Case Studies: How to Build Online Businesses That Gross $250,000+ Per Month 265 Comments.

Case Studies: How to Build Online Businesses That Gross $2. Per Month. Debbie Sterling’s Goldie. Blox is now grossing $3. My specialty is modeling success. I analyze what works and ask: what recipe can I find that others can use? In this post, we’ll dissect five successful online businesses.

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Some of them (e. g. Goldie. Blox) are now grossing $3. One (Fresh- Tops) has gone from 1 to 2. Some of the other stats are even more impressive. The highest monthly sales by a contestant in the FIRST two months of starting, excluding any pre- existing businesses, was $1. How would that change your life? Out of more than 1.

Shopify Build- a- Business Competitions, these five businesses are those that sold the most in completely different categories: Design, Art and Home. Gadgets and Electronics. Fashion and Apparel. Canadian . Go Canucks!? Free Download Lagu Skillet Awake And Alive Drum. And what can you replicate on your own? For both questions, the answer is: more than you think.? Grand prize is an all- expenses- paid trip to Necker Island, Richard Branson’s private island, to be mentored for a week by Richard, yours truly, Seth Godin, and a bunch of amazing folks.

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Check out this description. This allows you to use a real controller to play games on your smartphone. It opens the Android platform up to more than just “casual” gaming with touch screen controls, and really gives you a full console experience at a fraction of the cost. How did you decide on your product? What ideas did you consider but reject, and why?

I was frustrated with the controls on my smartphone. Touchscreen controls worked okay for simple games, but anything more complex was impossible. I made a bracket to hold my phone onto my controller, and realized other people might want one too. I didn’t reject any other product ideas.

I set out looking for a solution to a problem I had, instead of looking for a product to sell. Once I had my solution, the Game. Klip, I focused on finding a way to share it with others. What were some of the main tipping points (if any) or a- ha moments? How did the tipping points happen? The first a- ha moment was when I snapped my phone onto my controller for the first time.

I found myself playing games for hours, and really enjoying the experience. I stayed up all night bending plastic and trying out different shapes until I arrived at a design I thought was efficient and presentable. The second a- ha moment was when I posted a video of my prototype and started pre- orders.

I realized there actually was a demand for my creation. I used the pre- orders to fund my first batch of plastic.

The third a- ha moment came when I realized that I couldn’t continue hand- making the Game. Klip forever. I spent all my money on a mold so I didn’t have to make the Game. Klip by hand anymore. I couldn’t afford a mold for every phone, so I cut the product line down to just two versions, a model for the Galaxy S3, and a universal solution. The community met the new models with open arms and demand increased immensely. My final a- ha moment was when I could finally contract my assembly process. I was able to use some of the funds generated from the new molded version to contract out an assembly line.

Now that my production process was scalable beyond the hours I could put in myself, the Game. Klip was finally ready for retail distribution.

What were your biggest mistakes, or biggest wastes of time / money? About half of my time was spent struggling with my spreadsheets and dealing with the post office, instead of focusing on my product, so I wish I found solutions to those earlier. It’s easy to say that I should have streamlined my manufacturing earlier, but each step along the way was a learning experience. If I had jumped into contract manufacturing and assembly earlier, it’s very possible that I would have taken on too much. If I had unlimited units to sell, with no ecommerce platform to sell them on, it would have been a disaster. Key manufacturing and marketing lessons learned?

Keep things local. To find a manufacturer, I started with a simple Google search. I found that there was an injection molding company right across the street from one of the restaurants I frequent, but unfortunately their machines were all booked.

Even though they weren’t able to take on my project, I was able to use their 3d printer for my prototypes, and they pointed me in the right direction for finding another company that could produce the part. If you’re just starting out, I’d suggest doing some local searches and talking to as many people as possible. I started by calling a local shop that supplied plastic sheets for home projects. I described my idea, and asked if they knew anyone in the area that could help me make it happen. I found that most people were more than happy to spend a few minutes on the phone to help. Try searching for a “rapid prototyping” shop in your area. They’ll be able to help make some physical prototypes of your product, and most will have connections with companies that can handle the manufacturing when you’re ready.

