17-Year-Old Makes $18K/Month with TikTok Shop (Student Interview)

Alrighty, so today we are going over one of our younger students in Affiliate Automated, and this is one of the most ridiculous case studies we've had. Um, and Nathan, how old are you, my guy?

Uh, I'm 17.

And what has been your biggest month on TikTok Shop?

Biggest month on TikTok Shop, $18.8K, so almost $20K.

And that's fully outsourced, right?

Yeah, fully outsourced.

Crazy. And so For those of you that don't know, we do a business model called TikTok Shop Automation that involves TikTok Shop Affiliate as the core business model and then outsourcing things like filming, editing, and posting. For a stack like that, Nathan, what does your team look like right now to run an $18.8K a month business?

Right now I just have one creator and one VA. That's it. Trying to— soon I'm going to be scaling it out, but—

Crazy. And so—

Get it back up.

What, how many accounts do you have?

Um, it's kind of rough. Recently I had 5 accounts banned, so I was about to have 8. I got 5 accounts banned, so now I'm only on 2, but I'm growing some more.

Wow, that's impressive. I mean, the, these numbers for, again, like, you've been in Affiliate Automated now for 6 months, right? So 6 months before that, have you started TikTok shop at all, or did you start from zero? Zero. Crazy. And so for anybody that's new out there, and again, it's trying to— 6 months to $18K is always good. I mean, you're making $18K, like, he's fricking 16 years old. Like, that is a pretty crazy amount of money. And so for someone that's like brand new, like, I would always reference your story because it was like this right when you started putting videos and video reviews, I was like, okay, this guy like understands it. You see it, pattern recognition. And so when you got started back then, what was like the first biggest obstacle that you had to get over?

Like biggest obstacle I'd say was just like showing up and seeing that it was actually possible. 'Cause at first I was just, I just was making the videos and I wasn't seeing any external result, right? But then as I continued to show up, it made it easier 'cause I was starting to see it happen. And I get better at like seeing why it was happening.

Yeah. I think that was the biggest thing for you, dude. You would always look at, a lot of people are very like output-based. Yours was all like, it was like, all right, let's understand it. Like, okay, so Snapchat style, we still use you for a Snapchat style example 'cause you just showed it late and like you understood why to show it late. So I think that was like one of the biggest reasons why you got to, how long did it take you to hit $10K a month?

It took me 3 months.

That is so crazy.

Yeah, from joining the program to, um, hitting $10K in 3 months. No, she hit like $14K.

So wow, okay. Yeah, right. And you got the Black Friday boost right there too, which was like—

yeah, that definitely helped me out.

That was good. Okay, and so you join and then what did you do? You bought an account?

Um, no, I was actually growing them because I was already looking to do TikTok Shop and I was just growing the account using, um, the stuff we use that I was using. And then I was just like, okay, I'll just use that now. 'cause I have an account.

Okay, and so boom, got an account. Are you, what was your first video strategy? You're like, I want to make money now, what am I doing?

I just, that was right when I joined the program. So I was like, okay, I'm going to look at you. And then I was doing the middle of funnels, like it doesn't seem like it's working. So it was kind of like, I was like, I didn't know what to do. I was just hopping around almost like, oh, maybe this will work better or this style, you know?

Okay, cool. And so what was like, what did you end up, was what like actually got you to $10K a month? What style was it?

Caked Finds.

It was Caked Finds. Okay. And so for anybody that doesn't know, Caked Finds is like faceless bottom of funnel, essentially. We'll leave it at that, like faceless bottom of funnel. Um, and so I, I like to put TikTok Shop into like just a couple buckets. You know, you had the account from growing it, which was again, simple methods in AA, and then You got the style, so we picked Cake Finds as the style, so that's the videos. But for products, because I think so many people, like, they can, they can see what videos are working, they can get an account, but I think so few people actually understand product selection. And so for you, product selection was big. What was the, what is your, like, product selection strategy?

My main way of going about it is like, okay, I'm gonna just get as many as possible that are in my criteria. So it would be like big brand, over 1,000 sold, and then that's really it.

That's it. Just big brand, over 1,000 sold.

