Starting a business requires a lot of capital, mainly if you aim to make it the primary source of your income or become a filthy billionaire. However, you can venture into one business model without spending a single dime: dropshipping. This business model suits people who want to venture into dropshipping without money and quit 9 to 5.
The business has low risk and less capital to start with no money since the supplier is reliable for holding the inventory. If you have that passion for venturing into the business world, you can join the dropshipping world.
Many people pretend to be experts and give people “secret ingredients” for starting and running a successful dropshipping business. But the truth is, most of these people lie and set high expectations for beginners, disappointing them.
After researching, we created this article to help you understand dropshipping, why you choose it, and how to start dropshipping without money and quit your 9-to-5. Let’s dive in and explore the world of dropshipping without money.
Table of Contents
What is Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is a business model that doesn’t require keeping products in stock. Instead, you sell the product and pass the order to your supplier, who ships it directly to your customer. As a seller, you sell products to your customers and earn a commission on each order you make.
With this business model, you will sell products without holding any inventory. If you are looking for a low-risk business model, dropshipping is the perfect one, and it is also ideal for people with no money to invest.
How to Start Dropshipping with no Money and Quit 9 To 5
Before venturing into the world of dropshipping, it is essential to understand what you need, especially when you want to start with no money and quit your 9-to-5. You need to have strategies and do everything perfectly, as it is crucial because it will be your new source of income. In case of any mistakes, your business will fail. Therefore, there is no room for errors.
Some videos, guides, and blogs share information about venturing into dropshipping, but most need more accuracy.
Today, we will share how to start dropshipping with no money and quit 9 to 5.
Find a Profitable Niche
A profitable niche is essential when venturing into the dropshipping business model. Most people will tell you to focus on a niche you are passionate about, but that’s not the truth. What if the niche you are passionate about has high competition and low demand?
Other products are also seasonal; thus, the market is high only during certain seasons. How will you sell your products to customers and earn a living from your store with such a niche?
The first step to success is choosing your niche. This will determine whether you will succeed or fail. Some niches in the market are profitable with low competition, high demand, no seasonality, and a variety of products to choose from.
To select a profitable niche for dropshipping with no money, here are a few tips that you need to consider;
- Do research on the demand for the products
- Look for niches with low product turnover
- Aim for low competition and high demand
- Choose a niche with both local and global products
- Are there reliable suppliers?
These pointers will help you choose a reliable niche for your dropshipping store. This niche will help you determine your target audience, the type of products you will sell, and the overall dropshipping strategy.
Research Free Products
Starting a dropshipping business without money requires high-quality products that attract and draw customers to your store. With dropshipping, you don’t need any capital to manage inventory, as in this business model, only suppliers or wholesalers are responsible for inventory, making it a perfect venture for people with low incomes.
You need to look for products in high demand but with low competition. This is why you need to go for winning products. It makes it easy for you to market your products as the demand is high, and few dropshippers sell the same products.
The most common products you can choose include;
- Home and décor
- Footwear and apparel
- Accessories and jewelry
- Phone Accessories
- Car Accessories
Find a Supplier
If you have to quit your 9-5 job to start another business, you need to put in all your effort since it will be your source of income.
One key factor that will determine the success of your venture is the type of dropshipping supplier you choose. The good thing is that you only pay your suppliers after a customer orders and pays for the products.
A supplier is just your business partner; thus, you must be trustworthy for your business to succeed. The dropshipping sector is saturated with reliable suppliers, while others are scammers who can make your business fail within the first month.
A good and reliable supplier should offer fair prices, quality products, excellent customer service, and customized packaging.
Here are some easy ways to find a reliable supplier for your dropshipping business, especially if you are starting with little money.
- Do a thorough research.
- Work with suppliers who offer free trial plans
- The supplier needs to have a variety of products
- The shipping cost and time
- Customer support
Choose a Platform
To drop ship, you will need a platform to host your business online. The platform acts as a home for your business, drives traffic, sells products, and receives your payments. When starting a dropshipping business with no money and quitting your 9-5 job, you have two options: a marketplace or an e-commerce website.
Ecommerce websites are the standard type of platform that most dropshippers use. These platforms are perfect, especially when working with a tight budget or venturing into dropshipping without money. These platforms include Shopify, Wix, and WooCommerce, among others. For example, since you don’t have money, you can start with the Shopify free plan until you make enough to upgrade your plan.
You can also start your store on Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, or eBay. These digital platforms are always busy, making them perfect for attracting customers. They also generate sales, as the vast audience makes it easy for your business to gain visibility without investing in marketing.
A good platform should be easy to use, offer unlimited integrations, have excellent customer support, and be scalable. Since this will be your dropshipping shop, your platform must also be reliable and have excellent customer support.
If your platform supports all the above features, offering a top-notch customer experience becomes easy, resulting in more customers trusting your brand.
Setup your Dropshipping Store
After choosing a niche, products, supplier, and platform, now is the time to set up your store. But before that, there are certain things that you will need for your store. A business name is essential as this becomes the name that buyers use to find you. It needs to be easy and represent what your brand deals with.
You need a logo and a color for your brand. Nowadays, you can create your business logo using free software.
For example, Canva has a free plan and unlimited templates that you can use to customize your business logo. Ensure the logo has your business name and use the primary colors for your brands.
Once you have a business name, logo, and brand color, you can set up your dropshipping business on your chosen platform. If your platform is Shopify, it is easy to customize to align with your brand.
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Furthermore, there are plenty of guides on Shopify that can help you launch your dropshipping quickly.
