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StoreCoach.com vs. Drop Ship Lifestyle Review

A lot of people have been asking me what I think about Store Coach as a seemly cheaper alternative to Dropship Lifestyle. So I signed up for an account with Store Coach and here's a review and comparison of the two courses. I've been a member of Dropship Lifestyle for over 2 years now and have recently gone through Store Coach just to see what it's all about. This post has been Updated for 2017.

In this review I go over the Pros and Cons of each course are and which one I can see will be the quickest path to making $1,000-$2,000+ a month in online profit from your eCommerce store. Dropshipping definitely works as I've been making a full time income from my stores for the past two years but what's the best way to start a store and what would I do if I was starting over again?

Here's my review of Dave Hermansen's Store Coach vs. Anton Kraly's Drop Ship Lifestyle courses. I'm an affiliate both programs to keep this review fair, so if you decide to sign up for either, please do it through my link so I can get credit for referring you.






Niche Selection:



Choosing the right market or products to promote is one of the most important parts of starting a dropshipping store. Both Store Coach and Dropship Lifestyle have it as the first section for good reason.


Store Coach: 

In Store Coach the creator Dave shows you how to choose a market and product by stressing the Big 4 Factors:

FACTOR #1. DAILY SEARCH VOLUME

FACTOR #2. SEASONALITY

FACTOR #3. PROFIT PER ORDER

FACTOR #4. CAN I RANK?


Store Coach Niche Selection





Dave's Niche Selection Criteria:


 A niche where all 4 of the “Big 4” factors look good...
  1. Daily Search Volume - At least 70 searches per day
  2. Seasonality - Relatively steady demand throughout the year
  3. Profit Per Order - Likely to net $25+ per order
  4. Can I Rank? - At least a couple of the sites on Page 1 of Google are relatively “weak” and can realistically be overtaken
Pros and Cons of Store Coach's Niche Selection:

Dave focuses on finding products that have little to no keyword competition but enough search traffic (70+ searches a day) to make sure enough people are looking for the item.  

The downside is by following Dave's method you'll need to use a keyword tool which he up-sells in his Pro membership. 









Anton's Niche Selection Criteria:

Niche Selection: Pricing

  • Find out what price points you should be targeting. Learn why it is just as easy to sell an item for $200 as it is to sell an item for $10.



  • Niche Selection: Target Market

    Not all online shoppers are the same. Learn who you should be selling to and why certain demographics convert better than others.





  • Niche Selection: Generic Brands

    Not every niche is dominated by big box stores. Find out what markets generic brands succeed in. Learn why they do and why you should focus on selling those products.



  • Pros and Cons of Store Drop Ship Lifestyle's Niche Selection:

    Anton tells you not to worry about keyword research or search volume, as what he does instead is analyze competition to see where there's room for you to still compete. His core ideas on niche selection is if another store is still in business it's obviously making sales so don't worry about search volume. Anton also warns against seasonal items and recommends higher priced items.

    Instead of focusing on ranking for keywords, Anton focuses on being able to take a share from competitors and being able to convert sales.  

    For me personally, I hate doing keyword research and never have for any of my stores, so I'm glad Anton's Method doesn't require it.




    Inside look at both course's member areas:








    Getting Suppliers:



    The second most important part of starting a dropshipping store is getting suppliers. Figuring out how to build a store, make a logo, etc is easy and there are plenty of free guides out there, but actually getting approved by suppliers is where the money is.

    In Store Coach Dave encourages you to use a dropship directory such as the one included in his Pro Membership called Dropship Blueprint.








    Pros and Cons of Store Coach's Sourcing:

    I'm not a big fan of using supplier directories as first off, everyone else has the exact same niche which leads to more competition and less thinking outside the box.

    Good news is that Dave also gives 10 tips on how to contact the manufacturer directly but gives generic advice and also suggests dropshipping from eBay or direct from China which are terrible ways to get suppliers as you have no control over shipping times and will get terrible profit margins. 