As much as— get as many samples as possible and just—

and then just go data, like—

yeah, that's what I do. And I think at one point I had like— it was kind of overwhelming because I couldn't get all the videos. I had like 20 samples coming in a day, so I had to slow down for a second.

Okay, crazy. And so how many samples do you request in a week?

Um, maybe 300.

Really? Crazy. Okay, so how many of those go to you now and how many go to your creator?

Like, are you creating—

go to me? None go to you? Okay, that's what I thought. That's great.

And then they go to me.

See, what do you guys— crazy. Yeah, your creator has like storage or something? Do you have to get her storage yet?

Yeah, we— I bought her like, like one thing is storage and she has like a pantry, so it's really cool. And then she just has organizers.

Crazy. And so you're literally— I love that strategy too because it's like the most like 60 IQ way to do it, but it works so well. Like that's how we do it too. We just like spam, spam, spam. Um, whatever works, works. And like you, I'm sure you find winners there too, like a lot because again, so many people overthink it.

And so I know it's just like, I don't really use Callo data either. I've been thinking about this, like I haven't needed it.

You don't need it. You really don't need it, bro. It's a, it's a nice to have, but like, yeah, you definitely like, it makes you feel cool.

Cause people ask me like, dude, do you use Callo data? I was like, no, I just request samples.

Like I just do it, right? I just do It works, bro. Yeah, that is so funny. Yeah. And most of the time it's like the 60 IQs way works. So you've got, you grow accounts. Do you do, you grow it with like an organic method to $1K and then run ads?

I was actually, I was, I don't think I'm going to do that because I'd rather have the account that I, that's been my best account. I haven't, it was just straight to $5K organic, like never had any problems at all. So I think that's what I'm going to do with the accounts I'm growing. I have my VA doing it. So he's growing the accounts, so we'll see how it goes.

Okay. That is pretty good. And so let's talk about a little bit about that $18.8K again, because I think that's always like, I mean, truly at, you know, $18K a month, like you're good. Like you're living out, you're definitely the richest guy in high school, I'll tell you that. But for that you were running, so you were running 8 at that point or you were running how many at that point?

I was actually running only, 4.

Okay, so running 4, what are you at a day? How many posts a day is that?

I was 160.

160? Wow. Okay, so 40 an account, 1 creator. How many hours a day is that creator on?

Like, so I don't pay by hour, I pay per video. Okay, so it'd be like, she only worked like 2 hours, 3 hours, 2 and a half.

You pay per video? What did you guys bring it down to, a dollar, 50 cents?

Um, I pay 41 cents for one video.

So KPIs, whatever.

And then the, it's like 56 cents per video.

55 cents. All the way through. Yeah, that's super strong. You're never gonna not be profitable. And so you're putting out, and again, like most e-com brands would shit their pants. Like if they heard that you, you're getting 56 cents per human video that actually drives revenue because $18K a month in GMV. Well, that's probably, what was the GMV on that?

It was like $110K maybe, $120K.

It's 50 cents a post. It's ridiculous. Okay, so you got the creator and you got the VA and at 140 posts a day, $18.8K. Okay, so boom, you went from essentially zero to cash flowing 5 figures a month and $18.8K, what are your margins on that?

I made $16.8K.

That's so fucking crazy. Wow. Yeah, that's great. I mean, you're running like 90, 95% margin.

Yeah, that's awesome. When I looked at it, I was like, dang, that's pretty good.

That's not bad. Okay, fire. And so you go from— and I had like similar experience, like when I was like 17, I kind of went from like zero to like six figures in my bank account in like a 90-day period. And so you're, you're in that like very similar where it's just like you probably had not that much money in your bank account and now you have like, like you're just cash flowing. I'm sure you're living at home, right? Yeah, still going to school. And so what is that like now? Like, it's cash flowing 5 figures a month.

It's kind of like, I feel like I should start like maybe like investing it or something. I don't know if I should invest in myself or like, you know, I don't know. I'm just trying to learn about it.

And so it's just, you're just stacking?

Yeah, I'm just stacking it right now. So that's pretty cool.

Yeah. What's the feeling?

