Erin Kleinberg quotes: some golden advice from the serial entrepreneur.
“Know where you are going. Although it’s annoying when people ask you—what’s the three, five, ten year plan?—you must know what you want. At the end of the day, it’s your life, your career, and you need to have some sense of direction. In my 20s I just thought if I worked super hard, I would get ‘there’ but I didn’t know what the ‘there’ was! Now I work daily to understand what my strategic goals are.”
“You’ve got eat, sleep, live, and breathe your brand. Truthfully, know why you’re doing what you’re doing as opposed to why other people are doing it. You need to make sure there’s a niche gap for what you’re doing. Don’t just start a blog to start a blog. (And I repeat, don’t just start a blog to start a blog!) You really need to have conviction and you need to believe in yourself and tell it to yourself every single day.”
“The single most important factor for success is understanding how to connect with relevant millennial audiences. We’re a team of millennial women, we are the generation of glued-to-our-phones women tagging our friends in that dope meme we saw in our feeds. It gives us the knowledge to connect with brands and consumers.”
“We want them to be happy and as excited as we are.”
“The best advice to young entrepreneurs just starting out is work hard and be nice to people. We’ve seen the strength in long-standing relationships that have come from deep connections made through business relationships. As Canadians, we’re known for being nice and we pride ourselves and our employees on it. Again, eat, sleep, breathe, and live your brand and understand what your unique value prop is in comparison to the competitors. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle.”
“One of my pillars in life and business is the concept of continual learning. It’s simple but necessary to fulfill me as an entrepreneur. If I’m not learning something new each day, I don’t view it as a success.”
“Continual learning: I crave to learn new things each day. If not, we are simply in a cycle that should be broken in order to grow.”
“Listen and observe; let others do the talking. Sit back. Hear people out.”
“Put yourself in the other person’s shoes.”
“My advice for connecting with anyone is be nice, but also persistent. I think that if you can offer someone something or you can make it mutually beneficial it is best. I’ve always felt like a really sweet, short, concise and maybe funny email will get you a long way. Especially a clever subject line.”
“Advisors, mentors, and good friends will get you through the dark times. It cannot all come from within you. Other perspectives are necessary!”
“Every crisis is an opportunity. Each time I fail, I internalize it; I’m only human. But I find that time heals all wounds, and by the next morning I have taken the fall and turned it into lemonade to only make that project more robust and successful. If we don’t win, we learn, and I have watched this sentiment firsthand as we hit new lows with our business only to utilize the crisis for not only the inspiration to pick back up and try to work smarter but also in launching a totally new entity fueled by hope, positivity, and community.”
“No matter how entrepreneurial or brilliant you are in school, the 10,000 hour rule stands strong. Until you experience crises, wins, pivots, you won’t be fully ready to handle them. I only spent three years in university, and I think it served me well to get a ton of on the ground experience in those early years of my twenties. You are going to be okay, even without an MBA.”
“Change is constant.”
“Get your work done in your personal optimal windows during the day—it will serve you best.”
“Jeff Bezos’ famous line about not making big decisions past three p.m. each day, and having important meetings in the a.m. when you are fresh: I live by this because it works for me personally.”
“Fake it till you make it (to an extent), and then once you have your two feet on the ground, own it!”
“Stop and celebrate every win—especially in the times we live in where all the days are meshing together as one in quarantine, be proud of the wins—feel the feels! Not to sound like Ferris Bueller but if you don’t stop, you’ll miss it.”
“From a young age, I had a passion for predicting trends and using fashion as an expression of myself and my creativity. I had endless projects: bead necklace making ‘shops,’ styling businesses, etc. I would show up to high school in turquoise wrestling boots and cargo pants with a bright Run DMC-style Adidas jacket and people thought I was nuts, only to later read about these trends in the pages of magazines.”
“I was a poor student in high school, getting the grades by schmoozing my way with teachers. My family knew I was crafty, but unsure what ‘hole’ to peg me in for a career or focus post-university. They knew my brother was slated to be a veterinarian no matter what, but would look at me and sort of raise their eyebrows.”
“In a way, this double standard allowed me to create my own internal pressure to pursue my career rather than being pushed. Having my mom at home no doubt shaped who I am today, but there was definitely a void in her life from not working. This inspired me to dream big for myself.”
“I am a passionate serial entrepreneur. At the age of 21 I was able to create a line of clothing that I sold to Barneys, Nordstrom, Lane Crawford, and 80 stores worldwide within a few years. I am by no means a designer, but through my passion for styling, I was able to piece together a small indie brand that was loved by many. Fast forward to 2010, a friend and I founded a company called Coveteur, which is a fashion publication that explores tastemakers’ closets and homes.”
“It’s cheesy but in 2010 I saw The Social Network and the next morning Coveteur was born. We built the site for Coveteur and it inspired us to dream big and take a chance on something we had no clue would go anywhere. I am endlessly inspired by the idea of creating something from absolutely nothing—it’s all part of the thrill for me!”
“In what seemed like a risky move at the time (but ultimately was the most protective), we had to lay off much of our staff in order to ensure they had a job to come back to. I felt suffocated and petrified to lose clients, have 14 members of my team (which I really view as family) jobless for the time being. That said, almost all were hired back within four months, and if we hadn’t done that, I don’t think we would still be here.”
“I can’t stop thinking about the small businesses that are majorly affected during this time, compounded on top of the deaths and individuals battling to get tests and get healthy. I can’t help my anxiety from getting the best of me, being out of control is not my bag. But the time we’re getting at home cuddling and chilling as a family is what life is about.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted all of our lives. But sometimes disruptions can be times of opportunity. Many people’s livelihoods have been hurt by the pandemic. But some saw this as an opportune time to take their lives in a new direction.”
“SIDIA has allowed me to take all of the learnings, relationships and experiences I’ve had thus far, and build a business finally armed with my real-life MBA. I feel like I’ve seen a lot and have handled many scenarios that armed me to take on more in different ways.”
“Being on the advertising and creative side of things has been a dream, but now being on the execution side of the business and dealing with the full system from A-Z has been massive learning but I thrive off the fails. It makes our team stronger and I love learning a ‘new business’ almost from the ground up. It’s quite humbling to be the newbie and act as a sponge learning from creative entrepreneurs and business owners around us.”
“We would be nowhere without the team and everyone is truly so passionate about the job. We like to think of our employees as running their own little empires within our large one.”
“We learned a long time ago that you are nothing without the people you work with. And to hire those smarter than you! They are the true heroes and magicians behind the scenes who make the magic happen. It’s all about hiring people who each have their own uniqueness.”
“It feels so incredible to be able to create a vision that people can buy into, and work with you to crystallize, evangelize and execute. That’s why I’m here.”
“My career has taken me physically and literally everywhere, but I would be nowhere without my ambition. And I’m persistent, so I don’t like to take no for an answer—two for two, I guess. In every part of my career I felt like I had nothing to lose and would say to myself, ‘I’ll give it a try and if it doesn’t work, then what do I care?’ That’s how I always got the ball rolling on a new venture.”
“If I could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, it would be for women to live unrestrained, effortlessly and with ease each day. To allow them to be their best selves, and work together to inspire positivity and connectedness in our community.”
“My wellness routine fuels me; ensuring I do my skincare routine, long early morning walks, seven hours of sleep. Lots of time with loved ones!”
“Create balance and structure. Put your phone away. I can’t stress this enough. Whenever I’m away from IG, out in nature, spending time with family without my phone… is when I’m feeding my soul. That is what the world needs right now.”
