The Truth About Passive Income as an Amazon Influencer

Maren Crowley [00:00:01]: Today’s guest is the definition of a modern entrepreneur who’s building businesses and a movement. Kate Peterson is a 27 year old entrepreneur, content creator and the co founder of ViralView, a game changing software helping Amazon influencers work smarter, not harder.

With over 2 million followers across platforms and multiple 6 and 7 figure businesses under his belt, Cade has made it his mission to help others unlock their full potential, financially and personally.

He’s been featured in Business Insider for his success at just 24, but as he likes to say, he’s only getting started. On this episode, Kade breaks down on how the Amazon Influencer program and Viral View have not only transformed his own life, but helped countless others build passive income streams and step into financial freedom.

And beyond the numbers, he lives by a powerful motto. If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right. That energy is contagious.

And today he’s here to show you how stepping out of your comfort zone can change everything.

Kade, I’m so excited to have you on today. You have built this incredible ecosystem around content creation, business and helping others create this. I don’t like to say financial freedom also the FTC hates that word, but like financial flexibility. But I want to start at the very beginning with you.

Maren Crowley [00:01:50]: So before viral review and the Amazon Influencer program, what was your journey like? Like, were you always an entrepreneur? Like, did you always have that mindset or did this path find you along the way?

Kade [00:02:03]: Yeah, so it started when I, it was about six years ago. My brother, who some people know, Trevin Peterson, introduced me to Amazon FBA, which is like selling on Amazon. So I started selling on Amazon. I was trying basically every side hustle possible, trying to just, you know, get that financial freedom that you’re talking about and trying all these different things.

Ended up loving selling on Amazon. Did that for about four years. And then I learned about two years ago about the Amazon Influencer program and it was like, whoa, wait, you don’t have to pay anything to sign up. You don’t have to like pay for the products.

Kade [00:02:44]: Like there’s no risk involved. Okay, this is crazy. Let’s, let’s give it a try. So I gave it a try and it kind of blew my mind. And then two years later, here we are with ViralView and just doing it basically full time.

Maren Crowley [00:03:02]: So what was the moment, so to speak, the aha moment when you realized, I’m sure it was making your life easier, right? Like once you started coming up with this concept and the creation of our review, but like this tool, when did you have that moment where you’re like, oh my gosh, let’s help people work smarter, not harder? Like, how did you go from idea to launch?

Kade [00:03:24]: Yeah, so it was about probably eight months in to doing the Amazon Influencer program myself where me and my brother saw all of these, like, small things that were like, man, Amazon, it’s great, we love Amazon.

But there are some things that then just make it so complicated. Like, if only there was a tool that did this. If only there was a tool that did this. And we had all these ideas and they’re like, wait, why? Why don’t we just create it ourselves?

So we ended up, you know, putting our feet on the ground and started developing a tool to help Amazon influencers work smarter and not harder.

Maren Crowley [00:04:00]: So just in case a creator’s never heard of it, even though, like I talk about all the time. You talk about all the time. Like, how would you describe Viral Vue in, like your elevator pitch to someone and what it is and what it does for people?

Kade [00:04:14]: Yeah, I mean, first, in order to understand Viral Vue, you have to understand what the Amazon Influencer program is. And so the Amazon Influencer program is a program that Amazon has released to help customers get real reviews from a real person.

So as influencers, we take take products and we just create video shoppable videos. We call them video reviews for the product. These videos show up on Amazon. Anytime a customer watches the video and buys the product, we get a commission.

And then what Viral Vue does is it helps that whole process just work so much easier. It helps you find the right brands to work with that are going to make you money.

It helps you find the right products that will make you. Because not every product that you review is going to make you money. There’s going to be products that don’t sell well or products that have a ton of competition.

It helps you find that. It gives you feedback on the videos that you’ve already created, how are they performing. And so it just gives you an overall better experience to be as efficient as possible, to make as much money as possible.

Maren Crowley [00:05:22]: Yeah, that’s what I love about it, is that. So, for example, before you guys created Viral Vue, if you had to guess, how many videos did you make? Like how many products did you create content for and what was the traction like?

Like, obviously you had success, but I think a lot of people, because the whole point of Viral Vue is getting you to work smarter, not harder. What would you say, like, that big difference was for you, time wise and content wise.

Kade [00:05:51]: It was so fascinating when we went from. Yeah, like our previous strategy, basically our previous strategy was review everything possible. Like make as many videos as possible. Which is like, it still is a strategy that does work, but you’re going to waste so much time reviewing products that aren’t ever going to make you money.

And so it was really cool when we first were like in our beta phase of Viral Vue and we were able to see, okay, I’ve got a thousand videos. This many videos are showing up on the top and bottom carousels.

Uh, which for those who don’t know what the top bottom carousel is, it’s essentially where your videos show up on the Amazon listing. Ideally you want your videos to show up in both the top and bottom.

Um, so it would tell us this, how many are in the top and bottom? This. This many are just in the top. This many are just in the bottom. And then there’s a huge chunk that was in neither. Meaning all of these videos that I created weren’t doing anything.

And it’s like, whoa, like that’s crazy. Like I never would have known that. And so it was really cool to get that data and be able to pivot and to give you an answer to the number.

I think it was like 400 videos were in neither the top and bottom carousel out of a thousand, meaning only like that means 60% of the work that I was doing had the opportunity to make me money.

The other 40%, they wasn’t doing anything. Because if your videos aren’t showing up on Amazon, you, you’re not going to make money. So that was really cool to see.

Maren Crowley [00:07:20]: Right? For sure. Because I think the natural tendency for someone is twofold. One, they really love a product, so they’re like, oh, this is going to be easy for me to talk about and so let me just create a video.

But meanwhile there’s, you know, Tom, Dick and Harry have already created it times 10, right. There’s like 70 other videos out there that you’re trying to compete with, so you’re not going to get seen because of that.

Or conversely, like I, I know for me, right, you want to look at the commissions, right? And so. Or high end products. So for example, I very, and I know you do too, like high end podcast equipment, but people aren’t stupid.

