#note that i'll be updating my rules / about on the actual blog soon

[reincarnight]

alright, i have a google doc up! it contains: rules, about, timeline of the canon events (dawn of sorrow section is currently WIP) and verses. + while the old mobile-friendly pages are still available on my blog, they are no longer linked in the pinned ^^

[starglasszodiac]

Hey everybody, I am thrilled to tell you that Starglass Zodiac is now launched! And on the project’s 9th anniversary too :D

I'll put more of my ramblings under the cut below, but here's the gist of what you need to know:

The first two pages are now live HERE

The next page is scheduled for July 22nd, 2024

The dates for future page uploads will be announced on this blog and on the site's homepage as each new page is released

The upload schedule itself will be determined at a later date, as I’m going at my own pace for the time being

The comic site is self-made with only my basic knowledge of website coding, so I will be improving it gradually over time

A cover for Chapter 1 is in the works, so stay tuned for that!

As for this blog specifically, I have the following planned in the coming days:

Updating the pinned post with this new info

General cleanup and updates to old posts, the tag system/list, links, pages, etc.

Checking for posts I forgot to reblog here and tagging them

I will be tagging the majority of prior posts/art with the tag #SGZ spoilers so you can blacklist it if you want to go into the comic completely blind. Note that some posts with this tag may not actually be spoilers anymore depending on how the project/story lore has changed since making them, but better to cover all the bases anyway

I'll decide soon how I will reblog the update posts, as I can do so on either my art blog @akysi or my personal blog @sweet-star-cookie, but I doubt I'll do all three to avoid it getting excessive for those who follow all three (thank you for that! <3)

As I said above, I’m going at my own pace with this comic to ensure that I’m satisfied with every page at my current skill level. That will likely mean a slow pace for uploads, and I am sorry for that ^^’ But, I’ve had this as a passion project for a long time and I want to give it the time and attention it deserves.

I’ve also realized recently that I’ve been subconsciously holding myself to arbitrary rules about how and when I distribute my work when it comes to comics, especially with prior attempts to launch this one. Knowing I don’t actually have to do that has been quite freeing, and I’m excited to go at my own pace like I do with my other work. I do hope to increase the frequency of uploads later on of course, with the ultimate goal being multiple times a week, but trying to do that right away just isn’t feasible right now. Regardless, I am SUPER excited to finally be doing this again, no matter how long it takes!

With having this project for nearly a decade, working on it has gotten me through many, many tough times. The amount of support and enthusiasm that I’ve received from all you lovely people over the years has been nothing short of heartwarming, so thank you all so much <3 I hope you like what you see, and look forward to more. :D Thanks for reading, friends!

[windtooth-plane]

{Hey there!}

{I'll just get right into the rules and notes. Below said rules and notes will be lore, extra stuff and reference sheets.}

{1. Uploading may vary from time to time as my motivation is rather silly if you want to put it that way. Please do not expect updates in small periods of time, and please do not pressure me to upload anything.}

{2. This blog is run by @nixii-sabre , however, multiple other characters belong to @chaoticgoober and chickenboi on discord- and non-frequently a few other folk. If you have any technical questions or other questions feel free to ask me.}

{3. Suggestiveness is occasionally allowed, however please do not overdo it. No complete NSFW. Most heavier suggestive asks will be deleted or answered if the ask belongs to one of my closer friends who actually know the lore as well as various other inside jokes.}

{4. If your question specifically takes place at a different time of the story, please say if it does. If you don't say, I will immediately assume where it is in the timeline.}

{5. Please do not antagonize me or other askers. Anonymous is always allowed however please do not send any negative stuff or hate.}

{6. Some asks will be answered with simple text, some drawings or doodles here and there, or sometimes full illustrations and/or comics. Please do not expect absolute top-notch with every ask.}

{7. Fanart and giftart is completely always allowed. If you can. @ me (the moderator) whenever you make it! I'd love to see it. However please do not claim any of the characters here as yours, do not copy designs or trace any artwork shone. Just simple art rules n' stuff.}

{And finally, for lore and reference sheets, read under the cut!}

Endless Moving Nights He/They 3rd Gen Endless Moving Nights is usually referred to as "Nights" or more commonly "Endless" as for short. He majors in Biological mechanics and his facility status is currently collapsed after Hidden Niche of Pearls sent a large squad of scavengers and used highly reactive explosives. Before the collapse, Endless had severe insomnia and tended to stay up late into the cycle to work on finding the solution to The Great Problem. He (somewhat) found the solution to, but it was far too dangerous without testing. He had contacted his friend, Witch of Twin Stars to test it out for him- as it was technically a way to save her from the immense rot in her superstructure. She was dying, and what Endless was offering was a body switch into a slugcat subspecies. The subspecies being the only bipedal smart enough in Endless' facility that could be rewired to comprehend the ability to bodyswitch- Bottomfeeders. He sent one of his Bottomfeeders to Witch's can- in which Witch enacted on the instructions Endless had given to her. It was a success, however due to the 'solution' being far too close to being against the self-destruct taboo itself- they both kept it a secret. One of Endless' personal logs stored in a data pearl was 'accidentally' delivered to Hidden Niche of pearls- the iterator being extremely lawful. After the collapse, Endless' half-dead puppet was brought to Pines' can where he was hooked up to an emergency port for an umbilical.

Clock of the North She/Her 3rd Gen Clock of the North- formally known as Clock that Forever Points to the Northern Sky or a simpler short name just being Clock. She used to frequently learn more and more about botany and alchemy- however one time, her potion created The Rot in her superstructure. It spread, and she eventually soon collapsed. The rot had gotten partially cleaned up by a squad of slugcats sent by Green Pines, however, when Clock was kidnapped it simply invited itself back in. A large prehistoric slugcat named Memory had taken Clock to an iterator's facility from another local group, which has since been resolved. She was taken to Pines' can for a short amount of time before deciding to leave to beeline from there, to Chime's can, to her own can to finally get back to. She's close friends with Emerald Leaves of the Pines and Endless Moving Nights.

One Last Chime He/They 2nd Gen One Last Chime, commonly known as Chime or Chimes. One Last Chime is best friends with Endless Moving Nights, WAS friends with Howling Winds over Bronze Seas, and is either neutral to everybody else or hates everybody else. Ever since Clock of the North was created, it was rather obvious Chime had a big fat crush on her. He talked to her almost every cycle trying to engage her in conversation, frequently showing that he cared about her and just liked talking to her in general. That was until he accused Pines of simply wanting to use clock and claiming he was untrustworthy- and also accidentally slipped out that he loved her. Clock cut off all communication with him for many cycles. They only started talking again- just as friends- when Clock was transported to Pines' can. Chime still has often arguments with Pines, however, he is beginning to become good friends nowadays. Chime is now beginning to realize he has a crush on Endless now which is gonna end fine and dandy! (it's not)

Hidden Niche of Pearls She/They 2nd Gen Hidden Niche of Pearls- normally known as Pearls or more commonly as Niche. Niche is an extremely lawful neutral iterator with a high sense of regal and betterness. She understands her place in situations, however enjoys being formal- especially with other iterators. Niche likes to indulge in cultural study from the ancients to her own scavenger colony. Her colony of scavengers respect her and see her as their caretaker and leader, however, there's one particular scavenger- Cookie- she has a direct bond with. Cookie is a young scavenger working to become an elite with her siblings Sylvester and Natalie, and she occasionally pays Niche a visit. They'll talk a lot and Niche lets her guard down whenever with the little scavenger. She feels like a mother figure to Cookie, and Cookie feels like a child figure to Niche. Pearls is slightly antisocial as she would rather spend her time studying or talking to Cookie- and she also has mild paranoia due to a certain fallacy from another iterator which had lead to her breaking her morals.

Emerald Leaves of the Pines He/Him 2nd Gen Emerald Leaves of the Pines- almost always referred to as Pines. Pines is an authoritive yet layed back iterator with a set of his own code and morals. He frequently got into heavy arguments with the iterator Howling Winds over Bronze Seas- one day Winds sent him a file that was supposed to help him find the solution. Pines was grateful but suspicious of the hospitality- and rightfully so. The file contracted rot that quickly spread through Pines' superstructure. He was silent for a long time, however in that time had been readying a slugcat colony. The slugcats had cleared out almost all of his rot, and 40-50 of them had been sent to take out Winds for what he had done. Only one of them came back alive, however the mission was successful. After word was out that Pines had murdered Winds, most iterators banned him from chats and/or simply resented him. However Clock of the North believed his intentions were good. She didn't have a good relationship with Winds either, as he tended to be rather hostile. Later on in time, Pines began to rebuild his reputation back up and became friends with most iterators in his local group. He cares dearly for his colony of slugcats and hopes for them to continue advancing without the constant threat of rain above the clouds on his superstructure.

