The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 76: Ecom Crew Changes Jul 06, 2017

Show notes

I'm sure our listeners have noticed that Grant hasn't been on the podcast lately. The reason for this is Grant has moved on to do other things. We agreed that he should follow his new direction, so he has left the podcast. Our friendship remains strong.

However, I am happy to announce that Dave Bryant will be joining me on Ecom Crew!

Dave is the founder of chineseimporting.com, a blog for newcomers to the importing business. His focus is, of course, China, but his business is starting to shift to e-commerce. This change is something that we feel will be a good fit for Ecom Crew.

Dave has made it clear that he won't do the podcast every week, but he writes awesome content. We also have plans to launch a course in late August, maybe early September. There are some great ideas in the pipeline and we're very excited about it!

Here are some of the points we discussed today:

Grant's new direction.
Dave's transition into Ecom Crew.
Dave's background in Chinese imports and international business.
Why we think this merger will be good for Ecom Crew.
How we plan to grow our audience.
The upcoming courses.
What I hope for the future.

Just a reminder, I will be speaking at some events this year. Here is a list of those events.

Ecommerce All Stars -- Austin, TX, August 4-5.
Global Sources -- Hong Kong, October 17-19.
EcommerceFuel Live -- Laguna Beach, CA, January 11-13, 2018.

This episode is sponsored by Stamped.io. We have recently switched to Stamped.io, so we can get the most out of our reviews, and they have a really great product. We are proud to partner with them and there is a link below to check them out.

We also do live episodes on Facebook, but there won't be a live episode for a couple of weeks. We do have some pre-recorded episodes done for you. To get in on the live episodes, just like our Facebook page.

Resources Mentioned Today:

Chineseimporting.com

Color It

Ecom Crew

Ecom Crew Facebook Page

If you have any questions or anything you'd like us to discuss on the podcast you can now email us directly at ecomcrew.com! Just send those emails to support@ecomcrew.com. Also, we would really appreciate if you would leave us a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

Episode 75: Holiday Planning Time Jun 29, 2017

Show notes

On today's episode, I discuss why you need to start planning for the holidays. It is easy to fall into the trap of assuming you have enough, and then underestimating your demand. A lack of inventory means a loss of sales. Don't let it happen!

Here's what I cover today:

Our Ecom Crew courses.
The ideal time frame to order standard inventory.
The ideal time frame to order a new product.
The process you need to go through to get ready for the holidays.
Color It's upcoming 12 Days of Christmas promotion.
Color It's upcoming 8 Days of Hanukkah promotion.
Why we start our holiday promoting in October.
Why overestimating your inventory needs is a good thing.
Why you should be prepared for Chinese New Year.

We will be launching some Ecom Crew courses in August. If you are interested check out the link at www.ecomcrew.com/course. We will be doing these courses with Dave Bryant, so sign up at the link and we'll send you more information later.

Resources Mentioned Today:

Color It

Icewraps.com

The 12 Days of Christmas Promotion 2016

Ecom Crew's Facebook Page

Stamped.io

Episode 74: Hiring Strategies for a New Direction Jun 22, 2017

Show notes

Today I want to talk about the direction the company is taking and how I plan to keep up with it. We have really plateaued as a company, and part of that is because we don't have the manpower. We need some new structure. I have decided to take a two-prong approach to restructuring things. The two sides of the business are:

The product side or "getting the product to our customers."

The eCommerce side - email marketing, promotions, product development, and generally everything pre-sale.

Hopefully, this new structure will help us get to an eight figures status. If you know someone who is kind of a "techie" person, then contact me at mike@terran.com. I would like a resume or a letter telling me why you are the best fit for the company.

The things I'm looking for in a new hire are as follows:

Able to relocate or already living in the San Diego area.

Understands and knows how to manage content.

Experience in eCommerce is super important. You need to know how to run Amazon and Shopify stores.

A fast learner who can pick up on the stuff they don't know.

A good communicator, so that we can be more efficient.

A hard worker and self-starter.

Someone who wants a long term position.

I realize that nobody is going to have all the experience I am looking for, but what is important is the prospect's willingness to learn. So if you know someone or you are a good fit for me, please let me know.

Just a reminder, I will be speaking at some events this year. Here is a list of those events.

Ecommerce All Stars -- Austin, TX, August 4-5.
Global Sources -- Hong Kong, October 17-19.
EcommerceFuel Live -- Laguna Beach, CA, January 11-13, 2018.

Also if you go to www.ecomcrew.com/summit2017, you can download my slides from my presentation at Sellers' Summit 2017. You will also get a discount code for $50 off the price of a virtual pass to all the great content from the summit.

Included in this package will be a free round table session with Scott Voelker, Greg Mercer, Jeff Cohen, Steve Chou, and myself. That round table will be June 26th at 2 pm Pacific time. If that's something that interests you, then check out the link to sign up.

