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The Chronicles Of DDall - A Progress/Execution Thread (Damn $3Mg/$700Knet!)

ddall

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Quick update...

I finally quit my job this past Christmas after profit per day closed in on $2K/day. December sales were $600K. I've also hired an employee and my work/life balance is superb after the last few years of grinding. 2016 was $3M US in sales, roughly $700K profit, 90% of which went right back in or paid off borrowed funds.

I spend my days now learning/reading/watching (course and YouTube)/listening( to podcasts), looking for new opportunities, devising new ideas and implementing high-level tasks (mostly, still some emails here and there). Great insights come at the intersection of what initially seem to be unrelated ideas/knowledge/experience, and so I am continually trying to expand my view and thus the opportunity for new insights/blue oceans.

Have expanded to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.Ca.

Monthly revenue right now (have about 30 odd products, 5 out of stock, with 15 more in production) including the .ca and .co.uk is around $350K/month, but I'm really hoping to dial things up with the implementation of a new website and warehouse and a very aggressive product expansion. Things are moving slower than desired due to, as usual, China.

All products in development are a custom design.

Hiring an employee was a great choice, and I also believe working my job until it became irrelevant (from a financial perspective) helped mitigate risk and allow me to weather the massive delays with production and other issues. I would suggest all entrepreneurs consider keeping their day job as long as possible (studies also show these entrepreneurs are more successful, they have a longer runway and can withstand the difficulties of getting momentum and profitability). I think the burn the boats mentality leads to failure more then it provides further incentive.
 

ddall

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Ok, learning. Here are a few sources I found useful thus far. Note there are so many others I simply did not write down or cannot remember...Most of these I recalled or had bookmarked. Also, if you aren't an INSIDERS, you are not serious about your success. Read every Gold thread.

Books: I primarily use Audible when driving:
Books:

The Millionaire Fastlane

The Personal MBA

Street Smarts

Psycho Cybernetics

The Dip

How to Get Rich - Felix Dennis

Ready, Fire, Aim

Think and Grow Rich

How to Win Friends and Influence People

The E-Myth Revisited

The Lean Start Up

4-Hour Work Week

Gary Halbert – Boron Letters

Ca$hvertising

Also, I posted this in INSIDERS before. It is taken from another author who has summarized some of the best books out their on business. It is filled with gold:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ng-marketing-motivation-and-technology.49485/

Intro's to Ecomm/Importing:
Start up Bros:

http://www.startupbros.com/how-you-...ng-from-china-the-rise-and-fall-of-my-empire/ This gentle man has also posted on the forum.

Addicted to Passive Income thread. Legendary: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...rs-addicted-to-passive-income-deposits.35694/

Dipping my toes into importing:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/insiders-dipping-my-toes-into-importing.44787/

How to create SOMETHING... from NOTHING. https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...s-how-to-create-something-from-nothing.47966/

Ask me about Ecommerce: Fantastic thread, unfortunately it is gone. I do have a PDF of it summarized if anyone wants it.

AM/MEDIA BUYING

Course:
AFF Beast CPA Marketing Courses. Good intro:

http://affbeast.com/library/courses/#.Ui5Tzj9FZsU

Traffic Blackbook 2.0 $97 Good course, somewhat advanced.

Threads:

AMA - Affiliate Marketing + Guide "How I Made $5K w/ 1 Campaign

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...eting-guide-how-i-made-5k-w-1-campaign.47167/

Online Media Buying Resource Thread

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/online-media-buying-resource-thread.43885/

I've read dozens more, use the search function. Some very interesting AMA's as well.

Copywriting

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ert-30-day-challenge-copywriting-group.50217/

http://www.digitalmarketer.com/landing-page-bullets-that-sell/

http://s3.amazonaws.com/localbiz/Ultimate Headline Swipe File.pdf

Again, these are but a smidgin of what is out there, and a rather random few links. I just had these bookmarked.

Random
Funnels:
http://www.digitalmarketer.com/customer-value-optimization/
Shipping:
https://shipgooder.com
Facebook: See JasonR's call and thread. Also this is a good free video :
http://www.gauherchaudhry.com/facebook-marketing-for-more-traffic-leads-sales/

Blogs:
foreverjobless
tropicalMBA
DigitalMarketer
Imscalable

I will add more as I recall or come across.
 
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biophase

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2016 was $3M US in sales, roughly $700K profit, 90% of which went right back in or paid off borrowed funds.

For people not in ecommerce and reading this thinking that he's out buying a lambo, going from $0 to $3m in sales in 2 years and $700k in profit pretty much means that you are break even, and will be in the hole another few years.

If you assume a 30% COGs, that means that he sold $900,000 worth of inventory in 2016, so where do you get the $900,000 to buy inventory at the beginning of 2016? You borrow it. So as he mentioned, he did have to pay back borrowed funds. I never borrowed money so my business grew slower as I had to pick and choose which inventory to buy more of.

We also know that Ddall is not doing $3M in sales again, he's probably going to do $5M. So he needs $1.5M in inventory. Guess where that is coming from? Yes, the original $900,000 and $600,000 of his $700,000 profit (which was probably $500,000 after taxes).

Just wanted to point this out. Ecommerce is very cash intensive once you get going. It took me years to actually get cash out of the business. If you are growing, even with healthy margins you are always catching up to your inventory.
 

ddall

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Ok, I figured it is time I start a thread and chronicle my journey, sharing the insights I learn along the way and throwing them back out into the forum nexus where many a golden nugget I have taken and dissected.

This thread will include primarily three main things: Process -updates on progress, mistakes learned, insights gained. Learning resources -links to resources I've found useful. Mindset - the mindset to win.

Firstly, a small bio: I'm 31 (wow already?), I have a small family (1 yearold boy) and young spouse. I have a BBA in Finance from UofT. I despised every moment of my education, and deem it's only value in establishing somewhat of a mental discipline. I worked for a major bank for a few years before dying of boredom. I presently work as a private investigator for a high end firm, specializing in surveillance, due diligence and risk assessment for major companies, mostly insurance. I'm very good at what I do, which is essentially follow people discreetly and obtain video documentation of where, when, how and with whom they conduct themselves. It pays well, better than the bank. But, more importantly, this is MJ's limo job. I have hours and hours of downtime, waiting for 'action'. This is paid time I utilize learning. I don't want to be a PI any longer. I want to control my own destiny. I seek to divorce my time from my money. I desire to challenge myself, to grow, and actualize some level of fulfilment. I have always found a deep satisfaction in the pursuit of achievement, physical and mental. When working towards a goal and vision daily, I never feel so content in spirit, so excited and energized. I'm addicted to learning, growing and mastering.

My first foray into online business came a few years ago. I had ZERO technical background when it came to computers and online experience. I started from the ground up, literally Googling: "how to make a web page", which taught me I was in a world of which I had no knowledge. It was overwhelming. Nearly a year later, after obsessive learning, I created a website which, overtime and after contacting numerous website owners, became and affiliate site. I somehow started earning 300-400/day, deposited in my paypal every evening. It was addictive.

Unfortunately, I built a house of cards, founded on cheap SEO and when Google came around with Panda, I watched it all evaporate overnight. I was gutted, and after sacrificing so much time and energy, I was jaded, and burnt out. I left it at that, and went back to a more impulsive, hedonistic way of life, indulging in booze, clubbing, toys like my motorcycle and lifting.

Fast-forward to today, I have a family now, and it seems a renewed sense of focus and desire to create something of value, something where I have control.

My first venture is one shared by Vigilante, 1Step, Jajt, JasonR, Eskil and a number of others. That is, it is the import, branding, FBA and eComm model.

To start the thread, I'll begin by sharing some of the sources I've used to help with my education. Check my following post.
 
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ddall

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You're killing it man. Love seeing the progression as the years go by.

Ordering 1000 units at one time for $16k must seem like ages ago.

It really does. What is interesting is the desensitisation to amounts of money. What once seemed momentous, now seems insignificant. What once seemed impossible, now seems realistic.
 
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ddall

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It has been a while since I wrote an update.

So what has happened since....

Well, in terms of self-education, I have read the following since last update: (*** denote my favs, although I liked all of them)
The art of learning - Josh Waitzkin ***
Blue Ocean Strategy - Chan Kim
Choose Yourself - JAmes Altucher
Delivering Happiness (about zappos)
Eat that frog - Brian Tracy
Entrepreneur Revolution - Daniel Preistly
The hard thing about hard things - Ben Horowitz
Making a good brain great - Daniel Amen
The One Thing - Gary Keller
The obstacle is the way - Ryan Holiday ***
The power of Habbit - Charles Duhigg
The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle
Rework - David Hanson
The slight edge - Jeff olson ***
The compound effect - Darren hardy ***
The 100$ Start up

Podcasts I've been listing to:
Entrepreneur on fire
Freedom Fastlasne
Forever Jobless
Tim Ferriss

Videos series of entrepreneurs:
Secret Entourage
Maverick Group

What have I accomplished?
-Scrapped light box photos, paid $500 for CGI renderings of product, 10 images including a diagram, with istock photos as background
-ordered more samples, selected final product.
-significant packaging design, including color manual and insert
-hired someone for ebook in niche off odesk, they failed and were fired
-wired 30% deposit for samples

2 Months later
- wired remaining 70%, total of nearly $9K in funds for 500 units, FOB Shenzhen.
- I'm in canada, so I found a customs broker. Logistics look like this for products: China -> San Fran O - clear customs -> FBA Inspection --> FBA
- Customs, duty, brokerage fee plus freight forwarding $1K (product is presently as of this writing en route to FBA Inspection)
- Set up Aweber and sign up form
- Set up website myself using Wix.com
- Set up feedback genius
- Set up lead-pages for facebook ad campaign
- using merchant words for second product research
-Once product in FBA will initiate aggressive marketing campaign, including youtube videos and other efforts

Mindset
-I eat ultra healthy every day. Green smoothies, walnuts, blueberries, salmon, rasberries, almonds, organic butter, kale, broccoli, brussle sprouts etc. I quit coffee, my wife makes me a hot drink instead, made with; cacao, macca, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, vanilla, coconut oil, organic whole milk, ginger....Good shit

-Work out hard 5 days a week, including HIIT at least 4 times. The cardio and sweat is important. Read the books on the brain listed above, you want to optimize your brain function and clarity? Exercise, sleep right and eat right. Nootropics not needed.

