Dropshipping Masterclass; From 0 to 1.9 Million Monthly Revenue With Jake Thoen (E-Comm Mini Series (1/3) | TNE068

When was the last time you went on Google to search about potential ways you can make money online? Chances are, it’s pretty recent. And if you’ve been Googling online businesses, you’ve encountered the brilliant business model called dropshipping. This week, we are joined by Jake Thoen, who went from being a novice with nearly no money to earning seven figures every month after three years of relentless hustle.

This week’s episode is more like an encapsulation of what Jake Theon’s upcoming dropshipping course has to offer. In addition to this, Jake also goes into detail about the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey that’s sure to inspire those aspiring to be successful dropshippers. He also shares some incredibly valuable insights he picked up from personal experience. Jake’s story is absolutely amazing, filled with moments that’s sure to bring a smile to your face and ignite a fire of inspiration within you. 

Timestamps:

[4:00]Jake Thoen’s Humble Beginnings

[9:58]Jake Burning All The Ships

[24:06]What Makes  A Good Product?

[27:40]How Key Metrics Can Help You Unlock A World of Possibility In Dropshipping

[33:00]Welcome To The Crazy World of Patents, Trademarks, And Copyright

[36:38]How To Create A Dropshipping Store

Jake Thoen's Links:
Instagram: @jakethoen

Omar's (Host) Social Media:

Instagram - @nomadables

TikTok - @nomadables

Facebook Group - NOMADABLES - Accountability & Growth Community for Remote Workers- Perfect to meet fellow online entrepreneurs, remote workers, and digital nomads.

YouTube - Omar Mo

LinkedIn - Omar Mo Nomads Cast

Twitter - @nomadables

Pintrest - @nomadables

Clubhouse - @pods

WEBSITE: https://www.nomadables.com/

Transcript

Dropshipping Masterclass: From 0 to 1.9 Million Monthly Revenue With Jake Thoen

Omar  

My audience today is in for a special treat. For anyone who's ever been curious to do so I'm sure you'll be able to relate to what I'm about to say. Think back to the time that you first Googled how to make money online, ring any bells? 

Chances are one of the first business models you stumbled across. And if you did this past 2015 was the one and only dropshipping business model. For those who don't know, the idea is quite simple. You sell a product and instead of holding any inventory, you get the products packaged and shipped in from another country, usually China. 

This whole process saves you a ton in the overhead costs and any inventory issues that would arise otherwise. Now imagine actually doing this process so well, that you make $1.9 million of revenue from it a month. That's right, not a year, but a month. 

This is exactly what our guests is achieved after he found a great product that last October. Success always looks like it's overnight. But for our guests Jake Thoen, it took over three years of long nights and consistent efforts to get there. Still shorter than you probably thought though. 

Today, Jake joins us and drops a full on masterclass on what it takes to go from beginner to millions using the dropshipping business model. It's a great one for all levels of entrepreneurs. And be sure to go show Jake some love on Instagram for even more detailed bits of wisdom @jakethoen. That's J-A-K-E Thoen, T-H-O-E-N.

Alright Jake Thoen, from Vancouver, Canada, man. Welcome to the nomadic executive happy to finally have you on here. 

Jake Theon

Dude yeah, I’m happy to be here. Thank you for having me on. Absolutely. 

Omar

So I met Jake at an event just - it was just this past weekend. Hey, where was it like two weekends ago now? It was Robbie.

Jake Thoen

I think it was like last weekend, yeah.

Omar

Time goes by fast man, I'll tell you. It was Ravi Abuvala’s event, Scaling With Systems in Miami. And I ran into Jake, he was a mutual friend of one of our mutual friends and ends up - turning out to be a really great, really nice guy. And on top of that he is absolutely crushing the ecom game. So welcome to the show. Jake. 

Jake Theon

Thank you so much. What an intro. 

Omar

Absolutely, man. So why don't you give my audience a small intro about yourself? Just like, you know, it, does it? It'd be like your one minute elevator pitch? 

Jake Theon

Sure, yes. So I kind of grew up entrepreneurial... entrepreneurial parents, always had ideas, wanted to start a business, didn't really know how so did some of these things. Like I wanted to start a cleaning company.

And then I did a clothing line, and just all this random stuff that never ended up making money. But I felt like I was on to something. And then I moved into this business model, I got hooked with one of those YouTube videos about three years ago, dropshipping, and I had a clothing line. And I was getting everything custom made and manufactured and samples ordered. And it was just like, it was a headache and a lot of money out and not a lot of money in. So it was actually turning me off business. 

And I was like, Okay, I want to do this without the inventory in the manufacturing. So this whole dropshipping business model just seemed insane. Like you don't have to have inventory, you just mark it. And that was kind of my favorite part of business was marketing. So yeah, I just got like super addicted to it. 

I was in school while I was doing it and the clothing line and working full time. And yeah, it was just like working endlessly. And then it took me about six months doing it literally every single night. And every single night, every morning. And then all of a sudden things started to click. And I started to make some money. Stopped the clothing line and just kind of went all in quit school and went all in. 

And then it's been this crazy journey over the past two and a half years of like, dropshipping and getting banned and then dealing with this and figuring out like how to run a business and like mentality behind running a business and temperament and all this crazy stuff. And then yeah, so then last year was able to scale a brand up towards the end of the year, and then able to kind of hit like that higher revenue this year of like seven figures a month. 

Omar  

Which is nuts. You say that so casually.

Jake Theon

I mean it gets to... it gets to a point where it just feels like a game, right? It's just - 

Omar

Yeah.

Jake Theon

It's just plugging and playing in the ads. 

Omar

That's -  that's very true. And to be able to achieve that at such a young age at 22, right? And I think back to like my own online entrepreneurship journey. And that only just started about two years ago. And I remember Googling how to make money online, which I think almost everybody does at one point. 

And always, for some reason, the first business model that comes up is dropshipping, right? Maybe because it's lower barrier to entry. But at the same time, not a lot of people can make it all the way through to the level nearly as close to the way that you did. 

But it's funny to see that the first business model that I ever ran into, you ended up completely taking it to another level. You know, whereas a lot of people start off as like a starting point, and then maybe jump off to different business models, you know, so you made it work for you, man. 

Jake Thoen

Thanks, man. 

Omar

Yeah, no worries. But going back to like, your initial entrepreneurial steps. You were what, 15, 16 doing all these different random jobs. What was your mindset around that time? 

I mean, I'm sure none of your friends at that time in high school were really into the same things. Maybe you're maybe they were and they were joining you. But you saw all these other people doing so many different things. What made you want to just go out and make money?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, so I think I was in a really beneficial spot with how I was raised. So my dad worked a white collar job. And then my mom was an entrepreneur. And I kind of got to see the transition of my dad doing a job that he didn't fully love, but just did it for the family to pay the bills, and then transitioning to something he really cared about. 

This is about 15 years ago. So when I was kind of in that, that transition stage of like going through puberty and figuring out like, what is life even? So I got to see him transition from that job to like being a real estate investor and just like loving what he did. And then I got to see the hustle of my mom, where she was just like just this crazy entrepreneur. And yeah, so that was super inspiring. 

So I would I would look at that. And then I was working like I was working at a movie theater and then I was in the restaurant as you know the stuff and I was just like, Oh my God, I hate people telling me what to do. Like, I hate like, I know that this person that's telling me what to do isn't smarter than me and it just frustrated me. 

So it was just like that side hustle was just like out of spite. Sure, I just didn't like people telling me what to do. And it was never like a negative, like, chip on my shoulder. But, I mean, maybe it was, but it was just always on, it was always on the inside. It wasn't like, I was like, backlashing these people, but it was just like, Okay, I need, I need to figure something out. Because like, when people are saying the goals, they want to go to school for this. And this is like, I always said, I want to run a business, always. 

And, and the like, the average, the average person would say back is what type of business? And I'd be like, I don't know, but it's gonna be big. And that's it. That was the combo. And they were just like, shrug their shoulders and laugh. 

Omar

I know that feeling of like, hating authority, and like, just having, you know, and you had a killer combo there, right? You hated authority. But at the same time, you had enough self-belief in yourself to know that you're going to create something really, really big. 

Jake Theon

Yeah. And I think I don't even think it was like self-belief at the beginning, because I remember specifically telling people and like not even not feeling confident in myself. And then like seeing these people like laughing kind of like all these adults that are like, what are you gonna do after high school? This laugh? 

And it's just like, Okay, well, like, there was definitely a transition. Whereas like, I just stopped caring what people thought and like that, that the feeling of people saying no, to me, and like, laughing just turned into fuel. And it was like, I'm going to prove these fuckers wrong, right? Sorry, do you swear on this? Yes, you by all means.

Omar

Yes, you- by all means. It's my show, I can do whatever the fuck I want. That's awesome, man. Like, you turned that into fuel, you turn that into drive. And a lot of people get caught up in that, right? 

They get caught up in the words, they get too caught up into negative remarks, even coming from their own family sometimes. And then they just kind of settle into these nine to five cushy jobs or what they think is right for them. Because someone else told them, you know, and you managed to escape from that you may, which you see a certain temperament that falls into it, right? 

And to me, you come off as such a sweet guy, you come off as a really humble, sweet guy, like the people that I've met that have managed to escape that are usually really aggressive and really like, like, I consider myself pretty competitively aggressive, too, right? 

So I think maybe, perhaps, that you've been doing this for quite some time that you're, you're just kind of settled into it. And perhaps at first, you were a bit more aggressive. And now you just kind of like, you know, it's like,eh, another day.

Jake Thoen 

Yeah, pretty sure.

Omar

Is that what it is?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, I am super competitive. Like I played sports growing up, and I just love to win. But yeah, it's definitely something that, like, I may have made back in the day, I've been like, verbally, not I wouldn't even say so Dude, I was definitely more passive but just like, with how I would talk to people, but I don't know, it's tough. It's tough, because I don't really know how it all fell into place. It just kind of happened. 

Omar

Serendipity.

Jake Thoen

Yeah, just just like reflecting and that from the event, Ravi talks about, like feedback loops always, like doing something and then and then reflecting on what happens. I do that all the time. 

Omar

Right. 

Jake Thoen

It's just like, okay, and I really base it for me. It's not like not as much logically is more so emotionally, like, how did I feel in this situation? And why did that feel like that? Okay, like, this person told me this. And it made me upset. Why, okay? I backlash to them. And I didn't like how I acted. Okay, why? So it's like, Who's the person that I want to be? And how can I really develop into that?

Omar  

I get what you're saying. Yeah. The reflection is massively massively relatable, right? Like when you're younger, you don't really take the time to reflect, you just act on emotion. And as you get older, you start to learn how to control that simply through reflection, right? And you kind of become at peace and still stable on the inside. It's a strange transition. 

But it's good to see that you're going through it at such a young age, or you're not really that young, but you went through it at such a young age, right? Yeah. So that's, that's also we kind of covered like the serendipitous moments and the temperament that you had as a kid. Where was the transition to making money online for you first? I think that was what you said, with your initial t-shirt or clothing company that you had?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, so that was just like this local clothing brand that I had. And to be honest, I just lost money. I did it for like a year, maybe a year, a year and a half. And it would take just to give you some perspective, it would like I would order I would design stuff on my computer. And it would be like six to eight months before I would actually have the product. 

So it's like and then I would only order like 50 units because I was so broke. So I didn't really make money there. It was like, once I started dropshipping. It was about six months into that journey. I saw that like the first like profitable day really. And that was like for me as I remember. I remember I was actually snowshoeing. 

And I saw that I made like I did like I was on a three hour snowshoe and I did with my parents actually. And I did $200 in sales, which I think at the time was 10% margin. So I made 20 bucks. And I was like, I was like, this is gonna change my life. I just knew it. 

Omar

For six months, essentially those first initial six months you're grinding away. Yeah. You didn't see some actual like, success until that six month mark?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, yeah. And even at the six month mark, I feel like I still got a little lucky. But yeah, dude, I

think I tested like I cuz I was just testing products and trying all this stuff I think I can't remember it was like 40 products I tested. I was just doing I was just addicted man. Before before I got into it because I like dropped out of school, did all the stuff. I was like, literally I'm going broke doing this for I'm going to make it. That's it.

Omar

Burn all the ships.

Jake Thoen

Yeah. So yeah. So it was six months in and I lost like four grand and I was kind of running out of money going like that. 

Omar

What kept you going? Going back to feedback loops here. You don't have a positive feedback loop. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, like what's up. So at the time, I was following some YouTubers, one of the big ones, like in my early days, his name was Chris Waller. And he was my age and he was just crushing it. Unfortunately, he passed away a year and a half ago. It was like a fluke accident. So, super sad. Yes, super sad to hear. But he was a huge inspiration. 

And I felt like when I got into it, it's so much different than now like when you're on YouTube now and you see a video. It's like all these guys trying to like, convince you to buy a course or sell you something or like fake flexing back then it was pretty easy to see that these guys like this Chris guy. We're just like, almost shocked at the results they were getting and just had to share it. They're like, Dude, look at this. This is a goldmine. You got to get into like this, like, I'm not selling you anything. Like just do it. 

And I was like, so the fact that he was my age, he was doing it. And I was just like, wow, okay, I know I can do this. I just knew it. So it was just that belief, right? It's like, if he can do it, I can. 

Omar

Yeah, you saw someone else your age, same background, all that coming, doing the same thing you could possibly do. It seemed in reach, I get it. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, dude. And when I dropped out of school, I remember like that last semester, I was in a marketing class. And I'd taken, I was in business. And all I want to do is get a marketing degree so I could figure out how to market products and stuff and businesses. 

And I remember my teacher, I was so excited for this class, because I had taken all these pre, like all these prereqs for all the classes and just like general studies the first year, so you're taking all like psychology and anthropology, stuff that's not related. And I got my marketing class was so excited dude. And my teacher, we spent like two months going over and newspaper ads. 

Omar

Right. 

Jake Thoen

At the time I was running like I was starting to run Facebook ads. And I was like, I remember asking him I was like, dude, like, the CPM on a newspaper ad was $2500. I remember hearing that. And I was like, and he was like, Yeah, it's pretty. 

I was like, I was like, I'm running Facebook ads, I'm getting $15. He's like, social media ads are irrelevant. It's all about like, newspaper. I was like, literally, I'm done. I’m done  with school. This is like the biggest waste of time and money. So I just dropped out after that as like, this guy sucks. 

Omar

So like, run me through the dropout process here, right? I think a lot of kids in college, especially the entrepreneur types kind of have like, messages. So that's about thinking about that kind of stuff. So yeah, through the process here. 

Jake Thoen

So I feel like everyone who wants to drop out, it's just like, already knows that school is not for them. So when you have that first thought it's like, Okay, it's time. Like, it's like a breakup, right? It's like, if you think about breaking up, you probably should mean something means something wrong. 

