How We Reduced Costs And Increased Revenue This Year

Mehdi Kajbaf

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Published: December 30th, 2020

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Mehdi Kajbaf

Founder, Matboard & More

$500K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Matboard & More

matboardandmore.com

from Atlanta, Georgia, USA

started January 2012

$500,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools recommends to grow your business!

Discover what books Mehdi recommends to grow your business!

Want more updates on Matboard & More? Check out these stories:

1. How Building A New Website Brought Growth To Our Business (2020) ➜

2. Finding Financial Freedom Through Starting A Matboard Business (2018) ➜

This is a follow up story for Matboard & More. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 6 years ago, check it out here.

Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.

My name is Mehdi Kajbaf, Co-Founder at Matboard and More ™, the company that makes framing your art easier than you think. We brought sophistication to one of the oldest industries on earth, picture framing.

Our website allows the unlimited choice to get your artwork framed beautifully. You can order framing supplies for any kind of art, whether it’s a standard 5x7”, or a collection of coins. No other company offers as much flexibility as us, particularly when it comes to custom matting which is our flagship product.

how-covid-19-affected-e-commerce-that-increased-our-revenue

Black Picture Frame and Matboard with Multiple Openings

I’ve been extremely fortunate during this crazy 2020 to have been part of the e-commerce system. We’ve been able to both reduce costs and increase revenues during this year. Part of that is purely the luck of Covid increasing e-commerce, but the other side is we have the right systems in place to scale up and down based on the circumstances.

Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?

The business has been booming in 2020. A lot of e-commerce has been successful of course as customers have shifted their buying patterns. Home decor and anything inside the house seems to have particularly benefited from the stay at home measures!

We had some big plans to start increasing marketing on social media but we put all that to the site once Covid hit. Initially, we had to put all our energy into creating a safe workplace, getting another warehouse for social distancing, and following all the health guidelines.

Go to your core values, and make sure they are aligned with the business. There are many reasons to get into business so don’t always assume it’s simply about making more money.

So in essence, we have stuck to our model and gone to our core business, but have still grown tremendously due to these externalities.

What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?

It’s hard not to look at what has happened with Covid and recognize that so much of the success and failure in life comes from external factors not in your control. In that regard, I have learned that you must diversify, and you must also be future-proof in your business.

It’s been clear for years that trends were going to boost e-commerce, but that process accelerated dramatically with Covid. If you didn’t have an e-commerce business in 2019 in addition to your retail, you felt the pain more than anyone else.

I’m not sure what the next big trends are in retail, but at every step in your progression as a business, you have to think ahead and be future proof.

In the past few years, that meant ensuring you have a mobile device. Now it means offering free shipping. Next, it could be something to do with social media but as of yet, I’m not seeing the next significant trend.

What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?

In the spirit of diversification, we are looking to build out our own warehouse and begin investments in real estate. Possibly opening up a retail store or showroom as well.

We’ve been talking about it for years as well, but prints will certainly need to be a part of our product roadmap. That is one big trend as Google Photos and other large photo sharing companies are making it easier than ever to print photos. We need to get our matboard and frame to be a part of that printing process!

Have you read any good books in the last year?

Haven’t read anything new this year that I found particularly inspiring, but I did re-read a couple of books I’ve recommended in the past and they are still relevant.

Tim Ferris 4 Hour Work Week continues to challenge me to identify my bullshit.

Seeing Systems by Barry Oshry continues to provide a fresh perspective.

I’ve just started a course on coaching, so I’m sure next year I’ll have many new books to share with your audience!

Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?

Back to basics! The One Page Marketing Plan is a great place to start and I recommend it to all my mentees. You need to know your product, your market, and get your messaging sorted. Sometimes there is a real disconnect between what you THINK you are selling and what you are actually selling.

Go to your core values, and make sure they are aligned with the business. There are many reasons to get into business so don’t always assume it’s simply about making more money.