Jon Shugart, CEO of benefits of the bookearned her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics with Honors from North Georgia College & University and her Masters of Educational Leadership from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Shugart taught high school math for 4 years but fell in love with the promise and potential of technology and enrolled in Georgia Institute of Technology to study computer science in the year 2000. It was the best decision of his life.
Over the past twenty years, Jon Shugart has followed his passion for technology and entrepreneurship and created several multi-million dollar businesses from the ground up. Equally important to his personal success is the satisfaction of helping to improve the quality of life for his clients and helping them achieve wealth and independence.
Whether it’s using marketing automation or leveraging big data, Shugart has managed to solve problems that very few others have even tried to solve.
Shugart has released several software products over the past ten years, including the most recent, benefits of the book focused on the used book market.
With the incredible power and reach of Amazon and the ability for anyone to sell successfully on their platform, Shugart and his business partner, Luke Sample, saw a great opportunity to create software to help others improve their sales, or even start from scratch, and create a thriving business selling used books.
Since 2016, Shugart has been building the best software and community for used book sellers on Amazon. The user base and community have grown so much that, in the pre-COVID-19 world, there were sold-out live events where members came together to help each other, as well as learning opportunities from some of the best sellers in the community.
Jon Shugart has proven himself to be an innovator and leader in the space and sees no signs of slowing down. He gives 100% effort every day to his customers and community to help them achieve their own goals through the software solutions he helps create.
We had the opportunity to sit down with Jon Shugart and learn a bit more about benefits of the book and get practical business and entrepreneurship advice for our readers.
Can you tell us a bit about how you make money on Amazon?
You can actually go to Amazon.com right now and search for manuals. And there are hundreds of examples where you could buy a textbook on Amazon, have it shipped to you, and there are even many ways to avoid having it shipped to you, but we don’t really have time to get into this for now, but get a book shipped to you, then immediately send it back to Amazon as part of their trade-in program and make a profit.
It really is that simple.
What are Book Benefits?
Book Profits is an online training program as well as sophisticated software created by me and Luke Sample that will allow anyone to work from home and build an amazing business using book arbitrage strategies on Amazon.com.
We’ve written software that we use and other people we teach use to make it incredibly easy to find one-click arbitrage opportunities. It’s a Chrome extension, and it analyzes the page on Amazon, and it’s able to show you all the different books available right now that can be profitable and how profitable they can be, sharing historical prices and other data and analysis .
What is the biggest mistake you see others make in business?
I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about others, but some of the mistakes I’ve seen are bad customer experiences and bad products. You need to have a great product but also a great customer experience with the product to be successful over time.
What are the key elements to starting and running a successful business?
The most important thing is to have a great work ethic because you will never work harder than when you are working for yourself building a business. The second most important element is the grain. You have to keep going and find a way to succeed no matter what. After those two, you need what most people think of, like a great product, a great team, and great sales or funding.
How do you prioritize your work?
We always put the needs of our customers first. So, I first work on everything that affects them directly. After that, I work on things that help increase the company’s sales. Then finally I will focus on new products or features.
How do you handle investors and funding issues in your business?
We do not use investors but self-finance our growth through sales.
How to find a work-life balance? How do you like to spend your free time?
I’m not sure work-life balance exists for an entrepreneur. I just try to spend as much time as possible with the family and make sure we have memorable times throughout the year where we do things that are out of the ordinary, like vacations or trips. at the museum or other places that will create memories.
Please share a quote that was most meaningful to you?
One of my favorite quotes is from George Bernard Shaw and says:
“You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream of things that never existed; and I say ‘Why not?’
Life is all about perspective, so this quote helps me realign my perspective sometimes when I start to focus on things that are happening or have happened instead of creating what I want to happen.
Who is the one entrepreneur to be your greatest example and inspiration? Why?
I must say that Elon Musk is an inspiration. He was willing to bet his entire fortune to build companies that change industry and even civilization and has been successful so far. From a business perspective, I think he will have a huge impact on the world and I admire his drive for that.
Thanks to Jon Shugart, CEO of benefits of the bookfor sharing his views and ideas in this interview!
Posted May 4, 2021