Earn $50 by June 31st. Budget $350

[Andy Black]

I just wanted to put this post in my thread here so I can see it a bit more frequently. I believe, at the current state of mind that I have, this is essentially it.

F*ck all of the mental masturbation, guru shit, and thinking. It eats your brain and shits fear instead of it.

The only thing that matters is results. And you only get results through action. And action is achieved by taking a F*cking first step. No matter what it is. List the easiest things you can do first towards your goal. Do it. Once done, update the plan with more simple steps. Think, take action, evaluate, repeat.

Who the F*ck gives a shit about planning? Only to get your pants wet from fearing the whole god damn things? And afterall, mostly all of the plans dont go through cause they are F*cking plans. They aren't reality, they aren't what the marketplace is. You are foretelling, and that is not practical.

There is a good Russian proverb that I like, Gary Vaynerchuk also mentioned: If you want to make God laugh, share your plans with him. Aka a man has plans, and god laughs.

Meaning: wipe your a$$ with your plans, and go dig the dirt, do something.

I had an email in my inbox a few months back.

The subject line was something like "7 ways to build trust for your business".

(Sorry, it was probably more like "7 Ways To Build Trust For Your Business".)

I sat back and looked at that subject line for a while.

Really?

I need to know 7 ways to build trust for my business?

Businesses are just people.

Do I really need to know how to make people "trust me"?

Do I have to have that spelt out to me, or would my parents have already done that before I turned 7?


I deleted the email without opening it.

Then wondered about the "fear" or "inadequacy" that subject line was trying to create in me.

Until I saw that subject line I didn't know I didn't know 7 ways to make businesses trust me.

I was happily ignorant of this deficiency of mine.

I was taking action, not worrying about something I wasn't even aware of.

Protect yourself from those that would have you believe you need to learn more before you start.

You already know enough.

Go.

 

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[eTox]

Holly F*cking shit guys!!! Thank you for your feedback! I have got a sale today!!! Shit I am so happy!!!

Someone purchased a backpack!!! Shit I am so happy!

at 1/5 clicks @ $1.25/click I got a CPA of $6.25 on this ad set for one customer and my profit is around $6 so I broke even, but who the F*ck cares!!! I made a F*ckings sale!!!!





Thank you all!!!!

 

[AustinS28]

Hey man, if you spent $350 bucks and learned a lot, although it didn't lead to a profit, id say it's money well spent. I've spent a lot more than that on projects that didn't produce the results I was looking for.

At the time I was upset at myself. "What a waste," I would say.

But in the long run its almost like all these projects that didn't go according to plan were meant to be. While I am still exploring ecommerce and make all of my money through my service business, I am fully confident that once I find my product/create a product to fit my niche, I can effectively sell it in a short period of time.

I can confidently make a beautiful Wordpress/shopify website. I can effectively drive traffic with Facebook and google Adwords campaigns. I've sourced and purchased wholesale products from overseas. I can use photoshop. I know the cheapest ways to get stock photos.

The list goes on. The point is, I don't have my product yet. I'm looking for it in two niche areas I'm involved in. My service business and my network of high networth individuals, but when I find it, I will be able to get things rolling 100x faster than if I never messed up so many times. The older I get the more I realize how much "failure" is also a learning experience and how all these past projects weren't actually failures if I created and perfected certain skills.

The last order of product I purchased, I bought 2000 units and didn't do any math. I had no room to advertise without taking a loss and after shipping was just doing better than breaking even. Because of this I still have over 1800 of this product sitting at home almost a year later. Failure? Maybe some would say that, but to me, I won't cluelessly buy something ever again without factoring in all the elements to making it profitable.

Anyways man, you might not have hit your goal and that may happen more often than not. Just stick with it all, you can't fail if you keep trying.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Why aim so low?

50 bucks in 37 days....

You can make that now by walking down your street and asking what do people need help with..cutting grass...washing cars..ect..

I think the low goal is a great way to start.

Too many people set unrealistic goals and then give up.

In entrepreneurship, getting from $0 to $1 is definitely a lot harder than getting from $1 to $100.

Starting with the $50 goal sets the right goals and expectations. It's not a lot of money, but the perfect first step to building a "system" / "machine" that does.

 

[eTox]

Yeppie!!!!!!!

Didn't get paid yet, but I earned my first $50!!!

Albeit freelancing with a copywriting gig, but who gives a schnitzel! I did it!



More Ice Cream more more more!

 

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[Walter Hay]

Thank you . Already digging my way in. I do have a small to overcome right now.

I am currently living in Russia not far from Moscow though. But I am a Canadian citizen and have my family living in Toronto, Canada. Moving back is not an option in near future. I can not rely on my family or friends to take care of my supposed business back there.

Problem:
How could I manage to get started with eCom and Amazon while being outside of the country. Specifically how could I manage to get the shipment from China to someplace in Canada then to Amazons FBA and what are the difference Amazon Canada and US?

• I need to take care of storing the stuff somewhere in Toronto
• I need to get my labels on them
• I need to ship it from my place to customer or directly bulk it to FBA
• I need someone to take care of it all

The easiest solution would be to A) get back to Toronto B) Figure the steps out there. BUT I cannot do that because A) I do not want to go back there B) I do not want to go back there yet

Options to consider:

• Moving back to Toronto?
• Drop shipping?
• Shipping from Russia???
• Forget about it now and focus on getting samples of products here and testing them out in the market and only then once I have a product or two ready for mass consumption to move back and create a system for handling the dirty work?

Last point sounds more right ATM, figure out all possible solutions. Will be back.

I can't help you with the marketing side of things such as product choice, but as far as entering the Amazon market from overseas, that is done by a large number of people, using FBA.

In your situation I would go for the bigger market on Amazon in the US rather than in Canada. In that case you would need to ship the product/s to the US, because cost of shipping from Canada to Amazon US would be high, even if Amazon subsidize freight cost to FBA.

I don't recommend shipping direct from your supplier to FBA, because: 1. Your supplier gets to know how you are marketing the product and might decide to bypass you and sell direct. and 2. Amazon get to know who your supplier is and if you are successful, they might decide to compete with you. (A common scenario.)

Instead, you can ship to a prepping service in the US, where your product can be prepared for sale according to Amazon's requirements, and then shipped to FBA at a subsidized rate.

Regarding sourcing the product once you have made your choice, I suggest you have a look through my AMA thread, or if you have specific questions you can post them there. Don't post anything confidential - PM me instead.

Walter

 

[ZCP]

How about making 'sell one' your goal and not sleeping / eating / taking a break / doing anything else until that is done.

 

[JoeB]

What am I going to do TODAY about it:

• Keep on procrastinating for today.

Until tomorrow.

Write a list of specific tasks you are going to do tomorrow. Not generalisations like "research products" but "sign up for an amazon account" etc.

Thinking it is going to take a year is making you put it off and makes it seem overwhelming.

Tomorrow do 3 things
The day after do 4
Keep building it up
See how much you can achieve in 1 month

Not many things take a year to see results.

 

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[eTox]

I think you're WAY too worried about the opinion of some book (and random people on the internet that don't know you). The answer to that? Go do stuff. Creating a successful business can be accomplished with the following plan:

1) create a SIMPLE plan (with as few steps as possible)
2) Take action
3) evaluate your results
4) modify plan as needed and repeat

At this point, you don't know if you have grit or not. The only way to know is to get out there and keep doing stuff until you're successful. When you're successful, you'll have proven to yourself that you have grit.

I just wanted to put this post in my thread here so I can see it a bit more frequently. I believe, at the current state of mind that I have, this is essentially it.

F*ck all of the mental masturbation, guru shit, and thinking. It eats your brain and shits fear instead of it.

The only thing that matters is results. And you only get results through action. And action is achieved by taking a F*cking first step. No matter what it is. List the easiest things you can do first towards your goal. Do it. Once done, update the plan with more simple steps. Think, take action, evaluate, repeat.

Who the F*ck gives a shit about planning? Only to get your pants wet from fearing the whole god damn things? And afterall, mostly all of the plans dont go through cause they are F*cking plans. They aren't reality, they aren't what the marketplace is. You are foretelling, and that is not practical.

There is a good Russian proverb that I like, Gary Vaynerchuk also mentioned: If you want to make God laugh, share your plans with him. Aka a man has plans, and god laughs.

