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

[biophase]

Great thread! What's the product?

Just kidding.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Scot]

What an incredible thread! It's awesome to watch the progress from selling 20-30 units a week to seeing you pull in a $600k December!

Rep++ for sure! Hope you'll have more time to be around the forum now that you've only got one job. You'll have a lot to share!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Argue]

I was looking at the statistics today and saw that user @ddall earned $475 in reps today. I said wow, who is this guy? Clicked your name, then thread and another wow, an amazing entrepreneur speeding down the Fastlane. Awesome work man, inspirational stuff. Killing it.

 

[The-J]

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

 

[amp0193]

In this case... opportunity would be huuuuuuuuuuuuge in stated countries.

Could you please explain your impression, if you're able to ... ?

What if you knew a market was going to be hot in 5 years? 10 years?

Would you wait until 5 to 10 years from now to start selling?

Or would you establish yourself now, while the competition is sparse, and potential for upside is huge?


And don't get me wrong, opportunity is still huge on Amazon.com. You're just going to have to get scrappy with some competitors if you want to move high volume stuff.

 

[ddall]

Dude awesome progress!!

How was Zero To One by peter?

Sorry dude, I missed this some how. Zero to One was good, he is quite the contrarian. I enjoyed learning his viewpoint and philosophies. It is also not that long.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Almantas]

Although there are multiple valuable threads, this thread is my favorite so far!!! Have no words to express how empowering and influential your progress has been!

 

[amp0193]

Oh sorry, maybe you got me wrong because my english is too bad.....

What I meant to say: How do you get the impression that the market is 7-8 years behind to .com ? Maybe you have some real examples. I would not have known that this lag is there.

Because there's less products for sale. And less revenue being generated. And they are growing.

7-8 years was a number I pulled out of my a$$, based on my gut.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MidwestLandlord]

Because there's less products for sale. And less revenue being generated. And they are growing.

7-8 years was a number I pulled out of my a$$, based on my gut.

Population of Brazil: 200.4 million
Population of the USA: 318.9 million

And Amazon.com.br only sells books...

That's opportunity. (After amazon expands their infrastructure in brazil)

 

[MoneyDoc]

Wow, those pictures were great!

I also live in Toronto, great to see fellow Canadians here! Wish you all the best!

Also, I just have a question regarding FBA if you don't mind. I'm about to secure my product with my supplier as well and I would rather use amazon FBA to ship my products because as you know Canada post shipping is expensive! If I wanted to ship to US and Canada, would I need to have both an FBA account on amazon.ca and on amazon.com? If I send my products to amazon.com would they ship to my canadian customers or is it just US?

 

[ddall]

Wow, those pictures were great!

I also live in Toronto, great to see fellow Canadians here! Wish you all the best!

Also, I just have a question regarding FBA if you don't mind. I'm about to secure my product with my supplier as well and I would rather use amazon FBA to ship my products because as you know Canada post shipping is expensive! If I wanted to ship to US and Canada, would I need to have both an FBA account on amazon.ca and on amazon.com? If I send my products to amazon.com would they ship to my canadian customers or is it just US?

Amazon.ca and Amazon.com are two different entities. IF you want to enter the US market you need to set up a .com account and ship your products to the US. They will not ship your FBA to Canada from the Amazon.com FBA warehouses. If you want to operate within the Canadian marketplace, you need to set up a .ca account and ship to .ca FBA. Hope that helps

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Gitrokr]

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.

Sounds like action! I wish I was able to lend some advice or constructive criticism of some kind, but I don't think I have anything to offer in that regards. It sounds like you have some good problems to be having. You're headed in the right direction and you're headed there with a good amount of speed and action.

I've been meaning to pick up a Robert Greene book for some time now. I take it you enjoy his books?

I got back onto my weightlifting habit and been making sure I get my required amount of protein intake daily. I agree about exercise and nutrition being essential to life.

Another book I have on my list is 'The UltraMind Solution' by Mark Hyman. Have you heard of this?
I've had it raved to me by a couple different sources. Thought it might be up your alley.

Keep on keepin' on, and you're gonna start your 2015 off with some awesome momentum!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ddall]

Hey buddy.

