The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Making $5K a month by August 2015

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Are you a morning person?


  • Total voters
    120

Dinho7

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Apr 7, 2014
130
202
South Florida
I never said that :). Keep up the work

I didn't mean that you had said it, I could just imagine it in my head. And it worked, at least for today.

Plan of action today:
  • Add prices and descriptions to new products in our store
  • List product on the "Craigslist" of our target market's country
  • Leave helpful comments with a link to my business in relevant news articles and blog posts
  • Make forum accounts and start helping people that could be interested in our products
  • Try to make affiliate deals with bloggers
  • Some other small things
  • Play poker! The withdrawal was processed today!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

xhcsurge

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
72%
Jul 21, 2012
54
39
Belgium
Any progress?
 

Birdie

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
69%
Dec 24, 2014
52
36
34
Miami, FL
Any progress?
Hi xhcsurge,

It's been a while since we last updated (almost a month!). We've both been working 13 hours days or longer on the business.

First, let me back up to March: it was hell. We barely made any sales and mounting debt. It landed Dinho in the ER. The major pressure to make a living with the debt that we had taken on was too much. In the end, Dinho's health is doing better by cutting back the stress but mainly because we are past the stage of zero sales.

By the end of March, things started looking up and all the problems that we went through changed our mindset. I began taking a look into our life, tightening up our budget, cutting wants and becoming more minimalist. It was hard giving up our possessions, but as we were going through the process of cutting out the non-essentials (tablet, furniture, etc), we started feeling free. Not only did we sell stuff but also gave away a ton and threw away even more. I started feeling less overwhelmed about our finances because I knew that less stuff meant a more simpler life, where I can prioritize my family and the business because there is not much room for else.

Fast forward to now, we are making over $5K in sales (not profit, sales!, keep in mind). We are struggling with cashflow problems now because we have too many sales and run through inventory too fast. It's a problem that we are happy to have.

Basically, where we stand with the numbers is:
$27K in debt (inventory, website, other business expenses, $8k of living expenses for the months we had no sales)
So, since March we have managed to repay $3K on our debt and pay ourselves. However, we are constantly running up the credit cards to get inventory.

Obviously, this would go a lot faster if we were not paying ourselves first, but it's a decision we have made. According to our calculations, we will be able to repay most of the debt without paying interest, since most of it is 0%apr until August or January 2016.

Keep in mind that we are now selling through 5 different channels outside United States.

I wish I could go back to the beginning where we had $11k to put towards inventory. Dinho says that we would have never made it if we didn't make all those mistakes first, and I agree completely. Our plan has been liquidating slowly the inventory that we do have so that we can free up cash to put towards our best selling products.

It's been a hard and lonely road and it is far from over. I feel like we need to make a ton more mistakes to get on the road to success, and it might take a while to get there, but I am fully prepared to make the sacrifice and believe in this. It's especially hard to believe when you are nearly bankrupt and you feel the uncertainty, but I believe this road will lead us to ultimate (financial) peace and freedom later on.
 

Dinho7

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Apr 7, 2014
130
202
South Florida
First of all, I would like to 1) yet again send a big thanks to everybody that kicked our asses back in the winter, and 2) apologize for not posting an update before now. After the last update in March we got suspended on our main channel, leading to hospitalization for me due to high amounts of stress. I know it doesn't make sense, but I have been a bit paranoid and superstitious about it, not wanting to risk anything in order to keep providing for my family.

Long story short(?)...

I took about a week off after a night in the hospital. I got a complicated migraine attack that seemed like a stroke, so it was kind of scary actually. I have never called 911 (on my own behalf) before. I took a week completely off after being sent home the following day, watching Netflix and sleeping in until late while racking up debt like a true slowlaner. It was a great investment in my health and our business. Within the end of March, we were back on Amazon and sales started coming in. I soon realized that we could not just pay our bills and some of the debt, but that could be debt free very soon. My initial goal of 10 sales a day quickly rose to 30, then to 40 and 50.

The only thing that was holding us back in April and May was cash flow. We were maxed out on all our credit cards and had to wait for bi-weekly payments from Amazon and Stripe. The worst thing was that we made a deal with a Groupon-like site in another country and sold way more than expected. You get paid a month later there, so it was a huge issue for us. I had been trying to get into that site with some deals for a long time, and they kept ignoring us while our Amazon venture was dormant. THEN exactly when we needed cash to grow our Amazon business, this deal's site accepted us and required us to offer "huge" quantities to their customers.

