It all started in 2004 when Linda Waters left her corporate career and founded Back to Business, whose mission is to help women make successful career transitions with confidence.
Not long into the practice, Linda noted that the two biggest obstacles to her clients' success were fear and lack of confidence. While her program goes a long way to help people find their confidence, She wanted to change this on a larger scale. "Everyone has a story, and we should support one another better than we do" says Waters.
She wanted to do something special to give women a way to inspire and empower one another, so she developed Confidence Beads. Each bead has a "story" and a reason for being.They are our way to spread uplifting messages of strength and support among women. Better still, for every bead purchased, Confidence Beads makes donations to Ovations for the cure of ovarian cancer and to domestic violence awareness programs in partnership with New Hope.
How did you earn your first sales? Which channels are now generating the most traffic and sales for you?
Our first sales came from social media activity and through our partnerships with the non- profits that we donate to, Ovations for the Cure of ovarian cancer and New Hope for domestic violence education programs.
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?
Last year we launched Beads for a Cause (where we showcase our custom work for charities) on the Shopify platform to see how it would go, and just recently we moved the Confidence Beads website over to Shopify as well. We've been delighted with the customer support, pricing, apps and constantly improving technology.
We use the Chimpify app to link to MailChimp for email communications, the Facebook Store app, revenue and tax reporting, plugin SEO and Sumall for both sites.
What are your top recommendations for new ecommerce entrepreneurs?
Invest in the product photography, it'll make or break the look & feel of your website!
Have a "product launch" plan
Be sure to set up all social media accounts with consistent messaging and cross- links.
Be clear on the demographic that you are targeting, learn where they go and go there, too, to promote your shop.