When Summer couldn't find fashionable, eco-friendly clothing, she decided to be the change and start her own business.
Summer's Story
"Even as a young child, I was interested in saving the earth and saving the whales."
Growing up, it was just my mom and me, and she instilled environmental awareness in me. Even when I was really young, I'd knock on my neighbors' doors and tell them to not use so many plastic bags, and they'd tell me to go away. But I carried that mentality with me through college. I went to UC Berkeley and I majored in sociology and conservation and resource studies.
I went on to get a job as a 6th grade teacher. I really loved teaching English and history and was living a teacher lifestyle. I was busy all the time, grading papers constantly at coffee shops, and just living my life. But at some point, I realized I had gotten away from those things that had been really important to me my life.
"I decided to become a responsible consumer and start living the values I've always had."
I started spending a lot of my free time researching what I bought and what products were good for the earth, and I found that when it came to buying clothes, it was difficult to shop responsibly. There was nothing I could wear to work. There was nothing I could wear out, going out to clubs or going out to dinner. Frankly, I couldn't find anything I liked.
I remember sitting at my dining room table complaining to my husband that there wasn't anything cool and eco-friendly to wear out there -- and I hate people who complain. I decided to stop complaining about the fact that nobody's changed this and be the change, create my own resource. We have a Gandhi quote magnet on our fridge and it says, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," and it's always inspired me. I'm not liberating a nation or anything like that, but I can still take his philosophies and apply them to my own life.
"I didn't have a business background, so I started from scratch."
I decided to create a web-only store, which is nerve-wracking because you're out there in space and have to go out and grab every one of your customers. I had a lot of research done because of my background in responsible consumerism, but I really built it all up piece by piece. I wrote out my business plan and saved up the money. It took me about a year to make the web site happen. Of course, I ran into a few problems, but that's normal. You figure it out, you learn from it and you do it better next time. I consider my year off from teaching, making zero money and working my butt off as business school. Here's some of what I learned.
Get over self-doubt.
Sometimes I would wake up at night and think, am I crazy? The self-doubt of starting your own business eats at you. You have to think about it, accept it and be mindful of the fact that you're going to have doubts about starting your own business and it is going to be scary, but you have to believe in it.
Have a back-up plan.
I learned the hard way that things are not going to go according to plan. I had hired a web designer who was really wonderful, and I put all my faith in him. Well, he disappeared on me. I was heartbroken, but I picked myself up, started researching new web designers, and found an even better person who was even more perfect for me. It definitely taught me that you have to a Plan B. Of course you also have to trust the people you hire to work for you, but you also have to make sure you are protected.
Be good to your customers to build loyalty.
Over time, I slowly started building a customer base. When people would come to BTC Elements, I would make sure to keep them there. And when they bought something, I made sure that they loved it, and if they didn't I'd take it back. When people got a cool product and great customer service, they started coming back. I took an old-fashioned approach to starting an online business, and it worked.
Stay true to your brand.
I wanted to make sure that when my customers came to the site that they had something concrete to grab onto, not just that this blonde lady says, "This product is earth friendly." I wanted something that they could sink their teeth into. Everything that I sell is certified organic, which means a third party comes in and certifies how it's grown. It's also either domestically made by artisans who create their own wage, under U.S. labor laws, or it's sourced through the fair trade federations. Every single product has a sort of certification that makes it definitely earth-friendly.
Find creative, affordable ways to market your business.
Marketing was definitely tough, because I'm not a trust fund baby and I didn't have a lot of money. I read a book called Six Ways to Get Free Publicity, and that was pretty much my marketing plan. Even though it wasn't part of my original plan, I needed to be the face of my company if I wanted to get free publicity. One of the things that the book said was "Make yourself an expert." I'd never thought about it before, but I was an expert. I know probably 99 percent of what there is to know about eco fashion. I started writing a blog, and I started offering my services as an eco fashion expert. I became Summer Bowen, head of BTC Elements. Instead of paying $5000 for a quarter-page ad, I'm hitting the pavement and taking hours out of my day and making myself BTC Elements.
