How to Build the Amazon of Services
August 10, 2021
In this episode, we talk about how to actually build an Amazon for services.
Today's episode and tomorrow's episode is going to be a two part episode. So in today's episode, we are talking about the Amazon for services and why this is such a common idea that comes across my plate pretty often. And in tomorrow's episode, we are going to talk about how Uber cannot compete in Colombia. So a lot of people want to do Uber type of apps and we're going to actually discuss why this is the wrong way to go about it.
So the first topic at hand is building an Amazon for services. I get a lot of people that come to me and they believe that they have this amazing idea, which it is an amazing idea. However, I think the mistake is believing that that idea that they have is unique because I actually get a lot of people with this idea, I mean people see how Amazon works, you can buy all these different products from Amazon kind of, any, any type of product you want from Chaka mushrooms to soccer balls, right? Like anything you want. And the most obvious next step is now after Amazon selling all these products groceries, etcetera. The obvious next step is to sell services.
So people come up with this idea that oh, "I'm going to be the Amazon for services. What if there was like this worldwide directory for everyone that offers a service and what would that look like?" Well, first of all, that kind of already exists because if you look at Facebook pages, um, Facebook is typically a worldwide directory, it's probably not organized in the best way. But you know, someone can actually come and start organizing Facebook pages and they would make this directory app right away without having a go bill out their own app. But that is for another episode when people think about building an Amazon for services, the mistake is trying to copy unicorns where they already are.
Now, whenever we're trying to get into business. Yeah, it does make sense to see what the grown folks are doing. So the big major corporations and kind of use some of their learning star benefit. Right? But the thing is we can't copy every single thing because where they are right now is not where we're at and what works for them right now is not what's going to work for us. So what I mean to this is if you think about Amazon. Amazon, they are now The Amazon products and they saw all different types of products, right? We've already established that. But they didn't always start off as being the amazon for everything. They didn't always have AWS and Amazon play and all these different products that they have right now. Amazon, they only started off with a very small vertical and that small vertical was people who wanted to buy books but they didn't want to go to the bookstore and they wanted to be able to browse a bookstore at home at their own convenience and have these books delivered to them, right? So this is all Amazon actually focused and Amazon started off just like that.
If you look at Youtube for example, Youtube is like the home for pretty much every single video that's out there. But that's not what Youtube started off as either. Youtube started off as a video dating service and it kind of grew into what it is right now. So the mistake that founders make is trying to copy these unicorns based on where they are at instead of actually looking at all the different ways that they've overcome challenges in the past. But here is the second mistake, right?
The second mistake is that when you're looking at all the mistakes that these companies might have made those mistakes were relevant for where those companies were during that time period, the world changes things, things evolve. So whatever problems and issues that they might have had right now is probably not something that a company might focus on now. This is why when you are looking at case studies is very important to look at them with a grain of salt and not to mimic, but to see what they've done, try to find out where the fundamentals are and use the fundamentals to be able to innovate in whatever you're doing.
So this is a mistake um in terms of coming out with an Amazon for services. The way to do it. If you want the secret on how to actually make this happen is not to be the Amazon for all services because truthfully, if Amazon wanted to start selling services, guess who's gonna be the Amazon services, it's going to be Amazon. They already have this customer list and they could easily pivot into creating services. They already have the infrastructure for your, for them to do it right. Even if you start off this little business, um, there's no reason for Amazon to even acquire you because amazon already owns the technology for them to be able to do this.
But the way that you can actually benefit and if you actually listen to my previous episode on how a David can beat Goliath actually cover exactly how to beat Amazon at its own game is to go vertical. Right? So when we're going vertical, we're going across this very deep niche. So just like Amazon start off with books and Youtube start off with dating, if you want to become, eventually, become the Amazon and services will just start off with a very small niche, A very small desire, a very small set of services dominate that niche dominate that, that service area. And then after you've done that, then you can begin to think about scaling into other areas.
