April 1, 2025 • 19 mins
I'm beyond excited because today marks the 100th episode of the eCommerce Made Easy podcast! 🎉 Hitting this milestone got me thinking—what does 100 episodes really do for you as a business owner?
This journey wasn’t just about podcasting. It’s been about business growth, reinvention, and the lessons learned along the way. Running a business for over 20 years means going through cycles of change, and sometimes, you have to redefine and reshape your approach to stay relevant and successful.
In this episode, I’m sharing the biggest insights I’ve gained—not just about podcasting, but about sticking with something long-term, adapting in business, and embracing evolution. Plus, I’ve got some fun stories and valuable takeaways that can help you on your own entrepreneurial journey.
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Hey there—it’s Carrie! Quick heads-up: Doors are officially open for my course, The Converting Website! Learn in just 8 weeks how to turn website visitors into customers.
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Enrollment is open now—but only for a limited time!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carrie Saunders (00:00):
I'm super excited because today marks the
100th episode of the e-commercemade easy podcast, and in
today's podcast we're going tobe talking about what does 100
episodes do to you as a businessowner?
What lessons did I learn?
Not about just podcasting, butmore so about business and how
(00:20):
to really redefine and redevelopour over 20 year old business,
because businesses go throughcycles and many times we have to
reinvent ourselves.
So this episode is all aboutall the lessons I've learned
sticking to podcasting and doing100 episodes almost two years
is what that means, since werelease these once a week and
(00:43):
we're just going to go into somegreat, exciting, wonderful
stories and some businesslessons learned.
So stay tuned.
Welcome to the e-commerce madeeasy podcast.
I'm your host, k Saunders.
When we started this business,all I had was a couch, a laptop
and a nine month old my maingoal to help others.
Now, with over 20 years in thee-commerce building industry and
(01:03):
even more than that in webdevelopment, I have seen a lot.
I love breaking down the hardtech into easily understandable
bits to help others besuccessful in their online
business.
Whether you're a seasonede-commerce veteran or just
starting out, you've come to theright place.
So sit back, relax and let'sdive into the world of
e-commerce together.
Welcome back to the e-commercemade easy podcast.
(01:25):
So today we're talking aboutone celebrating our hundredth
episode.
Honestly, we couldn't be herewithout you, our listeners, and
we want to thank you and we'reso appreciative of you listening
and giving us feedback, lettingus know what you enjoy, so that
we can help serve you and helpyou in your business and help
(01:48):
you with all the lessons we'velearned, all the business
friends that we've made and alltheir lessons they've learned
when they come on the show andteach us about their expertise
and how it's been for them.
So first let's start off.
You know why did I start thispodcast?
Well, we started this one.
It released first on May 2nd in2023, but I had had the itch to
(02:11):
start a podcast for about ayear before that.
And the reason being deep downin my soul and this is the
reason I've kept this businessfor 22, 22,.
We're working on 23 years isthat I just absolutely love
helping others and that lightsme up, and one of my skills and
one of my you know my, one of mymajor skills is technology
(02:32):
understanding technology all theway from.
You know what?
I would consider a bit moresimple and we're connecting
pieces of technology togetherall the way to super complicated
, and we're doing customprogramming and custom web
applications for our customersand I just absolutely love
helping people.
So I built a team that can dothat range of services for our
(02:54):
customers and I do it because Ilove helping people be not stuck
, not afraid, not burdened, notslowed down by technology.
I love helping, you know.
I love our team helping otherbusinesses.
You know, get past that and getthrough that.
So that's the main reason why Ihave this podcast is I just
(03:15):
love helping others.
And if I can teach you to dosome things yourself or at least
educate you enough to be betterat picking that right developer
to work with you or that righttech VA, if you just need you
know things connected together,and then then I've done my job,
I've helped you then, you know,do a better job of picking that
(03:37):
right, perfect person, becausenot every tech person out there
is going to be perfect for you.
