From $0 to Multi-Million Sales in 12 months
Here's my 2024 Amazon FBA Game Plan:
In the last 2 months of 2022, I started FBA, scaled quickly, and sold just over $100k before the end of the year
This year, 2023, I've sold $2mm+ in a year where my lowest revenue month was $25k and my highest will end up at over $600k
First, let me chat about what really worked in 2023:
1) Investing in FBA education
- To get started with FBA, I bought a course
- To learn FBA wholesale, I bought a course
- While working full time most of this year, I needed other people's expertise. I could have spent weeks/months making mistakes and learning the hard way, but I prefer the more efficient route of paying for people's experience
- Buying a course can at times be cheaper than not doing so because of the mistakes you avoid. My first FBA experience was Feb 2022 when I lost $3,000 due to not knowing how ASINs worked (lol)
2) 1+ hour(s) sourcing 5+ days per week
- It is a numbers game
- You may not have the opportunity to buy every day, but you do need to be doing something (sourcing) every day so that you catch the opportunities when they arise (mindset application from a successful wealth manager I used to work next to at Morgan Stanley)
3) Significant amount of leverage (debt)
- Many people oppose using debt. As a 25 year old kid, I don't yet have the massive bankroll to compete with multi-million $ companies that have been selling on Amazon forever
- Due to sneaker reselling background, I did have large credit limits and some lines of credit to leverage when I found opportunities that I had high conviction in
4) Bringing on a partner
- I now work full time alongside my college housemate / track & field teammate
- Increased accountability, new perspectives, more fun, less lonely journey, feel a bigger sense of responsibility to assure mutual success
5) Reinvesting profit
- Again, I am 25 years old. I will likely reinvest most of the $ I make in business back into current / new operations to gradually bring down my debt:income ratio and spur growth as quickly as possible. For any inventory based business, reinvesting profits is one of the quickest ways to grow. You likely do not need the Rolex yet
For 2024, here's what I am going to focus on:
1) Further transition from OA to wholesale
- January thru June '23 was 100% OA
- Past 5 months have been steady push such that December '23 has been ~50/50
- I want to take this split to 90% wholesale, 10% opportunistic OA (solely sniping the largest retail sales)
2) First half 2024 expand into one (1) new category through one to five (1-5) new distributors/manufacturers in said category
- One new category with the right supplier can double to triple our 2023 revenue
- We have our category in mind and we will be focusing on securing important relationships to expand sustainably
3) Improve cash flow
- We need a larger line of credit
- We need to consolidate our loans
- We need larger credit card limits
- For each of these I will work with our bank(s) to find the best way forward
4) Double down on our new software product
- We have invested a decent amount of capital into developing improved software for the FBA community
- We will be hiring a front end team and expanding our back end team to make these tools and improvements available to other FBA sellers
5) Stock 1+ month inventory of our winning products
- Profits from December will be used to shore up inventory for our winning products
- We've frequently sold out and need these winners in stock year round to produce consistent cash flow
Please critique my plan if you think it needs improving. If this helps you think about your own business differently in a positive way, please let me know; love hearing that sh*t. I wish you all great success
Cheers and Merry Christmas