What does it really take to thrive in the ever-changing e-commerce world? In this special live edition of the Chase Your Dreams podcast from Ecom North, Glynis Tao interviews several inspiring leaders in the e-commerce space. Hear from e-commerce founders Gillian Liu of Kiyoko Beauty, Hannah Wang of The Aesthetics Studio, Andy Hsu of MotionGrey, and Hellen Harbilas of Hellen’s Boutique, as they share success stories, challenges, and valuable insights on running successful businesses in the rapidly changing digital landscape. Each guest shares their unique experiences and growth strategies, emphasizing the need for adaptability and innovation in the e-commerce industry. Ready to chase your own dream? Tune in and get inspired by real founders shaping the future of ecommerce.
About Gillian Liu
Gillian Liu is the co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Kiyoko Beauty, a Toronto-based online retailer for authentic Asian beauty products. While working her 9-5 corporate job, Liu started Kiyoko Beauty in 2021. With skincare, haircare, and makeup sourced from Japan and Korea, Liu strives to make Asian beauty accessible to everyone. What initially started as a side hustle has now grown into one of the top Asian beauty brands in North America. Through content creation, Liu has grown a following of nearly 300,000 people on social media and continues to showcase her successful entrepreneurial journey alongside her 9-5 lifestyle.
Website: kiyoko.ca
Instagram: @kiyoko.beauty
About Hannah Wang
Hannah Wang is the founder of The Aesthetics Studio, an Ontario-based sticker and stationery shop with a focus on promoting mental health awareness. At 17 years old, Wang graduated from high school in the middle of the pandemic. During lockdown, she was inspired to embrace her creative side and open an Etsy shop, designing and selling her own stickers, washi tape, and assorted stationery. As an advocate for mental health, Wang’s business has evolved to promote mental wellness through journaling, creative expression, and coloring as a form of self-care and connection.
Website: aestheticsstudioo.com
Instagram: @theaesthetics.studio
About Andy Hsu
Andy Hsu is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of MotionGrey, a Vancouver-based ergonomic office furniture company with a mission to make standing desks and chairs more accessible and affordable. With a background in civil engineering, design, and marketing, Hsu combined his passions and decided to pursue his own entrepreneurial journey in 2018. Through authentic storytelling and strategic marketing efforts, Hsu has grown MotionGrey into a successful multi-channel business with products available on Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and more.
Website: motiongrey.com
Instagram: @motiongrey
About Hellen Harbilas
Hellen Harbilas is the founder and creative director of Hellen’s Boutique, a Toronto-based brand specializing in luxury sculptural candles and handmade home decor. Frustrated by overpowering scents and synthetic ingredients in candles, Harbilas set out to create soy candles that were both beautiful and gentle on the senses. Launched in 2021 during the pandemic, Harbilas built Hellen’s Boutique from the ground up, teaching herself everything from product development to web design. Through pop-up markets and content creation, what began as a personal solution evolved into a successful ecommerce business.
Website: hellensboutique.com
Instagram: @hellens.boutique
Takeaways
- Consistent and quality content is crucial to e-commerce growth.
- SEO is a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort.
- Building trust with customers is essential for success.
- Authenticity and storytelling are important for standing out in crowded markets.
- A good product must be paired with a strong brand identity.
- In-person connections can enhance online business growth.
- Continuous learning and adaptation are vital for future proofing your ecommerce business.
Interview Themes
Why is finding a niche important for brands?
Finding a niche allows brands to stand out in crowded markets. By targeting a specific niche with a specific audience who want specific products, brands are more likely to match with the right customers. Gillian Liu focused on breaking the misconception that Asian beauty is only for Asian consumers, striving to make Asian beauty accessible to all. Andy Hsu found a gap in the market for affordable ergonomic office furniture, designing high-quality products that are accessible to a wider audience. Hannah Wang combined mental health advocacy with stationery products, turning creative expression into a purpose-driven niche. Hellen Harbilas identified the niche for decorative and allergen-free candles for people with sensitivities.
Identifying and building a brand around a specific niche enables better brand positioning and a stronger emotional connection with your target audience.
What marketing strategies are vital in the stages of a growing ecommerce business?
