You may have heard of drop shipping and e-commerce in recent years and wondered if it’s too late to start your own business.
The answer is no! While the industry is growing year after year, there are still plenty of opportunities for new businesses to succeed. However, it’s important to understand that dropshipping is a real business, not a get-rich-quick scheme. To be successful, you’ll need to treat it like a real business and put in the time and effort.
The number one thing to keep in mind is that you will run into road bumps. You won’t make a sale on your very first day (it’s possible, but not likely), and you won’t be making six figures in your first month. This is a business, and like any business, it takes time to grow. Be patient, be persistent, and don’t give up!
It’s Not a Get Rich Quick Scheme
I know we already mentioned this in the intro paragraph, but we need to reinforce it. You most likely have heard of dropshipping when you were watching YouTube and an ad popped up with a “dropshipping guru” promising you that you could make a full-time income with little to no work.
While it is possible to make a full-time income with dropshipping, it’s important to understand that this will not happen overnight. Just like any business, it takes time, effort, and dedication to growing a successful dropshipping business.
How Can You Find Legitimate Guidance When Dropshipping?
Instead of the people that are looking to sell you a course, look for the people who are documenting their real dropshipping journey. Take this video for instance.
Paul is documenting his income, which in this video is $850 dropshipping on Amazon.
This video and other videos like this, are the ones you want to pay attention to. They are the real people who are sharing their real journeys with you. You want to find and follow people like this because they will give you an accurate portrayal of what it’s like to dropship.
You can also network with them and learn more about what they’re doing to be successful.
Short Guide To Starting Dropshipping
There’s no right or wrong way to get started with dropshipping. Below we’ll simply share with you a short guide on the steps you can take to get started.
1. Choose Your Niche
Choosing a niche is important when it comes to dropshipping because you’ll need to find out how to stand out within your niche. There’s a lot of competition out there, and if you’re going to be successful, you’ll need to find a way to differentiate yourself from the other businesses.
To help you choose your niche, here are some questions you can ask yourself:
- What products am I passionate about?
- What problems can I solve with my products?
- What needs do my products fill?
2. Find a Supplier
Once you’ve chosen your niche, it’s time to find a supplier.
Some of the most popular suppliers are:
- AliExpress
- Printify
- Printful
- SaleHoo
There are many more but these are some of the most popular. When you’re looking for a supplier, you want to make sure that they’re reliable and that they have good reviews. You also want to find a supplier that offers good pricing so you can be competitive within your niche.
3. Find Underserved Products In Your Niche
In order to find products that are underserved in your niche, you’ll need to do some research. One of the best ways to do this is by using Google Trends.
There are many tools out there that allow you to find products that are in high demand but have low competition. You want to find these products because they’ll be easier to rank for and you’ll be able to get more sales.
4. Set Up a Shopify Store
There are more eCommerce platforms out there but Shopify is one of the most popular and it’s what we recommend.
When you’re setting up your store, you want to make sure that it’s professional and that it looks trustworthy. You also want to make sure that your store is easy to navigate and that it’s optimized for search engines.
5. Start Marketing Your Store
Now that you have your store set up, it’s time to start marketing it. There are many ways to market your store but some of the most popular methods are:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Advertising
- Social Media Advertising
- Content Marketing
Above is a very brief overview of everything you need to do but it gives you an idea of the steps you need to take. Of course, you’ll need to do more due diligence and research on your own but this gives you a good starting point.
What Other Platforms Could You Use To Dropship?
Dropshipping isn’t limited to Shopify stores. You could also use:
- Etsy
- eBay
- Amazon
The sky’s the limit when it comes to dropshipping platforms. You can sell on any platform that allows you to list products and take orders.
Conclusion
Dropshipping is a great way to start an online business with little to no upfront investment. You can quickly get started and start seeing results.
Of course, there’s a lot more to it than what we’ve covered in this article but this should give you a good overview of what it is and how it works.
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