The Livelihood Podcast

Is it possible for us to turn a profit on Etsy in less that two weeks? Join us as we discuss our game plans as we start our very first Fast Bucks Challenge.

We attempt to setup an Etsy store in just two weeks. Is it possible to start an ecommerce business fast? Find out as we explore Etsy's platform on our 2 episode special.

Rules: 

1. Two week time limit.

2. £100 limit on spending. 

3. No limit on product offerings. No limit of the type of products. No limit on services offered.

Game Plans

1. Benefits driven
2. Avoid multiple skus and inventory risk
3. Leveraging other businesses services e.g. custom t shirts, dropshipping 
4. Things we’re not going to do:
   1. Packaging design. 
   2. Things that take too much time, long lead time activities.

Market Research

1. Finding popular etsy categories and products
2. Using trends
3. Keyword Research

Listing design

1. Images to use
2. Copy and keyword input

Useful Links

List of Etsy Tools - https://marketingartfully.com/big-list-etsy-tools-resources/

Alura Chrome extension - https://www.alura.io/

Nick Loper is host of The Side Hustle Show podcast, one of the most popular small business podcasts out there. On the show he interviews guests who have had success with their own side hustles.

The Side Hustle Show has been going since 2013 and released nearly 400 episodes. Accompanying the podcast, Nick also hosts sidehustlenation.com, the popular blog/website for side hustlers, and a mailing list with over 60,000 subscribers.

Nick has also presented a TedX talk (which you can find on youtube search Nick Loper TedX), as well as writing multiple books on making money, and having multiple of his own ventures outside of his personal brand.

On the show we talk about -

1. Nick's first side hustle - the shoe comparison site that gave him the confidence to quit his job.

2. The three best side hustles to start during this lockdown period, and which ones you can start today.

3. If you should invest in courses, and when it might be best to upskill yourself.

4. How following your passion isn't necessarily important, and how working on a project can actually ignite the passion.

5. The importance of spreading your content and income streams between multiple service providers, so that you aren't at the mercy of a single platforms algorithms or policy changes.

6. How to effectively manage your time using the "Theme" method.

7. How mentors and spouses are both important in giving you the confidence to pursue your side hustles; as well as the accountability in progressing those businesses.

8. Find your why - Nick's one piece of advice to people thinking about starting a side hustle is find your why, because if your why isn't strong enough then it probably isn't what you should be doing with your free time.

Matt has successfully crowdfunded two projects, the Crane Lamp and the Solstice Clock together raised over £100k on Kickstarter. Join us as we talk about the highs and lows of manufacturing in the UK and in China. 

If you had advice for someone wanting to make their own product, what would it be?

• Start with something small and less complicated and don’t aim for massive numbers
  • Try to use this to learn how to do it, but not necessarily at scale.
  • You can also use this to begin to build your audience and the people who might buy your next product.
• Visit manufacturers - face to face meetings are still very important, and if they have met you, they will take you more seriously and you can build a stronger relationship with them.
• Try to do as many things yourself as possible the first time round, even if you get things a bit wrong. If you later want to employ other companies to do your PR etc, you will be able to speak their language having done it yourself the first time around.
• more manufacturers you visit the more specific you can be, you will enter each conversation wiser.

Should manufacturing a product just be left to designers? Or can someone with a good idea do it.

• Definitely not - anyone can do it. And designers don’t necessarily have the best ideas! 
• But if you are not a designer it is probably best to work with a designer to get your product looking and functioning as you want it to - before approaching a manufacturer.
• Leaving unsolved design questions and the look of a product to manufacturing stage is risky - difficult to have control

What’s it like manufacturing in the UK?

• Its a mixed bag. It is very difficult to build complicated products in the UK, with lots of parts. There are few contract manufacturers who offer this. Brands have built up their own manufacturing facilities but do not make other peoples products.
• Its also difficult to find UK companies! There is no alibaba in the UK, and websites of manufacturers are often terrible and rank badly in google.
• You might find all the individual ingredients in the UK, PCB manufacture, CNC houses, assembly houses. But you will have to manage it and it will be very expensive.
• UK is best for specialist manufacture - where quality is key, and low volume.

What’s the biggest challenge with getting something manufactured in China. 

• Communication - figuring out a bomb proof technique for communicating with the factory, to explain problems etc. But once you have it you can re-use it.
• Distance and time zones

If you were to start again what would you do differently.

• I would try some smaller products that are easier to make first rather than jumping straight in with quite complicated products
• I would try to do everything faster - because I am doing everything the first time - I am more cautious and might do too many rounds of samples because I want to be 100% sure. 

