EX-MMA FIGHTER: How To COMPETE in the Biggest Business Ring (Amazon)

by | Nov 6, 2024 | Podcast | 0 comments

Mina Elias
Mina Elias

Mina Elias is the CEO of MMA Nutrition, a seven-figure Amazon dietary supplement brand. With the expertise he gained from growing his supplement brand, he founded PPC University, where he serves as the Head Instructor to other Amazon sellers. Mina is also the Founder of Trivium Group, an agency dedicated to helping brands scale profitably on Amazon.

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 Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

  • [0:00] Former MMA fighter Mina Elias talks about surviving on Amazon’s marketplace
  • [2:48] Is it worth it to sell products on Amazon?
  • [6:18] Amazon’s dominance in global e-commerce rankings
  • [11:37] Top mistakes brands make when selling on Amazon
  • [16:02] How to compete on Amazon’s marketplace
  • [21:05] The importance of systemizing your Amazon business
  • [27:25] Factors impacting profitability on Amazon
  • [31:25] Negotiation tactics for product pricing
  • [40:00] Mina talks about Amazon’s partnerships with social media ad platforms

In this episode…

Is Amazon worth the investment? As digital marketplaces continue to evolve, many brands wonder if Amazon remains the unrivaled platform for sellers, especially when facing competition from platforms like TikTok and Walmart. With changing market dynamics and seller challenges, what makes Amazon the most attractive option for entrepreneurs?

According to MMA fighter turned seven-figure Amazon seller Mina Elias, Amazon is the most frequented online retail store for consumers. Although most Amazon sellers only reach approximately $100,000 in annual sales, you can scale to multiple millions by understanding customer preferences and market dynamics. Mina emphasizes innovating your products consistently to remain relevant among similar products. You must also develop strategic pricing structures, ensuring you price products within the standard ranges for your category.

Tune in to this episode of What The Teck? as Rolando Rosas speaks with Mina Elias, the CEO of MMA Nutrition, about competing for profitability on Amazon. Mina talks about Amazon’s partnerships with social media platforms, Amazon’s global dominance in the market, and the factors influencing profitability on its platform. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments: 

  • “When that happens, the only way to succeed is you need to compete, and you need to compete at the highest level.” 
  • “You need to be in touch with your customer. You need to understand your customer, which is hard.” 
  • “Amazon comes back as the easiest one. It seems like the most competitive, but I don’t think so.” 
  • “When it comes to traffic, it is simply a matter of testing different keywords so you can show up in different search results.”
  • “As long as you can keep your finger on the pulse of where your ICP is going and where they’re shopping, you should be fine.” 

Action Steps: 

  1. Focus on product innovation: Continuously innovate and improve your product to stand out in the Amazon marketplace. This approach addresses the challenge of high competition by ensuring your product remains superior and attractive to customers.
  2. Develop a robust review strategy: Implement a comprehensive plan to increase customer reviews, such as engaging with customers post-purchase through email or social media. By doing so, you enhance credibility and visibility on Amazon, tackling the challenge of maintaining a competitive edge with positive feedback.
  3. Optimize your listing regularly: Regularly update and optimize your product listings, including images, descriptions, and keywords. This ongoing process helps improve your product’s visibility and conversion rate, addressing the challenge of staying ahead of competitors who enhance their listings continuously.
  4. Enhance cash flow management: Negotiate better terms with suppliers to improve cash flow, such as extended payment terms or bulk purchase agreements. This step is critical to sustaining operations and scaling your business without financial constraints.
  5. Stay informed and adapt to market changes: Keep a close watch on trends like Amazon’s partnerships with social media platforms and adapt your strategies accordingly. By doing so, you can seize new opportunities for visibility and sales, ensuring your brand remains relevant and competitive in the evolving e-commerce landscape.

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Episode Transcript:

Rolando Rosas  0:00  

Is Amazon worth it?

Mina Elias  0:02  

Absolutely. I mean, what else are you gonna do right? Etsy, Pinterest, TikTok Shop, Facebook, other marketplaces, none of those compare to how much money you can make on Amazon when you start playing it all out.

Rolando Rosas  0:14  

Nina Elias is the dynamic entrepreneur and former MMA fighter who turned his passion through supplements into a thriving Amazon business.

Mina Elias  0:22  

I started with very little. Back in 2018 I was looking for a Keto electrolyte powder. There was nothing on the market that had high active ingredients, no sugar for reasonable prices. I created a $20 electrolyte. I started with $500 on a credit card. I just kept like recycling the money and investing again and again, if you come up with a solution to a problem that’s better than everyone else’s solution, that’s ultimately how the business grows. One of the things that was a light bulb moment for me is like people want to focus on the PPC, because it’s almost like gambling, right? That immediate dopamine. Yesterday I spent $50 I made 80. It’s been 100 I made 200 What do you need to do? You need to be in touch with your customer. You need to understand your customer which is hard. You need to talk to talk to them, which is hard, and then from there you need to and that’s also hard. It’s a difficult thing, and people don’t like doing hard things.

Rolando Rosas  1:08  

There must be a lot of people that throw in the towel

Mina Elias  1:11  

when that happens. The only way to succeed is you need to compete, and you need to compete at the highest level.

Rolando Rosas  1:16  

What are the biggest pitfalls when it comes to Amazon?

Mina Elias  1:20  

Yeah, so number one,

Rolando Rosas  1:26  

Welcome to What The Teck? your gateway to business strategies and tech secrets shaping today’s workplace. Welcome back, friends to the channel. You know, a lot of people ask, is Amazon worth it? And it’s a hard question to answer, because it depends. A wise man told me it depends. And I’ve got one of those wise men with me today, and I want to jump right into it with him. Welcome to What The Teck? I want you to give him a nice round of applause. Mina Elias,

Mina Elias  2:02  

loving the side effects.

Rolando Rosas  2:04  

Got a bunch. I got a bunch. I’m ready for you today.

Mina Elias  2:06  

Awesome, man. Awesome. Love it. How’s it going?

Rolando Rosas  2:09  

I’m doing well. Where are you checking in from today? Mina,

Mina Elias  2:12  

I’m in Los Angeles. It’s beautiful. It’s sunny, it’s great summer. Can’t complain.

Rolando Rosas  2:17  

I love LA I love if if it was just a thing that I could do, but just be on the West Coast. Can’t do it, but I’ll live through you for now. Yeah, it’s

Mina Elias  2:27  

beautiful. It’s

Rolando Rosas  2:27  

beautiful. Mina, I have you here because we’re at a pivotal moment when it comes to being on Amazon. You know, I’ve been on the platform for almost 11 years, myself, and Amazon’s not what it was even two years ago. And the question I want to ask you is, is Amazon worth it? Absolutely.

Mina Elias  2:48  

I mean, what else are you going to do, right? Like, is anything worth it? So is Amazon worth it? Just as a kind of a black or white answer, 100% it’s worth it. Amazon is worth it because I believe it is the fastest way to make money selling a product than anywhere else. Because if you’re asking me, Hey, Mina, I have no business, is Amazon worth it? I’m like, What’s your goals? Do you want a big exit? Do you want more of a passive business, or do you want cash flow faster? Right? So if you have a great job and you’re like, I’m not in a hurry to leave my current job, I’m comfortable, then, okay, invest in an Amazon brand. But if you’re like, I need cash right now, then it’s like, okay, maybe an agency is a little bit better. But if you’re talking about, listen, I already have a product I’m set on selling a product your competition to Amazon or other opportunities or alternatives is selling direct to consumer. So you have to master Facebook ads. You have to pump out a ton of creatives. You have to figure out Google ads, you have to figure out email marketing and lifetime value and all that kind of stuff, right? Because, from what I know from my friends who are experts at Facebook, you need, like, an average order value of 60 or $70 to succeed on Facebook, on Amazon. You don’t need that, right? What are the other alternatives? Etsy, Pinterest, TikTok Shop, right? None of those compare to how much money if you come up with a solution to a problem that’s better than everyone else’s solution. Same way I did so back in 2018 I went on the market. I was looking for a Keto electrolyte powder. There was nothing on the market that had high active ingredients, no sugar for reasonable price. Everything was $30 or more. So I created a $20 electrolyte that had very high active ingredients, sodium, potassium, magnesium, taurine, which enhances absorption and athletic performance. And I just kept it super clean, right? No artificial anything. And it sold, you know, pretty well. And so even though it was an incredibly saturated niche, very, very competitive and I didn’t have much money. I started with $500 on a credit card, and then I sold my first 100 units, ordered another 500 on that credit card, and then ordered another 800 on that credit card. And then I got some money coming in from Amazon, paying off some of that cost of goods, reinvested, everything, everything, I think. And the limit that I reached on my credit card at one point was $14,000 only. And again, I just kept like recycling the money and investing again and again, and I was giving free product away for reviews and all that kind of stuff. But I started with very little, but I had a good product, and that’s why I was able to make it work. So if you ask me, could I have done that on Facebook? I don’t think so. I don’t think I could have used any other advertising platform and done it successfully in such a lean way. I think I could have made the product work if I had maybe gone like, more grassroots, promoting the product in different places, using Instagram, using organic socials, using YouTube, things like that. 100% I could have built up a YouTube channel, right? But who here has a personality for a YouTube channel? 90% of the audience does it, right? 10% of us will. 90% of us don’t. So if you’re asking me, Is it worth it? It’s the best option right now. Is it as easy as it was in 2015 No, but the world is evolving, right? Like we now have aI chat, GPT, all this stuff. We didn’t have any of that stuff in 2014 2015, so 15. So the world is evolving. And people, they’re always going to look back and say, oh, you know what? Oh, man, in the 1970s people used to buy houses for $50,000 you know, right? Is that where you’re going to be living your whole life? So, yeah, Amazon’s absolutely worth it. 

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