How to Make $10,000 Selling a Simple Product Online with Google and China’s Help!
7:01 AM Dear Entrepreneur:Check out my new Importing Fortunes promo. Bob Maydonik makes $10,000 to $20,000 every month importing a simple product from China and selling it online.
He also secured a unique partnership with Google to design his AdWords campaign for him.
I talked to Bob on Monday about his little venture.
On top of that, Google provided advertising seed money for him to boot!
I’ll show you how Bob does it and how you could do something similar too.
As some of you know, I wrote a comprehensive home study course and e-book called China Wholesale Trader. An updated edition will be available soon from AWAI.
But know this…..
I’m not a rookie when it comes to outsourcing companies in China, and importing products for resale.
What’s more, my good friend and consulting client Phillip Sterling was in the process of launching a venture to export cigarettes to China and sell them under a “Mary Kay Cosmetics” business model, until his untimely death in 2004.
This was before all the “big boys” got ahold of the strategy.
And so…I have a little insight into exporting products into China as well.
Here’s what Bob Maydonik did ….
Bob designed an oversized yoga mat which measures 6’ x 6’.
He called his company and product Square36.
This simple product makes $10,000-$25,000 per month for Bob Maydonik.
It took Bob about a year and a half to get this thing up and running, and become profitable. You could do it much faster with the information in today’s issue!
Bob got the idea for an oversized yoga mat while doing the training program P90X. He told me he was annoyed the size of typical yoga mats.
A New Site Opens the Door for You …..
With the idea in hand Bob he set out to find someone to design and manufacture it.
The he stumbled on Alibaba.com.
Alibaba.com is a Monster Resource for entrepreneurs to manufacture and import products from China.
Alibaba.com is one of the highest traffic business websites on the Internet.
I’m dead serious…..they have more than 6 million registered users and facilitate more than $6 billion dollars in transactions every year.
Bob located a company to manufacture the Square36 and export it to the US super cheap!
The next step was to get a website up and running…. here it is:
Square36.com
A website is the easy part.
Granted, a nice website with dependable ecommerce takes a little effort……generic templates won’t work.
But most entrepreneurs get overwhelmed with all the website stuff.
Focus on users and customers….NOT on your company, product or prices….and you’ll be fine.
Bob simply jotted down some ideas for his website and handed it to a freelance designer. It should only take a couple of days to develop a simple ten page website.
In fact, whenever you work with a webmaster, designer or programmer ALWAYS insist on completion date. If they can’t do it don’t hire them.
If you hire or retain someone with “artist tendencies” you could wait for years to get a website built!
I’m serious….I’m telling you this from experience on hundreds of ventures and websites.
Enough said.
The next thing Bob did was approach Google to buy keyword advertising.
But get this……..
Google built the Square36 AdWords campaign for them!
You heard right.
Most people don’t realize Google offers free consulting and assistance when it comes to setting up an AdWords campaign.
Yes…..Google wants your money…as much as possible.
But Google understands (better than most) they can’t make big bucks over the long term without helping people make money.
On top of that, Google gave Square36 seed money credit to launch the product and the campaign!
One of the biggest mistakes Bob made (in his words) were the first twenty prototypes of the oversized yoga mat.
They bought a HUGE roll of PVC mat and asked the yoga supply wholesaler to cut them into 6? x 6? mats.
But the wholesaler ripped off their idea! This is fairly common but it always hurts.
In addition, the wholesale company grabbed the photo of Bob’s mat and took credit for it.
Bob quickly dealt with the situation by changing the color of our mat to black, increasing the density and thickness, and then embossing their logo on it.
Oh….Bob dumped the US wholesaler and went with a reputable company in China.
Bob mentioned the ripoff wholesaler has done a lousy job marketing their “knock off” product and so it hasn’t affected Square36 sales whatsoever.
A Million Dollar Lesson
Bob Maydonik learned a million dollar lesson about doing business in China.
When you do business in China the most important thing is the “connection”.
In other words, if you meet with a Chinese business partner and talk about your family for two hours! In the last ten minutes of a meeting the topic of terms and pricing might surface.
“If you take the factory manager out for beers you’ll get way better pricing & terms”, Bob said.
The business culture in China is built our “connections”, family, friends, and associates,
The biggest thing Bob learned about online marketing (and Google AdWords) is the time of day matters.
In other words, most people aren’t shopping online during their workday. The ads running on weekday nights always perform best.
Bob also said incorporating the cost of shipping into the price is the best way to go. Advertising “FREE SHIPPING” is very effective when it comes to Google AdWords campaigns.
Bob swears by the Alibaba.
He told me entrepreneurs new to this business should find a minimum of three manufacturers who can make what you want.
When you’re getting stuff made in China there’s a good chance the manufacturers will be in the same town (different towns seem to specialize in manufacturing one type of product).
If you can visit manufactuers in person, do it. Bob and his partner visited five factories for the Square36 mat. But only one of the five factories could actually do their project.
Bob registered his Internet domain (URL) with NetFirms.com. They host the domain at BlueHost.com.
Bob said the only thing he would you do differently is pick a product that’s easier to ship. A 6? x 6? yoga mat weighs about ten pounds. It’s as easy to ship as a pair of shoes or a DVD.
What’s more, you can fit a much smaller product in a Sea-Can, this would mean significant savings.
That’s it!
Bob saw a need, developed an idea, started SUPER small, found an inexpensive way to manufacture the product and import it. Then he got some help from Google to set up a profitable AdWords campaign.
You da man!
Please send me your thoughts, ideas, complaints or feedback. We read every comment, email, post and snail mail letter.
Regards,
Marc Charles
“The King of Business Opportunities”Importing Fortunes 2016
*** Action Strategy ***
Do you have an idea for a product?Hold on quick draw!Everyone has an idea for a product. You need to make sure there’s an existing market for it. Don’t try to invent or build a demand for something….it’ll cost you millions.Instead, focus on products already selling in the marketplace. Three tools I use are Google, eBay and infomercials. Search Google Products and eBay for products selling now. You can use Terapeak to find out what’s selling on eBay too.Infomercials are a great resource too. Do you know how much money it takes to develop, market and sell products through an infomercial? The answer is a boatload. So….if you see repeat infomercials you can bet they are probably selling products like crazy.Then go to Alibaba.com and find a company to make it for you, and import it.Start small, test, and roll it out!
****Valuable Resources****
Alibaba.com Discussion Lists and Forums
Alibaba.com Tutorials
Alibaba.com A-Z
TradeKey (similar to Alibaba.com – excellent resource)
Asian Product Directory
As Seen On TV (hundreds of commercials and infomercials)
