Category: Systems & Processes

Exposing Dropshipping: Why eCommerce and Dropshipping Are Legitimate Businesses

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on Exposing Dropshipping: Why eCommerce and Dropshipping Are Legitimate Businesses

Hello Empire Builders! Whether you’re new here or you’ve been following us along on our journey, we’re excited to have you here as we talk about news sources exposing dropshipping to a wider public market. If you watch any of our videos, then you’ll see that we create content that showcases the benefits and strategies that make dropshipping such a phenomenal way to make money. For a while, we’ve had the upper hand in the market with our formulas, constantly growing network, and by being unafraid to take the risk and jump into the dropshipping world. Through trial and error, we’ve found success, and we want to share that with you. 

Recently, CNBC released content exposing dropshipping as a way to make millions of dollars selling products on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Today we’re going to be dissecting their content and showing how it could impact your dropshipping business. First and foremost, let’s discuss what dropshipping is and look over CNBC’s findings.

What Is Dropshipping? Why We’re Called the Ultimate Middle Man

To make things easy to understand, the most efficient way to describe dropshipping is that it’s a business model that includes three parties:

  1. The Customer
  2. You
  3. Your Supplier

In a legitimate dropshipping business plan, you’ll have the consumer, a supplier, and yourself in order to create sales. Dropshipping itself is a logistical model. It’s essentially the idea of a supplier making, storing, and shipping your product while you, as the business owner and marketer, are focused on selling the product. You don’t control the manufacturing process or really have anything to do with the fulfillment center. 

While articles and videos like CNBC’s suggest that ecommerce is a passing trend, the reality is that it’s been around for years. In the last five to ten years, people have started recognizing it more due to how quickly the world is transitioning into relying on digital markets for purchasing products.  

Exposing Dropshipping: Is Dropshopping a Scam or a Legitimate Business?

Peter Pru watching and discussing CNBC's content about exposing dropshipping

Many articles that discuss dropshipping view it as a get-rich-quick scheme. The truth is that there is a surplus of marketers and vendors looking to make a quick buck. They’ll advertise a product and the consumer will never receive it, or it won’t be as advertised. Like any business franchise, you’ll unfortunately run into your share of scam artists. However, as CNBC discovered while exposing dropshipping, it is a legitimate idea that can be turned into a revenue-friendly business. 

Due to the large number of scam ploys on the market, you have to find a way to earn trust and build rapport with many consumers. Just like your average business, it takes hard work and requires a little bit of elbow grease to create and maintain your dropshipping market.

Should You Follow Product Trends?

Peter Pru discussing how Untapped Focus is purely a dropshipped product

As Ecommerce Empire Builders, we prefer to focus on more evergreen, long-lasting products rather than short bursts of income. My personal goal is to market products that will follow a business model that lasts for years and will offer continual income instead of jumping on product trends that only go so far. While products like fidget spinners are great to throw out there and make money on, they don’t last.

As a shameless plug, one product I market is a supplement called Untapped Focus. I don’t have anything to do with the fulfillment center, the manufacturing process, or anything like that. When somebody makes an order, I don’t touch any of it. All I’m doing is marketing the product. My manufacturer is handling making the product, checking quality, storing it at the proper temperatures, and shipping it for me. They’re hands-on, while all I deal with is marketing and selling it. 

Again, dropshipping isn’t a trendy model. It’s a logistical business model. 

Unless a trending product is in your niche, I don’t recommend using a quick trend to make a little money. It’s not how I like to do business, and it’s not a long-term way to pull in revenue. 

Call It What It Is: A Proper Hustle

You’re always going to have the people “exposing dropshipping” and suggesting it won’t work. But if you’re ready to put in the time and effort, it’s like any other business model — it’ll always be around, and it can be successful. Regardless of articles or videos that call out the latest scammers, dropshipping is a legitimate way to run a business. 

So many people forget that at the end of the day, it is a business, and what you put in is what you get out. Dropshipping is very easy to get started in, which is why so many people pursue it. However, many people don’t find success in it because they’re not putting in the time and effort. Instead, they’re looking for a quick way to make fast cash. Their expectations are shattered when they realize it’s not as simple as it sounds.

Dropshipping takes a good amount of time and work before you’re able to see a return on your investment. Your investment is your time, your hard work, and all of the effort you put into making your dropshipping business a success. Behind the scenes, it’s a logistical business model that requires genuine hard work and patience. In order to be successful with it, you have to recognize how it flows with the market. Also, you have to understand that you’ll face challenges as you would with any business.

Have high goals but realistic expectations. You’re most likely not going to go in and make thousands or millions on day one. You have to properly market and grow in your niche before you’re able to create the long-lasting, firm foundation for a dropshipping business. 

Make a Name for Yourself

Entrepreneur working on his dropshipping business

Once you’ve used dropshipping platforms to get your foot in the door, start taking back control of your dropshipping business. Begin branding yourself and sourcing and pulling in your products to local warehouses and manufacturers where you can make adjustments that your consumers might want to see. Grow your business by upping your customer service and providing great communication to them. This will allow you to take control of your dropshipping business, be a little more hands-on until you perfect the product, and save money on shipping times or buying in bulk. 

As fun as it is to see CNBC exposing dropshipping for the opportunity that it is, it still takes a lot of work to get started. If you want to learn more about how we find success in dropshipping by using sales funnels without using Shopify, Amazon, or any other platform, check out our webinar where we touch on the finer details of making a real business out of dropshipping. You can also visit my YouTube channel for more dropshipping insights.

Tagged : / / / /

Affiliate Marketing With Clickbank for Beginners in 2021: Earn Your First $100

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on Affiliate Marketing With Clickbank for Beginners in 2021: Earn Your First $100

Empire builders, one of the great benefits of running an online business is that there are many ways to generate multiple income streams. Some of them are relatively passive. That means you can pretty much just “set it and forget it” while still dedicating most of your time to your main business. Affiliate marketing with Clickbank is one of the best examples of this type of online income. 

I want to emphasize that it shouldn’t be your only project. But affiliate marketing is a fantastic opportunity for just about anyone. Whether you have an established ecommerce business or are just getting started, I’m going to teach you how to make affiliate marketing with Clickbank.com work for you. 

Why Affiliate Marketing With Clickbank Is the Icing on the Cake

I have a long history with affiliate marketing because this was actually the strategy I used to earn my very first dollar online. This was 13 years ago when I was a freshman in college and just beginning to dip my toes in the world of making money on the internet. My experience with affiliate marketing really opened up my mind to how the whole process of making money online works. So much has changed since then, and many methods are simply outdated. But affiliate marketing with Clickbank is still an excellent source of extra income in 2021.   

If you don’t know anything at all about affiliate marketing, you can think of it like this: 

An ecommerce business is trying to promote its products. But instead of spending all its marketing dollars on Facebook ads or something similar, it pays someone like you to promote the products. Affiliate marketers use a designated link, and they get a cut every time someone uses that link to purchase the product. Since the companies only have to pay when you actually make a sale for them, affiliate marketing is potentially a more effective source of traffic for them. In other words, these companies WANT you to succeed.

Of course, the problem with affiliate marketing is that you’re not working toward building your own business or creating your own assets. You’re really helping someone ELSE build their business. I recommend you take control of your ecommerce business by selling your own physical products or digital products. Even better, sell a combination of both. Then you can layer on the extra income from affiliate marketing as the icing on the cake.  

Choosing a Product to Promote With Affiliate Marketing

Screen grab of Peter Pru exploring different offers for affiliate marketing with Clickbank

If you already have an ecommerce business and a built-in audience online, affiliate marketing is designed to fit in perfectly with your current niche. There’s literally an endless amount of products out there that you can be promoting. There are affiliate marketing offers for every type of consumer and in almost any market. For example, if you’re already selling fitness equipment or fitness-related information, you can promote a complementary product that has to do with fitness. The key is to find a quality product that people will actually be interested in. You really don’t want to go out there and promote something random that you’re not familiar with. Definitely try the product and learn as much as you can about it before recommending it to your audience.  

If you haven’t gotten your business off the ground yet or maybe don’t even have a niche, you can choose an affiliate marketing product by thinking about your own interests, passions, and hobbies. I always recommend you use that as the starting point. Are you into video games, cooking, computers, or travel? These kinds of topics are typically evergreen. That means there’s always plenty of digital and physical products being launched in these niches. Choosing a popular topic is what makes it a scalable business with plenty of opportunities for you.  

Using Clickbank.com for Affiliate Marketing

The place I love to use for affiliate marketing is Clickbank.com, and you can set up your account completely free. I’ve used all the different platforms out there for affiliate marketing. Clickbank.com is the best one, especially if you are looking for recurring affiliate marketing offers. That means you sell a subscription product that will go on to pay you a cut every single month. That’s the kind of excellent passive income you really need, and Clickbank.com is great for tracking those kinds of offers. 

I did a live demo showing you how to use Clickbank.com to find some great offers, but it’s very simple to use. Log in and head to the Marketplace tab to sort through all the different affiliate products that are currently available. There’s a ton of different categories, and you want to choose the ones that are most relevant for your niche. 

How the Math Works on Clickbank

Sticking with the fitness space, maybe you decide you want to promote a weight loss supplement. Head to the weight loss supplements and compare all the different options. Clickbank.com provides crucial information to help you choose the right product, like the average percent conversion. They also provide a Gravity rating. This is calculated by Clickbank’s algorithm to show how well a product has been selling over the last 12 weeks. As an example, Okinawa Flat Belly Tonic is a superstar product with a high Gravity rating and a high average percent conversion. If you drive traffic to your affiliate link for this product, you would be earning an average of $132.51 for every sale. Those are the kinds of stats you want to see for a product you would potentially promote.

Again, you want a quality product that’s doing well and that will give you some nice commissions. In my case, I do also make an effort to find subscription services that will be paying me every month. That’s free money in the bank! 

Affiliate Marketing With Clickbank Case Study: Custom Keto Diet

Screen grab of Peter Pru showing how to use Clickbank

As part of the live Clickbank.com demo, we took a deep dive into one product with great potential for affiliate marketing. Custom Keto Diet is one of the top sellers in the Keto diet niche, a category that’s definitely hot right now. This product is also a subscription service, which is excellent. You can see on their profile that Custom Keto Diet pays their affiliates $21.31 every month for each purchase made from your link. 

Every business on Clickbank.com will have a variety of great resources to help you sell their product. The better you can do, the more sales you can generate for them. Custom Keto Diet is a great example of this because they truly offer everything you need to promote the product. If you decide to market Custom Keto Diet, the first step is to generate your own unique link and head over to their page for affiliates. This is where you can learn much more about the product and also get a wealth of content that will help you promote it. You can find a ton of slick, professional images of the product to use for social media, blog posts, and anything else. They also have testimonials of the product, videos, and even fully-written email templates you can blast out to your list.

So it really is that simple and easy with affiliate marketing. Whether you’re choosing Custom Keto Diet or a product in a completely different niche, Clickbank makes it easy; you’re not going to have to go create your own offer stack images or anything like that. You just go in and use their content in a way that makes sense for you.  

Why Paid Ads and Affiliate Marketing Don’t Mix

Influencer doing affiliate marketing with Clickbank via videos

The affiliate marketing business model is obviously much easier when you already have an established business in a specific niche. You simply leverage your audience and existing infrastructure to make some extra money. If you’re a newbie to ecommerce, the big temptation with affiliate marketing is to try to use paid ads to drive traffic to your affiliate link. But I’m telling you right now — because I don’t want you to lose a bunch of money — that it’s really hard to make that kind of business work. Some people can manage it, but it’s rare. 

The reality is that your profit margins from earning a commission are way too slim for using paid ads. The business you’re trying to promote is ALREADY running those ads on Google, Facebook, Youtube, and everywhere else. You’re basically going to end up competing against them for those clicks. That doesn’t make any sense, and it’s not profitable for you. The business you’re promoting will make the numbers work much better than you can with your 50% commission.

The Bootstrap Method of Affiliate Marketing With Clickbank

If you really want to make your first dollar on the internet through affiliate marketing With Clickbank, you need what I call the Bootstrap Method. You’re basically pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps with the compelling content you make to market the product. All you have to do is purchase the product and then use it. You can even potentially write to the business on Clickbank.com to ask if there’s a discount code for affiliates. Obviously, choose something you believe in and something that’s relevant to you. Then, make a video on Youtube reviewing the product. Be as thorough and interesting as you can. If possible, make it a journey. Cover multiple days of your progress using the product, how your thoughts evolve, etc. Post a link to your affiliate link in the description box!

Create the same content in the form of a blog, and again add your affiliate link. Now you’re in a position to begin ranking when people are searching for reviews of that product. This is something consumers do all the time, organically. Getting some commissions that way is the absolute best way for someone without a business to begin making money with affiliate marketing. 

Consult With the Pros

There’s so much more about how creating a fantastic income online. Register for the FREE Ecommerce Empire Builders webinar, and begin building your empire today! You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel for frequent business tips and insights for affiliate marketing with Clickbank, dropshipping, and more.

Tagged : / / / /

5 Passive Income Ideas That Work

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on 5 Passive Income Ideas That Work

Passive income is the money you generate with minimal or zero effort after an upfront investment. It eliminates the limitation of time from your ability to earn, so you can make money in multiple ways concurrently. Additionally, you get peace of mind and more time for personal interests and development. Read on to discover five proven passive income ideas you can implement to generate thousands of dollars.

1. Dividend-Paying Stocks

If you invest in a company with dividends, you earn a portion of their profit based on your investment size. In other words, you become the corporation’s shareholder, and you’re entitled to an annual or quarterly dividend.

Choosing the Best Stocks

Consider investing your money in dividend aristocrats. These are a select group of S&P 500 companies that have paid and increased their dividend base for at least 25 consecutive years. Investing in stocks with such a track record reduces the risk of losing your money.

As long as you’re earning a dividend every year, your investment is safe, and you’re making extra money for free. What’s more, your passive income from dividend aristocrats grows year in and year out.

The amount of money you can generate from stocks depends on the percentage of share price a company pays in the year. Therefore, it’s prudent to shop for stocks with high dividend yields to maximize your return.

For example, you might find a company with an annual dividend yield of $2.00 per stock. That might sound like nothing much. But what if you invested more and purchased 200 stocks? You would effortlessly earn $400 from the company that year as passive income.

2. Selling Physical Products Online

Screengrab of Peter Pru discussing dropshipping

Many consumers like buying commodities online due to the convenience of placing orders from home and waiting for a delivery. They can also access a wide range of products and prices on different ecommerce sites.

While online shopping was growing organically over the years, it made a dramatic leap in 2020 due to COVID-19. Lockdowns due to the pandemic forced even those who were skeptical about ecommerce to develop online buying habits. That’s one reason why online sales have recently skyrocketed, and you can even make a full-time income as a dropshipper.

Where to Source Products

There are two fantastic sources of physical products for resale: AliExpress and Alibaba. AliExpress is a great starting point for buying items at wholesale prices and dropshipping them to your customers. Use either platform to establish your best niche and winning products.

For better margins and more profits, move to Alibaba to stop overreliance on a few suppliers from one region. The platform features worldwide manufacturers and distributors, giving you more price options for the same product.

You’ll want to partner with reputable suppliers who have been in business for several years. Focus on building a relationship first instead of pushing for rapid supplies, especially if you’re looking for long-term business.

Ask the supplier to quote prices for different quantities of an item, say 50, 200, 1,000, 5,000, and so on. You’ll be surprised at how drastically prices can fall as you increase your order. Your selling price should include all the costs of sourcing the product and shipping it to your customer, plus your margin.

3. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing means selling other people’s products and making a commission off the sales. It’s an excellent passive income opportunity when you have an audience on social media and other digital channels.

Find a business that offers products and services you think your audience will buy and promote their affiliate links. Build a list of customers or people who follow you or engage with you online. Then define a touchpoint where you can promote relevant affiliate links.

Be sure to promote products that you’re familiar with (preferably commodities you have used). Potential customers will be more confident if you can answer basic questions about what you sell.

Where to Find Affiliate Products

One of the best places to find products to sell through affiliate marketing is clickbank.com. The platform has many digital and physical products you can promote online and earn commissions. Choose an affiliate product link and promote it through your social channels, email, website, blog, and other online platforms.

4. Selling Digital Products

Screengrab of Peter Pry discussing how to sell digital products

Professionals and industry experts can make easy passive income by creating and selling digital courses relevant to their field. You can sell ebooks, podcasts, and other digital resources on various subjects.

If you want a digital product that gives you almost 100% margin, try selling private label right (PLR) products. These are ebooks and video guides that you can buy once and do whatever you want with them. You can edit them, put yourself as the author, resell them, give them away for free, and so on.

Refining PLR Content

While PLRs have great content, most of them come in simple formats, like plaintext ebooks. You have to make them more attractive to your audience and customers, or they won’t read them.

Fortunately, there are many free and paid tools for improving these digital products. If you don’t have the time or don’t want to learn how to enhance PLRs, sites like plr.me sell ready-to-use content.

5. Real Estate

One of the most rewarding industries is real estate, especially if you own rental property. It’s a great business since you have a tangible high-value asset that generates long-term passive income.

Single-family units are perhaps the most sought-after houses since newlyweds and small families are always searching for new homes. You can net hundreds to thousands of dollars of passive income per month. Buy and rent out whichever real estate property you find marketable.

Where to Find Homes for Sale

Most people with real estate experience will agree that Zillow is ideal for finding houses for sale. The platform allows you to narrow your home search based on your preferences and budget.

Zillow also provides an estimate of the monthly costs associated with maintaining a given property. Add your mortgage, property taxes, and HOA fees to estimate a reasonable rent amount for a home before even buying it.

A good strategy is to ensure that your tenant pays the mortgage and other expenses. You’ll earn free money from the rent after paying off your monthly mortgage amount.

Start a Profitable Online Business Today

man succeeding with his passive income ideas in his home office

Ecommerce Empire Builders can provide the tools and insights you need to succeed in selling products online. Register for our webinar to learn how to build a lucrative ecommerce business today. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel for more business insights and passive income ideas.

Tagged : / / / / /

2021 Dropshipping Trends That Can Lead to Overnight Success

by Peter PruSystems & Processes2 Comments on 2021 Dropshipping Trends That Can Lead to Overnight Success

The main reason why many people don’t succeed with their dropshipping business is that they don’t implement the most profitable practices. However, there are certain trends that can lead to overnight profitability when effectively used. Some ecommerce entrepreneurs go into this industry and start making a lot of money. Many others may wonder what they’re doing wrong as they experience disappointment from the start. We’ll go over some of the biggest 2021 dropshipping trends to help your business excel.

The Importance of Subscriptions

One of the key 2021 dropshipping trends is the use of subscriptions. So many dropshippers fail simply because they’re not incorporating subscriptions into their business model. The advantage of a subscription is that it provides consistent, predictable revenue that can compensate for other less reliable sales. If you can get dozens or even hundreds of people subscribing to your business every month, that’s free revenue that you can get right from the start.

The subscription box industry is only going to continue growing: A McKinsey study found that the industry went from $57 million in 2011 to over $2.6 billion in 2016, a tremendous growth within a mere 5 years. Since then, the market has expanded to over $10 billion as of 2019. 

One of the clearest 2020 and 2021 dropshipping trends is that subscription boxes are extremely lucrative. The problem that a lot of people have is deciding what to include in their subscriptions. This keeps them from implementing them. The fact is that all you need for a successful subscription is a solid value offer. 

In short, as long as the value of the box outweighs what your customers actually pay for it, your subscription will likely succeed.

Start by Googling Your Niche

Many of the top 2021 dropshipping trends are rooted in good research. You can begin building your subscription by searching for similar boxes in your niche. All you need to do is go to Google and type “subscription boxes,” followed by whatever topic you want to cover. For instance, you could search for “subscription boxes survival” to find boxes in the survival niche. These boxes would include various types of survival gear. If there aren’t many options to choose from, you may need to target another niche. But the more results you see for your search, the more lucrative the opportunity will be.

Keep a lookout for PPC ads in the top results for a given niche. This indicates that businesses are making enough money in that niche to spend on high-ranking search ads instead of relying on organic search results.

Once you’ve found other subscriptions in your industry, the next step is to find out what other sellers are doing to succeed with these boxes. Visit their websites and take a look at their products and overarching themes, along with the packaging. You’ll want to find out what kind of value these businesses are bringing to customers, which you can then adapt for your business. You can gain key insight into 2021 dropshipping trends from your competitors.

Highlight the Value Included in Your Physical Subscription and Make That the Focus

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing how to position subscription box pricing

When selling any kind of physical subscription box, it’s important to detail the value included with each box. Also, include how much the customer is saving with the subscription. 

Ultimately, value supersedes perfection with every subscription box. While many may perceive perfection as worth striving for with every shipment — by optimizing presentation to complement the value of the products — this can actually hinder rather than help your business. Unfortunately, many businesses fail because they spend too much time on making their subscription boxes perfect when they should actually be selling. People care about what’s included in the box, not the box itself, so don’t waste too much time on pretty packaging and other aspects of presentation when contents matter most. Once you’ve gotten to the point where you have over 100 subscribers, you can then strive for the perfect box now that your subscription is off the ground.

Locate Products and Suppliers on AliExpress

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing how to choose a supplier

With the ideal subscription box chosen, use AliExpress to find specific products and suppliers. Try to find a solitary supplier that can provide you with all of the products you need within your niche. This can help you save some time finding individual products and compiling them in your subscription. A single supplier can also serve as a reliable source.

While on AliExpress, browse different suppliers’ stores and find out what they specifically offer. You’re looking for a supplier that can offer a 50% profit margin. This means that if subscribers are paying around $15 per month, the subscription box should include items that cost you around $7.50 to buy and ship. If needed, you can throw in some digital products to help boost profit margins. For each subscription box, look for around three to four products that you can ship collectively at an affordable price. This can further ensure profitability.

Find Suppliers on Alibaba if You’re More Established

Has your business had a chance to grow, with a bigger budget to work with and a more established brand? Alibaba can give you some more ideas for subscription boxes and enable you to find the perfect supplier. You can then investigate any suppliers you come across until you locate one worth reaching out to. From there, you can send a message to request product catalogs or brochures, which should also indicate pricing.

Once you’ve chosen a supplier, the next step is to develop a calendar. While you can use a six-month calendar, we recommend developing a one-year calendar. Why? Because most customers won’t spend more than a year on a subscription. Using this calendar, you can decide on which products to place into each shipment for a year. Once the year ends, the calendar could restart. Then you can send some of the same products to customers as the start of the previous year, seeing as most of those customers will be newer at that point.

Package Subscription Boxes Yourself at the Start

Dropshipper contacting suppliers to streamline his business

Having selected the right products and suppliers for your subscription, you can begin constructing your boxes and selling them. Until you reach 100 subscribers, we recommend avoiding using fulfillment centers to put your boxes together. Instead, you’ll be able to save a lot of money by building your own subscription boxes. It may take a lot of time and feel like a waste of it, but you’ll be saving a lot of money, and you can always get friends and family to help. You can even turn your boxing sessions into an event, ordering some food and drinks to make it feel less like a hassle for everyone involved.

With over 500 subscribers, a fulfillment center will likely be worth the price. Fulfillment centers may also help organize shipments with suppliers and simplify the entire process.

If you can harness the power of subscriptions from the start of your dropshipping venture, you’ll be able to succeed throughout 2021 and the coming years. If you can locate the ideal niche, products, and suppliers, you’ll be able to develop a winning subscription plan that customers love. In turn, you’ll see consistent, regular income. Do you want to learn more about how to thrive in ecommerce? Then reserve your seat at our free ecommerce masterclass, where we’ll show you how to build a winning dropshipping business in no time. You can also follow these 2021 dropshipping trends on my YouTube channel as they change over the upcoming year.

Tagged : / / / /

Ecommerce Tips From Dropshipping Millionaires

by Peter PruSystems & Processes2 Comments on Ecommerce Tips From Dropshipping Millionaires

2021 is a year stacking up to contain a lot of potential for the ecommerce industry. There are tons of opportunities for you to form the foundation of and scale your dropshipping business this year. I recently sat down with three of my ecommerce friends to discuss how 2020 Q4 performed, what went wrong, what went right, and what we learned. Ricky Hayes, Kamil Sattar, Shishir Nigam, and I are all members of The Dropshipping Council. This council is open to an exclusive group of dropshippers that have reached the $100,000 per month mark. We have all gone through ups and downs on our road to success and have some ecommerce tips and tricks to share with you to start building your own ecommerce empire. Read on to discover the key takeaways from our 2021 dropshipping masterclass. 

Did 2020 Q4 Live up to the Hype?

With the emergence of COVID-19, the ecommerce industry saw new growth, as well as new struggles throughout 2020. There was a lot of hype in late 2020 about how Q4 would stack up for the industry. Many industry leaders predicted the biggest Q4 ecommerce has ever seen due to COVID-19 restrictions and the rise of ecommerce as a whole. However, for Ricky, Kamil, Shishir, and me, Q4 didn’t necessarily live up to all the hype. 

So, why was Q4 such a letdown? The main reason for this letdown had to do with slow shipping times and supply shortages due to COVID-19. While some of us saw less in revenue but more in profit, Q4 was plagued with massive delays. Due to the shortages and slow shipping speeds, refunds were also at an all-time high during Q4. So while Q4 didn’t live up to the hype, it provided many useful lessons for us in the ecommerce industry. 

What 2020 Q4 Taught Four Dropshipping Millionaires 

Screen grab of Dropshipping Council discussing ecommerce tips

The number one takeaway from 2020 Q4 for four dropshipping millionaires is to focus on what’s in your control. None of us can control shipping speeds or supply shortages brought on by a global pandemic. However, we can control how we manage these situations and where we put our energy. The results of 2020 taught us all to focus our energy on only what we can control within our dropshipping businesses. 

Placing energy on what you can control includes building assets for your ecommerce business that are in your control. Social media is great, but my 2020 experiences also taught me that it’s not an asset that is fully in my control. Instagram locked us out of one of our business accounts for over two weeks. This experience taught me to place more of my focus on building email lists and collecting phone numbers. Why? Because that is an asset that can’t be taken away. To grow these assets also requires a deep focus on creating great landing pages with compelling copy. All in all, always place your energy in aspects that are in your control. Your ecommerce business will be better served by following this principle. 

2021 Ecommerce Tips 

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing how to drive customer action with the Dropshipping Council

Looking ahead at 2021, there are rising trends that every ecommerce dropshipper should be aware of as the year progresses. For Ricky, Kamil, Shishir, and I, the following are our top 2021 ecommerce tips for all aspiring dropshippers. 

1. Digital Products Are a Must 

If you haven’t tapped into the digital product market yet, 2021 is the time to do so. More than ever before, people have tons of time to get on their phones and consume an infinite amount of digital products. 

A simple example of a niche digital product market is presets for photographers. Tons of people are getting into photography and editing as a hobby or side hustle. Selling presets is a great way to tap into this growing niche market. The great thing about digital products is that there are very few logistics to worry about. You aren’t sending out a physical product. This means you have no concerns about the slow shipping speeds or supply shortages that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on. 

At Ecommerce Empire Builders, we also love to mix digital products with physical products. This is definitely a concept you should consider incorporating into your own dropshipping business. There is a ton of psychology behind why this marketing strategy converts. You can read more about it in the book, Paid to Think. 

I’ve been using this model on my woodworking funnel and have been getting a ton of conversions by selling a woodworking tool and bundling it with a digital product that teaches the customer how to use their new tool. Remember, it’s one thing to sell someone a product, and it’s another to teach them how to use it. Overall, incorporating digital products into your 2021 ecommerce endeavors is our biggest ecommerce tip.

2. Get More Out of Each Sale 

In 2021, you have to be getting more out of each sale if you want to grow your ecommerce business. To get more out of your customers and to stretch your revenue, you need to be utilizing upsells within your funnels. Simple upsells that make sense will transform your profit margins. Another way to get more out of your sales is by creating some sort of subscription service. This could be an exclusive digital members area or a monthly box subscription. Whatever model you choose, a subscription service has the potential to grow your ecommerce business by leaps and bounds. 

3. Tap Into Customer Emotions 

woman shopping online while staying home

The last of the ecommerce tips to really focus on in 2021 is to tap into customer emotions. On-demand printing has really taken off in the dropshipping industry. People love having personalized apparel, accessories, or other items. While on-demand printing is becoming a saturated marketplace, if you can find a niche that you can separate your business from others, you have a winning endeavor. Think about emotional angles when creating these types of businesses. If you can pull on the heartstrings with your product, you will be able to achieve a very high conversion rate. 

Consult With the Pros 

Now it’s time to get to work! I hope these ecommerce tips will help you as you navigate the evolving ecommerce industry throughout 2021. If you feel like you need more guidance with developing your mindset and growing your ecommerce business, feel free to reach out to us today. At Ecommerce Empire Builders, we can help you build, launch, and scale your own profitable dropshipping business. To get the ball rolling, sign up for access to our exclusive free webinar today. Be sure to check our YouTube channel for even more free ecommerce and insights. Remember, your empire starts now!

Tagged : / / / /

Dropshipping With Ecom Cheetah: Find Unlimited $10k/Month Dropshipping Products and Ads

by Peter PruProduct Research / Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on Dropshipping With Ecom Cheetah: Find Unlimited $10k/Month Dropshipping Products and Ads

Looking for plenty of winning dropshipping products and ads for your business? Ecom Cheetah makes it easy to locate the perfect dropshipping products, including information products, along with video and image ads created specifically for you. By strengthening your dropshipping with Ecom Cheetah, you’ll be able to get everything you need to fuel your company’s success.

How to Start Thinking About Dropshipping With Ecom Cheetah

Ecom Cheetah isn’t mere software — rather, it’s a comprehensive service that puts together a custom solution designed for your business. Unlike the many simple tools out there, we offer the right combination of uniqueness and existing market. You don’t need to worry about choosing a product for your store only to find that everyone else is selling those same products. Instead, you’ll get products hand-picked for your business. Also, you’ll receive access to validated shippers and a wide variety of other features to set your business apart and drive sales. Want to make sure your business finds what it needs to thrive? You can count on our Ecom Cheetah solution to get your company off the ground.

To ensure this service functions the way it should for your business, we operate on two core values:

  1. We treat your business like our own, giving you the same attention and level of care.
  2. We work as an extension of your team, providing ample talent, tools, and other resources.

The convenience that dropshipping with Ecom Cheetah offers can ultimately allow you to spend more time on growing your business. You can handle customers while we handle the rest.

How Dropshipping with Ecom Cheetah Works

Screen grab of the Ecom Cheetah dashboard

When you first sign up for Ecom Cheetah on our website, you’ll get access to an easy-to-use dashboard. This facilitates simple and effective communication with our team. You can submit requests for different services based on your needs, including products and ads. Also, look forward to the social media images that are soon to be added to this service.

Request Products for Your Business

Once you’re on the dashboard, you may want to start with a request for a product to sell on your platform. In these instances, you would submit a Product Research Request. To start, simply indicate the niche you would like to be in. If you’re not entirely sure which niche you fall under, we include a list of niches to help you identify yours. To make your product selection more specific, you can also choose certain micro-niches that further narrow down the selection.

We can also select products based on what you already sell or have sold in the past. Simply send us the URL for your website, and we’ll identify any gaps that you’re not already filling.

One of the main problems with so many other services and tools is that they simply pick a popular product that everyone else is likely to sell. You won’t have to worry about this with Ecom Cheetah behind your business. Not only do we find the right products for your individual business, but we also work to ensure you stay within your available budget.

We don’t offer instant selections. We take time to select your products and perform the necessary research into products and suppliers. However, we can provide results within 24 hours (and no longer than two to three days). Any further revisions will normally take around one to two days to process.

Get High-Quality Image Ads

Screen grab of how to request an image stack on Ecom Cheet for dropshipping products

Once you’ve received your product suggestions and you’ve approved them, you may want to look for ads to help sell those dropshipping products. From the dashboard, you would then select the Ads Request tab and move it into the Production Queue section. 

When requesting an ad, you can specify any text or images you want to include with the ad. Based on this request, we will then search for appropriate lifestyle images that work with the ad. This process ensures that the product looks great throughout the process. What helps set Ecom Cheetah apart here is that, unlike automated services that sloppily put ad images together, we give you access to our team of professional graphic designers who invest time and energy into your ads. 

Also, we properly resize and scale each ad based on the specific platform you want to use it for, whether your ads will appear on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or others. 

Request Professional Video Ads

Along with image ads, we also allow clients to request video ads. To put these ads together, we connect you with a full-time editing team. Our team can create ads based on:

  • Five to seven benefits your product offers
  • Your AliExpress link
  • Existing video content showcasing your products

We’ll also make sure your product looks high-value to provide the best possible presentation with each ad. We also resize ads depending on where you want them displayed and include the CTA for the action you want people to take. 

With Ecom Cheetah, you’ll be getting ads that are intended exclusively for dropshipping and ecommerce, which you may not find with those who don’t specialize in this industry.

Find Info Products to Offer

You can also request info products with Private Label Rights (PLRs). We will actually buy and redesign them for your business. We’ll customize ebooks, various templates, and much more with your company’s branding and logos. Don’t have a particular brand image you’re going for? We’ll make sure products are at least unique to your business and of the highest quality. 

When requesting info products, all you need to do is let us know the niche you’re in and the specific topics you’d like products to cover. We’ll take care of the rest.

By using these info products, you can provide your email list with nearly endless valuable content that keeps them engaged. You can bundle info products together as upsells to push through your store. They’re also perfect for including in paid subscriptions that provide a consistent revenue stream and help you get the best ROI for these dropshipping products.

Request Offer Stack Images

Your ecommerce store, whether it’s Shopify or another platform, should look as good as possible. Offer stack images are a huge component of that overall visual appeal. We’ll provide you with top-quality offer stack images that serve as cover images for different sections of your site. At this point, we’ll also be familiar with your dropshipping products and branding, enabling us to personalize these graphics for your business.

To supplement your images, you can include any text you’d like to add. This includes the “Total Value” amount of a particular purchase.

Copywriting and Other Services Yet to Come for Dropshipping With Ecom Cheetah

Many people ask if we can actually write the copy for ads ourselves. Although we don’t currently offer this service, we’ll soon be offering copywriting services as part of the Ecom Cheetah solution. In the meantime, we still work to understand your brand’s specific needs. We can custom-code ad copy for you based on your branding. 

Apart from copywriting, we also aim to serve as your one-stop-shop for everything ecommerce through other services we’ll soon be offering. These include social media images. Our team will provide you with four to five images — a week’s worth of content for posts — with one request. We will then follow up with another week’s worth of content every week.

In the future, we’ll also be able to write strong headlines, including headlines for ad copy and sales funnels. If you need help with researching shipping agents and more, we’ll be offering research services to help facilitate faster and more convenient shipping. And if you have any questions or want to let us know if anything is missing, we’ll offer support services to take care of these.

Perhaps the most beneficial service for many will be our all-in-one solution, in which we work to understand your brand top to bottom to put together a complete solution. You’ll get dropshipping products, ads, info products, offer stack images, and other content within a single consistent package based on your niche and brand.

Connect with a Team That’s There for You Every Step of the Way

Entrepreneur looking for dropshipping products to grow her business

By diving into dropshipping with Ecom Cheetah, you’ll be able to work with a team of experts. We’re there to give your business the attention it needs. Our experts spend every day in this industry. This allows us to give our clients what they need as dropshippers, unlike other teams that may not have that specialized expertise. If you’re worried about whether it’s worth the investment, working with our team for just one month can save you months’ worth of work that you would otherwise have to do on your own or with multiple teams. We function as an extension of your team to give you everything you need in one place.

To get started dropshipping with Ecom Cheetah, we recommend signing up today to find out how Ecom Cheetah can gear your online business for success. Would you like to learn more about how to grow your dropshipping business and earn a full-time income online using sales funnels? Then reserve your seat at our free Ecommerce Masterclass today.

