Throwing my backpack over the fence. My AMZ FBA/Private Label Progress Thread.

[AnAverageJoe]

About two months ago I somehow stumbled across this forum and I don’t even remember how. But that lead me to discover the book and the free chapters that are available to download. Then that got me to purchase the audio-book and sign up for an account on the forums and post my introduction thread.

I read the book and got to work, and now I am posting my first progress thread. I’m not sure how many people are going to care about what I’m doing, but I’m really posting this to create accountability for myself. People say entrepreneurs fail time and time and time again before they succeed, but in my case I usually quit before I can fail, much less succeed.

I’ve heard this called the “backpack” method before. Right now I’m standing in front of a fence, a very tall fence and I have no idea how to get over it. I know I can get over it because I’ve seen other people get over it. There are people on the other side and I want what they have. I just don’t know how I’m going to get over it.

All I know is that I want to get over it. I might climb up and fall off, but the next time up I’m going to get a little further until I can finally climb down the other side. To be sure I get over it, to leave myself no choice but to get over it, I’m going to hurl my backpack over top to the other side. My backpack has all my essentials in it and now it’s on the other side of the fence. Now I have to climb over.

This post is me throwing my backpack to the other side. You guys are watching me now and you can hold me accountable. You’re an entire forum of people who climbed over the fence and know it’s possible. My backpack is on your side now and I have to come get it.

So that leads me to where I am now. I thought for a while about what I wanted to do, how I was going to fill a need to satisfy the market, and I was eventually lead to the AMA by biophase about selling on Amazon. I already have a tiny, tiny bit of experience in this area, so this is going to be my vehicle. The first time I tried to sell on Amazon I ordered samples but soon after I got intimidated by the whole process and eventually quit.

But now I’m here, doing it again, and I’m going to see it through. If nothing else I will fail miserably, but I’m not going to quit. I’ve got a lot of good information from the AMA by biophase, I plan on reading the AMA by Walter Hay and taking full advantage of all the other priceless information in these forums.

I found my niche by discovering a need that my wife actually needs filled. I did my research on Amazon, and there really isn’t anything exactly like it being sold. I did find one on etsy that I am going to use as the basis to my product, but none being mass produced on Amazon. Good artists copy, and great artists steal, right?

I came up with the business name and got a logo designed, made social profiles on Facebook and Instagram and set up a Shopify store. I actually re-purposed an old Facebook page I already had that was operating in the same niche for the new business. I guess quitting isn’t always bad…

I made a few subtle changes to the design of the product and hopped on fiverr and got some drawings made. Went to Alibaba and started looking for some manufacturers that could make it for me, and that’s still kind of where I am, unfortunately.

I originally found three companies that said they could do it and that seemed like they would be easy enough to work with. It was kind of hard to explain to them what I wanted with the designs I sent (thanks Fiverr) but eventually got everyone on the same page. And then I got the quotes for the production.

Company A said they could do it for $8.39/unit. Great! This is right around what I was looking for. Company B came in and said they’d need $52/unit to produce. I immediately thought they were trying to rip me off because of the huge difference, and ended the relationship with them. But then Company C came in and said they can produce it for $26.50/unit. Now I have quotes from three different companies that are all over the place so I have no idea what to think. I haven’t cut off ties with Company C because they have been really responsive and very friendly and easy to work with.

By the time Company C had given me their quote, I had already ordered the sample from Company A. Everything seemed fine, but then I got an email from Company A saying they still didn’t understand the designs. I thought this was a little strange because they had already run the numbers and given me quotes for how much it was going to cost, so they should understand the designs at this point. I brought this up and she told me the designer understood, but the engineer did not. I provided more clarification, and that’s where I am with them right now. They’ve had a few days off for the tomb sweeping holiday, and then hopefully I get some good news from them. I’m kind of nervous about what they’re going to produce at this point, but we’ll see. I doubt I can get my money back for the sample, so we’ll see.

I’m still talking to Company C and maintaining a good relationship with them, but I haven’t ordered the sample yet. I’m worried about the cost per unit for production of my product. I do understand that having a product priced a little higher like this provides a greater barrier for entry and can help prevent copy-catters, but it’s out of my budget. I don’t have enough cash to pay for the large order so that’s something I’ll have to figure out. I’m also worried about profit margins because I was planning on pricing it around $30 so that might need to be rethought. High price equals high quality though, right?

