Patrick Rauland
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March 17, 2023
I’d by no means skilled something prefer it. I used to be standing inside a actual plane provider surrounded by fighter jets whereas Maverick himself, THE Prime Gun, took photographs with smiling eCommerce entrepreneurs. With that excellent swagger and smirk I might have sworn Tom Cruise will need to have taken a break from filming Mission Inconceivable 8 to schmooze on the Opening Get together for eCommerceFuel Dwell.
Final week over 300 eCommerce Gas members gathered in San Diego for eCommerceFuel Dwell. With an unique visitor restricted to enterprise house owners who convey in additional than seven figures, that is the highest occasion of the 12 months for most of the eCommerce entrepreneurs who attend.
In case you’ve spent any time within the eCommerce house, then you understand there’s a veritable glut of networking and informational occasions for on-line entrepreneurs. However solely eCommerceFuel Dwell offers its friends the chance to mingle with the cream of the crop. By making this a personal occasion for probably the most profitable enterprise house owners in our already-vetted group, we assure every individual within the corridor is a peer with high tier information and expertise of their subject.
Bringing an On-line Neighborhood to Life
In contrast to most enterprise occasions, eCommerceFuel Dwell prioritizes deep connections, with the purpose of bringing our digital group collectively in actual life. Sure, we provide keynote audio system, breakout periods, and workshops at eCommerceFuel Dwell. However these operate extra as a leaping off level for attendees who need to mingle and type connections with different eCommerce entrepreneurs.
Pleasant for New Connections
In my heyday, I attended so many eCommerce conferences that my frequent flier miles might have taken me to Timbuktu. At most of these occasions, I’d should pressure myself to speak to a couple new individuals, earlier than dashing again to my lodge for a Netflix binge. I’m an extrovert, however even I discover it draining to work together with strangers in an effort to type new skilled relationships.
However our occasions workforce has taken the stress out of socializing by assembling a number of actions that make you’re feeling relaxed within the eCommerceFuel group.
Previous to the fabulous plane provider opening social gathering, they provided a brand new member dinner. Then, for lunch on the primary day, they created an assigned seating chart that grouped collectively friends with comparable pursuits.
For dinner on the second evening, we have been grouped with completely different attendees, however nonetheless discovered a lot to speak about as we strolled to the restaurant within the nice San Diego night air. The dialogue was diverse – from baseball guidelines to the landed prices of our merchandise. (Is it higher to make fewer however bigger orders of stock to optimize our cost-of-goods-sold??)
We ate at Kettner Change, and their luxurious tapas fashion meals allowed us to actually share our meal collectively, passing plates such as you would at grandma’s desk. After all the ambiance was a lot hipper than Granny’s, with a DJ and harpist providing fairly the avant garde leisure combo. It was a memorable meal to say the least.
Noticed a DJ with a harpist at a restaurant final week. I am shocked how a lot I preferred the combo. 🤘
Are there any bands on the market that make music like this? pic.twitter.com/GwXomAqCQn
— Patrick Rauland (@BFTrick) March 14, 2023
Adventures Promote Particular person Relationships
The second day of eCommerceFuel stay provided an enormous block of time devoted to adventures. Among the many quite a few choices accessible, attendees might take the chance to learn to surf, take pleasure in a meals tour of San Diego, sail in a regatta, go on safari, or kayak by way of sea caves.
My state is landlocked, so the lure of the ocean I so hardly ever see referred to as to me, and I selected to go on the kayaking tour.
The 2-person kayaks gave my paddling associate, Mike, and I the prospect to get to know each other as our information taught us about San Diego’s sea life. We noticed the ocean caves and bought the magical expertise of watching wild seals swim round us. As we made our method again to the seaside, most of our fellow tour attendees bought a refreshing dip within the Pacific when their kayaks tipped over. Our vessel was one in every of solely two that didn’t capsize – so now Mike and I’ve one thing to brag about on the subsequent ECF Dwell. 💪
Events Promote Assembly Teams of Individuals
Each evening is a celebration at ECF Dwell! Actually. The occasions workforce crafted a uniquely festive expertise for every night of the convention. I already gushed in regards to the Prime Gun themed opening evening social gathering.
Credit score to our member Seth Haber for this picture
Along with the Tom Cruise impersonator, we bought a tour of the plane provider, and a former (non-impersonator) Navy pilot defined the way it was used throughout conflict and peacetime.
Tuesday evening we had a Cantina themed social gathering with mezcal tastings, a margarita shaking lesson, and outdated whack on the piñata.
At that social gathering, I met Lianna Patch and we geeked-out over the communication books we’ve learn and the locations we’ve lived. I’m unsure if our companies will ever overlap, however within the quick time we spent collectively I discovered she was an individual whose recommendation I might belief. I’ll be paying further consideration to her phrases of knowledge within the discussion board to any extent further.
And that’s the purpose of the entire social occasions we provide at ECF Dwell. It’s onerous to essentially find out about an individual by way of textual content (even for these of us who performed our earliest relationships by way of AOL Instantaneous Messenger). However actual life conversations provide you with a stable base on which to construct a rapport that strengthens your on-line interactions.
The closing social gathering happened on the Kids’s Museum. Don’t fear, the kids have been all gone. However when the children are away, the adults get to play! We bought to discover the museum unfettered by the guilt of taking on an exercise that was supposed for tiny people. We went again to our childhoods, driving down the slide and taking one another out in a pleasant sport of laser tag.
Enterprise Takeaways
After all the occasion wasn’t all adventures, events, and video games. We additionally need to give our group members high quality info, and our keynote periods aimed to offer simply that.
We had 4 keynotes all through the occasion, however the speak from Casey Brown about Pricing Technique caught with me probably the most.
“Each single share level of value is 5-10x magnified on the underside line. You must shield every single % or pricing like a mountain of gold.”
– Casey Brown at @ecommercefuel Dwell. pic.twitter.com/EqCQumNjGD
— Andrew Youderian (@youderian) March 6, 2023
For me, the important thing takeaway was that pricing needs to be a thought-about determination – strategic and calculated. Most retailer house owners are too scared to boost costs. They assume if their costs go up, then they’ll lose a considerable amount of quantity, say 16%. However Casey confirmed us that in actuality, most house owners over-estimate the dangers and quantity will solely lower by 4% .
And whenever you do the mathematics on net-profit, you may see that companies typically earn more money by rising costs by 5%. They could lose as much as 8% in quantity, however their internet revenue nonetheless will increase by 7%.
Takeaway: Don’t set your costs based mostly on concern. Meet along with your workforce on a weekly, month-to-month, or quarterly foundation to reevaluate your costs.
One other keynote that left an impression was Nik Sharma who understands how one can use the shopper voice in advertising. If a buyer unboxes your product and says, “That is the Tesla of mattresses” that’s precisely what you must use in your advertising.
Welcoming the unimaginable @mrsharma for his keynote at @ecommercefuel Dwell! pic.twitter.com/BqB2F21eA5
— Andrew Youderian (@youderian) March 8, 2023
Breakout Periods For Particular Areas of Curiosity
Apart from the 4 keynotes periods everybody on the convention attended, there have been 12 breakout periods starting from optimizing your Google PMax adverts to a narrative about how dropping 85% of staff truly saved somebody’s enterprise. The most well-liked session was a workshop about getting began with Generative AI expertise utilizing ChatGPT and Midjourney.
Credit score to our member Alison Smith
For my very own pursuits, I loved Dave Stickland’s discuss his entrepreneurial journey and the way specializing in fewer initiatives led him to be extra worthwhile in every.
The legend himself @dave_stickland crushing the main target lesson at @ecommercefuel Dwell pic.twitter.com/SnFqtmXLz6
— Chad Carlton (@ChadCarleton) March 7, 2023
I additionally discovered rather a lot from Sean McGinnis’ discuss each Conversion Price Optimization (CRO) approach he used to avoid wasting KURU Footwear. A few of his methods have been apparent, like rising the font measurement on cellular so individuals can learn the copy. However he additionally revealed his extra superior strategies, like an e mail advertising workforce that sends emails 5 days every week(!) to particular segments for various functions.
Most, if not all, of the audio system in these periods jam packed their dialogue with actual world particulars. You may be taught extra about conversion price optimization (or every other matter) from somebody who truly applied modifications and shared their outcomes, relatively than studying a listicle of concepts that would possibly work from somebody who hasn’t put any of that info into apply.
Downtime Lets You Marinate on Good Enterprise Concepts
Typically you simply want one other entrepreneur to reiterate a degree. you must comply with a selected technique however you haven’t succeeded up to now.
Whereas my kayaking group was driving again to the convention in our bus, a couple of attendees satisfied one other visitor to provide e mail advertising one other go.
He had had poor luck with e mail advertising prior to now, however about quarter-hour into his dialog along with his fellow entrepreneurs, he mentioned:
“This bus trip again paid for the entire occasion”
Our keynotes and breakout periods are an ideal primer, however the true worth of our occasion is within the enterprise conversations they facilitate along with your ECF friends.
ECF Dwell 2024
In case you’ve gotten this far, you’re in all probability itching to seek out out how one can be a part of eCommerceFuel Dwell subsequent 12 months. By no means concern, our occasions workforce is right here! The 2024 dates are already set, and the placement determined – The Large Simple itself, New Orleans!
There’ll be events, adventures, keynotes, and breakout periods similar to we had in 2023. ECF Dwell is the best approach to combine enterprise enchancment, and social journey for eCommerce entrepreneurs. Be a part of us!
However keep in mind, ECF Dwell is a personal occasion, open solely to eCommerceFuel members. If you wish to attend subsequent 12 months, take part in our personal group of 7-figure and bigger retailer house owners, browse our overview listing with over 20,000 evaluations on each form of software program or SaaS chances are you’ll be contemplating for your online business, and attend a regional ECF meetup apply to grow to be a member of eCommerceFuel right this moment.
Submit by Patrick Rauland
Patrick loves entrepreneurship and teaches eCommerce, advertising, and WordPress programs at LinkedIn Studying. He is additionally developed each eCommerce and membership software program. When he is not in entrance of a display screen he loves to color tiny toy miniatures.
