How much do Amazon sellers make? Some tips you can use to explode your online sales and make serious cash.
How much do Amazon sellers make? Let's find out!
Do you have an ugly baby? Are you looking to ramp up your sales on Amazon? Let’s get to learning all about selling on Amazon and discovering the truth when we ask, how much do Amazon sellers make?
After listening to or reading this episode you’ll know exactly what you need to do to get better at selling on Amazon.
We’re making conversations about selling on Amazon count, with Lesely Hensell – Episode 94!
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Who is Lynsey Hensell and what does Riverbend Consulting do for Amazon sellers?
Lesley is a co-founder and owner of Riverbend Consulting, where she helps oversee the client services team.
Her more than two decades as an entrepreneur have given her hands-on experience with small businesses that range from startups to mergers or acquisitions.
This expertise gives Lesley insight into what it takes for any company’s turnaround plan, be they new entrepreneurs just starting in their first year online selling products on Amazon FBA (fulfilment by Amazon), or established brands looking at ways to increase customer retention rates among lapsed customers (due to lacklustre advertising campaigns) to work best for them.
The name Riverbend Consulting is a very cute reference to the origins of Amazon selling, and the difference that Lesley feels she makes to the progress of her clients.
Scroll down to continue reading this episode in which Lesley Hensell shares the truthful answer to the question; how much do Amazon sellers make!
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What is the first thing anybody’s got to do if they’re thinking about using Amazon as a platform to sell their products?
Whether you’re selling on a physical or digital shelf, it’s important to be mindful of how your business operates and what its financials look like.
You should register as an official company with all necessary documents such as tax paperwork for there not to be any surprises at closing time!
It’s also probably a good idea to have sales goals and targets in mind.
What are you looking to achieve each month?
How does that impact your inventory?
Can you get hold of the stock?
Do you need to physically get hold of the stock?
These are all questions you’ll need to ask yourself before you get started.
You can use Amazon’s sales tools to help you track these numbers, but it’s always good to have an idea of where you want your business to go.
Oh, and you also need to do what you can to avoid having an ‘ugly baby’.
You’ll need to listen to the episode to get that reference.
But be assured, no ugly babies were harmed during the recording of this episode!
Lesley dives more deeply into some of the other considerations that newbies to this world of selling on Amazon (drop shipping) need to be mindful of.
The most common challenge in Amazon selling
Many of Lesley’s clients struggle to find products that are not already for sale on the market.
Honestly, there are very popular ‘easy wins’ that large numbers of Amazon sellers will go for.
This is probably due to the fact that they practically sell themselves.
Lesley’s business helps clients take away a lot of the pressure by obtaining big ticket items and avoiding being struck with bans due to them drop shipping in a way they’re not supposed to.
The challenge is always going to be in getting your own brand noticed amongst all those competitors who have big names and also use big suppliers.
Lesley’s method gets around all that by using a strategy for getting big brands to actively encourage your sales.
Again, you’ll need to listen to learn what that is.
As well as helping with methods of selling, Lesley also helps with getting visibility for the items you sell by guiding you on how to outsource a large chunk of the fiddly work.
“And you don’t even have to know all the details anymore. Exactly like what you were just saying.
There are companies that do listing optimization where they’ll make the listing detail pages look beautiful and do the enhanced brand content for you.
There are companies that will create the videos.
There are companies that will help you to do all of these pieces and parts of selling on Amazon.
And you can outsource the pieces you don’t understand yet.
You can learn from those people and then do them yourselves or continue to outsource.
There are large firms, and companies like mine, and then there are virtual assistants.
There are VA’s all over the world that will help you with all of the bits and pieces of Amazon.”
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Things listeners should know about selling on Amazon
There are a few things that Lesley thinks listeners should know if they’re thinking about selling on Amazon.
We’ve already mentioned that it’s important to be mindful of how your business operates and what its financials look like.
And that you should register as an official company with all necessary documents such as tax paperwork for there not be any nasty surprises coming from the tax man!
But there’s something more fundamental that you need to know about the platform itself, and how it operates.
Something that if you don’t respect and adhere to, you won’t have any success with it at all.
Lesley explains all in the episode.
Click the player above or below to listen!
Lesley’s conversation that counted
This was one of those conversations that Wendy did not see coming.
Another powerful conversation that will leave you feeling inspired and empowered.
Did somebody say storm chasers?
Just click the player to listen to the episode.
You’ll learn….
This episode of “Making Conversations Count”, in which Lynsey Hensell talks us through selling on Amazon, covers:
- Who is Lesley and what does she do?
- What is the first thing anybody’s got to do if they’re thinking about using Amazon as a platform to sell their products? (7m50s)
- The most common challenge in Amazon selling (14m07s)
- Things listeners should know about selling on Amazon (27m17s)
- Lesley’s conversation that counted (30m48s)
Wendy’s takeaway
Selling on Amazon can be a great way to make money, but it’s important to be aware of the challenges involved in order to avoid being banned.
There are many services available that can help with sales and visibility, and it’s possible to outsource the work you don’t understand.
It’s also important to remember to register as an official company and to adhere to Amazon’s rules and regulations. These are basic things that a lot of people might well be aware of, but then there are the more underlying challenges that only someone with Lesley’s experience will have discovered.
And for that reason, I’m grateful to her for sharing them with us during this fascinating conversation.
Lynsey’s Links
Please do let us know your take-aways from this episode by leaving a comment at https;//makingconversations.studio/Review-Lynsey-Hensell
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“Making Conversations Count” is a podcast from WAG Associates founder and telemarketing trainer Wendy Harris.
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Spoiler alert: want to read the conversation that counted in this episode about selling on Amazon with Lesley Hensell?
You like to ruin the plot twist huh? OK, not judging. Here you are.
So it kind of brings us quite nicely to the part of the show that I’m always waiting to get to. Where I ask every guest to share that one conversation that changed their life, either in business or personally. So, Lesley, what have you got for us?
