Tips for Internet Booksellers and Lessons Learned as an Entrepreneur

I’ve been selling books full-time on Amazon since 2000 and am now auctioning off my inventory. I was asked via email if I had any tips for someone just starting out in bookselling on Amazon. This is a great opportunity to share some things I’ve learned along the way.

Do what you love. When I began selling books I was looking for a new home-based business. I had had a word processing business the past seven years, but recurrent tendonitis in my fingers made typing painful. I had bought picture framing equipment as my next business, and did some framing from my home, but the logistics were too involved and I decided against that business. (But I can do a great framing job now.) I began auctioning my personal library to downsize because I wanted to move out of California. The auctions brought in money and I enjoyed them. On my way home from a massage I saw a sign for an estate sale that included books. The books were only 25 cents each, so I bought four boxes. So much for downsizing. Thus began my book business, and I loved it.

Learn what you can from available sources. Very early on I found the seller discussion board on Amazon where I learned from very generous people who shared their knowledge. I read books on business management and marketing and learned various software programs. I bought books from competitors to see how they communicated, graded books and packaged them. The downside is I spent too much time on the boards. Virtual people don’t hold a candle to real people. They are a diversion. They’re also safe. Don’t get too involved in discussion boards. Avoid this time waster.

Emulate successful people. A year into selling I was burned out buying and listing used books one at a time because of my tendonitis. I saw that those sellers with the most feedback were selling remainders and overstock. So I emulated them and began selling remainders. I was successful for many years and made a lot of money.

Pay yourself first. This is one rule I didn’t follow, to my detriment. I kept pumping money back into the business buying more and more inventory. I should have been saving for retirement or for a downpayment on a house. Instead, I was piling up inventory. What good is sitting on $200,000 worth of books?

ALWAYS pay payroll taxes. You’d be surprised how many people don’t pay payroll taxes. I couldn’t afford to and thought I’d make up for it later. Huge mistake.

Avoid debt. We’re taught that using Other People’s Money to generate income is a wise use of debt. Sure, it can work. It can also backfire on you. I would say that debt on appreciating assets isn’t so bad, but on depreciating assets it’s a recipe for trouble. I bet there’s no greater feeling than knowing that if sales stopped today you could pay your rent or mortage and your bills for many months with what you’ve saved. (I wouldn’t know this feeling. I can only imagine it. But I can tell you all about worry if you’d like.) And it’s foolish to save anything when you have debt that demands payment of interest.

Listen to your gut, instincts, god, whatever. If I had paid attention to my gut, I would have moved out of my warehouse a year earlier than I did and I’d probably still have a business today. Not that that’s a good thing for me. I’m not sorry for the way things turned out.

Bigger is not better. It is a falsehood that bigger is better, but I bought into it. I thought a big business was more stable, and having employees would allow me to pursue other interests. But employees can be a HUGE pain in the ass. An employee will never be as interested in your success as you are, and in my experience most of them think that you owe them a paycheck and a raise because they show up for work on time. I had one great employee that really cared and made my life simpler, but the rest wasted a lot of my time and caused me grief.

Success and failure are both valid outcomes. I heard a story long ago of a man who made a mistake that cost his employer a million dollars. His boss called him into his office. The employee said, “I suppose you’re going to fire me now.” The boss replied, “Fire you? I just paid a million dollars to train you.” Too much emphasis is placed on success as the only valid outcome for an endeavor. We don’t come to this earth to succeed, but to learn and grow. Sometimes we learn through success, sometimes through failure. When we consider success as the only valuable outcome for our efforts, then we may have a tendency to avoid taking risks. Don’t be afraid of failure and don’t let it define you.

Take risks and try new things. This one was easy for me. I was always trying something different. Some things cost me time and money, but most risks were worth it and paid off. The last risk I took helped ruin my business. Oh well.

Don’t let your business consume all your time. I’ve been an addict all my life. Cigarettes, alcohol, work. My bookselling business was just the latest addiction that helped distract me from my life. I worked every day, often ten to twelve hours a day. My life was unbalanced. When I worked for others I attended night classes at the local college to learn things like playing piano and guitar, reading music, acting, drawing, ceramics. I had hobbies and interests. But once I was self-employed I never took another class. I mostly stayed home. I put all my energy into my businesses. This is a distortion and distraction that must be guarded against.

Owning a business is very different from working for someone else. When most people are employed by someone they can leave in the afternoon and forget about their job. It’s someone else’s worry. But when you own a business, you own it 24/7. You are the marketer, bookkeeper, supply clerk, customer service rep, president, janitor. You’re it! Taking a couple weeks off requires a lot of preparation. You are always a business owner and that takes a mental toll. So it’s really important that you choose a business that you love. Why give up so many hours doing something you don’t like just to make money?

Entrepreneurs aren’t necessarily good business owners. I love creating things and building them. I love organizing and streamlining. I hate maintaining. So starting and building my bookselling business was great fun. But once I ran out of new things to try, I lost interest. When I had to maintain the business, I got very bored. I should have sold the business two years ago when my interest waned, but I didn’t have enough confidence in myself that I could find something else to do. (This was my third business.) But that’s okay too. I’m now ready for the next step in my evolution.

When it’s time, move on. You’ll know when it’s time to move on to something else. If you’ve paid yourself first, you should hopefully be in a position of financial security. Sell your business as a going concern and then start another one. Don’t let fear or uncertainty keep you in a business you no longer love. Life really is short, as trite as that sounds. What could happen? The worst case is you lose everything. I’m losing everything, just about, and it’s not killing me. In fact, it’s invigorating. The best scenario is you pocket a lot of money and retire or have a good amount to invest in something else. Maybe you move to a less populated state, buy a house for cash, and start a business doing what you really want to do.

Tagged as: books, Business, entrepreneurship, management