The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Latest Episodes:

E279: 2019 Goals - Month 8 Update Aug 29, 2019

Show notes

Time truly flies. We're just a quarter away from the holidays. That means a 'goals update' is long overdue. But, that's not necessarily a bad thing as I get to cover a lot of ground and take you on the journey I've been on this year.

It was definitely an eventful eight months. I sold one of our best-selling brands, freed up my time, and am now able to spend time in the RV on extended road trips while doing the EcomCrew Roadshow.

There were misses here and there, but significantly more wins. If you haven't listened to my previous updates, you can listen to them here and here.

And now to the meat and potatoes of this episode. I've listed down the 19 goals along with their corresponding timestamps so it will be easier for you to follow along.

Sell a brand. (3:52)
Position another brand for sale in late 2020. (4:38)
Getting back to location independence. (5:32)
Reducing debt to zero dollars. (8:04)
Hike the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island. (9:01)
Take at least 10 weeks of personal travel. (10:59)
Record 6 or more episodes of the Roadshow. (12:53)
Invest in at least 1 ecommerce business. (14:16)
Lose 10 more pounds. (15:21)
Visit the Philippines office in 2019. (16:13)
Start selling our services for EcomCrew. (17:03)
Significantly improve the quality of the podcast. (17:50)
Film season 2 of the 5 Minute Pitch. (19:35)
Break each of our brands out into different companies. (20:40)
Start hosting personal events for EcomCrew. (22:09)
Speak at 6 industry events. (23:11)
Shift to doing things that only bring me immense personal fulfillment. (24:23)
Do intermittent fasting for all of 2019 and eat less meat. (24:59)
Not to drink the rest of 2019. (26:40)

Learn to find and develop products that stand out from all of the me-too crap everyone else is selling. Sign up for the September 12 webinar.

Try out Kickfurther today! Get $500 off of Kickfurther's services when you sign up for a business account or receive $10 when you join as an investor.

I hope you enjoyed this latest installment of the podcast. As always, feel free to leave a comment below.

If you think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

Till the next one. Happy selling!

E278: Dave's Year 2 Update on His Offroading Gear Business Aug 26, 2019

Show notes

It's Dave doing a solo podcast today. I've been giving periodic updates on how my current ecommerce business has been doing so far. Having recently marked two years of owning and running OffRoadingGear.com, another update is due.

If you're new to the podcast or need a refresher, here are quick links to previous episodes in this series.

In this episode, I also let you in on the following:

Last month's revenue (1:23)
How it compares to the previous months (1:57)
What makes up the $100K revenue (2:57)
What my product inventory looks like (4:05)
Product development strategies I use (6:32)
Having a content website like OffRoading.com (14:45)
The negatives of running this business (18:04)
Do I sell or not? (25:11)

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Get on the waitlist for EcomCrew Premium here.

Learn more about Helium 10 through this mini-course.

I hope you enjoyed this latest installment of the podcast. As always, feel free to leave a comment below.

If you think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

Till the next one. Happy selling!

E276: How to Do Sourcing Right - A Guide for Veterans and Novices Aug 19, 2019

Show notes

Sourcing is one of our go-to topics on the podcast. There are so many moving parts and different ways to approach it.

I've been so fortunate to have sourcing experts come on the show and share insights on this. Today's episode is no different.

I'm joined by Nathan Resnick, the CEO, and co-founder of Sourcify, an intuitive sourcing platform that helps companies find new products around the world.

In our discussion, Nathan speaks mainly on how to go about sourcing when you're a novice. And, if you're a veteran at it, how to cut costs without sacrificing product quality.

In this episode you'll learn:

How Nathan got into sourcing (8:42)
How to source your first product (9:11)
Ratios: private labeling versus manufacturing your own - customized molds (16:49)
The three-pillar approach for cutting costs on sourcing products (23:44)
On the importance of third-party inspections (32:29)

Our talk ends with Nathan emphasizing the importance of striking an effective balance when dealing with the three pillars of sourcing - price, quality, and lead time.

We recently did a series of webinars with Helium 10, which we turned into a mini-course. Head over to ecomcrew.com/helium to watch the entire 3-part series.

In Vancouver this week? Drop by the CRAFT Beer Market and have a drink with us. Sign up for the meetup here!