So mine changed my life in business and personal all in one fell swoop. I think that’s how a lot of entrepreneurs operate, that it’s all one big clump. We don’t have business over here and personal over here. It’s all together. So I’m sure that most people have seen some kind of a TV drama, that’s a medical drama, where a bad thing has happened, and they take the family in that little room. So my husband and I were taken in the little room while our son, who was eight years old at the time, was on the operating table and having a lump removed from his neck, that we had been assured prior to surgery that it was nothing, it was nothing to worry about. It was a swollen lymph nodes. Sometimes they don’t go down. We just have to get it out because you don’t want to leave it in there. And the surgery was supposed to be 30 minutes and about an hour and a half in. They took us to the little room where we waited another hour before the doctor came in and said, he’s in great shape, and that’s the last good thing that I’m going to tell you today, that they had already diagnosed him with cancer and that they had already scheduled us for a consult with the oncologist in a week, and they had already scheduled his Pet scan. Thank goodness we have a children’s hospital. They had already planned everything before they even told us the news. So he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at that moment, and it was not expected at all. And the long term effects on me as a person and a business owner and someone who tries to help people have been bigger than I ever would have expected.
How long ago was this then, Lesley?
So I’m thrilled to say it was six years ago. And he is 14 and he is over 6ft tall and two hundred pounds of muscle and he plays baseball and football. He is extremely healthy. But our family has changed so much. I had a sense of entitlement before that I didn’t even realise I had. And I’ve come to understand we aren’t entitled to anything, not even healthy children. We’ve met so many other families in our community and now we volunteer with some organisations that help kids with cancer and families with cancer. And we are the best off people of our group. There are so many families who their kids die or they have lifelong health problems. And I’ve had to accept also that my kid, because of the treatment he received, he will not live as long as his peers. But then you change how you raise them and say, we’re going to get out of life what we’re going to get out of it right now. You’re not going to wait until you’re 30 to do the things you want to do. He’s very aggressive about doing what he wants to do. He wants to be a meteorologist and he is a storm chaser. So here we live in Texas and we are very close to one of the tornado alleys in the world. And just last week, he and my husband were out storm chasing and spotted seven possible tornadoes. Two that were confirmed, got in a huge hailstorm. This is what they do. And what’s really fun is that this 14 year old kid is well known now in this community of storm chasers. And he even has other chasers who follow him because he’s so good at it. And that is his dream. And we’re not saying you’re not going to do that until you’re 25. He’s doing it right now and learning and growing. And he even streams live for a weather station sometimes. I mean, he is living the dream. But my husband and I have also really learned to be more focused on helping other people. And I will tell you, in my business, this is why it changed me for business. We work with people who are losing their company. If Amazon suspends you, a lot of people, they only sell on Amazon and they are losing their entire business. They are laying off family members. They are not making their house payments. It’s a horrifying situation. And I can talk to a client who does a billion dollars a year on Amazon and is afraid of laying off hundreds of people and be their calm space. It takes so much to rattle me now because when you face your biggest fear, you can face other fears and face them with other people. So it has made me very calm in my business and I’ve taught my consultants that same level of calm and reassuring and what we are supposed to be for clients and it helps them when they’re going through what for them is the worst thing they’ve ever faced in many cases.
I can certainly see why, from a personal point of view as well, why that name really rang true for you. Because it’s been born from facing that situation.
Yes, and it’s funny, I have clients who I’ve known personally for many years, and they know the situation my family has been through, and some of them even know my kids. My older kid is on the autism spectrum and he’s been a challenge. So we’ve been through the meat grinder with both of these boys, who fortunately have both turned out great so far.
Our family is so much stronger and closer as well. But these clients come to me and they’ll say, I feel silly telling you that this is keeping me up at night because this is nothing like your problems. And I tell them, everyone’s problems matter. Whatever you’re going through at the moment is upsetting and terrible. It doesn’t have to be the worst problem in the world for it to knock you for a loop and you don’t know what to do. So the goal is always to just walk with those clients and let them know they’re not alone. Selling on Amazon is also kind of isolating because you don’t know someone on every corner who is an Amazon seller. It’s not like an accountant where there’s a local accountant organization and they all go have lunch. You’re kind of on your own. And so we really want people to know that we are there, we’re with them. They can call us, they can talk to us. You’re not alone, and we’re going to figure out how to make it better.
I reckon you’ve just come up with an idea there and you don’t even know it. But there should be an Amazon association for sellers.
So there are some Facebook groups out there, there are some LinkedIn groups out there that people actively participate in. And then my favorite thing is that there are conferences, so I go speak at some conferences. We’re actually having our own conference coming up soon, in September. So I think those are important opportunities for people to get together and actually talk about their problems and learn from other people. And a lot of them end up being like drinking from a fire hose. There’s so much information that’s just hitting you the whole time, but you pick and choose the things you want to learn that time around and it’s invigorating. It’s really great to get to be around other sellers and vent and learn and also to talk about your personal problems because entrepreneurship is hard.
Well, I would imagine as well that your personal situation has been what steered you around the riverbend into your own business life. And there’s going to be another story behind the next person and the next person and the next person. That’s going to have been the cause and effect.
Absolutely. Everyone has their story and everyone has their challenges. And also, entrepreneurs are kind of my people. The small businesses we work with, they’re my people, and they are the same as I am. It’s the business and the personal is so close together. You can’t pull the two apart because you’re feeding one to make the other one happen. Right. You’re doing the entrepreneurship to take care of your family the way that you want to. And I think that when you’re with your people, you can help each other in ways that others don’t necessarily understand. And no shade being thrown on working in a traditional business, having a traditional job, it’s all just different ways to take care of ourselves. But there’s special challenges with that. Just like there’s special challenges with entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs, they are a little harder to track down and find your tribe.
Yeah. Oh, Lesley. I wasn’t expecting that at all. but I can’t thank you enough, honestly, for sharing so much value and insight into the world of Amazon and how to navigate that path or that river, should I say. So, once again, Lesley, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you. This has been a lot of fun.
