Merch Minds Podcast

You guys asked for it and the boys decided to talk about it. For the past several weeks Yong has been talking about how awful Fiverr is. He's been discouraging people from using Fiverr and this week they invited Sue Schroeder to join in on the conversation.

Sue is a graphic designer and she also teaches graphic design. Sue posted in the Merch Minds Facebook group agreeing that Fiverr is not a legitimate marketplace to hire designers. There are just too many designers to filter through and it seems many of them lie about their experience on Fiverr.

While this might seem like a one-sided discussion Yong extends an open invitation to any service provider on Fiverr to come on the show to have a discussion. If you're providing a service on Fiverr as a "graphic designer" or a customer who feels that the quality of designs on Fiverr is high quality please contact him.

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

A lot of people are getting their accounts approved and the boys are getting bombarded with messages. Instead of replying to each and every message they decided to do a whole episode on what you should be doing. They explain what you should be doing if you just had your account approved.

Listed below is the 10 tips for beginners and they discuss each of them.

1. Read the Terms and Conditions
2. Decide to outsource or design yourself
3. See what is already selling (Amazon DS Quick View with Merch Research)
4. Learn how to Search for Trademarks
5. Don't fall in love with the design, move on to the next. Get out there
6. Promote in the beginning - Instagram with proper hashtags, Pinterest, FB
7. Test and observe, give about 6 weeks to see some result
8. Start designing the next 10 designs to mix and match
9. Goal is to sell 10, don't worry about sales, you just want to tier up
10. When you tier up to 25, now mix in trendy with niches with holidays (3-5 per niche)

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

This week's episode is early and special. Yong recorded this week's episode from Atlanta because he was attending the Creative Pro Week Conference. He met with local Merch Minds Facebook group members and also networked with both the speakers and attendees of the conference.

Drawing inspiration from the conference the boys talk about the importance of networking. You can learn a lot from talking with people with the same interests. They remind us how important it is to talk and learn from others regardless of what type of business you're in.

You don't have to attend conferences and travel to network. Reach out to people in your community and organize a local meetup. You can learn so much from other people and from their business model. Remember, the more you learn the more successful you will be in any aspect of your life.

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

Amazon has announced their new copycat detection policy and it has people on the edge of their seats. Glen and Yong discuss the new TOS and they try to decipher what it means. The boys debate on what they think Amazon expects from content creators.

Both Glen and Yong agree that to stay safe that all content creators must put up great designs. As long as you continue to put up great designs, be ethical and honest you have nothing to worry about. The days of putting up random designs just to fill up your daily submissions are diminishing.

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

Finally! The boys have been trying to schedule Chris Green on an episode of the Merch Minds podcast and they finally get him. Chris is known throughout the Amazon community as the "Godfather" because he's introduced the FBA and now the Merch by Amazon platform to the public.

Chris joins the boys to have a casual conversation about Merch by Amazon. Chris reminds us how great of an opportunity Merch is and that we should all take it seriously. While the platform is approximately a year and a half old at the point of publishing this episode it is still young. Chris reassures us that Merch will improve and only get better.

Make sure and sign up for the conference that Chris is trying to organize. The price of attending and networking with like-minded individuals is priceless. The Merch by Amazon Conference will be fun so make sure and pre-register today.

Chris Green
https://www.facebook.com/cjgreen

Merch by Amazon Conference
http://merchconference.com

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

In this week's episode, Glen and Yong answer a question that was posted in the Merch Minds Facebook group. In a previous episode, Yong mentioned that he only uses Google to do his research. While it seems as it most people uses Merch Research Yong has found success without it.

So both Glen and Yong discuss how they do research. While they are some similarities they do have their difference. Regardless of how you end up doing research for your search remember that the design is always prominent.

Merch Research
http://merchresearch.com

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

This week's guest, Gio Hernandez, will inspire you to take action. He was originally living in Los Angeles, CA but because of health issues, he decided to move to Guatemala to get his health back in order. After losing over 100lbs Gio moved back to the states and is now living in Iowa.

