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Women Agree on The Naked Truth Part 3 of 3

Earlier this year, I was blessed to have connected with the affable Margaret Heffernan after I found one of her articles on BNET. She is an author, entrepreneur, CEO and keynote speaker, as well as a wife and mother. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge. Intrigued by her writing style, tech industry experience and thoughts on women in entrepreneurship, I asked Margaret to spend an hour with me one morning via VoIP. In my next few posts, I’ll share our discussion with you to provide you some insights for your business from this author of The Naked Truth and Women on Top.

Stillman: How did your family react to you starting your own business or even saying going from your role as a producer with BBC into entrepreneurial work?

Heffernan: I think that’s a great question. The first time I made that transition I don’t think any of us knew what we were getting ourselves in to. Subsequently, it has always been after a very explicit discussion, particularly with my husband. My kids were really too young. Because, if you’re running a business everyone really has to be behind it. It’s so all-consuming and requires such a degree of obsessive-ness. It’s also so exhausting, and unless everyone is behind it you’re going to have a real problem. I can certainly remember conversations with my husband, “Are you really up for this?” and “Never mind if I am. You have to be as gung ho about this as I am, because otherwise I won’t be able to do it.” I’ve been very lucky that he has been immensely supportive and typically very excited by the opportunities that I have pursued. And, I think although we have always thought they are my businesses and it’s my career, I am doing it for us, so it’s not just me. It can never just be me.

Stillman: What advice do you have for women whose husbands may not be as supportive; who she feels she has the talent or it’s the right decision for the family, but he’s not on board or does not have an entrepreneurial mind, so he doesn’t have that same passion or that same understanding?

Heffernan: I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem. I’ve interviewed a lot of very successful entrepreneurs whose husbands have been corporate executives. This is a pattern I have seen a lot. The fact that the corporate executive has a relatively secure job has meant that the wife hasn’t felt that the risks were as great. When she has built the business to the point of where it’s proven itself – he will often come onboard to take a position within the business. I’ve seen it over and over again. She had to prove it before he would dare to make the leap. It’s kind of interesting and I know a lot of female entrepreneurs who have felt that they could take the risk of starting their own business, because some chunk of the household income was already guaranteed. That has certainly been true for me in the sense that my husband is an academic, meaning he doesn’t make a fortune but his work is very stable and secure, so when things were tricky, we weren’t going to be completely destitute. But, I think the hard moments come if your partner is truly a naysayer, and I think that would make it very hard to succeed. I remember interviewing Eileen Fisher about starting her business, and she said at the time she was starting it, her boyfriend stated she wasn’t good at math, she knew nothing about business, she couldn’t sew, so therefore she must be out of her mind to start a clothing line. She said the boyfriend had to go. It’s just not possible to be as confident as you need to be if you have someone sapping your enthusiasm every day.

Stillman: That’s true. That’s so true. I’m glad she made that decision!

Heffernan: Yeah, I think she is too! And he probably realizes he goofed.

Stillman: Oh I bet he does now!

Stillman: Looking back at your career and what you learned from all of your research and book writing, and your experience –is there any advice you wish you would have received 10 or 20 years ago that you would like to share with other female entrepreneurs?

Heffernan: I think there are a couple things. I think one is not to take business personally. By that I mean, when you lose a pitch, or you lose a customer or you fail to hire someone you really wanted or whatever setback you have – I think it’s very important not to take it personally. Don’t think, “I must have done something wrong.” Stuff happens and you have to move on. I think women in corporate careers, as well as entrepreneurs, often take their setbacks too personally. It’s important to learn from it and not to always think “Oh, it must be my fault.” All businesses have setbacks and nobody ever gets it their own way all the time. It’s very important not to let things attack your confidence. I’d also say it’s very important to have some kind of external sounding board; somebody who really cares about your success, who isn’t working for you. We need somebody who is a bit of a cheerleader who can be critical, too, and ask those hard questions. I think they are instrumental and I have never seen anyone succeed without that sounding board. Sometimes it’s more than one person. We cannot succeed alone.

Stillman: Tell me a little bit more about your latest book.

