Amazon Seller Interview Gregg Rosenfield, Former Clear Channel Executive #7

spk_1:   0:02
Welcome to the My Amazon guy podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Pope. I'm now joined by Greg Rosenfield. Former Clear Channel executive owns his own media company and has been dabbling with Amazon for the past two years. Greg, thanks for joining me. Well, Greg, I think people are gonna be really fascinated with your your background as a media executive. Clear channel for those that don't know. Owns dozens of television stations, about 1000 radio stations and has its arms and everything when it comes to media. So, Greg, could you tell us a little bit about your background being executive at Clear Channel?

spk_0:   0:41
Yeah. It was a lot of fun. I was very fortunate that I would be living in San Antonio. And Clear Channel is headquartered sent from you, so I was fortunate not to. You work directly with the chairman or our base Young and his sons and son in law. And you know these air, you know, just high level executives. Very shrewd individuals and allow started Very poor. He's a self made billionaire, of course. He cashed out of his position at Clear Channel, but no, he went from Texas a M top of his class Harvard MBA, and then eventually, you know, started Clear Channel with another check. So, more than anything, I got a tremendous It's huge.

spk_1:   1:38
Great. So as I understand it, you had quite the operation going there. How many? What was your or chart? Look? Look like how many employees reported in CIA, Greg?

spk_0:   1:47
Well, Clear Channel was probably 15 to 20,000. My division was the newspaper division called Prime Time. And I have a 250 to 275 ways. Probably director, of course. Maybe by 50 to 70 which is a lot s O. We had about 22 different sets of P and l's So each newspaper, you know, each, uh, he each our buildings, Haven't Rop announce because we got our real estate Are other operations like printing facility had itself so be announced. So we need cash and a groupie. And that was the week. We're looking at 55 60 p and l's every month. That's

spk_1:   2:38
that's a lot of data. I'm sure running a pl can come in handy with running any business. What? So what would you say to those that are listening? What was, um you know, most important thing when you're looking at data like that, the pl data.

spk_0:   2:53
I think it's trends. You know what? I think there's a few things yet. Look at it. You know, you have a plan and you put your budget together and your budget goes down on paper on dhe, then that's actually so you have to look at. But and you know what is your plan for that month and what actually happened? And then there's a different cedar, you know, good or bad. And then, of course, you have to look at above the line and below my And so I think what was really fascinating is you might, you know, stand through those p and l's pretty quickly and see 2% 3% you know, different. She's away. When you see something that stuck out like 12% in that flag, then what I would do is I would ask my managers to look into that, understand that, and then from there they would say, OK, this is what happened. The next push would also be I understand what happened now what's the plan? How we're gonna course correct. And so that's what we're looking for most

spk_1:   4:07
on my last podcast. I talk a lot about the Amazon being this technical thing we got to troubleshoot constantly. Sounds like operating P and l's when you were in charge of that was kind of the same thing

spk_0:   4:20
is, you know, everything is, uh, like, all this is really boils down to numbers, and the most important ones are, you know, top line revenue. And then, you know, it is easy to control expenses. I think the difficult art and Amazon for my experiences is, you know, getting as much revenue as you can and filling up.

spk_1:   4:49
So So why? Why do you feel like that's the case? Like walk me through some expenses you may have had the coal some top line revenue had to generate? What? What was the story behind those?

spk_0:   5:00
Okay, so aside, you know what? Amazon? There's four main models which is, you know, wholesale. Which is you're trying to find authorized to fly fighters to finding products and you buy them wholesale himself that detail dinners, retail over, watch where you go stores by things that posted my name is where you looking trying to find products that at me. Taylor's as well. The other one, of course, is private label. And you're making your own products. And then tryingto market goes each each of the four business bottles requires different skills that I think the first thing I have to do is have experiment a little bit and fine, which model was gonna suit my skill set? But equally is importantly, um was soon my life, so I That doesn't mean I'm gonna stay with you forever or not. Supplement. It is. It's something I do want to get each five ladies and Sorry. Oh,

spk_1:   6:17
you're fine. So So when you first started out, did you dabble in retail arbitrage? It'll

spk_0:   6:24
you know, uh, some people may not know, but, you know, Stephen has been my mentor to sultans for the last couple of years, and it's turned into a wonderful friendship, but it's funny because we've never shaking hands in person. That's he comments for

spk_1:   6:47
you.

