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Amazon Private Label Growth Hacking Your Amazon Seller Business With Davide Nicolucci - Part 1
May 13, 2021
Amazon Private Label Growth Hacking Your Amazon Seller Business With Davide Nicolucci - Part 1 Today on this Seller Round Table extra we're talking with Davide Nicolucci from We Are Growth Hack about all things 2021, Entrepreneurship, and LIFE. Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4CxmdfOI3Q Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSQ4PVNt_sQ Blog about China Sellers https://wearegrowthhack.com/2018/03/28/secrets-of-success-chinese-amazon-sellers/ His Website https://wearegrowthhack.com Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGG_ghUYKr12tolK-CRyJQ Join us every Tuesday at 1:00 PM PST for Live Q&A and Bonus Content at https://sellerroundtable.com Try the greatest Amazon seller tools on the planet free for 30 days at https://sellerseo.com/
Things we discussed in this episode:

[00:00:01] spk_0: Welcome to the seller roundtable e commerce coaching and business strategies with and er, not and amy Wiis. So I'll introduce us will be good to go there. So hey everyone, how's it going? I am here with my amazing friend, David Gucci nickel UCI, Oh my goodness, he has a really cool story and uh, you know, we're here on a seller roundtable extra and we're going to be just talking about trends because they just didn't like such a cool article, like one of the most Um in depth articles on 2021 trends. So we're going to talk a little bit about that. We're going to talk entrepreneurship because he has a cool story. Um he lives in Thailand, you know, it's just like all these great things were just going to talk about Thai food and uh, and you know, he's a DJ, he, you know, he does all kinds of cool things, so welcome and it's so great to have you. Thank you, wow, that was the most amazing introduction I've had for a couple of months. I know you're used to people like reading your bio and it's very professional. Yeah, so here's the founder and director of blah blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, my new name is Gucci, I I just eat my food all the day and I I worked as a DJ. That sounds like a pretty cool life actually. I mean, you know, we'll tell everybody a little bit about you and your story and how, how you ended up in Thailand because you're from Italy, right? So tell us a little bit about your story. Yeah, So let's um take it from where we left it because we were just having an introduction amy, you told me about yourself quickly and there was like, wow, astonishing, I heard something but that was that was really boom. So, about me, at the meantime, I'm still trying to share the live on my page, but I I'm not able to do that. Maybe, maybe later. It will, it will come somehow. So, yeah, as I was, as I was, as I was telling, I'm originally from Italy, I actually, when I, Let's tell the story in a different perspective, when I was 13 with my family, we moved from South North for my parents job. And uh when I was at that point, as you know, we have kind of different cultures between south and north of Italy, uh as in every, in every place, I thought, okay, if I moved from the south and the north, why don't I just, you know, look for different, different places? So, when I was 21 I moved in Sweden as an exchange student and then I was working there, then I moved back to Italy, I got a job and then I then I lived for a while in Germany and uh I got back to Italy starting work to work as a community manager, social media manager. That's that's how I started my social media career for one of the uh biggest competitors of group own at that time, and that's where I started learning about digital marketing, you know, affiliate marketing and social media. And then I moved in Barcelona, I lived in Barcelona for two years. Meanwhile, I I always had a passion for music and I actually started computers composing music when I was 16 years old. So I was I was working as a marketing manager in the daytime and I was working as a DJ in the night time. So I normally don't say this story, but because you know, you think it's cool that I would just say yeah and um yeah, I actually, you know, life in Barcelona was great because I was still working as a community manager. Actually remembered that I started as a as an intern for the same company and then I became the uh country manager for for the social media for that competitor group alone. And then you know the shocking moment came when the country manager of Italy asked me to go back to Italy and at that time I was 25 I said no way that I'm going backwards, no way I'm going back to Italy. So I did something really crazy that I normally don't say, but I quit the job, I got all the money, you know from the from closing the contract and I remember I didn't have so much left in my bank account, I had something like $5000 equivalent and I started traveling around the world for six months. So I started from Barcelona and I and I came back to Barcelona only going one direction and I was, I was at that time writing a travel blog And I had a team of 20 writers. They were all, you know, yeah, all freelancers, but they were all doing it for free because we believe the same cause um the name of the blog was connect the world. II had this idea, I