SELF

Publishing My Origin Story

Today I was challenged to be publishing my origin story. This is not something easy for me to do, but let me give a try here anyway. Of course. it will be a short version of this story.

I am going to make this as short as possible because I don’t think this will be of anyone interested. So, let’s see what I am capable to do here.

The question was: What is your backstory that gives us a vested interest in your journey?

I don’t know if anyone will be interested in my journey. But let’s move on.

I came to this the US right after I left college in 1986. I arrived here without any English, and this was the first challenge for me. I am not even talking about the fact that I was on my own. But the fact that I was alone in another country. I did not know anybody here, and could not speak English. Wow…

Many years have gone by since the day I arrived here. Since then, I have always worked for somebody, but always I had the desired to have my own business. And now I have started my online business after this long wait. Why did I wait so many years? I don’t know.

I have to go back a bit here just to say that I really started as a Travel Blogger about 6 years ago. But the blog did not make me any real money, even though, I enjoyed writing every day. I still do and I have fun with that. Besides, I have helped a lot of travelers that come to US tourists.

During the Blog time, I kept my searching to find something to make me money online. Then one day I found an ad that said “dropshipping”. Wow, buy here, copy and paste to eBay and you’ll be making a lot of money. Fantastic. That was the beginning of my online “entrepreneurship”. Selling Goods online.

My first attempt was dropshipping from Amazon, Walmart, BJ’s, Costco, Sam Club, and many others, to eBay. Guess what? it did work, and I made some sales and got so excited about it. but at some point, I found out what terrible model of business it was.

And here is why!

It sounds great that you going to sell a product that you don’t have to buy, you don’t need to stock anywhere. But you just buy from someone and send to you tour prospect and make a profit, after they make the purchase from you. Wow! I thought was going to be financially independent in a few months.

But as a dropship, you don’t have the control of your business. So, you don’t have a business. But at the right beginning, I made some sells and I found the products at Amazon. Later on, I could not find some of the products anymore. Then I could not deliver to the customers once, twice, three times Bomb!

You know the end of it! Besides, I was banned from eBay for life.

I understand that everyone has their bumps along the way. The dropship business was a great school for me. And still is these days.

Question: What did you accomplish?

Back in 1984, I have started my first business, and that was in Brazil, at the age of 22 and college students at the time. I have always liked the idea of having my own business. Work for me, being independent, is a great filling. But, it did not happen for many years since I’ve moved to the US. It did mean I forgot about it.

I did not, but I was waiting for the right moment to go on the journey of being your own boss. Those who already have their own business, knows what I am talking about, right? It is a challenge and it is NOT for anyone. You have to be strong, smart and determined to achieve your dream.

So, after many years here, I have accomplished a lot. But one thing that I always wanted, hadn’t happened yet. ’til now. yah, ’til now because I have my own little business running and I believe I will move to the next level. It’s just a matter of time.

I am not saying that it will easy. I know the challenges ahead of me. But I also know that I can win at the end of the journey.

So, to answer the question of what I have accomplished, I would say that this starting point is a great accomplishment for me. And the reason is that I have waited until here because I was not ready before. I consider that I am ready now. So this is the real kick-off for me!

Question: What Internal struggle were you dealing with?

I had to wait for the right moment to start my own business. This was not a Procrastination. It was a plan to do it right. Therefore, I had to feel the moment to get started.

I know you may say, but this is a procrastinator’s behavior. It might be, but I think it is better to procrastinate some times, they speed up a process, and then rit the wall. That could be devastating for some people. It would be for me.

Then, I have started, and I am selling physical products online for a while now. First, I had that experience dropshipping on eBay.  Terrible but taught me a lot. Now I have a store on Amazon and I have my own Website running beautifully.

But I still have some internal struggles, and working on them. For example, I have to move the business to the next level, which is selling more and more.

Procrastinating again? No, but I will only move to the next level after I am convinced that I am moving on the right direction. I am not going to play with a lot of capital here. Because I am working with my one funds and I can not lose money. Because, if I lose any money, it is the same as ritting the wall.

Wall: What Wall or Problem did you hit within your current opportunity to start you on this new journey?

  • The start part of a business is something very difficult.
  • what to sell, which niche
  • How to find the suppliers
  • How to negotiate with the suppliers, shipping, Insurance, etc
  • How to understand e-commerce announces, Amazon rules, competition and so on.
  •  Learn first how all this works together, step by step and move on to put the puzzle together.

