The Best Apps and Tools for Your Business in 2024

0:00You need to know where you're spending the money. I've seen a lot of owners that they're just not super careful with this. At the end of the day, they're not really profitable. They're not really running a business that's bringing in profits. Hey, what's going on? It's Shuang Esther Shan, and welcome to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. So what happens after you launch a viral product? Well, Jiwoo has the answer. She's the co-founder of Q and she first came on our show five years ago after the successful launch of Q's collapsible water bottle that raised over half a million dollars on Kickstarter.

0:42Today, we'll chat all about life after that viral product, from expanding into new product categories to building a sustainable lifestyle brand. Jean, so great to have you back on the show. Hi, thank you for having me again. I love chatting with merchants who have been on the show before because, you know, your story doesn't end, your business journey continues. So the collapsible water bottle really put Q on the map. And it's something a lot of our listeners and fellow founders dream of. Talk to us how after the successful launch, how did you use that momentum to really build an excitement and also a community around Q?

1:25Yeah, so we definitely had a pretty exciting start, you know, which a lot of people thought it was amazing. I was total surprised that we didn't even expect that ourselves. So it did take us a while to really figure out what we want to, like, we didn't really have a plan for it. So it did take us a few years to really navigate and see what we're really trying to do and build a brand and go from, you know, a successful kickstart to really having a company and business that's running for later times. So I was on the show two years ago, but I think at the time we were just starting to have the plan, kind of a blueprint for the company and business.

2:05Other than the collapsible bottle, we were trying to build a lifestyle brand rather than just a water bottle. Because a bottle, it doesn't really tell people much about your story or your philosophy or what you believe in and what you're trying to do. So that, these years and these times, that's when we figured out what we really want people to see as a company and as a brand. We went back and thought, you know, why did we make this product in the first place? and why did people like it? Because these are very important. That's the main thing that you want to figure out and then you go from there, you know, you develop everything based off of that.

2:45And the bottle was solving a problem for travelers. It is a sustainable, environmental-friendly product, but there are many, many similar products in the category, in the area, that weren't, you know, as successful or weren't, you know, just weren't a hit like, you know, our bottle. So why, what was the reason? And the reason was to make a product that's functional and attractive. And it's a pretty hard thing to do. We were trying to go into that niche area to try to make something that's nice, that's visually pleasing, that people are just drawn by it, you know, naturally. However, it does also provide a function and does something that's more sustainable, environmentally friendly to people's everyday life.

3:38So we just made that our brand message. And we started to come up with new products and come up with new marketing strategies, everything based off of that. The last time you were on the show was actually two years after the launch of the collapsible water bottle and you're going into production runs, I would love for you to listen to what you said about managing the relationships and production schedules, especially because now you have so many different product lines and see if this is still something that's applicable to how you run Q today.

4:17You kind of have to do everything parallel, not do one thing and do another thing after that because then you're just going to prolong this whole process by a lot. So what we did was when we are still working the design, we are also looking at the materials and talking to manufacturers. Like we do everything at the same time. Yeah, the past couple of years, we were doing exactly the same thing. You probably noticed that we've launched a couple of new products ever since we launched our insulated bottles about three years ago now and then our convertible backpack about a year and a half ago and then in the manufacturing and product world that's pretty tight because the process the time frame for developing a brand new product in a different category too you know i'm talking about a bottle to another bottle it's relatively easy, but a bottle to a bag or a bottle to a, you know, equipment or sports tools, that's completely different.

5:25Naturally, that's going to be more difficult and takes more time. But the fact that, you know, in the past three years, we've had quite a few major products. That was because we have customers requesting other drinkwares from us. They're like, oh, I love your glass of bottles a lot, but, you know, I do need something for my home, for office when I'm not traveling, or for my, you know, coffee and tea for different things. I wish that you had something like that. Right away already, we had that request and we're like, okay, we need to put this into the pipeline. So that's what we did. I think the third year into Q, we started the design on Insulated.

6:08And about three years ago, that's when we launched. So it took us, you know, a year and a half for design and manufacturing, because again, we don't just buy things off of the catalog from the manufacturers, because then you're not going to be any different from anybody else. And there's just no point. You don't want to have hydroflex and flap your label on it. That's just not how it works for us. It doesn't allow you to stand out and cater to what your customers are wanting, which is they want the function and also Q's aesthetic. Yes. Yeah, exactly. So when we were doing that and we were like, the backpack has always been a thing.