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Click this box to read the full Episode Transcript - Conversation around how can a public speaking coach change your life? - "Making Conversations Count"
You’ll hear:
Freddy vs Jason (1m13s)
What Tyler does now (4m10s)
Everyone says you need to sell the benefits. It's actually more about selling the solution! (8m30s)
Tyler's favourite family trip (13m39s)
Mannerisms. Hmmmm… (26m10s)
Tyler’s conversation that counted (39m50s)
Freddy vs Jason (1m13s)
Just looked up your IMDb.
How's that for you?
Well, I'm just surprised that you are a good and all round sort of sane individual, having been on "Freddie versus Jason". I was like...."ahhh can't look!"
So the funny thing is that almost everybody gravitates to that production. Like you were in Freddy versus Jason. I'm like, let me tell you....
I've not seen it.
...how very little I am in Freddy versus Jason. Like, blink and you miss me. And yet so many people actually know the scene when I explain it. And the people who have seen the movie, I know exactly who you are.....the counselor. I'm like, you don't know. And they're like, explaining the scene, and I'm like, oh, you do know. How do you know? I am so much nothing in that film. The funny thing is I got that role because I was actually doing photo double stand in and stunt work on that movie. And they needed somebody who could do this thing last minute.
Put that broom down.
Yeah, almost like that. So no word of a lie. For, like, three weeks prior to it, I was doing stand in work. And most stand in work, you just kind of sit in your chair off screen and just kind of wait and watch the actors do their thing. And I was doing almost nothing. I was literally sleeping on set.... "Annette wants to talk to you". That's extras casting, by the way. That's not main casting. That's extras casting. And I was like, oh. And I thought I was about to get fired because sleeping on set. Because she had come to set and Annette never comes to set. And I was like, oh, fuck. I'm like, "Hi". She's like, "hey". I'm like, "you're remarkably cheery. What's going on?" Because I'm still in a sleep haze. And she's like, "hey, do you want to do a speaking role?" I'm like, "I'm your extras ca.... Sure. I'm confused right now." And then she explained what was going on, and I was like, okay, sure. Let's do this thing. Why not? Two lines. That was all it was.
See, I just thought I'll have a look and see because I know you'd say you'd done childhood acting, and I thought I'll go and have a look. And I've been playing around, and the podcast is on IMDb. So I thought, oh, I can credit him now. That's cool.
Oh, that's awesome.
Fast forward 20 years to the grown up job that you're doing now then Tyler is...
I'm an adult, babysitter.
You're the manny.
Yeah.
What Tyler does now (4m10s)
Just for the sake of the listeners, tell us what you do now.
I wear many hats, primarily. I am now a best selling author and speaker coach. So I train people on how to give better presentations, feel more confident speaking to groups of people. And then I also run a safety consulting company. And you would think the two would be wildly disparate, that they just don't blend. But I actually got into the safety speaking or more specifically, the public speaker training from my safety consulting practice, because I found that the biggest hindrance to leadership being able to communicate their safety program and implement it. And in fact, the reason that my company is called Total Buyin is because the reason people couldn't get buyin was they had a very poor way of communicating and most people struggle with this public speaking persona. So my most popular training course was actually my "Power To Speak Naked" Course, which was rebranded to the "Power To Speak Naked", just to have a little bit more pop and sizzle!....
Not in my mirror!
Originally it was called Basic Instructional Technique because I liked the acronym. It was B.I.T. I'm going to give you a B.I.T.
And the funny thing is, it was a way to trick people into learning how to public speak without thinking they were going to public speak. But I found that a lot of people felt ambushed by it because when they realised that two days was going to be public speaking and only public speaking, they were like, I don't public speak. And I'm like, Actually, you do. Yeah. The safety consultant kind of morphed into this public speaker training, which has really brought my life full circle. Right. You go from child actor to retiring after 20 years, because you get to do that. So I got to retire at 25, go back to school, get an engineering discipline, start my own business, watch that business crumble and fail, and then start to find my path in safety. And that was a weird detour too, becoming a safety professional after being a geomatics professional just because I had to take all this training to run my Geomatics company, to be compliant with the government. And all of those little twists and turns have brought me to this culmination of being able to, A, speak to executives on their level in a very sympathetic and understanding way, but also show them how they can communicate to everyone and vary their message and train them to be more effective communicators. It has just been bizarre and remarkably rewarding.
I don't know about you, Tyler, but don't you find it fascinating that really, it boils down to we're all in sales, it doesn't matter what it is that you're talking about, you've just got to find that something that you are happy and passionate to communicate about.
Yeah, no, we're all selling something. And I think that's the thing that I really was a light bulb moment for me when I was explaining safety, because I heard it all the time. Right. As a safety professional, your job is to sell safety. And I'm like, is it, though? And in my head, I was like, no, but really, it's about communicating. And then I'm like, well, sales is communication. And so, yes, we are all selling something, even if it's a belief in ourselves. Right? We need to communicate that vision of us so that other people can buy into that vision of us. I find it amazing that's kind of what the world boils down to is we're all selling something.
Everyone says you need to sell the benefits. It's actually more about selling the solution!
And the first lesson we have to buy into... going to stay on brand... is the belief in ourselves, isn't it? That's the first lesson. And when it comes to anything at all, then it doesn't matter. I have this conversation with many a guest, is that we all think we're selling an outcome, yet in actual fact, what we want to feel is the transformation. So that's what we're buying into, isn't it? You can do this, but that's going to mean this as well. So often it's the byproducts that we want more than the thing.
Yeah, it's funny, I was reading an article yesterday about good presentations and everybody thinks they need to sell the benefits and features and the reality is you need to sell the solution. And a lot of times that solution comes with identifying what the problem is to begin with and how for a lot of us, the problem is our own lack of belief in our own abilities. And so the first person that we need to sell to is ourselves. Like, what makes you capable of doing that? And I know for me, I've spoken on stage to tens of thousands of people. I've performed to auditoriums of thousands of people. I have in my band played to an outdoor venue that was almost hundreds of thousands of people. I think that when we played our venue there was 90,000 people. And like that everybody looks at me and goes, well, aren't you scared? I'm like, well, at that point, no, I wasn't scared of that. But let me tell you something that does terrify me. Sitting in an executive's office who earns millions of dollars every year and telling them that they're really bad at public speaking and helping them get there because... you want to talk about an inferiority complex, I'm like, who am I to be coaching this person? And they're looking at me going, how does he get up on stage every day and not feel terrified?
