From 30 Years of Entrepreneurship to Making $11,556 in Sales with Kibo Code: The story of a successful marketing, automation, technical consulting and coaching company, Zacaw Enterprises, Inc.

Our background

We have been entrepreneurs for almost 30 years. We run a successful marketing, automation and technical consulting and coaching company, Zacaw Enterprises, Inc. We have provided services for many companies large and small but really like working with small businesses. We have also designed several products that solve unique problems that our clients have experienced.

Why did you decide to join Kibo Code?

We were looking for a new revenue model for our portfolio that could replace or augment the custom client model of our consulting business. We were always open to adding new sources of revenue to our various business ventures so this research wasn’t new to us. We had added and removed other revenue streams over the years.

What drew us specifically to the Kibo Code was that it appeared to be a comprehensive course put together by successful people who have done it themselves and now wanted to share their vision.

Actually we signed up for the original Kibo Code in February 2020 and then used the additional information provided by Kibo Quantum to hone our stores.

Were there any roadblocks for you? What did you do to overcome them?

Oh yes there were many! First we had a difficult time finding a product that was even a “kinda” winner. We likely did not fully assimilate the product selection strategy well as we tested over 200 products to find a product that produced a profit.

We simply buckled down and kept looking. We rewatched the lessons and used the community to help us.

Then we were suspended by Google ads for many weeks.

We made changes and resubmitted our ad account for review. Our account was rejected many times (at least a dozen times), but we kept making changing and resubmitting for review. Finally, we were reinstated. We never knew what the problems were.

We moved all of our ads to Microsoft, which was a blessing in disguise! Microsoft was much less expensive and better reached our target audience.

And we started doing the Facebook Marketplace more aggressively as well as Pinterest.

Then as you might have anticipated, we were suspended by Microsoft! By then we had two stores opened, one general purpose and one vertical niche store. Both were suspended.

Since Google still liked us, we went back to advertising on Google. We appealed and appealed but eventually, Microsoft banned us completely with no chance for another appeal.

So, we started over again from scratch. New company, new address, new store name, new URL, etc. We can advertise on both Microsoft and Google so we started ads again and this time saw greater success.

Our tips for choosing winning products?

As Winston Churchill so famously said, “Never, never, never give up!” Just keep testing and testing. Follow the course exactly, do not deviate until you have some experience under your belt.

It could take 2 or 200 products, just keep going, you’ll find your stride!

Don’t attach emotion to the research or to any particular products. Rely on the analysis metrics and process as was taught in the course before you invest a lot of time or money on a product.

Look around at what people are buying, what is hot, what is mentioned in the media. Then look for similar items that meet the metrics and can get for a good price.

Think about what you are buying and what you want to buy. But remember, just because you and all your friends are into croquet does not mean the the world is into it as much as your circle….but they might be!

Once you find even a semi-winner, look for products that are adjacent to it. Like say you start selling a flower pot, well you could look to add planting tools, watering can, and other size pots. This does not mean that you are creating a flower store, but it can be one line you carry.

Our top traffic and advertising tips?

Manage your ads diligently! Spend on the ones that are generating adequate revenue and cut off the ones that are not (after a significant warmup period).

Get into the ad optimization. It took me a while to understand it all (and I still don’t 100%), but it can make a HUGE difference on your ad spend and your conversion rate. Once again, follow the program and learn it well.

Use as many platforms as possible to make your products visible Google, Microsoft, Facebook Marketplace, Pinterest, whatever. As long as your paid ads are profitable then optimize and spend.

Strike while the iron is hot, no product lasts for ever. Last year we sold a ton of outdoor heaters, this year, not one. That does not mean that they don’t sell, just not to my audience.

Your top 5 recommendations for building your ecommerce business?

1. Follow the program and listen to the coaches and experts! Study and learn and relearn it. Do NOT think you know better or that part can be skipped or is unimportant.
2. Get at least one Virtual Assistant before you think you can afford it. Then off-load the things that you do not have to do yourself to them. As you trust them more and more, give them more and more access and responsibility. You should be focused on the strategy and the building of the business, not checking to see if the price of a product in your store went up or down. Trust me, you’ll thank me!
3. Spend what you can, there will be an investment period and then a continuous re-investment of some profits.
4. Work the system EVERYDAY and with a positive mindset. Sure there will be down turns, but this will work for you and you put the work in.
5. You can only expect what you inspect. So keep in top of the markets, the ads, the spending, etc.
6. Bonus tip: Since we are on a Winston Churchill theme, here is another quote: “If you are going through hell, keep going!”

Any other tips or nuggets of wisdom?

Learn about marketing. Learn how to communicate with your customers and prospects. Copywriting is a skill that will serve you well. Even the best Google and Microsoft ad can only take you so far. You will need to reach out to the world eventually. So, study some of the marketing gurus. We have studied Dan Kennedy for many years, read his books, went to his events, subscribed to his newsletters. There are many others of course and I have read some of their books as well, and there are many many great past marketing greats that you can learn a lot from. Steve and Aiden have become expert marketeers to get where they are today.

Stay in contact with your customers. Give them good educational information on subjects surrounding your products. You want to stay in the front of their minds when they are looking for something else.

Always give great and professional customer service. It goes a long way! Be authentic and timely.

Use your VAs to leverage your time and growth.

A day in the life of a top-selling Kibo Code student

While not perfect we try to practice what we preach.

1. Everyday:
   1. We check a report that our VA makes up the night before on price changes and out-of-stock products. We make the changes that our VA cannot.
      1. BTW – we recently started using Fbmfox (fbmfox.com) that greatly simplifies managing products in Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Shops
   2. Fulfill any orders that came in overnight.
   3. Look at the products our VA has researched and approve products to be listed in our 2 stores and 3 Facebook Marketplaces/Shops
   4. List the ones that our VA cannot
   5. Respond to customer service inquiries by phone or email
   6. Manage the books, whether you use Quickbooks, spreadsheets, or index cards make sure you know where you money is going and coming from in your business
2. At least 3 times per week:
   1. We review our ads
      1. Optimize those that need optimizing
      2. Pause those that are underperforming
      3. Add any additional ads
3. At least once per week:
   1. Do some sort of training or learning on our business

Out best Sales Day, week, month…and how did you achieve these?

We have attached screen shots of our best months in both of our Shopify stores.

January 2021 for our horizontal general purpose store.

October 2021 for our vertical niche store….and that store had only been live for about 45 days.

What advice would you give to someone interested in joining Kibo Code?

As with any business venture, evaluate it carefully. See if it is right for you. See if the work is work you will enjoy doing.

The Kibo Code is a comprehensive course on how to run a successful online ecommerce business. It is not a business opportunity in the traditional sense. You follow their guidance and you build your own business. You are using their system but are not becoming part of their business.

This is not a “Get Rich Quick Scheme” it requires work and dedication.

There is no guarantee of success, but it is likely if you implement what you have been taught.

Be honest with yourself – will you do the course work and the business work every day? Frankly, the easy part is buying the course, the hard part is doing the course and following through….ask me how I know!

Our Objectives – 2022 & Beyond

We are always running ahead of ourselves so we have plans that we thought we were ready for in 2021, but were, in fact, not.

Here is a partial list for 2022:

1. Build our niche brand and become more known in the niche
2. Pro-actively build a community for our niche brand
3. Private label at least 3 products
4. Open up at least one more selling platform for our niche products
5. Continue to nurture our general store and build that community
6. Get our Facebook Shops working smoother and more hands-off
7. Delegate more non-strategic business rote tasks to others
8. Focus more on strategic tasks that will grow the business
9. Maintain our coaches and continuing education