Episode 021: Tanner J Fox - Amazon Selling, Affiliate Marketing, and Personal Branding

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This is the Rise of the Young podcast. Bringing you insights from the most innovative entrepreneurs and influencers of this era. Hosted by 17 year old entrepreneur, author, public speaker and branding expert, Casey Adams. Now let's get right into the show.

Casey Adams here. Welcome to the Rise of the Young podcast. Today, episode 21. We got the man, Tanner J. Fox here with us today. He's a beast, Amazon selling master affiliate marketer and he's been killing it. Super pumped to have him on today. So therefore Tanner wouldn't. Can you just please explain a little bit about what you've done, what you've accomplished for the people that may not know who you are today?

Yeah, so right now I'm 22. I started entrepreneurship when I was 20. I was going to college at the time and recently dropped out, but started with Amazon selling, did that for about two years, still do that, and scaled within like six months from zero to about 20,000amonth in profit and then started doing affiliate marketing with that and then started YouTube in February of, well, not this year, 2017. And that's when things really grew. Started doing 300,000 plus months in profit. Ended my second year of entrepreneurship. So 2017 with just under 3 million profit and grew my YouTube to 75,000. First year, I think that's about it.

Dude, that's, that's badass, man. 22, almost hitting 3 million, bro. Like that inspires the hell out of me, man. So when it comes to I know Amazon selling, like your course, that's been phenomenal. I've seen all the success stories you've had. So like how did you get into Amazon selling? What was like, how did you discover it? What was your like initiative to get started?

So my whole thing was I was always bored. So it was summer in between college. I had college classes, but I was thinking like one or two over summer and I was just bored. So I was looking things up online, ways to make money. And I found kind of like the big guys. I found Ty, I found Gary, I found Project Life Mastery and he started talking about like Kindle ebook publishing. So I initially tried that for a month or two. Now I would make like $20 a month with $50 initially.

Yeah.

And that I was like, that's not the goal. I want a Lamborghini. That was always my goal. And so from that, because Kindle's on Amazon, I found Amazon FBA or private labeling. And I looked at YouTube a lot. It seemed confusing. So I took a course on it, learned from that, and then started doing that and failed for six months until I actually learned how to do it. And then things started to take off.

Dude, that's, that's badass, man. So because I know like a lot of people hit me up when I Instagram, it's like, oh, how can I make money online? So when it comes to people that are listening, that could be interested in Amazon selling in general, what would be like the top two tips of like getting started if you just had to like, keep it simple for people?

Amazon's weird because it's complicated to start, but then it's the same thing over and over and over again because information's all spread out. So honestly I'd say take a course whether it's mine or not. And there's a lot on YouTube you can learn also, but it's easier with a structure on Amazon because it's kind of step by step.

Yep.

Mission is kind of sporadic. So but product research is everything and then differentiating your product is everything. So for sure.

So when it comes to, I know that when it comes to like the YouTube channel, I know that you just hit what, 75,000 subscribers on there. So. So when it comes to affiliate marketing, because that's actually how I started my first making money online. I grew a Snapchat to like 5, 10,000 viewers. I was doing a ton of just like messaging, creating stories, creating like just selling products when it comes to like my audience and after I grew it. So when it comes to people that affiliate marketing, I know that's a business model that you can make a lot of money that you're not necessarily your products. So when it comes to affiliate marketing for the people out there, what's like the best strategies that you've found to, to start actually making money with affiliate.

Marketing, the easiest thing, which most people won't wanna hear, is building your following. So personal branding, because you can have tons of followers, throw an affiliate link and make a couple thousand bucks for one review video on it or something like that. So. And it's completely free. That way you don't have to mess with ads and then optimizing them and everything. So build a following, whether it's on Instagram or YouTube. Obviously YouTube's the strongest. I know so many people with huge Instagrams that don't make a lot and then you can have a tiny YouTube and still make a ton. It's all about how you monetize it though. For sure. For sure.

So you guys, you started your YouTube in February 2017, right? So it's been about 10 months now. So with YouTube, I know that when it comes to personal branding, you talk a lot about that and some of your videos. And it's just, I believe heavily about personal branding just when it comes to the power to have, like you said with selling products, just building that brand overall. So what would be like two tips? Because I know that you've created a massive brand around who you are, what you've been able to do, what, what's like your tips, or top three tips to people that are don't have any type of brand right now that could potentially wanna be trading a brand long term.

So what most people have the misconception of is you need to be some kind of celebrity or an expert at something. When that's not true. The main thing with YouTube, people are looking for is being relatable. Now, there's two different strategies. If you look at like Tai Lopez, he's the celebrity, like, oh, you're lucky to have his time. I need his information, but I'm never gonna get there. That's what most people look at that like when my strategy is kind of the opposite. Mine is be relatable. So not wearing a suit, obviously, tank top and a backwards hat. If you're on the podcast, for sure, relatable. I want people to be able to relate to me, be like, oh, he was just an average guy, he was able to do this. So I'm an average person. That means I could probably do this. And that's what I think really helped my personal brand is being relatable and then being kind of transparent. You don't want to look perfect because then people won't relate. You want to share what you're struggling with, what you did wrong, and kind of things like that. But most people just think you have to be an expert, which isn't true. Like Gary Vee says, document, most people don't care if you're an expert or not. They want to see what you're Doing see what works, see what doesn't work, and feel like they have someone to relate to.

