Episode 195 - The Shopify Silver Bullet: Hardwork

9/30/26

Episode Summary

JT from ReptiChip returns as the show's first-ever repeat guest. Two years ago, his reptile supply brand had grown revenue 5x; since then it's done it again, for roughly 25x growth in three and a half years. JT and Scott break down the three buckets behind that growth:

• Catalog expansion: curating and reselling other brands' products that meet his quality bar, including wholesale vs. dropship, partner deals, and margins.
• Advertising: building in-house skill in Google and Meta, using his own scorecards, and planning top-, middle-, and bottom-of-funnel ads. CPC traffic grew just 6% year over year while revenue from it doubled.
• Email: evolving campaigns, including a brand-authentic sale tied to Steve Irwin.

They also cover growing a marketing team to three full-time people, hiring and keeping good employees (and why location matters), celebrating failure as a way to learn, and why there's no silver bullet: building a brand takes years of hard work.

Show Links

ReptiChip - https://reptichip.com

Video & Transcript

https://jadepuma.com/blogs/the-shopify-solutions-podcast/episode-195-the-shopify-silver-bullet-hardwork