Endless Possibilities Podcast

Since I launched episode number 5 on building a drop ship business and finding the wholesalers online, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about just how to pick the right products or the niche to get into.

Well, todays podcast addresses two specific needs most of my audience has had since listening to that introduction podcast. As a result, I’ve thought a lot about this and think it’s best that I create a podcast centered around how to narrow down your products to sell with drop shipping and also give a few tips on how to measure the demand.

Let’s be realistic, without measuring market demand, you won’t really be selling much. While these days, anything and everything on the Internet sells like hot cakes, there are probably way too many people selling the same widget you’re and only a certain number of searches are being done for that product per month.

Therefore, in order to sell and become profitable, we need to measure market demand and figure out the supply and demand equation. For now, lets start off with eBay and Amazon:

Ebay and Amazon Categories: eBay is a great place to get inspiration from and also check out what people are selling. They have hundreds of categories but if you look closely, the most viewed categories are at the very top which includes Fashion & Electronics as the most prominently displayed categories.

Compete.com: Although a bit pricey, compete.com can provide you with a plethora of information about any web site that is on the web. You will find such information such as how they get their traffic, regardless if it is being paid or organic. You can also search by demographics which is very necessary when you want to find out who best to target.

Google trends: Google trends is a great little tool you can use to find out a lot of information about a product or a thing. For example, with trends, you can measure demographics, search volume, seasonality of the product and if the product has seen an increase in searches over a period of time.

Watchcount.com: Alongside eBay, watchcount.com is a great web site to find out how many watchers a particular product is getting. The best thing about this free online app is that you will be able to find out exactly what products are selling the most. From there, things get a lot easier in building a list of niches to get into.

Selling price: The selling price is very important. For this reason, you want to pick a product that is somewhere around $100-200 in price. While I have sold sunglasses in the past that were a lot less expensive, my profit margins were astronomical. The only place you will find a lot of profit on inexpensive items is in the fashion and accessories niches which we will talk about later. However, to be on the same side since you’re just starting out, it’s best you stay around $100-200 so there is a lot of room for profit. Also, the less expensive the item, the less calls you will get but the more expensive an item is, the more customer service calls and inquiries you will have.

Market Size: if your market is big, then great. However, if your market size is small, you may have a problem getting visitors to convert as there is a lot of competition and higher PPC fees. 

Market Age:  Is your  product geared towards seniors or kids under 18? I bring up these two inverse situations because although most people are web savvy, there are seniors out there that still lack great experience shopping online or let alone trust anyone with their credit cards. As for kids younger than 18, they might not have a credit card.

Product rarity: Is your niche something that is easily available in local malls or department stores? If so, it may be hard to sell online because who wants to pay shipping and wait for an order to arrive when they can buy it at the local store?

Product Obsolescence: Ideally, you want to sell a product that won’t go out of fashion or become obsolete. As an example, if you sold an iPhone case and a newly designed iPhone replaces the old one, the case will become obsolete in a short period of time. Ideally, you want to get into a niche where  you can build a web site with products that are here to stay and then build a lot of great wonderful content around.

Product Seasonality: I love sessional products because when the time is ripe, the customers just want a whole lot of it. For example, I sold sunglasses for a long time and during the months of Feb-Aug, that’s when I was rock-n-rolling. However, not everyone is comfortable with that.

Product Size & Weight: Ideally, you want to pick a product that doesn’t cost a lot of money to ship. One of two things will happen – either you will over inflate your prices to make up the loss in shipping or you will charge a lot for shipping which will then turn off most customers. This is one of the biggest reasons for shopping cart abandonment.

Profit: This is the reason why you’re in business in the first place. In an ideal world, you want to shoot for 75-100% profit for your products. This can easily be done with selling accessories and fashion products. However, most products are not this way. Therefore, you want to pick a niche that you can make at least 20-30% profit. With this much profit, you will at least have wiggle room to advertise if you needed to and still make some money.

Is this Your Passion? – this will get you in trouble – why? Following your passion is great but it also makes you ignore everything I just talked to you about. If you’re passionate about candles and you have a dozen of them laying around your home and want to start selling them online, you can and thats great but have you done your due diligence about everything we’ve talked about? When I started selling sunglasses back in 2001, I became passionate about sunglasses when it started making money for me, not the other way around.

Woo-hoo, you made it! Congratulations, this is the toughest part! My advice for you now is to go find the manufacturers. Sure, there is a list of drop ship companies out there but most of them are a waste of time and I wouldn’t bother. A lot of them are middle men to begin with anyway. Settle with calling the manufacturers directly and ask them if they drop ship. You may refer to podcast episode #5 where I talk about this in more detail.

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In the last part of 2013, I attended Unleash The Power Within and learned a great deal. While there, I signed up for Date With Destiny as well — needless to say, you should have seen the smile on my face! After, I felt a bit nervous and didn’t know what to expect.

When I got back home after having attended all 4-days and reflected on my life, I released episode number 31, “9 Cardinal Rules For Life” and in it, I shared my experience but I also mentioned that on a future episode I will be discussing what I have learned.

Well, It’s been a few weeks now and I’ve been away for some time. First I went to Date With Destiny in California, then came back and had to deal with Bronchitis for a week and a half. Once I recovered, it was tackling on the holidays which included Christmas and then, New Years. The days, months and weeks have gone by VERY quickly and now we’re in 2014 – the start of the new year, new beginnings and new goals.

I’m really excited for my life and for yours this year. I’ve made some lofty goals for myself with one of them being that I will be getting back into eCommerce. This year, aside from making a lot of money, I am really excited about what this money will do for my family and everyone around me. As you will learn from listening to this podcast, my mission in life is that “I will put on this earth to be successful in life, love and business so that I can contribute to those around me.”

I’ve always realized that contribution is important and since the beginning of last year, I’ve made it so with my podcast and this web site. As a result, I get thank you emails almost every day and to date, my podcast is being listened to in 124 countries worldwide! However, I’ve gotten wiser and more intelligent since last year and I’m learning that a balanced life is just as important as contribution. Therefore, I have made a few changes to the format of this podcast that will allow me to grow and help you grow at the same time. More on the podcast so please listen to it if you haven’t already.

Here is a summery of what I will be covering in “4 Steps To Creating An Extraordinary Life Of Fulfillment.”

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The idea behind coming up with the 8 cardinal rules for life came from an info graphic I found and posted on my Facebook fan page wall. Till this day, the info graphic had over 109 shares and 54 likes likes which blew my mind!

In coming up with today’s podcast, I thought that I can expand on the quote and talk about it through my own lens with a few compelling examples and reasons why these rules do make sense and should be applied.

However, the original info graphic was only 7 cardinal rules but the last two rules are my own because I learned something very important while attending the Tony Robbins seminar a few weeks ago and it is worth talking about.

I hope you like the “9 Cardinal Rules For Life” podcast. I would love your feedback below!

Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a review, rate and subscribe on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!

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“when it looks impossible and you are ready to quit, victory is near!” – Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins hit it out of the ball park when he said this. If I look back at all the years, all I had were a series of challenges and these challenges made me who I am today. This quote is so powerful because there is always a point in our lives when all we want to do is quit and that’s the defining moment in which we change our lives either for the better or for worse and once we get too used to comfort, laziness sets in.

To make practical sense out of this quote and to put it into perspective — There will come a time when your mind will prefer comfort and this usually happens when something is really difficult or nearly impossible.

Should I quit my awful job or find another one?

Should I keep the high paying job or open up that business I always wanted so that I could improve my life and my families regardless of how much work or effort is involved?

The most ironic thing is that the limitation of what’s possible is in your own mind but across the world, someone will do what you’re afraid of doing without much thought or effort. For some it’s self-sabotage and for other’s its plain laziness.

