Seller Spotlight: Q&A with Amazon Seller Extraordinaire Brad Clouser
Brad Clouser began selling books on Amazon four years ago. He’ll never forget how nervous he was sending his first 11 books to FBA. The case made it to Amazon and all 11 books sold in three days. From that moment, Brad knew he wanted to sell full time.
Years later, Brad was working full time as a Project Manager at a large company while running his Amazon business on the side. In April 2017 he stepped into a meeting at work and learned that the company would be filing for bankruptcy and that 70% of them were going to lose their jobs. Instead of feeling angry or disappointed, Brad felt excited because he knew this would be the perfect opportunity to start selling on Amazon full time. His job laid him off on May 27th and he hit the ground running!
By mid-June he started to encounter cash flow issues. Brad had discovered some extremely hot products but couldn’t buy them fast enough as he had to wait two weeks to get paid by Amazon. Then he found Payability and once he started getting daily payouts the sky was the limit. Brad now runs his Amazon business with his wife and they use the money to buy and sell as fast as possible. “We couldn’t have done it without the cash flow from Payability,” said Brad.
What does your typical day look like?
My wife and I start our day off drinking coffee together. Then it’s to the home office to work on multiple streams of income. Not only do we sell on Amazon we run a consulting company for companies and individuals, and just opened a Prep Center that focuses on small Amazon Sellers. We focus daily on sourcing new products, creating listings, talking with clients, prepping for other sellers, and building for our future.
What’s your favorite part of the selling process?
My favorite part of the selling process is when we add a new item to our inventory and it sells for the profit we thought. It provides a great sense Finding profitable items and buying them as cheap as possible. Buying is where a seller truly makes their money. We love looking for “treasure” with Retail/Online Arbitrage, Wholesale, and Private Labeling.
What advice do you have for sellers looking to grow their business?
Growth really comes down to cash flow. Cash flow gives you the flexibility to find the best deals.
How do you put your Payability money to work?
We use Payability to put money into our account daily. This allows us to pay bills, buy inventory, etc.
Do you have any other tricks to maximize your money?
Coupons and sales. Always be looking for ways to maximize the number of discounts on a product. Profit is made in the buying process.
What’s your next big goal as a seller?
Our goal in 2018 is to break $1,000,000 in sales.
How have you prepared for 2018 and Q1?
We prepared for the holiday rush by signing up for Payability so we can have the capital to spend on the hot items! Also, by getting as much rest as possible for those late nights of chasing down inventory.
What’s the biggest challenge of being an Amazon seller?
Finding profitable product. This takes most of our time and energy as the hunt for profitable product never stops.
What’s the biggest benefit of being an Amazon seller?
The amount of buyers on Amazon is the biggest reason to sell on this platform.
Do you sell on other marketplaces?
We sell on eBay and Amazon. We will be branching into Shopify and Walmart.com in 2018.
Aside from scaling their Amazon business fast with the help of daily payments, Brad and his wife founded Touchdown Prep and Touchdown Consulting to help fellow sellers grow too. They are living proof that when you have continuous cash flow, the sky is truly the limit!
