SHOW TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is automatically generated by Descript.  Any errors or omissions are unintentional.

[00:00:00] Jeff Sieh: Hello folks. Welcome to social media news live. I’m Jeff See. And

[00:00:04] Conor Brown: And I’m Connor Brown, and this is the show that keeps you up to date on what’s happening in the world of social media and more.

[00:00:12] Jeff Sieh: today I’ve got something special I want to shoot to you guys. Before we get started, I have put together a free download of for the holidays. So I wanted to, uh, pop this up. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you. This is, you know, I’m a big fan of Midjourney. That’s what I use to create our graphics for the show.

[00:00:27] Jeff Sieh: Uh, I’m going to be talking about it a lot next year. And one of the cool things is they have these codes that you can put on the end of your prompts to actually give it a style. It’s like a cheat code for styles. And I’ve put together this awesome, uh, kind of collection, uh, Of cheat codes for you guys.

[00:00:43] Jeff Sieh: This is my Mid Journey Holiday SRF codes, and this is free. You can get it over at jeffsieh. com forward slash holiday dash codes. That’s jeffsieh. com forward slash holiday dash codes. And what it is, is it tells you how to use it at the very, very top. But it’s this database of all these different [00:01:00] images that have the codes to them right at the top.

[00:01:03] Jeff Sieh: So let’s say we wanted to look at this Victorian golden hue. And I, I use the same prompt for each one of those, like four different prompts that I’ve used, and I’ll go ahead and pop this up and it kind of gives you a breakdown and a tags of the different styles, but also it gives you the actual examples of them.

[00:01:17] Jeff Sieh: And then you can actually scroll through, scroll through them just like this. You can see there’s Santa. We’ve got one, a Christmas tree. We’ve got a, um, snowman. And then what I’ve also done. I was pretty awesome. Yeah, just like me. And this one is actually, um, like a mood board. I’ve given you an example of like, if you wanted a mood board and just kind of see a bunch of different styles.

[00:01:36] Jeff Sieh: So, uh, that’s just one of them. We’ve got so many inside of here. Go back and show you some other ones. We’ve got some really cool, um, like, I really like this hand drawn one here that you can see, but that code right there, that S ref, and then then those numbers, you just put that at the end of your prompt, any prompt, and it will give this style to your images.

[00:01:54] Jeff Sieh: So, uh, just some really cool. And one of my favorite ones is kind of a Wes Anderson like [00:02:00] one. That kind of has some muted colors that you can kind of see there. So yeah, so go to jeffsieh. com forward slash holiday codes and you can get your own, it’s totally free just to sign up and you’ll be able to check those out.

[00:02:15] Jeff Sieh: So anyway, I thought that was kind of cool. I’ll put that together. Connery, do you use mid journey at all? You played with it.

[00:02:21] Conor Brown: little bit, but, uh, I’m definitely going to sign up for this and did you use some of these hex codes for that photo that you posted, Jeff, where you’re driving the old car and you had the doughnuts? And I also want to know, does it just automatically add in doughnuts anytime

[00:02:33] Jeff Sieh: No, it’s not. No, it’s it should because that is me. But, um, uh, no, it’s it’s actually that was just a prompt that I did with this of me. And then I did a face swap. But yeah, those there’s a ton of different ones in there. You can make I’ve tried to include as many different styles as you can. So it’s very good.

[00:02:49] Jeff Sieh: I love the journey, especially for this reason with those style codes. So jeffsieh. com forward slash codes. Check that out. But anyway, that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here for Our friend, [00:03:00] um, Billy Thorpe, and we’re going to be talking about monetization strategy, especially because Billy has thought, um, outside of the box.

[00:03:07] Jeff Sieh: So here’s kind of the intro. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to grow a thriving business from scratch, even without a massive following, well, Billy has done that. And maybe you’re curious about the strategies behind turning unconventional opportunities Or maybe you’re interested in opportunities in live selling or product promotion in the new year.

[00:03:26] Jeff Sieh: If any of those sounds familiar, then this episode is going to be just what you need. Today, we’re excited to welcome someone who’s been there and done it. Billy Thorpe. He’s built a six figure Amazon influencer business in just a year. And he’s here to share the bold moves, creative thinking, and lessons learned along the way.

[00:03:44] Jeff Sieh: So sit back, relax, and enjoy. Clear schedule, clear mind to get ready for this week’s episode of Social Media News Live. Billy, how you doing today, my friend?

[00:03:53] Billy Thorpe: Jeff, I’m doing good, man. I really appreciate the invite to the show. I’m glad to be here and talk about all these fun things. And actually [00:04:00] while you were showing the mid journey stuff, my wife just bought a year subscription. So I’m going to tell her to go check that out. And then also I was thinking like, man, I wonder why he’s not live selling those as postcards for Christmas.

[00:04:11] Conor Brown: Yeah,

[00:04:12] Jeff Sieh: That would be print on demand. Yeah, that’d be a good idea. Yeah,

[00:04:15] Billy Thorpe: Postcards, baby. Let’s go. Old school.

[00:04:18] Conor Brown: everyone listening right now or watching, you’re going to quickly realize that Billy has a million awesome ideas, and if you don’t know who Billy Thorpe is the founder of Deal Billy HQ. He has used his 20 plus years of media creation experience to grow a six figure Amazon influencer business in the first 12 months of operations.

[00:04:39] Conor Brown: He has generated over 3, 100 brand deals and worked with 500 plus e commerce sellers since 2022. Billy is a multifaceted creator with a passion for helping other content creators realize the opportunities in the creator economy. Even when you have a small audience, we absolutely loved Jeff and [00:05:00] myself getting to spend time with Billy at Creator Camp a couple of months ago.

[00:05:03] Conor Brown: So we’re so happy for having Billy back here to talk about unboxing. Thanks again for being here, Billy.

[00:05:10] Billy Thorpe: Yeah, man, and it was great meeting you guys at Creator Camp. It’s one of the highlights of the trip, eating good pizza, drinking good beers, ah, so good.

[00:05:20] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, and, uh, speaking of Ecamm, they are the sponsors of the show. You can find out more about them by going to ecamm. com forward slash Jeff. You can save 15 percent by using code JEFF15 at checkout if you’re a first time user of Ecamm. But go check them out, ecamm. com forward slash Jeff.

[00:05:35] Jeff Sieh: They are what makes this show possible. Great community. You meet cool people like Billy. Billy did an awesome training on monetization at Creator Camp and I know they’re going to have another Creator Camp next year and I’ll make sure to guys let you know when the wait list is open for that, but ecamm.

[00:05:49] Jeff Sieh: com forward slash Jeff. So we’re going to jump right into Amazon Influencer Journey, what Billy’s journey was in this. So. You know, Billy, you had a [00:06:00] podcast and you did a bunch of different stuff. You had a t shirt business, which was, you know, you kind of got hit hard during COVID, but what motivated you to transition from podcasting to becoming an Amazon influencer and have, how did you kind of navigate that when you, when you first got started?

[00:06:17] Billy Thorpe: Um, yeah, man, so there was a, you know, first of all, I want to just preface by saying, you know, it’s a long story. Like this whole entrepreneur journey is just learning different skill sets and leveraging those project after project. So when, you know, when I’m like, Oh, I built a six figure business in 12 months, it literally took those 20 years of like flubbing up and doing all that.

[00:06:36] Billy Thorpe: So I’m not really one of those get rich quick guys. I mean, I want to be, trust me, I’ve looked for that easy button my whole life. Um, but when it came down to it, yeah, I lost the t shirt printing business in 2020. I wasn’t diversified enough with streams of revenue. And I got kicked in the pants a couple of times during that year.

[00:06:54] Billy Thorpe: And then, you know, my wife was just like, what do you want to do? And I’m like, I want to create [00:07:00] content again. Because I had been on the backside of the camera, in the producer chair, in the production chair, Uh, doing videos for a non profit and doing, you know, YouTube channel and, and TV programs and all this stuff.

[00:07:13] Billy Thorpe: And I’m like, I want to be on the, on the front side of the lens and just figure out, you know, can I do that? Can I create content? Can I bring value to people, you know, on the internet or whatever? And live streaming at that point had kind of like, I found Ecamm, which, um, I’ve used some of their products in the past, their, uh, their Skype, uh, recorder they used to have back in the day.