They're disproportionate, aren't they, in terms of comparison?
Exactly. And that's the thing. As soon as we recognise that we are all people and we all struggle with some of these self doubts, we all struggle with self doubt. It's just what are we doubting in that time? And for me, it's been remarkably freeing to be able to recognise that I have this skill set, this is the thing that I'm good at. And lucky for me, it only took 42 years to get to this point because there are people who don't know what they're good at for years and years and years and years. They spend all this time chasing the tiger tail and just doesn't they never catch it. And for me, I feel really blessed that I've been able to mash up all of my strengths and be able to compensate for my areas of improvement by outsourcing the people who do it way better than me. I'm not a good business man, which is hilarious because I technically own three companies now and will be starting a fourth one this year. Yeah, apparently I'm a masochist as well. But I recognise where I am, where my strengths are, and that is being able to give very clear direction, communicate an idea, and allow then people to go on their own. I'm very good at marshaling and connecting people, and then I have this really good skill set of being able to stand up on stage and just engage a crowd. And that has allowed me to do some really, really amazing things with my life and have just a really fun lifestyle, too. Like, I get to travel with my daughter. That's cool. That's really fun for me. And a high value on my hierarchy, too, is family. So to be able to bring her and have her a part of what I do, to be able to book vacations with the whole family around a speaking schedule and tour and make it a paid vacation... Like all those things are just really fun.
Tyler's favourite family trip (13m39s)
Double barrel question. What would you say your favorite trip with her has been? And what would you say her favorite trip with you has been?
You know, it's funny. You'd think it was going to Houston, but I actually think her favorite trip with me was when we went to the houseboat with my brother and sister in law. And the fact that I had the time to do that, that's the other thing too. My wife was in Ireland, and it was a long weekend here in Canada, except tember long weekend. I believe everybody else was going back to school, but Kenzie at that time would have been four, and so she didn't have school. And Jen and I... my wife and I had basically swapped Kenzie at the airport. I was coming back from a speaking engagement, and Jen was flying out to Ireland, and I think we didn't quite do the hand off at the airport, but it was pretty close. There's, like a day overlap. Hi, how are you? And my sister in law phoned me, and she said, hey, we've got the boat for the weekend, actually for the week. Did you want to join us? And I had nothing on the go. And so I looked at Kenzie, I'm like, do you want to go hang out at the lake? She's like, sure. And we packed up all the floaty stuff, and we went out to the house boat, and nobody else could make it because everybody else had things that were starting because it was the end of September. And so we basically toured around with Captain Jim and found a private beach and docked the boat and floated around the lake for four or five days. And Kenzie had an absolute blast. Like, she was uncovering rocks. She was going for hikes, she was swimming, and the houseboat had a water slide off the back of it. She's terrified to go off the water slide until Daddy took her the one time, and then she was still terrified to go off it. But then she wanted to do it again. Just all the things she still talks about it to this day, to the point where we ended up going houseboating again with Jen the following year. And she's like, I thought this was going to be more fun. You made it sound like it was more fun. I was like, I don't know what to tell you, babe. This is basically what we did the last time. This is a lot of fun for us. She's like, nah, this is not my thing.
But isn't it interesting? Because what Kenzie has done really, is she's overcome some fears as well. And she's done that with dad holding a hand.
Yeah, well, she does that a lot, too. Unfortunately, my daughter is the child of a former child actor, and I know the industry inside and out. So when I saw my daughter for the first time, I'm like, oh, wow, you look like an alien. And then about a week later, she stopped looking like an alien. It was just absolutely adorable. And then, so my next thought was like, you need to be in film. And everything in me was like, but your daddy can't be a stage daddy. No. And so she was in her first commercial before she was a year old. The first time she was on film, she was eleven months old. And I think she got her first modeling gig. She was coming up 22 months. Like, she wasn't yet two. It's actually that photo, that modeling gig photo is the cover of my cell phone because I absolutely love it. They captured an innocence about my child that I can't even replicate or duplicate because I see the terror that she is when I try to put her to bed.
You can't control what she dreams about either, Tyler.
But I've watched her grow up in film and be able to communicate to me, too. Like, Covid was really hard on her because she really enjoyed auditions prior to Covid because it meant that she got to go and see other kids. And in the audition room, they always had toys and she got to meet people and be social. My daughter is very, very social. And then when she got to go into the casting session, daddy couldn't come. It was just her and the casting director. Daddy had to wait outside and then she got to go and she got to play. And then if she got the role, she got to go on set. And I could come with her, but she got to be on camera. And Daddy didn't, except for the couple of times where we've gotten to do things together, which has been super fun, too. And then when Covid came and we switched from casting in person to casting virtually and doing self tapes, she hated it because casting was no longer getting dressed up and getting pretty and memorizing lines in the car ride to the running, rehearsing lines in the car ride to the audition.
It's all the anticipation, though, in the build up, the interaction of it all.
Yes. Because now it was coming down into the basement and reading with Daddy again, and I'm so proud of my daughter, because about the fifth audition into it, she was like, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm like, Baby, you love being on set. She's like, yeah, but I need to be on set if it means I have to go down to the basement and audition. And I was like, you are so mature. And for five. I love you. I was so proud. But she's overcoming those fears and finding her voice, which I shouldn't be surprised, because I dedicated my book to her and said that very thing. I was like, May you always have the courage to find your voice and know that you will be heard. So if I'm going to say that in the book, if I'm going to put it in writing, I'm going to put it out the universe, obviously she's going to be able to do that.
Well. I think it's fascinating that there are parents out there that do this, put on to their children, their dreams, that sort of didn't happen in one thing or another. And you're not describing a child who doesn't have a mind of her own, which is great.
