The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Our second podcast of 2019 is a different take on our usual Under the Hood. On today's show, we have a Premium member recount his ecommerce journey - from the early struggles to the successful present. And typical of this segment, our guest will also be able to ask me questions and advice. A Veteran-Owned Business Victor Delacruz is the owner ChristianPlanner.com, a company that sells daily planners with a religious theme. A US Air Force veteran, he has gone through a multitude of challenges as an ecommerce entrepreneur including legal disputes with a former business partner and overcoming mental health issues resulting from stress. In just over two years, ChristianPlanner.com has grown to become a million-dollar startup ready to make the transition into a bigger brand with a more diverse set of product offerings. 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! Registration to EcomCrew Premium is closed indefinitely. But, you can still learn from us through our suite of free courses. You'll find a total of 20 videos covering ecommerce topics like Importing from China and Building a 7-Figure Business. 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!

Happy New Year! I'm here with Dave to bring you our very first episode in 2019. I wanted to start the year on a strong foot, so for this podcast, we're doing something different. Today's podcast will focus on an email sent by one of our EcomCrew Premium members. His concern, I'm sure, reflects that of so many ecommerce entrepreneurs. In this world of unscrupulous Chinese sellers, does private labeling still make sense? Is there still a viable business for it in Amazon in 2019? Is private labeling dead? Dave and I both agree that private labeling is still very much alive. But we do go back and forth to expound on our answer. Here are some of the highlights of that discussion. There are many trends that impact private labeling today. For one, competition in this particular space has increased and gotten more intense. The Amazon marketplace is still rife with opportunity for new sellers. A sustainable launch strategy is critical for a private label brand. High-quality product imagery is another important factor because, in many cases, it can be what differentiates your product from all the competition out there. Complexity is the opportunity. The more effort you put into your product, it becomes more defensible. Creating and building content around your product will put you in an advantageous position over everyone else in your niche. Resources Mentioned: E132: DROPSHIPPING VS. PRIVATE LABELING – A FRIENDLY DEBATE E129: HOW TO PICK THE PERFECT PRODUCT TO SELL IN ECOMMERCE HOW TO FIND THE PERFECT PRODUCT TO IMPORT FROM CHINA AND SELL ON AMAZON Registration to EcomCrew Premium is closed indefinitely. But, you can still learn from us through our suite of free courses. You'll find a total of 20 videos covering ecommerce topics like Importing from China and Building a 7-Figure Business. 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!

Time flies so fast and before you know it, another year gone! As 2018 comes to an end, we decided to look back into the year and round up our 10 most downloaded podcast episodes: 10. E169: Building Your Facebook Audience with Dave Huss 9. E158: Using Amazon PPC and Giveaways to Create an Effective Launch Strategy 8. E198: The First Steps in Ecommerce Marketing (Under the Hood with Colin Grice) 7. E159: 3 Key Email Marketing Sequences for Your Ecommerce Business 6. E205: Advanced Amazon PPC Strategies with Dave Bryant 5. E155: Where to Start with Building a Product Brand - Under the Hood with Richard Phillips 4. E206: A Rundown of the Best Amazon Tools 3. E147: Amazon PPC Strategy - Step-by-Step Guide on Saving Thousands of Dollars 2. E129: How to Pick the Perfect Product to Sell in eCommerce 1. E167: Overcoming Serious Beginner Mistakes - Under the Hood with James Treloar Let us know what you think, and if you have topics you'd like us to discuss on the podcast, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for being with us this past year, and may we all have an amazing 2019!

In this segment, I regularly come across ecommerce entrepreneurs who need help in getting their marketing efforts down pat. But once in a while, I get people like Anthony who bring a different concern for me to wrap my head around, and for all the listeners out there to learn from. Background Like many people new to ecommerce, Anthony Procopis started selling products that he didn't have an interest in personally. He was using Shipwire to sell mosquito nets online in 2008. But being a skilled golf player and someone who truly enjoys the sport, transitioning into the golf-related niche was inevitable. A Patent Issue Anthony has ventured into creating his own product and has recently improved upon a golf swing trainer that's already available in the market. However, he has a few challenges in front of him. One is having to contend with copycats that have brought the price down for his product. The second and more significant one is licensing. He is looking at having a big golfing supply company distribute his 'patent pending' product. Listen to the full podcast for more of Anthony's concerns and my insights on how he can grow and expand his present ecommerce business given his unique set of challenges. 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! Registration to EcomCrew Premium is now closed. But, you can still learn from us through our suite of free courses. You'll find a total of 20 videos covering ecommerce topics like Importing from China and Building a 7-Figure Business. 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. Did you join our December giveaway? We're announcing the winner of an EcomCrew Premium annual subscription later today. Follow our Facebook page to get notified when we announce the winner.

Our Under the Hood guest today is struggling with a problem that's very baffling. Shervin Mazaheri is struggling with conversion rates on his website. We're not just talking about low conversation rates, we're talking about extremely low conversion rates--talk about 0.1% in the last 180 days. In this episode Shervin and I go over his website and points out which parts need improving that might help increaase his conversion rate. Below are some takeaways: It's very important for the website to establish trust. One of the easiest ways to do this is to write a good About Us page. A prominent Returns policy helps take the worry off of buyers' minds. Build authority by trying to create the best informative content in your niche. Shervin and I also discussed hiring tips and how to keep employees happy, especially remote Filipino VAs. Listen to the episode to learn how I've managed to keep my PH team happy and motivated! Until the next one, happy selling.

Over the past few months I've been talking a lot about the mounting challenges of selling on Amazon. One of these conversations led to an introduction with Richard Jalichandra, today's podcast guest. Richard is the Founder and CEO of 101 Commerce, an ecommerce company that aims to become the next generation retailer by acquiring businesses that own "microbrands" primarily sold via FBA. In this episode Richard talks about their goal of acquiring 101 brands (they are currently at 14 after 6 months of operations), how they manage to still be comfortable with the mounting risks of selling on Amazon, and what they're looking for in an FBA business that makes them want to buy. He also gives tips on how to better prepare yourself if you plan to sell, how to increase your multiple, and why honesty and transparency can preserve your relationship with a buyer even if your business has problems. Want to sell your business? 101 Commerce is 87 brands away from their goal and they are on the look out for brands to buy. Below are the characteristics they're looking for in a brand: Is 100% or predominantly on Amazon Has brand potential and doesn't sell highly commoditized products Has a trademark and is on Brand Registry 2.0 Has good gross margins (around 70%) Has a good review structure (quantity and velocity) Has been around for at least 2 years, preferably 3 If your brand checks all these boxes, click this link and fill up the form to let Richard and his team know. Thanks for listening to this episode! Let us know what you think by leaving us a review on iTunes. Visit and like our Facebook page for more updates. Until the next one, happy selling!

Dave and I have been part of this industry long enough to have tried a number of strategies to grow our respective ecommerce businesses. Of course, this meant we had to use tools that are compatible with Amazon to develop new products, monitor reviews, and ultimately hit key business metrics. That being said, we wanted to go through a handful of these and comment on them (or at least on the ones that we do use). To make things easier, here are some of the ones we both personally use or have tested - organized into specific categories. Product and Keyword Research AMZ Scout Jungle Scout Unicorn Smasher Landing Page Generators Zipify Pages Zon Pages ClickFunnels Pricing and Repricing BQool Repricer Express Review Monitoring Sellics We also have an article going out in conjunction with this podcast episode. There you'll find more specific information for each of the Amazon tools that we mentioned, including pricing and freebies. Registration to EcomCrew Premium is now closed. But, you can still learn from us through our suite of free courses. You'll find a total of 20 videos covering ecommerce topics like Importing from China and Building a 7-Figure Business. We're also launching giveaway during the holidays so like and follow our Facebook page for the latest updates. 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!

Hey, Dave here. Today's podcast will once again be about PPC. But, we'll be going into the more advanced strategies that Mike did not cover in his popular podcast on the same topic. So, what can you expect from this particular episode? A refresher on the main types of Amazon advertising A look at Amazon Bit+ New product targeting that was recently rolled out Headline search ads Listen until the end for more information on these. If you're looking to really dig deep into these new concepts and strategies, I've written a blog post that should ably supplement what was discussed in this episode. Registration to EcomCrew Premium is now closed. But, you can still learn from us through our suite of free courses. You'll find a total of 20 videos covering ecommerce topics like Importing from China and Building a 7-Figure Business. We're also giving a free annual subscription. Join the giveaway here. The winner will be announced on December 26th. Like and follow our Facebook page for the latest updates. 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!

We've been talking quite a lot about the stress that comes with running an ecommerce business. In fact, in our last episode I talked to Dr. Sherry Walling, an experienced psychologist, about how entrepreneurship can be an addiction and how this can lead to stress and that experiencing that feeling of loneliness. This episode is a follow-up to Episode 192, where Dave and I discuss our stress points in running an ecommerce business. We got so many comments about it that I thought it best to come up with a follow-up. So, here we are. In this episode, I read some of the best comments we got from our listeners - what stresses them out and how do they cope with it. Listen all the way through to the end. I'm sure you'll relate to many of the dilemmas mentioned and can learn from the de-stressing techniques these listeners have shared. Registration to EcomCrew Premium is now closed but, you can still learn from us through our suite of free courses. There's a total of 20 videos covering ecommerce topics like Importing from China and Building a 7-Figure Business. Find more information on the link below. Free Video Courses We're also launching giveaway during the holidays so like and follow our Facebook page for the latest updates. 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!

Now, this isn't the first time I've talked about these two things on a podcast. In episode 192, you'll recall that Dave and I went through our stress points as entrepreneurs. This time around we've invited an expert to shed more light on this topic from a medical standpoint. Dr. Sherry Walling is a clinical psychologist and the driving force behind Zen Founder, where she helps both up and coming entrepreneurs and established business owners navigate their own mental and emotional pain points. Here are some takeaways from our discussion. "The scarcity of time certainly causes a lot of stress and the misallocation of time can drive a lot of loneliness." Sherry references one of Sigmund Freud's Defense Mechanisms. Sublimination is when we take our impulses and channel it into something entirely different, doing it in a way that is socially acceptable. Entrepreneurs are disruptors. We ditched the cube and hacked the system. If we are successful, we get praised for it. If we fail, people call us foolish. Most of us develop a complicated relationship with risk, with rule-breaking and going against the flow. And these certainly play to some addictive tendencies, which can then lead to stress and feeling isolated. "It's okay to do the deep dive but know that you're choosing that. Know that it comes with significant sacrifices in your relationships. Make sure you're okay with that." Getting a bigger pile of money or hiring more employees requires devoting more time and energy to the business. This could mean making significant sacrifices in other aspects of life. Nothing wrong with that as long as we are fully aware that this is a choice we are making willingly. "Are you going to build things that will outlast you? Or are you going to rest on your laurels and spend your money?" We go through different stages of life. Sherry says that from our 20s to our 40s are what's called the "deep building" years. It's the height of our professional and personal development. But at 40, there's a shift that happens in terms of tasks and goals. Our wants and needs change. "Some people talk about work-life balance as if it's the equitable distribution across these different domains of our life and I don't think that works for most of us. But I think it's that sense of whatever you're doing, be there. Do that fully." Having focus is important because it improves the quality of relationships and drives business growth too. Listen to the entire podcast for more of the insightful interview that I had with Dr. Sherry Walling. Registration to EcomCrew Premium is now closed but, you can still learn from us through our suite of free courses. There's a total of 20 videos covering ecommerce topics like Importing from China and Building a 7-Figure Business. Find more information on the link below. Free Video Courses We're also launching a giveaway during the holidays so like and follow our Facebook page for the latest updates. 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!