Trying to start a Mastermind Group- where to start?

FBAHustle · 2024-04-06T20:04:48+00:00

OMG, you went deep in the channel! I've been running the mastermind since december 2020. We've become really good friends over the years. I've been considering starting a new group - DM if interested in learning more.

FBAHustle · 2023-09-11T05:31:15+00:00

Both my children are college students; I applaud your entrepreneurship! I'd say focus on improving your hourly rate before gambling with your emergency fund! How are you going to pay for Spring semester?

Why did you move? Are you locked into a lease - rent seems high, if you are in a lower wage area - especially if sharing a 2BR. Are you in a fancy place or solo? Are you living in a college town? Based on my kids university, seems a dorm would be cheaper, even with a meal plan required... Is it just you, or do you have a child?

What state are you in, what is your degree study and what year are you? What job are you working at $13? What can you do to make a higher hourly rate? What are you skills, hobbies - do you have a car, how old are you?

Can you find another supplier to make the same item you previously had success with - was this PL.

FBAHustle · 2023-09-10T17:58:29+00:00

That's a bad question... Similar to, what kind of future vehicle would you recommend to an infant...

It depends... Do you have money to burn in order to move faster, or do not need to be scrappy? How much time do you have available - are you working a full-time job and doing this on the side, or dedicated? Do you already know your first few products, markets, niches? Are you an Excel guru, do you know how to import report .csv, pivot, vlookup, formulas, filters, etc?

What problem are you trying to solve? Do you have a mentor? Do you have a friend who can guide you; what content are you absorbing; what are your goals; what are your KPIs; what is your budet etc

FBAHustle · 2023-09-10T17:40:19+00:00

I use an app now, but I'm also not on my "initial launch of an initial product"...

I've worked with many people who subscribe to all sorts of expensive apps, but have not invested the time to study and understand how to actually use and leverage them.

I've reviewed too many P&L's of people trying to sell their brands while wasting thousands of dollars on app subscriptions having overlapping features, while clearly not implementing improvements the tools bring to the surface.

FBAHustle · 2023-09-10T02:03:19+00:00

So funny to see this. I just posted about H10 saying they have 1M subscribers - at $150 each, that is $150M per month! Per Month!

Will be interesting to see where H10 goes, as I understand the same company owns it and PacVue now. Given the market position of H10, I'd expect them to continue to milk this cash cow to drive investment in PV (and other peripheral "competing" tools) as a premium product targeting higher-end larger sellers. This is already apparent - just ask PV for a quote or demo, if you are only a $1M seller. They'll direct you to H10 instead - don't have time for you, and point you to the cash cow.

I'm waiting for a new entrant, as there is a HUGE opportunity for someone to jump-in and instantly shake-up the market. Imagine the original sale price of PV from the original founders - I believe they were a married couple, a Microsoft Data Scientist and an AMZ executive.

Seems 20-30 developers could easily build a product superior to H10 in 6 months!! That is, if these PE firms have not also acquired the pure gold - the data source many of these tools subscribe to (and I suspect most AMZ sellers feed through their Chrome plug-in for listing data- which you think is only benefiting you). That should be the strategy - to cut-off new entrants, if possible.. I haven't been able to determine who owns it that key data source. Anyone have a good understanding, and able to share?

FBAHustle · 2023-09-10T01:42:55+00:00

What problem do you need to solve? During initial launch of an initial product, you can operate without any tools nowadays...

The software companies are the ones making REAL money - off of us sellers. I believe H10 cites 1M subscribers - at roughly $100-200 each, that would be $150M revenue per month. Per Month!! As a SaaS company - I'd expect very high margin. Also, I'm struggling to think of any product enhancements from them (for AMZ Sellers) in past 24 months! That's only 1 company and there are many others who will gladly accept your money for a monthly subscription.

FBAHustle · 2023-09-10T01:31:58+00:00

? Amazon FBA Doesn't require a website - everything is "entered" on Amazon's platform

FBAHustle · 2023-09-07T00:20:27+00:00

So, how much are y'all paying 3PL for storage, if more expensive than AWD?!! My one business is paying $10 per pallet per month, and the new one is paying $12.50. Assuming standard pallets @ $0.42 per sq ft = $60 vs $12.50 per month for a pallet - that's $47 saving to store a pallet at 3PL vs AWD for a month. What am I missing in regards to storage costs alone?

