Patrick Rauland
•
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 High Gun, took photographs with smiling eCommerce entrepreneurs. With that good swagger and smirk I might have sworn Tom Cruise should have taken a break from filming Mission Unimaginable 8 to schmooze on the Opening Celebration for eCommerceFuel Reside.
Final week over 300 eCommerce Gas members gathered in San Diego for eCommerceFuel Reside. With an unique visitor restricted to enterprise house owners who deliver in additional than seven figures, that is the highest occasion of the 12 months for lots of the eCommerce entrepreneurs who attend.
In case you’ve spent any time within the eCommerce area, then there’s a veritable glut of networking and informational occasions for on-line entrepreneurs. However solely eCommerceFuel Reside offers its company the chance to mingle with the cream of the crop. By making this a non-public occasion for essentially the most profitable enterprise house owners in our already-vetted group, we assure every particular person within the corridor is a peer with high tier data and expertise of their area.
Bringing an On-line Group to Life
Not like most enterprise occasions, eCommerceFuel Reside prioritizes deep connections, with the objective of bringing our digital group collectively in actual life. Sure, we provide keynote audio system, breakout periods, and workshops at eCommerceFuel Reside. However these operate extra as a leaping off level for attendees who wish 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 some new individuals, earlier than dashing again to my resort 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 bunch of actions that make you’re feeling comfortable within the eCommerceFuel group.
Previous to the fabulous plane provider opening occasion, they provided a brand new member dinner. Then, for lunch on the primary day, they created an assigned seating chart that grouped collectively company with related pursuits.
For dinner on the second evening, we have been grouped with completely different attendees, however nonetheless discovered loads to speak about as we strolled to the restaurant within the nice San Diego night air. The dialogue was different – 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 Trade, and their luxurious tapas type meals allowed us to really share our meal collectively, passing plates such as you would at grandma’s desk. In fact 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 stunned how a lot I favored 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, get pleasure from 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 not often see referred to as to me, and I selected to go on the kayaking tour.
The 2-person kayaks gave my paddling companion, Mike, and I the possibility to get to know each other as our information taught us about San Diego’s sea life. We noticed the ocean caves and acquired the magical expertise of watching wild seals swim round us. As we made our method again to the seashore, most of our fellow tour attendees acquired a refreshing dip within the Pacific when their kayaks tipped over. Our vessel was considered one of solely two that didn’t capsize – so now Mike and I’ve one thing to brag about on the subsequent ECF Reside. 💪
Events Promote Assembly Teams of Individuals
Each evening is a celebration at ECF Reside! Actually. The occasions workforce crafted a uniquely festive expertise for every night of the convention. I already gushed in regards to the High Gun themed opening evening occasion.
Credit score to our member Seth Haber for this photograph
Along with the Tom Cruise impersonator, we acquired a tour of the plane provider, and a former (non-impersonator) Navy pilot defined the way it was used throughout warfare and peacetime.
Tuesday evening we had a Cantina themed occasion with mezcal tastings, a margarita shaking lesson, and an excellent outdated whack on the piñata.
At that occasion, I met Lianna Patch and we geeked-out over the communication books we’ve learn and the locations we’ve lived. I’m undecided if our companies will ever overlap, however within the quick time we spent collectively I realized she was an individual whose recommendation I might belief. I’ll be paying additional consideration to her phrases of knowledge within the discussion board any more.
And that’s the objective of the entire social occasions we provide at ECF Reside. It’s arduous to essentially study an individual by way of textual content (even for these of us who carried out our earliest relationships through AOL Prompt Messenger). However actual life conversations offer you a strong base on which to construct a rapport that strengthens your on-line interactions.
The closing occasion happened on the Youngsters’s Museum. Don’t fear, the kids have been all gone. However when the youngsters are away, the adults get to play! We acquired 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
In fact the occasion wasn’t all adventures, events, and video games. We additionally wish to give our group members high quality data, and our keynote periods aimed to offer simply that.
We had 4 keynotes all through the occasion, however the discuss from Casey Brown about Pricing Technique caught with me essentially the most.
“Each single proportion level of worth is 5-10x magnified on the underside line. You must shield every single % or pricing like a mountain of gold.”
– Casey Brown at @ecommercefuel Reside. pic.twitter.com/EqCQumNjGD
— Andrew Youderian (@youderian) March 6, 2023
For me, the important thing takeaway was that pricing ought to be a thought-about resolution – strategic and calculated. Most retailer house owners are too scared to boost costs. They suppose 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 maths on net-profit, you possibly can see that companies typically make more cash 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 worry. 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 tips on how to use the shopper voice in advertising. If a buyer unboxes your product and says, “That is the Tesla of mattresses” that’s precisely what it is best to use in your advertising.
Welcoming the unimaginable @mrsharma for his keynote at @ecommercefuel Reside! 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 advertisements to a narrative about how dropping 85% of workers really saved somebody’s enterprise. The most well-liked session was a workshop about getting began with Generative AI know-how utilizing ChatGPT and Midjourney.
Credit score to our member Alison Smith
For my very own pursuits, I loved Dave Stickland’s speak about 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 Reside pic.twitter.com/SnFqtmXLz6
— Chad Carlton (@ChadCarleton) March 7, 2023
I additionally realized so much from Sean McGinnis’ speak about 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 dimension on cell so individuals can learn the copy. However he additionally revealed his extra superior strategies, like an electronic 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’ll be able to study extra about conversion price optimization (or every other matter) from somebody who really carried out adjustments and shared their outcomes, fairly than studying a listicle of concepts that would possibly work from somebody who hasn’t put any of that data into observe.
Downtime Lets You Marinate on Good Enterprise Concepts
Generally you simply want one other entrepreneur to reiterate a degree. You understand it is best to observe a particular technique however you haven’t succeeded to this point.
Whereas my kayaking group was driving again to the convention in our bus, a number of attendees satisfied one other visitor to present electronic mail advertising one other go.
He had had poor luck with electronic mail advertising previously, however about quarter-hour into his dialog together with his fellow entrepreneurs, he mentioned:
“This bus journey again paid for the entire occasion”
Our keynotes and breakout periods are an excellent primer, however the true worth of our occasion is within the enterprise conversations they facilitate along with your ECF friends.
ECF Reside 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 Reside subsequent 12 months. By no means worry, our occasions workforce is right here! The 2024 dates are already set, and the placement determined – The Massive Straightforward itself, New Orleans!
There’ll be events, adventures, keynotes, and breakout periods identical to we had in 2023. ECF Reside is the best option to combine enterprise enchancment, and social journey for eCommerce entrepreneurs. Be a part of us!
However keep in mind, ECF Reside is a non-public 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 evaluation listing with over 20,000 opinions on each type of software program or SaaS you could be contemplating for your enterprise, and attend a regional ECF meetup apply to grow to be a member of eCommerceFuel at the moment.
Publish 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.
