hey everyone this is stefan from
projectlifemastery.com bill publisher
many of you guys has seen the previous
videos and interviews that have done
with him over the years on my youtube
channel sharing his journey starting his
online business with Kindle publishing
going through K money mastery building
it up to a high six-figure seven-figure
income
he's also built his Amazon FBA business
and we haven't done an interview like
this in about a year and if you're a
part of my K money mastery program
inside full disclosure you probably have
seen Andreas inside the Facebook group a
lot of trainings that we've done
together and we thought it'd be time to
do another video share with you guys
what's the latest in the world of
publishing on Amazon I want to have
andreas Sherriff you guys a little bit
about his progress his journey as well
as a lot of what he's learned of what's
working today in the world of publishing
on Amazon you know Andreas also works
with a lot of people one on one he has
his own coaching program that he works
with a lot of people that are a part of
K money mastery and he's seen a lot of
what's working but also what's not
working and so we thought be useful just
to update you guys on a lot of that
stuff so andreas thank you so much for
taking the time to join me today yeah
thanks for having me bro
excited to be here it's been a whole
year since we did one of these and I got
I got a lot to share and I'm looking
forward to answering any questions that
might help some of the people out there
business keeps changing and so we got to
stay on top of doing our best just to
keep up with Amazon and love to share
today awesome so I know we did you know
that original video some of you guys
that are watching this or listening
might have remember that that back at
your cabin up at 70-mile house right on
the lake where you know you in a matter
of months got up to make and I think
around four thousand five thousand
dollars a month from your publishing
business and you know since then we've
done some other videos sharing your
journey and I know you know you recently
rebuilt your cabin you tore it down you
both a brand new
that you have there you've done some
events there now - you know since the
last interview we did I think about a
year ago do you want to share with
people you know what's changed for you
how you've been able to continue to grow
your business and you know just where
you're at today with Kindle publishing
yeah so for me um you know I started way
back in 2014 had some great success in
my first four or five months as we
shared in that first video we did
together and motivated me to keep to
kind of go all-in into it um so decided
to focus more on it and obviously over
the next year into 2015 continue to have
success hit some pretty big numbers
which then you know obviously continue
to motivate me to see how far I could
take it but also realizing the
opportunity and physical products so I
entered into that and and started to
have some sex success with that um and
and and get some products out there and
and kind of just kept doing both of them
all the way through 2015 and then 2016
then of course we did our video in
January February of last year and and at
that point I had established you know a
decent portfolio you know seven eight
hundred books you know as a publisher
generating revenues as high as 70 80
grand in a month and and then physical
product was doing really well you know I
had helped my wife with her business I
had mine combined you know we were
pushing in about 70 60 70 grand there so
we were doing really well you know
making over six figures a month in both
businesses and then and then 2017 was
kind of a crazy year because you know I
noticed it you know over the two and a
half years I'd been in this business in
the online business dealing with Amazon
that there was a tendency of you know a
lot of changes that would occur within
Amazon and so I started to focus on
creating an online business that allowed
me not to become not so much dependent
on Amazon but to use them more as as a
great funnel of traffic and customers
and and try to build my own business
with my own audience and and and and so
that I could continue to have repeat
customers instead of always looking for
new customers which tends to happen on
the Amazon platform so since I had grown
a big portfolio I had a presence a lot
of I've learned a lot I figured the next
step for me was to to grow beyond Amazon
and and and try to build a business
where I would build relationships with
consumers and continue to be able to
sell my product over and over again or
more importantly upsell them possibly
maybe from an e-book to a physical
product and and then whatever else I
could create whether it's a series of
books or you know going into another
platform like create space and audible
and just gaining experience in learning
how to do that instead of just creating
a product putting it on Amazon and just
trying to make money from one month to
another I wanted to get you know repeat
customers and I and I wanted to build an
audience build a list and so that was
primarily my focus in 2017 which led me
to really focusing on building a brand
and and I guess that's been the major
transformation for me since I started
this business is that when I started my
business revolved around Amazon and the
brand was all about Amazon where is
today everything that I build is is
