Okay, so I deliberated over creating this thread for a few minutes. Then, I thought - just do it. Everyone needs accountability, right?
I'm a 25 year old social media and marketing freelancer and long time entrepreneur/business enthusiast. I've tried my hand at many things including selling t-shirts from my bedroom at 16 to owning a pizza restaurant in my home city. I now earn a comfortable living having built up a pool of good clients who trust and rely on me to help them grow their businesses - especially online, but I feel my enthusiasm for business, in general, helps build good relationships with people.
Obviously though, despite the freedom of having complete control over my day, this isn't very fast lane and I'll never lose that burning fire in my belly to grow a much bigger business - heck, why would I want to lose it?
And so, I'm always on the lookout. You may have read my other thread on potentially buying a business - Getting My Hands On a Baby Boomer's Business. This is still something I'm very much interested in and I highly recommend reading Buy Then Build - Walker Deibel if you've ever considered buying a business.
In the meantime, I've decided to launch a brand on Amazon as I've spied an opportunity as people start to return to work after the pandemic.
Now, this is something I have tried (and failed) at before. So this time, I wanted to be held accountable. I haven't decided how much detail I'll go into on the actual product itself, but I will try to give as much information as possible. As I said, I have experience selling on Amazon - but no more than anyone else could learn after a few months of selling.
So - here is an overview of how it has gone in the first few days.
I came up with a general brand idea (I'm a marketer, remember?) and went looking for an existing product that I could buy and modify. I remembered that I was buying a product that could work when I owned the pizza place, so I went straight to my old supplier's website. I did a bit of digging and managed to find where they were buying the product from and it turned out it was a manufacturing plant not too far from me. I ordered a sample to my house immediately.
While I was waiting on the sample being delivered (2 Days), I got to work on the branch. If all went well with the sample, I knew all I would have to do is create my own brand and I could sell the product completely unmodified. Straight over to Fiverr.com and set out a job specification for a reputable seller who had good reviews for product label design. I was a very difficult buyer on Fiverr as I requested about 8 modifications to the label. However, this was so important because it was the branding that was going to make or break this product. I knew if I could get that right, people would buy. As I said, the product is relevant to people going back to work whilst still dealing with Covid.
I want to highlight this though, as some people may not know how easy it is. I spent a couple of hours and £28.72 getting a fantastic label designed that will be the basis of my entire brand.
It's amazing what can be done on Fiverr.
Anyway, after I was happy with the label, I just had to wait on the sample. When it arrived, there were a few niggling issues that I would have to sort out with the supplier. However, on the most part, it was a good product and I knew I could use it. The lid didn't look like it was properly sealed and the liquid had dripped down the bottle a little (more clues). I certainly couldn't have the product arriving to customers like this. These problems can be fixed though - the main thing is that the quality of the product is good.
I sent about 50 emails back and forward with the supplier, thrashing out the details. I got a good price and I found out about accompanying products that could also be bought from them. They let me know that if I spent just over £1,000 in stock (not much), then they would actually put my label on the bottle for me.
This was interesting. I have fulfilled orders myself whilst selling on Amazon. I recently sold over 1,000 units of a particular product and the process of fulfilling the orders from home was a nightmare. Packing, labelling, sending - it's not fun. And then the problems with delivery. I'd love to just send it into Amazon FBA and let them deal with it all, especially as it works out more profitably. So it was great that the manufacturer would label the product for me. This gives me the option of getting it sent directly to an Amazon warehouse.
However, could I trust that the bottles would be clean? Would the labels be on straight? Am I prepared to just blindly let the supplier send products into Amazon? Not yet.
So, I decided to order 10 units to my house and I ordered labels from an online printer. Let's see how this goes first. I'd rather get a feel for handing and sending out the product and then decide whether to go down the route of FBA.
I'm writing this a few days in. The 10 units arrived yesterday and they all needed a little clean up. Good decision as I wouldn't have wanted them arriving to customers like that. The lids were also blue, despite the lid on the sample being white. Just small issues.
In the meantime, I had already created product images (Fiverr again) for less than £20, created my Amazon listing, researched all my keywords and completed the description etc.
Once I knew the 10 units and the labels were en route to me, I listed it for sale. I set quite a long delivery time (3-5 days) to give me time to receive the product, clean it up, re-label the product and arrange collection with a courier for next day delivery.
