The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

"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!

This is Part 2 of last Monday's Under the Hood pilot episode. We'd like to thank Brad for bravely coming on the podcast to talk about his business, essentially becoming a guinea pig for our new segment. If you're interested in getting at least an hour of free coaching too (and getting featured in a podcast episode), sign up to be an Under the Hood guest here. During Part 1 Brad and I discussed his business in detail, painting a clear picture of where his business stands right now and where he wants the business to go in the future. I had an insight on the strengths and weaknesses of his business and then developed a customized and specific strategy for him to achieve his desired growth. We get down into the meat and potatoes in this episode. I explain to him in detail the strategy I developed and how to execute it properly. As a sneak peak, the strategy encompasses the following: Email marketing. We discussed emails that actually contain value, not just marketing material. We also discussed list segmentation and abandoned cart sequence. Facebook ads. I explained to him Facebook remarketing campaigns. Google product listing ads Utilizing Houzz, a platform for home remodeling and design Amazon. Brad needs to step us his Amazon game to reach his revenue goal relatively easier. We also talked about hiring and the explosive growth that usually comes with hiring the first employee. Brad's business has the potential for explosive growth. Our conversation is chock-full of information and we hope the strategy and recommendations we talked about can help set his business, and yours too, on the right path. Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection E110: Under the Hood with Brad Bernhart Part 1 Under the Hood As always, thanks for listening to the EcomCrew Podcast. Until next episode, happy selling!

This is an episode I wish we didn't have to record. Competition on Amazon is getting stiffer and stiffer and some sellers, in order to succeed, use the short cut and employ black-hat tactics--killing the business of other sellers mercilessly, if need be. In this episode we discuss in detail how these black-hat tactics work. I invited three Amazon sellers who actually went through the grueling experience of being victims to competitors who have no moral compass. We are doing this in the hopes that we spread awareness of what is happening, especially since Amazon doesn't seem to care much. Below is an overview what we discussed: How Kevin Chen, who sells items in the health and beauty market, fell victim to fake reviews and fake comments on nearly all of his reviews How Chris Nowak, founder of My PPC Pal, got accused of selling counterfeits of a product he developed and manufactured himself Robert Weisberg's baffling case against Amazon itself (or someone selling via Amazon Vendor Express) How they tried to resolve their cases and how Amazon responded (spoiler alert: they weren't of any help at all) Lately we noticed that these black hat practices are getting more and more prevalent. What's sad is Amazon mostly only cares about buyers and much less about sellers. It seems that they are okay with letting honest sellers lose, as long as they get their commissions. We want to spread as much awareness as possible about what's happening, and if we band together, we can make a big difference. Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection Million Dollar Private Label Pros My PPC Pal Want to get an hour of free coaching from Mike and Dave? Sign up at ecomcrew.com/underthehood. Thanks for listening!

We're excited to do something new at the EcomCrew Podcast! We want to make EcomCrew a better and more awesome resource for ecommerce business owners like you and today marks the start of that endeavor. Today we are releasing a brand-new podcast segment which we believe will tremendously help you wherever you are in your ecommerce journey. The segment is called Under the Hood, where we call one of our listeners and talk about their businesses for at least one hour. It is essentially a free coaching call--we will 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! If you're interested in becoming an Under the Hood guest, just sign up at ecomcrew.com/underthehood. For our pilot Under the Hood episode, we interview and coach Brad Bernhart, owner of an online business sellling hardwood kitchen utensils. Below are the details of his business: 2016 revenue: $405k Net margins: 40% Channels: 98% on Shopify website, just recently re-started on Amazon Biggest challenge: Scaling a plateauing business and keeping up with production if the business grows (he manufactures his own products) The first part of the coaching call consists of me getting a better idea of Brad's business and understanding his current pain points. After that we discussed the following:  The "cha-ching" Shopify alert (yes, some of us are guilty of not turning that off) If I were on Brad's shoes, what would I do next? In part 2 I elaborated on why I would do what I told him I'd do if I were in his shoes. I even asked him to get a pen and paper because we talked about pretty high level stuff (I hope we did not make Brad's head explode with all that information). Stay tuned for that next Monday. Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection EcomCrew.com/UnderTheHood Brad's interview with Andrew Youderian If you want to be on the podcast too and receive an hour or more of free coaching, just head over to ecomcrew.com/underthehood to sign up. Abby, our VA, will reach out to you for the next step. If you don't want to reveal your niche/products to the audience, that is totally fine. We asked Brad if he could reveal to us some details of his business, and he was happy to oblige. Thanks for listening to this episode, and until the next one, happy selling!

