Running a profitable business online doesn’t need to be complicated.
In fact, we at BuildAssetsOnline.com think it can be surprisingly simple. One fast and easy-to-understand way to start turning a profit online is through dropshipping.
Today, we’re going to explain to you how to get started and how to keep going. Follow these dropshipping basics (five steps), and you could potentially see yourself making a $10,000 monthly profit fast.
Watch the video below or keep reading to learn more…
Step 1: Create Your Business Entity
At the end of the day, your goal here is to create a real business. That means you need to have a business entity underneath it all.
We personally recommend forming an LLC, which stands for limited liability company. Just like the name says, an LLC is a type of business entity that protects the owners from total responsibility for the business’s debts and other liabilities.
Why do we recommend it? Because, in the absolute worst-case scenario, you’ll be much better protected if someone were to sue you as an LLC than if you were a sole proprietorship.
This sounds complicated, but it’s really not as bad as it sounds. The guidelines for forming an LLC are different depending on your state, though, so make sure you research the process that’s specific to your state.
If you have more questions about the various business entities and which is best for you, you can consult with a lawyer, too. You can also take a look at our guide: Is Dropshipping Legal?
Read Also: Ezra Firestone Told Us to Stop Dropshipping – Podcast
Step 2: Pick a High Ticket Niche Centered Around Passion or Utility
This step is all about picking what your new business entity is going to be dropshipping.
For the best results, we suggest that you pick a type of item that tends to be over $500 on average. You won’t make as much of a profit if you advertise something cheaper than that, unless you’re generating a ton of sales.
Think about it this way: if you’re making $1,000 of profit on each sale, making that $10,000 a month will be much easier. You’ll only need to make a few sales monthly as opposed to having to make dozens.
So what do we mean by passion or utility?
We mean you should choose something that fits into people’s hobbies (passion), or something that they need to have (utility). Picking something that people need or are passionate about translates to a demand for the products you are advertising.
Some sources online circulate lists of niches you can supposedly use for your dropshipping business. We’ve talked about why these high ticket dropshipping niche lists are useless, though – they’re already been used up.
Need some more guidance picking your niche? Check out our favorite High Ticket Dropshipping Niches.
We also do an in-depth comparison of high-ticket and low-ticket items here.
Read Also: Dropshipping Profit Margin: What We Make on a $10K Sale (High Ticket)
Step 3: Sign Up for Shopify and Make a Website Around These Products
Next is creating the website you’re going to make sales on.
As far as the domain name goes, we advise making it broad enough that you could feasibly expand to other related products.
For example, say the product you picked this time is luxury shoes. Rather than focusing on a specific kind of shoe, such as tennis shoes, you should think about broadening the scope to include all shoes.
Basically, shoes.com will make that easier than naming your site tennisshoes.com. That way, later on, you can add other products to your site.
Another thing to factor in here is ensuring your site is well-designed. Keep your potential customers in mind as you write product descriptions, blog posts, or other pages on your site.
Once you’ve got the domain name and site picked, you’ll also want to sign up for Shopify. The reason we choose Shopify is that we feel it’s the best eCommerce site out there currently.
You can even get a free trial of Shopify right here.
Read Also: Is Buying a Shopify Store Worth It? Dropshipping Store Case Study
Step 4: Find Suppliers and Join Their Wholesale Program
This step seems intimidating at first, but trust us when we say it’s easier than you think.
You start by finding a product that you’re interested in having on your site. Going with the previous example of shoes, maybe you’ve done some research and found a particular brand of shoe that you like.
With that shoe in mind, you need to do a little more digging until you find the brand and their corresponding website. If they’re located in the US, they should have contact information listed on their site, so you can get a hold of them.
Call them up and tell them you’d like to open a wholesale account with them. Most of the time, asking them to open a wholesale account is enough to start the conversation.
You’ll probably end up signing some paperwork for them. Once that’s complete, the brand will start dropshipping the products for you.
Yes, it really is that simple. We weren’t lying when we said this step is easier than you’d think it would be.
Read Also: Dropshipping vs Affiliate Marketing: What’s Better for Beginners?
Step 5: Start Running Some Google Ads
You might be asking us, “Why Google?”
We personally prefer using Google for advertisements because it’s easier to reach the people who are actually ready to buy the product you’re selling. Facebook can be useful, sure, but we think Google ads provide more stable results.
The best part about this is that you don’t need to worry about making a brilliant ad campaign that goes viral. You may not be guaranteed to become the next mega-successful company like Uber, but using Google ads combined with having a good website will help you ensure you’re making a steady profit.
Another popular marketing style is to use influencers. However, we feel pretty strongly that influencer marketing for Shopify dropshipping doesn’t work, and believe sticking with Google ads is your best bet.
We actually had the fortune of interviewing Jon Dykstra of Fat Stacks about advertising, and the most profitable methods of doing so.
Read Also: eCommerce SEO Strategy for High Ticket Dropshipping – Podcast
Bonus Step: Repeat This Process
We know the guide says there’s only five steps, but there’s a secret sixth step here if you really want to maximize your profits.
Let’s say you’ve gotten your site set up, your Shopify account activated, your wholesale account opened, and now you’re making a profit…but you’re not quite at that $10,000 mark yet.
What next?
Don’t think you need to set up the next online marketplace giant like Amazon or Aliexpress. As awesome as that would be, it’s not necessary.
What you should actually do is easy: repeat this whole process again. Pick another product, make another site, open more wholesale accounts, and run more ads.
Rinse and repeat, until you’ve met that monthly goal of $10,000. You could even raise the bar higher at this point, if you wanted.
Read Also: Dropshipping vs FBA
Wrap Up
As you’ve just seen, earning up to $10,000 a month online is entirely possible through dropshipping. Even better, the way to get started isn’t nearly as hard as you’d think it is.
It never hurts to do a little extra research, though. If you’re the type of person who likes to dive deep into the facts before you start something, you can check out our Instant E-Commerce Asset course.
Click here to get more information on our course, and see cold, hard numbers proving that it works. You can also read our Online Assets Playbook for free.