Starting a side hustle has never been easier than with dropshipping, the simplest way to get started in eCommerce. With no need to buy inventory upfront or handle shipping yourself, in dropshipping, you act as the middleman between the supplier and the customer, keeping costs low and risk minimal.
In this article, we’ll break down the steps for how to build a dropshipping side hustle. Plus, we’ll show you how you can optimize your business with tools like AutoDS so it doesn’t take up too much of your precious time. AutoDS streamlines the entire dropshipping process so you can focus on growing your business instead of getting overwhelmed by the details.
Dropshipping is a low-risk and flexible side hustle that allows you to start selling online without upfront inventory, making it easy to fit around your current schedule.
Learn how to choose a niche, find suppliers, set up your store, add products, market effectively, and scale your business.
All-in-one dropshipping tools like AutoDS handle and automate every step of your dropshipping process, freeing you to focus on growth.
Smart time management, realistic goals, reinvesting profits, and automation make running a dropshipping side hustle manageable and profitable.
Why Start a Dropshipping Side Hustle?
Dropshipping is perfect for anyone who wants to earn extra income without giving up their day job or studies. Plus, it offers tons of benefits that make it worthwhile:
- Flexibility
- Scalability
- Automation
What makes starting a dropshipping side hustle such a flexible model is that you can run your store from anywhere, at any time, including while you sleep. This makes it easy to fit it around your existing schedule. Plus, because you don’t need to buy inventory upfront, the startup costs are super low, making it one of the most low-risk ways to start off in eCommerce.
On top of that, you can easily scale your dropshipping side hustle. Tons of successful dropshippers started their dropshipping stores as side hustles and eventually turned them into full-time businesses. With automation tools like AutoDS, the dropshipping process becomes even easier since you can save hours of manual work each week by automating all of your processes. You can streamline your product research and product importing, and automate order fulfillment and price and tracking updates. That way, you can focus on other things, like marketing and scaling or simply spending more time with your family.
Start A Dropshipping Side Hustle In Simple Steps
Starting a dropshipping side hustle is actually very simple. What follows is a step-by-step guide on exactly how to start a dropshipping side hustle. If you follow these simple steps, you’ll be up and dropshipping in no time:
- Step 1: Choose a Profitable Niche
- Step 2: Find Reliable Suppliers
- Step 3: Set Up Your Online Store
- Step 4: Add and Optimize Products
- Step 5: Market Your Store
- Step 6: Automate & Scale Your Side Hustle
Step 1: Choose a Profitable Niche
The first step to building a successful dropshipping side hustle is choosing the right niche. Your niche determines what products you’ll sell and who your target customers will be. So, it’s crucial to look for niches that are profitable, in demand, and have a strong customer base. Another thing to consider is niches that balance demand and competition. This helps you stand out and attract the right buyers without entering an overly saturated market.
Some best-selling niches to dropship in are:
- Pet Accessories – Pet owners love to spoil their furry friends and are willing to spend consistently on fun and functional products. Plus, there are tons of products to choose from.
- Fitness Gear – The fitness industry is booming, and people are constantly looking for new ways to stay active. Fitness gear tends to rake in good revenue thanks to high-ticket items.
- Phone Cases – With frequent new phone releases and ever-changing design trends, there’s a steady demand for phone cases.
Can’t decide which products to sell? This is where AutoDS comes in with its Trending Products Tool, which can make niche research easier. By utilizing AutoDS’ product research tools, you can see trending products and real-time sales data to find profitable niches to sell in.
Step 2: Find Reliable Suppliers
Working with a reliable supplier can make or break your dropshipping side hustle. Your supplier is essentially the one fulfilling your customer orders, so it’s key to work with trustworthy ones. Working with trustworthy suppliers makes a world of difference because it enables you to fulfill orders quickly, deal with returns or exchanges smoothly, and offer an enjoyable shopping experience for your customers.
On top of that, you need to look for suppliers to fit your niche and profit margins while maintaining quality. So, how can you be sure a supplier is a good fit and reliable? Well, you need to look out for some vital characteristics:
- Clear business policies
- International warehouses
- Fast shipping times
- Reliable shipping carriers with tracking information
- Wide product range
- Exceptional customer service
AutoDS supports over 30 suppliers worldwide, making it easier to test and scale without worrying about reliability. And, with AutoDS’ integration with these suppliers, you’ll be able to automatically import, fulfill, and track your products and orders. Furthermore, AutoDS’ private suppliers have already been vetted for quality and reliability.
Step 3: Set Up Your Online Store
Once you’ve chosen your niche and suppliers, it’s time to bring your business to life by setting up your online store. This is where customers will browse, buy, and form their first impression of your brand. That’s why it needs to look professional and be easy to navigate. You have plenty of options to choose from, whether you want to create your own website using Shopify, Wix, or WooCommerce, or you simply want to create a storefront on an existing marketplace like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or TikTok Shop. Each platform has its own strengths, so pick one that fits your goals and budget (don’t worry, we have full guides on all of them to help you choose what’s right for you).
Quick Step-by-Step:
- Choose your platform (Shopify, Wix, eBay, etc.)
- Brand your store with a name, logo, and design
- Add products with clear images and well-written descriptions
- Set up payment gateways and shipping options
- Launch and test to ensure a smooth customer experience
Tools like AutoDS make the store creation process seamless for beginners. AutoDS integrates with multiple selling platforms: Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, eBay, Amazon, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, and TikTok Shop. By integrating with AutoDS, you can automatically import products with one click, sync inventory automatically, and manage orders from a single dashboard while the system fulfills them for you automatically. As a result, you save valuable time on your side hustle.
Step 4: Add and Optimize Products
Now that you have your store set up, you need to fill it with proven best-sellers. The AutoDS Product Importer is a godsend for saving a bunch of time on the product importing process. Alternatively, when we import products manually, we have to copy/paste each detail separately for every item. But this tool makes this step much easier by letting you import products and their details from multiple suppliers with just one click. You might also want to check out the AutoDS Chrome Helper extension.
Another crucial thing to look out for is how you present your products in your store. To help build trust and attract customers, you need to use high-quality product images, clear and persuasive product descriptions, and competitive pricing. AutoDS automatically syncs pricing and even generates AI-powered product descriptions that are engaging and SEO-friendly. This saves you hours of manual work while ensuring your product pages look professional and convert visitors into customers.
Step 5: Market Your Store
If you want to run a successful dropshipping business, you need to generate interest and turn that into sales. Plus, you need to navigate the competition to ensure you stand out. With that said, the best way to achieve this is through marketing. Getting the right message in front of our target audience at the perfect time is key. This not only increases sales but also helps us become recognizable.
You can start with organic and free methods like posting engaging content on social media and creating TikTok videos showcasing your products. It’s also key to use basic SEO techniques to make your store easier to find on Google. If you want faster results, you can invest in paid advertising through Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, or Google Ads. These target specific audiences and drive immediate traffic.
To make smarter marketing decisions, AutoDS provides product insights and analytics, helping you identify which products have the best sales potential so you can invest in marketing those best-sellers. Once you’ve found a winning product, you can even create original user-generated content with AI influencers using tools like CreateUGC.
Step 6: Automate & Scale Your Side Hustle
One of the best aspects of dropshipping is that you can automate almost all of your dropshipping tasks! Dropshipping with AutoDS allows you to automate the entire dropshipping process from A to Z. So when you start dropshipping as a side hustle, keep automation in mind, as automation tools can save you a bunch of time and effort while reducing errors. Plus, automating your dropshipping business helps you optimize and boost profits.
With this in mind, the best all-in-one automation tool for dropshippers is AutoDS. AutoDS has a myriad of tools that allow us to scale and grow our dropshipping business:
- Price/Stock Monitoring
- Product Importer
- Price Optimization
- Complete Order Fulfillment
- Easy Inventory Management
- Automatic Tracking Updates
- Print On Demand
With the software doing the tedious work for us, we can focus on improving our product catalog, testing new products, and seeing what works for us. That way, we’re focusing our efforts on scaling our business instead of on running our business.
🚀 Put your dropshipping business on autopilot and focus on what is truly important. Start your 14-day trial for $1!
Tips for Balancing Your Side Hustle with Daily Life
It might seem daunting to start a dropshipping side hustle while you have a full-time job and tons of other daily responsibilities. But it’s actually quite manageable, especially if you have the right tools. So, here are some tips to help you do both:
- Time management
- Realistic goals
- Reinvest profits
- Automation tool
Smart time management makes building a dropshipping business while juggling work, family, and personal time very doable. Tasks like product research, listing optimization, stock tracking, and order management can take up a lot of time. However, using the right tools and managing to put in a couple of hours a day (sometimes not even every day) can help you build a profitable side hustle.
You also need to set realistic goals, like adding a few new products per week or running one test ad campaign at a time. Break tasks into manageable chunks and schedule them into your calendar to stay consistent. Start slow and scale up as you find winning products and strategies.
Reinvesting profits wisely is also crucial to balancing your side hustle with your daily life while also being able to put a few bucks in your pocket. Once you land a few sales, consider reinvesting those profits into tools, upgrades or ad budgets that will save you additional time and allow you to generate even more sales without requiring more effort.
Automation is your best friend here. With AutoDS, you can keep your store running smoothly even if you only have a few hours a week to spare. AutoDS’ product research, order automation, AI listing optimization and price & stock monitoring features save hours of manual work.
But, make sure to avoid common pitfalls like choosing oversaturated niches, skipping marketing, or sticking to just one product. AutoDS’ insights help you test multiple products and find winners faster, ensuring you make the most of your limited time. And no matter how busy you get, never forget to provide excellent customer service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I do dropshipping as a side hustle?
Of course you can! Dropshipping is such a flexible, low-investment and low-risk model that it’s perfect as a side hustle.
What is the best dropshipping tool for beginners?
The best dropshipping tool for beginners is AutoDS because it literally automates everything from A to Z so you don’t have to do any of the work. Plus, it has tons of tools that optimize your business so you can attract more customers and boost sales.
How much money do I need to start a dropshipping side hustle?
It usually costs $100–$300 to set up a basic store and run your first ads. However, tools like AutoDS reduce the need for upfront investment in multiple apps to run your business.
Can I run a dropshipping side hustle while working full-time?
Yes, automation tools like AutoDS make it manageable with just a few hours a week. You can handle your 9-5 while AutoDS handles the bulk of your dropshipping business.
How long does it take to see results?
Some new dropshippers see their first sale within weeks, but consistency in testing and marketing is key.
Do I need technical skills?
Not at all. Platforms like Shopify and AutoDS make the setup very beginner-friendly, especially when used together.
What’s the best way to find winning products?
The best way to find proven best-sellers is to leverage AutoDS’ product research tool, TikTok trends, and competitor analysis.
Start Your Dropshipping Side Hustle Store with AutoDS
Building a dropshipping side hustle can be very simple when you choose the right tools. AutoDS automates everything from product research and importing to price optimization and order fulfillment. AutoDS’s product research suite helps you make an informed decision when choosing the right niche and partnering with reliable suppliers. With AutoDS, your store will be able to run smoothly and scale fast. With smart planning, realistic goals, and a complete dropshipping tool like AutoDS, you can balance your dropshipping side hustle with daily life and turn it into a solid source of income.
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