10 sales on day 1 - total of 5 orders with one customer ordering 5 units.
Day 1 Sales - £249.90
Day 1 Ad spend - £10
ACOS (advertising cost of sales) - 4%
Wow. My product was still in the depths of Amazon's catalogue and I had already sold my entire first order from the supplier. As soon as the 10 units arrived, I tried to sort out some issues with the supplier and then ordered 60 more.
Day 1 was Thursday 14th May. On Day 2, I sold 12 units with ACOS still around 4%.
This morning (Day 3), I have already sold 6 units and I need to start preparing the shipments to be collected by DHL on Monday.
Very small numbers, but a great start. I've sold other products on Amazon - some at much higher volumes than this. However, I have a good feeling about this one. Customers are ordering multiple units and I can see that they are business accounts. That is exactly who I had in mind when I came up with the brand.
I have built a very basic Shopify account and I'm going to see if I can start selling directly to customers without Amazon. That's something I haven't done before.
I will update this thread as often as I can. I have 60 units arriving on Tuesday. DHL will be coming to get the 10 units I already have and send them out to my first customers on Monday. The product is quite heavy (around 6kg each) and I'm used to shipping smaller items, so I will keep everyone up to date with teething problems (they always occur).
One of the main reasons I thought to start this thread is to get insight from everyone. Sometimes a new set of eyes can come up with a simple, but great idea that I didn't think of. So, all feedback is welcome.
Hopefully, this thread will help me stay laser focussed on progress.
Apologies for the length of the first post. Thoughts welcome!
I'm a 25 year old social media and marketing freelancer and long time entrepreneur/business enthusiast. I've tried my hand at many things including selling t-shirts from my bedroom at 16 to owning a pizza restaurant in my home city. I now earn a comfortable living having built up a pool of good clients who trust and rely on me to help them grow their businesses - especially online, but I feel my enthusiasm for business, in general, helps build good relationships with people.
Obviously though, despite the freedom of having complete control over my day, this isn't very fast lane and I'll never lose that burning fire in my belly to grow a much bigger business - heck, why would I want to lose it?
And so, I'm always on the lookout. You may have read my other thread on potentially buying a business - Getting My Hands On a Baby Boomer's Business. This is still something I'm very much interested in and I highly recommend reading Buy Then Build - Walker Deibel if you've ever considered buying a business.
In the meantime, I've decided to launch a brand on Amazon as I've spied an opportunity as people start to return to work after the pandemic.
Now, this is something I have tried (and failed) at before. So this time, I wanted to be held accountable. I haven't decided how much detail I'll go into on the actual product itself, but I will try to give as much information as possible. As I said, I have experience selling on Amazon - but no more than anyone else could learn after a few months of selling.
So - here is an overview of how it has gone in the first few days.
I came up with a general brand idea (I'm a marketer, remember?) and went looking for an existing product that I could buy and modify. I remembered that I was buying a product that could work when I owned the pizza place, so I went straight to my old supplier's website. I did a bit of digging and managed to find where they were buying the product from and it turned out it was a manufacturing plant not too far from me. I ordered a sample to my house immediately.
While I was waiting on the sample being delivered (2 Days), I got to work on the branch. If all went well with the sample, I knew all I would have to do is create my own brand and I could sell the product completely unmodified. Straight over to Fiverr.com and set out a job specification for a reputable seller who had good reviews for product label design. I was a very difficult buyer on Fiverr as I requested about 8 modifications to the label. However, this was so important because it was the branding that was going to make or break this product. I knew if I could get that right, people would buy. As I said, the product is relevant to people going back to work whilst still dealing with Covid.
I want to highlight this though, as some people may not know how easy it is. I spent a couple of hours and £28.72 getting a fantastic label designed that will be the basis of my entire brand.
It's amazing what can be done on Fiverr.
Anyway, after I was happy with the label, I just had to wait on the sample. When it arrived, there were a few niggling issues that I would have to sort out with the supplier. However, on the most part, it was a good product and I knew I could use it. The lid didn't look like it was properly sealed and the liquid had dripped down the bottle a little (more clues). I certainly couldn't have the product arriving to customers like this. These problems can be fixed though - the main thing is that the quality of the product is good.
