We were lucky to catch up with Taylor Eberhardt recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Taylor with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I get my work ethic from both of my parents. They instilled in me at a young age that you need to work hard for what you want and that nothing is handed to you. I saw it first hand a lot with my dad since he has worked full-time since before I was born, sometimes working multiple jobs just to get by. He came from nothing and created this wonderful life my family has to this day. He is the epitome of the American dream and he worked so hard to get where he is today. Watching him has significantly shaped the way I work.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I own a small women’s fashion boutique in Denver, Colorado. My journey to get here was a little all over the place. I studied business in college not really knowing what I wanted to do with my life. During college I worked at a large family-run boutique, since I had experience in that from high school. It was there where I learned a ton of skills and my love for fashion grew. I had an internship in NYC during my junior year summer at a fashion house and realized I wanted to possibly have a career in this. After college I decided I wanted to stay in Denver and work for Nordstrom and try to climb my way up through the company. This is where I made a hard pivot and decided to try a whole new line of business. I went to go work for my Dad’s company in the oil and gas industry. During my 5 years with them I learned so much about business, logistics, and management, but when I realized my passions lay elsewhere, I decided to risk it all and quit to go pursue fashion again.
This, unfortunately, happened about 2 weeks before the world shut down from Covid. After a few months of wondering where life was going to take me, my dad suggested we look for vacant retail spaces. We found one fairly quickly and the dream was back. As a family team, we opened Lou Collective in June 21. I am responsible for all the buying, styling, merchandising, and managing for the boutique. My parents contribute to big decisions when necessary and my mom helps with the buying.
The concept for the store is to bring in fresh and unique brands/designers to this every growing and fashionable area. Our core customer is the mother/(adult) daughter shopper that can come into our store together and both find items that fit their specific needs without compromising style or comfort. We are fairly new and still growing our customer base, but this concept has proved effective so far!
The best part of this entire business is the people I have met along the way- whether it be customers who have become friends, brand reps, or other fellow women business owners. The other part, of course, is the clothing! Being able to share the brands I love and share the way I style is such a unique and special experience.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Perseverance, knowing the value of hard work, and having a huge support system were key for my success so far. My advice for others is to take one step at a time when trying to follow your dreams. When looking at the big picture or the far out future, it can seem extremely daunting and difficult. But if you look at the step directly in front of you and accomplish that, over time all the little pieces add up quickly and you can look back at what you built over time. It is truly the only way I was able to fight imposter syndrome and believe that I could do something so big.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
One of the biggest obstacles we are currently facing is how to manage our cash flow in a high volume inventory business. With fashion we are always buying 3 seasons ahead. That can be very difficult from a budgeting and cash flow standpoint.
The way we are working on resolving this is by working with other small business owners who have built successful boutiques and learning from them and taking advice they give us.
It has strengthened our relationships with other business owners and built up our network significantly.
Contact Info:
- Website: shoploucollective.com
- Instagram: @shoploucollective
Image Credits
S. Brenner Photography
