Q&A Special: Answering Your Top Questions (Episode 50)

Get your copy of Lewis’ new book - The Home-Turf Advantage ➡️ https://htabook.com/?el=podcast-50-q-and-a-special

🗣 In this special Q&A episode of the Dropship Unlocked Podcast, hosts Lewis Smith and James Eardley take the opportunity to delve into your burning questions. 

They share their personal experiences, insights, and advice on topics ranging from failure and motivation to successful e-commerce traits and dropshipping confidence.

👉 Prefer to watch this on Youtube? Check it out here  ➡️ https://youtu.be/HcH2_itIbP4

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Topics Discussed:

★ Biggest Failures: Lewis opens up about his biggest failure, a £20,000 debt that taught him invaluable lessons about financial management and the importance of keeping a close eye on the numbers.

★ Motivation and Drive: Discover what keeps Lewis motivated and driven in his entrepreneurial journey, from family to the love of the business game itself.

★ Moments of Realisation: Lewis reflects on moments in his dropshipping journey that made him feel like he had "made it," emphasizing the continuous pursuit of new goals and achievements.

★ Key Characteristics for Success: Lewis shares key characteristics that set successful e-commerce businesses apart, such as having high-quality suppliers and data-driven niche selection.

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

For Aspiring Business Owners or Side Hustle Seekers Based In the UK…

New Book Reveals How To Launch A Low-Maintenance High-Profit E-Commerce Business Using The UK "Home-Turf Advantage”…

While also enjoying more time with your family, being free to travel, and setting the hours you work.

Click here to get your copy >>> https://htabook.com/?el=podcast-50-q-and-a-special 

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

Get Shopify for £1 a month for 3 months: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/shopify 

Get a free trial with a professional phone line: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/circle 

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Key Takeaways:

★ Real Costs of Starting: Get a breakdown of the real costs involved in starting a dropshipping business, both running costs and advertising investments.

★ Credibility of Dropshipping: Addressing scepticism about dropshipping, Lewis cites numerous real success stories from members of the Dropship Unlocked community who have transitioned from beginners to thriving dropshippers.

★ Boosting Confidence: For beginners hesitating to start, Lewis shares mindset shifts and practical steps to boost confidence, including self-belief, and creating a positive environment.

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FOLLOW:

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• Website: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com

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Transcript

Lewis Smith: 0:00

The business started to crumble. So did I, I think one of the skills of an entrepreneur is you don't take it personally,

James Eardley: 0:06

I think if you've got a motivation that's just purely intrinsic for enjoying what you're doing, then that motivation is just energy, that source of fuel that you can burn forever. You

Lewis Smith: 0:15

want to make sure you take the path of least resistance to get the result.

James Eardley: 0:19

When I was first finding out about you, Louis, and people that were doing really well, they're successful with their businesses, you always think that will surely they just sit on a beach, they've made it they sit back and relax. If

Lewis Smith: 0:31

you can learn from other people's expensive mistakes about what didn't work, you can then learn where to spend your investment most efficiently.

James Eardley: 0:40

Success leaves clues. So if we can learn from what the best people do what the best businesses are doing, and we can implement that and achieve the same success. Now,

Lewis Smith: 0:49

in terms of the entrepreneurial traits that make entrepreneurial successful, I mean that a few of the things and these are this is not an exhaustive list by any means, but welcome to the dropship unlocked Podcast. I'm Lewis Smith, the founder of dropship. Unlocked and with me is our Client Success Coach James Adly. Now when we're not recording the podcast episodes, we're running our own e commerce businesses and helping aspiring entrepreneurs launch their own high ticket drop shipping businesses, keen to build your own six, or even seven figure business. My book, the home turf advantage is your blueprint for launching a profitable online store. Grab your copy at HT a book.com to date, and let's get you started. Now sit back, relax, and let's unlock your potential with the dropship unlocked Podcast.

James Eardley: 1:47

Today, Luis and I are going to be diving into our highs and lows of our dropshipping journey. And the way we're going to be revealing these insights is through the questions that you've been asking us. So this is episode number 50 of the dropship unlocked podcast. And I can't believe we've got to Episode 50 already. So thank you, for everyone that's been listening for all of your support. And to celebrate getting to this milestone number. We've been collecting questions that we've been receiving, and we're going to answer them in an episode today dedicated to answering your questions. So Luis, do you feel excited to answer some questions today?

Lewis Smith: 2:19

Yeah, really looking forward to this one, I think is going to be a great episode great milestone to mark the Big Five out. And as he say, I can't believe that we've reached this stage and the first 50 have many more to come.

