I have always told my daughters that in today’s world, it is important to have multiple sources of income so that they lessen the burden of a layoff, illness or whatever else life will throw at them. I have created profiles and currently sell on several stock photography sites, Red Bubble, Society6 and Fine Art America. While I am getting results, I don’t like that my work is mixed in with thousands of other similar photographs and designs. I have no ability to separate myself from the pack.
It was this need to separate myself from the pack that made me look at both Amazon Stores and Shopify to use their platform to create an online store. I quickly eliminated Amazon because of its size and I felt the process was difficult compared to Shopify. Once I decided to work with Shopify I started watching and taking notes on its startup webinars. The first webinar I watched was created by Corey Ferreira, Shopify education expert, and serial entrepreneur. This webinar was a quick overview of the whole process and all the features that Shopify has to help entrepreneurs launch their first venture.
After watching that video, I received an invitation from Shopify to watch another more in-depth webinar presented by Adrian Morrison who is also a serial entrepreneur as well as the founder of eCom Success Academy. In this free webinar, Adrian actually goes step by step through the process to build your store on the Shopify platform. Morrison’s delivery in this webinar makes it easy to listen to and you feel like you are listening to a person who has the knowledge to share as opposed to a hype man.
Typically in a lot of my past ventures, I have had a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality. I did not do all my due diligence and either failed at the venture or I limited my potential for success which eventually caused me to move on.
This time I am determined to put the time and effort into research and education so that this venture becomes the success I believe it can be. Your mind can be your own worst enemy. You have the ability to talk yourself out of almost anything. The battle to succeed is hard enough, but don’t let doubt live rent-free in your head. If you commit to being an entrepreneur and moving forward, be ALL in!
The first important item I learned from Morrison’s webinar was selecting an underserved niche that is of interest to you. Understand your target audience and what their needs are. Next, create or buy exciting designs that will create a call to action and buy your products.
In my case, I knew I wanted this to be a venture that my wife Amy and I did together. I went to her and explained what I had in mind and that I wanted to do this together. Throughout our 26 years of marriage, I have found that areas where I am weakest, she is strongest and vice versa. To me, that made us a strong team that could handle this challenge. Our goal is not to have just one successful business, but rather to have several capitalizing on different niches that interest us.
After rewatching Adrian Morrison’s video, this time with Amy, we both agreed we can do this and that the niche we wanted to pursue was wine enthusiasts. And so began WineByDesignShop.com. (Part 2)
