The Dropship Unlocked Podcast

The Anti-Burnout Business: Why Dropshipping Is An Escape Plan (Episode 91)

• Lewis Smith & James Eardley • Season 1 • Episode 91

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📞 Ready to Take the Next Step? https://dropshipunlocked.com/training-watch-apply?el=podcast-91-the-anti-burnout-business


🗣In this episode, Lewis Smith and James Eardley discuss "Why Dropshipping Is An Escape Plan." 


They explore how high-ticket dropshipping can offer financial freedom and time flexibility while helping to avoid burnout.


👉 Prefer to watch this on Youtube? Check it out here  ➡️ https://youtu.be/eoM7gGITJZ0


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Topics Discussed:


★ The Burnout Crisis: Constant connectivity and relentless pressure leading to burnout. Statistics highlighting the prevalence of burnout among professionals.


★ High-Ticket Dropshipping as a Solution: Freedom through automation and reliable suppliers. Higher profits per order reduces the need for constant hustle.


★ Building a Burnout-Free Business: Delegating and automating tasks to avoid being a one-man show. Focusing on high-value activities that impact the bottom line.


★ Initial Steps to Set Up a Sustainable Business: Selecting high-ticket, high-quality products for better margins.


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Links and Resources Mentioned:


Pick up a copy of Lewis’ book: https://htabook.com 


Get Shopify for £1 a month for 3 months: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/shopify 


Get a free trial with a professional phone line: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/circle 


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Key Takeaways:


★ Delegate and Automate: Avoid burnout by outsourcing tasks and using automation tools.


★ Focus on High-Value Activities: Concentrate on crucial tasks that drive business success.


★ Set Boundaries: Prioritise well-being by scheduling downtime and setting clear work-life boundaries.


★ Select High-Ticket Items: Choose high-margin products to reduce workload and increase revenue per sale.


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FOLLOW:



Thank you for listening to the Dropship Unlocked Podcast! Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform.


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★★★Dropship Unlocked - Lewis Smith★★★


🌏Watch Our Free Training ➽ https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/training?el=podcast-91-the-anti-burnout-business