They want to, they want a greater commission. So they’re already creating videos for that as well. So it’s I, I’m mind blown by the software because relative to how, quote, I’m using air quotes, few videos I have, I have a pretty good return on the Amazon Influencer program compared to I know some people, what they’re making per day, they have like more than double the amount of videos or, you know, created more than double the amount of videos.

So I can 100% speak to that this software kicks royal butt now. Why on like, so you started getting into the Amazon Influencer program a few years ago.

Why do you feel that it’s exploding right now?

And would to any, you know, it’s like anything sometimes people feel like they’re day late or a dollar short or they’ll come up with things like, well, of course, you know, Kade’s successful, of course Marin successful. They started it, blah, blah, blah, years ago.

Like, is it too late for beginners to get into.

Kade [00:09:04]: Short answer? No, it is definitely not too late to get into. When I first started, I was kind of shocked. I was like, this is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. Like, this is too good to be true. What is going on? Like, why aren’t more people doing this now?

Fast forward to now, two years later, more people are coming to that realization and are doing it, which they should, because it still is amazing. And you’ll hear all the time, people are like, oh, the Amazon Influencer program’s dead. It’s not as good as it used to be, which has some truth to it. It’s different now than it was two years ago.

Two years ago you could review almost anything and you’d make at least something at some point from it. Now there are more people, that’s more known, but it’s still like not very well known. It’s still a huge opportunity.

And what’s so cool is even though some things are different today than they used to be, there’s new strategies and new techniques that didn’t exist back then. Like Viral Vue. Like I, if I had Viral Vue back then, man, it would have even been better.

There’s things like Creator Connections where you have the opportunity to. Instead of making 2 to 4% every time a product sells, you can make 10, 20, 30, 40.

I’ve seen up to 50% every time a product sells. So there’s different strategies, different things that you can do that almost make Amazon Influencer program the best it’s ever been. Right now for sure.

Maren Crowley [00:10:35]: Because I’ve, I’ve noticed, you know, I’ve been in, I was in direct sales for over 10 years and I’ve been, you know, social selling just as an influencer that whole time. And what I’ve noticed is that they love the little micro influencers and more companies are, are leaning into like user generated content.

And as someone that’s been doing UGC now for over a year, solely UGC, I don’t do direct sales anymore. And I’ve noticed what’s so cool is that you’ll do a UGC job and because it’s an up and coming company, they want to lean into Amazon and TikTok shop, which we’ll talk about TikTok shop in a minute because I know by reviews like beta, that whole, that whole realm too, but it’s a way to work smarter, not harder and that you’re not creating two, three, four pieces of content.

You can create one piece of content, you get paid up front for the UGC job from the company and then you can take that content and then put it on your, you know, your shoppable and be generating money passively beyond the UGC job.

So it’s, it’s kind of a no brainer in my opinion because I just think that this whole like social space is going to be exploding.

What are your thoughts on Amazon? Leaning more into the whole live shopping experience.

Kade [00:12:06]: So what’s so cool about Amazon, TikTok shop, UGC is there are so many ways to make money it’s kind of ridiculous. Like I don’t know if you have an Amazon Canada or Amazon UK account, but there’s that route, there’s the route of downloading your videos, uploading them to YouTube and doing more of the affiliate marketing route.

There’s TikTok shop, there’s brand deals. Brands send you the product, they pay to send you the product. That’s so you get a free product, you get paid to review it, sometimes they buy the rights. UGC like you said, you upload it to Amazon, you get 2 to 4% commission.

That’s four income streams in one. So there are so many different routes.

Kade [00:12:48]: There’s live streaming and at the end of the day they all work. And what I always recommend to people is figure out what you enjoy and what works for you. So like there, it’s funny like so many people come to me like Kade, I have this idea, I want to try this and I’m like, then do it.

Like there’s so many different ways and at the end of the day the only way you can lose is if you don’t do anything. So do I do live streaming? I’ve done a few live streams. I don’t enjoy it. And so I just keep doing what is working for me.

However, like, I’m, I’m not, I would not get on here and say, guys, don’t do live streaming.

It didn’t work for me because it does work. It does work. You just, I just, I’m going to do what I know works for me and what I enjoy. And if you enjoy live streaming, there’s a huge opportunity there. So, so many different routes. You just gotta try them all, figure out which ones you like.

Maren Crowley [00:13:46]: Now, one of my friends asked me today. She’s. I know she’s kinda, she’s, she’s hesitant to do UGC and she asks me a gazillion questions about my workshop. And so we’re gonna like make this question specifically tailored to her.

Cause she’s like, well, what if you get a product and you don’t like it? And I was trying to explain to her the way that I describe UGC. So I’m going to describe UGC, right? And then you answer it on the Amazon side. Is that okay? To me, UGC is. It’s almost like you’re acting.

And literally in some UGC campaigns, folks, they will give you a script, they will tell you what type of B roll content they want. And they’re using that content. Like Kade said, they own it in perpetuity.

So they can use it however they want. Just pull a little piece from it to make, you know, a mishmash of all different things. They use it on their socials, their email marketing, all the things. But it’s very. I think it’s a hard thing for people to swallow for two reasons.

One, they come from direct sales or affiliate marketing where they’re trying to really earn the trust of the consumer.

Like, hey, you really use this product. So click my link. And it feels weird to them to be saying you love something, but you’re getting paid $200 bucks to say you love it versus, you know, building that trust.

But you just kind of have to get past that, folks. But also, my mom, she jokes, she’s like, well, now I’m gonna go on Amazon. I don’t know whether to believe these people are not in the reviews because I know like what you do. And I try to tell her, I’m like, yeah, but whether…

I am honest about what I’m saying because even if they don’t purchase said vacuum. And they decide, oh, I’m gonna go with vacuum. You know, behind door number two, they watched my video, so I’m still like getting credit for it, so to speak.

So how do you feel? Because I know you certainly get a lot of things sent to you. We’ve seen your, your yard sales. Oh, my gosh. When you open something or you try it on, I know you do a lot of clothes and stuff like that. Like, and you don’t love it.

