Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Chris Wane, Founder and CEO of Advanced Dropshipping Academy, located in Manchester, UK.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
The Advanced Dropshipping Academy teaches you everything you need to know to build a profitable business from home using our powerful Data Driven Dropshipping strategy. With easy-to-follow step-by-step videos, you will learn the exact methods to finding winning products from suppliers, how to build your brand & website, how to create your video ads, how to advertise with Facebook, and how to scale your marketing campaigns. The video guides are entirely beginner friendly and are perfect for someone just getting started in this industry. We've now taught thousands of people from over 160 different countries how to create a profitable dropshipping business from home and have millions of dollars in verified student sales.
Tell us about yourself
In 2014, I decided I didn't want to work in the corporate 9-5 world anymore. I didn't want to be stuck in a dead-end job until I retired at 65+, and I knew that if I wanted to break free from the 9-5 grind, I had to do something about it. I came across dropshipping and quickly realized its potential, so I decided to take a step into the unknown and give it a try. When I started my business, my only goal was to earn an extra £200 a month to help pay my bills and save up for a road trip across America. I saved up £250 initially to get started, and I built my first store around my full-time 9-5 job. I made many mistakes early on, and it took me almost three years to make it work through trial and error, but I kept pushing through, determined to succeed. When my first successful store hit £500,000 within a few months of launching it in 2017, it got the attention of Shopify & Oberlo. They could see the numbers that my business was generating because I used their platform, so they got in touch and asked me if I wanted to be a featured guest on their YouTube channel. They flew me to Berlin to meet the team and record that video for their YouTube channel, so I could talk about how I achieved what I did in such a short amount of time and share tips and advice for other people who want to get started. My story was even picked up by one of the biggest financial information websites in the world, Marketwatch.com, and I appeared on the homepage of Yahoo because of it. In the years since I first launched my business, I've quit my 9-5 job, I've built a team, we've optimized our strategies, and we've now gone on to generate millions of dollars online.
My motivation now is to grow my business even further and also diversify into other business models to create additional sources of passive income, so I never have to go back to the 9-5 again!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Personally, it would be the freedom that building my business has created for me. Don't get me wrong, the money's nice, but it's the freedom that I now have because of it that allows me to do what I want when I want. I would say being able to have that level of freedom now, when I originally had nothing, is my biggest accomplishment.
Outside of that, I would say the other accomplishment I'm proud of is being able to help so many other people break free from the 9-5 grind and follow in my footsteps. It's the best feeling ever when our clients hit their goals and you see that smile on their faces; it makes all the hard work worth it!
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Daily challenges. There's never a simple day when running a business; there are always things that fail and problems that you have to fix, it really is never-ending, but it's just part of the game. Being able to deal with that really comes down to your mindset and how you want to react to it. These days I don't even consider things as failures; when things go wrong, I just take it as another learning experience that helps me move the business forward.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Be committed.
- Don't give up.
- Make sacrifices.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://chriswane.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/553608785405181/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewane/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-wane-299687a7/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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