Crazy to go from almost no sales, to having TOO many sales in such short period of time...

In May and June we managed to reduce our credit card debt and re-invested everything we could in more inventory. We had occacional days of 70+ sales, and raked in around $10k per month before taxes.

In July I started to get burned out, and with the help of a mastermind group I attend, I hired the mother of one of my best friends to do purchases and prepping for me. Not only do I get more time to focus on the business, I also get to spend more time with my family, and my stress levels have reduced dramatically.

Now we are selling around 60+ per day, with a pre-tax profit of around $13-15k a month. We are (credit card) debt free after being $35k in the red just 5 months ago. The next goal is to set aside an emergency fund of $5k and at least three months worth of savings. I never want to go back to how it was in March with no sales, tons of debt and immense stress.

Lessons learned:
  • There is always time to run a business, no matter how "busy" you are. It's all about what you are willing to sacrifice in the process. (Thanks Fastlaners!)
  • While being in a bad financial spot fires you up because you HAVE TO make it work, I would still recommend having some savings before you start your own venture. Many businesses take a long time to show profit, if they do it at all. For us, it took around 4-5 months from launch or 8 months since I started working on the project. We were lucky not to dry completely up before it turned around.
  • Don't be too dependent on one income source. We went from selling 8-9 items a day, to basically a few sales a week, and back up to 30/day again. All because we were at mercy of a marketplace that can do whatever they want to their sellers. If you have eggs in more baskets, you have more control and less risk.
  • Good habits are a must to run a successful business. My productivity is a direct result of how I start my mornings and how many bad habits I avoid during the day. I have not heard of many successful entrepreneurs that wake up at noon, eat pizza and never pick up a book.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Dinho7

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Apr 7, 2014
130
202
South Florida
What's the road ahead? Hard to say. I feel like what we are doing - retail arbitrage - is not something sustainable. We depend too much on channels we do not have any control over, and we also depend on our distribution channels that often are hard on resellers. Right now it is a GREAT way to pay down our debt and start saving and investing some money. I work around 35-40 hours a week from home with my employee helping me (used to be 70+), and I am able to take time off when needed to be with my family. BUT... I know that this venture might be short-lived. I just want to extract as much money as I can so that I can be in good financial shape of building something more sustainable and of more value to the world.

I am considering creating a blog with my experiences as an entrepreneur in my native country, and help people fulfill their own dreams and start businesses. I have learned a TON from being five years in the US when it comes to business. Sadly, a lot of European cultures do not have the same view upon business and entrepreneurship.

This is something I can do on the side while running our current business, because I know it will take months and a lot of hard work to pump out consistent value before there will be any money coming in from ads, coaching, courses or whatever it might be.
 

Mr.B

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
207%
Nov 8, 2014
377
780
Australia
I'm really pleased that things are working out for you guys.

:)
 

Dinho7

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Apr 7, 2014
130
202
South Florida
Time for a little update again. Things are going well for us, despite a rough month in September. We have learned a lot of lessons and keep learning every day, every week.

August was crazy. We had 2,100 sales and around $15k in net profit.
September was very bad. Sales dropped more than 50 % and we sold only right above 1,000 items.

I attribute this to a lot of reasons:
1) More competition on the items we are selling.
2) I simply took my foot off the pedal. I sent my employee to do shopping and lost my vision to see how we could grow the business. It was almost like I did not want more sales in August because I was overloaded with work and barely could keep up with the orders.
3) Change of season. We are selling mostly summer products.
4) I went on vacation for 2 weeks to see my family in Europe for the first time in 13 months

We have been working very hard in October to get sales back up. We have 1,263 sales so far this month and will end up right below 1,500.
We are transitioning and taking in more winter/all-year products, and we have 1700 items (not different SKUs) in our inventory, worth upwards of $25k.

Black Friday and Christmas is coming up. We were not in business for this season last year, so it is going to be very interesting to see how high the volume will be.

We are basically debt free and are clear about what we want going forward. This is our plan:

1) Keep going 100 % with this business until next summer. When we get back up to 2,000 sales a month, we will have around $8k savings after business expenses, taxes and personal spending is subtracted.

2) $8k x 9 months = $72k. We will spend $50k for a big down payment for a mortgage (we do not qualify for a regular loan since we had losses in 2014 and minimal income in 2013). The rest ($22k) will be used for emergency fund and working capital for new projects.