According to various ecommerce founders, several key strategies were highlighted as vital marketing efforts during the early stages of their businesses. Digital marketing strategies such as SEO, content creation, and email marketing were identified as important tactics to grow a small business. Gilian Liu emphasized the importance of organic social media content, underlining its effectiveness when cultivating a strong relationship between the brand and its customers. Andy Hsu credited his brand’s success to email marketing, citing it as an effective marketing strategy to build long-term relationships with customers, starting from their inbox. In-person marketing was also found to be effective with Hannah Wang and Hellen Harbilas, both claiming that face-to-face conversations and physical interactions with the product helped grow their business and drive sales immensely.
Why is storytelling important when building a brand?
Storytelling gives brands an emotional presence, making the brand more personable and easier to build trust with from a consumer’s perspective. An authentic brand story humanizes the company and invites customers to invest in the brand’s journey, not just the products.
How has AI changed the digital retail landscape today?
AI is reshaping how brands show up online, specifically in search. With AI Overviews and ChatGPT gradually becoming primary sources of information for searchers, discovering new and small businesses has become more challenging. This is where a curated brand narrative comes into play. By establishing a clear brand narrative with problem-solving content, ecommerce businesses can break through the noise and take advantage of algorithmic search instead of letting algorithmic search take over them. Essentially, AI is forcing ecommerce companies to rethink content, visibility, and the customer experience, so learning how to work with AI instead of pushing it away will help your company more than hurt it.
What does the future of ecommerce look like?
AI-Integrated Tools
AI continues to work itself into the ecommerce space, affecting how consumers discover your brands and its products. Luckily, using these AI tools for your brand’s benefit is becoming easier.
Multi-Channel Selling
With new ways to shop being created everyday, a multi-channel sales experience has never been more important. Relying on one channel, such as a Shopify store, limits who can find your product. By diversifying your sales channels, you ensure that your products are easily discoverable on various platforms.
What advice would e-commerce founders give to new entrepreneurs?
Start before you’re ready
You don’t have to know everything about running an ecommerce business before becoming an entrepreneur. As Liu and Harbilas mentioned, every ecommerce founder begins their entrepreneurial journey with uncertainty. What’s important to keep in mind as an entrepreneur is that you need to be ready to learn and adapt. You learn by doing, so start now!
Create authentic content to connect and build trust with your audience
People want to invest in companies that they can trust and it starts with how they perceive your brand. Creating an authentic online presence that your audience can relate to will encourage them to cultivate a strong relationship with your brand.
Stay rooted in your ‘why’
You’ve found your niche, established your mission statement, and turned your personal passion project into an ecommerce brand. With the ever-changing online retail landscape forcing businesses to consistently adapt and re-strategize, it’s important to not lose sight of why you started your business. Carry that why through every business decision you make.
Chapters
00:00 The Future of Ecommerce and the Founders Defining It
01:06 Gillian Liu of Kiyoko Beauty: Content Creation for Asian Beauty
07:11 Hannah Wang of The Aesthetics Studio: Advocating for Mental Health Awareness Through Stationery
14:08 Andy Hsu of MotionGrey: Brand Storytelling for Ergonomic Furniture
21:20 Hellen Harbilas of Hellen’s Boutique: Finding Your Niche with Luxury Candles
Transcripts
Glynis Tao
Hi everyone and welcome to a special live edition of the Chase Your Dreams podcast coming to you from Ecom North. I'm your host, Glynis Tao. Normally on the show, we dive into the journeys of founders, fashion entrepreneurs, and e-commerce leaders. But today, we're on the ground at one of the most exciting events for digital commerce in North America. Over the next few minutes, I'll be speaking with founders who are building brands in real time, facing real challenges and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in e-commerce.
We'll talk about what's working, what's keeping them up at night, and where they see the industry heading, especially in the age of AI, rising ad costs, and shifting consumer behavior. So let's get started and hear directly from the voices shaping the future of e-commerce.
Welcome to Chase Your Dreams, a podcast for fashion entrepreneurs who want to build a purposeful and profitable clothing business so they can make a living doing what they love. I'm your host, Glynis Tao, an apparel business consultant and SEO specialist with 20 years apparel industry experience. I'm also a mom to a wonderfully energetic little boy named Chase.
My first guest is Gillian Liu, who is the co-founder at Kiyoko, a Toronto Bay station beauty e-commerce business. With a focus on organic content marketing, Kiyoko has achieved impressive mid-seven figure revenue while the founders maintained their full-time careers. Gillian leads the brand's marketing strategies, driving the company's success through authentic, engaging content that resonates with audiences. Here, Gillian talks about how a viral video boosted e-commerce growth and how they use content and SEO to drive traffic to their website at the very beginning of their business.