James Eardley: 2:30

Absolutely. Here's to 50 more, and we'll do a milestone episode each time. So let us know if you've got any ideas for that. And let's start off with some quickfire questions, Louis for you. And then we'll go into some questions that need a bit more explanation. So firstly, a question that we've had in from Tehran. And she is asked, What was your biggest failure

Lewis Smith: 2:49

you had interesting was funny, we were talking about this just offline before we started recording the podcast actually. And currently, at the moment, I'm sitting in a in a business center at the apartment complex in Mexico, where I'm living at the moment. And it reminded me like the the makeshift setup I have here with like the camera balancing, you know, kind of look hot above the laptop reminded me when I was in Bali, and it was a few years ago. And we said we'd hit some financial troubles with my ecommerce business where I had I taken my eye off the accounting up like I hadn't set aside the correct enough funds for the VAT that was going to be due that quarter, or the corporation, I was kind of just like seeing money go into the account money go out, hoping that it will balance out. You know, it often doesn't, when you take your eye off the ball like that. I mean, we got to the point where we had pretty much zero in there. And we had suppliers calling us saying, Okay, we need that 20 grand payment now. And we just think I don't have it. I don't know what to say to that. And that level of anxiety, that insomnia that I experienced for the first time ever was such a load for me. And it made me realize firstly how much I died, I tied my identity to the success or failure of my business, which was a mistake. I should have separated those two more. But also it just taught me so much about how to run a successful business. And there was a moment where I was on a conference call on like a call I think with the accountant and one of the suppliers trying to figure out payment terms how I could pay them back and I had to I was in a like a hostel kind of hotel in Bali and they didn't have a desk in the room. So I had to pull out this mini fridge that was like under the desk and there was this like boiling hot mini fridge that was like rumbling with like a motor in it. And I had to kind of like straddle this mini bridge with my laptop like perched up by the TV and get on the Zoom call. And it just I just in that moment. I think Becky looked at me almost like why you do it. And it just made me think I really had a low bid like we are. This is not what I had pictured when it came to digital nomadism and location independent said Fortunately, we managed to get out. And we managed to pay the supplier back over time. And since then, that was probably the best lesson I've ever learned in business because I've not taken right off the finances since then. So it's a great lesson. But yeah, I probably being 20k debt very early in my business was a big failure of mine. And something that I make very shorter. encourage anyone who follows our method now never gets in situation by following the tracker templates that we lay up.

James Eardley: 5:27

And failure is the best teacher, as so often said. So I love that question, because it really dives into some of the biggest lessons that you've learned as well. The thanks for that quick question, Taryn. Next up is a question from Abby. And she's asked, what keeps you motivated and driven? Well, I

Lewis Smith: 5:42

think it changes over time, doesn't it? Originally, what kept me motivated was family, you know, I didn't have children at the time when I first decided to start or at these businesses I do now. But at the time, it was like, I knew I was going to become a dad, at some point in the near future. And obviously, I was married to my wife, Becky as well. So initially, it was like that, read them to be present with them to be a present husband to be a present dad in the future to my children. And it still is now to an extent, but I guess once you reach that point where you are free with them, and you to spend time with them doing whatever you want to do, you need to kind of adjust your, your motivation and what drives and I've thought about this one, and I keep trying to recalibrate what it is that drives me. And I think I've come to the acceptance and the realization that it's not necessarily any one thing, I just love the game of business, I just enjoy it, I enjoy building things, creating things, you know, out here in Mexico, if I said, I'm not going to do any work, I'm not going to look at the businesses, I'm just going to read on a Sunday algebra two weeks, I would be driving myself insane. Because I, I all I would think about is like, I want to build something I want to create something I want to do. So I don't feel any personal growth. So I think that's one of my biggest carrot laws. But it's also the thing that keeps me motivated, is that I find it difficult to switch off, you know, and one of the things that I enjoy now is helping people and making sure that I'm able to help them avoid the mistakes that I made, like I mentioned at the start, but also like meeting them in real life. We do our member meetups now, in dropship, I'm locked in hearing their stories firsthand, people who come to me and say, like, you guys, literally, like changed my life, I was working a boring job, I hated it. And now I'm free run my business from my computer can live anywhere in the world. And it's great to see that in real life coming through. So yeah, I think after a while, I adapted that, why I expanded my my reason, my motivation, my driver. And I just knew for me that it's an outlet, this, this business is something that I can walk away inspiration into the idea of, of dropship, both my e learning company, but also my E commerce companies, things that I can build, and it's kind of like a video game. But the outcomes are real life outcomes, you know, so rather than just like leveling up and getting the currency in the game, the results you create a real the freedom you create is real, and the finances the experiences that you can then have a real so yeah, I chose this kind of type of lifestyle business so that I could be a present data and present husband, but then it very quickly evolved into like, I just really enjoy what I do now. So I've kind of become addicted to the game. And I just enjoy building growing businesses and Dan, I actually need willpower and motivation to stop working. That's something I could probably do with some of it's like the motivation to tune out and relax, you know,

