18 years old filling orders from mom's basement

[TaylorT]

Hey guys,

My name's Taylor and I'm new to the fastlane forum (obviously...). I'm very happy I found this forum. It's filled with so much awesome, actionable information and 98% of it isn't stupid BS. It's like I hit the goldmine. It's so refreshing, from all the useless business information out there, to see people actually taking action and sharing their successes and failures.

When I was 16 I found and read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" cover to cover over the span of a weekend. I was already interested in business and becoming wealthy and that book pushed me over the edge and put me into a new state of mind. Even though I don't LOVE the book now, it was my gateway into entrepreneurship and made me think differently about money in general. In case anyone is curious, some of my favorite books now are: Think and Grow Rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Slight Edge, and The Richest Man In Babylon. Also, I am going to read the Millionaire Fastlane soon.

I'm sure you would all love to hear my life's story but I'll just fast forward to now.

I'm 18 years old and a freshman in college. I have an E-Commerce store in a small very specific niche selling 2 products that I have gradually grown sales to ~$450/month, averaging 3-4 sales a day. I have been talking about business more than I have taken action over the last couple years... and I could be a lot farther along if I would have consistently worked on it. But lately I have been getting after my aspirations with a vengeance. I am going to dominate my current niche(I have been on the verge of this and just need a couple months of consistent, smart effort), start more E-Commerce businesses (I really like E-Commerce), and just make things happen.

I will be starting a progress thread soon to discuss progress with my current E-Commerce business as well as my new ventures, and you guys can expect some serious action.

Hope to see you all around the forum!

 

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[theag]

Nice work. By having an ecommerce business that actually makes sales at 18 years old you are lightyears ahead of all the wantrepreneurs. Keep it up!

Definitely read the millionaire fastlane before you read more on the forum, things will be clearer then. After TMF I recommend "Ready, Fire, Aim". Those 2 books are really all you need.

 

[Michał Kóska]

What is the platform you use for selling? Glad to hear that you already have sales. I sold my first product that will provide me money for import. I'm starting with small quantites from China/ Sri Lanka. Btw, what is the shipping cost you pay to the US? I'm usually quoted $50 for 1 KQ.. One guy from Sri Lanka offered me $19 shipping using standard mail service.

 

[jazb]

Good for you for starting so young...now scale it up

 

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[randomnumber314]

Strong first post. Is there any way you can use your low price items to get people to buy more, i.e. increase average purchase price? Sounds like your average sale is $5?

 

[TaylorT]

Nice work. By having an ecommerce business that actually makes sales at 18 years old you are lightyears ahead of all the wantrepreneurs. Keep it up!

Definitely read the millionaire fastlane before you read more on the forum, things will be clearer then. After TMF I recommend "Ready, Fire, Aim". Those 2 books are really all you need.

Thanks for the recommendation. Reading around the forum has definitely got me curious about the book. I'm excited to give it a read.

 

[TaylorT]

What is the platform you use for selling? Glad to hear that you already have sales. I sold my first product that will provide me money for import. I'm starting with small quantites from China/ Sri Lanka. Btw, what is the shipping cost you pay to the US? I'm usually quoted $50 for 1 KQ.. One guy from Sri Lanka offered me $19 shipping using standard mail service.

I use Wordpress and a free shopping cart that integrates with PayPal. I want to switch to a different shopping cart, though. Just to make checkout slick and simple for my customers. I can't remember exact shipping costs, but I know that when I had to find a new supplier a while back I paid about $100 for shipping samples, and paid ~$400 for shipping on my bulk order of 3,000 units (carton size was about 20inX14inX16in). One thing to be careful of is making sure you are both on the same page with shipping prices, and that they are correct. The $400 cost was negotiated BEFORE I placed the order. And actually, when I got the bill from UPS it was $1,100! I worked with my supplier and got VERY lucky. I'm not sure exactly how they handled it, but I'm guessing they covered the excess cost for me. So, just make sure everything is set before you place your order.

 

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[TaylorT]

Strong first post. Is there any way you can use your low price items to get people to buy more, i.e. increase average purchase price? Sounds like your average sale is $5?

Yeah, my average sale is 5 dollars. It's a one time purchase for most people. I don't think I have ever had a repeat customer. I have been trying to figure out how to increase the avg purchase price. I have some things in the works that will hopefully bring some good results.

 

[Silverhawk851]

Thats the HUSTLE right there! GRIND baby GRIND!

Boy actually putting in some WORK!