I also don’t want to order something from Company A for $8 thats a huge pile of junk either. Company C offered me a 10% discount on my large order to show me they want my business, which I appreciate.

So that’s where I am right now. Company C is on holiday as well, and I plan on talking to them again once they’re back. I think I should go ahead and order the sample from them just to be able to compare the quality of the two pieces. I’ve just gotta figure out how I’m going to pay for it. I thought of a crowd funding campaign, but then I stumbled across the forum post that talks about how companies with bigger pockets sweep in and steal the good ideas, so I’m against that now.

I could start smaller within my niche and sell cheaper products until I have the money for this product.

I’ve just gotta figure out where to go from here. Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier that another user in the forums referred me to his freight forwarder and she has been great.

Thanks for reading guys. I’ll be back soon with an update.

 

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[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report 14

It's been almost a month since my last update. We waited FOREVER on the influencer. As soon as we sent the product she left for a week so that delayed things a bit. Then it took her a while to get back into her groove at home. But, she loves our product and started using it immediately. She sent us a video for our sales page and it's exactly what we need. She also posted a story to her instagram account that showed a glimpse of the product (she was supposed to wait until we were read to launch to show it off) but it got a pretty good response. A lot of people were interested and they barely saw it. That was a great feeling.

So, WE LAUNCH TOMORROW! Very excited and very nervous. These last six or so months of work are coming to a head. The next time you hear from me I'll either be the happiest man alive, or clinically depressed. Either way I'll post an update. If there's one thing I've realized along the way it's that trying and failing is better than not trying.

Thanks for following along.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

FLASH UPDATE!

Thanks to @Ronak I discovered I was being charged too much for freight. About $1500 too much. This changes a lot.

He sent me to www.freightos.com and icontainers.com which are excellent. I wish I knew about these from the start. Not sure why my forwarder was charging me so much more, but that's neither here nor there. I won't use her and will use these sites instead.

So that brings my landed cost down to $22.10 per item. That gives me a little more breathing room. If I self-fulfill, I'm confident I can profit since I won't have to worry about the Amazon fees. If I list on Amazon I'll have to list at a price I'm not completely comfortable with to cover their fees.

Maybe because of the power of Prime I can list at a premium price? I'm thinking about sending in a tiny portion of the order to FBA to test and try to sell the rest through my website. Who else fulfills on their own as well as using FBA? How do the sales compare?

@Ronak also had a good idea of ordering a bulk order off of Etsy to test them on Amazon. Something I'm going to look into.

Special thanks to @Ronak and everyone else on this forum who has followed along on this year-long progress thread and has helped me out along the way. This community is amazing.

 

[Scot]

Use this progress thread to hold yourself accountable. I know it helped me with my last concept.

As for the quotes, I'm not an ecom guy but from reading a lot of threads I've picked up a few things. Are you sure C is a manufacturer and not a trader? That may explain the discrepancy.

Obviously, if you haven't read the ecommerce AMA Gold Threads, do so now.

It also wouldn't hurt to pick up a copy of @Walter Hay's book while you wait for those samples to ship.

 

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[Walter Hay]

I'm pleased to see that you intend reading my AMA, but you'll need to read fast if you want to avoid some of the pitfalls.

Meanwhile I might be able to provide some help. For a start, the variation in quotes is not uncommon, but I have a few observations to make:
1. Three quotes will probably not be enough for you to properly assess the fair market price.
2. Supplier A might be quoting too low and could be using the "don't understand" excuse to hit you with a much higher revised price once they do "understand."
3. Picking suppliers more or less at random on Alibaba will very often lead you to traders and not to manufacturers. Take with a grain of salt whatever they say about their status until you are able to confirm by researching them.
4. A very low price is not necessarily evidence of a scam. It can be evidence that you have found the only manufacturer.

If you care to send me their names privately I will check them out for you.

