Tomorrow morning we will be heading off for the first leg of our journey to fabulous New York City. Flockstocks scored this excellent trip as part of the 2011 Shopify Build-A-Business Contest. Flockstocks came first in its category of Jewellery and Apparel. You can check out the other excellent winners here. For those who don't know, Shopify is an ecommerce selling platform that makes opening up a stylish online store simple and speedy. It's who we used to build this awesome site ;)

As part of the VIP trip for two will be the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have lunch with marketing guru and personal hero Seth Godin. If you don't already subscribe to his blog, do yourself a favour and join up here. 

If you have any suggestions on what to check out in the Big Apple (where to eat, what to see etc) please facebook us, we'd love to hear from you! 

           

From Shopify:

Today, we're beyond excited to announce the winners of our Build-A-Business Competition! Over 3,000 entrepreneurs created new online stores that sold over $12 million in products during the eight month competition period. The grand prize is $100,000 cash, along with VIP trips to New York City and San Francisco to meet with Timothy Ferriss, Seth Godin, and Gary Vaynerchuk for high-level business and marketing advice to further grow their business.

In addition to the grand prize, we're awarding a total of $150,000 cash and $60,000 in Google AdWords credits to our industry and Canadian winners.

FlockStocks - Winner of Apparel and Jewellery Prize - $25,000, VIP trip for 2 To New York, lunch with marketing legend Seth Godin and $7,500 Google Adwords credit.

Sophie Kovic was working as a projectionist at a small movie theatre last year. Then she read Timothy Ferriss' book "The 4-Hour Workweek." She followed his step-by-step instructions on how to create a successful online business (with a focus on Google AdWords) and built FlockStocks - a feather hair extension online store that's selling all around the world.

 

Just a quick note to say from the bottom of my heart, Thank You to all the customers in 2011 that made FlockStocks Feather Extensions what it is today. Without your support we could never have achieved what we did last year and now with the Shopify Build-A-Business Contest closed it is a time to reflect and give thanks for our successful year. Your sales helped contribute to what has been an incredible journey that has involved hard work, late nights, big staff efforts, steep learning curves and everything that comes along with it. 

There are some people I want to thank. Thank you to everyone who made an inquiry. You helped me in finding the answers. Thank you to everyone who became a stockist. You helped us to built great new relationships. Thank you to everyone who made a complaint. You helped our products to improve and evolve. Thank you to everyone who placed an order. You helped us get our sales high enough to be announced the front-runner in the Build-A-Biz contest mid-way. Thank you to every single person who was involved with our journey. Without you nothing would have been achieved.

Next week the winner of the Build-A-Business Contest will be announced. Regardless of whether we win or make a place, the journey has been rich and inspiring. I found new ideas and new connections. With Shopify's help I met new and exciting people and found my way to who I am and who I want to be in business. 

I would like to give special thanks to Timothy Ferriss, Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuck. I can truly say your generosity and insight has shaped my world this year. Each one of you has impacted on how I do business, and each book of yours I have treasured. You are all incredible, thank you for sharing. 

And thank you in advance to all the wonderful people who cross my path in 2012, may it be another great year of business and learning. To the future!

Sophie Kovic

Founder 

FlockStocks Feather Hair Extensions

FlockStocks founder Sophie Kovic got a great write up about how successful the Flockstocks business has been on female entrepreneurship website www.themogulmom.com. To read about the success of the Flockstocks brand see the article at http://www.themogulmom.com/2011/10/sophie-kovik-shopify/

For its second year, Shopify is hosting its Build-A-Business contest, which is well underway with over 2,000 new online stores competing for a $100,000 prize. Everyone who joins receives two free hardcover books, free printed business cards, $200 in Google AdWords, and the chance to win $500,000 in prizes. The winner is judged by combining the revenue from the competitor’s best two calendar months. The store with the highest revenue wins the grand prize. And guess who is is currently topping the charts?