"Never lose sight of the bigger picture--life is short, so make great products that customers truly enjoy and enjoy coming to work." - Mike on one of his most important 2018 goals 2018 just rolled in and there's no better time to set goals for the fresh year than today. I think everyone should be doing something like this, as having clear and sharp goals keeps you from getting distracted by seemingly important but meaningless things. It helps you focus your time and resources on the things that truly matter. I put together 18 goals (yes, I did 18 to be cheesy) that I'm going to work towards achieving this year. It's a collection of goals for Terran (our holding company for ColorIt, IceWraps, Tactical, and WildBaby), for EcomCrew, and for my personal life as well. Below are my 2018 goals (in no particular order) which I will explain in detail in today's podcast: Develop 50 new products Launch on Amazon Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and eventually, Australia Optimize our Amazon listings to increase sales by 50% Improve PPC Implement the concepts in the book Traction in our business Reach $10 million in revenue with a 10% net profit Lose 12 lbs Record 100 episodes of the podcast Launch a new version of ecomcrew.com Launch 4 new courses Speak at at least 4 industry events Hike 80 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail Take an epic 2-week vacation Visit the Philippines office at least once Read 4 books (I know, I know... 4 books aren't a lot but I'm not really a book reader so please don't laugh at me) Hand off my Facebook ads to other people within the company Come up with at least one new tactic that no one else is doing Never lose sight of the bigger picture: create 5 star products that people will truly love and continue to enjoy what I'm doing That's a pretty long list; some of the items are harder than the others, but they're all clear goals that will guide our efforts this year. What are your goals? Feel free to share them in the comments below. Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business Under the Hood ECF Live Global Sources Sellers Summit

Merry Christmas everybody! We just want to thank you guys for an awesome year, it never would have been possible without you. We did a lot of things that are new to us this year (insert shameless plug for our course) and you've stuck with us through the hiccups, providing us feedback along the way which helped us improve immensely. We can't thank you enough for that. Since everyone will be on holiday mode for the next couple of days, we figured we'd do the same and take a break on the podcast. This is not a long term break, we're just going to skip 3 episodes and resume on the 4th of January, kicking off the new year with a goal planning episode. We hope you have a blast during the holidays, and see you again next year!

As 2017 comes to a close, it's only fitting to devote our last episode of the year to 2018 ecommerce predictions. Dave and I listed what we think will happen in the ecommerce world next year, from sales tax to Bitcoin. It's always fun to make these predictions and then revisit them by the end of 2018 to see how many of them actually happened.  It would've been great to have Dave on the episode as well, but he is still in China as of recording this, so I will just cover his predictions here. This will also be our last full-length episode for the year and we will resume with new episodes twice a week next year. I also recorded a short special for Christmas Day next week, stay tuned for that! Here are our predictions for ecommerce next year: Amazon will start collecting sales tax for sellers in multiple states (it will begin collecting sales tax for merchants in Washington State early next year) Shopify will continue to dominate hosted ecommerce platforms but its stock will dive when investors realize there's a finite number of ecommerce store owners to grow their customer base with Facebook will start to monetize messaging near the end of 2018 Amazon will continue to get bad press for counterfeits and knockoffs, do a major crackdown which will benefit brand owners but probably hurt sellers selling third party merchandise China will continue the crackdown on factories heavily contributing to pollution Facebook ads will continue to get more expensive - way more expensive  Amazon will increase fees substantially (Amazon has just announced fee increases beginning February, probably with more increases to come) Amazon will actually do something about the review debacle More sites accepting Bitcoin in ecommerce--especially international Amazon will continue to grab market share Amazon will start or acquire a transportation network Many of these predictions bring terror to us sellers--especially Amazon FBA fee increases and sales tax--but ecommerce in general is expected to grow over the next few years and we are hoping to ride along on that growth. Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection Amazon FBA's Largest Ever Fee Increase Coming in 2018 - How Will it Affect You? 2-Hour EcomCrew Q&A Webinar Registration for our first-ever webinar is still open. You can ask us anything under the sun about ecommerce for 2 hours for FREE. Go here for more details. Thanks as always for listening. Until next year, happy selling!

