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How Click & Carry Converted from an Idea to an Amazing Product - Amazon Seller Tips with Kimberly Meckwood - Part 2
February 14, 2022
How Click & Carry Converted from an Idea to an Amazing Product - Amazon Seller Tips with Kimberly Meckwood - Part 2
Things we discussed in this session:

A. Part

B. Part 2

Things we mention in this session of Seller Round Table:
LinkedIn: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-meckwood-88216b5/
Website : ClickandCarry.com

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Transcription in this episode:
[00:00:01] spk_1: Welcome to the seller roundtable e commerce coaching and business strategies [00:00:05] spk_0: with Andy Arnott and Amy Wees. [00:00:08] spk_1: Well [00:00:10] spk_0: I definitely can't I'll tell you what I can tell you it's different with every company. Some deals go through immediately and some people wait because what happens is and this is very smart of the sharks to be concerned. Sometimes people fill out their paperwork and they may not disclose that they had a partner before or that maybe there was some infringement. So um a lot of the sharks would be hesitant and the deal may not officially go through until all that is weeded out. So for example if someone was interested in suing me obviously I don't have a ton of money but Mark Cuban does. So that would be where all of the hangers on would come and try to infringe on that deal. So that's why some of the sharks are concerned with things like that and that's about all I can say about it. Yeah no worries. So that's I think that just it makes sense you know obviously but the way we see it in T. V. Land it's like oh they're walking off into the sunset and now they get the check the next day. You know what you know it takes a little time. So um or due diligence to I mean because people could go up there on stage and say things that are not real. So the sharks have to do their due diligence and make sure that the entrepreneur is on the up and up and and both both parties need to see if they can work together. Yes, exactly. Um, so what about the pr right, so you get a lot of pr from shark tank, whether your deal goes through or not, you're still getting amazing pr so, um, how did, how did that fear for you? Did you get a lot of sales as a result? Yes. Um, and I still continue to get sales because of the credibility of the show. It it was such a blessing for me and it's interesting. I was in season 12, episode eight and if you'll notice my episode was the only one that was shot pre Covid, and that's because I actually shot the year earlier and I was archived. I didn't make it to air my season and luckily abc bought my episode and I was devastated that I didn't make it to where I found out last february, but then I found out last May, that I did make it to air. So it gave me an extra almost full year to prepare and to load up on inventory. So it was a blessing in disguise and I aired on the perfect date. My um, my one year anniversary is coming up. I aired on December 11 of 2020, so, um, I can't even begin to tell you the amount of sales that I received. It was just crazy the first five days I basically doubled my entire sales for that whole year. Um No, I'm actually tripled. It was just it was just a phenomenal experience and I continue to get some feedback from shark tank for example, MSNBC ran with the fact that I audition seven times. So I ended up getting a bunch of publicity for that. Or sometimes it'll get picked up in different periodicals, like red book magazine picked it up and reader's digest. And then I had a rerun unfortunately was the night of the super bowl and I think everyone was passed out by the time my episode aired at 10 at night. But I'm secretly praying for another rerun on on the normal shark tank because they usually show some episodes from the season before. So cross your fingers for me because every time it airs I get a huge bump and then sometimes people will pick it up like um affiliate marketers on amazon or influencers, they'll talk about gadgets that they love and I always noticed a quick jump in my sales and it's because of that. So it's amazing the power of influencers and affiliates these days. [00:04:01] spk_1: Excuse me? Absolutely. Um I don't think a lot of people realize that, but like when when those episodes air, it's also like, you have no idea right? Because I've seen episodes before where my wife especially, she's one of those like as CNN's T. On T. V. People that I have to like watch our our debit card cash. I'll go, you know by like they'll be like a new thing showing up every day otherwise. Um But uh how do you mean? How do you, how do you gauge demands? Uh when when you know when the show airs, did did you just kind of take a guess? Do they kind of clue you in? Like expect X. Y. Or Z. Kinda how did that that you know, prep look [00:04:41] spk_0: absolutely. In fact they do give you some information. For example, I ended up seeing some of the numbers that the sharks that I mean to deal with that they their their other businesses received in the past. And I was advised that I would probably need about 16,000 clicking carries. But I knew in my gut that I would need more and I did need more. I ended up selling, I want to say like 30,000 clicking carries in the first five days. So it was, it was one of those situations where they gave us a ballpark. But I just knew in my heart that because it's such an inexpensive item, I knew that I probably needed more. And the surprising thing is my average cart size was 33 dollars and 46 cents, which it's only 12 99 products. So that tells me most people bought three. So it was pretty great [00:05:33] spk_1: awesome. And that actually leads me to a question that I didn't even have written down. Do you have uh maybe products and you probably are not gonna share them. But do you have any products that are gonna be like add ons or up cells or things that you have