tell us about your job

[Quercus]

What do you do? Own a company that designs and manufactures women's apparel. We sell via our own website, Amazon and a number of retail outlets in the US and abroad.

Do you like it? Yes

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I think I was born to do this sort of thing. Prior to the apparel space, I was involved as a principle in a number of venture backed tech startups. That experience really helped us carve a niche as a nearly pure-play Internet apparel company (if we weren't the first, we were one of them). I really just enjoy entreprenuership. I enjoy having my own company, founded from scratch, more than I enjoyed being involved with venture capital.

My wife is my partner is this company, which is nice too. She handles the design and photography part of the business, and I handle production and marketing.

What kind of people do best in your work? People who understand the delicate balance of risk and caution required to start a company from the ground up. People that hire and fire well. People who have the stomach and means to go without pay for long periods of time as a company gets rolling.

Oh, and people who married smart women.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? Mostly just intelligence and drive. A willingness to listen to and love your customers is a big help as well.

What is a typical day like? Up at 630, in to work by 730. Check overnight emails and orders to see if there is anything that requires immediate attention. Help out with manufacturing and production. Quick lunch around 2pm. Answer the phones and talk to customers. During busy season (November through May) finish up around 7pm and head home. In slower season, finish up around 6pm and head home.

Its hard to quantify a typical day. Some days I may spend on the factory floor from start to finish with quick breaks for email. I could be doing anything from cutting fabric to ironing tops. Other days are spent almost entirely in my office, where I could be doing anything from book-keeping to talking with television producers who want our garments for an upcoming show.

The fact that every day has the potential for something interesting is part of what I like about it.

What kind of problems do you encounter? Manufacturing equipment breaking down. Sales growth faster than production capacity growth. Employees leaving and needing replacing. Retraining employees from the (wrong) way that they learned to do things somewhere else. Customers needing help with sizing and fit. Customers with problems that need addressing. Finding photo models. Balancing the need to get hands on with production with the longer term needs of sales and marketing.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? The single biggest frustration is production. Not being able ot manufacture product quickly enough drives me batty. Not so much because of the lost sales potential (which is bad enough) but because a customer may have to wait an unacceptable amount of time to receive product. Second to that is our lack of a robust ERP suite. We're too small to afford one of the major packages and its attendant customization, so we've wired a bunch of junk together that only sort-of, kind-of gets the job done.

The elation? Hmm.. good question. I wouldn't say I feel elated about much at all. I'm happy with the progress we've made - from a company formed out of an upstairs bedroom by my wife and I into a company employee a half dozen people with strong sales growth. Some of the firsts are neat too. Our first magazine cover was cool. Getting written up in the most influential monthly magazine in our general space was nice too. Really though, I like it when customers call me and say, "I just LOVE your stuff. I've bought several pieces and I've told all my friends!" That's pretty cool.

How much do you make? Enough to pay the bills. Everything else is plowed back into the company.

How much can one expect to make in your position? Well, we made zero our first two years in business. So, zero at the low end. At the upper scale of our space, I dunno - enough to enter the Forbes rich list.