Lessons from a Decade in E-Commerce — Bootstrapping the World’s Largest Art Site
Finale — The Future of E-Commerce
Read Part 5 of this story before continuing, below, or go all the way back to the beginning.
The Future of E-Commerce
Investor-backed startup companies are not the future of e-commerce. In fact, in many ways, they never were.
The future belongs to lean, profitable, highly-automated companies like Fine Art America. Our small, dedicated staff allows us to innovate exponentially faster than our larger competitors, and due to the outsourcing of our manufacturing, we have an infinite capacity to scale with absolutely no need for additional capital or headcount.
With only one programmer, we’ve managed to expand into 18 unique market segments and derive revenue from a broad range of sources including Amazon, Shopify, augmented reality apps, brick and mortar stores, and more.
Best of all, we’ve been able to do it while remaining 100% privately held. No investors. No board of directors. We just spend our time doing what we love — building the largest art marketplace and print-on-demand technology company in the world.
In 2018, it’s easier than ever to build an e-commerce business with virtually no overhead.
Launch your business on an e-commerce platform like Shopify. Use the Shopify app store to find someone to manufacture your products for you. Automatically send orders from Shopify to your product manufacturer… and you’re in business.
Now comes the fun part — sales, marketing, customer service… and everything else that makes it exciting to be an entrepreneur.
I’ve been running Fine Art America for over a decade now, and I’ve been meaning to share some of my insights and predictions for a very long time. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this lengthy article. There are very, very few e-commerce companies that remain privately held for more than just a few years, and as a result, it’s difficult to find founders and articles that encourage entrepreneurs to bootstrap their businesses.
Almost everyone that you meet as an entrepreneur is going to advise you to raise money. When you’re considering all of your options, think about why you became an entrepreneur in the first place, how long you want to actually run your business, and whether you’re the type of person who wants to own 100% of a $10 million company or 10% of a $100 million company.
The right answer is whatever works best for you.
Every business doesn’t need to raise millions of dollars to be successful.
Fine Art America is living proof that a small, dedicated team with a relentless focus on automation, product development, and customer satisfaction can emerge as an industry leader with true staying power.
Final Thoughts
Building Fine Art America has been the most rewarding professional experience of my life. I was an athlete growing up, and I often think about running this business as if it’s a sport.
I still play competitive baseball and soccer, but I play mostly for fun now instead of playing to be the best. It’s very tough to be the best at sports as you continue to get older. There’s an expiration date on your abilities.
As an entrepreneur, I get to wake up every day and compete against huge companies on the world’s largest stage, and I’ve got a legitimate opportunity, at almost 40 years old, to be the best at what I do.
Being an entrepreneur is about being smart, working hard, working efficiently, being creative, and solving problems better and faster than your competitors.
Some days I’m writing code. Some days I’m writing scripts for our TV commercials. Some days I’m doing graphic design work and writing newsletters. Some days I’m throwing launch parties at our office here in Santa Monica, CA.
It’s incredibly rewarding to wake up each morning knowing that I’m going to spend the day working on creative projects and getting better at something new.
I can keep doing that well into my 60’s and 70’s. There is essentially no expiration date on being an entrepreneur.
I started the business simply because I wanted to control my own destiny in life and spend every day working on something that I’m passionate about, and I keep running the business because I love everything about being an entrepreneur — especially in a creative industry like ours. I love talking shop with other business owners, actors, artists, bloggers, musicians, personal trainers, and anyone who wakes up each day with the attitude of “I’m going to make it”, and then devotes their life to chasing their dreams and getting better at something.
Someday, I’ll sell Fine Art America and move on. It could be next year. It could be another 10 years from now. You’ve only got 80 years or so on Earth, if you’re lucky, and I’ve already spent 12 of them running FAA.
It’s been an incredible experience so far, and I think part of the reason I wrote this article is simply to leave behind a history of what we built.
I hope the background story of Fine At America gives hope to all of the struggling entrepreneurs and artists out there who read this. You don’t have to be well-connected or well-funded to chase your dreams. Although I am not a traditional artist by any means, I’ve spent over a decade toiling away on “my art”… hoping that someday people would find it exciting, useful, and a little newsworthy. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for?