Resources Mentioned Today:

Ecom Crew Facebook Page

Global Sources

Sellers' Summit Virtual Pass

Shopify

Stamped.io

Tactical.com

Don't forget about our Facebook Live episodes. Just like our Facebook page and you will be notified when we do an episode.

If you have any questions or anything you'd like us to discuss on the podcast please go to ecomcrew.com and fill out the contact form. Also, we would really appreciate if you would leave us a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

Episode 73: Should You Go All in on Amazon, or Not Jun 15, 2017

Show notes

On today's episode we welcome back Dave Bryant. Dave is here for a friendly little debate. We are going to trade views on Amazon. Dave tends to believe you should build your business completely on Amazon, and I disagree.This is a respectful discussion and we both make some really good points.

If you are just starting out in ecommerce, then maybe this episode will help you balance out which approach is best for you. Are you more comfortable basing your sales on Amazon? Or do you want to hedge your bet? There really isn't a right or wrong answer here, it all boils down to where you want to take your business.

Here are some of the points we discussed:

Why I don't like the idea of "going all in" on Amazon.
Dave believes Amazon owns the world.
Dave's reasons for why building on Amazon is a good idea.
My reasons for why building on Amazon is a bad idea.
Is Google Adwords even worth it?
Coping with Amazon's sudden changes.

As I stated earlier, we are both right, it's just interesting to get a different point-of-view sometimes.

I want to give special thanks to Dave and our sponsor Stamped.io. We have recently switched to Stamped.io, so we can get the most out of our reviews, and they have a really great product. We are proud to partner with them and there is a link below to check them out.

Just a reminder, I will be speaking at some events this year. Here is a list of those events.

Ecommerce All Stars -- Austin, TX, August 4-5.
Global Sources -- Hong Kong, October 17-19.
EcommerceFuel Live -- Laguna Beach, CA, January 11-13, 2018.

Resources Mentioned Today:

Amazon.com

Colorit.com

EcommerceFuel Live

Ecom Crew Facebook Page

Don't forget about our Facebook Live episodes. Just like our Facebook page and you will be notified when we do an episode.

Episode 72: Announcing a New Brand Jun 08, 2017

Show notes

I'm going to take a big bet on the future of ecommerce which will direct how things go over the next few years. Back in 2013, Grant and I purchased a domain name called Tactical.com. We are getting ready to launch the site around the beginning of July. Until then we are offering a promotional giveaway. We are offering an item from 511 Tactical to the people who sign up. Hopefully, this will do two things for the new site:

It will get our name out to the target audience.
It will give us an idea of what sort of products our target audience want.

I have hired a really talented content writer to work on the site. The content is great and we will continue to provide awesome quality content for our customers.

Here are the topics I covered today:

Some conferences I will be speaking at over the next few months.
Our plans for Tactical.com.
My marketing process for the launch.
How the 511 Tactical audience is going help us get started.

I mentioned I would be speaking at some conferences. Here is where you can catch up with me.

Ecommerce All Stars -- Austin, TX, August 4-5.

Global Sources -- Hong Kong, October 17-19.

EcommerceFuel Live -- Laguna Beach, CA, January 11-13, 2018.

Resources Mentioned Today:

Ecom Crew Facebook Page

Don't forget about our Facebook Live episodes. Just like our Facebook page and you will be notified when we do an episode.

Episode 71 Mike's Sellers Summit Presentation Jun 01, 2017

Show notes

Last week I talked about Sellers Summit. This week I want to talk about the presentation I gave at Sellers Summit. I won't be able to cover all of my presentation, but if you want to see the full presentation you can find it at ecomcrew.com/summit2017. You will also find a link for the Sellers Summit Pass. The link offers a discount for our Ecom Crew listeners.

My point in this presentation and this episode is to change your view on getting sales and building an audience. I will share the numbers from my promotions this past year and maybe give you some insight on why they worked. If you take anything away from this episode, it's this, put the value to the customer first, it will go a long way.

Here's what I covered on today's episode:

Sellers Summit 2017
Why you need to bring your customers value.
How building relationships are good for sales.
The benefits of email marketing.
What is a lead magnet?
Our best lead magnets.
My advice for offering value to your customers.

To really get the full picture of what I'm talking about, go to our Facebook page. I have some really helpful slides for this episode that you can't see any other way.

Resources Mentioned:

Ecom Crew

Ecom Crew Facebook Page

20 Free ColorIt Downloads

Colorit.com

Klaviyo

Episode 70: Sellers Summit Recap May 25, 2017

Show notes

Hi Listeners! I'm back from the Sellers Summit in Florida and am so excited to share my experiences with you. The summit was not only a really fun experience, but it was also educational. So, for this episode, I will be recapping my time at the summit and sharing any useful information.

