I left my job, can I make it with 4k?

[MrSanti]

Hello guys, I just found this forum surfing the internet, It's awesome how much value you provide here. I've been on the internet for a really long time, since I was like 10, but never really post too much anywhere, just playing online games and watching content without making too much by myself, except on Youtube haha.

I just wanted to ask a serious concern that I have. First a little of history if you are interested <3 (If you are not, there is a HERE IS THE QUESTION behind). I've been trying to get money since I was young on the internet, looked up everywhere for money, started winning pennys on different things, but I found out that on YouTube there was something big. I really loved YouTube on those old days when cod was the thing and I even made my own channel, but I started meeting people that worked on YouTube Networks and within some years I ended up working on the biggest YouTube network as a sales guy for a while.
I was 17 when I joined that network and I started winning enough, so I decided to just left school (could't avoid fighting with my parents though, but I really knew since I was young that this school thing wasn't for me) and a year later with 18 I wanted to move because I live in a little town in the middle of nowhere, so I managed to buy a little flat and went to live alone to the city, I was winning 1-2k/mo and I'm from Spain so here that's good money.

Here comes the problems, a few months ago a huge company bought the network I was working on, and they decided to basically get the most out of their money. When I joined I needed like 1m impressions to get 1k base salary and when they bought the network they were asking for 10m to get that base salary, I was working like 3-5 hours a day to get the salary before they bought it and I didn't want to work 8-10 hours a day to get that thing, they reduced our comission a 60% and made a max ammount per month, so if you make 2k or more and the max is 1.5k, they don't pay you more than 1.5k, they just keep the money.
So after all of this I was still trying to make it work, and of course my family was talking me to try to keep working there because it's "stable" and that I should't risk too much, but after a few months of struggling with money I was done, so I left the job and decided to make something else.
I started an online store and only wasted like 300€, I had some sales but didn't have any profits at all, I did it because I saw the Adrian Morrison eCom Success online course. After that I tried to make a marketing agency, but it's been impossible for me to get clients, I'm really introvert (working on that) and it's hard to look like you are professional being 20 years old without too much confidence so most businesses don't take me serious.

Now I'm 20, I don't have money (just for living like 2 months more), so I was thinking about selling my flat and get 10-15k to invest in an online store or try to make something, so talking with my family they were telling me that I'm crazy for doing that, that it took me moths to find the flat and how much work me and my Dad did to change the floor, paint, etc and made the flat a little decent, so HERE IS THE QUESTION (in case you don't want to read all that above haha).
My family have managed to give me 4k€, and I don't really know if it will be enough to make a store profitable, this is a huge thing for them because we are poor af, like I'm tired of looking if I can buy this cheese or that thing and looking for the cheaper option or not even buy it, even think about using my air conditioner or not because of light payment, etc.
The question is, do you think that is possible to make a profitable store with 4k€? Having in consideration that I'm kind of a newbie in this world, I've seen your awesome Digital Strategy Crash Course, it's better than some 2k courses that I've seen, I know some coding, some design, even music production and some other stuff but I'm afraid of wasting that money and don't making it, I don't have any college degree so It's almost impossible to get a decent job here.
I'm literally having problems to sleep some nights and this have never ever happened to me, I've lost most of my friends, the other day I was so confused that I though I was literally becoming crazy I even called my mum because the thing didn't feel real to me, how could so many bad things happen to me like this, maybe I'm creating this world and I'm freaking crazy?? It's crazy but that's how how felt the other day haha.

Now returning to the online store, I was thinking about dropshipping to Spain from Aliexpress, the shipping times are not that bad 1-3 weeks, usually 10-12 days. I've been using Facebook Ads more than anything, I will probably start with this and if I manage to make it work, move to Google Ads, SEO, etc
From what I've learned, my initial strategy is going to be to create a general store using Shopify and maybe a niche one too for testing with the paid hosting that I have from my social media agency. I was thinking about split-testing some products first using the only 5€/day, make like 5 ads of a product split testing audiencies during 3 days and if it's not profitable kill it and look for another one, is this viable?
What is better Shopify, WordPress, WordPress + WooCommerce, or it really doesn't matter?
Am I ok using free marketing research tools first and then paid ones?
Is there any other strategy to follow that could be more effective?

I'm kind of newbie here and I've seen that some of you have quite a lot of experience, if you can give me any tips, courses, typical errors, recommendations anything that I could learn from would be awesome, I usually eat courses that should last week or months in days or weeks, so anything I could take value from is very welcome.

 

[Vault/Scale]

The money is enough to get rolling however I think success in this case will hinge on the market. A ton of people are already drop shipping Aliexpress stuff. Give it a go but start planning now to build your own product with better margins using tools like trysourcify.com. Owning your own product is an all around better experience than drop-shipping.

Also if you are tight for cash woocommerce trumps shopify unless you can hit the ground running during the trial period.

 

[Ryuzaki]

so if you make 2k or more and the max is 1.5k, they don't pay you more than 1.5k, they just keep the money. So after all of this I was still trying to make it work, and of course my family was talking me to try to keep working there because it's "stable" and that I should't risk too much

I'd say that sounds reasonable for the same reason your family mentioned. They're taking all the risk on paying you a base salary based on impressions, which isn't necessarily going to equate to them turning a profit. They're shouldering your risk and turning into stability. I wouldn't stay in that either, but that's a great deal for people who are completely risk averse, which isn't you obviously. I'd have walked as well.

so I was thinking about selling my flat and get 10-15k to invest in an online store or try to make something, so talking with my family they were telling me that I'm crazy for doing that

I would agree. Don't let go of that asset. That would be moving backwards. We take risks in order to acquire those assets. Some things you shouldn't gamble. In the worst case scenario, if money gets that tough, you should consider taking a day job or freelancing work to make ends meet and work in the evenings on your own projects.

I'm afraid of wasting that money and don't making it

That's the game and the reason most people don't play it. I'd be careful about accepting money from your family. Even though it might be a gift or an interest-free loan, you should always separate family/friendship and business. It usually turns out very badly. If you need startup capital you should look into a business loan from a bank or an investment from some capital firm. They're in the business of taking the risk. Your family shouldn't be having to support your risks and take them on themselves.

It's crazy but that's how how felt the other day haha.

I've been there. Dissociation is a pretty normal thing, especially if it went away for you. Yourself, environment, and experiences can feel unreal (derealization / depersonalization) in order to protect yourself from the anxiety it's causing.

I was thinking about split-testing some products first using the only 5€/day, make like 5 ads of a product split testing audiencies during 3 days and if it's not profitable kill it and look for another one, is this viable?

So you're talking about 5€ split across 5 ads? 1€ per ad, for 3 days, isn't going to get you any useful data at all. In the USA you might be lucky to get 3 clicks per ad per day at that rate, if not 2. I'm not convinced 4k euros is enough to live off of AND fund a PPC campaign, let alone fund a PPC campaign that's not optimized yet.

What is better Shopify, WordPress, WordPress + WooCommerce, or it really doesn't matter?

I'm personally not a fan of WooCommerce at all. It's clunky, has speed issues, etc. People do use it to make gobs of money, but like @CCarter says, I don't see why you would ever use a blogging platform to create an eCommerce site when there are much better eCommerce platforms in existence. Shopify seems to be okay, but not if you want to get into the very nitty gritty details for technical SEO. I think you can get a lot of on-page SEO done but as far as things like changing the robots.txt, which is a very basic thing, it can't be done. Shopify is like "this is what you get and we control most of it, you just deal with the content."

 

[ryandiscord]

What is better Shopify, WordPress, WordPress + WooCommerce, or it really doesn't matter?
Am I ok using free marketing research tools first and then paid ones?

Can confirm, Woocommerce is clunky and has speed issues. Look into Magento, definitely more robust than Woocommerce and the community version is free. You can find hosting that offers single click installs.

You could go the free tool route or pick up SEMRush, Ahrefs and SERPWoo and justify the expenses by using them for some client work.

 

[MrSanti]

Thank you guys for helping

The money is enough to get rolling however I think success in this case will hinge on the market. A ton of people are already drop shipping Aliexpress stuff. Give it a go but start planning now to build your own product with better margins using tools like trysourcify.com. Owning your own product is an all around better experience than drop-shipping.

Also if you are tight for cash woocommerce trumps shopify unless you can hit the ground running during the trial period.

I was thinking about drop-shipping because looks easier. Looks a little harder if you need to buy inventory even if a company does the logistics, maybe is not that hard and I could give it a try.

I'd say that sounds reasonable for the same reason your family mentioned. They're taking all the risk on paying you a base salary based on impressions, which isn't necessarily going to equate to them turning a profit. They're shouldering your risk and turning into stability. I wouldn't stay in that either, but that's a great deal for people who are completely risk averse, which isn't you obviously. I'd have walked as well."

