Ever dream of walking out of your 9–5, never to return, and starting your own business?
This is the story of one entrepreneur who did just that when he left his day job after realizing just how profitable selling on Amazon could be.
This seller managed to run his Amazon FBA business with only 40 hours of work—per year.
He then managed to take his profitable business and earn an extra $54,000 in just 48 days’ time. That’s a salary’s worth of income made without selling his time and soul to an office.
We’ll be pulling back the layers of this seller’s business so that anyone who wants to escape normal work life can learn how to do it.
His story and interview will give you an insider’s perspective on how Amazon FBA offers a hands-off, lucrative path towards online entrepreneurship.
Want to know how to earn more and work less? Read on.
What Is Amazon FBA?
For those who don’t know, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) allows you to sell a product on Amazon while Amazon handles the logistics of storing and shipping the product. All you have to do is source a product from a supplier and organize having it shipped to Amazon’s warehouses. Once they have the product, they handle shipping out orders when they come through and additionally manage customer service and returns on your behalf.
It’s an amazing online business model that frees up a considerable amount of time so you can focus on growing your business.
How Zach Earned $5,263 His First Month Selling On FBA
In my first month of selling on Amazon, I sold over $5,000! Over the next 5 months, I sold over $23,000 opening my eyes to the world of Amazon selling. As this FBA owner learned, Amazon selling can be very lucrative.
In the case of this seller, he was a huge fan of Amazon FBA.
When asked about why he thought FBA was a great business model for those new to online business, he answered: “Never before, in the history of all time, has a single person been able to scale up a business to this size until the FBA model. Customer service, shipping, and logistics—you used to need teams of people to do that and you can now outsource that to FBA. You can focus on growth, adding new products, and marketing to new customers while FBA handles all those other logistics. It’s truly amazing what you can do as a single person with FBA.”
Like millions of other Amazon sellers, this seller was hooked on FBA because he could be a passively earning entrepreneur. It’s an exciting prospect, so let’s take a look at the business he built for himself and how he scaled through the power of FBA.
Editor’s Note: Have an online business you’d consider selling? Use my link to waive Empire Flippers $297 vetting fee.
What Kind of FBA Business Was the Seller Running?
The seller created a fairly simple FBA business selling four SKUs of themed costume items.
The themes could be tied to events or holidays, which caused some seasonal spikes (mainly in summer) but overall drove sales throughout the year.
Building a brand as an FBA seller has become increasingly important as competition in the marketplace rises. The seller knew this was the case, so he worked hard to create a brand his customers could identify with.
His first step in brand-building was to trademark the brand and become a part of Amazon’s Brand Registry 2.0 so that it was protected and could qualify for Amazon’s A+ Content.
With A+ Content, sellers can stand out from their competitors by telling a brand’s story visually through photos, text, and videos.
Since the seller had a themed costume item, he set up a professional photoshoot with various models wearing his product in different outdoor settings. He chose models and photos that conveyed a sense of fun and light-heartedness to lend the brand an approachable and young vibe.
The seller even thought ahead to scale the brand by adding a Shopify storefront to establish an off-Amazon brand presence, allowing it to diversify income streams further down the line. He added his visuals and created a brand story across platforms in an effort to differentiate his products.
His approach worked. The seller spent some months working less than an hour on the business and he managed to scale the business and have it bring in an average $1,888 net profit monthly. With the business’s seasonal highs in summer, some months could see over $7,000 in net profit. The business was growing by 10% year-over-year.
Though the business was making money and running hands-off, the seller was looking for new opportunities. When he discovered selling and buying online businesses, it was then that he realized he could take his online income to a whole new level.
Why Selling the Business Was the Golden Ticket to Freedom
This business was doing pretty well and earning passively at that, so you might be wondering why the seller no longer wanted the business.
At the time, the seller had been running the business with a partner, and both were finding themselves unable to commit time and energy to the business. If the business were to continue to grow, it would need more time and energy, which neither of them had to spare.
