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October 2017

Merch By Amazon
Design And Inspiration Guide
By Michael Essany
 WELCOME TO THE Q4 DANCE

Opportunity dances with those already on the

dance floor.

That quote from H. Jackson Brown Jr. has long

been among my favorites and it’s particularly

applicable for sellers on Merch By Amazon.

In fact, the more shirts you have for sale, the

more feet you effectively have on the dance

floor. And with Q4 2017 serving as the DJ at this dance party, it’s time to get busy

boogying, as there’s never been a more important time to hit your daily upload

max and fill every slot you have available.

Consider this. Any tshirt you put up for sale on or after October 1st will be

available for purchase through Christmas. Your 90-day window for sales before

the involuntary MBA purge will give your newest shirts the full breadth of buying

opportunity across Amazon during the busiest time of year. If they sell a single

time, you will have all of 2018 to sell them again and again and again.

Given the immense opportunity at hand, one would think that such a task would

be inspiring and energizing. Yet I am constantly hearing from Merch sellers who
feel creatively stymied this time of year. Why? They look at the primary holidays

and design inspirations on the Q4 calendar -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas,

etc. – and feel as though they can’t come up with anything original for these

occasions.

While I reject the notion that the holidays have been thoroughly milked of all

creative apparel ideas, we’re not going to focus on that today. What we are going

to focus on is something that will hopefully reset your thinking and remove any

holiday-centric creativity blocks that are imperiling your design volume output

and general outlook on Q4.

Contrary to widespread belief, designing for Q4 doesn’t have to specifically relate

in any way to what’s most symbolic of Q4.

As hard as it is for me to believe, this is now my third holiday season selling on

MBA. And over the last two fourth quarters, I’ve learned a lot about what does

and doesn’t sell very well.

Time and again, many of us go into the home stretch of the calendar year seeking

to improve upon what didn’t work out for us in previous years. But you know

what they say about the definition of insanity, right? It’s when you do the same

thing over and over again and expect different results.

What I’ve learned is that the Merch By Amazon platform helps sellers learn pretty

quickly what the market wants and what the market will likely reject. And while

there’s never a guarantee of skyrocketing sales for any design or design strategy,

I’m convinced that it’s insane to repeat mostly the same creative and design

strategies that haven’t worked well in the past, particularly with regard to the

holidays.

So what exactly is the biggest mistake you should avoid like the plague? The fatal

mistake in question pertains to designing for the holidays first and the bigger

picture second.

In other words, during the holidays, more consumers seek shirts that celebrate

people, passions, and pursuits (applicable year-round) rather than shirts that

specifically relate to the holidays at hand. For now, the market doesn’t need more

shirts with pumpkins and snowmen. Believe it or not, there are bigger fish to fry in

on Merch.

So if we’re not surveying the vast holiday landscape for

explicit design inspiration, where should we set our gaze as

we look for opportunities to create shirts that have

meaning and will generate momentum in Q4 and well into the new year?

Let’s start by looking not at what the holidays bring, but at what life brings for

many of us around the holidays -- experiences that are timeless and without a

shelf life limited to the fourth quarter of the calendar.

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS

Last Q4 resulted in an amazing stretch of sales for me -- far better than I had ever

imagined. But the vast majority of shirts I sold (I’m talking 90% or better) were

appropriate to purchase and wear other times of the year.

As a result of this experience, I’m convinced that the real opportunity in Q4 comes

from designing for the broader consumer mindset -- a mindset that isn’t wholly

consumed by shirts with reindeer, candy canes, and snowflakes.

Tshirts and all forms of apparel make GREAT gifts for birthdays, holidays, and life

milestones 365 days a year. So much attention, however, is directed toward

holiday-themed shirts during Q4 that we overlook the multitude of life milestones

and experiences that tend to take place more frequently than we realize during

this time of year. And by allocating some of your slots to shirts recognizing these

occasions, you may not only unlock new selling opportunities in Q4, but also jump
start a new wave of year-round purchases born of the enormous head-start the

holidays can provide with relative ease.

By no means am I suggesting that you not make shirts for Halloween,

Thanksgiving, Hanukah, and Christmas. These shirts sell very, very well. But

capitalizing on the full potential of Q4 means thinking beyond fall and winter

holidays and their familiar design motifs. Just like our parents always encouraged

us to have a balanced breakfast, our Merch portfolio should similarly be a

balanced catalogue of diverse designs and messages spanning seasonal to

evergreen.

