Company

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. 

Soul Chocolate's founders, Katie Bartlett and Kyle Wilson met in a small community on the city fringes, finding common ground in their appetite for adventure travel.

Five years ago, drawn to bigger opportunities, they moved to Toronto where Katie worked as a baker and Kyle as a bean-slinger in the city’s burgeoning craft coffee industry. Their vacation time—every minute of it—was spent exploring remote parts of the world, immersing themselves in the rich culture of each country they visited.

For their latest venture, bean to bar chocolate production was a no-brainer, marrying Katie’s baking and making background Kyle’s experience in roasting beans. The business also accounted for the couple’s wanderlust—sourcing beans from remote regions means that travel is just part of the job.

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.

Kit Founder Michael Perry wrote down the name of every investor who passed on his idea. He did it in permanent marker, on the wall. Author Stephen King, at the beginning of his own career, nailed every publisher’s rejection letter just above his writing desk. These rituals served as daily eye-level reminders to keep on keepin’ on.

In this post, we’ll discuss how to make rejection work for you and your business, as well as coping strategies for entrepreneurs.

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.

It’s been just over a month since the hurricane of media coverage slowed to a drizzle. In July, the internet was abuzz about Tuesday Bassen, the unassuming but tenacious indie illustrator who challenged retail behemoth, Zara, over intellectual property theft.

This isn’t the first time Tuesday’s work has been the victim of theft. This particular crime inspired her “enough is enough” moment, after fans then began alerting her to the copy-cat designs. So she lawyered up.

What can we learn from Tuesday's story? In this post, we'll demystify intellectual property protection and explain why smaller upfront copyright costs can save you a bundle in legal fees on the back end.

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.

Meet Chris Rothe and Janine Vangool. They both run successful, long-standing businesses on Shopify, selling goods made from paper. Though their industries – notebooks and magazines respectively – have taken a hit from paperless alternatives, they are thriving.

Why? They’ve found their people. They’ve also strategically embraced technology as a means of reaching them.

Recently, we introduced you to the merits of niche marketing, and how to find small but passionate audiences for a unique product. In this post, we'll dive into the stories of two successful merchants keeping paper alive in a digital age.

Russell Saks is the founder of Campus Protein, the only one-stop shop for college students who want brand name supplements and vitamins for affordable prices.

In this episode of Shopify Masters, you’ll learn how he built out a rep program that spread nationwide and helped him build a multi-million dollar business.