Optimization Strategies for eCommerce Businesses With Duane Brown of Take Some Risk

Eric Siu is the Chairman of Single Grain, a digital marketing agency driving scalable and predictive revenue growth. As an investor and advisor to Fortune 500 companies and venture-backed startups, he founded Leveling Up, a business and personal growth blog. Eric is also the author of the book Leveling Up and hosts the Leveling Up podcast, where he dissects growth levers to help businesses scale. In this episode… As inflation intensifies, a labor market crash is looming. For most businesses, this entails bankruptcy. But today’s guest has found opportunities in adversity and shares how you can strategize for the future. Intuitive marketer Eric Siu maintains that by providing quality services, staying true to yourself, and remaining relevant, you can persist and thrive through the unprecedented market and other business challenges. While some organizations can’t withstand a labor market crash, Eric’s strategy is to attract available talent from inevitable layoffs. When harnessing this approach, it’s vital to use your intuition before trusting any employee and exercise self-discipline if disputes arise. In today’s episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast, Joshua Chin interviews Eric Siu, the Chairman of Single Grain and the Founder of Leveling Up, about persevering through crises to build a flourishing business. Eric talks about his networking framework, why you shouldn’t focus on leaving a legacy, and his predictions for the future of business.

William Harris is the Founder and CEO of Elumynt, an ecommerce growth agency focused on profit via hyper scaling. Elumynt has been featured in Inc. and is an Inc. 5000 Winner and Best Workplace Winner. William has helped acquire 13 companies, including one that sold to GoDaddy. He’s also published over 200 articles about the ecommerce space in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Shopify, and more. In this episode… With so many advertising methods and factors impacting campaign performance, brands often become overwhelmed with the idea of ad testing. Consequently, brands launch hundreds of campaigns simultaneously, lacking consideration for budget spending and customer acquisition costs. How can you structure your ads around profitability? Before testing any creative campaign, leading ad spend expert William Harris says to allocate your budget to equalize returns. This allows you to experiment with a target performance goal, mitigating profit loss by aligning your budget with the objectives. For instance, you can prioritize the cart or click optimization when conducting ad testing. By conducting phased ad testing with a structured budget, you can observe incremental revenue increases. On this episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast, Joshua Chin welcomes William Harris, the Founder and CEO of Elumynt, to talk about ad budget optimization. William shares strategies for testing ad creatives, the common misconceptions about advertising metrics, and how to select a high-performing campaign.

Ben Leonard is an ecommerce consultant and the Co-founder of Ecom Brokers, a UK-based ecommerce brokerage that helps companies sell their businesses for an optimal price. Ben has been an entrepreneur since 2016 when he founded Beast Gear, a fitness equipment company that he grew to seven figures. After selling his business in 2019, Ben decided to spread his knowledge about achieving profitable ecommerce exits to other entrepreneurs. That same year, he was named the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by Elevator Awards. In this episode… Traditionally, in the ecommerce M&A (mergers and acquisitions) landscape, private equity-backed brand aggregators have purchased low-valued businesses at high EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) multiples. But this has led to resource depletion, and brands are struggling to sell for an ideal price. So how can you evaluate today’s buyer culture effectively to position your brand as a top choice? Ecommerce broker Ben Leonard notes that the most frequent mistake business owners make when exiting is determining a price based on brand goals. Selling depends mainly on a potential buyer’s requirements, so it’s imperative to structure your business accordingly. When positioning your company, you must consider five interrelated factors: brand identity, growth and profitability, risk, transferability, and documentation. Branding influences the other constituents, so developing quality products and understanding your target audience promotes longevity, decreases risk, and facilitates a seamless transfer to a buyer’s existing system. Tune in to this episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast as Joshua Chin welcomes the Co-founder of Ecom Brokers, Ben Leonard, back for his third interview to discuss preparing for a business acquisition. Ben explains the five central factors potential buyers consider, the importance of branding and marketing in ecommerce M&A, and advice for evaluating one buyer versus multiple buyers.

Chad Rubin is the Founder and CEO of Profasee, a dynamic pricing platform enabling brands to predict the optimum price for every product. He has built several successful companies, including Deep and Sassy, Think Crucial, and Skubana, which was acquired by 3PL Central. As a speaker and world-class Amazon expert, Chad gives presentations about ecommerce, SaaS, and Amazon at global conferences and webinars. He is also the co-author of the Amazon bestseller Cheaper Easier Direct. In this episode… Pricing on Amazon is becoming increasingly competitive, and given its complexities, brands often disregard this portion of their business. Yet product pricing affects profitability substantially, so establishing an exact price point is crucial to increase discovery on Amazon. So what’s an ideal method for optimizing revenue? According to Chad Rubin, traditional, manual pricing models utilize if-then scenarios, allowing for human error and compromising lucrative opportunities. AI is an evolving tool that brands can leverage to develop a dynamic pricing framework that improves product detail pages and forecasts demand. AI models can recognize user inputs to make decisions that maximize revenue. Profasee is disrupting price algorithms on Amazon by leveraging AI pricing models to outperform the competition. Founder and CEO of Profasee, Chad Rubin, is interviewed by Joshua Chin on this episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast about AI’s role in dynamic pricing. Chad also discusses how brands can utilize dynamic pricing to generate profit, his thoughts about AI surpassing human intelligence, and advice for structuring pricing on Amazon and Shopify.

Sam Olawale is the Founder of DigitalSuperSystems, a transformation-focused consulting agency specializing in scaling systems and helping people reach their full potential. As a keynote speaker, he focuses on talent development, B2B, ecommerce, business consulting, direct sales, branding, and digital marketing. Sam is also a board member of Meetgeek.ai, a meeting transcription software. In this episode… Are you stuck in the cycle of hustle culture? How can you transition from a struggling entrepreneur to a high-performing CEO? Sam Olawale says that if you want to build an authentic business, you must implement systems for team collaboration and management, product development, and growth. But systems are only one component of business profitability, so it’s essential to create compelling content to promote your products and services. Context is indispensable to content creation and enhances effective storytelling. Sam offers free systems-building courses that he advertises through contextual content to maximize his business value. Joshua Chin sits down with Sam Olawale, Founder of DigitalSuperSystems, in this episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast to discuss building systems and creating content for strategic brand growth. Sam explains his brand-building process, how he builds and tests products to scale, and his criteria for prosperity.

Salena Knight is a retail strategist, consultant, and speaker specializing in helping independent retailers grow their sales and maximize profits. She is a former award-winning, multi-store retailer with over a decade of industry experience as a digital marketer and retail strategist. Through her consulting and training business, The Retail Academy, and her retail marketing agency, The Retail Strategists, Salena has helped build and scale profitable, sustainable, and highly sought-after retail enterprises across Australia and the US. She is also the host of the Bringing Business to Retail podcast. In this episode… Launching a retail business requires carefully considering factors, including products, profit margins and sales, competition, and customer demands. Learn how you can optimize your ecommerce business to build a thriving reputable brand. Retail strategist Salena Knight has developed the five pillars of retail success: money, sales, customers, marketing, and impact. First, identify your profit margins to determine an ideal price range for your products to maximize sales and revenue. It’s also critical to enhance customer lifetime value (LTV) by developing personalized outreach and marketing strategies through email campaigns, interactive videos, and customized messages. Salena’s price ranges are higher than her competitors, yet she generates more sales and produces a greater impact by establishing brand loyalty and LTV. Consultant and retail strategist Salena Knight joins Joshua Chin in today’s episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast to discuss building a profitable retail brand. Salena also details conversion rate optimization strategies, the factors influencing LTV, and how to outperform competitors with your pricing.

Duane Brown is the CEO and Head of Strategy at Take Some Risk, an advertising agency that helps ecommerce, DTC, and SaaS brands create and scale profitable growth. As a global digital marketing and branding professional, he has 16 years of experience working with clients, including Walmart, WooCommerce, and WealthBar. Duane’s world travels have enabled him to help advise global brands on the best approach to using PPC, CRO, and data while maintaining budgets. In this episode… Balancing growth, clients, profitability, and culture is critical to any successful ecommerce business. But some entrepreneurs struggle to prioritize their operations effectively. So how can you optimize your company to enhance value? Duane Brown says achieving business objectives requires making crucial decisions and moving forward. Remaining indecisive and stagnant may cause you to lose control of your company and compromise its worth. Duane has chosen to focus on profitability and an enjoyable company culture. Accordingly, he selects clients based on revenue, value proposition, and conduct, while ensuring his company can provide original and customized services. In today’s episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast, Joshua Chin is joined by Duane Brown, CEO and Head of Strategy at Take Some Risk, to discuss optimizing business practices and digital marketing tips for entrepreneurs. Duane also shares why he became a digital nomad, how he balances speaking engagements with entrepreneurship, and AI’s impact on digital marketing and paid media.

David Burchett is the Founder and CEO of Avance Vinyl, a leading DTC shop with high-quality vinyl, rhinestones, sublimation paper, and crafting supplies. He is also the Owner of The Plug T-shirt Store, Avance Vinyl’s brick-and-mortar print shop that has six locations. With 14 years of screen printing experience, David personalizes each item for his customers. In this episode… Franchising is a great way to grow your business and plan an exit strategy. Yet, many entrepreneurs believe they lack the knowledge and processes to accomplish this. Today’s guest proves that long-term growth is not as complicated as you think. David Burchett started with a vision; he created a T-shirt shop, transitioned to an ecommerce site to handle his business’ supply chain, and is now franchising to prepare for a future sale. He shares two crucial considerations for franchising and exiting: can your business function without you, and can it grow without you? Implementing and updating consistent processes and hiring qualified leaders to guide your company to success and ensure a smooth exit are essential. In this episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast, Joshua Chin hosts David Burchett, Founder and CEO of Avance Vinyl and Owner of The Plug T-shirt Store, to discuss his successful approach to franchising and scaling. David shares why he transitioned his business online, how to exit a business, and how he addresses growing pains.

Spencer Jan is the Co-founder of Solo Stove, an ecommerce brand that designs outdoor products. In 2021, he grew the company into Solo Brands and raised $219 million through an IPO, giving the brand a valuation of over $2 billion before exiting. As an entrepreneur experienced in ecommerce, digital marketing, and bootstrapping businesses, Spencer focuses on providing inspiration and advice to other entrepreneurs. In this episode… What if you could exit your business and live the life you want? How can you scale your business, increase its worth, and sell it for more money? As an entrepreneur who sold his business twice for nine figures, Spencer Jan doesn’t sugarcoat the process. He started his company with one goal in mind: to regain control of his time and life. Yet, this requires patience as it takes most entrepreneurs 10 years to build and scale a company. If you launch a business in hopes of exiting, Spencer says to remain determined and stick to your strengths since it’s easy to get sidetracked by other entrepreneurs’ success stories. By forging your own path, you can develop an exit strategy that maximizes your earnings. In today’s episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast, Joshua Chin invites Spencer Jan, Co-founder of Solo Stove, to talk about how he built and sold his company for $2 billion. Spencer shares advice for maintaining an adequate work-life balance and achieving long-term business success, key factors influencing business growth, and how he prepared his business for the sellers’ market. 

Raúl Galera is the Partnerships and Business Development Lead at ReferralCandy, an app that helps online and offline businesses acquire new customers and retain existing ones through incentivized referrals. ReferralCandy is the leading platform in referral marketing, helping over 30,000 ecommerce brands leverage word-of-mouth marketing. Raúl joined the company in 2016 and built a partnership program that adds value to marketing agencies, affiliates, media outlets, and other tech companies in the ecommerce industry. In this episode… Referrals are a great way to maximize revenue. When executed correctly, you can utilize your customer base to drive sales. So, how can you optimize referral programs to acquire new customers and increase your retention rate? According to Raúl Galera, the average referral rate for any company is 2-2.5%. To leverage the full potential of referrals and improve this statistic, he recommends implementing an open referral program to convert website traffic into new customers. This requires placing incentives such as discounts and codes on your landing page. It’s also essential to inform existing customers of your programs to ensure optimal results. In today’s episode of the eCommerce Profits Podcast, Joshua Chin interviews Raúl Galera, Partnerships and Business Development Lead at ReferralCandy, about creating profitable referral programs. Raúl shares tips for creating innovative referral programs, how to maximize referral rates, and the difference between public and private referral programs.