The solution to choose discomfort and put the fear and the anxieties away is to keep reminding yourself that “this too, shall pass” — every moment in your life that was an emergency, a catastrophe or a severe challenge has passed and this too, shall pass.

Let’s face it, no one likes a lazy person but lazy people are often the ones who seek comfort over achievements. Always putting to the side important matters leads to mediocrity and mediocrity is the stepping stone to unhappiness and discontent.

Discomfort is good for you because it makes you yearn for something more. It forces you to make changes in your life or career and to adapt to your circumstances instead of giving up.

In a previous podcast episode, I talked about Mr. Pain and Ms. Experience as my #1 teachers. Mr. Pain has been my discomfort and Ms. Experience is the result of having Mr. Pain in my life. This is why discomfort is good for you because without pain & discomfort, your personal and professional life will never improve.

Mentally strong people don’t shy away from change: Mentally strong people understand that change is inevitable and believe in their abilities to adapt. They also realize that change is constant and nothing lasts forever.

No career or business lasts forever. Humans and everything humans create has an expiration date associated with them. Therefore, mentally strong people   welcome positive change and are willing to be flexible and adapt to their environments.

They don’t fear taking calculated risk: Mentally strong people are resilient because they realize the importance of taking continued calculated risk. Why do you ride the roller coaster or go on daring adventures? You do it to feel alive. Much like roller coasters, white rapids and doing other dangerous activities such as sky diving gives us a feeling of being alive, taking calculated, measured risks are just as important in our daily lives.

All risk can be downsized by making calculated decisions. If you’ve done enough research and have a plan, there is no reason why you should fail.

They don’t dwell in the past: One thing to admire about mentally strong people is that they don’t constantly relive bad experiences or fantasize about the glory days. Instead, they live in the present and plan for the future. Dwelling in the past is probably the number one contributor towards comfort and mediocrity. Dwelling in the past is why some people don’t take risks — calculated or not.

The problem with some people is that they never get passed the moments of discomfort early on in their lives and as a result, this becomes a habit of always reliving the past so that they can avoid future pain and struggle. This is not a good way to live.

They don’t make the same mistakes over-and-over again:  Another reason why people force themselves into a pampered and comfortable lifestyle is because they don’t learn from their mistakes. Mentally strong people accept responsibility for their behavior and learnt rom their past mistakes.

As a result, they don’t keep repeating these mistakes over and over. Instead, they move on and make better decisions in the future.

They don’t give up after the first failure: Mentally strong people realize that failure is a huge part of success. They don’t see failure as a reason to give up but as a reason to dissect the situation and figure out what went wrong so that the same mistakes are not repeated. Instead, they use the failure as an opportunity to grow and improve. They are willing to keep trying until they get it right.

So now you have some really compelling reasons why why discomfort is good for you and a bunch of reasons why mentally strong people succeed. As I had previously mentioned — mentally strong people are not only happier but also more successful in life because they don’t give in comfort very easily. Instead, they always push themselves to be and do better in life and in their careers. Mentally strong people are people we usually admire and want to be like but the good news is, you too can be mentally strong starting today.

Question for you:  In what area of your life as you most comfortable in that is holding you back? Write your answers in the comment section. Thank you!

Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a review, rate and subscribe on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!

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Last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to Unleash The Power Within and saw Tony Robbins live and wow, what an experience!

The last time I went to UPW was in Orlando sometime in 2009 I believe — since then, the program has changed a whole lot and I got so much out of it. My experience at UPW was profound and completely life changing.

In this podcast, I will talk to you about my experience as well as the video below which Tony has you going through what he calls “The Dickens Process”. Enjoy!

To tie all of this together, i strongly believe that personal growth and contribution is a great combination to have. All human beings are consistently seeking to meet the 6 basic human needs but we all tend to value two more than the rest as I learned from this weekend.

For example: Someone who values certainty will live a radically different life than someone who values uncertainty/variety.

Similarly, someone who focuses on significance will interact with others very differently than someone who’s number one need is for connection/love. When you know which needs you value the most, you can better understand the choices you make, as well as your emotional patters.

