In today’s episode, I am sharing the major takeaways from the 2019 State of the Merchant Report. It is a bit of a tradition for me to survey several hundred merchants to discover what is happening in the eCommerce realm, and this report reveals if ad costs are going up, the state of drop shipping, how much growth Amazon is seeing and much more. Listen in to find out the results! You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2JwJ5DR...
May 10, 2019•20 min
Amazon to Offer Free One-Day Prime Shipping, Trump Threatens to Hike Tariffs on $200B of Chinese Goods, Amazon to Collect Calif. Sales Tax for Small Online Retailers, and more. You can see the full show notes for this episode at https://www.ecommercefuel.com/may-8-2019/ The News Cart features industry news, community discussions, compelling job opportunities and interesting content around the web from the previous two weeks....
May 08, 2019•7 min
Taylor Holiday is a managing partner at Common Thread Collective, which was rated the best place to work by Glassdoor. Taylor is well-versed on how to run a business and keep your employees and clients happy, and today he is going to share with us his tips and tricks. We talk about what TMYD stands for and how you can implement it into your business to ensure your clients' needs are aligned with your work. Listen in to discover how Common Thread Collective is growing so quickly and the steps you...
May 03, 2019•40 min
Two years ago, my family had three massive, life-changing decisions to make, and we didn’t know which way to go on any of them. Thankfully, we were able to work through a framework that helped us make definitive choices that we’re happy with today, and in this episode, I'm sharing the key steps that helped us get to the point where we felt comfortable and confident that we made the right call. Listen in to hear the strategy we used and how you can apply a similar process in your own life the nex...
Apr 26, 2019•19 min
Amazon Is Shutting Down China Marketplace Business, Many States Moving Away from Transaction Thresholds for Sales Tax, Facebook Revamps Ads Manager and Business Manager, Amazon Opens Key Delivery to Garages, and more. You can see the full show notes for this episode at https://www.ecommercefuel.com/april-24-2019/ The News Cart features industry news, community discussions, compelling job opportunities and interesting content around the web from the previous two weeks....
Apr 24, 2019•7 min
Bryce Adams is the founder of Metorik, a company that is best described as the Swiss Army Knife of WooCommerce. Not only does Bryce know a ton about WooCommerce, but he also bootstrapped an extremely profitable business with himself as the only employee—and managed to do so in a way that didn’t sacrifice customer service or the quality of the product. I brought him on the show today to ask him how he did it, what helped him decide where to put his time and money to make his company such a succes...
Apr 19, 2019•38 min
Today I’m bringing you a bit of a shorter episode between full-length shows to give you an update on the eCommerceFuel Job Boards. It’s time to come full-circle on the series I began last summer when I started this project and keep my commitment to giving you a transparent, non-polished look at what it’s like launching a new venture. In this episode, you’ll hear the final update as I share the messy, slightly embarrassing story behind what’s going on with our job boards. You can find show notes ...
Apr 16, 2019•13 min
Carson McComas of FuelMade.com knows Shopify better than just about anyone, and he joins me on the show today to do a deep dive into what’s going on with this platform. We cover the recent features they’ve rolled out, how they're using augmented reality on their website, how things are going with their virtual employee, Kit, and more. Listen in to hear updates on Shopify today and what's coming in the future. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2D3MFkJ...
Apr 12, 2019•45 min
Amazon Quietly Scales Back Promos for Private Brands, Before Shopify Breakup, Mailchimp Quietly ‘Acqui-Hired’ LemonStand, Klaviyo Raises $150M in Funding, Online Sales Beat Brick-and-Mortar for First Time, Adobe Launches Commerce Cloud, Built on Magento Acquisition, and more. You can see the full show notes for this episode at https://www.ecommercefuel.com/april-10-2019/ The News Cart features industry news, community discussions, compelling job opportunities and interesting content around the w...