[00:07:35] Billy Thorpe: So I used to use that for TV. And then I found Ecamm and I was like, Oh man, I should start like a saltwater fishing show. Cause I like saltwater fishing. So anyway, kind of during that 20, you know, 2020 started doing the podcast thing and, you know, it was partnered with somebody and we got sponsorship deals and we did that for, I don’t know, 140 episodes built a 300 person membership.

[00:07:55] Billy Thorpe: And it was a lot of fun, but I was still splitting everything with my, with my [00:08:00] friend. And, you know, we were, we were kind of just like, okay, what’s the real scalability opportunity here? And, and also while doing that, I was on Clubhouse, which is a social audio app. And my friend Monty Weaver and Chris Giles were like, Oh, dude, I went live on Amazon today.

[00:08:15] Billy Thorpe: I made a bunch of money. And I’m like, you went live on what? Where? How? And so. They started telling me about it. And then I’m like, well, dude, I don’t have, I’m not an influencer. I don’t have a social media profile at all. Like that’s going to qualify. And so the first thing I did was just got really serious about my Instagram account and creating content for podcasters on how to monetize their podcasts, because I didn’t realize I was like one of, you know, a one percenter in the podcast world of getting sponsorship deals.

[00:08:45] Billy Thorpe: I thought everybody made money with podcasts, I had no idea. And people were like, oh, we don’t. So I’m like, okay, that’s the content. So anyway, so I created this Instagram profile, I got it rocking and rolling, and then I barely got into the influencer program. And I started [00:09:00] watching, um, like, like the guys that cast ahead, Chris Stone, uh, Jim Fuse, uh, Monty, Chris, Giles, and just really started watching what these guys were doing.

[00:09:11] Billy Thorpe: I went live a handful of times, and then I was in Puerto Rico at the time. We lived there. It’s a whole nother story, but, uh, we lived there for a year. And I really couldn’t get products so I could just do whatever was on my desk. And so I did my microphones, my roadcast, whatever. And I started making like three to 600 a month.

[00:09:30] Billy Thorpe: Off Amazon, like shoppable videos. Cause they kind of rolled that out at the time. And I was like, this is too good to be true, but I’m just going to wait and see what happens. And so I did that consistently for almost a year. And then when I got home, I realized kind of in that time of studying and just watching people and watching some brand deals come together, I’m like, Oh, there’s an opportunity to build a real business, not just a side hustle and not just make affiliate money or maybe money is what I call it.

[00:09:59] Billy Thorpe: There’s a [00:10:00] real, there’s a real business here and it’s within this kind of Chinese marketplace. So, um, that’s, that’s where I really started brainstorming that. And then went on a journey a couple of years ago to test it. Uh, it got crazy busy, crazy fast. And then just over time, over the last couple of years, really refined my process and, um, to be able to, to leverage into that, you know, low ticket, high frequency business and in the, in the program.

[00:10:27] Billy Thorpe: So. It’s really not the program that makes me a bunch of money is really working with brands. I mean, the program makes decent, but Amazon controls it. So yeah, that’s kind of how I got into it.

[00:10:37] Jeff Sieh: very cool.

[00:10:37] Conor Brown: I remember we were the three of us were at the wine and chocolate tasting which was an excursion at Ecamm Creator Camp and I remember, Me and Jeff just standing there and we’re both very quiet as you told your story, which doesn’t happen often because we were just mesmerized by how you built this from the ground up and all the challenges [00:11:00] that you got.

[00:11:00] Conor Brown: Like, yeah, it’s one thing to get these products and, and, um, uh, review them and work with brands and those sorts of things. But a genius thing was your approach to then getting rid of the products, right? Once you’ve reviewed them and, and that whole thing, you’re like, yeah. I didn’t even realize that was a challenge.

[00:11:16] Conor Brown: You get all this stuff, you have to review it. Then what do you do with that? So your whole system was just incredible. Uh, uh, and I loved hearing all those things, but I know, you know, in getting this started, you probably faced some, some real challenges in, in your first year, even though you saw such great success.

[00:11:33] Conor Brown: So Billy, can you talk, kind of talk about just some of the significant challenges as you started with this brand and Amazon influencer journey that, that you went on?

[00:11:45] Billy Thorpe: Yeah. I think one of the, you know, I think one of the biggest challenges like the unknown, it’s like there’s this new live selling shoppable content that there’s not really a roadmap for. Um, and if there is, especially like working with brands, It [00:12:00] was, you know, more of like, well, you got to have all these followers and, and all this stuff.

[00:12:03] Billy Thorpe: And, and I’m kind of like Jeff in this sense, you know, when people are giving him a hard time about building on Pinterest, uh, people are giving me a hard time about, uh, you know, you can’t go get a sponsorship deal or a brand deal unless you have all these followers and blah, blah, blah. So, you know, my favorite line is like, hold my beer and watch this.

[00:12:20] Billy Thorpe: And, you know, It gives better results now in my late 30s than my early 20s. So I’m excited about that. But, you know, I just put this stuff to the test and go, well, there’s got to be a way to come in here and do this. So I think the whole, like getting started, overcoming those voices, you know, Clubhouse was hot back then.

[00:12:40] Billy Thorpe: Everyone was talking about just upload videos, upload more videos and make all this money. It’s scalable. It’s this, it’s that. But in the back of my mind, I knew, like, this is too good to be true on the platform side. And I don’t want to be like a pessimist, but I got to be a realist and go, this is only springboarding because they want people to get in.[00:13:00]

[00:13:00] Billy Thorpe: They want popularity. They want it to grow. They want people to know about it. They want free marketing from really excited influencers to go, go look at my storefront and all this to get people on. On the platform. And so I got to just protect myself. And I think we’ve seen that more, more than, you know, more this year than ever, that it’s not a scalable platform.

[00:13:21] Billy Thorpe: It’s not something that you can quit your day job and work full time. If you just use the thing. So that was kind of my whole thing was like, how am I really going to do this? Um, yeah, the, the, the part of getting products and, um, you know, I was getting a lot of free products at first and I was doing brand deals for super cheap and then I got too many and then I hired somebody and then that was like, yeah, dude, we’re going to be rich.

[00:13:46] Billy Thorpe: This is awesome. It did come like December 23rd. There’s like no business until like, no, until like February, March. And I’m like, Oh dude, I screwed up. I’m sorry, man. I can’t, I gotta, I need, you’re not fired, but you can’t, I’m not going to pay you. [00:14:00] Like you can hang. But, um, so yeah, that first year was kind of crazy.

[00:14:04] Billy Thorpe: Cause it was like a lot of, you know, and everybody gets this way when you’re, especially in business and you kind of hit this hot, you know, this hot thing. You’re like, Oh man, I just got to scale, get a scale, get a scale. And then reality hits of like, Oh, this isn’t, is this seasonal? I just rented an office.

[00:14:19] Billy Thorpe: Like I just, I just committed to three years. Like, is this seasonal? Like I’m going to have to clean up dog poop at my neighbor’s yard, like a half a cent a turd, just like try and pay this rent, you know? So, uh, yeah, that first year was emotional. It was pretty wild.

[00:14:34] Jeff Sieh: So,

[00:14:34] Conor Brown: to work for someone and they, in a previous life, they owned a ice cream store on the beach and it was him and his two brothers and they owned it and he would always say during the summertime we’d be out playing golf, big cigars, just laughing, this is the greatest thing ever, and then in the wintertime when no one was at the beach, no one was buying ice cream, they would just fight and fight and fight and think this is the dumbest idea we’ve had.

[00:14:58] Conor Brown: So that seasonality is [00:15:00] something that is huge, especially with selling. Social

[00:15:07] Jeff Sieh: we’ll talk about this a little bit. But one of the things that I thought was so cool about your story, Billy, is that, How you embraced unpopular products. So you and I were both in a lot of the, uh, the groups. In fact, one of the, the great groups and the OG, Monty Weaver sent up some emojis to us from LinkedIn.

[00:15:27] Jeff Sieh: Um, he’s a great guy. He’s been on the show a couple years ago, I think, um, gotta get him back on. But, uh, one of the things is you kind of embraced these unpopular products because everybody’s griping about. So, we’ve had a lot of people in these groups oversee products and how they’re nickel and dime you and they’re not any good and all this stuff, but you kind of went, you know what, um, I’m going to take these that other people have rejected and, and kind of use that for my springboard.

[00:15:56] Jeff Sieh: So, can you talk about your thoughts behind that and how it contributed [00:16:00] to your success?

[00:16:02] Billy Thorpe: Yeah, man. So first of all, uh, shout out to Ecamm. Uh, once again, sponsor of this show. I, you know, I love, I love Ecamm. I was using it for podcasting and live streaming. And so I realized I could quickly, you know, make product videos sitting at my desk. So I could do this front shot where you show the product.

[00:16:20] Billy Thorpe: I could do an overhead cam. I could do whatever I needed to. I could put in B roll from my phone and I could switch it all on my stream deck. So I was like. Okay, I can do these videos fast. That’s the one thing that I probably have. I mean, a lot of people have it. They just don’t realize this is like the number one tool.

[00:16:37] Billy Thorpe: So I’m like, okay, I can do videos quick. Um, I can, you know, do a lot of them quickly. So I can do 10 a day. So if I can do 10 a day, and then back then, You know, if I’m like, if I can get 15 an item and I can do 10 items a day, it’s 150 bucks a day. So I was looking at it like overall, not just per deal or per piece or per whatever.

[00:16:59] Billy Thorpe: [00:17:00] And so, you know, I’m like looking at it as a frequency model. And, you know, and I’m thinking about the whole time I’m thinking about coffee. I’m like, I mean, there’s probably plenty of margin in coffee. So maybe this is a bad example, but I’m like, man, the Starbucks has to sell a lot of cups of coffee to really make this thing churn.

[00:17:16] Billy Thorpe: And you look at them, do they think I’m freaking a hundred employees working in a shift or whatever? It depends on the size of the store. And so I’m like, okay, there’s gotta be a way to get into this market at these low price points where the market currently is. And then I can build a portfolio and then I can start to charge when my demand goes up.

[00:17:37] Billy Thorpe: And so that was kind of how I thought about it was like, okay, my demand’s low. No one’s calling me to do a video. No one’s emailing me. No one’s reaching out to me. I’m doing all the outreach. So if I’m doing all the outreach, they got something I want. Now, the tables eventually turned to where now people are reaching out to me every single day, and now the ball’s in my court, and the negotiation power’s on my side, because they’re going, [00:18:00] Oh, you’ve done, and I sent you guys 3, 100 videos, I’ve actually done 3, 600 and something videos, And now it’s like, now I have this portfolio that’s professional, that’s quick, that doesn’t look like anything else.

[00:18:12] Billy Thorpe: That’s got good audio, good lighting. It’s not my crappy, shaky iPhone footage while I’m, you know, sitting on the toilet trying to show the toilet paper holder. It’s like, it’s like good quality stuff that brands actually want to represent their product. And so now I have the leverage point to go, Oh, that 15 is now 50 is now a hundred dollars.

[00:18:35] Billy Thorpe: However, I can still produce the 50 to a hundred, the 250 video, the same way I produced the five, 10, 15 video. So it’s still, it’s just more money in my pocket. And that’s only like, you know, one part of that was my whole mindset was like. Okay, 10, 15 dollars a video, I can do 10 of these a day, and really what I didn’t realize was like, I’ve done 35 of these in a day, [00:19:00] depending on what the deal is.

[00:19:01] Billy Thorpe: So you can do a ton of videos, and then that was when I realized, you know, the first year when I had. 400 products on all these shelves lined up on both sides of my desk where I’m like, now I have a problem. I got to get rid of all the stuff, you know? Um, but a lot of influencers out there that I personally know are like, yeah, man, I got my storage unit.

[00:19:24] Billy Thorpe: I’m paying, I got all this stuff in there. I’m like, you’re paying for a storage unit, dude. That’s cash on the shelf, man. Let me show you how to get rid of that and get rid of it fast and add another stream of revenue into your business. And so, I did this, the first couple batches of stuff, I just sold as fast as I could to anybody who’d buy it for a few dollars a piece.

[00:19:44] Billy Thorpe: And then I was like, wait, let me slow down. Let me figure this out. And then, you know, so the, so the one batch I sold for like 500 bucks, the next batch was like 4, 000 and then I’m selling on whatnot and selling on Facebook marketplace and some other places to generate revenue. So it’s, [00:20:00] it’s really like a three tier.

[00:20:01] Billy Thorpe: Well, there’s more than that, but then my three main incomes is the Amazon. Brand deals. So that’s the, you know, whatever, 25 to 250 price point for the video, depending on what they want. The commission from Amazon. Somebody clicks on the video, watches it. I get paid or watches it hits by now or the, in the resale.

[00:20:21] Billy Thorpe: So that’s like the trifecta approach. And now there’s other stuff like. That I do a little bit of like offsite where I drive traffic to the listing and then creator connections is something new that Amazon’s doing. I’ve made a little bit of money off of, um, but yeah, man, I, I just like, I was like, I can’t change that.

[00:20:40] Billy Thorpe: I don’t have an audience or I’m going to spend 10 years building an audience so I can go charge 20, 000 for a video. Or I’m just going to figure out how do I do these videos as fast as freaking possible and then resell them and just create a whole different type of business that no one else is really talking about.

[00:20:58] Jeff Sieh: So,

[00:20:59] Billy Thorpe: that’s the [00:21:00] approach.

[00:21:00] Jeff Sieh: I want to, real quick, Connor, follow up on one of the things that Billy said. So, you said you do these brand deal type of videos where you’re, they pay you to do this. They give you the free product and they also pay you. So, and you said it was from 25 to 200. How do you, I know a lot of people were like, okay, how do you decide what price to charge?

[00:21:22] Jeff Sieh: Like, what, what do you get for a 25 video versus a 200 video?

[00:21:28] Billy Thorpe: Well, you get the same thing, no matter what. It’s not really what the video does. It’s how many videos can you give me per month? How many projects are we doing together? Are you an agency? If you’re an agency, I’m going to give you a frequency discount. Um, now I don’t really price anybody that anymore.

[00:21:44] Billy Thorpe: Like, you know, I got some agents that have been with me since day one and they’re still 20 bucks, but they’re still sending me, you know, 10, 15 products a month or whatever, and they’re typically higher ticket. So it’s like, if it’s a higher ticket, I’ll charge you a lesser fee. You know, [00:22:00] if I can flip it, if I can make more money.

[00:22:02] Billy Thorpe: Um, you know, that kind of stuff. So really for me, it’s all about frequency. It’s like, Oh, you’re, you’re one, you’re a seller with one product. Like, well, it’s not, you know, it’s here. We’re, this is a one time deal. So, you know, you can just go ahead and pay me the premium price. Oh, are you gonna send me 50 products?

[00:22:19] Billy Thorpe: Okay, let’s, we can work it out for you. So that’s kind of how I’ve set it up.

[00:22:23] Jeff Sieh: Gotcha.

[00:22:24] Conor Brown: System is incredible and, and just so well thought out and, and it makes perfect sense once you kind of dive into it. And I do wanna talk about, in a sec, managing relationships and, and continuing to get those, those brand deals. ’cause your system works when it keeps going. Right? But I wanna bring up this question from Chris Stone first.

[00:22:44] Conor Brown: He says, we turned down so many products from brands that weren’t on brand. For deal casters. So Billy, were there any products you drew the line on and said, no, this, this just isn’t for me.[00:23:00]

[00:23:00] Billy Thorpe: If it didn’t work, you know, cause I’m, cause it doesn’t make sense. Now that’s really the only thing. I mean, there’s probably stuff that like, it’s really complicated. Okay. So I learned this early on. This is a, this was a problem my first year. Somebody’s like, we want to send you this dresser. And I’m like, yeah, send me the dresser.

