How Much Money Do You Need to Start Dropshipping in 2019?

In this video, I answer a question that I get asked a lot, which is: How much money do you REALLY need to start a dropshipping business?

The actual startup costs of a dropshipping store are extremely low – all you really need is $50 for a Shopify plan + a domain name. The biggest expense is the marketing you need to drive traffic to your site.

I talk about 2 different marketing strategies you can use based on your starting budget: one strategy for a low budget, one strategy for a higher budget.

Low Budget ($200+) strategy

• Minimum amount I recommend is $200 + a credit card
• $29 for Shopify plan, $14 for domain name, free apps or free trials. Leaves you with ~$150 for promos. Main expense is marketing.
• Credit card is necessary to have cash flow for fulfilling orders
• With less than $1000, you can’t afford Facebook ads (unless you know exactly what you are doing)
• Can start with cost-effective IG influencer posts instead
• With IG influencer pages, you can negotiate, and your posts can go viral if you are clever with your marketing
• High risk but high reward
• Not all posts do well but some get crazy ROI
• Good learning experience, and can start building up capital

Example ($200+) strategy

• This is how I started Beauty Charcoal in 2017 with less than $500 in the bank
• Found a cheap product that solves a problem and was starting to trend
• Ran simple page influencer promotions, multiple went viral with 5X+ ROAS, some failed
• Provided an amazing learning experience and helped build up capital

Pros & Cons – IG Influencers

Pros: Low barrier to entry, potential for high returns , good learning experience, can use data for FB ads later on

Cons: Competitive, inconsistent, less scaling potential

High Budget ($1000-$2000+)

• If you have $2000 saved up, you can go straight into Facebook Ads instead
• You must be willing to lose some of that money testing and learning, especially if you have no prior experience

Pros & Cons – Facebook Ads

Pros: More consistent than influencers, more scaling potential, better for long term growth

Cons: Expensive & difficult to master, steep learning curve, requires a lot more testing