The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

Our months of hard work have finally paid off! We are happy to announce that the following courses are open for registration: Build a 7-Figure Product Brand Import From China Like a Pro And to kick things off, we have Dave Bryant from literally the other side of the world on the podcast to talk about the course and the carefully curated content that's waiting for you on the other side. And if that's not a treat in itself (you guys know how hard it is to get Dave on the podcast), we're offering the two courses for the price of just one, for a limited time only. I don't want to sound any more salesy than I already do, so here are some conversation points for today's episode: Update on Dave's new offroading brand What Dave and I are up to Our shared belief that strict product labeling is dead, and our strategies moving forward The benefits of product differentiation, both in sales and protection Dealing with suppliers and packaging hacks What to look for in a niche Validating products Tips on starting a brand Our respective revenue expectations when first launching a product This episode is kind of a preview, so many of the things we talk about here are discussed in more depth in our courses. If you've bought one of our courses previously, just send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com so we can upgrade your access for FREE. Also, we have a lot going on for you in the next couple of months. First off is our webinar on March 6th, which you can sign up for here, if you haven't already. Dave and I are also speaking at Global Sources in Hong Kong in April, and since we'd love nothing more than meeting new people and discussing all things ecommerce, we are hosting EcomCrew's very first mastermind on April 21st in Hong Kong. So if you are going to Global Sources and have some free time, we'd love to meet up with you then. Register here! Resources mentioned: EcomCrew.com/course EcomCrew's 2nd Webinar MyEcomCrew.com Hong Kong Mastermind Global Sources Thank you so much for listening to the EcomCrew Podcast. Until next week, happy selling!

"If you think about the money as the fuel that drives the car, if the money is getting stopped up before it gets to the vehicle--meaning it's not being organized properly--then you never get the vehicle to move forward." - Ezra Firestone Ezra Firestone is in the house! That's right, Ezra Firestone of Smart Marketer is our guest for today's episode. Labeled as the first and leading ecommerce influencer in the world, Ezra runs multiple seven- and eight-figure businesses and has been working in the industry for over a decade. He is a very busy man and I'm definitely stoked to finally be able to talk to him on the podcast! Today's topic goes to the very core of any business--money. When you run a business, it's only natural to try to lower your expenses as much as possible in order to maximize profits. That means trying to get the lowest cost of goods, lowering advertising spend, and crimping on employee salary. But if you're trying to grow your business and want it to last for more than a couple of years, is that really the right thing to do? Ezra shares his exact formula on how much he spends on all areas of his businesses. His goal is to grow his businesses aggressively, and that means he tends to spend a lot more on areas where most entrepreneurs tend to cut corners. For example, other people go ballistic when he mentions he spends 10-20% of his top-line on employees alone. In a little bit more detail, here's what we discussed: Who Ezra Firestone is (for those who've been living under a rock) How much to sell items for The advantages of selling higher-cost, premium items How much to spend on Cost of Goods Sold Why he spends 10-20% of his top-line revenue on his employees How much to reinvest back into direct growth marketing and how to allocate the money for ads Metrics for valuation What blended Cost per Acquisition is Lifetime customer value, repeat order rate, cross-sells and upsells When to take cash for equity and when not to This episode is longer than what we usually do, but I didn't even notice it because I enjoyed talking to Ezra so much. I even compared my numbers to his and will apply many of his principles on my business. He's a very busy guy, but he was kind enough to spend more time on the podcast than most guests usually do! If you want to learn more about Ezra and check out what he's up to, just go to smartmarketer.com. Resources mentioned: EcomCrew Webinar BOOM! by Cindy Joseph Zipify Pages One Click Upsell Thanks for listening to this episode! Until the next one, happy selling.

