November Monthly Roundup
Learning, taking your time, preparing for holiday marketing, the story of Nextdoor built by Sarah Leary, and much more...
🀩 I’m writing this from my first proper break after a year of what has seemed like non-stop work. To-do lists grew endlessly this year as my partner and I checked off big milestones. Grateful for all that I have learnt through this journey, but as I’m writing this, I’m really appreciating this down time. A MUCH needed break indeed!
This month’s edition is focused on learning, and changing things up where helpful.💡As we head towards the end of this year, what better than to recollect the past 11 months, and think about how we can end the year with a ‘sparkle’, feeling all the more ready for 2025.
PS: As always, if you think this newsletter could be helpful to another founder in your network, please share this publication with them! We love a growing, supportive community 🙏🏼
🚀 5 Tips to End 2024 on a High
The holiday season is prime time for businesses to shine, and it is swiftly approaching next month! As an e-commerce company owner myself, I spend much of November setting my company up to serve customers in the best way possible during Christmas & New Years. Whether you’re a product seller or service provider, here are some ideas to inspire your preparations for holiday promotions:
Creative Campaigns
Create a narrative around your brand's story tying it to the season's spirit. Select brand values that fit the season, and highlight them through short reels that show the journey of building your business or people behind the scenes. Storytelling builds an emotional connection with your audience, making your brand memorable.
Gift Collaboration
Partner with other women-led brands to create a set of holiday products / services at an attractive price. Offer a curated selection, where each item complements each other and appeals to your shared audience. This cross-promotion can help expand your reach while giving customers a convenient way to find thoughtful holiday gifts.
12 Days of Deals
Create a countdown campaign with a different promotion each day leading up to Christmas or New Year. It could be discounts, limited-time product drops, or even free content like e-books or tutorials. This strategy creates excitement and encourages customers to keep coming back to see the next day's offer.
Leverage Scarcity & Urgency: Limit the time of your holiday offers. For example, a “24-Hour or 1 Week Flash Sale” or a “Limited Edition Holiday Bundle” can encourage customers to act quickly. Use countdown timers in emails and on landing pages to remind customers of the time-sensitive nature of your deals.
Personalised Shopping Experience
Customers appreciate tailored recommendations and experiences, especially during the holiday season when gift-buying can feel overwhelming. Use email marketing to send personalised gift suggestions based on past purchases or browsing history. Consider adding a “Gift Finder” quiz on your website to guide shoppers to the perfect product.
🌍 Spotlight on Interesting Women-built Businesses
In Harvard Business School, I remember reading a case on Nextdoor, and I have to say that it inspired me to infuse unique-ness into my journey as a founder i.e. to do things on my own terms!
Nextdoor is an app for neighborhoods where you can get local tips, buy and sell items, and more. My biggest learning from Sarah’s journey of building this company is her patience, and ability to reflect/learn from every single experience. She truly enjoyed the process of building a business, which is so important when you enter the entrepreneurial world. Few key lessons to takeaway from her story:
Solve Real Problems: Nextdoor addresses a genuine need for connection in neighborhoods, making it indispensable for many users. Sarah’s success highlights the value of building a product that solves a real problem and creates community.
Take your time: A lot of time was spent with customers! Sarah and her co-founder decided to take a few months to come up with a billion-dollar idea. Conversations with potential customers enlightened them about existing/new pain points, and test mini ideas they had.
Validate Before Raising: Sarah and her co-founder bootstrapped Nextdoor and refined the product before raising capital, ensuring that they had a solid foundation and loyal user base before scaling.
"We (Sarah and her co-founder) would have a meeting at 10 AM everyday and discuss a new idea, then take the next 24 hours to find out if it would work”
“I don't think anything of any value in this world is ever built overnight. And oftentimes if it's harder to build, it also has more durability and is more defensible. And that's certainly part of the story of the creation of Nextdoor”
📚 Book of the Month: "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck
Our favourite takeaways
Effort does not lead to success, it leads to mastery and eventual achievement. Put in the effort without expectations but with clarity of knowing what you want to work towards
Don’t forget to celebrate people around you. Jealousy and hatred takes you nowhere, it only creates negativity which has no place when you seek progress. Find inspiration and lessons from other people’s experiences - connect with successful people, and learn from their habits
Don’t seek approval. When our behaviours are motivated by a desire for external validation rather than internal motivation, we risk stunting our development and becoming reliant on others' judgements of our self-worth
🔗 Our monthly pick of resources
JP Morgan’s page on financial planning
Techstars’ FREE toolbox for founders
And that’s all for November! Hope you have a lovely month ahead, and enjoy the learnings you’ll experience over the next 30 days.
Until next time,
Nareen Sidhu
Team Inspirele
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