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Ryan set a goal of $600,000 in Amazon sales, then he tripled it. He did $1.8 million in his first full year of doing online arbitrage. He did this while graduating from college and turning down every corporate job offer. He's 23 years old, and this year he's targeting $5,000,000 in revenue.
In this podcast, we learn about his journey, find out what got him started, and he shares what he's done to scale his business.
Chapters:
00:00 - Video Game Currency to $1.8M on Amazon (Origin Story)
05:23 - "Burned the Boats" While Barely Profitable
07:00 - What Walmart Corporate Taught Him About 3P Selling
10:00 - Why People Quit Before the Inflection Point
14:00 - The FAFO Moment: $600K Goal, $1.8M Finish
18:52 - Turning $1 Into $400 in Sales on a Single Deal
20:04 - Order Cancellations: The Full Checklist
22:04 - Replenishables and Stalking Your Own Storefront on Keepa
26:00 - Why He Took an $85K Loan to Scale (The Math)
29:00 - Cash Conversion Cycle Explained (60-70 Days)
34:00 - Team of Five: Hiring VAs With a 3% Pass Rate
39:00 - The Trick Questions That Eliminate 97% of Applicants
42:01 - Teaching VAs to Solve Problems (Not Just Report Them)
45:00 - Culture Building: Chemistry, Character, Competence
49:08 - VA Incentives: 5% of Cashback + Tiered Lead Bonuses
52:15 - The Custom Credit Card Dashboard (SimpleFin API + Float Scores)
55:00 - Invoice Compilation Tool Built in One Day With Claude Code
59:00 - P&L Management: The Weekly Reconciliation Process
01:03:00 - Why He's Never Been More Bullish on Amazon
01:06:00 - Fuel Surcharge and Delivery Date +7: "What Does Complaining Do?"
01:07:00 - Diversify Within Your Catalog, Not Across Platforms
01:11:37 - AI-Generated Fake Return Photos (His VA Caught Them)
01:15:00 - Scaling to $5M: The Reverse-Engineered Framework
01:20:00 - "What Got Me to 1.8M Won't Get Me to 5M"
01:24:00 - Lightning Round: Bet on Yourself
Follow Ryan:
X/Twitter: @CookingCashflow
Instagram: @CookingCashflow
Follow Chris Grant:
X/Twitter/Instagram: @cleartheshelf
Newsletter: https://cleartheshelf.com/newsletter
Follow Chris Racic:
X/Twitter: @ChrisRacic
Newsletter: https://oaleads247.com