$720,000 My FIRST YEAR on SHOPIFY (Products & Ads Revealed)

Published on: November 27 2022 by Jordan Welch

$720,000 My FIRST YEAR on SHOPIFY (Products & Ads Revealed)

$720,000 My FIRST YEAR on SHOPIFY (Products & Ads Revealed)

$720,000 My FIRST YEAR on SHOPIFY (Products & Ads Revealed)

startTime	durationTime	text
00:00:00	00:00:05	this is the exact video that i wish
00:00:03	00:00:06	existed when i was first starting on
00:00:05	00:00:07	shopify i'm going to show you how i sold
00:00:06	00:00:10	over 700
00:00:07	00:00:11	000 in my first year of drop shipping
00:00:10	00:00:13	and i'm even going to be doing something
00:00:11	00:00:14	that i haven't seen before i'm going to
00:00:13	00:00:16	be showing you the exact
00:00:14	00:00:17	products and ads that i use to generate
00:00:16	00:00:19	those results
00:00:17	00:00:21	and lastly i'll share some crucial
00:00:19	00:00:22	lessons that i learned along the way
00:00:21	00:00:24	that if i had known them
00:00:22	00:00:26	would have saved me thousands of dollars
00:00:24	00:00:28	and months of experimentation so make
00:00:26	00:00:30	sure to stik around to the end because
00:00:28	00:00:31	this is going to be an extremely
00:00:30	00:00:33	value-packed video
00:00:31	00:00:35	on this channel i'm currently
00:00:33	00:00:37	documenting the entire process
00:00:35	00:00:40	of building my ecommerce brand with as
00:00:37	00:00:42	much transparency as possible so that i
00:00:40	00:00:43	can lead by example and help you start
00:00:42	00:00:45	your own online store this year so if
00:00:43	00:00:46	you're interested in starting your own
00:00:45	00:00:47	online store and you want to support
00:00:46	00:00:48	your boy
00:00:47	00:00:50	make sure to hit that subscribe button
00:00:48	00:00:51	down below because i'm going to be
00:00:50	00:00:53	dropping a new video
00:00:51	00:00:55	every single friday but without further
00:00:53	00:00:57	ado let's get started with today's video
00:00:55	00:01:00	alright so i started this store in june
00:00:57	00:01:02	of 2017 with a good friend of mine
00:01:00	00:01:04	and it was actually a general store so i
00:01:02	00:01:06	got the idea for a general store from a
00:01:04	00:01:08	couple people that i've seen on youtube
00:01:06	00:01:09	like sebastian gomez and franklin
00:01:08	00:01:10	hatchet
00:01:09	00:01:12	at the time those were some of the
00:01:10	00:01:14	biggest creators and i still got a lot
00:01:12	00:01:16	of love for sebastian as well now
00:01:14	00:01:18	at this time i was pretty broke i had
00:01:16	00:01:20	like fifteen hundred dollars total
00:01:18	00:01:21	between me and my business partner when
00:01:20	00:01:23	we were starting this business
00:01:21	00:01:25	and we were pretty much prepared to go
00:01:23	00:01:25	all in on this so me and my friend were
00:01:25	00:01:27	like
00:01:25	00:01:29	let's do this we decided to build the
00:01:27	00:01:29	store we both had a background in web
00:01:29	00:01:32	design
00:01:29	00:01:34	and working on stuff online so we were
00:01:32	00:01:36	able to put the store up in like a day
00:01:34	00:01:37	and we launched our first product the
00:01:36	00:01:40	next day after
00:01:37	00:01:41	and the product completely flopped it
00:01:40	00:01:42	was so bad
00:01:41	00:01:44	which is totally normal if you're new
00:01:42	00:01:46	and you failed in the same way
00:01:44	00:01:48	as part of the process so that first
00:01:46	00:01:50	month of june it felt like every product
00:01:48	00:01:51	i was testing was just a straight up
00:01:50	00:01:53	failure
00:01:51	00:01:54	i was testing all kinds of crap and i'll
00:01:53	00:01:57	throw it up on the screen
00:01:54	00:01:59	i was testing necklaces and bracelets i
00:01:57	00:02:01	was testing random pet
00:01:59	00:02:02	products that made no sense i was
00:02:01	00:02:04	testing a variety of drop shipping
00:02:02	00:02:06	products that i've seen on apps like
00:02:04	00:02:08	ecom hunt and pexta
00:02:06	00:02:09	and nothing was working then at the end
00:02:08	00:02:12	of the month
00:02:09	00:02:13	i took a whole evaluation of my strategy