Yes.
So have you got any plans to bring her on stage with you at a speaking gig? Do you think she would handle that?
Would she handle it? Absolutely. Will I do it? If she wants to? Honestly, we do the things that she wants to do. If I was a stage dad, I'd be like, no, you've got to audition because this is paying for your education. Because that's how I paid for my education. You start acting at six years old and 75% of your earnings go into a trust that builds up quickly, especially if you have good financial management with it. Was I sad a little bit when she stopped wanting to do it? Yeah, I was, because I see how much she enjoys it and I was sad that it was ruined for her but, you know, she also asked me a couple of weeks ago, she's like, Daddy, over the summer, can I start auditioning again? Sure. You don't have school. If that's what you want to do, we'll do it.
It's a double edged sword, isn't it, Tyler? Because she's clearly... there are two sides to this. She's missed the auditioning, but she's also missed her thing with Daddy. She's got to be an element of that as well.
Yeah, I think that has a bit to it, too. And so to your original question, would I bring her on stage? Absolutely. Because she loves that environment the same way that I do. But I would only bring her on, first of all, if it served a purpose, because that's the other thing, too, for me, I don't do anything on stage unless it serves a purpose, and more specifically, if it serves the audience. If it isn't going to be a benefit to my audience, I'm not going to bring my kid on stage just as a gimmick. Is she super cute? Yeah. Could I sell more programs if I put her up there? Absolutely I could, because you don't want to deny this child something. So buy Daddy's program and it would sell. But hey, I'm not going to exploit my daughter that way.
No, but look, if I was in the audience and she came on stage and it was like the audience could ask her anything, I would just say, how much has Daddy paid you to do this? And I can just imagine her going, oh, no, I asked. Right? Now if you imagine that's the kind of endorsement, isn't it, that anybody would really want us as a parent or for any kind of fan. The fact that it's such a personal relationship just kind of strengthens that for me. So I just think there could be something in this. I can see this going somewhere.
Yeah, I think you're right. It is a testament to her free will and the fact that my training works because she would want to do it as opposed to not want to do it. But I don't know what next month holds. I don't even know what the next hour holds. So I don't know what her wants and desires are going to be as she grows up and she kind of ebbs and flows out of a want for the spot. She's really, truly... they say that a child is a reflection of their parents, and she is. My wife and I are truly polar opposites. We are Ying and Yang. Right now. You want to talk the astrology, you're the ram. She's, you're the ox. Like, we are literally six years apart. She's not a tourist. She's... I believe a Pisces. So she's a water sign and I'm a fire sign. Right.
She can put you out.
Oh can she ever. But at the same time, we really complement each other because she's always allowing me and in fact, encouraging me to take the spotlight. And I'm always encouraging of her if she wants to step behind. She loves being a puppet master. First of all, she's a project manager. She loves to pull the strings from backstage. Right. Like, she is the ultimate wizard of Oz. Just don't look behind the curtain. Don't ask how the magic is done, but know that it's going to happen and it will work.
We all need a bit more of that kind of lesson.
Do not pay attention to the man behind the curtain. And she's brilliant. So I look at my daughter and when my daughter is being very like, you can see her thinking through a problem and she's very calculated with it and her daddy is not that way. I am one of those solve it through repeated trial and error. And Jen is very methodical in the let's not error, let's get it right the first time. So she thinks through the steps where I'm like, well, let's place the cog here and if it doesn't work, round peg, square hole. Doesn't work. Okay, round peg, triangle hole. No, still doesn't work. Oh, look, there's a round hole, let's stick it through there. I will try different options and Jen tries to do the right solution the first time. And it's interesting watching Kenzie blend that and find her own way, her own path and her own voice.
There's nothing more magical is that being a parent and seeing what you influence every day, and don't realise what leaks.
Yeah, it's amazing too. Yeah. Because she'll do things you're like, oh, I'm so proud of you. And then she'll do things and I'm like, oh, do not do that. And then I go, oh, but I would have done that. Even the way that my daughter... it's a sheer mirror, right? Children are mirrors of ourselves. And I watch her get frustrated right now and I hear me in her response where she'll go "ugh". It even sounds like me. And creepishly. She looks like me when she does it right? And when she gets really upset, deeply hurt by society, she looks like her mum. Like the way that you can see her process the hurt... "and why would that happen"? And I see her mum in her instantly and it's amazing how she has become this mirror to us and patterns our behavior. So there's things that she does and I'm like, oh, yeah, just like me. And then there's things that she does and I go, that's just like me.
Mannerisms. Hmmmm… (26m10s)
Yeah. Mannerisms, it's a big topic. Mannerisms kind of bleeds out in body language, doesn't it? As well. When you're on stage and I've seen lots of different tips for what to do, people just don't know what to do with their hands, do they?
Yeah, hands, feet. And here's the thing, because people will be told, keep still. And then you're unnaturally mannequin. And then people are like, don't pace, which really don't pace. But there are times where walking and movement is necessary and people are like, well, keep your hands still or use your hands, but don't use your hands too much, but find the thing. And then there is no magic bullet or one answer. What it is, is. And you and I have had this conversation offline. So let's say for your listeners online authenticity is synonymous with self awareness. If you want to be a truly authentic presenter, you need to know who you are at your core. I am a hand talker. I am a very large personality. I'm going to express myself with my hands, with my body, with my face. I'm expressive, but I'm not using one thing. Right. Like, what president was it? I think it was Bush senior had his thumb right. This was how he would deliver it.
the hammer blow.
