Podcast appearances and mentions of drew sanocki

TikTok Shop right now is bigger than Amazon or Shopify was from launch. That is what TikTok Shop is right now." Bold statement? Maybe. But Jordan West, founder and CEO of Social Commerce Club, has the data to back it up. With CPMs dropping 26% last year while ad spend increases, and creators with under 10K followers generating $250K in monthly sales, we're witnessing the early stages of what could be the biggest disruption in e-commerce since Amazon itself. In this explosive episode, Jordan breaks down his exact three-phase playbook for scaling from zero to $100K per month on TikTok Shop, reveals why big brands like Estée Lauder are struggling to adapt, and shares the underground strategies that are creating millionaire creators overnight.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introducting Jordan West(05:18) The Exponential Growth of TikTok Shops(10:48) Understanding the TikTok Shops Ecosystem(14:12) The Power of Social Search(16:16) Understanding Social Commerce(19:34) Misconceptions about TikTok Shops(24:33) The 80/20 Rule for Viral Content(26:16) Best Practices(31:36) Making It From Zero to Viral(33:20) The Tiktok Shop Playbook: Phase One(38:18) The Tiktok Shop Playbook: Phase Two(42:44) The Tiktok Shop Playbook: Phase Three(46:21) Exploring YouTube's Potential in Social Commerce—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Jordan's LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jordan-west-marketerPast guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

What does it take to build a skincare brand that not only survives but thrives for over two decades in one of the most competitive markets? In this powerful episode, Stefan Kalu, CEO and owner of Dr. Brandt Skincare, shares the remarkable journey of how a dermatologist's vision became a $100M+ beauty empire that pioneered the "doctor skincare" category. From surviving the tragic loss of their founder to navigating COVID-19 and a complete brand revamp, Stefan reveals the strategies, mindset, and bold decisions that kept Dr. Brandt at the forefront of innovation while staying true to their core mission: "Take the doctor home with you."—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introduction to Dr. Brandt Skincare(03:27) The Unique Aspect of Dr. Brandt Products(07:10) Notes on Product Positioning (09:31) Balancing Clinical Authority and Accesibility(12:21) Longevity and Staying Relevant in the Skincare Market(16:16) Strategies for Customer Retention and Loyalty Programs(21:21) Innovative Research and Development Practices(26:55) Attracting Customers & Storytelling in Marketing(30:59) Stephane's Journey to CEO(36:14) Mental Health Advocacy and The Dr. Brandt Foundation—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Stephane's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanecolleu/Dr Brandt's Website: https://www.drbrandtskincare.com/Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

When most brands struggle to break through the noise online, Chris Lang and Fresh Chili Company cracked the code by doing something radically different: they started with story, not sales. In this episode, discover how a small New Mexico chili company became a top 1% Shopify store with explosive 85% year-over-year growth, a 4.96% conversion rate, and 3.74% ROAS—all while building an engaged community that devours their content faster than NBA games get views.Chris reveals the exact strategies behind their meteoric rise, from leveraging organic social as a testing ground for paid ads to creating "addictive" content that turns customers into brand evangelists. This isn't another generic growth story—it's a masterclass in building authentic connections that drive real business results.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introduction to Fresh Chile Company(02:30) History of The Chili Capital of the World(07:03) Keys to Success: Storytelling & Community(11:20) Balancing Organic and Paid Strategies(16:57) Creative Content & Testing Philosophy(21:47) Building a Brand Story(24:22) Search Visibility(27:46) SEO Strategies & Content Plans(34:20) How Fresh Chile Builds Community—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Chris' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislangsocial/Fresh Chile Website: https://freshchileco.com/_Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Russell Breuer, founder of Spot & Tango, shares the remarkable journey of building a $100+ million pet food company from a New York studio apartment in just seven years. What makes this story even more impressive? They've remained profitable while operating as a subscription-only, direct-to-consumer brand in the competitive pet food space. Russell reveals the strategic decisions that set them apart—from their innovative "Unkibble" fresh-dry process to building their own 70,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania. This conversation is packed with actionable insights on vertical integration, subscription model optimization, and performance marketing excellence.This episode is essential listening for any D2C founder looking to build sustainable, profitable growth while maintaining premium positioning in their market.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introducing Spot & Tango: The Value Proposition of Fresh Pet Food(06:15) The Importance of Vertical Integration(11:56) Subscription-Only Model: A Strategic Choice(15:52) Key Lessons for Increasing Conversion Rates(19:03) The Role of Education in Customer Engagement & Relationships(23:09) Understanding Return on Invested Capital(28:58) Growth Levers & Marketing Strategies(32:29) The Role of AI in Performance Marketing(35:05) What's Next for Spot & Tango—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Russell's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-breuer-0b3b57Spot & Tango Website: https://spotandtango.com/_Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Drew Sanocki, he is 25 year DTC veteran who pivoted from a turnaround CEO to a SAAS founder. Drew's known for turning around 3 x hundred million dollar brands that were bleeding cash and shepherding them to an exit. He now runs PostPilot, the top direct mail platform for Shopify. Highlight Bullets> Here's a glimpse of what you would learn…. Strategies for increasing revenue in e-commerce businesses.Importance of customer segmentation and understanding customer behavior.RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) analysis for identifying valuable customers.Data-driven decision-making and leveraging analytics for growth.Focus on customer lifetime value (LTV) and its impact on marketing budgets.Continuous improvement and iterative assessment of marketing strategies.Diversification of sales channels beyond platforms like Amazon.Utilizing direct mail as a complementary marketing channel.Emphasis on brand visibility and presence across multiple platforms.Cost-cutting strategies and prioritizing profitability over revenue.In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley interviews Drew Sanocki, a 25-year veteran in direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce and founder of Post Pilot. The discussion centers on strategies for scaling e-commerce businesses, focusing on customer segmentation, data analytics, and revenue multipliers. Drew shares insights on improving revenue through customer retention, diversifying sales channels, and leveraging direct mail. He emphasizes the importance of understanding customer behavior, using data-driven decision-making, and maintaining profitability. The episode offers actionable takeaways for seven-figure business owners aiming to scale to eight figures and beyond.Here are the 3 action items that Josh identified from this episode:Maximize Customer Segmentation with RFM Analysis – Use RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) analysis to categorize customers based on their purchasing behavior. Identify high-value customers and tailor marketing strategies to boost retention, upselling, and repeat purchases. This approach reduces reliance on discounting and enhances long-term profitability.Diversify Sales Channels to Reduce Risk – Avoid over-reliance on Amazon by establishing your own direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform, such as a Shopify store. This enables better control over customer data, improved brand visibility, and a more stable revenue stream through multiple touchpoints, including retail, social commerce, and direct mail marketing.Cut Costs Without Compromising Growth – Regularly reassess operational expenses by renegotiating contracts, transitioning to cost-effective platforms like Shopify and Klaviyo, and avoiding long custom IT projects. Prioritize investments in strategic growth areas while eliminating unnecessary expenditures to maintain profitability.Resources mentioned in this episode:Here are the mentions with timestamps arranged by topic:Ecomm BreakthroughJosh Hadley on LinkedIneComm Breakthrough YouTubeeComm Breakthrough ConsultingeComm Breakthrough PodcastEmail Josh Hadley: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.comAmazonPost Pilot  Klaviyo  Shopify  RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary)ICE Scoring MethodTurnaround Tips by Drew SanockiHow Brands Grow by Drew Sanocki80/20 Sales and MarketingJay AbrahamDavid HitchcockSpecial Mention(s):Adam “Heist” Runquist on LinkedInKevin King on LinkedInMichael E. Gerber on LinkedInRelated Episode(s):“Cracking the Amazon Code: Learn From Adam Heist's Brand Scaling Secrets” on the eComm Breakthrough Podcast“Kevin King's Wicked-Smart Tips for Building an Audience of Raving Fans” on the eComm Breakthrough Podcast“Unlocking Entrepreneurial Greatness | Insider Secrets With E-myth Author Michael Gerber” on the eComm Breakthrough PodcastEpisode SponsorThis episode is brought to you by eComm Breakthrough Consulting where I help seven-figure e-commerce owners grow to eight figures. I started Hadley Designs in 2015 and grew it to an eight-figure brand in seven years.I made mistakes along the way that made the path to eight figures longer. At times I doubted whether our business could even survive and become a real brand. I wish I would have had a guide to help me grow faster and avoid the stumbling blocks.If you've hit a plateau and want to know the next steps to take your business to the next level, then go to www.EcommBreakthrough.com (that's Ecomm with two M's) to learn more.Transcript AreaJosh Hadley 00:00:00  Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough podcast. I'm your host, Josh Hadley, where I interview the top business leaders in e-commerce. Past guests include Kevin King, Michael Gerber, author of The E-myth, and Matt Clark from ASM. Today I am speaking with Drew Sanocki, and we are going to be talking about three multiplier levers that you'll be able to pull in your business to increase revenue. This epi...

