58. Maxence Roy: Building & Selling A Supplements Brand

Ben Donovan  00:00
Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of the brand builders show. We’re going to be talking about sourcing products, supply chain management, some stuff that might seem boring at the front, but it’s going to be really helpful for growing an effective e commerce business. And today joining me on the show, we’ve got Maxence. Maxence, welcome to the show today. Thanks for coming on.
 
Maxence Roy  00:21
Thanks for having me.
 
Ben Donovan  00:23
And I always forget to do this. I always forget to how to pronounce your name. Did I get it? Right?
 
Maxence Roy  00:27
Yeah, you though you got it?
 
Ben Donovan  00:29
Okay, good. I should really get into the habit of checking that before we go live. But there we go. Welcome to the show. Today, we’re going to be diving into your journey you’ve built and sold an Amazon brand, which is going to be really exciting. And then we’re going to dive into some of the specialities that you have built up over that time and are using now. But before we dive into the journey and get into some of the sort of details, why don’t you give us a little bit of a background catch us up over how you got started in Ecommerce and and kind of where you’re up to now really?
 
Maxence Roy  01:01
All right. Yeah, so I’m gonna try not to make this too long. I do tend to ramble a little bit so. But I ecommerce actually, I started about 10 years ago. So I’m 29. Now I started when I was like 19 built is I was I built like a some sort of a weight loss program back then. So it was like I was back then I lived in Canada and Quebec and Quebec, we speak French. So I built up like this information product business, because I was really into fitness started working out when I was like 14. And so started teaching people how to work out how to lose weight and everything like that. So I did that for about four years. And then at the end of the, at the end of the four years, I was able to sell the business at seller business. So that was like my first my first exit. It was a modest amount, you know, a low six figure amount, but for me as a 25 year old young entrepreneur was pretty good. So did that exit, and then I had this friend who was doing Amazon FBA for a couple years. So I was like, I was just looking at him. And he he was like, one of the most like, chill entrepreneur friend that I had, you know, like, it was always like, business on autopilot, you know, didn’t have to work so hard. So I looked at him. And I was like, this is a cool business. And I love product. I love physical products. So I decided that I just would roll my money into Amazon FBA. So that was 2019. And so yeah, about four years ago, so that’s when I got into Amazon FBA full time. Initially, I went to supplements because that was kind of carrying over from my my previous business where I was also selling supplements, along with the workout programs and everything. So I already had a good supplier in the US so and I was pretty good at branding, products and supplements. So I decided to go into that. And that’s where I got some of my first successes on Amazon. I also went into different categories. I kind of like, you know, dabbled into, built this skincare brand, like, you know, some of the electronic skincare products and some other small brands that I tried, but what really worked out for me was the supplements. So I did that for about, I think was it like two or three years, the supplements and then I ended up selling that business again. So I saw that an Empire Flippers, I think that was last year. Also for our own six figure I’m out. So yeah, and then since then, I’ve been working for an aggregator an Amazon aggregator, so I joined them to do product development for them.
 
Ben Donovan  03:41
Awesome, man. This sounds like an exciting journey, which we will dive into some more in a moment. We love to do this intro slot called favorite five which is where we ask you a quick fire five questions of your favorite things so that you can give some insight into the the listeners of what helps you grow your business and grow your entrepreneurship in your life. So number one, do you have a favorite ecommerce brand?
 
Maxence Roy  04:08
Yeah, I thought about that. And I don’t know if like that fits into the category what you’re looking for, but I thought about vivo barefoot, I think actually is a UK brand. And they do these minimalistic shoes. And I love I love those shoes. They’re so good. So I don’t even know if you saw on Amazon but they definitely sell online and yeah, Christians have
 
Ben Donovan  04:27
definitely heard of them. Yeah, for sure. Good stuff. Okay. Your favorite software or tool that helps you run your business or life?
 
Maxence Roy  04:35
Yeah, this is gonna be a little bit expected but I gotta say Helium 10 Because I you know, that’s just been like something I’ve used consistently for the past few years. And it’s always been very helpful.
 