Gio is having success on platforms outside of Amazon especially TeePublic and Shopify. He did have a Merch by Amazon account for some reason it was canceled. While disappointed he didn't make any excuses and instead decided to scale the other platforms. The money he was making allowed him to live a comfortable life in Guatemala.

The great thing about Gio is that he is humble and continues to learn. He is always learning and continues to educate himself by taking courses on Skillshare. Gio even recommended a course for Shopify on Skillshare to Yong, which helped both of them build their Shopify store.

Gio is truly an inspiration. He's an overall nice guy who's willing to help anyone that approaches him. The world needs more people like him.

Gio Hernandez
https://www.facebook.com/fortunecaked

Skillshare
http://bit.ly/2nd130S

How to Start an Online T-Shirt Business [Skillshare Course]

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

In life, we all try and live our lives to the fullest. However, there are some things we can't control. Glen and Yong talk about some of the hardship that they went through this week.

Also, there are some major announcements from Amazon and the fellas. First Amazon announced they will be releasing new colors on Monday. This is great news for content creators as it gives us more options for our designs.

Second, as more and more people are getting their accounts approved the Merch Minds Facebook group is getting tons of requests. Originally, the group was to be capped at 500 and then 1000 but the boys decided to open the floodgates. The reason for this is that they want to help as many people as they can. By restricting people from joining the group prevents them to do so.

Finally, to celebrate the podcast 50,000 downloads the boys will be offering one person a chance to talk to them for a private Q&A session. On Monday, they will randomly choose one member from the group and provide him or her the opportunity to pick their brains.

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com

Glen is in New York and Yong is in Oregon. However, the show must go on! The boys recorded this week's episode early before they left for their trip.

This week the boys talk about various sites where you can download "commercial license" fonts. They talked about the basics of typography and fonts in a previous episode but they never went in depth on how to download them.

Listed below, in no particular order, are all the sites where you can download "commercial license" fonts mentioned in this episode. Just remember to always read the license and be careful if you are redirected to another site. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility. As mentioned before ignorance is not an excuse.

DaFont
http://www.dafont.com/

Urban Fonts
https://www.urbanfonts.com/free-fonts.htm

1001 Free Fonts
http://www.1001freefonts.com/

Font Squirrel
https://www.fontsquirrel.com/

Google Fonts
https://developers.google.com/fonts/

Font Space
http://www.fontspace.com/category/commercial

Creative Bloq
http://www.creativebloq.com/typography/best-handwriting-fonts-12121527

MyFonts
http://bit.ly/2goNee1

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekgustle.com

In this week's episode, the boys talk to Travis from MerchCandy. Last week Travis offered an exclusive deal for his new service, WordCandy, to the members of the Merch Minds Facebook group.

WordCandy will help streamline your listing process by generating strategic keyword suggestions for various POD platforms including Amazon. It's a tool that will help you save countless of hours. Not only will it work with Merch by Amazon but it will also help you with listings on FBA, eBay, Etsy and other e-commerce sites. It has other features so the boys invited Travis to explain how it all works and the other features that are included.

The fellas asked if Travis could extend the same deal he offered to the group to the loyal Merch Minds listeners. He graciously obliged and not only is he extending the same offer but he's giving the listeners 96 hours to purchase a LIFETIME subscription to WordCandy. That's four full days including the weekend to make your purchase. Once the episode is available you will have until 12:01 am on Tuesday, April 11 to make your purchase.

Glen and Yong have already purchased their lifetime subscription. The keyword here is "lifetime." No pun intended. When was the last time you were offered a subscription for a lifetime? There is other services out there that charge $30.00 per month for similar services.

If you're a member of the Merch Minds Facebook group and you missed out on the deal then this is your second opportunity to make your purchase. Remember, this is just a one-time offer. Make sure and purchase your subscription in the next four days to lock in your savings!

As mentioned throughout the episode this is a pre-launch. You are locking in on the savings. The actual launch date is on Tuesday, April 15.

WordCandyhttp://bit.ly/wordcandy01

Glen
e: [email protected]
w: http://hustlerhacks.com

Yong
e: [email protected]
w: http://geekhustle.com