Meaning: wipe your a$$ with your plans, and go dig the dirt, do something.

 

[Andy Black]

I just don't understand it! Everytime I visit some forum, read some motivation, or what not, its always about success. How setting a 10x goal is the key. How having a great vision matters!

For F*cks sake... I don't give a shit about setting BIG goals or 10X my GOALS.
I don't F*cking give a shit about goals. I just outright hate it at this point my life. All of this feel good bullshit. It pisses me off how it's always think bigger, think of goals, think as it happened, all of the F*cking blogs and gurus go on about thinking thinking thinkg. Who the F*ck gives a shit about it? I don't. I certainly believe that sitting and F*cking 10X my goals won't bring closer to me any more of my shit as long as I'm sitting here and drooling with a F*cking bag of tears imagining my dreams come true.

Non of this bullshit is getting me closer to my goals. It's plain old action. Forgetting whatever the F*ck you want and diving into doing shit. Shit that's not being distracted my day dreams of what I want.

So pissed off.... jesus.

I'm done with these forums and blogs, I felt like visiting once a day for a week was enough, I now believe that not visiting at all is the right thing to do.

You're right. Read less, do more.

If you're going to 10x anything, then 10x your actions, not your "goals".

I'm a fan of "chipping away" personally.

Save the rants. Take a deep breathe. Keep going.

 

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[Andy Black]

Remember when you wrote this?

One step at a time, dont rush it. Better to get little bit done, than be overwhelmed and not do anything.

 

[Polarbeans]

For anyone watching this it's pretty clear:

Here is where you always start:

developing

As someone already pointed out, you're idea hopping. I did too when I first came here.

What you need to do is this:

1. Find out what people want.
2. Find out if you can sell it to them.
3. Find out if you can make a profit.
4. Do it.

Problem for you is that you start with no. 4.

Tony Robbins has a great story about a chiropractor who wanted to start a practice in a community where there were already lots of chiropractors. The guy was told to find another occupation. But instead of giving up the aspiring chiropractor went knocking on doors (I think it was like 1,200 or so). He asked the residents of the community what they thought could improve with the already existing chiropractors. In addition, he also left his card with contact information. Then he connected the dots to see what people really needed and he created a chiropractor practice that solved all the common problems he found. He went on to be the most successful in the area.

I think the story is somewhere on Youtube (in which format it is also better told by Mr. Robbins himself).

You need to connect the dots from what Andy said, with what Sanj said:

OK let's say you want to sell a product to dog lovers. Go hangout where your potential customers hangout. Look at dog forums, newsletters, magazines, run some keyword searches, look at trends etc.

Get to know them, what they like, what they spend money on, how they talk (very important). You can't bullshit a passionate audience because they will catch you out instantly.

Based off this initial research, brainstorm some product ideas. You could sell the same best sellers or you could add a twist like private labelling, bundle offers etc. Think out of the box and be creative.

Conclusion for you:
The hard part is finding people who want a solution to their problems. You don't first go to Alibaba or AliExpress or whatever sourcing site you might use.

I would start by going to Facebook and look up a few groups in a niche that relate to you. I read that your first sale was a bag. So let's think about what category or niche "bag" falls under.

If it is a bag with a sole purpose of carrying and protecting a laptop you need to figure out who carries such a bag. On top of my head, I would say probably men mostly, working middle-class men. You need to find out then whether you want to target those who commute by train to work or those who drive the latest BMW to work - they are different people and one wants function and the other one high-end (I'm speculating here).

Go to facebook group where "bag-interested" people hang out and socialize with them for a while, ask questions and look for clues in the past threads. Go to Amazon and look at reviews of similar bags, see what's good/bad with them.

Make a landing page on your website where they can "purchase" your product and see how many clicks thru. Go back and analyze the data to see who is clicking and who is not. Narrow your audience further.

Keep reading forums and go to eCommerce stores where they sell your kind of product and look for more reviews. If it is a laptop bag, chances are those are being discussed at tech forums and communities. You can find real life examples of the product in-use.

Keep doing research and document the use of the product as well as jargon.

