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What Business Should I Start?

Potato

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I'm 13 and I want to start dropshipping but I'm not sure. Is it even still profitable? Is it high risk or not? I only want to spend maybe $400-$500 max on it so I don't lose that much on profit. Do I need to buy any classes or stuff because there's a lot of these "gurus" who fake it. If not, what else should I start on that is more profitable than dropshipping, less risk, or good for beginners?
 
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YoungBroward

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I think you should first start with flipping on Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, offerup, etc.... that’s how I got started when I was 15.
 

100ToOne

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I went into drop shipping lost around $400 in one week on ads, made 2 sales which profited 4 dollars. Don't listen to internet gurus who made it with "ONLY $100!!@" It's B.S. or happens to 1 out of a million.
 

JByers210

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I'm 13 and I want to start dropshipping but I'm not sure. Is it even still profitable? Is it high risk or not? I only want to spend maybe $400-$500 max on it so I don't lose that much on profit. Do I need to buy any classes or stuff because there's a lot of these "gurus" who fake it. If not, what else should I start on that is more profitable than dropshipping, less risk, or good for beginners?
Read on this forum.
 
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NMdad

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So, as a 13-year old, you can do things us adults can't do--which is to your advantage. People LOVE to see kids hustling, and are more likely to buy from you to support what you're doing.

And you might consider other business ideas besides drop-shipping.

For example, homeowner services--like landscape maintenance (weeding, lawn care, raking leaves, etc.), at-home car washing & interior cleaning, dog walking, etc. The reason I give these examples:
  • As a 13-year-old, you probably don't have transportation, so you can get customers in your neighborhood.
  • Once you get customers, you can hire other kids to do the work, while you focus on getting more customers.
  • These business require little to no startup costs, and therefore are low risk.
Go get 'em!
 

Xeon

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At 13, guys still haven't complete their puberty and some guys still have not develop attraction for the opposite sex, but here you are, already talking about dropshipping and money matters. You've a golden path ahead of you. Honestly, most of us here at that age weren't even anywhere close to what you're doing at the same age, except maybe MJ......
 

Duane

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Congratulations on having $400-500 to invest at 13, that's impressive if you've earned that yourself and put it to the side at such a young age.

At 13 I was walking around my area mowing lawns. Sure it's manual work, but it's a great way to make money as a teenager.

I borrowed my dads lawn mower/weed eater, filled the gas cans up and would cut front and back for $20 and I could do 10-15 lawns over the weekend. The key is knowing who the right customers are by looking at their yards before you knock on their door.
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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I WISH my parents kicked me out of the house at 13 to go mow some lawns, wash cars, or flip stuff online.

Take the money and buy 1) an asset like a mower, edger, cleaning supplies or 2) scan garage sales and find something to flip.

View: https://youtu.be/8s3bdVxuFBs
 

yuriysmart

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The questions would be what you could make better than thousands of existing drop shippers? Why people should buy from you but not from someone else? If you know the answers and make this happened it would be profitable.
 

Ernman

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Welcome and good on you for exploring such bold action at your age. I recommend you read The Millionaire Fastlane and UNSCRIPTED . In between making your millions before you can drive of course.
 
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Raoul Duke

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Have you bought the books and read them? If not:
  1. The Millionaire Fastlane, Paperback Book
  2. UNSCRIPTED: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship (Book 1, Non-Fiction Buiness)
Check these links out:
  1. NOTABLE! - 100 Unsexy Business Ideas: Name as many as you can!
  2. NOTABLE! - Starting a lawn care service business

I have a third link that you would find useful as well. You are not a INSIDERS though. If you buy both books, read them. I'll buy you a 6 month INSIDERS subscription.

I think mowing lawns is the best option for you. Being your age in all.
 

MHP368

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I'm 13 and I want to start dropshipping but I'm not sure. Is it even still profitable? Is it high risk or not? I only want to spend maybe $400-$500 max on it so I don't lose that much on profit. Do I need to buy any classes or stuff because there's a lot of these "gurus" who fake it. If not, what else should I start on that is more profitable than dropshipping, less risk, or good for beginners?

Read the book , you might have to pick a business based on real life barriers , so presumably being 13 thats why you thought dropshipping but the real question you need to tune yourself to find is "where can I add value? What problem / frustration can I solve for someone?"

If I want a doodad drop shipped from a third world country I have lots of options , i'm not saying you need to reinvent the lightbulb but dropshipping seems a bit "me too"

What country are you in? 13 seems like a fit for a service based business.
 
