🗣 Welcome to another episode, hosted by experienced e-commerce entrepreneurs Lewis Smith and James Eardley. In this episode, Lewis reveals the nine crucial lessons he wishes he knew before embarking on his dropshipping journey.
These are not just tips but profound insights that can help you avoid common pitfalls and accelerate your path to e-commerce success.
👉 Prefer to watch this on Youtube? Check it out here ➡️ https://youtu.be/PZhsizKQrUc?si=b4gTHzhIn-y9D36h
★ Product Validation Before Ads: Lewis emphasises the importance of validating your product before investing in ads.
★ Don't Force Unpopular Products: Trying to push unpopular products onto a market, even with significant ad investment, rarely leads to success.
★ Supplier Quality Matters: Lewis underlines that the quality of your suppliers is closely tied to the success of your business.
★ Customers Are Real People: Remember that your customers are real human beings who value a good experience.
★ Effort in Selling High-Value vs. Low-Value Products: Lewis shares the insight that it takes the same effort to sell high-value products as it does to sell low-value items.
★ Numbers Favour High-Ticket Dropshipping: Lewis highlights that high-ticket dropshipping offers more margin for error, especially for beginners.
★ Understand the Timing of Growth: Lewis reminds listeners that growth takes time, and instant riches are unrealistic.
★ Invest in Learning, Not Mistakes: Instead of learning through costly mistakes, Lewis advises investing in training and mentorship.
★ Action Is the Best Teacher: Lewis emphasises that taking action is the most effective way to learn. Practical experience provides invaluable lessons that theory alone cannot match.
🗣 Welcome to another episode, hosted by experienced e-commerce entrepreneurs Lewis Smith and James Eardley. In this episode, Lewis reveals the nine crucial lessons he wishes he knew before embarking on his dropshipping journey.
These are not just tips but profound insights that can help you avoid common pitfalls and accelerate your path to e-commerce success.
👉 Prefer to watch this on Youtube? Check it out here ➡️ https://youtu.be/PZhsizKQrUc?si=b4gTHzhIn-y9D36h
★ Product Validation Before Ads: Lewis emphasises the importance of validating your product before investing in ads.
★ Don't Force Unpopular Products: Trying to push unpopular products onto a market, even with significant ad investment, rarely leads to success.
★ Supplier Quality Matters: Lewis underlines that the quality of your suppliers is closely tied to the success of your business.
★ Customers Are Real People: Remember that your customers are real human beings who value a good experience.
★ Effort in Selling High-Value vs. Low-Value Products: Lewis shares the insight that it takes the same effort to sell high-value products as it does to sell low-value items.
★ Numbers Favour High-Ticket Dropshipping: Lewis highlights that high-ticket dropshipping offers more margin for error, especially for beginners.
★ Understand the Timing of Growth: Lewis reminds listeners that growth takes time, and instant riches are unrealistic.
★ Invest in Learning, Not Mistakes: Instead of learning through costly mistakes, Lewis advises investing in training and mentorship.
★ Action Is the Best Teacher: Lewis emphasises that taking action is the most effective way to learn. Practical experience provides invaluable lessons that theory alone cannot match.
Thank you for listening to the Dropship Unlocked Podcast! Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.
Lewis Smith:
people feel like they have to learn from their own mistakes. And by something I wish I'd learned earlier in my journey.
James Eardley:
I think when people first start, you think, ah, they almost limit themselves. And they say that I've never done this before. I'll sell 30 pound products because surely they're easier to sell. Be very wary if
Lewis Smith:
you think do you know what the market wants before you've tested what the market wants.
James Eardley:
So that was a reason for the failure. And I went through that I wish I'd known this. What
Lewis Smith:
sad is
Unknown:
most of the time as small business owners as entrepreneurs, when there's writing off the business model, that's something I wish I'd known before I'd started there. So if I'd had that different frame of mind before I got into my business venture, everything would have turned out differently.
