Resonate 2019 is less than two weeks away! We’re so excited for the event that we’re sharing another Presenter Q&A to tie you over until the big event. Today we’ve got the ever-inspiring Eddie Levine, president and co-founder of Hub Dub, Ltd., an eCommerce sales industry leader.

About Eddie Levine

Eddie brings more than 15 years of combined eCommerce and logistics experience. He’s a widely recognized expert in the industry, presenting at dozens of conferences worldwide. Eddie’s a year-round volunteer entrepreneurship instructor and mentor at 4 local high-schools and he judges regional and national competitions for DECA, the nationwide youth business program. Eddie currently resides in the northern Chicago suburbs.

About Hub Dub

Established in 2012 by Eddie and his business partner Greg, Hub Dub’s vision for success revolves around its multi-channel worldwide presence, as well as full-service brand-management partnerships. Hub Dub differentiates itself from most competitors by purchasing and warehousing clients’ products under its own roof, allowing partners to enjoy ROI from day one.

Catch Eddie and a host of other experts at Resonate on May 7-8. Grab your tickets today and use promo code EDDIE to save $200!

Q&A with Eddie Levine, Hub Dub President, eCommerce and Logistics Power Advisor

Seller Labs: Eddie, always a pleasure! You’ve been in the game for a long time. What is one thing you wish Amazon sellers knew or were clearer on?

Eddie Levine: The need for help and to delegate your way to growth. Honestly, it’s something that even to this day, I struggle with in my own business. Look, there’s only so much you can do until you hit your breaking point. As entrepreneurs we are driven and we push ourselves hard, sometimes too hard. Listen to your body. Don’t exhaust yourself to the point that your work quality suffers or that you start making poor decisions. It took me a long time to learn how to trust people and let them in, and you know what? I wish I would have let my guard down sooner as I could have saved myself a lot of energy and labor. Most of the time, when I assign a task to someone else, not only can they do what I’ve asked, but more than half the time they come back with a solution that is better than my original instructions. So definitely learn to trust.

SL: You’re an in-demand presenter. Why choose Resonate?

EL: I’ve been selling on Amazon since 2012 and attending literally all the conferences since they started popping up. This is an interesting question for me because while I used to attend nearly every conference, I think a lot of them have started to lose their punch or they don’t bring enough value to differentiate from all the others. To all the conference organizers out there, you can’t just throw a bunch of speakers together or decide to hold an event just for the sake of doing so. As an attendee who is now becoming very selective in which conferences I attend, I urge all organizers to ask themselves “What is the long-term goal?”

I think a good conference, like Resonate, has a plan not just for the current year, but for the long term. With Resonate, Seller Labs takes the time to understand what sellers are truly after and the planning team tweaks each event to incorporate the changing dynamics in the marketplace. The conference is intimate enough that you don’t feel lost in the shuffle of people, but still advanced enough where your business mindset really gets kicked into high gear. Oh! You know how I know Resonate is a must-attend conference? Simple. Because at Resonate I see people that I don’t see at any other shows throughout the rest of the year. Not many other events can say that most of their attendees attend only their event and that’s it.

SL: If 2018 was the year of Amazon Advertising and Amazon in our homes, what do you think 2019 is shaping up to be?

EL: Not because I’m speaking about it at Resonate, but because I truly believe this is big: logistics and reducing costs while increasing consumer selection.

So, how do you reduce costs while growing your offers? It all goes back to the old saying of “you need to do more with less,” and it’s so true for any eCommerce business these days. If you haven’t already noticed, look at what Amazon is doing to keep their costs down and profits up.  You’ve got things like Seller Fulfilled Prime, FBA Onsite, IPI scores, and changing dynamics for storage limits and long-term fees. Amazon continues to grow the catalog for their customers while incentivizing their sellers to take the costs off their company directly, and it’s truly a genius business strategy.

If you are a seller who is going to constantly rely on storing all of your inventory at Amazon, and you’re only utilizing the core FBA function, my prediction is that you are either going to see your fees rise to an insurmountable level, or you’ll see your competition outpricing you in the market . . . or both. Sellers need to be getting smarter and leveraging the best programs for each of their items that they are selling, not just what appears to be best for their business.

In terms of logistics, well, that’s a huge topic. But logistics covers everything from your deciding if you need a warehouse, your operation, and the transportation that you need to move your products from point A to point B. When I was younger, I worked for both FedEx and UPS. While I hated the exercise and manual-labor part of the job, I loved the logistics behind the entire operations. My mind always raced with curiosity thinking about why things worked the way they did. I didn’t understand the reasons for why the shippers did most things, but I did know that the way they did everything had a massive impact on their bottom line. 

Need an example of how a little goes a long way with logistics? Years ago, American Airlines discovered they could save $40,000 a year by removing just one olive from each salad they served. Do you even think customers noticed? You might say that’s peanuts to a company of that size, and while true, think about how big of an impact a few of those small changes can have. Now think about your own business. Start writing down things you can change to save a buck. It adds up. Your bank account will thank you.

SL: Last question, Eddie, and thanks for giving such detailed answers! What is the one Amazon resource (software, tool, assistant, etc.) you cannot do without?

EL: I’m going to cheat and give you two: Asana and Loom. Both tools are critical to my everyday Amazon business. 

First off, Asana for organization. When I started working more exclusively with brands in 2017, I quickly realized that trying to run point on everything with emails, folders, and calendar reminders was just not going to work. I needed a way to keep tabs on my own projects, my teams’ tasks, but also the stuff that I was waiting on from people outside my organization. Asana lets me do just that. I have dashboards set up for every project or customer in my business and I can start every morning by getting a full rundown of what I need to accomplish before even getting out of bed.

Loom is the other software I’ve grown to love. It’s a free Chrome extension, and because I hate having to teach people how to do something live and I get uneasy trying to figure out if they are catching on, Loom allows me to record instructional videos for anything and to give them to anyone. The videos can include audio, visual, or both. You can also share your screen for computer-oriented work. I save every video I make into our library so that I can quickly pull them up for new staff or when someone needs a refresher on how to do something. It’s great for continued education and teaching practices and standards.

As you can see, Eddie Levine knows eCommerce and logistics. Not only that, he’s passionate about his business and how he can help you grow your business. Learn more from Eddie at Resonate 2019 in Atlanta on May 7-8. Register today and save $200 on tickets with code EDDIE.