I start my idea today (eCommerce + POD)

[Kid]

Bali

Bali? Effin cool!

Happy for ya!

 

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[Jeannen]

Bali? Effin cool!

Happy for ya!

Hehe, thanks !

I wrote that on my vision plan approx 1 year ago (same time as starting this post). Vision is really important. I picture myself being here almost everyday back then. Of course, it's my work that managed to "send" me here, but without the vision, I'll likely not be where I am today (even if it's not really that much to be honest)

 

[Jeannen]

07/05/2021

I updated my store with a new theme and sales went to shit since then. Really disappointed, I wanted to work on my store's branding, but it seems like it wasn't a good idea.
Only made $400 of sales, which is really shitty considering I was making $700-$800 before. The thing is that I changed too many variables at the same time, so I don't know if it's just Facebook doing shit or the website being shit.

I'll let it run for a few days to see how it's going and after that, I'll go back to my one theme if nothing changes.

In the meantime, I might have found an idea for a business, but I would need a dev. Reading stuff on how to hire a dev right now, I'm pretty sure it could work well.

 

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[Kid]

The thing is that I changed too many variables at the same time,

That is always tempting and always a major PITA afterwards.

 

[Jeannen]

That is always tempting and always a major PITA afterwards.

Yup, lesson learned lol

 

[Jeannen]

03/07/2021

$1000 MISTAKE

I was bored yesterday, so I sent a newsletter to my list featuring a new product.
Long story short, I didn't set up properly the shipping rates and made twice less money than I could have (around $1000).

Hopefully, I only sent it to 30% of my list before realizing it, so, issue fixed for the 70%, hopefully I'll get great results.

Other than this, I learned to make video editing on Adobe Premiere Pro. Took me the afternoon, but I now have a pretty cool creative I'm going to test on Facebook.
Launched some ads and stuff, will see how it goes.

I reached 6 figs of sales since January, but I almost made 0 profit from it because I reinvested everything in ads etc...

 

[Jeannen]

07/02/2021

I contacted logistic centers in China & US to get quotes. US shipping is cheaper than what I expected, but with my shitty margins, it will be too much for my F+S offer.

So, here is the potential plan:
- I send my most $ products ($40) in a shipping center with a fast delivery time (up to 2-5 days)
- If I'm right, that should increase the conversion rate of the product and "counterbalance" the profit lost. I'd say I'll loose around $2-3 profit per order due to increased shipping costs.
- I can measure the result of this experiment by measuring the value per visitor on my website (sales/visits for a specific product)

This survey is what makes me think this could improve the conversion rate:



Now, the thing is that since I'm using an aliexpress agent for my products right now, I pay wah more than if I'd buy in bulk, meaning that I can counterbalance the $2-3 profit loss (Ex: product costs $1.8, I could get it for $0.5)

 

[Jeannen]

08/07/2021: A decisive step

I'm currently negotiating with a shipping center, their rates are higher than my current agent, BUT, if I buy the product in bulk, it will cost me way less than what I pay with my agent rn.
So, to keep it stupidsimple:
Shipping costs would go up, but product costs would go down. For people ordering only one product, I would actually lose $0.3, but if they order more, I'll earn $0.70 more.

Coupled with the faster shipping rate and better packaging, that MIGHT improve my revenue per visitor.

Speaking of packaging, I'm trying to lower the cost of my current packaging for the Free + Shipping offer.
Overall, I'll try to reduce this offer as much as possible to focus on full-price ones. My goal is to create an experience instead of just sending products.

That will either make or break the business, as there is no coming back once I start using them and investing in inventory.
That also means that I'll have full control over the product and shipping (I had lots of issues because of that)

 

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[Jeannen]

14/07/2021
I spend the last few days thinking and writing ideas about my brand.


Here is how I'm improving my offer to create a memorable experience:

• 3 tiers of packaging depending on the order
  • F+S offer: Very simple packaging
  • Full price order: Normal packaging
  • Special orders: Premium gift box with bonus merch like stickers etc...
• Improved messaging by adding a card that will make them feel like "it's their very own" (can't give more details).
• Total rebranding to update to new values and make the brand more unique and distinguishable (I spent lots of energy on this, hopefully, that won't be a total flop)
• A subscription model to ship new products to customers every month. (Hopefully, will increase my Lifetime value)

And many other things. I'm very excited to set up all of this.

Upcoming issues: Taxes, Facebook compliance (changing domain name is not allowed), SEO loss, non-approval of my current customer's database.

Side note:
Also, I bought an iPhone to make high-quality pictures and an iPad to write down notes (I'm nomad so I don't have a whiteboard), and I have to admit that Apple is king to create user experience, got lots of inspiration from them.