00:02:12	00:02:15	that i was following and i said this is
00:02:13	00:02:18	not the way to do it i need to find
00:02:15	00:02:19	products that are already selling and
00:02:18	00:02:21	use my skill set
00:02:19	00:02:22	to make those products better and it was
00:02:21	00:02:25	from that
00:02:22	00:02:26	that i had my first small success so
00:02:25	00:02:29	let's take a look
00:02:26	00:02:30	at that small success so if we go to the
00:02:29	00:02:33	month of june
00:02:30	00:02:35	and july you'll see that things actually
00:02:33	00:02:37	kind of started to work a little bit i
00:02:35	00:02:39	had went from making
00:02:37	00:02:41	only sixteen hundred dollars in june to
00:02:39	00:02:44	making eight thousand dollars plus
00:02:41	00:02:46	in the month of july the biggest change
00:02:44	00:02:47	came from that strategy approach that i
00:02:46	00:02:49	just told you about
00:02:47	00:02:51	i stopped trying to test random products
00:02:49	00:02:52	that i thought would work and i started
00:02:51	00:02:55	focusing on products that were
00:02:52	00:02:56	already working and making them better
00:02:55	00:02:58	so let me show you
00:02:56	00:03:00	these products that started working in
00:02:58	00:03:02	july inside of the ads manager
00:03:00	00:03:05	so this is the month of july and as you
00:03:02	00:03:06	can see this month was really dominated
00:03:05	00:03:09	by one product
00:03:06	00:03:11	and it was actually an ocarina the the
00:03:09	00:03:13	instrument that link plays in the legend
00:03:11	00:03:14	of zelda i've always been a big gamer
00:03:13	00:03:15	and when i saw this product i thought it
00:03:14	00:03:17	was super sweet
00:03:15	00:03:19	and you can see it's a very simple photo
00:03:17	00:03:21	ad just of this ocarina
00:03:19	00:03:23	i used very simple ad copy i was like
00:03:21	00:03:25	are you an original legend of zelda fan
00:03:23	00:03:26	if so this is a must-have for the
00:03:25	00:03:27	targeting
00:03:26	00:03:29	it's pretty obvious what i was targeting
00:03:27	00:03:33	i was targeting zelda and
00:03:29	00:03:34	nintendo and game informer and i didn't
00:03:33	00:03:36	become a millionaire of this product let
00:03:34	00:03:39	me tell you but this
00:03:36	00:03:39	product gave me a glimmer of hope that
00:03:39	00:03:42	yo
00:03:39	00:03:43	this business can actually work and i
00:03:42	00:03:45	was thinking that i was going to get
00:03:43	00:03:46	rich this month i was looking at my
00:03:45	00:03:48	store
00:03:46	00:03:50	and i was seeing like whoa you made six
00:03:48	00:03:52	hundred dollars in a day you made
00:03:50	00:03:54	five hundred dollars in a day but i
00:03:52	00:03:56	wasn't making next to
00:03:54	00:03:58	any profit i think at the end of this
00:03:56	00:03:59	month even after making nine thousand
00:03:58	00:04:01	dollars
00:03:59	00:04:02	we only made like a thousand dollars
00:04:01	00:04:05	profit and
00:04:02	00:04:07	i was having my money held on shopify
00:04:05	00:04:09	because when you first start scaling a
00:04:07	00:04:11	shopify store they put a 25
00:04:09	00:04:13	hold on your account so i didn't make
00:04:11	00:04:15	any money i was so confused i was like
00:04:13	00:04:17	seeing all these deposits hit
00:04:15	00:04:19	but no money came into my bank account
00:04:17	00:04:20	and at the end of july i had to assess
00:04:19	00:04:22	my whole situation
00:04:20	00:04:24	and kind of re-evaluate everything so
00:04:22	00:04:26	going into august i had a ton of
00:04:24	00:04:27	motivation because now this business
00:04:26	00:04:28	that was making me zero dollars before
00:04:27	00:04:30	was at least
00:04:28	00:04:32	showing promise that it could make me
00:04:30	00:04:34	hundreds of dollars a day so
00:04:32	00:04:36	i was primed and ready to kill it in the
00:04:34	00:04:38	month of august and sure enough
00:04:36	00:04:39	if you take a look in the month of
00:04:38	00:04:41	august this store
00:04:39	00:04:43	did the same amount of numbers it did
00:04:41	00:04:45	around 8 300 bucks so
00:04:43	00:04:47	i was like yo we did it again this
00:04:45	00:04:48	product is still selling but the profits