Yep, for sure. For sure. So, yeah, I mean, I totally agree with you because I know with Gary, after watching a ton of his stuff, I mean, and that kind of was my transitioning point of like just documenting my journey, especially since I'm young, it's like I haven't made millions of dollars yet, but when it comes to the documentation of the journey, I feel like that's super important for everyone listening. So when it comes to just your daily routine, keeping your mind right, do you have any kind of daily routines that you do or stuff that keeps you on your A game or what?

Yes, I'm pretty routine oriented with just like my day in general. Whether it's business or not, I always work the same time. The only thing I really do is, is just be super consistent with things. So instead of trying to like, make things amazing and perfect before they're out, I'm just so consistent with everything, whether it's I've been doing daily uploads. I think I missed like one day in like the last eight months and just things like that. But my favorite thing are the whiteboards behind me. Yep, I love working on those. Just getting my ideas. The only thing I really do, I mean, I don't have any strategies other than I like to break things down and analyze them a lot. So I'll start super, like general and then break it down into like tiny pieces. Whether it's seeing what strategies Tai Lopez is using and how they work or why he's doing something or just anything like that. I do that with any business thing.

For sure.

For sure.

Because I know that for me, when it comes to like reading. Do you read any books? Or when it comes to the self education portion, Is that something you do at all? And if so, what's like one book that you'd recommend to someone listening?

I actually don't like books.

That's dope.

I think a lot of them are just mindset kind of crap. And while that's good beginning to see what's possible and what's out there. I'm at the point and was like a year or two ago where I don't want the mindset. I'm there, I'm ready. I want the how to show me what to do information, which from books you have to get around a bunch of the crap and the fluff.

Yeah. Which.

So I don't read any books. I've read one in the last, like, year because I knew it was good. It was recommended. It was Russell Brunson's about, like advertising and whatnot. But I mainly watch YouTube videos because it's quicker. If I don't like it, I can click right off without having to go through an entire book. It's just easier to learn straight to the point and it doesn't waste as much time and I like listening better. So for me, I would say I like to learn from YouTube way better than books. For sure.

For sure. And I feel like I just had someone on my podcast earlier and I feel like that's kind of when it comes to reading. Like, there's so much fluff. Like, for me, I don't just read to read. I say if I want, if I'm looking for a particular point because I know that Russell Brunson book Expert Secrets, it was. That one was phenomenal. Is that the one you're talking about? Yep. Yeah. Expert Secrets is super dope if you're. If someone's listening right now, definitely make sure you check that out. So. So my next question, when it comes to. So you said you're 22, you're obviously young, you're killing the game. Like you said, almost broke 3 million in sales this year. So when it comes to when you were 17, 18, 19, number one, like, did you expect that the rate of change would happen as quickly and then what would you tell yourself when you were 17, 18, 19 that you didn't know back then?

Oh, I had no clue. I'm still surprised how fast things changed because when I was 19, I mean, I had like a part time job for a month or two and then I'd stop. And I saved up like a thousand dollars, $2,000 started with that. But I knew I wanted to do like business and make money, but I had no idea what. And I didn't really come across like entrepreneurship till I was like 19, 20. And when I started learning and my first year, my goal was to make 4,000amonth. By the end of the year, I was making zero and I ended up 20,000. I was like, what? And then the next year. So my goals for 2017 was to make 300,000 profit. I did 120 in my first year. My goal is to make 300,000. And then I just did 2.8 million in profit. I was like, what? So I did not expect it at all. That's insane. One thing I would have told myself is start YouTube earlier because that's where most of my money comes from is YouTube, not just YouTube. Ad revenue, but all the things that come with YouTube. So I wish I started YouTube a year earlier because I had in my mind I was thinking about, but I was like, oh, I'm shy on camera. I don't speak well. Like, I hate being on camera. People won't watch me. Which all were not true.

But that's dope. I mean, that's, that's super badass. Especially like, because I feel like a lot of my audience is like younger, 15, 16, 17, 18, or even a little older in their 20s. And like you said, like, when you were 17, 18, you didn't know what to do. You were kind of lost. And you said you were in college, correct?

Yeah, so I was. I graduated high school when I was 17 and then started college right after that. Did two years community college. And the second year is when I kind of started entrepreneurship. I transferred to a four year and then dropped out because parents made me go until they saw when I was doing like six figure months.

And then they're like, okay, okay, that's, that's super badass. So for, for everyone listening, I know that, like, there's a big topic, especially since I'm in high school. When it comes to college in general, what would you say? Just not like, all right, what's your thoughts on college? But what's like your general aspect of like, what was your experience going through college? What would you tell someone that is possibly wanting to just do their own thing and not just follow the normal college route? What would be like your intake on that?

Well, first thing first is my license plate is lol school. But I mean, there's some. If you're paying for it yourself and you know you want to do entrepreneurship, I'd say just stop, take a year, learn it. I mean, I have a video where I broke it down. Even like cost of starting entrepreneurship and failing for a year and then slowly growing compared to going to school. Because I hate knowing that if I go to college that my career is kind of capped. Unless I build up that career and then go do something off by myself, which, I mean, obviously there's things where you need go to college, doctor, lawyer, things like that. If you want to do that, that's fine, go ahead. But if you're going for business and know you want to start your own thing and not work under a company, then you're not going to learn anything useful in those classes. I don't think I learned one thing. They told me that the best way to build a personal brand in my entrepreneurship class was blogging in 2017. What?

No way.

Yeah, blogging. But I'd say take a year or two breaks, start building it up. Or you can do both at the same time. I didn't drop out until like three or four months ago, so before summer I dropped out. You're able to do both. And my parents were paying for my college and in return I was able to live at home free as long as I still went to college. And then when I dropped out, I had to get my own place and, well, I was paying for my car at the time, but all that kind of stuff. So, I mean, if you're going to learn something and thinking it'll transfer to entrepreneurship, it won't. And if you're thinking it's security, it's not. I know tons of people with degrees that can't get a job for a year or two. When they do, it's 40 grand a year. And you can't live off that. For sure. For sure.

See, I mean, dude, that was fire. So when it comes to, I know that your specialty was, is Amazon. So when it comes to where you see Amazon going in the next three, five years, when it comes to just the niche you're in with Amazon selling, where do you see scaling to? Do you think that the same opportunity is going to be available now, is going to be the same thing then, or what's like your take on that?

Yeah, so I think they're still going to do slow, steady growth. I know right now they're looking at acquiring Target actually. So I don't know what that's going to do. They acquired Whole Foods, I think they're just going to keep doing that in each industry until the government stops them. Because Whole Foods, they're gonna start building a whole grocery side of it, I assume, and a bunch of stuff. But as far as Amazon selling, if you look at two years ago when I started, if you compare the ratio of the number of sellers compared to the number of sales on Amazon, it was more competitive two years ago when I started than it is right now.

Okay.

Technically, it's easier to start Amazon now. Amazon selling has been around for 10 plus years. It's not going anywhere. It's never, I'm not gonna say never, but it won't be too competitive for a long time. It'll be possible for a couple years at least.

Perfect. Perfect. Yes. I mean, I think, that being said, I mean, my last question before kind of ending it is number one. I know that you said like you started your journey about two years ago, everything happened very quickly. So for that one person that may have been started their journey two years ago, that they went to college, they dropped out, they're trying to do something, but they're still just not getting any results or any growth in a sense, what would you say? What's like your biggest tip of just like that person that may be listening, that just needs something to listen to to actually like get up their ass and keep going, you know what would be that one tip to give them?

Most people try and make it way too difficult. So find one thing you know that works. So I'm going to use Amazon as the example. Okay. I've seen tons of other people doing this. I know it's possible to make money. I know it's a model that works. So I'm going to go learn it and do it until it works. Most people do things for a month or two. Oh, this doesn't work. No, you just don't know how to make it work. I failed for six months, started three, four products that didn't work. Now I didn't lose money, they just sold really slow, sold out. And then I started another and I built everything off of $1,200. So stick with one thing, do something for a year and tell me you won't make money after doing it for a year. If it's a model that works. Now, if you're trying to sell T shirts and that's probably not a good idea, that's not something I recommend. But find a model. Affiliate marketing, personal branding, Amazon, Shopify, they all work. If you know what you're doing and just figure out what you're doing wrong, adjust. And if you do it for six months or a year and you're still not making money, then it may be the market or you're just dumb. But if you, you can figure things out, if they're working and other people are doing it as well, just stick with it. Most people do things for a month or two and say, oh, this doesn't work. But it's not. It's. You just haven't learned the right way for sure.

I feel like that goes like for anything pretty much. I feel like. And a lot of people that hit me up like they'll try something for a month or two months, or they're trying to get clients for a month and they just quit because they haven't done it yet. But it's like they're not following the strategic ways. I know when the first time I met Ty, he's like, there's a lot of smart people in the world, but there's a lot of dumb people in the world and the dumb people need to learn from the smart people. And I think a lot of stuff because I've been to a lot of ties events and when it comes to just the whole Internet personal branding, I mean I think Ty is a huge example because like he has so much attention that he's able to monetize it. But then he also has his different routes behind the scenes businesses. So when it comes to just the last one thing, number one, where can people find you at? Where can they go to learn more about you? And then number two, I really appreciate your time coming on, man.

Oh, thanks for having me. If you want to find me, my YouTube is the main thing I use. I have Instagram too, but they're both Tanner J. Fox. If you forget the J, you won't find me. So mainly just YouTube for sure.

For sure. Yeah. And everyone listening. I'll make sure I include all of his links below in the description. And and that being said, thanks so much for tuning in to the Rise of the Young podcast. Again, this is episode 21 and if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe, make sure you leave a rating, drop a review and I will see you guys on the next episode. Peace.

Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it on November 17th. This place. It's not ours. Believe me, the most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

My God.

Go, go, go.

Legacy of monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV.

Plus.