Please introduce yourself. Can you tell me your name and what you do?
Gillian Liu
I'm Gillian Liu. I'm one of the co-founders of Kiyoko Beauty. We're an online Asian beauty retailer. Think of us like the Sephora for Asian beauty. We sell Korean and Japanese skincare, haircare, and makeup.
Glynis Tao
Amazing. And so this is probably your second year at Econ North. Is that right? Last year was your first year here.
Gillian Liu
Yes, I was just an attendee last year and it was my first time attending a conference like this. And then this year I'm lucky to be back as a speaker.
Glynis Tao
That's amazing. Was that one of the highlights of the conference so far for you?
Gillian Liu
Yeah, I think so. It was really nice to just see how many people connected with my story and my narrative. What my talk was about was just to challenge people’s conceptions about escaping the 9-5 and trying to do the traditional entrepreneurial path, but I think my story is that you can do both. You can do your 9-5 and use it as a tool to scale your side hustle.
Glynis Tao
And can you tell me quickly about your brand and what makes it stand out?
Gillian Liu
Yeah, so Kiyoko is a Japanese girl's name and we decided to make it because our mission is to make Asian beauty for everyone. So I think for a long time, a lot of people thought of Asian beauty as only for Asian people and what we've been trying to do is make information about Asian beauty super accessible.
Our organic content has almost 300k followers and we make content every single day to make Asian beauty really accessible and understood by everyone and our customers range in ethnicity, age, and different demographics across North America.
Glynis Tao
Can you tell me, how did you get started in e-commerce?
Gillian Liu
It started off as like, “we'll do it for fun.” We started carrying maybe 30 Japanese skincare products and maybe had a couple orders every week and then it just really started taking off. I never thought I would be in ecommerce, but it just happens to be one of those things where you stumble into it and you really enjoy it and so we continued.
Glynis Tao
And in the early days of Kiyoko Beauty, what marketing strategies did you use to grow your business?
Gillian Liu
I think that very early on, we realized that content is an amazing way to market because it is free. You post it once and then you don't have to pay for it ever again. Early on, we found that if you make a viral video, it can change your business trajectory and that's exactly what we've had. We had a viral video in 2021, with 3 million hits on TikTok. And that was really the signal for us to double down on content.
Glynis Tao
And so, in a crowded e-commerce space, what do you think builds the most trust with customers today? Is it reviews, content, brand story, or something else?
Gillian Liu
I think it’s content because I think when you are known for content, people have established a trust and a relationship with your account and your brand. And so you're not just some other website. People have been watching you for months on their social media and they've come to trust you—that way that you can stand out across. Especially in my space, I'm a commodity. Anyone can start an Asian beauty store, but I think the difference is that people have built up that trust with us.
Glynis Tao
And if you had to place one big bet for the future of e-commerce, whether it's channel, technology, or strategy, what would it be?
Gillian Liu
That’s such a good question. I don't think about e-commerce as a whole. I very much stay in my lane. Like I think about Kiyoko and I don’t think about the industry at large. I think that in the world of AI, you will see a lot more AI-integrated tools. But also, I think when you sell physical goods, you're kind of like AI-proofed in a way because you're not selling software. It can't easily replace toiletries for example. That’s why I think it's a good time to be in a product business.
Glynis Tao
And I think I saw an interview that you did where you had mentioned that you had done some SEO at the very beginning of your business. So how important is SEO to you now considering all the changes happening with AI search and more? Has that taken a hit on your organic traffic?
Gillian Liu
It actually hasn't because I think SEO is like a long game—you build up your SEO over time. At first, it was something that you just have to make sure that your product descriptions are optimized and things like that. I don’t think that we do anything crazy on SEO, but we have been doing a lot more affiliate lately and that also helps with SEO because blogs and other sites are linking back to you. Slowly and steadily our SEO score can increase, but it's not something that I'm thinking about all the time. There’s no golden key that will just unlock SEO. It's a long-term game.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, absolutely. But you did mention that you create content and sounds like you do blogging as well, so I’m sure that helps to bring some of the traffic in as well.
And so if you weren't running this brand, what would you be doing? What would you be doing today?