What happens when you build a company specifically to sell it—and then execute that plan? Liz Saunders went from running registration at Seller Summit to delivering the closing keynote, all while building Fluencer Fruit, the Chrome extension that helps Amazon Influencer creators optimize their content strategy. In this powerful episode, Liz reveals her entire exit playbook, from reading "Exit Preneur" before she even started building to keeping GAAP-compliant books from day one. But this isn't just an acquisition story—it's a masterclass in understanding the Amazon Influencer ecosystem, where creators earn 1-4% commissions and brands are discovering that video converts better than text, and UGC converts better than brand videos.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Re-Introducing Liz Saunders (03:30) The Journey of Fluencer Fruit(07:20) Amazon Influencer Program Insights(10:09) Shifts in Influencer Marketing(13:35) Brand Strategies for Influencer Engagement(19:05) Multi-Channel Selling(21:31) Building and Selling Fluencer Fruit(28:03) Insights from the Sales Process(32:05) Future Endeavors—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Liz's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-saundersFluencer Fruit: https://fluencerfruit.com/_Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

Think SEO is dead in the age of AI? Think again. While ChatGPT referral traffic surged 112% month-over-month across e-commerce sites, Google still commands 99% of search market share and processes 13.6 billion queries daily. Jeff Oxford, SEO expert and founder of 180 Marketing, reveals why smart brands are doubling down on search optimization—and how the strategies that work for Google are also positioning companies to dominate in AI search results. From his data analysis of 152 SEO campaigns showing consistent 75% traffic growth, to the "ranking factor leak" that exposed Google's true algorithm priorities, Jeff breaks down the exact 4-bucket framework that's still generating millions in revenue for e-commerce brands.Key Topics & Lessons:The State of Search in 2025 - Why Google's 13.6 billion daily queries represent a 64% increase from 2024, how ChatGPT traffic grew 112% month-over-month (but still represents only 1-3% of total traffic), and why the "Google is dead" narrative is premature despite real AI disruptionThe 4-Bucket SEO Framework - Jeff's systematic approach covering Technical SEO (mostly handled by Shopify), Page Optimization (title tags, meta descriptions, headers), Content Strategy (200-300 words on category pages), and Link Building (the 0.3 correlation factor that still dominates rankings)What Really Moves the Needle - Data from 152 campaigns showing 20% growth at 3 months, 50% at 6 months, and 75% at 12 months, plus insights from Google's leaked ranking documents revealing click-through rate as a massive ranking factorThe Great Blog Apocalypse of 2023 - Why standalone content sites lost 90% of their traffic while e-commerce stores with blogs thrived, how Google's "helpful content" update rewarded real businesses over affiliate spam, and Jeff's theory about Google My Business as a ranking signalAI SEO Optimization Strategy - How to reverse-engineer ChatGPT sources to identify link targets, why product roundups have a 0.45 correlation with AI citations (higher than traditional backlinks), and the overlap between traditional SEO and AI optimizationThe Future of Automated SEO - Jeff's experiment building a fully autonomous AI agency with zero human account managers, AI tools that can screenshot pages and generate optimized title tags, and how Gemini 2.5 Pro is changing the automation game—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) The Relevance of SEO in the Age of AI(12:38) The 4 Components of SEO(16:19) What Is the Payoff for SEO?(20:22) Breaking Down Technical SEO(23:43) On-Page SEO and Meta Descriptions(25:58) Content Optimization Strategies(33:27) Link Building(38:30) AI and SEO: The Future of Search—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Jeff's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-oxford180 Marketing: https://www.180marketing.com/_Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer,...

In this episode of the Ecommerce Evolution Podcast, host Brett Curry welcomes Mickey Winter (CEO) and Carrie Weidenbach (COO) of Aysnd, a digital agency specializing in purpose-driven ecommerce brands. As industry veterans with decades of combined experience, they share invaluable insights on maintaining brand mission during economic uncertainty, particularly amid recent tariff challenges. This conversation delivers practical strategies for navigating market pressures while staying true to your brand's core values and purpose.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introducing Carrie & Mickey(02:22) Navigating Tariff Chaos and Supply Chain Diversification(04:19) Defining Purpose-Driven Brands(06:29) Pricing & Profitability in Uncertain Times(12:25) Carrie & Mickey's Background(16:50) The Conscious Commerce Maturity Matrix & Level One, Awareness(22:29) Level Two, Scaling(27:06) Level Three, Optimizing(32:38) Level Four, Leading(36:15) Level Five, Pioneering(39:38) Staying Mission-Driven in Uncertain Times—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:AYSND: https://www.aysnd.com/Mickey's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickeywinterCarrie's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-weidenbach-a5272aaBOOM! Beauty: https://boombeauty.com/Patagonia: https://www.patagonia.com/home/AB InBev: https://www.ab-inbev.com/__Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more

In this episode of the E-commerce Evolution Podcast, host Brett Curry sits down with with award-winning entrepreneur Leah Garcia (https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-garcia-592988/), founder of Nulastin (https://nulastin.com/).Leah has a remarkable journey building a beauty brand with shocking retention numbers—80% blended returning revenue and 65% subscription-based customers. From her bootstrapped beginnings (going from zero to $17.5M before hiring her first employee!) to developing bio-designed elastin products that deliver real results, Leah unpacks the strategies that have made her company a standout success even in uncertain economic times.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introducing Leah Garcia (02:54) Nulastin's Mission and Core Products(07:19) How to Achieve High Retention Rates(12:59) Removing Friction in the Shopping Experience(19:33) Optimizing Subscription Models (25:50) Knowing Your Customers & Fostering Connections(30:50) Improvements to Reduce Churn (37:08) Direct Response Marketing Insights(41:42) Navigating Uncertainty in Business—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Nulastin: https://nulastin.comLeah's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/leah-garcia-592988Leah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leahgarciatv/Heart & Soil Beef Organics: https://heartandsoil.co/__Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more

In this insightful episode of the E-commerce Evolution Podcast, host Brett Curry sits down with Tom Leonard (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasbleonard), a fractional marketing leader who specializes in operationalizing Media Mix Modeling and incrementality testing. They dive deep into the often confusing world of marketing measurement. Tom and Brett will debunk myths about attribution and we reveal what truly drives customer acquisition. For ecommerce brands struggling to understand where their marketing dollars are actually working, this conversation offers practical insights on how to move beyond misleading platform metrics.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introducing Tom & Marketing Measurement(06:30) Understanding Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA)(12:22) The Case for Incrementality Testing(22:20) Exploring Media Mix Modeling (MMM)(27:30) Navigating Budget Cuts and Marketing Spend(32:17) Understanding Incrementality Vs. Attribution(35:45) The Importance of Cost Per Incremental(40:16) How to Get Started with MMM(44:09) Final Thoughts—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Tom's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasbleonard__Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more

In this insightful episode of the E-commerce Evolution Podcast, host Brett Curry sits down with Jhana Li (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhana-li), founder of Spyglass Ops, to tackle one of the biggest challenges holding back growing businesses: operational constraints. While many entrepreneurs excel at product development and marketing, they often hit a ceiling when it comes to building operational systems and processes. Jhana shares her expertise as a transformational operations consultant who has helped hundreds of seven and eight-figure businesses scale by creating systems that allow founders to work on their business rather than in it.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introducing Jhana & SpyGlass Ops (04:21) Common Operational Problems Founders Face(07:52) Developing a Strategic Vision to Break Through Bottlenecks(14:39) Setting Yourself Apart From Competitors(17:52) Vision Alignment With Your Team(20:51) Hiring and Onboarding the Right People(32:31) Structuring An Effective Hiring Process(40:28) Coaching a High-Performing Team(46:04) When To Let Underperformers Go(50:43) Final Thoughts—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more

In this timely episode, Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry) sits down with Nick Flint (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-flint-b46063b3/), Director of Email Marketing, to tackle the pressing challenge facing e-commerce brands today: how to maintain profitability amid rising tariffs. As import costs surge, they share actionable strategies for protecting your bottom line without sacrificing growth. Whether you're considering price increases, optimizing marketing spend, or leveraging email to boost customer loyalty, this episode delivers practical solutions you can implement immediately.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introduction(01:28) Increasing Profitability in the Current Landscape(04:30) Strategies for Princing and Bundling(06:32) Effective Cost-Cutting Measures(11:51) Maximizing Email Marketing Effectiveness(15:06) Final Thoughts—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more

We're thrilled to have Joe Rollinson, the brain behind Best Worlds and CartSave.io, with us today.

"It's just a hell of a lot easier to optimize a business than to start something from scratch."Also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tbVh1J1sOEQ​​Drew Sanocki has a knack for transforming struggling businesses into profitable ventures. In this episode of The Unofficial Shopify Podcast, host Kurt Elster taps into Drew's extensive experience to uncover the strategies that have driven his success. With over two decades in e-commerce, Drew shares why he often opts to buy businesses rather than starting from scratch. He reveals how this approach allows him to leverage existing assets and customer bases for quick wins and sustainable growth. Drew also gives listeners a peek into the key tactics that have helped him revive and profit from these acquisitions. If you're looking to shake up your marketing strategy or simply want a fresh perspective on growth, this conversation is for you.Show Linksnerdmarketing.compostpilot.comDrew SanockiSponsorsZipifyFinale InventoryGrowth CollectiveNever miss an episodeSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsJoin Kurt's newsletterHelp the showAsk a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook GroupLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsWhat's Kurt up to?See our recent work at EthercycleSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelApply to work with Kurt to grow your store.

Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/) talks to Jimmy Sansone (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-sansone-aa80b881/) about the founding story of The Normal Brand.__Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!__Chapters: (00:00) Introduction and Jimmy's Background(11:42) Early Days of The Normal Brand(15:51) Working with Family (22:09) Expansion Into Retail Stores(25:03) Benefits of Having Your Own Stores(32:25) Mistakes Made Along The Way(34:46) Culture and Core Values(39:34) Future Plans & Merchandising Strategy (42:28) Outro __Show Notes: Jimmy Sansone (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-sansone-aa80b881/ The Normal Brand (Website): https://thenormalbrand.com/ The Normal Brand (Instagram):https://www.instagram.com/thenormalbrand/ Patrick Lencioni (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-lencioni-orghealth/ Working Genius: https://www.workinggenius.com/ Hudson Hawk: https://www.hudsonhawk.com/ Ryan Holiday: https://ryanholiday.net/ Supplement Superstore: https://supplementsuperstores.com/ 1st Phorm: https://1stphorm.com/ __Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more. __Other episodes you might enjoy: Episode 266 with Cody Wittick - Influencer Marketing and How To Create a Creative Flywheel in 2024

Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/) talks to Jeremy Horowitz (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorowitz1/) about the current state of eCommerce.__Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!__Chapters: (00:00) Intro(01:58) The State of eCommerce(12:39) Constructing a Healthy P&L(22:48) Would We Buy This Business? (38:38) The Importance of Focusing on Core Customers(43:29) LVMH: The Ultimate Luxury Company(48:44) Outro__Links: Jeremy Horowitz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorowitz1/ Let's Buy A Biz!: https://www.letsbuyabiz.xyz/ __Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more. __Other episodes you might enjoy: Episode 266 with Cody Wittick - Influencer Marketing and How To Create a Creative Flywheel in 2024Episode 263 with Anthony Mink - Cut Your CPA in Half by Asking Better QuestionsEpisode 260 with Preston Rutherford - Lessons From Chubbies with Co-Founder Preston RutherfordEpisode 243 with Jacques Spitzer - Achieving Exit Velocity with YouTube AdsEpisode 228 with Jeremy Horowitz - The State of eCommerce, The Economy, and What To Do Next

Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/) talks to Jeff Cohen from Amazon (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreycohen/) about amazon ads news and trends. __Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!__Show Notes: (00:00) Introduction (07:54) Vertical Video for Sponsored Brand Video(15:43) Amazon's Facebook Integration (19:27) Prime Video Ads and Sponsored TV(31:33) Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) (39:22) AI's Role In Amazon Advertising (42:15) The Importance of Your Feedback(43:46) Outro __Links: Jeff Cohen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreycohen/ __Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more. __Other episodes you might enjoy: Episode 266 with Cody Wittick - Influencer Marketing and How To Create a Creative Flywheel in 2024Episode 263 with Anthony Mink - Cut Your CPA in Half by Asking Better QuestionsEpisode 260 with Preston Rutherford - Lessons From Chubbies with Co-Founder Preston RutherfordEpisode 243 with Jacques Spitzer - Achieving Exit Velocity with YouTube AdsEpisode 228 with Jeremy Horowitz - The State of eCommerce, The Economy, and What To Do Next

Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/) talks to Brayn Porter (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbryanporter/) about how to build a brand on Amazon. __Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!__Show Notes: (00:00) Introduction(04:11) Simple Modern's Founding Story(17:42) Demand Capture and Paid Ads(24:40) Building A Brand On Amazon(40:40) Transitioning To a 1P Seller on Amazon(46:23) Outro__Links: Kyle Fraughton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbryanporter/ Simple Modern: https://www.simplemodern.com/ __Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, and more. __Other episodes you might enjoy: Episode 266 with Cody Wittick - Influencer Marketing and How To Create a Creative Flywheel in 2024Episode 263 with Anthony Mink - Cut Your CPA in Half by Asking Better QuestionsEpisode 260 with Preston Rutherford - Lessons From Chubbies with Co-Founder Preston RutherfordEpisode 243 with Jacques Spitzer - Achieving Exit Velocity with YouTube AdsEpisode 228 with Jeremy Horowitz - The State of eCommerce, The Economy, and What To Do Next

Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/) talks about the parallels between parenting and running a business. __Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!__Show Notes: (00:00) Introduction (03:12) Lesson 1 - Where All Making It Up As We Go(06:58) Lesson 2 - You're Never Really Ready(09:19) Lesson 3 - Listen and Communicate Clearly In Multiple Ways(12:17) Lesson 4 - Admit When You're Wrong(14:39) Lesson 5 - You Might Want A Coach(19:39) Lesson 6 - Be All In(22:52) Outro __Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, and more. __Other episodes you might enjoy: Episode 266 with Cody Wittick - Influencer Marketing and How To Create a Creative Flywheel in 2024Episode 263 with Anthony Mink - Cut Your CPA in Half by Asking Better QuestionsEpisode 260 with Preston Rutherford - Lessons From Chubbies with Co-Founder Preston RutherfordEpisode 243 with Jacques Spitzer - Achieving Exit Velocity with YouTube AdsEpisode 228 with Jeremy Horowitz - The State of eCommerce, The Economy, and What To Do Next

Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/) talks to Kyle Fraughton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylefraughton/) about ambassador programs and the power of UGC. __Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!__Show Notes: (00:00) Introduction (02:40) Kyle's Background (03:53) Authentic - The Word of the Year(05:55) Is UGC Dead? (10:51) The Digital Age Version of Word of Mouth(13:32) Strategies To Facilitate Word of Mouth(15:26) What Does A Good Ambassador Program Do?(16:16) Influencer Program vs. Ambassador Program(26:08) How To Set Up An Ambassador Program(34:50) Ambassadors and Ads(38:41) More About Get Roster(43:06) Outro__Links: Kyle Fraughton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylefraughton/ Roster: https://www.getroster.com/__Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, and more. __Other episodes you might enjoy: Episode 266 with Cody Wittick - Influencer Marketing and How To Create a Creative Flywheel in 2024Episode 263 with Anthony Mink - Cut Your CPA in Half by Asking Better QuestionsEpisode 260 with Preston Rutherford - Lessons From Chubbies with Co-Founder Preston RutherfordEpisode 243 with Jacques Spitzer - Achieving Exit Velocity with YouTube AdsEpisode 228 with Jeremy Horowitz - The State of eCommerce, The Economy, and What To Do Next

Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/) talks to Sean Frank (http://twitter.com/SeanEcom/) about what it takes to win as a DTC brand in 2024. __Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!__Show Notes: (00:00) Introduction (01:18) The Operators Podcast (06:30) Ridge's Background(09:38) What To Expect For DTC Brands In 2024(16:08) What Does It Take To Win In 2024(25:13) What Channels Is Sean Most Excited For In 2024(30:15) How To Grow Profitably (38:52) Expanding Your Product Line(43:44) Outro__Links: Sean Frank: http://twitter.com/SeanEcom/ Ridge: https://ridge.com/ The Operators Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/operators/id1684446059__Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ __Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, and more. __Other episodes you might enjoy: Episode 266 with Cody Wittick - Influencer Marketing and How To Create a Creative Flywheel in 2024Episode 263 with Anthony Mink - Cut Your CPA in Half by Asking Better QuestionsEpisode 260 with Preston Rutherford - Lessons From Chubbies with Co-Founder Preston RutherfordEpisode 243 with Jacques Spitzer - Achieving Exit Velocity with YouTube AdsEpisode 228 with Jeremy Horowitz - The State of eCommerce, The Economy, and What To Do Next

Drew Sanocki is one of my favorite people to talk to. He's been a longtime friend and possesses a wealth of wisdom. Drew has successfully built and exited a company, turned around two other nine-figure retailers and is currently overseeing the growth of PostPilot, which recently achieved 8-figures in annual recurring revenue (ARR). What distinguishes Drew in my mind is his unwavering commitment to his family and his well-being. He has a wonderful family and leads an inspirational life. In this episode, we gain valuable insights into his mindset and philosophy on building both a fulfilling life and a successful business. What You'll Learn From This Episode: Why Drew is waking up at 4:30 a.m. and sprinting at 51 years old A transparent look at his daily schedule while managing one of the country's fastest-growing companies. The strategies he uses to maintain connection with his kids and wife while running a startup The details behind his acquisition of PostPilot for $50,000 and its transformation into an 8-figure business. His experience of hiring one person every three days for an entire year. How he has acquired multiple 8 and 9-figure businesses without investing his own capital. The differences between building a SAAS (Software as a Service) and an e-commerce business. Some simple campaigns that you can use with direct mail to grow your business Links:  The PostPilot holiday offer https://www.postpilot.com/holiday-gfo www.PostPilot.com

