
The Dropship Unlocked Podcast
Unlock e-commerce success with the Dropship Unlocked podcast. Join UK e-commerce experts, Lewis Smith and James Eardley, as they guide aspiring entrepreneurs to financial and time freedom.
Dive into high-ticket dropshipping, Shopify, Google Ads, and more. Discover stories, strategies, and tips to fast-track your e-commerce journey. Whether you're a newbie or seasoned seller, we're here to elevate your business.
Embrace the laptop lifestyle, the e-commerce evolution, and Shopify's power with us. Ready to become a successful entrepreneur?
Tune in!
The Dropship Unlocked Podcast
How Steve Made £5,500 in 3 Weeks Dropshipping (Episode 128)
💻 Join Our FREE Training: How To Build A Profitable Ecommerce Business: https://dropshipunlocked.com/online-event?el=podcast-128-steve-5k
🗣 In this episode, Lewis Smith and James Eardley share an inspiring success story from the Dropship Unlocked Masterclass.
We're joined by Steve, who managed to generate £5.5k in just three weeks, showing how mentorship, strategy, and dedication can create rapid results in the world of dropshipping.
👉 Prefer to watch this on YouTube? Check it out here ➡️https://youtu.be/fDyem4-MZ4E
Topics Discussed:
★ Steve’s Journey to E-commerce: We dive into Steve’s backstory before joining the Dropship Unlocked Masterclass and what pushed him to take the leap into dropshipping.
★ The Power of Mentorship: Steve shares how having guidance from the Masterclass accelerated his progress and helped him overcome initial challenges.
★ The Road to £5.5k: Learn the strategies and steps Steve took to achieve £5.5k in sales in just three weeks.
★ Overcoming Self-Doubt: Steve talks about his journey from hesitation to confidence and how he managed to take consistent action.
★ What’s Next for Steve: We discuss Steve’s plans for the future and how his newfound success has impacted his mindset and life.
Links and Resources Mentioned:
- Get started with Dropship Unlocked: https://dropshipunlocked.com/start
- Shopify Trial: https://dropshipunlocked.com/shopify
- Free Trial for a professional phone line: https://dropshipunlocked.com/circle
Key Takeaways:
★ Rapid Success is Possible: Steve’s story is proof that with the right mentorship, tools, and mindset, you can start seeing significant results quickly in the dropshipping world.
★ The Value of Community: Having a supportive community to lean on can help you stay motivated, overcome challenges, and accelerate your success.
★ Consistency is Key: Steve’s success wasn’t about one big breakthrough but rather consistent, focused effort that led to impressive sales.
★ Overcoming Doubt: Steve shares how he pushed past initial skepticism and found the confidence to invest in himself and his business.
FOLLOW:
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Website: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/
Thank you for listening to the Dropship Unlocked Podcast! Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform.
★★★ Dropship Unlocked - Lewis Smith ★★★
🌏 Want to create location, time, and financial freedom? Watch Our Free Training ➽ https://dropshipunlocked.com/free?el=podcast-128-steve-5k
Yeah, revenues have been probably around five and a half 1000 pounds, which obviously I went live with ads on first of February. I think it took about two and a half weeks until I made my first sale. But then since then, on seven or eight sales now, so it's pretty much been averaging about one a day.
James Eardley:Welcome to the dropship unlocked Podcast. I'm Lewis Smith, the founder of dropship unlocked, and with me is our client success coach. James Early. Now when we're not recording podcast episodes or running our own e commerce businesses, you'll find us helping aspiring entrepreneurs launch their own high ticket drop shipping stores. So if you're ready to build your own six or even seven figure online business, then head over to dropship unlocked.com. Forward, slash, start now. Sit back, relax, and let's unlock your potential with the dropship unlocked podcast. In this episode, we're going to shine a light on another remarkable success stories from inside the dropship unlocked master class today, we're joined by Steve, who started his E commerce journey not long ago, and has already made incredible strides. That's right, I love shining the spotlight on some of our incredible masterclass members so that we can provide people with a bit more of an accurate view and idea of what it's like to actually start a drop shipping business today. So if you've ever wondered what it takes to break into the world of E commerce and how mentorship could actually accelerate your progress. Steve's story is one that you're not going to want to miss, so let's dive into it. Yeah, Steve, maybe can you take us back to a few months before you joined dropship a lot. So let's, let's go back in time, right back to, you know, before you'd even heard about us. What was life like for you and then? And why were you? Why were you even thinking about starting your own business? What were you doing? Talk us through a typical day. Yeah.
