Here are 5 things I wish I knew before I started Amazon FBA…
These can be seen as mistakes but I like to think of them as mental frames I wish I adopted sooner that would have helped me avoid so much pain and got me to a sustainable income much faster.
1. Seller Central – Pain in the A#$
I wish I knew that dealing with Seller Central would be such a headache and a huge focal point of the Amazon business.
Just when you want to focus on selling or getting your product up, there always seems to be an issue.
Then dealing with that issue is always the most teeth-pulling experience, where you are calling or making case after case with no progress whatsoever.
Yes, I wish this process was better but at the end of the day, it is about accepting it as part of the business and the journey.
Fighting it and hating it doesn’t help at all, but not overreacting and keeping your cool during these moments are the ones who succeed long-term on Amazon.
Just part of the job description is how you and I should frame it. Will help us push past faster and keep our cortisol down in the process.
Keep reading for a better way to handle Seller Central issues…
2. The Way Too Long Product Research Journey
When I first started product research, I thought I could make any product work.
I didn’t understand that finding the right product was 80% of the battle and probably the most important part of the whole business.
This caused me to have many failures, and waste a lot of time and money just because I was in such a rush to get a product shipped over and start selling.
I now realize that I rather spend an extra 2-4 weeks looking for a product than rushing a subpar idea…
This is a small price to pay if it means you are selling for an extra 5 years and actually get some traction vs. rushing a product that just drains money from ads that don’t work because the market is too saturated or your product just sucks in general.
3. Patience
A common theme you can take out of all my mistakes on Amazon is that if I had more patience, I probably would have avoided most if not all of them.
For example, rushing a product to market, rushing to find a supplier quickly who has terrible quality and gets you 1-star reviews, or not taking the time to create the right launch plan for your product and burning money on ads…
These are just a few examples, out of so many more that I have encountered on my journey.
This business is not a get-rich scheme, it’s a real freaking business. That takes time, that takes thought, that takes energy…
What I like to do is imagine talking to a super wealthy guy, let’s say Warren Buffett, and ask him why I am not making 30k/month after just 6 months of starting one of my first businesses ever…
And after he is done laughing in my face for about 45 seconds, he tells me that he spent 70 years trying to get to where he is at now and tells me that 6 months for building a successful business is comical. Play the long game he says.
4. Not Profitable Right Away
One very hard slap to the face for me in this business was not understanding the financials and the cash flow.
I didn’t understand that I would most likely not see a return on my investment until about 3-6 months after selling my product, sometimes even up to a year for more competitive markets where you needed to scale fast.
This needs to be expected, just because you have been selling your product on Amazon for 2-3 weeks and haven’t made any substantial profit, doesn’t mean it’s a failure.
It takes time to get reviews, it takes time to rank up organically where the real sales actually come in. This doesn’t happen overnight but happens after months of putting in the work daily.
5. Realizing Business is Just Hopping Over Hurdle After Hurdle
Now, this was my biggest mistake that eventually led to my biggest breakthrough. I think this applies to every business too…
That is, business is actually just solving problems or hopping over hurdle after hurdle that comes your way.
I used to think why do all of these issues keep happening to me?
Why isn’t this process smoother?
Then every time an issue or hurdle would pop up, I would get angry or feel sorry for myself.
Then I realized, these things don’t just happen to me, they happen to everyone. Business is never a smooth process.
It’s bumpy and nonlinear.
So changing your mindset to get excited to solve another problem that comes your way is actually the key…
That way instead of the problems becoming draining and taxing, you actually get energized and jump over them faster and more consistently.
Think of them like puzzles to solve, or any other game where it takes some mental focus and once completed you feel accomplished.
That is business, solving puzzles and stacking small win after small win.
I hope this can help you reframe some of the harder parts of this business I struggled with.
