Today we’d like to introduce you to William Rivera.
William, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Hey! My name is William Rivera and I am 21 years old. I was born in Miami, Florida and was raised by a single mom my whole life. Seeing my mom work so hard at her job and at home and STILL struggle to take care of my two little brothers and me taught me at a young age that working hard does not = success. I had to learn how to work smart, not hard and I realized this at the age of 13 but never knew how I was going to do it. All throughout high school, I had around ten jobs and got fired from all of them simply because I hated working for other people and I was a terrible employee.
At age 18, I began to sell shoes and buy iPhones locally to flip on eBay. I was making a couple of hundred dollars a month but nothing major. It still impacted me and opened my eyes to working for myself. I graduated from Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett county with below-average grades and then went on to attend Georgia Gwinnett College. I was never good at school or interested in what I was learning so I began to do research online on what I was ACTUALLY interested in, which was making money to help my family. But I wanted to do it without having to trade time for money like I saw my mom do growing up barely having time to talk to me and my brothers.
I came across “ecommerce” and “dropshipping.” Dropshipping is basically when you sell products online without having to ship or store any inventory yourself. All you have to do is find a supplier that makes an interesting product, mark up the product, make a website, put the product on your site and get traffic to your website to make sales. At first, it seemed so complicated but I kept seeing people my age successful in this business on YouTube and different articles as I did more research. I was determined to make this work.
I got a job at La Fitness to fund this side hustle I was entering and I literally dumped every single paycheck I got into online courses, coaching and Facebook ads until I learned how to dropship effectively. After thousands of. Dollars lost, hundreds of courses watched, I finally created my first successful dropshipping store. As soon as I made my first sale, I took the risk of quitting my job so I could focus 100% on the business, I also dropped out of school. I was 100% locked in and I knew there was a huge opportunity in front of me and I had to capitalize on it.
This online store made me around $45,000 in the span of three months. I then sold the business for $3,000 to someone else when my product was no longer selling. This experience changed my life and I went on to create multiple stores, some of which hit the 6-7 figure range. After several successful stores and helping some of my close friends achieve the same results, the word gopt around quickly that it was possible to make money online and that I had the “sauce.” Every single day I would have old friends from high school message me on Instagram or Facebook asking me to teach them and coach them so I figured it would be best to put my years of knowledge in this industry all into one program. That program is now known as Ecom Degree University.
Ecom Degree University was created in 2018. We teach people how to make money online either by creating their own brands and websites while not having to keep any inventory or ship anything themselves and as well as by selling big name brands on Amazon. We have over 700+ students worldwide, some of which are making 6-7 figures online. 🙌 The course is a series of step by step videos on how to execute and thrive in this business. We also include helpful scripts & PDFs. Once you join you are also added into the private mastermind group chat with all the other students where you can ask questions and talk to people who were once beginners and are now making money online
The program caught traction quick and we gained over 300 students in 2020 alone after my profile went semi-viral when I was able to make $350,000 on Amazon in 25 days. I have a YouTube video on that as well on my channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAJbQfPvQ_c&t
@GAFOLLOWERS on twitter actually tweeted my accomplishment and it gave my profile and programmed some buzz. Hopefully, we can get 1000 students by the end of 2020.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has definitely not been smooth. I researched ecommerce and studied the greats for six months before I took any action on my first store. I created several stores that failed and lost a lot of money. I lost friends and a close relationship with my family due to me taking a year to myself and learning this skill and being distant. The first year I was learning this I would drive 45 minutes from Stone Mountain where I lived (in a not so good area) all the way to Georgia Gwinnett College so I could have wifi and work on my business. I did. Not have wifi at home.
Please tell us about Ecom Degree University.
Ecom Degree University. We teach people how to make money online either by creating their own brands and websites while not having to keep any inventory or ship anything themselves and as well as by selling big name brands on Amazon. We have over 600+ students worldwide, some of which are making 6-7 figures online. 🙌
The course is a series of step by step videos on how to execute and thrive in this business. We also include helpful scripts & PDFs. Once you join you are also added into the private mastermind group chat with all the other students where you can ask questions and talk to people who were once beginners and are now making money online. What sets us apart is our success stories and supportive community. As soon as you join the program, you are thrown into a group chat with myself and many other 6-7 figure ecom entrepreneurs that have been through the learning curve you are about to go through and have the results you want. The group chat alone is amazing.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would’ve focused on networking in high school and college more than I focused on my grades. The quote “Your network is your net worth” is more than just true. If you go on my Instagram and look at my inner circle, those were not the same people I was friends with in high school. As your goals change and mindset changes so do the people that gravitate towards you. If you want to interview some other young moguls in Atlanta, all these guys are under 25 and doing great things.
Instagram:
@AgentDooley – SMU Founder, Real Estate Investor, CEO @ Diamond Home Acquisitions
@korylau – Owner of the best wing place in Georgia, Owner @ Dollar Cafe
@khalil_haze – Ecom Degree University’s Top Student, Made over $300,000 last year on his ecom store
@Lexmntya – Celebrity Shoe Plug, Created a program called REC where he teaches people how to be successful in the shoe game
@Des_Howard – Forex Trader, mentor of 100s of people here in Georgia
Pricing:
- Ecom Degree University – $500 but all readers get 50% off if they use code – ATL
Contact Info:
- Address: 125 Perimeter Center W
Unit 248, Atlanta, Georgia 30346 - Website: EcomDegreeUniversity.com
- Phone: 4043606920
- Email: will@ecomdegreeuniversity.com
- Instagram: @William_Rivera
- Facebook: facebook.com/ecomdegree
- Twitter: @TheWillRivera
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