So my parents actually, it's funny, because my parents really wanted me to stay in school, even though they both grew up not wealthy, and they didn't have the opportunity to go to school, and they were paying for my school, which is awesome. And like I'm super grateful for. So they wanted me to have a good education and like, obviously see their kids successful and ensure it like the best possible route. 

So when I told them I was dropping out, it was like a huge argument. And I was like, No, my decision is made. And at the time, I wasn't making any money. So it was definitely tough. That was like I can pinpoint at that point in my life, the hardest conversation I had to have. But you know, what if like, if you if you're going to be successful, you have to go all in on yourself, right?

And, like, I'm learning more and more as I get older that like your limbic brain and your gut feeling like you really got to trust that, like, you, you talk yourself out of reason so much. Or you talk you logically talk yourself out of things so much when it's like, you know, in your gut, that is the right thing to do. So it's like, I just trusted my gut. 

And you know, it was a coin flip to be honest, at the time. Like, I was young, I wasn't as confident. And I bet if I talked for another hour with my parents, maybe I could have been convinced to keep going another semester, right? But yeah, it was just how it worked out. 

Omar  

Yeah.So you had to talk with your parents who went to school, dropped out, and that was that. Burned all the ships. I love that quote. It's a… What is it? It was like a war award general or something back in the day, I forget exactly what the context was. Maybe Napoleon or Alexander the Great or one of those guys, but what they said was either we win this war, or we don't go home and what he does is burns all the ships before he goes into battle.It's kind of… 

Jake Theon

That’s savage, dude.

Omar

Yeah, straight savage. And I think that's exactly the mentality that you had and it's so right, right? Like, that's the mentality that people need. Or otherwise, if you already always have a plan B, you're gonna fall into Plan B. Because you're gonna think about Plan B all the time. Oh, like, I'm not gonna take this risk, because if I do, I could always fall back to plan B, right? 

Jake Thoen

100% agree.

Omar

Definitely, man. It look, look what happened with you. You ended up making it quite big. You know? So, yeah. So you dropped out of school and then you saw your first glimmer of success. When you were dropshipping. Is that the same women's product that you were doing that you're doing now? 

Jake Theon

Oh, god, no, no, I've tested like hundreds, probably not maybe not hundreds, probably like 150 products. Since that first one. So no, the first one I was selling that really did well was it was a fruit fusion water bottle. It was super cool. 

Like at the bottom, the bottom, the bottom of the water bottle had like this spike. And you could like squeeze fruit into it. And then you put the bottom on, and then all the waters seep through and you could shake it. It was awesome. Like I really loved the product. So I ended up like scaling that. 

I did a million dollars on that product that first year. But it was funny because like it was such a roller coaster of emotions, because I kind of went from dropping out of school to making money to like, feeling like I just made it. It was a weird feeling. I was like, Oh, I made it like this, like it’s so easy. So quick! 

And I was making like, I mean, I don't actually know how much I was making because like, there was so many hidden expenses that I didn't account for. But I thought I was making like 30k a month. I was probably only making like 10 to 20. But dude, yeah, I just wasn't really handling business, like a professional. 

I was just some kid that was, had a product that did well, and a marketer, right? It wasn't a business owner. So there was like a transition. And I remember it was summertime. And this product was doing well. And I had content and it was just on Facebook ads. And I had one one guy doing emails, but like, even before the emails like I was, I wasn't even writing emails, customers email, I just didn't even look at it. 

I don't even think I had a contact page on my website. And then I was like manually fulfilling orders. So I would go to a coffee shop and spend three hours filling orders. Yeah, so it's just like, yeah, and then my business and all of a sudden it crashed. 

And it was just because I've gotten lazy and I didn't really know how to run a business. But at the end of the day, I'm really happy the way it happened just because like I learned the hard way. And essentially - 

Omar

What kind of lessons did you learn from that, specifically? I think it can bring a lot of value to the audience. 

Jake Theon

Yeah. So I would say the main one is don't get comfortable, right? Like, set your goals big, and don't get comfortable because I was making money and I got comfortable. And it's like, I didn't have that feedback. And that like, look back and reflect. 

So I really should have been like, Okay, why? Why are ads starting to do bad? Why are customers not getting their order? Why am I spending three hours a day doing this, like fulfilling orders? So like, the - essentially my business went down because of my own negligence to being able to run it. So yeah, I would just say, like, don't get comfortable because I got comfortable and I got lazy and then everything went down. 

Omar

I get it. Cool. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah. 

Omar

So moving forward, then go back to what you were saying there you this one basically first product that crashed and burned. Well…

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar

What happened after that? 

Jake Thoen

Oh, man, it was a heartbreak. So crashed and burned. And then I went through this like three month period of just like testing products, but nothing else was working. And it was funny because I was like, Oh my god, am I just lucky? 

It was like, it was just like waking up and anxiety because I was like, holy crap. Maybe I just got lucky and I can't ever do this again. And then I had this other product that I did I did really well. Like it was actually I felt - I bought that Chris guy's course because I was like yeah, I'm gonna actually start investing myself. And that was something that I wasn't doing. So I bought this Chris guy's course and just followed along, learn some stuff. 

And then I had a sweater actually, that I ended up doing like 100 grand in sales. And I didn't charge taxes on it in Canada and because it was like a it was like - had like this whole Save The Bees thing and I was donating a percent to like, a cause. And I was supposed to pay there's like PST and GST in Canada and I didn't pay any of that. 

So my profit margins were like 10% on this product, but the tax had to pay was like 13%. I was just losing money on it. Which sucked because I didn't realize that lost money till the end of the year. Which sucked and then I had to do there's countless products.

I had this cat product that I sold that was like this cat carry bag and it was funny because every single product they had I learned something valuable from it. So like for, the from the water bottle was like, okay, set up the back end a little bit. But the product quality of the water bottle was good. So like, I didn't have that issue, the sweater, it was like, taxes and product quality kind of fucked me. So it was like, Okay, let's try to like, fix that. 

And then I sold this like cat product that did well, but I completely ripped off this company's video. And I almost got sued and got everything taken down. So that one hit actually really hard because that was in December of 2019. And I was actually able to revamp the water bottle store. So that was doing well again. And then I had the other product, like the cat product that was doing well. And I remember sitting... 

It was so funny, because like my goal for the end of the year was I wanted two stores that were doing well. And that I could like focus on the backend and like just deal with that. And I remember I literally, it was it was on the same day. So I had the store, they were doing well. And I was like, thank God, I did it. And then that night, I was at a friend's house. He was having like a little party, but I was like sober because I was doing this challenge. 

And I came home at 2am just to do my ads, then I had to go back. Then I had to go back and then drive people home. So I came home to my ads. And all my accounts were banned. I was like, oh my god the same day, I felt like I was like, dude, I hit my goal, like this is sick. 

And then all my shit was banned. I was like, no! And it was a it was just because I ripped off a video and it's like, you get so lost in these YouTube videos like dude, literally everyone, if you watch a YouTube dropshipping be like stealing all this content and doing all this shady stuff. 

And it's like, oh my god, like, you know what's wrong, but you just just kind of ignore and just like, screwed me over. And I lost everything at that time. And then Yeah, hello. All overnight? Damn. So what would you do after that? Like, I mean, do you have to start over again, obviously, I had to start all over again. 

Omar

All overnight?

Jake Thoen

All overnight, yeah.

Omar

Damn, so what’d you do after that? I mean.. You had to start over again, obviously.

Jake Thoen

I had to start over again, and this was like, come 2020, early 2020. And COVID started - was starting to hit. So I couldn't really sell any products because the shipping times were like 60 days. 

