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Writer's pictureTaylor Reilly

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Two teenage entrepreneurs who capitalised on the coronavirus pandemic by selling craft products to bored Australians stuck at home have revealed how they managed to build a successful business overnight.


Taylor Reilly who is 19 years of age and Lachlan Delchau-Jones who is 18 years of age, from Brisbane, Australia, have been creating their own business ventures and websites since their early teens.


But a light bulb moment on April 10 while watching a news segment sparked a lucrative online store that earned them more than $70,000 dollars in 30 days.tos

Lachlan Delchau-Jones, 18, (left) and Taylor Reilly, 19, (right) earned more than $70,000 in a month by starting an online business during lockdown


Using a retail method called dropshipping, the pair decided to sell products in the craft and hobby niche to keep Australians entertained during isolation.


Dropshipping involves a vendor fulfilling orders from a supplier who then ships the product directly to the customer.

Knowing timing was vital as Australians would be seeking ways to stave off boredom over the impending Easter long weekend, Taylor Reilly rushed to Lachlan Delchau-Jones' house to begin building a business from scratch.


Over the next four hours, the teenagers sourced a supplier in China and built a website then set up Facebook marketing to run ads for the product online


Orders amassed over the weekend and by Tuesday, when they could cash out their earnings via Shopify, they had hit $16,000 dollars having only spent $1600 on social media advertising.

When they ended the project on May 10 they had made a whopping $72,000.


Lachlan Delchau-Jones and Taylor Reilly credit their success to timing and the coronavirus lockdown which saw more Australians spending time at home while businesses cut down on advertising costs.


Next, find a supplier by going to online retail service AliExpress - China's version of eBay - and searching for the product you wish to sell. Mr Delchau-Jones recommends vetting the supplier to ensure you are working with someone you can trust.

'It is very crucial in dropshipping to connect with a supplier. If we weren't able to get the product we weren't able to run the business,' he said. 'When you add the product to your website, you can choose the mark up,' he said. 'I would suggest having a $15-$20 profit mark up on your product because you are going to be spending money on ads and testing. It will act as a bit of a barrier.'

The fifth step is to run ads on social media. While this service is accessible across many platforms, Taylor Reilly and Mr DelchauJones suggest using Facebook's Ads Manager which easily links to websites and tracks which demographics are buying the product. When products are sold, a notification will be sent to the Shopify website. The purchase orders will then need to be sent to the supplier to send to the customer.

Apps, such as Oberlo, mainstream this process by directing customers details from their Shopify order straight to the supplier.

The last step is to monitor ads to identify trends and sales patterns so you can double down targeting on demographics that are interested in the product.

But Taylor Reilly and Lachlan Delchau-Jones warn to be prepared for setbacks. 'Dropshipping is the entry point for a lot of people to business, ecommerce, and entrepreneurship,' they said.

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