The Ecommerce Roadmap

What if the key to earning a paycheck from your online store isn't working more hours, but selling smarter? Amanda Whisman did exactly that, growing her sales month over month until she could walk away from her full-time teaching job. Today she's breaking down the strategies that made it possible. Listen in and learn: Why doing the scary thing (and narrowing your focus) allows you to market clearl...

If you've ever had a sneaky suspicion that your conversion rate could be better—you're probably right. In this episode, we're sharing two things you can do today to start turning more of your traffic into paying customers. Plus, we reveal the ONE conversion killer we see on nearly every ecommerce homepage. What You'll Learn in This Episode: ✔️ The little detail most stores skip—but that can double...

You could be sending the right people to your store and still losing them in the first 10 seconds…and not even know it.  In this episode, our Conversion Coach Kate Tilbury breaks down exactly why your homepage might be costing you sales, and what a few simple fixes can actually do for your revenue. Kate will walk us through these 3 simple fixes (that we'll be making together in the upcoming Browse...

What if you woke up one morning, checked your stats, and realized your sales were up 521%...without running a single ad?  That's exactly what happened to Wendy Mitchell, a botanical artist who went from relying on festival sales to pay her bills, to building real online sales from her studio in Colorado. Today she's walking us through exactly what she did — and trust me, you can do this too. Here'...

"What's wrong with my website?" If we had a nickel for every time we heard this question… And it's heartbreaking, because even without seeing your website I can tell you, that's not the reason folks aren't buying. It's something a lot simpler, and a lot more fixable.  In this episode I'm talking with Inner Circle coach Melissa about why there is more to your conversion rate that meets the eye, and...

Running a business can feel a bit like Groundhog Day. On the first of every month you find yourself staring at your sales goal as if it's looming over you from the top of a very, very steep hill. AGAIN. But what if 75% of your revenue hit your bank account…before a single bill came due? That's what's possible when you build a subscription model. My friend Sarah Williams has been selling physical p...

If you've ever run an ad campaign on Facebook or Instagram, and walked away feeling like it would have been more productive to just light that money on fire…I have really, really good news for you. You're wrong! This week on the blog and podcast I'm chatting with our social media coach Melissa Davies to talk about all things Meta ads.  Listen in and learn: Why "purchase" ads are wrong for most sto...

If you've figured out how to get sales using just your grit, determination, and possibly sheer force of will…you may be in or approaching a state of burnout.  The messy middle can feel draining and endless, but this week I've got some inspiration for you. Becky Youngberry started her quilting subscription box with two subscribers, $4,000 from savings, and a really bad day at her day job. By year t...

There's a point many store owners reach where they've been working so hard for so long, that they begin to suspect that the light at the end of the tunnel is just…never going to appear. It's a terrible feeling. In this episode I'm talking with Inner Circle coach Melissa  about the thing nobody says out loud: that if you really want to grow (sustainably) you have to slow down and build some systems...

Have you ever sat down at the end of a rough month, exhausted, head in your hands, and thought… Is it even worth it? Am I ever going to get to the point where I make an income that is aligned with all the work I do?  If that's you - I'm talking with profit expert Ciara Stockland about the most common money mistakes that keep ecommerce product stores like us financially stuck . And together we're s...

If you're an artist who's ever wondered if your brain just wasn't built for business ownership, this episode is a great demonstration of how all creatives can grow a successful business online. Victoria Mlady of Victoria Bright Home went from burning time & money schlepping across the country several times a year to sell her pattern designs at trade shows, to quadrupling her sales in her first yea...

In the last few months, three members of our community — store owners just like you and me —  have faced lawsuits over website compliance. So I sat down with my favorite lawyer, Tannia Ospina, to talk about what you actually need on your website to stay compliant, why it matters more than most of us realize, and how to get it done without it taking over your life. Three things you'll take away fro...

Brandon Love is the founder of Bewilderment.com — a fragrance and art studio in Columbus, Ohio. He started the business at 17 and is now in his 11th year. When tariffs hit last year and his Facebook ad performance collapsed, Brandon came into the Inner Circle looking for a different way forward. It would have tanked most stores' sales;  he ended up doubling them instead. In this episode, he shares...

Bergen Anderson is the founder of Lila Barn Clothing — a Chicago-based brand making bold, colorful clothing for kids and adults who love adventure. She's been in business for 14 years, runs a physical storefront, and recently built a small production team so she can finally focus on the design work she loves most. In this episode, Bergen shares the full story of her journey: from a costly paid ads...

What if you could build a full-time income selling your art online — no craft fairs, no tent in the rain — just you, your studio, and a strategy that actually works? Sarah Golden is an artist who has been selling her work online for over ten years and has built a full-time business from her studio doing what she loves: painting, creating, and sharing it with the world. She sells original work and...

If you're like most store owners I talk to, you probably put a ton of time into finding the perfect product, invest in inventory, get excited about having something new to offer… and then the results are a little underwhelming. And I bet you immediately think: maybe nobody wants this. Maybe the product was wrong. But here's what I know after working with hundreds of store owners — in almost every...

Wondering what the difference is between a store owner who feels confident and sees steady growth — and one who's working hard but spinning their wheels? It's usually not a great product or a beautiful website. It's a few simple habits that anyone can learn. Susan shares them all in this episode. In this episode you'll learn: The 3-step framework that turns scattered effort into real, visible resu...

Recently, I've been working with a group of eCommerce owners who have great products. They're probably much like you! They have good weeks - and some not so good weeks - and over time it feels like a lot of effort to get results that are so much less than what you want. And after a while, you start wondering things like: "What am I missing - I must be doing something wrong"" But here's what I see...

Wondering why your sales are stuck—even though you're doing "all the right things"? In this episode, Susan and Melissa walk through how to use your own Shopify and Klaviyo data to figure out if your traffic is the problem… or if it's something else entirely. Here's what you'll learn:  ✔️ How to tell if your store's traffic is the problem ✔️ What your add-to-cart rate really means ✔️ Why your popup...

Reliable Revenue is a once-a-year intensive course focused on building a long-term conversion system to maximize customer lifetime value through email marketing strategies and automations. It does not cover traffic, ads, or SEO but ensures businesses are set up to convert effectively. The program is designed around Klaviyo and Shopify, though Klaviyo integrates with other platforms. Sign up for Re...

Join us in this episode as we explore Sam Gilhooley's remarkable journey from bed rest to business boss. Sam, owner of Magnetics and a student of our Reliable Revenue course, shares what happened when illness took her out of her business for seventeen months. Listen in and find out: 💪 How Sam finally "put down the tape gun" and started working ON, not in, her business. ⚙️ What happened when she i...

What if the problem isn't profit—but sales? In this episode, I sit down with Inner Circle member Jen, who's wondering if her business is worth continuing. She's doing the work. She's tracking her numbers. But she's not making enough money to justify the effort—and she's seriously questioning whether it's time to pack it in. What we discovered together might surprise you. Because once we looked at...

In this episode, Susan talks with Inner Circle member Shelley Sandford about what it actually looks like to build momentum when you're starting from zero. Shelley joined the program before she even launched her website, followed the process, asked for help when she got stuck, and made a key messaging shift that changed everything. Seven months later, she ran an event that sold 500 units — and she'...

Sara's built a solid foundation for her handmade business. Now, she's ready to cut back on in-person shows and grow her online sales. But how do you go from "everything's set up" to actually seeing consistent revenue? This episode is a fly-on-the-wall coaching call where we map out a clear, focused plan for hitting $35K in sales between September and December—without burning out or second-guessing...

Louise Buckley grew her list by nearly 2,000 in five months—and now she's on track to hit 10,000 by year-end using simple, strategic moves.  In this episode, Louise shares how she's growing her boutique clothing business with intention. From turning a broken receipt printer into an email-capture tool, to using live sales and collaborations as list-building machines, she's staying focused on what w...