If someone has an idea for an invention, what would you suggest they do first?

• I think the first thing to consider is making a lifestyle change to allow it to happen. 
  • Go to 4 days a week from a full time job
  • Find a makerspace or somewhere you can prototype it if its physical
  • Start going to pitching events or crowdfunding events - surround yourself with people doing the same thing
  • Make an incubator for it.

What’s your advice on marketing physical products?

• Beautiful imagery and videos of product but also the process
• Either get good at this yourself or work with someone else who is good at it
• Build an audience by profiling your target market, then use social media to try to reach that target audience

Fiverr is one of the best resources for entrepreneurs to build businesses quickly. Need something translated? Use Fiverr. Need a quick logo? Fiverr. Need a guest for your podcast? That’s right - you can find it all on fiverr. Listen in to hear our top tips on how to get the most out of the platform, what to look out for and how to get the best results. Ft special guest Victor who, you guessed it, we found on Fiverr. 

10 Key Points: 

1. What is Fiverr and why is it f***cking great?

Fiverr is an online marketplace for freelance services. Sellers create gigs that customers can buy, varying in price from as low as $5. We got our awesome intro from fiverr. It cost us £18.42 and was delivered in 3 hours. 

2. Use Fiverr to free up your own time!  

Delegating tasks to contractors enables you to free up your own time to spend in important areas like planning and business analytics. Be task specific, open ended tasks don’t work for fiverr. Think speedy tasks for someone that’s good at a specific things. 

3. Write concise briefs. 

If you can’t describe what you want in a few bullet points you're going to be dissapointed. 

4. Know when to choose to upskill yourself for every other time, use fiverr.

Things like logo design, packaging design and other jobs advertised on Fiverr are skills that take a long time to master. You might be tempted to try and learn the skill using Youtube, but hiring someone on Fiverr can be inexpensive.

5. Pick people based on their speciality. It’s better to find people with very specific skills to use.

6. Prices for Fiverr can be considerably cheaper than using a professional service in your home country - UK, USA etc; as the majority of the sellers are based in countries with lower incomes so you can get a better deal for your money.

7. If you have a specific project and the gig isn’t listed; you can post a request. 

Make sure you ask the sellers to post a secret word in the reply, so you know they have actually read it. 

8. If you have a bigger budget, go for the pro section. 

Fiverr has a Pro section that offers gigs from outstanding freelancers in their industry. If you have a large budget these guarantee better results.

9. Check potential candidates' work thoroughly, and read their reviews!

Generally, you get what you pay for on fiverr. Don’t expect world class logo design for $5.

10. If you’re not sure which to choose, try the spray gun approach. 

In this episode we discuss how to start an online store with Keri-Ann, who has been running a successful e-commerce business for the last 2 years.

Keri-Ann launched Flower & Flame (flowerandflame.co.uk), a sustainable products company that focuses on long life flowers and beautifully smelling long burn candles.

We talk about -

1. Managing cash flow in a small business
2. How to source the best products in your niche and dealing with problematic suppliers
3. Whether you should quit your job to start, or run your business part time
4. How friends and family can help launch your business
5. Celebrating your wins, and forgiving your losses
6. The best way to brand your business
7. Why spending a long time on your brand’s name might not be the most important thing
8. How to get free money for small business start ups

Starting a business is bloody hard. It takes self belief and consistent effort. We go through our favourite quotes for staying ahead of the struggle.

Talking Points 

1. Motivation is a learnt skill. 
2. There is no finish line. Phil Knight - Founder of Nike.
3. Just Start. When you have an idea for something you're at peak inspiration. 
4. Start small. Start at the basics and try out low risk strategies first. 
5. Stop theorising. Focus on action. Stop focusing on absorbing information.
6. Have a Dopamine Detox - Remove social media, netflix, video games, junk food.
7. When you're building a wall, don't think about it, just lay the first brick as perfectly as you can. 
8. Discuss your ideas with someone who shares your passion.
9. See the good in the bad - work around obstacles and challenges.
10.  It's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep getting up. 

Hit subscribe!
To find useful links and more notes check out www.lockdownlivelihood.com

EP#8 - SEO with Digital Marketing Specialist Guest Jyles Kerr-Smith. 

