Zero To 17 Million Using SEO And PPC, No External Financing: E-Commerce Entrepreneur Mercia Tapping, CEO Of Boston Green Goods (Part 1)

Mercia Tapping is the CEO of Boston Green Goods, a multi-channel e-commerce business. Her business was named to the Internet Retailer 2007 Top 500 list, and she received the 2004 Stevie Award for Woman Entrepreneurs. Prior to founding Boston Green Goods, she worked as an independent consultant and co-founded an energy consulting business. She is

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100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 7)

Sramana: How many employees do you have today? Jamin Arvig: We have 25 employees and five contractors.

100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 6)

Sramana: You set up the company in 2002 and did about $100,000 in 2003. How did the company progress from 2003 to 2010? How did you finance its growth? Jamin Arvig: We have financed growth organically. That has continued today. We run a lean shop as much as possible, and we do not take big

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100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 5)

Sramana: When did you start reselling and begin to pick up commercial clients? Jamin Arvig: From 2003 to 2005, we were largely a consumer reseller. Developing a commercial clientele was a gradual process that occurred between 2005 and 2008. We really focused on commercial and reseller accounts in 2008, which was a big step because

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100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 4)

Sramana: Aside from the content in the catalogue, what other content did you offer on the website? Jamin Arvig: We created resources for the customers including a blog and the forum. We used the forum early on for a Q&A interface for customers who were looking for answers. We were not just uploading data from

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100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 3)

Sramana: When you first started in 2002, how did you acquire customers? Jamin Arvig: Primarily search engine optimization was how we found customers. Even today that remains a key part of our operations. We did not invest in a lot of pay-per-click advertising initially because that was more risk than I was comfortable with.

100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 2)

Sramana: So you decided to base your e-commerce business on water filters because of the potential of the industry? Jamin Arvig: We saw it as an exciting industry and a future market. It was also coupled with other growing markets, including the green industry. Every water filter we sell saves many water bottles. That is

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100 Percent Bootstrapped 10 Million Dollar E-Commerce Company: WaterFilters.Net CEO Jamin Arvig (Part 1)

Jamin Arvig is a serial entrepreneur who is a founder of WaterFilters.Net. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering as well as a law degree. After practicing patent law for a period, he decided to maintain a focus on business which led to increased effort being place on WaterFilters.Net, a business he started in

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