James Eardley: 8:46

interesting, it's round now. So you don't need the motivation to get started. You need motivation to actually stop. That's interesting. I mean, motivation does change as you go through a business journey. And when you reach goals that you previously had, you then have to find other motivations to keep going. And I think if you've got a motivation that's just purely intrinsic for enjoying what you're doing, then that motivation is just energy, that source of fuel that you can burn forever, because it's never going to get you're ever going to achieve that it is no, it's not a set goal that you're going for. So that's fascinating. And it kind of ties into this next question from Claire. And she's asked, Can you share a moment in your dropshipping journey, when you realize that you had made it? Yeah,

Lewis Smith: 9:25

it's an interesting question, because I think it might be different for some listeners, but I'm always striving for the next goal. So I think if someone ever feels like they made it, in inverted commas, what happens is they quickly like they lose the hunger, the hunger dries up. And then they stop doing what they did that got them to where they are. And so to me, I'm always focused on the next got the next target, whether that's an income target, whether that's an impact target to help more people, but I'm all was conscious of what work I put into get. And, to me, I'm always like, no matter how much I level up, I always feel like I'm only just getting started. And I think that's because I invest in myself and my personal development. And I'm always around people who are operating at a higher level than me, I pay to get in the same room as those people. And certainly, I'm not taking my foot off the pedal now, because I, you know, I get into a room around other people that are way further ahead than where I am. And I'm thinking, well, this is like, I'm only scratching the surface. So yeah, of course, there's some nice milestones along the way. You know, you hit your first 10k month Great. Yep, first 100 or 200,000 pounds in sales amazing. When he, when he first one to 3 million pounds, swallow the arrow, great milestones. And we want to recognize those take a moment and, you know, congratulate ourselves and congratulate each other. If you're in our community, you definitely worth posting about those because people will kind of digitally pat you on the back. But anyone who spends too long celebrating and patting themselves on the back for that bit too long, we tend to see that they take their eye off ball. And that complacency can start to creep in. So I think it's a very dangerous thing to MSA. I've made it because we won't be a lot interested.

James Eardley: 11:16

Yeah, it's a fascinating mindset. I think, when I was first finding out about you, Lewis, and people that were, you know, doing really well, they're successful with their businesses, you always think that will surely they just sit on a beach, they've made it, they sit back and relax, because there's a moment when they look around and think I've made it. But the more and more people I get around that are in those positions, the more and more I realize that they feel like they make it every day, just through the enjoyment of doing the work that they get to do and designing a lifestyle that they love, which is often revolved around working and getting to the next stage and enjoying that process. So it's interested to hear your your mindset is very similar to that as well, those. Okay, brilliant. So here's some more questions. Now, these probably need a little bit more explanation. The first one we've had in is from Harrison and Ben, they're members of the dropship on lock Launchpad community. And I'll pose their question to you now, Louis. So they've asked, What are the key characteristics that separates a successful e commerce business from one that is doomed to fail? And likewise, what are the characteristics of the people with successful e commerce businesses?