    Pros and Cons of Drop Ship Lifestyle's Sourcing:

    Anton firmly suggests not to use any dropship directories even his own Dropship Moz. The reason why he tells everyone not to buy his directory and tells members to go straight to the manufactures is because even though it takes more time and effort doing direct, you get to build up a solid relationship with the supplier. This allows you to get better margins, better shipping rates as well as develop a long term relationship. 

    The downside to going direct is it takes a lot more time and effort to get approved. But in all honestly, I would never do it any other way as it's because of my relationships with my suppliers that have allowed my stores to do so well over the past two years. 


    Getting Traffic:


    The biggest part of having a profitable store is having enough targeted visitors that are willing to buy your products. 

    Dave with Store Coach focuses on getting free traffic through google searches and ranking on the first page of Google for your keywords. His 3 key factors are:

    • Key Factor #1. Keyword-optimize the individual pages you're trying to get ranked
    • Key Factor #2. Have a high-quality site and continually add fresh, new content to it 
    • Key Factor #3. Build your site's domain authority by getting backlinks and by boosting your social media marketing






    Pros and Cons of Store Coach's Traffic Methods:



    Everyone loves free traffic so I'm glad that Dave goes through getting free organic ranking and SEO. However, I know how long it takes to rank in Google and how often they update and change things so it's not the best way to start a store. Plus who wants to invest that much time and energy before even knowing if your products will sell.

    The biggest hidden downside to Store Coach is the Link Thief subscription that is recommended in Dave's course. You get the 10-Target plan included with the Store Coach Pro Membership but if you want to have more than one store you need to upgrade, which gets costly. 

    Store Coach's Upsell Subscription



    Pros and Cons of Drop Ship Lifestyle's Traffic Methods:



    Anton tells you only to use paid traffic and not to worry about SEO. I think the downside to this is you might miss out on some potential sales not focusing on social media or SEO. But the reason why I agree with Anton's Methods is because when you first start out, you shouldn't be wasting time with SEO.

    If your products and store can't be profitable using paid ads, your store isn't profitable, period.  

    The downside is, ads get expensive. But the good news is with$100 in free credit from Google Ads to get started you can generally make your first sale before you spend any of your own money, but i'd budget an extra $200 just in case.








    Overall:


    The best things about Dave Hermansen's Store Coach is the low cost to startup, but in reality, there are a lot of upsells after joining. If you don't' pay the $49 a month or $441 a year for the Pro access, you won't be able to do his system as things like manual keyword research will be tedious without it.

    The biggest downsides to Store Coach is his methods of picking niches and competing to be on the first page of Google which may have been something relatively easy to do 10 years ago, but has been extremely difficult since 2014. Another upsell is Coaches link building service which is custom quoted but you can expect it to be an additional $1,000 or more. 

    I personally wouldn't start with Store Coach if you are the type to get overwhelmed with information and give up if you don't see success right away. But if you have wayyy more time than money and want to spend 4-6 months building a store using SEO, Backlinks and writing Blog
    Content for your niche then check them out as Dave has a ton of good information on his site.

    Update: in 2017 his course now also talks about paid ads.


    Click to sign up for Store Coach


    The best things about Anton Kraly's Drop Ship Lifestyle is that I've personally met over 50 people in person who have successful stores with his method are making $1,000-$5,000 from their stores.  I really like the screen share videos that Anton uses in his course which made it a lot easier to follow and learn from than the other courses out there.

    The biggest downside to Drop Ship Lifestyle is the initial cost to join but the good thing is there are no upsells after you join. If you're on a here's a link to DSL Basic for only $497 which gives you lifetime access to all of the core modules, which is honestly enough to get your store started and make your first sales and is what I used when I first got started. 

    I have personally joined Dropship Lifestyle and have made a full time income from my dropshipping stores using Anton's Method so I know it works and it works well.  



