2018 Year In Review ⌛

Hey what's up everybody, anton here from dropship, lifestyle, and it's, crazy to think that a year has went by since, the last time I made a video like, this and at, the same time like if I really do look back I could see how much changed, over the past twelve months I mean in my personal life I've literally watched my son go from a little, baby this big that cried almost all day to, this, kid that's now taking, steps and saying words and just looking at that growth is like wow okay a year actually is a long time and a lot can change and, same, thing in business, especially in, dropship, lifestyle, you know looking back on 2018, there's, just been so much that we actually were able to accomplish, and to be quite honest it's because of you, and I, want to just say thank you for being a part of this community for watching. These videos for, being a part of our course we actually grew to over ten thousand members this year and we, have over a thousand, people that are active in the dropship lifestyle, coaching program so it's just like I would have never thought going, back in 2013, when, I first launched this thing that this would be where, we are now in, 2018. Going into 2019, and to be honest this was never my goal my original, goal was let. Me share my information let, me try to help a few people to, kind, of see that they can have a different type of life they don't need to go the corporate route they actually, can create their own destiny, by making their own income, by basically having freedom in their lives which, is the whole mission of dropship lifestyle right to empower freedom, through entrepreneurship. And again, this year that goal has just been more solidified than ever we're seeing more success stories than ever hearing, from more people from more countries, from different demographics. It just shows that if you really want this you, can have whatever lifestyle, you set out to achieve if, you're willing to do the work so again, thank you from my self from, our team this is all thanks, to you that, we're able to actually, have the satisfaction of, seeing lives changed so, speaking, of that and what's kind of changed for us this. Year has been a big year of growth for our team and I, don't mean in terms of size in, fact, we actually kind of took away so instead, of adding more and more people we started realize okay listen what are we actually trying to accomplish what is it that actually matters, and who was the best to do which thing so first of all I just want to say thank you to our amazing team because everybody, really has stepped up and really. Stepped into the roles where there can excel and we've, seen not just output, in terms of quantity but in terms of quality just drastically, go up so hopefully, you noticed that same, thing with dropship, lifestyle, some updates to the quality, there this, year we launched version 7.0. Better. Than ever more up-to-date than ever more streamlined, than ever and again that's why it's producing more success stories than ever before so for everybody, that's a part of version 7 thank you for being a part of that thank, you to Shopify, for noticing, that dropship, lifestyle, is the best e-commerce course, and for, voting us best e-commerce course appreciate that this, year we also formed.

In Official, partnership, with, Shopify, we, not only were voted best e-commerce course, but we're one of very. Very small number of approved, education, partners so thank you to them for again, realizing, that we actually care about our students and we're, here for the long term, we're not just some fly-by-night company. This, year some other big things that happens I follow me wants to podcast, people, have been telling me to do it for years we did it it's called ecommerce lifestyle, you could find it on ecommerce, lifestyle, com, we, have also seen a lot of growth with YouTube, this year where you're watching this video so good, to see that YouTube's algorithm, is appreciating. What we're doing here and showing, it to more people that, are getting value so thank, you for being a part of this community some. Other things we did this year I launched. A new brand I showed people how to do that we, also launched, an entire new course called Google, Ads for e-commerce helping. People realize, that Facebook isn't the only platform out there in, addition to that we had our fifth annual, retreat. For dropship lifestyle this, year it was in Bali just, an amazing, few days with people from all around the world again, connecting. Networking, sharing tips, learning. And growing together thank, you again to all of our speakers that, actually came and were part of that and finally. We just started, our e-commerce lifestyle. Inner circle for everybody that is doing 30,000. A month in sales or more, kind of seeing growth or sales Plateau, and looking, to build something more defensible, something, that they can really have you know just a moat around so, we've, been helping with that and kind, of that's how we're closing out or I should say how we closed out last year and how we're moving into this year now in 2019. So again, looking back from, the team from our community, just from everybody, brand, partners, that we work with it's been an amazing year all around sometimes. Things happen so fast it feels like well did we really accomplish anything but, again it's worth taking, a look back and seeing how much actually, can change in a year and how much has changed so I'd encourage you to do the same in your own life and in your own business and kind.

Of This week you know I wanted to do something special a little out of the ordinary for dropship, weekly so what I'm gonna do now is actually. Share with you our coaching, call from December I host, these coaching calls every month for members of our coaching program it's, kind of like a Q&A format as you'll see one, for about an hour maybe a little bit longer so hopefully you get some big takeaways from this coaching call for your own business and if you're not part of a dropship lifestyle yet hopefully, you join us for 2019, and make it your best year yet so thank, you appreciate you watching this and I will see you in the next episode. Alright. Hello everybody Anton Crowley here and welcome to our December. Coaching, call. Hopefully. This, is coming, through if you can hear me right now can you just let me know in the chat box if you could hear the audio right now using, a different microphone so, want to make sure we got it working okay Claire says yes perfect. Jimmy says yes Aaron, says sounds great okay perfect let me go, ahead and make, the question, box a little bit bigger because it's usually a little small on there but awesome um so guys for everybody that's new here welcome, to our again. December. 2018. Coaching. Call the way I do these things is typically using this digital, whiteboard, my Microsoft, Surface computer, because, it just makes it easier for me to kind of write out ideas and work through different things that you might be experiencing, these calls typically go for about, 60. Minutes and the, way it works is you ask, questions, by typing them out not a not, by you know getting on the line or anything but, just typing them out asking, them in the chat box we, also had some people that submitted questions in advance so, I will be diving. Into them as well and yeah. But that being said whenever, you are ready just start typing your questions and. As you do that I'll let you know that the way this works is I can see all of your, questions, you cannot, see one another's but, typically I just obviously start at the top work my way down the list and we get everybody's. Issues, resolved, so the, real goal here is to make, sure if you're stuck anywhere, then, we, can work past that so again. Let me know just go ahead and type your questions in and I will start asking them as I, see. Them while. I do that let me just get my pens. Set up over here. Okay. So the first question that came in is from, Frank, and Frank. Said, Frank. Said now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over when our sales gonna pick up again okay great question yeah, so Frank, and everybody else here typically. This is what the holiday, sales, I guess, series. Looks like you can call it we have all of our busy months and let's, just say we have October, we. Have November. We. Have December, then. We have January, okay so let's choose these four months here to work with in, October, typically, you'll see normal, sales. Because. In November we have Black Friday and Cyber Monday this, is often for almost all the stores that we operate and most of our suit of students. Highest. Sales month of the year so, highest revenue and again that's assuming you've been doing this for a while and you're following everything with, December, sales, don't totally dry up what. Happens in December is the first two weeks are typically really good and then, usually like the week of Christmas then, leaning into New Year's it does die down but. That does not mean in any means that December is a, bad. Month or anything like that this should be pretty much a normal month for you most. Likely with the majority of your sales coming in in the first two weeks and then also something we could talk about later if anybody wants to know about it is what, we do leading, into the new year so, typically, we have promotions, that start towards the end of December so like December 28th, 29th. 30th. 31st. Leading. Into January, 1st for New Year's and then that starts us off with a really, really really strong January, so, keep that in mind as well but yeah know you it's, not like December, now everybody's, sitting around you know with their hands on their thumbs thinking. You, know when our sales gonna pick up again they should be back to normal the only real down week is the week leading up to Christmas and that's because items just don't ship fast enough to get to our customers as gifts, ok so I'm gonna right here, post. Black. Friday Cyber. Monday and I also did a two, different podcasts, at ecommerce lifestyle, calm about, this so go there to to learn more okay, let me see who asked and that's next question, Erin. Said I am I, am, stuck mentally, suggestions. To cope overcome, the block Aaron. It depends what you're stuck with if, you're stuck like not, able to focus and you know kinda get things done that need to be done. Check out the new, welcome. Module, in dropship, lifestyle I added a new video all, about knowing your why and, figuring, things out but, really what it comes down to is understanding, why you're doing this and having a clear focus, each day that's.

One Reason we have the 21-day, launch plan because if you don't know what you're doing every day it's very easy to get distracted for, example let's just say you're in dropship, lifestyle you've been in here for a while and you're, looking at you know modules, one two three four five, six and seven and you're looking at you know whatever it is like the ten or, twelve videos in each module and you're, sitting there staring at a screen like, oh what should i do what should I do well, then it's really easy to get overwhelmed so, instead of doing this just break it up into bite-sized little things like okay today I'm going to go through a module one and I'm in a complete lessons one point zero two one point three and only, look at that the rest of this stuff just block out until you get there so if that's what you're referring to kind of like being overwhelmed, break, it up into very small chunks, and as long as you make progress every day there's no doubt, that you will get to where you want to be okay. The next question is from Maria, Maria how are you it says, is, there, a shipping, calculator, I can use to calculate shipping, shipments, from different suppliers to, different locations so I can determine my, prices. Profitably, yes so, let me just write this out so everybody understands, so. Let's. Just say Maria, has supplier. A and. Maria. Has supplier. B and. Let's. Say supplier, a is in, New York and supplier. B is in, I, don't know let's say they're in Florida right now, because. The way we build our stores and the way our competitors, build their stores we're offering, free shipping basically. On everything. We sell that, means that we have to make sure that the the margins, are built into the products so let's just say Maria, gets an order from the supplier, in New, York and the, customs, can write here supplier and, let's. Say it's going to a customer. And the customers also in New York and let's just say that the product that Andrea is selling are stand-up. Paddleboards, right well stand-up paddleboards shipping in the same state let's just say that the cost of shipping there is 50, bucks but let's say Maria, also has that supplier in in, Florida, and a, customer, buys from that supplier and they're also located, in New York well maybe to ship that same item it. Costs 150, bucks right so how, can we build this in to our product, prices and make sure that we're profitable when, we get sales well I'm just gonna write your cost of shipping. So. What, we do is first, of all make sure that the average write, our average cost is gonna leave us to be profitable, again going forward usually a minimum of 25% net, that, means if I had a supplier in Florida and let's just say I knew, that it cost let's, just say I knew it'd cost, $150.

On Average to get products to New York the way I would know this price is by asking them for shipping quotes so, you could just say to them when you're getting approved hey, supplier, be in Florida most, of my customers are, in New York or I do 30%, of my business in New York what, does it cost to get your most popular product, there and they'll give you a quote you say okay that's great I also have suppliers in California. What does it cost to get my products there okay, I'll give you quotes okay, that's great and then what we do and what you do so as far as a calculator it's, really just doing it manually by, asking, these suppliers, what, it costs to ship to, where, your customers, are and then, taking that average, so, you really do have to average that like this is a very simplified example obviously, but, if we had two suppliers and all of our customers are in New York and it was about a 50% distribution. Then I would just say okay on average, my shipping costs, for the products on my website for my stand-up paddleboards, is $100. And I, would go ahead and I would factor that in to my pricing, I wouldn't mark my prices up more but, I would make sure that map, allowed, for, me to be profitable, while offering free shipping now, if you have some suppliers because you might notice. This the. Suppliers that don't have really good math policies, they, still have them but maybe their margins aren't that great well. Then maybe you can't afford that right maybe, that you know your margin on one of these paddle boards is like. Best-case scenario you make let's, just say you make net profit a hundred. Fifty bucks right so, you don't want to have to spend on average one hundred fifty to ship it or even worse you don't want to have to spend 150. To ship it and then not make any money after, you just got a sale so if that's the case again this should be rare but, if that's the case you, could do one of two things, the firend again let me just write this out this would be. Kind. Of what I would call worst-case scenario. So. You have. All. Right average profit margin. From. Supplier, B. Let's. Write average net profit it's easier. Average. Net profit per order. From. Supplier B, equals. 150. And then. You have. Your. Shipping, cost.