Lewis Smith:
I'm keen to share these lessons with you today just so that they weren't in vain. Welcome to the dropship unlocked podcast, your key to unlocking the secrets of high ticket dropshipping. I'm Louis Smith, founder of dropship unlocked and with me is our Client Success Coach James Early. Now when we're not recording podcast episodes, we're running our own e commerce businesses and helping aspiring entrepreneurs launch their own high ticket dropshipping businesses. So if you're ready to learn how to build your own six, or even seven figure business, pick up a copy of my book, The Home term advantage, whether you're looking to replace your income or launch a side hustle. I wrote this book as a roadmap to help you launch a low maintenance, high profit e commerce business that gives you the freedom to spend more time with your family, travel the world and work on your own terms, ready to join us visit HT a book.com To get your copy today. Now sit back, relax, and let's unlock your potential with a dropship unlocked
James Eardley:
Podcast. Today, we're going to be peeling back the curtain on some of the unspoken truths in drop shipping. Imagine if you had a perfect roadmap to success before you even started. Well today. If you listen through the end of this video, you'll be getting exactly that from Louis. So he'll give you a roadmap to what he wishing you before he started dropshipping. So excited to dive into this one today. We're not just going to talk about tips, either. Today, we want to talk about the massive success driving needle moving things that Lewis wishes he knew to speed up his road to success. So Louis, you ready to dive in? And we'll go straight in with the first one whenever you're ready.
Lewis Smith:
Absolutely. Yet, I'm keen to share these lessons with you today just so that they weren't in vain. And yeah, the first thing I'd say is that product validation must be done before you start running ads before you start thinking about making sales. Because you can either find out whether a product will work before or after you start running ads to the product. And it will tell you from my own experience that one way is much more profitable and lucrative in the long term than the other, you can waste a lot of money if you start running ads to products that haven't been validated through a validation criteria system. So go through nice validation before you set up your ad campaigns. We have so many people who have come up to me after listening to the podcast, and they've said that they aren't ready to jump in yet as they've already picked their product and they just want to get that off the ground first. And once that happens, then they'll come to us and begin working with this job ship a lot. And I'm like, okay, like good luck with it. I hope it goes well. But 99% of the time I get a message, you know, two, three months later, where I kind of follow up and we'll say like, how did it go? Are you ready to go yet? And they'll say hi, yeah, no, it didn't quite work out. I kind of threw in the towel gave up with that. And so what happens when you break it down is they get all excited, they're ready to go. They want to be an entrepreneur. They know ecommerce. dropshipping is the way they want to do it. They've built a great site, they're ready to launch there, they're all amped up ready to go. And sometimes they even find it really easy to sign suppliers as well, which they're kind of surprised about. They think I signed suppliers, I've got everything ready. I've found all the moving parts. But when it comes time to run ads, which maybe is like a month in or two months it and they start spending and they watch their ad account start to spend, whether it's Google ads, or Facebook ads, or tick tock ads or whatever ad platform, and it's spending in its spending, and they just can't make any sales. But even sometimes, what's worse is they do make some sales. And they may it gives them like a sense of false hope. Because when they do make sales, they're so few and far between and they're so unprofitable, that it kind of masks the bigger problem, that actually they're just losing money the whole time here. And the problematic thing here is that they're left scratching their heads afterwards, because the ads don't tell you why they weren't working effectively. They'll just keep taking your money, these huge conglomerate multinational ad platforms, they'll just keep taking the money, right. So what's sad is most of the time as small business owners as entrepreneurs, we're not writing off the business model because we How to say, Oh, well, I didn't work, you know, I threw maybe five grand in ads into it, and it just didn't work, you know. So anyway, back to my old life back to my old job, dreams crushed, you know, back to reality. But it could have been so different for them. Because if at that moment where they were considering seeking support, they'd acted, and they'd realize that, actually, maybe there's a few things here that I'm not aware of yet before I become wedded and fixated on a specific product, or type of niche that I want to sell in. Maybe if, for example, without a nine step niche validation system, if they'd have just put the ideas they had through that system, it would have allowed them to verify their niche, verify which products to sell, before they even launched their store and considered running an ad, or spending a penny on any paid marketing channel. And what that means is then later, when it comes time to running ads, they are set to make profitable sales. Once they launch that it takes a lot of the guesswork and the pitfalls out there. And just we see that time and time again. So I'd say that's Lesson number one. And that
James Eardley:
knowledge is power. Because as soon as you have that knowledge, and you know that the failure was down to picking a product and sending traffic to those products before validating it, then you realize that it isn't just the whole business model that doesn't work, you can actually realize that it was just the products that you were trying to sell, you hadn't validated that there were going to be successful in the first place. So that was a reason for the failure. And I went through that I wish I'd known this before I started. But I was so keen to start setting up an ad campaign and start selling that I just saw the first product I saw on AliExpress, I knew I could get a decent margin on it was only a 10 pound profit. And I just thought, well, great, I've got a product. And I know that I can sell it. But I was just doing that based on a gut instinct. But now I know that if you want to make real money, and if you don't want to waste and spend 1000s on ads, you need to do that research upfront. And so that's definitely a lesson that I would also completely say that is a crucial one before you go into starting a dropshipping business. So what would you say is point number two?
