Amazon Side Hustle – like most Amazon FBA programs – wants you to believe you can build and run a successful e-commerce business that’s automated, profitable, and generates cash around the clock in less than 90 days…
With just a couple hundred dollars in inventory…
Sounds a little too good to be true, huh?
Look, as far as most online businesses go, you could do a lot worse than Amazon FBA.
But does that mean it’s the best solution for you?
That’s what we’ll find out in this Amazon Side Hustle review.
The biggest things you have to consider here are:
- Inventory Management
- Product Selection
- Time to Profit
While you can make good money with Amazon FBA, it’s not as easy or simple as most course creators make it sound. Let’s break these 3 down real fast:
1) Inventory Management: If you’re doing an FBA business, the promise is that you don’t need to worry at all about inventory, because Amazon takes care of packing, shipping, customer service, etc.
However, you still need to get products to Amazon. And Amazon has very strict rules all sellers have to follow when preparing products for their warehouses.
This includes packaging, labeling, and registering products in their system. If you’re preparing all products yourself, you’ll spend a TON of time on this step (potentially 4-5 hours a day). So if you’re looking for a passive, automated business that runs itself, this might not be the best fit.
Now, yes, you can hire an Amazon prep center to do all this for you, but that eats into your margins. And remember that Amazon takes around 30-40% in fees for using the FBA program, so your profits are pretty tight to begin with.
2) Product Selection: E-commerce is a cyclical business. “Hot” products are always going in and out of fashion, which means, as an Amazon seller, you constantly need to be on the lookout for the next big thing.
That means monitoring trends, searching for products that might be popular down the line, and constantly in a rat race to – essentially – predict the future.
Sure, you can play in the evergreen market (things people always need and buy), but how much profit margin are you really going to get on meal prep containers, rubber spatulas, and golf umbrellas? Especially when there are hundreds of thousands of other sellers all swimming in that same ocean.
And because you’re constantly hunting for new hot products to sell, that takes up all the valuable time you could be using to travel, explore, read, surf, hike, or whatever else.
3) Time To Profit: Now, this isn’t the slowest turnaround time, but if you think you can put a dollar into inventory today and come out with two tomorrow, you’re sadly mistaken. From the time you first buy products to sell, you could be looking at anywhere from 4-12 weeks before you see a dollar come back.
And it could take twice as long before you break even.
Now, that’s not terrible, but what if you could start building a different (non-Amazon) income stream today, and see your first profits tomorrow?
What if you could build a passive income stream that’s actually passive?
An income stream that doesn’t require:
- Inventory
- Low margins
- Constantly looking for the next hot product
An income stream that brings in consistent revenues every single month (from a couple thousand dollars to well over $10,000)?
An income stream you could actually build in your spare time, and grow as large or as small as you want to, without having to spend hours a day packing, prepping, and researching?
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out Digital Leasing.
This is nothing like Amazon FBA, and that’s probably a good thing.
However, if you’d still like to know more about Amazon Side Hustles, keep reading.
Amazon: How it came to be?
On July 5, 1994, Jeff Bezos had a brain baby and then hatched into what we call now Amazon. Its birthplace? Jeff’s garage in Bellevue, Washington. Little did he know that this idea was a cut above the rest of his other money making ideas and later on earned him billions It was first just a typical online bookstore that later on became what people call it The Everything Store; from wide range of products, it truly earned its moniker. It’s expansion seems limitless. Amazon Web Services, Zoox (autonomous cars), Kuiper Systems (satellite Internet), and Amazon Lab126 (computer hardware R&D), now this enterprise owns a number of subsidiary companies. Ring, Twitch, IMDb, and Whole Foods Market are also some of the Amazon associates. Its purchase of Whole Foods Market in August 2017 for the US $13.4 billion significantly extended its physical retail reach. As of now, Amazon continues its legacy by being Kindle’s exclusive publisher. Now you know where your kindle book came from. Now Amazon is home to 9.1 million sellers, and its profits are off the charts!
How Do You Start Your Own Amazon Side Hustle?
No need to grab a pen and notepads to take this down.
This one’s pretty easy.
Amazon is an online selling platform which means it’s accessible to everyone. To start your own brand name you’ll just need these few things:
- Bank Account
- Credit Card
- Government Issued ID
- Tax Info
- Phone number
If you have all of these and the drive to sell, all you need left is the Amazon seller app on your phone. Like I said, easy peasy lemon squeezy. No need to grab a pen and notepads to take this down.
Who Can Become An Amazon Seller?
