#639 – Amazon Mompreneur Stories

Join us for an exciting episode where we introduce two inspiring first-time guests, Laken Hardin-Is and Tiffany Nicholson, who have embarked on their e-commerce journeys with a community of entrepreneurial moms. Laken, an art major and graphic design enthusiast from South Carolina, shares her transition into the world of Amazon selling, blending her creative background with her newfound entrepreneurial spirit. Tiffany, from Akron, Ohio, narrates her path from communication studies and speech-language pathology to exploring e-commerce on Amazon. Both women discuss their unique paths and motivations, highlighting the blend of creativity and business acumen needed to succeed in the e-commerce world.

Listen in as we explore the process of building a brand from scratch, moving from retail arbitrage to establishing a private label brand. We talk about the initial hurdles of managing logistics and inventory and the breakthrough moments that came with the guidance of the Rainmaker family. Discover how tools like Helium 10 play a pivotal role in identifying product niches and opportunities. We also touch on the innovative strategies Laken and Tiffany employed to overcome challenges, such as product dimension issues, and how they now manage five SKUs with improved inventory systems, including the use of a 3PL in China. The conversation underscores the significance of brand building, social media presence, and leveraging customer insights to stay competitive.

This episode also highlights the importance of community and networking in the e-commerce industry, particularly for those entering a predominantly male space. The Amazon Influencer Program emerges as a potential entry point for generating additional income, utilizing everyday items to create engaging content. We discuss alternative avenues like Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and digital products for those seeking initial capital. Laken and Tiffany’s experiences illustrate how community support and shared learning can accelerate success, providing invaluable encouragement and guidance along the way. Finally, they invite listeners to connect with us and the Rainmaker Family community to further explore these insights and follow the journeys of our guests.

In episode 639 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Laken, and Tiffany discuss:

• 00:00 – New Sellers Sharing Their Amazon-Selling Journeys
• 08:27 – Growing Sales Through Product Diversification
• 11:40 – Building a Brand is Important
• 17:09 – Product Research and Overcoming Competition
• 20:16 – Community Success in Amazon Selling
• 27:59 – Amazon Success Stories and Growth
• 31:04 – Connecting With Rainmaker Family Community

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Today we’ve got a couple sellers new to the show and they started selling on Amazon the last couple of years and they’re part of a community where thousands of moms have all come together to learn how to sell online. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I’m your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That’s a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We have a couple of first-time sellers on the first-time sellers as in first time on the show Laken and Tiffany. How’s it going?

Laken:

Pretty good, happy to be here.

Tiffany:

Good, good. Yeah, thanks for having us.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, so, first of all, where are you guys located? So, Laken, where are you at right now?

Laken:

yeah, I’m on the South Carolina side of Charlotte, North Carolina, so right on the border.

Bradley Sutton:

That was a mouthful. The South Carolina side of North Carolina? That doesn’t even make any sense, okay, okay, yeah, well, we have. Um, you know, Shivali on my team is actually from North Carolina as well, so maybe not too far. Tiffany, where are you located?

Tiffany:

I’m in Northeast Ohio, so Akron, if any LeBron fans.

Bradley Sutton:

I was about to say that. That’s what we think of when I hear.

Tiffany:

I’m minutes away from where he grew up or, for people who don’t know, Akron Cleveland is maybe 45 minutes away.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now, who have I met in person? Like I know, I’ve met you guys virtually before, but have I met you in person, Tiffany?

Tiffany:

No, I don’t think so. We have gone to a couple different conferences and I think I just keep missing you, unfortunately.

Bradley Sutton:

And Laken?

Laken:

yeah, we met other Helium 10 staff, but not.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right. Well, maybe prosper show this year or Amazon Accelerate or something we’ll have to. Uh, meet up now. Um, that South Carolina area is that where you were born and raised, or you migrate there from somewhere else.

Laken:

yeah, the Southeast.

Bradley Sutton:

and did you go to uh college?

Laken:

yeah, the University of South Carolina..

Bradley Sutton:

Gamecocks?

Laken:

Yep,

Bradley Sutton:

I got it right okay um not, not. You know they’ve had decent uh basketball and football teams.

Laken:

Yep.

Bradley Sutton:

The game is back. I got it right. Okay, that was good. They’ve had decent basketball and football teams in the past.

Laken:

Yeah, basketball, women’s basketball was on fire last year.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, okay. And what was your major over there?

Laken:

I was an art major.

Bradley Sutton:

Aha.

Laken:

yes

Bradley Sutton:

You were one of those. Huh, okay, yes. What did you envision yourself doing with that?

Laken:

Oh, envision yourself doing with that. Oh yeah, mainly graphic design. And then motherhood.

Bradley Sutton:

That’s a good art major. People are like, hey, I want to paint and stuff like that. It’s kind of hard to find a job, but graphic design you’re on the decent track there. What about you, Tiffany? Ohio? Is that where you were born and raised?

Tiffany:

Yes, yep, born and raised here, I went to Kent State University.

Bradley Sutton:

oh, hold on, hold on. Oh, I know that one. That’s a good basketball team there. Um, it’s like a it’s. I want to say something like to do with airplanes or something, but I have no idea. What is the Kent State um mascot?

Tiffany:

It’s where the golden flashes.

Bradley Sutton:

Golden flashes. Okay, I don’t know why I was thinking airplanes or something.

Tiffany:

But yeah, it’s a lightning bolt. Yeah, yes,

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, maybe that. Maybe that was it okay. Golden flashes all right, what was your major?

Tiffany:

Oh gosh, I was all over place. I had my undergrad degree was in communication studies and I thought I was going for accounting. I spent like two tax seasons at a public accounting firm as an auditor and then decided like nope, that’s not for me. So then I went back and got my master’s as a speech language pathologist. So I do currently work as a speech therapist in the hospitals, aside from also the Rainmaker family and selling my products on Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

How did you go from that? I assume the first things came first upon graduation, but then how did you get introduced to e-commerce?

Tiffany:

Yeah, it’s kind of I don’t know a blur looking back now. But, to be honest, I’ve always had this mentality of wanting to have my own brand and I’m one of those people that in conversations people will be talking about something and I’m like, oh, but what if we invented something like this? Or what if we did this differently? Like, I just have always been really like idea focused, so I had this like random idea. I thought that I was gonna like create this product and then I started looking into like how do you sell products once you do come up with an idea? And that’s where I came across Amazon as like the main source of traffic. Right, like people, I mean, you get the best traffic with Amazon. So I started selling like retail arbitrage initially, just trying to understand Amazon and how the Seller Central, like that whole process, works. So that’s how I got introduced to it, I guess.

Bradley Sutton:

What year was that about?

Tiffany:

2022. I believe.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, and then so, like your goal was you know more, like you know a passion, kind of Okay, and then so, like your goal was you know more, like you know a passion kind of thing. And then it wasn’t like, oh, I need to replace my nine to five. I mean, you’re, you’re working in your field that you had studied for and you’re just looking for a little side hustle, I guess, and being able to create something.

Tiffany:

Yeah, yeah, exactly, and I’m a mom. So like during COVID I was home mostly because I work in the hospital. So I was very like in direct contact with COVID patients and the ICU and all of that. So we decided it was probably safest for our kids for me to stay home and so during that time I had time to pour myself into learning other things aside from my field.

Bradley Sutton:

So now going to a Laken. And what about you? When did you get into e-commerce? Or what did you do before e-commerce? Like, did you get into graphic design, as you said?

Laken:

I did and I had kids right away. So I have five kids and so I started my e-commerce.

Bradley Sutton:

When you said kids plural grief.

Laken:

Yeah, it gave me busy. So when I started my e-commerce journey I it was, I think, around 2018. And I just wanted kind of like a side hustle. My husband traveled a lot for his corporate job and I was home with the kids, um, homeschooling, and so I just wanted something that was like more my own. So, uh, why not make some money if I’m going to pick up a new hobby, right? So I kind of started just doing my own research, trying to like kind of learn the ropes myself, and I’m at a little bit of success, but not like long-term. I didn’t have like a roadmap or a guideline to like, I think, keep me as focused as I needed to be. And then I came across a mastermind like Rainmakers, and so I just dove like headfirst and have been running an Amazon business pretty successful since then.

Bradley Sutton:

So what was your first product that you launched on Amazon?

Laken:

Earrings.

Bradley Sutton:

Earrings. Interesting. How did you find that? Was it something that you were passionate about? Or you found it in Helium 10?

Laken:

Yeah, it seemed to be trending. Yeah, I had found some ways to look up what was trending. It was like Druzy earrings they were trending and I found a good wholesale on them. I didn’t even know, like how to find sourcing and manufacturing and all of that, so I was just like threw it up there and trying to find it and I did. I actually sold out of those, Um, but it was. It was hard to like maintain not knowing a roadmap of really and I wasn’t on like Amazon or anything like that.

Bradley Sutton:

And did you keep selling it, or that was just like a one-time thing that you did.

Laken:

Yeah once I sold out and like cause it’s kind of trickled off, I kind of didn’t um resell it and then had another kiddo in between then, so that kind of the back burner. But then when I came across um like a mastermind where I really could dive into like the a full path of like step-by-step guide, really got my attention for that.

Bradley Sutton:

What was your first? Like private label product, then like your own.

Laken:

Yeah, so, um, I actually bought an existing um Amazon brands.

Bradley Sutton:

I’m going straight to the top. I’m going to skip the whole line. Here I’m going to become an aggregator. Wow, look at that. Okay.

Laken:

So we had four products when we started. A glass spray bottle.

Bradley Sutton:

Hold on. Hold on, what was it like? Somebody who was like, like didn’t like Amazon, or they were struggling with it, or they just wanted to get out, or how did you find something like that?

Laken:

um, yeah, I actually threw it, found it through the Rainmaker community, um, and so they had built it, the Rainmaker way, which was nice, because I had the roadmap right. Then they’d already built it that way. So, um, they kind of just felt the Lord calling them in a different direction and they wanted to take a different gear. And so it was making a profit and they were had decided to sell it. And so, um, my husband and I were in a season of change as well. He was kind of changing his corporate job, stepping away from that to be more family focused. So we felt like we could do it together. And if we’re going to do it together and be successful, let’s buy something that’s already turning a profit and then help that grow.

Bradley Sutton:

Was this in like 2019, 2020? When are we talking about?

Laken:

It was 2022, I believe.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, 2022. And then and then, how did you do in sales that first year of having that brand?

Laken:

Yeah, so we surpassed the sales that they had the year prior. I think we ended. We’re talking numbers or just general stations.

Bradley Sutton:

I don’t get exact, you know, like you know, yeah, 33 cents yeah.

Laken:

We were hitting six figure marks that were above what they were doing the year before, and then same thing for last year. So we’re growing.

Bradley Sutton:

And so still selling that same brand to this day.

Laken:

Yeah, we’re selling three of the four products that we they initially had on Amazon. We’re still selling that fourth product it just wasn’t doing very well on the Amazon platform, so we just pivoted a little bit with that, and then we added a sourdough product.

Bradley Sutton:

A sourdough product.

Laken:

Yes, a very competitive niche.

Bradley Sutton:

Like something that makes sourdough or

Laken:

A sourdough kit. So all the things you need to grow a starter and make your bread proof your bread, all of those things.

Bradley Sutton:

I got a little bit into that not that part, but I did a breadboard once where it was like you know you could slice it, and then I even had a like a bamboo knife that it came with and stuff, but it was just yeah, it was pretty competitive and yeah, but it’s good if you can get a foothold there.

Laken:

It’s definitely trending. It’s just the yeah, the high competition with those trending things.

Bradley Sutton:

Want to check estimated sales for products you see on Amazon? Or maybe you want to instantly see how many listings on page one of a search term result have the actual search keyword in the title? You can find all of these things out and more with the Helium 10 Chrome extension tool X-Ray. More than 1 million people have used this tool. Find out what it can do for you by downloading it for free at h10.me forward slash x-ray. H10.me forward slash x-ray. Now, Tiffany, but back to you before you fall asleep over there when was your first product launch? Was it also 2020 when you first got in, or 2021? What are we talking about?

Tiffany:

So my retail arbitrage days were like 2022. I launched my first private label product in 2023.

Bradley Sutton:

Let’s talk about the retail arbitrage. So why did you choose that path to start? Was it because you didn’t want to have to invest too much in the beginning, or you took a different course? That talked about that or what.

Tiffany:

I didn’t know anything about Amazon. Honestly, it was like I, I just I had this idea for a product and I just wanted to like kind of understand selling on Amazon first, and retail arbitrage was kind of the first thing that came to my attention. You probably know there’s like social media influencers everywhere talking about like sell this on Amazon, sell this on Amazon. So I was thinking that’s a good way to just kind of get comfortable with selling on Amazon and kind of understand how to go from there. I thought I was just going to like create this product idea that I had and then just run with it, but I didn’t fully understand what Amazon selling was about. So I’m glad I had that almost like practice run with retail arbitrage. But shortly after I started retail arbitrage I um, while I was making money, I had this like feeling of like this isn’t where I want to go with this. Like I want to have my brand, I want to build my own brand. I want to have my product that I designed. I don’t want to sell other people’s products.

