Interview: “I help my small business owners with the technical IT side of their business so they can focus on what’s more important”

What’s your name?

Sandy Mergui

What’s your store/company’s name?

Ultimate Dezine

I think more and more people are browsing online for stuff they need. So creating an informative yet attractive website to engage prospective Customers.

Sharing Success Stories with Sandy Mergui

Disclaimer: all the success stories published on our blog are the results of written interviews. Even though the editors may make some minor changes to the grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation, the respondents’ writing styles, views, opinions, stores screenshots and personal photos are left unchanged.

The Dropshipping.com Team

What’s the website?

https://udezine.co.za/

What’s your email?

sandy@udezine.co.za

Describe your business/service in a few words:

My goal is to help Small businesses with marketing through great design. I help them establish a professional brand with an informative yet attractive website. I also set up and manage their social media pages to help them get more engagement that leads to sales.

I also offer web and email hosting so my clients have a professional branded domain and email account with their amazing websites.

Service offerings: graphic design, website design (+ maintenance) including e-commerce websites, hosting, marketing, social media management,

Describe your entrepreneurial journey. How did you get started?

I started my business in 2016 – with the goal of helping small businesses with excellent design without the large design agency price tag.
I was working full-time at a corporate company and in mid-2019 they announced a 50% retrenchment. My department of 8 would be downscaled to two – I was one of the ‘safe’ employees. I realised right there and then, that I would have to pick up the slack of 3-4 people and do my mountain of work! (one panic attack later) I applied for voluntary retrenchment. I had been there almost 13 years. I would have a great package to fall back on and I did it.

I took the plunge and it was one of the best and most daunting things I’ve done!

Spent 3 months building my business; designing my website; creating all the contracts and documents I’ll need; creating my offerings; prices, and building personas for the clients I want to help.
I launched my company in October. One year later I expanded my offerings and added Social Media Management and Hosting.

How your business is helping the e-commerce owners?

As a small business owner, I know business owners have to wear a lot of hats: sales, accounting, manufacturing etc. there’s no time to learn a new IT skill to manage their website, social media and email accounts and that’s where I step in.

I help my small business owners with the technical IT side of their business so they can focus on what’s more important to them – their business.

What is the most significant challenge online sellers are facing today?

Marketing to the right audience and getting that sale.

Marketing nowadays is mostly online. Website directories, or social media like Facebook, Instagram etc, and converting those casual viewers into customers can be challenging.

The market you’re trying to market to dictates where you should be advertising.

Example 1: Your target market is the younger generation (Gen Z = 9-19)
They enjoy spending hours on their phones watching TikTok = if that is your target market, that’s where you should be advertising and paying influencers to talk about your product.

Example 2: You’ve developed a Financial Calculator for Financial-focused business people let’s say 40+
They will likely be reading articles and scanning charts on financial websites = that’s where you can advertise as well as other financial-focused websites, publications and events.
Think about this: It’s unlikely a 40+ businessman is spending time on Facebook to happen upon your financial calculator App that you’ve just developed.

You need to place your ads in front of the people you’re trying to attract and use the advertising feature on the relevant platforms.

What was the game changer to start creating and selling online? What are your future plans?

I think more and more people are browsing online for stuff they need. So creating an informative yet attractive website to engage prospective Customers. For SEO I’ve been writing articles/blogs about the industry or questions people have about my industry to help get my eyes on my website and by extension my offerings.

My future plans: I’m busy creating a few courses for small business owner/entrepreneur that wants to save some money on social media managers, monthly maintenance fees on their websites and helping them with marketing their businesses.
This sounds counterintuitive, but I’ve found that a lot of the topics listed above are grudge purchases similar to car insurance. It can be expensive. We wonder if it’s worth it. Turns out, it is… when we need help it’s there it’s there to pick up the pieces.

What’s your best advice for both dropshipping beginners and experienced e-commerce owners?

Take the time and figure out who your target audience and market is.
Draw up a persona and sell to that one ‘person’.

Without this, you’re casting the net too wide, and you won’t catch any fish and the ones you do catch aren’t the right fit for your business can you’ll have to toss them back.

This means even if you have several products/services, you’ll have to create several personas – so, you can catch that one whale you’ve been looking for.

I’ll be writing an article about how to create a persona – visit the blogs on my website to find out more.

Good luck with your business.