I have done a lot and alone. As a small business owner, I work 24/7 and can’t slow down ever. maybe in the future, after I make some money and be able to hire people to help me.

Epiphany: What was the epiphany you experienced and the new opportunity you discovered?

I have said this before. My first time selling online was dropshipping from Amazon and Walmart to eBay. That was a disaster, but interesting at the same time. I did know exactly how dangerous it was for a business that wanted to be established online. So, I got my eBay account shut down for life.

I am very sad about it because I love eBay, and if I knew what I was doing, I wouldn’t let that happen.

But that was a great way to learn how to sell online. I made the mistakes that no-one had told me before how to operate. I’ve learned of my own mistakes. It was painful, but at the same time, it was helpful.

So, before I could grow my business, I was banned from doing it. Fun right? Guess what. For about two years I did not do anything online, regarding selling products. But I still had my travel blog and keeping my presence online. as I still do today. I love my Travel Blog and I keep helping travelers with it.

Until the day I decided to re-start selling products online again. That was when I got an invitation to go to a seminar to learn a method to sell online. I did not know they were going to be teaching how to sell on Amazon.

That was in April of 2017. In May I went to another of their seminars, and that was for a whole weekend. After that, I opened my Amazon FBA Account and within a few days, I was selling books, which was great.

Got some sales, got excited about it and let’s register a business…

Plan: What plan did you create to achieve your desire?

First, I had to learn the business itself. How to processed to create a business, Hire a company to do all the paperwork and open a Bank Account, etc(my part).

Secondly, I had to understand Amazon Rules, regarding fees, shipping and everything in between. In fact, up to today I still learning, as Amazon changes rules every day.

Third, I had to have the capital to invest in creating the business itself, capital to buy the products, shipping from China, in my case. And you have to have a cash flow if you want to have a business. This is very important. All that was part of the plan to start the business.

Now, considering that I am a one-man-band, it is complicated to stay on track of everything. Because my regular job is still there. My kids and everything plus I have to do on a regular bases.

What about tax and all the State Regulations. Who’s going to deal with that. Who’s going to paying sales tax’s etc. The list is pretty extensive. Guess what I do all of that alone as the day I’ve started it.

Conflict: What conflict did you experience along the way?

Now you’re thinking you are doing the right thing, and everything will be just fine. It does not apply here if you still making mistakes. And you will make mistakes. I did, I will do, and who doesn’t?

So, you have to think outside of the box the whole time. A new situation occurs all the time. If you are one Man Band, who you are going to ask for help too? There still some steps to learn. In fact, I think this is an everyday challenge you have to face. Learn, Learn and Learn on a daily bases!

Besides all that, your regular day still there for you to deal with. You can’t give up on your job yet. This is what pays your bills, right? Guess what? You’re sleeping less and less every day. Does the ball drop for you?

The conflicts here are; The business is not happening yet, you are not making money yet. Sometimes you want to quit, right? have you felt that? I bet everyone has.

I just forget about all the harsh times and keep move on. Quit is not part of my vocabulary. I know I will achieve my dream and leave a legacy for my kids. That’s all that this is about, my kids!

What was the end result you achieved?

I am in business for about a year and a half now, so, I can’t say yet I have achieved anything. But I have my business running and this is a started point. Which is great!

But I want to achieve my financial freedman. And I know, that will not happen if I continue to work for somebody else. So, to achieve my dream, I have to keep the dream alive. And the only way is to have my own business.

What transformation did you experience?

A lot of transformation is happening right now. In special with my little boy Gabriel. He is 7 years old, yes, only 8 now(update). I told him that this will be his business someday. He loved the idea. So, ready away he started to get involved with the business. Asking questions and so on.

Pretending he knows what is going on. He seats at the computer next to me and talks like he’s at a meeting with me. All the funny ways that a little boy can be…

Every day after school, if I am home, he goes to the computer and starts to schedule a meeting for us. And the other day, I caught him streaming on his iPad. He made a video talking about the business.

I said, great, here is the voice of the business. We started to make videos together, and he became the voice on those videos, for real. And he’s great at it. He does not shine and loves to make videos.

I want to remind you, he’s only 7 years old and I can tell already, he’s a very talented, little guy.  Watch the Video!

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11 Comments

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