Today we’re excited to announce the winners of our first 2021 edition of Shop Launch Challenge!

What is Shop Launch Challenge?

Over 10 weeks from January through March 2021, hundreds of people from all over the world signed up to launch their own shops. Optional weekly challenges helped new shop owners stay motivated and learn the best practices for running a successful print-on-demand brand of their own.

Something for everyone

This contest proved that there truly is a Spreadshop for everybody, as we saw introductions from topics that ranged from travel bloggers, hand-drawn robots, weight loss journeys, dancers, youtubers, cooks, bands (both signed and unsigned recording artists!) and we even had an immigration attorney launch a shop. No kidding!

Some Weekly Challenges had amazing bonus prizes, like the iPad Pro which was won by Malaika Burley, for her incredible story and passion behind her personal brand. See here.

How our winners were chosen

A panel of internal judges reviewed every single shop that was eligible and engaged in the challenge. They ranked shops based on two main factors:

1. Level of creativity and originality.
2. Adherence to the tips & tricks found in the Spreadshop Selling Guide.

Battle of the micro-niches!!!

In this edition of the challenge it was interesting to see more “micro-niches”. What is that? Well a micro-niche is either two interests that have been blended together, or one main topic that has now been narrowed down into a specific interest or style within that niche. Examples: A painter who only draws digitally on iPad. Dancers who specialize in tap dancing. A pet expert in a specific breed. Sometimes the more narrow your niche, the more success you can have because there are not a lot of people serving this unique micro-niche with cool products or content. Keep that tip in mind for yourself!

Dancing right into our 3rd Place spot is….

“Fun, humorous and slightly irreverent shirts to wear while winging it, shuffling off to Buffalo, or wherever your tap shoes may take you.Marlene was living in NY and the first Broadway Show she happened to see was 42nd Street, and Karen was dancing in it! Flash forward twenty years when they actually meet for the first time in Colorado. Both still love to tap, but they also love to laugh. Looking for fun, humorous and slightly irreverent shirts to wear while tapping, they decided to create their own and share them with you!”

In their own words…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tap Togs (@taptogs)

Why they were chosen:

These lovely ladies danced their way into our hearts and caught everyone’s attention with their promotions and videos on instagram. While participation in every weekly challenge was not necessary to win, it didn’t hurt that they were always jumping in to try the challenges, promote their shop, and have a really fun time doing it!
We also took note of how supportive Marlene & Karen were of the other Shop Launch Community members. Congratulations and keep up the great work!

Our 2nd Place winner is…..

Why they were chosen

The first thing that caught our attention from day one were the wonderful tea-inspired designs from SoCal’s shop. A surprising niche, that actually shouldn’t be so surprising at all, as tea lovers are super passionate about this topic.

“Tea is exciting! It pleases our senses and gives us a reason to pause in a fast-paced world. Whether you like to socialize over a pot of tea or curl up with a good book, mug in hand, tea is a grand experience.” – Abigail, founder of SoCal Cup & Saucer

In her own words

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SoCal Cup&Saucer (@socalcupandsaucer)

One design in particular we found amazing was this mug with the actual steeping times for each type of tea. You’ll never ruin your tea again!

THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER…. DRUM ROLL PLEASE….

“What’s up, everybunny? I’m Diane from Hook’s Hollands, raising a small herd of Holland lop bunnies on our organic Ohio farm. I’ve been sharing bunny care information (and cute bunny photos and videos) on my website and YouTube channel since 2015!” – Diane, founder of Hook’s Hollands.

Why she won

Diane knocked our socks off by launching a really incredible looking Spreadshop right from the start.

1. She followed all of our best practices and tips in our Selling Guide (some are listed here).
2. While we’ve seen great pet shops before for cats, dogs… we’ve never seen the bunny niche!
3. Diane consistently launched new designs that really fit the look of her overall brand. Friendly, fun, and vivid!
4. Week in and week out, Diane took part in ever weekly challenge and she also seemed to give the challenges and promotions a dash of creativity. For example: She decided to launch a design contest during one of the last challenge weeks.

While not a deciding factor in winning the top prizes, all of our winners similarly were highly engaged and encouraging others in the Shop Launch Community. You could always count on an encouraging and supporting message.

In her own words

Great work Diane! We look forward to seeing more awesome bunny-centric designs from you as you continue to grow your brand.

Do you want us to do this again? Join the community!

While this edition of the challenge is over, the community born out of it is STILL alive, and we want to encourage you all to continue to engage and grow together. Details on future challengers will be posted there first, so get engaged! And introduce yourself. Even though this edition is over, several new people are going through the old weekly challenges and getting ready for the next big challenge!

We’d like to think Spreadshop was the real winner here. We’ve never seen this kind of community building around our brand to this point. It feels so great to see shop owners helping shop owners, cheering each other on, and even cheering us on and offering gratitude for our weekly challenges and motivational content. We really hope you join our community.

Three cheers to all of those who participated in this challenge… we hope you’ll continue this journey together.

See you there.

The post Shop Launch Challenge Winners for 2021! appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

We have so many amazing challengers who have participated in our Shop Launch Challenge program. We want to showcase some of the All-Stars for the world to see and spread inspiration and good vibes. And stay tuned for a special announcement…

First up in our SHOP LAUNCH ALL-STAR series is Malaika Burley! Malaika stood out from the start by having such a powerful personal weight loss journey. Friendly, passionate and powered by her faith is how we’d describe Malaika. She’s not only taken part in every weekly challenge, but she’s also engaged with the other community members and pops up everywhere to say hello.

Here’s Malaika’s Spreadshop launch story she made for our the week 5 “storyteller” challenge.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Malaika | Weight Loss Journey (@malaikaburley)

And guess what? That video earned here an iPad Pro!

Congratulations Malaika! Maybe your kids can draw some cool new shirt designs on it?!

Shop Launch All Star: 5 Questions with Malaika Burley

Malaika stands out by modeling her own merchandise and showing it often.

1. Who are you and what is your passion?

My name is Malaika Burley. I’m a single mom of 4 cute kids. I love encouraging others to go after their God-given dreams and to be the best version of themselves they can be.

2. Who is your ideal customer for your merch?

Our ideal customer would be the mom who is focusing on getting healthier. She probably loves Jesus. Likes to bust a move. And is a little goofy too.

3. There are a lot of options out there, why did you choose to launch your merchandise line with us?

I’ve wanted to create text based t-shirt designs for years. But I didn’t have the time or the money for setting up a shop. After hearing about Spreadshop and how they work with the shop owners and customers, I knew it was the best option for me. I wanted an income stream that was pretty much automated after I set it up, and Spreadshop seemed perfect. I just basically have to create and promote. Spreadshop takes care of the rest.

And bonus! It’s free to use! As a single mom with a budget, that was perfect for me.

4. How can we improve to help you even more? Do you have a wishlist for us? Bring it on! We can take criticism!

You have an awesome selection of products to choose from. I probably have picked too many actually because I want them all myself. Lol. It would be nice to see an option in the future for all over print t-shirts and leggings.

As far as the actual service, no complaints here. Shipping has been faster than I expected and the quality of the products is great!

5. SoapBox: Tell the world where they can find you or support you online. Or any other important topics, trends, organizations you want to shout out to. The platform is yours!

You can join my weight loss journey over on YouTube. If you’re on a mission to get healthier too, the community will encourage and support you along the way. Watch her YouTube channel.

I’m also on IG and FB under my name.
Instagram

Facebook

And of course, don’t forget to check out Malaika’s fresh merch

The post Shop Launch All-Star: Malaika Burley appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

(Did you play the song in your head? We did.) You still have time to launch your shop and win it all! Think you’re too late? Nope! You have until midnight EST on March 16th to get in this thing!

Spreadshop IS the fastest way to launch a free merch shop online. You could seriously could launch a shop within a day that shocks the world and wins it all!!! No kidding. That really is how fast you can launch your Spreadshop.

What’s still up for grabs?

• Grand prize: $2021
• Second place: $500
• Third place: $200

BONUS PRIZE: IPAD PRO + APPLE PENCIL!

The iPad Pro contest is a special “Storytelling” challenge that started in Week 5. Challengers who follow the steps in the community post here will be in the running!

Did we mention the amazing Challenger community?

For the past 8 weeks our little Shop Launch Community has grown, with many challenging themselves week to week to grow and work on their shops. From sharing tips, to moral support when people feel like giving up, this really is something special. Even if you’ve missed out on the past weekly challenges, they are all still there for you to learn and grow.

Be sure to check out the comments section of every weekly challenge which features amazing examples of how other new shop owners are making promos for their sales, launching new designs and more!

Good luck, and we hope to see you over there soon!

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