So some of the lessons Ilearned when this is a big one
and this you know.
If you're a perfectionist outthere, hold on to your hats.
You probably heard this before,but we need to start before
we're ready.
I'm a recovering perfectionistmyself.
I still fall into thatperfectionist trap, but with
(04:01):
this podcast I was determined.
I set myself a date and I waslike I am starting, even if I
don't feel ready.
I had that date.
That date was actually ananniversary date for our
business.
It was the first day we soldsomething to a stranger online
May 2nd 2003, I think it was wasthe first time we sold to a
(04:24):
stranger, somebody we didn'tknow in person.
So that's one of the reasonswhy I picked that date for the
podcast to launch, because itwas a bit symbolic.
I started this business onaccident.
There was no ready Like.
I didn't start this business onpurpose.
I started it to help some localbusinesses here get their
stores online, because that wasback when the retail was a lot
(04:47):
heavier, back in 2002, 2003.
Retail was a lot heavier.
A lot less people were sellingtheir items online, and so start
before you're ready.
If I had waited until I wasready, I might not even still
have started by now.
So if you're considering doingsomething new in your business,
like starting a podcast,starting a blog, creating a
course, selling differentproducts on your website, you
(05:10):
know sometimes you got to startbefore you're ready.
So do a gut check.
Are you hesitating becauseyou're trying to be perfect, or
is it really not the right time?
So really look into yourselfand see what, see what's going
on in your brain there.
And then I also learned thatconsistency is key to growth and
thankfully, my podcastingmentors let us know this up
(05:32):
front.
I'm going to give a shout out toCrystal Prophet.
If it weren't for her, I don'tthink I would have ever launched
this podcast, and she has beena great mentor and a great
supporter of me in doing mypodcasting and in my podcasting
journey.
And she taught us thatconsistency is the key to growth
.
She taught us that you knowyour numbers, your download
(05:53):
numbers, for example, for apodcast.
That's what can be veryimportant.
It's going to be potentiallyslow at first and don't worry
about what other people aredoing.
Compare yourself to yourselfweek for week or month for month
.
And she even says in thebeginning don't obsess over your
numbers early on, just get itdone, get moving.
(06:13):
And she was totally right and Iexpected her to be right.
You know, once we hit, I wouldsay, about a year mark, we
really started growing thepodcast listeners a lot.
And then it even got evenfurther when we were closer to
the year and a half mark and Ihad, you know, quite a few
episodes under my belt and wordof mouth was getting around.
So when you're startingsomething new with your business
(06:35):
and you know it's the rightthing to do, be consistent with
it.
Don't give up because you don'tsee the results right away.
Think about all the famouspeople out there.
You know Steve Jobs and I'mblanking on the Microsoft guy's
name right now.
I'm sure you guys know it, butthey had so many failures before
(06:59):
they were successful.
They had to wait.
You know for that.
You know consistency to set inand help them then grow.
So if you're just starting outon something new whether it's a
new business or just a newsegment of your business and you
know it's the right thing, giveyourself grace and be
consistent with it, even whenlife gets busy showing up
(07:22):
matters.
I only missed one podcastepisode in the hundred episodes.
That was because I was deathlyill for two weeks with the flu
and I just didn't have any extraepisodes like queued up that I
could throw in there.
So I think I did a replay of areally good episode, but you
know, that was really my onlytime I missed because I was
(07:44):
determined, even if I had torecord the day before.
I was determined to get thisdone because I had made a
commitment and it's veryimportant to me to say yes to me
and to not let myself down andpotentially not let my listeners
down.
If I had some already that were, you know, really into the show
and, you know, looking forwardto it every week, I wanted to
(08:06):
make sure I was there for themas well to create a simple,
sustainable schedule that worksfor you, especially when we're
talking about content creation.
I knew I could do the podcastonce a week.
I knew that was doable.