Witch of Twin Stars He/Her 2nd Gen Witch of Twin Stars- the slugcat now encompanying her puppet is referred to as Kasume, however the iterator who body switched with the slugcat is simply reffered to as The Witch or just Witch. After being body switched, Witch set off to head to the Void Sea where she would then attempt to ascend and see if the solution was truly plausible. Along the way, she met a fluffy yellow slugcat named Sunny- and the pup they took care of, Junior. While travelling, Witch had not told Sunny about her intentions, nor was she sure if the slugcat friend could comprehend it. She began growing a close bond with Sunny, and when it came time to dip into the void sea, she came back up. She couldn't do it. She couldn't leave what she had behind. She headed to Endless' can without telling Sunny or Junior where she was going only to find he had since collapsed. Witch found a pup of her own that she treats as her son- Smoky. They have since been living in Pines' colony.

Karmic Obnoxious Inaccuracy She/It 1st Gen Karmic Obnoxious Inaccuracy, almost always referred to as Koi. She isn't technically a part of Windtooth Plane as she's a bit farther away with no local group of her own, though was originally created to be a part of it. She has no communications with the local group, however she does have communications (occasionally) with her brother Endless. Her facility is submerged underwater, so her arrays and different parts of the superstructure constantly get flooded- making communications somewhat unreliable a lot of the time. She's a bit of an aggressively caring iterator with a strong protectiveness over her brother. She doesn't talk to many other people, however, she has had a word or two with One Last Chime.

Howling Winds over Bronze Seas He/Him 2nd Gen Howling Winds over Bronze Seas, sometimes referred to as just Winds. Winds is a highly 'lawful' iterator who frequently antagonizes most others. Despite having administrator privileges before he was murdered, he worked in illegal arsenal manufacturing- weaponry, essentially. Most iterators were neutral toward him, however he had a personal vendetta against Emerald Leaves of the Pines. The only two people he conversed with as friends were Endless Moving Nights and One Last Chime, however Chime moreso tolerated him than not.

(FYI, the second and third image are NOT alternate outfits. The second one is what's underneath the cloak.)

Angel of Dominance She/Her 3rd Gen An iterator who was kidnapped by an iterator of her own local group. She had many experiments done on her and eventually was found dead by Pines' slugcats. She was brought to the facility and temporarily revived but due to a large surgical cut from her hips to her chest, she was in constant pain. The temporary revival was taken away as they did not have the resources to keep her puppet maintained. Eventually, her puppet was rehooked up to the structure when Endless effectively left. She hopes to one day go back to her can in Loveless Meije, however with it being left unattended for some time there's a chance it'll collapse soon.

OTHER ITERATORS

Eight Islands Under Storm Clouds He/Him 2nd Gen An iterator in Windtooth Plane who's extremely antisocial. They haven't said a word to the local group other than Niche. He was created for the purpose of making explosives.

Two Rocks Eroding He/Him 2nd Gen Another iterator who's not necessarily in Windtooth plane, but is in the area. They haven't spoken to anybody.

Pristine Snow, Twisted Mountains She/They 2nd Gen An iterator who was previously conceived as dead from a power surge. Their facility was built on top of a snowy mountain that has heavy snowfalls. They have spoken to the local group a few times here or there but has mostly talked to Emerald Leaves of the Pines. Their 'death' was soon discovered as faked. She has broken many taboos- almost all of them, to be exact.

Misguided Information Any/All 3rd Gen INFORMATION CLASSIFIED

{ Clock of the North and One Last Chime both belong to @chaoticgoober . Emerald Leaves of the Pines, Howling Winds over Bronze Seas and Pristine Snow, Twisted Mountains all belong to chickenboi on discord. Two Rocks Eroding belongs to King STAZE on all platforms (mostly). Eight Islands Under Storm Clouds belongs to my brother, SomethingUnusual (on all platforms). Everyone else belongs to me. }

[ros3ybabe]

Daily Check-in: October 12th, 2023 🎀

Today has been a lazy yet somewhat decent day? There's not much to complain about. Besides the fact that I didn't do a single homework assignment, I'm exhausted, so that's alright. I did do a decent amount of Japanese studying today though I didn't open up my Genki Textbook like I had wanted to but oh well, there's always tomorrow!

🩷 What I Ate Today -

Brunch - Spaghetti with ground Turkey and meat sauce

Dinner - Taco bowl with ground beef, black beans, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream, a small dollop of avocado, and red salsa with 1.5 low carb tortillas

Snack - bunny tracks ice cream, 16oz bottle of Dr pepper

Extra - 4? cups of coffee (or 5, I can't remember)

I was not very productive today in terms of academic progress, but I still feel like I did what I could given my energy levels. (and caffiene intake). Did not eat the healthiest, but I listened to my body, and honestly, not every day will be perfect, and that's okay!

