Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How to launch a fashion forward footwear brand with Lisa Seskin, founder of LMS

Transcript

How to launch a fashion forward footwear brand with Lisa Seskin, founder of LMS · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is episode 16 with Lisa Seskin. Hey guys, today I have a really cool episode with Lisa Seskin, the founder of Australian footwear label LMS Shoes.
• 0:21
  If you've ever wondered what the process is to manufacture and produce a footwear label from scratch, this is an episode for you. We're going over the challenges Lisa faced in building this business and the big wins she's had so far, like being worn by mega celebrities Bella Hadid and Emma Roberts and exactly how she did it.
• 0:39
  But before we jump into the episode, I have a big favor to ask you. If you've enjoyed listening to these episodes and you're getting something out of them, would you mind leaving me a review? It takes just a few quick seconds and it helps other people to find us and listen to these episodes. And for everyone who's done it already, thank you so much. This is Lisa Seskin for Female Startup Club. Tell me about LMS. Why footwear? Why did you decide to start a footwear brand?
• 1:06
  So, well, for those of you who don't know, I started LMS a year ago, or just over a year ago. So I launched in January in 2019. And for me, owning my own business was something I'd always wanted. Since I was young, since I was in school, it was something... I always tell the story that whenever I was...
• 1:24
  you know, scared or had nightmares when I was younger, I would think, you know, like you always think of that one thing that's your channel just to make you feel better. And my thing was think about that day when you're going to be, you know, what we call now like a boss bitch, you know, like worth owning your own business and like having your own company. That was always my dream from as long as I can remember. And then footwear for me was something I always just saw as a big gap in the market. So my background is in, I've been in the fashion industry for around 10 years
• 1:54
  I had friends and people coming up to me who'd often come and ask me for styling or fashion advice saying, where can I get shoes? I want comfortable heels or shoes that can wear to work. And I really struggled with an answer when I would...
• 2:07
  normally always be able to find an answer and, you know, then to kind of validate, obviously it's all well and good having a thought in your head, you know, this is my idea. You really have to validate it. So what I did was just something simple, just did a brand map and I put together all the brands in the kind of clothing and apparel space.
• 2:24
  and where they would sit in the market based on price and fashionability. And, you know, there was just so many amazing clothing and apparel brands, especially in the local Australian market, like at a good price, but that's fashion forward and kind of suits, you know, the customer that is that, you know, looking up to that fashion girl. And so you look at brands like Sir the Label, Faithful the Brand, Hanson and Gretel, Beck and Bridge.
• 2:50
  just to name a few. And there was a lot of brands like that sitting in there, especially in the local market. And then when you do the same graph for footwear, there was just like not even nearly the same amount of players. And like there's, you know, there's a lot on the cheaper end or a lot on the higher, you know, luxury front. But to kind of go after that customer who is buying a Beckenbridge dress and wants to go out or who's wearing a Hansel and Gretel suit to work, they just didn't feel like there was that footwear equivalent.
• 3:19
  Why do you think there wasn't that equivalent there? No, I think there's a few brands who have tried and are in their own way kind of helping cover that gap. You look at brands like Senso and Salsano who have been out there for a while. But in my opinion, I think they're more catered to that more safer consumer, less the super fashion forward girl. And footwear is a hard category. And I guess it's, you know, when you're in your own cloud of, oh, you know, I've got such a good idea and why has no one done it? You don't always think why hasn't anyone done it.
• 3:48
  footwear is very challenging you've got sizes you've got about six to seven sizes you have to deal with and it's not like with clothing if you buy a dress online and you know maybe it's a little bit big you can get it taken in or you can just wear it a bit oversized but you can't do that with footwear like it has to fit so there are definitely limitations and challenges that I've found along the way and and that's perhaps why there aren't that many players.
• 4:11
  Yeah. And so when you were doing the brand, I forget the term you used, mind map thing. Map, yeah. And you found the gap, then were you like, okay, yep, that's what I want to do, that's what I'm going to start? Yeah, I think that validates me. It definitely.
• 4:26
  To be honest, before I got deep into that process, footwear was on my mind for so long. But then I think once I actually put it down on paper, done myself a business plan and spoken to some people, you know, my dad's a mentor of mine and my boyfriend is now my fiance is also. And, you know, just chatting to people kind of even some friends or peers and just getting their thoughts on it just to help validate your idea. That is when it really, I guess, locked it in for me.