Amazing progress. Just another question. Are you selling on amazon.com only as of now? So only to US customers?

Thanks!
Selling on .com. .Ca I think has some long term potential if you target some of the top moving products, but I understand .de is a large market, and .uk also decent.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

I got an email from Amazon asking for me to give them a call regarding a direct partnership. I believe they are referring to vendor central.

This article http://content26.com/blog/looking-for-amazon-vendor-central-help/ and comments have turned me against the idea, and thus far I intend to remain as a third party seller. @JAJT @biophase Any insight or exeperiance with vendor central vs seller central. Would seem you give up a lot of control, 90 day pament terms, but get an improved template, "shipped and sold by amazon", bulk orders.

Big loss of control I think, lower margins, generally seems unappealing.

I think you get lower margins, but you also get better search placement, 90 day payment would suck. I wouldn't do it if asked.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Fox]

Don't know how I missed this thread. Amazing progress!

 

[Drew D]

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.

 

[Roli]

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

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?

 

[KSR]

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 is right within my grasp for March, totally doable.

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 many of 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 exciting anymore.

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!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Denim Chicken]

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.

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.

 

[amp0193]

He said his profit was something like 700K (unless i'm going blind?), so we're looking at roughly $1.4M? What if his product is his own design and stuff - which I think it is - wouldn't his inventory + IP worth be added on top?

There's different ways to do it, but generally a buyer would pay for Inventory on top of the asset valuation. I can't speak from experience for IP, but I would guess that this would just be included with the sale of the business at no additional expense.

Sale of the business assets are taxed as long-term capital gains (if you've had the asset for more than 12 months).

Sale of the inventory is taxed as income.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Insaint]

Population of Brazil: 200.4 million
Population of the USA: 318.9 million

And Amazon.com.br only sells books...

That's opportunity. (After amazon expands their infrastructure in brazil)

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.

 

[Omerroz]

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:

affbeast.com -&nbspaffbeast Resources and Information.

Traffic Blackbook 2.0 $97 Good course, somewhat advanced.

Threads:

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

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

Online Media Buying Resource Thread

Online Media Buying Resource Thread

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

Copywriting

Gary Halbert 30 day challenge Copywriting Group

How to Write 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:
Customer Value Optimization: How to Build an Unstoppable Business
Shipping:
https://shipgooder.com
Facebook: See JasonR's call and thread. Also this is a good free video :
Internet Marketing With Gauher Chaudhry – Facebook Marketing For More Traffic, Leads & Sales

Blogs:
foreverjobless
tropicalMBA
DigitalMarketer
Imscalable

I will add more as I recall or come across.

just to let you know..
i write all the names of books that you had read
i already read 3 books from the list this month
THIS POST IS REALLY GOLD!!!
I wish some of the links were working

 

[putinwork]

Hey @ddall awesome journey so far! Curious to know what % of sales you get on Amazon vs your own ecommerce store (assuming you have one).

Seems like you mainly talk about Amazon so wondering how you are going to generate more sales on your own channel rather than on Amazon's playground so you have more diversity in sales.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Mal0ni]

Thanks for the thread @ddall ! I'm in Toronto and embarking on a similar journey so I can't say how valuable this thread has been as I am about to confirm my first trial order of 300 units!

 

[Aristan]

First day on the forum and a great read to get me even more pumped. Well done on your successes - long may they continue.

 

[Luke1213]

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.

Can you recommend who you used for your logo and photoshop on fiverr? I need action shots of my products but if someone can photoshop them for $5, I'm all for it!

 

[Peakdesire]

Hey dude great thread. Will be following your progress.

Thanks for the book recommendations!

 

[Gitrokr]

@ddall You're so money!!!

Putting 'The Slight Edge' on my reading list, definitely sounds like what I know the path to success...
Small consistent actions taken DAILY over time to create a BIG change!

Love the mindset, love the images you shared. Thank you.

Keep kickin' A$$ and takin' names!

 

[MoneyDoc]

Hey buddy.

Amazing progress. Just another question. Are you selling on amazon.com only as of now? So only to US customers?

 

[Peakdesire]

Dude awesome progress!!

How was Zero To One by peter?