Launching an eCom Biz
Plus Using BowTiedBum Tactics to Optimize Spending for Max Rewards
Intro
Today’s post will feature a special guest: TJ (aka BowTiedBroseidon). BowTiedBroseidon and I started our BowTied accounts at a similar time and have learned and grown a lot together. I can attest to his work ethic and it’s been a pleasure getting to know him over the past year and watch him grow and scale his eCom brand: Ramp Health and his product B4.
You can follow him on Twitter @TheRealTeeJayB
MS vs Scalable Biz
With Fall Prime Day behind us now, it’s a great time to reflect on our WiFi money journey and our goals and visions going forward. As many have learned after this Prime Day, there’s a limit to how much spend is possible via manufactured spending.
Think of MS as the minor leagues and your own business as the major leagues. At some point, everyone must decide whether they want to make the leap from manufactured spending to starting their own business. Note that while you can still do pretty well with just MS, you’ll always have more success when you focus on your own business. Amazon FBA at a minimum.
BowTiedBroseidon’s Journey
TJ’s journey is outlined in the free
post here. Highly recommend reading that article in full and giving a follow as well if you haven’t already.A few things to note from the article, before we discuss how this pertains to credit card rewards…
He’s not rich and launching his business didn’t require a ton of upfront capital
He’s NEVER done any sort of eCom, this was his first attempt!
He has a family and demanding W-2
He simply decided he wanted to start an eCom biz and decided he would put in the work and figure things out as he went along.
Quick Q&A
1. Was this your first try at eCom?
Yes, I’ve been a Wantrepreneur for a while and dabbled here and there but this is my first real Ecom attempt.
2. How long did it take to make your first sale?
It was ~5 months of backend work before I was comfortable starting my presale but the day I launched presale (mid April) I sold $1500 of product and had the first product shipped in July and since then have only had 1 day without a sale.
3. Did you follow any jungle eCom guides or did you wing it and figure it out as you went along?
I followed
Shopify setup and was lucky enough to be in constant communication with Fawn and Gator learning from their experiences with a ~8 month lag.4. What were your uncertainties or doubts at the beginning?
Logistics - I had no idea about any of the backend work and what was needed like: formulation, packaging, accounting, etc
5. What were the biggest obstacles you had to overcome to get to where you are now?
The biggest obstacle is still the same - converting cold leads into buyers. Because I built a ~9k+ Twitter following the majority of my sales came from that and my personal world. Good for confidence boosting but bad for scaling. I am still iterating every day on how to get strangers to buy.
6. What tips would you give to people looking to start an eCom biz?
Copy as much as you possibly can from successful businesses BUT BUT BUT…. Know your place. You are not Lululemon you are not Alpha brain. The techniques of $1bn businesses is not the strategy of a budding eCom store. I credit
@WiFiMoneyGuy & with drilling this into my head.Optimizing eCom Spend with BowTiedBum Tactics
First off, it’s been incredible to see what he’s accomplished in less than a year. It’s already been a huge success and I’d be shocked if he didn’t grow it much further in 2024.
Here’s what $40K (roughly what he spent) would have looked like for someone using BowTiedBum tactics.
What $40,000 of Spending looks like
With $40,000 biz spend and some BowTiedBum tactics, I’d be looking to get at least a 15% return on that with just credit card points alone (in addition to biz profit).
Math: 15% of $40,000 = $6,000
Here’s how: