Wondering what it takes to get your eCommerce business to the next level? Data and smart decisions my friend.
In this week’s mini episode we’re going through 5 things you can start doing in 2021 to step into your role as CEO and that you should continue to do in your business on a regular basis.
FREE Resource Library
Every freebie I’ve created to help you grow the traffic, sales and profit in your eCommerce Business, all in one place!
This month we’ve been posting mini-episodes so you can breeze through the content while still running your business during the busy holiday season.
With 2021 right around the corner, now is the perfect time for you to start building better habits in your business. Let’s get into the 5 things you can start doing in 2021 to step into your role as CEO.
Prefer to listen to this episode? Click here
1. Track your sales and traffic numbers every single week
If you want a template to work from, sign up for the eCommerce Badassery free resource library and listen to episode 7 of the podcast. You can get access to the library here.
Start making data driven decisions from those numbers and the campaign recaps you do after each campaign, season, quarter, etc. You can learn more about that process in episode 11.
Get in the habit of reviewing your numbers on a weekly basis. You’re not necessarily going to take action every week, but the goal is to start recognizing patterns and creating a baseline to work from.
So if you see that a specific social media channel is consistently performing well and then one week it’s off, you can go back and diagnose where the problem might be.
2. Start delegating
Are there things you’re still doing in your business that maybe you shouldn’t be? Are there tasks that are below your pay grade as a CEO? The beginning of the year is a great time to evaluate your team structure and start filling in the gaps.
Hiring a team
You don't have to go out and hire a full team from day one. Managing a team of people is a task all its own so if you haven’t hired before, start with a VA who can take some admin tasks off your plate — even that reporting we just talked about.
If you struggle to give up control, I challenge you to dig deep on why that is and get real with yourself. Believe me, I get it. I struggle with the same thing.
But at some point, we have to just accept that no one is going to do the job as well as us because it’s not their business. And sometimes we have to settle for B+ work. That doesn’t mean your business is going to fail. Truth be told, there are probably a lot of times when you should be accepting B+ work from yourself too because it’s easy to fall down perfectionism rabit hole, trying to get things to an A+ when they never will be.
Evaluate your team
If you already have a team, now is a great time to evaluate how everyone is doing. Do you have the right butts in the right seats? Is everyone doing a job they enjoy and feel passionate about. Are they on the right path for them?
Part of your job as leader is to ensure that you’re using everyone to their potential and meeting their needs too. If you have someone super creative in a fully operational role, it’s likely they will eventually get bored or burnt out. And maybe you’re not in a position to change their role right now, but you might be able to get them involved in other aspects of the business to feed that creative side while they continue to do the day to day of their current position.
Make sure the roles you do have are actually contributing to the business. Maybe you have someone fully focused on the wholesale side of your business while that doesn’t contribute as much as your eCommerce store does anymore. How else can you utilize that person in your business to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck.
3. Look at your expenses
What can you cut back on or how can you reallocate your resources?
So often we sign up for platforms or apps that we end up not using or forget to evaluate periodically. So there may be some things you can get rid of to lower your expenses.
Or It might be time to shuffle things around. Maybe you’re spending money on a big social media agency when hiring a smaller agency would be a better fit and cost you less. That will free up some cash to invest in something else you’ve been wanting to do or that you discover you need when you assess your team.
4. Evaluate your product assortment
Take a look at your best-performing and worst-performing items. Start leaning into your best sellers and potentially getting rid of those that aren’t contributing to your business.
I did a live in the eCommerce Badassery Facebook group and this was a top priority for a few people in the group. Ultimately, cutting back on your product assortment means less cash tied up in inventory you’re not selling. Less time, energy, and effort managing or sourcing it, less space in your warehouse, and more energy and resources to lean into your best selling items.
Whether that means buying deeper into them so you can increase your margin, expanding on the variations of that item so you can sell more of them to the same people, or even just freeing up more space in your marketing calendar to feature those best sellers more often.
5. Get help and support if you need it
Want to finally get all your email automatons in place and generating revenue? Hire an expert to help.
Been trying to do ads on your own with no success? Hire an expert to help you.
Want to implement on-page SEO to grow the organic traffic to your website? Hire an expert to help you.
Did your business grow unexpectedly this year and now you feel like you can’t catch up? Do you need to finally get those systems and processes in place? Hire an expert to help you.
I think you get the point. When you really want to grow your business in a sustainable way you can’t do it alone. And you don’t have to.
Once you sit down to evaluate things, if you realize you need help in any of those areas, email, seo, structure, or growth, book a free discovery call and let’s see if I can help, that’s what I’m here for!
