AMANDA NIU - EVA
HOW TO MAKE SURE THE COMPETITION MAKES YOU, NOT BREAKS YOU.
How do you let fierce competition make you, not break you?
That’s the conversation we’re having with Amanda Niu, co-founder of Eva – a high quality homewares and furniture business. The brand targets what they like to call “Ikea graduates” – someone that’s ready to upgrade their Ikea sofa to something a little fancier.
But Eva didn’t always sell furniture -- in fact, when they started out in 2017, they cut their teeth selling the mattress-in-a-box as Eva Mattress, which soon become a very cluttered and competitive space.
In order to stay relevant and ahead of the competition, they diversified their product offering, doubled down on their test and learn approach to marketing, and Amanda found a way to apply her background in neuropsychology to get into the minds of her customers.
You’ll learn:
Why Amanda launched the business with just one key product – a mattress in a box (and why you could adopt this strategy too)
The three things to look for when hiring a new employee.
How Amanda has found a way to apply her background in neuropsychology to get into the minds of her customers.
How this background as a clinical neuropsychologist majorly influences the way she delivers feedback and manages her team.
The importance of reframing negative experiences as opportunities to learn.
The one mistake to avoid so you don’t become a barrier to your own business’s growth.
We hope you enjoyed this conversation – for more podcast action follow us on Instagram @lady.brains, or sign up to our monthly newsletter at www.ladybrains.com
THE BITS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS
“My best piece of advice is to hire people who are going to be smarter than you, those who are going to be faster and hungrier than you and at the same time, those who believe in your mission and vision. Ultimately, the idea is to continually grow your business, and with that improve your company’s average IQ. By hiring good people, it means that you’re able to ensure the business grows past yourself. Otherwise, you then become your own barrier to your company’s growth. ”
“The competition was literally insane. There were so many mattress companies out there. It was insane. The way I see it, we’re the underdog. Just because we may be going slower, it doesn’t mean we’re being left behind, it just means that we’re going at our own pace. Going slower doesn’t mean that you’re doing things worse, it means that you’re taking your time to get there and to learn along the way. Hopefully, you can apply those learnings to your next experience.”
“The cease and desist was in relation to a comparison page on the website – it was something that we had written wrong. We changed the copy right away, but the experience indicated to us that our competitors were noticing us. Somebody from their brand had to either pay the legal office to create it and send it out to us, or they would have had to get somebody who was working in house to do it all. I thought...omg look at all this effort they went to! This is incredible! This means that we are legit. It’s amazing. They recognize us. ”
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