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I didn't plan to continuously update this thread because I usually don't like posting about things I didn't already execute, however everything I do is still a part of the journey and documenting it can probably benefit people who will go through this process themselves in the future and come across this thread.
So, besides the fact that there are good and bad things happening, I'll start with the good news first:
As I stated in the OP, I was expecting to break even at best and not making any profit at all. This was based on my calculations on the needed PPC costs and overall sale numbers. As I mentioned in a previous post ITT on Sept. 21th, I optimized my PPC campaign and reached a point of performance I'm happy to run 24/7. Additionally I made it to the first page on 3 out of the 4 main keywords which started to generate even more sales. I still ranked pretty low on the first pages, however I noticed a significant raise in organic sales. My sales climbed up to a constant >5-7 a day and I was quite happy about that.
My profit per sale is around 10€ (without PPC) so I was earning about 50€ a day which would equal to a 1500€/month net income. Theoretically I wouldn't have to get a job after graduating even if I lost all my savings and investments. Basically I've reached the first small step to freedom after 2 months of selling on Amazon and 8 months after starting this journey, which is quite nice.
On the filp side, selling at this rate my small inventory of 300pcs slowly but surely diminished earlier than I've calculated it to which left me waiting on the sidelines watching competitors keep selling while I stopped all my PPC campaigns and increasing the price of my product to not completely run out of stock (Amazon algorithm apparently punishes such happenings pretty harsh).
So after running the numbers again, the reduced PPC and warehouse costs, I'm actually 1000-1500€ in the green for this "business" year. This takes into account all the legal costs a business brings with it, insurances, software, all Amazon costs including the launch etc. It's not much but it's important to note that I only sold actively for about 2 month this year. Reminding myself of this always helps to see the possible scale and opportunity waiting in 2018 and helps to keep the big picture in mind, especially when the self-manipulative thought of working 9 months for 1k crosses my mind.
Today is actually the day my supplier finished the newly placed bulk order of around 2,2x the amount I started out with. I added three different variations to the product which should further set me apart from my competition and increase sales and ranking even further. I've luckily placed my order when Alibaba had a promotion event which allowed me to use an inspection service for free. I made sure to be very specific with my requirements and made an "cheat-sheet" on what's important to check for them to ensure the needed quality. I should hear back from them within the next days. The goods will go on board on Nov. 15th and will arrive on mid January.
Specifically on this product, I do not plan to stay in the 5-10 sales a day range. I will do everything possible to take the lead in this niche and take over the rankings on the main keywords for good. I will re-order a bigger amount about 1 month after receiving the current pending order to ensure that my storage can keep up with the demand.
Besides this, I will soon start to source two more products in this niche and under the same brand. I've already looked at very promising products but have yet to run the numbers.
Because of the fact that I'm basically out of stock now, my (Amazon) income stopped. (That's that for not getting a job ha!) No for real, since it's kind of a seasonal product it will most likely decrease in sales over the winter months which is something I overlooked in my product research (@Kim Yong Ho). Besides this, the reorder process takes at least 3 months which makes planing even harder and requires a lot of money to keep the wheel spinning. It's profitable and it's not that big of a deal, however a huge sell wave could shake up my whole planing for several months which is something I'm not happy with. To fight this problem, I will order a decent amount for the third order and store it in my "warehouse" (old farm) since there's enough space to do so.
Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post I planned to launch 3 new products in 3 months from the 1st of Sept to the 1st of December. By doing so, I could combine my initial launch effort with the organically increased Christmas sales to ensure a qualitative ranking on my main keywords. To do so, I started to source a new product which meets all the same criteria my first product did, but is WAY faster to produce and to ship. It's small and compact, light, has an insanely short production time and is suitable for express delivery / air mail while still being profitable. After some research, supplier chatting, samples etc. I decided on picking two suppliers to produce this product (Important: This was done due the fact that the supplier who produces my initial product basically knows that he's the only supplier I talk to and therefore is absolutely non-cooperative regarding pricing, production time etc. - They still do good work tho!) Funnily enough, one supplier cut his prices by 30%(!) after I told him that my main order will be produced by another supplier. Well, needless to say now it's 50-50 and depending on the quality of the mass production someone might take the lead for continuous orders.
As of right now, I finished the new brand, logo, packaging, negotiations and overall order conditions. One supplier is currently waiting to hear back from Alibaba regarding the payment options (there's a problem with T/T) and the other finishes up the last few peaks regarding the finished design. Both orders should be paid within the next 1-2 days and should reach my doorstep in around 3 weeks. This should be enough time to have a close look at them before repackaging them and shipping them out to Amazon to start the launch process at the last days of November. In the meantime I will create the product listing(s), get the product photos done (already arranged) and organize the launch to start right when they hit the Amazon warehouse.
I can go into more detail about this product once it's all done and running. That's about all about the current (positive) updates and where I am right now. But as I mentioned in the beginning, there are also negative sides which I want to address. Showing the sales and $ (even if mine are quite low yet) most likely is more appealing to the broader audience however talking about the negative sides of this is something I still want to address since I'm quite sure everyone will go through something like this in one point or another.
So as of right now, I'm feeling that I will slowly but surely break down if I continue like this. For the past 4-6 months I did nothing but working at least >10 hours a day without a break. In the summer I was obviously working on Amazon and the product. What I didn't mention in the OP was that I was actively investing in the cryptocurrency market, learning about the technology, market, projects, companies and upcoming ICOs. At this point of time 10 hours are way too less, it was more like 12-14. I was hooked with the technology, the possibilities, projects and obviously the ROI I experienced in my first and further investments. Amazon started to run smoothly around the beginning of October, which was also the start of the new semester at university. I already mentioned it somewhat in the OP that university takes up your attention at some point of time, but now it got even worse. I don't know what's up with college/universities in the US, but when I read stories about the "college/uni lifestyle" I would think I live on another planet. As of right now we have about 3 projects running, one weekly documentation and the first of two bachelor thesis has to be written. I don't want to go further into this, but the projects are completed for real companies with real customers so it's not like the classic "projects" you submit on 11:57PM and call it a day. Another project demands a whole business idea, concept and plan which will be presented, when qualified, to potential investors and VCs. Even though I have no interest entering the system this stuff needs my attention in order to finish the degree. Funnily enough, this semester is by far the most interesting since we actually do REAL LIFE stuff and not play around in the theory, so I'm actually actively taking part of the individual classes.
Taking into account that the workload wasn't that small in the summer, it actually got worse now and I'm working at least 14 hours a day right now. Having an eye on the current product, planning and calculating the reorder process, managing the process, starting to source the new products, looking up the market & competition, arranging samples and picking suppliers, setting up the order conditions, payments and shipment for the new product, running the numbers on the new products/niche, always reading the latest news about the crypto world / reading whitepapers or general knowledge about the technology everyday, keeping up with investments, upcoming ICOs, forks, market movements and whatnot, all while still going to classes due to compulsory attendance, working on all those different projects and weekly deadlines is really starting to take a tool on me.
My mind is not even racing anymore.
It's going head over heels.
As soon as my alarm goes off in the morning it feels like the gates of a horse race open and five different thought patterns start racing through my head.
Additionally I injured my right shoulder 6 weeks ago which completely prevents me from lifting which is the only compensation I had for the past 5 years, the one thing where my mind would shut up and I could have my 2 hours of peace a day. This is most likely the biggest issue of all since not only my body is suffering, more importantly my mind is deteriorating as well. My concentration suffers and I feel like I can't take the workload anymore.I know that I was a way stronger version of myself not long ago, physically and psychologically, and that my current version won't be able to handle all of this much longer.
That's why I decided to gain back control as much as possible, rearrange my habits and try to increase my performance again to a level where I can handle this workload without feeling on the edge of a breakdown. At very least, I have to regain control of my mind again. It's the most important asset I have and I have to keep care of it.
I just wanted to give you guys a little insights behind the curtains. It's somewhat obvious that there will be downsides along the road, but they are often withhold in order to not rain on the parade. If I keep updating this thread I want to be authentic and show the good and the bad even though it's sometimes self inflicted.
I'm certain that it will all be worth it in the end and always remind myself that nothing in this world worth having comes easy.
So, besides the fact that there are good and bad things happening, I'll start with the good news first:
As I stated in the OP, I was expecting to break even at best and not making any profit at all. This was based on my calculations on the needed PPC costs and overall sale numbers. As I mentioned in a previous post ITT on Sept. 21th, I optimized my PPC campaign and reached a point of performance I'm happy to run 24/7. Additionally I made it to the first page on 3 out of the 4 main keywords which started to generate even more sales. I still ranked pretty low on the first pages, however I noticed a significant raise in organic sales. My sales climbed up to a constant >5-7 a day and I was quite happy about that.
My profit per sale is around 10€ (without PPC) so I was earning about 50€ a day which would equal to a 1500€/month net income. Theoretically I wouldn't have to get a job after graduating even if I lost all my savings and investments. Basically I've reached the first small step to freedom after 2 months of selling on Amazon and 8 months after starting this journey, which is quite nice.
On the filp side, selling at this rate my small inventory of 300pcs slowly but surely diminished earlier than I've calculated it to which left me waiting on the sidelines watching competitors keep selling while I stopped all my PPC campaigns and increasing the price of my product to not completely run out of stock (Amazon algorithm apparently punishes such happenings pretty harsh).
So after running the numbers again, the reduced PPC and warehouse costs, I'm actually 1000-1500€ in the green for this "business" year. This takes into account all the legal costs a business brings with it, insurances, software, all Amazon costs including the launch etc. It's not much but it's important to note that I only sold actively for about 2 month this year. Reminding myself of this always helps to see the possible scale and opportunity waiting in 2018 and helps to keep the big picture in mind, especially when the self-manipulative thought of working 9 months for 1k crosses my mind.
Today is actually the day my supplier finished the newly placed bulk order of around 2,2x the amount I started out with. I added three different variations to the product which should further set me apart from my competition and increase sales and ranking even further. I've luckily placed my order when Alibaba had a promotion event which allowed me to use an inspection service for free. I made sure to be very specific with my requirements and made an "cheat-sheet" on what's important to check for them to ensure the needed quality. I should hear back from them within the next days. The goods will go on board on Nov. 15th and will arrive on mid January.
Specifically on this product, I do not plan to stay in the 5-10 sales a day range. I will do everything possible to take the lead in this niche and take over the rankings on the main keywords for good. I will re-order a bigger amount about 1 month after receiving the current pending order to ensure that my storage can keep up with the demand.
Besides this, I will soon start to source two more products in this niche and under the same brand. I've already looked at very promising products but have yet to run the numbers.
Because of the fact that I'm basically out of stock now, my (Amazon) income stopped. (That's that for not getting a job ha!) No for real, since it's kind of a seasonal product it will most likely decrease in sales over the winter months which is something I overlooked in my product research (@Kim Yong Ho). Besides this, the reorder process takes at least 3 months which makes planing even harder and requires a lot of money to keep the wheel spinning. It's profitable and it's not that big of a deal, however a huge sell wave could shake up my whole planing for several months which is something I'm not happy with. To fight this problem, I will order a decent amount for the third order and store it in my "warehouse" (old farm) since there's enough space to do so.
Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post I planned to launch 3 new products in 3 months from the 1st of Sept to the 1st of December. By doing so, I could combine my initial launch effort with the organically increased Christmas sales to ensure a qualitative ranking on my main keywords. To do so, I started to source a new product which meets all the same criteria my first product did, but is WAY faster to produce and to ship. It's small and compact, light, has an insanely short production time and is suitable for express delivery / air mail while still being profitable. After some research, supplier chatting, samples etc. I decided on picking two suppliers to produce this product (Important: This was done due the fact that the supplier who produces my initial product basically knows that he's the only supplier I talk to and therefore is absolutely non-cooperative regarding pricing, production time etc. - They still do good work tho!) Funnily enough, one supplier cut his prices by 30%(!) after I told him that my main order will be produced by another supplier. Well, needless to say now it's 50-50 and depending on the quality of the mass production someone might take the lead for continuous orders.
