Hi everyone!
It’s time for yet another Merch Pursuits income report! This post has been a long time coming. As the title suggest, I’m happy to report that after just 8 short months on Merch by Amazon – I have finally hit $1,000 in [organic] t-shirt sales!
And by organic, I mean I have done zero marketing or zero social media sharing. I literally wake up, log into Merch, and see if any designs have sold.
I started Merch Pursuits in August of 2016 – the same day I started my Merch by Amazon journey. I promised to write monthly income reports from Day 1, regardless if I had a good month, a bad month, or a month that was just “meh.” My promise to you has always been the same: To be as open, honest, and transparent with you about my Merch journey. Although I’m a little late in posting this income report, I’m still posting nonetheless.
I’ll never sell you an e-book, or “how to” course. There’s plenty enough quality content regarding how to be successful with Merch that you really shouldn’t need to spend money to start making money on Merch. I’m proof of that.
And you know what? I’m proud to say I’m making 4 figures a month on Merch by Amazon all on my own accord. However, there are a certain few tools I use to get me where I am, and those can be found on my Resources page. I’ve done the hard work for you, I’ve found which tools are useful, what tips helped me the most, and I’m hoping they help you out too, without having to experiment like I did. You can probably make a lot more than I did just by reading every post on my blog!
So, let’s break down April 2017 a little bit.
Previous Income Reports
If you haven’t been following along, you should get up to speed by reading the previous income reports first.
Here they are!
Current Month Income Report
Date Range: 4/1/17 – 4/30/2017
Tier Level: 500, 292 live
Shirts Sold: 206
Total Profit: $1,063.07
Month 8 Recap
If you remember from my most recent income report, I had just barely made it to the 500 Tier in March of 2017. My profit from just 30 days prior was $563. And the month before that was only $394. (I say only like it’s a bad thing, haha. I guess that shows how much your attitude changes once you expect a higher profit month after month.) As you can see, I’ve steadily been increased my profits since the very beginning. Tiering up has helped me almost double since the previous month!
I’m ecstatic to see these numbers. I really am. As the sole provider for my family of four, an extra $1,000 is absolutely life-changing. My goal with Merch has always been to work until I can pay my mortgage with Merch. In the past, I’ve been hesitant to post these numbers online – but, it’s come to a point where I don’t think I can avoid it any longer. You need to know how much my mortgage is, to know that I’m actually paying it in Merch money.
My mortgage payment is $1,090/month. I am so close to reaching that goal I can almost taste it. Literally within just a few dollars of achieving that goal I set for myself a few months prior. Unless something changes drastically (or I lose my Merch account), I honestly think I’ll need to come up with a new goal.
Outside Factors
As I mentioned last month, I was promoted to an IT Manager position at my company. I still work full-time, from 7-4 Monday-Friday in addition to my Merch by Amazon side gig. I officially started as IT Manager on May 1st, but to be completely honest, my brain had started several weeks prior. Between learning my new job role, taking over new projects, and managing the people that I used to be on the same level as – things certainly have been challenging. A good challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.
Regardless, I promised myself that I wouldn’t become complacent with my success on Merch by Amazon. I may not being able to upload designs everyday, and I may not be able to upload quite as many pre-made Merch designs to my store as I always been, but I will make damn sure my profits grow month after month. $1,000 is awesome, but I know I can double or triple that. I’ve got the formula down, now I just need to scale.
And – before I go any further – I really hope that talking about my personal life a little doesn’t bother any of you. How else could I be open and honest about my journey, if I’m hiding the things that are impacting my daily life? Part of being open and honest is explaining how I find time for Merch, or how I simplify the uploading process. My family is a huge part of my life. My son just turned 1 last month, and he’s learning something new everyday!
Many of you have families or kids yourself! If you fall into that category, trust me, it’s not easy. Finding free time for anything – including Merch – can be hard. Even if you don’t have kids, dedicating a small window of time every single day is hard. It takes persistence, it takes sacrifice, it takes willpower. I made my choice 8 months ago, and now it’s paying off.
I’ve gotten coworkers, friends, family, and even my wife to join Merch by Amazon! It’s truly an amazing opportunity, and I feel very blessed to have joined when I did.
It’s not too late for you, I promise.
Tips For Success
If you’re just starting out, joining Merch can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to learn, and a lot to process. I’ve written these useful guides in the past, and I hope they help you out as you start your journey.
How To get Started With Merch by Amazon
How To Do Merch T-Shirt Research
How To Organize T-Shirts on your PC
How To Write SEO-Friendly Amazon Bullet Points
How To Quickly Edit Prices of ‘Pending Removal’ Designs
What Software Tools Should I Use?
In short, I do a few things to make a few additional sales each month. If I have a best-selling design, I upload different variants of it to Merch by Amazon. For example, if I first uploaded an all-white text design, and it sold a couple times that month, I’ll upload an all-black text with the exact same brand name, title, and bullets. People like variation.
If I see a design is about to be removed due to the 90-day removal policy, I’ll drop the price to hopefully snag a few quick sales. All if takes is one sale for that design to stay live on Amazon forever. You can always raise the price later on.
If I’m struggling to come up with t-shirt ideas, I always refer back to Merch Informer. Type in random words like “Leg”, “key”, or “carpet” to find the best-selling designs using these seemingly strange keywords.
Final Thoughts
All in all, I am very happy with the direction my Merch account is headed. Next month, I’m hoping to hit my initial goal of paying my mortgage with Merch by Amazon!
If I do reach my goal, I will giving away one LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP to my site , to my site Merch Ready Designs.
Thanks for reading!
Danny