His Dream Job Makes $75,000 A Month Doing Amazon FBA

All of the money that's coming back in and any other capital you have available, you have got to build into buying more inventory because as you're, if your business is skyrocketing, you have got to feed that beast.

Welcome to the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast, a show where we interview high voltage entrepreneurs growing and scaling through e-commerce, real estate, and other wealth without Wall Street ventures, showing you the path to making your first or next million.

All right, folks, welcome back to the High Voltage Business Builders Podcast. Super excited here today. We're gonna have a case study. So as I like to let everybody know, and as you may have heard on one of my, uh, recent case studies, which you should go check out, was David LeBlanc's case study of hitting half a million in sales a month, uh, on his business. There's a little disclaimer I'm gonna give you here real quick that this is a case study. The gentleman that has been brought on this call has not been incentivized in any way to be here. Uh, is that correct?

100% correct.

They haven't paid you to come on here. You've never been coerced. You're here of your own free will to talk about this today.

Yep. Completely of my own free will, out of excitement.

Perfect.

So that means that the results and any information we'll share after this call is Eric's and Eric's alone. Results vary. He's on a team. There's a system. We've been doing this for more than 12 years. We've got the experience, knowledge, processes, systems, and softwares to do this, which means the results will not be the same for every person who might want to attempt what we're about to discuss today. So at your own leisure, that is the disclaimer that I'm putting at the beginning of this call, as we're going to share some case study of actual information today. We probably won't tell you what the exact products are, so, but we're going to at least give you some idea of where they are as we have this conversation. So you can understand some of the base components that we're going to bring up today, again, have to do with leveraged effort and time and experience. If you're willing to put those things in and invest in yourself, as well as invest the capital required. To make a physical private label brand work, then the results like this may be able to be yours, but are never, never guaranteed, especially in business. Is that a fair statement, Eric?

Yeah, absolutely. You've got to put the work in and anything that comes to fruition takes a whole lot of hard work, maybe a little bit of luck, but gosh, having a partner to guide you has changed everything for us, Neil. So excited to talk about this today.

Yeah. So when we first started our journey, we met through a mutual group. You want to explain a little bit about what that is?

Through the Wealth Without Wall Street group?

Yes, sir.

Yeah. So Wealth Without Wall Street is a great company that I do some financial coaching with. And we're just a community of investors that are looking to do and build wealth outside of Wall Street in areas that we can control and influence. And we're not big on saving up this enormous nest egg for some time in the future. Rather, Neil, we're looking to create cash value now. So we're always looking for good partners that help us develop businesses that can create that passive income right now so that we can live our dreams in the moment.

So if I remember correctly, I met you about 2 years ago in Birmingham. Does that sound about right to you?

Yeah, that's exactly right.

Yeah, I met in person at the event in Birmingham at the Wealth Without Wall Street, which was great because we were introduced to that group about 4 years ago in the process of just doing business. In fact, one of the first podcasts that I was on as a guest, as I kind of started telling people about what we were doing, but But in that early stages, we were talking about the aspect of building and growing and finding a product and building in private label. And you are already invested in other things in business and in real estate, if I'm not mistaken, that you were doing in that business. What enticed you to get into e-commerce as we had those conversations? What about it kind of intrigued you?

Yeah, Neil, thanks for asking that question. First of all, can I say how excited I am to be on the High Voltage podcast? I didn't think I would ever be. A guest on here. And so my mind is blown just to be on here. But yeah, Neil, here's the honest truth. When I talk with my clients at Wealth Without Wall Street as a financial coach, I brag a little bit that I've, I have 16 passive income streams. Well, here's the truth. That's too many. I realized I was a mile wide and an inch deep. So having all this wealth of investing experience, I realized I need to pare this back down, sort of prune that tree into 3 or 4 things that either— here's my new litmus test, Neil. I can either control or influence the outcome, or if it's going to be completely passive, it's so simple I could explain it to an 8-year-old. Out of those 16 things that have made the cut, my Amazon business is one of those. As a matter of fact, if you come to my house right now and ask my wife what we're going to invest in, she looks like a college football player. She's going to hold up 4 fingers because that's our new mantra is 4 things that, 4 things that we really care about. We're really passionate about.

Yeah.

And that we can influence. And so Amazon for us has been at the top of that list because what you guys have taught me and how I'm learning to build that business and grow that business, I feel like I have true influence over the outcome. And quite honestly, I have sold A couple other large businesses just to fund my Amazon business. That's how excited I am.

All in for that. And just before we get to that, uh, I'm gonna ask you a simple question and then we'll come back to the answer in just a second, 'cause I have a second one that's actually more important than that one. And that is just outta curiosity to fund that and grow that. What is your expectations in the next year for that business? And then we'll get back into the details in a minute. What are you expecting that funding to actually gain you in your Amazon business?

I don't think I— Bubba Watson, they asked him after he won the Masters, did he dream about this? And he said, I never got this far in my dreams.

That's a very wise answer.

Yeah. And so the level that my Amazon business is growing right now, Neil, what's amazing is, so what I tell other people when they ask me about my Amazon business and working with Voltage, Is you guys are teaching how to build a legitimate business. This is not one of those get rich quick, fly by night schemes. This is literally, we're going to build a business. I'm going to teach you how to build a business from the ground up. I'm talking about the structure of the organization, even how to locate and identify products that work, how to make the connections with the manufacturers, how to legitimately build a business from, as a friend of mine used to say, from soup to nuts. And that's what has been so amazing to me about this process is, Neil, is that it's real. It's just real. If you're willing to put in the work, you guys have the expertise and can be the guide. You're like the coach. I'm the player on the field. I've got to do all the work. I've got to follow what I'm told to do. I've got to do it when and where I'm told to do it. But if I will follow and run the play, then my success, while not guaranteed, is definitely a higher percentage when I run the play.

And I won't say everything out loud about what that is just yet, but I can tell you that what he's referring to, I know, and I'll set your dream because that's what mentors are supposed to do, right? Coaches are supposed to do. They're supposed to try to push you to an elevation they can see that's higher than the one that you think is possible or achievable. Or it can get there. And I know you've got at least a $5 million a year business on target right now in the next 24 to 36 months. And that is the actual numbers. I know you may not wanna—

I'm shaking my head. That just blows my mind.

Right?

Um, yeah. Yeah. But the numbers that are coming in support that statement.

Yeah, we are on our way. Uh, we'll have the next 2,000 units in stock here shortly, uh, to, to head for the holiday season and all numbers progressing past year 4, $5,000 a day. And sales will easily be achieved in $5,000 to $10,000 just by the numbers of current progressed amounts, right? So it's on its way. It's just, now we've already proven it and it's going to grow, which is super exciting for me because I love where this is going for you, knowing that this never was your background.

Never.

Never.

I have zero experience in this area, Neil. Zero. And just the fact that I'm sitting here is surreal.

What is your background? For those who are asking.

Yeah, I grew up very rural. My parents never even mentioned college. My dad was a professional singer who, those guys are well known for how well they manage finance. And, you know, where and when I grew up, Neil, you were just supposed to go out, get a job, marry your high school sweetheart, you know, be terribly bored with life or with your work for 40 years and then hope to retire someday. And it wasn't until later in life, Neil, that I really uncovered that I can control my end outcomes to some degree. It's, it just requires me learning something. And once I learn it, if I have the passion to follow that after I get the information, then I can change the outcome. And so for me, it's just been, I guess I'm a late bloomer to most of this. But as I learn more, and here's what's more important, Neil, here's the most important thing. As I find, if I get in the room with the people who are already successful or partner with somebody who can show me the way, all of a sudden I'm removing a huge portion of that learning curve and I'm going more directly to success and to where I want to go.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well said.

And there's something about that. I think you both, you and I both understand, and at least in our houses and the way we were raised, and while our fathers were strong men and taught us how to do the wonderful things of tenacity and being a strong man, in my house, money was a 4-letter word.

4-letter word. Never came up.

It never came up. It was always disrespectful to dad that if you talked about money or needed something, you weren't accepting that you had enough already. And so you always wanted more. Uh, it didn't mean that it was going to be a lot more because we didn't have a lot in the first place. Um, but my dad worked hard and third shift, um, for many years in a manufacturing plant there in Oregon and provided the basic necessities. But I learned at 12 I had to hustle to make money to do anything I wanted to do. So I was out pushing lawns. But if you talk about money even beyond that, or the aspirations of money or whatever, you get shut down because that's not practical. It's not realistic. It's not what's doable. Right. And I know you had a similar kind of situation, but it also ran forward and kind of hit you not too long ago, didn't it? All the whole business got kind of put on pause with that, didn't it?

Yeah, it did. I'm glad that we're having deeper conversations about finances with our families these days. I know you're leading your kids well, uh, and talking about money and how to be entrepreneurial and how to think about money and how to use it as a tool. And that's really all it is. It, it really just magnifies who we are as a person. And, um, I want to earn more so I can be more and do more and shine that light farther.

Yeah. And it's an important understanding with this whole concept because you are that light. You're my beacon. You're, we're, we're, you are the mantra around the group. We call it the Eric Hudson effect now in relationship to the community. That's just what I, we're telling people now because everything you've done is amazing and where you're going is amazing as a person. And you just have a light and a spirit about you that is amazing.

Oh, thank you.

And I'm just honored to be in your presence and love what you're doing in your business and where it's going with the team. And where do you see yourself going in the next year with all of this? If someone's listening to this, they're like, okay, where do you go from here? What, what's next?

Gosh, Neil, can I start a little bit with how I started?

Sure, please.

And lead into that? Yeah. So Daniel Espy is a friend of mine and has been for years. And I know Daniel's been on the podcast and has done such a great job in partnering with you guys. Well, I knew Daniel before he partnered with Voltage and he began to talk to us behind the scenes in a friend group about this group he's met, Neil Twa, Reed Larson, and the Voltage team. And how they helped him build an Amazon business, which has been well documented, has skyrocketed to the moon. And what always struck me about that was his belief, Neil, in you and Reed and the kind of people that you were, that the character that you guys have just inherently and how that bleeds over into what you do as a business. But I never dreamed I could be in a similar situation that Daniel is in. But through conversation with Daniel and what he has done, and then seeing you guys work with other clients, I decided to take the plunge. My partner and I do all of our investing together. And so we decided to jump into this Voltage world. And it, can I give a little reality check to everyone here? This is not a fast, Easy process. Neil, you guys teach, uh, clients to build a real business, which takes a lot of hard work, a lot of grit, and it takes some time and effort. It also takes capital to fund. And so I got really deep into the training process with you guys, learned so much about products, identifying products. You guys actually taught me to take off my normal consumer glasses and slip on the glasses of a, a business owner, an Amazon business owner, and look around and realize that everything I see around me, I purchased to fulfill a need or a want. And these products that I've purchased, others may want to purchase from me if I build these as my product base. And we got really deep into that process, learned so much from you guys, and realized that we were actually gonna need to partner to take our dream even further after we had built this foundation of understanding about what it takes to get here. And you guys jumped in there and helped us, and I'm not sure how much you've talked about that on previous podcasts, but now we are now partners with you working together. to build our business. And I can tell you that you guys helped me do it better than I could do it on my own. And it's the reason we sold out of products in the first 2 months that we had this thing open. We had huge sales numbers beyond what we could have ever dreamed and sold out in 2 months of our number one product. And so now we're sitting over here on pins and needles waiting on that boat to get back across the water so we can turn this thing.

We had a little rooting party in the background and we were watching the numbers clicking up on Amazon Prime Day and it was like 5,000. And it was to 10,000 and we were making bets. Are we gonna get to 25? 25 was the number we hadn't hit. Then it was 15, then it was 18, then it was 22. And we were closing in on like the last 4 or 5 hours of Prime Day. And I'm like, it goes to 23 and then 24. And then we hit like 25 over and Jonah and I were just like, woo! We were celebrating in the background.

We're like, and then kept going. Just kept going.

Just kept going. Yeah. Yeah. Until we're now restocking, which is always fun to watch. Those are such cool moments. I mean, they don't happen all the time, of course, as I said from the very beginning.

Yeah.

When they do occur and, um, you've got the right product, right time, right market, right solution, and right answer to the questions in, in the mind, um, this is what's amazing. And just, we can say we're in the outdoor gear and space here for people who are paying attention.

Yeah.

We won't go much deeper than that. Everybody's like, well, what's—

Is it okay to say my numbers?

Those first 2?

It's okay to say your numbers, but I don't want you to tell your products to the world at this point. Yeah. So they can find 'em on Amazon if they wanna go look.

Um, our first month that we released our second product, so you guys teach us you have to release more than one product. And, yep, this is our second product, our first product. Is doing great. But our second product, just like you guys teach, this is the one that was the home run. Our second product, Neil, the first month we did $57,000 in sales. The first month we released it. Who does that?

Yep.

And the second month did $68,000 and sold out of our number one seller. And so, uh, we did not expect to be having to order product our third month into Our process, but some—

And there is a point to cover right there, if I can stop you on that one, because those who are listening and are wondering, okay, there's startup and then there's momentum and then there's growth before you might even hit scale. Some might be listening to this thinking you're at scale, but you are by no measure at scale. Even at $5 million a year in your market, you're only going to be within the top 50% of the market that you're currently sitting in. So just so we're clear, there are others in your market competing with you right now who are doing $10, $20, $30 million a year in sales. So you are not at the top end of your market share. So I want people to understand what scale can look like and then understand the types of numbers we're talking about here in relative to what someone might expect if they get involved in building one of these businesses. And by the way, when we know, and we continue to say this over and over again, Amazon FBA is just one sales channel of an omni multichannel strategy. Absolutely. This will be the first one we incubate this brand in to see these kinds of numbers prove out that we are capturing the demand, our brand has value, that people like the product, and that we have the capabilities of expanding that brand market share into other channels. Next might be a TikTok shop. It might go to Shopify. It might go out to resale wholesale. We might go another direction with the sales channel, but we are definitely going to open additional sales channels. I think it's important people understand that, don't you?

I do think it's important. And what I also think is important for people to understand is I'm having this huge success and I have no experience in any of these areas, but I'm leaning on Voltage to guide me. And so far that guidance has taken me Beyond what I ever dreamed possible. So amazing what can happen when you have a good coach.

Yeah.

Um, you were also trained.

I mean, let's say that you don't know, I think you're being very nice to yourself, but you actually understand the numbers, the business, the model. You went through the training. Oh, for sure. You went through the product research. You went through the manufacturing. You actually did the work. Um, I want people to understand that. Um, and then we stepped in at a place of tactical implementation and that's right. Helped him actually execute those steps, even though he had already started the steps and Actually, we help you finish the steps that you were already on the path to doing on your own. It just ran into some time and energy. If somebody is looking at the time aspect of this and they're thinking, okay, what does that actually mean? I hear all these guys online being like, well, you can only do Amazon like 1 hour a week. Is this a reality? Or what's the reality of a true understanding of business in this model?

I would say starting out, I don't, I don't know what you guys start your numbers at, but I would say you would need to spend somewhere between 10 and 20 hours a week initially. Just, I mean, just really to get your business growing, to learn how to build the business, to really get momentum, you're gonna have to put some time and effort into the business. I, I'm sure once the business stabilizes and levels off that those numbers can come down some, but you need to expect to work very hard to build your business.

Yeah.

It's not Realistic.

