A lifetime in ecommerce has given Sascha Dobbelaere the experience to provide a service for others.
What’s your story?
Where to begin… ok so….I’ve been in eCommerce my entire adult life one way or another. My first experiences were at the age of 18 – maybe 20 – building my first store in Virtuemarkt/Joomla. I remember well my efforts to try and sell my first product. Oh dear was that a failure. At that time, I didn’t realise you can actually advertise online – so instead I went to a trade show for pet products and started handing out flyers and putting them behind windscreens. Instead of seeing sales, I got booted out for illegal advertising.
What excites you most about your industry?
Accurate and plenty of useful product information is, in my belief, one of the most important factors for people to make purchase decisions once trust has been established. Yet soo many sellers don’t quite realise that yet. This for me is very exiting.
What drives you in your career to push beyond what other people consider normal?
In short, it’s my path. I do what I need to do in order to move forward and understand that everything moves in cycles.
What have been the most useful skills you have learnt and applied in your journey?
Python programming. Something I picked up over the years, and over time it became a foundational piece of any success I have been involved in. Today it’s has become the main pillar of my product information Saas service.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
One of my earlier clients told me once while we were sampling a cigar that I should grow two faces. One for paying clients, one for none paying clients. And that this is perfectly OK. If you go to the baker, he also expects to be paid in currency – not promises or excuses.
Who inspires you?
My father. The man who built his empire from nothing. Always focussed on keeping fundamentals in check and not chasing hypes.
What have you learnt recently that blew you away?
How hard Enterprise Saas software selling is. Service is easier, it’s flexible, adjustable. Software is not. Somehow this fact eluded me even after 20 years.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
Early in my career I had an eCommerce agency where we built eCom sites for various retailers. Also I had an urge to grow internationally. At the time, my team got lost with this remoteness. I would either hold back on the internationalisation – or focus on remote teams much sooner.
How do you unwind?
I cook, I BBQ, I bake, I make all kinds of things like sourdough cinnamon buns, croissants, breads and flat breads. Actually my sourdough starter has travelled the world with me. Belgium, England, Scotland, France, Netherlands, Vietnam, Thailand. I’ve made breads all over the world. My BBQ skills are more on the low-n-slow side where I smoke ribs, chicken, smoked steaks. Actually this morning I hung some sausages to dry. This cooking time is to unwind and process – something I’ve been doing since childhood.
What is a major mindset change, belief shift or ‘ah ha’ moment that you’ve experienced in relation to your career?
I used to chase success, believing going harder was the only way forward. That ended up costing me my health, my drive and my family. At my lowest I finally realised that none of this is a sprint. Just like a house that should stand the test of time – I started focussing on foundations. My ah ha moment is translatable into slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Everyone in business should read this book:
Not much of a book reader.
Shameless plug for your business or career:
If you’re scaling your product range and pushing the envelope across marketplaces and perhaps countries/languages you need OneSila. We’re the only PIM system available that focusses on growth – not bureaucracy. OneSila is also the only PIM system that has a deep integration with the marketplaces that allows your team to handle all kinds of exceptions from eg Amazon in app. That leads to better product info quality, higher conversion, lower returns and all that from a central easy to use platform.
How can people connect with you?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saschadobbelaere/
Social Media Links?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/saschadobbelaere/
This interview is part of the CallumConnects series.