#736 - He Built An 8-Figure Brand While Working A 9-5

Corporate job by day, Kaffe Products by night. How Robert built an Amazon brand into Walmart shelves before he ever went all-in. Get all his strategies in this episode!

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Robert Gomez from Kaffe Products is the definition of “build it while you’re still employed.” He started selling online back in 2012 (including an early mistake that got him banned), then worked his way back into Amazon the right way and launched Kaffe Products in mid-2019. The wild part is he scaled the brand while holding down a full-time corporate career, finishing as a senior finance manager at Microsoft. He didn’t go all-in until early 2023, and by then, Kaffe already had nearly 15 employees and real momentum.

In this episode, Robert breaks down why he chose the coffee niche and how he positioned Kaffe differently. Instead of competing with endless coffee bean brands, he focused on the accessory ecosystem: grinders, frothers, tools, storage, mugs, and the full coffee-making process. His very first product, a sleek coffee grinder, became a long-term winner with massive review volume online and eventually turned into his first product placed in Walmart stores nationwide. Along the way, he shares how keyword research changed his thinking, including discovering meaningful Spanish search volume on Amazon.com, and why tools like Helium 10 helped his team move faster, defend against competitors, and save serious time.

The biggest lesson is that omnichannel isn’t optional anymore; it’s leverage. Robert was thinking beyond Amazon from day one, even landing a major retail-style purchase before the product officially launched online. He explains how being “everywhere” (Amazon, Walmart.com, TikTok Shop, wholesale, and more) helps customers find you where they already shop and makes retail buyers take you seriously. He also gets real about expensive mistakes (like a $30K influencer spend that didn’t move the needle), then flips to unexpected wins like niche channels that generated hundreds of thousands in profit-heavy Q4 sales. If you want a playbook for going from Amazon to omnichannel to big-box shelves, this one is packed.

 

In episode 736 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Robert discuss:

• 00:00 - Building A Multi-Million Amazon Brand While Working Full-Time
• 00:44 - Meet Robert: Selling Since 2012 & Launching Kaffe Products In 2019
• 01:40 - Microsoft Career & Why He Didn’t Quit Until Early 2023
• 02:58 - Why Coffee: From Planners To Home & Kitchen Opportunity
• 03:56 - The Real Angle of His Business
• 05:08 - First Product To Now In Every Walmart Store
• 07:02 - How Helium 10 Fueled His Business
• 08:10 - Keyword Surprise: Spanish Searches On Amazon.com
• 11:36 - Omnichannel From Day One
• 16:13 - Kaffe’s TikTok Shop Strategy
• 17:38 - Biggest Mistakes He’s Made
• 19:35 - Surprise Wins of Kaffe
• 24:45 - What’s Next for Kaffe