Finally, if you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

E275: Diving Deep into Untapped Keywords and Shopper Trends in Your Niche Aug 15, 2019

Show notes

Today's guest is George Lawrence, the founder of MerchantWords. I've been wanting to get him on the podcast for ages. Finally, we've had the chance to record this episode.

Before getting into the meat and bones of what his awesome tool does, a bit of storytime.

George is known in and around the industry as one of the good guys. Not just for his generosity in sharing what he knows but also for his resilience in the face of setbacks. Last year, his house burned down in one of the fires that ravaged parts of Southern California.

Fortunately, personal and business experience instilled a sense of preparedness in him. With things up on the cloud and having a distributed workforce, he was able to forge on with his company.

Now on to MerchantWords. If you ever wanted to get in-depth insights on what people are searching for in your niche, it's definitely a must-try.

Here's George giving the 411 on this awesome tool.

how Merchant Words started (9:50)
what MerchantWords does (16:40)
how it's beneficial to sellers (18:25)
some real-world examples (23:15)

Speaking of great tools, we recently did a series of webinars with Helium 10, which we turned into a mini-course.

Even if you don't use Helium 10, I think you'll find the information there that's really interesting. Head over to ecomcrew.com/helium to watch the entire series.

Finally, if you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

E274: How Due Diligence Helps You Sell Your Ecommerce Business Aug 12, 2019

Show notes

Just as the title says, this episode is all about helping you get a better sense of how the due diligence process works by talking about a bit about how it was done for a brand we sold - ColorIt.com.

I'm joined by Chris Yates and Brian Diener, from Centurica, a company that helps online business buyers conduct due diligence on prospective acquisitions. They not only handled the due diligence on ColorIt but also served as a go-between for myself and the new owners to ensure that this part of the buying process went as smoothly as possible.

Chris provides a bit more detail about the Centurica through the following:

What the company does (4:22)
The process of doing due diligence (5:35)
Potential costs for the service (7:14)

Brian, who did the actual due diligence on ColorIt, talks about how it was done.

Verification process (13:17)
Accuracy of splitting up fees (15:02)
Checking supplier relationships (16:47)
How P&Ls are reviewed (19:45)
What goes into a client report (21:09)
The results and how we reacted (27:47)

Learn more about Centrica's services from the website or book a free phone consultation.

Get the full picture of what went down with the ColorIt sale when you listen to these episodes.

Get info about the Rhodium Weekend event in October.

Finally, if you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

E273: Growing an Ecommerce Business in an Ultra-Niche Market Aug 08, 2019

Show notes

It's been a hot minute since I did one of these Under the Hood episodes. Today, I bring you one that could be both interesting and potentially helpful for those selling products in narrow niches.

It can be difficult to be number one in a highly saturated and competitive niche. That's not usually a problem for folks with businesses in very specific and product-focused niches.

Nevertheless, being involved in an ultra-niche business has its own share of challenges.

Today, I'm talking to Mark who helps run a dancewear company in an ultra-niche market. Originally started by his grandma 40 years ago, he was instrumental in its shift from selling wholesale to retail in 2017.

Here's a look at where the business is at right now.

How Mark got involved in ecommerce (2:43)
How they stared in the online space (4:05)
What the revenue's like (5:19)

Mike puts in a couple of suggestions for growing the business.

Do SEO (7:11)
Look at selling on Amazon (9:26)
Put out good quality content (12:15)
Start using Facebook Messenger (19:12)
Free plus shipping offer (20:46)
Create a giveaway (24:57)
Add lifestyle photos (29:57)

Under the Hood is a segment where we do an hour-long coaching call with one of our listeners. We take a look at their businesses, provide honest feedback, offer our best business advice, and answer whatever questions they have. In exchange for the free coaching, we will turn the call into a podcast episode so that our community can benefit as well. It's a win-win!

Subscribe to the 5 Minute Pitch podcast to listen to all the pitches and deliberations from the show's first season.

Join season two of the 5 Minute Pitch by filling out and submitting the application form.

E272: Testing Out PickFu with John Li Aug 05, 2019

Show notes

Ecommerce conferences are really a great way to meet people. Sometimes these new acquaintances spark great partnerships as well.

I met John Li at lunch during this year's Sellers Summit event in Miami. I got to learn more about PickFu, the polling platform he co-founded.

A few weeks after we met, he sent me an email with a poll he created on the old homepage of one of our brands, Wild Baby. The results were so interesting that I had to get him on the podcast.

At the beginning of this interview, he talks in detail about the following:

How PickFu started (3:53)
Use cases for the tool (6:00)

That initial poll was great data to have at the time because we were in the process of changing the Wild Baby homepage. So, each of those 50 comments we got was helpful. When the new homepage was ready, we ran a series of other polls that revolved around the redesigned homepage. Find the timestamps for those below.

That first poll John did on our old Wild Baby homepage (7:47)
Poll on the redesigned homepage (10:46)
Splitly test (13:22)

We also ran a PickFu poll to assess the effectiveness of our sign up page for EcomCrew Premium. Listen to the results at the 25:06 mark.

More recently, we ran a poll against a competitor for one of our products. I'm happy to note that 29 out of the 50 people polled opted to buy our product instead of the competitor. Take a look at the results here.

I hope you find all of these poll results interesting and useful. If you want to get feedback on your own website images or Amazon listings, you can use our affiliate link at pickfu.com/ecomcrew and get 50% off on your first poll. For questions, you can shoot John an email at john@pickfu.com.

Subscribe to the 5 Minute Pitch podcast to listen to all the pitches and deliberations from the show's first season.

Join season two of the 5 Minute Pitch by filling out and submitting the application form.

E271: Pivoting from a Gaming Platform to an Ecommerce Company Aug 01, 2019

Show notes

How time flies. We're right past the middle of the year. Soon it'll be the holidays, a busy time for any ecommerce seller.

People in ecommerce may have similar experiences, but stumble into the industry in a lot of interesting ways.

Daniel Buelhoff's story is pretty out there.

A short time after graduating from college, he and his partners were able to raise €12 million to fund Smeet, a social gaming company. When that venture went south, he pivoted to ecommerce with an expiring Nespresso patent. Now, he sells physical products online through Gourmesso and is expecting 8-figure revenues.

In this podcast you'll learn:

How Daniel got his start in business (4:17)
How he and his partners raised €12 million in venture capital to start the gaming company Smeet (6:14)
How the changes in Facebook had an adverse effect on Smeet (9:54)
Transitioning to ecommerce with an expiring Nespresso patent (13:55)
Achieving success with Gourmesso in such a crowded niche (22:23)
Expanding to the other niches and acquiring more businesses (29:25)
Some things that helped him grow his coffee business (34:53)

Listen as Daniel shares inspiring insights on finding a niche, maintaining it, and growing it to the n'th level.

E270: How to Make More Money Out of Existing Ecommerce Sales Jul 30, 2019

Show notes

It's almost the end of July and we're down to the last episode of Women's Month. I've had a great time chatting and learning from all these incredible women.

Today's guest is a returnee to the EcomCrew Podcast. Dana Jaunzemis is the founder of HomeHealthtesting.com. She has a solid accounting background. She and I have been friends for years and was in one of my earliest podcast episodes where we talked about ecommerce growth and profitability.

In this episode, she and I discuss the importance of ecommerce accounting and how to make more money out of existing sales.

Dana shares her thoughts on the following:

Percentage of women involved in ecommerce (3:29)
The importance of liking and respecting your customer base (10:19)
The joys of being an ecommerce entrepreneur (12:01)
Approaching ecommerce accounting at the micro-level; essential data points (22:35)

Aside from her core business, Dana also blogs about her experiences as an entrepreneur on 44ideas.net.

TOOLS MENTIONED:

This episode is part of our Women's Month celebration. We'd love to see more women in the ecommerce industry, so if you are a female business owner, head over to www.ecomcrew.com/underthehood and tell us your story. We'd love to feature you on the podcast.

E269: Managing a Growing Ecommerce Business, Moving it Off Amazon Jul 25, 2019

Show notes

Today's guest is Aneta Winiarski, she operates from Toronto, Canada. Aneta owns and runs a kitchenware brand called Stylized Settings, which is sold exclusively on Amazon.

A growing business like hers can eat up a lot of time. As a mom to two boys, she's looking at ways to have more control over that growth by diversifying away from Amazon.

Give this episode a listen and you'll learn: