In The Trenches with Tom Morkes provides behind-the-scenes look into the life and work of entrepreneurs, writers, artists, warriors, and leaders.
Episodes
Monday May 20, 2019
Monday May 20, 2019
Abby Walker is the CEO of Vivian Lou Inc., a single-product company with multi-million dollar annual sales dedicated to helping women look and feel better in high heels. She started her company as a “hobby” business (while being a full-time working mom) after picking up the phone and asking one simple question. Abby has also written her book Strap On a Pair to inspire fellow middle-aged, middle-management, middle-class moms to take the first step—or the next step—toward finding their something more.
Today, I’m sitting down with Abby Walker, who is the founder of Vivian Lou. Vivian Lou is a shoe company that focuses on creating insoles for high heels so that high heels are more comfortable to wear. During our conversation, Abby shares some of the fortuitous events that took place in order for her to get her business idea off the ground. The crazy part about Abby’s story is that she started off as a blogger and she didn’t create the actual insoles herself. She found them through a recommendation on a forum, but then connected with the creator of the insoles to strike a deal. Leading her to being an exclusive seller for the product worldwide and growing her business to over four million dollars in roughly four years without any employees.
My biggest takeaway from this conversation is that there are a lot of ways to think about a problem and solve a problem. Problem solving is not binary and we explore Abby’s decision making process so that she can grow and scale her business.
In this broadcast, Abby and I talk about:
- What is the origin story of Vivian Lou
- How did Abby approach her business idea as just a hobby
- Why Abby had to separate herself from the product and company
- What were the first few months like when Abby became the exclusive seller of these insoles
- What steps did Abby take to make her first sale
- How did Abby start using Facebook Ads to generate revenue
- What advice does Abby have for people who want to start their business
- How has Abby structured using contractors rather than employees
- In what ways do contractors give you more flexibility
- What does Abby think about scale
- Why is Abby hesitant to work with retailers
- What goes into making the right decisions
- Why you need to learn how to trust your gut
- What are Abby’s words of wisdom for startups
- What is the importance of keeping notes during your journey
How to Connect with Abby:
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