icon-folder-black Entrepreneurship Dropshipping Branding Amazon Mindset

Jonathan Molendijk - Ecommerce Success And Radiant Freedom With Ecom Creed

icon-calendar 2021-02-01 | icon-microphone 1h 2m 19s Listening Time | icon-user Joseph Ianni

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Jon of e-comm creed was an exciting episode to prep for and conduct his content is geared towards helping people get their business going. And I could see his kindness come through in his content. One of my most cherished missions on this show is to prove as often as I can that success in e-commerce or frankly success period can happen to anyone who goes after it, no matter the obstacles that life puts in your way, you'll hear more about it from him. So it's best to let him tell the story. 

Jonathan Molendijk is an ecommerce entrepreneur that has established a name for himself in the ecommerce space. His free flow process has resulted in the creation of the Ecom Creed, a valuable place for entrepreneurs to find the resource, information and mentorship they need to build a business.




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Jonathan Molendijk: [00:00:00] With your customers, right? It is about building relationships and it is about helping the customer find what that is that they are searching for. But at the same time, like you are out there trying to make money and there's nothing wrong. You're trying to build a business and you're trying to build an effective business and an effective business doesn't lose money. It makes money. If you can create a system where you're making good money, but at the same time you're offering customers, what it is that they want. I was giving them what they wanted. In return, I was getting what I wanted. So as long as you're doing your nice exchange, it doesn't matter how you do it.

Joseph: [00:00:38] You're listening to Ecomonics, a Debutify podcast. Your resource for one of a kind insights into the world of e-commerce and business in the modern age. This is Joseph. I'll be presenting a wealth of industry knowledge from interviews with successful business people and our own state-of-the-art research. Your time is valuable so let's go.


Jon of e-comm creed. I have been looking forward to this interview. I kid you not. It is so good to have you here. How are you doing today? How are you feeling? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:01:37] I've been really good in a great mood. It's beautiful out, really excited to go on this interview with you and just get to know, uh, get to know you and share some information with the people. 

Joseph: [00:01:46] Right on. Well, whereabouts are you right now? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:01:48] I'm out in Burnaby. It's just outside Vancouver, BC and Canada.

Joseph: [00:01:52] Oh, right. Yes. I, uh, I spaced, I forgot that you're a, you're a fellow Kinnock I'm in Toronto, Ontario. Uh, yeah. So, so far, uh, winter has been generous to us. We've it? Hasn't it hasn't been too bad yet. So fingers crossed for the remainder of the season. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:02:08] I'm enjoying every moment of it. 

Joseph: [00:02:10] Awesome. Uh, let's get this going with the Keystone question that holds all the other wins in place.

Uh, without this question, the whole thing comes crumbling down. So who are you and what do you do ? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:02:20] For sure, yeah. So, um, my name is Jonathan Molendijk, or some, you know, me by the e-comm creed on YouTube. Um, I build online businesses, so e-commerce businesses. I primarily specialize in drop shipping and Amazon FBA.

Um, as of right now, I am expanding more into actual teaching and education of these business models as I kind of expand out and try to just share the knowledge that I've gained over the years with everyone else. I believe that I'm not meant to hold on to everything. Whatever I have is meant to be shared.

So that's kind of the philosophy I integrated into the e-comm creed. 

Joseph: [00:02:54] And, uh, that's one of the things that I read too, uh, on your website, it's a free flow energy philosophy. It's this energy comes into you. It's changed your life, which we'll get into, and it's only natural to want to express that energy to others.

And I it's a recurring theme. Uh it's, it's a, it's an amazing thing to see how many people are eager to share what they know with others to build the industry. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:03:16] Yeah, exactly right. It's like with anything I find, if you, if you have so much coming into you, whether it's money, fame, um, knowledge, whatever it is, if you accumulate that and just let it store and hold up inside you eventually, it becomes so much to the point where you're just, you're going to burst and things will just go downhill.

So we're, we're meant to be beings that can let stuff come through us and not stuff. Just stay in us. We're supposed to handoff what we're given. 

Joseph: [00:03:42] Uh, we can, uh, we can definitely touch on that, that philosophy a little later down the line. Um, I want to give our audience, firstly, a bit of perspective on your brand e-comm creed.

So what's the origin of e-comm creed and the name e-comm creed and what makes it distinct. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:03:57] Yeah, for sure. So the, the concrete, the actual name, it did come from three other names already being taken. Um, so I did start it off, but it ended up being one of those things that worked out perfectly cause the, uh, The whole philosophy of it was actually centered around the video game that I used to play called the, uh, called the assassin.

Um, so I liked the whole philosophy of like brotherhood of unity of kind of like a moral code and standard that everyone would go and abide by. Um, I've noticed in this industry, not only the e-commerce industry, but in particular, the drop shipping industry. A lot of morals and people's perspective on how they should be conducting business.

It tends to get lost with all the money and just the, the fame and vanity and everything that comes along with it. So the e-comm creed was basically set up with a structure of everyone's given a certain level of value and that value is expected in return to, and it creates this system and this kind of community of everyone really sharing and valuing each other.

Joseph: [00:04:57] You know, I, um, before I started doing the interviews and I didn't really have a frame of reference for. If there was like a more delicate way to say this, I would say that, but I'm just going to go with this, which is like, what are the egos of, of the people that I'm going to talk to? And so far people have, for the most part have been pretty chill, uh, pretty happy to, uh, to share what they know full transparency.

I've talked about it before, but we've ran into a couple of like, uh, power surges in the middle of recordings and I would come back and. And of the two people there just going on whatever these things happen, because it's a difficult industry, there's a lot of challenges. There's a lot of mistakes that are made and there's this like core foundation of empathy that people have for each other.

It's almost like, congratulations, you made your mistake. You know, this is important. This is part of your growth. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:05:45] Yeah, exactly. You gotta, you gotta expect mistakes and just be prepared to take them and laugh at them. Like you gotta have a great sense of humor in any type of business. 

Joseph: [00:05:53] That's it for me, the sense of humor comes afterwards. Like in the moment then I'm freaking freaking out anyways. 

Uh, we've got, uh, we got some good value planned for today, uh, but our listeners should understand by now that. An hour. It does not fully encapsulate what our guests are capable of. Um, one of our most, really, what am I most sacred themes on the show is perspective on how people's lives change from the industry.

And, uh, Jon, your story is right up there with some of the most inspiring. So, uh, can you tell us your story and what it took to get to this point and to get into e-commerce? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:06:23] Yeah, for sure. So I'll try to summarize, because my backstory is quite chaotic and quite rough. 

Joseph: [00:06:29] We prefer the medium length story. We don't like too short. We don't like too long. We like the Goldilocks just right. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:06:34] Terrific. We'll try to hit that perfect, perfect amount. So, um, with me, like, basically from my back story, it has a massive history of struggle, pain, mental, uh, financial and physical struggle altogether. Um, Which with that though, it came from a really cool perspective.

