In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley interviews Mitch Russo, CEO of MindfulGuidance, about scaling e-commerce businesses to eight figures and beyond. Mitch shares three core growth strategies: increasing customers, transaction value, and purchase frequency. He emphasizes free publicity methods like podcast guesting, PR, and joint ventures as cost-effective customer acquisition tools. Mitch also highlights the CEO’s role in continuously creating new products and maintaining customer communication to prevent product burnout. The episode concludes with book recommendations, including The Alchemist and The Most Important Number, and productivity tools like ChatGPT and Notion.
Timestamps:
Introduction to Mitch Russo (00:01:02)
Host Josh Hadley introduces Mitch Russo, his background in software, work with Tony Robbins, and his multiple published books.
The Three Ways to Grow a Business (00:03:14)
Mitch explains the three fundamental ways to scale any company: increasing customers, transaction value, and purchase frequency.
Attracting Customers for Free (00:05:25)
Mitch discusses using free or low-cost publicity methods like PR and podcast guesting to attract more customers without advertising.
Avoiding Product Burnout (00:09:01)
The importance of creating new, complementary products for your existing customer base to maintain engagement and sales is discussed.
Actionable Takeaways (00:10:10)
Josh summarizes three key takeaways: using free PR, the CEO’s role in creating and communicating, and leveraging your email list.
Most Influential Book (00:12:47)
Mitch shares his most influential books: “The Alchemist” for personal insight and “Your Most Important Number” for business operations.
Favorite Productivity Tools (00:13:53)
Mitch recommends ChatGPT for its comprehensive capabilities, Notion for its versatility, and his own tool, Client Folio, for coaching.
Most Admired Person in E-commerce (00:15:25)
Mitch names Jeff Bezos as the person he most admires in the e-commerce space for creating the industry and continued innovation.
How to Connect with Mitch (00:16:22)
Mitch shares where listeners can find all of his websites, products, and books online to learn more.
Links and Mentions:
Tools and Websites
“Ecomm Breakthrough Consulting“: “00:01:02”
“Notion“: “00:14:04”
“Client Folio“: “00:15:25”
“Mitch Russo’s Website“: “00:16:22”
Books
“The E-Myth” by Michael E. Gerber: “00:00:00”
“Power Tribes: How Certification Can Explode Your Business” by Mitch Russo: “00:02:12”
“The Invisible Organization: How Ingenious CEOs Are Creating Thriving Virtual Companies” by Mitch Russo: “00:02:12”
“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho: “00:12:50”
“Your Most Important Number” by Lee Benson: “00:13:47”
Strategies and Techniques
“Podcast Guesting”: “00:06:35”
“Free PR Tactics”: “00:10:36”
Actionable Takeaways
“Grow Customer Base”: “00:10:36”
“Create and Communicate”: “00:11:48”
“Leverage Existing Email List”: “00:12:40”
Transcripts:
Josh Hadley 00:00:00 Welcome to the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast. I’m your host, Josh Hadley, where I interview the top business leaders in e-commerce. Past guests include Michael E Gerber, author of The Myth, Roland Frazier, and Kevin King. Today, I’m speaking with Mitch Russo, CEO of Mindful Guidance, and we are going to be talking a lot about how you can build profitable and scalable companies. You’ll also discover the game changing strategies to attract your ideal customer and skyrocket your visibility. This episode is brought to you by Ecom Breakthrough Consulting, where I help seven figure companies grow to eight figures and beyond. Listen, Mitch, I started my business in 2015 and I grew it to an eight figure brand in seven years. But I made a lot of mistakes along the way. That made the path of getting to eight figures take a lot longer than it needed to. There were times where I had a lot of self-doubt in myself as a leader. Whether I could lead a team of people. I had doubt whether our brand could actually survive in the marketplace, and whether we could actually have the cash flow enough to continue to create new products and survive.
