dot com, check out
the presentation, check out the free book links for those
first ten people here, or head over to Amazon and
grab the book there. Or if you just type voltage
or Neil TOI into any search bar, you'll find any
of my social media accounts Instagram or otherwise, and you're
welcome to connect with me there.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Absolutely, so thank you so much to Neil. I appreciate this.
You explained everything so simplistic, you know, so, I really
appreciate you, and no audience does. Well.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Thank you for having me on. It's been an honor.
I appreciate it absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Thank you to our guests and you our values audience.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Let's stop you by. We truly appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Many blessings to you and yours
Welcome to Just Minded My Business Media LLC, where you
get information that you can use.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm your host, Ida Crawford. But before we dive in,
subscribe to Just Minding My Business on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And wherever you get your podcasts shape Just Minded my
Business with your family, friends, and pile leaders. Engage with
us by leaving a review or comment. Your support keeps
this podcast going and growing. Visit our website at JMMB
mediac dot com to learn how we can support you
(00:42):
and get more visibility on your products and services. So
grab a cent of paper and get ready for information
that you can use.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Are you a woman owned business ready to amplify your
VOE and grow your business? Join assist as Circle Empowerment
Network and step into a community that truly supports you.
Boost your visibility with our SEO optimized platform and connect
in our vibrant LinkedIn group. Showcase your achievements in our
(01:17):
quarterly magazine and shine in live interviews. Want a broader platform,
Gain access to exclusive discounted opportunities to feature your brand
or insights on conversations that matter that airs on Roku
and fireTV. Join us on September seventeenth, twenty twenty five
at seven pm Eastern Time. To learn more about assistus
(01:41):
Circle Empowerment Network, visit our website at https colon slash
slash asistcircle dot org. That's Asistascircle dot oorg. Click on
the What's going on tab and get registered.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Welc on to just minded my business.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I hope you are having an amazing day and I
am so excited to bring to you Neil Troi, who
is the CEO co founder of Voltage Holdings, a company
specializing and launching, consulting, selling and acquiring brands with a
focus on the e commerce channels such as Amazon.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
FBA and multi channel.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
More than fifteen years of experience as a selling private
label products on Amazon and his company, Neil is here
today to talk about his new book, co authored with
Reed Larson, Almost Automated Income with FBA Build a profitable
lifestyle driven Amazon business exit for millions even without any.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
E commerce experience. Wow, welcome Neil. That was a mouthful.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'm so happy that you're here. As we were just
talking prior to going on air. You know, I get
the notification sell on Amazon and all the time and
you know, I look at it and I think to myself,
how do I do that?
Speaker 5 (03:23):
Well, I mean in civil terms, Well, thanks for having
me on, I appreciate it. If you are considering building
a business, I have personally found that, in now eighteen
years of experienced e commerce has been one of the
best places to take an aspiring entrepreneur and teach them
how to sell a product, even if.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
They have no idea what it is yet, or what they.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Will sell, or even who they'll sell it to, and
then teach them a process by which they can do
it and become successful with it. I've launched over a
thousand businesses that way in the last ten years. I
have twenty one brands of my own that we run
inside of Voltage, and I've taught a lot of business
owners have become CEO operators and come to that real
understanding that with the right processes and technology and people,
(04:06):
you can learn how to sell physical products on Amazon,
specifically in brands you're familiar with private label brands. Okay,
so if you've bought a product, if you've appreciated a
certain kind of shoe brand, or a shirt or a
purse brand or whatnot, we have discovered in our process
that instead of flipping products and arbitraging and wholesaling and
(04:27):
this kind of stuff which does give you short term profits,
short term gain, it is a little bit more of
a side hustle or hobby style business. And with our
background in business building, while we started that way, you know,
twelve years ago, we quickly moved into brand building because
we're creating something that has a longer term intrinsic value.
It becomes a saleable asset, and within four or five
(04:50):
years that can become a pretty considerable salable asset.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Wow. Wow. So a lot of people think or may
thing that you need some kind of normal training. Of
course you need some type of support, but how do
you make a successful mline business with no college or forage? Right?