Average. Is. 100. But. It can go up to 150 now, obviously. We don't want to waste our time right, selling, these products when shipping is 150, because, then what's the point right we're gonna ship it we're gonna not gonna make any money we're gonna have to deal with the customer service aspect and, just credit, card fees and all that so, what you do in this case is if, supplier B with those lower potential, margins, again. You know them by asking a supplier if that's the case then, when you are setting up your at your ads or Google product, listing ads what, you'll do is have your supplier, be products. Within. Google Ads. You'll. Use geo-targeting. And. What. That means is you'll do everything else with this supplier products, the same except. If they were in Florida you, will target, Florida. You'll. Target, oh. You. Know I don't know drug in Alabama. You'll target Louisiana. You'll. Target all of those states down there around Florida that way that expensive, shipping price I'll come back up here that, expensive shipping price that potential, 150, that would allow you to make no, money you, don't have to worry about so step, one is getting those averages, you get those averages by asking, your supplier and then. Step two is if necessary, again this should be very, like rare, but, if you there's just not much money to be made because your suppliers pricing. Doesn't allow for it Matt doesn't allow for it then, you can segment out that suppliers products, in your Google ads and you geo-targeting. And only, sell them not, only sell them because let's just say a customer went to your website from New York and wanted to buy it they could but, you're not going to be spending money trying to get them to do so so because, most of our sales, do come from direct response Google, ads to product page this, is gonna save you a lot of money and make, sure that you're making money when you get a sale so if you need any clarification on, that just let me know and happy, to do so okay, the next question that came in is from Jimmy and it, says it's often difficult to identify if. A website is drop shipping or not sometimes, it's obvious store's. Photo, of a warehouse but, lots of times it's not, also not, via Google Maps do, you have any extra tips to identify, real drop shipping websites, what do you do with the websites that have a small, small. Warehouse but dropship, most of their products, yeah Jimmy so I definitely. Get what you're saying I like you mentioned you know I do think it's in the minority of, websites that you that. You like, can't figure out if they're drop shipping or not or get a good idea like maybe with eighty percent certainty, just by looking at their website one. Thing you could do if you want to just confirm, is I. Mean we do this just pick up the phone and call them so call the the company that you're you know on their website and just, say hey, I'm interested in, you. Know I'm, looking at paddleboard, one, two three on your website, I noticed. Some other companies, don't keep these things in stock themselves, do you have them in stock or or where do you ship from right just, to ask them that and if. You don't want to call them then send them an email or go on their live chat or send them a Facebook message and just ask that's. Something that you know can I guess you get you to figure out those that, the small percentage that aren't. Explicitly, clear on their website so literally, just reach out and ask don't say hey I'm building a competing store and I want to know if your drop shipping or not but, just say hey you know I want to know if you keep this product in stock yourself or if, not where it would be shipping from and then you could just say you know I'm, looking, at it on some other websites it seems like most of them shipped from the same location do, you do that - I don't really have a script for it but you, get the idea okay.

Next Question is from Ana and Ana says what. Do you think, about these, big companies, that charge a fee to supply, suppliers, like, Doba yeah and I don't use them so, like this, is kind of you know I don't. Know the one. Of the fundamentals, of what we do here so when. You have paid supplier directories, the, way they work. Let's. Write a hair plate paid supplier. Directories, they, typically either charge you know monthly, or. Yearly, and. Then, what they do is they tell you okay you know you pay us and we're gonna give you you, know access to X amount of products right I think Doba says like we're gonna give you over a million products the dropship now, the, problem, with that is that when, you get approved with them and when you're working with them you're, not working with the companies that make these products, right let's just say these million products come. From all. These. Different brands, and let's, say there's I don't know let's say there's 50,000. Different brands, now. These 50,000, brands when you pay a company, like Doba or salehoo. Or worldwide, brands, or any of these companies you, have no relationship, with, any of these companies and in, fact the supply of directories, often, do not have those relationships either so, let me just write this for people that are reading, this out these, are the 50,000, again, I'm just you know throwing numbers out there I know they say they have over a million products, let's, say it's over 50,000, brands normally. The way that these companies these directories. Get access to these brands, is they, work, with distributors. And overstock, sellers so, in between the brands right you. Have distributors. You. Have over. Not. Overstock.com but, over other other. Overstock, sellers and then, you have other resellers. That, have relationships. With those brands right then, from there, they. Have the relationship, with the company like gobo or like the supplier. Directory, of you working with and then, from, there. Here's. You. Trying. To make money online trying, to find products to sell so, when, you get this many degrees of, separation. Away from, the, companies, you actually, need a relationship with right the brand's you're not gonna have a direct point of contact, there they're gonna have no idea who you are they might not even know who doba is you're, not gonna have any type of pricing controls, like math or, MSRP. You're gonna have nothing like that you're, gonna be competing with everybody else that pays Doba, or whatever other company, it is all, those other people and you're all gonna basically be trying, to sell products that probably, aren't current. Or are, that already marked up twice because. Again you're at least two degrees of separation away, from the source so yeah this is just a visual. Representation, of why, you should never pay any of those companies the, way that this model works and the way that I really do believe the only way to dropship, profitably, is with, the dropship, lifestyle model is because. We right here this is this is this. Is Anna over here is. Going. Directly to, those brands, and then that means you have a real relationship you, have the most current products, you have you, know pricing, controls, you have a point of contact you, are an authorized, retailer. There's just so many benefits so all that stuff in the middle don't do it go straight to the source yeah that is one of the the foundations, of the dropship lifestyle model. Okay. Next. Question Maria. Says I've been approved, with two suppliers awesome, good for you it, says it's a good feeling right it, says neither of them are requiring. A contract, they spent they sense. Why. Is my chat box so small it mean one cycle may make this thing bigger. Neither. Of them are. Requiring. A contract, they sent specs. Prices photos, etc yeah Maria I, would ask, you know you might know this already but I would make I would see if they have those math policies, the minimum advertised price policy is if they, don't it's, not a deal breaker it means you could still work with them but if they do not have map policies, again minimum advertised, price then, you are going to want to remove, your pricing guarantee on on. The website because that it, won't work unless there's math but, that is awesome and now that you have that info I would definitely just get straight into uploading, and then get traffic on Google set up as soon as possible but congratulations, definitely. A big milestone. Ok. Cool the next question is from Christian, he says hi Anton thanks.