spk_0:   6:50
Yeah, And so Stephen's been meant for me and one of these. He was trying to assist my needs and what I was trying to accomplish. And then from there, hey recommended different business models to be that work. But he had to try a little bit of everything. Just feel get a little taste of it so I could experience different come in handy. Any is. So I tried them all. And you know, now you know you're

spk_1:   7:33
so talk to me a little bit about the host cell and I appreciate it. The compliments there and definitely Greg, I see you as a close friend as well. And it's it's always good to hear about you know, what's going on with your family and what not, um, as we followed each other's lives for the past couple years. So talk to me about the host cells. Specifically what? What really Has you interested? Mostly in that?

spk_0:   7:56
I think the great thing about it is a skill on. So what? What I had to do it, and how you comfort me is you asked me to write out some days of overall objectives. And so my overall objectives were to be able to not being not trading time for money, Um, and having a business that was scalable and something that was, you know, I could create passivity, and I hope they'll hits all checks. All those boxes and the thing about I. Once you find good suppliers, it's really because then you could just constantly reorder, reorder, reorder, just rest. You know, obviously nothing is that easy. And the thing I like about Steven first, some of the other well, I helped them so called experts is you know, they do a lot of videos with, you know, girls arise. Steven is just a really down and dirty appearances aren't important to him. And being pretentious, it's all about having you. And so that's what things that really appealed to be about Steven is I felt immediately the connection, and I felt, uh, how he always used doing things in my best interest to help me build my business based, I accomplish not pushing his. So

spk_1:   9:42
no, that's good that I appreciate that, Greg. So you know, what do you wish you had known when you first started out doing Amazon

spk_0:   9:50
of Big Thing by far. So as an executive for somebody, whatever the sea sweeter somebody used from the corporate, uh, arena. You know, I was fortunate to where I had a night person call. Andi was really great. And so anytime I needed anything, you know, there are turned on my computer. Hey, do he would do that. So I got to the point where I'm thinking, you know, I'm close to six years old at the time that I started and probably a 59. 61 right now. And I learned, you know, this business eyes not necessarily for the young, but the people who are governor sometimes have advantage. And so if you are good, I issues that we need to find someone like Steven and his team that could help, you know they do it. Two words is cost effective enough to where I have to become an expert. But he's may be good enough to challenge me, hold my hand and challenged me enough to where I had to get better. And so yeah, you will. If you're not committed. I ke better.

spk_1:   11:16
So what made you better? Was it watching YouTube videos? Was it listening to podcasts? Was it talking to others getting coach and calls what he felt like got you better at it?

spk_0:   11:27
Well, I think part of it is two things. What is I'm pretty good lettuce. So I'll just keep trying and trying and trying. And you know, figuring out how to do it and

spk_1:   11:42
good skill set for Amazon. By the way.

spk_0:   11:45
Yeah, it is. And I really tryingto in the o r b, you know, overly complimentary. But I will say one thing I also like about you is you really understand people's burning sides. And I think you figured out me the best ways. Step one. Show me step to let me do it and correct me and then three, you know, let me fly my own and figure it out. So, you know, I think that's that's how the lottery is. Uh, you know, I was also special trader. I was Sam straight for many years, and I heard, you know, there's there's different burns. There's four first, and with interest down, the styles are still burning style, sirs. Auditory, kinesthetic. There's there's visual learners. And so it's nice to have someone like you that that will stop understand everybody strengths, weaknesses work within. You know that. That that's just

