Dropshipping is NOT a Scam.
https://www.johnnyfd.com/2015/09/dropshipping-is-not-scam.html
I never argue with idiots and don't respond to anonymous comments online as it's largely a waste of my time and honestly, it's depressing. If someone wants to spend their life in a dark bedroom trolling on the internet, they are more than welcome to as if you simply ignore them, they don't do anyone harm but themselves. This post has been updated for 2017.
However, all of the rumors about dropshipping being a scam is hurting genuinely good people who start doubting themselves on what to do to get out of their shit 9-5 job or unhappy lifestyle. If you ever hear someone say "Dropshipping doesn't work" or "Dropshipping is a Scam" or at worse "The Course Johnny FD is promoting is a scam" simply link them to this post where I'm going to openly and honestly answer all of their questions and be as upfront as humanly possible.
If you believe this, you are an idiot or worse off, you were convinced by an idiot. Huge multimillion dollar companies including Hayneedle and Wayfair are dropshipping websites. Most people that say dropshipping doesn't work don't even know what dropshipping is, so here is the wikipedia definition:
Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer, or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer.
As in retail businesses, the majority of retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price, but some retailers earn an agreed percentage of the sales in commission, paid by the wholesaler to the retailer.
But what about that Pieter Levels guy from Nomad List that says dropshipping is a scam? Pieter is wrong.
Verdict: Dropshipping DOES work.
This argument was hard for me to flat out disagree with because I started in mid 2013 and before the terms digital nomad and dropshipping were common. I assumed that maybe people were right and believe their negative hype. Then I went through the process of starting a new store with my girlfriend, it turns out there were plenty of untapped niches out there.
Every other day, people message me on facebook asking me my opinion on whether or not I think their niche will work and 70% of the time they have ideas on their list that I've never heard of or thought of myself. There are hundreds of thousands of potential niches out there and I am willing to bet any sum of money that there are plenty of untapped ones.
The worst part of spreading this rumor is that is gives people an excuse why they should give up or never start
Verdict: Dropshipping still works in 2015 and will still work in 2025
Update: It's now 2017 and Dropshipping has gotten hotter than ever. See I told you so.
This argument is actually true. Niche selection is difficult but the problem with most people saying this is that they never learned what proper niche selection consists of. People hear the free tips given in podcast interviews or online and assume they can just find a product that is between $200-$500 and not sold in Walmart. That's only 10% of it and even for me it takes me weeks to find a good niche while crossing off 50+ "bad" ones.
Even that being said, most bad niches can still be profitable if you do the rest of the steps correctly. The problem with people who aren't part of a course and only have 10% of the information is that they can fail on even a great niche.
Knowing that people get stuck on niche selection, I've personally created a course covering how to choose a good niche that I give away for free to anyone who signs up for Anton's course through my affiliate link. I also offer my help for no charge and welcome anyone who's part of the course to message me for my opinions before the dedicate to a niche. The reason why I don't help people who haven't been through Anton's course first is because they are a usually a complete waste of time as they often will send me a list of 20 terrible niches that they would never even consider if they had educated themselves first.
If you are a member of Anton's course and didn't use my link you can still sign up for my Jump Start Success course here that goes in depth on how I choose my niches.
Verdict: Yes Niche Selection is hard, don't make it harder on yourself by trying to do it on your own.
When it comes down to it, what really proves the point is I started at PO#1001 and have had over 1,000 real customers 99.9% which have been extremely satisfied and have left real verified reviews on my stores and my the products I sell. The truth is, since I don't manufacture or even see any of the products that I sell since they are all drop shipped, but it just makes business sense to sell high quality products that don't get refunds.
There is no difference if someone buys a product from one of my stores or if they buy it directly from the manufacturer website or off of Amazon. The products are 100% legit and straight from the manufacturer.
I've now personally make over $200,000 in net profit from my dropshipping stores and that number keeps growing as I have partner stores that are still making monthly sales and getting ready to flip after running for 12 months. Here's the breakdown of how much I actually make from drop shipping. What really annoys me is the fact that thousands of people have been sitting on their asses surfing reddit and facebook for the past 2 years thinking dropshipping doesn't work while they could have been building a business and potentially have made hundreds of thousands of dollars since they first heard about it.
I am so thankful that when I first heard about Anton's dropshipping course and signed up, I didn't hear any of the negativity as it would have given me false doubts and possibly prevented me from ever even getting started. I'd still be broke today if I had listened to the idiots online who had never done it themselves and have no idea what they're talking about.
Whether you start a dropshipping store, or any of the other 150+ online businesses that I breakdown every single week on the Travel Like a Boss Podcast where I interview successful location independent entrepreneurs and ask them how they make money online while traveling, I wish you the best of luck. Let me know where your journey takes you!
