Organic reach vs paid and controlled - In this episode, we dive into the biggest debate in digital marketing right now: should your brand go all-in on TikTok organic growth or double down on Meta’s paid ad machine?

We break it all down-based on real brand results,
Here’s what we cover:

• Why brands are selling out with zero ad spend on TikTok
• The “audience gold rush” happening on TikTok right now
• What Meta still dominates at-and why smart brands aren't leaving it behind
• The creative testing shortcut that can save you thousands in ad costs
• How content volume impacts results-and what to do if you don’t have a big team
• The truth about control vs chaos: how to decide between paid vs organic for your stage of business

Whether you're just starting out or scaling fast, this is the strategy-level conversation that clears the noise and helps you make better moves.

Listen in now- because what worked even six months ago isn’t what works in today’s wild digital landscape- ensure you know how to future-proof your content and paid strategy.

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

Schedule a Call here to build and Scale your Ecommerce Brand → https://www.ecomcapital.com/demo/schedule

From Chronic Illness to 8-Figure Empire: Caleb Marshall, founder of Tropeaka, built one of Australia's fastest-growing supplement brands after doctors couldn't diagnose his mysterious illness. Starting as a tennis coach with zero business experience, he bootstrapped from his apartment to 70+ countries and major retail dominance.

In this episode, he reveals his contrarian approach to staying the bottleneck, building in-house manufacturing, and why being "too conservative" actually scaled his business faster than venture-backed competitors

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Connect with Caleb Marshall (Guest):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calashall/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebmarshall

Connect with Sasha (Host):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The.Real.Sasha.Karabut/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
00:15 - Caleb’s Origin story: Chronic Illness to Business Idea
04:30 - Starting a Supplement Brand - Tropeaka
08:00 - Challenges with running a Supplement Brand
19:20 - How to Delegate?
21:47 - Planning, Timeline - How far does he plan?
24:35 - Pivoting When COVID almost Killed Their Ecom Dominance
26:48 - Going Retail
28:08 - Things to have in place Before Scaling
32:42 - What he would have done differently ?
36:13 - Testing for Product Market Fit
37:50 - Product Quality vs Competition in Supplement Industry
42:43 - The Health Food Aisle Problem
49:33 - 5 Rules to Improve Your health
54:30 - Hardest Skills to Learn as a Founder

About Ecom Capital Podcast: eCom Capital Podcast is a show about scaling e-commerce businesses. The host Sasha Karabut talks to successful founders, industry experts and shares strategies on how to build, grow and scale profitable eCommerce brands.

#ecommerce #ecom #onlinebusiness #entrepreneur #business #scaling #shopify #dropshipping #businessgrowth

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

In this episode, we join Sasha Karabut and Hamen Bamba as they sit down with Rhys, founder of Elev8 Workwear—a former roofer who dropped out in Year 10 and walked away from the tools just last year to go all-in on e-commerce.

Now he’s in the middle of a serious growth phase—and this is the first time he’s breaking down exactly what’s worked, what hasn’t, and how he’s navigating the real challenges of scaling an e-com brand from the ground up.

Together, they unpack:

• The tactical shifts that helped push past contracts, creative fatigue, and blocked momentum
• Why the balance of action vs. speed is critical for founders
• What it actually takes to test at volume—and why creative output drives scale
• AOV plays Rhys is using to stretch every transaction further
• His framework for tracking ROI, and how to make smarter decisions with your ad spend
• The power of staying in the trenches, and why consistency always beats chasing shiny tactics

Whether you're just getting started or pushing through a plateau, this episode is packed with grounded insights you won’t hear anywhere else.

Join us in a “no filter” conversation to hear what’s really working behind the scenes.

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

Curious what separates stagnant brands from 6-figure success stories?

In this episode Sasha Karabut is joined once again by powerhouse eCommerce coach Hamen Bamba for a breakdown of the 3 most common reasons why your brand may never hit that 6-figure-per-month mark.

We chat about the 3 key shifts that help brands break through plateaus and scale with confidence

• How to make your creative work harder for you—unlocking better performance without bigger spend
• Creatives: Static vs. video which format delivers the highest conversions right now (and how to use both smartly)

In e- commerce numbers talk:
The EXACT few numbers that ACTUALLY move the needle to successfully scale from $10K to repetitive $100K/months

And lastly, to conclude the episode, the 3rd Pillar that may be hindering success: This is the one most people don’t expect—often overlooked and seriously underrated in terms of how much damage it can do to your growth.

Whether you're launching your first product or scaling toward that $100k/month milestone, this episode hands you the clarity, strategy, and confidence to make smarter moves with AI, creative, and your data-fast.

