From bodybuilding to building businesses: how Jesse Hanley of RankingPress did it

Bodybuilder, world traveler, SEO specialist, business consultant, TradeGecko Advisor…the list goes on. It’s a long and varied background, but one that seriously works for Jesse Hanley, his consulting company RankingPress and all the SMBs they work with.

In our very first TradeGecko Advisor feature, find out what solutions expert Jesse Hanley sees as TradeGecko’s biggest advantages. He also explains his experiences using it, and why he recommends TradeGecko to his clients for inventory management and operational issues they face.

From heavy lifting to business consulting

Jesse’s background is as varied and diverse as the dozens of countries he visits every year. After graduating from university, he took an unexpected turn into bodybuilding, which led him to working for an Australian supplement company in Sydney.

What started as a personal initiative to improve a bad website for the company turned into a full time operational role in Canberra for the next few years. In that time, Jesse had full autonomy and got involved in all aspects of operations: sales, marketing, SEO, supply chain and operations.

After gaining all this first-hand experience in growth, marketing and strategic business development, Jesse went on the move again. He formed RankingPress: consultants helping other entrepreneurs put turn their ideas into reality and grow their businesses.

Going above and beyond

With a passion for identifying and solving issues that SMBs encounter, Jesse and RankingPress now find solutions for issues that businesses face when it comes to SEO, marketing and operations. They provide an outsider’s look at the realistic state of the company - ready to point out the issues and help in the implementation of solutions.

Problems a lot of businesses face

Many of the issues that Jesse sees businesses face stem from putting together quick fixes for systems like inventory and invoicing, without thinking about the long-term.

SMBs tend to value growth, which is great, but a byproduct of that quick growth is sometimes hacked-together ERPs and inventory management done in spreadsheets. Since most SMBs are just trying to get through the initial phases, this is understandable, but it makes operations more difficult once they do start to expand.

It’s at this point where consultants like Jesse and solutions like TradeGecko can help: the business is growing and it needs solutions that will grow with it.

Discovering the TradeGecko advantage

Why does Jesse recommend TradeGecko as an ideal solution to his clients? He used it first as a customer and saw all its advantages.

After using a bug-ridden and expensive NetSuite offering for a time at his old business, he began a search for a more cost-effective solution. He came across TradeGecko in the WooCommerce marketplace, and signed up, calling it a downgrade - but only in terms of price.

TradeGecko did everything he needed it to do, but at a fraction of the cost of a bigger system like NetSuite or SAP. After working with TradeGecko for the last few years, he hasn’t looked back, recommending it for SMBs of all sizes, noting that the software not only handles inventory well, but can scale as the business grows.

Jesse has seen it with many businesses. “If a business is operating in a straightforward way with good systems and processes, TradeGecko, when used to its full capacities, can be a great solution and can scale from 0 to 10 mil dollars in revenue. And implementing good systems and processes and ensuring my clients adopt them is my job really.”

For Jesse, TradeGecko’s biggest advantage, aside from pricing, is the availability and communication with customers.

Time to Implement

When helping a client implement TradeGecko, the time investment is usually small.

Jesse explains, “TradeGecko is an easy to understand software. If your client runs an eCommerce business, they should be able to navigate TradeGecko almost instantly. For a more traditional client, say, a wholesaler on old school technology, implementation may take slightly longer. But it is nowhere as tedious as implementing an enterprise solution.”

Getting clients set up with TradeGecko

Jesse has helped a number of customers get set up in TradeGecko and the subsequent implementation. For him, TradeGecko is great for handling eCommerce workflows: orders come in through Shopify, WooCommerce, or other platforms, are quickly fulfilled through TradeGecko, and shipped out, all with relevant data updated as needed.

While onboarding new clients can always be tricky, the add-ons available with TradeGecko make it easy to work around any complications customers might face. TradeGecko easily integrates with Xero, WooCommerce, Shopify, QuickBooks and other systems. It really becomes the central base of operations so customers can stay focused on growing the business instead of operations.

For example, just have a look at one of Jesse’s clients had to say about working with him and TradeGecko:

RankingPress + TradeGecko give a competitive edge

Jesse continues to use TradeGecko as a solution because he’s seen how his own business and his client’s businesses have been able to grow and improve while using the software. The biggest advantage, he stressed, is the clarity of data that TradeGecko enables.

“Knowing where your business is at any given time, getting more clarity on data is so important and TradeGecko does that beautifully, providing information on profit and loss statements, forecasting and profitability.”

In the end, he sees that TradeGecko users have something that a lot of SMBs don’t - a clearer, simpler picture of what’s going on in operations. TradeGecko users clearly have a competitive edge there.

The passion behind the work

Jesse is motivated by working with really good companies and solving technical challenges. He loves technical SEO stuff, integrations and working with eCommerce businesses that are facing new challenges.

Jesse's passion for solving problems is apparent in his work: “My main passion is solving difficult problems and taking on new challenges. I can go to SMBs, listen to their problems and use TradeGecko as one tool in my box to help resolve them. It’s a great sense of accomplishment to help a small business automate processes and see the benefits instantly. It keeps me motivated to help more SMBs.”

We’re happy to work with Jesse and RankingPress to keep helping businesses grow and operate at their best capacity.

Interested in finding out more about partnering with TradeGecko? Please check out our TradeGecko Advisor page for more information!

See Also:

Superlove Merino: growing their business with better inventory management

Porter Lyons halves inventory management time with TradeGecko

DEAD Studios: spectacular growth with their inventory under contro