• 4:52
  And so what was the next step? Do you have to get some investors on board or did you use your own startup capital? Because I imagine footwear is quite expensive to sort of start a brand in. Footwear is expensive because you've got to hold on to inventory and stock, like, you know, other clothing brands or any inventory type of business. It is expensive and warehousing fees and all of that come into it. But the next step for me was finding a manufacturer. So I guess product is the most important part.
• 5:18
  like you're starting a goods business, is finding your product. So I was really sold on manufacturing in Portugal and I kind of saw myself an idea like, oh, amazing, I'm going to go to Portugal twice a year, like European holiday. And it sounds more appealing than, you know, where most people are manufacturing in Asia. So I went down that path and I found a great factory. They tell me they worked with Isabel Morant and that was just already like a big selling point for me.
• 5:46
  And at the same time, I spoke to a few of my connections and someone I had met quite a long time ago said, you know, I've got a factory in China that, you know, produced really great high quality leather shoes. And let me put you in touch. So I kind of wasn't that keen, but I just thought, you know what, I'll also just send them my initial designs and I'll get some samples back. So, you know, I'm pretty much through the process of chatting to the Portuguese factory
• 6:16
  Just out of nowhere, they completely ghosted me. And I just didn't, yeah, I didn't hear. I sent them all my designs. I didn't hear from them. And I spoke to a few other people and they said, yeah, this sometimes happens. Someone I know, a friend of mine said her sister had a brand and was manufacturing in Portugal and they actually stole their designs.
• 6:33
  At the same time, then, my samples came out from China, and I was like, wow, I was so impressed. And they completely exceeded my expectations. And I thought, you know what, there's a reason why China is so good. They're just good at their jobs. And I think another next step for me, and what I think is important for people who are starting a brand to know is I'm actually not a designer by trade.
• 6:55
  I was more in the business side of things and a buyer. So I can't sketch a shoe and I can't design it in a technical way. But I've got ideas and I've got a vision. And so I sent across like some reference images and just like for one shoe, I would send like 10 images. Like this is the heel I want. This is the material I want. This is the straps I want. And so I'd send that to China. And they actually, the fact that they interpreted that in such an amazing way and came back with, you know, samples that I couldn't fault.
• 7:23
  was just amazing for me. And that's how I, I guess, started that next journey by having a product. I think it's really important for people listening to understand that you don't have to be qualified and you don't have to have the technical skills in what you want to do. Because for me as well, having the jewellery brand, I'm not trained in it. I'm not a jewellery designer, but I had the vision and
• 7:44
  had an idea of how I wanted to go about it. And you just, it's a, probably a longer process because you have to stumble all the way. But I think it's quite inspiring when you talk to other people who are also in that same boat, a friend of mine, Inika Chu, she also in the podcast was talking about the fact that she didn't have any technical skills kind of from a qualification standpoint, but she had sewn with her mom growing up and she was interested in fashion that way,
• 8:13
  Yeah, I think it's so important to know. And I've noticed that along the whole way of, you know, starting the business and running it is that you often think, oh, I can't do that. It's not my skill set. But the minute you put your mind to it, if you're inclined to, you know, be an entrepreneur, start your own business, nothing is unachievable. And I learned that the hard way is that, you know, what for me was most confronting was branding and, you know, designing a logo and all that. And I thought, and I kept trying to say, oh, I'll get this person to help me. I'll get that person to help me. And eventually everyone just let me down.
• 8:42
  And I ended up finding a logo online with this random font. And I just sent it to the factory because they needed a logo like urgently. And that was my biggest lesson because it just made me realize that you can do anything. Like you don't need to rely on anyone because no one cares as much as you. You're the only one who cares about your business the way that it needs to be cared for. So yeah.
• 9:02
  Yeah. And I also think sometimes you just need that like nudge to just move quickly. And instead of spending six months being like, oh, I can't start yet because I don't have my logo. Exactly. Just being like, okay, here it is. That's done. Next step. What else can I do? Exactly. And every dollar matters. So like for me to go get a logo, maybe I'd have to, like I've known other people who paid thousands of dollars for a logo.
• 9:23
  My fiance often tells me like, you don't always have to go to market with the most perfect product because perfect isn't realistic. So rather have something, you know, you've got to be happy with it, but it's not going to be perfect to start off with. I changed my logo a few months later, but, you know, to get where I needed to be at the time I wanted to, I had to, you know, settle for a logo that was fine. It was nice. And you can always evolve and change.
• 9:46
  I think it was Gary Vee who said, if you're not embarrassed about the first version of your product, like you didn't launch fast enough. So yeah, I've seen that. It's so true. I know. I totally agree with that. I can put my hand up for that. Okay. So you got the samples back. You love the samples. Then what? I imagine from producing in China, there's like big minimum orders. You've got to basically commit to fully launching this. What was the next phase?