Which two human needs are your most dominant need and why? I would love to carry this conversation over below — please write what your 2 most primal needs are and lets chat. Shall we?

Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a review, rate and subscribe on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!

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After last weeks episode, I thought to myself in frustration – why aren’t people taking massive action? In all fairness, I am not there to see you and I don’t want to judge what you do with your time after listening to an instructional video, a course you may have taken or a podcast you have listened to.

However, from what I’ve learned about business psychology and more importantly, human psychology, over 95% of us will not take action with the knowledge we have learned. Why? For all sorts of reasons but the reasons are more internal than anything else.

You see — business is like a computer program — all there are is 1s and 0s. In other words, business is a completely rational and logical process. However, some people are irrational and illogical and this is why business is simple but people are complicated.

Let me elaborate some more by giving you a few examples:

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This week, instead of yet another content rich episode of Endless Possibilities, I thought you and I had a one-on-one chit-chat about what is keeping you stuck where you’re and what challenges you might be facing?

You see – over the last 6-months, I have put a lot of effort and energy into creating these podcasts for you and by now, I expect that any serious Entrepreneur listening and applying my wisdom and knowledge would be on their way to becoming pretty successful if not making tons of money online or elsewhere.

Here is all that I’ve taught you — be specific with me and let me know what is holding you back? I want to help you and I want you to succeed.

You may have your own business or you’re just starting out. Regardless, why are you not doing better in your business or why have you not started being your own boss?

Podcast #2 : how to become successful at anything yo attempt:

Podcast #4: How to create smart goals

Podcast #5: build a drop-ship business, find a niche and the wholesalers

Podcast #6. How to outsource on elance and odesk

Podcast #11 Find your life purpose, become motivated and build mental toughness

Podcast #16: how to avoid failure & succeed as an online entrepreneur

podcast #17: 10 ridiculously obvious signs you should be an online entrepreneur

Podcast #18: how to make millions and market yourself as an expert

Podcast #23: 8 ways to bust procrastination and become more productive

Podcast #26: how to reinvent yourself in one year

I want you to answer the following questions for me so that I can address your problems and provide you with clarity. I can easily create 27 more podcasts over the next 6-months and you will be where you’re today — just another Entrepreneur Wannabe.

Instead, I want you to make take the big leap forward and become an actual Entrepreneur. Here are some questions you can ask me directly by writing below in the comments section. If you want to be private about it, you can send me an email through my contact form and I will be happy to respond to you right away.

The choice is yours, however, please make sure to either write your question below or shoot me an email through my contact form.

Please ask your questions below and I will answer them for you personally. Or like I said, send me an email through my contact form.

Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a review, rate and subscribe on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!

Read more at WilliamShaker.com - A Personal Development Blog For Smart People

I recently read an article by James Altucher called “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Reinventing Yourself” on Techcrunch. In all fairness, I have read a few of his blog posts and listened to a few podcasts he’s been on and I have to admit, they were all very inspiring and most of all, very amusing to read.

n However, his latest article in Techcrunch made me a little concerned that the thousands of people reading his article will now be completely disillusioned  into thinking that reinventing yourself is a long arduous 5-year endeavor as James quite humbly put it.

The problem with James Altucher as he puts it is that early in his career he has made tens of millions of dollars and has lost it all, MULTIPLE times and has done it over and over again. Along the way, he has pissed off many big names and many big industries completely burning all bridges to the ground and this is doing it over and over again. What’s that quote by Albert Einstein? — “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”

I understand that failures are a big part of success – for 10 years, I’ve had my own businesses on the web making millions along the way and BAM, I got smashed to pieces by Google and lost it all. However, being a critical and accurate thinker, I can analyze and figure out what went wrong, put the pieces together and try again more intelligently.

This is where I show you – the functional logical thinker who is at a point where he/she needs to reinvent himself to do it in much less time.

Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a review, rate and subscribe on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!

