Are you ready to discover how to learn anything FAST?

I recently did a live Q&A session where I answered your questions about this very topic.

Learning is the foundation of personal growth and development. I believe that it is the one habit that everyone should strive to master.

You have the ability to learn anything, and more importantly, retain anything that you want. Now is the time to transform knowledge into action.

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

Are you ready to learn how you can master your life? CLICK HERE to join my Life Mastery Accelerator program!

Learning is the foundation for growth and change.

As many of you know, I have committed my life to personal growth, for the sole purpose of actualizing my potential. I will continue to engage in this ritual every single day until I die. If you are going to invest time, money and energy into developing yourself, it makes sense that you learn how to learn better. Doing so will allow you to retain more of the information that you are consuming.

In today's information age, people are drowning in knowledge and suffering from analysis paralysis. They are learning a lot of great knowledge that has the potential to change their lives, but they aren't applying any of it. This is why learning how to learn is such a valuable skill.

The most important thing that you should ask yourself before you learn anything is, “What is the purpose of learning this?” Oftentimes, what you get from something and how motivated you are is related to your purpose. When I was in high school, I was a horrible student. I put in the effort to study now and then but I wasn't consistent with it. As a result, I didn't get good grades, nor did I even graduate. I didn't get any value from school because I didn't see the benefit of it. As a result, I wasn't motivated to learn.

However, when I was 17 years old, I had a burning desire to change my life.

At that moment in time, my biggest pain point was my lack of confidence, fears, and insecurities. I committed to doing whatever was necessary in order to change my life. Today, I am a very different person. I love to learn. I've read hundreds of books and have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into my personal growth and development.

Before you dive into learning anything, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What will be the benefit of learning this?
2. Why do I want to learn this?
3. What is the consequence of not learning this?”

One of the reasons why people are slow learners is because they approach learning from a place of passivity. I was first introduced to the F.A.S.T. learning method by the learning expert, Jim Kwik. F.A.S.T. is an acronym that teaches you how to learn anything fast. Each letter represents a powerful reminder which, if applied, can take your learning to a whole new level.

F – Forget

Any time that you learn anything, you need to forget what you already know about it. Forget your limiting beliefs and your ego. The three most dangerous words in the human language are “I know that.” The moment that you say this, you close off your mind from learning anything.

Oftentimes, it's your preconceived notions about what you think you know that prevent you from learning more. I always consume knowledge with a beginner's mindset. Children are amazing learners because they are curious. They are willing to try anything new and aren't worried about what people think of them. That's how you need to be.

Unfortunately, as people get older, they become less coachable. You've got to be willing to go through a “suck phase.” Sure enough, you will get better and better over time. 

A – Active

Most people are passive learners. This is a problem. Research shows that we tend to lose almost 40% of new information within the first 24 hours of first reading or hearing something. This is why, when it comes to learning, you've got to be active and involved. Whatever you learn, take notes.

The actual act of writing things down improves your attention. I don't want you to waste your time. This is why you need to be more strategic about how you learn. Always take the time to reflect on what you learn and make a plan for how you are going to apply that knowledge to your life. Asking yourself questions is a powerful part of the learning process.

S – State

If I were to ask you, “Do you remember where you were on 9/11?” you would most likely be able to remember where you were and how you felt because your emotions were attached to that memory. However, if I asked you where you were on 10/11, it may not be as easy for you to recall. Information attached to emotion becomes a long-term memory.

If you aren't learning something that excites you, you won't be emotionally invested. Always make sure that you are in a positive state so that your learning gets anchored and associated with the knowledge that you are consuming. This will ensure that you are more likely to remember the knowledge and do something with it.

T – Teach

I am a big believer in teaching what I learn and sharing it with others. In my experience, it's incredibly beneficial to have a learning buddy. Mine is my fiancée, Tatiana. Whenever we learn something, we talk about it with one another. By sharing that knowledge with her, we grow as individuals and as a couple.

By teaching something to someone, you learn it twice. This is one of my #1 reasons for learning. This is why I love what I do. I think that I have the greatest job in the world because I get to share what I learn with my audience and create content with the intention of inspiring others.

Every video that I publish I personally benefit from. It allows me to integrate what I'm learning on a much deeper level and live it every single day.

Your mind is the foundation for everything that happens in your life. When you learn how to become its master instead of its slave, you are winning. There are 3 levels that comprise the mastery mentality – knowing, doing and living. Unfortunately, a lot of people get stuck at level 1, which is knowing. Knowing doesn't have value unless you are doing and living it on a consistent basis.

Level 2 is doing, which means that you are applying whatever it is that you know.

Lastly, level 3 is living, which means that you are living whatever it is that you are doing. I live what I teach people. The knowledge that I consume becomes a part of who I am. 

