I feel tied to (and stuck with) FBA as my first venture

[FriscoJP]

Hi all,

Quick tl;dr: Haven't launched a product after 6 months in FBA and feeling a bit stuck. Have had some good wins in crypto that multiplied my available capital and may potentially open real estate or other things up to me. Very fixated on FBA, but starting to question if I may be better suited to a different fastlane model. In that case, not sure where to go now as I'm starting from scratch.

I'm hoping for some guidance here, whether it be a kick in the teeth or a pat on the back. My first investment in my entrepreneurial life was in July of 2017, with a $997 investment in an Amazon FBA course. Since then, I've locked into it as "the path" for me and made my best effort to shut off everything else. I said I would have a product launched before 2018.

Fast forward, and no dice. I've continually struggled with product research and finding valuable keyword niches. The 2 products I've reached supplier negotiation stage with both ended up having crucial flaws that forced me to toss the towel in on them. Most recently, I had a brilliant bundle idea that ended up weighing far more than I expected and lost most of its margin on projected shipping costs.

I started throwing my cash reserves at altcoins just before Thanksgiving as a nice release, and in the ~6 weeks since, have continued adding. I started with $2250, adding another $2000 before Christmas and another $2000 yesterday. As it sits, that investment has grown to a current portfolio value of just over $18,000. Crypto is something I'd put off and shunned for fear of distracting myself, but after making $12,000 gains in a month and a half, it's making me question if I'm doing the best thing by continuing to bash my head against the wall on Amazon.

Should I be considering other opportunities? I don't say the above as shifting focus to solely crypto, but rather I am asking if I'm just sinking time into FBA if I haven't gotten anywhere with it in the past 6 months. I'm not attached to the business in any way and frankly hate the process of product research... but, right now, it's all that I know as a way forward. Yet, I'm not moving forward. I've started to feel it's more productive to spend more time reading than hunting for niches.

 

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[PureA]

Crypto = Casino - play that game if you want to, just know what it is.

With regards to business, what have you done with all the fun??? Have fun. Bring something that excites you (or the customer, or both) to the market.

No one is forcing you to do FBA. You are falling victim to sunk cost fallacy.

Have fun. Help people. Profit.

 

[TheOwl8]

Let's do the math.

Scenario 1: You currently have $18,000 in Crypto. Let's say the crypto currency insanity continues and it quadruples in the next year. That would be really great. You time everything perfectly and are a trading genius.
Now you have $72,000 and cash out. Can you live off $72,000? Sure, for a year or two. Then it's gone. You haven't really created anything other than ride the wave. You're back to the drawing board with no business, but a bit more capital.

Scenario 2: You keep working on creating a fastlane business and after two years have a business that can net you annually $40,000. Sure it isn't too impressive, but you have the ability to continue to leverage this asset. You built something you control.

 

[FriscoJP]

Let's do the math.

100% agree! I'm very much on the same page, think I may not have made that apparent with the OP. I think that my quick win with crypto so far has been an amazing way to kickstart my capital available for ventures, and am under no delusion that it would be feasible as an income source long-term. FBA-wise I could handle start-up cost on virtually any product now, but also could afford to branch into things like real estate where I couldn't have handled a down payment for likely another year.

I'm moreso getting at questioning the direction I'm building towards with fastlane, and currently feeling pigeonholed with FBA.

With regards to business, what have you done with all the fun??? Have fun. Bring something that excites you (or the customer, or both) to the market.

No one is forcing you to do FBA. You are falling victim to sunk cost fallacy.

Understood... I suppose I feel hugely confused at this point, as I'm not sure where else to turn besides FBA or starting down the path of real estate. The only other thing I've known independently is building on Upwork, but it seems the consensus here is it's an excellent tool for building initial capital as necessary to fund the foundation of a fastlane business, but not worth it beyond that. In that case, I'd be past the stage of it serving as a useful starting point.

My passions are fitness and golf, and at the moment I'm not sure I can offer anything to either industry that isn't already being done.

I actually am in the midst of a challenge to solve 20 problems for people in a month, free of any asks in return. The goal of this was both to have impact but also actively seek out opportunities to solve problems that exist on a larger scale. Unfortunately, what I've found from it is that the problems people have can either (a) be quickly solved with free material that I already know exists and therefore simply point them to; or (b) is only a problem because they haven't made the effective solution a priority in their life. In both cases, I've yet to find a gap that I could fill.

 

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[Hai]

You should think big. And then work back from there.
What is your someday goal?
What is your 5 year goal so you can reach your someday goal??
What is your 1 year goal so you can reach your 5 year goal so you can reach your someday goal?
What is your 1 month goal so you can reach your yearly goal?
What is your 1 week goal so you can reach the 1 month goal?
What is your 1 day goal so you can reach your weekly goal?
What can you do now to reach your daily goal?

Working back to this you might need to research a product every day, so you can have a product lined up every month, so you can have 12 products a year, so you have a revenue of 100k/month in 5 years, so you can do whatever you like someday.

Is having an FBA business really your 5-year goal? Or something else that is bigger? Notice that as you change your focus to something bigger you will need to start from zero again so choose wisely.

I personally don't like FBA due to it's majurity and lack of control. Think big!
Your actions depend on how big you think.