$700 week - Side Project
Hello Wealthy Affiliate!
Today I'd like to share a small win with you. However, as I often do, I prefer to turn my blog posts into something more educational to hopefully inspire someone to take action.
My main source of income is affiliate marketing however this post is about a completely different side of online business.
First, let me brag a little.
Here are the stats from my Etsy account for the past 7 days:
and here is the screenshot from my Amazon Seller account (not affiliate):
And here is the rest of the story.
Earlier this year my girlfriend and I launched a little side business. It wasn't intended to be a business but we created a physical product and thought: "Why don't we try to sell it"?
Since it was a handmade item we've decided to list it on Etsy where a lot of handmade stuff is sold. Initial batch of the product cost us $50 so you could say that we started the whole project with 50 bucks, since we didn't even make a website or anything.
Product # 2
We sold the items and made quite a good profit so we re-invested some of it to create a new batch. However, we also started to think what else can we sell that's related to our first product (trying to stay in the same niche).
After a lot of thinking and research we've decided to create a second product and sell it on Amazon instead of Etsy. So the second product was ordered from a manufacturer in China and the total investment was about $250 (all profit from the first product).
We got the goods from Asia in April and put everything on pause because I was busy with my online business and my girlfriend was busy at the University.
We finally got to send the items to Amazon some time in June and started selling in July. The beginning was painfully slow and we almost abandoned the idea (although we were profitable). However in September we started seeing a slow but steady increase in sales for both products.
We kept on making the product #1 by hand for Etsy, and the product #2 kept selling on Amazon. In the end of October we started running low on our product on Amazon so we placed a new order. It took about 1 week to get the product from China to our home for inspection and then to shipping it to Amazon warehouse.
Our own product actually SOLD OUT on Amazon. Kind of an amazing and scary feeling at the same time.
p.s. Although our second order got to Amazon on November 18th, we are running low again and just placed a 3rd order in China (bigger than first and second orders together).
It doesn't happen overnight.
This past week has been our most profitable week so far.
If you look at the screenshots at the beginning of this post, Etsy generated $439 of PROFIT in the past 7 days. Amazon generated 494$ in sales for the past week, however about $260 of it is profit. Total profit for 7 days is $700 online, plus another $80-$100 in cash sales (we let local buyers pick up the product to save on shipping).
Why Amazon?
Some of you might ask why we're using amazon since they take a large cut on every sale (about 35%). This is because of simplicity. We simply ship a box full of products to Amazon and they take care of the rest. They send out each item individually. They take care of customer service. They take care of returns and refunds. We don't need to look for buyers, buyers are already coming to Amazon to shop. Amazon also offers incredibly cheap shipping (and free for Prime members).
Etsy sales are more profitable but they mean that we need to walk to the post office every evening to ship out the items. Sure, we take a walk every evening anyway so there is no problems with this at the moment but our goal is to create a business and not a "job".
What's Next?
Our product #1 costs double of our product #2. Now that we know how Amazon works we'll also be listing out first product on Amazon. Once the sales start picking up we will actually hire an employee locally to create that product for us. We will use the extra time on marketing, building a proper online presence and getting lower prices from suppliers.
It is very tempting to just take the money and buy a few nice things however we've decided to keep expanding this business.
We're also planning to talk to local shops in order to get our products on their shelves.
We're also starting to think what other products we can sell on Amazon since we're now familiar with manufacturers, Amazon, shipping, etc.
Can You Do It?
Now that's just a side business and there is no detailed course about it on WA but in my case it always comes back to Wealthy Affiliate. At some point someone in the chat mentioned about selling on Amazon and I started looking into it. I love online marketing too much and I will keep on concentrating in it but I think it's important to diversify your sources of income and this seems like a great way to do it.
As I already mentioned, the initial investment for this venture was about $50.
I never thought I'd be selling my own physical product but that whole online marketing game took me to it. I didn't know anything about manufacturing or selling on Etsy or on Amazon so I was a total newbie. If I can do it - SO CAN YOU.
It is VERY IMPORTANT to remind you to look at the timeline, as it took a while to get here. Sure, we were busy and lazy and could have done it faster, but it would still take time.
Here is a little timeline recap:
- January 2015 - created product#1 and listed it on Etsy
- April 2015 - ordered product #2 in China and let it sit in a box
- June 2015 - sent it to Amazon and started slowly selling in July
- November 2015 - placed a second order in China (because first batch sold out)
- December 2015 - almost sold out again, placed 3rd order in China. Also made over $700 in profit past week. About $600 previous week and $500 the week before.
Questions? Please DO ask them here instead of private messaging, as I would like others to read the answer.
p.s. Please do not ask me to reveal the niche as I am not ready to do it at the moment. Maybe sometime in 2016 ;)
Recent Comments
161
Alex, It is always good to hear about different ways to make money on the net.Congrats on your success.
Marty
That's great.
I always wanted to sell stuff on Amazon like this.
You could use the FBA service if you trust the manufacturer enough.
Then you wouldn't even have to touch product #2 anymore.
I do use FBA however I would ever trust any manufacturer 100%. Both shipments I received had a few damaged items and if these items were sold on Amazon, they could potentially result in negative reviews (which could be a disaster).
Looking at some very successful FBA sellers, they all suggest either inspecting your goods or have a company inspect it for you before shipping to Amazon ;)
Ah.
That's true, of course.
My problem would then be that I don't live in the USA and who knows what happens to items I inspect here on their way from Taiwan to the USA.
Gotcha!
Because FBA is booming there are now Quality Inspection companies in the USA that charge a small fee to inspect your shipment once it arrives to the US. Once the inspection is past they forward your product to FBA. Smart business, isn't it?
Unfortunately I haven't used any YET.
So far I've been getting my orders to Canada then I ship to US.
When I start ordering more I might start using a quality inspection companies, I am not at that level yet though ;)
Hi Alex,
You are preaching to the choir with me...
I saw the writing on the wall after a short period starting here (and also after a few eye-opening online negative experiences prior to getting here) and I started looking at pulling together my own products to sell...Digital and physical...
That addition to my online marketing effort is solidly in place, and like you, expansion is in the works...This approach works, I have seen the results in my monthly profits which are rising steadily, if not exponentially (yet)...
The bottom line is that you build your affiliate program and income over time, as your authority builds in a niche...
Selling "things" online, digital or physical, on the other hand, can provide another good source of income while you build the affiliate program...
Affiliate marketing is something that fascinates me however, I guess always at heart I have been a sales dude..Hell, I had to sell myself on staying in the military for 25 years and it worked lol!!
Anyway, thanks for sharing and I hope that many are inspired to take action! Good success story!
Cheers!
Dave : )
I am really liking this new venture but there is no way I am giving up affiliate marketing, it is indeed fascinating ;)
Alex,
I have paid for my adventures here at WA with the profits from sales on Ebay. This also takes some time to get established and make a profit. Several funnels of income is always important. Never put all of your eggs in one basket.
John
John - totally!
I've never managed to make a living with eBay so I that idea but it could totally work for some people ;)
I just make a little each month, it pays for my online expenses. I have an item that I would like to produce, just waiting for some shop time to set up my forms to make several prototypes. Is there much cost in Etsy, I have never used them.
John
Etsy has very low fees, however you can only sell the products that you make and not mass produced items at a factory in Asia.
Hi Alex, congrats. I wish I could say most of my income was from affiliate marketing, but most of mine comes from a w-2 job.
I actually took the plunge and am working on selling physical products as well. I wanted to do the whole amazon FBA thing, but my ungating request for the beauty category is still being processed. Long story short I was initially disapproved because they thought my products belonged in the health and personal care category. I had fto reopen the request and explain to them that I agreed with them, but on the "add a product" page it said I needed "beauty" approval to sell my products.
For the mean time I've just decided to sell the products using woocommerce on my own website.
It's not quite the same as you since I'm not selling my own products, but I'm pretty excited because now that I'm actually a merchant I'll have access to the "thank you" page so I'll be able to see what is actually driving conversions instead flying blind as an affiliate like you have to do with a lot of affiliate programs such as amazon associates.
Awesome stuff man, I love hearing from people who are actually taking action and doing things!
I initially got approved into Health & Beauty category within 1 hour (or less)? However during the Xmas season Amazon is VERY slow with its sellers which sucks...
Now I totally agree with you about selling on your own site (which I will be doing as well) but the beauty of Amazon is that buyers are already going there with their wallets open :)
Well, my ungating request finally got approved yesterday and I started listing them. I decided to do merchant fulfilled for now, so the listing is active until I'm actually ready to send everything to Amazon. I doubt anything will sell since I'm not pricing the lowest to win the buy box, but on the off chance everyone else runs out of inventory at least I'll have a chance at selling the item. I didn't realize amazon took a 15% referral fee. I guess that makes sense.
Congratulations! What a great success story. Diversification is always a wonderful and on top of that developing a skill set to market retail is also beneficial. May all your endeavors be as profitable.
Susan
Thank You Susan.
Not diversifying my income in the past has caused me a lot of headache and quite a significant financial loss.
And as you mentioned, learning something new is simply awesome ;)
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Well done on your success!
Thanks for reading :)