So this is how you would actually build an Amazon for services if you want to compete with Amazon, you have to do, you have to go vertical. Otherwise amazon is going to be the Amazon of services. Stay tuned for tomorrow on how we talk about how Uber has a very difficult time competing in Colombia and why Uber eats actually does not exist in Colombia anymore. It did, but not anymore. And we'll find out in tomorrow's episode, there's Robin Copernicus boom bam. I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
So the first topic at hand is building an Amazon for services. I get a lot of people that come to me and they believe that they have this amazing idea, which it is an amazing idea. However, I think the mistake is believing that that idea that they have is unique because I actually get a lot of people with this idea, I mean people see how Amazon works, you can buy all these different products from Amazon kind of, any, any type of product you want from Chaka mushrooms to soccer balls, right? Like anything you want. And the most obvious next step is now after Amazon selling all these products groceries, etcetera. The obvious next step is to sell services.
So people come up with this idea that oh, "I'm going to be the Amazon for services. What if there was like this worldwide directory for everyone that offers a service and what would that look like?" Well, first of all, that kind of already exists because if you look at Facebook pages, um, Facebook is typically a worldwide directory, it's probably not organized in the best way. But you know, someone can actually come and start organizing Facebook pages and they would make this directory app right away without having a go bill out their own app. But that is for another episode when people think about building an Amazon for services, the mistake is trying to copy unicorns where they already are.
Now, whenever we're trying to get into business. Yeah, it does make sense to see what the grown folks are doing. So the big major corporations and kind of use some of their learning star benefit. Right? But the thing is we can't copy every single thing because where they are right now is not where we're at and what works for them right now is not what's going to work for us. So what I mean to this is if you think about Amazon. Amazon, they are now The Amazon products and they saw all different types of products, right? We've already established that. But they didn't always start off as being the amazon for everything. They didn't always have AWS and Amazon play and all these different products that they have right now. Amazon, they only started off with a very small vertical and that small vertical was people who wanted to buy books but they didn't want to go to the bookstore and they wanted to be able to browse a bookstore at home at their own convenience and have these books delivered to them, right? So this is all Amazon actually focused and Amazon started off just like that.
If you look at Youtube for example, Youtube is like the home for pretty much every single video that's out there. But that's not what Youtube started off as either. Youtube started off as a video dating service and it kind of grew into what it is right now. So the mistake that founders make is trying to copy these unicorns based on where they are at instead of actually looking at all the different ways that they've overcome challenges in the past. But here is the second mistake, right?
The second mistake is that when you're looking at all the mistakes that these companies might have made those mistakes were relevant for where those companies were during that time period, the world changes things, things evolve. So whatever problems and issues that they might have had right now is probably not something that a company might focus on now. This is why when you are looking at case studies is very important to look at them with a grain of salt and not to mimic, but to see what they've done, try to find out where the fundamentals are and use the fundamentals to be able to innovate in whatever you're doing.
So this is a mistake um in terms of coming out with an Amazon for services. The way to do it. If you want the secret on how to actually make this happen is not to be the Amazon for all services because truthfully, if Amazon wanted to start selling services, guess who's gonna be the Amazon services, it's going to be Amazon. They already have this customer list and they could easily pivot into creating services. They already have the infrastructure for your, for them to do it right. Even if you start off this little business, um, there's no reason for Amazon to even acquire you because amazon already owns the technology for them to be able to do this.
But the way that you can actually benefit and if you actually listen to my previous episode on how a David can beat Goliath actually cover exactly how to beat Amazon at its own game is to go vertical. Right? So when we're going vertical, we're going across this very deep niche. So just like Amazon start off with books and Youtube start off with dating, if you want to become, eventually, become the Amazon and services will just start off with a very small niche, A very small desire, a very small set of services dominate that niche dominate that, that service area. And then after you've done that, then you can begin to think about scaling into other areas.
So this is how you would actually build an Amazon for services if you want to compete with Amazon, you have to do, you have to go vertical. Otherwise amazon is going to be the Amazon of services. Stay tuned for tomorrow on how we talk about how Uber has a very difficult time competing in Colombia and why Uber eats actually does not exist in Colombia anymore. It did, but not anymore. And we'll find out in tomorrow's episode, there's Robin Copernicus boom bam. I'm out.
Continue your journey with me on my other channels:
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