As of right now, I finished the new brand, logo, packaging, negotiations and overall order conditions. One supplier is currently waiting to hear back from Alibaba regarding the payment options (there's a problem with T/T) and the other finishes up the last few peaks regarding the finished design. Both orders should be paid within the next 1-2 days and should reach my doorstep in around 3 weeks. This should be enough time to have a close look at them before repackaging them and shipping them out to Amazon to start the launch process at the last days of November. In the meantime I will create the product listing(s), get the product photos done (already arranged) and organize the launch to start right when they hit the Amazon warehouse.
I can go into more detail about this product once it's all done and running. That's about all about the current (positive) updates and where I am right now. But as I mentioned in the beginning, there are also negative sides which I want to address. Showing the sales and $ (even if mine are quite low yet) most likely is more appealing to the broader audience however talking about the negative sides of this is something I still want to address since I'm quite sure everyone will go through something like this in one point or another.
So as of right now, I'm feeling that I will slowly but surely break down if I continue like this. For the past 4-6 months I did nothing but working at least >10 hours a day without a break. In the summer I was obviously working on Amazon and the product. What I didn't mention in the OP was that I was actively investing in the cryptocurrency market, learning about the technology, market, projects, companies and upcoming ICOs. At this point of time 10 hours are way too less, it was more like 12-14. I was hooked with the technology, the possibilities, projects and obviously the ROI I experienced in my first and further investments. Amazon started to run smoothly around the beginning of October, which was also the start of the new semester at university. I already mentioned it somewhat in the OP that university takes up your attention at some point of time, but now it got even worse. I don't know what's up with college/universities in the US, but when I read stories about the "college/uni lifestyle" I would think I live on another planet. As of right now we have about 3 projects running, one weekly documentation and the first of two bachelor thesis has to be written. I don't want to go further into this, but the projects are completed for real companies with real customers so it's not like the classic "projects" you submit on 11:57PM and call it a day. Another project demands a whole business idea, concept and plan which will be presented, when qualified, to potential investors and VCs. Even though I have no interest entering the system this stuff needs my attention in order to finish the degree. Funnily enough, this semester is by far the most interesting since we actually do REAL LIFE stuff and not play around in the theory, so I'm actually actively taking part of the individual classes.
Taking into account that the workload wasn't that small in the summer, it actually got worse now and I'm working at least 14 hours a day right now. Having an eye on the current product, planning and calculating the reorder process, managing the process, starting to source the new products, looking up the market & competition, arranging samples and picking suppliers, setting up the order conditions, payments and shipment for the new product, running the numbers on the new products/niche, always reading the latest news about the crypto world / reading whitepapers or general knowledge about the technology everyday, keeping up with investments, upcoming ICOs, forks, market movements and whatnot, all while still going to classes due to compulsory attendance, working on all those different projects and weekly deadlines is really starting to take a tool on me.
My mind is not even racing anymore.
It's going head over heels.
As soon as my alarm goes off in the morning it feels like the gates of a horse race open and five different thought patterns start racing through my head.
Additionally I injured my right shoulder 6 weeks ago which completely prevents me from lifting which is the only compensation I had for the past 5 years, the one thing where my mind would shut up and I could have my 2 hours of peace a day. This is most likely the biggest issue of all since not only my body is suffering, more importantly my mind is deteriorating as well. My concentration suffers and I feel like I can't take the workload anymore.I know that I was a way stronger version of myself not long ago, physically and psychologically, and that my current version won't be able to handle all of this much longer.
That's why I decided to gain back control as much as possible, rearrange my habits and try to increase my performance again to a level where I can handle this workload without feeling on the edge of a breakdown. At very least, I have to regain control of my mind again. It's the most important asset I have and I have to keep care of it.
I just wanted to give you guys a little insights behind the curtains. It's somewhat obvious that there will be downsides along the road, but they are often withhold in order to not rain on the parade. If I keep updating this thread I want to be authentic and show the good and the bad even though it's sometimes self inflicted.
I'm certain that it will all be worth it in the end and always remind myself that nothing in this world worth having comes easy.
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