Bradley Sutton:

Where were you going to do your arbitrage, like, like the grocery store, Walmart, or what kind of stuff were you doing?

Tiffany:

I was doing mostly online. I was ordering products online. I found a group that gave you product suggestions. For $10 a month or something, they would send you a list of product suggestions, so that was helpful.

Bradley Sutton:

So you would have to order it. It would come to you and then would you send it to FBA, or how would you do that then?

Tiffany:

Okay, yeah, I was boxing, packaging, I was it’s a lot of work.

Bradley Sutton:

A lot of work.

Tiffany:

Yeah, it’s work and there’s a lot of rules, like you have to make sure that your box isn’t bigger than I think it was 25 inches on one side because we get dinged. So there was a lot of physical work that went into that, which I think for some people is okay. I hear a lot of good things about replans a lot of people doing replans and doing pretty well with that. If you have the resources to do that work and maybe you have a team that can help you with that work, that’s great. It was just me doing it and it got a little old after a while doing the packaging and all of that. So I was ready to find that physical product that I wanted to sell and it was perfect timing because that’s when I came across the Rainmaker family and it was essentially exactly what I needed to like. Take that next step.

Bradley Sutton:

What about your first? Did you kind of like have success with your first private label product, or did you like dabble in some stuff before you actually found a good product label product? or did you like dabble in some stuff before you actually found a good product?

Tiffany:

Yeah, so I. So the Rainmaker family like teaches you this method right of like how to find that product. So I used Helium 10 and I had these kind of like um numbers that I was looking for, right like I wanted like a good product with a good search volume, but not too high to where I can’t keep up with the volume. You know, I kind of followed that method that they recommend and so I found a product that was interesting to me, something I could be passionate about, and it was something that I was excited to design. So the first product, it’s a. It’s funny you say that because, no, it actually wasn’t very successful, and I’ll tell you why because it ended up being the dimensions put it into the oversized category, and so I underestimated how those fees would really add up. So I innovated that product in a way that I was able to fold it down even more, and that’s the product I sell today. So it just required a little bit of pivoting and thinking outside the box, but it did ultimately work eventually.

Bradley Sutton:

How many? How many products or SKUs are you selling?

Tiffany:

So I have five total SKUs. I’m selling four of them right now. The one was the one that had the oversized

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Yeah, and now are you in a good place with kind of like you’re better with inventory management and you probably won’t run out, or you’re able to forecast a little bit more and you’re in a good groove.

Tiffany:

Yeah, I think so. I think part of this business is you learn so much through this process of learning how to sell, and you learn about a lot of different resources too, and that is one great thing about a mastermind is the things that other sellers know that you don’t know. So I definitely have a really good system now. I have a 3PL like a third-party warehouse in China. That saves me significant amount of money and yeah, I think that’s going to be a game changer.

Bradley Sutton:

So you kind of like drip your inventory to Amazon from there, as opposed to shipping it all to a storage share. Okay, okay, makes sense.

Tiffany:

And I feel like it’s kind of a barrier too, right like we. I don’t know if everybody feels this way, but I feel like I don’t necessarily want Amazon knowing who my, my manufacturer is. So it’s kind of like a middleman sort of which gives me some confidence there too.

Bradley Sutton:

Are some strategies you’ve used to. You know, like specific, more specific, uh, you know things you can say about how you found your products, how you’re maintaining it. You know something about keyword research, like things. You know things you can say about how you found your products, how you’re maintaining it. You know something about keyword research, like things that you know, cause not everybody can have success on three, four products or be able to compete. Um, you know, some people might think, oh, wow, man, 2025 is hard to launch a product or to maintain competition. But you’re, you know you built the listings that you think helped you have success.

