Company

Bootstrapping a business can be scary. You're playing with your own money after all. But many successful businesses are born this way without any help from external capital.

Take Hunter Molzen for example, the founder of Barbell Apparel, a store that sells premium denim, chinos, and shorts engineered for performance with a tailored athletic fit.

On this episode of Shopify Masters, you’ll learn how he completely bootstrapped a business that has now sold 40,000 pairs of pants. 

In a digital world, offline touchpoints are still invaluable for growing a business—even when you're building an email list.

Look no further than Nate Checketts—the founder of Rhone, a premium activewear brand designed and built specifically for men.

In this episode of Shopify Masters, you’ll hear how he built a pre-launch email list manually through one-on-one conversations, and how it helped him launch his store to $80,000 in sales.

Many entrepreneurs get started by trying to solve a personal problem they have in a market that doesn't offer a good solution.

But some, after becoming business owners, realize a whole new set of problems (read: opportunities) that require solutions.

Chad Rubin is the founder of Think Crucial, a store that sells crucial products you need for your everyday life.

In the process of growing it into an 8-figure business, he discovered a need for better software for handling multi-channel inventory management. So he built Skubana to help businesses of a similar scale streamline their operation.

Knowing your customer is important before you can sell anything to them. And it's hard to do that from behind a screen, even if you're basing your assumptions on data.

Claire and John Easley are the founders of Carbon6 Rings, forged carbon fiber jewelry hand-crafted In America.

According to them, going out of their way to talk to their customers one-on-one was what helped them win Shopify's Build a Business VI, and grow a $1.7 million company.

Hear their story on this episode of Shopify Masters. 

The freedom to travel—to be a digital nomad—is one of the many reasons people pursue entrepreneurship.

Chris Cage is the founder of Greenbelly Meals, ready-to-eat super-meals that provide 1/3 of your daily nutrition for a healthier and more productive day.

In this episode, you’ll find out how he started his business as a digital nomad in Chiang Mai, Thailand and grew it while travelling the world from Austin to Medellin.

You often hear how the journey of entrepreneurship is laden with risk. Many bet their careers, free time and money to take a gamble on their business idea.

If you're a naturally risk-averse person, the uncertainties of starting a business can get in the way of your ambition.

That was Shilpi Yadav's story when starting Khara Kapas, a fashion brand with a modern take on Indian heritage, despite her own aversion to risk.

In this episode, we'll find out how she took calculated risks to overcome her self-doubt and build a $1,500 per day business. 

Quizzes aren't just a fun little activity you can use to engage your audience.

They can also be a powerful way to get emails, extend your social media reach, and capture customer data.

In this episode of Shopify Masters, Brittany Haas of Happily Ever Borrowed, a luxury e-commerce site that rents bridal accessories to brides, shares how she uses style quizzes to convert customers and collect highly useful customer data

The best marketing strategies don't always draw a direct line to their intended results.

Case in point is inkWELL Press, a company that designs beautiful organizational products to help you find peace and harmony through productivity.

On this episode of Shopify Masters, we talk to Tonya Dalton about how she built a 7-figure business by promoting free digital versions of InkWELL Press' products in order to capture leads and nurture them into sales for her physical products.

Entrepreneurship in a digital era presents a unique opportunity for today's business owners: The opportunity to work from anywhere.

All you need is a laptop and an internet connection to run your own online business on the go.

On this episode of Shopify Masters, you'll hear from an entrepreneur who started a completely "digital nomad" business—who runs it anywhere he pleases.

When you're launching a product that your market isn't familiar with, especially through a Kickstarter campaign, it's better to focus on those customers who would be the first to fully embrace it and advocate for it to others.

In this episode of Shopify Masters, you’ll learn from Brian Min of Qwerky Toys, the creator of Qwerky Writer: a typewriter-inspired wireless mechanical keyboard.

Find out why he focused on winning over early adopters, before looking at the entire market, in order to successfully launch his product.

Fail fast or die slow. That's the frame of mind you need when you're validating a new business idea.

And that's exactly the approach Modify Watches took when they rolled out a minimum viable product that was far from perfect but "perfect enough" to test the market.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Aaron Schwartz of Modify Watches who took the lean startup approach to selling custom watches hand-assembled in San Francisco, California.

When it comes to influencer marketing, common sense says, "Go big or go home."

But sometimes it's smarter to go small to grow big.

In this episode of Shopify Masters you’ll hear from Brad Westerop of Thuggies who believes the key to success is to work with micro-influencers rather than big time celebrity influencers.