I haven't been around here for some time, but I learnt a lot from reading the threads here and I'd like to offer something back to the community.
First of all, a couple of disclaimers. I deliberately haven't chosen a clickbait title and I haven't quit my job or done anything crazy. That said, the ecommerce business that co-founded with my brother two years ago (our first ever business) is still growing and picking up traction. I think that there are a lot of really good threads here that might seem 'far out' to someone just starting out (from their insane success), so maybe this thread can fill the gap 'in between' from having nothing to having a wildly successful business.
I'm happy to answer questions on pretty much anything but I won't reveal my niche or my website.
Some background to the story... My brother worked in a shop and there was a particular product that used to always be out of stock and seemed to be in decent demand. We spoke one day about it and had the idea of setting up some kind of store selling this item to see what happens.
After doing some research online on sites like Alibaba, we found a few suppliers from China and negotiated with them (as per some of the threads on here). We got a some samples in and threw them onto a basic ecommerce website, and after making some sales we decided to increase inventory and keep the process going. We do still reinvest the majority of the money, but we have both gained an incredible amount of experience in running a business and all avenues within it. Even if this business were to fail, the education we have both gained is priceless.
We used to get about 4 orders a month when we first started and we are doing 50-60 on average now. There are a lot of things I would do differently than when I first started, but I put these down to lessons learned.
Hopefully I can share this experience with you guys here and help out! Does anyone have any questions?
First of all, a couple of disclaimers. I deliberately haven't chosen a clickbait title and I haven't quit my job or done anything crazy. That said, the ecommerce business that co-founded with my brother two years ago (our first ever business) is still growing and picking up traction. I think that there are a lot of really good threads here that might seem 'far out' to someone just starting out (from their insane success), so maybe this thread can fill the gap 'in between' from having nothing to having a wildly successful business.
I'm happy to answer questions on pretty much anything but I won't reveal my niche or my website.
Some background to the story... My brother worked in a shop and there was a particular product that used to always be out of stock and seemed to be in decent demand. We spoke one day about it and had the idea of setting up some kind of store selling this item to see what happens.
After doing some research online on sites like Alibaba, we found a few suppliers from China and negotiated with them (as per some of the threads on here). We got a some samples in and threw them onto a basic ecommerce website, and after making some sales we decided to increase inventory and keep the process going. We do still reinvest the majority of the money, but we have both gained an incredible amount of experience in running a business and all avenues within it. Even if this business were to fail, the education we have both gained is priceless.
We used to get about 4 orders a month when we first started and we are doing 50-60 on average now. There are a lot of things I would do differently than when I first started, but I put these down to lessons learned.
Hopefully I can share this experience with you guys here and help out! Does anyone have any questions?
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member:
Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Access Restricted: Unlock 1,000,000+ Posts
Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.
You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.
- Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
- MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
- Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
- Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."— User Richard Peck
"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?
