Success Story 1: From Waiter to Amazon Business

In the business world, especially in such a dynamic environment, like Amazon, success often comes to those who are not afraid to take risks and demonstrate perseverance. The story of 26-year-old Vlad Yatsenko is a testament to this. He moved to the USA two years ago, without any education or a high level of English, but with a great desire to realize himself in the "land of opportunities."

Like many immigrants, Vlad began his career working as a waiter. 

“Of course, it wasn’t a dream job. Even before moving to the USA, I thought a lot about what I could do in a new country. I considered a career in IT, but understood that it would be a long path. I explored Private Label, but realized that this also requires significant investments of money and time. I needed quicker solutions.”

For Vlad, online arbitrage became that solution. He stumbled upon Anton Rudoy's course, which teaches how to trade on Amazon using the online arbitrage model and to find profitable products with the help of Seller Assistant. Vlad already had experience in sales; before moving to the USA, he worked on the Polish marketplace Allegro. So in the summer of 2023, he bought the training without hesitation and immediately began trading on Amazon.

Surprisingly, the first month brought good results. The second month was decent as well. But then there was a decline... I stopped succeeding. The thing is, I only take products with a ROI of 40% or higher. I’m not interested in products with low ROI. And as it is known, acquiring products with high ROI isn't easy.

For several months, Vlad struggled to establish his process. He found suitable products, but suppliers canceled orders one after another. At some point, the young entrepreneur began to doubt the reality of making money on Amazon. 

I thought everyone was deceiving me; it was impossible to earn on Amazon. I went through all the stages of acceptance. And at some point, I realized that I just needed to work on my mistakes. 

Vlad spent 8-10 hours a day trying to understand the reasons for his failures. And he succeeded. Since April, he has had stable sales every month, with an income of $4,000 to $6,000. 

What helped him not to give up during the months when his business was not growing or developing? Vlad admits that he simply couldn't imagine doing anything else in the USA. 

“I definitely didn’t want to continue being a waiter. I definitely didn’t want to go to an office because there you can earn even less than as a waiter. I didn’t want to work physically. And for everything else, I lacked either education or money. I saw myself only in sales, and my experience in this field gave me confidence that everything would work out.”

And that’s exactly what happened. Today, his Amazon business generates stable income, and Vlad is not planning to stop there. Recently, he brought a researcher onto his team to help him find the right products.

I taught him my methodology and showed him, how I search for products myself. He finds decent options, but I need better ones. So I still spend a lot of time showing him which products to pay attention to and which to avoid.

He uses Seller Assistant to analyze products. 

We actively use this extension and pay attention to all the metrics it provides: BSR, ROI, profit, and so on. In addition to Seller Assistant, we also use Keepa. In my opinion, there’s nothing else needed for online arbitrage. To be honest, we haven’t even tried other tools. Seller Assistant meets all our needs.

Vlad plans to further expand his team, hire a buyer, and optimize the process of finding and purchasing products. His short-term goal is to reach an income of $10,000 per month. And then, more. 

There are products with high ROI. That’s 40% and above. I often see on YouTube that they say ROI of 20-30% is good and even a lot. But in reality, that’s very little. One shouldn’t pursue such products, especially newcomers. It can significantly slow you down. With this approach, a seller with ten thousand dollars would earn $2,000-3,000 a month. And if he also sends products to Amazon, he would need to turn that deal over for a month and a half. Earning $2,000-3,000 in a month and a half is not why people come to Amazon.

According to Vlad, it’s worth entering Amazon even if you have no sales experience. After all, everything can be learned. 

There are now a million sellers on Amazon. Not all of them are arbitrageurs, but not all are engaged in wholesale or private label either. There are enough products for everyone. Don’t be afraid that something might not work out. Just try.

Although Amazon sometimes puts obstacles in the way of sellers by introducing new taxes and metrics, Vlad does not see this as a serious problem. 

This is business, and like everywhere else, there are its complexities. Amazon provides the opportunity to sell but also sets the pace of the game. Getting angry at it is pointless since we continue to work here. The main thing is not to give up, to maintain perseverance, and to believe that making money on Amazon is a reality, not a fairy tale.

Do you want to change your life and try to achieve success in business like Vlad Yatsenko? Take the first step with Seller Assistant. A free trial period is available for 14 days.