Love it man. Shiiiiieeet

Give me a PM I'll help you get some traffic to your site. Let's try to get those numbers up a bit

 

[Ninjakid]

Rich Dad, Poor Dad was one of the first books about getting rich I read too; and even though I don't really take it seriously at all anymore, it did kind of motivate me.

Good for you for actually creating something and sticking with it. I think you'll likely end up being one of the people here who actually lives what they talk about. Looking forward to your progress thread.

 

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[Semmy]

Nice work. By having an ecommerce business that actually makes sales at 18 years old you are lightyears ahead of all the wantrepreneurs. Keep it up!

Definitely read the millionaire fastlane before you read more on the forum, things will be clearer then. After TMF I recommend "Ready, Fire, Aim". Those 2 books are really all you need.

@theag which one of the "ready, fire, aim" one? the one from Michael Masterson?

 

[Semmy]

welcome to the forum @TaylorT! - I wish the Internet was as evolved when I was 18 (well at the time you had to put a telephone receiver into a clunky apparatus to connect your computer to another single computer to get access to dead slow graphic bulletin board style content - even it was still exciting as hell!).

If you want to improve your learning curve in tracking down where your sales are really coming from feel free to contact me or check my recommendation in my signature or the "make every click you get online more profitable" links around here.

Looking forward hearing about your progress!

 

[Glorydog]

Good post! I'm also 18, doing research on the same thing you're doing. Maybe we can connect? Send me a PM, I'd love to chat with you!

 

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[Luffy]

The thread title sound funny to me, but yeah good job.

 

[Mamadoo]

Looking to start an ecommerce biz as soon as I start working next month so I actually have cash to support it. Keep it up

 

[Iwokeup]

I use Wordpress and a free shopping cart that integrates with PayPal. I want to switch to a different shopping cart, though. Just to make checkout slick and simple for my customers. I can't remember exact shipping costs, but I know that when I had to find a new supplier a while back I paid about $100 for shipping samples, and paid ~$400 for shipping on my bulk order of 3,000 units (carton size was about 20inX14inX16in). One thing to be careful of is making sure you are both on the same page with shipping prices, and that they are correct. The $400 cost was negotiated BEFORE I placed the order. And actually, when I got the bill from UPS it was $1,100! I worked with my supplier and got VERY lucky. I'm not sure exactly how they handled it, but I'm guessing they covered the excess cost for me. So, just make sure everything is set before you place your order.

Strong work man

 

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[Iwokeup]

@theag which one of the "ready, fire, aim" one? the one from Michael Masterson?

That's the one. It's pretty much awesome.

 

[Semmy]

That's the one. It's pretty much awesome.

Beats me why this is not available as Kindle version. I live on a remote island and it takes ages
to order English original books until they arrive here.

 

[randomnumber314]

Beats me why this is not available as Kindle version. I live on a remote island and it takes ages
to order English original books until they arrive here.

Is this a problem that a lot of people have?

 

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[SBS.95]

Is this a problem that a lot of people have?

Probably not, but it still surprises me there is no Kindle version.

Even with Prime shipping, why would I want to wait 2 days to start reading a book, when I can download it for a lower price and start it instantly? They're definitely losing sales by not having an instant option.

 

[Semmy]

Is this a problem that a lot of people have?

What do you mean? Looking for a business opportunity? Like advising companies to make their titles as Kindle available!??

There are often books I would like to order but if I would order them from Amazon.com with their original English version
I mean some titles if I would order them it will take them 2 months to arrive and cost me additional $15-20 in shipping and
handling to be delivered here, WTF???

 

[SEBASTlAN]

Welcome man, nice work!

 

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[randomnumber314]

What do you mean? Looking for a business opportunity? Like advising companies to make their titles as Kindle available!??

There are often books I would like to order but if I would order them from Amazon.com with their original English version
I mean some titles if I would order them it will take them 2 months to arrive and cost me additional $15-20 in shipping and
handling to be delivered here, WTF???

Exactly. Every problem is an opportunity, just wondering if you can find a way to capitalize on this one.

 

[Semmy]

Exactly. Every problem is an opportunity, just wondering if you can find a way to capitalize on this one.

Capitalizing on advising companies to convert their titles to Kindle versions? Well amazon.com itself used to have a link there where you can alert companies about it. There are companies out there that format titles for you if you send them your original wordpress document or something along the line - but depending if an author is doing their gig on amazon alone or still via a publishing house, I do not see much potential in this idea.