Steve:So I've been working in full time jobs for, well, forever. I so my background actually, straight after leaving uni, I started up a band, moved down to London and and spent the next 15 years, kind of playing in bands, working sort of casual jobs, and then kind of more permanent jobs, but still keeping the dream alive. And it was after my daughter was born, so she's 16 now, but at that point, I kind of realized that I needed to serious, I suppose. And obviously the jobs that I've been working in weren't particularly well paid, just because I'd entered into the work place having to work it around my music and kind of touring and stuff like that. So tended to be quite casual jobs in the beginning, and then so it was jobs in kind of marketing, sales, and just kind of fell into a career in sales. And it was at that point, when my daughter was born, I started thinking, you know, this is not going to be sustainable. I need to find an additional source of income, and eventually something that would replace my income. So it's really been about 15 years, I've been looking at ways to start my own business and trying different things, from kind of network marketing to web design to search engine optimization, all sorts of different things which had varying degrees of success but never quite got there. I think the network marketing business, or businesses that I tried had some degree of success in those but really just came to the point of realizing that a lot of them really were just kind of Sham Ponzi schemes that really were no good at all. So obviously, a lot of disillusion and disappointment. And it was at a point, if I would say, about a year ago, my work situation just became pretty much unbearable. We gone from being a small company to a very market, see a much larger company, and obviously all the politics that comes with that. And it got to a point where I really just wasn't enjoying it there. I couldn't see a future for myself anymore. And so around that time, I kind of stumbled across your video on YouTube, and I sort of saw something there that just felt a lot more real to me. Obviously, network marketing programs selling electronic information on how to build a network marketing business just kind of the I can, don't know how to describe it, but it's a product that kind of ate itself, just went around in this circle without really providing any value. Whereas what I saw with drop, no drop shipping was obviously real products, you know, quality products and a real service that just made sense to me. And the fact that there was, it seemed to be a very structured course, which was very much missing from everything else that I'd done before. So I had also tried my hand at, um, forex trading and things like that, and gone through courses, and, you know, all the courses. That I've got, whether it be in marketing or trading or whatever. You know, they claim to have a community, and they claim to be able to guide you step by step, but it never really panned out that way. You know, there'd be okay, fairly comprehensive videos, but always still felt like you're fumbling in the dark a little bit, whereas I really got the impression that this was the dropship unlocked. It was very much a data driven approach that was logical. And the fact that there was that kind of mentorship and someone there to guide you by the hand every step of the way, and to actually have that, you know, twice weekly Q and A sessions, just really made a lot of sense to me.
James Eardley:If we can touch on something you said there, I think you said the work situation wasn't sustainable and it had become unbearable. Can you talk us through, like, what? What does that actually mean? Like, what? What had happened that made it unbearable? So
Steve:as we were growing as a business and acquiring other companies, management structure changed, and I ended up finding myself under a new boss that there was just some disconnect there. We really didn't hit it off, and he was really making my life from misery, to be honest, to the point where I felt I was being maneuvered out of a job, and eventually was kind of maneuvered into a new role, which I've started now in a different team to his. I think he just wanted me off his team, essentially so but really just the feeling that the company that I joined, initially, six years ago, was, you know, there were maybe 2030 people there, a boss that I'd worked with previously really got on with, really respected, and to find myself working now underneath someone who, you know, I just really had no respect for. And clearly he didn't respect his employees either, and for a company generally that have grown so big, who claim to really care about their employees and actually shout about it and boast about it, but when, in reality, I think just the hypocrisy of it all just really started to get to me. And I said I just couldn't see a future there. And certainly, yeah, just the feeling of working there, it was not enjoyable anymore Interesting.
James Eardley:Yeah, it was getting sour, by the sounds of it. So you look for a different path. And so how long ago Are we speaking for this time? So I know a nice chronological order of the decisions that you were making. How long ago were you getting these feelings and then were you immediately starting to think about a business rather than just another job.
Steve:So it was around about a year ago when it first started. Actually, I'd always been looking for a business. I think I'd gone before that started, I'd sort of settled into this role, which I actually started. I had started to enjoy. So all that searching around, looking for a business of my own to start, kind of went on the back burner because I'd settled into something fairly comfortable at work where I felt there was a future, and I felt I was enjoying it, and I was contributing and felt valuable. But I think once the situation sort of soured, it got me thinking again that I'd really need to kind of get back into working for myself, which, yeah, it was the kind of the turning point to kind of get me back on track. If you like, 100%
James Eardley:I think a lot of people will resonate with that story of the the sour situation that was happening at work, and that desire for more control than not having a boss telling you what to do all the time and trying to push you out of a business. So as well, just to get a picture of your story, you mentioned that you tried other businesses as well. So tell me a little bit about those businesses that you were trying again. How long ago were you starting to do these businesses? And what did you find was a common thread amongst the businesses that you've tried in the past? So
Steve:I'd say the bulk of it was around multi level marketing, or network marketing. I'd even tried my hand at it before my daughter was born, but it was at the point where the internet started to become a lot more of a viable way to market and learning. I kind of fell in with a group of people, so that the guy kind of sponsored me in my first online network marketing business. He was a great guy. People around him were great and he really kind of connected me, or hooked me up with some of the techniques that could help drive traffic to a website. So I learned all about ranking videos on YouTube as a really great way to attract traffic. So I'd kind of review other sort of programs or scams that were out there, and rank those videos, people would go and searching them, searching for this latest scam that was out there. Some of them would be kind of heavily marketed by affiliates, so I could sometimes get traffic in the 1000s per day to my videos, and then obviously tell them about my business. And from there, kind of went on to learn more about general search engine optimization on Google and things like that. So I'd kind of been doing that for a while, and I think I was doing that in various businesses. And then I kind of went once, I kind of lost faith in the whole network marketing thing. I kind of went into business doing a. Am like a, almost like a marketing consultancy, who I'm agency, and I think all of the different things that I've been involved in, from web design to the SEO to working, obviously in sales as a day job, and mostly on the phone when I saw what was involved, and I had that first kind of introductory call with one of your colleagues to learn about what the dropship unlock, course, would involve that kind of click. For me, it's almost like all the different things that I've been doing in my life that had, perhaps, well, had varying degrees of success, but it was almost like all of those things were leading me up to this moment, because now have all of these skills, which I thought were really super relevant in obviously doing what we do as dropshippers. Yeah,
James Eardley:yeah. That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing, Steve. It sounds like almost it'd been a long journey, and it ticked a lot of boxes for you. So can you talk us through any like, specifics? I know I've got a specific moment where, like, I was in a meeting room and I just was looking out the window, and I was like, I'm done with this, like I'm not doing it anymore. And it was almost like a freeing moment where I just felt like I'm I'm making this change. And I don't have the answers right now, but I'm for sure going to figure it out. Do you have a specific moment or a tipping point, or something that happened in your journey where you thought I'm doing this, I'm, I'm making the change right now? Like, did something trigger it? That's
Steve:a tricky one, because I think I've been looking for that for so long. It wasn't a certain moment, it was just something that I've been striving for for a very long time. I just hadn't found the right vehicle. I think it was just when I finally understood what this model involved, and that it felt real. You know, it was real products with a real business model, servicing real people with things that they want, just something logical that made sense. It just felt at that point that I'd found what I'd been looking for all this time. It wasn't some fluffy digital product that, you know, was overpriced, all of the things that I'd seen wrong in the previous kind of models that I'd kind of been working with. I think it was just at the point when I sort of identified that, you know, I think I found what I've been looking for. Is that point, I said, Okay, I'm gonna make a go of it, and I'll make sure that, you know, failure is not an option. It was difficult to say, you know, there wasn't a moment that said, No, I've had enough. I've gonna get out and do something, because I kind of made that decision a long time ago. Just haven't found the vehicle.