Do you find that every time your phone or your email is Ping, that you get a little drip of dopamine, and you're just jumping straight back into the hamster wheel? And that staggering statistic that 75% of all professionals had burnout symptoms last year, that pressure to always be on, always be connected, always be sharing, is just relentless, that every new app or new technology or new device that's invented is another steal on our attention, that market in a way of trying to be in control of our own attention, rather than allowing it to be pulled in different directions from these, these companies or or the businesses that we run, or the work, the jobs that we work for, and no one else will set these boundaries for you. You know we have to take control of our own minds here. Welcome to the dropship unlocked Podcast. I'm Louis Smith, the founder of dropship unlocked, and with me is our colid Success Coach, James Eardley, now, when we're not recording the podcast episodes, we're running our own e commerce businesses and helping aspiring entrepreneurs launch their own high ticket drop shipping businesses keen to build your own six or even seven figure business, my book, the home turf advantage is your blueprint for launching a profitable online store. Grab your copy@htabook.com today, and let's get you started now. Sit back, relax, and let's unlock your potential with the drop ship unlocked podcast. We are tackling an incredibly important topic today, more important now, perhaps than ever before. We're talking about burnout. Let's face it, the traditional nine to five grind can be exhausting, soul crushing, the stress and that feeling of being constantly on it's no wonder that burnout is on the rise at the moment. So we're going to discuss whether that there's a business model out there that could actually be an antidote for burnout and an anti burnout business model. So Louis, let's, let's talk about this, because it's exciting to think about. If there's a business out there that can allow us to build financial and time freedom all while avoiding burnout, that's all good. Yeah, it sounds good. That's exactly what we're going to be discussing today, and it's a really important topic, especially on the minds of people in today's day and age. I know that my recent experiences have shown me how running online businesses can be the ultimate escape plan from that burnout, but only if done correctly, because it's very easy to create yourself another hamster wheel, which then just creates more stress and steals more of your attention and your time and creates a whole different level of burnout, even though you're an entrepreneur, so we've got to be careful not to fall into that trap. And so that's the topic of today's conversation. Brilliant. Yeah, fantastic. So we'll dive straight in then, Lewis, why do you think that burnout is such a big issue today? Yeah, it's a great question, because, I mean, is a huge issue, isn't it? You? We hear about this more and more in in people's day to day lives. And I think it's because we're so constantly connected that every new app or new technology or new device that's invented is another steal on our attention. It's another demand on our brains. And so that pressure to be always on, always activated, always on, like you can't switch off. It's just relentless. It just builds up and it freaks. It doesn't happen instantly. You know you'll see. You download an app and it says, Oh, do you want to allow notifications for this app? And someone just you just usually click, oh, allow. That's fine. And then you download another app and you say, allow. Before you know it, you've got something pinging all hours of the day and the night, whether it's work related or whether it's social, because we're not just talking about being burnt out from your job here. You know that in today's age of Instagram and tick tock and Snapchat and all these other apps, there's constantly something fighting for your attention, and we haven't evolved fast enough to keep up with that change in attention demand, and so we're caught off guard, you know, we're just not mentally prepared for it. And I think that there has to be a clear link between that rise in demand for attention, the inability to switch off, and the increasing rates of anxiety, depression and burnout, effectively. So, yeah, I think emails pinging all day, social media feeds overflowing with unrealistic expectations comparing our lives to other people that we see in unrealistic comparisons like that, that pressure to always be on, always be connected, always be sharing, is just relentless. And I know a recent study by indeed actually found that over 75% of professionals reported experiencing burnout symptoms in the past year alone. That's a staggering number. So people are feeling trapped, they're feeling exhausted, they're feeling unfulfilled, and you've probably felt it yourself at some point. If you're listening to this, maybe you feel it right now, whether it's work that's stealing your attention, you know, maybe that's the thing that's you. Stealing your attention from your evenings, from your weekends. It's sapping your enjoyment out of your free time because it's spilling over into that free time, or even if it's just the habit of checking your phone, picking it up, constantly being notified. You know, you pick up your phone, what's the first app you go to when you pick up your phone? Pay attention to that the next time you pick up your phone. Is it Facebook? You open? Is it Instagram? Do you go to slack? Do you go to WhatsApp? What do you pick up and immediately open that is most likely stealing your attention? And you can go to the screen time setting, if you're an iPhone user, and have a look and see which apps are taking most of your attention awake. And so it's like we're driving through life with the accelerator pedal just jammed to the floor. Of course, if we just do that for long enough, eventually we're going to run out of power. We're going to run out of fuel, and the car just breaks down. I know that I recently realized that, because this used to be the case when I worked in a nine to five job, and I think towards after