Lewis Smith: 12:23

Yeah, there are so many traits, I guess, of E commerce businesses, I'll start with the businesses first and maybe touch on the entrepreneurs side, as well, that certainly with an E commerce business, having many high quality suppliers is going to be a huge effect and a bonus to create a higher likelihood of success. The more supplies you have, generally, the better your ads are going to perform. Because there's a wider selection of products like we can't assume or dictate what the market is going to want, we have to just let them choose. That's the idea of the market, it tells you what it wants to buy, you don't sell it. So have those products available. That's one of the benefits of this model. You don't need to have huge warehouses where you commit to hundreds of 1000s in stock up front, I saw a post by someone in a Facebook group the other day online, and it kind of made me wince slightly, because they were like, they said, I've registered my company, I've built my dropshipping website. So I'm all set and ready to go. Now, where do I start suppliers. And I was like, because I know that he's done it all backwards, you know, he's likely now going to have a very difficult time, because he didn't first validate the niche products before he built his store. And so he didn't first learn steps to validate and make sure that the business would succeed, before just jumping into it. And that's the danger. Like sometimes people get too tactical, but they're not strategic enough. They're not thinking about like the end goal of what they want their business and how they want it to work. Within our program, we make sure that people choose their niche based on data, not on emotion, you don't say I think it will work, I feel like it will work. There are nine separate data sets within our niche criteria validation or niche validation criteria. So it's a very data driven approach. Now in terms of the entrepreneurial traits that make entrepreneurial its successful, I mean that a few of the things in these are this is not an exhaustive list by any means. That it would be that they focus on the few vital tasks and ignore the non essentials, you know, they can separate the signal from the noise. And then they're usually able to stay relatively detached from the outcome as well. So I mentioned something that I failed miserably when I first started, the business started to crumble. So did I, I think one of the skills of an entrepreneur is you don't take it personally. You know, of course you adapt and we make those adjustments, but you've got to make sure that you're, you're not, they say right, the lows high and the highs low. And actually we talked to Jared recently, didn't we on a podcast and I was like, How does it feel to have hit all million pounds in sales. And he was like, Yeah, but I don't spend too much time thinking about it to be honest. And I thought that he's going to do really well. As you can tell, he's not like self congratulating, saying, I've hit 4 million upset I've done you know, I could cash out, I can exit, it's, it's just like, let's just another date, work at doing what I do I enjoy the process, I'm not doing it necessarily for the week, and specific financial milestones. And that way, he can move on and continue to make improvements, but not be held up by focusing on results, that that's definitely a key attribute detachment from the outcome. And then also, that they're just action takers, like entrepreneurs that succeed are the people who see opportunities, and they act on them quickly. And they learn and they iterate as they go. They don't just kind of ponder it, sit on their hearts, think about it for ages and never do anything, you know, read 100 books, and then never taken the action. Like they actually put things into practice. And that's key. Yeah,

James Eardley: 15:57

brilliant question, Ben and Harrison, it success leaves clues. So if we can learn from what the best people do what the best businesses are doing. And we can implement that and achieve the same success. And I love that being relatively detached from your outcomes, it just means that you're focusing on getting 1% better every day, and you're not going to get down in the dumps by anything you're going to keep pushing on until you get to the inevitable success. Okay, next question for you. Luis, is in from Andreas. And he is asked, Can you break down the real costs of starting a dropshipping business? And how does investing in a mentor make a difference?

Lewis Smith: 16:32

Okay, so I guess you can separate costs into different categories. When you're starting a business like this, you've got your running costs, and then you've got your advertising. So in my experience, investing in a mentor or mentorship program or training program is greatly going to reduce your running advertising costs. Both of those because the time it takes to become profitable will be so much shorter. Because you won't need to make the mistakes that people have made. You came before you, you know, learn from them. Don't reinvent the wheel. So if you can learn from other people's expensive mistakes about what didn't work, you can then learn where to spend your investment most efficiently and get the most bang for your buck. You know, if they say don't run these types of campaigns, they don't work, we spent 10s of 1000s on them, and they didn't work, do this. Instead, you'll get results straight away, like you could save yourself 10s of 1000s just from a single piece of advice not to mention that full step by step blueprint. So do you think about running costs, these are like your your Shopify fee, you know, Shopify apps, running a few apps that have monthly subscriptions, a business phone line, Google workspace accounts, that's like your emails, your you know, storage for storing files, I wouldn't expect that to be over maybe 100 pounds per month, very, very low fixed overhead for this type. Because you're not leasing a huge premises, you're not hiring massive team, you've got payroll to worry about very, in the in terms of advertising, that's going to be proportional to the sales that come in, right. So for advertising, I'd recommend having a few 100 pounds ready to invest in ADS. So you have five things out. If you spend that wisely. With the right suppliers signed, the right products uploaded in the right way, and you're sending traffic to those products. And it's all set up in the right way. This is the key thing, it all works in unison, then you should start to see sales soon, right. Within the first few days, most of our members see would see a sale or do like the first two weeks, you know, and remember, this is a high ticket sale. So when you see that first sale, say it's for 1000 pounds, 2000 pounds, at a 30% net profit margin, you might make 600 pounds in profit on that sale. Now that's 600 pounds that you can reinvest back into advertising. So your original 500 pounds, add suddenly, you have a lot more now because you can add that 600 pounds back to it to reinvest back into ADS and make more sets that that's the way that it works scaling up your sales. And yeah, as I said, if you can find a mentor, you will shortcut the time it takes you to be successful and significantly reduce those costs, both advertising and fixed costs that that you incur before you start making a profit. And that's what it's all about. Right? You want to make sure you take the path of least resistance to get the result. Absolutely