Lewis Smith:
Point number two would be that you can't force unpopular product onto a market. Even if you invest heavily in ads, you can't out marketing, spend your way from a bad product or an unpopular product. I mean, you can but it will be extremely expensive and very, very difficult to make profitable, you could probably pour millions of pounds into and eventually something will stick and someone will buy. But it makes it very, very difficult to make a profit. And it's it's like you're fighting an uphill battle. You might as well go with the path of least resistance and just go with more popular products. You know, there was a story I told on a podcast recently where I was in Brazil and it was at the beach and there was the guy you've probably heard if you haven't it was the guy coming down the beach with a chest full of ice and he and I was thinking what he got in there is like wheeling it along. And it was full of beers and cold soft drinks and ice water and stuff like that perfect dehydrated beach sunbathers like this exactly what they wanted. The product was in demand. He wasn't fighting an uphill battle. I gave the example of Imagine if he pulled up and said right, I've got like Willie thermal scarves and gloves and hats here. You know, like winter hats. He's not going to be getting people surrounding him paying him money. He's trying to force unpopular products on the market, he could have a megaphone to be shouting about those hats. Doesn't matter how loud he shouts, he's not going to create that demand is it you're a few years, he's got a really big job on his hand, because it's just not the market for it. And so sometimes, the way that this materializes or manifests in a business like this in an E commerce business dropshipping store is that we'll sign a supplier on one of our stores, and we'll start running ads to it and I'll be like, it's going to crush it it's going to do so well this supplier can tell they're just going to nail it, you know, and then you you set it live and it's just crickets it's like no one buys for and it just they just sit there on the shelf on the hit metaphorical shelves and it's really difficult because we then signed a different supplier and I'm like okay, yeah, that like that's another supplier don't think they're gonna do that well, but but sign them let's get the products uploaded. And then suddenly it's like bam, bam, bam, three, four products of those suppliers being sold per day. And I never saw it coming and it's because I had a subconscious bias that I believed that the other brand was going to be more popular, but for some reason it wasn't. And so it's be very wary if you think you know what the market wants before you've tested what the market wants. There's no difference in strategy is just that the second suppliers products were popular. So two or three sales per day. Well, if those are high ticket sales at 150 pounds profit per sale, per item per sale, that might be 600 pounds in profit per day. You know to forward four quick emails from your phone. All because you gave the market what they wanted and you you lead into what they wanted and said yes, I'm happy to provide the market with what they demand. Rather than trying to force this other thing that I'm passionate about that I think will work onto the market by just pouring out
James Eardley:
a data and the market will tell you what you should have known before, it will tell you what products will sell. It will tell you what you should be focusing on which suppliers are popular. You can't really know that until you've got your ads up and running. Or if you've done that niche validation criteria that we go through before choosing the products. And then you'll find out which suppliers to partner with making money for others already. So that's a key one again, a lesson I wish I knew. It's so easy to get emotionally attached to the products that you're selling. I think that's a problem that a lot of people encounter is that they're confident that they love that product. And so surely 1000s of other people will love that product. It's funny to look back at now, but I thought I was selling some elasticated shoe laces from Aliexpress to the US market. And I thought that's gonna save everyone 10 seconds where they go to put their shoes on. This is a huge, brilliant idea that everyone's going to want to be able to put their shoes on with an elasticated click not have to tie their laces. And it's going to I'm going to be selling in millions. But soon realized, you run a few Facebook ads to them, it doesn't work. The product, the product just wasn't in demand, people didn't want it. So I needed to look at that realize that the product isn't in demand and switch and then don't try and force I could have tried force more and more marketing spend. But you can't do that the market will tell you which products are in demand. So you need to start selling those products. So Louis, number three on the list of things you wish you knew before you started drop shipping.
Lewis Smith:
Yeah, the third would be that supplier quality is really crucial to your success. I mean, the success of your business is very, very closely tied to the quality of your suppliers, we see it time and time again with the members in our community that people are going to ultimately experience the products that you sell. I think sometimes we forget that as online business owners in E commerce, we feel like the moment that the sale comes in our job is done as an E commerce owner and it's like we at that point. That's it. That's the last whatever here but remember that product then gets dispatched and delivered to someone's house and they are then the person looking at it and experiencing it and using it. And so Becky and I a few months back, we bought a new bed and we needed a new mattress. And so we were looking around and that obviously has so many mattress options to choose from out there. But we decided on a fairly premium brand that you probably seen advertised on like the London Underground called Emma mattresses now that they're really well marketed right now these aren't cheap mattresses, they I'd say they're fairly premium level mattresses, especially for like a super king size where there's about 600 pounds, I think. But for us the stage that we're at in our lives at the moment with two young kids right now, both under well under three, the one year old and a two year old. Sleep is possibly the most important thing that we could be investing right now in back into our own mental health and sanity. So especially running two businesses, you know, and like trying to do that is tough. Trying to do that with no sleep or with very poor quality sleep is near on impossible. So whilst I could have probably gone for a gone to Amazon gone to Wayfarer, and then picked up a really cheap Super King mattress on eBay for 150 quid, something like that, I would have never had the same level of incredible quality sleep that I now get. So I'm really happy that I made that purchase. But the question is, would I be talking about a cheap brand like I am now about the Emma Mattress Company? On our podcast in front of hundreds of 1000s of listeners? Probably not right? All because of the quality of the product and the quality of the supplier. A great quality product means customers will be extremely happy with their purchase when they receive it. And likely they'll tell others like I am to you right now. For your exclusive discount on Emma mattresses use code nap likely, I'm only joking. There's no discount code. There's no partner with Emma mattresses, but Emma mattresses if you are listening, this is your chance to step up to the plate and sponsor this podcast. If there
James Eardley:
is some validity, I certainly was silent after that great testimonial. You give it all of that. Yeah, let's see, we'll keep the inbox open for that one. But it's a great point. I think, as I went on more and more with running ecommerce businesses, I realized how closely tied that supplier quality is to the business quality, not just from the popularity of the product standpoint that we've touched on. But also from the customer experience. Our suppliers will do a bit of a heavy lift with some of the sales that we send through because they'll organize the delivery, they'll make sure the product quality is is good as well. So we need them to be on board with us. They need to look after our customers. So if you're working with high quality suppliers, you'll have no issues, great products, great quality, good delivery time, and they'll look after you if there's any issues as well. If you've got poor quality suppliers that will reflect on your business so it is important to get signed up with high quality, reputable suppliers. So there is now on to the fourth thing that you wish you knew before you started. Yeah,
Lewis Smith:
well the fourth thing would be that sales come from real people, real human beings, you know, your customers are real human beings who need a good experience. So we talked about the quality of the product. But what about the buying experience? I remember at the beginning of my journey back in 2017, when I first started with drop shipping, I didn't make the connection to that. The numbers I was seeing on the screen, were real people in front of their laptops, or phones or computers logging on to my first store. And the people that I saw as these analytic numbers popping up on the screen, I just saw as visitors, I thought they were just metrics, just statistics, right? But then one customer called us up. And I say us at the time, it was just me, right? There was no va, there was no customer support team, it was just me. So I answered the phone. And I was a little nervous. And I was like, Hello, how can I help? And I realized that actually, this customer was really friendly. You know, they weren't expecting me to be some specialist in the niche that I was in. There was fine. I just acted confidently. And just if I didn't have the answer, I think I would have just said, I'll see if I can figure out the answer for you. Let me get back to you. At which point I would have called the supplier to get the answer, or maybe, you know, emailed the supplier and got back to them via email the next day or something, what I didn't realize was that that customer wasn't looking for the best price. They weren't bargain hunting, there are some customers out there who will do that. They're just looking for price, price price, they don't care about anything else. But some customers actually are buying based on the best experience that they can get. And that customer went on to purchase within minutes afterwards, I sent them the link and the meat made, we created them a draft order, sent it to them. And then they just purchased it. And I realized, wow, we're actually not the cheapest retailer out there for that brand. Because there are some other companies that are just trying to undercut and I earn less profit, but to try and steal volume. And it was just interesting, because I realized, okay, so it's not all about price, a big part of the value that we can add to customers to suppliers is the experience and the hand holding, and the guiding customers through the purchasing decision. That's what a lot of customers are looking for. And let me tell you for experience, those customers are the probably the ones you'd want to deal with anyway. Because they're the ones that are reasonable. They're the ones that are friendly, that will pick up the phone that will have a chat that are you know, not going to go and just leave bad reviews, if there's an issue with like it being delayed by a day, you know, they're understanding people generally. So they're the kind of people we want to deal with anyway. And so yeah, it harnessing the customer experience through great customer support on your store can really, really increase your sales.
