How Suja Made £10,000 In A Month

Hey, how's it going? It's Ollie here. Welcome to the Ecommerce Freedom Podcast. Before we dive in with today's episode, I've got two cool resources for you. The first one is my new E Commerce Q and A group on Facebook. So in this group, the point is you ask questions in the Facebook group and I answer them with daily videos. Okay? So you can get your questions answered really, really, really quick. It's a great resource. If you go to ecommercefreedom.com and look at the top of the page, you'll see a button for the Q and A group. Click on that, it will take you to the Facebook group. Second resource I got for you is an Amazon accelerator call. So what I'd love to do with you is talk about your goals, talk about where you are now and talk about the stuff that could prevent you from hitting your goals right together on a strategy session, we will come up with a plan for you to replace your income with an Amazon business. If you'd like to book a call where we can do this, go to ecommercefreedom.com, look at the top of the page and click Amazon Accelerator Call. You'll be taken to a very short application page. You can fill that in on the next page. You should be able to book your call. Alright, hope you really enjoy the episode. Hey everyone, how are we doing? Very warm welcome to this interview with Suja. Now, very recently Suja sent me a message and said that she hit £10,000 in a single month in revenue on Amazon. So obviously I had to take the opportunity to reach out to her and have a chat and interview her about her progress so far because we actually had a chat back in the summer and she's made so much progress since then. She's actually tripled her highest month revenue. So I had to catch up with her story and you guys have got loads of questions as well. So Suja, it's really awesome to have you here.

No, it's great to be be here. Thanks for asking me to come back on.

No, you're very welcome. So I want to hear about your story so far. Right from the beginning when you started selling on Amazon up until today. Because just now you let me know that it's your two year anniversary selling on the platform, right?

Yeah, it's just by coincidence I realized yesterday that it's exactly two years. So January 28, 2018. And yeah, I saw your videos from a colleague told me about E Commerce freedom and I was a bit bored in January and looked at it and then took action and opened an account and yeah, the rest is history as they say. I started off with retail arbitrage like just going to the local Argos's looking online as well and yeah was just you know, going to shops and scanning and yes, sending into Amazon and yeah then got into the private label and did a test batch of a hundred. So it was just a few hundred, like not even $100, like $50. And they sold out and then just ordered a property private label and yeah that was it really.

Wow, that's so cool. So I'm interested to know how much money when you started two years ago did you have in capital to put into your business?

Yeah, I mean I've got a full time job so I do this totally in my spare time. So I had just starting with a few products from like Argos and everything but I'd say I'd had a thousand pounds to invest from my savings for my job.

Wow, so not millions then. Didn't have a small loan of a million dollars or anything. Right, Cool, that's amazing. That's really good to hear that you started with such small amount of capital and now you've grown something so big. So you started with Arbitrage and how did that look? So what were you doing on a daily basis to get sales of Arbitrage?

Yeah, I mean just looking on the different websites just to see like say for on Argos they had really good sales at the time and I would just look at the sales section and then check it was in stock. Then go to the store or go to my local B and M store I think it's called and just have a look around and just be going around. Scratch scanning. Toys R Us was still just about going, it was just about to close. So I found a few things there and yeah luckily there's a. I don't have a car but there's a local news agent so just drop off the boxes. Your advice was really good about taking action like send a box every two weeks or I think once a week. So that really doing that really helped get make progress.

Yeah, momentum, that's the key thing I always say to people with a business. It's like not about just doing one really solid day but just putting in consistent action. So how a lot of people try Amazon and for whatever reason don't ever build this momentum. So what would you say is one of the things that kept you going and motivated you to keep the business moving forward?

Yeah, I think the main thing was at the start, it was more of a hobby really, because I've always, like, sold things on ebay and I thought, oh, this is great, extra side cash. But then I realized, like, people are, you know, doing this full time and they only have to spend a few hours a day on it and then that would allow more freedom. So that was my main motivation, is to have more freedom, like travel even more and not have to answer to a boss. So that was my motivation to keep at it for this past two years so that I can eventually go full time on it and just not give up on it.