The salary is not that bad, the problem is that the Network is in Canada and I live in Spain, they send me the money via PayPal and when I send it to my bank account I need to tell the government and pay taxes (I think that the Network don't have to pay taxes because of sending it this way), in my case I have to pay over 250€ monthly, plus between 20-30% of the earnings every three months, so 1000USD its like 800€ (minimal salary on Spain is about 800€ too), and removing the taxes I can barely pay food, my flat and my bills, my family had to give me some money every other month.

So you're talking about 5€ split across 5 ads? 1€ per ad, for 3 days, isn't going to get you any useful data at all. In the USA you might be lucky to get 3 clicks per ad per day at that rate, if not 2. I'm not convinced 4k euros is enough to live off of AND fund a PPC campaign, let alone fund a PPC campaign that's not optimized yet.

I was thinking about 75€, 5€ split for each of the 5 ads on the 3 days, some people make it work this way. On Facebook Ads I was getting a few dozen clicks with this money, on the other store that I made, on one of my last ads I managed to get a client that bough 80€ and only costed me 3€, then wasted like 50€ on the ad and didn't get any sale, probably because I didn't split test, I just used a very broad audience and only one ad per product.
I understand that I will probably not get enough data to check the ideal client type and make an exhaustive study, but will work for me if it's profitable and I can make a little salary, I just need money to keep going right now and later go for the big bucks.
I don't know how good was going, the store was online about 1-2 weeks, I had at the start 500€ to spent, used about 300€ and I sold about 150-180€, then an unexpected bill came in so I had to use the money left and take down the store.

I'm personally not a fan of WooCommerce at all. It's clunky, has speed issues, etc. People do use it to make gobs of money, but like @CCarter says, I don't see why you would ever use a blogging platform to create an eCommerce site when there are much better eCommerce platforms in existence. Shopify seems to be okay, but not if you want to get into the very nitty gritty details for technical SEO. I think you can get a lot of on-page SEO done but as far as things like changing the robots.txt, which is a very basic thing, it can't be done. Shopify is like "this is what you get and we control most of it, you just deal with the content.

I was looking for "easy pre-made options", I could make my own with python or something but will probably take me too much time and my money clock is running haha.

Can confirm, Woocommerce is clunky and has speed issues. Look into Magento, definitely more robust than Woocommerce and the community version is free. You can find hosting that offers single click installs.

You could go the free tool route or pick up SEMRush, Ahrefs and SERPWoo and justify the expenses by using them for some client work.

I will check Magento, thanks
If I can justify the expenses to make my ROI better I will go for it, I was just wondering if the "free" side it's good enough to start or if it's worth to pay for it.

 

[mmm91492]

I will check Magento, thanks
If I can justify the expenses to make my ROI better I will go for it, I was just wondering if the "free" side it's good enough to start or if it's worth to pay for it.

Magento Community (the free version) will definitely be good enough; better than WooCommerce. You need pretty solid SSH knowledge to really work with it though.

 

[Darth]

Keep the flat, don't take the money from your family. Instead work on Upwork or something, save the money yourself, and build something.

 

[Steve]

WooCommerce is absolutely fine to start out with. It's faster than Magento by a decent margin, because it has less features, but that's not an issue for a basic shop.
Being based on a the worlds most popular CMS is also a huge bonus, because there is so much free software out there that you can plug right in.

Now as a developer of 15 years, I know that wordpress code is outdated and code quality in the 3rd party space is poor, but I also know the value of leveraging other people's dev time, and for what you will need, you won't beat it.

It pains me to say that, because deep down there is nothing I love more than wasting a fortnight pulling a working feature out into a golang microservice or refactoring a monolithic jQuery powered admin panel into a series of vuejs components, but that's an indulgence, not a sound business decision.

Install WooCommerce, the GeneratePress theme, shell out 20euros for the premium plugin that goes with it and you have a good looking, fast, configurable store up in half an hour.

Install Elementor page builder, and you can have you homepage looking fantastic in another 30 minutes.

Want to build out some headerless landing pages to split test ads? Select the blank page template and go to town in elementor.
Want to install you ad pixels? There's a plugin for that.

Want to write a series of blog posts targeting informational search terms? You already have an excellent blog platform built in. Want to embed your products directly in those blog posts, with a buy button? That's built in too.

Get a siteground hosting package for 5euros a month, and your shop is live and better that a many competitors for under 30 euros and half a days work up front.

You will not beat that.

