The Best Business for Digital Nomads (Location Freedom) | Episode 108

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🗣 In this episode, Lewis Smith and James Eardley discuss how to build a business that gives you location freedom. 

They explore what it means to be a digital nomad, the best types of businesses for this lifestyle, and why high-ticket dropshipping is a great fit for those looking to travel while maintaining an online business.

👉 Prefer to watch this on YouTube? Check it out here ➡️ https://youtu.be/DDOr2M7Otuw

Topics Discussed:
★ What is a Digital Nomad? - Lewis explains the digital nomad lifestyle and why it’s appealing to entrepreneurs who crave flexibility and freedom.
★ The Best Business for Digital Nomads - Discover why online-based businesses, like dropshipping, are well-suited for those seeking location independence.
★ Why High-Ticket Dropshipping? - Learn why high-ticket dropshipping is an ideal business model for digital nomads, offering higher profits and minimal inventory management.
★ Personal Experience with Dropshipping While Traveling - Lewis shares his experience managing a dropshipping business while traveling, and how it’s allowed him to live a nomadic lifestyle.
★ Steps to Get Started - Practical tips for aspiring digital nomads, including choosing a business model, setting up systems, and automating processes for long-term success.

Links and Resources Mentioned:
Pick up a copy of Lewis’ book: https://htabook.com
Get Shopify for £1 a month for 3 months: https://dropshipunlocked.com/shopify
Get a free trial with a professional phone line: https://dropshipunlocked.com/circle

Key Takeaways:
★ Location Freedom is Possible: By choosing the right business model, you can create a lifestyle where you work from anywhere in the world.
★ Automate and Scale: Start small, automate your business early on, and scale over time to achieve success.
★ Overcoming Challenges: From time zones to internet reliability, there are challenges, but with good planning, they can be managed effectively.

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Transcript

0:00

As a digital nomad, you can pack your entire business in a laptop and travel anywhere. This business stands out as the ideal model for aspiring digital nomads operate your business from anywhere in the world, a continuous adventure, exploring the world while still earning and growing. I If you don't build the right foundations from the start, you might face difficulties down the line. Welcome to the dropship unlocked Podcast. I'm Lewis Smith, the founder of dropship unlocked, and with me today is our client success coach, James Eardley, when we're not recording podcast episodes or running our own e commerce businesses, you'll find us helping aspiring entrepreneurs launch their own buy ticket, drop shipping stores if you're ready to build your own six or even seven figure online business, head over to dropship, unlocked.com forward slash accelerator and sign up for your 14 day trial inside the accelerator, you'll gain access To exclusive training, live coaching calls and a thriving community of like minded entrepreneurs. Plus, when you join today, you'll also get a free copy of my book, the home turf advantage. Now sit back, relax, and let's unlock your potential with the dropship unlocked Podcast. Today, we're diving into a topic that I know will resonate with a lot of you, especially if you have aspirations or dreams of living as a digital nomad. We're out on the balcony today for the first ever episode that I've recorded from outside. And so we're doing that because we're going to be talking all about living with location freedom as a digital nomad. And more importantly, we'll be looking at the best businesses for digital nomads and how you can build a lifestyle where you can work from anywhere in the world. Now, Lewis, you've had experience of living the digital nomad lifestyle. So let's kick things off with the basics. What exactly is a digital nomad and why is this lifestyle becoming so appealing? Yeah, great starting point, James, and great to see you out in the in the wild today. Can hear the birds in the background live in the digital nomad tree, good stuff putting it to work. So a digital nomad, this term, is someone essentially, who can work remotely. Now, it doesn't exclusively mean business owners, because you can be a freelancer and be a digital nomadic. I mean, if you break up the term, you earn your income digitally, and you are nomadic. You can do it from anywhere in the world. That's the term, but the way I view it, and of having been a digital nomad for a while and seen the different types, there are some that are living a much higher quality of life than others, and it's very clear that it's the business owners, rather than those who are still trading their time for money, who are able to really benefit from it. And so while traveling and living in different places, there are a few key reasons why this lifestyle is so important and why the E commerce business model is such a great model to allow you to be a business owner and a digital nomad at the same time. So the first is the flexibility. You know, you're not tied to a