Love it. That's awesome. So you did retail arbitrage for how long?

Initially, I would say it was up until, I'd say about under six months. And then I did the test batch.

And did you grow your capital with the arbitrage then? So you start off with a thousand. Did you have several thousand within those six months?

Yeah, I would say yeah, it did grow. I would say the private label was more profitable, but I still got my money back and a bit of profit from those from the retail arbitrage.

So tell me a little bit about your first test batch then. So how long did it take to find your first private label that you were thinking about importing?

Yeah, it was actually really quick. I went, I took your tip about going on to AliExpress, found something really quickly, and it was with me within like four or five days, which was fantastic. And I had an idea about it because it's something that we use at work. I work for a big developer construction company. So I thought, okay, if this test batch sells, which didn't have the extra thing that I wanted to add on it, and then I can do the contact supplies on Alibaba. So.

Yeah, so do you remember how. So how many orders, how many units did you order for the test batch?

Just a hundred. Yeah, so it was just in a big box so I could carry it to the UPS drop off. Wasn't too heavy. So yeah, just 100 units.

Do you remember how much you spent on that initial test batch in terms of stock?

I think it was not much, maybe $50. So I don't think it was more than $100. No way.

That is an insanely cheap test batch. That is insane. Wow. So we're talking like 50 cents a unit or something?

Yeah, something ridiculous. Yeah, I will have a look because I've got a spreadsheet.

And is that including shipping though as well?

I think it might have been a hundred with shipping because it's quite a Light product.

I've had products like that as well. Actually the 1:1 product I had, I shipped over a hundred units and it was, it was around the similar price. It's possible. It's just. I assume not every single one of your products has been that cheap, right?

Oh no, no they haven't. Yes, I have not been that lucky.

Wow. So how much did you sell it for then? Price, Cost price is a dollar. Landed. So how much did you sell it for?

Yeah, it was about $6.99 but then the proper order. Quite a cheap price point then compared.

To a lot of products.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So then when I did the proper reorder, well, from a different supply on Alibaba because that was Aliexpress then it was selling at the beginning for 11.99 and then yeah, I think I bought it for like £1 50 something. But then now it sells for like 8.99. Sometimes 9.99 but I'd say 8.9989.

So this product, you first tested it 18 months ago and it's still selling today?

Yeah, it's the product that I. The second reorder I think I mentioned on the group, I did order a bit too much.

Very common mistake y.

Carried away. But it's still profitable and I think long term the return on investment, I'll still get it.

Wow, that is so cool. That's so awesome. Such a cheap initial launch there. And yeah, this very rarely happens. Like most of my products test batch can be anything from £500. If I go harder then it can be a thousand, two thousand if I order more units. Sometimes I test for 300 units now but that is staggeringly cheap and quite inspiring really that you can find products out there. So that's awesome. Alright then, so let's fast forward a little bit. So you launched your first products about 18 months to go and then you. So you did this, you did a test batch, you did a reorder and then was it just a case of well, I've got one product selling now, I just need to rinse and repeat and order more?

Yeah, that's exactly right. I just the. I don't know how I got the idea for the second product, but it's my most successful one. It all seems like a blur now, but that's the one. The second product is the one that sold 150 units on Amazon Prime Day in last year, last July 2019. But that product's done really well. That costs like $3.15. So it was a little Bit more expensive. And I don't think I did a test batch for that one, which is not always a good. Not a good idea. So I don't recommend that. But I did order a thousand of those, and, yeah, it's been really, really good product.

Wow. Thousand as a first order?

Yeah, as a first order. I don't know what I was thinking. I think I forgot about the training.

Well, it's fine. You can do. When you have res. When you feel very comfortable and confident, you can go a little bit bolder because obviously I assume you must have got a relatively good cost per unit. With a thousand units, did you assume it would be a lot cheaper to order that per unit than it would if you ordered, say, 50?

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And that factory, looking back at them, they're very good. Huber's fantastic. The supplier there.

That's awesome. Cool. All right then. So you launched first product. Did well, launch your second product. And now you have how many products?

I've got four products now running, so I'm looking to launch two more in the next, say, three months. I did have a fifth product, but I did like what your training said and just ordered. I think it was a hundred. That was like $200. Another light product again, but just didn't work out. I can say it was just these wristbands, sweat wristbands for, like, tennis and stuff, but I don't know what I was thinking. I just wanted to get a fifth product, but sold out now and. But yeah, it's just costing too much in advertising. So I make mistakes as well.

So not gonna reorder that one. That was a bit of a dud. Yeah, it happened. It happens. I mean, I've got loads of products that didn't work out. And it's just part. I don't think there's any sellers on the planet, whether it's retailers, e commerce sellers that have, you know, 100% success rate. It just is not something you should aim for. It's about being able to fail. And by ordering small amounts, you allow yourself to fail. So that's awesome. Okay, cool. So let's fast forward a little bit then. So we've talked about up until six months, then ordered a few more products. And then. So this summer was when you. You hit three grand in a single month, Is that right?

Yeah, that was right. Yeah. I remember being really excited about three grand. And I was looking back in my diary, last year's diary was January. This time last year, I only had £1,000 in sales. But then it really accelerated because then when I spoke to you in June, it was. Or July, it was 3,000, then it got to 6,000 and then 10,000 in November.

Amazing. So that obviously coincided with quarter four, when things really start to ramp up and obviously you had your four products running and so it just, yeah, started to take off. That's incredible. So now what would you say? So 10k is the max, the best month you've had? So what would you say your average month is in your business nowadays?

Yeah, so I would say 7,000. So, yeah, no, December. Well, end of December is a bit quieter. And January, not as crazy as, say, November and October. So, yes, 7,000. So my goal is to consistently hit 10,000amonth.

Do you want 10,000 to be like a bad month?

Yeah, exactly. Yes. Because my real goal is 20,000 month soon.

So what was that your. So you said your friend hits 20K, was it?

Yeah. So he's a friend. He's now a friend. I met him. I sold him a flat, actually, and I just asked him what he does as a job. Amazon, fba. So I was like, oh, can I meet you for a coffee? This was like, I think 18 months ago.

Such an awesome coincidence. All the stuff he could have done, he sold on Amazon. That's really cool.

Yeah, it's just like, meant to be that I was like, I've got to do this, meeting someone in real life. And yes, so he does 20,000amonth. So he does this full time.

Wow. And now he's your accountability partner, right?

Yes, so he is. So we're now. We met up a few times back in December and November and we're going to meet again in February just to have a deadline for product research, which is really helpful, just having deadlines. And I think for him, even though he's more experienced, it's really motivating for him to meet up with me and vice versa with deadlines on product research.

So, yeah, having someone who is going through the same stuff as you, being able to bounce ideas off is so key. And that's why it's so cool when, you know, I can connect clients together or connect people together in Facebook groups. And yeah, it really helps and it certainly helps me. So it's been amazing hearing about your story so far, Suja. I just want to clear up a few numbers. So we said 10k is your best month and what was your profit for that?

It was about 35%, so about three.

And a half grand. And when you do 7K a month, it's still the same percentage, is it?

Yes, yeah, it is, yeah.

What's that? That's about 2,000 something per month, right?

Yeah.

Awesome. Fantastic. And you want to get, you want to double it essentially?

Yeah, definitely. So I can leave my full time job, but I think, yeah, leave. At this point, leaving my job will make me get hit those targets.

Because right now, how many hours you putting in each week?

Yeah, sometimes I don't really count too much because it's just something I love. So I would say maybe five to ten hours a week.

Wow. So five to ten hours a week and at ten grand a month, that is incredible. That's really inspiring. And obviously when you put full time hours in, it can only grow faster.

Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Distraction. Fantastic. All right, cool. So we've got a lot of questions from a lot of cool people in the community. What I'd love to do is just whiz through them and try and help people out because they're desperate to know, you know, how you got your superpowers and how you managed to build this, this crazy income. So we've got a question from Lorna. Lorna says, how do you get sales and reviews? She says ppc, pay per click advertising is very expensive and she's interested to know how much you spend on advertising. So do you have any general tips for pay per click advertising? Do you have like an average amount you spend per sale or some other tips for Lorna?

