CASE STUDY Bill Stiber
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LISA
Hey, guys. This is Lisa from the Marketplace Superheroes team and today I am speaking with Bill who is a member of the Marketplace Superheroes community. So thank you, Bill, for taking the call today.
Thank you for having me. Hello, everyone.
LISA
Great. So I’d love to learn some more about you and your experiences as a member of our community and I’d like to start with an easy one. So if you can maybe just start off by telling me some more about yourself and your origin story within the world of business.
Well I started business pretty young. I got in trouble a lot in high school. I don’t know if you all call it high school over there but it’s the ...
LISA
BILL
We have secondary school.
... grades 9 through 12. I had trouble in school with learning difficulties because I have Attention Deficit, I think, and I was always bored. So I got in trouble and because of that my father had his own business so they’d send me home and guess what I would have to do? I had to go to work for my father at 12. So I was kind of forced to learn the business and of course young men want to sometimes impress their fathers or get their father’s attention, especially ones that don’t pay attention to you like my father, so I tried to learn the business.
LISA
BILL
BILL
Okay.
So I did, and then I went in the military when I was 21 and got out after four years and then started ... I got in the banking business, real estate, mortgage lending, and then construction, and then I lost everything in ‘07, ‘08, when we had the financial crisis here in America because of the real estate boom or whatever the ... all the fraud that took place with mortgages, and here I am, starting back over again.
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BILL
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LISA
Okay. Great. That sounds like a lot then, so you’re starting fresh and then you’re obviously kind of looking for what to do next. My next question was then, what made you sign up to the course and how did you come across it, or what made you sign up?
Well I’ve been interested in passive income opportunities for years. I’ve always tried to do the ... Do y’all have network marketing there? You know what that is?
LISA
BILL
Yeah.
It’s terrible. But anyway, I’ve always thought it was cool you know to, in theory, to do some work once and then have it replicate and make money for you. You know what I mean? So I’d always get hooked by the biggest, shiniest deal with the network marketing and that’s not a good product or market for me but the idea, the concept of doing something once and having it pay you over and over again always made sense to me. I just never could find the right market. Then I started hearing about Amazon a few years back and I realised people were making money on Amazon. I started googling and I got involved with the ABC Group. That’s the retail arbitrage, and I bought that course for like $300 and I went through it and I was like, “This is not for me because this is not passive. You have to work every day. You got to go to the store and buy stuff.” That’s not what I’m looking for. I wanted to have a business where ... I don’t mind working hard but I wanted a business that if you set it up, you kind of would go on auto pilot a little bit where you could get Virtual Assistants to help you or whatever. So I read The 4-Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris’s book, and I was like, “Okay. How do I do that?”
LISA
BILL
Yes. Great book that one.
Yeah. I read that two years ago. So it’s always been in the back of my mind and so I found some other YouTube video and this guy, Stefan James. He mentioned you guys and so I took a look at it and was like ... So I just immediately signed up. I was sceptical because I didn’t have but $3,000 to my name. That’s it, you know. I’m living with my mom. I’m 45. I mean, things were bad. You know what I’m saying?
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LISA
Yeah.
So luckily they had the monthly payment plan because if I’d had to pay $1,000 up front, I couldn’t do it. You know what I’m saying? I just couldn’t do it. So I signed up. I went through the process and I just kept on looking, looking, and the hard part about this programme at first is finding products, because you don’t know what you’re looking for and even though you’ve followed the steps, you’re scared that you picked the wrong product. I mean, this first product I picked was like ... you know, I was like, no way people are going to buy this. I mean, it’s r******d. It’s a small $12, $13, $14 item. But I did, and I’m probably selling ... I’m almost selling 2,000 a month now.
LISA
Wow!
That’s the projected market. I sold 63 units last night, 70 the night before, 65 the night before that, and the bar graph has been going up. But 30 days from today it’s been 980 products. So it’s increasing.
LISA
BILL
Wow. So you’ve obviously put the effort into the product research and it’s paid off.
Yeah. The product was in high demand and there wasn’t a lot of competition. I mean, there were still 70 or 80 competitors when I first launched into this product but every single one of them, I mean, the number one person had one photo and they had like two or three bullets and they were terrible, and they didn’t even have a product description. I was like, “How in the heck are they making money?” These guys were selling 3,000 units a month and I’m sitting there going, “Whoa.”
LISA
BILL
BILL
Yeah. I think it’s that moment when you kind of look at it and you go, “I could do that way better,” you know.
Yeah. I just couldn’t believe it.