James Eardley:
It does. And that all comes from realizing that they're real people on the other end of the laptop. And they're not just numbers. But it is easy to start to think of people as numbers, and sales and conversion value, and what does each customer mean to you, you mean to your business. But if you realize that normal people that enhances the way you speak to them on your website, enhances the customer service you provide to them, also makes you care more about the product quality, the suppliers you work with. So that is a great lesson that I completely agree with as well. So on to the next point, Louis.
Lewis Smith:
Yeah, the next point, then number five, is that it takes the same effort to sell high value items as it does to sell low value items. Sounds simple, but so many people miss this and make life so much more difficult for themselves than it needs to be. We had one of our members of the masterclass Suraj recently on the podcast with us in a couple of episodes ago, and he shared the amazing story of his first sale, he goes out and runs these Spartan type races where it's like an outdoor Tough Mudder style assault course where you have to like crawl under barbed wire and you get electrocuted. And it's like one of these really intense races, right. And he said just as he was getting ready to go, because that's what he loves to do on a Saturday morning, I will leave that on to use. He put his bone in his glove box. And, and ease it just as he checked it. The foam was in his glove box in his car. And he had a look. And he realized that he just made his first high ticket sale. And he couldn't believe it because it was it was presumed that profit on it was the equivalent of what he would have probably earned in his job at that time in a day, right. And he was just leaving to go for a run. And so that was an amazing realization for him that it took him the same amount of time and effort and input to make that first sale and that amount of profit as it would have done for him to sell a 15 quid product and make two or three pounds profit after all of the costs, same effort, same time, same customer buying, but at the same touching notification, hugely different levels of profit. And obviously because it's high ticket that Suraj has gone with in his first couple of months he went he just told us on the last episode that he'd made 12,000 pounds in sales, which is about 3500 pounds in profit in his first couple of months since joining the DSU masterclass. So, yeah, he couldn't believe that it took the same amount of effort to make his first few high ticket sales as it did for him to make low ticket sales which he was doing prior to that. So same uploading of products same ad same collect from a customer is just that you make a whole day's salary instead of just a few pounds. So I guess the question is you asked yourself, if you look down now check your phone and have a look at it. And you say you saw one notification just pop up from the top of the phone as they do. Would you rather that notification be for an item that was 16 pounds? Or would you rather it be for one that was 1600 pounds. Because you don't have to do anything differently, you get to make that decision. Either way, all you're doing is looking down at your phone, and then forwarding an email on to a supplier.
James Eardley:
Yeah, same. And I learned that lesson as well, by doing both low ticket and high ticket, it's the exact same effort to sell a high ticket product as it is to sell a low ticket product. And it's almost intimidating. I think when people first start, you think ah, they almost limit themselves. And they say that I've never done this before, I'll sell 30 pound products because surely they're easier to sell. And they're almost intimidated by seeing a 1500 pound products and thinking I can't sell that my first business. But I wish I'd known this before I'd started as well, because I went down that route of selling cheap products. And the numbers are not on your side, you have to be really shrewd with the investment that you're making to sell products at a low price. Whereas when you get onto the high ticket items, the numbers are very much on your side. And it's the same effort to sell a 1500 pound product as it is a 15 pound product. So I completely agree with that point as well, there's so on to the next point that you wish you'd known before you started.
