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My Journey to Freedom, Entrepreneurship and Impact (eCommerce)

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

OneLife

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Hi! I'm Liel, 20 years old from Israel.

Before I start, I wanted to say that I feel like this community is amazing and I'm grateful to be a part of it. Although not being an active user for long, I already got tons of value here. This is my attempt to give back a little, hopefully inspire someone and share my journey to freedom here :)

I am probably going to rant a lot here and although most of you won't be interested in most of what I write, I'd like to come back to this in a few years and remember where I've been.

How did I end up here, and where I am right now
I thank god to this day for my ex breaking my heart at 16. I wrote 'How to pickup girls' on Google and although not taking a lot of action, I ended up reading about self improvement, being the best version of me and came across the idea of being an 'Entrepreneur.

From 16 to about 18 I took no meaningful action, but I read A LOT and it shaped the person I am today and how I view the world.

-Then November 2018 came. In my country, you are obligated to go to the army for 3 years. I wanted to go to the combat army to do something meaningful. But because I'm my mother's only child, she had to sign a paper that she agrees that I join the combat army. I couldn't convince her.

So I told her it's either I go to the combat army, or lawyer up and "escape" going to the army. (I'm a pretty radical person. I figured if I won't go to combat, I will waste 3 years of my life just to do something I'm "obligated" to do. So I decided to skip army and use those 3 years to figure shit out and break through in life, while all the people my age will only start thinking what to do in life.

Probably got a bit too boring here. Long story short - Soon as I finished the process of "escaping" the army, I needed to start by going out of my comfort zone. So I did what probably no one in my country did. I figured I'd be a young 18 year old real estate agent. So I started 'selling' myself to a real estate office near my city. Obviously they had their doubts, but after some good convincing they decided to take me on with them, since they saw a potential in me to be some kind of 'fairytail' story of the 18 year old real estate agent who made it against all odds.

1 month later, I quit.
I hated that crap. I had to wear classy suits everywhere I went, always be presentative (if that's how you say it), A real estate agent's income entirely depends on the time he puts in (at-least until he builds a team, ofcourse), but you ALWAYS Have to put yourself out there (Go to your zone, talk to people, like a politician basically)

The office owner said I'm doing a mistake (He had to go through a lot to get his partners to agree to take me on) but I couldn't take it anymore, and if it doesn't do good to my 'emotional state', I'm done. He told me to stay just for 2 more months, I said I can't. He told me to stay for 1 week, I said I can't. He told me just stay here for 30 minutes and make 1 phone call, I said I can't. So I went out, didn't come back, and felt 'free' again.

Alright enough ranting, I'll make it short.

START HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THAT HUGE TEXT
  • After I quit real estate - I sold my car, started working night shifts at a gas station to fund my dropshipping dreams and started taking action.
  • 4 stores - total failure. Every paycheck I got, I lost to my stores. I lost around 6-7k$.
  • I quit the gas station and found a better paying job. Great. Now I'll have more money to invest. (Even though I wanted to quit every single day, I was persistent and knew I can make this work.)
  • I've had enough with failing. Got a Mentor. (Something I should have done a long time ago). So I paid $3k for a course + mentorship from someone I really liked on YouTube. He was able to change my mindset and made me look at things differently when it comes to marketing.

PRESENT MOMENT
The first store I created after getting a mentor was a winner, by my own terms. First month I did 5.6k, not gonna lie it was around 10% profit only cause I was still getting the hang of it. But I know for a fact it has potential. and if not, I know what to do. (move on, create another brand)

I stopped advertising around 5 days ago. PayPal was holding 100% of my income and I was tired of paying for supplies and ads with my savings. (also my business manager got disabled and I forgot to backup my pixel. Oh well. Share your pixel to other business managers fellas.)

How am I going to make sure this store does AMAZING the next time I turn on ads?:
  • I paid 3 models on Fiverr $20-50 to shoot some custom content with my product for me. I sent it through Amazon Prime, it arrives within a day and I get my custom content within 3 days.
  • I spy my competitors and see what they're doing that's already working and take inspiration from that.
  • I create the best ads that I can create with the content that I have. (I use Adobe Premiere, really easy to learn and use)
  • Because my pixel is stuck, I'm gonna have to start with a new one. BUT not all hope is lost. I will export all of my orders' data to a CSV file and upload that to facebook as a custom audience. Then I'll make purchase lookalikes and hope for the best, while launching a separate interests campaign with the interests that worked best for me.
I got my US LLC and waiting to get an EIN so I can finally use Stripe for processing, then I'll start advertising again so I have good cashflow and will be able to scale (hopefully).

