Yesterday, a friend asked me a question that really resonated:
“I’ve selected my product, opened my store, shipped inventory, launched ads—but sales haven’t taken off yet. I’m burning more than I earn. What exactly should I be doing during this phase?”
Honestly, almost every entrepreneur faces this moment. In the early stages of a cross-border e-commerce venture, even if you’re headed in the right direction, the journey from setup to stable profitability is often a long, cold start. Some products go viral right out of the gate—sure, that may reflect smart product selection, but more often than not, it’s luck. And even if the numbers look good on paper, profit doesn’t equal cash flow.
Take Amazon, for example. For new sellers, payouts during the first 3–6 months are notoriously unstable. You might generate $100,000 in revenue but only get $50,000 disbursed, with maybe $20,000–30,000 actually usable. Most sellers at this stage hit the same wall: limited cash flow means you can’t restock or launch new products consistently, and even great marketing ideas get shelved because there’s just no money to execute them. This “dead time” isn’t a sign of failure—it’s a normal and necessary phase.
Personally, I don’t recommend jumping into high-leverage financial models or building a “capital game” this early on. Sure, borrowing from friends and family or using supplier credit terms isn’t wrong, but you have to understand this: early-stage projects are inherently unstable. Once leverage gets out of control, the risk of collapse is real. I’ve seen cases where platforms suddenly withhold $80,000 in payouts, throwing scheduled payrolls, freight payments, and supplier orders into chaos.
Experienced entrepreneurs expect these “unknowns” from day one. Before launching a single product, we often spend 3–6 months on preparation: market research, user personas, competitor analysis, visual strategy, ad planning, and most critically, financial structuring.
For example, I always secure enough capital to allow for 5–6 rounds of restocking, even if there’s zero cash flow coming in. I make sure the team can survive at least 10 months without any income. We also prepare 5 or more backup products to allow room for failure and iteration. Even for products with a seemingly stable market, like industrial equipment such as overhead cranes, we still need to validate pricing strategies, optimize ad models, and streamline supply chain operations. In fact, we dig into core data points like the price of a 5 ton overhead crane early on, so that our cash flow plans and sales pacing are built on solid ground.
That’s why we never expect our first few product launches to “save the business.” We approach them calmly and strategically: we run ads where needed, optimize listings, adjust visual assets, and let the product mature gradually. Meanwhile, we continue developing and refining future launches.
In reality, the people who make it through “dead time” aren’t the ones who got lucky and hit a goldmine early. They’re the ones who stayed committed to building their foundation when results weren’t yet visible. In our team, the early-stage goal is never about profit or sales volume—it’s about training everyone to run a product from launch to sustainable sales, end to end.
We even use unrelated products for training runs—building keyword libraries, doing competitor research, mapping user personas, creating visual layouts, managing ads, and doing structured performance reviews. Sometimes we use high-ticket B2B products like overhead cranes as case studies. Even if we’re not planning to sell them, walking through a complete search journey around terms like “5 ton overhead crane price” helps our team understand the logic of high-value product funnels and buyer behavior.
Occasionally, during downtime, we take on small client projects—helping others optimize their product listings or ad strategies. This not only helps offset operational costs but also keeps our team sharp and deeply connected to market trends and platform changes.
Of course, I never recommend blind entrepreneurship to those without experience or capital, especially new grads or early-career professionals. The cost of trial-and-error is simply too high. Some push through the tough beginnings only to collapse during the scaling phase—an even more painful outcome.
Recently, global uncertainties—like ongoing tariff battles—have created another round of “dead time” for us. But rather than rushing into aggressive expansion, we’ve turned inward. We’re analyzing every active product one by one, cutting ineffective ad spend, rebuilding campaign structures, and conducting small-batch tests for our next wave of products. That way, when the policies loosen or demand surges again, we’re ready to respond swiftly and scale up.
In business, every quiet period is a prime opportunity to build internal strength. True readiness isn’t about waiting for the perfect moment—it’s about using the “dead time” to build the foundation needed to seize that moment when it comes. Because when the wind finally picks up, if you’re not prepared, you won’t have the wings to fly.
