The Spring Forward Podcast
Welcome to the Spring Forward Podcast with host Spring Richardson-Perry! Join us as we explore the world of business excellence, sharing valuable insights and strategies to help businesses achieve their desired level of greatness. Get ready to Spring Forward Into Excellence!
The Spring Forward Podcast
The Amazon Incubator with Lesley Hensell
Ever wondered how an Amazon selling side hustle could evolve into a full-time career? That's exactly the trajectory Leslie Hensel, Amazon maven and founder of Riverbend Consulting, took—and you won't want to miss the wisdom she imparts in our latest episode. Leslie opens the door to her personal life, sharing the heartwarming reason she started selling on Amazon and how the platform became a lifeline for her family. But it's not all smooth sailing; she candidly talks about the dedication required to make it in Amazon's marketplace and the strict adherence to its policies that's crucial to avoid the dreaded account suspension. We lay out the blueprint for balancing the entrepreneurial grind with family life, proving that an Amazon business isn't just flexible—it's potentially life-changing.
Welcome to the Spring Forward podcast. I'm your host, spring Richardson Perry, the organizational change agent that is going to help your business achieve the excellence you desire. If you're a business leader looking to take your business to the next level or simply looking for new ways to spring your business forward, then this is the podcast for you. So let's get down to business and spring forward into excellence. Welcome, welcome, guys, to another episode of the Spring Forward podcast. It's me, your host, spring Richardson Perry, and, of course, our little co-host, little miss Wincer, who is just always around somewhere somehow. So she is here with us today. So if you hear the coolant in the background, that is her.
Speaker 1:But today I am super excited to bring you a very special guest, miss Leslie Hensel. She is the founder of Riverbend Consulting. She has over a decade of experience in selling on Amazon and serving Amazon sellers. She leverages two decades of her experience as a small business consultant to solve the underlying business issues and online retail, and so, doing this, she improves operations and profitability. So trust me, guys, you want to tune in for this one, because she is dropping some serious gems today. So, without further ado, here is Leslie. Hello, leslie, hi there Spring.
Speaker 2:It's so great to be here today.
Speaker 1:I am so excited, so excited. And another thing, guys, a quick, we'll get into this later on, but she has a book dropping today, so we will talk about that and make sure you pick it up once you hear all the great things that are inside of it. And so I want to jump right in and get started, because she's going to be talking about again how she can help you make some side money with Amazon. So talk to us, leslie, about how you got started in this business.
Speaker 2:So I got to tell you that I just love Miss Winter, being your co-host on this podcast, because the way I got into Amazon was all about the kids, and I know there are so many people out there who are like me that Amazon isn't necessarily attracted to them as a full-time job. It's because they need a tool to create more income for their family. So many years ago, I have two boys. My older boy was struggling in school. It just was not working for him. We got him diagnosed with autism and a bunch of learning disabilities and we were like, oh well, that explains everything. What do we do now? So we decided to homeschool him and do a whole lot of therapy.
Speaker 2:Well, at the time I was working as a small business consultant. You can't do both. It's impossible to homeschool like a kid with challenges and do that job too. So I heard about selling on Amazon and my husband and I worked out a great system. He would come home from work, I would go source inventory at night and on the weekends and then we would all ship it to Amazon as a family and they would fulfill our orders. And we used that system for several years while we homeschooled the kid and then once he was in special needs school which I'm telling you cost a fortune Amazon helped pay for that as well, and now I've turned that into a career of helping other sellers with those old school business consulting skills that I had from before Amazon, so I just love it. It's a great tool for anyone who needs some extra cash for their family, has some goals they want to hit, like saving for retirement or a vacation or kids college. There's still so much opportunity on the Amazon platform.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love it, leslie, and you know that resonates with me because I am so looking for some additional strings of income where I am more available to my kids, but I'm able to bring in some money, and that sounds like the perfect, the perfect thing. And so I want to talk about the business aspect of it because, like you said, you used your consulting experience to really build this out, and so there's so much talk about. You know, you can make a lot of money but only work a few hours per week, and so is Amazon, a get rich quick scheme like how does it work? How easy is it actually?
Speaker 2:That is such an excellent question because if you go out and search online for how can I make money on Amazon, you're going to find a lot of quote unquote systems and automated stores and all of these strategies that people want to sell you for many thousands of dollars. And they'll tell you oh, you don't have to do anything or spend five hours a week and make millions and it's just like any other hustle or any other side business. It is work. So if the question is can I create some revenue for my family working five to ten hours a week? You can, but it's not going to be a million dollars. If your goal is, I want to create an extra $5,000 a month for my family, can you do that in ten hours a week? Yes, absolutely you can, If you do good product sourcing and you're really focused with the time that you invest.
Speaker 1:So I want to talk about this inventory thing, because there's this thing with drop shipping now, and so are you like how does that work? Are you familiar with that?
Speaker 2:So I'll tell you spring, part of the reason I wrote the book is because of the drop shipping thing, as you call it. So my full time business is river been consulting, and the reason I'm mentioning that is we help people who've gotten trouble with Amazon. That Amazon suspended their account, took them down because of something that they did that they shouldn't have, or false positive, whatever the case may be. A lot of my clients are people who jumped into the drop shipping craze and did not realize they were violating Amazon's terms of service. The drop shipping systems out there, as they're called, fall under the umbrella of this. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.
Speaker 2:So what's happening is there are virtual assistants out there and software programs that list items on your seller account on Amazon that you don't actually have in stock, and they are things that are for sale at Home Depot and Target and Walmart and Sam's Club and. But there's a spread they're selling cheaper on those platforms than they are on Amazon. So what they do is they list the items on your account and if one sells, then they buy it from Home Depot and they drop ship it to the address of the buyer who purchased the item from you. That's against Amazon policy and because it causes a lot of confusion. Imagine that you receive this item from Home Depot. You're like I didn't buy anything from Home Depot, so that's why Amazon doesn't like it, and not only will it get your account suspended, but Amazon will hold any money in that account permanently. So it's a really dangerous strategy and it's better to just figure out your own method of sourcing inventory.
Speaker 1:So that very thing has happened. I've ordered something from Amazon, and then it comes in this weird box from somewhere else and I'm like is this not Amazon? What is this? I don't remember ordering from this company or this place, and so that explains a lot. And it sounds like, again, you have so much experience with this, and so I am just so excited to be able to be lifting this up right now and to give people an idea of what it takes to actually be on Amazon, because I'm sure that's in the fine print and people don't actually read that part of the contract, and so I can see how you can get into big trouble with that. So I want to talk about your book though I want to talk about the book. It's called the Amazon Incubator. Grow your Business or Hatch a New One. Talk to us about why you wrote this and who should actually read it.
Speaker 2:So, y'all, I'm so excited because I just got the book in the mail. So for anyone watching on video, here's the cover. I just got it yesterday. I'm psyched, y'all, because it's going to actually be in all the big bookstores.
Speaker 2:So the Amazon Incubator was written because of things like the dropshipping scams and the expensive courses. I have a lot of clients of all sizes and, I'll tell you, the most successful ones really started their business in an organic, careful, sustainable way, and it makes me really sad to have clients come in the door who try these other shortcuts and because of it, they're in financial distress. Now, I don't want that for any of you. I want a side hustle like Amazon to bring you joy and the income that you need and help you to build that lifestyle that you want. So instead of a $5,000 course or some crazy dropshipping scam that's a $10,000 investment I wanted to be able to offer a $25 book, or it's like $12 bucks, I think. If you buy the Kindle version, it's very inexpensive and that way you can kind of get this step-by-step blueprint of how to sell on Amazon.
Speaker 2:So each chapter covers a different topic that you need to understand. So you need to understand how to set up your business, how to build a business plan that is simple and easy and quick. We actually cover a business plan that you can do in 30 minutes. We cover sourcing and where to get your stuff, how you want to fulfill those items If you want to ship it yourself or have Amazon ship it and then into topics like marketing, hiring VAs, writing SOPs, standard operating procedures for your business.