I read The Four Hour Work Week, I became very good at compartmentalizing it and saying where I'm going to batch my emails into the morning, do the deep work throughout the day, and then batch them again into the afternoon, and then switch off at the end of the day. And I became very good at that. But as I kind of changed and evolved and started my own company, and then multiple companies, I've realized that I'm pouring my heart and soul into these companies, but what can happen at times is you you forget the rules, you forget the boundaries that you originally set up for your own benefit, because you now love and enjoy what you're doing when it's your own business. But the same burnout end result can still happen, and it can creep up on you, and it's just not sustainable. I know that if I were to check my phone at 9am 9pm or midnight, there would always be something new for me to do. There'd always be a team member who's in another country or an app or an email or something that is demanding my attention. So because of that, well, I'm not able to stay awake 24 hours a day, constantly working. It's not sustainable. It's not healthy. And I know this stuff already, and I'm sure you do as well. But isn't it interesting how it creeps up on you again, and it happens all over again? And it's why so many people, I think, are looking for alternative ways to work now and ways to create a life that's on their terms, where freedom comes first. Absolutely. Yeah, no. So interesting to hear your your your recent feelings, Louis, and to understand that you can resonate with that staggering statistic, that 75% of all professionals had burnout symptoms last year, and that that is incredible. I mean, the chances are that the majority of people then listening to this have had symptoms, at least feelings of being on the way to burnout, if not experiencing full burnout symptoms completely. So it is key. I think something that you mentioned as well, that I completely agree with, is the the fact that everything's fighting for our attention because we're in an attention economy at the moment. I mean, some of the biggest companies in the world right now, like Facebook, obviously they're in Instagram as well Twitter. They're having billions of pounds spent every single year into how can we get better at grabbing people's attention? So we're almost against that, that that market in a way of trying to be in control of our own attention, rather than allowing it to be pulled in different directions from these, these companies or or the businesses that we run, or the work, the jobs that we work for. So it's it's so important to have that control and live life on our own terms, but we have to be conscious of doing that. I think it's easy, isn't it, Louis, to let things slip if we're not conscious. So I think that that brings us to the core of the discussion that we want to have today is we can see these symptoms happening, but we want to have antidotes to burnout that's so prevalent at the moment. Why do you think that there's certain business models that can be an antidote to burnout. Yeah, I think it comes to the core of how they're designed. You know, whether they are designed as a lifestyle first business, or whether they're designed primarily as a profit generator, and then your job is to try and fit your lifestyle around them. There's a massive difference between the two of those, and the latter is certainly harder to achieve that balance and switch off, because you've not created the business around your desired end result of a lifestyle. And actually a fascinating documentary that, if you haven't already seen it, it's a few years old, but it's on Netflix, and it's called the social dilemma, and that's a real eye opening insight into how if you're not paying for a service like a social media platform, then you are the product of it. You know, you're the product that the advertisers on that network are buying, which is interesting, because the model we're talking about today, we're actually acting as the advertisers. So you it's kind of a double edged sword. You know, we these mechanisms of advertising are powerful, but if you become the product of them, eventually it's not healthy. So, so it's about us, and no one else will set these boundaries for you. You know, we have to take control of our own minds here. So, yeah, the high ticket drop shipping model offers several key advantages to help combat burnout, and I'd argue that it's the home turf advantage model that we've put together. Is the. Business model that is most built around lifestyle freedom. There's the least time input of any business model I've seen once you're up and running. So firstly, there's the focus on freedom. Right from the start. Imagine you know you're chilling on a beach in Bali or Thailand, and you're sitting there and your feet up, and you know that your business is continuing to generate you revenue in the background. You've not had to do anything that day. You've not had to log in your systems or virtual assistants are there forwarding orders through to suppliers. You're not having to create any content. You're not having to do anything. It's all built now. You had to put in the work at some point and front load those efforts. But once you've done it, that's the power of automation. It's it's built, it's done. It's a system. Now the traditional world of work or business that we, many of us, came from, if you left a traditional nine to five job that often requires constant management, you know, you're either chained to your desk, like physically, you're you're at your desk all day, answering emails, dealing with problems, putting out fires, or even if you're one of the lucky ones, supposedly lucky ones, that says, Oh, well, you know, my boss is very flexible. Why I'm able to work remotely? If that's true, just ask yourself, are you really able to switch off, even though you can work remotely? Do you find that every time your phone or your email is Ping, that you get a little drip of dopamine, and you're just jumping straight back into the hamster wheel, and that you're back on that, that that treadmill, because switching between tasks frantically, even