Hungry Like The Wolf: The Journey of an Aspiring Entrepreneur Part 1
It is no secret I enjoy watching professional Youtubers, from game commentators (e.g. Markiplier) to paranormal investigators (e.g. Mindseed TV), during my free time.
Speaking of ‘free’, the problem with the ‘free version’ of Youtube is the ads that constantly interrupt you.
You may be wondering at this point:
‘what does Youtube Ads have to do with starting off as a entrepreneur?‘
Enter Internet Marketers and their promises of Financial Freedom. I never take them or their overpriced courses seriously, but I was always fascinated why people still choose to sign-up to these programs.
So I asked myself, is it possible to make achieve financial freedom with a side hustle?
And so, the inner hustler in me was born.
I decided to embark on this journey by teaming up with a close friend of mine (whom I knew since high school), who recently went through a difficult period in his life and was looking for a new, fresh start.
Ironically, it was him who inspired me to take a calculated risk in life — he had used his free time to work out at the gym and improve his knowledge by either reading personal development and self-help books or watching self-help Youtube videos.
Mind you, we are the complete opposites of each other, he is the charismatic, lovable, and extroverted ‘bubbly jackass’ (he’s own description) and I am the reserved, objective and analytical introvert. What a team!
Ideas We Scrapped
- Branded Clothing Line
A couple of months ago, my close mate and I decided to try to launch our own branded clothing. We came up with the idea of TRC branded T-Shirts (acronym for ‘The Reaper Crew’ which was inspired by the TV series Sons of Anarchy) and found a suitable, clean-looking Grim Reaper logo on Adobe Stock images as an inspiration (however we felt the need for a professional graphic designer to work on the logo).
Our first problem.
‘How do we find a quality clothing supplier?’
And second
‘How do we control for product quality to justify a premium on price?’
After reaching out to potential suppliers in the United States, the Netherlands, Victoria and being either ignored or turned down, we decided to scrap the idea.
- Source Products from Alibaba.com to sell on Amazon Australia
Amazon launched their Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) in Australia a couple of years ago. My same friend had been approached by a mate of his last year to join him in paying for an online course (which cost ~$AUD 2000) which sold the idea on how to make money with Amazon FBA. I was against the idea — all I had to do was point out the hidden costs involved with FBA:
- Fulfilment Fee
- Inventory Storage Fee
- Commission on the Sale
That weren’t mentioned in the sales pitch. However, we did see merit the opportunity and decided to give this a try on our own (without paying an exorbitant amount for a course). We would become studious students of Youtube University!
Alibaba was to be our go-to marketplace sourcing products. We each spent time on the Alibaba website and eventually narrowed our selection to 3 products:
- EarPods
- Toilet Hoses (aka ‘Bum Guns’)
- Wireless Rechargers
Our plan was to do private labelling with each of these products (but one at time) which meant having to put in a minimum order (which typically cost in the couple of thousands of dollars).
However, there was a problem.
- Freight — how do we ship from mainland China to Australia and what are the costs involved (including customs)?
- Storage — do we go by FBA or store on-premises
- Shipment — do we go by FBA or pay for a courier service?
We soon lost optimism in this venture because of many different costs and decided to scrap it.
Key Lesson Takeaways: The 10 Commandments of Side Hustling
- Getting started is the most difficult part
- To make money, you must first spend / invest with money
- Do not let marketing hype cloud your judgement
- Do not follow the herd
- There is a lot, ALOT of hyper-competition out there
- Find a niche and stick to it
- Have unwavering faith in the Trinity — Commitment, Discipline and Patience
- Access to a network of high-caliber people is more valuable than a gold bar
- Censor words like ‘rest’, ‘comfort’, ‘inner peace’ from your dictionary
- Sacrifices must be made
To be continued in Part 2, where I will describe the ideas we pursued / launched:
- Spades Sneakers
- Logistics Startup — Pitching the idea to Investors to build a Track and Trace platform by utilizing open APIs
- Flipping Vintage Pokémon Cards
And delve deep on the 10 Commandments and how they apply to the above three ventures.
In the meantime, feel free to drop your thoughts and feedback below.
