Everyone has a dream, but few follow through. Entrepreneurship demands big capital, long hours and lots of failures. Why take the risks? Because this is your dream and what you were meant to do.
Diana and Josh Harbour, Athens, Georgia, were newlyweds when they decided that sitting in a cubicle all day would eventually drain their ambition. So they gritted their teeth, took the plunge and started Red Dress Boutique. The only education and experience that was held by the two was Diana’s part-time jobs at three different boutiques in Columbus, Georgia. It was there that she found her love for small business clothing stores.
“I loved the artistry of it. It had nothing to do with fashion, it was the artistry of the fabrication and designing the prints,” Diana said.
The couple took the money from the sale of their home, secured a bank loan and a line of credit, and opened a 1000 square foot retail store. They soon found themselves sleeping on an air mattress in 4 different friend’s apartments for a whole year.
“It is hard to run your own business,” says Diana. “It is 65-70 hours per week of non-stop working, but you are free.”
The Red Dress Boutique was started in 2005 as an alternative to a woman’s retail clothing store that offered daily inventory updates, merchandise listed under $50, and free professional advice on the latest trends.
Women that were trying to balance a family, work and sticking to a budget could now rely on Red Dress as a way to master their clothing needs with ease.
In the beginning, each purchase was gift wrapped as an extra thank you for doing business with them. This soon turned into a tradition and still exists today.
Clients are also welcome to voice their opinions on what they would like to see in outfits and their advice is actually taken.
Sun dresses that smile, swim suits that dazzle, hard to find shoes, trendy evening wear, and more can be found at: www.reddressboutique.com.
Diana spends time with the latest designers on a regular basis to match up client’s needs according to age, demographics and income levels. There is nothing that you will not find on this website, but if you do find something missing, just ask.
The couple began a website in addition to their brick and mortar store and found that they were selling 90% of their goods online. As great as this may sound, an online presence requires just as much work, if not more, as a physical store.
Diana and Josh found themselves at the mercy of the technical era and needed help. Their current website was not keeping up with the growth of the business and would often crash. All of their hard work and success seemed to be at a standstill.
In the fall of 2014, the Harbours started looking for an investor to continue their growth. They appeared on Shark Tank and after some soul searching, took in Mark Cuban as an investor. It is not easy to eat your pride and sell 20% of your company to outsiders, but it was a risk that the couple had to take.
After much discussion about the right road to take, Cuban sent in his technical team and soon, website issues had been resolved. The three of them are now working closely on future plans for expansion and there has been a substantial gain in profits.
“No one can run your business like you do yet people are more than willing to tell you how to do it differently. Learn how to weed the chaff from the grain,” says Diana.
Guts to Glory-The Red Dress Story-released 12-2018 – Art-to-Art Palette Journal
Jenny Gagnon
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I am aware of Diana’s rise in the “rag” industry. The designs, the clothing craftsmanship and consumer price led her far on that yellow brick road without other financial and technical investors.