3) I am working on a business blog that I hope can lead to consulting and income from ads and affiliate marketing. I know it will take a long time to get to the point where I can monetize it, and I am prepared to pump out value for a long time. That's why I am starting it now while we still have good income from our main business.

4) Move to Barcelona, Spain - a city we both fell in love with on a short visit in 2013. At this point, we will have rental income from our first property (with no mortgage), while the tenant in the other property will be paying off the mortgage and expenses for us. We will have approximately $5k in net profit from the business with just some guidance and administrative work from the other side of the Atlantic. By then, I plan to have build a good reputation of helping struggling entrepreneurs and people who consider making the entrepreneirual leap through my own brand, and will start monetizing and turn it into our main income stream as a long-term play.

5) My wife wants to get into private labeling & FBA. I think its a great opportunity and there is a lot of money to be made with appropriate research and the right execution.

Feel free to punch holes in our plan. We are still in the planning phase and we do not know exactly what we are going to do, but it is good to have some dreams and an extra motivating factor to wake up for in the morning.

Also, if you are considering starting out with Amazon/eBay etc., please ask and I will do my best to address your questions.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Chazmania

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
174%
May 23, 2013
465
811
USA
So what are you selling these days, is it your own product or still doing retail arbitrage?

How are things going as we move into Xmas season?
 

Dinho7

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Apr 7, 2014
130
202
South Florida
Hey Chazmania, I appreciate the interest!

This is purely retail arbitrage, which is why I am not fanatically excited about this venture even though things are going very well. Low barrier to entry, little control, etc. Basically going completely most of MJ's commandments (CENTS). BUT, the money is very good and it allows us to learn, grow and save aside some cash to reach our short-term goals.

I got myself a small office space for a very good price ($275), and I have been working intensely on the administrative part to get sales back up to 2000/mo. I have a part-time employee that is assisting me in purchasing and bagging. After a slow start to November, we have now sold 1,100 items, with half of them coming the last week. Not sure if it is the Christmas season starting, or if it is because I have been working 70+ hour weeks to increase sales. Perhaps a combination of both.

I still struggle to sleep well at night. We get "massive" 15-25k payments every two weeks, but after personal bills are paid, everything goes right back into inventory to keep growing. A buffer would certainly help and I could get that by taking the foot off the pedal for 2 weeks or so. But that would come at the expense of hampered growth, and is not very smart now as Christmas is approaching.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Chazmania

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
174%
May 23, 2013
465
811
USA
This is purely retail arbitrage, which is why I am not fanatically excited about this venture even though things are going very well
You guys had a problem to solve (cashflow) and you solved it. Period. That's awesome even if it breaks the commandments - great job, and I really enjoyed reading your thread.

Not sure if it is the Christmas season starting, or if it is because I have been working 70+ hour weeks to increase sales. Perhaps a combination of both.
Either way you're not just sitting on your a$$ hoping something will happen. You're making it happen.

I still struggle to sleep well at night.
I used to have trouble with this too. Something that that I found that still works great for me is an all natural combo that I take before bed.
The 1st is Valerian Root and the 2nd is HTP5 (tryptophan). I take a pill of each before bed and within about 30 - 40 minutes I'm out like a light. Some of the best sleep I've ever had really. I'd say it's mostly the Valerian Root that does it though.

The Valerian Root suggests taking 2 - 3 capsules but I've found that to be too much, so I just take one.

Now, I'm certainly no doctor and you definitely should do your own research, but it really works great for me.

I'd get so wrapped up in projects and sometimes they become stressful that I would lay in bed and my mind would be going 1,000 miles per hour. Sometimes it would also be from pure excitement about something I'm doing too but either way I just couldn't sleep!

Unfortunately that starts to catch up and cause all kinds of other issues so I started looking for natural sleep aids. That was a few years ago now and I take that combo almost every night. It totally solved it.

But anyway, I'm glad to hear everything is going well for you guys and I hope you really kill it over the holiday season!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Dinho7

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Apr 7, 2014
130
202
South Florida
Thanks for the advice, Chazmania. It is interesting that you mention Valerian, because my wife and I both used to take it to be able to sleep when we struggled the most. It works really well. Right now, I used it more as a figure of speech. I meant to say that I am always on the edge and worried about the worst-case scenario (counterfeit claims, hacked account, suspended account etc). I know chances of that are really slim, but getting suspended in March really put a scare into us.
 