Tiffany:

Yeah, I think one thing is to always keep in mind that you are building a brand. So a lot of sellers are coming on and just trying to sell something right, so they’re just trying to make a quick buck and then move on from that product. My approach and I think, a lot of people in the Rainmaker community their approach is building a brand. So you’re building a following of customers, whether that’s through Amazon or off Amazon. I’m putting a lot of time into building a social media following as well, media following as well, so I think that really helps because you know things are always changing, so you always have to be prepared to pivot and it’s not just like I’ve seen other sellers come into the space with the same product as me that have been there for a little while and fell off. And I think there’s something positive about like having that brand recognition. And Amazon’s giving us so many cool tools lately too, with Brand Analytics and Search Query Performance. All of that that makes it a little bit easier to understand, and to understand, like the mind of your customer too, like how they’re searching for you, how they’re finding you, where your sales are coming from first-time buyers, things like that. So yeah, I don’t know if that directly answered your question, but those are my thoughts.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, Laken how did you find that other product that you now added to that brand you had bought? What was your process to find that?

Laken:

Yeah for sure, using tools like Helium 10, like my already existing brand with a niche right, and so trying to figure out what would fit in there. So I definitely used, you know, X-ray and Cerebro and all of those to find that when I actually, when we decided to go the sourdough route, it was not competitive and it quickly changed. But so, yeah, so what’s nice is, even though it changed and we did hit some bumps in the road with the competition changing, I was thankful to have tools like Cerebro that I could go and find opportunity keywords that I didn’t need when I first launched. Um and that I think definitely helped us um kind of overcome some obstacles when the competition changed quickly and greatly increased.

Bradley Sutton:

Yep, after that increase happened, are you still one of the top now or did you fall off a little bit, but you’re still able to

Laken:

We definitely fell off. One thing with this specific product because it’s a kit and it comes with a lot of different pieces. Every kit is different, every kit has slightly different pieces, so it’s hard on the top probably big keywords, the most relevant keywords, I think for anyone to stay at the top, unless it’s like a giant brand, because there’s lots of people looking and clicking to view what’s actually in the kit. There’s lots of people looking and clicking to view what’s actually in the kit. So once we kind of realized that, we kind of took our focus on trying to stay at the top. And how can we be on a lot of keywords as low-hanging fruit? And that’s where we’ve really seen kind of gaining more momentum back on that product.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, all right, cool. Now you guys talk to a lot of people in the community of the Rainmakers community and things, and so it was one of the things that you see some people, you know, trying to get money in to start private label, you know. You know, like you know, Tiffany talked about arbitrage starting, but do you see more doing like the influencer thing, like doing videos and things like that? And, if so, like what? Do you have any like anecdotes or stories that you can say about people who have been able to build up some nice cash flow with that and then even maybe switch to private label later?

Tiffany:

Yeah, yeah, we’ve definitely. We’ve seen that we Laken and I have actually kind of taken the reins on that with the Rainmaker family and helping people get into the Amazon Influencer program and then also like affiliate links and things like that. So, yeah, we’ve definitely seen students do that prior to selling their first product and we’ve seen some success stories to people making over $1,000 a month just from Amazon affiliate or Amazon influencer videos. And we’re learning a lot about the Helium 10 Chrome extension too. That’s new.

Bradley Sutton:

We got a lot of cool stuff coming on the influencer. I last night I was up until like late because there was one of my accounts I was trying to build up and you know you have to have like three videos to get approved as an Amazon influencer. So I like, just like, literally just from sitting right here in this chair that I’m at, just looked around and did what I did, was I did, um, my, my road caster, like my podcast, like little like stream deck here I have a secondary monitor I bought that was like a touchscreen. I did that. And then I did these three games um the Pacman, NBA jam and NFL bliss, which those would be good like. I think there’s a lot of videos on there already, but these are like $600 products and I was looking and I was like, oh shoot, you know two or 4% commissions, that’s like 20 bucks every time somebody watches the video and does it. So yeah, just literally sitting right here without even moving one inch, or maybe just turning around like this, I was able to do five videos. And so, like people don’t know that you can, it’s, it’s pretty easy to. You don’t have to go buy a whole bunch of stuff and make videos. You’ve got so much stuff at your house that I didn’t buy these from Amazon, you know. But. But even stuff that’s in your house that you probably bought somewhere else, but as long as it’s on Amazon, you can make a video.

Tiffany:

Yep, absolutely, it’s a. It is a very um, very easy way to make an extra stream of income, for sure and not, and you don’t need much to get started.

Bradley Sutton:

Yes, exactly, you don’t need anything to get started, really, unless maybe a little bit of skills.

Laken:

Everyone has the stuff, yeah exactly?

Bradley Sutton:

I mean who else haven’t bought? I mean, like I said, even if we’re one of the 1% of the Americans who don’t have Amazon, you know, we still have stuff in our house. You know, even a sofa might be on Amazon.

Tiffany:

You know, that is an idea that I wanted to suggest is that if Amazon I know that Healing 10 is working on the Chrome extension, the influencer side of it and if there’s a way to connect that to your recently purchased items from Amazon, to where it could send you the data, like you just bought this product and this is it, would be a good one to review or it’s not worth your time to review.

Bradley Sutton:

I think that could be it, I like it, I like it. We kind of show the score right Just in case, based on the sales and then how many people already have videos. But yeah, we could probably take it even a little bit further. What are other ways that you’re seeing people that you know get that initial income or get that initial capital in order to invest? Like, are people still doing arbitrage? You know anybody who’s doing like KDP or Merch by Amazon or other things other than the influencer program?

Laken:

Yeah, KDP for sure, like digital products. That’s what I was thinking. So, like Tiffany was saying, we’re kind of helping our students learn the social media side and so how do you leverage that when you don’t have a physical product yet? That’s digital products and so off Amazon and then on Amazon, like KDP. We’re seeing several people have really good results with that and like treating it as a physical product, doing the research with Helium 10, like doing the product research, checking the competition, um, and really being like thoughtful for that, not just throwing something up to try to make quick money, um, I’ve seen students really bring in, I mean a couple hundred thousand dollars on just one KDP. That’s been launched successfully.

Bradley Sutton:

Being part of a community. You know, like a lot of people like they, they like do stuff on their own. We’re not trying to hate on those, those, those people you know, um, people are. Some people are private about their entrepreneurial career, but, uh, would you suggest to people like hey, what would you suggest is, like, the benefits either of you can answer this as far as, like the um, the benefits of being part of you know like a community who’s all doing the same thing, or having a networking group, whether it’s, you know, through Helium 10, whether it’s through Rainmakers or another groups like what are the advantages of opening yourself up and being part of a community as opposed to trying to go about it yourself?

Tiffany:

I think there’s pros and cons to everything, right, but for me personally, community is really helpful. So like I said before, I’ve gotten a lot of different resource recommendations from other people in the masterminds, or just that sense of community for us. We’re both women and we are coming into this space where I think the majority of Amazon sellers are probably male. So I think to just that community of other women in this same space gives us this sense of togetherness and this like confidence. Maybe I’m not sure, but so, yeah, I think there are downsides too right, because then you see both sides. You see the people who do well and the people who maybe have a little bit more difficulty. But you can really learn so much from the people around you, especially in a community situation like that. So Mastermind for me has been a game changer. I saw this community of like-minded people that I was like, yeah, let’s do this like I love that sense of team, but yeah, like you said, there’s a lot of people that can do just as good on their own and go that route too.

Bradley Sutton:

Laken anything to add there.

Laken:

Yeah, for sure, I definitely agree with everything Tiffany just said. And for me, joining the Mastermind, having that community, helps me go hard and fast very quickly. When I hit a roadblock, I had a group of people to ask the questions to and then you know, as you’re in a community that you form kind of like you’re running, like who’s running with you and who is pushing you to kind of achieve more and hit more goals, so that you have those resources to ask questions and get the answer right away and not have to go search for it. Oh, I’ve been through that, I’ve had that issue on the back end. Let me help you with this, let me point you in the right direction. And that was game changing where or even in the mindset piece too like you start to question yourself. You hit a roadblock. You know it’s something happens, your shipments delayed, it’s stuck in. You know, like you know that word, customs, something like that, and like they’re like hey, we’ve, I’ve been, and it feels like a hard thing right now but it’s just a hiccup and you’re not even going to remember this in a year or two years and that just kind of helps you get that mindset of just to keep going and so it’s been invaluable, I would say, is being in a community and a mastermind, not only with the resources of the knowledge but also with each other leaning in.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah. And then, like Tiffany said, sometimes it might be good to have a community that you can relate to, like being in one that’s all women. It’s funny when I go on the training calls it’s like I’m in a Zoom call with like 49 women and one dude. I’m like always wondering where’s that guy? Where’s this one random dude coming from?

Laken:

His wife usually made him get on.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. And then my wife might come in the room on the side, like what are you doing in a room of all woman?

I’m kind of used to. I used to teach Zumba classes, which is very similar, like 50 women and one guy usually.

Tiffany:

And there are men in our group too, so yeah, a lot of times there are like husband wife duos, or sometimes there is just like men in the group that are just you know here trying to do the same thing we are.

