Amazon Business Update Part I

So I've decided to blog regularly on my successes and failures as someone trying to start a business as a seller on Amazon.  Maybe this will help inspire others who are on the fence about selling on Amazon, and maybe help you avoid some of the pitfalls I've encountered.

I stated that my goal was to make over $600 this month, and I didn't quite reach that goal.  Amazon will make deposits into your account around the 15th and the last day of each month.   As you can see from the attached picture, I had a payment for $257 sent to my bank on the 15th, and tomorrow they should be depositing $218.   While I didn't reach my goal of $600, I would've come close to reaching that goal if it weren't for all of the Amazon fees:

So from Sept 16th until today, I had over $400 in orders, but all the Amazon fees are killing me.   To be a professional seller on Amazon, they charge you $39.99 each month, which is included in the fees pictured.   I also set up some advertising for my products, and I'd estimate that about $60 was spent on advertising.   You'll also see that I offered some discounts on my products (Promo rebates for $51.34) in order to attract more buyers.

I also had to purchase more items to ship to Amazon, so the shipping fees are also included in the Amazon fees.  Using Amazon's UPS ground shipping service does save you a little bit of money, but it's still money that comes out of your profit margin.   

I think I'm going to eliminate advertising for this next pay cycle to see if I can increase my profit margin.  For you new sellers out there, I would recommend not selling any item below $10.99.  If you use Amazon FBA, the fees are usually going to be at least $4 for an item.  Right now I have an item in my inventory selling for $10.99, and Amazon is going to charge me a fee of $4.54 for processing and shipping the order to a customer.   That leaves a profit of $6.45, and then of course I have to subtract the $2.60 I paid for the item, leaving me a profit of $3.85 for each item.

 I also have another item I sell for $23.99, and Amazon deducts $6.27 leaving me $17.72.  Subtract out the $8 I paid and that leaves a profit of $9.72.   So as you can see, you can do much better the higher you price your items.

My goal in the next coming month is to bank enough profit so I can buy bigger quantities of each product so I can be in a better position to negotiate pricing with my suppliers.  The bigger your order, the more suppliers are willing to negotiate.   I also need to think about expanding into other products with higher profit margins.    

R.I.P. Club Sesso

Last month, Ron Jeremy's Club Sesso was forced to close it's doors here in Portland.   Due to a long standing legal battle with the city of Portland, they've had to pay out over $100,000 in attorney fees over the past few years, and it reached the point where it just wasn't worth the hassle anymore.

It's a shame because we always looked forward to the great Halloween parties they used to throw, as well as Ron Jeremy's annual birthday party.   It was also the only "classy" swingers club in the area that didn't look like a whore house.   Hopefully they'll open up in another location soon.

Also we've heard a rumor that a particular bar at one of the Red Lion restaurants in Vancouver, WA is closing down.   This place is a popular swingers hangout, and on some nights it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to see a woman dressed in a slightly see-through blouse showing off her nipples.   Seems like this area is going to be lacking for couples that love being part of the swinging lifestyle.

Starting your Business on Amazon

Sorry I haven't written much on here lately.  I've been reading a few books lately about how to sell products on Amazon, so I figured I'd take a stab at it.  First off, it's not nearly as easy as these books make it out to be.   There's a lot of things that can go wrong when trying to sell items on Amazon.  No one ever really mentions Amazon fees, having to pay to ship stuff to Amazon, or the amount of time it takes to label your products.  Also, shipping things to the US from overseas (China, Thailand) can be quite expensive, and you may have to deal with custom fees.

Not to mention that if you're not someone with deep pockets, you may have trouble finding an item to buy at wholesale because most suppliers require a minimum order quantity.   Nevertheless, I found a few items to sell, and I think I did okay for my first month.

I managed to make a little over $400, which is good I think for my first month, but of course that doesn't include the money I spent on a label maker, or the fact that Amazon will often make you split up your shipments to send to multiple fulfillment centers.   Also, Amazon actually lost one of my shipments so about half of that $400 was from Amazon reimbursing me for my lost products.

The first month was also tough because some items just weren't able to sell, and I also had to spend a little bit of money on advertising.  As with any business, getting started is the hardest part and I have definitely made my fair share of mistakes along the way.

Still though, it's a great feeling to know that I was able to make this money on my own as a side business.

My goal for next month is to make at least $600, and hopefully get to the point where I can consistently make over $1000 a month.

Pavlov's Dog (Rewarding Bad Behavior From Women)

Women have had this figured out for ages.  If a guy isn't acting right, they act accordingly.  They may give you the silent treatment.  Even worse, they withhold sex.

Nice Guys on the other hand do things backwards.  If their woman seems to be in a sour mood or just doesn't seem to be acting right, they buy her gifts.  We take her out on a date, or buy flowers.  When a woman isn't having sex often enough for our liking, we try to do something romantic thinking this will get her to give us more sex.  Isn't that what all those articles (written by women of course) tell us we should do?

The problem here is that you are actually rewarding her bad behavior.

What you're doing is actually teaching her that it's okay for her to treat you the way she does.  Every time she withholds sex, she gets a nice dinner.  Every time she is acting like a brat, you show her more affection.  If you have a kid that's pouting or isn't acting right, would you go and buy them some ice cream to reward the way they're acting?  If your best buddy was acting rude, would you treat him to a sporting event to get him to be nice?  Of course not, so why do it with your woman?

This is how a lot of REALLY attractive women behave.  Because she's pretty, people have been kissing her ass her whole life.  Why should she change the way she behaves if you're still catering to her every whim?

I shake my head at men who only get sex a few times a month buying their women jewelry or gifts.  A woman isn't paying you a lot of attention, and you go buy her some flowers.  Why in God's name would you do that?  If anything you should STOP doing those things until her behavior changes.  (By the way guys, a woman who tries to use sex as a weapon or a bargaining chip isn't somebody you want to be with in the first place.)  I'm not just preaching this from the mountain top either, I've made this mistake a few times myself.  I know what these men are going through because I've been there.

When my wife was thinking of leaving me (for another guy of course), I was at my worst.  Even one of my guy friends was telling me I need to buy flowers, perfume, candy, etc.  I was giving her massages, buying flowers, preparing romantic candlelit dinners, etc....almost for a month straight.   Even took her on a surprise getaway.  All because that's what society conditions us guys to do if something is wrong in our relationship.  Once I actually found out what was REALLY going on in my relationship, all that nice treatment came to a SCREECHING HALT.

Between you and me, all those massages and dinners did NOTHING to force her to make a decision.  Only when I got my balls back and basically told her to piss or get off the pot (make a decision) did things change.  Women don't like or respect wimps, aka Nice Guys.

What you need to do is flip the script here.  You have to reward GOOD behavior.  The same way women have us trained (wash her car, get a blowjob, etc) is what you need to do.  Your woman gives you a surprise blowjob downstairs in the living room....reward her with a massage or a movie night.  A woman gives you sex 3 or 4 times in a week, treat her to a romantic dinner.

You get the picture.  Women have been doing this to us for ages, it's time we learn the tricks of the trade.

Always remember, what gets rewarded gets repeated.

Dude, Where's My Lighter?

July 1st 2015.

Marijuana is now legal in the state of Oregon and people are rejoicing in the streets.  Well, they would be if they weren't too stoned to dance...lol.

In the days leading up to this, there have been countless radio ads warning people of the rules.  So apparently it's okay to POSSESS marijuana, but it's not okay to BUY it unless it's from a store, which of course no stores are up and running yet.   So the only way it's okay is if you grow your own, or if someone gives it to you as a gift.

If someone gives you an ounce of weed as a "gift", then you might also want to buy a lottery ticket that day as well.

Things I Learned While Becoming An Amazon Author

1.  Your first book likely isn't going to be a New York bestseller.    No matter how many friends and family members you inform about your book, it likely isn't going to be a huge hit.   I know we hear those stories of authors who find success right out of the gate, but they're more of an exception rather than the norm.   You might actually spend more money advertising your first book than you will make in revenue.  Your 2nd and 3rd books are usually where you'll start to see an increase in revenue after building a following.

2.  Choose your editor wisely.   In my rush to be published, I wasn't overly careful in picking an editor to convert my work into the Kindle format.    You can have the greatest book in the world but if the editing is poor, people aren't likely to finish reading it.

3.  Pricing matters.    It's amazing to me that twice as many people bought my book when it was priced at $2.99 rather than 99 cents.

4.  Choose a good cover designer.  The cover of my book looked great, or so I thought.  When I uploaded it to Amazon, the words on the cover didn't look quite as crisp.   Make sure you choose someone who is very experienced in creating book covers.

5.  Even if only one person buys your book, you're a success.   Look at how many people TALK about writing a book but never do it.  The fact that you put your words into action is not something to be taken lightly.   Not many people can say they are published author, so celebrate your successes no matter how small they are and keep writing!   Rome wasn't built in a day, and the same applies for your literary career.

I Love You, But I'm Not In Love With You

"I Love You, But I'm Not In Love With You."

One of the most emotionally damaging sentences in the English language.  Women may not come right out and say it in those exact words though.  It may be disguised as "It's not you, it's me" or "I just need some space to figure things out".    Either way it has the same meaning.  Also by the time a woman actually says something like this to you, she's been feeling like this for a while and she has already told her friends and possibly family members.  Usually everyone will know what's going on EXCEPT you.

From time to time I like to share books that I've read that have helped me make the transformation from "Nice Guy" to "Not So Naive Guy".  One of the BEST books I can recommend is called the Married Man Sex Life Primer by Athol Kay.  ALL men should read this book, but in particular married men, or men in long-term relationships.  Let's see what Mr Kay has to say about this subject:

Having your wife tell you "ILYBINILWY" (I love you but I'm not in love with you) is about the largest red flag that your relationship is in trouble.  A woman can have minimal "in love" feelings for the husband and just coast along for years with no apparent cause for concern.  But once a new man enters the picture who flips her dopamine switch on, things can unravel between a wife and her husband very quickly.

So when a wife tells a husband ILYBINILWY that usually means there is another guy she has feelings for.  Not only that, she usually is trying to actively find a way to exit the main relationship and enter a new relationship with her love interest.  To put it bluntly, what she means by saying ILYBINILWY is some combination of "I'm leaving you for him", "I'm thinking about having sex with him", or I'm having sex with him but I still want to live with you, is that okay?"

The other reason a wayward wife may say this is because it is a delaying tactic to avoid the husband acting pre-emptively to end the marriage, kick her out, or take other action against her.

Take note guys, when a woman says any of these phrases to you she already knows she doesn't want to be with you anymore, she's just stalling for time so she can figure out how to exit with the least amount of resistance.