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I start my idea today (eCommerce + POD)

Jeannen

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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.

Yeah, I told myself that it would be nice to leave a track, something I would have liked to see when just starting. I also started to record short videos, don't know yet what I'm going to do with them
 
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Jeannen

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I'm in the process of hiring a graphic designer to help me create social media content & ads.
To reach the next step for my company, I'll have to hire people the right people and manage them. This is an area I will heavily have to improve, as I am terrible with people in general. Luckily I do have experience in teaching, but I need to learn management from nothing.

"High Output Management", "Who, the A-method" and "Measure what matters" are 3 great books who helped me so far

As for the work itself, it's pretty quiet right now, as I am waiting for the logistics to be put up together. I took some time for me to play dumb videogames with friends. Can't wait to have a new huge mountain of work to finish
 

Jeannen

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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

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Back in France for the vaccine, motorcycle license, and other stuff, I hope to leave asap as I hate being here and it's very expensive.

I recently added hoodies design to my stores, and it seems to sell pretty well. I'm not making a profit because it's print on demand, but since sales are pretty good, I'm going to order inventory for this one. I'll be receiving samples soon, it's going to cost me, but I think it's worth it.

Hoodies can have a very good margin, if I get them for $10 and sell them for $40, that's $30 margin that could be used in ads.
 
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Jeannen

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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

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Things are still very slow since I'm back in France. Currently working on sourcing my new apparel products out of POD platforms (who increased their price yesterday). I'm ordering samples and then I'll order in bulk.
The sales on those models are surprisingly good, my designer did a very good job, I sell some without making ads, but the current margin is shit. It's only good to test the concept before buying in bulk.

So, next steps for me are pushing more of this apparel line, and start advertising them once I'll have my own inventory. I should have a pretty good margin on it. I'm currently between 5% and -5% for those models, and it should go up to 40% if I buy in bulk (not including ads)

Goal for Q4 is to find at least 2 product/offers with a profitable margin (10% net after acquisition cost).
 

Jeannen

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Back in Bali, I can finally focus again after not doing shit for like 2 months because of transit and personal shits to deal with


Main e-commerce brand is very slow, but I didn't put any effort into updating my ads or anything. It's ok tho, I'm working on products right now.

I do have 3 projects on the go. I learned about product design and manufacturing and currently waiting for samples and designs. My goal for 2022 is to have 3 profitable brand/projects. With a 1/5 success ratio, I'll have to launch 15 projects.
Those are very pessimistic projections, meaning that if I actually launch 15 products, I'm almost 100% sure at least 3 will stick.

1 is a big project currently being prototyped.
2nd is a medium project for my current store, waiting for the design to be made.
3rd is a medium project, I'm waiting for samples (the base product is the same, just with a slightly different design)
4th is a small project for my current store, final products are being made (I got the prototypes while in France)

For the 3rd project, I'm trying to get it on track as fast as possible. For this, I'll have to plan very efficiently all the steps. I'm going to make "fake" local prototypes that will look the same as the product to make content since shipping from China is pretty long. That way, I can have ads ready before the products arrive. Same for packaging, I'll maybe pay $50 for 4 packaging but at least I can go fast. But it's worth it, money love speed

Basically, everything that can be done before receiving the final product, in a way or another, will be done before. I'm going to use a pre-launch strategy for this one
 
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woken

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23/11/2021

Back in Bali, I can finally focus again after not doing shit for like 2 months because of transit and personal shits to deal with


Main e-commerce brand is very slow, but I didn't put any effort into updating my ads or anything. It's ok tho, I'm working on products right now.

I do have 3 projects on the go. I learned about product design and manufacturing and currently waiting for samples and designs. My goal for 2022 is to have 3 profitable brand/projects. With a 1/5 success ratio, I'll have to launch 15 projects.
Those are very pessimistic projections, meaning that if I actually launch 15 products, I'm almost 100% sure at least 3 will stick.

1 is a big project currently being prototyped.
2nd is a medium project for my current store, waiting for the design to be made.
3rd is a medium project, I'm waiting for samples (the base product is the same, just with a slightly different design)
4th is a small project for my current store, final products are being made (I got the prototypes while in France)

For the 3rd project, I'm trying to get it on track as fast as possible. For this, I'll have to plan very efficiently all the steps. I'm going to make "fake" local prototypes that will look the same as the product to make content since shipping from China is pretty long. That way, I can have ads ready before the products arrive. Same for packaging, I'll maybe pay $50 for 4 packaging but at least I can go fast. But it's worth it, money love speed

Basically, everything that can be done before receiving the final product, in a way or another, will be done before. I'm going to use a pre-launch strategy for this one
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 !
 

Jeannen

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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).
 

Jeannen

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30/11/2021

Damn, it's been a great week.

Project #4 is ready to launch, I spend the day creating the whole funnel yesterday, from landing page to ads and automated emails. Ads start tomorrow doing lead generation.
Haven't been productive like that for a long time. Even tho the store is not profitable, I have an email list of 70,000 persons who are potentially interested in the niche. I'm going to blast an email soon.

The product sells for $40, costs me $15, and has a $6 shipping cost (from China). It means I make around $19 of profit per unit sold (without acquisition costs).

If 1% of my list buy the product, that will be:
• 1% of 70,000 = 700
• 700 x $19 = $13,300
• $13,300 of profit

I also progressed a lot on Project #3, samples are on their way, and branding is being made by my designer.

A guy I know was making a photo shooting Sunday for his products, I asked if I could come to watch, this has been one of the most valuable Sundays I ever had. I learned a shit ton just by being around him, seeing how he worked and everything.
 
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woken

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If 1% of my list buy the product, that will be:
• 1% of 70,000 = 700
• 700 x $19 = $13,300
• $13,300 of profit
Always pays yo have a good list :)

let us know how it went
 

Jeannen

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Always pays yo have a good list :)

let us know how it went
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
 
Last edited:

woken

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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 :rofl:

I also sent you a PM.
 
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Christopher104

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Create a store (should take me 4-5h to get it fully done)
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.
 

woken

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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 think you’ve started on the wrong foot here mate..
 

Jeannen

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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

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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 :rofl:

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

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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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Christopher104

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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
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...
 

Jeannen

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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.
 

Jeannen

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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.
 
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woken

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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

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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

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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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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.
 

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So, I decided to hide all products except one, it will make things simpler to launch. It's the "cheapest" product (25€), so it would probably be the easiest to sell.
Website is fully done.

I'll start from there, promoting the concept around a single product, and will see how it go from there.

As you can see, I didn't progress much in the last few days. My FB post is ready to go, but it seems like I'm finding excuses to not hit the "publish" button.

I watched this video to help me overcome this, but I realized that there was very little risk. I'm just crippled by social anxiety. That sounds stupid af, but that's something causing me real issues in general.

Anyway, I just published the post in a FB group while writting. Since it's a promotional post, it will probably not be approved since posts need to have admin approval, but I'm glad I did it.
What did your first post say?
 

Jeannen

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Long time no post!
I haven't done much since then, as I'm STILL waiting for my supplier to ship me the proper samples. This is so annoying, there is too much shit going on every time. Wrong fabric, wrong colors, bad quality. This is really pissing me off, I'm already one month late on my schedule.

In the meantime, I learned how to code, since I had plenty of free time. One of my long-term projects is to open a video-game studio, so, why not start now since I have nothing better to do.
 

Jeannen

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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.
 

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