Bradley Sutton:

Right. I like it, I like it. Now speaking of the community like the, you know like me, I know so many stories of success and failure for that matter because you know the Helium 10 community being able to interact with so many people. You guys have a similar experience, you don’t have to mention like specifics or people’s names or anything but any kind of cool stories or you guys have nice stories. But it’s not like that neither your homeless and Amazon saved your life, or it doesn’t have to be that extreme but any cool inspiring stories that you can relay to people in your community.

Tiffany:

Yeah. I mean, I’ve seen a couple really cool stories um come through. Uh, there was a cat brand um that I can think of, that did really well and it was really cool to see like I was in the group the same time she was and to see her come out of um, out of it on the other side, and um. And then we had I think we even had somebody who went on a um a show like uh, uh, what does that show called the blocks maybe, um. So yeah, we’ve had some really cool success stories. Like you said, there’s the good and the bad, and that’s just the nature of Amazon selling right. Like you, some people are cut out for it and some people are cut out for it and still do bad. But there’s a lot of really good success stories too, and that’s what keeps you going.

Bradley Sutton:

Laken what about you? Any stories stick out.

Laken:

Yeah, I’m blanking on this one. Any stories stick out. Yeah, I’m blanking on this one. I always do some cool things. We see, I think the coolest part of what I get to see in our community is the everyday like average mom who thinks that, like they can’t make an extra income, or they’re trying to like figure that extra side, hustle out and they just consistently work at it and then they explode in growth all of a sudden. Or they are two years in and they’re like I had no idea this was going to be this successful. And that’s the things that, like I just love, like championing those people to like just be consistent, just keep going. Like we all hit those hard roadblocks and stumble a little bit, but when you’re consistent and stay with it, like that’s still like a huge success story. You know, I like those stories the most.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Each of you favorite Helium 10 tool, and why.

Laken:

I would say my go-to is definitely Cerebro. I’m always like checking, like, what other keywords can I diversify on? And I’m super excited. I’ve gotten to see the influencer extension and play around with it, so I’m excited for it to be fully launched. I don’t think it’s fully launched yet, right, is that correct? So that’s going to be awesome. I think that’s going to be a huge tool added benefit. I love that. It’s like coming along with what Helium 10 already offers.

Tiffany:

I have been recently diving into Adtomic and really understanding the benefit of that tool.

Bradley Sutton:

What were you doing before for your PPC? Yeah, just yourself.

Tiffany:

Well, yes, and I’ve also worked with a couple PPC agencies.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay.

Tiffany:

Which the first one, you know, I was a little bit struggling with and then, and I should say, I started out trying to do it on my own, and that was early days when I was still very much learning PPC and how complicated it can be. So I that’s why I hired an agency and they did okay. So then I did it on my own for a little while. Tried another PPC agency.

Tiffany:

They really got me on track and organized and I was like, okay, I’m good to do this on my own now, which I did for probably a good four or five months. I managed it on my own, and then I kept hearing you talk about Adtomic and how it can save you time, and so I’m like I’m just going to give it a try. And you did an episode where you walked through some of the rules you had set up and I was able to go through that and the training that they offer too, and really set up rules so that it would be a little more automated, and it’s been a game changer. I’m really happy with what Adtomic is capable of.

Bradley Sutton:

If people want to reach out to you guys or find you. I’m really happy with what Adtomic is capable of. If people want to reach out to you guys or find you on the interwebs or just find the community, maybe to follow up. They want to network with you guys. How can they find you on the interwebs out there?

Tiffany:

I have a social media page that I’m growing. Currently it’s Shepherd Dog Mama, so it’s on the dog brand side of things

Bradley Sutton:

Is that what I hear in the background right now Is it one of your dogs. I was just going to say Something’s rearranging furniture back there or something.

Tiffany:

My husband just got home, so she’s giving him a proper.

Bradley Sutton:

I love it. I love it.

Laken:

For me, my brand’s Just Like Joan, and so that’s my handle on all social media platforms Just Like Joan.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. And to find the community. How can they go find that?

Tiffany:

Yeah, so I think therainmakerfamily.com is the main web page that they can go to there, and they’re present on all social media as well. So if you search the Rainmaker Family, you should be able to find them on all the social media platforms as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome, awesome, all right. Well, thank you guys so much for coming on here and sharing your journey, and let’s maybe reach out and connect in 2026 and see what you guys have done with your new endeavors that you said you’re working on. Thanks a lot.

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