The Dropshipping model isn’t too different from most businesses.
Sure, dropshipping gurus make some great promises, but at the end of the day, no magic bullet overcomes the massive pitfalls of this business model.
Let’s get something clear:
There is NOTHING passive about dropshipping, no matter how well most course creators sell the dream.
If you want that travel-the-world-making-money-while-you-sleep-laptop-lifestyle, dropshipping isn’t for you.
To run a successful dropshipping business, you need to be constantly on the lookout for new products.
Scouring the internet for hot trends and trying to find the next fidget spinner will take hours out of your day.
Not to mention, it’s not enough to just have the hot new product…
You also need to get the customers.
That means ads…
Lots and lots of ads…
Testing, tweaking, targeting, spending thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars before breaking even.
Not to mention, Facebook hates dropshipping, meaning one of your top traffic sources could shut you down at any time.
All of this leads to a very stressful life, not a lot of money, and a lot of time wasted.
Time that could be better spent so you can actually live the life you want.
Now, what if there was a way you could build a passive income stream that’s actually passive?
An income stream that doesn’t require:
- Physical Products
- Low Margins
- Long Wait Times
- Angry Customers
- Thousands of dollars testing different ad campaigns
An income stream that brings in consistent revenues every single month (from a couple thousand dollars to well over $10,000)?
An income stream you could actually build in your spare time, and grow as large or as small as you want to, without having to spend hours a day running ads, researching products, and trying not to get banned by whatever platforms you’re using?
If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out Digital Real Estate.
This is nothing like dropshipping, and that’s probably a good thing.
However, if you’d still like to know more about Dropshipping, keep reading.
How To Start A Dropshipping Business With No Money
Wondering how to kickstart a dropshipping business without any with little or no money? We’ll go over some valuable insights and using free resources to get your store up and running on a shoestring budget.
So let’s jump in…
Step 1: Discover A Profitable Niche
Your first step to starting a dropshipping business is to identify a profitable niche. This is the core of your business idea. Remember, dropshipping isn’t a quick path to riches; it takes time to build.
Select a niche that you’re willing to commit to for the long haul, rather than one solely driven by profit potential. It’s also wise to avoid niches that are already oversaturated with competitors.
The ideal niches for dropshippers are those offering a wide range of lightweight, durable products.
Take into account your target market and their needs. Identify high-demand products in your chosen niche to maximize your chances for success in drop shipping.
Step 2: Source Products Within Your Chosen Niche
A pivotal step in establishing your dropshipping store involves finding the perfect supplier. The simplest way involves researching platforms such as AliExpress, Banggood, or their competitors.
That being said, it’s worth looking at local manufacturers or wholesalers within your niche. Choosing local suppliers can often translate into higher-quality products and shorter shipping times, thereby boosting customer satisfaction.
Use this opportunity to find manufacturers or wholesalers to decide on a mutual a drop shipping arrangement. The search for dependable suppliers and the ideal product choice is a critical factor of your online business success.
Step 3: Choose Your Sales Platform
After you’ve settled on your product lineup, the next crucial decision in the dropshipping business model is deciding the ideal e-commerce platform for your business. If you want a low cost option, you might consider platforms like Amazon or eBay.
However, if you can budget as little as $3 per month for a basic web hosting plan, your long-term strategy might involve launching your own dropshipping business website. Whether you choose a Shopify store or a WordPress site is your call, as there’s a wide array of choices available when you want to start dropshipping.
Also, you can look at free hosting services.
Step 4: Set Up Your Online Store
If you’ve chosen a hosting service, you can set up your WordPress store. Your hosting provider will guide you through the process of installing WordPress. This installation will grant you full customization capabilities.
You could use WooCommerce, a free eCommerce platform tailored for WordPress. With this tool, you’ll have the ability to manage your product images, process payments, and oversee all aspects of your online store.
But make sure you have good payment solutions in place. Particularly when you’re starting out, two excellent choices are PayPal and Stripe.
Alternatively, if you prefer to bypass hosting concerns and WordPress setup, you can easily set up your store on Shopify, a popular platform often favorites of dropshippers.
Step 5: Find Products For Your Store
Once you’ve laid the foundation of your store and configured your platform, it’s time to populate your store with products to start dropshipping. To enhance your product images, consider using a free service like Canva, which enables you to add backgrounds and filters.
If possible, use the photos provided by the manufacturer.
Avoid duplicating the product descriptions provided by your dropshipping supplier. Instead, focus on crafting unique product descriptions. While you can list essential product features with short bullet points, it’s important to use a distinct voice in those features.
Remember that consumers don’t buy products merely for the sake of spending money. They want products that address specific needs or problems in their lives.
Invest time in researching your target audience and potential customer base. Study their challenges and how your products offer solutions. Make this key value proposition the centerpiece of your product descriptions.
Step 6: Focus Your Efforts On Marketing
Once everything is in place, it’s time to kickstart your digital marketing. After all, people can’t buy from you if they don’t know who you are.
Set up a well-structured content calendar covering both social media posts and website articles. Of course, one great marketing strategy is to provide excellent customer service to potential customers.
In your first year of business, your earnings should ideally reach a point where you can start delegating some of the workload through outsourcing.
Is Dropshipping A Scam?
So, is Dropshipping a scam? Not technically. You can make money with this program, but it’s definitely not as easy as they make it sound.
There’s a ton of work to be done upfront, no real guarantee of success, and – most importantly – you need to do a ton of volume to make any real money.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with front-loading the work and making the money later.