Shoppers have been trained to wait until November to buy. So whether you're running a discount, free gift with purchase, expedited shipping, or another offer entirely, you better make sure it's profitable. But you can't stop at a single purchase. And on this episode of Ecommerce Marketing School, PostPilot's Drew Sanocki shares his secrets for what it takes to win Black Friday. Follow Val on TwitterFollow Drew on LinkedInTry Privy for FREECheck out the Triple Whale Network

In this episode of "The Conversion Show," Erik Christiansen, CEO of Justuno, interviews Drew Sanocki, Founder of PostPilot. Drew has an extensive background in retail and shares his insights on how direct mail can be a game-changer for e-commerce businesses and explains the features of PostPilot, including segmentation, automation, remarketing, retargeting, and acquisition. Erik and Drew discuss:The integration capabilities of Post Pilot with platforms like Shopify and Klaviyo.The concept of the discount ladder and the 30, 60, 90 plan.Optimizing retention, basket size, and conversion rates before focusing on customer acquisition. The key to effective postcard designs is treating direct mail like a Facebook ad. The shift in mindset regarding direct-to-consumer brands.Watch the episode on The Conversion Show YouTube channelHost: Erik Christiansen https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikc/Guest: Drew Sanocki https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanocki/Justuno https://www.justuno.com/PostPilot https://postpilot.com/Transcript:Intro 00:00:05Welcome to the Conversion Show, a podcast that's all about. You guessed it, conversions, everything that gets you to your goal, whether that's purchase, lead capture app, install content downloads, chat engagement, or demo requests. We're talking conversions hosted by Erik Christiansen, CEO and co-founder of the leading conversion optimization platform, Justuno. On the conversion show, Erik sits down with industry-leading marketers, e-commerce growth experts, founders, and entrepreneurs to chat all things conversion marketing. Be sure to follow the conversion show podcast to be notified when a new episode goes live. Like what you hear? Leave us some love with a review. And now here's your host, Eric Christiansen.Erik 00:00:51Welcome to the conversion show today. I'm really proud to have my guest, Drew Sanocki, who we go back ten-plus years and I encourage anyone listening if you're in front of a computer and type Drew Sanocki into LinkedIn and you're going to find a background that is is very well, what's the word? Diverse. Drew 00:01:17Long and boring.Erik 00:01:18It's well-versed. KarmelLoop retailer he's been a retailer himself he is now CEO of Post Pilot a direct-to-consumer postcards highly segmented which is what we're going to get into today. Very exciting. So let's welcome to the show Drew.Drew 00:01:37 Thanks, Eric. It's good to see you again. As you said, we've known each other for ten-plus years. I remember when we took over Karmaloop you know, we got it out of bankruptcy. And one of the first things we did was put Justuno up. And that was probably 2014, 2015, just to reengineer the pop up. And they were amazed at how we went from, I don't know, we probably ten next to the opt-ins in a week back then.Erik 00:02:02Drew has always been a...

Drew Sanocki has successfully turned around 8 and 9-figure eCommerce brands not once, not twice, but 5 times. Among his successes are AutoAnything and Karmaloop. Drew is also the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Post Pilot (direct mail made for DTC and eCommerce). He knows the strategies behind what it takes to succeed in DTC better than almost anyone I know. Here's a look at what we cover:Jay Abraham's 3 ways to grow any business. New Customer Acquisition (NCA) is only ONE way to grow your business and is almost certainly the most expensive way.Why Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) can be misleading and why focusing on Customer Value Optimization (CVO) matters more.What all failing eCommerce brands have in common and how to avoid the death spiral. The principle of optimizing before you multiply. Using direct mail for retention, remarketing, AND new customer acquisition.#Podcast #Ecommerce #DrewSanocki #PostPilot #EcommerceStrategies #CustomerRetention #DataDrivenDecisions

To Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup DTC Podcast listeners get an exclusive 20% discount at Tidio. Visit tidio.com/dtc to learn more. Hello and welcome to the DTC Podcast, I'm Eric Dyck. Today, we're privileged to have a chat with an eCommerce legend, Drew Sanocki. Introduced to me by Ezra Firestone as one of his main e-commerce mentors, Drew's forged his path in the early days of ecommerce as something of a turnaround specialist, sent into legacy brands to help them transition into ecommerce, with a special focus on catalog or direct mail marketing. Fast forward to today, where Drew leads PostPilot during the renaissance of physical mail as a strong middle of funnel for DTC brands. You'll hear Drew's top turnaround toolkit, which focuses mainly on profitability over growth, Marginal CaC over CaC, and a trend back toward both physical storefronts as well as physical mail marketing... If you're thinking about dropping a postcard to your customers this summer, don't miss this one... Timestamps: 2:35 The Genesis of PostPilot: Extending Marketing through Direct Mail 6:12 The Effectiveness of Direct Mail for Customer Retention and Acquisition 9:40 The Time Windows and Attribution of Direct Mail Campaigns 17:30 AI in Copywriting and the Unique Value of Human-Crafted Sales Letters 27:40 The Return to Baseline Growth in E-commerce 30:00 The Story of Twitter's Early Days and the Value of Human Connections #directmail #marketingstrategy #ecommerce #customerexperience #AIinmarketing Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Today we're going Old School. We're not talking email. We're not talking TikTok, Facebook or even YouTube.  We're talking Snail. Mail. The gold old USPS. Physical mailboxes.  Why?  Because this is an untapped opportunity for DTC brands. My guests today are two legends in the eCommerce space - Drew Sanocki and Michael Epstein. Drew and Michael most recently ran and successfully exited Auto Anything a multi nine figure eCommerce brand. Now they are helping DTC brands grow through direct mail marketing. And while that might not sound sexy, it's incredibly effective.  Why postcard and direct mail marketing? 20-50% of your customers don't have a good email address on file. And email open rates are only 20-30% at best. So you're missing a lot of your current and past buyers if you're just relying on email and SMS. Here's a look at what we cover in this episode: How should brands use direct mail? How to build a great postcard What postcard campaigns to start with How Ezra Firestone turned $1,400 into $4,000 using a simple postcard How to make direct mail part of your email and SMS flows

In episode 400, we heard from veteran ecom investor Drew Sanocki that he'd acquired oVertone Haircare along with ecom powerhouse influencer Ezra Firestone.In today's episode, our recent hire Tom Siodlak talks us through the behind the scenes experience of working with Ezra and the oVertone team on migrating the site from headless back to native Shopify with a custom theme. He reveals the premium theme we used as a framework, his thoughts on developing custom Shopify themes, design process, Online Store 2.0's impact, and more.Show LinksoVertone HaircareFocal by MaestroooTurbo Theme by Out of The SandboxEthercycleCrowdfunderSponsorsFree 30-day trial of Zipify OCU - To get an unadvertised gift, email help@zipify.com and ask for the "Tech Nasty Bonus".Back up your store with RewindTry Bold Product Upsell, free trialPrivy: The Fastest Way To Grow Sales With Email & SMSNever miss an episodeSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsJoin Kurt's newsletterHelp the showAsk a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook GroupLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsWhat's Kurt up to?See our recent work at EthercycleSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelApply to work with Kurt to grow your store.

Serial entrepreneur Drew Sanocki shares his career learnings after starting, buying, running, or selling numerous ecommerce businesses.Notable quotes:"You make most of your money on the exit.""Buying a business reduces the risk... its the ultimate shortcut""Valuations change over time. Growing ecommerce businesses can sell for 5-8x EBITDA"We discuss:Selling furniture as one of the earliest dropshippers in 1999The specifics on buying oVertone Haircare with Ezra FirestoneWhat makes a business attractive as a purchaseThe importance of retention marketingShow LinksoVertoneAutoAnythingDuoPlanePowerful by Patty McCord#341 - RFM Segmentation with Juliana JacksonPost Pilot - The Godfather offer! They'll build the first campaign for you and send them.SponsorsFree 30-day trial of Zipify OCU - To get an unadvertised gift, email help@zipify.com and ask for the "Tech Nasty Bonus".Back up your store with RewindTry Bold Product Upsell, free trialPrivy: The Fastest Way To Grow Sales With Email & SMSNever miss an episodeSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsJoin Kurt's newsletterHelp the showAsk a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook GroupLeave a reviewSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsWhat's Kurt up to?See our recent work at EthercycleSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelApply to work with Kurt to grow your store.

Mike catches up with PostPilot's Drew Sanocki to talk about spotting opportunities in business, the bullishness of SaaS, and the efficacy of real mail in today's environment.   Ever since I attended eCommerceFuel Live five or six years ago, I've always admired Drew Sanocki for his knowledge and experience in the business.   Drew is the founder and executive chairman of PostPilot, a service that aims to help businesses grow through direct mail by creating personalized postcard campaigns.   In this episode, Drew and I discuss some of the milestones in our ecommerce journey, the gold mine that is SaaS, and how direct mail is the way to go these days.   Audio Timestamps:  Intro - 0:00  Mike and Dave's New Business - 1:08  How Mike met Drew - 4:05  Mike's approach to buying an ecommerce business - 6:08 Drew's thoughts on the current business landscape - 12:40  Seeing an opportunity and grabbing it - 15:41 Advantages of venturing into SaaS - 19:24  Growing a SaaS company - 24:12 Advantages of email - 32:06  PostPilot's Godfather Offer - 37:02   Drew, thank you for joining me again on the podcast. I look forward to seeing you in person soon. If you guys need help with marketing for your business, Drew has got an awesome treat for you: click here for PostPilot's Godfather offer.   As always, leave us a review over on iTunes if you enjoyed this episode. Happy selling and we'll see you in the next one!

