Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of MyVitro’s launch, and what a year it has been. It also marks one year of COVID in the US. Do I recommend launching a business the same year a pandemic tears apart your country? No. But I am so proud of the hard work Patrick Hall and I put in to make our company a success.
In the past year, we:
- Helped thousands of people grow their families by supporting their IVF journey
- Received hundreds of positive mentions and recommendations on social media and 5 star reviews on our website
- Shipped to every state in the US and Puerto Rico
- Shipped to customers from 12 other countries
- Opened our store with 1 sku. Now we sell 22!
- From Q1 to Q4 we:
- Increased revenue 785%
- Increased average order value 225%
- Grew web visitors by 275%
- Ignored 1 million LinkedIn Requests that started with “I saw that you’re in the health & wellness space and wanted to connect!” 🙄
- Donated to 9 non-profits with our MyVitro Gives Back program
- Were supported by countless partners, friends, and influencers in the infertility community (and beyond!) who have helped our business thrive this year
What did we learn?
- Launching a business at the start of a global pandemic WILL harm your supply chain, but will NOT affect ecommerce sales
- Getting positive reviews and a share of community conversation was (joyously) easier than expected!
- Product photography is super hard. And it will test your marriage.
- Facebook/Instagram advertising continues to be a black box We drove a lot of conversions using it, and have no idea why. 🤷♂️
- Running a basic ecommerce business on Shopify is shockingly straightforward. Elevating it and managing the endless apps and improvements is hard.
- Management of a multi-vendor, international supply chain in the midst of a global pandemic is as complicated as you would expect.
- Relying on the expertise of partners paid off in spades.
- Customer Service wasn’t nearly as scary as we thought it would be. It was, however, just as IMPORTANT as we thought it would be. Kindness goes a long way.
- We lived through our first Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and realized that while every buyer likes a sale, our business is not seasonal and we don’t need to rely on Q4 to make our number.
- Running a home-based business while locked up with your children and dog will make you really regret your open floor plan.
Cheers to year 2!