    Click to sign up for Drop Ship Lifestyle



    Either way, I am 100% sure that dropshipping as a business model works and is the very best way to get started with any type of online business. It's the business model that replaced my 9-5 income and has allowed me to travel around the world while making enough money to save up and focus on new passion projects including my blog, podcast, sports and travel.  

    Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions as I'm happy to help. I've personally made close to $100,000 a year from dropshipping and I love giving back.




    Warm Regards,

    Johnny


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    Post a Comment

    1. Johnny, I generally agree with your review. I definitely prefer Anton's niche selection method! One thing I would say though is that Store Coach feels a little more empathetic to non-US citizens like me. For example, they even have an ebook guide to setting up a US-based business for non-US folks like myself. I wish DSL had something like this!

      The information is there on the forum but it's kinda all over the place, honestly.

      So "...$497 which gives you lifetime access to all of the core modules, which is honestly enough to get your store started and make your first sales" isn't exactly true for us :(

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey Anant, I'm glad you liked the review of Store Coach vs. DSL. It's a difficult situation as DSL was definitely created with Americans in mind as Anton goes through his own experience opening a U.S. based store, as an American himself. Drop Ship Lifestyle is super easy to follow for Americans but I can see why it would be more complicated for international members.

        And even though I started my store while living in Thailand, I'm also a U.S. Citizen with a U.S. Bank account.

        I honestly think he purposely didn't create an international guide to selling in the U.S. because he's encouraging members to sell in their home countries as there is unlimited market potential outside the U.S., but laws are different everywhere so it's hard to have a single guide.

        I emailed him your comment through asking him to at least put together a pdf like store coach does, as the info is definitely there on the forums, but I agree it's super scattered.

        Delete
    2. Hi Johnny, what is the cost of shoplify fees for a shop? Do you have to pay the same if you have a second one?

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey Chris, Shopify is $29 a month per store, so it's another $29 if you have a second store. But I have a coupon in my recommended resources page that gives you 20% off. Or just copy this one as it redirects: earnestaffiliate.com/shopify

        Delete
    3. Hey man,
      Love the blog but I wish Anton would have dropped the price 2 weeks ago, I would have dropped $500 for his course (and bought through your link) but $1,000 was just too much to swallow. I went with store coach and the pro keyword tool is pretty sweet but seems like the information is a bit thin and free anyways. Anton has good marketers and I'm curious how much more content is there that would save time in a 1st store setup. I don't think it's fair though that you call Storecoach's pro membership an upsell when comparing it to a $1,000 program. You're comparing two pay to play products. Anyways, keep the writing coming!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey really glad you like the blog! You're right about the price comparision not being fair as even with all of the upsells and the monthly rebill, Store Coach is still cheaper. I just really dislike upsells and like to know what I'm paying for upfront before I invest my time or money into something.

        Either way, best of luck with your store, let me know how your progress goes!

        Delete
    4. Hi Johnny, i liked your review very much. I have been going thru storecoach and DSL for 2-3 weeks now mostly free stuffs. I am wondering whether Anton method would work in Thailand. Presently, i am living and Thailand and am planning to dropship. Do you sell products from USA to Thailand? Thank you

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey Wild, glad you enjoyed the review. Are you a US citizen living in Thailand or are you a Thai citizen? I know eCommerce is just starting to grow here in Thailand with sites like Lazada but I personally think it's too early to easily dropship here.

        But if you're not Thai, I'd start a store in your home country like I did while living in Thailand. Hope to see you inisde www.AntonMethod.com

        Delete
    5. Hi Johnny, Thank you for the reply. I am a Thai national and i want to do ecommerce. Do you have any recommendation abt how to do ecommerce in Thailand. Isn't Lazada doing dropship? Thank you.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey Wild, since you're a Thai national, I would look into how you can become a seller for them and if possible then you can take a course to learn more about eCommerce and dropshipping in general even though it'll be slightly different on Lazada.