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LISA
Yeah. Exactly. Then it becomes kind of ... it’s like that moment when you realise then you can actually do it and you can actually make it a success when the number one person has such a poor listing, you know.
It’s tough when you’re coming from a place, and I don’t want to use negative mindset because I try to have a positive mindset, but I was coming from a place of poverty, if you will, and a lot of down, bad things have happened in my life. I’m a little too old to be living with my mom, you know what I’m saying?
LISA
Yeah.
So I’m starting back over and there’s not a lot of positive influence so luckily watching the videos with Stephen and Robert, they’re positive. You got a community of positive people. I really needed that because I didn’t believe in myself, if you will, because it’s all new, you know what I’m saying? And you’re like, “There’s no way you can just buy a hundred products and make a better listing and people are going to buy it.” I don’t get it. It doesn’t make any ... you know, because you don’t have your confidence built up. You know what I’m saying?
LISA
BILL
BILL
Yeah. Exactly. It sounds like even in terms of the course you know, I ask people what the valuable aspects of the course were to them and it seems like the community that was there really was important for you, you know, coming from a place of having not so great confidence and all those things.
It’s an incredible community. I’m a member of a couple of other Facebook groups because you know, when you first start off you try to get as much information ... information overload. Too much information, right? So I joined other groups and every time I asked a question in one of those other groups, I can ask the same question in the Superheroes group and the Superheroes group, somebody will answer pretty soon, and Robert and Stephen will answer pretty soon, and we’re in different time zones so I can’t expect them to answer when they’re sleeping. You know what I mean? But somebody else will answer and in these other groups, I mean, I don’t even pay attention to them anymore but I’ll go back, it’ll be like 15 days and maybe somebody will respond and I’m like, “Seriously?” How can you rely on that, you know what I mean? I’m not expecting people to give me the holy grail but you know if you have a simple question like, “Hey, guys. Do I need FNSKU labels or will Amazon put them on?” Just simple questions. It’s answered by the community, and that makes it right there.
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LISA
Yeah. I think that does make the difference and it’s sort of a mutual respect for each other’s questions because the people that have been there maybe since the start ... obviously they’re, you know, probably at a much more advanced level than people who’ve just come in but they remember what it was like to be just starting out and to have all those questions so they’re willing to give their time and respond which I think is really nice.
I agree. I try to answer questions if I have the answers for them. I mean, I’m not always cruising on Facebook but when I’m on Facebook, the only thing I’m doing is looking at Superheroes’ community group and now the Invasion because I’m part of the Invasion group. I don’t even look at my friends or anything like that unless something pops up on my phone and says it’s somebody’s birthday. I might wish them a happy birthday but I don’t even look at my home feed. I only look at the Superheroes feed, because I’m trying to build this business. You know, it may seem like a very unrealistic goal to people listening to this, but in 12 months from now I’m done with the constant re-growth and growth and not spending any money except back into the business. You know what I mean? I’m going to put a full 12 months into this and then I’m going to go travel the world for about a year. I’m still going to work but I’m not going to ...
BILL
I get up in the morning at 7:00am and I either work my job or I day trade, or whatever I can, but I’m constantly doing this Private Label, now Invasion business until midnight in some facet, whether redesigning a box design or getting on Fiverr trying to get new photos, or researching a product. I don’t have a lot of time. I know that sounds crazy but at my age, I need to establish a nest egg, if you will. A base.
LISA
I completely understand. It’s great though that you are so dedicated to it. I wanted to ask then, are you enjoying doing it as well?
Oh, it’s so fun. It’s so fun. I mean, you know I thought day trading ... because someone taught me how to day trade and I put a little bit of money in that. I’m not doing really well at it and I thought it was going to be the holy grail because in theory, you only have to trade two hours in the morning and you can make $100 to $300 per day, or you can add a contract and that would double that. Add three contracts and it would triple that, you know adding compound. But I’m having a little bit of trouble with that because my personality ... I’ll be looking at the screen then I’ll look over at the other screen. I’ll forget what I’m doing, because you know, that’s just my personality. I’m like a ... Shiny Shark Syndrome.
BILL
But with the private label and you know having gone through the Invasion, I’ve only watched the very first part because I just got it, I’ve been so busy, but with what these two products are offering, it’s perfect for my lifestyle, so, it’s exciting.
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You’ve found something that works for you, which is great, you know. That’s brilliant to hear.
LISA
My next question then was just going to be about, you know you talked a little bit about kind of how your products have expanded since the beginning. Can you maybe give us a better idea on your business growth overall and your personal growth since you started out?