 

[Pink Sheep]

04/08/2021

Reached $400 000 of sales in one year since I started the store, which is pretty good. I’d say the overall profit, if I remove the “mistakes spends” would be 10-15%

I defined goals with my team, hopefully we’ll be able to reach them

I feel slightly motivated tonight somehow, but that’s fine

You know how close you are to retirement right?

If you don't F*ck around and set up your business to do realy amazing for one year, and make it survive without you, you can sell the business for a your revenue times 3,4,5 perhaps. 400kx3 is 1.2 million.

 

[Jeannen]

Bookmarked.

I keep seeing people that have stepped up to the plate and who've made swings at businesses say that you get hit by "entreprenurial heroin" at some point... and that that coupled with an FTE can just demolish any obstacles in your way. I know you stated you had beforehand knowledge of ecommerce, shipping, and FB ads at the start of the thread... but you just demolished the walls you kept running into.

I popped into this thread because someone bumped it, and I saw "Oh he's making 400k/yr now... that's impressive", but then I checked out your first post...
Then the next one...
And the one after that...
And that's how I binged your entire thread.
You mentioned working up around 18 hours a day? I feel bad because I can only squeeze out 3-6 around my job... but that's just a bulls*** excuse, and I'm happy you showed that so clearly.
Cheers man, I hope everything works past your wildest dreams, and thanks for leaving crumbs for people that haven't had their first hit of that entreprenurial heroin.

Haha, definitely agree more. Sometimes I try to take a break but I can't, I just want to grow my biz, and I'm actually happy about that. I'm currently in Bali, one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I only visited 2 stuff, 2 months ago lol

And yeah, it's all about the process, step by step, $ by $
I wasn't expecting anything from this store at the beginning honestly, but now, I know I will scale it to 7 fig/year

As for 18 hours, it depends, I sleep on average 6h40, a few weeks ago I was going sleep --> work --> repeat non-stop, so I was definitely doing that, but I try to do some exercise in the morning now to not lose too much weight.
Overall I'd say at least 15h/day on average

If you have limited time, I recommend you to have a very organized schedule. Sounds like typical blabla bullshit, but that's true lol. One of the best ways I've recently found to plan your goals so far is this: whatmatters.com/get-started (you can also read the matching book "Mesure what matters" by John Doerr)

If you couple this with daily tasks & schedule, you should be able to make the most of your days.

 

[Jeannen]

26/08/2021
Been a while!

I hired the new graphic designer, she is pretty talented, and one of the last pieces of content she made has a 10% engagement rate, this is really good.
She's also good in terms of communications, ambitious and eager to learn, so I can definitely see her having more responsibilities later.

In terms of sales, I honestly didn't touch Facebook for a month now and it's doing ok. Slowly decreasing but it's normal. The designer is actually producing new ads so I'll be able to try those

The new warehouse I use is still very responsive, started using them to ship order last week, so I will see how it goes in term of delivery quality.

So far it's very calm for me, I don't want to push things more until I know for sure the warehouse is good ((I don't want to ship more inventory there to realize it was actually shit and then have to transfer everything).
So, mostly doing passive stuff like reading or entertainment.

I'll go back to France in early September for the vaccine, and hopefully will leave soon after.

Oh, and I'm also going to hire an email marketing agency, hopefully, they will be better than the one I had last time...

 

[Jeannen]

Huge mistake

My results are pretty good since the last few days, I was surprised

Then I checked my Facebook Ads manager and saw the budget for one of the campaigns wasn't $50/day but $500

Of course, it wasn't profitable

I destroyed a ton of cashflow with that shit

 

[Jeannen]

You said 2 and 4 is for your current store yet you catalog them as different projects? Isn’t it the same brand though so it would be considered an addition rather than a standalone project?

Nevertheless, these are just formalities.

Excited to see the results !

Yeah, for me a project is a product, some could be in the same brand if it makes sense (Same niche for example).

 

[woken]

So far I have 30 leads already at $1.5/each

Haven't sent an email to my list yet, that proves that there is at least interest in the product in cold audiences. When people subscribe, I send them a form to understand their needs better.

That actually gave me pretty good insights so far, things I thought they'd value actually aren't that valued by them.
I'll also try to email them personally to get more insights. So far, very happy with customers development

Good good. I’m glad it works out! The leads seem a bit more expensive butI assume they’re better targeted than my 0.25 leads

I also sent you a PM.

 

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[EMH]

Happy to hear this is all going in the right direction for you @Jeannen. Keep doing what you are doing!

 

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[Jeannen]

Please, for the love of f--- dont use shopping, wix, wordpress ect. Its only going to hurt your business in the long run with seo and performance issues along with your vehicle being dependent on their hosting services.

