Abby Walker is the CEO of Vivian Lou Inc., a single-product company with multi-million dollar annual sales dedicated to helping women look and feel better in high heels. She started her company as a “hobby” business (while being a full-time working mom) after picking up the phone and asking one simple question. Abby has also written her book Strap On a Pair to inspire fellow middle-aged, middle-management, middle-class moms to take the first step—or the next step—toward finding their something more.
Today, I’m sitting down with Abby Walker, who is the founder of Vivian Lou. Vivian Lou is a shoe company that focuses on creating insoles for high heels so that high heels are more comfortable to wear. During our conversation, Abby shares some of the fortuitous events that took place in order for her to get her business idea off the ground. The crazy part about Abby’s story is that she started off as a blogger and she didn’t create the actual insoles herself. She found them through a recommendation on a forum, but then connected with the creator of the insoles to strike a deal. Leading her to being an exclusive seller for the product worldwide and growing her business to over four million dollars in roughly four years without any employees.
My biggest takeaway from this conversation is that there are a lot of ways to think about a problem and solve a problem. Problem solving is not binary and we explore Abby’s decision making process so that she can grow and scale her business.
In this broadcast, Abby and I talk about:
How to Connect with Abby:
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches
Subscribe to In The Trenches on iTunes
How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
ITT 017: From Hobby to 6 Figure Business with Cliff Ravenscraft
ITT 016: First Try Bestseller with Jason Andrew Bond
ITT 015: Disrupting Digital Commerce with Ryan Delk
ITT 014: Creative Health with Jennifer Blanchard
ITT 013: Setting Entrepreneurs on Fire with John Lee Dumas
ITT 012: Conquering Mountains with Dan Adams
ITT 011: Smart Business with John Corcoran
ITT 010: Marketing Strategy with Tommy Walker (part 2 of 2)
ITT 009: Marketing Strategy with Tommy Walker (part 1 of 2)
ITT 008: Getting Paid to Exist with Jonathan Mead
ITT 007: Vagabonding with Benjamin Jenks
ITT 006: Creating New Paradigms with Clay Hebert
ITT 005: Engineering Perfect Design with Nate Kutsko
ITT 004: How to Build a Massively Successful Blog, Get Published, and Live Your Passion with Jeff Goins
ITT 003: How to Become a Published Author with Al Pittampalli
ITT 002: How to Dominate Fear, Draw Your Own Map, and Live Boldly with AJ Leon
ITT 001: Welcome to the official In the Trenches Podcast
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Aligned Money Show
Gorse Culture PODcast : The H.R. Detective Agency!
HCI Leadership Revolution
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money