Do you feel like the Amazon influencer program is way too hard to do? If that’s you, I get it. And I know exactly why you feel that way, because I have this exact conversation over and over again with people who are just getting started. They feel overwhelmed. They feel confused. And most of them are about two weeks away from quitting something that would have worked.
Here’s the thing though: the program isn’t hard. We’re overcomplicating it. Let me show you what I mean.
Table of Contents
- The Only Thing That Matters in the Beginning
- Why You Feel So Overwhelmed
- Important, But Not Important For You
- Paralysis by Analysis Is the Real Killer
- How I Made My First $10,000 Month
- What the Top Earners Actually Do
- Your Only Job Right Now
The Only Thing That Matters in the Beginning
When you are starting your Amazon influencer journey, the only thing you should really be caring about is making videos. That’s it. No product research. Don’t worry about that stuff yet. Nothing else really matters for you except building your foundation.
Making some videos. Learning how to make your videos. Getting comfortable sitting down, finding your product, and hitting record. That is the whole job at this stage.
I know that sounds too simple. That’s because it is simple. The complexity gets added later, by other people, on the internet.
Why You Feel So Overwhelmed
Here’s the problem. You’re looking around on TikTok, on Facebook, in the groups, wherever, and you hear about all the different things that are supposedly important:
- Product research
- Thumbnails
- Parent ASINs
- Deep linking
- Storefront health checks
- Brand messaging
- Creator Connections
- Posting to YouTube
- Posting to other countries
- Spreadsheets and data tracking
- Copyright stuff
You see what I’m getting at here. If you’re brand new, or even just newer to the program, it’s easy to get buried. I’m having these conversations constantly and you guys are telling me it’s harder for you to start because you’re being told you’re supposed to pay attention to all this other stuff. Because it’s all important.
Important, But Not Important For You
Here’s what nobody’s telling you, and I’m telling you right now: that stuff is important. But it’s not important for you. Not yet.
And look, I’ll go further than that. If you’re new to the Amazon influencer program, having a tool is not important for you. Yes, I build one. Oink is my business. And I’m still telling you that if you’re on video number three, you don’t need it yet. Having a bunch of data is not important for you. Crossposting your videos to other platforms is not important to you.
That’s not to say those things don’t matter. They matter enormously — later. When you’ve got a foundation of videos under you and you’re trying to squeeze more commissions out of the work you’re already doing, that’s exactly when a research tool starts paying for itself. But that’s a different chapter of the story than the one you’re in.
Paralysis by Analysis Is the Real Killer
What you guys are telling me is that you’re getting so overwhelmed, feeling like you’re missing stuff, that you don’t know where you’re supposed to be spending your effort, your time, and your energy.
So you end up in paralysis by analysis. You’re sitting there thinking, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, and I don’t want to do the wrong thing.”
But at that point in your journey, there really is no wrong thing to do. There’s only one thing you need to be spending your time on: grab a bunch of products from around your house and start making some crappy videos.
They’re going to be crappy in the beginning. That’s part of the process. That’s not a sign you’re doing it wrong — that’s the actual assignment.
All those other things I listed have real value. But they are worthless if they cause you to not be able to move.
How I Made My First $10,000 Month
Why am I so confident about this? Because back in 2024, I made my first $10,000 month in the Amazon influencer program without almost all of it.
- Without Creator Connections
- Without parent ASINs
- Without YouTube
- Without deep linking
- Without brand messaging
- Without collaborations
- Without data
- Without tracking
- Without a single spreadsheet
I did it because I focused on the core of the program. I did what Amazon told me it wanted me to do, and I did it over and over and over again.
Amazon’s ask is not complicated: make videos on products that are selling, and whenever somebody watches that video and buys the product, you make money. That’s the deal. That’s the whole deal.
What the Top Earners Actually Do
Here’s something that surprises people. The folks doing this at a really high level do a very small set of activities every day and every month.
They’re not doing everything everybody else is talking about. They take a few pieces of it, they do those pieces, and they do them consistently. That’s the difference. It’s not breadth, it’s repetition.
Some of those extras are more important than others, and you’ll implement them sooner or later depending on where you are. Creator Connections, obviously, is one you’ll want eventually. But if you’re new and you’re trying to get your first ten videos done, and all you hear about is how critical product research and Creator Connections are, of course it feels like a lot. It sounds like a lot.
And a lot of the things on that list — if you never do them, you’re going to be totally fine.
Your Only Job Right Now
So here’s your assignment, and it’s the whole thing:
- Find some products. Start with what’s already in your house.
- Make one, two, three videos. Don’t overthink them.
- Learn how to make them. You will get better fast.
- Put them on your storefront.
- Repeat until it feels normal.
That other stuff will become important later. Genuinely, it will — and when you get there, that’s when tools and data start multiplying what you’ve already built. But I don’t want really good influencers getting overwhelmed and quitting before they ever get to see what’s possible.
Watch the full breakdown here:
When You’re Ready For More
Once you’ve got those first videos behind you and making content feels routine instead of terrifying, the next question becomes: which products are actually worth my time? That’s the point where product research stops being noise and starts being leverage.
That’s exactly what I built Oink for — finding products that are selling, that have room for you, and that are worth pointing a camera at. But get your reps in first. The tool will be here when you need it.