Gillian Liu
I mean, I think that I would be working a 9-5 corporate job. I think that this world has opened up to me because of Kiyoko. Even coming to this conference last year, it's where I met so many people that just opened up this whole world of alternative career paths. I think that if I hadn't started Kiyoko, I wouldn't be in this. Now, if I were to start over today and I was like, I'm going to start a new brand, I don't know. I don't really think about this too often, but maybe something about pets. I feel like people love their pets and more and more people are not having children and choosing to have pets instead. So it's a growing market.
Well then, maybe in the future.
Glynis Tao
Well Gillian, thank you so much for sharing your story and insights on the special live edition of Chase Your Dreams at Econ North. Thank you.
Gillian Liu
Thank you.
Glynis Tao
What is your name and what do you do?
Hannah Wang
My name is Hannah. I run the stationery company called The Aesthetics Studio where I design stickers, stationery products like bookmarks, greeting cards, keychains, pretty much any gift items you can think of with all original designs. I currently sell directly to customers on Etsy and my website as well as to retailers on Fair Wholesale.
Glynis Tao
And is this your first time at Econ North?
Hannah Wang
Yes, this is my first time here.
Glynis Tao
What has been the highlight of the conference so far?
Hannah Wang
I think just connecting with other entrepreneurs, especially in the e-commerce space and also hearing the talks from different brands that have done really well and seeing how they've been able to scale and grow their businesses has been really inspiring.
Glynis Tao
And so can you tell me quickly about your brand and what makes it stand out?
Hannah Wang
Yeah, so my brand has a very strong focus in mental health awareness and promoting mental health coping strategies through the art of journaling, creative expression, and even coloring. We have a coloring book that's been doing really well, both in retail spaces and online. And it's because of how we've designed it. It's different than other coloring books where each item that you color is very small and digestible compared to a huge page that you usually find in coloring books. And so we've had a lot of customers find that more approachable and it's made our book very unique that people will come and buy it. We've had a lot of great feedback about that book.
So for us, being able to advocate for mental health awareness, letting people know that the benefits of journaling of mental health through the art of journaling has been really great. And we hope to promote that through stickers because we find that using stickers, using cute stationery really gets you wanting to use your journals, planners more, and in turn you definitely see an impact on your mental health.
Glynis Tao
Amazing! So how did you get started in e-commerce?
Hannah Wang
Yeah, so I started when I was 17. I had graduated high school and I was right during lockdown and I was like, I need something to do. So I started an Etsy shop and I was working on my Etsy shop. Everything was going great. But, I honestly don't remember fully what happened, but Etsy had to suspend my shop. I think it's because something I inputted was wrong. My mistake, I put something in wrong, but Etsy had to suspend my shop.
When Etsy suspended my shop, I started looking into it and I realized that while this time they'll probably fix it, there's a chance in the future that Etsy could just shut off your shop for no real reason. I've seen it happen, I've read about it happening to other creators, other artists. And I was like, I can't just have all my eggs in one basket. I need my own platform that I have control over.
So then I started my own website and now I ship directly to customers on my website. But I also still use Etsy just because there are benefits to Etsy too, but I don't want to rely solely on Etsy. So that's why I have my own website. I do all of the shipping, fulfillment, customer service, product listings, chronography, all of that on my own.
Glynis Tao
And you've been doing this for about five years?
Hannah Wang
Yes, five years.
Glynis Tao
In the early days of your brand, what marketing strategies did you use to grow your business?
Hannah Wang
Primarily Instagram. It's still the biggest platform that I use in terms of social media. I really relied heavily on Instagram and it was great because everybody was online pretty much all the time. So I would say Instagram was definitely the key. Now that we've switched back to more in-person events, I've been slowly doing more markets, more in-person events, doing pop-ups and things just to get that in-person connection as well.
Glynis Tao
And so in a crowded e-commerce space, what do you think builds the most trust with customers today? Is it reviews, content, brand story, or something else?
Hannah Wang
I think all of it plays a role. I think your brand needs to be unique to you, but it also needs to have products that are good on its own. So if anything is out of balance, it doesn't work. You need to have a good brand that's recognizable, but you also need to have products that actually live up to what you say they are. So your stickers need to be good quality. They need to be printed well, they can't be blurry, the cut lines need to be good. There's a lot of things that go into the production that needs to be really well made. And then you also need the brand side to be recognizable, reputable, like working with other companies. Doing content collaborations for example, is a great way to get your brand recognized with other companies as well as other customers. So I would say it's a mix of everything.
Glynis Tao
And if you had to place one big bet for the future of e-commerce, whether it's a channel, technology, or strategy, what would it be?