"The reality is that one day you wake up and you realize that you're the bottleneck in your own business, and it's time to be fired." - Mike Jackness on handing over the reins of the company to someone else Have you ever had that feeling when you just know you're about to get fired from your job? In 41 years I have never been fired--I worked hard enough to not be in that situation--and it's certainly uncomfortable dealing with this issue with a company I started. You might remember me doing an episode about my goals for 2018, and surprisingly, those were the very goals that led me to feeling I might get fired from my own company. One of my goals is to double in revenue again this year, and at this point in our business, doubling will require a lot more effort than it did last year. That means I, as the CEO, will have to hand off tasks I enjoy and focus more on high-level (and sometimes less exciting) business development efforts. The thing is, I enjoy doing the lower-level stuff. I like the dopamine hit of a successful Facebook ad or PPC campaign. But when I hired Jacqueline, our Director of Ecommerce, she knew that I needed to give them up in favor of the high-level stuff, so in order to get me to do them, she is essentially firing me from the informal marketing position I always loved. Here are some points I talked about in this episode: A look back at my 2018 goals The moment Jacqueline began taking over my job How hard it is to hand off some responsibility to focus on higher-level stuff Plans of a "Day in the Life of Mike Jackness" podcast episode It feels weird, to say the least, to no longer be doing what I love in order to do the less sexy but necessary functions of a CEO. But in business there will always be trade-offs, and if giving up dopamine hits is what I need to do to achieve my goals, then I'd gladly do it. Resources mentioned: MyEcomCrew My 2018 Goals Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business As always, thanks for listening to this episode. Until the next one, happy selling!

In Part 1, Cory and I talked about his business, Woodies, and the SAAS subscriptions he has racked up in running his business. We went through his SAAS subscriptions and evaluated whether or not he should hold on to some of them and let go of the others. Since he has quite a long list, we continue to talk about the rest of the services he uses in the first part of this episode. Cory then talks about an impending threat to this business: Chinese sellers. This is a problem we've seen more and more of and talked about extensively last year. The good thing is that there are many things Chinese sellers still can't do to get ahead, but we believe that it's only a matter of time before they swamp Amazon and the platform will be too small for everyone to thrive in. With that in mind, Cory and I discuss a topic that might actually be difficult to talk about--selling his business. Here's an overview of everything that we discuss: Sending traffic to Amazon from his website How real the threat of Chinese sellers coming to dominate Amazon is Strategies to win against Chinese sellers Exit strategy advice Ways to maximize the value of his business in case he decides to sell it This has been a very interesting conversation with Cory. He definitely has his head on the right track, being quite young, and running a million-dollar business while traveling the world. He might have to consider an exit strategy for his business, but with his proven track record, finding success on a new business is something he can absolutely do. Resources mentioned: MyEcomCrew Under the Hood E88: Exiting Your Business With Joe Valley of Quiet Light Brokerage Thanks for listening to this episode and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did recording it. Until next week, happy selling!

We've released 4 Under the Hood episodes so far and we've been getting a lot of good comments about the segment. It seems to resonate with a large listener base, and since we've been really happy about your feedback, we're bumping things up and releasing more of these episodes. For today's episode, we have Cory Stout of Woodies.com on the spotlight. Cory is living a nomadic lifestyle while running Woodies, and since automation is a big part of his business, he has been racking up a long list of SAAS (Software as a Service) subscriptions. Today he and I talk about his subscriptions and evaluate whether or not they're worth keeping. Some conversation points: How Cory got into ecommerce Why he sold his first business to his AirBnb host The background of Woodies Why he chose to sell wooden items for his second business His mom's role in his business and the "2017 Employee of the Year" award he gave her His SAAS subscriptions list (spoiler alert: it's a long one) My evaluation of his SAAS subscriptions In Part 2 of our conversation, Cory and I continue to evaluate and talk about his SAAS subscriptions. Stay tuned for Part 2 on Thursday! Resources mentioned: MyEcomCrew Under the Hood As always, thanks for listening to this episode. Until the next one, happy selling!