34554

MY GOALS
  • Replace my current job's income with Ecommerce. I work 6 times a week and although 80% of the people in my country will BEG for this job (I work from home and make more than 40 y.o people with degrees and stuff) I hate it. I hate feeling trapped, but I'm trying to stay strong cause its temporary and I already made some stupid moves in my life.
  • Thrive and make good money with eCommerce. My goal isn't to have a successful "Dropshipping" store, It's to create a real brand that gives real value to people, and actually helps them.
  • Build a team and systemize (Is that how you pronounce it?) so I make more money while working less.
  • eCommerce isn't the end goal. I want to create something big that will change people's lives, I'll probably know what it is in a couple of years. Until then, I want to be free to do whatever I want while making GOOD money. (Travel the world, explore, learn martial arts, surf, you name it)
  • Make my vision a reality. I started building the vision since I was 16 years old. Now it's time to execute.

I'm still not sure how to update here - so to the 1% who got here (If someone actually read all of it, tell me, I'd be very surprised! :D )I wanted to ask a question -
How frequently should I update my progress?
1) Update every day with what I've been doing, how much profit/loss for my store, even though it won't always be sexy
2) Update like every week, only when you can see notable progress / "sassy" stuff to update about
Would love to hear some opinions.

THANK YOU. LETS GET TO WORK.
HOLY CRAP THIS IS LONG
 
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Simon Angel

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You remind me a lot of myself 3-4 years ago, just keep that ecom momentum going no matter what. You've taken the right decision on building a brand rather than being a hit-and-run store.

Depression, apathy and self-destruction was what made me go from $30k/month to $0 for years, so beware if you're predispositioned.

Good job on registering an LLC and getting an EIN. I remember using Skype credit and waiting about 3 hours for my turn with the IRS agent to get mine.

Although I hate PayPal, don't ditch them, try to work with them in order to prevent account limitations. They add a lot to the trust factor of your store, so hop on a call with their support (use Skype) and explain your situation. Tell them you're just calling to let them know that you've started spending a lot on Facebook ads and are expecting a considerable increase in sales to your branded store and that you thought they should know in advance.

Once you do the above, they'll thank you and instantly whitelist you and you have to F*ck up hard for them to bother you again (not adding tracking codes to orders + getting a lot of disputes).

$5700 in revenue with 10% profit is a success by the way. You succesfully managed to find a selling product, effectively advertise it, gain experience and customers and even profited 10%. You cracked the basic winning formula, so keep adding to it and improving your understanding of it.

Good luck!
 

OneLife

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You remind me a lot of myself 3-4 years ago, just keep that ecom momentum going no matter what. You've taken the right decision on building a brand rather than being a hit-and-run store.

Depression, apathy and self-destruction was what made me go from $30k/month to $0 for years, so beware if you're predispositioned.

Good job on registering an LLC and getting an EIN. I remember using Skype credit and waiting about 3 hours for my turn with the IRS agent to get mine.

Although I hate PayPal, don't ditch them, try to work with them in order to prevent account limitations. They add a lot to the trust factor of your store, so hop on a call with their support (use Skype) and explain your situation. Tell them you're just calling to let them know that you've started spending a lot on Facebook ads and are expecting a considerable increase in sales to your branded store and that you thought they should know in advance.

Once you do the above, they'll thank you and instantly whitelist you and you have to F*ck up hard for them to bother you again (not adding tracking codes to orders + getting a lot of disputes).

$5700 in revenue with 10% profit is a success by the way. You succesfully managed to find a selling product, effectively advertise it, gain experience and customers and even profited 10%. You cracked the basic winning formula, so keep adding to it and improving your understanding of it.

Good luck!

Thanks man. I really appreciate the good words and the advice.

I'll call PayPal on sunday, explain them the situation and start running ads again instead of waiting for Stripe.

Hope you'll stick around to see my progress ;)
 

JonathanMiz

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Amazing post man!

Nice to know people from Israel who are crushing it!
Come to TLV, let's pick up girls and talk business;--)

Can I ask why did you have to open an LLC in the US? Is it for the shipments?
And who is the mentor?

I would like to see updates every week:)

Good luck! Looks goood
 
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OneLife

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Amazing post man!

Nice to know people from Israel who are crushing it!
Come to TLV, let's pick up girls and talk business;--)

Can I ask why did you have to open an LLC in the US? Is it for the shipments?
And who is the mentor?

I would like to see updates every week:)

Good luck! Looks goood

Damn! I was wondering if there were more people from Israel around here haha. Cool :D

I opened an LLC in the US cause PayPal was a pain in the a$$ with their holds and we can't use Stripe in Israel. (Or any other legit payment method that shopify supports)

So I opened an LLC, getting an American bank account and opening stripe.
 

OneLife

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#Update 1

It's 3:13am here. I worked for 12 hours at my full time job, then worked from 10pm until now on creating the new ads and everything.

I paid 4 'models' on Fiverr a few days ago to shoot some custom content with my product on, to have variety and test a lot of stuff. They delivered, and I created 4 different ads, all the ads have the same structure (same text, same order of clips etc) - so I have as much control over the variables. Once I identify which ad works the best, I'll start testing different variables - scroll stoppers, different text (talking about my text inside the video), different structure, ad angles etc.

