What's stopping you?

[zt90]

Hmm..I sell on Amazon as well and don't find this to be the case. You need to figure out whats happening to your products and the market. The thing with Amazon is that if you introduce a product that has any sort of demand, you will sell. If it's a "dud" product discount the inventory and move it.


You absolutely can quit your job with an "Amazon" business - and I know many people who have done. However, there is risk of being JUST on Amazon. As I said before, focus on a MARKET and bring those products on Amazon - then transition to your own website sales so you can start building a business that's not dependent on Amazon.


Scaling on Amazon is generally not hard (although time consuming and cash intensive). A model many people follow is 10 sales a day per product, and at LEAST $20/SALE, then scale that until you hit your revenue goals.


If your products are tanking due to bad reviews - you need to fix that first. Hard to say without looking at your products/business but your problem IS fixable.

Hey Jason, Appreciate the response.

All my products have excellent reviews. I don't expect to sell on Amazon forever and I am gradually in the works of expanding onto my own website(slowly collecting emails), but I'm sure you know that it is extremely difficult to run profitable paid ads for your own ecommerce website. Figuring out how to bootstrap and be profitable with my own hosted store is still a challenge for me. I am pretty technical and experienced with outsourcing as well, but the challenge lies in being profitable from the get go (paying for all the inventory, paying for a fulfillment service, paying for a good shopping cart, paying for paid ads and being PROFITABLE after all the overhead).

I think the main reason some of my products stop selling well is that there are more competitors with more MONEY (folks that are going all in with lots of reviews all at once and one-upping my products). When this happens, it's very unfortunate as a seller because you are stuck with a bunch of inventory that isn't moving which messes up the cash flow to expand as an ecommerce guy.

From my experience, hot selling Amazon products have a "shelf life" if you will. If you hop on a trending product, you will sell well for up to several months and then things start to slow down due to an influx of competitors and what not. From there, you gotta troubleshoot and find a way to convert better than the competitors that are taking your market share. I would say this is ultimately what's keeping me from making a break through. I've launched over several products and have done upwards of $20000 in sales for just one product and this has been my experience. Sales really doesn't mean anything as an Amazon seller because of all the overhead, especially for the PPC.

When I release a new product and it does well, I'm not really excited because I know there's a chance it's going to slow down soon and I'll have to keep managing/watching it, which I hate to do because I want to "set it and forget it" and move on to the next opportunity you know?

Anyway, I'm happy to talk more about struggles in ecomm

 

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

[Deleted35442]

What's stopping me? Nothing. I work 16+ hours per day right now exclusively on my business. I'm launching it completely shoestring. Less than $200. Okay, actually less, that's unfair. I bought two domains. One will be for a Kickstarter clothing concept I've been itching to try later. $15 bucks for a domain. $7.90 for a year of hosting. $150 for LLC formation and a year of registered agent services. I coded every last piece of HTML, CSS, (incorporated some bootstrap/jQuery into it open source and made it my own). The logo, freelancer.com, India outsourcing. They did a F*cking bang up job of it too. I have virtual receptionists across the world working for me on a one month free trial. One month, I get even one customer, all the bills are paid for that.

 

[piesandak47]

Believing that if I scale up to a certain point, that I won't be able to maintain that level of growth.

For example, right now I am selling info products and doing about $7k/month.

My fear is that if I scale up to something like $30k/month using FB ads, that the following month I won't be able to maintain the same amount due to FB ad changes or whatever.

 

[zt90]

Believing that if I scale up to a certain point, that I won't be able to maintain that level of growth.

For example, right now I am selling info products and doing about $7k/month.

My fear is that if I scale up to something like $30k/month using FB ads, that the following month I won't be able to maintain the same amount due to FB ad changes or whatever.

Scaling (profitable ads that add to your income) won't hurt though. In fact, if you don't scale to some extent, you won't maintain your current growth. Your current channels for your product will gradually be exhausted, forcing you to do more to maintain 7k.

This certainly doesn't sound like a fear though. More of an ambitious thought that is waiting to be tested/executed.

 

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

[NickS]

Lack of funds. I have about 50 bucks lol.

Lack of time. I'm currently 3/4ths through my college education, it'd be silly to stop now.

I'd get a job to get some capital going, but that means even less time. Ah, the catch-22.

 

[Dami-B]

2 things, lack of focus and doubt. its like i'm jumping from one idea to another. I just need to settle down with one, but coming from a two year period of a failed business, my confidence has certainly diminished on my ability to execute properly. I get bored to quick, I try not to be event wired and to focus on the process, but i'm not doing a very good job as of late. I used to be a lot adventurous starting out but now i'm a lot more laid back, undaring and too cautious. If there is a reason why i'm not successful yet, it has to be somewhere in this text.

 

[Deleted35442]

Lack of funds. I have about 50 bucks lol.

Lack of time. I'm currently 3/4ths through my college education, it'd be silly to stop now.

I'd get a job to get some capital going, but that means even less time. Ah, the catch-22.

Try and have a game plan before you graduate. I wish I did this rather than sign on for my shitty first job. If you can have a website, business plan, and product by the time you graduate, you'll be way ahead of where I was. All the best.

 

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

[johanson]

Only my third post on this forum and I am already asking for something, asking for advice ... Not very nice. I'll do my best to return the favor to other people who are struggling with the similar problem.

I get it. I used to be one of those who jumped from one shiny object to another and constantly kept searching for the right "system" to make money. I have devoted past 6 months to improving my mindset and understanding of how making money actually works. Even though I don't post much on this forum, I've read almost all of the GOLD threads and followed some of yours, ICK's, MJ's, zen*******'s advices. Started learning copy, halbert and kennedy. Experimented with FB ads. To cut the long story short, I still need to improve, a lot, but I have a fair understanding about how to sell with copywriting, grow with branding, get traffic, convert it into leads, create value ladder/funnel, etc. I have limited options because I am an international student in Canada. THerefore, I am not allowed to start a business until I graduate. However, I am able to do consulting and sell services.

The problem I have is... I am stuck at the first step. How do I help someone when I don't have much experience? My goal is to build a business around helping small business owners attract more customers, bring in more sales, there will always be a need for that. But I don't know how to actually do that, not sure if any older business owner is going to trust a 21 old guy on how to grow their business. Should I teach them how to build funnels, how to develop a community, how to set up a lead generation system. I am just not sure which path to choose because I don't have any real world experience.

Sorry for the long post and I hope you understand my question. Thank you Jason!

 

[zt90]

Only my third post on this forum and I am already asking for something, asking for advice ... Not very nice. I'll do my best to return the favor to other people who are struggling with the similar problem.

I get it. I used to be one of those who jumped from one shiny object to another and constantly kept searching for the right "system" to make money. I have devoted past 6 months to improving my mindset and understanding of how making money actually works. Even though I don't post much on this forum, I've read almost all of the GOLD threads and followed some of yours, ICK's, MJ's, zen*******'s advices. Started learning copy, halbert and kennedy. Experimented with FB ads. To cut the long story short, I still need to improve, a lot, but I have a fair understanding about how to sell with copywriting, grow with branding, get traffic, convert it into leads, create value ladder/funnel, etc. I have limited options because I am an international student in Canada. THerefore, I am not allowed to start a business until I graduate. However, I am able to do consulting and sell services.

The problem I have is... I am stuck at the first step. How do I help someone when I don't have much experience? My goal is to build a business around helping small business owners attract more customers, bring in more sales, there will always be a need for that. But I don't know how to actually do that, not sure if any older business owner is going to trust a 21 old guy on how to grow their business. Should I teach them how to build funnels, how to develop a community, how to set up a lead generation system. I am just not sure which path to choose because I don't have any real world experience.

Sorry for the long post and I hope you understand my question. Thank you Jason!

Provide your services for free in exchange for their social proof. That's the only whitehat way at least...

