TIE #033: Time is Finite, Money is Not (How to Avoid Catastrophic Regret)
Be so efficient that they call you a liar.
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As I browse through the “For You” tab on Twitter every morning, I can’t help but notice a trend with fellow one-person business owners.
Day after day I see screenshots of new all time high revenue for people running an Amazon business.
These newcomers push harder and harder every month, trying to beat their best score.
If you create a one-person Amazon business like I recommend, you’ll feel the urge to do the same thing.
Perhaps you are one of those people I just described.
Don’t worry, I was that person once too. Making that number go up on the Amazon Seller app was like a video game to me (and boy do I love video games).
After several years of this, I came to a realization that I was starting to feel burned out by the endless grind.
I had also pushed to my business to a point where I would have been in deep shit financially if I got slapped with the Amazon ban-hammer.
If you want to protect yourself from the stinging pain of regret, still make a ton of money, and spend more time doing the things you love to do, then hear me out.
1. Margin is Your Best Friend
My Amazon business does 30-40% profit margin on almost every item it sells.
This means I am picky with every item I buy and sell. If it doesn’t yield enough, I pass on it.
The trade-off for those juicy margins is having much lower volume than your average Amazon business.
That said, there are a number of advantages to operating this way:
You make just as much money as someone selling 3-4x as much product at a 10% profit margin (many large scale Amazon businesses have this margin)
Another way to look at this: You can make the same amount of profit by working WAY less
With improved margins and lower volume you will have lower revenue. This might sound bad, but it’s a good thing.
If you get randomly banned by Amazon, they’ll keep less of your money and you’ll be on the hook for less inventory you now cannot sell. (Unlikely, but possible)
People will cry about you on Twitter and call you a liar (making your content business even more successful):
I’m not saying you should copy me, I’m just saying you should make your profit margin a priority.
Too many people get a few years down the road before realizing they were working themselves to death for 8% margin.
Life is too precious for that.
2. Use a Prep Center
Once you get off your feet and make a few thousand dollars in profit, sign up for a prep center.
99% of sellers will not share which one they use, but there are a ton of good ones on this website.
Make sure the one you use is in a state without sales tax.
While you have to pay for the service, the time you save by not having handle your own inventory is damn near priceless.
3. Scale Horizontally, not Vertically
The best way to grow an Amazon business is to increase the number of specific items you sell (we call these SKUs).
I’d rather have a business that has 1,000 different product listings with a quantity of 1 item each than have 1 product listing with 1,000 of them in stock.
You’ll spend less time price fighting and your sell-through rate will be quicker.
On top of that, you’re diversifying your risk.
I’ve heard too many horror story of business owners putting all of their capital into 1 or 2 SKUs only to have something happen and not be able to sell any of it.
Don’t throw years of hard work down the drain by getting lazy.
Remember: Time is finite, money is not.
Everyone acts like it’s the other way around.
By leveraging these four concepts, you will make more money, spend less time making it, while also avoiding a total wipe-out.
When you are just starting out, it is okay to spend every waking moment on your business.
This is almost a requirement if you want to escape the rat race.
However, there comes a time where you need to look at the bigger picture.
Ignoring time in the search of money is just admitting you don’t value your time here on earth with the people you love most.
I wish I would have realized this sooner.
FYI: If you’re broke, this post does not apply to you yet.
Bookmark it for later and get your ass to work by starting a one-person business. Then, come back to it in a couple of years.
As always, the choice is yours.
When you are ready, there are two different ways I can help you:
If you want to start making money online in a matter of weeks, I recommend starting with one of the following:
Textbook Flipping Mastery - My in-depth guide on how to start a high-margin Amazon e-commerce business.
LEGO Investing Mastery - My in-depth guide on how to start a long-term “buy, hold, and sell” LEGO investing business.
The Conference Room - My private mentorship community that includes the two guides above, for free. Pay once and stay a member for life.
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:
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