The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

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.  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.  Resources Mentioned Today:  Amazon.com Colorit.com Ecommerce All Stars EcommerceFuel Live 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!

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 Global Sources Icewraps.com 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!

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:  Tactical.com Global Sources EcommerceFuel Live ClickFunnels Upviral 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. 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!

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 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!

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 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!

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 The Canton Fair Sellers’ Summit Amazon EcommerceFuel Ecom Crew Facebook 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!

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 Seller Labs Amazon Ignite Feedback Genius Sellers’ Summit 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!

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: Amazon Colorit Icewraps.com Cuttingboard.com Colorit Value Offer Amazon.ca 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!  

The Ecom Crew Podcast welcomes guest Dave Bryant to this episode. Dave is an ecommerce veteran who shares his experience with us. Dave has been importing goods for 10 years now. He grew his business to 2 million and sold it. He tells us how he did it and why he began his blog Chinese Importing. Dave has been doing business in China during 2008. So, he has some really useful information for new e commerce sellers and sellers who want to expand. Here are today’s points: How Dave got started in ecommerce. Why trade shows are valuable to ecommerce sellers. The pros and cons of 3PLs. The 3 things you should do to grow your profitability. Dave’s opinion on Amazon and my opposing view. Dave’s site Chineseimporting.com teaches ecom sellers how to find good products in China and the process of packaging an Amazon worthy product. He is also offering a discount to Ecom Crew listeners for his course “Importing from China.” If you enter “ecomcrew” into the promo box during checkout you’ll get 25% off the course price. Resources Mentioned Today: eCommercefuel Canton Fair Amazon Chineseimporting.com Ecom Crew Facebook 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!

Hi, it’s Mike here. Today I’m going to be answering some listener questions. We get tons of great questions from you guys and we love hearing from you! On a side note, Colorit is about to launch a new product. I’m really excited about it! So keep an eye on Colorit.com to hear more about it. Here’s a rundown of the questions addressed on today’s episode: What apps do I find are worth the money? Which are best for reviews? What email software do I use? Which tradeshows do I plan to attend this year? What accounting software do I use? Do I have any suggestions for credit card use? How much of my business comes from Amazon? These are all great questions and I hope I was able to provide some good answers. If you want to be part of our live episodes, then find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ecomcrew. We will notify you when a live episode is about to start. Resources Mentioned Today: PushCrew Klaviyo MailChimp Canton Fair Global Sources Sellers Summit Quickbooks Online Colorit.com 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!