Today we meet Viktor Levitin the founder of CrazyLister, a tool that helps you create eBay listings from scratch or customizing eBay auction templates.
Viktor shares his thoughts on marketing, as well as the best skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur in today’s market.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is CrazyLister all about?
We were originally sellers on eBay who later moved towards building SaaS tools and solutions for both eBay sellers and stand-alone eCommerce businesses. We host two SaaS solutions, CrazyLister – an easy to use drag and drop editor for eBay listings, and CrazyVendor – a multichannel order fulfillment system designed for droppshipping and inventory alike. As entrepreneurs we still host our own eCommerce sites, sell on eBay as power sellers, and have successfully opened brick and mortar businesses as well.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
Our eCommerce adventure began with navigating the tenuous world of dropshipping electronic devices via eBay. Ever since then we’ve been constantly searching for new methods to increase our sales. After spending endless hours researching and studying each and every means of increasing sales, we discovered the pathway to success by automizing our order processing and optimizing our listing descriptions on eBay. We followed that with extensive testing and statistical analysis, measuring the effect of every single change we made. The results were magnanimous and as such in 2012 we received eBay’s certificate of achievement for getting the highest conversion rate for sellers on eBay.
Q: What are some of the projects you are working on right now?
CrazyLister will soon be a complete listing tool not just a listing editor.
Q: Quickly describe what an average working day is like for you?
As we are both SaaS developers for eCommerce solutions and also entrepreneurs ourselves our day oscillates between managing our own businesses (order management, fulfillment, and establishing partnerships with leading brands and suppliers) as well as developing our SaaS tools, branding, white labels, etc…the list goes on and on.
Q: What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur – and why?
Instead of three skills I’d prefer to give you this phrase that I live by: “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” I have this phrase printed on the wall of our office because I believe it encompasses the foundation of our hard fought achievements and implicit failures and so encompasses any and all skills required for any successful entrepreneurship.
Q: What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
We would like to be the default listing tool for eBay and to grow our company towards the development of large range eCommerce SaaS solutions.
Q: What were the top 3 mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
Our first mistake was placing too much of our faith and control of our company in the hands of leading shopping engines which lead to our second mistake: not being able to control our own decision making. Our third big mistake has yet to come, however I am now a firm believer of self-autonomy when it comes to building a successful eCommerce business.
Q: How do you go about marketing your business and what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
We are champion word of mouth marketing, however the best way for word of mouth to spread is via brand awareness and building authority, which of course leads to online publicity and SEO.
Q: What was the best business advice you have ever received and who gave you this advice?
Reputation and social proof is the single most pivotal stratagem online businesses require, and unfortunately I have had to self-learn this advice via trial by fire.
Q: Say I was starting my own version of CrazyLister what advice do you have for me?
Don’t go into developing SaaS solutions as a programmer; go into it as an expert in your field with the same eye as your end user. If you have a product that doesn’t essentially do anything tremendous for your user base then you might as well pack everything up and go home.
Q: What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
- Google Analytics – Web Analytics & Reporting
- SimilarWeb – Website Traffic & Mobile App Analytics
- and our own tools – CrazyVendor & CrazyLister.
Q: What’s your definition of success?
Your approach and ability to persevere and work (work very hard) in the face of adversity will inherently yield any sort of success as a physical or venture commodity.
Q: What are three books you recommend entrepreneurs to read?
- Start-up Nation
- The Definitive Guide to Magento, and that’s it.
Q: If you had the chance to start your career over again what would you do differently?
I advocate for being less reliant on eCommerce giants although that is a very hard thing to accomplish when you just starting out.
Q: What is your favorite entrepreneurship quote?
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Tweet Quote
Q: How can our community get in touch with you?
Visiting our websites, shooting me an email, or visiting us on social media.
Email: partners@crazylister.com
Websites: CrazyLister.com, CrazyVendor.com
Twitter: CrazyLister_com