An AMA post with a successful 8 figure entrepreneur didn't use those cms builders. He hired professional developers. Use up work for the same purpose or learn to code yourself.

I use Shopify for all my store, not a huge fan of the dependency, but for now there is no way to get that much features and integrations without paying hundred thousands in dev

 

[Jeannen]

Good good. I’m glad it works out! The leads seem a bit more expensive butI assume they’re better targeted than my 0.25 leads

I also sent you a PM.

Yeah I saw, not really into scrapping, I'd rather make a legit audience that is super-targeted

 

[Jeannen]

04/12/2021

Leads are around $1.3-$1/each now depending on the adset, got + 250 total. I'm making split-tests with the landing page to improve the conversion rate (25-30% right now) and the same for the ads, testing other audiences and later creatives.
There are survey results I wasn't expecting but hey, trust data, not opinions.

Doubled the budget on ads, and I'll try to add a referral campaign where they can get the product for free if they invite X friends, that way if even 10% of people do it, I'll have a 1.1 organic growth factor, so, 10% more leads for the same budget.

 

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[Jeannen]

Yeah that's true. Idk people really didn't like what I had to say about it but if you're seeing success with it then who am I to judge...

I've tried multiple "free" eCommerce solutions available, Prestashop, Woocommerce, etc... Let's be honest, most suck compared to Shopify, in every regard. however, they can be great in 3 cases (same as coding your own website):

• You can't afford Shopify $30/month fee
• You already have an army of developers to improve them get a proper eCommerce website
• You have enough time to do it yourself

If you're in the first case, you probably have other issues to deal with before making a website. If you're on the second case, congrats on the success. If you're in the 3rd case, your time would probably be better spent in improving the product rather than coding the website from scratch. Once again, money like speed

The "risk factor" of the dependency is so low (even tho it still exists) that the benefit of spending time doing it is not worth it in most cases.

 

[woken]

08/12/2021

I finished the referral page where people can get a unique URL and refer their friends. For each amount of friends referred, they can earn free stuff. Hopefully, I'll get a 10% "virality" rate on that one.

Was a bit shitty to set up but it seems to be working properly.

I now have around 570 leads so far for $567 spend in marketing, so, around $1 per lead, which is pretty good considering the time (Ad cost is huge during Christmas, New year, etc...)
Got lots of positive feedback in emails of people saying they love the concept. Of course, the only way to know if it will really work is to get the $$$. But I'm pretty confident.

I don’t think it’s the case here but if somebody wants to do referral campaigns, set up the levels based on price per lead you usually pay or higher.

Eg : product costs $10, leads usually cost $1.
10 referrals = free product, or higher.

 

[Jeannen]

08/12/2021

I don’t think it’s the case here but if somebody wants to do referral campaigns, set up the levels based on price per lead you usually pay or higher.

Eg : product costs $10, leads usually cost $1.
10 referrals = free product, or higher.

Yes, that's what I used as a reference haha

 

[Jeannen]

18/12/2021

Here I am again, in the wasteland of waiting. I'm in one of those situations where there isn't much to do besides waiting.

The referral program isn't working as expected, but leads are still coming in for a pretty good price. I'm waiting for the suppliers to ship me the first samples, I'm waiting for the designer to make the designs, but besides that, there isn't much to do.

Been watching entertainment for the last few days since I don't have anything else to do besides small work tasks. That sucks, but I don't really see anything else I could do right now. Maybe I should take a few days off.

 

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[Jeannen]

16/01/2021

So, I ended took some vacation, and it felt good! Almost didn't work at all from the end of December to early January.

I received my first samples/prototypes (which still need improvement), launched ads, hired a new employee, and a bunch of other stuff.

I'm going to change my logistic center, as there are too many issues, and costs are crazy high. This time I'm going to ship from the US directly.

I ran ads to finish inventory for a product I bought recently and didn't promote (but still sold well) and ended up making $2,700 of sales for $800 of ad spend. I would say shipping costed me around $1000, so this generated around $900 of cash flow at the end (which I needed badly)
The product themselves cost me around that price tho, so, overall no profit, but I'm pretty confident the new collection is going to work well; ad costs were really good, people seem to love the product, and the new collection I'm doing a pre-launch for has a way better design (which is one of the main attributes of this product).

I'm waiting to receive samples from all suppliers, find a good warehouse in the US, and then start the pre-orders.

 

[Jeannen]

What did your first post say?

I just made a quick presentation of the concept with a picture showing the result people could get

 

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[Jeannen]

06/03/2021

Still waiting for samples.
I got scammed by one supplier who never sent samples properly, and pretty much the same for the second one. I only received samples from one.
Honestly, I'm pissed by Chinese suppliers, I don't think I want to work with them, considering there might be better options.

