Need Advice About Record-Keeping for a New Drop Shipping Business
Hi.
I am new to drop shipping and am going through the long process of educating myself about how to set up and run my own website. Two things I can see as being potentially time-consuming jobs are those of keeping a record of the items to be listed on my website, and keeping a record of my sales, expenses, profits, etc. For the latter chore (sales, expenses, and profits), it is pretty obvious that a spreadsheet would be the best way to proceed; however, with the first chore (keeping track of items listed on my website), I am in question as to what the most efficient (least time-consuming and effort-intensive) method would be--a spreadsheet or a database? Thus, I have 6 questions:
1. What items should I include on the spreadsheet for keeping track of expenses, sales, and profits? (I don't want to miss anything that I might, later, discover should have been included, after spending hours setting up an Excel spreadsheet).
2. Is there a good spreadsheet that is ready-to-go which I might already use, thus saving me the afore-mentioned hours of time an effort? If so, I would appreciate being sent a link to it.
3. In your experience, which would be better for keeping track of the products to be listed on my website--a spreadsheet or a database.
4. In either case (spreadsheet or database), what items/fields should I include? One YouTube video I watched advocated making a spreadsheet which contained a separate sheet for each supplier.
5. As with question #2, if there is a good, ready-to-go database which I might use, thus saving me hours of set-up time, I would greatly appreciate being sent a link to it.
6. Finally, if there is a recommenation as to a good book, article, YouTube video, whatever that deals with the record-keeping business of running a drop shipping business, I would appreciate knowing about it, as well.
Thank you for your time and trouble in reading this and any help you might offer.
I am new to drop shipping and am going through the long process of educating myself about how to set up and run my own website. Two things I can see as being potentially time-consuming jobs are those of keeping a record of the items to be listed on my website, and keeping a record of my sales, expenses, profits, etc. For the latter chore (sales, expenses, and profits), it is pretty obvious that a spreadsheet would be the best way to proceed; however, with the first chore (keeping track of items listed on my website), I am in question as to what the most efficient (least time-consuming and effort-intensive) method would be--a spreadsheet or a database? Thus, I have 6 questions:
1. What items should I include on the spreadsheet for keeping track of expenses, sales, and profits? (I don't want to miss anything that I might, later, discover should have been included, after spending hours setting up an Excel spreadsheet).
2. Is there a good spreadsheet that is ready-to-go which I might already use, thus saving me the afore-mentioned hours of time an effort? If so, I would appreciate being sent a link to it.
3. In your experience, which would be better for keeping track of the products to be listed on my website--a spreadsheet or a database.
4. In either case (spreadsheet or database), what items/fields should I include? One YouTube video I watched advocated making a spreadsheet which contained a separate sheet for each supplier.
5. As with question #2, if there is a good, ready-to-go database which I might use, thus saving me hours of set-up time, I would greatly appreciate being sent a link to it.
6. Finally, if there is a recommenation as to a good book, article, YouTube video, whatever that deals with the record-keeping business of running a drop shipping business, I would appreciate knowing about it, as well.
Thank you for your time and trouble in reading this and any help you might offer.