TIE #041: How I've Made $117,551 in Profit on Amazon This Year (while hardly working)
The October 2023 Amazon business update is here.
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 $9,400 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 $40 for free after your first use.
I have been documenting how much profit my personal Amazon business makes in this newsletter for almost 3 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 late 2023, an Amazon business is still the best option if you want to accomplish something similar.
This post is #34 of this series, you can read post #33 here.
My Amazon business has three branches:
Branch 1: Non-fiction book arbitrage (read here if you do not know what this is)
Branch 2: LEGO investment sales (read here if you do not know what this is)
Branch 3: All other online arbitrage
Depending on the time of year, they all rise and fall independently from each other.
It is not your average arbitrage business.
I specifically target the highest profit margin products possible while aiming to work as little as possible.
October was a VERY slow month (by design). That will change when the November update comes.
Let’s take a look:
Total Sales: $1,482.08
Items Sold: 23
Cost of Goods + Fees: $1,070.17
Total Profit: $411.91
Hours Worked: Almost none
Average Profit Per Item: $17.91
Total Profit for 2023: $117,551.52
I warned you that it was a very slow month. Magnitudes slower than September even.
The only revenue was from a few straggling book sales.
All of my attention has been focused on creating new LEGO investment positions and providing alerts for paid members of the newsletter.
If I wasn’t doing all of that, the numbers would have been a lot higher.
This is evidenced by Noah here, who is a member of my private mentorship group:
Looking Forward
Sales will pick up again in November as we start to take profit on LEGO investments from 2022.
Momentum will build heading into December and remain strong through January, thanks to the winter busy season for book sales.
With the upcoming busy season for books in mind, I have begun to accumulate books in anticipation.
Contrary to popular belief, Q1 is also a great time of year for selling LEGO.
There will be a bit of that in there too.
I expect a total profit in the ~$150,000 range for the year of 2023.
Not only is that nearly double what I once made as an aerospace engineer, but I didn’t have to:
Wake up to an alarm
Commute in traffic
Take orders from anyone
Spend 8 hours in a cubicle
I made that money by working less than 1 hour/day on my Amazon business.
Does it take more work than that when starting from scratch? Yes.
Does it eventually become more efficient and allow you to buy your freedom back? Also yes.
None of that happens if you never start though. That choice is yours and I can’t make it for you.
When you are ready, there are a few different ways I can help you:
If you don’t have capital to play with, I recommend starting here:
Textbook Flipping Mastery - My in-depth guide on how to start a high-margin but simple Amazon e-commerce business.
If you do have capital, I recommend starting here:
LEGO Investing Mastery - My in-depth guide on how to start a long-term “buy, hold, and sell” LEGO investing business.
If you want to tackle both at the same time and get the most value possible, I recommend starting here:
The Conference Room - My private mentorship community that includes the two guides above, for free. Pay once and stay a member for life.