🩷 Personal Achievements, Oct 12th -

cooked ground beef (leftovers woooo!!)

washed dirty laundry

put away all clean clothes

did my therapy phone call

video called my boyfriend

morning + night skincare

completed 2 duolingo lessons

completed 1 busuu lesson

completed 3 kanji lessons

typed up one draft for upcoming blog post

I had heard about an app called Kanji that teaches you kanji based on JLPT Levels, and I actually really like it, so I bought access to all levels for 11$ USD!! feel like that's a fair price for over 2000 kanji, and I'm excited to start expanding my Japanese knowledge. Also, I am trying out the LingQ app. It's pretty interesting and seems useful for reading practice! I don't know why I got such a kick to study japanese but I am not complaining!!

No Academic Achievements for Today

🩷 Personal ToDo, Oct 13th -

Review previous 3 kanji lessons

Complete 1 duolingo lesson

Complete 1 busuu lesson

Continue Genki I Lesson one (?)

morning + night skincare

morning + night journal

morning workout (at home)

make bed

read 1 chapter of atomic habits or other self help book

🩷 Academic ToDo, Oct 13th -

Culinary Chapter 10 Quiz

Consumer Debt Inventory Assignment

Chapter 9 Notes Psyc

Chapter 9 Quiz Psyc

Attend Psyc Lab

Attend Anatomy Lab

Using Credit Personal Finance assignment

module notes fitness health and sport

module quiz fitness health and sport

work on component 2 for psyc paper

Giving myself a lot of school work to complete tomorrow but that's okay because I have the day off from work so I know I'll be able to get a lot of it done, if not all of it! I'm hoping I sleep decently tonight so I can wake up ready to rule the world tomorrow. My goal is to wake up early, workout, shower, do some makeup and get ready, and be on campus early to get back into the school mindset because I know I've been slacking these last two days. I work a double shift on Saturday, so tomorrow is really the ideal time to finish everything as much as possible.

🩷 Song of the Day: Fearless, Jp Version - Le Sserafim

This has been my anthem lately. It's catchy, and I kind of prefer this to the original version in Korean, but that's a bit biased on my end as I am studying Japanese at the moment.

🩷 Tomorrow Morning Workout - Pilates

Even if I only finish the first video, I will be proud of myself. It's the effort that counts, and it's definitely gonna be a start! I will be posting an updated current workout schedule with routines soon!!

That's all for now! I will update tomorrow night!

Til next time, lovelies 🩷

[shelikesrainydays]

// August 7th, 2024

Welp, there goes July. It's interesting to see how actually setting a time to do things and monitor the progress somehow (in my case, with Forest) my study habit improved monstrously. Instead of doing it sporadically (particularly, those days in which I feel extremely anxious about my career) I try to sit down everyday and do something. The "2 minutes rule" that James Clear mentioned in Atomic Habits in my case is the 25 minutes of a single study session. Weirdly enough, I found myself wanting to keep going on for two or three sessions more. I'm not kidding when I say that this has been a life changer for me: I don't dread studying anymore. Sure, there are days where I don't fancy the idea of coming back from work and keep my mind busy for 2 extra hours, but it's not the majority of days, and that's what is surprising me. Like... guys, these are 18 solid hours of focused time🤯 And do you know what is the best part? I find myself being able to focus better on other things as well. I still have a lot of room for improvement, but comparing this to my past self, it certainly is a HUGE change. I'm excited to see how this will keep evolving 🙌 On another note, since I haven't been able to keep this blog active during these past few weeks (apart from the occasional reblog):

✦ I started watching How I met your Mother with bf (he says that knowing me, he's absolutely sure I'm gonna love it). Yeah, I'm not very good at keeping up with series, specially those that have more than 3 seasons; so it won't surprise me if anyone who reads this thinks "Girl, how's it even possible you haven't watched it?!". Sorry not sorry, I spend my little free time daydreaming about stuff okay? ✦ We also watched the whole season 6 of Mystery of Aaravos, a.k.a as The Dragon Prince. My GOD, sh*t just started getting real. We even set the time to make Hamantaschen, those Jewish jelly pastries in a shape of a triangle! Even though they looked hideous they were surprisingly tasty 😋⭐

