{"id":91,"date":"2016-03-30T07:45:28","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T15:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedombyamazon.com\/?p=91"},"modified":"2016-03-30T07:45:28","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T15:45:28","slug":"kiss-keep-it-simple-and-successful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/kiss-keep-it-simple-and-successful\/","title":{"rendered":"KISS – Keep It Simple and Successful"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent 10 years on the road as a management consultant. I wasn’t with a big company, but we had clients all over the US and Canada. I was pretty good at my job.<\/p>\n

My job was to identify and break apart any bottle-necks or log-jams that got in the way of success for my clients. Sometimes that was replacing certain personnel who were the problem. Mostly, it was to simplify the clients’ processes.<\/p>\n

It was amazing how ingenious people can be in designing their workflow or Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). It seems important to them to identify every conceivable problem area or loophole and get it handled.<\/p>\n

No, it isn’t.<\/p>\n

What’s important is to keep processes as simple as possible. Why? To minimize the areas that can break.<\/p>\n

The more moving parts there are, the more likely one will break, stall, or go off the rails. The more inter-connectedness there is in the SOPs, the more likely something will un-sync and gum up all the other parts.<\/p>\n

Keep It Simple. And Successful.<\/p>\n

Determine what the end goal of your process is. Draw or chart out what needs to be done in order to reach that end-state. Look for duplication or back-tracking. Identify areas of restriction or bottle-necks. Apply your imagination and brainstorm ways to do the job. Do what-ifs.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, you will be able to see that your initial take can be simplified.<\/p>\n

Do it again.<\/p>\n

Your end-goal is to have a process with as few steps as possible, yielding the most important results.<\/p>\n

For an FBA business, the process is:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Find a Product<\/li>\n
  2. Source a Product<\/li>\n
  3. Prep a Product<\/li>\n
  4. Ship a Product<\/li>\n
  5. Promote a Product<\/li>\n
  6. Replenish and Repeat.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Ideally, your finding and sourcing efforts will net you profitable products you can easily replenish. Your prepping and shipping processes should not consume your life, or your life savings. Your product sells and sells and sells, and you make money.<\/p>\n

    In each area, determine what needs to be done, then determine how to do it. Write it down – you WILL forget. Then just follow the steps.<\/p>\n

    Make it easy to proceed and hard to fail.<\/p>\n

    That’s how I made my clients successful. That’s how you can do it, too.<\/p>\n

    John L<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I spent 10 years on the road as a management consultant. I wasn’t with a big company, but we had clients all over the US and Canada. I was pretty good at my job. My job was to identify and break apart any bottle-necks or log-jams that got in the way of success for my … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,17,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-improving","category-planning","category-processes","category-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6aoKM-1t","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":145,"url":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/find-it-list-it-ship-it-repeat\/","url_meta":{"origin":91,"position":0},"title":"Find It, List It, Ship It, Repeat!","author":"John Larson","date":"July 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I was thinking about success with Amazon's FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon). It boils down to the 3 topics in this blog Title. Find It! Find Profitable items to sell. List It! Get it \"on the shelf\". Ship It! Get it to Amazon's warehouses. Repeat! Do it again -- and again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Improving"","block_context":{"text":"Improving","link":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/category\/improving\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95,"url":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/how-to-plan-for-success-in-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":91,"position":1},"title":"How to Plan for Success In Business","author":"John Larson","date":"April 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had several businesses. I've failed, and I've succeeded. Turns out that the difference between success and failure is just some small details. Details that often get overlooked in the crush of daily activities. You either move towards success, or you move towards failure. You get to choose. First, The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Buying Right"","block_context":{"text":"Buying Right","link":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/category\/buying-right\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":154,"url":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/doing-business-as-a-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":91,"position":2},"title":"Doing Business as a Business","author":"John Larson","date":"August 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There are the 2 aspects of a business. 1. The structure and surrounding support processes - accounting, finance, and the like. and 2. The operations part - what and how are you going to do every day to make money. You can make money without much of a formal business\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Buying Right"","block_context":{"text":"Buying Right","link":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/category\/buying-right\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":150,"url":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/list-it-get-your-purchase-on-the-shelf\/","url_meta":{"origin":91,"position":3},"title":"List It! Get Your Purchase “On the Shelf”!","author":"John Larson","date":"July 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"From the 3 \"Success\" rules, we've covered Finding It. Now, it's time to List It! If the product is already available on Amazon, Listing it is a simple matter of adding your products to the existing Catalog listing. You can do this from inside the Amazon Seller free app on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Listing"","block_context":{"text":"Listing","link":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/category\/listing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":211,"url":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/who-is-this-guy\/","url_meta":{"origin":91,"position":4},"title":"Who IS This Guy?","author":"John Larson","date":"March 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been here spouting off about various topics, big and small, and you must be wondering if I know what the heck I'm talking about. Here's something about me. I've been in business\u00a0for 50 years. First in Bricks and Mortar retail where I lived through 2 recessions but failed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Basic Info"","block_context":{"text":"Basic Info","link":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/category\/basic-info\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":255,"url":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/dont-run-your-business-with-fear\/","url_meta":{"origin":91,"position":5},"title":"Don’t Run Your Business with FEAR","author":"John Larson","date":"April 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I talk with many new and veteran Amazon Sellers. It is common for the new ones to be reluctant to start or keep going because they are afraid. Afraid to make a mistake, to buy certain products for fear of getting their account banned, afraid to try something because they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Improving"","block_context":{"text":"Improving","link":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/category\/improving\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92,"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedombyamazon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}