Ben Donovan  04:46
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Yeah, we love the team Helium 10. Great tool. I use it every day so I can highly vouch for that. Awesome. Okay, your favorite organic marketing channel.
 
Maxence Roy  04:58
Okay, so I’m I’m a big I’m very Amazon focus, so I have to say Amazon organic, you know, like just ranking for keywords on Amazon.
 
Ben Donovan  05:07
Yeah, this Yeah, crazy opportunity really when you zoom out and you actually think about the opportunity that’s there to get organic traffic is pretty nuts. Okay, and paid marketing channel.
 
Maxence Roy  05:19
That one again, I kind of have Samsung PPC but I’ll say Amazon Video ads because I think they’re very much underrated. And just how how, what the potential is to get ahead of everyone else with videos I think is really good.
 
Ben Donovan  05:33
Yeah, definitely. And then finally your favorite business book.
 
Maxence Roy  05:39
For this, I would say 22 laws of branding by Todd rice and Jack trout. Yeah.
 
Ben Donovan  05:45
Cool. Yeah, no, I heard that one for after adapter list. 22 laws of branding.
 
Maxence Roy  05:50
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
 
Ben Donovan  05:52
 I like it. Good stuff. Okey doke. Thank you for that very insightful. Let’s talk a bit more sort of zoomed in to your journey then. So getting started in E commerce 2019. You talked about it as a supplement kind of angle that you took, is that the is that where you stay? That’s the business that you built up and sold the supplements? Or did you change niche at all?
 
Maxence Roy  06:15
Yeah, so basically, my first brand was, it was an eye health supplement brand that I developed because I had some, some issues with my eye, and I wanted to have something that would help me like get better eye health. So I just started like working on that brand. And so that was my first product around 2019. That product did reasonably well. But it wasn’t, it wasn’t crazy, I forgot exactly the numbers, it’s been a while. And then I went into a different niche with a different brand, which was an ear health supplement. So again, very niche and so that was like Q2 2019 or something like that kind of like six months into Amazon, that was my second, that product actually did really well, right from the get go it rank really well and shot up to like 20-$30,000 a month in sales. And it stayed around then and then things happen to the listing. So kind of less quality reviews started coming in after like about a year. So having more challenges with getting good reviews, and more competitors came in. So it kind of like the sales kind of went back down a little bit like 20-50k a month. But those two brands remained my two nice supplement brands that were profitable and that was essentially what I sold. When I sold the business. I also worked on the thirst supplement brand, which actually this one I break down on my channel called Pure medics. And that was a generic supplement brand. So instead of being a niche supplement brand focused on one problem, one health problem, it was just a brand that sold generic, you know ingredients, kind of like vitamin C, probiotics, things like that. And I think I got I got my ass kicked with that brand, because I invested a lot into it. But I just didn’t have the muscle in terms of like, the financial backing and ability to really scale that brand with lower margins. Remember that there was a point in time where I had like, I think was like $80,000 of inventory. And I scaled too quickly ended up having a lot of dead inventory. I think I had to discard like $20,000 or something worth of inventory. And I was like, yeah, yeah. And I Yeah, so I think I was a little bit too confident going because I had success with those two first brands. And I was like, Well, you know, I can, you know, I now I can like TEDx, you know, like, I don’t want to do it under a new supplement brand into like an ad or I want to do something that I can sell for like 10 million or something, you know. But yeah, I looking back, you know, there was more things that I should have considered. But yeah, I still was able to get a good exit out of it.
 
Ben Donovan  09:09
Yeah. Yeah. Did you find with supplements, you faced a lot of blackcat. You know, there’s a lot of talk about competition and dirty tactics. Did you have to deal with that as you grew?
 
Maxence Roy  09:21
Well, you know, I actually, I think the fact that I wasn’t fairly niche, supplement spaces was very different. I think. When people talk about good. When people talk about settlement as being like very dirty black hat, it’s, it’s I think it’s not so accurate because it’s kind of like putting all supplements in one bucket. And there’s supplements is so vast, you know, it’s like a $200 billion market, I think in the US, and it’s such a huge market. So the amount of of subdivision that you have in supplements is I don’t know what there must be like 1000 sub niches, at least on Amazon, you know, so like, in between something that’s just really known for like Blackhat and competition like at this saucer and booster, or like a fat burner, you know, like a Garcinia Cambogia or something like those are, those are the worst like goes, you will like, this is like a knife fight point four, seven, you know, like, like, you will get your ass handed to your you know, even if if you can rank you probably know, it might even been a rank. So this is very difficult, you know, but at the same time, you also have smaller niches that are very low competition, and you can kind of like, count your, you can almost count them on two on two hands, the amount of competitors that you’re dealing with, you know, and so it’s kind of like, there’s a huge difference between these two things. And so for me, in my, the, I could see the difference, because sometimes when, for example, with paramedics, I actually had a testosterone booster, and that one was like getting like, you know, suspended, I got to spend a few times I could really very much see the difference between those like hot niches and those like more boring, boring niches. Right? So boring niches didn’t have much issues, to be honest. And then, you know, the more competitive ones. And yeah, you get flagged all the time, and it’s a little bit annoying.
 
Ben Donovan  11:19
Yeah, I think it’s a great key for, you know, a great tip for success as well as is niche down as far as you can, because there are niches within niches that are potentially very lucrative, you know, maybe not got the 100 million dollar kind of target, you know, actualized market, but the, the, the ability to build something new in those more niche down markets is definitely much easier. And I think that, you know, in my experience, the everyone talks about black hat tactics was it was supplements, I think it was just because supplements is such a lucrative industry, and that’s everybody wants to be in it, you know, we’ve got a product in the top 1000 BSR, in one of the categories in, in the US, and we’re constantly getting issues with that, you know, not necessary Blackhat, but just weird. Amazon goings on that, you know, you just sometimes think that maybe there’s competitors involved in this and, and that’s not a supplement nation. So I think it’s not necessarily supplements that attract bad actors. It’s just, if you have a listing that is, you know, really prominent on Amazon, you’re going to face issues no matter what niche you’re in. So yeah, I wouldn’t want to scare people off supplements, as long as I’m trying to say, I suppose.
 
Maxence Roy  12:29
Yeah, yeah, no, it’s a good point, I think supplements is, in some ways, it’s the ideal product, you know, and I think that’s why like, so many boards, so attracted to it, there’s a lot of things I like about supplements, I like that it’s sourcing the US. So that, that makes your supply chain, I remember that when I was dealing with I had my, myself my brand, I had my supplier in the US, and they would ship ground FedEx for free, would get to the true PL in like, three days, you know, and and, and I was like, That was that was great charge to AIMEX. It would they would charge without fees with I could pay with my Amex gold card and get the travel points and everything. It sounds like, you know, it’s so nice compared to like, you know, there’s some other challenges with dealing with overseas suppliers and stuff. So that’s great. And also, the margins are incredible, especially when you go into higher volume. You know, if you can order like a few 1000 bottles, like people don’t realize how cheap you know, it is to make a supplement. It doesn’t mean it’s bad quality, it just it just says a cheap product to make, you know, like most supplements in high volume costs less than $5 to make.
 
Ben Donovan  13:38
Yeah, because of that, did you not find that you would face competitors that were willing to take less margin than you and undercut your pricing? How did you maintain that profitability amidst competition?
 
Maxence Roy  13:50
Yeah, that’s actually something else I like about supplements, which is there’s kind of like this, even playing field in the fact that all you have is a bottle and a label and you know, you can kind of like present in a different way. But it’s not like, you know, a physical product where you have a lot of dimensions to differentiate in supplements are very 2d, in a sense, where it’s like, it’s a label that you have, and what you put on that label matters a lot, you know, and that’s label that label that’s your whole perceived value, right? And in a way, this is like something. You know, if you look at pharmaceuticals, for example, and you go and see the prices for pharmaceuticals, like drugs in the US, the prices are astronomical. And to me that speaks to the fact that people take these pharmaceuticals, these drugs because they have a disease or they have a condition and that creates a lot of emotional drive a lot of emotional need is a it’s a it’s a big problem that people want to solve. So if you’re able to offer a solution to something like a health condition, people are going to put a very high for value on that, right. And so, for example, you know, and it’s also very tricky to manage, because for example, if someone has a heart condition, right, and you’re able to offer a supplement that makes them feel like this really going to help them with their heart condition, well, the value of that supplement can be very high, you know, because for them, that health improvement is worth a lot, you know. And so it’s all about how you position how your brand. And for me, I never saw cheap supplement brands that compete on price as competitors, because I just thought that we weren’t even competing for the same customer, of course, there are always going to be people that are going to be purchasing supplements based purely on value, but you have a lot of customers that will be willing to pay a lot more to get something that they perceive as a higher value. So really, it was supplements sky’s the limit to like how much you can price, you know, and I also use other techniques as well to increase the perceived value.
 
Ben Donovan  16:00
Yeah, that was my next question. What are you doing in your marketing your Amazon listing, what do you do to increase that perceived value so that people will pay more?
 
Maxence Roy  16:10
Well, so for me, it all starts with what I call a million-dollar name, you know, like, and so that’s a brand name that checks a few boxes. So the first thing is branding that promises a benefit to that corporate on the back customer has, right so I don’t know if I have an example. But I think that’s the first and foremost is the most important thing. And then a second thing is a brand name that is very unforgettable. So something that is maybe probably has a repetitive sound, it’s short, those things increase the perceived value of the brand name, because it makes your brand look unique and more valuable. And I would also add, you know, like, like, if you can kind of work play to add some sort of like an aura of premium, more clinical kind of like pure medics, you know, that’s that wasn’t a good name in the sense that it was a generic, but it was a great name, in a sense that it kind of conveyed this kind of medical clinical, because a mental association, because people really associate anything, that’s why doctors as something that’s going to work better, more trust, and more effectiveness. So that’s the first thing. The name is very important.  Then graphic design of the label is also very important. So branding and ways you can kind of tell like, if you go on Amazon now, like, if you were to go and look at like the cheap brands versus like, the more expensive brands, you could start drawing like very distinct differences, you know, the cheap brands will usually like have a look and feel that make them look cheap. Whereas like the more expensive brands like the porn, pure encapsulations, those look clean, usually use like blue as a medical color oftentimes will look minimal. So the feel of purity, and the association with a medical is is is strong. And so it does feel like the look and feel like something your doctor would hand over to you and say, Take this, you know. And so that’s also very important, like the design, the graphic design.  And then we can also add things like unique mechanisms. So that’s also very interesting with supplements, for example, if you’re able to convey that true could be a branded proprietary blend, for example, you could say, well, you know, I have this eye health supplement, and I’m just making this up. But like, if, for example, you could create a proprietary blend that helps preserve vision against maybe screen or the sun, you could call it like site saver or something trademark, proprietary blend, and then it includes a list of things and it makes it feel like you have something that will solve the core problem better than everything else, and nothing else has it. No other product has that. So it creates this very kind of like valuable, valuable mechanism basically that nobody else has. So it kind of does this really double whammy where it increases your perceived value and it validates everyone else. And another thing that I do with supplements is offer an information product to help people get results faster, more easily more guaranteed. So for example, if you sell a weight loss supplement, then what you can do is offer diet or and then the same marketing principles will apply to the information product. If you if you give it a really good name, a really good design, it will feel very valuable. You can have an image with like a 3d rendering of the book and show you know and then you can indicate that people will get it for free, and then you can put on the label of the link to access or something like that. And so people feel like they’ve get there, maybe they’re getting this $40 value or $50 value program or eBook for free with their $3 supplement purchase. So all of those things kind of combined together, may, you know makes you able to charge a lot more for one product.
 
Ben Donovan  20:20
Yeah, that’s really helpful and applies across industries, obviously. But if we were to look at the supplement niche, because I think there’ll be a lot of people listening and you say high margins, local suppliers, quick shipping times, Amex gold points, you know, you’re saying all these things. And there may be some people that would be interested in and maybe had discounted the supplement niche because of the perceived competition. But as you say, so many niches to get into. And so if someone wanted to start a supplement brand from scratch in 2023, and beyond, what are the first steps you think they should take?
 
Maxence Roy  20:59
That’s a good question. And I’m not here to say like, I’m not here to sell people on the supplement. Transparency, I’m also moving away from supplements, I’m trying to brand now I’m building a new brand, and a completely different niche, not in supplements. And so but if I had a good idea, tomorrow, I would be interested in maybe starting a new cellphone, right. So it’s not, it’s not to say that, you know, I’m preaching supplements or anything, but I’m Yeah, so and I do want to warn people that there are some things in supplements that across the board are a little bit more difficult, you know, pay per click is, is very expensive across the board and supplements. And there’s other things that, you know, make it not the easiest niche. But that said, I still think it’s great, it’s a great opportunity. And if someone was to start, I would suggest a few things to help them get going. So the first tip that I would probably give them is to and this sounds maybe like, a little complicated, but I’ll try to make it simple is to focus a brand around a core emotional problem that someone has. And so with supplements, it will oftentimes be some health condition, and you want to be careful, because this is where like, you know, you have to really tread a thin line between making disease claims, and having, you know, plain gene, generic supplement brand. You know, it’s it oftentimes, you know, it’s a very, it’s a thin line where you’re suggesting, but you’re not, you know, directly suggesting but so yeah, you have to kind of find that thin line, but I would focus on one problem and a health condition. So for example, you know, I wasn’t I help, and I was in ear health. And for those two, there was a specific health condition that I was going after. But for example, you could say, well, I’m going to focus on people with anxiety, I’m going to make supplements for people with like an anxiety disorder, right. And that’s going to be my core problem. And I’m going to build supplements around that. Right. So inside, that’s a pretty big niche. So it’s pretty, it’s pretty wide, but you could find smaller niches, right by doing some keyword research shopping on Amazon, things like that, right. And so that’s the first thing. Second, I probably try and find a nice, that’s not too big. So depending on the budget, obviously, but I’m thinking if someone is starting out, we’re talking about more beginner, they probably don’t have a 50 to $100,000 budget, you know, for the first product, right, so let’s say like a more or more reasonable, like someone wants to like, you know, dental 10,000 hours or less to start, then probably you’re probably looking at a niche where people aren’t selling 50,000 or $100,000 a month, you know, probably pick something a little bit smaller, right, where maybe you have a top competitor making like 20 or 30k or something like that, you know, and then you can jump in there. And maybe there’s 10 or 15, or 20 competitors, right. And then you can come in with great branding and, and kind of carve your own your own bat there. So that’s the second one.  The third one is, I would encourage people to start small, even though once you find something that works, I think you do really want to go aggressive and you do really want to scale it. But the cool thing was supplements that you can easily find a private label supplier, that’s going to give you a formula that’s maybe already pre existing already pre made. But that can be enough to work with your branding and kind of like a, you know, a two step kind of like product launch. So maybe you order like 100 bottles or something like that. And especially if you’re a beginner and you try to list it, maybe turn off some PPC get some reviews and just kind of get a feel for if you submit is going to completely fall flat or like people are actually interested people actually want to buy it. So I think that’s actually a great thing about Amazon is he kind of kind of like shrike test things a little bit. And once you got a good feel that your product is converting that people want to buy it, you kind of nailed the branding, you know, the packaging and everything that maybe you can place a bigger order at a cheaper per unit costs, and then really do a proper launch. You know?
 
Ben Donovan  25:15
Yeah, that’s good. That’s good in terms of supplies. Wow, how are you finding them just a simple Google search, or you got some other secret place.
 