ALWAYS keep your focus on ONE type of product - keep researching until you see a pattern (you will). Once you see the pattern, you will know exactly what product they want, how you can position yourself and you will sell it.

You see, the three first steps Andy laid out above are somewhat the barrier to entry in any field. Most people confuse barrier to entry with other stuff.

People say it is easy to start a blog and the barrier to entry is almost non-existent. Sure it is, if you think the barrier to entry is the part where you setup the blog on wordpress. But it ain't. The lowest barrier to entry in any field is the research part you need to do upfront. The difference is that in some fields the research is more extensive than others. For bags, I would say spend about a week of full-time if you've never done it before.

 

[eTox]

2016 is now over. New year. I've learned lots of things during the past year. I feel like this is the thread that I first started and it's like 'home' to me now.

Let me backtrack and tell a little story about me and then I'll share where I am going.

Back in April 2015 I felt that life is not just work/home/work/die and I certainly didn't want to work for someone else. I have always been interested in computer programming and at that time I was playing around with android app development. Obviously I made an app that was fun to me 'vocabulary builder' but was not interesting to anybody else. But that's way before I even thought or knew anything about solving needs...

At that time an idea has always crossed my mind that people are making games and that I not only could make games, but can earn lot's of money from it. So throughout the summer of 2015 I couldn't stop thinking about it. I knew I could figure out ways I could build a game, I knew I was smart and could learn anything related to tech. So my curiosity and interest peaked it's critical during the beginning of August 2015. I viciously started reading all possible game development books. I read tons of articles. I relearned the languages required and by the end of October I have finally created my first baby.

I was 2nd year Accounting student at YorkU and I hated it. Why? Because I joined on the premise that accounting = something very close to business. I was absolutely disgusted when I found out what accounting really was during my first real lectures. I dropped out at the same time I published my game. I couldn't take it. I was lied to and fooled. I had all ambitions for my game now.

November passed and I saw only a handful of downloads. I knew it wasn't the game's fault. I knew it was my assumption was wrong about "make it and they'll come" will work. The great depression followed. I was paralyzed for the whole end of Nov/Dec/Jan. I hated myself for my ambitions and big dreams. I thought I have created a masterpiece and the only thing that made me work my a$$ off during Aug/Sept/Oct on the project were me dreams about the life I will have in riches from my 'baby'. I was so so wrong.

During Feb I started to pick up my pace and little by little started to recover. I learned a little more about game dev. I really hated making games all the long. I never loved it. It's just something that was going to put food on my table. What I had passion for is software engineering.

During March I found out about this book, thanks to @MJ DeMarco narrating it himself on the Fight Mediocrity Youtube's channel. His concepts really resonated with me and I was intrigued. I knew it was the real deal. Not some money grabbing dream selling guru shit. I read the book. I loved it. I had to act.

I gathered all my shit together and saved up for a little under a month and moved back home to Russia where my gf of 5 years at that time was waiting for me. I was never happier before. The book brought me enlightenment, it gave me knowledge and information that I could act upon. It was a turning point in my life. I can't be more thankful to the author.

From April to the end of June I released another game now using a much simpler and more powerful framework Unity. No wonder I still didn't get any downloads. I promised myself not to make games anymore and have nothing to do with software engineering and coding for the rest of my life. I hated it so much so much that I couldn't stand the thought of thinking to write code. In all honesty I just hated myself for the lack of experience and knowledge and that's all. All along came my dreams of good life in riches and being a founder of game development company came crashing down. Who cares? I was really hurt. I was still a child and I probably am still now at 20.

Then I've thought I'd give the forum a try. I was really glad I found my home. I finally found a place on earth and mighty internet where I belong. Up until now I was all alone and thought I was weird all by myself. Now I understand that there are still not a lot of people like that but at least I am not alone.

Throughtout the summer I barely did anything as I couldn't put my hands on importing or selling on Amazon. I didn't understand Facebook ads and how to dropship from Aliexpress. Not that I understand any better now. I didn't do much at all during Aug/Sept/Oct.

Magic started to happen from the end of August. People started downloading my first game. During Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec I have earned around around 7K and all from that one game! Wow! Why did that happen? Because people started slowly finding it and it all snowballed. As people downloaded more and more, the game climbed the rankings more and more and then even more people started downloading the game. Snowball effect!

During Nov/Dec I tried my best with ecom. Now that I had money to spend I generously spent it on learning Facebook ads. I believe I totalled more than 4K on products/fees/ads during that time. I was able to sell two products at a decent profit margin but then again I hated dropshipping for it's reasons...

End of December and begining of January I have really struggled to find my place. I see that Dropshipping is a dead end. Custom merchandise requires money. I feel like all of this ecom thing is just not for me at this time.

I may be wrong but I came to the realization with my lack of intelligence in this field I am just about to waste more money on things that will not work. I need to pivot. I need to do that what I can be good at.

2K17 is the year that I bridge my passion for software and my knowledge of business processes. I would like to devote this year solely to creating a game development business. I've made games, I've made money. I realized where I lacked knowledge, I found ways to come up with solutions. Now I want to put all of my findings to a good test.

I will devote the best I have in both advertisement and software engineering to coming up with a game development studio that will be the fastlane business.

wow I feel great again

 

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[Andy Black]

I thought business was easy.
but,

It's pretty damn hard.

It dawned on me yesterday that until this time I was thinking that "business is easy". I was confusing the thoughts of "easy" meaning in "relatively fast compared to other available options".

Therefore business is hard, really really hard because it requires enormous amounts of patience, persistence, and dedication just to name a few and I have a feeling that I am not ready for that yet.

Being in business is easy, hey I was in business, right? I dropped 5K made 1K back, I was in business. But what's the point of such venture?

Building a business that's profitable is really really really hard. It's a pain, and it's by no means easy. It's boring at times, it's tough, and 99% of the time you are lost thinking "when is it and will it actually work?" because it's hard to see real progress when you are just starting out.

I feel like it's a really wavy ocean. One month I am making some money, the other month I am making none. I feel like life is teaching me emotional stability because all of this worrying surely will not get me anywhere. Life sucks during this moment, at least I can put myself through more pain, pressure and cliffs and maybe then... nah, it's never gonna happen.

Business is hard because we have to unlearn so many habits and ways of thinking. Then it becomes simple again.


Add value. Get paid.

Get started. Keep going.

Fall down. Get up.



Pretty simple really (until we start complicating it).

 

[4x4ord]

I have never learned so much in such a small period of time. Since I joined the forum few weeks ago, I became an INSIDERS and the amount of knowledge I am getting is so so so over my head. I am burried. I spend at least 3-6 hours clean on this forum almost every single day. The INSIDERS subscription is simply invaluable. I can not be more thankful to the contributors of this forum.

No, I have not taken any action yet aside from what I have said already, I hit a road block with fb ads, but I think it was for the better. Since then I acquired even more knowldege, albeit it barely scratches the surface of everything that is on this forum.

I am writing out plans for action taking.

I am thinking of abandoning this thread and moving inside. I feel like I would like to share some personal details and close details about my progress and I do not feel comfortable posting it to the general public.

To be honest I feel so overwhelmed. Anxious and frightned. But it feels good, because knowing the person who I am, I am making huge progress.

Your covering your anxiety about taking action by keeping busy thinking about taking action. Believe me, I've been there. When you make one small real action you will learn mountains more than what you will reading and making plans. Take a step. It's ok if it's not perfect. It's a lot easier than you think. You've got the tools you need already.

Btw, PM me anytime if you'd like. I was recently where you are and in 6 months have made more progress than I can believe in ecommerce. I'm happy to help.

 

[Andy Black]

A wise man once wrote this:

• One step at a time, dont rush it. Better to get little bit done, than be overwhelmed and not do anything.

.
.
.


I've not done importing and/or eCommerce. I'm curious why you chose that path rather than provide a service?

Could you make $50 this coming week by providing a service to local people/businesses? Or could you do so for people/businesses further afield (people you already know back in Canada for instance)?


Who can you help this coming week?

 

[JoeB]

I targeted 18-24 males who like Jansport and Laptops as the laptop seemed sick to me.

If someone likes Jansport enough to follow them on Facebook then you're probably going to have a hard time getting them to buy some no-name bag.

