When the ProfitBooks team reached out to interview me about my dropshipping journey, I laughed and said, “You sure you have enough recording time? This story has more twists than my attempts at assembling IKEA furniture!”
I’m Sarah Chen from Melbourne, Australia.
Five years ago, I was sitting in my tiny apartment, staring at my laptop screen with $350 in my bank account and a burning desire to build something of my own.
Today, my dropshipping business generates over $1.2 million in annual revenue.
But trust me. The journey wasn’t anything like those “get rich quick” YouTube ads would have you believe.
Below, we have laid out the interview from Sarah’s perspective, explaining her dropshipping journey and its ups and downs.
How I Stumbled Into Dropshipping
“So what exactly is dropshipping?” people often ask me at networking events.
I explain it like this: Imagine running a store where you never touch a single product.
When a customer orders from your website, you pass that order to a supplier, who ships directly to your customer.
So, you’re essentially the middleman who handles marketing and brings in the orders. In contrast, your suppliers handle inventory and fulfillment.
I accidentally discovered this model while trying to sell Australian-made skincare products online. However, I lost $2000 buying inventory that gathered dust in my parents’ garage.
So, I pivoted to dropshipping and never looked back!
My First $1,000 Day (After Many $0 Days)
I’ll be honest. My first three months were ROUGH.
I remember refreshing my Shopify dashboard hourly, hoping to see a sale notification. When my first order came through. A $29.99 eco-friendly water bottle. I literally danced around my apartment!
The magic of dropshipping hit me when I realized that I had just made a profit without having purchased that water bottle myself. I simply forwarded the order to my supplier in Sydney, who packaged and shipped it directly to my customer in Brisbane.
The next morning, two more orders came in while I was asleep.
That’s when I understood the power of this model.
I wasn’t constrained by inventory costs or limited by physical logistics.
Six months in, after plenty of testing and optimization, I hit my first $1,000 day.
The Benefits of Dropshipping I Experienced Firsthand
Liberation from Financial Chains
The traditional retail model is brutal. You need significant capital just to get started.
With dropshipping, my initial investment was under $600 (mostly for my website and some early Facebook ads).
This low barrier to entry is what makes dropshipping accessible to young entrepreneurs or anyone with limited resources.
In my first year, I was able to test over 40 different products without going into debt.
Try doing that with traditional retail, and you’ll encounter a loss-making business.
My “Office” Is Wherever I Want It To Be
One Tuesday morning in 2023, I woke up in Bali, checked my phone, and saw I’d made $3,400 overnight.
After 20 minutes of work and handling a couple of customer service issues, I closed my laptop and spent the day exploring waterfalls.
This remote working isn’t just a luxury. It has transformed how I think about work-life integration.
When my father was hospitalized last year, I could work from his hospital room without missing a beat. The business continued to thrive while I was there for my family when they needed me most.
That is what I love the most about working independently.
Product Testing Without the Risk
Remember the fidget spinner craze?
I tested them in my store for two weeks and sold 142 units without holding any inventory. And then watched sales plummet when the market saturated.
Had I purchased traditional inventory, I’d have been stuck with hundreds of spinners gathering dust.
This flexibility I get to shift from one product to another has been crucial to my success.
We now test new products weekly, with a 24-hour decision rule: if it doesn’t sell within 24 hours of promotion, we pull it and move on.
Who Thrives in This Business? (I’ve Seen the Patterns)
After mentoring over 30 new drop shippers, I’ve noticed distinct patterns in who succeeds:
The Product Testers & Validators
My friend Tom was developing his line of sustainable yoga accessories. But he wasn’t sure which products would resonate the most with customers.
Instead of manufacturing everything upfront, he used dropshipping to test market responses to different concepts.
His bestseller was a cork yoga block with alignment guides.
It is now produced under his brand and stocked in 23 retail stores across Australia.
The Bootstrap Survivors
Let’s talk about Mia, who started her pet accessories store with just $400 while working as a barista in Melbourne.
She couldn’t afford inventory, but she could afford a Shopify subscription and some targeted Instagram ads.
Within four months, her store was generating enough profit for her to quit the coffee shop.
Last I heard, she’s scaling toward seven figures.
The E-commerce Newbies
When my cousin Emma wanted to start selling online, I advised her to begin with dropshipping.