So it really molded me into the type of person that I am coming from a place of pain, struggle, all of these different things. It kind of helps you grow in a way that you never would have if you didn't experience those struggles. Um, so I came from a family, very, very poor family. My mom, uh, ended up getting divorced from my dad.

There was physical abuse that was going on. And then after that, she was basically just taking any cleaning jobs that she could get. She was living on about $35,000 per year, uh, with some help from churches, that kind of thing. I have five, uh, five siblings altogether in my family. So five kids altogether.

So just imagine like a single mother, basically with five kids, uh, $35,000, which we all know that's absolutely nothing. Um, so that created a lot of mental and financial strain throughout my family household. Uh, and then of course, physical strain and physical pain, all these different things, we're kind of a mutation of all the mental and emotional pain.

Um, anyone that's really big into psychology, they know that physical pain is typically a direct result of mental and emotional pain. So it all kind of tied together. Um, and basically with that kind of like pain and struggle came a lot of, uh, lack when it came to self-confidence. I really wasn't sure of myself.

I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what I wanted to be. So I ended up becoming what I call a chameleon. I was, I was really good at morphing, really good at kind of absorbing other people's lives and just integrating into theirs and being a great kind of mimic of who they are. So that everything just went smoothly.

You know, if you're, if you're like everyone else, everything goes smoothly. Um, so I did that for a while. And then at a certain point, I call it the voice inside my head. It was kind of screaming at me and it kept knocking on the door, just being like, let me out. Uh, at which point I finally did release it.

And this is something that a lot of people don't really recognize, but that breaking point, when you transition from living a life that wasn't your own to living a life that is your own is the most difficult thing ever, but it does happen within two to five seconds. Like it's an instant decision that you commit to for the rest of your life.

So I made that decision, uh, and I began the commitment process. And since then, it's just been a daily commitment of constant progression, constant growth and constant engagement in who I am. Uh, and that's gotten me to where I am today. I, I started off my e-commerce journey by Googling how to make money online, which, uh, which is really interesting.

It brought up two results that brought up drop shipping and Amazon FBA. So I actually ended up starting off drop shipping on Amazon. So a little bit of a curve ball there. And then from there I transitioned more over to drop shipping. And at which point in about a year later, I actually transitioned into doing both.

So Amazon FBA and drop shipping. And since then, I've just been scaling out those two business models. 

Joseph: [00:09:48] Yeah. From what I, from what I learned so far is that Amazon being it's a massive marketplace, but it is also one of the more difficult ones to start up with. Uh, can you corroborate that? But for me, yeah.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:09:59] So the reason why I like teaching drop shipping is because it doesn't require a large amount of money. For the initial startup costs and you can start scaling out products and making money to fund your business and help it grow out. Whereas Amazon FBA, a lot of people don't recognize. It requires a lot of upfront money because when done properly, you do want to go through and order bulk amounts of inventory, send them to the warehouses, which of course, there's the gamble involved with certain products and there's all the costs upfront of ordering that inventory, which.

With drop shipping, it just doesn't exist. 

Joseph: [00:10:34] Yeah. That's a, that's an important takeaway. There's a couple of, uh, points that I wanted to raise briefly, just listening to your story. And one of them is, uh, your, your comment on the relationship between our psychology and pain. And it reminded me of something that.

I really hadn't thought about too often, but I remember reading misdemeanor like a textbook, you know, from grade school grade one grade tool. And they're trying to really explain what pain is and what they say is, you know, if you put your finger on the, uh, the, the stove while it's still hot, uh, and you experienced pain, but what's really happening is that the mind is sending a signal to the finger to alert us that user.

Okay. To remove our hand because this is causing us damage. So pain is exclusively from the mind. Pain always, always comes from the mind. So just to, just to back up what you're saying, and when people are experiencing physical pain, it could be that they actually just need a massage or surgery or something, but a lot of it really is psychological.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:11:35] Yeah. Yeah. I like I've done a lot of stuff. Discovery, spiritual, mental, and physical. I've done a lot of bodybuilding too, so primarily physically, but also a large amount of mentally there. And I'm always astonished at how connected all three of those are together. How one of them being out of balance will completely throw the other ones out.

And it's a, it's a process maintaining the balance of all three. 

Joseph: [00:11:58] I got a couple of things that I want to ask you about regarding your backstory, as we transitioned to some value content. And this one, by the way, this one, wasn't a prepared question. This was just something I want to get your perspective on because I've got I've, I've gone through a couple of couple here's me being modest. I've, I've gone through, you know, my, my fair share of struggles and I, and I will say openly that a lot of that had to do with being bullied when I was younger and in a way it does shape us. And, and I'm proud of the person that I am today. But one thing that I have a hard time reconciling in my head is whether or not I want to give them any credit.

And do I want to give them a positive in that their behavior might've actually had a positive result. Do you understand where I'm going with this? It's like, do we ever want to actually condone that kind of behavior? If it yields a result? Me, I don't know if I want to do that. I feel like, I don't know. I want to say that I would be even better if I didn't have to deal with that struggle, but I don't know.

Cause I can't. Review the past or a different timeline. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:12:54] Yeah. So, I mean, I took a very, very aggressive perspective on stuff like that. Um, primarily to do with the abuse in my household and my parents separating that kind of thing. Um, it had a massive effect on both me and all of my family members, but the way that I saw it is I would actually go to my parents and I would thank them.

So I do take the approach of actually being grateful and thankful for the trials and the situations that came from it. What I choose to take from it is my choice. So the fact that I took from it and turned it into a positive experience, turned it into something that helped me grow into who I am today is my own thing.

Well, the person that is either doing it to you or the person that did something that caused those experiences is what they take from it is completely up to them. Um, so like, does it not have to be something that you're grateful for? No, I don't think so. I think you can be grateful for it and the results of their actions are on their own.

Right. They have to make the decision what they're going to react and what they're getting from it. But if you choose to be grateful, if you choose to see it as growth and progression, that's a. That's all it is to you, right. Whatever it is beyond that is up to them. 

Joseph: [00:14:04] That's an important point too, is that they still have their own mind or their own conscious.

And they have to contend with the decisions that they've made. I think that's, uh, that that's pretty key now making it from, you know, from, from, uh, from researching you, you, you cleared a hundred thousand dollars, uh, when you were getting into the industry. I don't know exactly like when that happened versus when you started, but there's, there was a, there was a day between nine and $9,000 and a hundred thousand dollars.

So what I want to know is what was it like to wake up that the first day that you had secured a hundred thousand dollars if it was revenue, but still the fact that you made it was a w was something that you probably had to, uh, take some time to process. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:14:49] Yeah, for sure. So with me, it is always a bit and have a unique situation.