if you're doing it remotely, and attempting to multitask, but not really doing anything that well, it just dilutes your attention, and so it steals away your ability from being able to truly focus on one thing and creating something that that you're proud of. And I felt exactly that, you know, whilst I was working. And so it's no wonder people get burnt out, because it's very easy, and it's almost the default, if you don't pay attention to this, the companies in the world that are vying for your attention, and the other people and the things in society will, just by default, steal it. So it's an active mechanism that you have to use and activate to protect your attention. It's not something that you can do passively. And high ticket drop shipping as a business model kind of flips the script on that. So if you can leverage automation tools and work with reliable suppliers. Set your business up so that it's basically on autopilot. As a business owner, you can free up your time, you can massively reduce your stress. You know, of course, if you want to scale it to 100 million pounds per year and really become the number one brand in the world for your niche, that's probably going to take some more input and time and building a team. But maybe you just want to earn 100,000 pounds a year just replace a good income, you know, and be able to run your business from anywhere and not have to put in huge amounts of hours every day. You know, it's, it's kind of like, if you're the traditional world of business, is like you're juggling 12 balls at once, and you're trying to not drop one and keep everything going. And you've got social media here and friends events there, and events there, and trying to get a promotion here, and then you're trying to balance relationships there, whereas with the home turf advantage model, it's like you've got two balls to juggle in there. You've got business and then lifestyle, and you kind of keep them both going. Or even better, you can create a machine that juggles the balls for you. So you can just step back and be like, Okay, I've got the freedom now to unwind. I can explore new opportunities, or I can just use the time to relax and reset and come back recharged, all while your business continues to keep running smoothly. No, exactly. I mean, it's the reason why we've been able to do the coaching that we do Lewis, and the reason why you're able to build dropship unlocked is just proof that the home turf advantage business model, and the Drop Shipping that we're doing allows us that time and that freedom, because we know that there are processes in place, there are automations in place that handle the day to day orders, so the revenue keeps coming in, while we can be going down and looking in different opportunities and helping people out through the coaching. So it just shows great example there of how it is a very hands off business model that we can we can both see, and that's one of the biggest benefits, is because we want to avoid burnout. We want to be able to have money coming in live from anywhere in the world, while we can still guarantee that that money is coming in. Would you say that's the number one reason why high ticket drop shipping is so valuable? Yeah. I mean, because someone could argue, oh, well, the same is true of any kind of E commerce. You know, it's a passive income, but that's not that's not necessarily true, because with the home turf advantage model, each sale that you make on your store is worth significantly more to your business than if you were doing low ticket e commerce or Amazon FBA. So you don't have to hustle as hard to replace the same full time income. You know, you can detach from your business, take the time out, come back, recharged, re energized, build your brand, and know that with just a few sales coming in here and there, you're able to generate full time income. So it's definitely a faster and more direct route to the end result of creating a freedom business. So the beauty of the home turf advantage model as well is that it's incredibly scalable. As your business grows, you can easily add new products without having to hire a new warehouse or order part with lots more capital toward a containers of products from a supplier. Because, remember, you're not adding products digitally. Doesn't cost you any money. You know, there's no more shelf space taken up. It's a digital store, and so it doesn't necessarily even have to increase your workload once you have a virtual assistant in place, because that's the perfect type of task to ask your VA to achieve for you. And so it allows you, as the business owner, to focus on growing your profits, but without getting bogged down in the details of managing a massive inventory and and getting your time and attention sapped away from you. I know recently I was starting to feel the effects, because we've just been through a busy launch process, especially at dropship unlocked, launching a whole new arm of our business, and recently I started to feel those familiar effects of like impending burnout. And I know I'm quite sensitive to it now. I'm like, right? I can feel that happening. Need to nip it in the bud and catch it early. And so I saw that a friend of mine was hosting this wellness retreat in Spain. I've never been on anything like it before, and it was like, four days away or something. At the time that I heard about it, it was designed for busy professionals. There was, you know, fitness every morning, and I decided to just book it and just go on it. And it was incredible. It was like workouts in the morning, great weather cryotherapy tanks. Say, I've never been in one of those before, but going down to minus 110 degrees Celsius for three minutes, like literally watching the hairs on your arm turn to frost and freeze, and reading the book in the pool, you know, having freshly prepared healthy food three times a day. There was mindfulness meditation. They even had these beds with the lights on that are photo bio modulation, beds that use infrared light and activate your mitochondria and get more ATP so your body's energy source flowing. Press a therapy, massages even a hyperbaric