primarily built on you know my business
and my brand and is always looking for a
way to basically steal the customers
from Amazon but use that that great
platform that it is because it's there's
so much traffic there and so many people
there that you know that it's it's it's
still the number one resource to go and
it's the best way to learn the best way
to build your business but I think for
me I'm at a point now
hundred books you know making that kind
of revenue that I wanted to kind of
challenge myself to see if I could build
my own audience and and and market
outside of Amazon and and me being and
coaching and helping so many people in
that area it just made sense for me to
to evolve into that path and then I
could help people as well awesome so you
you know it sounds like you've continued
publishing you've grown a lot in a lot
of ways you're building your brand and I
think a lot of people you know they are
watching this and they just want to get
started you know what would you often
recommend for someone just getting
started because I think a lot of people
they might hear how many books you have
or myself or other people and they think
hey you know I'm just gonna put out you
know a hundreds of books but often is
you know that's not the best strategy
maybe to start with you should probably
you've got a system that allows you to
be able to publish a lot of books so
somebody that's getting started what
would you recommend for them as you know
just one of the best strategies for them
to you know maybe start making at least
a couple hundred bucks or a couple
thousand dollars and then be able to
grow and scale from there well I think
first of all the the individual whoever
it is has to determine whether they have
patience for business because business
as you know anybody who gets into
business and you set yourself gained so
much experience in this area over the
last decade that you have to have
patience and and and for somebody new
coming into into this business or any
business in general but especially in
the online you're gonna have to
understand that concept of patience
because you know to build a business to
get into all of these things to learn to
publish to create products to market you
know even the fad all of all the
foundational work that's required when
you first come in I think that's a key
attribute that you need so you need to
evaluate yourself and say am i a patient
individual or am i someone who wants
results fast or who wants to to take
action fast and who wants to beat the
learning curve if you're someone who has
patience and understands that concept
and then take your time you know publish
a few books go through the can
video program because by far that's in
my opinion the best one out there that's
going to get you to learn the foundation
of this business you know take your time
don't don't try to publish 25 or 50 or
100 books try to learn the process of
research and creating a product and
improving the product and engaging with
people to get feedback on that product
and and and just learn the fundamentals
of managing a business and and hiring
people and and outsourcing and you know
all those little attributes if you're an
individual who lacks the patience who is
a little bit more aggressive and who who
wants to not necessarily go through
everything themselves and and and wants
to grow a big business and maybe a
little faster then my advice to you
would be maybe because you're going to
be doing things at a faster pace then
maybe seek out the help you know get a
professional someone who's been through
it that can spend time teaching you a
system of how you can essentially skip
that learning curve and at the same time
not become so inefficient in the
business just because you're scaling up
too fast and that's probably a big
common problem that happens with people
is that they start to do too much and
and they're not and it's hard enough
already when you're just learning let
alone when you're when you're doing it
10 times more than maybe the average
person so so that would be my advice to
people is number one figure out what
kind of individual you are in that in
that way and and if you if you do want
to challenge yourself and do it on your
own which this business is anybody can
do it so that's not an issue um then
then just take your time go through the
videos understand that each book that
you create your no you're not you're not
gonna make a thousand dollars on one
book or or five thousand or ten thousand
I mean it takes time and and you know
you're gonna have if you're doing things
right and you're learning then the
second book should be better than the
first and the third book should be
better than the second and you should be
improving now sometimes the money
doesn't show that but the quality can
you
there are other things to measure in
your business I think that's another
thing I'd like to bring up is that you
know most young entrepreneurs that enter
into business and if if can if if
creating or publishing is going to be
that business then I think they need to
understand that the learning curve the
opportunity cost of learning is going to
be how much money you possibly make and
and and when you get into a business you
can't always necessarily look at the ROI
of how much money you're going to make
on your investment because you're
learning to you're gaining experience
and knowledge and skills and and there's
a cost to that and that cost is maybe
the short term success in in in getting
a return in the terms of dollars um you
can understand that because you know
yourself how many years did it take you
in the online world to to gain skills I
mean you went through SEO you went
through you know you went through
marketing online different different
types of projects before you reached kmm
and or created kamemon and did your
publishing I mean we've all been through
so many businesses that you know for us
the ones that have experienced things
happen a little faster for a newbie
coming in you really have to understand
that that you know this is a great
business because it doesn't cost a lot
to get into relative to most businesses
today you know it's inexpensive it's
it's a great opportunity for people that
you know have a few hours every week to
to start a venture and to put a little
bit of capital at it keep in mind that a
business to grow needs nurturing the
more you put into it the more potential
you have to get back in it and that's
going to be the same for any business
not just an online business like this so
I think my advice would be number one
you know when you get into this business
today you know what's your goals
you know set your goals after you figure
out the type of individual you are are
you someone who can do it yourself have
the patience the understanding of the
process and and if not then then get
them get a mentor or get a coach or or
get into a partnership a mastermind or
you know some influence
that can keep you you know teaching you
things that necessarily you might not
learn maybe on google or you know in kmm
or out there like even if you just get
if you're lucky enough to know another
publisher who you can become friends
with and and and and and look up to in
regards to steady progress because you
want to scale up and you want to learn
faster than then maybe people that have
a little bit more patience and I and I
would say if you were gonna ask me maybe
like what's the biggest reason why
people fail in this business
I can probably dive right into that
because it just seems like it would make
sense I would say that that people
expectations especially a young
entrepreneur coming into it into the
online world I think their expectations
might not be rational I think they're
far greater and and whether that's just
the online world constantly marketing
you know all the great things that are
happening and not the the grinding and
the peaks and valleys and and and and
everything that an entrepreneur will go
through to get to success maybe you can
fault the online world a little bit for
that because you know obviously that
advertises better than then maybe you
know an entrepreneur that's grinding for
five years and then makes millions of
dollars you know in telling that story
but you know I think the biggest reason
why it's hard for people is because they
jumped into it with an expectation that
doesn't make sense like a goal that you
know I want to make ten thousand dollars
in four months and and because Andre
asyou did it and and the reality is is
the business has changed there's a lot
more demands today there's higher
expectation in regards to quality
consumers are spending their money
differently than three years ago or four
years ago um you know there's just a
number of factors so you can't you just
because someone did it in regards to the
a nominal amount doesn't mean that you
should set that goal maybe you should
set a goal of you know a smaller goal to
start out with
could have your long-term goal but a
smaller goal that that you could build
your confidence with that will keep the
momentum going and staying motivated
inspired so they keep grinding in this
business and and so I think that that
for me would be if I met someone today
who came into this business that those
would be the kind of the points that I
would focus on you know you know to
maybe to be in it for a long term you
know because we see a lot of people come
in and they're good for five months six
months maybe a year and then they sort
of fizzle out and disappear I've been in
it for four years you've been in it for
a long time there's a few people that
that I know you know a dozen you know
people that I've associated throughout
this four-year journey that are still in
it doing it that I talk to on a regular
basis and that's just because you know
they they had good fundamentals they
built a strong foundation they you know
they they took their time and they
started at the bottom right at the
beginning and set realistic goals yeah I
know I totally agree everyone's totally
different I mean it you can't compare
yourself to someone else everyone else
is at a different starting point they
have different habits different work
ethic different levels of efficiency
different amount of time available that
they're dedicating different amount of
money they're putting into it a lot of
different factors different keywords and
Nisha's and and markets that they're
getting into and so I think you know as
you said often times what I do is I
recommend people you have the result
goal but you also have the process goal
the process is more important than the
results because the process will lead to
the results and you know there's a lot
of milestones they can celebrate along
the way which is number one maybe just
you know getting a book written getting
a cover done for it publishing