The seller was at a crossroads searching for a solution to his problem. Now, looking back on the first time he realized he could do something more with his business, he said, “Other than running it into the ground, the idea of selling it hadn’t really occurred to me. I heard Empire Flippers on a podcast and that’s when I realized I had the option to sell it and could move on to something else.”
It was a lightbulb moment for the seller. Not only could he earn from the business’s yearly profits, but he could also leverage that business for a greater profit by exiting it.
It was the golden ticket for him to continue making money outside of the 9–5: “Selling your business is extremely lucrative because you’re getting two to three years of profit upfront without the risk of maintaining and operating the business for that time period. It’s a good way to transition when you don’t have the desire to keep growing the business.”
How Zach Flipped A Website and Made $40,000
In just 4 months I bought and flipped a website that earned me over $40,000! I used a website broker to buy and sell the website, and did not do any SEO work to the website. I simply optimized the revenue streams among other simple changes. Learn how you can do the same!
Though the seller wanted to exit the business, he had no intention of leaving entrepreneurship altogether. When he realized he could sell FBA businesses, he saw the potential to start his own portfolio of FBA businesses that could be built to sell for a great profit margin.
He knew with this sale, he would have enough money to be all-in on his next online venture.
How the Sale Unfolded
Any sale of a business with Empire Flippers starts in the Vetting department. Vetting is where the business is thoroughly examined to ensure that it’s a well-run, profitable business worth buying.
Editor’s Note: Typically Empire Flippers charges a $297 vetting fee, but use my link and the fee will be wavied.
When this business was submitted for vetting, a few problems arose. The seller was selling his SKUs across two different vetting accounts, and differences between fees on the accounts threw off the data for building the profit and loss (P&L) for the business.
The seller also wanted to keep one of these accounts since it was his personal account, which meant that he had to find a way to get rid of inventory on his personal account without huge relabeling fees. His solution was to sell out the stock on his personal account, restock the brand for sale with new SKUs, and house all the products together under one store.
This seemed like a good solution, but having to overcome the issues with his dual accounts slowed down the deal process. It stands as good advice for anyone interested in selling their Amazon FBA business: make sure to have your business running under one account with its numbers and data accounted for!
Click here to set up a phone call with an Empire Flippers Sales Advisor.
Once the business was all vetted it was ready to go live on the marketplace. Within the first day, one hungry buyer set up a buyer-seller call to speak directly with the seller and make serious inquiries about acquiring the business. At the end of the first week, eight more buyers placed deposits on the business so they could do due diligence on the numbers and become a potential buyer.
One potential buyer took the lead of the pack and made an offer that caught the seller’s attention. He knew it was a fair offer worth considering.
After negotiations, the final sale of the business was $54,000, and the seller threw in inventory for the buyer as an added asset.
From start to finish, the deal took 48 days. In about six weeks, the seller walked away with the average American salary, on top of the earnings he had made with the business over his years of ownership.
How Anyone Can Leave the 9–5 to Make Money Online
The profits from the sale plus running the business for two years allowed the seller to make just shy of $100,000. His online success was made even sweeter by the fact that he only spent 40 hours of work per year to do it.
This deal sparked a new career path for the seller. He used the funds from the sale to invest in his next FBA business and channeled the lessons learned from his first business to capitalize on opportunities to scale the new FBA business to become even larger than the first. Having realized how much money he could make by selling his FBA businesses, he came back to Empire Flippers to sell his next business.
His second business sold for $127,500–over double the profit of his initial sale.
Editor’s Note: Learn how I use Jungle Scout and Helium 10 for my FBA product research. Also, read my summary of the best FBA courses on the market.
As you can see, Amazon FBA is just one way to escape the 9–5 and make even more money than in most jobs. There are many different methods of online monetization to explore, including options to get started for little up-front investment. Once you have an online business up and running, you can expand your online earnings by selling your business or even buying other businesses and then selling them for profit.
There are a multitude of ways to earn online—all you have to decide is which one fits your skills and goals. This decision can be a life-changing one that would provide you with enough money to decide to pursue your own entrepreneurial ventures without an 8-hour a day commitment.
Editor’s Note: I’ve personally done several deals with Empire Flippers, if I can help in any way please send me an email zach@moneynomad.com
