Are you interested in dropshipping, but are you wondering if these dropshipping "gurus" are telling the truth to you? Well, let me tell you this; you're not alone! A lot of people are wondering if these guys are even worth watching, but don't worry anymore. In this article, you will learn six things that they prefer not to tell you!
Quick warning: Once you read this article, you will look different at all these online people. Trust me; you will suddenly look at things that you didn't look at before!
Before you read this article
It's important to know that not all online paid courses are a scam.
The main thing that I want to bring over with this article is to take a look at how they are selling their course. (And, of course, sharing that some things can be faked)
For example, are they telling you that dropshipping will be easy if you buy their course? Do they promise you a certain income?
If so, it might be better to stay away from them. (You will learn more about this below)
But don't forget that there are many more online courses that you can use to upgrade your skills.
Think about a paid marketing course or a paid video editing course, where you can see that the creator is legit and not just trying to get your money.
Plus, it’s great if you want a course, and they got a refund policy, then you can be 100% sure that they are not scamming you (because you can check it out yourself).
If we're on one page now, then let's dive in:
Why Do Dropshipping and not these dropshipping gurus?
Let's start with this one first. Why this blog and not these dropshipping "gurus" that you see everywhere?
Simple! Everything here is free.
We don't sell anything, nor do we promote a single dropshipping course.
This blog is focused on providing all the information necessary to create a dropshipping store.
Our goal with Do Dropshipping is to put these “gurus” out of business by giving everyone access to the information that they need to start their own dropshipping business today. While correctly explaining that it’s a real business that they are starting.
No more paid dropshipping courses!
It doesn’t matter if you’re a complete beginner or if you already know a thing or two. You will surely learn something new here on Do Dropshipping. You can read more here on our about page.
6 Things That Dropshipping Gurus Don't Tell to Dropshipping Beginners
Alright, now you know a bit more about my blog. Let's begin with the things that these "gurus" don't tell you when you're just beginning with dropshipping.
I hope you enjoy reading!
1. There is a chance that this isn't my fancy house and car
Alright, I think you know already what I mean with this, but just to be sure, in most of these videos of these "gurus" you will find a fancy car, house, or maybe a tropical destination (or all three).
I want to start this one lightly. Please watch this short sarcastic video of Coffezilla about these "gurus":
Alright, let's start. I will not open an attack on one individual dropshipping "guru", but if you do want to see the "dirt", then I suggest following BallerBusters on Instagram. They got a lot of dirt on a lot of these online "gurus"!
Here is a typical "Look at my house and car" video:
Of course, they won't always make these obvious kinds of videos, but you will surely see them flashing in their quick intro at the beginning of their video. They will make sure that you know exactly how "rich" they are.
You might be thinking now, but Richard, these cars, houses, and fancy holidays all look great! I want them as well.
Yes, I totally understand; trust me.
But following a person online just because they flash you all these expensive items or experiences isn't the best way to start a business. (More on why that is below)
But why are these people flashing with all these expensive things then?
Well... Honestly?
Obviously, I'm not 100% sure because I'm not one of these dropshipping "gurus", but my number one guess is this:
They sell you the idea of getting rich, so they can get rich with the money that you spend thinking that you can get rich.
Get it?
But if you don't want to take my words for it, then maybe this quote from Michigan's Department of Attorney General helps:
Most companies offering to teach you how to become a successful drop shipper are making their money selling you and others their training programs.
Michigan's Department of Attorney General
Are they faking their fancy cars and houses?
I won’t talk about this one yet because I'm not sure who owns what and who doesn't, but you should know these things:
- It is possible to lease a car. You don't have to own it. They could even ask for a test drive for a car and then film their video in the meantime...
- The fancy house could be rent as well. They don't need to own the house they could just rent it a few days or weeks. Or worse, they could use someone else's property without their consent. Take, for example, the famous Lil Tay (which you have probably heard of, and if not, call your self lucky!)
2. Dropshipping is easy? Why do I keep saying that... It's a real business!
This is a fun one as well. Most "gurus" refer to dropshipping as 'an easy way to make money' or 'get rich the next week'.
Everything in these videos is referred to as simple, easy, and you can do it without any experience. Let's put it like this:
I'm 99% sure that every video that has a '$' symbol in their video title or thumbnail has a course or coaching program in their video description.
You can go through my articles here on Do Dropshipping, and I'm sure that you won't find money symbols in any of the titles. The only expectation is the beginner stories, which got the amount in the title were he started with when he opened his dropshipping store.
The thing that most of these "gurus" don't tell you is:
It isn't all rainbows and gold pooping unicorns
Look, dropshipping isn't some magic way to earn thousands of dollars online. Dropshipping is just a business model that helps companies with testing out a product without purchasing thousands of them in bulk.
With dropshipping, you can sell a product one by one without needing to go to a bulk supplier and ordering in huge quantities. This is great if you're not sure yet if your product is going to sell or not. You don't risk sitting with leftovers of your products if you find out that nobody wants to purchase your product.
Starting a dropshipping store is the same as any other ecommerce store. It requires you to learn different things (or you hire people for it) like digital marketing, design, copywriting, and so on.
But the thing that you need to understand now is that starting a dropshipping store is like starting any other ecommerce store; it is a real business!
It isn't a gold pooping unicorn, as I said above. You will need to spend time creating an awesome experience for your store visitors.
Do not go into drop-shipping thinking you will get rich quick. There is a lot of competition and smaller businesses have to cut their profits to stay competitive.
Michigan's Department of Attorney General
If you're interested in learning more about this and learning five ways that you need to keep in mind when opening your dropshipping store, then I suggest reading my other article here.
3. The reviews that I get for my dropshipping courses are honest and not at all based on my affiliate program
Let's move to another fun one.
I hear you thinking: "But Richard, look at all these online 5-star reviews. It looks so promising."
Let me tell you a little secret. It's called 'Affiliate Marketing'.
This means that these websites that are promoting these courses will get a commission when someone purchases something (in this case, these dropshipping courses) through their link.
This on itself isn't a scam or anything (I got affiliate links here on this blog as well, for example, for Shopify), but this means that they could be biased while reviewing the course.
Like what would you do if you got one of these review sites, and you review a course which is $1000, and you will get 50% of it ($500)?
Will you try to make it sound a bit better so people are more likely to purchase the course through your link?
Here is an example of how one of these "top dropshipping courses" articles look like:
I'm not sure how much commission they get, but even if they get just 10%, then that's still $300-$500 per signup (according to the price that they mentioned above in the screenshot).
4. So if I press this, then I can fake my income screenshots? Awesome...
Yes, you read that right. Not all income screenshots are trustworthy.
There are many fake gurus out there who post photoshopped screenshots and fake sales.
This way, they try to make you believe that dropshipping is super profitable and that they got rich off it. (And you can do the same if you purchase their course)
Also, a screenshot of sales of let’s say $50,000 a month may be real, but that’s not all profit either.
They might be spending $40,000 on advertisement and product costs.
So their profit margin is around $10,000 a month, which is still not bad for not holding any inventory, but a lot less than the $50,000 profits that they showed off with.
If you want more information about these fake income screenshots, I suggest checking out this article. And you can check out this article here!
5. Wait, so I sell a course with everything I know, but you can find all the information on the internet for free?
Interesting title? Well, that's because it's unfortunately true!
Most of the information that is provided in these paid dropshipping courses is recycled "crap" that is either taken from another course or from any other source on the internet (like blogs or YouTube videos).
They lure you in with the things that I covered above (their fancy cars, saying dropshipping is easy, promoting dropshipping as a get rich quick strategy, their (un)biased reviews, and some even do it with fake income screenshots).
Purchasing a dropshipping course is like purchasing a second-hand book with a 10x markup (meaning: it is sold at 10 times the original price).
I understand that you're skeptical now and that you don't believe me a full 100% that you can learn dropshipping for free, but I'm sure you will fully believe me soon because I will cover at the end of this article exactly how you can do it! (You can click here to scroll down)
Plus, you can read my other article, Are Paid Dropshipping Courses Worth the Money in 2024? to learn more about why these "gurus" are selling courses.
6. Learning from mistakes? No way, just purchase my course...
One last thing that these dropshipping "gurus" forgot to mention is that you NEED to make mistakes.
Take as an example this blog. You don't know half how many mistakes I made while creating this blog. From choosing the wrong hosting company to not "collecting" email addresses from the beginning already (to get people to return to your website).
You will need to learn so many new things like how the dropshipping business model works, creating ads, ecommerce in general, and so on.
And you will probably make a lot of mistakes while learning more, which will probably cost you money.
But that’s great! It’s great to make mistakes, and if you don't take it from me, then take it from this amazing quote:
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.
Neil Gaiman
If you're interested in learning more about this and learning how to learn, then I suggest reading this here.
Ready to start learning dropshipping for free without the help of a dropshipping guru?
First of all, congratulations that you made it this far! I'm sorry for the rant, but I still hope you enjoyed reading it (and that you learned something).
Anyway, are you convinced now that you don't need these dropshipping "gurus" to learn more about dropshipping? And are you wondering now how to learn dropshipping for free?
Awesome!
I got some great guides for you where you can learn dropshipping, and a lot of other things like marketing for free!
Just take a look at these articles:
- Top 10 Dropshipping & Ecommerce Blogs
- The 16 Best Free Ecommerce Courses for Entrepreneurs
- The 17 Best Free Dropshipping Courses
- How to Start Dropshipping for Free in 2024? (5 Unusual Tips)
You can get so much information from that already, and you didn’t have to pay for anything.
Well, okay, maybe your internet connection!
Also, if you’re completely new to dropshipping and you're not sure what it is, then I suggest reading this article:
And if you already know what dropshipping is, then I suggest you begin with one of the articles below:
- 23 Most Successful Shopify Dropshipping Store Examples | Inspiration
- Shopify Dropshipping: A 20-Step Guide to Starting Your Store
- AliExpress Dropshipping: A 20-Step Getting Started Guide (2024)
Reading these articles will surely help you to get started and to stay motivated while beginning and continuing your dropshipping journey!
Just don’t forget that success takes time. Keep improving each and every day!
And also, if you want to get started with Shopify, then you can click here to get a free 3-day trial + pay $1/month for the first 3 months!
Dropshipping Gurus: Conclusion
So there you have it!
Everything you need to know that these dropshipping "gurus" are not telling you.
I hope you understand now that there is a lot of information for free on the internet and that you don't need some self-claimed online "guru" that teaches you their "special blueprint for success"...
If you have any suggestions for this article or if you got any questions about dropshipping in general, then let me know by commenting below or contacting me directly by pressing the “Contact Us” button at the top!
Also, let me know if you got any experience with these dropshipping "gurus".
I wish you the best with your dropshipping journey. I'm sure that you can do it!
16 Comments
Thank you for the great information! I have come around to your blog for quality information that I find extremely helpful. Thank you.
Hi Kevin,
Thank you so much for your great comment! I wish you the best with everything 😊
– Richard
Hi, Thanks very much for sharing information on Drop shipping. However, I’m not totally in agreement that all guru’s are out there to rip you off your money! Many share their journey and knowledge via a paid course and a lot of that content is also shared freely via their YouTube channel, however taking a course saves you time from searching for various free content to learn from and puts everything into perspective, order and sequence. You created this blog to share your knowledge and findings and obviously, you too monetize via affiliating and paid ads by other companies who’d like to advertise their products and services in your blog. Likewise, the guru’s are doing something similar, they share their knowledge via a course and make money. Nevertheless, I’d still read your blogs and thanks for putting it together and sharing your knowledge.
Hi Ray,
Thank you for your comment! I understand what you mean; I see that I forgot to add the same text as the other article here. (I will make sure to update this article to avoid more confusion)
I mentioned this there:
“I will leave a quick note here for you, there are YouTubers out there who are legit, but there are just so many bad ones that I just had to write this article.
The same goes for these courses. There are great paid courses available online.
Think about a paid marketing course or a paid video editing course, where you can see that the creator is legit and not just trying to get your money.
Plus, it’s great if you want a course, and they got a refund policy, then you can be 100% sure that they are not scamming you (because you can check it out yourself).”
The main thing that I want to bring over with this article is to take a look at how they are selling their course. (And, of course, sharing that some things can be faked)
For example, are they telling you that dropshipping will be easy if you buy their course? Do they promise you a certain income?
I’m curious to hear what you think, and thank you again for your comment!
– Richard
I’m 60 years and looking at possibly starting Dropshipping I have no clue how it’s done but willing to learn not much money but still willing to go ahead. Concerning the guru article I learned at one point and observed that they All have or say the same word over and over and that’s ( THE SECRETS)of Dropshipping. If it’s a secret why are they trying to capitalize on it. I find that the word secret is a dead giveaway most of the time that there only interested in your money not your success. This is soly my personnel opinion. By the way I have been reading Shopify Dropshipping lessons to see if I can do it.
Thanks Richard
Hi Serge,
Thank you for your amazing comment! That’s a great point about the word ‘secret’ 😊
It’s funny indeed that you start noticing certain trends in, for example, titles or thumbnails after a while!
Good luck with everything, Serge!
– Richard
Today is Day 1 of my Dropshipping journey! I’m super grateful to have found you because I was really overwhelmed by all the education options. Free works for me! If you need new content you could document my journey. Just a thought! Thanks for your awesome site.
Hi Sarah,
Thank you for your amazing comment! That’s so great to hear 😊
And sure, I will reach out to you. Maybe we can do something! Good luck with everything!
– Richard
I just wanted to thank you for your article and all this information. I have been searching for info on how to start and keep Finding these “gurus”, sit thru their webinars only to find out they want thousands of dollars. Listen, when you’re desperate to start something online, or change your career, there’s a good chance you don’t have that kind of money just to learn about it, let alone an investment to start. And what a waste of time. I spent an hour and a half listening to dropship lifestyle.
I saw the cost and thought, there has to be more info out there and came across your blog. Thank you. I will be using your info as a starting point.
Hi Kelly,
Thank you for your amazing comment! It’s great to hear that you found our blog instead of signing up for any of those expensive courses 😊
Good luck with everything, and let us know if you ever have any questions!
– Richard
Thanks man I think you saved me some time and money ! Let me know where I can tip you when I make my first sales 😉
Hi Fen,
Thank you for your great comment 😊 Your comment is more than enough for a thank you! (But you can always leave a testimonial on our Wall of Love here)
Let us know if you ever have any questions, and good luck with everything!
– Richard
As I am reading this information ine thing I noticed SHOPIFY over and over and over, to me as a beginer SHOPIFY is rediculesly expensive are there other alternative that can be used with Aliexpress?
Hi Leo,
Thank you for your comment! That’s a great question; if Shopify is outside your budget right now, you can take a look at this list of the best ecommerce platforms for dropshipping.
Another option is taking a look at Sell The Trend Shops. (Here’s our review)
Let me know if that helps, and good luck with everything!
– Richard
Thanks for all the great articles. I must have read almost 100 over the last week!
I actually bought one of those expensive courses and while it’s definitely expensive, if you’ve got some spare cash it can save a lot of time, as well as being a great motivator knowing you can follow a fixed plan end-to-end. On the other hand, sifting the internet will yield a hundred different ways of doing things – many contradictory – which can lead to paralysis (I know I suffer from overload!).
But the main thing a set course provides is on-screen walkthroughs on exactly how to set up various platforms, campaigns and integrations, from end to end. I haven’t yet found anything of sufficient detail for free – though I haven’t made it that section this blog yet!
I did listen to about 300 podcasts of this “guru” first, really liked all the advice he gave for free, and clicked with his teaching style, so knew what I was getting into. Still, I probably would have thought twice if I’d found your blog first!
Hi Steve,
Thank you so much for your amazing comment! It’s great to hear that you would have thought twice before buying the course if you’d found our blog first 😊
Don’t forget to let us know if you ever have any questions, and good luck with everything!
– Richard