Speaker 5 (05:11):
Because that was my story University of Hard Knocks. So
I encourage people who may be listening to this is
there's a way to gain leverage and knowledge from someone
who's already given that experience and already gone through those problems.
I've faced a business bankruptcy, so I know where that works.
So I've had highs in my business and made lots
of money, so I understand how that works. And kind
of understand the middle of the road scenario because I
(05:33):
was an employee until two thousand and seven and left
my corporate gig at IBM to become an entrepreneur. And
then it took me about four or five years to
discover that I didn't quite know exactly what I was
doing yet and had to kind of fumble my way
through that process until I found a mentor who really
taught me the components and fundamentals of business that I
was kind of missing. See, I was in that corporate
(05:56):
environment and they shielded me from so many things I
didn't understand, right. But once you're on your own, you're
the dishwasher, you clean up, you're the last man standing,
you pay for the taxes, you do all.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Of it right.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
And that can be a little disconcerning for people who
have never had any of that experience. And so what
I help people do is bridge that gap when taking
my experience in training and helping them go faster and
easier than going and alone by simply teaching them all
the things they should do and all the things they
should avoid. So you can go out to places like
you know, YouTube and stuff is a great educational tool,
(06:27):
and I encourage everyone to go learn how to sell
physical products and commerce and figure out what they need
to do. But in the end there's always a gap,
and knowledge that replicates your time faster reduces the time
frame and the risk when you work with other people
to support you. And I have hired mentors and paid
ten twenty fifty thousand a year and mentorships in order
(06:47):
to get closer to people who help me level up
my business through mentorship and relationship, through understanding the right
technologies to use, how to apply those technologies to my business,
how to maximize profits, how to deploy AI correctly into
my business, how to properly know who to trust with
my finances from accounting, and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
And that has been.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Years of relationship driven business and trial and error that
have given me an opportunity to replicate a process with
less risk in a shorter period of time than most
people can do it going alone.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Do.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
I encourage everybody to try absolutely right, because without try,
we can't fail, and without fail we can't go forward,
and without understanding how to go forward, we can't actually
see ourselves in the process of being successful. You could
send on the couch and wish to be successful. But
if you never get off the couch, you're never going
to have that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
So so true, so true, you said a mouthful, because
we all I come from corporate America as well.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And you know when I left and started my business,
you know, like you said, you shield it from so
much stuff that you need.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Yeah, you don't always understand the intricacies of what it
means to cash versus a cruel in your accounting?
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Which one do I choose? What the heck do they
even mean? Right?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (08:04):
If I'm going to sell a product, well, what the
heck do I even sell to make this work?
Speaker 4 (08:08):
Right? Who do I sell it to? Another big question? Right?
Speaker 5 (08:11):
And of course if I do that, how do I
make money in that process? How do I get my
numbers correct? And these are all big questions that everybody has, frankly,
and with training, you can understand that process. And in
any business, right, there is a profit and lost statement.
There is an offer, a service, a product that is provided.
You just kind of have to figure out which one's
(08:33):
most exciting to you. I got into digital marketing for
a while and found out it was really exciting to
do what's called affiliate marketing.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Are you familiar with that affiliate marketing?
Speaker 5 (08:41):
Yes, Yeah, got really good at it. Actually found out
I was really good at the aptitude. The problem was,
it's like quicksand it's constantly shifting. When you are affiliate
aning somebody else's product and they decide to not offer
that anymore, or they change the relationship of the affiliate,
I'm subservient to whatever they're wanting to do with their products,
and that got kind of frush trading and I couldn't
(09:01):
control the outcome. So as I got into the physical
product side, with the manufacturing and being able to control
the brand, I got to control the entire business. So
I kind of graduated from an entrepreneur into a business owner.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Okay, and I think that's kind of what we all
do as we moved through the business world.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
You certainly can. Yeah, So how do you.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Know if a business is even going to be profited?
Speaker 5 (09:30):
Yeah, that's a great question. We call it going by
the numbers and then the fundamentals of business when you
get down to it. You can't run your business on
gut feel at the end of the day, so there's
no guessing right when it gets down to products and
you know the portfolio of products, all right, a number
of products that we create inside of a brand. Each
product individually has to have profitability, not gross profit or
(09:53):
gross margin, but actually net profit.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
A lot of people.