Now you have the infostructure down, it's time for the hard work - actually creating the business.

Forget about the general store, you will be competing with Amazon and failing badly.

Aim for a niche store, or better yet create a brand. Selling a 100euro wallet with a once in a lifetime 50% discount is easier than selling a 20euro wallet, even if they come from the same factory in China...

 

[MrSanti]

Thanks Guys!
I've finally decided to try out the free trial on Shopify, because I already had an store almost made but I'm going to use my host (I have it on Siteground ), to make a WordPress store too, and give it a try to both.

I have some doubts about making it general, niche specific or just sell a branded product, some of you recommended me to use a branded product but I don't know how to source them cheap, I feel like I would need to pay way higher than just dropshipping, because I assume that for a factory to make a product branded for you, you need to buy on bulk, the same if you just buy something cheap from aliexpress and want to brand it using another service. I feel like it's a little more risky too, correct me because I'm probably wrong haha, but you only have one product and you probably need to spend quite a lot of money split testing audience by age, gender, place, etc and even after that there is the chance that you can't sell the product and you are stuck with the inventory.
To start I've decided to make my Shopify store general, but sell niche specific items, just have a few categories on the store. I'll start next week because the store is almost finished, probably use ads on 2 or 3 specific niche products and see how it sells.
I still need to setup the WordPress store, and I'm thinking about making it niche specific, use a vertical like you explain on your crash course, but instead of just selling one branded product, try to sell a few still doing dropshipping.

To start like I said I just want enough money to keep going, because I don't have too many savings, but if it goes well I'll probably try to make a few more stores and a proper one hiring programmers so I can try to make a big brand.
I don't know how this is going to move, but I'll probably give some updates of how the store does next week.

 

[mmm91492]

Thanks Guys!
I feel like it's a little more risky too, correct me because I'm probably wrong haha, but you only have one product and you probably need to spend quite a lot of money split testing audience by age, gender, place, etc and even after that there is the chance that you can't sell the product and you are stuck with the inventory.

Well I think the idea would be to start with dropshipping, see what products are bringing in the most money, and start to source those yourself to improve your margins on top earning products.

 

[Samwise89]

@MrSanti, I like the Shopify concept but haven't tried it. But I do look for people bragging about and sharing their stores. Every single one I've seen that has had any success stocks around 3-10 products total and is niched. I mean as general as "beard products only" all the way down to "soy candles with wood wicks" and even further down to "specialized lug nuts for your car's wheels."

I wouldn't do a general store. When you do that, you're surrendering all of your marketability.

 

[MrSanti]

Well I think the idea would be to start with dropshipping, see what products are bringing in the most money, and start to source those yourself to improve your margins on top earning products.

That was kind of my idea, start dropshipping, get a little audience info and a little money, and then go for the big bucks.

@MrSanti, I like the Shopify concept but haven't tried it. But I do look for people bragging about and sharing their stores. Every single one I've seen that has had any success stocks around 3-10 products total and is niched. I mean as general as "beard products only" all the way down to "soy candles with wood wicks" and even further down to "specialized lug nuts for your car's wheels."

I wouldn't do a general store. When you do that, you're surrendering all of your marketability.

Thanks for the advice @Samwise89, I've read a few people and in a few courses a general store is recommended, but I'm going to try out a niche too, I can have as many free trials as I want so I'll try a few different things and find out what works the best.

 

[SerpWolf]

Spend your money wisely and be extremely frugal, especially during start-up phase.

Pick a niche you already know, and can write content on with a specialist hand. Invest in links VERY cautiously, don't waste your money on links that don't work.

 

[en3r0]

Hi friend,

It sounds to me like you are desperate to succeed. I have been there myself, and it is easy to make bad decisions with this mindset!

I would absolutely keep the flat. I would spend as little money as possible and lay out a very clear strategy for yourself. Can the money last you 3 months? If not, I would suggest your start dedicating some time to freelance work.

You need to have a backup plan to make money if you do not succeed right away! Success does not always come right away, it often takes a long time of trial and error.

In your planning, be sure to get out and see a friend or two or attend a meet up of like minded people. Success means nothing if you are not enjoying life or driving yourself crazy.


Best of luck!

 

[Henry]

I’d be freaking out if I only had 4K to live on. I quit my 9-5 after accomplishing 0 debt and around a years worth of expenses including my IM budgets

 

[zentrader99]

Do freelancing to support yourself and keep the 4k as your investment only.

PS: 4K is less but not impossible!