 

[LuxuryAutoGroup]

I started my detailing business roughly 3 months ago. I did an introductory price point to get my name out there. Show people the work that I can do, for a hell of a price, and to promote my skill. All was well. I was raking in people left and right. I was booked for 2 months solid. Mind you, this is part time, as I work full time (12 hour shifts) in LE. My schedule is 5 days on, 2 days off, then swap. So, even on my long week, I was getting 2-3 people. Long weeks, I would get 6-8 people scheduled.

Now, once I stopped the introductory price, as my time was too valuable to be earning pennies on the dollar, business started to dwindle. So, as any concerned business owner does, you wonder what you did wrong. Well.. I attributed that to one of two things. Either A) people cannot afford my prices, or B) people just really aren't interested in having their vehicles detailed.

I told myself that perhaps my prices are the real root of the issue. However, when I look at competitors in the area, they're into production detailing. IE: rolling out as many cars as they can in a given amount of time. I'm not like that. I do quality work 100% of the time. I shoot for 100% satisfaction with EVERY detail, or I will refund money, or they can bring it back (on my dime) and I'll correct it to their liking. Now, production detailing doesn't take as long, isn't quite as costly (material wise), and 2-3-4+x the amount of vehicles can be done in the time it takes me to do 1 or 2. So, once again, I'm back to my pricing. I feel that it's adequate for the job being done, I feel it's fair, and I've had people tell me it's fair. However... the business isn't there.

Now I'm really lost... I had business cards printed with my logo, design, name, email, phone, blah blah blah. Distributed them around town. Not one email, or phone call. I get page views on my business page for facebook, but not a single appointment made. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong here. I can afford to cut the prices a little bit, but I'd prefer to show people that this price is worth every penny. I'm really at a loss here, because I have zero idea of what I'm doing wrong.

 

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

[JasonR]

Hi Jason, Thank you for the time and the wisdom you're putting into this thread.
What ways/methods/books/sites/resources would you "use" to learn and master marketing in the most rapid and efficient way?
I'm currently reading the books of the Gary Halbert Copywriting Challenge, do you think this one is OK or there is a better way to learn it?

Honestly, you have to dig in and get your hands dirty. Start selling something...anything. That's the fastest way to learn.
As far as resources - it depends on where you're trying to sell first. Google/bing? Facebook? Amazon?

Copywriting will definitely help you sell. I have a copy of Cashvertising I refer to often. Breakthrough Advertising is also good.

But nothing beats experience and testing your skills in the open market. When I started out, I had $600 extra cash per month to spend...so I spent it on advertising and learning what works and doesn't work, and building landing pages and writing copy to sell my product. Best $600/month I ever spent.

Web sales are new to me, so I'm trying to overcome how best to market, trying new things, strategy and general reach however am confident when I over come that things will pick up with a big amount of opportunity moving forwards.

I'll try to help here. If you're new to web sales, start by mastering ONE channel first. Ex: Facebook or Google PPC. Those are also the easiest to convert. Spend all your time/money on ONE channel until you start seeing results. If you could be a little more specific I can help you more.

Thanks @JasonR for putting time and effort in this thread.

For me, there are a few stopping points.

First, I don't have the right business idea to execute.
I've beginning to write two books, but never published or even finished them.
Than, I was thinking about renting out magic cards (https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/rent-your-mtg-cards.59823/) which I've never started, because the idea was not feasible after I've talked to some guys in the german Magic community.

Right now, I've started buying (and not yet) selling Magic cards to earn some starting money for future enterprises.

Second, I'm kinda uncomfortable about the business topic with my girlfriend. She is a typical Slowlaner, thinking working in a job is the right way. We have never talked about this fastlane stuff and the mindset.

Third, and I think most important, I'm a litte bit lazy and get distracted easily, esp. in watching TV, I always find something to watch.

Right now, I'm unemployed and earning unemployment benefit, so I'm in the situation, that I have a lot of free time. That's obviously something I want to change, but this means, I don't have the pressure, that I have to do something to pay my bills.

Man, you said it all yourself. You're on unemployment and you're being lazy. Come on man! Wake up. Cancel your netflix subscription, giveaway your TV, and go buy a couple marketing books.

You have the WHOLE WORLD of knowledge at your fingertips. As Mark Cuban said in his book, the knowledge to do ANYTHING is out there. All you have to do is reach out and grab it. Cuban would sit in his room every night combing over software manuals, so he would know them better and sell them to his clients. The rest is history...

I would tell your girlfriend your goals and dreams right away. Whenever I'm dating someone new, and its starting to get more serious, I tell them right up what my life is going to look like and my goals. For me, my business, travel and life goals are more important than finding any relationship. I want the right relationship, and the right girl will fit in line with my goals an dreams. I'm not going to mold my life to her (nor should she mold hers to mine) - but it should be as equals. A little give and take on both parts, neither should compromise on their dreams and goals.

There's a tendency to focus on small menial tasks and ignore key priorities, answering emails instead of creating something that drives client growth.

Have you read the book "The One thing" ? Yeah, its a bit slow, but now, every day, I start off with "what is the ONE thing" I can do today that will make everything easier? What is the MOST VALUABLE use of my time today? I then do that task and put off all others until that one thing is done.

If you can, delegate the rest and focus on the ONE THING that will move your business to new levels.

What's the worst that could happen? I get there and end up living in my car/couchsurfing for a week or 2? I can deal with that.

They can't take your birthday away. You'll be fine.

The problem I have is... I am stuck at the first step. How do I help someone when I don't have much experience? My goal is to build a business around helping small business owners attract more customers, bring in more sales, there will always be a need for that. But I don't know how to actually do that, not sure if any older business owner is going to trust a 21 old guy on how to grow their business. Should I teach them how to build funnels, how to develop a community, how to set up a lead generation system. I am just not sure which path to choose because I don't have any real world experience.

No, you shouldn't do this. If you don't know how to drive sales yourself this is the wrong path. You're right, no one would hire you because you don't know what your'e doing. My suggestion would be to start a product based business and get some sales and experience under your belt. I love product based business.

If you start a business in the US, can Canada do anything about that? I don't see how they could possibly regulate that...

Now I'm really lost... I had business cards printed with my logo, design, name, email, phone, blah blah blah. Distributed them around town. Not one email, or phone call. I get page views on my business page for facebook, but not a single appointment made. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong here. I can afford to cut the prices a little bit, but I'd prefer to show people that this price is worth every penny. I'm really at a loss here, because I have zero idea of what I'm doing wrong.

Have you read The Millionaire Fastlane ? You made all of the classic mistakes of starting a business. Detailing cars breaks MJ"s "CENTS" model. Need, entry, control, scale and time. A car detailing business, such as yours, breaks entry, scale and time. My advice, find a different business that can run without you with a bigger barrier of entry. Perhaps there's a B2B concerning car detailing businesses. Perhaps, you need to look elsewhere.

 

[Oztrepreneur]

My continual downfall is this : I come up with an idea, pursue it in some minor fashion, then manage to convince myself that it won't work so why waste time, money, effort on it-->abandon idea. Being in Australia the markets are small, so this adds to the idea that " how many people would actually buy this", and then I move onto the next thing.
A recent one was this : www.wineforawedding.com A cool bespoke wedding gift type service in the USA. I had a very similar idea to introduce into the Aus market. Roughly 120K weddings per annum here....but then I say well realistically how could you expect to sell more than a few hundred at best, not worth the effort and cost so abandon.
I guess it is fear but to me it is more that I negatively underestimate the power of the consumer or am I managing my expectations realistically.

 

[JasonR]

My continual downfall is this : I come up with an idea, pursue it in some minor fashion, then manage to convince myself that it won't work so why waste time, money, effort on it-->abandon idea. Being in Australia the markets are small, so this adds to the idea that " how many people would actually buy this", and then I move onto the next thing.
A recent one was this : www.wineforawedding.com A cool bespoke wedding gift type service in the USA. I had a very similar idea to introduce into the Aus market. Roughly 120K weddings per annum here....but then I say well realistically how could you expect to sell more than a few hundred at best, not worth the effort and cost so abandon.
I guess it is fear but to me it is more that I negatively underestimate the power of the consumer or am I managing my expectations realistically.

What makes you focus solely on the Australian market? I have a friend who just launched his product business in the UK, and he's wishing he started in the US as the market is so much bigger. He started his business remotely.

So much infrastructure is already set up in America where you can easily launch and sell something while being anywhere in the world.

Don't limit yourself to the location your'e at. The same can be said for those only selling in the US market - there is SO much opportunity throughout the world and in new, emerging markets. Take a look where Amazon is opening warehouses...UK, Germany, Australia, etc....

But...I would hit the biggest markets first (North America).

 

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

[MTF]

My continual downfall is this : I come up with an idea, pursue it in some minor fashion, then manage to convince myself that it won't work so why waste time, money, effort on it-->abandon idea. Being in Australia the markets are small, so this adds to the idea that " how many people would actually buy this", and then I move onto the next thing.
A recent one was this : www.wineforawedding.com A cool bespoke wedding gift type service in the USA. I had a very similar idea to introduce into the Aus market. Roughly 120K weddings per annum here....but then I say well realistically how could you expect to sell more than a few hundred at best, not worth the effort and cost so abandon.
I guess it is fear but to me it is more that I negatively underestimate the power of the consumer or am I managing my expectations realistically.

I live in a slightly bigger country than Australia, but I still totally get what you mean. For a long time I wasn't sure whether I should focus on my country or go after the US market.

Then I realized that I couldn't even follow a lot of US-centric business advice (e.g. "go niche") because there's simply no way to make a niche business work in a country that's 10-15x smaller than the US.

There's also much less infrastructure (and sometimes none) for key business operations (e.g., there are very few, if any, companies that offer fulfillment services, there are no established payment processors, fewer marketing channels to utilize, etc.)

I agree with Jason - going after the biggest markets is a much better option. You can be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond. In the first case, you limit yourself right from the start (and oftentimes, very severely). In the second case, you have a lot of space to grow - and that's very important if you want to build something big and scale quickly.

Alternatively, if you really want to have a business catering for Australia only, you can go after a huge industry in your country and that can also work. However, it has to be in a huge, very profitable industry, because niche businesses will never generate 7-8 figures a year in a small country. In other words, not, say, bespoke wedding gift type of a service (because that's too niche for Australia) but a wedding planning service in general (possibly a franchise to scale quickly).

By the way, I have a question for you, @JasonR. How can a person start a product-based business outside of the US and NOT use Amazon FBA? Do you just go with the first fulfillment center you find or are there specific big players you recommend for people outside of the US who can't ship the stuff themselves?

Also, do you then manufacture the products in the US or tell your manufacturer outside of the US to ship it directly to your fulfillment center? What about quality control, dealing with returns, etc.?

Is there any resource you can recommend that covers how to set up a product-based business for non-US persons outside of the US that is not about Amazon FBA?

 

[Oztrepreneur]

Also, do you then manufacture the products in the US or tell your manufacturer outside of the US to ship it directly to your fulfillment center? What about quality control, dealing with returns, etc.?

A question I had too. Sorry Jason, we can open another thread perhaps along these lines, don't want o hijack A similar business idea I had requires a product from China to be customised and shipped to customers, not feasible from Aus. What 'fulfillment' type business could offer this...I guess I will hit the net and try find one.

 

[samuraijack]

Hey Jason thanks for taking your time to do this.

I came across idea extraction here on the forum and gave very little effort into it. I basically did a lot of busy work (emails, gathering resources, etc) but ended up only cold calling one business and I had a good conversation but I was super nervous and it got nothing from it in terms of a problem to solve. Dropped this "idea extraction" plan.

After a couple months passed I came across this product my ex-gf bought and thought I could execute it better. Bought some samples from China. Turned out to be shitty samples. Gave up on this idea.

All of this took a long time for me to do, as in I take action very slowly.

I know my problem is that overthink things way too much.

If I personally don't have a problem/need that needs a solution or know anyone that has one, should I just pick one thing and execute on it no matter how much my brain tells me it won't work?