Some design concepts, however, are so rich with potential that they could

effectively be both. And I’ve prepared a list of some of them for you.

So, without further ado, here are a few outside-the-box ideas that can not only

sell during the holidays but can and frequently do sell in large volumes other

times of the year, If not year-round.

 MIDTERM GRADUATIONS

In December 2005, I graduated from Valparaiso

University along with hundreds of my peers. It wasn’t

the beautiful and balmy late spring graduation

celebration that two-thirds of the students at my

school would experience, but I’ll never forget that crisp winter morning that

brought with it my hard-earned diploma and about fifteen years-worth of student

loans.

Almost as memorable that day were the touching array of presents and

graduation gifts I received. Among them, for sure, were a few customary

graduation-related tshirts -- all of which I still have, although I no longer fit into

them.

I hadn’t really given much consideration to wintertime graduations and their

impact on apparel sales in Q4 until last winter, when the graduation tees I put up

for sale that previous April started selling BETTER than they did in May and June,

when most college graduations take place.

It isn’t something we spend much time thinking about, but there are thousands

upon thousands of midterm grads who will be given graduation tees this
December and every December to follow. You might as well make an effort now

to ensure that your creations are among the hottest products for the coldest

collegiate celebrations.

“Every year, colleges and universities award millions of Bachelor’s degrees to

millions of students all seeking immediate employment,” reports USA Today.

“While it’s wonderful to finally earn a degree, spring graduation creates fierce

competition for the enormous population of young professionals all looking for

the same job. Students who graduate in December should take advantage of this

less popular graduation season to maximize their job prospects.”

This tidbit should spark some creative thinking about the types of messaging that

graduation shirts should emphasize -- messaging about jobs, the future, and a

new year of opportunity ahead.

Quick Amazon searches for “December college graduation” and “midterm

graduation” return scant results. Now would be an opportune time to give

Amazon’s search engine something to turn up for the families of midterm grads

who have very few apparel options at their disposal.

The opportunities for creative word play, innovative messaging, and scaling are

plentiful. However, if you want to maximize your annual sales potential, here’s a
trick I discovered that always worked for me in various other niches and will likely

help in this situation as well.

If you produce a graduation tshirt -- whether it be a graduation gift for the grad or

a scaled design series for the family of a graduate -- don’t acknowledge

December, winter, or midterm graduation status in the design itself. Instead, use

the bullets to draw attention to the particular importance of your tshirt to

midterm graduation ceremonies.

Now, if you have ample slots to spare, I would advise also going all in on the

opportunity with December graduations and directly reference graduating around

the holidays.

As one example for designing these shirts, consider the most common

undergraduate degree fields and the proximity of a December graduation to the

New Year. What you have is the recipe for a great combo in a horizontally scaled

series of shirts. Here’s just one scaling example:

• 2018: Ringing in the New Year with a Degree in Business

• 2018: Ringing in the New Year with a Degree in Psychology

• 2018: Ringing in the New Year with a Degree in Education

Whether you get exceedingly intricate and design a New Year’s Baby with a

graduation cap, or you simply scale text-based designs for year-end graduates and

their families, the midterm gradation apparel space is worth a look for anyone

wanting to augment their catalogue with outside-the-box-offerings for whom

there will be an underserved audience to court in the fourth quarter.

 HOLIDAY ENGAGEMENTS

Since 1916, millions of Americans across the country

have celebrated Sweetest Day -- which is thought of

by many as autumn’s Valentine’s Day. This year,

Sweetest Day falls on October 21st. But as of early

September, countless new Sweetest Day inspired tees

were popping up in online stores everywhere.

The sad truth, however, is that most of these tshirts won’t sell. Why? Consumers

aren’t really looking for “Sweetest Day” shirts in resounding numbers. By and

large, they’re looking for “romance novelty” shirts and “funny relationship” tees

for husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends.

Remember, capitalizing on a holiday, event or theme doesn’t necessarily mean a

shirt has to explicitly acknowledge the source of inspiration for that shirt’s

existence. I’ve sold many shirts launched right before Sweetest Day that never

actually mentioned Sweetest Day. Why not? All that really matters is that the

tshirt speaks to the mood and mindset of the consumer. And the typical buyer of

tshirts for Sweetest Day and Valentine’s Day is looking for more than just

recognition of the holiday at hand.

October is actually the best time of year to become well positioned for the

romance rush that begins this month and persists through Valentine’s Day. That

sound’s crazy, I know. But here’s what you have to consider. Approximately HALF

of ALL engagements occur between Sweetest Day and Valentine’s Day.