Currently dealing with some FB bullshit, it won't let me upload videos as an ad, hopefully it's just a bug.

What I focus on when creating video ads:

1) Scroll Stoppers (First 2-3 seconds of your video) - Huge. I was testing dozens of scroll stoppers on my last store, and I found one that literally doubled my CTR% and cut my cost per click by half. (I felt like a damn king with a $0.25 cost per unique click and crazy conversion rates.)

2) Keep it fast paced. I see ads that have long, boring clips, where you get the point in the first 1-2 seconds but it keeps going on.. and on.. and I just click off. Keep your ad fast paced and interesting. Maximum 3-4 seconds per clip. Show something new every clip, every clip should be a "cliff hanger" to the next one, keep people curious so they watch most of your ad and get sold on your product.

3) Benefits, not features. Although this applies to a lot more than just video ads, I'm applying this to them because I have copy inside and I do my best with that. People don't give a shit about your product, they only give a shit what the product can do for them. How will they feel with your product. For example - You sell a watch. nobody cares your watch is made of the highest quality leather, that it's Quartz and has a timer. People care about how they will FEEL with your watch on - more confident? get more compliments? Feel like a boss? you got the point.


I'm hella tired and can't think of more stuff. Pretty sure that's the most important points I focus on when creating ads though, so hope it helped someone. I'll edit this if something else jumps into my mind.
PEACE

p.s soon as I figure this FB bs and get to upload ads, I'm gonna launch a quick view content campaign to test click-through rates and cost per clicks and identify the top 2-3 ads. Then start the testing campaigns on purchase and the fun starts.
 

OneLife

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I picked the 3 ads that had the highest CTR and started testing.

Today was testing 10% and 1% PUR LLAs (Because my pixel was stuck and I didn't want to start fresh, I exported my orders to a CSV file, upload it as a custom audience to FB and created an LLA for that audience.)

Ad spend was $60, revenue $100 so I'm at around breakeven. 10% LLA Worked much better today (It also did previously, but I wanted to test again just to make sure), I'll let it run for 1-2 more days and make changes then.

I'm kind of impatient so tomorrow ad spend will be around $80, I'll start testing the interest that worked best for me.

Called IRS today, my EIN is not available yet so gonna have to keep using PayPal for now.
Also contacted PayPal and told them the sales will be increasing the next few days, hopefully that helps somehow. Seems like they don't hold my money for now but we'll see how that goes when I go back to normal ad spend.

Stuff I need to do;
  • Over time, become less dependent on FB ads. Dropshipping doesn't apply to most of CENTS (It's just scalable) so I want to improve my chances as much as possible - I'll do that first by starting to build an asset that will be mine only - an email list. I need to find complimentary products that my niche NEEDS and start thinking of ways to increase my revenue through email marketing.
  • The new custom content honestly doesn't perform much better than my original ads that I was running. So keep testing many variables until I come up with something much better. (thumbnails, ad copies, scroll stoppers, etc). My conversion rates are really good but it's the extraordinary marketing that's missing.
  • Set up my Instagram page and start running some influencer marketing campaigns (I'll start doing that when I have fb campaigns that are consistently profitable, so I'll be able to focus more)

Cya later
 
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Last edited:

Simon Angel

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I picked the 3 ads that had the highest CTR and started testing.

Today was testing 10% and 1% PUR LLAs (Because my pixel was stuck and I didn't want to start fresh, I exported my orders to a CSV file, upload it as a custom audience to FB and created an LLA for that audience.)

Ad spend was $60, revenue $100 so I'm at around breakeven. 10% LLA Worked much better today (It also did previously, but I wanted to test again just to make sure), I'll let it run for 1-2 more days and make changes then.

I'm kind of impatient so tomorrow ad spend will be around $80, I'll start testing the interest that worked best for me.

Called IRS today, my EIN is not available yet so gonna have to keep using PayPal for now.
Also contacted PayPal and told them the sales will be increasing the next few days, hopefully that helps somehow. Seems like they don't hold my money for now but we'll see how that goes when I go back to normal ad spend.

Stuff I need to do;
  • Over time, become less dependent on FB ads. Dropshipping doesn't apply to most of CENTS (It's just scalable) so I want to improve my chances as much as possible - I'll do that first by starting to build an asset that will be mine only - an email list. I need to find complimentary products that my niche NEEDS and start thinking of ways to increase my revenue through email marketing.
  • The new custom content honestly doesn't perform much better than my original ads that I was running. So keep testing many variables until I come up with something much better. (thumbnails, ad copies, scroll stoppers, etc). My conversion rates are really good but it's the extraordinary marketing that's missing.
  • Set up my Instagram page and start running some influencer marketing campaigns (I'll start doing that when I have fb campaigns that are consistently profitable, so I'll be able to focus more)

Cya later

Reading your posts is like waving a recovering alcoholic a glass of whiskey in front of his face - it makes me want to attempt ecommerce again.