So a lot of people that I coach and train and people that I just chat with, they do kind of aim for that a hundred thousand dollar mark as like a key milestone. Um, but me coming from a family where it was always like, we don't have money, you can't eat that food. We don't have money for more food. Like you can't do this.

We don't have money for that. It really created a very low bar. So for me, a hundred thousand dollars, wasn't the point where I was like, Oh my God, I made it for me. It was actually when I made my first thousand dollars in a day, um, it was that point where I was like, okay, this is, this is real. Like, this is something I can actually do.

Um, and beyond that, like basically what happened is I I'm very open about how I process my emotions. I actually went and I stood in my shower and I just broke down into tears. I was like, Oh my God, this is actually something that's real, it's possible. And I've put in the work and I've gotten to the point where this is my own mind, creating something that I thought was possible and making it real.

Um, and then beyond that, like the thing that a lot of people don't tend to understand with dropshipping is when you start out and you, you get that initial traction, once you reach that breaking point and you get into the scaling of a product, the scaling of a product is so fast and so aggressive. That I didn't even realize the a hundred thousand dollar mark.

Like I was just scaling out the product. I was cranking it so hard. There was so much going on that the a hundred thousand dollars mark wasn't even so huge because I was so like it's filled with all these different emotions. That thousand dollars was so much bigger to me because it was like nothing.

And then all of a sudden, a thousand and I was like, Oh my God, So I'd say that was kind of like a key moment where I was like, all right, like I'm, I'm making stuff happen. 

Joseph: [00:16:36] You know, one thing I'll offer you, uh, briefly, just because you, uh, admitted to your, uh, uh, emotion, you know, the emotion experience you had in the shower.

I get those whenever I'm like, unless the radio is on and I'll be in a store, which. You know, I haven't been in one of those lately, but anytime a song comes on and that song makes me think about the passage of time. That's when I lose it, because it makes me suddenly realize, man, I was 23 at one point, and now I'm not like, and then I just started to like, okay, I gotta go.

I gotta get outta here. So it's but you know, I'm, I'm also grateful for those kinds of experiences too, because I like the idea that. The life experience is a mixture of there's joy and there's pain and their sadness and their sorrow. And there's all these things, but you don't really get the correct human experience unless we have the full experience of all of these. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:17:27] Yeah, exactly. 

Joseph: [00:17:28] But if I had time to like, write that for like five hours, I would probably articulate that a little bit better, but it's all right. We'll uh, we'll let it go for now. Um, so we'll get it. We're going to get into some of this delicious value, but I got one last thing that I want to know is, uh, how how's your family doing now?

I understand you said that you reconnected with your father. So, uh, how, how are your family feeling about the fact that you were able to do this? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:17:51] Yeah. So I mean, that, that's the coolest part. I think about, um, self progression and self-work is it doesn't only affect you just like when you are negative or when you're down, it affects not only yourself, but everyone around you.

So, um, I've had an incredible experience, not only in my personal life, but also seeing the lives of the people around me. Not only family, but friends, uh, and just general people just completely transform and progress. With me, right? It's like, it's like once you start making a movement, you inspire people to make movement too.

So. With this, I've been able to build an incredible relationship with my dad. I talked to him like, he's a buddy, like it's, it's super cool. Um, with my mom, I've been able to help her with like emotional growth, spiritual growth, mental growth, all of these different things. Um, so I've been able to help her in a separate ways too.

And she's gotten to an incredible place where she's very confident and very independent, too. Um, and then of course, all my siblings, right? Like they went through all the same stuff as me. It was quite literally a version of hell that a lot of people don't want to live. Uh, and from that, they, they all are progressing too.

They're all making steps. And a lot of people, when they see stuff like transformation, like this going on around them, when they make movements, uh, I do notice a lot of people kind of jump to like, Oh, like it's because of me, like I, cause this movement. I, I don't see it that way. The way I see it as I was doing me, I was becoming a better version of myself.

And all that it did is it kind of opened up the people around me, their eyes, that they could do that too. They could become better versions of themselves too. And ultimately they, uh, they went out, they took the action and they continued to take the action to better themselves. 

Joseph: [00:19:34] And, and it helps to, to, to see the results of the actions too.

Um, and so one thing that I've struggled with for a long time is that some of my personal beliefs is too. You know, really focused on the work that you want to do that you think is important and that, you know, that you can do the best at. And it was hard to justify when the money doesn't come in, but you know, over time I stuck to it and now I have proof positive of that.

So there are different scales, but you know, I'm on my own journey. You're on yours. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:20:00] Uh, that's the thing. So many people think money's the only measurement, but really isn't. 

Joseph: [00:20:06] It's a, yeah, it's an important one, but it's, uh, it's definitely not all there is to it.

I've checked out some of your YouTube videos and I picked out a few nuggets that I haven't seen from other guests. I, it, it amazes me that I even after the 20 or so dropship years I've studied, I'm still learning new things. Or, or maybe that I have seen these things and things get turned out. I don't know.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:20:30] Yes. I always try to drop a new perspective. So hopefully it's a new content. 

Joseph: [00:20:35] The first nugget that I think would be great for our audience is for, to talk about the ideal price point for drop shipping, especially for beginners. Um, you, you say it's finding, cause we already talked about Goldilocks earlier, but it's like, you know, not too small and not too big.

Uh, but the ideal product is somewhere within a certain price range. So can you expand on that for us? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:20:56] Yeah. So, I mean, this is actually a massive reason why I started e-com creed is because I noticed a massive pattern in all of the teachers on YouTube, kind of going the direction of sharing valuable information.

Like it is valuable information, but it wasn't an applicable to the majority of people that were trying to consume that content. Um, so a lot of the times I would be hearing these, uh, these people on YouTube saying like make products, work, try to do high ticket drop shipping so you can get higher profit margins, all of these different things.

And I'm just sitting there thinking about me back when I started and I didn't have a lot of money. I had maybe five to $10,000 in the bank. And I'm just thinking about how 90% of people are in that exact situation, making a product work, buying high ticket inventory. Isn't a possibility. Um, so for me, I always speak directly to the main audience, which is people that maybe have like a thousand or even 500 to like $5,000 in the bank.

And for those people, a realistic amount is a price point of anywhere from 1999 to about 32 99 or 39 99. It's kind of like a low to mid range ticket product. And the reason why you want to do this is because then when you're going through and you do eventually get to the scale and you start ordering inventory to your supplier or your agent, you won't have to go through and fork out all this money to have that inventory.

It still is within reason. And as you scale out your product, you're going to have the right amount of money needed to properly do that. You won't overexpand and have to start killing ads and. Basically slow down the whole scaling process. 

Joseph: [00:22:32] I see. Okay. So let me make sure I understand I'm part of this. So let's just say that someone was job shipping, a high ticket product now because that's a one-to-one ratio per sale.

