Running a business from outside of the United States is something I am SO passionate about!
Now that I am back in Puerto Rico, I thought this would be the perfect topic to cover in today's podcast.
The amazing Ellie Moore joins us to talk about e-commerce from another country.
She is manning her online store all the way from the UK and totally rocking it at the online business game!
Join us as Ellie shares how she's doing it. We discuss the highs (and lows) of building a business outside of the US and everything in between!
Meet Ellie!
I have a lot of people tell me they want to start an online business. Some people think they can’t though because they don’t live in the US. Welp, guess what? People still want to buy things, and so there will always be a market for you, even if you don’t live in the US!
Meet Ellie! Ellie is a business owner who’s operating all the way from the UK and still selling on the US market and she is killing it! This is why I wanted to have her join us on the podcast today!
How Ellie Started Her Business
Last fall, Ellie joined my program and went to work getting her business started. She started small. She didn’t want to bite off more than she could chew, and that decision definitely paid off!
At first, she planned to launch at the beginning of Spring 2020, but then, as you know, the pandemic happened. She decided to wait a bit and pushed her launch date to July 2020, which worked out well for her.
Ellie started with one tablescape design, which had about eight or nine elements that went together to create a nice table setting. Customers could buy each of these elements separately or all together as a set. It was brilliant marketing! Ordering the set gave customers a complete tablescape setup and increased her order totals.
To Ellie, this was a test. She was dipping her toes in the water to see what would work and what wouldn’t.
She started selling these tablescapes on a UK marketplace called Not on the High Street. This marketplace was a great place to start and helped move her business along!
This marketplace is aimed towards people who want to buy gifts. Ellie decided to reposition her products and adapt them for gifting, which has also worked splendidly for her business.
What did that entail? And how is Ellie’s business doing now? Ellie has all of the answers and some awesome tips to share, so make sure to tune in to the episode now!
Key Takeaways
- Start small.
- Expanding your range of products can help increase your order cart value.
- You should be testing your products all the time.
- Find yourself a “business bestie” that will keep you accountable and provide honest feedback.
- Don't get stuck in trying to do shipping all by yourself.
- Know your margins.
- Be flexible and be willing to pivot.
- Customer connections are important.
- Do something small for your business each day.
- Don't be a perfectionist!
- Pick one social media platform and start growing it.
- Use urgency without giving a discount.