chamber, where they increase the level of oxygen in the chamber, so that your blood oxygen level increases as well, to help with muscle recovery. And it was an incredible few days. It was like four days there, as I say. I only found out about it a few days before deciding to go that because of the freedom of my business, that it the freedom that my business offers me, I was able to simply book it and go, and there were only a few other people there, which was interesting, because firstly, it was quite high price, but secondly, it was also, you know, not everybody is able to just drop what they're doing and just go at the drop of a hat like that, but that's one of the things, and The reasons that I really value this type of business model, that I was able to go there and even evaluate it as an option for hosting future retreats. So we're looking at places where some of our premium level VIP clients for potential future retreats, at dropship unlocked. Well, that's a potentially great option that allows us to network and hang out with some of our premium clients, but offer them something amazing as well. So the important thing is, though, with all of that said, I didn't have to sacrifice my income while I was there, because the business continued to make money. The E commerce stores that I have set up just continue to run. And so that's probably the way that you can reduce the stress, because you're there and you're not thinking, I'm taking annual leave for this, or I'm sacrificing my income for this, because it's still the machine is still ticking along the whole time. Yeah, so powerful. So the freedom to be able to go at short notice and to know that your income is protected while you're there as well. It sounds like an amazing time those four days. I mean, the the cryotherapy alone, it must be a massive shot to the system going down to 110 degrees Celsius. What's that like? Minus, yeah, minus 110 and it was, yeah, it was crazy. They, you go there, and they, they make you wear, like, a headband to cover your ears, because I think your ears would literally turn to ice if you didn't, and that you wear these, like, oven glove mitts kind of thing to stop your fingers from, presumably, getting frostbite. And you have to wear shoes and socks in there. I think it's one of the coldest ones in the world. They said it's like, it's, you know, like professional football teams go there to to recover, like after the season, and they ask you which song you want to put on in there as well. And so it's incredible that you're in there, and it's quite scary, because you are putting your entire faith and trust in the person that is, like the therapist that's on the other side of that glass screen. Because of three minutes, your knees are trembling and your body's starting to shut down, and you're thinking, like, I don't know how much longer I could last with this, and I think if they walked away and left within 10 minutes, I'd have probably passed out, and that would be it. I'd, you know, I'd be a snowman. So it's, it's really, like, it quite it kind of pushes you to the boundaries. And I've done cold plunges for years. And, like, that's, that's one thing that this is a whole different level. You. And I know they have the cryotherapy tanks where it's like a cylindrical tank, but I don't think they're anywhere near as cold as this one. This one, you had to go into, like a pre freezer, wait for 30 seconds, and then they opened the door to, like the super freezer, and you went in, and it was, like, incredible. Like my my beard was turning to frost, and every time I breathed out, you could feel like icicles forming on on your lip. It's, um, really incredible. Yeah, amazing. But a complete reset for that, that period of time while you were there. And, I mean, obviously it's the highest quality stuff the professional football teams there as well, to use it for their own recovery. Perfect. Imagine massive refresh for you. I was thinking as well, what, what song would I choose if you had a soul choice? Maybe, yeah, I don't know what would be appropriate for something that cold, maybe highway to hell or something, to to imagine what you're going through, or to try and picture a warmer climate. Did you what music did you choose out of choice? Do you remember because I because the minute she said to me, pick a song, obviously your mind just goes completely blank, doesn't it, and you forget every song you've ever heard in the history of your life. So I was like, can't think of anything. And I remembered that that morning, before taking the flight, my sons and I had been dancing around the kitchen to AC DC, back in black. So it wasn't highway to hell, but it was by the same band. So VA, we must be on the same wavelength somehow. So you put that on brilliant, I hope you get through it. And no doubt, with the cold but amazing, Refresh and Reset for you, it's just valuable with it, with burnout, but for people that aren't going on a wellness retreat to Spain, I mean, there's still ways that we can reduce burnout, and especially thinking about longer term picture, about putting a business in place that would allow you to have that and actually longer term, having a business in place that doesn't necessarily push you that far, and you're much quicker to then notice it. So why do you think, well, how can we actually build a business from the very start with anti burnout in mind? You know, what? What sort of businesses would you be putting in place if you wanted to build something that was going to reduce the chance of burnout as much as possible? Yeah, it's an excellent question. I mean, there are three key strategies that you can use to structure your business for minimal workload and maximum well being, which is what we want. So the first thing is to delegate and automate as early as you possibly can. Don't try and be a one person show feeling like you have to do everything yourself is just an eventual recipe for burnout. So don't fall into that trap if you can avoid it. The thing is that high ticket drop shipping allows you to delegate tasks that can be outsourced, such as customer service. There's no reason for you as the business