That's one thing. But if they were to then try to have that product in their own warehouse, that they wanted to say transition towards the white label, it's exponentially more expensive to try to have high ticket products in being held in a warehouse versus a mid range ticket products. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:22:58] Yeah. So not even an inline with the white label, like if you get to a certain point of the scale, I do always recommend to everyone that asks to go and order a bulk amount of inventory and give it to their agent to start getting faster fulfillment speeds, but even in just the general sense of basic drop shipping, the basic drop shipping business model.

If you have, let's say a hundred to 200 orders per day, coming through. And your cost of goods is like 40 to $50 because you're selling like an 80 to a hundred dollars product that cost of goods is going to add up right. $200, 200 orders, times $50. And you're doing that day on day on day. Let's say you get hit with a payment processor holder.

Let's say you get hit with something that, that restricts your flow of income coming into your bank account. Suddenly the fulfillment of those orders just is impossible. Right? You don't have the money that's needed in your bank account to basically keep that system going with those high price points.

Joseph: [00:23:52] There was also something to it that I wanted to circle back to because you're talking about how people might have a five to $10,000 in their, in their bank account. And it's also important to me to remember the perspective that if these people have this kind of money, They might be very reluctant to spend it because you don't know what they need to spend it on.

What if they got ran to it or they got food? What if they have to keep their car running so that they can drive to work? So it's not just about having the money, it's the importance of that money relative to what they needed for, because some people they might need that money to survive. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:24:25] Yeah exactly. Keeping the content very realistic is my main objective.

Like. I, and I tell people this, on my live streams all the time, I'm like, I'll actually go through and I'll test products and all scale out products. And I'll keep in mind that I only have $2,000 in the bank, or I only have a thousand dollars in the bank and all that actually scale out a product or run a product in a different style than I typically would just based on having that amount of money in my bank account, because.

Then the information that I share with them is actually applicable, right? Like the way I scale out a product isn't applicable to everyone else. It's only applicable to people that have hundreds of thousands of dollars. So trying to keep everything relational to the people that are actually watching is a, is a huge reason why I'm on YouTube and a huge reason why I share the type of content that I do.

Joseph: [00:25:14] And I haven't seen every last one of your videos. Um, but what would you say would be the ratio of, uh, beginner friendly entry-level content versus a advanced content? 50, 50, 60, 40? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:25:28] Yeah. So, I mean, I I'd say I kind of, I ease people into it, so I do definitely have about 20% that is more advanced strategies and more advanced concepts.

Um, but then the majority of it is stuff that's very effective, but it is more tailored towards people that are under that a hundred K Mark. Like they haven't made a hundred thousand dollars yet. Maybe they've found a small amount of success with, uh, like 40, $50,000 in sales. But the majority of it is kind of tailored towards those types of people.

Joseph: [00:25:59] And on, on that note, we'll get into the next nugget that I, uh, unearthed from your content. Um, because you have a lot of it that focuses on entry-level strategy. What are the one strategy in particular that, uh, I've found quite appealing is with the video ads? Um, it was, I can't remember the name, the brand name of it, um, which I hope is not a criticism of the quality of the ad itself, but it was about these, uh, these headphones, portable headphones. And you were talking about how people with what they did with the company, did, was they made these humorous viral videos that would then integrate the product into the ad. So then that way they can amuse people while also raising awareness for their brand.

So, uh, can you, can you tell us about this strategy and maybe if you've, uh, found a way to implement it yourself? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:26:50] Yeah, for sure. So that was, um, that was on my video on how to start drop shipping with $0 or little to no money. Um, so I was basically coming up with concepts and introducing different ways that you could build a platform for marketing without having to spend the marketing costs because.

When it comes to any business model marketing, when you're using social media platforms or any type of platform, it takes up a lot of your money. Um, so if you don't have a lot of money, what do you need to do? You, you need to, you need to build your own platform. Um, so incorporating content that has your products ingrained in the content is the most effective way of social media marketing I've found.

And that's because you're going to have people that want to watch your content and share your content, which is super big sharing of your content. They want to do this because it's actual good entertaining content. And the fact that you can integrate your product into there. We'll also get eyeballs on your product, but people won't be over, but won't be over embargoed by your product.

It will actually just be nicely in there to the point where it's something where people will think, Oh, maybe I do actually want this product, but at the same time, people that just want to watch the video will be like, that was a funny video. So it's kind of best of both worlds. 

Joseph: [00:28:03] And there was an additional point to where on the, from the perspective of the seller.

Is that I think what this does is that it endears them more to the product they're selling and it shows more of a commitment to what it is that they want their customers to, uh, to eventually invest their money in, because they're willing to put time left. I suppose it's a leverage of time versus money.

They're willing to leverage their time so that they can invest more of their hours into it. Great. This content and show that they do, you know, they do give a damn about what they're selling. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:28:36] Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely more of a long-term strategy. Like anytime you go along the lines of like trying to create your own advertising platform in the sense of it, it definitely is a more long-term strategy.

So. I would say, definitely thinking along the terms of like starting out, maybe drop shipping, but then transitioning to a brand with that is a great idea. And the fact that you can do this with very little amounts of money, it just, it requires a lot of time and a lot of commitment to learning and growing because social media is just an absolute, absolute gong show out there. It's crazy. 

Joseph: [00:29:09] Yeah. You know, I. Me growing up. I was, uh, I was in my twenties, I guess when social media really started being, uh, prevalent. And, and initially I just, I didn't take to it because I felt like. All people were doing were just trying to sell stuff on it. Um, it wasn't until I started trying to use the format as is, I started to enjoy it.

You know, if I'm going to use Twitter, I'm going to use it to write tweets. If I'm going to use Instagram, I use it to produce images. So there, there is. Um, there was an earnestness to engaging in social media, as long as we recognize what these formats are for. And, uh, and we adhere to those social expectations while also trying to sell what it is we're trying to sell.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:29:51] Yep. 

Joseph: [00:29:52] One question though, uh, is when, when people are making this content, uh, how exactly is it, uh, getting into the, into the, into the stream of consciousness? Like, are they putting any money into ads? Are they just putting it onto YouTube and seeing if it gains his own traction? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:30:07] Yeah. So for me, basically, whenever someone asks me, how can I start my own ad platform?

How can I launch a product without having to pay for ads? There's two platforms in particular that I would always recommend they start with. And that is Tik TOK and YouTube. Um, for the primary reason that they combine so well together. So what I'll do is like I actively build out YouTube channels and whenever I try to build out a YouTube channel, I'll always start off with massive amounts of content creation for tech talk, and then I'll start integrating more and more videos on YouTube.

And the reason for this is because of the social reach and the organic reach with TechTalk is so great right now. Which most likely won't be like this forever. So if you're not on Tik TOK, you definitely should be. Um, so basically what I'll do is I'll integrate that. And then all of the traffic that I get from tech talk will eventually flood into YouTube and it just creates this massive growth Cipla growth system.

