$1 Million in Revenue on Amazon with Zero Employees

There’s so many scammy Tips on how to sell on Amazon courses, so I assumed I’d contribute really helpful content, that can aid you get your feet wet and learn easy methods to sell on Amazon using FBA.

I’m mostly selling on Amazon, and a bit on Shopify. Every little thing goes through Amazon FBA, so I’m capable of travel full-time.

This yr, I’m at $1M on Amazon alone.

My story begins way back in 2009, once I was just a school graduate who had no real plans for the foreseeable future.

Still, entrepreneurship is something that got here naturally to me, and I sincerely hope I’ll find a way to maintain hammering away at it throughout the remaining of my livelihood.

All of it began on the University of Florida, where my first gig was selling football tickets. As a scrawny white kid, I definitely stood out from the group, that’s of course.

Surprisingly, it turned out to be the very best therapy for a boy like me. In my view, every entrepreneur should go through rejection therapy, with a purpose to learn easy methods to take care of refusal.

After I graduated, I migrated to web sites like TicketMaster and Stubhub.com, where I continued buying and selling tickets. You’d be surprised to listen to just how interesting this job is, and for those who’re really good at supplying the demand, you’ll never run out of business.

The issue is, it’s quite repetitive, and after some time, you just get tired of re-entering the captcha time and time again. Perhaps the largest issue for me personally was not providing individuals with real value, something I now take pride in.

This tedious business was began to get to me, so I switched lanes, booked an affordable flight and visited a friend in China. After 6 weeks, I went back home and clearly, had to come back back with some souvenirs and gifts for those closest to me.

Amongst the assorted gadgets, one particular watch garnered probably the most attention, as people simply couldn’t stop asking about it.

Out of sheer curiosity, I contacted my friend from China once more (who worked there as an English teacher on the time) and he found the supplier.

I believed that a wealthy partner/investor is the method to go, so I reached out to my only wealthy friend for a $4,000 investment, and we got an arrangement to be 50/50 partners. The watches went for under $3, so I order 800 pieces, and spent about $3,000 for my very own website.

Lesson 1 Don’t spend over $300 in your first web presence

After I invested a mad sum of money into that website, I made a decision to ditch it and create one on Shopify by myself as an alternative. Trust me, It’s super easy, and I guarantee you’ll find a way to drag it off. My initial price was set at $65.

Lesson 2 Price high

Even though it may sound counterintuitive to some, that is the appropriate alternative. With a greater clientele, extra space for wholesale/distributors, fewer returns, and a much bigger perceived value, it comes with no drawbacks.

Fun was at all times the goal of my brand. I attempted my best to please the purchasers by throwing down awesome contests, have cool photoshoots, and such, and it resulted in a pool of satisfied buyers.

By pure luck, I got to satisfy a Groupon rep, and we agreed upon a deal. On the time, Groupon was primarily an internet site for food, and my watches were one in every of the primary products on the market.

Sales numbers were good, so that they included my brand within the Black Friday national deal. In just 3 days, greater than 7,000 of my ’deals’ were sold! Unfortunately, my Chinese supplier turned out to be a trading company, and there was no way we could supply the demand-based only on his ’credit’.

Man, that was a tough blow for me, as the whole deal nearly went down the drain, and with it, my business as well. Only about 70% of orders were accomplished successfully, and others got refunds, but I got a ton of hate, as I mainly ruined so many individuals’s Christmases.

Incredibly, Groupon one way or the other paid me the complete amount, despite the actual fact I failed to meet around 2,000 orders. In case you were wondering, the name of my company was TIKKR, nevertheless it’s not in business anymore. Who knows, perhaps I’ll get back to it in the future.

The sad truth was, I saw that my empire didn’t have a brilliant future, as there have been 50 corporations that sold the very same watch as I did. Amongst them, Walgreens was selling it for under $4.99 on the time, albeit and not using a brand name.

I struggled for a while, as watches simply weren’t of the very best quality, and I used to be spending big bucks on returns and warranties. Ultimately, I needed a fresh start, but my inspiration was lacking. I cannot recall just the way it got here about, but suddenly, I noticed that bamboo sunglasses were becoming a thing.

