Let's start the war. (But lose the battle with dropshipping)

[ak007]

Let's get straight to the point.
I am 19 years old and some days back I completed the fastlane millionaire book, now after reading it I got completely fired up in building a fastlane business. But as I already said I am 19 years old and of course in a student debt it's hard to build any business without money , then I started searching a route that needs a lot of work but can be done with less money , and got ended up choosing the dropshipping. Now somehow becoming a part time mentor i earned 20$ in 10 days ,okay you can laugh on that but as an Indian it was really hard to earn even 20 $. Then I built a store found some actually problem solving products started advertising organically which eventually was a dead end , so I invested 5 $ in Facebook ads marketing and got a ctr of 12% but still no body bought the product I don't know where was the problem either it was product or my store who knows but now I think I should step back a little bit and read some more books and come back more stronger
What are your thoughts on it ?
@MJ DeMarco

 

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[FreakyThomas]

Hi!

First, congratulations on taking action. It's the most important thing : get moving/ACT.

Second, you have to assess your results, and then ADJUST.

However, it will to tough to provide feedback with so few details. What is your store selling? How does your offer differenciate from the market? In other words, what's your value skew?

You can also examine your offer through the CENTS framework. With this, you would understand why dropshipping isn't really recommended for a fastlane venture, even if it can make a little money.

If you have no idea I would recommend looking at @Fox web school. If you can't afford it, you can start with his free content, available on his topic, his YouTube channel. You would be able to get a good start while learning the ropes.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

ended up choosing the dropshipping

Can you point me in the direction anywhere in my 3 books when I recommend dropshipping, or lesser, even suggest it is a viable Fastlane path?

I'll wait.

 

[Muhammad Ibrahim]

Can you point me in the direction anywhere in my 3 books when I recommend dropshipping, or lesser, even suggest it is a viable Fastlane path?

I'll wait.

but one question: if someone does dropshipping or smma or any one of the "guru-biz-in-a-box" but not as "a way to make quick money" rather they saw a gap in the market, a way to provide relative value and they saw that one of these models is the best way to deliver/execute on that or at least as a start [e.g. some people start with dropshipping to test the waters then shift to a proper ecom brand]
would that make these biz-in-a-box businesses not shitty?
simply put, if a business is based on market need and CENTS and not one's own selfish reasons and it just happens to be that the said business model is propelled by gurus, does it mean that it's okay in that scenario

 

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[FreakyThomas]

It's just that by using dropshipping, you bring literally zero value to your customer, since he can order the same object for a fraction of the price.
Problem with getting starting like this is that you don't learn the fundamentals of business. Meanwhile the first and main teaching is, provide value, and the market will give you money in return.
My piece of advice, if you need $$$ fast and can't start a business, is either get a job where you can learn stuff about a niche in the market and put $$$ on the side, or learn a skill and start freelancing. It could be webdesign (see my post above), copywriting, whatever... This allows you to learn a skill, obviously, but also to learn how to sell, how to set up processes, eventually how to hire/delegate, etc. This way the odds for you to create a fastlane business later are much higher than with dropshipping where you don't learn anything useful and will probably end up frustrated.
Good job on asking for feedback about why dropshipping is a terrible idea, it means you want to learn; it's the first and mandatory step to grow!

 

[LateStarter]

5 $ in Facebook ads marketing and got a ctr of 12% but still no body bought the product

And you're surprised by this?

1. $5 on FB ads isn't enough to get any decent data
2. If you did get a sale, it wouldn't prove anything with so little ad spend

Drop shipping isn't as cost effective as you have been led to believe.

Then I built a store found some actually problem solving products..

Despite doing this backwards, if you've found products that solve real problems, how else can you get sales without paid ads (and without drop shipping)? Do the consumers agree that it actually solves their problem? Prove that out by getting sales and customer feedback. Then understand how you can make the product better and make it your own. Follow this path and you will be more successful than drop shipping.

 

[amp0193]

so I invested 5 $ in Facebook ads marketing and got a ctr of 12%

I had an ad last month with 20% ctr and after $4000 in spend no sales. CTR is nice… but doesn’t ultimately mean anything.

$5 is a meaningless investment. You need to put more money in to know if it’s going to work or not. If you don’t have it, then don’t try paid ads.

Rule of thumb is 50x average order value to really test an ad.

 

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[ak007]

Can you point me in the direction anywhere in my 3 books when I recommend dropshipping, or lesser, even suggest it is a viable Fastlane path?

I'll wait.