Walter
P.S. I like your backpack over the fence analogy.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report #6

• The Ebook is finished and I'm really happy with it. I think people will enjoy it.
• I got the sample about 5 days ago. It felt amazing finally holding it in my hands. I love it, it turned out better than I was expecting. The quality is great. Hopefully the quality keeps up with the larger orders.
• Discussed a few changes with the supplier including the size, packaging, and the design. They're on board with everything. They've been a pleasure to work with so far.
• I signed up for a free trial for click funnels and I love it so far. This seems like an amazing tool that will really help me sell my product. So many useful tools and extremely easy to use. If you guys haven't tried it but you're interested here's a link for the two week free trial. It's an affiliate link, so if this isn't allowed or it's frowned upon I'll remove it immediately. ClickFunnels™ - Marketing Funnels and Landing Pages that Convert
• Started setting up my squeeze pages and email sequences for my optin funnel in click funnels. I'll have all of that setup and a Facebook ad running by this time next week.
• Pictures and e-mails will be done and sent to influencers in a few days.

Thanks guys.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report 11

Nothing exciting this week.

• Finished setting up my "store front." I really like how it turned out.
• All the product pictures have been taken and they're almost finished editing.
• Working on the product funnel. Almost done. Still trying to figure out a few of the smaller details.
• Not a lot to write about this week. Still moving forward.
• Getting a promotional video made for the product.

Thanks guys.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report 12

I've missed a lot of my weekly reports. My mistake. I'm still here and I'm still working though. Since it's been a few weeks, here's a summary of what I'm working on.

• Working with a supplier in China to launch my first PL product.
• Selling on Amazon. (obviously)
• Doing a launch campaign to fund the initial purchase.
• Using Clickfunnels to manage the entire launch.

Ok, so here's what's going on now.

• We're about 98% ready to launch.
• We're getting a promo video made to use for our ad and our sales page that has taken a lot longer to get made than we anticipated.
• The video is basically finished, she's just putting the finishing touches on it. I like how it turned out.
• Need to take 3 more pictures for the sales page.
• Once the video and sales page are 100% finished we are going to send it to the influencer we'd like to work with.
• Hopefully the influencer is on board, if so we send her the product and get her testimonial.
• Slap the testimonial on the sales page, and we're ready to go.
• We're going to use the influencers audience and paid facebook ads to drive traffic.
• We will eventually use a referral program to drive more traffic.

Ok guys, that's where I am. Thanks for checking in.

 

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[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report 15

So it's been a little less than two months since my last update. We launched the day after I made my last post. We've had six sales since then. Not overly impressive, is it?

I way overestimated what our influencer would bring to the table. I expected an influx of sales from her followers when she posted about our product but that obviously didn't happen.

I've run Facebook ads but we don't have the budget necessary to really gain any traction. I have a couple of ads that have done well, but we don't have the money to keep them running.

Based on the traffic we've had on our sales page, six sales isn't all that bad. Like I said, we don't have the money to send people to the sales page with paid ads, and the influencer didn't do anything for us really. We've just gotta figure out how to get people to our page organically. We're doing a few things that are helping, but the traffic comes in at a trickle and not the downpour we need right now.

I think the fact that we're in pre-sale right now is keeping people from buying as well.

All in all, I don't see this as a failure yet. There is still a legitimate interest in our product, we've just got to get people to our sales page and then we have to get them to press the buy button.

I'm thinking of listing it on Amazon now before we have stock so people will maybe take us a bit more seriously. I think when people see you're on Amazon they feel safer dealing with your company. I'm just not sure if having a product on Amazon without any stock for a long time will hurt our account. That's something I still have to check out.

So that's where I am now. Not the happiest man alive or clinically depressed. Just gotta get creative until we have more of a cash flow.

Thanks guys.

 

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[amp0193]

I still believe in the product, the market responded well when we did our initial research. I just don't think the execution is there. We planned on funding the order through pre-sales, but I think the "Amazon Prime 2 Day delivery" mindset everyone has is hurting us. No one wants to wait. Part of me understands that, why should anyone trust some random company with only a sales page and no finished product?

I pre-sold a container of product. Used the proceeds to pay the manufacturer.

There's no mindset hurting anyone.

If they can get it in 2-days, then they'll get it in 2 days from someone else. If you're offering something unique, that they can't get any other way, then they'll wait. They don't have a choice.

