When I first entered the society, I had no long-term career plan. At the age of 27, I was very isolated from industry information, and I could only see the salary and growth at a glance. In what aspects should I improve myself?

Anonymous user

My C position

I am based in Guangzhou, and I will briefly talk about my own experience. I graduated in 2019 and entered the cross-border industry. At that time, I knew nothing and joined a leading cross-border company in Guangzhou at that time. Although it was a leading company, the basic salary was only 3,600 yuan, and the regular salary was 3,800 yuan.

At that time, I joined the platform AliExpress (ps, I really didn't know Amazon at that time), and I was doing 3C categories, headphones and audio, etc., and I was always in the distribution mode. When the performance was the best, the double 11 sales were only hundreds of thousands of US dollars, but the commission was only 1k+, and the highest was no more than 2.5k. From October 2019 to July 21, the total income of 3600 increased to 6-7

August 21

When I was about to resign, the position of team leader of the next group happened to be vacant. After the team leader recommended me, I became the team leader. I was confused for a long time at that time. First, I had no management experience, and the team leader had never taught me about this aspect, including the handover. Second, I changed to a new category and had no experience. But considering that the team leader could personally develop products and I also wanted to learn from this aspect, I took the position.

August-November.

The prices of the categories I was responsible for were very high, and the updates were slow. There were not many new products, and there was no obvious growth in performance. During this period, the company's Amazon store was closed, and a large amount of inventory needed to be cleared, and a long clearance process began. Three months was nothing, and my mentality was a little fluctuating. Although the company was large, there was no one I could communicate with. I had to work hard by myself, but the results were half as good as expected.

December 21

Later, the company was under great pressure from inventory and almost all development was suspended. The last bit of hope was gone. Another big boss extended an olive branch to me and I transferred to Walmart. I transferred to Walmart because it was a new platform and I wanted to get in touch with it and learn. But Walmart knows everything, and it deals with small goods, and it also clears out the goods that were left over from previous sales. The situation at that time was that I was responsible for the operation of Walmart by myself. I worked there for 9 months. From being full of enthusiasm at the beginning to slacking off every day later, I really couldn't clear out the goods and didn't have any new products.

I left the company in October 2022 and took a gap year.

last year

Last September, I finally returned to the cross-border industry and joined a boutique operation company with no experience, with a salary of 6K. In October, I started to contact Zhiwubuyan, where I learned the experience and strategies of various big guys every day. I am really grateful to this platform (heart). I tried to invest in my own operation and make mistakes.

The supervisor is not bad, and there are not too many restrictions on advertising. I have indeed learned a lot. However, the company is a small company with its own small factory. It makes relatively niche products and does not have many orders. In the peak season of December, there will not be more than 100 orders a day. Last year, the average daily order was 10-20. This year, the market is not good, and the daily order is basically less than 10. Basically, the commission is not much, not enough to deduct the five social insurances and one housing fund in Guangzhou.

Although I have some experience in advertising, I gradually found that my ads didn't seem to work. Because other sites only opened a leak-picking ad and a keyword ad, and the number of orders per day was about the same as mine. I don't know if it's because of the niche product, or if my ads are just for show.

Since I joined the company, I have basically taught myself. Although my supervisor is a supervisor, he is not good at advertising, and I have no one to communicate with.

Current thoughts:

(1) My friend recommended a distribution company. If I change jobs there, I will get a relatively large salary increase. The company is pretty strong and I can make a lot of money by distributing products. But will distributing products be detrimental to my future job change?

(2) The current salary and growth prospects are predictable. The company is a joint venture between the supervisor and his friends, so there is no chance of promotion. In addition, the sales of niche products can only bring very little commission. There are no stronger people to communicate with or learn from in terms of operational capabilities.

I am already 27 years old this year, and now I feel like I am back to the days when I worked hard but had no output. I have a headache thinking about these things recently, and I am very anxious. Recently, in order to get rid of anxiety, I started to try to go to the gym, and then I plan to start summarizing my experience and skills to prepare for a job change, most likely to go to a distribution company recommended by a friend.

I feel like I am very isolated from information, whether I have just graduated or switched platforms, I have not gained sufficient understanding, and this is also one of my biggest problems at the moment.

Is this the common operation for most people? Or am I the only one like this? Where should I improve next? (This is my first post, if you have any questions, please give me some advice)

"Wonderful Reply"

ANNI666

Agree with: 是猪皮勒 、 WuShuang2233 、 ZGY卷儿123 、 微笑威 、 欢乐海盗d More »

First of all, you need to have a clear definition of yourself. 27 years old is not a young age. Many operators of this age are very experienced, which means that you will face fierce competition for jobs. You need to examine yourself. What are my strengths?
 
Three years ago, I was in the same situation as you. I was offered jobs by Amazon, AliExpress, Alibaba International, etc. After a few days of deep thinking, I decided to stay in one path and do it well. Then I resolutely invested in Amazon operations for four years. I changed jobs in two companies and now I am starting my own business. I am very glad that I have come this far. Because I have seen too many people who choose to jump back and forth in many jobs but end up not doing well in any of them.
Next, I have three thoughts for you:
1: Plan to be an experienced Amazon operator
2: Have plans to start a business
3: Continue working in the current company
Option 1: First of all, don’t join a distribution company. Amazon is reforming towards a boutique model, and the company needs experienced advertisers. It is recommended that you choose a boutique model company and concentrate on learning the rhythm and strategy of link promotion. This will be of great help to you in switching to a company with better treatment in the future, and you can also learn something solid.
 
Option 2: Avoid big companies (big companies usually have very detailed positions, and you can't learn the knowledge of other positions), choose a startup company, learn account knowledge, shipping logistics, supply chain, and product development. One year in a small company is better than three years in a big company. You can learn a lot, but it's more tiring. Of course, this is for starting your own business. Understand your purpose.
 
Option 3: Your current company’s salary and benefits cannot provide you with the opportunity for promotion. Then is the company stable? Do you feel you have learned something and grown while staying here? To be honest, not many people can stay at Amazon until retirement. Consider this yourself.
 
Finally, if you are walking a difficult but helpful path, you must calm down and not be too ambitious. If the company is really great, it doesn’t matter if the base salary is lower. If the salary is high, the boss will have higher expectations of you. If the salary is low, we can just treat it as paid study at school. Opportunity is always the most important, right^^. (This is a bit messy, I hope it helps you)

Anonymous user

Agree with: Happy Pirate D, Ah Lin Reli, Miss Song's Xiu Gou, Elk in the Amazon Forest, Coriander Instant Noodles More »

I am a few years older than you, and I am almost 30 this year. I also want to talk about my journey:

I started doing cross-border e-commerce in 2017, but actually I was struggling in the first half of that year. No one in the company guided me, so I had to rely on myself completely and I didn’t dare to do any evaluation. I started with FBM, and then I started doing FBA in 2018. But no one guided me in the beginning and I didn’t dare to do any evaluation. I was always in the boiling frog stage and didn’t learn much, but at least I started from scratch so I knew all the processes (these two years were really time-consuming, no one guided me, and I didn’t think about it seriously. I spent most of my time on evaluating my side job, and my full-time salary was not as much as that of evaluating...)

Then I changed jobs after I had my first child in 2019. The salary of my previous company was too low, only 4-5k. Fortunately, I was doing part-time assessment, so I think I should make about 8k a month. I changed jobs to a pioneering company. I came from a factory. With my previous work experience, I knew how to start from scratch. The basic salary was 8k (partner system, but in fact it was just like being a worker, equivalent to being a project leader). Then I worked for a year without much improvement, and suffered a slight loss. I felt that I couldn’t do it alone, so I called my former colleagues to work together. Then I communicated with the boss many times and started to recruit 2 assistants, which meant that this department had 4 people.

From 2020 to 2022, the maximum number of employees was 6. Overall, the number has been steadily increasing. However, there is one particularly critical point, that is, we are a seasonal product. Once the season is missed, there will be a gap period and there will be no products to sell. We can still make a little profit during the peak season.

In 2023, I gave birth to another baby (the mission was accomplished. I always gave birth to babies at a time that was different from the peak season. I felt that society was too harsh on women...) 2023 was the most difficult year. I had to prepare more goods than ever before, and the pressure was particularly high. Also, I had just given birth to a baby, so it was difficult to take care of the baby. I got up many times every night and was really tired, so I would get up in the middle of the night to watch the store.

It’s not the product season yet in 2024, and there is still no product to sell. I don’t want to launch products casually. After reviewing the past years, I found that I lost money by launching products casually. Now I only have one product, and I plan to launch products slowly, without any rush.

But now I am a little hesitant sometimes. I feel that once I am 30, it will be difficult to change jobs in the future (mainly because I feel that this category is getting more and more competitive, and I want to try multiple platforms). I want to take the civil service exam, but my memory is not very good. Mainly, I think about my two children. Should I start to pay attention to their education in the future? Or should I stick to Amazon all the way? I feel that I have been doing it for so long, but the US site is actually not very good, there is no real successful example (it is very discouraging), and almost all the money is made from other sites.

But I will still work hard for Amazon. After all, I seem to really love it...