Back in 2012, I discovered myself in Chicago, the house of Groupon headquarters. My friends from China reached out to me, proposing we start a joint project once more. Through a friend who worked at Groupon, I used to be capable of get access to their sales floor, and I simply chatted with people until I got in contact with a lady who was selling fashion accessories.

Lesson 3 All the time stay in the sport and hope in your big break

After some negotiation, we agreed on a deal, and I needed to organize 10,000 units for sales on a national level. We were one way or the other capable of gather $180,000 between 3 partners, the Groupon insider, friends from China, and me, using most of TIKKR money and an enormous loan from the Bank of Mom!

Our marketing strategy was fairly straightforward.

The blokes from China were in charged with production, I handled marketing and branding, and the Groupon dude was, well, the Groupon dude.

The name Woodies sounded awesome to me, but I first had to purchase rights to Woodies.com from a Canadian fellow, who was using it to sell hockey stick chairs. In case you were wondering, I got the concept from vintage Woodie station wagons which had a frame produced from wood.

Because of my obsession with Ashley Sky, I desired to hire her for the photoshoot, and I also rented just a few awesome rides for this purpose as well.

Although she had 100k Instagram followers, she only asked $600 for a day of a photoshoot, which in my mind was a deal made in heaven.

After the Groupon sale went live, we only sold 4,000 as an alternative of 10,000 units.

Lesson 4 Keep a positive attitude but stay realistic together with your forecasts

Wanna hear a crazy story?

I cannot recall what number of time thought I had a world breaking deal on my hands, simply to see it vanish right away. Even the deals which were mildly successful weren’t as rewarding as I originally hoped for. It struck me that I used to be living out a story from the Old Man and the Sea.

I used to be landing huge deals, but after I accomplished the job, I used to be left with only a small a part of my initial fortune. Problems with warranties, customer support and charges, shipping costs, and other expenses quickly add up.

One thing leads to a different, and as a consequence of our ’poor’ sales numbers, my suppliers from China bumped into their very own financial hardships. Eventually, the Groupon guy and I took over their a part of the business out of sheer necessity.

Not every thing was bad, though. After paying off our friends from China, we were left with a $140,000 capital base. We knew that our business had massive potential, but we were still unable to address an enormous order, so we turned to Kickstarter, which was really just beginning to blow up on the time.

I made a decision to go big and planned to rent Kendall Jenner for this campaign. It took a protracted time, but I used to be eventually capable of contact her modeling agency and get in contact along with her direct manager.

Their asking price was set at $100,000 for a single day! I attempted to create a Pinterest board and send it her, asking if she could drop the worth all the way down to $25,000 including a ton of incentives, and to my amazement, she said YES!

After wrapping my head around that number, I noticed that we could get a return for our money, but we had to boost numerous funds from our Kickstarter campaign.

I hired Kendall Jenner, Ashley Sky, Aygemang Clay, Damaris Aguiar, Lyall Aston was a photographer, Sagette Van Embden was accountable for video production, the styling was done by Lina Palacios and Mary Guthrie handled hair and makeup.

The production was so insane, that I used to be simply in awe. By utilizing Southwest Airlines buddy passes, I made a decision to fly everyone all the way down to Malibu, CA. Most of those incredibly hot girls never encountered this manner of travel, I can guarantee that much!

On a regular basis, I used to be sweating bullets, hoping that every thing works out for the very best. I endured numerous stress during those days.

 

Lesson 5 Don’t put yourself down

In entrepreneurship, you’ve got to be able to carry on fighting, and embrace the challenges. I’m not gonna lie, there was loads of time where I assumed the competition would eat me alive, and I used to be nothing greater than a ’pretender’.

Nevertheless, remember that the very best tactics were at all times fake it til you make it! Still, let’s get back to the story. I rented a van and an HQ in Malibu through Airbnb.

Looking back on it now, I can’t help myself but laugh.

Imagine driving big shots like Kendall Jenner, Damaris Aguiar, Ashley Sky, and a few of my friends in a rental van across Malibu!

To make matters worse, we were kinda late, so I needed to push the pedal to the metal, in order that got me scolded by Kendal’s manager, as I used to be driving too fast.

Oh yeah, I used to be also wearing a captain’s on a regular basis, because that was my thing back within the day. Fun times. Although Kendall agreed with my Kickstarter campaign, the outcomes were pretty underwhelming.

I used to be only capable of raise like $30,000 and had about $70,000 spent in investments. In hindsight, I don’t think I’d undergo this ordeal again.

Luckily for me, Kendall became an enormous celebrity, so it raised numerous recognition for my brand as well. Moreover, because her management let me write the contract, I mainly have rights to those photos and video material endlessly.

What a win!

It only took a single tweet from Kendall, and I grew my variety of email subscribers by 20,000, which turned out to be a gentle income ever since.

In the case of the business side of things, the income is seasonal, with peaks throughout the summer and Christmas season.

Woodies evolved loads throughout the years, ranging from watches to expensive sunglasses, with business going from big to boom. One other good boost got here from selling on Amazon, which was sorta surprising. On the time, I used to be running on fumes, barely taking any paychecks, and truly had to maneuver back in with my mom in Tulsa.

Apart from just a few Bitcoins, I had zero savings and spent my days traveling the world. During this time, my entrepreneurship got here all the way down to just a few epic wins, and greater than just a few moderate losses.

Still, this was an exciting journey, as I got to travel the globe, mingle with gorgeous models, perform creative tasks, and improve myself as an individual overall.

Ultimately, it proved to be a precious lesson, and I might hardly change a thing.

Before I forget, let me mention among the techs I used up so far:

• Amazon FBA and Shipwire (Amazon trumps it in every aspect)
• All Google platforms comparable to Gmail, Analytics, Google Forms, Google Drive
• Shopify and Xero for E-commerce and accounting
• Fiverr to enhance overall product reviews
• Alibaba for connecting with suppliers. Remember to communicate and put money into this relationship as much as possible
• Mailchimp as a tool for email marketing. In my case, this worked out the very best

Necessary things I’ve learned:

• International shipping and wholesale business aren’t definitely worth the effort, as they’re each time-consuming and offer small rewards in return. Until you make it big, it is advisable to follow domestic clientele.
• All the time start small and test the market first, before you choose to splurge big bucks.
• Data management and accounting systems are vital, so pay close attention here, as it would turn out to be useful once you least expect it.
• Shout-out to my friend and ex-employee Joanna, who motivated me to work harder and at all times had great business ideas. Whenever you’re hiring personnel, at all times go for the very best option, friendship favors will get you nowhere fast.

Naturally, there have been a few loose ends I had yet to handle, including:

• Taxes
• Customer support management (answering those boring emails is so tiring)
• CRM comparable to Salesforce (although I’m unsure this is definitely mandatory)

In the case of services, there are greater than just a few price mentioning.

Seriously, just now I’m starting to appreciate how lots of these rattling things I actually use. Might as well cancel just a few in the longer term, LOL.

Either way, here it goes.

After 5 years of doing business with Woodie, I began to get a grip on things. With no partners or employees around, I’m my very own boss. This permits me to manage my business, all the way down to the slightest nuances.

Nevertheless, there’s only a lot time in a day, and these services generally is a lifesaver. Automation has truly taken things to a different level.

 

Shopify: Alpha and Omega of the eCommerce space

Shopify apps: Make a suggestion: Pop-up which allows buyers to supply a bid for the product of their desire. They provide their email address in the method, which I exploit to send them a reduction code with Zapier and later fetch them to Mailchimp.

Login with Amazon: Although 60% of all traffic comes from mobile, checkouts only account for about 20%. Why is that? It’s actually a straightforward reason, it’s much harder to enter your personal info this fashion. This terrific app allows them to make use of their Amazon account, in addition to select their payment method and address.

ShopiMap: Every customer gets pinned, together with their orders. It’s perfect for social proof.

Yotpo: Once I got them, the costs began at $30 per 30 days, however the value has skyrocketed today to $300! This implausible app routinely sends review requests and showcases them on product pages. CovetPics: An easy Instagram plugin which is used to design a collage from my photos. Truthfully, this app could also be a bit redundant today.

Spently: Default confirmation emails from Shopify and terribly boring and plane, but Spently bring fun into the equation. Shout to Nick!

Compass.Co: Primary eCommerce analytics, so far as I’m concerned. Not only that it pulls tons of data I never even knew existed, nevertheless it also organizes all of it it an excellent neat way.

Amazon: My primary sales platform, which accounts for greater than 60% of my overall sales.

Customer Service: An integral a part of any business. Fortunately for me, my mom is hired for this a part of the job. Although my mom is busy, you’ll be able to test your luck on an internet site called HireMyMom. That’s an actual place guys, laugh all you wish.

Greetings to mothers across the globe, though, you might be awesome! AmazonFBA: 100% of my products are handled through this great service. They receive, store, pack and ship out all of my products. It allows me to live as a full-time traveler, and it made the logistics a lot simpler. Amazon Affiliates: There are tons of people who use Amazon Prime as their primary service, and truthfully, I completely get that.

At the tip of the day, free shipping is a welcomed bonus. Due to that, each of my product pages features a link to my product listings on Amazon, and thru affiliate links, I’m capable of gather around 1% of the order. Ultimately, it only adds as much as about $100 per 30 days, but why throw that away.

Amazon apps:

• FeedbackGenius: Because reviews are an integral a part of Amazon business, this app is a definite must-have. It sends auto-feedback pop-ups to 1000’s of orders each day. Trust me, this is completely essential.
• HelloProfit: After I reviewed what this app had to supply, I went ahead and canceled my subscription. Paying $79 per 30 days to wash up a report of Amazon simply appeared like a rip-off.

 

Web sites:

• Cloudflare: I suppose it’s imagined to make my website run smoother for $20 per 30 days, but truthfully, I haven’t got a clue how this actually works. Care to enlighten me?
• Typeform: It’s a service I exploit to collect info from giveaways.
• Zapier: Works very well with the previously mentioned service. I exploit it to transfer data from one service to a different, for instance, from Gmail to Typeform, in a while to Google Docs and MailChimp, before finally ending with Shopify.
• GoDaddy: Possibly not your best option, nevertheless it works OK, and hey, how about that catchy name?

 

Task Management:

Gmail: I do my best to envision it as often as possible, not less than two times a day. If only I could ever reach Inbox Zero…

Pro Tip: There are tons of interesting Gmail keyboard shortcuts it’s best to learn

Pro Tip 2: Go to Gmail Settings and enable Send+Archive option on automatic.

Inbox Pause: Most individuals are inclined to finish tough tasks first, but one way or the other at all times discover a method to answer 3 or 4 short emails concurrently. The Inbox Pause stops this nasty habit from the get-go.

Trust me, it is going to increase your productivity by a protracted shot.

Trello: As I strive towards achieving Inbox Zero, I at all times have a few rules at hand:

• If it’s possible to reply in a minute or two, go for it
• Anything over that deadline goes into Trello as a task

Gmail Timer Logs: A timer routinely starts upon opening a brand new mail.

 

Chrome Extensions:

• LastPASS: Saves previous passwords, automatic login in addition to form-fills all payment methods. A fast tip: ensure that to not lose your card, otherwise you’re gonna need to reset your whole passwords once more, which is excruciating.
• Block Site: Among the best website blockers on the market. It’s very simple, and works each time, what more could you ask?
• The Great Suspender: I actually have a nasty habit of leaving 15-20 tabs open in any respect times. This extension suspends the background tabs, which makes the one I exploit to run faster.
• AMZ Seller Browser: Allows me to envision out the Sales rank of Amazon and Price History, which is amazingly necessary, to maintain the competition in check.
• Alexa Traffic & Similarweb: Enables me to quickly try loading speeds, in addition to how much traffic a particular site gets.
• OpenVid: An excellent method to record a screencast, which can aid you get in contact with designers on a moment’s notice.

Product development:

Alibaba: This remains to be my go-to website for locating latest products.

The one thing it is advisable do is email the suppliers, and ask them for a reply. Not only that it eliminates Alibaba’s complicated message delivery system, nevertheless it also excludes the suppliers who aren’t capable of follow basic instructions.

Whatsapp: For some weird reason, Chinese suppliers prefer texting over email. Bring them to Whatsapp and establish good communication from the beginning.

Flexport: This terrific extension simplifies international freight forwarding. Unsure they’re accepting latest members, though.

Upgraded images: When you want photography that trumps the competition, that is the very best option.

Speedy Barcodes: Place where I purchase barcodes which I later use on Amazon.

 

Marketing:

Schedugram: It schedules Instagram posts prematurely. Helped me out a bunch of times. Repost: Reposts other people’s photos, specifically people who have Woody tags in ’em.