in the works to be a complement to that product? [00:05:50] spk_0: Absolutely. And I will tell you because they're they're this close to being launched um first and this is, this is just a slight modification, but I made a special clicking carry for breast cancer awareness because I'm a two time breast cancer survivor. So there a portion of the proceeds goes to the NBCC, which is the national breast cancer coalition. Um I had cancer nine years ago and then unfortunately it re occurred and I just finished my radiation this august. So it's obviously posits that is near and dear to my heart. So I've been thinking about introducing something like this for years and the recent diagnosis made me move forward and order a whole bunch. So I'm going to be selling those. I just actually finished my listing and I'm going to be sending an inventory. Plus I'm gonna be launching a new color. I'm launching red singles and read two packs. Um and I'll that's an interesting story. So remind me to tell you that why I have red ones. Um, but as far as the new inventions, I'll just give you a little preview. So basically I have a new strapping system that aligns to the clicking period where you will wear a cross body and imagine in your head it's attached to the equivalent of a blood pressure band? So you can actually wear your stand up paddleboard, your surfboard, your ladder if you're in the construction industry and then when your shoulder hurts, you just flopping around like a purse so you can actually wear your heavy oblong objects and it will work for skis. Um, the reason I invented that is because jennifer, the doctor I told you about before when she brings her kids skiing, they always make her carry the skis and the polls. So she said, can you invent something for me so I can wear them. So that's what that will do. And then there's another version that makes it easy for small people like me to bring in a case of waters, you could use your hip as an anchor. So I use your body um, for physics to make it easier to carry things. So those are the two newest inventions coming, I'm hoping by early january [00:07:50] spk_1: awesome. I love that. So, another thing that I kind of thought of, um congratulations on getting past uh the cancer that, that runs in on both sides of my family. So I've been through that, that's, that's difficult. Um, but I just got back from real estate conference and a lot of the people who are super successful. There had some big trials and tribulations in their life, right? Whether it was, you know, cancer or you know, living in their car and you hear that story of shark tank a lot. What do you think? Do you think that uh you know, the people who are going through these hard times realize that, you know, life is fleeting and you you really just need to go and get it or kind of, what do you think is the overlying um kind of theme or or how do you think people who have these hardships are able to turn that around and make them into something positive? [00:08:41] spk_0: I think you hit it on the head like life is fleeting and that's what you realize and that's when I quit my job the first time around. Um I remember I was the last time I found out I had cancer. I was in surgery in february, then a second surgery in March. And at the time I was working for Medtronic, I used to sell a device called a deep brain stimulator, which is a pacemaker for the brain for Parkinson's patients, Essential tremor patients and dystonia patients. It was an amazing job. I loved it. Um it really helped people, but it wasn't my passion. My passion is my product. So after the surgeries I decided I'm going to leave at the end of the year. So I saved up all my money and my left in december of that year and I was able to do click and carry full time for the next two years until money was an issue and I had to go back to work [00:09:36] spk_1: awesome. Yeah. Like I said some of the biggest successes that, that I've seen are are people who you know are really kind of tackle these hard challenges in in life and turn them around. So congrats on that. Um, to pivot to something not as serious, but you know what our audiences tuned into is amazon and I would love to know kind of how you heard about amazon. Was it kind of part of your plan early on? Uh was it something that you know after being on short tank and maybe listing your product to amazon being like holy smokes. Like I can really grow my brand, my channel. If I, if I expand to amazon and what was, what was that journey like? [00:10:14] spk_0: Well, that's an interesting question because I didn't really know about amazon before shark tank. I had just joined maybe about a year earlier and it's because I received advice and now looking back, it's bad advice from a friend and he told me, don't go on amazon and your product is gonna get ripped off and I was really worried about that and I still continue to worry about that. But um, the good news is I have two utility patents and now because of the shark tank people know that I am the inventor and the name and I actually spoke for the United States patent and trademark office. I feel like a little bit of extra protection hopefully. But I wish I knew about amazon earlier because I think I could have made a killing years earlier with amazon, I really do. So what happened is, um, I entered a contest, one of my friends from Medtronic told me about the five minute pitch, which was this really cool um, contest that was done by, um, let's see. So as scott Volker, it was steve too, it was mike, Jack Nous and it was Greg mercer, they have this fun contest and I ended up winning and they're all amazing e commerce superstars as you know, so they're the ones who told me that, hey, listen, you could really make this something. And um, I told them no retails my channel. Like my goal was to be in 6000 retail stores and they agree that that's a good outlet too. But it turns out that, that amazon is a very viable channel for me and I love amazon, I'm