Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Coleman.
Hi Anthony, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. I started in 1986 as a computer operator at the university I was attending, and I liked computers enough that I gave up my business minor and went all out into programming. Mind you, at that time regular people did not have computers. If you had one, you were fairly rich.
Around 1989 I became a programmer, then went to Southwestern Bell. My whole career has been in IT, mostly programming in COBOL, and for most of it I was a contract programmer. That took me from St. Louis to Washington, D.C. for about fourteen years, and then to New York.
Here’s the part I don’t skip. When the newer languages came out in the 90s, I didn’t get on the bandwagon. COBOL was my bread and butter and I wasn’t going to abandon my bread and butter. It came back to bite me. The world moved on, my skills were outdated, and I could not get a job. I struggled with that for a number of years. That’s what brought me to where I am today.
I wanted something online, so I could work anywhere on the planet. In 2021, about halfway through the pandemic, I was on YouTube and stumbled across an ad for Shopify development. I had never heard of Shopify. I listened closely and thought, this is exactly what I need. I spent close to five months learning Shopify Liquid, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, then landed my first client on Upwork.
The agency started out of a scheduling problem. After two or three projects I had three running at once, and one of them needed design and development expertise I didn’t have, so I hired a designer and a developer. I’d always intended to start an agency eventually, and that seemed as good a time as any other. That’s how Eprosperfy began.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No. Not adapting when the technology moved was the big one, and it cost me years of work.
After that it’s been a climb through skills. I learned to build a Shopify store that’s functionally correct. My first project showed me that isn’t enough — a store should be well designed too, and design and development are two entirely different skill sets. So I studied web design. A few projects later I found that a store that works and looks good still doesn’t necessarily entice anyone to buy. Conversion rate optimization is what does that, so I learned it.
None of those ever finish. In fact they’re constantly evolving. Shopify is always coming out with something new. Accessibility keeps changing what a designer has to account for. And AI has changed development, design and conversion rate optimization all at once.
As you know, we’re big fans of Eprosperfy, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
1. What should we know?
Eprosperfy is a Shopify agency. I put together professionals who do the things I know just enough about to keep them on track — a web designer, a graphic designer, another Shopify developer, and two marketing people, including one who only deals with Google. Google is huge. I divvy up the work to get the store built, maintained, selling, and purring like a kitten. We work with everyone from startups to large companies, and most builds run six to twelve weeks.
2. What do you do, what do you specialize in / what are you known for?
Six areas: Shopify development, design, conversion rate optimization, marketing, AI, and ongoing support. What we’re known for is stores that convert visitors to buyers. Anyone can put a store up in a matter of hours — that store getting traffic, and converting that traffic, is a different thing entirely.
We’ve also brought AI into our own workflow in a practical way: scoping tasks thoroughly, validating Shopify Liquid structure, reducing errors, quality assurance testing, and speeding up theme and section work. It lets work faster while keeping the store clean and reliable.
I’m a Shopify Partner and certified in conversion rate optimization. I’m working on a web design certification now.
3. What sets you apart from others?
One person cannot be equally expert in all things. Many developers don’t know design, many designers don’t know development, and many of both don’t know conversion rate optimization. I’m a Shopify developer mostly, so I built the team around what I’m not.
I also spent years as a requirements analyst — finding out from the people with a stake in a system what it actually has to do, then translating that for the people building it. That’s the same work at the front of a Shopify project. I scope before I build.
4. What are you most proud of, brand-wise?
The team. Eprosperfy is not a one-man operation, and it started because I brought in the right people to serve a client properly instead of stretching myself thin. I’m also not content with where I am. Right now I’m working on AI automation for Shopify stores, to free store owners from the mundane, manual tasks they do day in and day out.
5. What do you want our readers to know about your brand, offerings, and services?
With Shopify, everything you can sell is considered a product — even a service. My own agency site doesn’t sell any physical or digital products. We sell our services. So if you provide a service, you can sell it there too, along with online classes, memberships, or a product alongside it. You can take bookings and deposits so people are less likely to bail at the last minute and leave you holding the bag.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eprosperfy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eprosperfy
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/103486834/admin/dashboard/