✦ I bought myself a new Kindle! My previous one was okay, but I thought it was time for an update and I took it as a treat for being able to focus better on my studies. I ordered a few stickers as well, I will decorate it as soon as they arrive. ✦ We also got tickets for a symphony concert at one of our local theaters today, to listen to Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and other iconic movie pieces 🎻. It's my first time attending to this kind of events so I'm pretty excited about it as well! I've always wanted to go to a Hans Zimmer concert, but I think this will have to suffice for the time being. I'm sure it will be great anyways. ✦ I'm a little stuck with my japanese. Even when I still do my Doulingo sessions, I feel like I need to start practicing more my kanjis. And I reached the point where not knowing katakana has become an obstacle. So yeah, if I want to keep at it, I need to stop ignoring the writing practice. It's just, so hard keeping with everything up. And the new kanjis keep accumulating... 🫠

Phew, that was a lot to write! But I'm not sure when I'll have the time to do this again so I wanted to create a meaningful post.

Cambio y fuera.

[lucyandthepen]

before checking my masterlist, perusing my works, or sending in a message, please read this!

— my name is lucy, 25+, and i'm currently studying for my second master's degree in creative writing.

— i mostly write for nct (specifically dream, but 127 too!), but i will soon expand my masterlist for txt and other groups.

— my nct biases are mark and jaemin! other groups i like but do not write for are red velvet, exo, itzy, sf9, newjeans, seventeen, and stray kids.

— i've recently been getting into anime shows and trying to read more manhwas! if you like either or both of these things, please send some recommendations my way!

— post divider is by @cafekitsune!

— as far as rules go, please adhere by the following:

if you are a minor, do not interact with explicit content. they are marked on my masterlist as *, and i can't track who looks at what or how old anyone is. i trust that those who are younger than 18 (international age) will be responsible for themselves and avoid content unsuitable for them.

before sending in a request, please be sure to check if i am open or not! i often don't take requests because i usually write slowly and take ages to get through my queue, but i occasionally will open requests for practice.

if you plan on sending in an anonymous message, please follow the basic rules of human respect. i never reply rudely to people who talk nicely, so i ask that you uphold the inherent agreement of any conversation and be courteous. otherwise, i will also not hold my words. if you are overtly demanding with your requests (asking about updates is fine as long as the message isn't instructing me to update faster!) or seek to attack my person or my writing, i will not hold back. i don't like negativity on my blog; i started it and only keep it going because writing fills my time, so i won't mince my words if someone decides to disrupt my peace.

my writing is for my own sake; while i love talking about it with other people, and i am so appreciative of those that take the time out to send kind messages or even just reblog and like, i don't write simply to please others. if you don't like what i like or how i write, please take note: i don't care. this is my blog, and i'll do what i want on it. i don't care if you don't like reader fanfiction (why are you here) or if you don't like my prose (again, why are you here). i'm aware that my writing here is self-indulgent, and that's how it always is going to be, because frankly, it makes me happy to write something that isn't poetic or that undergoes 100 drafts for the sake of perfection. i'll write as trashily or as messily as i want, and that's what this blog is for. but i actually don't have to explain that to anyone with anything negative to say. simply, i don't care about your destructive opinion.

please do not plagiarize, remix, or translate my work. i will go to great lengths to take down any copies of my work i didn't authorize, so let's save each other the headache and respect these boundaries!

thanks for reading this far! i hope you enjoy my work as much as i enjoyed writing them. :)

[hadeskitchen]

Update 12.29.21

Yeah, it's the middle of the week but it's been too long since I did an update on this blog, so I'm doing one now. (I'm gonna start doing shorter updates every weekend starting with the new year.)

I want to start off by mentioning that I'm working on a Twine tutorial template

I ended up making a (sugarcube) Twine tutorial template for a friend a couple weeks ago. Since then I've been turning that template into a detailed tutorial on coding and Twine that will be released very soon. Hopefully, it'll be useful to people who are in the process of switching from cog to Twine, who've decided that they want to make an IF game as their New Year's resolution, or anyone else who may be interested. I may even produce a few video tutorials to accompany it if I have the time. But until it comes out, if you have any questions or requests for specific things you'd like to see in the template, please let me know! ☺️

As a note, I'll be trying to show a variety of writing/coding styles in addition to my own and, as a general rule, would never judge or look down on someone for not doing things like me.

Okay, onto Hades' Kitchen...

With Hades' Kitchen, the first episode is fully planned and I'm about halfway through writing what will be the first demo release. I'm currently polishing up this first half and will be sending it out to beta testers soon. I'm currently aiming for a realistic and comfortably vague spring 2022 release.

