We sat down with Jay Jones, serial entrepreneur, to discuss his journey in the world of e-commerce and the creation of his automated, done for you, 6-7 figure generating Walmart automation business.
Hi Jay, welcome! Tell us about yourself; where are you from?
Jay: Hi there, thank you for having me. I am a full time free bird! I am originally from Seattle, WA, but currently traveling full time throughout the US, Mexico, and parts of Europe.
What is your story? How did you get to where you’re at today?
Jay: I dropped out of college while studying for my computer science degree because I didn’t want to take out a massive student loan. When I left school to travel with my girlfriend in Europe and Asia, we both searched for ideas on something we could sell. We found a clothing manufacturer and started importing and selling our own clothing line at music festivals. The road was by no means easy, we had no place to go other than the next events and were by every sense of the word homeless. We used the little money we had left from our savings and the $1000 limit on a credit card to get our business set up. During this time we slept in our car for 5 months to make the business work. We put in 72 hour shifts and traveled through Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada in our car with our mobile clothing shop. We did far better than expected but we quickly were faced with the problem of a seasonal gig and switched to selling on Etsy, WooCommerce, and eventually Shopify.
This is where we began to really get into and involved with e-commerce and online marketing. As we started making money online we switched out of events entirely to traveling full time when we lived a very nomadic lifestyle in Asia (mainly Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia). While in Chiangmai we stumbled into a conference about Amazon FBA and Shopify dropshipping. At the conference we met people who were making millions a month on their stores, ran their own Facebook/Youtube/Google ads campaigns, and were selling their stores for hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. We were fascinated and jumped right in. We started both Amazon FBA and Shopify dropshipping in early 2016.
Manuka Beauty was our first successful Shopify store and through this store we became highly proficient in ads on Facebook, Google shopping, Google SEO and Instagram. We got particularly good at researching viral products wholesalers, import agents, and managed to scale it to over 7 figures in revenue. We sold the store a year later for multiple 6 figures.
After that we built many stores and flipped them; honing our skills further in ads, highly profitable/viral products, and automation systems so that we spent less time in the business and more time on it. We gained a lot of attention from people that were watching us; they began to ask us how to do it for themselves. We started coaching and mentoring others on how they could follow the same steps we used to create successful 6-7 figure e-commerce stores. We used sites like Flippa to buy old stores, revamp, and refurbish them, then sell them again for a higher price and profit.
During this time many of our e-commerce partners and associates that were running “done-for-you” Amazon stores were having success but also kept running into trouble like massive holds on their funds, return fraud, and even having their most successful products getting stolen and rebranded by Amazon. While everyone was caught up in the FOMO for Amazon, we innovated the same dropship concept onto Walmart which has made us millions. Walmart today, we believe, is the best opportunity in e-commerce since the start of Amazon in 1997.
We know you have a lot of success in the world of e-commerce. Tell us more about that!
Jay: Our e-commerce store is an automated, done for you, 6-7 figure generating Walmart automation business. We use a dropshipping model that is completely hands off to the partner. We call our “clients” partners because they are the main capital investors and we run the entire business and day to day. We have a full team for fulfillment, customer service, and a personalized agent for every store. We also have our exclusive viral product proprietary software that searches for new products 24/7, 365, so that our stores never run out of top selling products.
What challenges have you faced to get to where you’re at today?
Jay: We’ve actually been homeless before. While selling on Shopify we were sued for $100k for an unknown patent. We’ve lost 100s of thousands of bad deals, missed shipments from overseas, ridiculous returns, chargebacks in our earlier days, the list goes on. We even lost a $30,000 shipment from a boat getting taken down on its way from China to the US from a bad storm in the pacific. Learning media buying was a true struggle and we quit on it at least 3 separate times before we found any success.
Was there a time when you felt like giving up?
Jay: Countless… sometimes I still feel this way! However, it never happens and never will. When I get burned out, sometimes I imagine my life without my business; it makes me refocus and re-energize toward my goals.
What keeps you motivated?
Jay: Travel! We spend at least 30% of our income on travel. We’ve been to over 40 countries at this point and it is the real reason we do anything. We feel that there is no point in having money that isn’t being used to create memories, assets, skills, and experiences. Our lifestyle involves being in new destinations every month.
How would you define yourself as a person in a few sentences?
Jay: I love to be continuously moving forward on my skills, health, and experiences. I do not give up on tasks, rather, I get obsessed about my projects and love to learn everything involved in the process. I will always be a learner and traveler. I am also an excellent speaker and love to hear from different views, cultures, and perspectives in business, life, and anything involving entrepreneurship.
Tell us about some of your achievements.
Jay: I’ve traveled to over 40 countries. I’ve sold multiple online e-commerce stores for multiple 6 and 7 figures. My girlfriend and I have traveled the world together for the last 5 years and we run our businesses together. We also have over 2 million followers on Instagram. We sell an Instagram marketing course and a travel influencer course. I have successfully invested in cryptocurrency since 2016. I haven’t worked a “job” since I was 20. I’ve stayed in some of the top luxury resorts in the world for free because of my instagram account. I’ve taught new and beginner entrepreneurs how to leave their jobs and live a life that is full of freedom and opportunity through my programs and coaching. I lived in Bali for a year, Thailand for a year, and Europe for a year. I have spoken at multiple sumits sharing the stage with 8 and 9 figure entrepreneurs.
What plans do you have for the future regarding your business?
Jay: In the upcoming years I want to make at least 100 people millionaires through Walmart Automation, my team, and my coaching programs. I want to use the success from my own businesses and investments to start international travel membership/masterminds surrounding e-commerce, entrepreneurship, travel, and investments. My community and the people I have met throughout my journey inspire me everyday. I want to share that same energy with new people from all around the world. I believe that through entrepreneurship, business, sharing knowledge, and reforming education in a communal way we can solve some of the world’s problems and help fix some of the most complex issues. We just need to help people understand their own potential and what is possible and they will do the rest.
What message would you like to share to those who aspire to grow/start their own business?
Jay: When it gets really hard and you are thinking about quitting, you are actually closer than you have ever been, so keep going. Surround yourself with people who make you feel like you know nothing and who have more money than you. You are an average of the top 5 people you surround yourself with so pick wisely (including family). Your environment dictates your attitude, so live in a happy place that pushes you forward, preferably somewhere sunny. Do not let your health fall behind; it is always a top priority. You are not a sum of your mistakes or failures; find a mentor. Do you have a goal? Aspiration? Find 5 people who have accomplished what you want to do and get in the same room/area they hang out in and ask questions.
Thank you, Jay! How can people learn more?
Jay: Thank you. Please direct them to my linktree: https://bio.site/jayjones.