James Eardley:It's a similar situation for me. It was like a gradual realization that where I was heading wasn't where I wanted to be long term, so I had to make that shift. And similarly, I resonated with with what dropship unlocked stood for, and sounds like the same for you. Steve, so obviously you'd been through some some programs that you didn't enjoy in the past, and they weren't what they lived what they were made out to be. So when you came across dropship unlocked, did you feel that same skepticism. Were you skeptical when you first came across dropship or not because of the past experiences that you've had? Yeah, for sure,
Steve:there's always a degree of skepticism, which is why, obviously I found it really valuable to have that initial call, I guess, the screening call, or what, I don't know what you call it, but a chance for, obviously your guys to kind of check me out. For me to check you guys out. Obviously, had a lot of questions. See reservations about the kind of money involved in actually investing in the course. But I think having understood the structure of the course, obviously, I think it was Khalifa explained to me what each of the modules were. So from setting up a business to kind of identifying a niche, he just took me through each of the steps and that kind of, as he went through all of that, it all kind of made it all made perfect sense. And the thing that had been missing in the previous kind of courses and programs that I've been involved in, it was clear that they'd been thought of and they were addressed here. So the biggest ones were, you know, having that actually one to one mentorship, having guidance on identifying a niche that wasn't just based on, you know, finger in the air, but a data driven approach, you know, in marketing, or the marketing courses that I'd been involved in, it was like, the most important thing is to find the right niche. And they keep drawing drumming that into you, but they don't tell you how to do it. You know? They say, Make it as specific as possible. You find a niche, and then drill down and make it more specific, and then target the keywords in that nation. They tell you all that, and you understand it, but they don't tell you how to do it. So I think as I kind of understood the kind of level of detail and help and guidance that you guys were providing with the course that kind of really helped those doubts and skepticism to kind of clear away and to actually see it, you know, as a real thing. Perfect.
James Eardley:Yeah, there's one thing being told what you will do, and there's another thing being told actually how to do it. So I'm interested you mentioned the call with khalifa to that really helped you to understand what was involved. Were you a listener of the podcast? Did you come across any podcast episodes? I'm trying to get a picture of of what was it that really changed your mind, if you were skeptical in the first place, was it mainly the call, or was it the podcast or YouTube videos? Anything else that comes to mind as to what really persuaded you to get involved?
Steve:But I'd not come across any of the podcasts really. Obviously, when I set up the call, you know, kind of put my name down and made my application, if you like, I think I got an email saying to watch a couple of videos. So obviously I did my homework and kind of watched those before the call. So that was obviously good to get a bit of background and, you know, prepare me for that call. But I think it was very much having that discussion and just airing any concerns and having those concerns addressed, like I say, just to see that the things that had been missing from previous opportunities that I've got involved in really were addressed. And I think obviously it's always useful to see the the testimonials and things like that, and see other people being successful in the business, and appreciate that there's probably a lot of people who are not successful, because maybe they don't put things into practice, and maybe they don't put the work in or they expect that everything be handed to them on a plate, which clearly Nothing ever is in life, but all that I ask, really, is that I'll be given the tools and how to use them, and I think that's all anyone can ask. I
James Eardley:think that you hit the nail on the head in terms of the reason for the call. It's as much for you to find out about us, and, you know, fire loads of questions and hesitations and reservations that you have to us so that we can hopefully ease your mind about that, but it's also to make sure that we're protective of who enters our community, because we're very aware that a community is something that you need to protect and nurture, and you can't just let anyone in, because that could be the the end of the community. You know, it could. It could cause, you know, one bad apple spoils the bunch. It can. It can really make it kind of go south quite quickly. So I get that the phone call helped, but just to dive into the specifics on why it helped, and also, like what you saw from the testimonials, what made you feel that the dropship unlocked mentorship program was worth the investment? Like, can we dive into the specifics of what? What did you think? Okay, this is a serious investment, but it's worth it. Because, yeah,
Steve:let me have a think about that. It's, I think, firstly, the fact that it was high value, you know, high ticket sales, which, logically, if I were to start doing it and start making a few sales, I could see that that investment would be paid back quite quickly. I could see that people were being successful with it, obviously, with the, you know, from the various testimonials, some people being extremely successful with it. And I was very much looking for something that would give me a replacement income, allow me to to leave full time employment and concentrate on something. And I could see that, you know, from from the testimonials, from the, obviously, the discussions was had on the kind of intro call, or, you know, the call with Khalifa, I could see that that could come about fairly quickly. So I think with a lot of the good things in life, you need to put in to get out. So, you know, although the investment was more than I'd made before, in the past, for a single course or program, I could see why it was priced that way, and I could see that it would be, it would be worth the investment, and that it's something that I could recoup fairly quickly once I started making sales. So in that kind of light, it made a lot more sense. Don't know if that answers the question, yeah,
James Eardley:no, that's that. That's that that's on very, very interesting. You've clearly joined with the right mindset, Steve, that's why you've seen the the success, and why you've got so far in the amount of time that you've been inside the program so far as well. So now that you've you got yourself into the program, what would you say is the most surprising element of it? What? What do you think you found that's been impactful for you and helpful, but perhaps it was a bit of a surprise, and you weren't necessarily expecting it when you joined the master class program.
