How To Accelerate The Growth Of Your Online Business Using Effective Marketing Tools, Authenticity, and Dedication With Three Time Amazon Best Seller, VK Lakkineni. (#103) — Transcript
Updated: Oct 26
THE PICTURE OF WEALTH · EPISODE 103
Dustin Serviss speaks with VK Lakkineni about digital marketing, online business growth and the work behind becoming a bestselling author. They explore authenticity, audience building and the limits of quick-success promises.
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This transcript was generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability. It may contain transcription or speaker-attribution errors. Refer to the recording for exact wording.
Chapters
[00:00:00] Realistic growth versus quick promises
[00:04:16] A coordinated book launch
[00:07:51] Digital marketing and exposure
[00:12:06] Visibility and perceived expertise
[00:16:17] MrBeast and online audiences
[00:20:02] Finding the right marketing return
[00:24:16] Online business models
[00:28:32] The economics of selling a book
[00:32:41] Building recurring online revenue
[00:36:26] Systems for scaling a business
Guest & resources
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Transcript
[00:00:00] VK Lakkineni: Along these lines, there are so many fake gurus out there and fake influencers that kind of try to take advantage of, people who just wanna have that quick buck. Right? There's nothing really happens, like, in a week or couple of months. It's kind of a steady strategy, like I said, you know, the first thousand, four thousand, five thousand, same thing with the money. And I think those are the ones that really work well. And if somebody tells you, I'll I'll send you ten thousand dollars, give me thousand dollars check, You gotta stay away from me.
[00:00:33] Dustin Serviss: Welcome to the picture of wealth or t pow as we call it. I am your host, Dustin Service. That is the voice of VK Lakhaneni. Now VK is a entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, tele award recipient, three times Amazon best selling author, and a digital marketing entrepreneur who's enthusiastic about unpacking what seems to be working in the marketing and digital space. We talk a lot about different things from marketing, the book that I'm promoting, to how to sell something on Amazon if you're considering having a a side hustle or maybe just selling a product you already have online. He lays out what seems to be working on Amazon and then breaks it
[00:01:12] Dustin Serviss: down what influencers are doing today to drive business there even though they might have a very short time in a business segment, how they are attracting clients. Again, he talks a little bit about mindset and happiness and coaching and different connections he's met along the way and what he's learned. I'm excited today to have VK Lakenene on the show today and talk everything digital marketing and getting ahead online. VK, thanks a lot for coming on the show today.
[00:01:38] VK Lakkineni: Thank you, Dustin. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:40] Dustin Serviss: My first question is going to be, a selfish one, which I think some of the listeners will appreciate because everyone has probably bought a book on Amazon. And as somebody who's about to release a book in a couple months, help us understand the journey to being a best selling author on Amazon and what... That sounds like a lot of work to me. And how how do you do it? Where does a person start? And then give us your journey to, becoming a best selling author online. So
[00:02:15] VK Lakkineni: being an author, I can probably look at a lot of things that are a lot easier. But like anything else, when you're doing it by yourself in the initial stages, there's a lot of fear. Like, how do I do that? What are the best approaches? And, you know, whether anybody would buy my book or not. Right? And I did reach out to a number of publishers, and I compiled that list of thirty publishers and say, these are the ones that I wanna work with and see what kind of donors they publish and, you know, what kind of money is involved and whatnot. And through that research, what I figured out is the publishing industry
[00:02:54] VK Lakkineni: changed a lot, and a lot of books are, self published since the days of, like, Robin Schirmers, the monk who sold his Ferrari, one of the best selling books ever. And that change of mindset in terms of, I'd rather wait three to five years, try to find this publisher and make it perfect and launch it or partner up with some other like minded people. And the publisher is already there, and we're just kinda self funding our project. And whatever the proceeds that comes out of this project gets donated to Entrepreneurship Foundation or an orphanage. So our vision became from being an author to what is the
[00:03:35] VK Lakkineni: end goal and how we are helping the people around us or the community that needed help. And there is one thing that's common with every entrepreneur's story or, turning into another. It's basically sharing our struggles and what we went through, the refusals that they need else and whatnot. So that's how you connect to the audiences because everybody looks at the Elon Musk. Okay. He's doing so great and so popular, Amazon best selling author. But the the core level, everybody goes through the same struggles. When you can put those stories out as authentic as possible, then people connect with those things.
