Ask 8-figure business owners for personalized advice!

[theguy22]

Whats the minimum order for bulk pricing?

500 quantity per design, I have 4 designs

 

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[NeoDialectic]

500 quantity per design, I have 4 designs

Usually I would recommend getting one or two of one design and making a listing everywhere. Then trying to see if you can make a sale. Breaking even or better would automatically signal that there is a want and I would order more. Crickets would signal that you just saved $1,500. Theoretically you don't even have to get one and you can just make a listing and see if there is a response... But you could run into not only ethical problems but places like Amazon would not look to fondly on you cancelling orders immediately on a new Amazon account.

A quick Amazon search shows that this is obviously a field with alot of traffic and sales. So ordering one bulk pack at $3 doesn't seem too bad of an option either. If your item flops at your target price, you can probably salvage a big portion of your investment by just selling it off really cheap on eBay or something. Regardless, $1,500 overall is a relatively small loss to many, even if you don't sell it off. Only you can answer whether that is a big investment for you or not. I think the answer will depend on your sensitivity to loss.

I have no idea what your value add is, but the more time I spend looking at your field as I type this the more I think you will have to make sure your product stands out and the value add is immediately obvious. This seems like an extremely crowded field. You have competitors ranging from really cheap to relatively expensive, all with thousands of reviews. It may be a tough hill to climb if you don't have something that immediately stands out. Sometimes in fields like this, it could be tough to even get one sale without spending absurd amounts in advertising.

EDIT:
The more I look at this field, the more I think you should get one $80 sample and see if you can do anything at all with it. That way you learned a lesson and you are only out $80 and now have a cool item to keep.

You may know more about this field and choose otherwise.

 

[Johnny boy]

@fastlane_dad and I will have to discuss this and get back to this thread with these details. Maybe it would be even better to start a new thread offering a detailed sample process of exactly how we would create a new product for Amazon from start to finish. Step by step, as you mentioned.

that would be extremely valuable to many many people here

 

[Antifragile]

Maybe it would be even better to start a new thread offering a detailed sample process of exactly how we would create a new product for Amazon from start to finish. Step by step, as you mentioned.

IF it is possible it would probably provide immense value to many forum members. I say “if” because for my business I debated how to add value here and the best I could do is offer an AMA thread. That’s because it would take me a three volume book to share everything ”step by step”, no two projects are the same, no two municipalities have same zoning or step-code requirement. Marketing alone is a book, so is construction, so is financing and that’s just “intro”. I am not sure how it was for you and the Amazon focused business. But I venture a guess that you’d spend a lot of time typing to provide a step by step process for a new product.

Great to see you and your partner here and contributing. Keep it up, it’s good karma.

 

[BizyDad]

IF it is possible it would probably provide immense value to many forum members. I say “if” because for my business I debated how to add value here and the best I could do is offer an AMA thread. That’s because it would take me a three volume book to share everything ”step by step”, no two projects are the same, no two municipalities have same zoning or step-code requirement. Marketing alone is a book, so is construction, so is financing and that’s just “intro”. I am not sure how it was for you and the Amazon focused business. But I venture a guess that you’d spend a lot of time typing to provide a step by step process for a new product.

Great to see you and your partner here and contributing. Keep it up, it’s good karma.

Put me down for one order of your three volume book set...

 

[Jannina Emila]

My current situation and I don't know where should I focus my time:

• Own business already running, selling two different low ticket offers (1x content product, 1x physical health product). I run everything from home since I just quit my day job and I live with my savings now.
• My online presence was skyrocketing until it got stagnant due to me kind of not being sure of my direction and focus. I'm good at speaking, I'm so convincing naturally, I'm easily approachable, kind, fun to watch, people constantly tell me how I add value to their life through social media

BUT... I'm not sure should I just focus on selling more (distribute and scale my existing offers) that have proven to be extremely valuable, trendy & wanted to my audience (being less of an online personal brand, and more focusing on making money and scaling existing)? OR... just focus on purely growing my online presence and audience even more (Insta, Youtube, Pinterest, becoming a full time content creator which so far has given me steadily growing audience but irregular small earnings)?

I want to scale my monetisation strategy and grow and keep solving my audience's problems, but I'm not sure with what money/free content balance. Any help on this would mean the world to me!