How do you, how do you respond to that? Like, how do you do a review? Like, what is your, what is your vibe with that? And how do you encourage people to keep going even if they don’t 100% love what they’re receiving?

Kade [00:16:21]: Fantastic question. I’m going to take two routes for it. The first one is just the customer being able to see a real person in real lighting with like a phone camera talking about the product gives value to the customer.

Like, let’s say I’m reviewing clothes and I put on a shirt and it’s like, just super baggy, like, just horrible fit. Like, just doesn’t look good. The material looks cheap. And I, I get on there and I’m like, I really like it.

And I can say whatever, but the person watching it is going to be able to still get value and decipher for themselves. Like, that person may like it, but now that I see this on him, that’s not the shirt I’m looking for.

So they, they’re still getting value just by being able to see you using the product. Or if, like, I’m, let’s say, different example, I’m reviewing a Lav mic and I plug it in and I use it and I say, so it sounds really good, but you hear the difference between what my phone sounded like and the Lav mic and it doesn’t sound good, they’ll be able to, like, decipher for themselves whether it’s worth it or not.

Now, on the flip side, the second part to answer this question is I, I’m not gonna, going to, like, blatantly lie in my videos. And if I don’t like a product, I’m not going to say I love this product. But what I will do is I’ll take, like, what’s kind of cool about the Amazon influence program, a little bit different than the UGC is if, if I’m reviewing a product at my house that I, like, didn’t get from a brand and I don’t like it and I review and I say, hey, guys, like, this product has these pros, these cons.

Kade [00:18:07]: They decide, okay, I don’t think I want that water bottle. I’m gonna go buy a different water bottle. If they go buy a different one because I was part of the purchasing decision and they watch my video, I still get a commission, which is super cool.

And someone watches the video and they decide, let’s say I’m gonna review a water bottle.

So that’s why this program is so cool, because it’s a real review by a real person. You don’t have to sell the product. You don’t have to, like, be like, guys, all of this and try and hide the bad. You can talk about the bad, but what I’ll do is I’ll talk about the bad and in a positive way.

So if I’m reviewing clothing I.e.

the material is cheap, the way I review it is, I’d say, I like this design. I like this, I like this. I will say the material is kind of thin, but it’s honestly a great value for the price.

So I’m not, like, opening openly saying, oh, this material is super cheap. I’m doing it in a more positive way of it’s kind of thin, which is nice. Kind of just a great, like, what you’d expect for the price.

So that’s kind of how I go about it, of talking about the pros, but also addressing the cons, because it is important for the consumer to see those.

Maren Crowley [00:19:14]: That’s similar to what I was explained there. So, for example, I used. And not that we love using supplements on Amazon because there are so many hoops you have to jump through with certain products.

Which will lead me into my next question. But I explained to her, I said, imagine there’s some kind of supplement, and I would kind of, like, create a sandwich. Like, good.

My what I wish was better and then good at the end, like your pros and cons. But I would say, like, okay, this supplement has B12 in it. Great.

But, you know, just as a heads up, if you have the MTHFR genetic mutation, like I do, it’s not methylated, you know, and so that way the person knows. I mean, we can’t get too clinical on Amazon, but you have to be.

Be very careful. But with that being said, like, I was just trying to explain to her, like, how you can. Like you did.

I love that with the clothes. Like, you’re not saying, oh, my gosh, I would never buy this. This is, like, from Sheen. But you’re giving them the idea of, hey, you’re getting what you pay for, so to speak.

So now the ball is in your court, homie. Now, when you see Amazon influencers, like, what would you say?

Pretend they don’t have Viral Vue. Okay, but what would you say is the biggest mistake you see them making when it comes to choosing what products to promote? Like, do you trust you know how Amazon will tell you what’s trending?

Being that you have such insight to what truly is with the software, do you think that they’re on point with what they’re saying is trending, or are they kind of like a day late, a dollar short?

Kade [00:20:54]: I mean, it’s. It’s hard to truly say. I mean, I rely so heavily on Viral Vue that I would never even look at the trend. Because the problem is, is you get a product that sells really well, that’s trending. But then if it has like 50 influencer videos on it, then the chances of you making money from it is so slim.

And so, like, what’s funny, before Viral Vue, I would have people, like, tell me how they would go and use, like, find ways to figure out the revenue of the product, and then they’d manually go and look at each individual product and see how open the carousels were.

But my take before Viral Vue on that is you’re spending so much time, like, reviewing if a product is good or not, that by the time you did all that, you could have made a video. Like, you can make a video in about a minute or two, and to do all of that takes about a minute or two.

So honestly, I think you’d be better off just reviewing the product, like, just picking up the camera and hitting film, because I think you’d save more time than trying to filter it out. But I mean it, at the end of the day, picking up a product and just hoping the best. I mean, it’s better than nothing.

But if there is a way to figure out how well the product is and how many, not only how many influencers are in the top and bottom carousel, but how many influencers are waiting, like, not in the top and bottom carousel, but are uploaded to listing, there’s a way to just see that, like, all in front of you, like, that’s the way to do it.

So honestly, I think doing manual research is more of a waste of time than just picking up a product and filming it. That’s. That’s my opinion for sure.

Maren Crowley [00:22:44]: Now, when it comes to recording, like, can you speak to that a little bit? Because I think when people, when I tell them, when I use the word easy. Now, easy is relative. Right? I get that. But when I explain to them that this is so simple, it doesn’t. It’s not rocket science.

Like, you’re saying a minute or two, literally, like, when you’re doing your reviews, like, what’s your process? I know some people will do, like, all right, today I’m sorting everything.

Tomorrow I’m going to record everything, and then, you know, the third day I’m going to edit and upload. Like, what is your process?

Kade [00:23:24]: Like, yeah, it’s funny. And I think people are shocked by this is my process is I don’t really have a process… the Amazon influence program is just so great that, I mean, I kind of have a process.

So two parts to this. A lot of people, when I first started, I remember talking to my roommates. I’m like, guys, you guys got to try this. Like, there’s this new thing. Told them about it.

They’re like, Kade, obviously you’re going to have success with it. One, you sell on Amazon. You know how Amazon works. And two, you’re an influencer already. Like, you do social media.