specific location. You've got the freedom to move from one amazing, mountainous, lush rainforest location, onto another beach location, and you can just take your entire business with you in a laptop, and just open up your laptop and wherever you go, it's there with you. I think the other is that you you really get to experience life as you go. You get to experience new cultures, new food, new environments, but you don't have to trade those experiences for loss of income. It's not like you're taking a sabbatical and having to take a year with no pay to get these experiences, or wait until you retire to get these experiences. You get to enjoy them as you go, whilst you're in your healthiest years. And it allows you to be on a permanent holiday with the way you can set one of these businesses up, and the business funds you to be on that holiday and to continue your adventure. So it's really powerful once you get it up. We're not saying it it happens from day one, but I know that if I'm going to work hard for the next 10 years in a job, or probably a lot longer than that, throughout a career, or spend maybe six months to a year setting up the foundations of a business that can then allow me this kind of lifestyle for the rest of my career, I know which one I would rather spend my time doing. The other benefit, as you are experiencing right now, is the cost arbitrage, so you can live in a much lower cost country while earning in a stronger, higher value currency, like pounds or dollars, so that you're earning a UK wage or a US wage from your laptop, but then you're living with the affordability of somewhere like Bali or someone like Montenegro, somewhere that you can have a much better quality of life, and where every pound that you earn stretches a lot further. Exactly, no. It is one of the beauties of it, running a business like an E commerce business that I have that's. Still, still selling every day in the UK. It's earning in pounds, but I'm at the moment spending in euros and spending in euros in Montenegro, where I am at the moment. And of course, the cost of living is lower than what I was spending before when I was living in the UK. So it's that brilliant dichotomy where we're earning more than the business that is running over in the UK, selling to UK customers and high ticket products through my E commerce business, but I'm spending less than I was when I was living there, and at the same time, able to explore a new country, able to travel and just take my laptop with me. So I've been out here now for the past four weeks, and this is kind of my first real experience, and hearing all about your stories, about when you're living nomadically. Lewis, it always inspired me when I first joined the dropship unlock master class to live a digital nomad lifestyle one day, and it hasn't disappointed in these first four weeks. And I, you know, plan to continue that for much longer, and obviously we'll document it on this podcast. And yeah, as you mentioned, those benefits are coming true straight away. I went traveling in, you know, to New Zealand a few years ago as a sabbatical from my job, and there was always a time that I was looking on the clock as to when my return flight was going to come back. And I couldn't fully be sustainable while I was out there, because as soon as I went traveling, all of the money stopped coming in because I had taken a sabbatical from my work at the time, whereas now I've taken no decrease in income, but I'm still able to travel at the same time and experience all these new countries. So it's a very exciting stage for me. But the real topic we want to dive into at the moment is what business is best, or what businesses should you consider if you have the goal of being a digital nomad? So what do you think, Lewis, what do you think is some of the best types of businesses that is suited for a lifestyle as a digital nomad? Yeah, not all businesses are created equal when it comes to location freedom, that's the end goal. But there are various different ways to get there. And here's what I've seen from first hand experience. Works best for digital nomads online based and scalable businesses. Okay, so a business that operates 100% online is obviously key, because if you're in Bali, one day, Vietnam, the next day, Montenegro, the next day, like you have to have something that you can just pick up and go with you, unless you want to have a physical premises and have staff and be tied to stock and things like that. So you know that that wasn't the type of business I wanted. I wanted something that was stress free and nimble and agile and could move with me. I guess, if you think of it like running a virtual store versus owning a physical shop, you're not tied to one place. It's virtual, it's digital, it's on the internet. The other is the low overhead costs. So you need something that doesn't require physical inventory, ideally. So that's why drop shipping as a business model, is perfect for this. Because you're not storing or shipping products yourself. So it's like you're managing a store with no stock room, just the orders and the profits, just the good bit, just the nice, easy part, None None of the fulfillment, none of the hassle. The other thing would be to ensure that it's automation friendly. So the ability to automate as much of your business as possible means that you're not going to end up, after all this hard work you've put into it glued to your laptop, 24/7, because that's not the end result. Any of us work this hard as aspiring business owners and entrepreneurs to build we don't want to create another job for ourselves. We want to create time, location, financial freedom. Just like setting up a machine, you do have to initially set a few things up. There's a few cogs you've got to get right in, bolts you've got to tighten up digitally to make it all work. But once you've done it, that machine works for you, that does the heavy lifting for you, generates you sales, and eventually you get a virtual assistant in place, and that business is generating you a full time income, if not higher than your old full time income, while you relax and explore a new city. So I'd say that's the best business model. High Ticket e commerce just fits the bill for this. Yeah. I mean, the last thing you want is to be living in a new country, and traveling is a digital nomad, but not being able to actually see that country that you've traveled to because you're trading your time for money, or because the business that you've built requires you constantly to be working. So just not, not worth it, if that's the type of business that you're going to run. So luckily, a lot of the listeners listening to this podcast will be the type of people who are building, or interested in building, an E commerce business. So it's a great segue, because we know that that business is certainly the businesses that we've been running while living as Digital Romance. And therefore we know that it works really well if you want to be not glued to the laptop all the time, if you want to have virtual assistants that handle the store so that your income come come in consistently, despite you not having to be constantly glued to a laptop so you can start to explore the place like go up a cable car in Kotor, if anyone's been to Montenegro, you might recognize the fjord behind me. Kotor is just around the corner that way, and there's a cable car up to the mountain, something that I did last weekend. If I was at the top of a mountain and a customer called I don't want to be in a position where I'm the person that has to go and take that call. Instead, you get a store built that has automations in place to look after customers get orders fulfilled, and you can put virtual assistants in place so that customers can speak to a person that doesn't have to be you, so you don't have to be at the top of a mountain stuck on the phone with a customer. Instead, you can enjoy your time and relax while you explore. So drop shipping, we've identified as well you mentioned. That low overhead cost does get started any more reasons why you think drop shipping was perfectly suited for you while you were living as a digital nomad? Yeah, there are a few other reasons because, yeah, you could have an E commerce business, but you could be inundated with low ticket orders. So even if you're not the one doing the customer service, like you said, you're in your cable car, your virtual assistants dealing with that, you don't want a situation where you log in and there's like, I don't know, 1500 orders from the day before, and 700 of them are now refund requests. And there's like, all this admin for you to have to sift through every day, even with a virtual assistant, they're going to be pulling you in left, right and center for to try and put out fires. So high ticket drop shipping in particular stands out if location, Freedom time, freedom and autonomy are important to you, and so the reasons for that the higher profit per sale that you get when you're selling high ticket high priced items, each sale makes significantly more in take home profit for you than selling low, cheap, 20 pound widgets from China. That's why, when we are drop shipping products, if we can be selling a product that's 2000 pounds and at a 30% profit margin, which is fairly typical in this industry, you make 600 pounds in profit on that two Grand Sale, or 600 pounds while living in Bali, will probably pay for your month's rent in a nice villa. Maybe you need two sales a month to cover it 1200 pounds, you know, but it's not hundreds of sales. So the question is, do you think you can make a business with one sale per day? Do you think you could generate one sale per day? Because if you can, and you do the maths, that's 600 pounds per day. If you're selling products at two grand with a 30% margin, which many of our members do, is that more in take home profit per year than your current income, and I think it equates to, in fact, let's do the maths now, so 600 times 365, comes to 219,000 pounds per year in take home profit from the business. Now, of course, there'll be some like software costs and some ad costs and stuff out of that, but I mean, even if it was 100,000 a year, is that more than you're currently earning? Is that equivalent to what you're currently earning? If so, would you rather earn that without having to do the nine to five you're currently doing and be able to travel. It starts to make sense when you put it together like that, doesn't it? The other consideration is that there's no need for warehousing or shipping. You know, you're not like with Amazon FBA. You don't have to worry about logistics and that, oh, we've got a container arriving from China, and we've got to get it to the Amazon fulfillment center. Hopefully they accept it and they don't reject the stock and, oh, they rejected it. Now we've got to sell it on eBay through a third party fulfillment center, or we can't use that, so I've got to send it to, you know, my parents house, and have them ship the orders out and go to the post office every day. Like, it can really start to become an offline business quite quickly. And what started as this, like, Oh, I'm going to create an amazing online empire. Suddenly you're up going to the post office at all hours of the day, and you find yourself doing things and speaking to people on the phone all the time, and you're like, this kind of wasn't the passive income vehicle that I thought it would be. Now, with high ticket drop shipping, it's kind of like you're running a cafe where someone else delivers all the ingredients, someone else does all the cooking, and you're just the owner of the business, so the virtual assistant fulfills the orders, the suppliers actually fulfill the physical product part of the order, and you can operate it from anywhere, whether you're in Thailand or Spain or Portugal or any of the amazing destinations around the world that you want to go and visit that are personal to you. You can manage your entire business remotely with a laptop and a Wi Fi connection, and without even a Wi Fi connection, you can do it with a SIM card and a personal hotspot if you want to Yeah, the requirements are so low with drop shipping, and because there's not that upfront inventory cost that is associated with a lot of traditional businesses getting started, you can get to profitable much quicker. I certainly found that not having to put lots of capital into stock upfront meant that I could put more money into ADS and therefore get profitable quicker. So yeah, so many reasons that you've been through there to mention why drop shipping makes a lot of sense for people that want to live that location independent lifestyle. Now let's dive into your experiences, Louis as a digital nomad, take us back a few years to the time when you were living abroad. What sort of experiences did you have while you were running a drop shipping business? I was incredible. I mean, there are a few highlights that spring to mind. I've moved from country to country. We did it before we had children. So just my Yeah, it was we were married by the time. So my wife and I, because we got married, we handed in our notices, left our jobs a few weeks later, and then moved to Chiang Mai in Thailand initially. And that was an incredible destination, real kind of hot spot for digital nomads and entrepreneurs. And from there, I think we went on to Bali, lived in various places in Bali and Ubud and Changu and Seminyak and, yeah, all over. And then we went from there to Vietnam. Lived in Da Nang on the beach, which is this incredible, almost like hidden gem of Vietnam that no one really talks about in the certainly in the UK, it's just amazing. It's like you're on a moving train while your business just keeps chugging along without any delays. You know, of course, you have your ups and downs while you're out there, but you're able to be in warmer climates, you know, while everyone else is in the Dark Winter of the UK and everything's gray and dark outside from about four o'clock, you're there on the beach having an amazing time, and there's almost initially. Is this feeling of like, is this real? Is this is this a holiday? Is it going to end soon? And you almost start to, like, normalize that life? And I remember afternoons while my business was running, just thinking there was this amazing coffee shop in Thailand. And I used to just take my Kindle there in the afternoon, and after doing a few hours work on the laptop in in the morning at the apartment, I'd go and have a sauna, go to the infinity pool, go and have a read of the Kindle in this coffee shop and just be like, this is incredible, just looking out over like palm trees in this incredible, nice, warm climate, and then maybe go into the shopping mall, pop into the co working space, see a few friends like the just the the ability to be able to be like a driven, motivated entrepreneur aspiring for goals, and live the kind of lifestyle that people aspire to get to when they retire at the same time. It's almost like that shouldn't exist. It feels like an oxymoron. It should not. The two shouldn't be able to coincide, but they do, and that's why, when I first read the four hour work week, it really was like he talks about, I'm going to show you behind the curtain of like, what this secret world that he calls the new rich are doing, and it really is, like a secret world, because the people doing it are just getting on with it. Like, what you know, they're not shouting from the rooftops about how they're doing it