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From Broke Student to 10K/month (still student)

X-vibe

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Hi everyone !

I am so happy being here and writing this post. I apologize for my potential mistakes concerning the english language as I am french.

My name is Theo, I am a 24 y-o french student (top 10 french Business School but I can tell you that my school took me more money than it helped me to make... !! But it's ok it's a good investment as I really made it profitable through networking.)

I read TMF 3 months ago and it already started to change my life. Really, this book and its vision are game-changers. Thanks Mr DeMarco!

4 years now that I was struggling to pay my school and my rent/living as a student... And this year I decided to change it after having read TMF . I just had started my journey with ecom / dropshipping when I read TMF, but this book has been a key accelerator and helped me to get a bigger vision and to focus on what really matters (2 details that can change a whole life).

I started to train myself and learn as much as possible on digital marketing, copywriting, facebook ads and e-com... Hundreds of hours each month, litteraly.

3 months later and here we are, I've just hit my first 5-figures month in revenue (profit=30%) in November in e-commerce! It probably looks little for some of you, but when you come from a poor family and are struggling for many years, asking money to your parents with shame every month, a such result is.. woaw.

BUT WAIT, for those who read it and think "I knew it, dropshipping works!! I'll do it too and become rich !!" and then return back to these gurus on Youtube selling dropshipping courses... I want to tell you : there is NO easy money. Dropshipping/ecom works, but not as gurus tell you on Youtube. It is a real business, but online, that's all. It will work only if you make a study to find products that answer to a need. Only if you develop and master high-level digital marketing skills (copywriting, FB Ads, funnels, email marketing, etc). And only if you have a good customer relationship management.

Once again it is about the process : during those 3 months I woke up at 5am EVERYDAY to get enough time to work on my business before going to school at 10. And even during my school courses I was working on my computer when I could.

Dedication is the key.

I'm now hesitating : develop this website as a brand (packaging, etc) or focus on another project with my best friends (project already started and which has very good results too!!). I'm currently studying options and trying to choose on which one I want to dedicate during the years to come. Then the adventure will REALLY begin!

Thank you for your reading!

Theo
 
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RazorCut

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Welcome @X-vibe and congratulations on your success. I hope your business maintains it's momentum in sales after Christmas. Hard work and process are a killer combination.

Look forward to your future posts.
 

Jeff Noel

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Welcome to the forum and keep the numbers high ! Do you have an EXIT plan for that business ? Do you plan developping more products, selling it, etc ?
 

X-vibe

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Welcome @X-vibe and congratulations on your success. I hope your business maintains it's momentum in sales after Christmas. Hard work and process are a killer combination.

Look forward to your future posts.

Thank you very much! I hope too. I try to focus on positive : advertising costs will reduce after christmas + I'm just starting, I had little money to invest but now I can reinvest profits so... let's work!

Welcome to the forum and keep the numbers high ! Do you have an EXIT plan for that business ? Do you plan developping more products, selling it, etc ?

Thanks!! I'll do my best for this.
I've just started to try new products of the same niche/collection and it worked, so I really think that I can develop a long-term business based on this niche and this kind of products. And create a fellowship and loyalty. But on the other side I know that it's very niche-focused and I couldn't scale it at 7-figures/months for instance. I'm not even sure I can scale it to 6-figures, but of course I'm gonna try! ;)

So yeah I'll try to make it as bigger as possible in the months to come, introduce new products, then I'll focus on loyalty and Lifetime customer value strategy, to give my brand/website the more value possible. Then sell it ! I'll also make it the more automated possible, to increase value (as passive income) and attract as many buyers as possible.
 
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Jeff Noel

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Thank you very much! I hope too. I try to focus on positive : advertising costs will reduce after christmas + I'm just starting, I had little money to invest but now I can reinvest profits so... let's work!



Thanks!! I'll do my best for this.
I've just started to try new products of the same niche/collection and it worked, so I really think that I can develop a long-term business based on this niche and this kind of products. And create a fellowship and loyalty. But on the other side I know that it's very niche-focused and I couldn't scale it at 7-figures/months for instance. I'm not even sure I can scale it to 6-figures, but of course I'm gonna try! ;)

So yeah I'll try to make it as bigger as possible in the months to come, introduce new products, then I'll focus on loyalty and Lifetime customer value strategy, to give my brand/website the more value possible. Then sell it ! I'll also make it the more automated possible, to increase value (as passive income) and attract the more buyers possible.

I'm talking without proof here, but if your business has constant or increasing sales for the last X months, it should be relatively easy to sell once the time comes. Just don't miss the opportunity (like MJ could've done with his limo business, remember when he bought it back and then made a lot more ?) Keep that in mind as months go by.

Who knows, that business might be worth 10X in 2 months vs what it's worth right now !

Feel free to skip those questions if they're asking for too much:
- Are you targetting the French people ? As someone from Quebec, I always wonder if the local market is too small to make a reasonable ROI.
- How much did you risk at first ? Did you test the market of did you go all in ?
 

X-vibe

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I'm talking without proof here, but if your business has constant or increasing sales for the last X months, it should be relatively easy to sell once the time comes. Just don't miss the opportunity (like MJ could've done with his limo business, remember when he bought it back and then made a lot more ?) Keep that in mind as months go by.

Who knows, that business might be worth 10X in 2 months vs what it's worth right now !

Feel free to skip those questions if they're asking for too much:
- Are you targetting the French people ? As someone from Quebec, I always wonder if the local market is too small to make a reasonable ROI.
- How much did you risk at first ? Did you test the market of did you go all in ?

Yes you're true! And if it works really well I should go in China to meet real suppliers, negociate price/packaging to create a brand which will give it more value than just "dropshipped" products. It could even be one the most important key to make profit! To sell it as a brand.
Just the fact that you reminded me that MJ started all with a website, you just litteraly gave me so much motivation to keep it hard in the months to come ! Thanks my friend.

Your questions are ok don't worry!

- Yes I am targeting the french market only.
I tried to scale it with the "french big 4" (FR/Belgium/Swizterland/Canada) but for the moment it did not succeed. I think my product is adapted to the french market, but I will try again with different angles. It could definitely be another key to go on my way to 6-figures. So yes, France is enough for me to make 5-figures and on a very niche-focused market. And maybe I can x2 or x10 as you said, while I'll increase budget.

- I lost 500$ at the beginning, trying 3-4 products on 2 niches that I studied. Then I found 2 products ok. The first one is the one I'm still selling today. For this one I have to admit that I just found a website of my niche which was very profitable, with 1 type of products, making a lot of money in secret, with no competitors. I just started to copy then improved some things to differenciate. To find it I just tried on google " niche + shopify " or " *niche related things*+ shopify". And I found the website. But you can also look for profitable ads on Facebook, for instance.

And the second one that I found, was a product concerning a niche of people that I know because I belong to. I studied it and found 1 product to try. I tried and results were really ok. I plan to launch it in January. To do so I'll have to create a 2nd website and to manage both of them during the months to come. But as it is the same business model, and as the first one starts to be more automated, it will be ok.
 

Castillo

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Very nice intro. Love seeing stories like this on here.

Congrats on the MRR! Hopefully it keeps up for you and accelerates more. You're a great action taker from what you've shown us already.
 
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X-vibe

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Very nice intro. Love seeing stories like this on here.

Congrats on the MRR! Hopefully it keeps up for you and accelerates more. You're a great action taker from what you've shown us already.

Thank you my friend! I try to be, I try to be. But I have a lot to learn, and this forum is powerful source of information from what I see!

Thanks and see you on the forum!
 

Tony Tong

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Hi everyone !

I am so happy being here and writing this post. I apologize for my potential mistakes concerning the english language as I am french.

My name is Theo, I am a 24 y-o french student (top 10 french Business School but I can tell you that my school took me more money than it helped me to make... !! But it's ok it's a good investment as I really made it profitable through networking.)

I read TMF 3 months ago and it already started to change my life. Really, this book and its vision are game-changers. Thanks Mr DeMarco!

4 years now that I was struggling to pay my school and my rent/living as a student... And this year I decided to change it after having read TMF . I just had started my journey with ecom / dropshipping when I read TMF, but this book has been a key accelerator and helped me to get a bigger vision and to focus on what really matters (2 details that can change a whole life).

I started to train myself and learn as much as possible on digital marketing, copywriting, facebook ads and e-com... Hundreds of hours each month, litteraly.

3 months later and here we are, I've just hit my first 5-figures month in revenue (profit=30%) in November in e-commerce! It probably looks little for some of you, but when you come from a poor family and are struggling for many years, asking money to your parents with shame every month, a such result is.. woaw.

BUT WAIT, for those who read it and think "I knew it, dropshipping works!! I'll do it too and become rich !!" and then return back to these gurus on Youtube selling dropshipping courses... I want to tell you : there is NO easy money. Dropshipping/ecom works, but not as gurus tell you on Youtube. It is a real business, but online, that's all. It will work only if you make a study to find products that answer to a need. Only if you develop and master high-level digital marketing skills (copywriting, FB Ads, funnels, email marketing, etc). And only if you have a good customer relationship management.

Once again it is about the process : during those 3 months I woke up at 5am EVERYDAY to get enough time to work on my business before going to school at 10. And even during my school courses I was working on my computer when I could.

Dedication is the key.

I'm now hesitating : develop this website as a brand (packaging, etc) or focus on another project with my best friends (project already started and which has very good results too!!). I'm currently studying options and trying to choose on which one I want to dedicate during the years to come. Then the adventure will REALLY begin!

Thank you for your reading!

Theo
This is awesome, I'm a student as well, nice to hear from a fellow friend :)
 

baguvix

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Congrats to your success :), I wanted to start dropshipping long time ago, but my wrong mindset/excuses didnt allowed me to do. I will change it up... already gathering money for startup too.
Do you had some income when you was starting out? Or just budget to start?
 
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Walter Hay

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@X-vibe. I am delighted to see how well things are turning out for you.

I am curious about whether you are in fact dropshipping from China, and if so have you had any problems caused by slow delivery.

Also, your idea to expand by sourcing direct from manufacturers is IMO the way to go. You will then be much more a master of your own destiny and not dependent on suppliers who might let you down after you have taken money from customers.

Now that you have experience in dropshipping, maybe you should consider dropshipping direct from manufacturers in the EU?

If you do intend visiting China, I suggest you read my posts on that subject: GOLD! - Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.
GOLD! - Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.

Walter
 
Last edited:

Vadim26

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@X-vibe Curious as to why you decided to go with that type of business (especially after reading the book), since it completely violates Entry (easy and doesn't require big capital to start) and Control (Shopify shut downs = your business is wiped out) commandments. Or you haven't thought about it much?

I too tried Shopify store, but failed (haven't lost much though). Having read TMF and Unscripted recently: I don't think I'll be dealing with Shopify platform anymore or only if I will develop it into my own brand after.

p.s. not hating, just curious :smile2:

//off-topic//
@Castillo hey looks like you are from Vancouver too. Do you go or planning to go to any entrepreneur / toastmasters clubs here?
 

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