EntreCon Update: Q&A with EntreCon speaker Emily Ley


  • October 23, 2015
  • /   Mike Ensley
  • /   studer-community-institute

Emily Ley, author of Grace, Not Perfection, is a keynote speaker at EntreCon 2016.

Emily Ley’s success has been based on simplicity in not only her product line, but in how she wanted to run her business.

Ley, the founder and creative director of Emily Ley, is homegrown talent turned successful entrepreneur.

She grew up in Pensacola, graduated from the University of West Florida and became the executive director of Ballet Pensacola. She then worked in nonprofit management and public relations before launching her company, Emily Ley, in 2008.

After a successful online launch, Ley’s products – including her signature Simplified Planner - grew to be carried in more than 300 retail outlets across the United States and around the world.

Her story is one of empowerment for all entrepreneurs — especially women.

“The entire mission of our Emily Ley collection of products is to connect, empower and inspire women to choose simplicity, to live a unique, intentional life and to wholeheartedly commit themselves to a standard of grace not perfection,” Ley said. “It is possible to do it all. It’s almost never easy, but it’s always worth it.”

Ley recently took the time to answer some questions that should be of interest to all entrepreneurs, but especially those not interested in the traditional brick-and-mortar retail experience. She also shared her thoughts on the value of the upcoming EntreCon, at which she will be speaking on Nov. 5-6, 2015 at the historic Rex Theater in downtown Pensacola.

What’s your advice for someone starting a business?

My best advice is to just dive in. We can get so overwhelmed in the beginning with all the things we don’t know how to do and all the steps in the process. One of my favorite quotes is by Karen Lamb and she says “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” I think that is key in the beginning – just get started.

Once you got started, how did your business grow?

The internet was my best friend. I am not trained in graphic design. I never had the chance to go to a school for entrepreneurship. I just jumped in and built a website for myself. I would never show that to anyone now, of course. I created a little shop on Etsy selling digital monograms for five dollars and started saving until I could build a nice website.

The possibilities we have with the internet now are amazing. We not confined to local or regional. We have the potential to be worldwide right from the beginning.

When we launched our online shop about four years ago, we started getting orders immediately from all over the place. It was really the cool part about Etsy in the beginning because it provided a platform for creative people to get their products in front of people all over the world. We were then able to convert those people who found us there over to our online shop. Our business grew and grew through word of mouth on social media.

The potential we have with social media right now is incredible. Our number one tool is Instagram and that’s the way that our brand has really grown. People find out about our products from postings there and it just spreads like wildfire.

How did you decide it was time to expand your business?

I think there are two schools of thought about this and there’s not really one right answer. For us, we wanted to run a debt-free company from the beginning, so we had the feeling that we were going to be successful early on.

We always had inventory issues – running out of product – which is obviously a good problem to have. But holding to that ideal, we invested all of the money we made back into the company and grew it organically.

Just this year, we decided to take the money from the previous year and invest it and have the inventory and see what happens and this has been our biggest year in 2015.

But I think the way that we did it, by waiting and not jumping the gun, has been really, really good for us. We have never been in that situation where we had to live in fear if we could pay back a small business loan or risking our life savings. We just tried to work really hard and make smart financial decisions and that ultimately paid off.

Do you think an event like EntreCon would have helped your business when you were getting started?

Oh my goodness, yes! I think community is everything. I think because there is this amazing event bringing all these like-minded, passionate people together in Pensacola, it really says a lot about the city and the type of people that are now in Pensacola.

I wish there had been something like this when I lived in Pensacola. I was fortunate enough to be part of a conference called “Making Things Happen” in 2009 and I sat in a room with a group of people who said, “I don’t want to sit behind a desk from eight to five. I don’t want to have a job I’m not passionate about. I don’t want to have my hours for the week laid out for me.”

I was twenty-five years old at the time and I remember thinking there is a certain life I want; what I have in mind doesn’t exist, so I’m going to have to go out there and create it. To sit in a room with people who felt the same way and had the same passions, it was electric.

I am stoked for the people coming to EntreCon. I’m also stoked for myself to sit and listen to the other speakers and meet the attendees. I think this type of event is so important.

EntreCon tickets are on-sale now for $249 for the two day conference at entreconpensacola.com.

     
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