Lewis Smith:
The next thing I wish I'd known when I first started was the the numbers are on our side, when we choose high ticket dropshipping. It just gives you more margin for error. You know, especially as a beginner, when you sell items for 2000 pounds to get to give it a nice round number example, if you're making 30% margin that's 600 pounds in profit on a single sale. Okay? Now, even if you mess up your ads, even if you follow nothing of what we teach in week five of our program, and you just completely blow it with ads, and you spend 50 quid or heaven forbid you spend 100 pounds to acquire a sale, you still made a net profit of 500 pounds, even after that 100 pounds in adspend. So 20 of those per month, even with that high adspend of 100 pounds per sale. Even with that, you've still made 10,000 pounds net profit per month, with just 20 sales per month. So it just gives you so much more room for error, you can't do that with 15 pound products, you can't be spending 100 pounds to acquire a 15 pound sale. And
James Eardley:
it's the numbers on your site, you don't need to make anywhere near the level of sales that you would with low ticket products. And when you're making less sales to make the same amount of profit, that's less admin less headaches for you less customers to work with. So it makes so much sense. And the numbers are on your sides, it has to be high ticket dropshipping when you're gonna get started, and I do the exact same again. Now if I was to restart, it would be straight to high ticket dropshipping no dabbling with a low ticket store. On to the next point notice the
Lewis Smith:
next is to understand that growth takes time. Now this idea of instant riches is unrealistic. Everybody knows it's unrealistic. But I think for some people, they just like hold on to this hope that I don't know, maybe I'll strike gold. And I'll just win that lottery ticket. And that'll be it, I won't need to do anything. But actually, you wouldn't want it to be that way anyway. Because if you can fall in love with the journey and the challenge of building, you realize that that's actually where the enjoyment and the fulfillment comes from. I've read hundreds of books and I know you have as well throughout our entrepreneurial journeys listened to hundreds, if not 1000s of different podcast episodes, paid 10s of 1000s of pounds for programs, mentors, training, and I continue to do so even to this day. And it's because I understand that the work I'm putting in now, I might not see the results of that for six or even 12 months from now. But I know that if I take action now and have that delayed gratification, and I continue my momentum not worrying about like where are the results from the work I did yesterday, knowing that eventually it will compound and it's a cumulative thing. And eventually, it's a matter of when I will see those results. Not here. I'll see them. And I was thinking about this one before we started recording this episode. But I wrote it down. So I wanted to kind of capture the essence of what we're referring to here. Many people choose to give up on their business dreams for the sake of immediate comfort. Ironically, signing up for a lifetime of nine to five drudgery is a trap where they sacrifice not just their potential wealth, but the richness of life itself, all because they couldn't delay gratification. So in avoiding short term challenges, they unwittingly chose the harder path missing their only shot at true freedom
James Eardley:
was a really good point. I think it's a symptom of today's day and age, I think instant gratification She is so easy to achieve now with phones, laptops getting products the next day. And so we've almost wired ourselves to believe that anything you want to get will come quickly. And you can translate that to a business venture or anything that you go after. But if you allow yourself to delay gratification, understand that no matter what pursuit you take, there'll be some time there'll be some work involved. If you go in with that mindset, you'll go through the challenges, you'll accept the setbacks as they come. And that will lead to inevitable success. I think it's a good point that you raised earlier, as I certainly went into my first business expecting success within the first month. And that leads you to getting burnt out and to be annoyed and to be unpatient. But allow things to take the time they take, you're on the right path, once you know you're on the right direction, it doesn't matter about the time that it takes you to get to that goal, because you will inevitably achieve that once you know that there's going to be some time involved, going to be some work to get to the results that you want to achieve. I'm glad you brought that one up, Louis. Onto the next point, I'm interested to see, we're on to the eighth point now I believe, what would you say is number eight on your list?