Market your Dropshipping Store
Most people who venture into dropshipping quit before nine months. And if you are still looking for a winning strategy, your store might be the next. Imagine quitting your 9-5 job to start dropshipping. Then, it fails even before you enjoy the fruits of your hard work. It can be frustrating, especially with bills waiting to be paid, but you need a source of income.
However, there is a way you need to market your dropshipping store for the world to see. Since you are on a budget, you can utilize the available resources to market your business. In 2024, the total number of social media users worldwide was 5.04 billion.
This number indicates that social media is powerful for marketing your business. You can focus on platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or WhatsApp.
Be creative and create unique ads and content for your marketing campaigns.
Offer Exceptional Customer Support
Customer support is an essential aspect of an e-commerce business. Remember, you don’t have a physical store; customers must purchase from your online store.
With the rise in scammers, trusting an online buyer can sometimes take work. A dropshipping store with excellent customer support makes it easy for buyers to trust your brand.
Artificial intelligence and technological advancements have allowed business owners to give customers instant and 24/7 support, thus enhancing the overall customer experience. However, doing this manually can be challenging; however, the introduction of chatbots has made it easy.
Ecommercebot is a perfect chatbot that has made the process easy. This bot has made customer support easy.
It is available 24/7, giving customers instant support to help them solve their issues. Ecommercebot is perfect for people starting dropshipping without money, as you can enjoy using It for a 30-day free trial.
Tips for Growing Your Dropshipping Store with No Money
You already have the guide on how to start dropshipping with no money and quit your 9 to 5, and you have probably launched your store, but how can you grow your dropshipping with no money? Don’t worry; we have a few pointers that we want to share with you to help you out.
Give Discounts
Most people say no to a great deal. Offering discounts to your customers is one way of converting them into long-lasting customers. Some of the great things you can give them are seasonal products, holidays, influencer marketing campaigns, specific sales campaigns, and more. This makes it perfect for growing your audience and increasing your brand awareness.
Additionally, you can give your customers extra service when they purchase more than a certain amount, buy within a certain period, are loyal customers, or buy a certain number of items. One excellent service you can give your customers is free shipping.
Create a Sense of Urgency and scarcity.
A sense of urgency is a perfect strategy for increasing sales and ensuring customers get all the deals on your marketing campaigns. You can create a sense of urgency for your new arrivals by adding a countdown button that shows the time left until the product launches or a specific campaign ends.
Additionally, you can use the sense of scarcity. It shows your customers that the demand for certain products is higher than the number of available products, which isn’t true but a tactic. The shortage of products creates a sense of product value and price, contributing to the increase in product value.
Some scarcity examples you can use include;
- Flash Sale
- Limited stock
- Only a few (items) left
- 3 hours left till the deal is off
- 6 (Item) left
Get Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Before purchasing anything online, customers love reading previous customer reviews to learn about their experience with the product and whether the quality is worth it. This strategy helps add credibility to your store and offers purchase incentives. Customers who find a positive review will purchase the product from your store without second thoughts.
Collect reviews and testimonials from your customers and add them to your store’s dropshipping website. Don’t include fake reviews, as one customer can expose you and result in negative reviews. To gather them, email your customers, thank them for shopping with you, and request they leave a short review.
Have a Clear Refund and Return Policy
What happens when you purchase a product online but receive a broken item, the wrong one, or one with a dent, and the store owner needs a refund policy? Will you ever purchase from that store again? I know your answer is definitely no, and that’s the same with your customers.
If you fail to give them a return policy where they can return products or get a refund, they will never purchase from your store again and leave a negative review for you. Before signing any agreement document with your supplier, check their refund policy to avoid being responsible. Ensure your customers can get a return or refund without many issues.
Offer Exceptional Customer Support
Customer support is an essential factor that you need to focus on. Many customers abandon their carts anytime they need better customer support. One characteristic of poor customer support is the delay in responding to customer queries. The maximum time a customer is willing to wait is 3 minutes; if it goes past that, it results in customer frustration.
Add a live chat to your dropshipping store to ensure customers get instant replies even in your absence. A perfect way to do this is by integrating a chatbot like Ecommercebot with your ecommerce store. It makes it easy, as the bot is trained with keywords to respond to your users automatically. Also, with one button, the customer can be transferred to a live agent to help with complex queries.
Conclusion
Before taking the crucial step to quit your 9-5 job, you need to wait for your dropshipping store to work. The high rate of dropshipping is due to people closing their stores even within the first nine months.
Dropshipping is not easy; as most people say, it takes a lot before your store can generate passive income.
You can try Ecommercebot for free; no credit card is required. You agree to turn your E-commerce business into a success story by clicking the image below.
However, if you work with proven strategies and put more effort and time into your store, you might start earning within the first few months and quit your 9-5 job to focus on dropshipping only.
Ecommercebot makes the dropshipping journey as this bot automates the marketing and customer support activities. For drop shippers focusing on Shopify, the bot helps track inventory and orders, answer customer queries, and help them throughout their shopping journey.
With a 30-day free trial, try our bot and see if it’s a perfect fit for your dropshipping store.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is dropshipping worth it for beginners?
Yes, dropshipping is a perfect venture for beginners. Its low capital investment and low risk make it a suitable business model for people who want to start with little money.
How hard is dropshipping?
Dropshipping is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It is an easy venture for most people as you only sell other people’s products and earn a certain percentage. But when you look at the dropshipping obstacles and all the management processes, dropshipping is hard.
Can I start dropshipping with $0?
Yes, you can start dropshipping with $0. However, the process is challenging as you have to rely on free services that are often unreliable.
How soon can I make money from dropshipping?
Only a few people succeed in dropshipping during the first months. Most people try running and shutting different dropshipping stores before finding the perfect one. It can take up to six months to start making a profit and quit your 9-5 job.
