Summer is flying by and we are now into July, and that means that it is time for me to share my financial results from June 2014.  If you missed any of my previous financial results posts, you can find them HERE.

We’ll get started with some background information on how my time was spent this month.  I took about 4 working days completely off during June to attend my youngest brother’s graduation, to watch my youngest brother play  in the high school baseball state tournament, and to attend the wedding of one of my good friends from college.  All of these provided some good breaks from working.  With the aforementioned exceptions, I would say I averaged about 40 hours per week directly related to the online selling activities that I am blogging about here.  I am planning on doing a “week in the life” post where I track how I spend a full week, so keep an eye out for that in July.

Before we get to the numbers, one more topic to discuss.  My goal with sharing my financial results is to show what can be done, and is not meant to be seen as bragging or anything of the sort.  I want to show that working hard and sticking with your plan can pay off.  If the results turn out to be poor at any time I will share that too.

With that said, let’s get into the numbers for June.  There are not any new additions this month to the level of detail that I will be sharing.  I want to provide as much clarity as possible into what I am doing on a month to month basis (if you have suggestions for additions to these posts, please let me know!).  The numbers below are basically the profits that I am making for the month.  The profits are calculated only on items that have been sold and shipped during the month.  They were calculated by taking selling prices, minus all fees, minus all shipping and packaging costs, and subtracting the cost of the items.  Certain important numbers such as: inbound shipping to amazon, customer returns, supplies, storage fees, and services have been broken out separately.  The FBA profits number factors in reimbursements from amazon for items lost or damaged at the warehouse.  This will NOT be the exact number that goes on my tax returns as there will be additional deductions for cell phone, home office, etc.  However, some of these are costs I would generally be incurring anyway, so for simplicity I will be leaving them out of the calculations.  It’s also possible that  I missed a receipt or 2 and the spending numbers may be updated slightly, but all numbers from amazon/eBay are 100% accurate.  Also for clarity, this does not include any income from any other source, it is simply my income from amazon and eBay. 

June 2014 Financial Results

Notes: Items in parentheses indicate a negative number.  Mileage expense was calculated using the IRS mileage rate of $0.56 per mile.

As you can see, my profits were down significantly compared to what was seen in May.  As was discussed last month, about half of my working time was spent related to my textbooks business, and there were pretty significant lingering effects that were seen in June as a result of less time being dedicated in May.   My sales/profit numbers were really starting to rebound the last week of June, and this has continued for the first couple of days of July, so I expect July to get right back on track with the profits that were seen the previous 2 months.

The one-time costs this month related to the sourcing roadtrip that I took for about 4 days during June.  I did a lot of shipping to amazon during June as can be seen by the increase in inbound shipping costs.  eBay profits picked up a little bit, and other than the downturn in profits, the other numbers stayed relatively consistent.

Next, we’ll take a look at this month’s cash flow which is where things start to get really interesting: 

Note: that numbers in parentheses indicate negative numbers.

This month my cash flow was significantly negative to the tune of almost $15,000.   This was due to many factors, including the lower amount of time put in during May 2014, but the main factor is a plan to aggressively grow my numbers.

There are a couple of noteworthy items contributing to the increased spending on inventory.  The first is that I bought a liquidation lot of goods that consisted of over 5 pallets of merchandise.  This alone was $3,925 of my purchases, and should yield a solid profit after I finish processing all of it.  The second noteworthy item is that I have a couple of friends helping me source inventory in return for various payout arrangements depending on the amount of their purchases.  The combination of these factors, along with taking the sourcing roadtrip, all added up to a significant cash burn.

I have a strategy that I am confident will pay off in the coming months, and as a result am putting my money where my mouth is.  That is where the header image to this post comes in, it is a picture of a poster in my room, and really applies to my level of spending this month.  I fully expect these cash flow numbers to return positive within a few months, as a negative cash flow of $15,000 is not sustainable for more than a month or 2.

Since there might be some jaws dropping seeing the negative $15,000 cash flow, rest assured that it’s all part of my plan, and if you look at the net cash flow from the past 5 months combined it’s now about a negative $1,200, which helps to keep things in perspective.

Now, here is a screenshot of my June 2014 amazon sales to provide some backup for the numbers I am sharing (click to enlarge):

Sales increased significantly at the end of the month, and overall were about 10% less than the totals from May.   Now, here’s my sales by category for June:

Toys remained my number one category in terms of items sold and profits for June.  Sales in the camera and video games category increased quite a bit, but overall I am selling products across many categories depending on where I find viable opportunities.

Here is a screenshot showing my eBay sales for June:

Overall, total sales for the month were $17,238.18 versus $19,090.40 for May.  As discussed previously I believe this was mainly due to the lower effort levels in May, and I am expecting a significant increase for July.  My goal for July is to exceed $7,500 in profits and get things moving at an upward trajectory again.

Last month I did a contest in which Joe, Reba, and Heather all received a 20 minute phone/video call with me.  It was great getting to talk to each of them, and I want to try another contest this month.

The prize: Three (3) individuals will win a 20 minute phone call / video call with me via the method of their choosing from the following options: phone call, Skype call, or video call via google plus.  In the call you can ask me any questions that you would like about selling on amazon, selling on eBay, tips to grow your business, board games, sports, products you sell that I should be using, or any topic you would like to discuss.  Each winner can ask whatever they want.

Here’s how to enter

1. Subscribing to the blog using the button below to join over 600 current subscribers (if you are already subscribed, skip this step)
2. Leaving a comment below answering either of these questions:
   1. What are your goals for July 2014 with selling online?
   2. What part of sourcing inventory in retail stores do you find the most difficult?

That’s it, either subscribe or leave a comment answering one of the 2 questions and you will be entered to win.  There will be a maximum of one (1) entry per person.  The deadline to enter is July 10th 2014 at 11:59 PM ET.  At this time 3 individuals will be chosen by using www.random.org.  Winners will be contacted via email to arrange scheduling.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any other questions or comments, please leave them below or send me an email at grant.ryanj@gmail.com.