TIE #031: How I Made $8,938 in Profit on Amazon in June (while hardly working)

Efficiency > Big numbers

Apparently you hate money. If you didn’t, you’d be using Rakuten every time you shop on websites like Walmart and Target to save money.

They have paid me over $8,000 for things I was already going to buy for my one-person business (click here for proof).

They are also the reason this post is free to read. Sign up here and get $30 for free after your first use.

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I have been documenting how much profit my personal Amazon business makes in this newsletter for over 2 years now.

While running an Amazon business was never a dream of mine, it is what laid the foundation for me to leave my full-time job and then reach financial freedom at a young age.

In 2023, an Amazon business is still the best option if you want to accomplish something similar.

This post is #30 of this series, you can read post #29 here.

My Amazon business has three branches:

• Branch 1: Non-fiction book arbitrage

• Branch 2: LEGO investment sales

• Branch 3: Other random online arbitrage

Depending on the time of year, they all rise and fall independently from each other.

The common theme between them all is efficiency. I aim for higher than average profit margin while aiming to work as little as possible.

The three branches combined for the following numbers in June:

Total Sales: $24,246.35
Items Sold: 273
Cost of Goods + Fees: $15,307.64
Total Profit: $8,938.71
Hours Worked: ~15-18
Average Profit Per Item: $32.74

Total Profit for 2023: $59,919.15

For one reason or another we sold 50 more items in June than in May. Like almost all Amazon businesses our average profit per item dipped as a result.

Profit slightly increased and settled just under $9,000 for the month, bringing us to nearly $60,000 in profit for the year.

Once again, look at how little I had to work to make that much money.

Amazon FBA sellers are a dime a dozen, but almost all of them dump all of their free time into their business.

I recommend this early on but after you’ve built a foundation your focus should be on efficiency.

Time is priceless and you’ll always regret wasting it.

Here are a couple example transactions from last month:

What you may have noticed is a sharp increase in the amount of hours worked for June compared to prior months.

This is the result of preparing for the busiest time of year for book sales in August.

Preparation looks like this:

• Identify books that are expected in increase

• Determine how many of each book to buy based on expected sales rank and price

• Buy the books if they are at a profitable price

Is it a ton of work? No. However, it’s more work than usual.

The upside is a level of profitability and sales volume not seen during any other time of the year.

Some books will go from $50 to $300 in a matter of weeks due to supply and demand.

My favorite question is “are you afraid of book sales decreasing as the world goes more digital?”

Yet here I am, making more than I made every month as an engineer thanks to book sales.

The same goes for people that decide to take it serious:

I don’t see this changing anytime soon.

Not only is this an amazingly efficient business model, but it’s simultaneously the best business model for those with no experience looking to begin their escape from the rat race.

It takes a lot of work up front like all things worth doing, but as you can see the pay-off is tremendous.

You can take advantage of that or you can continue to believe that someone is going to save you. (Sorry, no one will)

As always, the choice is yours.

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When you are ready, there are two different ways I can help you:

1. If you are interested in starting an efficient one-person online business, I recommend starting with one of the following:

   1. Textbook Flipping Mastery - My in-depth guide on how to start a high-margin Amazon e-commerce business.

   2. LEGO Investing Mastery - My in-depth guide on how to start a long-term “buy, hold, and sell” LEGO investing business.

   3. The Conference Room - My private mentorship community that includes the two guides above, for free. Pay once and stay a member for life.

2. If you are interested following along with my personal LEGO investment portfolio and getting exclusive alerts when I add a new set to that portfolio:

   1. Become a paid subscriber here (7-day free trial available)