It's been a wild wave in ecommerce when we look at where the industry started to where the opportunities are today. My guest today reflects on what's he's learned at 15 years in ecommerce and what's coming in ecommerce in 2022. Drew Sanocki was the CEO of the eCommerce brand AutoAnything, the founder of the blog nerdmarketing.com and the owner of the Shopify direct marketing app PostPilot. He has his hands in a lot of key areas in eCommerce and has been in the game for about 15 years.  In this episode, Drew shares his well-rounded journey from buying out, being the CEO, and acquiring a bunch of companies. We talk about what it's like to run a $100 million retailer and what it's like to run a small brand and scale up to 7-figures.  This episode has a ton of information on what's been working in eComm, where things have started to shift and we end with where we think this wild ride is going for eCommerce in 2022. Episode Highlights 5:40 Secrets to turning 50 and being in the best shape of life  7:10 Taking over as the CEO of AutoAnything  8:25 Transitioning after exiting to an eCommerce aggregator  9:16 Biggest learnings from taking over a 200+ person organization  10:47 Acquisitions: why some work and some don't  12:45 Exiting early due to supply chain issues  18:51 Drew's thoughts on supply chain challenges and issues  22:14 Growing as a leader by running both big and small businesses  23:45 What daily life looks like when being more strategic in the business  25:26 Drew's role at PostPilot: postcard marketing  26:26 Hiring a CEO  27:36 Tips on structuring deals  30:40 What Drew's excited about in eCommerce in 2022  33:07 The time is right for direct mail marketing  37:14 Differences between running a SaaS business and an eCommerce business 39:31 Hiring developers  41:10 Advice from Drew's business experience: iterate quickly 44:08 The last 15 years of eCommerce and what's next for eCommerce in 2022 Resources: PostPilot How to Increase Sales & Delight Customers with Direct Mail Marketing: Drew's Training Inside the Brand Growth Membership Brand Growth Accelerator (apply today: next cohort starts Feb 15, 2022) Brand Growth Membership @a_brawn on Twitter Review or subscribe on iTunes

Buying an ecommerce business can be a brilliant move to build wealth, or have costly unintended consequences.  Between finding the right business, knowing what to look for when going through due diligence, and avoiding misinformation - buying an eCommerce business can be a lot to handle. We're giving you a crash course on how to do it. Today’s show is a mashup of three episodes I’ve done with expert eCommerce entrepreneurs in this space - David Newell, Shakil Prasla, and Drew Sanocki. We talk about how to determine if you are the type of person who should buy or build, what a thorough due diligence process looks like, and the things to always investigate within a prospective company. We also breakdown the common pitfalls first-time buyers tend to experience and how to avoid them. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 4:30 How to determine if you should buy or build an eCommerce site 7:27 Buying a business to cross-sell 9:29 The 6 key tenets to robust due diligence when buying a business 13:12 How to assess the quality of a business’ backlinks 16:23 Financials you should always assess as a buyer 19:23 Problem areas to investigate before buying a business 23:15 Technical and legal checklist items you shouldn’t forget 25:38 The biggest mistakes most first-time buyers make and how to avoid them 27:34 Leveraging SEO and content for growth 30:53 Income and age: Two essential criteria for evaluating a company 32:49 Buying a business on a bank loan 35:48 Five things to always look for when buying 39:04 The advice Shakil would have given himself when he was starting out 41:30 Shakil’s process for reviewing prospecting companies and getting them through due diligence 43:30 What Drew is most excited about when buying 46:15 Merger and acquisition opportunities that can help your brand 50:45 Uncovering your blind spots within the acquisition process 52:26 Boostrapping vs acquisition: Which is right for you and which comes first? Links and Resources: Podcast: 095: 4 Reasons Why You Should Buy An Ecommerce Business & The 6 Key Tenets To Proper Due Diligence Podcast: 195: Austin Ecommerce Investor Reveals His Short-Cut To Scaling Podcast: 241: Evolutions In Lifecycle Marketing & New Approaches To Creating Wealth Websites: FE International, Pro Click Ventures, Nerd Marketing, AutoAnything Social Media: David Newell on Twitter, Drew on Instagram The San Francisco Fallacy: The Ten Fallacies That Make Founders Fail Brand Growth Experts The Coalition Foxwell Digital @a_brawn on Twitter @andrewfoxwell on Twitter Review or subscribe on iTunes

Today’s guest is an expert when it comes to building and scaling ecommerce brands.In this episode I’m joined by Michael Epstein, CMO of AutoAnything. AutoAnything was originally owned by AutoZone, then acquired by a private equity company who brought in Michael and CEO Drew Sanocki.They were given the reins to a 9-figure brand with declining revenue and a leftover corporate culture.Michael and Drew took over, and were able to quickly turn things around, become profitable, and establish a healthy work environment.We talk about how they did it, including the organization changes made to the over 150 employee company.As of late, they’ve been acquiring and building other brands.And it all starts with culture. Listen to this episode for secrets to growing strong, well-cultured brands.The 5-Minute Ecommerce Email Marketing HackStop leaving money on the table. Without great email marketing, you're missing out on 6-7 figures per year of revenue and profit.Download this checklist, go through it, and in less than 5 minutes you'll know exactly what you need to do to increase your email revenue.This is our secret sauce and we're giving it all away for free, no strings attached.Click here to download the checklist for free.Links:Q4Method.comWavebreakPrivate email list for ecommerce leadersAutoAnythingPostPilotBook an intro callLearn more about WavebreakThis episode is sponsored by...Klaviyo — Over 10,000 innovative brands are growing their businesses by listening and understanding to cues from their customers--easily turning that information into valuable marketing messages used to build highly segmented, automated email campaigns, such as win back campaigns or abandoned cart emails and more.Justuno - The best tool for conversion rate optimization is Justuno. Justuno customers see a 135% lift in revenue in the first year of using the platform thanks to features like their AI-powered upsells and cross-sells, and advanced targeting rules for tailored promotions to high-intent traffic segments. Sign up for a free trial and get 20% off your first year by using code WAVEBREAK.

Do you have a dream of building a 9-figure business? We’ve worked with Ecommerce entrepreneurs who have and here’s what they have in common. Today I’m taking you behind the scenes into the Coalition, my Ecommerce coaching community for Ecommerce entrepreneurs. Every month we have a live training that dives into one aspect of growing your Ecommerce business. In this training, we are talking about the mindset shifts needed to reach 9-figure growth. Drew Sanocki, CEO of AutoAnything and former CMO KarmaLoop,  joins us and shares his experience running multiple 9-figure businesses. If you own or work with an established Ecommerce business and want to reach for that same success, this is for you. Episode Highlights 8:31 The #1 prerequisite for building a 9-figure business 11:37 A key team characteristic at fast-growing companies 15:24 An unexpected truth about reinvention and the willingness to pivot 18:35 How to be laser-focused on your brand  20:10 Changing your philosophy around hiring and how to attract top talent 23:03 What your role as the founder actually evolves into 25:58 This is the #1 way to not get what you want 28:11 A founder’s trade-off between growth and time 30:57 Drew Sanocki’s background in Ecommerce 32:30 The biggest differences between a 7-figure and 9-figure company 34:48 When to introduce middle management to your team 37:27 What Drew spends the most time doing in his business today 44:30 Drew’s philosophy on hiring and the power of networking 46:57 What successful founders have in common 50:52 The difference between being a single founder and having a co-founder 52:59 Putting together a board for your business 54:08 How to build the most wealth as an entrepreneur 59:02 Auditions vs Hiring: How to ensure you’ve found the right fit 1:01:16 Deciding to keep your role as the CEO in a growing company 1:05:43 The difference between running a software company and Ecommerce business 1:13:08 Believing that an exit is possible 1:15:07 Why we are in the Golden Age of Ecommerce Links and Resources: AutoAnything Karmaloop The E-Myth by Michael Gerber EOS Model The Coalition Brand Growth Experts @a_brawn on Twitter Review or subscribe on iTunes

One of the toughest niches to be in right now is the travel niche. Because of COVID-19, airline companies and ecommerce sellers have seen a huge drop in sales now that everything's closed. If you were in the travelling niche right now, what would you do to maximize your business potential?  That'll be the question that we're answering on this episode of the Ecomcrew podcast. We're joined by my dear friend Salo Mizrachi from Ezpacking to talk about how COVID-19 has affected his brand, affiliate sites, and whether it'd be wise to dive into a new, different niche. Together, we'll be weighing the pros and cons of each choice while also considering Salo's end goal for his business, and how much time he's willing to put into his business.  In this episode, we talk about:  Branching off from the travelling niche. Starting an affiliate website for Salo's current niche.  The Importance of Location Independence to Salo and his wife.  The New Normal for Salo after COVID-19. Having an Emergency Income Source in times like these.  Why Amazon slashed Affiliate Commissions. The Advantages of the Subscription Plan Model.  If you want to hear more about where I think we'll be after COVID-19, check out the episode I did with Andrew Youderian and Drew Sanocki here. If you wanna check out our Free Amazon Domination book, check it out here!  Stay safe, and happy selling! 

Today on the show I'm joined by good friends Drew Sanocki and Michael Jackness who open up about how COVID has impacted their lives and businesses, where we see areas of opportunity and more. We discuss: How badly our businesses have been hit Thoughts on how COVID will permanently change eCommerce Where we're seeing opportunities, both now and in the intermediate future

There is more than one way to create wealth in ecommerce. While many entrepreneurs follow the path of bootstrapping a business and hoping to one day be acquired, another option is to start on the acquisition side, and grow a portfolio of successful companies. Our guest today has done both. Drew Sanocki is CEO of AutoAnything, owner of PostPilot, and an expert at lifecycle marketing. He joins us to talk about the evolution of lifecycle marketing and the big role direct mail is playing in brand loyalty and repeat purchase rate, as well as how mergers and acquisitions can help your brand, and why M&A are his big focus for the upcoming year. I always learn a lot when we chat with Drew and I hope you enjoy! Episode Highlights 9:05 Why Drew is so excited about direct mail marketing. 12:08 The role of direct mail for Drew's 9-figure dropshipping company. 14:54 Bringing direct mail into traditional lifecycle marketing and how it enhances your brand. 18:55 Exploring brand partnerships in the direct mail space. 19:46 Prospecting with direct mail. 21:56 Syncing direct mail with Klaviyo and segments that are working particularly well. 27:48 The shifting customer journey and how Drew sees it evolving in the near future. 32:49 Why merchandising can be the best kind of marketing. 36:11 What Drew’s excited about in this new decade and what he sees as the quickest way to grow a company. 39:13 Merger and acquisition opportunities that can help your brand. 42:38 Why most business owners have a blind spot to the acquisition process and how Drew would get started building a portfolio. 46:15 Bootstrapping vs acquisition -- does it matter which comes first? Links And Resources Nerd Marketing Drew on Instagram - @drewsanocki AutoAnything PostPilot 234: The 5 Things We’ve Learned In The Last 12 Months 203: Why You Should Stop Selling Yourself Short And Think Like A Billionaire 195: Austin Ecommerce Investor Reveals His Short-Cut To Scaling 116: 4 Profitable Email Strategies You Can Swipe For Your Brand How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp The San Francisco Fallacy by Jonathan Seigel  Nathan Barry: The Ladders of Wealth Creation Klaviyo Share Local Media William Painter Training: How to Increase Sales & Delight Customers with Direct Mail Marketing Coalition @a_brawn on Twitter @andrewfoxwell on Twitter Profit Summit Brand Growth Experts Foxwell Digital Review or subscribe on iTunes

Today's guest has twenty years of ecommerce experience and believes that "You can't survive as a commodity dropship retailer. You have to differentiate or Amazon will eat your lunch. If not today, then tomorrow."In this episode, he'll tell us how he differentiated Karmaloop and more.You'll hear:Lessons learned running a nine-figure brand acquired from AutoZoneThe simple strategies that Drew used to save KarmaLoop from extinctionHow to easily leverage direct mail to grow your businessIn 2013, Drew founded his first company, DesignPublic.com, with $500 cash. Today he's the CEO of nine-figure vertically integrated brand AutoAnything. In between, he's saved Karmaloop, got Teamwork to eight figures, and built a variety of software and retail businesses.In order of discussion:AutoAnything.comTraction80/20 RuleKarmaloopKettle & FireTeamworkEcommerce is a BearPostPilot - Get 15% off your first purchase with code KURT15Nerd MarketingNever miss an episodeSubscribe wherever you get your podcastsJoin Kurt's newsletterHelp the showAsk a question in The Unofficial Shopify Podcast Facebook GroupLeave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings & reviews help, and I read each one.Subscribe wherever you get your podcastsWhat's Kurt up to?See our recent work at EthercycleSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelApply to work with Kurt to grow your store.SponsorsTry Bold Product Upsell free for 90 daysSave 20% on Turbo, a blazing fast Shopify themeImprove your shop's search engine ranking with Venntov SEO Meta Manager

If you’re in the ecommerce circle you probably know--or at least heard of--Drew Sanocki. Drew is a veteran in the field, having started, led, and invested in several ecommerce businesses over the years. He is currently the CEO of AutoAnything, a 9-figure online retailer of auto accessories. He also recently became the owner of a postcard marketing app for Shopify called PostPilot. He blogs (and used to run a podcast) about online marketing and running a business on Nerd Marketing. I first met him in Nashville during the first ECF Live I ever attended. He talked about the “Whales and Minnows” theory which has stuck with me until today, and is still completely applicable in today’s ecommerce setting. The theory is basically about focusing on whales (your most important customers) vs minnows (low-value customers who just order once). Below are some conversation points that explains the theory more, plus some other topics we talked about: The differences between a “whale” and a “minnow” and the importance of focusing on one vs the other How to attract more high-value customers The difficulties of running AutoAnything How things are at Nerd Marketing Why postcard marketing brings in more loyal customers and more money to the business Drew was kind enough to give EcomCrew listeners a discount for his postcard marketing app PostPilot. Just use the code CREW15 and get 15% off your subscription. Hope you enjoyed listening to this episode! Until the next one, happy selling.

Today, I’m thrilled to have Brett Curry back on the show. Brett is someone who I met through Drew Sanocki at the Traffic And Conversions Summit in San Diego. He has spoken at my conference, The Sellers Summit, for the past 2 years and he runs OMG Commerce which is an ecommerce agency that has helped over 125 companies with their pay per click advertising. In this episode, Brett and I talk about combining Amazon PPC with Amazon DSP to grow your Amazon business. What You’ll Learn What is Amazon DSP? What ads can be bought through Amazon DSP How […] The post 267: The New Amazon Ads You Probably Aren’t Running Yet With Brett Curry appeared first on MyWifeQuitHerJob.com.

Today our guest is Drew Sanocki, founder of Nerd Marketing. Drew writes about e-commerce and bootstrapped his own retailer in 2003, grew it into a national brand, and sold it in 2012. He now spends his time advising e-commerce executives on how to achieve growth. In today’s interview we’ll be talking about how expanding too quickly can lead to bankruptcy, how he grew a drop ship retailer from zero to a million in revenue in the first year and a half, and why he pays comedy writers to write his product descriptions. Click here for show notes and transcript. Leave some feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, leave a short review here. Subscribe to Growth Everywhere on iTunes. Get the non-iTunes RSS feed Connect with Eric Siu: Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @ericosiu

Drew Sanocki from Nerd Marketing joined the show nine months ago when he was involved in the purchase of three companies over the course of a month. Today he joins us again to share how things are going with these companies and what he has learned over that time. Listen in to hear Drew’s tips on leadership and how to track your company's success. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2YU81Ki  Interested in our Private Community for 7-Figure Store Owners?  Learn more here.   Want to hear about new episodes and eCommerce news round-ups?  Subscribe via email.