Maxence Roy  25:25
Um, for suppliers. For me, like that was my, the, when I found my first private label, Spy I was really random was like a course that I that I got. And this one guy in the course I made that recommendation. And then I, I went ahead, and then I started working with them. But other than that, in the US, you know, there’s no such thing as Alibaba, I think there’s like Thomasnet or something, there’s like other like, you know, centralized websites for the US. But honestly, I’d probably say the best if you’re in the US, and you can go to like a trade show or something for supplements, and you can meet people in person. I think it’s kind of old school, but it’s also kind of like suppliers in the US is kind of like how they work, you know. So I think that probably gives you the best bang for your buck is like go in person, some sort of a trade show, and then meet people in person. Of course, if you don’t want to do that, that’s fine. You can actually go to Google, and you’ll probably find some good suppliers. So kind of like, you know, find like five or 10, emailed them, ask them for their MOQ is their pricing all that information? And a lot of them will probably a lot of them do private label and custom formulation. It’s just that this the MOQ, minimum order quantities for supplements can be pretty high in the US. So it’s common, you know, to multiple 1000s, you know, so at least 1000, usually, and it’s common to be more than that. So, but sometimes you can get lucky find a supplier that’s willing to do a smaller MOQ. So it all depends.
 
Ben Donovan  26:50
Yeah, good, good. Okay, and then moving towards selling the brand, then at what point did you decide this is the time to sell?
 
Maxence Roy  26:58
Well, I’ll just be really honest, I think, for me, it I would have, I could have held on to these two nice supplement brands, these first two that I discussed, the I held in your health brands, I could have I could have held on to those, they were pretty stable, and I could have kept on but I think I kind of dug myself a hole with the third brand that I worked on. And I put myself under a lot of stress. And so I think I want to take some chips off the table, and then refocus on that third brand. It’s, I It’s crazy that I still want even after like, I still thought it could work. And I still thought I would want to make it work. So I decided, you know, I’m gonna sell this account with these two brands. And I’m going to move my third brand to this other account, and I’m gonna invest more into it, and try like different angles of like, making it work. So So yeah, that’s kind of like when I when I sold and I just started seeing like, these supplement brands, I was like, Okay, I have these two, they’re working well, they’re they’re profitable, really good margins, actually, when I look back. And yeah, but at the same time, I didn’t see a lot of growth potential. So I just thought it’d be better to just sell them and then move on.
 
Ben Donovan  28:13
And you said you sold them through Empire Flippers? What was that process? Like?
 
Maxence Roy  28:18
Um, it was long. You know, and I also learn, which is one of the reasons why I’m actually going into different space now, I learned that selling a supplement business that is fairly small, was more difficult at that time. It was like, the time of the aggregators like, you know, where like, there was a lot of aggregators buying businesses. So I had calls with, like, different, I think, at least one maybe more like, one, two, or three aggregators that were interested, but I was hearing a lot like, oh, supplements really risky. You know, we’re not really sure we want to we want to, you know, so it took, it took a couple of months, I think it took about six months for me to start, including there was like this one time where I was really excited, because there was this one aggregator that wanted to buy the account at a really great price. They that was kind of like more my starting price. And they do like due diligence for like two months. And in the last minute, like when I send the last bit of due diligence. They’re like, Oh, no, yeah, we’re pulling out like, this is not gonna work for us. And I was like, damn. And so the listing was pending for that whole two months. And so I couldn’t get anyone else to like contact me or anything like that. So then after that, it went back on. So I was a little bit past but you know, as part of the game, I think, like it was a second business that I sold. So I think I now I know that yeah, business selling a business takes usually takes a lot more time than you think. And it’s quite stressful. So yeah, it’s just part of it.
 
Ben Donovan  29:45
Yeah, definitely. And it’s something where I’ve heard we just released a course actually in Brand Builder University called Exit engine and Ben Leonard is the guy that teaches it and he’s, yeah, he Yeah, he sold Beast Gear. It’s like a fitness brand. And, he talks in the course about how you can’t take your foot off the gas when you’re going through the sale process. Because a lot of people, you know, like yourself, probably, you know, you get in that position where, okay, someone’s gonna buy it, they’re doing due diligence, you get excited about it, you’re thinking about the cash coming into your account. And it’s very easy to kind of think, oh, okay, the business is sold. But then if they pull out and you’ve taken your foot off the gas for several months, then the business can be in a bad situation. So you need to keep moving forwards. Were there any other sort of lessons like that you learned that our listeners might be able to lean from?
 