6:47So our body started out making things for travelers. And then we tap into, you know, home and office. But, you know, the commuters and people who travel a lot, you know, need to look professional and sleek and just clean and care more about designs. They're in between, right? So we wanted to fill that gap too. And the backpack is a perfect example for that. It's essentially a travel backpack, but with a style and a built-in laptop sleeve so that people can take it to work or people can just really work anywhere. We have a lot of customers that confident, oh, this bag is perfect for a consultant.

7:25It's like we're on the road all the time, but we need to look good. So every product, there is a idea and kind of the problem behind it. But yes, we did everything back to back. We didn't stop at all. If you have seen it and you have had that idea in your head, you're just going to go ahead and get started. I think what's different now versus the last time you were on the show was at that time you were just producing the water bottle. So it might have been easier to talk about materials, sync up with the manufacturers and do everything all at once. But now you have multiple layers, right? you're redesigning the backpack you're doing insulated water bottles you're doing utensils so it feels like the layers multiplied now you're doing multiple steps for multiple products how has that been it's been a lot yes you're absolutely right you know from dealing with one to two manufacturers really we are now dealing with at least five because here's the thing with manufacturing, especially in China.

8:28For example, most of the plastic manufacturers, they would produce, you know, silicone products or stainless steel products, even glass. But they all stay within their categories. You're never going to find somebody that can make water bottles to make a backpack. So what happened was that we had to find a different manufacturer for a different product, and sometimes even different parts of the products. For example, the backpack is made of 100 % recycled plastic. And we might be able to find a manufacturer that can make the bags exactly how we want it, meaning that they could do the design, they can do the different compartments, the pockets and the magnetics, closures and stuff, but they have to find somebody else that can supply them the fabric that's made out of recycled plastic.

9:21Because not everybody can get those recycled materials. That's why recycled material is essentially a lot more expensive than just regular polyester, polymer materials. We're talking about 30, 40 percent more. When you do a new launch, always do test batch. Don't go ahead and order 100 ,000 units, but you would always just say, hey, what's the minimum? Let me just get the minimum and see how it goes. right? So with the minimum order, they just won't go above and beyond and try to meet your request. And there's a lot of back and forth and there's a lot, and that was all during COVID, keep in mind.

10:01So there's no travel going on. So we can't go there and see, we can go there and meet them. So it's all through video, through FaceTime. And when you receive the samples, it might very well be completely different than what they were talking about. So it was even more challenging for somebody to do these kind of development or product research during that time. Sounds like a very complicated management of different relationships and actually advocating and fighting for the designs and materials you want, which is a new challenge compared to the last time you were on the show. Before, you mentioned a bunch of tools that really helped the launch of Q Bottles, like ShipStation.

10:55Has there been new applications or tools you've discovered that helps you manage your manufacturing or launch processes that are new to you since the last time you were on the show? Yep. So ShipStation is for shipments and shipping. So it's pretty awesome. We still use ShipStation. It's been eight years. I think they improved a lot. It means that you can ship with multiple carriers. Before, it was predominantly just the post office, USPS. But now you can ship UPS and FedEx and DHL for international packages. And it's integrated with not only Shopify, but a lot of other third-party platforms, too.

11:35So that's definitely one of the tools that when you first start a e-commerce business. And then as your business grows, then you would probably need a little bit more for accounting and bookkeeping and administrative things. We use Zoho for our inventory and invoicing. It has been great. We've been using them since we started, too. I like them because it's also all-in-one. Zoho is a pretty big company. and they also offer all-in-one service. So you can invoice your customer, you can do CRM, which is customer relationship management on there, and you can also track your inventory, which is important.

12:16We had a pretty big inventory problem in the beginning where we oversold or we miscounted. So we essentially sold customer things that we don't have. So that was the last thing you want to do. So with that, it has improved a lot. Bookkeeping is important because you do want to keep track of your expenses and profits so you have a better idea how your business is running, we highly recommend Bench, the B-E-N-C-H. They are affordable from, I think, starting$200 a month, and they will do all the bookkeeping for you. At the end of the year, you have a business statement so you can look at exactly how the profit and loss.

12:53And Gusto for payroll and human resources, wonderful also. And the most awesome, amazing thing is all these services and SaaS, they talk to each other. You can use their APIs and they're all integrated. So Gusto will send your payroll expenses directly to Bench. So you don't have to do anything really. Yeah, these are the, I think, important tools for running a business. So great to hear your suggestions for apps and tools, because that is something our listeners ask us about all the time. speaking of our listeners we would love to take a moment to thank you for tuning in to shopify masters make sure you're subscribed and share the podcast with your friends so more people can discover shopify masters and leave us a review with your feedback or comment for the show thank you so much we just wrapped up on your advice on the different apps and tools that's one of the new learnings, you've had all these discoveries on new services.