00:04:47	00:04:49	are low
00:04:48	00:04:51	so what if i take the same exact
00:04:49	00:04:53	approach that i did with this product
00:04:51	00:04:55	and find a product with better profit
00:04:53	00:04:58	margins and that's exactly what i did
00:04:55	00:05:00	as you can see in the month of august i
00:04:58	00:05:01	started testing a bunch of products
00:05:00	00:05:03	because i had a little extra budget now
00:05:01	00:05:04	i had about a thousand bucks
00:05:03	00:05:06	so i was like let me just test that so i
00:05:04	00:05:08	started testing like a 3d
00:05:06	00:05:10	knee pad it's like a knee brace that you
00:05:08	00:05:12	wear for injuries
00:05:10	00:05:14	i started testing some height boosting
00:05:12	00:05:15	insoles i'm sure you guys have seen that
00:05:14	00:05:16	product before
00:05:15	00:05:19	i was testing all types of stuff
00:05:16	00:05:22	magnetik lashes portable juicer
00:05:19	00:05:24	i tested a projector a mermaid glass
00:05:22	00:05:27	i mean man i was going hard this month
00:05:24	00:05:28	this was the first month when i was back
00:05:27	00:05:29	in college after the summer of building
00:05:28	00:05:32	this business
00:05:29	00:05:34	and i did not want to stay in school my
00:05:32	00:05:36	entire focus
00:05:34	00:05:37	was to build this business to the point
00:05:36	00:05:39	where i was making enough income to
00:05:37	00:05:40	convince my parents to let me drop out
00:05:39	00:05:42	of college
00:05:40	00:05:44	and i actually got to that point but it
00:05:42	00:05:44	took a little longer than expected once
00:05:44	00:05:46	again
00:05:44	00:05:48	in the month of august i really didn't
00:05:46	00:05:49	make that much money i made about
00:05:48	00:05:51	another thousand dollars in profit
00:05:49	00:05:53	but shopify was holding our money and
00:05:51	00:05:54	this is where things got a little scary
00:05:53	00:05:56	because
00:05:54	00:05:58	i knew that i had profit coming in but
00:05:56	00:06:00	since shopify was holding it
00:05:58	00:06:01	and since i was paying for inventory and
00:06:00	00:06:04	the facebook ads
00:06:01	00:06:05	i was starting to run really low on cash
00:06:04	00:06:07	like dangerously low in cash
00:06:05	00:06:09	to the point where i couldn't even keep
00:06:07	00:06:12	up with running my business anymore
00:06:09	00:06:15	and that's when the hustler inside of me
00:06:12	00:06:16	activated and i just figured it out so
00:06:15	00:06:18	since i was running low on money i
00:06:16	00:06:20	needed to figure out a way to generate
00:06:18	00:06:21	income online and maybe some of you guys
00:06:20	00:06:23	are in that same position
00:06:21	00:06:25	you're trying to start your ecommerce
00:06:23	00:06:25	business but you're failing and you ran
00:06:25	00:06:27	out of money
00:06:25	00:06:29	listen man go out there and get a job if
00:06:27	00:06:31	you have to but
00:06:29	00:06:32	if you have some type of skill set that
00:06:31	00:06:33	you can monetize
00:06:32	00:06:35	do that because that's what i did and it
00:06:33	00:06:36	worked for me so i started editing
00:06:35	00:06:38	videos
00:06:36	00:06:40	for other drop shippers via facebook
00:06:38	00:06:42	groups and a couple chats that i was in
00:06:40	00:06:44	and i started making 200 bucks a week
00:06:42	00:06:46	from doing this is it a lot of money
00:06:44	00:06:47	no but it gave me the budget and the
00:06:46	00:06:49	extra amount of money that i needed to
00:06:47	00:06:50	continue working on this
00:06:49	00:06:52	without the pressure of running out of
00:06:50	00:06:53	bread and it really paid off
00:06:52	00:06:56	because going into the month of
00:06:53	00:06:58	september i had my most successful month
00:06:56	00:07:00	with e-commerce that year
00:06:58	00:07:02	and this was the first month where i was
00:07:00	00:07:03	able to look at my bank account and say
00:07:02	00:07:05	oh wow like this
00:07:03	00:07:08	is a real business this is something
00:07:05	00:07:09	that i can use to live whatever life i
00:07:08	00:07:11	want to live
00:07:09	00:07:13	looking at 50k in revenue now does it
