BOBBY CLARK
ON DISCOVERING $1.5 MILLION OF LOST SALES IN HER ABANDON CART
For Bobby Clark turning her artistic passion into a business hasn’t come easy.
She’s battled with the fear of not being seen as a true artist, not having the skills to set up good business practices and valuing her time and creativity. Up until recently, she’s kind of been winging it. It wasn’t until her friend and partner Steve saw that she had 40,000 visitors a month to her website with nothing for them to buy, that she decided to start selling prints online. This decision changed the game and gave her a steady stream of income for the first time. Once Bobby started taking the business side more seriously, she also discovered she had $1.5M worth of lost sales due to abandoned carts. That forced her to fix any leaky buckets and find new opportunities within the business.
She’s now hired a business coach, an accountant and is on the hunt for a commercial agent to grow her business even more.
In this chat, Bobby is funny, candid and super insightful, and if you’re a creative or artist trying to make it in this world, this one is for you.
You’ll learn:
How Bobby discovered $1.5 million of lost sales due to abandoned carts, and what she plans on doing about it
Bobby’s advice for valuing your work as a creative, and why you need to do more than just price out your time
The one simple action that helped her overcome 4 years of creative block, and encouraged her to pick up the paintbrush again
Bobby’s struggle with the fear of judgement and how she has learned to overcome it
How Bobby attracted her very first customers as an artist, and how tapping into existing networks of designers and creatives in Melbourne helped her business gain early traction
How launching ecommerce on her website changed the game and gave her a steady stream of income for the first time
We hope you enjoyed this conversation – for more podcast action follow us on Instagram @lady.brains, or sign up to our monthly newsletter at www.ladybrains.com
THE BITS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS
“[My friend] went on my website and he was like dude, wtf. There is 40k people on your website [in a month] and there’s nothing to f*cking buy! He told me I needed to sell prints, but I didn’t want to do it because I’ll devalue my work, and he said...it’s pretty much the opposite Bobby. So I made the damn prints and it became a constant steam of income for me, which has meant that I can actually make money from my art. ”
“[My business coach] was in the back end of my website and he’s like, do you know since January you have had $1.5 million of sales in your abandoned cart? And I was like, what’s that? He said, do you send an email to people who have purchased your prints? And I was like, no! Then I thought oh shit, I need your help. ”
“Sorry, I’m not actually taking on any unpaid work at this minute.”
“People say ‘right place right time’ when speaking about being on Instagram [and gaining a following], but networking is huge. People always label me as lucky. But no, I work really hard. But we [her partner Steve and her] love people. I think it’s a skill and accolade, that I’m able to go in a room and talk to absolutely everyone and hold my own. ”
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