        Delete
    6. Thank you Johnny. I thought of taking Antonmethod but it doesn't work in Thailand ,right? So, i will keep on searching how to do ecommerce in Thailand. Thank you

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey Wild, I don't think there is any courses out there that specifically teach you how to start a local thai based dropshipping store. The closest thing out there would be Anton's course which is designed for the U.S. but people adapt it for their home country.

        Delete
    7. Hello Johnny!

      I am a member of both courses actually, I know a few people are. I think you made some good points.

      It’s clear you lean more towards Drop Ship Lifestyle because that’s what you have more experience with but I would disagree on a couple of things.

      1. Picking a niche is arguably the most important part and you say you prefer Anton’s course because it doesn’t involve keyword research. That’s fair enough. However, overall I think the DSL niche selection criteria is lacking in comparison to Store Coach. I actually read this review previously: http://www.ecommerceopinion.com/dropship-lifestyle-review/ and it seems to be the only place that points this out. I would agree. It’s quite possible to pick a niche that meets Anton’s criteria that won’t be any good simply because there is no way of measuring how big the market is. Just because a store is “still in business” doesn’t necessarily mean they are making many sales, especially online. And that’s where looking at search volume and using a keyword tool can come in handy, even if you don’t intend to do SEO.

      I know a few people inside the DSL course that have got up and running with a store but their Google Shopping ads just haven’t generated enough clicks to get any meaningful amount of traffic. The keywords don’t get enough search volume to allow it. Despite that, the niche still meets the DSL criteria. I think determining the size of the niche and available traffic before starting is valuable.

      2. When finding suppliers, I agree that it’s best to go to the manufacturers/suppliers directly, rather than using a directory. Funnily enough, that used to be the only advice in Store Coach! Only now that they have a big enough database of suppliers in their own directory, do they advise using that first. The thing is, it’s actually helpful. You still have to contact the manufacturers yourself, the directory is just an easy way to find them. It’s not like some directories that charge a fee or act as middlemen so it’s not a bad thing at all. And as you say, they also tell you how to contact manufacturers without using the directory.

      3. As for getting traffic, that’s fine if you don’t want to do SEO. But for those that want to as that’s where the potential for a lot more traffic is, Store Coach gives good SEO advice AND paid traffic advice. Store Coach teaches you about Google Shopping as well so you can be up and running just as quickly as the DSL method without waiting for SEO to work.

      I just wanted to point out the above as they were my thoughts after reading this post. I think they’re both good courses and approach things a little differently and, personally, I’ve learned things from both courses. I actually don’t favour any course over the other but thought it was only fair to point at the above.

      Anyway, keep up the blogging :)

      ReplyDelete
    8. Tried to link from your page and sign up for DSL but his checkout page is messed up.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey Eli, thanks for the heads up. I fixed the problem, it has something to do with the forwarding being broken. Go ahead and try again: http://www.antonmethod.com works now.

        Delete
    9. I tried to sign up with your link and the price change too expensive for me, do you have any discount for the course

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Hey Harry, the $997 is the cheapest price Anton does. He's only raising the price of www.AntonMethod.com as he ads more content. It doesn't go down.

        Delete
    10. You should change the content now as Store Coach and Dropship lifestyle are a lot different than they were back then. Store Coach also encourage the use of paid advertising while Dropship lifestyle slowly shifting toward SEO. However, the only difference now is that Store Coach has the marketing tool such as niche pro finder etc and it is recurring payment while DSL is one time.

      ReplyDelete
    11. Both courses have, indeed, changed quite a bit since this review. For instance, there is now a 1 1/2 hour webinar on finding and getting suppliers that was not part of the Store Coach course you reviewed. The paid advertising section has now been greatly expanded in the Store Coach course and they are rolling out a whole new Facebook advertising section sometime in early 2018. Finally, the tools have unlimited use now, so you are no longer limited to just 10 targets with the Link Thief Tool (which is now called Rank Master Pro).

      ReplyDelete

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