Lewis Smith:
Yeah, the eighth lesson that I wish I'd known was to invest in learning, not mistakes, you can learn from other people's mistakes is a much faster and cheaper and easier way to make it to the end point that you're trying to get to because someone else has probably made the mistake that you're about to make. So if you can navigate the path of least resistance and avoid the pitfalls, that someone else who came before you who's achieved what you want to achieve, as laid out and helped prevent you from falling into, then that has to be the less costly way of doing it right. So invest in training, rather than learning from just pouring money into costly mistakes. I think sometimes people feel like they have to learn from their own mistakes. And by something I wish I'd learned earlier, in my journey, there are so many nuggets of information that have come from people that I have met within training programs, or events or masterminds, or inside paid communities, there's just something about getting around other people who take their own personal development seriously enough to invest in themselves. And it just when those people get together, whether it be virtually in a room or in a community, it just helps everybody level up so much faster than those who just choose to go it alone, because they can only learn from their own mistakes. So they're limited in how fast they can even grow. So whether it's a new ad strategy that someone shares, and they just kind of like, share it with you off the cuff or in a DM or they're just like, Hey, have you heard about this? It's working really well for us? Why don't you try it, or maybe it's a helpful contact, maybe it's a supplier introduction, that you would have never got otherwise, or potentially just a tip on boosting your conversions, an app that someone's using, by investing in your own development, it just forces you to keep your eyes peeled for the value because you're constantly look, when you invest, you're like, Okay, where's the value, I'm going to get as much of this as I can out of it. And you then start to see it everywhere around you. Yeah,
James Eardley:
I love that frame to look at it, you either invest in learning or you invest in mistakes. I think it is just as binary as that we hear all about the success stories all the time about how people went through a series of mistakes before they got to the success that they now have and can celebrate. So mistakes are inevitable. So you need to decide whether you want to make the mistakes yourself, or whether you want to save money, but actually invest in learning. So you can learn from other people's mistakes. That's something I wish I had known before I'd started Louis, if I'd had that different frame of mind, before I got into my business venture, everything would have turned out differently, I would have saved 1000s That I wasted on poor quality Facebook ads, trying to sell products that weren't in demand. If I just learned and invested earlier, then I would have saved myself that. But I'm so glad I eventually did invest in training. Because the community as you say it's electric to be around people that have the same goals as you they're on the same journey. There's something so special about getting people together that are all pushing towards the same goal. And I think everyone is much more successful because of it. So now let's move on to the final point number nine. And I think you've saved the best for last. So what do you think, is the ninth thing that you wish you knew before you started? Eventually
Lewis Smith:
there comes a point where you just have to do something about it. You know, action. As you go through your journey with the right strategy is going to be the best teacher your own action is better than any content that you could find because taking action it provides you with so many intricate learning experiences as you go because you have to navigate each of the steps in order to keep taking action towards the end result. Someone could keep explaining to me how to ride a bike and if I have never ridden a bike before and I just keep thinking okay, I've got it all in my head. I'm going to get on the start pedaling and grab the handlebars and then break when I need to stop it. Well that theory is spinning around in my head that if I never get on the bike and Never stop pedaling, I'm I'm never going to be able to do it. That's the only way I'm going to learn. It's very difficult to just conceptualize the whole thing to the point of like completion but never take the first step towards actually doing it. So sometimes we just have to step out of our comfort zone and take action. One thing that we hear time and time again for people joining us at dropship unlocked is they'll say, I've just joined, I've done months and months and months of research, but I don't know what the first step to take is. So our aim, when people first join us is to remove overwhelm, and to just set you up on the right path from the beginning to lay out the roadmap, step by step so that you're not coming in bombarded with information is a very sequential step by step process. To set yourself on the path to your own success story. A great starting point for this is my book, the home turf advantage. I've laid this out into a sequential step by step process inside the book is a comprehensive guide to starting your own high ticket dropshipping business. So if you're interested in that, head over to H T, a book.com. You can grab your copy there. And who knows. We might then be discussing your success story on an upcoming podcast episode soon. Until then, keep pushing forward. And remember, your entrepreneurial journey is just one decision away. Just a quick heads up. If you'd like to share your questions, stories, successes or challenges, you can email us directly at podcast at dropship unlocked.com. And you never know we might even feature you on the next podcast
James Eardley:
episode. Also, if you want access to today's show notes or any of the resources we've mentioned in the episode today, then head over to dropship unlocked.com forward slash podcast. We also have a small favor to ask if you if you enjoyed the show so far, you could take a minute to leave us a rating and review on your podcast platform of choice.
Lewis Smith:
You wouldn't believe how much your reviews help us grow the podcast, we'll even read out some of our favorites on the next episode. So if you want to be featured on the show, please do go ahead and leave us a review today. Thanks so much for your support. We really couldn't do it without you. And we absolutely love hearing what you think of the podcast.
