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Our trip to Asia was very productive not just for our respective businesses but for EcomCrew as well, as it gave time for me and Dave to be in the same place and talk about EcomCrew in real time. One of these moments was during a train ride from Hong Kong to Guangzhou on our way to the Canton Fair. We decided to record our conversation amidst train noises in the background for your listening pleasure. Despite the backgound noise of train hums and Chinese chatter, this train ride has been an enjoyable experience--Dave and I even made a gentleman's bet on something in relation the Global Sources Summit. Watch out for the results of the bet in the coming episodes!

This is the third episode of the series I'm doing on the business book Traction by Gino Wickman. In episode 2 we discussed creating a 10-year goal, but 10 years is a length of time most people can't wrap their heads around. In this episode we cover how to make your 10-year goal less daunting by breaking it up into smaller goals and creating your marketing strategy to help you achieve those goals.

Once upon a time I decided to never hire a virtual assistant ever again. Somehow along the way I changed my mind, and I'm glad I did because eventually I found Mia. Mia is our Philippines office director and the cornerstone of our PH team. Without her, there would be no team. I had the chance to get Mia on the podcast during our visit to the Philippines last month. In this episode we highlight the changes that have happened over the course of a year, particularly the growth of our PH team from just a handful of people to 12 full-time awesome employees.

If you've been listening to the podcast recently or reached out to us at some point, you might have heard of or encountered Abby. Abby is our Filipino VA and one of the people working behind me and Dave to help us get EcomCrew to become so much more. While Dave and I focus (and get distracted) on the course content and speaking at industry events, Abby makes sure everything else run smoothly--from scheduling the podcast episodes to answering emails. We recently got a chance to get Abby on the podcast (after much persuasion) during our trip to the Philippines. We wanted everybody to meet Abby and get to know her a little, at least virtually.

This is the second episode of a podcast series I'm doing on Traction, a business book written by Gino Wickman geared towards helping business owners run their companies with more growth and enjoyment. In episode 1 of the series I talked about the importance of setting aside time to think about your company's core values and actually putting those core values into writing. Once you have that done it's time to set your company's core focus and 10 year goal, both of which will be covered in today's episode.

Today's episode is a little different from what we usually publish. I recently had to undergo a torturous customer service experience with AT&T. Those of you who are or have been AT&T customers and called their customer service hotline at any time know what I'm talking about. I have been an AT&T customer since 2007 when the first iPhone came out--not by choice, but because no other carrier offered the iPhone at the time--and I can definitely say that it has not been a happy ride. But out of all the years I've been with them and all the calls I made to them, this is, by far, the worst of it all. So what do you do when you run a podcast and need to call a company you're pissed at? Set up the recorder, call them and record everything, then publish the call to your listeners as a podcast episode.

We're starting a new series on the EcomCrew Podcast today. This series is called Traction, inspired by a book I read recently which had a tremendous impact on me and my business, so much so that I'm applying the principles laid out in the book to my own company. I'm documenting the process in this podcast series so that you and your business could benefit from my experience. This is Episode 1 of the series where I talk about the importance of taking the time to reflect and set your company's core values.

If you went to the EcommerceFuel Live event in January and got shoved a microphone in the face by me, then this is the episode you've been waiting for :) You might have forgotten what transpired during the event (especially if you got drunk during the party) but this episode, with all the snippets I recorded both sober and drunk, will surely remind you what an awesome event ECF Live is. If you didn't go, I am pretty sure you're going to want to go next time. We also have a new giveaway! Just comment anything about the episode down below (for example, let me know if you think Andrew Youderian's prank is mean) and get a chance to win an EcomCrew mug, shipped to you for free, anywhere in the world.

Amazon claims ownership of most of everything--customers, listings, even prices--but unsurprisingly sales tax is not one of them. It's up to us to handle sales tax, and everything is so complicated that many of us are not sure what exactly is the right thing to do. Many states even disagree among themselves about sales tax nexus. But still, some sellers have begun receiving letters about this in some states, and it's definitely not a good position to be in. This is one of the reasons Online Merchants Guild was born. This nonprofit was created by ecommerce sellers for ecommerce sellers, with the goal to have as many members as possible so that we can collectively fight against issues that are too big for any one of us to fight. In this episode I talk to Bernie Thompson, an 8-figure seller and member of Online Merchants guild, and Paul Rafelson, a lawyer and law professor working with the likes of GE, Microsoft and Walmart. We talk about the organization, the sales tax issue we are fighting and what we've done so far, and how prospective members can join.

"How can you find someone you can trust enough, who can perform tasks as good as you do without breaking the bank?" This is the question we answer in today's episode. This is Part 2 of last Monday's Under the Hood segment with Kevin Sanderson. Kevin and I discuss my VA hiring process, from weeding out spam applications (or applications of people who don't read, which is a lot), what questions to ask, the tests we require applicants to take, training, and how to manage them once they're hired. Ultimately, we talk about how to find a VA who is smart and quick on their feet, and who will help him grow his company. [We recorded the intros in our Philippines office during our Asia trip. Our office is not optimized for recording; apologies for the bad audio quality.]

