If you’ve been listening for the past few weeks, you already know I’m stepping away from the podcast in 2017 to focus on some new projects. So in this episode I’m filling you guys in on my plans, which include producing long-form blog content for you all and the possibility of buying a new eCommerce business.

The last three years of podcasting have been an awesome experience, and I’ll still be recording new episodes every month or so. I’m excited to get back to writing excellent, useful content for you fellow eCommerce entrepreneurs, just as I did when we first started. The eCommerceFuel community will also be just as active as ever, so if you’ve considered joining, now is a great time.

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(With your host Andrew Youderian of eCommerceFuel.com)

Andrew: Hey guys, it’s Andrew here, and welcome to the eCommerceFuel podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in today. And today on the show, it’s just myself flying solo on the mic, and a little bit of a bittersweet episode, if I’m honest.

If you’re a regular listener of the show, you know that this marks the last time I’ll be putting out a weekly podcast on Fridays, at least for the foreseeable future. And, wanted to give you a little bit, of course, the thought process behind why I’m doing that. So, you know, here’s what’s not happening. I’m not shutting eCommerceFuel down, not closing the community, the private community that we’ve, you know, we’ve built up over the years, not running off to join a monastery, nothing like that. But I’m slowing down significantly on the podcasting front, for two big reasons.

I Need a Break

The first one is that, to be quite frank, I needed a little bit of a break from podcasting. It’s been about three and a half years I’ve been doing the show every single week, every Friday, and while I love doing it, I love getting to talk with smart, fun, ambitious, interesting people, it also takes a lot of time and a lot of work. And also, I wanna make sure that the stuff I’m putting out there is…the episodes are fresh, they’re relevant, they’re interesting, I’m not rehashing episodes. And, you know, after 182 episodes in a row, was feelin’ the need to get a little bit of a creative break from that, partially for myself, and partially to make sure I’m putting out good, quality content for you, because I respect your time.

So, that was one of the reasons. The other reason was I wanted to intentionally create some space and some bandwidth, for a couple things. The first one is writing and blogging. I really built the audience here at eCommerceFuel around long form blog posts, and that’s been something that, with the community, and with podcasting schedule, and with a lot of the other things going on, that really has slipped by the wayside. And I don’t think I’ve put out a long form blog post in more than a year, which is terrible to say. So that’s something I want to be able to have some more time to commit to, going forward.

What To Do in the Next Five Years

And the other thing is, to be quite honest, figuring out what in the world I’m going to do next with the next five years of my life. You know, you look at 2016, and I spent most of that year preparing to sell Right Channel Radios, actually selling Right Channel Radios, running our live event for the eCommerceFuel community, ECF Live, in Savannah, managing a big, massive overhaul to our private community, which took seven or eight months, and was probably the biggest project I’ve ever done. And, at the end of all that, you know, I’m kind of faced with the decision of, “What’s next?” And, I want, next thing I do, I wanna try to spend…commit to doing something for the next five years, to really be able to pour myself into it. And for me, I don’t know about you, I’m a slow decision maker. I’m someone who needs to really carve out time to think about something, because when I decide on something, I, for better or for worse, tend to stick with it for years. And so I try to get it right, because maybe I’m more stubborn than I should be.

Starting a New Store or Brand

So yeah, so that’s, you know, making more space for that’s important. And the two things I’m really trying to decide between right now are A, starting a brand new store, or buying an existing store, getting another store in one form or another, to get back into the eCommerce game, and get my hands dirty. And the other thing, which, to be honest, was not something I’d considered in the past, but was something that I was not seriously considering going forward until the last couple of days, was going full-time on eCommerceFuel. Really dedicating myself fully to help and connect the community, be advocates for store owners, improve the community that we have, and connect people, a lot of different things there. But those are the two things that I really needed to decide between. So, those are the reasons why I’m taking a little bit of time off, or at least slowing down the podcasting schedule.

On the good news side of things, I will continue to be doing the podcast. Not on a weekly schedule, but probably on a monthly schedule. So, we’ll be putting out a monthly episode with somebody, on a topic or a story that I think is really interesting. And I do think there’s a good chance that in the medium term, I will be back. But at least for the time being, gonna be, like I mentioned, cuttin’ back a bit.

Tell Me What You Think!