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When it comes to success, there is a never-ending cycle of learning and growth. I truly believe that when you stop learning, you start dying. Human beings are capable of learning from mistakes, adapting and evolving a lot faster than any other creature on earth. However, just because we have the capacity to learn, doesn’t mean we always do.

In this podcast, I want to teach you 10 Critical Lessons For Life & Business To Live By. Depending on where you’re in your personal development and how much work you have put in, some of these might be pretty obvious to you and while to others, it may be completely new.

Regardless, I hope you learn something today. Please respond by commenting below and let me know what you think.

Always make learning a priority – get out of bed early if you have to. If you’re not learning, you’re obsolete. Success is inward out — The level of success you want to achieve is commensurate with the level of your education. Food & water is to the body as education & personal development is to the mind.

Make improving your life and your business never ending. Always up your standards of living — your health, your diet, your body should improve as you get older, not deteriorate Your body will naturally deteriorate as you get older but counter balance it by eating health and exercising. For business — continue to make improvements — regardless if its your web site, your communication with your clients or your customer service.

You already know too much — you’ve read every read and every article – now its time to practice, practice and practice what you learned. Practice doesn’t perfect – perfect practice makes perfect. Deliberate practice is X amount per day, every day.

My friend Kevin Wilke left his small-town home from rural Iowa more than a decade ago only to find himself. Today, he grosses over 5 million dollars per year. When we hang out with people who’re much different than us, we usually open the floodgates to new ideas and facts about business and the world. Everyone has a unique opinion and if we continue to only spend time with those around us, we will never get an outside perspective. This is one of the reasons why I love going to live seminars and networking events where I get to meet new people all the time.

This one is kind of obvious because the team that built the 100,000 business may not be the right fit to build the 1 million dollar business. Money is a mindset and the team you surround yourself with can either make you or break – as cliché’ as it may sound!

This is one of the reasons why I like to keep hush about new projects I am working on. There is always someone out there that will want to bring you and your idea down. People are often the average of the people they spend their time with. If you’re on the same level as them today and tomorrow you go off to do something better, they may not be comfortable with that and thus, criticize you and tell you its a bad idea or risky or just plain dumb. Instead, keep quiet. Success is rarely something you should tell people – if you’re successful, they would see it.

If someone treated you wrongly, it is usually because you taught it to him or her. What do I mean by that? You either let them get away with things that go over your level of comfort and there are times where you spend your time with the wrong types of people – it is in their character and this is the way they’ve come to realize that friendships and relationships are formed. These types of people should be avoided at all costs. Be careful about spending time with the unlucky ones – luck is not something that is made of fairy dust – it is something that we create for ourselves.

The second thing I want to mention is to be careful about the types of people who speak negatively about someone you may or  may not know. Its OK to talk to a friend and ask for a listening ear but when its wrong of them when every time you see them and they are spilling the beans to you about someone they know — that is not a friend — that is someone who has a lot of negativity surrounding them – stay away at all costs.

What usually happens in this type of situation is that this person usually ends up talking trash about you too — you may or may not have done anything wrong to this person. This is the kind of character this person has. It is habitual to them.

If you don’t have a calendar, you should consider getting one. If you’re in business for yourself, it is probably one of the best investments you can make. Having a calendar is great because when you schedule in your calendar, you can be sure it will get done. There is usually this type of connection with our brain and our calendars — it’s almost like holding ourselves accountable. It always works. Try it.

Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a review, rate and subscribe on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!

Read more at WilliamShaker.com - A Personal Development Blog For Smart People

As Entrepreneurs, we sometimes forget what our purpose is and distractions often take us away from the big picture. In 10 things to remember on your Entrepreneurial journey, I will talk to you about a few key principles to help you stay on track and get a lot done.

Never miss an episode by subscribing, using one of the options below and If you can spare 30-seconds to leave a review, rate and subscribe on iTunes, it would really help the show’s ranking. Thank you, in advance!

Read more at WilliamShaker.com - A Personal Development Blog For Smart People