The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

In the ecommerce realm, opinions on starting a dropshipping business really differ. Some people say it's dead, others insist that its the only way to go. Well, dropshipping is still very much around. But as Amazon moved into a position of dominance, its appeal has waned. The fact that some so-called “gurus” who sell dropshipping as an “easy” way to earn millions hasn’t helped either. However, there are those who own sustainable dropshipping businesses.  Dave Couillard, our resident design expert, is one of them. I’ve asked Dave to join me in this podcast episode to talk in detail about his website, HardCases.ca. This will also serve as his formal introduction as a business partner on EcomCrew. Here are some highlights from our discussion: Dave’s ecommerce journey: from web design to dropshipping (12:59) What a typical day for him is like (19:13) Sourcing products and finding suppliers (23:10) Running a dropshipping store (44:40) Pros & cons of dropshipping (59:37) I hope our discussion didn’t only prove informative but encouraged you to look at dropshipping businesses in a different, albeit more positive light. As always, drop any questions you may have in the comment section below. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on iTunes.   Get a copy of our Amazon domination book and just pay for shipping. Order it here. Until next time, happy selling!  

Avid listeners to this podcast would know that the bulk of our team is based in Cebu City, Philippines. And I get asked a lot of questions about how we manage employees all the way on the other side of the world.  The quick answer is that I don’t. We have a terrific manager in the Philippines, Mia. She takes care of everything down there. We’re lucky to have such a great group of people working for us that, now, the process is locked down and the whole thing completely runs itself.  Today’s guest has a slightly different approach to hiring and managing a remote team. I’m joined by Dave Nevogt, CEO and co-founder of Hubstaff, a staff monitoring, and time tracking software.  We’ve been using Hubstaff for a while now and it has made managing our team in the Philippines so much easier. From payroll to managing productivity, the software has it all. The company and its main product were born out of a pain point he experienced in a previous business. In this episode, Dave talks about software features and shares tips on how to find, hire, and manage awesome employees all around the globe. As always, here are timestamps to make your podcast listening better. The inspiration behind Hubstaff and the problems that it solved (6:00)  Hubstaff by the numbers (12:24) The pros and cons of having a remote team (16:33) How Dave found people and built a remote team (19:16) The techniques Dave uses to manage employees all over the globe (23:20) The link between time tracking and good team management (28:24) Useful tips for starting a remote team (45:31) Give a Hubstaff a try! Sign up by clicking on our affiliate link and use the code ecomcrew50 for 50% off the first month. Interested to learn more about sourcing from China? Join our free webinar on October 8, 10 AM PST. Reserve your spot now!

Greetings from scenic Lake Tahoe. I’m cranking out this Under the Hood episode before we head on down to Las Vegas, where the weather looks to be warmer this time of year.  I love niches and I love meeting entrepreneurs who are passionate about the things they are selling. Today’s guest is a happy mix of both. Nic Dillon is a long-time musician and owner of Old Delhi Music, a website that specializes in high-quality musical instruments from India.  While you can expect to find sitars and drums on his store, he’s famous for playing and selling harmoniums. Sit back and listen as he shares a bit more about his business and gets advice on how to take it to the next level. Here’s a  list of handy timestamps to get right into the meat and potatoes of our conversation. How Nic got his start as an online entrepreneur (4:11) From hobby business to full-time gig (8:29) What’s the revenue been like? (9:48) The struggles of selling (13:20) Leveraging the workmanship & uniqueness of a product (18:30) Letting people know that it’s a premium product (26:15) Is focusing on that one product we’re known for a good idea? (35:42) Getting more people to be buy harmoniums (53:13) 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! Interested to learn more about sourcing from China? Join our free webinar on October 8, 10 AM PST. Reserve your spot now! 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!

After a week of staying put, here I am back on the road and going through Reno on the way to Las Vegas. I was in Dallas for Scott Voelker’s first-ever Brand Accelerator Live event. It was a slightly different crowd than what I was normally used to. But, I still got to hang out with some old friends and even some EcomCrew Premium members. All our big podcast fans out there would know that I try to do my part and give back to the community by investing in up-and-coming ecommerce brands. And I do it on KickFuther.com. In fact, we did an entire episode on them a few weeks back. And on today’s podcast, I get to chat with the owner of one of those businesses I’ve helped out. John Castrano has had years of experience in the beauty and grooming industry before starting Tame the Beast, a men’s grooming line. But getting the business to where it's at now has been quite the journey. Listen as John recounts he got started in ecommerce and give a glimpse at how the business is doing some five years later. As always, here’s a list of timestamps so you can jump right into the good parts. How the Beast brand started (9:28) Early struggles to get the business up (15:43) Finding investors (18:11) Post-accelerator phase (22:58) Breaking down the numbers (32:31) Take part in our free Importing from China webinar on October 8, 10 AM PST. Reserve your spot now! And if you want to try out Kickfurther for yourself, head over to ecomcrew.com/kickfurther. Questions or comments?  Feel free to leave them below.  Finally, if you enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes. Until next time, happy selling!

