Can Shopify rip me off?

[Real Deal Denver]

Look, you REALLY need to get over yourself and your imaginary product and your outlandish dreamy sales volume. You're paranoid of something that isn't gonna happen to sales you're not even getting! You've taken non-action, and went a step further with it.

Why don't you try to sell a couple of them before you get paranoid about a billionaire stealing your idea/product/sales!

 

[Real Deal Denver]

Your mindset is evolving positively. Keep learning.

 

[Real Deal Denver]

There are solutions to your problems. You're not the first person to have the idea to dropship a unique product, and there are countless successful dropshipping companies, both hosted on and off of Shopify's platform.

Thank you for your solid advice and information.

I don't know why you're impatient. I've founded and ran several business ventures, all of which were successful, and I didn't just "jump in the deep end" on any of them. On several of them, I did drive out my competition that thought they had the market sewn up before I came on the scene. So, I think there is a lot to be said for planning and laying a strong foundation. Knowing what I have done to my competition, I want to make triple sure I can defend myself against, well, someone like myself that DOES understand marketing well, and has the resources and knowledge to dominate a market. Yes, that scares me a lot.

So, I do what I can. Which is to learn and plan. And then launch. No testing of the market - no slowing testing the market. Ignite, and launch, at full power. Maybe even launch at MORE than full power. I'm kicking around the idea of kick starter (pun intended).

However, I've never launched and scaled a business on a national level before. This is fascinating on so many levels. The funny thing is, although I'm going to entering three markets, there are no products out there that do quite what I'm doing. The ones I've found concentrate on being cheap. I'm going the opposite direction: class and quality. In the fast food business, who wants to copy McDonalds? Nobody. Everyone else has a hook to distinguish themselves as being better somehow. Nobody says they are cheaper than McDonalds. Not a one.

Read every word in the book cover below - that says it all. This is what I am doing. I don't know how to do this. Yet. But others do, and I'm learning from them. By leaps and bounds.

 

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[Merging Left]

Fair enough in regards to planning. I think the Shopify fear has been beaten to death at this point, don't you agree? What's the next hurdle you're facing?

 

[Real Deal Denver]

So where are you at with this? What steps are you currently taking that are pushing you towards your goal?

1) I have researched subbing out the work to design my products. I found that the cost is way too high, and the quality is very sub-par. That throws it squarely back in my lap.

2) I have taken the position that I must create the designs of this product myself. I don't have the capabilities to do this right now, but I will within a couple of weeks. I have bought a new computer and software that will allow me to create world class results. Needless to say, I'm not taking any shortcuts. The end results will be excellent, even in the established market I am competing in. I have done things very similar to this before, but not computer based.

3) I am consuming books on the marketing methods I will need to launch this on a large national level.

4) Both the creation and the marketing are pretty intensive endeavors - but nothing that is impossible by any means. I have hired a company to help with the marketing phase of this, and may hire more people if I feel the launch will be lacking in quality or power.

5) I am highly considering a kick starter campaign, as this is a very consumer orientated product. I know I could sell a few thousand of my products there. This will serve to launch, as well as fund, my business for the first few months - not to mention the inherent marketing that will boost it for a long time.

I have several books on Kick Starter, as I am thinking this would be a no-brainer to launch it. The key is having a product that get noticed right away by being unique and stunning. With powerful marketing being behind it, I expect it to obtain orbit in less than two months. At that time, I don't want to be saddled with running the company day to day, or developing products. I'll leave that to Shopify. I want to maximize the marketing. I'm even looking at licensing deals to incorporate "legendary" brands into my product, like Harley Davidson, for one.

Marketing is the key that will unlock all the doors. One small but powerful example of that is this: Let's say I get 3,000 people to buy my product in the first month, which I consider to be conservative, but let's go with that. I now have 3,000 customers that I can send a promotion to to give them, say, 30% off our "new line" of products - but only if they order within the next six days. Bam - instant mass advertising that doesn't cost me a dime. I might not make much money on it - but I'm not losing money. I'll play that game to scale this up.