Give them enough of a price incentive to pre-order, then they'll pre-order.

If the price is low enough to be an impulse buy (sub-$50)... there's not really a reason to pre-order, unless you play the scarcity card.

You should have a time-table. Even if it's vague and comes with no guarantees. Under promise on the delivery date, and hopefully you can surprise them and deliver it early.

If you don't give them a reason to trust you, then they wont trust you.

Pro-looking website. Tons of pics on instagram of the prototype. Get some media coverage. Get social proof.

I'm thinking of using a major slow lane event, the annual tax return, to fund everything.

You can also adjust the W-2 so you were paying less taxes throughout the year. You would've had your money earlier. A tax refund means you gave a free 0% interest loan to the government.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Use this progress thread to hold yourself accountable. I know it helped me with my last concept.

As for the quotes, I'm not an ecom guy but from reading a lot of threads I've picked up a few things. Are you sure C is a manufacturer and not a trader? That may explain the discrepancy.

Obviously, if you haven't read the ecommerce AMA Gold Threads, do so now.

It also wouldn't hurt to pick up a copy of @Walter Hay's book while you wait for those samples to ship.

Thanks Scot. My hope is that this thread does keep me accountable. There really is no excuse being surrounded by so much information and people willing to help.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

I'm pleased to see that you intend reading my AMA, but you'll need to read fast if you want to avoid some of the pitfalls.

Meanwhile I might be able to provide some help. For a start, the variation in quotes is not uncommon, but I have a few observations to make:
1. Three quotes will probably not be enough for you to properly assess the fair market price.
2. Supplier A might be quoting too low and could be using the "don't understand" excuse to hit you with a much higher revised price once they do "understand."
3. Picking suppliers more or less at random on Alibaba will very often lead you to traders and not to manufacturers. Take with a grain of salt whatever they say about their status until you are able to confirm by researching them.
4. A very low price is not necessarily evidence of a scam. It can be evidence that you have found the only manufacturer.

If you care to send me their names privately I will check them out for you.

Walter
P.S. I like your backpack over the fence analogy.

Thanks a lot Walter. I never even thought that the cheapest quote could mean that they're the only manufacturer I've found, my mind usually goes straight to the negative. I am talking to a 4th supplier that should have their quote back to me once the holiday is over. I'll start reading your AMA tonight. I'll send you a private message with my suppliers, thank you so much.

 

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[amp0193]

You should've asked for an estimate of how long it would take before you paid for the sample.

This just sounds like a case of poor communication.


If it was a custom sample, it might take some time, whereas a production line sample would be able to ship immediately.

 

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[Walter Hay]

Progress Report #2

Felt like a slow week. I cut ties with the supplier that kept me hanging with the sample. She was very understanding and even refunded the money I paid. She was very easy to work with, but the company didn't seem very dependable or reliable. I think it's for the best.

Used the new CAD design and contacted new suppliers. Again I didn't get a lot of responses and I am still assuming it's because I am new on the website. Of the responses I did get, one manufacturer couldn't produce it with the materials I want, one quoted me an incredibly high unit cost (based off of what I've heard from other manufacturers) and one seems very reliable, was easy to work with, and quoted a very fair unit price.

I ordered a sample from them that should be ready within 10 business days. I put the manufacturer in contact with my freight forwarder so they can get it shipped when it's finished.

I'm still worried about profit margins. It's costing more to be produced than I anticipated, so I am going to have to do some testing and research to be sure I can sell at a higher price point.

I came up with a free offer to use as a launch promotion. I will get this made on Fiverr when the time comes. I've pretty much decided to try out click funnels along with Facebook ads to grab e-mail addresses and send people to the listing when the product is ready for launch.

Other than that I've just been educating myself. Listening to podcasts, reading books/forums, etc. See you next week!

Your reference to your freight forwarder gives me some concern.

If the sample is large and heavy enough for sea shipment, OK, but if it is suitable for air transport, you don't need a freight forwarder.

Depending on the dimensions and weight, the sample should almost certainly be shipped via air courier. If you use your courier account, on a freight collect basis, that could cost you an arm and a leg unless you have got a quote from them. Without a quote they will charge you schedule rates, which is a list price that only newbies pay.