 

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

[domi99]

Thanks @JasonR for your answer. Appreciate your help.

 

[The Duc]

Being uncertain if it's worth the effort in my current business. They say it takes the same amount of effort to make $10,000 a year as it takes to make a million. Is it true?

You have two choices:

A. Stay in a business that's unlikely to grow past a certain point (comfortable, but not mind-blowing, something around $15k/month). I can double my revenue/profits, but after reaching $15k it will be highly unlikely based on the top earners in the industry. The advantage here is that it's relatively safe and it's already working for you.

B. Start a new, unrelated business with more potential where the top earners reach 6-7 figures a month. The potential for doubling revenue/profits here is virtually unlimited when compared to option A, but you have to start from scratch and won't use many of the skills you had to master for your current business.

What do you pick?

Streamline, systematize and automate A as much as possible and as quickly as possible.

Then take the extra time and money and shift your focus to B.

Your question is really just an excuse to do neither.

 

[The Duc]

Fear of cold calling.

Drink a beer (or 2) and then pick up the phone.

Yes, I am 100% serious. It works for millions of men every Friday and Saturday night.

 

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

[JasonR]

By the way, I have a question for you, @JasonR. How can a person start a product-based business outside of the US and NOT use Amazon FBA? Do you just go with the first fulfillment center you find or are there specific big players you recommend for people outside of the US who can't ship the stuff themselves?

For what reasons are you against using Amazon FBA? Amazon WILL ship your website orders for you, and can be automated. You might be able to find a cheaper fulfillment center, but Amazon fulfillment will be the quickest way to get and up running FAST - which is more important than finding the cheapest vendor when you're starting. You can also find companies that will handle accepting your shipment from China (or wherever), inspecting it, and getting it ready for Amazon. Pick up the phone.

A question I had too. Sorry Jason, we can open another thread perhaps along these lines, don't want o hijack A similar business idea I had requires a product from China to be customised and shipped to customers, not feasible from Aus. What 'fulfillment' type business could offer this...I guess I will hit the net and try find one.

This is still possible and I'm guessing most fulfillment companies would consider doing this for you. Obviously, Amazon won't - but you could use an intermediary.

Custom products can be a pain (trust me, I know), but can also be pretty lucrative.

I came across idea extraction here on the forum and gave very little effort into it. I basically did a lot of busy work (emails, gathering resources, etc) but ended up only cold calling one business and I had a good conversation but I was super nervous and it got nothing from it in terms of a problem to solve. Dropped this "idea extraction" plan.

After a couple months passed I came across this product my ex-gf bought and thought I could execute it better. Bought some samples from China. Turned out to be shitty samples. Gave up on this idea.

Your problem is that you give up too easily. You hit the first roadblock, and then give up. The definition of being an Entrepreneur is to be a problem solver...your ideas very may well be great but you aren't pushing them hard enough. Those who persist find success.

Drink a beer (or 2) and then pick up the phone.

Yes, I am 100% serious. It works for millions of men every Friday and Saturday night.

This actually isn't awful advice. Sometimes when I have work that I dread to do, I'll up a few beers or some hard liquor for cocktails. When I spent my first $1k a day in traffic, I needed a few beers to settle the nervousness I had in my system.

 

[MTF]

For what reasons are you against using Amazon FBA? Amazon WILL ship your website orders for you, and can be automated.

Control. There are too many people starting Amazon FBA businesses and I don't like how vulnerable it makes you. I'm a self-published author and I'm already overexposed to Amazon. I don't like how every little change and decision made by them can affect my income.

If they can ship orders outside of Amazon (placed on your own website) as well, then that's okay, though (especially if I can find a back-up fulfillment center).

Thank you for your answer!

 

[JasonR]

Control. There are too many people starting Amazon FBA businesses and I don't like how vulnerable it makes you. I'm a self-published author and I'm already overexposed to Amazon. I don't like how every little change and decision made by them can affect my income.

If they can ship orders outside of Amazon (placed on your own website) as well, then that's okay, though (especially if I can find a back-up fulfillment center).

They're doing FBA/Amazon because there's a TON of money there. I see so many people avoid competitive markets or channels and say it's too over crowded. Truth is that they are scared.

Amazon is just a sales channel. I suggest every business to use it - done right it can be a powerhouse .

FBA can absolutely ship website orders. I do it all the time. If you don't like a change FBA makes...they'll ship you your stuff back. Very little to no risk.

 

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

[Jackal0]

I think it's easy, I don't have a idea for a business.

I've done flipping with some success, so writing a book about this came to my mind.
Or a renting business, but I don't have idea, which product to lent.

 

[exclusives88]

If you've already started your business, what's stopping you from quitting your job?

I started selling on Amazon and through my website starting on June 2015. I gave myself 6 months to make enough income to at least pay for rent so I can quit my job at the end of the year. I've launched on Amazon a total of 5 products but all of them were duds and left me no margin after Amazon ads. Only one of the product has been worth re-ordering and have since ordered a large quantity for the rest of the year. I am now in the middle of launching 4 - 5 products that will be ready by mid to late November. Hopefully they are successful so I can quit my job. I have build a big cushion that will last me 2 years with no job.

I might pull the trigger and quit by the end of the year. However, I do have fear as I have not seen much success yet in my e-commerce business. When did you pull the trigger and quit your full time job?

 

[Courtanie]

Little to no capital after bills are paid.

No idea what to do.

I actually have several hours a day to work on something. Just no direction.

I am in the same boat

 

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

[Guest24480]

What is stopping you from making the leap?

Social pressure and outside responisbilities. I'm a student and I see a bunch of my peers getting internships and they're all really motivated to succeed in their future careers while all I can think about it is entrepreneurship. I realized I hate my major and I just changed it, and my parents are pressuring me to get an internship in a stable field and eventually get a job right after graduation, etc.

Problem is, I have next to no motivation to do so. I have no idea what field I would work in or what kind of internship to look for. I was thinking of getting one at a start-up just to gain some more real-world experience while I work on a business.

What I'm afraid of most is failing at this whole Fastlane thing and graduating with no internship experience and never getting a good job. I want to get a business started ASAP but I'm afraid that if I put all my eggs into that basket and fail to pay any attention to my career then I'll end up a jobless bum after college.

In short, I don't know how to get my priorities straight at this point in my life. It's a strange transitional period for me.

I realize my mentality isn't where it needs to be just by rereading this post (i.e. afraid, afriad, afraid), but I just need some guidance from people who have been there and done that.

 

[safff]

I'll try to help here. If you're new to web sales, start by mastering ONE channel first. Ex: Facebook or Google PPC. Those are also the easiest to convert. Spend all your time/money on ONE channel until you start seeing results. If you could be a little more specific I can help you more.

Sorry -thought I had responded but with the internet as slow as it is here it must have timed out!

Funnily enough I had started toying with the idea of Facebook marketing when stuck in Denpansar airport a few days before reading your post, so after reading it I decided to start experimenting. I had been focusing on Instagram previously (and for the level of effort it takes, will still keep it updated) but like you say, conversions aren't so easy to come across. Traffic stats show that from 500 followers, a couple of hundred unique visits are coming through, but very few conversions.

Facebook strikes me as 'the more you pay the more you convert' but I can't help but feel there's more to it than that. I've struggled to get likes, but I ran four campaigns, focusing different areas of customers and found a trend as to what drove the most clicks to my site. There are a couple of operational niggles on the site which I think might be to blame for not converting those (too difficult to order - needing to write down in a notes box variation details as opposed to a listbox (trying to rectify this)

I will take your advise and try and get fully around one channel - Facebook as it seems the most effective

 

[JasonR]

I think it's easy, I don't have a idea for a business.

I've done flipping with some success, so writing a book about this came to my mind.
Or a renting business, but I don't have idea, which product to lent.

You need to work your idea muscle. Once flexed often enough, you'll have more ideas than you know what to do with.

Spend some time researching products and problems, and keep flexing that idea muscle.

I would not suggest writing a book as a means to make money (at least directly).

