M. Sal had his own Ecommerce store. He realized that no Canadian accountant understands US tax and virtually no one understands a Shopify business. That’s what led him to start SAL Accounting where their team now solve these problems for brands.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:13 Discussing the accounting brand
• 01:34 How the guest entered the ecommerce tax niche
• 03:09 The hidden Shopify fee for international sellers
• 04:13 Do you need a US LLC: Plus plan vs sales split
• 06:36 Revenue threshold for opening a US LLC
• 08:00 Step-by-step process to set up a US LLC
• 10:22 The costly mistake of naming yourself as owner
• 12:30 Do US brands need a Canadian setup too
• 13:56 The $25,000 penalty for missing Form 5472
• 15:38 Why proper bookkeeping matters for ecommerce brands
• 17:57 How monthly books help you save on taxes
• 19:33 The risk of hiring a cheap bookkeeper
• 22:00 Where to learn more and get help
• 23:43 Returning Questions to a Fellow Host
  

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• CPA Tax Accounting and Bookkeeping Firm salaccounting.ca/
• Follow M. Salman salaccounting.ca/author/salmansalat00/

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!

Robert Patton is the Founder and CEO of SHEATH, a premium men's underwear brand he conceived while serving as a U.S. Army Sergeant in the scorching heat of the Iraqi desert. After two combat deployments, Robert left the military with a mission: to create performance-driven underwear built around a patented dual pouch system that delivers unmatched comfort and support for active men.

What started as a bootstrap idea fueled by a $5,000 insurance check and a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013 has grown into a globally recognized brand selling to customers in over 120 countries. SHEATH is the first ever Official Underwear Partner of the UFC — a milestone Robert built without taking on outside investors.

A daily meditator, lifelong student of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, and relentless entrepreneur, Robert's story is a testament to grit, reinvention, and the power of solving a real problem the world didn't know it had.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:02 What an elite underwear makes
• 01:56 The Iraq deployment origin story
• 04:20 Building the first underwear prototype
• 07:32 Sponsor: Klaviyo
• 09:47 Early prototypes and finding a manufacturer
• 15:12 Launching the first Kickstarter campaign
• 17:06 Sponsor: Intelligems
• 18:33 A botched production and near giving up
• 21:03 The second Kickstarter and revenue growth
• 22:58 Using AI to speed up product design
• 24:12 Sponsor: eFulfillment Service
• 25:58 Finding customers beyond Kickstarter
• 26:57 The comedian throw stunt
• 28:18 Sponsoring comedians and podcast hosts
• 30:43 Famous names and loyal ad partners
• 35:04 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
• 38:14 Where to buy underwear for legends

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Men's pouch underwear sheathunderwear.com/
• Follow Robert Patton linkedin.com/in/robert-patton-b675273b
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest
• Book a demo today at intelligems.io/
• Lower scale costs today eFulfillmentService.com/honest
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect

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!

On this podcast, we talk about working on your messaging and marketing, converting your first-time buyers, narrowing your focus, and so much more!

• Rishi Rawat LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rawatrishi
• Rishi Rawat's Weekly Newsletter: https://www.frictionless-commerce.com/join/
• Website: https://www.frictionless-commerce.com/

Honest Ecommerce is a weekly podcast, community & educational resource providing online store owners with honest, actionable advice to increase their sales and grow their business.

If you like our podcast, consider subscribing & joining our FREE Facebook group

http://honestecommerce.co/

Aaron Schwartz is a DTC business builder, investor, and advisor to some of the most innovative commerce tech companies. With a sharp eye for scaling brands and solving complex operational challenges, Aaron has played a pivotal role in shaping the future of Ecommerce.

Before founding Orita, Aaron built a $1M+ watch brand on Shopify, co-founded Passport Shipping to simplify international logistics, and served as the president of Loop Returns, helping brands optimize their post-purchase experience. His hands-on experience across shipping, returns, and AI-driven customer insights makes him a trusted expert in the DTC space.

Today, as the founder of Orita, Aaron is on a mission to help brands unlock the power of their customer data. Orita uses AI to analyze millions of data points, enabling brands to make smarter, more profitable marketing and retention decisions. By focusing on machine learning-driven personalization, Aaron is helping DTC brands move beyond guesswork and into data-backed growth strategies.

With degrees from Columbia and UC Berkeley Haas, Aaron brings both academic rigor and real-world experience to the table. When he’s not revolutionizing the Ecommerce industry, he’s a dedicated father of two—and pretty funny when he’s not in business mode.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:42] Intro
• [00:56] Building smarter customer insights with AI
• [02:48] Switching from brand to SaaS
• [05:18] Focusing on customers before scaling up
• [07:04] Solving data problems for brands
• [08:41] Using machine learning to predict customer behavior
• [11:04] Updating customer data daily for better marketing
• [14:18] Investing in AI-powered customer insights
• [16:33] Filtering out the wrong customers
• [17:12] Using AI to boost retention
• [18:34] Finding hidden revenue in your email list

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Grow sales from existing customers with AI optimization orita.ai/
• Follow Aaron Schwartz linkedin.com/in/aaroncharlesschwartz

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!

Aaron Magness is the SVP of Marketing at Full Glass Wine Co., a brand acquisition and management firm focused on operating DTC wine companies with strong community roots and lasting customer value. From first-time buyers to wine club loyalists, Aaron leads marketing across a growing portfolio of brands, building distinct identities while driving collective growth at scale.

