"A $100 Clarity call stopped me from buying $30,000 in software that I didn’t need. Clarity is a huge bargain for the value you get. These are experts who are charging way less for the actual value of their time." — Michael Cohen
Experienced furniture wholesale leader who is building Wrightwood Furniture Company — an online storefront with Chicago-based retail operations.
Quick Facts:
- Industry:
- Retail, Furniture Wholesale
- Location:
- Deerfield, IL
- Clarity Member Since:
- March 2013
Clarity Stats:
- Call Data:
- $800 spent; 9 calls
- Advice Sought:
- technical strategy, customer acquisition, PR, growth hacking, partnerships
Core Results:
saved money, saved time, and expanded network
ROI:
"A $100 Clarity call stopped me from buying $30,000 in software that I didn’t need.."
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Start using ClarityMichael's Story
Michael is a seasoned business leader who specializes in furniture wholesale. As a vendor for some of the largest furniture retailers in the United States, he saw a powerful opportunity to grow his company online.
"I'm a sophisticated e-commerce user, but building my own online business was a different story. I didn’t know a lot about the space. I had to learn everything on my own, as I was doing it. "
Passionate about his vision, he leveraged the expertise of other entrepreneurs to learn the ropes. Leveraging advice from Clarity, his online furniture store is now a reality.
Life Before Clarity
To Michael, advice was highly valuable, but came at a high cost — his time.
"I was limited to meeting people who were local. Sometimes, I’d go Chicago to meet with experts and go to conferences. I’d have pay for gas, parking, and lunch. Even free meetings were expensive. It would take half a day just to meet with someone for 30 minutes."
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Start using ClarityClarity Saved Him Time & Money While Moving Him Forward
For Michael, Clarity's strongest value proposition has been access to valuable feedback, low cost, and saved time.
"Clarity opens up a network of people who are making themselves available. You don’t really have to search for people because these key connections are instant. It’s definitely saved time and money — and that’s just what I’m spending out of pocket."
Before Clarity, Michael was starting at ground zero.
"I didn’t know a lot about setting up my own e-commerce store. Clarity connected me with industry leaders in entrepreneurship, PR, venture capital, and marketing. I learned a ton. Conversations helped me become sophisticated very quickly. I was able to understand how to choose partners in fields like shopping cart platforms, PR, point of sale systems, online marketing, adwords, Facebook marketing, and social media marketing."
Key Calls
For Michael, the core value of Clarity has been a cross-functional feedback. He has quickly become seasoned in a brand new field and has been able to accelerate the launch of his online storefront. His top calls include:
Justin Winter — Co-founder of Diamond Sandals
Growth hacking, best practices in online marketing
Heather Anne Carson — Co-founder of Onboardly
Demystified PR, insight into best practices and providers
Seth Berman — Director of Global Marketing, BabyCenter
User segmentation between online and brick-and-mortar storefronts; advice into marketing sequencing
Boris Wertz — Venture Capitalist
Financial strategies in e-commerce
Harley Finkelstein — Platform Director at Shopify
E-commerce platforms, retail point-of-sale systems, conversion optimization.
"Clarity is a huge bargain for the value you get. These are experts who are charging way less for the actual value of their time. These CEOs, business leaders, and heads of marketing at large corporations give much more value than what they’re paid."