You're probably here because you are curious about starting your own drop shipping business but do not know where to begin. Don't worry, I was once in your position. I was filled with excitement and questions when I first saw people on the web talking about being able to quit their job by opening a drop shipping store online. The idea is so refreshing yet daunting.
Unfortunately, when I first started, I jumped head first into the drop shipping world with little to no preparations. As a result, I've wasted much of my time and exhausted resources that I could have saved had I taken the time to learn what was required of me. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes and take the time to study and learn what's necessary to start your business on the right path.
The truth is, there is always a process that everyone has to go through in order to achieve success. The following will show you the things that will help increase your chances of achieving success in your drop shipping journey.
Have Mental Preparations
The gurus that post their success stories will never tell you the struggles that they went through to earn whatever they claim to earn on their YouTube channels. They usually make those “bold” earning claims to get people to view their videos.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of successful entrepreneurs who have succeeded and earned 5 or 6 figures in drop shipping. It is completely doable but many of them took months to years and probably spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on ads before achieving those numbers.
Drop shipping relies heavily on traffic and marketing. If you're starting a brand new store, then you'll probably need to pay for traffic if you want faster results.
While drop shipping business doesn't take much to start, it could definitely get costly if you do not know how to acquire traffic besides paying for it through paid advertisements. Read here to find out what things you will need to start a Shopify drop shipping store.
The drop shipping business is not a get rich quick scheme. It is far from it. It is a business that requires lots of time and effort. If you are not willing to commit time and effort and live an inconvenience life for a good while, then don't even bother because you will have a very hard time succeeding in this field.
Learn The Lingo
To save yourself time and avoid any possible confusions, learn the drop shipping and eCommerce language. There are many words that you'll need to familiarize yourself with in order to be successful in this business.
For example, drop shipping is a business model that allows middlemen like you and me to advertise products on different platforms (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and etc.) and make a profit without ever having to own the product. After finding a buyer, simply order the same product from a supplier or manufacturer at a much lower price (usually 20-80% cheaper) and ship it to your customer. This is a very legitimate business model. It is basically what all retailers do. They buy cheap and sell high.
Familiarize Yourself With The Tools
Before you pay for any software programs or subscribe to any services, find out what your goals are for your project/business. For example, if you're looking to increase the conversion rates on your store, then look into the apps that may help you increase sales.
Compare different apps and read other people's reviews to help you decide on the best app to use. Some apps have free trials, so take advantage of these trial periods to test them out on your site. If the apps you've installed improve sales for you then keep them, otherwise delete them before the trial ends to avoid any possible charges.
The objective of the game is to test and find what works for you. Sometimes reviews aren't very accurate as some tools may work on their own sites but it doesn't guarantee that it would work as well for your site. The more testing you do, the more chances you'll have to find the tool that works best for you.
Have Realistic Goals and Expectations
In any business, it is important to have goals. All goals should follow the S.M.A.R.T. criteria. The goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-limited.
Have daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. The tasks you do to fulfill your daily goals should help reach your weekly goals, weekly achievements in turn fulfill your monthly goals, which in turn reflects onto your yearly goals.
In short, the things you do should accommodate you to the next step. If you are just starting out, you need to understand that every business results are not all created equal. Just because you see other people achieving success doing certain things, it doesn't mean it will be the same for you.
People often fail because their expectations are too high while their skills are not up to the challenge. These people expect to make $100,000 a year with drop shipping while they know nothing about product research or online marketing.
When just starting out, you want to set small goals, learn as much as possible, and implement what you learn as much as possible. Fail fast, fail early, and fail forward towards your goals. It is only through the failures that you'll learn to succeed.
Be Diligent and Have Patience
The saying, “Rome wasn't built in one day“, means an empire takes time to build. It is true for all the successful drop shippers. It's a guarantee that most of them had many sleepless nights perfecting their craft. Whether it's perfecting their ad copy or marketing strategy, their successes didn't happen overnight.
Some may achieve their successes faster than others but that doesn't mean it happened in an instant. They still have to learn the ropes, perfect their craft, and go through different struggles. For drop shippers, every product they advertise is like planting a seed.
They may not make a sale but they have gained exposure to their website or gained an email subscriber. They may have not gotten a sale, but they have learned to improve their ad or marketing strategy.
When you're spending money on ads, even if you do not get results, don't be discouraged because the money you've spent advertising has earned you information about your customers. If you're advertising through Facebook, your pixels have learned where your ad audience is coming from and what their behavior or interests are like.
As long as the tasks you're doing are relevant to your goals, then you have nothing to worry about because you are diligently working towards them. The successful people didn't become successful because they give up easily, it is because they have patience and worked diligently towards their goals.
To achieve success in the drop shipping business, you must learn and go through the process like everybody else. The truth is, no one starts out from the top. If you've learned anything at all from this post, just know that nothing worthwhile in life comes easy.