A word of advice from my own dropshipping adventures - a great product with subpar advertising WILL sell, a subpar product with great advertising will not.

I've made HD, highly engaging ad media with catchy editing and music, great ad copy and all that for a product and sold 0. The product just wasn't needed by the market. I've done this a number of times when testing.

However, I've seen a product with a 240p video at something like 638x420res (not taking advantage of the optimal square 1:1 ratio Facebook allows), shitty editing, no CTA, really bad copy (pretty sure he was an AliExpress store owner that caught up on Facebook Ads, and you know what their English is like) + obviously stolen and cropped from someone else make the guy millions in sales.

By the way, I've been in contact with a friend that runs a 7 figure store (monthly) and he's not running any ads this month. 2 reasons - August is usually slow in terms of sales and he mentioned about some sort of glitch which I did not ask him to further elaborate on.
 

OneLife

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Reading your posts is like waving a recovering alcoholic a glass of whiskey in front of his face - it makes me want to attempt ecommerce again.

A word of advice from my own dropshipping adventures - a great product with subpar advertising WILL sell, a subpar product with great advertising will not.

I've made HD, highly engaging ad media with catchy editing and music, great ad copy and all that for a product and sold 0. The product just wasn't needed by the market. I've done this a number of times when testing.

However, I've seen a product with a 240p video at something like 638x420res (not taking advantage of the optimal square 1:1 ratio Facebook allows), shitty editing, no CTA, really bad copy (pretty sure he was an AliExpress store owner that caught up on Facebook Ads, and you know what their English is like) + obviously stolen and cropped from someone else make the guy millions in sales.

By the way, I've been in contact with a friend that runs a 7 figure store (monthly) and he's not running any ads this month. 2 reasons - August is usually slow in terms of sales and he mentioned about some sort of glitch which I did not ask him to further elaborate on.

Hahaha I'm sorry to put you through this man. Hopefully you'll be able to do this again soon too ;)

And yeah I see what you mean. I think the situation with my product is it's a good product (sells like a cake - on average I have 3-7% conversion rates) but to become really profitable and scale, I need to step it up a notch with my marketing. (AND increase my AOV)

That's very interesting that a 7 figure store decided to stop ads this month. I realized this part of the year is the slowest in terms of sales, didn't know that it's to THIS level.
---------------

While we're at it, a little update;

The 2 key aspects I need to improve in order to be profitable at a level where I can scale:


1) Marketing / Ads - I have a good,converting store, the thing that's missing is getting quality audience to my store for CHEAPER. I know I'll find that "life changing creative that blows up" soon.

2) AOV (Average order value) - Will allow me to become more profitable even if I couldn't improve my marketing. My AOV is really low right now as I don't have any upsells in place. I need to figure out ways to implement upsells and bundles without hurting the customer's shopping experience. First thing will be to use Zipify one click upsell (post purchase upsell) once I get Stripe.

Other than that just look to see if I can improve my funnel (Product page~> ATC ~> Checkout) to convert even better.

What happened so far today -
  • After a lucky few purchases that didn't get a hold on them, PayPal started holding money again. They said that they review accounts every 90 days and unfortunately they won't be able to stop holding my money just yet. Oh well. I'll use my savings for cash flow if needed.
  • I paid a pretty good editor to make new ads for me. I already did the best I could by editing the ads myself, and although I know I'm doing a good job its not enough. Hopefully he can do a better job than me and make something good out of my custom content.
  • Testing more ad copies. It seems like after I get that first ad copy that works well, it's kinda impossible to find something better. Will keep trying.

p.s luka doncic is a cold blooded beast

peace
 

Aadil_Sarguru

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Hi! I'm Liel, 20 years old from Israel.

Before I start, I wanted to say that I feel like this community is amazing and I'm grateful to be a part of it. Although not being an active user for long, I already got tons of value here. This is my attempt to give back a little, hopefully inspire someone and share my journey to freedom here :)

I am probably going to rant a lot here and although most of you won't be interested in most of what I write, I'd like to come back to this in a few years and remember where I've been.

How did I end up here, and where I am right now
I thank god to this day for my ex breaking my heart at 16. I wrote 'How to pickup girls' on Google and although not taking a lot of action, I ended up reading about self improvement, being the best version of me and came across the idea of being an 'Entrepreneur.

From 16 to about 18 I took no meaningful action, but I read A LOT and it shaped the person I am today and how I view the world.

-Then November 2018 came. In my country, you are obligated to go to the army for 3 years. I wanted to go to the combat army to do something meaningful. But because I'm my mother's only child, she had to sign a paper that she agrees that I join the combat army. I couldn't convince her.

