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$5000 to $30,000 per month - eCommerce Progress

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

amp0193

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So tip 1. Don't use working capital finance for anything but stock purchases and make sure your repayment percentage falls well within your profit margin!!

1) Print out in big letters and tape to the wall: NO MORE DEBT

2) You have a weekly cash flow for the next few months? Do you know when you run out of money completely? If not, you need to know. That knowledge will prompt action and help you prioritize. You can't operate in the dark.

3) Then figure out what you can do to not run out of cash. Re-finance with a bank. Work out a payment furlough with Paypal (I got a 30 or 60 day reprieve... don't remember, just by calling and asking).

4) Time to take outside investment?


It is not worth losing family/kids/everything/health. Your #1 job as CEO is do not let the business run out of money.

You may feel like giving up. Don't. Every successful business person goes through a time like this. Those that make it didn't give up.

You got this brother.
 
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SparksCW

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1) Print out in big letters and tape to the wall: NO MORE DEBT

2) You have a weekly cash flow for the next few months? Do you know when you run out of money completely? If not, you need to know. That knowledge will prompt action and help you prioritize. You can't operate in the dark.

3) Then figure out what you can do to not run out of cash. Re-finance with a bank. Work out a payment furlough with Paypal (I got a 30 or 60 day reprieve... don't remember, just by calling and asking).

4) Time to take outside investment?


It is not worth losing family/kids/everything/health. Your #1 job as CEO is do not let the business run out of money.

You may feel like giving up. Don't. Every successful business person goes through a time like this. Those that make it didn't give up.

You got this brother.

Thanks Amp!

I've let one of my staff go today, long time friend who introduced me to my now wife 10 years ago. But it was the right thing to do. She wasn't working out any more with where I'm trying to take the business and coupled with the money issues it just had to be done. Kept me up all night worrying about doing it but she was a star about it and is looking to the positives about a new career break and getting back to being friends rather than "an employee". Every cloud and all that...

Monthly expenses now reduced by $1500

Next step is to sort the loan and sell my truck, already have replacement car lined up, it's by no means luxury but it's free!

Personally I have three credit cards, 2 of them are now interest-free for 9 and 15 months respectively. I have a plan in motion to pay 1 maybe 2 of them off in the next few months. Also started work on a longer term side hustle, amazon affiliates in the same niche as my main business, I'm doing it as a no pressure long term SEO strategy, monetisation from Amazon Affiliates and referring people to buy from my main business. Currently keeping this away from the main business though as I want to start building separate, relevant, streams of income.

Sales and website traffic are picking up, some ads back on and working so now the race to make a profit this month, currently were about $3000 away from break even and it's only the 10th, so far so good!

@Andy Black have started walking with podcasts on, done a few miles sine last week and it definitely helps so going to try and keep this up every other night at least.
 

Andy Black

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@Andy Black have started walking with podcasts on, done a few miles sine last week and it definitely helps so going to try and keep this up every other night at least.
That’s good. The walk will do your body good.


Also try walking without music or distractions. Let your mind wander and chatter away until it’s run out of steam and/or resolved its worries. I find my mind clears better when I’m not filling it.

Podcasts are good, but so is being alone with your thoughts.


If you want to chat about ads or anything just holler. Happy to be a sounding board.
 

Paul David

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I’ve just read through the whole thread and its extremely similar to what I went through with my e-commerce/eBay/amazon business. Stock issues, good months, sales dropping for no reason, cash flow issues. Then the dreaded PayPal loan.

I hope it works out better for you than me. That company closed in 2018, I owe Funding Circle £148k, bank overdraft £50k, PayPal £12k and Amazon £8k.
Funding circle and the bank are personally guaranteed by me so I’ll be going bankrupt shortly as there’s no way I’m paying them back.

I tried to spin too many plates at once and reinvested loan money into the wrong stock.

Good luck mate, hope it works out for you. It also caused me massive issues at home. Just be careful with borrowing anymore money.
 
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SparksCW

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I’ve just read through the whole thread and its extremely similar to what I went through with my e-commerce/eBay/amazon business. Stock issues, good months, sales dropping for no reason, cash flow issues. Then the dreaded PayPal loan.