The feeling I get is like, it's like a trust in myself. Like, dang, I can actually do this. It's like, because I would like look at people and say like Instagram, they say like, oh, I'm making this amount per month. And I was like, there's no way. And then now to be able to look at myself and be like, dang, I can actually do that. I feel like that's the, it's more important than the money or anything.

For sure. Like, because now it's, you look at $100K a month, you're like, well, going from $0 to $10K a month is a lot harder than $10K to $100K. Like 10x harder. And so that, that's good. And so yeah, bro, just keep stacking it up. Like, that's that, like, first $100K for me too, bro. That, like, I lived for the next year and I could just take massive bets on anything because I had money. And so I never had to, like, go broke. I never had to, like, ask my parents for more money. So, like, just, it's— you're in such a good spot. And so what grade are you in?

Uh, I'm in 11th.

11th. So are you gonna just finish out, like, regular?

I was, I was trying to see if I could do online school, but where I go to school, it's so like hard to do that. I think I can like maybe take 2 classes at school and then the rest online. So that's what I'm trying to do.

That's great. I mean, you're, you're making double the teachers out there at least. Yeah, that's crazy.

It's weird.

And so now we've got, we're going into Q2, right? What, what are we, what are we looking at? What changes are we making and what's the revenue goal?

Right now I'm going for getting more accounts because when I got my accounts banned, I was like, oh shoot, it's kind of good that that happened because I didn't have a way to constantly get more accounts. So I was like, okay, kind of humbled me a bit. I was like, all right, I got to get that locked in. And then I want to get project manager and another creator by the end of Q3.

That's good. Okay. Yeah. End of Q3. You could do it before that for sure.

Yeah.

It's looking good though.

I like to look at it like accounts, not really revenue. I'd say I had 20 accounts by the end of like full running accounts by Q3.

I think that's easy. That's easy. And so, yeah, especially if you have a team on it, it should be not hard. And if we think of like guys like Tim that are doing like $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a month, Tim's running 20 right now. And so for sure. I mean, you guys, if we look at like commission per account, you're definitely making more. So at least right now, but that's pretty good. So you went again, like the, the, the zero, bro, it's a beautiful story. Like it's, it's cinematic zero. And you'll look back on this shit in like 2 years and you'll be like, wow, like this is the coolest thing. And so you went zero to five figs. I mean, what, what is the, what is this flow from you saying, hey, like looking at the data and seeing what is sold to getting a video out? How does that work for you guys?

So I just tell my team mainly to look at what sells. That's really all I look at. It's like, okay, if it's sold, I'm gonna do that. And then when I'm testing a new product, it's just, does it have high GMV max? That's all I really look at.

Like, are we getting views?

Yeah, it's like, it's getting views, I just do that.

Okay, that's it. That is—

maybe look at something because different. I haven't really tried any other ways that That's just what I've done.

It's not bad. Okay. And so for you, how do you think like being in, in AA has helped you and like gotten, you know, either accelerated your results or what, what did it do?

Main thing is the mental side. I feel like that's the most important is it's developed the like, I can only learn and grow part. Like there's not really anything bad happens to you. It's just you, you get better and you learn and you keep going and pushing. So with A and B and daily dial, even though I can't go really that much 'cause of school, I need to get those recorded calls. But, um, that's the main thing is the calls. That's the best part, I'd say.

Yeah. 'Cause we do, I know you, you, did you join in summer? Yeah, you did for a little bit. So you got, you got spammed with daily dials. Yeah. 'Cause for the last dude, and I think that's one of the main reasons why, like, I wasn't surprised, dude. The first time you put a video in video reviews, I, I was like, yeah, yeah, we're good. We're gonna, we're gonna have some fun here. Um, But yeah, I think Daily Dial, 'cause we've been doing Dial for the last, dude, 480 days straight or so. Yeah, it's crazy. It, it is crazy. And it's like, I'm, I'm so blessed to have like guys like you that come in and like, we just have such a, a good group of people and yeah, it's great. It is great, bro. And I think, so do you think, yeah, 'cause we do 10 calls a week, so we've got, yeah, we do 10 calls a week, which is up, definitely up there. Um, so do you think the calls, did you end up building any relationships in AA? Like, did you end up making some friends in there?

Oh, definitely. I have like over 20 and then maybe like I was gonna say 6 or 7 that are really close.