publishing that on Amazon that's a big
accomplishment that's a goal achieved
that someone should measure that they
have a hundred percent control over
regardless of whether or not it makes
them any money right and so those are
things you could probably celebrate get
confidence from and then once you've
done that then okay let's market that
book let's do a free promotion on it
let's get some reviews let's get some
traffic to it getting those initial
sales and
you know having those smaller milestones
and having you know more of a realistic
expectation I think is the key thing and
then we're scaling it up from there but
I agree I think a lot of people that are
so attached to the short-term and when
they don't see results fast enough to
get discouraged and they give up so it's
all about the long-term yeah and to
celebrate those goals those process
goals because the process will stay with
you forever it's not short-term right
your results can be short-term the
results could be long-term but your
process if you gained enough experience
from it that that that will pay
dividends for you for the rest of your
life because every skill that you gather
every moment that you have that that
gains confidence for you you'll be able
to contribute to some other process in
your business that will pay dividends in
the long term and that in your results
and your long-term goals will even be
more significant so I think that's
important so if you're not celebrating
those little goals you know because
maybe you know you know you need people
around you to remind you of those you
know whether it's a friend or whether
you know a family member or whether it's
a colleague or mentor you know that's
where they you guys can get together you
can reflect on those because it's in
those moments that you build confidence
that allows you to keep moving forward
in your business right awesome so what
would you say is the potential right now
of publishing on Amazon you know right
now at the time of this video it's 2018
and obviously there's a lot of things
that have changed some people still
wonder can I still make money from
publishing on Amazon so what do you see
what's you know what's gonna happen the
potential moving forward in 2018 and
beyond
well Amazon's gone through a lot of
changes and and I think what Amazon has
has done based on everything that I've
learned especially over the last year is
that they put a larger emphasis on
quality within their platform so so
they're they're working really hard at
adjusting their algorithm and adjusting
their site so that you know people are
authors or publishers create books
and put them on the platform have to
create quality or the ones that have are
getting rewarded with being with with
higher exposure and so you'll notice
that you know one little tip where you
can see this change occurring currently
is that if you're doing a keyword search
for instance and you type in a keyword
into the search bar you'll notice that
some keywords bill what will happen is
when you hit search for example if we
chose the keyword money and put it into
the search bar you'll see that the
screen causes and what happens is that
Amazon redirects that search into a
subcategory of personal finance or
whatever the default is for the people's
browsing history there might be money
management it might be some other
defaults so what they've done is they've
taken you know the hundred and fifty
hundred sixty thousand books that are in
there and they're breaking them down
into smaller categories making it easier
for the consumer to find products
because under the existing search the
algorithm wasn't working to find quality
there would be random books that showed
up that might be garbage you know
somebody putting in a twenty page book
and and getting fake reviews and and and
getting you know the loopholes within
Amazon whereas Amazon is trying to
remove that and putting pressure on
people when they publish and create
books that you know hey you know you're
selling a product to the consumer and
we're bringing the traffic so we got to
make sure that you're doing your due
diligence and create a decent product
and so you know they're they're making
it harder for the loopholes but what
they're doing is they're making their
platform more efficient for consumers in
building a stronger relationship with a
consumer that when they go there they're
going to find quality in that process
while they do that they are creating a
new loophole and essentially what that
is is that they're creating a real
estate on their site and so now if all
good books or quality books are starting
to show when the algorithm is adjusted
on certain search keywords primarily
large search keywords then you're going
to get high quality books and so what
that does is that then Amazon could turn
around and say okay well you
you want to get there faster all you got
to do is do Amazon ads and you can get
on the first or second page so
strategically I think and I and I kind
of saw this happening when I got into
physical product channel 15 when I used
an Amazon ads and so how big it was in
physical business and and predicted that
you know eventually this would catch on
with KDP and Amazon would have a way to
you know make some money from the
publisher but at the same time you know
allow the consumer to find quality a lot
easier and I think you got to remember
that that whenever you're in a business
your number one customer counts like
