I'm back in the saddle after heading to Ottawa last week to visit the Shopify mothership.
It absolutely may be the single most interesting workplace in the world.
Shopify currently occupies ten floors of this new LEED-certified building in downtown:
Aside from a ton of neat tech and seemingly endless perks, they have really clever decorating.
Each floor has a theme, and each room has its own theme within that.
For example, one floor's theme is retreat.
That floor has, among other things, work teepees:
My favorite floor was Prohibition in which every room was named after a cocktail.
(We did some filming in White Russian because it was naturally very white and bright.)
My favorite room was also on the Prohibition floor. It spoke to me:
Play is emphasized in several rooms. There's even an indoor go kart track. (Seriously.)
Demonstrating both play and an eye toward the future was this VR demo room:
Throughout the offices were many artworks promoting their mission:
I've staked my entire business on Shopify's success so this pilgrimage was important to me.
It's truly an extraordinary place to be. I've never seen anything remotely like it.
They are also gracious hosts, and made me feel valued as a guest and partner.
More news: We're moving!
As soon as I got back to the states, I finalized the lease for our new office space.
Our new space is being built out in Old Orchard mall.
I'm excited to be running our ecommerce consultancy from a posh retail environment.
Just today I sent the architect plans to our interior designer to help make it amazing.
(After all, Shopify has set a high bar.)
With all that's been going, I hadn't give much thought to what to discuss in today's Sunday drive.
Fortunately, a newsletter subscriber asked me a thoughtful question.
Wolfgang asked:
"What is the 80/20 you look at for shops once the fundamentals are in place and the shop is running nicely?
For example, you get to work on a shop that makes low 5 figures per month, where do you usually still find low-hanging fruit in such cases?"
My answer is the topic of today's Sunday drive...
Hope that helps because we don't have much time left to get ready for the holidays.
There are only 95 days left until Black Friday.
Are you prepared? What do you need help with?
My 1-on-1 services can help make this your best holiday season ever: