I started selling on Amazon a few months ago, in the US and now in Europe and soon in Canada. I have sold 1000 units and counting of my first product, and my second product just hit the market a couple days ago so I've only sold 5, but I imagine that'll pick up too. I've got a few others on their way to the warehouse, one that's already in Amazon but available for sale in a couple days, and I have a pretty solid plan for expanding my niche (I think). I am just breaking even on my first product, but that's because with the packaging my product is oversized and I pay $3.50 extra per unit to Amazon, but soon that will be remedied and that will be profit.
I've also got a website and hope to move away from Amazon, and I haven't sold anything outside Amazon yet but I've been blogging and building my social media presence so here's hoping eventually I will! My products aren't unique by any means (well a couple of the ones in progress are), but the things I've done on my website that I thought were pretty obvious no competitor has: helpful blog posts, a shop with a cart, products all in the same niche, and a way to reach me.
Anyway, now that you know where my business stands, I want to tell you about my idea and would really appreciate if you could tell me if it's supremely stupid. I want to buy another eCommerce business that's already established. I've been looking into the ones for sale a lot and it's amazing to me that they sell for sometimes just double their annual cash flow. I could purchase one that would pay the purchase price off within two years, hopefully grow the business (for example, now that I'm already operating in Europe there a lot of US-based ones I could easily expand there), and possibly merge it with my current business at some point. I would be doing the same thing I'm already doing and could reinvest the cash flow into expanding my business more, while paying off the financing I would need to buy it.
I've held off on doing this not only because I haven't yet found a business where I'm totally happy with the numbers once I dig into the businesses for sale, but also because something feels like it's a bit of a shortcut. I didn't do the work to set up the business, so I feel like I'm skipping over the "process" part. It feels like cheating. However, my gut instinct is often wrong (there are plenty of products I thought would be a big hit, and there turned out to be negligible demand). And then I think about the fact that like many people I have rental properties where the rent is paying for the mortgage, and how is that any different, really? Except that I wouldn't call that entrepreneurship, and maybe this isn't either.
If you read all that, thank you! Please share with me your thoughts, and if you've bought a business, I would LOVE to hear your feedback on how that went for you and if you recommend it.
I've also got a website and hope to move away from Amazon, and I haven't sold anything outside Amazon yet but I've been blogging and building my social media presence so here's hoping eventually I will! My products aren't unique by any means (well a couple of the ones in progress are), but the things I've done on my website that I thought were pretty obvious no competitor has: helpful blog posts, a shop with a cart, products all in the same niche, and a way to reach me.
Anyway, now that you know where my business stands, I want to tell you about my idea and would really appreciate if you could tell me if it's supremely stupid. I want to buy another eCommerce business that's already established. I've been looking into the ones for sale a lot and it's amazing to me that they sell for sometimes just double their annual cash flow. I could purchase one that would pay the purchase price off within two years, hopefully grow the business (for example, now that I'm already operating in Europe there a lot of US-based ones I could easily expand there), and possibly merge it with my current business at some point. I would be doing the same thing I'm already doing and could reinvest the cash flow into expanding my business more, while paying off the financing I would need to buy it.
I've held off on doing this not only because I haven't yet found a business where I'm totally happy with the numbers once I dig into the businesses for sale, but also because something feels like it's a bit of a shortcut. I didn't do the work to set up the business, so I feel like I'm skipping over the "process" part. It feels like cheating. However, my gut instinct is often wrong (there are plenty of products I thought would be a big hit, and there turned out to be negligible demand). And then I think about the fact that like many people I have rental properties where the rent is paying for the mortgage, and how is that any different, really? Except that I wouldn't call that entrepreneurship, and maybe this isn't either.
If you read all that, thank you! Please share with me your thoughts, and if you've bought a business, I would LOVE to hear your feedback on how that went for you and if you recommend it.
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