Chris Yeakey of Black Caiman Media: Five Things You Need To Know To Run A Very Successful Amazon Business

As a part of my interview series about “Five non-intuitive things you need to know to run a very successful Amazon business, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Yeakey.

Chris Yeakey is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about helping others build e-commerce businesses from the ground up. Since beginning Black Caiman Media (link: https://blackcaimanmedia.com/) in 2018, an agency that specializes in launching new and existing brands via Amazon, Yeakey has helped many entrepreneurs build profitable companies.

Yeakey’s professional journey began in 2012 selling commercial real estate. While maintaining his regular 9-to-5, he spent his 5-to-9 feeding his entrepreneurial goals, learning the ins and outs of building an e-commerce business through Amazon. He built four profitable e-commerce companies on Amazon each in under a year within the beauty, clothing accessories and household items categories.

Amazon isn’t going anywhere and it’s a great supplement for people in need of extra cash or those who are interested in building large profitable businesses. Understanding this, Yeakey launched “Amazon FBA Fast Track Masterclass” in 2022 to share his knowledge with others who are interested in starting their own Amazon FBA business.

In addition to his passion of helping entrepreneurs, he is passionate about raising his daughter Everly, real estate development and traveling.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you share with us the “backstory” about what brought you to this specific career path?

I originally started selling on Amazon when I launched my first private label brand back in 2016. At that time, I was also working in commercial real estate, but I was ready to make a big career change. I was tired of being at the office day in and day out, and I felt like the constant stress just wasn’t worth it anymore.

I knew I wanted to be my own boss, and interestingly enough, I came across Amazon FBA through a simple Google search. After doing some more research, I found myself intrigued by the lifestyle and income it could potentially provide. I didn’t want to jump headfirst into Amazon selling just yet, so I started working on my own Amazon FBA business as a side gig while I continued on at my day job in commercial real estate.

I spent almost a year studying and learning how to sell on Amazon, and in that time I was able to launch my first product. After that it was full steam ahead. The success I had after launching my first product was enough to cover my expenses, allowing me to leave my position in commercial real estate and fully dedicate myself to becoming an Amazon seller.

From that moment on, I haven’t looked back. I fell in love with learning how to grow and scale my business. For me, one of the best parts about being an Amazon seller has been the ability to earn money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without having to go into an office or report to anyone.

Fast forward a couple of years later to 2018, when I started up my consulting company, Black Caiman Media. I knew I wanted to do something more than just have my own successful Amazon FBA businesses. That’s when I thought, why not teach other people to do exactly what I did? That way I could spread the knowledge that allowed me to become financially independent and sound.

In essence, I wanted to take everything I’d spent years learning and understanding about Amazon FBA business and turn it into something that could help others find the same success that I did. My goal with my consulting business is to give people the opportunity to break out of whatever job they may feel stuck in and find the freedom that I did by becoming an Amazon seller. Today, I still run my own successful Amazon FBA businesses while simultaneously leading my Amazon consulting company, and I’ve never been happier.

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about selling on Amazon.com?

As I mentioned, I started selling on Amazon in 2016, giving me six years of experience in the industry. Since I started, I have been able to launch four profitable private label brands on my own, as well as scale numerous other private label brands through Black Caiman Media.

Currently, I am managing multi-millions in Amazon sales each year. And such big numbers bring a lot of responsibility, which has made it necessary for me to constantly educate myself and stay up-to-date on everything there is to know about running an Amazon FBA business. While it can reap great rewards, becoming an Amazon seller is a lot of work, and I have dedicated countless hours to learning everything there is to know about being a successful Amazon seller.

In January of 2022, I launched “Amazon FBA Fast Track Masterclass” specifically for people interested in launching a successful, six-figure Amazon FBA business, but have no idea where to start. The course takes a deep dive into how to start your own Amazon FBA business, teaching the same strategies and tools that have made me successful over the past six years.

When you know how to do a certain skill and you can do it effectively and efficiently, that makes you proficient at it. But knowing how to do a certain skill better than the competition makes you an authority, which is an ability that I am proud to say I possess when it comes to starting and running a successful Amazon FBA business.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

My story doesn’t have to do with me so much as it has to do with someone else. A good friend of mine once reached out to me when they were going through a tough time, and I decided to help them start their own Amazon business. They have had great success, and they no longer have to worry about how they’re going to pay the rent or make ends meet.

Without the career that I built, I would have never been able to help my friend in that way. This experience made me feel better than hitting a sales goal or having a successful product launch ever could. Opportunities to help other people give me the drive to run my own Amazon consulting business.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

This story certainly wasn’t funny at the time, but looking back on it now, I can’t help but laugh about how much time this mistake ended up costing me. When I first started as an Amazon seller, I wasn’t aware that the manufacturer was able to individually label each unit with an FNSKU barcode, which is used in Amazon warehouses to track inventory.

Long story short, I was sending all of the inventory to my house, printing the labels off of my laptop, and individually labeling every unit (we’re talking thousands of units) by hand. Once I discovered that the manufacturer could do the labeling, I was kicking myself.