- If you are the average of who you surround yourself with.....Everyday I surround myself with winners, champions, experts and entrepreneurs, via audio books, podcasts, videos, and this forum.

Internalize the messages below

photo 1 copy.JPG photo 1.JPG photo 2 copy.JPG photo 2.JPG photo 3 copy.JPG photo 3.JPG photo 4 copy.JPG photo 4.JPG photo 5.JPG photo 6.JPG
 

ddall

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Any tips for fixing the inventory management problem you're constantly having? Did you finally solve it? Maybe that's just the consequence for having a successful business and selling stuff fast. Sounds like a complete pain in the a$$ always running out of stock and missing out on sales and waiting a long time before being able to restock.

And please tell me you did all that reading + the courses AFTER you started the business and not before, using it as prep. Lol good thread though, amazing progress.

Great question. This has been a particular challenge and is fundamentally one of them most important skill sets an entrepreneur/ceo can develop: Capital allocation. So the balancing act has been ensuring enough inventory so product sales proceed smoothly, yet not so much that significant sums of money are locked in inventory for significant lengths of time (not to mention Amazon's ever increasing warehouse fees, which is why I also stock a third-party warehouse). With limited capital, the other challenge is feeding the fire (of successfully established products by loading up on inventory) vs making new fires (new products). I tend to push things as far as possible, and this has included expanding as rapidly as money allows without depleting existing products. Often however as other variables exist such as the unpredictable market demand to new products (and to a lesser extent even establish products) it is difficult to move this fast, with limited capital, and not go out of stock. The other huge variable in this has been production and shipping issues and delays.

As retained earnings has grown significantly in the last 6 months this balance has become easier as the rate of expansion is more limited ( I alone cannot expand by 100's of products at a time even if I had the capital, without losing focus/vision etc) until if /when I increase the team. So now my priority list is 1) Always ensure the 20% of products doing 80% of revenue will NOT go out of stock 2) Create new products looking for home runs 3) Maintain inventory of the 80% of items doing 20% of revenue. These are all important together, but if I had to prioritize, this has been the order. I hate going out of inventory on anything mind you.

The reading/courses never stop. This is my greatest ROI (besides my health) and has been ongoing since day 0 until now and going forward.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
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It really does. What is interesting is the desensitisation to amounts of money. What once seemed momentous, now seems insignificant. What once seemed impossible, now seems realistic.

FEATURED!

I think once one experiences the correlation of money to value/solutions, the limiting beliefs break down. There was once a day when I thought $5K/mo was an incredible amount of money. Now $5K a day isn't all that rare.
 
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JasonR

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Good point. If you're constantly leveraging to put up with demand, how do you know if you're overextending? It seems like at those numbers the risks are so huge.

This is actually a great question. Here is a lengthy article explaining what @biophase is talking about in detail.

How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow?

You can absolutely grow too fast and back yourself into a hole with no cash. People who know the ecommerce game know this well. It's very important to manage your growth and cash.

I'm also a very FIRM believer in taking cash off the table as soon as is realistically possible, particularly if you don't have much personal savings. At some point, your business NEEDs to be profitable to be worth anything, and you SHOULD be taking profits off the table in MOST cases.

I'm very fortunate that I only deal with US Suppliers in my current business, and my lead times are very short. My cash churn is very low compared to the volume we do. This has allowed for quick growth and for being highly profitable at the same time.

I've invested in another business importing from China, and while it has gone well, getting things from overseas eats cash. Be prepared for it!

Great insight @biophase
 
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ddall

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Update:

Here are most of the books I've consumed since last year, in case anyone is interested.:

Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson
Einstein: His Life and Universe Walter Isaacson
Call Me Ted Ted Turner
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration Ed Catmull
The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King Rich Cohen
The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World's Healthiest People Dan Buettner
Man's Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl
When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man Jerry Weintraub
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Walter Isaacson
What I Learned Losing A Million Dollars Brendan Moynihan
Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising Ryan Holiday
Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator Ryan Holiday
Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break Through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less Joe Pulizzi
An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth Chris Hadfield
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Ron Chernow
How We Decide Jonah Lehrer
The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups from Their Founding Entrepreneurs David Kidder
Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less Sam Carpenter
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done Peter F. Drucker
The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business Clayton M. Christensen
Sam Walton: Made In America Sam Walton
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Freakonomics, #1) Steven D. Levitt
I Will Teach You To Be Rich Ramit Sethi
Cashvertising: How to Use More than 100 Secrets of Ad-agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything to Anyone Drew Eric Whitman
Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill
The Richest Man in Babylon George S. Clason
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Michael E. Gerber
The 4-Hour Workweek Timothy Ferriss
Street Smarts: An All-Purpose Tool Kit for Entrepreneurs Norm Brodsky
Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat Michael Masterson
Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries Peter Sims
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time Brian Tracy
The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business Josh Kaufman
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses Eric Ries
Rework Jason Fried
Blue Ocean Strategy: How To Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevant W. Chan Kim
Entrepreneur Revolution: How to Develop Your Entrepreneurial Mindset and Start a Business That Works Daniel Priestley
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School John Medina
Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life Maxwell Maltz
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) Seth Godin
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose Tony Hsieh
The Talent Code: Unlocking the Secret of Skill in Sports, Art, Music, Math, and Just About Everything Else Daniel Coyle
Making a Good Brain Great: The Amen Clinic Program for Achieving and Sustaining Optimal Mental Performance Daniel G. Amen
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future Chris Guillebeau
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Charles Duhigg
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time Jeff Sutherland
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life Alice Schroeder
Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way Richard Branson
The Magic of Thinking Big David J. Schwartz
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Malcolm Gladwell
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers -10000-timmarsregeln och andra framgångsfaktorer Malcolm Gladwell
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters Richard P. Rumelt
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon Brad Stone
The Slight Edge: Secret to a Successful Life Jeff Olson
How to Get Rich Felix Dennis
The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success Darren Hardy
The Millionaire Fastlane : Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime! M.J. DeMarco
The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results Gary Keller
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph Ryan Holiday
The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence Josh Waitzkin
The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything Guy Kawasaki
The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure Grant Cardone
The 50th Law 50 Cent
The 33 Strategies of War Robert Greene
Mastery Robert Greene
The 48 Laws of Power Robert Greene
How Google Works Eric Schmidt
Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World Peter H. Diamandis
Choose Yourself James Altucher
Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Business Shane Snow
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Ben Horowitz
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

-----------
Ok, so update:

I'm out of stock yet again. Cash flow/Inventory is a difficult horse to straddle while also expanding.

I was out of stock for nearly 4 months, including missing all of Christmas. Was an agonizing delay, exacerbated by CNY and the redic west coast port strike.

Upon getting in stock sold out in about two months, with 30 day trailing sales about $27K US in rev.
7Mu3c8k.png

I incorporated, and also applied for a business loan, which I received, to help with inventory purchase. Problem is there are so many obstacles before funds are deposited (it is a government entrepreneurship program, so need full business plan, income statement, and have to meet with a mentor they assign. This has all been passed and accepted. Talked on phone, great guy but out of country now for three weeks. He needs to complete a form to allow funds to be released, bad timing here as I need to place orders now to keep inventory in stock.

I'll be getting new stock in two weeks, air shipping at great expense, and if sales resume as before I will be out of stock yet again way before I get another shipment.

I have product number 2 going through customs now before I launch. Product number three is almost finished and will ship via sea. I also have a 4th product in the works that will not be as good a seller but better margins.

So, I am doling out like 60K CAD in inventory, most of which is borrowed funds, trying to get the timing for inventory right as well as expand.

I've negotiated payment terms with main supplier, from 30/70 with balance due on completion, to 50/50 with balance due 30 days after shipped. Trying to get that to 45 days so I have two weeks to turn inventory assuming 30 days to get in stock when sea shipping (3 weeks plus customs etc). My supplier has continually lowered my purchase costs which is great.

I am also in the works of a 5th product under a new brand. All of my products are strongly related, this 5th one will retail for $100 or so. It is a passion project.

I REALLY need to get the inventory/cash flow sorted out before October where I want to be prepared for holiday madness.

I've encountered numerous obstacles to date, but each one is a barrier to entry. Learn to welcome them, they will never stop coming, so tighten up your resilience.
 

ddall

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So what have I accomplished thus far besides building my business and online acumen?

Scoured Alibaba and other sites for potential products, looking for light, simple, non-electronical goods suitable for private labeling and whose market appeared hot enough, non-seasonal nor dominated by a particular brand. Primary channel of distribution will be Amazon.com, .ca maybe later.

After devising and optimizing inquiry templates I sent dozens and dozens of messages to suppliers in about 5 different niches. Distilled down the most promising (speedy replies, vetted as best I could - gold star suppliers, multi-year history, non-alibaba presence online...) and ordered samples.

Some accepted paypal, for others I used T/T (inherent risk, but another potential barrier to entry for those without the stomach for it) which I paid for online through my personal banking for a small fee.

Received samples and elected to pursue one niche, with two different products. Others did not satisfy my requirements (mostly cost vs perceived value was too low).

Created a light box for cheap following this guide
. Bought some cheap desk lamps and bulbs.
Used iphone5 to take the photos. The colour was off despite the bulbs I used, at which point I downloaded the free app WhiteBalancer. The app did a good job of enhancing the photos quickly.

Next I wrote copy for the products and listed them on ebay at 99 cent auctions. Had enough success to determine which product I would pursue (had about 5 quantity of each product). That being said, Ebay sucks, and being in Canada I believe was disadvantageous to testing the American market as my location is evident and affects searches. I can appreciate the current popular thread on selling on Ebay, but personally the margins are slim, the barrier to entry low, branding seems less relevant, the UI is ugly and a pain. Ultimately the process was good learning (paypal shipping, ebay interface, seller issues, Canada post) but in hindsight I would probably skip this step, I knew there was enough volume for my product before hand.

