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GET STARTED! OKAY, BUT AS WHAT?[:]
Hello everyone!
So I know the title may seem a little wild, put that way, but this marks the end of our business articles! It was also very inspiring for me to read your comments and to see what you were interested in during business week! This article is kinda like the Sistine Chapel, written with the help of our amazing certified public accountant, whose contact information is listed at the end of the article.
I promise, I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, you’ll see that it’s almost fun! Everything’s going to be okay, really. The more I read this over, the more I think that we couldn’t be clearer.
This calculator symbolises accounting in the article. We suggest you ask an expert to explain everything involved in each different activity.
The avocado represents... a lawyer! We suggest you ask them any legal questions, go over your business status with them, and other litigation. Choose them wisely, just like your certified public accountant.
When you get started, you must know one thing: are you going to sell products (also called trading), or are you going to sell a service? It’s great when you know, but you can do both. You just have to know more or less which one will bring in the most money in order to determine your main activity (APE: activité principale exercée), and to know which collective you belong to, if you plan on having employees.
Paperwork...
So let’s say you decide to open up a pastry shop. You’ll be making sales, but on Saturdays you’ll also be teaching kids’ cooking classes, a service... the main part of your business will come from sales, so your main activity is ‘pastry sales’.
Another thing to note is that there are three legal choices you can choose from:
It’s important to note that when you’re self employed or a sole proprietor, there is no distinction between you and your business.
Businesses’ responsibilities on the other hand are limited to the injected capital. Your business is entirely separate. Congratulations on your newborn! Your business is therefore a legal entity, that doesn’t exist. Like a ghost!
Self employment: It’s perfect for getting started! If you know what you want to do, but you don’t know how serious it is and you don’t have any idea what your sales revenues might be, the easiest option is to start off self employed.
- super simple accounting
- no value added tax
- little paperwork, everything is done online
- it doesn’t cost you anything, but for the past couple of years it’s been mandatory to have a second bank account to collect your income
- you’re considered as a self employed person (TNS: travailleur non salarié), you contribute to the RSI/URSSAF depending on your activity (merchant, artisan, advice)
Sole proprietorship comes after being self employed (AE: auto entrepreneur). I’d even say that once you’ve reached the limit of 32,900 euros, sole proprietorship (EI: entreprise individuelle) is fantastic if you’re on your own. This means that you don’t have partners, but you may have employees. This is great for when your business has been doing well for a while and you’ve got a good idea of your goals and what you can accomplish. To go from self employment to sole proprietorship, you’ll need to see an expert (Tylenol is recommend).
Sole proprietorship is commonly used for small businesses where there typically is no other partner, or liberal professions such as doctors, lawyers, and artisans...
- this doesn’t cost you any more money, but you must open a professional business account
- more URSSAF or value added tax paperwork
- subject to value added tax
- slightly more complicated accounting (we highly recommend seeing a certified public accountant)
- As a business owner, you’re considered a self employed person (TNS: travailleur non salarié). You contribute to the RSI/URSSAF depending on your activity (merchant, artisan, advice).
- Taxes are however calculated based on your revenues minus your actual charges, unlike a self employed person.
A business will make your activity more credible, especially when you work with other businesses, and it will give you the option to partner with other people. Ask your certified public accountant about any financial aid you may receive. You’ll need a lawyer in order to set up the business status, depending on it’s complexity.
If you wish to partner with a third party, as famous ‘associates’, you’ll need to decide between SARL or SAS, not self employment or sole proprietorship.
- accounting is more complicated, you’ll need a certified public accountant
- subject to value added tax
- URSSAF and value added tax paperwork, but no more than sole proprietorship (EI)
- it will cost more money: to pay a director, a certified public accountant, and possibly a lawyer
- While having a business (SARL/EURL/SAS) you’ll be considered self employed (TNS). You’ll contribute to the RSI/URSSAF if you have a SARL or a EURL. However, with a SAS you won’t be self employed, you’ll be an employee and it may be more expensive, ask an expert!
Then there are lots of other little things to know, like if you can get employment bonuses. There’s an arrangement that allows 4,000 euros for the first employee with a permanent contract, and it’s still available in 2017! In other good news, the ‘ARE: aide au retour à l’emploi’ (return to work aid) allows you to receive unemployment benefits if you were employed and you left your job through a contractual termination for example. The arrangement allows you to keep your unemployment benefits for the rest of their duration, so if you start a EURL/SAS/SARL/SAS business, you may not pay yourself via the business until the end of your rights. It’s a great aid when starting your business!
Thank you to Nicolas Barnet, from Batt&Associés for his expert advice and time!
I know that it’s scary, but honestly all these social/accounting/legal questions are much more manageable with people who answer them for their living. I also recommend reading this website and taking notes, it’s very educational! Or directly on the government website here. If it’s all still gibberish to you at the end of this article, see an accountant. Surrounding yourself with the right people is important! The energy you’ll spend trying to do things yourself is energy that you won’t be devoting to bettering your business. Don’t forget: to each their own profession, your accountant is there to make you money, not to lose it!
Translated by Whitney Bolin
DIY PAPER CACTUS![:]
Hello everyone in France and Navarre (and elsewhere, I love you all!)
I hope that you’re well and that the cold hasn’t frozen your fingers, which you’ll need for this DIY. Since my window for the Lemonade Shop went well, I thought that you might like a tutorial to make your own little cacti, for you and your loved ones this Christmas. It’s the perfect gift for those who lack a green thumb and those who can’t keep a real cactus alive for more than a couple weeks (hey, it happens to the best of us, don’t judge). So here it is, how to make paper cacti in every color and size! Hugs and kisses, Charlotte.
For this DIY you’ll need:
- To download the cactus patterns,
- White or colored canson paper,
- A pair of scissors,
- Green Scotch glue (after testing lots of different ones, I’m telling you, it’s the best!),
- A scalpel,
- A small ruler,
- A terracotta pot that you’ll have spray painted white before hand,
- Tweezers,
- A pencil.
Repeat for the seven other parts!
Pay close attention and turn off the tv if it was on, we’re going to put the cactus together. If you look, you’ll see that there’s a side that has four tabs, and one that has three. Be sure to start with the side that has four tabs! Fold them inwards.
Glue your first needle on the edge of the cactus and continue all over the rest of the cactus! You can make the flower using this DIY. Put it together and glue it on top of the cactus for the final touch!
And ta-da!
Translated by Whitney Bolin[:]
HOW TO SEW A THELMA CAPE?[:]
Hello darlings!
So, how do you make the Thelma cape? Well, it’s been available online for a little while, for the last 15 days to be precise. We came out with it for the ‘Création et Savoir Faire’ fair. To tell you the whole story, we were sure that the Dita dress would be the most popular but no, to our surprise it was the Thelma cape. It completely sold out. I love surprises!
You kind of know about my hectic life. Because of the 100 different things I have to do at once, I forgot to put Thelma’s video on YouTube... So I’m sorry for messing up, here it is! Thelma is a great gift to give. It’s so easy to make and wear, with or without the collar, with or without the lining. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also make a hood. Anyways, go crazy, have fun!
I love the retro look and I’m crazy about the line in the back. I feel like a heroine in a 30s or 40s era novel. We first designed Thelma with a hood, but we thought it looked too childish so we asked for a round neckline. The manufacturer misunderstood us and made it with a Peter Pan collar. After going back and forth, we decided to change it to a high collar that makes it look super retro. When we realised how much we love the cape’s big pockets at the pop up store, Laure worked her magic and made big, useful pockets for the paper pattern and added lining.
(Yes, I do say wow in the video... I know)
- Thelma is ONE SIZE FITS ALL, plan on using 3m of fabric from a bolt 1m40 wide and 3m of lining from a bolt 1m40 wide.
- I suggest choosing a fluffy wool which is easier to work with than stiffer wool. A synthetic mix is okay, wool/polyester mixes are good quality.
- The seam allowance is always 1cm, like the rest of our patterns!
- You’ll need buttons or snaps, or whatever you want to fasten the cape!
- You may use some interfacing if need be.
- And of course, the paper pattern is online here, and for those that prefer to use the pdf subscription, it’s here.