“You’ll make mistakes,” I told her. “Better to make them without inventory investments.”
She followed my advice, making every rookie mistake in the book. But each lesson cost her only tens of dollars rather than thousands.
Today, her knowledge of e-commerce operations runs circles around peers who jumped straight into traditional retail.
My Hard Lessons From Dropshipping Fails
I’d be selling you a fantasy if I didn’t share the downsides. This is why I’ll tell you about my worst month in business:
The Profit Squeeze
During my second holiday season, competition drove my advertising costs up by 87% while my suppliers increased their prices by 12%.
Suddenly, products that had been profitable for months became break-even or worse.
I had to pivot rapidly to high margin products and negotiate better rates with suppliers. It was a stressful few weeks that taught me how to always maintain healthy margins.
The “Where’s My Order?” Nightmare
In April 2022, one of my suppliers had a warehouse fire.
Suddenly, 147 orders were delayed with no clear timeline for fulfillment.
My customer service inbox exploded.
I spent three days straight personally calling affected customers, offering discounts and alternatives. Some were understanding; others left scathing reviews that took months to overcome.
The lesson?
Always have backup suppliers for your bestsellers. Always.
Shipping Headaches That Nearly Broke Me
Early in my business, I sourced a beautiful set of minimalist kitchenware from a supplier in China. The product photos were perfect, and orders started rolling in.
What I didn’t anticipate was the 35-45-day shipping time during a holiday period when customers expected fast delivery.
The barrage of “Where’s my order?” emails nearly drove me to quit.
I ended up spending most of my profits on expedited shipping upgrades just to maintain customer satisfaction.
Now, I primarily work with suppliers who have warehouses in Australia, even if it means slightly lower margins. The improvement in customer experience is worth every penny.
Starting Your Own Dropshipping Business: Real Talk
If you’re considering dropshipping in 2025, here’s my honest advice based on what’s working right now:
Finding Your Profitable Dropshipping Corner
When I started, I tried selling everything from phone accessories to kitchen gadgets. I was spreading myself too thin and competing with thousands of other generic stores.
Success came when I niched down to eco-friendly home products.
This focus allowed me to become an authority in my space and build a brand that stood for something beyond just products.
Use tools like Google Trends to identify growing interests, but don’t just chase trends. Instead, find the intersection between rising demand and your authentic interests.
In our case, Google Trends helps us find the best long-term keywords for link-building. The results, as you can see below, are clear as day when choosing the right keywords.
Building a Store That Converts
My first store looked like it was designed in the dark by someone wearing mittens. The 3% conversion rate reflected that.
After studying successful e-commerce brands and investing in professional design help, my conversion rate jumped to 7.2%.
That’s the difference between spending $30 to acquire a customer who generates $25 in profit versus $30 to acquire a customer who generates $60 in profit.
The key elements that moved the needle for me:
- Mobile-first design (82% of my traffic is mobile)
- Social proof is prominently displayed (we showcase Instagram posts from real customers)
- Crystal clear shipping expectations on every product page
- A streamlined checkout process with multiple payment options
Additionally, in my experience, utilizing product recommendation software has helped me suggest the right add-ons, which has increased my average order value.
Finding Suppliers You Can Trust
My biggest business mistake was choosing suppliers based solely on price. The cheapest option cost me thousands in lost customers and a damaged reputation.
Now, I maintain relationships with 14 different suppliers across my product categories.
Before adding any supplier, I do the following:
- Ordered samples to my address to verify the quality
- Test their customer service by asking detailed questions
- Start with small orders to assess fulfillment speed
- Check reviews from other merchants who use them
Beyond the usual suspects like AliExpress, I’ve found gold mines of reliable suppliers.
I did this through industry-specific trade shows, Facebook groups for store owners, and even by reaching out to brands I admire to ask about their manufacturing partners.
Marketing Is the Magic in Dropshipping
When I hear new drop shippers talk about their marketing “strategy,” they usually mention throwing money at Meta ads and hoping for the best.
That approach is financial suicide in 2025.
My marketing stack has evolved to include:
Content That Creates Demand
My eco-friendly kitchen products started flying off the virtual shelves.