necessarily. They're just, they're just getting on with it. You've got, like, software developers, there loads of E commerce business owners there, and, yeah, it's just amazing. So you're constantly able to find that balance of recharging your batteries, channeling your creativity into your business, but being inspired as well by new places, new sites, new environments. And as soon as you want to, you just move on. You get a new Airbnb for the next few months, and you move to the next destination. So it's that concept of slow travel that I know you're experiencing first hand right now. Yeah, and it's the first time I've experienced anything like this, this slow travel, as you put it, Lewis, because there's almost an idea of if you're away abroad, then you must be on holiday, or you're backpacking. They sort of tend to be the most common ways to travel. And the people we've interacted with here in Montenegro, they're either backpackers or we spoke to a few people that have just been here for four or five days, and it's always nice to be able to tell them that it's a longer term thing. So we're here now. I'm still getting used to that feeling of it being normal to be abroad. And then we're flying tomorrow to southern Spain near Marbella, and then, yeah, continue on from Marbella to Madeira off the coast of Portugal. That's more of the coast of Africa to continue this sort of slow travel. And I'm thinking at some point it's going to sort of sink in that this is a new reality for me, whereas still, right now, it doesn't quite feel normal, because I'm used to the UK, and especially in the time of year that I'm coming. You know, we're out here now. It's sort of getting towards late October now, and it's still very mild weather. I was hoping to capture a more sunny day. It's been, like, sunny day, but probably about 70% at the time since we've been in in Montenegro. And I'm still trying to get used to, like, for example, last week, I just remember finishing up on a Q and A call on Friday at midday, and after coming up, finishing off the call, come and sat out on the balcony, and the sun's shining down on the balcony, I just sort of, you know, just relax, sit back, close your eyes. You know, you've done some work at a productive morning, been on a Q A call, interacting with other people, building their business in the master class, and then just enjoy the sun in the middle of October. And I'm still sort of in that stage of having to pinch myself, of it being normal life, and I'm looking forward to being able to document more of this digital nomad lifestyle moving forward as well, because it was a really big driver for me, especially when it gets to the winter months in the UK, when it's so dark and dreary. I was always dreaming of having a chance to keep the income coming, keep my self development improving and my career moving forward while being abroad at the same time. Is that having to go in at the same time, not having to sacrifice your career, because you've come away so sort of switching gears a little bit now from the business and the lifestyle that we've both been enjoying recently. What advice would you give to somebody who is just starting out and has that desire to achieve location freedom? Well, there's a few things, and I wanted to actually get add a bit of context to this, because I think a couple of the things you said, there are really important misconceptions that other people may have initially coming into this, like the expecting everyone else who's doing this to be backpackers. For example, I know that when I first started, my family, my friends couldn't quite get their head around. They're like, are you going to be staying in hostels? Or, like, what are you going to be doing? Because that's what people do when they go to places like that. But, you know, fast forward a few years now, we've got two children, and my wife and I and our kids went to Mexico for all of January of this year, for like six weeks, I think. And while we were there, the apartment complex that we stayed in could not be further away from what like a hostel would have been if you were traveling on a budget. You know, we were in an incredible serviced apartment complex with gated community. I could go and run on the beach every morning and then come back in have an incredible pool, sauna gym like you can really live a high quality of life without breaking the bank when you're earning in pounds and spending in pesos, for example, in that case. So I think that's the first thing, is to be aware that you know it. Maybe you're someone who hasn't had the bug to travel. Or maybe when you think of travel, you think of slumming it, walking around with backpacks, sitting on long coach journeys, being knackered. Actually, you can live an incredible life. We lived in like a penthouse apartment in Chiang, Mai, and it was something like $1,000 a month or so, you know, crazy, like, so cheap compared. To what it would be in the UK, and you've got the incredible weather as well. So I guess a slight shift in like, how we actually view what Traveling means, because we're now traveling on with a business funding us to do so. But if you're if location freedom is your goal, if