I’d also like to take the opportunity to tell you about some big news this month. First, we’re getting two free exclusive patterns ready: the Princess Tam Tam x Wear Lemonade pyjama top and bottom. Yep yep, everything you’ll need for sewing projects over winter break. We’re going to post the patterns in two different articles to make it last longer and easier to follow! I made mine with the lipstick fabric and it looks great. You should have heard Julie, the tutorial director saying: “Oh my gosh it’s so pretty” every three minutes and Laure who would reply, “I wasn’t so sure but it does look nice”. Anyways, I think you’ll like it!
The other good news is that next year’s new collection will soon be available (end of January) with lots of surprises and new patterns. The Simona shirt pattern will also be online early January and the subscriptions will change. It’ll be easier to use, you’ll be able to pay by credit card, and you’ll be limited to seven downloads per month, but unlimited downloads of each model.
I don’t know if you’ve subscribed to the newsletter, but I highly recommend it since you’ll have exclusive access to things like the announcement of the Thelma pattern and pdf online as well as the launch of our viscose poplin fabrics like Rouge à Lèvres (Lipstick) and Bloom which are selling out! By the way, we need to talk about what kind of fabric you’d like. If it were up to me, I’d only use viscose... but maybe you wouldn’t... anyways, let me know what you’d like in the comments below. You know, despite my hectic life, I read everything and see everything!
Hugs and kisses!
Translated by Whitney Bolin
HELLO, YEAH, WHAT DO I WEAR FOR... ?[:]
Hello everyone!
Today I’d like to talk about outfits to wear to work! As you may remember, I told you I’ve never really covered this topic. I’ve always been pretty comfortable picking out clothes. I rarely question what’s good or bad to wear to a meeting. But I do remember my mom yelling at me one winter when she saw me about to go out with my belly button showing... but what teenager didn’t do that in the 2000s? Anyways, besides that one time, I’ve never been told to change, besides that time at the bank that I told you about, not a big deal.
Today, to add a little bit of fashion to our business week articles, I’ve tried to analyse and add some outfit ideas for different job situations. This list is non-exhaustive, of course. I didn’t do different profiles: construction chief, medical assistant, since I’m not too familiar with those fields, I prefer not to go too far. You’ll see, I made it very easy, by putting myself in other people’s situations just for enough time to take these pictures.
Right now I’m dealing with projects that aren’t really my thing, like signing leases, going to the bank, meeting investors, speaking in public about my job... At these times, I sit on my bed, dressed in a suit, chaos all around me (like clothes have literally exploded from my closet) and I feel stressed out like before a hot date. I call my friends, freaking out: WHAT THE F*** AM I SUPPOSED TO WEAR TO ASK FOR A LOAN? Oh yeah! They don’t teach you that in the movies.
For this outfit, I’m wearing a navy blue jacket and a nude bodysuit by Wear Lemonade, jeans and velvet booties from Asos, and an adorable leather bag from Tammy and Benjamin.
Anyways, in this article, there are three big sections. For “creative” jobs, “classic” jobs, “freelance” jobs, professional interviews, meetings, etc... Once again, nothing is definite, everything depends on the field you’re working in. I think you just need to do a little online research on the business, something you should do anyways to get ready for your interview. Or, if your search isn’t successful and you’re still not sure, I suggesting hanging out near the building at the lunch break to see what’s in style...
I think this outfit is great for working in a press office, ad agency, or with young people, where everyone’s wearing Stan Smith’s... but for a job at a fashion house, I think that you should forget the jeans and go with a nice dress, colorful but not flashy, with either perfectly fitted clothes or with the below style where I would change the purse for something more elegant, or the other outfit below with the green jacket!
I’m wearing a pale pink Asos trench coat, a Monoprix sweater, an Argument x Chacok necklace, Julietta pants, and a Wear Lemonade tote bag, as well as made in Sarenza boots.
This outfit isn’t anything new since it’s what I wear almost every day. I think the brown hues are lovely, and a flowy trench coat always looks professional for an interview or meeting, it gives you a serious and classy look. The clothes you pick out must fit you well, it’s very important. So how do you know if they fit? If you’re not sure, it doesn’t. No, but seriously, when you’ve got it on, if nothing tugs, folds, wads up, and you feel comfortable, it’s a winner! When you find the perfect clothes, one less thing to think about and you’re already a little more confident... let those that have never tugged on their skirt while waiting in the lobby before an interview throw the first stone!
I’m wearing the Simona Wear Lemonade blouse, a Comptoir des Cotonniers jacket, straight leg pants from La Redoute, shoes and a bag from Tila March.
This look is kind of like a ‘costume’ to me, as if I have to go back to work at the bank tomorrow. I think that it gets easier with practice, because while writing this, I’m thinking that I should have worn high waisted, rust colored pants with a cream colored silk blouse and a black jacket, that would have looked nice. I almost have outfit ideas for going to work in fields more classic than mine...
I read your comments about how values are blocked in a far away decade. Long skirts and dresses, sparkly shoes, bright colors on a jacket or patterned shirts shouldn’t make you doubt the competence of the person wearing them. But I guess there are two different ways to look at it. Either you don’t care and wear what you want like a rebel or you fit into the mold, and only wear crazy outfits on days off and weekends. It’s a shame to hold yourself back just for them. I would wear the most outrageous colors and hurt my coworkers eyes by mixing up patterns if I could... Well, I can, but at the studio, everyone’s a little bit crazy, so I don’t have anything against anyone... the frustration I may have getting dressed is just a routine that in reality is fun for me.
Variation on the same theme. This is how I actually get dressed for doing serious stuff. It may change slightly over time, depending on if I’ve done the laundry or not... but this is more or less my serious interview outfit! I’ve really noticed how the interviewer’s attitude may change depending on the outfit I’m wearing, I’m not talking about low cut tops or skirt lengths, I wouldn’t dare, but rather about the colors and patterns. Darker outfits make me seem more serious, and my interviewer isn’t distracted by the patterns on my dress and pays attentions to what I’m saying... so stay dark yet colorful.
Don’t laugh. This is how it is, the sweatpants are optional, because I spend a lot of days without pants before 5pm during the week. This may not be true all the time, but it has to be said: working at home isn’t easy. One of the reasons why I started to look for a office was so that I could stop procrastination at home, and start wearing real clothes and get off my couch.. And sometimes, client meetings happen at home via Skype... it’s the only time I interact with others during the day, but if you aren’t used to it yet, you just get dressed on top! Not good! Get out and go to a co-working place!
All of this goes to show that whatever you decide, you have to keep moderation in mind for all those key moments. If only you knew how hard it is for me to write this... anyways, the clothes you wear aren’t the decisive factor in the HR director’s final decision. The important thing is that you feel comfortable and your outfit brings you the confidence necessary to do well at your interview...
The idea isn’t that you get dressed up like me, but if you have a tendency to dress extravagantly, it’s time to calm down. The important thing is that you are remembered rather than the outfit you’re wearing. And the opposite is true too, if you’re lost in clothes that are too big and sad looking, they won’t make a good impression. It’s not the end of the world but it’s important. Take a deep breath, everything will be fine.
Hugs and kisses!
Translated by Whitney Bolin
ADVICE FROM AN HR REP AND INSPIRATION FOR YOUR RESUMÉ[:]
Hello guys and gals,
Since it’s Business Week, Jessica Djeziri, HR Manager at InterCloud.com, agreed to answer a few questions and give us some advice. Jessica has almost 9 years of experience in developing human resources, in varying sectors such as e-commerce and digital marketing. So, what should you never put on your resumé, any advice for a successful hiring interview? We’ll give you several lovely examples of resumés that the Lemonade Studio has received that really stand out thanks to their originality, their layout, their shape, etc... these resumés won’t leave you indifferent!
I remember that for a particularly stressful interview to be an assistant in a big Parisian photo studio. I was a beginner, I wasn’t very sure of myself, and to tell the truth: I knew nothing. It was during my first year in Paris, I sent a half-blank resumé and a horribly written cover letter. First I was interviewed by the boss, it was over in a few minutes, and then I was sent to the studio, which was in the middle of a photo shoot for a ‘trial day’. I panicked- I knew no one, everyone knew that it was my trial day and most of all: I wasn’t prepared (and to top it off, I had new shoes on, you know, the kind that go *click click* when you walk? There you go.)
In the beginning, they weren’t very kind to me, but I stayed strong and went with it. At one point, while I was quietly dying my slow death over in a corner, the photographer’s assistant came over to me saying “it’s URGENT, we need four mandarins”. In my head I was thinking “WTF, URGENT we need mandarins??”, not just one or two. Determined to get this right, I ran to the store down the street and carefully selected the FOUR most beautiful mandarins they had. I spent way too much time picking the most perfect, shapely, colorful mandarins, not too soft, not too hard, some with leaves, others without. The cashier looked at me funny, but I found the four most impeccable mandarins. I ran back to the studio, puffed up my chest, and walked up to the photographer (click, click, click) and proudly laid out the four fruit before him. “Here you are, the four mandarins you asked for! :) “ Awkward silence. Everyone stopped and looked at me, I thought they were in awe to see such perfect mandarins. Then, laughter. I looked around, bewildered. The photographer turned around, rolling his eyes. His assistant ran over, grabbed the mandarins and threw thim in a corner and dragged me out of the studio by my arm. Then, laughing with tears in his eyes, he explained to me that in photography, mandarins are not a fruit but rather a type of lighting... embarrassed, I ran to the nearest emergency exit, never again to set foot in that studio.
Moving on, let’s listen to Jessica’s advice:
- What should you never write in a resumé?
In France, you should avoid having a resumé with more than one page, it should be concise. The already-made models you can find on line won’t help you stand out. The worst thing you can do is give your resumé directly downloaded from LinkedIn. Be careful about the title you give your resumé, if it is too specific, this may limit your opportunities. You may need to change it for each job offer you apply too.
- How should one submit unsolicited job applications?
Unsolicited or not, you should always check out the business, look online to see what kinds of positions are available and what kind of people they’re looking for. The cover letter should be very clear so that it helps the person that gets it understands exactly what you’re looking for.
I recently was contacted by someone who wanted me to look at their profile and find him a job. After sending a few messages back and forth, it turned out that he didn’t know that I had published job offers online and just looked me up on a professional website thinking that I would figure out what job suited him. It was completely counter-productive!
- Five tips for a successful hiring interview?
-Prepare yourself. You have to be on top of what the business does, it’s projects, it’s values... and you should be able to reply to the question “why do you want to work here?”.
- Have questions to ask: it shows you’re interested in the business and job.
- Don’t simply read off of your resumé (it happens sometimes, don’t do it!)
-Be ready for basic questions like “why do you want to leave your current job”, “what would you like to improve in yourself”, “where do you see yourself in 5 years”. Be convincing by listening attentively.
- As HR rep, do you take a candidate’s outfit into account? What do you think should be avoided?
- I did an interview, should I send an email to thank them? How long should I wait before checking back in?
It’s nice but not necessary. If you want to, two days after the interview is good.
- Do you look candidates up online before the interview? Do you take their digital personality into account?
That’s a myth! No one has the time to do that, we go through so many applications, we never do that. From time to time, we may to narrow it down or for a more ‘serious’ position. Plus, recrutement software does the work for us! When you apply with your email address, it links your application with your social media profiles... it makes life easier!
Thank you, Jessica, for taking the time to answer my questions, and I hope that you’ll find them useful! If you have anymore questions, or if you have a juicy anecdote (maybe about a mandarin) about a first day at work, please share in the comment section!
Hugs and kisses! Simoné
Translated by Whitney Bolin
ESTÉE LAUDER X MAKE MY LEMONADE THE ENTREPRENEURS PART 2[:]
Hello everyone!
Thank you for your kind, enthusiastic words yesterday in response to our article on Elissa, Clémentine, Insaf and Chloé! Today we’re moving right along, talking about the last three entrepreneurs! Estée Lauder and I made an agreement to post just one article, but I thought it would be better to do this in two parts to make it last longer. I loved these interviews, getting to know all these women was like a breath of fresh air, a rush of adrenaline!
After the project on Intuition, where I learned about the woman behind Estée Lauder, I tried to learn more about her personality and inspirations! I can only dare to imagine the amount of perseverance this woman must have had to start her cosmetic empire from scratch, in her simple kitchen and uncle’s lab! From her biography I learned that she didn’t give up, she had a precise goal and she met the right people at the right times, but most importantly, she never gave up or lost sight of her goal.
Getting back to my entrepreneurs today, it was difficult to choose who I’d post first or second, so don’t read between the lines, they’re in random order! Here’s the full length video with all the ladies who’ve inspired me! Hugs and kisses, here are Anaïs, Maeva and Pénélope!
Co-founder of Noo Underwear
I also met Anaïs when we collaborated on last spring’s bathing suit line, “les baigneuses”, (the bathers). Just like with Elissa, we hit it off from the start. Underneath Anais’s sweet appearance lies the strength to never give up and beat the problems that may come up as an entrepreneur. Anaïs is a designer and takes care of the little details that make all the difference and isn’t afraid to leave the last minute to oversee production, or take care of problems at a factory! As I was saying yesterday, Noo Underwear and Wear Lemonade are about the same age and come out with collections around the same times. It’s always a pleasure to see the new looks the dynamic duo comes up with!
To get a better idea of who you are, could you tell me where you’re from and what your journey has been?
I’m from Valbonne, a little town on the Côte d’Azur, my favorite place to go whenever I need a break. I started studying visual art there, and I lived in Aix, Montréal, Berlin, and last of all, Paris to continue my studies in art and design. I thought I was meant to be a visual art teacher since I loved learning and needed to create.
But since I didn’t want to be like everyone else, why would I get into education?! Encouraged by my partner, an entrepreneur at heart, I got a small job on the side and worked on the idea of NOO: a lingerie brand for men and women, designer and a premium brand, that offers matching outfits and infinite combinations. I worked on the project for two years before meeting my lovely associate, Elissa. Six months after meeting her and the birth of my daughter, NOO was finally born!
What made you want to start your own business? When did you know that it was the right time?
I felt like it was forced on me, but when I think about it, I don’t really know how it happened. What’s crazy is that despite the daily difficulties of owning a business, I can’t imagine doing anything else (okay, besides having real vacations!!). If NOO had to end tomorrow, I have a thousand other ideas in mind. I would have never thought I would be more of an entrepreneur than a designer, even if the two are linked in my opinion.
How do you fight against procrastination?
I rarely have time to procrastinate! My days end at 6pm, they fly by, and since there are only three of us, there are a thousand things to do. These limits force me to do what’s necessary. My designer friend in Montréal who finishes working at 3:30pm so she can take care of her daughter convinced me and keeps me from feeling guilty!! Of course, sometimes I’m not as efficient, and in this case I stop and do something else, or work in the evening.
How do you foresee motherhood, being your own boss?
Maybe I should have asked myself this question before having my daughter, since she was born one month before starting our brand. It was really hard in the beginning to take care of two “babies” that needed me. My priority was of course my daughter, and it scarred me to not be able to give her all my attention that she deserved. She went with me for two and a half months to my meetings, along with my breast pump... If I don’t have any regrets, I know now that I won’t have a second child if I’m not sure of being able to really stop myself.
How do you handle accounting, administrative tasks, works in progress, promoting your work? Do you have help, an accountant, lawyer, or financial director?
We have an accountant, an amazing lawyer, lots of friends that give us advice and help in different fields and the desire to master everything. I think that one of the keys to entrepreneurship is getting your hands dirty before giving jobs to others that are better than you.
Do you now regret starting your business?
Never, and now that I’ve started, I’m never going back! I don’t think of myself as a lingerie designer, I’m an entrepreneur bubbling with ideas, that loves thinking that you can be yourself when you wear NOO underwear.
“The art of inventing beauty transcends class, intellect, age, profession, geography – virtually every cultural and economic barrier”- Estée Lauder. What does this mean to you?
