Riddle me this…  I happen all the time yet I leave as quick as I arrive.  I create great wealth but bring even greater risk along with me.  And lastly, you can build your life's profits off of me, yet most don't even realize that I exist.   

What am I?

If you guessed a “consumer trend”, you are spot on.  Marketing on what the public sees as popular or fashionable can be a risky business.  But when you see trends coming, they can be the source of a hefty payout.  

Before I get into the theory and logic of how consumer trends work, let me take you along on one of the craziest weeks in my life where I made over $10,000 off of one single product.  

The Trend & The product

 

January 21, 2018 -- 8 P.M. 

The Philadelphia Eagles had just won the NFC Conference game and were going to the Super Bowl.  You know what that means -- a huge consumer trend was about to hit the market.  This time it was dog masks and I was going to get in on it.

Now if you're not a pro football fanatic you might be wondering, how did you make $10,000 off of dog masks?  The week before the Eagles opposed the Falcons in the playoff game, reporters made comments calling the Eagles the “underdogs”.  Defensive end, Chris Long, and offensive tackle, Lane Johnson, weren’t so pleased with their projected outcome by the media and decided to wear dog masks during their post-victory interviews. 

So, I quickly set up shop, found a dog mask with high reviews, ordered a couple hundred, and started posting ads.  Within 5 minutes, I had 53 people on my site and 8 orders.  I set my campaign on a broad match with keywords like “underdog mask”, “Eagles dog mask”, “german shepherd mask”, and so on.  I was literally watching one sale turn into hundreds before my eyes.

Monday morning -- 10:33 a.m.

By the morning I had a sale every other minute that racked my earnings up to $3.14k with just 94 orders.  It was safe to say that the Eagles were my new favorite team.  Just two hours before I ordered 150 more units and I was positive that I would sell out in the next hour.  Long story short -- I was right.  

Monday Afternoon -- 2:01 P.M.

As afternoon hit, the campaign had made around $4.13k.  It’s crazy -- I know.  But what's even crazier is the small amount that I spent on ads.  By running Google Ads alone and spending just $642, I had a conversion rate of 8.23%.  

 

Tuesday Morning -- 6:19 A.M.

I woke up to $7,779.07 in sales. I was so excited.  However, as the Super Bowl drew near, my nerves started to kick in.  This was not drop shipping.  I had bought hundreds of units of dog masks with my own money and was betting thousands of dollars in sales on their authenticity and arrival date.  What was I going to do if they didn't show up on time?

An important thing to note with a product that follows a trend is that people want it now.  If they receive the product after the trend has died out, or after the Super Bowl game in this case, there are going to be massive returns that you will have to refund.  

Friday, January 26, 2018 -- T minus 9 days until the super bowl

The dog masks were in -- finally!  But were they really what they claimed to be online?  Were the colors faded or were they legit?  What if they turned out to be hand puppets instead of full sized masks?  There was only one way to find out.  

I had to act fast on this trend and I was working with a manufacturer whom I hadn't before.  I’m not going to sugar coat it -- marketing on consumer trends is a gamble and can be very risky, especially if you're working with a new product.  But this time I lucked out.  

The dog masks were real, authentic, and pretty epic if you ask me.  That night I sold out at 450 units but I wasn’t done just yet…

 

Saturday Night -- 8 P.M.

I had boxes of dog masks to the ceiling that needed to be packaged and delivered within the next week.  Self fulfillment can be a long and annoying process, but at the same time, having lots of orders is a nice problem to have.  I called a few of my buddies, ordered some pizza, and we got to work.  

My total sales for the campaign ended up being $11,523 after a few returns.  Every single customer, for the more part, got their mask in time for the Super Bowl!  Now I have a feeling that you're dying to know how much money I actually pocketed.  Of the total sales, I had a 56% profit that came out to be just over $6,000.  Not bad for a few days, right?

 

 

So, Is It Possible?

Now that you've read through my documented journey of how I turned 0 dollars into over 10,000 within one week, it’s time to figure out if this is something you can do.  Is it possible?  I’ll tell you right now that the answer is yes!

Trends happen all the time.  When creating a micro business by selling a product that's related to a trend, you’ll know right away if it's for you.  Trends create lots of excitement and a lot of drama, but you have to catch them while they're hot.  The volume of demand is insane.  

I did something so simple; I created a text-based Google ad for the exact product and extract trend that was in demand.  It was really that simple.  

Take fidget spinners as an example.  Back in 2017, everybody had one, and you could buy them literally anywhere.  However, within a few months, the trend came to a halting stop. I’ve seen people via Facebook forums that have thousands of leftover fidget spinners that never sold.  They got in at the wrong time and were beat out by other sellers that made it to market first.  So, how do you avoid this happening to you?  

To see trends coming, you need to put on what I call “trend glasses”.  Instead of seeing the world as a consumer, try seeing the world as a business marketer.  Everytime I go somewhere or see lots of people buying a certain style of something -- whether that be clothing, a gadget, or whatever -- I think “uh oh, here comes another consumer trend”.  Just by having those glasses on, you'll start to see the world differently in terms of opportunity.  You’ll find yourself asking how can I benefit off of this new accessory, phone case, or even dog mask? 

Once you've found your trend, you'll want to plug it into Google Trends.  Tools like Google Trends can help you determine whether a craze is on the rise, on the decline, or if it’s going to stay steady.  This is a data driven way to know if something is trending based on consumer behavior.  

Next, you need to order the product.  I try to put emphasis on buying US made products but this time I was ordering in bulk, so I had to outsource.  Aliexpress is a place where you can get pretty much anything from China and Alibaba is their partner branch where you can get anything in bulk.  Alibaba is a great place to buy quality wholesale products straight from the manufacturer at a decently low price.  

Anytime I do an ecommerce business like this, I try to test the product first.  However, with trends, you have to act fast.   In this instance, I had a timeline -- the Super Bowl.  Instead of physically vetting for the dog mask, I turned to the online reviews.  I made sure all were 4 to 5 stars, and if there were any less than that, I worked to figure out why.  In addition, I talked to an Alibaba representative who stood up for the manufacturer via a FaceTime call.  I saw videos and photos of the manufacturer and products that confirmed everything was legit and ethical.   

If you scam people into buying crappy products, I promise that they will never buy from you again.   It creates a bad reputation for yourself and a bad relationship with your customers.   Plus, the majority of money made in a business like this is made from repeat sales.  If you do all the work to get just one customer and end up screwing them over, you lose all their trust and potential profit from future sales.   Customer satisfaction is key to keep a business thriving, even during something crazy like COVID.  

Now that you've seen how I made over $10,000 online, it’s your turn!  Using these steps and a little motivation,  you can do anything that I can.  I urge you to put on the glasses, see the world from a new angle, and make your dreams come true.  

Peace and God bless.

 

 

I make new content every single week, so be sure to subscribe to my Youtube and follow my Instagram @brambilabong and TikTok at @AdrianBrambila. I also have tons of resources and courses on my website that you won’t want to miss. Head over to www.adrianbrambila.com to learn more about what I do and how I live a financially free life.