Merch Minds Podcast

Both Glen and Yong are back from their travels. Glen traveled to California and Yong...well, he traveled within California. Glen was in San Jose and Los Angeles to film his Outhustled series. Yong was in Los Angeles as a guest speaker at the Merchella conference.

They discuss their travels and the meetups they attended. Glen being the rock star had a meetup in San Jose where he had a decent gathering. However, the Outhustled meetup was a huge success as approximately 80 people showed up! Now that's how you do a meetup.

On episode 65 Glen and Yong discuss the importance of networking within the community. While the Facebook groups might be flooded with members trying to make it big on Amazon, it is still a small community. Being a content creator on any print-on-demand platform, it can be difficult to find people to talk to. So the boys encourage that you attend conferences and meetups to learn from other people and create opportunities.

They also talk about hiring VA's. Both Glen and Yong are a one-man operation. While there are other people outsourcing every aspect of their business, they discuss why they will never hire a VA to upload their designs. Also, they talk about the importance of doing research regardless of who you hire.

Sponsors

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

Merchinator
https://merchinator.com/h/e66c4a55

A lot of people have recently been approved, and there are tons of newbie questions floating around the groups. One of the questions is what are some of the products and services they can use and apply it to their Merch business. There are tons of products and services out there but should you really invest in them?

The beauty of Merch by Amazon is you can technically make money with no upfront investment. However, many of you don't have the tools or background to even know where to start. So investing in tools is a good thing as long as you do your research and know that you will make a return on it.

Glen and Yong discuss the importance of investing in yourself and your Merch by Amazon business. Set your priorities straight. If you're in a position where investing is not an option then educated yourself as much as possible about design and other aspects of the business.

Sponsor

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

Merchinator
https://merchinator.com/h/e66c4a55

The boys have their very first guest of the new year. This week RJ Martinez stops by to chop it up with Glen and Yong. RJ has seen significant results with his Merch account, and he discusses how he did it.

Like many of you listeners, RJ outsources everything. In this fun interview, RJ openly discusses every aspect of his Merch business. He talks about how many designers he has and how much he pays them. He also has an uploader for both Merch and Etsy + Printful integration.

He's also having his own Merch conference in beautiful Southern California. His conference is officially sold out, but he might have an open seat if you ask nicely. Make sure to follow RJ on all his social media platforms. He shares a lot of golden nuggets on his YouTube channel and Facebook group.

RJ Martinez YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgUAPPjwz--1MRiEojS1QPw

RJ's Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MerchByAmazonMM/

Sponsor

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

Happy New Year! The boys are back with the very first episode of 2018. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and now let's all focus on the new year.

Yong is finally back from his annual trip during the holidays. He went as far as Shreveport, Louisiana and met some awesome people during his trip. He had a meetup in Southern California and met some great influencers in the Merch community. He also had a mini-meetup in Forth Worth, Texas and enjoyed some delicious barbecue.

Glen and Yong have a lot to talk about in this week's episode. Many content creators were finally given the opportunity to sell hoodies and sweatshirts. While this is exciting, it's also a little confusing because Amazon will be reducing royalties in about a week. So they discuss what's going on with their accounts and how they're pricing their hoodies and sweatshirts.

Also, many people have been approved to Merch by Amazon. Make sure to read Amazon's TOS as that is a great place to start. Get into the habit of reading it on a regular basis because they do change frequently. Also, get into the habit of checking the dashboard for new announcements from Amazon.

Sponsor

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

This week's episode is a little early and the final one for 2017. Next week the boys are taking a break from the podcast to celebrate the holiday. It's been quite a ride for the boys, and they reveal their numbers for the last time before the year is up.

In this week's episode, the boys talk about their goals for 2018. Both Glen and Yong are juggling multiple projects, which is making it difficult for them to scale their Merch by Amazon business. However, they have goals and plans to try and help them scale, and they discuss in this week's episode.

Glen is relying on some assistance from his brother to help with his designs. His brother Anthony is also a graphic designer by trade and will assist Glen in designing some of his evergreen designs in 2018. This will help Glen manage his time better and focus on growing not just Merch but eBay as well.

Yong will also rely on some assistance with his designs from a student designer at SJSU. A few months ago Yong hired a girl who is currently going through the same program as he did at SJSU. He plans on hiring her more to help with his designs, which will help him spend more time doing niche research and uploads.