So, all that being said, if you’ve got an eCommerce business, or a proprietary product to sell, I’d love to hear from you, because to be honest, my, at least on the product side, my first choice would be to buy something vs. build something from scratch. So if you manufacture a quality product, especially if it’s a smaller catalog, say half a dozen to 25 different items, or if you are a world-class designer, or even if you’ve got an ecommerce business that you’re running, and you potentially are just lookin’ to sell, and it’s based around a quality product line, let me know. I’d love to hear from you. The best way to get ahold of me is andrew@ecommercefuel.com, and, you know, vs. working with a broker, brokers can be useful, but working direct, you can cut out a 10% commission, which means you make 10% more money. Hopefully, if you’re listening to this, you know me well enough that…I’ve done this a couple times, I’ve sold a few businesses, and so I have a few decent referrals and references, so you know I’m not gonna jerk your chain. I would give you a fair price for the business, given that I know the market. I think I’d be someone who would be good to work with. So if you are lookin’ to sell a business, please, let me know. And if you’re not, I apologize for that little mini advertisement that I inserted into the podcast, that you had to listen to.

More Blog Posts to Come

Things that I’ll be doing more of going forward, regardless of what I decide long term, look for more blog posts. Again, like I mentioned, gonna be writing more, so, yeah, look for more blog posts on the blog. I’m gonna also be startin’ to write a monthly newsletter on, of course, ecommerce, but one that’s a little broader in nature, things that really catch my interest and I think are fascinating on the ecommerce front, but also on the tech front, the travel front, the lifestyle front. If you’re running an ecommerce business, things that you’d enjoy reading about. So I’ll be putting that out on a monthly basis. And of course, at least on a monthly basis, a podcast. If you’re not getting emails from me right now, and you want to hear about all these things comin’ down the pipe in the future, head over to the blog at ecommercefuel.com, click on the blog link, and just click on the “subscribe via email” button, and I’ll make sure to update you any time any of this stuff goes live.

And finally, of course, still gonna be workin’ hard on the eCommerceFuel private community. Like I alluded to earlier, we just had a…just spent, you know, eight months, and released a massive new update and overhaul to the community, which was, man, a lot of work, but so fun to do. I need to do an episode on that. So it’s as active and you know, engaged as it’s ever been. Almost a thousand members there, vetted, experienced store owners. So if you’re a store owner doing 250K-plus in annual revenue, please join us. We’d love to have you.

Thank Yous!

So finally, before I close, a couple thank you’s I have to put out there. First, Laura Serino, thank you for your work helping produce the show, for your work on the podcast, for everything you do to help make this podcast a reality. Appreciate all your work. Have to thank Bill D’Alesandro and Drew Sanocki, my two very gracious very frequent co-hosts, who usually end up bringing 90% of the value when they do come on the show with me. Guys, thanks for coming on. I have to thank all the guests that have been on the show over the last three and a half years, for their stories and their wisdom they’ve shared. Wanna thank Cashflow Podcasting, who has been the team technically behind the show. These guys are incredible. They do a great job on the editing front and making me sound way more articulate than I am. It’s almost like magic. I would hate to play you the raw tapes from the podcast episode. So thank you, guys. And finally, to you, thank you. Thank you for listening. Whether you’ve listened to a couple episodes, or you’ve been, you had to struggle through the first, you know, first three or four episodes…I shudder at the thought of that. Thanks for listening. I really appreciate. You have so much good stuff to listen to now, from, you know, Gimlet Media, and Startup, and Serial, and The Moth Podcast, and dozens of just top-quality business podcasts out there. I really appreciate that you tune in, and you make me a part of your day, when you’re listening. So, thank you.

So I think that’s it. Hope you have a wonderful 2017. I’m looking forward to see what you do. Heck man, I’m looking forward to seeing what I end up doing. I’ll definitely keep you posted, and once again, thank you for listening to the show. I’ll be in touch.

What Was Mentioned

 

Photo:Flickr/Kellan



Andrew Youderian
Post by Andrew Youderian
Andrew is the founder of eCommerceFuel and has been building eCommerce businesses ever since gleefully leaving the corporate world in 2008.  Join him and 1,000+ vetted 7- and 8-figure store owners inside the eCommerceFuel Community.

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