I just did a podcast about my 2017 biggest struggles in our last episode and today I will cover the biggest news to ever explode in the ecommerce world this year. It definitely seems like 2017 flew us by but not without leaving news bombs that left a lot of people in ecommerce amused, worried, hopeful and wondering what's going to happen next. We compiled a list of the biggest news in ecommerce this year, ranging from the Bitcoin explosion to the ever-so-perplexing sales tax. The items on this list are not written in any particular order. Listen to the podcast for my discussion of each. Amazon acquiring Whole Foods Massive Single's Day sales Record-breaking Cyber Monday sales Soaring Bitcoin price Shopify once got accused as a "get-rich-quick" scheme Sales tax amnesty Marketplace tax collection in Washington Factory crackdowns in China Amazon's quest for HQ2 Amazon and Google's feud Launching of Amazon Australia Controversial Amazon Key Net Neutrality Walmart buying Jet.com Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection Free 2 hour webinar How to Hire Virtual Assistants and Open an Overseas Office in the Philippines As part of our goal to get more reviews on iTunes, we are hosting our first-ever 2-hour Webinar on December 21st where we will answer any ecommerce questions you have and give you tips you need. I usually charge $500/hr for consulting but this webinar is free, the only thing we ask in return is for you to leave us an honest review on iTunes. Check out how to join the webinar here. We hope you enjoy this episode and as always, happy selling!

"In general, I think that people spend too much time talking about their wins, and gloating, and how well things are going and never talk about the disarray or things that are going on behind the scenes, or things that they're struggling with. I think it's important to talk about this stuff; I think everyone goes through these types of things." - Mike Jackness on the business and life struggles he faced this year This is that time of the year when people talk about "best-of", "top 10 of the year", and all those things that highlight the most significant things that happened to them this year. It's a great way to look back on the successes and lessons of the year that is about to end and to get ready for the year that is about to come. In this podcast I will not do a "best of". Instead, I will talk about the struggles and the challenges I faced. Too many people talk about the glory of being an entrepreneur and sweep the mess under the rug. Being in ecommerce is not all roses and the bigger your business grows, the more problems you encounter.  So in this episode, I will talk about the hardships, the confusions, the worry and all the uncertainties that we faced head on this year, and what we did to get overcome them. I elaborate the following challenges my company and I faced head on: Having to reinvent myself as we adopted a new launch strategy (I talk about our new launch strategy in detail in this episode) Keeping up with explosive growth and the tough high-level decisions I had to make Hiring a C-level employee for the first time and how scary that moment was Trying to get our non-Amazon sales to catch up with our Amazon sales and the constant dread of something terrible happening to our account Being able to systematize everything Staying focused and keeping myself away from pet projects Working with my wife (happy wife, happy life right?) It definitely has not been an easy year but with all the struggles came the fruits of our labor: explosive business growth, a great team, and happy customers. We don't expect problems to let up anytime soon since we are gearing for more growth next year, but we do know that we will be giving it all we've got. And you should, too. Resources mentioned: Stamped.io AsiaInspection Our Amazon Product Launch Strategy for 2018 Free 2-hour Webinar If you enjoyed listening to our podcast, please leave us an honest review on iTunes. We badly need reviews to help us get discovered by other ecommerce entrepreneurs out there looking for our content and we need your help. In connection, we are having a 2-hour coaching webinar on December 21st and attendees can ask anything under the sun and we will give our honest unbridled advice that will be really helpful for your business. Normally I charge $500/hr of my consulting time but this webinar will be for free. The only thing we ask in return is that you leave us an honest review of the podcast. You can check out the details here. Thanks as always for tuning in. Until next episode, happy selling!