14:00I think within the last five years, you've also been through a gauntlet of challenges because of COVID, especially you're creating products that are for people on the go when your customers are no longer allowed to be on the go. How did you deal with that challenge? How did you change queue to actually meet customers where they are? That is a great topic here because it was quite dramatic. So we had a great year, 2019, right? So our revenue was just tripling and sales were going great. Sometimes from the B2B side of the business, we could have one big account that would just order a quarter million dollar in POs or half a million dollar in POs.

14:46It was great in 2019. And it was looking like the same way until February 2020. It was so dramatic. Like no one was prepared for that. All of a sudden you were told you can no longer come to the office and to our office and also you can no longer operate your business at one point. So everything was just completely shut down. So there was no traveling and so our sales declined so much. And at that point in time the only thing we're thinking is, okay, we need to make through this. We can't just die here. So that was the time that we started working on insulated bottles because they were for home, right?

15:29And we were also doing a move. You know, we moved out of California and we're in Texas now. A lot of people actually did that. And the main reason for that was definitely cost. And after three years, I would say like this year, I finally, we finally start to see things, you know, started to pick up a little bit, but it's not, I still nowhere near pre-COVID, unfortunately. Yeah. And thank you for being so candid about adjusting your business and also working with and adapting to the change that COVID has had, especially highlighting the move from California to Texas for the savings. So obviously the collapsible water bottle found great success on Kickstarter.

16:14You raise over half a million dollars. Since then, you've launched more items on Kickstarter, like the collapsible tote. You've gone into insulated bottles and utensils. So we're going to listen to a clip from your last episode and see if the advice for building out a enticing campaign still resonates. You want to have a clean, nice positioned shots of your products definitely lifestyle shots are helpful meaning like you have a model or you have a person with the product but don't overdo it the more that you put in the more distraction that there is so if you have really nice looking models or you know really like a lot of people in there your page looks more interesting but it's definitely a distraction so try try not to like put too much of that onto your campaign page.

17:15Definitely, I think for the most part, again, it really depends on the products. Even if you do lifestyles, we almost never wanted to show people's faces. A face is 100 % always a distraction. But I will say for bottles and for like a small, you know, consumer goods products. That's mostly stationary, right? That's just a couple of things that you can do with the bottle and that's it. But so with our bags, we did a lot more lifestyles. We try to show people the showcases, you know, the use cases, right? So you can put on your back, on shoulder, in the hand. You see people wearing the bag on the street or an airplane or, you know, for example, right?

18:01So you do need to have a lot of that. Don't ever put extra things and your campaign should be straightforward wording and easy to understand. You just need people to understand, okay, this is exactly what it does. And this is how it does it. Then people are like, okay, got it. I like it. I'm, you know, I'm going to purchase. I think also the landscape for Kickstarter have also changed a bit. Back five years ago, more people were browsing Kickstarter, in my opinion, versus now, but you still launch the convertible tote pack on Kickstarter, and you reach your goals, but it was a less of an impact than the first viral collapsible water bottle.

18:43I guess between the two launches, what have you learned about the current landscape of crowdfunding? I think you're right. It definitely has changed a lot. Before it was more like a big platform that people went and discovered different products and you would see anything from a toy to a jacket, you know, like it's just so many different things. Now K-Start is becoming a lot more specific. I would say it's definitely more male orientated and geared toward techie and the successful campaigns I see like now that on K-Start is more like air purifier, for example. No, I'm just making things up, but it's very specific, categorized gear thing rather than a beautifully designed, you know, backpack or leather shoes from France.

19:34So the landscape has changed. And for us, the second campaign, we almost didn't want to do a Kickstarter.

19:45we knew that it's not the perfect fit for a kickstart anymore and we didn't want to you know waste time putting campaign together because it is a lot of work but then you know me and my partner we talk I want there's traffic there and there is almost like PR and you know exposure so why not to utilize the platform in the same time we do our own launch. So that's why we ended up doing it. But we were just in the midst of, you know, moving and setting up everything in Texas. So we just couldn't do everything ourselves. The first campaign, we did everything. We shot the photos. We shot the video.

