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Clarity

Johnny Amicci

Chicago

Over 10 Million in Online eCommerce Sales

Youtuber with Over 80,000 Subscribers

10 Years Experience as an Affiliate Marketer/Digital Marketer

Side Hustle Extroardinaire

My name is Johnny, although you may know me better as Rules For Rebels from my Popular Youtube Channel. I'm a full-time self employed Side Hustler, Solopreneur and Indepreneur.

My passion is helping fellow Entrepreneurs grow their business. I love helping new Entrepreneurs explore opportunities and find their direction.

$5.00/min

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24 minutes
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Startup Consulting eCommerce Online Marketing Content Creation Content Marketing Influencer Marketing Affiliate Marketing YouTube Amazon Ebay Sales

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I Will Help You Launch Your First Side Hustle

A Side Hustle is a business you launch outside your 9 to 5 job, with little to no funds, and with knowledge and equipment you already possess.

Side Hustles are great in that anyone can launch one very quickly with little to no risk. Some ideas will take off, some won't, but it's always a learning experience that at the very least will launch you on to your next idea.

I run a weekly Youtube show called Side Hustle Tuesdays where you can get a better idea of what a Side Hustle is.

Have you always wanted to start your own business or make money outside of your job but didn't know where to begin? I can help you launch your first Side Hustle whether it be eCommerce, a local service business, or a Youtube Channel.

Help You Launch Your Own Print on Demand Apparel Business

I will help you launch your own successful and money making Print on Demand (POD) Business. Whether you already have a clothing line or brand or whether you know nothing about graphic design or eCommerce I can help you launch a successful apparel line through Print on Demand.

The beauty of the print on demand business model is there's no upfront costs and no risks which allows you to start without any fear of failure or money in the bank. It also allows you to try a lot of different ideas as oftentimes our first idea may not be fruitful.

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Answers

Johnny Amicci answered

What type of regulation do apps like Cash App and Venmo have abide by?

This is going to vary from state to state. Potentially you could be considered a money services business, a money transmitter, or you may need to become licensed as an escrow service. You'll want to look into Fincen's guidance on whether you are a money transmitter. You'll also want to look into your state as well as other states money transmission laws. Typically speaking as soon as your holding funds for others or transmitting money you'll need some type of registration or licensing. MSB licensing can be incredibly expensive and a very long process. If there's any way to avoid holding funds I would do it for simplicity as well as to avoid liability.

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Project Finance

Banking

Startup Consulting

Johnny Amicci answered

What is the best affiliate marketing platform for working with brands like Blue Apron, Peleton, Leesa, Boll & Branch, etc.?

I'm a Youtuber with over 80,000 subscribers and an Affiliate Marketer and Influence Marketer. I've worked with a number of brands over the years.

In terms of the best platform for connecting with these brands, there are platforms like GrapeVine Logic, FameBit, Social Blue Book, and Intellifluencer which act as kind of a middle man or escrow service between brands and influencers.

These platforms are a great place to begin searching for brands, but oftentimes you may find the specific brands you want to work with aren't listed on these platforms.

One thing I've noticed as of recently is many if not most companies seem to have a position or even an entire department of their marketing team who's devoted to finding and working with influencers and managing collaboration efforts.

If you're not seeing the brands you'd like to work with reach out to them directly either via social media or an e-mail listed on their site.

Are you a Youtuber or Blogger?

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Affiliate Marketing

Direct Mail

Johnny Amicci answered

What tips do you have on optimizing Craigslist and similar classified type listings so they are found and sell quickly?

I've been hustling on Craigslist, OfferUp and other local classifieds ads for years. Beginning years ago when I used to attend storage auctions to running entire businesses just selling locally through classifieds ads.

The best thing you can do is just put together quality listings, that part is fairly simple. Write a detailed post about what your selling. Remember to answer any potential questions a buyer may have. If your selling a piece of clothing describe the material, condition, how it's washed, the measurements. Include a number of quality photos from good angles and with good lighting. This will put you ahead of 90% of listings on these sites.

Outside of that try to use relevant keywords without keyword spamming as it annoys buyers and gets untargeted people looking at your listings. If you're describing a piece of clothing maybe list the brand, similar brands, and words like fashion, style, mom, teens, ie whomever the item would appeal to.

Another important thing is to post consistantly. Many people browse these classifieds sites often and after a couple days or even more so a week or more your listing is going to get lost in the results.

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Selling

Online Marketing

Value Based Selling

Johnny Amicci answered

What is the best option for printing items to sell on my website?

I've been doing Print on Demand (POD) for about 3 years. I sell 300 plus shirts a month through the Amazon Merch Program as well as selling on other platform sites like Redbubble, Society 6, Etsy, etc. I also run a niche Shopify store selling POD items.

The advent of Print on Demand sites was awesome in the sense it lowers the barrier of entry to starting a novelty tee shirt company or apparel brand. That's also a negative in that it's brought out a ton of competition.

The biggest hurlde I see with the POD business model is the pricing. Understandably since were not stocking any inventory and really doing no work we shouldn't get to keep 100% of the profits. Obviously the companies offering these services are doing most of the work and are going to charge a hefty fee. Something like Printful for example on a Bella Canva tee after the $5 shipping charge comes to essentially an $18 base price.

In my opinion $20 is about as high as I would pay for most tee shirts and at $20 that only leaves you a $2 profit margin. On sites like Etsy which are geared towards artists people are often willing to pay a bit more to support an artist and for something unique but it is a challenge. When it comes to running a Woo Commerce or Shopify store you can also oftentimes charge a bit more as unlike eBay and Amazon potential customers are not seeing other people's products and prices.

While I see people charging upwards of $50 for a shirt, I highly doubt many of them sell much. I think $24.95 with a $2 or $3 shipping leaves a bit more room for profit and is still fairly reasonable.

In terms of Printify vs Printful, Printful definitely has a better UI and interface and I trust their platform and company more. That said Printify is oftentimes cheaper.

One more POD supplier I'll throw out there who I'm not a big fan of for my business, but whom may work for you is CustomCat. CustomCat is famous for their $6 Gildan 200 shirt which is one of the cheapest if not the cheapest POD shirt available. I was not impressed with the quality of the shirt or printing for my brand, however if you're selling more novelty type shirts and the material isn't as important it leaves a lot more room for profit.

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Print Production

Mobile Commerce

eCommerce

Johnny Amicci answered

If you have a new Etsy shop with not a lot of items, how do you get noticed and make sales?

I'm a veteran eCommerce seller who's sold on eBay, Amazon, Amazon FBA, Etsy, as well as Woo Commerce and Shopify stores.

Launching a new store or new business is always a challenge. Not only do you have to rise in Etsy's search algorithm, you also need to start getting some reviews for some social proof and trust from buyers.

I think the absolute best way to get your first few intiial sales is to use Ety's PPC advertising which can be found in the marketing section of your Etsy backend. It's incredibly helpful at getting a few sales. As you get sales your listings and items will naturally begin to rise in Etsy's search ranking and if people are happy with what your selling they'll leave reviews which will further raise your Etsy SEO and also offer some social proof making other buyers more comfortable to buy from you.

Outside of that in terms of getting your Etsy listings seen write detailed descriptions. Write headers or titles which catch attention and use keywords potential buyers may be searching for. Provide as many pictures as possible.

You can also start sharing or promoting your items on social media platforms like Pinterst, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

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eCommerce

Ecommerce Strategy

Selling

Johnny Amicci answered

What is the best job to get to learn to become an entrepreneur? Working at a VC as an analyst? Work in Sales? Work in Marketing? Consulting?

I've been a self employed "Entrepreneur" since 2015, but started my business back in 2011.

Entrepreneurship is such a vague term, what is it specifically that you would like to do? If you're business you'd like to start requires a specific skill-set or if a certain knowledgebase would be helpful you should get a job doing that.

For example, I see so many people wanting to open bars, yet many of them have never even worked in a bar or the hospitality industry. For someone like that getting a job in a bar and working in as many positions as possible would be helpful. When you are an Entrepreneur or the owner of a business everything falls on your shoulders, so if the kegerator isn't working that's your problem, you need to know how to fix it. That's why if I were going to open a bar I'd work as a barback, a bartender, a server, a manager, before I was confident I could open a bar.

