I start my idea today (eCommerce + POD)

[Jeannen]

20/03/2022

No such feeling as having the whole office (co-working) empty to work on a Sunday morning

After thinking, I concluded that right now, considering the current situation, my best leverage to generate more cash is my client. I don't like relying on other people, but this is probably the fastest way I can grow my income so I can reinvest in other stuff.

I get 10% of the ad spend, if I manage to scale his sales (and of course the ad spend), I can probably get $1000-2000 more per month, which I can reinvest.

I'm not sure reinvesting in more projects would help tho, as I'll still have the same issues I currently have.
I could also focus on the video-game studio, but there is a ton of stuff to learn before I can have anything decent.



Here are my current skills for eCommerce-related stuff:

• I know the process to design and manufacture a product (5/10)
• I know how to test the water to see if there is interest in a product before having it (7/10)
• I know the process to import/export products from most countries to US or other places (5/10)
• I know how to make great stores that convert (8/10)
• Maximizing user value with upsells etc (8/10)

(the note is my level of mastery according to me)

What I lack is:

• Finding unique products ideas that give value and not just some re-design from other brands with minor improvements
• Building the marketing directly inside the product, instead of "painting the wall" after it's done
• Storytelling, emotions, and making content worth sharing

However, I see lots of people not even bothering with all the above and making millions. So, I guess I'm overthinking, and probably don't need all that shit.

 

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[Jeannen]

22/03/2022

I received one of the last samples yesterday, which is terrible, so I will not be able to sell this product. I will go for a "lesser version" which is still very good, but less remarkable from a marketing point of view (the product is exactly the same, but there is one less "value skew").

However, this sample gave me an idea for another product I'm sure would work well. Not for now, since it's a high seasonality product, and I'm not sure I would be able to get everything in time. But I still have this in mind.

I might be able to start the production in the upcoming weeks I think. Hopefully.

 

[Jeannen]

29/03/2022

I'm going to move to another cheaper place next month, as my rent price increased and I don't need as much comfort. Also going to reduce my food expense. That way I can keep paying my 3 employees and keep more $ for projects.

Been depressed for the last few days, as lots of shit happened at the same time, but anyway, that's how it is. Being a whining bitch is not gonna change anything.

The supplier I wanted to work with to get an additional value skew underquoted, and the product actually costs 30% more than what was expected. Kinda wasted 3 months because of that, nice.

So, seems like I'm gonna have to produce the stuff in China instead, as this is the only way to get ok prices. I realize that I have 0 leverage on suppliers/partners until I get sales volume. So, this is priority #1.

I'm going to start selling in Australia since the product has seasonality there.

Honestly, the goal isn't necessarily to make a profit anymore, I don't think it will be profitable with advertising & shipping costs, but that will show me how to push a product in the market, and maybe get some leverage to make my product more valuable later. Worst case I'll lose $5000 I guess

If by end of August I'm not having break-even results, I'll stop this project here and move to something else.

Goal #1 is to have everything ready by the end of April.

 

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[mve0991]

Update: 10/04/2020

Okay, so, I test-hired 7 designer and gave them a test order, from there, I'll be able to pick the one with the best quality (since they all charge the same price).

✔ Find suppliers - DONE (I'll start with 4-5 products)
✔ Calculate profits - DONE
✔ Find & contact designers - DONE
✔ Find a name & logo - DONE
✔ Grab a domain name - DONE
- Create a store - Today's goal
- Start a marketing strategy - Today & tomorrow's goal

The designer will cost a bit more than expected, which should lower my margins. VAT is a real issue, since it F*ck up 20% of my margin. Anyway, I'll make a try and see how things goes

So, quick background, I might go more into details later if it interest peoples (Since again, I'm not starting "from nothing" without knowledge).

Been in eCommerce for 3 years now, I started with dropshipping, didn't made profit but sold 2 stores, and from there I've been able to find freelance job with clients. For one client, I manage their ads and give general advice on marketing. It's a fashion brand, both retail & eCommerce. I also give courses online to beginer entrepreneurs, I teach them the basics.

I've been doing this for more than 1 year (Since October 2018), and it earn okay cash (~3k to 5k/month).
Problem is it's time-dependant, and that's annoying. I like doing it, but I want to create real companies now.

If I manage to grow this eCommerce and then sell with profit, it will be a win !

Good job! What will be the e-commerce system that you will use for creating the online store?

 

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[Jeannen]

Good job! What will be the e-commerce system that you will use for creating the online store?

