How to Lose Weight on a Budget

2023 is finally here, and people around the world are beginning to work toward keeping their New Year’s Resolutions. The most common resolution set by men and women of all ages each year is to lose weight. If you have also made this resolution, you might be overwhelmed thinking about where to begin your new healthy lifestyle, and how much your weight loss journey could cost you. If you aren’t in the position to receive weight loss treatments from thrivemdclinic.com and are looking to lose weight on a budget, don’t worry! Here are a few simple but effective tips for meeting all your goals without breaking the bank.

Eat Fruits and Veggies

Don’t let the flashy healthy meal alternatives in grocery stores allow you to overspend. Weight loss can be accomplished by eating healthy meals that incorporate basic fruits and veggies, which are among some of the cheapest food options you can buy at just about any grocery store! Don’t worry about frozen fruits or organic vegetables; buying the most basic, canned veggies and cheap fresh fruits will still allow you to get all of the nutrients you need in order to fulfill your weight loss goals, and won’t break your monthly grocery budget

Drink Water

While expensive pre-workout powders, energy drinks, and other beverages designed to help you power through workouts can be tempting, they are not necessary for accomplishing your fitness goals, especially as a beginner. Bringing your own refillable water bottle to the gym will keep you hydrated, and will save you money on unnecessary beverages that will truthfully not help you reach your goals any faster.

Skip The Gym

While going to the gym might seem like a crucial part of getting in shape and losing weight for many people, there’s no denying that gym memberships can be pricey! If the high cost of a gym membership concerns you (or is the main factor that is keeping you from beginning your weight loss journey and attempting to reach your goals), don’t worry. While going to the gym can be helpful for some, especially those who prefer to do workouts using professional equipment, it is not necessary! There are plenty of workouts you can do on your own time with little to no equipment or experience, including guided home workouts on YouTube, or simply taking a walk or jog around the neighborhood.

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3 Easy Money Saving Tips for College Students

If you’re a college student struggling to make ends meet, you’re not alone. A large majority of college students across the country report experiencing financial instability, regardless of their parent’s financial backgrounds. Whether you’re too busy to find a part time job or working remotely for one of many top medical scribe companies as a student, there are plenty of ways to save money as a college student, including:

Eat At the Dining Hall

Most college students who live on campus are required to purchase some type of meal plan that allows students to access meals at an on campus dining hall. While this is typically costly upfront, the cost of a student meal plan is often factored into the total cost of their tuition, meaning that students can enjoy meals on campus without additional payment all school year long. While it can be tempting to dine out with friends or to get food off campus, eating at the dining hall for as many meals as possible is a great way to save money that you can use for other things.

Get a Student Worker Job

If you find that you don’t have time to work a part time job between classes, studying, homework, and other obligations, looking into a student worker position could be a good option for you. Typically, student financial and academic advisors will work with students who have the opportunity to take on a student worker position to ensure that their work schedule is easy to balance among other responsibilities, and to ensure that grades don’t slip. Plus, student workers are often paid higher than minimum wage, meaning that you will likely make more money working this job than working any other part time position.

Shop Second Hand

If you are finding yourself constantly spending money on clothing for class, parties, events, and more, shopping second hand at local thrift or vintage stores can help you cut down on the amount of money you are spending without requiring you to sacrifice these important purchases! You can also find apartment decorations, school supplies, and more for discounted prices at your local second hand store; plus, shopping second hand is a great way to reduce unnecessary waste and is better for the planet.

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How To Juggle A Side Hustle With Life

Juggling a side hustle with life can be tough, but there are ways to make it work.

For many of us, the thought of having to juggle a side hustle with life is a daunting one. We already have so much on our plate with work, family, and social obligations, that the idea of adding anything else can seem like too much to handle.

But the truth is, many people are successfully managing a side hustle along with everything else in their lives. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the thought of adding a side hustle to your already full plate, here are some tips to help you make it work.