wanted to connect different people and I was actually, you know, making a a good, you know, appearance and branding online. We were also on first page for some reviews of local restaurants and stuff like that. But then I had to live because it didn't pay me enough. It was my first experience as a travel blogger and I was still looking for a different job. So I moved back to Barcelona for a while when I finished my accomplished my tour around the world in this couple of months I was broke. I remember I had to survive. Yeah, I had to survive. You just using. So you were writing this travel blog connect the world, which I've always wanted to do that too. I've always wondered about that. I know so many of us want to, they wonder are people making money doing that travel blog thing. But so you basically you had some money. You were working in marketing for a competitor of group on in Barcelona. You have amazing experience in marketing. Just getting started off in marketing. I always say I have a couple of degrees in business and I always say like why didn't I go for marketing, that's what matters. You know, you can create a business but if you can't sell on you in your stuff, so okay, so cool. And then then you start this travel blog, you're not making any money but you don't care because you're just living off the passion of it and you're living all over the world and just writing and just experiencing life and you're living off of that little pile of money that you get from that job. Yeah, yeah, I was exactly doing like that. But then I knew that actually I was in a mission. I had to come back in Barcelona at some point and it was so funny. I had so many adventures and everything was documented on the block that I mean, unfortunately it's offline right now and I lost the blog post because I whatever. And then, I mean that's really a shame, but it was very interesting. So I came back to Barcelona, my mission was accomplished and I was, I had there I had zero my bank account, I had to find a way to survive. And I was looking for a job and I had a okay marketing experience, you know, I had at that time three or four years of experience in marketing actually started doing marketing more than 10 years ago. So now it's already 11 years. Um and I actually could speak bunch of languages at that time, I could speak fluently, german spanish, italian and english. So what happened actually fell in love with Thailand. So my ultimate objective was to come to Thailand, but I couldn't find a job there. So that's how I started, you know, spanning on every linkedin group and the top five amazon seller hired me in china Shenzhen. So that's how I started, you know, being connected with amazon selling some valley tech. Uh, they hire me, we went through a on and off two weeks of Skype calls. I had to wake up at five a.m. To have the call with the marketing team in Shenzhen. Eventually they sent me the business documents, they paid for my flight ticket and I went there. I literally changed my life. And how did you, how did you find? So you were spamming linked in groups, which I am so like Lincoln group Lincoln period is so foreign to me. I've had to figure out linkedin and I still don't have it figured out and he is much better at Lincoln than I am. Um, and, but so you're in these linkedin groups, which I think Lincoln groups are kind of new, right? Like, I don't know. No, okay, so I'm missing out. Clearly, I need to get more connected. So you're spamming these Lincoln group's going like, hey, I got these skills like I'm looking for whatever and you make this connection with this major big top five amazon seller in china. Probably very well connected. And what is this position that they're trying to hire you for? So that's a very interesting story and it pretty much went like this. They, so I actually, uh, I was looking for a job and I was an evd user of social media already since 2000 and 10. So I've been in social media and I mean working with social media since 2000 and 10. So yeah, linked in groups already accepted by 2013 at least because I, I got the job 2014 and they were much more used than Facebook groups. Why? You know why? Because pages at that time, Facebook pages were much more used pretty much as groups right now because you didn't have to pay so much for advertising, you have much more organic reach. So that's the thing now if you want to have organic rich you just use groups what everything everyone is doing. So I get this job is a community, not sorry, I was a assistant manager, assistant marketing Manager for Italy. It took me three months to move from assistant manager for Italy to Global Marketing Leader three months in china. That's the power of china. It really? Yes, why there are making me want to go back to work just because you know you think of all of the opportunity to learn that's out there and I have like a really big thirst for learning and you know I'm working with a big company in china right now kind of helping them, helping them with their brand and stuff like that and I just see it as such a huge opportunity because even though you know I go to china often and you know there's just there's so much like you said anytime you're doing something global there is so much so far beyond what we can see in our little corner of the world that you know it's just an incredible opportunity. So I would go back to work for an opportunity where I could like you know really get my hands into a business that would that I could later grow into something else, right? So anyway please continue. So you got global marketing manager? Yeah and you know culture working culture in china is very very different from our you know western working culture in europe or in the U. S. I would say you guys in the us more meritocracy, we in europe are a little bit, I would say a little bit more stagnant, let's let you know pass me this term, it's okay, but in china they are like kicking your ass, you have to go otherwise you're out and they have absolutely no problem in doing internal internal conflicts to choose who's the best. So they pretty much higher me for a very for a much lower you know job that I could do and my boss at that time she didn't even have a marketing degree. She she couldn't even do anything because they just they just need to fill the gap at that point. So I was the best option in between all the different country managers at that time and they just put me on top of them. But the interesting thing is that I worked for one year with this company that owns some of the best brands on amazon today for example. Electronic and Wrath Power. Yes, I've been developing their business and they were the main competitor of anchor. That is number one on amazon. We could anchor is huge. And uh the next year I I got a job offered by one of their competitors, they just gave me a piece of paper and they say okay, write down what do you want and they hired me as a marketing director and I was managing five teams, something like 35 people. I was 28. That would never happen in europe in Italy to a guy like me. Yes, so that was crazy. Yeah. Um and I started learning more and more about you know, not only chinese culture but also about amazon marketing and then because were you living in china? Yeah, okay, so you move from, so you stayed in Italy at first because you were the Italy marketing manager then you moved to china to be over a global market and you've got another job as director position. So you're still in china. Got it. Okay I'm following I so I stayed two years in china the first year with this one cellar where I was marketing leader and the second year was marketing director, managing five teams. And I learned a lot of things about amazon marketing coming from A. S. Ceo and social media background. So I put all of them together. But the most important thing that really pushed me to open my own amazon consulting business was The business and entrepreneurial mindset of Chinese people. They when they feel they can do something they just go it doesn't matter if there are 21 24 or 40, it doesn't really matter and we know this, but this is pretty much what I felt that I had to tell to the world because I love to express my feelings and that's how I came with this article. That started to give me a little bit of you know, presence online and people started to share my, in my blog. It's called The Secrets behind the chinese amazon sellers as revealed by insiders. That's my article. It's something around 10,000 words. So if you think that that article of 2021 was detailed, this is even more I spent something like three, I don't want to get into that. I'm excited. Yes, we have so much, we need like five more sessions because we're everything out. But you know, you know what I mean? You're probably kidding. But I had three sessions with jenny Mcmillan at cellar sessions because our, our interview was so long that he had to split the entire episode industry. Yes, yes. I think the name of this episode, I think it was released in 2018. Right after I published a blog or 2000, can't remember problems doesn't 18 how chinese sellers are winning the race or winning the game. And it was me and him going through, you know my whole article because I wrote something like 12 points and we were discussing three or four per time. So I talk about chinese culture, black hat, amazon marketing, how amazon is growing, why for western companies is so hard to get into china but china can you know, get into the west and so every product they want, you know, suppliers, relationship and you know, networking and uh entrepreneurial mindset, this kind of thing. It was very, very interesting. It was I remember I had 20,000 business organic to that blog post in the first month and then that's where I started getting traction with my agency. Um So yeah actually I opened my agency in Hong kong because after the first two years in china one cellar another seller. I said okay you know if they can do it, I can do it. I moved to Hong kong again with all the little savings that I had and yeah I just opened my my agency, my amazon a consulting agency and I was let's say lucky as a start up at that time because Hong kong is super expensive is the, I mean there was no amazon agency in Hong kong because it's too expensive. All of them would be I think the us either in china because china is much cheaper. I was the only one, the first one in Hong kong. And uh that that actually was a big benefit for me because it was the first comer. So positioning myself as amazon and I love Hong kong it. Yeah, anyway, it's really cool. I mean the what year was it when you started your agency in Hong kong? It was 2017 2017. Because I arrived in China in almost end of 2014, I stayed there for two years. I moved back in Italy for a couple of months, uh had to take care of my mom. She was sick at that moment I left the job end of 2016 and I moved in Hong Kong January 2017, I opened my company and then I went through all the processes of opening your bank account. They started doing business. The good thing actually that really helped me to kick off and takes you know, start my business without suffering of being a startup. I actually had a very good cash flow because at that moment I already had a very well a very good paying client that was okay. So okay is also one of the top, I think top 10 or top whatever is on the top of amazon sellers from china they currently own, I don't know how many brands uh they've been doing a great job. I I started off with them as a consultant and then I remember I was going to their office, I was explaining them PPC enlisting optimization and marketing and branding and all this good stuff. And then we started getting more and more projects as translation, social media, influencer marketing. We had a very good relationship with with with okay, almost for two years and we were still in touch so that that was really the first client that allowed me to have a cash flow to invest more, hiring more team members. And then you know from there it just it just went on. But the most important thing was for me to realize that actually there was a specific need from my target audience regard To when it comes to knowing what was going on in China. I was getting a lot of emails by European sellers or American sellers. They were actually looking for agencies in China or agency who were working with Chinese sellers but all of the agencies were from from China. So I know it was at that .1 of the very few western working with chinese that was my competitive advantage. It was what really, you know made me stand out at that point and I remember one of my then german clients, they invited me to Berlin having a coffee with them. It was supposed to be for one hour. It turned out to be five hour meeting in their in their office where they were just asking me about chinese sellers, what I did. I signed all of the questions that I was responding, you know, talking with them and I came back to my place and then I started writing this blog post. The secrets behind the success of chinese amazon seller, definitely. We can share the link later is still on my Yeah, I would love I'm going to look it up. I'm going to find it. I'll share it in there. That's that's so that is so cool. I'm so glad that we, you know, we were talking before we went live and we were just going back and forth and I was like, wait let's go live. I want to hear this for the first time because it's never better. Like the second time when you explain it, it's always good like the first time. So okay, so oh my gosh, you have so much experience that you know, we could literally have a session alone about just social media marketing, we could have, you know, so you have helped a lot of amazon sellers from many different countries, not only working for them in china on the ground, understanding the inner workings of that, but then also with your own agency, I'm sure you know like me with an agency with amazing at home, it's like when you work with so many different sellers in so many different product lines, you gain this just breath of experience that you could never gain on your own and it's just you run into like every time I think I've heard of everything I run into every possible situation, it's like whoa, that's when I haven't heard before, okay let's figure this out, right? So I love that, I mean you have so much experience to offer us so Now wait, we didn't cover, how did you, what made you move to Thailand that? So you're in Hong Kong, you started your agency, so how did you move to Thailand? You loved Thailand? Yeah, I mean my ultimate goal was to live here and uh I had this dream when I was traveling the world in 2014 because I love you know Buddhist culture, I was going to temples you know my first time in Thailand I pretty much never went to parties even though I have always been a party anymore but I love the culture so so I like china, I love Hong kong but I really fell in love too much for Thailand even more. And so I I lived in Hong kong for three years. And because the business was going very well, I mean before you share with me some of your achievements and you know also me, I had this kind of numbers that that you share with me and I decided okay it's time for me to do investment. I I bought the house where I'm living right now. I paid in cash and I I wanted to to have it you know near the beach and I have been traveling around Asia looking for the perfect place and then I I found it here. So you've got a house, right, can you tell us how much does a decent house on the beach cost in Thailand 200 K. I'm moving next week. I'll be there. Made up my mind, my kids are gonna be post over now on, I'll see it's a condo, it's a, it's a one bedroom apartment, it's around 42 square meters and uh you know, I'm also getting into this real estate investment, I've been using it as Airbnb Investment and I was making good profit with the plan that I made, I would have paid back within nine years, the full of my yes, so you know, because I love to talk about investment, I'm also doing investment in Bitcoin and you know, stock exchange and this kind of thing. Real estate of course, I'm already thinking about getting my second piece of real estate right now. It's um you know, I think that we entrepreneurs, we think like this, you never stop thinking about money. You start when you finally start getting past the point where initially when you become an entrepreneur, you're scared of everything and it's like everything is just like in depth leap, right? It's like, oh my gosh, another leap! Another leap. Another leap in my mastermind group are always talking about fear, fear, fear, fear, fear because fear is such a real thing for an entrepreneur. But then after a while you realize you're like, okay, this is a process. I'm going to be afraid. I'm going to feel the fear. I'm going to face the fear, I'm going to move forward and I'm going to jump my confidence because I know I can do it. But then you get to this point where you are making really good money and you're like, okay, if you're a cheapskate like me, my kids, my kids were making fun of me yesterday because I was like, I am such a cheapskate and they're like, mom, no, you're not. You spend money on things like vacations and stuff. But you know, but I'll wear shoes with holes in them and be like, oh, I guess I should go get a new pair of shoes. You know, I'm just those kind of things just really aren't important to me material kind of thing. But when you come into that money then you want to be responsible with it, right? You don't just want to squander it. So I've been also studying real estate and the reason I haven't taken a leap in real estate is because I want to study it more. I want to protect just like the richest man in Babylon teaches us. You need to protect small amounts of money first and figure out how to make that go. You know, and then you can invest larger amounts once you get to know. So yeah, I've been looking at so many different investment opportunities now and for me I think that I'm really good with business, I can turn around a business, I can make a lot of money in business very, very quickly. Um So for me my investments are usually in business, but I also have some Bitcoin bought it on a whim. I'm not mad that I bought it on a whim, right? But yeah, I mean I'm with you like there comes a point where you're successful and you're like okay, but I have this little egg here and it's just sitting here, it's not gaining money doing anything. So do you feel that pressure often where you're like, ok, I need to do something with this? Yeah. Well, you know, for me it would be better to keep it there than for example wasting it, buying something that I don't need. You know, we always go there trying to impress someone that doesn't give a shit about us. You know that's the thing and that's and that's exactly what we said before that the objective is to look poor. Like you don't care what other things about you, if you, if you try so hard to impress the others, you want to look rich but you're broke and you you know you end up your month with zero in your bank account, then you really have problems. I would like to suggest actually a Youtube channel that I'm following. It doesn't have nothing to do with amazon but it's very, gives a lot of inspiration when it comes to managing your, your own funds and of course people like you and me we know it already, but it's called minority mindset. Is this super funny guy is american, but I think his culture is from somewhere that I don't know, it's got a very nice hat and it gives amazing tips on how to manage your, your funds, even starting from $1000. You know I mean you and me we will laugh about that. But for the normal people it's a fact and I was reading something somewhere a couple of months ago, I don't know which percentage of Americans like 60 or 70 don't have $1,000 in savings and during times like Kobe this is terrible. Yes. Yeah because you're one paycheck away from losing your home, losing every using your job. Yeah. And for me like when I took the leap to become a full time entrepreneur and I left my six figure, very high paying job to take this leap and I'm living in this keeping up with the jones house and all that kind of stuff. It was a whole mindset shift, but not only that, you know, what kept me going is I had about six months and savings of any bills, anything so that all I could, all I need to do is focus on my business and I didn't need to worry about, oh my gosh, if I don't have the money for that mortgage, if I don't have the money for to pay the light bill, you know, So I think financial management is such a core skill for people to have, you know, so many people come to me in private label and they're like, okay, I need money and I'm like, okay, go do retail. Arbitrage. Just this is not, this is not a trade your time for money business. It is, I'm building something here and it's going to be nice later. Right, thanks for tuning in to Part One of this episode, join us every Tuesday at one PM pacific standard time for live Q and A. And bonus content after the recording at cellar round table dot com, sponsored by the ultimate software tool for amazon sales and growth seller s c o dot com and amazing at home dot com.