Dinho7

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
155%
Apr 7, 2014
130
202
South Florida
Update:

Right after my last post in November, the Black Friday & Christmas rush started. I thought I was prepared by increasing inventory by 30 % during the month of October, but I was very, very wrong.

Sales were insane for four weeks between November 26 and December 21.

Month - Items sold - Revenue - Estimated pre-tax profit

November - 2337 - $94,500 - $14,500
December - 3207 - $132,900 - $21,000
January - 1240 - $51,200 - $6,300

Big drop in sales in January. I attribute this to a variety of factors:
  • A lot of key products out of stock in the stores, which means that we were unable to offer it as well
  • We were completely burned out after the Christmas rush. I ended up in the hospital last year due to stress, so I have taken the foot off the pedal so far this year. I feel it is time to step up the game again.
  • Higher prices in stores = Our items offered at a higher price = Less sales
  • Lack of organization in this growth period
On track for about 1,300 items sold for this month, which is a little disappointing.

We have identified a lot of new products to offer, so I am confident we can get back up to 2,000 sales in March.

Other news:
  • We have hired our (previously) part-time employee on a full-time basis. Looking to onboard a college student for internship as well.
  • I have hired a mentor for weekly coaching. So far working out really well - a few tips I received can reduce inventory costs by 10-15 %.
  • Excited to be able to attend my first Fastlane Summit conference next week!
The goal for 2016 is to build a buffer of at least $50,000, outsource all aspects of the business after ensuring it generates $10k/mo in net profit (for us), and then move to Barcelona, Spain.
 

Birdie

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
69%
Dec 24, 2014
52
36
34
Miami, FL
Update:

We just got an office! We're both so excited to finally have a space to work:hurray:

We analyzed the expense, which is not over 8-10% of our profit and/or revenue margin. It has 250 sq ft and two desks. We are happy because it provides space for us to work on shipments, packages, photography, and administrative work. It is our goal to have it freestanding so that our employees can take over the business while we are not here (we want to move to Spain).

A great advantage of this office is that it is 5 minutes away driving, so my time spent paying a nanny to take care of our toddler is well-spent.

In other news, since we last posted here, we both graduated with Bachelor's in Business. We are not students anymore! Looking back at it, I think that we need our time in school to mature into being business owners, however it stings that we spent upwards of $100K to study between both of us and we still have some student loans to pay. We will not be paying those loans in full even though we can, because we think its wiser to invest that money instead.

Dinho had a great time in the Fastlane Conference, and came back all fired up:)

Even though I couldn't attend the conference, I am looking forward to opportunities that I might have in the future to do so. One of the reasons I didn't go was that I made a huge mistake to "work with family". There is a lot of wisdom on NOT working with family. I tried to hire my dad and stepmom and we burned $4K that we'll never get back. I'm just trying not to have negative feelings about it and let it go. Lesson learned not to a) pay salaries in advance and b) do business with family that doesn't have the right mindset for business.

I've wanted to get more experience in real estate, so we are saving up to buy another property. Meanwhile, we currently live in a one-bedroom that I'm rehabbing so that it becomes a rental property when we move out. I spent $7K redoing the 10x10 kitchen with all new plywood cabinets and quartz countertop with undermount sinks, including changing two bathroom cabinets with the same materials. We've also replaced all the appliances (fridge, stove, dishwasher, built-in microwave).

Overall, I'm really happy with the quality of the materials and the labor cost, which could have ended up at $30K if done with big box stores. It might have been too "nice" for a rental, but I learned a lot about materials and processed used. I still have tons of work to do with tiling the floors and paint, but I'm excited to learn about all this major home renovation projects and I feel that going into real estate could be good for us too.

Thank you for all your advice and kind words- they really helped us to get to where we are today.:happy:
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Chazmania

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
174%
May 23, 2013
465
811
USA
How is everything going for you guys? Any updates?
 

ModernAlpha

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
132%
May 3, 2016
50
66
39
Long Island, New York
Wow great story! I just read this entire thread and have to admit, in the beginning I thought it was going to be a venture you guys just gave up on. So pleasantly surprised that you guys are now successful!! Seems like at a certain point you really got focused and improved your work ethic so that is awesome and inspirational.

Any updates?
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top