Steve:Probably one of the biggest surprises was just finally being a part of what was a genuine program that actually is what it says it is, and to have that community of you know, successful entrepreneurs all sort of helping each other. So in the past, you know, a lot of courses, so they have communities, but they don't really feel like communities, whereas here it really does, which, yeah, I think for me, has been the biggest surprise, which is nice, because it was a good surprise.
James Eardley:From your journey so far. Are there any standout moments that for you feel like kind of big milestones, like, what? What would you say has been your best moment so far since starting this?
Steve:One of them actually was yesterday, I was sitting in the office. Didn't want to be there the moment. I'm only going in one once a week, generally, because we, you know, kind of cloud services company. So fact that, you know, we can work from home, they prefer us to be in the office, but like I say, I'd rather not be there. So I was in there yesterday for an all day meeting, and we'd broken up for lunch. I was sitting there with a few colleagues. They were having their lunch, and I got the cha ching right in front of them, and one of them, one of them just went for me. That was a that was a lovely. Moment when
James Eardley:you felt that teaching come through. Can you talk through the feeling? Because there's, I think it's quite hard to describe, isn't it? But like, what's going through your mind where a colleague turns to you doesn't know what that sound relates to, but in your mind, you know, how does that feel? Like
Steve:it was very gratifying. I mean, these colleagues get on with really well, but I would tell them what I was doing, but just to be sat in there in the office and to hear that sound go off, it just sort of symbolized, you know, me kind of almost walking out the door already, even though I'm not there yet. But it did feel, you know, very satisfying. It wasn't a massive sale, but, and I knew it was coming as well because I'd spoken to the guy earlier that day, but yeah, it was, it was quite a pleasant feeling.
James Eardley:Fantastic. Yeah, that's the thing. It's there's lots of overlap. Actually, I think people misunderstand, or don't really. They dismiss that anything related to their previous work is going to have any impact on a business that they start running same in my position, where I was working for a not for profit. Housing Association and I started up an E commerce business that was purely for profit, guaranteed. And I could, even though there was nothing between the two, there was definitely some things that you could take from Workplace into running a business. And yeah, I agree, there's satisfaction in knowing that some of the work you paid off from previous workplaces goes into the business that you've got set up now. So you've made some sales now, Steve, so let me know a little bit about the sales progress that you've had so far, and also, specifically the revenue behind each sale that you've been generating since we're doing high ticket businesses. Roughly what's been the average order value and how much profit would you say? Do you make, on average, the gross profit for each sale that you generate.
Steve:Yeah, so the sales have been for products varying from about 650 pounds to around 850 so far, I've got a bit of a kind of first month sale on where give customers 40 pounds off any product they buy for the month of February, just while I got started and to kind of hopefully drive sales and build up some of that data for, you know, for Google, and just kind of build those initial customers, and, you know, get, get them on board. So the actual revenue from those has been a bit less than they would have been. And obviously the margins as well. Yeah, revenues been probably around five and a half 1000 pounds, which obviously I went live with ads on the first of February. I think it took about two and a half weeks until I made my first sale. But then since then, on seven or eight sales now, so it's pretty much been averaging about one a day. So the margin I've made around, I'm thinking around the 800 pound mark. And obviously got all that data now for Google so it can go in and start tweaking the ad campaigns and hopefully scaling up.