Back in February, I introduced the EcomCrew Roadshow on this podcast. Since then, I’ve taken the RV and traveled to a handful of states to help entrepreneurs solve some real-world struggles associated with running an online business.  I gave you a peek into these one-on-one sessions in a March episode. Today, I’m happy to bring our first official episode of the EcomCrew Roadshow. I recorded this one with Cory Stout at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Cory is a familiar name, especially to our regular listeners. He’s a Premium member and has been on the podcast a few times to talk about his main brand, Woodies, and another business he just acquired this year.  You can go back and listen to those episodes through the links below. Trimming Down SaaS Subscriptions Finding an Exit Strategy Buying an Amazon Business: Tips for First Timers True to the Roadshow’s purpose, I sat down with Cory and dissected his business down to that last item on his COGs. We also discussed some ‘low hanging fruit’; opportunities that can help him grow his wooden sunglasses brand beyond the 7-figure revenue mark. Jump to all the best bits of conversation here. Money vs time (5:24) “Busy is the new stupid.” (7:33) What Cory wants to get out of the Roadshow (10:38) Low hanging fruit (13:59) Clearing out those business skeletons (14:42) Optimizing listings and the search for gem keywords (14:47) Not forgetting about the ‘why’ (23:41) Balancing COGs (28:38) Accounting for inventory (35:01) Let us know what you think of this episode. Would you like to listen to more content like this on a monthly basis? Sound off in the comments section. If you think you’re a good candidate for the EcomCrew Roadshow. Sign up today for the chance to be in your very own episode.  It’s the last day we’re opening registration for EcomCrew Premium. Don’t miss out on all the great features like full-length ecommerce courses, unlimited 1-on-1 consulting, membership to our private community, and much more. Be part of the Crew! Watch all of those Helium 10 webinars through this mini-course. Finally, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes if you found this podcast helpful. Till the next one. Happy selling!

Dave’s joining me on the podcast today as we drill down on our business numbers.  In this episode, I’ll be breaking down the trailing 30-day figures for my biggest brand, IceWraps. Meanwhile, Dave will talk about the latest statistics for his current business, Offroading Gear. We cover Amazon sales and the big-ticket items on our COGS. You’ll want to skip the part where I slipped on one of the boardwalks while doing the West Coast Trail (boring story) and dive right into the good parts of this today’s episode.  Here are the timestamps to guide you. How Pat Flynn influenced this episode (6:51) Latest numbers for IceWraps (7:28) Latest numbers for Offroading Gear (8:55) Adding the cost of tariffs (9:55) What makes up these costs (13:55) I hope you found that deep dive into each of our business’s numbers informative and helpful. If you’d like to hear more content like this, please leave us a comment below.  EcomCrew Premium is open until September 16. Supercharge your ecommerce business by getting access to our full-length courses, online webinars, and in-person events. Get unlimited advice from Mike and Dave or bounce ideas off of other 6 and 7 figure sellers in our members-only Facebook group. Sign up here! Want to get more value out of  Premium? Find out how it can help you add more products to your catalog or leverage Facebook for marketing? Send us an email at support@ecomcrew.com.  Sign up for this month’s free webinar. Get a copy of the Amazon Domination book here.  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!

It’s a new month and change is coming to the EcomCrew Podcast.  If you haven’t listened to last Thursday’s goals update, I talked about us reducing the number of episodes in a week from two to one. We want to provide you with the best possible content and, in order to do that, it was a decision to go for quality over quantity. Today’s episode is something that I believe fits the bill. As entrepreneurs, we tend to fall prey to our own success. The struggle to keep up with growth often means that our cash flow takes a beating. Affording inventory can become a real problem.  This is why I’m excited to have Kickfurther CEO Sean de Clerq and VP of Business Development David Koifman on the show.  Kickfurther is a platform that brings together businesses with inventory funding needs and individuals looking to grow their money on ecommerce. The platform helps cash-strapped businesses grow by raising funds from individual buyers to pay for the business' next order. When the business sells the inventory successfully, the individual buyers get paid and earn a profit. In this episode, you’ll learn: How a Kickstarter campaign and Sean's financing problem gave birth to the idea of Kickfurther - 2:34 How Kickfurther deals first came together - 8:23 How Sean found early backers who trusted their brand-new platform - 10:35 Criteria for a business to be on the platform - 19:08 Step-by-step process for a business to get funding - 23:53 Timeline for a business to get funding  - 28:13 Kickfurther's finance charges - 29:59 What returns have been historically for investors - 36:22 Risk factors - 44:38 Consignment setup - 48:44 Special Kickfurther deal for EcomCrew listeners - 53:43 If you want to try out Kickfurther for yourself, head over to ecomcrew.com/kickfurther. Learn how to develop defensible and winning products you can build your business around. Sign up for this month’s free webinar. Get a copy of the Amazon Domination book here.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

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!  

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. Part 1: Rebuilding a $1million Ecommerce and Importing Business from Scratch Part 2: Rebuilding a $1M Ecommerce Business – Finding Products and Suppliers Part 3: Rebuilding a $1M Ecommerce Business – First 60 Day Results Part 4: Rebuilding a $1M Ecommerce Business – 6 Month Results Million Dollar Update – 12 Month Update Road to 1M – Dave’s 18th Month Update on His New Ecommerce Business 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: Epic 62-step checklist Linnworks Sellics 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!

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!