Projecting to do somewhere around $200k in revenue this year across my e-commerce side gigs. Seriously considering following this passion full time and quitting consulting. Lack of “stable” income is frightening but I have confidence in myself to make it work. Is there anything I should seriously consider before making this leap that I may have overlooked? If all goes poorly with my plan, will it theoretically be easy to get back into a similar consulting role? All advice is welcome.

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What’s the gig? I keep getting LinkedIn messages from people working side gigs in e-commerce and wanting someone to help with business development, seems like some kind of pyramid scheme....

But I’d really consider whether whatever you’re doing is sustainable, and if it ever tanks completely if you’ll be able to get a job in something else.

Depends on the skills you’re building and what you’re actually doing, but you’d likely have to go back in the same level you were in and it couldn’t be like 5 years later.

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That’s awesome. Do you mind sharing what type of side gig this is, which may help provide some opinion of what others might deem its stability and viability. Thanks!

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Thanks! Check out my response to D1 above.

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Not sure how revenue is relevant for making any decision. What are the margins?

I have a buddy who earns $500K revenue in a drop shipping business but only takes home ~$60K ($120K split with a partner). No benefits or predictability. Not really the awe-inspiring opportunity I would drop everything for

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Nope, not ludicrous. Imagine buying a product for $10 and flipping it for $30 ten times a day but only spending $50 a day in ads. Over time your Facebook ads begin to get more organic shares, views, comments, likes, etc, and these give the ad more social proof. Conversion rate per dollar spent increases if all else is held constant (ie customer feedback in the comments is positive etc). You can scale your ad spend with your revenue and go at your own pace.

Also, I agree with the idea that dropshipping and selling commodity items isn’t sustainable. Above I said that I hate dropshipping for that exact reason. It’s a short term play to learn the ropes and get your feet wet. Long term, the play is to use what you learn with these low $$ overhead ventures and parlay that into a serious business...invent or source a raw product from China, have them manufacture and design to your specs, ship to the US and have a 3PL auto fulfill all of your orders, run a tight ship and build the brand. It’s no different than what any other business you or I buy from does with their e-commerce sales. Just listened to a podcast where the creator of a beach game, Crossnet(?), went through this exact process, to a T, a few years ago and now is pulling in $8mil in revenue.

You show me a paystub for 200K. I’ll quit my job right now and work for you.

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I’ll letcha know A1 😤

What's your gross margin look like?

I'd jump out of consulting if I saw a opportunity.

No one really misses PPT decks so you won't be missing out there

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~25% or so for now, but see that widening as ad spend/unit sold decreases over time. Biggest thing I may miss are the 730am/930pm daily offshore calls 😩

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Quit. Scale. Burn (cash). Call (Bezos). Sell. Retire.

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Do you possess any hands on skills or will you be outsourcing the implementations ?

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I’ve done everything myself to this point - don’t plan on outsourcing anything besides maybe some high quality visuals creation for product ads. It’s something that I’m working on understanding but for right now I’m cool with paying for someone else’s expertise.

I honestly think the skills I’m learning in product sourcing, manufacturing, fulfillment, PPC advertising, and general business management are super transferable. To what? I’m not sure. But every business that sells a product or service runs efficient PPC ads and has a creative team behind product design. I’d like to think that this type of experience would at least help me get a better look if I do desire to work for a company doing such work down the line.

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Geeze that’s pretty cool. What is it- drop shipping type stuff?

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Yup, and some other stuff. I replied to D1 above with a more detailed response.

o Margins?
o Sustainability?
o Scalability?
o Competition (working with Amazon vs against) and competitive advantage?

Returning to consulting would not be difficult if you have a few years of experience and a decent network. If these gigs can pay your bills for now and have good future prospects, go for it!

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Just replied in detail above. Think I’ll always try to sell on Amazon but won’t rely on them 100% for my paychecks - they’re too unpredictable and sometimes will ban a seller for no reason. Can’t rely on that.

Only have 2 years experience and a somewhat limited network that comes with only being 2 years in. Thanks!

How many years of workex do you have and at what level.. 5 years or over will help you credentialize yourself when / if you get back . Also curious, do you drop ship and what's your profit margin ?

2 years of work experience at pwc as an associate. I’m thinking that once I leave the field, I’ll never come back to tech consulting again. Have a degree in mechanical engineering so I think I’d rather combine that with the experience I get launching a (hopefully) successful business to land a job more aligned to that field.

Right now I’m operating several dba’s under my LLC. I’m trying to create a “business” in different Ecom “spaces” if you want to call them that. Operate one as straight up dropshipping to US customers (with a supplier who ships from the US because dropshipping from China is shady and scammy imo), one as a privately labeled brand and sell solely on Amazon (supplier creates my PL product in China and ships direct to my Amazon warehouse), and one is currently launching where I’m buying a product in bulk, privately labeling it, and using a 3PL in the states to fulfill orders (kind of like fulfillment via Amazon but selling via a Shopify site and linking my inventory to the 3PL via an ERP system.) This third one is the most “sustainable” type of ecom business in my opinion and is what I’d use when it comes to actually inventing a product.

Margins for now are low (~25% or so) because I’m dumping so much into advertising to get the ball rolling. If you’re familiar with PPC ads on Facebook/google or PPC amazon ads, you’ll know that you have to spend lots money to induce engagement/purchases initially and hope this interaction with your ad/product turns more organic over time. (I.e. to get your product to the first page on Amazon, or make a Facebook video ad more “self sustainable” because people are now organically sharing it). Over time you slowly ween off of the heavy ad spend and your margins open up - I’m seeing a bit of that now which is great. I’m not too worried about tight margins in the future - just need to make sound decisions based upon the ad data that I’m paying for.

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Can the business scale?

I do believe so. Scalability is my most important factor for determining whether a new “business” is worth starting. This is the reason I hate dropshipping.

Depends on your costs to live. If you can live comfortably on half that, then do it once you have a years worth of expenses stashed away.

Single, 25, paying $700 a month to live with some buddies outside an east coast city. Could totally be comfortable living on what I think I can make just from ecom - it’s just super scary making that jump away from the safety net of a good job with decent benefits to being “on my own”. My family would ask if I’m nuts, but I’ve got a pretty thick FUD shield

Have at least 1-2 years of savings on the side. Not that you run out of cash (privat or for investments) and need to stop again

I have a similar goal but I’ve told myself I won’t leave my job until I can repeat and grow at least two profitable e-com businesses. This way you are proving it wasn’t just circumstances or luck the first time, and you actually have the skill set to build a successful business over and over again if your current source dries up.

That’s a great way to do it. The best advice I’ve gotten is to work both your day job and side gig for as long as possible, take both incomes home. Once your side gig surpasses the main job in growth and earnings and you can’t realistically operate it while spending time working your day job, then it’s time to quit the day job. Good luck!

I’d go bag groceries instead of working at PwC if there wasn’t the fear of COVID.

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