If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few years helping hundreds of eCommerce brands to systemize and automate their sales growth, it’s this…

… The number of Instagram followers you have has nothing to do with it.

The other day, I was speaking with an online store owner, and I asked her what her goal was for the next year.

“Increase sales by 20%” came the response.

So my next question was, “How will you achieve that? What will you do?”

And she answered that she aims to grow her Instagram followers.

I was confused. I was talking to someone who had been in business for a couple of years, but they were making less than $1000 a week…

…And they were worrying about how many followers they have? 

Ultimately, this sort of thing is all too common.

Instead, they continue working on the same kinds of activities as they did last year, but hoping for different results.

Things like: posting on Instagram, participating in ‘Insta loops’, running giveaways, maybe doing some Facebook ads or boosting posts.

And when those activities fail to deliver the desired effects on growth, they then run a discount or sale promotion to bring some dollars in the door.

Sound familiar?

As Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”.

Yet so many of us continue to do the same things in our business and wonder why we’re not getting the results we desire!

Listen as I share 5 ways to figure out WHAT to focus on in YOUR business. 

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

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Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free Quiz: Discover Your #1 eCommerce Sales Killer

Podcast: How to know if your Facebook ads are working

Podcast: How to Systemize to Supercharge your Business

Podcast: How to Develop a Winning Business Mindset

Free Rockstar Productpreneur community

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

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With Laura Klein from Snotty Noses

I love to hear other entrepreneurs’ tell their stories about how they started their business, and how they got from there to where they are now. 

This week I’m excited to interview my guest, Laura Klein from Snotty Noses. 

Laura began her business as a side hustle when her kids were little and she was on maternity leave from her job as a teacher. 

I don’t think Laura could ever have fathomed back then that she would go on to build a multi-7-figure business! 

What began as a direct-selling opportunity, promoting a clever gadget she’d been using herself and recommending to friends, grew into a lucrative international eCommerce brand.

She now manufactures her own line of products as well as retailing other brands, and sells all around the world.

Tune in to listen to Laura’s story – from side hustle to 7-figure empire!

She shares so many nuggets of gold in this episode too. Ideas you can easily apply in your own business, as well as stories and analogies that will inspire you.

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course

Snotty Noses website, Facebook & Instagram

Free Rockstar Productpreneur community

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

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Two of the toughest things in a product-based business would have to be growing sales and managing cash-flow.

Two of the best, most reliable ways to bring in sales fast are running a product launch or a promotional campaign. 

But there are a number of essential ingredients that produce a successful product launch or campaign result.

Make no mistake – “winging it” will never give you as good results!

(As they say – if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!)

So, would you like to hear about a successful product launch strategy that addresses both of these issues at once?

Here’s what I cover in this episode:

• The 7 essential components of a successful product launch or promotional campaign, and
• A step-by-step ‘Pre-order’ launch strategy that has helped many of my clients to fund their production, shipping and customs bills by selling stock in advance.

Be prepared to take notes with this episode – it’s a meaty “how to” that you’ll want to execute in your own business!

Listen now.

And don’t miss the free ‘Campaign Planning Guide & Template’ download. Link is down below!

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course

Episode 13 – Building An Ecommerce Brand From Zero To 7 Figures, with Vicki from Bubblebubs

Episode 17 – How To Run A Successful Giveaway on Social Media

FREE DOWNLOAD – Campaign Planning Guide & Template

Free Rockstar Productpreneur community

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We all need to take a break every now and then, but us entrepreneurs often don’t.

We don’t take time off because we love what we do, right? We’re happy to hustle and we’re ambitious, so seeing the results is a bit addictive and makes us want to work even harder…

But the consequences of not taking time off, especially if you’re working long hours with high stress levels and not getting enough sleep, can lead to burnout. Which I can also speak about from experience, and it’s not fun! 

How do you take time off without business grinding to a halt?

If you’re a solo-operator, it can be tempting to simply shut your online store. But I don’t recommend this. You’ll definitely lose traction with traffic and sales, which would be disappointing if you’ve been working hard on your marketing to generate that growth!

Luckily there are things you can do, whether you’re still running the show yourself, or you’re further down the road, to enable yourself to take a break.

Here’s what I cover in this episode:

• How to take a vacation from your business as a solo operator, without closing your online store
• What to do when your business has grown and you have a team of staff or contractors
• How to make sure your sales don’t drop and your team still get things done the way you want them to!

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course

Episode 18 – How To Systemise To Supercharge Your Online Store

Klaviyo email marketing platform

Episode 6 – How To Automate Your New & Repeat Sales In 3 Easy Steps

Free Rockstar Productpreneur community

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

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CONTINUE READING

Today I want to talk through a topic that is really fundamental to eCommerce: choosing the best website platform to build your online store on. 

I see these questions being asked in Facebook groups ALL the time!

“What’s the best website platform?”

“Which platform is better? Shopify or WordPress / Squarespace / Wix / Something else”

And then, there’s the myths that exist. Like, “I’m too big for Shopify”, or “Shopify is terrible for SEO.”

So what IS the best choice (for you)?

I see a lot of people making mistakes with this choice, either from poor advice or ignorance about what difference it makes, or thinking that all platforms do the same thing and choosing the cheapest one is a prudent decision. 

Your website is the vehicle through which you do business. 

Choosing well will enable you to grow your business efficiently and effectively. While choosing poorly is not necessarily the end of the world – it’s entirely possible to shift to another platform, people do this all the time, but this isn’t the easiest, fastest or cheapest exercise.

Listen as I share exactly how to figure out the best platform for your business.

I’ll share my experiences as an eCommerce brand owner, as well as my experience producing websites during my career in digital agencies.

From the core objectives of your eCommerce website, to the different types of platforms you can consider, to the specific functionality you need, we’ll cover all the factors you should consider before making your choice.

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course

Shopify

Free Rockstar Productpreneur community

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

Read the Transcript

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CONTINUE READING

There’s not a lot of information available that explains how to become a retail stockist or reseller of other brands. 

How do you go about approaching brands? 

What do they look for in a retail stockist? 

How do you do a good job of being a stockist?

Often, if you’re new in your eCommerce business, you’ll start approaching your favourite brands that you want to stock and receive a lot of knock-backs. 

It’s not uncommon to be told things like, ‘we only take brick and mortar stores’, or ‘we aren’t taking on anymore online stores’. 

Sometimes that’s a genuine situation, as brands want to take care of their existing retail stockists and if your online store looks very similar to another one then they might perceive it to be a conflict of interest. Or, they might simply not have manufactured enough stock to be able to supply a new retailer just yet. 

And sometimes it might be something they say to let you down gently if they don’t think you’re a good fit for their brand. 

And if that’s the case, then listen in as we discuss some strategies for winning them over and approving you as a new stockist.

Here’s what I cover in this episode:

• The bare bones basics you need to have in place before approaching brands you want to stock;
• How to identify your business’ unique point of difference, and why that’s important;
• How to decide which brands to approach;
• What brands will look for in a retail stockist; 
• And much, much more…

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course

“How To Identify Your Unique Selling Proposition” free template download

“Promotional Campaign Planning Guide & Template” free bundle download

Podcast episode 19, “How to identify your most profitable customers”

Podcast episode 15, “How to build an audience of raving fans”

Free Rockstar Productpreneur community

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

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CONTINUE READING

With Photographer, Prue Aja

Want to learn the fastest way to attract your ideal customer’s attention?

Well, I’m sure you’re all familiar with that old saying, “A picture tells a thousand words”. I mean, we all know that right?

Visual communication is as old as time. Our cavemen ancestors would communicate by drawing pictures on the walls. Even now, as babies we see and understand well before we can speak, let alone read or write.

The same goes for selling products online. Effective non-verbal communication is absolutely essential if you want to sell more products.

In fact – your images really do the heavy lifting when it comes to selling products online

Our brains process images many times faster than text. 

Images quickly affect our emotions, and…

We make most of our purchase decisions based on emotion!

Today on the Podcast I’m joined with professional photographer, Prue Aja. 

We discuss things like:

• What is a styled brand photoshoot?
• Why do you need one?
• How do you brief a photographer so you get the images you want?
• The difference between images created by a professional photographer and a brand rep. 
• The different image formats you might need and where you’d use them.
• How to avoid disaster or disappointment with your photoshoot.
• Whether you need to be personally present at your photoshoot.

Listen now as we cover 10 practical photography tips that’ll boost your eCommerce sales.

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course

Click here to download my FREE Photography Briefing Template

Prue Aja Photography

Wink Models

A Perfect Space

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

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So. The average Ecommerce website converts at only 2%. That means, 2% of your website visitors will buy from you. 

Yet, we have several clients whose websites regularly convert at between 3-7%!

Part of that comes down to having a well-designed website and a great product. 

BUT there are several things that you can easily implement on your website today that will help you to improve your own website conversion rate. 

For example…

Have you ever wondered what colour your “add to cart” button should be?

Or whether you should spend time putting an abandoned cart strategy in place?

Or tried to work out if it’s worthwhile getting Afterpay (and all the fees it entails)?

All your questions and more are answered today!

Listen as I share 9 easy (and mostly free!) tweaks you can make to your website to win more sales.

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Free 5-Day Ecommerce Business Booster Course

Babiators

Who Gives A Crap

Birdsnest

Klaviyo

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

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As we approach the end of financial year, you may be considering running a clearance or flash sale (affectionately known as an EOFYS).

There’s the temptation to reduce how much you need to count during your stock-take.

Or to get a few quick sales over the line before having to pay the tax man.

There are many benefits to running an EOFYS:

• You can sell off end of season or last season’s stock.
• Clear slow-selling lines or odd or less popular sizes.
• Encourage new customers to trial your products for the first time by retargeting people who have visited specific product pages in your online store.
• Or you can reward existing loyal customers or re-engage lapsed customers who haven’t bought from you in a while.

But to benefit from the enormous potential of this strategy, you need to avoid the common pitfalls and mistakes.

Otherwise you could end up digging yourself into a bigger hole with poor revenue and profit now and into the future!

Listen to this bonus podcast episode as I share the common pitfalls and mistakes, as well as best practices for running a successful EOFYS.

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Click here to register for our upcoming free Masterclass, “My 6 Figure Ecommerce Sales Formula”

FREE Marketing Campaign Planning Guide + Template Download 

Click here to listen to the podcast about Giveaways & Competitions

Other Ways To Enjoy This Episode:

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CONTINUE READING

Paid advertising can be absolute gold for driving traffic and sales in your online store. Once you nail the Facebook Ad Campaign that works for your target customer, you can almost have traffic and sales on tap!

You can convert new and repeat customers and transform them into raving fans that spread the good word about your biz far and wide.

That’s the aim, right?

But there is a big difference between creating an ad and creating a winning ad campaign that sells.

These are the questions I hear people asking all the time:

• How do I know if it is working?
• When should I increase the budget?
• Are those numbers good?

If you too are asking these questions, then you need to get to know your metrics – intimately!

Listen to this podcast as I share exactly how to make sense of your Facebook ad results.

Listen now.

Next, be sure to head to our Rockstar Productpreneur community to ask your #askcatherine questions! I can’t wait to hear them.

Subscribe & Review in iTunes

Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Click here to register for our upcoming free Masterclass, “My 6 Figure Ecommerce Sales Formula”

The One Thing All Successful eCommerce Business Owners Do

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CONTINUE READING