Join us as we talk SEO and discuss:

1. What is SEO and why is it important?
2. How do se arch engines work
3. Keyword research
4. On page & off page SEO

Things that will improve your website’s google ranking:

1. Speed - no-one will ever hope that a website loads slower. That was one of the fundamental principles that drove google founders to be obsessed with loading times. Make sure your site isn’t heavily loaded with high resolution photos and videos. You can check your loading speed here. https://gtmetrix.com/
2. Accuracy of information. If people are searching for something specific, like ‘Best steak restaurants in South England’ make sure your site shows good up to date information and is presented clearly. 
3. Clear formatting. It needs to be nice and easy to read and split into subtitles. Don’t go crazy on large blocks of copy. 
4. Mobile optimisation. 60% of the internet is viewed from a mobile. Make sure your website works great on both desktop and mobile. 
5. Backlinks - if possible the more websites with good authority that link to your site the better. Try and pull a few favours if you know someone with a decent well established website and ask they link to your site. Even better volunteer to make them some content that’s relevant to their audience and link to your site. 
6. Internal Links - the more  links you have in your website that links to other content the easier it will be to be found by google’s “crawlers” - more on that in the next section. 

How do search engine’s work?

1. Crawl - this is the “spiders” that essentially go from link to link and collect information. This is then collated and stored in Google’s index.
2. Index - the register of information linking to websites. 
3. Rank - this is the result of 100s of different factors and what SEO is all about.

Other tips:

You can help google out and give your website a boost by Creating a search console and getting a site map creator. 

Check out your domain authority by using the moz chrome extension. This will keep you informed of your progress as you go. Find the Moz toolbar here: 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mozbar/eakacpaijcpapndcfffdgphdiccmpknp?hl=en

Keywords

There are two different types of keywords, short tail and long tail. Use the google keyword planner that’s associated with a google adwords account to find out what people are searching for. Just like Amazon it’s about finding high volume keywords with low competition. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6325025?hl=en-GB

We challenge each other to decide once and for all, is dropshipping worth anyone's time or is it a load of old bull? We Cover:

First of all, what is drop shipping?

Is there any value in you learning about it and should you try it? 

What are the pros and cons?

Ultimately, is it a load of old bullshit? 

YES, IT SUCKS DONKEY BALLS. 

Alex's arguments:

• Why would a customer want to wait 14 days for shipping when most of the products are already on Amazon in prime. When you’re in a business and you’re competing with Amazon, you need to be bloody sure that what you’re offering is unique. It needs to be premium or something totally unique, otherwise you’re going to lose. 
• Wish has the game locked down. How do you compete with that?
• Factories work by scheduling mass production. They are able to make a profit when an assembly line is used for a long time. That’s where they are able to make money, it’s the economics of scale. Set up costs a lot, factories aren’t set up for small orders. They are set up for large orders, they’re essentially just taking on the cashflow burden. 
• The barriers to entry are so low, that anyone can set up a site and sell anything. You have no credibility selling outside of a platform like amazon. If you’re drop shipping you’re not necessarily rebranding, you’re not changing the product, you’re not adding any value. It’s a commodity product business and a place for shallow brands 

No, it's the bee's knees. 

Luke's Arguments:

• Dropshipping is a great way to test the market for a business idea. Rather than taking on the risk of buying bulk inventory, utilise the availability of manufacturers willing to ship directly to customers and you cover the marketing.
• It is a low setup cost business model, that is easy to scale.
• Companies like GymShark started with dropshipping to test their branding and then scaled from there.
• Partnerships with good quality suppliers in your home country and bringing a great product to market could be a better option than low quality products from Aliexpress.

In this episode we discuss how to launch a podcast from 0 listeners, all the way to nearly 1 million downloads. 

We talk with Joel Emery about some of the tactics and tricks he used to get a massive following of fans for his award winning podcast, without using traditional marketing or an initial fan base.

The Offensive Podcast has won a British Podcasting Award, as well as receiving rave reviews from GQ and The Guardian, among others.

It has been downloaded nearly 1 million times. It's success is a mixture of creating content for a niche, engaged audience and the fact it's f*cking funny. 

We interview Joel (who happens to be Luke's brother), The creator behind the show and ask him how the hell we're going to try and make this podcast a success. 

If you're thinking about launching a podcast give this a listen. We cover: 

• How The Offensive podcast got it's first 10 daily downloads, then 100, then 1,000; and the tactics Joel used to get there.
• Why choosing a niche is the most important thing in podcasting!
• How to leverage your network, as well as influencers and micro influencers in your niche
• The guerrilla marketing tactics Joel used to get his podcast off the ground
• How much time and effort it actually takes to create an award winning podcast
• All of the tactics we are going to implement to get our podcast off the ground.