Latest / Her Working Life / How Moms Make Money With Amazon Influencer | Ep. 2

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How Moms Make Money With Amazon Influencer | Ep. 2 · Her Working Life

• Jordyn Fullmer: Welcome to Her Working Life podcast, where we talk about real conversations for real life and break down work, fitness, and motherhood. And on today's episode, we're gonna be deep diving into the Amazon Influencer program and what our week to week really looks like. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, so for anyone who is unfamiliar with the Amazon Influencer program, it's essentially a program where you can apply. You have to have some sort of social media to apply. and then once you get in, it sounds kind of daunting at first to actually apply, but once you get in, it's pretty seamless. You essentially just make review videos of products that either you have around your house that are sent to you. Amazon also has something called Creator Connections, which is kind of a program that Connects influencers with the brands and they'll send you free samples of their products. And there's a lot of different ways that you can monetize this and make money, whether that's receiving those products and reselling them. There's something called brand deals where brands will actually pay you money to review their product. And then you also make money every time someone actually watches your video that gets placed just up on the product page. So if you open up your Amazon account and you scroll down to the bottom, it will say reviews, and there will be lots of different reviews there from real life people, which is nice, kind of telling you about the product and telling you all the details, things that you need to know before you actually buy the product. So Jordan and I are both Amazon influencers, and we do this program where we do have brands send us products, we review those items, and then we will put that video in basically you link it to the product so then it shows up on the product page. And then when someone watches your video and ends up buying the product, then you make money. So you can make commissions from Amazon, you can make money from brands, you can make money from reselling those items. There's lots of different ways that you can actually make this business work for you and have it be successful. And that's the cool thing, is there's so many people out there that are doing this and that they're doing it successfully, but they're also doing it in their own way. Jordyn Fullmer: I'm curious why you decided to try Amazon Influencer Program in the beginning. And I'm gonna share why I did and then just kind of the process of getting in and what that looks like. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: for me, after having four kids, I just wanted to build something and I obviously wanted to make some money. I really wanted extra spending money to buy little things and not feel Like it was a decision when I wanted to buy extra things for my kids or spoil extra at Christmas or things like that. You know what mean? And so I had tried little things here or there that never stuck, but one day I come across Amazon Influence program on my Instagram algorithm I see all these women just talking about it and I'm like, you know, I kinda think it's a total scam, honestly. Like most things we see online. Courtnie Cotterell: Well, yeah, you get something like that on your especially Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: on your Instagram like feed and you're like what is going on here? Yes. Jordyn Fullmer: Totally. It's like this this is too good to be true. Like these mom these moms are people are claiming to review products around their house and make money and so anyways I watched that on my algorithm for like two weeks and totally got sold on it. And so I went to my husband one day and I was like, Hey, I wanna try this, I think. It was super random. it's not like I was actively looking for work. I just Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: was like, I think I wanna try this. And so I had a two hundred and fifty dollar course that I was gonna purchase But he actually followed some other guys and he had kind of heard about it and so he steered me in that direction. And it was actually a more expensive course community that I, you know, could join into. But after thinking about it, I decided to go that route. And so I purchased that and that's kind of where it all began. And within that community, I was able to learn how to get in through my social media and what that all took to get in and so I got in and then I started reviewing products around my house and then the rest is kinda history. So that's my beginning story, but tell us yours. Courtnie Cotterell: Well, I in my brain I I mean I've always kind of done something and like I've owned I started and owned a clothing business. I like a storefront where we were doing stuff online. I teach like voice students, like I don't know, I work at the gym, like I have all these little things and that's kind of like a joke between me and my husband is like Courtney always has something going on, but it's all honestly I just like to stay busy and I was kind of telling my husband like At the time he was working from home and I kind of felt bad because I'd go and work out at the gym and then I'd come home and I'd like get ready and then I was just like da-da-da, like what am I doing today? And he's like in there working. So anyway, I actually was visiting with my neighbor one day and just catching up, seeing how things are going with her family. And she was telling me she has like these entrepreneurial children and they're just like always doing something. They're hustlers. And so she was like, yeah, my boys, they just they did this and my son in law does it and my daughter's trying really hard to like be able to quit her job so she can do it too and she's like, you should just go like look it up and so I went home and I just kind of looked online. I wanted something, but I didn't want to go get a job. I didn't want a boss and I didn't want to work hours where my kids were going to be home. So it was like, Okay, I have like, I don't know, two hours, three hours every day where I can like really just focus in and get something done and plus we're kind of my kids are getting older unfortunately and like we're hitting kind of those heavy hitting expensive years I guess with college and if they get married and like trying to help set up for life and be ready to go. And so, anyway I looked it up and I was like, Okay, I'm I saw courses. I was like, I'm too cheap. I hate spending money on stuff. Like I'm just gonna Google this. And I found someone on YouTube that kind of explained the situation. I was like, okay, I'm just gonna try. And honestly I didn't put much thought into it 'cause I didn't think it was gonna work. And so I just applied and you have to like choose names and all these things at the get go and I was just like putting in crap. Like I don't know. And then it stuck. And I was like, great, now I'm stuck with this. So here we are. but Jordyn Fullmer: So awesome. Courtnie Cotterell: anyway, it it it was kind of surprising. I I applied through TikTok, so I don't know how you applied. You do have to have some social media. I had heard TikTok was easier. So I applied through TikTok, which is funny because I didn't have a TikTok account. I mean I'm 41. I'm not like jumping on TikTok to dance like for the people. So I was like, great, what are we gonna do? So Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: anyway, I posted videos of my dog and I got in with seven followers. So yeah. Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: That's sick. That's so cool. I actually applied with Instagram. the Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: my personal page that was already up and running and I had to switch it over to public. So I was private at the time, but whatever account you apply with, it has to be a public account and it has to stay public. And so I definitely like followed the course material and did all these steps, you know, to get me in and then I was able to get in after just getting some engagement up on there. But I will Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: say that applying with TikTok, I do believe is the easier route. And specifically like dog content, animal content is slapping right now for people. Which is funny that you did that two and a half years ago, 'cause nowadays, like, I know a lot of people that are getting in by posting dog content on TikTok and then applying. So that's cool. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Yeah. Well I mean dog dog lovers, if you're a dog lover, like they're like their community. Like they they Jordyn Fullmer: Mm. Courtnie Cotterell: support one another and love seeing other cute dogs, so I see how it works. But did you so how long did it take you to get in when you once you switched your profile over to public? And then also, like, did you just go full send or what'd you do? Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, so I think it probably took me about maybe a week or two of posting. I think I because I wasn't super active on social media, honestly. Like I was not one that had this crazy account with a bunch of followers and I posted every day. So I just needed to do more posts within a certain time frame and get my engagement up. So I texted my family and I was like, hey, like and comment on my posts, any posts that you see. I need my engagement to be up. And so they did that for me. I'd probably put up seven or eight posts and then just like once a day. And then I applied. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: And in the interim, like I had applied already and not gotten in. You can Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: apply as many times as you want. It will just not let you in or not. Yeah, for that first for this specific process. Courtnie Cotterell: For that first round. that first round. Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: and so anyways, eventually, probably yeah, seven or eight days later I applied, got in, and then we started the next phase of things, but how about you? It sounds like you got in pretty quickly then. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. I mean, yeah, I honestly like it's all a blur. I don't really remember. I I know it was a few days. It was for sure like at the most it was maybe a week. It felt like forever. When you're trying to get into something like that and you're really excited about it, it does feel like it's gonna take forever. But so Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Totally. Courtnie Cotterell: I have a d I have a daughter who is I'm about ready to go through this process again because I have a daughter who has basically lived away from me for the majority of my building of the Amazon influencer program, like my storefront and the success that I've had Anyway, she's she's been on a mission for our church in Australia and she gets back at the end of next month and we are just talking about, you know, like real life and adulting and and she wants to go to law school, which is, you know, expensive. And I just said to her, like, you know, how are you gonna work? Like what are you gonna do? And and she's like, Well, Mom, do you think I could do Amazon? Like it's kind of out of my wheelhouse. I don't really feel comfortable. I don't know how I'll feel, I guess, but like I it sounds like it would be really good. And I was like, even just for the free stuff, like there Jordyn Fullmer: Or they Courtnie Cotterell: You could really make out, you know, like a bandit with that things. And so I'm gonna go through the process with her, and I think I'm going to do it through TikTok. And I think I'm going to also maybe show the journey on my Instagram. So people maybe, maybe that's a bad idea. I don't know how long it will take me. So we'll see. So anyway, I I think for me the biggest thing though when I got in was I felt like I got in and I applied, you have to so after you get in. you with your social media account then you have to make three videos and they basically are viewed by a person that works for Amazon that basically make sure you don't like make any medical claims or any you don't say anything that you know is going to be harmful in any way to anyone. You're not showing any personal information, like addresses, license plates, things like that. And they just have to kind of make sure that you're gonna do like a good job making videos. And I put up my three videos and maybe a couple more and then I just like peaced out. Like that was like December and I was like, I have so many other things going on in my life and I didn't come back until April. And when I looked in April, it was interesting because those few videos that I had on there had made me, I don't know, like twenty bucks or something. Like enough money, I don't remember how much it was exactly, but it was enough money where I like, That legit took maybe twenty minutes, thirty minutes of my time to make these videos, so let's go full send. And from that point on it was It is what it is. I just went full set. So Yeah, I mean it was Jordyn Fullmer: so cool. That's so cool. That's cool. I didn't know you had taken a break in there from getting accepted and then full sending. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: yeah, the the on site commission video approval process for me was, you know, just the next step in my course material. And so I did the same thing. I posted just three solid videos of myself reviewing products and making sure I wasn't flagging any of those terms. And Courtnie Cotterell: Mm-hmm. Jordyn Fullmer: and then I just waited. po uploaded them to my storefront, waited until I heard back, and once I did, it was so exciting. Because you only have three chances on that side of things to get in. So if your videos Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. You gotta do it right. Jordyn Fullmer: get X's three times, then you have to reapply with a new social media account. And so Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: I was really like, Man, I do not want these to flop. I don't wanna have to be on s you know, try number two and just have that pressure. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Yeah, seriously. Jordyn Fullmer: And so I made mine, I try to make sure mine were really perfect before I submitted them. And yeah, I was able to get in on that first attempt, which was great. Courtnie Cotterell: See, and it's funny because for me I was more so concerned about what I was reviewing and making sure that Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: I like so I reviewed I can tell you 'cause I remember I reviewed a KitchenAid stand mixer, I reviewed a KitchenAid handheld mixer, and I reviewed a piece of luggage that we had just bought. And the biggest thing I think is to make sure like you give a clear view of the product, that you are kind of in more of a plain background, you don't have a lot going on, a lot of chaos around, and that you give like just complete details of how it works and So it's interesting because it does a lot of it does come with like clear clear lighting and clear objectives, I guess, as you're talking about the product. You don't want to have something that, you know, is going to be playing music in the background or just I don't know. Like I wouldn't review anything medical anything, right? I wouldn't do that. Jordyn Fullmer: Totally, yeah. Totally avoid anything that will be hard not to make like a medical claim, or like skincare, 'cause you don't want to make any type of claims. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Courtnie Cotterell: yeah. Makes me look younger. It's like Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, you can't say anything like that, but just like Courtney's saying, it's like you don't have to overthink it. Just good lighting, good audio, clean background. I like to try and keep the product right in the frame. So if you're Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: like moving it and moving it and the cameras pointed down and you can't see it because you're showing it down here. You gotta have it front and center and just talk about it good and bad. And it's that simple. I think I Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Jordyn Fullmer: did like a handheld vacuum. Demonstrating your products Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: is a good thing to do. Things you can show. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: so I put like dust on my table and like vacuumed it. You know what I mean? Like yeah, show how good it works. So that's always a good thing to implement in there too. But Courtnie Cotterell: So what does your typical week s I mean we both got in, we both started getting like ready with videos. It sounds like you went like at it right from the get go once you got those approved, those first three Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: videos approved. So but what does your typical week look like now? Like what is your I know the workflow kind of changes based off what we have coming in and whatnot, but Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: what are you doing? Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, yeah. So today now I try and batch film a lot because Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: and it's changed. It's changed through my journey. There were times where I was just filming every single day. Every single night, honestly for me. and now I try and batch film, so it's been really effective for me to set out all the products the night before, unbox them, get them put together, whether that's plugging them in or the simple install and maybe even sometimes pulling up all the product listings so that they're ready and I can kind of reference those as I'm reviewing the products. And then Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: the next night I'll film them all. So I've been trying to do like anywhere in between, you know, I guess it it's really random. It depends on how tired I am. Because I often do it at night just because my two kids are in school, but I still have two at home. And so it's really hard to film with Courtnie Cotterell: You don't have a quiet moment. Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: little kids. Yeah, like it's just I I've tried it way too many times and it never works out. Super counterproductive. So often I will just film once they're in bed. And so, you know, anywhere in between four to ten products I'll try and get out on my batch film day. And now it's awesome 'cause I have a VA, which is great, but it that's a new thing. I've been at this for two and a half years and was all doing it all on my own before Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: I jumped into that. But now I can film and then send it off to him and he edits and uploads for me, which saves time. And then I'll do the same thing Courtnie Cotterell: That's true. Jordyn Fullmer: a couple of days later. Put them all out and then the next night film. So that's kind of my workflow with it right now. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: but curious what yours is. Courtnie Cotterell: That's awesome. it's interesting because I do it totally different and it's great. But I didn't know that you batch filmed. That was new. So Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: I I am actually someone who hates having stuff hanging out around my house. And so the product comes in and I usually film it that day. I'm like caught up, you know, at least that's the way my workflow is, that I just record either the day I receive it or the next day. and I do kind of batch film. I mean I I'll like I have a time period where I'll just film them all. Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: and yeah, just try to get them all up. And then I also have I actually have two VAs that both kind of work part-time for me. And so I still do any edits because I don't know why I do that, but I do because my VAs do other things and and I don't do a ton of editing and so I feel like it's totally doable. But I'll do any of that and then my VAs will upload everything. My VAs also help with. I have one VA that does all my uploads. She does all my cross posts, all the things that way. And then I have another VA that kind of does some product research. She just this week I actually had her start adding in answering all my emails that I get from brands as well, which was becoming very time time consuming. And I think that's the biggest thing is that you as an Amazon influencer, you need to make sure you are stopping and giving yourself kind of like a like an honest. Review of how things are going and what you're spending your time on, and then realizing are there certain parts that are not making me money or not helpful to my business, helping me grow? and then you can ditch those parts or outsource them, and that's a huge thing. And Jordan, something I learned from you. So my son used to be my builder, but now he's off at college, whatever he left me, it's fine. But I learned from Jordyn Fullmer: So sad. Courtnie Cotterell: you like to hire someone, and I