Getting Real About Dropshipping
Dropshipping is simple, but it is not easy. You may have come across dropshippers claiming to make loads of money. They may be true, but we'll bet our top dollar that it was not with their first store. Building a lucrative dropshipping store takes hard work. Let us break down that reality for you.
Magda: If you are just getting started with dropshipping, and this has happened to all of us, you jump on to YouTube you type in “dropshipping”. What do you see? Well, you see all these people and all these videos saying, “I made $1,000 a day. I’ve made $100,000 in 30 days. How to find winning products every single day.”
That’s what you see, and it can be extremely overwhelming and it can also be a little misleading because you think about dropshipping and then all you see is, “How to make $1,000 a day.” So it’s like, “Oh it should be pretty easy.” But it’s not, and there are a lot of things that you don’t see that go in between those two things.
Jessica: We are gonna talk about what you see and what you don’t see when it comes to dropshipping. And by we I mean, me and Magda.
Magda: Hi everyone. I am Magda. I work with Jessica at Oberlo. I’m also a dropshipping fanatic and a YouTube aficionado, so I’m so excited to be here today to motivate you to get working on your businesses.
Jessica: Magda is only a new face. If you’re not taking Oberlo 101, by the way, if you’re taking Oberlo 101, then you’ll have seen Magda before because Magda and I do live Q&As every month only for students of Oberlo 101.
One of the things that we don’t talk about enough on our YouTube channel is how many failures it takes for a dropshipper to go from zero to successful.
I feel like it’s totally possible for someone to open a store and within a week, make thousands of dollars. But I will bet thousands of dollars that that was not their first dropshipping store.
Persevere When the Going Gets Tough
Magda: Definitely. Most of the successful dropshippers that we talk to have had multiple stores and have spent so much money learning Facebook Ads, figuring out how ads work, figuring out which products actually are not good at all to sell.
Harry: When I started to launch some adverts, probably… We spent through about 800 pounds, which converted into about $1,000 or so, only to generate one sale.
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Jessica: Oh my gosh.
Harry: Yeah. So it didn’t go as I thought and I didn’t get the Lamborghini of course, at that time.
Magda: And once they’ve become professionals and once they’ve done it for long enough, then yes, they can launch a store and in one week make, let’s say, six figures. But it is not their first store.
I know for myself personally, that I have had seven failed dropshipping stores and every single store has been a lesson and something that I’ve learned and taken to the next one.
But it definitely takes some failures before you really figure it out.
Jessica: People might hear, “Oh my gosh, that sounds like a lot of money.” The truth is, yes, if you are on your last $100 in your bank account, I’m sorry, but this is not the week to start Facebook advertising. You’re not gonna get very far, you’re not gonna be able to act on the data that you get.
That doesn’t mean you can’t start dropshipping with other means that require a lot of time, building, for example, Instagram communities, from the ground up over months but with zero dollars. You just gotta make that decision and a lot of people think I can start with $5 and nothing else in the bank and go to $2,000 with no experience. And we hope we haven’t given you that impression. We’ve been trying to be real. But that’s what this video is for is to just break it down for you.
Magda: You definitely want to know what exactly goes behind all those huge YouTubers making so much money dropshipping and figuring out what their journey is like. That’s really important because when you come to a challenge or when you come to your first failure, you’ll be able to realize that’s normal. That’s okay, everyone’s been there before. You just need to keep on moving.
Ryan: That’s the thing, it’s like you invest so much time and energy into learning, and doing all these things and eventually it’s gonna pay off. People will quit way too early.
And that’s one of the biggest failures I see people do is they just can’t stick with it long enough, and go through the hard times which every one of us is gonna have.
Magda: But if you just watch those YouTube videos where people are so successful, it can be discouraging when your store fails because you’re like, “Well, I’m obviously not doing this right,” or, “Dropshipping doesn’t work,” instead of being like, “Actually this is so normal. Everyone’s first Facebook ad fails.” Cool. Check that one off the list and just keep it moving.
Jessica: Yeah, failure is a necessary stepping stone to success. And so, when you see those videos where dropshippers are saying they made it and you’re sitting there and not making any Facebook sales, don’t worry, that successful dropshipper definitely was in your shoes not making any sales with Facebook and wondering what to do next. The difference is that they kept at it.
Maybe they had to take a break ’cause they didn’t have the money for Facebook ads. Maybe they had to work a side hustle to make money for Facebook ads, maybe they didn’t do Facebook ads. But they’re gritty, and they persevered.
Harry: Yes, I think it’s important that you do when things are working, and other people are having successes, the platform or the models do work, you just have to get better over time.
And that very much just comes with the experience of testing products and getting better over time, so gradual progression.
Jessica: So with that said, it’s time to stop.
Find Success in Failure
Magda: Jessica. I’m gonna need you to stop right there. I have a few more things to add. It’s really important that when we talk about failures, you can really break it down and you really understand that failures can mean a lot of different things, whether it be your store failing, or whether it be your Facebook ad failing or whether it be your first winning product failing and not working.
It’s really important to know that failure can come in all shapes and sizes, and every failure is a lesson. That sounds so cheesy. I know you’ve probably heard that so many times before. Unfortunately, it is the truth. And once you start believing it and living by that mantra, you’ll be able to find success with any sort of dropshipping store.
And I think that that’s one really important lesson that you should learn and take from any dropshipping videos you watch on YouTube, or any big ecommerce entrepreneurs that you really look up to. None of them have a single path to success.
They’ve all failed multiple times and failed in many different ways. But the difference is they keep it moving.
So whether it’s testing three winning products or 20, yes, many dropshippers test up to 20 products before they find one that actually works for them and makes them a lot of money. But the difference between them and people who are not successful is they just keep trying and they’re willing to keep pushing until they find the one that works for them. So make sure to remember this lesson and apply it to any aspect of your dropshipping store or ecommerce store.
Jessica: Well put.
Magda: Thanks, Jessica.
Jessica: That was a great addition. And speaking of trying and failing. We’re trying to be real with you about dropshipping and motivate you to get started on your store. So let us know in the comments if you like this video and if you did, join us next week for more motivational posting.
Magda: And don’t forget, if there’s something that you want us to talk about or a topic that you haven’t seen addressed about dropshipping, let us know in the comments below. We read all the comments, and we get our best ideas from you guys. So it’s really important to let us know and give us feedback too.
Jessica: Thanks, guys. Catch you later.
Want to Learn More?
- 18 Dropshipping F***ups: Successful Owners Share Their Most Memorable Mistakes
- 8 Months and $1M Later: How One First-Time Ecommerce Entrepreneur Made his Fortune
- 10 Dropshipping Myths That Need to Be Debunked for Good
- Tales From a Beginner Dropshipper: The Highs and Lows of a Newbie Starting a Store