you say no, that's me. I want to do that. I want to be able to work from anywhere, then here's where I'd suggest, beginning, start small, but build constantly. Take consistent action. Don't feel like you need to hit six figures immediately. You know you can do and certainly with high ticket drop shipping, it's a faster path to hitting six figures than it is selling cheap products. But it's like training for a marathon. You want to pace yourself, and then eventually you will reach the finish line, and then when you realize at the end there probably that wasn't the finish line all along. There's always new challenges and always new ways you can grow your income, but try and set up systems early as well as you go. It's tempting to do everything yourself because you can. But a good thing that I try to instill in in a whole team at dropship unlocked and my E commerce businesses is that every time you're doing something, try and document what you're doing. Because in the future, we might try to be able to automate that. And if we can do that initially as a solo business owner, it's like installing a self watering system for your garden. It kind of just manages the gardening while everything else runs smoothly. You get to just step back from it, so you want to kind of treat your business like that. What can we do? What are the repeatable tasks that we can use, things like make.com or Zapier or just different automations to remove ourselves from. And then the final thing is, you can be working as hard as you want. You can be grinding away. You can be pouring in the hours, automating as much as you can, but still making no progress if you choose the wrong business model. So we've got to be focusing on a business model that doesn't tie us down. E commerce is perfect for that, and specifically, high ticket domestic drop shipping is ideal. And for more insights into why, then I'd recommend checking out episode 79 of the dropship unlock podcast, which is titled The current state of drop shipping, where we dive a lot deeper into the trends that are shaping this industry today. Yes, always crucial to have a finger on the pulse in the industry, which is what we bring you with these podcast episodes to understand what it's like to start up now, and obviously we're still running our businesses, so we've got a real handle on what is like to run an E commerce business in 2024 going into 2025 so a brilliant time to get started as we go into more detail in that episode. So something to touch on as well. Lewis is, I guess people might be considering what are the challenges of being a digital nomad? What is it like when you're actually living the lifestyle? So when you're running a business on the move, is there anything that comes to your mind of challenges that you may have faced that's different from from living in the UK and running a business there? Yeah, there definitely are challenges. You're going to get challenges, you know, wherever you are. And these are the kind of challenges that I'd actually choose. If I had to choose some challenges, I'd be like, Okay, well, I'm happy to take those as trade offs. They're definitely manageable with the right approach. So first, it's probably time zones, just making sure you're coordinating with suppliers and customers across different time zones can be a bit tricky at times. I remember in Vietnam having to do some like quite late night phone calls with suppliers when I was trying to onboard them initially. But again, with this model, you've only got to do that phone call once, because once you've signed them as a supplier, you never have to communicate with them via phone again if you don't want to, or you can, but you can just do it on time zones that suit you. So it's kind of like juggling multiple clocks, but you want to make sure you've got good communication. You set expectations and you make it work. And I was quite open with a lot of my suppliers, and told them that I was abroad at the time and and that was fine. In fact, some of them quite respected that, and were quite curious. And were like, how are you doing that? Like, how's that? You know, because they haven't heard of it the concept of digital nomadism before. So they were quite inspired by, I think the next challenge you might face, depending on where you are, is reliable internet. So you want to make sure that you always have, if you're picking an Airbnb, just check the box for Wi Fi. Make sure that you're selecting one that has a good Wi Fi connection. Something I relied on a lot was personal hot spots as well. If you get a local SIM card wherever you go, it's usually a lot cheaper to get data that way. You can then put the SIM card in. You can keep your same WhatsApp number, I believe, and then you can just use their phone as a personal hotspot router and run your business essentially through your phone's internet as well. So that works well in places where they don't have hotspot, I'm sorry, with Wi Fi, but that actually is another misconception. I remember when we went to Thailand, people were like, do they have like, decent internet out there? The internet there was better than the internet in London. When we used to work at this co working space in the mall in Chiang Mai, the download speed was like two, 300 megs per second. I was like, this is rapid compared to, like, the internet we had back home. So that, again, huge misconception that they're kind of like behind the times. Like, if anything, a lot of them are ahead of where we're at. They've leap frogged where where we're at in the UK. And so finally, the other challenge that springs to mind is, when it's your own business, it can be tempting to just pour your heart and soul into it all hours of the day. It can be really hard to switch off when your business is mobile, because you carry it around with you everywhere, which is a blessing, but it can be a curse if not managed correctly. So it's important to set clear boundaries. Think of it like you know you have to keep a work schedule if you're at a nine to five, so maybe just keep a work schedule when you're working remotely as well. Perhaps it's you wake up at eight, you go do your morning routine, and then you work from nine till 11. Then you always take maybe 11 till one, as like an extended relaxation, lunch break, coffee break, whatever, and then you do a few hours in the afternoon. But you I remember my wife and I used to always say, think it was like maybe half five six. We'd always shut down our laptops and go out for dinner, and every night we could go and eat out, because it's so cheap to do that in places like Thailand that we would be able to do that and always kind of hold each other accountable to finishing work. At the time we said we were going to it was very rare we would work late into the evenings unless there was like a huge project we really wanted to get done. But those are the main challenges. Yeah, balance is key, no doubt, no matter where you are in the world. But with a business that you run it anywhere, and also, if you enjoy running that business, then I find that's more difficult then to close a laptop. It is definitely important to give yourself a break and to enjoy the places while, while you're traveling. So yeah, I've, you know, got better at that over over time, certainly. But no, it's been a fantastic time out here. It's been great to talk about living as a digital nomad, because it's such a big goal for so many people. And I know listening to this podcast now, there will be people that really are aspired to do that. And I know I was just a few years ago, and with, you know, with the hard work and sacrifice that you put in, it's well worth it once you get the fruits of your labor afterwards. So it's been fantastic. I mean, challenges from my side, I think the skill that you really have to adapt to it and get better at while you're out here is the skill of adaptability and traveling, because there's going to be different challenges coming at you, different place, working out your new surroundings, that you have to get quite good at being adaptable. And if you're somebody that really likes their home office setup, I think you need to have a be able to be adaptable with just a laptop and being able to work from cafes and your Airbnb and wherever else you find yourself. But no, it's all part of self development. I think traveling as well. It's one of those things that really boosts your the speed at which you have to develop as a person. So another reason why, why I've enjoyed this lifestyle so far. So for people that are very keen, inspired and want to get started, Lewis and they want, you know, some actionable steps to take away from today's podcast episode, what would you suggest they do to get started? Yeah, if you're listening to us right now and you think this sounds like other lifestyle choice I'd like to pursue, then start your own digital nomad journey. You can scale up using an E commerce business. It's the perfect route, in fact, to learn how to do that. The best first step is if you head over to H T, a book.com, you can get started with a two week trial of our drop ship unlock accelerator. You'll not only get access to training and coaching, but you'll also join a community of like minded entrepreneurs also aspiring for location, time and financial freedom. So if location freedom is your goal and it's the topic that's resonated with you from today's episode, then this is the perfect way to kick start your journey. Head over to HTA book.com to get started now, are you enjoying the podcast? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a comment or a review, and we might feature it in an upcoming episode. And for detailed show notes and resources, visit dropship unlock.com forward slash podcast. If you found value in any episode of this podcast, please. Could you take just 10 seconds to leave us a quick five star review on your favorite podcast app? It helps us more than you can imagine, and who knows, you might just hear your comments read out on the show. Thanks for being a part of our community. Your support helps us keep delivering new episodes to you every week. Now it's that part of the podcast episode where we're going to answer a question that's come in from a listener. So remember, if you have a question from today's episode and you'd like to get it answered by Lewis and I then post it in the comments beneath the YouTube video version of this episode, and not only will it be answered in the comments, but also it might just be read out and answered on an upcoming episode. So that's exactly what Aaron has done. And Aaron has asked, at what point in the process do we typically discuss profit margins with suppliers, and is there room for negotiation after the initial offer? Thanks for your question, Aaron. And yeah, margins are typically discussed after signing the agreement with suppliers, and when they first send you their trade price list, you'll see the margin that you're going to earn, just for anyone that doesn't know what that means, that the margin, the profit margin, the gap, is the gap between what you buy the product at, at trade price or wholesale price from your suppliers, and what you sell the product at, so retail price to customers. That's the difference. That's your profit that you keep. You can kind of think of it like, you know, you go into a restaurant and you see the menu before you decide what you want to order. The same thing. When you sign a supplier, you get to see the trade prices first before you decide whether you want to actually promote their products, especially running paid ads to them. Because you'll only want to do that if the margins allow you to do so. Ie are over 25 35% kind of that range would be a good range to start with, suppliers will usually suggest the initial margins in their trade price lists, and these are often their standard offers to kind of all retailers that reach out to them, or they might have a drop shipping specific price band. We see a lot of suppliers now, and with drop shipping becoming such big business, they do actually have a specific drop shipping. Rate for their retailers like us, but that's kind of like receiving an opening offer during a negotiation. It's your starting point. It's not the final figure. It might be the first, the first price that you agree on initially, but once you start making some sales, once you start showing them your worth and how much revenue can bring to them, and you explain to them what you could do if you had more margin. I spent more on ads to acquire way more sales, increase their revenue, you'll start to see that getting above that 25 to 30% margin will happen over time, and suppliers have a lot more flexibility on margin than they'll often say that they do perfect. Yeah. Great question, Aaron, and thanks for answering that. One Louis, completely agree. Yeah. Margin is a critical part, and there is always room for negotiation with suppliers to make sure that you are getting a good healthy margin from your relationships. Okay, is that time of the podcast now where we're going to highlight a recent review that we've had as well, because we'd love to give you a shout out for those of you who have left a review for the podcast. So a big thank you to Peterson G for sharing your thoughts in an apple podcast. So Peterson said, amazing podcast to use as fuel. The introduction was particularly helpful in setting the structure for upcoming episodes. I was able to listen to both the first and second episodes of the podcast in one sitting, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed them. It's inspiring to hear about Lewis's journey and the obstacles he overcame. It's great structured Tips and Tricks shared by Lewis and James. They're very valuable, particularly their emphasis on the importance of the daily visualization in keeping our drive alive and pushing through obstacles. I want to express my gratitude for creating the dropship unlock community, and to the creators of this podcast, James and Lewis, for providing such insightful content. Thank you. What an awesome review. Thank you very much, Peterson, believing that for us that's really kind Yeah. Thank you so much for your review. Peterson, that's that's very kind, and we are glad to hear that you've been enjoying the podcast. Now, before we wrap up, could I ask a quick favor of you if you've enjoyed today's episode, then could you take just a few seconds to leave us a review your feedback helps us reach more listeners and improve the content that we bring to you, plus we might just read your review on our next episode, thank you for joining us on this episode of the dropship unlocked podcast. We hope you are leaving with new insights and inspiration to fuel your entrepreneurial journey. Now, if you're looking to kick start or even accelerate your E commerce business, head over to dropship unlocked.com forward slash accelerator and sign up for your 14 day trial of the dropship unlocked accelerator, not only will you receive a free copy of my book The home turf advantage, but you'll also get access to exclusive training, live coaching calls and our supportive and amazing community of entrepreneurs who are all building successful businesses just like you don't forget to hit that subscribe button for more episodes packed with strategies, tips and success stories, plus, if you enjoyed this episode today, a five star review would mean the world to us, and you might even get a shout out on the next episode. Thank you for choosing 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.