Speaker 2:But I make it very simple so this isn't like an Amazon University where it's in depth on every single topic, because that would look more like an encyclopedia set for those of you old enough to remember encyclopedia sets. But it's a really good basic knowledge for anyone who's got a small Amazon store and they want to grow it or they want to set up that Amazon store to help you just know what you need to know so that you're not caught flat-footed. And also there's some inspiration in there, because y'all, it's really hard to start a business on your own and you kind of need a cheerleader and a buddy, and I'm here to be that cheerleader and that buddy.
Speaker 1:That is awesome, because that's the point that I'm at right now. I need a cheerleader in my corner, so just keep encouraging me, because, again, as you guys can see, a little miss, winter is busy and so trying to focus during the day to get things done is just a challenge, with having to stop and feed her or just tend to hurt in general, and so this really seems like a great way to start to bring in some additional income and but still have the time that I need for my kids, because I also have three older kids and a bonus daughter that lives with us, who is just wonderful, and we, like we have five kids here my husband and I, so I mean every little second house, so I'm really like I really love this. Do you think you'll do an audiobook?
Speaker 2:So I was picked up by Scribes. They've bought the rights for the audiobook and they're producing that. I'm not sure when the drop date is for that, but it's coming up soon Was really excited about that. And also I just have to say you know I was saying earlier it's not that you don't have to put in the hours. You do have to put in the hours to make money, but it can be any hours you want. That is the magic. You don't have to work on anyone else's schedule. It can be nights, weekends, first thing in the morning.
Speaker 2:I know some people who get up and work on their Amazon business from five to nine am and then they're out for the day. It can really be whatever you want. Also, there's seasons to the business. You can put in a lot of work for a quarter and then kind of take it easy for a quarter. You still have to manage it day to day, check in, make sure everything's okay, but you're not putting in eight to 12 hour days every single day of the year. And that is magic for people who really need to put family first. I have two boys and I have been able to put them first, show up for everything at school, be at all the football games you know. Whatever their activities were, take them to the doctor appointments. That is my priority, and with the flexibility of selling on Amazon, you can still do that.
Speaker 1:I love it, and I also have an aging dad who I'm taking care of as well, and so that just adds another layer to it all, and I don't want all of the financial responsibility to follow my husband, because it's just not fair Like in this world. It really takes two incomes these days, and so this is just amazing, amazing. I really want to talk about now products like what do you feel are the best products? What have you seen in your experience? The products that do the best on Amazon?
Speaker 2:So finding the right products to sell is your most important and challenging task straight up. But there are some really creative things that you can do to find great things to sell on Amazon. So a lot of people start out on Amazon doing retail arbitrage. There are some safety issues there, there are some challenges with retail arbitrage, but there's some good too. So that's where you're going to local retailers, you're going to the Walmart, you're going to the Target, you're going to whatever great outlet mall you have nearby and you're looking for products. You can flip on Amazon and make a buck. It's a great way to get the business started and to put some money in the bank that you can use to move to the next step.
Speaker 2:You don't want to stay with retail arbitrage because, frankly, it's hard, it's backbreaking. You're literally throwing tons of products into your car, your SUV, and taking them home and unloading them. I mean it's just a lot of work and it's not super sustainable and it's hard to grow. It can only grow as much as you can physically source. So next step most people move to wholesalers and distributors of products. Where you want to establish relationships with wholesalers, it's great if you have knowledge of a certain category, like, if you know a lot about sports and outdoors or you know a lot about beauty, to find distributors of those particular products and pick your winners, and then kind of, the ultimate holy grail of Amazon is to develop your own private label product. That is really the goal of most people. You don't start there. You start with selling other people's stuff, because when you sell other people's stuff, you learn how to sell and you learn what works and doesn't on the platform and then eventually move to where you're selling products you've developed yourself.
Speaker 2:And then spring I got to give you my hot tip. So my hot tip is no matter where you live, there are business parks, there are light industrial areas, there are businesses at your Chamber of Commerce in your town. All of those are sources of products where people are manufacturing things, but they're not selling them online. They're selling them through traditional channels and they would love to sell online, but they don't know how or they don't want to themselves. So local businesses are a great place to go and say I can market your products.
Speaker 2:You're essentially being like an e-commerce marketer. I can market your stuff on Amazon. I'll create your listings, put up the photos, write the great copy. You give me your best wholesale prices. Allow me returns if these don't work on Amazon. And what's great is there's not competition. Other people aren't selling those things on Amazon because you've got the exclusive with your local business that you're selling their stuff online and don't discount what they call business, industrial and scientific products. So many businesses now buy stuff on Amazon, so there's all kinds of industrial products, scientific products, scientific products that you might think aren't ripe to go on Amazon. They are. So just a hint that if you have any of those local businesses, manufacturers, it's a great place to go to get you started.
Speaker 1:Now that sounds amazing because where I live I'm in Rockport, texas and we have a lot of retired people that live here who were once, you know, big business people, and so they've taken their expertise and they've kind of scaled it back for retirement but still want to bring in a little bit of income, and so we do have a lot of businesses here that sell things, items, and I'm sure they would love to move more of that inventory, but it's only available to the locals here, and so that just gave me a great idea, leslie. I love it. Thank you, see, guys. She is full of inspiration, full of information today, and so, again, she's just giving you her blueprint for success. So, guys, you want to get this book, you want to check it out Again. It's called the Amazon Incubator Grow your Business or Hatch a New One. It is on sale today. So I want to talk about now because season two is all about community I want to talk about how this book is helping to build community?
Speaker 2:That is an excellent question. So actually, going back to my last answer, y'all would be amazed at how you can become a hero where you live. I know some people who have used the strategy of going to their local Chamber of Commerce, going to those local business parks. Once you put products online for a local business and you're successful, they are going to tell all their friends who are also local manufacturers and producers and you become the local hero who is helping to expand that base of commerce and jobs. It's an amazing thing.
Speaker 2:But then also selling on Amazon for a lot of people can be kind of isolating because you're working from home. A lot of times it's just you, or just you and your virtual assistant that you've hired, and then the people you've established relationships with that you're buying products. So it's not always the most community feeling. So there are so many ways that you can get involved and you can meet other people. There are wonderful Facebook groups, there are mastermind groups and all kinds of groups of sellers who go on trips together. They meet each other, they spend time together, they share with each other how they grew their businesses. So if you look online you'll find those also.
Speaker 2:I'm on all the social channels and I'm partnered up with some of these groups as well, and Common in these Facebook groups and chats, and so if you follow me, you're gonna see these groups, all of these people that come up again and again, other service providers who are trustworthy and who want to share. One thing I love about the Amazon community is because it's kind of Scattered and it's extremely diverse and a little bit isolated. Sometimes people tend to really share information about how they've been successful in strategies they've tried or if you need to know hey, I need a new importer to help get my goods from China over here Everyone will share the recommendation and say, oh, I use this company, I use that company. That's how we get a lot of business at Riverbend is word of mouth. So there really are some great groups and ways to connect with others and to really feel like you're, you're embedded in the Amazon community.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I want to. So we're gonna wrap it up, but before we, before we go, I want to leave everybody with about three to five points that you would say make you a successful Amazon seller.
Speaker 2:So number one is consistency. You don't need to work 20 hours a day. You need to work two hours for ten days. So putting time into the business consistently every day or four days a week, or whatever you choose for your schedule, is key. Number two you have to know your numbers. You need to set up your books right from the beginning and have all of your expenses as well as all of your revenue, so that you understand if you're even making a profit, because you are not in this to work for free. You are in this to take home money for yourself or your family, let's see.
Speaker 2:Number three is to be organized, and y'all don't say oh no, I'm ADD, so I can't do this. It's all about setting up systems that are easy for you to follow and I cover this in the book because it's super important about setting up some systems at the beginning just to capture things like Invoices and mileage. You just need to make sure you're tracking those from the beginning and you can produce the documents. So that's if you ever had a problem with Amazon, and so you can file your taxes at the end of the year. You've got to know what money you made and you didn't make. Number four, I think, is having goals. It's really easy to get sidetracked in Amazon because you hear about cool things other people are doing and it's like look squirrel look squirrel Instead of.