[00:23:17] Billy Thorpe: This is so cool. It was like 400 pieces. I mean, this thing, it was good. It was a great dresser. I had to be, there were so many pieces that you had to put together, but it wasted so much of my time. And I had to pay my neighbors to finish it for me. And then, uh, you know, all this stuff. So I didn’t make any money off of that deal.

[00:23:35] Billy Thorpe: And so I really kind of, you know, draw the line when it comes to how, how can I produce it? Is it going to be quick? Is it going to be fast? I don’t need 400 ceiling fans. I have nowhere to install a ceiling fan. I’m never taking it. There’s no, you know, any electrical, uh, there’s, you know, stuff. It’s hard to get approved by Amazon, like medical stuff and all this.

[00:23:54] Billy Thorpe: I don’t touch any of that. Supplements. I say no, and I turn down probably a hundred products a [00:24:00] month because it’s not in the category. So that’s how I do it. So, cause my brand on Amazon is to create videos. It’s to be an Amazon influencer. I’m not trying to create, and I think it’s can be in every single category.

[00:24:14] Billy Thorpe: Like I think if there’s a influencer that it’s like, I’m the electronics guy. Then you are just niching down way too far on Amazon. Like, I think it’s the opposite of YouTube. It’s the opposite of podcasting. It’s the, and that’s where a lot of YouTubers get on here and get frustrated because they’re like, well, I’m the guy who’s going to talk about electronics.

[00:24:31] Billy Thorpe: So I’m like, you need to be the guy who’s talking about toothpicks and electronics, like. Toothpicks are cool, man. And they’ll, you just want people to click on your video and watch it and buy. That’s what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to help them make a purchasing decision. And so, I mean, in my case, I was just like, I’ll do anything, dude.

[00:24:49] Billy Thorpe: I did fingernail clippers. I did, I mean, I just did a video the other day about ingrown toenail, like thing,

[00:24:57] Jeff Sieh: You know what my, you know what? My biggest [00:25:00] seller, my biggest seller that constantly makes me money on Amazon is those fruit fly traps. Those, those Apple that are like. I don’t know, like two bucks or something, but you start stacking that up every day for months and months and months. It’s, it’s my biggest seller.

[00:25:15] Jeff Sieh: I mean, so you gotta, you gotta remember what, you know, what’s popular and versus what’s those big ticket items and you have to balance it. And some things surprise you. Like, I never would have guessed this would have done it. I was probably, you know, it’s like, well, I’m going to make this video and I’ll just throw it up.

[00:25:28] Jeff Sieh: But it’s, it’s really funny how that works.

[00:25:30] Conor Brown: But it’s also something that , yeah.

[00:25:33] Billy Thorpe: Oh, go ahead.

[00:25:34] Conor Brown: I would say it’s something everyone needs, you know, everyone probably wants to sell computers on Amazon, right? Because it’s a higher ticket or whatever, but you’re buying one computer every few years, you know? Fruit flytraps. I mean, if you live in a cesspool like I would assume Jeff does, you probably get them.

[00:25:52] Jeff Sieh: It’s, they’re just constantly, you don’t see them.

[00:25:55] Billy Thorpe: Uh, that’s funny. Yeah. You know, and I think it, and that’s another strategy too, like [00:26:00] just what I do was just because I don’t wanna rely on the platform to, to make money off of. Because I realize, and we all know this now, if you’re in the program, they, Amazon is their own business and they can do what they want, when they want, how they want it, and I respect them for it.

[00:26:14] Billy Thorpe: And I appreciate the opportunity to play on their playground. And I just realized sometimes I got to bring my own toys and sometimes I got to figure out how to entertain myself in their world because they will, they’ll change the game and that’s totally cool. Like they’ll move videos, they’ll take videos away, they’ll, you know, switch them out in the carousel, like stuff that was producing early on.

[00:26:36] Billy Thorpe: Like this microphone for me was producing really, really well. It was one of the first videos I uploaded. I haven’t made money off this microphone in a year. And so I, you know, for me to be irritated at Amazon to go, well, you’re not doing my microphone video. It’s like. That’s really stupid. Like, move on, create more videos, and stop crying about what Amazon’s doing and figure out what you can do.

[00:26:57] Billy Thorpe: And so, there’s a lot of different [00:27:00] strategies to make money, and it depends on what, you know, I wanted to build a business. If I wanted to build a side hustle, Dude, I wouldn’t work with a brand at all. I would just go through everyone’s house I’ve ever met in my entire life. I’d pay them 50 bucks and go, give me an hour in your house alone.

[00:27:15] Billy Thorpe: And I would just rip through 30 second vertical videos and just forget it. I would do, I mean, you think I have 3, 600 videos right now? I’d have 20, 000 videos in a year. Like I would just rip. And who knows what I would make. But if I was going to a nine to five job where it’s like, you don’t have to, you know, it’s like, this is just vacation money.

[00:27:36] Billy Thorpe: Dude, I would, and people want to complain about the 30 second video they uploaded two years ago. So I’m making money, like get over yourself and go make another video of something else or remake the same stupid video. Like who cares?

[00:27:48] Jeff Sieh: Right.

[00:27:48] Billy Thorpe: It’s like, I mean Walmart doesn’t sell one product and so you can’t think you’re going to live off of.

[00:27:55] Billy Thorpe: 200 videos on, and I get it. It’s a lot of work, but figure out how to do it [00:28:00] easier. So it’s not a lot of work. And so that’s how I’ve created 1, 270 videos this year is by building a system.

[00:28:07] Jeff Sieh: and, and our, our thing with Ecamm, I think you said like, you don’t consider yourself a product reviewer. You’re a product demo kind of guy. You more just demo the product. You don’t really say, Hey, this is the best, you know, stream deck ever, you know, and, and kind of do it that way. You do it as a way like, Hey, here it is.

[00:28:25] Jeff Sieh: This is what it looks like out of the box. Here’s the buttons. Here’s the cords. There you go. That kind of what you do.

[00:28:31] Billy Thorpe: Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I think people overthink this a lot and they try to be salesy. And it’s like, that’s just, nobody cares. Uh, I mean, for me, my whole style is. What comes in the box? How does it work? And what do I think about it? I don’t know, unless I really think it’s great. Now I do think the Stream Deck is wonderful.

[00:28:47] Billy Thorpe: It’s great. It’s awesome. It’s changed my business, changed my life and brings up every website I use with one push of a button. I can totally recommend it. And, um, but for the, I don’t know, for the [00:29:00] TikTok ring that I got that you put on your finger and scroll through TikTok, I just got this thing. Like, I’m not going to say this is the world’s greatest TikTok scrolling ring.

[00:29:09] Billy Thorpe: You know, I’m going to show how it works and I’m going to say, was this easy? Was it hard? And really just give, like, the highlights of the product and not get down into, like, Oh, I’m trying, I’m desperate for you to buy this. Cause I want to make 30 cents. Like I really, I realized, you know, it’s not that valuable.

[00:29:27] Billy Thorpe: Um, it’s not that serious and it’s crazy, Jeff. Like I saw in a group this morning where people are like, Hey, Amazon did this incentive program. I did 40 videos. I.

[00:29:41] Jeff Sieh: lost Billy.

[00:29:42] Conor Brown: I know what he’s going to say though, you do that incentive program and nothing comes from it, you know,

[00:29:47] Billy Thorpe: Oh, am I still here?

[00:29:48] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, you’re

[00:29:49] Billy Thorpe: Am I back? Oh, sorry. Well, anyway, these people were like going hard in the paint, saying they’re like gonna reach out to the CFO of Amazon and complain and do all this, and I’m like, [00:30:00] I mean, it’s not that serious. It’s not that serious. Like, nobody, this is not, I mean, it’s crazy to me.

[00:30:06] Jeff Sieh: Yeah,

[00:30:07] Billy Thorpe: Go figure out how to build a business.

[00:30:09] Conor Brown: but really.

[00:30:09] Billy Thorpe: Pretty wild.

[00:30:11] Conor Brown: Wait, the reason that what your system works is because you’ve been able to build these relationships with brands and that’s been your focus, right? You know, Amazon is the destination. It’s not the entire thing. It’s just where you kind of house these videos and your relationships with these, these brands and your partnerships with them has been really, I think the most successful part of, of your business.

[00:30:34] Conor Brown: So what are some, You know, top tips for just finding these relationships and making them work and also managing them. I mean, you said you’ve, you’ve got 3, 600 videos, over 500 brand deals. How do you manage those relationships? How do you manage the payments? You know, all that stuff. What are your tips for just building these relationships?

[00:30:54] Conor Brown: [00:31:00] Yeah.

[00:31:20] Billy Thorpe: and consistent and quality.

[00:31:23] Billy Thorpe: It’s like, do the best you can. Now. You don’t have to do a Broadway, I mean a, you know, like a Hollywood production. But it’s just like, show up, do what you say you’re going to do, get it in a timely fashion. And here’s the hottest tip I got is the quicker you get videos done, the more opportunities you’re going to get because you’re creating, Oh, Oh, you got that done?

[00:31:40] Billy Thorpe: Well, I got this. Because these guys are very much just like, if they’re an age, especially if they’re an agency, they’re They’re reaching out to maybe a hundred influencers or 50 or 25 or whatever. And early bird gets the worm. Like there’s a reason why I wake up at 4AM every day. It’s not because I like waking up at 4AM every day. It’s because I like putting money in the bank. [00:32:00] And so I’m getting to it before you are. And that’s the reason why is because I’m showing up. I’m responding, I’m in the chats, I’m on my email, and I’m there, and I’m getting these deals, and I’m making sure my pipeline is completely smashed full, and that products are coming in year round, or as close to year round as possible.

[00:32:21] Billy Thorpe: And so I think that’s, you know, with anybody, people, and speaking of social media and all that, People do business with people and I don’t care what country you’re from. I don’t care what language you speak. There’s a way to communicate and respect people and navigate those relationships and be willing and open to learn about people’s businesses and what are their needs and what do they desire and how can you serve them in this space?

[00:32:49] Billy Thorpe: And so I do way more than just like, yep, cool. Send me the product. Here’s your invoice. I ask questions. I talk to, you know, like, Hey, I’m creating this one [00:33:00] particular type of content. Is there another type of content that your customers or your clients want or this brand wants or that you want?

[00:33:07] Billy Thorpe: Like, do you want short form content for social media? I could probably create a video for that. Is there like other types of videos I can create with this same product, not just Amazon influencer videos. And this is where in 2025, I’m kind of moving more into. As well as more of this UGC type of content.

[00:33:26] Billy Thorpe: I’m doing a lot of business over on Fiverr right now. Surprisingly doing a lot of business on Fiverr and I’m just realizing, Oh, I’m not monetizing the Amazon influencer program anymore. And that’s not, and that’s never really been my main focus, but now I’m monetizing my skillset as a content creator.

[00:33:44] Billy Thorpe: And that can look a lot of different ways. And I think there’s a huge opportunity for us moving into 2025, especially in the shoppable space, man. It’s just gonna be insane.

[00:33:54] Conor Brown: for

[00:33:56] Jeff Sieh: It’s huge over there. It’s moving here. People are starting to embrace it. [00:34:00] And I do want to talk about that in a little bit in the next section, some of the other things that you do. But, um, Jim, the amazing person over at DealCasters, one of the guys over there says, where are you building your brand off of Amazon?

[00:34:12] Jeff Sieh: Which I thought was a great question.

[00:34:14] Billy Thorpe: Yeah, that’s a great question. Uh, and that’s probably one I probably should work on, to be honest with you. Um, I do have, you know, I have my website, so yeah, billythorpe. live. Um, I am building a community. It’s a membership, you know, community over there. And, you know, really, I’m working on an idea for YouTube as far as just teaching other people.

[00:34:35] Billy Thorpe: So I’ve never been one to, I’ve never been one to really just be like, Oh, let me, you know, let me, let me just jump right in and teach. You know, I’m not going to say the name of the podcast, but there’s a really well known podcast and there’s a person on there who’s in the Amazon Influencer space. And they were talking about their coaching and teaching program and all this.

[00:34:55] Billy Thorpe: I’m like, okay, this sounds really good. I go look at their Amazon account and I swear to God, they have [00:35:00] like 200 videos and I’m like, you are not doing what you say you’re doing. I don’t care who you are. I don’t give a shit if you’ve, if you’ve done every large product on planet earth and you’re selling one of, you’re not doing the numbers you say.

[00:35:13] Billy Thorpe: And so people have been asking me for so much help, um, and that’s why I even started the, you know, the group that I’ve been working on is because my inbox is full. Like, hey, can you help me? Can you help me? Can you help me? And I’m like, dude, I don’t know. And then I heard our friend Liz Wilcox on a, um, on a, on the, on a side hustle show and talking about her low ticket, you know, membership group.

[00:35:35] Billy Thorpe: And I was like, Oh, that’s a good idea. I should just do that. And so anyway, so that’s a whole new thing. And so that’s, I’m probably just now into, okay, I’ve tried this for 24 months, 28 months, whatever I’ve been into it. I’ve helped, you know, two dozen people kind of get similar results or, you know, scaled results, but simple, but the same exact process.

[00:35:57] Billy Thorpe: Um, so I got a little bit of social proof, a little bit of, you [00:36:00] know, numbers in the bank and, you know, I just feel, I feel like I can come to somebody and they can go. Hey, pay me in, or I’ll pay you, you help me and I go, okay, I can sleep at night versus, Oh, I made 12 videos. I made a hundred bucks. Now let me go do my 12, 000 coaching course.

[00:36:17] Billy Thorpe: Just makes me want to vomit, but whatever.

[00:36:20] Jeff Sieh: There’s a lot of people, uh, gurus like that. So yeah, I mean, I love your attitude. And one of the cool things, and we’ve talked about a little bit, is about your, um, Kind of your innovative selling strategies because you do, I, I would think even now, if you start in and putting up videos, Amazon, you’re going to get people coming out of the woodwork wanting to give you free stuff.

[00:36:40] Jeff Sieh: And some of it’s cool. And I mean, I remember when I first started, I’m like, this is awesome. All this cool stuff, the gadgets, which I love. And then it starts coming and coming. And come in and you’ve got all this stuff that, I mean, I’ve given stuff away to my church and I mean all the, you know, and it still keeps coming.

[00:36:57] Jeff Sieh: So you’ve kind of done [00:37:00] some cool stuff. And I actually watched your show the other, yesterday on WhatNot, which is a platform I hadn’t even really jumped into. So. Talk about, like, how you’ve integrated platforms like Whatnot into your sales strategy. What advantages they have versus, like, eBay and selling products that you get from brands.

[00:37:17] Jeff Sieh: Are brands okay with that? Like, kind of break it down because it’s a whole other side that people don’t think of. They just, like you said, get a storage building and stuff it full until they have to buy another one. So, talk about that.

[00:37:30] Billy Thorpe: Yeah. So I, you know, that was one of the things I ran into was like, man, I need to sell all this product. And like I mentioned earlier, I sold it to a couple of resellers, um, and that stuff works out good if you can find somebody who wants to write you a fat check. And, and this is kind of the same in the video world, you know, it’s like you can go out and sell a 20, 000 video, but you’re going to have to work a lot of hours to go find that person to write you a 20, 000 check to do a 20, 000 video.

[00:37:55] Billy Thorpe: And then you’re going to have to produce a 20, 000 video. And so, you know, kind of the [00:38:00] same with the reselling thing. It’s like, okay, I can try to go sell this for full price or 10 percent off for retail and, you know, get as much value as I can out of this free product. Uh, or I can just go find a place where I can sell it fast.

[00:38:14] Billy Thorpe: You know, I get it fast, I sell it fast, and we just figure that out. And so I was actually on Clubhouse again. Clubhouse has really given me a lot of business ideas. And, uh, there’s a couple people on there and they’re like, I was, I was struggling. I was like, man, I just got all this product. I don’t know what to do.

[00:38:29] Billy Thorpe: I’m like, I’m ADHD. It’s cluttering me. I’m like, I’m going to freak out. And they’re like, you should sell on whatnot. They’re like, it’s a really good place to sell. And so I assume that they sold on whatnot. I’m like, Oh, good. Okay. You guys sell on whatnot. I’ll sell on whatnot. They’re like, yeah, go do it. Go knock it out.

