“Hey, let’s sell dog gear!”
This isn’t the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning, but it’s what I do now. Well, sort of…
I’ll be honest: selling cute dog collars isn’t my life’s passion. Don’t get me wrong. I love dogs, and I love my business, but my main goal in life is to help others succeed in their businesses. As backwards as it sounds, selling Hawaiian-themed dog collars was one path towards this business nirvana.
So… You Sell Dog Stuff?
Weird, right? It’s not a million-dollar business idea. I’m not going to get rich off of it, and I’d much rather be selling dream vacation packages to Venice.
So… Why oh why would you want to start selling dog collars???
In short → To survive, my business needs to learn the trends.
Monkey See Trend — Monkey Learn Trend
I recently watched a very nice video about a 50-year-old man learning TikTok.
50 years old.
+
TikTok.
=
Spooky, right?
The reason this (Gen Z) X 5 man was learning TikTok was because it’s the new trend. That’s where the money is now, and that’s where it’s currently heading.
https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fgiphy.com%2Fembed%2Fl2uluGTvB7DAQvZyHp%2Ftwitter%2Fiframe&display_name=Giphy&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiphy.com%2Fgifs%2Ftiktok-dogs-puppy-cute-dog-l2uluGTvB7DAQvZyHp&image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2Fl2uluGTvB7DAQvZyHp%2Fgiphy.gif&key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=giphyTikTok pupper is all about the trends!
Ecommerce is where the money is now. It’s the new oil boom. Gold Rush. Just look at the growth of Shopify, one of the easiest ways to quickly built an eCommerce website and start selling in under a month.
Growth of Shopify
People are more and more shopping online for their needs. Shaving gear. Food. Dog collars. You name it. Be honest: when was the last time you DIDN’T look on Amazon for your new toy?
To be frank, I don’t care too much for eCommerce; what I DO care about are the jobs and impact that it has for my business sector: automation & consulting.
That’s why I’m learning eCommerce by building an eCommerce site. Not for eCommerce’s sake, but for the jobs and opportunities it creates.
Build a Simple eCommerce Business to Learn It
Ecommerce creates a whole new marketplace for services. For my business automation company, we wanted to help companies take advantage of eCommerce automation opportunities; however, we had no idea about the terms or industry.
To serve these new eCommerce business clients and understand all of the peripheral jobs it creates, we knew we had to create an eCommerce site to truly understand it.
To get started, we identified a niche market (Dog Collars & Leashes) and got to work creating a WordPress + WooCommerce eCommerce Biz.
I built the site and the surrounding infrastructure in 2 months (15 hours/week). Not bad, right???
Along the way, I learned…
- Web Hosting ←SiteGround is one of the best for WooCommerce.
- Website Optimization ← Making Your Site Faster & Cleaner
- WooCommerce ← Free eCommerce Platform for Selling on WordPress.
- WordPress ← Super Common (And Free!) Website Management Platform.
- Elementor ← Easy Website Design Platform.
- SEO ← Drive people to your website from Google searches.
- Facebook Pixel ← Tracking Your FB Ads Success.
- Facebook Ads ← Drive people to your site from Facebook.
- Google Analytics ← You know. Googley Stuff.
- AliExpress ← Finding good products for dropshipping businesses.
- WooCommerce AliExpress Dropshipping Extension ← Automate Fulfillment for Dropshipping
To be honest, too much more. The rabbit hole never seems to end…
Hindsight — 20/20 & Automated
It’s been a helluva year during 2020 to build this business. I’ve spent many nights agonizing over the look, feel, and customer behavior of our website, but now I’m happy that I know how to build, support, and automate eCommerce sites.
What’s next is to leverage this skillset with clients who are looking to automate their eCommerce businesses, find better solutions, and create new eCommerce businesses.
Learn eCommerce for Your Business Future
You too should learn eCommerce by building a simple site because this trend is only going to get bigger. Learn how to make it fast and automated. Trendy and easy to find. Great products and awesome customer service.
Learn the backend. The frontend. All the ends!
Just learn eCommerce!
One day down the road as you look back in your Google Car with its Facebook Assisted Reality dashboard, you’ll thank yourself for having pushed yourself into this new virtual frontier.
Oh, and our Google and Facebook Overlords will thank you for it too! 😉
TL;DR
In short, build a simple eCommerce site to know the terms and prepare for the future jobs it supports. Even if you just study up a bit on the terms and playing field, you’ll be in a much better position.
Who knows… You might just start selling dog collars. 😉