 

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[NeoDialectic]

My current situation and I don't know where should I focus my time:

• Own business already running, selling two different low ticket offers (1x content product, 1x physical health product). I run everything from home since I just quit my day job and I live with my savings now.
• My online presence was skyrocketing until it got stagnant due to me kind of not being sure of my direction and focus. I'm good at speaking, I'm so convincing naturally, I'm easily approachable, kind, fun to watch, people constantly tell me how I add value to their life through social media

BUT... I'm not sure should I just focus on selling more (distribute and scale my existing offers) that have proven to be extremely valuable, trendy & wanted to my audience (being less of an online personal brand, and more focusing on making money and scaling existing)? OR... just focus on purely growing my online presence and audience even more (Insta, Youtube, Pinterest, becoming a full time content creator which so far has given me steadily growing audience but irregular small earnings)?

I want to scale my monetisation strategy and grow and keep solving my audience's problems, but I'm not sure with what money/free content balance. Any help on this would mean the world to me!

Jannina,

I will try to restate your question and let me know if I am misinterpreting something.

You have 2 businesses. Your first business is your online & social media presence. It in itself is is not very lucrative yet but it is growing rapidly. Your second business is a physical health product that people really value and you have received a strong response to, but you just haven't dedicated enough time to it to be able to scale it appropriately. Your question is which you should focus on. Is that right?

It's not possible to know for sure without knowing your values/goals and seeing the businesses first hand However, if you enjoy it and you believe you can grow your online presence to a respectable size, I would say keeping both on the table but focusing on on the online presence unlock more opportunity. Most content creators are making money by sponsoring or advertising some kind of product. The fantastic part for you is that you can sponsor your own product! Then when you want to make more money, you make a new product and add it to your lineup that you advertise for free. A strong online presence is like a money printer to someone that also has an entrepreneurial mindset.

As I mentioned, this answer makes alot of assumptions about your product and presence though.

 

[theguy22]

Theoretically you don't even have to get one and you can just make a listing and see if there is a response...

I was thinking about this too but it would be difficult to create an appealing ad without the real physical product as one of the pics. If I don't get sales I'll always have it in my mind that I didn't create an appealing ad properly. Though I could be overthinking it here.

EDIT:
The more I look at this field, the more I think you should get one $80 sample and see if you can do anything at all with it. That way you learned a lesson and you are only out $80 and now have a cool item to keep.

You may know more about this field and choose otherwise.

Yes I'm learning towards this. I actually had it wrong, so what the supplier is saying is that the samples would be a total of $450 ($112.50 per design), but if I approve the sample and place a large order, she will minus $200 from the total large order amount, thus making my sample order cost $250 technically only if I approve the sample though. Was also contemplating if I should scrap four designs and just start with two first, then pursue the remaining two if the first two receive any traction, thoughts?

Currently trying to negotiate a minimum order of 125 pieces per design.

Any advice on advertising? Facebook ads?

 

[NeoDialectic]

I was thinking about this too but it would be difficult to create an appealing ad without the real physical product as one of the pics. If I don't get sales I'll always have it in my mind that I didn't create an appealing ad properly. Though I could be overthinking it here.


Yes I'm learning towards this. I actually had it wrong, so what the supplier is saying is that the samples would be a total of $450 ($112.50 per design), but if I approve the sample and place a large order, she will minus $200 from the total large order amount, thus making my sample order cost $250 technically only if I approve the sample though. Was also contemplating if I should scrap four designs and just start with two first, then pursue the remaining two if the first two receive any traction, thoughts?

Currently trying to negotiate a minimum order of 125 pieces per design.

Any advice on advertising? Facebook ads?

Is there a particular reason you want to test more than one design at a time? If you have the money to burn, of course its ok. But if you are like most starting entrepreneurs, there is good reason to minimize testing costs.

 

[theguy22]

Is there a particular reason you want to test more than one design at a time? If you have the money to burn, of course its ok. But if you are like most starting entrepreneurs, there is good reason to minimize testing costs.

I'm not sure I'm following. So you're suggesting to just launch and market one design first? And then if there's traction, start releasing the remaining 3? Also, when you say test, are you referring to just creating a listing and see if there's any sales even if I don't have the product to sell yet?