I hope it works out better for you than me. That company closed in 2018, I owe Funding Circle £148k, bank overdraft £50k, PayPal £12k and Amazon £8k.
Funding circle and the bank are personally guaranteed by me so I’ll be going bankrupt shortly as there’s no way I’m paying them back.

I tried to spin too many plates at once and reinvested loan money into the wrong stock.

Good luck mate, hope it works out for you. It also caused me massive issues at home. Just be careful with borrowing anymore money.

Hi Paul, yeah I read your threads too, was a shame for it to fail. I found your website (I think!) at one point and it looks pretty good quality so I guess it just came down to pricing and cash flow issues.

I'm working hard to not let my business slip any further, hopefully I've caught it at the right point. Luckily I'm not buying lots of stock, the loan is to consolidate and reduce monthly outgoings to solve cash flow issue so whilst I'm borrowing more I'm not taking on much more debt (provided I do pay off these other ones obviously!) and I've also reduced my monthly business outgoings by more than the new loan amount at the same time.

Loan applied for today, insured my replacement car so just need to get it fixed (has a "minor" issue :inpain:) and get the truck sold.
 

SparksCW

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Bank loan got approved today so next week I’ll be able to consolidate and remove my immediate cash flow issue, give a small buffer and then focus solely on selling!!
 

SparksCW

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It's March already! And we have a positive update!

Last month was great, we beat Feb 2019 and we actually made a decent $xx,xxx profit. We also got a LOT of new stuff done, we have a bit of a system going on between the three of us here and it works quite well.

I let my office manager go, not simply for cost reasons but mostly because we were on different paths and it was affecting the business. It had to be done. My workload has now increased, but I feel a lot better despite that.

Currently writing up processes so I can get a part time administrator then employ a full time marketing assistant in the next month or two. Next hire definitely has to be revenue generating and the business will be a lot more streamlined and efficient before then.

Cash flow issues currently solved with a bank loan, we've actually managed to put $10k aside as we had a good month, I'm going to sit on it for a month or two and if we keep building a cash flow buffer I'll pay it back to the loan to reduce the monthly rate. When I first took it out I was really worried it wasn't enough as I can't get any more without putting my house on the line, luckily last month was much better than the few before it. If we do need to dip into it then, that's what it was there for, but it's a nice challenge to not touch it.

Need to keep focused, keep the expenses low and the revenue/margins high for a few more months before we can "relax" but if it continues like February we'll be back to full strength in no time. We are now increasing eBay sales without worrying about that PayPal ball and chain that was killing our cashflow.

I've set a personal challenge to clear down a $4000 credit card this month, without taking any money from my wages or business. So it has to be all new money from selling things etc. Will update on this on 1/4/2020 to see if it was achieved! (or before if I smash it!) might even get my eldest son involved and teach him how to hustle at boot sales etc! (he's 5).

Booked a long weekend away in a luxury lodge with my wife and kids at the end of April (also end of tax year) so planning on being in a better financial situation by then so I don't have to worry about the cost of it quite so much. We need a break either way.

Tempted to put a weight loss challenge out but I'll leave that one until next month :rofl:

I've also set a 14 month goal to buy our premises which will significantly reduce our monthly outgoings.

So last month, all good. But very focused on making March just as good or better.
 
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SparksCW

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Late last year and the beginning of this we were in a pretty poor situation, we were stagnant and actually decreasing monthly revenue not growing, made some mistakes with website platforms and fell behind.

Then C0VlD-19 came along and I thought it was game over! I was in survival mode trying to figure out how to still be in business when it was "over". We sell luxuries, nothing that'll protect you from COVID so we were very, very worried.

But my landlord, who sold his company for many millions, took it upon himself to give me a weekly mentoring call. We made some changes and improvements. We cut a lot of zero margin products (that was scary!) and put a lot more focus into the brands and product sets that do make us margin.

Last month was our best month ever. Not just for revenue, but in actual spendable profit after buying stock.

So far this month, we've beat last month! And we still have a week to go.