Create a Realistic Schedule

While it can be difficult to find time to fit in your side hustle, it is important to create a realistic schedule. That might mean that if you have a time-intensive job that pays over $300k, you might not really have time for a side hustle. That’s okay. Here are a few tips for creating a realistic schedule for your side hustle:

1. Start by looking at your current commitments and finding pockets of time that you can realistically dedicate to your side hustle.
2. Make sure to include breaks and downtime in your schedule – you will need time to rest and recharge!
3. Build in some flexibility – things will come up and you may need to adjust your schedule on the fly.
4. Finally, don’t forget to factor in time for marketing and networking – these activities are critical for growing your side hustle!

Prioritize Self-care

Self-care is a necessary but often neglected part of our lives. We are so used to putting others first that we forget to take care of ourselves. This can lead to burnout, resentment, and even depression.

It’s important to prioritize self-care in order to avoid these negative consequences. Taking time for yourself – even just 30 minutes a day – can make a world of difference. Whether it’s reading, going for a walk, or taking a yoga class, find something that brings you joy and stick with it.

Your mental and physical health is worth the investment, so start making self-care a priority today. Your future self will thank you for it.

Use Time Wisely

It’s important to use your time wisely when you’re running a side hustle. Here are a few tips on how to do just that.

First, don’t try to do too many things at once. It’s important to focus on one thing and do it well. Trying to take on too many projects will only lead to burnout and stress.

Second, set some boundaries for yourself. When you’re working on your side hustle, you need to make sure that you’re still making time for the things that are important to you.

Set Goals

Think you don’t have time to set goals because you already have a full-time job? Think again. Here are three reasons why having a side hustle is the perfect time to set goals.

1. When you have a side hustle, you’re already used to managing your time wisely.
2. A side hustle gives you a chance to try new things and explore different interests.
3. Setting goals for your side hustle can help you stay motivated and focused on what you want to achieve.

Include Your Family

Include your family in your side hustle and make some extra money. It’s a great way to bond with your kids and teach them about entrepreneurship. And, you can set your own hours so you can still spend time with your family. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Set Boundaries

Whether it’s freelancing, starting a business, or some other creative endeavor, we all have to hustle to make ends meet. But there’s one thing that can be easy to forget in the midst of all this hustling: setting boundaries.

It can be tough to set boundaries when you’re constantly trying to get ahead. You want to say yes to every opportunity and work around the clock to make your dreams a reality. But if you don’t set boundaries, you’ll quickly burn out.

Here are a few tips for setting boundaries in your side hustle:

1. Set office hours and stick to them. Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you can work 24/7.
2. Don’t accept every job. Your time is extremely valuable in your side hustle. Only work on what makes sense.
3. Decide now what is a no-go. It is much easier to stick to your guns once you have already made up your mind.

Build Passive Income Streams

Passive income is money that you earn without having to work for it. That means it comes in whether you’re working or not. It’s the perfect way to build long-term wealth because it continues to come in even when you retire.

There are many different ways to build passive income, it can be something as simple as starting a blog or an e-commerce store. It could be stock or real estate investing or a plethora of other things. Once you have more passive income than expenses, you can transition to making your side hustle your main hustle.

Outsource

Many people don’t have the time or energy to invest in a new business venture. One solution is to outsource some of the work required to get your side hustle off the ground.

There are a number of ways you can outsource work for your side hustle. You can hire someone to help with the administrative tasks involved in starting a new business, such as setting up a website or social media accounts. You can also outsource tasks related to marketing and promotion. And if you’re not sure where to start, there are plenty of online resources that can help you find the right person for the job.

Zach Larsen is a small business owner, finance and investment expert, and co-founder of PineappleMoney.com. He has been featured in publications including GOBankingRates, Yahoo Finance, Credit Sesame, and Workast. He enjoys teaching others about personal finance and spending time with his family.

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3 Simple Ways to Boost Your Credit Score

If you are trying to rent a house, buy a car, or make another major financial decision and are worried about your credit score, you’re not alone. Most adults in America cite a low credit score as their number one financial concern. While credit scores can be a confusing concept and it might seem impossible for you to boost a bad score, it is possible. Your unique credit situation determines your score, so there is no universal formula for raising a low score, but these 3 simple tips can help.

Make Payments on Time

One of the easiest yet most important ways to boost your credit score is by ensuring that your outstanding payments are always made on time. A helpful tip that many adults utilize to help them stay on top of bills and important payments iis setting bills to autopay each month, so that there is no room for forgetfulness. If you find that you are unable to pay a particular bill or expense on time, be sure to reach out to your credit card company right away to discuss your options. Missing payments with no explanation can cause irreparable damage to your credit score.

Limit New Applications

Every time you apply to a new credit card or program, your credit score is impacted. While this might not sound like a big deal to some, it can have a major impact on your credit score, particularly if your score is already low. Additionally, credit inquiries can build up and have a negative impact on your score over time. Opening a new account or line of credit will also decrease the average age of your accounts, which could further damage your score.

Don’t Take Out New Loans

Although it can be frustrating to wait to take out new loans for major purchases until your credit score improves, doing so is important in order to build your credit score up as you pay off existing debt. Although it might sound like a good idea to take out a small loan to help pay for a big purchase like a new car or a home renovation project with the help of keyinteriors.us, new projects will be easier to take on financially if you can complete them once your credit score is higher.

Boosting your credit score can be difficult, but it is not impossible. Use these 3 simple steps to begin understanding your credit score and how it can be improved.

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How to Go Online with Your Brick-and-Mortar Store

E-commerce is booming, so many brick-and-mortar businesses show a keen interest in expanding their operations online. Going online allows businesses  to vastly increase the number of customers and sales because the internet is a big market. Moreover, quick delivery services make it easy for physical products to move from warehouses to the customer’s doorstep, regardless of location.

Placing an order online is quick and easy. As a result, businesses that offer customers the option to purchase products from the convenience of their homes experience fast and steady growth.

If you have a physical store and want to start selling online, read on to discover a few essential tips.

Build an Online Identity

The first tip is to build an online identity for your store to improve your visibility. Give your website a major overhaul to prepare it for online shoppers. In addition, consider creating social media pages. Publishing content consistently about your products can bring more eyes to your business.

At this stage, the most important thing is to create a rich, immersive experience for visitors. Adding high-quality photos and detailed descriptions of your products can help ensure your site will make a great impression. The more information you add, the more trust your brand will inspire.

Invest in Dedicated Automation Tools

The popularity of e-commerce has led to a boost in services and products designed to help businesses thrive in the digital landscape. Some sectors and niches are more innovative than others. Yet, it’s safe to say that you can find many automation tools that can drastically reduce the costs of your effort. Dedicated automation tools can help you streamline operations and provide an exceptional customer experience. Thus, they make the online shopping process easier for both sellers and buyers.

For excellent results, look at automation tools specifically designed for your niche. Selling custom cabinets online is straightforward with cabinet software  built for businesses like yours.

Create an Online Marketing Strategy

There’s a lot of potential on the internet, but the competition for attention is fierce. It’s not enough to be present online. You must also ensure that your target audience is aware of your presence. Digital marketing is a fundamental tool for finding success online, especially if you want to expand your operations beyond the local market.

The main idea of digital marketing is to give customers the chance to discover your products in an overcrowded digital world. A great online marketing strategy will bring visitors to your website and followers on social media. It will increase your reach and help build credibility. The result is a bigger customer base.

Physical stores can significantly increase their sales by going online. However, despite the overwhelming boom in e-commerce, selling products online is not easy due to the low barrier to entry and increased competition. Businesses that want to go online must invest in the right resources to boost their chances of success. The impact on revenue can be substantial as long as everything is set up well from the start.

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How To Properly Care For Your Car

The golden rule of treating others how you want to be treated not only applies to your personal relationships, but it also applies to your car. Cars are amazing machines that get people from place to place, and for the most part, they do it with little maintenance or issue. Because cars work so well these days, it’s extremely common for people to kind of forget about keeping them clean or to take them in for routine maintenance.