But if you’re grinding it out for 3 months, $3-5k in the hole on ads (because that whole “get started with $5 a day” thing is total BS) and then your reward is 15% profit on a $12 product (which comes out to $1.80), it’s not really worth it.
What if, instead, you could do that same 3 months of work (in your spare time), and your reward was a $500 to $2,000 payment that came in every single month?
And what if you actually didn’t need to wait 3 months? What if you could get started today and have your first payment in a week?
And what if you could double it next week?
Well, that’s the power of Digital Real Estate.
And, unlike dropshipping, you can legitimately do this from anywhere. Similar to traditional real estate.
Your laptop and an internet connection is all you need.
Some of the most successful students in this program run their entire 6-figure businesses from:
- A camper in the middle of the woods
- A beach chair on the water in Mexico
- A small villa in Greece
They’re able to travel around, living their lives first, and focusing on their income second.
Because even if they stop working for an extended period of time, the money keeps coming in.
So adventure, memories, and experience are the top priority.
And they never have to worry about how to pay for the next trip, or consider asking for time off.
If this sounds more like the type of life you want to lead, just click here to find out more about Digital Real Estate.
Are There Alternatives To Dropshipping?
Yes, there are plenty of other business models to choose from other than the dropshipping model if you want to make money online. Here are just a few:
What Is My Top Recommendation For Making Money Online In 2025?
Our review team has spent months researching, reviewing, and vetting dozens of business models and thousands of programs.
While there may be no “perfect business”, the research IS conclusive:
Digital Real Estate is the #1 online business model for those just starting out.
Whether you’ve never made a dollar online, or you’ve been in this space for a while but never really “made it,” Digital Real Estate is for you.
Why?
1) It’s Flexible: got an hour a day? You can do this. Ready to drop everything else and dive in full time? You can do this. Yes, the more time you put in, the faster you see results. But even with a little time each day, you can move the needle in a Digital Real Estate business.
And because this system is so flexible, you don’t have to constantly be working to make more money. It’s called PASSIVE INCOME because if you stop working, the money doesn’t.
Imagine taking 3 months off to just tour around Europe, rent a cabin in the woods to write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, or live on the beach and surf all day.
This is only possible if you have an income stream that’s not tied to your time.
2) You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With dropshipping, you don’t really own anything. You have no control over the quality of products. You don’t even own the products because they go straight from the supplier to the customer.
Yes, if you’ve got a Shopify store, you technically own that. But if every ad platform suits you down, you’ve got a store with no customers. Which is literally worthless.
With Digital Real Estate, you own the assets, which means you have all the power and all the control.
3) Little To No Startup Costs: It’s possible to get into Digital Real Estate with zero dollars upfront. Because, using the strategies outlined in this program, you can get a client to pay you BEFORE spending a penny out of your own pocket…even before you do any work.
Even without getting paid in advance, you can have your first Digital Rental Property up, running, and generating profits for less than $100.
4) No Inventory: Ok, so technically you don’t have to worry about inventory since you’re not filling up your garage or a warehouse with products.
But, you still have all the headaches of a physical products business. Since most dropshipped products come from China, you already have a 2-3 week wait time from when a customer places an order.
But right now, with global supply chain issues, your customers would be lucky to get anything in less than a month.
Imagine finally landing your first customer after months of experimenting, and then getting hit with a refund request or chargeback because they had to wait 6 weeks to get their order.
With Digital Real Estate, a 100% online business, you never even have to think about that risk.
5) Easy To Duplicate: Ok, here’s the best part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up and running, you can literally DOUBLE your income with a few clicks, a couple keystrokes, and a single phone call (and you don’t actually need the phone call).
Remember: each Digital Rental Property is worth $500 to $2,000 a month in semi-passive income (over 95% profit). Every time you decide to create another one and increase your income, it gets easier.
Because you have more knowledge, more experience, more results, and more momentum.
If you wanted to double your income with dropshipping, you’d have to double your inventory, your profit margins, OR your average order value. And, guaranteed that’s a lot harder than a few clicks and a few minutes of your life.
6) Make Money Helping Real People: This part is what makes it all worth it. 99.9% of the time, dropshipping provides no value to anyone but the seller.
In a lot of cases, it has a negative impact on the customer because of poor product quality and an overall bad experience (i.e. waiting 6 weeks to get your order).
And that makes it pretty hard to sleep at night.
But with Digital Real Estate, you’re actually helping people by solving your clients’ biggest problem:
Small, local businesses need more customers, and with Digital Real Estate, you are unleashing a flood of happy, paying customers for these businesses.
You make money by helping them make money.
Not a big, faceless corporation either…a small business owner who’s using that money to put food on the table for their family, start a college fund for their kids, or take care of a sick parent.
Once you see how Digital Real Estate makes a real impact in the lives of real people, you’ll sleep like a baby with a big smile on your face.
Now, the choice is yours. You could continue browsing, looking at opportunities like Dropshipping which could one day make you money.
You could continue researching, never making a decision.
OR, you could take a look inside, consider what you really want, and join a program that makes your dreams a reality. At the same time, joining a community of over 2,000 successful students that are living life on their own terms thanks to Digital Real Estate.
A consistent, reliable, semi-passive stream of income that doesn’t depend on you or your time to keep producing profits.
All while genuinely helping real people who are grateful and happy to pay for it.
If this sounds more like what you want out of life (or if you just want some nice side income), click here to learn more about Digital Real Estate.