Apr 10, 2019•6 min
Beardbrand had an amazing 2018. They’re up over 50% and their founder, Eric Bandholz, won the ECF 5 award for the most upvoted thread of 2018. Today I’ve got Eric on the show to share what made last year such a great one for his company. He talks about what made them decide to leave Amazon, how they’ve changed up their strategy, and more. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2OHbIPe
Apr 05, 2019•41 min
Welcome to the second episode of our two-part series with Nate Lipton from Growers House. In last week’s show, we went live on the mic as I got a full, behind-the-scenes tour of the warehouse, and this time, we’re headed into town to grab some pizza and drinks to talk even more about how he does things. We cover the online community he has created and its impact on his business, how he gets his employees excited to do good work, his approach to delegating, and more. You can find show notes and m...
Mar 29, 2019•49 min
Mailchimp Pulls Shopify Integration App, Instagram Launches Shopping Checkout, Charging Sellers a Fee, PayPal Now Lets U.S. Users Instantly Transfer Funds to Bank Accounts, Apple Rolls Out TV Plus and Other Subscription Services, and more. You can see the full show notes for this episode at https://www.ecommercefuel.com/march-27-2019/ The News Cart features industry news, community discussions, compelling job opportunities and interesting content around the web from the previous two weeks....
Mar 27, 2019•7 min
Today’s episode is going to be a bit different from the usual format. I recently headed over to the Growers House warehouse with the company’s co-founder Nate Lipton to get a behind-the-scenes look at how they run things on the backend, and you’ll get to hear us live on the mic as I get the tour. Listen in to hear Nate break down how things are running in his business and what he's doing to keep it all going smoothly. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2...
Mar 22, 2019•59 min
Today I’d thought we’d talk about something that’s been in the news recently: Amazon’s growing PPC business. Their PPC division has nearly doubled over the last year, and I’ve got Marshall Hayes of Amplio Digital here to talk about what’s been going on. Marshall knows the Amazon PPC world really well, and he explains what’s changing, what this means for sellers, and what we can expect in the future. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2H9mmNG...
Mar 15, 2019•24 min
Amazon Cracks Down on Counterfeit Products and sues the operators of five businesses allegedly selling fake reviews, Criticized as Anti-Competitive as they lift restrictions on sellers, Target's curated third-party marketplace, Negotiating rules on global e-Commerce, and more. You can see the full show notes for this episode at https://www.ecommercefuel.com/march-13-2019/ The News Cart features industry news, community discussions, compelling job opportunities and interesting content around the ...
Mar 13, 2019•10 min
For the last year, Kevin Williams of Brush Hero has been dealing with the nightmarish implications of having his product ripped off. Not only have the knockoffs cost him more than half a million dollars in lost sales and out-of-pocket fees, but the whole ordeal has also halted his company’s growth as they try to fight back. In this episode, Kevin gives us a candid look at what happened, what he’s doing to fight for his company, and what business owners should be doing to protect themselves from ...
Mar 08, 2019•45 min
When it comes to finances, a lot of eCommerce store owners tend to struggle. So today, I’ve got Cyndi Thomason of Bookskeep.com on the show to shed light on how to make your business profitable using the Profit First methodology. Cyndi is an eCommerce accountant and bookkeeper specifically focused on this methodology, and she shares how to set it up in your own business, advice for allocating funds, and lots more. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2IGxO...
Mar 01, 2019•41 min
In this episode, my good friend Bill D'Alessandro and I are diving in to talk about last month’s event, eCommerceFuel Live 2019. It was the most ambitious event we’ve put on yet, and we both learned a bunch and had a ton of fun. Listen in to hear how it all went, our big takeaways, and thoughts on how we’ll do things next year. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2NiWuiG
Feb 22, 2019•38 min
It’s easy to forget that people in positions of influence and thought leadership face challenges just like the rest of us—especially because it’s rare for them to open up about hardships they face. But today, Ezra Firestone of SmartMarketer.com joins the show to give us all a look at the struggles he has had while getting his software business, Zipify Apps, off the ground. Listen in to hear him paint a more accurate picture of the problems entrepreneurs face and what it really takes to get a bus...
