Went off K2 and D3

I feel normal for the first time since I got back from Burning Man two weeks ago!

Not super normal, but pretty decent. It’s 9:42 am right now. (I was waken up at 9am by Elena’s message. 7 hours of sleep. Feel ok.) We’ll see how the day goes!

Yesterday’s meeting with Alex was interesting. I feel good and bad at the same time.

Alex is doing better than me in business right now. I should be happy for him. Damn he is so young. Kind of jealous. But I’m also happy for him.

I think he is doing $700K to $1MM on his Amazon. Not sure if USD or CAD. I’m doing $650K right now. I think he is profiting at about $200K/year. I’m doing about USD $216K/year right now. So, we might be about the same here.

However, he also has Anime bae, and he is a Facebook ad guru! They spend $15K per month on ads, and their ACoS is 25%, so they are making about $60K/month just on the FB side. I’m guessing plus organic, they are doing $100K/month. Let’s say the business is making 50% profit, and he has half of the profit split with his partner. That’s $25K/month! So he is doing $250K here. Together with Amazon he is making about half a mill per year.

They hired 6 people and have an office, and the brand is growing, potentially to China! They are growing quickly.

—

Now let’s talk about me.

My rings are doing slightly better this year than last year. Since coming back last May, which is 16 months ago, our sales have gone up.

Right now we are doing about $37K in Amazon US. I guess last September was one of the worst months too. Overall we are doing

2018
Jan: $24.1K
Feb: $32.1K
March: $28.5K
April: $29K
May: $40K
June: $37K
July: $42K
Aug: $33K
Sep: $28K
Oct: $32K
Nov: $42.4K
Dec: $58.7K (rolled out Comfort Fit)

2019:
Jan: $41.5K
Feb: $47.5K
Mar: $48.8K
Apr: $36.1K
May: $42.1K
Jun: $38.7K
Jul: $40.1K
Aug: $44K (rolled out BCF)

According to Sellerboard, last year’s profit was $133K in US and Canada. Spent $66K on ads.

This year so far 3/4 of the way into the year, we are at $118K in US and Canada.

Last year so far into the year (September 17), we were at $96K in US and Canada.

So that’s an improvement! 18.6% growth.

It’s hard to say if we are more profitable in the US because we are spending so much more on ads. But, we are getting more sales overall, and we are getting more profit overall. So that’s good 🙂

—

Found a new supplier for rings the other day. Udoo. I didn’t mean to look for a new supplier, but was simply looking for a way to create metallic rings without flow lines.

But right now I’ve found the largest silicone ring supplier in China, who has a better price, smaller MOQ, better technology, possibly better quality (will check out samples), and some new innovations.

Come to think of it, Martin has really disappointed me. Bad quality the time before and we had to destroy all the rings. Bad quality control last time and we got 2 bad reviews right away. Now I think he packed the wrong rings into the shipment. His price is 2.5 times Udoo’s. I thought he was competent but he has been sliding more and more.

We’ll see. I’ll keep him for now and explore this new manufacturer.

—

Now let’s talk about the positives in the meeting with Alex
– I’m motivated to do better
– He is pretty funny. Taught me about “bruv” (bruh love).
– I got to help him with moda info, sent him Game Changers book, and he is inviting me to his biz party (which I can’t go but hopefully next time)
– I gave him some biz ideas! Facebook ad agency for anime companies
– He gave me some insights on FB ads. I think I need to get into it! I hope he’ll be there to teach me a few things when needed.

—

Advantages of my business:

  1. Cheap product cost
  2. Light weight product
  3. Can be customized
  4. Great margin
  5. Many niches
  6. Can be sexy

    If I were an 8 figure Amazon seller, what would be the top 3 things I recommend that Knot Theory do?

    1. Systemize churning out new rings
      – design, production, package design, shipment, QC, pre-launch, launch
    2. Automate with more VAs / manager who knows amazon
    3. Offer packs of rings
    4. Launch with passion – lots of budget, smart strategies
    5. Get reviews with passion – have a community of reviewers, update packaging to get good reviews
    6. Learn from the vitamin shops
    7. Set up many chat to engage customer
    8. A/B test prices, etc
    9. Expand to more marketplaces
    10. Add Walmart and other online market places

If I were Tom Bilyeu?
1. Create a loyal fan base – Have great marketing content on SM – interesting, entertaining, educational

 

If I were Gretta Van Riel?
1. Product Market Fit (does it apply here?)
2. Prelaunch and launch
3. Build a community
4. Strategic partnership

If I were Alex?
1. Run FB ads

If I were that Kathrin Zenkina (who makes $4MM from her community) selling courses to them?

What advice would I give to myself?
1. Sell to stores, different niches; hire a sales person
2. Sell to hospital network, mining companies, etc
3. Kickstarter: Biodegradable TPU rings (and bracelets), generate funds to get to stores
4. Better brand
5. Go to tradeshows (dominate with “ECO” ring tagline)
6. Better brand story
7. Authentic brand and website
8. Better imagery on website and SM