Today’s podcast marks the first in a series of discussions about building your small business on a budget and in episode 138 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan I speak with Laura Schofield, the founder of Otto + Ivy, a specialist shoe brand, who incredibly had never spent a penny on marketing until the third year of running her small business.

Having initially cultivated a career in television presenting, she felt something was missing after working for several years as a shopping channel host. It was through her creative outlet – a blog for fellow tall woman (Laura is 6ft 1 with size 9 (UK) feet) – and the loyal community it generated that Laura found the confidence to enter the small business world. From starting out by simply googling shoe brands to visiting factories in Italy, to generating a wealth of research through focus groups and surveys, Laura has managed to quickly build an impressive business from modest means.

In this podcast, we discuss how people buy from people and how storytelling often rivals specs when selling. We talk about the value of adopting a slower model of growth, allowing for refinements and how gathering feedback not only improves your products but your audience’s connection with your brand, and we also speak about what it means to be trustworthy and the importance of sharing your ‘why’.

Check out Laura’s beautiful shoes at: https://ottoandivy.com/

And connect with her over at:
https://www.facebook.com/ottoandivyshoes
https://www.instagram.com/ottoandivyshoes/

For more inspiration read my blog post ‘7 secrets on how to start a small business when you don’t have any money’.