I thought it was going to be alittle bit of a stretch,
honestly, because I'm running a27-year-old business with seven
(08:27):
employees at the moment and Ijust needed to make sure I could
do it and I knew it was alittle bit of a stretch to help
me grow, but it wasn't too farof a stretch.
I knew, with my team behind me,we could get it done, because
they do help me on some of theproduction parts of this.
And then I also learned thatyour audience will tell you what
(08:47):
you need.
I kind of knew this is probablygoing to happen, but, man, it
felt like it took forever for meto quite start understanding
how they were telling me whatthey needed.
Some of my most downloadedepisodes weren't the ones I
expected.
I think one of my top onesstill is the product bundling
episode that I released the fallof the first year I was
(09:08):
podcasting it was like inNovember of 23.
It was such a high downloadedepisode.
So sometimes you'll get somesurprising information back from
your audience, whether it'syour customers or your audience,
the people who are buyingphysical goods from your
e-commerce store, or whetheryou're a coach or a course
creator, and it's your you knowsocial audience and the people
(09:32):
who are buying from you andbuying your services from you.
You know so you don't want tohold back on releasing content
that is you Like.
If I hadn't released thatproduct bundling episode, that
was actually me.
That was my years and years andyears of experience seeing how
(09:54):
my clients, when they bundledproducts together, really
increase their revenue.
It's kind of a no-brainerwhenever you're, you know, go to
buy something and there'ssomething else that goes along
with it that you won't have tohave, but it helps enhance that
original product.
It's kind of a no-brainer manytimes for that person to go
(10:14):
ahead and buy both items.
And that's the principle behindthe product bundling episode is
that we want to make it easyfor our customers to be buying
more from us.
And you can apply this toservices and you can apply this
to physical goods as well.
So you know, produce what'sinside you, produce the
(10:34):
knowledge that's inside you.
Don't be afraid to share whatyou have.
If I'd been afraid to sharethat thinking, oh, nobody really
want to learn about productbundling, I wouldn't have one of
my top listen to episodes rightthere, and that was early on.
That was only about six-ishmonths into podcasting.
And, as I alluded to already,business is a constant evolution
(10:56):
.
Being in business almost 23years, it'll be 23.
Yeah, it'll be 23 in November,and this is April 2025.
As I'm recording this or asthis one gets released, business
definitely evolves and so beready for that.
It's kind of like if you're aparent, you know your children
(11:16):
evolve.
You have, you know, the babyyears and how they act, and then
you've got the toddler yearsand how they act in the early
elementary and how they act, andthey just kind of morph into
different, little differentpeople as they get older, and
your business does that as well.
We do that as well.
We, you know, have learned morethings, we have experienced
(11:40):
more things, so we also evolve.
So we've got to make sure thatwe are ready and okay with the
fact that our business is goingto evolve.
Originally, when we started ourbusiness, we were only serving
people who use a specificshopping cart called X cart.
That's all, only X cart people.
(12:00):
Shopping cart called X cartthat's all, only X cart people.
Now we service X cart, magento,big commerce, shopify.
We also service course creatorsand coaches too, so we service
people who use Kajabi's, who usehigh level, who need help with
their email systems, because wehave all this knowledge from all
the years.
So make sure that you're okaywith that.
(12:23):
You know evolution.
You know, if I had been, likeyou know, super sad and stuck on
the fact that, oh, we're notonly just serving these XCart
people, these people who runshopping cart software called
XCart, we would have fallenbehind.
You know, allowing ourselves,especially when our one customer
who moved from XCart he was abig client of ours and we worked
(12:45):
with him every month Well, helet us know ahead of time
because we had such a goodworking relationship.
Hey, we need to grow, we'regoing to go off of XCart, we
want to go to Magento.
I want to give you a heads up.
This is basically how theconversation went.
I want to give you a heads upbecause you've been so good to
me.
Heads up, this is basically howthe conversation went.
I want to give you a heads upbecause you've been so good to
me.
But you know we'll be movingoff into another platform soon
and so we're like OK, sure youknow we'll help you till you're
(13:07):
moved.