Tagged : / / / /

Why You Need to Move Away From Walmart and Amazon FBA in 2021

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on Why You Need to Move Away From Walmart and Amazon FBA in 2021

The fact is that as of 2021, Amazon FBA and Walmart are officially dead for ecommerce dropshippers. If you’re currently a seller on Amazon or Walmart or you’re toying with the idea of using either as your sales platform, we recommend you move away from them and build your own sales infrastructure. The reason for this is revealed in a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, in which they detail how it’s actually often cheaper for Amazon and Walmart retailers to issue full refunds of products and let customers hold onto or donate them. This revelation can make both of these businesses detrimental to your dropshipping business in several ways. Read more about the state of business for dropshippers using Walmart and Amazon FBA in 2021.

What The Wall Street Journal Findings Mean for Your Business

The article in question discussed how retailers Amazon and Walmart, potentially followed by others in the future, are no longer requiring customers to return unwanted items. Those items technically belong to the retailers (as opposed to individual sellers). So those companies have the authority to give customers permission to keep unwanted items along with a full refund. Amazon and Walmart reason that it’s simply cheaper for them to let customers hold onto those items. But that can be harmful to business owners by tempting people to game the system. Customers who aren’t honest can hang onto items they’ve purchased while requesting a refund. This essentially allows them to get free products at the seller’s expense.

The article shows once again how ecommerce giants like Walmart and Amazon are really in control of sellers’ products and don’t truly have sellers’ best interests at heart. However, this isn’t really news at all. Many people may be familiar with the fact that, for several years now, Amazon has allowed customers to keep products rather than return them. This a long-held practice of theirs. The WSJ article simply helped raise even more awareness of this issue.

Losing Money From Unreturned Products on Amazon FBA in 2021

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing the Wall Street Journal article about Amazon FBA in 2021

The problem with enabling customers to keep unwanted products — which in some cases may not actually be unwanted at all — is that this hurts sellers who could otherwise resell those products. And it’s worse than an inability to resell returned products. Sellers are also hit with fees that cause them to lose even more money when customers choose to get a refund without returning their items. These problems further emphasize how harmful those big retailers can be. They can be great for occasionally free traffic and sales, but you should avoid building your business through them.

Walmart and Amazon, along with other big names in the industry, may seem like a haven for sellers. They can use the platforms to push products and generate lots of sales. But it’s important to keep in mind that they’re only looking out for themselves. In short, the products sold through those channels don’t belong to the seller; they belong to those platforms. That means that Amazon and Walmart can do what they want with them. You forfeit control over your own inventory.

Do you want to make a profit and retain control over your products and business in general? Then make sure that your primary source of sales is your website. Setting up a sales funnel and developing a successful website that you actually own will ensure you don’t suffer from another retailer’s attempts to cut corners.

A Recent Surge in Returns for Sales on Walmart and Amazon FBA in 2021

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing changes in consumer behavior during COVID-19

Another recent article on PYMNTS.com talked more about the rise in product returns experienced with retailers (including Walmart, Amazon, and Target) throughout 2020. The new decision to allow customers to keep unwanted items was officially made as a result of an increase in returns that took place in 2020, with ecommerce packages seeing a 70% increase in returns compared to 2019. 

Due to the pandemic and the subsequent inability to take items to physical stores, returning items became more challenging for consumers. The rise in ecommerce as more people turned to online shopping during lockdowns also led to more returns. Generally, online orders tend to lead to more returns than in-store purchases. Why? This is largely due to the hassle of having to return to the store after buying an item in person. Also, people may be disappointed or receive something different from what they expect when ordering a product online because they can’t see or try the product in person before purchasing.

Unfortunately, while Amazon and Walmart’s decision to let customers keep products they no longer want may be convenient for both consumers and those retailers, it’s a considerable loss for sellers.

Build Your Own Business Without Relying on Walmart or Amazon FBA in 2021

The best way to avoid the potential costs and headaches associated with product refunds and unreturned items is to stay away from companies like Amazon and Walmart. You don’t necessarily need to avoid them entirely. They can be beneficial in generating traffic for you and boosting sales. But they shouldn’t be your primary platforms.

Instead, build your own website and control the traffic to it. Develop a sales funnel that moves people along through the buyer’s journey toward a sale and upsell. Once you’ve built a solid foundation for your business and you’re able to sustain it, then you can consider branching out to outside retail platforms like Amazon FBA in 2021. The more control you have at the start, the more likely you are to succeed and grow. Then you don’t have to worry about what corporations are doing that may hurt smaller businesses. 

Start with your own website and your own platform that attracts short- and long-term customers. Then you can leverage the power of larger companies to supplement your core efforts. The less you rely on a company like Amazon, the less likely they will be to negatively impact your business in a way that matters. You’ll always have that main source of sales to keep you safely afloat.

Consult With the Ecommerce Empire Builder Experts

Dropshipper thinking about how to strengthen their ecommerce business

Do you want to learn how to build a winning online business and succeed without Amazon, Walmart, or other retailers? If so, reserve your seat at our free ecommerce masterclass. We’ll show you how you can sell best-selling products online and create a full-time income using reliable ecommerce funnels to grow your business. For frequent tips and insights, visit my YouTube channel, too.

Tagged : / / / /

How to Set (and Keep) Your Dropshipping Goals for 2021

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on How to Set (and Keep) Your Dropshipping Goals for 2021

Empire builders, are you struggling to set or achieve your dropshipping goals for 2021? Finding a balance between your personal and professional life can be a struggle regardless of what industry you’re in. However, entrepreneurs especially struggle with finding a good work-life balance. With over thirteen years of online entrepreneurial experience, I have learned some tips and tricks along the way. Over the last five years, I have generated over $5 million in sales through my ecommerce endeavors. A critical piece to my success has come from accountability and goal setting in my daily routine. Read on to learn how to kickstart your ecommerce journey by creating, recreating, and attacking your dropshipping goals for 2021.

Start Attacking Your Dropshipping Goals for 2021

Each year, I like to give myself a new set of goals to help me stay focused on growing my entrepreneurial endeavors, and 2021 is no different! Goal setting and accountability have been a critical part of my success in generating over $5 million in sales over the last five years. Over the course of these five years, I have been using the At-A-Glance planners to help me structure my days, create accountability checks, and ruthlessly attack the goals I make for myself. The goal-setting system that I have found to work best for me is the Build System coupled with the Daily Six. 

The Build System, coupled with the Daily Six, has allowed me to see quantum leaps in my ecommerce revenue. I have been following this system and keeping my notebooks for five years now. Keep in mind that these notebooks aren’t for my deep thoughts. Instead, they provide me with a means to hold myself accountable and structure my days to get the most out of them. Going back over my notebook from five years ago has allowed me to see just how far I have progressed, both with my business and my mindset. If you want to achieve great things in your ecommerce endeavors, following the Build System and Daily Six might just be what you need in your life.

The Build System + Daily Six 

Screen grab of Peter Pru explaining the Build System

The Build System is simply an acronym I have used to help me better structure my days and hold myself more accountable to my goals. Each letter in BUILD corresponds to a different element that I feel is essential to obtaining a successful entrepreneurial career and maintaining a balanced lifestyle. 

B — Body

U — You

I — Income 

L — Relationships 

D — Development 

Now, I know not all letters in the BUILD acronym correspond perfectly. However, this is how I like to structure the Build System, and I have found that this way makes the most sense for me. So follow along if you would like to get organized. Remember, the goal is to have as many of these letters circled at the end of the day as possible. If you don’t quite hit your goal, that’s okay, but put an x through that letter and try to hit that goal the next day.