I personally would find it really hard to sell something so generic. It's a bag. It has exactly the same features as every other 'low cost' bag so it comes down to to someone seeing it that:

1 - Needs a bag
2 - Likes the design
3 - Likes the price

It doesn't fill a need (people do need bags, but they can probably pick something up very similar from a number or local stores) or apply to a specific demographic so it's really hard to promote.

Alternatively, you sell something specific, like a cat litter tray with high sides that stops the litter being kicked out all over the floor. (I recently bought one of these)

It serves a need.
They don't just sell them in the supermarket/pet store.
It is more likely to be bought to replace an existing product in use as it solves a problem for the purchaser.
There is an identifiable target market
There are groups, forums, hashtags and a whole other number of ways to identify potential purchasers.

Your 'pitch' suddenly goes from something unremarkable like 'do you like this bag?' to 'are you sick of clearing up after your cat?'.

I don't think your campaign is failing because it's too competitive, just that your bag doesn't fill a need and without filling a need, it's very hard to promote.

 

[eTox]

If someone likes Jansport enough to follow them on Facebook then you're probably going to have a hard time getting them to buy some no-name bag.

I personally would find it really hard to sell something so generic. It's a bag. It has exactly the same features as every other 'low cost' bag so it comes down to to someone seeing it that:

1 - Needs a bag
2 - Likes the design
3 - Likes the price

It doesn't fill a need (people do need bags, but they can probably pick something up very similar from a number or local stores) or apply to a specific demographic so it's really hard to promote.

Alternatively, you sell something specific, like a cat litter tray with high sides that stops the litter being kicked out all over the floor. (I recently bought one of these)

It serves a need.
They don't just sell them in the supermarket/pet store.
It is more likely to be bought to replace an existing product in use as it solves a problem for the purchaser.
There is an identifiable target market
There are groups, forums, hashtags and a whole other number of ways to identify potential purchasers.

Your 'pitch' suddenly goes from something unremarkable like 'do you like this bag?' to 'are you sick of clearing up after your cat?'.

I don't think your campaign is failing because it's too competitive, just that your bag doesn't fill a need and without filling a need, it's very hard to promote.

Thank you for opening my eyes. Perhaps you absolutely nailed the underlying problem: I don't understand what a need really is and how to identify one.

If someone would help me learn this, I would be really grateful. So a need is when there is a problem that has to be solved, right? If I am looking at a backpack, I don't really care much about it, as long as I like the design of the bag, and the price for it is reasonable. On the other hand, if I have a Macbook Pro or Air 13" and I carry only few papers along with it on daily basis, I would like a slim backpack, that is designed specifically to fit that type of laptop, and has special slots for papers, and enough room for a binder, or some other documents, still does not solve a need, because there is no underlying problem that is being solved. Inconvenience? Not great enough to be bothered with.

A need is fulfilled when a problem being solved is substantial enough that it can not be ignored. Like picking up the cat litter because it's thrown on the floor.

So, perhaps if I have a specific audience in mind, then I would analyze their day to day activities, think about their problems closely, and once I identify a problem that's heavy enough, I could offer them a solution that's worth paying money for.

This shit is hard, because it makes me think. Thinking is what I like the least, but what get's me the most.

 

[eTox]

@eTox If I may ask, was there a business related purpose in moving to Russia? You need not answer if you're so inclined.

I must admit that I'm curious just because I've been there twice and an eCommerce business seems worlds away from what I saw in Russia. But perhaps that would provide you a front row seat as they adopt the internet/eCommerce/apps/etc.!?!? Might be a great opportunity.

To be honest, there was no business related purpose, it just so happened that I was born there and my grandparents are here. My parents are back in Canada. I just decided to take full control of my life and burn all bridges: quit university (Accounting), quit my job, cancelled absolutely everything. All I have is 10k of student debt (I call it the National Debt).

Why Russia? I have my girlfriend here, plus with a monthly budget of $600 here, in the province, I live better than most bank managers in this city. So now I am free, financially and morally from parents (no bs go back and be a slave). Everyone still wants me to go back and study and get a nice 9-5 for 40 years. I politely decline the opportunity each time.

To be honest I have enough savings to stay here until the end of September. I also have $350 budget for starting something, but if what I am doing now will prove itself, I could drop another 1.5k cash of my living budget, if I need the money asap.

In terms of business, Russia is that last place, after hell, I would do business in. There is absolutely no justice. The law does not work. There is no understanding of "private property". The level of corruption is at such high that I can not possibly picture it to you. You can have everything now and the next day a fat prick from government may liken your business and lock you in a shithole in siberia for 25 years. It all seems fine from the outside, yet inside its F*cking utmost unbelievable shit you can imagine. A world where a majority of population lives below poverty, where bank loans are 50% yearly, where entrepreneurs flee this shit hole at their first chance. Russia, what it is right now, has no future. Done.

Forget Russia in terms of business.

I am wrapping my head around this new fast-lane. If it all works, great, I will leave this place asap and do business in Canada/US. But as far as life, its my homeland, I like it here.

 

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[eTox]

I have been productive yesterday and today ))))))))))))))))) so happy

Things that I have accomplished:

• created a plan and a goal by which I was going to change my life to its desired state
• finished my shopify store
  • priced the product
  • inserted fb pixel
  • inserted google analytics
  • tried and played with personal test orders to get the feel and taste
  • created gmail account
• created and launched a fb ad campaign for 2 days at $5 /day just to see whats going to happen

It feels like I have done soooooo much!!!! To be honest I felt so scared throughout all of the time. Perhaps 5 times I stopped and fought my fears to keep going.

What really helped:

• Dry runs!

It felt so much easier to creating a plan for dry runs. It is like just playing around with tests. I read somewhere on the forum where they were talking about it, and instantly it clicked with me. That's it! That is what I should do. So all I said to myself was go and do dry runs, as many of them as you need for any things. So I created a plan and started executing.

Will post further actions!

I feel on fire Thank you so much guys!!!

 

[GMJimmy]

Very nice learning progress.

Don't worry that you have no results yet, I think the timelines were pretty tight, considering that you are importing from China. When I started reading your thread, I expected that you order something during the first few days with risking poor quality, then you wait for the shipment, and in the meantime set up the ads and all the necessary stuff.
This goal was a big challenge and involved a significant amount of luck factor.
In my experience, both the time and money was just barely enough. You have mentioned that you want $10 revenue and estimate about $25 end price? With the budget you could only buy 2-3 different product, maximum 5-10 pieces of each. Then you need to sell at least 5 in the last few days (because shipping takes a long time). But now you have experienced it yourself that it takes time and money to import products, and not to mention selling it.

This is the right way, learning by doing, and improving on the way.

And when I only read the title before the post, the first thing that came to my mind was the following. If I had to make $50 profit in about a month with the given budget, I would pick the low hanging fruits. Quickly make or buy a product, preferably digital, then start marketing as hell. Let's say I will go with ebooks, birthday cards, whatever. Spend 2-3 days creating some products, preferably a product line, and most importantly a cheaper and a more expensive version. List those in all relevant platforms, maybe create a website, landing page, facebook etc to start collecting traffic. $350 is very generous to start with, if you only aim for $50 profit. You can even buy some tools such as followliker etc. Once done, keep on fine tuning and get more traffic every day. After the month, you may not only have reached your target, but you could have a running system that is continuously dripping money to you.

Sorry for the off topic, I have no intention to tell you what to do, it was just an idea that came to my mind when I read the title.

 

[Sanj Modha]

Aim higher. Much higher.

Find things to sell. Look at products/services that's hot right now.

Look for a proven traffic source and go run some ads.

All business is distribution.

 

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[devine]

Let's throw in some rewards:
- @eTox, if you reach your goal until September 30, I will help you with your website and will be answering all your questions related to this topic until October 30.

If somebody else feels like you can stimulate a fellow member of TFLF to effectively change his life - I personally ask you to join this initiative.
Each of us can do something.

 

[eTox]

Hello Everyone,

I am making a commitment to everyone that by the end of June 31st, 2016 or earlier I will make no less than $50 of profit. In return for this money I will provide a product that solves people's needs.

The sole purpose of this is to introduce myself to e-Commerce and the world of marketing, importing, selling, etc.

Steps I am about to take:

• Create a plan by which I will fulfil my promise
• Act on it immediately
• Post regular updates to my progress thread

 

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[sWALK90]

Why aim so low?