There's other hard skills that are always good to have such as sales, marketing, video editing, graphic design, etc. If you were to get a job which could teach you any of those skills that would be incredibly helpful.

Figure out specifically what type of business you'd like to start or what type of Entrepreneur you'd like to be and that will give you a better idea of which job you should get to learn those skills.

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Job search

Career Counseling

Career Development

Johnny Amicci answered

Does any one know a luxury watches drop-ship company or companies based in Europe specifically Swiss?

I'm a veteran eCommerce seller who's done over 10 Million in online sales in the past few years. I've sold on platforms like eBay, Amazon and Etsy as well as my own sites.

Here's the problem I see with doing watches. Watches are one of the most competitive and saturated industries. It seems every dropshipper is selling either watches, wallets, or survival items. Your competing against everyone else using the same suppliers and selling the same stuff.

In regards to selling luxury watches, typically someone who's ordering in bulk or buying wholesale is going to get better pricing than a dropshipper. Lastly being a dropshipper you're reliant on the company shipping for you sending items to the correct addresses, sending legitimate and not counterfeit watches, etc. If your supplier messes up ultimately your the one who took the payment and your the one on the hook. Consumers have up to 6 months to do a credit card chargeback and keep your item as well as get their money back which is why selling, let alone dropshipping where you have less control, high Dollar items can be risky.

How do you plan on selling these watches? On a platform like eBay or Amazon or on your own Shopify or Woocommerce site?

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eCommerce

Johnny Amicci answered

How can I start an online business?

I've been running online businesses since 2011. Everything from selling eBooks and Digital Products to selling on platforms like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy to running my own wholesale business and eCommerce shop.

When you say you want to start an online business, do you have any idea what type of business you want to start? Is there a service you want to offer? Is there a product you want to sell?

Your question as asked is a little bit vague as there's so many different ways one could get into running an online business.

Assuming you mean eCommerce I would look to what products your country produces domestically. I don't know a ton about Egypt but I believe sheets, scarves and other textiles are high quality and I imagine cheaper than in many other parts of the world. I would begin to look into this for starters.

Can you elaborate more on what type of business you'd like to start?

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Small Business

Small Business Online Marketing

Startup Consulting

Johnny Amicci answered

What to do when your coaching client decides to offer coaching package to others that is similar to your coaching package with that client?

The short answer is you can't. There's really nothing proprietary about what your doing. Short of your clients copying word for word documents, books, advice that you offer, there's nothing stopping them from taking what they learned from you and using that to setup their own business. Heck, depending upon the type of coaching your offering it could even be a scenario where you're teaching people how to get started in the same business as you and then getting upset when they actually follow through and do so.

I would suggest not worrying too much about your competition and focusing on the value that you add. There's only one you, only you have your knowledge and experiences. Use that and quit worrying about what others are doing.

Now if someone is copying materials you hand out that is something you could pursue, although you're likely not going to sue anyone for anything, it's more a hey quit doing that type of letter your attourney can draft for you.

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Copywriting

Trademarks

Johnny Amicci answered

What free tools do you recommend for editing videos for Youtube?

Windows Movie Maker is a classic. It's incredibly simple, and while it is limited, if you're just looking to splice some clips, occasionally add in a photo or some music or a title screen it's incredibly easy to use and works. They may not have it available for official download anymore but you can find it online and it's free.

Something more advanced that's free and awesome as well is a program called HitFilm Express. It may not be quite as good as some of the more expensive paid softwares but it's probably good for what 99% of people need to do.

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Video Editing

Video Production

Web Video

Johnny Amicci answered

Are there platforms where you can purchase views for Youtube?

You never want to straight up buy Youtube views. You can buy a placement for your Youtube video on a particular Facebook Group, Blog, etc, but you never want to straight up buy views.

Any views which are straight up purchases won't be engaged people, your simply getting bot views or views from people in third world countries.

In addition to doing absolutley nothing positive for your business it could actually hurt your Youtube video's performance on Youtube and in search because your getting very short watch time, your getting non USA visitors and they can pick up on the fact that your getting bot views and will actually remove views, likes, etc from your videos.

I've bought Youtube views, don't do it it's absolute garbage.

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YouTube

Social Media Marketing

Social Media

Reviews

Member since July 2018