230: Opening an E-Commerce Store with Jenna Gotch

Are you interested in opening an e-commerce store? In 2021, it's easier than ever and provides many benefits beyond another stream of income. Jenna Gotch, owner of Passionately Pets, shares what led her to launch her online store and what it's meant to her and her staff. She shares what it's like getting the items to sell, stocking them on site, and how she still can't believe people buy from her. She made a big decision to avoid drop shipping to maintain more control over the process and why branding at each stage of the process was so important to her. We also discuss recent staffing struggles, how she's overcoming them, and how she balances the desire to grow with the reality of slow hires.

Topics on this episode:

• Finding her target client
• Launching her e-commerce store
• Connecting with community
• Choosing a business model
• Where to get products

Main take away? Opening an e-commerce store can be another way of answering questions and solving problems of clients while building relationships.

About our guest:
Jenna Gotch opened Passionately Pets in 2007 as a "passion" project (hence the name). She got experience in the industry doing pet sitting part time as supplemental income after college and fell in love with caring for animals. When her full-time marketing job demanded more of her time, she was forced to give up pet care. But the desire to be an integral part of pet's lives never left her. So she took a chance and began Passionately Pets as a one woman in-home pet care company serving Northern Virginia. The business quickly expanded to include team members and office staff and has been continually growing each year, until the pandemic hit. The company quickly pivoted and took the opportunity in 2020 to create an ecommerce retail shop with unique Passionately Pets merchandise, which created an avenue to become more involved in our local community. Passionately Pets very proudly donates $1 from every item sold to local animal welfare and rescue organizations, employs 25+ staff members and participates in neighborhood markets and events.

Links:
Passionately Pet: www.passionatelypets.com
Check out her shop: www.passionatelypets.com/shop
Get in touch with Jenna: Jenna@passionatelypets.com
Shopify: https://www.shopify.com
Printing on demand with Printful: https://www.printful.com

Full show notes and transcript

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