You know we're happy to helpyou.
If I had freaked out right then, this is a person who bought
hours from us every month, whohelped me employ one of my
employees every month.
If I had been freaked out aboutthat, I'm not sure where we
would be today.
What would have happened?
Well, so the story keeps going.
(13:27):
I might as well tell you thisstory.
So the story keeps going.
About four or five months afterthey made the switch to Magento,
that client emailed us and waslike hey, we really miss you.
Can you learn Magento?
Can you learn Magento?
We really want you to learnMagento, because we really miss
your services.
We miss your white gloveservices and helping us.
(13:49):
I was like so I talked to myemployee who worked with them
and he was like sure, why not?
So there we go, we startlearning Magento.
This was, I think, about 2011,is 2012.
If we hadn't done that, then wewouldn't know Magento today.
Plus, I was listening to theclient, I was listening to what
(14:10):
their needs were, and so manytimes we need to make sure that
we're listening to what ourcustomers are saying.
Our customers were shifting.
Some of them were outgrowingXCart, some of them wanted
something a bit moreenterprise-like, like Magento is
.
And so, you know, be ready toevolve.
It's okay.
You know, definitely do gutchecks, definitely.
(14:30):
You know, think about it andthings like that, but give
yourself permission to pivotwhen it is necessary.
Don't be afraid of it.
And then, lesson number five andthis is one of the most
important lessons I feel likeyou can learn is that
relationships and communitymatter so much.
They matter more than yournumbers, your metrics or
(14:52):
anything.
More than your numbers, yourmetrics or anything.
So, being part of thispodcasting community, podcasting
myself, it has really broughtme to more people One more
people as far as, like,potential customers go.
But, even more importantly, ithas brought me a bunch of
business friends, and it'slonely to be sometimes an
(15:14):
entrepreneur and owning your ownbusiness right, and it's just
so wonderful to have met these.
I feel like there's severalthat are more like my business
besties now, and many of themI've only known for maybe a year
, maybe a year and a half, right, but they're just really great
human beings for one Plus, theyhave their own business.
(15:35):
So we have something in commonthere and we can help each other
out, brainstorm business ideas,do some gut checks with each
other, because we each have ourown different experiences.
So all these guestcollaborations led to business
growth and partnerships.
Many of them give me a shoutout on social media whenever
somebody needs some tech help.
(15:56):
They're like oh, you need toget a hold of Carrie Saunders,
so we'll be getting businessfrom that.
We've been making greatrelationships because of that
and we do, of course, the samething for them.
We shout them out wheneversomebody needs help in their
expertise.
So focusing on engagement andit can be engagement that's not
even directly related to profitsin your business can really
(16:18):
help your business growth.
They are always your bestmarketing tool and your best
support tool.
And we're not talking aboutjust sales here.
We're talking about mentalhealth.
We're talking about being happyin our businesses and all the
things.
So business relationships aresuper important.
(16:39):
So I've shared some of mybiggest lessons on what I've
learned in doing 100 podcastingepisodes, and I'd love to hear
yours too.
So if you had to pick one thingthat's transformed your
business or your mindset, whatwould it be?
Click that text, carry buttonon this episode and let me know.
And if you're hearing someweird noise in the background,
(17:00):
the cats wanted to celebrate thehundredth episode of the
podcast as well, so they'rehaving fun in some boxes in my
room.
So, anyway, let's get back tothe episode.
So 100 episodes I still can'tbelieve it.
It wouldn't have been possiblewithout you.
I want to thank you so much.
I'm beyond grateful for each andevery one of our listeners.
(17:20):
I'm beyond grateful for yourreviews, for your feedback,
every guest.
They've all been so wonderfuland it's been wonderful to learn
about these other amazing humanbeings and all your messages of
support on social media.
They've all been wonderful andI really appreciate them.
So make sure you drop me a texton that text carry button in
(17:41):
your podcast app.