• 10:13
  So for me, because of my background, I worked at glue store as a buyer, but I also worked in the wholesale side of our business. So I had interactions with other retailers like The Iconic and David Jones. So for me, I wanted to get some opinions from other retailers and I was going to look down at wholesale routes. So I had my samples and again, to just validate my idea and validate my designs, I wanted to show them.
• 10:38
  them to other people. So I showed them to some retailers and I actually got an amazing response. And again, that's what made me more confident in my idea and my business. So I did that. In my gut, I just knew I wanted to be a direct-to-consumer business, meaning I sell directly to the customer and I don't wholesale to any retailers. I'd seen other brands have such success from it. You look at Glossier, you look at Realization Park, you look at Reformation. A lot of these huge social media
• 11:07
  you know, that everyone knows started this way or is still going this way by being direct to consumer because you're able to really create a strong brand identity. You're able to have one-on-one interactions with your customer. So, you know, that's what I then decided after kind of exploring the wholesale side of things. I decided to go ahead with being direct to consumer. So you're right. The minimums are high and I had to commit to units that were probably scary. And even now,
• 11:34
  I think I'm crazy for doing it. How many pieces did you have to buy? So per shoe, I had to commit to 200 pieces, but I can split that across colors.
• 11:46
  So at the time, some of them I needed two colours, but as I've gone on, I've spread it across more colours. So then I put an order through and just back to the question on investment, I did put a lot of my own money. So I've been working since while I was at uni, I started working full time. I had savings that I was able to put into the business to fund the first production run. I was also lucky enough, my family was
• 12:11
  They were happy to give me a loan, which is very lucky, but also is always like this bird and kind of hanging over you that you, you know, it's the people you know that you know you have to pay back. So it's sometimes harder than having to pay back someone, a complete stranger. So, yeah, I went and put my production run through and then I had to go and start setting up a website, which, again, was a skill set that I had no idea what to do.
• 12:35
  But like I always say that I think Shopify is a website for dummies because it's just the easiest platform and I highly recommend it to anyone. And I just, I navigated through, I watched YouTube videos, I asked around and I set up this website. And again, I know lots of people have spent $20,000 plus on building a website because they're intimidated to start their own website. But like it's really easy. And like I said, you can
• 12:58
  put your mind to anything. Everything was in production. I set up the website. And then my biggest thing was how I was going to market this brand, because there's one thing having a product, but you need customers to buy it. And so I started trying to build a social media account. So let's talk more about marketing the brand around the launch and how you started building your Instagram followers, because obviously starting a new account from scratch can be so daunting. How did you start getting your community there? Yeah.
• 13:27
  I was given advice, it's important to start building the community or some sort of digital presence. So I started an Instagram and I started just kind of putting together like a mood board on Instagram with inspiration images and all that and hashtagging and just, you know, getting something out there. So it gave me a good base. I think I might have
• 13:46
  might have started with a few hundred followers from there, which is a good base because every follower counts. The other thing that's really, really important that I always tell people is you have to be your biggest promoter. So get your brand out there. So on Instagram, on my own personal Instagram, I always shout out about the brand, like, hey guys, I'm starting my new brand, like tag it, get your friends and your family to share it around. Just again, when you're starting out, it's really hard to build followers. So
• 14:14
  And having people I know, friends of friends supporting the brand, again, got it to probably around 1,000 followers, which was, again, a really, really good foundation. So yeah, definitely just put yourself out there. And every conversation that you have with someone, you meet someone and they ask what you're up to, just like, oh, I'm starting my own brand. And even my fiancé would always go out when he went out for drinks or met new people. He'd message me, but I just got you a follower.
• 14:38
  because he talked to me and I would tell them, you should follow the brand. So that was really helpful. So just make sure you've got some ambassadors, your friends, family, your partner on your side, kind of try to score your follower every day. And then from that, once I launched the brand and I had some sort of a foundation of a following,
• 14:55
  what's really important is just start doing some social competitions. So whether it's just, you know, doing a giveaway, you know, to win a free pair of shoes in my case, and, you know, tag your friends in the comments below. And that really, really helps, again, build a following. So I would, every time I did a competition, I'd see a few hundred followers come from that. And then even collaborating with other brands, you might come across other brands who are at the same kind of
• 15:18
  you know, starting point is you with a similar following base, even if they've got a bit more followers, that's great and they're willing to do it. And doing, you know, combined giveaways, again, then you're accessing their audience. So that's really important and a great way to increase your following. And then for me, a few months before I launched the brand, by working at Glue, I'd seen the importance of influencer marketing.
• 15:41
  in order to your brand to be desired by the current market, which is a millennial customer, they need to see it on people that they follow or people that they aspire to. So I started reaching out to... I put together a list of probably about 100 influencers that I followed or that I thought really...
• 16:01
  embody the brand. And that was, again, some great advice I received from an influencer friend of mine was, when you are going to reach out to an influencer, make sure they really embody your brand. Make sure you can see your product on them, that they'd actually wear it, that they post on the Instagram. Because there's no point in
• 16:17
  you know, me sending shoes to maybe a swimsuit model who's posting photos mainly at the beach or in swimwear. If, you know, she never takes a photo of her feet or in an outfit, it's really important to, you know, make sure the people you are reaching out to are meaningful. And so I was reaching out personally to a lot of influencers, giving them my backstory, saying, I'm starting my own brand, sent them my lookbook, which was my campaign imagery of, you know, the first collection, and,
• 16:43
  And, you know, I think that was really important. And it's something I kind of want to get back to now is making the brand and the interactions that you have with people really personable because people appreciate that. They want to know there's someone behind that brand, not just a PR agency or a big company. And I think that was where a lot of the initial success of the brand came from was creating those connections with local influences and even international influences and reaching out and telling them my story and then sending them a free pair of shoes.
• 17:14
  And what's important to note is not everyone is going to post or tag your brand. And a lot of times, I'm sure, you know, as well as having your own businesses, you'll send, you know, product to someone and they might not wear it. And it's frustrating, but that's just the name of the game. Or they wear it and they don't tag you. You're just kind of waiting by their Instagram, like every day looking, are they going to wear it? Are they going to wear it? But
• 17:37
  you know, maybe it doesn't fit, maybe they didn't look good on them, maybe they haven't at times. Sometimes I found that someone would post my shoes, you know, three months later and you've got to kind of put yourself in their shoes, literally, that they get gifted so many products, shoes, clothes, beauty brands and they also got a life and a schedule and a time like that they need to
• 17:57
  have control of. So, but that, that for me is something I'd highly recommend is reaching out to influencers, reaching out yourself, putting yourself out there. I remember being so frightened to reach out to people and I'm like, they're never going to reply to me.
• 18:11
  there was the influencer Matilda Jerv, I think that's how you say her name. And I was like, you know what? I've got the confidence one day. I'm like, I'm going to email her. And I was like, she's never going to reply. The next day she emailed back and I honestly nearly fell off my chair and I remember being so, so excited. And that's kind of what I miss when you're first starting a business is all these little wins just make you so excited and
• 18:32
  so happy and I was like so excited to get on my computer every day and check my emails to see if someone's responded so yeah you've got to ride those waves and really enjoy those moments
• 18:42
  Yeah, absolutely. Did you find with influencer marketing, the effect or the impact was direct sales? Or did you find for you, it was more about like the content and that constant association? Because I feel like for me, when I do influencer marketing, I never thought too much about a direct, a direct sale that comes from that thing. I thought more about collectively the content that I was getting, the message that was going out there and being on as many people as possible.
• 19:09
  I never found it directly led to sales. But now when I look back at the sales I was getting at the beginning, I definitely think that it had an impact because at the beginning, all of the influencers would pick the same shoe, which was still my best seller, the Rachel and Tortoise Shell. And in that process.
• 19:24
  then became my best-selling shoe because I think customers saw that on all their favorite influencers. So the other important thing, to what you're saying, I agree. Content is key and it's amazing the content that a lot of these influencers produce and it's what you rely on because it's not easy just to produce content and to have it. It costs money. So that's really key. I think the other important thing to understand is that a customer needs to be taken on a journey. So,
• 19:54
  their favorite influencer. Then they've gone out for dinner with their friends and one of their friends is wearing the Rachel. And they're like, oh, this is a new brand LMS. And then I've gone and retagged them with a social media ad. And so they need multiple touch points before converting and every touch point is so imperative and so important. So while you might not see direct sales from one element of that, they all marry up and it's all a cycle that you need to take the customer on.
• 20:22
  Yeah, I think it's so important for people to have that in their mindset. And because I see a lot of brands who just kind of chasing that direct sale from, you know, this person post, it had no result and it had no impact. And I'm like, oh, I don't know if that's the way that you should be looking at that. Yeah, exactly.
