Interview with:Susann Akers [trythemon]
ENTREPRENEUR
 | What is the business idea that you are working on right now? How did you come up with it? I am working on my website at the moment. I love shoes, I didn't think I would ever be able to have a shoe shop on the high street, so I decided that a website would be the best thing. You need very little capital to start |
| Is there a website, blog or social media link where we can see more about your project and/or yourself? www.highheel-shoes.com and my blog which is www.highheel-shoes.co |
| What is your professional background? What were you doing before? I still work full time for a firm of accountants |
| How did the entrepreneurial spirit rise up in you? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship in your family or your social environment when you were a child? That special spirit was never in my family, but I love idea of being "in business" and being a business woman |
| Do you have partners working with you on this? How do you split the work with them? I do it all myself, my husband is happy to give me his opinions occasionally, but generally I do it all |
| Describe your business plan as briefly and simply as possible. To sell 10 pairs of shoes a week |
| What have you achieved up to now? What have you yet to achieve? I am curently selling 10 pairs a month - so I am definatley getting there |
| Are you looking for investors? What are you offering in exchange for what? I would love to get my site redesigned and to have a few thousand to spend on seo and advertising, I suppose once I decide to do something else, I will have a valuable commodity. A fully loaded site with a data base of customers and social network links |
| Do you have employees or people that you outsource tasks to? What do they do? I dont have employees |
| How do you balance work with relaxation? I love working in my business so it is hard to try and relax, I am always wondering whether I have any orders, or is there an enquiry that I need to deal with |
| What is your main motivation: being your own boss, adventure and discovery, getting rich, doing good for others, or is there something else? I want to work for myself and be independant. I hope that this business will help me to do that and be able to travel, giving to charity is something that I have always done, when this succeeds, I can give more |
| Describe two moments of maximum fear and maximum satisfaction that you have lived through in your business adventure. The site had been going for a year and I had only sold a few pairs - I did wonder if I was deluding myself. Then it just started to move - I 12 pairs in one month I felt so much better |
| What do you do to maintain morale and continue persevering in low times? I just keep working - getting an order always makes me feel better |
| What other types of businesses are you frequently tempted by? I have thought of selling handbags - people dont have to try them on |
| Are these times of crisis good for beginning a business? It can only get better. I think having a business built and functioning during a recession means that you are ready to take advantage of the upturn as soon as it arrives |
| How important have PR and social media been for you? Very important. Social Media is now a major part of seo and the search engines love it. The hardest bit is choosing which ones to focus on |
| What would you call success? Where would you like your business to be five years from now? I would like to retired from my main job and working in my shoe business full time |
| What skills would you advise a want-to-be-entrepreneur to acquire? Patience, endurance, sense of humour, determination, focussed |
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Susann Akers
Tamworth
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