00:07:11	00:07:15	excite me like it did at that time
00:07:13	00:07:17	you guys got to understand i was living
00:07:15	00:07:19	with my parents going to school
00:07:17	00:07:22	i was pretty miserable because this is
00:07:19	00:07:24	the only thing that i wanted to work
00:07:22	00:07:26	i would literally be sleeping right and
00:07:24	00:07:28	i would wake up in the mid i'll put my
00:07:26	00:07:29	phone right next to my ear
00:07:28	00:07:31	and i'll wake up in the middle of the
00:07:29	00:07:32	night to the chatting sound effect on my
00:07:31	00:07:34	phone
00:07:32	00:07:36	and i would just wake up with like a
00:07:34	00:07:37	smile on my face like i don't know if
00:07:36	00:07:39	you guys know that but if you know you
00:07:37	00:07:40	know so you can see this month of
00:07:39	00:07:43	september
00:07:40	00:07:45	i scaled up to at the maximum around
00:07:43	00:07:47	four thousand dollars a day in sales
00:07:45	00:07:49	and this was when i was like yo like i'm
00:07:47	00:07:52	done with college i'm not gonna stay
00:07:49	00:07:54	uh age i was 18 years old i was like yo
00:07:52	00:07:55	this is crazy like i'm making more money
00:07:54	00:07:57	than my parents
00:07:55	00:07:58	and i can leave school and all these
00:07:57	00:07:59	things that i had dreamed about for so
00:07:58	00:08:01	long
00:07:59	00:08:03	i had more motivation than ever i had a
00:08:01	00:08:04	budget and the money from shopify that
00:08:03	00:08:06	was on hold
00:08:04	00:08:08	got released so i was up so the way that
00:08:06	00:08:10	i scaled to a 50k
00:08:08	00:08:11	in september was following what i was
00:08:10	00:08:13	doing before so
00:08:11	00:08:15	you can see in august i was testing a
00:08:13	00:08:15	bunch of products and nothing was really
00:08:15	00:08:19	slapping
00:08:15	00:08:20	but september 1st i tested a new product
00:08:19	00:08:22	it's this knife sharpener here and i'll
00:08:20	00:08:23	go ahead and show you guys the ad i'll
00:08:22	00:08:26	throw it up on the screen
00:08:23	00:08:27	this product was a banger like i was
00:08:26	00:08:29	making 30
00:08:27	00:08:31	profit on every single sale with this
00:08:29	00:08:32	product you can see right here i was
00:08:31	00:08:35	only spending 17
00:08:32	00:08:36	to get a customer and this is simply a
00:08:35	00:08:38	matter of
00:08:36	00:08:40	everything that i had learned from all
00:08:38	00:08:43	the failure the months prior
00:08:40	00:08:43	coming into fruition now going into
00:08:43	00:08:46	october
00:08:43	00:08:48	i had a little bit of a reality check
00:08:46	00:08:50	because i scaled even higher i thought
00:08:48	00:08:51	you know if it can do 50 it can do 100
00:08:50	00:08:54	so
00:08:51	00:08:55	i was trying to push this thing from 50k
00:08:54	00:08:57	to 100k
00:08:55	00:08:59	and if you look what happened in october
00:08:57	00:09:01	my roads just
00:08:59	00:09:03	jumped off a cliff and i actually was
00:09:01	00:09:05	scaling this product but you guys just
00:09:03	00:09:05	heard my margins right i could only make
00:09:05	00:09:08	30
00:09:05	00:09:10	per sale so i lost money this was the
00:09:08	00:09:13	most eye-opening month
00:09:10	00:09:14	ever because i saw 70 bands on my phone
00:09:13	00:09:16	i thought i was like
00:09:14	00:09:18	up i thought i was getting rich and i
00:09:16	00:09:19	didn't have a bookkeeper at this time
00:09:18	00:09:21	and i was just going off the shops by
00:09:19	00:09:22	deposits but after all the bills were
00:09:21	00:09:24	paid
00:09:22	00:09:26	in october we didn't make any profit and
00:09:24	00:09:28	i was like so upset about that
00:09:26	00:09:30	because in the middle of october i put
00:09:28	00:09:33	in my papers i dropped out of school
00:09:30	00:09:34	and i was on my own now but the pressure
00:09:33	00:09:36	really set
00:09:34	00:09:38	in in october because i thought i had
00:09:36	00:09:39	made it but clearly i didn't so this is
00:09:38	00:09:41	when things
00:09:39	00:09:43	really got big i was stressed out in
00:09:41	00:09:45	october i just left school
00:09:43	00:09:46	i needed to turn this into something