So a lot of the Chinese shipping relies on airline passengers or airline, sorry, passenger airlines. So they like, put their put the shipping stuff in the... whatever. And then... but because no one was flying out of China, it was just all resorting to one shipping method. And it was just insane.

So no one could sell any products. And if you did you just like screwed your whole business because now payment processors, refunds, chargebacks. All like the headache of that side of things. So yeah, so I went through like, probably, like January to April. I was just like, wasn't really doing anything. 

And it was tough man because I was just like, maybe...Yeah, maybe a little bit before that. But it was tough because I like - it was stressful. I just was self employed, had a little bit of money to sit on. But I was just like, oh, like what's next? What do I do? 

Omar

Right.

Jake Thoen

So anyways, ended up buying more products... 

Omar

At that point, did you think like it wasn't gonna go back to normal? Or it was it… 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. It was scary, man. I was like, I was started - I started actually day trading. Like, yeah, I was like trading stocks. I was like, I'm done. And then yeah, so I haven't literally because it was funny because of my timezone. I was like, you know, I don't really like trading stocks as much as I thought I would accept to get up at 6am. Just like, not the 6am lifestyle.

At the time. I wasn't I probably wouldn't now. But yeah, and then shipping started to get a little better. My filming agent was like, “Hey, you can start to sell products again.” Sold this really cheap, COVID mask that had was a face cover, again, didn't learn my lessons ended up screwing me.

Omar

What happened there? 

Jake Thoen

It was just a really cheap product. Like it was just a bad quality product. I didn't do my due diligence on looking for it. Like the photos I saw of the product looked good. But I didn't actually test it. Ordered one in and see what the quality was and all that, right? 

So yeah, but that for me like it was funny because it was kind of like a trendy thing. Like people wanted security when it does like a face cutter. 

Omar

For sure. Right. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah. 

Omar

I think this is actually a really good segue into a question that I want to ask you right when it comes to dropshipping specifically. I mean, you have all this experience when it comes to dropshipping and just having product or selling e-comm in general, you have a lot of experience when it comes to that. 

Before we even get into your final product here that the one that's actually made you your actual real money. Tell me some of the things that you think are really important, especially when you're first starting off your dropshipping store. Obviously you need to find a product that works. But what would make a good product?

Jake Thoen

Right. Yeah, that's tough because like you can literally sell anything right? So I think what makes a good product is something that solves a problem. It's just one that makes it a little bit of an easier sell so you can kind of emotionally market it. 

But think about how you would want to feel when you buy a product and put yourself in the customer's shoes, right? Like if you're buying this product to solve your problem? Do you want to wait 30 days for it and have no one respond to your emails? Probably not. So set up the backend before you start doing that. 

Omar

Okay, so what's something in terms of setting up the backend, like having a local supplier? 

Jake Thoen

No, sorry. So setting up the back end would just be like making sure that if you start getting sales, you can handle emails coming in, if you start getting orders you can fulfill on a daily basis, so customers aren't waiting a week for you to fulfill. So it's like, understand the business before you start selling products.

Omar  

Okay. And then how about in terms of the product itself? Like, let's say…

Jake Thoen

Yeah?

Omar

Well, obviously, from what I hear, like dropshipping, dropshipping world, you got to test a lot of products until you find one that wins, right? And you said a product that solves a problem. How about it for the characteristics of that product itself? 

Like something that you've mentioned was a good quality product is really, really important, right? Like good quality? How about in terms of like, profit margins?

Jake Thoen

Oh, yeah. Okay. 

Omar

Like, in terms of the characteristics of a product that make it something that's worth your time to sell? 

Jake Thoen

Okay, yeah. Um, so yeah, so one would be product quality. But what I initially do when I find my products now is I just scroll through, like AliExpress, and look for something that's eye-catchy. And then once I find something that's eye-catchy, I kind of go through my criteria, which is like, okay, is it good quality? 

And how you check that is you just go into Amazon. Because normally Amazon will like, have 10 people selling that product, right? So then you just look at the reviews, and people are like, “Yeah, no, it's great, awesome product.”

Like, I've had plenty of products that are ugly, oh, this would be an awesome, easy sell. And I look on Amazon, it's like, didn't work, product sucked, whatever. And it's like, okay, I'm not gonna sell that. So you look for that. 

And then I look for usually, usually, if you can sell a product for three times the cost of goods, including shipping, so if it's like $10 shipped, including the cost of goods, I tried to sell it for 30. Just because like marketing costs are so expensive. 

And then yeah, solving a problem. This one's kind of a little murky, because like, there's products that you'll see that like visibly solve a problem. And then you can kind of get creative and like, see a product that like, emotionally sell... solves a problem. Like for example, like maybe a certain t-shirt doesn't actually solve a problem, but it makes you feel confident. So emotionally. 

Omar

That's interesting. Okay.

Jake Thoen

That's a good, right? Right. Yeah. Okay, so that's kind of the criteria. And then now what I do, and this is kind of all going to be in the course that I'm making. But now what I do is like, I'm gonna start, I start to order the products in and actually try them. 

So it's like, you can still rapidly test you just order them all in at once when you find them. So you'll have like, 15 products coming, and you just try them, see if they work if they don't just throw them out, like…

Omar

Interesting. So you kind of like the consumer at first trying out these different products. To see what does and doesn’t. And then from there making the decision that you want to make? 

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar

So and I'm trying to, I want to keep this surface level too, because I think your course would be an excellent place for a lot of my audience to go check out. But go - in terms of like, the paid advertisements and things like that, like, what do you think, is some good key metrics, especially when someone's first starting to actually sell a product? 

Jake Thoen

That’s a great question. So for the copy, and the product page, and all that, like the key things for me is like a good offer, a good product page and a good video. Right? Those are the three things you could literally have a website with no homepage. If you have those three, you'll still do well. 

Yeah, so for good copy, I like to... I was actually just talking to them about this yesterday. So what I like to do is I look at the main benefit of the product. So let's see, like, we'll just use a T shirt, for example, because, like that was what we already use. 

So the main benefit would be like it's form fitting. So it's like why then I asked myself, why would someone want a form fitting t-shirt to make them right?

Omar

To make them feel good.

Jake Thoen

To make them feel good, right. So now that's the emotional selling point. And that's kind of what I use to structure the first line of my copy and I break it down from that.

Omar  

Right. You know, it's interesting like you talking about this. I feel like there's so much overlap between any sort of online selling at the end of the day right?With Ecomm, I'm in an agency. We use copy just like that, too. 

We focus on emotional selling points on copy we so what's selling the product then is actually the copy, the video and all that. And you're just pretty much running traffic to it and letting that stuff do its work.

Jake Thoen

So yeah, yeah, dude. Absolutely. And then as for key metrics, it's just you can you can calculate your like your break even bro as which is like, what you need to spend. So Facebook will show I usually test on Facebook. 

So this metric is like what you need to spend to break even. So usually there'll be like, if my product’s $10 and it's 30. I can spend $20 to break even, right? 

Omar

Right.

Jake Thoen

So that's one that I look for. I look for cost per click, you want that under like $1.50 it all comes down to this big calculation because Like, let's say, if this doesn't make sense, let me know. Because I don't think I've ever explained before. Let's say you get 100 people to the website, right? 

Omar

Sure. 

Jake Thoen

Okay, so on average, you want two to 4% to convert. So that's two to four people, right? So you can just do the math. Like, it's simple math, if my cost per click’s $1, it cost me $100. To get people to the website, only to convert, if my product’s $20. That's only $40 revenue. 

