Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Link and Leslie Schlesinger.
Sarah, Leslie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Leslie moved to Elmhurst, IL about 3 months after I did. Both being new to the community with children attending the same elementary school we quickly became friends. Our kids love playing together and we have so much in common. It was meant to be. After knowing each other for about four months, Leslie presented the idea of Savvy Sister to me and we were off and running!
Spending many nights working at the library after putting the kids to bed we created a web-site, used social media to advertise, bought racks from store closings and hosted our first sale six months later! There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved, but we pulled it off! Since the first sale Savvy Sister has be growing our number of consignors and shoppers! Last sale we SOLD OUT our consignors spots with 100 women consigning about 10,000 items!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Naturally, like any road or path you go down, you will come across hills both up and down.
We did not expect the road to be smooth. The challenges with starting and running a business have been a great learning experience and we have been able to grow our company and work through the challenges as a team. I love the feeling of facing a challenge head on, and accomplishing (if not crushing) our goals. It makes the rewards so much sweeter on the other side! All companies have different challenges, but a similar goal; we want our clients to be happy, for our company to be successful, and to make some money along the way. Have we had unhappy clients? Have there been times we lost money? Were their times we wanted to through the towel in? Sure, but with the right attitude, time, and hard work we were able to turn all of these around.
Savvy Sister – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Savvy Sister is a 5 Day Women’s Consignment Event. We provide women with all the necessary tools to clean out their closets and earn some extra cash in the process! Here’s how it works:
Our clients visit our website and register for the sale, pay the $15 registration fee and use our computerized system to price their items. After entering and pricing our clients print and adhere their tags and drop the items off 2 days before the sale. We take it from there!! As a second option, we offer Express Tagging for a $35 fee. With this option our clients clean out their closets, set an appointment and drop their items off with us. We enter the items into the system, tag the items and bring them to the sale!! Another interesting feature with our computerized system is that you have the option to individual select with items you would like Donated at the end of the sale. Finally, our clients have the option to participate in 1/2 Price Days. If you choose to participate any items marked discount will be reduced by 50% during the last two sale days.
Savvy Sister is different from your normal consignment shop because we are a pop up consignment! This allows us to pay our consignors up to 75% of their sale! Base pay begins at 60% and for every shift you volunteer we’re able to pay out an additional 5%. And our consignors receive their profits within one week of the sale.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
As owners and leaders, it’s so important to set goals in all the areas that are crucial for making your company successful. As a team, Leslie and I sit down and talk about new goals for each sale. We use what we’ve learned from previous sale, adjust our goals and work on achieving these as a team. Consistent goals from sale to sale include: spreading the word, registering more consignors and growing the number of women shopping the sale.
Contact Info:
- Address: 232 S. York Rd.,
Elmhurst, IL - Website: www.SavvySisterSale.com
- Email: savvysistersale@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SavvySisterSale/?ref=bookmarks
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
