From SEO to Pillows: How I Built My Amazon FBA Business in 90 Days

When it comes to starting a business, people often expect some cinematic epiphany or a lightning bolt of inspiration. Mine? It began with a wife scrolling through Facebook, pausing on an ad by a mumpreneur selling an Amazon FBA course for a thousand quid.

My wife showed it to me casually one evening. "Do you think this is worth doing?" she asked. I glanced at it, gave a slight tilt of the head, and replied, "It’s a grand. Probably not." But the idea stuck.

Later that week, I reached out to a couple of mates who’d been dabbling in FBA. They were the kind who were always a few steps ahead of trends, tech-savvy, nose for opportunity. When I asked about the course, they laughed. “Don’t waste your money. It’s all out there on YouTube. Jungle Scout’s got an entire case study. Free. Just watch that.”

So we did. My wife and I sat on the sofa and watched the first episode of the Jungle Scout million-dollar case study. I remember the exact moment it clicked. We looked at each other. She raised an eyebrow. I nodded. This wasn’t some scammy side hustle, it was a proper business model.

But here’s the twist: we decided to each do our own separate FBA businesses. A bit of healthy competition, and the freedom to make independent choices without debating every product or supplier. It turned out to be the best decision we could have made.

I dove in with full force. I had some capital from a previous business exit and I wasn’t about to faff about. The first product I chose was a pillow. Practical, not too complex, fairly straightforward. While that was in the works, I stumbled on a pet fur brush that seemed to be riding a small wave of popularity.

Now, let me set the scene. Our lounge turned into a makeshift photo studio. I ordered a small lightbox, cleared off the dining table, and began shooting product photos on my phone. The brush posed elegantly against white card. The pillow, however, proved to be too large and awkward to photograph properly in that setup. In the end, we had to bring in a professional photographer and book studio time just to get the shots we needed. My wife walked in one day, took one look at the chaos and laughed. “Is this what being your own boss looks like?” she asked.

Yes. Yes, it did.

At the same time, I was thinking seriously about branding. Following a recommendation from Jungle Scout, I wanted something generic but memorable that could stretch across different product types. Then I remembered a silly phrase from university days—something we used to say while being a bit daft and possibly a little high: "Martian Maid." It had stuck with me all those years. I gave it a tweak and turned it into Martian Made. It had just the right mix of quirk and flexibility. That’s how Martian Dreams (pillows) and Martian Magic (fur brush) came about. Later, I added Martian Fire (candle lighter) and Martian Travel (travel products) to the mix. It gave the business a sense of cohesion and freedom. Each new product felt like another member of the same slightly space-age, delightfully oddball family.

The fur brush went live first. I remember the evening the first sale came in. I was at my desk, refreshing the Amazon Seller app like a teenager checking exam results. When it popped up, I let out a noise somewhere between a cheer and a confused grunt. I walked into the kitchen and said, “I’ve just sold one.” She smiled. “Told you it’d work.”

Sales started to trickle in. Slowly at first. Then with a rhythm. The brush outperformed the pillow, and quickly became my star product. The reviews started coming in, some glowing, some bizarre. One customer left a poetic ode to how the brush changed their life. I wasn’t sure whether to frame it or forward it to marketing.

But of course, Amazon FBA isn’t a gentle ride. Within weeks, the hijackers came. Someone copied my listing, another seller tried to undercut me with a suspiciously similar item. I received a notice for an IP infringement that turned out to be nonsense. It was like the Wild West, only instead of pistols, we fought with flat files and seller support tickets.

That said, there was something deeply satisfying about it all. After years in digital businesses, SEO consulting, content platforms, intangible value, it felt good to be selling something I could touch. Real products, real customers, real margins. And the best part? No team. No office politics. No project management tools or Slack channels. Just me, a laptop, and a bunch of cardboard boxes.

I leaned into the philosophy that had carried me through every business: momentum is everything. Perfection is overrated. Start, learn, iterate. I made decisions fast, knowing that even a wrong turn would teach me something.

More than anything, it was the fear that pushed me forward. Not a fear of failure exactly, but the fear of staying still. The fear of watching the opportunity go by while I sat on the sidelines. That kind of fear is powerful when you use it well. It wakes you up early and keeps you curious.

In those early months, the progress was modest but encouraging. I wasn't seeing massive numbers, but I was seeing momentum. That mattered more. I knew if I kept learning, kept testing, and stayed consistent, it would build. I started in September 2017 and didn’t hit a £1,000 day until 2020, nearly three years in. But by then, I’d built a foundation I could trust.

Looking back, I didn’t need a business plan the size of War and Peace. What I needed was action. Curiosity. A willingness to wade through uncertainty. And the belief that if others could figure it out, so could I.

That’s the real secret to FBA, or any business, for that matter. It’s not about finding the perfect product. It’s about getting started. Making a decision. Taking that very first step.

And if you’re wondering whether it’s too late to begin, let me tell you, every year, someone brand new makes it work. It’s not about the market. It’s about your mindset.

So if you’ve got that itch to build something, trust it. You might just surprise yourself. I certainly did.