Josh Hadley 00:01:02 If our listeners have hit similar stumbling blocks and obstacles and want to know the next steps to take their business to the next level, then go to Ecom Breakthrough Dotcom, that’s ecom with two M’s to learn more. And as a special bonus to my podcast listeners, this month I’m giving away one $10,000 comprehensive business strategy audit session at no cost. All you need to do is email me at Josh at Ecom Breakthrough Comm and in your subject line say strategy audit and then tell me why I should choose you and your business to work with for this month. Today I am super excited to introduce you all to Mitch Russo. Mitch started a software company in his garage. He sold it for eight figures and then went on to build a company to over $25 million in revenue with Tony Robbins and Chet Holmes. He has been nominated twice for Inc Magazine’s entrepreneur of the year, and he has authored multiple books, including Power Tribes How Certification can explode your business, and how it helps companies create a massive force of loyal, enthusiastic fans who actually pay for the privilege of becoming a member of your tribe, as well as the invisible organization.
Josh Hadley 00:02:12 How ingenious CEOs are creating thriving virtual companies. So with that introduction, welcome to the show, Mitch.
Mitch Russo 00:02:19 Thanks so much, Josh. Really appreciate it.
Josh Hadley 00:02:21 Mitch, I am super excited to have you on the show. you are well known in, in I think the, the coaching space, but you’ve authored so many books, you’ve worked with so many big influencers, you know, Tony Robbins, for example. And so you have a wealth of knowledge, let alone you’ve built and scaled your own businesses. You’ve managed a team of more than 300 people. And so I’m really looking forward to the advice that you can share with our listeners who have already created successful businesses, but want to know the next steps to take their business and how they can scale it to eight figures and beyond. So, Mitch, there’s a lot that we could talk about today. What are some of the things that you know are on the top of your mind right now? as you think about our audience of ecommerce entrepreneurs and how they could actually scale their business to eight figures and beyond.
Mitch Russo 00:03:14 Well, let’s basically start out with the fact that if you had more customers, you could probably sell more product, right? So if you had a way to increase your number of customers, that would work. And and then of course, if you increase the value of any single transaction and you had more customers, well, that would more than double the results. And let’s add one more small trick there. And let’s say we increase the number of times each person purchased. So that would be the frequency of transactions. So if we did those three things you could rapidly scale your company. Now if you did each one of those things just three, four or even 5%, then that would again multiply very quickly. So no matter what business you’re in, no matter what you’re selling. All of those techniques make sense. All those techniques are the basics of what really what business is.
Josh Hadley 00:04:08 I love that. And I know we talked prior to hitting the record button and, you know, you shared with me kind of a document that you had shared and previously presented at a mastermind group.
Josh Hadley 00:04:19 And you talk about there are only three ways to really grow a business, right? And just to reiterate what you talked about, number one, that’s increased the number of customers. Number two, increased the value per transaction. And third, increase the frequency of transactions or increase, you know, their repeat purchases from you. So I’m interested to maybe hear your kind of thoughts and perspectives in terms of like how how could that apply to an e-commerce business? And what are some different strategies that you think people could implement in order to increase the number of customers and, and ultimately those repeat purchases as well.
Mitch Russo 00:04:58 Sure. So the basics are very simple. I mean, you need more customers. Well, how do you get more customers? You need more people to see what you’re offering. Well, how do you do that? Well, you could spend money on advertising. That works. No problem. maybe it works. I mean, you don’t even know what works specifically, but, you know, if you throw a certain amount of money at at advertising and some of it works and exceeds what you spend on the ads, then you might think of that as at least being somewhat successful.
Mitch Russo 00:05:25 Well, that’s fine, except what I prefer to do is I prefer to do it for free. I prefer to attract clients to my brands at no cost or little cost. And the way to do that is with publicity. Now, when I started Time Slips Corporation, I was, you might say, an e-commerce seller because I was selling a physical product, which happened to be software back then. We actually manufactured software with machines and created disks and books and shrink wrapped and put them in boxes and shipped them to stores, and they were purchased on shelves or sold through mail order. So same basic theory applies. I build time Slips Corporation almost entirely on PR, and so what I do now, and when I work with my clients, I help them understand the mechanisms or the triggers that they can pull to increase effective communication and at the same time, exposure. So one of those ways is to simply be on more podcasts like we’re doing today, a podcast guesting. is is not something where you show up on a show, you talk, you offer your product, and boom, your sales go up.
