Beyond Keywords: How AI is Redefining Search with Amy Wees

Early on in my journey, I made this commitment to boldly walk through every door that got opened for me. AI, as we know, is changing things, changing the world as we know it, and the biggest impact that it's going to have is the way that search engines display results.

Tell us who you are and what you do in this crazy world of Amazon.

I'm Amy Wees, and I do some things, some consulting, some events. I'm also a seller, do some sourcing, some product development, and some AI, and some copywriting sometimes.

And you make a mean cup of Joe.

Yes.

I don't know where that came from.

Super. I do actually drink decaf coffee.

That's like dirty water.

Sure, absolutely.

Tell me, looking at the year to come, what is the one thing that Amazon sellers are going to struggle with the most?

The change in the way search performs.

Interesting. Why?

So AI, as we know, is changing things, changing the world as we know it. And the biggest impact that it's going to have is the way that search engines display results. So we're already being trained to have conversations with AI such as ChatGPT, and Google has already released their labs, their version of AI, right? And we're being trained to have conversations and search is going to be made up of not just keywords and texts, but now videos, images, and those images, what's different about it is those images are also interpreted and read by AI. So we know that Amazon's already making a lot of changes, and so are other platforms like TikTok. They're already making a lot of changes and pushing AI and interpreting images and text differently. So that is going to have the biggest impact on sellers that don't realize that it's not keyword-driven anymore.

Do you think that there's any big opportunity on new marketplace or social curated platforms for e-commerce sellers?

Absolutely. I absolutely love TikTok shop. I just started selling on TikTok shop, and it's a really, really great platform. There's so much to do there, and it's had a huge impact on my sales on other platforms, like Amazon as well.

Great. If you could get a time machine and go back to the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey, what's the one piece of advice that you would give yourself then that you know now?

Oh my gosh, that's such a hard question. I think the same piece of advice that I constantly reminded myself of along the way, and that was my mantra, was always, enjoy the journey. Because I think a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we get really overwhelmed and we can feel stressed out about things. And I always reminded myself, I'm like, stop, if you're not having fun, what are you doing? You can live your best life as an entrepreneur, so just enjoy the journey. And that was always my reminder. And I think that even as I continue to evolve and do new things that row me in new ways, I try not to forget to enjoy the journey.

If you weren't doing e-commerce stuff right now, what would you be doing?

Oh my gosh, I have no idea. Probably health and wellness, because I'm a little bit of a health and wellness nerd and I love biohacking and all that kind of fun stuff. So I would probably go fully into health and wellness.

Can you give a specific example of how community has impacted your business or impacted your ability to work with e-commerce sales?

Oh my gosh. Community has made the biggest difference. Early on in my journey, I made this commitment to boldly walk through every door that got opened for me, whether I thought that I should walk through it or not. I committed to doing that, and that involved me going to a lot of events and saying "yes" to a lot of things that I don't know that I would normally say "yes" to. And it's like that movie, Yes Man, with Jim Carrey, right? I did that for an entire year and it changed everything for me. It gave me so many opportunities, and the community was the biggest impact, because you meet people and you build this, not only support network, but you build people, you meet people that push you, you meet people that open new doors and new opportunities for you. So I think community, I would say looking back on even the biggest things that I've done so far, they wouldn't have ever happened if I had just stayed home and not gotten out and connected with a community.

Imagine you standing on a stage and every Amazon seller is listening to what you're about to say. You have one piece of advice you could give right now. What is that piece of advice? Got to be a good one that's screwed up.

How did you come up with these questions, Tim Jordan?

Mushrooms? I don't know.

Oh, geez. Okay. One piece of advice, only one piece of advice for Amazon sellers... I would say, know your audience. Really know your audience, because making sales is all about connection, and that is the number one mistake. Whether it's screwing up your targeting with PPC, or not understanding who's actually buying your product. That's the number one thing that I see that people screw up that causes them to not be successful in this business. So I would say, know and connect with your audience.

What's the worst product idea you ever had that you're going to sell yourself?

Oh my goodness. Well, I failed on cat toys three times. I launched three different versions of cat toys, and every single one of them was a horrible failure. So, even though I'm in the cat market, you would think that I could sell some cat toys and I just can't do it.

I thought cats basically can play with everything.

Yeah, that's true. That's probably why it failed. Know your target market, right? Clearly I messed that up. I should have just been selling boxes.

If it fits, it sits.

Exactly.

Know where that came from. What is the single most exciting moment you've had in your entire entrepreneurial journey?

I've had so many, like, wow, I can't believe this is my life moments. But honestly, it was probably on the floor at EvoLatam. Our first EvoLatam trade show that we had, we started this trade show in Latin America, the only multi-category trade show in Latin America to bring buyers from around the world to source in Latin America in Mexico. And I never thought I could do something like that. And standing on that floor, that trade show floor, we're here at Prosper. Huge, right? But standing on that trade show floor and seeing it actually come to fruition, something that started as a vision and seeing and being part of that, and I couldn't believe it.

And I remember family manufacturers there in Mexico City, on that [inaudible 00:08:21] floor, coming up to you in tears like crying, saying, I had no idea that my products were this valuable that I could sell internationally. You guys have opened up my eyes.

And not only that, but we also found out that we actually had a following in Mexico. We had all these local sellers. I had some sellers that came up to me and said, I've been following you for years, you inspired me to start my business. I had no idea. It's a weird feeling, right? Yeah. It was really, really cool to feel the impact that comes from a vision.

Amazing. Good answer. The most important question of all this, is a hot dog a sandwich?

No, it's a hot dog.

Can you justify that?

Yes. It's not between two pieces of bread. It's only between one bun. Therefore-

And if the bun splits, it becomes a sandwich or just a broken hot dog?

I think it then becomes a sandwich.

You've heard it here first. Wisdom. All right, if folks want to find you on the in interwebs, where do they find you?

Well, they can follow me. My alias is Amazing at Home. They can follow me on TikTok, on YouTube, on Twitter, on all the things. Facebook, we have a Facebook group, all that kind of stuff. And you can go to amazingathome.com.

Awesome. Thank you so much.

You're welcome.