This week, we had Anatoliy Labinskiy, the founder and the CEO of GSM Growth Agency, sharing his rich experience in eCommerce with our audience. Find out how he learned the hard way how to succeed in eCommerce, what are the crucial things to pay attention to, and where most eCommerce business owners make mistakes.
About:
The GSM Growth Agency is a top-notch team of experts who are dedicated to guiding you to greater heights of prosperity. With a focus on brand creation, they’ll help you establish a powerful, recognizable presence in your market. Equipped with an arsenal of bespoke tools, they’ll help you climb the ranks and claim your place among the elite. But that’s not all – they’re masters of lead generation and sales optimization, bringing a steady stream of new customers to your door.
Anatoliy Labinskiy is a quadruple Two Comma Club award winner and a true rags-to-riches story. In just five years, he went from being a waiter to an 8-figure eCommerce entrepreneur and the founder of GSM Growth Agency, a firm that helps eCommerce entrepreneurs achieve 6-7 figure revenues.
Anatoliy is a member of the Forbes Business Council and was named one of the Top 10 eCommerce Entrepreneurs helping people during the COVID-19 recession. He has over seven years of experience in sales, business development, and digital marketing, focusing on time management, business strategy, and social media tools such as Facebook Ads, Google AdWords/Analytics, and Instagram.
With a deep understanding of customer care, billing, and asset management, along with exceptional organizational and planning skills, Anatoliy has successfully served clients across a wide range of industries in the UAE and internationally, including eCommerce, construction, gas, banking, and event organizations. He consistently delivers accurate and timely results, finding unique and cost-effective solutions for any business challenge.
Key Takeaways
[ 00:00:00 ] Introducing Anatoliy Labinskiy, the founder and CEO of GSM Growth Agency, entrepreneur, experienced eCommerce business owner, mentor, and adviser who can help you grow your eCommerce business.
[ 00:00:50 ] How did Anatoliy land in eCommerce?
[ 00:01:27] How was it starting from ground zero in Dubai in 2017?
[ 00:02:16 ] What was the moment when Anatoliy decided to change his life?
[ 00:02:43] Opening the first Shopify store moment.
[ 00:03:08] How did it turn out?
[ 00:03:31] “I started studying by consuming all the YouTube content, influencers, and other sources, trying to understand how it works. And I said to myself, I’m gonna be doing that for all my life. And, whatever happens (I understand that 95 or even 99% of people fail or quit), I want to be that person. I will be the top person who gonna be winning.”
[ 00:04:00 ] The beginners’ mistake.
[ 00:04:17 ] With the goal of becoming a millionaire, Anatoliy started spending money on ads.
[ 00:05:20 ] Instead of saving money that he earned, he spent all of it on Facebook ads.
[ 00:05:39] Lak of mentorship caused wasting the budget and savings..
[ 00:06:01 ] “On YouTube, nobody tells you exactly step by step, small details, how to manage that. I was just grabbing information from thousands of people on YouTube, and it obviously didn’t work out because you have to follow only one strategy and move step by step, move with that and only that.”
[ 00:06:26 ] Finding mentorship and the first $8,000 in sales
[ 00:07:10 ] What has changed with finding the mentor?
[ 00:07:30 ] “I was killing campaigns in the middle of the day, launching another one for in the middle of the day.”
[ 00:07:57 ] The common beginners’ mistake in eCommerce.
[ 00:08:16 ] Finding the winning product is the key.
[ 00:09:09 ] “I just made one simple important decision through all those failures. I will never quit on that stuff. I’ll figure out how to deal with the struggles and manage whatever is upfront.”
[ 00:09:34 ] He started growing friendships on Facebook groups.
[ 00:10:20 ] “It took me a year for real results, but a year is nothing.”
[ 00:11:21] What was the next move?
[ 00:11:54] From sharing his failures and successes, Anatoliy grew his Facebook group, and people started to ask him to help them grow their businesses.
[ 00:12:16 ] Can you teach us?
[ 00:12:33 ] “I start coaching for free.”
[ 00:13:00 ] One-on-one coaching
[ 00:13:22 ] The advantages of one-on-one coaching compared to PDF presentations and vebinares.
[ 00:14:28 ] When did this way of coaching become too exhausting for Anatoliy?
[ 00:15:09 ] “And my mentor said to me – Hey man, you have to pivot to the agency side”
[ 00:16:10 ] What happens when some of your previous students become your media buyers?
[ 00:16:32 ] How was it for the first time managing a team?
[ 00:17:00 ] “When you really work hard and put a lot of effort and energy in, something must finally come out of it.”
[ 00:17:17 ] Did the trends change over the past few years?
[ 00:17:43 ] “A lot of like iOS 14 updates, tracking issues, COVID happened, a lot of eCom businesses were expanding, but a lot of the businesses shut down the doors which were unable to manage the changes.”
[ 00:18:16 ] How did Facebook algorithm update in March 2021 effect dropshipping businesses?
[ 00:19:15 ] TikTok completely changed the industry.
[ 00:20:00 ] Why an eCommerce business mustn’t focus only on one channel?
[ 00:20:34 ] “You won’t be able to have consistent results if you don’t adapt to the changes and do not start creating the ecosystem for your business, which is like starting advertising on Google, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, or Twitter, and especially making the backup setup of SMS marketing.”
[ 00:21:40 ] What did the supply chain issues cause?
[ 00:22:03 ] How will GPT change the eCommerce business?
[ 00:23:01 ] “It’s a time saving, it’s a cost saving. And most important, it’s an amazing tool for brainstorming.”
[ 00:23:30 ] How to use GPT properly for eCommerce business?
[ 00:24:42 ] Will AI replace the human workforce?
[ 00:25:08 ] What’s the most important thing every e-commerce business should know?
[ 00:26:20 ] What’s the role of testing?
[ 00:27:14 ] Why do you need automation for your business?
[ 00:28:16 ] What would be one or two things that you really would recommend to an eCommerce store owner?
[ 00:28:53 ] How creating a community can help your business?
[ 00:29:17 ] How to bring value to the community members?
[ 00:30:38 ] Why subscription-based service?
[ 00:31:29 ] What role does automation play in eCommerce?
[ 00:32:24 ] “Automation is really important in the business after the right team members because you need to make it easier and fast to deliver, to deliver the tasks to your team.”
[ 00:33:33 ] Who has taught you the most about eCommerce?
No.1 eCom Operations hack
“If you are in the eCommerce space and looking for the long run and consistency, you need a subscription service. It could be some kind of product, which just needs to be always refilled. Subscription is one of the top things for consistency. You can generate 100K, 200K, or 300 K monthly, but if you remove the advertising, your revenue drops to zero. But if you bring consistent subscription service, you can turn off the advertising and still make six or more figures a month!”
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