Solo eCommerce Success: Big Businesses Run by One Person
Who says you need a team? These entrepreneurs run six and seven-figure businesses completely on their own.
The dream is simple: complete control, location freedom, and keeping all the profits. No employees, no management headaches, no office politics.
Most solo entrepreneurs struggle to break $100K because they try to do everything themselves. However, these successful solopreneurs found ways to automate and outsource, allowing them to scale without hiring additional staff.
What you’ll learn:
- Tools and systems that replace entire teams
- How to outsource without losing quality control
- Managing your time when you’re wearing every hat
- Business models that grow without needing more of your time
- When to stay solo vs when it’s time to hire help
- Building a business that gives you the lifestyle you want
Perfect for: Solo entrepreneurs, digital nomads, consultants, and anyone who wants to build a business without managing employees.
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Listen to all our One Person eCommerce Business Episodes on the Podcast:
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The power of tapping into an under-served market with Startup Tiwani Heritage (episode 413)
Lola Cawood and Carol Lathbridge are the co-founders of Tiwani Heritage, the UK’s FIRST retailer of recyclable synthetic hair extensions. They sell their 100% biodegradable and plastic-free products via their Shopify store and marketplaces. Founded in 2018, and launched in 2020 they are deep in startup land and have already helped over 400 customers in…
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A truly inspiring sustainable startup – Marc Bucci from Social Socks (episode 407)
Marc Bucci launched his Shopify store, Social Socks, this summer with a BIG goal… to improve sustainability globally and raise £1million for charity.
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Facebook Ads + Story + Focus = sales increase of 4,601% with Heidi Jarvis of Boutique Heidi (episode 308)
Heidi Jarvis is the founder of 2 eCommerce businesses – Boutique Heidi and Garage 79. Launched in 2011 and 2013 they’ve experienced rapid growth in 2020 – Garage 79 is up 1,071% and Boutique Heidi up 4,601% year on year.
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Using pop ups to achieve 500% YoY growth with Blomma Beauty’s Karen MacDonald (episode 279)
Karen MacDonald is the founder at Blomma Beauty. She founded the business in 2018 to help customers find all natural and organic beauty products. Karen’s clearly found a successful formula as the business is growing at 500% year on year.
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Running and micro influencer marketing campaign with Shannon Fitzsimmons from O So Curly (episode 275)
Shannon Fitzsimmons is the founder at O So Curly, an online store selling tools and accessories for curly hair. Shannon started the business in 2015 and is now getting over 100 order per month. We discuss the nuts and bolts of how to run influencer marketing campaigns as well as a host of other subjects.
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Plotting a 3 month Growth Strategy with Simon Driscoll from UXB Skincare (episode 255)
Whilst we’re really focused on growth this month, of course we all have to focus on growth and achieving our goals month in month out – you can’t forget about it once January’s over. So in this episode I’m chatting to someone who’s relatively early in their business journey, and who contacted me to see…
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Ex AirBnB Head of SEO Tommy Griffiths shares his top SEO tips, plus the power of automation (episode 221)
Tommy Griffith used to run SEO for big businesses – 4 years at Airbnb, and before that 2 years at PayPal. Then in 2017 he decided to turn his training side business, ClickMinded, into his main occupation. With projected 2019 revenue of $490k for 10 hours work per week, spending 2018 working on automating the…
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Launching a watch store by focusing on brand and customers with James Reeves of Diefendorff (episode 203)
In today’s episode…we’re exploring what it takes to launch a fashion brand, run a one-person eCommerce business, and play to your strengths. James Reeves is the CEO at Diefendorff, a watch company inspired by the American Revolution. James launched the brand in January 2018, and are experiencing 20-30% monthly traffic growth. Powered by RedCircle
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To 6-figures in year 1 Stephen Wright of Micro Bikes UK GSC, Google Ads, Remarketing, Dropship (episode 180)
Stephen Wright is the founder of Micro Bikes UK – the ultimate one stop shop for performance kids toys. He launched the business in mid-2017 and he is already on track for 6-figures this financial year, currently doing around £10k per month. Join the 7,000 plus innovative ecommerce brands like Brooklinen, Taylor Stitch, and Bonobos…
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Running a physical boutique store alongside Squarespace eCommerce and the Trouva marketplace (episode 158)
