Throwback: The Secret Sauce to Scaling Your Brand - Delegation, Planning, and Investor Appeal

In this episode, host Josh interviews James Thomson, Managing Partner of Equity Value Advisors, about scaling e-commerce brands, especially on Amazon. James shares practical advice for brand owners aiming to grow from seven to eight figures, emphasizing the importance of delegating tasks, building a competent team, and creating a three-year business plan. He discusses making brands attractive to investors, leveraging capital for faster growth, and focusing on brand equity and customer experience. The episode concludes with actionable takeaways for building teams, enhancing brand value, and strategic planning for long-term success and potential exits.

Chapters:

Introduction and Guest Background (00:00:00)
Host introduces James Thomson, his background in e-commerce, Amazon, and advisory roles.

Actionable Steps for Scaling from 7 to 8 Figures (00:00:58)
James shares first steps: delegate tasks, free up time for strategic thinking, and focus on growth opportunities.

The Power of Delegation and Building a Team (00:01:13)
Discussion on outsourcing, hiring competent help, and multiplying business impact through effective delegation.

Strategic Thinking and Long-Term Planning (00:04:04)
Importance of spending time on big-picture questions: product expansion, new channels, and funding.

Making Your Business Attractive to Investors (00:04:53)
How to position your brand for investors, debunking myths about channel expansion, and identifying growth levers.

Developing a Three-Year Business Plan (00:05:46)
Necessity of a three-year plan, working backwards from growth goals, and evaluating new channels and products.

Preparing for Channel and Category Expansion (00:07:03)
Exploring requirements for retail and new categories, talking to experts, and assessing readiness for expansion.

Securing Capital and Mindset Shift for Growth (00:09:01)
Considering outside investment, selling equity, and the benefits of being part of a larger, faster-growing business.

Investor Excitement: Key Growth Levers (00:10:46)
What excites investors: clear three-year plans, actionable growth levers, and a roadmap for scaling post-acquisition.

Three Actionable Takeaways for Brand Owners (00:12:33)
Host summarizes: build and delegate to a team, focus on brand equity and customer experience, and create a multi-year growth plan.

The Importance of a Three-Year Plan (00:15:04)
James emphasizes three-year planning, aiming for aggressive growth, and preparing for a successful exit.

Conclusion and Contact Information (00:16:30)
James shares how to connect with him on LinkedIn; episode closes with thanks.

Links and Mentions:

Tools and Websites
Amazon Seller Central
LinkedIn

Key Concepts and Strategies
Delegating Tasks: 00:01:13
Three-Year Business Plan: 00:05:46
Brand Equity: 00:13:13

Actionable Takeaways
Build Your Team: 00:13:13
Focus on Brand Equity: 00:14:24
Create a 3-5 Year Business Plan: 00:15:04

Transcript:

Josh 00:00:00  Today I'm really excited to introduce you all to James Thomson. James is the managing partner of Equity Value Advisors, advising brand executives and investors that are seeking guidance on how to accelerate e-commerce revenues and to align e-commerce and physical retail distribution and pricing strategies. Formerly, James was the chief strategy officer at Big Box Experts, a managed services agency supporting brand executive teams selling online, as well as private equity investors evaluating brands sold on Amazon. He has also served as the business head of Amazon Services, the division of Amazon responsible for recruiting tens of thousands of sellers annually to the Amazon Marketplace. He also served as the first fulfillment by Amazon Account Manager and prior to Amazon. James was a management consultant and retail banker. So with that introduction, James, welcome to the podcast.

James 00:00:56  Thank you for having me today, Josh.

Josh 00:00:58  On that note, James, I mean, we talked a lot about different strategies that people can be implementing to move from seven figures to eight figures and beyond. What would be like your actionable advice for them to say, hey, this is what I would do first, second, third.

James 00:01:13  So the first thing I would do, we actually haven't talked about yet. First thing I would do is I would start to delegate tasks to people and clear up your plates so you can spend more of your time thinking about how to go and source better products, how to do more research to find those product gaps in your catalog that you can start to fill. How to start thinking about new channels that you might expand into. When I think of the day to day activities of what it takes to run an Amazon business, there's an awful lot of stuff that, quite frankly, we don't really like doing. You got to check reports. You got to check seller central. You got to check your inventory. You probably got to talk to your, three people if you've got one that's bringing products in from overseas. There's a lot of activities that need to be looked at. And I didn't even talk about, oh, you got to file 20 seller support tickets today. All that kind of stuff you need to be saying to yourself, even though I think I can do this better than anybody else in the world.

James 00:02:08  The reality is, there's only so many hours in the day you need to go hire a VA or outsource this to a trusted colleague who, you know, make. Of course you know it's going to cost you money, but the money that you spend to have somebody do a lot of these repetitive tasks or tasks that you don't really like doing, that frees you up to do much higher value added stuff to drive your overall business. If you've got more time to be doing new product research and thinking through, okay, where is there opportunity for me to potentially expand my product line? where do I need to start thinking about culling out some of the products in my products? Because quite frankly, not all this stuff has turned out to be gold. You've got to have time to think through those bigger questions. And the only way to do that is to start outsourcing some of the mundane that comes with running an Amazon business. as you get better at outsourcing that and accepting the fact that, yeah, you know, this other person who's taking on these tasks may not be quite as amazing at doing it as I am, but quite frankly, I don't need amazing, I need confidence.

James 00:03:10  And the more you can get competent help to help you with many of these tasks, the more time you free up to work on other types of activities. When my partner, business partner and I were running our Amazon agency, we did everything we put on every hat imaginable to run that business. And as we started to outsource certain tasks and get more comfortable with listen, we can outsource most of this stuff with high confidence to people, as long as we train them properly and we're patient and we get them up and running. All of a sudden we now had a multiplier effect. We have a multiplier effect. That's when the genius of being a business owner starts to really kick in. And yeah, you know, wouldn't you love to have five other people who is as strong and intelligent and good looking as you are to be there with you? I don't need that. I need 3 or 4 highly competent people in each of their specific areas to help me pursue different responsibilities so that I can go and tackle some of these bigger, long term questions.

James 00:04:04  That's the stuff that really starts to matter, and that's the stuff where I get excited because I r...