I'm not trying to— and so, so that— and so who are you close with in AA, if you don't mind?

Um, let me— I gotta think of the name. I'm gonna look on my phone. Let's see, with Sammy. I like Sammy.

Chris.

Um, let me see. Dallas. I like Dallas. Tim, obviously. Let me see. And then Nick. I like Nick. Did I say Chris?

Yeah.

Those are just a few.

And every single person you just named is like on $10K a month pace. Every single one of them. And they're all, and I don't think any of those people were doing shop before AAA. And so it's so like, I literally cannot boil it down to anything except like You guys showing up to Dial, like, I give all the credit to you guys because it's like, we, that, you know, Daily Dial changed my life. It programmed me because so many people, again, like, I think a lot of the problem with the coaching industry, especially in TikTok Shop, is like, A, number one, they don't, most people don't know very much about Shop. I got lucky to find Shop when I was like genuinely like in high school at your age. And so I just got like Shop-tism. And so now it's like we can solve any problem with it. But number 2, like, people just, it's only the outside programming. Like, it's like, okay, yeah, you can make this video, but what happens when the account gets banned? Right? And so like, for you, you're like, bro, I mean, the account got banned, it's good. You know, you're still making money, it really doesn't affect you that much. Whereas, so like, a regular affiliate, that could legitimately be the end. Like, you get 5 accounts, oh, I'm done. You know, this fucking business model sucks. Whatever it is.

They start blaming it on everything else but them.

Yeah, Chase, Chase didn't help me at all. Like, fuck this. Yeah. And so it, I think definitely you coming to Dials is, uh, I think that, that, that helps a ton for sure. And then in terms of like non-external, like mindset, what do you think was the, the most like impactful thing on the strategy side of it from AI?

Besides like the mindset part?

Mm-hmm. Like actual TikTok shop strategy.

I'd say in the beginning, the calls, going to the calls at first. I would just show up to every single one of them. That really helped me in putting the videos and video reviews. And then just like, I would also look in, study other people's accounts, see what they're doing, why they're doing it, who's doing good, why.

For sure. That is so interesting. So what really triggered you to join AA? And, you know, obviously, like, we care. Like, I talk about openly kind of like, like the sales processes of AA, like, Obviously this video like is going to help more people get into AA. What was it that, that made you like pull the trigger? Hey, I'm going to invest in myself. Like I'm going to make an investment here. Hopefully it pays off. What made you do it?

Well, I don't mean to go back into like my story, but beforehand I was always like, I'd see people like, oh, online money, online money, this like dropshipping, whatever, that stuff. So I was like, okay, I kind of want to try stuff like this. So I would try like At first I started like doing door-to-door knocking and I was like, I do not like this because it's very personal and time-oriented. It's not really scalable. So I went from that and then I was looking on Instagram and I saw your video pop up of you saying paying like college girls for 25 hours to do whatever. And I was like, okay, wait, this looks— it was like so abnormal that it made me click on it. So I just went through your funnel and then I checked out your What is it? I forget.

Webinar.

Webinar. And I went on that. I was like, okay, this seems kind of legit. So then I was just like, signed up for a call and then I got sold.

Here we are. And so you've done this in total of 6 months. Do you know what your total commission generated in GMV? Because I saw, dude, I saw $350K GMV in your bio and I'm like, that's such a, that's great. 6 months, $350K generated. Do you know what the take home is there?

Um, I mean, I gotta add it in my head, so it's like, I think it's around like $50K.

That's great. It's just stacking. Yeah. Do you think, um, I mean, you're pretty young, but like, and like you're from a small town, right?

Oh yeah, very small.

Crazy. And do you, do people around you know, do they treat you different now that you're like printing money?

I've started, I, Like until like 2 weeks ago, I didn't tell anyone. Like, okay, I would just be like, no, I don't know. I don't really want to talk about it because I didn't, I didn't know how, like, you know, people said, oh, you don't want to talk about money around other people. But then if people would ask me, I just tell them, they're like, bro, that's so cool. And then I'll actually help some friends if they ask me and they actually put in the stuff they're implementing. Yeah, one of them is, he's starting to.

