Eugene: The main thing for us was getting the knowledge of ads. Google ads is primarily how we started advertising, and what we still do today. Google ads are very easy to overspend and not get a return on your investment. It was mainly about nurturing the tactics for Google shopping ads, figuring out what keywords people are searching for, what keywords don’t convert and removing those keywords. That is identical from one ecommerce shop to the next.
Felix: The logistical pivot to generators was more challenging, so less competition. What were your first steps to getting started?
Eugene: Our first account we were required to take 10 generators. We decided that’s what we want to do. We knew that we had a warehouse. We didn’t have any shelving or storage. We told them yes, ship the generators, we have a warehouse to put them in. Then we realized we didn’t have a forklift, we didn’t have a estonia mobile database way to unload this from the freight truck or to package and ship it outbound. While the items were being sent, we were quickly scouring Craigslist trying to find a forklift. We found one and got it in time.
We started off by moving into our father’s warehouse. He had a couple of offices that we were able to use. If we didn’t have that, I’m not sure if we would’ve really moved forward in this venture. Because we had that lined up, we were able to reach out to brands and say, hey, we have somewhere where we can store your product, let us know your pricing. Most of them were fairly receptive.
Felix: What was your strategy for making sure that you didn’t dip too far into the red, with this model?
Eugene: The first order was actually refurbished generators. They’re about a thousand dollars each. Most of these companies will require a $30 to $50,000 initial buy. At the time, it was less, but still substantial. We did have the funds, but it was a lot of money for us. We thought it was worth taking the risk.