24 Years old: QUIT six-figure Job, Launched two Businesses

[chrischapman]

What a great post. Very motivational. Thanks.

Your writing style is really easy to read by the way, I love it.

 

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[Michael1359]

Wow! Awesome post and very inspirational, congrats for getting after it and doing the work.

 

[G_Alexander]

I seem to be in a somewhat similiar path. A niche I have been researching alot about and seems possible to start a ecommerce in would also, when shipped, be quite heavy. 1 product/box would weigh in the ranges of 7 up to 12-13 KG. I havn't been in direct contact with any manufacturers yet, but I suspect the shipping would be quite expensive. I then have been thinking about the drop-shipping path, but the delivery time from a manufacturer from China could take 20 up to 45 days. This would obviously be a big negative for customers, so i'm not really sure what to think.

Is there any way for you to pass the shipping costs down to your customers? That is the important piece to consider. If the answer is yes, you have no issues: just charge the customers for the high shipping costs.

If the answer is no, i.e. if all your competitors offer "free-shipping" on their sites and have larger scale than you (they do, because you are just starting) it means their pricing will be lower (economies of scale) AND include the free shipping they are offering. You would be dead in the water before you even started and you would end up playing the dreaded price wars into extinction.

Long story short: You don't care if the shipping is expensive, your customers do. If your competitors offer free shipping on a heavy product, forget about it (in my opinion) unless you begin with massive scale (not likely). If all your competitors are charging your customers for shipping, then you're all good! Just charge them and focus on great customer service and a clean site. You can sell ANYTHING in the world if you both look and act professional.

Last bit: Don't drop ship from China to U.S. or UK or whatever it may be. Only drop ship product in the country where your suppliers are located (e.g. U.S. suppliers for U.S. business) to avoid ridiculous frustration.

 

[Tony I]

It is about time I updated everyone! I AM OUT OF THE CAGE. I quit my $XXX,XXX per year investment banking job a few months ago (June, 2014) after two years at the firm. I worked my a$$ off to get the job and at 24 years old I am sure many sheeple would think I am insane for leaving my “stable and high-paying career”.

awesome, awesome post.

If you were to do it all over, would you have completed school and gotten into IB? Or took that time into building something like you are now?

 

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[Seppo]

Is there any way for you to pass the shipping costs down to your customers? That is the important piece to consider. If the answer is yes, you have no issues: just charge the customers for the high shipping costs.

If the answer is no, i.e. if all your competitors offer "free-shipping" on their sites and have larger scale than you (they do, because you are just starting) it means their pricing will be lower (economies of scale) AND include the free shipping they are offering. You would be dead in the water before you even started and you would end up playing the dreaded price wars into extinction.

Long story short: You don't care if the shipping is expensive, your customers do. If your competitors offer free shipping on a heavy product, forget about it (in my opinion) unless you begin with massive scale (not likely). If all your competitors are charging your customers for shipping, then you're all good! Just charge them and focus on great customer service and a clean site. You can sell ANYTHING in the world if you both look and act professional.

Last bit: Don't drop ship from China to U.S. or UK or whatever it may be. Only drop ship product in the country where your suppliers are located (e.g. U.S. suppliers for U.S. business) to avoid ridiculous frustration.

Great reply. Thank you.

Your right about the price wars. I have been checking out the big player/s on this particular niche and to be honest there's only 2 or max 3 "big" guys operating this market here in Sweden. A way these guys seem to be handeling the shipping is to offer free shipping after a certain amount of bought items. Usually 80-100$. The shipping companies being DHL, UPS and Bring.

I agree with you on the drop shipping. I just can't see it being possible, if my pontential customers had do wait for up to a month for getting their paid for product to arrive.

 

[G_Alexander]

awesome, awesome post.

If you were to do it all over, would you have completed school and gotten into IB? Or took that time into building something like you are now?

Thanks @Tony I. If I could go back I would do it exactly the same way. I learned a lot in IB by way of new skills and affirming that a high paying job doesn't truly make you happy. It can actually make you really unhappy because you are giving up more valuable assets (time, freedom, pride (well...I never let my pride go; I had a problem with authority haha), etc.).

The investment banking skills are attributable to raising capital and add to my pedigree for my fastlane real estate pursuits.

 

[GuestUser201]

Wow that was a great thread!
Congratulations on your success G_Alexander!

 

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[G_Alexander]

Just booked a flight using points from my capital one business credit card. Already have $500+ in airline miles from purchasing product from suppliers. Feels great to travel for free from my own business

 

[Noxtus]

i feel like im the 1000th person to say this lol but this is really inspiring. i wanted to ask you a few things...

Would you mind telling me how you met your business partner?

Is there a reason you didnt outsource things like making the website? I could find plenty of people online who could design my website for me relatively cheap and i was actually going to do that soon...

How'd you get into Investment Banking?

I havent been on here in awhile and im really glad i read this. The title is what caught my eye. I'm 20 right now and if i can say something like that in 4 years ill be so happy. Thanks for posting this.

 

[theag]

How'd you get into Investment Banking?

 

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[joocenasty]

congrats man, great for you!!!

 

[Nosferatu]

i love reading posts like these.... great job man!

 

[Y.B.]

Great job, looks like you found a high priced product that is in demand. Only thing I'm curious about, especially because of the weight of the items, what happens if someone orders a product that comes from 2 different suppliers? Don't you get screwed on paying the shipping twice for your dropshippers to ship to them?

 

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[G_Alexander]

Great job, looks like you found a high priced product that is in demand. Only thing I'm curious about, especially because of the weight of the items, what happens if someone orders a product that comes from 2 different suppliers? Don't you get screwed on paying the shipping twice for your dropshippers to ship to them?

@Yury Byalik Each product on my website has it's own separate fixed-shipping costs attached to it, so the customer ends up paying no matter who I dropship from. I would recommend charging shipping per item, rather than calculating at the end of the checkout.

Would you mind telling me how you met your business partner? Random chance on another deal I was doing.

Is there a reason you didnt outsource things like making the website? I could find plenty of people online who could design my website for me relatively cheap and i was actually going to do that soon... Wanted to learn, now I can outsource in the future and know what I am actually getting charged for.

How'd you get into Investment Banking? Train for interviews using THE VAULT GUIDE. Meet someone in industry if possible. Get an IB internship your Junior year of college. Crush the internship. Get the offer.

@theag, always liked that one, and this one:

 

[Y.B.]

Each product on my website has it's own separate fixed-shipping costs attached to it, so the customer ends up paying no matter who I dropship from. I would recommend charging shipping per item, rather than calculating at the end of the checkout.

You must have very competitive prices if your customers are willing to pay multiple shipping costs.

 

[G_Alexander]

You must have very competitive prices if your customers are willing to pay multiple shipping costs.

Customers typically don't order more than one of any of my items, so the multiple shipping costs scenario is more rare(for my store) than you would think. I have never had the situation happen in almost 50 orders already.

Our prices are higher than most of our competitors.

 

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[K.Y.]

Customers typically don't order more than one of any of my items, so the multiple shipping costs scenario is more rare(for my store) than you would think. I have never had the situation happen in almost 50 orders already.

Our prices are higher than most of our competitors.

what value are you offering your customers if you're higher priced?

 

[G_Alexander]

what value are you offering your customers if you're higher priced?

Extremely clean website in a world (niche) full of cluttered sites that look like they are from 1999. ATTENTION TO DETAIL in customer service. I get a lot of people ordering from me and they are so happy I treat them with respect, remember their names on the phone, follow-up quickly and offer advice; even when they don't order.

It's surprising how many companies treat their paying customers like dirt.

 

[Tommy92l]

I bet people thought Gates was nuts for dropping out of such a prestigious college as well. The fact that you've even landed a 6 figure job is a testament to your abilities in general. Best of luck fella

 

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[K.Y.]

Have you had to deal with crappy product? Say the product falls apart, does the customer reach out to you first?

 

[Vick]

great post! and congrats!

 

[100k]

Congratz OP.... Nice story. Good luck with the real estate side of your business.

 

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[RHL]

Congratz OP.... but to the 2nd guy... LOL Wal Mart is an Affiliate marketer ????! WTF

Somebody literally made the argument that Wal-Mart, Target, YouTube, eBay, etc., basically all businesses were affiliate marketers here in a thread that got closed. It's a joke.

 

[100k]

Somebody literally made the argument that Wal-Mart, Target, YouTube, eBay, etc., basically all businesses were affiliate marketers here in a thread that got closed. It's a joke.

That gave me a good ol' giggle hehe

 

[G_Alexander]

great post! and congrats!

Thanks, @Vick! Love what you have going on as well man. Congrats on the launch of E I G H T. I had my girlfriend checking out your site the other night when she brought up an eye-wear manufacturer she saw on Shark Tank who was producing wooden sunglasses from their family's mill.

Told her to check out your branding!

 

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[StayPositive]

I like the energy of your posts! Very inspiring!

How do you market your website? You mentioned that you don't use FB and stuff like that, so I'm curious how you generate traffic. Old good SEO is enough?

 

[G_Alexander]

I like the energy of your posts! Very inspiring!

How do you market your website? You mentioned that you don't use FB and stuff like that, so I'm curious how you generate traffic. Old good SEO is enough?

$300 a month Adwords spend and a bit of old school SEO. All my Adwords quality scores are 10s and my average CPC is about $0.58, which is great.

Really slacked on the SEO the last two months, but made a blog post two days ago and one new back-link.....did $800 in sales in last two days and jumped up a bunch in the SERPs. I would prefer no SEO, and believe an online business can survive on ads and brand-building alone (like many have alluded to here). I will continue to tweak and post findings!

 

[Martinv678]

I smell gold!! One of the best threads ever.

 

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[Rob Lanza]

Great!

 

[MoneyDoc]

Any updates buddy? One of the threads I always look forward for an update.


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