IG + Shopify Journy. Need Guidence!

Hello guys,

I started a Shopify + Instagram business about a month ago with a friend. The reason I started it with him rather than alone is that we are both really busy. I'm in my senior year of an Aerospace Engineering program and he is starting Medical school in about a year.

We grew our Insta page to about 10k before we launched out Shopify site. One Sale on Launch day and other 2 days later.

It's been two weeks since we launched and we only have two sales.

That's my first problem and this is how I plan on fixing it.
1. Buy shoutout/promotions from influencers.
2. Start other insta pages and run bots on them also.

Now that is problem number one. Issue number two is that my friend is putting in very little work. I have a background with SEO so I do most of that as well as update the site because of my small coding experience.

His job is simply to post on all social media platforms twice a day (insta, twitter, Pinterest, etc.).

Even that he is having issues with. I know he is really busy because he is leaving tomorrow to study abroad for the next two months but I feel like posting on social media takes maximum a half hour every day. We have bots running so all he really needs to do is post and our followers will grow.

Also, we are supposed to split expenses 50/50. I usually pay for stuff because I tutor on the side right now so I have some money in my account. He tells me just to take the money he owes me from the sales we are making. But like right now we are not making many sales so these Instagram shoutouts are going to put me in the hole.

I'm kind of regretting starting this business with him. I know that once he starts medical school he won't be getting anything done for our business. By the time he starts medical school, I would have finished university and this business will be one of my priorities.


Here is what I need from you guys.
1. What else can I do to get more sales on my site other than insta promotions, SEO, and starting other insta pages. (Keep in mind we cannot do paid advertising because our niche is banned on FB and google adwords)?

2. What to do about my partner/best friend. I know that once he starts Medical school he will not be doing anything for our company?

Please Help! Any advice will be greatly appreciated and I will continue to update you guys about the moves I take.

Thanks!
Matt

in what niche is your shop and do you only dropship or actually ordering items with custom logo in bulk? Ty

Keep doing what you're doing, tell your friend that you're not going to be doing it anymore and keep doing it anyways. Doesn't sound like he cares much anyways.

the best way for me to start on Shopify is to invest on Facebook ads

He probably isn't even that motivated abt it the same as you and that sucks. Learn from this and move on, next time you should be very picky when it comes to business partners. Tell him straightforward that you think he isn't putting in as much works as you do and isn't motivated enough, he would probably leave you to it.

if your goal is dropshipping or anything selling products with shopify, without being able to do paid facebook ads there really is no way to scale what you are doing. At least not without constant work.
The whole goal of using instagram is to get a product tested and solidified that it will indeed make sales as well as to season your fb pixel by getting your target audience's demographics, interest, age, location etc.. so that you can retarget the ones who visit and leave and as well as use your seasoned pixel to create look alike audiences and then scale into those hard.
Without look alike audiences you have nothing other than constantly paying for shoutouts and hoping for the best. Which can work if product price is high and you don't mind constantly doing the work.

Read up on this website: https://startupbros.com/

I had the same exact problem (partner/best friend) few years ago.

He had to post on social media and monitor how the pages are doing and I had to manage the SEO.

I was literally working my a** off everyday and learning here and there, and sending him some articles and courses etc..

And he was like once per week check the pages and do a useless report on Excel how each page increased or decreased by even one like.

And he always says yeah I read those articles and when I discuss anything about it with him he looks like he even skipped the title.

I was paying for the tools too. As he had no money, and I was broke too but had a little money in the bank.

4 Weeks later, I was so honest with him.. I told him I'm gonna be working on SEO only next period so I don't need the social media anymore, If you want to start one with your own then go for it.

The good thing is our friendship didn't effected at all! We're friends till the moment, I'm a full time IM and he is a full time Engineer, I'm happy, he is happy and everything is good .

Offer him 20% and let him do the same work 1) he accepts 2) he will leave by himself or 3) if he won't leave - offer him his investments ($) to close this nice.

Start your own and outsource his part of the work.

lifehero said:

if your goal is dropshipping or anything selling products with shopify, without being able to do paid facebook ads there really is no way to scale what you are doing. At least not without constant work.
The whole goal of using instagram is to get a product tested and solidified that it will indeed make sales as well as to season your fb pixel by getting your target audience's demographics, interest, age, location etc.. so that you can retarget the ones who visit and leave and as well as use your seasoned pixel to create look alike audiences and then scale into those hard.
Without look alike audiences you have nothing other than constantly paying for shoutouts and hoping for the best. Which can work if product price is high and you don't mind constantly doing the work.

Click to expand...

Interesting point. My long-term plan was to rank my site on googe and also place ads on other niche related sites to drive traffic. Do you think this is a viable plan without Facebook ads and google adwords?

My partner is leaving for Europe today, I am actually about to drive him to the airport in about 15 minutes. I know while he is gone he will be doing 0 work. I'm going to do all the work while he is gone and when he gets back, I'm going to have the tough conversation with him.


Thanks for all your help on that point.

The thing I'm still interested about is scaling my businesses. Is SEO and placing banner ads on niche related websites enough to scale or is Facebook and Google Ads the only way to go. (reminder I can't advertise there, my products are smoke related).

prdonek44 said:

in what niche is your shop and do you only dropship or actually ordering items with custom logo in bulk? Ty

Click to expand...

My niche is smoking-related so can't advertise on all the big advertising platforms. I'm dropshipping the products now but I want to eventually brand once I build up the client base.

You could try selling products through dm's

SeoProMatt said:

Interesting point. My long-term plan was to rank my site on googe and also place ads on other niche related sites to drive traffic. Do you think this is a viable plan without Facebook ads and google adwords?

Click to expand...

yes it is. i tried ranking for a king queen hoodies and horoscope bracelets several months ago but didnt know shit about SEO. Just make sure the product is evergreen and you dont mind filling orders or hiring a VA to do it. and it will take time.

i think the best promotion is on Facebook, but as you said you're banned on FB.

lifehero said:

yes it is. i tried ranking for a king queen hoodies and horoscope bracelets several months ago but didnt know shit about SEO. Just make sure the product is evergreen and you dont mind filling orders or hiring a VA to do it. and it will take time.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Honestly, my SEO is not Great but I'm learning.

Guys, I'm thinking of starting on the different insta + Shopify journey. The smoking niche is good but not being able to advertise on Facebook/Google is killing me, what do you guys think? Keep at it, or move on to another niche?

SeoProMatt said:

Guys, I'm thinking of starting on the different insta + Shopify journey. The smoking niche is good but not being able to advertise on Facebook/Google is killing me, what do you guys think? Keep at it, or move on to another niche?

Click to expand...

I would say choose a niche that you love and where you have more knowledge

SeoProMatt said:

Guys, I'm thinking of starting on the different insta + Shopify journey. The smoking niche is good but not being able to advertise on Facebook/Google is killing me, what do you guys think? Keep at it, or move on to another niche?

Click to expand...

If you're thinking about it just do it. No point in working a niche you don't see a future in.