James Eardley: 19:29

not to mention is cheaper in terms of currency in terms of money. It's also cheaper in terms of time, which says much quicker to get profitable. And it's cheaper in terms of headaches, and issues and failures and mistakes. Obviously I went through that I made a lot of mistakes when I tried to do it on my own, and also spent a lot more money during that until I then joined the program and was able to follow this step by step training. And instead of putting money into mistakes, put money into a mentorship program and you'll quickly become profitable a lot more quickly than you will if you try and go out on your own that certainly In my experience, Okay, next up is a question from Aisha. And she's asked, I'm still skeptical about the success of dropshipping. Are there really people who are doing this full time yet

Lewis Smith: 20:12

totally understand the skepticism Aisha. And I think when you're first introduced into this world, it does it seems too good to be true. Because you're like, Well, why would anybody be working in a nine to five job that, like, if this exists, why isn't everybody doing it? And I think that's a common misconception. And it takes a bit of a job. It's like a lead him in faith to realize that, well, not everybody has the entrepreneurial spirit, or the intention or the drive to make it happen. There are hundreds of members now, who we've worked with, who had never run a business before. They had no idea how this all works. And now many of them are making 10s of 1000s, if not millions of pounds in sales. And so it's really interesting. There are so many different people from different backgrounds are counted. Plumbers, roofers, electricians, web designers, like all kinds of different professions. And way too many for us to go through on this podcast, I could probably share a few examples to kind of give you an idea that Jared, for example, he's a good example. So Jared just hit 1 million pounds in sales. And so he was somebody who had never been a dropshipping business before he hit 310,000 pounds in his first six months since he started working with us at dropship. Unlock. So Jared was a great example, Phil, who we actually had on a podcast, I think, couple of weeks ago, now, he hit 100,000 pounds in sales within his first four months of joining us at dropship. I'm not and that's with a 30% average profit margin, as well. Take was a good example. So she hit 30,000 pounds in four months since starting again, never had a background with drop shipping, and certainly not high ticket dropshipping. And yourself Jameson and James, co host of the podcast sitting right with me now like James hit a million pounds in sales with his drop shipping business recently, and is now a client success coach with us at dropship. Unlock soap, there are so many more success stories. I mean, if you want to go down the rabbit hole and look at them, you can check out the dropship unlocked YouTube channel and have a watch of some of them. But those are just a few examples of people that have no background doing this and are now up and running, making significant sales. So in order to question a chef, it might seem too good to be true. And I'm not saying that it's easy. But the path is very simple. If you follow the steps and put in the work, yeah,

James Eardley: 22:32

and often you have to see things to believe it. But fortunately, in the online digital world that we live in, you can get around people that are doing that you can listen to people, you can watch videos, and you can find out about people who are doing dropshipping full time and have made it their full time income. Also you can get into communities, which we recommend. But it needs to be done. Because I think if you look around the people around you, it's very unlikely that you'll have people in your family or close friendship group that have their own ecommerce business. And I've got that up and running. Not yet lyrics I'm gonna do we're doing our best. But hopefully, eventually your everyone will know somebody that has run their own ecommerce business. But until that point, you just need to surround yourself watch the videos and find out about the people who are already doing it that aren't too dissimilar to yourself. And that will give you inspiration that you can do as well. Okay, so next question is in from Chi. So chi has asked for beginners who are feeling hesitant? What sort of mindset shifts and practical steps would you say are crucial to feeling more confidence to start dropshipping? Yeah,

Lewis Smith: 23:33

great question, Kai. And this is a really foundational one. So thank you for asking this. Because I think most people jump into the tactical consideration, that really all of that is built on self belief and self confidence. None of the other stuff matters. If you don't have the self belief to get up and take action towards this business, not nothing will happen if that's not in place. So this is really the one to tackle. So I think the first thing to understand is that your journey is unique, right? Your self beneath is like you laying the foundations for your house, it's central for every cent that comes off. Now, you'll only take the actions that are required, if you remind yourself daily, that you can do this, you know, you deserve the results that are to come. And then of course, once you have that in place, you need to actually show up and do the work. You can't just manifest your way to getting there and not actually do anything about it. You have to take action. But those will be small daily actions. You don't need to be scared about you know, the huge task that lies ahead of you. The power of small consistent daily actions, bit like an athlete training every single day. They don't train one day and then go a month before training again, you have to keep training and keep improving day by day as entrepreneurs as well. You know said that's something that is really key actually about consistency because it's more important than perfection. You know if your exercise I think having those regular small workouts day each and consistently is so much better than going really intensely for one morning and then pulling a muscle will be about can't do that. And for six weeks, you know, it's it's just that that consistency is what's going to compound over time. And so make sure you're you're surrounding yourself with other positive like minded individuals control your your sphere, like what inputs you take in. That's why I always said like, I tuned out of the news, I wanted to surround myself with positive confidence boosting inputs. And yeah, eventually you will get to the point where you start to take the kind of actions that are aligned with the person that you believe you're becoming. So it doesn't happen overnight. But eventually, you get to the point where you think, okay, I believe this, I deserve this, I know what I'm doing now. Let me get to work. And you'll start taking those actions. And you'll see it all come together. And that will drive you so much further than someone who shows up and thinks I'm not really sure if this will work. But you know, I'll give it a go. Because they'll just fizzle out, and then never succeed long term. And

