What others are saying about the One Hour Hero
The One Hour Hero started its life as an email only course at the beginning of 2020 for a small group of comic book retailers, we covered sessions on everything from Google My Business to email marketing to SEO…and then the COVID-19 global pandemic hit. Amidst local shutdowns, and closures of small businesses we quickly pivoted and adapted to address things like taking your offline business online, communicating during a crisis, and helping to ensure your business could survive and thrive during such a massive global upheaval.
The people who took the One Hour Hero did survive and thrive, they modified their business practices and turned Hybrid retail (the combination of online and offline retail) into a strength of their businesses.
This is what they had to say about the One Hour Hero.
When I decided to take the step away from selling real estate in London to comics, RPGs and collectables retailing, I was conscious that the area I live in here in the UK already has one well established comic store in a town of 200,000 nearby and that population (and surrounding satellite towns) was sufficient enough to support one, not two, stores. Therefore I decided that I would set up an online store and had already noticed that there was a gap in the market here in the UK for an online store that sold classic comics etc – many bricks and mortar stores have their own websites but offer new comics and a small back issue selection, and there are a number of online only websites which only carry new comics and variant/incentive covers. Of course people can turn to eBay, but we all know how frustrating that can be on many levels.
I signed up for The One Hour Hero when I saw it covered on Bleeding Cool. I was completely aware that a proportion of the content would not apply to me right now, but nevertheless there was nothing else out there that would provide would-be comic shop owners an operational bible or check list.
The course itself was pitched perfectly at those of us who are new to this area of retail but also those who may already have an existing comic shop and want a refresher. You clearly have a deep in-depth knowledge of the subtle nuances of retailing in this sector (as you’ve written about it for years) but also, and more importantly for me at this point, have given me the benefit of wider sales and marketing techniques that I can now apply to my business.
The sections on SEO optimisation, Facebook for Business and other online/social media marketing were particularly important to me and I have found myself dipping back into these from time to time when I am faced with a new challenge in those areas.
If the course means that me, and others like me, can be successful in the business of selling comics then you should be enormously proud of your contribution to our successes.
Matthew De Monti – The Unreality Store
The One Hour Hero provides highly useful tips on how to improve the professionalism of your comic book retail business!
Ron Hill – JHU Comic Books
A lot of the stuff you have recommended are things we have been doing but it helped us double down our efforts. It encouraged us to do facebook livestreams events which were an amazing success for us during the shut down and do more on instagram etc.
I think your program is an awesome idea and much needed, especially now with the state of things in the world! We all need to survive this and this is a great guideline to help us navigate through these tough times.
John Miller – Docking Bay 94
Extremely interesting course, which is definitely helpful for both managers and staff alike to maximise the store’s potential. Easily worth it’s price for the information on online marketing in the digital age!
Julien Vazquez – BD Cosmos
I recently went through The One Hour Hero program, and it was a constructive use of my time- while much of what was covered was implemented, it was worthwhile to review, and reflect on, our current systems & processes.
One area that I found particularly useful was the session on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Prior to, this was a black box I had always relied on others to handle for me. Now, as a small business owner with limited resources, The One Hour Hero’s session on SEO gave me a quick understanding of the basics, and prompted further investigation into some of the finer details on my part.
Bill Sheely – The Adventure Begins