Hades' Guide has a small update coming tomorrow that will include:

In-depth profiles for the olympian and chthonic deities

New MyShade profiles for Alex and Julio as well as updated profiles for the ROs

Better navigation mechanics that should make moving through the app faster and easier

Some minor bug fixes, grammar and spelling corrections, and accessibility improvements

There's also gonna be a larger Hades' Guide update coming within the next few weeks that will include:

Full lists of mortal and monstrous beings with explanations of each

The story of Hades and Persephone

More information about Underworld society, politics, and urban legends

A map of Neo Olympus with more info on the cities/regions MC can be from

Miscellaneous entries on background lore like the Trojan War, ripper surgeons + cybernetic enhancements, ECHO, prophets, wanted criminals, CirceTV + The Odyssey, and more...

Inevitable bug fixes and corrections from the smaller update

Other HK stuff I've been doing:

Making artbreeder portraits for the characters

Drawing actual portraits for the characters (but who knows if I'll ever have the guts to share them)

Playing with/improving the game's UI

Updating all the existing posts on this blog with accurate info and better tags

Getting the other short stories ready for release

Drafting lore posts and individual character profiles for Tumblr

Working on the last few asks I've yet to answer (mainly just cause they're longer)

Writing a little "which character are you"-type quiz

Coordinating with the giveaway winners

My other projects are truly on the backburner right now. My attention is solely on getting the demo for HK completed and finishing up this tutorial. (But I'm debating revealing the name of the secret IF soon, idk, let me know if you're interested in that or learning about my other projects).

That's all for now! I hope you've all managed to survive the holiday season and truly wish you the very best for this upcoming year. Thank you so much for your support, it truly means the world to me. 💜

[topicprinter]

PREVIOUS POSTS & CLIFFS - Skip if you've been with us the whole journey!Part 0I'm going to start a dropshipping e-commerce website with a large number of items & a (hopefully) unique value proposition. I'm using this as a test post to see if you guys would be interested in taking the journey with me.Most importantly: I'm not now, nor plan to, sell anything or benefit from this directly by any means. I won't be posting my website, linking to my blog, or offering a course at end (if I start making money). The reason for these posts will be: to gather my thoughts into words, to regurgitate what I'm learning (teaching is the best way to learn new concepts, etc etc) and most importantly to get input from you guys. I'm hoping people may learn from what I do, mistakes I make, things I read/summarize, etc. and that I can learn from your guys' experience.My rules for myself & my customers - I won't use dropshipping from overseas as an excuse for lack of quality. I will only put up items that I have faith in because of reviews, orders, and vendors. I will spend the time to make sure my customers are not "fooled" - upfront on shipping times, easy returns, etc. I will not con people for the sake of making a sale. With transparency & honest interactions I hope to limit my returns/problems & keep recurring buyers as well as take pride in my products & websiteQUESTIONS ANSWERED:I have a question. I've seen some dropshipping sites based on franchise merchandise. Harry Potter, Disney, etc. Are there legal risks? Is there any risk of being shut down or sued?Question - if you ship from aliexpress, how long does it take for your customers to receive the product? A week, a month?How will you address the fact that most customers will probably feel cheated when they order something from your website and then it turns up as a package from some "random" Chinese retailer ?Part 1First and foremost: thank you all for your kind support in this thread... not only the responses, but the dozen+ messages. Some of you just wrote to say you're interested, some even offered to help out. I'm grateful and hope you all keep along with me on the journey - rain or shine.The idea: I debated whether to get specific with you all or not, but.... here goes. If you can do the idea better than I will, congratulations :) The website will be a variety of items curated into collections for gift giving. For example - a curated list of items for college graduation for someone who is into automobiles. This custom curated list will include car tools, unique car items (one real example: an anti-glare sun visor), maybe a battery charger, etc. This gives me two target markets - for the gift giver, and the gift getter. It will have a request feature ("wishlist") but will be marketed towards gift givers ("hey sister of a college graduate, no idea what to get your brother? check out what our staff recommends"The problem(s): it's broad. But what's the biggest problem I forsee? Gift giving isn't always thought ahead of time. It's not something you plan a month in advance (because, you know, dropshipping). Shipping times, shipping problems, shipping times, shipping problems. We'll tackle it. Our marketing will have to be top-notch.Marketing PlanApps & ProgramsChoosing ProductsFinancialsQUESTIONS ANSWERED:Newbie here. Question for you: why did you start your business with shopify? Why not sell your product on amazon first, build up some sales $, then expand into your own webspace? The way you're doing it seems very daunting to someone who has never done this before (me).How do you decide on product pricing ? Do you have a formula you use ? Does it take into account the possibility of returns and the upfront cost of purely the operating cost ? Id love to know more of what kind of margin you shoot for and how you take everything into account to come up with a price.I have a question about how drop shippers become successful at all with the shit turn around time. Unless it's a really niche item I can't get anywhere else I would close any website so fast if I saw 20 day shipping time.Part 2The Website: is more or less finished. I have about 20 products left to finalize (choosing pictures, editing description, etc.) & finalizing some of the categories.The Legal Stuff: This is the major sticking point before I'm ready to launch. A lot of you guys mentioned that my idea of using an LLC & a DBA was overkill and I looked into it further. I decided on bypassing the LLC for now, and just starting as a sole prop w/ a business bank account & credit card and using a DBA. When/if we start making some money, we can move to an LLC (not a single-member one though because it's pretty useless, as far as I've read). I decided against an LLC due to the tax, record keeping, etc. & the fact that in my state the fees for an LLC are about $500 minimum.The Marketing PlanQUESTIONS ANSWERED:Will you reach the merchants from aliexpress before placing an order or you will just place the order without contacting them directly? How do you know they are up for dropshiping? If a client want a refund, they will send the item back to china, you get to pay them (the client) then you ask for the money from the merchant? I really want to know how refund works in this business.How do you know that your customers won't realize you're drop shipping and then order directly from your supplier for a cheaper price?I have a question about how drop shippers become successful at all with the shit turn around time. Unless it's a really niche item I can't get anywhere else I would close any website so fast if I saw 20 day shipping time.1 - WE ARE LIVE, LADIES AND GENTLEMENThe website launched earlier this week, once I finished up all my paper. Here's a cliffnotes on what I did before launch -DBA: Registered DBA instead of using an LLC or starting a new company. We're gonna start as a sole prop and see where we go.Mailbox: I purchased a 3 month plan @ the local UPS for a large sized box for returns, paperwork, and to be able to register for official paperworkBusiness Bank Account: I went with Chase. Easy and smooth. I'm even considering moving my personal accounts over because I liked the experience so much better than my ~15 years of experience with Wells Fargo.Business Credit Card: I applied for and got the Spark Business Card from Capital One. They offer 2% cash back and $500 cash bonus. Got a $10k spending limit off the bat. Thank you Dad for teaching me about maintaining good credit @ 16 years old. I did however run into one problem with Capital One.... they made me go to visit a branch in person to be able to authorize my card. They're only open 9am-4pm on weekdays, and the closest one to me is 50 miles away. That was a shitty day. Totally unncessary... but I guess fraud protection brings about weird things.Sales tax: Did a little bit of research, talked to a few friends, shit is confusing. First filing date is next year, so we got some time to work it out. For right now, Shopify is taking care of determining the sales tax for customers in my stateAliexpress account created, all social accounts made, products finished & updated, and the website framework is complete.2 - What the Website Looks LikeHomepageHomepage2CategoriesProduct PageTracking PageAll the pictures are free use stock photos from https://unsplash.com/3 - Wait - we have sales?Of course we have sales! Unfortunately.... they're all from family :( During the first few days of launch, I wanted to work on the tracking pages, practice ordering from Aliexpress, looking at the e-mail templates for ordering/shipping/payment, etc. We have a variety of outcomes....Order 1: 2/3/17 (2 items)Item 1: Processed (purchased on Aliexpress) 2/4/17, shipped 2/6/17 from China, arrived in USA 2/9/17, expected delivery 2/11/17 = ONE WEEK TURN AROUNDItem 2: Uhoh. Processed 2/4/17...... quiet. Quiet. Nothing from vendor. Where is it? Messaged vendor 2/7/17.... bummer. Cancelled. I've heard about some vendors who put ePacket as an option but do not actually offer it. This company had TONS of orders & good feedback, as well as the top star rating, but still had this issue. Kind of scary. For the future, if this comes up again I will tell the customer that the item is backordered and the ship date will increase, and ask them if they prefer to receive a refund or accept the increased shipping time. I will then be removing the vendor and all their products off my list.Order 2: 2/5/17 (1 item)Item 1: Processed (purchased) 2/5/17, shipped 2/6/17 from China, arrived in USA 2/9/17, out for delivery 2/10/17 = FIVE DAY TURN AROUNDSo....Ordering via Aliexpress using Oberlo is a BREEZE. Orders easily, uses customers address, pays easily, leaves pre-written note, attaches information to Shopify when order is placed, and easily updates tracking. All done via the Chrome extensionUsing three different vendors, I had three vast experiences. The first item processed & shipped reasonably. The second item I heard NOTHING until I reached out, and then had the epacket issue. The third item, I got a message from the vendor very quickly saying they received the order and will be shipping soon - processed quickly and no problems.4 - Wait.... wtf is this Merchandise section?You may have noticed in the screenshots of the new MERCHANDISE section. I know this T-shirt Dropship Thread by /u/W1ZZ4RD got lots of hate on this subreddit (the people on /r/juststart were much nicer....) but I ran across it and I was inspired. I see why a lot of people are skeptical - he's selling his b2b software, he's not talking much about how to actually MAKE the sales, and he seems to have an invested interest in teelaunch. I looked into it heavily and here's why I decided to pursue a similar (if not same) approach to add to my website:Yes he's promoting his b2b program. He doesn't shy away from it. He answers all the questions in the thread, and knows what he's talking about. I can appreciate the honesty, and I definietly appreciate that he's still answering questions 1 month laterThe biggest hiccup people will have is finding a designer - I already have one. My best friend is a designer, and we've decided to work on it together. He designs on his spare time, and we'll split up profits from merchandise. I don't need to do any work on that end.The biggest deal for me: my products felt sparse. I had ~230 products at the moment from Aliexpress, but each of the categories felt light because it's spread so thin. I found this opportunity to be a GREAT way to increase my inventory list easily - and without maintaining a huge 500-750 product list from Aliexpress.The fulfillment & following up could not be easier using teelaunch. I have found their customer service & information lacking, but as long as they follow through with their promise of fulfillment I have found it great so far. I've placed one test order for myself, and the app deals with the fulfillment, the payment, shipping, e-mailing, tracking, etc.Using a second sales channel on Amazon will be a great way to boost income - I hope. Since it's pretty easy to transfer information from Shopify to Amazon now that they're integrated, I think there could be a lot of space for additional income streams. Unfortunately, I could not post any of the Aliexpress items on Amazon (for obvious reasons), but custom merchandise I can. Let's see how it goes.Here's a screenshot: http://ift.tt/2lyhT8a - I'm still working on adding all the items to Amazon as well as to the website itself. This will be a continual process but one I have great hope for.5 - So what's next?Over the next month, I will be introducing a few new products from Aliexpress, lots of custom merchandise products (whenever I get designs from my designer, basically), and then spending the majority of the time on marketing & advertising now that the framework is set in place. The plan:$100/month on Google Adwords (plus a free $100 thanks to Shopify's coupon thing)$100/month on Facebook Ads/Facebook Likes$100/month on the remaining ad spend - Reddit? Instagram? Social Influencers? Etc.Now that the majority of the website framework is done, the next post will cover the marketing plan & advertising. I will include my plans, my ads, my results, what I've learned, ask for advice, all that good stuff. I'm looking forward to analyzing the ROI and sharing the results with you all.The last remaining part of the website to do is SEO - keyword analysis, content creation, backlinking, etc. That will be a continuous process that I will explain further along w/ the marketing in the next postHere's a few links I'll be reading and using over the next month.... http://ift.tt/2ltlAjB http://ift.tt/2lyexCb http://ift.tt/2c2kClY http://ift.tt/2l0vFUE - Financials & AppsBusiness Expenses so far (approx 2 months):DBA Register: $23.00DBA Newspaper Posting: $23.00Shopify Theme: $58.00Namecheap Domain & Email: $14.06 (1 year)Instagress Payment: $9.99 (1 month of "time", mostly for testing)UPS Mailbox: $150.00 (3 months)Shopify: $106.88TOTAL: $384.93..Monthly Costs Moving Forward (including Shopify Apps):Mailbox: $50.00Amazon Professional Account: $39.99Shopify Monthly: $29.00Consistent Cart App: $4.99Fomo App: $19.00Oberlo App: $29.90 (/u/kalvel please give me free stuff)Trust App: $0.00HelpCenter App: $0.00MailChimp App: $0.00SocialShopWave App: $29.00 (these guys had the best wishlist app, and their customer service was AMAZING. they helped me for hours via chat. I love them. /u/Kalysbek you are a baller, thank you.)TaxJar App: $19.00Teelaunch App: $0.00Trackr App: $0.00TOTAL: $220.88/month..So, let's try to make $250/month profit to start off with. Cool?THE END. Please let me know any questions you have, any suggestions you have, any advice you have, and let me know if you guys like the layout of the posts. More info? Less info? More screenshots? More explanation? More TL;DR? Let me know.P.S. I will respond to posts & messages as fast as I can, but please be patient. Thanks. Thanks for your kind words, thanks for your help, and thanks for your love.