Arbitrage Andy's E Commerce Guide
070: How to make money online with a brand and social media
Intro
When I started Arbitrage Andy is 2017 it was a meme page. The first post I made was in the bathroom of my corporate office in Midtown Manhattan. The memes were made with primitive software from the app store and looked crude, often with calibri font and other ancient features. In the beginning the only thing kept me going was my love for all things finance, Wall Street, Sales, and Trading.
My internet community includes bank CEOs, traders, bankers, salespeople, fin-tech folks, crypto pioneers, e-commerce savages, military veterans, professional athletes and a large group of international professionals. My brand has been featured in Business Insider, NY Post, Financial Times, Dealbreaker, and HBO’s Industry. We have worked and consulted with numerous financial technology partners including Gemini, IEX, Round Investments, Odyssey, and many more.
I now hold equity and investments in select start ups and companies as a trusted influencer and business thought partner because of the track record and success I have seen in digital business - but it all started with 1 single post on Instagram.
Andy is a play on Andy Bernard from the Office and Arbitrage was a term I picked because that was the main way I made profit in my first trading job in over the counter markets for 4 years. I wanted to build a brand that embodied the lifestyle of finance, crime, wealth, global culture, street culture, and hustle.
The moniker and my irreverent finance themed memes were an instant hit and I watched that page grow from 0 to 250,000 followers in 5 years on instagram with 14,000 Arb Letter subscribers and thousands more followers on Twitter.
On Instagram we project our following should be much much higher by now, but due to shadow bans and reach throttling by the powers that be we’ve somehow stayed at 249,000 followers for 8 months - literally impossible based on even conservative historical data BUT I digress (more on this later).
Completely by myself with a full time front office/sales job the entire time - I have sold hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars of merchandise, consulting services, ad placements, and now paid newsletter subscriptions over the last years. While I won’t get into true specifics, I own a brand worth millions of dollars - but it was a long road with many many lessons and there is still much more to do.
The brand I built online was due to four major factors that all of you can replicate if you really want to. There aren’t as many golden secrets as you might think in the game and anyone, if they want it bad enough can make a great living online.
Advancements in technology and the growth of available marketplaces have made it easier than ever to buy and sell online. The ecommerce industry is expected to grow by almost $11 trillion between 2021 and 2025. As businesses came online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the global trend toward digitization surged ahead at lightning speed. Even as regions begin to reopen, ecommerce growth keeps climbing. Global ecommerce sales are expected to reach $5 trillion in 2022, and $6 trillion by 2024 (Shopify).
But you have to take action. 5 years ago I was fully dependent on a 9-5 job - in the next year I expect to earn a full time income on the internet. I am by no means the ultimate expert - but I know more than enough to be dangerous and I did it entirely by myself. This is a complete guide to getting started, and I have written this in a way in which you could read this now and theoretically start today.
This is an Arb Letter premium post for paid subs. I don’t want to get too salesy on it because those interested will invest in themselves but the value is here and far surpasses even the cost of my annual subscription in this single article.