#37 - Mastering Amazon FBA

**Paul Anderson** (0:01)
I built and sold an Amazon FBA business. For me, no VC money, no employees, I was working full time. I started with $5,000 bucks in my little Chromebook. Building on the back of Amazon, I mean, it has its risks, we can talk about that, but it also has this huge scale and leverage that you can generate. All right, I got the great first product, this is going to be awesome. Look for enough demand, but not so much competition. I've done all my product research and I sourced it out of China. I get this logo off of Fiverr, like I feel like, all right, I got the right pieces in place and I get it in, I launch it and it is a total fail. I got burned so bad the first time. I'm hurting because I do not want to stay in the career of midnight. So I'm feeling like so much is riding on this and it's just got to work. And once I got a little taste of it, it was like, okay, now it's on. That first year, I paid almost six figures in revenue.
It almost didn't feel real until the deposits hit in the bank. And I'm like, oh my God, people are really buying this. And the hardest thing to overcome was really my own self doubt.
I mean, it felt like every order I placed, I was like putting my whole net worth on the line. It was crazy. We put the business on and within, I want to say a week or 10 days, there were seven full price or higher offers.
People can access these types of businesses and with a pretty small bet, like create a life changing business for themselves and their families.
To carry something from kind of the idea in your head, building it, to scaling it, to selling it, like you got to want it. Pretty asymmetrical. Like I start with $5,000 and it turns into a seven figure business.

**Shaan Puri** (1:52)
$5 million is not enough. $10 million.

**Paul Anderson** (1:54)
$20 million.

**Shaan Puri** (1:55)
$100 million.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:56)
$850 million.

**Shaan Puri** (1:58)
$1 or 2 people in a bedroom actually are the threats to these giant multi-million dollar companies because you have creativity and you have nothing to lose.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:07)
Add another zero to that price, buddy. Add two more zeros.

**Shaan Puri** (2:14)
Every week, we sit down with self-made millionaires and ask them, how did you do it? I didn't start a podcast. I started my own personal business school, and the teachers are the successful entrepreneurs behind the biggest brands and businesses that we find today. I wanted to know the real stories with all the details, like how did you get your first hundred customers? What did it feel like when shit hit the fan?
I asked them, how did you spend your money now that you're rich? And what would you do if you were starting over from scratch again today? If you're like me and you want to own your own business instead of living a nine-to-five job, this is the podcast for you. The Hustle presents My First Million.
Paul, what's up, man? How are you? You flew in today, right?

**Paul Anderson** (3:01)
I was excited for this.

**Shaan Puri** (3:06)
You're a listener who is on the show. Is that correct?

**Paul Anderson** (3:09)
Exactly.

**Shaan Puri** (3:10)
That's the new American dream.

**Paul Anderson** (3:12)
I love the show. I reached out to you and here I am.

**Shaan Puri** (3:16)
Yeah, and I liked your story because you did something that I think not a lot of people... Well, I'll put it differently. You built an Amazon FBA business. And I've seen a lot about FBA, but the people who tell me about FBA are always selling me something for FBA. And so I hate that. And I like just talking to people who...
If you're telling me you got rich, then you probably don't need to sell me something for $9.99 type of thing.
And so I'm excited to talk to you because you built a successful Amazon FBA business, and you're here to tell the tale. What made you want to do this?

**Paul Anderson** (3:55)
Well, for me, when I was learning the business, podcasts were everything, like podcasts, Facebook groups, Reddit threads. I feel like I've gotten so much from podcasts, so hopefully someone will either get a little bit inspired or get educated.

**Shaan Puri** (4:09)
Like you were listening to them or you went on them and that's how you found it?

**Paul Anderson** (4:12)
Listening, no, listening completely.
There's this guy named Manny Coates who does an Amazon podcast. He never met me, doesn't know me. I mean, I probably wouldn't have a million dollar business without him. So there's all these people that have been really influential via podcasts that it kind of is fun to come full circle and say, like, here's my story on a podcast. Right.