I am now in the middle of launching 4 - 5 products that will be ready by mid to late November. Hopefully they are successful so I can quit my job. I have build a big cushion that will last me 2 years with no job.

I might pull the trigger and quit by the end of the year. However, I do have fear as I have not seen much success yet in my e-commerce business. When did you pull the trigger and quit your full time job?

Awesome - you're putting shit out there, actually doing things, and seeing what works. Amazon PPC has been tough lately - not sure what's going on with it but they are changing these. Try to get your products ranking naturally - that will be HUGE for you.

If I were you I would quit now, especially with 2 years of "cushion" built up. I took too long to quit - I waited until I was making over double, per day that I was making at a job. I should have quit a month before that.

Sounds like you have enough figured out where you don't need your job income any longer.

What I'm afraid of most is failing at this whole Fastlane thing and graduating with no internship experience and never getting a good job. I want to get a business started ASAP but I'm afraid that if I put all my eggs into that basket and fail to pay any attention to my career then I'll end up a jobless bum after college.

In short, I don't know how to get my priorities straight at this point in my life. It's a strange transitional period for me.

You need to make a choice, and go all in. Go all in on entrepreneurship or your career. You can get a job to pay the bills, but your focus needs to be in ONE place.

If you've read the Millionaire Fastlane , you know that I subscribe to the belief that jobs, and careers, are never safe.

What's more impressive, even to an employer? Someone who started a business, made their own sales...or someone who got a degree and a job like everyone else?

I will take your advise and try and get fully around one channel - Facebook as it seems the most effective

Facebook is the easiest display platform to sell on. Sounds like you need to get parts of your funnel in order, and figure out Facebook advertising. Don't bother driving likes other than social proof - it's largely a waste of time.

 

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

[safff]

You need to work your idea muscle. Once flexed often enough, you'll have more ideas than you know what to do with.

Spend some time researching products and problems, and keep flexing that idea muscle.

I would not suggest writing a book as a means to make money (at least directly).



Awesome - you're putting shit out there, actually doing things, and seeing what works. Amazon PPC has been tough lately - not sure what's going on with it but they are changing these. Try to get your products ranking naturally - that will be HUGE for you.

If I were you I would quit now, especially with 2 years of "cushion" built up. I took too long to quit - I waited until I was making over double, per day that I was making at a job. I should have quit a month before that.

Sounds like you have enough figured out where you don't need your job income any longer.



You need to make a choice, and go all in. Go all in on entrepreneurship or your career. You can get a job to pay the bills, but your focus needs to be in ONE place.

If you've read the Millionaire Fastlane , you know that I subscribe to the belief that jobs, and careers, are never safe.

What's more impressive, even to an employer? Someone who started a business, made their own sales...or someone who got a degree and a job like everyone else?



Facebook is the easiest display platform to sell on. Sounds like you need to get parts of your funnel in order, and figure out Facebook advertising. Don't bother driving likes other than social proof - it's largely a waste of time.

thanks for that and while I'm at it the thread in general. reading some of the other replies has been indirectly real helpful

So from the sheer purpose of driving conversions you think like chasing is wasted effort? Find it hard to gaige the link between credibility, rep and conversions and was considering going the route of a 'like us for 10% off" type approach

Sent from my SM-N915G using Tapatalk

 

[JasonR]

o from the sheer purpose of driving conversions you think like chasing is wasted effort? Find it hard to gaige the link between credibility, rep and conversions and was considering going the route of a 'like us for 10% off" type approach

I don't want to turn this thread into an advertising one, but I'll answer your question here real quick.

Yes - the only goal you should have, in terms of traffic, is CONVERSIONS. Another common mistake new marketers make is asking someone to do too much. Every advertisement should have ONE goal. I mean - if I see an ad, why do I care about liking you or 10% off if you haven't made me want your offer yet?

Get them to click to your landing page, SELL them, then GIVE them the coupon if you want them to buy.

On the topic of coupons, I would prefer to sell a single product at full price, and incentivize them to buy bundles/more products...in order to increase your average order value. In other words, don't give them a 10% coupon for "free" - or just to do so.