So, like, this is like taking the two things that you already do for a living and combining them into one. And it’s like, no, you don’t. Like, you don’t understand.

Like, you don’t need to know anything about Amazon to do this, and you don’t need to be an influencer to do this. My following on social media has nothing to do with my success on Amazon.

And one of my roommates was like, all right, I’ll try it. He tried it. He started making money. And then once, like, my friends started seeing him make money, they’re like, oh, wait, if he can do it, then I can do it. And so the process of, like, making the video doesn’t matter.

Like, you just need to give some sort of value to the customer, whether it’s what they should know before they’re buying it, how long you’ve had it. Like, pros and cons, an unboxing installation, a demonstration, whatever it may be. Like, when I.

When I hit record, I don’t know what I’m going to say. I just speak as if I’m talking to a human, showing them what they should know about the product before they buy it. Now, process of setting up filming, I mean, I’m getting so many products.

I do kind of have a process. And usually what I do is I take 10 products and I will take them to a location, like, 10 products that all are similar.

Kade [00:25:11]: Like let’s say 10 pairs of sunglasses. Because I’ve done 10 pairs of sunglasses. I’ll go outside and I’ll set them down next to me, set up my tripod and then I pick one up and I do the video, stop, set it down, pick the next one up, do the video, stop, set it down.

So I usually do 10 at a time. Then I go upload the 10. And that just helps me stay like organized so I’m not like missing a video. But also staying efficient with like stopping the record. But there is no right or wrong way to do it.

Some people like to do one at a time. Some people, like you said, like to spend a whole day prepping, whole day filming, whole day uploading. There’s no right or wrong way. You just figure out what works best for you.

And that process that I just said isn’t what I do every time, but that’s just something that has helped me when I have a ton of brand deals, like 80 brand deals that I need to do in a day.

Maren Crowley [00:26:03]: So can you explain to the listeners? So you mentioned how you get samples sent to you now? I know that with Viral Vue it’s making a heck of a lot easier to message brands now. And my husband’s like, like, you know, like we had, I sent out a message.

I do a lot for the kids because especially, you know, they love opening the packages and like, oh, like it’s something for them and you look like a hero right when like something shows up for them.

And I’ll choose things that do have a really good viral score. So for example, I just got these like reusable water balloons and my top was like, so pumped about it. And you know, I was like, this is amazing.

I can just send out these messages, but can you give them a clue like as to like how that happens? Where literally you’re getting to the point where you have to give this stuff away because you’re getting so much?

Kade [00:27:00]: Yeah, this is my favorite part of the Amazon influence program. Like, yes, you can make a good income. Like, like really good income. There’s so many people who have quit their jobs to do this full time.

Yes, you can work whenever you want, like, however much you want from home. But my all time favorite thing is getting stuff sent to you for free because it’s literally Christmas every day. Over the last two years, between me and my roommates doing this, there hasn’t been a day that we haven’t had boxes on our, on our porch. And over the last two months, we’ve about 10 x’d the number, which is crazy.

Maren Crowley [00:27:37]: If you’re an Amazon influencer or you’ve even thought about getting into it, I need you to listen up. I want to put you on to the exact tool top creators, including myself, are using to work smarter, not harder. It’s called Viral Vue. Viral Vue helps you find products that are already trending so you can create content that converts instead of wasting time on duds.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale, it gives you the data and tools to actually grow. And because of your part of this podcast fam, you can try it out today and save. Just use my code Maren M A R E N for an exclusive discount when you sign up. Stop guessing and start creating content that sells.

Maren Crowley [00:28:17]: Head to viralview.com and use MAREN to get started.

So I’ll kind of walk through the process. If you’re just starting first. If you’re just starting, you have brand deals to look forward to. But don’t get brand deal happy. Like, you need to build a base first.

You need to be a credible Amazon influencer. You need to get. I always say 300.

That’s not like a secret number. I just say if you have 300 videos, you’ve done enough videos where you know how to make a video. And if a brand comes to your page, you have enough videos where they will respect your work and say, okay, this person is someone I want to work with. But if you’re just starting, like, why would a brand want to work with someone that’s never done a video before?

So I always say, like, do 300. Get that base first. And then what you’ll see is brands will literally start coming to you through Instagram DMs and say, Hey, I see an Amazon influencer. I see you review this product.

Will you review my product? For example, one of the first few products I reviewed when I started were pickleball paddles.

Maren Crowley [00:29:21]: Oh, my gosh. Do you know how many pickleball paddles I have at my house? And I have a pickleball paddle.

Kade [00:29:26]: I’d be surprised if it’s. Oh, my gosh, how many do you think you’ve got?

Maren Crowley [00:29:33]: I mean, it’s just me and my husband. We have like six of them. And we have a. Like, we have pickleball courts in our neighborhood, but they sent me a. Like a. I guess if you didn’t have one, it would be like a practice court, so to speak. So you set it up and sure enough, making c+ommission off that bad boy. But I just think that’s so funny.

Maren Crowley [00:29:54]: Meanwhile, we’re golf professionals and it’s like the number one sport that takes, takes you out of golf. So it’s a job hazard. We don’t even play, but we have a gazillion paddles.

Kade [00:30:05]: That’s funny. Have you gotten a lot of golf products, too?

Maren Crowley [00:30:10]: That for some reason. No, that. For. I don’t know why. I think maybe because. And it isn’t that big of a deal. Just because, like, I’m, you know, with Callaway and he’s with TaylorMade and stuff like that. But yeah, they’re, they are a little tentative with that for some reason. Tons of supplements and oh my gosh, like I said, pickle. Pickleball, oh, my gosh. And a lot of kids stuff. But I just. Pickleball is obviously trending, folks.

Kade [00:30:38]: Yeah, yeah. So, like, and when, when a brand sees that you’ve done a pickleball paddle review and they sell pickleball paddles, then they’re going to reach out to you and say, hey, I see you reviewed this pickleball paddle.

Will you review mine? And then you review that one. All of a sudden what’s happening is you’re getting all this, like, digital real estate that’s promoting you. Like, yes, you’re making money on this.

But so many brands are finding you through those videos. And so because I, I, no joke, I’ve gotten about 30 plus pickleball paddles sent to me. And because I have all those pickleball paddles on Amazon, more brands are finding those.

And so it’s just like compounding. So I don’t even know where I was going with that. What were. Oh, branding. And so sometimes I will say this.

When people hear that, they’re like, oh, maybe I should just niche down and do golf products. For example, my roommate loves to golf. He’s done a ton of golf products. And so that has happened to him where he’s getting a lot of golf products.

But you don’t need a niche down because you could do a ton of golf products, a ton of pickleball products, you could do a ton of everything. And then all of those brands will find you. Like, they don’t, they don’t really care that you only do one niche.

Kade [00:31:50]: It’s more of just the quantity that you do. That’s just the more digital real estate you have. And all the different brands are going to come to you.

And sometimes brands will come to you and just say, hey, I see your name as an influencer, they’re not looking at, like, a specific video. They just see that you’re influencer, and they’re like, I have a list of products. Pick, pick one, pick five, pick 10. That happens a lot. So you’re at 300.

Brands will start reaching out to you. There’s also, There’s. There’s other ways that you can get brand deals, but the most groundbreaking, most incredible way to get brand deals is – Viral Vue released this tool about a month ago, where, yeah, it allows you to basically scan a bunch of Amazon products, sort them from best to worst, and then click.

Which ones? Like, click, click, click, click, click, click. You can select like, 20 at a time. Hit send. It’ll send a message to each of those brands with the product that the brand has to, like each individual one.

So the Viral Vue will customize the message to each brand saying, hey, I’m interested in your product. Blink. And Viral Vue will put the product in that message, and you can just send so many messages in like a minute or two.

And then next thing you know, you have so much product that you literally have to do a free garage sale.

Maren Crowley [00:33:09]: I mean, I’m not nearly at your level, but my husband’s just like, Maren, we can’t even see our dining room table. Like, what is going on?

Kade [00:33:19]: I’ve had spouses reach out to me and say, can you tell my husband or tell my wife that he or she needs to lay back on the brand deals because we don’t have room for it anymore? It’s crazy. And it’s. Yeah.

Maren Crowley [00:33:33]: And would you. So there’s a lot of different. Different opinions on it. So, like, when you. So a brand sends you whatever it may be, a pickleball paddle, you. You create the content. How long do you hold on to that product for, like, before you unload it?

You’re not obviously keeping everything, but what is your game plan with that?

Kade [00:33:57]: I mean, once I have it uploaded, it’s. I mean, I would recommend holding onto it for like a week because every so often you will have a video get taken down for, you know, personal information, safety claims, whatever it may be.

So I think it’s important to hold onto it for maybe a week just to make sure that the video doesn’t get taken down or the brand doesn’t want, like, want something to change.

But I rarely have that happen. But, yeah, once I. After I have the video done, it’s basically fair game. Do whatever you want with the product. You can either keep it, you can sell it, give it away.

Throw it away, whatever, basically, whatever. Like, do whatever you want with the product after that. And it’s crazy how many products I use on a daily basis.

Like, the products I use on a daily basis are Amazon products. Like, I think about my life two years ago. I’m like, man, there’s so many products I never would have purchased myself, but now that I have them, I’m like, I can’t live without this thing.

Maren Crowley [00:35:02]: For sure.

Kade [00:35:03]: It’s really cool.

Maren Crowley [00:35:04]: And it’s the type of thing too that say you’re not married to a particular brand, for example, but you need something, you need a new vacuum, you need, I don’t know, a new toilet bowl, brush, whatever.

What I love about the software is that it’s helping me make smarter purchasing decisions because I’m using Viral Vue to figure out, like, I’m not going to go buy the Dyson that unless I’m married to the whole idea of having a Dyson.

But I’m not going to go buy the dyson because there’s 150 influencer videos, you know, and 145 of those are waiting in the queue to get bumped up. I’m not going to choose that one.

But I see, oh, this one is, you know, maybe even a little less expensive, but has, you know, certain features that are equitable to the Dyson. Oh, and it has a viral score of 85. Well, add to cart like, you know, that’s. It just is the only thing that makes sense.

And what I try to explain to people too, is that you have the stuff that’s already in your home. UGC. I teach all of my students UGC because you’re automatically getting free product. And a lot of those brands that are sending you UGC products, they’re new to Amazon, so they’re in creator connections trying to get their name out there.

So like you mentioned, that’s another stream of income. You could be vacationing at your friend’s house and find something that they have in their house and scan it and be like, oh, well, I’m going to do a view a video on this while I’m here for the weekend because it has an amazing viral score.

Like, and you didn’t even have to buy it, it’s in your friend’s house, it’s in an Airbnb, it’s wherever. And you can upload the video and there you go.

Maren Crowley [00:36:50]: Like, that’s what I think is so fantastic about the whole program and Viral Vue. So for someone just starting out and they download Viral Vue what would you tell them to focus on in, like, the first 30 days?

Kade [00:37:07]: Yeah, that’s. That’s a great question. There’s a tool with Viral Vue called the Order History Scanner, where it allows you to scan your Amazon purchase history and it will sort from best to worst which products that you mentioned have a high viral score.

And what that means is which products sell well with low competition and which products don’t. And basically you’re going to scan it and then you’ll see a giant list of products that you own because you purchased them, and you’ll be able to say, okay, I know where that product has.

No, go gather all those products that have high viral scores. Go review those. Those that, like, don’t sell.

You don’t. That you’re just saving time. You don’t need to worry about those products. Once you’ve gone through, like, everything that you’ve purchased on Amazon, you can, like you said, go to a friend’s house and you can do this exact same process to your friends.

So you can go and scan their order history and see of the products they purchased which ones are the best. You can go to parents house, go to siblings house, neighbor’s house. You can, you can go do this exact same process and just review the best of the best products.

Now, again, you can mindlessly review products and there will be some that hit, like, you can’t lose with the Amazon Influencer program, but you’re better off spending your time reviewing the products that you know will make you money.

