Spokane, Wash.

Joe Keenan is the executive editor of Total Retail. Joe has more than 10 years experience covering the retail industry, and enjoys profiling innovative companies and people in the space.

Growing his e-commerce business from $5,000 in sales in year one (2008) to $27 million in sales five years later, Josh Neblett, co-founder and CEO of Etailz.com, which operates three e-commerce websites — GreenCupboards.com, ecomom.com and everyCasa.com; a soon-to-launch site, coybeauty.com; a brick-and-mortar store in the company's hometown of Spokane, Wash.; and etoolz, a division focused on developing proprietary software solutions and tools, is well schooled on what it takes to grow a business from startup to thriving operation. Neblett shared those insights yesterday at a session at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. Here's a list of his five things bootstrapped e-commerce businesses should do, followed by five things they shouldn't do:

Forget email. This group of 40-something men has a much better way to keep in touch. For the past 23 years, Brian Dennehy, CMO of Nordstrom, has been playing anelaborate game of tag with nine of his former classmates. According to the Wall Street Journal, the group met at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Wash., where they spent morning breaks darting around campus.

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