When new to anything it’s almost entirely expected to get things wrong at first. Whether it be starting a new business or embarking on a new hobby for fun, new things tend to confuse us at first. Here at Viral Ecom Adz we have worked with a variety of customers, both beginner and intermediate. And through our time working with those customers we have keyed out several factors that separate novice dropshippers and seasoned ones. Here are the top 5 beginner misconceptions about dropshipping.
YOU NEED A LOT OF MONEY TO START.
When new to anything it’s almost entirely expected to get things wrong at first. Whether it be starting a new business or embarking on a new hobby for fun, new things tend to confuse us at first. Here at Viral Ecom Adz we have worked with a variety of customers, both beginner and intermediate. And through our time working with those customers we have keyed out several factors that separate novice dropshippers and seasoned ones. Here are the top 5 beginner misconceptions about dropshipping.
You need a lot of money to start.
The misconception amongst most beginner dropshippers is that you need a lot of money to start and that is simply not true. To break it down hosting a store on shopify only cost $30 a month for the basic plan. Now include a domain, and they usually cost $11-$15 per domain. So far you have only spent at most $45. Now take into account your money for ad spending. We highly suggest that you have at least $400 to $700 a month for ad spend money. This money should be put away, saved, and ready for facebook to buy ads for you. We also recommend following one method, and outsourcing the creation for the videos you will use for your ads. That's where we come in : ).
The only reason we recommend outsourcing the video ads is that we at Viral Ecom Adz have curated our own proven style of video creation for each video. We have perfectly synthesised the best style for videos for all ad platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Etc. We take the headaches out of video creation so you can focus on more important things. All in all to begin dropshipping having around $1000 to $1500 already saved, and cash flow coming in is the most important. It doesn't take tens of thousands to begin.
The store needs to be fancy.
The common illness most people who start dropshipping is they over complicate the simple stuff. From the name of the store, to what you'll sell, to the theme you choose. It matters, but it doesn't all at once. Choosing a theme should not take more than 5-10 minutes of time. Most people feel the need to purchase an expensive theme with all the bells and whistles, and that's fine if it fits your budget, but for the most part it is not needed. All you need is one of the free themes. We recommend either Brooklyn or Debut. They work just fine.
Now in terms of paid themes, there is one paid theme that stands out against the rest and that is Booster theme. If you choose to go paid theme do research on what you want for your store in particular and need. We recommend booster’s theme due to the amount of apps it provides within one theme and the ease of access of all its features.
Niche Stores are Better.
Most beginners like to think that the best way to make money is sell things that they personally have an interest in, or a certain area of products they think they know better. We at Viral Ecom Adz don’t recommend first timers to start with a niche store for a number of reasons.
If you start with a dog store then you're bound to the limiting pool of dog items you can sell. If you choose to sell beauty products then you are bound to the limiting pools of beauty and make items you can sell. When testing you want to be able to drop a product when you want and be able to move to any other product that you think could sell.
This is why we recommend starting with a general store. A general store allows you to sell any product at any time of the year you'd like. You are granted the freedom of making the store how you would like it allows you to reach across aisles in terms of potential customers.
Dropshipping Is Dead.
To put it simply, people are often in the mindset that dropshipping is a fad or a wave and they missed it, or that it somehow was once alive and now it's dead. This is far from the truth. Dropshipping is not a fad, it's a business model that has been used decades before, and in the decades to come. It is a way of selling things online, and as far as we are concerned ecommerce has just begun.
Shift your mind from thinking that this is some fad that you missed, and shift to think how can I out do the others already doing it? How can I do it better than all the others? How can I disrupt the way others are doing it?
Dropshipping is a get rich quick scheme.
The final misconception beginners have is the one that plagues them the most. Thinking that dropshipping will make them rich quick. It’s often paired with an abundant enthusiasm for making money and high expectation but the truth is that dropshipping takes real hard work and consistency to actually make it profitable.
Dropshipping is just like any other business, it takes time and actual effort to be able to make great money. To make money in DS will take risk, money, and consistent effort. It won't happen overnight but it will happen at the end of the end of it all.