For Setting this up you are welcome, says, I've got a couple hundred products I set up the ads by brand do, you normally set, up the ads for all brands, to find the winning products, yeah Christian so the way that we typically segment, this, let's. Write this here let's. Just say we had a new store so, this is our brand new Shopify, store and let's. Say I don't know we got approved for you. Know five suppliers, and. Out. Of those five suppliers, you said you have what a couple hundred we, had two hundred products, what. We do that literally the first campaign that we run when we're pushing this all to Google we, keep it, extremely. Simple so when, we're going over to Google and we, are setting, up our PLA, is. We. Start with one campaign. Now. The reason we start with one campaign and this is before we even do the alphabet beta, setup that's taught in dropship, lifestyle we, just want to have everything, up there as soon as possible and then we want to start looking at our dashboards, to see what we are getting impressions, for to, see what's turning into sales to, see what we're not you know even showing up for to, see what people are clicking over to our website for and then not buying so, if you're just starting. Christian, I'm not sure how far, along you are but. If you're just brand new to this I would just do one campaign, don't, even segment them out yet buy brands, just do this and then see what stands out from, there yes we eventually do break, it down a lot further so this. One campaign is for. Data. Let's. Make that clear the goal is data we want to see how, goo displaying, us again what people are going to what they're buying what they're not buying what, they're not clicking on we, teach you how to break down all those reports again in in dropship lifestyle on the blueprint but that's the goal with this and then once we have that depending. On this data so we make decisions based on that then. This could be broken up into, possibly. What. You're saying, now where you have brand a, rave, a brand B. Where. You add brand C, but. That's like the reason that's not what we just do by default because, this could also be. Category. A category. B. Category. C, so if you're selling like let's, just say you're selling I don't know stand up paddleboards, and you. Had you, know category, a was, like inflatable. Maybe, you would break that into, a different, one and then maybe you had I. Don't know like travel, and then you had. Traditional. I don't know what the names are but you know we might break it up that way too but again what, we do depending.

On If we're doing my categories, or brands, or bestsellers. The way that we figure these out is based on that data so yeah, go ahead if you're not already and just get everything running to one campaign see, what's working see what's not and then decide how you want to break up your campaigns moving forward. Okay. Susan, asked the nest next question, and she says in module three where, do I get the info for product descriptions, to set up my site do, I make it up until I get suppliers yes, Susan you you basically make it up so let. Me just come here I'll show you this I'll pull up Google, on, the screen and then, I, will go to google.com. My. Keyboard, not working. What. Battery did. Hmm. Well. There. You go Google com okay I'll go to google.com, Oh National. Day of Mourning our IP President, Bush but, um come. Here and let's just say we were selling the state of the paddleboards I would do this it would go to Google and I'm looking for demo products, and I'm. Searching for. Stand. Up. Paddleboards. And then, I need images, I'm going to images, clicking in that second tab then, I am going into tools. Let. Me zoom in so you can see this then. I'm clicking usage, rights then, I'm clicking labeled, for reuse and, then, I'm just finding all these photos of paddleboards, right that I can use my website and not get sued if I do and then, let's, just say I'll try to find one that I would use for a demo products. Scroll. Down okay maybe this one right free image orange paddle board I would take this I put it on my website I'd, make a product, page called, orange. Paddle board and then, I would, say something like you know seven-foot, orange, paddle board this. Is available from I think it says aqua marina on it aquamarine. You, know whatever like includes, paddle, so nothing, you're not yeah so the short answer is you're making it up but you're not like trying to write, some huge story about it right just like find images you want to use that, again are royalty-free and then, just add like a few lines describing, what it is and that's, it so you're not trying to trick anyone you're not trying to sell these products or anything you're simply doing this so, that that.

One Suppliers go to your website they can envision, their products there okay. Next question is. Oh. Yeah. There you go so Christian, said how do you approach setting, up the AV ads for generic products, ie no, brands yeah Christian so I'm sure you asked that before I responded, but then it would be something like this where you were breaking it down by category maybe. Even by price point you could segment it that way so again like what you want to do is get the data from one campaign, and then I'll just put that here so. Everybody. Else to wear it as well you, might be doing. I'll. Just write price. It's. Hard to read. Price. Range high. Mid. And low. So. You can like there's so many different ways to segment this but the way you're gonna choose which, way you want to again, is by getting that data by having, Google display. Your products and send people to your site. Okay. Next question is, is it. Normal that after, the market research you'll end up with more specific. Special. Niches that are ruled out by the checklist. And, is it normal that after the market research you'll end up. With. A quite popular, niche. The. More specific, yeah, Jimmy definitely, so yes I think I understand what you're saying an, example, would be like if you you. Know you wouldn't sell these but let's say you were like okay I want to sell you know brown leather. Watches, and then you started doing your research on brown mother watches, and you saw there was only three. Different brands that make brown leather watches, then, maybe you would say okay I want to sell leather watches, and then maybe you saw there were six, brands that sell leather watches, then maybe you're like okay well that's still mad enough friends, and then you said I want to sell all watches, and you found twenty-five, brands, that sell all watches, then you would sell all watches so yes that is uh that definitely, is common, and that's that's part of the research. Process. Awesome. And Erin you are welcome I guess I answered your question earlier. Okay. Anna said so if we have not started our store yet should we wait after Christmas, to launch our store and start, investing, in Google Ads Anna that's a great question. Here, is what, I would recommend school at all for now if. You are, right, now if, you have supplier approvals, if you've already got those suppliers then, I would say go ahead and start running Google, Ads now you don't, have to weigh it if you, don't have any suppliers, yet this, is a very difficult month, to get, in touch with people and it's. Just because you know you know how it is like people get a week, off for, the holidays, usually and then with New Year's coming up it's, just like the people you're going to be trying to reach at the suppliers might. Even you know be in the office so if. You are trying, to get if you if you're at the stage where you still need supplier approvals, my, advice would be to spend your free time in the next few weeks making. Your website even, better than it already is is that you don't need anyone's help with so focus on the website focus. On your, research so, you know building out your supplier list focus, on getting your social media pages set up focus. On optimizing, your website for conversions. And then, as we get into the first two days of the new year, suppliers, are, again, back open, for business basically, they'll be they'll be more receptive, to I, mean they'll be more available it's not they wouldn't want to work with you now they're just busy or not in the office if, you already have suppliers, then, I would say just you know go get your traffic turned on because, people are still buying they're just not as responsive on the, supplier side for new approvals, um. Jen's. Is saying what's, the best way to return. Okay. So yeah Jen's tried got started in the past stopped, and wants to know what the best way to return is I mean, hey that's that's life right I I, don't know what the best way is besides just doing it it's, really cool that you're here right now these, calls are definitely a way to you. Know kind of I don't know stay stay, in the zone I guess and have the connection with other people get, to ask questions so I would say keep showing up for these calls if you, want one-on-one coaching you know we do offer that if. You want to you know I don't know set a goal for yourself like, we're, doing oh yeah we're gonna have a big announcement coming, up, hopefully. Next week in the next two weeks definitely but, with our our next retreat is going to be in Prague so if you want to come to Prague and hang out there set that as a target and use that as motivation for, uh use. That as motivation for, getting, stuff done but yeah I mean just let's stick, around right be part of the community that don't that always helps.

