How to Make Money with TikTok Shop: My Journey from $0 to $10k/Month
Introduction to TikTok Shop
Make money with TikTok Shop has been the talk of the internet lately. A ton of people are claiming it’s the next big wave of money-making opportunities. I started seeing videos about TikTok Shop a few months ago, but suddenly, there seems to be an endless stream of success stories popping up.
A lot of folks think that when there’s a massive influx of videos about a new opportunity, it’s already too late to get started. However, I want to challenge that mindset. There are still individuals out there making a success of Shopify drop shipping, and that trend really blew up around six or seven years ago. If you want to make money with TikTok Shop, now is the perfect time to dive in.
We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.
Table of Contents
Getting Started with TikTok Shop
I’m not going to underestimate what TikTok can do. Over the past couple of months, I’ve made decent money on the platform through their other programs. Seeing so many people succeed with TikTok Shop made me realize that if I don’t at least try this, I’ll forever feel like I missed out. I have to give it a shot, especially since many of you are wondering if it’s still worth diving into. So, it’s time for me to get to work.
Choosing the Affiliate Route
TikTok Shop allows you to sell your own products or act as an affiliate by creating videos for other people’s products. I’ve decided to go the affiliate route because, honestly, I don’t want to deal with shipping products myself or managing returns. I’ll be trying this out on an old TikTok account of mine that has fewer than 5,000 followers. Fortunately, you don’t actually need that many followers to join TikTok Shop. I completed that step in less than five minutes and just had to wait a day for approval.
Product Research Phase
Even though I’ve been making videos for brands for years, e-commerce is a completely new field for me. Still, I know that regardless of what you’re marketing, all videos require the same basic structure to get views and conversions. So now, it’s time to find some products. I spent the next few days diving into product research. There are several ways I approached this.
Interacting with E-commerce Content
First, I started interacting with every e-commerce or TikTok Shop video that appeared on my For You page. Eventually, the algorithm began pushing out only those types of videos to my feed. I carefully examined each viral video, searched for the product on TikTok Shop, and checked if it was available there. From there, I looked into the product’s cost, commission rates, customer ratings, and total sales.
Exploring Best-Selling Products
The second method I used was checking if TikTok had a best-selling page for items. They did, and I explored those products to see if anything caught my interest.
Making My First Purchase
Once I found potential products, it was time for me to buy some and create videos about them. I started by selecting four products, which were somewhat pricey for my budget. My total expenditure for these four products was $131.60; they were all over $50, except for one. Fortunately, I managed to snag a discount, which helped. I hoped they would ship quickly so I could start generating some income soon.
The Anticipation of Arrival
The products were scheduled to arrive the next day, and while waiting, I typed up 38 different video scripts for all four products. With this many scripts in hand, I felt optimistic that at least one would go viral. When the package finally arrived, I couldn’t wait to get started. It was only 1 p.m., so I had the entire day ahead of me to record product videos.
The Launch of My TikTok Journey
Initial Posting Experience
I immediately posted my first legitimate product review. The video went live on my account, but it started with zero views at 2:35 p.m. I planned to check back in an hour to see how it was performing. An hour later, I returned to find that my video had only garnered 228 views. The analytics were disheartening, showing that the average view duration was a mere four seconds out of a 40-second video, resulting in a 10% retention rate.
Adjusting Strategies
Realizing that I needed to improve my strategy, I decided to create another video while giving my first one a chance to gain traction. I was hoping this time the algorithm would push my content more effectively. I added the product to my next video, posted it at 5:09 p.m., and hoped for better results. Within just 16 minutes of posting, I noticed it already had 310 views, which was a promising sign compared to the first video.
Tracking Progress
Exciting Developments
I remained cautious about getting my hopes up too soon. After a couple of hours away from my phone, I checked back late that night at 12:45 a.m. I was thrilled to find some exciting updates. The second video I posted had surged to 3,300 views. It had a solid start, gaining nearly 2,900 views in its first hour before plateauing. To my surprise, my first video had risen to 851 views, and by refreshing my notifications, I saw it jumped to 9,008 views! I was starting to understand the unpredictable nature of TikTok’s algorithm.