owner, to be doing the customer service or the social media management or even some of the aspects of marketing. Eventually, you can get that off your plate and put it into the hands of expert companies and agencies as well. There's a wealth of virtual assistants and freelancers available online who can help you free up your time. In addition, leverage automation tools wherever possible. There's no point asking your virtual assistant to do a task if it can be automated with a tool like Zapier or another automation tool. There's no point having the human do it if it can be done automatically and then save the human resource that you have for things that only a human can do or that a human can do much better. And email marketing platforms, scheduling software, inventory management, stock synchronization tools, these things can all help streamline your operations and free you up as the business owner, to really focus on the bigger picture or just step back from it all. There's no shame in that, either. If that's what you want to do, that's the purpose of today's conversation. I think the other thing is, when you are focusing, if you say I'm only going to focus on my business for a set period of time each day within working hours, it forces you to concentrate on what the high value activities are. You know, not all tasks are created equally. If you're just logging in and letting the inbox dictate your day. Just because you're busy doesn't mean that those are revenue generating activities. Some activities will have a much bigger impact on your bottom line, your profitability as a company, than others. So try and identify those activities that are most crucial to your success. If I had to list off a few of them, it would be things like initial product research, or once you have your niche selected, signing premium suppliers, making those phone calls, building that rapport, and then optimizing your your site and your advertising campaigns as well, if you're running that yourself. But once you've identified these high value activities, try and focus your energy in there, because those are the things that will move the needle. The rest of it can pretty much be put on autopilot or outsourced, automate as much as you can, and then outsource the rest. That's the idea of it. So the other thing, and this is more of a zoomed out perspective, I guess, is It's great working hard on your business, but try and set boundaries from the start and prioritize your well being, because your your company's most valuable asset, your health, your well being, your mindset. So just because you can work from anywhere with one of these businesses doesn't mean you should work all the time. So if you set clear boundaries between your work life and your personal life, that will be for. Crucial to for the long term sustainability of your back your business and avoiding burnout for you as well. So try and schedule time for breaks, exercises, hobbies, getaways, holidays, things like that. A burnt out entrepreneur is just going to be an unproductive entrepreneur. So you don't want to be one of those Exactly. And you can set yourself from the start to be a productive entrepreneur by setting yourself those boundaries that you talked about and understanding that you don't want to get anywhere near burnout, you'd be a lot more productive if you understand that you're not going to tightly grip that control that so many people want to do and aren't able to give away some of the tasks that they don't need to do themselves. I think if you go with that mindset of knowing that you just want to be the high level business owner and you'll get others to do various day to day tasks that would serve you from the very start. Yeah, exactly. Just like your phone needs to be charged regularly to function properly, you're no different. You need to be charged as well. And prioritizing your well being is going to ensure that you have the energy and the focus that you need as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, to achieve your your life goals, your business goals. So try and schedule that downtime in. Add it to your calendar, because if it's not there, then it's very easy for that time that empty space to just get filled with other people's priorities. So put it in the calendar, lock it in, treat these appointments with the same respect and priority that you would with a supplier meeting or a client meeting or a meeting with your boss at your old job. Remember, a sustainable business is built on long term commitment, not on short term burnout. So make sure that whatever you're doing, it's something that you're happy to continue doing sustainably for years to Exactly, yeah, that's the key. I think that's the key to avoiding burnout from the start. And we can both safely say that. I think that the E commerce. Businesses that we run are definitely the most in terms of being set up for being sustainable over the long period of time where there isn't that need for the burnout and large sprints. It's much more of a case of making sure the processes are in place and that the income can continue to be generated no matter what you do as a business owner, so you don't hold it back. So, yeah, golden nuggets of advice in there, Louis, obviously, delegation, focusing on high value activities is what's come out of that paragraph. For me, it's really important setting boundaries as well. Clearly know when you're on and when you're off. All crucial for building a business that fuels your life and doesn't actually just drain from your life. Yeah, absolutely. James and I know that for those of you who are just getting started listening to this, you're probably thinking, Well, what initial steps can I take? So there are three initial key steps that you can take to set up a business using the home turf advantage model and build it with a focus on avoiding burnout. So a lifestyle first business now, the first is product selection. Don't fall into the trap of selling low profit margin products. If you can research and select high quality, high tickets of higher priced items that offer a significant profit on each sale that you make, eventually you're going to see that by doing this, you'll be able to focus on selling fewer products and then generating just as much, if not way, more, revenue, and reducing the workload required for you, and eventually even for your team as well, to hit your business's financial goals. So it's just a way of stacking the cards in your favor. The next thing is supplier sourcing, so finding reliable suppliers who offer excellent customer service and fast delivery times as well. Remember, happy customer will often become a repeat customer, and they'll certainly share through word of mouth your brand with friends and family. So if you can build those strong relationships with your suppliers who are premium, good suppliers based in the UK, able to get items out really fast next day delivery in most cases, then that'll save you so many headaches. In the long run, you're not going to have customers chasing you on when's my item going to be delivered? And you're not going to have to deal with quality issues from products all too frequently that it might happen occasionally, but when you have good relationships with suppliers, it makes the whole business model so much more fluid. It also allows you to focus your time on growing your business strategically, instead of just constantly being caught up and dealing with supplier issues. So that's not the type of business that is going to lend itself well to a low burnout lifestyle and the low stress lifestyle. The other thing is, a lot of people fall into this trap, and it's to not just blindly throw money into marketing and advertising, develop a clear, targeted marketing strategy that focuses on reaching your ideal customer, if you can use things like re targeting campaigns, email marketing campaigns, social media advertising to build brand awareness and drive sales, but ultimately serve the existing demand when people who are already searching for your products in the first place, is a much cheaper and lower stress method of making a much higher revenue for much less input and admin. So if you can focus your marketing efforts like that, you'll get a much higher return on investment. And avoid the stress of unfocused marketing campaigns as well, which is an easy trap to fall into. It is, yeah, really important to have a strategy in place. And on this podcast, we've been through lots of different marketing angles that we use to generate sales, and a lot of those, we're always focused on, how can we get those sales to come in without requiring us to be constantly chasing hypes and creating new campaigns. The type of marketing we like to do, Louis is evergreen, so we set it and we allow it to scale on its own, and we'll just go in there every now and then to optimize it. And so an example of that is the email marketing that we do. And we actually went through that recently with an expert on the podcast, which is episode 78 which I recommend people to listen for. And that's, I think, just come out a couple of weeks ago to have a listen to that also, Google Ads campaigns is our primary source of getting traffic as well. And again, that's something that we set up and then optimize without meaning to constantly go in and eventually burn out if you were to make it too involved, I guess. So. Yeah, check that episode out after after watching today's episode. But Louis, for people that are keen, of course, to avoid burnout, and they think that having a business in place is going to be a real key way that they can do that after listening to today's episode, what do you think are some of the things they should do straight away, or some of the things they should consider building a successful business that is lifestyle first, that's balanced. And if you want to use our home turf advantage model, which is the best strategy we found, to build a business like that, then it is going to take time and effort. You know that we're not going to tell you that it's just a really easy path, but it can be a very simple, straightforward path, with the steps laid out, and it doesn't have to come at the expense of your well being, importantly. And you hear this like narrative nowadays, where it's hustle mentality and hustle and grind and what burn the candle at both ends at work till midnight, and you should be up at two in the morning starting work before your job. If you want to escape the nine to five grad that doesn't need to be the case. You don't need to sacrifice your health and well being to get one of these businesses off the ground and by following the strategies that we've outlined today, you can actually create a business that gives you the freedom and flexibility that you're looking for, while still avoiding the burnouts trap. But you have to do it in a specific sequence and specific order. So if you like the sound of this, and you think, I'm ready to take that first step and learn a bit more about this, check out. My book is called the home turf advantage. That's the model that I teach. We talk to hundreds of our members of dropship unlocked. It's available at h t a book.com and the idea of the home turf advantage is it's all about creating a solid foundation and then just executing on that effectively to build a profitable drop shipping business, and then using VA to replace your income and create time and location freedom for you, because that's why we're doing it in the first place, where it certainly is why I did it. So if you're ready to learn how all this works and start to connect the dots and connect with us inside our community, then visit H T A book.com enjoying the podcast. We'd love to hear from you leave a comment or a review, and we might just feature it on an upcoming episode, also for detailed show notes and resources. Head to dropship unlock.com. Forward slash podcast. If you found value from any episode of this podcast, please take just 10 seconds to leave us a quick five star review on your podcast app of choice, it helps us more than you could imagine, and who knows, you might just hear your comments on the show. Thanks for being part of our community. Your support helps us keep delivering a new episode every week. Now it's time to answer a question that we've had in from a listener of