When I did get all my manufacturing processes figured out, I was really glad that I kept everything as local as possible. The Game. Klip and packaging are made in the USA. It costs a little more to manufacture things here instead of overseas, but the added convenience of being able to drive over and talk to people is incredibly valuable. The packaging is printed, and the units assembled, about half an hour away from my apartment. As for marketing, I approached that aspect of the company a little differently than most. Instead of making a traditional advertisement, I simply sat down and recorded myself showing the product and explaining what you could do with it. I think it’s important to let the product speak for itself.

Everything exploded organically after that. Any PR wins? Media, well- known users, or company partnerships, etc? How did they happen?

I was an active member on Reddit, and Android forums like XDA Developers, long before I started Game. Klip. When I did launch my product, the members of both of those communities definitely helped me spread the word. I couldn’t have done it without them.

The Game. Klip has been featured on Gizmodo, The Verge, The Fancy, ABC News, PC World, CNET, Phandroid, Android Authority, Ask Men, as well as many other blogs around the world. I didn’t make any pitches or hire a marketing firm to get these mentions, they all picked up on my story on their own. In my opinion, having interesting photos of your product is crucial! I made sure I had a somewhat large selection of quality photos available, to make it as easy as possible for writers to feature my story. If I had to do it over again, I would have gone a step further and created a press kit ahead of time.

That way it would have been even easier for blogs to pick up on my story. What software/tools and resources, mentors or groups did you find useful for growing, if any? The most useful tool to me was Google search.

For example, to learn more about international shipping, I simply searched “best way to ship a package overseas” and found that lots of people post on forums with great information. The amount of information stored on forums is incredible!

Software wise, Ship. Station is an app which allowed me to automatically pull orders from my online store and create shipping labels. Before I found this I was copying and pasting addresses into the USPS website manually. Now I click one button and the invoices come out of one printer and the shipping labels come out of another.

The order processing efficiency still amazes me every morning! Galaxy On Fire 2 Supernova Android Apk. If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently? Having a real shipping system and the hardware to back it up (a label printer), would have helped a lot. My two most prized possessions at this point are a shipping label printer and an automatic tape dispenser. When I first started I was running sticker paper through my home printer, cutting the labels out with scissors, and using tape from my local office supply store.

I managed to ship over a thousand packages this way, but I could have saved a huge amount of time and money if I adopted a better system earlier. Any other advice to people starting their first online businesses? Don’t feel like you need to know everything, or that everything has to be perfect before you start.

I knew nothing about running a business, had no idea how to have something manufactured, and had no idea how to ship a package overseas. I’ve now shipped thousands of units to over 8. It won’t be easy, there’ll be many points where you feel like giving up, but it’s worth it.

What’s next? I am still pushing forward at full speed. I hope to have the Game. Klip on store shelves around the world. Design, Art & Home Category Winner: Goldie. Blox. Who are you and what is your Shopify store? Debra Sterling, Founder of Goldie. Blox. Describe your product in 1- 3 sentences.

Goldie. Blox is a book series and construction toy starring Goldie, the girl engineer. Throughout Goldie’s adventures, she encounters problems she needs to solve by building simple machines. As kids read along, they get to build along with Goldie, learning basic engineering principles with each story.

How much revenue is your company currently generating per month (on average)? Over 3. 00. K per month. To get to this revenue number, how long did it take after the idea struck? About 6 months. How did you decide on your product? What ideas did you consider but reject, and why? When I first started, a lot of advisors were telling me to ditch the idea of a toy entirely and just do an app.

I decided to do a physical toy (in addition to an app, which we are launching around x- mas this year) because I felt that the tactile experience of building things was a better way to introduce mechanical engineering principles. Screen play alone just doesn’t do it justice.

My earliest toy sketches were girly Legos. I ditched this idea because I felt like it was reinforcing all the same old gender stereotypes.