Experience

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  CronosNow - eCommerce Accountants

  • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

  • Chief Operating Officer

    • Jun 2021 - Present
    • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

    Shaun is the COO and co-founder of CronosNow eCommerce Accounting that provides first-class bookkeeping, accounting, virtual CFO, and tax services for 7 & 8 figure eCommerce businesses.𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒔𝑵𝒐𝒘?With his years of experience in online marketing, project management and eCommerce, Shaun joined forces with Richard Starkey (the other mastermind behind CronosNow) to build a specialist eCommerce Accounting firm.The reality is that with the rise of eCommerce there are more opportunities than ever before to build, grow, scale and sell online businesses, but many sellers struggle with the complexities of a business model that often utilizes a global supply chain with all its inherent complexities.Many eCommerce entrepreneurs build their businesses with the aim to one day sell the business but fail to implement key processes that will make their business more attractive to potential buyers. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕?As eCommerce accounting specialists we are fixated with providing timely, accurate, accrual-based, due diligence-ready monthly financials to our clients that reflects the true value of their business at any given time. This coupled with an obsession for accurate inventory reporting which can produce COGS figures down to a per SKU level sets CronosNow apart from many in the industry.At CronosNow we maximize your chances of success by providing you with the day-to-day bookkeeping as well as the virtual CFO, and tax services you need to grow and eventually sell your business.

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  Optic Blaze

  • Cape Town Area, South Africa

  • Managing Director

    • May 2009 - May 2021
    • Cape Town Area, South Africa

    In 2009 Shaun founded Optic Blaze which provided turnkey design, web development and digital marketing solutions. Based on his experience Shaun developed content-first strategies to form the building blocks of his client’s marketing campaigns. Optic Blaze offered a one-stop-shop for brand collateral design, web design, web development as well as online marketing. This included Google Ads, Facebook Ads, SEO, organic social media marketing, email marketing as well as marketing funnel optimisation. In 2016 Optic Blaze secured a contract to be the in-house agency for College SA (see more below).In 2021 the company’s focussed changed to ecommerce which included designing, building and marketing eCommerce stores. This included helping customers utilising Shopify, WooCommerce as well as platforms such as Amazon and Etsy. During his tenure at Optic Blaze Shaun managed the design and development of over 250 websites including large enterprise-class travel sites and local government projects and managed online marketing campaigns for dozens of businesses.

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  Optimi College

  • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

  • Head of Marketing

    • Feb 2016 - Apr 2021
    • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

    While managing Optic Blaze, Shaun secured a major contract with College SA (now Optimi College). At that stage, College SA had a product catalogue of over 250 products. Shaun and his team managed all the marketing channels for College SA including their PPC, SEO, social media & email marketing. He was tasked with generating between 450 – 1300 per day for the call centre, depending on the time of year.Besides the management of the channels, he was responsible for coming up with strategies to lower leads acquisition costs, increasing lead volumes, analysing customer data and presenting comprehensive monthly reports to the executive. Shaun grew the in-season leads for College SA by 221% and reduced the average cost per lead by 48%. From an SEO perspective the College’s Google rankings improved to the extent that they featured in the top 10 listings for close to 40 highly competitive SEO keywords. Shaun also managed an email marketing database that grew by more than 200K new users per year and developed a private blog network that generated more than 30 000 organic visitors per month.

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  Blue Skye Holdings & Investments Marketing Director

  • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

  • Marketing Manager

    • Mar 2006 - Apr 2009
    • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

    The role involved managing the marketing department for a Cape Town based property developer. Shaun worked closely with various stakeholders to design and market a range of residential, commercial, industrial as well as retail properties. This involved developing each project’s marketing collateral as well as co-ordinating and managing the groups advertising budgets while working closely with a group of estate agents to successfully sell the units. Above and beyond marketing the property portfolio, He managed projects valued in excess of R200 million at that time and was later appointed as a director in Blue Skye Investments Pty (Ltd). Shaun was also critical in developing and maintaining the Blue Skye brand.

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  Multi Media Solutions

  • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

  • Graphic Designer

    • Feb 2002 - Feb 2006
    • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

    After completing his studies Shaun switched careers from banking to media and advertising. He started working for an agency that focussed on producing below the line marketing material. This included litho printing, digital printing as well as signage solutions. After interning at the company, he was employed full time. He showed a keen interest in web design and coding. He upskilled himself and eventually ran the web design part of the business.

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  Absa Group

  • South Africa
  • Financial Services
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Retail Sales Consultant

    • Jan 2001 - Dec 2001

    The role involved providing financial services to meet client specific needs. This included promoting, marketing and selling financial solutions to meet sales targets and achieve strategic business objectives.

  • Enquiries Clerk/ Supervisor

    • Jan 1996 - Dec 2000

    Shaun worked in the retail banking hall and eventually headed up a small team of customer services clerks. His job was to deliver outstanding face-to-face banking support services and to enhance the customer experience.

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  Spur Steak Ranch

  • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

  • Waiter

    • 1996 - Dec 1998
    • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa