This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Shopify has seen tremendous growth in the past couple of years. It used to be that I would mention them along with maybe three or four other companies doing something similar. They are an e-commerce provider, allow you to get a website set up and sell something right away. And now it's kind of like the Coca-Cola of e-commerce providers or maybe Google is a better analogy in the sense that if you think about search engines, Google is a search engine, there are other search engines, but how many others could you really name, right? So Shopify has done a tremendous job of becoming a market leader, reaching lots of customers, but who are they a good fit for?
Who might they not be a good fit for? What do I think of them in general? That's what today's caller wants to know. So Shopify pros and cons in today's episode. [Music]
Hey Chris, this is Barry from Nashville and I've been following the show for the past couple of years and love this new format.
What do you think about Shopify? I've noticed a lot of people using Shopify for their business. It looks easy to east up, but do you have an opinion on it? What should I be aware of if I go that route for an e-commerce hustle? Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Awesome, thank you so much Barry. Glad you're enjoying the show. And yeah, let's talk about Shopify. Just the headline, too long, don't read, too long, don't listen. My opinion is that Shopify is great, actually.
We have a partner offer with them. If you go to Shopify.com/sidehustle, you can get a 21 day free trial, which is usually better than any public offer they have. So you can get an extra week of a free trial by using that link. But of course, if you prefer, you can just sign up directly at Shopify.com. And I am happy to recommend them because so many of our listeners have had a good experience with them.
I described them as an e-commerce solution provider, meaning that they offer a shopping cart, they offer their own payment processing, et cetera. But it's really more than just that. It can be your whole website, the front and back end, and they have a lot of neat plugins that you've probably encountered as a customer on various sites that use Shopify, whether you realize it or not. One of the most common ones that's now actually, I think it's almost becoming too common in the sense that it might not be as effective going forward because so many people are using it. But it was really neat when it first came out was this kind of discount wheel thing that showed up.
And so you would go to one of these sites that's using Shopify, and there'd be a little pop-up window that's like, hey, spin the wheel. And you'll get 10% off, or you'll get a certain dollar amount off, or there's some other promotion. So that's just one example of something they do that's really interesting and doesn't require a lot of expertise on your end to install and get set up, which is one of the best parts about using a service like Shopify because it's a visual interface that you can work with even if you're not a coder. Now, Shopify is particularly good at anything product-based, so not services as much as a product-based business that scales because it automatically keeps up with your inventory. So when I say product-based business that scales, I mean the kind of business that's not selling just one-off items, kind of business or side hustle that's selling something that people can purchase over and over.
For example, it could be clothing, collectibles, art prints, journals, yoga mats. These are just a few things that people we have featured on the show have used Shopify to sell. As for downsides, it is highly customizable, but perhaps not as customizable as just building directly on WordPress or another platform if you are a coder or want to go that route or if you're working with a particularly skilled programmer. And then also it's the monthly subscription. That's probably the main thing.
Like if you use a low-cost hosting plan, like our hosting partner, they cost $4 a month. So you can actually have your website for $4 or $5 a month. Shopify starts around $29 a month. And of course it goes up from there. They have different price tiers and packages and so on.
So that's just something to be aware of. But in terms of the service itself, nothing at all wrong with it. Many of our featured case studies have used it to great success, so I'm happy to recommend it. Again, our offer is at Shopify.com/sidehustle. Or of course you can just go directly to Shopify.com if you prefer.
Listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. Thanks so much. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
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- From the Onward Project.