the podcast. And remember, if you have questions after listening to today's episode and you want them answered, potentially on a future episode, all you need to do is comment beneath the video version of this episode on YouTube. So that's exactly what Alex 34212, has done. So thanks for your question, Alex, so I'll ask it to you now. Lewis, so Alex has asked question. How do I find the best suppliers. Thanks for your question, Alex, and it's a good one. There's quite a broad topic. But I think before we even get to the point of finding the best suppliers, we have to start by using the dropship unlocked niche validation criteria, because if we can identify a niche with high profit potential and existing reliable suppliers. It's going to make the whole process of then finding those suppliers so much easier when you get to it, because you've already validated that those suppliers exist within the niche. So I'd always take a step back before we proceed with reaching out to suppliers. It just ensures you're targeting products that fit our business model and that already have a strong foundation. The other thing is, a lot of people will contact suppliers, but not have anything to show them. We recommend building your store first. We talk about a minimum viable store, an MVS, as I call it, and before you reach out to suppliers, if you can showcase your professionalism by having a well designed online store in place, just a demonstration store. This case, that can demonstrate your commitment and seriousness to potential supplier partners. Now, once you've selected your niche, and you can identify other drop shipping retailers in your niche, and then research the suppliers that they're using already, you know the proof is there. If they're already in business, making money, and there are suppliers that they're working with, these suppliers will already be familiar with the products and likely have the infrastructure to support your business as well. They're not going to turn to you and say, What's drop shipping? We don't do that because the reason you contacted them in the first place was because you knew that they did offer the Drop Shipping fulfillment method as well. I always prefer the supplier contact route of phone calls. I prefer to just reach out to them by phone, because it it gets you ahead of the pack. They get so many emails and online portal requests and trade account requests, I just jumped to the top of the pack by calling them. And actually, even better than that is a face to face meeting. That's something that many of our members have reported has got the much better results, and I know I've met all of my suppliers. I'm sure you have as well, James, and it just demonstrates that higher level of commitment compared to email. So I'm not saying you'd have to go and drive and meet all your suppliers. I'm not even saying you have to phone them, but if you want to get ahead of the pack, then definitely phone calls will increase your chances of getting a serious response from suppliers. Once you've then identified the high quality suppliers, negotiate and finalize the agreement with confidence, remember, your supplier relationship is two ways. You know you are a big factor in their success as well. You'll be a whole new revenue stream for them. So I think people go into this with the kind of the flawed mindset of, why would a supplier work with me? And it should be the other way around. It should be like, well, I'm going to bring this supplier a huge amount of revenue. Why should I promote their product over a different supplier? You know, it's two ways. We've also dedicated an episode of the podcast to this specific subject, haven't we, so if you listen after this episode to episode 81 of the podcast. It's titled How to Find premium drop shipping suppliers. And in that episode, we have a really deep dive into sourcing the best suppliers for your drop shipping business. Yes, thank you, Lewis, and thanks, Alex, for your question. Very popular question there. And interesting that even when you're thinking about what suppliers you want to sign, the first thing to do is get all of the foundations in place so when you're ready to call suppliers, you're gonna have that much higher chance of signing them on the first occasion. Okay, so thank you, Louis. We'll now move on to the section where we'd like to highlight a recent review that we pan in for the podcast. Because we get lovely reviews, we get lovely comments on YouTube, and we want to share these on the podcast to say thank you essentially. So this this time, we're going to highlight a review that we had in on Apple. So Apple podcast review, and a big thank you to Ian. JD 02 for sharing your thoughts. So Ian said this podcast really is amazing. The things I've learned from Lewis and James listening to this. Thank you so much, guys for making this. Keep up the good work. Wow, amazing. Thank you so much for your review. Ian, JD, 02, means a huge amount to us. We really appreciate it. So really glad to hear that you've been enjoying the podcast. Now, before we wrap up this episode today, I'd love to ask a quick favor of you listening. If you've enjoyed today's episode, could you take a moment to leave us a quick review? Your feedback helps us more than you realize, and it helps us reach more and more listeners and just continually improve our content as well. Plus, we might just read your review out on our next episode. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the dropship unlocked podcast. We hope you're walking away with insights and inspiration to kickstart your E commerce journey. Grab a copy of my book, the home of turf advantage at HTA book.com it's a distilled guide based on real experience to help you build your E commerce venture. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button for more strategies and success stories. And if you like what you heard, a five star review would mean the world to us, and you might just get a shout out on an upcoming episode, and finally, thank you for deciding to spend your time with us today. We can't wait to bring you more insights on the next episode of the dropship unlocked podcast. You.