“The holiday season is the perfect time for many engagements, given that many

couples have time off work and travel home to visit their families,” reads a blog

post on the matter at WeddingWire. “The top ten most popular dates include

major holidays such as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years’ Day, and

Valentine’s Day.”

Believe it or not, there isn’t a SINGLE shirt on Amazon.com (as far as I could tell)

that speaks to the concept of ringing in the New Year with a new ring on your

finger. Even though New Year’s Eve has always been one of the most

commonplace occasions to get engaged, designers tend to focus on the occasion

itself and not the life events that frequently accompany these occasions. As a

result, romance and engagement tees are among the most under-appreciated

and under-leveraged design concepts in ecommerce during Q4.

 TO THE RESCUE

When it comes to competitive and oversaturated niches,

does it really get any more competitive or oversaturated

than the animals niche? That must mean we should

avoid this niche because of how difficult it is to make

headway, right?

Not exactly.

If you look closely at what’s out there, the majority of shirts in the animals niche

are modeled after the best-selling themes and concepts well established in the

space:

• Proud Pitbull Mom/Dad

• I Love My Golden Retriever and Like 3 Other People

• All I Want to do is Drink Coffee/Wine and Pet My Husky

• I’m Not Covered in Dog Hair, It’s German Shepherd Glitter

If you took the ten most popular dog shirt designs on Amazon and removed them

all (along with their lazy knock-offs), most animal lover tees would be gone.
Yes, animal shirts are more than plentiful but they are also among the least

creative and deeply scaled shirts in competitive niches. So what does this mean

for you, if you love animals and are inclined to make shirts for dog and cat lovers?

Once again, consider the time of year.

From black cat adoption surges ahead of Halloween, to the giving of puppies as

gifts for Christmas, there is a significant spike in animal purchases in the fourth

quarter of every year. And while I’m always happy to hear about animals finding

loving homes, there’s an ugly underside to this reality and true animal lovers are

growing aware of the problem at hand and standing up for their furry friends.

What this means for you is that this is a great time to arm these animal activists

with apparel that isn’t available in enough varieties of design and messaging to

give this market what it wants.

Surprisingly enough, the “adopt don’t shop” crusade hasn’t translated to an influx

of shirts that dog and cat rescuers would snap up in a heartbeat. From animal

shelters to local veterinary clinics, there’s a massive push underway to encourage

people to stop supporting puppy mills (which supply many retail animal stores)

and encourage animal recues from the local pound as well as push people to

adopt senior dogs.

Do a search for “I Rescued a Senior Dog” on Amazon and let me know what you

find. Here’s a hint: Not much. There’s enormous potential for shirts that speak to

this growing movement across the United States and when you consider the

scaling potential of standing up for your favorite breeds, you can make

innumerable tees that dog lovers will wear and support during the holidays and

any time of year. For example:

• My Pitbull and I Support Responsible Breeding

• I Rescued a Senior Chihuahua

• I Love My Black Cat: A Pet for Life Not a Prop for Halloween

• I Love My Doberman So Much I Got Him Neutered (He’ll Thank Me Later)

• Pounds Not Puppy Mills

• From The Shelter to the Sweet Life, My French Bulldog Has It Made

I could fill pages and pages with ideas for articulating similar ideas across the most

popular (and least popular) breeds. But I’m certain that you can too (just be sure

to double check that breed names and related terms aren’t trademarked). And I

hope that you do, because in the weeks that follow Halloween, shelters see a

flurry of dumped black cats that are no longer “needed.” And after Christmas, the

shelters see more un-adopted senior dogs because of all the cute puppies that
were purchased during the holidays. Shirts that raise awareness and defend dogs

and cats from unprincipled breeding, marketing, and sales practices will not only

sell, they may also help save more animals.

For good measure, here’s a picture of my

dog Riley with my daughter Bella. He’s

almost four and came from the Humane

Society in Kentucky. He’s a rescue and, for

the record, he’s also the best dog ever.

No dog lover has ever said that, right?

 SELF IMPROVEMENT FOR 2018

2018 New Year’s Resolutions shirts barely fill one

page on Amazon as of this writing. That will change

in the weeks ahead. Why? Buyers will start coming

for them soon and sellers will give them more to

choose from. It’s in your best interest to have your

offerings in the mix. And quickly.

