Dropshipping in 2021
I’m sure you’ve already heard the news of the Apple vs Facebook war with the iOS 14.
Many dropshippers are terrified of what’s going to happen to dropshipping in 2021.
For many, 2020 hasn’t been the most amazing year.
(For those who were smart enough to start selling products such as home workouts or work-from-home materials, what color Lambo did you buy?)
So will 2021 be even worse?
Will the term “dropshipping is dead” actually be true this time?
Well of course not, dropshipping is no different from any other business.
It’s all about adapting and overcoming challenges.
But besides iOS14, there’s actually something more dangerous than it….
And if you want to scale to 6 & 7 figure months in 2021, you need to stop believing in these 3 misconceptions immediately.
The 3 Misconceptions Holding Dropshippers Back From Achieving Consistent 6-7 Figure Months
(Plus, how you can solve them with automated solutions)
1. “I’m not lucky enough to find winning products consistently”
Ever experienced a “winning product dry spell”?
Testing products after products, sometimes for months…
Not able to find a single product, while others are just crushing it, flaunting their 7 figure screenshots on Facebook groups.
And you just lie on your bed at night, thinking “What’s the secret to finding winning products?” or “Is dropshipping for me?” or “Why the hell am I so unlucky?”
You see, most beginner dropshippers think that finding winning products is all about luck.
But after working with and helping many dropshippers scales to consistent 6-figure months, here’s what we notice:
Top dropshippers don’t rely on just luck alone to find winning products.
Sure, luck does play a small part in dropshipping.
Sometimes you get lucky, stumble upon a winning product, and scale to 6-7 figures with just one product.
But as winning products tend to die very quickly (especially once your competitors start swiping and copying your stuff…)
Your revenue will drop back down again quickly as it dies.
And if you’re unable to find another winning product fast enough, then you will start seeing periods of very low to zero revenue.
This is why many dropshippers’ revenue (and their mood) tend to fluctuate wildly like a roller coaster.
But for top dropshippers who are able to consistently hit 6-7 figures month after month…
They don’t just depend on luck alone, which is something they can’t control.
Instead, they focus on what they can control.
They “make” their own luck.
And they do so by launching as many high-quality products with great creatives as they can each week.
Because the truth is, most dropshippers (even top ones) can’t accurately predict which product is going to be a winner.
Sure, there are some dropshipping gurus who are extremely skilled and high level that they can identify winning products much better than others…
But for the rest of us who are not blessed with this talent…
The only way to find winning products faster is to launch more high-quality products each week and let the revenue numbers reveal the winner.
That’s why instead of having goals like “find and scale 3 winning products per week” – a goal which cannot be controlled…
Top dropshippers set goals they Can control like “launching X number of products per week”.
Just to give you a look at what top dropshippers are doing:
One of our clients is currently testing 8 high-quality products per day (With a huge big team of course).
And another with a smaller team is doing around 3-5 a day consistently with great creatives, copy, and offer.
Even with a 1-2% hit rate, they’re still able to consistently find winning products.
(Remember, dropshipping is a numbers game, the more products you’re able/can afford to test, the higher chance you’ll find a winning product.)
How do they do this?
How are they able to launch so many products when most dropshippers struggle to launch just 7-10 products a week?
They’ve automated their product launch process to run without them!
Meaning, that the business owners themselves are NOT involved in the product launches at all.
Seems impossible but…
There are a lot of tasks that can actually be systemized and delegated to others.
Basically “automating” the entire process to run without the business owners, while still hitting multiple winners each week.
You probably already know this:
Every task from copywriting, graphic designing, product research, video editing, digital marketing, media buying, etc…
They can all be turned into systemized SOPs and processes, and delegated to Superstar VAs to run them for you.
In fact, up to 90% of the dropshipping operations can (and should) be run without you…
While still hitting multiple winners every month.
Instead, you should be focused on revenue-generating tasks like scaling current winning products to 6-7 figures or…
Dealing with new platform changes or…
Thinking up new strategies to bring the business to the next level.
These are all high-impact tasks that are much harder to systemize or delegate.
They require more experience, skills, and critical thinking so it’s much more challenging to delegate these things.
This is why they are usually done by you, the business owner.
These revenue-generating tasks tend to require a lot more time, mental energy, and space to think.
But if you spend hours every day being involved in these tasks that can be delegated, you won’t have enough time or energy left over to focus on the more important revenue-generating tasks.
How to tell if a task should be delegated?
If a task can be:
- (A) Systemized and documented into a step-by-step SOP
- (B) Optimized so that it’s efficient and easy to be delegated
- (C) Have a large pool of VAs (not only a small group of niche specialists) to pick from to delegate the work to…
Then this is a task worth delegating.
Once you systemize, optimize and delegate these tasks, your entire product launch process is now automated.
2. “You’re one media buying strategy away from scaling to 6 figure months”
Don’t get me wrong…
Having great media buying strategies can definitely help you scale your winning products faster and quicker.
But don’t fall into the mindset trap that you need better media buying strategies.
Many dropshippers end up jumping from one strategy to another…
Chasing after the next “shiny object”…
Instead of focusing on the more important things….
Like finding more and better products and testing more consistently.
Here’s the thing:
When you find a great winning product with high-quality creatives, you will find that scaling becomes much easier.
Higher CTR…
Higher Conversion Rates…
Maybe even higher AOV…
(Sometimes even with just broad targeting, you will be able to scale your winners profitably).
This is why it’s important to focus on testing new products consistently.
And then focus on coming up with great creatives for higher ROAS.
Better still, automate the whole thing so that it will run without you.
So instead of constantly testing and tweaking your media buying strategies…
Focus on coming up with more high quality products with great creatives.
That will make testing and scaling your campaigns much easier.
3. “You’re the owner. You must be involved in the business daily.
Make sure everything runs smoothly. You’re the best person for the job. If not you, then who?”
One of the common patterns we see among our clients when they first came to us is that they were doing everything themselves
Even tasks like product research…
Even when they had a team of product researchers!
But because they view product research as such an important role in dropshipping, our clients feel like they have to do it themselves too.
Or perhaps they don’t trust their product researchers to do a good job.
If this sounds like you – you need to stop.
Product research is important, but it is another “maintenance” task that can be systemized and delegated away.
With the right processes and SOPs in place, you can have a team of product researchers find quality products that would meet your standards.
If you find yourself being involved not only in product research but also in other elements of the product launch process…
You may be suffering from what we call the “Superhero Syndrome”.
Superhero Syndrome is a condition in which someone thinks that they must be involved in every single task.
It is either they think that others are not as good as them…
Or they don’t trust other people to get the job done for them.
The business simply cannot move without them being involved in the process.
This is the most dangerous in dropshipping, as you end up being the bottleneck that prevents your business from scaling faster.
When you suffer from the superhero syndrome, you end up being involved in both maintenance and revenue-generating tasks.
- Your focus is split everywhere
- You are always close to burning out
- You find yourself lacking time to do everything on schedule
One of the best ways to get around this?
Hire a project manager or operations manager that can manage all the maintenance tasks and the team for you…
Essentially this project manager will make sure your team is hitting the KPI and helping you to problem-solve challenges and bottlenecks…
Without you needing to be involved in the process.
So you get to focus more time and energy on revenue-generating tasks.
At our agency, we help our clients fulfill this role by providing our clients with an Automatic Business Manager (ABM).
An ABM is like an operations manager or COO in the company…
Someone who will manage their team, and make sure that everyone is performing well and hitting their KPIs.
An even more important responsibility is that ABMs will ensure that all systems within the business are continuously optimized and updated.
This will allow all team members to get better, more efficient, and more effective, and the business owners will free up a huge chunk of their time.
If you don’t have an operations manager or COO, then you should consider investing in one as it can free up 90% of your maintenance tasks while you focus on scaling your winners.
