How To Start A Successful Amazon Business

Many of us dream of the day that we can stop working for someone else, and instead start our own business and be our own boss.

Becoming an entrepreneur is hard – there is a lot of work upfront. Suddenly you’ll be responsible for a lot of things that your employer was doing for you before, and you’ll need to learn a lot. That said, being an entrepreneur is also incredibly rewarding. By using Amazon, you can essentially piggyback onto a venture that is already wildly successful and create one of your own that doesn’t take you away from the things you care about quite as often as a regular job.

Create a business that can run itself

This is advice that is well worth heeding. If you want to eventually end up with more time to yourself, it makes sense to start a business that eventually you won’t need to touch. Obviously, in the early stages, you will need to put in a lot of work to get up and running, but it’s possible to create an Amazon business that runs itself.

Think about business ideas where most of the functions can be outsourced.

For example, are you selling a product? Try to design a process where the manufacture and shipping of the product are carried out by third parties, as well as other functions like marketing and accounting. This way, you’ll only need to get involved for the fun job of creating new products.

If you’re thinking about creating a course for how to sell on Amazon, think about creating it on video or on PDF, so that you don’t need to deliver the course personally each time. Don’t be afraid to pursue multiple ideas at once and see which ones stick. You can’t know if something is going to be successful until you actually try it – so, try everything you can!

Focus on marketing strategy upfront

Marketing is the most important part of any business, and you should be thinking about it from the start. If you create a product and then decide who to market it to, you’re already at a disadvantage. The most effective strategy is to identify a place where people are really struggling and then create a solution to their problem. If you approach it in this way, convincing people to buy will be a whole lot easier.

It’s also worth getting some professional help around how to effectively market your Amazon business. Nuancedmedia.com is a digital marketing agency that is an expert in this field. They can help you to optimize your marketing strategy without spending a fortune.

Stuck for inspiration?

Sometimes the best way to find your perfect business idea is to just get started with something. This will get your mind working creatively, and you’ll find that you’re more receptive to new ideas.

Two great Amazon business ideas are:

• Starting a product review blog. Amazon has an affiliate marketing scheme, so if people click through and buy something after reading about it on your blog, you’ll make some money. If you create ‘evergreen’ blog posts that are always relevant, they will continue to make money without you having to touch it again. You could even outsource the writing part to freelancers.
• Start a dropshipping business. Dropshipping means that the manufacture, storage and shipping of your product is handled by a third party. Find the right product, list it on Amazon, and you’ll be laughing!

Ryan Flannagan is the Founder & CEO of NuancedMedia, an international eCommerce marketing agency specializing in Amazon. Nuanced has sold $100s of Millions online and Ryan has built a client base representing a total revenue of over 1.5 billion dollars. Ryan is a published author and has been quoted by a number of media sources such as BuzzFeed and Modern Retail. To connect with Ryan, check out @Ryanflannagan on Twitter or via Linkedin.