That's great. Yeah. Again, I was the exact same way. I didn't until I had literally 6 figures liquid. I didn't. The only person that knew was my mom. I think that definitely, like, you get the It honestly, like, I, I think going back, maybe I would have talked about it a little more because I think it kind of hurt my relationship with money. Just because, like, why not talk about money? Like, it is a weird-ass thing to talk about, especially in high school, because, like, you never know how people are going to treat you. That's why I wondered, because it, for me, like, I never wanted to talk about, but I think it's not bad.

Um, yeah, I started changing my perspective on it, and, like, because if I tell them, it could change, like, For sure. Sounds weird. It could change their life. They're like, dang, that's actually possible. They see someone.

Absolutely. Yeah. And, and, and it, and it's like a noble thing too, because like if people start to know like, wow, somebody from our hometown made $18 grand a month in 6 months of starting a business model from fucking scratch, like I could probably do it too. And so there's like a, people think like making money sometimes is like unethical or they see it in a bad light, but like the, the compounds of it, like you tell somebody, wow, or like you even sell people goalie ashwagandha on TikTok shop and they're like, wow, I just bought from this, you know, 16-year-old. And it's— I think it's a— it's like a— you're doing good on multiple levels there. That's great. And so did you tell your parents?

Yeah, my mom knew since day one, since I have to be under everything for like taxes.

So that is crazy.

Yeah.

And so how do your parents feel about all of this?

So At first my mom was like, I did a thing where I said, okay, Mom, I'm gonna, um, I'm gonna buy in. I said, if I don't make the money back in, um, one month, I'll pay you it all.

Wow.

And I ended up making it back, so that was kind of—

you made it back month one? You made your investment back month one? Oh yeah, bro, that is so funny. That's great. That is fucking amazing. That's crazy. I mean, and you deserve it too. Like, you didn't things step by step by step. Like I had no doubt in my mind. I was never like, you know, I'm still not surprised to this day. Maybe I'll be surprised, you know, once you start hitting the million months, but like not yet. You still, you still gotta keep pushing it. I think that's amazing. And so your team, you've got a team, you've got literally 2 people on your team. What is the team culture like over there at, well, do you have a company name or is it just like, we're just chilling for now?

Right now it's just like Nate Media UGC.

Nate Media UGC. Dude, did I possibly name that? Did I name that maybe back in the day when we were setting up on the creator hiring platform? I don't know, we might have. I swear we did because we were naming people's stuff. But anyways, like, what is the culture like over there?

Um, I don't know. I love my creator and my VA is great. I love working with them. It's fun. I could actually, like, it's like I actually have a relationship with them and they're not just like an employee. Yeah, I like talk to them.

Yeah, that's the best part.

I'd say it's fun for sure.

And so I mean, again, making this money young, I think a lot of the people and a lot of our audience and like a lot of the people in AA are a lot, double, triple, quadruple your age. But you're probably never gonna work a job. Like I, in my life, like it sounds weird, but I was doing the same shit as you. Like I was 16, 15 years old, just hustling, trying to make money online. You did have one job, but do you think you'll ever work a job again?

[Speaker:CHASE_FISHER] I don't think I could do it to myself. It'd just be like, I see if I'm working for like, 15. That's what some kids are working for, $15 an hour. And I'm like, I kind of almost feel like empathy for them because it's like, for sure, you can make $1,000 in a day for 2 hours of work.

So it's crazy.

I don't know if I could do that to myself.

I don't think so. And you'd pay those people double to be on your team too, which is crazy. And like, we will hire so many people. Like, we will hire literally everybody because we always need creators. We've got like 1,000 creators now in our network too that we're like hiring for people in AA on. Yeah, no, it's not good. It's like, it's, we, we're gonna get it to 100,000 quick. Like, I just want to flywheel because there's so many jobs that we can give out. And so, yeah, you guys can, if you're watching this and, you know, you want to make $25 an hour, go to hourlyugc.com. You can go on there and we'll, we'll hopefully hire you to someone in AA. Um, but throughout this process, you got the team, dude, you were sending me some pretty fucking big days. What, what was your biggest day in the entirety of TikTok Shop?

Um, it's between— I think I hit like $1.4K, $1.5K.

