Set Yourself Up to Enjoy Life
This month, my numbers aren’t as impressive, but sometimes you just have to ‘Do Life’. The first 10 days of June, I was on vacation enjoying the beach with my daughter and her family. I always try to find a work/life balance and put family first. Additionally, one of my buyers was on duty with the National Guard, and another buyer was caring for an aging parent who needed immediate attention. Instead of having to problem–solve with a substitute buyer, I decided to let the buying sag for the first part of the month. We’re an inventory-based business, so if we buy less, we sell less. I knew our profit would be down, but I wanted to enjoy time with loved ones, and I knew my employees had responsibilities of their own that would affect their productivity.
Because of these varied reasons, you’ll see that our total revenue was $102,082, unusually low for us. Despite the fact that we couldn’t buy and sell as much as we normally do, we still took home $8,250. And as I’ve said before, this is predominantly passive income. We usually net closer to $20K or $25K monthly, but I put a priority on people and understand the need to be flexible.
Two issues I’ll touch on beyond total revenue are using other platforms for sales and dealing with Amazon returns. Amazon has a liberal return policy, which can be an unfortunate part of retail. First, there is work involved in getting your refunds from returns, and second, sometimes your merchandise comes back damaged. Instead of considering it a wash, we take the merchandise that is still in great condition and use other platforms to sell it. This month we listed Amazon returns on Ebay and made $3,500. We also donate items that can’t be resold and use that as a tax write-off. There are always methods to recover losses and maximize profits.
I’ll close with a powerful thought. Become a part of our Amazon Seller Tribe! I’m a proud coach and mentor to Amazon sellers with Tribe. I’d like to urge you to join and experience some high-level business coaching that will certainly benefit you, especially as we navigate these choppy financial waters.