The hammer blow, yeah. And everybody has that one thing. I think Bob Dole did it too. No, it was not the president. It was Bob Dole had this up. Bob Dole is what Bob Dole is going to do. And it never went away. This was the only gesture that happened from the podium. That's when it becomes a mockery, where, for me, I am going to wave my hands a lot. They're going to do this round, circular motion, but I'm also going to accentuate a thing, or I'm going to point to a thing, or I'm going to use a broad, wide gesture. When it's appropriate. I'm going to use my body to express itself. One of the challenges that I always give to any one of my clients is stand still for the first 60 seconds of your talk just to see how unnatural it feels. But at the same time that it makes you hyper aware of why you want to move, because sometimes you're moving to dissipate nervous energy, and that's pacing, that's nervous pacing, and that's distracting to an audience, and it's taking away from your message. But sometimes you need to move because your body needs to move. And if you suppress that instinct because somebody told you you need to be still, you need to keep your hands still, then you become this weird robotic mannequin mime where everything is frozen and still...
And you're not on Zoom.
And you're not on zoom. Yeah. There is time for movement, and it's finding and again, this is from my theatrical background when we would do blocking. There is time for movement, and there is time for stillness. Both have their ability to enhance the dialogue that is being delivered. Both have the ability to detract from the dialogue that is being delivered. And the key is learning when is the right time for both?
So it's a lot like it depends.
Like anything in life, right? When is it appropriate to do anything? Depends on the circumstances in which you're doing it.
Yeah. I think this is why I like speaking to people like you, Tyler, that have got this fluid approach. There are frameworks that you can follow, and there are best practices that you can have key do's and don'ts. That isn't necessarily going to affect the it depends side of things. But it's going deeper into that intuition, isn't it, of your craft and what it is that you do. You can't even see my hands. I'm doing this going deeper into your craft, you know, needing bread.
Yeah. But as you need the bread, using the hands to point the arrow and show the flow like it's an illustrative thing. We all are going to do it naturally. And the thing is, it's funny because if people are just listening to the audio, they're listening to making conversations count and all they have is the audio, they can still hear that movement.
If you don't do it, your voice sounds different. You need that movement and it translates. If you were to do your podcast the next time, sitting on your hands and never move, people would be like, what is wrong with this episode? They wouldn't know, right? They couldn't see, but they would feel that it was just a little off. I was watching an unbelievable interview between two of my favorite comics, whitney Cummings and Taylor Tomlinson. And it was right at the beginning of the pandemic. It was like a few months in and somehow they were able to record live. They've done like an isolation thing. And in the conversation, Taylor was talking about how she had just recorded her first special and some of the things that she did to get with they were talking about insecurities and being a woman in comedy and some things that the men don't have to think about. And she was talking about just prior. She was promoting the special. She was on The Tonight Show and the makeup artist said, why don't you leave your hair down? You're so pretty. Why don't we just leave your hair down? And Taylor always ties her hair back because that's where she feels comfortable. And she does a lot of she's very animated when she tells her story. She reenacts a lot of the stuff and she bends over a lot. She takes physicalities. And when she's doing her storytelling, which is, by the way, fantastic thing to do when you want to tell a story. And she was talking about how she left her hair down and it threw her because comedy is very much like sports, where when you're at the top of your game, you're at the top of your game because you can do things in repetition. And her hair being loose through her off. And the Whitney Cummings was talking about how she had done a similar thing when she was filming her HBO special and left her hair down. And normally she keeps it back and she had, you know, lip gloss and her hair kept getting stuck in the lip gloss and it threw her. She's like, it's not that it was a bad set. It's that it wasn't the best set that it could be. And it's recognizing what are those things that are comfortable for us? What are those things that ground us? What are those things that illustrate the story so that we can tell the story better, so that we're not in our head, that we are connected with our body and subsequently connected with our audience? Because ultimately it's. About the audience and how do the distractions yeah. How do we give ourselves the best chance to connect with our audience, and that is to be out of our head. So I was fascinated by watching this interview at how much I related to it. Like, I have my pretalk routine that I have to do. There's the long version of it there's been nice to have, right? Like, I like it when I can walk through a venue and I can touch things. I like when I can meet with the audience prior to it and do a little bit of pre audience analysis. But my must have I have to have my five minutes backstage. I have to do my breathing exercises, I have to get my glass of water in before I go on stage. I absolutely, positively have to do my visualizations. If I don't do those things, I feel off each time. So it's finding those things that are going to serve you so that you can serve your audience.
And a lot of people would call those rituals, but they're not are they about setting yourself up for what's to come?
Yeah. And there is a form of ritual to it in that it's repeatable. So whether it's rich, do you call it ritual or whether you call it ritual?
Oh, come on. You know, I've spoken to Brad.
Yeah, yes, I do. But he had a point.
But he does have a point, and he's made a very good point of using that terminology to serve people. And that's the point, isn't it? And it's clearly it serves you by doing things in a certain way and getting prepared. And just sort of going back to your point about the movement of things and an audio and the way that you can feel that. I can categorically tell you that after 2 million or something telephone calls, that if you're having a bad day and they say, Smile when you dial, and it does help, and it helps your posture and everything, right? But if you're having a terrible day, don't do it because people can hear that still, even when you've just made that extra effort gosh, yeah. Body language. Because that hearing tall that we have is so finely tuned when it's the only thing we have.
Especially when it's the only thing we have. You know, you look at anybody who has any form of sensory deprivation, and then you have those heightened senses when you can only rely on the audio. It's amazing the cues that you can pick up on. And as you said, our brain is finely tuned to it. You know when somebody is smiling on the phone, you know when they're having a bad day. And it goes the other way, too. I've talked to people about this with energy work. We know when there's been a fight in a room, even if we've never witnessed the fight, you've walked into that room and people were like and then you get that link. You're like, oh, what is with that? And you're like and you become hyper sensitive and aware of you're walking on eggshells a little bit, because what did I just walk into? You didn't witness a fight. There was nothing you didn't see. You don't know. But you know that something went on. And we as human beings have a far better connection with each other than I think we give ourselves credit for.
It's that invisible signature, isn't it, that is left behind, which is quite something.