Okay, what was the outlier on that day? Like, what made that day different from, you know, most of the others?

Okay, the— so I, I've hit 3 over $1K days. The 2 of them were Cyber Monday and Black Friday.

Okay.

And then the most recent one, it was just like random day. I don't know, product just hit.

Yep.

It was just like a bunch that were at $100.

Really? I did see that actually, because I was going to ask, like, it looks super healthy. Like, you didn't have one product pop off, right?

No, that rarely ever happens. Just like a bunch that are like $20, $50.

And that's the most consistent way to do it. So do you— I know you talked about it's more like, you know, spray and pray. Do you guys have like a— do you gravitate more towards high ticket or any certain category?

I've noticed a lot of supplements.

Supplements, legit.

Yeah.

And so do you run into any, any problems with health or no?

Never.

Do you guys go beauty too?

Uh, yeah, beauty doesn't— for some reason beauty doesn't go as well. Sometimes skincare does pretty good, right?

Because you guys are all faceless. Yeah, all faceless, even with the creator. All supplements. That is so interesting because I would say most of the people, like Tim, is even a lot less supplements. Tim's a lot more beauty. Most of the guys are beauty, most of the guys are tech. So it's actually interesting to hear that you're supplements.

I might try it out then.

Yeah, no, for sure. Get into, into high ticket too because we literally had somebody— did you see that yesterday? Were you on the call last night or no?

Was it? No, I wasn't, bro.

We had a school, we had a mom, Hila. She did— she's her first weekend and she just hit like on the Shark Vacuum $500 a day in her first week.

No way.

That's crazy. I mean, again, are you surprised that she comes to dial though? Like, you know, she didn't miss a call. And so I wasn't surprised she had a big day. And so this is like, you know, we, I think we have like, we do our best to create the best product. You know, I'm here fucking 12 hours a day trying to keep making AA better. So you're never leaving, by the way. You know, we'll keep doing cool shit together. Like we'll work together for a while to just build some cool stuff. Yeah, bro. And so like, let's say you're somebody on the fence on AA, you're watching YouTube video, you're like, fuck, I want to do TikTok shop automation. I want to hang with the guys that like, you know, our success rate's very high. What would you say to somebody who's like on the edge of it right now?

I got to think about that. So in my experience, I was on the edge because I didn't believe in myself. That was the only reason why is I was like, I would look at my past memories and I'd be like, okay, well, I didn't succeed when I did this and I didn't succeed when I did that. And the main thing that brought me through, like, actually doing it was that I was looking into the past instead of looking into the future. It's like, you don't have to live from your past and make the same decisions.

You don't have to be who you've always been, bro. Yeah, that's amazing. And so, yeah, we talked a little bit about that on the webinar too, but yeah, that's great. And so you booked a call, joined. Anything you change about our sales process that could get more people to join?

Let me see. I'd say, I don't know how it works with the no-shows, but the first appointment setter, like you hop on the phone with, I like that. But they were asking me questions that almost made me hop off. You guys have probably changed it.

Were they high, like qualifying you? Just like, yo, are you like serious? And yeah, that's great, bro. Anything else you'd like to share with the viewers that watch this video? And that would help them, you know, make some money with TikTok shop automation?

Yeah, let me think about it. I'd say, oh, this is one that you really installed in me is you can't lose if you don't quit.

It's true, right?

It's like, that's so small, but it's so true.

It's so small. It's always the little things, bro.

Yeah, it's like always the little things all build up.

Yeah, it's like the little nuggets you pick them up, build the belief into a foundation for your subconscious. All of a sudden Behavior changes, you get different results, bro. All right, dude, it was great having you on. I think this is super helpful and like, this is the strategies from somebody that is like trenching to the, to this day. I mean, it's not like you're fucking making videos or anything anymore, but like, you've got it. One creator, one VA. Let's scale this thing up, dude. $100K a month inbound.

Heck yeah, I'm seeing it. I know it's going to happen.

Happy to have you on here, bro. It was great. Thank you.

Thank you for having me on.

Yes, sir. Make sure to like and subscribe and Come do a webinar at AA and we're happy to have you inside.

It'll change your life. Go to it. Come on.

Let's go. All right. Bye-bye, guys.