Daily Archives: December 14, 2010

I realize this is an interview with myself which is a little odd. After interviewing other entrepreneurs, I feel that I need to do this interview. I need to do this interview so you will know where I am coming from. So here goes.
1. Give me a little biographical information about you and the businesses you have owned or co-owned.
I grew up in government housing. My mother was schizophrenic and my parents divorced when I was nine. My first business was a cleaning business I started when I was in the eighth grade. I started cleaning neighbors’ houses for $5 per house. The last business I co-owned was The Post newspaper. The Post was almost the death of me. It made apparent some personal flaws.
2. What was the most trying aspect of owning The Post?
Everything! The job was seven days a week, twelve hours a day. That is except on Mondays; Monday was a twenty-four hour day. I was completely exhausted. I didn’t have time to think about what direction to take the paper nor anything else for that matter. Those work hours were simply hours necessary to sustain operations.
Also, financially, The Post was draining. I didn’t take a salary even though I needed to. I pulled out my retirement, maxed out my and my families’ credit cards and sold almost everything I had. I never made a dime on The Post nor recouped any of my/our investments.
3. Why didn’t you delegate some of the smaller responsibilities to your employees?
I should have delegated more. They were all working so hard, I did not want to put any more of the workload on their shoulders. In hindsight, I should have put more work on their shoulders so I could spend time planning and growing The Post.
4. What was the best aspect of owning The Post?
The community completely embraced The Post. It was a different newspaper. We were not politically correct. The same people were not featured week after week and year after year. We quickly, unofficially became known as the local paper for everyone, not just a few. People also enjoyed the uniqueness of some of our content. While most papers buy some syndicated content, we created our own. We had a writer who served in Vietnam who wrote stories about actual happenings in Vietnam. We had another writer who wrote about Leroy the Redneck and I interviewed a prostitute every week.
5. If the community enjoyed the newspaper so much, why didn’t it succeed?
It was entirely my fault. First, I felt sorry for the sales representatives. We were a new paper. I realized it would take time to build up our advertising. Initially, I was only planning to pay our sales representatives on commission only. I then broke down and decided that this was not completely fair. I decided to pay them a salary. They were supposed to be paid 25% commission; instead, they were paid $500 per week until their commission became equal to this amount. The problem was, I kept accepting excuses. In reality, there was no excuse of me paying a person $500 a week when they were only selling $200 a week total in advertising. In reality, their check should have been $50. That was all my fault.
6. What are you most afraid of when it comes to entrepreneurship?
Repeating past mistakes. I have a very stubborn personality. I just won’t quit. I should have closed the post when the losses crossed $100,000. Instead, I doubled that loss and had nothing left before I said enough is enough. The truth being told, if I had anything else to lose, I probably would have kept on going. I just don’t know when to quit sometime.
Also, I have sworn off employees altogether. I just will not have any in the future. No exceptions. If I have sales representatives, they will be paid solely on commission and only be paid when I am paid.

1. Give me a little background information on Underwoods.
We have been in business for eighteen years and we have loved every minute of it! My husband and I run the business together. We manufacture and sell memorial flowers.
2. Is Underwood’s the only business you have ever owned?
No. We have owned several different businesses and had a couple of add on businesses. We have owned a car lot, I sold Beauti-Control makeup, and I have sold Beanie Babies.
3. How do you build a successful customer base?
If you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business! You must build a customer base. Part of what has made us so successful is our customer service. One of the things we do for our customers is, after someone passes away, their family is given the first set of memorial flowers for free. Second, we publish our home phone and cell phone on our business card so our customers can reach us at all times. Third, we will meet our customers anytime 24 hours per day. We pride ourselves on the fact that when our customers need us, we are available. Third, regardless of how small, we carry our customers’ purchases to their car. We sell customer service just as much as we sell our memorial flowers. We are hoping to provide memorial flowers online starting in January.
3. What is the best way to achieve long term success?
By putting your customers first
4. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
The people. I love every person who walks through the door. I care about the people.
5. What is your least favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
I don’t have a least favorite. I can’t think of a thing I don’t like about my job.
6. How many hours do you work in an average week?
At minimum 60 hours and this is just an average. During the month of December, we work twelve hours a day, seven days a week.
9. What would you say are the top three skills an entrepreneur must possess?
First, a good entrepreneur must have good people skills. Whether your business is online, service oriented or other, you have to have good people skills. Second, you must be able to manage your money. A lot of entrepreneurs think hey, the money is rolling in. I can spend, spend, spend. The problem with this is that your business may be seasonal and you don’t even realize it yet. If you spend, spend, spend now, you may not have any money for down times. Also, you want to grow your business. It will be difficult to grow your business if you have no money. Third, you must love what you do. Nobody starts a business and says, I think this is something I could do for a year or two. Owning your own business is typically a long term commitment. If you don’t love what you do, then you won’t be able to follow through and see your business through fruition.