Debutify Podcast

Of the many subjects we cover today, at the heart of the episode is a question, are you proud of the work you’re doing? I am, quite a bit even. But can you safely say that you are? What would your kids think? Another intriguing theme that’s cropped up as of late is that elusive bridge between household names and ecommerce, so among a wide array of business and geographical discussion points with my guest Kevin Sanderson, we also get to hear from the household name side and what it’s like to work in the field, it does go both ways after all. 

Kevin Sanderson of Maximizing Ecommerce, helps successful 6, 7, and 8 figure Amazon sellers expand their ecommerce sales internationally.

Today’s story is all about the sincere and noble start by which heroes of ecommerce are made. My guest today Keya James began with a problem in need of solving, and from it came an organic demand from her following. I know a lot of our audience are keen on dropshipping, I sure am. What I want you to take away from this episode is that while you might not have a product you can make from scratch for your own needs, success in this space can start with humble origins, there is growth waiting for you both online and in stores. 

In 2011, Keya James, the founder of Tailored Beauty went natural. After doing research on healthy hair care practices, and starting her “hair journey” she made the decision to avoid relaxers. She started to make her own whipped Shea butter in 2012, which is now known as Everything Butter. She documented this entire journey through her YouTube account under the name Inez Moore. It took some time to perfect the ingredients, but once she did she began giving it to all of her friends and family to try out. The success has come fast, and the business is on a steady climb.

Today we’re looking at Sell the trend, and are joined by its figurehead Rush, who explains the origin of this all encompassing, A.I driven product research tool. One of the key takeaways on this episode is that we talk about ranking the different reasons a product is sellable, we certainly have talked about these factors before but never got into which one is the most important, its a big takeaway for me and should give you a sense of the kind of knowledge available from this centralized research platform. 

Rachid "Rush" Wehbi has been building data driven applications for years. From developing mission critical platforms for the financial industry all the way to cellular based platforms for the music industry. He has over 15 years of software and technology experience and is the founder and CEO of Sell The Trend, an ecommerce application providing access to millions of trending products, a full suite of automation tools as well as complete end to end order fulfillment.

Michael Veazy and Jason Miles marks the first time I had two guests on and my gosh do I want to do this again. The duo also host their own show, The ecommerce leader, and you can see for yourself how the two work together to better convey a point. Not that the theme of duality was intended by any means, but it’s worth noting since this episode covers monopoly and duopoly, as well as micro and macro economics. We also talk about first principles in ecommerce that while we've been in the conversation for some time now, is worth visiting for the first time no matter when. 

Michael Veazey is an ecommerce consultant based in London, England, an Amazon private label seller and a podcaster/speaker. His main work is now for owner-operators of 6- and 7-figure ecommerce businesses with a focus on Amazon. 

Jason Miles is an e-commerce expert from Seattle. He’s the CEO & Co-Founder of Sew Powerful, a charity designed to combat extreme poverty in Lusaka Zambia by creating jobs for adults that focus on making purposeful products; and Liberty Jane, a design-driven e-commerce operator in the sewing category. He’s also a Udemy instructor, a best selling author and a podcaster.

I see a lot of business models that above all else, seek to facilitate trust with the client. In the case of Jacob Landis-Eigsti, his company, driven by his vast expertise in film and media, is willing to put their own money on the line to provide the success they promise. Not a bad proposition. But at the same time, it also falls to the client to be a business partner worth taking a chance on. So have a listen to this episode and discover what standard you should set for your business.

Jacob LE has been a Facebook Ads manager for the past 4 years and a marketer for the last 8 years helping a variety of companies launch and scale their paid ad campaigns. He particularly focuses on building long term customers and in-depth analysis to help customers grow of the long term.

Although content creation is not the principal focus of ecommerce, it’s right up there as a crucial pillar for many in the industry. My guest today Sara Nguyen shares her expertise on content creation, and the importance of putting your energy into the most efficient form there is, which as of this episode, is live streaming, something we’ve delved into as well not too long ago. It’s a format that couldn’t be more entry level friendly, you could do it today on your phone. If, of course, you have a listen and understand what to do.

Sara Nguyen is a Content and Course Creator who helps coaches, consultants and creative pros build their income using video on social media.

My guest today Jonaé Raenetta aka "The Realest Jaee" comes from a niche most, but respectfully not all are affected by, that’s hair. When we talk about niches, we do so in the context of their market value, but it’s good to take a few moments and consider how each niche can have a deep, meaningful impact on our well being, and hair can make a big difference, I would know I’ve only been obsessed with mine since high school. So as you listen, you may not suddenly take an interest in the hair niche yourself, but I want you to instead focus on the human characteristics that something seemingly aesthetic has much more depth to it, the same is true of any niche and that is what I want you to think about. 

Jonaé Raenetta Brown graduated from North Carolina Central University in 2019 with a B.S. in Mass Communications: Broadcast Media. While attending the HBCU, she establish her beauty brand, Think Pretty, and hosted on her college radio station, AudioNet. She is currently in school to obtain a degree in Business Marketing to grow her Media Marketing career. As she grows in experience and skill, she hopes to help black-owned organizations maximize growth and add value in the most resourceful way to their brands and businesses.

One theme that has emerged as of late, completely unintentional by the way, is the large scale work towards binding ecommerce and businesses we come to know as household names. My guest today Nick Trueman is in no small part a contributor to this effort, one that in a holistic view of the industry at large I don’t know is being done consciously, it’s really more of an underlying organic movement. Nick is also an expert on Shopify, and his knowledge of the platform is immense, so it means a lot to get some of that here today. 

Starting out in 2007 as a Junior Advertising and Marketing specialist, Nick has become one of the industry leaders in his field. He is currently the CEO at Just Ask Parker, a Shopify marketing agency, and the Owner / Director of Spec Digital, an expert PPC & SEO consultancy. Nick has particular expertise in business growth and will stop at nothing to help his clients increase revenue.

Print on Demand is something high in my priority list, it's just one exciting avenue to find meaningful success out of the many we cover on Ecomonics. My guest today Kerry Egeler is on the forefront of this pursuit and in addition to the free content he provides on his own platform, he also divulges a lot of important takeaways here including the sometimes surprising limitations when dealing with brand familiarity, it’s a fascinating story among many so check it out. 

Kerry Egeler is a husband and dad of two children from Oklahoma. After starting his first e-commerce store years ago and weathering all the ups and downs, he's now sold over 20,000 t-shirts and apparel products and started and grown multiple successful online businesses. Through Shirt School, an online course and community, Kerry has taught thousands of people how to start, grow, and scale online t-shirt and apparel businesses.

It’s been some time coming, we finally get to speak with SMSBump, a service we’ve been introduced to very early on Ecomonics. My guest today Elena Kostova and I get to discuss the importance of SMS marketing, how it’s distinguished from email marketing, what the consumer comes to expect from texting these days and what the future holds for communication. Elena and I share a lot of valuable information about why this essential tool needs to be integrated into your strategy, soon as you can really. 

Elena Kostova is the Product Marketing Manager at SMSBump - with extensive knowledge and 4+ years of experience in text marketing. Elena helps brands use SMS to establish long-lasting relationships with customers, drive more sales and boost revenue.