expanding to the UK now [00:11:55] spk_1: awesome. That's kind of ties directly into my next question is, what are your goals for for 2022 kind of, what's your vision? What are some of your priorities? You know, if you were to take it 80 20 what are your kind of, your 20% of, you know, things that you really want to hit hard in the next year. [00:12:13] spk_0: Um, so what I would want to hit hard in the next year is getting into retail. Getting into those 6000 doors. That still is one of my goals because now I have my foot in the door at Amazon, but I really want to get into retail. So right now I'm currently on boarding for lows dot com. I received my vendor number on monday and um I'm gonna be in Meyer stores, which is a michigan based store, I mean to start in 111 stores in the next couple of weeks. Um and I, there's some other people like bye bye baby dot com. Um This was supposed to be for cbs, they ordered 12,000 clicking carries and at the 11th hour they decided to go with the beauty products. So hopefully next year I will get into CVS and that's why I have the red cbs, colored clicking carries. Um and Kroger dot com. So I hope to get in Kroger stores, I would just need them walmart target obviously. So that's my goal. Um like I said, I'm expanding to the UK and if that is a success, then we're gonna, we're gonna at Italy spain Germany and France and then go from there, there's a service called Range me dot com where people who are selling into retail can go and attend virtual trade shows or meet with buyers. So it's been a godsend for me, [00:13:35] spk_1: awesome. So on that note, once again, not a question that had pre written down, but it really made me kind of think about um you know, as somebody who's never uh probably faced growth like this of your own business. What systems, what processes, what people kind of, what are you putting in place? What kind of people are you bringing onto your business in order to hit some of those goals? [00:13:59] spk_0: So I'm actually in the process of most likely relocating. I'm on the east coast right now with family and um I'm thinking about renting out my place in Los Angeles and moving back here because it's a lot less expensive here so I can put all that money into my business and not have to stress about paying a huge mortgage. Um I could cover all those costs and have some freedom. Um I actually received a container and I was gonna put it into my sister's basement. My sister has an empty basement and she said I could use her basement for free. But what I didn't know is that you can't ship a container to a residential neighborhood. So I actually put a a shout out to facebook and I said does anyone have a landing dock and um forklift that I could rent for the next couple of days. And I ended up getting nine responses. And one of the responses was a childhood friend. Our moms are best friends and they have room in the warehouse. So I'm making them my new three pl it's been amazing. I just received my container about two weeks ago. I'm getting stuff moved from my three pl in Chicago to pennsylvania. It's coming tomorrow and we just ended up getting up and running on ship station for Kroger dot com amazon for my website and then now we're going to add Lowe's and buy, buy baby and Meyer. So I love it. [00:15:29] spk_1: Yeah, I love to hear those journeys, you know, trial by fire, right? Nothing like uh, you know, never being, being in the business and then having to learn all that stuff. So I love that. Um, if you could talk to yourself a couple of years ago when this idea was first coming about, what were, what would the three things, The three tips that you would, you would clue yourself in on that would really help that journey. [00:15:53] spk_0: Oh my gosh, the first would be, go on amazon. I missed the boat. I mean holy cow, that's when people made all the money. That's when the people like Stephen chow and Greg Mercer started. I wish I wish I was smart enough to pick up on that trend. Um, those guys are awesome by the way. They're just my idols. Um, yes, steve chu is pretty cool. Um, so I would tell myself to get on amazon as soon as humanly possible. Um, what else would I do? I Yeah, I never took any money. I think I would probably take some funding because I think it could have made the process a lot easier on myself and what else I utilized some pretty amazing people and I met some amazing mentors along the way for example um at the S. P. A. I met uh this professor of entrepreneurial studies at USC Albert napoli and he's one of my best friends to this day and he taught me so much um Gosh um rick tell, I can't even begin to tell you how many people helped me and move me forward in my business. Um Tyson Jacobson, I just, I would just say continue networking and continue moving the business forward. [00:17:13] spk_1: Yeah, I think that's one of the, like I always tell people, you know, I'm an introvert, I hate going to conferences, it's just not my jam, but I will show up once in a while and the best part about it is though is the people that you meet. You know, I always joke that like I never go into the conference right, I've been doing this for too long. The majority of this stuff that's being taught is probably stuff I already know, but it's the conversations off in the little corner there with a few couches and the and the little coffee table, you know, where you're meeting with all the people who have been really deep in the e commerce world for a lot of years and and that's where you get the real value. So I think that's invaluable in terms of of the networking I couldn't agree more there another thing you mentioned, which I would love to touch on too is, you know, taking funds. People are so afraid of giving up part of their business or, or you know, shaving some off or having to pay loans back things like that. But I always tell people it's like, oh do you want 100% of a million dollars or 50% of $100 million right? I mean if you really look