Are you thinking about starting a dropshipping store? Dropshipping is a fun way to break into ecommerce without having to front all that startup capital in the beginning. Because starting a store (even an online store) is pricey. I’m going to share my personal story of starting a dropshipping store and growing it to $100,000 in the first 18 months. It was not without a bunch of bumps in the road but each setback is a growing experience and sharing my story will hopefully inspire you to start your own online store and go after your dreams.

Ok, so here’s how it started…

The Beginning

I graduated with a Bachelors degree and went into the personal finance field. In college I really didn’t know what I wanted to do as an adult. I had a draw to entrepreneurship but brushed it off for years because I thought it’d just be too hard. That, and I didn’t have any ideas on what kind of business I wanted to pursue.

I started working at this major company with reluctance.

You ever work for an incredible employer in a crappy job?

This was THAT kinda job.

It’s funny because my sister is actually going through something similar right now. She landed her dream employer but not her dream job and just a few months in, she’s looking for other opportunities.

It’s a bummer but it happens, hey.

Ok, so going into this job, my plan was only to work for the company a year, then move on.

I planned to move to another city a few hours away, live and work there.

That DID NOT happen.

Fast forward seven years and I am STILL in that job.

What I Hated About the Job

Ok, so before I spill into a rant about why I hate my job, here is what I LOVED about the company.

It was an AWESOME company!

Working there afforded me to not pay one cent for health care, even doctor’s appointments. My pregnancy incurred zero out of pocket cost. I had understanding bosses and I had opportunities to grow my skills and make lateral moves within the company. The pay was pretty good for what I was doing. Where I worked as actually the company’s headquarters so it was outfitted with a ton of amenities like:

• Tennis courts
• Basketball courts
• Multiple cafeterias
• Popular eateries on campus (like Chik-fila, Wendy’s, Burger King, Starbucks, Smoothie King, etc.)
• Places to shop on campus (kiosks were contractors were selling stuff and gift stores throughout the company)

The first day of work, they gave our group a tour and it took nearly 2 hours to walk the entire campus.

It was huge.

This was all great.

But, what didn’t I like?

There was little opportunity for promotion. While I did grow my skills and make some lateral moves, I did not get promoted, just raises throughout the year. It was VERY difficult to move from one part of the company to the other.

For example, if you work in production, it’s difficult to move to human resources.

Depending who your boss was (I had 8 bosses while working there), you were gonna get micromanaged. Which means you were scrutinized over the tiniest things, like the conversation my boss had with me about my bathroom breaks (really?) when my numbers and performance were well within adherence.

I digress.

There was also a culture of overall fear. It’s hard to describe. You just felt like you were always in fear of losing your job. I talked to my peers about this and they all felt the same way.

There’s more but I will stop here.

So, during my time there, in my last year or so I decided I was gonna quit.

Before I could quit, I had to hatch a plan.

I just had a baby, my husband was in school and although he made a full time income from the G.I. bill and VA disability, it would be kinda tight for him to support the entire family on that income.

I started trying all kinds of things to make extra money.

My thinking was that I would do whatever (as long as legal of course) to make extra money and if it worked and I could make a full time income, I’d quit.

Money was my motivation.

I figured I could do just about anything and it’d be better than working in my position.

So, I did side hustles like…

• Copywriting (I wrote for some major publications too)
• Ecommerce
• Selling used electronics
• Retail arbitrage
• Selling Twitter packages
• Selling on Amazon
• Selling on Ebay
• And, more!

What finally stuck?

Retail arbitrage (dropshipping)!

How I Started Dropshipping

I opened a little store on a free platform (later moved to this more robust platform)and made $25 my first week.

That was enough to hook me!

Within a few months I was earning $1,000/mo and within a year I had fully replaced my day job income so..

I QUIT!

The day I quit

My coworker on my team actually quit a few days before. I had planned to work 2-4 weeks and had a sit down with my boss.

She said I could leave that day if I wanted and still be in good standing.

She was super shocked when I told her I was leaving and she actually started laughing. It was pretty gut wrenching. I felt bad.

The next day, I started my full-time schedule working from home and the rest is history.

The Ins and Outs of Dropshipping

Dropshipping is great. But, there are some drawbacks, which is why I eventually moved to an inventory held model so I could control production, quality control, fulfillment, etc.

I dropshipped from AliExpress and Ebay.

It was easy and I was processing hundreds or orders daily.

In its peak I was receiving 50K page views monthly and making $30K revenue!

Dropshipping Tools I Used

• Shopify-to run the store
• Instagram-my chief marketing method
• AliExpress-chief dropshipping source
• Later-for Instagram scheduling
• Spreesy-for flash sales (acquired by CommentSold)
• Upwork-to find employees/contractors

The Store Sold!

I ended up flipping the store as a profit, after a few years of operation.

The work life balance was really difficult and I wanted a more flexible schedule where I wasn’t run ragged.

I only had 2 employees and I was so obsessed with it all, I knew I had to just walk away and pursue something different.

And so I did, blogging!

That’s My Story

Want more?

Curious about how to get started yourself?

Join my free email course, Dropshipping Kickstart to get you on your path to dropshipping success.