Omar

So that means you didn’t break even.

Jake Thoen

Yeah, that means you didn't break even. So it's like, you look for these key metrics. So it's like, you want a cost per click of like, under $1.50. You want an average video, watch time of like, over two seconds.

Omar

All these key metrics, did you get them through experience? 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, yeah, from experience cuz they all correlate to something right is like, for example, if you run a video, and you look at people only watching two seconds of it, okay, why are they only watching two seconds, right? 

It's because your hook isn't strong enough. Engaging. So it's like, okay, change the first three seconds, plug them in. Okay, now it's working. But people are going to the website and everything looks good. But I have 200 people on the website and only one bought, okay? why is that? Okay, your price is too high. Okay, drop the price. Okay, people still aren't buying, okay, maybe it's not a good product. 

Omar

You're just tracking the customer journey with the big key metrics along their path to see what's what you should change or what you shouldn't, right?

Jake Theon

Yeah.

Omar  

And there's a couple softwares that Ravi mentioned on his in the convention as well that I think could help with this too, right. For example, Hotjar, I think was a really good one to see what's working on your site. 

Maybe it's not the price, maybe it's... they read the copy, and there's something in there that just kind of turns them away, and they don't buy. Maybe it's the video that's on the site itself that's doing all that and just turning them away, right? So I see what you're saying about it being a game. You just can't -

Jake Thoen

Yeah, yeah, it literally is. 

Omar

Yeah, I get it, man. It's really fun. And it's, it's a data driven game, which is really, really interesting, you know? So right, so now got let's go to your new product now. Right. You've had your you've had your new product. You've had that for how long now? The one that you're currently selling? 

Jake Thoen

Yeah. So I started in October of last year. 

Omar

And that's the one single product that is now bringing you in about a few million a month. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, like, just like, I would say, one to one and a half million a month. 

Omar

Geez, what kind of margins?

Jake Thoen

Like 20%? 

Omar

That's really, really good, man. Yeah, and it's a woman's product. I know, you can't tell my audience what it is. And for good reason. Remind me what that was, again?

Jake Thoen

Yeah. So what happens when you find a good product, because you don't have patents on it. You can trademark all that stuff. But even if you trademark, people still steal it. And it's just a headache, because they just like copy your video. 

So right now, I just went through a training with the VA, like, we have about 15 to 20 companies that literally just stole like the custom content that I used of my girlfriend, and the photos of my friend's wife. They just, like, stole the video. Completely ripped it off, even has like my copyrighted brand name in it.

And then put it on the website - on their website and called it the exact same thing. And it's like, sure they can do it, I just have to take them down. It's just a headache. And it's like they're doing illegal stuff. And it's just like, I feel like in this online world, people just think they get away with it. 

But at the end of the day, it's like, people are going to do it. So it just for my benefit. It just makes it easier. So I don't have to go through and take all these sites down.

Omar  

Yeah, makes sense. And that's fine with that telling the product but I think we would like to know what, what - your kind of process was in finding a product that was winning? How many - how many products? Did you have to test at first before you found that one?

Jake Thoen

So yeah, in October, I was like, I'm gonna try to test a product every single day. And it was a ton of work. But I was just like ordering products and filming using Alex press content using photos that were like copyright free. 

So normally, like stuff on AliExpress that like you get permission to use that. So I was just doing stuff like that. And I just tested a product every single day. And I believe this was the 23rd product I tested. 

Omar

Nice. 

Jake Thoen

So yes, so it was a lot man. 

Omar

Reminds me of my question right there. How much money do you think it should be to test the product? 

Jake Thoen

Oh, yeah, so I usually go $100 the first day.

Omar

Right.

Jake Thoen 

And and then you look at these metrics and then the second day, depending how many sales like let's say you got a couple sales. The second day I would usually actually scale down and I spend like $70 and then I just kind of like leave it. 

But if it's like spent 100, zero sales nothing, I'm just like, Okay, this is clearly, clearly a dud. But I mean, that's that's probably because like I've tested so many so I can see it.  

Omar

Right.

Jake Thoen

If you're starting out, I'll try to, like, rein this in someone who's starting out. Yeah, if you're starting out, I would spend 50. Sorry, I'm just gonna call, I would spend $50 a day for two days on a product. And each night, look at what happened and look at those key metrics and then just evaluate what's going on, right?

Omar

So then initially, if it was your 23rd product that ended up being the winning products for you, you essentially spent about 2300 bucks to find a winning product. So, so if someone wants to start a dropshipping store and wanted to find a winning product, they should have maybe about 3k set aside to find some sort of product that you could sell in the first place, right? 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, I normally say 5K.

Omar

5K?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, just because like, yeah, and those 23 products, like, I had probably two or three others that like weren’t selling, that just ended up fizzling out. But on the ones that sell you kind of end up getting lost, you get lost in the sauce a little bit, you spend a little more like a couple of them.

I think I was selling a dog, like a dog hammock for your backseat. And it was the margins weren't that good. And, and I ended up losing like, maybe $500 on it, but it sold like 20-30K worth of the product is so yeah. 

So it's just like, yeah, I mean, you can - you don't have to go for a product like every day, you can go a little slower. But yeah, I would say $100 per product. 5K. Because let's say it takes you two grand to find that good product. You're gonna need some money for cash flow. 

Omar

Right. Makes sense, especially fulfilling orders and all that stuff. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar 

I get it. Cool. So you found the winning product in October when you found it, like what's the process? To like, creating a store.

Jake Thoen

For sure. Yeah. So I'll go back a little bit before I decided to do a product every day. What I was doing was I was doing like one product branded store every single, every single product that fine. 

So the turnaround time of that was the only issue was like it would take me like a one, one week to like if I was working endlessly, dude, like one week to build the store, the custom content, do all this and then like launch it, and then it would suck. And it's so discouraging, man, because you put so much time and just like Oh, that sucked. 

It was actually this guy named Connor. He - shout out to him. He was like, dude, just do a general store. Like, stop this testing. All right, okay, fine. I'll do a general store. And everyone in the dropshipping industry kinda like shits on general stores for some reason. 

Omar

Yeah. 

Jake Thoen

But in my mind, it makes no sense, man, like a psych, test as many as you can, but make sure they're high quality and fit the criteria. So I switched to the general store. And I'm sorry, what was your question?

Omar  

Your process between finding the actual, but this is a really interesting topic that you're talking about right now, right? Because I know I've tried dropshipping once. It was also a woman's product. I just didn't. It wasn't my forte, I didn't like it. 

But what you mentioned there was that everyone shits on a general store. That's something that I found and when I was watching a lot of YouTube videos around this shit in the beginning to and also the turnaround time, like it took me a solid week to two weeks to make each store on Shopify. So how the hell am I supposed to do so many things? Yeah, dude, you created a general store to test? Yeah, right.

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar

Okay.

Jake Thoen

Because it takes you two weeks. And it's like, let's just say 20 products, like, Oh, my God, it's gonna take you almost a full year to get one. And then like… pardon me?

Omar

You built out your own store or did you…?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, I was doing everything dude. Building everything. And I was like setting up email flows before. Because like, this is the one, this is the one. That's criteria, good product, good quality, whatever. 

And it's like, you know, it turns out, there's either it's too saturated, there's no market for it, whatever. So it's just like, yeah, so. And at what point in that year, have you testing? And are you going to get discouraged? Right? Is it going to be two months? It's gonna be six months, eight months? Are you gonna still push to that, like 50 products if you have to?