Kade [00:38:27]: There was something else I wanted to add with what you were saying, though, about buying stuff. And if you’re just getting started, like, this is absolutely amazing, if you’re going to buy something, you might as well, like you said, buy the thing that’s going to make you money.

So, for example, I’m going on a humanitarian trip to Costa Rica in one week. And about two weeks ago, I was going through like, the packing list of everything I need. And what I did is I literally went like, okay, these are the products I need. I went to Viral Vue and I reached out to all these brands and I said, I want this product, I want this product. I was able to get about 30% of the stuff I need for free. And then the other 70% that I’m at, I’m like, okay, let’s buy the best one.

So again, did it went. I. You. I searched on Amazon. I need. Let’s see, what’s something. I have it right here. I need a water bottle.

That was actually something I got for free. But I’ll use that example. I need a water bottle. I can search it, use Viral Vue. Viral Vue will scan the entire search page and say, hey, this is the water bottle that is going to make you the most money. So I bought that one.

And so it’s crazy that I’m able to go on this trip that is like kind of funded entirely from Viral Vue and the Amazon Influencer program because I was able to buy everything or get it for free using Viral Vue.

I’ll make those videos, those like almost every time if I buy a product using Viral Vue, I’ll make my money back eventually and then I’m going to be gone for two and a half weeks.

Kade [00:40:11]: During those two and a half weeks, those videos are going to make me money where I’m not going to be working. Like, I’m not even going to be thinking about the Amazon Influence Program for these two and a half weeks.

But I’m going to get back and I’ll, I’ll, I like know for a fact I will make more money from the Amazon Influencer program than the cost of the trip. So it’s kind of cool how you can do that.

So, yeah, if you’re going to buy something, like there are people who have the strategy to go intentionally buy products just to review them. I don’t like that strategy.

The best part of the Amazon Influencer program is you can make money without having to spend money. So I only use that tool if it’s a product that I need.

Like, like you said, there are going to be certain products, certain brands that you have brand loyalty to. I would say that’s like 5% of all my purchases. In life I have a certain brand that I want, but the other 95%, I don’t really care what the brand is as long as it’s a product that I want. If I can make money from, it might as well.

Maren Crowley [00:41:08]: Well, and I love that strategy because like I said, I’m coming from the direct sales world where, you know, I, I got involved with direct sales because I truly love the product and I wanted a discount. And then it grew and grew and grew and I was in the top 1% of my company.

But then the company dissolved and I saw all the kind of inner workings, like the veil was lifted about like what direct, direct sales is truly like. And I’m really trying to encourage people to get into UGC and Amazon Influencer Program because the number one thing that you just said is that you don’t have to buy anything to make money.

And indirect sales you straight up have to be active. You have to be creating sales by people clicking your link and having conversations and going into DMs. Or you’re using the product yourself.

Like, you have to have X amount of volume to hit certain benchmarks. Like all of the things. And here brands are literally handing you things, or you’re making smarter purchasing decisions that, like you said, the product gets paid for in itself and then some.

And everyone who does Amazon Influencer, I truly believe, knows what that product is. What is your number one product that, since you’ve been doing this, that has earned you the most income?

Kade [00:42:34]: I mean, it. Ooh. I, There’s a, there’s a couple that come to my head. The, the first one that comes to my head is when I, when I separated my AC joint, I needed like, a sling. And this was about a year ago. And you look on Amazon, there’s hundreds of different slings. I don’t care what sling I, I need. So I use Viral Vue.

And I, I bought a sling. And I, I’ve, I, I’ve tried to keep this sling kind of a secret, actually, because it sold at the time, like $160,000 a month. And there was no other influencer videos. And so I bought that sling, I made a video for it, and I was, it was crazy how, how much money I was making from this sling.

And so that, that definitely is one that sticks out in my head. Another one, one of my first videos I ever made was my vacuum. I reviewed my vacuum. It’s a higher ticket item.

Didn’t have a lot of influencer videos. And it’s, it’s such a funny video. Like, when I look back at it, I’m like, I, I literally just picked up my phone, like, hit record, and I was just. I mean, it’s a, it’s a valuable video.

Like, I go over all the product details, but, like, it was funny. As I’m doing the video, I was learning about the vacuum. I was like, I didn’t even know this was here. And I, like, I messed up on my words a couple times.

Like, the most unprofessional video, but it was a real review by a real person, and it gave value to the customer. And there was no other Amazon Influencer videos on the listing. And so I would say probably those two are.

I think the vacuum is my, my highest, like, the most that I’ve made. And then the Sling, it’s a cheaper, not cheap product, but it’s a cheaper product. I think it’s my most sold product, but obviously it’s a lower commission rate. So it hasn’t made as much as the vacuum.

Maren Crowley [00:44:39]: Yeah, mine, one of mine is a vacuum that was a UGC job. It’s like a $500. So they, you know, obviously they sending you the product for free. Right. So it’s like a $500 vacuum for free. They paid me a hundred bucks to make a 30 second Instagram video. And I put it on, I used Viral Vue and I put it on there. And the thing, I mean, I’ve just, in like the last six months, I mean I’ve, I’ve made almost a thousand bucks.

The whole value of it is like a thousand bucks. And another one is a mop. This ridiculous mop. That was a UGC job. And I remember getting it and I had it. I was going to New York because my parents live in New York in the south, summer fall and my dad loves gadgets.

And I was getting paid $15 bucks, like something so silly to take a picture. I’m like, whatever, this is a great gift for my dad.

And then I was like, okay, let me once again check it out and see what Viral Vue says. And I was like, all right, this is an amazing score. So I made like you said, this kind of ratchet video with my dad.

And I said in the video because I needed my dad to help me open it because we were trying to figure out how to open the, the device and I couldn’t do it by myself. So I say in the video, I’m like, yep, this is the only thing that stinks about it.

You need extra hands to like open it. And you see like my dad’s big burly hands going into it. And sure enough, I mean, that thing pops up on creator connections.

It’s, it’s, it’s wild. So I just think it’s so funny how the most random things. Yeah, you know, that’s, that’s what pops up.

