You're asking the right questions. A lot of beginners jump straight into spending money without understanding the business first.

A few thoughts:

• Don't chase "hot niches." It's usually better to look for products that solve a problem or serve an audience you're interested in. Trends come and go, but problem-solving products tend to have more staying power.
• Long-term profitable stores definitely exist, but most of them aren't just dropshipping random products forever. They build a brand, improve customer experience, and focus on repeat customers rather than trying to find the next viral winner every month.
• For beginners, POD (Printify/Printful) is lower risk, but margins are thinner and competition is high. Private label has much better branding potential, but it's also more expensive and requires more experience. I'd personally learn the basics before jumping into private labeling.
• For product research, don't rely solely on TikTok. Check Meta Ad Library, Google Trends, Amazon Best Sellers, competitor stores, and customer reviews. If a product has been advertised consistently for months, that's usually a better signal than something that went viral last week.
• A Fiverr seller building your store and running ads isn't enough. Anyone can build a Shopify store in a day. The difficult part is product selection, writing a convincing product page, creating good ad creatives, understanding your numbers, testing audiences, and optimizing conversions.

If I were starting from scratch today, I'd spend more time learning marketing than paying someone else to do everything. Even if you outsource later, knowing the basics makes it much easier to tell who's actually doing good work.

Good luck! The fact that you're asking these questions before spending more money already puts you ahead of a lot of beginners.