Mitch Russo 00:06:35 Josh, I’m sure, as you know, and you’ve been on many shows yourself, it could take 30 or 40 different exposures before you see any actual results. And the good news, though, is that if you’re doing 30 or 40 shows in a short period of time, like six months or less, then it will build over time too, because podcasts are evergreen. And so I have a strategy for podcast guesting that’s very effective, and I have a document that I created, which I gave you access to Josh, that you can share with your with your listeners, which would allow people to follow the format that I lay out in this document and present to a variety of shows where you could be a guest. Now, the single misconception about podcast guesting is, hey, I need to be an authority in order to be on a show. Well, maybe, but you just need to be an authority and the thing you already are an authority in. So I mean, if if you sell lollipops, you’re an authority in lollipops.
Mitch Russo 00:07:38 And now you have more knowledge about your industry than you may even realize. So we call that unconscious competence. If you have unconscious competence and you start talking about it, people are going to know very quickly that you’re actually a pretty smart person and you have a lot of experience in this very narrow area, which you thought initially maybe didn’t apply to others, but in terms in that, in those terms, it actually does. So my suggestion would be to download the free giveaway that I provided you. And inside there are directories. There are several listed. I think one of them is out of date, but the others are all working and you could download these directories, or you could apply and create a profile online for free or for $5. And now people can find you if they’re looking for speakers on your topic. Conversely, you could open up those same directories and look for shows that you would be a good fit for, and then you use the form that I provided in that download to apply to be on that show.
Mitch Russo 00:08:38 Highlight the areas that you’re skilled in and would like to talk about, and what you have as a benefit to the podcast host in terms of promoting the show as well. So that’s just one technique.
Josh Hadley 00:08:49 I love that. Mitch, this has been a super valuable episode. Is there anything else that we haven’t talked about that. You would love to leave our guests to help them scale their e-commerce businesses to eight figures.
Mitch Russo 00:09:01 Well, the other thing that that most people will run into in an e-commerce business is, is, I guess, what you might call product burnout, meaning you sell a product, maybe you have one product to start with and you sell it to, you know, pick a number of 1000 people. But then you say, well, okay, I have to now find that 1001 person or 1002 person, but instead, why not get more products? You already know those thousand people. So constantly be looking for products that are complementary to your market. And by the way, with a little bit of forethought, you can build a brand around what it is that you create by keeping a product mix in that same category.
Mitch Russo 00:09:40 So if you’re selling shoes one day and then you’re selling pants the next day, well, okay, that’s fine. You’re in the clothing space. But if you’re selling one type of shoe one day, another type of shoe the second day, then you become a specialist in selling shoes. People will want to check in with you and see what new shoes you have before they make a purchase. So there’s lots of ways to stay on top of and go. By the way, it goes back to communicating, right? Create creating new products and communicating. So what did I say before? The role of the CEO is to create and communicate. There you go.
Josh Hadley 00:10:10 I love it all comes full circle there. Create and communicate. Now, Mitch, as we leave this episode, I love to leave the audience with three actionable takeaways from each episode. Here are the three actionable takeaways that I noted. Let me know if you think I’m missing something. Number one, grow the number of customers that you have for your business by implementing some free PR tactics that Mitch shared with us on this episode.
Josh Hadley 00:10:36 There was podcasting, there was reaching out to news agencies, even local news agencies, and getting your press releases in their hands. And then third, he also talked about doing joint ventures with complementary, you know, brands in the same space that offers similar but related products, and maybe create some type of affiliate structure and email sharing with those to increase the number of customers that you have. Action item number two is just what you talked about. I think that most CEOs need to take a step back and ask themselves the question, how am I creating and how am I communicating in my business? And I’ll double down and say that as the CEO, you one of the biggest things you touched on it was creating new products on a regular basis, because if you just continue to rely on what was selling well five years ago, I promise the market is going to shift. There’s going to be an increased amount of competition, and slowly but surely that product is going to fall into decline mode. So if you’re not actively creating new, you will just continue to have attrition with your existing products.
Josh Hadley 00:11:48 Yep. Action item number three. This was probably one of my favorite, like little hacks and gold nuggets that you shared, but it was take your existing email list that you have, and why don’t you communicate out to them and see who. Of that list. Would love to be an evangelist for your brand, and maybe they become an affiliate of your brand. And so rather than thinking, hey, I’ve got to go find all these Instagram or TikTok influencers to work with, why don’t you first start with your list of subscribers that have been following you and ask them to promote your products, and you start giving them a cut. That in turn creates an even more loyal fan base of people that have already purchased your product, and now they’re evangelizing your brand at the same time. So I love that action item and gold nugget there. Mitch, is there anything you think that I missed?
Mitch Russo 00:12:40 I think you got it all. That’s great.
Josh Hadley 00:12:42 Awesome. All right Mitch, my favorite three questions I like to ask each guest will start from the top.
Josh Hadley 00:12:47 Number one, what’s been the most influential book that you’ve read and why?
Mitch Russo 00:12:50 Okay, well, it’s going to maybe be a surprise because it’s not a business book. It’s a book by Paulo Coelho called The Alchemist. for me at the time I read it, and the meaning that it brought into my life, helped me understand my myself even better. And I was able to take action after reading that book, and it made a huge impact on me. So I highly recommend that book if you’re looking for a business book. I read many, many business books. The last one that I read that was impactful for me is called The Most Your Most Important Number by Lee Benson. And this is for people who really focus in on getting their business right, who really focus in on maximizing profitability and operations. It’s, it’s probably not for the solo entrepreneur. although there’s lots you can learn by reading it, it’s better for a company that has a few people, it has an operating budget and more importantly, has multiple initiatives going on at the same time.
Mitch Russo 00:13:47 I think you’ll enjoy that book.
Josh Hadley 00:13:49 Those are two great recommendations. Thanks for sharing that, niche.
Mitch Russo 00:13:53 Sure.
Josh Hadley 00:13:53 Next question. What is your favorite productivity? Or maybe a new software tool that you’ve been using that you think is a game changer?
Mitch Russo 00:14:00 Well, again, I can’t give you one. I’m probably gonna have to give you a few.
Josh Hadley 00:14:03 so take them all.
Mitch Russo 00:14:04 All right. Well, the first and probably the most significant one to me recently has been ChatGPT. You know, it’s I hate to jump on the bandwagon there, but, it’s been a game changer for many of the things that I’ve done. and I’m every day I feel like I’m surprised by what it’s what it’s capable of doing. someone asked me, to outline for them, an entire course or program on a particular topic, and, and I started doing it manually. I said, wait a second. Why don’t I just ask ChatGPT to do it? And not only did it do it faster, obviously it it did it more comprehensively than I could have even done myself.
Mitch Russo 00:14:42 I then filled in some of the missing pieces and made it more substantial, but it was shocking how much and how quickly it delivered it. The other piece For me has been notion. I don’t know if you’ve heard of notion before. Notion has been a game changer. notion has the ability to have create templates and share them. You can create courses in notion. it’s really an amazingly versatile, powerful tool. So I highly recommend you get the free version and start playing around with it. It’s really, really fantastic. And then the third piece, which is the product I created called Client Folio. As a coach, I have to have a very highly efficient platform to work from, and I couldn’t find one, so I had to build it myself.
Josh Hadley 00:15:25 Excellent. Those are wonderful tools. So much we could dive into there. Now, last question here, Mitch, who is somebody that you admire or respect the most in the e-commerce space and why?
Mitch Russo 00:15:35 Well, again, it’s going to sound like an obvious answer.
Mitch Russo 00:15:39 my favorite person in the e-commerce space is Jeff Bezos. I mean, the man’s created the the industry basically. And while excuse me, while people don’t see him on a daily basis as the mover and shaker. He he was. If you look at the platform every day, as I’m sure most of us do. You’ll see innovative techniques and ideas. You’ll see you’ll see Amazon implementing AI in how you shop, which is unbelievable. And I find it’s an incredible source of, of of of inspiration to me all the time, as is Jeff.
Josh Hadley 00:16:15 Totally agree. Now, Mitch, if people want to follow you in your journey, want to learn more about what you have to offer, where can people find you at?
Mitch Russo 00:16:22 Well, the easiest place is to go to Mitch Rousseau 360, Mitch Rousseau 360. Com and there you’ll find all my websites, all my products, all my books.
Josh Hadley 00:16:32 Excellent. And as a another double down on the profit stacking Secrets book that he shared with us that will be linked in the show notes, you can learn how to increase your PR and outreach through the excellent strategies he shared on the podcast today.
Josh Hadley 00:16:48 Mitch, thank you so much for your time today.
Mitch Russo 00:16:50 My pleasure. Josh. Take care.