Heffernan: Well my latest book is something of a departure in the sense that it’s not a pure business book. It’s more of a thought-provoker, I suppose, and it’s called, Willful Blindness. It’s about why we ignore the obvious. Part of the argument of the book is that the things we need to worry about are not the things that are hidden and secret but the things that are staring you in the face that you don’t want to look at. That is as true in our personal life as it is in our professional life. So the book looks at everything from how we’re often blind in love, how we often don’t notice the biggest problems in our families, to how we don’t notice the biggest problems in our companies.
It’s quite provocative but what is really interesting to me is the minute I start talking to anyone about Willful Blindness they all can come up with three examples in about a minute. There are companies that they know that did things that are just obviously stupid, companies that failed to see the market coming, because they just didn’t want to, and people who hire executives that are just obviously wrong. The book really looks at why we do this. I think its pretty eye opening. One of the things it also looks at that I’ve been very fascinated by is how money blinds us.

Stillman: When will this new book be published? Do you have a date yet?

Heffernan: It comes out in the States next March and in the UK in February.

Stillman: Margaret, do you have any parting words or pieces of advice for women entrepreneurs emerging from this economy?

Heffernan: Well, I think it’s really important to remember that recessions are fantastic environments in which to start companies. Money is cheap, there is more talent around than ever. Vendors and suppliers are often much more willing to deal with new businesses in a downturn than they are in a boom time. Sometimes they are too busy and they can pick and choose. In a recession they will often back young companies in ways they haven’t before and customers are so hungry for innovative products. So, I don’t think you should let the economic gloom get to you. There are loads and loads of entrepreneurs who started their businesses in the middle of horrible economic times. And, they have done phenomenally well. It’s a fantastic environment in which to start a new business.

To read more about Margaret Heffernan’s work and what she’s doing now, visit www.mheffernan.com.

Women Agree on The Naked Truth Part 2 of 3

Earlier this year, I was blessed to have connected with the affable Margaret Heffernan after I found one of her articles on BNET. She is an author, entrepreneur, CEO and keynote speaker, as well as a wife and mother. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge. Intrigued by her writing style, tech industry experience and thoughts on women in entrepreneurship, I asked Margaret to spend an hour with me one morning via VoIP. In my next few posts, I’ll share our discussion with you to provide you some insights for your business from this author of The Naked Truth and Women on Top.

Stillman: What are the top 3 things you learned from running, buying and selling your Internet business? I think it’s fascinating for a woman to have such a strong presence in that market and that time in the mid-90s.

Heffernan: I’m very skeptical about mergers and acquisitions, partly because I’ve done them. There are some people who are very good at doing them and what those people tell me is for any mergers to work well you need to have limitless time. The main reason most mergers and acquisitions fail is because everybody focuses on getting the deal done and then people take their hands off the steering wheel.M&As are driven by bankers who make a lot of money and CEOs who seem to think that their stature depends on them. I’ve never seen so much destruction in shareholder value as through M&As. I do think it’s possible to build a business that way, but I think it’s much /much/ harder than it looks. And, most people aren’t prepared to put the work in.

Another thing I have learned is that technology companies, in particular, find it very hard to have a rich dialogue with their customers, and I think most technology companies that flounder do so because they have a very arrogant attitude to their users and their customers. One of the hardest things about running these businesses is getting an interface between your customers and your engineers that is creative. A few companies manage it but I think most companies really struggle with it. Engineers can dream of something customers can’t even imagine, and it quickly gets them into the bad habit of not listening to anybody.

I guess the other thing I feel very strongly about is making a conscious effort to produce and sustain diversity in your businesses. If you don’t, the business is much weaker, if not fatally weak. When I think of many of the women-owned businesses that I’ve written about, I see much more diversity there. And, what is really exciting is that not only do the women love working there but the men love working there. And, that’s really what we should all be aiming for.

Stillman: Why do you think women-owned business encourage more diversity?

