Merch Minds Podcast With Glen And Yong

This is the very last Merch Minds episode of 2020. Since I started the year with a Spanish co-host, it's only fitting that I end the year with a Spanish co-host. RJ Martinez joins me to recap some of the highlights and lowlights of 2020. Thank you everyone for your support, and I'll catch up with you next year.

Happy Holidays everyone! This week I speak with the very talented Juna Duncan at Detour Shirts. Juna comes to us from Salt Lake City, which is where the next Merch by Amazon Conference will be held. Juna also happens to run one of the most popular and active Instagram accounts for POD.   Juna also talks about the popular style of designs that are resonating with the youth. He talks about the unique Kawaii style of design that originated in Japan. The best way to describe the Kawaii style is that it has a lot of pastel colors, and everything is CUTE. Make sure and follow Juna and Detour Shirts on IG. He breaks down his designs and shows how they can be made with just simple shapes. He also shares a variety of niches, so make sure and show him support on IG. Detour Shirts Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/detourshirts/

Every episode is a special episode, but this episode is extra special. This week my father Ken Reil stops by, and we discuss licensing agreements and DesignerCon. We had the opportunity to attend DesignerCon in Anaheim a few weeks ago, and we recap our experience. Ken also drops some valuable nuggets on how to succeed on Merch by Amazon. We're very fortunate that Ken has connections with the staff at Merch by Amazon, and he's always sharing what he can with the community. Ken drops some hints on what's coming in 2020. I was always very vocal about how saturated the Merch by Amazon marketplace is. However, Ken reassured me that there is still money to be made. Let's all start making goals for 2020 and make sure to share your goals with us in the comments.

This week I talk to the talented artist and illustrator Jay Reed. Jay resides in Southern California, specifically in Orange County. He's been doing print on demand long before Merch by Amazon even existed.   Jay makes a full-time living doing print-on-demand and commission work. It's obvious that he knows what makes a good design and understands how to be successful. Jay shares on how he comes up with concepts and other strategies that we can all implement.   Check out Jay's work for yourself.   Website:  https://artistjayreed.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jreedartInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistjayreed/Twitter:  https://twitter.com/artistjayreed

Michael Webster represents the struggle. He is your average guy with big goals. Like most of us, he's seeking financial freedom. He wants his wife to be able to retire and be able to support his five children. How can you not support him? For Michael, it's not about him but more about his family. He talks about his journey into POD and as always he gives my audience a little surprise on how he makes money with local sales. Make sure and support Michael and his podcast, the Strugglepreneur Podcast. He documents his journey and struggles as an entrepreneur. Let's encourage him to put out more episodes by subcribing!   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-strugglepreneur-podcast/id1463313952?ls=1

Duy Truong from Portland is starting a new venture with POD. He originally started Merch by Amazon back in early 2017. He's now starting a new journey into building his own brand and selling on his own platform. Duy started Portland Squad to pay homage to the city he absolutely loves. Being born and raised in Portland he hopes the city can help with his new business venture. Portland Squad is a brand that all of us can relate to because he's building his business from the ground up. Follow Duy's journey and show him some love on IG. Portland Squad https://portlandsquad.com/   Portland Squad Instagram https://www.instagram.com/portlandsquad/

It seems like it's been forever but finally, Glen and Yong are back. It's been two months since the last episode and we heard your voices. It's time to listen in and see what we have been up to. Make sure to listen to the very end to hear a special announcement.

Hi everyone! It's Yong here. I hope everyone is doing well. I sincerely apologize for the lack of content. This is just a quick update on why we have been absent but we promise to be back soon.

Merch is dead! That's why, for the past several weeks, I put my efforts back into rebuilding my Etsy store. And it's paid because in less than two months I'm already at $600 in sales with just a little over 400 products live. This week Matt and RJ are back on the show. They are back to talk about their new 30-Day Etsy Challenge, which will motivate you to build your Etsy store. Joining them in the challenge is Dionne Baker and Jay De Souza, who are successful Etsy business owners. There are many reasons to get started on Etsy. You get better margins and analytics that you don't get on Amazon. Not just that but you have more control. While Etsy still isn't our platform, it attracts the people who are willing to spend more money.  I'm excited about the challenge because as I stated earlier, I been scaling my Etsy store. I'm also enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with Matt, RJ, Dionne, and Jay. With their support, I'm looking to double my numbers by the end of October. If you're interested in joining th

Greg Johnson is a successful entrepreneur. He's married and has six beautiful kids that he supports and raises. With that said, it was a matter of time before we got him on the show. I'm not going to lie. I had a whole list of questions to ask in regards to Local Merch because that was something we both experimented with back when it was still new. However, the conversation completely took a left turn, and a whole new topic came up. As entrepreneurs sometimes we need to be innovative and think outside the box. And that's exactly what Greg did. He took his best selling design on Merch by Amazon and had it printed on shirts through a local printer. He then sent them into Amazon to have them fulfilled through their FBA program. Also, as mentioned in the podcast, we are trying to raise money for Dave Cadoff. He is having surgery later this week, and his colleagues in the POD community are trying to raise money for him. Whether you care about trademarks or not, Dave has committed to fight trademarks trolls on our

This week we talk to the very talented Drew Pocza. We had the privilege of meeting Drew back in September 2018 at the Merch by Amazon Conference in Seattle. His journey on Merch is young, but his skills speak years of experience. Merch by Amazon is no longer what it used to be. It has evolved a lot since the platform was launched back in 2015. The advice I gave Drew was to keep at it. No matter how frustrating the platform, the best thing he can do is not to quit and keep uploading quality work. Check out his Instagram as he does amazing work. His Instagram is listed below. What do you guys think? What else should Drew be doing to up his POD game?   Pocza Websitehttps://pocza.com Pocza Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/dpocza/  

Teresa Rose from Pin Traffic Power stops by to talk with the boys again. If you're suffering from slow summer sales, this could be the perfect episode for you. Teresa has tested and refined the art of leveraging Pinterest to drive traffic to blogs and listings. I said this many times, and some of you might disagree, but I feel Merch by Amazon is dead. There are just too many people on the platform, which cause niches to be saturated. Even running AMS ads to my products, I get no conversions. Teresa's new and updated program will help you build your Pinterest presence. I have taken the course, and it's a well put together program. To start leveraging Pinterest for your products, make sure and sign up for her program below by the end of the month. The price will go up on September 1st.   Pin Power Traffic https://pintrafficpower.thinkific.com/courses/pin-traffic-mastery?ref=c87e98

We have an awesome episode this week. Houman and Rosie from Living List Journey talk to Yong in a very rare interview. Both of them normally don't like the exposure but was gracious enough and sit with Yong in a fun interview. Houman, who is from the Bay Area decided to travel the world after building a successful Etsy store. With Merch by Amazon being too competitive these days he decided to try the Etsy marketplace and it paid off big time. With the success of his shop, he's now able to live his dream life and travel nine months out of the year. Houman and Rosie are living the life that we all should be living. Get inspired. If this episode doesn't motivate you to start and scale your print-on-demand business then all hope is lost for you. Make sure and follow their journey on Instagram. Instagram: @livinglistjourney

After a two week break, both Glen and Yong are back with another Merch Minds episode. Glen had been traveling attending conferences, and Yong's day job had been pretty demanding. They are finally back to catch up and talk print-on-demand. A lot has happened since the last episode. Yong had relaunched his Etsy store by deleting and relisting everything from scratch. This destroyed his algorithm, and he was hardly getting any traffic. After a couple of weeks, he's finally starting to get sales once again. Now that they're both back what have you been up to? How is your POD business running? Let them know in the comments below.

This week we go back to the basics. No guests. Instead, we talk about what we learned in the three years of doing Merch by Amazon. A lot has changed since the launch of Merch by Amazon. Yong keeps plugging away and continues to work on his account. Glen has taken a hiatus from working on his account because of the constant changes implemented by Amazon. How about you? What have you learned during the last 2-3 years being on Merch by Amazon. Are you rolling with the punches and complying with all the changes made by Amazon? Let us know in the comments.

Amy Nicholas stops by to talk to the boys this week. In the last few years, Amy has made a career in the digital market space. She started with Kindle and then made the transition into apparel sales. Amy talks about everything from how she left her corporate job to becoming her own boss. She talks about the struggles of hiring a VA. She’s also very big on mindset and talks about some of the people that she follows. Amy is a good example of how to succeed by diversifying the marketplace. Why Merch by Amazon is the king of print-on-demand, she understands the importance of spreading out your portfolio. Check out Amy on her YouTube channel listed below. Amy Nicholas YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx0uFpGln_Qt6w_SGY3DF2g/videos   Sponsors Merch Informer https://merchinformer.com/223.html Merchinator https://merchinator.com/s/e66c4a55

This week let's go back to the basics. The foundation of the Merch Minds podcast is based on graphic design. This week the boys talk to a talented designer in Danielle Podeszek. Danielle is a graphic designer who started her print-on-demand career on Zazzle. She then moved on to Merch by Amazon and has done relatively good for herself. Her experience as a corporate designer has given her the freedom to explore opportunities outside of a day job. Danielle's approach to design is straightforward. She uses basic shapes and color schemes, which is a throwback to the retro look. The boys said it a thousand time by now. Simple and clean designs are always the best, and Danielle has proven that with her portfolio.   Pod Design Shop https://www.instagram.com/poddesignshop/ Sponsors Merch Informer https://merchinformer.com/223.html Merchinator https://merchinator.com/s/e66c4a55

Many people say Canadians are some of the nicest people on earth. This week the boys put that theory to test by interviewing Dionne Baker and Jay DeSouza. They are business partners and successful Etsy shop owners. Dionne comes from a marketing background, and Jay is a graphic designer by trade. Together they were able to build profitable Etsy and Shopify stores. They talk everything on the show from how they got into business to the importance of marketing. When it comes to Etsy, I'm sure you heard their names throughout the print-on-demand community. They both have close to 100,000 sales under their belts, and that number continues to grow. With that many sales, I'm sure we can learn something new about Etsy and the platform. It's been said a thousand times now. Build and grow a business outside of Amazon. While Merch by Amazon is a great platform to make some quick money the stability of Etsy can generate a long-term income stream. Make sure and purchase their Etsy Crash Course, which will get you started

There was no show last week because it was Memorial Day weekend. This week the boys are back, and they interview Johnathan Grzybowski from Penji. Johnathan stopped by and announced the new and improved Penji 3.0. Penji is a full design agency that delivers Merch designs and just about anything else you can think of. Other Merch agencies are just that. They just deliver Merch designs. With Penji you can scale your Merch account, KDP, Local Merch and just about any other business you want to get into. Johnathan showed us the new and improved dashboard for Penji. The new interface provides a better way to communicate with the designers on Penji. You can also add your own virtual assistant to help manage your account. mo codeThere are other new features that will blow your mind. https://penji.co/ Johnathan is giving us three ways to get Penji. Original Plan: You can still get the original plan, which is $369 per month. However, make sure to use the promo code "merchminds" and get 10% off every month. You won't fi

You may or may not have heard of this week's guest, Christina Romero. She is quiet and in the shadows. Don't let that fool you though because she is putting up significant numbers with print-on-demand. Christina talks about how she is experimenting with other POD platforms besides Merch by Amazon. She's been in the game since 2015 when she first opened her Zazzle account. From there she expanded her business including Etsy where she now has her wife involved with the POD business. Christina is finding success because she's a hard worker. You won't find complaints or negative comments from her. She's just a hard working individual and her numbers clearly reflect her efforts. We can all learn a lesson from her. Sponsors Merch Informer https://merchinformer.com/223.html Merchinator https://merchinator.com/s/e66c4a55