Have you ever wanted to start a dropshipping store but don’t know if it’s worth your time? Heard a lot of negative opinions about it, like “dropshipping’s dead”, “dropshipping isn’t worth it anymore” and all that jazz? Don’t know if dropshipping’s right for you right now?

Let’s answer these questions.

Is Dropshipping Worth Your Effort, Time and Money?

All of businesses, or everything in life, require an investment. This investment can either be hard work, free time or hard-earned money (or even all three!). In this section, let’s find out if investing these 3 things on dropshipping is worth it.

To answer this question, we first must know what your overall goal for dropshipping is. Is the lessons learned? The money? The connections you make?

Whatever it is, this is the first thing you have to find out before you continue reading. Once you’ve done that, let’s find out if dropshipping’s worth your efforts.

Effort

Will all the efforts you give out – like learning to make your dropshipping business work – help  you achieve your goals faster? If you’re dropshipping right now, are you enjoying what you’re doing? Do you not get discouraged of doing the necessary hassles you need to overcome to succeed?

Time

Are you enjoying your time dropshipping? Do you think all of the time you’re spending now (to learn more about the business model) is worth it long-term? Are you willing to sacrifice your today for a better tomorrow?

Money

Are you willing to spend $500-$1000 just to “fail” in your first store?  Are you willing to spend your money to experience and learn about what it’s like to have your own business – even when it doesn’t seem practical? Do you believe you’ll earn 10x than the initial investment?

If you answered yes to all the questions, then dropshipping’s might not a waste of time FOR YOU.

Is Dropshipping Right For Me?

The answer for this question is for you to decide. All I can do is guide – show you the pros and cons of dropshipping. Here they are…

Pros of dropshipping

Low startup costs – with dropshipping, for as low as $29 (for Shopify), you’re set to run a store!

Little to no overhead costs – dropshipping is really just simple business model which has a low barrier-to-entry. You can do this by simply having a laptop and internet connection.

Saves you a lot of time – unlike any other business models, you can literally start a dropshipping business in less than 10 hours!

You make money FAST – you can scale a dropshipping store from $100 a day to $1000 a day in just a couple of days… it’s that fast.

Cons of dropshipping

Reliance on your supplier – your supplier can cut off production anytime and could cost you a few refunds and negative feedback from your customers.

Less Profit/Low Margins – There are a lot of stuff you need to pay for in the backend. You might want to use some apps, hire VAs or do email marketing – and unless you’re earning a lot, you’ll be moving backwards.

Customer Service Hassles – if you have suppliers that aren’t interested in helping you or there’s trouble at the customs department (i.e. holds some of the products for some reason), customer will complain. They will have a lot of questions why their orders take a long time to arrive.

There Are a Lot Of Competitors – Ecommerce will be a TRILLION DOLLAR market by 2020, you must find a way to make your customers choose you over your competitors.

You’re Likely To Fail Your First Store – Without the right guidance, dropshipping can be very brutal for beginners. You need to learn how everything works – but don’t be stopped by analysis paralysis.

Just do it and learn along the way.

Are Those Horror Stories About Dropshipping True?

If you’ve heard people say “dropshipping’s dead”, “dropshipping isn’t worth it anymore” and get discouraged… don’t. Hear me out.

Dropshipping isn’t dead. In fact, dropshipping will never go away. What goes away is the lazy, unprofessional and dropshippers do and this is the reason why people think dropshipping is dead. Wanna know what they are? Here’s a few…

• NOT building a brand and wonder why they can’t sell.
• Not learning copywriting (this is really imporant so you can create killer product descriptions )
• Putting in half-assed work and expecting things to go their way
• Making decisions based on emotion and not data/research
• Spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on Paid Advertising without understanding how it really works

Notice the common theme here? They’re all planning to fail.

What they’re doing is leading them to failure, and when they do fail? Guess what… they blame everything else but themselves! They blame saturation, too much competition, too expensive and all that crap.

I know, I know… Dropshipping sounds kinda negative, but the opposite’s also true.

Are The Success Stories About Dropshipping True?

YES. There are hundreds of people making $100,000+ with dropshipping. Unlike those who failed, these people understand how eCommerce really work. They have the knowledge and skills to achieve their desired outcome (sales)… Why?

Because they were consistently putting in the work everyday.

A lot of people fail because they quit too soon or they do not put in the necessary work. If you’re not committed, determined and excited to work on your store, then dropshipping is NOT for you.

If you’re just starting out, you have to keep putting in the work everyday. You have to learn about your niche/market, you have to learn how you can use paid advertising to your advantage (e.g. Facebook Ads, Instagram Shoutouts) and you have to learn how to build a brand.

Dropshipping is long-term. If you’re consistently working hard for it, there’s no way you won’t succeed.

Enjoyed this article about dropshipping being a waste of time or not? Click HERE to receive daily emails about how to make money with dropshipping from James Holt, the founder of Start Selling Stuff.