Realistic. We're looking at 3 to 5 year business models, not 3 to 5 months, folks, just so we're clear. I know that might dissuade some of you in doing this business model, and maybe that's okay because it's not for everybody. But building a physical privately owned label business model, just to be very clear, has its own time, energy, attention, and money aspect to it, what we call the team effort, to understand how that should actually be deployed. We talked a little bit about the team side, the time, energy, and attention. front half, let's get really clear on the money and the money in, the money out expectations. We talked about some of the bigger picture stuff that you're at and where you can go. And I believe you're going to get there. It is where the money and capital deployment makes sense. What we, what you put in at the beginning, what you're going to put in the middle, what you think you're going to put in next. Give us some ideas in terms of real numbers that are money numbers people should expect when they start this kind of business model.

Yeah, it's really going to depend on the price of your product, the quantity you order. But I think initially we probably needed about $100,000 to get started. of capital. And then if your product takes off like ours did, see, I think what people don't understand, Neil, is as your business is growing, all of the money that's coming back in and any other capital you have available, you have got to build into buying more inventory. Because as you're, if your business is skyrocketing, you have got to feed that beast. You've got to keep it fed.

Mm-hmm.

So that you can continue to grow your business. So please, if you're coming into building an Amazon business, expect to have to capitalize it. Expect to have to start out maybe with around $100,000, but also have other monies on the side available for once this takes off to be able to add fuel to that fire, which is what we're having to do right now, Neil. We're throwing another $100,000 at our inventory because we don't want to run out again. We've got to keep that thing fed.

Yeah. Yeah. Out of that cash flow plan, as you've been taught and know now, because you're CEOing this, you will know when it's time to start taking profits from this.

Sure.

I think we projected somewhere around 12 to 18 months in or so, it'll be easy for you to start taking profits without capitulating the business or slowing the momentum or keeping the machine fed because it is that way. Now, someone might be listening to this thinking, okay, I've heard somebody say I only need to start for $5,000. And that's the truth. Right? You can start this business model for $5,000, but understand we call that more of a side hustle or a hobby business. If you're not willing to dedicate at least $25,000 into the business, you're probably not thinking about this in a serious business model. You need to not think about it in an Amazon FBA only channel model. You need to think about, I'm building an e-commerce company that happens to sell first on the Amazon channel. And then I'm going to move into other channels of growth, like a normal business operator would think about. In terms of investing money and time and energy into any model. If you were to go buy a franchise, you're going to have to do the same. If you're going to go get into a real estate investing business, you're going to have to deploy a lot of capital. If you're going to get into short-term rental, you're also going to have to deploy a lot of capital. So the way these businesses work, and just to kind of break that mindset of some of the people who might've been listening to the YouTube hopium guru mindset folks out there that are listening to these one-hit wonders talking about courses or programs, the end result is this is a business training exercise that leads to multiple channels of business and e-com with a specific outcome. What are you in, what's the ultimate outcome we're shooting for, Eric, with this business model?

So I'd like to say first that we, my partner and I, do not consider this a side hustle.

No, you do not.

This is a business that's coexisting at equal importance of anything else that we're doing. And we're very serious about treating this like a business. Our ultimate goal for this business, Neil, is in a few years. is to sell off this line or sell off this business and repeat our process. And we are doing this. I work with clients and they talk about generational wealth. That's not what people are looking for. What people are looking for really is generational time freedom. So not only do I want to be able to spend time with my kids and grandkids, I want my kids to be able to spend time with their kids and grandkids, and then my grandkids to be able to do the same. Generational time freedom to shine our light, to steward our families and what God has given us from generation to generation. And we believe that owning and running our Amazon business is a key integral part of that for our families into the future, not just our Amazon business, but our, our product marketing and sales business.

So we call the Platinum Principle, which is building a business with the end, with the exit in mind. To create opportunities for generational wealth exits or even generational time exits, which I like the way you just said that, because ultimately what we're trying to do is get back that time. We can't pay in the future for more of it. We can't gather more of it. You can't hoard time and do anything with it to take it. You don't take it with you into the afterlife, just like you don't see a U-Haul behind a hearse. Nothing gets taken with us. We leave it here, right? So where is the most important aspect of it is time. And for anybody who's been listening to this, thank you for your time today for spending some time and listening to this conversation and understanding. Is there, Eric, something I didn't ask you that you wanted to bring up? Uh, oh, I know what, budgeting. We were talking about how you budget for growth in the business and how you've budgeted the capital allocation you need to put the $100 in, and then you're gonna deploy $100 more to go. Where did you learn all that from? And are you—

Yeah, Neil, thanks for asking that question. What I'm, I, I, I've just finished my book that I've, uh, rewritten and re-released on Amazon, as it were, Your Automated Budget.

Very cool.

You can find it on Amazon. And so I, I teach people how to get budget-like results without having to do a budget every month. And, um, so budgeting for me, budgeting those dollars to feed into my business are critically important. Um, I would teach you to have an account, separate account for your business. Not to commingle any funds. So we have accounts set up specifically for our Amazon business and we feed those with capital and then that capital gets deployed into the business to go buy inventory. Yeah, completely keeping our business funds separate. So thanks for the book.

Yeah, no, let's put the link in the below, guys. Go check it out on Amazon if you need budgeting, uh, just for personal home life, business aspect, Amazon or non-Amazon. If you're not understanding how to budget capital for growth in business, in real business budgeting, then you're not going to take advantage of these at the level you might want to or would love to see for your family's growth in business, which I would encourage you to do. And if you are wondering today whether or not this fits you, if this is something you think you could do, Voltage Business Builders is an invitation-only event. You would have to speak to me and we can qualify. We go through a process. We don't take very many people into this. I only want to look for those who are most serious, the Eric Hudsons of the world. We call it the Eric Hudson effect in Voltage. And if that's of interest to you, check it out at the link below, voltagegm.com. Grab a time, go check out the free materials, do your due diligence, listen to the other podcasts with David LeBlanc and Daniel Espy and Adam and all the other members of the community that have had so much success. Really get your head and shoulders around this. And then if it is something that makes sense to you, reach out and have a phone call with me and let's see what's going on. Eric, thank you so much, man, for sharing your own personal testimony today and just coming on and being the cool dude that you are.

Yeah. Hey, thank you so much, Neil. And I would be remiss if I didn't also thank Reed and Jonah Larson for the work they've done with us. They blow my mind.

Yeah. Reed's my business partner for the last 12 years, for those of you who don't know that. And his son Jonah started working with us when he was 16. So when you talk about generational time, they now work together. He's been with us for the last 10, 11 years now. Uh, is our operations control manager, our PPC management coach, and runs the businesses that we acquire and, uh, develop within Voltage. And, uh, so we were honored to have him on board and he's just been a great kid and now he's a wonderful man.

Yeah.

Father of 3. And, uh, has been so cool watching him grow up in this business. If you got family, you got kids and you don't think you can't get them involved, check it out, man. Daniel got his kids involved. I know you've talked to your family about this. I do. My kids have grown up through this. If there's more opportunity to get our younger generation into a place of becoming investors and business owners, that's what we're doing. Building the real legacy, right?

Love it. Thank you so much, Neil.

Thank you for your time, Eric.

Appreciate you, brother. You got it. in the game guarantee for those that show up and are serious about building a real business done with us? If yes, text keyword profit to +1-417-413-4209. That's 1-417-413-4209. And I will personally respond with a few simple questions. If you're not in the US or Canada, please visit voltage dm dot com. That's voltage dm dot com. Click get started and book a no-pressure discovery call with me or a member of my team to learn more about the Business Builders one-on-one coaching and mentoring for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and those looking to build an empire or retire using the power of e-commerce. Once again, thank you for listening, and be sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode of the High Voltage Business Builders podcast.