#27: Building Generational Wealth Selling on Amazon and Owning Real Estate with Melisa Vong

• Melisa built up sales skills early on in life.
• Melisa started her first online business through Twitter. She would build up and sell accounts, and get paid to promote things on her accounts. It's what got her into online marketing and e-commerce.
• There are so many different ways to make money in e-commerce.
• Melisa focuses on private label, where she finds a manufacturer that lets her put her own branding on the labels.
• Melisa sold her first company Namskara, which gave her a bunch of cash to diversify her wealth.
• Melisa started Launch Vibes to start and invest in new e-commerce brands, as well as help others optimize their Amazon postings.
• Melisa is prepping her health supplement company for sale because she found that many private equity firms have found themselves over-leveraged with traditional real estate and they're seeing the industry move towards e-commerce, so now is a great time to sell an e-commerce company.
• Brokerages to buy and sell e-commerce companies: Empire Flippers and Website Closers.
• The COVID-19 has really changed the way people shop. Most people who perviously didn't trust online shopping didn't really have a choice this year.
• Amazon has set a high standard for user experience, shipping and  and trust in e-commerce in North America, so Melisa leveraged Amazon to start her first e-commerce business.
• Shopify is a major investor in Stripe.
• Amazon accounts for over 50% of all dollars spent online in the USA alone. For every dollar that was spent online, another dollar was spent on Amazon.
• Since Melisa launched her company on Amazon, she also built a website for her first company, but didn't focus on driving traffic to it, and focused entirely on her Amazon listing.
• The cost to acquire a new customer online is getting more and more expensive, reducing the potential profits.
• You can get additional features for your Amazon page (called A+ Content) by submitting a brand registry, and in order to do that, you need to submit a working website.
• You can use tools like Jungle Scout and Helium 10 to get data and insights on which product you should sell on Amazon.
• You can beat your competition on Amazon by adding trust badges to your product listing and label. Melisa did this by adding a USDA certified organic label on her castor oil, whereas her competition did not have that.
• You can market your product differently from your competition by highlighting a different use-case in your marketing and product listing. For example, castor oil is traditionally used for medicinal purposes, but Melisa highlighted its ability for hair and eyelash growth for the beauty industry.
• Melisa said the timing of the launch of her first companies was lucky, because it was before Amazon Basics existed. She said it's much harder for new sellers to launch now because of tough competition from Amazon and third-party sellers.
• Melisa's partner John wanted to find a way to cash flow his inventions and technology start-ups, so Melisa helped him sell products on Amazon to be able to fund his next product.
• The Psychology of Money book
• "Build your success in silence, and make people think that you're losing public."
• Melisa says that the manufacturer of your product takes on most of the risk in business, and you can piggyback on that by partnering with them and being under their liability insurance.
• Melisa started her first business while working at BMW. She used her paycheck to fund the business and didn't quit her job until her business was bringing her more money than her full-time job.
• Melisa's supplement manufacturer is in the united states. She recommends sourcing locally for any products that go in or on your body. She also sells the products on Amazon.com (US-based) so she wanted to keep her supply chain simple.
• A great place to find manufacturers is the Canton Fair in China.
• Melisa says it's very important for every brand to have a presence on Amazon, because otherwise, their wholesale customers can then list the product on their own Amazon page, and they may not market the product in a way that is in-line with your brand.
• To stay current with Amazon-related changes and updates, Melisa joined the Titan Network to learn from other Amazon-sellers. She says there are also many free Facebook pages that you can join.
• Packaging makes a huge difference in a competitive marketplace like Amazon. You need to create a pattern disrupt and make people click on your product over your competition.
• Books Recommend by Melisa: Think and Grow Rich and Rich Dad Poor Dad.

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Tools Mentioned

• Jungle Scout — All-in-one platform for selling on Amazon
• Helium 10 — Everything You Need to Sell on Amazon, And More
• Sweet Process — Write all of your SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
• 10 Minute Email — Generate temporary, disposable emails.
• Upwork — Find contractors and freelancers online.
• Fiverr — Find contractors and freelancers online.
• 99Designs — Run a design contest and pick your favorite design