[00:38:44] Billy Thorpe: So I get on there. I sell, I don’t even know, probably 50 products my first show. I mean, I’m talking, it’s an auction site. So it’s like, Ebay meets Twitch, they had a baby, it’s whatnot, you’re live selling, people are bidding on stuff, and [00:39:00] you know, it’s just moving so fast, and so I’m like, I’m loving this, man, people are buying crap, whatever, and so I just, you know, I sell it, then I go back on Clubhouse, I go, oh yeah, I just did a show, you know, 50 pieces, whatever, and they go, oh cool, so it works, I’m like, Well, yeah, what do you mean it works?

[00:39:15] Billy Thorpe: Like you, you sell on there, right? And they’re like, no, we don’t sell on there. We just knew you would go do it and come back and tell us what’s up.

[00:39:20] Conor Brown: S

[00:39:36] Billy Thorpe: the brand awareness, to be honest. They’re probably like, Oh, cool. You know, you’re showing our product somewhere else and we’re not paying you. So thanks for the free promotion. Um, so I’m sitting, you know, I’m selling it on there. Now, the thing about whatnot on eBay, eBay is going to be, eBay is like YouTube, whatnot is like Amazon.

[00:39:55] Billy Thorpe: So eBay, I feel like is high value, high ticket. It takes a [00:40:00] little while to curate. It’s kind of the long game. You might put a product on there. It might sell in two hours. It might sell in two years. Like you never really know. Like if you’ve ever sold on eBay. It’s not very fast, uh, in my experience, but Whatnot is kind of like that Amazon game where it’s like, it’s a frequency model.

[00:40:18] Billy Thorpe: You don’t get as high value, uh, but you move stuff pretty fast. And if you have a quick intake, then you can have a quick, you know, a quick exit as well. And that’s what I love about it. Cause I can, Do 50 product videos a week and sell 50 products a week. And just to put it into perspective, I sold 171 products over the last three shows over these past two weeks and put 2, 000 in profit in my pocket from selling free.

[00:40:46] Billy Thorpe: Goods that I got for zero cost of goods. Now, if you’re like buying stuff, you gotta really find some good deals. But if you’re an Amazon influencer with free stuff sitting around your house, taking up space, figure out [00:41:00] what your mortgage is, figure out what your office payment is or whatever, and figure out what the square footage is that that shelf has taken up.

[00:41:06] Billy Thorpe: And do the math and that’s what’s costing you every single month. It’s not giving you anything. It’s costing you money. And then that’ll motivate you to go sell that stuff. So yeah, I think last year I did over 20, 000 just in reselling and what I would call liquidated prices of just selling product.

[00:41:24] Jeff Sieh: So on that model, how did, first of all, um, what, like what ratio of like, uh, your products do you put on Whatnot versus eBay and how, you know, is, is there a reasoning that you kind of use to decide what I’m going to, where I’m going to put it?

[00:41:42] Billy Thorpe: Yeah. I mean, I don’t really do eBay much. Um, I, if it’s like a really high ticket item and I’m, and I’m like, I just can’t feel good about sleeping at night if it’s going to go. Mostly, if it’s a high ticket, like I get a 3, 000, which is probably the highest ticket item I’ve gotten from an Amazon seller.

[00:41:59] Billy Thorpe: There’s like a 3, [00:42:00] 000, you know, solar power unit with, with all this, that stayed with me. I’m not giving that up, you know, so I’m not selling that. Like, are we kidding? And the, and you know, I get electric scooters and stuff. I got eight electric scooters in my garage right now, or four. So I don’t know how many, but, um, you know, some of that stuff stays.

[00:42:19] Billy Thorpe: But yeah, I mean, so eBay’s, okay. Facebook marketplace is an absolute dumpster fire. Where I live, you know, it’s a lot of, I’ll be there in an hour. It’s two hours later. Oh, you showed up. Yeah, but I forgot my money. Can you follow me to the gas station and get cash or whatever? Um, so I kind of gave up on it.

[00:42:36] Billy Thorpe: So, you know. It’s more for me, it’s more of a convenience thing and whatnot. It’s just very convenient and it’s very quick. I can go live for an hour, sell 50 products, take a couple hours to ship it out and build a community over there as well. So I’ve gotten 2, you know, followers on that platform. And these are people who are looking to shop.

[00:42:57] Billy Thorpe: They’re looking to buy, they’re looking for a deal. [00:43:00] And so, um, yeah, it, and I did the math and on what not, I averaged probably 10 to 11 per product in profit. And then, which isn’t that much, but when I was selling to a reseller, I think it was probably about. 4 to 5 more than that. But then I got to get that reseller to write me one big check.

[00:43:24] Billy Thorpe: And sometimes he might take two or three months to do that. And then I’m over here like, well, I could already sold this stuff, put money in the bank, paid bills, you know, whatever, went on vacation and not have the stress of stuff piling in. So, um, that’s kind of my mentality. My, my mentality is just like, how quick can it come and how quick can it go?

[00:43:45] Billy Thorpe: And it’s like a, it’s like, there’s a lot of piggy banks out there with a lot of coins that have a lot of money in them. And people sometimes will snub their nose at a penny. I’m like, if there’s enough of them, dude, you can retire. [00:44:00] Um,

[00:44:00] Conor Brown: the biggest thing that you you pointed out, Billy, is the fact that People are on WhatNotToBuy, right? You don’t have to convince them to, they open that app, they logged into that, they’re streaming it because they want to buy. It’s not like you’re late night scrolling through cable and QVC pops up and you’re like, that’s a nice.

[00:44:19] Conor Brown: Turkey fryer right there. You know, you weren’t in the market, but you just know when whatnot, you are intentionally going there and there’s a strong likelihood that you’re going there because you want to buy something. And I think that kind of plays into you just always kind of being on the cusp of what’s next, where can I evolve?

[00:44:38] Conor Brown: What, what’s the new trends that, that I can do with live selling? So. And I always see you, you know, testing out a new setup. You, you do that all the time, whether you’re live streaming or recording or stuff like that. So Billy, how do you like, either set aside time or just really make sure you’re always staying up to date with the market trends and, and what’s [00:45:00] coming up in live selling, live buying, all that stuff?

[00:45:06] Billy Thorpe: and I wish I could say I’m like a student of it. Um, I’m not, I’m not really, you know, there, I think I’m in it so much, like especially, So live selling probably more in the secondary market, just because I’m on what not a lot. I’m watching people, I’m seeing what’s going. And then on the Amazon stuff, on the TikTok stuff, I’m keeping my finger on it, but I’m not really, once again, I’m trying to figure out how do I as a content creator continue to build my skillset, continue to build that muscle of going live, communicating well on camera.

[00:45:43] Billy Thorpe: And just crafting this skill because I believe moving forward that people who are good on camera, people can show up, they can sell. There’s going to be a ton of opportunities for live selling and uh, you know, for brands. And I was actually sharing a [00:46:00] little bit of this with you guys before the show, but I went and bought 225 boxes yesterday, shipping boxes from a guy off of Facebook.

[00:46:09] Billy Thorpe: And so we were talking and I, you know, he was asking me what I do and what I needed the boxes for. And then I was like, well, you got shipping boxes. What do you do? What are you shipping? And he was shipping this seafood chowder. And, um, and it was like, he was testing all kinds of different size boxes or whatever.

[00:46:24] Billy Thorpe: And so he told me, cause here’s the thing, when you get into this game and you really start getting inquisitive about. Brands and people’s business. There’s a lot of money in people who develop products. Like they have to have a lot of money to develop products. There’s a lot of money there. I won’t mention any names, but I met a couple of brands at Ecamm and they were telling me numbers that they pay for content and my jaw just hit the floor.