Kade [00:46:13]: Yeah. And it’s funny. I’ve made videos, like edited videos, like in cap cut, like I did this wetsuit that I made a really good video, like a great intro. I took it boating. I like filmed me surfing. I did like a put on and off. And then I think I’ve generated one commission from that high quality video. And so it’s kind of funny.

There was also, I actually as you’re, you’re talking, I do remember this. I, I think it was like a week ago. I did like the year to date and one of my best selling products this year is a barbecue. And something that I’ve actually done is every so often a brand will reach out to me and say, hey, will you review this product?

Will you make a video for this product? And it’s a product that I don’t want to necessarily one have and to assemble. So, like, I’ve had like workout cages that like cost a thousand dollars. And I’m like, okay, that’d be really cool to add to do a video on.

But one, I don’t have space in my house for that, and two, I don’t want to spend a Saturday putting that together. And so every so often when these kind of brands reach out to me, for example, this barbecue, I was like, I really don’t want to assemble that.

I posted on my Instagram, like, anyone want a free barbecue? And of course everyone’s going to slide up and there’s someone that lives pretty close to me. I was like, I want it. So I literally had the brand send it to that house and they assembled it for me.

Maren Crowley [00:47:40]: Oh my gosh, I love it.

Kade [00:47:42]: And then I went to their house. Yeah. And then I said, hey, I’m coming over this day. I need, I need the barbecue done in 48 hours. They got it put together, I went over there, they filmed, they filmed me review the barbecue. And then I said, enjoy your barbecue. Like, that’s all I need.

They’re like, wait, I got a free barbecue just for that video.

And I’m like, yep. And I’ve. And I’ve made, I think it was like $500, $400 just from that barbecue. So it’s like, that was well worth my time. And they got a free barbecue. The brand got their video. Just win wins across the board.

Maren Crowley [00:48:17]: I did something similar at Christmas time. One of my members gifted a kitchen set for my girls. And what I did is same, but I, I had to put it together because they needed it obviously for their Christmas gift.

But I just did straight up time lapse on my phone of me and my husband putting it together. And then obviously once it’s all assembled, then you can like talk about it and whatnot. But like just little hacks like that.

Or my best friend, she’ll come over and she goes to the infamous dining room table and she’s like, all right, what, what can go and what cannot? And like, she cuts my hair too. So like, here, free haircut.

Here, take this, take this product. Take this magnesium. Take this. Like, I don’t need it anymore. Or like my mother in law, like, I gave her a purse that I did a review on. Here you go. Here’s your Christmas gift. Like I think it’s so wild and I. But I love that idea. Have someone else do the grunt work setting it up and then you go review it.

Kade [00:49:18]: Yes. Yeah. The Amazon phones. It’s the ultimate life hack. Like you’re just getting all. It’s like Christmas every day. It’s so fun.

Maren Crowley [00:49:29]: So where do you see. Just a couple more questions because I want to honor your time. Where do you see the Amazon influencer space going in the next two to three years? Like is it going to get more competitive or more lucrative? What do you think?

Kade [00:49:43]: I think naturally it will get more competitive and there’s no, there’s no for sure of what’s going to happen. I do not think that it’s going anywhere. Like if anything it’s just getting bigger. Like I don’t know if you ever experience in the last two years where Amazon releases like incentives, like those bonuses where they say, hey, we’re looking for 30 second vertical videos, we’re looking for videos and this and they pay like $50 a video. Have you ever, have you ever done those?

Maren Crowley [00:50:16]: Yeah, so I did that when I was in New York. That’s when I should have been filming sooner. Full transparency. I am a type B person, so I’m very last minute. And funny enough, I had my mom going through her house. I was like, mom, find something that’s like 9.99 or less. Like, let’s go, let’s go. And I have this random box of.

Maren Crowley [00:50:39]: Was it Dr. Scholl’s anti toe fungal that started making me money and then it like paid me 50 bucks just to make the video. And it was probably expired, like low key. It was probably expired and like it shouldn’t have been in the house. But like those types of things I think are really cool because you can make significant income like that. Like they’re guaranteeing it to you. Plus you’re making the residuals obviously from the videos.

Kade [00:51:07]: Yeah. So when I, when I first started, they released one of those incentives and I did it and in the terms it said like, we’ll accept some of these, not all of them. And they didn’t accept all of them. And I was like, oh, I don’t know. Like it was great but it wasn’t anything crazy. And then they did another one and it was like, you can do up to like 200 videos and we’ll pay you $40 a video. And I was like, yeah, that’s too good to be true. And I didn’t fully take advantage of it.

Kade [00:51:36]: And then I had all these people like, dude, I made an extra four grand. I mean, extra. And I was like, oh, freak. I totally missed the boat on that one. But what I’m, what I’m trying to get at, the reason why I share that Amazon gives these incentives for certain categories is like, they wouldn’t do that unless this was working. Like, they, they see that there is value with the Amazon Influencer program. And when they see holes of like these products need more videos, they do those incentives. So that shows me that it’s not going anywhere.

Kade [00:52:11]: Amazon Influencer program is definitely something valuable. Creator connections for those who know what it is. I kind of mentioned where you get the 10, 20, 30% commissions. If you check creator connections every single day, the amount of campaigns go up by like a thousand or two, meaning.

Maren Crowley [00:52:31]: There’S like over 200,000 in there just.

Kade [00:52:33]: Today where two months ago it was probably under like a hundred thousand campaigns. And so like that is showing me that it’s getting more and more. Like more brands are seeing the value of creator connections and getting these influencers. So there’s little things like that that is signifying to us that, you know, it’s not going anywhere. It’s, it’s, it’s getting more and more popular. Yes, it’s gonna get more competitive, but that’s also why we created Viral View so that you can work smarter, not harder, know which products to review. And people are like, oh, eventually there’s gonna, we’re gonna run out of products to review. And also I, I think I mentioned, when I say review, make a video ugc, like there’s that, that word is used interchangeably.

Kade [00:53:19]: Just throw that out there. But people are like, oh, we’re gonna run out of products. It’s like, no, there’s thousands of products being uploaded to Amazon every single day. You don’t need to worry about that. So I, I see a huge future and if anything there, I think other platforms are going to take note of this and copy it. I, I know Walmart and Target, I’ve heard like rumors that they want to do their own type of AM of Influencer program. I mean, TikTok Shop, they created their own version of, you know, affiliate program there. So people are going to copy Amazon if anything and there’ll be more opportunities.

Kade [00:53:57]: Like some things are going to go, but when a door closes, a new one open. So there will always be an opportunity with the Amazon Influencer program in My opinion, I agree.

Maren Crowley [00:54:07]: I mean I’ve noticed that there are a lot of companies that I’m an affiliate for or like even there are even companies that are direct sales that are selling on Amazon. That was like one of the major red flags that I saw with Beachbody was wait a minute, you can get Shakeology and all these supplements on there. Like this is, you know, I started to see the red flags that the company was going to be closing its distributor doors years before someone actually got that notice in the email from the CEO. And that’s what these companies are doing though, because if they can get their name out there and people, people want stuff in two days, they don’t want to wait five to seven days for, you know, regular shipping. They, they love having prime. And the sooner you can get a product into someone’s hands, the sooner they’re consuming it, the sooner that they’re reordering it. You know, if it is a consumable and things like that. And I think to your point, like if the sooner you get in and you’re establishing yourself and you’re getting comfortable with the Amazon influencer program, when these other big box stores go that route, you have a leg up to either get accepted to their programs because you have a portfolio, you know how to create the content.

Maren Crowley [00:55:23]: So that’s what they’re going to want. They’re not going to want, you know, the, the small fish, they’re going to want the bigger fish who have been doing this for a while. So what would be your number one piece of advice for creators who do feel that this is too saturated to succeed?

Kade [00:55:39]: Yeah, I mean one would be use Viral View because that’s exactly what that is made for, is to combat the saturation. Work smarter, not harder. But my, my, my advice that I would give to someone who’s just starting is trust the process. Like it’s a long term play. So many people get in, it’s so easy and they start seeing the money come in, but it’s not like a huge amount. But you got to remember that you make a video today, that video is going to be making you money for years to come. I’m still making money from videos that I made two years ago. So they might put, do a ton of videos like, oh, I’m only making this much, like my time per hour wasn’t worth it.

Kade [00:56:27]: And it’s like you’ve only waited three weeks, you wait a year. Your, your amount of money that you’re making per hour. I, I always tell people I think you can make from more from this than whatever your 9 to 5 job is in the long run because it’s a long term game. So trust the process. Put in the work today. Your future self will thank you later. I’m so grateful for the old cade who, who grinded for those first few months to just get started with the Amazon Influencer program. Like I remember I went on a trip to Hawaii and while I was there I was in Airbnb.

Kade [00:57:02]: I reviewed every single product in that house. And I’m so grateful for that version of caid for putting in the work because I’m still making money from some of those products. Like one of the, one of the products that I’ve made a lot of money from in the last two years is a surfboard and it was a surfboard that was at the Airbnb. So put in the work, your future self will thank you. Trust the process, delay the gratification. Understand that it’s going to take time. But I see it time and time again where people put in the work and then like, I mean most of the, the people that are around me are trying to figure out their life. Like I have a lot of friends who, who get into it and then they start doing school full time or they like pick up a full time job and they stop.

Kade [00:57:51]: And then like six months later they like realize they’re still making hundreds of dollars a month and they’re like, oh shoot, I should have kept going. So it’s just like, just keep going. Your future self will thank you. Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean like that it doesn’t work. It’s the greatest thing ever. I mean I could ramble on and on about it. I’m super passionate about it. If you can’t tell.

Maren Crowley [00:58:12]: No. So, so am I. I, I believe wholeheartedly in this and I appreciate you coming on today. Where can people find you? And I’ll make sure it’s on in the show notes and all of that. And obviously I will make sure that they have a link to Viral View. Cause I have a link for them as well.

Kade [00:58:29]: Yeah. So my, my personal Instagram is Kate Underscore Peterson. Also I run the Viral View account on Instagram. So if you have questions related to the Amazon Influencer program related to Viral View, it’s Find me on Instagram Viral View and it’s V U E Viral Vue just to throw it out there. And yeah, if you want to sign up for Viral View, Marin does have a coupon code that gives you 10% off for life. I believe the coupon code is Marin, right?

Maren Crowley [00:58:59]: Yep.

Kade [00:59:00]: So if you want to give it a try, I, I assure you it’s worth it.

Maren Crowley [00:59:06]: Trust me.

Kade [00:59:07]: It’s crazy. I, I, I can’t express you. Like, it’s funny. Even if I wasn’t part of Viral View, like just using it for personal reasons, I’ve, I’ve like 2x’d my money from ViralView, so it’s well worth it. If you guys want to try it, make sure to use Marin’s code.

Maren Crowley [00:59:28]: I appreciate it. Well, thank you so much for coming on. This was a lot of fun. And let’s get some, some more money generating for people because this is not, this is not going anywhere, folks. You want to get on board, take our word for it. I’ve been doing this for a year. Kay’s been doing it a lot longer than I have. But I can tell you in the year that I have been a part of the Influencer program and using the software, it’s, it’s been fantastic.

Maren Crowley [00:59:56]: The worst problem you’re going to have is that you have to give away things that you’re getting for free. Yeah.

Kade [01:00:02]: Yeah. I know people who are getting storage units because they can’t keep up with everything.

Maren Crowley [01:00:07]: I love it. Well, thanks, Kade. Appreciate it. And thanks tuning in, guys. And we’ll catch you on the next episode.

Kade [01:00:14]: Thank you.

Maren Crowley [01:00:16]: Thanks for listening to the if youf Know, you Know podcast. I hope this episode resonated with you. If you want to get more of this type of content, make sure you follow me on Instagram a Crowley. And if you love this episode, let me know by tagging me on IG or even leaving a podcast review. You See you next week. And remember, if you know, you know. And if you don’t, well, you’re about to.