In fact, the last two months we've made more net profit that the last two years put together! (which wasn't hard to be fair, but it shows we're on the up finally)

We've cleared our company credit card, paid off a working capital loan in full and refinanced a bank loan saving thousands per month.

Personally I've cleared a credit card (noted as a previous goal) and built a buffer for the first time in years. Long way to go but we're catching up. Also set my standard wages to more than my living costs for the first time in 3 years.

We are continually working away on the websites, improving, narrowing, cutting products with no margin instead of wasting our time fulfilling orders for no profit.

I've identified numerous sub-niches that are untapped and we're working on building them out now to widen our customer base. We're working harder on customer experience, speed, stock management. You name it.

We've created our own brand name and designed our own product lines. Not sure how we will fund it yet but that's a problem for later! We can replace 50% of what we are already selling for this product set and make a LOT more margin, customers also get a better quality product for the price so it's WIN WIN! These will also give us a chance on Amazon.

So instead of trying to survive we're now in full on growth planning mode.

Coming soon.. warehouse operative, marketing apprentice, freelance PPC expert, real time stock system and own brands.

We're currently just breaching $100k / month but this time next year I want to be doubling that.

Lots of work to be done!

The BIGGEST TAKE AWAY FROM THE PAST 2 MONTHS?

We will not grow if I try to do everything.

We need more staff to do the day to day, I need to just do business owner stuff.

I know what I'm doing, and when I do it we grow.

When I stop, we stop growing.

Don't get caught up in doing. Plan, strategise, theorise, design and utilise a team to implement and maintain.
 
Last edited:

Champion

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Late last year and the beginning of this we were in a pretty poor situation, we were stagnant and actually decreasing monthly revenue not growing, made some mistakes with website platforms and fell behind.

Then C0VlD-19 came along and I thought it was game over! I was in survival mode trying to figure out how to still be in business when it was "over". We sell luxuries, nothing that'll protect you from COVID so we were very, very worried.

But my landlord, who sold his company for many millions, took it upon himself to give me a weekly mentoring call. We made some changes and improvements. We cut a lot of zero margin products (that was scary!) and put a lot more focus into the brands and product sets that do make us margin.

Last month was our best month ever. Not just for revenue, but in actual spendable profit after buying stock.

So far this month, we've beat last month! And we still have a week to go.

In fact, the last two months we've made more net profit that the last two years put together! (which wasn't hard to be fair, but it shows we're on the up finally)

We've cleared our company credit card, paid off a working capital loan in full and refinanced a bank loan saving thousands per month.

Personally I've cleared a credit card (noted as a previous goal) and built a buffer for the first time in years. Long way to go but we're catching up. Also set my standard wages to more than my living costs for the first time in 3 years.

We are continually working away on the websites, improving, narrowing, cutting products with no margin instead of wasting our time fulfilling orders for no profit.

I've identified numerous sub-niches that are untapped and we're working on building them out now to widen our customer base. We're working harder on customer experience, speed, stock management. You name it.

We've created our own brand name and designed our own product lines. Not sure how we will fund it yet but that's a problem for later! We can replace 50% of what we are already selling for this product set and make a LOT more margin, customers also get a better quality product for the price so it's WIN WIN! These will also give us a chance on Amazon.

So instead of trying to survive we're now in full on growth planning mode.

Coming soon.. warehouse operative, marketing apprentice, freelance PPC expert, real time stock system and own brands.

We're currently just breaching $100k / month but this time next year I want to be doubling that.

Lots of work to be done!

The BIGGEST TAKE AWAY FROM THE PAST 2 MONTHS?

We will not grow if I try to do everything.

We need more staff to do the day to day, I need to just do business owner stuff.

I know what I'm doing, and when I do it we grow.

When I stop, we stop growing.

Don't get caught up in doing. Plan, strategise, theorise, design and utilise a team to implement and maintain.

Amazing update and great to hear! This completely fits into the picture with what has been happening in my business the last 2-3 months. Sometimes, the difference between breaking even / loosing money and actually making good profits are just a few small tweeks and focusing on a few different things.

Good job and keep going!
 