Shopify, I use it since day one in ecommerce and it's by far the best and most versatile platform out there (at least without coding knowledge)

 

[mve0991]

Shopify, I use it since day one in ecommerce and it's by far the best and most versatile platform out there (at least without coding knowledge)

I know Shopify by name because I'm active in the e-commerce branch myself but I have never worked with it. Did you already managed to setup the online store and think about the marketing strategy?

 

[Turbine3]

This quote I love.

Merci - it's been great to follow your progress! Keep it up!

 

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[ruzara5]

Hey !

So, I was wandering online, searching for a business idea for weeks, when I found a cool ad this morning. Basically, it's some kind of POD (Print on Demand), with additional value.
The ad was in english, the website too, and in USD. Since I'm French, I quickly checked if there was any existing business like this one in France, and found none.
For obvious reason, I'm not disclosing anything about it yet, but once it will be implemented (if it works), I guess talking about it won't be a problem

I really flashed on this idea because:
1) It's working well in the US
2) It provides genuine value and exitement to peoples who receive it (either for them or as a gift)
3) It's for a group of passionated peoples who could potentially buy multiple time, meaning there is a potential for some customers retention

So, I decided to give a try.

I spent the afternoon calculating margins, and to be honest, there is nothing amazing here (3€ to 10€ of margin per product) , but hey, it's worth a try !
It doesn't fully respect the CENTS (My control is limited as I depend of an external supplier) but over time I guess it might improve, since I'll be able to negociate with other suppliers or whatever.

So, here is the things I need to do in the upcoming week:
- Find suppliers (mostly done)
- Calculate profits (mostly done, even tho they are pretty low)
- Find & contact designers (I'll check UpWork & Fiverr soon)
- Find a name & logo (Work in progress)
- Grab a domain name
- Create a store (should take me 4-5h to get it fully done)
- Start a marketing strategy, either organically or trough advertising. I'd prefer advertising, but my margin are pretty bad, and I don't wana burn everything

I have 2000€ available for this project.

I'll use this post as a "follow up" guide. I might post my "background" later, since I'm not starting ecommerce from scratch, I already have good knowledge and some "okay" experienc in the field.

Goal of the project: Create my 1st activity that is not a "Time --> Money" converter and not dropshipping. I'm freelance so I earn some cash, but it depends of the time I spend working.

Build and flex. Generate some results. Congrats. Journey begins.

 

[FrYo]

Bonjour
Implémente ce projet! le plus tôt sera le mieux, nous avons tous hâte de voir les premiers challenges auxquels tu vas te confronter !
Keep going Bro! and leave us feedbacks .

 

[Jeannen]

Any updates?

Following this thread with interest.

Hey !

So, the 2nd ads pool generated a sale but not profitable so I stopped them

I hired a friend of mine who is a killer at making clients persona & copywritting & audience research, I'll see how it goes ! He should be ready within the end of the week

I'll probably learn a lot by checking his work !

 

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[Vadim26]

Update 12/05/2020

So, I spent a few days feeling like shit because the last store "failed" (I didn't pushed further because margins are really low).
I have amazing reviews tho, on the 6 sales I've made, 3 clients contacted me to say that they were super happy. It genuinely made me happy to know I've put a smile on their face.

Anyway, as I said, I spend yesterday and the day before feeling like shit and being a mop. When I feel like that, I often allows me 1-3 days (sometimes a bit more) to be a larva and then go back to work.

I even kinda started to believe that this won't ever works for me, as it's probably my 11-12th store failed. Here is a quick list:

I started in September 2017

• Store 1: Just started eCommerce. Made my firsts few sales, felt happy as F*ck, but not profitable
  • Learned to create a store and the basics of eCommerce
  • Learned the very basics of FB ads
• Store 2: Tried influencers, was shitty, made 2 sales, non profitable
  • Learned the basics of influencers
• Store 3: I was hyped by a potential new hand-spinner-like trend back then (yeah, no comment lol), no sales, no profit
  • Learned to not follow stupid trends
• Store 4: Made a copyright-infringement POD store + influencers. Made profit. (designs were from a videogame)
  • Learned Print on Demand
• Store 5: Made some good sales (20k but almost not profitable)
  • Learned to manage logistics, supplier relationship, regular ads management / monitoring
• Store 6: Made some good sales (15k but almost not profitable)
  • Learned the same as above in better
  • Learned the power of email marketing (after the store was closed lol)
  • Learned to sell a store (2800€)

Pause from June 2018 to October 2018. In the meantime, I found clients for e-commerce consulting. I'm still working with them and living from it as today.