[00:04:16] VK Lakkineni: So that's what really helps you to bring other people together. And once you put it on Amazon, like, you know, once you have ten people, if you look at... We... On the average, we all have hundred and fifty LinkedIn connections. These are, like, really good that you know somebody in person, that kind of connections. There you go. Launch the date. And there is a strategy behind it, how there are a lot of people just put the books out, but there's no sales. But there is a lot that happens building up to that release date and build that momentum and have everything in place. Like, you need to sell x amount of books and generate x amount of
[00:04:53] VK Lakkineni: revenues to get that Amazon best selling author status because, you know, you'll be floating that week or that day in the top ten. And then once you have it, you might not be there afterwards. But, again, knowing that logistics and see who you wanna work with, how do you pick the publisher, who's gonna be in this book, what kind of story that you're gonna sell. And it doesn't happen overnight. You know? For me, it was, like, a four or five years spending an hour every day writing it out and with the mindset of I wanna publish my own book. And then realizing I can co author with other people and make it quicker and fast to get my story out.
[00:05:32] VK Lakkineni: Once you have that status up, then you can work on releasing your own books. So it's just kind of like taking a step back, but at the same time, it's just being strategic about how do you wanna get that status and, you know, the the command, in the industry.
[00:05:49] Dustin Serviss: Were you... You mentioned it preshow. What, were... Did you unpack some strategies that were working, or were you unpacking... You know, were you looking at Amazon how to market, or were you looking at other influencers and how they build their platforms?
[00:06:06] VK Lakkineni: Yeah. Like, everything gets down to data and science. You know? I... I'm a marketer by trade, but I was a programmer as well before that. So I look at it, the fundamentals of everything, and they were engineering what's really working and what's not. And with any of these Amazon best selling books, there are certain categories where you can list it and how many categories have you put your book out. It's kind of very strategic. Like, there are certain months, there are no books in certain categories. So how do you write a book in that genre and then say, you know, you can be best selling author quicker and faster.
[00:06:45] VK Lakkineni: But the motivations can be different for everybody. But one thing I just wanna, you know, do it submit. Like, others making a lot of money, that... That's a myth. Like, as soon as that you take that out of your head and then start working towards it, it gets easier. Because I know how many authors, like, I do workshops. So I know these authors or wanna be authors, are waiting for that million dollars check or I'm waiting for that fifty million dollars check. That's, like, you know, one to five percent unless you're like, you know, Barack Obama or Michelle Obama. Like, you know, you're not gonna get there unless you sell
[00:07:26] VK Lakkineni: hundreds of thousands of millions of books. But to get there, it's not gonna happen overnight. So maybe the first book, maybe you sell thousand copies. That's incredible achievement. Maybe five thousand copies in a day. That can get you Amazon bestseller status. So there are steps you can take, but, you know, do I have that next ten years just working on that one project? Right?
[00:07:51] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. No. I I can't remember what the average is of how many books an author actually sells. I think it's five hundred in the life of its book or maybe you you know that. But, okay. So when we look at, like, things like digital marketing and and companies that are trying to, you know, really expand and market a lot. On the podcast scene right now, Athletic Greens seems to be a thing. Are you familiar with this Athletic Greens? No.
[00:08:20] VK Lakkineni: We had a You're not. Share.
[00:08:23] Dustin Serviss: I'll give you another one. Are you familiar with Grant Cardone?
[00:08:26] VK Lakkineni: Yes.
[00:08:27] Dustin Serviss: Okay. So Grant Cardone, for anyone, love him or hate him, real estate guru slash marketer is what he really is. So this is a person who is trying to basically create influencer status for a certain reason to build, you know, realistically, a real estate investment firm. Take people's money, invest it in real estate, but he's using his coaching platform. So what have you found for... Like, what is he doing that is, you know, accelerating the growth? Because he is... You know, in the last few years, has really sort of blown up.
