In today’s world, the trend towards e-commerce has become significant as more entrepreneurs try to create their own online stores. The hard part is knowing which potential factories are most important to focus on in the early stages of your online store.
To address these questions, events such as eCommCon, the first ever eCommerce virtual summit, have started to spark. These events provide attendees with countless hours of interviews from six-, seven-, and even eight-figure e-commerce sales and marketing experts.
When finding a good mentor can be hard, events like these enable entrepreneurs to gain instant insights into what makes a million-dollar e-commerce brand work.
For those with limited time on hand, below you will find the top six pieces of advice from some of the biggest names in the e-commerce industry:
1) J. Keitsu Sorenson: Never stop testing
Keitsu Sorenson is the founder of Drop Ship Legacy and a number of other e-commerce stores. He believes in taking your passion to the next level and continuing to expand.
As he says in his eCommCon video, “If you’ve ever felt passionate about something, chances are you can use that same energy and desire for your business. Then, focus on three things: the need to test, the need to diversify, and the need to reset,” Keitsu explains.
“It’s no secret that in e-commerce you have to test relentlessly.”
In some cases, it’s important to take a step back before moving forward. Taking a week off can help reset your mind and body to come back even harder than before.
2) J. Trevor Chapman: Idealize, then get to work
From $200 to over $1M in sales after only three months, J. Trevor Chapman is an online business pro.
At 33 years old, he decided to start working on the life he always imagined for himself.
“Until this generation, it was likely that your life would look very similar to that of your father’s, and his father’s, and on and on for a thousand generations,” Trevor explains.
“Of every conceivable idea, invention, and ideology that our species could bring forth … out of infinite options, a cosmos of potential … we have birthed the Internet. Nothing has ever been crafted by the human mind that can so radically change the lives of those that use it as the internet.”
“Don’t sit idly by while others gain their freedom.”
3) Beck Power: Everyone is capable of making it; why not you?
Beck Power, a digital nomad and co-founder of businesses such as NomadFly, a flight hacking online course, specializes in bootstrapping products that quickly become profitable.
Says Power, “We live in a world where anyone, from eight-year-olds to eighty-year-olds can make money through their iPhone. The playing field has been leveled, and the only thing that’s holding you back is yourself.”
4) Jeff Bunting: Focusing on many ‘small’ products is better than one ‘big’ product
Jeff Bunting, an avid supporter of dropshipping and the founder of Dropship Mastery, a program that educates students on e-commerce, understands the value of selecting the right products to earn profit rapidly.
“One of the best ways to get into a market immediately is to look at what is selling and focus on that,” Jeff explains. “Don’t try to come up with one big product that makes you millions. Instead, focus on building up hundreds of small products that make you a few hundred dollars in profit each month.”
“Then, the only thing you’ll need for a successful business is the ability to evaluate your business and the constant scaling up of the profitable parts, while eliminating the unprofitable ones.”
5) Kristian Edgerton: Don’t invest more than you have
Kristian Edgerton is one of the four founders of Tayroc, a business focused on selling luxury watches all over the world. While the company is a massive success today, the beginning stages were difficult to get past.
From experience, Kristian and his co-founders learned that starting off small is often the best plan of attack when launching a new e-commerce business.
“Don’t invest too much money in the beginning so you aren’t as pressured to earn the money you invested back. Always start off small and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you don’t get your first sale in a month, don’t give up. It took us two months to earn our first sale,” Kristian states.
It’s always hard to start, but eventually you’ll see the hard work paying off.
Tayroc expects to see $15M in revenue by the end of this year.
6) Nathan Resnick: Build a foundation
Nathan Resnick is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Sourcify, a platform that makes e-commerce manufacturing easy. He used to live in China and speaks Mandarin fluently. As a supply chain expert, Nathan advises e-commerce entrepreneurs to ensure they work with a scalable factory.
“When starting off, it’s crucial to go directly to a factory in order to increase your margins. Though they may not have as many product category offerings as a trading company, they’ll often have much better pricing. As you scale, you’ll also want to work with a factory that can help you cut costs over time.”
There are a number of tips and tricks that can be learned over time as an e-commerce entrepreneur. Not everything happens overnight, and it may take time to find the right product/market fit for your online store.
Once things align, however, scaling can happen rapidly, and that’s really where you need to have the right mentors to fall back on.
7) Chris Vitalis: Time is valuable
As the founder of E-Commerce Ninjas, Chris Vitalis has spent years working with a team of seasoned e-commerce store owners, digital architects, strategists, and creatives, helping entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses, while making them successful in the process.
Throughout this time, he has realized one very important thing …
“Time is valuable; protect it at all costs.”
Chris Vitalis spent years attending a university to study business and marketing, striving for financial freedom. In the back of his mind, however, he always knew that he was wasting his time …
If he didn’t make a change, he was going to end up working a nine-to-five job just like everyone else.
So, rather than do what he was expected to do, he chose to forge his own path and start a business. A place where he could actually utilize his skills and education as an entrepreneur to help others launch their own companies.
Wrapping Things Up
Does Chris’ story sound a bit familiar? Did one or two of the points presented here strike a chord with you? The takeaway here is simple: do not wait until it’s too late to follow your dreams.
The time to start your e-commerce journey is now; don’t let another moment pass you by.
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