 

[NeoDialectic]

I'm not sure I'm following. So you're suggesting to just launch and market one design first? And then if there's traction, start releasing the remaining 3? Also, when you say test, are you referring to just creating a listing and see if there's any sales even if I don't have the product to sell yet?

I am suggesting the first thing you said. You can go the route of not having a product and testing, but as mentioned there are ethics issues and issues with risking your various marketplace accounts.

You may fail on selling that first design and even try and test another design. But along the way you would have hopefully learned more things about the field. For example you will see how much the advertising bids cost or what products/keywords people are most responding to. Then tailor your second release a little better to those.

 

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[Two Dog]

I have created my own customised travel scratch maps that I plan to sell on etsy, amazon and a website of its own. I have iterated the product to make it better (in my opinion of course). The product design is fully made. I've spoken to suppliers to suppliers and they are able to make it as soon as I give them the go ahead. But I'm keen to test out the product first before I place an order, how would you recommend I go about doing this? Would I need to spend loads on facebook ads?

Testing the product is a great idea, but I'm curious how you do that with a physical product. The only real way to know whether buyers will pay for it is actually selling it to them. Adding prospects to a waitlist is low quality validation. No money, no commitment.

I would think about how many sales are needed to breakeven on the initial minimum order and see how it plays out with different prices points. It's great to make one-time profitable sales, but it's pretty common to upsell other products to generate a profitable order. If you can sell it and lose money, that's often a fixable problem. Larger orders will probably cost less per item, upselling adds to the order total and raising the price is always worth testing.

4HWW uses a defective shopping cart (PRODUCT ON BACKLOG!!!) which is scammy, but doable.

 

[Two Dog]

Usually I would recommend getting one or two of one design and making a listing everywhere. Then trying to see if you can make a sale. Breaking even or better would automatically signal that there is a want and I would order more. Crickets would signal that you just saved $1,500. Theoretically you don't even have to get one and you can just make a listing and see if there is a response... But you could run into not only ethical problems but places like Amazon would not look to fondly on you cancelling orders immediately on a new Amazon account.

A quick Amazon search shows that this is obviously a field with alot of traffic and sales. So ordering one bulk pack at $3 doesn't seem too bad of an option either. If your item flops at your target price, you can probably salvage a big portion of your investment by just selling it off really cheap on eBay or something. Regardless, $1,500 overall is a relatively small loss to many, even if you don't sell it off. Only you can answer whether that is a big investment for you or not. I think the answer will depend on your sensitivity to loss.

I have no idea what your value add is, but the more time I spend looking at your field as I type this the more I think you will have to make sure your product stands out and the value add is immediately obvious. This seems like an extremely crowded field. You have competitors ranging from really cheap to relatively expensive, all with thousands of reviews. It may be a tough hill to climb if you don't have something that immediately stands out. Sometimes in fields like this, it could be tough to even get one sale without spending absurd amounts in advertising.

EDIT:
The more I look at this field, the more I think you should get one $80 sample and see if you can do anything at all with it. That way you learned a lesson and you are only out $80 and now have a cool item to keep.

You may know more about this field and choose otherwise.

There's just so much wisdom here that only comes from experience. It's really impressive.

You really know your s**t.

 

[biophase]

I'm not sure I'm following. So you're suggesting to just launch and market one design first? And then if there's traction, start releasing the remaining 3? Also, when you say test, are you referring to just creating a listing and see if there's any sales even if I don't have the product to sell yet?

I always ask people who want to sell on Amazon this one question. Imagine you have your product already made and sitting in boxes at your house. You ship the first case to FBA. Now what? What is your next step?

I saw that you had also asked about advertising and Facebook ads in a previous post. To me that says that you haven’t researched how you plan on marketing your product yet. Do you know how much a click is for your product on Amazon PPC? Or on Facebook ads? I have a feeling both avenues will not be profitable for your product.

 

[T. Davis]

Thank you for your kind offer!

Topic: Growth
Question: How do you reinvest profits in your company during the growth stage? Or more specifically, how do you reinvest as much as possible while still being prepared for predictable shifts in customer demand and unpredictable shifts (e.g., from recessions, new competitors, etc...)?