• Store 7: Tried to create a brand from a "winning" product I had. Spent a lot, no profit
  • Learned to not spend lots of money on theme and other shits until I don't have a winning process
  • Sold it for 800€

Pause from November 2018 to April 2019. Focused on personal shits I had to deal with. Dated the GF I was chasing since highschool, we live together in my place now.

• Store 8: Tried to come back to e-commerce after a half year. I didn't even ran ads on that one
  • Learned nothing lol

Pause from April 2019 to April 2020. My life was kinda in autopilot mode, I was earning good money from not doing much. My consulting activity allowed me to work from 2h to 9h per week and earn a good living of it. Just found the GF so I was happy and didn't really had any motive to hustle. I also started an old project of Minecraft server. Spend 2000€ in advertising, learned lots of shits about game design and advertising for video games. I plan to create my own video game studio later. But not now.

Anyway, my consulting activity has turned in some sort of boring job. I can still work not much, but my new clients are terrible. Not gonna give too much details, but they are definitively not the clients I used to have and want to work with. Feels pissed off by the situation. I tried to look for better clients, but without huge success for multiple reasons. Anyway, I really love e-commerce, and with this whole lockdown shit, I told myself it was the good time to start again, since advertising cost are cheap as F*ck at the moment.
So, here we go, April 2020, ~12 days after lockdown:

• Store 9: General store, made 2 sales, no profit
  • Learned the new standards of eCommerce after a year and half of pause (2020)
• Store 10: General store, made 3 sales, no profit
  • Learned pretty much not much
• Store 11:Niche store, made 2 sales, no profit
  • Learned that trying to copy others success don't necessarily mean it will work for me
• Store 12: Made 6 sales, ad cost eat all the profit I made on free traffic
  • Learned I could do organic Facebook Group traffic (which is good to validate an idea)
  • Learned that my "entry" product needs to have sustainable margin, even if I planned to create a brand from that.
  • Learned to code in Shopify language
  • Learned to not be lazy and not pay someone to do the work unless I have a proven concept
• Store 13:"New" store. Trying to create a brand. Lol
  • Learned to create my own theme options in Shopify language

I probably forgot one or two to be honest. That was just to give a quick overview of my journey !
Oh and, I dropped straight after highschool, I had a big F*ck This Event. But that will be for another time

So, the "new" store is actually the one I sold for 2800€ back in 2018. The new owner didn't made much of it, domain name was available, so I purchased it. I still have data about purchases (900+) so I'll try to use the same strategy I used back then and create a customer audience to market to.

I'm working on the store since yesterday, I wanted to make it looks branded and I'm pretty happy with the result ! Gonna start ads today or tomorrow.

Great break-down! Please, keep us updated

 

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[CrimsonNight]

Good luck with your journey!

I have tried to do POD before but the margins were so slim that it wasn’t worth to continue the business. If I have spent more effort into it, it might have worked. I hope you succeed and find a way to increase the margins!

 

[Vadim26]

Update 18/05/2020

$500 of sales since I started, and I think that I might be close to profitable !
277 peoples on my list, haven't started newsletter yet !

I have a really good conversion rate (+3%), and my ads are optimizeing pretty well. I'm plan to try a scaling strategy soon. I already have my agent that will be fulfilling for me, and I'll go to private labeling asap

Nice progress! Have you started utilizing any LLAs yet?

See Gabriel St Germain on YouTube for scaling strategies and fb ads in general. He’s pretty good.

 

[Jeannen]

Nice progress! Have you started utilizing any LLAs yet?

See Gabriel St Germain on YouTube for scaling strategies and fb ads in general. He’s pretty good.

Yeah, content view LAA, my best audience so far, starting to test ATC

I have tons of courses already, I might check it later, one of my biggest problem is information overconsumption, I'll just try some things from my courses to begin

 

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[Jeannen]

Update 23/05/2020

Total sales: 1 568,05 $US
Adspend: $944,00
COGS: $392,60
Various fees: $119,20

Profit: -$141,75

Peoples in my email list: 563
Cost per lead: $0.25 (profit / peoples in the list)

So, that's actually better than I was expecting !
I managed to bump my Average Order Value (AOV)to $11 with a simple non-intrusive upsell. Most of my "non-profit" come from the higher costs from the testing phase (higher products cost, ads etc...).