00:09:45	00:09:48	much bigger than what it already was
00:09:46	00:09:50	so i took everything i had learned all
00:09:48	00:09:51	the little you know twelve thousand
00:09:50	00:09:52	fifteen thousand dollars i had
00:09:51	00:09:54	accumulated
00:09:52	00:09:56	and i started testing hard i started
00:09:54	00:09:57	testing a ton of products
00:09:56	00:09:59	every single week i was probably testing
00:09:57	00:10:02	like five ten products a week
00:09:59	00:10:03	and in the next month i found an
00:10:02	00:10:05	absolute
00:10:03	00:10:07	banger take that as a lesson that you
00:10:05	00:10:08	get better over time and don't be
00:10:07	00:10:09	discouraged if it's not working right
00:10:08	00:10:12	away so
00:10:09	00:10:12	the product that i end up finding in
00:10:12	00:10:15	november
00:10:12	00:10:16	was this portable lunchbox i'll throw it
00:10:15	00:10:20	up on the screen right here
00:10:16	00:10:23	and wow this product was going crazy so
00:10:20	00:10:24	if we go up to november and we look at
00:10:23	00:10:27	the entire month
00:10:24	00:10:29	i mean this was the month where i was
00:10:27	00:10:30	like okay this is what i'm gonna do for
00:10:29	00:10:31	the next five to ten years i love this
00:10:30	00:10:34	business
00:10:31	00:10:36	this is going crazy i made 168 000
00:10:34	00:10:38	in sales in one month my profits for
00:10:36	00:10:42	this month i mean
00:10:38	00:10:43	we spent around 63k so we had 100k
00:10:42	00:10:45	left over after that we paid for our
00:10:43	00:10:48	orders i think i made
00:10:45	00:10:50	like 30k to 40k profit in one month
00:10:48	00:10:52	i had next to no living expenses at this
00:10:50	00:10:53	time i was driving a beat up toyota
00:10:52	00:10:55	corolla so
00:10:53	00:10:56	i didn't worry about spending any money
00:10:55	00:10:58	i just had a bunch of cash in my bank
00:10:56	00:11:00	account more cash than
00:10:58	00:11:02	most 18 year olds should ever have to be
00:11:00	00:11:03	honest with you and i was super hyped
00:11:02	00:11:05	so just like a real simple breakdown of
00:11:03	00:11:08	how i scaled this
00:11:05	00:11:09	product i just launched a conversions
00:11:08	00:11:10	campaign
00:11:09	00:11:13	so if we go like the first week of
00:11:10	00:11:15	november you can see that i tested the
00:11:13	00:11:17	product with a couple different ad sets
00:11:15	00:11:19	i saw they were selling well so i just
00:11:17	00:11:20	started launching more ad sets every
00:11:19	00:11:22	single day
00:11:20	00:11:25	i started to find more ad sets that are
00:11:22	00:11:27	working and i duplicated the ones that
00:11:25	00:11:29	were really performing well
00:11:27	00:11:30	after that i just kept duplicating and
00:11:29	00:11:32	going to higher budgets
00:11:30	00:11:34	this isn't the same exact strategy i use
00:11:32	00:11:36	now i'm gonna do an
00:11:34	00:11:37	updated facebook ads tutorial for you
00:11:36	00:11:40	guys soon but
00:11:37	00:11:40	in 2018 2017 this was what worked the
00:11:40	00:11:42	best so
00:11:40	00:11:44	i just kept duplicating thousand dollar
00:11:42	00:11:46	budget 300 budget
00:11:44	00:11:48	had a bunch of campaigns running and
00:11:46	00:11:49	yeah at the end of the month it was a
00:11:48	00:11:51	great month
00:11:49	00:11:52	it's funny about this one this product
00:11:51	00:11:55	is just a simple photo ad
00:11:52	00:11:57	no videos and it absolutely crushed and
00:11:55	00:11:59	going into december with
00:11:57	00:12:02	everything that i had done in november i
00:11:59	00:12:03	just scaled up for the first two weeks
00:12:02	00:12:06	and then i scaled back
00:12:03	00:12:06	for christmas and that pretty much wraps
00:12:06	00:12:09	up
00:12:06	00:12:10	the year of 2017 for this business to be
00:12:09	00:12:12	honest with you
00:12:10	00:12:13	i was on top of the world i was this 18
00:12:12	00:12:16	year old kid that
00:12:13	00:12:17	was coming up from literally nothing and
00:12:16	00:12:18	i had really made a bunch of money in
00:12:17	00:12:20	one year
00:12:18	00:12:22	and it gave me the confidence that i was
00:12:20	00:12:24	lacking in my life i always knew i
