(upbeat music)
Hey there, I'm Mike McClary with Amazing.com.
And while recording in Hawaii, I had the
opportunity to sit down with Justin and Channing Dyson.
A young couple from Nevada, Texas who have built
an incredible half-million dollar a month
business on Amazon.
Check out the following interview where they
share their journey toward building their business
and offer some valuable advice for anyone
looking to do the same.
So I've kind of already given away that
you guys have been pretty successful already.
But what I want to talk about is what life was
like before you actually had this business.
So, what were you both doing before you had
the business?
Oh my goodness, so, life before Amazing
Selling Machine I was working about fifty
hours a week just trying to pay all the bills.
We were twenty-four.
Yup.
We were ASM 4, so 2014, twenty-four
living in a starter home that my grandma actually
helped us buy 'cause we couldn't even buy
it on our own.
And we had a four-year-old so really just trying
to figure out how to make money, make the ends meet.
And get through the day to day.
And what were you doing, Justin?
Yeah I was, at the time I was going back
to college.
I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.
I was working part-time for my dad
I was in college and that's pretty much when
stumbled across ASM.
So what was it about your life back then that
made you look for something like this or were you
looking or did it come across your plate?
I think we knew like the type of lifestyle
that we wanted, we just didn't know how to
get there.
So we just weren't really sure what to do
or how to do it.
So that day when I came home he had watched
the videos and he's like beaming ear to
ear sitting on our bed like "Please come
over here you have to watch these videos!"
So I came in and watched the videos and it
really just sounded like that would give us
the lifestyle that we really wanted.
I was looking for something.
I didn't know what I was looking for.
She already had a career.
She was like up and going.
She knew what she wanted to do her whole life.
And you know when you're in high school and
you're eighteen and you're seventeen whatever
you know the not principal but the counselor
asks you "what do you want to do?" And it's like
"I have no idea."
So I ended up going to like the fire academy and
EMT school and doing that thing and
that didn't work out.
And then went to work for her dad for a few years
and that didn't work out.
Worked for my dad, then I was in college just
trying to figure things out so just the thought
of having something else that was mine,
something that I could grow with and be more than
what I was, that's what appealed to me.
It's the first time we did anything that
we could actually scale.
We'd pretty much taken over the salon she worked
at so we kind of owned that at the time.
But it had already been started.
This was the first thing we started from
ground zero completely by ourselves.
So what was it like looking for this first
product that was really successful for you guys?
So I was actually pregnant at the time with
our second child.
And I had told Justin there was this product
I was really passionate about.
I really wanted one really bad, all my friends
were buying them.
And so that was how it kind of started and I
just told Justin "Hey, I really love this
what do you think?" And he put it through ASM's
criteria and he said "Oh my gosh, babe, this is
actually a really good one".
Basically just looking, doing everything
ASM teaches.
Putting my product ideas through the, you know,
my spreadsheet with my list of products
and she's like "Well why don't you do these?
These are really popular" and they weren't around
when we had our first child.
So I was like "Okay, I'll look it up" and she
was she was right, it was a good opportunity.
And that's pretty much how we found our first (mumbles).
Awesome, so you figured out what your product
was going to be.
Did that also lead to building a brand with
that product?
That was definitely one thing we wanted to do.
We didn't want to have a bunch of different products
that we sold.
Even though, yes, you could make a lot of
money that way, I wanted to actually have
a brand.
Right.
Something that you know made it easier to grow (mumbles)
Yeah so essentially we liked the niche
and decided we definitely wanted to start out
with a brand that we were passionate about.
Or I'd say I'm passionate about 'cause I'm more
our customer.
But, yeah, we definitely went more brand-focused.
So you found this product and your excited
about it.
The next step then is finding a supplier.
What was that like for you guys?
So, it was interesting because I found some
stuff on Alibaba and I found you know
just three or four suppliers I
found at the time.
And I messaged them all and I think
I only got one reply or two replies.
And I ended up going with one of the guys
and really weren't that difficult you just
kinda go back and forth.
There's a time zone difference so you're talking
to him in the morning, then at night.
And then sometimes they'll go, they'll send you
a message during your daytime which is going to
be their night.
So just going back and forth getting everything
situated.
We got some samples, confirmed that we
liked the quality and that everything was good.
And placed an order shortly after.
And for that order did you order a ton of
products or how many did you start off with?
No we didn't have a ton of money so I think
in that first order was $800 if I'm remembering
correctly, about that much.
So you got your brand, you got your first
product, you find your supplier.
How soon did it take to start selling, was it
a week, was it months?
That was the exciting part.
So this is the exciting part, we ended up
selling as in they got to Amazon on - I actually
know the dates - on June 11th was live on Amazon and
June 12th I got my first order.
We ended up getting two the next day and I was
like "holy crap".
I still remember like yesterday the first day we
got ten sales in one day both of us were
just like floored.
We were like "Oh my goodness we just sold ten
in one day!"
I was at my grandparents, we were visiting
family when I was looking at my app and
it just started going.
So did you have to reorder pretty quickly, I'd
imagine?
We did.
We ended up placing another order I think
in the next month or like three or four
weeks later.
So and then they just ramped up from there
And then bigger and bigger orders
So we placed that very first order
some time in May.
About the time July rolled around we'd placed
another order but that one was $10,000.
So like sales had really ramped up really quickly
and so we're just like "okay, this is working, let's
actually do something".
So I imagine that if you were able to
order that amount you realized there was
demand.
At what point do you feel like you made
your investment back in ASM?
There's a couple ways to look at it.
I think we could have taken money out of the
business sooner than we did
Yeah.
but we really wanted to give it a year.
To see you know how much could we grow it
how much far - or how far could we take it before
we - because if you take cash out of the business
it could suffocate it, right?
And it could be bad.
So I took advice from one of my business
coaches at the time.
And it's like keep everything you can in there.
So we waited a year before we ever took anything out.
And I mean, ASM was a few thousand dollars so
that first payout more than covered
that after a year.
So for us it was a year, but it could
have happened sooner.
That's smart though, to keep reinvesting the
growth.
'cause you guys had a vision.
You wanted to turn this (mumbles)
Yeah we kind of decided from the beginning is
that I would keep working as much as I could
to pay for things and we could just keep rolling
the business on top of itself.
Because we knew how big we wanted to see it grow.
So what was it like the first time you
actually paid yourselves out of the business?
It was like the best day ever.
Going into the bank and like "okay so we're going
to put this in our account and not the business
account".
Yeah, it was funny.
I remember the first time we actually put
a significant amount in the bank.
They wouldn't let us deposit it.
(laughter)
They asked us all these questions like "why,
where'd you get this money from? Why is this a
check coming in?"
It was crazy.
And it was really cool.
The same bank we'd used since we were like
seventeen too, so they were like "guys what are
y'all doing?" Like "what's going on here?"
It was a very very very unique day.
So how long was it then after that first
product started taking off that you decided
to expand the brand?
I would say six-ish months.
We didn't - I launched variations of that first
product so it, from that aspect was a little
easier in the beginning.
Because finding a second product, you know, you're
starting over essentially.
Right...
I found this first product that worked but I
was like "okay" so I launched five variations
of the first one.
Six months later we came out with the second, and
then three months later we came out with a third.
So you start with one product, launched some
variations.
How many products do you have right now?
Now we have fourteen product lines and I
think sixty-eight total hues?
That's so awesome, that's amazing.
Yeah, thank you.
So if you don't mind sharing, how is your business
doing right now?
You've got a lot of products, I'm assuming you're
no longer in college your no longer
So actually after our first seller con event that
we went to, he immediately came back and quit
college and quit his little part-time job.
That's when we decided like we're going to give
Everything we have to our Amazon company,
our eCommerce company.
And so, yeah, it's changed drastically.
I'm not working the hours that I was.
I'm able to spend more time with the kids,
which is fabulous.
He can come with me to school events, all the
parents are like "How are you both here?"
Like, "how old are you", "why are you both here",
"how is he not at work", "one of you work"?
"Do you live with your parents", like all kinds
of questions and we're like "no" so that's pretty
cool that we could do things that we
couldn't do before.
Yeah the business is going really well.
We're doing over half a million dollars a month now.
That's a month, not a year, a month.
A month, yeah.
That is crazy, that's awesome.
Congratulations on that.
Thank you.
I loved hearing that story.
And you mentioned so you were able to go to more
kids' activities.
Like what kind of activities do your kids do
right now?
So we have two kids, one is nine
and one is three.
And so the nine-year-old is in competitive
baseball.
So lots of traveling, lots of games, Justin
was able to coach.
It's just been really life changing.
And then also we actually - our company
sponsors him to play.
So that's been such a huge help as well.
Oh wow that's amazing.
So do - are all the other parents always at
these events as well or are you like the anomaly?
Yeah, usually there's just one that's able to go.
So it's pretty fun to be able to do it together.
Even when I grew up you know you have multiple
kids it's hard just as a parent to work
and to go to everyone's stuff.
So a lot of times like me, my siblings, you know
my parents didn't go to everything that I had
and like did the same thing with my siblings.
So it's really cool to do that with my kids.
Like even not just baseball but if I don't -
if we decide to go swimming tomorrow
we can just go swimming.
We go swimming all day.
But knowing that our parents were
obviously trying to support us but we were able
to have something that we can support our family
but also go to everything and go on trips with them
and be able to a lot of fun things.
That's just a game changer.
I agree.
So how do your kids feel about the business?
Do they realize how successful you are?
Well they're still small.
They don't understand the success behind it, but
my oldest definitely wants to be a business owner.
He's like
He sees it, he sees the free time
and he sees the you know, we have bought a bigger house
and things like that.
So he sees the changes or he has seen them.
And yeah, he definitely has already said "okay
I want to be an entrepreneur"
Although he might not know fully what that means
he's seeing all the stuff that we've put into
it and how big it's grown.
That's wonderful.
So you mentioned doing half a million in sales
each month.
Is that all in one place or in multiple countries
right now?
No we're just in the U.S.
Yes, we haven't even branched out anywhere else yet.
That's awesome.
There's more expansion out there for you.
Have you guys thought about that yet?
We've thought about it, but things are going so
good right now in the US and just the logistics
behind trying to figure all that other stuff out
in other countries just haven't attacked it yet.
Havent' gotten there.
So do you guys do this all on your own or do
you have, you know, people helping you out now?
We have people helping us out now.
We've got two full time employees that are in
the US that actually live down the street.
So that's really cool.
We're still like all remote, but we kinda get
together every once in a while and have a little
pow-wow.
We've been able to build a team though, so
that's been really cool.
One of them is actually a stay-at-home mom
that lives close to us.
We were able to give her extra income and she
can still stay at home with her kids but she
can also help with our brand as well.
That's awesome.
You can build your own dream business and help other
people at the same time as well.
And the other guy in the company is my best
friend, so it works out really well.
It's just, it's nice
So what are your plans for the business?
Are you guys planning on keeping it.
Are you guys going to sell it?
Or you haven't even decided yet?
I think that's a really hard question.
I think we're still enjoying it so much right now
and building it and growing it and
like we said we work with some of our
best friends.
So I don't think we've fully decided yet.
But we're still really enjoying being involved
in it right now.
One last question then: if anyone was here
looking to join Amazing Selling Machine and they
asked you guys for advice, what advice
would you give them?
I would say to definitely have an open
mind and be willing to learn.
Just like with anything, riding a bike, you
have to learn how to do it.
So if you have those two things I think you
can definitely be very successful with it.
To add on to that I always get the same question
from most people who obviously know we're doing
well and they ask us about it.
And they always ask the same thing:
"well is it going to work for me?"
you know "Does it work for everyone?" and
"How do I know you know it's not going to work?"
Right?
And I think that's the wrong question.
You should be asking yourself are you committed
enough to yourself to make it work?
We know the content's good.
We're living proof of that.
I know hundreds of other sellers that I
met personally who have multi-million dollar
a year businesses.
So don't get hung up on "is the content worth
the money" and if it is going to work.
Ask yourself like "Are you committed enough to
yourself, to your dreams, to your goals, and
to your future to make it work.
It can't - the course can do nothing without
your effort.
So I think that is the bigger question to ask and
that's what I would pose to them.
Are you going to make that commitment to yourself.
And this became I think true for us.
we went to the live event after ASM 4
was like in (mumbles)
The one where we got back and Justin quit his job.
Yeah, so like three or four months after
we went through the ASM course and Matt and
Jason are on stage and the whole theme of
that event was "No Plan B".
So it was basically making a commitment to yourself
to make sure that you're going to be successful.
And I took that to heart.
Like I remember sitting there like at the
end of the last day and Matt's giving his keynote
at the end of the day
about to dismiss everybody and has everybody
stand up and just yell "NO PLAN B"
It was so empowering.
And like I did that and I'm getting goosebumps
just thinking about it because I literally
remember sitting in the thing like "I'm going to do this"
I went home the next week like she said and I
quit my job, I dropped out of college.
And we said "No Plan B" here we go!
Yeah and I think you have to - you don't
necessarily have to quit your job and drop out
of college but make the commitment to yourself
that you're going to make this work.
And that I think is what is more important.
You're doing this for you.
Don't try to do it for some arbitrary reason.
You know this is going to give you the freedom
that you want to do whatever you want.
And you just need to decide what is that
going to be and use that as fuel
to run with it.
Just like anything that you invest in.
Like you invest in a house you have to
take care of it.
You invest in a car and you have to
change the oil, or your husband does, to
take care of it.
Anything you have to take care of it, so if
you're willing to have an open mind and
be willing to you know learn new things and then
also take care of your business I think you'll
go super far.
And you guys certainly have.
That's amazing advice.
Thanks so much for sharing everything with us today.
If you want to hear more about Justin and
Channing's story check out
AmazingSellingMachine.com
We also have some free training that teaches
you everything that they also learned when
they were just starting out as well.
So thanks again.
Thanks Channing.
Thanks Justin.
Hopefully we'll get together and see you guys
real soon.
And take care and we'll see you guys real soon too.
(energetic music)
