Greg Mercer of Jungle Scout: “To create a fantastic work culture know when to let others lead”

Know when to let others lead. This is an important one. If I’m not the expert on the topic, I’ll let someone else take the reins. But we also attempt to work in teams as much as possible, because collaboration ultimately will get us the farthest.

As a part of my series about about how leaders can create a “fantastic work culture”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Mercer. Mercer is the founder and CEO of Jungle Scout, a product research software for entrepreneurs to start and successfully run their Amazon businesses.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I had always had the dream that I would be an entrepreneur. From a young age, I was running businesses out of my parent’s home and finding new ways to innovate. I always wanted to be my own boss.

After college, I began working a 9–5 desk job as a civil engineer. I was living a pretty average life, but I wasn’t happy. My dad had started selling on Amazon and I saw the extra income it was bringing him, and it intrigued me. I wanted the freedom to live my life however I wanted. I followed my father’s footsteps and started selling on Amazon. I quickly found myself running into product challenges.

My wife, Elizabeth, and I decided to sell most of our personal belongings and move to Bali. We became digital nomads. I found scaling my Amazon business difficult to do, since I always try to make decisions based on data.

My next venture brought me to where I am at today. I decided to build Jungle Scout, a product research software for Amazon sellers that makes a seller’s decisions much easier. The Jungle Scout team grew from me, to me and my wife, to a team of about five, to now a team of over 100 employees in the span of four years.

Now, I take my life journey and lessons and look to empower others — not just my own employees but our customers and the Amazon seller community.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

This may not seem like the most interesting story to some, but for me and my team, it was so surreal. About two years ago, we had a booth at a seller conference. I wasn’t expecting anything outside of the ordinary seller event happenings… hopefully we’d walk away with some new customers. But in that time, I got to witness the impact that this product was having on people’s lives. We had multiple people come up to us, some with tears in their eyes, others were full blown crying, telling us how much this has changed their lives. It was incredible and fueled my fire to continue on this journey!

You never know the impact you’re having on other people’s lives. We had heard the stories and read the emails but when you actually see customers face-to-face, and you see the impact in front of you, it changes the way you do your job.

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We have so many product projects we’re working on right now and we can’t wait to share those with the world. We’re incredibly proud of our product we will only continue to grow and better the software and our education for our community; their success is vital to us.

But, one project that we are currently working on is in partnership with Pencils of Promise. As of the end of 2018, I can finally say that they have successfully built a school in Ghana because of our donations. We continue to give to that community to further empower their educational needs and we will continue our charitable work for years to come.

Ok, lets jump to the main part of our interview. According to this study cited in Forbes, more than half of the US workforce is unhappy. Why do you think that number is so high?

I can tell you that I was one of those people who were unhappy in the workforce. Why do I think people are so unhappy? Most of our days are spent at work, or getting ready for work, or commuting to work. We work too hard and too much on, usually, something we’re not passionate about.

As a working society, we have less freedom, less time with loved ones, and more complacency. I think many younger companies have been working to change this.

At Jungle Scout, we have a lenient work from home policy, you may work remotely, no one cares when you get to the office or when you leave, as long as you get your work done.

Based on your experience or research, how do you think an unhappy workforce will impact a) company productivity b) company profitability c) and employee health and wellbeing?

It all comes full circle eventually, right? If the people in your company are happy and healthy, then they are more productive, and therefore, the company is going to be profitable. We strive to make our company culture one that will benefit our employees, not run them down.

Being unhappy at work means that you’re probably not doing your best work. You’re not as engaged, so you can’t be more productive. But if you’re happy at work, you’re probably working as hard as you can to achieve the results that will be the most beneficial to you and to the company as a whole.

Can you share 5 things that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture? Can you give a personal story or example for each?

1. Bring passion to your work and always provide a purpose. As I’ve said before, many people aren’t passionate about what they do. Even if your job at the moment isn’t you passion, find a way to work your passions into your everyday at the office. For example, even if you’re an accountant and you want to be an entrepreneur, find ways during your day-to-day to build those skills.

2. Clear is kind — always be clear in communication. One thing that is really important to me at Jungle Scout is to always be transparent with the company. I send out monthly updates where I speak to any company changes and how the company is doing as a whole. I’m also available on Slack or in the office for when people have questions or concerns.

3. Providing a safe place. It is very hard to make work a safe place. We want people to feel comfortable and happy at work, because then everyone is more productive. To work towards this, we do team bonding activities as often as we can. These can include happy hours after work, team lunches, trips as a team, a pick-up game of volleyball, and so much more.

4. Pay attention to your own development. Just because you’re a manager or an executive, doesn’t mean you don’t need to continue working on yourself. I still find myself asking people how to improve. In the goals that we set for ourselves, we strive toward our employees making both personal and professional goals, so they can work toward those at the same time.

5. Know when to let others lead. This is an important one. If I’m not the expert on the topic, I’ll let someone else take the reins. But we also attempt to work in teams as much as possible, because collaboration ultimately will get us the farthest.

It’s very nice to suggest ideas, but it seems like we have to “change the culture regarding work culture”. What can we do as a society to make a broader change in the US workforce’s work culture?

We need to actively work to care about each other more. It seems like everyone right now is so divided, we need more unity among us.

One thing that we, at Jungle Scout, strive for is to make work a safe place. It gets back to something you asked before, about happiness and healthiness. We believe that if you can go to work and feel safe and have the ability to be open, then your employees will ultimately be happier at work.

One contribution to making work feel safer is to make sure everyone has a human component to them, no matter how high in the company you are. Everyone should feel comfortable coming up to the company’s leaders to ask them questions or express concerns. And this lies on us, too. Leaders need to be able to realize and vocalize when they’re making tough decisions, or even when they think they made the wrong decision.

How would you describe your leadership or management style? Can you give us a few examples?

I would describe my leadership style as trusting, first and foremost. Team members get complete ownership and responsibility of their work. That doesn’t mean other team members aren’t there to help but no one will micromanage you as you work to complete that project. Team members aren’t judged for when they come into the office or when they leave, as long as they get their work done to our standards.

I also work to not only be a leader and a manager but a partner and a team member. And something I think is super important is to know when to let others take the lead. I can admit that there are areas of the company that other people understand more than I do, and I will let them lead in those areas.

Also, for me and my team, we work towards both personal and professional development at all times. For us, this means that the goals we set are not exclusive to work or to personal life.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There have been many people in my life who have empowered me to be where I’m at today, but one person, in particular, has had one of the largest impacts on my life, and that’s my wife Elizabeth.

Elizabeth has been my partner in crime for quite some time now. Essentially, she was the co-founder for Jungle Scout as well. After launching the product, I asked her to come on board and help out with a few emails I had received. Even though Elizabeth had another full-time job, she willingly jumped on board and helped me out. When five emails turned into 500, she decided to fully come aboard my Jungle Scout team.

Elizabeth has always believed in my journey. She has similar entrepreneurship goals as I do, so we are a fantastic team that constantly lift each other up. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without her.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

One of my personal and professional goals is to always try to bring good to others. That’s why with Jungle Scout, we offer a ton of free content. One series that we have in the group of free content is called the Million Dollar Case Study. In the Million Dollar Case Study, we transparently source and launch a product on the Amazon marketplace.

We have donated all proceeds from the Million Dollar Case Study to charities such as Doctors Without Borders and Pencils on Promise. As of late last year, we had officially donated enough money to build a school in Ghana and impact over 1,000 students in the community through additional education programs. Additionally, twice a year, Jungle Scouters get together somewhere around the world for a week. During this stay, we collect money from our employees and donate it to a local charity.

Education is one of the most important things to us. Because of this, we give away two college scholarships a year, through our Jungle Scholar program.

Also, our product allows people to live life on their own terms, whether that means making a little bit of extra income or a full-blown job as an Amazon seller. Our product makes lives easier and makes our customers happy, and in turn this spreads happiness to others as well.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Just start, you miss 100% of the chances you don’t take.” When I was looking to leave my corporate job, I did research and the found selling on Amazon and took the leap. It was a process to build the business, but if I hadn’t stepped out, I’d still be in that corporate position.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

#FreedomBuilders is the movement I am building. I love encouraging people to build the life of freedom that they have always wanted. Working when and where they want with the income they want. Freedom from the traditional corporate box in a way that allows them to support their family and their dreams.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you continued success!