Okay Cool Christian says by the way I love the updated course you did a great job I tripled, my sales after fixing a few things from. The, materials, again especially around the PLA course Christian, I love hearing that and thank you for thank you for sharing and congrats on triple, in those sales that's all I'm happy that the new. Course is uh is. Helping. Out awesome. Um okay, next question is where'd it go. This is from Aaron and it says you've mentioned before, about bronze, silver, and gold suppliers. Starting, out how, do we attract silver suppliers won't I have, to rely on bronze. Until, I create a reputation, for my company no Aaron I would, recommend you dive I. Recommend, you dive back into the, the blueprint. Let's. See if I have it have a login on this computer. If. I get kicked out no, I'll. Just show you this quick but, yeah Aaron go go here. Login. To your members area and go, back through. Go. Back through module four and go through all these videos because they'll show you basically. How to start, with silver suppliers the, bronze ones I explain what they are just so you could stay away with away, from them but, yeah you don't you don't need to start with them at all. Silver. Will approve you let's, see. Sets, Elam says, one. Of my suppliers says that he doesn't fulfill shipping, and he, offers to pick it up from his warehouse, but. Once it leaves the warehouse I'm, responsible. For, whatever happens, to it on the, way okay, so, let. Me let me make a note of this cuz other people might experience this as well so, with, these, suppliers, that we're gonna be working with, some. Of them are going to ship on their account so just, right. Supply. Or shipping so. Option one which you'll, take whenever you can and what makes, the most sense. Supplier. Ships. On. Their. Account. And when, they do this they bill you for it like it's included in your invoice but obviously that that's fine this, is what we always prefer and, the reason being because we, don't have to worry about it they just ship it and also, if something, did happen to it and transit let's say I don't know it got damaged. Then they're the one that's filling, out an insurance claim and shipping a new one so that's what you always want what.

Solomon, Is saying that, his supplier told him which is option two you. Ship. On. Your. Account now. The way this works is you go ahead and place your order with your supplier, and then, after. You place your order they'll, say okay it's ready to pick up and if, they, are doing, large and heavy items then, you have to sell sell, them you have to send them what, is called a B Oh L, and a, bo l stands for. Bill. Of. Lading. And this. Is something that you would get from like a freight broker or. A freight shipper or you can even get them from UPS or FedEx, and you, would send that to your supplier then, your supplier would basically have, the item ready for pickup then, the shipping company would pick it up bring it to your customer, and you, know you would make your money now, this, works, we have made a lot of money shipping, with this type of supply on yeah.well, shipping, working with types of suppliers where we have to ship this way but, if you have any possible. Option this is not what you want to do so, like again this is like if you know what's happening with you right now your supplier says this, is what they do I'm. Not gonna say just totally, ignore. Them or totally, write them off because again we've made a lot of money in my business with these type of suppliers, but. It's not ideal so if there's any other option that's, good if there's not ask the, following questions. First. Question you want to know is who. They. Prefer. To. Ship. With. Another. Way of saying this is. Who. Do. Your. Other. Retailers. Ship with. Next. Question you want to ask is, what. Is. Their. Damage, rate because. Unfortunately while. Again we have done good with these type of suppliers we haven't always done good because. Sometimes when, suppliers you know have this this model again not always but sometimes when. They have this model of hey ship on your own account it's, because maybe in the past they used to ship on their account and maybe they did have a bunch of damages, and maybe, they did have a bunch of returns and maybe they were like you know what we're not gonna do this anymore so not, saying and that is what's happening this it's not always the case but, you're definitely going, to want to ask the company you're talking with what, is the damage rate and just say you know you're trying to figure out what type of insurance you would need for your order whatever, you just want to know basically, that also. Like. This is like what we asked in niches that we are more familiar with so this, one maybe you want to ask as well but. How. Do you. Package. The items. Because. Solium you mentioned these are like large and heavy and you. Know let's just say you were selling something like I don't know a three, thousand dollar marble. Round. Dining. Room table, right something. Like that like, the way it would be shipped properly, would, be to, not. Only be you know having like foam all around it and in, a box but, it should also have, like plywood, basically. Nailed around the thing then it should be strapped, to pallets, and like, all of that is possible. And all of that happens but. Again, like not a question you should ask if you're brand new to shipping these things but if you have some experience you can ask them that and again like the reason, you're asking is because if you're shipping these things you don't want to be filling out insurance claims, all day, either because, these things break all the time so yeah, that's what I would ask don't write them off immediately but, do, your research they're also.

