The Pros and Cons to shopify… Is it worth it?

Hey everyone! Today I’m stepping inside the e-com realm and giving you the pros and cons of utilizing the platform Shopify and is it worth it for you to start now. If you’re reading this is because, you’re heavliy thinking about joining the platform to create your own online business. You’re wanting to tap into the world of E-commerce and believe it’s a big ass world. Growing by the billions in terms of sales. Without further adue, let’s begin.

 

Pros

Shopify is trusted by over 325,000 entreprenuers (myself included) and is growing by the day. Here are some of the pros that you’ll enjoy when utilizing shopify:

• Cheap to get started ($30/monthly subscription)
• Beginner friendly
• The amount of control you have
• Thousands of apps that’ll help you run your business more effectively
• Staff accounts (when your business gets bigger and you need VAs)
• Small trainings the platform provides

Shopify gives you a chance to utiize the internet and gives you a platform to sell any product and recieve payment from it. Some of the most successful brands on shopify would be Kyliecosmetics, Fashionnova, MVMNT watches, and that’s just a few. These shops bring in millions of dollars a month. Now I know what you’re about to say, “Yeah but they have strong social presence.” Although that’s true, there’s thousands of other shopify brand stores bringing 6-7 figures a month. Besides, everyone starts at zero so don’t let that scare you.

Now these pros are important because, anybody just starting out in the online business world, you want to be able to set up everything without going through unecessary hills and hoops. Its as simple as setting up your store, importing your products and market traffic to your store. You also have massive control over your data information. Everything with who visited your store, people who added to their cart, abandoned carts, sales, and other key information you’ll need to keep track of your business results.

Best part about this, it’s only $29/month to get started. Now depending on the apps you download to your store (some of the apps aren’t free to use or have inside-app purchases) will determine your actual monthly price. Other than that, it’s super cheap to get started. To think all it takes now a days to start a 5-7 figure business, starts with less than $30. Man times have changed truth be told.

 

Cons

Now one thing we know about this world and everything in general, nothing is perfect. So with that being said here are some cons that’ll make you think about using this platform so you can double check to see if you really want to do this. So let’s go ahead and name some of these cons already:

• Low price = High saturation
• Limited theme customization
• You can’t actually use the store until you’ve payed for the monthly plan
• You’ll be spending hundreds/thousands on getting traffic
• Low profit margins

So two of these cons aren’t really a big deal. If you have a creative taste to you, having limited theme customization isn’t a problem. Also since the store is only $29 to get started, applying for the plan isn’t a deal bigger. You can still cancel however before your 14 free trial is up and you WON’T be charged. Now lets get into the other three cons that will probably 97% of people who won’t go for this.

High saturation is definitely a big problem when using this platform (specfically if you’re doing drop-shipping) because, people think all you need to do is pay for the subscription, set up everything & just wait for the customers to start coming in. Also some of these Shopify “gurus” on youtube give a false hope to most of these people wanting to make some extra money. Promising you, you’ll be making 6 figures your first month. Not saying it’s impossible because some have done it, but those people that find success in the first month 99% of them already had the marketing experience or had the resources already or both.

You’ll be also spending a lot of cheese on promoting your products on these social media platforms such as Facebook ads, Instagram ads/influencers, Youtube, Google ads, and many more. Now my best advice for people starting this platform is for one get good at using one social media platform at a time so you’re just not throwing money in the black hole. You’re also going to fail a few times as well so if you’re not okay with losing money in the beginning to learn I highly recommend STRONGLY do NOT do this.

Now with low profit margins, this will only be a issue when you’re scailing your store into higher numbers a day. For example you might have a product that cost about .29 cents to buy but selling it for $15-$20 dollars. You might be profiting big time right now, but when you start scailing your product, your ad cost will go up which will decrease the amount of profit you’ll be making. On top of hiring a few VAs to help you run your business, you’ll be paying them as well. You’ll also be spending money on creating content for your marketing. At the end of all of that you’ll probably be profiting 20-35% maybe 40%  of your actual sales. But I mean when you’re making $100,000+ a month you wouldn’t care about those margins to be honest.

 

So is starting Shopify worth it?

