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Ashley Merrill – Taking a Deep Dive on The Process of Business Growth

| By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Ashley Merrill on She's Got Moxie with Joy Chudacoff“Things break all the time.” My guest today, Ashley Merrill, CEO & Founder of Lunya, the modern sleepwear for women, takes a deep dive into what it means to grow and scale a boot-strapped business. She’s had blockbuster growth over the last 18 months and on today’s episode she gets radically transparent about what the journey has been like.

IF you are looking to grow your business in 2020 and have a goal to hire an A+ Team and truly understand what it means to lead, do not miss this episode. Ashley breaks down her hiring process, step-by-step, as well as her thoughts on leadership.

 

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

Once everybody is in the spot that they are really going to be successful in and they know what they’re supposed to do, it is amazing what you’re able to accomplish.” – Ashley Merrill

Show Notes:

  • HOW she came up with the idea
  • How to create an A+ TEAM – she breaks this down step-by-step
  • WHY it’s essential to be tapped into your core client for all decisions
  • How she came to the decision to create a men’s line – Lahgo
  • Her BEST Action Steps to Create momentum that continues to build
  • How she pushes through when “everything is breaking with an endless stream of challenges”
  • Ashley’s KEY to productivity as a mom with young kids while growing a business
  • The way to think about HIRING when it comes to hiring junior and senior hires – the process is extremely different
  • Why Ashley feels getting uncomfortable and expressing humility with a team is ESSENTIAL but it’s not a sign of weakness
  • She’s discovered that LEADERSHIP is what happens when the chips are down
  • Why she gets up so early and why she feels it’s important to honor your energy rhythms

The big game-changers have been a lot of org adjustments and a lot of really wonderful hires.” – Ashley Merrill

Connect with Ashley Merrill:

Instagram | The Deep | Lahgo | Lunya

Early on in the brand a lot of it is about you personally and how much you can do as an entrepreneur. But as the company has grown, hiring has been what has really enabled us to grow – getting the right people in the right spots.” – Ashley Merrill

Christina Stembel, Founder/CEO, Farmgirl Flowers – A $30 Million Business Started with $49,000 in Savings

| By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Christina Stembel on She's Got Moxie with Joy ChudacoffYou do not want to miss this interview.

Originally from Indiana, Christina Stembel found herself in Silicon Valley where it seemed everyone was an entrepreneur. It was while investigating why flowers are so expensive for her employer at the time, Christina started to see potential big bucks in the flower industry. No college degree but she did have 49K in savings and that’s how Farmgirl Flowers was planted firmly in the ground.

Christina shares all of her tips and transparent insights on how she grew Farmgirl Flowers from nothing to an estimated projected 30M this year. She talks about her grassroots marketing that has grown the company, why and how to get started without investor money, and much more.

 

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

I wanted to take an industry and be either the first innovator or the first one doing it a completely different way.” – Christina Stembel

Show Notes:

  • CURIOSITY does not kill the cat; This is how Christina started out
  • The SURPRISING thing that happened when she was down to her last $411
  • Smart, Simple, Effective Tips for Grass Roots MARKETING – Truly Brilliant
  • The Two Most ESSENTIAL Skills You Must Develop if You Want to Grow and Scale
  • Bank and credit card tips for FUNDING your business
  • Why women should STOP waiting for investor money in most cases
  • How she reacted when someone told her to STUNT her Growth and “wait for the industry to catch up to her”

I wanted to test the market. I did not want to give up a decade of my life for something that was never going to work.” – Christina Stembel

Connect with Christina Stembel:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Farmgirl Flowers

I pivot all the time. We listen to our customers.” – Christina Stembel

Demi Marchese – She Went From Selling Vintage “Thrasher” Shorts at Her Mom’s Kitchen Table to Over $1M in Sales and Nearly 100K Followers on Instagram

| By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Demi Marchese on She's Got Moxie with Joy Chudacoff

After missing a critical phone call with Nasty Gal and dealing with a boyfriend breakup, Demi Marchese felt a bit lost…but really… it was a new beginning.