From then on, I had the manufacturer label all units with these barcodes prior to shipping them to the U.S. The worst part is that, the majority of the time, manufacturers don’t even charge for this service!

A big thing that I learned from this experience was to always search for a more efficient solution to things. If something is time-consuming or doesn’t seem to be working effectively, there’s usually a better way to do it. You just have to do some research.

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Absolutely. As I mentioned, I just launched the six-module online course that teaches people how to start a profitable Amazon FBA business. I have been working on this course for over a year, and I have spent so much time on it because I want to make it the most comprehensive course on the market.

My goal is to help as many people as possible start their own Amazon FBA business, which I think will give individuals who are struggling financially or professionally the opportunity to earn additional income during these tough times. Ultimately, I would love to give people the ability to change their entire career path should they desire and give them the tools to gain financial independence and an overall sense of freedom in their lives.

Ok. Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. You are a seasoned Amazon expert. Can you share with our readers five, non intuitive, insider tips, in order to be as successful as possible on Amazon? Please share a story or example for each.

My first tip would be to use Helium 10 software (or another similar software). By using this software, you’ll get in-depth insights into different Amazon data points. This knowledge will allow you to make informed decisions that put you above the competition, whether it be regarding keyword research, product research, or other relevant data points.

My second tip for Amazon sellers is to use Amazon’s IP Accelerator Program. This program will allow you to access Amazon’s brand registry tools in just three to four weeks. This is so much better than having to wait eight months, which is the case if you apply for your trademark outside of their IP Accelerator Program.

My third tip for sellers is to include inserts into their product packaging to ask customers if they were satisfied with their order. You should include a contact email to address any potential issues, which is a good way to get them to reach out directly to you before they leave a bad review. On this insert, you can also ask the customer to leave an honest review if they are satisfied with their order. Finally, this type of insert is an opportunity to collect customer emails by including a scannable QR code.

My fourth tip is to advertise outside of Amazon. I recommend using Facebook and Instagram ads to drive additional traffic to your Amazon listing when you’re launching a product. In my experience, offering rebates is a great way to score initial sales and get your product ranked, and I recommend advertising these rebates on social media.

My final tip for Amazon FBA business owners is to try and reach out to any customer that leaves a negative review. I know this sounds like a lot of extra work, but oftentimes, if you can get in touch with a customer and offer a refund or replacement product, they will accept your terms in exchange for an update to their review.

This is always in your best interest, because one of the key insights you should know about selling on Amazon is just how crucial reviews are to the success of your product. This can all be done with the new Amazon “customers review tool” through brand registry, which gives you the ability to contact unsatisfied customers.

Amazon sellers have a reputation for being great guerilla marketers. Do you use any clever and innovative marketing strategies that you think large legacy companies should consider adopting?

One of the most innovative and unique marketing strategies that I have adopted is using a software called ManyChat, which allows you to create chatbots in Facebook Messenger. This software gives you the opportunity to communicate directly with your customers by sending them personalized messages when they interact with your advertisements.

In my opinion, this contact strategy is much more effective than traditional email marketing, which is why I think even large legacy companies could take advantage of it. Using ManyChat also results in very high click-through and open rates when you send your audience new broadcasts.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

This one’s easy for me. If I could inspire a movement, it would be for every Amazon seller to hold a free, one-day seminar in their city to educate people on the power of running your own Amazon business.

As I mentioned, one of my main motivations for founding my own Amazon consulting firm was to help people change their lives like I was able to do with my friend in need. Whether you have financial difficulties, aren’t happy in your career, or are simply looking for a way to gain more freedom in your life, becoming an Amazon seller can seriously turn your life upside down, in a good way.

If I were given the chance to spark a movement that would inspire all Amazon sellers to spread their wealth of knowledge with other individuals in need, I think it could create opportunities for thousands of people, and there’s nothing more valuable than that.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite life lessons quote actually comes from Rocky Balboa: “It’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

This quote has constant relevance in my life. As an independent business owner, I face unexpected challenges on a regular basis. A perfect example of this is the recent pandemic that has turned all of our lives upside down.

The pandemic forced my business to operate in a completely different manner due to the fact that many manufacturers shut down and Amazon limited their services. However, this didn’t stop me from finding a way to keep my business up and running. We made the decision to stop using Amazon FBA and began shipping orders out of my house to keep the company alive.

This quote really rings true to the nature of my business. When it comes to sales, Amazon sales in particular, there are so many factors that are out of your control. Because of that, being able to respond and adapt to the challenges that constantly arise is what will set you apart from the competition. Anyone can have good luck, but what’s important is knowing how to react when bad luck strikes.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

I would love to have a private breakfast with Gary V, who really is an inspiration to me. He is an extremely forward-thinking person, which allows him to identify trends before they even become trends. He has also had great business success in a number of different niches, making him very versatile.

I think I could learn a lot of things from him that I could apply to my own business. As an Amazon seller, it is very important to be ahead of trends, and that is a skill that Gary V certainly possesses.

Video here.