Your, You can look online obviously, for review, of the products from that company and see, if you notice any trends of like high damages, or anything okay anything's like that, and. Then nothing, that you'll have to do on your site is make sure that those product products. Are not, eligible for a turn since you can't return them, okay. Next question is. One. Supplier, does. Not. Have shipping quotes for into individual. Pieces they, are new to drop shipping okay, so, yeah, here's what you could do this is back up here as like continuation. Of, of. This, of this one if your supplier cannot give you shipping quotes ask them, for just, their most popular sellers so I'll. Write this over here. If. Supplier. Has. No. Quotes. Ask. Them. For. Package. Specifications. So. That. Includes dimensions. And. Weights. And they, should have this as like you know it's a Google um a Google sheet as an excel sheet or you, know a CSV, or something, like they should have obviously, how, big their boxes, are and what the weights are and then, you can go ahead and you can take that info and then, you can go to a website like. If. These I'm assuming they're large and heavy but if they are you, can go to a website like, freight center comm and, 40. Like, y'all pull it up. Come. Back here. This website, France. Entercom, is like a freight. Broker but, you can click calculate Freight, weights, and if, you have those dimensions, from your supplier and you're trying to find those average, those. Average, prices, then, you could type in here for the city or zip code just, type that in where the supplier is located. And then, for the end location, again you can use like wherever, you think your customers are gonna be so you can use like a zip in New York then you could test it with a zip in California, you could test it with a zip in Florida, and then, here it has packaging, so whatever, your suppliers give you right like this is the information they'll be sending maybe, the items are gonna be boxed, and you'll, have the weights so go, ahead and put in the weight put, in the dimensions, of the box and, yeah. Then if you know the freight class you could put that or just whatever leave it as I don't know click, get quotes and you could figure out your the, prices that way. Okay, someone asked how I got in how I got verified, on Instagram. Yeah. The way we get in the way we get verified. On our social pages is just, because we, spend a lot of money with Facebook and Instagram and, I, think honestly, that's that's that's. Probably why you. Get like an account to wrap and say hey can you verify this and they just they, do it that. Is how let. Me see. Okay. Someone there's a name didn't come in for this this person but it says I wonder, what you think about one page checkouts, do, you know of any cheaper, options, than Cart hook yeah Cart hook is like to integrate clickfunnels. With, Shopify. Honestly. For the type of businesses, that we're building here on the dropship lifestyle model it's just not necessary, I, do think, that you know as far as the the cart experience that you give your customer, on Shopify. You should put, time into it so, you can do things like having you. Know - basically every payment, option available to your customers do. Things like if you're accepting Shopify payments, then you should accept you, should. Accept, Apple, pay because you could do that through there same, thing with Google payments and if, you have it set up properly, basically, if someone's on an iPhone and on your website they could buy in like 30 seconds, so you, don't need you, don't need that you don't need karthick. No, if you're finding your suppliers on Amazon, and eBay you're, looking, in the wrong place I would go back to module 2 of the, blueprint. Okay, someone said some suppliers for furniture, are import, companies do, you rule them out or it's. Not a problem, to work with them I'm, not sure what you mean by import, companies if they are having their products, manufactured. Overseas that's, fine that's how most suppliers are. If. That's not what you're asking you can clarify but if they're just having, their their products, manufactured. Abroad again that's totally normal if. They're drop shipping from another country then no I wouldn't work with I wouldn't work with them on those products I'd see if they had anything, in. Stock. In the States or whatever country you're doing business in limb. Says I'm stuck on legal paperwork, I'm a non-us.

Resident, How can I get a resale certificate so, limb. I'm definitely not an expert there because I've never done it what, I'll say is I don't know if you need one if you're from another country if you're, forming, an LLC in, the States I. Can give you our contact that, can help you with that and that might make it easier but, again, like I can, refer you to someone but because I've never, done it myself I'm, not really like an expert on that topic but if you want me to refer you to the, LLC. Company I recommend, just send me an email after. This call. Okay. Let's see, uniess. Says, hi Anton I found two suppliers they're. Not providing, me photos that, would sell my. Products, I see, other people use other people's photos how. Do I do this in the right way. So. I'm not sure like do they just have bad, photos. Like are they sending you about quality, photos and, obviously, you can't just like use other people's you know photos but, maybe you can go to I don't know their website, or their Facebook page or. I. Don't know if they've been to any events, like you, gotta find a way to get them through. That company like get the rights to use them through the company you're working with but, they should have something right like I should have some kind of photos you might have to follow up again and see if they have have. Anything they can get you but yeah, they should have them. Okay. Let's see Eric says what to do what. Should I do if I'm not spending my daily budget or. Getting enough, impressions. So, yeah, Eric. If you're not spending your daily budget and spending your enough impressions. You, you got to raise your, bids I mean that's that's basically it like if you have. Let's. Just say you have this is for supplies. For every platform but, just. Say with Google Ads. If. You, had, you. Know $100. Per. Day budget, and. Google. Is, spending. 50. Per day, that's. Because other people are bidding more than you right that's because you're yeah you just you have to raise your budget so solution. Is. To. Raise bids not your budget but raise your bids you, know like you could have a budget, of a million, dollars a day but, if you're if you're if you were bidding point.

0 1 cents for everything then, it's not gonna spend that you might spend a dollar out of that million so that's the way to do it I don't go nuts and just go ahead and like double your bids or anything, Mikael, Erickson talks about this in our Google ads for e-commerce course which, by the way just so every window is where these are located now the, extra courses when you come into your blueprint, you, can just go ahead and go all the way down here to the bottom and then, you'll see here the bonus courses and what, is it about five or six of them down it says Google Ads for e-commerce and you, can click in there and that. Will that. Will open the new Google Ads for e-commerce course but. Yeah you got you got to spend more. Okay. Let's see. Garrett. Says I'm a subscriber and a fan of your podcast ecommerce, lifestyle, awesome, appreciate, that he, says are there any other podcasts, that you could recommend that, center around drop shipping info. Trends. Or strategies, so. Garrett. Like I wish I could say yes because I'm a huge fan of podcasts. And just, consuming, content that way I. Honestly, haven't. I I really, you, know I'm not just saying this because like I don't know I I really, haven't found any I'm I'm actually on my phone right now because, I'm looking in my podcast, I want to go to podcast, to see if there's anything. That sticks out. Ya. Really know I'm not like for direct strategies, and tactics I, hate, to say it but yeah you. Know I I do like I'm friends with and I like the guy, Ezra Firestone he's. A big, Shopify. Guy been around for a long time also we. Actually got started around the same time he doesn't have a podcast but he does like videos sometimes on, his Facebook, page and, they're pretty good but nothing consistent so, sorry, I wish I I, wish to like not just to give you give, you a tip but I wish there were some better ones let's. Say Jenice says if my only. Supplier at this point is for accessory, accessories. Should, I go ahead and start ads no Jenny it's not if they're under 200 bucks not, worth it. Okay. We have a next question says hello Anton this is Ken oh I. Was, cruising along. Building. My site getting. Suppliers. Applications. And submitted, about 15, so far I find, adding, products, very slow, I've got the I. Can't. Read this it's not ahead it's not the question it's the way this, is rendering on my computer, I.

