Hello,
So this is it...my first posting on the Fastlane forum. To start, I am a 19 year old aspiring entrepreneur from the midwest. In January 2015 I started up a small product business and have been very slowly growing it ever since, but in December 2015 I read THE BOOK. Here is my brief journey and tale of how the book has affected my business.
My Company
Before & After reading The Millionaire Fastlane
BEFORE
I began creating my wooden products on a laser engraver at my city's public library in January 2015, making tons of trips back and forth squeezing into the time gaps that I could when it was available. This solution worked as it was free to use the laser engraver as long as I brought my own wood. With absolutely zero business or product experience, I had very small idea what I was doing other than making the products. So, as any 17 year old kid would think: make a website and spread the products on social media to all my friends. This worked...but only for a few weeks until my friends all had one. I was paying a ton for my website and my overhead was not where it needed to be for such a low price product. I did begin to see potential in the product and convinced myself and my father that I need a laser engraver at home to do more work without the 40 minute drive to the library. BIG MISTAKE (I will touch back on this later). As time went on, everyone had already enjoyed their original product and were coming back for more, just this time they wanted custom ones with their own designs. BIGGER MISTAKE, individually designing everyone's was a massive waste of time and it had very small scaling potential. Two months after getting the machine it was time to go off to college and it became a dust collector as it sat in my parents garage the entire first semester at college.
The Fastlane Moment: December 2015
AFTER
Finishing off the book I was hungry and quickly started searching for my own Fastlane idea...another Product Business...Online service...Freelancing...etc. I never even questioned the idea of reviving my original product until my mom brought it up. After getting very intrigued by the Amazon Private Labeling, I combined that idea with my already existing product. I did about 2 weeks of thorough research into the whole FBA and Amazon process and finally go my product up and listed on Amazon at the start of February 2016. The entire 2nd semester of school I was away from my laser engraver and production line but I was still making money. I thought I had it figured out. In the 4 months that my products were selling while I was at school I had a total revenue of $3,000. To most of you this does not sound like a lot but to me, my first shot at entrepreneurship, I was happy. Going back to my BIG MISTAKE of buying a laser engraver myself, I had never thought that just selling one generic design would be the best route. Turned out it was and it was the best way to create a semi-passive income while I was away at school.
Now that I am into summer, it is time to really grind and take this business to the next level where I can sell 15-25 a day. My product has recently been accepted into the Amazon Exclusives program (anyone who is in this please comment) and the transfer into it has been slow in the one week I have been in it. I am also working on some B2B deals, which I am just learning a lot more about and am very excited about.
I hope you enjoyed reading my story and please, please, please give me feedback. I am young, I am dumb, and I want to learn more than anything. Thanks!
So this is it...my first posting on the Fastlane forum. To start, I am a 19 year old aspiring entrepreneur from the midwest. In January 2015 I started up a small product business and have been very slowly growing it ever since, but in December 2015 I read THE BOOK. Here is my brief journey and tale of how the book has affected my business.
My Company
Before & After reading The Millionaire Fastlane
BEFORE
I began creating my wooden products on a laser engraver at my city's public library in January 2015, making tons of trips back and forth squeezing into the time gaps that I could when it was available. This solution worked as it was free to use the laser engraver as long as I brought my own wood. With absolutely zero business or product experience, I had very small idea what I was doing other than making the products. So, as any 17 year old kid would think: make a website and spread the products on social media to all my friends. This worked...but only for a few weeks until my friends all had one. I was paying a ton for my website and my overhead was not where it needed to be for such a low price product. I did begin to see potential in the product and convinced myself and my father that I need a laser engraver at home to do more work without the 40 minute drive to the library. BIG MISTAKE (I will touch back on this later). As time went on, everyone had already enjoyed their original product and were coming back for more, just this time they wanted custom ones with their own designs. BIGGER MISTAKE, individually designing everyone's was a massive waste of time and it had very small scaling potential. Two months after getting the machine it was time to go off to college and it became a dust collector as it sat in my parents garage the entire first semester at college.
The Fastlane Moment: December 2015
AFTER
Finishing off the book I was hungry and quickly started searching for my own Fastlane idea...another Product Business...Online service...Freelancing...etc. I never even questioned the idea of reviving my original product until my mom brought it up. After getting very intrigued by the Amazon Private Labeling, I combined that idea with my already existing product. I did about 2 weeks of thorough research into the whole FBA and Amazon process and finally go my product up and listed on Amazon at the start of February 2016. The entire 2nd semester of school I was away from my laser engraver and production line but I was still making money. I thought I had it figured out. In the 4 months that my products were selling while I was at school I had a total revenue of $3,000. To most of you this does not sound like a lot but to me, my first shot at entrepreneurship, I was happy. Going back to my BIG MISTAKE of buying a laser engraver myself, I had never thought that just selling one generic design would be the best route. Turned out it was and it was the best way to create a semi-passive income while I was away at school.
Now that I am into summer, it is time to really grind and take this business to the next level where I can sell 15-25 a day. My product has recently been accepted into the Amazon Exclusives program (anyone who is in this please comment) and the transfer into it has been slow in the one week I have been in it. I am also working on some B2B deals, which I am just learning a lot more about and am very excited about.
I hope you enjoyed reading my story and please, please, please give me feedback. I am young, I am dumb, and I want to learn more than anything. Thanks!
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