Yeah, well, mine PPC is quite good. It's about 26% over the lifetime of it.

Good.

Yeah. So that's what my accountability partner said. Oh, you don't need any tips on it, but I'd literally just learn like from your courses and from YouTube as well, because there's quite good free advice on PPC and I'd say to get to that you just need to download your reports every two weeks and just go through them. And yeah, I've put in quite a lot. It's 3,000. I was looking today for the interview, but 3,000, just over £3,000. And I've got 13,000 in sales, so it's worth. But yeah, you don't have to start. That's just built over the two years.

Yeah. And it comes out of your sales. Right. You don't have to put it up front. You can have it.

Yeah, you don't have to put it up front. And one thing, like I had this product that did really well last summer on Amazon Prime Day. That was a terrible beginning. PPC, it was like 400%. I think it Was the automatic, or it might have been the. The other manual, but now it's like running really well and it's like 20%. So sometimes it gets a bit scary and you think, oh, it's 400% or like bad. But then it can if you just give it time and just work on.

Yeah, absolutely. So when you say download reports, what do you do? Do you look for negative keywords? Do you look for stuff that's not working and tweak it or what's. What's your general approach?

Yeah, I just, like, just go in and tweak it. Just. Yeah, look for the negative ones that are draining the sponsored ads. Take them out. And I did hear, though, one tip that you shouldn't negate words. You should just decrease the cost until it gets like 50 clicks. Yeah, interesting one.

So rather than deleting them, just lower the bid. Yeah, the bad keywords. Interesting. Okay, cool. All right. So that's a great question from Lorna, and that was an awesome answer. So Carl says, how many products are you running with and have any crashed and burned? So we talked about that briefly. And you got four products and more of them failed. Is that. Is that right?

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And one of them is a bit of a slow seller and it got. Not suspended, just in act. I can't remember the word now, but inactive during November. What I'm going to try and do is send it into usa, Amazon, because I think it will do a lot better there. So, yeah, I've had my things go wrong.

It's all been smooth sailing. It's not all been perfect. Right. You've had to persevere. Okay, cool. Awesome. So let's have a look. Tracy says, first of all, huge congrats to Suja. Yeah, I second that. She says, I'm interested to know how many PL products she's tested versus how many actually run. Okay, that's the same question as Carl's. A popular question also. She says this is a great question. What would you say the most useful info or advice from me has been so far?

Yeah, I think it's the mindset. So just taking consistent action and, you know, actually doing the courses because, you know, if you want to do a job well, generally you have to train up for it. So. But I would say just keep your mindset to keep consistent action and get some kind of accountability partner and set deadlines, which you've advised before.

Mmm, Love it. Yeah, those are. Those are super, super powerful. Consistent action is the one thing that makes the difference between someone being super successful and failing. Like you see people who are business owners who make all the mistakes in the book but they just are consistent and they just keep going every single day and things move forward for them. And then you see people who try and do everything perfectly but don't take consistent action and they get nowhere. So that is usually the thing that separates. So yeah, that's awesome. Okay, so let's have a look. Dale asks, I'd like to know what elements Susia feels have been the most important for her in getting to this level.

Yeah, just not giving up and just being really just keep trying, you know, even if you fail or something goes wrong on Amazon and you're products inactive, just keep going. And there's always a solution to everything. You know, there's very little that there isn't a solution. So you just ask people and just keep going.

Awesome. I'd like to add to Dale's question and ask what would you say now at this stage as a business owner is your most valuable skill?

Yeah, I think just again to go on about. But consistency and yeah, just having goals like writing down goals and you know, acting on it would be. Yeah, my main, main thing that's got me to where I am.

Love it. Awesome. Let's have a look. So Alina asks, she says I'm very impressed with Suja's success. I'd like to know more about how she chose a product. Products. Did something stand out in the research process and are you still doing PPC or most of your sales organic? So yeah. Is there like a specific product research process that you follow that works for you?