Part B: How do you know when the growth stage is over and you should pull back investment?

 

[Jannina Emila]

Jannina,

I will try to restate your question and let me know if I am misinterpreting something.

You have 2 businesses. Your first business is your online & social media presence. It in itself is is not very lucrative yet but it is growing rapidly. Your second business is a physical health product that people really value and you have received a strong response to, but you just haven't dedicated enough time to it to be able to scale it appropriately. Your question is which you should focus on. Is that right?

It's not possible to know for sure without knowing your values/goals and seeing the businesses first hand However, if you enjoy it and you believe you can grow your online presence to a respectable size, I would say keeping both on the table but focusing on on the online presence unlock more opportunity. Most content creators are making money by sponsoring or advertising some kind of product. The fantastic part for you is that you can sponsor your own product! Then when you want to make more money, you make a new product and add it to your lineup that you advertise for free. A strong online presence is like a money printer to someone that also has an entrepreneurial mindset.

As I mentioned, this answer makes alot of assumptions about your product and presence though.

Thank you NeoDialectic! You got it fully right, I honestly have so much potential to grow on social media (trendy products, plenty of skills like editing, talking, visual eye etc) but I guess I got a bit side tracked and overwhelmed from all the options available. I appreciate your help so so much. Thank you again!

 

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[theguy22]

I saw that you had also asked about advertising and Facebook ads in a previous post. To me that says that you haven’t researched how you plan on marketing your product yet. Do you know how much a click is for your product on Amazon PPC? Or on Facebook ads? I have a feeling both avenues will not be profitable for your product.

You're right I don't know how to market it or how much a click is. This is what I'm trying to get an insight into. Do you have any recommendations on what specifically I need to learn before I release this product?

 

[theguy22]

Testing the product is a great idea, but I'm curious how you do that with a physical product. The only real way to know whether buyers will pay for it is actually selling it to them. Adding prospects to a waitlist is low quality validation. No money, no commitment.

I would think about how many sales are needed to breakeven on the initial minimum order and see how it plays out with different prices points. It's great to make one-time profitable sales, but it's pretty common to upsell other products to generate a profitable order. If you can sell it and lose money, that's often a fixable problem. Larger orders will probably cost less per item, upselling adds to the order total and raising the price is always worth testing.

4HWW uses a defective shopping cart (PRODUCT ON BACKLOG!!!) which is scammy, but doable.

I'm really leaning towards a fake sales testing route, just list the product as if it exists and see if there's traction. Even if I go for two designs, it would cost me $3200 to just get two designs made at 500 quantity each. Then there would be marketing costs which I have no idea how much it would be but I imagine would cost at least $1000. I can't afford to burn $4200. I'm not too keen on just one design as it could be the case that people like one of the other designs better, that was the point of me creating four designs.

Would you say it's better if I just list my four designs and spend a little on marketing to see if there's traction? If I do go down this route, should I create the listing on Amazon/Etsy or a website of its own? With the former, there's the risk of getting banned I think.

 

[woken]

Etsy or a website of its own? With the former, there's the risk of getting banned I think.

Amazon/Etsy or a website of its own? With the former, there's the risk of getting banned I think.

Etsy won’t ban you for a couple cancelled orders. It will ban you for no reason, that’s a different story.

But if it gets traction and you want to take the same route you will need a new shop as new ones have boosted traction for 90-120 days

 

[theguy22]

Etsy won’t ban you for a couple cancelled orders. It will ban you for no reason, that’s a different story.

But if it gets traction and you want to take the same route you will need a new shop as new ones have boosted traction for 90-120 days

F it, I'm going for this then

 

[biophase]

You're right I don't know how to market it or how much a click is. This is what I'm trying to get an insight into. Do you have any recommendations on what specifically I need to learn before I release this product?

I'm saying that you need to figure out how you are going to market before you even make the product. It feels like all you plan on doing after getting your product is launching PPC campaigns. I am recommending that you think about marketing more.

From what I'm reading, all you have is a different scratch off travel map. And your only plan is to use PPC, whether it be on Etsy, Google or Amazon. You have one means of getting sales and if it doesn't work, you are screwed. What other methods will you try to get sales? Tik Tok, IG, FB, Youtube?