Well, and not only that's left behind, but that leads in front, right? Like, I have a magnetic field that travels around me, and that's leading my actions, and it's being left behind. And we literally do humans are basically big batteries. We have electromagnetic pulses running through us. That's how our body actually stays alive. When those electrical pulses stop, so does everything else, because the electrical pulses are what runs your brain in your heart. So when the electricity in your body stops, when your battery gets drained, that's when the body stops working. And anybody who's done any kind of 10th grade physics knows that if you run an electrical current through something, there is an electromagnetic wave that comes from that. That's how half of modern science measures. The body is through EKGs and your Cat scans and all the rest of it. All they're looking at is electrical pulses through your various organs. And if you have this electrical field around you, it's just a magnetic field, but like anything, you have electrons then that are moving through the air in front of you, and you have electrons that are moving through the air behind you. And you are literally affecting your environment beyond your actual physicality. And what you do with that and the energy that you're putting out, because you're literally putting out energy, is what is going to be felt. And so you got to remember, you are leading with energy just as much as you're leaving energy behind.
That's deep. And it warrants part two.
Let's do part two. Wendy.
Let's do part two. And it also leads me into let's keep these listeners awake as well. Let's fire back up those neurons.
Let's get those synapses firing, folks. Come on. Let's make this conversation count.
I want to know the conversation that counted for you, Tyler.
I've had so many, but when you said it, the first one that popped to mind was the conversation I had with my doctor, mentor and father figure growing up, Dr. Bob Corbett. I had a medical incident when I was 17 that left the left side of my body paralyzed. And I distinctly remember about a month and a half afterwards being in his office crying because my face didn't work, my body didn't work. My acting career was over, and being so frustrated with Western medicine. Here we are in the 21st century, and they can't diagnose what happened to me. Was it a stroke? Was it a bell's policy? Was it a mini stroke? Why did somebody say I had oh... I can't even remember. It just seemed so bizarre and it didn't even sound like a thing that could happen. A full body. I don't even remember. Anyway. Nobody could tell me what it was. And Bob sat me down. He said, Think of the blessing that is. I said, how is not knowing what the hell happened to me a blessing, sir? And he went, if you had a diagnosis, there would be one course of treatment which may or may not work. You had a stroke. There's nothing we can do. But we don't know what you had. So now we have the freedom to try anything. And if you can try, anything could work. In fact, everything could work. So let's start trying things and see what works. And then he quoted Edison. Edison didn't find a thousand ways not to make a light bulb right until he found the one that did. Bob has been a steady oarsman for me in my life, and what I appreciate the most about him, he really is an oarsman. He allows me to captain my ship. What's the course that we want to set, Captain? But he will be steady at the hand. If I tell him where due west. He will say, Very well, due west. He'll look at me and he says, you understand that looks like it could very possibly be bad weather. I'll say, yes. He goes, okay, let's weather this storm, then. We'll batten down the hatches. And I will keep this boat due west. And I have always been in great admiration of him and I've tried to pattern and emulate him as best I can in that he was one of the first people to teach me to like, I don't believe in finding the positive in life.
Is that if it's just never big enough?
It's not even that. What it is, is that my father passed away at six. I don't think that was a positive. I'm not going to be like, hey, dad died. Good for that. No, there's not a positive. But what I do look for is the grace in situations. There is grace in everything. My father passing away created an opportunity for me to have multiple father figures in my life, at least ten, Bob being one of them. My medical incident gave me a chance to reframe and refocus what was important to me. Really crystallize friendships, because I had incredible friend support when that happened. And in high school, that's rare too, right? I was a freak. I had a face that didn't work. The worst that my friends did was they'd make me laugh because I made this sound because I couldn't close my mouth. And it was comical. I don't blame them. It was irritating sometimes, but that was the worst that I got. How dare my friends try to make me laugh in a time of great tragedy for me.
That's what friends do.
That is what friends do. I have always looked for the grace and a lot of that came from the lessons that I learned from Bob and continually learned from Bob. He's struggling currently medically, and I'm watching what he's going through and again, how he's handling it with grace because it's got to be so frustrating for him and to witness his partial acceptance, but also pushing of experimentation, like, what is the solution? I think that's the thing that I like the most about him too. And one of the things that I learned is there's a problem? What is the solution and how can I be proactive with it? And that first conversation, 17 years old in his office, isn't this a gift? And having him look at now you have multiple solutions instead of one has influenced me for the rest of my life.
What did work?
I don't know which one. It was the kitchen sink. It was the kitchen sink that did it.
Good.
Bob is a doctor of chiropractic. His wife Joanne is a doctor of chiropractic who is a holistic practitioner. She's also an acupuncturist. So like with Jo, I was doing laser acupuncture, chiropractic and Eastern herbs and medicines. With Bob. I was doing chiropractic. They recommended me to an incredible physiotherapist. So I was doing physio. I was also taking modern medications to encourage synaptic regrowth and get neurons firing again, I did so much, and for a year I was scanned, prodded, poked and all kinds of weird stuff. And I don't know what worked, but it all kind of blended together. And did my face works now? My body works now.
You've got quite a fine face, I have to say.
Why, thank you, Wendy.
When you revealed how old you were, I was like, what?
I drink a lot of water and I moisturize. And I have a six year old daughter who keeps me spry and youthful. And I play hockey three times a week as a goaltender, so I'm never off the ice. So I get in my physical workouts and it keeps my mind sharp, I think. I hope.
But they do say, don't they, that your physical health has a really big impact on everything else. So clearly it's working for you. Well, I'm just glad for Dr. Bob and it's just so heartwarming that you're still in touch with him all these years later. I don't know anybody that has got a doctor that stuck around that long.
Well, it's funny because, again, I've been in touch with a lot of these gentlemen who helped guide me in my early years. Not as often as I'd like to, but I still talked to my physician, Dr. Spackman. I played in a band with his son for a couple of years, Dr. Bob and I.. I took him when I was made master of my lodge. Bob, he was the first person I reached out to and asked him to be at the ceremony. He influenced my life so much that not only do I feel the need to pay it forward, because a lot of the lessons that I teach from stage are things that I've learned from him, but I also feel an obligation to pay back. Like, I wouldn't have the life that I have. He was the first one to introduce me to self development. He bought me a ticket to Dr. John Demartini's breakthrough experience, and I didn't understand how profound that would be until later. And I didn't fully appreciate what kind of a gift that was until later in life. But that's the kind of man that he was. He was like, this is the thing I'm going to invest in you. This is a thing that was important for me, that I think will be important for you, and that's put me on a path. Right. I wouldn't have had the opportunity to speak on Tony Robin stage in Dallas if it were not for that seed that was planted over 20 years ago. And we never know.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Trained public speaker here.
