My friend Brandon at Helium 10 has challenged me to share my story of how I got started as an Amazon Seller.

7 years ago, I was working a standard 9-5 office job. I was bored out of my mind, waiting for the clock to hit 5. It was not challenging, I wasn’t paid very well and it was not rewarding for me.

Quitting my Job to Do Amazon FBA

I discovered that just about anyone could start selling their products on Amazon. I immediately started learning as much as I could about this. In the evenings, I would read blogs, case studies, and tutorials. I watched hours of YouTube content about Amazon FBA.

You really don’t need to buy any courses, as there is so much free info out there.

When I had any questions, I would ask them on the Amazon FBA subreddit, as there is a huge community of sellers willing to help each other!

I started with a small order of 100 units. Luckily, this was before the Christmas season, so my units sold out extremely fast. I was able to quickly place another order for 500 units, quickly ship them by air, and also sell them before Christmas. I have to be honest here: I was extremely lucky that I started right around Christmas because sales for my niche would double or even triple during this period!

After that, I placed an order to fill a sea container. This would generate enough profit for me to quit my job and focus on Amazon FBA!

Can You Do Amazon FBA Full Time?

Income-wise, Definitely! I earned enough from my Amazon Business in the first year to quit my day job.

Do you need to work 40 hours weekly to run an Amazon Business? That depends. I am doing private label, which requires a lot of work to develop and promote the brand. But once it’s up and running, it really doesn’t need a whole lot of hours.

This is the biggest thing I love about selling on Amazon! Of course, I am making much more money now than when working an office job. But the freedom means so much more to me! Having the time to spend with my son while still being financially stable is just absolutely amazing!

However, if you are doing Retail Arbitrage or Wholesale, you would have to constantly search for new products to sell, which requires a lot more time.

My Biggest Challenges I Have Faced as an Amazon Seller

Selling on Amazon.com From Abroad

I live in Europe, while I sell my products in the US, which are manufactured in China, lol! This means that except for the samples, I really don’t see my own products, which meant I had to face a couple of challenges.

The biggest one is that you can’t inspect your goods yourself. I really think this is not a big issue, as you should do your inspection while the goods are still in the factory in China, not when they have already been shipped to the US.

Product Research Fails

Initially, I struggled with picking a good product to sell.

This is the most important step & the main reason Amazon failed.

That is the entire reason I named my blog GarlicPressSeller.com. It’s because of all the hundreds of sellers who fail to do proper product research and decide to start selling in the most saturated market: Garlic Presses. This is now quite the meme within the Amazon FBA community and also my blog name.

Now, I spend at least two weeks doing product research. I use my own Product Research Excel Sheet and software, Helium 10.

If you are thinking about getting into Amazon FBA, I would highly suggest you start your journey with Helium 10. They have the best tools to find profitable niches on Amazon!