spk_1:   12:56
so in one of my next podcast, I'm gonna be talking a lot about practicing, not just pontificating. And I think you're speaking to that very well here in the sense that you've got to really go out and try. Try, try again and you're gonna fail a lot. So, Greg, talk to me about some of your failures. What? What went wrong? Why did it go wrong? Pick one or two big failures that you wish that didn't happen

spk_0:   13:30
quickly. You have to let me speak to something that's really important in terms of ready aim fire. Because an Amazon, you have to be a little bit fire ready. You know, you really you have to just get out there and do it. And I've been on a lifelong martial artist, and I used to know all the time you guys to step up that c span fresh meat. I see these people come in and they would say stuff like this. Well, first couple weeks, I just want to stretch blurt out that Deeks and by sensing come up to them and say, OK, it's time to get in there. And, you know, let me just then next week. So, you know, at some point you got burned, it's okay and punched in the face because, you know, you know, like they say, everybody has a plan to get my case That's a good Oh, yeah, you just have a blur. But one of the things that you talking Stephen is if you made a mistake, make a small mistake. So I'll give you a couple examples. I were to Doc's Okay, Barbie Dolls and that worker and what is really good buying stuff like that. But I didn't realize is those Army guys for G, which he's Amazon. The brand would allow me to sell them without fish, and so I have a permission, which cost me $1000. I probably wouldn't be the house, but it was all that because I had to get Andy. So another one is, um, it's pretty much a lot of the state lines that boxer shorts and all the sudden I didn't realize Emma's jumped and oh, I, you know, have liquidate those. So I was making $23 each. Parachute works. They were really beautiful. And I don't think so. If you get a name, it's okay to make mistakes. But I wouldn't say I'm getting make small mistakes because the regret of not buying enough is bad. The regret by too much war,

spk_1:   16:02
it's way, way worse. Yeah, we typically, when we're talking about ah, sourcing items and how much to make in your first order go super small even, you know, 200 or less is totally fine. Sometimes as much as 40 and 50 at a time is good and definitely when it comes to retail arbitrage or host cell buys. Um, under 54. Absolute sure, whenever possible. My last two podcasts ago, I had an interview with Andre Lows, a vic who owns NuWave Swim Buoy, and he started out with 40 off of Alibaba for his new have swim booing. You also mentioned Mike Tyson. I want to get a little small plug. One of my clients happens to be copper gel. Mike Tyson is a part owner in Copper Joe, and they're actually one of my clients. So yeah, they have, ah, a nice hem product that you rub on toe, ease up the pain or knock out the pain Is Mike Tyson would say so? Small plug for him. I did meet him through a zoom recording session Ah, late last year and and I didn't know it was happening until it happens. So you never know what you're gonna say to Mike Tyson. And until he's on camera, tell your punched in the face so it happens. All right, so those are some good failures you overcame The Barbie doll is by getting on gated. How did you overcome the short issue?

spk_0:   17:19
I found your vices, and basically, I was gonna try. My thought was to wait it out and let Amazon, you know, leave. And then you can get some analysis and saw Hominy. You know, I haven't had an amazing amount of, uh, shorts. And so they said, Look, cut your losses. It's opportunity cost because you're better off taking the loss of putting your money back. So, you know, I happen to be willing to make mistakes, but don't make mistakes that

spk_1:   18:01
I think one of the biggest mistakes a lot of sellers make, especially as they start to scale So they get attached to their products. Yeah, the products become personified to the extent that they're more than just a skew. And they, you know, they're almost a baby or a child in the family, and they're not. They never can be, you know, a product lifecycle. It's gonna cut out after a couple years. It's gonna go away. Inevitably, it's death is already written on the walls. So sometimes that death comes in days or weeks instead of months or years, and you have to cut your losses. So I think those were some good examples. All right, So, Greg, what are you curious about right now? What? What has you interestingly researching that next thing to do on Amazon,

spk_0:   18:45
I think for me. Well, one thing I'm thinking about to is you a cz. You look at the world. You you start to see how you know sometimes world of beds will see they affect the economy. So for me, I was thinking about the Corona virus, and that's that's certainly taking advantage of it, but may ensure that a position to where you know, I'm ok. And so So I started looking at, you know, you know, a apparently

spk_1:   19:29
toilet paper in hand sanitizer. Right now, I'm not shaking hands right now, And it's not because of the Corona viruses, because people are running out of toilet paper.

