How a silly little lamp helped me form a whole business!
You know people who have a thousand things on the go? They keep thinking of new ideas and start a different project everyday — you just want to scream at them and tell them to just stick to one already? That’s me. Not the person screaming but the one being screamed at.
All I wanted was to start a business that I loved, breathed, was proud of. What I didn’t realize was that most of my dreams needed a chunk of money that I didn’t have. So I paused and thought: “Your first business doesn’t need to be your dream business.”
So this time I put everything aside and decided that I was going to do nothing but learn. I knew that my corporate job was not gonna help me save anywhere near the amount of money that I needed for my dream business (whatever that was going to be). I started thinking of side hustles that would allow me to earn extra money sooner, faster. The first thing that came to mind was Dropshipping.
Dropshipping is when you buy products from suppliers at a low price, sell the items at whatever price you wish and keep the difference as profit. The best part is that you don’t need to keep any of the inventory. When your customer buys it from you, your supplier sends it directly to them. This means it’s a low maintenance, low overhead business. PERFECT.
After several months of self education, these are the steps I knew I needed to take to ensure a successful business.
Step 1: Find a winning product
Step 2: Find a reliable supplier
Step 3: Build a reputable Brand
Step 4: Create a website
Step 5: Build Social Proof (Recommended but not necessary)
Step 6: Run Ads
After weeks of research and thorough analyzing for a winning product, I found a silly little lamp that turned on by connecting two strings together that weighed down by a wooden ball. It caught my eye — which is what I was looking for. A product that is unique, eye catching or simply that you may not be able to find it in stores is usually a win.
This is the part where I decided to go all in. I remembered to “Take the risk or lose the chance”.
I started a Shopify store, built a website and started to layout a strategy for my new business. After reading books, watching YouTube videos and joining webinars, I realized that I needed to brand around this silly little lamp. Was I only going to be selling a lamp? Would anyone buy a lamp from a store that was only selling one single lamp? I knew that I needed to brand. I began my search for similar products that I can market around the lamp so it starts to look like an actual business.
Soon after, I stumbled upon a supplier who was selling gorgeous, luxury lighting that I, personally, have never seen before. They really resonated with me and I knew that I had something else going on here. I contacted the supplier and got all the information I needed to proceed. After analyzing their reputation, I confirmed they would be reliable and trustworthy.
Turns out, the silly little lamp was not what was catching people’s attention but these luxury lights that I was able to make affordable due to the low prices these suppliers were selling them for.
I created a Pinterest account, branded around luxury inspirations and posted pictures every single day until I reached half a million monthly views. Next thing you know, I was getting organic followers and purchases.
It sounds easier than it was but the take away here is to learn. Although it took me about 2 years to get some traction, I got better and better as the days went by. I evaluated my competitors, adjusted my branding, and increase my awareness.
If you have a good idea, go with it. Don’t give up until you’ve improved on areas like branding, awareness, pictures, website layout. When running ads, make sure to switch up your creative video and get some help if you’re unsure on how they work. That is of course if you’ve proven to have a winning product (More on that in next article).