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SparksCW

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Just hit $170,000 for November with a few days left to go.

Even better considering we’ve been out of stock for most of the month on all our top sellers. Would have cleared $200k easy if we had stock!

We now have 5 in house staff, 1 remote and planning to move to larger premises next year.

Long way to go yet but finally seeing some growth, profit and gaining a longer term vision.

Things I’ve learnt this month;
  • Forecast sales and make sure you actually have stock for Black Friday
  • Don’t expect to sell something tomorrow. It works out to buy lots more stock, list, it will sell if research and testing has been done correctly. As you grow you need to start thinking 2-3 months ahead not 2-3 weeks. Also things are really hard to sell if you don’t have them. Drop shipping is ok for small sidelines but when you get serious it can really hinder growth.

  • Diversify. The sheer fact we’re now selling lots more product lines has saved us from the stock outs on our top 10 niche products. More products, more niches, more security and consistency. I’m worried about Dec-Feb as these are usually quiet months but we will get through it.
  • Planning is important. The bigger we get the more important planning, strategy, management, shared vision and leadership become.
 

SparksCW

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Can't believe it's been two years since my last post on this thread.

It's been a roller coaster of a couple of years.

Gone from five staff down to two staff + me, one of which is my wife who's now working pretty much full time for the business after we lost our customer support operative and our marketing manager earlier this year.

Revenue is stable around $180-$200k a month but profit is up and down so still trying to get consistent profits and growth, at the minute we grow in revenue but increased advertising costs soak up the difference.

Overall we are profitable and cash flowing well so it's just fine tuning really.

Biggest Mistake

I've realised the biggest mistake I've ever made in my (small) business is having multiple brands and websites, two of the websites overlap a lot too and both websites want to be "big" so we're not talking two easy to run <25 product niches.

We don't have the resources to run everything and it causes a lot of conflict of interest, what blog goes where, what brand do we push here, managing multiple listings, pricing etc etc.

Life would be so much easier if we just had one website, one brand, one product set. Or at the very least distinctly different websites with very small numbers of products.

Easier said than done though.

Positives:

  • Our processes & systems are now pretty slick
  • We're good at what we do and we're ready to scale
  • Building lots of reviews on our main brand

Challenges:
  • I can't go on being the only point of call for everything. No time off, no time to think - tired and fed up and spend most of my time dealing with customers - mostly problems, faulty goods, etc etc. Likely holding back the growth of the business at the minute but don't feel we're quite making enough to comfortably take on more people right now. I miss being able to go off for lunch with my wife whenever we wanted. Now I can't leave the office as no one left to answer the phones!
  • Advertising costs are too high and reliance only on Google - need to explore other options.
  • Not very good at product sourcing so our Amazon box shifting has slowed right down, really want to get this to a decent level but really lack in finding good products that work for Amazon (wholesale)

Q4 Plan
  1. Actually make a plan! Write clear business growth plan for the next 2-3 years rather than winging it.
  2. Focus on our main website & Amazon only - this is where the profit comes from.
  3. Get back into blog writing and SEO
  4. Get back on the email marketing
  5. Explore at least 2 new marketing methods (no.1 is getting listed on a price comparison site called idealo and I have a meeting with my ad agency tomorrow to look at getting on Bing and Facebook retargeting)
  6. Plan for growing the team next year - complete process manual, tidy and improve the office / computers etc. Write up job descriptions and ensure we know what everyones job role is.
  7. Rebrand our trade website to our main website brand, either rebrand the existing website under the existing brand or build it into our existing Shopify brand. Either way it's one less brand to think about and a much more focused B2B offering.
  8. Package one of our micro brands into its own website and try to find a buyer - won't fetch much but also doesn't make much money, no longer makes sense in our business so would be nice to lose it. One less thing to think about.
 

SparksCW

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So we're in 2023 and time for a quick update! 8 years since I started this thread.

I've re-read the entire thread and it's a bit of a roller coaster.

When I started the thread my goal was $75,000 / month but we're now almost doing that per week with 2 staff and I'm chasing $500k / month.

