Recap: Highlights from the Gold Coast Shopify Meetup – Feb 2020
Last night was the first Gold Coast Shopify Meetup of 2020 and what a great way to kick off this year’s series of events!
We invited along the Director of Dracakis Advisory, Peter Dracakis and Co-Founder of Luxey Cup, Sandra-Lea, to share their insights with a room packed full of Shopify Merchants, aspiring eCommerce entrepreneurs, and various industry partners.
There were so many valuable insights shared by both speakers, and the Q&A part of the night went off! In case you missed out, we have pulled together the biggest takeaways, words of wisdom, and most helpful pieces of advice from the evening.
Sometimes digital growth is strategically simple—we call it leverage. Let’s start talking.
The Value of Advisory – Sound Words of Wisdom from Peter Dracakis
Peter Dracakis kicked things off with an insightful presentation on why financial advisory is so important for new and growing businesses. With only 4% of all businesses ever reaching $1 Million revenue, and 60% of all businesses failing in the first 3 years, he highlighted how a key factor that separates the successful businesses from the rest is sound financial management.
Peter explained how it is important for business owners to invest in good financial practices. Especially for eCommerce businesses that have so much data at their disposal, Peter recommended that business owners serious about being in the 4% of businesses that hit the $1 Million mark, invest in someone who can help educate them on their business’ financial performance.
Peter’s number one tip for the evening was that business owners understand their gross profit margin. Often business owners get excited when they start seeing growth in revenue, but if they don’t understand their true cost of goods sold and fall into the trap of mistaking revenue for profit, they can end up in hot water pretty quickly! This is an area where a Financial Adviser can be invaluable to ensure the numbers are correct.
Love Your Tribe Hard – Factors Behind Luxey Cup’s Success from Sandra-Lea
Sandra-Lea captivated the audience with her stories, sharing honest and real insights into the highs and lows of Luxey Cup’s beginnings and growth. Offering a refreshing perspective, Sandra-Lea spoke about the importance of doing business from the heart and, as a brand, speaking from the heart every single time.
Sandra-Lea made a strong point of not being a sheep – meaning to do what feels right for you and your brand, not just doing what everyone else is doing.
The Luxey Cup brand has experienced phenomenal growth in a relatively short amount of time, very much due to the community, or ‘tribe’, that has been cultivated around the products and brand story. Sandra-Lea said the reason they were able to do this was because she identified that their tribe lives on Instagram, and so she makes a point of showing up in Insta Stories every day, even when she feels like she can’t.
Some other key points from Sandra-Lea’s presentation included:
To always be as transparent as possible. Even if you screw up or things aren’t going well, own it and be honest with your customers. Customers love when brands are honest and real, and the response that Luxey Cup has received from customers by doing this has been unreal!
Connect with your tribe – be true to you and be all of you, don’t hide and don’t try to be something you’re not.
Perhaps the most outstanding insight from Sandra-Lea was how much of herself she gives to her customers. She replies to every direct message in Instagram and talks to her customers like they are her best friends. She also does an excellent job of bringing her customers on the journey with her and the team, inviting customers to name products and influence key business decisions. Needless to say, Sandra-Lea left everyone in the room Inspired and in awe.
And that’s a wrap! A massive thank you to our incredible speakers and to all the attendees who came and helped make it such a wonderful evening!
Don’t miss the next Gold Coast Shopify Meetup in May! Subscribe in the footer below to be notified about future events, and to be the first to know when registrations open.
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