Consulting from someone who still runs the operation.
I own a 3PL and prep center in Fort Worth, and I still sell on the marketplaces myself: more than $20M online over sixteen years, buying every unit of that inventory with my own money. When we talk about your channels, your supply chain, or the manual work eating your team, you are talking to someone who has the same problem today, with his own money on the line.
One hour. No charge. You get a written proposal after it.
The discovery call
What you are actually booking
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Cost
- No charge
- Format
- Zoom, phone or WhatsApp. In person by arrangement
- You bring
- The problem you would most like to stop having
- You leave with
- My read on it, then the options in writing with a price on each
If it is not something I can help with, you will hear that on the call.
Channels
Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, eBay, your own site and B2B.
Logistics and supply chain
Prep, 3PL decisions, freight, storage and inventory placement.
Automation and AI
Turning recurring manual work into systems that run without you.
- Time in
- 16+ years selling online
- Day jobs
- A 3PL in Fort Worth, and my own inventory on the marketplaces
- Channels
- Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, DTC and B2B
- Built, not bought
- The automation my own companies run on
James McConnell Jr.The floor in Fort Worth. This is who you get on the call, and this is what he is still running.
I did not plan to sell this.
People kept asking after talks and Roundtable calls, and answering the same questions one at a time stopped working. So I built a real process around it instead.
Most of my week is still the operation. A prep center and fulfillment warehouse in Fort Worth. My own inventory moving on the marketplaces. And the software holding it together, which I built because nothing off the shelf did what I needed it to do.
The answer is usually boring. Change the packaging spec. Move the reorder point. Stop selling four SKUs. I would rather hand you that than something that sounds clever in a meeting.
Three places I can actually help
Most engagements start in one of these and end up touching a second, because the problems are usually connected even when they do not look it.
Pick one. The overlap is where most of the work actually is.
Channels and marketplaces
Amazon is usually the biggest piece. It is rarely the only piece.
Which channels deserve your inventory, and which ones are quietly losing money once you count fees, returns and the labor it takes to serve them.
- Amazon: inbound and restock planning, placement and splits
- Walmart: whether WFS or seller fulfilled fits your catalog
- TikTok Shop, eBay and your own site: what each costs to serve
- Adding a channel without breaking the one paying the bills
Logistics, 3PL and supply chain
This is the part I do every single day.
Prep, warehousing, freight, and the question of who should be putting hands on your product in the first place. I run this operation, so you get what it actually costs and where it actually breaks.
- Choosing a 3PL, leaving one, or bringing it back in house
- What belongs in a 3PL agreement, and what a low quote hides
- Prep and packaging specs, and where prep cost stacks up
- Inbound freight and receiving that does not stall restock
Automation and AI implementation
Most companies are using AI backwards.
They put a model in the middle of a process that runs every day, pay for it forever, and never fully trust the output. Roughly ninety percent of a business is math and rules, and math and rules belong in code. Use AI once to build the workflow, then let plain code run it. That is how my companies run, and it costs almost nothing to keep running.
- Separating rules work from the thin slice that needs judgment
- Turning a manual process into a workflow that runs without you
- Reporting that stops living in one person’s spreadsheet
- What is worth building, and what you should just go buy
Is this worth your hour?
I would rather filter now than waste the call, so here is the honest split.
Book it if
- You are moving real volume on at least one channel and the next move is not obvious
- Your prep or fulfillment setup is the thing slowing everything else down
- You are about to sign with a 3PL, leave one, or bring it back in house
- You want a second channel and need to know if it is worth the operational drag
- Someone on your team repeats the same manual task every week and you know it should be code
- Your top line is fine but you cannot tell which part of the operation is eating it
Probably not if
- You want ads, creative, listing copy or brand strategy. That is not my lane and I will not pretend otherwise.
- You have not sold anything yet. The hour will not pay you back at that stage.
- You want somebody to run your business or build your business for you. This is advisory. The work stays yours.
On the first two I will usually point you at someone who does that work well, so the hour is not wasted either way.
Not sure which side you land on? Book it anyway. If it is a no, you will know in the first ten minutes and you get the rest of your hour back.
How the engagement runs
You will know exactly what happens next at every point, including the part where you say no.
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Book a time
The form asks what your biggest challenge is. Answer it straight so I show up prepared instead of spending the first twenty minutes catching up.
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We dig in
One hour, straight at the problem. No slide deck. If I cannot help, you will hear it before the hour is up.
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You get it in writing
A written follow up: my read on what is actually going on, and the ways we can work together with the price on each one. Nothing verbal, nothing vague.
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You decide
An hour at a time, a monthly retainer, or nothing at all. Whatever we worked out on the call is yours to keep either way.
Book the discovery call Takes about a minute. The calendar is below.
The things people ask before they book
What does it cost?
The discovery call is no charge. After it you get the options in writing with the price on each one, because an Amazon restructure and a 3PL exit are not the same job and pretending they are is how people get surprised. You see the number before you commit to anything.
Is this a pitch for your warehouse?
No. Consulting is its own thing here, and its job is to fix what you bring to it, not to fill my building. Prep and fulfillment come up when they are genuinely the answer to what you asked, and plenty of these calls end with me telling somebody their current setup is fine and to leave it alone. If you do want to look at Marketplace Prep, you can read the prep pricing yourself without ever talking to me.
Is this only for Amazon sellers?
No. Amazon is the biggest piece for most people, but Walmart, TikTok Shop, eBay, your own site and B2B all come up. The interesting problems are usually in how those channels collide with each other over one shared pool of inventory.
How big do I need to be?
There is no minimum, on revenue or on units. What matters is whether there is something real to work on. A business with a decent base of sales, or some momentum behind it, tends to have a better selection of problems to solve, and that is where the hour earns its keep. If you are still looking for your first traction, it will probably not pay you back yet.
I know AI should be doing something for us. I have no idea what.
That is where most people are, and it is a fine place to start. AI is a tool, not the answer, and buying one before you know the problem is how companies end up paying monthly for something nobody trusts. So we start with an audit of where your business is actually losing time and money. Then we sort it: what is rules a computer can just run, what genuinely needs a person, and what is not worth touching yet. Sometimes AI belongs in the answer. Often the fix is plainer than that.
Can we meet in person?
Sometimes, but it has to be arranged rather than just booked. Zoom, phone and WhatsApp you can pick straight off the calendar. For in person, book a time and say so in the form, or use the contact form, and we will confirm a place before it is set. I am in Fort Worth.
What if I need to reschedule?
You can move or cancel it yourself up to three hours before the call using the link in your confirmation. No need to email anybody.
Pick a time that works
One hour, no charge, written proposal after. Tell me your biggest challenge in the form so the call starts where it should.
Calendar not loading, or none of the times work? Use the contact form and I will send you options.
Need the warehouse, not the advice?
Marketplace Prep is the prep center and fulfillment operation behind all of this. If what you actually need is somebody to receive, prep and ship your inventory, start here.