I sent about 50 emails back and forward with the supplier, thrashing out the details. I got a good price and I found out about accompanying products that could also be bought from them. They let me know that if I spent just over £1,000 in stock (not much), then they would actually put my label on the bottle for me.
This was interesting. I have fulfilled orders myself whilst selling on Amazon. I recently sold over 1,000 units of a particular product and the process of fulfilling the orders from home was a nightmare. Packing, labelling, sending - it's not fun. And then the problems with delivery. I'd love to just send it into Amazon FBA and let them deal with it all, especially as it works out more profitably. So it was great that the manufacturer would label the product for me. This gives me the option of getting it sent directly to an Amazon warehouse.
However, could I trust that the bottles would be clean? Would the labels be on straight? Am I prepared to just blindly let the supplier send products into Amazon? Not yet.
So, I decided to order 10 units to my house and I ordered labels from an online printer. Let's see how this goes first. I'd rather get a feel for handing and sending out the product and then decide whether to go down the route of FBA.
I'm writing this a few days in. The 10 units arrived yesterday and they all needed a little clean up. Good decision as I wouldn't have wanted them arriving to customers like that. The lids were also blue, despite the lid on the sample being white. Just small issues.
In the meantime, I had already created product images (Fiverr again) for less than £20, created my Amazon listing, researched all my keywords and completed the description etc.
Once I knew the 10 units and the labels were en route to me, I listed it for sale. I set quite a long delivery time (3-5 days) to give me time to receive the product, clean it up, re-label the product and arrange collection with a courier for next day delivery.
10 sales on day 1 - total of 5 orders with one customer ordering 5 units.
Day 1 Sales - £249.90
Day 1 Ad spend - £10
ACOS (advertising cost of sales) - 4%
Wow. My product was still in the depths of Amazon's catalogue and I had already sold my entire first order from the supplier. As soon as the 10 units arrived, I tried to sort out some issues with the supplier and then ordered 60 more.
Day 1 was Thursday 14th May. On Day 2, I sold 12 units with ACOS still around 4%.
This morning (Day 3), I have already sold 6 units and I need to start preparing the shipments to be collected by DHL on Monday.
Very small numbers, but a great start. I've sold other products on Amazon - some at much higher volumes than this. However, I have a good feeling about this one. Customers are ordering multiple units and I can see that they are business accounts. That is exactly who I had in mind when I came up with the brand.
I have built a very basic Shopify account and I'm going to see if I can start selling directly to customers without Amazon. That's something I haven't done before.
I will update this thread as often as I can. I have 60 units arriving on Tuesday. DHL will be coming to get the 10 units I already have and send them out to my first customers on Monday. The product is quite heavy (around 6kg each) and I'm used to shipping smaller items, so I will keep everyone up to date with teething problems (they always occur).
One of the main reasons I thought to start this thread is to get insight from everyone. Sometimes a new set of eyes can come up with a simple, but great idea that I didn't think of. So, all feedback is welcome.
Hopefully, this thread will help me stay laser focussed on progress.
Apologies for the length of the first post. Thoughts welcome!
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Last edited:
Membership Required: Upgrade to Expose Nearly 1,000,000 Posts
Ready to Unleash the Millionaire Entrepreneur in You?
Become a member of the Fastlane Forum, the private community founded by best-selling author and multi-millionaire entrepreneur MJ DeMarco. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has poured his heart and soul into the Fastlane Forum, helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time, win their financial freedom, and live their best life.
With more than 39,000 posts packed with insights, strategies, and advice, you’re not just a member—you’re stepping into MJ’s inner-circle, a place where you’ll never be left alone.
Become a member and gain immediate access to...
- Active Community: Ever join a community only to find it DEAD? Not at Fastlane! As you can see from our home page, life-changing content is posted dozens of times daily.
- Exclusive Insights: Direct access to MJ DeMarco’s daily contributions and wisdom.
- Powerful Networking Opportunities: Connect with a diverse group of successful entrepreneurs who can offer mentorship, collaboration, and opportunities.
- Proven Strategies: Learn from the best in the business, with actionable advice and strategies that can accelerate your success.
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with the most..."
Who are you surrounding yourself with? Surround yourself with millionaire success. Join Fastlane today!
Join Today