Speaker 5 (09:56):
Confuse those things and they say, well, i'll have eighty
percent gross margins, this is going to be profitable, but
in actuality it's not. They have to understand the cost
of goods and everything that goes into creating one unit
of that product in order to sell it into the market.
So if we understand that, then we set a certain
principle of business and a business best practice that says, well,
(10:17):
for us, we don't want to sell a product that
doesn't make more than twelve dollars in net profit per unit.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
That's what we keep. It's all that really matters at
the end of the day.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
Right, So, after my cost of goods and all the
material cost, logistics and freight and manufacturing and warehousing and
anything that applies that one unit of product getting sold
to a customer, what falls out the bottom of all
of that in the net is what I keep, and
I want to make sure it's more than twelve dollars.
So if it's twenty four and thirty six and forty eight.
(10:46):
Of course, I just make more money on each product
that is sold. Therefore, I can now reinvest in marketing,
I can pay myself, I can pay other people to
replicate my activities, and I can make my business not
only a going concern, but a profitable go concern. So
you just have to establish what are the numbers that
work for you and in business, you know, for us,
(11:06):
we discovered that anything less than twelve dollars in net
profit per unit isn't worth selling because once you get
to the platform fees like Amazon has fees, and once
you get into the market and discover where you can
sell the product, which is your retail price point, you
have to ensure that those numbers work. If they work
for every product in your brand, then your brand becomes profitable.
(11:28):
If your brand is profitable, then your business is profitable.
So it really starts at the grassroots. And here's the
thing about selling on a platform like Amazon or even
TikTok or Shopify or your own website. If the product
you choose is not only not profitable, but not the
right product, the rest of this stuff doesn't work. And
that's where a lot of people get kind of concerned,
(11:49):
so we built the process to kind of solve that problem.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So, of course there's always looking at costs go up, you.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
Know, always fee goes up, things go up on time inflation.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, creating that product goes up, and in
today's world we already see.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
That can absolutely happen. Yeah, but here's a fascinating thing.
You might even see this in your area line of
work as well, and maybe somebody who's listening to this.
The demand for products on Amazon, for example, just as
one platform type has not changed in the last six months.
It is still five over five billion impressions a month
on that channel, over two hundred million prime users. What's
(12:32):
changed is people's ability to get certain products because the
platform itself, by Amazon's own admission, seventy two percent of
people selling on Amazon or third party sellers like us,
So the majority of those products you see on Amazon
are being sold through mechanisms like mine. And with that,
you realize the small businesses that are on there, of course,
have been impacted by certain things that have occurred in
(12:53):
the last six months, which means that a number of
sellers are no longer in that platform. For those who
are running their business is more effectively with greater profits.
We're actually seeing a thirty percent boost in traffic and sales,
so the reciprocal thing is occurring.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Those of us that are in.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
The market are actually gaining more market share, which is
really fun to watch. And this time, having gone through
the COVID in twenty twenty, is much different. It's much
different because the price and cost of products is considerably different.
As we were on the ground dealing with that growth
during that twenty twenty period, a lot of people were focused,
of course on health and wellness and family and the
(13:31):
concern that was happening there right naturally, but us running
the business during that timeframe, that was our primary focus.
And what most people don't understand is that at first
quarter of twenty twenty, we saw ten years of growth
in three months, we saw hypergrowth, right, but we also
saw the costs of those products and the containers of
those products go up very, very dramatically, like five to
(13:52):
six times of per container what we normally charge to
or get charged. That isn't even close to what we're
dealing with right now. So product is moving products completely available.
Product is only about two times more than it was
about four or five six months ago. That is nothing
compared to what we saw in twenty twenty to twenty
twenty three. Just to give you some context. Okay, what
(14:14):
people are seeing though, because they're not focused on their
health and wellness and other stuff, because that's not a
thing right now, right, not to the degree it was.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
As we all know.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
They're more focused on well tariffs, They're really focused on
all these other things they think are more nive, negative
and in actuality, all it is for those of us
in the ground, those of us in the business, it's opportunity.
It's probably some of the greatest opportunity I've seen in
many years of doing this business.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yes, yes, and at the age and you're right, these
things look negative, but how do you make it a positive?