Was, Cruising along building, my site getting supplier apps and have submitted about 15, so far I'm finding. Prop I'm finding, adding products is very slow I've got, the, spreadsheet. Uploaded, but the content, is not easy. To follow as for what what, is optional, and what is required is there, a detailed, document a file, upload to follow ken. So yeah you're referring to upload CS referring. To uploading CSV, is I'm assuming you. See. Documentation. I. Understand. The question but I want to see if they. Yeah. I'm just gonna send you this for now again I'm not sure if you if you've used this already but because, like it is, a kind of a complex, thing I, put this in chat then, uh you. Know this is like a good step by step that keeps it up to date but yeah I I say. You know I've been doing this for four twelve years and CSV is are still the, one of the worst parts about doing. Anything with the Commerce and in my opinion but it's it's, just it's got to be done so yeah, I feel, your pain, I'll. Give you that. Okay, the next question is from maxim and it says hello Anton do you have suggestions for. The attorney, or the company. That. I can get a consultation, about taxes, and also. Can help me create, proper, policies. And protect, my company I'm having sales but, also experiencing, some difficult customers. Maksim, so the attorney, that I work with is not, really, like us they're, not a specialist, in any of this stuff they were like a family friend just, that I've been working with for years my, advice would be you, know, unless you could find like a referral. You. Could just go on Google, and, like. There's, websites like I think where's it called the. Legal. Help, I. Can't. Think of it right now but yeah I mean III don't, that's the short answer is I don't but, recommendations. Are usually the way to go I don't, have any one that is specific. To that um. Okay. Kristian. Is asking, about one-on-one coaching Christian, if you go into the members area and you. Go to I don't know like we're redoing a lot, of this right now but. If, you come in, yeah. If you go into the members area click, on resources, up top then. You can book, coaching, through here, if you already have private, coaching then it'll go straight to the booking page if not, it'll show you how to get signed up but, again just go to the, courses, that dropship lifestyle click on resources, and you, get into coaching. No. I would not recommend selling. Off over, low. Ok. What is the best way to manage. Supplier. Order. Management if you have different suppliers in different ways of ordering yeah Greg great, question so um, here. Let me pull the we'll go back into our document, here. Sending. Orders to. Suppliers. Ok, let me think of the best way to. Represent. This. So. One way you could place them right and again this is based on what your supplier wants you to do based on how they do business, some. Of them will have you email purchase orders some, of them will have you, place. Orders through a. Members. Portal, right so like these are typically the options, so let's do it like this come. Here come. Here and. Let's. Say you have. Supplier. A. B. C, d. E. Eccentric. Cetera et cetera the way, that, i would recommend that you do this is for, the ones that are allowing, you to email purchase, orders if the, format is pretty uniform, for, all the ones that are pretty, again, straightforward, just use the dropship, lifestyle, app and, you.

Can Use that all this is oh so wild, pen. So. Same thing here just like as long as it's following the same format then that works fine for the ones that want you to go through a members. Portal you, can have these either using. The dropship, lifestyle, app you could have them sent to yourself, or to someone on, your team that remembers how to do this or you, could just have them go to Trello. So. It really depends like what you are more comfortable with but here I'll show you what, that looks like. Come. Into the blueprint, and I'm not sure like this was the most recently updated section, so I'm not sure if you've seen this yet but we have a new module I added new, lesson I added in module seven and it. Is called order tracking and reviews, automation so, click, into that and. This. See. It's. Gonna play this in this background. Yeah. So. This, only. Plasma, paw. Was myself. What. This automation will do that you'll learn about here I'll put this in slack is. It's gonna send all of your new orders to Trello. And it's, gonna create, them as different cards and then you can go ahead and have either yourself or someone. On your team go. Ahead and make sure they're getting processed, I'd. Recommend, if you haven't watched the new module seven yet don't, just start with 7.5, go. Into your members area and then, watch, watch. Lessons. 7.0. Up to 7.5, because. It'll make a lot more sense but, yeah that's covered in that new section. Okay. So. So, Liam on says, what. If I cannot, find the niche only, competitor, store, can. I select, the niche, what. If I could not find the niche own only competitor. Stores. I'm. Not sure what you mean if you think if you cannot find their suppliers. It's. Your. Not sure if you're asking, if you cannot find, the suppliers then. I would recommend going through module. Four again watch, some of the new, videos especially, the new video, for point two this, is enough an updated, video but, it shows you kind. Of some simple, tricks you can use to to find them okay. Let's see Phillipe says hello, Anton how can we export, product. Data, directly, into Google sheets. Excuse. Me, yeah. Hope. That wasn't too loud I just ran across the room to sneeze oh okay. How, can I export, product data directly into Google sheets is it possible, it's. For making profit, calculations. Yeah. So you, can add the, wholesale. Prices with the dropship lifestyle Shopify, app but, that's product, by product, but, yeah I can make an updated video on how to do that if you, want to just do it in Google sheets then you can export all of your products, you can export your CSV so here, come. Back in here. And. I'll send you this page but, this shows you how to export your products. As a CSV, and what. That means is you're going to have I. Just. Put. This here send, all this, is basically just gonna give you like a big, excel sheet and then you can drag that like it'll download it to your computer but. Then you can drag it into Google sheets and it will open in that and it'll look just like any other Google sheet and. Then on there yeah you can go, ahead and add, in yeah, all those other columns, so, things like cost of delivery you. Know your 2.9%, a, merchant fee is all that, you could do with, that one, document. How, do you Anna look analyze. Best-performing. Okay, so yeah, for everything. Regarding, the. Google, Ads and analyzing, your data come. Here. No. No. Come. Here go here. And. Uh can. I link direct to this yeah I think I can. No. It's not gonna show the videos yeah what you want to do christian, is go here and then. Go down to module four and module. Four is all about optimizing. Your campaigns, so you're seeing you know going through actual, campaign debt dashboards. With data, in it and then, you, know seeing like how we literally, optimize them and you could just follow along there but I think you'll find that really helpful especially via, the, live optimization walkthrough. But I would watch all of these if you haven't, seen him in a while. Okay. Uh. Richard, says my, current niche has a lot of regulations, that I did not know about should, I stay with a niche and learn the regulations, yeah, you know I don't know um that's, up. To you I would say that, sometimes. That means there's a lot, of opportunity.

