What inspires you?

I’m in love with what I’m doing.  Whether I’m picking the kids up from school or cleaning the bathroom, I’m constantly thinking of ways to grow the business, make it better, make new connections. When you’re running a business, you’re never disengaged from that.

When did you realise you had what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?

I didn’t!  I always wanted to be a lawyer.  I started selling online as a way of avoiding debt whilst in Law School.  I put some old clothes up for sale on eBay and made $100.  For a student with a husband in Medical School and a young baby, that was a revelation.  I started selling everything in the house that wasn’t nailed down. 

I was passionate about what I was doing, but I didn’t expect it to get so big.  I’d paid off the law school loan, got a beautiful website, amazing listings, I’m a Gold Power Seller on eBay, bringing in over $10,000 per month, but I’m still running the business from my bedroom.  I didn’t realise what I’d created. I talked to an accountant who works with entrepreneurial companies.  He challenged me to read The E-myth by Michael E Gerber.  That inspired me to make time to work on the business rather than just in the business, and to take some risks to drive Fashionphile to the next level.  In his book Good to Great Jim Collins compares running a business to driving a bus.  You need to get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus. Have you got the right person driving?  And where you are going? I took some risks, partnered up with my brother-in-law who was in business school and built a great team.  We have doubled business every year since.  We took that momentum and opened our store in Beverly Hills.  Rodeo Drive is a very small community and we are right behind the flagship Louis Vuitton store.  We try to look like our neighbours, very bright, light and professional. Clients visit Louis Vuitton asking for X, Y or Z vintage bag, now out of stock.  So I put the sales assistants on commission, and they send them straight to us. I’ve done the same with Chanel, Gucci and all the other stores too. 

Fashionphile tops the search engine rankings as the seller of pre-owned luxury bags.  How have you got here?

We’ve used Myspace, Facebook and now Twitter, and have an active blog. We tweet about what we’re writing on the blog. This is all search engine candy and great for search engine optimisation.  But it is easy to waste time on this sort of thing.  We do what is necessary but don’t devote lots of time to it. 

Our recent appearance at the Oscars had a huge impact. Tommy Hilfiger’s PR came into the store last year with his girlfriend.  He loved it and wanted to manage our PR.  We didn’t retain him, but he remembered us. His friend is a producer for the Oscars pre-show on a major channel and needed someone to comment on bags on the red carpet.  So, 10 days before the Oscars I got a call.  I left the family holiday and flew out to LA. That was great PR, and the incoming links to our website as a result had a huge impact on our Google ranking.

Sarah Davis spoke to guests at Bailey Fisher’s Women 4 Technology networking lunch

Sarah Davis recommends:

The E-myth by Michael E Gerber www.e-myth.com

Good to Great by Jim Collins www.jimcollins.com