What happens if your PPC cost is too high to be profitable and you have spend $3000 on product? What would you do next?

Also, regarding the fake testing method. If you list it, I'm assuming you are going to do a small quantity since you don't have any. What happens if you list 1 and then sell 1 in the first day? What do you conclude from this data? Did you happen to just sell 1 because of the new store? Would you have sold 10 if you had listed a quantity of 10? Or would you have only sold 1 out of 10? What if you sell 1 in the first 10 days?

 

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[S.Y.]

You're right I don't know how to market it or how much a click is. This is what I'm trying to get an insight into. Do you have any recommendations on what specifically I need to learn before I release this product?

In addition to what @biophase said above, think old game vs new game.

Old game: status quo
What are the current players on the market doing, and what is their game?
-> You cant move to the new game if you don't understand the current games

New game: How your brand will change the game
Build the new game. Look at the old games, keep the audience front and center, and create your new game. Think of ways to skew the value array. Bonus point if you can name the new gam

For example:
(1)
Old game: slowlane
New game: fastlane

(2)
old game: calling for a cab - not only I wait on the line for minutes, but I also don't know when my driver will arrive or how much the journey will cost me
New game: a convenient way to order transport via an app. Quick, convenient, transparent.

The process of crafting the new game will give you the answers you need to launch the product.

 

[Two Dog]

Hi NeoDialectic! I appreciate you investing your time into others by sharing your experience, knowledge and wisdom.

That wasn't intended to be a segue but since we find ourselves here....
Have you worked with financial investors or have you been an investor in other companies?
If yes to either one, what advice would you give in regards to finding an investor who sees what you see for the future of your company?
If an investor wants a percentage of the company, how do you determine what that percentage would be?

So far my investor experience is this:
- A family member gave me $5K to do as I see best with it and not wanting any of it back.
- A friend of a friend of a friend is willing to invest $10K that I can repay with no interest. He doesn't want to own any percentage but wants me change some things to his liking. His 'liking' has no idea what he talking about so the money is still on the table.
- A man who invests for a living wanted to invest $60K (3 x $20K) and have 49% of the company. He backed out shortly after Covid hit.

I am not convinced that I will need an investor but these questions come up in my thinker now and then.

Again, thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

@MrE I worked with a lot of tech startups to raise angel and VC money. Unless you're extraordinarily well connected or lucky, you're going to find raising private money takes at least as much dedicated time as growing sales. A couple of basic points on this endless topic.

1. You shouldn't be selling any portion of the business. It leads to potential problems with taxes, liability, ownership and bunch of other legal issues. The simplest approach is always debt financing. The investor puts in money in return for a note specifying the financing terms. No different than getting a line of credit or using a credit card which are typical alternatives.

Only naive, generous or excessively optimistic people put money into startups. That's why friends and family financing is often called "dumb money." The obvious problem for any investor owning a minority share of the company is getting their money out. It requires an acquisition, IPO or company buyback of the shares or ownership stake. Since that's entirely at the whims of the majority shareholder aka YOU, you can imagine it's not a great position for the investor. It goes without saying that you don't want a minority investor who feels they now control the business.

Of course angel investors and VCs take minority stakes, but they use legal tools to protect their investments. Complicated stuff. Convertible debt, preferred shares, piggy back rights, non-dilution clauses, etc. They also understand the necessity of making 10 - 20+ investments over a long period to properly diversify risk. Shark Tank investments do not work like everyone watching Shark Tank thinks they work. There's considerable due diligence, many investment offers are rescinded and legal protections for the investor are always in place.

2. My favorite approach to outside capital for almost every small business is royalty financing. It's sometimes called revenue financing nowadays. It's basically a loan with flexible payment terms. The payments are based on a percentage of gross (not net) monthly sales. Payments can stop when a specified total payout is reached, go on for a specified timeframe or in perpetuity. It keeps the investor motivated to help with the business (if that's the intent), they can potentially make a killer return when the company does well and it doesn't burden the business with excessive negative cashflow when times are tough.

 

[MrE]

@MrE I worked with a lot of tech startups to raise angel and VC money. Unless you're extraordinarily well connected or lucky, you're going to find raising private money takes at least as much dedicated time as growing sales. A couple of basic points on this endless topic.

