The Ecommerce Influence Podcast: Advanced Acquisition And Retention Strategies For Fast-growing Online Brands

Does your business take all of your time or does it give you the freedom to do the things you love? Jeff Vogl, president of Classic Car Stereos, has been intentional about creating that shift over the last couple of years and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him do it. Jeff and I started working together in 2019. Since then, Jeff’s business has grown tremendously and he’s continued to add to his portfolio. From mastering the art of creating packages his customers can’t ignore, boosting his AOV, and spending more time on the golf course than in the weeds of his business, Jeff is a sharp entrepreneur and he’s here to tell you how he made these big wins possible. Tune in to learn how you can creatively increase your AOV, why Jeff believes a Google AdWords strategy is a must, the importance of bidding on your brand, and how a change in leadership style has unlocked the freedom Jeff always wanted. Enjoy! Episode Highlights: 4:03 Learning how to create packages to boost your AOV 6:20 How Classic Car Stereos manag

Holistic Habitat self-taught their way to Facebook Ads success. Here's why they doubled their ad budget in 2020. Kristin Holler is the co-creator of Holistic Habitat, an eCommerce home decor company for the socially conscious. I met Kristin in 2019 and have worked with her inside the Coalition, and most recently, as a member of Intentional Wealth. Since we started working together, her business has grown tremendously and email marketing makes up 30% of her monthly sales. However, that’s not the only lever Kristin has learned how to master. With a roll-up-your-sleeves mentality, Kristin has led Holistic Habitat through the ever-changing landscape of Facebook ads, the COVID-19 pandemic, market shifts and so much more. She’s here to share how they grew 500% in 2018, how she became a Facebook ads pro, and the secret behind creating ads that convert. We also dive into the biggest leadership takeaways of 2020 and how to get out of your own way. Episode Highlights: 4:21 How Kristin started as an eCommerce entrepr

Today's guest turned her passion project into a global movement. Chrissie Lam is the founder of Love Is Project, a thriving lifestyle brand that supports thousands of female artisans in developing countries around the world. I’ve known Chrissie for years and have had the pleasure of getting an up-front look into how her business has taken off. Between landing a spot on Shark Tank, multiple press hits, and being featured by Facebook during Women’s History Month, Chrissie has so much insight to share on developing a lifestyle brand with a purpose. In the episode, we talk about what it’s like to launch a business while traveling the world, getting onto Shark Tank and how to leverage the press to grow your business. Chrissie also shares the ups and downs of working with freelancers and agencies, and how she’s been using our Intentional Wealth program to keep her business and life in balance. Episode Highlights 2:57 Chrissie’s passion for travel 5:11 Launching Love Is Project in Bali 9:43 The process of getting

Our most highly requested guest, Moiz Ali, is here to tell you how he made a 9-figure exit in just over 2 years.  Moiz is the Founder of Native, the fastest growing CPG company in the US. Two and a half years after its inception, the company was acquired by Procter & Gamble for $100MM and Moiz is here to tell us how he made that happen. We talk about what made Native so successful early on, how he prepared to sell the company and what life was like at Procter & Gamble after the sale. Moiz also dispels a few eCommerce myths and lets you know what he’d do differently if he could hit the reset button. Episode Highlights 3:30 How Moiz Ali’s family encouraged him to lean into entrepreneurship 5:01 What drove Moiz away from law school 6:13 How life is like at Proctor & Gamble 11:18 A/B testing deodorant: Native vs P&G 16:00 Why Native was successful so quickly 20:53 Navigating eCommerce upsells 23:43 The team members and agencies Native leveraged to grow 28:18 What Moiz would do differently if he

There isn't a rulebook for building a $100MM brand. This serial entrepreneur is here to tell you how he did it. Josh Snow taught himself how to build websites at 12 years old. His early venture sparked a full-fledged passion for marketing and branding which led Josh to where he is today, the founder and CEO of Snow - a fast-growing D2C brand and leader in premium oral care. Josh is a true operator and in this episode, we dive deep into how he’s grown Snow to over $100MM in revenue. We talk about the differences between running a $1MM company and a $100MM company, how his leadership has needed to evolve in the process, and his thoughts on hiring the right people. Josh also shares how leveraging influencer marketing was a game-changer and where he plans on taking the company next. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 4:02 Josh’s pre-teen start to entrepreneurship 8:36 Snow’s defining moment of growth 13:55 Josh’s take on paid acquisition 16:45 How Snow strategically diversified their marketing channels 21:34 The bigges