Um, cause it is generally harder to grow on YouTube first, but with YouTube, the potential of actually going through subsidizing making money and building out brand image is a lot more long-term whereas tech talk, the audience isn't quite there. 

Joseph: [00:31:16] I see what you mean. You know, I don't know if I'm. I, I don't, I don't always want to like ask you about how old they are, but I guess I want to ask just because I want to compare our perspectives.

I'm 31, by the way. How old are you? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:31:27] I just turned 24, 24. 

Joseph: [00:31:29] Okay. Right on. Um, so do you remember vines? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:31:32] Yup. Yup. That's kind of the original type of tiktok basically. 

Joseph: [00:31:36] Yeah. And that, and again, vines were something that I, I didn't, I had a Blackberry at the time, so I could see it again on it, but yeah. Um, again, it comes back to the format.

The format of these videos is it's exceedingly short, but it leads to massive amounts of creativity. The, I use tech talk for about a month and then I realized I was getting addicted to it. So I had to let it go. Um, I'm not running any stores myself at the moment. So if I, if, if I were, I would definitely reconsider it.

Uh, but the, the great thing about it is that over the course of an hour, it's like. Experiencing life at quantum speed because you're seeing all of these stories unfold in this, in the span of 15 seconds or 30 seconds. And it, it makes me wonder, you know, if that's like the next app or the next big thing after that is going to be something where you only get for like five seconds or six seconds, and you only have that much amount of time to, uh, to convey a story.

So I'm, I'm. Excited to see where it's going to go from here. That's for sure. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:32:33] Yeah. Only get faster, but I mean, that's the main reason why with that plan that I described is you want to eventually transition the audience to YouTube because YouTube gives you the option of slowing things down a little bit.

Right? Most people can't fully connect with you or your brand image with tech talk because it is so fast. So you do definitely want to go through and kind of transition them to YouTube. Slow it down a little bit. And then with tech talk the best way to increase your likelihood of building brand image and connectivity is just cranking out a ridiculous amount of videos, because if you're always in their face, it's kind of the same as YouTube.

It's just several videos. 

Joseph: [00:33:09] Oh, can I ask specifically about the transitioning effect? So is it that people are so endeared to the content they go looking for it, or do people have some way to, uh, encourage people to engage the tech talk enough that they will find the YouTube content and go, go over there.

How do you actually do the transition? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:33:26] Yeah. So Tik ToK is really big on integrating other apps. So being able to access someone's Instagram or someone's YouTube channel from tech talk, there's actually a button. But then on top of that, you would obviously put text in your bio and a link to your YouTube channel in your bio too.

Just as many indicators. Driving the traffic to where you want them to go. Um, but with that, basically you would just create content. That's almost like a sample piece. So it's like it's creating in the person's mind that this is what it's like. I see you're enjoying it. You're definitely going to like more of it.

So here's where more of it is. And it kind of guides them into the root of where they want to go. Um, which is good too, because then the people that do eventually get to YouTube are the ones that do have more of an interest are more engaged, which is definitely what you want. When you get to YouTube. You don't want people watching 30 seconds of your video, right?

Joseph: [00:34:16] Yeah. Cause I, I, and again, if people are onto YouTube, they will expect. I assume they'll expect, uh, some change in format we're now. Okay. Well, I'm not just going to watch your tech videos on YouTube. I'm expecting to see some YouTube videos as well. So one thing to keep in mind is like how a person's content will change from being no more than 30 seconds versus however long YouTube videos can go for, I guess that's actually like one other thing I suppose, is worth asking and cause I know YouTube doesn't do video restrictions, but.

I can see if somebody is conditioned to enjoy tik tok content. If they hit onto YouTube, if all of a sudden the videos are 30 minutes at length, that might be a little bit too off putting. So I don't know, like maybe just do like two, three minutes at the most three or four minutes. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:35:01] Yeah. I mean, I generalize and I specialize, I specialize more so in.

Brand specific content. Um, as you've noticed with my e-com create YouTube channel, I'm not the best at it. And that's because it's more so to do with like personal brand image, uh, which is still a skill that I'm learning, which just goes to show that with YouTube is completely different when you're doing personal brand compared to like traditional brand.

Um, so with that in mind, when it comes to branding is very easy to just do a 10 minute video. Um, and with that, most people will be engaged for anywhere from 40 to 50%. So you would just integrate certain components throughout the entire video that keep the viewer engaged. So it's, it's just like, it's almost like creating a tech talk sequence where you have several different Tik ToK videos in a row.

Most viewers on tik tok. If they did get the chance they would probably swipe through and just watch several of your videos, it would just be like, boom, boom, boom. So trying to integrate that same process.

Joseph: [00:36:03] Fair enough.

Um, all right. Let's uh, let's shift gears. I got another one for actually not just another one. I got, I got plenty here. Oh yeah. Um, what are the other ones that you talk about is. Uh, ali express versus some of the alternatives. Um, now it might be a lot to get you to a right off the top of your head. Um, so people are always welcome to go to the video and see it in full.

But, um, first main question is, you know, what are the main reasons that you recommend alternatives to ali express? And then if you off the top of your head, you can remember them. Cause I know there were four of them, um, from different agents, different sources that people can get their, their product from.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:36:45] Yes. I mean, when it comes to Ali express things, things are changing so rapidly in the drop shipping industry. And Ali express even last year was super effective and it was still reasonable when it came to shipping times, um, quality of product and at the same time, actual communication with the suppliers.

But. What I've been noticing as we progress forwards with, uh, with all the stuff that's going on in the world, the shipping times are going up. The costs of goods are going up and obviously the communication aspect has always been something that's been lacking. Um, so the transition away from that is definitely the route that you want to go.

Does that mean that you need to completely remove it from the start? No, I don't think so. Like I still recommend to people using an app called DCers, it integrates with Ali express and it gives you the ability to properly drop ship using Ali express. But if you're going to use these methods, I always recommend that you have very, very clear outlines as to how long it's going to take for the customer to receive the package because no one likes waiting around wondering where their packages.

So most people just want to know a rough timeframe. So, if you do have to deal with like a 22 to a 26 day shipping time, just clearly communicate that with your customers and you shouldn't have massive issues. The only time I can see this becoming an issue is if Allie express gets to a point where they don't have these shipping options and everything's anywhere from 30 to 50 days and up, and at that point, Ali express wouldn't be an option at all, right?

Joseph: [00:38:10] Yeah. For, for that length of time, it, it reminds me of one of my. Uh, previous sales jobs, people would order product and. It could take while. Um, but what they did was they made sure that we were in touch with the customers throughout. So even if they weren't waiting for their, sorry, even if they didn't get their product, yet, at least they know that we didn't forget about them and we were contacting them.

