how to start ecom while working a 9-5
The speaker advises aspiring e-commerce entrepreneurs working full-time jobs to save 6 months of living expenses for security, maintain a minimum $50/day advertising budget ($350/week) to generate meaningful data, and build a network of other e-commerce entrepreneurs to accelerate learning through shared knowledge.
Summary
The speaker opens by emphasizing the importance of building a financial safety net of 6 months' living expenses before seriously pursuing e-commerce while employed. This buffer reduces stress and provides security, though the speaker acknowledges this approach may not be suitable for most people and describes themselves as unconventional for not following this advice themselves. The speaker then addresses advertising spend requirements, arguing that a minimum daily budget of $50 ($350 weekly) is necessary to collect meaningful data and test products effectively. They caution against attempting e-commerce with lower budgets, recommending instead to continue learning and absorbing information during the waiting period. Finally, the speaker highlights the value of community and peer interaction in e-commerce, noting that building relationships with other entrepreneurs accelerates progress through shared experiences, perspectives, and philosophies. The speaker emphasizes that collaborative learning with multiple perspectives yields better results than learning in isolation.
About this episode
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Key Insights
- The speaker recommends never dropping advertising spend below $50 per day ($350 per week) to collect sufficient data and test products effectively in e-commerce
- The speaker acknowledges their unconventional approach by not saving 6 months of living expenses themselves, describing this as advice for 99% of people but unsuitable for their own risk tolerance
- The speaker argues that interacting with other e-commerce entrepreneurs and observing their actions, views, and philosophies accelerates progress more than individual learning, summarizing that 'two brains are better than one'
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] You need to prioritize saving for 6 months of living expenses. Your future self will thank you. This will make your life much less stressful and give you a sense of security. Unless you're crazy like me, I wouldn't recommend this to 99% of people. Now, let's say you have deferred living expenses. You have a job, you have an income. Personally, I would never drop my advertising spend below $50 per day, which is $350 per week. If you can achieve that, after all the initial costs, I'd say awesome. Go run your ads, collect some data, start having fun selling all sorts of nonsense. If you can do less, [0:30] I wouldn't recommend it. I'll just put…
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