So following this, I resumed discussions with a single supplier, and dropped $500 on a larger sample, with minor modifications (slightly more than just color) for two variations of a single product. After about 3 weeks I was notifed by DHL that my product was held up at customs. My supplier kindly stated my product value at $20. Canada Customs rightfully did not believe this and put a block on it pending review. So, I signed for DHL to have power of attorney, and supplied and filled out a number of documents. One week later after following up DHL advised me the process was complete. But it wasn't, the documents had not even been submitted. I called them about 5 times before someone 'personally' attended to the matter. Suffice to say, my goods were finally released and I picked them up. Hassle and lesson learned (have supplier put realistic value of goods. When I explained the ordeal to my manu she suggested Canada Customs may need to be bribed lol).

So, concurrent to the above, I enlisted the services of about 5 different designers on Fiverr, all to create a logo. Eventually settled on one I liked and found relevant to my product/niche/branding angle. I also had a brochure designed where I wrote the copy, for more "added value" and branding to include with the product. I next had the logo and brochure printed and produced. The sample products I bought came unlabelled in plain packaging, so this was my test branding. My next order should this second test succeed, will include professional packaging with refined branding and logo on product itself.

I also at this time purchased a number of UPC codes, and purchased about 500 upc labels only to discover I cannot use them with Amazon (they use their own internal FNSKU).

Signed up for sellers account and wrote my copy (2000 char limit including html) and optimized title (250 char limit). I uploaded my pics but decided to also buy a gig on fiverr for someone to photoshop the product pics to be optimized size wise and improve color balance and blemishes further. Also forgot to mention I had my product photoshopped into action scenes to illustrate use, not bad for $5.

So next I ship the product to Amazon FBA from Canada, and wait/drive traffic.

So, if this second test succeeds, I will be buying a much larger batch, allowing for custom packaging, branding. Probably ship part by air to restock, the rest via sea. Looking at a company in the US who I can ship to directly and who prepares for FBA to avoid the double duty shipping of the China->Canada->US route. This was learned in another thread.
I will then:
-Get pro photos done
-found a local company who will make a product demo video (youtube is a traffic strategy-I'm going through some youtube marketing courses)
-FB/Social set up
-I have someone creating an Ebook relating to the niche which I will either offer for free with product (coupon code for Amazon kindle) or offer with email signup on website and social sites (mainly FB). List building, dont you know? If you study enough online marketing, this should be hammered into your head.
-Initiate a traffic and rank building strategy to boost sales

Things I need to figure out:
-How to offer a longer warranty/Guarantee through Amazon without having products sent to me, and refunding money potentially years later. Amazon has a 30 day no questions asked, but I want to improve on that.
-Product liability insurance...will probably figure this out later when sales are high enough (ready, fire, aim).

So my main takeaways thus far in my process: Always be learning. I keep finding new ideas and approaches. Topics which at first appear unrelated, actually are (related). Mindset is EVERYTHING. The compound effect/habit keeping: Consistent applied effort in areas THAT MATTER (not stupid stuff like learning the ins and outs of photoshop to design your own logo) will deliver progress. Journey of 1000 miles....yada yada. Online courses are worth taking.
 
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Came here to say awesome thread and awesome job.

You're probably not thinking about exiting, but remember that's always on the table as an OPTION for you. I'm in the middle of exiting my 7 figure ecom business...if you need any help PM me.

Also, start thinking about off Amazon sales asap. That will increase your valuation by at least 2x. There are plenty of strategies that work for taking Amazon customers to your own website/funnel without pissing Amazon off.

Gold thread for sure and rep transferred.
 
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amp0193

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I remember reading some of those posts back in 2014. Crazy and Amazing how far you've come in such a short time.

Truly inspirational man.

The quote on money destinations rings true for me as well. 50k revenue a month was my unicorn. I struggled so hard to get it up from 30k. Now, I'd shit myself if I only sold 50k in a month, and 100k isn't really all that exciting either.

Funny enough, my reaction to reading your 600k December, was "holy shit that's a lot", but when I get there in a year or two, it'll be no big deal.

One's perception of what's realistic is a sliding scale. It would be beneficial for the more inexperienced members of this forum to think bigger.

Starting out, I used to check my sales multiple times a day. 10 here, 5 there. When it got above 100 units a day, the numbers started to blur, and it wasn't really all that fun anymore. You just get used to it.


You've got me thinking about reviving my ancient progress thread!
 

ddall

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Quick update:

Product is selling well, I've hit over $13K/30 days in revenue, almost $5K in the last week. Net profit is around 35% per item sold. I've had to deal with maybe 6 or 7 unhappy customers, immediately refunded and sent new item free of charge. Keeping reviews all 5 stars. Value and customer service is everything, I aim to wow everyone.

Working on bringing second and third product online, will have to ship via sea in every case. Re-designing main product, will be out of stock in 4 days unfortunately. I calculate I am leaving 15-25K in revenue on the table by being out of stock until end of jan. Going to be a longgg wait.

