Jessica Herrin, founder of Stella & Dot, sells jewelry. In fact, she sells lots of it -- $100 million worth last year alone -- by combining personal service with an e-commerce platform and social media. Herrin calls it "social selling." But the hidden power behind Stella & Dot is the small army of stylists that Herrin has empowered to start businesses of their own. Herrin is one of an emerging group of women leaders in tech, part of my Bloomberg TV series "Women to Watch," who are founding, funding and managing some of the valley's hottest young companies.
This is the second successful startup for Herrin. She sold her first, WeddingChannel.com, to The Knot in 2006. "When I started to think about what I wanted to do next, I knew that it had to be more than just intellectually interesting or interesting from a business perspective," she told me when I visited their offices in San Jose. "It had to feel like a calling. And when I got inspired to create Stella & Dot it was because I wanted to provide a better solution for flexible entrepreneurship for women."
Stella & Dot offers stylists, as her sales reps are called, an entrepreneurial platform. For $199 they get a starter kit with the supplies and samples they'll need to sell jewelry and handbags at trunk shows or on their own e-commerce websites. Think of it as a "business in a box," she says.
It may come with all the high-tech tools, yet it's the high-touch aspect of Stella & Dot's sales technique that clearly resonates with women. At a trunk show at a stylist's home in Burlingame, I watched Herrin work the room -- piling bangles on the arm of one shopper and holding up a pair of earrings for another. It's the combination of new digital and mobile devices, e-commerce sites and the personal interaction that makes the shopping experience for women so vivid. As Herrin explains, "We like to browse. We like to discover as we shop. And we like to check in with you to make sure you like it to."
With a growth rate of 200 percent a year, Herrin expects Stella & Dot to be a billion-dollar business within the next three to five years. Despite that impressive top-line growth, Herrin says that she's most proud of enabling other women to become entrepreneurs. "We're about to pay out in excess of $100 million in accumulative commission -- and for us, that's such a point of pride. Because when you can see the story behind that, you can see that renovating a home, or putting a kid through college, or paying off debt. Or paying off medical bills. It's the amount of life change that is truly how we measure our metrics of success."
Watch Jessica Herrin in action:
If you don't know how to sell, then don't waste your time or money on yet another 'direct marketing', 'drop ship' or other silly business such as what this woman (who truly knows how to market and sell), is offering.
The $199 fee to 'start your own business' is set so low, to entice suckers to pay the money and fail; but a million suckers at $199 a pop will make this woman a pile of money.
And you be rest assured that after the $199 there will be fee for this service; a fee for that service etc etc. Once they get you hooked (and probably have your credit card number) you will rue the day you did business with this person. And good luck getting someone on the phone or getting any of your money back.
When she started her own business and succeeded, then yes, this was a woman to watch and is to be applauded etc. (Just remember however, despite her success, "She did not build it herself.")
But this 'get rich', 'be your own boss' scheme is outrageous. HP should be ashamed for giving this huckster any space to peddle this BS. There are plenty of woman who cannot afford to pay the $199 that should be going for food and clothing - not this pipe dream.
'Caveat Emptor' ladies.
Woo-hoo for female entrepreneurs, I guess, but her company creates or contributes nothing of value for America or Americans.
I'm sure she's a very impressive lady, but I would rather see her put out of business.
Stella & Dot is very transparent, The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB 657) went into effect on January 1, 2012. This Act requires companies to disclose what they are doing to identify and eradicate human trafficking and slavery within their supply chain. By doing so consumers can make informed decisions about the products they buy and the companies they choose to support.
Buy From Local Small business, Made In America. It's not really very hard to do, you just have to be willing to ignore the corporate bullpucky.