• 20:40
  I wanted to ask you, I saw that Bella Hadid wore your shoes and you've actually had so many celebrities wear your shoes, which is such a cool major thing. How did you do that? There's definitely a lot of work behind it, a lot of money as well. So a friend of mine put me in touch with a PR agency in the U.S.,
• 20:59
  And I find PR agencies in the US work very differently to any local PR agencies in Australia. And they both have their positives and I guess negatives too, but they just work very differently. So in the US, I guess when you're signing on with a PR agency, one of the key tasks for them is celebrity placements. They call it VIP placements. And especially in LA, everything's about networking and who you know. So a lot of these PR agencies are
• 21:24
  have built really strong relationships with celebrity stylists and even celebrity personal assistants. In that case, the bailout had did. I had signed on with this American PR agency through a friend. And their main job was to send my lookbook and samples in the shoes to...
• 21:41
  celebrity stylist so Bella Hadid's stylist Mimi I think it's Mimi Cottrell she I think it was like literally two days before Milan Fashion Week just pulled a whole bunch of shoes for Gigi and Bella and to be honest I'd seen this happen a lot before that I'd gifted to Khloe Kardashian but I'd never seen anything so you're kind of like oh yeah well I'll send it to her but nothing's probably gonna happen
• 22:03
  And then two days later, there was a photo of Bella wearing the shoes in the fashion week, which is amazing because as I've spoken about before, all the stars have to align to catch a celebrity wearing your product, especially shoes at the bottom of their shoes.
• 22:19
  body because, you know, they have to be photographed by paparazzi. So paparazzi have to be present. It has to be the right timing. Like they have to be obviously wearing the product. So it is hard, but I get to ask this question a lot, but I want people to know that it's not easy to get your shoes on celebrities, but I've known people...
• 22:36
  A friend of mine reached out to Mimi Cottrell, Bella and Gigi Stylist directly on Instagram. And she's got a sunglass brand and she sent her some sunglasses and Bella's worn them like multiple times. So I went the route of going to a PR agency, but that's expensive as well. So I want people to know that you actually can do it yourself too. It might not always...
• 22:57
  They succeed, but definitely try it. Before I signed up with the PR agency, I was emailing a lot of the celebrity stylists, my lookbook, like Danny Michelle, who does Kourtney Kardashian and putting yourself out there. And sometimes it does work.
• 23:11
  And what was the investment to hire the PR agency? And did you have to do like an ongoing monthly retainer or was it like a one-off project where you were like, hey, this is the launch, do what you can? All PR agencies like to go on a monthly retainer because I was a new business. And just also to preface this, I only signed on within probably around seven months into launching the brand.
• 23:36
  at first every dollar counts. And even with the agency, they are expensive. I sign on as a three month trial. It's about, they say they normally charge around 10,000 Australian dollars, which is nuts. And I ended up paying, I can't actually say how much because I've got a contract, but it's a few thousand dollars a month. It's a lot of money. And for me to be completely transparent, my business can't always every month afford that. So I'm putting my personal money in
• 24:04
  to this because I think in the long term, there will be results. And again, that's the question I get asked all the time. How did you get your shoes on Bella? And that's got me a lot of features on magazines and websites and even other celebrities or other influencers have seen that. So it's kind of a snowball effect. And
• 24:22
  That's the thing with PR. It's the same as what we were talking about with influencer gifting is that you're definitely not going to see a conversion straight away. And that's a really hard pill to swallow because you're paying an agency thousands of dollars a month and you're not necessarily seeing the sales coming through the door, but you're building a brand. And it's, I guess, for the longevity of your business, you know, to build this brand, to build this awareness. And eventually, you know, the wheels start turning and everything kind of gets put into motion. Yeah.
• 24:50
  And I saw that you just mentioned the press that you've been so lucky to get, or not lucky, you've worked hard for it. But I was reading the articles that you've had in like Who, What, Where and PopSugar and all this kind of thing, and they featured the Bella Hadid pictures. Was that something, again, you did outreach for, or did you have an agency in Australia working on your profiling and that kind of thing? So I've also been working with a local PR agency.
• 25:13
  because again like PR is something that's really expensive and it's not always right for every business but for me because I'm direct to consumer I didn't have a storefront at the time or I did I wasn't available in shops to get in front of lots of customers like all I had was my little website and my Instagram page and that was it so for me PR was an I thought and I still feel an important investment because it's
• 25:36
  my way of getting that brand out there. So I've worked again with an Australian PR agency that you've got to pay a monthly retainer for. So that's probably my biggest cost in my business is PR and it is challenging. So for them, what was interesting is Bella wore the shoes, but in America, they couldn't really get much press on it because celebrities wear brands every day there.
