Lunch With Norm
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[LWN] 💰 How to Start a Business With $0...

[LWN] 💰 How to Start a Business With $0...

Lunch With Norm's Weekly Newsletter - AI eCommerce Summit, SKU Economics Tool and More!

April 22, 2024 • Estimated Read Time: 13 minutes

💰 No Money, No Problem

Two young entrepreneurs kick start their business with no money and a dream…

What you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:

💰 No Money, No Problem [True Story]
🗞️ This Week’s Amazon News & Updates
🤯 4 FREE Amazon Carousel Videos in Seconds [Tutorial]
🎙️ What You Missed Last Week
✅ My Last Semester in Film School [Memory Lane]
🤖 The Latest AI Updates You Need to Know

Wow! I was blown away by the response of Kevin King and I’s AI Ecommerce Success Summit announcement last week.

This event is 100% free. No pitching. With 18 cutting edge AI experts in the industry. Anyway, secure your spot here and I’ll see you there 👉 Sign up

💰 No Money, No Problem [My True Story]

How do you start a business with no money?

That’s the question my partner and I were trying to solve in our early 20’s...

The one thing we had going for us was that we both had prior experience in selling promotional products.

But to get started with this new business, we would need to front A LOT of cash to pay our suppliers.

And we had nothing.

No banks were willing to give us money either.

And rightfully so.

Anyway, we landed a meeting with a Fortune 500 company, famous for its chocolate.

We worked with them before with our past company.

But this was our first time going solo with them.

They knew we always overdelivered and our product was always on time, every time.

To our surprise, they wanted to place a very large order with us for a dated event… Great!

But how do you float an order for a company if you don't have the money?

We’re talking tens of thousands of dollars… 💰💰💰

Usually these larger companies work with 60 or 90 day terms… maaaaaybe 30 days if you’re lucky.

We decided to leverage the relationship that we’ve built and go for the Hail Mary 🏈

We asked for the cash upfront and in doing so we would provide them with a special discount.

We didn’t think any business would ever pay us in advance.

But our to our surprise it worked!

Sometimes you have to be creative.

Enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

— Norm

How much money did it take to start your business?

🗞️ AMAZON NEWS & UPDATES 🗞️

What’s happening in the world of Amazon today…

🛒 Send in your Prime Day Deals by May 3 2024 and inventory by June 20th! - Read More
📈 Track fees, sales, ads, off-Amazon costs with Amazon’s new SKU Economics tool. This is a new downloadable report that enables you to view the costs and fees for each product in your catalog at once - Read More
🔍 Unifor withdraws Amazon union applications, citing ‘suspiciously high’ employee data - Read More
🛍️ Amazon Prime Membership jumps 8% with 75% of US shoppers with a Prime Memberships - Read More
📚 Amazon surprises 13 Seattle-area students with ‘Future Engineer’ college scholarships - Read More
👀 Amazon spied on rivals for a decade with a secret operation called 'Project Curiosity' - Read More

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE BEARDED GUY?

Can you find Norm in the picture below? Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see the answer!

4 FREE AMAZON CAROUSEL VIDEOS IN SECONDS

This Tip is Courtesy of Sparka AI

Step 1: Grab your Amazon Product Listing. I chose this random jump rope for our example.

Step 2: Copy and paste the URL into Sparka AI

Step 3: Sparka AI will create 4 video variations to choose from. But Beardos will be able to receive all 4 😉 (instructions below)

Step 5: Select the variations you want to edit.

Step 6: Enhance your videos! Capture key moments with your smartphone, including close-up views or scenes of people using your product.

You can personalize your videos with unique color schemes, narration, musical backgrounds, and more.

Step 7: Download! You will be able to download only one video BUT…

To get all four free videos from Sparka AI, email [email protected] "BEARDO". This freebie is EXCLUSIVE for the Beard Nation.

This is not an affiliate link. I get nothing from this.

WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK

👇 Highlights from last week’s Lunch With Norm podcast episodes👇

Using Emotional Copy to Improve Conversion

Watch the full episode here

Main Takeaways:

Use Emotional Copy 🥲 Shift focus from simply inserting keywords to creating emotional connections through copy
Sell Benefits, Not Features 💰 Craft your product descriptions and features around the benefits they offer to the customer, rather than the features themselves
- For example: If you’re selling fast-cooking rice, emphasize the time-saving aspect and what customers can do with that extra time
Differentiate Your Product 🔍 Use the unique aspects of your product to distinguish it from others in the category. This might involve highlighting special features that add convenience, enhance safety, or provide extra value

Does Your AI Content Pass The Test? AI Plagiarism in 2024

Watch the full episode here

Ensuring Originality ✅ One of the primary reasons for using an AI plagiarism tool is to ensure that content is original and free from unintentional or intentional plagiarism
- For example: an employee passing off their blogs as handwritten but really its ChatGPT
Legal Compliance 🚨 For publishers and content creators, ensuring that content does not infringe on copyrighted materials is crucial to avoid legal repercussions. Plagiarism tools can help identify such risks before publication
Credibility and Reputation Management 📝 For professionals and organizations, maintaining credibility is crucial.

0 to $1.32M in 11 Months - How to Successfully Launch Your Own Book

Watch the full episode here

Main Takeaways:

Start with a Why 🧐 Understand why writing a book is powerful—books can significantly enhance your business by attracting more leads, increasing sales, and establishing authority in your field
Structure Your Writing Process ✏️ Adopt a structured approach to writing, such as Chandler's "more writing method" which stands for Mindmap, Outline, Rough draft, and Edit
Use the Book as a Lead Generation Tool 🚀 Books can be a powerful tool for lead generation. Provide value through your book and use it to funnel readers towards your products or services

STAY AHEAD BY BUILDING WITH THE FUTURE IN MIND

Contributed by Creator Climb

With the rapid and constant advancements in AI, how can you stay ahead?

This week alone, we already had the following major AI updates:

While all this tech is incredible, it can feel like a full-time job keeping up with what's new. Instead of trying to keep up and use what is available today, a better strategy might be to build for what will be possible tomorrow.

What could you accomplish if you had 10,000 AI teammates helping you?

If you want to learn how to better leverage AI in your business, write better prompts, and build your own "AI team" check out the AI Elevate course in Heights Platform's community: Creator Climb

THREE UPCOMING PODCASTS

You can watch all episodes on YouTube or on my Facebook page at 12 pm ET on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!

**Guests and topics are subject to change**

Monday - Visibility on Amazon: Strategies for Boosting Traffic and Sales

Larisa Herbai - CMO and Co-Founder of intelliRANK
Marketing expert, social media strategist and eCommerce seller
Has helped numerous clients increase their sales on Amazon, Shopify and Walmart.

Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here

AI Wednesday - Ad Strategies to Reduce ACOS

Nojus Latvinskas - Co-Founder DigitFruition
Started DigitFruition in 2021
Helps Amazon DTC & private label brands navigate the complex world of Amazon advertising

Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here

Friday - The Power of SMS Marketing in 2024

Tadej Bogataj - co-founder of CartBoss
Cartboss is an SMS solution for recovering abandoned carts with a single SMS
Turns lost opportunities into recovered sales by implementing timely and personalized text messages
Watch LIVE 👉 Sign up here

MEMORY LANE

This photo captures me and my film school friends back in the day 📸

That's me standing next to my buddy Al Pravato, he’s the cool dude rocking the hat on the right (I’m in the top right with the shades).

This was during my last semester before I made the big decision to drop out and pursue my own path. Great memories with this crew, even though I didn't end up finishing film school.