Introduce your business and tell us your story: How did you decide on what to sell, and how did you source your products?
My online store started out proving mixing and mastering services for music producers. As I worked with these people I realised that many of them had the same issues with their mix. So I created a mixing plugin to help resolve these pain points. I came up with a concept and pitched it to a few plugin design companies. The quotes I received were $50k and up... So I found a developer online and agreed to go 50/50 if he helped me build it. Our working dynamic was amazing, and we created LEVELS.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
We had scheduled a release on July 19th 2016. However, an online news outlet released the story 2 weeks early by accident. A few large blogs posted about it and we had 1700 + people sign up for the free trial in 48 hours. We had to just roll with it! Right now my Shopify site is my main channel but have already signed contracts to have our product in online stores worldwide. The YouTube video has 18k views, Instagram accounts have posted about LEVELS a lot, and online blog and media have posted as well.
Tell us about the back-end of your business. What tools and apps do you use to run your store? How do you handle shipping and fulfillment?
Shopifys basic functions are amazing in helping us make decisions. Mailchimp is crucial to our operation. Zendesk. Our software licensing platform. Analytics. The software is delivered digitally, so everything is automated through Mailchimp. Our licensing is done through API so we can focus on improving our products while the online store does the selling for us.
What are your top recommendations for new store owners?
It's unlikely that you'll get everything right first time. Be prepared to learn and adapt very quickly. Don't assume everything is already running at its optimum level, there's always room for improvement.