Hannah Wang
I have seen a lot of people talk about live shopping as one of the things that's growing and emerging. I think that is really cool. What I envision is kind of similar. It’s live shopping in a sense where, it’s not like VR exactly, but you would have products listed out and it's almost like a live auction where people can talk. You can walk through and share with a customer what's going on.
Because I think that a lot of times with online shopping, you don't get that in-person touch—people can't touch the product, they can't feel it. They can only look at the reviews, only look at the photos, but with live shopping, they can say, can you just show me the back of that? You can turn the camera around. Or can you flip through to this page? Or can you tell me how thick it is? Things like that, you can actually talk to your customer and it's almost like you're at a market event, but it makes it more accessible for people who aren't able to make it to market events. Or say they live too far away, but they still get a lot of the benefits that they would get if they were shopping in person. So I think that is really interesting. I'm not exactly sure how that will go, but I have heard of live shopping as one of the things that are emerging right now.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, that's very interesting. And if you weren't running your brand, what would you be doing other than that today?
Hannah Wang
If I wasn't running my brand, I would probably be running a different brand, to be honest. I really also enjoy crocheting and I've been getting more into crocheting. I started crocheting a few years ago and I've been designing patterns and things. So I think if I wasn't doing my brand, I would probably focus on crocheting. Looking at selling crochet patterns, looking at maybe even a crochet e-commerce platform because there are other platforms out there, but they're generally more restricted.
And I'm envisioning something more like Etsy, but like on a wider scale. So there are things I would love to do, I just don't have the ability to do it right now.
Glynis Tao
Maybe in the future.
Hannah Wang
Yeah, in the future.
Glynis Tao
Well Hannah, thank you so much for sharing your story and insight today and thank you for being here.
Hannah Wang
Thank you for having me. It was really nice talking to you.
Glynis Tao
Let’s start off by introducing yourself. What's your name and what do you do?
Andy Hsu
Sure. I'm the co-founder of MotionGrey. We are an e-commerce business focusing on ergonomic office furniture. So things like standing desk, office chairs, we are specializing in that niche and we've been doing it for eight years now.
Glynis Tao
Awesome. And so this isn't your first time at Econ, right?
Andy Hsu
No, actually the second time.
Glynis Tao
Second time! Awesome. So what's been the highlight of the conference for you so far?
Andy Hsu
For sure. So I think the first time I've been here, even now, I feel like there's a lot of buzz and energy around the room. I think in many ways, when I come to these events, I get the passion and the drive. It gets re-lit all the time. So I think just being around different entrepreneurs really propels another level of motivation that I can bring back to my own business. So yeah, just being around great people is the highlight, I would say, for Ecom North.
Glynis Tao
And so, tell me quickly about your brand and what makes it stand out.
Andy Hsu
Yeah. So the evolution of MotionGrey has been eight years. We focus on standing desks and office chairs, but we're really trying to bring the most value to our customers. We focus on innovation and product, but delivering that at an affordable price. So I think when we first got into the market, the options out there were very expensive and we wanted to close that gap because as users, we don't want to pay $1,000, $2,000 or something like that for what is essential. So from there, we really focused on product quality and pricing as well. Things from warehousing, logistics, even marketing, everything is done in and out to provide the best solution and cost effective model for the customer.
Glynis Tao
Wonderful. So you've been in this business for eight years now. What made you decide to get into e-commerce?
Andy Hsu
Wow, that's a good question. I actually didn't start off with e-commerce. I started as a website designer for small businesses. I was always very interested in being an entrepreneur, but I didn't know how to go into the market, but I really love the element of marketing. I like the element of designing. And e-commerce kind of combines both of that. It gives you a tangible product and also a way to market that product as well.
Coming from a civil engineering background, I do really resonate with product design, how to improve on an existing, visible product, and the creative part of myself, which is marketing, is a complete circle of what my passion is. So e-commerce really puts the two together for me. So I really, really love that.
Glynis Tao
Yeah. And you started off selling gaming chairs, didn't you?
Andy Hsu
Yes, I did!
Glynis Tao
In the early days? I remember that. Jason was so excited about those chairs. I think he got one for himself.