"Even when you find business models that are pretty well fleshed-out, there's gonna be a million ways to connect the dots that you just kind of have to take your best swings and learn as hard as you can and work as hard as you can. That's going to be everybody's experience in entrepreneurship. There's really no way around that." - Dan Faggella Our guest for today's episode is a Class A badass guy. Those who have been listening to the podcast for a while now know that I vet every single guest to make sure that they don't pitch a product or service that's not useful to our listeners. Hence I have a rule to never interview anyone I haven't met personally. This guy just broke that rule. Our guest, Dan Faggella, is an awesome, I-wish-I-had-more-time-to-talk-to-him impressive guy. I've been in ecommerce for over 15 years and it's hard to impress me with anything these days. But Dan just blew me away. I talked to him for about 40 minutes and had me thinking about implementing his ideas on my business after the interview. Dan Faggella is the founder of Tech Emergence, a company focusing on artificial intelligence. But before he founded Tech Emergence, he built and ran Science of Skill, an eLearning ecommerce company geared towards self-defense. What started as a way to fund his dream of building an AI company became a multi-million dollar venture, achieved by selling digital products. In this episode Dan and I talk about his early days in ecommerce, how he came about the idea of creating Science of Skill, tips on selling digital products, and tons more tips on ecommerce and entrepreneurship in general. As a sneak peek, here are some conversation points: How Dan and I virtually met Why and how he started Science of Skill How he found ecommerce as a way to fund his lifelong dream of creating an AI company The two approaches to selling digital products Leveraging digital products to increase margin on physical products Why he doesn't sell on Amazon Where he finds his customers and his sales channels Tips on selling digital products How he finds experts for his instructional videos His badass Jiu Jitsu skills and how he can beat guys twice his size (link to video below) This is an unusually long episode and I apologize for that. I just loved talking to Dan and wish I could have more time with him. It was such an insightful and information-packed conversation and I hope you find it extremely useful as well! Resources mentioned: MyEcomCrew Epic video of Dan beating big guys Coloring Club If you want to know more about Dan or reach out to him, you can go to his website, or shoot him an email at dan@techemergence.com. You can also find him on Twitter (@danfaggella). Thanks for listening, as always. Until next week, happy selling!

Last week, Megan and I talked about cash flow and early-stage financing for her ecommerce business. We continue to talk a little bit more about financing in this episode, specifically Amazon loans, then move on to the next big issue: Facebook ads. Any ecommerce entrepreneur knows how important Facebook ads are in any ecommerce business. However for a business like Megan's which is still at its early stages--and an Amazon-only business at that--focusing on Facebook ads might not be the best idea. Doing Facebook ads at this point might push her to get her own Shopify/BigCommerce store so that she can fully utilize the power of Facebook ads, and that could mean a lot of work, taking her focus off the more important things like Amazon listing optimization and PPC. It boils down to prioritization and not biting off more than what one can chew. To break things down, here are our conversation points: Bank financing More on Amazon loan specifics How to be laser-focused on what needs to be prioritized for a young ecommerce business Why Facebook ads are not recommended for an Amazon-only business Focusing on listing optimization, PPC, and brand registry first Utilizing the power of YouTubers to promote products We'd like to thank Megan for this information-packed episode. She runs an ecommerce site called The Bootstrap Boutique and a YouTube channel for ecommerce entrepreneurs. Check them out! Resources mentioned: My EcomCrew Under The Hood Signup Kabbage Sellers Summit My 2018 Goals If you're interested in becoming an Under The Hood guest yourself, just sign up here. Thanks for listening and happy selling!

We have another Under the Hood episode for you! Under the Hood is a new segment we are doing on the EcomCrew Podcast where we give our listeners the opportunity to be on the podcast and ask us any advice about their business. They get free coaching from us and our listeners get amazing content, too--it's a win-win! For today's episode we have Megan Loftin of The Bootstrap Boutique on the spotlight. Megan is currently doing her business as a side hustle, and like many entrepreneurs still at the early stages of the ecommerce journey, she has been having problems about cash flow and keeping inventory. As is very common with an inventory-based business (especially if the inventory is coming from China), money can get tied up for months on end. In this episode Megan and I talk about the best ways to finance her business and solve this problem. More specifically we talk about the following: Who Megan is and how she got started in ecommerce How hard it was to start, and how she failed with her first product How she got back up again Money getting tied up and running out of stock How I got over my hate of debt and how loans helped supercharge the growth of my business The specifics of getting an Amazon loan Other ways to get financing This episode is just Part 1 of our entire coaching session and on Part 2, we continue to talk a little bit about financing, and then move on to Facebook ads. It is a very interesting conversation and if you are just starting on your ecommerce journey, then these two episodes will definitely be helpful to you. Resources mentioned: My EcomCrew Under The Hood Signup Steve Chou Scott Voelker As always, thank you for listening. If you want to become an Under the Hood guest, just sign up here. Until next week, happy selling!

"The most finite resource you have is your time and your team's time. So if we were to spin our wheels chasing this huge big box business, that would prevent us from spending our time to stuff that is hugely profitable and is continuing to work. So why take your eye off the ball?" - Bill D'Alessandro on abandoning the big box retail route "My products are in 5,000 Target stores." Admit it, at some point in your ecommerce entrepreneur life, you wished you could say those words. Or let's say you didn't, but imagine for a minute that you're at a party back home for Christmas and high school friends are asking what you're up to, and then you say those words. Yeah, we've all been there. But with all the allure of big box retail distribution comes headaches that you probably are not aware of. As an example, one big chain approached us about selling our coloring books on their shelves and we were psyched. But after running the numbers we realized that it's not even worth it. Today's guest, Bill D'Alessandro, has gone through the big box retail route when he acquired a business that already had a retail presence. He tells us in this interview the woes he encountered and why he ultimately decided to no longer pursue that route. Bill is the founder of Elements Brands, a company that acquires and scales consumer products brands. He has been buying businesses for 7 years now and currently owns 9 brands with over 130 products. He is not a stranger to this podcast and you can listen to a previous episode he has done with us about buying businesses vs. starting one from scratch. Some conversation points: The details of how Bill got into retail distribution The advantages of mom and pop shops over big box retail Treating mom and pop shops as big B2C customers The actual costs of going into retail What chains expect from a brand owner The ridiculous fees chains charge to get your product in their shelves What he plans to do moving forward Bill is currently on the lookout for good businesses to buy and add to his portfolio. If you are planning on selling, you can contact Bill at bill@rebelceo.com or hit him up on twitter at @billda Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection Thanks for listening to our 114th episode. Until the next one, happy selling!

"What's the next thing we have to do to keep going? Is that contacting Amazon, or fixing a listing? Where in some places we probably should take a step back and think about where are we going with this brand and how do we picture it in the next 6 months or a year." - Jacquelyn on focusing on the bigger picture and not getting distracted by the day-to-day activities of the business When you run a small ecommerce company, it's fine to wear many hats--you can be your own CEO, product development specialist, even your own janitor. But if you want your company to grow, you'll realize that being a one-man band hugely limits the scalability of your business. While I'm not a one-man band, I realized I needed somebody to help with high-level business development when our company began growing aggressively. If you've been following the EcomCrew podcast for a while now, you'll probably remember a few episodes early last year where I mentioned I was looking to hire a C-level employee. Six months later, we hired Jacqueline as our Director of Ecommerce. It was a long and meticulous process, considering that this is a role that will have a direct impact on the direction of our business. Jacquelyn has been with us for 3 months now and she has already made huge improvements in our business, streamlining many of what used to be "brute-force" processes. I invited her to be a guest on this episode to talk about the hiring process and what it's like to be on the front seat running our ecommerce company. Some conversation points: Why I decided to hire a C-level employee How we found Jacquelyn Her professional background What she's done so far and what changed with our business since she came onboard Her first impression of our business and the areas she thought needed improvement The most difficult challenges she sees in the next 12 months What she's excited about the company moving forward We plan to grow double this year and I'm confident we will achieve it with Jacquelyn's help. I had fun recording this episode and I will have her on the podcast again in a couple of months with updates on our growth. Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection Episode 96: Our Philippines Team--Hiring and Maintaining a Team of Rockstar VAs Thanks for listening! Until next week, happy selling!