[00:08:59] VK Lakkineni: A lot of these things are fundamentals. Right? Like, going back to the days of Rich Dad, Poor Dad books. Right? Like, think and grow rich or the millionaire mindset, or become a millionaire in twelve months or even, like, too far is, like, you know, four hour work week. All these books talk about how do you find freedom and happiness. And at the end of the day, yes, the revenues and number, it's all there. But every single one of them, whether it's Grant Cardone or Tim Ferriss or somebody else at that level or people like you and me. We are trying to find that freedom to do things in our own time and find the joy and happiness in our life.
[00:09:40] VK Lakkineni: But how does that tie into the money? And, basically, you still have to live in the society. You still have to pay the bills, still have to pay the taxes, and you still have to accelerate your growth so that you have a such a lifestyle. And for Grant Cardone, for example, he advises how do you use, your money wisely rather than buying a house? You know, how do you invest that and create assets that generate revenues for you? And no matter where in the world, that's the best strategy. You create the assets that's either, like, you know, being a programmer. If you create a platform in SaaS, basically, the monthly
[00:10:22] VK Lakkineni: fee that keeps coming in and then keeps coming in. And the same thing goes with the real estate investments. You know? You buy a section eight properties, and you have all these rentals coming in, and then three years later, five years later, you flip through. And I think a lot of these people know how to leverage debt and then how to use that debt to create more assets so that more revenues. And, you know, these these strategies, like, you know, I really admire about people are are we use the money wisely to create more wealth in their life. At the same time, advocating other people or creating that, influencers, so
[00:11:00] VK Lakkineni: you sell a coaching program or you become an ambassador or you take a certain percentage of whatever you're selling. Everybody has a different approach, but at the end of the day, it just has to be the solid foundation for anybody's future. So if I'm signing up for Grant Cardone's program or Jack Canfield program, I gotta look at it realistically, see, okay. You know, I'm investing x amount of time, x amount of money into this. What would be the returns and how long... And is this sustainable? And along these lines, there are so many fake gurus out there and fake influencers that start up trying to take advantage of, people
[00:11:37] VK Lakkineni: who just wanna have that quick buck. Right? And there's nothing really happens, like, in a week or, like, in a... In couple of months. It's kind of a steady strategy, like I said, you know, the first thousand, four thousand, five thousand, same thing with the money. And I think those are the ones that really work well. And if somebody tells you, I'll I'll send you ten thousand dollars, give me thousand dollars check, you gotta stay away from it.
[00:12:06] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. I think, my wife and I were talking with you the other day that, you know, if you have a podcast or a book and, you you know, you don't really have any experience, if you were a confident speaker, you could actually be perceived as an expert. In the days of the past, it was, you know, whether it's science. You know, I'm wading into some interesting, political views here. But different people, it's like, well, if it's science or you've got thirty years of experience in something, then you're an... A qualified expert. But nowadays, you know, literally, you know, I see so many influencers with tons of followers on... Online.
[00:12:37] Dustin Serviss: And, you know, they're fitness gurus or experts, but they're extremely fit, but they've really been fit for about a year. And all of a sudden, they're extreme expert and people are, you know, gospel that whatever they say, they're changing their diet, they're using their supplements just because they're using it. Well, that's different than someone who's got twenty, thirty years using different supplements, using different techniques. So, again, you know, how do you how do you, as a a marketer, you know, working with clients, like, how do you sift that when someone approached
[00:13:09] Dustin Serviss: you and says they wanna do a big marketing campaign in one direction? And you say, like, really? Like, I I don't know if we should go there. Like, for for listener who wants to market their business, you know, how do you match up authentic and Yeah. I a business owner who sees an opportunity.
[00:13:28] VK Lakkineni: I definitely came across, such a prospect to clients that said, hey. You know, we wanna get that ten thousand followers in a week or overnight. You know, they're all just kind of tricks. Right? Like, the snake oil tactics. They don't really help the business in the long term, but there are some influencers who use that type of taxes just to have that visibility. And in a sense, they're not really their customers. You know? They're just kind of followers, like, generated by bots, whatever, like, even the likes and... I have seen that a lot. Like, even the influencer giveaway campaigns, and I personally
[00:14:09] VK Lakkineni: participated in some of them to really see what's happening in the background and understand about this. None of them really gets you any value out of that. And with any influencer out there that's really successful making money, it's great. Like, you know, their content is funny. It's educational. It's entertaining, and then they're offering some value. And the younger generation just like to watch these videos on TikTok or Instagram Reels or whatever that is. But a professional, like, you and I or a fitness instructor that's been in this industry for twenty years, definitely, that becomes, you know, create some sort of insecurity.