Edit: Sold out now. Hit $6000 last 7 days, I cringe what I would see in December. Inventory management is a big deal

rMIAnpU.png
 

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MJ DeMarco

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I finally quit my job this past Christmas after profit per day closed in on $2K/day. December sales were $600K. I've also hired an employee and my work/life balance is superb after the last few years of grinding. 2016 was $3M US in sales, roughly $700K profit, 90% of which went right back in or paid off borrowed funds.

Holy crap, I missed all the goodness in this thread!

GOLD!
 

ddall

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Hey man, great thread; I am probably where you were a few years ago, right at the start... I was wondering when you say you've expanded to co.uk and .ca. Do you have to send your products to the UK fulfillment or do they have an international warehouse?

Also, my instinct was that I would not be in a position to expand to different Amazons for a while, however wondered if I was missing a trick with that mentality?

Thank you for the kind words. Yes indeed you are required to send to a UK fulfilment centre if you wish to be Prime (although they now have seller fulfilled prime in the U.S, I'm unsure if this is available in the other marketplaces as well). Depending on your product (some cannot be shipped out of the U.K due to laws and restrictions), you may also export and list products on the other European Amazon sites and have them shipped from the U.K.

Man...

I was just thinking about how it must have felt to be deep in the hole while the business was running.

Could you describe a little bit about what that was like?

It surely worked out for you. $3m/yr in sales ain't no joke.

More rep+ for you. You're killing it. Hope to see you at a meetup sometime, but... you must be busy as hell lmao

Thanks @The-J Honestly it was quite difficult at times. You have to have confidence in your vision and realistically assess yourself, the direction you are going and your weaknesses. Risk mitigation was and always is a major priority, which is why I worked like an animal in my day job and kept working it for so long. I would also calculate risks on new products and carefully consider the downside. For example, 'will this product fail. If it does, will I be able to liquidate the items? Will I be able to sell them at breakeven?' I would (and still do) consider the upside. Usually, I found the downside minimal relative to the upside potential which typically has been far greater. What has always been key is that somewhere along the value chain I am adding enough value that there is significant enough margin to absorb errors. Ordering a widget and selling it as is risky...But modifying/redesigning and greatly improving a widget and packaging, having a built-in audience for that widget and your brand, selling the experience of that widget better than anyone, providing exceptional care and follow up for that widget, etc., ultimately minimizes the risk. So I could stomach and sleep at night. My wife didnt understand but trusted me. I was (and still am) obsessed with growing, learning, improving, not just myself but the business.

This is not to say there were not times I would wake up and wonder WTF am I doing. I would surround myself with podcasts, forums/groups, books success-oriented people, no time for downers. This also helped I think is not getting lost in the debt.


Very inspirational, great thread.

What is your take on Amazon's reviews in order to rank higher? I know in the past there have been use of review groups and essentially buying reviews with free units so essentially you need to also take free giveaways and allocation of those items into the equation along with the overall inventory management. From what I see, amazons fake reviews are all but dead now.

Out of curiosity how many products did you have a go at before you found one with that's a hit?

Reviews as far as I've determined do not DIRECTLY affect ranking, although previously Amazon's A9 may have taken them into account. Reviews however greatly assist with conversion rates (via social proof, additional imagery and hopefully convincing descriptions in use) which DOES affect ranking. They may also indirectly help with Google's keyword ranking of the listing page.

Persoanlly I'm overjoyed Amazon has advanced their position on 'honest reviews in exchange for test product' to one of non-compliance. It was undermining the entire trust of the system to consumers. Reviews are essential in the overall scheme of growth, but more important than anything is the value proposition and your competitive differentiator. Reviews can still be easily garnered by utilizing your own email list on launch products, using Facebook funnels, doing contests, family friends etc., and email follow up (word of note, as of this writing word is Amazon is testing the elimination of any follow up emails which mention reviews. I've personally changed my follow up sequence and will not be surprised if this becomes a TOS violation. Amazon customers are inundated with email spam and the customer experience is degraded as a result).

My very first product was a success, but it was validated more or less on eBay before I brought it over to Amazon. There were many other products I passed on after sampling.
 

ddall

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A quick update, it has been quite some time...

Firstly, the reason for the massive space between posts:
1. I'm insanely busy - business, family (3 kids now!), learning, health
2. Part of the natural evolution of this journey has been attaining higher and higher levels of learning and understanding within the world of entrepreneurship. With my limited time, I tend to focus on more exclusive masterminds with others further along in the journey. This is an amazing forum, and truly helped set me in the right mindset, the foundation from which to grow. Being so short on time, I try to maximize my learning time with highest ROI initiatives. I do believe this is why many seasoned entrepreneurs in the heart of their journey eventually go quiet on the forum. One day I will return to share more of the journey with individuals at the starting line. For now, this brief update I hope will serve further encouragement.

The team has grown to 25 give or take some contractors, sales approximately $1.5-$2M/month, predicting 4X during Q4, depending on where things go with the economy. C0VlD-19 initially caused series issues, but we have adapted and are now thriving thanks to being e-com.