I mean, like the general store just makes sense. Because it's like, find a good quality product. Maybe the margins aren't great off the bat. But doesn't matter, right? When you see that it’s good. One, I moved to a one product branded store. 

Omar

That makes a lot more sense. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar  

That cuts the time down to test something. And then on top of that -

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar

You can test a lot easier too. But you still have to write out the copy and stuff for every single one of them. 

Jake Theon

Yeah, yeah. 

Omar

So how would you know that it - while you're during your testing phase, how would you know, it wasn't the copy or the video or something that wasn't working out for you?

Jake Thoen

So those kind, of those kind of like, switch with the key metrics. So for example, when I test I do, I normally do two videos, or I do one video that's like this certain structure. And then I just switched the intro. So I'll have two videos, and then I'll do a photo. So every product gets three different ad, like, ad tests. And then on the product page, I'll kind of play around with that. 

If it's like, Okay, I got a sale. But like the conversion rates lower than I wanted, maybe I'll change the ad copy and the price. But you can kind of look like, sorry, as I'm saying this, I'm realizing, like let's say people added to cart, but didn't didn't convert that means normally it's like the price is too high. But if people are on the product page, and it's like they're not even adding to cart, maybe it's your copy isn't driving them to actually go to the next step. 

Omar

It's good. You've got this all figured out through experience. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah. Yeah. 

Omar

That's awesome, man. 

Jake Thoen

Thanks, man. 

Omar

Yeah. So you also said something that that kind of piqued my interest. So you said your videos follow a certain structure? 

Jake Thoen

Right.

Omar

What is that structure? 

Jake Theon

Yeah, so like, the videos. People overcomplicate it, man. Like, it's funny, because I've tried to outsource… I now outsource videos, which is good, but it took me a while. I tried - I was paying friends that have videography, companies and whatever to film these videos. And it's like, it was never anything I wanted. And these guys are like, getting paid like five grand for branding packages for like, from like car companies and stuff. 

And it was never anything I wanted. I was like, “Okay, why are the videos on my iPhone doing so much better?” Why can no one do that? Because it's like, the most simple videos work. People just want to see like people are on social media, to see their friends and everything. So why would they want to see some professionally edited video on Fiverr, right?

So this is like, literally what I'm telling people now. It's just like, grab your iPhone, and just do rolling shots of someone using the product. That's it. And then it's like, I do, I do three second two to four second clips, and then just benefit driven.

Omar  

That’s really smart, man. That's a really good strategy. And that's something that I'm definitely starting to see a lot. Really, really applicable during this day and age too, right? Those cell phone videos are just so much more relatable. 

Yeah, especially with Tick Tock like when I when a seven year old kid can throw a football across his lawn on like recording like an iPhone 4 million views. You know, it doesn't really matter if you've got a really, really nice video, unless you're an artist and you enjoy that type of shit. You know, like -

Jake Thoen

Definitely.

Omar

It has its own merit, you know, but - 

Jake Thoen

Yeah. 

Omar

But that's, that's a completely different reason than you thinking that “Oh, I really need a high res video to sell something.”

Jake Thoen

Definitely. 

Omar

Yeah, it makes it makes a lot of sense. So now, so going back to the process here, you found your product, you've tested it, you open up the single store, you found a copy that works. You found the video that works. You're starting to get some sales in and maybe mediocrely starting to get your sales. How do you scale it?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, so I think a lot of people get confused when they think they find a winning product. A lot of these YouTubers that you see are like they're getting like, a five row ads and stuff. And it's like, man, honestly, if you can just break even on a product and spend like 10 grand on it breaking even? That's for me, that's a winner.

 Because like, like, Facebook's data is so powerful. It's like, when you get enough data, you just start scaling that way. So it's like I just I think I'm pretty sure I broke even. I did like 12k maybe in like, a couple weeks on that branded store. And it was breakeven, maybe plus or minus $100. And then I moved to - have you done much Facebook ads? Lookalike audiences and stuff?

Omar  

Yeah, for my audience, for anyone that doesn't know what that is. Basically, what it is, it's just through data, finding people that come onto your website, or check out your product that fits similar key metrics for that audience that is checking out. 

Jake Thoen  

Yeah, yeah. So usually you need like 1000 to 5000 of an action. So for example, you need one to 5000 people to click onto your website for Facebook to be like, Oh, hey, we know who this this person is. That's clicking on your website, let's find this group of people that really resembles them. And that's what a lookalike audience is. 

So like, when you're testing, it's like you're targeting interests and whatnot, depending on the niche. And then when you're when you like, have data, you're using these look alike audiences, which are powerful. So I tested into those. And for those of you that are into Facebook ads, I usually put them into a CBO, which is a campaign budget optimization, which just means like the budget’s controlled at the campaign level just makes it easier to scale. 

So yeah, and then, and then it moves forwards, and you just kind of start to test new lookalike audiences, as you increase your data, like, you get to a point where you have one to 5000 purchases. And that's like, Oh, you can do a purchase look alike now. And then it's like, those are even more powerful and even more like, targeted. So you just as you get more data, it gets easier and easier, and you'd become more profitable. 

Omar

But at what point do you start removing yourself so much from those day to day operations? Like I know, you got Jonathan and Noah like, when did that transition come for you? 

Jonathan Thoen

Yeah, so that was in... So I started October with this one and then scaled. I think December we did like 300. And then January, was just going nuts. I was like, I was kind of worried as like after the holidays. Normally everyone's a sales drop after after December and I was just like, going nuts.

And I was like, Oh my god, like I had to VAs that we're doing orders or fulfillment and not sorry, not fulfillment. They were doing customer service. And I actually had a call. So my Facebook went down And I had a call with Jonathan. And we had been communicating, he was reading my emails, and he kind of called me. He was like, he was like, dude, you're exactly where you should be your business exactly where it should be. 

And I was like, damn. And I was like, took a look at my business. And I was like, I was just scaling so fast. I didn't know what to do. So I ended up hiring eight more VA days that month, training them. Yeah, dude, it was insane training them. And I was working so much. I was just like, so caught up in the business. 

Fortunately, the content that I was using, which is performing awesome, so I didn't really have to focus on content. And then I was just like, Jonathan was doing my emails. And I actually reached out to him, and I was like, “Hey, man, like, I need to start outsourcing this.” 

Because I was like, for me, it was like, Okay, how can I buy back my time because I want that freedom. That was kind of we never really touched on that. But that was like, the reason why part of the reason why I love business, because like, no one tells you what to do. 

But also you can get the freedom to do whatever you want to do. So I was just looking, I was like, I don't, I don't enjoy working 10, 12 hours a day. So how can I take a step back and not do this? So it's like, slowly started transition is like, okay, I've 10 days, but my emails are way behind. And it's like managing these days, and it's like training them and it was just like, Oh, this sucks. I didn't like that at all. 

So it was like, I found this company that has new customer support. And they have they're like an agency. So they have one guy that already has like KPI set, and monitors and manages his employees, like, boom, let's do that. And then in one day, I fired seven people. It was like, it was a tough day, dude, it was really tough. And then I say it lightly. Pardon me?

Omar

I said it always sucks when you got to fire people. I know that feeling.

Jake Thoen

Yeah, it really does. I say it lightly, but it was... Yeah, it was definitely... It was definitely tough, but and then it was like, Okay, what else am I doing? And like, how can I How can I continue to scale my business? Because like, I was kind of kept with Facebook. So I was like, Okay, let's let's delegate Facebook, because I was going to Whistler. 