[00:14:49] VK Lakkineni: Like, I'm not like that influencer online that's making a lot of money. But, truthfully, how many of these best selling authors or people that you come across or I come across, they're really popular, really knowledgeable, but, financially, it's not there. Like, it doesn't come across they're wealthy. But they have so much wisdom and knowledge, and no... There's nobody else can match that kind of wisdom. So they don't know how to take care of, like, you know, the social media and leverage that from the business perspective. But these tools allowing a lot of younger generations growing up with it use these tools, which is online.
[00:15:34] VK Lakkineni: So, I'll give you an example. How many times people just go through somebody else's YouTube video or a news feed talking about what's in there and just build a credibility around it? But this person doesn't have any knowledge around what is happening there. It's just going through what's out there. But perceived as an influencer and making some online dollars. So does it last long forever? Probably not. Like, you know, unless you become like mister beast. Like, you know, mister beast is perfect example. Everybody knows him, talks about him. And I, I followed him because, you know, being in the industry and whatnot,
[00:16:12] VK Lakkineni: you gotta admire these people, especially the younger generation.
[00:16:17] Dustin Serviss: He said, who who is this... I I have the book, the YouTube formula. I just bought it, and he... I think he's the the main character of it. But who is mister Beast?
[00:16:28] VK Lakkineni: So mister Beast is just like a YouTube influencer, and first five hundred videos didn't get any traction at all. And then it just kind of adding up, adding up, adding up, and then, eventually, he's one of the richest YouTubers in the world. And So with anything with the economics and the influencing world, how it's changing is if you have the followers, you can create a product out of it. It's totally opposite to create a product, test in the market, push it to the people, whereas just use your influence and say, hey. You know, mister b's burger is out or mister b's is gonna be here with the pizza. There you go. Right?
[00:17:11] VK Lakkineni: And that's where it's shifting, and I think that's where the shift in the world, in terms of how view create products. Like, if you have the influence, you can use it to leverage create products so you're generating revenues. And, like, you can really see the mister beast transition. Like, he's really, like, a seventeen, eighteen year old kid like... And then now just with his beard and everything, how he transitioned and how he really challenged that, the Netflix documentary and say, I'm recreating this in real life. And then anything with the advertising or marketing world, there's no such thing as a bad publicity. You know?
[00:17:50] VK Lakkineni: So publicity and people take slides based on how they think about the product or the person. So that really helped his career. And so, like, what I wanna say is don't get too concerned about what's happening with this influencer well, but just focus on where you're at with your local community groups and how do you build locally and then scale it out. And it might take time, you know, sometimes years. And some of these YouTubers, they're doing it, like, for seven, eighty years. You know? It's it's not Yeah. You know, I put out, like, hundred videos and then just kind of overnight phenomena. Even...
[00:18:26] VK Lakkineni: Personally, I look at, like, my personal brand. I focus on certain things. But when you look at my YouTube, there's maybe seventy six videos out there. You know? Right? Like, by being consistent, it was proven to be working really well and picking the right niche at the same time.
[00:18:41] Dustin Serviss: VK, let's have, excuse me, let's have a debate. Let's have a friendly debate, and you are a digital marketer selling, you know, clients on, you know, the advantages of digital marketing. So I'm in the business of, you know, working with clients. Two million to twenty million is sort of our our target, you know, net worth or that's where we do our best business is for those clients. So if I have x amount of dollar... Let's let's put dollars on it so it makes it easy. If I have four thousand dollars a month and I'm gonna say, you know, we could do a digital campaign, excuse me, or I could take ten potential clients
[00:19:20] Dustin Serviss: out for dinner at four hundred dollars per dinner a month. Mhmm. So we could do it slow and steady, face to face, or there's advantages to digital. I'm I'm asking this because I I have... I see the scale. I see the vision of online. But for the dollars, do you think you could transpose that into, you know, a a rate of return? And so my question to you is... Would be to be lobbying for the digital marketing, industry to say, no. The scale is much bigger than what you see there than your ten dinners with ten potential clients.