The problem with letting these things fall by the wayside is that these little things over time can lead to more serious issues if left unattended to.

Car Care Tips

While the average person isn’t mechanically inclined enough to replace breaks, change oil, or fix a squeaky belt, they can however clean their vehicle. Patrick James of Trico group suggests cleaning your vehicle routinely a few times a month. This includes washing the exterior of the car and removing any debris that may have accumulated during your travels such as tar, bugs, and dirt. Keeping the outside of your car clean not only make it look better, but it has several other advantages as well.

The first advantage is safety. When a car is clean, it’s safer to drive because other drivers will be able to notice your car as it goes by. When brake lights and headlights are clean, they can also help you to drive the car more safely as well as those around you.

Second, a clean car helps with better aerodynamics, which means better mpg in most cases. The dirtier your car is, the more drag it will create when it drives, thus reducing your overall miles per gallon and making it more expensive to drive.

When it comes to interior care, the simplest thing to do is to keep the car vacuumed. Not only can this help your car to look much nicer when picking up a passenger, but it also comes with a safety benefit as well. Making sure your floor mats are clean, especially the ones under the pedals, is good practice as you don’t want debris to cause your feet to slip when taking your foot off and on the pedals. Also, debris on seats can cause damage when people sit on the debris as it causes friction and can wear out vehicle fabrics faster.

Cleaning the vinyl and plastic in your car is also good practice as the UV rays that come through the window can degrade and break down plastics and types of vinyl causing them to crack and look damaged. Putting protectants on vinyl and plastic can help to extend the life and look for many years to come.

Proper Car Care Final Thoughts

As you can see, taking care of your car will help your car to take better care of you when it comes to safety and longevity. The last thing you want is for serious car repairs, so by keeping things clean and maintained, you can help to avoid these serious types of breakdowns.

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How Data Science Can Help Your Company’s Finances

Data science is a discipline that uses various techniques and tools to extract knowledge from data. The field has become the backbone of many industries, especially fintech. You don’t have to be a data scientist to take advantage of this industry’s opportunities, but you should have a basic understanding of how data science can help with your company’s finances.

Know What You Need

The first step to using data science in your business is to get familiar with the industry and what your business does. Without assessing your company’s data, it’s impossible to determine what kind of insights can be gleaned from it. Next, you need to identify what information is most relevant to your financial success. This includes the type of questions you want to be answered and the approach you’ll take in order to answer them.

Know What Tools To Use

Once you have a clear understanding of the types of data that exist and what information you’re looking for, it’s time to set up a pipeline for extracting insights. There are different tools that can help with this task such as databases, statistics packages, spreadsheets, decision trees, and so on. It’s best if these tools are integrated into one platform so you can assess them easily.

Know What To Look At

If you’re in the fintech industry and you’ve been asked to evaluate an investment, one of the first things you might want to do is look at the company’s financial statements. These are typically listed in a publicly available document that investors can view. You might also consider looking at publicly available data for fintech as well. This can give you a clear idea of what kind of opportunities are out there and how they compare to one another.

Know Your Risks

Once you know what kind of information is out there, it’s important to think about another criterion: risk. When you evaluate an investment, you should consider if there may be hidden costs that could come into play. For example, if you don’t get your desired returns from an investment, your might have to pay back the money in interest rates instead of earning interest on your capital. If a company has a high risk associated with it, then it may be best for you to decline the deal.

Know When To Get Help

Perhaps you’re interested in using data science for your endeavors, but the discipline goes over your head. If this is the case, you might benefit from hiring a business financial consultant. Different firms, such as Cane Bay Partners, know how to use data science to make decisions about investments, business strategy, and more. This way, your team members can focus on their own tasks while an outside group takes care of your company’s data.

Because of its efficiency and potential for growth, data science is becoming the norm for financial companies. If you want to compete with the top companies in your industry, you should figure out ways to capitalize on this blossoming field.

