How AC Hampton Created A Top Dropshipping & Ecommerce Program

AC Hampton’s ecommerce mentorship program stands apart from competitors by offering superlative support to its students.

Presented by Luke Lintz

At some point in their career, most digital entrepreneurs will turn to search engines to look for a business idea. “How to make money online” is the search term that’s become almost a rite of passage for anyone who ever wanted to explore the opportunities available online.

Some people do it early in their careers; some do it when challenged by circumstances. For some, it has no tangible effects. For others, the search can be life-changing.

When AC Hampton of Supreme Ecom took to the internet to find sources of income, he was yearning for a change. He recently quit a job as an outside sales representative for a winery—a position that sounds much more fun than it is, he would add—and he was in the market for something better and something new.

“I got a couple of job offers, but dropshipping kept popping up in my searches, so I decided to take the plunge,” he says. “I used to live with a roommate who did it, so I had someone to call to give me a couple of pointers.”

What ensued was everything but the instant success story people thought they understood. AC had a couple of things going for him—his friend gave him some tips, he had experience with online commerce, and he had the mentality and drive of a person who wants to make things happen.

“I even bought a self-paced course, built a store, and started testing products, looking for winners,” AC Hampton says. “Fifty tests in, and still no winners in sight. I stuck with it and found a winner two days before Christmas 2018. And then it was months without a good product.”

Finding a good product with the potential to sell well is at the core of the dropshipping business model. Testing involves investing money into advertising for the product to see whether it’ll sell. It costs money because online advertising costs money. Dropshipping, even though it doesn’t require a significant upfront investment, isn’t a thing someone without a penny to their name can pick up and do.

It also requires an investment of time, considerable willpower, and tenacity. AC Hampton’s persistence through some unexpected life circumstances—he lost all his possessions in a burglary shortly before starting dropshipping and then again when a crane fell on his apartment building—taught him a lesson about not giving up and persevering.

Those lessons might not be central to the mentorship program he runs through Supreme Ecom, but they did help form a no-BS policy the company is known for.  AC Hampton values transparency above anything else, and the lessons he’s imparting to his mentees are the real thing.

“We show the people who come to us for mentorship the kind of success one can get from dropshipping,” he says. “We’ve had people reach six-figure sales in a couple of months, and that sounds good. But I also tell them the realistic profit margin is 20-35%, and they’ll sometimes need to test many products before finding that winner.”

What sets AC Hampton’s mentorship program apart from the other eCommerce mentorship program is the level of support the students get. Even though Supreme Ecom offers different mentorship packages to fit different people’s needs and budgets, they all include one-on-one time with a mentor.

“This is not getting on calls with multiple different people and other students; every single thing is one-on-one,” AC Hampton explains. “We also make it as easy and convenient for the client, too—they can schedule calls every day of the week between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.”

The one-on-one interaction is just one mode of benefiting from the program. Students also have access to support via WhatsApp and the course materials AC Hampton developed to break down everything there is to know about dropshipping and maximizing one’s chances of being successful at it.

“We try to give the students as much flexibility as they need in how and when they get value from the course,” he explains. “Someone might focus on the one-on-one aspect, while others might enjoy the support. And those that are not on calls, and they’re not taking advantage of the seven-day-a-week customer support; they can still learn every single day on the side.”

The only downside to the program is a necessary one—the space is minimal. Supreme Ecom has already experienced a couple of growth spurts and made some mistakes by taking on more students than they could handle while maintaining the program’s quality. The answer was to obtain a reasonable number the mentorship team could handle. AC would rather keep the quality consistent than grabbing the cash and pretend everything’s good.

“People who come to the program feel fortunate to be in the company of like-minded people who like the hustle, the entrepreneurship, the being their boss,” he says. “And I understand that some can’t afford it—that’s why I’ve been putting so much content on YouTube. I turned to YouTube for ideas when I needed a new direction, and now I hope I’ll be able to do that for someone else.”