A successful entrepreneur needs to-
⦁ Have the Right Attitude
⦁ Challenge Themselves
⦁ Be Passionate about what they do
⦁ Face Setbacks Head-on
⦁ Network
⦁ Take Risks
⦁ Visualize Goals
⦁ Take Action
⦁ Work in the Right Direction and Be Patient
⦁ Understand the Business and the Customers

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It’s all in the Attitude

The first step of being successful is having a ‘go-get-’em’ attitude. Attitudes define personalities and influence the outlook a person holds. It dictates the actions of a person, which becomes exceptionally important when running a business.

Having grit and confidence makes all the difference in the world. Attitude is what overcomes fear and pushes you on when everyone tells you to give up. Without hard work, perseverance, and grit, you cannot achieve much in the business world.

Keep Challenging Yourself

Challenges push a person and help unlock the full potential. Presenting yourself with difficult tasks keeps entrepreneurs on their toes and nimble. They also help prepare business owners to face harder times.

Take learning to play the piano. At first, it can seem quite impossible. Getting the hang of all the notes and keys and pressing down notes at the same time using both hands can also be tricky. But after some time and a lot of practice, you will eventually be able to play Twinkle Twinkle and then progress to compositions like Fur Elise.

The same is the case of entrepreneurs. The more you challenge yourself, the better you get.

Be Passionate

Ever heard the advice to get into a profession you are passionate about? There’s a reason for that.

Businesses or careers, in general, tend to be demanding and require continuous commitment, most times lasting for a lifetime. Think of owning something you don’t like. You probably won’t give your hundred or work with your full capacity to achieve that goal. It won’t be challenging or rewarding rather result in a burden.

When you love what you do, your passion shines through in all the tasks. This is probably why most successful business owners are deeply passionate about what they do.

Dealing with Setbacks

Failure is inevitable, there is no escaping it. But the real skill is standing strong while facing adversity. Business is, well, a difficult business. There are no success stories without failing and facing setbacks.

The key is to get back up and stay confident in your decision-making. Reflecting on what decisions you made, what you could have done, investigating what went wrong can help determine your future steps and plan your goals.

Network, Network, Network

A lot of the corporate world runs on networking. The best thing you can do to build your enterprise from the group-up is networking.

Talk to customers, employees in your company, and your field, connecting with other industry professionals that possibly are related to your business, even working closely with your competition could eventually benefit your business.

Networking also helps in understanding your business niche better and the needs of your clients. You could gain opportunities to gain insight on new developments and leads in the market to better your operations.

Even connecting and interacting with your local and online community could do wonders in the growth and recognition of your business.

Take Risks

Humans, as an instinct, tend not to be involved in unnecessary risks. It comes out as a survival instinct which would be great if we were living in the wild world.

However, as cut-throat the business world is, it still isn’t the animal kingdom. To survive in the buying and selling arena it is imperative to take quantified risks at opportune times.

Successful business owners take risks. It’s in the job description.

That being said, being successful also means being smart. Taking unnecessary risks is just that, unnecessary. But smart, risk-taking businessmen know when to and how to take the appropriate chances. The key is learning how to identify what ventures are worth the risks.

Visualize Goals

Now, this advice most people, especially business owners, have heard several times. But, it’s hard to really understand what they mean by it. Visualizing your end goal does not mean closing your eyes and imagining a future.

What ‘visualizing goals’ actually refers to something more tangible and real with details.

Consider this, between ‘I want to own a successful business’ or ‘I want a successful business that focuses on presenting a specific type of clothing apparel’ the latter presents a clear and more achievable goal.

Take Action

The factor that distinguishes a successful leader from followers is action. Leaders know when to take action. They know to measure progress, how to proceed, and when to make a move.

They overcome fear to take risks and face consequences and most importantly take appropriate action in confidence. Talking delays results, a successful entrepreneur acts.

Know the Business, Know your Customers

One of the most common reasons a business tends to fail is that they don’t study their consumer base as well as they should. Entrepreneurship is all about understanding the business and understanding the people who are going to purchase a product or service.

Before figuring out the logistics, raising capital, and investing your personal wealth you need to know if your product is going to sell. You need to know who your customers are going to be, what they want, what they prefer, what their needs are.

Moreover, try to think outside the box. Business ideas that worked well a few years ago do not have the same response from their targeted audience in 2021. On top of that, the COVID-19 crisis has changed the way consumers want to interact with businesses.

The e-commerce market rose to great extent in 2021. So, if you want to sell online, now is the best time to start your online business. And with dropshipping platforms like Sell The Trend, you can automate your order fulfillment, get rid of inventory management, create ad copies that convert and determine the right auudience to sell.

Work and be Patient

Business is hard, that is something that is not going to change. The only thing you can do is put your head down and keep working towards your goal. It is natural to take risks and fail along the way. But some risks and a lot of hard work eventually have a way of playing themselves out.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and overnight successes are never made overnight. They are created over years and years of hard work, tears, sweat, and blood of working non-stop.

Problem Number 1: Out of Stock Items

The number one problem when dropshipping is running out of popular items. This poses a risk to the customer experience and directly affects re-visits, sales, and the overall company image, which determines traffic and popularity.

When a customer orders and finds out the item they have been looking for becomes unavailable, that impacts business and creates a negative impression of your dropshipping venture. Even though you don’t have control over the supply-demand besides pre-ordering items and dealing with vendors, customers will place the blame on your website as the seller as you are the only one they see.

The most realistic way to deal with running out of stock is to partner with multiple suppliers and allow overlap for popular items. So, when supplier X runs out of certain items, you can rely on supplier Y for the availability of the goods.

In this way, the chances of items that sell more running out of stock reduces. An alternative would be to arrange for a substitute product once the original runs out.

In situations where products cannot be delivered the best way to handle clients is to personally inform them, preferably via calls, about the bad news regarding their orders. Try sourcing the products from another supplier at a later date or offer a substitute that can be made available. Suggest alternatives or direct to another place where they can find said item. Remember to be polite and understanding at all times.

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Problem Number 2: Delays with Order Processing and Customer Dissatisfaction

Order mishandlings, delivery delays, dissatisfied customers, and damage to products are common issues when it comes to any e-commerce website. When dropshipping, you are bound to face this challenge sooner rather than later.

Imagine this. You receive an order on your website. The next thing you do is place the order with the supplier and wait for it to be processed and confirm the order to the customer and inform them of the shipping and tracking. But, the order confirmation never arrives.

Or the order confirmation arrives, and it’s out for delivery but the delivery company makes a delay in shipping. Another scenario would be the product receiving some defects in transportation.

The best way to handle not receiving order confirmation and shipping delays are by contacting the supplier after not receiving a response 24 hours after placing the order. In the case of a courier company, question about the hold-up.
Enquire when the earliest possible date of shipping can be. Being efficient in dropshipping is important as the customer could contact you for more information. It is imperative to keep clear and direct communication to build trust and loyal customers.

If the product is defective, offer exchanges or money backs if the customers demand it. It is important to maintain cordial relations even with a dissatisfied customer. As a business owner, you should apologize for the inconvenience caused to the customer. Asking for feedback is also recommended to improve your business operations.

Problem Number 3: Low-Profit Margin

Unlike physical stores and wholesalers that sell their products in bulk, the drop-ship supplier sells single units whenever an order is placed. Comparatively, the number of orders and so the amount of products actually sold is less. This ultimately means lower sales and lesser profits.

To top that, the operational costs and time and effort required per order is more for a single unit when compared to bulk orders is significantly higher. This ultimately means that drop shippers have to ask for a higher selling price to justify all the costs. Additional fees for labor, packing, transporting, and logistics are not uncommon.

The profit margins for online dropshipping stores become quite bleak, barely 15-20% of the total operational costs. A few ways to bargain that low-profit margin is by demanding a higher price on products, compensating with volume, and talking to the suppliers.

When increasing the selling price it is key to calculate how much more you can charge. While ‘the lowest prices win’ motto isn’t always the right course asking for too much won’t make sales either.

The alternative is to compensate for the lower margins by selling a higher volume of goods. Lastly, negotiating a better deal with your suppliers to get a deeper discount on goods can appreciably boost profits.

Problem Number 4: Little Branding Opportunity

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage an online drop-ship supplier faces is the lack of branding opportunity. With a drop-ship store, you do not control the merchandise. The packaging, labeling, boxing, etc are dealt with by the sellers. This makes personalization and branding difficult for drop shippers.

The purpose of branding is to get customers to recognize the company and brand name. To make up for the loss in opportunity, provide excellent service to your customers that is hard to forget.

You may not have control over the product or its branding but you do control the customer’s shopping experience and service. From finding your website, navigating it, ordering a purchase, and taking feedback and follow-ups.

This can be done by providing great product pages, powerful descriptions, videos, infographics, even writing informational blog posts so the customer doesn’t need to go anywhere else for research. Make checkout and buying simple and easy.

Personalize confirmation emails, and messages that don’t seem like automated messages, perhaps sending thank you emails as follow-ups.

Another solution is by creating a strong social media presence. Social media marketing is a powerful tool, but primarily it is a means of communication. Businesses can use these interactive platforms to directly reach out to their customers and gain a larger audience to cater to.

Problem Number 5: The Right Supplier

Finding the right supplier is tough especially when it comes to the dropshipping business. Suppliers need to be reputable, fulfill your site’s orders, provide quality products and are trustworthy.

It is not uncommon to find fraudulent suppliers that ship cheap products in hopes of earning a quick buck. A good supplier is a tall order to fill in which is what poses the dilemma.

Start your search by making a list of local suppliers you may already know. You could also use dropshipping supplier directories. Supplier directories list various companies to choose from. Some options include Worldwidebrands.com and Salehoo.com. Be sure to conduct a thorough check before signing a contract. It doesn’t hurt to ask for a trial period before committing for a longer time.

Or, you can automate the complete process by trusting a reliable dropshipping platform that can help you with finding trending products, trustworthy suppliers, and automated order fulfillment. Sell The Trend is an AI-Powered dropshipping platform that can save you a lot of time and money. You’ve got more important things to do than worrying about your suppliers, order fulfillment, and shipments, don’t you?

Moreover, Sell The Trend can also help you spy on your competitors, build targeted Facebook Audience, create ad copies, and video ads for a higher conversion rate.

Dropshipping is a growing business that largely depends on the capability of the business owner. Some issues can come up but overcoming these problems is what differentiates a successful business from a failed venture.