eComFuel Podcast

For the first 12 years of my entrepreneurial career, I was the only shareholder in my business, and I didn't fully appreciate how much that fact really streamlined decision-making, finances, and governance until I brought on shareholders. The truth is that bringing on shareholders opens up a whole new world in terms of possibilities and opportunities, but it also opens up a whole new set of consid...

Could you really unplug from your business for an extended period? What would that look like? How could you make it happen? What would happen to your business in your absence? These are all questions we're answering today with my guest, Greg Howlett. Greg is the CEO of CaringSunshine.com and Cobblestone Trade, and he recently went off-grid, completely unplugged, for five weeks with his family. As...

Today I am joined by Andrew Faris, the CEO and man behind 4×400, a holding company that launches and grows eCommerce brands. He is also the voice behind The eCommerce Playbook podcast, and one of the things I love most about him is his super candid thoughts about the good, the bad, and the ugly of eCommerce businesses. Listen in as Andrew dives into the businesses he has purchased, what went well,...

Oftentimes, a large portion of an entrepreneur's wealth comes from the exit, and in this episode, I'm sitting down with Joe Valley to get geeky about the highs and lows of selling businesses. Joe is not only the author of The EXITpreneur's Playbook and a long-time business broker with Quiet Light Brokerage, but he has also helped a lot of ECF members exit their own businesses. Listen in as we dive...

We all know there are two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. I'm excited to have my accountant, Mario Lucibello, join me today to talk about saving on taxes and tax strategies specific for entrepreneurs and business owners. We also chatted about something I wasn't expecting that really opened my eyes to how we view and think about our money. Listen in as we dive into how to save on...

You probably spend anywhere from 6 to 10 hours every day sitting in front of your computer screen, and your ability to use that machine well dictates not only how productive you are, but how well your business does. But how often do we really sit and think about how well our computer is set up, how well it's optimized, and how efficient we are at using it? In this short and sweet episode, I'm shar...

Cressida Granger is the owner of Mathmos.com, a name you might actually remember as being the original creator and inventor of the famed lava lamp. She is a more recent member of the ECF community, and I wanted to get her on to talk about her story and her business because it is so incredibly interesting. Listen in as Cressida shares how she manufactured a back-of-the-napkin deal for the iconic la...

Building an amazing life is just as important as building a thriving e-commerce store, and today we're talking about something that has made a huge impact in my life: splitting time between two different places. I was hesitant about doing an episode on this topic for a long time, but I decided to share for three reasons: the impact it has had, the questions I get asked about it, and the challenges...

I have long been a huge advocate for testing your pricing. Why? Because if you have never tested, there is potentially money you are leaving on the table. So in this episode, we're taking the discussion a step further and talking about split testing your pricing with the founders of IntelliGems, an analytics and optimization platform for mobile developers to run A/B tests and ultimately drive mone...

Today we're picking things back up with Tal Moore, and this time, we're covering all things investments—the good, the bad, and the high-returning. In case you missed the last episode, Tal is a born entrepreneur and founder of Franklin's Popcorn, Softy Wipes, and Guardline Security. He believes that the key to financial freedom is found in your passive income opportunities. Listen in as we dive int...

Tal Moore discovered his knack for business at the ripe young age of 12 years old. Selling gumballs to his friends ultimately led him to launch Gumballs.com, one of the largest online vending machine retailers. Tal is also the founder of many other businesses, including Franklin's Popcorn, Guardline Security, and Softy Wipes. He has given so much to the ECF community over the years and I'm excited...

If you're running a business, you undoubtedly have a million and one things vying for your time: family, health, religion, your business, and your friends. What most often gets pushed aside are friendships, which is especially true for entrepreneurs who tend to jam-pack their lives with as much as they can possibly fit in it—and then add some more on top of that for good measure! That's why in thi...

Josh Zhang is the Founder and CEO of Gainfluence.com, an influencer marketing agency that is home to some of the best-looking and smartest creators and entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. In this episode, we talk about where the influencer market is going (particularly after the pandemic), the best use of a $50,000 marketing spend in 2021, and why it's more important than ever to look at what is convert...

Allen Walton is the CEO and Founder of SpyGuy, an e-commerce store devoted to all sorts of surveillance and counter-surveillance equipment. More recently, he launched FlyGuy, a travel agency and membership that helps business owners unlock the secret of getting tons of travel paid for using credit card rewards. Listen in as Allen shares his knowledge from researching and using credit card rewards...

Skye Chilton is the owner of RealMushrooms.com, a family-owned and operated company that supplies top-quality herbal and medicinal mushroom products online. Skye partnered with his father, Jeff Chilton, a well-renowned expert in mushrooms, and leveraged his expertise and credibility in the industry to grow the brand. What is particularly interesting about Skye is how he leveraged podcasting and so...

Nikhil Krishnan is the founder and author of Out of Pocket Health, a newsletter featuring in-depth analysis and clever memes about the state of the healthcare system in the United States today. Listen in as we discuss the two biggest problems in the US system today, the dichotomy between the US being a leader in cutting edge technology while also having an issue with access to basic healthcare for...

Scott Scharf is co-founder of Catching Clouds, the leaders in e-commerce accounting that offer a solution for entrepreneurs who struggle with understanding - or even getting - accurate financial information about their business. Listen in as we discuss all things ERP, including a review and overview of the main platforms available, what the advantages and disadvantages are of each, and why it's a...

Chuckie Gregory is the founder of Club EarlyBird, a morning cocktail that makes it easy to wake up early and that has grown from $0 to $1-million in sales in less than a year.   In this episode, Chuckie details the SMS messaging strategy that they use at Club EarlyBird, including why they collect phone numbers with a post-purchase opt-in rather than at checkout, how he justifies the cost of SMS me...

Garret and Deeanne Akerson are the co-founders of Kindred Bravely, which creates maternity and nursing clothes that are beautiful, comfortable, and most importantly, useful. They have an incredibly successful business story, but in this episode we're talking about something that doesn't get discussed a lot: how do you build a meaningful and successful business while also raising kids? We're gettin...

This is a somewhat selfish episode because this guest makes my absolute favorite shirts in the entire world, and I wanted to learn more about the inner workings of the business. Ryan Light is the CEO of Pistol Lake, a men's apparel company that was founded in 2012 with the goal to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. at a reasonable price—and with really amazing quality. Ryan is not the founder of...

Conor Lewis has a really cool story. He is the Founder of GetTheFort.com, a magnetic pillow fort that he designed, crowdfunded, and brought to market in under a year. What's really cool about Conor though is that he is entirely self-taught on eCommerce, but still managed to build a huge audience through social channels by tapping into his previous branding, design, and video experience. In this ep...

Today we are going to be talking about selling and acquiring businesses with a couple of people who have recently been through the process themselves. Chris Carey recently sold his business, MAPerformance.com, to David Rauch's team over at AnthemWheels.com. In this episode, they will be sharing the story of their unique transaction, as well as the power of trust and rapport in existing relationshi...

If you are an entrepreneur, you have probably come across a business being sold so cheaply that you considered purchasing it. However, being business savvy enough to differentiate between fantastic buying opportunities and energy-destroying lemons can be very tricky. So in this episode, we have Brian Lejeune and Janine Do, owners of VirginiaBoysKitchens.com, joining the show to discuss how they pu...

If you are not quite sure what asset based lending is in relation to other types of lending, you are definitely not alone. David Golob is CEO of Microcom.us, a high-volume Amazon seller, and an expert on asset based lending, and he's here to give us the goods on this unique lending type. Listen in as David shares why you might consider asset based lending over other types of financing, as well as...

If you love geeking out on the finance side as much as we do, this is an episode you definitely don't want to miss! I'm going down the rabbit hole of banking, lending, and financing with Bill D'Alessandro, founder and CEO at Elements Brands and frequent co-host of this podcast. Consider this episode a master cheat sheet for all entrepreneurs who want to get their finances in order and get the most...