Our Story
“Destiny is the push of our instincts to the pull of our purpose”. – T.D Jakes
Where was it that I first read this saying? Was it in a novel? I don’t remember to be honest. But it couldn’t be truer.
Today, when I sit back and retrospect (when I have time to retrospect that is), I believe that it was the ‘pull’ that got me to where I am.
A fervent desire to succeed. A will to make it big, that was stronger than the temporary setbacks that were holding me back.
My name is Jack Zhou(You can pronounce “Joe”), the founder of shipsmartly.io.
We help Shopify brands ship internationally within 5-10 days without customers paying VAT and duties through our fulfillment services from China.
Before I get ahead of myself, let me give you a quick glimpse into my backstory and how I ended up offering a 3PL fulfillment service.
The Struggling Seasons
Most children at a young age consider themselves lucky to be the only child in a small family. You get all the attention you need from your parents and won’t have to share your bedroom with an annoying older sibling.
But life always has one funny little trick up its sleeve. My parents were uneducated workers, and that meant there was nobody to guide me or show me the right career path.
The only thing my mother always emphasized was the importance of education. She would repeat it a hundred times every day, "Jack, you need a college degree to get a job." This was deeply ingrained in my psyche from an early age: 'No degree = No job.' I was pretty scared, I tell you that.
What made it worse was that I wasn’t a good student. Mathematics was a nightmare I could never figure out. I remember wondering how I would clear the exams each time, at least with the bare minimum grades.
Then came the biggest setback: my parents lost their jobs when I was in high school. Life changed overnight. We had to rent out our apartment and move into my grandmother's tiny place—one bedroom, one living room, and no kitchen.
Those winters were tough. I couldn't even afford a nice down jacket. I'd look at my friends wearing Nike and Adidas jackets with envy. I became introverted and vulnerable, the complete opposite of how I was in middle school.
One day, as I lay on my bed reading a novel during Chinese New Year in 2008, it suddenly struck me. What was I doing with my life? Was this how it was going to be for the rest of my days? What did I want to achieve in life? What was stopping me from achieving it?
That moment is crystal clear in my mind even now. I know now that it’s called an epiphany. That moment transformed my attitude. I started waking up at 6 am daily, putting 100% into each class.
A year and a half later, I made it to college. For the first time, I felt I could do something consistently rather than giving up after a day or two.
The Confusing Twenties
There’s a reason why they call the twenties the most confusing decade of your life. The insane hormonal surge of the teens has just ended. You feel like you are ready to conquer the world.
But surprisingly, the decisions that you make are seldom right. My first reaction when I got out of college was that I needed to find a job.
Being born and raised in rural China meant that my options were limited. So, I headed to where all the bustle was — Shenzhen. Within the next few weeks, I landed myself a job.
The First Job
I landed a job as a sales rep. The pay wasn't impressive, but I was in it for the learning. And learn I did, a lot.
This job introduced me to the world of opportunities lying dormant in the online market. My job was uploading products on Alibaba and sending follow-up emails. Doesn’t sound simple, does it?
For three months, I just struggled the hell out of myself. Not a single client. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.
Frustrated, I quit. But the learning stuck with me. I started to make decent progress in my second job.
A Broken Relationship (Another Setback)
The second biggest setback happened when my long-term girlfriend told me that she couldn’t be with me anymore because she didn’t see a bright future together. (I was 25) It scared her and made her feel insecure about her future.
Well, she wasn’t wrong. I was struggling. Not a great pay packet to boast of. No home of my own. And owning an apartment is one of the bedrocks of a relationship in China.
I felt lost and in pain. That was the first time in my life that I desperately wanted to make more money to prove to myself (or to her) that I could achieve everything I’d dreamed of.
I decided to take that first leap of faith and start my own business so that I could earn faster. Back then, my idea of a business was that you build a website, you run ads, and you magically start making sales.
But soon, I realized that neither the business nor the universe works the way we expect it to. Everyone has to go through failure, like baptism through fire, to taste success.
And boy, did I go through my fair share of fire?!
My First Venture Fails
I jumped headfirst into a business selling vending machines to overseas clients. However, I knew nothing about the market or the customers. My only focus was making money.
And when the only thing that you can see is dollars, you can’t see anything else. I didn’t know the market. I didn’t even know the target audience!
The business failed miserably in just 10 months without winning a single deal. I felt sorry for myself because during that period I wasn’t making any money.
All the expenses were borrowed from my mom, which were all her life savings.
Sourcingbro – My Second Venture
After a two-month break, I launched Sourcingbro in 2017. The original idea was to provide sourcing services for overseas clients.
To be honest, this business idea was copied from others who had shown “success” in this niche. I thought it might be worth trying because I didn’t need to have my own product or purchase inventory.
So I started building the website and applying everything I'd learned. Surprisingly, I started gaining traction with clients.
I still remember how excited I was when I received the first payment in my bank account - $3K. I even made a selfie video to record this moment and tell myself, “We can make it work!”
A couple of months later, we even hit five figures in revenue. That was probably the first time I ever felt truly “confident” in my life. I simply thought this was great and we’d have more business.
But reality wasn't as expected. As time went by, I found we weren’t growing at all. It's incredibly frustrating when your business hits a plateau.
I started to explore new opportunities and rethink my business strategy. In August 2019, I noticed the dropshipping opportunity. People were shipping items from China to countries all over the world.
I realized this could be a huge opportunity. At the time, I was living in a tiny 30-square-meter duplex. I started reaching out to potential clients in a paid Facebook dropshipping group. My daily routine involved adding friends and sending direct messages.
Within a week, I landed our first client, Sam, who was looking to switch agents. Despite having no experience with sales calls, I still closed the deal because he needed our services.
The early days were tough. Our building had no elevator, so despite being on the third floor, I had to haul inventory up the stairs every time.
It was the first time we were using a system, so we constantly had to double-check if shipping labels were placed accurately. Our fulfillment journey began in that tiny room.
I still remember that most of the time, we were sitting on the floor packing orders. I always joked that it would be great if we could pack orders on a table.
Within a month, I closed a few more clients, and we signed a lease for our first office. Cost around $1,000 — a big deal for us at the time.
I hesitated because we had to pay two months of deposit. We were just making a couple of thousand and had no savings at that time. But, in the end, we still signed the lease because it was absolutely necessary.
This office had an elevator. No more hauling inventory through stairs. Things were looking really good.
By Q4 2019, we had over a dozen new clients and generated around $200,000 in revenue. We were shipping hundreds to thousands of orders daily because it’s a holiday season and everyone is buying stuff online.
Our COVID Moment
I thought we would continue to grow steadily for the coming years, but in 2020, everything changed. The COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Like many others, we had a very hard time running our business due to quarantine restrictions. The biggest setback came after Q4 when everyone's sales dropped, and the way I used to get clients didn't seem to be working anymore.
So, our business hit a plateau from 2020 to 2022, much like the early days of Sourcingbro. We were just surviving based on client referrals.
Looking back now, the main responsibility is on me. I didn't have enough skills to generate leads, which led to no new clients (and no growth).
Our setup wasn’t capable of helping us scale massively because we were still doing a lot of manual data and billing input, which always led to mistakes. I also had too many emotional problems.
It was a tough period. I knew I had to do something different to achieve better results. So I made changes to my physical and mental build.
I started going to therapy, working out again, and learned as much as I could about sales, marketing, and how to improve our product and service.
Shipsmartly.io - Moving On
In 2023, we upgraded our systems and processes. After a few months of working with the new system, we were in a good position to grow our business efficiently while providing clients with an easy system to manage their orders, shipping, and inventory.
We started handling operations well for bigger businesses, managing more than 2,000 SKUs for a single brand.
By 2024, I realized it was time to rebrand Sourcingbro because we kept receiving sourcing leads while our main focus had shifted to providing 3PL fulfillment services from China.
Currently, we only do a tiny portion of sourcing jobs for old clients. Shipsmartly.io became the new name, clearly indicating what we do and the industry we’re in.
For the first time, I fully understand our offer and how we can add value to our clients' businesses beyond just selling “something.”
Shipsmartly.io is a 3PL Fulfillment Service from China. Our offer: Helping Shopify brands ship internationally within 5-10 days without their customers paying VAT and duties through our fulfillment services from China.
Our services help Shopify brands by:
Reduced Inventory Risk: Shipping from Chinese suppliers to our warehouse takes only 1-3 days, saving 15-45 days compared to traditional bulk shipping and allowing for smaller purchase quantities.
Ship Internationally: International shipping from China is cheaper and faster than from other countries.
Faster Turnaround: Improved inventory turnover rates help clients achieve better cash flow and reduce capital tied up in unsold stock.
If we consistently achieve these results and outpace our competitors, we can grow our business beyond anything I imagined. I genuinely believe that day will come.
Looking back at all the trials and errors, I now realize that true growth comes only from facing and overcoming hardships.
If you want to achieve something meaningful, you have to become the person who deserves it. This journey has taught me that success isn’t just about achieving goals; it’s about the person you become along the way.
I’ll keep learning and fully invest in providing better service and more value to our clients. My commitment to growth is unwavering because I know that it’s the key to creating something truly remarkable.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope to hear yours someday.
Cheers,
Jack Zhou
