Celebrating uduforu, LLC, at year five: a creative success but a dropshipping misfire

        In 2019, I formed uduforu, LLC, published my first book, created a website, and started a YouTube channel. Since then, I’ve entered short stories in writing contests and created nature-inspired designs. The website, uduforu.com, sells merch with my graphic designs. And photography has become more critical to the business. I enjoy the creative challenges uduforu, LLC presents for me. But the social media stuff, while technically creative, is mental abuse I avoid. In addition to my website, I sell books on Amazon and have merch shops on Etsy and Redbubble. In this blog, I celebrate five years at uduforu, LLC, plan for more creative wins, and mention some marketing limitations of dropshipping. 

        OK, let me start with dropshipping. I like the idea of dropshipping and the low-cost start-up of the business model. But suppose you do not have a ready-to-go social media presence. In that case, you are dead in the water because, without a physical inventory or storefront, you are disqualified from marketing on search engines and social media. That is where I am at, and I have made peace with it. I need to concentrate on writing and designing. Hopefully, during my creative growth, I will bump into ways to get noticed and make sales. I do not want to grind at marketing outreach to get gobs of people to look at a tiny selection of work. I certainly do not want to fake it until I make it in front of a camera on a hot mic. 

        Writing has taken a backseat in 2024. Instead, I have concentrated on photography, and I also need to level up my photo and video editing. Progress is slow, but it is advancing. I bought a new camera with features that align with my expanding interests. The in-camera body stabilization paired with better-stabilized lenses has been a game changer for me. When hiking, I do not need to fully recover from huffing and shaking before I take a picture.  

        I use the pictures I take as inspiration for graphic design. My designs are intentionally simple to avoid print quality issues on a variety of surfaces and different sizes. They are vector art, which is scalable but not as intuitive to work with as drawing or painting. Indeed, my art skills need improvement. However, I want to avoid an image that looks great on my screen but lacks clarity or color when printed on objects. I do not have the printer or the objects and must pay for samples, so I am cautious about experimentation. But I order products to inspect and use. 

        I sell t-shirts, long-sleeved shirts, and hoodies made by Printful on my website and Etsy. Redbubble has an impressive variety of swag, including apparel, stickers, buttons, wall art, and more. Shipping is included with purchases at my website and Etsy. Redbubble sets its sales and shipping policies, but I keep the pricing fair. The quality of the merch from any of my shops is excellent. 

        Now, more marketing nightmares: SEO-oriented descriptions are useless when Microsoft, Apple, and Google disqualify search inclusion for products lacking physical inventory. I cannot sell on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube because of similar restrictions in addition to minimum followers or watch rates. Etsy favors physical inventory over dropshipping businesses. Redbubble specializes in the dropshipping business but has toothless marketing options. Amazon Merch requires its own set of qualifications. 

        If you are considering dropshipping as a business model, do not fall for the hype created by people who make their money from clicks and views, not sales. Most online advice and strategies, including significant platform blogs, are gaslighting designed to get at your money, initiate a fool's errand, or blame incompatibility on something else. Regardless, an oversaturated product category is a hard sell. 

        I love what I do at uduforu, LLC, and I have no plans to stop. I wish I could improve my skills faster, but the time I dedicate accumulates. Eventually, skills, creativity, products, and sales will align in a way that pays off. But I must never forget the mental and physical benefits of pursuing what inspires me. The messaging I share in my blog is not just talk – I walk the walk. Get out, take some chances, and do what makes you happy. Practice is another form of play, and whatever doesn’t work can still be a good story. Prosperity isn’t always about money.