Newsletter #43: Shopify news, running a marathon, and Zino Vinci

Hi there,

I hope you're feeling good.

Last weekend was a great one! My friends and I went to the Brick Lane Jazz Festival. It had such a chill vibe. I didn’t know any artist on the line-up so it was a complete discovery for me.

I discovered new artists such as Zino Vinci, NEONE the Wonderer, and Qendresa. I also met very cool people, including a guy who has a $1M+ Shopify store!

I’m already looking forward to the next music festival in London.

I recently found out that Substack had a “like” button. It’s a little heart shaped button located at the beginning and at the end of every newsletter. So, if you enjoyed any particular edition, whether in the past or in the future, please feel free to smash that “like” button. This will be precious feedback for me to know which editions were the most successful, as open rates only say so much. Thank you very much.

In today’s edition, we’re discussing Shopify news, running a marathon, and Zino Vinci.

Let's dive in.

Work

What’s up in the Shopify ecosystem?

• Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, launched his new brand, Papatui, on Shopify

Papatui is a men's care brand which includes products such as body washes, body lotions, facial cleansers, soaps, deodorants, and tattoo hydration products.

With Papatui, The Rock aims at providing men with high quality, effective, and affordable products.

Papatui’s store was built by 1r Agency, using the “Venue” theme by Safe As Milk.

Fun fact: Papatui is not The Rock's first Shopify store!

He already has Shopify stores for his energy drinks brand called ZOA Energy, and his tequila brand called Teremana Tequila.

• An easter egg hunt to win a free ticket for Editions.dev

In edition 40, I wrote about Editions.dev, a full-day, in-person event organized by Shopify that will take place in Toronto, Canada, on June 25, 2024.

A few days ago, Liam Griffin, Developer Advocate at Shopify, announced that an easter egg was hidden on the Editions.dev website.

Put your glasses on, find the easter egg, and win a free ticket for the event. Good luck!

• The French Shopify agency W3Lead bought Agence PM, another French Shopify agency

Agence PM was founded in 2018 by Manon Pontillo and Julien Mamalian. Over the years, they worked with beautiful brands such as The Bradery and Respire.

Manon and Julien just sold Agence PM to W3Lead, a Shopify Plus Partner with 10+ years of experience.

I think it’s super interesting to observe this type of moves in the ecosystem.

A similar thing happened last year with the merger of two famous French Shopify agencies, Axome and Studio Zerance.

If you are an agency owner reading this, have you ever thought of selling? If so, what would you do after selling?

Julien Mamalian, from Agence PM, is now fully dedicated to Shopify app development, and more specifically to his app Bloggle, which he launched on the Shopify App Store three years ago.

Inspire

Last month, 54,000 people came from all around the world to run the Paris marathon.

Every year, I look at them and am truly amazed. Some of them document their journey on YouTube and it’s super inspiring to follow.

My favorite video so far on that topic is the one made by Théo Lion.

Théo Lion is the 26-year old founder of Coudac, a French ads agency. He just ran his first marathon in 3h30. Congratulations to him! For this accomplishment, of course, but also for how he brilliantly managed to transcribe his emotions in this 40-min video (in French).

I’ve been exercising every week for as long as I can remember. I practiced capoeira for years, and still think it’s the best sport ever. Then, in 2015, I signed up to the gym and have been going ever since. However, I wasn’t necessarily trying to push myself too hard. My gym sessions were enjoyable and made me sweat, but they were still in my comfort zone.

It’s only this year that I started taking them more seriously, setting goals for the first time.

I now run two 5k sessions every week, and keep improving my pace.

Following a challenge sent by a fellow Shopify developer, I just signed up for my first 10k run, which will take place in June. I’m really looking forward to it.

All in all, Théo Lion is right: “Running is a sport of war against yourself. There is no opponent. No one is forcing you to do it. You can stop whenever you want. But, with each additional step you take on yourself, you explain to your head and body that you are in charge.”

Explore

In the intro, I mentioned that I discovered a new artist, Zino Vinci, at the Brick Lane Jazz Festival.

Out of all the artists who performed, Zino was my favorite.

Zino is a young East London rapper from Newham. His passion was so obvious, and he really shared it openly, talking to us in between songs.

I think a good song to discover him is “CEO of the friendship group”.

Enjoy.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading this edition until the end.

I'll talk to you soon.

Take good care of yourself.

Coralie