This week’s founder Friday features Shawn Singh of Copper Culture, who built a thriving wellness business from traditional Indian copper bottle practices.
What’s happening: Shawn Singh has transformed a personal health crisis into Australia’s leading copper drinkware brand, generating $70,000 monthly revenue by bringing ancient Ayurvedic practices to Western markets through elegant, handcrafted copper bottles.
Why this matters: Singh’s journey demonstrates how traditional wellness practices can create profitable modern businesses, whilst highlighting the critical cash flow management skills that separate successful e-commerce ventures from those that fold despite strong profit margins.
You have to have the grit to stay it through. The grit has been by far the most important lesson I’ve learned on this journey.
The path from corporate fatigue to copper empire wasn’t planned. Singh found himself trapped in what felt like an endless cycle of mundane routine, struggling with energy levels that left him questioning his direction.
“I found myself in a bit of a slump. I was constantly fatigued, sluggish and had lost my zest for life. I felt trapped in the daily grind of going to work, coming home, sleeping and then repeat,” Singh explains.
A mother’s suggestion led him to an Ayurvedic practitioner who recommended something seemingly simple: drinking water from a copper bottle. The results surprised him.
“I actually found it gave me more energy and mental clarity. That’s when I realised there was a gap in the market for copper drinkware that I believe really can make a difference to people’s health and wellbeing,” he says.
This personal transformation revealed a business opportunity that would eventually reshape his career entirely.
“Our aim has always been and will always continue to be to develop high-quality copper products for the market and be the #1 place worldwide for copper products.”
The cash flow reality
Cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. This is the most important challenge of any business.
Singh’s previous experience at a fast-growing business taught him lessons that proved crucial when building Copper Culture. He witnessed firsthand how cash flow management could make or break a promising venture.
“I previously worked at a very fast-growing business and I saw how managing your cash flow was very important. I was frugal with this from day one, trying to do everything myself and grow the business myself until I couldn’t,” he recalls.
The discipline extended to profit reinvestment, a strategy many new entrepreneurs struggle with.
“I’ve also started out reinvesting profits into the business until we got to a size and scale where it could facilitate my income. Those were probably two of the most important choices that I could have made that put me in the position that I am today.”
Singh observes a common mistake among business owners: “Many business owners start out on day one and the second they make revenue, they take out their net profit and try to do it all over again. That’s a very tricky place to play in because A) you don’t build yourself a buffer or a float to grow your business, B) reinvest your profits and help grow your stock levels and inventory levels, and C) help you expand into new markets.”
The e-commerce model presents particular cash flow challenges that caught Singh’s attention early.
“Cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. This is the most important challenge of any business,” he emphasises. “Because when you’re in the ecommerce game, you are buying stock on day zero and paying 100% of it by day 30 or day 60, but you may not receive that stock until day 90 or day 120. In the meantime you’re selling stock in your home country, you are trying to time the stock correctly and you may also be expanding into new markets and new countries with your stock.”
His solution involves systematic account management and regular financial reviews. Using AMP Bank’s multiple spaces feature, Singh allocates specific percentages: “10% for GST, 30% for stock, 30% for marketing,” alongside other operational expenses.
“Secondly, I review our profitability numbers with the team weekly. We look at how much we’ve spent on marketing, how much we spend on shipping, profitability per order amongst many other things to get a full picture view of the business and how it’s performed that week.”
Innovation in tradition
Copper Culture’s competitive advantage lies in bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary marketing and design approaches. Singh identified that most competitors in the space operated with outdated strategies.
“Many businesses in this industry are traditional. They’ve slapped together a small website. They do some light Facebook marketing and social media marketing, but they don’t really think about the narrative that they’re trying to create. We have to remember that this is an Ayurvedic tradition that most of the Western world knows nothing about. How do we engage the audience, educate them, and bring them along on this journey with us?”
Product development became equally important, with Singh recognising that tradition didn’t have to mean stagnation.
“Copper bottles have been around for thousands of years as have their designs, but we’ve actually radically changed the design of a copper bottle so that it looks much more elegant and professional than our competition. We are continuing to innovate on this front, and we’ll have a new version of the product coming to market by the end of the year. It’s all about the consistent iteration of your product for your customers.”
Building for the long haul
Singh’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs reflects the patience required to build sustainable businesses, particularly when introducing unfamiliar concepts to new markets.
“Patience trumps everything. You may have a good strategy and great execution, but the reality is even that takes its time to sink in. Rome was not built overnight. Great things can sometimes take up to ten years to come to fruition.”
He acknowledges the inevitability of mistakes whilst emphasising resilience as the determining factor between success and failure.
“You have to understand that when you go into business, you are going to make some mistakes. You are going to miscalculate some costs, and your profit margin will erode. Subsequently, you may come up with an innovative strategy down the track to help you on your journey. You have to have the grit to stay it through. The grit has been by far the most important lesson I’ve learned on this journey.”
From corporate burnout to building Australia’s leading copper drinkware brand, Singh’s journey demonstrates how personal transformation can become the foundation for business innovation, provided entrepreneurs maintain the discipline to manage cash flow and the patience to let ancient wisdom find its place in modern markets.
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