I rarely hit all of my goals each day, but I view this as a good thing. If I was hitting all my goals each day, it would prove to me that I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough to be better and grow my business more. Overall, the Build System coupled with the Daily Six has a lot to offer aspiring entrepreneurs. Check out what the Build System and Daily Six are all about (and how they can keep you on course for achieving your dropshipping goals for 2021) down below. 

Body 

The first letter in BUILD corresponds with Body. The goal you make under Body should be all about health and fitness. Ask yourself the question, “How did I take care of my body today?” Think about creating a goal that has to do with either moving your body or fueling properly. Set an initial goal of drinking a green smoothie every day or getting a 45-minute walk in. Whatever your goal is, just start off with one small daily task. Once you have made it into a solid habit, then you can start building upon it. 

You 

The second letter in BUILD corresponds with You. This goal is about setting time aside for yourself each day. This includes listening to music, getting a massage, learning a new hobby, and playing video games. Hitting the You goal is often the hardest for an entrepreneur. However, taking time for yourself is essential to avoid burnout and fatigue later on in your entrepreneurial journey. Give yourself permission to take 45-60 minutes a day for yourself. The payoff will be well worth it. 

Income + Daily Six 

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing his journaling and goal-setting proces

The third letter in BUILD corresponds with Income. As entrepreneurs, our main focus will always fall within this element of the BUILD system. That’s also why this element is the most complex in the Build System with two parts. The Income element is also coupled with the Daily Six. 

The first step in this element is to ask yourself the question, “What can I do today to grow my business?” After asking yourself this question, make yourself six business goals for the day. These six goals can include things like creating ads, reaching out to influencers, launching new ads, designing landing pages, or launching funnels. The goal can be anything that will help take your business further, but they should all connect to your main dropshipping goals for 2021. When setting these goals, make sure you have everything planned out the night before. This will ensure that you have your day’s structure laid out as soon as you get up in the morning. 

Relationships  

The fourth letter in BUILD corresponds with Relationships. When looking at relationships, I’m not just talking about friends or romantic partners. These relationship goals include business relationships, too. I make relationship goals for myself in two areas: personal and business. So make a goal of calling home to your parents or taking your partner out on a date, but don’t forget to set business relationship goals, too. Business relationship goals can be anything from going to a conference to connecting with other people in your niche. Your goal is whatever you make it, but remember that growing a business is easier when you have a community and connections within your niche.

Development

The fifth and final letter in BUILD corresponds with Development. Your development should always be centered around the question, “What did I learn today that I didn’t know yesterday?” Every day you should be setting goals to build upon your personal development. My biggest daily development goal revolves around reading. I like to read 45-60 minutes a day. There is something so cool about consuming knowledge in just a couple of days that authors have spent a lifetime learning. I especially enjoy reading biographies of people who were able to achieve great things during their lives.

Along with reading, online courses are another great way to build upon your personal development. The avenues are truly endless. Just make sure you are setting aside time to learn, grow, and develop your mindset. Mindset is a vital part of becoming a successful ecommerce entrepreneur. 

Consult With the Pros to Achieve Your Dropshipping Goals for 2021

Dropshipper checking off accomplished goals for the day

I hope following the Build System will help you get the most out of your days and push you further ahead in your ecommerce endeavors. Remember, these goals are supposed to be challenging. I don’t hit all five BUILD goals every day, and I don’t expect you to either. If I were hitting every goal each day, it would illustrate that my goals aren’t challenging enough, and I would need to reevaluate and give myself some more challenging goals to attack. Keep this in mind when setting your own dropshipping goals for 2021. 

If you feel like you need more guidance with developing your mindset and growing your ecommerce business, feel free to reach out to us today. At Ecommerce Empire Builders, we can help you build, launch, and scale your own profitable dropshipping business. To get the ball rolling, sign up for access to our exclusive free webinar today. Also, be sure to check our YouTube channel for even more free resources and insights into the dropshipping and sales funnel industries. Remember, your empire starts now!

Tagged : / / / /

Top 2021 Dropshipping Trends to Follow for Overnight Success

by Peter PruProduct Research / Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on Top 2021 Dropshipping Trends to Follow for Overnight Success

A lot of dropshippers start a business and fail because, among other things, they’re not incorporating the latest trends into their business. If you want to ensure your dropshipping business has the chance to succeed, incorporate these 2021 dropshipping trends. By following the right trends and using them to inform your strategies, you can make your store profitable overnight.

Here we’ll review some of the biggest 2021 dropshipping trends so far, which you can use to build a successful business.

Adding Subscriptions

The main reason why so many dropshipping businesses fail is that they neglect to add subscriptions. Subscriptions can make it easy for businesses to maximize customer lifetime value (CLV) and encourage repeat sales while maximizing predictability. That’s why they’re one of the most important 2021 dropshipping trends. If you want to generate a steady and predictable revenue stream on a yearly, monthly, or even weekly basis, subscriptions can be the key. All you need to do to create a successful subscription is to have a good value offer. If the value of what you give to customers outweighs the cost, people will keep coming to you for those products.

According to marketing firm McKinsey, revenue from the subscription box industry increased dramatically from $57 million in 2011 to over $2.6 billion by 2016. Over the next five years, those figures have increased even more into 2021. The love for subscription boxes is far from fading.

Look for Other Subscriptions in Your Niche to Get Ideas

Screen shot of Peter Pru discussing how to find good subscription box niches

You can start developing your own subscription by finding out what subscription boxes exist in your niche. Simply Google “[your niche] subscription boxes” and see what comes up for that search. If the options are minimal, this may not be the best niche. But if you perform a search and see plenty of results, this means there’s money in that niche. This is especially true if you see ads show up as the first results.

Why is this a clue? Because no business will pay for PPC ads in top results if they’re not making a profit.

The next step is to see what other successful businesses are doing to sell those subscription boxes. Take a look at their websites and find out what products they include, along with themes for each box and packaging. Determine what value they’re bringing to their customers, which can translate to your own subscription.

Always Highlight the Value You Offer With Physical Subscription Boxes

Keep in mind that there is one additional strategy you need to implement when selling physical boxes. Whenever you sell a physical subscription box, you should always detail the value that’s included with each box. Also, include how much they’re saving with a subscription. However, for digital products, you generally don’t need to be as competitive with your pricing. 

Focus on Value Over Perfection

At the end of the day, when starting out with your subscription, try to avoid making it as perfect as possible. Many businesses strive for perfection because it makes them feel good to put together the most ideal presentation, but this can hurt your business rather than help it. One of the reasons why so many businesses fail when starting out is because they focus on creating the “perfect” subscription and making things complex instead of selling their products. Instead of directing all your attention to putting together the perfect subscription, focus on the value you bring and simply providing customers with a mix of high-quality products. As your business begins to grow and you reach your first 100 subscribers, then you can work on perfecting subscriptions.

Using AliExpress to Find Subscription Products and Suppliers

Screenshot of Peter Pru checking an AliExpress supplier's store

Once you have a subscription box in mind and you know how to approach it, you can begin looking for products and a supplier on AliExpress. On AliExpress, you’ll want to look for a single supplier that provides a ton of products in your niche. You don’t have to look for individual products and put them together in a subscription. Just find that one supplier, and you’re good to go.

Check out different suppliers’ stores while browsing AliExpress and see what kinds of products they offer. What you need to find is something that you can offer with a 50% profit margin. For example, if your subscribers are paying $20 per month, make sure your box includes products that you can ship to customers for around $10. If you need to, we recommend adding some digital products to those subscriptions when possible to improve your margins.