I decided that I will do a quarterly check on my progress to clearly see how far along I am on the road to achieving my 2018 goals. If you've set goals too, this is a practice I highly recommend. Far too often we underestimate how quickly a year can pass, and if you don't make frequent checks on the things you set out to do, you might have the surprise of your life in the form of untended goals by year's end. In this episode, I will share with you my first 2018 Goals Quarterly Review.

When running an ecommerce company as a side hustle, it’s fine–and most of the time necessary–to wear many hats. But if you want your business to grow to more than just a side hustle, it’s a different story altogether. This week’s Under the Hood call is about how to stop being the bottleneck to the growth of your own company. My guest is Kevin Sanderson, who started his ecommerce company 3 years ago selling online “just to try it”, experienced the rush of his first sale, and never looked back. Now Kevin wants to level up his business to more than just a side hustle. The problem is, as the business grows, the more things he has to do, and only so little time to do them. So in this coaching call Kevin and I talk about how he can systematize and, more importantly, delegate low level tasks he doesn’t need to be doing so he can concentrate on business strategy instead. This episode is Part 1 of our call, and we cover the following, among others: * How he started in ecommerce * His background as a high school football official * Biggest contributors to his brand’s success * Why meeting other sellers is a great way to grow one’s own business * Lowest hanging fruit in terms of delegation * Why full-time dedicated VAs are better than project-based or part-time VAs * How to find superstar VAs For Part 2 Kevin and I discuss how to actually delegate tasks to VAs, what to delegate, and what you must need to do yourself. Stay tuned! Resources mentioned: MyEcomCrew Under the Hood Sellers Summit Thanks for listening! Until the next one, happy selling.   Like big ecommerce revenue? Then Like us.

“Is drop shipping dead?” – so many blog posts in 2018 We’ve recently encountered a paradox of sorts. If you type “is drop shipping dead” in a Google search bar and hit enter, you’ll notice that the first page is chockfull of blog posts with that exact same title. This could only mean that people are catching on the thought that the drop shipping business model is pretty much in a bubble, and if it hasn’t already burst, it’s most certainly about to. The arguments on those blog posts against the merits of drop shipping echo our own. That is why we focus on a business model that is sustainable and won’t go anywhere anytime soon—building a brand through private labeling. Then Dave stumbled upon something interesting while doing some research for a blog post. He found that the average monthly Google searches for “drop shipping” was about 400k in 2016 when drop shipping was at its most successful. Come January 2018, and the searches for the same phrase was at a whopping 1.2 million. If blog posts are questioning the merits of drop shipping, why is there an increased interest in drop shipping? This issue caught even more of our attention when someone from a site selling drop shipping courses reached out to us asking to come on the podcast. If this site is earning more than $3 million dollars, is drop shipping, in fact, not dead? Interestingly, Dave and I have different opinions about this. I believe that drop shipping is not sustainable with very razor thin margins and is not worth it. Dave, however, thinks that there is still some opportunity left. So we decided to take it to the recording studio and have a debate about whether or not drop shipping is dead, and if private labeling is definitely the way to go. This episode is the result of that debate. Some conversation points: Our own experiences in drop shipping Why I decided to stop drop shipping and sell my own products instead The pros and cons of drop shipping Too many courses from drop shipping “gurus” Reasons drop shipping is right for you Reasons drop shipping is not right for you What you need to do to survive with the drop shipping business model Is drop shipping really dead? This has been an insightful and fun episode. Dave does’t come on the podcast enough, but when he does come, we usually debate about something we have different opinions on. This episode will hopefully give you an insight to the two sides of the coin. In the end, the choice will be yours. What’s important is that you know what you’re getting into, and that you don’t buy into the hype simply because of the hype. Resources mentioned: MyEcomCrew State of the Merchant report CB Radios Trollingmotors.net Survivalfood.com E121: How Ezra Firestone Spends Money Growing His Businesses Global Sources Summit EcomCrew Hong Kong Mastermind Thanks for listening to this episode. Until next week, happy selling! Like big ecommerce revenue? Then Like us.

If you've been listening to the podcast for the better part of the quarter, then my 10 million dollar goal by the end of the year should be pretty familiar to you. Let me tell you something though, our forecast does not actually point to $10 million, it's actually $9.7 million to be specific (close enough). In this episode I discuss exactly how we got to that number.

During last week's episode Matt and I talked about the lowest hanging fruit he can take advantage of as he transitions from a mixed B2B and B2C model to completely B2C. This episode is a continuation of our coversation where we talk about reviews, ads, and more. If you want to be featured on your own Under the Hood episode, just sign up at ecomcrew.com/underthehood.