Whistler is like a mountain locally. We're doing like weekend trips there and having fun and doing this stuff. But it was like, we'd go have a bunch of drinks. And then I would come back at about 1am, I'd be doing ads. So it was like, “Okay I don’t want to be doing this anymore.” 

I was like, “Hey, how can I remove myself from this task?” I was like, okay, got someone who was reputable to start running it transition to them. And it was just, it was just taking like that feedback. And that, that reflection, it's like looking at your tasks, and how can you not do them? 

Jonathan actually told me it was, it was this mindset switch where it was like: I think of three things, like tasks on my ways, like, one, how can I one eliminate it? How can I, two,  delegate it, or how can I, three, automate it? 

Omar

Right.

Jake Thoen

So I just, I just started looking at the business as a system opposed to this thing that I had to run. So yeah, I just started creating more SLPs employees. Like Mike, because I fired seven but I had three that were just kind of doing odd jobs. 

And then started hiring agencies and then started doing like hire agencies to scale than agencies to like, take over my house. And I got to the point where in like mid February, I wasn't really doing a whole lot like it was it was sweet. So I was making a ton of money. And I didn't have to do a lot I could just focus on like building the business and expanding.

Omar 

So how many hours a week are you working now? 

Jake Thoen

So now I actually ran into another Facebook issue that I didn't bring up. So Sunday, Facebook's like going nuts.

Omar 

Audience glitch?

Jake Thoen

Feedback score, which blew my mind because we got great feedback. So the feedback score just dipped below. It was really weird, man, I think something fishy is going on. So I have - I'm getting US custom, US fulfillment now. Better customer support now like seven days a week. 

And I have a more lenient refund policy to like just for customer’s benefits. And I've been improving the business constantly. Because like my, my main goal now is like okay, yeah, sure the business is good, but let's make sure every customer leaves happy. 

And then all of a sudden my feedback score went below this threshold, Facebook just banned me. Like what? So, I have, like, a review tomorrow that is going to happen and I should get it back. But it's just like Facebook's just on some bugs right now I think, personally. 

I was talking to this guy in Miami, actually. And he has a brand that he's had for three years. And he's just crushing it. And he's doing like high seven figures - oh sorry, high six figures a month. And he was like, “Dude, is your feedback score dropping too? Because mine is out of nowhere.” He’s had a brand for three years is like oh my god. So, yeah.

Omar

Make sense. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar

So even when you’re fire you still gotta fight high at his point. 

Jake Thoen

Definitely. Yeah, dude. Then it's like I'm reading lots of stuff like huge billion dollar brands are moving away from Facebook because like, it's just, they're just frickin’... No, you can't talk to anyone, man. It's like I'm spending high six to seven figures a month and I can't even get a hold of someone. 

Omar

It’s interesting for you to bring that up. I spoke to somebody about that just yesterday about going away from Facebook ads going more towards YouTube. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah. So the nice thing is, this like while I started to delegate, I was starting to expand, like how I was scaling. So like, we have someone doing Tick Tock ads for us YouTube ads, Google ads, and then I'm just Like this week focusing on Pinterest ads. So... and then we have email like email marketing too. 

Omar

Have you seen any of them hit better or hit it pretty well so far?

Jake Theon

Yeah. So the Pinterest ads are getting like a high, mid to high three, return on adspend, which is good. Google Ads is getting like 10 which is awesome. And then YouTube is like, kind of a little bit profitable. 

Omar

You froze there for a second. 

Jake Theon

No worries. I'm on this deck because I have to do a three day quarantine. 

Omar

Yeah, where are you by the way, you're in a hotel, huh? Yeah, dude. 

Jake Theon

I mean, we got this crazy view here.

Omar

Very nice.

Jake Theon

Yeah, man. So yeah, I just got to do a little three day. 

Omar

Quick Canadian stuff, huh? 

Jake Theon

Yeah.

Omar

I hear in Mexico, you don't have to quarantine it all right now, which is kind of cool. 

Jake Theon

Did you have to do anything when you flew back home? 

Omar

Nah, I mean, but I'm in the States. So you don't have anything to say right now. But I missed, I missed where you said. Your feedback score went down and you just had to fight this fire? That, does that mean? You have to see what's working unban your ad account for Facebook? 

Jake Theon

Yeah, so I don't know if we're on a time limit. But I can quickly explain like what I think's happening. But so I'm like, as I'm systematically improving my business, like getting faster shipping times, all this stuff, like my feedback score was going up, which was awesome. 

It was like okay, perfect. Things are working. And all of a sudden, like it just started dropping. And then right after like, I got banned from Facebook, which was on Sunday. Watch people are gonna comment through like “you're full of shit”. Like, literally they after I got a cease and desist on Shopify, from some random fake name.

Omar

The fuck. That's really...

Jake Theon

And it was linked to my content that I took and own!

Omar 

So someone else stole your content, and then maybe sent you a cease and desist for using your content?

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar

How messed up is that man? 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, dude. Yeah, so I think maybe, like, someone has some hate on my account is trying to sabotage me. But who knows, man. You can never tell…

Omar

The psychological -

Jake Thoen

Yeah, the timing. The timing was just hilarious. Because it's like, okay, like the day after my Facebook, my ads go down, which they didn't even like didn't even make sense why they went down. I get a cease and desist on Shopify, linked to my content. Didn't make any sense, that. So, yeah.

Omar

Well, okay. Well, let's let's move on from that. Like, what's your plan for the future with this stuff? Like, do you want to continue doing dropshipping for a while? You can create a -

Jake Thoen

Yeah.

Omar

What's gonna happen? 

Jake Thoen

So as... as of now, it's like, I don't know, I enjoy running a brand. But I just like dealing with Facebook's a pain in the ass. So I don't know if I want to be dropshipping forever. I want to build this course just so I can help people and like, can take them out of, like, a financially tough position.

Omar

Tell people about that. What is it exactly? That course.

Jake Thoen

So it's going to be like this A to Z kind of what we went over it but like really diving deep with video trainings on like, “Okay, how do I film the video?”, what's the structure and it's like walking everyone from A to Z of like, not just how to start a dropshipping brand, but like how to build a brand, and then scale it and have this omnipresence on social media, and then take yourself away from it so you don't have to do any work. 

So it's like taking people all the way through the process. And then like, I've talked to some of the agencies I'm working with, and they're gonna be in on it too. So it's like once you hit this milestone, delegate to this agency, free up your time. Once you hit this milestone delegate here. 

So it's like it's just gonna be holding someone's hand and walking them -

Omar

A full blueprint, 

Jake Thoen

Full blueprint.

Omar

Then what do you think you'll have it done? 

Jake Thoen

So I have like this big mind map that I've created and it's like 100 videos so far that I got to do so I think I'm gonna start filming once I'm home I gotta get like the right setup and stuff and then so probably end of  the week I'll start it and then my goal is end of summer to have it done.

Omar  

Shoot me the link I'll put it in this podcast episode’s for anyone that's linking it. 

Jake Thoen

Dude, yeah. Absolutely, man.

Omar

To my audience, Jake is a real deal. I met up with him in person. I'm telling you he definitely knows his shit. So if you know if you're starting dropshipping, be sure to check this course out, alright?

Jake Thoen

Thanks, man. 

Omar

Cool. So let's wrap this podcast up. I got a - I got a final line here. But before I ask this final question. There was one thing that I wanted to ask you specifically with Shopify, Right? I remember when I first started dropshipping. And I think a lot of people that maybe are in the dropshipping model can relate to this as well.

In that initial stage, there's so many apps on Shopify, right? There's like counters and all this stuff. Like I was overwhelmed and knowing me, I was a perfectionist when I first started right?