James Eardley: 26:04

confidence is key. And it's a shame when I see people that just don't believe in themselves to make things work. And if you can flick that switch in your mind to believe in yourself to get around people that are going to be positive and back you and put trust and belief into you, then you can see that in yourself and realize how far you can go. But it needs to come from within you need to start to believe in yourself. And that first comes from the thoughts that you have towards yourself, how you sort of told yourself is like the first thing, give yourself the self belief. And then you give yourself the permission to start taking the actions that align with that new belief or that new identity that you've created for yourself. So that's a key one. So great question there. Glad we could touch on that a real foundational point of starting one of these businesses. Okay, next up questions in from Johnny. And Johnny's asked, What advice would you give to someone who doesn't feel ready yet to start their own business?

Lewis Smith: 26:54

Okay, interesting. So I now realize after a long time of doing this, that the phrase I'll think about it is often code for I'm afraid to commit, you know, it's like you're, you're watching the train leaves the station, and it's pulling away, because you hesitated to step on it. And you're, you can see it leaving this opportunity, but you're afraid to commit and just step on. And it's because they're often afraid of something deep down. So when someone says, or think about it, my next follow up question is, what are you hesitant about? Or what are you afraid of? Because if we can help them tackle that, like, is it self belief? Are they thinking about it, because they don't yet believe or have those foundations, that they can do this? Or is it confidence in the model, because both of those things can be helped significantly by just getting around like minded people, surrounding yourself with evidence of other people running businesses like this already, because you see them succeeding, and you start to realize, Oh, I could be one of those, I could do that. And that you feel that self belief rising. And you feel that that confidence growing, and you start to take the actions, but the whole foundation of this is built on self belief. So if you write down your biggest, scariest goals, on paper every morning and evening, and you write them out as if you've already achieved that, that's the key, you've got to write them out in the tense of like, I am a successful business owner with a million pound per year business. I feel amazing eyes, have time with my family, I get to spend time with my children, I take my parents on holiday every year I you know, whatever your goals are, what it does is conditioned the mind. And it keeps reminding you to take the actions, the type of person who has achieved those goals would take because your subconscious starts to believe that you are that person. And therefore the actions you start taking ie starting a business ie calling suppliers signing new products up and adding creating ads, things like that those small steps happen based on a foundation of I'm doing this because I am the kind of person that would do this. So it seems like the other way around, you'd you'd think that you do the steps, then you become successful business owner have to become a successful business owner first. So you can then take the right steps. So yeah, I think that that's key to this. And the other thing is people get overwhelmed. When they get overwhelmed with like, the behemoth task that lays ahead, they start to procrastinate, and you start buying distractions, things that you could be doing around the house that will stop you from moving ahead. So I find it helpful to break your tasks into smaller, manageable pieces. And when you do that, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish if you set yourself three micro tasks per day to get done. And those feed into a bigger task. You will eventually get there step by step so really try to focus on your why as well reconnect with your reason for wanting to start a business like this. What is your why is it to spend more time with your family? Is it to be able to live and work from anywhere in the world is it to have that total time freedom and autonomy over your time? If that's your fuel, that's the stuff that's going to drive you, you know, a huge cruise ship that's going to leave the dock. If they're preparing to leave and set sail. The captain doesn't say, or think about it. Yeah, they he checks are the crew ready is everyone ready to go and then finally says, let's do this, and then they set sail. So you have to be ready in that mindset first, before anything big is going to happen. Enjoying

James Eardley: 30:26

the podcast, we'd love to hear from you leave a comment or a review. And we might just feature it on an upcoming episode. Also, for detailed show notes and resources, head to dropship unlock.com. Forward slash podcast.

Lewis Smith: 30:39

If you found value from any episode of this podcast, please take just 10 seconds to leave us a quick five star review on your podcast app of choice. It helps us more than you could imagine. And who knows, you might just hear your comments on the show. Thanks for being part of our community. Your support helps us keep delivering a new episode every week. There's been some fantastic questions already today. And this is another one. So this is a question that's come in from Mallory. And they have asked what is the best way to find drop shipping suppliers? It's a great question. Because if you know how to find high quality suppliers, then you'll have the foundations in place or an incredible business. So you need to start by having those foundations in place to be able to sign the high quality suppliers. So these are like trust signals that suppliers would want to see from your website and your company, or they would decide to work with because imagine the suppliers get calls from people all the time say, Hi, I want to sell your products on eBay. And then I'm probably going to sell them at a discount. And then you know, if ever I get a complaint, I'm just gonna shut my sword down or disappear, you know. And that's the worst nightmare for a supplier. They don't want their brand's reputation put at stake like that. So having a registered limited company, set up something we guide you through in week one of the program, having a business bank account set up so that you can give them those details ready for you to make payment. Having the niche products chosen that mean that when they look at your site, they're going to feel like their products would be at home on your store, building a simple store to show suppliers that has like your company number, your VAT number, your company address, your business telephone number, like all of these things are going to increase your chances of signing those suppliers. Now the other thing is we've researched the other retailers that are drop shipping in that market. So we know that the brands that we'll be approaching are already drop shipping and are already happy to work. So that's why the the question I mentioned earlier, that I saw in a Facebook group made me wince because I was thinking the person hasn't even validated that the suppliers are happy to dropship and so they're fighting an uphill battle if they go about it like that. Instead, figure out first that they're happy to build the store, then contact them and again, we guide you through all of this step by step in program. So reach out to those suppliers once you have them one by one on the phone. check out episode 22 of the podcasts are a step by step guide, which is all about this. It's called How to sign UK dropshipping suppliers. So that's episode 22. You can line up after this one.

James Eardley: 33:12

Perfect. Thank you, Louis so important to get the foundations in place before you even contact a supplier. So you'll get a fantastic conversion rate of supplier contacts to supply assigned. Okay, next question is in from Declan, so Declan Nasus inside the dropship unlock Launchpad community, the docklands asks I'd appreciate a deeper dive into a marketing playbook once things are set up and running. So what spend would you advise across platforms? And what key metrics are you looking for in terms of visitor activity? And what is the best platform to view them on? Is it Google Analytics Merchant Center or Shopify?

Lewis Smith: 33:48

Our marketing playbook is deliberately simple. I think people often overcomplicate this and then that leads to overwhelm. We try keep it as automated as possible to drive sales for your business while you run the business from anywhere in the world. So one of the big campaign types that we've recently started to invest more in and rely upon more is Google's new campaigns are relatively new, called performance Max campaigns. So these are kind of largely AI driven campaigns that combined lots of legacy historic types of Google ad format into one super campaign. So the bid strategy that we would use were the performance Max campaign, as of the recording of this episode would be maximized conversion value, and we'd set a target row as or target return on adspend. That is just above your breakeven row asked to start with. So again, we give you the row as calculator can week five, so that you can go through everything inside the master carton and have that set up and know exactly what your breakeven rises but there are calculators online as well. If you wanted to find that for your own business. I'd then test a variety of different audience signals with In the puppets maps campaign, so I do this using different asset groups as well. And just test which combination of images videos, headlines works best with which audience signals. So these are kind of like the Facebook audiences where you choose like interests. But really, it's just a starting point that kind of points Google in the right direction and says, like, go off, and people that are similar to to this group. And yeah, the majority of my marketing investment for one of these stores would go into a p max or performance Max campaign. Now, once that's up and running, ticking along, making sales nicely, then I'd start to create search text ads for my best selling products, or best selling brands or categories. And that way, I'd set up retargeting campaigns as well on Google, and on meta ads as well, and anywhere else, where else that you'd like to retarget users as well. So across Instagram, and Facebook on the meta ads platform. And then, to review my moments, because you asked about like analytics and things, I'd always use Google Ads predominantly. And obviously yet, you can link that up with Google Analytics so that all your ads data feeds into analytics. And I'd be looking at the conversion value over cost or conversion value forward slash cost metric, which is the same as your return on adspend. So that's the thing I'd be looking at on each campaign is it hitting my breakeven, and then we can say, Okay, now I'm going to set targets for my row as and try and hit your target rows on each campaign, any that are underperforming, we optimize them or switch them off. Any that are overperforming, you invest more, because that's going to bring me more profitable sales. So for more details on how we do that, if you check out Episode 23, of the dropship Humblot podcast that's called Mastering Google ads for your eCommerce store.