You’ll have to be a millionaire to start selling merchandise on Amazon, JUST KIDDING! You don’t even need a large capital investment. In fact, an initial hundred bucks can enter you in to the gig. Money aside, whether you are a solo retailer or a collective one, a great idea is what will really do it for you. It’s a product-based business that’s why it’s best for you and your brand name to be somewhat edgy, different from the rest in some way. Take this advise and do your research. Don’t fret, bud. As intimidating as Amazon sounds like it’s actually a very chill place to set up shop on. So, if you have your phone or laptop on you, and your WiFi is not acting up, you can immediately sign up for it!
Choosing The Right Products
Amazon is a market that’s open to almost all products. That being said, choosing your product will be the one that either breaks or makes your Amazon business. Even if you just want to do this as some side hustle, wouldn’t you still want to see quick profits? If yes, here are some tips on product sourcing gathered through research. The first thing you need to decide on is what your products will be. I’ve read an article that actually encourages beginners to sell the simple stuff. Maybe a cute mug or a toothbrush holder, anything you might just suddenly see and say, “I don’t know why, but I think I need this.” There are flocks of impulse buyers on Amazon, so start channeling your impulsive spirit and list down all the things you, yourself, might buy. Finding a manufacturer is the second step. You can produce your own product. You can even sell your creation on Amazon Handmade. But if you’re just here to earn extra cash and not commit to a full-time job, I suggest you find yourself a second party to do the work for you. Quality, time efficiency, and price 3 are the things you should lookout for a manufacturer. Low quality, time delay, and unwarranted prices is equal to low sales. Remember that formula. Lastly, try to spy on your competitors’ products. If you have specific products that you want to sell, it’s better to outsource for prices and feedback before heading into the battle. It’s easy to do this, just go to Amazon and search up your product. I recommend seeing what customers usually dislike and complain about, then avoiding doing the same thing to the best of your abilities. It’s like your very own cheat code! You’ll be surprised how these three tips can help you.
Using The Right Business Model
Okay, now that we’re done with how to choose your product, let’s head on to some of the most common business models Amazon sellers use, and you can use too. This will help you along the way to manage you
Retail arbitrage
Retail arbitrage is not as unfamiliar as it sounds. If you read through the previous sections, you might be even thinking of using this already, but you just do not know the term. Basically, this is just buying a product and then selling it for more than half its original price. This model is pretty popular you’re when it comes to a side hustle. To help further price your item, the Amazon seller app helps you in a lot of ways.
Wholesale
This one’s pretty much the same as retail arbitrage. Both are about reselling products. Although the difference is in wholesaling, instead of buying small numbers, you’ll buy in bulk of a product, which is sometimes cheaper. The advantage of this model is that it has inventory upfront. After buying a lot, you won’t need to order from manufacturers for some time, creating a three-way process. It’s going to be just You, Amazon, and the Customer. It’s faster and gives you a good reputation of always being delivery-ready.
Private Label
This must be the most different plan from the three if you resell ready-made products under the two models. In this method, you bring out your own touch with the items you’ll be putting on the market. You’ll either buy generic products and customize them as your own, and you can also introduce an item you personally manufactured. Private labeling is something I don’t recommend to side-hustlers simply because it can be time-consuming due to its meticulous process.
Before choosing a Model you’ll have to consider 3 things first:
-
- Your expectation of profit. Doing Amazon as a side hustle has a big difference from doing it longer-term.
- What you can give/invest in is also vital. Money and time are of the essence in figuring out what model you should use.
- Current commitments. Even a side hustle needs time in your life.
Leveling Up From Extra Money To Full-Time Income
If you’ve reached this part you’re probably interested with how you can earn money from Amazon, enough to make it your full-time income generator. Here are some of the tips that may help you if ever you want to take your side hustle to the next level:
- Make Use of the Best Keywords and Listings Possible.
- Join Prime.
- Select the Most Appropriate Type of Fulfillment
- Aim for Buy Box
- Make the Most of Your Advertising Budgets
- Maintaining a competitive price
- Improve Your Customer Metrics is Secret
- A+ content is a must
- Open Your Own Customized Retail Store
Can Amazon Side Hustles Be A Scam?
So, are Amazon side hustles a scam? Not technically. You can make money with this program, but it’s definitely not as it sound. There’s a ton of work to be done upfront, no real guarantee of success, and – most importantly – you need to do a ton of volume to make any real money. Now, there’s nothing wrong with front-loading the work and making the money later. But if you’re grinding it out for 3 months and then your reward is 15% profit on a $12 product (which comes out to $1.80), it’s not really worth it. What if, instead, you could do that same 3 months of work (in your spare time), and your reward was a $500 to $2,000 payment that came in every single month (recurring revenue)? And what if you actually didn’t need to wait 3 months? What if you could get started today and have your first payment in a week? And what if you could double it next week? Well, that’s the power of Digital Leasing. And, unlike with Amazon FBA, you can legitimately do this from anywhere. It’s a true lifestyle business. Your laptop and an internet connection is all you need. Some of the most successful students in this program run their entire 6-figure businesses from:
- A camper in the middle of the woods
- A beach chair on the water in Mexico
- A small villa in Greece
They’re able to travel around, living their lives first, and focusing on their income second. Because even if they stop working for an extended period of time, the money keeps coming in. So adventure, memories, and experience are the top priority. And they never have to worry about how to pay for the next trip, or consider asking for time off. If this sounds more like the type of life you want to lead, just click here to find out more about Digital Leasing.
