5 ms·

Just... be aware of the survivorship bias in these kinds of articles. I've been planning to go solo for more than a year. I've been saving up, and working on v

Just... be aware of the survivorship bias in these kinds of articles. I've been planning to go solo for more than a year. I've been saving up, and working on validating my ideas on the side while still working a full day job. Most startups/entrepreneurs fail, so plan for that eventuality. And delay quitting that day job as long as possible. I've obviously only gotten this advice from other sources and not from personal experience, so be skeptical... ..and remember the survivorship bias in everything you read about this topic.

phasersout 5y ago
I've saved enough money to wither a bad year or two before I went solo. Takes the anxiety and makes for a good night sleep, even if there is no immediate job lined up...
AussieWog93 5y ago
If you can, dip your toes in the water before jumping in. I run an eBay store that makes around $20k a month and is still growing, but it started as a side gig while I was still working (making less than 5k a month, but I was only working on it for maybe 8-10 hours a week). Actually validating your ideas before fully committing is a great way to minimise risk and avoid procrastination.
- altdataseller 5y ago
  Nice, what are the gross/profit margins of an eBay store? Know it depends on what you sell but always interested in launching one.
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    >Nice, what are the gross/profit margins of an eBay store? For us (retro games), it's about 50% overall. Of course, this varies greatly from product to product. Interestingly, most of our higher value products tend to also be higher margin. We've increased revenues significantly by focussing more energy on getting promotions right for said high value, high margin listings. >Know it depends on what you sell but always interested in launching one. Then do it. Buy something undervalued from Facebook Marketplace and flip it, or import a small batch of a product with low local competition from Alibaba. You can optimise from there, but starting small is absolutely a great way to learn the ropes. Worst case scenario, you've lost a couple of hundred bucks and learned a valuable life lesson.
    - themaninthedark 5y ago
      This is what worries me, about our society and way of life in general. I look at your margins, high ~50%. I look at what you sell, retro games. Not a necessity and also not something that more can be made of, so fairly safe. Unless there is a downturn, then I hope that you have something tucked away. I look at the recommendation: "Buy something undervalued from Facebook Marketplace and flip it, or import a small batch of a product with low local competition from Alibaba." And I look around and see the same pattern being repeated. People becoming middle men, inserting themselves in supply chains and charging margin. Rise and repeat and you get more people just repackaging and charging more for what are simple products or things that people might want but do not need. I dislike this sort of activity because the more margins that are paid mean the more money is siphoned off, fine for luxury good not so great for necessities. I worry because as more of our economy is devoted to this activity, when there is a downturn large numbers of people lose their jobs. I hate it morally because it goes against my views of a "good" society. We have created societal structures where people are close to the decision making process where as before we had Kings and courts. We have the ability to do the same with manufacturing, where the people could order directly and not through the "courts".
      - bradlys 5y ago
        The guy is basically a flipper and provides no value. He buys up stuff off the market at a low price using his existing capital and then puts it back on the market at a higher price. It’s literally no different than the market manipulation you’d see on World of Warcraft or some other game where there’s a marketplace. People with a ton of money would buy up items at a lower price and then relist them at a ridiculous price - all the while having bots to watch for any listings that were significantly under theirs to make sure no one would buy except from them. I hate how this is considered a “business”. What a joke.
        themaninthedark 5y ago
        I think that resellers have some use in a market. Rye bread for an example, I like rye bread but only eat it occasionally. Same with tomatoes and avocados. I and the farmers and manufactures can't deal with trying to juggle and maintain inventory. But cars on the other hand, if you were to set up your manufacturing side with some inventory(so not JIT), you could make every car to order. Imagine a world where you could go online, pick exactly every option and feature and then have the car delivered in a couple of weeks. Instead of the current reality of dealerships who hold a large amount of inventory, have to negotiate for deals and search for the features you want. I view it the same way that I viewed High Frequency Trading, sure the dealers and traders provide "liquidity" but the value for their margin they take is marginal.

phasersout 5y ago

I've saved enough money to wither a bad year or two before I went solo. Takes the anxiety and makes for a good night sleep, even if there is no immediate job lined up...

AussieWog93 5y ago

If you can, dip your toes in the water before jumping in. I run an eBay store that makes around $20k a month and is still growing, but it started as a side gig while I was still working (making less than 5k a month, but I was only working on it for maybe 8-10 hours a week). Actually validating your ideas before fully committing is a great way to minimise risk and avoid procrastination.

altdataseller 5y ago
Nice, what are the gross/profit margins of an eBay store? Know it depends on what you sell but always interested in launching one.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  >Nice, what are the gross/profit margins of an eBay store? For us (retro games), it's about 50% overall. Of course, this varies greatly from product to product. Interestingly, most of our higher value products tend to also be higher margin. We've increased revenues significantly by focussing more energy on getting promotions right for said high value, high margin listings. >Know it depends on what you sell but always interested in launching one. Then do it. Buy something undervalued from Facebook Marketplace and flip it, or import a small batch of a product with low local competition from Alibaba. You can optimise from there, but starting small is absolutely a great way to learn the ropes. Worst case scenario, you've lost a couple of hundred bucks and learned a valuable life lesson.
  - themaninthedark 5y ago
    This is what worries me, about our society and way of life in general. I look at your margins, high ~50%. I look at what you sell, retro games. Not a necessity and also not something that more can be made of, so fairly safe. Unless there is a downturn, then I hope that you have something tucked away. I look at the recommendation: "Buy something undervalued from Facebook Marketplace and flip it, or import a small batch of a product with low local competition from Alibaba." And I look around and see the same pattern being repeated. People becoming middle men, inserting themselves in supply chains and charging margin. Rise and repeat and you get more people just repackaging and charging more for what are simple products or things that people might want but do not need. I dislike this sort of activity because the more margins that are paid mean the more money is siphoned off, fine for luxury good not so great for necessities. I worry because as more of our economy is devoted to this activity, when there is a downturn large numbers of people lose their jobs. I hate it morally because it goes against my views of a "good" society. We have created societal structures where people are close to the decision making process where as before we had Kings and courts. We have the ability to do the same with manufacturing, where the people could order directly and not through the "courts".
    - bradlys 5y ago
      The guy is basically a flipper and provides no value. He buys up stuff off the market at a low price using his existing capital and then puts it back on the market at a higher price. It’s literally no different than the market manipulation you’d see on World of Warcraft or some other game where there’s a marketplace. People with a ton of money would buy up items at a lower price and then relist them at a ridiculous price - all the while having bots to watch for any listings that were significantly under theirs to make sure no one would buy except from them. I hate how this is considered a “business”. What a joke.
      - themaninthedark 5y ago
        I think that resellers have some use in a market. Rye bread for an example, I like rye bread but only eat it occasionally. Same with tomatoes and avocados. I and the farmers and manufactures can't deal with trying to juggle and maintain inventory. But cars on the other hand, if you were to set up your manufacturing side with some inventory(so not JIT), you could make every car to order. Imagine a world where you could go online, pick exactly every option and feature and then have the car delivered in a couple of weeks. Instead of the current reality of dealerships who hold a large amount of inventory, have to negotiate for deals and search for the features you want. I view it the same way that I viewed High Frequency Trading, sure the dealers and traders provide "liquidity" but the value for their margin they take is marginal.