ShopFlick

I did it the Hard Way…So you don’t have to

I started my business with a good idea but no experience. A single Mom, I maxed my credit cards and made tons of mistakes. But somehow I managed to survive. And I got on QVC where I have since sold hundreds of thousands of my products. I used QVC as a launch pad to get into mass retail and now my product is sold at Wal-Mart, Target and drugstores across the USA — and also on Shopflick! www.shopflick.com/users/tarammshop

Looking back, it would have been great to have had a reliable source for clear-headed, unbiased and practical advice on how to start and grow my own business. It could make a world of difference for you.

What’s Coming to You, Inc.

Well, I got very lucky, so now I want to give back. So, each week, I am going to share practical, actionable real world advice — from me, other successful entrepreneurs, attorneys, accountants and consultants — all hand-picked for their relevance, quality and honesty.

Putting Together the Pieces

Starting a small business is like putting together an overwhelming puzzle where do you start? In You, Inc, we are going to learn together from others who put the pieces together.

Why I Believe in the Power of Video and Shopflick

As a successful seller on QVC, I have experienced the power of video to connect with customers and explain my product. But only a tiny percent of entrepreneurs ever get on QVC, and it’s a very expensive proposition. Shopflick enables sellers to sell with video easily and inexpensively, 24-7. It also giving sellers the tools to collect share and spread the word to potential customers. The great thing about selling via video is that you can convey your passion for your products and really explain what makes your products special and desirable. Shopflick and other on-line selling sites provide a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs. It’s a little more work to get the video, but its well worth it.

Now is a Great Time to Start a Small Business

Sure the economy is tough, but the internet has opened up a world of information and marketing opportunities. Sites like Shopflick, Ebay and the many product specific sites allow a smaller vendor to get in the game and almost overnight reach an international audience. Owning my own business has been the most satisfying, profitable and fulfilling professional experience I have ever had, and I have a secret to tell you, it is not that hard, with a little guidance and some concentrated effort I believe anyone can run their own business.

Next Week: 4 Essential Questions to Answer Before You Start

In next week’s blog I will talk about the four essential questions that you must answer before you start your own business. To get to know me better and hear how I invented a multi million dollar product click on this link to watch a recent interview.

Posted by Tara

…Said Emile Coué, a French Pharmacist who invented “autosuggestion” in 1920 , or so I am told. Well, here at Shopflick we take autosuggestion to heart. You can quote me on that.

With that said, here’s a bunch of new features we will be rolling out tomorrow (Thursday).

• Featured Stores – In addition to our Featured Listings module, you can now browse a selection of Featured Stores on both the Homepage and the Shop page. Our first Featured Stores are some of our favorites: Poketo, David Flores Art, and Miss Misa, to name but a few.
• Search – Admittedly, our initial search experience was kind of chaotic. So we’ve decided to streamline the process a bit by providing you with the ability to quickly search categories as well as refine your search by popular tags. You will notice that Search currently features a “Listings” and a “Stores” tab. In the coming weeks we will be adding an “All” tab that will combine Listing and Store results into a single view. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.
• Instant Payment Notification – We’re happy to deploy the first part of our payment services improvements. With these improvements our buyers can easily check the status of their purchases and our sellers can see whether they have been paid. We’ll be releasing additional payment improvements in the coming weeks, all of which are being rolled out to help make Shopflick really easy to use. As always, please feel free to hit me up with any questions or feedback you may have regarding our payment system.
• Seller Policies – Sellers now have a free-form space on their Store page where they can explicitly outline their Store Policies (returns, shipping intricacies, etc.). Our merchandising people will post a short list of suggested policies that we know will be important to creating a great customer experience on Shopflick.
• Shipping Information – This is a significant improvement to the management of the Seller’s Shipping Profile. Sellers can now easily select where they ship to, how they prefer to ship and the corresponding shipping costs.

We want the development of Shopflick to be as collaborative a process as possible. Please let us know if you’ve got an idea for a great feature we should build, or (gasp) you’ve found a bug, or even if you want to join the team. We are here for you, and there are lots of easy ways to reach out:

1. Send me an email. Dan@Shopflick.com
2. Use the “Contact Shopflick” form
3. Use the beta feedback link on the homepage of Shopflick
4. Send an email to Support@Shopflick.com
5. Leave a post in our forums

I’m wildly excited to watch Shopflick grow and to really learn from all of you. We will deploy bug fixes and new features as fast as possible, so be on the look out for a constantly evolving shopping experience. This is by far the best part of the product development process!Thanks in advance for all of your help, and most of all, happy shopping.

Dan Strauss, Shopflick Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer

Today we opened the Shopflick beta to our friends and family for feedback.   Its just a beginning, but already we are serving a vibrant, growing  community of indie designers, artists, craftsman, entrepreneurs and merchants, all showing themselves and their products with the amazing video created by our network of young filmmakers.   They come from New York, LA, Chicago, Lynchburg, Virginia — and soon from all over the country.

I asked the staff to recall some of their “a-ha” Shopflick experiences leading up to this moment.  What I got back was genuine and inspirational.   Two examples:   

Shea, our Finance Administrator, tells me “I feel so connected to our customers…When I get an invoice, I know it isn’t just names and numbers on a piece of paper. That invoice is shorthand for a story that began in the imagination of an eco-friendly designer in Los Angeles…or in the hands of a furniture maker in SoHo.”  

Courtney, our Manager of Merchandising and Trends, says about John Robertson, the first artist to sign up to sell on Shopflick: “John has always amazed me…his work is political, thoughtful, and unique…John took it upon himself to start producing short videos of himself speaking about his work on YouTube, and told me Shopflick is the community he was always looking for.”          

Shopflick: Buy this product | Get your own Store Player

We can’t wait to accommodate the sellers and users that are signing up.  That said, Shopflick is a new experience and we recognize the work ahead of us needed to get it right.   We are committed to  continually evolving what we’ve started, improving existing features and adding new ones on a monthly basis — and to letting you know through our blog exactly where we stand.  More than anything, we need your feedback and comments; there is no better way to identify what works and what doesn’t. So please, sign up for the beta, get involved and help us build the world’s best community of indie sellers. 

In our next post, Dan Strauss, our head of  Product Development, will talk about where we are headed on features and functions, so stay tuned.  

Dave Grant, Shopflick Co-Founder and CEO