Before we begin, I must say that I loved meeting some of you podcast listeners at the summit and it's really something to know that you've entertained and helped other people.

Though my trip to Florida was a bit of whirlwind, here are some things that were discussed there and that I will cover on today's episode:

The importance of Masterminds
Takeaways from the keynote speech at the Sellers Summit
Greg Mercer's speech: Never try to develop a product that people don't want
Knowing your audience and finding your niche
Aspects of automation in business

Thanks again for listening. I'm looking forward to the next episode, which I know will be very exciting and one that you will all really enjoy.

Resources Mentioned:

Sellers Summit

eCommerceFuel

JungleScout

ECom Crew Facebook Page

Episode 69: Asia Trip Recap May 18, 2017

Show notes

Hey there! It's Mike and I'm back from Asia. I'm going to take today's episode as an opportunity to give an honest account of my trip. For full disclosure, I was given a ticket to this event by the event coordinator. Meghala Bhardwaj was a guest on our show awhile back. The conditions she gave were I had to give an honest reaction and review of my experience. I was going to do that anyway, so it was a win-win for me.

I was gone for a month, which is the longest I've been in Asia. Unfortunately, I spent this trip incredibly sick. So, I missed the Global Sources meet-up, but that was it. I really pushed myself to get out and network and I had some really great interactions during this trip.

I attended two major trade shows while I was gone:

The Global Sources Summit
The Canton Fair

I heard some good speakers and got some really useful practical advice.

Here are some of the things from today's episode:

Phases 2 and 3 of The Global Sources Summit. My experience, the speakers, and the networking.
Great advice I received about dealing with Chinese manufacturers.
Useful information for selling internationally.
My biggest takeaway from The Global Sources Summit.
How I celebrated my birthday.
My trip to Cebu and the office I have over there for my employees.
My awesome Filipino workforce.

I will be attending Sellers' Summit in Fort Lauderdale, FL this month. I will speak on Friday and host a Mastermind on Thursday. If you plan on attending, I will see you there!

Resources Mentioned:

The Global Sources Summit

Ecom Crew Facebook Page

Episode 68: Jeff Cohen of Seller Labs on Amazon and Tools Apr 20, 2017

Show notes

Today I welcome Jeff Cohen from Seller Labs to discuss a couple products. Seller Labs develops products that help optimize your Amazon seller experience. Jeff and his team developed Ignite and Feedback Genius. Jeff will explain what both of these products can and will do for new and established Amazon sellers, especially after the changes Amazon has made to their terms of services.

Today is the first pre-recorded episode we have done in quite some time. I should be in China during these pre-recorded episodes. The live Facebook episodes should come back after the trip.

Here is what we covered today:

My China plans
Sellers' Summit
The importance of networking.
Amazon's most recent changes.
Why the changes are good.
How Feedback Genius can help with those changes.
What are "Sponsored Product Ads?"
How Ignite helps sellers optimize their campaigns.
Jeff's recommendation for the average cost of sale.
The difference between Amazon's sponsored product ads and Google's ad words.

Jeff has designed a landing page for our listeners, just in case you got lost during our conversation. The address for that resource is sellerlabs.com/ecomcrew. For general information about Jeff and Seller Labs visit sellerlabs.com.

Resources Mentioned Today:

Ecom Crew Facebook Page

Ecom Crew Special Seller Labs Page

If you have any questions or anything you'd like us to discuss on the podcast please go to ecomcrew.com and fill out the contact form. Also we would really appreciate if you would leave us a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

Episode 67: Q1 Review Apr 13, 2017

Show notes

We are back together for a new episode of Ecom Crew podcast! Today we talk about the things we're gearing up to do. We have a lot of exciting things in the pipeline and we're happy to share them with you guys! We reflect back on our first quarters and what this quarter has told us about our businesses moving forward.

Mike wants to remind you about his upcoming trip to China and the mastermind and meetups he wants to organize. He'll be gone for quite a long time, so the next few Ecom Crew episodes will be pre-recorded and not live on Facebook.

Grant has been putting his nose to the grindstone and has reached his own conclusions from the first quarter's performance.

Our conversation today includes:

Mike's upcoming trip to China.
Grant's overview of his first quarter.
The growth of Amazon and the issues it causes both Mike and Grant.
Why it is important to network in e commerce.
Why you should build your business separate from Amazon.
Mike's search for a second-in-command.
Grant's search for an executive assistant.
Our shipping and supplier woes.
Mike's "value first" promotion.
Common mistakes small businesses make.
The pros and cons of expanding your Amazon business to Amazon Canada.

Although we won't be doing live episodes for a while, you can be involved in our live show if you like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ecomcrew.

Resources Mentioned Today: