I have $3,000 in the bank. I don't know what to do!

[MaxKhalus]

It is hard to start this post when not knowing what direction to take. I am a writing freelancer, an active income stream that produces up to 3K per month in exchange for a big chunk of my time.

One year ago, I was selling moon lamps on Amazon FBA, a terrible product that taught me the importance of product research. Now, you may think FBA is not the best Fastlane model, but it brings the freedom I need to focus on a real business later on.

Because I learned from many courses this year, I should keep on Amazon to take advantage of that knowledge. However, everything is moving too slowly. I only released one product on Amazon, I am probably doing something wrong, and I believe there are better models out there.

This post asks for advice: What would you do if you had to start all over again with $3000 in savings and a freelance job?
Of course, you don't have to answer that question. I am not the first guy asking for that.

I am 19, I read both TMF and Unscripted one year ago, been on FBA for almost a year, and worked as a freelancer for the last five months. At this progression rate, it will take me more than a few years to figure my way out.

My current trajectory is to launch at least three products more on FBA. If nothing works, I'd learn about digital marketing businesses in courses.

The biggest advantage? I have 24h of free time every day. If you have an execution strategy that works, share it with me. It is frustrating to be on the same spot for a year, and I am so tired that I will simply take action without putting any excuse in between.

 

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[Spicymemer45]

Use AmazonScout and find those three items.

Execute.

Report back here.

 

[Kid]

Don't touch 'em

 

[SEBASTlAN]

Build a few MVPs and test the market

 

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[ecommercewolf]

Highest profit margin will be retail arbitrage of existing brands and products!

 

[Walter Hay]

Use AmazonScout and find those three items.

Execute.

Report back here.

AmazonScout is Amazon's new robotic delivery system. I think you mean AMZScout. Using programs such as that and JungleScout to find big sellers is a very poor business model.

AMZScout boast that they are trusted by 250,000 users. What does that tell you?

It's no wonder so many struggle to make it on Amazon when they follow the crowd into a mass of competition, selling the same products with the only difference being the name of the vendor.

There is still big money being made by vendors on Amazon, but they are not merely thinking that if so many are selling product X, I can too.

Finding a unique product requires a little more effort, but since June this year it became a whole lot easier.

Walter

 

[Taz]

Finding a unique product requires a little more effort, but since June this year it became a whole lot easier.

What happened in June this year to make it easier?

 

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[Tourmaline]

I would invest in myself given your age. Keep your eye out for a good Need based business but keep building and training yourself first and foremost until you find that strong Need.

 

[MitchM]

If you want to succeed on Amazon now, your product should be differentiated and targeted towards a particular consumer.

I recommend checking out Ryan Daniel Moran's advice - he is spot on.

Starting a successful business comes from CREATING - not just from duplicating exactly what others are doing. That worked at first on Amazon because it was so new and the marketplace still had a bunch of holes that needed to be filled.

I think it would be best for you to scroll through Amazon and look at all of the products. Look at the people who are selling them and what their options are. Get something like Helium10 to see an estimate of their revenue.

Start thinking to yourself, "How can I improve this. How can I differentiate this."

Make it a point to do this consistently for several days and put a lot of time into it. Have a notebook and write out all of your ideas.

Most people aren't even willing to put in THAT tiny amount of work. They want the idea to fall right into their laps - (why they are using apps that tell them which product to sell... which is actually hilarious to me).

This is good because it means the competition mostly lacks creativity. Get creative and just try to make sure that there is a big enough pie in terms of revenue for you to fit into once you come up with your product.

Also, in Helium10, I recommend looking at products in a similar area to yours and making sure that there are enough keywords that people are ranking on with volume (at least 1k searches). The more ways people can search for your product, the bigger your safety net.

And another things as far as having a safety net goes: with 3K you should actually be able to TEST a few products with a low MOQ (like 100 PCS).

You either have the choice of trying to launch one product that you feel confident about, or testing a few products and then going into some debt once one is proven... or waiting for more savings.

 

[Walter Hay]

I hope this is not seen as sneaky self promotion, but I really do want to help. It seems such a pity that masses of Amazon and eBay sellers are still stuck in the "copy the leader" rut.

There are two ways in which I would suggest you can find unique products, i.e., ones not yet sold in your country wherever you are. They both involve finding manufacturers in countries other than China, something that I have urged on this forum for several years.

One way is the DIY approach, which is likely to occupy many hours of searching. Look for B2B sites specific to countries that have manufacturing and export industries. Your big difficulty is that there are countless dubious sites claiming to be country specific, but they are sites that list paid sellers and they open specific websites for each country for which they see enough keyword searches.
Others are Buy/Sell trading sites used by opportunists, dreamers, and wishful thinkers hoping to get a breakthrough into the riches of the export/import industry. Don't waste your time on them.

The easy way with the best ROI in terms of return on your time converted to a $ value is to spend a relatively small amount to buy my 2019 importing book in which, as a results of months of searching, including actually navigating each site, I have listed genuine B2B sites in 41 countries including China.

Walter

 

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[AppMan]

I would leave that 3K to find some good idea , dont be in rush to use it .

 

[Entre Eyes]

First of all I have to high 5 you because you are crystal clear on the fact that none of us want to be in the same spot this time next year.

I myself was one of those that was swimming upstream for a while instead of going with the Proven Profitable Flow of things.

What we do today should be creating an Asset. If you are just selling one thing and it is not leading to some type of continued selling then the next guy is going to run rings around us.

For example you mentioned Freelance Writing.

I think this would pinpoint what I am getting it...

https://www.sidehustlenation.com/recurring-revenue-from-a-small-blog/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email

"A small blog doesn’t have to mean a small income.

By helping a specific group of people solve their problems, Carol Tice has attracted more than 1500 members — at $25 a month — to join her community.

Carol went from working as a freelance writer, to coaching others how to become freelance writers, to building one of the largest online membership sites for freelance writers."