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3 Tips for Saving a Few Bucks During Your Next Visit to the Amusement Park

Your kids have been begging you for years, and you remained vigilant for quite some time, but they’ve finally broken you: you’ve agreed to take them to Disneyland. Or Universal Studios, or some other amusement park, but the point is it’s going to be expensive. Sure, theme parks are a joyous experience of thrill rides and mesmerizing shows, but how can you afford to take three, four, or even five people to a land of wonder for a few days? Unfortunately, taking an entire family to a large park is rather pricy, but there are several tips you can implement to save money on your trip.

Get The Best Bang For Your Ticket Buck

Ticket costs will undoubtedly be one of the highest costs during your trip. You can reduce this price by choosing to visit during slow seasons when there is less traffic and tickets typically run cheaper. It’s also a good rule of thumb to periodically check the park’s website for deals and sales, which come and go depending on the theme park.

Cut Back on Park Dining

It can be hard to resist sitting down to a nice meal while at a theme park. It gives you and your family a chance to rest, refuel, and take in the themed atmosphere. The downside? That cheeseburger probably just you twenty dollars. Try to get your fill before heading to the park by eating a hefty breakfast at the hotel. If you can, bring some snacks into the park to tide yourself over, or get everyone something small until you leave and go out to eat at an actual restaurant. There’s nothing wrong with eating inside the park once in a while, but it’s not a great way to save money.

Create a Budget Plan

One of the best ways to ensure you don’t overspend while in the park is to come up with an agreed-upon budget plan. This predetermined amount should be able to cover any food, souvenirs, or other expenses that might arise. Do your best to remain under the budget, this way you’ll still be able to afford dinner and won’t waste money unnecessarily.

Final Thoughts

These tips will help alleviate the astronomical cost of bringing your entire family to the amusement park. Believe it or not, you can actually have a good time without having to put a second mortgage on your house. Make sure to invest in a comfortable pair of shoes while walking around the park all day, otherwise, you’ll leave with blisters and be one step closer to developing bunions–if you’re beginning to develop bunions, visit www.northwestsurgerycenter.com/ for information on how to get rid of them. Whether you implement all or just some of these methods, you can bet that you’ll leave the park with more cash in your pocket than you normally would have.

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7 Tools You Need To Run Your Business

When you run a small business, you have to control everything, and you don’t have much support. But the right tools can help make running your business less stressful. Then, you can enjoy the process. Here are some tools to consider.

1. Email Client

As a business owner, you probably need to email a lot of people, from clients to team members. That means you need a good email client to help access your email. Google and Microsoft offer some of the best email clients, but you can use any program that fits your needs.

Consider where and how you plan to access emails. Then, you can make sure the provider you choose works on the devices you have. If not, you may want to consider another option.

2. Email Marketing

While you need an email tool to connect with people already involved in your business, you also need something for email marketing. Tools like MailChimp and ConvertKit let you create email lists and send emails to your entire list.

You can create a free offer or coupon code to convince people to join your list. Then, you can send newsletters each month or week to share updates and new releases. Someone on your list may decide to buy, so you can use your list to make more money.

3. Virtual Phone

Unless you have a huge budget, you may not want to pay for a separate business phone line. But you probably don’t want to give out your personal phone number. Luckily, a virtual phone app solves that problem for you.

There are tons of apps that act as a virtual phone with a second phone number. You can access the app on your main phone, and you can take calls and texts like you would with your personal phone. These tools can be cheap or even free, so you can protect your personal information.

4. Project Management

Another crucial tool for your business is a project management tool, like Trello or Asana. These tools let you create and manage your projects from ideation to completion. Whether you use the tool to track client projects or stuff for your business, you need something.

If you have employees, you can add them to the software. Then, you can share messages and assign tasks to certain people. Most of these tools also let you set deadlines and reminders. That way, you can make sure you get everything done.

5. Cloud Storage

If you do anything with documents or need to share files with others, you should use the cloud. A cloud storage tool lets you store and access files from anywhere. You don’t have to always use the same device for all of your work.

Instead of having to email files to people, you can send them a link to your cloud file. Then, you can share more files and do so in less time. And you don’t have to take up a ton of space on your computer’s hard drive.

6. Social Media Scheduler

Aside from email, social media is probably the best place to market your business. You can reach your ideal customers, and you don’t have to pay anything for the service. Whether you use Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you will need to post regularly.

A social media scheduling tool can help you do this in less time. Instead of having to post in real-time, you can write out all of your content for the month or the week. Then, you can schedule it to post for you. That way, you don’t have to stop what you’re doing just to post something.

7. Accounting and Bookkeeping

Even if you have an accountant, you should use some sort of accounting tool, like QuickBooks. You can use the app or website version, and you can input your transactions. Then, you can see how much you earn and spend each month.

If you aren’t meeting your financial goals, you can know to change something. And if you’re surpassing your goals, you can make a bigger one to push yourself farther. Either way, tracking your revenue is crucial to keeping your business up and running.

Being a small business owner can be stressful, but some business tools can help. Keep these things in mind as you start and run your business so that you can save time and money.

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Byline: Charles Camisasca helps aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners to start and grow their e-commerce stores. He is passionate that anyone with a wifi connection and a willingness to work hard can start a successful online business. He’s the founder of The E-Commerce Boardroom and the creator of the 5 Step Framework for starting an e-commerce business.

In 2020, US Consumers spent a mind-boggling $861 Billion online. That’s a 44% year-over-year increase! Most people know that e-commerce is exploding in popularity. What you may not know is that side hustlers can take advantage of this massive trend and make money from e-commerce using a unique product launch framework. 

It’s a framework that I used to generate $28k in a single month…

And it can work for you, too. 

Today, I’ll give you an overview of the entire thing.

If you want to take a deep dive into all 5 steps – like figuring out what product to sell, choosing a supplier, getting your store up and running, defining your target customer, or marketing – you can grab my free product-launch playbook here.

The Five Question Framework For Making Money From ECommerce

The best framework for how to make money from e-commerce is called The 5 Fundamental Questions. The idea is that you only really need to answer 5 basic questions in order to start an online business.

The 5 Fundamental Questions of E-Commerce are:

1. What product(s) will I sell?
2. How will I produce that product?
3. How will I deliver that product to my customers?
4. Who is my ideal customer, anyways?
5. How will I convince my ideal customers to become repeat buyers and brand evangelists?

Seems obvious, right? The fun part comes in learning the “best practices” for answering all five. THAT’s how to start making money from ecommerce.

Let’s briefly review the different ways you can/should answer all 5 of these questions.

Question 1: What product will I sell?

One big misconception about starting an ecommerce business is thinking that you must “invent” a new product in order to start a successful online store. That’s not the case at all! Choosing a product to sell can be broken down into 2 sub-steps:

• First, Product Ideation: coming up with great product ideas that solve a salient pain point in a market that you already understand very well.
  • How it works: I recommend you follow a simple brainstorming exercise. Write down your hobbies (the things you do), interests (the things you enjoy), and skills (the things you are good at). Each of these is a potential market! Then, for each market, brainstorm the biggest frustrations, pain points, or unmet desires that you or others you know have experienced in this market. Finally, come up with a conceptual product that solves each pain point. Let your imagination be the limit! Write down as many problem-solving product ideas that you can dream up.
• Second, Market Validation: conducting market research to understand the demand, revenue potential, and competition for each product idea.
  • How it works: use tools like Aglopix and Jungle Scout to get a sense for how existing products are performing. These software programs will give you data like Total # of Monthly Orders, Revenue, and Customer Satisfaction for existing competitive products. Additionally, you can go to Amazon and search around, looking for similar products and reading reviews (especially, 1 Star Reviews) to gauge how satisfied or unsatisfied people are with the current offerings in the marketplace.

At the end of this 2-step process, you should have a shortlist of market-validated product ideas that solve a pain point in a market that you understand very well. That’s a great start! You’re on your way to making money from ecommerce. But next, we need to plot out how each product can be sourced.

