077: Amazon FBA, Social Media Traffic Strategies, and Scaling 8-Figure Businesses with Bashar Katou

Bashar Katou is an Amazon FBA seller, mentor and the founder of BJK University, a leading online platform that teaches users how to sell on Amazon.

After the restaurant Bashar owned burned to the ground, he found himself $150K in debt. Soon after, a friend introduced him to the concept of making money online. He decided to focus on Amazon sales, bought a course and launched his first products.

Fast forward to today, Bashar has launched more than 100 products on Amazon and his BJK University is a multi-8-figure business with more than 35 employees. Bashar grew BJK from $150K to $2.3M in one year primarily through social media, at one point spending $325K/month on Instagram shoutouts.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Bashar uses social media to drive traffic, how he manages to post 4-6 pieces of content a day, and the social media channels he focuses on in today’s environment.

You’ll also get insights on running a successful Amazon store, adjusting the entrepreneur mindset as your company scales, and the No. 1 tip social media-focused businesses should hear for 2023.

Bashar Katou Tweetables

• “Lack of experience is never an excuse. It’s about how to understand what you lack and then trying to cover that with someone else that has those skills.” – Bashar Katou

• “It’s about finding a good product and delivering a good product in a convenient way to my customers in the cheapest way possible where they can win and I can make a profit – and then scaling those as much as possible.” – Bashar Katou

• “You’re more likely to figure it out if you get some reps in and start producing and creating and designing and iterating and solving problems than if you just sit there on your couch and think about it.” – Brad Weimert

• “It’s the boring work that a lot of people don’t want to do that gets you to a real company.” – Bashar Katou

• “It’s very easy to point fingers at people. And the hardest thing is taking responsibility of saying, ‘Okay, where did I f*** up? How can I fix it?.’” – Bashar Katou

✔️ How Bashar grew his business from $150K to $2.3M in 12 months by using Instagram shoutouts.

✔️ The No. 1 tip for driving traffic to a social-media-reliant business in 2023.

✔️ Should entrepreneurs follow a passion or pursue a business for the sake of the financial upside?

✔️ The 3 cycles of business from Lex Sisney’s book “Organizational Physics” that entrepreneurs can follow to create perpetual growth.

✔️ How Bashar prioritized product-market fit and building an offer over building a business to create a multi-8-figure company.

✔️ Why build an Amazon store instead of a traditional eCommerce store through your own URL?

✔️ The assembly line approach for integrating organic traffic into your existing marketing model.

✔️ Why Bashar eased up on Instagram marketing after earning 1,200 opt-ins a day – and where he shifted his attention to.

✔️ The mental change that has to happen for entrepreneurs to avoid burnout and keep pushing forward.

✔️ How motivation and the pressure to perform can change as your company experiences more success.

✔️ Adopting a mindset of responsibility and ownership to find solutions and keep problems from compounding.

✔️ The management lessons Bashar learned from managing a restaurant that burned to the ground and left him $150K in debt.