I'm keeping my profits low. Say 2-3 bucks per item. If I do 5,000 sales a month, life is good. I expect to do more than that, but those are my conservative projections. I can "expand" my lines of products to tap into my client base even further.

This is an amazing adventure. It's like I've been drugged my whole life, and now I'm off the drugs and fully awake, for the first time.

 

[Real Deal Denver]

But then again, you didn't know that Kickstarter is the best way to get ripped off and beat to market.

Yes, I do know this. And I agree with all of your other observations as well. Surprised?

The point it, I have to do something. While I'm in the design process, I'm ramping up the customer base. The two go hand in hand.

I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I'm not going to wait for the Kick Starter campaign to finish. I'm going full steam ahead - at the same time the Kick Starter campaign is going on. This will be kind of like a pre-launch, and then a massive launch with the funds from Kick Starter. Who says you have to take things in order, or only do one at a time?

The only way my product can be copied is for someone to buy it and rip it off. If they achieve any scale at all, I will shut them down, as my designs will be copyrighted. Can't do it? Well, I can only do so much. Others have been successful going down this road - I think I can be, as well. My products will be far superior, and I will have much more powerful marketing. Is there still going to be problems? Sure. Can I stop them all? No. What's my plan then? In orbit in under two months.

Once I achieve scale, I'll be in control. I'll "roll-back" prices, like Wal-Mart does, and it won't be worth the trouble to compete with me. If anyone that is significant does, they will be shut down. That's what my attorney is for. Of course, I know many here will laugh at that. Well, that's the way it's done. For the little bit players ripping me off for a dozen products here and there - fine - have at it. I'm going for the hundreds of thousands in sales - not 50 a week, or a couple hundred a month.

Of course I am here for feedback, and everything you have said is appreciated.

I have seen success on a much smaller scale than I am going to be working on. So even I do only "average", that will be many times more successful than the "small" players.

The books I have that detail these procedures are gold mines. Others have done it. Competing products are well established, but not on the quality level that I will be delivering. And - my secret weapon - I have the Shopify system to scale right alongside the sales. I'm not going down the "run this out of my garage" route and make two hundred bucks a week. Nope. I'm going for prime time super nova fireworks display. Inside scoop - you heard it here first - I'm even working on being a featured product in that national news. I have several angles. My unique designs - my "too old to know anything" angle. Human interest. News outlets are starving for this kind of stuff. Not to mention the usual run of the mill news releases. It all adds up. One home run and this thing will be like an old west wagon full of dynamite. Remember those old westerns? That's all I need to do. Sounds hard, but unbeatable odds don't scare me. I won 5,000,000 to one odds before. Didn't even blink. Wasn't scared at all. Here I am today to brag about it. That's when I was a sperm. Tough race, but I won it!

I will say one thing though, that is very important. The advice, good and bad, that I have received here is all very much appreciated. It has allowed my plan to "evolve" through a lot of what if scenarios, and I have progressed much further than I expected to. On confidence, I started at 1, and I am at maybe 7 now. I like having naysayer sounding boards to bounce things off of. It is tremendously helpful.

I'm still weighing the Kick Starter angle. Lots of pros - but lots of cons also.

 

[Real Deal Denver]

I hope you only mean regarding the shipping - because your idea isn't even remotely passive.

What you are describing is starting an online marketing company based around physical product sales.

If you think it's as easy as turning on some ads, running some social media traffic and sitting back to watch 300k orders come in - you are dead wrong. You need to understand how to run traffic and optimize conversions at a well above average level and keep a hawk's eye on those numbers to make sure you remain profitable when platforms change their algorithms or when your ad has hit every eyeball that it can and stops being effective.

I hope you only mean regarding the shipping - because your idea isn't even remotely passive.

What you are describing is starting an online marketing company based around physical product sales.

If you think it's as easy as turning on some ads, running some social media traffic and sitting back to watch 300k orders come in - you are dead wrong. You need to understand how to run traffic and optimize conversions at a well above average level and keep a hawk's eye on those numbers to make sure you remain profitable when platforms change their algorithms or when your ad has hit every eyeball that it can and stops being effective.

Thanks. Got it the first time around though.

 

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