Finally hit $100k in the last 12 months

Throwaway account because I don’t want this tied to my brand, but I just hit $100k in sales on Amazon (screenshot attached). I know it’s kind of a vanity milestone, but it feels good to finally see six figures on the dashboard. Not life-changing money yet, but trending in the right direction. Wife doesn’t care, so I’m sharing here. Background: - US-based, started April 2024 - Custom product in the supplement space - Initial investment: $15k → later added $35k for two more flavors after first batch sold through - Currently 5 SKUs live, with 4 more launching soon - I do everything myself, biggest partner is my contract manufacturer - Not brand new to ecommerce (previous Shopify store did ~$200k GMV in 2 years), but was new to Amazon Margins / numbers: - tACOS ~20% - COGS ~25% - Amazon fees ~25% - Returns 1-2% - 150 active S&S subscriptions - 160 product reviews - Haven’t taken a single dollar out, reinvesting everything into inventory Challenges: - I found a great co-manufacturer but MOQs are steep at $20k per SKU, and I’m still a small fish for them - At the beginning it was a risk that I wouldn’t sell out in time (expiration date of 2 years on label) but luckily, this wasn’t the case - Only now getting to order volumes where I can get down COGS -33% - Lowering COGS, adding more SKUs and inventory turnover velocity are 3 competing goals. Cashflow is always tight when scaling inventory - Getting reviews. I had planned to get 30 reviews with each SKU and then to merge, but now this isn’t possible anymore - In general it’s been a lonely journey. I definitely want to connect with more merchants - PPC. CPC is crazy high for my desired search terms but lately, ‘auto’ campaigns have performed best Goals: - Estimate I need ~$40k/month in sales to afford a $100k/yr founder salary - On a linear trend, that’s maybe 2 years out - Stretch goal is to hit it in 1 year Some Learnings: - Find a reliable larger contract manufacturer - Don’t bother with order quantities below 1,000 - Never run out of stock!!! - Change payment settings to pay ad spend from your credit card. AMEX Gold is a great combo - Sure, do A/B test, but at my volume, these tests take forever and likely do not reach significance. So I still operate by intuition mostly - ChatGPT is your best friend - Do not expect any salary within the first 2 years. Even though fulfillment is incredibly easy with FBA, this is far from “passive income”. Chances are you fail, but even if you’re successful, you’ll want to reinvest your proceeds - Got burned by an agency in the beginning that cold approached me with some AI created video about my listing. NEVER EVER CONTRACT ANYONE WHO REACHES OUT TO YOU. Instead, get recommendations and reach out to those. Caveats: - Gross revenue, not profit - Technically 13 months, not 12 - Amazon only (not counting Shopify) - Includes ~$2.4k in Vine orders that I’d call “fake sales” PS: Not selling anything, not offering services, just sharing the milestone with people who’d appreciate it. Also not interested in any services.