The business isn't where I want it to be, but after re-reading the thread it's a significantly different business to when we first started so key takeaway number 1 is to look back at where you were as you don't notice how far you've come when you're in the thick of it.

The business will never be "where you want it to be" so it's important to understand where you were, and where you are going.

Back in 2016 I i quit my job when we were doing $20k / month. I had a wife, kid and house to pay for.

Now, despite not being where I want to be, I have a fairly sturdy, consistent business that's seeing stable growth. I live in a nice house in a nice area, my kids want for nothing, I'm making 6 figures and pretty much debt free.

I may not have the Lamborghini yet but I'm not doing too badly.

Key learnings (haven't mastered them all yet but believe them to be key!)

  1. You can do anything, but you can't do everything - double down on what works and delete the rest.
  2. Simple, fast, easy.
  3. Less is more.
  4. Avoid distractions at all costs. Shiny Object Syndrome is the dream killer.
  5. Go deep before you go wide.
  6. Your business will never "be where you want it to be" so...
  7. Find a way to enjoy the process or be consumed by it.
  8. Plan downtime and holidays etc or time will simply fly by and you will miss out. For instance, your kids are only young once.
  9. Every $ you pay yourself, or waste, has a growth opportunity cost. (one less $ for stock, staff, advertising) - doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, just be aware of it.
  10. Teamwork makes the dream work. Literally.
  11. Patience. Good things take time. It often takes 10 years of hard work and sacrifice to become an overnight success.
  12. Consistency is key. Small, consistent gains, win. (process over event.)
  13. Figure out where you're going or get lost. What does the business look like in a year? five years? ten years?

What I'm working on:

  1. Own branded goods for greater control, better margin, more value to the overall business.
  2. SEO - more blogs, more guides, more helping, more value.
  3. Value add - more bundles, more solutions
  4. Easier & less. Less categories, less products, less complications. MORE content. MORE solutions. MORE sales.
  5. Exit planning - not looking to sell just yet, but want to start planning for it and working towards it.
 
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David4431

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Just wanted to leave some encouraging words from one ecommerce business owner to another: You've done an amazing job turning your business around and you should be proud of yourself! I've had plenty of ups and downs as well so I know how difficult and dark some of those days must have been.

You mentioned in one of your updates that you were going to start designing your own products. I think this is the way to go. Design an amazing product that your customer can immediately see is superior and you'll have a much better time competing for sales. I've messed up a bunch of times in my own business and having a clearly superior product is what has allowed me to endure and overcome those mistakes.

Consider raising your prices. You have good sales but you can make a lot more profit if you carefully raise your prices when it is appropriate. From reading your thread, the sense that I got at multiple points was that you were chasing a high monthly sales number. This doesn't make sense in my mind. For example, if you sell 100 units of a product for $50 each and make 10% margin on it, you have sales of $5000 and a profit of $500. If you increase the price by $5 so that the product costs $55, you might only sell 80 units. This would mean sales of $4400, but your profit would be $800 (80 units x $10 profit / unit). You've increased your overall profit by 60%. This is a simplified example and I am sure you are not new to this concept. But I still wanted to stress this to you since I think you can squeeze a lot more profit from your business. From my own experience, sometimes raising your price does NOT have a negative effect on sales. We can speculate why this is the case but I know that this does happen.

Anyway, I hope this was encouraging and helpful for you! Best of luck!!
 

SparksCW

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$400k+ in November. (profitable!)

$165k in the last 7 days. (also profitable!)

Now have 5 staff + me and have just made an offer to another potential new team member. Hopeful.

Outgrown our warehouse + need another warehouse operative.

About to delete two more product categories and disposing of a sub-brand that doesn't generate much profit so our focus will be narrowed once again.

Just a year ago I thought that a $1m month was unrealistic, now though, not only is it my new goal but I know how to do it.

2024 Goals:
  1. More content, guides, videos (new hire already in progress)
  2. Warehouse move
  3. Own branded product range (in progress already)

  1. Plan downtime and holidays etc or time will simply fly by and you will miss out. For instance, your kids are only young once.

This.

I've run myself into the ground this year. Not happening next year.
 

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