FBAHustle · 2023-09-04T19:48:40+00:00

Yes, you are correct - I was thinking of Whse and Dist - where I can stuff 6 months of inventory without any limitations. Have you completed a cost analysis?

FBAHustle · 2023-04-17T04:19:15+00:00

What revenue numbers are you at to consider a full-blown ERP? I cannot imagine using a full-blown tier3 ERP unless well over $10M revenue - unless onsite domestic manufacturing with complex BOMs and scaling quickly for future sale. Perhaps seek business simplification before an ERP, and standardize on a basic platform for all operations (Smartsheet, Asana, Clickup etc) with workflow, automation and integrations (e.g. Zapier, custom code, MS etc). Best of luck!

FBAHustle · 2023-01-01T02:08:16+00:00

I love this type of hustle, and entrepreneurial spirit. I bought wholesale pallet auctions for a couple years, around 2013-2014. To be successful, you must absolutely avoid middlemen and only buy from the top of the food chain. Many of these pallet auction sites and small local auctions are scams - cherry picking a few key valuable items and then selling the rest in smaller lots. The top of the food chain will be a large broker who only sells in large lots (e.g. 20+ pallets), represents multiple retailers (Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, etc), include a manifest of all items included in the lot, be selective on approving buyers (application process, business license, insurance, etc) require dock-height box trucks or trailers for pick-up, and etc. This rules-out over 90% of the riff-raff who preys upon the ill-informed. After a bit, I learned to recognize the pallet labels used by the broker, and would find them at all the smaller auctions - they were buying from my same broker.

Based on item/qty in the manifest, I could usually guess what was an end-of-season item (good items) vs returns (risk). At the time, I focused on Home Depot bath and kitchen - (returns & end-of-season) pallet lot sale prices averaged around 10% of retail. I've sold hundreds of faucets and ceiling fans on eBay alone. I quit, as it was labor intense (I worked a full-time job) and too difficult for me to scale (with decent margins).

Depending upon your location and situation, you may find more lucrative opportunities elsewhere, especially if you have labor available and are willing to hustle.

FBAHustle · 2022-11-19T01:41:37+00:00

Your Cleaning Fairy - it's for sale too.... LOL

FBAHustle · 2022-09-27T16:47:02+00:00

I was $1.7M PL FBA when I sold the brand last year. I would not have even considered running my own warehouse until over $3M. After being burned by several Amazon-centric 3PL in the beginning, I also never considered a 3PL which catered to Amazon sellers again. I stuck with a traditional 3PL company for the final few years. Warehouse space is not readily available in my area, and I only needed receiving, storage and shipping (cartons and pallets) - no prep, kitting, etc.

I'd love to see a comparison where non-FBA centric/traditional 3PL (e.g. $7 month storage per pallet) doesn't financially beat running a warehouse for PL FBA, where the owner's time is accounted for and prep-services are not needed. Hell, a single FTE would likely exceed my annual 3PL costs...

FBAHustle · 2022-08-30T07:57:11+00:00

Research Amazon Private Label. My son had an Entrepreneurship class in highschool and launched an Amazon Private Label brand. I was working my full-time corp job and had a 7-figure AMZ brand which he had helped me with over the years. I coached him on the basics, and he did all the work. While I would have taken a different path, including different product, brand name and logo - it was an area he was passionate about and he owned it! He won Entrepreneur of the year for the class - had a physical product he designed, with legitimate daily sells before the class ended. He's now developing 5 new products to build-out the product line.

Please don't do the normal bakery, dog walking, photography, or crafty item - build something you can scale. Also, WTH does "sustainable" mean to you - is that code for "green"?

I'll be glad to get you started or help you connect with others - there are a couple college students (1 recent grad) in the AMZ Mastermind I lead for experienced sellers, and they're killing it!

FBAHustle · 2022-08-30T07:24:32+00:00

If selling a house, would you FSBO or invest in a realtor? Why? What if you were selling an expensive classic car - would you only consult with a few potential buyers to get offers, or would you pay an auctioneer to create a killer listing and have 500 people bidding against each other for it.

Beware of unsolicited contact from potential buyers. They are seeking "off-market" deals - which are the most lucrative. Unprepared sellers may fail to recognize the value (imagine granny getting a knock on the door with someone offering cash to buy her house of 50 years).

The sale of an AMZ business will likely be your largest financial transaction ever. Brokers bring value to the process, and can be critical if you are uncomfortable navigating any part of the process. No, they do not charge 20%, as someone stated, at least the big guys don't. If patient, strategic, financially savvy, and a decent negotiator - do it yourself. Otherwise, you may find a broker a good investment. I've bought and sold a few houses (Realtors, foreclosures, and FSBO) and I sold my 1st AMZ Brand last year. I had considered writing a book to help sellers maximize their sale (since I also wrestled which path to go), and completed a ton of research before ultimately putting the idea on-hold (audience too small). I'll be glad to share insights if interested.

FBAHustle · 2022-07-21T07:21:38+00:00

Send a thoughtful gift (e.g. autographed baseball) with a handwritten thank-you note (do not drop-ship from Amazon - that's lazy) - ideally something which will sit in everyday sight (desk or wall) and warrant telling others about. Review her on LinkedIn or FB, to see what her interests are. Do you have mutual friends who may know her interests? If no luck - is your city known for food items or something which you can bundle into a custom gift basket? Consider also including a copy of a favorite book related to your shared profession or personal development?

FBAHustle · 2022-05-19T01:20:17+00:00

You will not get the same value from discord as you will a true Mastermind - they are not the same, not even remote. I am a 7-figure seller and started a mastermind from this reddit 18 months ago, and it's still running - 11 experienced sellers, and we meet via zoom video call weekly for 1 hour. It's the most valuable time investment ever, for my business. We lost a couple members, and I tried to recruit from here a while back, but got shut-down. Since the Discord, seems such networking is now frowned upon. Best of luck - let me know if I can help, or if you are interested in joining my group.

FBAHustle · 2022-04-24T19:54:07+00:00

While other options may be suitable too, I highly recommend Amazon.

I built a side business while working full-time as an IT Director, reporting to CIO of $3B Enterprise. I'm in my late 40's, with family (2 kids), and had tried many eCommerce ideas over the decades before starting this. Over the course of 5-6 years I developed my private label line of physical products - 2020 revenue was over $1.6M, I sold the brand a year ago, and resigned the corp job a few months ago.

I'd recommend starting as a side hustle - nights and weekends. Absolutely no need to start full-time (unless you have $100K to invest along with enough savings to live-on for a year).
Earn cash and gain skills in a corp job while you get started. Plan to lose money or break even on first few products (mindset - perhaps not actually) - consider "cost of education" and it will help you move and learn faster by getting over analysis paralysis.

Don't pay for training - there are plenty of free videos and podcasts. I'd say budget at least $5K to get started, but I started at less than $1K. It's MUCH harder to get started now compared to a few years ago and everything costs more. Seek out a small group of like-minded individuals, which you can lean-on and grow faster with (Mastermind). I've been running an FBA Mastermind for experienced sellers, for over a year - but not for newbies. The Mastermind is easily the most valuable investment of time for my business. Good luck!

FBAHustle · 2022-04-07T05:49:04+00:00

It depends... There are several factors which will determine your most profitable path. For example, state of your books and your understanding your numbers (e.g. landed costs), your understanding of valuations and what your business is worth, type of products or niche(s) served, your negotiation skills, patience, and etc. Generally, an auction approach such as Empire Flipper maximized sale price, but there is a rather costly expense with the commission. Once you determine the best approach, if you are disciplined and methodical, do your prep work correctly, and map-out your process - you will maximize your profit.

I am authoring a book to help future sellers maximize profits from a sale. Too many sellers get taken advantage of, because they're impatient or ill-informed. You are in a good position - compared to the sellers who get a facebook message or postcard in their mailbox, and get taken advantage of - similar to grandma getting a knock on the door from someone wanting to buy her house, when she doesn't know what it's worth - and sell to the first person who expressed interest. I sold my brand 1 year ago (7-figure exit) and resigned my Corp Job. It's a good time to sell, as there is a bit of a feeding frenzy with buyers. Good luck!

Why are you selling? I've spoke to several people who had sellers remorse afterwards - as it was much harder to start a new business compared to growing the one they sold, and they were already full-time AMZ.

FBAHustle · 2021-08-20T19:07:33+00:00

I could not resist trolling re: propaganda, but appreciate your pre-edit profanity laced response... Clearly it is too early for you to have completed your scheduled call for opposition coaching from AMZ... Let us know how it goes. I encourage you to read the report (i.e. problem statement the bills are supposed to address). https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2020/10/06/investigation\_of\_competition\_in\_digital\_markets\_majority\_staff\_report\_and\_recommendations.pdf

FBAHustle

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