Ecommerce has this way of making you feel like you’re supposed to have all the answers. You’re the one signing off on spend, making the call on stock, leading the strategy, so you carry the pressure that you should already know how to do it all.
But our industry is still really young, and it’s moving faster than any of us can keep up with. Nobody has all the answers, and you were never meant to.
The best leaders I’ve come across aren’t the ones who had it all figured out. They’re the ones who’ll happily tell you they stumbled into something, or had no idea how to do it at first, and worked it out by asking people who’d been there before them. The asking wasn’t the weak part of the story; it was what made them better.
The Most Honest Conversation We’ve Had on the Show
Grant Arnott is one of the most respected people in this industry. He built Power Retail in 2010 and Click Frenzy in 2012, and for more than a decade, those businesses were where many of us went to learn how ecommerce worked. Power Retail was my little bible in the early years.
Earlier this year both businesses went into receivership, and Grant came on Add To Cart to tell the whole story. Part of it is about the help he reached for at his lowest, including a psychologist he now calls the best money he ever spent. This episode touches on depression and some dark moments, so please look after yourself as you read or listen.
What comes through is that the turnaround didn’t come from toughing it out alone. It came from the moment he stopped carrying it by himself and let people in.
“I went to a psychologist. Best money I ever spent and the best thing I did. What she did was validate it straight away.”
His team gave him a lift without even knowing it. The industry rallied when he was honest about what he was carrying. That is the pattern worth paying attention to, and it holds true well beyond the hardest moments.
Ask While You’re Still Learning, Not Just When Something Breaks
Don’t wait for something to fall over before you reach out. Most of us only ask for help once there’s a fire to put out. The operators who get good fastest are the ones asking questions while they’re still learning, before the decision is made, not after it’s gone wrong.
Think about the next big thing on your list. Your next marketing campaign or replatforming the site. The instinct is to go away, read everything, and quietly work it out on your own so nobody clocks that you weren’t sure. But there’s almost always someone two steps ahead who’ll happily tell you what they’d do differently. Sarah Timmerman built Beginning Boutique into one of the most-loved fashion brands in the country, and she learnt this early on.
“Spend $100 a day on Google AdWords or Facebook and build up your knowledge, and don’t be afraid to reach out to people and ask some questions.”
Build the Network Before You Need It
The worst moment to go looking for people you can lean on is the moment you actually need them. By then you’re making a cold call with a problem already on fire, and you’re not in the headspace to take good advice anyway.
The work is to build those relationships while everything’s calm and you don’t need anything. It doesn’t have to be formal. It’s a handful of people you trust enough to ring and say, here’s what I’m thinking, am I mad? The ones who, if they don’t know the answer, will point you to someone who does. Rosie Collins at Deja Marc made this a deliberate project.
“I’ve really leaned into building an external network and I don’t feel lonely at all anymore. And if they don’t know the answer, they know someone who knows the answer.”
So here’s the one to action today. Write down five people you could call about a hard work problem. If you can’t get to five, that’s not a disaster; it’s just the next thing to build. Go to an event, jump in a community, message the operator whose work you rate.
Asking for Help Is a Leadership Move, Not a Weakness
This is the hardest shift, because it’s about how asking makes you look – and feel. A lot of us stay quiet because we reckon putting our hand up signals we’re not up to the job. It’s the opposite. Being honest about what you don’t know is one of the clearest signs of a good leader, and it pulls people towards you instead of away.
In practice, it looks like hiring people who are smarter than you in their specialty and then actually listening to them. It looks like saying, “I hear you,” and “let’s try it your way,” in front of your team. That’s not you losing authority. That’s you building it. Nati Harpaz from TradeSquare puts it as plainly as anyone.
“Knowing what you don’t know is more important than knowing what you know. Hire people that are smarter than you in what they do.”
And you saw the same thing with Grant. The moment he was honest about what he was carrying, his team lifted him and the whole industry rallied. So two questions worth asking yourself. Who’s your mentor this year, and who are you bringing up behind you?
The Takeaway
Grant is still standing because at his lowest, he let people in. Asking for help didn’t make him less of a leader. It’s part of why he’s still here to build the next thing. Don’t wait for it to get dire. Ask while you’re still learning, build the relationships while things are calm, and check in on the people around you, because we never really know what someone’s carrying behind the big numbers and the awards nights.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should ecommerce operators ask for help before they need it? Because the worst time to reach out is when a problem is already on fire. Asking while you’re still learning, before a decision is made, costs you nothing and can save months of wasted effort. The leaders who improve fastest treat questions as part of the process, not a last resort.
How do you build a professional network in ecommerce before you need one? Build relationships while things are calm, and you need nothing, rather than making cold calls in a crisis. A practical starting point is to write down five people you could ring about a hard work problem, then fill the gaps by attending events, joining a community, or reaching out to operators whose work you admire.
Is asking for help a sign of weak leadership? No. Being honest about what you don’t know is one of the clearest signs of a strong leader, and it draws people towards you rather than pushing them away. In practice, it looks like hiring people sharper than you in their area and genuinely listening to them, including admitting when you were wrong in front of your team.
Where can I get mental health support as a business owner in Australia? In Australia, Lifeline is available 24/7 on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue is on 1300 22 4636. Many founders also find real value in professional support such as a psychologist, and reaching out early is a strength, not a failure.
Based on Episode 640 of the Add To Cart podcast with Grant Arnott, Founder of Click Frenzy and Power Retail. Join the Add To Cart community for free.
This episode is supported by Shippit. 38% of shoppers buy more with an accurate delivery estimate, yet most retailers fail to deliver on that promise at checkout. Shippit’s State of Shipping Report shows you how to fix it. Click here to find the Shippit report.
In this Playbook:
- Ask while you’re still learning, not once something has already broken.
- Build your network in the calm, because the worst time to find your people is when the problem’s on fire.
- Treat asking for help as a leadership move, because the ego is the expensive part, not the question.
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