But don’t just make the shirts about New Year’s Eve and having a list of

resolutions. Design the shirt and customize the messaging in such a way that it

could be worn any time during the full calendar year.

Here are just a few ideas to keep in mind as you separate yourself from the crowd

and scale your way to more shirt sales before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve.

In my experience, shirts that offer positivity and humor sell exceptionally well as it

pertains to the New Year. I saw this in the transition from 2016 to 2017 and I

expect to see it again from 2017 into 2018.

Fortunately, New Year’s shirts are very easy to scale, even though most designers

choose not to scale them. In my opinion, they’re leaving money on the table. And

those who think making another “2018 Happy New Year” shirt is all it takes, think
again. I don’t care how cute your font selection is and how awesome your

fireworks clip art looks, most buyers want something that’s unique, highly

personal, and funny. Consider how easy it would be to scale the following concept

(for runners, bowlers, outdoor enthusiasts, respectively):

• Less is More in 2018: Less Driving, More Running

• Less is More in 2018: Less Work, More Bowling

• Less is More in 2018: Less Indoors, More Outdoors

By now, we all know that gym memberships explode every year in January.

Workout apparel, consequently, is always hot in demand over the holidays.

Your task is to consider all of the various kinds of people and professionals who

will make working out a new year’s resolution and then scale away. For example:

• 2018 is ‘Working Out’ for This Teacher

• 2018 is ‘Working Out’ for This Mechanic

• 2018 is ‘Working Out’ for this Nurse

There is no shortage of opportunity to tie common resolutions and fitness

objectives to every conceivable person and professional on this planet in a

thousand different ways that can be worn any time of year.

 CELEBRATING MILITARY DIVERSITY

Most of the clip art and royalty free graphics that we select

for our tshirts honoring military personnel, police officers,

firefighters, and healthcare professionals offer very little

diversity. In other words, the ethnic richness of our most

heroic servants is commonly ignored in the tshirt design

business.

From Asian Americans and African Americans, to Arab

Americans and Hispanic Americans, heroes come in all

varieties in our celebrated melting pot and our Merch designs should reflect it.

When it comes to tackling competitive niches with a unique and valuable angle,

this is one overflowing with potential. Everywhere we turn there is apparel

celebrating the contributions across society by people of color but yet we rarely

drill down into specific niches with our expression of this appreciation.

Let’s focus for a minute on the role of Hispanic Americans in the military.

“The share of the active-duty force that is Hispanic has risen rapidly in recent

decades,” Pew Research tells us. “In 2015, 12% of all active-duty personnel were

Hispanic, three times the share in 1980.”

Yet there are very few shirts on Amazon that honor the contributions of retired or

active duty Hispanics in the military. These types of shirts should be a high priority

for designers in Q4, as this time of year brings with it an enormous groundswell of

military tshirt buying among military families.

To really stand out, and if you have the slots to spare, consider designing your

shirts with messaging both in English and in Spanish (perhaps one version

available in standard and the other premium). Just be sure to do your homework

and, preferably, consult with a Spanish speaking friend or family member to

ensure that your translated messaging reads correctly.

Scaling your designs to honor our family members in the military would pack

enormous creative punch when coupled with a powerful message celebrating

Hispanics (or any ethnicity, race, etc.) in the armed services.

Consider a shirt, for example, that reads: I Salute My Mother and Honor the

Sacrifice of All Hispanic Veterans.” Then look at how you can scale this design in

Spanish:

• Padre: Father

• Madre: Mother

• Hijo: Son
• Hija: Daughter

• Esposo: Husband

• Esposa: Wife

• Hermano: Brother

• Hermana: Sister

• Tía: Aunt

• Tío: Uncle

• Primo: Cousin (Male)

• Prima: Cousin (Female)

• Sobrino: Nephew

• Sobrina: Niece

• Nieto: Grandson

• Nieta: Granddaughter

• Suegro: Father-in-Law

• Suegra: Mother-in-Law

• Yerno: Son-in-Law

• Nuera: Daughter-in-Law

• Cuñado: Brother-in-Law

• Cuñada: Sister-in-Law
Although the names of military branches are STRICTLY off limits, using generic

military terms like “veteran” is not only acceptable, it’s also really all you need. In

fact, to cast the widest net possible with military-related apparel, being branch-

specific could be more restrictive on some design sales, particularly for branches

that have fewer women or ethnic diversity than others (this is important if you’re

focusing on honoring women or individuals of color in your scaled designs).

Despite concerns that non-specific branch-related tees aren’t as appealing to the

market, there’s nothing in my experience designing generic scaled military

appreciation tees that would suggest a modicum of truth in that assumption.

 SPORTS AND BONDING

As Merchers, we’ve all been there. As we

watched a baseball game, movie, television

show or any other form of copyrighted

entertainment, something transpired

before our eyes that generated an

immediate and compelling idea for a tshirt.

Of course, reality soon sets in. Unless, by chance, we want to sacrifice our account

by referencing the team, film, or show that provided the memory worth

commemorating on a tshirt, we have to take a pass on creating the shirt we know

would have been a hit.

If you’re like me, you quickly abandon the idea and go back to enjoying the

moment at hand. But as I’ve come to discover, the moment itself is, ultimately,

the idea worth preserving on a tshirt -- especially when it comes to sports.

By now, we’ve all seen the Father’s Day shirts with the big hand and little hand

engaged in fist bumps. Shirts that honor father-son and mother-daughter

relationships are common. But most tees that serve to honor familial bonds are

very generic and not specific to any particular bonding activity.

And when it comes to bonding activities, sports is in a league of its own.

In a touching column by Bill James in the Daily Republic, the author notes how his

life “has been influenced by bonding with my family through sporting events.”

“It goes way beyond what is happening between the yard markers, baselines or

on the basketball court,” James writes. “While we all have had a keen interest in

the sporting events attended, we just as much enjoyed the conversation, the

laughs, the highs and the lows of the competition.”

Every October in the thick of baseball playoffs, how many adult brothers, best

friends, cousins, or fathers and sons, around the country, for example, do you

believe watch games together? I can’t even begin to imagine. What I also can’t

imagine is why most father-son tees or family-bonding shirts seem to be focused

in large part on kids apparel. While there is definitely a market there, there’s also

an ignored market on the adult end of the spectrum.

A quick search on Amazon for “Brothers, Beer, and Baseball” turns up no shirts to

honor this trifecta of commonplace American sports consumption. As kids AND

adults, we watch hockey with our uncle, football with our dad, and -- while the

market doesn’t reflect it -- all sports are watched in some families with moms,

sisters, wives, girlfriends, aunts, and daughters.

The importance of family relationships and even rivalries that are sports related

represent a potential treasure-trove for tshirt creation. With baseball, basketball,

hockey, and football all in range of our creative reach this Q4 (the earlier the

better with baseball, however) this opportunity shouldn’t be overlooked by

anyone wanting to scale designs within sports niches but presently lacking ideas

for doing it effectively and in ways not done by most designers.

 STRESS AND EXHAUSTION

Let’s face it. The holidays are supposed to bring out

the best in us. But more often than not, they also

bring out the worst -- stress, exhaustion, too much

work and not enough sleep.

Of course, what’s true of the holidays is also true

most times of the year for many hard-working

Americans. So if you’re yet to design shirts for the

nightshift warriors in need of a nap or the cubicle zombies in constant need of

coffee, here’s your chance to leverage the workplace and lifestyle stress

worsened by the holidays to get your shirts selling both now and 365 (when most

of us, quite frankly, are still just as pooped out and dependent on coffee, sugar,

carbs, caffeine, energy drinks, and many other forms of calorie-loaded fuel).

For example:

• This Mechanic Always Fixes His Coffee First

• This Tired Teacher Needs Carbs to Cope

• This Veterinarian Needs a Cat Nap

Sorry for the cheesy examples off the top of my head, but you get the picture.
While these types of tees make great holiday gifts for the professionals for whom

they exist, they’re not really geared toward the holidays. And for people to whom

Christmas definitely is not the most wonderful time of year, laughter is the best

medicine for stress.

“'Tis the season to be jolly....or is it?” asks Talya Stone of Love To Know. “If you

find yourself having to fight the urge to lock yourself in the toilet with a bottle of

something strong on holiday occasions, then a little bit of humor might be just the

ticket to head off any holiday stress and impending insanity of tense family

situations. You could go and sob into the punch bowl, or you could fight fire with

humor and funny moments in a bid to reduce stress and enjoy the holidays with

loved ones.”

If you’re looking to tackle holiday stress directly, keep in mind that humor is not

only imperative, it’s also behind some of the best-selling shirts of the season.