To me, being beautiful is not just a physical attribute, it’s about your attitude, how you carry yourself, your character, even sometimes being insolent, what has nothing to do with the class, culture or place that you come from. What I like about this quote is the idea that inventing beauty is an art. It insinuates that you can pretend to be someone else any time, and that’s a part of us. A woman has multiple aspects, and this complexity makes her beautiful. She doesn’t have to be sexy to be it.
If you were Madame Estée Lauder, and in 2017 you wanted to come out with your “must-have” product, what would it be?
An illuminator to make your eyes brighter!
MAEVA BESSIS
Co-director of the boutique and French design e-shop l’Exception.
To get a better idea of who you are, could you tell me where you’re from and what your journey has been?
I grew up in Montréal, but I don’t have an accent anymore! Then I moved to Paris, with my two sisters and my mother #girlpower... after high school, I went to the ISG business school that offers programs around the world (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York) I studied at three different universities, it was amazing! After graduating, I worked in the digital department at Nina Ricci. It was a great experience but it helped me understand that I wanted to work in a smaller business where things happen quickly! As destiny would have it, I met Régis early in 2013 and the wonderful adventure of L’Exception started for me.
What made you want to start your own business? When did you know that it was the right time?
I joined l’Exception a year after it opened, but I invested myself in it from the very start as if it was my own, thinking of it night and day, living, breathing l’Exception. It paid off because a few years later I became an associate! Deep down, I’m an entrepreneur, I need to give 200% and to be into the project. Sometimes it can be destructive, because I put work in front of a lot of things, but I can’t help it, it’s my baby and as long as it needs me, I’ll be there.
How do you fight against procrastination?
I deeply believe that an idea means nothing if it isn’t done. And doing it depends only on you. I read an article on the brain that said that in less than five seconds, you’ve made the decision to act or not, so every time that I hesitate to do something or other, my subconscious tells me QUICK you only have three seconds to decide and do it! It puts pressure on me and I love it! At the end of a long day and I look at my to do list, being able to cross things off one by one is such a joy, it brings me a kind of satisfaction that I couldn’t live without.
How do you foresee motherhood, being your own boss?
Haha, I’ll admit it, as I’m getting close to 30, the idea has crossed my mind from time to time. However I don’t feel any pressure, since I haven’t found the right guy... After that, I think that it would be difficult to juggle a baby and work, but I know that us women are resourceful, I would be able to do it like many women have before me!
How do you handle accounting, administrative tasks, works in progress, promoting your work? Do you have help, an accountant, lawyer, or financial director?
I’m lucky to have an amazing partner that handles everything I hate like accounting and administrative paperwork, finances... but the many projects we have going on from year to year, I feel like I’m less of a slave to time. One thing helped me a lot: every evening before going to bed, I go over what I’ve done that day and I think about tomorrow while writing my to do list.
I also make weekly/monthly/yearly to do lists in a small notebook. It helps me keep track of what I want to accomplish short, middle, and long term!
Do you now regret starting your business?
Not for a second, even if it’s hard from time to time, you may doubt yourself, ask yourself if you did the right thing... despite it all, I’ll never regret joining in on the adventure. It’s what’s made me the woman that I am today and I’m proud of it!
If you were Madame Estée Lauder, and in 2017 you wanted to come out with your “must-have” product, what would it be?
I’d invent a “well being” line (and non-beauty products) inspired by nature. I’m sure and certain that nature has magical recipes for our bodies, I highly recommend Idress Aberkane’s videos on this topic! I’d like a lotion or lip balm to fight stress, negative thoughts, or a product that makes you laugh, makes my skin touchable... am I crazy? I’m getting carried away, I’ll stop there!
PÉNÉLOPE BAGIEU
I’m not quite sure if I have to introduce Pénélope... she illustrates, draws, and is a comic book author. You may have already seen her comic book “Ma vie est tout à fait fascinante” (“My life is totally fascinating”), that sets her apart from the rest of the comic book world, but maybe you’ve already seen her book, Joséphine. Today, Pénélope works with many clients, brands, magazines, and I think that she has the positive quality of being where you expect her the least! She made me want to go to Finland without seeing a single picture, just with her drawings and little details about her trip and I thought it was just amazing to be able to share a message with just a pencil... the day we met, I got to know her better. She’s in Paris for the release of her amazing book “les culottées” (“the cheeky girls”)! It’s about 15 amazing women that had crazy lives. Pénélope illustrates all the little anecdotes that made their lives extraordinary, you’ve got to read it! The second book will be out in January!
To get a better idea of who you are, could you tell me where you’re from and what your journey has been?
I graduated from high school with a specialisation in ES (economics and social studies) because I wasn’t very good at any other subjects. I just wanted to graduate so that I could what I had wanted to do for the last three years all day long: draw little stories. I barely passed, and afterwards I did a year of art prep school, failed all my entrance exams, except the one for the school where I really wanted to go, the ENSAD (School of Decorative Arts) in Paris. It’s an amazing (and free) school, where you can experiment with lots of different things: painting, video, wood, scenography, print making.
After that I started to work as an illustrator for advertising and books. And then a magazine that I was working for asked me to write a daily comic, and I made up Joséphine for them. Then I wrote a book, then three, and then lots of other comics, and now that’s all that I do. Voilà!
How do you fight against procrastination?
I have an amazing piece of advice: I make a stupid decision off the top of my head that makes me have to do what I said I would. For example, sign a contract for a huge book with a tight deadline, announce that I’m going to publish a comic one week each week for Le Monde, like I did this year... what’s great is that it works for everything in life: signing up one evening (a little bit tipsy) for a marathon for example. After that, you have to do it.
How do you handle accounting, administrative tasks, works in progress, promoting your work? Do you have help, an accountant, lawyer, or financial director?
I delegate task! Everything I can! Honestly, it’s the best investment for someone freelancing, as soon as you can. These are complex jobs and people make living doing them. Mine is to draw, so by having an accountant, an agent, a lawyer... it’s like I have 50% more time to do my real job. (Plus most of the time I don’t understand, so it’s amazing to be able to say “here!” and give a pile of mail to someone.)
Do you now regret starting your business?
Of course not! However, I don’t think it’s for everyone. Besides being self motivated and organised, you have to be comfortable not knowing what’s going to happen next. You really have to take that into account when you ask yourself if you were made to freelance.
I hate it when someone tells me what to do, how to work, in what order, at what time, that sort of thing. I really like being alone. So I’m not really made for working in an office (I tried it for two weeks).
If you were Madame Estée Lauder, and in 2017 you wanted to come out with your “must-have” product, what would it be?
Something that cancels everything negative out in five minutes. A masque, a cream, I don’t know. Something that makes my skin believe that I’ve slept eight hours and that I’ve only had water to drink!
Thank you to all these entrepreneurs and to Olitax for the pictures and videos.
Translated by Whitney Bolin
ESTÉE LAUDER X MAKE MY LEMONADE THE ENTREPRENEURS PART 1[:]
Hello everyone!
I’m back again after a few very busy days with lots to tell you and a ton of inspiration to share since these articles are very near and dear to me more than ever and I’m sure you’ll like them! Today we’re continuing business weeks with a big piece, you could even call it an investigation, that takes shape as an interview of several wonderful ladies! Do you remember the video Mai and I made about intuition for Estée Lauder last June? If you don’t, go ahead and refresh your memory here. The brand asked me to what themes I’ve wanted to cover on the blog recently and I told them about how I wanted to put several female business owners in the spotlight. From the very start we knew we wanted to work together again! It’s a hot topic and it also plays a part in the brand’s history, thanks to the famous founder, Madame Lauder. I’d like to introduce you to several ladies that inspire me, that you might not know yet but deserve to become well known! I say ‘several’ because I’d like to keep a few under wraps for upcoming articles in the ‘good people’ column! All these women are more or less inspiration for Make My Lemonade.
It’s kind of funny since I see these ladies often, I follow them on social media, some of them have become my friends yet while interviewing them I keep learning about them. I think they’re full of ambition and courage. They’ve earned my admiration and prove to me time and time again that your dreams can come true if you work hard enough and believe.
Here’s a short video, the full length version will be available tomorrow. Check out the interviews of these first four gals: Clémentine, Elissa, Insaf and Chloé. Take a seat, you’ll have lots to read since they have a lot to say!
CLÉMENTINE LEVY
Founder of Peonies Café and Flowers, 81 rue du faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris
I came to know Clémentine, a mysterious brunette, thanks to Pauline Darley’s fashion photos, then on tv when she was a host on a major French TV channel. Then I heard her dj at parties. She surprised and moved me when she came out with her book to help France Alzheimer. Anyways, she’s always fascinated me, this woman is everywhere and never tires out, she reinvents herself and surprises everyone every time. One day, I heard about her new Peonies project, a hybrid coffee shop, where you can buy bouquets of wild flowers. What a good idea to put two lovely, comforting ideas together. Plus, it’s right next to our studio! I’m thrilled to have met this talented lady!
To get a better idea of who you are, could you tell me where you’re from and what your journey has been?
Well, I lived in Caen, Normandie, the French town where I was born, until I was 20 years old. I studied performance arts and cultural mediation: I wanted to be a fashion and cultural journalist. Since I was five, I’ve told my parents that I’d go live in Paris whatever the price.
I was accepted to the Sorbonne Nouvelle in the Communication department to finish up my bachelor’s degree. I stayed another year for my Master’s, but I soon had to start working to pay rent. I took on internship after internship: at Express Styles, at Rue du Mail and at a multi brand store (Cancan) that unfortunately went out of business but remains one of my favorite memories as a student.
I quickly realized that fashion journalism wasn’t my thing, and I didn’t care for communication in that field anyways...
While interning, I did some modeling jobs, but in 2011/2012, things really took off. I got gig after gig, so I stopped interning and devoted myself to modeling, the thing I really liked. It gave me freedom. Then I met my partner who would dj from time to time in a club in Paris. I liked this scene but I wasn’t sure it was for me So I started to mix with him, as a twosome, and then I got started and was called on the dj for fashion and beauty events...
It was a breath of fresh air from modeling, although I did continue doing it. I really liked getting to plan out my days however I liked. This freedom allowed me to work on a completely new project for a year - a coloring book to earn money for France Alzheimer. The publishing house ‘Cherche Midi’ believed in me from the start. I spent six months contacting 45 artists to participate. It was a real challenge for me since people were counting on me, and I didn’t want to disappoint the people I was doing it all for: my family (the book is a hommage to my grandmother who passed away because of the disease).
What made you decide to start working for yourself? When did you know that it was the right time?
I think that the coloring book helped me realize that I could do something else besides pose for pictures and dance behind turntables... starting, creating something from A to Z and being proud of it. It was exhilarating when my business angel told me “I have a place, but I don’t have any ideas: would you like to work together?” I thought it over for maybe... two and a half seconds!
How do you keep from procrastinating some days?
These days I have lots to do since the shop’s opening day is near, but it’s true that over the past six months I’ve had nothing to do except wait for answers from the bank, the town hall, etc...
I had a lot of freedom while freelancing, but I suddenly started feeling guilty whenever I wasn’t working for Peonies. I was like a caged animal, it was driving my boyfriend, Ludo, crazy, who had gone through the same thing himself (opening Justes in December 2015). He would tell me “chill out, you’ve done everything you could today so take a break”.
Hyperactivity is genetic; my mom can’t sit still for five minutes without doing something. I’m the same way.
How do you foresee motherhood being your own boss?
I had a good experience after freelancing for several years: I learned how to take care of myself, to think of myself.
And even as a young business owner, deep down I still have this survival instinct that is to say to myself “ok, you now have responsibilities but it isn’t a reason to let yourself, your romantic life, your personal life, your friends, go”.
I haven’t changed my mind about being a mother: I want to have kids (we’ll start with one) when I’m around 30 (so two years from now).
I’ll do everything possible until then to make my boutique work, I’ll give it all I’ve got, so that I can peacefully live my future life as a mother. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It’s like everything else, you have to stop asking questions and move along: our baby will be here when the time is right, when it’ll have decided.
How do you handle accounting, administrative tasks, works in progress, promoting your work? Do you have help, an accountant, lawyer, or financial director?
I have an accountant, which is essential.
It’s very difficult to find a good accountant, someone you can trust, who knows all the laws, the codes, the rules. I handle everything else from day to day, alone most of the time, but I don’t hesitate to ask for advice when in doubt (from professionals who’ve worked in the food industry for years, from my partner who also manages a place...)
Marie, the manager of Maison Bastille in the 11th arrondissement, gave me some advice. Do the 5 day CCI training program: it’s five busy days full of information. You meet lawyers, accountants, professionals in the field that are there to help you above all avoid failure. I highly suggest it! Today, the most complicated thing for me to do is to juggle my other jobs since I haven’t stopped modeling or mixing. It’s hard for me to refuse some work because they fall right on the first days of my job, I can’t abandon ship so soon...
Do you now regret starting your business?
Not for the moment haha! I’ve had crazy days, soon I’ll have hours worse than when I was a student, but it’s so exhilarating... when I run into people that have sent me their encouragements, I’m so motivated, it’s so good to see people that believe in you and encourage you.
People often tell me “how courageous you are, I couldn’t do that!”, but why not? Not being able to and not wanting to are two different things. I know so many friends that are incredibly talented, that have a thousand good ideas, but who won’t take the leap. I’d love to have a magic wand to give them the courage to start their business, it’s such a waste to let it go. I often say: who cares what people think? If you’re convinced, you’ll be convincing!
ELISSA REGNIER-VIGOUROUX
Co-founder of Noo Underwear
I met Elissa at the same time as her associate, Anaïs, who you’ll meet tomorrow, when we came up with the “baigneuses” (“bathers”) swimsuit collection together. She inspires me and pushes me to do my best. She has this energy that makes me want to move mountains. She always listens to my ideas, gives the best advice, and asks the right questions: those that make you think! A young mother and business owner, she’s proved to me that you can succeed if you are motivated and organized. I feel like we’ve always had a little voice inside of us that pushes us to do our own thing one day... Our businesses started around the same time, they grew quickly, which gives us lots to talk about. We encourage each other and talk about our daily challenges, so we don’t take things too personally and have a fresh perspective on different problems! You’ll love her!
To get a better idea of who you are, could you tell me where you’re from and what your journey has been?
I have a pretty basic background. I grew up near Toulouse. After getting my high school diploma with a specialization in science, I did three years of prep school at HEC and then I went to business school in Nantes. During my studies, I was lucky enough to live in three countries (England, Canada, and Spain) and I specialized in cultural industries and multimedia. I then started my career working for five years at big media corporations (Le Monde and Marie Claire) before starting my own business.
What made you want to start your own business? When did you know that it was the right time?
Both of my parents work for themselves, which made me want to do the same. I loved working in a business, but to tell the truth, I knew from the very start that it wouldn’t work out as a long term thing. Once the excitement wore off, I quickly got bored. I was constantly thinking about business ideas, I always had a thousand different ones. Then one weekend, when I was really getting tired of it all, and I thought it was more and more difficult to go down this path that wasn’t mine, I made a decision. To me it seemed obvious, I decided to get started, without knowing what I wanted to do next, but I knew deep down that it was time, it was like an instinct. On Monday I told my boss that I was quitting. Several weeks later, I met Anaïs and the Noo adventure started.
How do you fight against procrastination?
When you work for yourself, obligations happen every day. The days where the luxury of having nothing to do no longer exist. During the weekend, the real question is: how do I take a real break without being connected 24/7? I’ve learned to welcome the “down” times that often come after intense periods of work, and take advantage of them to refresh myself.
During busy times, I handle priorities as they come without stacking them up so I don’t get even more stressed.
How do you foresee motherhood, being your own boss?
It’s what motivates me! When I’m tired, I think of my son. I want to prove to him that anything is possible for those that work hard. I got started for him, I’d like him to be proud of what I’ve accomplished.
On the hand, everything is even more important and the pressure is even greater as a mother because the decisions concerning our business affect his future in some way. Of course it’d be more reassuring financially if I had a nine to five job with paid vacations and sick days...
But in the end, from a practical point of vue, you can’t put a price on the freedom you get from working for yourself! Even if I have to work a lot, knowing that I can leave if my son has a problem without having to justify my absence to anyone is a luxury I am so grateful for.
