A question that consistently comes up is how to know when you’re ready and able to go full time with your Amazon business. Most of you work a full time job and you’re ready to get out. The thing that no one ever talks about is the transition period.

 

It’s easy to know when to get started (literally right now) and what life would look like after the transition, but what about the middle ground?

The transition period can be a make or break point – you either quit your job too soon and cannot support yourself or family, or you never end up going full time and making that transition at all because you’re too afraid that it isn’t the right time.

 

Here’s our little framework to better position yourself for the transition and knowing when it’s the right time, no matter what your circumstances are.

 

It’s important to note that if you love your job, but you want more income, you never have to actually quit your job to grow your business and income.

 

Lowering Your expenses

 

In order to ease this transition period and hopefully decrease the time it takes you to get to that point, you’ll want to decrease your expenses. Sure, that’s super simple and basic Dillon. Give me something I can actually use, you’re saying, but hang on. As with many things we talk about on this blog, it’s the simple things that have the highest impact on your success. So start by lowering your expenses – the bigger the gap between your expenses and your income, the more comfortable you’ll be able to make the decision to go full-time.

 

Having lower expenses will also decrease how much income you’ll need to go full time with your Amazon business.

 

Knowing Your Risk Tolerance

 

Knowing how much risk you’re able to handle is very important as well. Being a single twenty-something guy allows a bit more flexibility than having a wife (or husband) and children to support as well.

 

Be very self-aware of your personal situation and base your decision knowing what works for you. Should you wait until you’re bringing in $10,000 a month in profit before you quit your job or could you move to Thailand and live off $1,000 a month like a King/Queen for a year while building your empire?

 

That’s completely up to you.

 

The Failsafe Method For Going Full Time

 

The easiest way to know it’s time was taught to me very young by my step-father who had dealt with this exact situation when he started his company many years ago – Go full time only when your day job is getting in the way of making more money with your own business.

 

That does not mean making more money in the sense of opportunity, but factually keeping you from making more cold-hard-cash.

 

When you’re completely exhausted and cannot give any more, when you’re maximizing your business’ growth but you need more time, this is when you can begin to consider going full time and quitting your job.

 

You’ll want to ensure you can still cover your expenses with ease at this stage (remember to lower your expenses!) and the transition is a relatively easy one to make.

 

The only time this transition becomes difficult is when you cannot support yourself, but you go full time anyways. Not only is this risky, but it could be the downfall to your company and have you back at the job you hated to begin with to pay the bills.

 

I want you to sit down and really figure out where you are within this framework – risk tolerance level, expenses and if your job is actually getting in the way or not. Once you have these very simple answers, you can effectively make the decision to go full time or not.

 

Either way, we’re incredibly happy that we can be a part of your journey 🙂

 

We often tell ourselves a story about both our lives and our businesses. Often, they are complete fiction – never based in any truth. Typically, we tell ourselves a story about those at a higher level business-wise then we are. They must have a huge team! Or, They must have started with TONS of money in the bank. Even if these things are true, it neither benefits or hurts us.

 

So ask yourself, what story are you currently telling yourself about your business or your life? Does it push you forward or actually hinder you? 99% of the time, it will hinder you. Rather than believing your own bul!@#t, reframe your story for the positive.

 

This leads perfectly into this weeks blog post – the unsexy truth behind building a seven-figure Amazon business.

 

 

This is what we’re typically shown on Youtube videos or Instagram pages revolving around starting a company. You work your ass off, but in a short-period of time, your life is perfect. The simple reality is that you will doubt yourself daily, not want to get out of bed because you may not be capable of growing anymore and you have no clue what the hell you’re currently doing.

 

The best way to combat this insane roller coaster that is entrepreneurship is to focus on the underlying systems and processes that work within your business. Instead of being an entrepreneur, you want to be a systems manager – someone who creates, maintains and ultimately optimizes systems within your business.

 

Sam Carpenter wrote in his book, Work The System (I’m paraphrasing here), that everything in your business is a linear, 1-2-3 process. Once you break down each process, it’s much easier to tweak, optimize and ensure continual success. I personally do this with my own business and it’s made a world of difference in how I see my company. It’s no longer this idea, but a machine filled with beautiful primary and secondary systems that I simply maintain. Sometimes I add a new system, sometimes I delete a system that doesn’t perform. I’ve written about this vaguely before in a blog post, but the simple truth is that there are a handful of simple systems within your business that will ensure you hit seven-figures or more.

 

I thought my business would be completely different going from six to seven figures, but it there is no difference. We’re lucky to play on scalability – It won’t take more staff, or a completely new business model, it’s just more volume. This may mean your processes and shipping system will need to be adjusted to a warehouse (maybe even a larger one), but that’s ultimately not a major change from a systems standpoint.

 

I harp weekly (if not daily) on the fact that you need to spend 90% of your time sourcing new accounts, which is also a system by the way and by doing so you’ll consistently hit your growth goals month after month.

 

Is the daily grind of building a six or a seven-figure Amazon business as sexy as the video above? NO WAY! What that video skates over is the reality of building a real business. Waking up not wanting to work because you don’t feel good, but knowing you don’t have a choice, because who else is going to do the work? The fact that you may go through a full month of heavy outreach/sourcing and come out with nothing…. But will you continue? Will you stick through the unsexy reality that is building a company?

 

Although it seems so simple, it isn’t easy. If you can accept the reality of being an entrepreneur and an active business owner, you will have zero problems reaching your goal. This is the unsexy truth behind those who reach higher levels, are able to travel while building their companies, live amazing lives and ultimately turn their story into their reality.

 

This is something that I’ve wanted to do for quite a while now – post our first case study. When we launched Vendrive CRM we had a pretty good idea how people would use it, but we had no clue how far they would run with the tool.

 

Now that Vendrive CRM has been “out in the wild” long enough to provide some data, it’s fairly easy for us to see the results our users are getting.

 

Rather than posting a bunch of data points and graphs, we instead thought we would have one of our early adopting users tell his own story – where he was, how he uses the Vendrive CRM and the outcome of it all.

 

Here’s my short interview with Julian (who is very active in the Facebook group!)…..

 

Q. How did you get started selling on Amazon?

A. I started selling on Amazon in 2015. I began with RA and thrifting just to learn how FBA works. After 4 months, I realized it was difficult for me to scale-up with those sourcing methods. It’s was hard to source profitable inventory in an expensive city like NYC. Therefore, I quickly transitioned into wholesale. I studied and learned all the material that was available at the time and because of that got my first wholesale account within a month. The account was a success and made me realize that wholesale was the way to go. I have been growing the business slowly just sourcing wholesale ever since.

 

Q. Then you joined our Facebook group, how was that changed your business?

A. Before I joined the group, I was doing $10K to $15K in sales every month. I was contacting suppliers through emails only. My account approval rating was very low, and I wasn’t putting as much effort to the business. Once I joined the group, Dillon and James began supporting me and giving me advice on how to improve and grow my Amazon business. I listened to their advice, watched all the Facebook videos and read all the blog posts at www.vendrivecrm.com.

 

From the moment I joined the group, I have noticed a big growth in my business. My approval rating has increased tremendously to the point where I’m running out of capital. I’m contacting all of my suppliers through the phone which has increased my approval rating. I’m providing more value and building relationships with all of my suppliers and my business is doing $25K to $30K in sales monthly thanks to the group.

 

Q. You were also one of the first users of Vendrive when we launched. What role has Vendrive played in your business and growth?

A. Vendrive has also played a big role in my growth. It has allowed me to stay organized with all my suppliers and track my progress.  It saves me a whole bunch of time each week, and It’s very user-friendly. Before Vendrive, I was using spreadsheets which made the process very painful and time-consuming.

 

My goal for this year is to make a quarter million in sales. With the support of the group and Vendrive, I am confident that I achieve my goal.

 

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Julian was able to not only use a better internal system for acquiring new wholesale suppliers but also took full advantage of our private Facebook Group. Julian began having issues early on in his business like most do. The only thing holding Julian back was the right knowledge backed by massive action. I’ve worked with Julian for some time now and can attest that massive action simply wasn’t the issue – it was the informational side holding him back.

 

After asking the right questions, adjusting his trajectory and having the right amount of accountability, he’s on track to do well over $250,000 in sales for 2018.