Feb 15, 2019•50 min
Today I’ve got my good friend Bill D’Alessandro on the show to share how his business has been going over the last year. He has been working on his vision of buying up a lot of different brands in the consumer goods space to bring them under one roof and build a bunch of small consumer brands, so I wanted to talk with him to see how that’s going. He shares a lot of great stuff about challenges he’s faced, what’s gone well, the technology tools he’s using to keep everything straight, and more. Yo...
Feb 08, 2019•30 min
This year Hurricane Florence hit Dana Jaunzemis' business headquartered in North Carolina. She lost power for more than a week and wasn't able to ship for close to two weeks. Business came to a screeching halt. In this episode, I chat with her about the experience, what they learned and how to minimize the impact of a natural disaster if/when something similar happens to your business. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2RRtoMy...
Feb 01, 2019•39 min
Richard Jalichandra (or RJ as he’s commonly known) is the founder of 101 Commerce, a company with the goal of acquiring 101 FBA businesses. We chat about if the risks of being so dependent on Amazon terrify him, how he plans to manage such a massive portfolio, the rise of single-person 8-figure businesses, and more. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2CFuTDa
Jan 25, 2019•33 min
Mark Hanratty launched SwankyBadger.com exclusively on Etsy and used the momentum to build his business. Today, Swanky Badger is a 7-figure business, and they sell more than half a million dollars each year on the bohemian marketplace. I sat down with Mark to understand how to succeed on the platform and what's changed in the years since he started, especially since Etsy has become a public company. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2FoNIhM...
Jan 18, 2019•31 min
Ben Arneberg has done some impressive things. He's jumped out of airplanes for the Air Force, met Jeff Bezos and even done work for the Department of Defense and CIA. But what's perhaps most impressive is how he's built a near 8-figure business with only one employee. In this episode we discuss the tactics he's used to grow so significantly with nearly no overhead. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2Ry6edi...
Jan 11, 2019•42 min
Alex Cranmer is a really interesting guy. When he's not acting in movies or TV shows, he runs International Military Antiques, the largest supplier of military antiques in the U.S. In this wide-ranging podcast we discuss the benefits of selling one-of-a-kind items, how to write an email newsletter that gets 20% CTRs, and more. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2EW3M9N
Jan 04, 2019•57 min
Wrapping up the holiday season here and coming to the end of 2018, I’m bringing back another of my favorite episodes from this past year. As anyone who’s had any meaningful success knows, relationships are crucial in business, so today I’m revisiting a show I did back in July that covers 15 critical habits to master in order to build better business relationships. Listen in to learn what it takes to create genuine, long-lasting, and meaningful connections with people. You can find show notes and...
Dec 28, 2018•25 min
As we’re getting to the end of the year and reaching that point of reflection, I wanted to revisit a couple of episodes that I had a lot of fun with in 2018. The one I’m bringing back today is a show I did back in April with Tadpull co-founder Jake Cook that covers hiring fresh—if a little green—marketing talent right out of college. Listen in to hear him share the tactics he uses to find, hire, and keep great talent. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2...
Dec 21, 2018•59 min
This week Bill D'Alessandro and I revisit our predictions for 2018 to see how many we nailed and (more likely) how many just seem silly in retrospect. We also serve up a fresh batch of predictions for 2019 on topics ranging from Amazon delivery to trending marketing tactics to likely acquisitions in the coming year. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2QF3g6u
Dec 14, 2018•37 min
Arman Assadi has worked on copywriting projects for well-known entrepreneurs such as Neil Patel, Timothy Sykes, and others. He also has experience running a 7-figure eCommerce store, so I asked him to come on to talk about the 80/20 of eCommerce copywriting. We also discuss how to work more productively by understanding your brain type, as well as differences among crowdfunding platforms. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2DVsw1i...
Dec 07, 2018•43 min
With Amazon cracking down on illegitimate reviews, unscrupulous players have a new weapon in their toolkit: attacking a listing by posting loads of fake, positive reviews. The worst part is it can be effective, as Zac Plansky unfortunately discovered. In this episode, I talk with Zac about the attack and how he was finally able to get his account reinstated after a stressful suspension. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2FH65iV...
Nov 30, 2018•29 min