Andy Hsu
And we used to do conventions together to sell the chairs to a lot of passionate people. But yeah, like at the time, as a younger 20 year old, people around us were gaming. Esports was a huge, huge thing then and even now. But that's the initial idea of the office furniture brand which is MotionGrey. Gaming chairs were the initial product that we tapped into because it was a little bit bigger, a little bit bulkier, higher gear of entry to enter. So we found a good gap within that market. And then from there, it expanded into what we see as MotionGrey today.
Glynis Tao
Okay. Do you still sell gaming chairs?
Andy Hsu
We do, but it's expanded into MotionGrey.
Glynis Tao
Amazing. In those early days of MotionGrey, what marketing strategies did you use to grow the business?
Andy Hsu
For sure. I think the first one that I really locked in was email marketing. I think even with organic traffic or just people talking about MotionGrey, you really want to capture the customer information as soon as you can because that is where the real gold is, which is the emails, the phone numbers, and also the contact to the customer. So I really emphasize on making sure we were really diligent in our email marketing and email marketing campaigns. And from there, once you understand your funnel, then you can start to expand into paid ads. But the foundation was email marketing.
Glynis Tao
So, in a crowded e-commerce space, what do you think builds the most trust with customers today? Is it reviews, content, brand story, or something else?
Andy Hsu
I think you need the essentials. You definitely need to have a really great product because that's what would speak volume and that's what can extend the company to be in this market. But I would say authenticity in this crowded market is quite important. Not so much where ads can just deliver a direct sell, but I think the authenticity of a brand and also founder-like content has really risen in the last couple of years because in a crowded space, like where we're at now, I think being open and authentic from the founder perspective can really push a brand in the next couple of years.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, so storytelling you would say?
Andy Hsu
Storytelling is huge.
Glynis Tao
So if you had to place one big bet for the future of e-commerce, whether it's channel technology or strategy, what would it be?
Andy Hsu
Yeah, I think so with MotionGrey, we really maximize on marketplaces—Amazon, you got your Walmarts or your Best Buy. I think many sellers in the DTC space, they only focus on Shopify, but from the standpoint of visibility or just being able to generate a high top line and to use that cashflow to really build out your DTC business. I think being able to have your products on different marketplaces can actually simultaneously grow your business as a whole. I think implementing that strategy can really push a brand forward really quickly. So that's how we've been able to build an $18 million company. Not because we will rely strictly on Shopify, but we had to mix up Amazon, the Walmarts, the Best Buys, the Staples with our Shopify site. So cohesively, you can grow a company a lot quicker and get more visibility and eyes to your brand.
Glynis Tao
So having that diversity of distribution channels.
Andy Hsu
Multi-channels, yes.
Glynis Tao
It’s huge.
Andy Hsu
Yes.
Glynis Tao
Okay, and on all these different marketplaces.
Andy Hsu
I would say so.
Glynis Tao
And so, what would you be doing if you were not running this brand?
Andy Hsu
I think I might go back to website design. As a kid, I really loved designing shoes. I loved to play basketball. So in high school, I would actually draw basketball shoes. So like that design element, that design passion has always been there. I think a website designer or an element of that would probably be something that I look into. So, I'll be an entrepreneur still.
Glynis Tao
Still an entrepreneur!
Andy Hsu
Hopefully.
Glynis Tao
That's in your blood.
Andy Hsu
I think so, yeah.
Glynis Tao
Amazing. Well, Andy, thank you so much for sharing your story and insights today and for joining me on a special live edition of Chase the Dream's podcast at Econ North.
Andy Hsu
All right. See ya!
Glynis Tao
Tell me, what's your name and what do you do?
Hellen Harbilas
So my name is Hellen and I'm the owner and founder of Hellen's Boutique. I sell luxury sculpture candles, handmade pieces, and decor.
Glynis Tao
Is this your first time at Ecom North?
Hellen Harbilas
It is, yes.
Glynis Tao
What's been the highlight conference for you so far?
Hellen Harbilas
I think it's been very informative. I was a little scared coming in here and you like you got to spend a little bit of money to come here and some of these conferences don't really have added value, you know? You've seen that in the past, some little things are like false promises, but this has been great! In just the first day, the topic that resonated with me the most was AI storytelling. I feel like we need to be masters of telling our own story and sometimes it's so difficult to get out of your head as a business owner and see, okay, what do our customers want to know about us and how can we clearly define that message in our ads, copyright, our website, everything?
Glynis Tao
So tell me quickly about your brand. What makes it stand out?
