I’ve had more businesses fail than ones that have worked. But the successful businesses paid for the failed ones many times over.

Discussing my e-commerce journey, I'm often asked:

“How did you build and sell multiple brands?”

“Where do the ideas come from?”

“Did you like, actually, create the products yourself?”

I didn't reinvent the wheel for any business. Instead, I identified a unique competitive edge for each, which shaped the brand's entire strategy.

The competitive edge could be a fresh twist on an existing product (like our yoga mat below), adding the ability to customize, or having a better price point.

It's not always about creating something entirely new, but about finding a niche or angle that hasn't been fully tapped into or addressed in the current market.

I begin by researching on Amazon, Etsy, and Pinterest. The goal? Find products that add value, even if it's as simple as making someone smile (boom, value-added).

Products are listed on a Google sheet before deep diving into reviews, forums like Reddit and Quora, and direct conversations to refine the idea.

I work with my design team (hired from Upwork) to create product prototypes and specs that I send to suppliers.

I use Alibaba or Global Sources to reach out to multiple suppliers. I want to make the product for 20-40% of what it will sell for on my store to ensure I have enough money to spend on marketing.

If the products fall within this price range, I continue working with designers to create more “mock-ups” of the products. I make them attractive and eye-catching.

I haven’t spent $1 on inventory yet—just a few hundred dollars on designer fees.

I launch Meta and TikTok ads for my products I haven’t made yet.

I drive people to my Shopify store, where they can pre-purchase my products.

Within the first $1000 of tested ad spend, I gauge whether or not a product/brand has potential based on how people engage with my ads, how frequently people click through my ads to my site (CTR), and how many people buy from my store (conversion rate).

If the results are promising, I scale up. I expand my winning products, create more ads and landing pages, and improve my site conversion rate and average order value.

In summary, I go to the market first and let them tell me whether or not I have a good idea. So often, founders think they have an amazing idea, but the market tells them otherwise.

The same methodology can be used when developing a second or third product line after the initial launch. Always test before making assumptions (this is true with EVERYTHING e-commerce).

This method is one of many ways to launch a new business.

But if you are bootstrapped and only have a few thousand dollars to spend when starting, this is as good as any place to start.

Have you tried a similar approach, or are you considering launching a new product? Drop your experiences or questions below.

An example of a fresh twist on an existing product that we made.

My journey living in an e-commerce incubator and selling multiple e-commerce businesses

I am very grateful that I get the opportunity to work in a business that I truly love.

I got into e-commerce a few years ago after I was injured playing football at Penn State and had to hang up my jersey.

After my career was over, I struggled for a while to find my purpose. I wanted something that I really enjoyed outside of football. I needed something that I could be just as passionate about.

Thankfully, early in 2017, I attended a couple of speakers on campus presenting e-commerce business opportunities and strategies. I networked with some of the people there who were also interested and motivated by the space, and soon enough, we were meeting regularly to research and work.

I launched my first business in college with my business partner (who had given the speech that I saw and was an amazing mentor to me). It was an Amazon FBA business selling men’s rompers, Hawaiian shirts, shorts, and hats.

We created and sourced unique patterns and designs. We focused on giving our customers amazing products and customer service. Sales started coming in. We kept working and I absorbed everything I could from my more experienced business partner (he had been out of college and a full-time entrepreneur for several years already).

Soon enough, the business was making enough money to go full-time with it (or at least pay my rent and bills!)

After college, I moved into a large house outside of Philadelphia with 12 other high performing e-commerce entrepreneurs from various schools. We would geek out over creating new products, running ads, sending emails, and generally anything that could bring in more revenue as this was the funnest part! Also don’t care what anyone says - funnest is a word 😂

We had successfully formed an e-commerce incubator without even realizing it.
We organized nightly meetings where each member shared their expertise on specific e-commerce topics. Everyone was learning.

I found a new business partner who I aligned with. We had the philosophy of “the best idea wins no matter what”. It wasn’t unusual for us to lose three hours in a conversation over coffee talking and strategizing e-commerce.

After several months (which felt like years in this environment), we were scaling our businesses and building brands that were making real money.

Since everything was bootstrapped, we had to make money and couldn’t wait months to “break-even” on a customer. We needed profit and we needed it on the first sale.

This forced us to become obsessed with ads, testing a crazy amount of concepts, strategies, and creatives. We tested offers, landing pages, and everything under the sun. We were running these ads on Facebook, Instagram, Google, Snapchat, Pinterest, Etsy, and Tik Tok. We working with media buyers who would help us maximize our reach. I think we even added Bing into the mix as well because why not.

In our incubator, we found strategies that worked and strategies that didn’t - sharing the best and the worst with the entire “incubator” to expedite everyone’s learning.

We spent a lot of time creating and testing new products, oftentimes pre-selling products to gauge market interest before investing any money into inventory and building the brand.

We went deep into optimizing conversion rates and average order values, rolled out subscriptions and other customer retention programs, collaborated with numerous influencers, and explored 100+ tools and apps to enhance our online stores.

We negotiated product costs, fulfillment costs, bank fees, and software expenses.

We expanded internationally, offering our products around the world.

At one point, we literally had a fulfillment center managed by a bunch of high school students running out of our garages 🥴 - this didn’t last long and we soon switched to 3PL.

As we began rapidly growing our new businesses, we learned we couldn’t do it all ourselves and had to hire various contractors and employees to manage customer service and supply chain. We hired a team of designers to create a lot of new content for us.

We developed efficient systems, allowing us more time to work on the business rather than in the business. My team eventually grew to six, including my co-founder Chris.

We were hustling day in and day out in the trenches, learning digital business and adapting to the growing pains that come with scale. If there was an elite MBA program for learning e-commerce, I would have chosen the incubator experience every time (Sorry not sorry MBA grad reading this 🤷).

After two years in Philly, we moved to Denver, then to South Florida, bringing (most) of the original crew to each destination.

Then in 2022, my partner and I sold our four businesses to two private equity groups. We put together brand decks, P&Ls, balance sheets, income statements, tax records, and finalized contracts.

We organized our business assets and automated as much as we could to make handing our businesses off to a buyer as smooth as possible.

I am by no means “set for life” - but the last seven years in ecommerce have given me amazing experiences that I look forward to sharing.

I am endlessly grateful: to the sport of football and entrepreneurship, both of which taught me the value of consistent improvement, and to the incredible people who supported and guided me on this journey.

As I reflect on the last several years, I wanted to put my story out there as I continue to grow and align myself with people who are doing the same. I am also going to post more content in this space.

Now, in 2023, I am collaborating and consulting with brands, exploring new business opportunities, and am super excited for the next chapter in e-commerce.

If you want to connect, reach out!