It is usually best to get the supplier to prepay the air courier charges unless you have already negotiated a deep discount rate with the courier.

Walter

 

[Walter Hay]

Thanks for the input Walter. The freight forwarder is going to use air transport for the sample. I'm just using this as a sort of trial run for them as well instead of paying the manufacturer shipping. Is this smart? I was referred to the freight forwarder by another member of the forums here, so I'm confident they wont try to pull a fast one on me.

Air Transport can mean air freight and not air courier. There is an important distinction between the two.

Air couriers get special treatment from USCBP and for small shipments there's every chance they will go though automatically without even a clearance being lodged.

Air Freight is very different. At least an informal clearance will be required and there will be airport charges to pay. The cost can be substantially higher. There is usually an extra inland delivery charge also.

For a small sample the forwarder is probably using an air courier, but I wanted you to know the difference just in case.

Walter

 

[UncommonWay]

Great progress thread! Way to take action and continue to see it through.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Give them enough of a price incentive to pre-order, then they'll pre-order.

If the price is low enough to be an impulse buy (sub-$50)... there's not really a reason to pre-order, unless you play the scarcity card.

The pre-sale price is under $50. $34.99 to be exact. When the product is listed it won't be much higher than that. I was trying to keep the price high enough so it would fund the order faster, but that's obviously not working. I could drop the pre-sale price to just cover costs, but that would only purchase the first batch, and then we'd be back to zero in funds, so that's counterproductive, right?

Our cost is right at $16/ per piece if we order 500 so we can afford to drop the price. I'm just not sure how much makes sense.

And do you mean price scarcity? Because we've been pushing the narrative of "the price will never be this low again" since the beginning. Maybe it's still not low enough?

Pro-looking website. Tons of pics on instagram of the prototype. Get some media coverage. Get social proof.

We built up an Instagram account to just under 1k followers organically. We mainly post pictures of the product and inspirational quotes that fit our niche. We've had good responses, but not enough people hitting the buy button yet (which makes me a little nervous). I'm redesigning the website now. It was a bit amateurish to begin with so I'm fixing that.

I've been thinking about reaching out to bloggers. I'm thinking about writing a post that talks about the problems our product solves and trying to get on some blogs in our niche for some exposure.

Thank you so much for your advice.

 

[amp0193]

The pre-sale price is under $50. $34.99 to be exact. When the product is listed it won't be much higher than that. I was trying to keep the price high enough so it would fund the order faster, but that's obviously not working. I could drop the pre-sale price to just cover costs, but that would only purchase the first batch, and then we'd be back to zero in funds, so that's counterproductive, right?

Well see, there's the deal. Why spend $50 on something now? I'm most likely going to have $50 in cash when the product launches for real. How about I just buy it then?

I'm not sure if saving $15 is enough of an incentive.

And you gotta make money, I don't like selling at break even, except temporarily for promotional purposes. Like say the plan was to use the inital pre-orders to gain word of mouth exposure, and you quickly followed it up with a big order for selling at full retail.

And do you mean price scarcity? Because we've been pushing the narrative of "the price will never be this low again" since the beginning. Maybe it's still not low enough?

That's not scarcity.

Scarcity is, we've only got 100 of these things to sell, 70 of them have already sold, and we won't have more until XX date.

I pushed the exact "price will never be this low" narrative, but it worked, as customers were saving hundreds of dollars by pre-ordering. Most literally didn't care that they had to wait 6 months. They saved hundreds of dollars.

We built up an Instagram account to just under 1k followers organically. We mainly post pictures of the product and inspirational quotes that fit our niche. We've had good responses, but not enough people hitting the buy button yet (which makes me a little nervous). I'm redesigning the website now. It was a bit amateurish to begin with so I'm fixing that.

Off to a good start, keep it up.

 

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[Ronak]

Production cost is $5,365 and the freight cost is $2,762. My freight forwarder was highly recommended to me by another member here on the forums so I trust them.

It's coming by sea since it's a larger order. I'm not sure of any alternate options, but if you have any ideas they would definitely be appreciated.