Have you stopped to consider the next step in your entrepreneurial journey? Perhaps you own a six or seven figure business now, but where will you be in 10 years? Will you still be living in the grind? Or are your sights set on acquiring companies and building a portfolio? Today’s guest has done it all. He’s built his own business, was the CMO of Karmaloop, worked as a consultant, and now is the CEO of AutoAnything (just one of the businesses in his current portfolio). Drew Sanocki is back to talk about this journey and his recent entry into the acquisition side of ecommerce. Drew will share his insights on buying businesses, establishing company culture, hiring the right team, and why these days he’s more focused on creating alignment than hustling. Enjoy! Episode Highlights: 2:53 A quick win with Facebook’s new cost cap bidding. 9:55 The perspective Drew gained from a trip around the world and how it led him to think like a billionaire by focusing on acquiring assets rather than hustling. 13:14 How Drew made his first acquisition. 16:39 Drew's journey from Chairman of the Board to becoming CEO of AutoAnything. 18:50 What it's like to run a $100 million dropshipping company. 20:09 Comparing life as the CMO of Karmaloop vs. the CEO of AutoAnything. 23:29 The importance of making the right hires if you want to be a successful CEO. 25:28 Drew’s approach to building a strong company culture. 28:58 The impact of a company’s size on its culture. 32:17 How long it took Drew to make cultural changes once he took over as CEO. 34:36 Drew’s ebb and flow between lifestyle businesses and managing a company at a larger scale. 37:59 A lesson in the importance of thinking like a billionaire. 40:01 What you need to know now in order to succeed as an investor in the future, and how to use your current skill set to your advantage. 48:25 How Drew made the decision to make a change in his professional life. 51:05 The importance of rest, setting boundaries, and work-life balance. 53:57 How being starved for resources helps you to prioritize. 54:59 OKRs: What are they and how they’ve helped create alignment and focus within Drew’s business. 58:15 Why Drew is fired up about direct mail in 2019. 1:00:12 How Drew manages to run three companies at once. Links and Resources: Netflix Culture Deck AutoAnything PostPilot GoSimple Nerd Marketing Book: Powerful by Patty McCord Book: Measure What Matters by John Doerr Book: Deep Work by Cal Newport Drew on Instagram: @drewsanocki Episode 183: How To Manage Your Time Strategically While Growing Your Business Episode 116: 4 Profitable Email Strategies You Can Swipe For Your Brand Cost Cap Facebook Bidding Klaviyo Ecommerce Profit Summit (formerly the Brand Growth Experts Intensive) Foxwell Digital Brand Growth Experts Review or subscribe on iTunes Join The Coalition If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, I have something really exciting for you. For the last year and a half I’ve been coaching business owners and marketers inside a group called The Coalition. What launched as an experiment became a game changer for our over 150 members.  If you’d like me and my team of expert marketers and ecommerce operators to coach you on your journey to scaling up your ecommerce business, this is your opportunity. We go in-depth on all the topics we talk about on this podcast and provide actionable training every single month. You’ll also get one-on-one coaching from me to help you grow your business.  Head over to JointheCoalition.com to learn more. Can’t wait to see you inside. Sponsor: Klaviyo  If you’re looking to grow your business, there’s only one way. By building real, quality customer relationships. Most marketing software will claim that they do this, but they’ll never deliver on those promises. Klaviyo, though, is different. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening to and understanding cues from your customers, which allows you to easily turn that information into valuable marketing messages that’ll help grow your business and make more money. That’s why over 10,000 innovative brands have switched to Klaviyo. If you aren’t already a customer, head over to www.ecommerceinfluence.com/klaviyo and you’ll get a free trial + priority on-boarding. Sponsor: Shoelace Shoelace helps fast-growing ecommerce stores build brand equity, increase conversions and grow revenue using Customer Journey Retargeting by showing the right ad to the right people at the right time. Shoelace is excited to announce its all-new integration with Klaviyo. This integration lets you seamlessly synchronize your marketing activity across your email and retargeting channels. Boost your email campaigns by automatically retargeting email recipients across multiple channels. Increase campaign engagement by showing ads to recipients who didn’t open or click an individual campaign. Most importantly, drive growth by effortlessly retargeting all of your Klaviyo lists and segments with personalized messaging. To find out more visit ecommerceinfluence.com/shoelace and supercharge your email campaigns today.

Drew Sanocki is back on the show to share some very interesting things he’s been up to lately. Not only has he had exciting adventures traveling the world with his family, but he's also had some cool adventures in the private equity space. Today he dives into the details about different deals he’s involved with, compensation, and more. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: http://bit.ly/2LncK3C 

Advisors lead by developing a trusted relationship with prospects. This takes out a lot of traditional pitching for business and transitions to paid connections. You become more of a consultant than just a hired gun. Drew Sanocki and Michael Epstein are partners at Growthengines.io, which has grown from being brand new to generating $1 million in revenue in less than a year through retainer work. How has it gone from nothing to where it is at now in such a short period? What impact does that have on the way that it sells?

In this episode, Drew shares his favorite resources and private equity investment contacts. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher EXCLUSIVE RESOURCE: Prefer to read rather than listen? the text transcribe from this episode. Highlights A few names to file away and pull-out when you're looking to sell Links / Resources Brian Colton, Brooklyn-Equity Carson Biederman, Digital Fuel Capital Tom Clark, Comvest Dominic Ang, Turn/River Capital Kingswood Partners Me Chris Yates, Rhodium Weekend Empire Flippers,  Justin Cooke Quiet Light Podcast, Episodes two and eight Transcript Prefer to read rather than listen to the podcast episode? No problem, you can and I will send it to you as a PDF. Read The Transcript: Hey, everybody. It's Drew Sanocki with the Nerd Marketing Podcast. We are talking about buying and selling businesses in this short web series if you will. This one, this episode, is the final one. Here I kind of want to open up my contacts to you and walk you through some people who are doing some interesting buying of businesses like yours, so these are ... Just file it away. If you hope to sell someday, these are some of the people who may be interested in buying your business, whether you run a SaaS company or a direct-to-consumer brand. I'm going to give you some resources here, and also just want to make it clear that it's not what you know; it's who you know. Part of fetching a good valuation and being able to sell your business or raise money for your business is knowing the kind of people who would love to own your business, right? Because these buyers, these funds come in a million different flavors. What we want to focus on here is not Robert Smith and Vista Capital. He's going for the billion-dollar SaaS companies. I want to talk about people who are playing in our space, direct-to-consumer and for smaller companies. First up is a friend of mine over in Brooklyn. His name's Brian Colton. He runs Brooklyn Equities. Brooklyn Equities is his vehicle for buying just solid, good direct-to-consumer brands. He owns one called Sherrill Tree that I want to say he bought back when it was doing about $1 million in revenue and is now at $40 million in revenue. I mean, he's just had a couple big success stories. Those numbers, don't quote me on them. I'm just trying to give you a sense of what he buys. His typical checks are typically $5 to $15 million, so he writes checks that size in return for which he wants majority ownership of the company. He'll take a board seat. He's targeting growth-ready companies that are doing under $5 million in EBITDA. I would also say I've seen him go after companies that are high in recurring revenue, often from B2B, so it could be an e-commerce company with a strong B2B play. I mentioned Sherrill Tree, so they do arborist equipment, so again, lots of B2B buyers, which means high recurring revenue, which means lower risk in the business as I went over a couple of episodes ago. So, his name's Brian. He's at brooklyn-equity.com. I am an operating partner with him on his funds, so feel free to reach out to me with any questions about Brooklyn Equities. Number two would be Carson Biederman at Digital Fuel Capital. Carson's up in Boston, another friend of mine. Great photographer and great ... just really sharp digital marketing mind. Again, probably goes after deals of the same size. I would say Carson a little bit more likes companies with passionate customers where content can play really well. He's got ski.com. He's got a couple sports apparel companies where there's a passionate user base. He sees that as a differentiator versus Amazon. He also owns Vermont Teddy Bear, which is a brand a lot of us are familiar with. I've certainly heard of them, growing up in the Northeast. Carson's operation is a little bit different at Digital Fuel Capital because he is growing an internal team of operators and marketers,

In this episode, Drew talks about six things you can do to maximize your company's valuations. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher EXCLUSIVE RESOURCE: Prefer to read rather than listen? the text transcribe from this episode. Highlights Six tips to maximize your valuation How to decide on your story Tips for minimizing risk Diversifying your traffic sources Getting your company on autopilot How to network for selling Links/ Resources: Built to Sell, John Warrillow, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber IRCE Shop.org Flippa Transcript Prefer to read rather than listen to the podcast episode? No problem, you can and I will send it to you as a PDF. Read The Transcript: Drew Sanocki: Hey everybody. Welcome to the Nerd Marketing podcast. This is Drew Sanocki. We're talking about investments in private companies. We're talking about maximizing your valuation in this episode. I think it's a really important episode for that reason. Everybody wants to maximize your valuation, whether you're raising money ... If you raise money, if you're going to raise a couple million bucks, you want to do it at a higher valuation so you give away less of your company. Obviously, if you're going to sell your company, you want to maximize that valuation so you can get more money in your pocket. This isn't the typical maximize your valuation list that you'll see on a number of brokerage sites. Just Google it. You'll find plenty. This is my take, based on ten or so years in the game, on the things that I see, in particular around direct to consumer brands, and SaaS brands. Really, I've tried to distill it down to six tips, six things you want to do to maximize your valuation. Drum roll please. Number one. I would say decide on your story. What I mean by that is are you going to raise money or sell off of a growth story, or a profitability story? I'll give you an example. Karmaloop. When we acquired the assets of that business, it was probably ... They couldn't tell a growth story because the company was in bankruptcy. It was a declining asset. They're in bankruptcy. You can't tell a growth story. They couldn't also tell a profitability story, because they were in bankruptcy. You put those two things together, and the business fetches a much smaller valuation. So assuming you could do one or the other, try to decide now if you are going to be selling a growth story in a couple years, or selling that profitability story, because it's going to dictate what you do, and decisions around your business. If you are going to sell the growth story, you want to put as much of your profits back in the business, step on the gas, run Facebook ad campaigns at a lower return on ad spend. Whatever it is, you want to sell that growth story, so you want to lower your profitability, and always favor growth at the expense of profits. On the flip side, you're going to sell a profitability story, you want to do what you can to maximize the profitability of the business, like your target return on ad spend goes from two to ten, or something, to just generate as many profits as you can. The growth story and the profitability story determine very different kinds of buyers, and very different multiples, as we discussed multiples in the last episode. If you are growing, and you choose that growth story to tell, you sell that in your deal book. Then, you could also argue that you get valued off of multiple of revenue. Conversely, if you're on board with the profitability story, you want to maximize that owner's discretionary cash flow, because that's the thing that's going to drive the multiple of the business, and the ultimate valuation. So, I'd say, number one, decide on what story you want to tell. Number two, you want to reduce risk in the business. We talked about how valuations go from nothing for the smallest, riskiest businesses, all the way up to the public equity markets,