[00:46:47] Billy Thorpe: And I was like, bro. Pay me that one time. I’ll get you a thousand videos and I’ll still not work for the rest of the year from this one deal that you paid this one creator for 180 views on, on YouTube. And so I, I think [00:47:00] if you, if you stay on the, on the cusp of this thing and really just continue to develop your skillset, There’s going to be times with this clam chowder that I’m, you’re probably gonna see me go live and try to sell this guy’s product and not on one of the major platforms because there’s now software that’s coming out that, uh, and I’m work, I’m going to hopefully work with a company in January where they’ve developed a live streaming software where I can go live very similar to this on multiple platforms, but the shoppable buy now button goes to whatever brand I’m connected to via API.

[00:47:33] Billy Thorpe: So I can be here. Selling this water bottle and they can be shipping it from, or, you know, wherever like California, and it will just be going right to their website, not through a marketplace. And it will just be processing orders. I make commission. I negotiate an upfront deal. I’m now the onscreen talent.

[00:47:53] Billy Thorpe: They just send me a box of products. That’s where we’re headed. And so I don’t really look [00:48:00] at what, what, what, you know, what Amazon’s doing or what TikTok is doing. Uh, I’m thinking, what am I doing? How am I going to position myself to be the host of the QVC show when these big brands. In the United States have giant budgets and go, Hey, we need to, we need to find 15 creators.

[00:48:19] Billy Thorpe: Who are we going to call? They’re going to see my face on there 40 million times is my hope.

[00:48:24] Jeff Sieh: That’s awesome. So you’re like, um, you’re using everything is, that’s what I love about this is as a, as a tool. It’s a tool to build your business. It’s not, you know, you’re not building on rented land like we always talk about, but actually using each of these platforms as a tool to make money, bring back to you.

[00:48:42] Jeff Sieh: Not so much spending time, you know, just feeding the beast. One of the questions we

[00:48:46] Billy Thorpe: I think there’s going to, I’ll go ahead. Sorry. Well, I was going to say, I bet there’s going to be a time where Ecamm, you know, puts it in where it’s like, this will integrate to our own stores and, and do all that. I mean, I’m sure they’re on it. Those guys are wicked. I’m sure they’re

[00:48:59] Jeff Sieh: they are [00:49:00] very

[00:49:00] Billy Thorpe: sell, live selling is the next thing, man.

[00:49:02] Billy Thorpe: I’m telling you, it’s going to be wild.

[00:49:03] Jeff Sieh: It’s already, it’s already huge in, like you said, China and some of the places overseas. It’s just been slower to adopt. TikTok has helped a lot with that. Um, it’s in the new Amazon haul that they’re doing. So I’m thinking, um, it’s just a matter of time, especially I think with the rise of AI, seeing live shoppers that are real is going to be a big deal for people.

[00:49:22] Jeff Sieh: We’ve talked about that on the show a little bit before. Jim has another great question. Um, you know, we’re big about repurposing here, and one of the things I like to do, So, what I do is even if I don’t publish it for the public is I usually put all my Amazon videos on YouTube and he goes, Are you not sharing your Amazon videos off of Amazon?

[00:49:38] Jeff Sieh: Are you repurposing those videos that you do for those product videos like on YouTube as well, Billy? What are your thoughts on that?

[00:49:46] Billy Thorpe: Oh man. Call me greedy, but it’s an upcharge.

[00:49:50] Jeff Sieh: There you go. That’s awesome.

[00:49:52] Billy Thorpe: I will, but it’s an upcharge. It’s on my pricing guide. Um, I, you know, and if at first I was like, maybe I [00:50:00] should, and I probably still should, I mean, I got 3, 600 pieces of content sitting on a drop box, you know, it’s like, Or sit on a hard drive and I’m like, yeah, I should, but for me, it’s just a lot of bandwidth and it’s, um, you know, if I’m going to create content and upload to YouTube, I want to have fun doing it.

[00:50:15] Billy Thorpe: I just don’t want to be uploading the same video over, you know, whatever. Um, but yeah, I probably need to do that. Probably should do that. Probably missing out on. You know, at least a couple hundred bucks a year

[00:50:27] Jeff Sieh: Yeah.

[00:50:27] Billy Thorpe: with my size audience. That’s the thing. I get a small audience

[00:50:31] Jeff Sieh: So I have a throwaway channel, um, that I have built totally separate for everything. It’s just for my Amazon reviews and I put them there mainly. And this is what Jim and Chris had taught me because it helps with protecting my content. Cause so many people strip your content and even if you do it as a product of like a unpublished video, I guess I think it’s still.

[00:50:50] Jeff Sieh: will flag you if somebody steals your content. That’s why I mainly do it, but it’s also brought in business. Like you said, a couple hundred bucks a year on this throwaway channel and people subscribe to [00:51:00] it. I’m like, okay, it’s pretty bad. Um, but

[00:51:03] Billy Thorpe: and I do get a lot of views on my, just like, here’s this smartwatch versus, here’s how you make a million dollars, but nobody cares about that. It’s like, here’s a stupid watch. And I go, Oh, yeah, watch.

[00:51:15] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. So, um, real quick, I want to do, this is, once again, this has been amazing. And we, uh, thanks to, and we mentioned them a couple of times to our friends over at Ecamm. You can find out more about them. Ecamm. com forward slash Jeff Sieh. 15 percent on your first purchase over there. Um, but I want to talk about your mastermind.

[00:51:32] Jeff Sieh: You have a mastermind called the DealMakers Mastermind. So, let’s talk about You know what that is. Why did you decide to start a mastermind and like, you know, what are your goals for it and for the members who join?

[00:51:47] Billy Thorpe: Um, yeah. So I, I really decided to start a mastermind or a group of like this Really because people kept asking me for help. And so I was getting all these messages through Facebook and Instagram and, [00:52:00] you know, all these different channels. And I’m like, man, I want to help you. I do. I’m not trying to gatekeep, but I still have the bandwidth to, to do this.

[00:52:07] Billy Thorpe: I’m a solopreneur. I’m working part time. Um, you know, we’re homeschooling our son. Like there’s a lot of variables that are taking place. And so I can’t really. You know, dedicate time to just answering people’s questions. However, as we all know, if you want to have a private group somewhere, there’s a cost associated with that.

[00:52:27] Billy Thorpe: And so, you know, to, to build out a system for that, to manage it, to upload videos, to all that, there’s, you know, there’s cost to everything. So I was like, well, I’ll do a, you know, a lower ticket. Well, and, and Liz Wilcox, I listened to that. You know, once again, I listened to this episode with her talking about her 9 email marketing group and having like 4, 000 people in it or something, something crazy.

[00:52:49] Billy Thorpe: And I was like, Oh, that’s pretty, you know, that’s a pretty good idea. And so I did, I launched one, I launched it at like seven bucks a month, something super cheap, just to cover my costs, brought some people into [00:53:00] there. And I really didn’t know what I was getting into. Cause I’m like, I’m just a different type of person.

[00:53:05] Billy Thorpe: Like I just think differently. I, if somebody tells me there’s one way to do it or I should or shouldn’t do something, I’m probably just going to go, well, let me just try anyway. Um, and so I wasn’t really sure, like, can my system work for anyone? And for the average Joe. And so kind of at that same time, I had a friend of mine from high school.

[00:53:25] Billy Thorpe: She was an Amazon seller and she was looking into the influencer program and she couldn’t get in. And then, you know, I was like, Hey, let’s just jump on a call. Let me, let’s look at your whole ecosystem as a content creator and just figure out how to get you in. So anyway, we did that. We, we leveraged some, uh, you know, Instagram channels that she had.

[00:53:42] Billy Thorpe: She got into the program and then she got into the group. And I just told her like, here’s what you do and go see if you can make it work. Dude, she closed 50 deals her first month and in her and several other people in the group were like, dude, you got to charge more for this group. Like, this is silly.

[00:53:58] Billy Thorpe: Like we’re, you know, [00:54:00] we’re doing the work, we’re making money. And somebody can easily pay for a whole month with like a deal, you know, um, or half a deal or whatever. And so that’s when I decided to up it to like 27 bucks a month or something. But really it’s, you know, for me, especially during the holiday season, we meet up once a week.

[00:54:18] Billy Thorpe: We chat, we kind of catch up. What’s everybody working on? Um, there’s a lot of negotiation that takes place with these, we know what these deals, there’s a lot of different deal structures that you can do. Uh, some of them, you know, make a lot of sense. And you’re like, yeah, that’s awesome. Or, you know, and so I’m helping people do that.

[00:54:34] Billy Thorpe: I’m helping people go, ah, here’s what I would do, or here’s what I would say, or here’s how I would, you know, handle this opportunity. Um, because there’s a lot of ways you can do it. You know, I mean, there’s not one way to skin a cat. There’s not one way to make money on this program. But what the feedback I’ve been getting is like, dude, we just like how your brain works and we just want to be around you because you’re always trying new stuff.

[00:54:53] Billy Thorpe: You’re always innovating. You’re always trying to figure out, you know, what’s the next thing or whatever. And really, I wish [00:55:00] I could think of that about myself, but really I’m just like, man, I’m just a small business guy and I’m just super scrappy and I’m trying not to go to the bank and go, Hey, can I get a big loan so I can live for the next five years while I launch this business?

[00:55:11] Billy Thorpe: Like, I’m trying to, I’m trying to bootstrap everything. So, um, you know, I think that’s what we do in that group. And we’ve got people with like a million followers on YouTube and they’re like, Hey man, can you help us, you know, figure out how to close this 20, 000 brand deal? I’m like, yeah, here’s the conversation I’d have.

[00:55:27] Billy Thorpe: Here’s how I queue it up. Here’s how I would do all that. Um, because I’ve never closed a 20, 000 brand deal. But the negotiation process for a 20 deal and a 20, 000 deal is basically the same thing. I mean, it’s a, you know, a little bit different. Actually, probably the 20, 000 is easier because those people think different with that much money.

[00:55:44] Jeff Sieh: right, right. Exactly.

[00:55:46] Billy Thorpe: person will beat you up. The 20, 000 person is like, yeah, okay, don’t bother me. I’m busy. You know,

[00:55:53] Conor Brown: That’s awesome. Yeah. I know it’s still in its infancy, Billy, but do you have any thoughts or ideas about how [00:56:00] to, how to kind of grow the group or enhance its value? I know people are just showing up because you’re the real deal. They just like picking your, your brain and understanding your processes. But a few years from now, where, where do you kind of see the mastermind going?

[00:56:16] Billy Thorpe: um, you know, I struggle with this because it’s one of those things where I’m like, I kind of want to just build a three month system and like you come in and you get out because I don’t You I don’t feel like I’m the person, I’m not a coach. Okay. And this is, I tried to think that I was a coach, but I’m not a coach.

[00:56:31] Billy Thorpe: I’m the guy who just says, Hey, you know what, either shit or get off the pot. Like I’m not, it’s a thing. Here’s what worked for me. You go try it. If it doesn’t work for you, uh, go do something else. And that’s the, that’s really the short message of it because, you know, I think you have to operate at a certain, to, to do the business model that I do, because it’s, it’s kind of, I mean, it’s systematic, but it’s also kind of chaotic in the same sense.

[00:56:57] Billy Thorpe: And my personality, it just [00:57:00] flourishes in this. It’s like. It’s almost like it, like, I don’t know. My wife even said it. She’s like, this is cool. Like you found the thing that is ever changing. There’s a lot of question marks. There’s a lot of problems to solve and you get a bunch of cool gadgets and you get to do your live stream stuff.

[00:57:16] Billy Thorpe: You get to do your, you know, videos and nerd out, but then you’re, you know, also helping people and you’re helping people on both sides, the brand side helping other influencers. Um, so yeah, man, I think if I had my perfect world, Or a business manager, it would probably be just like, Hey, let’s build a really solid, just badass three month, 90 days intensive.

[00:57:39] Billy Thorpe: You come through it and you’re gone, or you can pay, you know, small fee and, and hang out and ask questions. But, um, I don’t know that I’m at this point like the community builder coach guy sitting on the Ferrari with the tie. You know, I’m not that guy. The rented Ferrari in

[00:57:57] Jeff Sieh: right. Or he even just found it in a parking lot. [00:58:00] Um, so, so we’re at the end of our time. This has been fascinating, Billy, and it’s such fun to sit and talk with you like we did at Crater Camp, but even coming on here. So, Connor, is there something that I did not ask, ask Billy that I needed to ask before we let him go?

[00:58:15] Jeff Sieh: Is there something like on your mind that you, you have to know? Because Connor’s influencer as well

[00:58:21] Conor Brown: he’s putting me on the hot seat. I don’t think so. I mean, I think just I’ll say this much, if you’re interested in, you know, wanting to do more of this, what I’ve done is go to Billie’s Amazon page and just like, Check out a couple of videos. He’s, he’s the master at it. It makes sense. And then just get a process going.

[00:58:40] Conor Brown: Um, I don’t have anything other than, I’m sure I could come up with other things and we could talk for three more hours. Cause I’m just always fascinated by

[00:58:48] Jeff Sieh: So, uh, if you want to find his, uh, Amazon page, make sure you guys go to billythorpe. live, and that’s B I L L Y T H O R P E dot live. That link is at the bottom of [00:59:00] his page that you can go check and see his actual storefront on Amazon. Billy, is there anything else that you want to promote, talk about, let people know that you’re working on right now before we wrap up everything?

[00:59:11] Billy Thorpe: Man, I think that is it. You know, a couple of things I would leave people with and I love that you said this is like success leaves clues. I went and watched a bunch of people’s channels. Dan Currier was one of these guys where He was one of the first people doing shoppables and, uh, I was like, well, if he’s successful, I’m going to be successful.

[00:59:28] Billy Thorpe: I’m going to go watch everything he does. And so I watched his videos. Um, and then just consistent application of elementary things is what’s going to win. You know, I think we all look at this whole thing at the 30, 000 foot and go, Oh man, I want to do that. But it’s like, what’s the little thing I can do right now?

[00:59:45] Billy Thorpe: Some people are going to go apply for the Amazon program. They’re not going to get in. So that’s not your leverage. So what is your leverage? Is it your talent? Is it your skill? Is it getting on Fiverr and doing UGC type of content, which will probably make more money to be honest with you. Um, but it’s like, [01:00:00] what is the thing that you can do today to start taking action?

[01:00:04] Billy Thorpe: Or if you want to sell on whatnot, don’t go out and look for big lots of stuff to sell. Go in your garage, pull 20 items off of your garage, go apply to be a seller, become a seller, sell that 20 craps that you haven’t used in two years and see what you do. And I’ve done that before and sold 1, 000 of stuff in my garage that I just haven’t been using.

[01:00:23] Billy Thorpe: It’s unbelievable. Um, so, a lot of ways to get started. A lot of ways to skin a cat. And don’t listen to the gurus, just go try something.

[01:00:32] Jeff Sieh: that’s awesome. Awesome advice. This has been amazing. Uh, you guys, thank you so much for watching. Thank you for Jim and Dustin and everybody who, uh, watched this. Thanks for Billy for spending the time with us today. Uh, Conor Brown, where can people find out more about the unsinkable Conor Brown?

[01:00:48] Conor Brown: You can head to vacationkingdoms. com, where Or follow me on social media at vacationkingdoms across the interwebs. Oh man, I got to go film like a hundred videos in it. I’m, I’m amped.[01:01:00]

[01:01:00] Jeff Sieh: no kidding. Oh, and by the way, uh, it, you know, I know it’s cold for a lot of you. It’s actually cold in Texas right now. This is the perfect time. To go plan a nice Caribbean vacation with Conor Brown at vacationkingdoms. com, so go over there if you’re cold, think of all the warm beaches that you could save on right now by going to conorvacationkingdoms.

[01:01:17] Jeff Sieh: com and see, uh, Conor Brown. Uh, I would love for you guys to check out my guide that I put up for you, uh, earlier in the show. You can go to jeffsieh. com forward slash holiday codes, get a free. Uh, Mid Journey, a guide on how to create some awesome, uh, holiday images for Mid Journey, in Mid Journey, jeffsieh.

[01:01:35] Jeff Sieh: com forward slash holiday codes. And with that, thank you so much for our sponsors, Ecamm, ecamm. com forward slash Jeff. You can save some money going there by using Jeff, the code Jeff15. And with that, we’ll see you guys next week. Bye everybody. Appreciate you.