Heffernan: I believe this is partly because we’ve been on the receiving end often of companies that aren’t diverse, so I think that we’re sympathetic to what it’s like to be the minority. I also think that women are very alert to their own weaknesses. This is sometimes a problem because we tend to put ourselves down and destroy our own confidence by thinking about our weaknesses. However, this can also be a strength. Many of the fine female CEO’s I find know they thought very clearly through, “What are my weaknesses and what kinds of people do I need different from myself to address those?” They think about it almost like casting a play. Whereas a guy might look at it as “I need a marketing guy, a finance guy, a sales guy,” and so on, women tend to think, “Well I’m good at this but not at that so I need someone who is good at that.” Women tend to think much more about work styles and thinking styles, which is important in diversity. And, awareness of their own weaknesses makes them try to protect themselves by hiring people who plug those holes. Men are less likely to do that. Men are less likely to think they have weaknesses and therefore less likely to hire the kind of people who might fix those for them.

Stillman: That’s an interesting perspective. From my experience with where I have been in large corporate America down to the smallest of companies, one of which was run by a female, I think your insights are what I have experienced as well. You have obviously done your research and I’m sure a lot of women tell you the same thing.

Heffernan: Another more specific way to put it would be to say that a woman will think, “I’m not great with numbers so I need to hire somebody who is.” Now a guy might think, “Gee, I’m not great with people,” but it wouldn’t really occur to them that they might need to find somebody who is. I’ve had many very interesting showdowns with a lot of senior male executives on this front because, while women take themselves off to business school, men will rarely take themselves off to “emotion school.” But, like I said, it cuts two ways because being aware of our own weaknesses often really undermines women’s confidence.

Stillman: In terms of your businesses and where you have taken them, were you ever in a situation where you raised startup capital for your venture?

Heffernan: Well I mostly joined businesses with venture capitalists who really started the companies or the technology pretty much together at the same time as we were figuring out where the money was. So, it was less of a sequential process and more of thinking about it all as one piece. I know a lot of women who have raised a lot of venture capital, and I think what’s very striking about their success is two things, one is they approach raising venture capital just as anyone would approach a sales person would prepare for a prospect – they never talk to anyone without having researched them very thoroughly, they ask lots of questions, they work hard to build a relationship and they listen to the answers. The other thing that is true about them is they seem to have a pretty decent track record. Therefore if you go in and can say, I’ve done this that and the other, you will get more attention than if you come in with a sizzling idea and no experience.

My next post will conclude my interview with Margaret Heffernan. To read more about her work and what she’s doing now, visit www.mheffernan.com.

Women Agree on The Naked Truth Part 1 of 3

This summer, I was blessed to have connected with the affable Margaret Heffernan after I found one of her articles on BNET. She is an author, entrepreneur, CEO and keynote speaker, as well as a wife and mother. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge. Intrigued by her writing style, tech industry experience and thoughts on women in entrepreneurship, I asked Margaret to spend an hour with me one summer morning via VoIP. In my next few posts, I’ll share our discussion with you to provide you some insights for your business from this author of The Naked Truth and Women on Top.

Stillman: How did you get into what you are doing now? What was your thought process? What was your emotional process?

Heffernan: In 2001, I closed the last business I was running and thought, “My God I have hired and fired and restructured and reengineered so many people’s careers and now want a job that involves no employees.” I felt very burned out from the intensity of managing lots and lots and lots of people. I thought I now wanted to do something I could do all by myself, which doesn’t leave a lot of options. A friend of mine had asked me if I would like to write a book about the Internet. And, I thought about it and thought I had nothing to say about the Internet. I thought it was too early to tell what the full impact would have been. Most of the things that the pundits were saying were pretty much right. So, I didn’t think I had anything incredibly surprising to add to it. But, the more I thought about it, the more I thought I DID want to write about something and what I’d really like to write about was the changing shape or unexpected shape of women’s careers. I talked to a friend of mine who is a book agent, and talked about what sort of thing I might do. And, we came up with the book that ultimately became The Naked Truth. The thing that was kind of interesting along the way is that, because I wasn’t Jack Welch, I wasn’t a mega-CEO, nobody really wanted to know much about me. So, I was describing this problem to a friend of mine who was the editor of FastCompany magazine. He said, “Well, why don’t you write something for me, and if it’s any good I will publish it. Then, at least you will get some feedback.” I said, “Maybe I won’t; maybe there isn’t anything to say out there. We’ll see.”

