🎯 The concrete business: a parts brokerage for the world’s two commonest jets (Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737NG) — consumables and rotables with FAA 8130-3 tags, sold to airlines and repair shops in India, Southeast Asia and Latin America, where fleets grow faster than parts supply.
Weeks 1–2: LLC/EIN/bank. Take BIS’s free export-control webinar. Rule one on the wall: civil parts only — anything military-touched (ITAR) is a hard NO as a beginner.
Weeks 3–6: subscribe to ILS (Inventory Locator Service) and/or PartsBase (~$250–500/mo) — the industry’s eBay, where every airline’s buyers search daily. Study 100 completed listings in your niche (pick ONE: filters, brakes, wheels, avionics units). Join ASA (Aviation Suppliers Association) for credibility + their quality-system template.
Weeks 7–12: broker back-to-back deals: airline posts a request on ILS → you find the part at a U.S. teardown house → quote with margin → buy only after their PO/payment. Every deal: ECCN check (most common civil parts are 9A991/EAR99 — license-free to friendly countries), screening-list check, and trace paperwork (8130-3 tag + back-to-birth for rotables) — in this trade, the paperwork IS the product.
| LLC + insurance | $1,500 |
| ILS/PartsBase (6 months) | $2,400 |
| ASA membership + training | $1,000 |
| Working capital (broker model buys after PO) | $3,000–10,000 |
| Total | ≈ $6,000–15,000 |
1) LLC/EIN → 2) per part: ECCN classification (seller usually knows; BIS confirms free) → 3) per deal: Consolidated Screening List + destination check → 4) export docs via forwarder (AES over $2,500) → 5) the aviation stack: 8130-3 airworthiness tag, material certs, trace to source — no trace, no sale. Later: ASA-100 accreditation (audit, ~$5k) unlocks bigger customers; a Part 145 repair station is the year-3 dream, not year-1.
1–5: answering live ILS/PartsBase RFQs (reply within the hour, quote firm with trace attached). 6–7: MRO Americas / MRO Asia show contacts. 8–9: USEAC aerospace specialist intros (aerospace is a priority export sector). 10: an AOG desk — when a jet is grounded, whoever finds the part in 2 hours names the price.
Consumables: 20–50% markup on $500–5,000 line items. Rotables: thousands per unit. A modest month: 15 line items × $400 average margin = $6,000. One genuine AOG save can beat the month. Broker model = no inventory risk; you buy only against their committed PO.
Month 3: 100 quotes sent, 5 closed. Month 6: 2 repeat airline/MRO accounts, ASA quality manual adopted. Month 12: ASA-100 audit booked; consider first stock buys of your best-moving part numbers. Change-course rule: quotes ignored → your trace/response time/prices are off; niche down further (one aircraft, one ATA chapter) until you’re the fastest answer in it.
① Export-control violations = business-ending fines → civil-only rule, classify before quoting, BIS/DDTC call when unsure. ② Bogus/unapproved parts = crime → buy only from ASA-accredited sellers with full trace. ③ Payment → proforma prepay or LC; airlines are slow payers, so never extend terms uninsured.