The Ecommerce Roadmap

How can we grow our businesses organically, without relying on ads? This year I'm seeing more conversations asking how store owners are growing their businesses organically. I think it's brilliant. We all know that we need to invest in advertising to grow our audiences, our traffic, and our lists.    And even in 2022 as we're experiencing higher costs, less reach, and diminishing results, I know i...

It's the end of the Roadmap to $50K. A few months ago, Sock Doggo quietly crossed the $50,000 mark.  As I celebrated (in my mind) I started thinking about next steps, and how I could share the key takeaways with you in a format that would help you grow your business. When I started this project, the outcome I wanted the most was to share what it takes to get your first $50K in sales when you're a...

Almost every business owner has some debt they can attribute to their business. If they don't have debt, they probably remember how they felt when they did. I still remember how I felt when one of my businesses had a lot of debt. Even though I looked successful on the outside, on the inside I felt like a failure. Once managing your cash becomes a juggling act, it takes a lot of the fun out of runn...

GA-4 is here. Every day, we're getting questions from store owners asking what they need to do. It's a big deal, so today I'm bringing in our Inner Circle Google Expert, Leona Griffin to give us the facts, and share the steps you need to take to get ready for this big change. In July 2023, GA-4 will replace your current Google Analytics UA property. That means that store owners will no longer be a...

A few months ago Blue Cobalt shared their genius Branded content strategy in the Inner circle, and when I saw what he had done, I knew it was so good that everyone should have the chance to try this. A bit of a back story. I met Blue earlier this year when we reviewed their site for 15 Minute Feedback.  On the episode we tasked Blue with finding a way to show their amazing creations on real models...

Feeling like your shop is invisible? Do you continue to post on Social Media even though you feel like you're talking to the wall It's frustrating and exhausting. I recorded this episode with our Member Success Coach, Tina, shortly after she'd been at an in person event with products from her shop. I want you to listen, because you'll learn a different way to think about your ideal customer. We're...

A Simple way to boost your sales for the long term Why do we always complicate things? Most of the time, simple really is better. And today I'm talking to Pam Rodgers, the founder of https://www.stellachroma.com about her easy peasy, super simple monthly subscription that her c ustomers find irresistible.  The best part is that Pam manages her subscription in a way that is hassle free, and she mak...

I'm a huge fan of investing my time in activities that I can repeat. If the strategy works, I can template it, and run it over and over. The results become predictable, and as my audience grows, so do my results. It's exactly what we teach in our programs. A few years ago, my client Edith Minne, the founder of https://renaissanceribbons.com/, came up with a marketing event that is not only genius...

What? There's a job in my business that's worth $500/hour? Yes, there really is, and in this episode I'm talking about that mega high value work. My Inner Circle Members talk often about how they are stuck doing the $15/hour work, but what about the high value work The work that's worth at least $500 /hour. Listen in and learn exactly what that work is, and why so many business owners never find t...

A few weeks ago I was working with a small group of smart, successful clients and something happened that literally stopped me in my tracks. It was one of those moments where a lightbulb goes on and you see the piece of the puzzle you have been missing. Duh. We were working on our strategic plans. I've been using this framework for many years, and I know it is the reason I have experienced huge gr...

Does the thought of working on your SEO make your head hurt? E ven though you're worried about missing an opportunity, or worse, doing something completely wrong, you're not ready to hire an Expert. Sound about right? If this is how you're feeling right now, I want you to know it's normal. This episode is FOR you: Listen in as I talk with our Member Success Coach, Tina about the 3 SEO opportunitie...

Today I'm talking to Connor Meakin, the Founder of Bluebird Provisions. Bluebird Provisions sells bone broth. Pre Covid, Bluebird's sales were exclusively to brick and mortar grocery stores. The Company was growing and Connor's days were busy managing and growing the wholesale channel. Everything changed in March 2020, when stores stopped ordering Bone Broth, and Connor's sales ground to a halt. I...