LCL?
Send me the info and I'll see what I can do. Origin/destination, dimensions etc

 

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[Ronak]

Sounds unusual that it would be off by that much.

Are you sure the numbers you're looking at now (that are $1500 less), are all inclusive? Meaning, customs fees, transportation to your door, other misc fees?

Whatever your forwarder gave you probably was all inclusive (although they still could've been charging too much).

Sometimes big products only make sense by the container load.

Yes, in this case, the quote was all-in.

Besides the websites mentioned earlier, another rule of thumb to consider: a 40HQ container from China to the US port to port is around 1400/2200 (west/east coast), a few hundred less for 20FT. If you're being quoted close to those numbers for LCL, you should either go with a full container, or you're being overcharged.

 

[RoadTrip]

That's a thorough introduction.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your journey. I will be looking forward to your updates.


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

 

[AnAverageJoe]

That's a thorough introduction.

Yeah, that escalated quickly. I usually like to keep things short and sweet. Thanks for reading and for the warm welcome!

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report #1

My goal is to do one of these each week to keep everyone updated, but mainly to keep myself accountable.

This week I spoke with Walter Hay and he looked up the manufacturers I was talking to and let me know that only one of them was an actual manufacturer. I'll only continue with them. Thanks Walter.

The designs I got made for the product were confusing everyone. I had to do a lot of back and forth with the manufacturers about what I actually wanted and the small details which was taking up a lot of time. I went back to Fiverr and had new plans drawn up with someone else, and I got the files back today. Hopefully this will make things easier.

I found a different website to find suppliers from multiple countries that is said to be more reliable than Alibaba. I reached out to eight different suppliers but I only received a response from one of them. I sent follow up e-mails to the seven that didn't reply, but still nothing. Maybe I'm saying something wrong? I followed the advice in Walters AMA in my e-mail. Maybe I'm to new to the site so there's no trust there, I'm not sure. I'll look for more to e-mail.

Almost three weeks ago now I paid to have my first sample made. They still haven't finished. Every time I talk to them they just say they are working on it and it needs more time. I'm not sure of the proper etiquette here, but I'm starting to lose faith in getting that sample. Is it in good taste to ask for my money back or open a dispute with paypal?

That's where I am. I'd like to start getting into how to write good copy for my listing, learn more about amazon PPC and maybe clickfunnels to help launch the product while I'm waiting for samples to arrive. Thanks for reading!

 

[KSR]

Almost three weeks ago now I paid to have my first sample made. They still haven't finished. Every time I talk to them they just say they are working on it and it needs more time. I'm not sure of the proper etiquette here, but I'm starting to lose faith in getting that sample. Is it in good taste to ask for my money back or open a dispute with paypal?

I'm very inexperienced with this sort of stuff -- but maybe you could ask for an update report or some pictures of its progress (where it's at now). If they can't seem to do these easy tasks then they're not worth the money you've spent. If it turns out that indeed they are working on it, then I guess you just have to be patient.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

You should've asked for an estimate of how long it would take before you paid for the sample.

This just sounds like a case of poor communication.


If it was a custom sample, it might take some time, whereas a production line sample would be able to ship immediately.

They told me it would take a week. Sorry, I should've mentioned that. But yeah, they told me it would take them a week to produce, but then after I paid they said there was some confusion with the designs (after they told me they understood and could do it) so I had to clarify some things and now I'm still waiting.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report #2

Felt like a slow week. I cut ties with the supplier that kept me hanging with the sample. She was very understanding and even refunded the money I paid. She was very easy to work with, but the company didn't seem very dependable or reliable. I think it's for the best.

Used the new CAD design and contacted new suppliers. Again I didn't get a lot of responses and I am still assuming it's because I am new on the website. Of the responses I did get, one manufacturer couldn't produce it with the materials I want, one quoted me an incredibly high unit cost (based off of what I've heard from other manufacturers) and one seems very reliable, was easy to work with, and quoted a very fair unit price.

I ordered a sample from them that should be ready within 10 business days. I put the manufacturer in contact with my freight forwarder so they can get it shipped when it's finished.

I'm still worried about profit margins. It's costing more to be produced than I anticipated, so I am going to have to do some testing and research to be sure I can sell at a higher price point.

