We hiked about 500 feet up the side of a mountain to get this sweet view. Thirty or so days had passed since I first landed in Honolulu and began enjoying the incredible sights and beaches the island had to offer.
While being there on vacation , I was still working and creating. I had paid for my trip by buying and selling things online. At that point about a year into the Amazon FBA game, we were moving a lot of products, everything from kitchen supplies to car parts.
I was weary about having all of my eggs in Amazons basket though because if something happened to the ever fragile sellers account, my income was screwed.
While money was coming in, I needed to diversify. I began building brands to sell on our own websites as well as others.
I spent months going back and fourth negotiating with manufactures, talking to designers and developers, photographers, ad specialists and web builders before the official website was launched.
We ended up having about 15 products branded with our own logos and custom packaging. We eventually grew into opening mall retail locations which really opened my eyes to the fact that, if you haven't already heard, retail is dying.
Dramatically.
While it wasn't as bad for us because the online world is where the business got it's roots, other stores and vendors not as diversified were losing their ass's.