1. You shouldn't be selling any portion of the business. It leads to potential problems with taxes, liability, ownership and bunch of other legal issues. The simplest approach is always debt financing. The investor puts in money in return for a note specifying the financing terms. No different than getting a line of credit or using a credit card which are typical alternatives.

Only naive, generous or excessively optimistic people put money into startups. That's why friends and family financing is often called "dumb money." The obvious problem for any investor owning a minority share of the company is getting their money out. It requires an acquisition, IPO or company buyback of the shares or ownership stake. Since that's entirely at the whims of the majority shareholder aka YOU, you can imagine it's not a great position for the investor. It goes without saying that you don't want a minority investor who feels they now control the business.

Of course angel investors and VCs take minority stakes, but they use legal tools to protect their investments. Complicated stuff. Convertible debt, preferred shares, piggy back rights, non-dilution clauses, etc. They also understand the necessity of making 10 - 20+ investments over a long period to properly diversify risk. Shark Tank investments do not work like everyone watching Shark Tank thinks they work. There's considerable due diligence, many investment offers are rescinded and legal protections for the investor are always in place.

2. My favorite approach to outside capital for almost every small business is royalty financing. It's sometimes called revenue financing nowadays. It's basically a loan with flexible payment terms. The payments are based on a percentage of gross (not net) monthly sales. Payments can stop when a specified total payout is reached, go on for a specified timeframe or in perpetuity. It keeps the investor motivated to help with the business (if that's the intent), they can potentially make a killer return when the company does well and it doesn't burden the business with excessive negative cashflow when times are tough.

Chris, I really appreciate you taking the time to share this valuable info. Make it a great day!

 

[theguy22]

I'm saying that you need to figure out how you are going to market before you even make the product. It feels like all you plan on doing after getting your product is launching PPC campaigns. I am recommending that you think about marketing more.

From what I'm reading, all you have is a different scratch off travel map. And your only plan is to use PPC, whether it be on Etsy, Google or Amazon. You have one means of getting sales and if it doesn't work, you are screwed. What other methods will you try to get sales? Tik Tok, IG, FB, Youtube?

What happens if your PPC cost is too high to be profitable and you have spend $3000 on product? What would you do next?

Also, regarding the fake testing method. If you list it, I'm assuming you are going to do a small quantity since you don't have any. What happens if you list 1 and then sell 1 in the first day? What do you conclude from this data? Did you happen to just sell 1 because of the new store? Would you have sold 10 if you had listed a quantity of 10? Or would you have only sold 1 out of 10? What if you sell 1 in the first 10 days?

I see where you're coming from, the thing is I don't have a high enough budget to spend on heavy marketing. Realistically, I'd have to pick one medium and hope it brings *some* traction. If it doesn't I don't have the budget to try other methods like Tik Tok, IG, Fb, etc.

With the fake testing method, I guess I'd be looking for some sales over X period of time. Only then I'd place a bulk order.

I guess this is the biggest challenge for me, I'm really trying to minimise marketing costs and hoping to win with value.

In addition to what @biophase said above, think old game vs new game.

Old game: status quo
What are the current players on the market doing, and what is their game?
-> You cant move to the new game if you don't understand the current games

New game: How your brand will change the game
Build the new game. Look at the old games, keep the audience front and center, and create your new game. Think of ways to skew the value array. Bonus point if you can name the new gam

For example:
(1)
Old game: slowlane
New game: fastlane

(2)
old game: calling for a cab - not only I wait on the line for minutes, but I also don't know when my driver will arrive or how much the journey will cost me
New game: a convenient way to order transport via an app. Quick, convenient, transparent.

The process of crafting the new game will give you the answers you need to launch the product.

Well explained. Bit unsure how I can apply this to a small product like a scratch map though. I've tried to change the game using my value skew, but this is just an hypothesis until it is properly tested.

 

[biophase]

If it doesn't I don't have the budget to try other methods like Tik Tok, IG, Fb, etc.

The whole purpose of using social media is that you don’t need money to do that.

You just have to make an account and just get views on your account.

 

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[woken]

The whole purpose of using social media is that you don’t need money to do that.