Maxence Roy  30:37
Yeah, I think that’s a great mindset that you just share there, you know, I think, definitely, it just a business like that has growth. You know, if you can provide, you know, you can you can show the way for the buyer to keep growing the business. That’s already good, right. But if you can actually show bro like, it’s already happening, like, as they’re, as you’re having a call with them, like, and like, this is what we’re doing now. And it’s growing the business right now. You know, that’s much more attractive. So I think that’s, that’s a great tip. Other than that, I don’t know, I would say like, I think with Empire Flippers was pretty hands off. My first business I sold like, I was my, almost my own broker, I think. So that was like, a lot more like hands on. But Empire Flippers was like, quite hands off. So, you know, it was just like, I’ll show I’ll show up on these poles at these times. And so the questions. So it was, it was fairly easy. Maybe like, one thing that I would add is, is just, and that’s more like when for someone who’s like, starting from the beginning, is start your business with the end of mind in mind, you know, like, if you know that you want to sell the business at some point, have it all, like packaged up, you know, from day one, having like clean books, you know, like a proper business entity, like having its own Amazon account that doesn’t have like, 20 different brands on the same account, like, just keep things clean, keep seeing like, well packaged, and I think that will make make it a lot easier, a lot more attractive for buyers and a lot more. Yeah.
 
Ben Donovan  32:09
Yeah, great tips. Great thoughts. Yeah, that’s good. And then just to finish up, then moving forward to now obviously, you mentioned about doing some new brand stuff. But you’re also working for an aggregator sort of, almost come full circle selling, you’re trying to sell as an aggregator, now you’re working for an aggregator? What’s, what’s been the kind of the backstory that made that happen?
 
Maxence Roy  32:27
Yeah, after I sold my business, I was kind of like, split, I just can’t I you know, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna start a new supplement brand. That’s kind of like, tiptoeing. I wasn’t too sure, I think I took a bit of time off. And I felt like it could be better opportunity, given the market, and how things were moving, like looking at all the consolidation that was happening with Amazon, all the big brands getting acquired, and all the money flowing to, to the aggregators, I thought that kind of like joining forces with it’s kind of like, you know, the saying, like, if you can’t beat them, join them, you know, that saying, right, like, I thought, that could be interesting. And I also, I think, I also crave like, after, you know, being a foreign entrepreneur, since like, you know, since I was young, I think I some part of Troy crave, like a little bit of more like stability, a little bit less risk, I think I found that I’m actually quite risk averse. And seeing one of my friends who used to have an Amazon business, and, and then his Amazon, he wasn’t able to sell it. I think he had problems with it. And then he ended up getting getting a job working at a company that us and then I thought yet pretty good. I was like, wow, like, you know, he’s making a really good salary and everything. So I was like, it kind of planted the idea in my head. So I kind of asked myself, I was like, What do I enjoy doing the most? And what do I not enjoy. And for me, building products, was what I enjoyed the most, it’s always, it’s always been like that, for me, building products gets me excited. It’s, it’s that process of starting because I’m very creative. So I love creating, I love making stuff.  But then after that, inevitably, you know, you come into the management of the business and the grow of the business where it’s a lot more analytical, right, where you have to bring in components of like, you know, logistics and analytical marketing, you know, like, like, like, it’s a lot more now, it’s not about creating the video as well, like, you know, manage the keywords and optimizing the bids and everything like that. And then customer service operations, where I saw I was like, I don’t like that as much, right? So how can I just do more product development? And so I kind of decided, Okay, I’m gonna focus on that and, and that reaching out to this, one aggregator called rainforests in Asia and it was a connect right away. I remember talking to someone there and we kind of we hit it off right from the start. And so they brought me in as a as a product development manager there so you so it was it was, yeah, it was. It’s been it’s been. It’s been good. I’ve actually been learning a lot. And it’s, it’s, it’s cool that, you know, they given me a lot of freedom and I get I get to like, launch a lot of products. And so yeah, I got to be a bit careful here because I know I can’t discuss like too much internal processes and stuff like that. But yeah.
 