Question 2: How will I produce my product?

There are really only 3 sourcing methods ecommerce entrepreneurs need to consider. Let’s briefly define all 3 and then I’ll give you some clue as to how to decide between them.

1. Make: Hand-make the product yourself.
2. Manufacture: Work with a manufacturing supplier to produce your product idea in bulk.
3. Resell: Either through Wholesaling or Dropshipping, sell someone else’s product online for profit.

Every situation is different. However, if you are just getting started here are some recommendations:

• Making products yourself is not a scalable way to build a business. However, if you are a hobbyist just looking to monetize, then this is a great way to do so.
• Manufacturing offers the best profit margin and lowest cost per unit of all three methods, and gives you the unique ability to differentiate your product and form your own brand. However, it also carries the most risk because it requires upfront investment of time and capital. Manufacturing suppliers can be best found on Alibaba.
• Reselling provides a low-risk, low-cost way to get started. With a dropshipping model, you do not need to order any products in advance. However, the downside of dropshipping is that you won’t have as much brand control and your profit margin will be lower as compared with manufacturing. Dropshipping suppliers can be best found on AliExpress.

So what should you do? If this is your first e-commerce project, get started with dropshipping. Learn the ropes and get some proof of concept for your idea. Then, you can always escalate and boost your profit margin by working with a manufacturer in the future. Here is a post with an overview on how to get started with dropshipping.

And finally, below is a table that summarizes each product sourcing method:

Question 3: How will I deliver my product to my customers?

In order to make money from ecommerce, you will need to figure out the process of logistics. Your choice is one of the 4 E-Commerce Fulfillment Models:

1. Seller Fulfilled: shipping the products out yourself. This is not advisable unless you run a small handmade products business, likely hosted on Etsy.
2. Amazon FBA: This is one of the most well-defined business models in all of e-commerce. With this program, you can send products to an Amazon Warehouse, your product will be live on Amazon.com, and Amazon will deliver your product for you via Prime 2-Day shipping. 
3. Dropshipping: With a dropshipping model, your supplier agrees to allow you to put their product on your website, and will deliver the product directly to the end customer when an order is placed. You don’t have to buy any inventory upfront, and therefore can test out new product ideas quickly and inexpensively. The best way to do this is to set up a Shopify store and use the Oberlo app.
4. 3PL Fulfillment: This model means storing your inventory with a 3rd party, who then delivers the product to your customers when a sale is made. Modern 3PLs have recently taken the market by storm. For example, ShipBob and Flowspace are great technology-driven 3PLs – meaning they integrate seamlessly with every major e-commerce platform.

Those are the 4 e-comm fulfillment models to choose from. How should you decide? Again, if you are new to this, I recommend you get started by dropshipping because it carries the lowest overall cost and risk. Then, you can pivot to 3PL Outsourcing model when your brand is a bit more established.

Question 4 – Who is my ideal customer, anyway?

Now, we pivot. The first 3 questions pertain exclusively to the structural pieces of an e-commerce business. For the final 2, we transition to talking about my absolute favorite topic: Digital Marketing.

The first step of digital marketing is having an understanding of who your target customer is. To do that, I recommend you follow these steps:

1. Define the “WHY”:
   • First, come up with all of the reasons why someone would want to buy your product. Brainstorm the “Psychographic Profile” of your ideal customer. What are their biggest desires, fears, pain points, questions, roadblocks, and aspirations? And how can your product help them resolve or achieve those things? This is key to understanding the psychology of why your end consumer would make a purchase with you.
2. Define the “WHO”:
   • Now that you know WHY someone would buy your product, it becomes a simple matter to define WHO would ever buy your product. Define the “Demographic Profile” of your ideal customer. What is their age, gender, income & education level, geographic location, ethnicity, and how do they spend their time?
3. Find existing online congregations of your ideal customer:
   • The internet has advanced to such a stage that online communities exist for just about every interest, hobby, and business market. Once you’ve defined your target customer per the steps above, it’s easy to locate their existing online communities.
   • To put this into practice, conduct a series of Google searches and create a spreadsheet listing the Facebook Groups, Blogs, Forums, Podcasts, YouTube Channels, Keywords, and Influencers that are relevant to your target customer. Take note of the audience size, URL, and contact info of each community, if it’s available.