James Eardley:
Now let's answer a question that we've had in from a listener. So thank you to thaden, for leaving a question after one of our recent YouTube videos of the podcast. So thank you for your question. I'll pitch across to you now, Louis. So thaden has asked in a lot of high ticket niches, the product requires installation or professional setup at the point of delivery. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts regarding a strategy in these niches so that we can compete against the suppliers that can also install, because that'll be the competition surely. So they have the upper hand surely in terms of convenience, and perceived value. So how do we compete with that? Yeah, thank
Lewis Smith:
you very much for your question. thaden. So here's how it works. In high ticket niches where products need professional setup, you've got options, even if your suppliers don't offer installation, because if they do offer installation, then it's kind of all set for you don't even really have to deal with it, you can usually just upsell that as a service as well. If it's an option, or if it's a mandatory thing, then that's just part of the way the supplier does visits. Remember, the suppliers we work with often don't sell to customers directly themselves, so you won't be competing directly with the supplier. And then the other retailers who are using that same supplier, you're on a level playing field so you can compete on other things, other aspects, customer service free accessories, you know better buying experiences. But if they don't offer professional setup, then you have got options, you could partner up with a third party installation company, for example, they can do the job even under your brand, which is called a white labeling. So this way you can provide installation services on your store. So you can even have an option like on the product page, they do need installation. And you can even add a little extra price onto their trade price that they charge you for profit as well so that you are actually earning profit on the installations as well. And your customers get a seamless service because the product arrives the installation company having liaised with the supplier or with you or with the customer, however you want to do it so that they show up, they install it and everything works seamlessly for the customer. You could also consider offering white glove delivery for those more upscale items. So if you're selling really premium stuff, this is all about giving your customers our luxury experience, you know delivering the product, setting it up in their home unpackaging it taking away the boxes, getting rid of the you know the the mess afterwards. That is something that many customers will be willing to pay more for as well. So while you focus on great customer service and smart marketing, these added services that you can incorporate into your offering eventually take care of themselves. And what they do is give your customers a really top notch level of experience. So it's really a win win. It keeps your customers happy because they get a really good quality service. And you keep your products feeling premium and in demand as well.
James Eardley:
Thank you, Louis and thank you Faden. Field question is a great question. If you know that there's a niche out there that you're interested in, but it takes a lot of professional installation, or, you know, setting up at home by professional service, I wouldn't let that put you off at all go through the usual criteria. And don't let that be a factor in putting you off selling those products. I sell products that need real professional installation, actually, they can be some of the best selling products for you. And because oftentimes, supplier will have a setup already with an installation company. And you could just tag into that straightaway. And if you can see that there's also other competitors that are selling those products, again, more proof that you can also do the same and create a really good quality customer service for your products that you're selling. So thank you, Louis. And we're also going to highlight elicit review in the episode which I love to hear and I love doing. And this review has also come in from Faden. So he left the review as part of your question and paid and said, thank you both for continually providing quality content. I think it's under appreciated. The weekly podcasts, keep me ignited and ensure I stay focused and on the right track.
Lewis Smith:
Wow. It's a double whammy from thaden. This week really appreciate the listener question and also the reviews. Thanks for that they do a really appreciate your review. It's great to hear that you've been appreciating the content as well, so we'll make sure we keep it coming weekly. Now, a quick question for you listening to us right now. How do you fancy contributing to the podcast as well? It's easy, and we really appreciate it. So drop us a review on the podcast platform you're listening on. Or if you're watching on YouTube, leave us a quick comment. We'd love to highlight your thoughts in an upcoming episode. Also, ever thought about sharing the podcast. If you know someone who's perhaps playing with the idea of an E commerce business or maybe just a side hustle. Sharing this episode could be the gentle little nudge they needed to help us spread the word and let's grow this community together.
James Eardley:
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the dropship unlocked podcast. We hope you found the discussion both inspiring and entertaining.
Lewis Smith:
If you're ready to begin your own high ticket dropshipping journey then here's what to do next. I've taken all of the years of my own experience both of running my E commerce businesses and teaching hundreds of others how to do the same and I've condensed it all into my book, the home turf advantage. It's your comprehensive guide designed to help you create your own e commerce business and you can grab your copy today at H T A book.com.
James Eardley:
Stay connected by subscribing to the podcast. This way you'll never miss an episode packed with valuable insights. And if you enjoyed what you heard today, please leave us a review. Your feedback motivates us and we love sharing our favorite reviews on future episodes. And thank you for deciding
Lewis Smith:
to spend your time with us today. We really appreciate you and we look forward to sharing more high ticket dropshipping insights with you on our next episode of the dropship unlocked podcast.