Have you ever wanted to own an online store but don’t know where to start?

Want to know the business models that people—earning 7 FIGURES a month—are using?

Let’s say . . . an online business without inventory?

Then you came to the right place.

I will tell you the best damn way to start an online store—even without inventory.

Even if your financial resources are limited.

Even if you have no experience in online retail.

There’s no stopping you anymore.

In this article, you will know how each businesses works and what their pros and cons are.

Without further ado . . .

Let us start.

The 3 Highly Profitable Business Models

The 3 business models you will learn today will change your life—forever.

How you look at online stores, online business . . . everything you see online will change.

You cannot unsee it.

If you are willing to take the risks of changing your life forever—like it did mine—then keep reading.

Once you know, understand and apply any one of these businesses here, your life will never be the same.

Affiliate Store

An affiliate store is one of the most popular forms of affiliate marketing.

Why?

Because this method of selling products is super simple.

It’s not like blogging, email marketing or putting out online videos on Youtube where you should provide free content everyday.

More on that later.

Let’s talk about what affiliate marketing is first (a very simple explanation in 4 lines).

Affiliate marketing is a partnership between a retailer and a content creator (you).

There is only 1 thing that an affiliate marketer does.

It is to promote—using affiliate links—other people’s products/services.

If a person buys—or becomes a lead—because of your promotion, you get a commission.

It’s really that simple.

So why choose an affiliate store compared to other forms of affiliate marketing?

How Does An Affiliate Site Work?

Instead of putting out content everyday, what you have to do is create product listings in your own website.

You don’t need an inventory or a product of your own.

You simply list other people’s products there.

When a visitor clicks a product on your website, they’ll get redirected to your partner’s site using your affiliate link.

When that visitor completes a purchase, the retailer pays you a commission.

Pros And Cons Of An Affiliate Site

PROS:

• Very Affordable – Affiliate programs are free to join. You just have to do the work to build your affiliate store.
• No Customer Service – Your affiliate partner (the merchant) will handle all customer services.

CONS:

• Lower Margins – The commission rates are very low most of the time.
• Low Conversion Rates – With affiliate marketing, you’ll have to send your visitors to multiple funnels just to buy a product. This hassle experience may leave them frustrated and stop buying instead. This will severely hurt your conversion rate.
• No Guarantees – If your affiliate store doesn’t diversify the number of brands it promotes, your main merchant could remove you due to the affiliate nexus tax law or they might simple choose to close down their affiliate program.

Do you like this business model?

Yes?

No?

Whatever your answer may be, keep reading.

What you will read below may suit your preferences better (they could even be better for you).

Dropshipping—Sell Other People’s Products Without Holding Inventory

Do you want to be your own boss?

Build your own brand?

Earn thousands of dollars? (this is probably your favorite)

Then dropshiping is for you.

If you put in the work to understand your market and create solid ads for them, it’s one of the fastest ways to start making money online.

It will teach you the foundations for every kind of business.

Well at least for me—it’s how I learned most of the things I know now.

If you want to make it big someday, this is everything you’ll ever ask for.

DISCLAIMER: Dropshipping is not for everyone. If don’t want to grow, put in the work and learn . . . this isn’t for you.

If you’re still interested in dropshipping and want to go in depth with what it really is and if it is worth doing, then you should definitely read this:

An Honest Answer To The Question: “Is Dropshipping Worth It?”

So How Does Dropshipping Work?

Simply put, dropshipping is like being the middle-man between a customer and a wholesaler.

Here’s a high-level, step-by-step process of the dropshipping model so you get an understanding of how it really works:

1. You set up your store (I will teach you how below).
2. A customer visits your store.
3. They see an item they like so they buy it (e.g. a necklace worth $9.95)
4. You receive the payment.
5. You place an order to your supplier at a wholesale price (e.g. you buy it at $1)
6. Your supplier sends the product to your customer with your company brand and logo.

And that’s it!

Talk about easy, yes?

Nah . . .

Let’s be honest here.

No matter how good a business model is, there will always be some pros and cons.

