Beginning Boutique founder Sarah Timmerman recently beat the likes of Audi and Mercedes-Benz for social media engagement in Australia.
Last year, she met Sophia Amoruso, founder and CEO of online fashion powerhouse nastygal.com.
Timmerman told ragtrader.com.au what she learned.
People achieving amazing things are just normal people
I am not saying that Sophia is an ordinary person - she is extraordinary. However she is lovely, personable and really nice. She cares about normal things, enjoys shopping and loves life. It was awesome to experience this in a fellow entrepreneur as sometimes regular life can feel like you are trivializing the immense task ahead of you where you are just living life and doing amazing things.
The sky is your own limit
Knowing that normal people can do extraordinary things - it's all up to you what you will or will not achieve. Hearing about what Sophia was up to and completing with her time was inspiring because she truly was pushing the boundaries!
It's ok to want to be in your own office
Sometimes when life is really busy with the amount of travelling I have to do for work, it's ok to just want to be in the office and be working with your team. I felt it was not normal to want to be in my office in Brisbane, when I was in New York for meetings. So it was cool to hear that she also wanted to be in her own office growing her business.
Expand your thinking
Sophia based her thinking around what massive players were doing and where her customers are spending their money. Who I think is my competitor is not who I need to be focusing on, it's where my girls are spending their money elsewhere on clothes be it Zara, H&M or David Jones, – not necessarily the stores snapping at my heels. This changes the way you think about challenges.
Money doesn’t solve problems but its good to have
Sophia mentioned that money doesn’t necessarily solve a problem but it's good to have on a rainy day. I think it’s a pretty awesome way to think about what you are currently challenged with and that you can most likely solve this without throwing a million dollars at it. Problems and challenges can be best solved organically or you can supercharge with capital.