Making the First Sale
I’d freaked out too soon. I had to remind myself that I had only been doing this for less than 12 hours. It was now the end of my second day since posting, and I had my first sale! I was ecstatic to see that I made a commission of $5 off the first video, which I originally thought would flop. Even though I only made $5, it felt significant to know that the system worked.
Momentum Building
Progress Over Time
At that point, I had put in over 24 hours of work, which showed that persistence pays off. I was not going to stop until I reached higher numbers. Checking my video performance for day two, I was encouraged to see that all of them had surpassed 1,000 views, which is a promising indicator. However, I woke up the next day without any new sales. I had to admit that the first product I picked wasn’t the best choice; it just didn’t have a high demand.
New Products on the Horizon
Fortunately, I had another product arriving that day, one that seemed to be much more popular and in greater demand. With the arrival of package number two later in the day, I initially thought I wouldn’t get any sales that day. However, at 6:00 p.m., I was delighted to receive my second commission—another $5 on the same first product! I also posted a video of the new product, which was starting to gain traction. I felt optimistic that I would earn my first commission from that one soon.
Highlights of My Journey
A Successful Day
As I kept tracking my sales, I was overjoyed when my third sale rolled in shortly after I stopped recording. I was building momentum, and it felt fantastic. That day, I managed to hit double digits in commissions, bringing my total to $12 with three orders. I was slowly starting to feel like this was becoming a reliable income source.
Day Five Breakthrough
By day five, my journey took another leap forward. I received another product delivery and had my first sale of the day by 11:30 a.m. I never imagined I’d ever buy a foot massager, yet here I was. Day five turned out to be my best day yet. I posted three videos that day, although the first two didn’t perform well. However, in the third video, I tried a new approach—throwing the product box against the wall as the hook. That tactic worked wonders, and the video began to gain traction.
An Unexpected Boost
Discovering Spark Ads
On top of that, I had a brand running spark ads on one of my videos, meaning they were promoting my content. By the end of day five, that video had nearly 20,000 views, which was beyond exciting. With four hours still remaining in the day, I had already surpassed my earnings from the first four days combined. I was thrilled to report that I sold seven products, bringing in a total of $29 in commissions that day.
Reflecting on Progress
A Week of Achievements
As I progressed into day seven, I found myself reflecting on the previous week. I ended my sixth day with 17 items sold and $68 in commissions, making it a very promising week overall. Saturday marked one week since I started this venture, so I wanted to share a quick summary of my journey so far: I sold 38 items, totaling $153.66, which meant I recouped the money I spent on the products I purchased.
Planning for Future Sales
The numbers were solid, but yesterday’s sales were lower than expected, with only six items sold for $24. While it was still money for simply making videos, I hoped to improve my performance going forward. It was now 10:30 a.m., and I had already posted my first video of the day. This was the earliest I’d posted so far, and I planned to create even more videos than usual.
Adapting to Trends
Evaluating Product Choices
As I started to think about my next product choice, I picked a projector. I had actually wanted one of those for a while, but ever since I received it, my videos about it hadn’t performed well at all. They were barely scraping 1,000 views. In contrast, videos of my portable monitor consistently received over 5,000 views. I dug a little deeper
and discovered that the projector wasn’t selling well anymore.
Strategic Shifts
After evaluating my product choices, I knew I needed to shift my strategy. I decided to focus on items with proven demand, especially those that were already trending on TikTok. I wanted to push hard on the next few videos to keep the momentum going. I also realized I needed to diversify my product selection to reduce the risk of stagnant sales.
Overcoming Challenges
The Rollercoaster of Sales
Day eight rolled in with a bit of a rollercoaster. I was on track to make $500 and felt extremely confident about it. I experienced some incredible moments but also learned the importance of diversifying products to avoid failure.
Celebrating Successes
I managed to sell 142 products and made $571 in commissions. I was overjoyed with these results, especially since my initial goal was to make $10,000 by the end of the month. Looking ahead, I’m excited to see how far this journey will take me and what the next chapter holds.
Final Thoughts
The Journey Ahead
This journey into TikTok Shop affiliate marketing has been eye-opening and transformative. I’ve learned that persistence and adaptability are key. While the road may have its ups and downs, the potential rewards are worth every effort.
Encouragement for Others
As I continue down this path, I encourage you to take that leap of faith and explore TikTok Shop for yourself. Who knows, your next big success story could be just around the corner!
We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.