If you've been wondering if TikTok is worth all the "work" you'll put into it, this episode is for you! Listen in, and meet Sylvie Roy, the owner of eclairlips.com. Sylvie's traffic has exploded in just 3 months. All because she started an account on TikTok. The most exciting part is that her visitors from TikTok have become buyers. In fact, her conversion rate from TikTok is 1.2%. It's an amazing...

I get to see behind the scenes of a lot of successful eCommerce stores. And almost every one of them uses a pop-up and an automated email flow to generate reliable sales every day of the year. Contact marketing is working right now, in 2022! What's the most valuable way to grow your list? Using a popup on your site Even though we all kind of hate pop-ups, the fact remains that they work, numbers d...

When you're looking to get sales now, there are 3 things you need to do to give yourself the best chance of success. I'm going to share it all on the inside, come listen. We're all working hard to get sales. I think most are working hard, and often what I see is that from the outside, it can look like 2 store owners are doing the same things to get sales - and they are - except for some subtle dif...

As eCommerce store owners, most of us have been in a position to grow by leaps and bounds over the last two years. We all need to take stock and be grateful. I think every one of us needs to take stock and look at the number of new customers we've gained since March 2020. We have been lucky when Business owners in many other industries have struggled just to remain open. But with the world opening...

Do you sell wholesale? Late last year, my Assistant Becca, set up a wholesale account for Sock Doggo on Faire. We imported our products from Shopify, added in the shop information, and then waited. Over the 4th quarter of 2021 and Q1 of 2022, we've managed to get 17 "smallish" orders from Faire. The best part of working with Faire is how easy it is. When I compare it to managing wholesale orders a...

This year I'm all in on collaborations. Here's why: I want to grow my business, but I don't think only using ads is a sustainable solution I know that a lead by referral is worth way more than a paid lead I actually like meeting others and working together towards a common goal And finally, Now, more than ever, I think all of us need connection with others if only to see that people are mostly goo...

Today I'm sharing a story about my business that I never thought I would share. It's kind of embarrassing. For many years I thought that most people who have a successful business or are working towards a successful business would think a lot less of me if they knew about my epic struggle. Recently, I became aware of just how many people struggle with this very same thing. It's paralyzing. It took...

What would happen to your business if you suddenly weren't able to work? Would it survive? In June of 2019, Sam was suddenly incapacitated by a mysterious illness that kept her bedridden for 17 months. Scary, right? But here's the good news. Before she got sick, Sam was actively working on automating her lead generation, email systems, and outsourcing a few key tasks. Even though her intention was...

If you've had some success on Etsy and you're trying to figure out what you need to do to find big success on your own website, this episode is FOR you. Today, my Reliable Revenue client Mary Wood, (founder of ModernMerrigold.com) is going to share with you how she was finally able to create explosive growth on her Shopify store, even though Etsy had been her #1 source of sales for years. In 2018...

Recently I hosted a Weekend Retreat for some of our higher volume Members. We spent some time talking about scaling our sales and talked about some of the best ways to scale your sales and grow your profit at the same time. It's exciting to think about what's possible, and actually see a clear path to reach our goals, but before you dive in and think about scaling your sales, there are 3 things yo...

Recently I shared a house with one of my Business besties, Sarah Williams, the Founder of Launch your Box. We've been friends for years, we both have a product based business background, and we serve a similar customer in our service businesses. Sarah teaches people how to successfully launch and grow a Subscription Box, and she also has a 7 figure product based business that includes thousands of...

Listen in and learn a powerful video strategy that has had a huge ROI for Nicole at her shop. I love Nicole's common sense approach to Social Media as a whole, but in this episode, we focused on the big results she's getting from video ads she's created from customers' video testimonials. When I saw what she was doing, I knew that we could all benefit from a strategy like this, so I asked her to w...

We all know that the biggest opportunity for us to grow our sales is to get more leads. People who come to your site from an email or a text message are at least 7x more likely to buy vs cold traffic that's visiting your site for the first time. But how to get more leads without feeling like a carnival busker? There is a way, and it's easier than you think. Listen in, as the amazing Laurel Thompso...