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The Amazon Files, hosted by Kristin Ostrander, Amazon business strategist and one of the founders of Mommy Income, hits the airwaves every Tuesday with the real truth about selling on Amazon. This show isn’t about sugar-coated reality. It’s real truth - the good, the bad and the ugly - shared with practical action steps and strategies to help both new and experienced sellers tackle the world’s largest retail sales platform.

Jul 25, 2022

Today I’m joined by the amazing Tyler Jeffcoat, accountant, e-commerce expert, and co-founder of Seller Accountant, accounting experts for e-commerce sellers. Tyler’s here to talk to us about bookkeeping, minding our business, and knowing our numbers because we can’t make profit if we don’t know what kind of numbers we’re working with. First up, Tyler shares his journey from setting up a healthcare startup to deal with his grandparents’ Alzheimer’s issues to realizing that he could use his accounting know-how to help Amazon sellers make money. He then takes us through some basic bookkeeping tips, including what accounting resources to spend money on, and common mistakes like aligning your sales with payment dates instead of sales dates.

Tyler also encourages everybody to develop good bookkeeping habits, like blocking off thirty minutes weekly to do your finances, and we both recommend educating yourself and hiring someone to do the parts of business you don’t enjoy or know nothing about. Tyler then sets out some of the services that Seller Accountant offers, from courses on subjects like basic inventory management to bookkeeping services that get through the most stringent due diligence in the world. And finally, I close the episode by asking Tyler about the role bookkeeping has when you’re looking to exit your business. Tyler responds that having your accounts transparent and in order is something that investors really appreciate and good bookkeeping, whether by you or a service you hire, is the best way to ensure that.

You can learn more about thrifting and auctions in the Amazon Files and Mommy Income community. Join our Facebook group using the code word bookeeping to learn more about bundling, ask questions, and participate in the conversation with other sellers. And if you’re ready to take your business to a whole new level, visit MommyIncome.com/Coach to schedule your one-on-one coaching call today.


This week on the Amazon Files:

  • How Tyler moved from healthcare startup to e-commerce
  • Basic bookkeeping tips and common errors
  • Cultivating good bookkeeping habits
  • Seller Accountant’s services
  • Bookkeeping’s role in exit strategy

I’m all about education. If you don’t know, learn. Don’t hide from it, learn from it. Learn enough to not screw yourself over.”

- Kristin Ostrander

Quotes:

I was like, wait a second. This is not Amazon sending me and Emily this stuff every day. It’s actually these sellers. I was like, unbelievable. And it just immediately became this kind of clear hero in my mind, was like, Bezos is gonna get paid, Shopify is gonna get paid. I want the seller of this kind of one to ten million, or maybe half a million to two million brand to make money.”

If you give yourself the gift of that thirty minutes a week to either pursue education or understand your numbers better, you’re going to be doing better than 90% of your Amazon Seller brethren out there. And so, if I could invest thirty minutes a week and become better than 90% of my competitors across the world, man, that’s a pretty good return on investment.”

We were involved with almost $90 million in exits last year where sellers were selling to aggregators and other investors. And our bookkeeping got through the most stringent due diligence in the world to get out of that.”

I had a client last year that had his number. We’d gone through the exercise, an investor offered him that number, but he was afraid he was missing out, and he said no. Of course, the market kind of went down a little bit at the end of last year, and he didn’t get his number. And so, if you know what you want, then you can guilt-free let it go when that number pops up.”


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Grow Your Amazon Business!

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Amazon Files, the show to help Amazon sellers along their business journey one step at a time with Amazon expert and your host, Kristin Ostrander. If you enjoyed this episode, head over to Apple Podcasts, subscribe to the show, and leave us your honest review. Don’t forget to share your favorite episodes with your friends on social media! Use the code word bookeeping to join us on Facebook. Each week, Kristin hosts a live discussion on how to grow your Amazon business. Don’t forget to check out our website and subscribe to our mailing list for even more resources.