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Partner League is fortunate to have a vibrant and inclusive community of thousands of Shopify partners from across the globe. Over the years, we have come together to talk about a number of things. Right from eCommerce as an industry to the tools we use on an everyday basis to run and grow our businesses, to even seeking out help from one another.
So we decided it was time to start getting our members into the spotlight. The people who have been a core part of what Partner League is truly meant for. Giving back to the community and thriving together.
Each week we’re going to highlight a member from our community, sharing their story, background and the projects they work on that makes them an integral part of the Shopify ecosystem. Call this our way of encouraging more of us to come through!
This week we spoke to Rebecca Worsley, the CEO of Rainy City Agency, a Shopify Partner that helps merchants build bespoke eCommerce stores for their brands on Shopify and Shopify Plus.
Hey Rebecca, great to have you be part of Partner League’s Member Spotlight. Can you give us some details on your background, and what first got you interested in becoming a Shopify Partner to help merchants design and develop their online storefronts?
I initially started out by having my own brands and they all used Shopify as a platform. We started work on a skincare brand and this was my first opportunity to get to work directly with the design on a Shopify site and I loved it.
To pay for the skincare brand I began helping other brands that were in a group, designing and building their stores for them. It got to the point of making a decision to follow through with the Shopify work or to scale the skincare and I picked Shopify!
Since then I launched my agency, grown the team to 12 employees and worked with some amazing brands across the globe.
We all know that the Shopify Partners ecosystem is growing by the day and there is a lot of competition out there. How do you get the word out about your business and what have been the top three sources for you to get clients?
For us, we have been focusing on paid marketing, email outreach and LinkedIn to reach our target audience. They have been our top three channels to take the business ‘out there’.
We make it a point to always stay at the top of our audience’s minds on these channels; so we create our content accordingly to provide a lot of value to them.
Interesting to hear email outreach as a source; we have had some partners explore the tactic but not dive too deep into it. Moving on to partnerships and collaborations.
Can you share a specific collaboration project you’ve worked on with other Shopify Partners? How did it happen and did it really add any value to you or your business in general?
We partner with quite a few agencies — Magnet Monster being one of them. We refer all Klaviyo needs to them and they send us all the design and development work that comes to them.
I think a key thing for us is sticking to our specialty and skill-set and vice versa. Our work crosses over nicely and compliments one another, thus giving clients the best success rate as well.
You’ve been a part of Partner League for a while now and our goal was to help Partners connect with one another. Can you highlight a valuable connection made within Partner League, a resource or pivotal insight that you learned from being a member?
We worked closely with James Corr from Partner League, he helped us realign our thinking of the agency, get some amazing processes in place and helped get staff trained on new sales channels.
So being on Partner League has really helped us grow both in terms of connections as well as learnings.
Which other professional online communities are you part of and most engaged in? Free or paid.
If communities have had an important impact on your business or role within the business, can you explain how?
This is the only one so far!
But I’m glad to be here as it helps staying on top of things in the Shopify ecosystem, and also network pretty easily.
We’re all always tackling a number of things at a time. What are the top 3 tools (digital or physical) you use, and can’t live without, that have helped you stay on top of things as an entrepreneur?
We’re using Monday.com for project management, Close.io for our CRM and my good old paper diary!
Somehow, I feel writing things down has always helped me make sure I’m not missing out on something as the day progresses.
Personally, I too follow a very traditional writing style of maintaining a to-do. But then I also have a few set tools for project management like Trello in place!
So, what is it that you’re working on right now to help take your business to the next level?
Currently working on a recruitment drive. We’re looking for developers to join the team!
It’s a high-demand industry at the minute so it’s hard to get the right people in with the skills that will also fit with our company culture. It’s an ongoing process but it does take up a majority of my time right now.
I know it’s important to get the team in place.
We totally agree with you. Be it design, development, marketing, sales or any other department, finding the right people can be overwhelming and time consuming. But it is so important when you’re growing!
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Rebecca. We really look forward to hearing more about your journey soon, and maybe even hosting a live networking session with you in person or virtually.
Keep an eye open for our next Member Spotlight post coming soon! We’re going to make it our goal to share insightful snippets in the form of mini-interviews that you can read on the go, and learn from.
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