James Eardley:Yeah, you're off the mark now. And sometimes we see that with Google ad campaigns that they take some time to learn in the first couple of weeks before they can really start motoring. And you're still within the first 30 days. But when you get to the 30 day mark, all those sales that you've generated, you can use that to optimize and then continue to increase your performance moving forward as well. But what you've got there is clear proof of concept that you can generate sales through the site, that your marketing campaign is bringing people who are interested in your products, so you can start selling them, and so you can work on the other bits of the business as you optimize and improve moving forward as well. But something that I think was really nice for me and exciting was when you start making those sales on average, almost like one a day for the last week. You can start to picture how this is going to impact your life moving forward, because you know what it's like to get a sale per day. And if you're making 100, 150 pounds profit of sale per day, it you can quickly get to that be about 4k gross profit, or net profit after your ad spend every month, quite quickly, if you just continue what you're doing already from the first month. So with that in mind, can you start to picture you're starting to get excited about the future that this can hold for you. And do you start to allow yourself to start thinking about time to pack in the day job? Is that coming into your mind at all that sort of exciting thoughts?
Steve:Yeah, yes. Good question. I mean, that has always been there, but now it feels a lot closer the point you start getting excited and kind of putting the numbers in and doing calculations and saying, Oh, if I've made this every day, then, you know, and if I was making this return on investment each month, then in this many months, I could be making 10,000 pound take on profit. And this number of months, I could be making 20,000 pounds. And just starting to do the maths. And obviously, when you start seeing that the numbers, you know, these numbers are actually real now, and trying to project that forward, obviously I don't want to jump the gun, but I could, it actually feels a lot more tangible now 100%
James Eardley:because you. You've got that proof of concept. There's one thing, projecting numbers when you just thinking about starting a business, and there's another thing, after getting your first 30 days of add data, seeing what you've what you've achieved in the last week or so, after the initial learning phase, and then you can really start to project forward about the possibilities that the business can bring. And so when you get to that stage, and you know, I've got no doubt that you're continuing on the same trajectory that you're on at the moment. Steve, what do you think will change in your everyday life when you get to that stage where your business is bringing in consistent daily sales?
Steve:Well, I think pretty much everything. Well, not everything, but obviously just the fact of being able to leave the job and concentrate full time on my own business, you know, something that, as you know, I've wanted to do for a long time, just be able to do things that I've not had time or money to do. I've always wanted to travel. Used to travel quite a lot when I was smaller, you know, living with parents. So go on holidays and see various places in the world, but obviously working full time job, not earning that much money. Obviously, having the daughter, it gets difficult to do those things. So to be able to go away and not be tied down to one location would be massive for for me and my wife and my daughter as well. I think, funnily enough, it was her that first came to me, saying, Dad, I was looking at maybe doing drop shipping, and it was about the time when I'd first just seen your video. So I said, No way, but a kind of little dream of mine that, you know, once we've got this up off the ground, that maybe we could make a bit of a family business out of it. So if we were all in that together, then, you know, we could have all often do it from wherever we wanted to. So that would be huge for me. Just be able to actually buy a house, been renting all my life, just to find somewhere nice, and just do all the things that having that kind of income, not just the income, but the almost like semi passive income, all those things that that would unlock for me would just be huge.
James Eardley:Yeah, it's fantastic when you start thinking ahead as to what like, the reason why you're doing this is starting to come into focus. Now, it can feel like quite a distant pipe dream at first when you're like, in busy building the site and uploading products and getting things there, but when you start to see those glimpses of like, oh, hang on a second. I just was sitting with a colleague and made a sale and earned more in profit than I'll probably take home from my day job today. And then you kind of like you said that gratified look around and you think, I'm not going to be here for long, because soon I'm going to be doing the things that I wanted to do all along, which is why I started this business. So again, just to dive into the specifics you mentioned about wanting more time with your wife and your daughter to travel, Steve, where would you go? Like, what's the plan? What? What's on the bucket list?
