Meet Sophie: She's Making a Fortune Selling Feathers Online with Shopify
Sophie Kovik is a 24 year old mom who’s hoping to change her life with her recently launched online store. Sophie, her partner Tim, and their one year old son Archie live in Byron Bay, Australia, a small town about 500 miles North of Sydney. Last year, Sophie was working at a local movie theatre. Right now, she’s in Thailand on a beach running a soon-to-be multi-million dollar company from her iPad. p;Like many aspiring mom entrepreneurs, Sophie read Timothy Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Workweek and was immediately inspired to start an online business, put it on cruise control, and rake in the dough from a hammock. But unlike many entrepreneurs, Sophie developed an idea, formulated a plan, acted upon it, and is now well on her way to owning a million dollar company. Sophie decided to delve into the world of online selling five months ago when she learned about a contest run by Shopify, an ecommerce company that makes it really easy to sell stuff online. She created a shop that sells feather hair extensions. And as you likely know, they’re all the rage these days. Sophie’s company is currently leading a pack of over 2,100 online stores all competing for the contests grand prize. We caught up with Sophie to talk about her rise from local movie theater to Internet business woman in such a short period of time.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I am 24 years old and a young mum entrepreneur currently trying to live the 4 hour workweek! I started my company after a terrible year of loss (financial and otherwise) back home where I was working as a duty manager and projectionist at the local cinema.
What inspired you to start an online store?
I started an online store because I wanted to live a better life. I wanted to spend more time with my family, rather than taking shifts at it. My partner used to own a cafe that he put a lot of energy into, and I thought, wait, there must be a better way than this. Right now I am typing this from a tropical island in Thailand, where we are spending three months as a mini retirement. I guess that was what I was dreaming of.
How did you start?
I had tried a few ideas and nothing really worked out. Then I read Timothy Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek. I followed his methods pretty thoroughly, particularly the formula with Google AdWords with the high clicks and low competition. I found a breakout search result and it was like a tidal wave that I happened to get on right at the start. Feather hair extensions were becoming huge and originally I was the only AdWords advertiser. The Golden Globes even approached me to put my feathers in the celebrity gift bags! It was a mix of incredible luck and hard work.
How do you manage running a business and raising a 1 year-old?
Archie is 13 months old now and during his waking hours, takes up 99% of our time. He is a very active boy who has been walking from 8 months old. Staying up late and cramming it in while he is napping has really been the only way to get things done. Just finding the time to do anything really is the biggest challenge. But despite the time challenges of being a business woman and a mum (that's what we call it in Australia), I love being a mom entrepreneur because I work from home and get to spend time with my son. Also, my partner Tim is the most supportive and loving dad I can imagine. I feel very lucky to have two amazing guys in my life. Archie is a ray of sunshine in my life and I feel like I can handle anything as long as I have him and Tim by my side.
Wanna be an online success story like Sophie?
Luckily, it's never been easier to setup an online store. Anybody can get up-and-running without the need of a programmer, designer, or even lots of money. All you do need is an idea, a computer, and a bit of free time (about an hour a night should do it).
And with The Mogul Mom's exclusive discount, there's added incentive to open your own online store.