I'd love to hear you know whatis one of your biggest lessons
you've learned from.
You know doing what you'redoing and I'll give you a shout
out on the podcast.
And if you love this episodeand this podcast, be sure to
rate and review it and share itwith a business friend so that
they can get the help that weare putting out there in the
world.
We truly appreciate you and ourlisteners and we want to give
(18:04):
you a huge thank you and a hugeshout out and a huge hug from
our staff and from me to you.
We just really appreciate yoursupport of this podcast and we
will see you next week.
I'm super excited because today marks the
100th episode of the e-commercemade easy podcast, and in
today's podcast we're going tobe talking about what does 100
episodes do to you as a businessowner?
What lessons did I learn?
Not about just podcasting, butmore so about business and how
(00:20):
to really redefine and redevelopour over 20 year old business,
because businesses go throughcycles and many times we have to
reinvent ourselves.
So this episode is all aboutall the lessons I've learned
sticking to podcasting and doing100 episodes almost two years
is what that means, since werelease these once a week and
(00:43):
we're just going to go into somegreat, exciting, wonderful
stories and some businesslessons learned.
So stay tuned.
Welcome to the e-commerce madeeasy podcast.
I'm your host, k Saunders.
When we started this business,all I had was a couch, a laptop
and a nine month old my maingoal to help others.
Now, with over 20 years in thee-commerce building industry and
(01:03):
even more than that in webdevelopment, I have seen a lot.
I love breaking down the hardtech into easily understandable
bits to help others besuccessful in their online
business.
Whether you're a seasonede-commerce veteran or just
starting out, you've come to theright place.
So sit back, relax and let'sdive into the world of
e-commerce together.
Welcome back to the e-commercemade easy podcast.
(01:25):
So today we're talking aboutone celebrating our hundredth
episode.
Honestly, we couldn't be herewithout you, our listeners, and
we want to thank you and we'reso appreciative of you listening
and giving us feedback, lettingus know what you enjoy, so that
we can help serve you and helpyou in your business and help
(01:48):
you with all the lessons we'velearned, all the business
friends that we've made and alltheir lessons they've learned
when they come on the show andteach us about their expertise
and how it's been for them.
So first let's start off.
You know why did I start thispodcast?
Well, we started this one.
It released first on May 2nd in2023, but I had had the itch to
(02:11):
start a podcast for about ayear before that.
And the reason being deep downin my soul and this is the
reason I've kept this businessfor 22, 22,.
We're working on 23 years isthat I just absolutely love
helping others and that lightsme up, and one of my skills and
one of my you know my, one of mymajor skills is technology
(02:32):
understanding technology all theway from.
You know what?
I would consider a bit moresimple and we're connecting
pieces of technology togetherall the way to super complicated
, and we're doing customprogramming and custom web
applications for our customersand I just absolutely love
helping people.
So I built a team that can dothat range of services for our
(02:54):
customers and I do it because Ilove helping people be not stuck
, not afraid, not burdened, notslowed down by technology.
I love helping, you know.
I love our team helping otherbusinesses.
You know, get past that and getthrough that.
So that's the main reason why Ihave this podcast is I just
(03:15):
love helping others.
And if I can teach you to dosome things yourself or at least
educate you enough to be betterat picking that right developer
to work with you or that righttech VA, if you just need you
know things connected together,and then then I've done my job,
I've helped you then, you know,do a better job of picking that
(03:37):
right, perfect person, becausenot every tech person out there
is going to be perfect for you.
So some of the lessons Ilearned when this is a big one
and this you know.
If you're a perfectionist outthere, hold on to your hats.
You probably heard this before,but we need to start before
we're ready.
I'm a recovering perfectionistmyself.
I still fall into thatperfectionist trap, but with
(04:01):
this podcast I was determined.
I set myself a date and I waslike I am starting, even if I
don't feel ready.
I had that date.
That date was actually ananniversary date for our
business.
It was the first day we soldsomething to a stranger online
May 2nd 2003, I think it was wasthe first time we sold to a
(04:24):
stranger, somebody we didn'tknow in person.
So that's one of the reasonswhy I picked that date for the
podcast to launch, because itwas a bit symbolic.
I started this business onaccident.
There was no ready Like.
I didn't start this business onpurpose.
I started it to help some localbusinesses here get their
stores online, because that wasback when the retail was a lot
(04:47):
heavier, back in 2002, 2003.
Retail was a lot heavier.
A lot less people were sellingtheir items online, and so start
before you're ready.
If I had waited until I wasready, I might not even still
have started by now.
So if you're considering doingsomething new in your business,
like starting a podcast,starting a blog, creating a
course, selling differentproducts on your website, you
(05:10):
know sometimes you got to startbefore you're ready.
So do a gut check.
Are you hesitating becauseyou're trying to be perfect, or
is it really not the right time?
So really look into yourselfand see what, see what's going
on in your brain there.
And then I also learned thatconsistency is key to growth and
thankfully, my podcastingmentors let us know this up
(05:32):
front.
I'm going to give a shout out toCrystal Prophet.
If it weren't for her, I don'tthink I would have ever launched
this podcast, and she has beena great mentor and a great
supporter of me in doing mypodcasting and in my podcasting
journey.
And she taught us thatconsistency is the key to growth
.
She taught us that you knowyour numbers, your download
(05:53):
numbers, for example, for apodcast.
That's what can be veryimportant.
It's going to be potentiallyslow at first and don't worry
about what other people aredoing.
Compare yourself to yourselfweek for week or month for month
.
And she even says in thebeginning don't obsess over your
numbers early on, just get itdone, get moving.
(06:13):
And she was totally right and Iexpected her to be right.
You know, once we hit, I wouldsay, about a year mark, we
really started growing thepodcast listeners a lot.
And then it even got evenfurther when we were closer to
the year and a half mark and Ihad, you know, quite a few
episodes under my belt and wordof mouth was getting around.
So when you're startingsomething new with your business
(06:35):
and you know it's the rightthing to do, be consistent with
it.
Don't give up because you don'tsee the results right away.
Think about all the famouspeople out there.
You know Steve Jobs and I'mblanking on the Microsoft guy's
name right now.
I'm sure you guys know it, butthey had so many failures before
(06:59):
they were successful.
They had to wait.
You know for that.
You know consistency to set inand help them then grow.
So if you're just starting outon something new whether it's a
new business or just a newsegment of your business and you
know it's the right thing, giveyourself grace and be
consistent with it, even whenlife gets busy showing up
(07:22):
matters.
I only missed one podcastepisode in the hundred episodes.
That was because I was deathlyill for two weeks with the flu
and I just didn't have any extraepisodes like queued up that I
could throw in there.
So I think I did a replay of areally good episode, but you
know, that was really my onlytime I missed because I was
(07:44):
determined, even if I had torecord the day before.
I was determined to get thisdone because I had made a
commitment and it's veryimportant to me to say yes to me
and to not let myself down andpotentially not let my listeners
down.
If I had some already that were, you know, really into the show
and, you know, looking forwardto it every week, I wanted to
(08:06):
make sure I was there for themas well to create a simple,
sustainable schedule that worksfor you, especially when we're
talking about content creation.
I knew I could do the podcastonce a week.
I knew that was doable.
I thought it was going to be alittle bit of a stretch,
honestly, because I'm running a27-year-old business with seven
(08:27):
employees at the moment and Ijust needed to make sure I could
do it and I knew it was alittle bit of a stretch to help
me grow, but it wasn't too farof a stretch.
I knew, with my team behind me,we could get it done, because
they do help me on some of theproduction parts of this.
And then I also learned thatyour audience will tell you what
(08:47):
you need.
I kind of knew this is probablygoing to happen, but, man, it
felt like it took forever for meto quite start understanding
how they were telling me whatthey needed.
