Female Entrepreneur: Gg Rogers
Company: Gg Rogers
Location: UK
What motivated you to start your business?
In 2011 I lost my Mum very suddenly to cancer. She was my best friend and the only person I trusted when it came to choosing what to wear. She had fantastic sense of style. Living alone and with my boyfriend living sixty miles away I decided to ask my Twitter followers ‘what to wear’. From that point, my blog was born and the business ensued.
Tell us about your business.
www.what-towear.blogspot.co.uk is an interactive fashion blog driven by social media. For every event or social occasion I attend, be that a wedding, a dinner with friends or drinks with the girls I ask my followers and fans to decide my ‘what to wear’ dilemma. Approximately three or four times a month, my followers can view and select their favourite outfit from a choice of three photographs of me wearing them. The outfit with the most votes is the outfit I wear.
What is a day in the life of you like?
My ‘What to Wear’ days start by getting ready to take photos for my latest dilemma or the outfits I’ve selected. Once my hair and make-up is done, I take the photos of myself wearing the different outfits for the occasion I am due to attend. All the photos have to be downloaded to the computer and then three have to be chosen to upload onto the site. Once the photos have been selected the blog is written and published. Once the blog goes live, the rest of the day is spent monitoring the votes, speaking with my Twitter followers and liaising with retailers as many of the UK’s most popular high street names follow me and some have given me clothes to wear and showcase on the site which is great!.
What have been your biggest challenges so far with running your business?
One of the biggest challenges faced by many social media, blog, indeed any web site, is the effective participation or engagement of site visitors. In the case of what-towear.blog spot, we always look into tweaks that can be made get visitors to click and vote and this participatory element is key for me at the moment.
Losing my mum was one of the biggest personal challenges I faced and I am sure many other people will echo my response. Losing my biggest fan, mentor and friend was the reason why I set up the blog and I am amazed at how it has become so incredibly popular with visitors from Australia, Dubai. Ireland and Japan! The loss really gave me a dogged focus and level of motivation that I wouldn’t probably have felt otherwise.
How did you overcome these challenges?
As the owner and designer of my business I knew it inside out but I realised that I would need to look at it from a bird’s eye view, or more objectively and less emotionally or subjectively. It’s this approach to reviewing the business and its future that helps me overcome challenges.
What have you found to be the most effective way to get new clients?
Speaking and interacting with other bloggers, fashion lovers and business owners has been a great way to attract more attention to my site. That’s why websites like https://femaleentrepreneurassociation.com are great. It’s a perfect platform for like-minded, self-starting business women to engage with each another.
What advice would you give to other business owners?
Keep knocking on as many doors as you possibly can and don’t give up. Eventually someone will open their door to you.
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
Now, whenever I feel frustrated that things aren’t going as I planned or it seems like I’m hitting my head against a brick wall, I just have to cast my mind back… I saw my Mum through cancer and nothing will EVER be as difficult as that. That’s enough to give me the motivation I need to pull myself together and not let a simple knockback stop me.
What’s your favourite quote?
“Don’t wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself!”
Sara Henderson
Who inspires you?
My Mum, even though she’s not here anymore, she inspires me every single day.
Do you have a business philosophy?
“It’s not what you know it’s who you know.” A cliché but very true!
Get in touch…
Website: http://www.what-towear.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/missggrogers