• 25:57
  But in Australia, it's not that common for a celebrity to wear an Australian brand. It happens, but it's not super, super common. So the Australian PR agency was able to really help push that. And like I said, I got a lot of features from that. Yeah, PopSugar, Who What Wear, Marie Claire helps bizarre. Like there was a lot. So it's a great thing and it's good to see how the two agencies, you know, can benefit off each other's work as well.
• 26:21
  And what do you think now being sort of more than a year into the brand, you've had that initial kind of launch hype. You've had some amazing wins with the celebrity and kind of the influencer scene. How do you propel your brand forward from here? Probably not considering the current climate of what's happening in the last few weeks with the pandemic, but aside from that.
• 26:43
  You know, I'm from a retail background, so I've always seen the value in bricks and mortar, like physical stores. So last year, I opened kind of an office slash showroom store in Paddington. And that for me was my next step was to really, again, just have more exposure and for, you know, more people to see the brand. And also, there are a lot of customers who don't want to buy shoes online. That's a challenge I've, you know, constantly had to overcome.
• 27:08
  So having a store is really important. So I opened what I called the LMS Terrace because it was in a terrace in Paddington. And during the week, I had to do it by appointment because running a store is expensive. If you have to have staff there, for me, myself, it's my time there. So I would have the store by appointment during the week and I'd be open on Saturdays. I was on Williams Street in Paddington and it was a quiet street. But I was in a store in Paddington. And I was in a store
• 27:33
  So I will say that it wasn't the biggest success, but a few, what month was it, in March, I moved out of that store and I opened a new store on Oxford Street in Paddington, which is an area with a lot more foot traffic.
• 27:49
  I think it's a good story there that I had the store in William Street. It wasn't a huge success, but I wanted to keep trying and I didn't give up on that idea. So I went and opened a brand new store. Unfortunately, with everything going on with COVID, I've had to close the store and I wasn't even open for a week, but I've got faith that I'll be open again sometime this year.
• 28:08
  Ah, wow. That's so exciting. All the same to have gotten to that point, regardless of what's happening now. So you've been D to C now for like this whole period and you hadn't wanted to wholesale the brand originally, but has that shifted the mindset there? Do you think you might wholesale, like have brands been contacting you to stock the footwear?
• 28:29
  With director consumer, it's really important to note that it's definitely a slow, long kind of burn and you're not going to see immediate success. I've had to understand that and appreciate that. And a lot of brands go right into wholesaling and they'll be able to pay their bills more and they'll have better cash flow and they'll be able to grow a bit faster, but there might be kind of that ceiling and that's as far as they can grow because they're so reliant on retailers.
• 28:53
  And that's the thing I've had to keep reminding myself is because, you know, sales can be tough when you're just selling out of one platform or one location. And I have explored...
• 29:03
  wholesaling and I've gone through it a few times and I've met with some retailers and it still just doesn't feel like the right time for me. I am exploring it and there's two things to note with wholesaling is it's a whole new ballgame. It's a lot of work. A lot of companies have whole teams managing wholesale because you have to have someone who's doing all that administrative work with the retailers and
• 29:25
  and there's invoicing and it's a lot of work. And obviously, you're giving a lot of your margin away because you're wholesaling. So it costs a lot and it's not always going to be a profitable side of your business, but it does help grow your business. And the other thing with wholesale is you have to build that timeline into your schedule. So for example, for me, because I've got no retailers relying on
• 29:49
  on me. I can kind of release a collection whenever I want. And, you know, I have a shorter lead time from when I design a collection to actually it launching. And with wholesale, you have to actually kind of build six months into your timeline. So that means I'm going to be designing my collection six months earlier. And that's another thing that I'm not sure I'm ready for. And so, yeah, I'm definitely exploring wholesale, but it's got to be with the right partner. For me, I want it to be with a
• 30:17
  retailer that's going to elevate my brand. It's going to be a good alignment. It's going to benefit my business. So it's something I'm constantly on the lookout for, but it's not something that's going to happen overnight.
• 30:30
  Yeah. And do you think that you might also look to do partnerships with bigger brands or businesses sort of in the future or things like working on Fashion Week or, you know, those kind of avenues? You're spot on there because that's definitely in the pipeline. I was trying to just two amazing Australian brands are doing a collaboration, which I can't say who because unfortunately, again, because of COVID, nothing's come to fruition yet, but I've got faith that we will be able to
• 30:58
  you know, restart those conversations and everyone's a bit more confident in the market. But I think co-branding is something which I've only, you know, really started to realize in the last few months is a really great way of growing your business and expanding your audience. And I just think it's a really smart way of doing business, especially for a direct-to-consumer brand is, you know, leveraging off some other amazing brands and doing something that's right for your business and for your customer. So yeah, it's something that's,
• 31:28
  Definitely love High Flight and hopefully you guys will see that soon. Oh, I'm so excited.