In this episode, Drew talks about the three highlights of how deals go down in the private equity process. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher EXCLUSIVE RESOURCE: Prefer to read rather than listen? the text transcribe from this episode. Highlights Three highlights on how deals go down in the private equity Links / Resources FE International Quiet Light Transcript Prefer to read rather than listen to the podcast episode? No problem, you can and I will send it to you as a PDF. Read The Transcript: Hey, everybody. welcome to the Nerd Marketing Podcast. Drew Sanocki. I'm still here in San Diego, still stuck. East coast is being slammed by another nor'easter. My wife's watching the kids. It's always good when you negotiate with your wife like, "Hey, I need you to watch the kids because I got this business thing I gotta deal with on the west coast. It's only gonna be 48 hours. I'll be back in a couple days." You negotiate that, she signs off, and then you're there for the whole week, and every time they FaceTime you, they see palm trees in the background, and you FaceTime them, it's like dark because it's snowing. They're losing power and stuff. So shout out to my wife, Sarah. I love you. Thank you for watching the kids. But it allows me to talk a little bit more about buying and selling a company, private equity. In this podcast, I'd like to delve into kind of how it goes down. I was working on the AutoAnything deal for maybe two months. It was accelerated because AutoZone wanted to close the deal by the end of their fiscal quarter. Typically, these process ... I've been a part of deals that have gone for like six months, and those are only the bigger ones. On the other end of the spectrum, when I sold Design Public, my small first retailer, that probably took about a month. It has to do with a lot of things: how sophisticated your buyer is or your investor, how buttoned up your own business is. But today I kind of want to talk about how the deals go down and really highlight three things. Number one is the process. This is the process you will go through if you go to sell your business or raise money or, if you are on the other side of the table and you wanna buy a business. That's the process. Number two: quick sidebar on valuations, just where you get them. Do they come out of thin air or not? And I just wanna touch on the third thing: control. That obviously applies if you are not exiting a business, but if you take an investment, control becomes a big thing. How much control do you give up of your company? Again, this all applies whether you are doing the buying or the selling, but let's start with the process. The process for ... I've probably been a part of 20 different deals, some as the buyer, some as the seller. It kind of all follows the same four or five steps. The first step is that, if you are selling, you hire a banker to run your process or a broker or decide to do it yourself, but the general idea of the process is that the banker or you, whoever's running the process, creates a deal book. The deal book is, I don't know, 10 to 20 pages, nice and pretty, with a lot of charts and graphs showing just what a wonderful investment your company is. You spend some time working with the professional to kind of put that deal book together, and then you or whoever you've hired approaches potential buyers with that deal book. The idea is to drum up interest. Typically, the banker will add some urgency into the process like, "Hey, here's the deal book on Auto Anything, and if you are interested, we'd like some approximate bid or something by next Thursday." There might be a couple calls with potential investors then or potential funds, but the first step is assembling that deal book and getting it in front of the right people. That's, I'd say, the more proactive way to sell your business. There's always the reactive way,

In this episode, Drew talks about his own personal experiences in buying and selling companies, and gives a brief intro to private equity, which he'll discuss in the next few episodes. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher EXCLUSIVE RESOURCE: Prefer to read rather than listen? the text transcribe from this episode. Highlights Insight on selling Drew's first company, DesignPublic Intro to Private Equity Links/ Resources: Robert Smith Kingswood Partners Bill D'Alessandro Turn/ River Capital Transcript Prefer to read rather than listen to the podcast episode? No problem, you can and I will send it to you as a PDF. Read The Transcript: Drew: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Nerd Marketing Podcast. This is Drew Sanocki, and I am podcasting from San Diego, where I've been working on AutoAnything. And for like the fifth time this winter, I am stranded in San Diego. So the New York airports are down, I can't go home. There are no flights in and out of there. So what better thing to do than podcast, right? I can probably think of a million better things. But seriously, what better things than to bang out a short series on buying and selling companies? We're going to call it buying and selling companies. I call it private equity, but I think most people don't know what the heck private equity is, so we're going to call it buying and selling companies. As you may or may not know, I just recently worked on a transaction to buy autoanything.com. It's a drop ship retailer based here in La Jolla. And as part of that I've podcasted about maybe one or two times. Some people are curious about private equity, how it happens, why they should care about it, why is there private equity. And it boils down to one thing, and I think it's ... these are probably the funds, or the groups of people that would buy you someday. If you are listening to this podcast, you're probably running a small direct-to-consumer brand, or SAS company perhaps, maybe an agency. Well, a lot of those things get bought by private equity funds, or small private investment groups. And so, why do you want to know about this stuff? Well, it's ultimately to fetch a higher valuation for your company, and to know about how to exit. That's probably 90% of you. But 10% of you, maybe you want to get in to private equity. Maybe you want to get into buying and selling your own company. And why would you want to do that? Well, for a number of reasons. I think it accelerates your growth. I think you can just get to where you want to go faster if you're working with some capital, or with other people's capital. So it's of interest to you too for that reason. So I want to spend three of four episodes doing a quick overview of buying and selling companies, at least my own experience with it. And I'm going to start with a story. And the story is of a young, handsome man, probably like 10% body fat. Am I painting you the picture of myself, maybe 15 years ago? Actually no, it was more like seven years ago when I sold my first company. But I'm walking through the West Village of New York, and in my hand I've got a FedEx package. And in the FedEx package is a bunch of signed documents to sell my company at the time, Design Public. And this was my baby. I bootstrap designed Public in 2003, we started the business, and now at the time it was like 2011. And we found a great buyer who we worked really well with, and they gave us an offer we liked. So at the end of months of work, of diligence of them going through our books and a lot of legal back and forth, in that FedEx pack was the signed purchase agreement. As soon as I got to the FedEx/Kinko's, I put that thing on the counter, and that was the point of no going back. It was my company up until that document was mailed. Once it gets mailed in, it triggered all sorts of things, like the money went in ... their money was already sitting in an escrow account,

In this episode, Drew talks in-depth about the tools that made productive work possible during a 7-month long trip across the globe with his family. Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher EXCLUSIVE RESOURCE: Prefer to read rather than listen? the text transcribe from this episode. Highlights 19 Online tools that made it possible to work and travel for 7 months Productivity tips and hacks for combining work with travel Links / Resources Download my list of Top Nerd Travel Tools Sanebox Worldwide101 (Mention Drew sent you and get 20% off your first month) Sovereign man Transcript Prefer to read rather than listen to the podcast episode? No problem, you can and I will send it to you as a PDF. → Read the Transcript Drew:Hey everybody. Drew Sanocki here with the Nerd Marketing podcast. This is an early morning podcast. I'm recording this at 4:30am because I am on the West Coast and I'm still on East Coast time. Got up this morning at the nice time of 3:00 a.m. I don't even have my kids here with me to get me up, so what else would I want to do at zero dark thirty but bust out a podcast? I'm here working on a big deal, and more on that in an upcoming podcast episode. Today, I know I promised everybody my top tools, my top travel tools. These are apps and tools and gadgets and cool things that I really appreciated when I spent seven months on the road with my family going to Europe over the last year. We're about to go to Asia. We're thinking of a trip to Asia again for another six or seven months. These things are going to be in my travel bag or on my laptop or on my phone. They really help run my business remotely. I think I mentioned in the last episode that one of the visions I have is running an iPad business or being an iPad leader. What that just means is I want to be able to run everything off the iPad. I don't want to do it on my computer. Initially I laughed when I saw these kind of senior private equity guys show up at board meetings just with their iPads, but now I get it. There's nothing better than getting on an airplane with just your iPad and a small bag of your clothes and just kind of sitting down, preferably in first class or business class, you take out the iPad, do a little bit of work, watch a couple videos, watch some Seinfeld and that's it. I don't want to be hunched over a laptop the rest of my life so iPad leadership is kind of what I'm going for and that really has helped inform some of these tools. I started out to do a list of about 12. I think I ended up with a list of, I don't know, I want to say 30 or so. Too many to go into in this podcast, so what I'm going to do is highlight some of my favorites on the podcast and then you can go to the show notes and download a PDF that has the whole 30, many of which you probably know about, but I think what I tried to do here is be a little bit different from the standard Tim Ferris bio life hacking stuff and just talk about what a typical dad might appreciate on a trip or a typical parent. So, without further ado, SaneBox. Let me start with SaneBox, which I've talked about before. It's an app to help you manage email. The primary benefit is fewer interruptions, right? It's like reduced information that you have to process on a daily basis. This holds true if you're traveling, it holds true if you are going into your office every day, but there's a lot of evidence that shows that the more information you've got to process, your willpower goes down, you just kind of get beaten down and stressed out. The beauty of SaneBox is you can configure it, or when configured the proper way, you can open your inbox at any time and all you see is the most important stuff and it's typically, in my case, I've got the thing so dialed that it's like three or four emails that I need to respond to at any one time. If I open it at 9:00 a.m., 10:00 p.m., middle of the night, it's just the most important things.