No sir you never mentioned dropshipping as viable fastlane , but let me explain why I chose it

It was only because i thought there's a market gap in that business. I wanted to build a website which offers very unique products which you cannot find on Amazon and flipkart(very famous in India) that easily .all the dropshipping websites you see they only focus on one product when they do ad marketing I wanted to build a brand cause there wasn't one .I wanted to realease one unique product every week in 2-3 niche and in that week i wanted to sell the product with earning 0 profit on that just for the week, then after when I would have generated enough traffic on the website I had many things planned. But as you already said plan is nothing execution is everything. So first I needed to master basics that's why started dropshipping I learned a lot I learned how to create Facebook ad , build a store , find the product, pricing the product etc
But I think with money I lack a lot of knowledge that's why I am going to order some books this week , including the unscripted . I should execute my plan when I posses both knowledge and money is it correct ?@MJ DeMarco

 

[ak007]

I had an ad last month with 20% ctr and after $4000 in spend no sales. CTR is nice… but doesn’t ultimately mean anything.

$5 is a meaningless investment. You need to put more money in to know if it’s going to work or not. If you don’t have it, then don’t try paid ads.

Rule of thumb is 50x average order value to really test an ad

I had an ad last month with 20% ctr and after $4000 in spend no sales. CTR is nice… but doesn’t ultimately mean anything.

$5 is a meaningless investment. You need to put more money in to know if it’s going to work or not. If you don’t have it, then don’t try paid ads.

Rule of thumb is 50x average order value to really test an ad.

ngl , this literally scared me . To be honest sir I got influenced with the youtubers who say I got this X sales in 24 hrs with this X budget. The reason I got influenced was because the product they were selling was not that great one i saw was selling foot massager which Is in the market from years. But still that guy got 7 sales with 15$ of profit , I mean it's really hard to differentiate what's real and what's not on YouTube .

But thanks for replying me

 

[ak007]

And you're surprised by this?

1. $5 on FB ads isn't enough to get any decent data
2. If you did get a sale, it wouldn't prove anything with so little ad spend

Drop shipping isn't as cost effective as you have been led to believe.



Despite doing this backwards, if you've found products that solve real problems, how else can you get sales without paid ads (and without drop shipping)? Do the consumers agree that it actually solves their problem? Prove that out by getting sales and customer feedback. Then understand how you can make the product better and make it your own. Follow this path and you will be more successful than drop shipping.

Sir , I thought a good CTR was a indication of people thinking product is good , but may be I am wrong I need to work a lot

Thankyou for replying to me

 

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[amp0193]

ngl , this literally scared me . To be honest sir I got influenced with the youtubers who say I got this X sales in 24 hrs with this X budget. The reason I got influenced was because the product they were selling was not that great one i saw was selling foot massager which Is in the market from years. But still that guy got 7 sales with 15$ of profit , I mean it's really hard to differentiate what's real and what's not on YouTube .

But thanks for replying me

If it sounds too good to be true… it is.

 

[ak007]

It's just that by using dropshipping, you bring literally zero value to your customer, since he can order the same object for a fraction of the price.
Problem with getting starting like this is that you don't learn the fundamentals of business. Meanwhile the first and main teaching is, provide value, and the market will give you money in return.
My piece of advice, if you need $$$ fast and can't start a business, is either get a job where you can learn stuff about a niche in the market and put $$$ on the side, or learn a skill and start freelancing. It could be webdesign (see my post above), copywriting, whatever... This allows you to learn a skill, obviously, but also to learn how to sell, how to set up processes, eventually how to hire/delegate, etc. This way the odds for you to create a fastlane business later are much higher than with dropshipping where you don't learn anything useful and will probably end up frustrated.
Good job on asking for feedback about why dropshipping is a terrible idea, it means you want to learn; it's the first and mandatory step to grow!

Yes ,yes . I actually have started learning some front end development but I got diverted to dropshipping thinking it was a better Idea than , web designing. because I thought web designing is what everyone is doing it , But I am going to start it now

Thanks for replying to me

 

[ZF Lee]

I wanted to build a website which offers very unique products which you cannot find on Amazon and flipkart(very famous in India) that easily .all the dropshipping websites you see they only focus on one product when they do ad marketing I wanted to build a brand cause there wasn't one .I wanted to realease one unique product every week in 2-3 niche and in that week i wanted to sell the product with earning 0 profit on that just for the week, then after when I would have generated enough traffic on the website

Release ONE unique product EVERY WEEK in 2-3 niche??

I'm not into physical products...more into digital and the marketing side...but sorry to say that it's too short a timeframe. Even if you are just releasing a test version out.

Even if you are just buying things from China or elsewhere to trade, how long is the lead time? Weeks? Months?

Yes ,yes . I actually have started learning some front end development but I got diverted to dropshipping thinking it was a better Idea than , web designing. because I thought web designing is what everyone is doing it , But I am going to start it now

Thanks for replying to me

The real challenge of web design is to assist in the sales/conversion process for the business...not just building a page that floats on the Internet.

For that, you need to ask what is holding back the folks from coming into the door.
And these objections are different for every market.

I give you an example:

Recently my church realised it needed to change its web design.
MOST church websites just list down 'we do XXX programs, we do XXX activities on YYY date'
Nothing fancy...but also doesn't accomplish much.

So the team behind the website realised we had a few problems:
1. Newcomers who arrive at church services might not know anyone...or don't know who/where to start asking to join a cell networking group or ministry. Existing ushers on the ground might miss them too (especially in megachurches).