Losing half a million dollars in one year can be a devastating blow. Find out how this company turned things around to become the 20th fastest growing company in the US.  Garret Ackerson is the cofounder of Kindred Bravely - a privately held company that has experienced the highs and lows associated with rocketship growth. Garret did a live training for Coalition members last fall, and I'm sharing it with you now because it’s truly a transparent and sobering look into the ups and downs of a fast-growing company. Garret dives into the importance of knowing your numbers, making KPIs a team event, and why founders should carve out time and space to think. He also shares why he's never scared to invest in learning, how to build a flywheel, and find the right partners for your business. If you're a founder or someone who helps eCommerce businesses grow, this episode is a must-listen. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 4:02 How Kindred Bravely first started in 2015 7:02 The KPI system Kindred Bravely uses that promotes o

Buying an ecommerce business can be a brilliant move to build wealth, or have costly unintended consequences.  Between finding the right business, knowing what to look for when going through due diligence, and avoiding misinformation - buying an eCommerce business can be a lot to handle. We're giving you a crash course on how to do it. Today’s show is a mashup of three episodes I’ve done with expert eCommerce entrepreneurs in this space - David Newell, Shakil Prasla, and Drew Sanocki. We talk about how to determine if you are the type of person who should buy or build, what a thorough due diligence process looks like, and the things to always investigate within a prospective company. We also breakdown the common pitfalls first-time buyers tend to experience and how to avoid them. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 4:30 How to determine if you should buy or build an eCommerce site 7:27 Buying a business to cross-sell 9:29 The 6 key tenets to robust due diligence when buying a business 13:12 How to assess the quality

Apple’s recent championing of consumer privacy means your ad data is never going to be the same. If you’re an eCommerce business owner, you’ve likely been swept up in the confusion around iOS 14 and Facebook ads. Andrew Foxwell from Foxwell Digital is back on today’s show to unpack what this means for you and your business. We’ll be diving into the iOS 14 release and the implications it’ll have on Facebook advertising. We’ll also discuss the tools you’ll need in place for this shift and how you can optimize your ads for this new normal. If your business relies heavily on Facebook advertising, you can’t miss this episode. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 5:21 The current state of Facebook advertising and what you need to know about iOS 14 7:47 Apple’s new positioning around consumer privacy and how it will affect your advertising 9:56 How Apple will control the floodgates of information 12:52 What we know is changing between iOS 14 and Facebook ads 16:05 The upside to these changes within Facebook  18:24 What th

If you're trying to stretch your marketing dollars as far as you can there's one piece of low-hanging fruit you shouldn’t ignore. If you cringe when you think about pop-ups, you're missing out on huge wins including more revenue, more email captures, and a higher AOV. Take it from Erik Christiansen, eCommerce CRO expert and the CEO of Justuno. I’ve known Erik for a long time and his company has helped thousands of businesses with conversion rate optimization. He’s joining us today to talk about the future of eCommerce CRO and how you can leverage it in your business. Outside of Erik’s knowledge of eCommerce CRO, what I’ve continued to admire about him over the years is his ability to not only grow a team but retain his team members too. We’ll also cover how he’s built a team of 60+ people, how he thinks about hiring and retention. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 5:11 How Justuno has evolved over the years 6:52 The business basics Erik has been on top of for the last 10 years 11:44 Stretching your marketing dolla

Society Has Brainwashed Entrepreneurs To Believe They Have To Sacrifice Everything To Be Successful.  “Crush it” culture convinces us that sacrificing our health, personal life, and family is a part of the game and if you’re not making those sacrifices, you can only get so far. It’s time to crush this false narrative and make a paradigm shift. In today’s episode, I’m introducing the Brand Acceleration Formula. It’s a five-step process designed to help entrepreneurs grow their business from $500K to $5MM without sacrificing what matters most to them. We dive into the biggest causes for slow business growth, how to stay focused on the metrics that move the needle, and our best advice on bringing your best ideas to life. I’m going to help 20 entrepreneurs apply this formula and have the best 90 days of their business life. Will you be one of them? Get the details here. Episode Highlights 6:28 How society has entrepreneurs brainwashed 8:29 Are you playing a status game or a wealth game? 12:11 The Brand Acceler