For you?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Understanding opportunity is always a factor in every change. Now
with my business, my products and my brand, one of
the benefits I get and for those listening you should
understand this, I get to move with the market, right
because I control the effect of my brand. If prices
needs to raise a little bit, they raise a little bit.
If they need to come down a little bit, they
come down a little bit. It's what's called elasticity of
(15:07):
supply and demand. Right, it's economics, and so as the
market moves, you move with the market, and that's the
beauty of it.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Right.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
And physical products, Like second oldest profession in the world
is selling products. I'm not into the first one myself,
which is more prominent now, I think in other online platforms.
I'm into the product side, not that product side. And
there's always a demand for those products. There always is, right,
I mean, you still need products, you still have a life,
you still have to cook, you still shop, you still
(15:36):
do things. That need doesn't go away, right, And even
if the price changes, that need still has to be there.
So we look for products and opportunities that create that
and then we literally follow what we call our green
light process to determine which ones are profitable, which ones
are in demand, Which ones Amazon's literally telling me from
the data that this customer need and this intent are
(15:56):
in demand. So simply provide a product to that market.
When the data tells me it's green light. I test
that product out in the market to see what the
market will bear.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
So pretty much, give the people what they want.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Give the people what they want.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
See if I come in and I say well, I
have to sell this product or what about this, or
I need to do that. You are attempting to tell
the market what it wants. I'm not even smart enough
to do that. Only like less than one percent of
the world Elon Musk or whatever could create something and
tell the rest of the world this is what you want.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Everybody's like, yay, we want that.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
Ninety nine percent of us are like, well, we're following
what the rest of the world's sort is doing. What
we're doing is we're innovating. We're not inventing, right, big difference.
We're innovating, we're not inventing. So with innovation and meeting
the market demand or what's called that customer need for
a product. Okay, which could just be like a sandbox
for kids, I want to create the best sandbox for
(16:48):
kids in the market, and I want to get my
brand in my product in front of that market and say, hey,
what about mine. Here's an option, what about this one.
It's got a slightly different feature, it's got a different base,
it comes with some discorent accessories. Right, this is my product,
what do you think of it? It's really not more
complicated than that. At the end of the day because
I know the market once though, is I can see
that the data is selling, you know, fifteen thousand units
a year. I know there's a demand. I just have
(17:10):
to put a product in there and find out can
I capture.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Some of it?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
That sounds so simple the way you explain it, you know,
but a lot of people think about it abstractly.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
Well, yeah, that's a great way of putting it. And
you know why I think that happens. You end up
with the idea, maybe from conditioning, maybe because of the
way we see consumerism, maybe because you know, movies pushed
it on us a little bit, or television or whatever media,
and we think it's all all all about the product first,
and so we must engineer this product. We must invent
(17:43):
this thing that no one's ever heard of, and if
we don't do that, we can't make any money.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Is that sound right?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (17:47):
Yeah, it's the old If you build it, they will calm.
Remember that movie, the Field of Dreams movie.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
I think a lot of us got caught up in
the idea that if we build it, they will come.
And if we don't build this really unique invent of idea,
this shark tank idea. No one's going to want to
buy our product. But an actuality innovation is happening continuously
all the time and evolving, and that gives you millions
of product opportunities that are out there, continuously.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Up for grabs.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
And if you are able to get into that, you know,
you launch that product. What we do is we have
it manufactured for us. We're not selling somebody else's product, right,
We're selling a product we create, manufacture, so it's our product.
With that, I can innovate the differences. I can approach
the market and say, hey, I got a slightly different
product variation than you got. To some people, that may
look like an invention, yeah, but to the market, it's
(18:36):
just another variation.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
It's an innovation.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
And with that, you know, I'm meeting literally a demand
that is twenty four seven, three sixty five. It already
exists on the channel, all right, with one hundred plus
you know, two hundred million Prime users who are buying
literally seven thousand units a minute, okay on Amazon, seven
thousand units a minute are transversing through It's the thing
is a miracle that even works. It's so large. From
(19:00):
the trucks, the ships, the planes, stuff being delivered. It's
just a giant ecosystem, and we can leverage that ecosystem
to deliver our products to the customers and I don't
even have to do that. That's part of my automation
is I give that product Amazon and its warehouses, and
it takes it to the customer and delivers it and
handles returns and other things, so I don't have to
do that.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
That's a big win, right.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
That means I can do that on fifty acres in
the country with my family when we hope school and
I don't have to be at a warehouse or shipping
those products out of my garage every day. That's a
pretty big way to reach a really large market really fast, right.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Absolutely absolutely, And you made me think about it. I
had to buy a lawnmowre, which is one of those products.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
That you need it, oh need yep.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And the one thing that made me buy the lawnmower
that I bought it was like a fold it up.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
There's a feature of folding and somebody innovated a foldable
top to that and that it's your need and you
chose whichever product based on price point in need. That
made the most sense to you. And you didn't actually
see the product or touch it, did you.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
No?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
I mean I was in the store. Now I'm an
Amazon shop a hard.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Okay, but you were doing a little browsing in the
front of somebody else's store.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I was in the store and the guy was explaining
the different models and men and he said, well, this
one can fold so if it's fed in the shit,
and I was like, that's the one for me.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
And you went actually went onto Amazon and bought it.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Actually I didn't. I bought it from loads.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
You did it, okay, But I do.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Buy a lot of things from Amazon.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Sure, I see stuff on TikTok that I like, right,
and then I'll go to Amazon.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
And then you go to Amazon and buy it. There's
a lot of that's happening. That's part of what we
call the holistic e commerce system. So if I have
an Amazon sales channel, which is just one sales channel,
but I end up on my own website or I
end up on TikTok, then every time someone you know,
touches some component of that, they're able to buy from me.
And if they don't like TikTok, they can buy on Amazon.
(21:00):
And if they find my website and don't want TikTok,
then they can buy on my website. So really, I
just want to get in front of as many people
as possible, across as many channels as possible for aspiring
entrepreneurs who need to learn some of the fundamentals of business,
who need to learn how to correctly market the products,
because what we tell everybody is we sell AI listings
to an AI engine, and that engine delivers products to
(21:22):
people because that's its job. So if I can get
it to understand my product the best, it will find
the best amount of people to give my product to,
which helps me out a lot, Right, So I don't
actually focus on the product as much as I focus
on that component that's the sales engine that makes everything go.
Do I create a bad, me too crappy product? No, No,
I have to create a good product. That's very important.
(21:44):
I have to create a great product.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Actually, But it's actually the second biggest thing.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
And there's what a lot of people get caught up
on in this is they think I have to engineer
the super duper amazing product and it's really difficult and
complex when in actuality, you can sell an established product
that you innovate two or three times, small changes, it
becomes a unique product. But it's really most important at
the end of the day that you learn how to
sell that product.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Right.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
In your example, if you had bought that lawnmower from Amazon,
you would have waited for a day or two for
it to show up, right, or maybe in a city
you could have gone to a box, or maybe you
have one hour delivery now, right, that's possible, But the
end result is you didn't. You would have not bought
that product. You would have bought it literally sight unseen
(22:27):
is what I'm trying to say, and the product would
have showed up. So the intent of the images graphic
copy itself is the most important thing I teach people
in their business is to literally sales fixes everything and
to understand that concept because then when they do that
really well, the products become a brand, and that brand
becomes something that lives on for a lot longer than
(22:49):
the products. Products to serve a particular role, right, and
they can serve a role for a certain amount of
time and then that changes, but a brand can live
on for a very long time.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yes, absolutely, wow, Neil. So if people want to connect
with you. How do they do so well?
Speaker 5 (23:06):
If you're looking for a way to create generational time
and wealth freedom and say the next three to five years.
If you want to create a business that has an
exit potential, and you want to talk to somebody who's
actually acquiring companies and helping people build them up, then
this is what I'm wanting you to take a look at. Okay,
you go to voltage DM dot com. That's voltage DM
dot com, Digitalmarket dot com, or just google my last
(23:28):
name or google me or this podcast. You'll find us
one way or another, and watch the presentation that talks
exactly about what we call our as Scene on TV strategy,
myself and my mentor who also wrote the forward to
my book, which is the original Shark from Shark Tank,
Kevin Harrington. He's an inventor of the Scene on TV
brand and has done a lot of business wrote the
forward for that, and we actually did a little presentation
(23:48):
that explains exactly how our business model works, the capital
and time and energy and investment required to really make
a serious go at this, and to give you the
framework and playbook by which you can use my people
and processes and technology to build a roadmap for the
next three to five years that builds a business that
becomes a saleable asset, a saleable asset that's worth more
(24:09):
in the end than at any time during the business
building phase.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
And so we teach you guys how to learn how
to do that. There's workshops and other information in there
for you to check out.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yes, indeed, So the book tell us what people will
be taken away from your book.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Well, if you are a reader, if you want to
understand strategy for e commerce, this is your book.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
It's not a tactical book. There's a lot of tactics
out there.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
I know that a lot of people have their tactics,
YouTube videos and guides and how to books. But really,
when it gets down to it, the fundamental component of
understanding the business, who to sell to, and how to
make it profitable is what a lot of people miss.
And so that's how we developed the book. The book
as a strategy guide was actually based off of fifteen
of my chosen podcasts. Then we turned the fifteen of
(24:56):
those into fifteen chapters. Each chapter as an expert in
different areas finance and product research and marketing, logistics, and
supply chain and reviews and pretty much everything you need
to know about this business model. And I interviewed them
and that became part of the chapters. And so there's
experts with resources and case studies and access to that
information within the book to help you frame an understanding
(25:17):
of what it takes to build a real business that
can create that generational time and wealth freedom when you
do it right.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Wow. So I'm know some people out there are probably
listening to this and scratching their head. Yeah, because they
want to start this. They don't know how, They have
limited experience, So without spending a half a million and
three to five years doing it, how can they get started?
Speaker 4 (25:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Well, the first thing we teach them how to do
is figure out what the heck to sell. And with
our software and tools, there's only three clicks now, that's
all it takes to go in to determine a product
location based on an idea or what we call a
customer need that's already being driven by Amazon, where they
need to place it in Amazon, and then which specific
product they actually need to select based on the data,
based on the demand and the data the products literally appear.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
From there.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
We teach them how to build that through our roadmap.
We coach them one on one every week as many
times as they need. We have weekly calls every week
to help support them. We have a very strong support
network to follow that process to success, and we do
it over a twelve month invite. It is an invite
only application process. This is not a course or a program.
(26:28):
If you're somebody who is a hard charging entrepreneur, a
high income earner, somebody who might be looking at franchises
or business building or business buying, if you're into real
estate and maybe even wealth without Wall Street strategies and stuff,
and you're looking at how something like this could fit
into your potential business future, or maybe a bridge to
get you from your my job of which was a
(26:49):
W two hel island to my heaven island, whereich is
kind of where I'm hanging out now with my family.
I teach people how to get through that and become
really great CEO operators and to get started through the
process of building an actual business, one that will sustain
them through years four and five. Because most people don't
recognize that businesses don't fail in the first year, they
(27:09):
fail in years four through five. It's about a ninety
two percent failure rate, and it is because they don't
learn what the eight percent understand, and that is the time, energy, attention,
and money require to dedicate to a business that can
become life changing if they can grasp that concept and
understand the idea of e commerce and business and get
(27:31):
past the idea that really a side hustle or a
hobby business is the way to do this if they
really think of it as a real business, real changing,
real opportunity.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Those are the kind of.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
Folks I speak to. Those are the kind of ones
I would invite into my group. It's a very small group.
We've had less than three hundred people since twenty nineteen.
I'm only really looking for the needles in the haystack,
if you will, because it again.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Is not a course or a programmer or a course.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
I'm teaching real mentorship, business and CEO level experience to
give them that real opportunity to change their lives.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Okay, and how can people get the book?
Speaker 5 (28:07):
You could go to voltage DM dot com. I believe
we have a free copy. If I'm not mistaken, it
will be in the notes along with a code for
ten people who want to grab a free copy of that.
We'll put it in the notes. I believe Lenin sent
that over. So you guys have listened into this right
now check out the notes and description. I'm sure it
will be in there. There's ten free copies you guys
can get from our website, or you could if you
(28:27):
like Amazon and you want a book, you can go
to Amazon to and search for almost Automated Income with FBA.
If you do that almost Automated Income with FBA, you'll
find that book and you can just order it off Amazon.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah. So my next question, people don't necessarily have to have.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Their own product.
Speaker 4 (28:44):
That's correct.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
I'm going to show you exactly what the demand is
if you're willing to accept. Again, you mentioned it earlier,
the idea that there is something already moving, something already sellable.
I don't need to bring an idea or a construct
or a hard charging like I have to do this
or else kind of idea. What I need you to
come over and see is what's actually selling, what's the opportunity,
(29:06):
what's in demand? What can I sell? This starts generating
great money and income for my business. You don't need
to have a product idea. We'll show you exactly what
to sell.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Okay, So the people that we see on Amazon when
we're all going to go shopping, are you pretty much
supporting a lot of those folks that we kind of
see selling?
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You probably see quite a few. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
We've sent over three hundred people, and since twenty nineteen,
I've done over one thousand businesses and twelve years that
I've supported, I've currently as mentioned, I have twelve brands
at twelve businesses that I support in product development and
ownership right now inside of Voltage to or Mind. And
then I have about forty three or so active clients
that we're supporting in our business Builders group right now
(29:50):
who are building up their own companies, becoming their own
CEO operators and we're mentoring them right now. And then
we're also in acquisition mode. So why I'm actually out
under a an acquisition strategy with my team from Patriot
Growth Capital. Patriot Growth Capital is a veteran backed, veteran funded,
veteran operated, an owned business that helped sixteen thousand veterans
(30:10):
last year. We have started a fund to acquire companies
with Voltage as the operating partner, so that we can
bring veterans into that business. We can employ them into
them the business, train them up, help them have purpose
and opportunity from the veteran community, and then within four
to five years, as long as they've reached their ten
thousand hours of certified progress in their business, they have
(30:32):
an opportunity to acquire that business from us. So we
really believe in giving people an opportunity to be a
part of that. So as we acquire these companies, we're
employing them into those companies.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Wow, that's amazing, that's amazing. I am so happy to
meet you, Neil. You have definitely taken a lot of
questions of how to build a profitable business in the
Amazon space. I absolutely love when I need to get
something it's Amazon.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
There's a lot of people that feel that way, and
you know, it's it is a tool. Let's call it
what it is. Some people don't prefer that tool. They'd say, well,
I want to own my own tool. I want to
use TikTok, or I want to buy my own way,
build my own website. And I'd say, every tool really
is an opportunity to build this the house. You just
might argue over the hammer versus a stick, or which
hammer you're going to use. But at the end of
(31:24):
the day, the purpose is to build the house no
matter what. Yes, and in the building of an e
commerce company, these are just sales channels, right, They all
have their pros and cons Most people need to understand
that when you become a business owner, your job is
to solve problems right in your business. Or if a
service or consulting or something is for someone else, you
solve problems in their business. And the better you're doing that,
(31:46):
the more you persevere at that process, the more successful
you will become. So business building is literally just nothing
but a series of solving problems. Amazon and all these
other companies have some problems, that have their challenges and
have their issues. But I think it's most important to
understand that in any of those channels or this business,
if you don't start with the fundamentals of the business first,
if you don't actually get trained on how to build
(32:08):
that company correctly, how to finance it correctly, and fund
it correctly and manage it correctly, it doesn't really matter
what you sell. The market may never find out what
you sell if you don't figure that out first.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Absolutely absolutely so, Again, how can my audience connect with.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
You sure, go to voltage DM dot com, check out
the presentation, check out the free book links for those
first ten people here, or head over to Amazon and
grab the book there. Or if you just type voltage
or Neil TOI into any search bar, you'll find any
of my social media accounts Instagram or otherwise, and you're
welcome to connect with me there.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Absolutely, so thank you so much to Neil. I appreciate this.
You explained everything so simplistic, you know, so, I really
appreciate you, and no audience does. Well.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
Thank you for having me on. It's been an honor.
I appreciate it absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Thank you to our guests and you our values audience.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Let's stop you by. We truly appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Many blessings to you and yours
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com