I Almost Refunded My First Sale (And Why That $80 Changed Everything)

Nobody talks about their first sale.

Not the real one anyway.

They'll tell you about the six-figure launch. The sold-out course. The waitlist that crashed the website.

But the first sale? The messy, awkward, "is this even a real business?" sale?

Silence.

So let me go first.

2005. Beijing. I'm broke.

I had just quit my job. No plan. No savings. No idea what I was doing.

A friend of a friend needed help sourcing products from China for her little boutique in Chile. She asked if I could help.

I said yes.

Then she asked the question that made my stomach drop.

"How much do you charge?"

I stared at my screen. Typed a number. Deleted it. Typed another. Deleted that too.

Finally, I just picked something that felt safe.

"$80?"

She said yes immediately.

And I almost refunded it.

Here's what nobody tells you about your first sale.

It's not supposed to feel like fireworks.

It's supposed to feel terrifying. Awkward. Too small to celebrate.

I thought my first sale needed to be impressive. Screenshot-worthy. Proof that I had "made it."

Instead, it felt like showing up to a gala in sweatpants.

But those $80 did something no course, no strategy, no perfect branding could do.

They broke the spell.

They silenced the voice that whispered, "But will anyone actually pay you?"

They shifted my identity from "someone who might start a business someday" to "someone who has made money doing this."

Within six months, I was charging $500. Within a year, over $4,000.

But it all started with eighty dollars and enough courage to say yes.

Your first sale isn't hiding behind a funnel.

It's not waiting for your website to be perfect.

It's not dependent on how many followers you have.

Your first sale is hiding behind a conversation you've been too scared to have.

The person who will pay you first? She's probably already in your phone. She's already asked for your help. She's just waiting for you to take yourself seriously enough to offer it.

I created something for you.

It's called the First Follower Framework.

It's a simple exercise that helps you:

• Identify 5 people who are already ready to pay you
• Name the transformation you've already given them for free
• Craft the exact message to send them
• Map out your path to your first $500

It takes 15 minutes. And it might be the most valuable 15 minutes you spend this week.

Get it free inside the Latinpreneurs Vault.  

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Your first $500 matters more than your first $5,000.

Not because of the money.

Because of who you become when you make it.

Go have that conversation.

Rooting for you,

Salime