So I wrote a story for him which eventually became known as the “Female CEO Circa 2002.” I remember sending it to him and never hearing anything again and thought, “Ok. Maybe it wasn’t the big deal I thought it was.” And, I was in the process of relocating at the time. So, I was a bit distracted. The day we were moving out of our house I heard from an editor at FastCompany just checking some facts and she said the story was coming out in next month. I thought, “Well, that’s great!” Maybe there was something in it after all. Then, when the story came out, I was just absolutely inundated with emails in response to it. It was just a torrent. It ended up being about 5000 emails over the course of a couple of months. I then knew someone is interested in this stuff! Essentially what I did was take that feedback and worked it into the book proposal. Then, I sent it to two of the publishers that had been amongst those 5000 emails; that’s how I ended up writing my first book. The second book then flowed from the first. And, now I have just finished my third.

Stillman: So, you really have come full circle from being the CEO and running people’s work lives to being the expert who tells them what to do via a book. That’s terrific!

Heffernan: One reason this approach has worked is because, on the whole, most people who write in my sort of area are academics in which case they have done a lot of research but they never actually have done it, never actually run a business. I like to think that what I combine is a lot of very deep research but also some very instinctive, well-honed reality checks. Because, at the end of the day, I always ask, “Can I use the ideas that I have? Can I put them into action? Would they change what I do? Would they make an impact on my business? So, I like to think if you combine the research with the reality then people will see it as very credible, very grounded in reality and takes a slightly different look at things.

Stillman: So, in terms of your roles as an entrepreneur, CEO, author and more … How much time do you spend now with your authorship? It sounds like that’s a big part of what you do now.

Heffernan: I pretty much write, but it depends. I just finished my latest book, so now I deal with all of the things I put off while I was writing it. When I’m in the middle of a book, I write everyday from 9 to 5. I’m either writing the book or researching the book. And, I keep office hours doing that.

Stillman: I just finished the first manuscript of my first book and I struggled probably because wasn’t disciplined like that. That would have helped.

Heffernan: The thing is you get used to it. And, I think part of the struggle is just figuring out what’s the best process that’s going to work for you. Once you figure that out all the other stuff gets a lot easier.

Stillman: Your children…what ages are they now?
Heffernan: They are 12 and 16.

Stillman: Mine are 9 and 11. They still need you at 12 and 16, right?
Heffernan: Oh, yes, they do – they still need you at 12 and 16 – I can tell you. Mostly they need you to drive them all over. They also need you because exams are happening. Girls are happening and drugs are happening. You don’t want to NOT be there with those things going on.

Stillman: That’s a powerful statement right there – they DO need you. Women who have found that nirvana of running a business while raising their children have to remind themselves why they chose that route. However, it can be very difficult running a business while being a chauffeur at the same time! But, I do find that time in the car to be valuable with them, too.

Heffernan: I think one of the single biggest mistakes I see women make in their career is they believe that their children need them most when they are infants. And, it’s exactly wrong – your children need you more as they get older. The mistake I see women making over and over and over again is they will take a couple of years out of the workforce after the baby is born, thinking they’ll get back to work once things ‘settle down.’ What happens is (A) things never settle down (B) they may have another child (C) many lose their confidence by being at home all the time (D) their kids need them more and more as they get older not less and less. Then, 20 years have passed and they think, “Oh, My God, whatever happened to my career?” I have addressed conferences full of such women who were among the best, brightest and best educated in the world who got side tracked that way and find it very, very hard to get back into the workforce. I think the single biggest mistake implicit in that detour is THE IDEA that your kids need you most when they are smaller.

Stillman: You are so right – that is the reason I began hopping off the traditional career track almost 2 years ago I started my own company – they need me more now.

Heffernan: You can delegate children’s needs better when they are tiny. When they are around the middle ages of childhood and in the teen years, the issues are too crucial. And, sometimes quite literally a matter of life and death.

My next several posts will include more from my interview of Margaret Heffernan. To read more about her work and what she’s doing now, visit www.mheffernan.com.

You Ought to Be in Line Now?

Lessons from the health care front … the scarcity mentality abounds. I just read today in Health Data Management that vendors of electronic medical records (EMR) systems and hospitals alike are finding their human capital to implement EMR strained under the demand spurred by government incentive payments to further computerize healthcare.

This is just one parallel that I believe we will begin to see as the healthcare exchanges the government plan begin to limit physician and hospital choice as we all saw under managed care in the 90s. “Get in line” for your favorite physician because s/he may see a crush of new patients if s/he is listed in one of the exchanges. “Get in line” at your favorite hospital because you may experience the same there.

Instead of this scarcity mentality about what OTHERS will do FOR us, we should begin now to have an abundance mentality about what WE can do for OURSELVES to prevent the need for a doctor or hospital visit. Instead of queueing the European way, get OUT of line. Keep walking, looking forward to all the unlimited possibilities that lie ahead if we only use our creativity the way we are meant to use it.

“What this does is eliminate the Gucci doctors”

Today’s New York Times promotes the new, quasi-managed care health care exchanges while a small business owner forewarns the end of “the Gucci doctors.” What this really means is physicians who are excluded from these more limited exchanges need to position themselves appropriately to attract patients willing to pay more for choosing a physician outside the exchange.

Positioning, branding and marketing has never been more important for physicians committed to building and maintaining a vibrant practice. Stay ahead of the game and begin to differentiate your practice today.

Watch the One Ahead

My daughter recently attended summer swim camp at Purdue University in Indiana and received the following quote in her folder from her counselor. It’s an oldie but a goodie, and worth sharing to hear again. Before we head into the holiday weekend, take these words to heart as you journey into the second half of your year to grow your business despite the labor reports today.

“Watch the one ahead of you and you’ll learn why she is ahead. Then emulate her.”

The handout goes on to say, “One of the surest ways to achieve success is to observe the actions of successful people, determine what principles they regularly employ, and then use them yourself. The principles of success, as Andrew Carnegie said, are definite, they are real, and they can be learned by anyone willing to take the time to study and apply them. If you are truly observant, you will find that you can learn something from almost everyone you meet. And it isn’t necessary that you know them. You may choose great people who are no longer alive. The important thing is to study their lives, and then learn and apply in your own life the specific principles these people used to achieve greatness.”

Enjoy your independence this Fourth of July!

Shoe Diva: Final Post and a Fetish Warning

Founder and Owner of House of Sole in Chicago at 1237 S. Michigan Avenue, Tiffany Bullock took a few minutes recently to speak with me. Bullock, a colleague of mine from business school and a Chicago native, is the fashionista behind the House of Sole Boutique in the trendy South Loop. Looking at breaking even within her first four years in business, Bullock is using “Recessionista Pricing” to keep her current customers and bring in new ones. Bullock is one smart entrepreneur to watch. We find out what energized her passion to leave the corporate world behind and make her mark as a successful retail business owner. This is part 3 in a 3-part series. My visit to the House of Sole for (ahem) market research was WONDERFUL! However, I now think Tiffany has inspired my inner Imelda Marcos. House of Sole’s shoe selection is fantastic, even for my finicky feet!

Stillman: How did your family react to you starting your own business?
Bullock: I’ve done a lot of firsts in my family. I did not come from a family of entrepreneurs. I’m the first generation to go to college. Going on the entrepreneur side and walking away from corporate was a big move for me. I had to have confidence in my ability. Should my situation ever change I would go back to Corporate America. My mom is extremely supportive. She has all the public relations-generated newspaper clippings and videos from TV. This is a totally different environment – corporate to retail – the ups and downs, it’s a lot of fun, a lot of emotions and very interesting. I’m always looking at other things I’m interested in as well, because I don’t want to leave this world with any regrets. Some people have a “bucket list” of things they want to do in life and I never want to think “well, darn, I should have.” I would rather take the time and do the research and then do it.

Stillman: Is there anything you would have done differently in your startup phase?
Bullock: I started the process in 2004. I was thinking about developing a retail store and doing the research and went out and got job at Nordstroms for retail experience. I physically opened the doors on May 2, 2007. Before that I was buying/selling in DC with a woman who owned a boutique there. I wish I would have worked with our alderman a bit more beforehand. For example, parking can be a big issue. One thing I probably would have researched more would be ample parking. The city shut down the free parking that was available by us.

You also need to focus on the mental side of taking care of you. As stressful as being a business owner is, find something that brings you joy. Take the time to just go breathe and not make every waking moment about your business. For me that comes from knitting, walking and hanging out with my crew!

Stillman: What is your vision for your business?
Bullock: My vision is I want it to grow! I would like to have another House of Sole within the next five years. Right now I’m holding more close to the cuff. My appetite for risk is not as strong at this stage. In the meantime, it’s just reinforcing what I have right now, making it as strong of a shop as possible, learn from the customers and adjust as necessary. That way the next adventure can be that much better. Right now we have a lot of men asking for shoes and women asking for clothes. I feel like we’re being pulled in two different directions. We have to decide what to do to meet demand. For us, I believe that is expanding the clothing side. Thankfully there are other boutiques for men in the area. I’ve noticed the men are more decisive buyers. They will purchase something and you won’t see them again for a month! Us women, we are more thinkers and feelers. We “window shop” more often. Sometimes we buy and sometimes we don’t!

Stillman: What do you do for marketing?
Bullock: I do a lot of social networking/ marketing – email, Yelp, Facebook fan pages and more. We are huge on social networking, however, I think our greatest impact has been from editorial and local publications or networks doing features on us. I rely a lot on editorial/public relations pieces, and although our local ABC affiliate’s piece for their “190 North” show didn’t air we will take the feed from the site! Time Out Chicago recently named us one of their Top 10 boutiques! Because of Facebook (@HouseofSole), we made out first sale to Shanghai and Twitter has brought in a few customers. We are currently developing a Look Book site. We do coupons that our boutique team hands out as postcards, so we can do cross marketing with other local retailers. We also like to have events at the store. For our opening anniversary we like to celebrate with the customers throughout the week and do small events at the boutique. I use Constant Contact to send out to the media list first before events and then to my customers. Email marketing is huge for us.

Stillman: Of all those in your business, what role do you like the best?
Bullock: I enjoy working with customers to change their perspective about a pair of shoes. I also enjoy being the CEO and the janitor for my store! Shoes can make your relationship – so I am also part therapist. Men come in with their women and I see the impact when they look at their partners in a more affectionate way after I recommended a style of shoe. I also enjoy the buying part of the business, looking at the trends, scoping new styles. I enjoy when people get excited about the styles that I have picked out for them. We focus on what fits our customers. For example, we don’t do well with stilettos but we will look at a four-inch heel. We try to envision what our customer will wear and can they wear it before 5 then after 5 with jeans? I enjoy both the creative and the analytical side of my boutique!

Stillman: Any other last piece of advice?
Bullock: Talk to as many people as you can to get different perspectives and I hope to see you at House of Sole! Our spring hours are Monday 12-7, Tuesday through Saturday from 11-8 and Sundays from 12-6. And, follow me @HouseofSole on Twitter.

Shoe Diva: Part 2

Founder and Owner of House of Sole in Chicago at 1237 S. Michigan Avenue, Tiffany Bullock took a few minutes recently to speak with me. Bullock, a colleague of mine from business school and a Chicago native, is the fashionista behind the House of Sole Boutique in the trendy South Loop. Looking at breaking even within her first four years in business, Bullock is using “Recessionista Pricing” to keep her current customers and bring in new ones. Bullock is one smart entrepreneur to watch. We find out what energized her passion to leave the corporate world behind and make her mark as a successful retail business owner. This is part 2 in a 3-part series.

Stillman: How did you fund your idea?
Bullock: Most of the funding I provided myself from personal savings. I had a small amount of funding from a bank. It’s important to me to not touch my retirement. I’ve noticed the SBA doesn’t like to fund startups – they prefer you to be in business for “X” number of years. Basically, I had the wherewithal to do it, so that’s how I did it!

Stillman: Anything else?
Bullock: I’m looking for grants. I’ve been researching and there is still money out there – you just have to find it! I have never written a grant before or requested one – but we shall soon find out how successful I am.

Stillman:How long did it take you to start becoming profitable and/or successful, however you choose to measure success?
Bullock: I’m hoping to hit breakeven in the next 10 months as I amortize the build out costs. You have to constantly readjust your numbers according to the market. Ninety percent of my revenues were from shoe sales. Accessories have really provided a great source of income (we tripled our accessories last year). We are looking at expanding and adding clothing as well.

