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Honest Ecommerce

Honest Ecommerce

By: Shopify Expert Chase Clymer
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About this listen

Honest Ecommerce is in the top 5% of podcasts and has been one of Shopify's picks for best business podcasts for years. Shopify Expert Chase Clymer and his guests provide online store owners with honest, actionable advice to increase their sales and grow their business.(c) 2019 Electric Eye Economics
Episodes
  • 335 | Pivoting to Services to Scale With Your Team | with Lucy Jeffrey
    Jun 23 2025

    Lucy Jeffrey is the founder of Bare Kind and Candid Founders, two purpose-driven brands built from a mission to make commerce more meaningful. Bare Kind is a bamboo sock company that donates 10% of profits to save the animal featured on each sock, while Candid Founders is both a YouTube channel and growth agency helping consumer brands scale on Faire, a leading B2B wholesale marketplace.

    Before launching either company, Lucy worked in banking and began experimenting with ecommerce by selling reusable straws, t-shirts, and other sustainable products. Her viral turtle-themed content and strong brand mission helped Bare Kind stand out in the crowded DTC space and grow into a seasonal powerhouse, with 70% of revenue landing in Q4. But with a growing team and cash flow challenges, Lucy co-founded Candid Founders to help other brands succeed on Faire while smoothing Bare Kind’s revenue curve.

    Whether scaling to 1,000+ retail accounts, turning her backend team into a profitable service business, or shutting off paid Meta ads to improve profit margins, Lucy brings a sharp, experimental mindset to Ecommerce. She shares insights on building sustainable DTC brands, making wholesale work, and running two businesses with her husband without relying on outside capital or paid ads. Her story is a masterclass in founder adaptability.

    In This Conversation We Discuss:

    • [00:40] Intro
    • [00:55] Launching with purpose before product clarity
    • [02:50] Choosing a name that allows you to pivot
    • [03:40] Starting with dropshipping to test demand
    • [05:37] Hiring help before scaling ad spend
    • [08:09] Comparing traction between early SKUs
    • [10:07] Electric Eye, Social Snowball, Portless, Reach & Zamp
    • [16:29] Avoiding traps in commoditized markets
    • [18:48] Educating retailers to build trust fast
    • [22:25] Listening to demand before launching services
    • [24:07] Turning internal wins into client services
    • [26:22] Plugging the DTC and wholesale channels

    Resources:

    • Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
    • Faire growth agency that helps brands thrive candidfounders.com/
    • Comfy, vibrant animal socks that save the world’s animals barekind.co.uk/
    • Follow Lucy Jeffrey linkedin.com/in/lucy-jeffrey
    • Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
    • Drive revenue through affiliates & referrals socialsnowball.io/honest
    • Revolutionize your inventory and fulfillment process portless.com/
    • Level up your global sales withreach.com/honest
    • Fully managed sales tax solution for Ecommerce brands zamp.com/honest

    If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

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    28 mins
  • 334 | Creating Demand From A DIY Game Idea | with Tyler Simmons
    Jun 16 2025

    Tyler Simmons is the founder and CEO of Elevate Sports, the company behind BucketGolf, a portable par-3 game that transforms backyard spaces into playable courses and brings a competitive twist to casual golf. Elevate Sports designs products that blend athletic training and outdoor entertainment, helping families connect and athletes sharpen their skills through hands-on play.

    Before launching Elevate Sports, Tyler was a Division I college athlete and worked at a lacrosse equipment company. With no prior experience in product development or ecommerce, he started by building a lacrosse training aid from scratch. That early prototype sparked a journey into consumer products, culminating in the launch of BucketGolf, a category-defining game that hit $1 million in revenue before Tyler hired his first full-time employee.

    Whether turning a homemade backyard game into a seven-figure business or figuring out paid media strategy through trial and error, Tyler brings a scrappy, product-first lens to brand building. He shares insights on launching without a playbook, designing products that go viral on video, and bootstrapping high-growth businesses without outside capital. His story is proof that you don’t need a perfect plan, you just need to start.

    In This Conversation We Discuss:

    • [00:37] Intro
    • [00:53] Launching products that bring people together
    • [01:46] Validating demand with zero research
    • [03:53] Making mistakes instead of waiting
    • [05:47] Building momentum before it’s perfect
    • [06:44] Choosing action over endless planning
    • [08:09] Learning to sell before scaling up
    • [12:05] Electric Eye, Social Snowball, Portless, Reach & Zamp
    • [18:27] Learning paid media through trial and error
    • [20:21] Boosting what already works organically
    • [21:30] Standing out in a saturated market
    • [25:27] Pushing through constant setbacks

    Resources:

    • Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
    • Elevate Sports for Lacrosse Training Gear elevatesportsequipment.com/
    • The Ultimate Backyard Golf Game bucketgolfgame.com/
    • Follow Tyler Simmons linkedin.com/in/tyler-simmons-771b5718a
    • Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
    • Drive revenue through affiliates & referrals socialsnowball.io/honest
    • Revolutionize your inventory and fulfillment process portless.com/
    • Level up your global sales withreach.com/honest
    • Fully managed sales tax solution for Ecommerce brands zamp.com/honest

    If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

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    28 mins
  • Bonus Episode: Defining Success Before Launching Anything with Tim Wilson
    Jun 12 2025

    Tim Wilson is the Head of Solutions at facts & feelings, a consultancy focused on helping organizations put their data to productive use through clear thinking, aligned teams, and actionable insights. A seasoned analytics leader, Tim brings over two decades of experience across enterprise BI, agency strategy, and digital analytics to help brands translate complexity into clarity.

    Before co-founding facts & feelings, Tim led analytics practices at multiple agencies, advised Fortune 500 companies on digital data strategy, and built out BI infrastructure at a $500M B2B tech firm. He’s also the co-author of Analytics the Right Way: A Business Leader’s Guide to Putting Data to Productive Use and co-host of the long-running Analytics Power Hour podcast.

    Whether clarifying what “success” really looks like before a new feature launch or helping teams choose the right level of analytical rigor for a given decision, Tim focuses on making data work for the business, not the other way around. He offers a practical framework for leaders overwhelmed by dashboards, and a philosophy for analysts who want to be more than just report generators.

    In This Conversation We Discuss:

    • [00:39] Intro
    • [01:15] Shifting from in-house roles to agency work
    • [02:16] Highlighting the cost of overbuilding tech stacks
    • [04:36] Pushing back on data-only decision making
    • [07:13] Avoiding narrow ad metrics that mislead growth
    • [10:08] Using AI to scale low-effort interactions smartly
    • [12:38] Translating ideas into testable hypotheses
    • [19:02] Differentiating high-credibility opinions in UX
    • [20:00] Using split tests to validate costly changes
    • [21:14] Skipping tests for clear conversion blockers
    • [23:32] Filtering user recordings for CRO opportunities
    • [26:13] Using logic when data can’t prove causality
    • [29:39] Measuring what actually matters in performance

    Resources:

    • Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
    • Intelligent business consultancy obsessed with less and better factsandfeelings.io/
    • Data and analytics podcast analyticshour.io/
    • Follow Tim Wilson linkedin.com/in/tgwilson

    If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

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    35 mins
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