Typically, however, such holiday humor tees are geared toward dealing with

relatives, the proverbial “naughty and nice” list, and, it goes without saying, wine

and all forms of alcohol. Laughing through the universal stresses and burdens of

the season should also take into account the happenings that are proven to

trigger our holiday blues. And, surprisingly, there aren’t many Christmas-themed
tees out there presently that do exactly that. For inspiration, here are some of the

Christmastime calamities that studies suggest we dread most, by the percentage

of us that dread them:

• 68%: Crowds and long lines

• 37%: Gaining weight

• 37%: Getting into debt

• 28%: Gift shopping

• 25%: Traveling

• 24%: Seeing certain relatives

• 23%: Seasonal music

• 19%: Disappointing gifts

• 16%: Having to attend holiday parties or events

• 15%: Having to be nice

• 12%: Holiday tipping

If you still don’t know where to begin your holiday stress designs, this is an ideal

time to consider your own familiar frustrations with the season. Chances are,

whatever is irking you is also irking others. Start there and let the designs roll.
 THE CO- WORKER GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

When all else fails and gift cards just won’t cut it,

tshirts are the go-to gifts for millions of

Americans who simply don’t know what else to

get their co-workers for birthdays, holidays, and

other special occasions (workplace anniversaries,

retirements, promotions, etc.).

This is an area of creativity when there are truly unlimited opportunities. But let’s

focus on just one for the moment -- one that, to me, jumps right off of Amazon’s

search engine.

Consider for a moment, the creatively-exhausted tshirt for parents that reads

something to the effect of: “I’m The Proud Dad of a Freakin’ Awesome Nurse. Yes,

She Gave Me This Shirt.”

For whatever reason (believe me, I stopped trying to figure out why people like

certain shirts and instead focus on what they like), shoppers gobble up these

types of tees.

But the general idea at play here hasn’t really be scaled outside of the family

shirts niche. The workplace is the right place to deploy a similar approach.
Whether the gift recipient is a co-worker, an employee, or the boss, a tshirt with

the right message can make for an ideal, affordable, and unique gift for ANY

occasion.

• I Love All of My Employees The Same (But My Favorite Gave Me This Shirt)

• My Birthday Comes Only Once a Year But the Gift of Working with Me is

Yours All Year Long

• Only The Best Managers Get These Shirts

Again, these are quick and cheesy examples I haven’t done my homework on, but

hopefully they convey the point being made. Tshirts with relevant and uncommon

expressions of appreciation, sarcasm, and in-your-face humor are beloved. And

with tshirt gift-giving about to reach its annual peak on the calendar, it’s time to

think outside the box and inside the cubicle about the types of shirts YOU would

make for your co-workers. There’s an excellent possibility if not probability that

there are many others out there across many diverse industries who would buy

for their co-workers the same shirts you would make to honor or tease yours.
 A FINAL THOUGHT FOR OCTOBER

Over the coming days and weeks, you’re going to hear the term “easy money”

bandied about with reckless abandon in Merch-related forums and Facebook

groups.

Plenty of Q4 ecommerce veterans will hail just how “easy” it is to make money

this time of year selling online.

While it’s true that selling volume accelerates across the digital landscape over

the holidays, there’s nothing truly “easy” about this time of year. In fact, most of

us have worked harder over the last few months in order to make it “easier” to

pull down bigger paydays in the home stretch of the calendar year.
Don’t let the hype cloud your thinking. The biggest mistake you can make as a

Merch designer today is thinking you need to be doing as well as some of your

fellow Merch sellers.

Everyone is running their own race and I assure you, for as far behind as you think

you are, there are others who are behind you. Don’t waste ONE SINGLE MOMENT

dwelling on those behind you OR in front of you. Run your own race.

If October doesn’t bring with it any of the momentum you’re presently expecting,

don’t be discouraged. We’re just at the beginning of the retail rush. For me and

many other sellers, October is good, but November is better and December is the

best (sometimes the last week before Christmas can be better than the entire

month of October).

So if you’re off to a slow start this month and you feel as though you’re drudging

through quicksand trying to reach the summit of sales success on Merch By

Amazon, don’t be disheartened or, even worse, intimidated by the lofty self-

praise some in the MBA community frequently share (chances are, they are

talking up their own numbers anyway just to impress and influence).

Remember, you’re only competing with yourself. Try to make every new month of

sales better than the last. It’s a grind, but if you keep your blinders on and don’t
put undue pressure on yourself to “catch up” to other Merch sellers who are

outselling you at the moment, your own performance on the Merch racetrack will

improve.

I’m rooting for YOU and I believe in YOU.

Now go make some shirts and DOMINATE Merch By Amazon!