Ben Donovan  35:27
Yeah. I mean, it’s a competitive space. Yeah, no, that’s good. That’s good. It’s a competitive space. So I think there’s obviously been a very interesting couple of years for the aggregators base that was kind of like the gold rush of 2021. And then the cooldown of 2022. And now the the strong players are advancing, and because it was always a good business model, it just went a little bit crazy. And, you know, the strong operators are going to survive the kind of some of the crunches that we’ve seen and so good on you, man. It sounds like they are a solid outfit and growing well, which is, which is great to see. What’s it? What’s it like working for a for an aggregator? Because it’d be Amazon sellers, I’m sure. That would be listening to this thinking, oh, man, I’ve got some skills, some expertise. And, you know, maybe I could do something like that. What’s, what’s it like? Yeah, and obviously, you’re enjoying, you have to say you’re enjoying it. But overall, what’s it like?
 
Maxence Roy  36:24
Well, I mean, if there’s some Amazon sellers that want to do product development, I actually am hiring for my team. So if someone wants to reach out to you to join, do some product development. Definitely do. And yeah, for me, like, it’s, it’s been an adjustment, of course, I think it’s mostly like, the general aspects of going from being an entrepreneur and just doing whatever the hell he wants, like, all the time. Like, if you wake up one day, and, you know, you just want to, like, do nothing for the whole day, you know, you can or you can be anywhere you want, but boil like, say, you know, no matter what, because for me, I traveled to like, a lot of different countries and growing my businesses and everything. And now, you know, it’s a little bit more like a commitment, you know, so I’ve, I put in the hours, you know, and it’s been more structure and everything, so that I think I needed to adapt a little bit to that. But at the same time, I think it’s been, it’s been really good for me, because it’s kind of, maybe I was a bit of a mess before and they kind of structure me up a little bit and kind of put me on a more consistent path. And I do see a lot of opportunities for growth. And I think if you can join, if you’re an Amazon seller, and you can focus, you know, you can kind of narrow down something that for me was probably development, but for someone else might be the opposite. You know, it might be they just really love doing PPC or something, you know, or like, they really love managing a brand, then there’s a lot of obviously a lot of opportunities to to do that. And there’s if the organization I think is the right size, there’s going to be a lot of growth opportunities, you know, to become a more important part of that organization. Yeah, definitely.
 
Ben Donovan  38:06
Exciting times, man, exciting times where can people find out more you’ve just launched a YouTube channel right? Where can people find out more about that?
 
Maxence Roy  38:12
Yeah, just Yeah, on YouTube. I don’t know. Are you going to be posting a link or something? Maximus Roy on YouTube? And yeah, I got like 44 Subs now. So if you want to join us subscribe. You know I definitely get the more more subscribers now so
 
Ben Donovan  38:30
definitely see if we can get me to 50 at least
 
Maxence Roy  38:32
yeah so that’s the main thing now I’m not currently selling anything I’m just doing you videos and kind of like trying to build up an audience.
 
Ben Donovan  38:44
Yeah, definitely. Well, that might be you might get some Amazon sellers reach out the one a job so
 
Maxence Roy  38:50
Oh, we also find brands also. So if there’s some some brands you know what I want to sell? Yes,
 
Ben Donovan  38:56
definitely what kind of profile?
 
Maxence Roy  38:58
 Um, we’re mostly doing parenting brands, but we have different brands and different categories. So I think we’re looking at all types of categories. But obviously if you do have a parenting brand, that’s the that’s the best fit.
 
Ben Donovan  39:12
Yes, good stuff. Cool. Okay, well, we’ll leave like we said that the link to your YouTube channel in the description for people to check it out. Good to have another solid practitioner sharing valuable content. So make sure you get subscribed to that guys. Maxence. Thanks so much for coming on the show today. Really appreciate you taking time out. It’s been very valuable insightful, and I’m interested to very excited to see where your journey continues to go.
 
Maxence Roy  39:40
Yeah, thanks for having me, Ben.
 
Ben Donovan  39:42
No problem at all. Awesome, guys. Well, thanks for joining us for this episode. As we said check out the links in the description for maximises YouTube channel on all of that great content. And we’ll see you in the next episode. Same time next week. Take care.