your consumer counts and quality counts
so if you focus on that then you're
gonna be fine in this business and so I
think even though they've made it maybe
the rank a little bit harder it you know
organically I think it's actually better
for the business I think there's more
opportunities to make money because if
for those that work on creating quality
and work on all of those attributes to
do that you know good content good books
good research good marketing you know
all those dynamics if you work hard on
those and you're and you become good at
them you're gonna have even more success
on Amazon because your book is probably
going to be able to sustain getting a
higher ranking for a longer period of
time when that quality gets recognized
and so I think there's a longer-term
profit here now that's being created
within Amazon and and and and in the
short term I think that they're making
it harder for people that think they can
just use the Amazon for publish a
hundred books and throw them out there
and and in one month they're gonna make
$20,000 no no because it's almost better
to have 10 good books with good quality
content unique content good research
good sources and and looking at consumer
rather than trying to just cash in in
the short term so I think moving forward
I think you're gonna see more and more
of that where you know we've got to
remember when I started this business
and when you started this business
steppe Amazon was not the leader in
ebooks right I mean they were going
after that market they wanted to be the
world's online
bookstore and and and so they still had
a lot of competition with Barnes and
Noble and Lulu and all these other
platforms that are out there Ingram
sparks but today they are the world's
leader and so now their their strategy
has changed where now they know
everybody goes to Amazon first and so
they know that they have to keep the
consumer happy and it's not about volume
anymore it's necessarily about quality
and so they've got to make their
platforms show the quality not to favor
anyone but to show the quality so if if
you've got good strategies such as
driving traffic getting good feedback
engaging with your audience improving
your product you know creating content
that's unique that you know not
everybody has out there that you know I
mean I don't know how many books I've
seen Paleo diet or meditation or chakras
everybody's publishing those you know
publish something that the consumer
wants that there's not 50,000 other
books of and I know that's hard I know
that's the challenge here but that's
gonna be the difference moving forward
in the future it's not going to be you
know just pumping products out there
it's gonna be building quality right
yeah at the end of the day I mean that's
the only long-term sustainable strategy
in this or any business because you know
you can maybe in the short term make
some money just you know cutting corners
with quality here and there but long
term to have a book that's gonna make
you money months from now years from now
it's gonna come down to the quality cuz
you know if your book isn't being
updated being improved being made better
then it's gonna lead to bad reviews it's
gonna you know drop down in the rankings
and I think that's all one thing a lot
of publishers don't do is they're not
improving they're not getting better
they're not they're not actually
engaging with the customer and actually
taking a step back before they even
publish the book look at water what's
the market wants you know not just based
on the keyword but even looking at the
other books out there even researching
them maybe even going through some of
the other books you know looking at the
reviews the positive and the bad reviews
of those other competing books in that
market and then actually thinking about
okay well this is what my book will
include this is what I can do to
differentiate myself or add a little
more value or position my book or
whatever that might be and I think that
the people that I've seen that succeed
with this they they use their head a
little bit more in a way I don't know
what other way to put it but they are a
little bit more creative they kind of go
step outside the box a little bit they
they think about things in a different
way and they put a little bit more you
know they take a little bit taking us a
little bit further than everyone else is
doing because if you just do the bare
minimum you know you're not gonna get
great results from that everyone else is
just doing the bare minimum but if you
go beyond that and you actually put some
more thought into your book and you try
to improve it and you get some feedback
on it you make it better and better and
better but it's the exact same thing
with every platform out there like you
know if you were to ask me about YouTube
or Google or Facebook or anything else
out there Google YouTube Facebook they
all want to reward quality you know and
they want it you know they're not gonna
you know you can do everything you can
to as a loophole to try to get yourself
to number one but to stay there and to
be on top it's gonna require you to do
quality that's what I have learned with
YouTube and even just trying to rank in
Google and whatnot and if you do that
everything gets taken care of after that
because Amazon will promote you YouTube
will promote you Google will promote you
you know they they give you that boost
and then reward those that are producing
quality yeah I I think the biggest
change I would say is the fact this is a
real business now when I got into into
publishing I I don't know if I can I
could say it was a real business I I
honestly think it was it was easy in the
fact that you could get away with not
knowing how to run a business and you
could just put content out there and and
and that's just because the platform was
so different Amazon was you know wanting
content lots of it they wanted they were
soaking it all up and putting it at up
on top of the rankings and doing all
that words today
every book that submitted they're
looking for something unique something
different something out of the box
something that maybe they haven't they
haven't had a chance to market before to
share took before and and that doesn't
mean it has to be like a like a book
that nobody's necessarily
Sene I think it's got to be something
that when Amazon checks it and it goes
through its filters in its process it's
looking for leads right every day
Amazon's looking for leads and ebooks
are the best leads that they have
because they're inexpensive and so and
and they've got K you you and they've
got a lot of tools where they can
basically give that off at the cost of
the publisher and they can upsell them
on so much more on their site and so
they're looking for those leads so if
you have even a chapter that's unique
and different than everyone else's that
is something that will get there get on
their radar and they'll promote it what
they're not looking for is where you
know you you're publishing a book that
there's 10,000 other books exactly the
same where the the publisher all they
did was learn a program on how to put
slap some stuff together and put it out
there and utilize the program I just
don't think that that works anymore in
this business I think that it takes a
little bit more commitment and a little
bit more hard work but you know I'm not
gonna lie to people you business is hard
work it's it's always been and that's
the only reason I've had success in this
business is because when I got into it I
realized that my advantage was that I
could work hard at this and I can apply
myself and I could do things that are
unique and different and think beyond
the outside the box and do differently
than everyone else and I was confident
that I would Excel and that you know my
products would sell and they would get
to the point where they are today
and and today I keep working at that I
keep trying to find a new angle so that
I can stay one step ahead of everybody
else that's publishing and creating
products even you know authors real
authors like the Stephen King's and so
forth and so I'm constantly trying to
figure out ways to do that and 2017 was
a breakout year for me I think because
that's when I started focusing on brands
creating brands in regards to my
publishing and and made it so much
easier to engage with an audience and so
much easier to sell the next version of
my product or you know a second volume
or a series and then of course because
I'm in physical just made sense that I
can easily upsell so long as I combine
all of those strategies together and and
so there was it was a big year for me in
that regards and I feel way better about
my business today because it's a real
business you know I got real people that
I manage that work for me and and
they're consistent and we've got a
process in the system and it doesn't
matter what's happening on Amazon
doesn't matter how many changes they
make I'm still generating revenue a
consistent revenue and that's because
I've built good products and I've stayed
ahead of the curve that way right and
what would you say we've already kind of
sure you already shared a few things
what do you would you say the keys to
success for this business moving forward
you know you shared a bit about the
mindset you shared you know working hard
obviously quality books but you know
building the brand what do you see as
the keys of success in 2018 and Beyond
in this business all right you know I
think in 2018 I think as Amazon keeps
evolving you know for those that have
been in online for a while dealing with
Amazon you're seeing that you know every
six or eight months there's changes that
occur I think be better prepared for
those changes so if you're learning
something towards your business ask
yourself is this a short term trick or
is this a long term plan and I think
invest your time and your energy and
your and and and all of that you know
your energy and your focus and your
drive invested in learning things that
can stay with you long term now the
online world it's hard because the
online world is always going to evolve
you see it on Facebook you see it on
YouTube you see it on all the different
social media platforms on Amazon and so
forth because they're growing technology
continues to grow and the online world
continues to grow so I'm not talking
about that because you're going to be
forced to evolve I'm just saying you
know if there's there's a lot of white
noise out there and if you're paying
attention to the white noise the short
term tricks you know like the review
swapping and and the fake audiences that
you could put on Instagram and you're
following on YouTube and all of that
that's going to catch up to you because
you're going to play this vicious game
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