(Laughs)
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TL;dr - want the episode summarised in one paragraph, and in your own language? Here is it.
ENGLISH: “And let me throw out another really fun idea for someone who’s interested in this concept of finding the local manufacturers. I know someone here in Texas who got the idea to sell an item that’s manufactured here, but then to license a well known brand to add to it. So be thinking about if you’re selling an item in the pet category, what kind of licensing can you put on that? Or if it’s in the clothing category, what kind of licensing can you get for that? You can get a well known brand name and you can pay them and they will let you put their logo on your item if it’s a relevant item. And wow, all of a sudden you’re dominating a category where you would have just been another seller. There’s so many opportunities for this as well. And I know that doesn’t look local, but it is still your local manufacturing. You’ve just used someone’s brand name to get you to the forefront in search results and people wanting to buy the item…”
ARABIC:
واسمحوا لي أن أطرح فكرة أخرى ممتعة حقًا لشخص مهتم بهذا المفهوم الخاص بالعثور على المصنعين المحليين. أعرف شخصًا هنا في تكساس خطرت بباله فكرة بيع سلعة تم تصنيعها هنا ، ولكن بعد ذلك لترخيص علامة تجارية مشهورة لإضافتها إليها. لذا فكر فيما إذا كنت تبيع عنصرًا في فئة الحيوانات الأليفة ، فما نوع الترخيص الذي يمكنك وضعه على ذلك؟ أو إذا كانت في فئة الملابس ، فما نوع الترخيص الذي يمكنك الحصول عليه لذلك؟ يمكنك الحصول على اسم علامة تجارية مشهور ويمكنك الدفع لهم وسيسمحون لك بوضع شعارهم على العنصر الخاص بك إذا كان عنصرًا ذا صلة. واو ، فجأة تهيمن على فئة حيث كنت ستصبح مجرد بائع آخر. هناك الكثير من الفرص لذلك أيضًا. وأنا أعلم أن هذا لا يبدو محليًا ، لكنه لا يزال التصنيع المحلي الخاص بك. لقد استخدمت للتو اسم العلامة التجارية لشخص ما لتضعك في المقدمة في نتائج البحث والأشخاص الراغبين في شراء العنصر.
SPANISH: “Y permítanme lanzar otra idea realmente divertida para alguien que esté interesado en este concepto de encontrar fabricantes locales. Conozco a alguien aquí en Texas que tuvo la idea de vender un artículo que se fabrica aquí, pero luego obtuvo la licencia de una marca conocida para agregarlo. Entonces, piense si está vendiendo un artículo en la categoría de mascotas, ¿qué tipo de licencia puede otorgarle? O si está en la categoría de ropa, ¿qué tipo de licencia puede obtener para eso? Puede obtener una marca conocida y puede pagarles y le permitirán poner su logotipo en su artículo si es un artículo relevante. Y vaya, de repente estás dominando una categoría en la que hubieras sido un vendedor más. Hay tantas oportunidades para esto también. Y sé que no parece local, pero sigue siendo su fabricación local. Acaba de usar el nombre de la marca de alguien para aparecer en primer plano en los resultados de búsqueda y en las personas que desean comprar el artículo.“
“.
FRENCH: “Et permettez-moi de lancer une autre idée vraiment amusante pour quelqu’un qui s’intéresse à ce concept de trouver les fabricants locaux. Je connais quelqu’un ici au Texas qui a eu l’idée de vendre un article qui est fabriqué ici, mais qui a ensuite autorisé une marque bien connue à l’ajouter. Pensez donc si vous vendez un article dans la catégorie des animaux de compagnie, quel type de licence pouvez-vous mettre dessus ? Ou si c’est dans la catégorie des vêtements, quel type de licence pouvez-vous obtenir pour cela ? Vous pouvez obtenir un nom de marque bien connu et vous pouvez les payer et ils vous laisseront mettre leur logo sur votre article s’il s’agit d’un article pertinent. Et wow, tout d’un coup, vous dominez une catégorie où vous n’auriez été qu’un autre vendeur. Il y a tellement d’opportunités pour cela aussi. Et je sais que cela n’a pas l’air local, mais c’est toujours votre fabrication locale. Vous venez d’utiliser le nom de marque de quelqu’un pour vous placer au premier plan des résultats de recherche et des personnes souhaitant acheter l’article..“
GERMAN: „Und lassen Sie mich eine weitere wirklich lustige Idee für jemanden herausbringen, der an diesem Konzept interessiert ist, die lokalen Hersteller zu finden. Ich kenne jemanden hier in Texas, der auf die Idee kam, einen Artikel zu verkaufen, der hier hergestellt wird, aber dann eine bekannte Marke zu lizenzieren, um ihn hinzuzufügen. Denken Sie also darüber nach, wenn Sie einen Artikel in der Haustierkategorie verkaufen, welche Art von Lizenzierung können Sie dafür verwenden? Oder wenn es in der Kategorie Kleidung ist, welche Art von Lizenz können Sie dafür bekommen? Sie können einen bekannten Markennamen erwerben und sie bezahlen, und sie lassen Sie ihr Logo auf Ihrem Artikel anbringen, wenn es sich um einen relevanten Artikel handelt. Und wow, plötzlich dominierst du eine Kategorie, in der du nur ein anderer Verkäufer gewesen wärst. Auch dafür gibt es viele Möglichkeiten. Und ich weiß, das sieht nicht lokal aus, aber es ist immer noch Ihre lokale Produktion. Sie haben gerade den Markennamen einer anderen Person verwendet, um in den Suchergebnissen an die Spitze zu gelangen und Personen, die den Artikel kaufen möchten..“
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