Instagram and Snapchat: Two absolute kings within the social media game. In case you’re interested, my Instagram is WoodiesCaptain in addition to WoodiesIG.

Mailchimp: For the previous 4 years, Mailchimp has been my go-to for sending emails. To be fair, my emails are fairly straightforward, so I’d consider a downgrade. Oh yeah, I also use Klaviyo, because it’s integrated with Shopify.

 

Apps:

TripIt: Because I live the lifetime of a nomad, this app keeps track of my itineraries.

F.lux: Dims the screen brightness late at night. When you’re an evening owl, it is a necessity.

Franz: An easy client for Mac which mixes all kinds of apps like Whatsapp, Skype, Messenger, Hangouts, Slack and WeChat into one. I don’t approve on Shipwire, StitchLabs, and AppSumo, as they’re too complicated.

Am I missing something? Remember to let me know.

Before I forget, although there’s no specific app for this, one thing everyone should learn is easy methods to say NO. No, wholesale shouldn’t be an option.

International shipping? Ignore it. These two easy letters will prevent a lot effort and time, so force yourself to make use of them each time you are feeling prefer it.

Tinder for marketing? Just wait and see, my friends. It’s my very own little secret tactics, nevertheless it’s superb, I’m able to share it with the remaining of the world.

In your Tinder profile, ensure that to emphasise you’re the owner of that specific brand, and put up some photos to back it up. The following steps include upgrading to TinderPlus (only about $9.99 a month) and download Bonfire (which can set you back one other $0.99).

I place Tinder location at 100 miles, and arrange Bonfire to 200 profiles at a time. By pressing like multiple times, you’ll get in contact with lots of, possibly 1000’s of matches very quickly.

I’ve personally used this tactic to collect over 9,000 matches, possibly dozens of sales, and it also scored me a bunch of impressions and hits. Sure, it also helps you meet girls, just in case you were wondering.

Wish to hear the story in regards to the dumbest thing I ever did? Just wait for it. For my friend’s birthday, I by accident made a 99% off discount code.

How? I didn’t uncheck the ‘display on detail page’, and the Web blew up.

After it got posted on SlickDeals, I got orders for 1,500 pairs of glasses within the span of 4 hours!

When I noticed what just happened, Amazon already shipped every thing out. Sure, I cried like a baby girl to support one time after one other, however the deal was set in stone.

My mom and I attempted to send out as many emails as possible to customers but got mainly nothing to point out for.

The outcomes? A lack of $30,000 and my soul crushed!

Much to my surprise, as a consequence of the spike in my sales, Amazon kept sending customers to me, and the products began to sell like crazy.

I don’t know if I might keep pushing after that initial blow if it wasn’t for my support system, but luck finally turned on my side. Two whole years after that, I broke one million in sales numbers on Amazon alone.

The purpose is, even for those who make a silly mistake, there’s at all times a lesson to learn. Embrace the grind!

Are you continue to using your mom’s garage? Join the club!

There was a time where I had 1,100 kilograms show up at my mom’s place. The shipment included over 10,000 pairs of sunglasses that were packed for Amazon.

In case you missed it, I’m a full-time traveler, and I run Woodies with a help of AmazonFBA, where they store and ship my orders.

Sure, I could ship this stuff on to Amazon, but nevertheless, I at all times check them out first, just in case.

Naturally, I wouldn’t want my supplier to know they’ll ship to Amazon themselves either, and likewise, Amazon rates are quite big, so ensure that you trim it down as much as possible.

If you could have a likelihood to lean of friends/family for inventory, don’t be afraid to ask. Your savings will be huge. And remember, the important thing to each successful entrepreneur is to own a box cutter and a tape gun. Gotta handle the basics.

Ultimately, I hope my journey will encourage you to tackle what you are promoting and grab life by the throat.

You’ve seen that my journey was stuffed with different obstacles, and there have been loads of times where I wanted to provide up, but I kept on pushing, and now, my company is recording over $1 million in sales annually!

Still, I haven’t run out of non-public goals, nor do I see that moment ever happening, but for those who told me I’d be here just a few years ago, I’m unsure I might’ve believed you.

Shout-out to all entrepreneurs on the market, keep doing all your thing, and eventually, you’ll make it big.

Signing out. See you on the Beach!