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How One Couple Used Amazon Exclusive To Build A High-End Kitchenware Business

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When Ben and Camille Arneberg decided to start their ecommerce business, the married couple set a big goal: Breaking $1 million in revenue.

The high-energy pair pulled it off at Willow and Everett, an upscale housewares store they run on their own website and Amazon. They hit the mark in April, one year and four days after their launch.

The Arnebergs are among a growing number of entrepreneurs starting ultra-lean businesses that have broken $1 million in sales without hiring traditional employees.

The U.S. Census Bureau found that 33,624 non-employer firms—that is, businesses where the owners are the only employees—brought in $1 million to $2.49 million in revenue in 2014. That is an 11% increase from 2013 and a 45% increase from 2009. Another 1,991 non-employer firms brought in $2.5 million to $4.99 million in 2014--up 17% from 2013. Meanwhile, an elite 365 firms brought in $5 million in revenue or more, up 10% from 332 in 2013.

Thanks to the growth of the internet, social media, freelancing, automation and other trends that support high-revenue microbusinesses, the growth shows no signs of slowing. “All of the barriers to entry are coming down,” says Ben. “It’s exciting.”

So how did the Arnebergs, both 27 years old, achieve their goal so quickly? Neither had a deep background in retail. Ben, who studied computer science at Northeastern University, is an engineer and program manager. Camille, who earned her M.S. in public relations, with a focus on nonprofits and sustainability, tried working in the corporate sustainability field but ultimately wanted a non-corporate lifestyle. She started a wedding photography business in September 2014 that morphed into a full-time venture over time.

I recently had a chance to speak with the couple, based in Washington, D.C., about their strategy for success. Here is what they shared.

Find a product that you—and your customers—love. Before launching Willow and Everett, the Arnebergs started a fitness-related ecommerce business that sold compression sleeves, a running accessory. Both are into fitness and love running—Camille is a certified personal trainer and Ben was on the Air Force parachute team—so the business seemed like a good fit.

Although they were excited about the product, customers weren’t—and the business didn’t do well. “The product wasn’t unique enough or desirable enough with the audience to resonate,” concludes Ben.

Rather than give up, the couple began brainstorming about other types of products they would enjoy selling and asked themselves some key questions: What are we passionate about? How can we deliver value to people? Camille and Ben, who love entertaining, realized they would enjoy selling products that help people host. “We try to make our home an open place where anyone can come and feel welcome,” says Ben.

They soon began researching products they could sell, looking for those that fit into a gap they saw in the marketplace—“that sweet spot of products that are high-quality, look great and don’t break the bank,” says Ben. They selected products like a set of two copper mugs and a shot glass that currently sell for $36.99.

Embrace your goal wholeheartedly. To run their ecommerce store, the Arnebergs had to stock up on inventory. They put about $5,000 into launching their store, raising some of it from friends and family. That’s not a tiny amount of money to a couple just starting out, but they told themselves, “This could literally change our lives. Let’s see how it goes,” recalls Camille.

The Arnebergs looked at their startup costs as investment in their own education. “You pay thousands of dollars for a college course,” Ben says. “We said, ‘Let’s spend $5,000. We’re going to learn a lot. Even if it all goes down the tube, that experience will be invaluable.”

Choose the right platform. After researching their options, the Arnebergs decided to sell their wares through a program Amazon runs called Amazon Exclusive, where they can only conduct business through Amazon and their own website. That took a leap of faith that Amazon’s platform would give them the exposure they needed, but it has paid off. “We’ve integrated well with Amazon and know their team,” says Ben. “They’ve helped us to sell our brand story.”

One key part of that story is the company’s focus on giving back. Amazon featured the business, which donates 10% of its profits to nonprofits, in a video on giving back for the holidays that helped raise its profile.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. As the Arnebergs grew their store, they expanded it to 18 products, but it took some trial and error to find those that would sell. “We’ve learned that for every five products you launch, you will have maybe one or two big wins, and probably a failure or two,” says Ben. “We expect to have some failures every time we launch products. We’ve had some products we launched that didn’t do well at all.”

Picking the wrong product doesn’t mean they lose all of their investment in it. When a product proves to be a dud, they sell it at a discount.

To stock up on products that are hot sellers, they have tapped into revenue from Camille’s photography business and participate in Amazon’s internal lending program, borrowing money that is paid back through their revenue at about 12% interest. “The really hard part about having a product sell well is we ran out of inventory,” says Ben.

Keep overhead lean. The Arnebergs don’t try to do everything themselves. “I’m a big fan of trying to automate and outsource, so I am not doing a lot of nitty, gritty tasks,” says Ben. What that means, for instance, is outsourcing photography and customer service for the site. “We’re just orchestrating it all, rather than implementing it,” says Ben.

One area where they really save time through this approach is on fulfilling orders. When they ordered their first 500 copper mugs and the delivery swamped their small condo, they decided they would never do that again. Now they rely on Fulfillment by Amazon to process all of the orders. There is a cost for this, but, says Ben, "We never see anything. Amazon handles everything--fulfillment, labeling, everything you can imagine."

"That's why we've been able to stay lean for so long," says Camille. "A lot of the normal components of an online business are removed."

Stay focused on the future. With their site humming, Ben and Camille Arneberg are hoping to live their dream of traveling around the world and freeing more time for sports and fitness. “We’re going to experience a lot and visit people we know around the world,” says Ben.

Meanwhile, the couple teamed up with friends to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the CubeFit TerraMat, an ergonomic mat for people who use standing desks. They have already exceeded their $10,000 goal, with 16 days left to go in the campaign.

“CubeFit is another manifestation of trying to improve people’s lives,” says Ben. “It feels very natural. We’re not selling something we don’t care about. It’s so much easier and more fun to run a business we believe in.”