How do you handle accounting, administrative tasks, works in progress, promoting your work? Do you have help, an accountant, lawyer, or financial director?
Anaïs has artistic training, having a general business school education, the jobs are comfortably shared. She’s in charge of creation, design, and production, I’m in charge of communication and the brand’s commercial and financial strategy. Additional tasked are shared between the two of us, and as for the more “technical” aspects, we’ve surrounded ourselves with experts (accountants, lawyers, etc...) that help us daily.
Do you now regret starting your business?
Not for a second! Sometimes it’s extremely difficult and there are discouraging times, but once you’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like, you know that no matter what happens, you can’t give it up!
“Pride in one’s appearance is as important as pride in one’s intelligence”, Estée Lauder. What does this mean to you?
My oriental background has always pushed me to take care of myself and stay beautiful. My family’s culture taught me to stay ambitious. I think these are the two pillars of my success. We must work as a woman, building on what we like about ourselves, on every level, because no one else can do it for us. Taking care of yourself is, in my eyes, connected physically and intellectually. These two things go together, the love shared with us pushes us to become better people, pushes ourselves to do better. To be a more beautiful person, in every sense.
If you were Madame Estée Lauder, and in 2017 you wanted to come out with your “must-have” product, what would it be?
A magical potion to stop time in the blink of an eye, to spend with the ones I love...
INSAF AOUADI
nutritionist and magician www.moimoietmoi.com
I first heard of Insaf on Delphine Desneige’s website, who is better known as Deedee. She offers amazing treatments with a revolutionary machine, gives clever nutritional advice, and above all is a great life coach, as I found out when going to see her! Having an appointment with her was like a breath of fresh air. This year, I’ve gotten back into cooking, taking time for me. I felt like I had started to neglect my body and mind while working on Make My Lemonade, while in the end, it’s my mind that makes my projects and my daily life work. Insaf positively motivated me and showed me that I’m in a relationship with my body too and I owe it kindness and it will give me good things in return! Even if daily life gets me down and sometimes it’s difficult to take out precious time for myself, I’ve developed good habits in case I feel overwhelmed, slow down to speed up! Thank you for this, Insaf. I recommend you go see her, she’ll shake things up but I promise it’s for your own good!
To get a better idea of who you are, could you tell me where you’re from and what your journey has been?
I was born in Romilly sur Seine where I had a happy childhood. I started a beauty institute that a sold after 7 years to start a new business focused on weight loss, nutrition and sophrology. I constantly need to reinvent myself because I’m overflowing with ideas and I love new challenges. I started to gain weight when I was 20 because I wasn’t comfortable with my body. Five years and 30 kilograms later... it clicked!
What made you want to start your own business? When did you know that it was the right time?
I met an amazing woman, a nutritionist that gave me the keys to success. I started to eat better, workout, and take care of myself. I felt better inside and out and my self confidence improved. As I lost weight, I gained motivation! I became a warrior! That’s what inspired me to start my own business and help others that had the same problems as myself.
How do you fight against procrastination?
That’s not like me, I don’t have time to procrastinate! I’ve become hyperactive!
How do you foresee motherhood being your own boss?
Motherhood has forced me to become better organized in order to save time (working near home for example) and to sort my priorities. I have a wonderful little boy, Andréa, who’s 3 years old and with whom I try to spend as much quality time as possible. I plan my hours so that I can pick him up every day after school. I spend at least 2 hours with him, playing, laughing. I then hand him off to a babysitter to get back to work.
How do you handle accounting, administrative tasks, works in progress, promoting your work? Do you have help, an accountant, lawyer, or financial director?
I have an accountant and I handle the rest. I learn as I go, I ask for advice and everything is going well.
Do you now regret starting your business?
Not even for a second! It’s not easy all the time since you can only count on yourself, but it’s made me a fighter!
“Never ‘just run out for a few minutes’ without looking your best. That’s is not vanity – it’s self-liking. Your face is always on display”. Estée Lauder. What does this mean to you?
I work in a field that helps men and women feel better about themselves, I must give off a positive self-image of myself. I don’t like to let myself go!
If you were Madame Estée Lauder, and in 2017 you wanted to come out with your “must-have” product, what would it be?
I’m always running around, I never have much time, so I’d love to invent a magical, multi purpose balm. It would bring energy to the face and body. It would smell good like jasmine, which reminds me of my grandmother’s flower garden in Tunisia.
CHLOÉ BLONDEL
Chloé and I share a group, almost an arrondissement of common friends. To me, Chloé is a dreamer with her feet on the ground. In 2014 she started La Pièce, one of the first of it’s kind, an escape room in Paris, it’s a real life game. The idea is simple: you have an hour to solve puzzles in order to escape from the room that Chloé locks you in. Chloé has succeeded despite the problems that may come up when you run your own business and will open her second room beginning next year, still at 3 rue de Metz, in a new world full of puzzles that’ll blow your mind! I love talking with Chloé because she’s so honest, she’s not afraid to talk about her weaknesses, which makes her even more human which makes me want to talk about less productive times because things happen then too!
To get a better idea of who you are, could you tell me where you’re from and what your journey has been?
I’ve gone down a winding path since I graduated from high school with a specialization in literature. I received a DEUG Lettres Classiques education (I wanted to be an ancient Greek teacher), I missed Sciences-Po, and then I went to a cultural management school in Paris where I got a Masters degree. I didn’t want to totally get started in a working routine so I left for a year at a university in New Zealand where I took lots of fun classes (screenwriting, Maori classes, etc).
What made you want to start your own business? When did you know that it was the right time?
I was bored with my work. I was in charge of audio-visual production (mostly making Arte documentaries) and even if it was really interesting, after six years I had gotten as far as I could go. I left to work in a different production agency for a year and at the end of the documentary that I was working on, I took a break to think about what I wanted to do. I had always wanted to start my own business so I jumped at the opportunity. I spent a little bit of time thinking about what kind of business I wanted to have since I had lots of ideas (that are more or less crazy).
How do you fight against procrastination?
I have a hard time. Most of the time I don’t fight it. I think that’s just my way of working. I can procrastinate for hours and then all of a sudden do what I have to and get it done quickly.
Otherwise, my technique that works well is working next to people.
The big problem right now is that I’m alone so no one is there to look over my shoulder and watch what I’m doing. Since I’m my own boss, I don’t owe anyone anything except to myself so it’s difficult to keep goals in mind. Currently I’m working half-days with friends, either in their stores, offices, or in a café, etc. It motivates me. Or when I talk about my problems at work to my friends and they give me advice. The next time I see them, they check up on what we talked about and I kind of feel obligated to accomplish something so I have something to tell them. This way, I have lots of mini-coaches.
How do you foresee motherhood being your own boss?
I understand the question but I wonder if we would ask a man the same one. Besides the pregnancy phase that’s relatively short, the rest is pretty equal between a man and woman.
If it happens one day, I think that I’d look at it like a new thing to work into my business life and that everything would go well. I’m not really worried about this question. Of course, it is more complicated when you’re a boss to go on maternity leave but I think that I’m lucky to be able to move around my work hours.
How do you handle accounting, administrative tasks, works in progress, promoting your work? Do you have help, an accountant, lawyer, or financial director?
Basically, everything that I don’t know how to do, I have someone else do it. It’s not that I couldn’t learn how to do it but often these things are rather specific and are done way better by someone else. For example, I have an amazing accountant that takes care of my paperwork and my pay stubs.
And I’m lucky enough to have a great associate that handles multiple businesses so when I have questions he’s always there to help (especially with administrative paperwork).
Do you now regret starting your business?
No way! It’s a freedom! One day I made the choice, and I knew that that choice would come with a lot of negative aspects but I made the decision, it wasn’t forced on me. So I’m happy, even if I don’t earn a good living (yet), and I’m working a lot and I don’t have a lot of vacation time :)
If you were Madame Estée Lauder, and in 2017 you wanted to come out with your “must-have” product, what would it be?