I know a lot of you out there are running your own boutique bricks and clicks business – selling out of your own physical store, and also online via your own site and also marketplaces. Taking on the roles of buyer, visual merchandiser, shop assistant, marketer and everything else. Today we have a guest just…
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Christine Nicholson explains why and how she closed eCommerce subscription business Divine Legs (episode 154)
Occasionally I have a guest back on the show to update us on how things are going – today we have a repeat guest. Christine Nicholson of Divine Legs (Tights subscription business) was my guest back in episode 103. Back then the business was 9 months old, and Christine took us through how she’d launched…
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To 1,000 orders per month in year 1; events, networking, and Instagram. Paws with Opulence (episode 147)
Simone Taylor is founder and CEO of Paws with Opulence, selling handmade luxury dog collars and leads – perfect for the ultra-pampered pooch. They launched in December 2016 with 200 orders in the month, and after just one year of trading have hit the 1,000 order mark! Powered by RedCircle
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The $1m 1-person company – journalist and author Elaine Pofeldt joins us to explain how to build a huge one-person business (episode 140)
Elaine Pofeldt is a journalist who has contributed to Forbes.com, CNBC, INC, and Money Magazine among others and is the author of the brilliant “The Million-Dollar, One-person Business: Make Great Money, Work the way you like, have the life you want”. It’s brand new (published at the start of this month), and all about scaling…
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Wines with Attitude’s Linsay Cornelissen – mobile apps, customer focus, and increasing customers 20% yoy (episode 129)
Lindsay Cornelissen founded Wines with Attitude in October 2014, a passion project that helped her escape the City London. It’s been a steep learning curve over the last 3 years – and there’s still a lot to learn, but the customer base is growing at a steady 20% year on year. This episode is sponsored…
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Licensing, managing B2B resellers, product creation, and the power of outsourcing with Craig Wolfe of Celebriducks (episode 127)
Craig Wolfe is the President at Celebriducks – the world’s number 1 rubber duck manufacturer! They launched in 1997 and have now sold millions and millions of ducks!. Selling via wholesale and direct to consumer on their website. This episode is sponsored by: dotmailer dotmailer is a SaaS marketing platform that enables companies to create, test…
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Dan Faggella how he grew his business to $2m in 4 years – team management and dashboards! (episode 108)
Over the last four years Dan Faggella built his business Science of Skill to over $2m in annual sales, and sold it for over $1million. Science of Skill is an American online only retailer of self protection products and educational programmes. Today we’ll be discussing (for you!) both balancing physical and virtual products, and how…
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Delicious Coffee’s Simon Rigby – Startup Growth, Offline Marketing, and Customer Focus (episode 106)
Simon Rigby is the founder of Delicious Coffee. Simon is a coffee lover who’s turned that passion into an online only business selling delicious coffee, and everything you need to make it. He launched in early 2016 and now has over 1,000 customers. Powered by RedCircle
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Divine Leg’s Christine Nicholson discusses her 100 orders in 100 days eCommerce startup strategy (episode 103)
Christine Nicholson is the founder of Divine Legs an online only business selling tights (that’s pantyhose for our American listeners) individually and as subscriptions. Christine started Divine Legs in 5th August 2016 she hit 100 orders in the first 100 days, and things are continuing to grow, 25% of whom are subscribers. Powered by RedCircle
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So Suzy Stamps’ Suzy Moore – how she doubled her business with one website change, and influencer marketing (episode 097)
Suzy Moore is the founder of So Suzy Stamps she launched her eCommerce store in 2014, and her podcast “So Suzy Podcast” in Oct 2016, her business now has about 1,900 customers. Powered by RedCircle
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Copper Dust’s Vanessa Agyemang – Startup, Popup shops, Wholesale Trade Shows and more (episode 094)
Vanessa Agyemang is the founder & designer of Copper Dust, a luxury British home décor brand specialising in handmade lampshades and limited edition illustrations. Launched in August 2014 they now get about 10 orders per month. Copper Dust has been spotted by such prestigious magazines as Vogue and World of Interiors Powered by RedCircle
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Temples and Markets’ Judith Treanor on getting to $10k per month in year 1 w/ email and social enterprise focus (episode 091)