00:12:22	00:12:26	wanted to be an entrepreneur but this
00:12:24	00:12:28	really showed me that i was
00:12:26	00:12:29	and that i really could build something
00:12:28	00:12:32	great and
00:12:29	00:12:34	what happened next is not the most fun
00:12:32	00:12:36	part but i think that is going to be the
00:12:34	00:12:38	most valuable part of this video because
00:12:36	00:12:39	it would have saved me a lot of headache
00:12:38	00:12:40	and i would have made a lot more money
00:12:39	00:12:42	back then so
00:12:40	00:12:43	make sure you listen very closely to
00:12:42	00:12:45	what i'm about to tell you so that year
00:12:43	00:12:46	i had made a couple hundred thousand
00:12:45	00:12:48	dollars and
00:12:46	00:12:50	honestly i wasn't prepared for it at all
00:12:48	00:12:50	i was still fulfilling with aliexpress
00:12:50	00:12:53	and
00:12:50	00:12:54	that backfired really badly i didn't
00:12:53	00:12:57	have a team of bookkeepers
00:12:54	00:12:59	i was only using order metrics and just
00:12:57	00:13:01	looking at this dashboard numbers there
00:12:59	00:13:01	i didn't have accurate bookkeeping at
00:13:01	00:13:03	all
00:13:01	00:13:04	and quite frankly my supplier was doing
00:13:03	00:13:06	a terrible job
00:13:04	00:13:08	the best thing that we had going for us
00:13:06	00:13:09	in that business was my marketing skill
00:13:08	00:13:11	set
00:13:09	00:13:12	the products that we were selling and
00:13:11	00:13:14	our customer support team if we didn't
00:13:12	00:13:15	have my customer support agent who i
00:13:14	00:13:16	still work with
00:13:15	00:13:17	this day if you're watching this video
00:13:16	00:13:18	shout out to you we would have been
00:13:17	00:13:20	totally screwed
00:13:18	00:13:22	basically because i didn't do my due
00:13:20	00:13:24	diligence on this supplier properly
00:13:22	00:13:26	we were getting a ton of fake tracking
00:13:24	00:13:26	numbers for the lunch box and these
00:13:26	00:13:29	products were
00:13:26	00:13:31	not shipping out in a timely manner at
00:13:29	00:13:33	all some of them weren't even shipping
00:13:31	00:13:35	so orders were taking weeks to show up
00:13:33	00:13:37	and our customers were really upset we
00:13:35	00:13:38	were dishing out a bunch of refunds
00:13:37	00:13:40	you know we were helping these people
00:13:38	00:13:41	out it's not like i was just scamming
00:13:40	00:13:43	them we were refunding them
00:13:41	00:13:44	we would send them replacements we would
00:13:43	00:13:46	do everything we can to make sure they
00:13:44	00:13:48	were happy but regardless
00:13:46	00:13:50	60 of customers got their product but
00:13:48	00:13:51	like 30 to 40 percent were just taking
00:13:50	00:13:52	forever
00:13:51	00:13:55	and some of them didn't even get shipped
00:13:52	00:13:57	going into the year of 2018
00:13:55	00:13:58	it was my goal to never let this happen
00:13:57	00:14:00	again and do things
00:13:58	00:14:03	the right way honestly i should have
00:14:00	00:14:05	just fired my supplier at that point but
00:14:03	00:14:07	we spoke a lot and she was telling me
00:14:05	00:14:08	why this was happening and that it would
00:14:07	00:14:10	never happen again
00:14:08	00:14:11	stop the cap and how she was gonna fix
00:14:10	00:14:14	it so
00:14:11	00:14:16	like an idiot i trusted her going into
00:14:14	00:14:16	the next year of january if we take a
00:14:16	00:14:19	look
00:14:16	00:14:21	at january for this store you can see
00:14:19	00:14:23	that i fired the ads back
00:14:21	00:14:25	up and we almost had another hundred
00:14:23	00:14:27	thousand dollars in sales
00:14:25	00:14:29	and the crazy part is if you look at the
00:14:27	00:14:30	roads and the cost per purchase in
00:14:29	00:14:32	january
00:14:30	00:14:35	the numbers were even better than they
00:14:32	00:14:37	were before like a 3x roads 20
00:14:35	00:14:39	cost per purchase it was going really
00:14:37	00:14:41	good in january now i had made another
00:14:39	00:14:41	critikal mistake in this month of
00:14:41	00:14:43	january
00:14:41	00:14:45	instead of just focusing on this