However, all of the rumors about dropshipping being a scam is hurting genuinely good people who start doubting themselves on what to do to get out of their shit 9-5 job or unhappy lifestyle. If you ever hear someone say "Dropshipping doesn't work" or "Dropshipping is a Scam" or at worse "The Course Johnny FD is promoting is a scam" simply link them to this post where I'm going to openly and honestly answer all of their questions and be as upfront as humanly possible.
Argument #1: Dropshipping Doesn't Work
If you believe this, you are an idiot or worse off, you were convinced by an idiot. Huge multimillion dollar companies including Hayneedle and Wayfair are dropshipping websites. Most people that say dropshipping doesn't work don't even know what dropshipping is, so here is the wikipedia definition:
Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer, or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer.
As in retail businesses, the majority of retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price, but some retailers earn an agreed percentage of the sales in commission, paid by the wholesaler to the retailer.
But what about that Pieter Levels guy from Nomad List that says dropshipping is a scam? Pieter is wrong.
Verdict: Dropshipping DOES work.
Argument #2: Dropshipping No Longer Works
This argument was hard for me to flat out disagree with because I started in mid 2013 and before the terms digital nomad and dropshipping were common. I assumed that maybe people were right and believe their negative hype. Then I went through the process of starting a new store with my girlfriend, it turns out there were plenty of untapped niches out there.
Every other day, people message me on facebook asking me my opinion on whether or not I think their niche will work and 70% of the time they have ideas on their list that I've never heard of or thought of myself. There are hundreds of thousands of potential niches out there and I am willing to bet any sum of money that there are plenty of untapped ones.
The worst part of spreading this rumor is that is gives people an excuse why they should give up or never start
Verdict: Dropshipping still works in 2015 and will still work in 2025
Update: It's now 2017 and Dropshipping has gotten hotter than ever. See I told you so.
Argument #3: Niche Selection is Hard
This argument is actually true. Niche selection is difficult but the problem with most people saying this is that they never learned what proper niche selection consists of. People hear the free tips given in podcast interviews or online and assume they can just find a product that is between $200-$500 and not sold in Walmart. That's only 10% of it and even for me it takes me weeks to find a good niche while crossing off 50+ "bad" ones.
Even that being said, most bad niches can still be profitable if you do the rest of the steps correctly. The problem with people who aren't part of a course and only have 10% of the information is that they can fail on even a great niche.
Knowing that people get stuck on niche selection, I've personally created a course covering how to choose a good niche that I give away for free to anyone who signs up for Anton's course through my affiliate link. I also offer my help for no charge and welcome anyone who's part of the course to message me for my opinions before the dedicate to a niche. The reason why I don't help people who haven't been through Anton's course first is because they are a usually a complete waste of time as they often will send me a list of 20 terrible niches that they would never even consider if they had educated themselves first.
If you are a member of Anton's course and didn't use my link you can still sign up for my Jump Start Success course here that goes in depth on how I choose my niches.
Verdict: Yes Niche Selection is hard, don't make it harder on yourself by trying to do it on your own.
I get tons of questions a day and happily answer them |
Argument #4: Johnny Makes All of His Money Selling Dreams
The assumption that I make all of my money selling shovels to miners is sounds cool but is stupid. If you want to compare this to the gold rush, then not only was I the first one to tell of you that there is actual gold here instead of just keeping it to myself, but I was also one of the first people in the mine digging it up myself, and am still in the mines everyday 2 and a 1/2 years later.
First off, I'm not forcing anyone to buy a shovel, just like Levi's didn't force anyone to buy their Jeans. I'm just offering my recommendation on which is the best shovel or pair of Jeans to buy if you decide you want to.
Secondly, I've been making an average of $2,000-$5,000 a month in take home profit from my stores since August 2013 which means, if you do the math I've made over $84,000 from my actual stores, nothing to do with selling shovels.
The reason why I now "only" make $1,500 from some of my stores is because I've lost focus and have left the stores on autopilot for too long. I've realized that my unique talent and passion isn't running ecommerce stores full time, but instead is sparking and creating passion and having a voice in the world. I love teaching, I love interviewing others, and I love blogging and podcasting.
Update: Last month I made $7,646.28 in profit from dropshipping.
Update: Last month I made $7,646.28 in profit from dropshipping.
So if you ever hear this argument again, tell that person to do some fucking math. Even if they only made $1,500 a month from taking a $1,000 course I promoted, that's a 150% ROI their first month of profitability or if they kept their stores profitable for the next two years, that's an 85x return on investment. You should be happy to give me an affiliate percentage for introducing you to the course, telling you where the gold is, and selling you the shovel in the first place.
Verdict: The goldmine is real, I've been mining it alongside everyone else for almost three years.
Taking a break from the mines for a quick dip in the pool |
Argument #6: His Real Name isn't Johnny FD.