Hellen Harbilas
Well, my story in general started off with me hating candles. I absolutely did not like candles on the market. It gave me headaches and nausea. You know how you're like opening up a candle in the store and you're like, oh my god, I can't even breathe. That's what inspired me to start Hellen's Boutique. I wanted a candle that not only looked really good, but also smelled really good and that you can actually be like this is such a relaxing fragrance and not a boom in your face. So what makes this different is like our premium soy wax and our premium fragrance oils. Our premium fragrance oils just means that there's less allergens than a typical fragrance oil. They irritate your sinuses less. So, I think that powered with the craftsmanship and our decor part of the business makes us stand out. I call it a little pretty air freshener. That's what I call it.
Glynis Tao
Yeah, well air fresheners can be so bad for you.
Hellen Harbilas
Absolutely.
Glynis Tao
Right? Because they're all made of chemicals and toxins. So did you start the business because you identified there was sort of that need in the market?
Hellen Harbilas
Absolutely. Yeah. Everybody was telling me, I don't really like the candles at like, I'm not going to start naming name brands. You know who I'm talking about, but very strong scented candles. There was definitely like a need. There's a lot of people like me and I was literally like my biggest tester. Like if they didn't work with my sinuses and my allergies, I wouldn't produce it.
Glynis Tao
And so how did you get started in ecommerce?
Hellen Harbilas
Learning like everybody else, I actually started my business in the pandemic, so I had to learn everything from scratch. I researched all of the products and I made my website. I just started and did my website by myself. I had learned everything from A to Z on how to even program the site and enter some code. I actually did something where I chose a theme that was no longer available on Shopify and I only found that out like last year. I had a full mental breakdown, by the way. I was like, oh my goodness, I have to change the entire theme. I hadn't updated my website because when you're doing your own coding and your own theme, you absolutely have to update your website every year so you can match Shopify and then you can bring out the most updated tools. I wasn't doing that.
So now I learned my lesson. just choose the default theme and I add what I need.
Glynis Tao
So a lot of learning in the beginning.
Hellen Harbilas
Absolutely and consistent learning throughout the years. I don't think you're ever done changing your website as a business owner.
Glynis Tao
Always a work in progress.
Hellen Harbilas
Every day you're like, oh my God. I don't really like this button and I don't really like this section, this doesn't make sense. And you gotta change it over and over again.
Glynis Tao
That's usually how it is, I find. So in those early days building a brand, what marketing strategy did you use to grow your business?
Hellen Harbilas
Man, like it was a tough time, right? Like I was literally in the midst of a pandemic and I think my first strategy was to get my products out there to the people in-person so they can see it, test the market to see if people will buy it and validate that product.
I spent three months researching and then all of a sudden I was just walking in my neighborhood in Toronto and I saw people popping up there and it was September 2021. And people were doing markets outside of Arta Gallery, actually. Arta Gallery was doing this thing where they would take small businesses and allow them to pop up in front of their store outside. Like a little outdoor flea market. I saw that and I was like, you know what? I have nothing to lose. Let me go ask. And then they accepted me. And then my first ever pop up was October 10th, 2021. That was almost four years ago today. I tested the market and I remember making like $500 on one day, just popping up.
I think, pop-ups was, at least in my first year of growth, was getting my product in front of customers, getting my website, using the Etsy platform, and getting into the wholesale portion of that, but that was only like the second year of business where we started to grow even further. Then we were able to concentrate a little bit more on the growth part, less on the product and testing part.
Glynis Tao
And so you've been doing it for five years now?
Hellen Harbilas
Four years, yes.
Glynis Tao
- Started during pandemic time. So in a crowded e-commerce space, what do you think builds the most trust with customers today? Is it reviews, brand story, or something else?
Hellen Harbilas
Well, as we are learning with this conference and I know that you've gone to several sessions, I think it's an all-encompassing of all of those three plus a few more things. I feel like as a business owner, you realize that when you're posting content online, sometimes you have to post the funny things and you have to be your own influencer of your business, but that doesn't really generate sales. So you need to find a way to tell your story, but also attract the right audience. And that's what I struggle with the most too—getting my content out to the right people. I've had videos gone viral, but they went viral to other business owners, which is great. But the other business owners are not really my target audience. So it's like, how do you align your content with the things that actually are gonna get your customers to buy it?
