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AgainstAllOdds

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I'd like to provide value and help others who want to start their own business but are scared. That's the goal of my blog!

I started my own business two weeks ago

I also plan to

I have made some money in the past on Amazon FBA and a niche Shopify store but not much.

Read your post.

Then question yourself if everything adds up.

It's cool that you took some action, but you're not providing value if you're "teaching people how to start their own business", yet just started your own business.

Don't be a fake guru. Create value.

As of now, you haven't "started a business", but a hobby. It's not a business until it makes you real money.
 

Walter Hay

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I’m focusing more on Shopify dropshipping because the profit margin is higher. AliExpress charges so little for everything and you can then sell for more. The wait times can be a pain, but I offer the customers a coupon if they complain.

I kept having to purchase items in bulk at wholesale and send them to Amazon. I have items listed for sale still but they aren’t selling. Lots of my friends in my FB groups are having better luck with Shopify, as Amazon is getting too saturated.

You have to get lucky on an item like “fidget spinners” to get sales it seems. I have done the scaling up method where I get the same item that’s doing well and make the listing more appealing with pictures and more of a description. I use Jungle Scout to do this. Highly recommended.

I think the dropshipping model is better, but I want to private label at some point. There is a factory in China that I been talking to regarding creating a unique dog product for my store. They need a 3D model made to help them, but I don’t know 3D at all so it’s difficult.
If you are making a better margin by dropshipping from suppliers on Aliexpress, you were not only buying the wrong products, but you were buying them from the wrong suppliers.

If either of those were not the problem, the only way I know to make more profit by dropshipping from Aliexpress suppliers is to sell knockoffs. I'm not suggesting that you were doing that, but that is the business model pushed by a few who are selling courses on Aliexpress for dropshipping. It is Illegal and risky, with many sellers losing their websites and therefore their total business overnight. There have also been other major consequences for them.

Many of my book readers report huge profit margins on products that they are carrying as inventory and selling, not only on Amazon, but also their own eCommerce sites. One that wrote to me reported on importing an order costing $300 and they sold like hot scones, at 30% net profit, and with his money back long before he sold the lot.

If you have a quick look through my thread: GOLD! Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.
You will find some ideas on ways to be sure you are buying from genuine manufacturers (necessary to get the best price) and various other tips.

As for selling on Amazon, I will send you a link to a program that unlike Jungle Scout that throws you into the most competitive areas of selling on Amazon, will show you how to find products that are in demand, but not sold on Amazon.

I wouldn't close your Shopify store, because if you want to private label there are ways to get around Amazon's TOS that prevent you from advertising to your customers. Search for posts by me with keywords: Amazon's TOS.
 
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beckbeach

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Hi everyone. I am a long-time member here but I usually just read posts on here. I am rooting for each and every one of you to succeed in your own businesses and in life.

I started my own business two weeks ago and have set up a blog, MomBeach.com. Take a look at my blog and give me any feedback to help. I have grown to 1,000 page views in two weeks by advertising on Pinterest.com and Instagram.com mostly. If you want to know what I am doing then let me know.

I'd like to provide value and help others who want to start their own business but are scared. That's the goal of my blog!

I also plan to set up a Shopify general store as well with a similar name. I have made some money in the past on Amazon FBA and a niche Shopify store but not much.

Thanks! I will keep everyone posted on my blog and shop.
 
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Walter Hay

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I better change the name then to something else then since that bad review might cost me customers. Right now, I advertise on Pinterest mostly so people usually won’t get off the app to search me.

It could happen, however. Not wanting to brag too much, but Q4 has been good to me thus far. My sales are only doing well because of Black Friday and Christmas coming up. I am thinking of lowering prices site-wide but Wonify is already so much higher than Ali.

Granted, they do keep items in stock on US soil but you sure pay extra for it.

Blog update: I have gotten 2k pageviews.
I think that even on Pinterest it would be worth changing your name. It's true that people will linger in Pinterest, but unless you are paying for pins, surely you are displaying a URL where people can buy your products?

Stockists will always charge more than Aliexpress, but IMO the benefits to your business reputation will be worth it.

Maybe it's time to consider carrying a small inventory? You could give it a try with one product. Don't be put off by the myth that you have to buy huge quantities. The big MOQs quoted are primarily to put off amateurs, and I have taught thousands how to get manufacturers to supply much smaller orders.