Animo - cross-border e-commerce operations; Amazon, independent sites, international sites

Agree with: Tian Zhen You Xie 1

I started my internship at Amazon in early 2019. It was a small company. I worked on Amazon while other colleagues worked on AliExpress. I worked there for two years and seven months. I did everything by myself and could only solve problems by myself. I contacted suppliers and freight forwarders by myself and had to go to the warehouse to pack and ship goods every day. The only support provided by the company was probably the office. I was given a budget of $10 a day and I made a monthly sales of $20,000 to $30,000. I worked very hard in the first two years, probably because I had just graduated from college.

Later, I was disgusted by my boss and colleagues and quit the job. I happily rested for three months and then went out to look for a job. I was very calm and waited for the recruiter to say hello (this was my first time to participate in social recruitment. My previous job was campus recruitment). I interviewed with three companies: one for sales, one for Amazon operations, and one for independent website assistant. In the end, I became an independent website assistant (I was offered the job by this company). I was mainly responsible for overseas social media operations. It was a very relaxed working environment. I posted on FB, INS, TK every day, and wrote blogs for the independent website.

Later, because of marriage, I moved cities and came to Jinan. I wanted to continue looking for a job in Amazon operations, but there were only three or four companies on the recruitment platform, and the distance was not suitable. I was panicked at the time and didn’t know what else I could do. Later, I went to work in Alibaba International Station operations. I won’t go into the details, but in short, I wasted another year and four months.

I was in a state of mental resignation in the next few months. One day, when I was browsing a recruitment platform, I saw a job for Amazon operations. The company was pretty good, so I submitted my resume with the mentality of giving it a try, and I was successfully hired.

It has been 4 months since I came to the new company, and the situation is still far from what I expected. However, I am very happy to be back in the Amazon operations position. At the same time, I found that my friends around me began to have age anxiety. Then I realized that I was already 26 years old. At that time, I had no career plan at all. I just looked for a job based on my mood and was blindly confident. Now I can only say that there is no medicine for regret in the world, and it is never too late to mend the fold.

Dirtytc

Agree with: Chibi Maruko-chan 2457, simondominic, bald self, happy pirate d, 2024 rush more »

The most terrifying thing about this business is that after you succeed, your interests will not be protected at all. You are just helping your boss because the commission system is not written in the contract and it all depends on the boss's words. Often after you have established your store, the boss will start to make a killing. Not only will the commission system be changed, but you will also find that the assessment is getting more and more abnormal. All indicators are included, and you are strictly required to make profits, sales, and turnover. Each assessment is linked to the commission. The indicators are unreasonable? The boss wants unreasonable indicators so that he can deduct money openly.

In this kind of environment, can you feel any sense of achievement in operation? Your income will never catch up with the growth of performance.

All crows are black. You will be ripped off if you change any company. I personally think that if you don't mind frequent job hopping, it's best to go to a company that is just in the rising stage. The indicators of companies at this stage are very generous, and the boss will pretend to be a grandson. If you do well, the income in the first two or three years is still good, but in the end there is a high probability that you will be harvested by the boss and change jobs. If you do this, you will definitely accumulate experience and funds in the end and go out on your own.

If you want to be safe, go to a slightly larger company and try to be a small supervisor. In a large company, each person has his or her own position, and your salary range has long been fixed, so it can't be too bad, but it can't be too high either.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Smiling Wei, Happy Pirate D, It's me okay, Gloria Lopez, Chibi Maruko-chan 2457 More »

This is probably not the current situation of most operators. This is a cross-platform situation. It may be based on curiosity and the idea that knowing multiple platforms is easier to compare operations. However, the disadvantage of this is that your operational experience is very basic.
Your suggestion: If you feel that a certain aspect is your weakness, you must actively seek advice (superiors or colleagues). Fresh graduates can still receive hands-on teaching, but the possibility of being hired from the outside is very, very low. So take the initiative to ask for advice during operation, and the leader can also see your initiative in doing things. You can ask your supervisor for things to do. Experience comes from practice, not from reading posts on the Internet.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Happy Pirate D, Gloria Lopez, Chibi Maruko 2457, ymxxwl123, Lu Bu Shi's Cross-border Road

I switched from traditional foreign trade to Amazon in 2020. In the past four years, I have started my own business and worked in two companies. Today, I just changed jobs to a new company less than a month ago. The basic salary has increased a lot, but I am very unhappy with my current company. I feel that I can't stay here for long. I have been struggling with whether to follow my heart and change jobs or continue to persevere. I am over 30 and unmarried. I am anxious about all kinds of things. I have been very depressed in the past two years.

Anonymous user

Agree with: zhejiahuohenlan, Happy Pirate d, HG Spicy Chicken Noodles

Most people have a common problem. They don't have a clear life plan when they are studying, and they don't have a long-term career plan when they first enter society. It's normal to just go with the flow. The author wants to seek change, but he doesn't have a clear direction.

My advice is the opposite of most of the above. I suggest not to go to a startup company, but to choose a strong medium or large company to settle down:

First, the OP is not a fresh graduate anymore, he is almost thirty and cannot afford to waste time;

Second, most startups lack technology or funds. Yes, you may say that you can get access to the entire process, such as account registration, product selection, delivery, listing, promotion and after-sales service. But the reality is that you may only know the basics of each link. Most of the colleagues around you are at the same level as the original poster said, let alone learning and communication.

3. Large companies can develop because they have their own way of survival. They have a more detailed division of labor, but each link is more professional. On the other hand, their product lines will be more in-depth, their performance will be relatively stable, and their ability to resist risks will be higher.

Choosing a direction and devoting all your efforts to it is called deep cultivation. It is difficult to gain anything by hammering here and there.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Happy Pirate d

Go to a large company to learn about the departmental work classifications, etc. Even if you stay there for two or three months, it can broaden your horizons.

Because from your work experience, from the perspective of recruitment, HR will think that you change jobs too much and are unstable. After all, as an Amazon operator, there is a big difference between working in a company for half a year and two months. The early stage of postgraduate study develops product selection ability, and the later stage tests the replenishment connection ability. Both are very important. (I was told this when I was looking for a job some time ago. Haha, the interview was very painful, but I could also learn what kind of talents other companies need. Choice is more important than hard work)

Another thing is that you are a girl and lack operational experience. I suggest you find a powerful boss in the company to guide you. If you graduate, I recommend you to be an operations assistant and learn your leader's thinking. Although it is a bit busy, think about why he does this at night. It is also OK to work for one or two years and then quit to work alone.

The experience as a team leader is a plus for you, and will be of better help to you if you change jobs, as well as for your first job.
What the market needs now is experience in brand operation, advertising ability, and whether or not they have worked on the company's corresponding product categories. (Currently, everyone is turning to branding, not distribution.) I hope this helps you. Stop worrying.

Addicted to eating

I feel the same way after reading the poster's experience. I also entered the cross-border industry in 2019 and am also in Guangzhou. When I first entered the industry, I knew nothing and did not know how to negotiate salary. I joined a top company and my monthly salary was only 5.5k. After working for a year and a half, it increased to 7k.

After taking a gap year, I came to Shenzhen directly, and my base salary was still 7k. I never launched any hit products, and I just muddled through. Actually, 27 is still very young, so there is no need to be so anxious. If you are not satisfied with your current salary and the platform provided by the company, then I suggest you submit your resume quickly and see more of the world, then you will know what you really want.

Flax fell small operation

In most cases

1. Lack of concentration, switching back and forth

2. Lack of knowledge and inability to see through the essence of things. They think they are very capable. In fact, it takes help from many aspects to accomplish something.

3. Although it seems like you have done a lot, you have never really worked hard in one field.

4. Without a clear plan, one will just go with the flow and be pushed around.

5. I don’t have any suggestions. The more you try, the fewer these problems will be.

Leaves falling in late autumn - be determined, work hard, and don't give up.

Agree from: Happy Pirate d, Sell everything to operate, CaimZzz, ccdzd1

Summary: Like a headless fly , with no goals, no cognition, and no direction.
 
I think awareness is the most important thing, followed by working hard to climb after determining the direction, and then setting performance goals, job goals, and salary goals for yourself. Every time you reach a small level, you will be greatly encouraged to keep moving forward. This industry is highly replaceable as you get older, and those with inadequate business capabilities or newcomers are very unfriendly. I hope you can find the direction to persist and get results.

Anonymous user

Agree with: GloriaLopez, Happy Pirated, ccdzd1

I personally recommend not going to a distribution company, because you won’t learn anything and it’s very tiring. You have to deal with orders, emails and product listings almost every day of the year.

The original poster already has some excellent experience. I suggest you change a place to continue learning. It is good to find a small or medium-sized company. In this industry, you still need to communicate, otherwise your life will be too boring.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Happy Pirate d, I will tell you what I know, Elk in the Amazon forest

We are about the same age. But I graduated late. I worked for a year in 2020. I started Amazon in 21. I spent about a year and a half in a daze. During this period, I worked in distribution companies, boutique companies, and boutique companies. But I stayed in the boutique company the longest. Due to the model at that time, I was also living a life of one glance, so it was better for me to change jobs.