I have two magical/impossible products in mind:
-a spray to give you a healthy glow. It would help you catch up on sleepless nights and would kind of depuff (depuff?) your eyes. I always look like a balloon in the morning.
-a cream to enhance my freckles without going out in the sun. Because I love freckles but mine only show up after a month at the beach so now that I can’t go on vacation any more, I miss them.
.
Thank you and see you tomorrow to meet Anais, Maeva and Pénélope! Photos and videos by the talented Olitax! Check out Estée Lauder on www.esteelauder.fr
Translated by Whitney Bolin
BUSINESS WEEK PLAYLIST[:]
Hello everybody!
We could have started the week with something more pleasant than accounting, but you know what? I don’t want to lie to you. Numbers are as important as your spine (I can’t believe I just wrote that)... so if this isn’t your thing, but you’d like to have your own business, here are three options:
- Stick your head in the sand. This isn’t really a solution because it won’t help. Numbers and taxes will always find you...
- Find a friend that has a math related job. I suggest you try to understand what numbers they’re playing with all the live-long-day, because the day that they take off, you’ll have to know what’s going on and take care of things!
- Deal with it and get to it. Then you’ll understand how the system works. When you see that your business is growing, you’ll love accounting!
Translated by Whitney Bolin[:]
BUSINESS WEEK LET'S GO
Hello all!
Today’s article is a delicate subject. Delicate, because it’s important to me. I’ve been thinking about this week’s theme for months: and here we are, it’s finally Business Week. I noticed that when we’ve met you at our open house parties or at the Lemonade Shop this past month, you always have lots of questions about having your own businesses. I also feel that every time I’ve written about it, someone else will comment on the article too.
A lot of you ask me how I started... Four years ago, I started a blog while working full time as a designer for a jewelry brand. When the blog started to take off, I made more time for Make My Lemonade. Then I had to start billing, so I had to find a solution- take on the status ‘auto-entrepreneur’. Then I finally quit my job and dove right in.
As a ‘blogger’, I naively didn’t have a business plan because it’s not a typical job. It goes without saying, but if I played handball, I would be a handball player. Since I had a blog, I was a blogger, and this hobby was earning me money...
By the way, here’s how the French Wikipedia defines a blogger:
- A person who uses the Internet as a form of communication to express themselves and shares information on their hobby or area of expertise
Great! It’s not about money, but you might say that if I play handball on Sundays, it’s my hobby. But if I’m ranked and earning money, I’m a professional handball player.
So does that mean that when your hobby starts to earn you money, it’s a career?
You get the idea. My hobby took over in a way I would have never dreamed of. In the beginning, I started Make My Lemonade because I wanted to share my ideas and see if there were any other people out there like me who were looking for inspiration online. I wanted to inspire people too, because at the time, besides in the US, I didn’t understand why in France there were only fashion, food, or travel blogs. I love fashion, food, travel, and making things with my own two hands. That’s who I am, I didn’t want to limit myself. I opened Make My Lemonade because I wanted to do everything. I never told myself “it’s going to work for sure”. I told myself that if I didn’t try, I would regret it. I wanted to see where it would go. Then one year later, I started to work on the blog and its’ projects full time.
Deep down, I didn’t know what was going to happen. But when I first started working in an office, I thought to myself “it’s going to be so hard to get up to go to work for someone else”... I tried to convince myself that I could, but I just couldn’t push the thought out of my mind. I didn’t enjoy going to work. I felt like I was either failing my blog or my work and I didn’t want to have to choose between the two. I got started.
After talking about it with my friends, I realized that a lot of them knew that they would work for themselves one day too but they were waiting for a sign. For others, it was almost like a survival instinct because of awful work environments, tyrannical bosses, etc...I don’t think there are any particular rules, kind of like surfing. Paddle, paddle, paddle, slide, and then when you feel the wave coming, you get up. Starting your own business is also like following your instincts.
When I first started, I didn’t have a lot of overhead. I just used my couch, but soon I realized that besides help, I needed a place to spread out and not stay in my pajamas until 5PM. This was the start of the Lemonade Studio on rue de Jeûneurs.
Then Charlotte came to join me on my couch. We were getting more and more work. Then Jeanne came along and we seriously started to feel cramped because at the time we were roommates... but we kept going. We made lots of different things, and we made them well. But I dreamt of being elsewhere. I dreamt of my first love, fashion. But it was difficult because I didn’t really know if I had something new to offer to the oversaturated market. So I started thinking, trying to find “the big idea”. Offer fashion already made, or to make yourself, DIY! Wear Lemonade was still just a sweet dream when I met Laure, designer and patternmaker... but in order to pay for producing clothes, I needed money. I could have gone to the bank to ask for a loan, but I had never done that all alone. Instead I contacted “investors”- friends who had money to invest and time to spare to guide me. These kind friends worked online and in fashion, and sometimes both. Bam, Wear Lemonade was born.
You know the rest, we try lots of things, we learn, we adjust. The team has really grown. Today, there are seven of us- it makes my head spin just to think about it. But how nice it is for all of us to be headed in the same direction...
You have to know that the creative part of my job is no longer a part of my daily life. My day-to-day schedule is taking care of business. I have to keep my end goal in sight, find great ideas, and take care of problems. Or rather I have to find great ideas so I can reach my end goal, dodging obstacles in the way of my dreams. Taking care of business!
Even if you have the dream team, your business will encounter big problems! When an order gets lost somewhere in France without a tracking number, when the products finally arrive but they’re the wrong color, when the providers don’t answer the phone anymore, when people don’t take you seriously because you’re young and you’re a woman, when the post office has server problems, when you yourself have computer problems, when all of a sudden there’s a packing box shortage, when you have to find 150 missing invoices for book keeping, when you
have to deal with your team’s different attitudes, when you have to deal with yourself and lack of sleep, well you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and get to work, because in the end, when your team can’t figure out the problem, you’ve have to so the ship won’t sink!
Despite everything I just said, you have to learn to delegate work. Right now, that’s not easy for me to do. No one is a super hero. Even if I like the idea of it, it’s impossible. I think that the hardest part is explaining everything I have in mind and helping my team understand my ideas. It’s clear in my head, and I think it might be for everyone else, but no! Communication and sharing are really things that I have to work on...
You should know that I’ve never liked numbers. After being practically threatened by my accountant, last week I had to install Excel on my computer. Now don’t go thinking that I hate it, but I don’t like tables and mathematics. My low high school test scores can prove it to you. But if you want your small business to work, you’ve just got to do it, and the sooner the better. It’s important to understand what you’re doing so that you can amaze your banker and get that loan to finance your Lemonade Truck. Numbers and your balance sheet won’t lie.
Even if I seem to be struggling with management problems and numbers are driving me crazy... it’s really great to get up in the morning to go work on your own projects, getting a little closer to achieving your goals and seeing the people around you grow!
Anyways, I was nervous about telling you about my business life, giving you a few tips and tricks on what’s what, in what order, and with who this week. I’d like to introduce you to women that inspire me too. I was lucky enough to interview my lovely accountant who tries to make things easy to understand, to give you some advice as to what kind of business to set up. There are things you can to do improve your resume, make your business cards nicer, and do well in interviews. We’ve spoken with the best: accountants, HR reps, paper specialists, and most importantly, a bunch of amazing business women! We’ve even put together a playlist for doing your accounting, check it out tomorrow!
If you’re interested and you’d like to learn more, here are some fantastically inspirational books:
- Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, to get you really going.
- Girl Boss by Sophia Amoruso, for dreaming...
- Back Pack édition 2.2 by Maddyness and La petite étoile, a true guide!
- Tous créatifs ! A Guide to Creative Thinking and Problem Solving, by John Ingledew, for good ideas.
- L'âge de la Multitude, by Armand Colin, to help you understand.
HAPPY FRIDAY #96
Hello everyone!
Today I’d like to talk about going out of your comfort zone!
I’m getting articles ready for a special business week coming up! And while preparing the “look” article, I got myself into a tricky situation... I’ll tell you about it now, because we won’t talk about it next week!
The idea is to show you how to dress for an interview, a meeting, etc... nothing wild, but you’ll see that the style changes depending on your job. Everyone can do what they like, of course, but you have to have enough self confidence to be super bold right from the start. You might think I’m really shy, but the truth is that I’ve realized that I was trying to hide the reality of things: how to dress for work.
