START: Volitant Consulting

Bend, Ore. (December 5, 2019) - Volitant Consulting is a new company specializing in Amazon marketing, advertising, and product sales for local, national, and international product-based businesses. Their main goal is to simply be a relief factor for businesses trying to make it in Amazon's competitive, ever-changing sales environment. Volitant Consulting launched just over a year ago in a home office with three dedicated, energetic, and forward-thinking entrepreneurs who have hit the ground running.

We sat down with Volitant's Founder and CEO Justin Coats and one of their clients, Nail Magic, to hear how Volitant Consulting is directly helping them.

EDCO: Tell us more about the services you provide?

Volitant: Our services range from hourly consulting for businesses on a tight budget, companies that need anything from project help to full account management, PPC advertising management (utilizing machine learning to be the most efficient with our clients’ ad spend), E-commerce strategy, and other Amazon-related needs. We love working with companies who have a concern for family, the environment, personal health & well-being, and other products that encourage healthy living.

EDCO: Why did you choose to start your business in Central Oregon?

Volitant: It was a natural step for me being a Bend native. After moving around a lot, being in the Marine Corps, getting my helicopter commercial rating, and being a deployed professional UAV pilot, I wanted to be home. My family wanted me home. So, I took this skill of managing Amazon accounts, something I’d been doing for a few years already, and started inquiring with local businesses. Once I noticed the deep need there was no holding me back, being able to take the stress of Amazon off local companies’ plates is what drove me to start my business. I’ve always called Bend home, born here and raised here and eastern Oregon. It really is amazing to be so involved with what keeps Bend growing. It’s local businesses. Not to mention everything we have in our backyard. Why wouldn’t you want to be here?

EDCO: What is it about Central Oregon’s startup ecosystem that has helped you?

Volitant: You know, there is such a buzz around the Central Oregon startup community, between EDCO’s PubTalks and other events, Bend Young Professionals, the OSU-Cascades Innovation Co-Lab, Opportunity Knocks, along with many other entrepreneur meetups. There is so much information and help out there. I haven’t even tapped into all of it yet but it’s been such a help. Navigating the do's and don’ts for a young start-up, where your focus should be, how to best manage financials when you’re bootstrapping. Any question you have, any need you have, someone in this amazing community has been there and done that, just ask.

EDCO: Tell us about some projects you’ve worked on since you launched your business, including any success stories and lessons learned.

Volitant: The ball started rolling through several local companies that were pulling their hair out with Amazon, tried Amazon and failed, or were operating at a loss just to show up and protect their brand. Once they heard we could help, it was a done deal and we haven’t slowed down. With our expertise, drive, and positive energy, we had one client see a 358% sales increase year over year.

We also specialize in IP enforcement. This is the biggest pet peeve of mine in the Amazon landscape. Talented individuals create an amazing product, start a business around that product, list it on Amazon (because you’re missing millions of buyers if you don’t) and then BAM! They find an infringing product, a counterfeit, or copyright, trademark infringement or worse, an infringement on their patent. We’ve helped a local company remove over 600 infringing products in 2019 thus far. This is definitely one of those enjoyable projects you write home about and makes you feel good!

One of my favorite clients and success stories is Nail Magic, based in Redmond. They’ve been with us for over a year now. When we first partnered, their sales were declining. Within a month, we turned that decline around, making it positive by 50%. Now, a year later, we are seeing over 80% growth AND we are getting ready to take them internationally!

Some lessons learned? Part of this process is looking and planning into the future. Right now we’re laying the foundations for growth in 2020 that will require hiring and training several new employees.

EDCO: What makes Volitant Consulting different?

Volitant: We have a unique trait that sets us apart from any other agency we’ve encountered - we care! That caring goes into our services and how we treat our clients which is why we’ve developed our own Brand Protection Strategies. We have developed close relationships with several IP lawyers to create processes that help companies enforce their IP on a platform that has previously made it nearly impossible to enforce. We also enforce trademark, copyright infringement, and illegal reviews.

We also partner with several other digital marketing agencies. Having strategic partnerships allows us to offer the full package for product companies, which not many marketing agencies can say.

EDCO: How did you hear about EDCO and has the organization helped you and your business?

Volitant: We actually learned about EDCO while attending a PubTalk. We quickly realized that EDCO was going to be a vital catalyst in connecting us with local companies. EDCO has helped Volitant Consulting develop relationships with people who have the resources to help local businesses for financial help, business lawyers, banking, etc., as well as connecting us with local product companies looking to sell or who are currently selling on Amazon. EDCO has been such a great help and encouraging force for me to get out there, try new things, take meetings, push the limits and make it happen! Thank you!

Q&A with Megan Straughan, Nail Magic's CEO

EDCO: How did you hear about Volitant Consulting?

Nail Magic: We heard about Volitant through Molly Renner, Owner at Sublime Creative Agency. We had been working with her for a couple of years and were seeing progress business-wide. We wanted to change our social media strategy and look into increasing our Amazon presence. She said I found a local guy who knows Amazon. Our reaction was that is so incredible and is he crazy? Amazon is a beast and finding someone who specializes in their system was a gift.

EDCO: How has Volitant helped you?

Nail Magic: Volitant understands the Amazon system and the way to correctly handle their requirements. We were struggling to understand how to grow with them and the unique dynamics of the Amazon platform. It is unlike any other customer we have dealt with. Volitant has and continues to assist us in growing our business. We have seen growth of over 80% compared to last year and went from selling on average 770 pieces a month to selling on average 1,341 pieces a month. We are also in the early stages of expanding the Amazon business globally with our next stop to be the United Kingdom.