[00:20:02] VK Lakkineni: So it's very good question. And, you know, in sales and marketing, there are different strategies. But at the end of the day, we need to repeat realistic. Where's the best return on investment for my money? Let's say, if you take the four thousand dollars and, you know, you invest in this stall, yes, you can get, like, exposure on social media and whatnot. But is that the ideal target approach for you? Because your clients are two million dollars plus network. Right? Where are they spending for their time? On Facebook, Instagram, Google? They might be there. They might be there. But you and I know this.
[00:20:45] VK Lakkineni: These people work hard for their money, and they made deals in their lifetime. You know? They build their businesses or to work, whatever that carrier they were in. The right medium for this would be the golf courses. Be on the golf course with... Talk to them. At the end of the day, from my personal experience, ninety percent of our deals doesn't happen in the boardroom. They happen at a pop. Like, you know, late evening, you're just chitchat or what's going on, right, or lunch breaks. And where that distal piece comes in is, have you positioning yourself through knowledge? Right?
[00:21:29] VK Lakkineni: So let's say you approach me and say, you know, Krishna, like, this is what I can help you with. This is where you can invest wisely. And we don't have any connection at all. It would be a hard sell for you because I don't know anything about you. But how do you build that persona online? Like, okay. You know, Dustin approached me. I'll just go back and look at your LinkedIn profile. Oh, You know, there are some chats out there. There's some blog posts out there. There's some videos out there. This guy knows his stuff. So the objection of should I even talk to this person just goes away.
[00:22:10] VK Lakkineni: So now you reach back and say, now I know a little bit about you. Krishna, I'm putting together, you know, a dinner event for, you know, twenty like minded people, just my husband or whatever it is. We just wanna catch up with you. I wouldn't have the objection to say yes. You know? Because at the end of the day, it's my time commitment to be there. But that wouldn't happen if it doesn't go hand in hand with the digital. Uh-huh. And especially in the finance industry, you cannot run tons of backs out there, but the only way you build credibility is you pick out a real stock. You pick out a real ETF.
[00:22:47] VK Lakkineni: You pick out, like, BlackRock or Citadel or what's happening with douchebag or, you know, I'm saying douchebag for a reason there. Well, when somebody sees that knowledge and expertise online, you're just kind of already there. And this is kind of like you're building your material to shake... Showcase who you are.
[00:23:12] Dustin Serviss: Yeah. No. I think that you've you've helped me understand that it's actually... And for listener, if you have a business that, you know, markets... We are all... You know, if you have a business, you're usually marketing to someone. Mhmm. So... And again, you you might be marketing to leaders inside large corporations if you're some sort of, you know, sales or an IT support. You know, is there any industry that you've seen where there is actually a speed up? So in my case, we talked about... There's almost like two stage. You gotta create that thought leadership, that kind of, sleeve, and then you're doing face to face personal things.
[00:23:50] Dustin Serviss: But for listener who has a business that is maybe not service based, is product based, or, you know, they they create tangible things, Do you ever see businesses or certain industries that are trending right now that can execute basically click to sell or, you know, scroll to sell kind of models where the person doesn't even have to be involved. Like, I think Amazon is kinda like that.
[00:24:16] VK Lakkineni: Yeah. I was about to say Amazon. Like, there are a lot of shops on Amazon. They do really well. So is eBay shops. And drop shipping is one of the industries that's kind of very popular, and you can automate a lot of things. So as affiliate marketing, so as somewhat, like, eXp Realty, you know, you're... You become your franchisee. It's very similar to Remax, but everything online. And everything has its own advantages and disadvantages. Right? Like, even being an author. Right? You can create, like, quick ebooks and sell them for a dollar. Right? It just kinda gives that revenue, but is that enough? And what is the best way to approach it?