You just have to make an account and just get views on your account.

Tiktok.. yes, maybe.

The rest are pay to play mostly. Especially since not even your followers see your posts.

 

[biophase]

Tiktok.. yes, maybe.

The rest are pay to play mostly. Especially since not even your followers see your posts.

I believe that that is a limiting belief.

 

[woken]

I believe that that is a limiting belief.

I knew..


Try it yourself.

Make 2 instagram/facebook accounts and follow 30 people including one of your accounts.

Post something on one account and log into the other. Does it show up on your feed then? Or maybe 3 hours later? Or maybe next day/week?

 

[NeoDialectic]

Testing the product is a great idea, but I'm curious how you do that with a physical product. The only real way to know whether buyers will pay for it is actually selling it to them. Adding prospects to a waitlist is low quality validation. No money, no commitment.

I would think about how many sales are needed to breakeven on the initial minimum order and see how it plays out with different prices points. It's great to make one-time profitable sales, but it's pretty common to upsell other products to generate a profitable order. If you can sell it and lose money, that's often a fixable problem. Larger orders will probably cost less per item, upselling adds to the order total and raising the price is always worth testing.

4HWW uses a defective shopping cart (PRODUCT ON BACKLOG!!!) which is scammy, but doable.

There are definitely non-scammy ways of doing it. It obviously also depends greatly on the product. I am currently working on that step by step like we discussed earlier in this thread and that will show an example of this.

I always ask people who want to sell on Amazon this one question. Imagine you have your product already made and sitting in boxes at your house. You ship the first case to FBA. Now what? What is your next step?

I saw that you had also asked about advertising and Facebook ads in a previous post. To me that says that you haven’t researched how you plan on marketing your product yet. Do you know how much a click is for your product on Amazon PPC? Or on Facebook ads? I have a feeling both avenues will not be profitable for your product.

+1

I don't think people realize that in 2022 both Amazon and Facebook PPC are very expensive. They can obviously be important staples in picking products off the ground, but it's not cheap & easy.

Thank you for your kind offer!

Topic: Growth
Question: How do you reinvest profits in your company during the growth stage? Or more specifically, how do you reinvest as much as possible while still being prepared for predictable shifts in customer demand and unpredictable shifts (e.g., from recessions, new competitors, etc...)?

Part B: How do you know when the growth stage is over and you should pull back investment?

Unfortunately I won't be the best person to answer this. We choose to never get into cut throat businesses where you have slim margins. We try to spare no costs in ensuring a quality product and then we make sure we have healthy margins (~10x or more of product manufacturing cost). The healthy margin means inventory costs and reinvestment are never even considered an issue in the business.

Thank you NeoDialectic! You got it fully right, I honestly have so much potential to grow on social media (trendy products, plenty of skills like editing, talking, visual eye etc) but I guess I got a bit side tracked and overwhelmed from all the options available. I appreciate your help so so much. Thank you again!

Best of luck to you!

I'm saying that you need to figure out how you are going to market before you even make the product. It feels like all you plan on doing after getting your product is launching PPC campaigns. I am recommending that you think about marketing more.

From what I'm reading, all you have is a different scratch off travel map. And your only plan is to use PPC, whether it be on Etsy, Google or Amazon. You have one means of getting sales and if it doesn't work, you are screwed. What other methods will you try to get sales? Tik Tok, IG, FB, Youtube?

What happens if your PPC cost is too high to be profitable and you have spend $3000 on product? What would you do next?

Also, regarding the fake testing method. If you list it, I'm assuming you are going to do a small quantity since you don't have any. What happens if you list 1 and then sell 1 in the first day? What do you conclude from this data? Did you happen to just sell 1 because of the new store? Would you have sold 10 if you had listed a quantity of 10? Or would you have only sold 1 out of 10? What if you sell 1 in the first 10 days?

Great advice. The only thing I would differ with is that I don't personally think your last paragraph is as big of a deal. I think the person funding availability should dictate their actions in this regard. Obviously going all in is the most effective way of doing things. But if you don't have alot of funds but you do have time, doing a low quantity is still effective. Selling just one while breaking even in PPC is already a huge positive signal versus not even being able to sell one.