Phillip is a student at the Ross School of Business – a renowned business school operating at the University of Michigan.

Outside of class, he’s a competitive snowboarder, consultant for non-profits and, an Amazon seller. His first leap into eCommerce was in 2015. Like a lot of sellers, he started on eBay. He was working with a Chinese supplier to drop ship hoverboards and sell them to American buyers.

Though his first venture had some hiccups, it didn’t slow the seller down. He began looking into private label products in Spring of 2016 and started selling not long after.

“My ultimate goal is to have passive income when I’m done school, that way I don’t have to work for anyone and I can travel or work on other side projects.”

– Phillip Ruffini, USA

In Phillip’s world, all of his friends have their sights set on big banks and major consulting companies after they graduate.

His goal is to make enough passive income selling on Amazon that he doesn’t have to worry about job hunting. With backpacking stints to Asia and Europe under his belt, Phillip aspires to work an hour a day on his Amazon business and spend the rest of his time travelling and working on side projects in the business-to-business software space.

Amazon Selling Tips

You should be analyzing your competition from all angles before you source your product. Phillip initially sold one product thinking there was only one competitor, but there were 11 by the time it hit Amazon. He recommends looking at outside sources like Google Trends, like you're able to do in the Jungle Scout Chrome Extension.

Sellers can also use Keyword Scout in the Jungle Scout Web App. Keyword Scout allows you to see search volumes for keywords associated with your product idea, while also giving you tips to hack your product marketing, like PPC and HSA suggested bids.