Yes. And your real name isn't BKK_Nomad and if you were posting income reports online you wouldn't be using your real last name either. But if you really want to know it's here. Johnny IS my real name.
Verdict: Who cares.
Argument #7: All of the Numbers Are Fake.
No. None of the numbers I post are made up, and honestly I could make more money in the time it would take to photoshop and keep consistent everything I post. Here's a video of me refreshing my shopify dashboard so you can see for yourself.
Verdict: It's not fake.
Argument #8: Johnny Only Shares Certain Information.
Yes. I only share what is currently relevant to helping my readers to get to the next step. Sometimes I honestly just forget to post things such as my income from my Youtube channel ads for the past 8 months. I wasn't trying to hide it, it was just irrelevant.
Other times I test things out myself before I announce it to the world, I didn't start talking about affiliate marketing until I started creating my course Earnest Affiliate because I didn't know what the hell I was talking about yet, and wasn't trying to brag that I made $400 during the first 12 months I was researching and learning about it.
Verdict: Be happy that I show everything I've learned inside my new course.
A discussion about "Who's Successful?" inside the member forums |
Argument #9: All of the Good Domain Names Are Taken.
Yes? No? I don't know, and honestly it doesn't matter as this applies to all websites in the world not just dropshipping sites. Anyone who uses this as an argument is a fucking idiot and has no idea what they are talking about.
Verdict: Just use a three word domain name or think outside the box.
Argument #10: Dropshipping Information Should be Free.
No it shouldn't. Would you ask a doctor, lawyer, mechanic or even a plumber to waste their time giving you all of their knowledge for free? The reason why Anton charges $997 for his course is because the knowledge and individual help inside the course it is worth that much. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be so many members.
Anyone who tries to do it on their own with "free" aka shitty information is actually scamming themselves as one or two things will end up happening.
1. They Fail - 99% of people who start dropshipping on their own because they get stuck somewhere, or do something completely wrong that they would have learned was a no-no in the course. The worst thing about these people isn't just that they wasted their time, but they start spreading vile poison to other people wanting to start a dropshipping store telling them that they failed and that it doesn't work.
2. They Succeed - If you're hardworking enough, or had a background in something ecommerce related, you will have a decent chance at succeeding. Archie Jeter is one of those guys. The problem with doing it on your own is it often takes 5 months or longer before you are profitable, verses 2 months which is the average for someone in Anton's course. This means, you lost out on $5,000 in profit that you could have been making. So instead of paying $1,000, you've now lost $4,000.
Verdict: You Get Out What You Give in Life
My actual dashboard for one of my stores |
Happy Customers:
When it comes down to it, what really proves the point is I started at PO#1001 and have had over 1,000 real customers 99.9% which have been extremely satisfied and have left real verified reviews on my stores and my the products I sell. The truth is, since I don't manufacture or even see any of the products that I sell since they are all drop shipped, but it just makes business sense to sell high quality products that don't get refunds.
There is no difference if someone buys a product from one of my stores or if they buy it directly from the manufacturer website or off of Amazon. The products are 100% legit and straight from the manufacturer.
In Conclusion:
Stop associating dropshipping with a get rich quick scheme as it's not. I've never once said you can make millions overnight and have always been open and upfront on exactly how much I personally make from my stores as well as openly talk about how it took me 2 months to make my first sale.
I'm sick and tired of people who don't know me and have never been successful in anything themselves saying that the course that has changed my life that I have openly promoted for the past 2 years is a scam. It's not. No one in their right mind who has ever met Anton Kraly, the creator of the dropshipping course would ever call him a scammer as he is one of the most genuine people in the world. 99% of members of his course are all happy to be in it which is why there are almost zero negative reviews about Anton's Method, The Dropship Lifestyle.
The truth is if I had just kept my mouth shut, didn't tell anyone that dropshipping works, and spent my time building more stores for myself instead of helping others and sharing knowledge, I would be making $10,000 a month from dropshipping profit. But instead, I wanted to pursue what I love doing, which is creating multiple flows of income, interviewing entrepreneurs and trying new businesses. The next time someone says to you "not dropshipping again" or "dropshipping doesn't work" ask them how much money they are making from their online business and exactly how they do it.
I hope this clears things up. Do me a favor and share this post with anyone who doubts, hates or is simply misinformed.
By the way if you do end up signing up for Anton's course, use my link so I can get credit for referring you and as a thank you I'll send you my Jump Start Success course for free. It doesn't cost you any extra and it allows me to help you get past the common hurdles people get when they first start out.
If you're curious why I promote dropshipping as much as I do, read this.
Update: This post in the private member forums of Anton's course sums it all up perfectly. Now that you have the info, the choice is yours.