We’ve been using “recessionista” pricing to keep business moving. By increasing our accessories, we have boosted bottom-line numbers and have gone from shoes being about 90% of sales to about 80% of sales. We noticed that in the down economy, people still wanted to spend and indulge, so in a lot of cases a $25 accessory, for example, met that need.

It’s also important to continue to learn – our learning continues on a steep curve. I enjoy talking with anybody who will share their knowledge but I must be respectful of their time. I enjoy speaking with the small circle of owners in my geographic area who are still open (and, I still speak with the ones that have closed as well.) It’s important to ask how they are marketing, what trends they are watching and how they are handling inventory. I am pretty new to retail, I actually went to work for Nordstroms to gain some experience in the retail world between DC and opening my store. It’s important for me to speak with other designers and owners to get new ideas. I work the store and have a great team that’s supportive when I’m out at a Fashion Week or a trade show.

Most of my travel is done during late winter and it tapers off for in early spring until the fall collections, which I will start shopping for in July. I spend most of my time between New York, Las Vegas, and here at home in Chicago. I also watch for local talent. My boutique is very supportive of local designers, 80 percent of our accessories (hats, scarves, headbands) are from the local designers.

In my last post of this series, I will conclude my interview with Tiffany where you’ll learn how her family reacted to her decision to start her business and what she does for affordable marketing.

Shoe Diva Takes on Chicago One Sole at a Time

Founder and Owner of House of Sole in Chicago at 1237 S. Michigan Avenue, Tiffany Bullock took a few minutes recently to speak with me. Bullock, a colleague of mine from business school and a Chicago native, is the fashionista behind the House of Sole Boutique in the trendy South Loop. Looking at breaking even within her first four years in business, Bullock is using “Recessionista Pricing” to keep her current customers and bring in new ones. Bullock is one smart entrepreneur to watch. We find out what energized her passion to leave the corporate world behind and make her mark as a successful retail business owner.

Stillman: I understand you are quite passionate about your volunteer work. Tell me about it.
Bullock: Well, I’m originally from Chicago, but while I lived in Washington, D.C., I did some pro bono consulting work for the YWCA. They wanted me to help a bit with their restructuring. My reward was they asked me to be on the board after that and it was very exciting. I looked at bottom line profitability and how they could cut expenses and helped with the decision process on several of their other projects.

Stillman: Are you serving on the board now?
Bullock: No, because I moved back to Chicago. Although I am still in contact with them, I am looking or other opportunities in the Chicago area because I would like to get back on the volunteer side. I really enjoyed my experience in DC with the YWCA.

Stillman: What resources helped you launch your business?
Bullock: I found some of the best resources were the people who had the street knowledge who had already gone through it before. So, I spoke with other boutique owners. That really helped out a lot as far as like giving you real world experience beyond creating the business strategy, customer service, and inventory aspects. There are a wealth of resources out there. I started doing my research and strategy while I was living in DC, when I knew I was coming back home to Chicago. I started with the Library of Congress. There’s a vast amount of resources available there. You can research the NAICS data – industry specific data. As far as organizations, they also provide some direction and assistance. I also contacted the National Shoe Retailer Association and they gave me a starter kit for starting up a boutique. I then did research to get the different Chambers of Commerce within Chicago, and finally the State of Illinois gives you a huge outline of free information and resources and that helped out quite a bit.

Stillman: What motivated you to open your store, House of Sole?
Bullock: I’ve wanted to do a boutique for some time. I’m very interested in fashion. One of the unique things I’ve discovered is the high number of architects and attorneys who are shoe designers. I was inspired by Professor Rogers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management who said that everyone should start their own business and that has always stayed with me. I knew I wanted to move back home from DC and when I decided on the South Loop it was one of the hottest residential areas but very risky – there was not a lot of retail but there were a lot of cranes! I knew I was in the pioneer position and the location put me closer to home.

In my next post, I will continue my interview with Tiffany where you’ll learn more about her funding and pricing prowess that has helped her young business weather this economy.