If you're a Foundr regular, you probably know this inspiring story by now. At just 22 years old, with less than $25 in her bank account, Gretta van Riel started an e-commerce business, SkinnyMe Tea, and grew it to over $600,000/month in revenue in the first six months . It's an incredible achievement, that's for sure. But we would be doing you a disservice if we overlooked the difficult times Gretta has been through. She's the first to admit that things haven't always been easy. "I also made some huge mistakes along the way," says Gretta, who is also the instructor for Foundr's Start & Scale e-commerce course. Mistakes like placing a $1.3 million order with a Chinese manufacturer, only to receive what was essentially compost, and having to spend another $14,000 just to get rid of it. And shell out over $80,000 when he was detained by customs. If you want to start an e-commerce business, accept the fact that mistakes are bound to happen. But the best way to minimize gaffes and maximize gains is to employee email database learn from those who have already achieved what you hope to achieve. "I've not only learned from my own mistakes, but I've also seen thousands of e-commerce entrepreneurs starting out making it their own business," says Gretta. “The best thing about making a mistake is the lessons you learn from it. »And that's exactly why we're sharing this blog post with you today. We want you to learn from Gretta's amazing experiences so you can be successful when you start your online store. That's what we like best about working with Gretta. She is not a guru, she is a practitioner. She has been in the trenches many times before and has the evidence to back up her advice; she launched four multimillion-dollar e-commerce businesses . Recently, Gretta sat down with Foundr to film this cool video for you on things every entrepreneur should know before starting an e-commerce business, where she walks you through an example of an e-commerce product from ideation to completion. Check it out below:5 Things to Know Before Starting Your Shopify Store | Ecommerce Tips 2021 To further help you get started with your online store, let's unpack these five e-commerce lessons, using the example of a reusable straw business Gretta discusses in the video. Lesson 1: Your product is the solution to a problem When deciding to start an e-commerce business, what is the first decision you need to make? You have to decide which product to sell, right? Actually no. “The world doesn't need more products,” says Gretta. "What he needs are better solutions to existing problems."