By the way if you do end up signing up for Anton's course, use my link so I can get credit for referring you and as a thank you I'll send you my Jump Start Success course for free. It doesn't cost you any extra and it allows me to help you get past the common hurdles people get when they first start out.
If you're curious why I promote dropshipping as much as I do, read this.
Update: This post in the private member forums of Anton's course sums it all up perfectly. Now that you have the info, the choice is yours.
2017 Dropshipping Update:
I've now personally make over $200,000 in net profit from my dropshipping stores and that number keeps growing as I have partner stores that are still making monthly sales and getting ready to flip after running for 12 months. Here's the breakdown of how much I actually make from drop shipping. What really annoys me is the fact that thousands of people have been sitting on their asses surfing reddit and facebook for the past 2 years thinking dropshipping doesn't work while they could have been building a business and potentially have made hundreds of thousands of dollars since they first heard about it.
I am so thankful that when I first heard about Anton's dropshipping course and signed up, I didn't hear any of the negativity as it would have given me false doubts and possibly prevented me from ever even getting started. I'd still be broke today if I had listened to the idiots online who had never done it themselves and have no idea what they're talking about.
Whether you start a dropshipping store, or any of the other 150+ online businesses that I breakdown every single week on the Travel Like a Boss Podcast where I interview successful location independent entrepreneurs and ask them how they make money online while traveling, I wish you the best of luck. Let me know where your journey takes you!
Warm Regards,
Johnny
Learn Something? Share this Post!
Yep. The truth is the only way to fail at anything in life is to not take action. Most successful people have failed their way upwards. They didn't give up after their first failure (or second) or get up on a soap box to denounce all the other"lemmings"
ReplyDeleteFailure is a lesson from which to grow, besides the word failure is relative. Its all about finding the right fit and doing what you can with what you have with were you are and never ever giving up. Thanks Johnny for all your efforts, for never holding the information at ransom with a buy it button and yes, you have found your ultimate niche in helping people get motivated and keep taking action, like me, a 41 year old unemployed nobody living in a shed in the boondocks. I might be penniless now but watch this space. If your prepared to take consistent action fail upwards and never give up for as long as it takes (10 yrs and counting), then I invite you to join me one day in Chiang Mai, whiskey's on me. ;-)
Clinton Barker
The farm shed ,Boondocks
Umzumbe KZN South Africa. 07/09/2015
Hey Clinton, thanks for all of the support buddy! It means a lot! Hope to catch you in Chiang Mai or SA one day soon.
Deletehttp://www.dangerandplay.com/2015/02/14/go-back-basics/
ReplyDeleteMike Cernovich: ... Just don't buy into people who say "lifestyle design" or whatever people call it these days is easy.
gaoupiou: what do you think about this guy? he sells his course for 997$...based on your experience do you think its a scam? http://www.dropshiplifestyle.com
Mike Cernovich: 99% of online courses are a scam.
http://www.dangerandplay.com/2015/02/14/go-back-basics/
I actually know Mike in person through a good buddy of ours. He's a super smart guy and is very successful and did it completely on his own. But I guarantee he doesn't have the time or patience to walk you through step by step how to create success like his and 99% of people would benefit from a course that is actually legit.
DeleteAnton's course is one of those rare gems, which is why I promote it so much.
Don't worry about the naysayers Johnny. Stay positive and keep doing what your doing! Enjoy Life brother!
ReplyDeleteThanks John! I really appreciate it!
DeleteHey Johnny, i am a huge fan and find your blog inspiring. But recently, i have become disillusioned after reading comments about you on a Reddit thread. I see that you still coach PUA Bootcamps under your other name "Johnny Wolf" in Thailand and China for ABC's of Attraction. Why don't you disclose this other business in your Income Reports? The naysayers would be less critical of you if you were up-front about your career as a PUA instructor. This way, everything is transparent and no one can accuse you of being scammy. Kind regards and sincerely hope i have found a mentor i can follow.
ReplyDeleteGood point! I didn't mention it because #1. It was embarrassing, and #2 I haven't been a PUA Coach for 3-5 years now.
DeleteBut I wrote a super detailed post about it here that is 100% transparent as I know how important it is for some people what we've done in the past: http://www.johnnyfd.com/2015/08/who-is-real-johnny-fd-jen-wolf-halo.html
Hope that helps!
Hi Johnny,
DeleteI'd be interested in your experiences in the PUA world. Do you have another link that works?
Hey Tom, the link should work. If you're interested in what I taught and why I left, there are about 2 hours of videos in this post: http://www.johnnyfd.com/2015/08/who-is-real-johnny-fd-jen-wolf-halo.html
DeleteEnjoy!
Great blog, Johnny! Entertaining and insightful :D Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with the world!
ReplyDeleteHey KEvans, happy to share buddy! Hope all is well!
Delete