a textbook example

Not the silliest way I’ve ever made money, but close…

In the mid 2010’s, I used to read a blog by a dumpster-diving hustler about all of his unconventional ways to make money online.

One of his hustles was so lucrative (according to him), that he built an app to help with it.

Here was his game:

This guy figured out that there was a big spread in price between used textbooks sold by 3rd party (3P) sellers on Amazon.

(3rd party sellers are individuals or businesses that list and sell products on Amazon.)

Books offered with Prime shipping were significantly more expensive than books that were shipped directly by the 3P sellers.

So guess what he did?

He signed up as a 3P seller himself, began ordering used textbooks from other sellers, then relisting them himself but with Prime shipping.

(To pull this off, he had to ship the books to an Amazon warehouse for Prime fulfillment instead of shipping individual orders himself.)

He also had a number of “condition improvement” hacks to upgrade an “acceptable” quality book into an “excellent” quality book, further increasing the resale value.

His software automated discovery of titles with the largest price spreads.

And he made the software available to other users for a small monthly fee.

I was one of those users.

For close to two years, I used his software to find and buy used textbooks on Amazon, so that I could turn around and resell them on Amazon for a nice profit.

Sounds insane, right?

It kinda was.

The gross ROI on most titles was great, with an average $20 COGS and an average resale price of $60…

However, there was a lot of labor and time involved.

And after Amazon fees and shipping, the net profit per book was closer to $10-$20.

A cute side hustle, but not a business.

I averaged an extra $2-3k per month in profit.

But here’s why this side hustle probably cost me millions.

At the same time, there were other people using 3P seller accounts to create their own “branded” items in underdeveloped categories on Amazon.

The “Private Label” business model, multiplied to infinity by Amazon’s customer base and fulfillment network.

Thousands of people in that world became multimillionaires within months or years.

Using roughly the same tools I was using to eek out a couple grand per month.

You see, I was chasing dimes while they were chasing dollars.

I was too busy peeling stickers off of textbooks to make an extra $5 to notice the parallel opportunity to create millions out of thin air.

Here’s the point.

It is very easy for entrepreneurs to get stuck in operations, and lose sight of the big picture.

Packing your own orders, writing your own code, running your own ads…

But all of those things can theoretically be outsourced to someone better than you.

The two things that cannot be delegated are the big picture, and your unique contribution to it.

If you give up responsibility for the big picture, it means you aren’t in control of your own business.

Someone else is running the show.

And if you do not contribute your uniqueness in some way, it means you’re running a cut and paste NPC brand, left to compete on price and marketing budget.

Good luck with that.

It’s no coincidence that Big Picture and Uniqueness are the two things that my 1 on 1 clients spend the most time working with me on.

Once they are established enough to begin delegating the $20/ hr roles, it is critical that they identify and devote themselves to $1000+/ hr roles if they want to continue to grow.

Do you know what your $1000+/ hr activities are? Or are you spending most days on $20/ hr things?

Maybe I can help.

Now that the kids are back in school, I have a little extra time on my calendar for 1 on 1’s.

If you want to book an hour and get clear on your Big Picture or Uniqueness so that you can focus your efforts on $1000+/ hr tasks, I’m including a calendar link below.

» Book a Call »

(Multi-session packages available for a discount, reach out if interested.)

Wishing the best for you,

Greg

P.S. This year I’ve focused hard on Email Magic and let my ecommerce businesses slip. But in both cases, I can spend an hour writing an email that generates $1000, usually significantly more.

For many entrepreneurs, consistent and effective communication with customers is an easy $1000/ hr skill to master. It’s one of my favorite things to help with, and doesn’t require booking a paid call. Hit reply to learn more about how I can help you with this.