This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hello, hello, what's up? Welcome to Side Hustle School. Thanks so much for tuning in today. This is your host, Chris Guillebeau, and today's episode is part of a feature we've been doing called Your First Thousand Dollars. We started this at the beginning of 2022.
We've been going all year, pretty much every Monday, I believe, coming out with a new story on how someone made their first thousand dollars. How did they in fact go from idea to income? How did they turn that into some significant income? And then often what happens after that first thousand dollars is they go on to make much more. But we're interested specifically in those first steps.
So with that in mind, I just try to kind of get out of the way here. And today's feature comes to us from Morgan. She is a fulfillment by Amazon seller. That means she's selling products that Amazon handles the warehousing and the shipping, all that kind of stuff for her. We've had a number of case studies over the years of people who've done very well with this.
There's also some cautionary tales 'cause there is a bit to it. You have to kind of do some research. But Morgan did that research. And after some detailed research, she found the perfect product for resale. Let's hear more about that from her.
She is selling pots and plant holders. But as I said, she's gonna tell us the story. So I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
Hi, this is Morgan here to tell the story of my first thousand dollars. I'm really excited to report that after a lot of failed attempts, I finally found something that's working.
Going back a few months, I knew I wanted to sell something on Amazon since I loved how they handle so many logistics, including warehouse storage and payment processing and shipping. Of course, they don't do this for free. They take a big cut. But since so many sellers use fulfillment by Amazon, I thought it could be worth it if I figured out how to crack the code. So here's what I did.
First, I did a lot of research to determine what I'd sell. I started with a list of more than 50 items, then narrowed it down to four. I was looking for something that hit a sweet spot. Not too expensive, but definitely not cheap. And something that a lot of people purchased while also being something with room for a lot of variety and different designs.
I ended up with plant holders. It fits all the criteria and it's also something I really enjoy. I have plants all over my home, so I'm very familiar with their different needs as well as what works and what doesn't in the world of plant storage. I tackled the next two challenges at the same time, product sourcing and brand design. The secret of Amazon fulfillment is that many, many products are made by the same manufacturers.
The only difference is the branding and of course the price. In other words, the better brand has the chance to win. I made sure to invest at least a lot of time in thinking through the emotional process of making a purchase. Why should a potential buyer choose my products over another sellers? I wanted to have a good answer.
Finally, I went for it. I published my listings and had a friend place the first order so we can confirm that everything worked as it should. For the rest of the month, my pots and other plant holders were online, but not much happened. I made a few sales each week, but it definitely wasn't gangbusters. Thankfully, it scaled up from there.
One challenge unfortunately, Amazon doesn't allow sellers to have the contact info of buyers. This is one clear negative since you can't really follow up with them or address any problems unless they contact you directly. Accordingly, only one in 15 buyers will leave a review which makes it hard to build up a strong profile at first. Eventually though, I had 50 plus positive reviews and began to see higher traffic on my sales pages. Amazon rewards sellers who sell.
Similarly, if buyers are coming to your listings and not making purchases, you'll be penalized. In month three, I made my first $1,000 in profits. It's now month seven and I'm earning more than $2,000 a month in profits. Naturally, I hope to keep scaling this project. Let me know if you need any plant holders and thanks for all your inspiration.
- Awesome, thanks so much Morgan for telling us about your first $1,000. Listeners, I hope you found it encouraging. And yes, I might in fact need some plant holders. I do have some plants in my apartment and sometimes I keep them alive. Mostly what I do is I just keep buying new ones because it's kind of a recycling effort is how I like to think of it.
Anyway, I need some plant holders but I also need to keep the plants alive. Listeners, if you've got a question or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Let me know what you're working on. Today's show notes, sidehustleschool.com/2109, 2,109. We are in fact going every single day, seven days a week.
Hope you'll subscribe, follow, come back for more. Once again, this is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]
