Today, there are so many apps and other online resources that make starting a successful ecommerce business into something that virtually anyone can do. Thanks to its many helpful features which make ecommerce easier, Shopify has facilitated thousands of ecommerce success stories. We truly believe that ecommerce entrepreneurship has the potential to change lives for the better with minimal risk and the prospect of major returns. To really drive this point home, Shopify has enlisted some of its most successful ecommerce business owners to share their inspiring stories and strategies for achieving ecommerce success. Below you’ll find the story of an ecommerce entrepreneur who has used Shopify dropshipping to launch and run his own successful ecommerce business. 

The First-Timer Turned Successful Ecommerce Entrepreneur

Entreprneur Tomas Slimas recently spoke with Irwin Dominguez from San Diego about his ecommerce success and his experience using the app. By sharing his insights with readers he hopes to convince more people to pursue ecommerce entrepreneurship. You too can create your own ecommerce success story.



Within just 8 months of starting his dropshipping business, Irwin had already earned $1,000,000 in sales. As one of the most successful ecommerce entrepreneurs who practices dropshipping, Irwin’s main piece of advice is, “If I started ecommerce all over again, I would do it sooner.” If you’re looking to become a successful ecommerce entrepreneur, the best time to start is now.

Dominguez strongly believes that if he had started even just one year earlier, his sales would’ve grown much higher. “There just wouldn’t be so much competition,” says Irwin. But, he agrees that there are still plenty of opportunities to become a successful ecommerce dropshipper, which is all the more reason why people shouldn’t wait to jump on this lucrative venture.

With the correct mindset, and a little bit of creativity, anything is possible. Dominguez also emphasizes, “I can’t find a reason why people shouldn’t give ecommerce entrepreneurship a try. With all the technology out there, it costs no money to get started and it couldn’t be any simpler. You literally have nothing to lose. And I’m surprised more people don’t use this to their benefit.” Your life as an ecommerce entrepreneur can start today — dropshipping is totally free to get started. 

Ecommerce Success Stories – How did you get started in Dropshipping Ecommerce?

A very good friend of mine decided to become an ecommerce entrepreneur a few months before I had even heard of dropshipping. When he started telling me the figures he was pulling in as a successful ecommerce entrepreneur, it made me want to try cashing in on the opportunity as well.

I literally just opened a Shopify account, created my store, added a few dropshipped products, and that’s it. I didn’t do a lot of reading or researching because I always try to learn by doing. Dropshipping ecommerce success requires very little capital and allows you to experiment a lot. This is what I love about it the most.

I do have to admit, though, that I Google a lot of questions that come up as I’m learning by doing.

Ecommerce Success Stories – What were you doing before starting your successful Dropshipping Business?


Before running a successful dropshipping business I was a local marketing consultant helping landscapers and plastic surgeons find more customers on the Internet.

And just for the record, I don’t miss local consulting ONE BIT.

ecommerce success stories - ecommerce entrepreneur

Irwin loves travelling and working on the go. You can learn how to run a business whilst traveling here.

Ecommerce Success Stories – Do you remember your first sale and where it came from?

Yeah, it came just 3 days after my store launch. Like most of my site traffic, it came from Facebook Ads.

Honestly, I wasn’t super-excited when it happened. I was doing Facebook Ads and somehow expected I would eventually receive an order. Also, spending way too much on ads to get that first sale deflated any first-order “high” I might have felt.

There are many ecommerce success stories associated with using Facebook Ads. What was your experience with Facebook Ads before your dropshipping success? How did you learn to use them?

I have dabbled with Facebook advertising over the years but never really “tried” until recently. Now, I can’t live without it!

The most difficult part for me was actually getting started running Facebook ads — I’ve listened to so many webinars and read so many blog posts over the years, but never really focused on Facebook ads until I got started with dropshipping. I told myself this time around that I had to change my attitude about it if I was going to run a successful ecommerce business, and in just a few short months I felt like a brand new person. I believe this is the biggest reason I experienced ecommerce success with Facebook advertising. I’m so glad I didn’t give up!

Facebook is great because the targeting is super-awesome. It just takes time to crack the code so your earnings cover the advertising costs. Once you understand how Facebook ads work, you’ll have a great chance to achieve ecommerce success. 

Ecommerce Success Stories – What keeps you motivated as an ecommerce entrepreneur? Why did you want to achieve ecommerce success so badly? 

My inspiration is my wife — I wouldn’t be doing the things I’m doing if it weren’t for her. I have a really down-to-earth approach to making a living. I’m not chasing luxury cars or glitzy mansions, I just want to provide for my family so we never worry about money and so my wife doesn’t need to work if she doesn’t want to.

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Irwin with his wife Ladylyn hiking in Machu Picchu, Peru.

As an ecommerce entrepreneur, what is your sales-per-day record as a successful ecommerce business ?

The record was around $30,000 in one day, I hit it while scaling a hot selling product. Current revenues right now are around $10,000 per day, but I hope I will get it back up shortly.

There are always highs and lows. You find a target audience that loves your product, but eventually you reach them all and have to look for another audience or offer them another product. Especially in small businesses, that search takes time and creates sales fluctuations. If you’re looking to run a successful ecommerce business it’s important that you continue to test and improve your campaigns — there will always be room for improvement. 

If you started all over again, what would you do differently as an ecommerce entrepreneur?

Set dropshipping processes in place as soon as you can. You should usually start thinking about them just after validating your product idea and making a few sales.

The beauty of the internet is you can sell to most people on the planet right now. If you find the right offer and right audience you can generate a lot of sales quickly — something I was able to experience, but because I wasn’t ready for the flood of orders we received we messed up a lot of them and made a lot of customers upset. So try and have your shipping procedures in place as soon as possible, it’ll really help you as an ecommerce entrepreneur. 

As an ecommerce entrepreneur, what’s your top recommendation to anyone looking to start a successful ecommerce business?

If I started ecommerce all over again, I would start sooner. I waited a full month-and-a-half after my good friend told me about his ecommerce success. It costs no money to launch a store and it’s so “simple” to get started with all the technology available right now — just get started, you literally have nothing to lose.

Opportunity, yes — I wish I started this sooner because if I were doing this even just one year earlier, there would’ve been a lot less competition; I would’ve made a lot more money; and I could have established myself in other niches. But overall, there are still plenty of opportunities — you just have to be a little more creative with marketing.

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