What happens when a home flipper and an aspiring doctor decide to start selling lights during a pandemic? You get Lighthouse Co a curated lighting and home goods brand with 20,000+ SKUs, serving designers and homeowners across Canada and the US.

In this episode, Brian Sakansky sits down with Lighthouse Co co-founders Sarah and Jason at CTC HQ in Southern California. They break down the real story behind building multiple businesses from scratch, from custom cabinetry to curated ecommerce to building their own ERP software (ManuLink, all without formal training in any of it.

What you’ll learn:

• How Lean methodology transformed a small cabinetry shop into a scalable operation

• Why Lighthouse Co gives every employee 30 minutes of paid time daily to improve one process

• The customer service principles that built their reputation (and why they fire vendors who don’t match them)

• How they’re navigating tariffs, economic uncertainty, and cross-border commerce in Canada and the US

• What it’s really like running multiple businesses as a married couple

• Why their new ERP software was born out of necessity, not a business plan

Show Notes:

• See how Attentive helps connect people and the brands they love.: https://bit.ly/4ag8oEJ

• Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine

• The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have