[00:24:59] VK Lakkineni: You know, I have done affiliate marketing. I have done Google AdSense and, you know, placements and whatnot on some of my, advertising sites. I have done, drop shipping, and, you know, where it's basically Christmas time, what are the best product to sell, and whatnot. Everybody looks at, Alibaba and how do you source these products. Right? I have to follow those. At the end of the day, I had to look at... If I'm spending an hour to produce, you know, x amount of dollars, let's say, two hundred fifty dollars an hour, that's what I would charge. If it's not giving me that two hundred fifty dollars an hour when I'm sleeping,
[00:25:35] VK Lakkineni: is it worth my time? Right? And, also, how it's not meeting my lifestyle requirements? You know? I can live with five thousand dollars a month or fifty thousand dollars a month. Right? And, you know, if you have your own jet and everything, it's a different story. But how do you create those revenue streams using affiliate marketing or Amazon stores, whatever that is? And how do you scale up fast? And one thing I'm really seeing in Amazon, markets, like, a lot of people focus on selling products. Yeah. I found this niche product like the thermal flasks or, you know, wintertime, some nice warming gloves, but they tend to forget
[00:26:16] VK Lakkineni: about building a brand around that business. So let's say he sold, like, fifty thousand dollars or a hundred thousand dollars in three months. When you're trying to make sit, you don't have a brand around your products. So, basically, anybody that's trying to buy this, you already sold it, made money. What is in it for me? Why am I paying x amount to get your business? But if you can build a brand around what you're doing, have the products on Amazon, that's a different story. You are continuously sourcing your products. You're building your Amazon store. You're building your brand. So you have a value, and you can tell the prospective buyer,
[00:26:56] VK Lakkineni: yeah, I have hundred thousand prospective customers in this niche, and you can find other product for this niche, and you're gonna make money. It's just a five point. Right? So I think being aware of what's really selling, what's really house. But, again, it's comparative. Right? Like, Amazon has own ads platform where you can push these ads. I'll I'll give you a funny example. I set up my goo... Amazon affiliate store back in, like, two thousand seven, two thousand eight, like, way back, when I was in England and just moved here. Totally forgot about it. And I think at some point in twenty ten, I changed to US.
[00:27:34] VK Lakkineni: You gotta be in such a country. And then, recently, I just logged in. Like, you know, you get those monthly report emails. You didn't have any sales. I'm like, not promoting this. I have done that. Whatever. And there was, like, fifteen hundred dollars sitting there, and I don't know where that came from. And these are, like, you know, really small amounts of money because most stuff... And I used to put the books because I love reading, and I used to promote these books. So when you sell a thirty dollars book, you're making, like, thirty cents. And and when you look at the fifteen hundred dollars at thirty cents apiece,
[00:28:07] VK Lakkineni: it's like a lot of sales. Right? Yeah. And I just kinda look back, like, where that came from or some of these old pages from the old website or some of the links that I put on other blog posts and whatnot. Right? So could I have done better by focusing on it? I would have. But, again, looking at... Okay. Does it justify the dollar fifty dollar is an hour for me if I'm spending that time on that?
[00:28:32] Dustin Serviss: So is it is it is it not realistic for a person to sell a book for twenty four ninety five and sell a million copies and, you know, think that they just made twenty four million dollars, and the cost
[00:28:47] VK Lakkineni: of a book is a lot less than it's sold for. But It's very rare. It's very rare. Even, like, you know, the Chicken Soup for the Soul series books, like, you know... And they're amazing books. But if you look at the sales numbers, it shows the rank. Right? If you go to any of these item, it shows Okay. Most rank and, you know, if you're the publisher, then it shows you how many sales happen or whatnot. Over the time, you know, it's kind of like ghost town. It... That's why they come out with, you know, chicken soup for the team kids or a golf ball or an entrepreneur. And and you always gotta diversify whether it's a service or a product.
[00:29:27] VK Lakkineni: You gotta be innovative and stay current with what's happening. I mean, right now, you know, the whole financial market slipped onto the new crypto world with the digital payments and whatnot. And there's still people who think crypto is, like, you know, fad or, you know, you're an idiot or you're stupid if you invest money into crypto, but that's where it's going. And it started to switch test today, and I don't think, like, ninety percent of population isn't even aware of that. Like, if you go back to your TD news service agreement, like, you know, I think it's in section four, your digital ID, and we can control everything. You know?
[00:30:02] VK Lakkineni: And even though that's always been there, but it's done through a different means, and that's kind of inevitable in any industry. So all these gurus and influencers talking about cryptocurrency all these seven, ten years building that content, now it's finally happening. Right? So it's hard to tell, but I think when you are passionate about such a subject and you become a professional in it, you keep putting the content out and just be strategic. And one day, that's the future, and you're there.
[00:30:35] Dustin Serviss: Do you think that, you know, again, we often talk, and there's there's many books written on it, but having seven income streams and you have a diverse sort of mix of, you know, different assets to pay you. But, like, could almost every everyone have their own Amazon selling account? Or, like... Because you don't really have to invent something to sell. Like, you already mentioned Alibaba. People buy stuff on there, put a brand name on it, and then sell it for more just based on the brand. And my two part question is, how often have you seen in in your research brands like a a person who has...
[00:31:11] Dustin Serviss: You know, sells ten items on Amazon sell that business? Like, do they exit and a company buys them?
[00:31:19] VK Lakkineni: They do. You know, there are companies like that that acquire multiple stores and just create an entity out of it. And, almost, it becomes like a, you know, two hundred dollars product company, ten, you know, ten here, ten there. But where, it would be strategic is when you're kind of consolidating, your suppliers and when you're consolidating your costs and just becoming into one entity. So you're leveraging the people from different industry niches, basically. You know, the same Mhmm. That bought a a golf club would buy something else for his car. Right? And how do you leverage that customers to sell products from other segments?
[00:32:02] VK Lakkineni: And this is, you know, one thing I always, I I learned from Jabraham. He talks about preeminence. Look at other industries and see what is that thing that you can learn from it and leverage that in your industry. Right? And it's the same thing happening. If you're buying multiple stores and building up the content and products and then the the list of customers, you just gotta be innovative and keep putting the products out. There's nothing wrong with that. Like, especially the cost wise, I think it's kind of consolidates a lot of costs. But the hard part would be, would you... Where two or three suppliers can have the products that
[00:32:38] VK Lakkineni: are relevant to your customers?
[00:32:41] Dustin Serviss: So to the first part of the question, listener is listening, thinking, you know what? I'm, you know, working hard in my business, but I would love to have a, you know, recurring revenue stream. I'm gonna open up a Amazon store and sell something. Is that similar to the book? Is... Or is it more realistic to open an Amazon store and sell items? Is it There Is it that things
[00:33:05] VK Lakkineni: like book is different. And, with the Amazon stores, you just gotta find the right products, and there are a lot of tools that gives you the business intelligence. I have used couple that basically shows what are the best selling products in the category, how many sales that it has in the last thirty to ninety days, and, you know, where you can get it. And and I think it's all down to the science and looking at the numbers. Right? Like, with the books, like, even my own books when I put them on Amazon, it costs you, like, ten dollars for Canada Post. Right? Like, on top of your twenty four ninety nine or twenty nine ninety nine.
[00:33:43] VK Lakkineni: So your become... Your book becomes almost, like, fifty dollars. Right? And a lot of people don't wanna spend that ten dollars on shipping because, you know, Amazon Prime, whatever, and they would want it the next day. So if you're kind of expedite shipping, like, Anapost is, like, twenty five dollars, thirty dollars. Like, there were, some friends who bought books, like, in Australia, and my book isn't available there. So when I sent, like, a bundle of books, it cost me a hundred and sixty five dollars in shipping. Right? Right. Make any money at the at the end of that, but it's just about,
[00:34:19] VK Lakkineni: you know, you gotta support your network and somebody's interest in this book. That's what I'm saying. Like, you know, becoming an author and thinking about you made a lot of money is just a myth unless you're a big guy. But with the products, it's different. It all comes down to finding the right product at the right time and then having that in stock. And how do you manage that stock through, Amazon, marketplace? You know? You just kind of ship everything to Amazon, and they ship it to whenever there is a sale, and can that be sustainable? And it changes from product to product, and you just start to experiment with it.
[00:34:56] VK Lakkineni: And if somebody is starting over, I think the first step first step is basically really look at what are the best selling products out there and how fast can you get it. And, you know, everybody wants to start over when the graph is right there. Like, you know, in the stock market, oh my god. It's going up, and it's already up thirty percent. And I think it's gotta go up again. Right? Or you look at
[00:35:18] Dustin Serviss: it, it's a new niche and say you're starting somewhere in the bottom. There's only ten thousand products sold, but you really believe in the product, and it's really solving a problem and say, okay. I'm getting in the bottom, so I'm gonna make money when it goes up. Yeah. And and listener, if you're thinking, oh, maybe I should take on that project. You know, where would you find the time? And if that's kinda what you're thinking, maybe consider your existing business. Where in your own business could you redeploy something, repackage something, you know, contact an existing client or customer
[00:35:53] Dustin Serviss: and offer something that you haven't because there might be... You know, at the end of the day, you're looking for an opportunity. And so, you know, everything requires work. Remember, your business when you started it, it wasn't easy to start. And so maybe you're in a pivotal change. Maybe you've sold your business. You're looking for the next thing. Maybe an Amazon store is, is where you're at. Vikay, can you, sum us up with something that you're most passionate about training entrepreneurs and business clients about marketing right now?
[00:36:26] VK Lakkineni: I love entrepreneurship, and I love challenges. I I think that's why I became, an entrepreneur. And my focus right now is through Mindset Mog Brand, helping fellow entrepreneurs offer that coaching and say, these are the things that you need in your business to become something in two, three years' time. So I look at the language and, basically, piecing out the business and say, you need eight systems in your business, and this is not really working. And sometimes, I'm surprised. Like, a business that existed twenty years in the market, when you look at their logo, it doesn't match with any of the branding, doesn't match
[00:37:04] VK Lakkineni: with their website or what they're selling as a service or product. And I tell them, hey. You know? There's a psychology around the colors, and there is a branding process that happens. When was the last time you rebranded your business? Never. I paid two hundred dollars sometime long, to get this logo. But just when you look at those elements and say, I wanna become a ten million dollars business or a hundred million dollars business, you gotta be realistic in terms of what's that's needed. And now I look at these are the things that are missing for your scalability to go from the hundred thousand to a million or million to ten. And,
[00:37:41] VK Lakkineni: also, I often notice, like, the entrepreneurs going through that thirty five to forty midlife crisis and thinking, okay. I have done, like, three hundred or five hundred thousand or two million. I need to grow over Accelerate, and and I look at it differently and say, there... These are the tools that you need to be using to get. Just because, you know, I have seen that, and I implemented with some clients. And, you know, there was a thing. Like, you know, you can learn and get the knowledge, but unless you test it and experiment with it, you never know. You don't have the confidence to offer that to other people.
[00:38:19] Dustin Serviss: Vikki, I think, we've covered a lot of ground. I'm sure, listeners going to be looking into a few things. And, where can people find you online?
[00:38:27] VK Lakkineni: On my LinkedIn or my website, it's, lakkineni dot com, l a k k I n e n I dot com, or all my social media handles are v k lakk I n e n I.
[00:38:43] Dustin Serviss: VK, thanks a lot, for sharing your your wisdom and expertise this afternoon.
[00:38:47] VK Lakkineni: Yeah. Thank you, Dustin. Thanks for having me.
[00:38:50] Dustin Serviss: Thank you for tuning into this episode. If you enjoyed the show, please like and rate the show, share with a friend, or use your new knowledge in your next conversation. If during the show something gave you a pang of inspiration, motivation or sense of uncertainty, act on it now. Get the clarity you're looking for. Find the permission you seek. Go to service wealth dot com to discover how others are learning how to take Fridays off or buying a recreation property or spending more money. If you're an organizer of an event where you believe my philosophy on finance lifestyle design would be applicable, go to service wealth dot com and book me
[00:39:22] Dustin Serviss: as a speaker at your next event. If you want a copy of our new book coming out soon, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook, and we will be sure to get you a first copy.