And then obviously, the website is important and SEO. Everybody talks about SEO. It's something that I still try to… I think all business owners keep trying to master it every day—trying to try to change things on their website. But I think the most important thing about SEO is you have to be focused on actually, not putting keywords into your site. More like, tell me about your product and be specific and descriptive and focus on the actual problem that you're solving rather than just say like, like this is just a soy candle. Okay, well, if you type in soy candles on Google, guess what comes up? A lot of stuff that's not my stuff. So you have to be very specific and that's also what I'm trying to work on as well. They’re kind of marketed in a way, as you saw, my candles are more like decorative pieces. So kind of like switching the narrative a bit and more of like a decorative sales pitch than an actual candle that you can burn because everybody tells me that my candles are too pretty to burn. And that's not the problem. I want you to burn it, but you don't have to burn it. It's a pretty air freshener.
Glynis Tao
They look like little sculptures, right?
Hellen Harbilas
Yeah. And they still freshen your space.
Glynis Tao
You can display them like pieces of art. You don't have to burn them.
Hellen Harbilas
I actually want them to burn it. It's better for me. I always want more money. Anyways, it's an investment piece. You have to invest in your home and the way that it looks. It will literally last forever. One of my first customers who ever bought from me in October, had bought like October 2021, had bought a candle from me and she says that it still smells now to this day. So four years later. I mean, lasts forever. Literally.
Glynis Tao
Yeah. Well, that is a good investment. If you had to place one big bet for the future of e-commerce, whether it's a channel, technology or strategy, what would it be? Sort of like, where are we headed?
Hellen Harbilas
Hmm. Where are we headed? A very scary place. That's what I'm thinking of. First off, I just did a session. They went through like the SEO and like the future of SEO and then they said that basically maybe at one point or another, we won't necessarily need Google to pop up. People are going to be using a lot of AI. So you're going to go to ChatGPT and you're going to say, give me the best of the best candles with the most amazing reviews and all of that. And then that's going to be able to search all the websites. If you don't come up, you basically don't exist and that kind of freaked me out because I'm like, man, that's freaky.
Glynis Tao
It is. Like, what’s the point of your website? Yeah, because you put so much work into it and you don't even show up. I think this is a big challenge for a lot of brands right now and there's a lot of confusion I think around what AI search is and how it works and most importantly how do you make your brand come up in AI search. Interesting conversations. I think it's a hot topic which I would like to continue and have more conversations around.
Hellen Harbilas
Absolutely.
Glynis Tao
But anyways, let me just ask you if you weren't doing this business now, what would you be doing?
Hellen Harbilas
Oh my goodness. Well, part of me could tell you that I would be living in Paris, France, going to school to become a fashion designer. That's one of my other dreams as well. So I've always wanted to be a fashion designer ever since I was like seven years old, I started drawing and stuff. And this year I recently got a chance to live there for two months and I did take my sewing classes over there and I absolutely loved it. And I would be like, yeah, absolutely. I would totally come here and live here in a heartbeat and start working on this slowly. That's part of my side projects as well is like working on developing that art person, that fashion person on the other side. So that's what I would be doing. I would be in Paris.
Glynis Tao
We should just trade lives because I was working in fashion for a little while. That was sort of my past life working in the fashion industry. Now I switched to more tech, I guess. But yeah, that sounds like fun. And so thank you so much.
Hellen Harbilas
Thank you.
Glynis Tao
For being here and sharing your story and insights with us on the special edition live at Ecom North.
Hellen Harbilas
Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure.
Glynis Tao
For our listeners, if you like to learn more about Hellen’s business, we'll have the links in the show notes. And if you want to share your social handles as well to the audience.
Hellen Harbilas
My Instagram is hellens.boutique with two L's for Hellens and then it's just hellensboutique.com or hellensboutique on TikTok.
Glynis Tao
Awesome! Thank you so much!
Hellen Harbilas
Thank you for having me!
Glynis Tao
For our listeners, if you'd like to learn more about all the founders interviewed in today's podcast, we'll have the links in the show notes.
And if you're a founder who's been listening and thinking about how to get more visibility and sales through SEO, especially with all the changes happening in search right now, you can connect directly with me at hello@glynistao.com or you can DM me on Instagram at glynistao.
Thanks again for tuning in. Hopefully you enjoyed these conversations with incredible founders from Ecom North.
Thank you so much for tuning in. You can find me on Instagram at glynistao and my website glynistao.com. Please subscribe to Chase Your Dreams podcast if you haven't already. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others who you think this may help. Lastly, it would be great if you left a rating and review for our podcast. See you next time!