So I told her it's either I go to the combat army, or lawyer up and "escape" going to the army. (I'm a pretty radical person. I figured if I won't go to combat, I will waste 3 years of my life just to do something I'm "obligated" to do. So I decided to skip army and use those 3 years to figure shit out and break through in life, while all the people my age will only start thinking what to do in life.

Probably got a bit too boring here. Long story short - Soon as I finished the process of "escaping" the army, I needed to start by going out of my comfort zone. So I did what probably no one in my country did. I figured I'd be a young 18 year old real estate agent. So I started 'selling' myself to a real estate office near my city. Obviously they had their doubts, but after some good convincing they decided to take me on with them, since they saw a potential in me to be some kind of 'fairytail' story of the 18 year old real estate agent who made it against all odds.

1 month later, I quit.
I hated that crap. I had to wear classy suits everywhere I went, always be presentative (if that's how you say it), A real estate agent's income entirely depends on the time he puts in (at-least until he builds a team, ofcourse), but you ALWAYS Have to put yourself out there (Go to your zone, talk to people, like a politician basically)

The office owner said I'm doing a mistake (He had to go through a lot to get his partners to agree to take me on) but I couldn't take it anymore, and if it doesn't do good to my 'emotional state', I'm done. He told me to stay just for 2 more months, I said I can't. He told me to stay for 1 week, I said I can't. He told me just stay here for 30 minutes and make 1 phone call, I said I can't. So I went out, didn't come back, and felt 'free' again.

Alright enough ranting, I'll make it short.

START HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THAT HUGE TEXT
  • After I quit real estate - I sold my car, started working night shifts at a gas station to fund my dropshipping dreams and started taking action.
  • 4 stores - total failure. Every paycheck I got, I lost to my stores. I lost around 6-7k$.
  • I quit the gas station and found a better paying job. Great. Now I'll have more money to invest. (Even though I wanted to quit every single day, I was persistent and knew I can make this work.)
  • I've had enough with failing. Got a Mentor. (Something I should have done a long time ago). So I paid $3k for a course + mentorship from someone I really liked on YouTube. He was able to change my mindset and made me look at things differently when it comes to marketing.

PRESENT MOMENT
The first store I created after getting a mentor was a winner, by my own terms. First month I did 5.6k, not gonna lie it was around 10% profit only cause I was still getting the hang of it. But I know for a fact it has potential. and if not, I know what to do. (move on, create another brand)

I stopped advertising around 5 days ago. PayPal was holding 100% of my income and I was tired of paying for supplies and ads with my savings. (also my business manager got disabled and I forgot to backup my pixel. Oh well. Share your pixel to other business managers fellas.)

How am I going to make sure this store does AMAZING the next time I turn on ads?:
  • I paid 3 models on Fiverr $20-50 to shoot some custom content with my product for me. I sent it through Amazon Prime, it arrives within a day and I get my custom content within 3 days.
  • I spy my competitors and see what they're doing that's already working and take inspiration from that.
  • I create the best ads that I can create with the content that I have. (I use Adobe Premiere, really easy to learn and use)
  • Because my pixel is stuck, I'm gonna have to start with a new one. BUT not all hope is lost. I will export all of my orders' data to a CSV file and upload that to facebook as a custom audience. Then I'll make purchase lookalikes and hope for the best, while launching a separate interests campaign with the interests that worked best for me.
I got my US LLC and waiting to get an EIN so I can finally use Stripe for processing, then I'll start advertising again so I have good cashflow and will be able to scale (hopefully).

View attachment 34554

MY GOALS
  • Replace my current job's income with Ecommerce. I work 6 times a week and although 80% of the people in my country will BEG for this job (I work from home and make more than 40 y.o people with degrees and stuff) I hate it. I hate feeling trapped, but I'm trying to stay strong cause its temporary and I already made some stupid moves in my life.
  • Thrive and make good money with eCommerce. My goal isn't to have a successful "Dropshipping" store, It's to create a real brand that gives real value to people, and actually helps them.
  • Build a team and systemize (Is that how you pronounce it?) so I make more money while working less.
  • eCommerce isn't the end goal. I want to create something big that will change people's lives, I'll probably know what it is in a couple of years. Until then, I want to be free to do whatever I want while making GOOD money. (Travel the world, explore, learn martial arts, surf, you name it)
  • Make my vision a reality. I started building the vision since I was 16 years old. Now it's time to execute.

I'm still not sure how to update here - so to the 1% who got here (If someone actually read all of it, tell me, I'd be very surprised! :D )I wanted to ask a question -
How frequently should I update my progress?
1) Update every day with what I've been doing, how much profit/loss for my store, even though it won't always be sexy
2) Update like every week, only when you can see notable progress / "sassy" stuff to update about
Would love to hear some opinions.

THANK YOU. LETS GET TO WORK.
HOLY CRAP THIS IS LONG
Update on weekly basis, slow and steady. Kick a$$ man!
 
