[EPFN] Fire in the Barn, Drama Online... and One Billion-Dollar Win

Resilience: The Part of Business No One Talks About

This week was… a lot. The kind of week where Monday feels like it happened a month ago.

See, when you dream about having your own business, you’re picturing freedom.
This magical life where you’re the boss, you make the rules, you sip coffee slowly because why not — you own your time.

And yeah… that fantasy is cute.
But let’s talk about what business is actually about.
And let’s talk about the part no one wants to say out loud.

👉 Investments.
No shit — you need them.
Business does not run on fairy dust and motivational quotes.

And trust me, the fun stuff is easy.
Building offers, figuring out customers, crafting marketing, talking to influencers…
That’s the playground.
That’s the creative part.

But then there’s the part that is absolutely NOT fun.

Are you prepared for haters?
Because I’ve been building businesses since I was 17, and I’ve had haters in every single one.

Are you ready not to take things personally?
Are you ready to ignore noise coming from people whose entire personality is… noise?

The truth is:
Haters are small people who get pissed off for ridiculous reasons.
You will never get hate from someone above you.

The real test is whether you can stay focused on what matters instead of paying attention to the bugs.
And when the bugs multiply — because their little virus spreads — can you keep your eyes on the goal anyway?

That’s why I love what Leila Hormozi keeps on her desk:
“Fuck your mood — follow the plan.”

It doesn’t matter what’s happening.
It doesn’t matter who’s saying what.
It doesn’t matter if the day feels heavy or chaotic or unfair.

You. Follow. The. Plan.

And speaking of chaotic… this week delivered.

A former employee — fired two months ago for negligence — suddenly decided that now was the perfect time to take revenge. She blasted us across local social media groups with defamation.
We got everything taken down within 48 hours, but not before burning through a few nerves and earning myself some bonus gray hairs.

But we stayed focused.
We kept moving.

And then, because the universe apparently thought the week needed extra seasoning… a fire happened.

Two months ago, I bought three leaf blowers on Amazon.
One of the batteries exploded — literally exploded — and started a fire.

Our team? Absolute rockstars.

They put it out quickly, the fire department praised them, and of course I created an

AI plaque for the heroes of the day, funny enough, earlier in the day they also had to catch the cows that escaped from our neighbors.

I’ll dive deeper later into the actions you should take as a Seller and as a shopper when something like this happens — because trust me, this is not the type of “data point” Amazon wants you to ignore.

But here’s the punchline of this entire week:

No matter what happens, you keep going.
You don’t get distracted.
You don’t let chaos reroute you.
You don’t let bugs steal your attention.
You follow the plan.

Everything else?
Background noise.

PS. No matter what, we’re keeping our barn life fun — watch our Grinch galloping in 2026.

Guess Who Made the Dream 100

This morning I was about to hit send on this newsletter when Kevin King’s issue landed in my inbox — and there it was: my name in his Billion Dollar Dream 100.

Yeah… I had a moment.

Recognition like this hits different.

We all need it.

Sure, we get validation from the work, the wins, the results — but being recognized by Kevin King?

That’s a freaking big deal.

So I wanted to share this win with you all.

The $100 Leaf Blower That Caused $5,000 in Damage

Since I just told you how a leaf blower we bought on Amazon decided to turn itself into a fire starter… let’s talk about what happens next from a consumer perspective.

I’ve never had to deal with reimbursements or product-caused damage before.

Our total damage is around $5,000 — not catastrophic, but still hilarious in the worst possible way when you think about a sub-$100 leaf blower turning into a $5,000 invoice. There’s no ROI on that kind of chaos.

So I wanted to figure out how to actually claim these damages from the Chinese seller.

Thanks to Amy Wees and her friend Grok AI — who dealt with something similar — I learned a key step.

Here’s her chat link so you can read the whole breakdown yourself.

Apparently, if you open an A-to-Z claim, you can claim damages, not just full product refunds.

So I opened it, and right now I’m in the middle of the process, communicating with the seller. I’ll keep you posted on how Amazon handles it.

But here’s where this becomes important for you as a seller:

Amazon requires general liability insurance — which most sellers think is enough.
But as Alycia Shapiro reminded me, most policies don’t include liability coverage for claims or injuries caused by your product.

