Interview with Work at Home Woman – Michelle Patterson of Ideal Heel™
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Do you work at home?
Yes!
Do you have any children?
No, but we have two dogs, Reggie and Roma, who we love very much.
How many hours do you work a week?
70-ish.
Tell us a little bit about Ideal Heel™ and how you got started.
IdealHeel™ is a revolutionary high heel shoe accessory that improves the high heel wearing experience for women. Its patented technology allows women to traverse rugged urban obstacles such as city street grates, cracked sidewalks, wood decks, grass lawns and cobblestone with ease and confidence, while protecting their precious pumps.
IdealHeel™ is designed to temporarily slip easily and snugly over an existing pump or stiletto heel to protect both the heel shaft and the heel cap from costly scrapes, scuffs, gouges and tears caused by everyday use. IdealHeel™ also prevents heels from sinking in grass, which makes them a must-have accessory for outdoor events.
The getting-started process was not easy. It took a lot of time, patience and money to create an actual product out of a theoretical idea. We hired an amazing team of engineers, who not only helped us design the product, they also helped us source our materials and manufacturers, as well as test the product. We applied for a patent as soon as the final design was complete and after a long wait period, we received our patent. Getting IdealHeel™ to market was the next phase, a phase we are still in, but we are progressing on at a good pace.
How would you rate your success from 0 – 10?
I would rate our success to date in the 4-5 range. We still have a lot of work to do, however, being only a few months old, we are very proud of what we have accomplished so far.
How do you manage all of your personal and business activities?
The line between personal and business gets very fuzzy when you work from home. Our household is unique in that both my husband and I work from home, so in a way, this makes that line even fuzzier.
We manage our personal and business activities much the same. Each week we have to decide what our goals are and how we will best appropriate our time, which is limited.
When we decided to move forward with IdealHeel™, we made the joint decision that this would have to be our priority, especially given that we had so much invested, both personally and financially. So, as result, our house is not as clean as it used to be, our bodies are not in the shape they used to be in, social gatherings happen much less now than in the past and the word ‘vacation’ has dropped from our vocabulary.
What has been your biggest business struggle?
Our biggest struggle is two-fold. Launching a company in the peak of “the great recession” has had its obvious challenges, so I won’t go into that. However, a more interesting challenge for us has been more culturally based. For years and years, women have been doing the same thing—wearing high heel shoes, damaging them on cobblestone, street grates, sidewalk cracks and the like, and then either discarding them, or repairing them. This has become a “high heel habit” for women, a habit we call, “wear-and-repair,” or “wear-and-despair.” It is a habit that is easy to break, but the difficulty is introducing a new product to an old routine. Change takes time and we at IdealHeel™ want to save everyone’s high heels TODAY!
What are your 3 favorite websites or blogs?
Hard to limit it to three!
I love WWD because I love fashion and like to keep up with the latest trends.
I also enjoy reading FashionTrendsetter for the same reason.
And finally, StilettoJungleBlog has a special place in my heart too.
What advice would you give to a new entrepreneur?
Enjoy the challenges, find humor in your mistakes and celebrate the small victories. Oh, and there’s plenty of time for sleep when you’re dead.
Thanks Michelle for sharing your story! To learn more about Michelle see, the Ideal Heel™ or follow her tweets on Twitter @IdealHeel
Don’t forget to enter The Ultimate Holiday Giveaway, over $400 in prizes including a pair of Ideal Heel’s™ donated by Michelle.
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