No, I don’t go to the office naked, but ever since I’ve been working for myself, I don’t have any problems with this anymore.
I remember a summer when I was younger and worked at a bank. I’ll let that sink in. It was hard to fit in. All my coworkers looked at me, shocked, every morning. I remember one day, when I had done a really good job, I was wearing my black ‘Be you’ harem pants (remember that brand?), white tie get-up and white boots. Put like that, it doesn’t sound great, but I promise you... it was very cool. Well, at the bank they asked me to go home and change at the lunch break. How humiliating. At the time, same goes for today, I tried to avoid conflict. I was crushed. I didn’t fit in. I went home at my parents’ to try to find ‘normal’ clothes. I came back wearing jeans and Converses. Major fail. I was 18 at the time and someone completely forgot to tell me the ‘basic rules’ of getting dressed. Jeans are basically a sin. They’re for Fridays, you see. That’s the day you can ‘let loose’- when it’s almost the weekend, when you can get your free will back...
I worked there for a month. But I remember struggling with getting dressed every morning. Almost like before a date, but without a happy ending. I can still see myself opening my mother’s closet looking for something gray, or black. What an ordeal. I think that maybe in the end, if I had stayed at the bank because of some series of unfortunate events, maybe I would have died a little inside, trying so hard to find ways to bend the rules. Or maybe not, since at the time I didn’t have the self-confidence that I sometimes feel when I’m comfortable with my outfit. After many experiments, I think that ‘dressing myself’ set me free, and let me find out who I am.
Anyways, I’m not saying that wearing crazy colors and giant patterns should be a way to revolt. But wearing clothes is a form of self-expression and freedom. I was surprised when you asked if you can wear this or that to work. Surprise surprise, since I hadn’t asked myself this question in a long time, but in the end, I totally get what you’re saying. I think it’s too bad to have to ask yourself this simple question: “Can I wear this to work?” when it shouldn’t be that way. So it’s my turn to ask you this question: how do you break/get around the rules?
Today I’m wearing a yellow coat from Tara Jarmon, a Marie Sixtine knitted skirt, a Petit Bateau bodysuit, Made by Sarenza boots and a vintage bag! Hugs and kisses!
Thanks, Olitax, for these pictures!
Translated by Whitney Bolin
HOW TO SEW JULIETTA PANTS![:]
Hello my darlings,
I have good and bad news for you: the good news is that I’m back! And the bad news is that it’s impossible to do everything at once. For a long time, I naively thought it would work: the Lemonade Shop and I could keep posting articles as usual. But the answer is no, it’s impossible to do both!
Well, it could have been possible, but I think that I wouldn’t have been very talkative... which isn’t really me. I always have lots to say, all the time...
That’s why today I’m here to show you the step-by-step video for the Julietta pants. It’s very late, I’m sorry about that. This is our first pattern in the “Midnight Bloom” collection. I promise that we’ll catch up all the patterns soon- the Thelma cape pattern will be available in a couple weeks. We’ll have lots of things to show you for the Créations et Savoir Faire fair!
I’d also like to say that we’re all so happy you liked the Julietta pants because this is the first time we’re trying out a pattern for pants. It’s definitely something we’ll do again! I have bell-bottom overalls in mind for the next collection... Like always, at the end of the year I like to ask you what kind of clothes you’d like to sew, so please share your wildest dreams below in the comments.
Without further ado, here’s Julietta’s video. Speaking from experience, avoid fabric that’s too thin like cotton poplin (what we used...). Even if I’m sure it would be a dream to wear, it’s a pain to iron!
I must admit I was a little worried about the Julietta pants. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been nervous about sewing pants. But luckily, my darling Laure, the Sewing Pattern Queen, proved to me again that nothing is impossible and I made the Julietta pants at lightening speed, I promise.
If you made the Carlotta shorts a few months ago, the zipper shouldn’t be a problem. You’ll be able to put the pants together in the blink of an eye. I really wanted to make the Julietta pants out of colorful corduroy. Maybe mint green, or mustard yellow since I’m already addicted to the white version available on Wearlemonade. To tell you the truth, I didn’t get the chance to try the Pavone version since you snatched it up too quickly (the real story is that my mom stole my ‘sample).
Here’s what you need to know about the pattern:
- To make the Julietta pants, you’ll need 2m of fabric for the biggest size from a bolt 1m40 wide or 2m50 of fabric from a bolt 1m10 wide
- I suggest using a slightly rigid fabric, like gabardine, corduroy, or fabric for a man’s suit, or flowy denim, or for something completely different, crepe.
- It’s really important to pay attention to the grainline! And if you choose to use plaid or striped fabric, be careful where you stitch on the sides and derrière!
- The seam allowance is always 1cm, like on our all our patterns!
- You’ll need a 20cm pants zipper that matches the color of your fabric, as well as staples (two is better, done by hand!)
- You can use a little bit of interfacing for the belt if you need to
- The paper patterns are of course available here, and for those who prefer using the PDF subscription, that’s available here.
LEMONADE SHOP IS OPEN[:]
Hello everyone!
I hope you’re doing well. I’m on cloud nine, I’m just so happy, everything’s great! For those that have dropped by, you already know all about it, and to all the others: Welcome! We’re at the corner of 14 rue du château d’eau and 18 rue de Lancry. Two addresses for one place, aren’t we lucky! We’re only here for two more weeks; we’re packing our bags October 30th. Until then, we’re open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11AM to 8PM! Isn’t it amazing? Come see us at our pop up store! ‘Pop up’ is such a funny expression, kind of like the sound of blowing bubble gum that pops and then starts blowing up again... or like a store that suddenly appears in an unexpected place! I think that the word “pop up” really represents the temporary aspect of it all.
Click on the arrows to see more pictures of the shop!
There are quite a few of you who’ve asked me: “why just one month?” We did this to see if enough people would come, to see what it’s really like to have a store, to test problems linked to organization, space, schedules, inventory, merchandising, and the payment system.
We’ve already learned over the past two weeks that it’s a lot of work! All thanks to the great Semaest program that’s trying to liven up and make neighborhoods friendlier by making it possible to rent places for reasonable prices. Our pop up store is part of a “business tester” in the 10th arrondissement! Now I’d love to open up our own real store in the neighborhood. The rue du château d’eau street and the area is changing very quickly and I hope that we’ll find a place that’ll help us also find happiness!
So, the word “pop up store” is probably the word that I’ve used most lately. It’s given me ideas to have a real store later on with workshops related to the collections, with bigger work spaces too. Now that I have this goal, I just feel so much more energized right now! As if fatigue and germs can’t hurt me (or not much anyways). It’s as if meeting you and getting live feedback is a new drug and source of inspiration! Thank you for this!
Thanks to Alexandra and JM from PaperMint for these amazing windows and signage and for their unfailing support and kindness. Thank you to Benoit being so available to help with putting up the signs!
It’s such a strange feeling to see you wearing the clothes we’ve designed! It just makes me so happy. You might say that it’s nothing new, that Wear Lemonade’s already been around for over a year. But now it feels more real and tangible. The Internet is revolutionary, but we don’t get to see you leaving with your little floral bag under your arm... the collection is selling so fast that it makes my head spin! For those that are interested, we’ve kept the aisles full by adding pieces from older collections in order to add something new to our store!
Click on the arrows to see more pictures from the shop!
For those passing by the capital and all Parisians, you still have 15 days left to come visit. For all the rest, I hope that in a few months we’ll be able to welcome you for good! Here are a few pictures of the place.
Thank you, to the entire Lemonade Studio team for the energy you’ve put into this great project and to all my friends and family! Thank you to Farrow & Ball for the colors worthy of the store and Leroy Merlin for our lemonade stand on wheels! Thanks to Hans Boodt for letting us customize our mannequins! Thanks to Am.pm for our co-working and workshop spaces’ furniture! Thanks to Sonos and Apple for all of the technology you let us have in order to make it a unique experience! And thank you to Deliveroo for being there for all our events!
Translated by Whitney Bolin