If you sell anything even remotely hazmat-adjacent, you should absolutely add extra coverage.

Because if something goes wrong and a shopper files a serious claim, Amazon might shut you down, or you might be left defending yourself without the protection you assumed you had.

Bottom line:

✨ Buyers can file A-to-Z for damages.
✨ Sellers need liability coverage that actually covers real claims, not just the Amazon checkbox.

This one situation opened my eyes on both sides — and hopefully saves you from a very expensive lesson.

🔥The Real Way to Know If Your Product Can Win

When people ask, “How do I know if my product actually has a chance against competitors?” — this is where 99% of sellers get it wrong.

They look at big brands, assume domination, get intimidated, and walk away from opportunities that were actually wide open.

You don’t look at brand size. You look at Share of Voice.

SmartScout has a ridiculously good feature called Share of Voice, and it literally shows you who is taking the market share for a specific product.

It’s almost never who you think it is.

👉 Some huge brands dominate one category…
but completely flop in another.

👉 And many tiny, unrecognizable sellers quietly take massive market share
right under everyone’s nose.

Share of Voice is the equalizer.

It tells you who’s actually winning the money, not who has the prettiest logo.

To check it, you go inside SmartScout → Share of Voice.

It’s usually on the Enterprise plan, but you can grab a 14-day trial
(NOT PROMOTIONAL — educational content).

Now, let’s look at the leaf blower category, since that’s the chaos product of this week.

What do you see?

The lowest Share of Voice belongs to a big, recognizable brand.

Meanwhile, brands you’ve never heard of — WOLFMEN, RYAHT, SUNCHERS — are the ones quietly dominating the sales.

So if your brain ever says:

“I’m not entering this niche because big brands are there…”

Look again.

Most niches are NOT owned by the giants.
They’re owned by whoever is doing the best job right now.

This is how you evaluate opportunity:

✨ Look at Share of Voice for your product idea.
✨ See who is taking the majority of the sales.
✨ Ask: Why them? Why not the big brand? What gap are they filling?

That answer tells you if a product is worth entering — with actual data, not fear.

Your Product Research Needs Strong Prompts, Not Wishful Thinking

Most sellers fail at product research for one simple reason: they start with weak questions.

They go into ChatGPT with “Show me a good product to sell,” and then wonder why they get trash ideas.

Your research is only as powerful as the prompts you use.

If you want real opportunities — products with revenue potential, valid demand, differentiation gaps, and a clear path to winning — then your prompts need to force the data to actually work for you.

Knowing how I operate — revenue thresholds, conversion rates, SmartScout filters, customer complaints, and building differentiation from real VoC patterns — here are five prompts that will instantly elevate anyone's product research to a professional level.

1️⃣ The Revenue + Real Demand Gatekeeper Prompt

“Find products between $90–$120 with at least $30,000/month revenue, low brand dominance, and under 1.5% conversion rate. Exclude oversaturated categories, avoid fragile items, avoid electronics, and shortlist only products where customer complaints reveal at least three solvable pain points.”

2️⃣ The Differentiation Through Pain Points Prompt

“Give me 10 products where the best-selling listings have recurring negative reviews around durability, ergonomics, sizing, or missing features. Identify exactly which modifications would allow a new seller to outperform current leaders.”

3️⃣ The Share of Voice Opportunity Prompt

“Identify niches where the top 10 sellers each hold less than 20% Share of Voice. Provide products with fragmented competition, rising search volume, and at least two clear angles for premiumization or improved design.”

4️⃣ The Risk-Mitigation Product Builder Prompt

“Recommend products with low manufacturing complexity, no custom molds required, no hazmat risks, and COGS at 20–30% of expected retail price. Include categories with predictable demand and low seasonality. Provide reasons why each product is defensible long-term.”

5️⃣ The SmartScout → APOE Cross-Validation Prompt

“Generate product ideas that meet these criteria: strong growth in APOE search volume, minimum 3 new sellers entering the niche in the last 90 days, a price point over $40, and returns under 5%. Provide what problem each product solves and why shoppers choose it.”

P.S. If your ChatGPT has no idea what APOE is, give it context — it stands for Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer.

Happy Thursday!

Izabella