Interview with Jean Wnuk – Founder of AllThingsJeep.com
I only met Jean about 2 years ago in Boston at Internet Retailer, but I have known of her for a while because she has been a frequent contributor to http://yourstoreforums.com. Over the years, not only has Jean given much advice to new Yahoo store owners, but she has also helped smooth things over for enterprising entrepreneurs. As luck would have it, we got a chance to re-connect recently and Jean, being the very cool lady that she is, has agreed to let me interview her.
Here’s Jean’s share:
Name : Jean Wnuk
What website did you own? www.AllThingsJeep.com
How long have you been doing this business? Almost 7 years
Shirley: When did you start your business and why, or what, inspired you to pick All Things Jeep?
Jean: We were lucky. We had a passion for the product line and we saw an untapped, niche market so it was a great opportunity. As Jeep enthusiasts ourselves, we thought it was a perfect niche.
Shirley: What do you enjoy the most in running the business? (More than just being your own boss on this question). What did you dislike the most or struggle with or have difficulty with?
Jean:
- Best – As a retailer, selling on the internet is so rewarding because everything can occur so quickly. You can create an email campaign, send it out, and within minutes you are getting orders. (This is in contact to the catalog company I used to work for where we spend a month working on a new catalog, a month getting it printed and mailed, and then another few days before the first order hit.) As a marketer, it is very rewarding. And much of the marketing programs are so trackable so you know how effective you are being and can refine your efforts quickly.
- In addition, it is enjoyable to create something from nothing. To see the fruits of your labor so directly. In big business, you are a small cog in the wheel. In small business, you ARE the wheel! When things go well, you can pat your own back. (If you can’t reach, have someone else do it. You deserve it.)
- Struggles – Being your own boss means you don’t always have people within your organization to learn from. You don’t often have a set of peers doing what you are doing. That can be frustrating. I try to compensate by going to industry trade shows and events, spending time on small business forums and blogs, and developing relationships and friendships with other local small business owners.
Shirley: What aspect of the business kept you up at night?
Jean: What would happen if we dropped out of Google natural results (we do very well there.) What would happen if one of the big players in our industry decided to jump into our niche and basically wipe us out?
What would happen if Jeep stopped licensing so many product lines, and our product lines went away?
In all cases, I have found that the things that keep you up at night are the incentives to work more creatively and put preventative measures in place to assure that the business will survive even if those things did happen.
Shirley: What is/are your proudest moments when you knew that you were on track, or it felt right for you?
Jean: Every January (after we are exhausted and barely alive from surviving the holiday season) we send an email to our customers. In it, we thank them and share the trials and tribulations of the past year.
It is a heartfelt letter because we really have a relationship with our customers. The year we had over 300 customers write back to us with their personal stories and telling us how much they enjoy buying from us, we knew we had done it. (I am a sap, but almost every letter made me cry.)
Shirley: What was the hardest part in starting or running your business, and what was the turning point that helped you move forward to having the business be more sustainable?
Jean:
- The hardest part in starting the business is prioritizing the hundreds of tasks you have before you. Literally, we all could be working 24 hours a day and still not accomplish everything we could be doing to grow our business. So deciding what to focus on, and what to let go of for right now is critical to your success. I also always found it difficult to make the decision to hire someone to do some of the jobs that need to be done.
As a small biz owner, it is difficult to part with money. You are nervous that you won’t get the return on your investment — and you don’t have a lot of money to spend. I sometimes needed coaching to offload a task and pay someone else to do it. Once we were able to pay our employees each month, pay our bills each month and still be able to pocket some money for ourselves, I thought, “We may be in this for the long run.”
Once this occurred every month for about 2 years, I thought, “Yup, we got ourselves a real business here.” Sometimes it still amazes me
Shirley: Knowing what you know now, what events or decisions might you have done differently?
Jean: I would like to be more organized with my time and might have gotten myself a coach to assist in this. There is so much to do, it is very easy to attempt everything and get sidetracked with everything. I think I could have more balance in my life if I were better organized about my work schedule.
Shirley: What is your advice for new entrepreneurs getting into E-commerce?
Jean:
- Find a NICHE. I can’t say enough about this. Think about what someone would type into Google to find your product. Type it in — if there are already 10+ pages of strong results, then it is not a niche.
- Ideally, your niche is one with a Passionate Customer Base. These customers will buy your product whether the economy is up or down. You can develop a relationship with them. And you can take advantage of all the free social networking possibilities.
- Ideally, your niche of passionate customers is in a growing market, or at least there will always be new customers coming along wanting what you have to sell. Along with repeat customers, you would like to know that there will always be more customers.
Shirley: Jean, as you mentioned to me in your recent email, you just successfully wrapped-up the sale of your business. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who want to or are thinking about selling their business?
Jean:
- First, start with your goal in mind. What is your goal? To have enough money to go on a vacation? To have enough money to live on for the next 2-3 years? To have enough money to put your 7 kids through college? To get the hell out and the money doesn’t matter? ; ) Or to simply put the business in good hands while you move on to something else? If you don’t know what your end goal is, you can get mired down in little stuff that doesn’t really matter. Really think about this one. It’s the most important.
- Second, talk to your accountant and/or someone that specializes in the tax implications of selling a business, so that you understand how much money the government is going to take from you (a lot!) 20-50% of the sale price could potentially go to our government.
- Have your business evaluated by a few business brokers that specialize in e-commerce. Make sure their recommendations are consistent with each other, so you feel the suggested sell price is fair and accurate in the current market. Then, based upon what you know about your tax situation, you can compare it against your goal to see if you can meet your goal.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff. Remember what is most important in your life. Don’t stress too much about everything else!
Shirley : How long did it take you to wrap up selling the business – the actual transaction time from finding the buyer and closing the sale?
Jean: Mine was VERY quick. One of the business brokers who evaluated my business had just spoken with someone he thought would be interested.
He contacted the guy, and Todd WAS interested. It basically took less than three months, start to finish. I know this is HIGHLY unusual, but I guess it can happen.
Thank you, Jean so much for sharing your experiences and insights with me and my readers. I look forward to hearing and reading more about your next adventure. As entrepreneurs, we may choose to slow down a bit sometimes, but there is no way to tame the fire that burns inside us. That is truly the spirit of entrepreneurship.
To learn more about All Things Jeep, please visit:
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/allthingsjeep
Twitter page: www.twitter.com/allthingsjeep
Jean works part time at All Things Jeep while she dreams of her next big project. But there are 5 Jeeps in the family, so she’ll always be a Jeep girl. You can get in touch with her at jean@allthingsjeep.com.
The goal of this segment of my blog is to invite and find entrepreneurs who are willing to share their stories about how they got into the business, what they’ve learned, and why it inspires them to continue on their entrepreneurial path. If you would like to share your story, both success and hardships, please email me at shirley @ dearshirley.com
By: Shirley Tan