And then with my perfectionism came like, “Oh, I need like, it's 12 of these apps. I'm going to spend about 100 bucks a month on these apps and I think I should be good to go and these will do it for me.” Like when you first start to like And you're scaling your store and so far, like throughout the journey, what apps do you think are necessary?

Jake Thoen

Right? That's a really good question. So how I kind of how I kind of operate with everything is I really like to keep things as simple as possible, and then slowly build them. So as for the apps, when I'm testing, I literally use two apps. 

It's a review app, which is Loox Review, which there literally could be a better one. It's just a review app. And I'm not making fake reviews, I'm taking reviews of the product that already exists. So I mean, that's kind of a gray area, but it's like, people on Amazon literally are selling the exact same product that they got from China. So if somebody reviewed that product, you can't really but I kind of do. And then, so I use a review app, and then I use Oberlo, which -

Omar

I'm hoping Facebook isn't listening to this free review so...

Jake Thoen

Yeah. But that's really early, early on. 

Omar

You use Oberlo still, even at a high level? Or is that just to test products?

Jake Thoen

That’s just…  So, I just use overload to get the link and the variance to the website, because it just links them. And then I just have a, like a private supplier in China. So for people that are starting out, I would just recommend using the Zendrop, because it's like pretty much the system, I have it all together. 

So for like, getting the product to your site, Zendrop and then a review app, depending on what you're comfortable with. But I don't recommend writing fake reviews. And then that's it, dude. That's it just two -  product like focus on the three: product, good product with a good selling point or sorry, a selling price, good coffee and good video.

Omar

Okay, cool. What about as you start growing, I heard something that you should reach out to the Chinese suppliers on the site and see like trying to work out some deals or something like that?

Jake Thoen

Yeah. So if you -  if you decide to work with Zendrop, this is kind of like a done-for-you. They have their own. It was actually this guy named Jared Getz and he was like this big droshipper. So he made, he blinked with this warehouse in China. So they do that all for you. So I would recommend doing that. It's just a little bit easier. 

But if you decide to go that alley, Express Route, definitely just reach out to the supplier for better deals and like, see if you can do - if they have like this fulfillment system that's automated for you, because a lot of them will install an app that's theirs onto your site. And then they just auto fulfill for you every day, which is really nice. 

And then as you scale like there's things. What do you have like and Simplify Upsell’s a good one, just up sells a product? After but it's like, like I said, just if you find the product that works, that's all it matters, then worry about this. What else… After Ship, that's just a tracking that is like a page on your website that when people click on it, they can track their order. And it's nice and branded.

Omar

What about those like, counters and clock down timers and things like that? 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, I have one. It's through this app called vitals. And it's like a 40 in one app. And you can put like a timer on…. I think I have a timer on mine to be honest. And then I have like an Add to Cart button that's like Wiggles. That's pretty much it. And other than that man, it’s just - 

Omar

They’re not like they're not they're not vital, you would say? 

Jake Thoen

No, not vital. The vital part, like, you could - you could make in my eyes, I think you do seven figures just with a good product, good video, good product page. 

Omar

Interesting. And that's it. Those and then those things come into just like small like half a percent 1% incremental. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, yeah. Like there's this app called Social Snowball. And this actually a guy in Miami, we met up with them and the app is really cool. So what it does is everyone who buys it, it turns them into an affiliate. 

So if you buy for me at the - at the thank you page, if there's like a pop up or whatever it says, hey, you've been picked to become an affiliate for this brand. Here's how you create an account. And then it gives them an affiliate code that they can earn commission on and save their friends and family discount.

Omar

That's super cool, man. It's super easy to set up too, it seems like.

Jake Thoen

Yeah, that's super cool, too. Seems like yeah, so I mean, these are things you do at scale. Yeah, it's super easy. But as you scale you start to - you start to get feedback from customers, what they want and then you kind of implement it. 

Omar

Hmm, damn. I feel like we just totally got a full on like 90 day course on dropshipping. 

Jake Thoen

Yeah, this is like the structure of my course guide is. Oh, I'm happy to share it. 

Omar

Super, super valuable, man. Definitely check out Jake, where can people find you? 

Jake Thoen

I don't really have any like e-commerce stuff online that is, like teaching or anything but my Instagram is just Jake Thoen T-H-O-E-N. 

Omar

Jake Thoan, got it. Right. Now your final question, right? And this is a question that I asked every single person that comes on my podcast. And I think you're the first dropshipper that I've had on my podcast. It should be interesting what you say. But at the end of the day, it's a humanistic question.

Jake Thoen

Okay, nervous. 

Omar

If you had a billboard in space, and every single person on planet Earth could see that Billboard. Every time the sun rose, it was in some universal language. You could write a few things on it, whatever you wanted, and everyone on planet Earth could read it. And then when the sun set it went away. What would you write?

Jake Thoen

That's a good question. I would write...Dude, I probably write some cheesy like…how can I word this? You're in control of your dreams. Maybe something like that, where it's like, it's up to you to make something long that doesn't sound as cheesy, but it'd be like, the only person who cares. This is what I'd say the only person that could change your future is you.

Omar

Why would you write that?

Jake Thoen

Because like, that's, that's truly what I believe in man. Like, how I go about my life is I just like, create these big goals, and then break them down into like, a really micro level. And then just go after it. And I just, it just happens. It's weird, dude, I can't explain it. 

But it's just like, I literally feel like I control my future by writing them down. Like as humans were meant to achieve goals. Right? So it's like, why not set them? 

Omar

Yeah, and I think we live in a day and age where, really, anything's possible. 

Jake Thoen

Anything's possible, and people get so consumed in the now, right? Yeah, it's just like, I don't know, like the amount of people I've talked to who actually haven't taken the time to, like, sit down and figure out what they really want is absurd. 

It's insane. It's just like, take the time, what do you actually want? And then like, figure out how can you get it? And then just take this -  take the actual steps to get there?

Omar  

I mean, you've made it now. Right? You have. But by no means are you - are you poor? Like you have enough money to do whatever the hell you want now in life, where are you going to go with that? You know, what's, what's your next step? I mean, you - I'm sure the person that you envisioned a few months ago, or even a few years ago, you're there now, where would you go?

Jake Thoen

Yeah, it's funny, man. Because when you set these goals, I don't think you realize the person that actually achieves those goals is a different person than who you are today. So like the person... I have transitioned so much, man, that's like, like, obviously, I wanted money. But I was like, from an early age, I realized, like, I would look at these people that had money that were depressed and unhappy. And I was like, Why is everyone saying that money isn't happiness?

Like, well, that doesn't make any sense. I got one that so bad, so I can afford these things. So for me, it's like, it's always been fulfillment, like what is fulfilling after money? Because there's a certain point and I can see it and other people that money just isn't fulfilling anymore. 

So for me, it's always been about, like, how can I give back and take people out of a tough position? So I mean, there'll be charities in the future and donations and stuff like that. But as of now, it's going to be through what I've learned dropshipping and like, how people can like, build this brand, and change. Hopefully change their lives. 

Omar 

Super noble cause man, I love that. 

Jake Thoen

Thanks, man. Appreciate it. 

Omar

Thanks so much for coming on today. Jake Thoen. It was a pleasure. 

Jake Thoen

Oh, dude. Thank you so much for having me, man. I appreciate you. Absolutely.

What a great episode with Jake. Remember y'all, your dreams are just within your reach. Money will never again be an issue for Jake and he's just a regular guy like you and I. What's there to say you can't do it too?