Pros And Cons Of Dropshipping

The Pros

• No Inventory and Shipping Cost – As explained above, your supplier does everything for you.
• The Startup Costs Are Really Low – You don’t have to pay upfront for your inventory, you only do when your customer has paid you already. You simply need to create an online store with Shopify then you’re ready to go.
• Scalability – The potential for dropshipping is endless. However, your results will all be based on how much effort you put into it.

The Cons

• Endless Customer Support – Your customers will have a lot of questions especially if their orders take a long time to arrive. You need to find the right supplier for this . . . one that offers ePacket shipping (the fast type of shipping).
• 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 Will Most Likely Fail The First Time – Without the right guidance, dropshipping can be very brutal for beginners. Especially to those who aren’t willing to learn.

Dropshipping isn’t only about doing or taking action.

You need to learn as well.

One cannot survive without the other.

If you want to succeed with dropshipping, even if you don’t have a lot of money to start, then do it right:

Learn.

Apply.

Then grow.

If you still want to know more about dropshipping, building an empire online and Facebook ads, then you must join my email list.

I will be sending emails everyday—no BS, straight-forward, high-quality content—on how to make money online. If you want to receive them . . .

Click Here to Join.

How To Set-Up Your Shopify Store

Early disclaimer: These are just high-level processes on how to set-up your store.

But since I’m really passionate about dropshipping, I will give out links to where you can learn these things.

👉 First, you must find a niche so you can focus on the type of audience you want to target.

This is very crucial for paid traffic and I believe this is a must if you’re just starting out as this will make your life easier.

(If you don’t know what a niche is, click HERE)

You know what . . .

I’m giving this away FOR FREE as well: 47 Profitable Dropshipping Niches

Why I’m giving it away for free?

I don’t know.

Consider it as a gift for reading this far.

👉 You can now create an account in Shopify to build a store.

The reason why I don’t recommend you to do this first is because I don’t want you to waste your FREE trial (yes there’s a free trial for 30 days) so don’t waste it by creating an account without an actionable plan yet.

👉 You import products—in your niche—from Aliexpress.

With the help of your niche, you can easily narrow down what products you’ll sell in your store.  (You can learn how to find the best products HERE).

👉 You can now follow the requirements of setting up your store.

Make sure you get your Shopify Setup Checklist as well.

Yeah, it’s still free . . . make sure you use it.

And that’s it.

After all of that, you’re now ready to go. (Thank me later)

Now for the last business model . . .

Still want to hear it?

Of course, you do. 😉 

3^rd Party Logistics Company

First thing’s first.

You have to understand that this business model is NOT a trade without inventory.

3^rd Part Logistics (3PL) is just a trade without warehousing.

In other words, you need to have a product of your own.

Most 3PLs can handle the storage of your products in addition to order fulfillment.

In some cases, they can even help with customer support and product returns.

How Does 3PL Work?

The first thing you should do is ship your products to a 3PL provider.

When you get an order from a customer, you send their ordering details to your 3PL provider.

The 3PL provider ships the order to your customer.

And that’s it.

The downside

You have to pay the provider a monthly fee and a per order cost for fulfillment.

The 3PL business model behaves similarly to a traditional online store with inventory.

The only thing that’s different is that you don’t have to store and fulfill the orders yourself.

Pros And Cons Of 3PL

The Pros

• No Inventory and Shipping Cost – Well you get the idea.
• Your Margins Are Usually 50% Or Higher – This means you have more flexibility on advertising expenses (e.g. Facebook Ads, Instagram Shoutouts, etc.)

The Cons

• You Need To Have A Product – There’s actually another way to escape this. You buy a product from a wholesaler then you send that product to a 3PL provider. The downside is that you will have low margins . . . and that’s why it’s not recommended.

If you want to start a more traditional online store but don’t want to worry about inventory or fulfillment, then having a 3PL provider might be a good option for you.

And that’s about it.

Anyone can start an online store as long as they are willing to put in the work and learn.

Choose one and FOCUS.

So . . .

What business model are you going to follow?

Let me know in the comments!

Enjoyed this article about the 3 ways to start an online store without inventory? Click HERE to receive daily emails about how to make money with dropshipping from James Holt, the founder of Start Selling Stuff.