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E145: Under the Hood with David Wilson Part 1 - Taking a Plateauing Business to the Next Level

The EcomCrew Ecommerce Podcast · with David Wilson · May 15, 2018 · 36 min

Summary

Even highly successful ecommerce businesses hit plateaus. This episode dives into the critical first steps an owner should take when growth stagnates, focusing on how delegating low-value tasks can free up time for strategic, growth-oriented initiatives. Learn how shedding daily operational burdens can reignite your business trajectory.

Key takeaways

Themes

founder & leadershipsupply chain & operationspaid acquisition

Topics covered

sales plateau strategiesdelegation for ecommerce ownershiring virtual assistantsamazon fba fulfillmentowner time managementcost per acquisition (cac) challenges

Episode description

Massive growth is not uncommon for ecommerce businesses. We, for instance, doubled our revenue every year since we started in 2015. With this kind of trend it becomes very unsettling for most ecommerce business owners if sales suddenly remain the same month after month, even if that sales number is high. This is what today's Under the Hood guest is going through. David Wilson had been enjoying massive growth when his sales suddenly plateaud--not increasing and not decreasing, just remaining more or less the same every month. His ads no longer worked, paid search was no longer effective, and his cost per acquisition skyrocketed. His business was in danger of losing profits if he kept doing the same things over and over. David needs cost-effective ways to expand sales and that is the topic for this Under the Hood session. For this episode David and I talk about the first action he urgently needs to do: delegation. Much of his time is tied up on small day to day tasks and he needs to free up time to spend on higher-level tasks that will help recover the growth of his business. In particular, we talk about hiring VAs and using Amazon FBA for fulfillment, two of the lowest-hanging fruit in terms of delegation. In addition, we also talk about the following: David's consulting session with me and Grant in the past His professional background and how he got into ecommerce How his business started plateauing after experiencing massive growth What he does on a day-to-day basis This is just the first part of our coaching session. In Part 2 we get into the meat and potatoes--the specific actions David needs to do to scale his business and gain back his previous growth. These are things that can easily be done, from improving product photography to using a new Shopify theme. Part 2 will come out on Thursday. If you liked this episode and would like to have your own personalized business advice f

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Frequently asked about this episode

What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Owners often get bogged down in low-value daily tasks; identify and delegate these 'time-sinks' to free up capacity for high-impact strategic work.
What does this episode say about supply chain & operations?
Leverage virtual assistants (VAs) for administrative and repetitive tasks to cost-effectively offload day-to-day operations.
What does this episode say about paid acquisition?
Utilize Amazon FBA for fulfillment to delegate logistics, reduce operational overhead, and allow focus on core business growth.
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Recognize that skyrocketing customer acquisition costs (CAC) and ineffective paid ads are key indicators of a plateau that requires a shift in strategy, not just more of the same tactics.
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Prioritize freeing the owner's time for tasks like strategic planning, product development, and new marketing channel exploration to overcome growth stagnation.

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