Many lessons learned in the time since, my role has constantly evolved, and I've enjoyed the process. Management, hiring and nurturing talent, and generally migrating from a band of pirates to well oiled and disciplined navy (as per Reid Hoffman's quote) have been some of the biggest changes. I've removed myself from the logistics, accounting and much of the marketing details I once was so occupied in previously, and this has been replaced with optimizing the leverage I can exert in the business via talented team members, and more time planning and strategizing the brand and business as a whole.

So many ups and downs, which is to be expected...supplier issues, trademark issues, tax and VAT issue, competitive changes...bloating bureaucracy and relentless downwards pressure on margins...suspended accounts (FB, Amazon), letting underperformers go, product disasters. These are all challenges to overcome in the name of progress.

I'm trying to think how I can quickly add value to anyone here without spending hours going into more specifics.... I do not think that is an easy feat. I will leave some books and podcast I like or have recently listened/read and enjoyed..

Classic Wisdom on Wealth, Philosophy, History
Naval Podcast
View: https://youtu.be/1-TZqOsVCNM

3.5 hours of the basics, timeless concepts

The Wisdom Of Success
Interview with Andrew Carnegie, the basis of which formed 'Think and Grow Rich' ... timeless, I don't know why this is not more popular.. Pure wisdom

How to Think Like A Roman Emperor
Beautifully written deep dive into stoicism and Marcus Aurelius

The Lessons of History
History repeats... Great book, classic, not long.

High Output Management
Not so useful early in my journey, but fundamental concepts on management as I grow

Other Books:
The Winners Laws
Scale
What It Takes
The Ride of A Lifetime
That Will Never Work
Excellence WinsSuccess Through a Positive Mental Attitude
Team of Teams
Unlocking the Customer Value Chain
Billion Dollar Brand Club
Shoedog (may have posted this one before, but its so good)
The Infinite Game
Alchemy - Rory Sutherland
Blitzscaling
There's a customer born every minute..
... Honestly I am going through a list I have and just too many, will have to leave it at this for now

A Few of My Favourite Podcasts In No Order

Exit Strategy
Business Wars
Masters of Scale
James Altucher
How I built This
Tim Ferris Show
The Portal
Artificial Intelligence
The Knowledge Project
Naval Podcast


Hope some of these sources help you
 

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Invaluable information. Thank you! It seems like you are selling with almost no marketing push at all or are you actively pushing FB ads?

I use amazon PPC (13% cost of goods sold), youtube, and forum traffic at this point. I'll be really stepping up Youtube SEO, google PPC (test at least, not sure it will be profitable) and will use Facebook "offers" (look it up, many dont know about these). Creating a brand is key (website, significant differentiation), a brand with a competitive advantage. You want blue oceans. With amazon, it is not enough anymore to order some cheap product and slap a logo on it. You really need to create a brand with a voice, style and vibe.
 

ddall

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It's been a long time since I've made an update.

Things are growing well, I am expanding into another brand and going deep in my initial niche outside of Amazon. I am working with over a dozen products and have 7 more in development, same niche.

In a few months I am going to make a very concerted effort to make sales off of AMZ.

Sponsored ads by Amazon are going up considerably over time. See image.
 

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Fox

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@MJ DeMarco I know this thread isn't that long but this is amazing progress. Maybe notable? There is so much in here for others to follow.

@ddall Thanks for all this info, I have been sharing this thread like crazy.
 
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Quick update...
2016 was $3M US in sales, roughly $700K profit, 90% of which went right back in or paid off borrowed funds.

You're killing it man. Love seeing the progression as the years go by.

Ordering 1000 units at one time for $16k must seem like ages ago.
 

ddall

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Update:

Product is doing well on Amazon, selling around 100 plus units a week. Problem: will be out of stock soon. Contemplating using a mixed air/sea shipment for next 1000. Redesigning the next 1000 as well, more customization, sourcing other items to include with packaging. Lowering costs, improving value. Customer service is everything. I've made a few refunds and sent free replacements. I'm in for the long term brand building, not the short, quick buck. I respond to emails as fast as possible.

As Hendrix once said: "And so castles made of sand, fall in the sea, eventually." Building it to last. Amazon is a channel, there is little security. It is best to build a real brand, divorce yourself from Amazon reliance and offer value to the market outside of cheap products and import arbitrage.

I've barely implemented my marketing pushes, and have shelved them for now...why? Because demand is already exceeding supply, and I do not wish to be out of stock for too long. That hampers amazon rankings.

Biggest issues; capital for additional products, my next order of 1000 will cost $16K. I am also looking at secondary and tertiary products, that are related and under the same brand umbrella. More time waiting to get products to market, more capital expenditure (which I dont have in cash, doing everything I can to procure the needed funds). I see an engine starting to chug and turn, but the gasoline supply is inconstant, inventory and cash flow management is a very real issue within this business model.

Books I've read since last update:
Mastery - Robert Greene
50th Law - Robert Greene
Zero to one - Peter Thiel
Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki (started this, meh)
I will teach you to be rich - Remit Sethi (not my cup of tea, did not finish)

NExt in reading list:
The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene
Your Deceptive Mind - The Courses
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

Exercising
and clean eating as always. This, I can never not recommend for overall life optimization.
 

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This is one of the most fascinating threads I've read on this boards!

Just reading through your posts, always checking back on the date just to see another year has passed where you consistently put in the effort to make it work, always mentioning new barriers which seemed so huge at first, yet so small in the next update a few months down the road. Truly an awesome display of dedication, consistency and tenacity and what someone can AND will get out of it.

Also your last post, mentioning that you kept working your daily job until you crossed 2k/day blew my mind. Considering the amount of action you took, the number of books you read, the neatly balanced diet and workout scheme you followed plus having a family, led me to the conclusion that you quit your day job and worked full time on your project and self improvement. This alone is impressive enough, but adding, or better said, subtracting, another 8-9 hours work and still sticking to your goals is on another level of dedication.

Thank you for sharing your amazing progress with the forum, I truly believe it will help new members / future entrepreneurs realize how important consistency is by genuinely showing the difference of taking massive action and therefore "receiving" events!
 

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Any updates dude? I've been watching this thread because I just love your execution style.

Thanks. I'm still in a transition period waiting for product. I have 1000 units a few days away from arriving at port.

In the meantime I have pulled the trigger on two additional products, and working on branding (writing manuals, video scripts, website, inserts, and going back and forth on packaging). I've also been studying additional marketing strategies, reading etc along the way.

The Chinese New Year is fast approaching, and it will add further delay to turning over inventory that has yet to reach US shores. The Spring Festival is upon us and many close for 15 working days. One company is telling me their factory is working straight through.

A particular supplier representative I have been dealing with is getting married soon. I'll be sending her a gift. Relationship building with the Chinese is essential. I've been saving up points on my CC for a trip to China hopefully this year to visit personally. I'll update this thread in a month or so when stuff gets cooking. I will add with the 1000 units I am frustrated the supplier has disappointing me in one key area I was relentless on them correcting.
 

amp0193

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I guess you could say it's all relative and circumstantial. It's like being in shape, when you're out of shape and start working out - you notice every little difference; however when you're in shape and have been working out for a while - the differences are pretty blurry. Bad metaphor but still relevant...ish!

No, it's a perfect metaphor.

I was a skinny a$$ bean pole for 28 years. Then I started rock climbing and doing weight training for the first time in my life about a year ago. It was like "oh my god, is that what a bicep looks like?" every time I looked in the mirror for like 3 months. But.... now I'm just kind of used to being in shape. Still improving, but it's not as cool as when you're just starting out.
 

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For people not in ecommerce and reading this thinking that he's out buying a lambo, going from $0 to $3m in sales in 2 years and $700k in profit pretty much means that you are break even, and will be in the hole another few years.

If you assume a 30% COGs, that means that he sold $900,000 worth of inventory in 2016, so where do you get the $900,000 to buy inventory at the beginning of 2016? You borrow it. So as he mentioned, he did have to pay back borrowed funds. I never borrowed money so my business grew slower as I had to pick and choose which inventory to buy more of.

We also know that Ddall is not doing $3M in sales again, he's probably going to do $5M. So he needs $1.5M in inventory. Guess where that is coming from? Yes, the original $900,000 and $600,000 of his $700,000 profit (which was probably $500,000 after taxes).

Just wanted to point this out. Ecommerce is very cash intensive once you get going. It took me years to actually get cash out of the business. If you are growing, even with healthy margins you are always catching up to your inventory.

In my experience with employing various business managers, some with fancy degrees even, most people have a very hard time mentally separating "cash flow" and "profit"

If you have profit you must have cash, right? If you have cash you must have profit, right?

Uh...no.

Companies don't go bankrupt because they are unprofitable, they go bankrupt because they don't have the cash to pay their liabilities.

@ddall ...very inspiring thread!
 

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Be the first to sell products on these other sites?


There is just as much opportunity for selling on those sites, as there was for selling on .com 7-8 years ago.

Those marketplaces are only getting larger.

It should be a part of everyone's selling strategy.
 

Walter Hay

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Brazil is a huge market, but they'd need to make some serious changes before I'd consider selling on Amazon when it opens up. The main problem is their ridiculous customs clearance times and import duties. Waiting a month on clearance is no exception and don't be surprised if you get hit with 30-100% duties/taxes. But that's a barrier to entry I suppose.
It's a huge barrier to entry. The Brazilian Customs system is archaic. Even locals find importing difficult.

Don't even contemplate shipping to individual customers from outside Brazil. If you want to sell on Amazon.br you'll need to find a fulfillment service that is willing to handle your shipments. DIY importing into Brazil would be a nightmare even for locals. I have advised some there that they shouldn't attempt to import without using a local customs broker.

Sorry to seem so negative.

Walter
 

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Think and Grow Rich is one of my favorites. Reading it now for the second time. A lot of good stuff you posted as well as information. Good luck on your journey my brother. Wishing you nothing but the best and look forward to seeing your progress as the days go by. +rep
 

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