I ordered samples from a local manufacturer in Bali (Indonesia), they should arrive tomorrow. They fit way better with my brand, but they're more expensive. I also have to find a way to export them to US without ruining the cost.

I learned how to develop video games while I had free time, I was hoping to be able to publish one with my free time, but I'm realizing it's gonna take 10x more time and resources than I expected (pretty much like anything related to entrepreneurship actually).

I'm very pissed at myself, I feel like I'm in the same plateau for 5 years now.

 

[Jeannen]

It seems everyone is scaling their shitty stores to the moon and I’m still stuck in the same place.

Exactly, this is so fkign frustrating...

At least you are taking a lot of action.

I feel like I'm not doing shit. When I watch back two or four, other than knowledge, nothing has changed.

What do you think is holding you back?

Hard to say. Big thing rn is money. I started going crazy with product designs, but now I might lose my last consulting client, and so, my only source of income, so I'm a bit more careful.

Delays is also a big thing, waiting for suppliers and customs is annoying as hell

Also your VA, are they from? onlinejobs.ph or somewhere else? They sound amazing.

Yeah, all from onlinejobs.ph

I spend lots of time doing interviews tho, I was able to filter, and I don't consider them as "VA" but as real employees

Mines okay but I think I need to fire them.

I’ve done the same as you with very specific SOPs and she still doesn’t read them.

Lol, I'd have fired her in 2 days if I were you. There are lots of good VAs there, don't waste your time and money with bad ones. Give her a last chance, tell her that you need her to follow the process or you'll fire her

 

[MitchC]

18/03/2022

The local supplier I found is taking days to reply and is already one week late for the prototype. I feel like this is never going to end. I absolutely hate dealing with suppliers, no matter who I'm dealing with, there is always an issue. Incredible.

Well, seems like I'm not any close to starting selling my product. I once again feel discouraged, it's something I have had to live with daily for a while.
I continued developing the videogame on the side, as I don't really have other stuff to do. I'm pretty happy with my progress, the big bottleneck is graphics. I'm terrible at it, so I have to learn, and I'm probably going to hire someone for the animations.

The progression curve of my income since the beginning of this thread 2 years ago is absolutely flat. Sure, I learned a lot. But so far, nothing has worked as planned. Not a single thing succeeded, that's quite an achievement.

The factories are all closed due to a covid outbreak, I’m having the same problem.

It’s never ending.

I’m thinking of ditching ecom, it’s just getting harder and harder every year.

Shipping prices. Delays on production and shipping. Ad costs through the roof. Competition.

My first million podcast keeps saying it’s a 5/10 business model and I’m realising now that they’re right.

If I had put the effort and learning I’ve put in for the last 4-5 years into a better business model, I’d be a millionaire by now.

Edit: sorry this was a little bit negative I didn’t mean to clog your thread with negativity. I was just letting you know it’s not just you, it’s covid outbreak. And then went on a bit of a rant because I can relate to how you feel. I recently realised just how long I’ve been a member of this forum and I’m still not anywhere near where I want to be. I thought it was 3 years but it’s more like 9. Wow.

 

[Antifragile]

Applying zero based thinking: knowing what you now know, would you start this business again? If so, what one thing would you that if you did consistently would change your performance the most? If not, what would you do?

All business experience is useful. Some businesses just take the time to build up. They may look flat, but it could be like priming the water pump before the gush of water comes.

You can do it!

 

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[Jeannen]

The factories are all closed due to a covid outbreak, I’m having the same problem.

It’s never ending.

I’m thinking of ditching ecom, it’s just getting harder and harder every year.

Shipping prices. Delays on production and shipping. Ad costs through the roof. Competition.

My first million podcast keeps saying it’s a 5/10 business model and I’m realising now that they’re right.

If I had put the effort and learning I’ve put in for the last 4-5 years into a better business model, I’d be a millionaire by now.

Edit: sorry this was a little bit negative I didn’t mean to clog your thread with negativity. I was just letting you know it’s not just you, it’s covid outbreak. And then went on a bit of a rant because I can relate to how you feel. I recently realised just how long I’ve been a member of this forum and I’m still not anywhere near where I want to be. I thought it was 3 years but it’s more like 9. Wow.

The worst is that it's a local manufacturer, here in Bali, so there are no covid problems, it's just that they made mistakes on the deadlines and promised things they could not do. I contacted another one, and they told me they couldn't do what I wanted.

Then you see people selling their shitty monkey NFT and making millions, that's truly depressing.

I think there is still potential in eCommerce, but there is no room for a basic product Alibaba, you need to have your own, and sell through other channels. B2B, physical etc...
And no worries, negativity is part of entrepreneurship anyway, I guess it's good to vent sometimes