• 31:34
  I wanted to ask you about email marketing. Has that been something that you've been able to sort of build and utilize? I haven't probably done as much as I should with it. I do have email campaigns going out and I do, you know, your email marketing is only as successful as how big your database is. So growing your database is something that's a bit challenging and I'm lucky that with LMS I get a lot of repeat business and a lot of repeat customers.
• 32:04
  our existing customers, a lot of them come back and purchase again. So that's really good. So whenever I have like a sale or a new collection, I can rely on those, you know, loyal customers to make a purchase. At the moment, I'm actually, I have a campaign running to grow my database, which is a competition. And it's running as a social media advertising campaign, where it's a paid advertising mechanism that is promoting this, you know, $500 giveaway.
• 32:34
  growing my it's growing my followers and it's growing um yeah my database so I think again like I said because there hasn't been a huge focus I think now that I'm really focused on growing the database email marketing is going to be really really important for my business yeah for sure and you mentioned you've been doing paid advertising have you seen that that's been quite successful in acquiring new customers yeah
• 32:57
  It definitely is the most reliable source of marketing that will obviously directly lead to sales. But I've seen so many ups and downs and I've had some amazing wins with it. And then I've gone through stages where my ads just haven't performed and I've just burned through a lot of cash. And again, this is...
• 33:16
  you know, as I said before, you know, you can do everything yourself, but social media advertising was something that I did try to do myself at the beginning. And it's quite a complex thing. And there are so many brands advertising on social media that you've got to fight through a lot of noise. Probably again, eight months into the brand, I started working with a friend of mine who, well, a friend of a friend who, um,
• 33:39
  is an expert in social media advertising. So I paid her a small amount to run the ads. And now I was working with her for about six months and only now have I started with an actual agency because I felt like I outgrew that and I wanted to kind of leverage some more expertise. So there are things in business where you really do want expert advice and an expert working on something. And I think social media advertising is that. And I was, you know, I learned from early on that,
• 34:07
  you can burn through a lot of money if you don't know what you're doing. Facebook will, you know, keep charging your account and they might spend based on the amount of clicks that you're getting. So they might say, oh, you're getting a lot of, it's quite cheap to, you know, get, you know, thousands of clicks, but you're not actually converting into a sale. So it's easy to get ahead of yourself there, but it's a really important
• 34:29
  part of any business. And I highly recommend that it's something that, you know, every business looks at doing. And we kind of touched a little bit on COVID-19 and how that's affected you with the store closing, but what else have you noticed and have you had to pivot and innovate to keep business coming through the website and what's that been like for you?
• 34:49
  Yeah, it's been really, really tough. Obviously, I've tried not to let it get me down because I keep reminding myself that everyone is going through it in any way, whether it's personal or from a business perspective. And, you know, sales online have been really slow to be completely transparent. The store, I'd spent a lot of money, you know,
• 35:09
  doing this where I did it all myself but you know setting the store up and like you know furniture costs and all that I spent a lot of money and then within two weeks I've had to you know close the doors so that's been a big challenge because there was a lot that I was building around the store and I was going to do a launch party and I was going to pair up with an amazing local artist and and there was all these things that I was you know planning to do which have had to be put on hold and as we discussed even some of the brand collaborations
• 35:39
  have realized is really important is to stay relevant and be present still on social media. And what I actually noticed the first few, I guess, days and weeks of this all, you know, blowing up in everyone's faces is when I started to post anything on Instagram, I'd lose followers. And I think, you know, the reality is a lot of people have lost jobs. A lot of people don't want to spend money. So I had to then, you know, pivot that from a social media perspective is change my content.
• 36:07
  because they're not in the mood to just see brands advertising being thrown in their face. And so what I'm doing is even though my sales might not be strong and it's going to be hard to maintain the business over the next few months, it's important to come out of this really in a strong way.
• 36:25
  and still be loud and still be engaging your audience. So I've tried to change the content up. I've created a hashtag, hashtag LMS home, inspiring people to kind of get dressed for the day, take a selfie. And you know, because I'm so guilty of it as just wearing track pants or PJs all day.