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NC Bidniss

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Keep this in mind: you have no business experience. Rather than trying to dive in head first to do dropshipping, do something locally to learn the ins and outs of running a business. Mow lawns, bake and sell cookies, or clean your neighbors houses. Anything that requires more time than skill is the perfect place to start. Once you learn that, you'll be better suited to try something more complicated.

Here are some things you need to learn:
  • Bookkeeping and accounting
  • Marketing
  • Budgeting of time and money
  • Tax and business laws
  • Pricing/bidding
At 13, it is safe to say you don't know much about any of those things, but I can tell you that there is no minimum age to start learning. When I was fresh out of college at 23 with two business degrees and two minors, I thought I had it all figured out. My 1st year out of college in a real business taught me more than I had ever learned in all my days in school, and to this day I still learn new things. I don't want to discourage you from starting your own business, but I also want to caution you on biting off more than you can chew. The best way to learn is from experience, and the best way to get experience is by starting small.

Also, don't focus on trying to be the next teenage millionaire. If that is your goal, you will undoubtedly fail. Change your focus into gaining experience and knowledge that you can use down the road to set yourself up for success, rather than trying to be a success from day one.
 

Jeff Noel

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Start looking around you and ask yourself "How can I help that man/woman?" "How can I provide value ?"

Think about manual jobs differently
Mowing lawns is not only making their yard beautiful, it's doing so while saving them time. What about also watering the plants outside as a bonus ?
Washing cars to makes their owner proud to show off their ride, but you could also go the extra mile and apply Armor All to their tires or clean dust on their dash. You'll wash the cars directly in their driveway and clean up the excess soap off of their property too.

Find a way to provide MORE value to the owner (read above)
Then, do a perfect job.
Work hard and people will start sharing your name around while talking to their friends or neighbors...
As soon as you can afford it, get one of your friends to work for you (maybe pay him half of what you would earn).
Tell him to work for your existing customers and find new customers.
Go with him a couple of days at first, to show him how YOU do it. You want to maintain the quality level on par with what you did before that employee was there.

What if somebody calls you (at your parents house) to get their lawn cut ? Ask them if they also want you to water their plants for an extra $5-10.

Marketing
Once you have enough revenue, start putting cash on marketing: ask someone for help to design a clean pamphlet, print it in multiple copies and walk around the neiborhood to drop pamphlets in the mail.

Retargetting and follow-up
As soon as you have a customer, try to put their name, address and phone number in a book or on a pad somewhere. Call them one month or 2 months after the last they called you for work and ask them if they would need the service done again. If they say no, call them after 6 months and tell them about that fantastic new related service you offer to your customers (say, planting trees, or a full contactless vapor wash for their car since you've invested $2K revenue in a hot industrial vapor pressure washer - and now you're even saving a ton of water, ecological choice for them !).

Other
If your friends argue that they earns less than you do, tell them it's your customers and your business. You found the customers.
 
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ExaltedLife

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Rule #1: Think for yourself.

Seems like the popular consensus is that being a 13 year old, all you are good for is mowing lawns.

The people have spoken. You asked "What should I do?"

They answered: "Mow lawns".

It's up to you to decide if that's what you want.

To figure out if something can be profitable, do the math. Math is never wrong (if you do it right) and math never lies. People lie and get things wrong all the time. What would you rather rely on?
 
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Johnny boy

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Bake cookies and pastries and walk around downtown and sell them to people who are working at local businesses. Film yourself doing it and show yourself hustling and post vlogs of it on youtube. Sell your online audience "hustledoodle" cookies and people will support you because you're a kid hustling. Message youtube and instagram influencers and send them cookies for free and ask them to post about the cookies to help support you. I'd do it for a kid selling cookies. It would make them feel good about themselves and maybe a local news outlet does a story on you and you make a hundred grand from selling cookies.

Build a little mini homemade trailer to haul a mower around behind your bicycle and mow lawns for $40. Just knock on doors and get your customers. If you drop out of 8th grade you'll be making $400 a day all spring/summer/fall working full time. If I could go back I would've left school around that time...

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Become a social media influencer middle man. Find brands and negotiate an aggressive affiliate marketing contract (say $5 from every sale from links they give you). Then, turn around and find influencers to agree to a softer affiliate marketing contract (say $3 from every sale from their links). The brands think you're bringing them sales and you are, and they're paying you $5 a sale, and the influencers that are actually bringing in the sales are getting paid $3 after you get your $5 and you keep $2 a sale for nothing. You sign up more and more brands and influencers and the flow of money gets bigger and bigger. You don't pay for ads, you don't buy anything, you only pay anyone after you've gotten paid by the brands. There's lots of influencers and brands to connect. It's a huge opportunity.
 
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