Well business growth ... It was around October or November when I first purchased the Marketplace Superheroes course. I don’t even know what the course is called. I’m r******d. Is that what it’s called?
LISA
That’s close enough! Yeah. That’s close enough.
Yeah. The Private Label course ... because it’s hard to tell because all the products are in my ...
LISA
BILL
BILL
Superhero University?
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Yeah. In my University so I just call it one thing. So it was around the end of October, beginning of November when I began and so I was working a full-time job, or two part-time jobs, and I was tired all the time, you know what I mean? So I afforded myself to watch these videos and when you’re tired, for me, if I’m tired when I watch a video I fall asleep. If I can read a book, I don’t. That’s just the way it is when you’re tired. So it’s really difficult to stay awake to watch these videos but I put in the time. It took me two months to get going in reality because I didn’t understand everything from just watching a video. I don’t learn well that way. I have to do it three times. So I watched some of these videos or short clips three times before I could even kind of understand what was going on. I took notes on Evernote. So I’d watch a video one time and then I would go back and watch it the second time and then I would pull out Evernote and I would hit “pause” and I would take notes so that I could re-read them later, or I could take the notes to work and read those. I don’t learn as well as other people as far as education-wise. I’m not stupid, I just learn differently. But once I got the information and knowledge, I don’t have to go back and look at those videos unless I have a question and I can’t find an answer, then I’ll go back to the videos.
BILL
Not until January the 6th did I launch my first product. When I launched it on Amazon I hadn’t even gotten the product yet and I didn’t know what I was doing but I was following the tutorials, you know, how to add a product and the listing and then ... So I was slowly building the product and, hey, to do that right takes a while. I mean, review mining and key words. You know, the first time, even the second time I did it, it takes many hours, for me, to make it perfect and then to go under 2,000 characters? That’s the hardest part.
LISA
Yeah. Exactly.
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So I would write it perfect and then I couldn’t make it fit so I’d spend hours trying to cut a word here, make a slash there or re-write it. But that’s just like anything. So January the 18th my product launched. I only had a hundred of them. I went straight for the bundle, or the bonus, if you will. My product cost $3.50 with shipping included, and I bought a dollar-with-shipping included bonus. Because of the bonus and because my listing was so much better ... I got a photographer from Fiverr, a professional photographer and I sold a hundred in seven days, like six and a half days. So I was like, “Whoa.” But then I’m out. Then you got to go and get your inventory and ... Luckily I bought a product that if they do have to make it, depending on who I buy it from, can make it in two days. It was a very light product so I’ve been shipping by air the whole time. So I picked a product just like Robert and Stephen said... Get the lightest product you can that’ll fit in a shoebox, which I did. I polybagged them. Even though they were in a box, I polybagged them for protection and I put the big label on them. I think I’ve been doing everything I’m supposed to be doing and they’ve been selling like, bam, bam, bam, and I keep running out of inventory.
BILL
So finally I just ordered a thousand and they’re sitting in the inventory. I’m down to 600 already in like a week. I mean, they’re selling like crazy. I ordered another 1400 and they’re being delivered today. I changed the box packaging. I just put the deposit down on another 2000.
LISA
So not a bad start!
Yeah. And I was having trouble with the bonus item because that has to be manufactured and that takes 15-20 days. So there’s a lot of logistics and if you’ve never run a business before or ... I’m not trying to shy people away but if you’ve never had to deal with inventory and scheduling and ordering and you’re not very good with managing your time, you know, this could be difficult, at first, until you get a system down. Because I’m selling so fast and I’ve had so many crazy things happening, I mean I’m constantly working this business on my first product because ... And also cash flow. Man. You know, Amazon owes me a lot of money and I’ve had to spend thousands ... I’ve got $14,000 ... I have to look ... $14 or $15,000 already invested in this business. Over $10,000 of it’s in inventory. The rest is labels, photography, Amazon products, you know, stuff like that. You know, box tape, random items.
BILL
So there’s expenses, but I’m making $5.00 profit now on a product that I pay $4.00 for. That’s after Amazon fees. I’m doubling my money and some.
LISA
Great. That’s a pretty good example of ... People often say to us about, you know, “Why do you always pick boring products?” And, “Why do you always pick things that are sort of everyday?” Well it’s because obviously they sell, you know?
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BILL
Yeah.
LISA
And that’s a great example of that. Then you know in terms of the future, you were saying you want to go and travel. Are there any other goals you have for the future? Where would you like to see yourself go with this?
