Ecommerce Conversations

Jimmy Kim founded Sendlane, an email, SMS, and reviews platform, in 2013. He believes the key to selling SaaS software is humanizing it. And for Kim that's one-on-one engagement, often at in-person events.

"I always set a goal in an event of shaking everyone's hand and saying hello. I'm not immediately after their business. I want them to think about me."

In-person events are frequently Kim's first step in building a Twitter relationship and a growing community.

He discusses in this episode those community-building strategies, competing with Klaviyo, and more. 

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6p9P

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Accessibility is important to host Eric Bandholz's company, Beardbrand. The business respects consumers with disabilities and tries to serve them. Still, it was recently sued for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Stunned, he turned to a fellow entrepreneur whose company has dealt with frivolous lawsuits. He first interviewed Joel Runyon for this podcast in May 2022 when they discussed Impossible, Runyon's nutritional performance company. In this recent interview, Runyon shared his experience of getting sued.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6p6p

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Andrew Faris is the former CEO of 4x400, an ecommerce aggregator. He left that job in 2021 and now consults with merchants and manages their advertising campaigns, mostly on Meta. I asked him for his keys to successful Meta ads, having spent nine years on that platform.

"The best ad managers are writers," he told me. And "there's no reason a brand under $50 million in revenue needs an attribution tool."

Faris first appeared on this podcast in early 2022. In our recent discussion, he addressed the joys of solo freelancing, working with entrepreneurs, and, yes, how to run high-performing Meta ads.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6p2Q

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

An entire business focused on pet frogs may be the ultimate long-tail venture. Josh Williard's company, JoshsFrogs.com, breeds and sells frogs and the products that support them. Founded in 2007, Josh's Frogs has scaled to 90 employees across two Michigan-based facilities.

"We've been growing by leaps and bounds," he said, seemingly in frog-speak.

Selling frogs, while unique, has many of the same challenges as other online merchants. Willard discussed those challenges and more with host Eric Bandholz.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6oZc

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Ten years ago Rasmus Cort needed a vocation. He was in his 20s and living in Denmark, his home. That's when his stepfather introduced him to a tattoo artist.

Fast forward to 2023, and Cort is co-owner of five tattoo shops — four in Denmark and one in Los Angeles — and a direct-to-consumer provider of tattoo skincare products.

He's found his vocation.

I first interviewed Cort in 2020 when we discussed Sorry Mom, the skincare line. We recently hooked up again, this time addressing Iron & Ink, his tattoo chain.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6oVW

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

******

The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

In 2009 Rasmus Albrechtsen began offering men's hairstyling tutorials on YouTube. He called his channel "Slikhaar TV," as in "slick hair." The channel scaled to over 2 million subscribers.

Then came YouTube's artificial intelligence-driven browse feature, showing viewers the videos that likely interest them. Suddenly, Albrechtsen's 2 million subscribers seemed less impactful. He's now producing videos "for the browse feature more than for the subscribers."

Albrecthsen is based in Denmark. In this interview he addresses Slikhaar TV, By Vilain (his line of hair products), and the impact of AI on video marketing.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6oP5

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

******

The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Chad Rubin is an ecommerce pioneer and serial entrepreneur. Profasee, an Amazon repricing tool, is his fourth company, having founded Crucial (a seller of vacuum and coffee filters), Prosper Show (an Amazon conference), and Skubana (an order management platform). 

He's hired a lot of employees, in other words. He's also fired a lot — over 100, he says.

His employee screening process now involves an IQ test to evaluate long-term potential. But his key metric on employee success is happiness, believing an unhappy employee is a low performer. 

"Success with employees stems from happiness," he told me. "When I have a one-on-one employee meeting, I typically start by asking if they're happy."

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6oK9

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Leave it to a customer to speak truth to an entrepreneur. That's what happened when Lelac Almagor, a Washington, D.C. school teacher, purchased an electric kid-hauler cargo bike from Bunch Bikes, a Texas-based direct-to-consumer manufacturer and seller.

Supply-chain disruptions during the pandemic almost shut down Bunch Bikes. Then the founder, Aaron Powell, met Almagor at a bike event. "I learned she is much better at selling the bike than me," he said.

Powell shares his story in this episode — from launching the company in 2017 to its near demise a few years later to hiring Almagor. 

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6oGc

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Patrick Campbell founded ProfitWell, an advisory platform for SaaS companies, in 2012 after stints at the U.S. Department of Defense and Google. He sold the business last year for $200 million.

ProfitWell had no outside investors. Campbell paid himself a $74,000 annual salary. He had $20,000 in the bank when the deal closed.

How does a founder, or anyone, adjust to $200 million from $20,000? Campbell addressed that question and more in this thoughtful interview.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6oBX

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

******

The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Harry Joiner launched his ecommerce recruiting firm in 2005. He's witnessed many market fluctuations since. Early 2008 was bad, he says. No companies were hiring. The onset of Covid was equally bad. 

He calls the state of ecommerce jobs in 2023 "a zoo" with many more candidates than positions and likely permanent structural changes in the overall hiring market.

Here's his perspective as an 18-year recruiting veteran.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://pec-ly.com/?6oxW

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

******

The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com