I’ve been teaching Amazon selling since late 2015, which is a little over eight years at the time of writing. During that time, I have read and replied to more than ten thousand questions and comments from students of the course ‘How to Start an Amazon Store on a Tight Budget.’
Sure, many of the questions are from new students who are still studying the lessons and haven’t yet launched their first Amazon listing. But I also get many questions/comments from students who are further along their journey, including students who are now running successful Amazon businesses.
Based on that feedback, here’s what I know about those students.
They studied the course not just once but twice, and in some cases, more than twice. I remember one student, Chris, who went through the lessons five times and said that he picked up things he had previously missed every time he did so.
They downloaded and read all the course handouts. Throughout the course, there are several FAQ handouts. Additionally, some of the lessons have associated handouts. These handouts (including the FAQs) are there for a reason. They are not simply repeating the information discussed in the video; they are supplementary to the info in the videos. Therefore, they do matter.
They did/do something towards maintaining or growing their business every day except for their days off. This has always been one of my own ‘rules’ for success. There are three big reasons why it’s important.
The first reason is obvious: you won’t reap the benefits if you don’t do the work. The second might not be so obvious, but is just as important: motivation. Every time you work on your business, even if you only do something small, you are making progress, and progress is motivating. Procrastination, on the other hand, is demotivating. The third reason is habit, which speaks for itself.
They killed the distractions. Focus does matter because, without it, it’s almost impossible to absorb the training, especially the important details.
Before the rise of smartphones and social media, the average person had an attention span of around twenty minutes. Now, according to studies, it’s less than two minutes.
If your device has ‘distraction-free’ mode (Windows has an option called ‘focus assist), enable it while studying the course lessons and working on your business. Alternatively, you can use a browser extension, like StayFocusd for Chrome.
The Pomodoro method is a technique for time management whereby you work in blocks of twenty-five minutes of focused work. There are various apps to help you apply the method, but all you need is a timer and a way to block distractions on your devices.
They worked through challenges. There is no such thing as a business that never has any challenges and obstacles to overcome. Accept that things won’t always go to plan, and things won’t always run to schedule. What matters is how you deal with these challenges. Try to deal with them calmly and methodically rather than allowing them to create stress and frustration.