Demi decided to start her own little venture by selling vintage “thrasher” shorts in her mom’s kitchen. The endeavor quickly turned into building 12th Tribe, which (three years later) generates over a million dollars in revenue. And guess what? She is only 25 years old!

 

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

I face challenges every single day of my life. I think if I’m not facing a challenge, the growth is stunted, there is an issue.” – Demi Marchese

Show Notes:

  • How Demi went from meeting people in a Whole Foods parking lot to having her own showroom in downtown LA.
  • How she took $1000 and turned it into 1M in Revenue (in only 3 years!)
  • The challenges of building and scaling a business (Demi is so transparent here – just loved it!)
  • How participating in Gymnastics as a child has helped her in business
  • Dealing with the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship
  • How missing an important phone call actually led to huge success
  • The WORST advice she hears being given in the start-up arena
  • Why she got into the Subscription Box Model
  • And much, much more!!

I’ve tried to encompass the tribe into the whole story and really make them feel a part of it, and I think that might be an exciting factor.” – Demi Marchese

Connect with Demi Marchese:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | 12th Tribe

You have to just remember that there are always going to be valleys, but there is always going to be a peak at the end of the valley.” – Demi Marchese

Julie Deane (Part 1 of 2) – She Took Less Than $1000 and Turned it Into Millions (in 5 years) With the Idea for What Would Become The Cambridge Satchel Company

| By Joy Chudacoff Leave a Comment

Julie Deane on She's Got Moxie with Joy Chudacoff

Grab your earbuds and get ready for one of the most transparent, refreshingly honest (and humorous) interviews you’ll ever listen to. Julie Deane, Founder & CEO of Cambridge Satchel, is funny, witty, clever and clearly quite brilliant.

This is Part One of Two episodes with this dynamo – truly an ALL ACCESS pass into the quick mind and interesting life of this amazing woman.

Julie shows up incredibly raw and transparent as she shares with us how she started her company on less than $1000 and since then, has created the Cambridge Satchel Company with 100 employees and sells her unique handbags in over 120 countries.

Starting as a simple business that would help to make enough money to send her children to private school to avoid her daughter being bullied, Cambridge Satchel Designs are now spotted in the front rows at international fashion weeks and runways. ‘A-list’ stars like Taylor Swift, Alexa Chung, and Lady Gaga love them. Because of her incredible success, Julie was the first woman to win Entrepreneur of the Year for all of Europe, and she has collected the Queen’s Award for Enterprise from Queen Elizabeth herself!

Today’s interview (Part 1) will be about the first seven years of founding and growing The Cambridge Satchel Company from scratch, and evolving it into a $65 million company! Stay tuned for next week’s episode to learn more about Julie’s growth, discoveries, and personal development as an entrepreneur.

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on Apple Podcasts. And be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

When you are the founder, even if you don’t know how things can be done, you still know more about your business than anyone else on the planet.” – Julie Deane

Show Notes:

  • How Julie went from selling 1 bag to 100 – surprisingly simple ‘roll up your sleeves’ advice
  • Why not knowing **the rules** in marketing actually doubled her business and brought more profit to the bottom line
  • What Julie wrote in the 300 EMAILS she sent out DAILY to gain awareness for the business
  • She thought her bags were geared to the children’s market – until Vogue came calling!
  • How Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Zoey Deschanel came to love Cambridge Satchel Bags
  • What happened when the Cambridge Satchel Bag took a trip to fashion week
  • What Julie did next after firing her unethical manufacturer (at the time she had a back order of 16,000 bags with this guy)
  • Julie’s reaction when a man called her “a stupid woman”
  • Her open & honest share about how her Biggest Challenge also turned out to be her Biggest Mistake
  • The ONE ingredient you need in your business in the early days
  • and much, much more

You can go through money so quickly if you fall into that whole thing that goes with having a big ego.” – Julie Deane

Connect with Julie Deane:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | The Cambridge Satchel Company

You can kill yourself by trying to be perfect.” – Julie Deane

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