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OneLife

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What's up fellas. Nothing sassy here! ;D

I stopped running ads for my store (until now, from end of august) for two reasons :

1. cash flow -paypal holds
2. I wanted to buy a car to help my mental health and to be able to drive and enjoy life while on this journey (me+car=big love)

I was Impulsively looking for a car cause i wanted it so bad but decided to suck it up and wait one more month (until October) to purchase my car, so I'll have more savings and won't have to worry about it too much.

So I ran a quick sandbox campaign for many variations of creatives and found some good ones. This is going to be my last try for this product/store and if it doesn't work out I'm gonna take a step back, go over my mistakes with this store and start with a fresh one.

I like squeezing the juice out of things that don't work just in hope that the next time it'll be much better which leads to me losing A LOT more money than I should.

So If this test doesn't work too - go over mistakes, adjust, restart with a new store.


oh btw
I started experimenting a little with Fiverr. I know how to create good dropshipping ads for facebook so I decided to create a fiverr gig. I promoted it on a facebook group and charged like $10 until the post got deleted but I made $90 that night.

Disregarding the fact that the money wasn't at all worth my time (I did it for reviews) it showed me that the concept works and if I put some work in it I can replace my 9-5 job with freelancing.. so that's cool. But still my focus obviously is eCom so I raised my prices and will just let my gig hang there forawhile.

Will probably update again in the next few days cause I started running the purchase campaigns
 

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Hey @OneLife great job so far. When I first started using PayPal they put holds on my transactions for up to 30 days. Then I started manually adding tracking numbers to each transaction and eventually downloading a Shopify app to do it automatically. This seems to have helped a lot because none of my transactions are put on hold anymore. If you'd like, I'll send over a link for the Shopify app. Best of luck!
 

OneLife

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Hey @OneLife great job so far. When I first started using PayPal they put holds on my transactions for up to 30 days. Then I started manually adding tracking numbers to each transaction and eventually downloading a Shopify app to do it automatically. This seems to have helped a lot because none of my transactions are put on hold anymore. If you'd like, I'll send over a link for the Shopify app. Best of luck!

Thanks man!
Yeah I actually have an app that adds the tracking numbers automatically but didn't seem to help. Seems like the second I get good sales volume they start with the holds. It's fine though, I'm learning how to manage / calculate my cash flow in the process haha. The company that provided me with the LLC said I should get the EIN within a week or two so that's cool :)
 
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OneLife

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I gave my last product another try with purchase campaign, doesn't work anymore.
All my other competitors stopped running ads too. It was good while it lasted!

That's what you get when you sell bullshit products that don't really help people. (And those that bought knew its bullshit but they had to try)

This product was my most successful this far, and to bury it with respect I'll share the two milestones I have achieved with it:

34962 34963

Maybe I'll test more products in that same niche, but for now I'm gonna test a different product with a store I made 2 months ago when I was bored. The selling price is kind of high ($50-60) but I hope my marketing and copy will do a good job. We'll see.

My focus from now on -
Move on quickly. I could have stopped the last store 1.5 months ago but wasted my time by trying to force it to make it work. I think if people really want the product and your offer is good, it will do most of the work for you. Good copy and advertising will just be the extra boost. So I'm gonna try to "fail quickly" - if a product doesn't show me good results within the first few days, (We could call it a feedback value loop?) I won't waste my time by trying to force it, but just test another product and learn from the mistakes. (Why did the product not sell? What makes a product sell?)

That's it basically.

Move fast.

Instead of putting days of effort into building a store, crafting a good offer, having the PERFECT advertising - I'm gonna do my best but in the shortest time possible. If I see I'm getting traction and the product itself is doing good even though I didn't test a lot of things and have a lot to improve - THEN I'll perfect everything else so I know I'm not wasting time.

We'll see how it goes ;)
 

johansunburg

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my staff at my supply base in Misamis Oriental know I am relatively immobilized at the moment and have sent me a box LBC to Cebu containing vital provisions. Cheddar Cheese. Falafel mix. Tortilla wraps. Green pesto sauce. Hellman's Mayonnaise. Thai red and Indian madras curry sauce. Etc.



The thing is I am 4km from the LBC shop where it will arrive and I have no bike at the moment. I do not want to go all the way there only to find it has not yet arrived.



they've given me this LBC tracking number is there a site I can use to see if it has come. They said either Thursday or Friday.
 
Last edited:

OneLife

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How's it going my man?
Yo bro!

I think around 10 months ago I quit eCommerce because of the insane emotional roller coaster that I've been through in my journey (Guess I wasn't ready mindset wise)

I stopped everything and started seeking more clarity in what kind of life I want to live in the next 10 years, what I'm truly passionate about, what I see myself doing with joy & fulfillment despite results etc etc

Realized I want to make an impact and help people with something that 1. Creates deep transformations for them / their life / business 2. Something I'm very passionate about

Basically explored my interests and realized I want to master the mindset side of entrepreneurship - why some people are successful and some are not, why you REALLY want certain things but end up self sabotaging, the subconscious mind, self image etc etc

Invested thousands of dollars into programs that teach this directly/indirectly, learned, got my first client for $1k for 6 weeks of coaching recently , and I've reached the emotional roller coaster again of feeling like I'm not ready for this - so currently focusing on personal development, studying more and then getting back to biz.

Read all of your journey btw - super super proud of you and happy that you've found your thing. You'll make it no doubts. <3
 

Simon Angel

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Yo bro!

I think around 10 months ago I quit eCommerce because of the insane emotional roller coaster that I've been through in my journey (Guess I wasn't ready mindset wise)

I stopped everything and started seeking more clarity in what kind of life I want to live in the next 10 years, what I'm truly passionate about, what I see myself doing with joy & fulfillment despite results etc etc

Realized I want to make an impact and help people with something that 1. Creates deep transformations for them / their life / business 2. Something I'm very passionate about

Basically explored my interests and realized I want to master the mindset side of entrepreneurship - why some people are successful and some are not, why you REALLY want certain things but end up self sabotaging, the subconscious mind, self image etc etc

Invested thousands of dollars into programs that teach this directly/indirectly, learned, got my first client for $1k for 6 weeks of coaching recently , and I've reached the emotional roller coaster again of feeling like I'm not ready for this - so currently focusing on personal development, studying more and then getting back to biz.

Read all of your journey btw - super super proud of you and happy that you've found your thing. You'll make it no doubts. <3

I feel you man. Was going through the same thing for a long time.

It sounds like you may be afflicted by the infamous Imposter Syndrome though. Since you've got a client and are earning money, why wouldn't you be ready? Are you getting them the results they want?

Or are you falling into the philosophical conundrum of thinking whether what you're doing now will become boring in a few years and that you'll have become skilled at something you aren't interested in doing anymore?

Anyway, the stars will align and you'll find what you're looking for. Just trust yourself and remind yourself you're on the right path to the life you want!
 

OneLife

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I feel you man. Was going through the same thing for a long time.

It sounds like you may be afflicted by the infamous Imposter Syndrome though. Since you've got a client and are earning money, why wouldn't you be ready? Are you getting them the results they want?

Or are you falling into the philosophical conundrum of thinking whether what you're doing now will become boring in a few years and that you'll have become skilled at something you aren't interested in doing anymore?

Anyway, the stars will align and you'll find what you're looking for. Just trust yourself and remind yourself you're on the right path to the life you want!

Yeah it could imposter syndrome, the thing is that I've been dealing with some personal issues lately that I need to fix before continuing imo, because the feeling is "I'm trying to teach something that I personally still struggle with"

So currently just trying to apply everything I know & learn more before I continue.

and for the client, he's got pretty good results so far but he asked to take a little break due to personal stuff, so we'll continue the process soon as well

And thank you for the support brother :)
 
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Makko

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Yo bro!

I think around 10 months ago I quit eCommerce because of the insane emotional roller coaster that I've been through in my journey (Guess I wasn't ready mindset wise)

I stopped everything and started seeking more clarity in what kind of life I want to live in the next 10 years, what I'm truly passionate about, what I see myself doing with joy & fulfillment despite results etc etc

Realized I want to make an impact and help people with something that 1. Creates deep transformations for them / their life / business 2. Something I'm very passionate about

Basically explored my interests and realized I want to master the mindset side of entrepreneurship - why some people are successful and some are not, why you REALLY want certain things but end up self sabotaging, the subconscious mind, self image etc etc

Invested thousands of dollars into programs that teach this directly/indirectly, learned, got my first client for $1k for 6 weeks of coaching recently , and I've reached the emotional roller coaster again of feeling like I'm not ready for this - so currently focusing on personal development, studying more and then getting back to biz.

Read all of your journey btw - super super proud of you and happy that you've found your thing. You'll make it no doubts. <3
You are already working on yourself. That's all that matters!

I don't know if you already do this but...

Waking up early in the morning (4~5am).
Go for an hour walk/jog/run/gym.
6 days a week.
Eat healthy whole foods.

That will help you with your mindset than ANYTHING. A lot of successful people do this and start their day with it. This is the most important thing that helped me overcome personal issues like depression, drug addiction, laziness and low self-esteem.

A good body = a good mindset = clarity and awareness leads to self actualization: vision and passion

Hoping to hear about you and your journey!
 
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Yo bro!

I think around 10 months ago I quit eCommerce because of the insane emotional roller coaster that I've been through in my journey (Guess I wasn't ready mindset wise)

I stopped everything and started seeking more clarity in what kind of life I want to live in the next 10 years, what I'm truly passionate about, what I see myself doing with joy & fulfillment despite results etc etc

Realized I want to make an impact and help people with something that 1. Creates deep transformations for them / their life / business 2. Something I'm very passionate about

Basically explored my interests and realized I want to master the mindset side of entrepreneurship - why some people are successful and some are not, why you REALLY want certain things but end up self sabotaging, the subconscious mind, self image etc etc

Invested thousands of dollars into programs that teach this directly/indirectly, learned, got my first client for $1k for 6 weeks of coaching recently , and I've reached the emotional roller coaster again of feeling like I'm not ready for this - so currently focusing on personal development, studying more and then getting back to biz.

Read all of your journey btw - super super proud of you and happy that you've found your thing. You'll make it no doubts. <3
Hi! This is Veva, Spanish living in London. I came across your story while researching the worries and key issues that entrepreneurs and coaches are facing lately.

I am curious about your mindset and wanted to share how I worked on my identity to grow my personal brand as a coach and retreat organizer.

I started coaching 5 years ago for all the wrong reasons (for example, helping others divert attention from my poor self-esteem due to past bad experiences). It was exactly that mistake that made me change gears and start, as you said, "focusing on self-development and study more before I kept spending money on courses to grow my business as a coach. I had an identity issue, not a business mind issue.

What 5 years of emotional roller coasters, mentors, identity shifts, adventures and personal progress. When we (coaches) certified, all these models from the sixties become boring and repetitive. They are helpful, but there is SO MUCH MORE, and it is given mainly by people, their needs and how they evolve or actually who they want to become in life. Anyways, long story short, I found a company in the USA that finally made me fall in love with coaching and did many of their programs. What are the odds I will now help them expand their brand in Spanish! We need more coaching that goes deeper into the process and contributes to massive action.

I am inspired by your ability to observe yourself and inspire others with honesty. You gave me so much hope about previous generations ( I am a millennial, we love drama and are in the middle of many crises, LOL).

To conclude, after focusing on my passion, my mission, and despite had already my niche of the market, I changed from one niche to the one I am truly passionate about. My small team and I make coaching FUN, and we are constantly reinventing ourselves and gathering new data to improve our services. We do this by coaching while travelling (retreats and events), so the pandemia put us on a challenge that made us even better, refining our formula to coach freelancers, entrepreneurs, and digital nomads even more effectively.

Everything is possible when we take time for ourselves and set a vision that turns us on! Marketing is all about people. Coaching is all about ALL OF US.

Keep inspiring us with your story; it was great to read from you, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Oh! You mentioned Fiverr. We are now creating more value in a platform we LOVe and find very useful is called Thinkific. Let me know your thoughts! We are in the early stages and still have no programs uploaded.

Genoveva de Sousa.
 

Simon Angel

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Yeah it could imposter syndrome, the thing is that I've been dealing with some personal issues lately that I need to fix before continuing imo, because the feeling is "I'm trying to teach something that I personally still struggle with"

So currently just trying to apply everything I know & learn more before I continue.

and for the client, he's got pretty good results so far but he asked to take a little break due to personal stuff, so we'll continue the process soon as well

And thank you for the support brother :)

Teaching someone else is one of the best ways to improve your own understanding and application of the subject.

Just keep at it! I know you're capable.
 
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User Power
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my staff at my supply base in Misamis Oriental know I am relatively immobilized at the moment and have sent me a box LBC to Cebu containing vital provisions. Cheddar Cheese. Falafel mix. Tortilla wraps. Green pesto sauce. Hellman's Mayonnaise. Thai red and Indian madras curry sauce. Etc.



The thing is I am 4km from the LBC shop where it will arrive and I have no bike at the moment. I do not want to go all the way there only to find it has not yet arrived.



they've given me this LBC tracking number is there a site I can use to see if it has come. They said either Thursday or Friday.
The LBC Express cargo tracking number has 12-17 digits for Philippine domestic packages. For International packages, the cargo tracking number normally has 5 digits.You’ll find it on the lower left side of your receipt, below the bar code.LBC delivers on SaturdaysLBC does not deliver on Sundays and holidays.Delivery dates depend on various factors. Philippine domestic mail and shipping are priced for same day or standard next day delivery.For domestic packages, please expect your delivery to arrive between 24-48 hours. International packages may take 3 to 5 business days to arrive.Yes! Please ask the sender to tell you which official LBC branch he or she has chosen, as well as the delivery schedule. When you visit the branch, please present an official ID.Important reminder: please make sure to pick up your package within 5 days, or your package might be sent back to the nearest Delivery Hub for safekeeping. Pick-up of your package after this time might be subject to additional fees.LBC has an established system of quality processes that allow us to perform on-time deliveries. However, LBC cannot always track the order of deliveries due to certain factors it cannot control.These include: bad weather, traffic, increased volume of shipments during peak periods (like Christmas holidays), and Customs issues.
 

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