💸 Start Amazon with $500?

Published Date: January 26, 2022 at 10:05 AM

Have you been waiting and waiting to start selling on Amazon? Or do you have a friend or family member always asking you how to get started?

Today, Nate and Andy will share how you can build your Amazon business with just $500.

They share what they would do if they lost all their money and businesses and had to start from scratch in 2022

Today’s Roundup:

The Big Idea: How to build your Amazon business with just $500.
Amazon Forum Trends: Sellers share their highs and lows. Join the discussion.
Seller Data: Amazon Sales Tracker Report
Tribe Spotlight of the Week: How This Amazon Tribe Seller Member Managed to grow by nearly 100% in 2021!
Free Social Tool: Download the free BPS Social Power Outline.

THE BIG IDEA

The $500 Amazon Business Blueprint

One of the questions we get asked most by friends and family is, “how much money do I need to get started selling on Amazon?!”

Most people think that they need a large amount of cash to start their eCommerce journey…

But, that just isn’t true.

Sure it helps… but is it required? What if you only had $500 to start? Andy Slamans and Nate Slamans take time to break down what they would do if they lost it all and had to start from scratch with just $500.

Here are some of the things that Andy would do if he had to start over in 2022:

Be very selective with your inventory

With a budget of just $500 for inventory, you basically have more time than money. And you are going to have to leverage that time to look for absolute bargains! Your first buys must have really, really good ROI (return on investment).
You can start by looking around your house for used products that are still in good condition (yes, used products can be sold on Amazon). Almost anything can be sold on Amazon as long as they’re still good to use. You know what gives really, really good ROI? (stuff that cost you $0!).
Do NOT spend your limited $500 on fancy equipment, softwares, hiring or expensive inventory. This is the time to bootstrap and only spend on profitable inventory.

Look for cheap places to buy your products

When you are working with $500 or less…you are looking to get some inventory on the cheap! Thrift stores, garage sale, auctions, estate sales, Facebook Marketplace – this is where Andy lived when he was getting started (some people even do some creative dumpster diving…)

Reinvest your money as quickly as possible

When you start on a limited budget, you NEED to be turning your money FAST. This is not the time to be sitting on a collectible item for 20 years hoping it appreciates. Amazon Seller Tribe leader Garry Ray often preaches the “Fast nickel over a slow dime” approach when getting started. Also, this is NOT the time to be taking money out of the business to buy non-business items (as much as possible). Most sellers will have a primary income source (job) during this period so they don’t need to take any money from the business itself.

Look for ways to keep expanding your Amazon earnings potential

There is no hard and fast rule when to expand into building your own brand. But in Andy’s experience, sellers that hit the $30-$50k/month range are typically in a good spot to start looking at ways to start building their own brand (and for some it comes much sooner). To build some really strong equity in your business, it helps to have your own brand of products or exclusive selling relationships.

These tips came from the collective knowledge and experience that Nate and Andy gained from their Amazon journey. They have been selling for 8-9 years on Amazon each and have built several 7-figure Amazon brands and one 8-figure brand. These are the same steps they took when they were still starting out on a very limited budget!

And if you want to hear the full discussion, they had on how to build an Amazon business with just $500 in 2022, you can listen here:

AMAZON FORUM TRENDS

😱Trucking Crisis: Trucking delays have hit Amazon sellers, well…like a truck. Some sellers experience a delays of weeks (some more than a month!) despite the destination being relatively close. The trucking shortage is hitting industries across the country. Have you experienced this for yourself?

🤯 FBA shipment policy updates: Effective April 1, 2022, Amazon will be cracking down on some FBA shipment practices. If you’ve ever canceled a shipment, re-routed or sent incomplete shipments (or have been accused by Amazon of doing so, LOL)… then just take extra caution after April 1st.

⚠️ Price Gouging Alert: Amazon recently observed that there’s an increase in the incidence of price gouging with the recent spike in Covid-19 cases. If you are planning to sell any covid related products (especially arbitrage selling), we strongly recommend being careful with the pricing. Amazon is watching these products closely.

TRIBE SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK:

From $3,000,000 to $5,844,000 in 2021

How This Amazon Tribe Seller Duo Managed To Nearly Double Sales In 2021

In this week’s tribe spotlight, we are celebrating a mother-son Amazon Seller Tribe duo, Carol & Griffy!

They were able to almost double sales from 2020 to 2021. In 2020, they were already doing amazing with $3,000,000 in revenue. But, in 2021, they took it to a whole new level.

In the summer of 2021, they moved to a new house and warehouse. The addition to the warehouse took way longer and more time than what Carol and her team expected. This affected their business as her sales dipped during the summer season.

But, despite that, thanks to Carol and Griffy’s awesome leadership and drive, they were able to finish the year off strong!

You can read how Carol and her team managed to achieve this amazing feat with the help of Amazon Seller Tribe on her post below:

As Carol mentioned in her post, the best thing about the Amazon Seller Tribe is that it is a community where people share everything they know and that works for their own businesses. Even the top Tribe coaches aren’t afraid to show their secrets in building a successful Amazon business.

The goal of the Amazon Seller Tribe is to create as many 7-figure Amazon Sellers as possible.

So, if you want to build your own Amazon business using the proven and successful methods Tribe members are using, click the link below to start your FREE trial with the Tribe today:

Start Free 7-Day Trial to Gaye's Amazon Seller Tribe

Learn more on how Gaye is helping create the most 7-figure Sellers in the Industry.

AMAZING FREEDOM PODCAST SPOTLIGHT

Gaining $30M of Amazon experience.

Andy and Nate shared their action plan for starting a new Amazon business this 2021 with just $500. s this 2021 with just $500.

What if they lost it all and had to start over…

In this episode they share what they’d do again if they were starting an Amazon business with just $500 (and how they would turn it into a multi-million dollar business). PLUS, they’ll reveal the actual steps they took when they were new Amazon sellers in 2013.

14:46- 16:40 Facebook Marketplace (are you seeing the potential?)
17:08-17:56 Amazon’s Biggest Threat… and where you should focus.

STOREFRONT INSPIRATION

Why Be A Creative Genius – Copy, I mean Get Inspired!

Need some good inspiration for creating a storefront for your brand?

We love the branding behind Angry Orange.

Great images, great taglines, cute puppies.

If you are creating a new Storefront, or your current one needs a redesign, check out Angry Orange and see if you can pick up some best practices. They are very good Amazon sellers.

SELLER DATA

Curious what shoppers are searching for in 2022?

We’ve grouped the top 50 searched terms so far in 2022 into 5 buckets so you can get a better idea what is dominating so far.

The largest ‘category’ is tech. 36% of the Top 50 search terms are Tech-related items (to be clear, this isn’t saying by actual search volume, just by the number of tech related terms). This includes gadgets, consoles, phone/computer accessories, etc.

Next, to no surprise, are Covid19 related search terms. Covid19 has been dominating the news and minds of consumers once again in 2022… which has resulted in tons of mask and test related search terms for a total of 32% of the top 50 terms.

Far behind are home and home improvement search terms. This category mostly includes desks and home furniture (again, potentially getting increased demand due to covid).

If you have a registered brand on Amazon, we highly recommend that you spend time each week going through Amazon Brand Analytics to get a better idea of the marketplace as a whole, your niche and even data around your specific ASINS. If you don’t have access to Brand Analytics, you first need to get a brand registered on Amazon (which requires an active trademark).

FREE RESOURCES

Reach your social media goals easier than ever

Want to make some noise with your brand’s presence on social media?

Brand Power Systems by Amazing Freedom has a social media content planning tool to help you plan out your daily content on various social media platforms.

Swipe the Social Power Outline Tool free:

Decide what social media platforms you should focus on to promote your brand
Become more engaged with your community and social media platform to get your target audience’s attention
Have a content calendar to plan out all of the valuable content that you’ll be posting for the month
Have a visual understanding of how your post should look like on each platform

If you’re looking to step up your presence on the social space for your brand… now is the time! More and more brands are realizing the need for building brand awareness through social.