Because You could maybe be you. Know willing. To do the work that other people aren't, but. It doesn't necessarily, guarantee, that either so if you feel really confident, that it's a good niche and that it's worth investing, your time I. Would tell you that most people probably aren't willing to invest there isn't to it so yeah. Again. It just it depends how big of a opportunity. You think it is. Okay. Good question Greg says how can I improve the, cart experience, on my Shopify, store to, help increase, conversions. So, come. Here. I'm. Gonna send you a few different links right now. I'll. Send everybody a few different links right now so the question again from Greg is about improving the card experience, to, improve conversions. So. Check, out first. Of all check out this this new lesson if you haven't seen this yet um. Or. The question go then. It's. Gonna give you this document. And. I'm still here everybody I'm just done, getting. Some documents, together. Now. This one is, a. Little, bit more. Work. But. It's worth it if you're getting any type of traffic. All. Right so that's a lot that's a lot of links that'll keep you busy for a while but all, very, important, all, very important things that will help. Okay. Yep. Got it. Ken. Says hi, Anton what's the cheapest, way for me to get a trademark. What's. The cheapest way you know to get a trademark without, me completing, the form filed. A 200 dollar filing fee and all that so, I'll tell you I don't have many trademarks. I do have some but, some of them like I got you know five years after being in business and, like. Needing, to do it for protection. So if you're just wanting to do it because you're starting like a new store or something then, you know not, legal advice but, I wouldn't worry about it you. Know that's definitely not anywhere, near necessary. To. Have and, again we've only done it like when people try, to rip us off or you, know five years after having a business that was massively successful so, I would, say no rush there and you know what by the time you need it the the two hundred bucks whatever it is is gonna be like you, know nothing. Compared, to yeah. It's gonna be very a very small amount of money to you at that point so. I just keep moving forward for now. Okay. Let. Me scroll down a bit this. Is a long question and, this. Says okay. Anton. I have a very long question have you ever dealt, with a chargeback request, yes I have says, I want to understand, if the bank will be on my side or the customer side maybe, you've had a similar situation the. Customer, purchased, product, a plus. B the, supplier notified, us that they have a in stock however, they, expected, to receive B, in the following days, initially. We shipped a to the customer, which he received, we. Then notified the customer that B is to, be shipped separately, and. We. Are expecting, to be to receive it this week and it will be shipped to him as soon as possible unfortunately. He didn't reply but, we received a chargeback request, in which, the customer notified, his bank that, he didn't receive any of his products, the, fact that's, untrue because the customer received product, a, ok. We have sense. Let. Me see we have sent the customer several emails and have made several attempts, to contact him by phone and I've been able unable to reach him we've, left him to voicemail messages explaining, situation, I submitted. Shipping information to the bank but, the fact that the order is incomplete, makes me nervous yes so maximum. I totally, understand why, you're nervous especially I guess the customer is being unresponsive that's. Always like the worst in these situations, because unfortunately, that. Usually means that they you, know are trying to get away with something or from. My experience, or trying, to do something Shady the, good news like you said is you delivered something and you have proof of that, obviously.

It's Not the complete order yet but what I would do is exactly, what you did which is submit, all the documentation, and I. I can't obviously I can't you know tell you what the with, the bank or the credit card company is gonna say but, I highly, highly doubt, that you're gonna lose the chargeback being. You have proof of shipping, and I'm assuming the tracking number shows, an item delivered it, would be I mean I'd, be shocked, if you lost the chargeback with, that being said you, should again. Keep doing what you're doing and reach, out to the customer in ways which can be documented so, the phone calls are great but it's a lot easier to send, a, you. Know credit card company a proof of an email than it is to send, them proof of a phone call so. What I would do is, you've done this already but, I would email them and say you, know whatever it is product B is ready, to ship, anywhere. Should we ship it to or do you still want this or do you want a partial, refund for. Product, B or, whatever that may be so, keep, moving forward as you, should be and but. Again I don't think you would lose that because you have proved that this thing was delivered and it. Depends, how the chargeback, came through like, I don't if the customer said it was like fraud, meaning, someone stole their credit card that's a different story but it doesn't sound like that's what happened it sounds like they're just trying to get away with something and again. You know knock on wood but my experience, has been when, people are trying to get away with something it doesn't work out the majority of the time. Uniess, says, I. Already have a Google Analytics account do I have to sign. Up for another one just from my online store you. Nice you don't have to make another Google Analytics. Account inside. Google, Analytics, you can add different, properties, so, you, can have like one login, for your gmail for example and then when you go to like, we or one Google login and then when you go to analytics you, can have like basically, as you add different websites, you'll, have a drop-down, menu on the top left and that'll show your different online stores or, different websites or you know whatever kind. Of websites you have analytics on. Greg. Says awesome. Kenneth. Says God bless you appreciate, it. Okay. Answered that. Okay. So this was a this. Was just a clarification of, a. Question. From, earlier, and it says my. Question is what if I could not find competitor, stores okay so. What, if I cannot find my competitor, stores that sell within a niche yeah. So if let's, just say we'll take a generic example here let's, say you wanted, to sell. Stand-up. Paddleboards, we'll keep using it and you. Can only find other, websites, that sell stand-up, paddleboards, in addition. T

2019-01-09 23:37

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