Perfect! Now you know exactly who your ideal customer is, and where to find them in droves online. It’s time for the final step in your pursuit of making money from ecommerce…

Question 5 – How will I convince my ideal customer to become a repeat buyer and brand evangelist?

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. This topic is really the largest and most important step. In answering this question, you must learn to become a digital salesman. There is a vast amount of strategies you could employ.

In my opinion, the best route to take is not to focus on just one marketing tactic, but instead to deploy a system of strategies that work together to find leads, develop and educate them, close sales, and drive repeat business & word of mouth growth.

I call it a Systematic Marketing Strategy. Here’s an article I wrote for Zapier that talks about it. Let’s dive into the 3 components of a Systematic Marketing Strategy.

Outbound Marketing

Outbound Marketing is any proactive tactic used by a company that is designed to interrupt a potential customer, capture their attention, and present them with an offer.

The most common formulations of this are Paid Ads and Cold Outreach (cold calls and cold emails). These serve to rapidly drive growth in traffic to your site, sales, and subscribers. 

Tips for best results: 

• Experiment with ad platforms, copywriting, targeting, and creatives.
• Be sure to use a mixture of prospecting and retargeting ads. 
• Outsource key functions where you need help.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is the creation of web pages and consumable content that resonate with your target audience. With Outbound, you proactively “go after” your ideal customer. With Inbound, on the other hand, you encourage them to come to you.

The way to implement inbound marketing is to first create carefully designed websites, social media profiles, and landing pages. 

Be sure to craft these so that they quickly convey your main value proposition and are set up to capture the contact information of your web visitors.

The second step is Content Marketing. 

This involves creating…content…that is curated according to the principle desires, problems, questions, and preferred media of your idea customer. This could take the form of a blog, social media posts, a podcast, YouTube Channel, or many others.

Tips for best results:

• In web design, simplicity is key. There is no shortage of well qualified designers that you can hire to do this for you.
• For content marketing, check out the best performing content in your niche, and model off of them (but never copy!).
• Include a personalized lead magnet with every piece of content to dramatically grow your subscriber base.

Subscriber Marketing

Subscriber Marketing encompasses every piece of content you send to someone that volunteers to receive messages from you.

This typically incorporates both social media followers and email subscribers. However, of the two, email marketing is by far the most effective. Whereas social media is primarily used for entertainment, the email inbox is associated in our minds with business. 

As such, one of your business’ primary goals should be to grow your email list.

Notice how both Inbound and Outbound strategies produce email subscribers for your brand as a byproduct. 

One of the most effective strategies for long term growth in sales will be following up with these email subscribers through a coordinated campaign.

Tips for best results:

• Use social media to grow your email list. Include a link to your best landing page on your social media profile, and include a CTA in your posts to go check it out. 
• Don’t attempt to sell products in every email you send. Include a good mix of valuable content and product emails.
• Create a Welcome Series using the Soap Opera method to introduce people to your brand and make a special offer to them.

How to Make Money from Ecommerce: The Systematic Marketing Strategy

Wow. I know that was a lot. Hopefully you feel armed with the foundational information you need to get started with making money from ecommerce. And that’s the key – to start! You’ll learn far more by doing than you did by reading this blog post.

We just scratched the surface today, especially with that 5th question. But if you like what you read here, I’d encourage you to check out my site www.ecommboardroom.com, where I dive into all of these concepts in greater detail. Thank you for reading!!

Concrete Next Steps

If you want a detailed blueprint for starting an ecommerce business, check out my E-Comm Product Launch Playbook. This is the best shortcut available online to starting and scaling an online business. I used the information in this guide to do my first $100k in online sales. 

Grab yours free, right here.

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