In January 2021 the ProvenReady team announced that Shopify Badges were available for students to work towards earning their own Shopify store (valued at $360/yr). If you missed that announcement, you can learn more about the badges here. We’re excited to share the first Shopify Students Success Story with you!
Two students from Glendale Community College learned about this opportunity thanks to their professor and business advisor Rafael Cardona. He shared it with the school’s business club, and it just so happened that friends Lia Haghverdian and Liana Kurkdjian were curious about starting an eCommerce store of their own.
Lia and Liana jumped at the chance to learn about how to successfully launch and grow a business online, quickly whipping through the Email Marketing Part 1 and 2 badges and ultimately finishing the Getting Started With Shopify badge to cash in and collect their free store. On February 1, they took everything they learned and launched LNL Desire, a jewelry store specializing in luxury, but affordable, gold-plated jewelry.
Upon launching, the ladies had six different pieces of jewelry to choose from, but getting to this point took a number of steps. First, they went through the process of trying to find a supplier, and then pooling their money together to purchase an initial inventory. Next, they knew they wanted to take professional images to display their jewelry in the best light possible. So, they reached out to their network to find someone to help them with the shots.
In the days leading up to the launch of the store they had created an Instagram and Facebook page to tease the public about the store, and to drum up interest (which they plan on exploring purchasing ads from eventually). Finally, they shared their launch date, and had a countdown timer running on Instagram announcing the store would be live at 5 p.m. EST on February 1, 2021.
Just a few hours after launching, the ladies were thrilled to share a story on Instagram that they had made their first sale and they were preparing it for shipping.
When asked what it was that made them take the Shopify badges they said, “we have both always been interested in starting a business. We figured starting our own jewelry brand would be a great idea, since we both have a passion for fashion and accessories.”
When asked about their name they said, “LNL Desire was honestly one of our last choices. We were very keen on having a name that’ll be easy to remember, while still having a touch of us in the name. And so we came up with the name LNL (each L standing for the first letter of our names) and Desire.”
They also stated, “Our hopes and future goals for our Shopify store would be to extend our collection and introduce new pieces. We are always looking to better our brand and branch out.”
Professor Cardona said he couldn’t be more excited for the ladies in the launch of their online store. He went on to say that after 10 years at the college as an adjunct professor, what brings him the most joy is working with the students and watching as their dreams come alive.
For his part in helping launch LNL Desire, he assisted the students in doing a competitive analysis. They also discussed inventory, price markups and how to get a solid return on investment. He said Lia and Liana who are majoring in psychology and pre-med purchased just 70 pieces to start and only asked for three things:
- Help with finding their first photographer
- Assistance with the design and look of the website
- And advice for getting a business grant
Everything else was up to them. Professor Cardona said, “My students are hard working, and they don’t expect anything free or to be handed to them. They worked for this, took their savings to buy their stock in hopes of a soft launch in February to take advantage of Valentine’s Day, and I hope they will be very successful.”
Our entire team at ProvenReady hopes for the same. We’re all rooting for you Lia and Liana!
Want to start a Shopify store of your own for free? Learn more about our Shopify badges and get started!
