Drop Ship Lifestyle - The COMPLETE Review
Events SECTION
This is an in-depth review of Drop Ship Lifestyle's final section by Anton Kraly. This training module covers video recordings of guest speakers at the 2017 DSL Members Retreat.
SECTION 4: EVENTS
Total Videos: 7
Video length: 6 hours 18 minutes
Module 1 DSL 2017 Retreat Recordings
01 - Alison Smith – Stalk Your Way To Profits
Video length: 32 minutes
"How to leverage Facebook to make more sales."
Alison Smith is one of the DSL Marketers.
She says that some of the biggest obstacles that e-commerce entrepreneurs face, are:
- abandoned carts - 67% of carts get abandoned!
- many online store owners spend their marketing budget on the top of the sales funnel - just to get people to visit their stores, when in fact it is 7 times cheaper to convert existing customers.
Alison then offers some strategies to use in order to improve on the two challenges above.
Something to remember though - back in 2017, Facebook did not offer a search feature through which to find products. In 2019 this has changed with the addition of Facebook's Marketplace.
02 - James Howitt – Selling Your Store For Maximum Profit
Video length: 1 hour and 12 minutes
James starts off by introducing himself and telling you why he has some knowledge of selling e-commerce stores.
He breaks down his session according to the following:
- Valuations on Drop Shipping Businesses.
- Examples of two different types of businesses (Apparel and Accessories (fashion) and Automotive) and how to work out their selling price.
He then explains the Process for Selling a Drop Shipping Business in detail, which includes
- Broker or DIY?
- Initial Valuation
- Sell Now or Sell Later?
- Documentation needed to Proceed
- Vetting Process
- Negotiations
- Business Transfer and Payout
03 - Matt Scott – Work + Life + Family
Video length: 1 hour and 07 minutes
Matt introduces himself as a family man and tells you of his journey since he joined DSL in 2014.
He introduces you to the benefits of being part of the DSL Mastermind group, focusing on:
- Social Interaction
- Synergy
- Motivation, and
- Accountability
Matt then talks about moving to another country (?) and gives tips on how to settle there (he's in Thailand).
Not sure why this is relevant, but it's in the course...
Next, Matt talks about VAs.
- First and foremost, you need to know what their job description is going to be.
- You need to know exactly what they're going to do and whether they have the equipment, time and skills to do what is expected of them.
- Matt then discusses some of the tasks VAs can do for you.
04 - Chad Jernigan – Influencer Marketing
Video length: 1 hour and 18 minutes
Chad Jernigan is the co-founder and CTO of DIFF Eyewear. Back in 2017, he had been doing FB Ads for 7 years and has had a Shopify Store for 6 years. (BTW, DIFF Eyewear is still going strong in 2019.)
Chad starts off by talking about Influencer Marketing on Instagram and how it has helped him.
- He tells you why you should use Influencer Marketing
- How to use Influencers
- What the process is
- Different categories of Influencers
- What is your end goal with Influencer Campaigns
- How to track your results
- How to qualify Influencers
- Choose your platform wisely
- How to reach out to Influencers
- Measure the success of the campaign
- Create your own micro-influencers
Chad then has a Q&A session with the audience.
So far, this is the most valuable addition to this module of the course.
05 - Ben Hebert – Building a Bulletproof Brand
Video length: 49 minutes
A little background first: Ben Hebert's is the founder of Natural Stacks - the world's FIRST open-sourced supplements company.
It's a very competitive niche and that is why Ben went a different route with Natural Stack's products. Unlike everyone else in the world, he offers
- Open-source formulas: That means the buyer knows the exact quantities of what goes into his/her supplements
- Supplier Transparency: The company is open about who their suppliers are.
Crazy right?? This means literally ANYONE can copy their products. This can't possibly work, can it?
But it does...
Here's an example of one of the product pages on their website. They also list who the manufacturers are...
You wouldn't think that someone who shares the "secret formula" can be successful... But after opening:
- Sold over $100k in 100 days.
- Over $1 million in sales in year one.
- Keep growing and outliving competitors in 2019.
Natural Stack's "honesty policy" is what built their brand and gained the loyalty of their customers.
The three main points that Ben then discusses are:
- How to create a Bullet Proof Brand
- Creating Entry Points
- Focusing Your Efforts
Ben then closes off with a Q&A session.
06 - Jose Luis Marin – Alternative Traffic Sources
Video length: 49 minutes
Jose jumps straight in without any introductions and discusses Influencers.
He covers:
- Who they are
- How to select influencers
- What you can offer to them
- Getting traffic & backlinks from influencers
Jose then suggests the following to build your brand and boost sales:
- Build a niche information site and become an authority
- Link it to your store
- Make extra money with ads and affiliates (this is merely mentioned and not actually discussed at all. So you won't know how to find affiliates or advertisers, how to set them up on your site, how much money you can make etc., after watching this presentation.)
Jose then gives some tips on SEO, which includes
- Analyzing Your Top Competitors
- Using Keywords effectively
- Ensuring that your website loads fast
- Checking your on-page SEO
- Using Webmaster Tools, and
- thinking about mobile (once again these topics are mentioned and not discussed in detail. Jose merely tells you why it's good to do/have these things in place, not HOW to get them in place.)
He finally touches on Free Media Tactics for SEO and Traffic (coupons).
07 - Brandon Nolte – Content Marketing
Video length: 54 minutes
"How to Build a 7 Figure Content Marketing Machine"
Brandon started his online entrepreneurial journey in 2013 with Amazon. Brandon says that he currently has several 7-figure online stores and it's all thanks to content marketing.
In the presentation, he covers how to:
- build a marketing machine
- find profitable keywords
- hire amazing writers (Brandon spends most of his time on this topic).
- nail on-page SEO
- measure your ROI
Brandon then ends off with a Q & A session.
EVENTS SECTION: Total Videos = 7. Video length = 6 hour 18 minutes
EVENTS
- My Key Takeaways
If you compare DSL to all the other dropshipping courses out there, this would typically be the "Bonus Section".
And as per the industry standard with these sections, it's a bit of hit-and-miss scenario.
Some of the content is informative (such as Videos 4 and 7) and actually offers some new insights.
Video 5 is a great "case study" of how you can make a success of something if you truly believe in it.
But then, sadly, most of the topics in this section have been covered in the course already and doesn't really offer anything "new".
Content: 7/10 Most of the content is theory-based. The speakers did not show actual examples of the hints and methods that they suggested, or how to actually implement them.
OVERALL IMPRESSION OF DSL EVENT SECTION
The low overall impression is not only because of the sound issues in two of the videos, but mostly because of the content on offer.
Most of the information covered at the 2017 DSL Retreat have been covered in the course already and should be seen as a recap of these topics, not as supplemental information.
There are the exceptions though, most notably Brandon Nolte, Chad Jernigan and Ben Hebert's presentations that offered some new insights into building your brand and the importance of good writing.
And then one issue: For the most part, there is good, consistent sound quality. Video 5 and 6 starts off with poor sound though. Video 5's sound quality is quickly sorted out, but in Jose's presentation (video 6), the sound is terrible up until 22 minutes in. The sound is not clear and has a distinct echo that makes it very difficult to follow what is said. For a course that costs this much, there shouldn't be any sound issues...
Lead Generation is my #1 Online Business Choice
(IMO Less Hassle Than Selling Physical Products)