Speaker 2:This is my plan. I'm going to stick to it, see if it works and then make adjustments. So creating that miniature business plan for yourself that has goals I think is super important. And then number five kind of goes with goals know what matters to you and if Amazon is your answer, great. If it's not great, but really sit and spend that time. It's January, it's a new year. Spend some time really knowing what matters to you. Are you doing this because you want more time with family? Are you doing this to fund a vacation? Are you doing this to replace your full-time job? If you keep that front and center with everything you do, it's very self-motivating. And when you have a small business or a side hustle like Amazon, you must be self-motivating. So keeping that vision of what you care about front and center, like with a vision board or some kind of other visual reminder every day, is really key.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that and I love how you say keep in track of the finances, because, again, we're not doing this for free, guys. This is supposed to either bring in some extra money for whatever it is that you're trying to cover like she said, vacation, maybe you need some new appliances, maybe you need some home repairs, or maybe you are trying to replace an income because, for whatever reason, you have to be at home now. So you want to make sure that you are keeping track of the money. That's probably the thing that stood out to me the most, because again, we can get into these things and get excited and we'll see the money, but we're not actually looking at the net versus the gross and how much it is taking me to actually do all of this, to provide the business and what I'm actually taking home. So that is super important.
Speaker 1:I am so excited, leslie. This has been amazing Again one last time. Guys, her book is called the Amazon Incubator Grow your Business or Hatch a New One. I'm sure they can find it on Amazon, but tell us where your book is located, where people can go out and purchase your book.
Speaker 2:If you visit my website, theamazonincubatorcom, it has links to all the bookstores, so no matter which one you choose, there's a link directly to the book there, and you can also find it at Amazon, barnes, noble all those normal places that you buy books. So I hope you'll consider picking up a copy, because it is really written with you in mind your goals, not someone else's goals your plan, not someone else's plan and I hope that it helps some people to move to the next phase of their goals in their life.
Speaker 1:Yes, I hope so too. I hope this has been super helpful for you guys. If anybody wants to reach out to you, leslie, to work with you, or if they have questions, how would they get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:So you can send a message through Amazonincubatorcom. But also I'm on all the social media channels, so LinkedIn, instagram, facebook, twitter. I'm there. It's all under my name Leslie L-E-S-L-E-Y, h-e-n-s-e-l-l, and please send me a direct message, send me a connection request. I live for helping small businesses and entrepreneurs. This book and this mission and what I'm talking about today is not my day-to-day, so I'm not here to charge you a fee or to say, yeah, I'll talk to you if you pay me $100 an hour. No, no. If you have questions, you have concerns, you want to figure out the next step and you just need some advice. Let me be your cheerleader and your buddy in this process. Send me a message and let's talk.
Speaker 1:That is so sweet, leslie. I love it. Guys, leslie Hensel again, her book is called the Amazon Incubator Grow your Business or Hatch a New One. Get it Today. It Drops Today at bookstores, on Amazon, wherever you can purchase a book. So thank you so much, leslie, for being here today. I really appreciate it. I've enjoyed this conversation.
Speaker 1:Guys, I hope that you took some nuggets away from this. I hope that you were able to really get some good information and decide if this is something that you want to do. And if you're still on the fence, pick up her book, see what it's talking about, and maybe it can help you make some firm decisions and some side money. So thanks for tuning in, guys, and until next time on the Spring Forward Podcast. Thanks for listening to the Spring Forward Podcast. I hope you were able to capture some of the gems that were dropped and are excited to start using the information to help your business spring forward into excellence. I would love to hear some of your biggest takeaways from this episode, so connect with me on LinkedIn or Facebook or tag me on Instagram at springy underscore springtime, and don't forget to subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode and if you'd like to learn more about how we can work together? Visit the website at time2springforwardorg, that's T-I-M-E-T-O-S-P-R-I-N-G-F-O-R-W-A-R-D dot org. And until next time on the Spring Forward Podcast.