James Eardley: 36:47

Thank you, Louis, great question. Because if you can optimize the marketing playbook that you've got in place, then you can just generate so many sales and consistent traffic to your website to make sure that you can run a profitable business from wherever you are in the world. So thanks for bringing that on up, Declan. The next question is actually from Declan again, he managed to get to in so well done. And his second question is, what are your marketing thoughts longer term? So how do you both see the organic versus paid ad strategy? Once your store is up and running and profitable to do create a brand? Or do you focus on a very effective paid ad strategy? Yeah, I mean, I don't

Lewis Smith: 37:24

think that you need to think in terms of one or the other, like paid organic seat, you should do both. I mean, paid is more immediate. So you'll see more immediate results. And that's what then cash flows your business, that's what means you can then pay the bills and maybe even hire a team to help with your organic from the profit you get from paid ads. So yeah, absolutely build a brand around your store. You know, we're not just building like burner stores here where we sell a few widgets and disappear. We're building asset value, we're building enterprise value. So that one day, if we wanted to, we could exit one of these businesses for a huge multiples, you know, 25 to 35 times the monthly net profit. So if a store that you had was making, say 6000 pounds in profit, you could realistically look at selling that store that brand that business for 35 times multiples, so 210,000 pounds, and a 35 times monthly profit multiple for a store that's making 6000 pounds per month. Now, obviously, you need to find the right buyer goes to a broker probably to find that. But yeah, you're absolutely building an enterprise and brand value by doing that. So I'd start by focusing on paid ads, because they're more immediate, you see results quicker, you could drive profit into the business. But then building a brand is a longer term play, which you do simultaneously, which will then enhance your profits in the long as well.

James Eardley: 38:50

Yeah, completely agree with that, get your paid ads strategy up and running effective and profitable, as quick as possible, the organic program, that's a longer term play. But I'd set up an automated process, whether that's with AI with the VAs that you use, set up a process that will continually improve your organic reach and the amount of organic clicks you're getting into your website. And that will pay you in the long run, build that asset value for your business overall. And so you can get a higher multiple, you can sell your business for more and generate more income without being reliant on paid ads. So it's a win win. So I think it's the answer is both instead of one or the other. Thank you for that question, Declan. The final question now that I'm going to ask for you, Luis, is in from Josh, to wrap up this q&a special. And Josh's question is, how can I start a drop shipping business without having any knowledge or experience?

Lewis Smith: 39:43

Yep. Okay. Well, Josh, my recommendation is to start with a really comprehensive guide. I've actually written a book called The home turf advantage, which is perfect so conveniently, that is available for you. It's my playbook for building a high ticket drop shipping business. If you're starting From no prior experience right through to getting a profitable store up and running, so you can pick up your copy today and get started immediately. If you just open up your browser and type in H T A book.com. Perfect.

James Eardley: 40:14

Thank you very much, Louis. I really enjoyed this episode. And we're also going to highlight a listener review, which we love doing at the end of each episode. So this is a review that we've had recently from vilac. Thank you for your review. He's left his in a comment under a recent YouTube video. And he said, thanks, guys, I bought the book and is going through it now. It was very enjoyable to read and make notes on the chapters are very comprehensive and actionable. There's some great advice, especially when money is a bit short. But the book is extremely fun to go through. So thank you, Violet for your review. Do let us know if you've enjoyed this style of episode today. And we'll do more in the future. Yeah,

Lewis Smith: 40:52

thank you so much for your review. vilac. We're really glad to hear that you've been enjoying the podcast. Have you enjoyed us answering your questions today? Before we go, I have one question for you that I'd appreciate if you could help me but have you left us a review yet? If not, please leave our podcast a review. Wherever you're listening to us today. It should take you about 10 seconds, but it does wonders for us. And it's a big part of what drives so if you'd like us to continue with the podcast and you haven't yet left us a review. Please take a moment to do so now. Hopefully, we can read it out for you on the next episode. Thanks

James Eardley: 41:28

for joining us on this episode of the dropship unlocked podcast. We hope you're walking away with insights and inspiration.

Lewis Smith: 41:36

to kickstart your E commerce journey. Grab a copy of my book The home of turf advantage at HT A book.com is a distilled guide based on real experience to help you build your E commerce venture.

James Eardley: 41:49

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Lewis Smith: 41:53

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