TIE #049: How I Made $6,629 in Profit on Amazon during February 2024 (while hardly working)
Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.
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 $13,400 for things I was already going to buy for my one-person business:
They are also the reason this post is free to read. Sign up here and get $30 for free after your first use.
I have been documenting how much profit my personal Amazon business makes in this newsletter for over 3 years now.
While running this type of business was never a dream of mine, it is what laid the foundation for me to live a lifestyle full of freedom and fulfillment.
In early 2024, an Amazon business is still the best option if you want to accomplish something similar and have no business experience.
This post is #38 of this series, you can read post #37 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: Any and all other online arbitrage (I do this when I get bored)
Depending on the time of year, they all rise and fall independently from each other.
It is not your average Amazon business.
I target the highest profit margin possible while aiming to work as little as possible.
This often means buying products and waiting a while before selling them.
The game I play is efficiency, I do not play “number go up” simulator.
Let’s take a look at how we did in February:
Total Sales: $15,145.76
Items Sold: 123
Cost of Goods + Fees: $8,516.33
Total Profit: $6,629.43
Hours Worked: ~5-6
Average Profit Per Item: $53.90
Total Profit for 2024: $17,804.35
As expected, we did not recreate the amount of volume that was seen in January thanks to the first busy season of the year for books coming to an end.
February primarily featured a tiny amount of LEGO investment profit taking alongside a few book/arbitrage transactions.
The Technic Excavator (shown last month as well) continues to defy the laws of economics, selling consistently for $160/set:
Once again, this is a set that I paid $37/unit for less than 18 months ago.
After fees, that is a net profit of $90 each which is a profit margin of 57% and a return on investment of 240%.
I want to use this moment to highlight something important:
Technically speaking, my personal Amazon business model is not the “best” Amazon business model.
During those same 18 months, you could have taken that same $37/unit I spent and bought something else that returned $52/unit after 60 days.
If you consistently repeated that over 18 months instead of buying the LEGO and holding, your Amazon business would have made a lot more money than mine did.
However, there is a reason I don’t operate my Amazon business this way:
The amount of work required to compound capital as quickly as possible is magnitudes higher than buying some LEGO and sitting on it.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t care to dedicate my entire life to my Amazon business.
(On the contrary, if you are young and/or broke, then you SHOULD dedicate your life to it)
I want to play golf, spend time with the people I love most, and work on other things I’m more passionate about (like this newsletter).
That is why my business is structured the way it is:
Long term transactions that require as little up-front work as possible
This is a business model that is also perfect for someone with a well paying full-time job, busy personal life, or both.
Don’t let what I just said trick you into believing it doesn’t require any work though.
It requires a lot of work, especially up-front.
But once everything is set up, it demands very little of your time.
None of what I just said matter though if you don’t take action.
That choice is yours and I can’t make it for you.
When you are ready, there is one way I can help you:
The Conference Room: Join 700+ members inside my private mentorship group. It teaches you exactly how to build an efficient, lean, and focused Amazon FBA business.
Come inside and receive help from myself, several expert business owners, and get access to both of my premium video guides.
I know you have mentioned putting out alerts for each Lego set you go to sell. Is this what the alert will look like? Just double checking, you did sell the technic one mentioned in this post?
Thanks!
Trying to decide if you make money from Amazon or make money from selling these “courses” and memberships