How Can We Build A Side Hustle?
There was a period in my life when I was making some money by selling items. I am certain that all of us have done this before. But somehow in one way or another, many of us stopped. It was a simple business model. We source for quality products which we believe we can sell for a higher price after repackaging and rebranding it. Most of us have no issues in sourcing for a quality product or negotiating for a cheaper price from the third party. The main problem is the logistical fear that plagues us.
What if we’re stuck with a truckload of inventory?
What if no one is keen in the product anymore? What if we’re terrible at repackaging the product? What if we’re terrible at rebranding the product? What if someone else is selling at a lower price than us? What if we’ll never truly know what is the exact problem? Then we stop thinking about this side hustle and laugh it off sheepishly. The crux of the matter is that most of us do not have much capital to gamble with. It isn’t the case that we cannot lose, but more of the case that we can’t afford to lose the huge amount of capital purchasing inventory. Now, let’s enter the world where we can launch an eCommerce store without having to invest thousands of dollars in inventory up front.
Let’s enter the world of dropshipping.
It is a retail fulfillment method where we can setup a store to sell products where we don’t need to keep in stock. Instead, when our store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, we don’t need to own any inventory to fulfill orders. This means that in comparison to the standard retail model, dropshipping requires a lot less capital. We don’t have to purchase the product, until the sale has been made and have been paid by the customer to us.
Anyone with a laptop can start this side hustle with as little as $100.
- A subscription for a Shopify online store costs $29.99 per month.
- A domain name costs $14 per year.
- An app (E.g. Oberlo) that helps to import dropshipped products is free of charge.
- A sample product (to double check its quality and delivery service) costs anywhere between $0.50 to $10
- Facebook advertising and Instagram influencer marketing cost anywhere between $25 a day to however much you deem is effective.
But, how can we start to dropship?
- Pick a niche. It can be in any areas, except the ones that we’re not interested in.
- Pick a product. It needs to be unique. It needs to solve a functional problem. Most of it all, the product needs to be of good quality that you are excited to use for yourself. One bad customer review is more than sufficient to snowball the business to its death.
- Pick a domain name. It needs to be, for a lack of a better word, agreeable. Easy to remember. Note that the domain name ought to match our presence on Facebook and Instagram too.
- Pick a website theme. Similar to choosing a domain name, a website theme needs to be pleasing. More than that, it also needs to cater a smooth transition from item selection to check-out. A good website will not cause confusion.
- Build a community on Facebook and Instagram. The key is to be authentic, be consistent and be reaaaally patient.
- Promote the product in the community. Be it Facebook advertising or Instagram influencer marketing, the key to breaking through the noise is creativity. The advertisement needs to either educate or entertain.
Easier said than done, I know. But all we need to do is to cap the downside and take uncrowded bets on ourselves. This is the basic structure of succeeding in dropshipping. There will be more intricate questions when we delve further. How to make a product sell like hot cakes? How to organically grow a small community to a sizable one?
How to find the right ad set for Facebook advertising?
Dropshipping is one way we can learn to confront the challenges of the real world, rather than resort to the protective womb of academia. With such a business model, we can commit within financial reason, to action rather than theory.