With 15+ years of experience at fast-growing consumer brands, Aaron brings a sharp operator’s mindset to every marketing challenge. His work centers on sustainable value creation, balancing customer acquisition with deep retention, brand storytelling with data-driven execution. Outside of Full Glass, he’s also an active advisor and investor in consumer startups, with a passion for enhancing customer experience at every touchpoint.

Whether unpacking how to manage marketing across multiple brands, sharing what he looks for in standout talent, or reflecting on the role of skill vs. luck in his career, Aaron offers a grounded, thoughtful take on what it really takes to lead modern marketing teams.

He shares what it means to scale without shortcuts, how to build teams that compound over time, and why marketing today is more about connection than ever before.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:41] Intro
• [00:59] Investing in your professional network
• [01:47] Navigating job loss during economic downturns
• [03:09] Scaling DTC through subscription experience
• [06:03] Building expert teams in a startup portfolio
• [07:04] Transferring insights across brand portfolios
• [08:47] Electric Eye, Social Snowball, Portless, Reach & Zamp
• [15:08] Specializing before expanding your skillset
• [18:07] Aligning teams around shared outcomes
• [19:41] Focusing on customer quality over quantity
• [23:16] Balancing tools with firsthand market knowledge

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Redefining the fragmented DTC wine market by building a multi-brand platform, delivering curated wines fullglass.wine/
• Follow Aaron Magness linkedin.com/in/aaronmagness
• 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!

Nick Disabato is the writer and designer behind independent interaction design consultancy Draft and the newly released book Value-Based Design.

If you are a designer in any kind of organization, or if you run an organization that hires designers, this book is a must-read. It’ll help you understand how a designer proves their worth, turning design from a qualitative concept that you just feel to a quantitative business element that we can measure and experiment with to improve business metrics.

To learn more, visit: http://honestecommerce.co

• Draft's website: draft.nu
• Nick'sTwitter: @nickd
• Draft's 2 books: Value-Based Design and Cadence & Slang
• Check out UserTesting.com
• Heat maps: hotjar.com

Jamie Mottram is the President of BreakingT, a real-time licensed sports apparel brand redefining speed and relevance in a saturated sports merchandise market. With deep roots in digital sports media, Jamie brings over two decades of experience from leadership roles at Yahoo, AOL, and Gannett, where he built fan-first platforms like For The Win and helped generate hundreds of millions of monthly views.

Leveraging his expertise in content, audience engagement, and digital commerce, Jamie helped scale BreakingT from a side project to an 8-figure business by turning trending sports moments into must-own fan gear, often within hours of a game-changing play.

Guided by the belief that fan excitement is the most powerful demand signal, Jamie has led BreakingT through rapid growth by building a responsive supply chain, refining its segmentation and outreach engine, and expanding across DTC, wholesale, and Amazon.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:43] Intro
• [01:00] Creating products from real-time trends
• [01:26] Applying media skills to Ecommerce growth
• [02:33] Focusing on traction over profitability
• [02:57] Spotting viral moments fans want to wear
• [05:29] Launching with digital mockups to test demand
• [07:21] Fulfilling retail orders faster with screen print
• [08:49] Combining paid, organic, and affiliate for scale
• [12:12] Sponsors: Electric Eye, Social Snowball, Portless & Reach
• [17:17] Balancing speed between Ecommerce and wholesale
• [20:30] Pushing retail to move faster than seasonal cycles
• [21:22] Navigating approvals in licensed product drops
• [23:05] Realizing Amazon serves a different customer
• [23:56] Balancing marketplace growth with brand control
• [26:08] Choosing platforms based on product urgency
• [28:16] Turning social signals into merch decisions

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Real-time licensed sports fan gear, apparel, and t-shirts breakingt.com/
• Follow Jamie Mottram linkedin.com/in/jamiemottram
• 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.

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!

Nick Trueman is an expert in digital marketing, specializing in PPC and SEO strategies that drive real revenue. As the Director of PPC & SEO Consultancy at Spec Digital and Host of the Winning With Shopify Podcast, Nick has spent over 17 years helping brands scale through search and performance marketing.

Nick founded Spec Digital, a leading PPC & SEO consultancy, in 2011 and has since worked with over 1,500 brands across various industries. His expertise has even influenced changes in how major search engines operate. Before Spec, he launched and successfully sold TrueLine Marketing to the Collider Group in 2013.

With a deep understanding of Google & Bing advertising, website optimization, and revenue growth, Nick’s insights help businesses maximize their lead generation and ecommerce success. On Winning With Shopify, he shares actionable strategies, interviews top industry experts, and dives into the latest trends shaping digital commerce.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:09] Intro
• [01:29] Scaling from local to global brands
• [04:27] Turning an unexpected role into success
• [05:10] Building a business beyond a podcast
• [06:12] Making decisions with outdated data
• [08:40] Navigating post-COVID economic realities
• [12:13] Optimizing margins through smart supply chains
• [16:29] Maximizing ROI without increasing ad spend
• [19:11] Creating collections that actually convert
• [22:49] Investing in tools but never using them
• [25:40] Knowing your strengths in business growth
• [26:57] Testing before launching new features
• [29:40] Analyzing conversion rates vs. order value
• [32:02] Standing out beyond basic discounts
• [34:03] Forecasting demand with creative strategies

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Digital Marketing Agency in Surrey spec.digital/
• It's Time To Win, With Our Shopify Podcast wwspodcast.com/
• Follow Nick Trueman uk.linkedin.com/in/ntrueman

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!