Manifesto

I believe that anyone can build and grow their business because I am a live example of that. I’m a Russian guy who was able to create a remote US-based software development business. I’m pretty sure that anyone can do it too. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of time and patience. You have to care about your customers, help them and cater to them. There are no shortcuts, and it’s a long-term game, especially if you have no leverage like market experience, existing audience or funding.

On the other hand, I think that the information that entrepreneurs can find online is fragmented. There are lots of tutorials telling you how to run Facebook ads and how to build an Instagram following, but none of them tells you why. I don’t know why is it like that, but I believe that there should be much more tutorials about why and when you should make things, not just how to do them. Usually, you need to implement steps in specific order to gain the momentum.

I want to create a resource helping e-commerce businesses grow. I want to understand growth principles better myself and create a list of actionable tactics that anyone would be able to reuse. I want a broad range of tactics to be available both for newbies who are just starting out and for seasoned business people who want to look to add a fresh touch to their online marketing mix. I want this information to be available for free, but I also want to make it clear that there’s no silver bullet for overnight success.

My goal is to help as many e-commerce store owners as possible to increase their sales and their following while trying and testing the same things on my own. To do that I am going to launch my store while documenting the process daily and sharing my experience. I want to be upfront and honest about my achievements and failures and avoid vague numbers like ‘total revenue’ and 'multi-million dollar business.’

Based on my experience I am sure that any e-commerce business can be successful if the mix is right. What goes into the mix? An audience, product, brand, point of sale and marketing. I will try to focus on marketing, but the other three key points are essential too. The way marketing is done, growth tactics of choice, heavily depend on audience and product. The effectiveness of marketing depends on store design and UX. Store design depends on audience and story that is being told by the brand. Those pieces are intertwined.

I am also a big fan of continuous, step by step improvement and lean methodologies. I believe that it’s possible to start small, without any resources and over time grow the business into something bigger. I think that making small progress every day is the only way to success. And I also believe that success is not something you can achieve and then rest. This is a state of mind that should be there, and there’s no rest for the wicked.