At Age 16, He Started a Side Hustle That Hit $150K in Under a Year. He Used Amazon and ChatGPT to ‘Rinse and Repeat’ Sales.

Last year, Ethan Alexander, past 16 years old, had immoderate spare clip to capable aft he stopped playing lacrosse. Starting a broadside hustle seemed for illustration a coagulated option. The Kansas City, Missouri-based teen had seen group online who were verified resellers connected Amazon and Walmart — 3rd parties trading products connected the platforms — and wanted to study the business. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Ethan Alexander

So the precocious schoolhouse student invested $500 (a sum he receives annually from his great-grandfather’s will) to person a reseller thatch him really to make money reselling items online. 

“I  feel for illustration everyone ever tries to find the cleanable broadside hustle,” Alexander says. “What’s the champion point to do correct now? But I saw it and went for it. I didn’t effort to look for a cleanable opportunity. I conscionable took what was successful beforehand of maine and made it mine.” 

Walmart laundry detergent launches a broadside hustle: $10k successful 1 month

In the beginning, Alexander utilized the package programme SellerAmp, which shows seller metrics for illustration value point, amount successful banal and who’s owning the sought-after “buy box,” to zero successful connected which products to sell. The “buy box” refers to the conception connected a merchandise page featuring “add to cart” and “buy now” options. SellerAmp besides provided accusation connected processing costs and fees, on pinch what value to group to spot a definite profit percentage. 

Alexander’s study led him to his first product: laundry detergent from Walmart. He officially launched the broadside hustle, chiefly trading connected Amazon, successful May 2025.

“I was driving to each azygous Walmart successful the full Kansas City metro,” Alexander recalls. “Literally for hours a day, conscionable driving, 30, 40 minutes to each of the large Walmarts and buying retired everything that they had to effort and nonstop stock.” 

Alexander packed and branded the boxes, past took them to the station agency to ship. 

He deed $10,000 successful income successful that first month, past $150,000 full by March 2026. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Ethan Alexander

“Rinse and repeat” income pinch Amazon and ChatGPT

After the occurrence of his first product, Alexander ran the broadside hustle pinch a “rinse and repeat” approach, focusing connected different trending items. 

Ultimately, he integrated AI into his product-selection process. He trained ChatGPT connected Python coding to select retired products he knew he couldn’t move based connected various metrics, which saved a batch of time. Additionally, he utilized the AI to way inventory and enactment organized. 

Several months into the increasing broadside hustle, summertime began, which meant Alexander had much clip connected his hands to give to the business. He added much retailers to his rotation, including Menards, Target and Home Depot.

What’s more, Alexander designed his summertime schedule to maximize productivity: packaging items until 5 a.m. aliases 6 a.m., going to sleep, past waking up to make post-office drop-offs and acquisition much products astatine stores, often getting location astir 11 p.m. 

“ With Amazon, you person to support your transportation speeds up because that’s really you get much sales,” Alexander explains. “Amazon is known for being fast, truthful you person to beryllium accelerated and businesslike pinch your business.”

Image Credit: Courtesy of Ethan Alexander

Keep metrics up to triumph the “buy box”

As a reseller, mounting a bully value and maintaining the champion metrics are cardinal to winning the “buy box” complete competitors. 

Many resellers root from different sellers’ stores, truthful Alexander experimented pinch that sourcing strategy too. “ I would conscionable unfastened to everyone that’s trading a profitable product,” he recalls. “I would spell done each of their stores, past spell done each their products and spot if there’s immoderate bully ones. And conscionable support doing that. My machine would clang from really galore tabs I had open.” 

There’s hardly a merchandise Alexander hasn’t tried to sell, he says. But the business ne'er relied connected high-ticket items to make money; small-dollar, large-volume income were ever key. 

$6,000 successful income and $2,000 profit successful a azygous day

Over time, Alexander moved distant from sourcing from retailers and sellers piecemeal and bought successful bulk from Home Depot, Lowe’s and a pallet store. He would prime up those pallets and shop them successful his parents’ garage. 

Sometimes third-party wholesalers would moreover link Alexander pinch products coming correct disconnected the boat. “Then a motortruck comes into our very mini street, suburban neighborhood, and is unloading this pallet,” he says. “Every time I’m retired there, conscionable throwing packages astir and into my car. Neighbors astir apt deliberation I’m crazy.” 

On his biggest gross day, Alexander did astir $6,000 successful sales, pinch astir $2,000 profit, he notes. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Ethan Alexander

The challenges of being a teen pinch a reselling broadside hustle

As 1 mightiness expect, plentifulness of unsocial challenges travel up for a teenager moving this type of broadside hustle. “ There’s a batch of very mini things that are easy to messiness up that you don’t recognize you don’t cognize really to do erstwhile you’re 16, and you haven’t moreover done taxes before,” Alexander says. 

Alexander has had to navigate in installments paper holds and packaging hiccups, for illustration leaky spray bottles wiping ink disconnected labels and requiring a full recount, and the complexity of balancing a business pinch being a full-time precocious schoolhouse student. He’s hired respective virtual assistants to thief him negociate it all. 

Alexander intends to put immoderate of his broadside hustle net toward college, wherever he plans to study a business-related taxable aliases psychology, which he notes would besides beryllium an advantage successful immoderate early entrepreneurial pursuits. 

“ I don’t cognize really overmuch much you tin study [about business] successful a schoolroom than you tin by really doing it,” Alexander says. “Failing and learning from your failures and trying not to repetition them, and really having the hands-on acquisition of a existent business. So that’s thing that I’ve thought about, and I’m willing to spot if that’s true.”

Image Credit: Courtesy of Ethan Alexander

What comes aft a $150,000 income milestone

After reaching his $150,000 income milestone a fewer months ago, Alexander paused his reselling broadside hustle to attraction connected schoolhouse and different projects. Although the business was lucrative and taught him a lot, he doesn’t needfully spot himself continuing it down the line, particularly arsenic a college student. 

The broadside hustle is simply a spot excessively hands-on, requiring a important magnitude of abstraction and labor, Alexander explains. 

One of the biggest lessons Alexander took distant from the business? Don’t discarded time waiting for the cleanable opportunity to travel your way. 

“People deliberation that there’s a wealth representation that’s conscionable going to autumn retired of the entity and person the X that marks the spot connected it,” Alexander says. “But group don’t make opportunities for themselves arsenic overmuch arsenic they should. There’s an opportunity successful each azygous 2nd of life that you tin either get thing retired of, aliases you tin person a antagonistic mindset and not salary attraction to what you could beryllium benefiting from.”