I'm starting to have lots of peoples in my list. I'm adding new products on the store, and then gonna send a promo email when it's done !

If I manage to have a 3% CR on my email (which was the %CR I had in the previous email), that would mean a total of 15 orders. If I manage to make a $20 AOV, that would be $300 of sales, for free !!

Solutions for lastest challenges:

• Keep making test: I'll start to test new audiences & creatives soon
• Increase AOV: My upsell is doing okay, but I think I can still improve with a OneClick Upsell
• Clients complaints about product origin: I improved my Thank You email to talk about the fact that I have different warehouses to fulfill orders in different countries. I think it will reduce the risk of "omg it comes from China". I'll see when orders will come.
• Clients complaints about delay: Same as above, the email should do it's job. I have positive answers for now like "Yeah totally understand, don't worry".
• Private Labeling: I'm waiting to get more sales until I go PL, so, no solutions yet.

New challenges:

• Add new products: I have 9 products at the moment, which isn't great for upsell. I need more variety
• Political Ads blockage: I give a % of my profit to charity, which is a problem for Facebook. It means I can't use this as a marketing angle, and that suck. I need to find a solution asap. I'm not blocked yet, but I need to find a solution BEFORE I'm in trouble. You can find if you are going to have problem on FB by checking this link: Log into Facebook | Facebook

 

[Chapas]

Update 29/05/2020

Total sales: $5207
Adspend: $1910
COGS: $2395
Various fees: $380

Profit: $522

Peoples in my email list: 1300

I'm profitable !
I reffined my ads, removing the ones producing the least results and testing new creatives, and holly shit, this was a game-changer !

Focus: Add products, create content, top-tier customer service (especially with the shipping delays)

Wow. So great to hear! Especially with your email list. 1300 potential customers in the back-end, and already in profit on the front-end. That is amazing. Keep going!

 

[Jeannen]

Wow. So great to hear! Especially with your email list. 1300 potential customers in the back-end, and already in profit on the front-end. That is amazing. Keep going!

Yes, that's crazy, I wasn't expecting my ads to optimize so well lol, first time I make real profit !!

I'm focused on adding more product with quick delivery in the US to improve customer experience. Ads are cheap as F*ck at the moment so it's a good opportunity.

I told 2 clients that I made a mistake and send them products to their address instead of another customer, so they can keep it for free. In reality, I'm just testing shipping times lol

 

[Chapas]

I told 2 clients that I made a mistake and send them products to their address instead of another customer, so they can keep it for free. In reality, I'm just testing shipping times lol

LOL, I love this haha. What a great out-of-the-box thinking. Testing shipping time and getting 2 happy clients

 

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[francevalue]

Excellent thread. Congrats on your progress!

You remind me of @PTP (check his threads, might be useful)

Bon courage!

 

[Jeannen]

Excellent thread. Congrats on your progress!

You remind me of @PTP (check his threads, might be useful)

Bon courage!

Thanks!
And cool, going to check his thread !

 

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[Jeannen]

Nice progress! I saw the strategy you laid out about add to cart retargeting, I was curious for your retargeting campaigns do you use conversion objective or traffic?

I do catalog sales, so it's Dynamic Product Ad, based on what they saw on the website

 

[Jeannen]

Update 07/06/2020

The VA I hired to help me with customer service isn't as good as I was expecting. I asked her to be more consistent and not just copy/paste answers from the guidelines I wrote.

I might have to fire her and get someone else

Otherwise, I started to add more budget to my ads today ($200/day), I'll see how it goes

 

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[Jeannen]

Thanks for sharing your progress in this thread, it's very interesting to follow and congrats on the success!

Would you mind sharing a bit more about your ad strategy?

I also run an e-commerce store and have alot of trouble with consistency and scaling. Some days will do $500 in sales, the next $100 and trying to push more budget usually results in higher CPR. Sounds like you've got quite a bit of experience in facebook ads and I think hearing more about your strategy and could be really useful for myself and others.

Sounds like you are using LLAs, are you also using interest targeting? Are you using purchase conversion goal for these ads?

Do you run all your ad sets in one CBO campaign that has all the budget or do you have budgets set at ad level?

If at ad set level what % of budget is associated with LLAs / interests / retargeting?

Did you say you are spending around $200/day or did you just increase your spend by $200?

Looking forward to seeing more posts on continued sales and success! Cheers.

Hi !

For the ads, I started testing at $50/day, 10 interest within a CBO, $2.5 minimum adspend in each adset. I had 3 copy in each adset. Purchase conversion straight away, + $10/day engagement ad on all posts

Then I saw the audiences that were working, then duplicated them into a $100/day CBO with $5 minimum adspend, and 5 creatives

I'm using some LAA (VC, ATC & PUR) but I'll use them more in my next scaling phase

I wanted to try CBO and it's working okay so far, so I'll keep it this way

I added $200, making a total of $450 per day. I'll add another $300 daily soon

 

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[OverByte]

Thanks for taking the time to describe your ad process, much appreciated!

On the VA note, I've hired quite a few and there are some gems and some not so great VAs. The most important thing I've found is to have crystal clear writeup. I use this process for tasks (typically) maybe it will help:

Step 1:
I create a document outlining:
- task at a high level (ie 1,2,3,4 basically bullets)
- detailed sections where needed and handling any FAQ/common items

Step 2:
Then i make a video demonstrating the task and typically referring back to section of the doc in the video.

Then I give the video and the document. If you take the time to document it and do a video it's pretty hard to mess up. It also makes replacement very easy if the VA moves on or doesn't work out.

I also have some tips for hiring if you'd like let me know. I don't want to derail your thread

 

[Jeannen]

Excellent! What's your profit margin?

I'd say around 20%

 

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[Jeannen]

Congratulations on your success! I won't comment on everything but I was reading and you were talking about struggling with being profitable on the front end. Here's something people forget SO often: Don't forget to target your PAST customers in a separate campaign after X days of purchase (depending on your product buying cycle or your up-sells/cross-sells) encouraging them to buy your other products.
What I mean: Consumer A bought product A but not product B,C, or D. So run an ad encouraging them to buy your other products. Yes, this is done through your email list but is also extremely effective to do via ads on low budgets. Just make sure to pay attention to your exclusion audiences and time delay to not be TOO omni-present in your customers lives.
Great way to encourage repeat customers and up your LTV.

Yup, definitively, that's the most profitable campaigns for my clients

Problem is the shipping delay, lots of them don't order again until they receive the product, and it takes 15-25 days for my main one

 

[Jeannen]

Update 21/06/2020

I just bought 1000 custom packaging with my logo, and I plan to look into US fulfilling soon to deliver a better shipping experience.

Main goals atm:

• Improve customers experience (packaging + faster shipping delay + better customers service)
• Engage the community with content
• Test a shitton of new creatives

 

[Jeannen]

Good job on your results. I'm from France too and doing approx the same numbers as you are doing. Keep going, it is worth it.
Also keep in mind that when you reach 82k, you'll have to pay the TVA for every € over 82k. I believe you're in "franchise de TVA" for now but once its gone, you lose 20% profit

I'm selling to the US so, not in my case, but yeah, entrepreneurship in France is garbage, that's the main reason I'm moving out asap

To give some context to non-French:
In France you can do business without creating a company. You don't have to hold any accounting or stuff, BUT, you pay between 12% and 20% of your total sales to social security, and you have all liability.
You can't earn more than 176 000€ of sale per year tho, after that you have to create a company.
That's where the fun starts.


Then, you pay your taxes, and you can't deduct the social security. Taxes are from ~10% to 45% based on how much you earn (the 40% rate starts when you earn around 70k/year and the 45% at 157k/year I think)


So, let's say you want to pay yourself:
First, you get a 25% tax on your profit. Then, if you want to pay yourself, you have to pay ~15% of tax to social security. Then, you have to pay your taxes, up to 45% if you earn more than 175/year

That's around 60% + 25% of your profit

Enjoy France

(It's over-simplified here, but still garbage anyway)

 

[Jeannen]

Just finished reading this thread from start to the last post. This has been very inspiring to read @Jeannen. Thank you once again.

With your current store, are you still doing print on demand or have you now transitioned into a different model?

I think the experienced you developed while building those first 13 or so stores you mentioned over the last few years really helped you to get the success with this current store.

You mentioned, you are now building a brand with this store. How would you define a brand versus those other stores you built before?

The current store is mostly dropshipping with POD as upsell. My goal is to promote the POD stuff more, since it's automated and delivered faster. I really like the sub model, and I plan to try it soon.


For me, brand = aiming long-term and building a relationship instead of direct-response sale.

 

[Jeannen]

It's impressive you have 20k subs on your list. Is there a particular offer or strategy you are using to build the list or are these just people trickling in after viewing your ads?

Yes, I use a special offer to catch their interest