00:14:43	00:14:47	lunchbox product and becoming the best
00:14:45	00:14:49	seller for this product
00:14:47	00:14:50	i just started testing a bunch of other
00:14:49	00:14:52	products because i was like well
00:14:50	00:14:54	you know you don't want to just rely on
00:14:52	00:14:55	one you want to have 20 winning products
00:14:54	00:14:57	which
00:14:55	00:14:58	is no longer my philosophy and if
00:14:57	00:14:59	somebody is trying to teach you that
00:14:58	00:15:02	strategy
00:14:59	00:15:03	i just don't stand by it the only way i
00:15:02	00:15:06	would recommend that is if they're
00:15:03	00:15:07	all in the same niche or they're all
00:15:06	00:15:09	very related
00:15:07	00:15:11	otherwise i wouldn't do that at all i
00:15:09	00:15:13	was testing everything under the sun
00:15:11	00:15:14	so that i could have multiple winning
00:15:13	00:15:16	products now thankfully
00:15:14	00:15:17	i found two more winning products i
00:15:16	00:15:18	found the sandblaster which i've toked
00:15:17	00:15:21	about in a video before
00:15:18	00:15:23	and i found this metallic marker set so
00:15:21	00:15:23	now on this store i had three winning
00:15:23	00:15:25	products but
00:15:23	00:15:28	my business still wasn't optimized and
00:15:25	00:15:29	my supplier really wasn't doing the
00:15:28	00:15:32	things that she promised
00:15:29	00:15:34	so it was time to let her go and figure
00:15:32	00:15:34	out a new solution for that so after i
00:15:34	00:15:36	fired her
00:15:34	00:15:38	i found my first agent basically it's
00:15:36	00:15:39	somebody that has a bunch of connections
00:15:38	00:15:40	in china
00:15:39	00:15:42	to get you faster shipping cheaper
00:15:40	00:15:44	manufacturing and the best quality of
00:15:42	00:15:46	your product going into february
00:15:44	00:15:48	i was armed with this new level of
00:15:46	00:15:50	confidence because i had this new agent
00:15:48	00:15:52	and once again we had another 100k month
00:15:50	00:15:55	but unfortunately
00:15:52	00:15:55	your boy messed up again this was an
00:15:55	00:15:58	agent
00:15:55	00:15:59	that did not come recommended to me from
00:15:58	00:16:00	somebody this is somebody that reached
00:15:59	00:16:02	out to me
00:16:00	00:16:03	cold because at the time i was making
00:16:02	00:16:04	youtube videos so i was getting hit up
00:16:03	00:16:07	from these people
00:16:04	00:16:09	and i got on a call with this guy and he
00:16:07	00:16:11	was selling me the dream i thought that
00:16:09	00:16:14	this guy had the best service since
00:16:11	00:16:17	sliced bread his service sounded like
00:16:14	00:16:18	exactly what i needed and i was ready to
00:16:17	00:16:21	work with him for the long haul
00:16:18	00:16:22	turns out i was his first customer he
00:16:21	00:16:24	actually had
00:16:22	00:16:25	no idea what he was doing and he was
00:16:24	00:16:28	like using me
00:16:25	00:16:28	as the guinea pig for his new service as
00:16:28	00:16:31	a result of that
00:16:28	00:16:33	he was not prepared to handle the level
00:16:31	00:16:36	of scale that my business was doing
00:16:33	00:16:36	and the same thing happened to me again
00:16:36	00:16:39	so at this point
00:16:36	00:16:40	end of february i just decided to slow
00:16:39	00:16:43	down scaling i was like look i got
00:16:40	00:16:44	enough cash to live for like at least
00:16:43	00:16:46	like two years
00:16:44	00:16:48	with my current expenses i'm just not
00:16:46	00:16:50	gonna do this scaling thing right now i
00:16:48	00:16:51	need to make sure that everybody's
00:16:50	00:16:53	good on the customer side and that we
00:16:51	00:16:54	don't deal with this issue moving
00:16:53	00:16:55	forward
00:16:54	00:16:57	so that's pretty much what march and
00:16:55	00:16:59	april was it was dealing with
00:16:57	00:17:01	a ton of negative feedback from our
00:16:59	00:17:02	customers i think i dished out like 20k
00:17:01	00:17:06	in refunds
00:17:02	00:17:07	very painful and the sad part is that we
00:17:06	00:17:08	were still getting a ton of orders just
00:17:07	00:17:11	organically i mean it's not
00:17:08	00:17:12	sad but it's just unfortunate because