spk_0:   19:39
Yeah, that's true.

spk_1:   19:42
Are all right? So So, what kind of products do you think would do well right now?

spk_0:   19:46
Well, obviously, you know, it's things like masks and stuff like that. Just I mean, that's what bothers me is that people are watching and and and just, you know it's not. That's that Ryan And I think I must say, You know, I had that Amazon, eBay and some of the other e commerce platforms for cracking down all those which team, So

spk_1:   20:20
you don't think the free market will fix it over time? I mean, obviously short term prices might go high, but if you're a seller and you could sell something for 50 bucks right now versus the 20 and normally sells for, wouldn't you do it?

spk_0:   20:33
I think I would, because I think I think a fair profit is a fair profit, and I'm not looking to take advantage of people not trying to preach. But I really don't want to take advantage of people. I think I think the sales is beautiful and it's really the most pure form of entrepreneurship. I just think a good salesperson doesn't take advantage. It's an exchange of people better, and so if you really believe that price, but you gotta ask yourself would you hate it? But you know, and would you want someone taking advantage of you just by,

spk_1:   21:23
you know, I think the only thing I'll add to that is you know, if if I was a cellar and I had the choice between selling for 50 or 20 I probably would take the 55 being honest. Um, and if I couldn't sell for 50 on Amazon, I'm gonna take it somewhere else. And then what that does I think would happen is the consumer would then have no options. There wouldn't be any item available for sale. So I think that's the risk we run. But but that? But that is absolutely We could definitely have an hour long philosophical conversation just on that alone and with Corona virus. Absolutely. A black swan event that can affect everybody in many ways. Um, and, you know, just just recently, Italy locking down borders. It's getting crazy out there right now

spk_0:   22:07
is the o e. More reasons to be. I am is on on getting more regions Thio. Think of the Amazon a za real business because you know people can get laid off. People's retirements are believing. I mean, their network is being crushed. I'm seeing things come back. I know people are panicking, but it's always nice to have a few more X, you know, in the past and not putting all your eggs in one basket.

spk_1:   22:47
Plus, you don't have to leave the house when you're selling on Amazon, right? You have your own warehouse and staff. And what most people most people are are hustling it, so All right, cool. Well, Greg, last question for you. What do you enjoy most about selling on Amazon?

spk_0:   23:06
Um, I believe that on shopper, but I don't sit there, and my wife, Phyllis, will call me. You know, I suppose I should say I have a bad and I'm like, Hold on. I'm looking at spreadsheets and stuff. All of a sudden, I find one cool black that is profitable and just really eat because it's like a treasure, you know? And it sze like a hunting for Easter eggs or something. You know, I think that's

spk_1:   23:41
sick. Dopamine. Definitely a big dopamine hit. Yes. Well, Greg, I appreciate you coming on and talking about your story and and how you interact with Amazon was great talking with you today,

spk_0:   23:53
okay? She can I Can I give you my Sure?

spk_1:   23:59
Let's hear it.

spk_0:   24:00
Brushing asked me a question. Are you

spk_1:   24:04
all right? What do you do in the ring?

spk_0:   24:07
Well, the way I think.

spk_1:   24:17
I bet if Mike watch this, he'd probably appreciate it. I think he would. And

spk_0:   24:21
good. Uh oh.

spk_1:   24:22
Good favor. Other. Otherwise, you might hit you back. So

spk_0:   24:25
we owe.

spk_1:   24:31
Well, great. Thank you very much. Greg. Appreciate your joining me. So that's our podcast today. Um, that's the My Amazon guys show, if you haven't yet. Please subscribes, Russ. We're now on Apple Pot as a podcast Spotify and many others and tell three other people about our podcast over Amazon sellers.