As for the podcast, the boys never had a set schedule in 2017. They would record the podcast and release it on random days. In 2018, they will record all episodes on Friday and have it ready for everyone to listen to on Monday. The podcast will also be featured on the Hustler Hacks YouTube channel starting in 2018.

Sponsors

AnglerAMS
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/anglerams

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

It's never a dull moment when Anthony and Kevin from Jersey Merch talk to Glen and Yong. These four formed a unique friendship when they met at the Seattle Merch by Amazon Conference. They talk with each other so often Yong jokes, " I talk to you guys more than I talk to my family!"

Anthony and Kevin have a unique approach to the Merch by Amazon business. Glen and Yong obviously approach their business from the design angle, but the Jersey guys approach it from the marketing angle. And they found great success with their process. Not only are they marketing geniuses but they practically outsource every aspect of the Merch by Amazon business.

They also talk about their new web app called the Merchinator. It's a humanoid cyborg that helps people with no designs skills create a variation of the same design with multiple filters. Okay, it's not a humanoid cyborg, but it kicks ass just the same. You know longer have to go through a designer to add some of the basic effects such as the distressed effect.

Merchinator
https://merchinator.com/h/e66c4a55

Sponsors

AnglerAMS
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/anglerams

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

Last week Glen and Yong discussed TeePublic's new Digital Artwork Protection. Within a couple of days, James McArthur from TeePublic reached to the boys and wanted to talk. After talking behind the scenes, Yong invited James to be a guest on the podcast.

Not only did James agree to come on the podcast but so did COO and Co-Founder Adam Schwartz. James and Adam discuss the history of TeePublic and their business model. Adam also discussed in-depth about TeePublic's new Digital Artwork Protection.

TeePublic seems very lenient about the type of design you can upload on their platform. A lot of their designs are parodies and seem to be fair game. TeePublic is another platform for content creators to experiment with but check out their site first. Make sure you can design the type of designs that are already on there.

TeePublic
http://teepublic.com

Sponsors
Design Candy
http://designcandy.io

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

TeePublic recently announced their "Digital Artwork Protection" program. Both Glen and Yong commend TeePublic for taking the initiative to protect content creators and their work. The boys go over what the Digital Artwork Protection is and they fantasize about what it would be like if Amazon implemented something similar.

The Digital Artwork Protection is still in the infancy stage, and the boys had some questions. However, they are very supportive of what TeePublic is doing. Let's see how the Digital Artwork Protection pans out and see if they can develop it to better the print-on-demand community.

The four bullet points for the Digital Artwork Protection are:

• Reverse-engineering the steps that the rippers did to steal art in the first place. TeePublic hired engineers to close these loopholes.
• Finds other websites that have posted the same artwork without your consent. Interface on your account that gives you the website on where it's being posted and link to the appropriate contact so you can send them a takedown request.
• Ripper tries to upload your design to TeePublic; it will automatically be taken down.
• Watermarks do not really work. Ripper scripts that punch out the watermark.

Sponsors

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

This week Glen and Yong discuss the royalty adjustment that will take effect on January 15, 2018. With so many people on Merch these days and Amazon slowly rolling out new apparels it was no surprise that Amazon made the announcement. What was a shocker is how much Amazon is deducting from the current royalty payout.

The boys discuss why Amazon is making the changes. They also talk about why it's important not solely to rely on Amazon to be your main income stream. They also discuss their strategies for the new royalty changes.

If you're on Merch by Amazon, make sure to adjust your prices before the new royalty kicks in. More importantly, get on other POD platforms. The more platforms you get on, the better it is for you. Not just that but you will make more money.

Sponsors

Design Candy
http://designcandy.io

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html

A digital nomad is someone who travels and makes a living typically working on their laptops. This week Ariel Villafane joins the boys to talk about her experience as a digital nomad and her journey on Merch by Amazon.

Ariel originally started her digital nomad career on Upwork but later found out about Merch by Amazon and made the switch. Ariel shares her story about on how she got on Merch and her strategy using a VA. Ariel is currently in the states but will be traveling abroad soon.

Ariel is a mermaid! Follow Ariel and her journies on her website, which is listed below. She will be soon leaving for South America and continue to scale her Merch business from abroad.

The Traveling Mermaid
http://thetravelingmermaid.com

Sponsor

Merch Informer
https://merchinformer.com/223.html