Results From My First 6 Months on Amazon KDP

I’m building a little retirement business so I can blow this popsicle stand.

Quit the corporate grind.

A lifestyle business, as one professor in business school once derisively labeled it. Insert eye roll.

In other words, I’m building a little business based around these priorities:

Diagram by author. If all three of these priorities were equally weighted, my circle would site right in the middle.

The timeline: In just under 3 years, I’d like to reach F.I.R.E.

The scale: We’ve saved and invested along the way, so I calculate we probably only need something like another €2k / month to close the gap.

Why Amazon KDP: I looked into a bunch of different business models that fit this criteria:

• Involve low risk (require little capital)
• Require little tending once established (semi-passive)
• Could be ignored whenever I felt like it. In other words, did not require consistency.
• Would require < 5 hours a week and net > $2500 per month once established.

There are quite a few options for that type of business, and I simply liked indie-publishing on Amazon KDP the best. It’s fun. It feels like a hobby, and I can’t wait to get up early or otherwise make time for it.