2. Announcements of events on stage may take up too much time, till everyone gets bored out or loses attention of the overall service.

So some improvements for the website:
1. They opened a booking page on the website to allow newcomers to BOOK an appointment for specific ministry leaders/ushers to come meet them...on whatever services they'd like to come. Sat or Sun.

So when they come for services, their assigned leaders or usher WILL be ready to welcome them on the spot.
To guide them around.

2. They created a map of all the cell networking groups in the area, so that newcomers will know where to find
people of the church to meet & talk to.

3. They opened an events calander and broke up all the ministries into ladies' , kids, men, healing, etc, and set all the events registration pages there too. Now each of the ministries don't have to open their OWN separate pages...everything can be more centralised.

Would love to share the exact website here...but it's still under works till mid month.

I did get the pleasure to view the beta version, as I'm helping out with one of the committee, and I was quite impressed by the results.

 

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[ak007]

Release ONE unique product EVERY WEEK in 2-3 niche??

I'm not into physical products...more into digital and the marketing side...but sorry to say that it's too short a timeframe. Even if you are just releasing a test version out.

Even if you are just buying things from China or elsewhere to trade, how long is the lead time? Weeks? Months?

If we are talking about lead time , it would be maximum a week and half or may be less, because I was going to use the supplier website made for my own country and sell it in my own country ,so I think excluding some cities which lie at borders of the country the lead time would be maximum a week I wasn't thinking about global dropshipping,

But thanks for the feedback sir

 

[ak007]

The real challenge of web design is to assist in the sales/conversion process for the business...not just building a page that floats on the Internet.

For that, you need to ask what is holding back the folks from coming into the door.
And these objections are different for every market.

I give you an example:

Recently my church realised it needed to change its web design.
MOST church websites just list down 'we do XXX programs, we do XXX activities on YYY date'
Nothing fancy...but also doesn't accomplish much.

So the team behind the website realised we had a few problems:
1. Newcomers who arrive at church services might not know anyone...or don't know who/where to start asking to join a cell networking group or ministry. Existing ushers on the ground might miss them too (especially in megachurches).

2. Announcements of events on stage may take up too much time, till everyone gets bored out or loses attention of the overall service.

So some improvements for the website:
1. They opened a booking page on the website to allow newcomers to BOOK an appointment for specific ministry leaders/ushers to come meet them...on whatever services they'd like to come. Sat or Sun.

So when they come for services, their assigned leaders or usher WILL be ready to welcome them on the spot.
To guide them around.

2. They created a map of all the cell networking groups in the area, so that newcomers will know where to find
people of the church to meet & talk to.

3. They opened an events calander and broke up all the ministries into ladies' , kids, men, healing, etc, and set all the events registration pages there too. Now each of the ministries don't have to open their OWN separate pages...everything can be more centralised.

Would love to share the exact website here...but it's still under works till mid month.

I did get the pleasure to view the beta version, as I'm helping out with one of the committee, and I was quite impressed by the results.

Wow this is really great , this really shows that web design is not also a piece of cake lol

 

[MJ DeMarco]

No sir you never mentioned dropshipping as viable fastlane , but let me explain why I chose it

ngl , this literally scared me . To be honest sir I got influenced with the youtubers who say I got this X sales in 24 hrs with this X budget. The reason I got influenced was because the product they were selling was not that great one i saw was selling foot massager which Is in the market from years. But still that guy got 7 sales with 15$ of profit , I mean it's really hard to differentiate what's real and what's not on YouTube .

So your choice of business venture has nothing to do with anything you've read of mine- not value, not needs, not anything based in reality--but typical influencer garbage from someone who likely has an expensive dropshipping "course" to sell you. Pure money chasing.

 

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[Niptuck MD]

What are your thoughts on it ?
@MJ DeMarco

@MJ DeMarco idk how you do it bro, having many newbies just tag you for input after reading bits and pieces of the books.... you have more patience then me haha

i dont think it has riled you up yet or else you would have figured a solution for it.

 

[ak007]

@MJ DeMarco idk how you do it bro, having many newbies just tag you for input after reading bits and pieces of the books.... you have more patience then me haha

i dont think it has riled you up yet or else you would have figured a solution for it.

It is called as S-U-C-S ,
incase you read million books and forgot bits and pieces of it

 

[ak007]

So your choice of business venture has nothing to do with anything you've read of mine- not value, not needs, not anything based in reality--but typical influencer garbage from someone who likely has an expensive dropshipping "course" to sell you. Pure money chasing.

View attachment 50679

It was a terrible mistake, and I do feel guilty about it but that does not mean I read your book just for fun, 'I' thought offering unique products which are hard to find would fulfill commandment of need , because the products which are difficult to find mostly get unsold so it would add value to both consumer and seller but anyways

Thankyou for creating this amazing platform , I will keep you all updated until I make it to fastlane

 

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