When you know how to learn anything FAST, you accelerate your success.

As many of you know who follow me, my ultimate mission in my work is to grow, give, and serve. A live stream has always been a great opportunity for me to take on your questions and share my knowledge. 

Are you ready for a sneak peek of my live #AskStefan Q&A?

Here are some of my answers to the questions that were asked by audience members who attended my live session. I chose a few that I believe will be of benefit to most people. 

How can I get more confident?

Confidence is an emotional state. You may not know it, but you can access this state any time that you want. Think of a time when you felt unstoppable. How did you stand? How did you move? What was the expression on your face? How were you using your voice? If you actually mimicked this state, you would start to feel confident again.

As an example, someone who is shy will usually display exaggerated physiology. They don't give good eye contact, they speak softly and they don't use their body a lot. However, if you shift this person's physiology, it will automatically change their emotional state.

What you focus on, you feel.

If you are lacking in confidence, you are focusing on the worst-case scenario situations, like why you can't do something. This will only create uncertainty. Confident people focus on the best possible scenarios. What words are you using when you talk to yourself and others? Language is connected to emotions. Your brain is like a supercomputer. Everything you say is like a command. If you say, “I can't do this” then you've installed that software into your program.

That won't serve you.

This is why I love positive affirmations. When I say them out loud, I speak with intensity and emotion because I want to condition my brain to be the best that I can be.

Is it better to focus on mastering one thing or learning multiple things at the same time?

Everyone has a different capacity of what they can learn. I'm able to do a lot more than most in terms of the number of goals that I have each year. For most people, I've found that they get overwhelmed easily. I enjoy taking on a lot because it forces me to grow in a huge way. This is what has allowed me to get to where I am today.

You need to choose what is realistic for you. I recommend starting small and focusing on one area of your life.

If you were starting a YouTube channel today, would you do anything differently?

Yes, I would have put out a lot more content from the get-go and I would have gone through a training program. I think I would have been able to grow my channel a lot faster if I had a solid strategy in place for doing so. When you are first starting a YouTube channel, it's easier because you don't have an audience yet.

Therefore, you can experiment more and put out a lot of different types of videos.

However, I can't do this anymore. I have to create content that is based on what my audience wants and what they will benefit from them the most. Sometimes I will publish a video on a topic that I love but it won't end up doing very well because I failed to take into consideration my audiences' needs, problems, and goals.

When you learn something new, should you figure out how to do it along the way or plan a lot in advance?

A little bit of both. I'm more of a fan of the mindset of ready, fire, aim versus ready, aim, fire. I see a lot of people that only aim. They wait for everything to be perfect before they take action and fire. Why not fire and learn as you go? Those are the people that get further ahead in life. Whenever I have ideas, I like to put them into action right away. 

Life is a never-ending learning process.

When you learn how to master the art of learning the right way, you accelerate your success tenfold. In the words of Jim Kwik, “If knowledge is power, learning is your superpower.” How would your life change if you were able to learn something in half the time? 

Are you ready to learn how you can master your life? CLICK HERE to join my Life Mastery Accelerator program!

Welcome to my in-depth Amazon product research criteria & tutorial! In this video interview, I interview Greg Mercer, the Founder and CEO of Jungle Scout, which is the #1 Amazon product research software on the market. Backed by a remote team of 20+ employees, Greg Mercer has created a collection of amazing tools to empower Amazon sellers, as well as multiple physical product brands.

I am a big fan of Greg’s Jungle Scout software. I’ve used it with my own Amazon product research, and I’ve recommended it to many people, who have gone on to have massive success on Amazon because of it. I’m grateful to be able to interview him again and pick his brain on the topic of Amazon product research.

In this video interview, Greg and I discuss everything from how to get started on Amazon, how to find the best product to sell, the value of product research, to a live training tutorial, where Greg walks you through the many benefits of Jungle Scout, and how to use it. Are you ready to be inspired?

Watch the video below:

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

[smart_track_player url=”http://www.buzzsprout.com/9299/525013-plm-439-in-depth-amazon-product-research-criteria-tutorial.mp3″ background=”default” ]

Do you want to have access to a tool that will help you master your Amazon product research process? CLICK HERE to receive an exclusive Jungle Scout discount!

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support!

Amazon has been a huge trend and has grown drastically over the last few years. What do you see as the opportunity that exists today with Amazon? 

To date, the best opportunity on Amazon is still the private label model. There are more sellers on Amazon than ever before, so it’s more competitive. That being said, the good news is that it is still very feasible to create a successful business on Amazon.

When I talk about the private label model, what I’m talking about is finding an opportunity on Amazon, and then finding a supplier for a product. They are generally in China, and you can find them on Alibaba. When I refer to private labelling, I mean that they are already making a product, but you put your brand or label on it to make it yours.