00:17:11	00:17:14	you know this brand was doing
00:17:12	00:17:16	really well can't even really call it a
00:17:14	00:17:18	brand it's a general store
00:17:16	00:17:19	but i just didn't build the systems
00:17:18	00:17:21	properly to maintain it
00:17:19	00:17:24	and you know it's a couple reasons why
00:17:21	00:17:26	that is i was inexperienced i was young
00:17:24	00:17:27	i had bad habits in my personal life i
00:17:26	00:17:30	think that allowed me to not
00:17:27	00:17:31	focus entirely on this the way i should
00:17:30	00:17:33	but thankfully
00:17:31	00:17:36	i learned from those mistakes and that
00:17:33	00:17:36	brings me to the phase of what happened
00:17:36	00:17:38	after
00:17:36	00:17:40	so after all that happened i decided to
00:17:38	00:17:41	take some time to just make sure
00:17:40	00:17:43	all of our customers were good and after
00:17:41	00:17:44	all that was finished i actually took a
00:17:43	00:17:46	break from e-commerce for a couple
00:17:44	00:17:47	months i wanted to use that
00:17:46	00:17:49	time to reflect on everything that i had
00:17:47	00:17:51	learned from that situation
00:17:49	00:17:52	and make sure that the next time i did
00:17:51	00:17:54	it those same problems
00:17:52	00:17:56	wouldn't happen and a few months after
00:17:54	00:17:57	that i started my first branded drop
00:17:56	00:17:59	shipping store
00:17:57	00:18:00	and that was where things started to
00:17:59	00:18:01	change and go really in the right
00:18:00	00:18:03	direction
00:18:01	00:18:04	and now using that same branded drop
00:18:03	00:18:06	shipping approach that i've been doing
00:18:04	00:18:07	now for over two years
00:18:06	00:18:09	i'm generating over a hundred thousand
00:18:07	00:18:11	dollars a month consistently
00:18:09	00:18:12	my customers are happy i love the
00:18:11	00:18:14	products that i'm selling
00:18:12	00:18:17	and i really have long term potential
00:18:14	00:18:18	with these brands that i am building
00:18:17	00:18:20	so the moral of the story is that you're
00:18:18	00:18:21	gonna have to make some really painful
00:18:20	00:18:23	mistakes
00:18:21	00:18:24	in your journey at first the painful
00:18:23	00:18:26	mistakes were
00:18:24	00:18:28	me just losing money trying to test
00:18:26	00:18:30	products and find winners
00:18:28	00:18:31	and then at the end of that first year
00:18:30	00:18:33	the painful mistakes were
00:18:31	00:18:34	just not taking care of my customers as
00:18:33	00:18:38	best as possible
00:18:34	00:18:40	but if i hadn't made those mistakes
00:18:38	00:18:42	i wouldn't have learned those lessons
00:18:40	00:18:44	and been able to fix them moving
00:18:42	00:18:46	forward but thankfully for you you watch
00:18:44	00:18:48	this video where i broke them down
00:18:46	00:18:50	so please for the love of god do not
00:18:48	00:18:52	make the same mistakes that i did
00:18:50	00:18:53	save yourself the headache save yourself
00:18:52	00:18:54	thousands of dollars and try your best
00:18:53	00:18:56	to do things
00:18:54	00:18:58	right from the start mistakes are
00:18:56	00:18:58	inevitable you're gonna have your own
00:18:58	00:19:00	screw-ups
00:18:58	00:19:02	but just don't make the same mistakes
00:19:00	00:19:03	that i made in my journey
00:19:02	00:19:06	and i promise you you will thank
00:19:03	00:19:07	yourself for it so i hope that you guys
00:19:06	00:19:09	enjoyed this video
00:19:07	00:19:10	i hope you appreciate this quality of
00:19:09	00:19:12	content if you did
00:19:10	00:19:14	give me a thumbs up and go ahead in the
00:19:12	00:19:15	comments let me know
00:19:14	00:19:17	what is the biggest struggle you're
00:19:15	00:19:19	having in your ecommerce journey
00:19:17	00:19:20	or if you're somebody who has seen
00:19:19	00:19:22	success tell me the biggest lesson that
00:19:20	00:19:23	you've learned in your journey because
00:19:22	00:19:25	i'm still a student of the game
00:19:23	00:19:26	and i want to learn from you guys so let
00:19:25	00:19:28	me know in the comments down below hope
00:19:26	00:19:39	you have a great weekend
00:19:28	00:19:41	tok to you soon peace
00:19:39	00:19:41	you