Well with this business ... I mean, I want to build it up as huge as possible but I watched my father work until he was 75 and had a stroke, major strokes, and he didn’t have any blueprints in place for what happens if he got sick and so we had to dismantle his business, because I didn’t want to do it. He didn’t have a living will because he’s still alive but he’s a vegetable, basically. He worked and worked and worked and he didn’t have any kind of leisure time. He was constantly working because he didn’t know how to run a business. I mean, he wasn’t taught. I selfeducated myself so that I wouldn’t make his mistakes but I don’t have any formal education on business either but I have taken many business classes and I’ve watched what doesn’t work.
BILL
You know, in America here, everybody’s work, work, work, rush, rush, rush, putting in 60-hour work weeks and you’re only living for the weekends and your boss is calling you in early and you’re working late. You don’t have time to spend with your family or kids. That is not the way you’re supposed to live life. I mean, look at the Spanish, you know, taking siestas in the middle of the day for two hours.
LISA
Yeah. Exactly.
I mean, I want that life. So my goal is to have a little bit of a balance. I always thought ... you know, it’s not super huge but if I profit and make $100,000 a year and pay a little bit of taxes and I’m only profiting $60 or $70,000, I was okay with it because I’ve already picked countries like Costa Rica, Thailand, wherever it’s really cheap to live, and I was going to just travel around the world in these small, cheap countries and continually do this private label business and save money. So that’s my goal.
LISA
BILL
Great. So big plans ahead then and also great experiences ahead and that’s what this business allows you to do I suppose as opposed to being stuck in an office, you know, five days a week and then on the weekends you’re checking your emails constantly anyway so you might as well still be in work. It’s nice. It frees up your time you know in the long run.
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This business model to me is fantastic. I mean, if I wasn’t selling so well I wouldn’t have to work this hard but I’m constantly having to work hard because my products are increasing like 33% every week, my sales, so if and when I hit the plateau, if 2,000 units a month is my plateau, which is ... thank God, that is phenomenal. I was expecting ... My original goal was 10 products, 10 a day per product and that was it. That’s a hundred sales a day. I’m almost hitting a hundred sales a day. I’m at 70 now, 67 average on one product. So I’m almost at my goal.
BILL
But I wanted to get 10 products for a total of 10 sales a day per product. That’s a hundred products, at $5.00 a piece. I didn’t care if I was in five markets, one market, it didn’t matter. You understand what I’m saying?
LISA
Yeah.
It was like my best/worst goal. That was like where I wanted to be in a year and then from there I wanted to expand, and that’s why I went ahead and latched onto the Invasion project because I was like, you know, I see this Private Label working and I was like, okay, well I’ve got to try this other thing.
LISA
BILL
Yeah, and it’s another opportunity. It’s a different opportunity but also one that’s ... You know, it’s nice to have other options as well if you for some reason got sick of the Private Label thing.
Like I said, I had put all my eggs in one basket when I went into real estate and I lost all this money on this last ... I was with a girlfriend as a partner. We put it all in one house and then we lost it all. We lost our relationship, our personal relationship, our friend relationship, all of our money because I was in one basket. If I would’ve had three homes or a home and maybe a small business and maybe something else, you know, I would still be alive today financially, or two months ago financially because ...
BILL
So that’s why I looked at the Invasion because it’s different and so it’s a different stream of income if something were to happen, God forbid, to the Private Label, perhaps the Invasion would still work. You understand what I’m saying?
LISA
Yeah. Exactly.
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So it’s multiple streams of income in different, maybe not full on different industry because it’s still an Amazon product, I mean an Amazon sales platform, but it just gives you a different stream of income and to me, I think that gives you a little bit of security. That’s also why I’m day trading, you know what I mean? I’m kind of doing multiple things to…
LISA
To keep your options open.
Yeah. Just in case.
LISA
BILL
Great. Well that all sounds fantastic. I just have one more question and that would be, if you had to give someone out there some advice as maybe they’re beginning their journey and they’re trying to choose the right course, the right path for them, what would you say to them?
This is a phenomenal package. It works. The Superhero University, the Private Label course works. You have to follow it to a “T”. I didn’t do that. That’s part of why it took me so long. I went off on a tangent and bought Jungle Scout and bought ASINspector and started thinking that that was the way to go. So I would say, buy this course. Stick to it. Follow it to a “T”. Have a little bit of faith and it will work. I mean, it’s worked for me and I’m amazed and shocked and grateful that it did and that I’m still working it.
LISA
BILL
BILL
Fantastic. Well I’d just like to thank you, Bill, for taking the call and for sharing your story. I hope you continue to have great success with your business, and thank you for your time.
Thank you.
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