so I have a kid in Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: the neighborhood that comes over, and he was just over here yesterday for four hours building a dresser, which I hate accepting dressers, but we did this one and I told him I was like, I'm sorry, I will not do a dresser for a really long time. But even last week he came over, I received this massive inflatable. It was a twelve like those the ones that your kids play on. It was a twelve Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: and one. So it had like pools and slides and target practice and basketball hoops and bounce house in the back. Like it was this massive thing. And I had him come over and normally that would be something my husband would have to set up at night, but I knew I needed to film during the day. film at night after my husband finishes working and so I had him set it all up and then he went and was building something else and I grabbed my husband I was like hey let's go shoot video and I went outside and shot the video and then I went back into the garage and was like hey can you actually go take that down now? And he's like, Okay. And it was amazing. It was the best thing. So Jordyn Fullmer: Dude for real. Yeah, yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: just kind of being honest with yourself. Like are there certain parts of your workflow that are not working for you? and then you know everyone's gonna be different and especially depending on what Whatever stage of life you're in will determine how that kind of looks for you. But you do need to have, you don't just do something because that's the way you've been doing it the entire time. You have to kind Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: of take a step back. So that for me was telling my VA like, okay, I'm gonna Step back from my emails and Friday was the last day or was the first day that she had just kind of taken everything and I woke up and she had like notes we have a system and and I looked it over and she had a few questions because she was new obviously to responding to things and twenty minutes later I walked out and I was like, I'm done. Like that was the best thing I think I've ever done. Like it was amazing. So yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. That's so cool. I need to take that I need to take that jump because it is quite time consuming responding to all of that. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. And she just read through some of my old emails to see and obviously we keep in communication as to she has questions about how to respond, but yeah. Like training someone to take over stuff if you have the time and the means to be able to afford that is huge. So Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, that's awesome. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. So Jordan, what do you what tools do you use? Do you use any tools to like help you with this or are you doing everything manually or is your BA taking care of everything? What do you do? Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, so this one is a big one for me because there is a lot of stuff out there that tells you that you need to have this tool and this software and this software and this software to be successful. And in my experience, two and a half years in, very successful in the Amazon Influencer program, I've only ever used one tool. And it's been fine. And it's it's helped me keep my systems organized and not overwhelming. And so I've only ever used ViralView. which is the software tool that helps you, you know, find better products and it automates sending out messages to brands to request free samples and it automates accepting campaigns within the influencer program, which allows you to get increased commissions and it does a lot of other things. And this is something that I started, you know, maybe four months in, I purchased Firal View and I've never Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: looked back and Since then there's definitely a lot of other types of automation tools out there, but like you you don't need in my opinion. What's your what's your take on that? Courtnie Cotterell: Well, it's funny because I told you how my neighbor kind of like got me in curious about the Amazon Influencer program and her boys are the ones who started ViralView. So Trevin and Cade are my across the street neighbors kids. And there have been some other softwares that I have downloaded. I tried using a few that were like early on that were a bust. They were early in the development stages and honestly taking way more time than they should to either install or try to figure out. and granted, I'm sure they work for other people, but the thing that has kept me just with ViralView is because obviously I canceled the other ones before I even got charged because they were just crap. But Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: I'm sure they're great now. But the thing for me is it's like ViralView offers a ton, and I know that people are like, it's maybe it's too expensive, or they think it's an investment. Investment. So the Amazon Influencer Program is different. If you've ever started a business, it is a different type of business because you can start this business with zero dollars and you can also continue the business with zero dollars. Like you're not investing anything into it. Now, when you get kind of more advanced into it, you can start purchasing products to review, you can invest in softwares. And I will say that the biggest thing is with ViralView, you are able to To three times, four times your income, like immediately. If you have any videos on your storefront, you can just automatically get viral view and have it automatically accept campaigns. Now, I do have to say, so if you're unfamiliar with Amazon Influencer, Jordan and I started before this program called Creator Connections was around. And It's kind of funny, I got my sister in law into Amazon Influencer and she was telling me about Creator Connections, like, it's amazing. She was like a brand new, didn't have a ton of videos on her storefront, and she was having brands send her free products. And I was like, wait, how is that even working? That's that's crazy. She's like, you gotta do creator connections, it's going to give you more commissions. So normally you'll earn anywhere from like point five to three percent on a sale if someone watches your video, maybe four percent if someone watches your video. So, like for example, if I have a hundred dollars Item and someone purchases that item after watching my video, I'd only make four dollars. Well, with Creator Connections, they work with the brands to be able to increase that so you can earn anywhere from 10 all the way up to an additional 50% on top of those 0.5 to 4% commissions that you're earning. And so it really does help you. And when we started, Creator Connections had like I remember the day I had like 85,000 campaigns, which sounds like a ton, but today I haven't checked this morning. But there's over 950,000 campaigns. campaigns on there. There is no way on earth if you have videos that you can even see what it's linked to because some of them are linked to multiple products within that brand. And ViralView takes the process out and they automatically accept all of those campaigns for you. So you're automatically making a ton more money. Now if you just want to go and do brand, like get brand samples, ViralView allows you to automate your messaging and so you can easily get free product and you get one product that's sixty or seventy dollars and it's already paid for itself because you're you're making just exactly what you're putting into viral view and that's like that can happen so so easily. So I agree with you. I think the big thing is you just gotta keep it simple and viral view's worked for me, it's worked for you and that's I'll forever be singing its praises probably so Okay, so if you were to tell yourself on day one, like fast forward to today, do you think that you'd be shocked where you are? Or what what would you tell yourself? Jordyn Fullmer: my gosh. I wouldn't believe it. I I can Courtnie Cotterell: Right. Jordyn Fullmer: confidently say that because my like forever like goal, like, dude, Jordan, you made it. If you can make this much money a month was a thousand bucks a month. And I remember thinking, like, that's gonna be impossible. It's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. And that's why Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. That's a lot of money. Yeah, that's a lot of funny. Jordyn Fullmer: I wanted it. Because that was life-changing for me, and that was my spending money. And so that's all I wanted was a thousand bucks a month. So if you know, my f one day one self knew what I was doing now, like she she wouldn't believe it. It it's it's crazy the opportunity Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: that the program gives. So what was your Courtnie Cotterell: You surpassed one thousand dollars, is what you're saying. Jordyn Fullmer: Yes. Yes. Surpass a thousand bucks. Buy buy a lot. Buy a lot. Courtnie Cotterell: Like by a little bit or by a lot? That's amazing. That's awesome. yeah, I think I would be shocked, number one, that I that this is, I mean, my life, right? Like the amount of packages that we receive. it kind of makes getting packages not as fun. Jordyn Fullmer: Dude, for sure. I was actually just talking about this topic with my sister in law because she's doing it. And she was like, Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: I used to be excited when I would see packages, and she's like, Now I'm not so excited when I see packages. I'm like Yeah. Yeah. You just it's like direct Courtnie Cotterell: You get a little bit at least I sometimes get a little bit of anxiety when there's a lot. Like just you just know. Jordyn Fullmer: correl correlation, you know, like work. Like work is showing up on your doorstep as you're just like chilling. So but Courtnie Cotterell: I know. Jordyn Fullmer: The the free product aspect of it is nuts. Do you have like an estimate in your head on the number the dollar number of free product you've received? Courtnie Cotterell: You know, no. when I I was interviewed by Cade, when was that? It was a year ago. And at the time it was seventy thousand dollars. I did know at that time. But I've received Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, yep. Courtnie Cotterell: a lot more products and a lot more high price products since then. So Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: I would say at least it's doubled in a year, at least. what about you? Do you know? Jordyn Fullmer: That that's what I'm thinking. I was I was thinking around a hundred thousand dollars or more of free products. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: I I don't know for sure. I haven't calculated it in a while, but I know I was tracking like yeah, like eighty ish last time I checked. That was probably five months ago. So it's it's Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, yeah. Well, I know. Yeah, and that's that's the crazy thing. Who knows? It's Jordyn Fullmer: nuts. That's stuff that we use and stuff that we've sold and stuff that, you know, my kids have enjoyed. Furniture, Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: like It's crazy. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. So let's do a quick like little rapid fire of like some fun stuff that you've received, whether you've kept it or you've sold it. Like what stuff you never thought you'd have showing up at your doorstep. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, so I moved into this house soon after I started Amazon Influencer program and somehow I just like started getting furniture and it was nuts because we needed to furnish our house and so we got some I loved the outdoor furniture I got at one point and this was when I was fairly new. I was probably like six months in and we moved into a house with some land and so I was getting these outdoor, you know, nice materialed like chairs, like I don't know. They're made of just good quality like outdoor furniture, Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: you know? And I got a lot of those from one brand that I worked with. And those were really fun. And then like really nice expensive red light therapy mats. As you guys Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: know, we're we love I love fitness and so I love the red light therapy mat. Full body, double sided, you know, like the sleeping bag. And those Courtnie Cotterell: yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: that's been fun. Bounce houses for my kids and like electric bike dirt bikes for my kids. we got an electric scooter, Courtnie Cotterell: I'll stop it. Jordyn Fullmer: which was I didn't really think a lot of, but my kids love riding that thing around my yard. Crazy stuff like that, Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. I bad. Jordyn Fullmer: you know, exercise equipment, like weight racks. I mean the list goes on and on. What about you? What are what are some of your faves? Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. man. well I wish I would get more outdoor furniture. I've reviewed a few things but I didn't keep them just because they didn't fit my space well. But I have I actually have a two person sauna that is in my garage. I've actually Jordyn Fullmer: So cool. Courtnie Cotterell: received two saunas and we're talking like the wood ones, you know, like a legit sauna. Jordyn Fullmer: Food. Courtnie Cotterell: So I sold the second one. lots of furniture, armoirs, like all of those things. but I've reviewed probably like I don't know. fifteen twenty couches. I got an electric bike, which is pretty sweet. That was like my Jordyn Fullmer: That's cool. Courtnie Cotterell: first like UGC. And honestly, I wasn't that far into the Amazon influencer program to get that. Like usually you have to kind of work from like kind of maybe tiny little products and work your way up. And that one, I was shocked. They sent me like an $800 electric bike. we we do this summer our town was doing like a firework show and my daughter, we were trying to chase the fireworks because we didn't have a great view from where we were, and we like got in my garage and I was like, electric scooters, let's go. Like, we have Jordyn Fullmer: That's so awesome. Courtnie Cotterell: an electric scooter, like an adult one. And then we I think I've reviewed like ten kid ones. And obviously as she's grown, we've gotten rid of them. And so sh hers is kind of like an adult one too now. So we've done those. Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. That's so cool. Courtnie Cotterell: But you know my kids like with them being a little bit older, we've been able to get them just kind of things that they've needed or wanted. I think we own like, you know, a million portable chargers for everyone's devices, things like that. But my daughter who is on this mission for our church, we got her like all of her clothing, all of the things that she needed to go. And my son went on a humanitarian trip and we got him all the things he needed for free. So it saved us a ton of money that way and it was pretty cool. But one of the funniest things, I actually sent you Jordan this picture. But Halloween costumes. I don't Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: know if everyone's seen like is it the Lorax? What was it? Like, is that what it is? Anyway, I reviewed Jordyn Fullmer: I think so, yes. Courtnie Cotterell: one of those. It had like an inflatable. If you are on the internet and you've seen people like last year it was going viral, all these girlfriends getting these costumes that are basically like onesies for your entire body. And then it has like this big old belly that inflates and it wraps around your head with like Jordyn Fullmer: So funny. Courtnie Cotterell: the mustache and the eyebrows. Anyway, I got one of those and I was like my kids came upstairs, they're like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm working. Jordyn Fullmer: Dude, you looked so awesome. Courtnie Cotterell: So, I mean it's fun, it's fun. You you get, you know, stuff that's maybe not so great too, but there's some fun moments for sure. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, the the free products, man. You can't you can't beat that. Well what's what's Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Yeah. So Yeah, no you can't. Jordyn Fullmer: like a tip or two that you would give, you know, someone looking to start Amazon influencer program? Courtnie Cotterell: Ooh, that's a great question. I think, well, I think you need to know your why. Like you need to know why you're doing it. especially with lots of these softwares and even just being in the Amazon influencer space, there are communities online that you can join where people can ask questions and whatnot. And you can get overwhelmed very quickly. Everyone has an opinion and everyone thinks that they're the expert, right? And so and I don't claim to be an expert at all. I mean, you and I have been doing this for a long time, but there are things that we do and choices that we make that probably aren't the smartest or that people wouldn't agree with. Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: so just kind of staying like laser focused on a what it is for you. So like Jordan, you mentioned a thousand dollars a month. Like I remember I wanted a thousand dollars a month and now we're ten times in that, and it's like Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Right. Courtnie Cotterell: we're are I Are set on the next thing, the next Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: big chunk. And so I think just taking the positives from each little win, I mean, if you would have asked me like if I'd be getting free shoes for myself and all my children, I would have thought you're crazy. But you know, like I I don't buy certain things now because I can get it for free. So you just have to kind of decide what's going to be and like stay focused that way. But what about you? Jordyn Fullmer: I love that. I think that's something that people miss because I think you see Amazon Influencer program out there, and I think a lot of people and a lot of moms are like, I wanna do that. Like that seems easy, I can do that. But it's it's a simple idea, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Like you still you still have to put in the time and the work and it's a grind. You know what I mean? Like you can't just Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, totally is. Mm-hmm. Jordyn Fullmer: You can't just say, yeah, I'm gonna review products around my house and make five thousand bucks a month. It doesn't work like that. And so I think Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: what you just said is missed because I think if you don't have a why, then you're gonna fall short because you're not gonna stay committed. So mine is a combination of yours and just staying committed because I think a lot of people Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: give up before it starts looking up for them. And I think the Amazon's always changing and commissions are going up and down. And I think that that scares people away. And so I think having a why helps you stay committed and staying committed, you're gonna win. If you can stay laser focused and stay committed on what you wanna get out of it and not give up when a hurdle comes your way, then you'll succeed. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and it's interesting because I know that both you and I have helped other people get into the program. We've kind of worked as mentors for people. I mean, we both have like affiliate codes or things that, you know, people can get the software that we're talking about and get it for a discount, which can I just say, never pay full price for anything. Like there's always a code out there. But Jordyn Fullmer: Seriously, there's always a go. Courtnie Cotterell: yeah, but I think the big thing for me is like some of the people I've helped, they just want the free product. Some people I've helped Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: just want to be able to cover their gym. Membership every month, and but then other people are like, you know, single moms, recently single moms, or recently unemployed, and they're looking for something, and you have to look at this kind of the long game because you're not gonna be making a ton if you just have 20 videos, but if you kind of plug along and choose really good products, you could be making. I know for a fact that, like, right now, I have a ton of videos on my storefront, and I know that a chunk of those don't even exist on Amazon anymore, so Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: like they're not making me. any money because the products are no longer sold or you know whatnot and so I feel like nowadays if you're very like very laser focused and just aware of what products you're deciding to review you can have success a lot faster but you know if you if you're like okay I'm just gonna kind of putz around and try this like that's kind of the result you're gonna get so what do you think is a myth that you want to bust if you were to be a myth buster for Amazon influencer program? Jordyn Fullmer: I think nowadays having a VA is really appealing and popular and talked about a lot. And I mean when we started, I never even heard about anyone having a VA. I don't know about you. It wasn't very talked about. But like you're Courtnie Cotterell: No. Jordyn Fullmer: t saying, there are communities online and groups you can be a part of. And so you hop on those and everyone's like, when are you gonna get your VA? But like in my opinion, you don't need a VA in the beginning. You don't. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay, wait, pause Jordan. Are you like talking about getting a VA that you're paying like fifty dollars an hour? Or what do you what what how how how Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: are people affording VAs? Jordyn Fullmer: So like for me me for example, I have a VA that lives in the Philippines. And so Courtnie Cotterell: Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: I pay him four bucks an hour. And he works full time for me. And it's not that much a month, right? And four bucks an hour to them in the Philippines is actually pretty good money. And so I mean, I can't even tell you how excited he was when I hired him on because this was a job that he was wanting forever and he was trying to get. And so on their end, it's awesome. On my end, it's awesome because he's doing all of these tasks tasks for me that just take time and that Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: I've been able to teach him and he's freeing up my time and I'm only having to pay him four bucks an hour. So it comes out to like five or Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Okay. Jordyn Fullmer: six hundred bucks a month. And on the grand in the grand scheme of things for me, like that's just well worth the investment because of the amount of money I'm making now. But with that being said, Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: like if you're making enough money to cover a VA five hundred or six hundred bucks a month, I don't think you should go get a VA personally, because it's just like then you're just spending all of your earnings on the VA and I just I personally don't think that you need to do that. Like I scaled and you scaled without a VA for a a year and a half doing everything on our own and then we were able to save all that money. Don't you agree? Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I there's two things I actually want to talk about. And the first is that I think I didn't get a software until I was like twelve hundred videos in because I kind of am like a I can do this myself type situation personality. But Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: really once I got like once you get the viral view or some software, that's going to help you like grow exponentially, which if someone were just starting, that is something I would say is when you have, you know, a hundred videos up there, get it. and start like from the get go with some help because Jordyn Fullmer: Totally. Courtnie Cotterell: that viral view is basically like your little VA helping you find all those things that you can't find at the beginning. but the thing that I would say with VAs especially because I th I've had my my first VA that I hired on, I hired her on. It's been about a year now. And The biggest thing for me is that when people hire VAs and they don't understand their own systems before, having a VA is having an employee. It's having someone that when they have a question, they come to you. You can't send them to a video, you can't send them to someone else online. Like you are their boss and you need to know the systems as well. And so lots of times people will get swept up in this like, I need a VA, I need a VA. And it's like, do you even understand what you're doing though? 'Cause if you don't understand how you're going to utilize a VA, and I know that there's people out there that will like train a VA for you and all this stuff, I'm like, Kate, let's bootstrap this because if you're gonna go through the effort of hiring someone, like you need to know what you want them to do and how to train them, so you're not just sending them to some random video all the time. So Jordyn Fullmer: Yep, one hundred pr I think that's huge. Yeah, just Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: summarize, like don't get a VA unless you know exactly how to do the Amazon influencer program p like really well yourself first. And don't Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: get a VA unless you're making a good amount of money. You know, don't Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: get a VA if you're only making five hundred bucks a month. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, exactly. 'Cause then you'll be making no money and doing all the work. Jordyn Fullmer: It's just it's just not necessary. Like you can do it. And if you're somebody that's like full send doing this full time, like you're like this is your gig and you know that you can scale fast, that's fine. Maybe maybe do that. Maybe invest in a VA. But as moms, like slow and steady wins the race, a steady pace, a constant pace. That's where you're gonna win. And Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: so like anyway, yeah. I totally agree. Courtnie Cotterell: Well, and one more thing that that just reminded me of is you can't compare your journey to someone else's. So someone maybe out there who's kind of more experienced than the two of us and making more Jordyn Fullmer: Mm-hmm. Courtnie Cotterell: money than us and thinking, these newbies, they don't know what they're talking about. Or we'll have on the other end people who have been doing this just for a few months, like, I really want to be like that. I want to be able to grow like that. And the biggest thing to understand is that we all have our own journey, and not only that, but you're gonna have to make this fit in the nooks and crannies, especially like Like we are still trying to live these balanced lives. So we're still trying to work out. We're taking care of ourselves. And then we're also taking care of our families. And you know, if someone comes to me and is like so into the Like, okay, I'm just like putting my kids, I'm turning on a TV show for them like every single day because I just gotta grind this out. It's like, okay, well, do you really need to do that? Because don't miss out on those opportunities to be with your kids and to do like make memories and just like live a normal life if that's what you were kind of a going after. But at the same time, like you can't look at someone and go, well, they're making five figures a month, like that's like how do you even get there that's I'm just gonna have to grind and do this and this and this. It's like you have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. Like you know, so Jordyn Fullmer: Totally. Yeah, completely agree. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, it's kinda it can be dicey. I mean I feel like this is kind of like a life skill too in in terms of Like comparisons, right? We don't wanna live our life where we're not satisfied with our lives because we're always comparing ourselves to other people. There's always gonna be someone out there who's better or bigger or, you know, doing things better than you are and just being able to be happy with where you're at, but then also pushing if that's what you want, to become Jordyn Fullmer: Yep. Courtnie Cotterell: better. Okay, well, Jordan, do you have any other crazy products you wanna tell us about that you've reviewed? Or maybe d do you have an experience where a product just totally like, I don't know, exploded in your face or something? Jordyn Fullmer: my gosh. Well, when I was installing more products back in the day before I had my guy that, you know, installs products for me doing it. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: I cannot tell you the amount of nights where I am just cussing because I can't Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: install the product. Like the instructions are confusing Courtnie Cotterell: Screw with the screwdriver. Jordyn Fullmer: and I can't get the angle. I mean, that is like terrible memories for me because it's like these things you don't think about in the Amazon influencer space until you're there. It's like, wait, this is sick that I'm getting this dresser, but I gotta spend four like once it gets here, it's like wait, I have to spend four hours building this thing. And that Courtnie Cotterell: my goodness. Jordyn Fullmer: I spent way too much time installing products and Courtnie Cotterell: Time is money. Jordyn Fullmer: it was great, but man, it bogged me down. That's why I've never looked back. I'm like, never again. After like seven or I don't even know, probably like a year of installing products. I'm like, nope, I'm not gonna do it anymore. Courtnie Cotterell: No, no more. Not putting these together. It's like Jordyn Fullmer: That's like Courtnie Cotterell: adult Legos, that's what I say. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah, totally. That's that's yeah. As far as like a particular product, I'm sure there's been, you know, plenty out there. You know the ones where you just are s reviewing and you just know instantly that they're crap. Like you're like, this product sucks. Like it just sucks so bad. Courtnie Cotterell: Okay, so people are always asking me, like, what do you do if you actually hate the product? If you just get details on a product and like nothing else, then you know that they probably don't love it. It doesn't mean necessarily it's like a horrible product, but I I mean honestly, like, so it's kind of funny. I I feel like I can't think of one in particular, which is funny, I just asked you this question because you'd think I'd have an amazing answer. But like If you pull open a beauty product and you get a whiff of that and it smells like legit like wasteland, like and you're like, I'm putting this on my hand, and it smells gross, but it's fine. Like it's good. But the the funniest thing that is just like a simple pleasure, I guess, is what you'd call it. So I I don't know why it is, but I go through stages where certain companies like reach out to me. And for some reason, like a month ago, this candy company was reaching out to me, and I swear I reviewed every single type of candy on their storefront. And i a side note, my daughter has like this candy business where she puts like candies on these skewers, almost like a bouquet of roses. You know, like you give someone a candy skewer, it's super cute. Anyway, she she like was starting this business, and so this candy company reaches out and they're like, Will you review these? Will you I'm like, Yes, and anything like Gummy, I love gummy. I legit like would get another package from them and be so excited and I'd always do a taste test. But they would not just ship one product. They'd ship like six. So I, you know, and I'm like batch filming, and usually it's like mid-afternoon, and so I'm like trying this candy, talking about how it tastes, like, and the flavors are really good, but I don't eat a ton, a ton of sugar, and I would get the worst stomach Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Courtnie Cotterell: aches. Like I'd be like, Jordyn Fullmer: That's so funny. Courtnie Cotterell: I need to like eat an apple. Like my stomach legit hurts. And then my husband's like, okay, well, what are we eating for dinner tonight? I'm like, I don't even want to cook. Like my stomach hurts so bad. Jordyn Fullmer: You just pound candy for two hours while you're batch filming the products and you you get sick from it. That's funny. Courtnie Cotterell: Or like they sent me a sucker for Halloween and I stuck my mouth on it and I op like take it out and smile at camera and my teeth are black. Like Jordyn Fullmer: That's so funny. There is some there is some good times reviewing products. There's some funny times. Courtnie Cotterell: It's so bad. Anyway. Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: There's some terrible times. Just everything in between. That's awesome. I love it. Well what's what's our Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. man. man. So good. Jordyn Fullmer: what's our next episode gonna be about? Courtnie Cotterell: So next next week we are going to be doing a deep dive into fitness. so we're gonna be talking about how we fit fitness into our lives and kind of our fitness journeys. if you have any, like you as a listener have any suggestions as to certain things you want us to cover, let us know. Or if you have any questions about what we just talked about with the Amazon Influencer program, make sure you comment, let us know. You can follow us on our Instagram page, her working life pod podcast, pod, pod, pod. Or working life pod. or you can follow us on our YouTube where we actually are posting these and comment there. But we can always do episodes where you come back and kind of deep dive a little bit more into that. But next week is gonna be fitness, not like your Instagram, like FitSpo. We're talking like real life fitness, and it will probably Jordyn Fullmer: Yep. Courtnie Cotterell: turn into a little bit of real life help or health, right? Yeah. Jordyn Fullmer: Yeah. Totally. Yeah, one hundred percent. Just yeah, what it what it takes to balance fitness and work and all the things. And yeah, we're we're open books with the Amazon Influencer program. We're here to help if you guys do have questions, we'd love to hear and we'll answer them and, you know, try and give you some some answers to to questions you might not be able to get elsewhere. So Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah, and you can reach out to Jordan or me down in in the description of the podcast. You can find all of our socials and the things that ways you can connect with us. So if you have questions, reach out. We're happy to help. Jordyn Fullmer: Sounds good. Well thanks for Courtnie Cotterell: Sounds Jordyn Fullmer: listening, everybody. Courtnie Cotterell: Yeah. Have a great week. Jordyn Fullmer: We'll see ya on the next one.