What if the path to $100K/months repetitively was simpler than you think? Tune in to find out how.

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

Join Sasha Karabut, CEO of eCom Capital, and Hamen Bamba, eCom Capital Coach, as they share behind-the-scenes insights into the systems and strategies that generated a significant revenue increase — in less than 30 days.

What would adding an extra $45K this month mean for your business?

In this episode, Sasha and Hamen break down:

• Real-time updates and wins from both their own stores and clients stores.
• A full-funnel optimisation strategy—from traffic to AOV
• Tips to test ad creatives for performance
• Why randomness is killing your growth—and how to fix it
• The simple steps you can take over the next 2–4 weeks to emulate this success

You’ll hear a case study on their brand “Bisous,” revealing what actually moved the needle—and how you can apply the same to your store.

If you’re serious about growing your eCom business, optimising your funnel, or just love hearing how real brands make real money—this episode delivers.

If others are doing it, why not you?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

In this episode, Sasha Karabut, CEO of Ecom Capital, sits down with Sophie Hood – powerhouse founder of Seoul Tonic, a cutting edge Korean wellness brand taking the global market by storm.

From bootstrapping her idea into existence to landing major retail deals with Dan Murphy’s and Woolworths, Sophie shares the unfiltered, behind the scenes journey of how she scaled Seoul Tonic internationally, all while working full time in a finance role.

Sophie comes from a background in Commercial Finance and Strategy at EY, LVMH, and Red Bull, Sophie brought serious business acumen into the wellness world and it paid off in a big way.

Crowned Australia’s Most Innovative Beverage Entrepreneur by Gordon Ramsay and Janine Allis on Food Stars, Sophie opens up not just about the wins, but the personal sacrifices, mindset shifts, and lessons learned along the way.

This episode dives into:

🔹 The launch strategy that got Seoul Tonic on shelves before going full time
🔹 How to scale internationally with limited resources
🔹 The mindset it takes to break into major retailers as a startup founder
🔹 What it really looks like to juggle personal growth and brand growth

If you're building a brand from the ground up or dreaming of taking your product international, this episode is raw, powerful, and packed with hard earned wisdom from one of the most dynamic founders in the game.

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

In this episode, Sasha Karabut, CEO of Ecom Capital, sits down with social media trailblazer Lexie Murray, Founder and CEO of Be Seen Socials - Sydney’s leading content creation and social media agency.

At just 21, Lexie launched Be Seen Socials as a solo venture, within a few short years she scaled it into a powerhouse team of nine, working with major brands to create viral, culture shaping content. Recognised on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list by the age of 25, Lexie has cemented herself as one of Australia's top young entrepreneurs.

Together, Sasha and Lexie break down the exact social media strategies that fuel brand growth across your ecommerce brand as well as your personal brand, with a special focus on TikTok as a major platform for expansion.

This episode dives into:

🔹 The specific types of content strategies you should be using right now
🔹 How to avoid feeling overwhelmed when posting for your brand (and yourself)
🔹 How founder led content can be a major driver for trust, engagement and conversions
🔹 The shift in social media from polished perfection to real, relatable storytelling

If you're serious about growing your brand and want to leverage content the smart way, this episode is a must listen with one of the best in the business.

Lexie grows brands by helping them Be Seen, and in this episode, she’ll show you how to do it too.

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/

In this episode, Sasha Karabut, CEO of Ecom Capital, is joined by Hamen Bamba, Ecommerce Coach, for another cutting edge conversation about the most explosive force in business today - Artificial Intelligence.

This time, they zoom in on how AI is not just evolving but it’s revolutionizing the way new businesses are built. What once took months (or even years) can now be done in just 2 days, from idea to launch, thanks to the power of AI and the endless stream of free information online.

Sasha and Hamen break down:

🔹 The insane speed at which AI software is changing and what that means for business owners
🔹 How first time founders can access world class knowledge instantly
🔹 Why we've never had this much free information at our fingertips and how to use it
🔹 A step by step roadmap to launch an eCommerce business from scratch using AI
🔹 How to cut through the noise and make AI relevant and practical for your goals

Whether you're starting your first store or reinventing your current strategy, this episode lays out exactly how to use AI to move faster, smarter, and with more confidence than ever before.

If you've ever wondered, "Where do I even start with all this AI stuff?" this is the episode you can't afford to miss.

Ready to take your business to the next level?

Follow Sasha below:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sasha_karabut/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SashaEcomCapital/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVhWUtWBs_Hm-FrQJot8-Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashakarabut/