I have a couple e-commerce clients and because taxes are one of their pain points and I know a couple of you are also in e-commerce, I decided to make this post. Enjoy! Why E-Commerce Entrepreneurs Pay High Taxes In recent years, e-commerce has exploded, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to start online businesses with lower overhead costs and fewer barriers to entry. But while this shift towards digital business comes with many perks, one major drawback often surprises new e-commerce entrepreneurs—high taxes. If you’re an e-commerce business owner, you might be wondering why your tax bill is so significant. Let's break down the reasons why taxes can seem disproportionately high in this industry and what you can do to manage them better. 1. Sales Tax Compliance Across Multiple Jurisdictions One of the biggest challenges e-commerce entrepreneurs face is sales tax. Unlike traditional businesses that operate in one location, online businesses sell products across state lines, sometimes even internationally. Each state (or country) has its own sales tax regulations, and keeping up with them can be complicated. The Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. opened the door for states to require online businesses to collect and remit sales tax even if they don’t have a physical presence in that state. This means as your business grows, you’ll need to track sales tax in multiple jurisdictions, which can be time-consuming and costly. Failure to comply can lead to fines and penalties, further increasing your tax burden. 2. Income from Multiple Sources As an e-commerce entrepreneur, you might have multiple revenue streams—affiliate marketing, drop-shipping, selling on various platforms like Amazon, Shopify, or Etsy, and more. Each of these platforms can have different tax implications. For instance, some income may be subject to self-employment tax, while other income might fall under capital gains. All these various income sources must be accounted for, which can push you into higher tax brackets and increase your overall tax liability. Without proper planning, you could find yourself paying more than you expected.

Alright, let's get real for a second. Many people are obsessed over their "million-dollar ideas" like they're the next Elon Musk. They even make you sign NDA when asking you for help and guidance (trust me, it happened much more that I'd like to admit during the last 15 years of me helping founders ^_^) They think that their idea is so revolutionary that they must keep it secret, and that success is basically guaranteed. But.. sorry to be that guy: An idea alone is about as useful as an ice cube to a penguin. It doesn't matter how brilliant your concept is, how much it could "change the world." If you don't execute, if you don't put in the blood, sweat, and tears to make it happen, it's worth nothing. The world doesn't reward ideas. It rewards action. It rewards the ones who put in the work, who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, who hustle day in and day out to turn their vision into reality. Look at any successful entrepreneur, any game-changer in any industry. Did they make it big just because they had "a great idea"? Nope. They made it because they executed. They took that idea and ran with it. They put in unrewarding, behind-the-scenes grind that no one wants to talk about. The late nights, the early mornings, the setbacks and failures and moments of doubt. They pushed through all of that, because they knew that execution is the only thing that matters. Your idea? It's nothing without action. Oh, and: we're 8 *billion* here. I'm pretty sure MANY people had/have the same. Who will succeed? The one with the best execution. Don't wait for the perfect moment, the perfect plan, the perfect circumstances. They don't exist. Start executing. Start building. Start failing, learning and iterating. Because at the end of the day, no one gives a damn about your idea. They care about what you've built, what you've created, and the impact you've made. Execution is everything.

It's unfathomable how much content you can go through from the Hormozis! We're very lucky and blessed to have someone like Alexi who can distill and organise Hormozi content for us. It's hard to choose, but if I had to say the number one thing that most impacted me from studying the Hormozi's is the eye-opening realisation of just how much output is possible when you really put your mind to it. It makes me ready to go all-in on my business and disconnect and sacrifice everything else. That might be extreme for some, but from having studied ultra-successful people like the Hormozi's, this is the price that must be paid in order to be great. Let's get it.

Working with startup founders in many different fields taught me something precious: what worked for James may (and more probably, won't) work for John. Even if they were basically trying to achieve the same goal, or learn the same thing. We all come from a different time and place, with different education, backgrounds, beliefs, capacities... How many times did you catch yourself thinking "Is he/she dumb? That shit's easy / obvious"? The thing is, it's way harder to help people succeed than it is to succeed yourself. Because what you went through, the tools you used, the path you chose, may not be the ones that will make someone else successful. And it takes years of experience. And empathy. But you can speed up the process though: if you use feedback. I'm not saying it won't be brutal. Sometimes, people's honest opinions are harsh on the ego. But that's the fastest path to growth. When I teach CEOs communication and team leading skills, I always start with a simple exercise: Tangram. This game is simple in appearance, you just have to form a general shape (a house, a cat, a boat...) using several simple geometric shapes. It's easy when you're alone: your perception, your understanding, your methodology... But now, imagine you're back to back with a team member, and you have to make HIM/HER form the boat, or the house, using your voice only. You can't show. You can't see. How will you know if they understood the assignment? If you both have the same goal in mind? If when you say "on the right", you're both talking about the same "right"? (and many more funny situations you'd have to witness to believe they're true) Simple: use feedback. "Do you understand what the end goal is?" "Do you have all you need to reach it?" "What resources do you have in front of you at the moment?" The same goes for your community, your courses, the value you (think) you bring, the way to evaluate your users' success... Ask. For. Feedback. Always. At every step. You don't know if your product is ready? -> Release it and ask for feedback.

Imagine if you could learn from THE GUY, THE MASTER of skool.com engagement and retention. This post is my attempt to break down the key takeaways from the Skool Stories podcast with Calvin Hollywood (full episode below). 📚Key Lessons from Calvin's Approach: 1. Create shared experiences: Calvin emphasizes the power of shared challenges and experiences to bond community members, drawing from his military background. 2. Optimize your auto DM Instead of immediately directing new members to resources: Calvin starts a conversation with open and closed questions to qualify leads. 3. Foster a question-based culture: Calvin encourages members to ask questions rather than make statements, promoting deeper engagement and longer responses. 4. Implement strategic community caps: To maintain quality interactions, Calvin recommends capping communities at around 300-400 members before creating new, more advanced groups. 5. Leverage the leaderboard system: Calvin uses the Skool leaderboard system to create a sense of progress and reward engaged members with free lifetime access at higher levels. 6. Practice "100% consumption": By limiting available content, Calvin ensures members fully engage with what's offered, reducing overwhelm and churn. 🎯Action Items for Community Owners: 1. Design a 7-day challenge for your community to create a shared experience. 2. Revise your auto DM to include one open and one closed question. Aim for an 80% response rate. 3. Create a "no I/me posts" rule. Encourage members to rephrase personal questions as general ones for the community. 4. Review your community size. If over 400 members, consider creating a more advanced paid group for top contributors. 5. Set up your leaderboard rewards: 6. Audit your content library. Limit available recordings to the last 4 calls to prevent overwhelm. 7. Implement a system to track daily community engagements. If consistently over 3,000, consider moving lifetime access to Level 8. 8. Create a waiting list for an advanced community or mastermind to build anticipation and qualify leads.