Derek Pankaew – From Bootstrapping to Millionaire Mindset
Yoo guys! These were my notes from the Nomad Summit in Chiang Mai January 2018 … see you there January 2019!
This are very incomplete notes, obviously so, please leave your thoughts, tips & experiences in the comments and I’ll add to this! Cheers!
Derek Pankaew went from bootstrapping small businesses to making $10,000 a month, to thinking big with the millionaire mindset. You can see his Flexr: Travel Pull Up Bar product here.
Summary: basically, you gotta be unique!
As more and more people use the same business models…
– Increased Cost per Acquisition
– Decreased Margins
– Platform Actions
– Customer Skepticism
The Quest for a Strategic Advantage
4 Ways:
- Intellectual Property
- e.g. Sportsmemorabilia.com – using that brand they were able to contact the NFL etc. and ask to sell the sports memorabilia.
- Unique Product
- e.g. Dereks Travel Pullup bar got featured on Mens Health & more\
- e.g. Thisiswhyimbroke is a weird fun niche affiliate site
- e.g. have a normal looking guy explain how the product works
- Have something affiliates would be proud to promote
- Network Effects
- Where each additional user makes the product / platform more valuable
- Customer Lists & Audiences
- Derek spent 10k on building a huge fb email list before his kickstarter
- Got him 30k+ is first 24 hours.
3 Tips for Developing your Strategy
“Focus on a unique strategy so your business won’t die suddenly”
1. Never position yourself against the platform
– Avoid low quality experiences for customers
– if your biz is dependent on your customers not finding out that you’re doing something.. its prob gonna fail in the longer
– e.g. Aliexpress drop shipping should transition to a more solid foundation business.. because customers may figure out they can order from Aliexpress, thus get annoyed by the product fb ads.
2. Position yourself in a Rising Tide
- E.g. a product that is not a fad, and will gain MORE potential customers over the years, not less.
3. Consider the Whole Ecosystem:
– Platform
– Competition
– Customers
– Consider ALL THESE THINGS! It’s not enough to just throw up any product nowadays.. Especially for Amazon.
Derek’s product creation story: it cost Derek 1.2k for first engineering design travel pull-up bar, and 3k for revised design. Then took it to China .
then…. ENTER CHINA…. lol. That’s for a whole nother blog…
In fact I did do a podcast with Nick Ramil of the “Enter China” program – he shares his story & tips on how he’s created Million Dollar products in China. Watch Here:
http://www.livinthatlife.com/how-to-create-products-make-millions-%F0%9F%9A%80-china-success-story-1m-biz-amazon-fba-digital-nomads/
Cheers!
(Again, these are very incomplete notes, obviously so, please leave your thoughts, tips & experiences in the comments and I’ll add to this! Cheers mates!)