Some of my most downloadedepisodes weren't the ones I
expected.
I think one of my top onesstill is the product bundling
episode that I released the fallof the first year I was
(09:08):
podcasting it was like inNovember of 23.
It was such a high downloadedepisode.
So sometimes you'll get somesurprising information back from
your audience, whether it'syour customers or your audience,
the people who are buyingphysical goods from your
e-commerce store, or whetheryou're a coach or a course
creator, and it's your you knowsocial audience and the people
(09:32):
who are buying from you andbuying your services from you.
You know so you don't want tohold back on releasing content
that is you Like.
If I hadn't released thatproduct bundling episode, that
was actually me.
That was my years and years andyears of experience seeing how
(09:54):
my clients, when they bundledproducts together, really
increase their revenue.
It's kind of a no-brainerwhenever you're, you know, go to
buy something and there'ssomething else that goes along
with it that you won't have tohave, but it helps enhance that
original product.
It's kind of a no-brainer manytimes for that person to go
(10:14):
ahead and buy both items.
And that's the principle behindthe product bundling episode is
that we want to make it easyfor our customers to be buying
more from us.
And you can apply this toservices and you can apply this
to physical goods as well.
So you know, produce what'sinside you, produce the
(10:34):
knowledge that's inside you.
Don't be afraid to share whatyou have.
If I'd been afraid to sharethat thinking, oh, nobody really
want to learn about productbundling, I wouldn't have one of
my top listen to episodes rightthere, and that was early on.
That was only about six-ishmonths into podcasting.
And, as I alluded to already,business is a constant evolution
(10:56):
.
Being in business almost 23years, it'll be 23.
Yeah, it'll be 23 in November,and this is April 2025.
As I'm recording this or asthis one gets released, business
definitely evolves and so beready for that.
It's kind of like if you're aparent, you know your children
(11:16):
evolve.
You have, you know, the babyyears and how they act, and then
you've got the toddler yearsand how they act in the early
elementary and how they act, andthey just kind of morph into
different, little differentpeople as they get older, and
your business does that as well.
We do that as well.
We, you know, have learned morethings, we have experienced
(11:40):
more things, so we also evolve.
So we've got to make sure thatwe are ready and okay with the
fact that our business is goingto evolve.
Originally, when we started ourbusiness, we were only serving
people who use a specificshopping cart called X cart.
That's all, only X cart people.
(12:00):
Shopping cart called X cartthat's all, only X cart people.
Now we service X cart, magento,big commerce, shopify.
We also service course creatorsand coaches too, so we service
people who use Kajabi's, who usehigh level, who need help with
their email systems, because wehave all this knowledge from all
the years.
So make sure that you're okaywith that.
(12:23):
You know evolution.
You know, if I had been, likeyou know, super sad and stuck on
the fact that, oh, we're notonly just serving these XCart
people, these people who runshopping cart software called
XCart, we would have fallenbehind.
You know, allowing ourselves,especially when our one customer
who moved from XCart he was abig client of ours and we worked
(12:45):
with him every month Well, helet us know ahead of time
because we had such a goodworking relationship.
Hey, we need to grow, we'regoing to go off of XCart, we
want to go to Magento.
I want to give you a heads up.
This is basically how theconversation went.
I want to give you a heads upbecause you've been so good to
me.
Heads up, this is basically howthe conversation went.
I want to give you a heads upbecause you've been so good to
me.
But you know we'll be movingoff into another platform soon
and so we're like OK, sure youknow we'll help you till you're
(13:07):
moved.
You know we're happy to helpyou.
If I had freaked out right then, this is a person who bought
hours from us every month, whohelped me employ one of my
employees every month.
If I had been freaked out aboutthat, I'm not sure where we
would be today.
What would have happened?
Well, so the story keeps going.
(13:27):
I might as well tell you thisstory.
So the story keeps going.
About four or five months afterthey made the switch to Magento,
that client emailed us and waslike hey, we really miss you.
Can you learn Magento?
