Should You Just Follow Others In Building Your Amazon FBA Business?

Kev recently got a great question on his YouTube video, which i am going to be answering for you in this blog post. This great question was from AG Carbs asking this, "Hi Kev, from an Amazon FBA perspective is there any need for a seller to develop their own new systems, when there are already so many successful sellers out there and the systems already set out by them can be followed?"

What Systems Are Already Out There?

Right now, if you are only just starting your Amazon FBA business, or you are looking at taking your business to the next level, one thing which AG Carbs quite rightly said is, we are living in a fantastic time right now, where there are many YouTube videos, which are sharing so many tips, strategies, insights, vlogs, over-the-shoulders, templates and so much more; there is a wealth of resources on YouTube. This is also an amazing amount of Facebook groups and communities which you can learn from, where people are sharing what they are doing, what they are learning, what they are failing at, what their successes are, what their challenges are and how they have overcome those challenges. Over the years, more and more strategies, frameworks and systems on how you can be successful in your business are out there and they are assessable. 

There are free versions like YouTube and Facebook groups, but there are also paid for programmes out there, step by step training programmes on how you can do this.

The question however here is, is there really a need to develop your own systems, when there are so many out there? Can you not just follow them?

What Are Kev's Thoughts?

First and foremost, one of the best ways to compress building your business, things that can take you trail and error, months, years and potentially even decades, and you may not even get to your goals, is to be able to learn from others, and learn from those mistakes which have been made before you. If someone else 10 years within their business journey, sharing with you tips on what they have experienced, and telling you what not to do because they have done it before and it hadn't worked for them. You would just follow these breadcrumbs. Kev 100% agrees that this is the case, and Kev does this. Kev has been through many training programmes, and he has also watched so many different YouTube videos in order to learn from others who are way ahead of them. Kev has mentors and coaches, people he subscribes to, and people who he learns from on a daily basis, because he has got so much more to learn.

Specifically Developing Your Own Systems

This is where you have got to know the difference between a framework which works, and developing the unique systems based on the resources which you have available. 

If there is a framework which you are following. For example, Kev has got a framework for major systems - he has sourcing, purchasing and shipping. These are the 3 major systems in online arbitrage. If you have got them, and you have got systems involved in them, it gives you a significant step in terms of becoming a business owner. Then, couples on top of that, Kev has got what he calls the growth and maintenance systems. This is everything from the replenishing systems, the inventory health systems, and everything from your Amazon seller central account; this is how Kev created the purchasing manager role, and the growth manager role. This is a framework.

If you would like to learn more about this framework which Kev has created, check it out down below!

Do You Need To Develop Your Own System? 

The answer to this is you do based on the resources which you have available, because although that's a framework that Kev has shared, this doesn't mean that you have the potential right now to hire a purchasing manager, and it doesn't mean that you have the potential right now to get into your own warehouse, or it doesn't mean that you have the potential right now to hire a team of sourcing assistants. It is all subjective based on individual resources that you have available. You have to know what resources you have got - this is everything from the time you have, the capital that you have, the knowledge that you have already, the studying that you have done, the space that you have got available; if you are shipping from home, or you are using a prep service, whatever it may be, every business will be unique, because that is the nature of developing everyone's individual systems. So, in this particular topic and this comment, we have talked about how Kev develops systems from a fundamental basis, everything from knowing what your outcome is, knowing how to trigger what triggers the system, and then the process involved. 

Would you like to learn how to build systems in your business? Watch the video below!

Knowing what the fundamentals are in terms of developing systems, trigger, process and outcome; you can now take that with the resources you have, so if you have got some resources like some capital, you may need to develop your own system in terms of hiring virtual assistants, or hiring a purchasing manager, then how you want your purchasing manager to work may differ from how other people want their purchasing managers to work. 

Let's say Kev's purchasing manager has certain rules to follow and different criteria. If for example, there is a product that costs over 20 pound per unit, they need to have the approval for them to proceed with that purchase, or if they have got a daily budget of spending 1000 pounds, and if that daily budget is passed, they need to get approval for them to purchase 2000 pounds in that particular day.

Those are unique systems, they are based on the larger framework of the business model Kev is building. Whereas your system might be different to that - your system may be based on your daily budget of 500 pounds or 5000 pounds. 

Answering the Question...

To answer the question, although frameworks and systems that people have shared with they have developed and worked on, have been proven by many people, but everybody's situation and resources, time availability, capital availability, experience and knowledge is all unique. Having the core understanding of how you can develop a system - any system, in any business, can really help you.

Further reading:

How to Recruit and Train Your Virtual Assistants

Amazon FBA Wholesale For Beginners Step By Step Full Course Checklist For Exclusive Brand Deals

Kev's Honest Thoughts On Amazon FBA In 2021