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Startup Questions, research sources

by John Wiseman
3 replies
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I'm about to launch my first drop shipping site and am trying to finalize my startup plan before the launch. I've been in software development, web development, and been a business owner for 15+ years in a few industries including the tech sectors and brick and mortar retail with light online sales in the brick and mortar (not drop shipping however). In these past roles I've done a good deal of social media marketing, SEO, PPC, branding, and general online business development. On one hand that gives me a lot of confidence to try drop shipping as a side hustle, on the other hand I know from experience that starting any business isn't without challenges so don't want to delude myself that my skillsets equal success. Are there any additional research areas I should be exploring besides the above? My weakest area in confidence is choosing suppliers and product niche category, I'm currently working towards men's fashion accessories and created a shopify/Oberlo site. I did some importing from China 10 years ago in niche products with success, but stopped after a few years when the manufacturer started competing against me online, and had no MAP, and the margins just disappeared (100%+ markup to maybe >10% to compete with them). So...
What should my confidence level be if I am competent at the foundation elements like web design, social media, web marketing, SEO, customer service, etc? Can it be as simple as handling those well and the rest falls into place and orders come or is there a big element of luck, extreme time commitment, unknown? I'm not expecting a get rich quick scenario of course. My goal is to reach a near full work from home scenario when combined with my web development, consulting, and commission sales incomes I have now and I need another revenue stream to help get me there. If there's other advice anyone wants to offer I'm all ears. Thanks!
#questions #research #sources #startup
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    The two biggest considerations are going to be finding a reliable supplier that makes quality products and selling something that is not readily available in a wide variety in local stores.

    The AliExpress/Shopify method is by far the easiest but when something is that easy, there is considerably more competition.

    We recommend trying to find real name brands that will dropship to your target market, first.That requires phone calls, some "selling" of yourself and persistence.
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  • Profile picture of the author md tarak
    Do you have a million-dollar idea in your head, just waiting to be acted upon? Or will it be a complete bust -- an idea with no actual potential for return?

    This question is one that stops many would-be entrepreneurs in their tracks before they even take the chance and launch their potential business ventures. Fortunately, it is possible to make a more educated guess on your idea's likelihood of success or failure by taking the time to validate your idea before moving forward with it.

    Here are 20 questions you can ask to validate your startup idea -- before you commit significant time, money or other resources to its launch:
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    • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
      Originally Posted by md tarak View Post

      Do you have a million-dollar idea in your head, just waiting to be acted upon? Or will it be a complete bust -- an idea with no actual potential for return?

      This question is one that stops many would-be entrepreneurs in their tracks before they even take the chance and launch their potential business ventures. Fortunately, it is possible to make a more educated guess on your idea's likelihood of success or failure by taking the time to validate your idea before moving forward with it.

      Here are 20 questions you can ask to validate your startup idea -- before you commit significant time, money or other resources to its launch:
      First off, there don't seem to be 20 questions listed anywhere.

      Second, there is a huge gap between "million dollar business" and "complete bust". We never start any website with a dollar figure in mind. We do extensive niche research to weigh the competition, number of searches and average profit sale (among other minor things). We've had many that we thought would be gold that only ended up making a few hundred dollars per month profit and others that we thought might be duds that ended up making several thousand dollars per month.

      We've had plenty that did 6 figures in income per year but shooting for 7 figures and thinking anything short of that is a failure is simply not a realistic goal.That is, unless you are already making 7 figures and are considering quitting your job to become the next Bill Gates.
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