The App Collective Episode 44
Team work
WELCOME TO DECEMBER! We are at the final countdown before 2024 comes to a close, and I am feeling energized and excited to make this month a great month. Today is going to be more of an inspirational episode, so I am opening this up for everyone to read.
Before we get into today's topic, I want to reflect on this past month.
BFCM is behind us, and judging by everything I'm seeing from my clients, I'm seeing stats from partners and friends posted on socials. Obviously, the HUGE numbers reported from Shopify from merchants this year were ENORMOUS. Just when you think you can't top last year, you do! And boy, oh boy, doesn't it feel so good? I am so proud of my clients. They work so hard; they are all great people who are well deserving, and I am proud to be able to work with some of the best people I've ever met. They are the type of people that do the right thing when no one is watching. None of them share numbers publicly. They don't need to. They are silently just chipping away each and every single day. It's really inspiring to be in these rooms with them, and because of that, I wanted to inspire you as a new year is upon us.
What’s inside:
Team work
Team work
Photo credit: ESPN
Yes, I am going to talk about the Buffalo Bills again. Try not to yawn, but I am so inspired by this football season so far. When I was in sales, it was a pretty male-dominated industry, and most of the sales leaders I worked for talked about football in our weekly meetings to inspire the room. A lot of it went over my head, and some of it stuck. I hope (even if you hate football) you come away from this episode feeling energized and inspired.
Before the football season started, people were whining on X (Twitter) about trading two of their biggest players for rookies and lesser-known/presumably skilled players. They went so negative so quickly. It made me wonder what they were like to work with or at home to live with.
This is a moment that will be cemented in my brain for forever because I remember saying to the whiners two main things:
trust the process - the people in charge, including the coaches and GM have a plan and know what they are doing.
stay positive - there is something powerful about how you view things that are happening in your personal life and business. If you remain optimistic and positive, not only is the time more enjoyable, but the outcomes can drastically change if you have a good attitude.
At the season's beginning, these people wanted the coaches to get fired. They wanted to burn the house down essentially. On the other hand, I was excited to see what the new players, including some of the rookies, could bring to the room. Sometimes, great players with bad attitudes can spoil the room, and we had that in one of the players named Stefan Diggs.
I won't bore you with the play-by-play here, but the end result is nurturing and fostering close relationships with teammates who truly love and respect each other, giving people opportunities to shine, not allowing setbacks to turn into self-fulfilling prophecies of doom, the Buffalo Bills have won the AFC East Division Championship.
The Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC East Division title for the 2024 season with a record of 10-2, marking their franchise-record fifth consecutive AFC East title. They are currently on a five-game winning streak leading up to this achievement.
The Bills scored over 30 points in five consecutive games from Week 9 to Week 13. Notable victories in this streak included games against the Miami Dolphins (30-27), Indianapolis Colts (30-20), Kansas City Chiefs (30-21), and the San Francisco 49ers (35-10). There's still a lot of season left and a lot of progress to get to the Super Bowl but as underdogs that everyone wrote off as having a rebuild season, this is phenomenal.
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT ANY OF THIS?
There are a lot of competitors that are biting at your ankles, and it could oftentimes feel like it's hard to get ahead. This is especially true if you weren't among the first to market with more money, tools, runway, and skilled players on your team.
I recently started running ads for an app that joined a VERY competitive category a year and a half ago. The app founder has been playing the playbook day in and out since then. This month alone, the app has experienced around 25% growth. This is like when the Buffalo Bills running back player James Cook reached a top speed of 21.85 mph on his 65-yard touchdown run. BANANAS numbers and progress.
Another app that I work with is in a VERY competitive category where the competitors sometimes play a little dirty on the field. This app has stayed clean, put one foot in front of the next, and is working the playbook. The team is trulyhaving fun every day at work. This month they saw the lowest churn rate of around 1% and reached a dream milestone MRR number.
Both of those apps have the same formula:
trusting the process and putting in consistent work
staying positive and optimistic
If you feel like the underdog in your category and are not using the above formula in your days, weeks, months, and year, I would inspire you to consider doing that as we move into a brand spanking new year! It is all possible; nothing is impossible.
To close this out, I want to leave you with 2 quotes from the head coach of the Bills after Sunday night's game head coach, Marv Levy, that they use in the room on a daily.
"When it's too tough for them, it's just right for us."
"Where else would you rather be than right here, right now."
I feel both of those quotes in my bones!! We are so lucky to be in the Shopify ecosystem. It's the best industry in the world, filled with endless opportunities. We're not curing diseases, but we are solving business needs in a way that we can all feel good about at the end of the day. Right? It doesn't get much better than that.
Until next week,
Deb
PS thanks for reading til the end of you made it this far.