Claire Sulmers Editor-in-Chief of Fashion Bomb Daily Gives Advice for Future Entrepreneurs
Watch this video to hear her tips.
As a young girl, Claire Sulmers knew she wanted to be an international businesswoman. In other words, she wanted to travel around the world. She also still has the journals from her childhood full of recaps of her day and shopping wishlists. Fast forward to today her outfit of the day is on someone other women’s wish list.
Claire Sulmers is the CEO of Fashion Bomb Daily a blog, store, and all things for your fashion needs. She graduated from Harvard University where she learned French and studied African American studies.
She was determined to work for a Fashion magazine in France so she took the first step and moved to Paris. While there she wasn’t living the #FashionBombLife, she worked her way up and at one point was even sleeping in a tub. While she was learning everything she could at her 9 to 5 she also started what she saw as a missing element in the Fashion industry.
In 2006, Claire Sulmers started the Fashion Bomb Daily and it’s grown an impressive following with millions of viewers to her website. When you see your favorite celebrity in an outfit that you need within moments FashionBombDaily.com will have the event, the designer, and where you can find it. If you’ve been following her lately you’d notice that her Instagram has disappeared but the key here isn’t to just focus on the “This is why you need to have your own platform,” narrative but also consider the importance of creating a niche and a community.
She is working on a solution to losing the Instagram account but in the meantime, it’s keeping the community talking and waiting to see what she does next. When she launches something new the followers will be back and waiting to support her. She’s pushed herself to accept that she is also the face of her brand which is key because her personal IG page is still alive and well.
You can find Claire hosting high-quality events called #ConvoswithClaire where you know fashionistas will be in attendance. Claire is approachable and doesn’t mind taking time to take selfies with you. But, more importantly, she doesn’t mind listening and recognizing the dreamers that were hungry for success just like she was when she started out.
During another event in DC hosted by Ubiquitous Expo and Mielle Organics, she shared these tips that you should follow before taking that leap from your 9 to 5 to full-time entrepreneur.
What will your business be? Figure out how you can turn your passion and your purpose into a business that meets a large demand.
Before you take a leap do your research.
Take your time and build your business on the side for as long as you can. When Claire first started Fashion Bomb she was still working full-time and would draft posts over the weekend.
Save your coins and be frugal. “I would tell my younger self always save your money as much as you can,” said Claire “Try your best to be as economical as possible so that if anything goes left you’re not just caught out there.”
Plan. For most people, you need to create a plan for taking a leap into a new venture. This would include how much savings do you need to sustain your bills as you grow. Will your business be creating multiple recurring streams of income?
Don’t wait for perfection. You can plan, you can save, and still not make any moves from uncomfortable feeling of letting go of what you’ve known. Claire said, It’s never going to be perfect and you can’t really wait for perfection. Just figure it out and you’ll feel it. Trust your intuition and pray about it and when it’s time to make that jump you make that jump”
