$10K+ Week | One Year as a Global E-Commerce Content Creator: How Much Did I Earn? W12-13
A real solopreneur's one-year personal IP journey in global e-commerce: the wins, the losses, from brand partnerships to distribution channels, shovel business to paid communities.
The Good News
1. Four New Local Small Business Partnerships
As my brand's social media following has grown, I've gained more confidence in my operations. I've reached out to some smaller UK local brands that are "less experienced" than me, mainly collaborating through social media engagement and guest blog backlinks. It feels really good.
2. First Order from New Distribution Channel
Currently, I have two downstream partners doing dropshipping for my products. Honestly, distribution has always been my weak spot. Due to my work experience background, I'm far from the sales side of things, so I lack a lot in that area.
So besides affiliate marketing, I've done very little in terms of actively building channels. The only two I have now came to me passively. But I think, looking at it from another angle, this might actually be inspiring for the audience.
Even if you're working alone, haven't developed original products, haven't stockpiled inventory, and haven't actively done business development—people will still come to you for distribution partnerships. Doesn't this prove that when you consistently work on the right things, unexpected results will come your way?
3. Accelerating Shovel Business Related to Personal IP
1) Building a Backlink Exchange Platform
Designed to help all independent site domestic players quickly get backlinks from each other! Since launch, it has collected 50+ sites and gathered 30+ partner connections. Still recruiting for free, but will gradually become a refined paid offering in the future.
2) Published 5 Daily Vlogs
Mainly to try expanding into more content formats and enrich my life a bit. There's still a lot of room for optimization in the content. I've always wanted to improve the visual quality of my content. There's no excuse for poor traffic—it's simply because my content isn't good enough.
So I'll learn and improve slowly. But no matter how I package or plan it, I still adhere to the principle of "authenticity." Whatever can highlight authenticity more, that's what I'll do.
3) Group 6 is Now Open
The atmosphere is still very, very healthy.
The Bad News
1. Still Struggling with Growth
The ads haven't been touched for three weeks—what can they learn from that? This is a real example of practicing what I preach, right? Where else can you find such an authentic blogger? Someone who shows you real insights and real case studies?
Didn't the experts say not to mess with ads, let the data learn slowly, and things will get better? I secretly learned the nine-character mantra from a Google Ads official optimizer, wrote a 3,000-word article discussing it, and fully understood it! Well, it got better my ass.
I've gone three weeks without even opening the Google Ads interface, except for occasional recharges and checking for anomalies. Now the experts might say: "You need to optimize the ads. When we say don't touch them, we mean don't pause or reduce the budget."
Well... anyway, I accept the slow growth. I deserve it. You get what you put in. This is also what I mentioned in that article—my site has had very little operational optimization this month. Besides keeping up with blog updates, I haven't done anything, just occasional off-site work.
I deserve it. For many newcomers, the fear isn't poor results—it's not knowing where the real problem lies and just making excuses: "Oh, the ads haven't learned the data well enough, the targeting is wrong." You just don't want to admit you haven't put in the effort.
2023 and Q1 2024 Personal IP & Shovel Business Progress Summary
How much did I earn in one year as a global e-commerce content creator? Heh, don't laugh—after one year, my total followers across all platforms are less than 20,000.
As for business and products, over the past year, I've only quietly offered consulting services (never publicly promoted, mainly for people who actively came to ask). Also, I've directly discouraged many newcomers who came for paid consultations.
One reason is that it feels tiring and unfulfilling; another is that it feels uncomfortable—I don't want to see people with slim chances lose more money. Most clients who decisively closed deals are highly educated, capable, and resourceful. I also learn a lot from these exchanges, and some even lead to other business collaborations (getting cut by them instead, haha).
So overall, the actual monetization from personal IP and consulting over the past year is quite low—don't rub salt in the wound. But overall, it's a fairly comfortable state. Without any BD or sales efforts, because my content is trusted, people who need it almost quickly place orders.
See? This is why global sellers must pay attention to accumulation and persist in doing the right things. You'll build your social proof, and slowly, when buyers need you someday, they'll convert more decisively. Plus, many results are unexpected. But the prerequisite is that you need to persist first.
Why Can't I Launch More Shovel Business Monetization?
Regarding various shovel services, honestly, my capabilities and experience in many niche areas are already sufficient, but I've never rushed to launch them. The most冠冕堂皇的理由 (noble-sounding reason) is that I'm not extremely desperate for money; based on this, I've always had reservations in this area.
If I can't create services and products with enough competitive advantage and that I myself believe in, I don't dare to launch them blindly. And making myself believe in them is the hardest part—after all, I'm naturally cautious and stingy about any shovel/consulting services. When I pay for a business product, I research and ponder it for at least a month or more.
So despite setting a flag at the beginning of the year to go all-in on services and consulting, progress has still been slow.
Current Progress and Future Plans
But I think this is also a good thing. In this process, I maintain thinking and accumulation—accumulating social media influence (the pitiful follower count, hahaha) and沉淀自己的各方面业务能力 (accumulating various business capabilities).
Eventually, I slowly found some direction. Including the free beta backlink exchange platform launched the week before last—this is something that, in a sense, only I can do, that no other platform/service provider/blogger can easily replicate.
Products and services with similar characteristics will gradually be polished out. So starting from Q2, there should be a 500% acceleration in shovel business. Future directions include but are not limited to: UK/US business services and accounting, paid communities, site building as a service, operations as a service, etc. And for each service, I'll almost certainly offer the most competitive bonuses (unique across the entire web).
As they say, my bottom line is that my desire for money hasn't reached an obsessive state. Plus, after persisting for over a year, I don't dare to easily ruin my "little blogger" reputation.
Final Thoughts
The real journey of a global e-commerce solopreneur is like this—ups and downs. The important thing is to maintain the habit of reviewing and optimizing, continuously learning and adjusting strategies.
When you consistently work on the right things, unexpected results will come your way.