Well, I got your book, the seven dollar book and seven dollars and yeah, no, I think just reading that and then watching training and YouTube has really helped and just really like now I think I'm doing a product research even more thoroughly. So don't make as many errors. But yeah, just checking like everything really just the your competition using tools like Jungle Scout but just not going overboard where you get analysis paralysis.

So knowing when to jump in and actually order something rather than just getting freaked out.

Yeah, exactly. And the test batching is a great thing because if it does go wrong, okay, you lost a couple of hundred.

Dollars but it's not the end of the world. Yeah. Awesome. So one thing I wanted to ask actually as well as product research is so you spend five to ten hours a week on your business. What tasks do you usually do in those five to 10 hours? So let's say it's an average evening. You Come back from work, you've got, say, an hour to put into your business. What would you usually be doing in the hour?

Yeah, I think like just checking the advertising, like downloading the reports. Well, that's every two weeks. I try and make that routine. Now, contacting, at the moment I'm contacting suppliers and I'm trying to make it a routine and habit to do product research every day, even if it's just 15 minutes. So that's something I want to build in.

I'm really glad you said that because product research, it takes time, doesn't it? You can't just expect to look on the Amazon website for 10, 10 minutes and find the best product. It takes time. Right. And sometimes when you spend 15 minutes, do you find that you see no good products and you feel like you've wasted, wasted it?

Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Sometimes, like I'll just be looking and then 15 minutes turns into an hour and I find stuff and then sometimes it's 15 minutes and it's nothing and yeah, just give up. So, yeah, but eventually I'll get a VA to virtual assistant to do that. But at the moment I'm just doing it myself just so then I can pass on the skills to va. So that's the sort of things I do when I get back in the evening.

Awesome. Love it. Cool, let's have a look. So we've got a couple more questions. Tim asks how long does it take on average to get product selling? So from like finding it and deciding that's what you want to sell to getting some consistent sales?

Yeah, I'd say about two to three months. I mean, I think you can do quicker when it's. You're getting a test batch out as well, but yeah, I'd say about two to three months.

Awesome. Love it. Cool. And I'm just trying to find a couple things. Final questions. Let me have a look. Mark says are all your products sourced from China?

Yes, at the moment they are, yeah, all from Alibaba. But yeah, I actually been in contact with someone in. Actually it was Czech Republic yesterday. So I'm doing a bit of research and contacting suppliers and I've got a call tonight at 10 o' clock with someone in Canada or the US so with a supplier. But yeah, their prices seem a lot more than China. So we'll see what they say and yeah, see how it goes. But yeah, do you want to expand for other places?

Love it. Awesome. Okay, Suju, well, today's been really enlightening. Hopefully you've picked up A load of tips if you're watching this and. And now you have a clearer idea of how you can get to that much coveted 10k per month. So, Suja, any final pieces of advice or things that you really want to get off your chest and tell the people who are watching this video and maybe they're desperate to be in your position. Is there anything you'd like to say to them?

Yeah, no, Just enjoy the process. Like, only do Amazon if you really love it and it's not just about making money. Don't like for all the YouTube nonsense on there. Like, just take consistent action. Don't give up and don't worry if you fail on certain things. Just keep going and just follow training. That's really important because it would just make sure that you don't make major mistakes. So just follow the training. Like, even one thing I forgot got to add was in the evening, I'm following a training course. I try and watch a video, you know, a couple of videos a week. So just keep learning.

Always, always, always, always love it. Awesome. All right, Sujabal, thank you so much for joining me for the interview today and no, it's been a pleasure catching up with your journey.

Yeah, I hope to catch up when I hit 20k a month.

We will, definitely. Yeah, absolutely. So, guys, if you watch this video outside of my Facebook group, by the way, if you've watched it on YouTube or maybe my website, there should be a button either above or below the video to jump into the group. And in that group you can ask questions which will be featured on videos like this. And maybe you could even get interviewed on one of these as well. So thanks so much, so much for watching the video. Click the link and jump in the group and join the conversation and we'll speak very soon.