Steve:Oh, man, there's so many places that I've never been to that I'd love to see. I've been months to Canada with my brother and some friends. We went to Banff skiing for a week, and that was amazing. It was just my daughter had not long been born, I think she was maybe two or something. So it was just me, my brother, and a bunch of mates, and we just went out there, and that was amazing. And I'd love to go back there with the family. Love to kind of travel around, like my daughter would. Love to see the states we've never been together as a as a family, to to the US. So that'll be amazing to do a kind of road trip around there, see the sites, places like Thailand, a lot of places in that kind of region that I'd never been to love. To go back to New Zealand, my wife and I did a stopover. Must have been 20 odd years ago, but we did a stopover in Auckland while we were waiting for the next train as train and the next plane to take us to New Caledonia, where our wife, some of her family, lived. So we had about eight hours to kill, and we were just mulling around the airport, looking at whether there was a bus that could take us into town so we could see the sites. And there was a guy just sitting outside. We just asked him, Do you know if there's a bus that will take us into town? And he said, Don't worry about that. My son's coming to pick me up in a minute. You know, I run a taxi firm. He can take you around to show you the sites. So there's just such lovely people there. They didn't want any money for it. His son spent the day showing us the town and then drove us back to the airport. And the guy just said, here's some cards. If you've ever got friends coming to to Auckland, give them my card. And that was it. And it's just just that experience of a day there would it was so unexpected, and to meet people who just everyone we met there was just so friendly, and the weather was beautiful, and the the country seemed beautiful. So I'd love to go back there, and, you know, spend a bit of time. I've got friends who live out there as well, so maybe catching up with them. But there's so many different things of to do. If I had the time and the money, you get sucked into day to day life with the day job and working for the man and yeah, having that kind of freedom would just be, I mean, it's almost like. All that time that you spend working for the man, you don't even have the time to really dream or think about things that you want to do. So it's almost like it would become almost overwhelming once you get to that point. I can do what I want. What am I going to do? You know, your head's going to explode. I don't know, but yeah, there's a lot of things that I would love to do given given the time and the opportunity.
James Eardley:Amazingly, I can, I can hear the excitement, and it's, it's a great feeling to the thought of, like you say, not being able, not having to just be there on an eight hour stopover, but being able to go and say, we're going to spend three months here, you know, like James is doing right now in the islands off Thailand, being able to go and travel and and take your laptop with you, maybe even involve your daughter, like you said, as well, and have the business run and fund you while you're there. You've put in the work, you've designed the business that now enables you to be able to get that time back and that freedom back, the two things that you were seeking. So it's all credit to you, Stephen, and what a great job you've done in putting the work in and the effort to make it happen. So final question for you, if someone who is listening to this right now is in a similar situation to what you were before, where they found that things have changed in their family, circumstances, their life, or maybe it's just been a long time brewing like it was for you, where they've been searching around, and they keep hitting these different brick walls and thinking, that's not right. It doesn't feel ethical, or it doesn't feel right this kind of business. But they've stumbled across dropship unlocks, and maybe they're considering joining but they haven't yet made the jump. What would you advise them to help them build up the courage to take the leap? I'd
Steve:say as long as you are prepared to put the work in and not expecting to be handed everything on a plate. You know, it's not a get rich quick scheme. It's not something that someone just gives you, and it's not something you're owed. If you're willing to take the training and the tools and the advice and really put it into practice and really put the work in, I'd say that it is a no brainer. If you you you put in the work and hold yourself accountable, then this, this is a real business, so you really just need to put in the time. It's, I wouldn't say, I've seen testimonies where people say it's hard work, and I wouldn't necessarily, necessarily say it's, it's hard, I would say it's a lot of work. You know, there's a lot of things to do, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's difficult. You know, you just need to put in the time and the focus and the energy into it, but it's all laid out for you, so there's not guesswork. It's just applying everything. And if you're willing to do that, and I'd say, just go for it,
James Eardley:yeah, that's the key. It's we say it oftentimes on the podcast as well. It's not easy at all, but, but it is simple in that the two ends of the deal is that we'll provide the step by step training and the community that's there to help you with obstacles along the way. But then your side of the deal when you join and start a business is that you'll, you'll do the things that that we recommend for you to do in the order that we recommend them. And then your testament to that, Steve, and doing that coming with the right mindset, and after your first 28 days of running ads, yeah, you're off and running off the ground now and able to scale from this position. So very excited about what's in store for you from this position. Steve, so thanks for jumping on today. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with somebody that's considering joining. If you could speak to that person on the commute that's thinking about maybe not just joining, but just starting a business or going after their dreams, what will be your final sort of words to those people? Yes,
Steve:a tricky one as well. Some. I think a lot of the people that I know this probably wouldn't be for them. I don't think she put a note in the community. I think it's often the case with friends and family. You know, you may love them, they may love you, but they don't necessarily believe. I think you know, you need to believe if you're going to kind of really give a shot at something like this, if you come into it without some form of, you know, belief deep down that you can make it work, then it's probably not going to be for you. But if you are the sort of person that has that belief and feels that the nine to five is not for them, and has the kind of courage and the focus and the drive to actually make a real go of it, then 100% you know, jump in head. First
James Eardley:love it. Thank you, Steve. Words of wisdom to end on there. We really appreciate you joining us. Thanks.