Are there alternatives to Amazon side hustle?
Yes, there are plenty of other business models to choose from if you want to pursue making money online. Here are just a few:
- Local Lead Generation
- Digital Leasing
- SEO
- Real Estate
- Website Building
My #1 Recommendation For Making Money Online In 2024
Our review team has spent months researching, reviewing, and vetting dozens of business models and thousands of programs. While there may be no “perfect business”, the research IS conclusive: Digital Leasing is the #1 online business model for those just starting out. Whether you’ve never made a dollar online, or you’ve been in this space for a while but never really “made it,” Digital Leasing is for you. Why?
1) It’s Flexible: got an hour a day? You can do this. Ready to drop everything else and dive in full time? You can do this. Yes, the more time you put in, the faster you see results. But even with a little time each day, you can move the needle in a Digital Leasing business. And because this system is so flexible, you don’t have to constantly be working to make more money. It’s called PASSIVE INCOME because if you stop working, the money doesn’t. Imagine taking 3 months off to just tour around Europe, rent a cabin in the woods to write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, or live on the beach and surf all day. This is only possible if you have an income stream that’s not tied to your time.
2) You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With Amazon FBA, you don’t really own anything. Yes, you technically own the products before you send them into an Amazon warehouse, but that’s it. You don’t own the sales platform, you don’t own a brand, and you don’t own the customers.
Not to mention, Amazon can literally shut you down at any time if they believe you’ve violated their constantly changing terms of service. So you’re building a business that could be completely taken away from you in the blink of an eye. With Digital Leasing, you own the assets, which means you have all the power and all the control.
3) Little To No Startup Costs: It’s possible to get into Digital Leasing with zero dollars upfront. Because, using the strategies outlined in this program, you can get a client to pay you BEFORE spending a penny out of your own pocket…even before you do any work. Even without getting paid in advance, you can have your first Digital Rental Property up, running, and generating profits for less than $100.
4) No Inventory: As mentioned above, spending 4-5 hours a day prepping and packing products to send to Amazon is a huge time commitment. Plus, you constantly need to be buying new products if you want to maintain your business. You need to spend even more money if you want to scale up. With physical products, you’ll always have limits on your time and freedom. With Digital Leasing, a 100% online business, you never have to worry about that.
5) Easy To Duplicate: Ok, here’s the best part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up and running, you can literally DOUBLE your income with a few clicks, a couple keystrokes, and a single phone call (and you don’t actually need the phone call). Remember: each Digital Rental Property is worth $500 to $2,000 a month in semi-passive income (over 95% profit). Every time you decide to create another one and increase your income, it gets easier. Because you have more knowledge, more experience, more results, and more momentum. If you wanted to double your income with Amazon FBA, you’d have to double your inventory OR your profit margins. And, guaranteed that’s a lot harder than a few clicks and a few minutes of your life.
6) Make Money Helping Real People: This part is what makes it all worth it. Amazon FBA is a decent way to make yourself money, but it doesn’t improve anyone else’s lives. After all, there’s always someone else selling rubber spatulas and umbrellas. That might be fine in the short term, but in the long run you may feel like you’re missing a purpose. With Digital Leasing though, you’re actually helping people by solving your clients’ biggest problem…Small, local businesses need more customers, and with Digital Leasing, you are unleashing a flood of happy, paying customers for these businesses. You make money by helping them make money. Not a big, faceless corporation either…a small business owner who’s using that money to put food on the table for their family, start a college fund for their kids, or take care of a sick parent. Once you see how Digital Leasing makes a real impact in the lives of real people, you’ll sleep like a baby with a big smile on your face.
Now, the choice is yours. You could continue browsing, looking at opportunities like Amazon Side Hustles which could one day make you money. You could continue researching, never making a decision, or you could take a look inside, consider what you really want, and join a program that makes your dreams a reality. At the same time, joining a community of over 2,000 successful students that are living life on their own terms thanks to Digital Leasing. A consistent, reliable, semi-passive stream of income that doesn’t depend on you or your time to keep producing profits. All while genuinely helping real people who are grateful and happy to pay for it. If this sounds more like what you want out of life (or if you just want some nice side income), click here to learn more about Digital Leasing.