In my opinion, yes. Shopify gives you a very flexible platform to bring your dream business online and gives you a chance to start multiple streams of income and expand your variety when comes to monetizing your ideas. If you can deal with a slow start to a long lasting path then I highly recommend you start and take that chance. However, if you’re not willing to take the cons about this platform Irecommend your try a different business model, because truth be told you won’t last long in the world E-commerce. You could try affilate marketing, social media marketing, amything else, but Shopify wouldn’t be your best bet. Just being honest.

How can I stand out from other starting online businesses?

Hey what’s up NGW family! Today’s blog isn’t going to be a long read, but I wanted to quick tips that can stand you aside from most online businesses that you’re competing in right now. So without further adue, let’s get started. So when starting a business, everyone focuses on the amount of money they’ll make or the freedom they’ll gain as they reach the level of financial freedom that not everyone in this world will reach. Although if your business doesn’t click with the audience you won’t be making any money, period. I remember reading a book called “Blue ocean strategy” by Renee Mauborgne & W. Chan Kim and the main purpose of that book was to explain how you don’t want your business in red waters. Red waters meaning copying and competing with other businesses in your field, but to be a blue ocean which means be different, unqiue, something no one has done or done right before. Today I’ll be giving you some tips to be a blue ocean instead of a red water.

 

Branding

In order to have a LONG lasting business you need to create a brand. Something that people will come back over and over again becoming a lifetime customer. Here’s some things you’ll need to create a brand:

• A concept
• A logo
• A reason
• A audience

A concept because it gives you an overall idea of what you what your brand to look like, this will be the concept that you’ll be putting up for years and years. A logo because it’ll give you the recongition that your audience will take you as. If you’re not much of an artist no worries, I create unique minimalisitc logos for your start up online business. For more info about my services click here and you’ll be guided to my service page. A reason because there has to be a motive/story behind every brand. People love come up stories and that’ll validate you as a business. The more people connect with your story, the more you’ll connect your business. Of course you need an audience because without traffic, you’ll have no business.

 

Marketing

Marketing is the key and I mean the KEY to having a sucessful business for the long term. Marketing is literally the difference between having two of the same products and one selling like candy in the candy shop than not selling at all. Now remember marketing is about 50% creativity & 50% skills, so if you’re not already a seasoned marketer it’s okay I’ll hook you up on some info real quick. Now of course you don’t have to have a rocket science degree to master this skill. The main agenda is to drive traffic, grab attention.

Now there’s many factors that go into this like the following:

• Trigger words
• Colors
• Videos/Pictures
• Attention span time

And many more factors. For more info about this specific topic check out this video by Dave that’ll go more in depth about this. So as I mentioned today this isn’t going to be a long post, but I’ve been having this in my mind all day today and while it’s still fresh I wanted to share this with you to give you an idea on how to stand apart from other business, because truth be told it’s not a lot you just have to master the two giants and thats marketing and branding. I’ll be dropping a more in dept version of this post very soon so be on the look out for it! Have a blessed day.

How can I quit my job and become a boss?

Well if you want the short answer, walk in the bosses’ office and demand they make you a boss… If he/she says no, passively but aggresively quit your job in a cinematic rant and walk out. Literally… That’s it. Thanks for reading! Just kidding. Don’t go nowhere as I actually give you some ways that you can quit your job and become the boss you’ve always wanted to become. Imagine waking up knowing you no longer have to rush to get ready to get in rush hour traffic, just to hear your boss bitch about you being 2 micro-seconds late. You’re making money while you’re sleep, eating, on a date, traveling, whatever your heart desires. That’s the true American dream in my opinion, having true freedom with a coorperation.

Now that doesn’t mean that everyone is built to do this, simply because this takes a certain mindset, a certain amount of discipline, sacrifice(not blood… well maybe. Depending how far you’re trying to go… Again, just kidding.), time management, and many other factors. Most people woulf actually just prefer to work for someone as long as the job pays good and they have good benefits, they’ll be straight. But, not you. If you’re reading this right now is because you’re at a job that either:

• A, you’re not making enough money
• B, the people at your job are toxic
• C, your boss is a straight asshole
• D, you just want your time back to pursue your dreams

Now truth be told you won’t get the time you’ve spent working for the man, but you can invest that time into what I’m about to talk to you about right now. So I recommend starting a business. Period. Starting a business can give you the leverage to build some passive/residual income. Now I won’t go into deep details on why you should start one, but if you want to read more info about it go ahead and check out my blog post about “10 reasons why you should start a business“.

How can I leave my 9 to 5 and become a boss? First off, do reasearch on a business model that you’d like to do that’ll take you out of that situation. Whether it’s affiliate marketing, E-com, social media marketing, forex trading, etc… Whatever the case may be for you. Figure that out first that way you’ll know what’ll you’ll be focusing your time, energy and money on. –Wait we gotta spend money on this? Yes, you do. That’s why I said this was going to be sacrifice in building your financial freedom & that’s why most people won’t do this. Now after you’ve Identified what it is you want to start building your income stream in, secondly you’re going to want to invest a great amount of time into creating your business.

And before you ask, yes, a great amount of time. Even if you’re already working a full 40 hour week, you need to be investing at least 2-6 hours inside of your business a day(side note, make sure you tailor your business around things your gift/passion so it doesn’t feel like work and the time will be going by fast). If you’re just soo damn busy that you can’t even take at least 30 minutes to invest in your future than you need to go ahead and re-evaluate your life expeditiously. Also, a bit of life advice before I continue. If your job right now is paying your bills & keeping food on your table… DO NOT QUIT… yet. Most of these damn entreprenuers tell you, “Quit your job, take that huge risk, walk out blindly and just start walking”. Now i’m going to sit here and say that doesn’t work but, very seldomly does that actaully happen & you have to really be willing to risk it all.

There’s a difference between taking calculated risk and jumping off the twin towers hoping to land on a pillow. Hold on to the job and build your side income up until the side income becomes the main income and then ditch the 9 to 5. Now that requires a special of discipline because most people are tired like shit when they get off work, but if you do what most people wouldn’t do right now, you’ll live a life like most people can’t live. So it’s worth it at the end of the road. Now for those who are still reading at this point I’ll go into some business models you can start now from easy to hardest. Thank me later… Or now. Doesn’t matter.

 

Affiliate marketing: Easy

Now for those who don’t know what that is, check out my blog post “Affiliate marketing for dummies…” and it’ll go over everything you need to know about the affiliate marketing world. I recommend this as a start if you’re just new into making an online business. I’ve been using this system called legendary marketer  by Dave Sharpe and it’s by far the EASIST way to make money online. Now you have others such as Awol and Clickbanks but legendary marketer literally gives you the ad copy, emails, landing page, and has a team of highly trained coaches to guide you on your path. It’s literally a copy and paste business and works oh so devine! Start NowStart Now!

Amazon FBA: Medium

First off, can we just thank Jeff Bezos for creating one of the greatest gifts in the world, Amazon? Not only can you buy products off there you can also become a seller! Amazon FBA allows you to create a seller account in any country you want(USA, Canada, UK are highly recommended) and find hot products to sell on their platform. They’re 300million active users on amazon a day so traffic and marketing is already there, your job is to find that winning product. I recommend doing research before starting, but in a nut shell you just contact a supplier(alibaba is recommened). Have them ship the product to an Amazon fulfillment center and they will send the products to the customers while you take in profits. Only downside is that you need some bread upfront(about $2,000-$3,000) already on you to get started. However if you already have it, go for it!

Shopify: Hard(Depends on your experience with marketing):

Now shopify is a great way to start an Ecom store and longterm build your brand. Some of the biggest celebs & brands(Kylie Cosmetics, Fashion Nova, etc) are all on shopify and killing it as we speak. Shopify can be used for many different things such as:

• Dropshipping
• Print on Demand(shirts)
• Branding

The list goes on. The only thing with shopify is that you’re incharge of marketing(facebook ads and instagram influencers). Finding the winning products which involves a lot of testing. Contacting reliable suppliers and making sure they’re not screwing you over. I can go all day on this, but shopify as proven to be great when it comes to handling orders, payouts, customer service, the whole 9 yards. You can literally make a 6 figure business within 1-3 months(if you’re consistent). Takes a little more work but the rewards are uncanny! If you need a logo for any of your businesses I’ll make you 2 of em in order to give your brand that unique look. Click here for more info.