See my thread: GOLD! Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist. You will find a lot of tips on safe sourcing, buying only from real manufacturers, handling importing issues, etc.

It would be a marathon effort to read the entire 65 pages, but quite a few have done it. You might prefer to start at the end and work back a few pages at a time.

Walter
 
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beckbeach

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This can be easy or hard depending on who you're hosting with.

A quick look at your site and there are a few things that look like easy fixes:

1. The HTTP version of your site goes through two redirects, from HTTP -> HTTPS, then from the tld to www, which adds a couple of seconds to load times.

2. You're loading some off-site javascript which is also adding to page load times -- it looks like you've got a Skimlinks package and then something from Exelator, which the Eye of Google tells me are link-tracking services.

There are some miscellaneous tweaks you might be able to make (again depending on your host) but otherwise these look like the major hangups. FWIW I didn't get any major lag when clicking around the site, so who knows.
Awesome! I put in a cache, WP Rocket, and took out the scripts. My web hosting doesn’t understand how to fix the url redirect or I wasn’t asking the right question.

I have a win to share. I have earned $73 from affiliates yesterday. I checked my BlueHost affiliate program and got $65 and the rest from Amazon affiliates. I’m so excited! I can’t believe I am making any money so soon from MomBeach.com.

Next steps: I am going to get enough traffic with Pinterest and then applying for survey affiliates. One blog, moneydoneright.com, says they earn $30k a month and half is from survey sites. I applied to the survey company but they said I didn’t have enough traffic.

I am thinking of starting another Shopify store, a general store, and chronicling my journey with it on the blog maybe. My niche store, Pup Beach, is getting redone by a design company to optimize its conversions meanwhile.

Thanks everyone for your help. I’m blessed to be a part of this community. I wish I had been posting more this past year since joining, but I am rather shy. Thanks all for being so kind and welcoming. ❤️❤️❤️
 
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beckbeach

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By “not much”, I mean not millions. The most I made doing Amazon FBA was about $5k in a month. That doesn’t seem like much, but it is to a stay at home mom.
 
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Kyle T

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By “not much”, I mean not millions. The most I made doing Amazon FBA was about $5k in a month. That doesn’t seem like much, but it is to a stay at home mom.
$5k is an awesome start. What made you stop pursuing it?
 

minivanman

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I just skimmed through it but personally, I think while it is still very new, you should focus on something. I'm not sure if your blog is about how to make money with a blog, kids, health or marketing...? Best I can tell it is about them all and I don't think that is a good idea. Choose 1 for this blog and roll with it. If you choose to write about them all, choose which one you want this one to be about and get it up and going then make a separate blog for them all, 1 blog at a time. That's just me.....
 
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beckbeach

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I just skimmed through it but personally, I think while it is still very new, you should focus on something. I'm not sure if your blog is about how to make money with a blog, kids, health or marketing...? Best I can tell it is about them all and I don't think that is a good idea. Choose 1 for this blog and roll with it. If you choose to write about them all, choose which one you want this one to be about and get it up and going then make a separate blog for them all, 1 blog at a time. That's just me.....
Yeah I'm trying to make it a lifestyle blog where I write about those 4 categories. I may drop one or two if it proves to be unpopular. Right now, the Shopify posts are getting the most pageviews, so I may focus on that only.
 

beckbeach

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$5k is an awesome start. What made you stop pursuing it?
I’m focusing more on Shopify dropshipping because the profit margin is higher. AliExpress charges so little for everything and you can then sell for more. The wait times can be a pain, but I offer the customers a coupon if they complain.

I kept having to purchase items in bulk at wholesale and send them to Amazon. I have items listed for sale still but they aren’t selling. Lots of my friends in my FB groups are having better luck with Shopify, as Amazon is getting too saturated.

You have to get lucky on an item like “fidget spinners” to get sales it seems. I have done the scaling up method where I get the same item that’s doing well and make the listing more appealing with pictures and more of a description. I use Jungle Scout to do this. Highly recommended.

I think the dropshipping model is better, but I want to private label at some point. There is a factory in China that I been talking to regarding creating a unique dog product for my store. They need a 3D model made to help them, but I don’t know 3D at all so it’s difficult.
 

NaPal

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@Walter Hay what is this link you speak of? If this for your highly rated books or something else?

By the way, I'm going to purchase your book offer this weekend :smile:
 

beckbeach

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If you are making a better margin by dropshipping from suppliers on Aliexpress, you were not only buying the wrong products, but you were buying them from the wrong suppliers.

If either of those were not the problem, the only way I know to make more profit by dropshipping from Aliexpress suppliers is to sell knockoffs. I'm not suggesting that you were doing that, but that is the business model pushed by a few who are selling courses on Aliexpress for dropshipping. Illegal and risky, with many sellers losing their websites and therefore their total business overnight. There have also been other major consequences for them.

Many of my book readers report huge profit margins on products that they are carrying as inventory and selling, not only on Amazon, but also their own eCommerce sites. One that wrote to me reported on importing an order costing $300 and they sold like hot scones, at 30% net profit, and with his money back long before he sold the lot.

If you have a quick look through my thread: GOLD! Sharing my lifetime experience in export/import. Product sourcing specialist.
You will find some ideas on ways to be sure you are buying from genuine manufacturers (necessary to get the best price) and various other tips.

As for selling on Amazon, I will send you a link to a program that unlike Jungle Scout that throws you into the most competitive areas of selling on Amazon, will show you how to find products that are in demand, but not sold on Amazon.

I wouldn't close your Shopify store, because if you want to private label there are ways to get around Amazon's TOS that prevent you from advertising to your customers. Search for posts by me with keywords: Amazon's TOS.
Hello! I'm now buying from Wonify and only shipping to US. I got too many complaints with Ali and lost lots of customers. On Trust Pilot, my business got a bad review so I am trying to get rid of that.

I was never selling knock offs, just winning products that I see other people sell. What I would do is check the ads of popular Shopify stores and then sell the same products that they were and run FB ads.
 
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minivanman

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I just got there and haven't had time to look around, mostly because it takes so long to go from one page to the next. Just went to a few other sites to make sure it wasn't me and they loaded very fast. Just an fyi.
 

beckbeach

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I just got there and haven't had time to look around, mostly because it takes so long to go from one page to the next. Just went to a few other sites to make sure it wasn't me and they loaded very fast. Just an fyi.
Yes I noticed that problem too. I installed Wordpress plugins like a Cache deleter and Image optimizer. I'm not sure how to speed up a Wordpress website.
 

beckbeach

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Your website...You're doing it wrong :wideyed:
Can you give me constructive criticism?

I have a Shopify and Amazon FBA business for a few years now. I hoped to provide value by explaining how I did it to moms. It was a sole proprietorship but I formed an LLC last month. I’m not claiming to be a guru.
 
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beckbeach

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Look at the screenshot.... and load timessssss

View attachment 22483
Yes I had stated that I am having slowdown issues but don’t know how to solve them. It’s probably my shitty host. I put in a purchased cache plugin and that helped considerably. If you know what else I could do to speed up the site, then that would help. ❤️
 
Last edited:

Walter Hay

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@Walter Hay what is this link you speak of? If this for your highly rated books or something else?

By the way, I'm going to purchase your book offer this weekend :smile:
I hope you will find my books of great value to you.

See your PMs
Walter
 

beckbeach

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I am glad you were smart enough to avoid knockoffs. Now that you have found a stockist in the US you have overcome one of the big failings of the dropship from Aliexpress business model.

Trust Pilot reviews tend to hang around for a long time, so have you considered a business name change? XYX co formerly ABC co might retain your followers.

Walter
I better change the name then to something else then since that bad review might cost me customers. Right now, I advertise on Pinterest mostly so people usually won’t get off the app to search me.

It could happen, however. Not wanting to brag too much, but Q4 has been good to me thus far. My sales are only doing well because of Black Friday and Christmas coming up. I am thinking of lowering prices site-wide but Wonify is already so much higher than Ali.

Granted, they do keep items in stock on US soil but you sure pay extra for it.
This item, “geometric purse” sold so good for me but it’s Ali so customers are complaining. Wonify doesn’t sell it, however. I submitted a request for them to buy it in bulk. If you are reading this and use Wonify then also submit a request. That would really help.
Online Shop Hot One Geometric Luminous Purses and Handbags Shard Lattice Eco-Friendly Leather Rainbow Holographic Purse Large Size Briefcase | Aliexpress Mobile

Blog update: I have gotten 2k pageviews.
 
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Walter Hay

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Hi Walter, could you send the link to me as well? Thank you! @Walter Hay
Thanks for your interest. See your inbox.
I have included a note in case you are interested in selling on Amazon USA.

Walter
 
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D

Deleted50669

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I checked out your console log, here's what it's showing:

console-log.jpg
CORS (Cross origin resource sharing) is how the user interface connects with the remote server. Your site is having communication issues because CORS has not been configured to allow a remote client (your wordpress site) to access some server you're trying to request from. Fixing this would likely be a server-level challenge, and I suspect this is causing the slowdown. It looks like "viglink.com" is the culprit.
 

minivanman

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She did not like the negative feedback so she left. She was so excited to make a few hundred dollars TODAY and not interested in making hundreds of thousands over the long-haul. She did narrow it down some from when she first started. I tried telling her to not have her hand in 30 different things on 1 site but she wouldn't believe me until I lead her to a few other sites that told her the same thing. I guess if she is satisfied with a few hundred dollars, then that is up to her.
 
D

Deleted50669

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She did not like the negative feedback so she left. She was so excited to make a few hundred dollars TODAY and not interested in making hundreds of thousands over the long-haul. She did narrow it down some from when she first started. I tried telling her to not have her hand in 30 different things on 1 site but she wouldn't believe me until I lead her to a few other sites that told her the same thing. I guess if she is satisfied with a few hundred dollars, then that is up to her.
If she thinks this is bad, a couple things that came out of my user testing for my app made me question if I have a functioning brain (still not sure).
 
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Walter Hay

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As for selling on Amazon, I will send you a link to a program that unlike Jungle Scout that throws you into the most competitive areas of selling on Amazon, will show you how to find products that are in demand, but not sold on Amazon.
Hi Walter, could you send the link to me as well? Thank you! @Walter Hay
I continue to receive messages from forum members requesting details of the link that I referred to, but I have to tell each one that the individual module that I was referring to has been superseded by an even better one, and the FBA course has also been added to substantially.

To save me having to explain this every time, I am posting this explanation here.

If any members want a link to the upgraded course, just let me know, either via a post here or a private message. I must also explain that the link I provide is an affiliate link because my book is provided free of charge as a module in the expanded course, and I receive a small compensation for allowing that.

In addition, the link ensures that support for my book users is handled by the FBA course support team, saving me a huge amount of work. That is a great help to me.

Mods: I hope this is acceptable.

Walter
 
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rogue synthetic

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Yes I noticed that problem too. I installed Wordpress plugins like a Cache deleter and Image optimizer. I'm not sure how to speed up a Wordpress website.

This can be easy or hard depending on who you're hosting with.

A quick look at your site and there are a few things that look like easy fixes:

1. The HTTP version of your site goes through two redirects, from HTTP -> HTTPS, then from the tld to www, which adds a couple of seconds to load times.

2. You're loading some off-site javascript which is also adding to page load times -- it looks like you've got a Skimlinks package and then something from Exelator, which the Eye of Google tells me are link-tracking services.

There are some miscellaneous tweaks you might be able to make (again depending on your host) but otherwise these look like the major hangups. FWIW I didn't get any major lag when clicking around the site, so who knows.
 

NaPal

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Your website...You're doing it wrong :wideyed:
 

NaPal

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Look at the screenshot.... and load timessssss

upload_2018-11-14_13-19-41.png
 

Walter Hay

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Hello! I'm now buying from Wonify and only shipping to US. I got too many complaints with Ali and lost lots of customers. On Trust Pilot, my business got a bad review so I am trying to get rid of that.

I was never selling knock offs, just winning products that I see other people sell. What I would do is check the ads of popular Shopify stores and then sell the same products that they were and run FB ads.
I am glad you were smart enough to avoid knockoffs. Now that you have found a stockist in the US you have overcome one of the big failings of the dropship from Aliexpress business model.

Trust Pilot reviews tend to hang around for a long time, so have you considered a business name change? XYX co formerly ABC co might retain your followers.

Walter
 

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