Unknown:Thanks for having me. What an inspiring story we heard there from Steve. Yeah,
James Eardley:it was an amazing story. Really enjoyed that one. I think he clarified how important the sense of community was to him and the mentorship and just being part of a supportive tribe of other business owners who are on the same path as him. So if Steve's story resonated with you and you were watching that and thinking, I'd like to take that same path. I'd like to do what Steve's done, and you're ready to begin your own journey. Remember that every success starts out with a single decision, just like Steve had to make. So if you want to get started and follow in Steve's footsteps, head over to drop. Ship unlocked.com, forward slash start. 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 time in the podcast to answer a question that we've received from a listener. So remember, if you have a question that's come up while you've been listening to Stevie interview today, then simply comment beneath the YouTube video version of this episode, and it won't just be answered inside the comments. It may also be featured in an upcoming podcast episode. So this week, the question has come in from WC brunt, 9887 and their question for you, Lewis is afternoon, gents, I am in E commerce. I'm currently drop shipping from China, and I'm interested in your program. I've noticed you offer a book on the home surf advantage, but I understand that you don't anymore, so I'd like to have a flick through it, make a further decision about whether to enter dropship unlocked. So if you still have any copies to hand? I'd be more than happy to purchase one. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for your question. And yes, we do. We do still have the book, and it's the exact same price as it always was. It's just now in a different place, so you can head over to HTA book.com what you'll get is you actually get access to the book when you join a 14 day trial of the dropship unlocked accelerator. So it's still seven pounds, but it used to just be that you paid seven pounds and you got the book. Now you get seven pounds, you get the book, and you get a 14 day trial to the dropship unlocked accelerator, which is kind of like our entry level program, where you can come in, test the waters, see what you think, and obviously we would love you to stick around beyond that, but there's absolutely no pressure to and you can cancel anytime. The trial of the accelerator is just a way for you to explore how our system works, see if the UK based approach of high ticket drop shipping with next day delivery might be a good fit for you. And I know that you mentioned in your question that you're working with suppliers from China at the moment, so typically, people who come in who have that background do very well, because they realize that it's a model that answers a lot of the problems that they had previously. So yeah, you can absolutely come in have a flick through the book. You get a deep dive into everything that we cover inside the accelerator and also inside the home turf advantage book. We lay out the strategies, all the resources, the templates, everything you need to make an informed decision and hopefully help you on your weight. So if you are keen to check it out, as I mentioned, head over to H T A book.com and then that will direct you in the right place where you can get your free trial to the accelerator and your copy of the book for just seven pounds. Perfect. That book's a great way to start, and you'll be following me in my footsteps as well. I was doing drop shipping from China, and then I realized there had to be a better way, as you where I came across dropship unlock. So hope you make the same decision that I did, to get involved. So now it's time to highlight a recent review that we've had for the podcast as well. Because we love to do this. Love to feature you if you'd love to leave us a review after listening to today's episode. So a big thank you to Harvey Clifton, 5130, for sharing your thoughts. And Harvey Clifton said, Hello, bro, amazing video and a beautiful story. Thank you so much for your review. Harvey really means a lot, and very glad to hear that you've been enjoying the podcast as well. Before we end this episode, could we ask just a really quick favor of you leaving a review for our podcast helps us a lot, and it takes you just a few seconds to do but your support by leaving us a review really keeps us motivated to keep bringing you the best content that we possibly can. We'd also love to hear what you think and maybe even share your review in an upcoming episode too. 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, to kickstart your E commerce business, head over to dropship unlocked.com. Forward, slash, start. It's the perfect place to start and get access to resources that will help you build your business from the ground up, and 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.