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PLEASE NOTE:

The location of my blog has changed. In the interests of optimising my website blah blah blah techospeak etc etc etc, the Glamazon Shoes blog can now be found at:

http://glamazonshoes.com.au/blog/

Or you can just visit the website www.glamazonshoes.com.au and click through the top menu.

See you there. :-)

No offence, but ...

Ah criticism. Does anyone really know how to take it? We’ve all experienced personal criticism. It can be disguised as ‘advice’ (“I’m only telling you for your own good!”). Alternatively, it can take the form of just plain old nastiness. When it’s directed at your business however, how do you take it? There’s nothing like some ‘well-meaning’ comments to bring forth a raging torrent of insecurities. After all, it’s not about you – or is it? At the risk of over-analysing what could have been innocent remarks, here are a couple of my ‘favourite’ comments that have been kindly imparted by visitors to the shop.

“This is a lovely shop but I hope you don’t mind me saying that I think the name sounds cheap. You may want to think about changing it?”

Hmm. Not sure how to respond to that one. In the minute or so that followed, my thoughts were: ‘Really? That hadn’t really occurred to me. Does it really sound cheap? Do other people think that too?’ Before common sense prevailed and I reined in my brain before it had gone through a complete name change, logo re-design and corporate colour change. (It tends to run away from me sometimes, does the old grey matter) I calmly told myself that’s ok if she thinks like that, she’s entitled to her opinion and really, I’ve had more positive than negative comments from people. And anyway, too late!

Here’s another goodie, uttered a couple of months after opening doors, and just after our first PR win with an article in the Sunday Herald-Sun.

“So how’s business going?”
(Me): “Pretty good actually.”
“Oh really? I’m surprised.”

I must confess that I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that one so I just left it.

Call me naïve, but I still prefer to think that comments like these are delivered not from malice but instead from a lack of tact. Big difference. As a fledgling business owner and sole operator however, there can be days when comments like these are harder to shrug off than others. That’s when some great advice from a dear friend of mine, also a business owner, has proved invaluable. She once told me to get into the habit of keeping a diary where I would write at least one good thing that happened during the day, and flick through this when I need a pep-up or some steering back on track.

Now that’s the kind of advice that’s always welcome.

Signs

The end of a year is usually the time when many of us get a bit philosophical. Especially over a coffee and the remnants of a gingerbread house provoking questions such as: “Why did I have to eat ALL of the gingerbread walls? Why couldn’t I stop with the door? And perhaps just one wall?

But anyway.

In my last blog I talked about what an amazing year it’s been, capped with a fantastic article in Melbourne’s Sunday Age on Boxing Day. For those of you that missed it, you can read it here but basically, I sent a letter to the editor of the newspaper hoping to find a particular person, Elizabeth. Rewinding a bit more, Elizabeth from Bendigo had written her own letter to the Age editor back in July 2009 bemoaning the lack of lovely shoes in her size – 12. I read this letter and experienced what was probably my first ever epiphany, or light bulb moment. Suddenly, the idea for fashionable shoes in larger sizes that I had been carrying around for years (ok, decades really) began to crystallize and gain substance. That was the point that I began to seriously research the idea and put together a business plan. Nine months later (yes, I can see the irony in that too!), Glamazon Shoes opened its doors in Melbourne. Honestly, if I had stopped to seriously think about it, I may have ended up backing out due to the largeness of it all but it felt so right. When you know, you know, yes?

So back to the present day. I have Elizabeth’s original letter pinned up in the back of the shop. A few weeks ago I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great to find Elizabeth and thank her with a free pair of shoes? Yes, it’s potentially a good media story but from a personal viewpoint, I wanted her to know just what effect her original letter had, and the chain of events it started. If I was to go all metaphysical (please indulge me for a moment), I’d say that the main things I learnt were 1) ‘signs’ are everywhere, don’t be afraid to greet them and get them to pull up a chair in your life, and 2) you never know what effect you will have on someone when you do or put something out there.

Now, back to the Elizabeth story. Instead of getting my letter to the editor published, I was very, very fortunate to get an actual story (with photo!) published in the Sunday Age on Boxing Day. A couple of days went by and whilst it generated a lot of interest in Glamazon (yay free plug!), there was still no sign of Elizabeth. Until four days after the article, I received a call from the Bendigo Advertiser wanting to publish a piece on my Cinderella search for Elizabeth.

Bingo. Elizabeth finally got wind of the story through friends that had seen the Bendigo Advertiser. I am extremely happy to say that I finally met Elizabeth when she came into the shop today, fittingly the last day of 2010, and got my chance to thank her profusely for her unwitting inspiration. She is an absolutely gorgeous and delightful woman and it was such a pleasure to meet her on so many levels.

So the moral of the story children is this. You just never. Ever. Know. Wishing you all a glorious and stupendous new year for 2011.

As always, yours in shoes, Mira xx

The year that was and is going to be

Don’t worry; I’m not going to break into song. As 2010 draws to a close, it’s an appropriate time to give a salute to the year that was, and turn to face the year that will be. This was a huge year for me personally, having managed to deliver my Glamazon Shoes baby, an undertaking which has caused time to accelerate immeasurably. I’m sure that Mr. Einstein would be impressed. As Glamazon Shoes heads towards its eighth month, the ideas and plans for the business just keep coming.

We’re looking forward to a very exciting 2011. In no particular order, there’s the expansion of our range. We’re always on the lookout for shoes that are a) gorgeous, b) affordable and most importantly, c) go to at least a size 13, if not higher. Whilst on the subject, we’re quietly thrilled that we’ve just placed an order with a new supplier that do shoes up to size 15. Size. Fifteen. We could not be more excited if we tried! These are due in the first quarter of the year and we’ll definitely let you know when they arrive.

We are also in the throes of upgrading our current website to an e-commerce site. That’s right girls, now you’ll be able to see what’s in stock and order shoes with a click of your mouse. Not only are we passionate about providing shoes for glamazons, we’re passionate about supplying them to glamazons EVERYWHERE. Glamazons will live up to the title by becoming footwear trendsetters. If it hasn’t already happened to you (and we’ve had great feedback from customers to whom this has happened), imagine how great it will be to get asked where WE get our shoes from? And from our smaller-footed sisters as well! I’m sure that you, my glamazons know exactly what I mean.

On a final note, merry Christmas, happy holidays – we hope you stay healthy and safe, and look forward to meeting you all at some stage in the future.

Our trading hours over the next 2 weeks are as follows:

Sat 25th December: CLOSED
Mon 27th December: CLOSED
Tues 28th December: CLOSED
Wed 29th December: 10am – 4pm
Thur 30th December: 10am – 4pm
Fri 31st December: 10am – 4pm
Sat 1st January: CLOSED
Mon 3rd January: CLOSED
Tue 4th January: 10am – 4pm (back to normal trading hours)
Wed 5th January: 10am – 5pm (back to normal trading hours)

After all, the shoe must go on!

I've got my eye on you

Working in the footwear industry, a big part of my job is viewing styles to stock throughout the year. This is the fun part. The slightly more stressful part is making a decision and selecting shoes that will hopefully sell. Even those that have worked in the industry for decades tell me that there is no science or guarantees. There is always an element of risk. Shoes that you love and think will fly out the doors can sometimes turn out to be flops (and not flip-flops. Ha. Ha.). Then there’s the sensible (read: nanna) shoes that you (personally) wouldn’t look twice at that end up selling out. Who’s to know?

Another fun part of the job is getting to wear the product. (Hey, you’re your own best promoter!) Of course, owning a shoe shop, my shoes are now immediately checked out by friends and people I run into. I always feel a bit like I have something to prove and must at all times be kitted out in lovely footwear or I’ll be imagining them thinking: “wow, can’t believe she runs a shoe shop. You wouldn’t think it looking at her feet!” But I digress.

The harshest critics are the youngest. Getting checked out by 5 year olds who are quite blatant about it. No discrete looks, no not for them. It’s an open once-over, up and down, followed by a comment about something that you’re wearing. And for some strange reason, their approval almost means more to me than that of their mothers! They don’t know how to lie, there are no filters. They simply tell it like it is. The older girls are slightly more discrete. I was picking up my morning coffee from across the road when I happened upon a group of 9-10 year olds with their mothers, and they're not even necessarily girls with big feet. Needless to say it was the young girls doing the checking out, gazes lingering on my footwear. Whilst I wouldn’t say that it unnerved me – they were only 10! – it certainly made me stand taller and prouder which I guess is not a bad thing.

Is this behaviour environmental (ie. they pick it up from friends, family etc.) or genetic (ie. a ‘girl thing’)? Would love to know.

Variety is the spice of life

Glamazon Shoes has been cruising along for almost 7 months now and I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many different people. Initially, the main premise behind Glamazon was large shoe sizes for women, or beautiful shoes for bigger feet as per our tagline. Whilst the majority of customers have definitely been women with larger feet, there have been a few other interesting customer groups or segments emerging. Young tall girls in their teens often come in searching for size 11, size 12 and even size 13 shoes, so we do our best to always ensure that there are styles in store that will appeal to this younger group. Young teenage girls especially, can be quite particular about image and fashion. They tend to be less inclined to settle for any old shoe that fits, and why should they? Unfortunately if you’ve been searching for larger sizes over a prolonged period of time such as years (like some of us have), you can sometimes (read: often) weaken and settle for anything that fits.

Then there are other groups of customers that have graced Glamazon’s doorway – cross-dressers, transvestites and transsexuals. It’s been lovely to be able to fit these particular customers who are also constantly searching for larger women’s shoes. What I love in particular about my ‘boys and girls’ is that they’re not afraid to ‘bling it on’ and choose the really lovely dressy shoes, which proves that style knows no gender boundaries. I’ve even dabbled in some styling and had an absolute ball suggesting shoes for outfits. When you love fashion, you’re never too old to play at dress-ups!

One sentiment that has been expressed by all of the customer groups that I’ve mentioned is that it’s so nice not having to resort to the fetish and tranny shops for larger shoes anymore. Sure, the fetish shops may have their place but sometimes we just want a beautiful pair of heels in our size. We have big feet and we love shoes. Go figure.

Waste not, want not

Glamazon Shoes has been in business for 6 months now, and to say it’s been a steep learning curve is a massive understatement. There have been some fantastic lessons learnt along the way. Then there have also been some quite painful and expensive ones. No matter what your experience, it’s fair to say that there is an element of trial and error with anything new, particularly in the area of marketing. It’s not as simple as just placing an ad in the paper or sitting back and waiting for word of mouth to kick in. These days marketing strategies and tactics can be quite complex and entail a lot of different activities. Print advertising, radio, TV (if the budget allows), leaflet drops and of course, social media, which is a world in itself. It can be difficult to know where to spend the money, particularly with a limited budget as a startup. That’s where the trial and error part comes in. You spend the dollars in a particular medium and then review how effective it was and how much ‘bang for your buck’ the business received. Obviously the ideal is spending as little as possible and getting a heap of publicity in return. Glamazon has already seen both sides of that particular coin. A big win for us back in June was a free plug – with photo – in one of Melbourne’s biggest newspapers, the Sunday Herald-Sun. The response was phenomenal and sales skyrocketed in the weeks afterwards before coming back to earth. Then there was our very unfortunate experience with a boutique PR agency. They were great on the sales pitch and in taking a 5 figure sum for their ‘work’ but only managed to deliver a brief write-up in an online shopping directory. That particular experience certainly hurt, but has it turned me off PR? Not in the least. I still firmly believe that deployment of a good PR strategy by someone that knows what they’re doing, can be incredible in kick-starting a business. How to pick the right one….. well, that’s the million dollar question. Hopefully it doesn’t end up costing as much.