Can you learn Magento?
We really want you to learnMagento, because we really miss
your services.
We miss your white gloveservices and helping us.
(13:49):
I was like so I talked to myemployee who worked with them
and he was like sure, why not?
So there we go, we startlearning Magento.
This was, I think, about 2011,is 2012.
If we hadn't done that, then wewouldn't know Magento today.
Plus, I was listening to theclient, I was listening to what
(14:10):
their needs were, and so manytimes we need to make sure that
we're listening to what ourcustomers are saying.
Our customers were shifting.
Some of them were outgrowingXCart, some of them wanted
something a bit moreenterprise-like, like Magento is
.
And so, you know, be ready toevolve.
It's okay.
You know, definitely do gutchecks, definitely.
(14:30):
You know, think about it andthings like that, but give
yourself permission to pivotwhen it is necessary.
Don't be afraid of it.
And then, lesson number five andthis is one of the most
important lessons I feel likeyou can learn is that
relationships and communitymatter so much.
They matter more than yournumbers, your metrics or
(14:52):
anything.
More than your numbers, yourmetrics or anything.
So, being part of thispodcasting community, podcasting
myself, it has really broughtme to more people One more
people as far as, like,potential customers go.
But, even more importantly, ithas brought me a bunch of
business friends, and it'slonely to be sometimes an
(15:14):
entrepreneur and owning your ownbusiness right, and it's just
so wonderful to have met these.
I feel like there's severalthat are more like my business
besties now, and many of themI've only known for maybe a year
, maybe a year and a half, right, but they're just really great
human beings for one Plus, theyhave their own business.
(15:35):
So we have something in commonthere and we can help each other
out, brainstorm business ideas,do some gut checks with each
other, because we each have ourown different experiences.
So all these guestcollaborations led to business
growth and partnerships.
Many of them give me a shoutout on social media whenever
somebody needs some tech help.
(15:56):
They're like oh, you need toget a hold of Carrie Saunders,
so we'll be getting businessfrom that.
We've been making greatrelationships because of that
and we do, of course, the samething for them.
We shout them out wheneversomebody needs help in their
expertise.
So focusing on engagement andit can be engagement that's not
even directly related to profitsin your business can really
(16:18):
help your business growth.
They are always your bestmarketing tool and your best
support tool.
And we're not talking aboutjust sales here.
We're talking about mentalhealth.
We're talking about being happyin our businesses and all the
things.
So business relationships aresuper important.
(16:39):
So I've shared some of mybiggest lessons on what I've
learned in doing 100 podcastingepisodes, and I'd love to hear
yours too.
So if you had to pick one thingthat's transformed your
business or your mindset, whatwould it be?
Click that text, carry buttonon this episode and let me know.
And if you're hearing someweird noise in the background,
(17:00):
the cats wanted to celebrate thehundredth episode of the
podcast as well, so they'rehaving fun in some boxes in my
room.
So, anyway, let's get back tothe episode.
So 100 episodes I still can'tbelieve it.
It wouldn't have been possiblewithout you.
I want to thank you so much.
I'm beyond grateful for each andevery one of our listeners.
(17:20):
I'm beyond grateful for yourreviews, for your feedback,
every guest.
They've all been so wonderfuland it's been wonderful to learn
about these other amazing humanbeings and all your messages of
support on social media.
They've all been wonderful andI really appreciate them.
So make sure you drop me a texton that text carry button in
(17:41):
your podcast app.
I'd love to hear you know whatis one of your biggest lessons
you've learned from.
You know doing what you'redoing and I'll give you a shout
out on the podcast.
And if you love this episodeand this podcast, be sure to
rate and review it and share itwith a business friend so that
they can get the help that weare putting out there in the
world.
We truly appreciate you and ourlisteners and we want to give
(18:04):
you a huge thank you and a hugeshout out and a huge hug from
our staff and from me to you.
We just really appreciate yoursupport of this podcast and we
will see you next week.
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