What happened was that we created a YouTube series called “Sustainable Sunday,” featuring quick tips for reducing kitchen waste. The products are secondary to the valuable content, but our conversion rate from these videos is 12.4%.
This is more than double our site average!
What was my takeaway?
Create content that would be valuable even if you weren’t selling anything. The sales will follow naturally.
Micro-Influencer Armies
Rather than blowing my budget on one celebrity endorsement, I would work with multiple micro-celebs.
I work with 35-40 micro-influencers each month who have highly engaged followings between 5,000 and 50,000 followers.
The ROI difference is staggering.
My last celebrity partnership cost $15,000 and generated $23,400 in sales. In the same month, spending $7,500 across 27 micro-influencers generated $48,700 in sales.
The math doesn’t lie.
Email Marketing That Feels Personal
Email remains my highest ROI channel, generating $42 for every $1 spent on our campaigns.
The secret?
We’ve abandoned the “BUY NOW!” approach in favor of storytelling sequences that educate and entertain.
Our most successful campaign, an “Eco Impact” series that shows the environmental difference each purchase makes, has an open rate of 63%. It also drives 22% of our monthly revenue.
Navigating the Legal Maze Without Losing Your Mind
The least sexy but potentially most important advice I can offer: Get your legal ducks in a row from day one.
Ask me how I know.
(Hint: it involves a strongly worded letter from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and several sleepless nights.)
I now maintain:
- A proper business structure that separates personal and business assets
- GST registration and compliance
- Clear terms and conditions written by an actual attorney
- Comprehensive privacy policies that comply with Australian Privacy Principles
- Product liability insurance that covers drop-shipped goods
Yes, it’s boring.
And no, it’s not optional. Unless you enjoy surprise tax bills and legal headaches.
Scaling Beyond the Solo Hustle
For my first two years, I did everything myself.
Like customer service at midnight, ad adjustments at dawn, and product research during lunch breaks.
I was making money but burning out fast.
The game changed when I started building a team:
- A part-time virtual assistant who handles customer inquiries (saving me 15 hours weekly)
- A freelance Facebook ads specialist who optimizes campaigns (improving ROAS by 32%)
- A content creator who produces blog and social media content
My role has evolved from doing everything to steering the ship. It involves setting a strategy, identifying new opportunities, and working on the business rather than just being in it.
Is Dropshipping Still Viable in 2025? My Honest Take
When people ask if dropshipping is “dead,” I laugh.
What they’re asking is, “Can I still throw up a generic store with AliExpress products, run some Facebook ads, and make easy money?”
The answer to that question is a resounding no. That gold rush ended years ago.
But is building a sustainable and profitable e-commerce business using the dropshipping fulfillment model still viable?
Absolutely!
But only if you approach it as a real business. And not a get-rich-quick scheme.
The successful dropshipping businesses today share these characteristics:
- They’re built around genuine brands with values beyond just products
- They focus on customer experience, not just acquisition
- They use data to make decisions rather than following trends blindly
- They solve real problems for specific audiences
- They adapt quickly to market and platform changes
My business has evolved from a purely dropshipping model to a hybrid approach.
Our bestsellers are now custom-manufactured with our branding. We use dropshipping to test new product categories and handle overflow during peak seasons.
This evolution represents the natural growth path for successful dropshipping businesses. Start Start-risk product testing and scaling into more traditional models as you identify winners.
Where I’d Start My First Dropshipping Steps Today
If I were starting from scratch in 2025, here’s my exact game plan:
- I’d identify three niche interests where I have authentic knowledge or passion.
- I’d research product opportunities within those niches using Google Trends, Amazon bestseller lists, and social media monitoring.
- I’d build a focused store around the most promising niche.
- I’d find 3-5 domestic suppliers with quality products
- I’d create valuable content first before spending heavily on ads
- I’d set aside 20% of my budget for testing unconventional marketing channels.
Most importantly, I’d maintain realistic expectations.
My business didn’t generate life-changing money for almost a year.
The overnight success stories you see on YouTube typically leave out the months or years of learning and iteration that preceded them.
Dropshipping isn’t a lottery ticket. It’s a business model.
Treat it with the seriousness it deserves, and it can change your life as it did mine.
So, what specific aspect of dropshipping are you most curious about? We’d love to dive deeper and share more practical insights from my journey!
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