MI286: BUILDING AN ONLINE BUSINESS EMPIRE

W/ JACKY CHOU

15 August 2023

Robert Leonard chats with Jacky Chou about the world of online business, including how to start an e-comm business, what products to consider for an e-comm company, the future of niche sites, and much, much more!

Jacky Chou is a successful entrepreneur, marketer, and podcaster. He buys, sells, and operates, online businesses full-time.

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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • What the e-comm business model is.
  • What products to look for when starting in e-comm.
  • How to get your first customers in an ecom business.
  • The best online business models.
  • Whether content sites are dead or not.
  • And much, much more!

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

[00:00:02] Robert Leonard: In this week’s episode, I chat with Jacky Chou about the world of online business, including how to start an e-comm business, what products to consider for an e-comm company, the future of niche sites, and much, much more. Jacky is a successful entrepreneur, marketer, and podcaster.

[00:00:18] Robert Leonard: He buys, sells and operates online businesses full-time. I found Jacky on Twitter and have learned a bunch about online businesses from him there and in his newsletter. He’s also helped me out quite a bit with specific questions that I’ve had. If you’re interested in online business and marketing, he’s a great person to follow.

[00:00:36] Robert Leonard: And now without further delay, let’s get right into this week’s episode with Jacky Chou. 

[00:00:41] Intro: You are listening to Millennial Investing by The Investor’s Podcast Network, where your hosts, Robert Leonard, Patrick Donley, and Kyle Grieve, interview successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to help educate and inspire the millennial generation.

[00:01:05] Robert Leonard: Hey everyone. Welcome back to Millennial Investing Podcast. I am your host Robert Leonard. And with me today I have Jacky Chou. Jacky, welcome to the show. 

[00:01:14] Jacky Chou: Glad to be here. Thanks for having me on. I hope I don’t embarrass myself on this. 

[00:01:19] Robert Leonard: I know a little bit of your story. We’ve talked on your pod and we’ve talked quite a bit off air, but I don’t know your whole story.

[00:01:26] Robert Leonard: I don’t know exactly how you got started. Have you ever had a normal job and what was your first foray into online business? 

[00:01:34] Jacky Chou: I guess we could start from the beginning. I did electrical engineering in university, got my degree there, but in between I hated it so much. I was actually just rummaging through my stuff ’cause I’m back home right now and pulled out a midterm like it was 15 outta 50 and that was like a 25% midterm out a third year electrical engineering course.

[00:01:56] Jacky Chou: And I remember that actually very clearly ’cause that was the moment I knew I didn’t wanna do electrical engineering for the rest of my life. And then I think like a week later I found a internship in Berlin, and then a month later I was in Berlin. So I took a year off, did a year at a marketing agency in Berlin, and I guess you could say the rest was history.

[00:02:16] Jacky Chou: Eventually came back, graduated and then decided to move back to Berlin after I graduated. Found a growth. Manager job eventually became head of marketing at another startup. And then, yeah, I think I eventually started consulting. Had a couple great e-commerce businesses, I guess we’ll talk about later.

[00:02:35] Jacky Chou: And then now we’re here. 

[00:02:37] Robert Leonard: If you were an electrical engineer, why did you choose a marketing agency? Like why did that stick out to you? 

[00:02:43] Jacky Chou: So the exact moment was, I knew I couldn’t make money doing electrical engineering ’cause I wasn’t great at it. And so I Googled how to make money online, and then I found digital marketing.

[00:02:54] Jacky Chou: That’s where I landed. 

[00:02:56] Robert Leonard: What did you learn, like what did that marketing agency do? Like what was their main business model? Marketing agency, as you know, but for the listeners is like very broad. I mean, there’s so many different things you could do as a marketing agency. What did, so what did they focus on?

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