• 36:43
  So, you know, actually going and getting a little bit dressed up for me, you know, styling with a cool pair of shoes and taking a mirror selfie. And the other thing I've started to do is getting some friends of the brand's influences to take over the LMS account and show, you know, my LMS audience, you know, what they're doing with their, you know, working from home.
• 37:01
  day or how they're celebrating Easter. So, you know, these are things I would normally do, but it is important as a business, as you said, to pivot and to, you know, be relevant and also be conscious of what your customers are going through. Cool. Wow. That was such a...
• 37:17
  Such so much good information there, so much value. Usually I ask the, at the end of every episode, I ask the same six quick questions to every woman that I speak to. But before I ask you, final question is what advice would you have for someone who's wanting to start a brand in the footwear space?
• 37:37
  you know, just do all your research and build a costing plan up some budgets. Because for me, you know, again, a huge lesson was I, you know, I did, I did this whole costing plan and a budget and I thought, okay, the data showed to me, okay, well, if I sell through this many pairs of shoes, I'm going to make this much money. But what you have to factor in is you need those customers and they're not just waiting for you to open up your store or open up your online store. Like,
• 38:03
  you need to attract them. And that's where the hard work is. Do all your research, work on like financials and budgeting and work out how much things are going to cost and what you need to put in for it to be successful and be aware of all of those costs and expenses. And definitely social media is so important in this day and age. And with any brand, not even just a footwear brand, it's just put yourself out there. You are your brand and no one's going to sell it like you will. So yeah.
• 38:33
  Amazing. All right. So the six questions, it's really kind of like quick fire, short and snappy. Number one, what's your why? So for me, I've always, I've always worked in the fashion industry, but kind of from afar, from a distance. And I'd always wanted to kind of make my stamp on the industry with my own flair and my own style. So for me, being able to share that with customers is, I guess, why I do it every day.
• 38:58
  What's the number one marketing thing you've done that made your business pop? Definitely influencer marketing. It helped my business completely get off the ground. Was there one particular instance that you saw immediate sales or something from that really...
• 39:16
  took your breath away? Yeah. So, um, the blogger, Jade, um, Tunchy or Tung Torak, I think I invited her to my store, the Elemis Terrace at the time. And, you know, again, I had to put myself out there and reach out. And I was like, Oh, she's never going to want to come to the store, came there. And she just naturally took some stories and, um,
• 39:36
  like post on Instagram. And I saw a huge rise in following more than I've ever seen before. And definitely I get boost in sales. So that was great. Oh, amazing. Number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? So mine's at close to home, I'd say. My fiance is also as a startup.
• 39:55
  So it's really nice because it's stressful because, you know, having a start is super stressful and when you're both doing it. But, you know, we often go for a walk every day and just kind of be each other's sounding board. And I think we both kind of improve on each other and just inspire each other. So that's how sweet. I'm sure he'll be so happy to hear that. Number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your a.m. and p.m. rituals.
• 40:23
  What I learned quickly is that, like, again, what we're talking about with coronavirus is you can't just stay in your PJs all day. Well, you can, but it's hard to be motivated. And having your own business, you've really got to keep yourself motivated because you can't just, you know, slack off or, you know, you're not accountable.
• 40:39
  being held accountable by anyone. So for me, what I found important was getting up, getting dressed in a nice outfit, styling yourself and leaving the house. So whether it's, you know, I would be working at the store or go to a cafe or a library, I think that's really important. And working from home can be good too, but mix it up or make sure you're making an effort to wake up and then transition into work mode. Number five is if you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it?
• 41:07
  I'd say social media advertising because as I mentioned before, it's the one marketing mechanism that will directly lead to sales if you spend it wisely. So I'd 100% say you're going to get bang for your buck there. And number six, final question, how do you deal with failure? And it can be either a specific example or just your general approach and your mindset.
• 41:30
  I think having your own business, especially me doing it by myself, is you don't really have anyone to ride the waves with. And there are a lot of highs, but there are a lot of lows when you have your own business. And I live with failure and, I guess, wins every day. And when I feel that there is any sense of failure, I do. I cry and I let it out.
• 41:53
  and I talk to people, I go for a walk with some friends or my fiance and I chat about it. You can't bottle it inside. You just got to let it out and talk about it. And then once, you know, you feel a bit more level-headed is come back, you know, write some notes down. How are you going to conquer it? What are you going to do next and how are you going to improve? Amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time. Where can people find you? My personal Instagram is Lisa Mandy. So L-I-S-A-M-A-N-D-Y. And then my
• 42:22
  Instagram, LMS the brand. Fab.
• 42:29
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 42:54
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 43:16
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 43:33
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 43:58
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 44:20
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.