at it in terms of taking money and then putting it to work, like my wife and I are really big into to real estate these days, she's a real estate agent and really a go getter. And so you know, we've leveraged ourselves and we just bought our, this is our fourth or fifth property. So you know, we're really scaling that so you know, but it's risky, you know, it's super risky, but you have to realize that like especially you know, go back and listen to rich dad, poor dad, you want to use those funds to leverage and grow. And so I think that was a great point. I think that's awesome advice. All right, so we come to the other part that Amy and I really love is were, you know, constant learners. Um I've read too many business books, I'm trying to scale back even though one of my coaches just gave me a couple of other great suggestions that I really want to check out. But what gives you uh motivation in terms of books, podcasts, um you know, personal development, anything that you can share in terms of, you know, maybe a person or uh podcast or a book that's really helped you level up, [00:19:11] spk_0: Gosh there, that's a really tough question to just pick one. so I'm gonna throw you a curve ball and tell you that on Mondays I meet with a group, it's called Shark Tank Powell's and there's a private group of people who have been on shark tank and some of the companies are multimillion dollar companies, some of the companies are smaller companies like mine and we meet in this mastermind weekly and we also have our own facebook page so people will throw up questions, they'll say, hey listen, so and so contacted me, what do you think or what do you think of this new app? Has anyone used it? And everyone is so willing to help each other and it's all a big brainstorming session. And then we had our first meeting in person, I wasn't there, I zoomed in because I had just finished radiation, but they just had it in in Atlanta and There were 12 different companies and these people were so bright and brilliant. I learned so much at that conference. They sat me on a chair and I was there virtually, but that's how I learned. So I would say to your audience get into masterminds get into groups with peers and always get into groups with peers who are doing better than you because you'll be amazed at what you can learn from other people and how willing people are to share, because I know I'm always willing to help because so many people have helped me along the way and I feel that it's necessary to give back. So that would be the curveball that I would throw you. [00:20:50] spk_1: I love it. No, that's great. That is great advice. And even if it's just people that you meet in a facebook group, you know, and say, hey, let's jump on once a week on zoom, it doesn't have to be a paid one, it doesn't have to be super, uh you know, uh structured or whatever. The other thing is just to go on facebook and look for people in your own town, right? Nothing like getting together weekly. And, and you know, and maybe even, you know, a lot of people are always afraid to like share things, right? Because I think it's like, oh, this is my secret little trick or whatever, you know, I mean, maybe even come up with some kind of pledge where, you know, if you want to be a part of the group that you, you know, you promised to not share it with anybody else, if that's a worry or something like that, just make sure that those people um are trustworthy and and that, you know that you guys keep it, you know keep it tight and make sure that you're helping each other and not just getting in there and like stealing tricks and not contributing. So I absolutely love that. All right Kimberly. How can people get ahold of you? How can they find out about your products? Uh let people know how they can learn more about you. [00:21:46] spk_0: Sure. So let's see. So on linkedin I'm under Kimberly mech would and it's K I M B E R L. Y. And then M E C K W. 00. D. Um I am clicking carry with an ampersand on facebook and Kimberly Mac would I have to um instagram I'm at click and carry with an A. N. D. My website is click and carry dot com and um shoot me a message on linkedin. If you have any questions I'm always available to offer advice. Ask Amy She and I am have chatted a couple of times and she's so smart and gave me such great advice. Um but I'm happy to share that information with anyone else. So please contact me. I'm happy to help if I can [00:22:32] spk_1: awesome. Thank you so much and for all of you who are listening if you haven't done so yet please wait rate reviews. Subscribe all that good stuff. We really appreciate it guys. We're doing super well in the cellar pole. Um So if you're watching live right now, go to seller pool dot com, please vote for the podcast. Uh I mean I've been up to this for quite a few years now and we love that we've you know continuously uh improved and it's mostly because we have awesome guests like Kimberly, so Kimberly, thanks so much for being on and guys if you want to join us live remember you can do it every time, Tuesday one PM pacific time sell around table dot com, forge last live in a minute here. We're gonna stop going live, we're going to stop recording and people are going to be able to talk and interact with Kimberly without anybody else knowing. So she might give up some secret sauce that you might not catch if you're watching on one of the platforms or later on in the podcast. So join us live, we'd love to have you and we'll see you next time on the seller roundtable. Thank you guys. [00:23:28] spk_0: Bye. Uh huh. [00:23:32] spk_1: Thanks for tuning in, join [00:23:34] spk_0: us every Tuesday [00:23:35] spk_1: at one PM pacific standard time for live Q. And a. And bonus content after the recording at cellar roundtable dot com, sponsored [00:23:43] spk_0: by the ultimate [00:23:44] spk_1: software tool for amazon sales and growth seller. S eo dot com [00:23:48] spk_0: and amazing at home [00:23:50] spk_1: dot com