If you're just focusing on your company's annual income, you're doing it wrong. Today, Ryan Tansom, founder of Arkona, is here to talk about why creating long term value in your business should be your priority. In 2014, Ryan helped turn his family business around and then sold it for 8 figures. Today he's helping entrepreneurs make the shift from thinking about annual income to focusing on long term value creation instead. In this episode, Ryan shares why your goal shouldn’t always be to maximize income, how to think about investing in your business, and the right way to run your business so that people want to buy it.  Whether you have intentions to sell or not, Ryan’s ideas on creating long term value in your business will open up opportunities you’ll have the power and choice to leverage whenever you want. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 4:49 Why Ryan is passionate about helping entrepreneurs create long term value 8:04 The right time for a business to think about its direction 11:16 Annual income vs long t

Implementing Traction at your company? Here’s what you should know before you start.  Many of our clients inside of the Coalition have heard of Traction and have considered trying to implement EOS at their company. If this phrase is new to you, EOS - the Entrepreneurial Operating System - is a set of concepts and tools that can help your team align on a clear vision, make progress towards defined goals, and increase accountability and communication.  Our team dove headfirst into the task of implementing Traction just over a year ago and we’ve learned a lot since. In this episode, I’m sharing how we adopted the EOS methodology, the pros and cons of using it, and who I think has the most to gain from it.  If you’re an eCommerce entrepreneur who thinks there might be a better way to run your business, this episode is for you. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 4:50 Life before finding Traction 6:53 The best part about using the EOS process and how it changed the game for us 8:05 What “rocks” are and how they address t

Do you want to know how to hire rockstar talent this year?  Finding high-quality talent is a major key to the growth of any organization. However, it’s often seen as a difficult task and can cost a lot of time and money when done incorrectly. At Brand Growth Experts we just hired our newest Community and Events Manager after sorting through nearly three hundred applications and I’m here to tell you how we did it. You’ll learn our step-by-process on how to hire a great employee every time, ways to simplify and structure your hiring process, and the tools we used to manage hundreds of applications. If you've been wondering how to hire without getting overwhelmed at the task this episode is for you. Episode Highlights 6:36 Creating your accountability chart 9:39 How to attract the right candidates 14:24 Promoting your job with advertising 16:52 The number one mistake I see companies make when hiring  19:22 Mapping out your hiring process  22:20 How to hire using AirTable 24:06 Are you valuing your own opportu

Is your content strategy worth half a million dollars?  Mark Stallings is the CEO of Casely, an ecommerce tech-accessories retailer that’s gone from zero to eight figures in just four years. After dropping out of college, Mark convinced his sister Emily to cofound the company with him. They’ve been bootstrapping their way through everything from website coding to paid advertising ever since. I’ve gotten to know Mark over the last few years after he became a founding member of The Coalition in 2018. He joins us to share what he and his sister learned over the years, including how they profitably spend half a million dollars on paid advertising every month. We also touch on how they leverage their content strategy for growth, their approach to hiring, and how they maintain a lean team. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 6:45 How Casely leverages the subscription model  10:33 Why Mark dropped out of college after one year 12:14 Diving into an Instagram rabbit hole to understand your audience 16:08 What the first six m

2020 Threw Us All For A Loop. Here’s What We Learned From It and How It’s Helping Us Prepare For 2021.  Nobody saw COVID-19 coming and nearly every business had to make pivots while market conditions changed daily.  Not only did I see changes happen in my own business, but I also witnessed them across all of the ecommerce companies I have the opportunity to work with inside of The Coalition. This made my annual end-of-year review that much more interesting so I decided to wrap up my findings in this episode and share it with you. In this episode, I talk about the things that went well for me and the companies we work with, the hard lessons and challenges that were presented, and the top takeaways that every ecommerce business owner needs to know to prepare for 2021. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 3:55 The number one question I’m asking myself about 2020 7:45 How hiring has been a game-changer for our business 10:07 What having a local community has done for me 11:25 The COVID-19 impact on our business  17:09 My

If you took a month off from your business would it thrive or struggle to survive?  Nat Eliason is three-time Ecommerce Influence guest who built a business that runs itself and he's here to tell you how he did it. Nat founded an Ecommerce company called Cup and Leaf (now Sencha Tea Bar) which he sold last year. More recently, he built an agency called Growth Machine that continues to flourish without him being in the day-to-day operations. Tune into this episode to learn how to build a system that prevents things from piling onto your plate, the roles you should absolutely hire for in your business, and the advice Nat has followed to allow for this growth. Episode Highlights 4:59 Nat and Austin’s elk hunt 12:08 The biggest thing Nat learned in 2020 15:49 Three reasons Nat is able to consistently put out new content 20:39 How to ship high-quality creative work 27:57 Nat’s system to avoid piling things onto his plate 33:29 Advice Nat received that helped him build a business that runs itself 38:12 The roles

Is your business taking you on a roller coaster ride? If so, being a conscious leader can mean the difference between your business making you happy or running you into the ground. Are the business decisions you’re making leading to more satisfaction in life? Or do you find yourself running in circles and in a constant state of reaction? These are challenges entrepreneurs have historically struggled with and 2020 was no exception. However, there’s a way to start turning things around and it starts with you.  Stay tuned for a crash course in being a conscious leader. We’ll go over the essential things every entrepreneur needs clarity on, how to level up as a leader and how to break through roadblocks we see so many founders struggling with.  If you’re ready to start taking radical responsibility for the state of your business, this episode is for you. Episode Highlights 4:50 What being a more conscious leader means  5:48 The number one thing every leader needs to get clear on 8:31 The biggest challenge hold

Have you ever wanted marketing advice from some of the best eCommerce marketers in the business? I reached out to seven of my friends in the eCommerce space and asked them: What’s the single best piece of marketing advice you’ve ever been given? From words by Mark Zuckerberg all the way to legendary writer Gary Bencivenga, we’re packing in 8 evergreen pieces of marketing advice that every marketer and entrepreneur needs to have in their arsenal. Episode Guests Steve Chou, founder of My Wife Quit Her Job and cofounder of Sellers Summit Peep Laja, founder of CXL and Wynter Noah Kagan, founder of AppSumo Kurt Elster, founder of Ethercycle and host of The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Ezra Firestone, founder of Smart Marketer Chris Orzechowski, Ecommerce Email Marketing Strategist and founder of Orzy Media Andrew Youderian, founder of eCommerceFuel and host of The eCommerceFuel Podcast  Austin Brawner, founder of Brand Growth Experts and host of The Ecommerce Influence Podcast  Episode Highlights 3:56 Steve Cho

Do you think that agencies are a waste of money? Not sure if an independent freelancer can keep up? We’re tackling the freelancer vs agency debate once and for all.  Choosing where to spend your advertising dollars is important, but deciding who to spend it on is the other piece of the puzzle. Once you decide to start pulling the levers of paid search and paid social, the question you’re left with is: Who is going to pull those levers? This is where the freelancer vs agency debate comes in and the decision is crucial. Tune into this episode to learn what conditions make the most sense for a freelancer or an agency, the pros and cons of each, questions you should ask before choosing to make a hire, and the one trap you need to avoid. Episode Highlights 3:48 The freelancer vs agency debate 5:42 Why an agency could be the better option for you 7:06 Understanding the true cost of working with an agency 9:37 The right questions to ask an agency before hiring them 13:56 Why a freelancer might be the best choice

Are you ready to improve your email marketing and stop leaving money on the table? Today I'll show you how. Last year one of my clients had a brand new Klaviyo account -- zero emails sent. Over two days we set up the account, created a system for capturing leads, and built email flows focused on generating revenue. 7 days later, they generated $10,000 in revenue from email. Inspired by this experience, I hosted a live training in The Coalition on how to improve your email marketing, and today I'm sharing that training with you. We cover common mistakes people make when setting up their Klaviyo account, how to increase your email lead flow, building and optimizing your email templates, the most important emails to send, and what’s working right now to generate more revenue from email. If you want some quick, actionable wins you can implement in your email marketing today -- don't miss this episode. Episode Highlights 8:20 Improving your email marketing and generating $10k in revenue in 7 days 10:11 How to e