I would strongly argue that this is the best opportunity in the whole entrepreneurial, make money online type of world. I would go so far as to say that Amazon is the best opportunity of this decade. 

Can you talk about the value of product research, and why it's been so important for you?

The biggest hurdle with growing my business when I first started out was with product research. At the time, I was lucky enough to get a few of my products sold, fast, without doing any marketing. Being the engineer, data-driven type person that I am, I thought, “How do I find more opportunities to launch these products, without doing as much work?”

At the time, there wasn’t anything to help with that, and that is how Jungle Scout was born. From that, and from launching more successful products, I’ve been able to figure out which criteria works best. Jungle Scout has data that enables you to make well-informed decisions.

First, you want something with good existing demand on Amazon; that means that people are typing it into the search bar, they are finding it, and they are purchasing it.

Second, you want something with low competition. A great way to gauge the competition is the # of reviews on a listing. My personal rule of thumb is that when I search for main keywords, I want to see multiple listings in the top 10, with fewer than 50 reviews. That signifies that it is a young niche that will be easy for me to organically rank for that keyword, and therefore, make organic sells.

Third, we want something with good margins. I like to sell products that are $18 or more. If you are selling products that are $10 or lower, you aren’t going to make any profit. You don’t know the margins for sure until you connect with suppliers.

Finally, you want to stay away from any product that comes with potential legal issues, like patents, trademarks, etc.

Can you share with people how Jungle Scout came about, and what it does for people?

I'm a numbers-driven guy and the one number that drove me to start Jungle Scout was that I wanted to know how many product listings on Amazon were selling. At the time, there was no good way to figure this out. You are going off of your gut, which I don’t like doing. I wanted to estimate how many units/month a listing was selling on Amazon, and I figured out a way to do that very effectively.

It morphed into a chrome extension, which you can run on any Amazon page that displays products. It gives sellers all of the data that they need in order to make educated decisions as to whether or not a product is good to to sell on Amazon or not.

We also built a web-based application. In the web app you can track any listing on Amazon and it will tell you how many units it sells, in real time. We also have a product database. Essentially, we have e re-built Amazon’s catalogue in a way that’s user friendly for sellers to search through.

You can't go on Amazon and say, “Show me all the products that sell well, that have low competition, and that will make me a lot of money.” That doesn’t exist on Amazon.

Do you want to have access to a tool that will help you master your Amazon product research process? CLICK HERE to receive an exclusive Jungle Scout discount!

What advice would you have for someone that wants to start an Amazon business, but still has a 9-5 job?

I used to be in the same position. I had a full-time job, wife, and other priorities. I get it. I'm a huge fan of just-in-time learning. If you want to take advantage of Amazon right now, do the product research first in order to find the best opportunity, and then find a supplier. The great thing about doing that is that you are building momentum, and then you will be more excited about it and want to work on it more.

What advice would you have for someone that wants to start an Amazon business, but that doesn't have the financial means necessary to do so?

You can start on Amazon for smaller amounts of money. The one thing about selling any physical product is that you do have to invest in inventory, but keep in mind that you don’t have to purchase 1000 units to get started. You can get started with a dozen units, or whatever you can afford. Sell that, make the money, reinvest, and grow from there. You can start for a few hundred bucks.

AT THIS POINT OF OUR INTERVIEW, GREG CONDUCTED AN ONLINE TRAINING SESSION, WHERE HE DID A SCREEN SHARE AND LED US THROUGH EXACTLY HOW JUNGLESCOUT WORKS AND HOW YOU CAN FIND PROFITABLE PRODUCTS ON AMAZON. BE SURE TO WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE TO LEARN MORE!

What advice would you give to someone that is at the beginning stages of their Amazon journey? 

If I think back to when I was starting out, my huge goal was to quit my job. I didn’t like my 9-5 and I had a strong entrepreneurial spirit. I got hung up on reading about so many different strategies on how to get started. I would encourage you to pick one thing, stick with it and dedicate all of your time, effort, and mental energy for the next 6-12 months on it. If you do, I'm confident that you can be successful with it, just like me and thousands of other people have been.

I’m so grateful that I was able to interview Greg Mercer again. I hope this in-depth Amazon product research criteria & tutorial has inspired you to build your own Amazon business. Greg has graciously put together an exclusive discount for followers of PLM that are interested in checking out Jungle Scout. 

His software has helped thousands of people, including myself.  The Amazon world may seem daunting at first, but just commit to starting and work through the process one step at a time. Like anything in life, once you overcome a fear anything is possible. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it's done.” 

Do you want to have access to a tool that will help you master your Amazon product research process? CLICK HERE to receive an exclusive Jungle Scout discount!