Uh, one question that I'm wondering is if you've, uh, implemented this as if. Let's just say hypothetically, that a, an order is taking a while longer than the usual five to seven days that people who are, I guess, are accustomed to, um, do you do any, do you send them any content in the meantime, like, uh, what their appetite or anything to keep them, keep them happy while they're, while they're waiting.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:38:54] Yeah. So I have a customer satisfaction sequence with a team that's dedicated directly to that. Um, Obviously most people can't have this because it costs money, but just the basic email sequence is something that most people can implement. And it basically is just setting an estimated delivery date, which is typically beyond the estimated delivery date that I'm actually expecting the package to arrive because I've always rather have the customer receive the package before my estimated delivery date than after it.

So. I'll set the estimated delivery date a little bit beyond typically about four to five days. And then after that date, one day after that date, I'll have an email sequence that goes out saying, Hey, we see that you received your products. We just wanted to see if you would leave us a review. Also, if you happen to not have received your product or something's wrong with it.

Reach out to us and let us know. So this kind of doubles down on the effect of what you're getting from the customer. If they've received the product, you're getting a review from the customer. If they didn't receive their product, they're going to inform you right away. So you can really deal with the issues as fast as possible.

Not only with the shipping side of things. But also, if it's a poor quality product from the reviews, you're going to be notified of that right away, too. So it's all about getting communication from the customer as soon as possible, and then acting on that information as best as you can.

Joseph: [00:40:13] I have one thing that you said, uh, off the bat there is to, um, overestimate the, is overestimate the operative term I want to use, I guess so.

Yeah. Um, the, the delivery times, and this is a. Psychological trick that I've okay. Do I want to say trick? Is that the way I want to go with this is a, it's a psychological technique Nika that I've it's, it's one of the most effective techniques I've seen, no matter where it is. I have one time when I was a kid and I would be an elementary school and we all had to line up to get our measles shot or something like that. And, uh, one of the volunteer parents, she, she comes up to me as I'm getting my needle. Right. She says, okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to count down from 16. Right.

And here we go, 16. 15 14. All right. And you're done and pulling it up. Oh, well that was, yeah, that was so much better than I thought it would be. And then we went on to watch Mr. Beans. So, yeah, it's it, it works every time. People always love it when the expectations are, um, ahead of yeah. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:41:11] Yeah. Let them like, even though, even though it isn't real, right.

Let it exceed their expectations. Right. It is about how they perceive things. So if their perception is something that's positive, if you can make it a positive perception, I mean, I don't think there's any harm in that you're not hurting anyone. So might as well do it. 

Joseph: [00:41:29] Actually. I want to, I want to stop here for a second because I'd love to, to hear more of your philosophy on this.

Um, it reminds me of this video. This is like not really something that, uh, e-commerce people might necessarily be familiar with. It was called extra credit there. Video game channel, but talk about a business side of it. A lot of it too. And they were comparing these two different companies. And I can't remember the name of the company that was doing well, but they were comparing it to JC penny and JC penny, at the time, at least they were just putting the price out as is whatever the price was. That was the price versus a, I think it might've been like winners or something along those lines. And they would put the price and they would put a slash through it and they would put the discounted price. And even if it wasn't technically true. It had a noticeable effect on, on sales. Um, and I'm just trying to think of, well, what's the best way that I want to like, uh, characterize this question, but I, yeah. Have you ever seen in your own life or I've ever seen a backlash to this? Cause to me it just seems like this is just the way the industry goes and it always seems to have more of a positive effect at the end of the day, because customer has always ended up being more delighted than anything. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:42:35] Yeah. Yeah, no, I actually, I have a perfect example of kind of where the buyer psychology comes into play with that. Um, so recently at the time we're, we're videoing this, it was about two weeks prior to this.

I released a video on, uh, on the concrete, which it should still be up at the time anyone's listening to this. Uh, and it was a $400,000 product reveal where I actually. Show a product that I took to $400,000. Um, and in that one, why I actually showed that on YouTube is because of the unique perspective that it brings and how it does dive deep into the buyer psychology.

So with this product in particular, it was a product where no matter what, whenever I purchased it from my agent or from my supplier, I was always getting a two-piece pack. But what I did is I structured it with a two, two different offers. So I had one page product page where I was offering it as a two-piece pack for the one, for the same price.

And then on another product page, I was offering it as a buy one, get one free offer. Both of these pages have the exact same product price. Both of them were the exact same offer, but it was to such an extreme that I actually had messages coming in from a couple of customers where they were like, I by accident purchased the two piece pack I wanted the buy one, get one free.

Can you switch it for me? So I think that this is the reason why I shared it on the YouTube channels, because it's such a clear demonstration of just how big it is when you dive into buyer's psychology. The fact that. Just because the offer of buy one, get one free was more appeasing. Those people, they completely disregarded or even acknowledged that the two-piece pack is the exact same offer.

So when it comes to buyer psychology, everyone just wants what they believe is the best deal. Whether a two-piece pack is the best deal to them or a buy one, get one free is the best deal or a discounted offer or a regular ticket price offer. It really comes down to the buyer. Psychology like. Some people, especially when you're dealing with high ticket or expensive brands, they don't want to buy that product when it's on sale, because they want it to be expensive because that means exclusivity.

Right. So it really comes down to the buyers. And if someone's willing to purchase something on sale, typically they're the type of people that like sales. 

Joseph: [00:44:45] Yeah. And, and I know that I've did, I made this point on other episodes before, but, uh, Laura knows this is not the first time I've repeated something, sorry, concur in listeners.

But if you've ever dedicated yourself to podcast, this comes up, but. People just want to feel like winners, you know, they, the idea that buy one, get one free. Oh man, I'm getting one for free. Yeah. That's, that's great. Uh, yeah, it's an interesting phenomenon, but it's.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:45:08] It's something that's so, so consistent throughout so many different people and it's something that's also subconscious.

Like they're not even aware of it. You're not even aware of it. I'm sure there's been situations where I've acted in such a way. And I just wasn't even aware of it, but you know, you just get influenced by certain things. 

Joseph: [00:45:25] Yeah. Um, for, uh, for, for black Friday, I use that as my window to, at long last, so order my television and I met, and I was going through the options on Canada computers because we're really wanting to support it Canadian businesses time.

And the one I ended up ordering, it had like a $70 rebate. Now, two things, one I didn't, I re I did not, I was not going to order something unless there was a sale price, because otherwise I could have just ordered at any time of the year, but. I also know that I shop for all. I know. Maybe they just like. I don't know, lower the price or raise the price $70 and then just offer the $70 rebate just so that I would have that feeling.

But you know, the greatest thing about all of it too, is for me, I like supporting businesses and I want to know that they're, they're getting what they need to keep going. So for me, a lot of the time when I'm trying to get a good deal, it's just like, keep my friends and family off my back just later on, like text me or something afterwards and say, yo, you could have gotten, you could have gotten an extra, a hundred dollars if you just like thrown to hang up on them and then they would, then they would put you through to the manager.

Then the manager said, I mean, he's like, I don't care. I just TV. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:46:32] Yeah. It's uh, it's crazy. It is a lot of social structure that influences people's purchasing decisions. 

Joseph: [00:46:39] And yet you have people that they keep in mind too, is that, you know, it's not like it's just like. The mouse trap and the mouse where the sellers are the mousetrap and the consumers of the mice.

It it's just, it's two, it's two mice. I know consumers also want to figure out ways that they can, uh, they can save money to their credit. It's no reason why they wouldn't do it. Um, so there is an element of competition to it. There is an element of, uh, an a very, and I'm being very careful to say conflict here because it's not like people are punching.

Sometimes people punch each other in the face, you know, black Friday and all that. But I think when people go into the market, they do expect that there is always this, um, battle for optimal value. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:47:23] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, I'd say a hundred percent and it definitely is something where with your customers, right?

It is about building relationships and it is about helping the customer find what that is that they are searching for. But at the same time, like you, you are out there trying to make money and there's nothing wrong with that. You're trying to build a business and you're trying to build an effective business and an effective business doesn't lose money.

It makes money. So if you can create a system where you're making good money, but at the same time you're offering customers, what it is that they want. That's what I mean, where it ties back into like isn't an ethical offer. And if you're making money from an ethical offer, it doesn't matter. The fact that in that situation I was offering the same product, but I knew that I was, some people might call it tricking people in, even in that sense, right.

To me, I was just playing to the offer that the people wanted. I was giving them what they wanted. In return. I was getting what I wanted. So as long as you're doing a nice exchange, it doesn't matter how you do it. 

Joseph: [00:48:23] So I just, uh, I just realized that if that some people would probably go out on black Friday because they just want to get into a problem.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:48:29] Yeah. I wouldn't doubt if you got some of those people. 

Joseph: [00:48:32] Yeah. I never, I never thought about that before. Um, Now would you, uh, one of the things I wanted to ask you about was a mafia order products. Cause I know that a lot of your success has come from that. Now what you've been describing with your a 400 case store, um, was that a multi order because it was a bio-ink at Winfrey slash a two for one or, um, multipack.

Does that count or is multi orders different? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:48:57] Yeah, so I mean the, the fact that it was part of a two-piece pack or a buy one, get one free wasn't the multi order component. But that product was still a multi order product and us, because it was something to do with skincare. Um, so whenever it comes to skincare, what people are going to want is they're going to want, once their bottles run out, they're going to want more.

So this product presented the option of people being able to come back. So return customers wanting more, if the product did work, like how they wanted it to. And then also a lot of people acknowledge that, Oh, I don't want this stuff to run out. So I'm going to buy some extra ones so that I have some more, once it does run out.

So yeah. That's why it had multi order potential. And it also had a good recurring, uh, returning customer potential to, uh, which was unfortunately sad for me because like I was planning on building it out and branding that product. But, uh, unfortunately all the hate speeches, they outweighed the good speech.

And so I had customers that loved the product and then I had customers that hated it. Um, and it was one of those unfortunate things with health and beauty. A lot of the products, uh, we'll get a lot of negative reviews just because people are using them for stuff that they aren't meant for. Like. I would have people leave negative reviews for that one, because they were using it for a skin condition.

It wasn't even remotely meant for a skin condition. Like they were, I would get messages and people would be like, I've gone to like six doctors and they couldn't figure anything out. Why didn't your product work? And there's six doctors. Couldn't figure it out. Some random product that you bought off, like a Facebook ad, isn't going to magically fix it.

So. It's always there. 

Joseph: [00:50:27] Like someone's trying to like remove a blemish in their car. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:50:30] Yeah. Something crazy, right? Like some, you, you have to accept some customers. You quite literally cannot satisfy. It's not possible. 

Joseph: [00:50:38] Yeah. Also, I guess that's one key takeaway for me too, when it comes to selling health and beauty products, I guess one of the benefits of the customer receiving too for the first time is I would say for the first one, um, provided that it's working for them is hard to know exactly what. Volume that they need to use for themselves. Cause everybody's skin is a little bit different. Um, it's like ordering, I dunno, energy supplements or something like that.

So the first one I would say is almost like the testing one to try to get a sense of how well it works. And then the second one I think is more regimented, more like, okay, now I have a clear idea of. Uh, how well this works. And so from that point on, I can, uh, apply it more generously. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:51:24] Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure there was probably a lot of customers that kind of used it that way.

Joseph: [00:51:28] Hmm. Um, well, one of the questions I had asked is like, what are some of the unique issues you ran into with the product? Uh, because I was like, I did study that one in particular. Um, and you said, you know, you ha you ran into a lot of people that were misapplying it. Um, So we'll consider that question answered.

Um, but what was your expectation for the bum beforehand? Like, did you have a vision in your head of what the performance of it was going to be? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:51:51] No. So, I mean, not, not only with products, but just in life and business in general, I never really set any type of expectations. I'll, uh, I'll always try to do stuff in the moment.

And then once it shows a certain level of potential, I'll commit to the level of potential that I think it has. Um, but I won't set those expectations until later on. Um, so basically with that product, I just kind of expected that I was going to go into it, see how it performed and then if it did perform relatively well at that point, I would go as hard as I possibly could because it did line up with my ideal product metrics.

So it, it indicated that it would have potential for multi orders and it did indicate that it had a high potential for re reoccurring customers. Um, so basically what I wanted to do is write once it was going with that. Um, yeah, so basically with that, since it was already lining up with my ideal product, like specific metrics and what I was wanting, uh, it was very easy for me to commit to the product full on, right.

When it showed any type of potential. Because if you have a product that lines up with what it is that you know is a working product, I've had past products that worked and it was showing the same metrics. It was showing the same information. So once you see that you can commit fully and you can invest a large amount of money and take it up.

And that's why in that video you'll actually see within the first, uh, I basically launched the product mid month and then within about half a month, I took it to, I think it was like 25 to 30,000. And then in the next month I took it to, I think, a little over 130,000. So I scaled it up quite aggressively.

And the reason why I did that is just because of the potential that it had. I knew that it was something where if I took it to scale. Since it had the multi order, it being at scale would only be even more beneficial because that means more people that are willing to buy several of them. Yeah. I mean, if it works, it's, uh, it's going to keep on working for them.

Joseph: [00:53:45] Um, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. We are, uh, we're pretty much on like the final act of this, uh, of this year podcast. I got another like six or seven minutes before we got our wrap up. Um, so let's, uh, uh, let's hop out of the value, uh, the value section. I think there's a lot of really good stuff for our listeners there.

Not to mention of course. They're, uh, they're going to want to check out your YouTube so they can really sink their teeth into, uh, what else you have to offer. I just have a couple of other things that I'm, uh, intrigued about. Um, one of them is I know you're working on a not-for-profit. Is that still the books?

How's that going? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:54:18] Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely still in the books. Um, it's a little bit more delayed than I expected it to be, but that's just because you know, you, you have objectives, you have plans, but I hold them very loosely because I like to let things kind of go where they need to go. So. In reality. I wasn't quite to the point this year where I want it to be in relation to building out the nonprofit, but the perspective of where I want it to take it.

And the objective of what I wanted it to be is definitely already very clear. So I'm basically quite literally just at the point of having a mission statement and the objective of what I want the nonprofit to be as to when it's actually going to be implemented in place. Did the action. I'm not a hundred percent sure on that one quite yet.

Joseph: [00:54:58] Okay. Fair enough. Well, Uh, just, uh, uh, wanted to, to hear how things going in that regard. Um, hopefully feel free to let us know down the line, uh, how things are going with it, being more than happy to hear about it. Okay. So, um, I like, I, I, when I'm, when I'm researching people, I do check out people's Instagrams.

Um, the one that stuck out to me is your insight into a controlled chaos that goes inside someone's mind. And you asked your followers, you know, what's going on in there is, but, uh, what, what's the controlled chaos within you? How does, how do you, how would you describe that? 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:55:30] Yeah. Uh, so I, I would say the main thing that not only me, but the majority of people deal with.

Uh, when it's controlled chaos is their own thoughts. So when you're going on throughout your day, you're going to realize that the majority of the dialogue that you have throughout your entire life is actually yourself. It's not what you have with other people. It's when you're walking down the street and you think in your head, Oh, that's a beautiful view.

Or are you thinking your head, all that car is driving way too fast. You're, you're subconsciously talking to yourself. Like if you actually spoke it, it would be words. Um, so when it comes to your head, you have all these different thoughts and you have all these different conversations going on inside your head, and it can be quite chaotic.

Um, so when it comes to controlling the chaos and actually being able to engage with life, which is outside of you, right? Reality is actually outside of you. Uh, it really comes down to being able to go through and focus in your thoughts on what it is that you're actually interacting with. So instead of having all these different thoughts, going all the time, you can instead walk down the street and just be looking at the beautiful sunset and all that's going on inside your inner dialogue is.

That's a beautiful sunset. 

Joseph: [00:56:39] Yeah. I, you know, th that's probably the first time that he went S planted out the fact that the majority of a person's dialogue is a dollar that they have in their own head. Uh, and it, and it's something that I'm, that I'm working on too, is, uh, you know, I'll wake up in the morning.

And the first thing that'll be on my mind is a thought that if given the choice, I would prefer not to think of it. Um, uh, you know, given, uh, given the, the struggles that you you've gone through, you know, there's no shortage of things that could try to occupy your mind. So, um, from a technique perspective, what are some of the things that you've done to really be able to focus and hone your thoughts onto what it is that is in front of you. 

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:57:21] Yeah. So I would say the first step, and this is something that, uh, that reigns true. They, they mentioned it in, uh, in AA meetings about, uh, alcohol abuse and the main thing, whenever it comes to anything to do with self progression and self care is acknowledgement. So actually going through the steps of acknowledging that you do have all these thoughts, and then as you go through your day, trying to be aware of all these thoughts is the main thing. Cause if you are aware of all these thoughts, you're going to realize how much they actually affect you. And then at that point you can start deciding, okay. Like I don't want to focus my energy on that. I don't want to think about that. I don't want to focus on that. I'm engaging and I'm focusing on this.

And as you do that more, it definitely is a skill that you build up and you get better at, but once you get really good at it, it gets to the point where I can actually have a thought or an emotion or something, whatever you want to call it, come in. And I can acknowledge it right away and determined. I don't want that, or I do want that and I can make a decision as to where it goes, whether I keep it or if I re redirected and, and send it back out.

So it, it really does. Put you in a place where you're able to control and balance your state, which is so, so important when it comes to business. Because whether you're opera, whether you're down, it doesn't matter. The business keeps going. So it's best to maintain a nice steady well, well thank you for that.

Joseph: [00:58:40] Um, I, uh, fully admit that question comes from a place of my own journey. And you know, when I, when I do these interviews, Each week, I'm talking to a bunch of people and, you know, I consider it an a, a pretty terrific blessing that while other people are being isolated and they're not being able to talk to people, not only do I get to meet people who are really trying to put their skin in the game and do something significant, but I'm also on the clock for two.

So that's pretty darn good. Um, so. Uh, all in all, um, we are gonna have to wrap up, but, uh, John, I, uh, I thank you for your time. This was a great hour. Uh, I, you know, I hope you enjoyed it too. I hope our audience got some great value out of it. Um, I expect them to want to look into your content, so. If you have any other parting words of wisdom you want to share with us, feel free and then tell us how to reach out.

Jonathan Molendijk: [00:59:35] Yeah, for sure. So, um, with me, and this is something that I always try to share with everyone is instead of committing to a journey of making money or committing to a journey of building a business or anything like that, commit to a journey of constantly trying to be yourself, because when it comes to life, there's going to be so many people in so many things in life that are going to try to tear you apart and turn you into a person that you aren't.

And it's something where every single day you need to wake up and you need to say like, I am Jon and you need to fully acknowledge and understand that you are Jon, and you need to repeat that to yourself and engage with that every single day. Uh, so that you can be yourself because who you are is what's supposed to be shared with the world, not a fake version, not someone else's version of who you are.

Um, with that in mind, I do. I share a lot of this type of stuff, cause I'm not just business. I am very spiritual. I am about helping people and not just making money. Um, so for making money, business wise, all that kind of stuff, e-comm creed on YouTube is super cool. It's a great way to find information on drop shipping and other e-commerce business models.

And then when it comes to personal life and stuff to do with like, self-growth that kind of thing. Uh, my personal Instagram is a great place to Jonathan Molendijk on Instagram. Uh, it's just a great place where I post inspirational stuff. And then also in the e-comm creed masters group, I post some pump up videos and stuff like that, just to get everyone going in there.

Joseph: [01:01:00] Excellent. All right, listeners. Uh, I think that's, uh, that's plenty for us today, so you'll know what to do and we will check in soon. Take care.

Thanks for listening. You might've found this show on many number of platforms, Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google play, Stitcher, or right here on Debutify. Whatever the case, if you enjoy this content and want to help us thrive, please take a few moments to leave a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you think is best.

We also want to hear from you. So whether you think you'd be a good guest or want to weigh in on anything related to our show, you can email podcasts@debutify.com. Or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok finally, this podcast is created by the passionate team at Debutify. If you're ready to take the plunge into e-commerce or are looking to up your game, head over to  debutify.com and see how it can change your life. And the lives of many through what you do next.

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Joseph Ianni

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