Judith Treanor is the Director and Founder of Temples and Markets an online only eCommerce business who are helping to trade artisans in South East Asia into a better life, and bringing unique products to a customer who wouldn’t otherwise find them. After 12 months of preparation the website launched in November 2015, and now…
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Bathing Bunnies’ Angela Taylor discusses creating a new product, selling wholesale, online, and via Not on the High Street (episode 090)
Angela Taylor is the founder of Bathing Bunnies, an online only eCommerce store which designs and manufactures luxurious toweling gifts for babies and children. Founded in 2012, started selling in 2013 and the business is now 50:50 online and wholesale, selling to 100s of different distributors and 1,000s of happy consumers. Powered by RedCircle
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Shop America’s Gerjo van den Berg on Efficiency and Systems (episode 085)
Gerjo van den Berg is the owner of House of Fine Foods, a series of websites including Shop America that brings food items that are hard to get from America and Britain to Europe. Gerjo has been on the eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast before, and is now back to share what he’s learned about efficiency in…
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Equichoice’s Chantal Wellavize – balancing 2 business, great customer service tips and a 600% roi marketing method (episode 084)
Chantal Wellavize founded Equichoice in 2006 as a kind of “meeting of problems and passions,” to allow both a flexible schedule with her daughter and to play into her passion for horses. Equichoice is a bricks and clicks store selling products your horse would choose. Chantal is also a consultant for HR On Tap. This…
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Lick My Dip’s Dave Rotheroe is back! Subscription product optimisation and influencer outreach plus more (episode 076)
Today for the first time our special guest is a returning guest! The last time Chloë spoke to Dave Rotheroe he’d just launched two subscription eCommerce businesses in 6 months, Lick my Dip and Cheese Posties. 8 months on it’s all going well – Dave’s moved to Spain, and the businesses are continuing to grow…
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So Unusual’s Kerry Williams just 7 weeks live, has LOTS of great advice for us all. Even non start ups (episode 051)
Kerry Williams is the creator and owner of So Unusual. She uses her background in interior design to scour the world for a unique and limited edition homewares collection. Everything about the business is heavily focused on the customer, the site launched just 7 weeks ago and is currently fluctuating from 2 to 38 orders…
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Shop America’s Gerjo van den Burg turns over €300,000 with his low AOV eCommerce business (episode 035)
Gerjo van den Berg runs Shop America an online only eCommerce store supplying American products (from sweets to salad dressing) to customers in the Netherlands & beyond. He started the business back in 2011 and now turns over €300,000 with 500-600 orders per month, so it’s a low AOV (average order value) business model. Click…
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Lick my Dip’s Dave Rotheroe on using Crowdfunding and Thunderclap to launch 2 subscription businesses in 6 months (episode 022)
Dave Rotheroe is the proprietor of Lick My Dip and co-founder of Cheese Posties. Clearly a man who can name a business well! Lick My Dip is a subscription discovery service for hot sauce and chilli lovers – each month customers receive a parcel of surprise spicy goods. The first orders went out in May…
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MyArtGallery.ie’s Kritika Ashok talks rebrands, switching from B2B to B2C, personalised products and the joy of Shopify (episode 018)
Kritika Ashok is our first Irish guest. She runs Ireland’s MyArtGallery.ie with the simple goal to offer the customer “the art you love at a price that suits you”. Selling a mixture of original pieces, copies of famous works, and paintings from the customer’s favourite photos. They’ve been going since 2012 and since last year’s…
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The Pyjama Store’s James Riggs discusses website migration, outsourcing, and brand (episode 009)
James Riggs is the founder of online only eCommerce business The Pyjama Store. A business which scours the globe for the best nightwear brands, hand picking those they love for their tailoring, quality, design and sumptuous fabrics. The Pyjama Store was launched in 2010 selling purely men’s pyjamas, and 18 months later (due to customer…
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Mannequin Madness’s Judi Townsend on turning a B2B eCommerce business into a retail business (plus much more!) (episode 007)
Here is our first American guest! Judi Townsend started Mannequin Madness in 2001 and has built it into an award-winning family business specializing in everything related to mannequins. Selling the most extensive range of mannequins available online, as well as renting, recycling and repairing. Definitely at the niche end of the Product Range Scale! Mannequin…