50 bucks in 37 days....

You can make that now by walking down your street and asking what do people need help with..cutting grass...washing cars..ect..

 

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[BellaPippin]

June has 30 days! And the 30th is my bday Lol

Good luck! We're kind of on the same boat. I promised myself I'd have my first sale by then. Let's do this!

 

[AubreyJ]

Ok, well, the steps didn't play out so well. I screwed up with planning after reading them and feeling like vomiting from the constant inflow of information and having taken no action. So I skipped straight to action.

Did DO

• Came up with a new generic brand
• Created and set up Shopify website and a template (product listings needed)
• Created email and Aliexpress account

This was easy and took an hour as I have done this before. Except, the logo and few tidbits of customization took another few hours LOL

Now TODO (extremely hard part): Create a process by which I will IDENTIFY an AUDIENCE that has a NEED for some PRODUCT and sell it to them.

I honestly do not know where to start ----->

Goodluck with your venture!

One piece of advice, I think you are jumping around a lot. You need to create a plan, find your niche/product, execute, and stick to it.

Also, like someone else said- start making to-do lists
In my office, pinned to the wall above my computer I have a to-do list. every-single night before I go to bed I sit down and write down the things I need to accomplish the next day and the general time of day I need to accomplish them at. I can't sit at at my desk without having that list glare at me, and it keeps me on track. I suggest you do something similar to keep you on track and motivated- it's a shitty feeling when you are about to go to bed and you stare at the list and see you still have a handful of tasks to complete, but once you cross them all off you know you've had a productive day. Just my two cents.

 

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[eTox]

A little update.

I am trying to overcome my fear of taking action. I seem to hit the same road block. I mentally understand that I need to do, to ACT in order to get results. EXECUTION is what gets RESULTS. But I feel afraid for some reason and fall back. It's like I purposely avoid action. I wold think big and all and then get disappointed. Wierd.

So in my quest to overcome my fears and taking responsibility. I found myself swimming in a cold pond. Later that day I was arrested for riding a bike with no helmet or drivers license. At that point I realized how f*cked up my thinking is. It's okay, I learned the local laws and ended up only getting a McDonald's order sized ticket (thanks for the cheap fines in this country) Plus it was weird. I was laughing with the cops as they were like "Pay within the next 10 days and get a 50% off on your fine. Offer ends soon." It just simply shows how Russia is F*cked by planning for a $50 oil prices for this year. They all seem like unicorns too me. High and on crack.

Nevertheless, the sales pitch reminded me of a copywriting challenge and I took the day 1 of it. So that day I tried helping my relatives with many things I could without expecting anything in return. In the end, it got me sitting down and analyzing my uncle's grocery farm business with the CENTS commandments. It proved that 4/5 points are holding strong however it heavily lacks Entry. We brainstormed how he could get competitive advantage over others in his area. I realized at that point that I am overconfident in my knowledge and that I assume I know too many things I don't.

I believe becoming humble and thankful is the next step in my character development. Thank you all for your participation in this forum. I have been lurking on the forum and stumbled across much gold.

Until later.

 

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[eTox]

I think the low goal is a great way to start.

Too many people set unrealistic goals and then give up.

In entrepreneurship, getting from $0 to $1 is definitely a lot harder than getting from $1 to $100.

Starting with the $50 goal sets the right goals and expectations. It's not a lot of money, but the perfect first step to building a "system" / "machine" that does.

I've been just rereading my own thread, and I thought that this was an invaluable advice that I have missed. It's not about getting from $0 to $1. That part is much easier to me than understanding that I have to build a "system". A process which will dictate my execution. It's basically "lather, rinse, repeat" and at that time I hated doing things over and over again.

Bump... Lesson learned.

 

[Andy Black]

Start with marketing?


Here's my definition of marketing:

1. Find out what people want.
2. Find out if you can sell it to them.
3. Find out if you can make a profit.
4. Do it.

When you're focused on "app development", "game development", "eCommerce", (AKA "building" stuff), then you're at step 4, without having done steps 1-3.





I don't know if you've already listened to it yet, but I did a radio interview that might help you.

It's linked to in my big new super duper signature.