Last week, I launched MANEAST, an online store for modern man. What’s interesting is not the business, for it’s been done by millions of others, but the background of the business.

I created MANEAST not for money. There are 2 goals of the business : to learn about the fashion dropshipping industry, and to add a new website for my portfolio. The good news is, not only I achieved both goals, I also managed to land a web design client because of it.

Here are some things I can share about launching this business.

1. There are millions of product to sell, if you want to.

A lot of people complained that they don’t have any product to sell, and that’s why they didn’t start the business. I can tell that it’s really wrong. If you look at the marketplace, there are millions, if not billions, of products for you to sell. Some even offers dropshipping features to make it easier for you.

2. High price equals high quality? True, but not always.

It’s true that most of the cheap products on the market offers lower quality than the more expensive one, but that’s not always the case. I’ve bought about 25 cheap items from the marketplace only to know whether the product is good enough to be resold, and I can say 20% of them are worth far more than their price. And those 20% are the only ones I sell.

3. Advertising is not as easy as motivators told you.

One of the triggers for me to launch MANEAST is to test my advertising skills. Motivators says that Instagram and Facebook ads are really powerful, and it’s true. But the skills required are high too, and the experiment cost is not cheap.

I’ve experimented with different kinds of ads. Some are successful, and some aren’t. One thing I can tell is :

4. Your UVP (Unique Value Proposition) needs to be clear.

Your UVP needs to be clear before you begin spending cash on ads. Make sure you know what your product is good at, and let the world know in your ads.

In MANEAST, my value proposition is cheap products, so it’s important to put my price in the ads. If your value proposition is quality, put the details of your fabric in the ads.

5. Learn by doing is ALWAYS the best method to learn.

There are tons of other lessons I learned in creating MANEAST, from product photoshoot, becoming a model – no matter how unproportioned I am, picking the right products, and of course, market research.

Something else I learned is that all the lessons people talked about are not applicable to all businesses, and experiment is the best way to know what’s best for yours.

Conclusion

So that’s my MANEAST story. If there is anything you want to ask, just let me know and let’s have a conversation.