I came up with a free offer to use as a launch promotion. I will get this made on Fiverr when the time comes. I've pretty much decided to try out click funnels along with Facebook ads to grab e-mail addresses and send people to the listing when the product is ready for launch.

Other than that I've just been educating myself. Listening to podcasts, reading books/forums, etc. See you next week!

 

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[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report #3

Not a lot went on this week. I'm just posting this to keep myself accountable.

I got a progress picture of my product from the manufacturer and it looks great so far. It was amazing seeing my idea come to life.

I feel like I dropped the ball this week. I know there's more that I can be doing right now while I wait for the sample to get finished up.

This morning I got on Fiverr to get an ebook made to give out for free to grab some e-mails. I want to engage with my niche before I'm ready to launch the product. I plan on giving away the ebook, and then doing some follow up e-mails to see what my customers want/need, and then launching the product. If I get any good ideas from the emails that I can put together quickly, or sell as an affiliate, I'll do that. I want to establish a relationship with my customers before I'm ready to launch the product. I'm going to reach out to the influencers this week as soon as the ebook is done. I think this along with Amazon PPC and everything else I've learned about ranking on Amazon will make me more likely to succeed.

I hopped back on my Amazon Seller account to be sure everything is in order. Everything seems pretty straightforward. Is there anything in Amazon Seller that is obvious to you now that wasn't obvious to you in the beginning?

Thanks for reading.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report #4

Can't believe it's been a month. Here's a few bullet points for what happened this week:

• Producing an ebook to give away to my audience to grab e-mails. This should be finished within the next couple of days.
• Our sample will be shipped out tonight or tomorrow. It'll be here in 5 days. I took the advice of @Walter Hay and just had the supplier ship it to us instead of using the freight forwarder.
• For some reason I neglected researching the FBA fees for the product. So irresponsible and I'm embarrassed to even admit this here. We're oversized. Right now we are well over 2lbs, and about 6 inches too long on one side. We do have some room to play with, and it may be possible to get it short enough to get to large standard size. We'll explore this once we get the sample.
• Goals for next week are to finish the ebook and have an ad running for it. I'd also like to get the sample in my hands to see if we can adjust the size of the product to help increase profit margins. Once we get the sample we're going to send some pictures to the influencers we spoke with at the beginning to get some feedback.

Thanks guys.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report #7

Not much to put down on paper this week. Keeping myself accountable.

• Spent a lot of time in Clickfunnels. I've really fallen in love with this tool. I've got a funnel set up to grab emails with my ebook, now I'm working on a funnel to do pre-sales. Very excited about this because I was about to take out a loan.
• Got the changes worked out with the manufacturer. Saved us about $4 per unit, plus what we'll save by not being over sized in FBA. Win/win.
• Pictures of the sample product are done. Thinking about giving it away on social media to get some attention and brand awareness. We've been using it since we got it and we love it so I'm confident it will be received well.
• Working on getting in contact with the influencers we've already talked to and looking for more we can pitch our product to.
• This week I'm working on getting some email sequences written and sent, and getting a good chunk of the pre-sale funnel done.
• Need to do some research so I know who to target with our ads to promote the pre-sale funnel.

Thanks guys.

 

[AnAverageJoe]

Progress Report 9

I missed a week. Sorry about that. I haven't stopped working though!

• The sample is on the way. I'm hoping it arrives within a week. The manufacturer sent us pictures of it and we love the changes.
• Starting to build our presence on social media. Made accounts specific to the brand. We were using personal accounts previously to reach out to influencers.
• Opt-in funnel didn't deliver like I wanted it to. Still, we got some sign ups and we officially have an e-mail list.
• Decided to try to make some money drop shipping while we wait on the sample. I've got a free+shipping offer along with one upsell. We plan on using mostly social shout outs to promote it.
• Trying to learn as much as I can about paid Facebook ads. I have some experience with them, but I really want to be sure I'm doing it the best I can. Paid Facebook ads along with social shout outs will be our main sources of marketing/advertising for our product.
• This week we're going to push our free+shipping offer and start piecing together the pre-sale funnel for our product.

Thanks guys.

 

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