Finding Your First U.S. Customers
Your only goal right now: find people who love your product and learn everything you can from them. Do not try to grow fast. Do not spend big money on ads. Talk to real people. Sell to them directly. Listen carefully.
The goal of this phase
Find your first 10 true fans. Learn what message makes people buy.
Start with people who know your culture
Find 2–3 groups in your city where people from your country, or people interested in your product, meet. Examples: a Korean-American community group, a Japanese food lovers group, a natural beauty group, a local food event.
Go to events or host your own small event. Bring free samples. Have real conversations. Write down what 30–50 people tell you.
Find your first 10 real fans — people truly excited about your product who will tell their friends.
Collect email addresses from every person you meet. This list will be very valuable later.
Make your first sales — selling online
Send your first products to Amazon's warehouse. Start with a small amount to test the process.
Make sure your product page is live with good photos, a clear title, and a helpful description.
Set up advertising but do not spend more than $10–20 per day at first. You are testing, not growing.
If selling on your own website, keep it simple: 3–5 products, clean photos, easy checkout. Answer the customer's main question: "Why should I buy from a brand I have never heard of?"
Sell small sample sizes ($9–15) so people can try your product without spending much money.
Make your first sales — selling in stores
Visit 3–5 small, independent stores in your city. Bring your sell sheet and product samples.
Ask the store to try your product for 30 days with a small order. Do not ask for a big order right away.
Call your shipping company to make sure your products actually arrived at every store.
Visit the stores yourself. Check that your product is in the right place on the shelf, with the right price.
Do not worry about low sales in the first month. Stores expect new products to sell slowly at first.
Start getting reviews and attention
Find 5–10 people on social media who talk about products like yours. Send them free samples. Do not pay them yet — first find out who actually likes your product.
If you sell beauty or personal care, partner with spas, clinics, or salons. They can give samples to their customers.
Test 3 different messages on social media ads. Spend $500–1,000 total. See which message gets the most clicks. You are learning, not trying to sell a lot yet.
Building reviews is slow. Rothea reached 300+ reviews on Amazon after about 14 months. Do not expect fast results.
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Where should I sell? (Amazon, my own website, stores, or community events?)
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Which city should I focus on? (Pick only one city to start.)
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Which message makes people want to buy?
✗ Trying to do everything at once
Amazon + your website + stores + social media + events all at the same time means you do everything badly. Pick one main place to sell and focus on it.
✗ Spending a lot of money on ads too early
Every dollar you spend on ads before you know what message works is wasted. Use Phase 1 to find the right message. Spend money on ads later.
✗ Skipping the community step
Every successful founder started by selling to people who already understood their culture. Do not skip this.
“We did not go to Whole Foods first. We went to the people who already knew us. Then we used that story to open bigger doors.”
Phase 1 Checklist:
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