Q&A: “Amazon Prime Day, but for side hustlers…”

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Got a fun question from a listener today. Of all the made up holidays in the world, of which there are many, the most capitalistic or, I don't know what you call it, I guess the most, let's go shopping, is probably Amazon Prime Day, right? If you're a subscriber to Amazon Prime, you probably know all about that. Even if you're not, you may have heard of this massive promotion that Amazon runs every year. It actually comes from a middle ages Nordic tradition, originally spread by the Vikings to England.

And then the colonies eventually reached the far West coast and Seattle in particular, where amazon.com rebranded it to encourage people to buy stuff. Some of that is actually true, a couple of parts anyway. But you know what else is true? In 2022, Amazon's Prime Day resulted in $12 billion in sales, 12 billion dollars. And naturally it's not just Amazon that celebrates Prime Day, lots of other retailers are like, hey, what about us?

It's been funny to watch companies like Best Buy, Target, they're like, it's not our sale, but come and buy from us too. So today's listener, they're wondering about a side hustle version of Prime Day. Can there be such a thing or should the smaller sellers of the world simply piggyback on what Amazon has done, since everyone is shopping anyway? As I said, fun question, haven't had this one before, Amazon Prime Day, but for side hustlers detailed question and my answer coming right up. [Music]

Hi, Chris, this is Trent.

I just found your show recently through Spotify. As you know, Amazon's annual Prime Day sale is now a week long event, and lots of other companies have sales around the same time. On the one hand, it seems a little desperate, like a made up holiday, but it clearly must be working for some of these brands. What do you think of side hustlers and other small businesses jumping on the trend and having their own version of Prime Day? Also, if they were going to do it, would it be better to align around Amazon's sale dates or do it at a totally different time?

Personally, I could see an argument for either way. What do you think? Thanks. [Music]

Trent, what's up man, thank you for the question. Yes, Amazon Prime Day, as I mentioned in the introduction, it was something like $12 billion in sales this year.

So definitely people are in a buying mood during that time. The question though is, are they mostly in a buying mood from Amazon because Amazon's pushing it. I mean, you also have Small Business Saturday, which was another made up holiday by American Express. I think it's November 26th this year, usually at that time of year, late November National Small Business Week. That's in May, of course, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, other countries have big shopping days, other made up holidays.

In China, Singles Day is in early November. I think that actually might be the biggest shopping day in the world, bigger than Amazon's, bigger than Black Friday. So yes, all these days are essentially created by these companies to maximize promotions. And I mean, nothing wrong with that. It's just kind of the world we live in.

You're a side hustler, you're a small business owner, or you want to be, like you want to have promotions and sales too. So you can choose to align with any of them. You can do something for one of them, all of them, none of them, make your own day, the choice is yours. I don't think Amazon's day is in particular, any more important than any other for side hustlers, with the exception of those who are using fulfillment by Amazon to sell products. If you're doing that, then sure, you might want to jump on the train just because everybody's buying there.

But aside from that, I don't necessarily think you have to align with what Amazon or anyone else is doing. But do think about promotions. I mean, promotions and sales are very, very effective. That's why these days exist. That's why these companies put so much into pushing them, marketing them.

It's because they know when they have a promotion, people will buy more. So maybe the biggest takeaway is plan your own promotion, wherever you decide to put it in the calendar. All right, good luck. Listeners, you've got questions. Let me know what's going on, sidehustleschool.com/questions.

We'll continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. I so enjoy making this program for you. I do it every single day. I always look forward to it, and I'm so grateful you tuned in today. Hope you'll come back tomorrow.

My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]

- From the Onward Project.