You should be able to find three to four products that you can ship together at an affordable price that enables you to earn a profit that makes it worthwhile.

For More Established Brands: Finding Suppliers Through Alibaba

When your business has grown and you have a sufficient budget along with a developed brand, head over to Alibaba to get some ideas for a subscription box and to locate a supplier. Find the right supplier, and take some time to review them. Then you can send a message requesting brochures or catalogs of their products and pricing. 

With a supplier backing your subscription, you need to put together a calendar. (Organization is also one of the top 2021 dropshipping trends.) You can create a six-month calendar. But we suggest a one-year calendar considering most customers won’t likely stay with any subscription for more than a year. Based on that calendar, you can determine which products to include with each shipment so that you have a specific plan in place. After that calendar period, you can then cycle through your past subscription boxes. You’ll likely be sending them to newer customers as old ones leave. 

2021 Dropshipping Trends: DIY Subscription Boxes vs. Fulfillment Centers

Happy woman opening a subscription box

After you’ve found and connected with the right supplier, you can begin putting your subscription boxes together and pricing them. If you have under 100 subscribers, you can save some money by putting your subscription boxes together on your own. You can make it a party. Invite some friends or family to join you. Order delivery and turn it into a fun event that makes it feel more worth your time. Ultimately, you can save a lot of money this way when starting out.

Once you’ve reached over 500 subscribers, you can then transfer packaging to a fulfillment warehouse. That service will be able to work out the logistics with suppliers and further simplify things for you.

With a subscription behind your dropshipping business, you can achieve the level of success you want in 2021. Finding the right products and suppliers can help you put together a subscription plan that your customers will love. This will provide predictable, consistent income. Do you want to find out more about how you can succeed as a dropshipper with cutting-edge 2021 dropshipping trends? We’ll teach you everything you need to know when you reserve your free seat at our ecommerce masterclass.

Tagged : / / / /

How to Build Wealth Online: Gain Financial Security in 2021

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on How to Build Wealth Online: Gain Financial Security in 2021

Welcome back, Empire Builders! Have you ever seen someone in a Lamborghini and expensive outfit on a dream vacation they didn’t pay for and wondered, “How do I get that life?” Today, we’re talking about financial literacy and how to build wealth online with your business, no matter your current situation. In recent years, I’ve built a net worth of nearly eight figures, and now, I’m ready to teach you the same strategies.

No one teaches us financial tactics like these, and you can’t find them on Google. These completely unheard-of financial secrets can help create your dream lifestyle. Today I’ll go over the basics of these strategies and invite you to a four-week course where you’ll learn it all in detail. Let’s get started.  

A quick disclaimer: I’m not a financial advisor. I can only share what tactics and resources have worked for me personally. For financial advice, seek a licensed professional. This information is for entertainment purposes only.

1. Start With a Wealth-Building Triangle

I developed a wealth-building triangle system to help ensure that my money goes to the right places. It’s not enough to know how to earn money online — you need to know how to build wealth online from those earnings. Here are the basics.  

Security

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing the advantages of life insurance

The triangle’s base is my security section. That’s money I can access whenever I need it. It’s broken into two parts. The first is my 911 fund. Instead of saving six months of expenses for emergencies, I save half that much because I also have other options.

The second is a unique type of insurance called a whole term life insurance policy that’s uniquely structured to allow monthly additions at an annual guaranteed 4% interest rate, compounding annually, plus dividends.

Best of all, when you add $5,000, some goes to the premium, but the rest can be withdrawn for use or investment. You don’t have to repay it, and even after the withdrawal, you’ll keep earning interest on the whole $5,000 — completely tax-free!

Savings

The mid-section also has two parts. The personal half contains money for everyday expenses and personal spending. The retirement half is incredibly extensive and diverse. The right advisor can help you realize the possibilities. There are fully tax-deductible 401(k) plans for business owners and ways for employees to contribute the maximum to their work 401(k). There are SEP IRAs and so many other ways to build real wealth. These are amazing tactics with huge benefits for your financial health.   

Growth

The triangle’s peak is for long-term, hands-off investments, which are a bit riskier but have much higher potential returns. This includes things like cryptocurrency, real estate, and high-yield stocks that pay out monthly or quarterly dividends regardless of stock performance. There are nearly endless investment options to choose from.

The great thing about the wealth-building triangle is — successful business owner or 9-5 worker barely scraping by — you can use this system to create generational wealth to pass down to your descendants regardless of your stock ROI. Why? Because the life insurance policy is the most important part.

2. How to Build Wealth Online Through Credit Cards and Points

Entrepreneur putting a business dinner on her credit card

The second topic is credit cards and points. Many of the fancy meals, clothes, and vacations you see influencers, celebrities, and businesspeople indulging in are free. Because of how they use credit cards and earn points, they don’t have to pay for things like that. People see all my gold and platinum cards and wonder why I need ten cards. It’s all about the points.

If you’re using a debit card or checking account to pay for things, you’re missing out. When you use a qualified credit card, you earn points on all these things. Even if you work full time and have the money to pay outright, paying with a quality card and earning points is like getting free money, which is a very rare opportunity.

There are different strategies for this, with assorted cards earning diverse kinds of points that can be redeemed for different rewards. You just have to leverage them correctly. Some are best for business and others for personal rewards. You can even set your business up to earn enough points to pay off your personal credit card bills.

3. How to Build Wealth Online With Business Structure and Tax Strategies

Screen grab of Peter Pru discussing business structures

Finally, we’ll go over how to set up your business and file your taxes to gain the most benefit. If you don’t have a business, you’re missing out. Even if you have a job, you could set it up so that your employer hires your LLC. This allows you to rack up expenses. Remember, don’t be wasteful. Around 90% of your income should be going into the triangle so it can grow.

That brings me to my four-week course on finances. The strategies you learn will help you get more for less. Once you have your business structured correctly, the configuration will work for you by:

  • Saving money
  • Generating expenses and assets
  • Earning you points to spend on whatever you want

Most importantly, you’ll be getting my expert contacts, so you don’t have to guess at anything. The experts will take care of it.

Final Thoughts About How to Build Wealth Online

I’m so glad to be sharing this because I wish someone had told me sooner. When I first started my business, I didn’t have an LLC, just myself, and I ended up with a terrifying $50,000 tax bill because of it. I’m hoping to save you the trouble.

Most people can’t generate real wealth because without understanding these unique systems, it’s nearly impossible to do unless you have a ton of money. These finance secrets are how the richest people get and stay that way. Luckily, you don’t need a million dollars to learn it. This course is super affordable on any budget, and I’m telling you, nothing could be more worth paying for.

Feel free to watch the video on this for more detail and subscribe to my YouTube channel for frequent tips and strategies. If you’re ready to build wealth, develop high-level financial literacy, and gain the financial independence to live the life of your dreams, then sign up for the four-week course today.

This system will work even if you’re struggling to make ends meet at your 9-5. However, if you’re ready to become your own boss and create even more long-lasting, sustainable, and even generational wealth faster, sign up for my masterclass. There you’ll learn how to build wealth online and see the step-by-step process I used to build multiple six and seven-figure ecommerce businesses without ever touching a single product. Also, you’ll get my $100k funnel template FREE just for showing up. Start building your empire today!

Tagged : / / / /