20:27I wrote the script. I wrote the page and everything. But this time we hired a production company to do the video. and the pictures too. And it's definitely different because no one understands your products and no one talks about your products better than yourself. So when we hire a third party or when you hire somebody else to do it, it's just not going to be the same kind of depth and details that you would have done yourself. If we had the time, we would definitely prefer still to do everything ourselves. And that's very practical advice for people who are considering external agency or production company?

21:11To your point, because you are the creators of these items, you probably know your products best. On the flip side, because you've been through so many different challenges that no one has even the capacity to anticipate and forever the changing landscape, what is your advice now for those who are running a company and they want to manage their own finances to make sure that they stay lean and healthy from a financial standpoint? Yes. First of all, it is very important to stay on top of your finances for the company. And I know it's not people's favorite thing to do. It's a lot of work and not everybody enjoys doing it or not everybody can do it or good at it.

22:00It is okay to hire somebody that can help you. For example, you have an accountant, a CPA, and you have financial advisors. Sometimes you even have those consultancy groups or companies that offer this kind of services. But essentially, though, to be a founder and a business owner, you just have to understand. Either you will have to understand or you have a partner that does. So you need to manage your expenses. You need to know your spendings. You need to know where you're spending the money and see the revenue income and analyze everything and manage everything and try to save money always.

22:41It does not matter your revenue is a million dollars a month or$10 ,000 a month. How you manage is by saving unnecessary expenses or optimizing your expenses. It comes down to smaller things like a printer, you know. Like we use printers to print labels for shipping. And sometimes a$100 printer will do better than a$300 printer. You need to buy the$100 ones and not the$300, even though it sounds pity and small. But things add up. I've seen a lot of owners that they're just not super careful with this. At the end of the day, they're not really profitable. They're not really running a business that's bringing in profits.

23:27Same thing with hiring also. If you have a workflow that you think two people could handle, do not add a third person. Even though in your head you might think you need a third person, but try to make it work that two people could. So that will save a lot annually. Yeah, people don't think that way. People think, oh, you know, it was only$15,$20 an hour. That's not a big deal. You know, every day is about$150,$200. dollars. But no, things add up. Always remember that. And my job really like every day, I'm just, okay, wait a minute. Did this company just offer a new service that's 30 % less when I'm using right now?

24:11I'm going to switch. I need to switch tomorrow. I'm not even talking about big things. I'm talking about electricity. I'm talking about internet. I'm talking about phone bills because everything matters. I like your anecdotes because even though whether they're small or big, whether it's a printer or utilities, I think once you have that mindset, it also helps you to think about longer term because that's how you can actually build a business that is sustainable. And then speaking of sustainability, this is kind of a pillar for Q Factory and how all the products are built. How do you build a business that highlights sustainability and you're also being profitable?

24:59Because a lot of the times people think the two doesn't really go together. No, they don't. Yeah, I mean, I just told you, how can you be profitable when you just have to spend 30 % more on materials already, not even talking about everything else? So it's about balancing it out and finding the right price and the right customers, I would say. So from day one, I tell people I'm not making cheap products. I'm not. These things are not cheap. Because how the way they make, the function they're trying to accomplish, the materials I use to make it sustainable, to make it minimally impact the environment.

25:43And I'm not saying we are going to be the company that saved the world. You know, we're going to be the company that saved all the fish in the ocean and we're going to be the most eco-friendly company in the world. No, I'm a very practical person. I'm really realistic. I don't overpromise and I don't overpromise people with my brand. So I tell people what we're doing is just even if it's just slightly better than how we traditionally make things, it's better. You know, we're doing something. Even if you just bring your own cup for today, you save one or two bottles. It's something, right? So at least we can do something about it.

26:22We're not going to be like, do not use a single plastic bottle ever in your life. That's not realistic. That is extreme. That is too much to ask, right? So I know that. And I know that my customers are the people that kind of share the same kind of mindset with me, which I think is the majority of the people. So I try to sound relatable and attractive to the majority of the audience. You are not only being realistic and relatable with your products, but I think your advice and everything that you shared in this check-in episode has been so realistic and relatable as well. Thank you so much for coming back onto the podcast, Jean.

27:07No problem. Yeah, I'm happy to be back. that's jean woo co-founder of q shopify masters is produced by gogo zoger and megan coyle our engineers are matt shorts and miku betlam benjamin gottlieb is our supervising producer and i'm shuang ester shan and if you're still listening please leave us a review on apple podcast or spotify and share your feedback with our team thank you so much we'll catch you next time on shopify masters

27:43Thank you.