Hire Great People and Get Out of Their Way: Interview with Chris Gerbig, Co-Founder of Pink Lily
I recently went one-on-one with Chris Gerbig, co-founder of Pink Lily.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Chris: I am the co-founder and president of Pink Lily, an online fashion brand. I started the company in my living room with my wife Tori in 2014; we’ve grown the company to over $100M in annual sales and we have been profitable since day one. What has been instrumental to our growth has been our ability to dive into each and every problem, roll our sleeves up, and figure it out. In the beginning, we wore all the hats and had zero employees. This hands-on approach allowed us to really train ourselves on the business at hand and helped us understand the different pieces of the puzzle. We had zero experience when starting this business so every day was a brand new challenge.
Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?
Chris: It started with my father and I going to storage unit auctions where we would bid on abandoned storage units to acquire the contents inside (much like the TV show “Storage Wars”). We would sell the items online and saw some initial success. We knew there was an opportunity in the online sales industry, but we weren’t sure exactly how to execute it.
Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea?
Chris: We saw the ROI decrease on storage units once the competition increased, so my wife and I started selling other goods on eBay and Etsy. We found online suppliers and started acquiring merchandise for sale (golf clubs, scarves, flash drives). From here, Tori and I started selling clothing on eBay and Etsy with more success. Then we started a local Facebook group in our hometown (Bowling Green, KY). After growing the group to over 10,000 members in late 2013, we knew there was an opportunity to sell clothing online to a larger audience. Plus, local deliveries were getting more and more challenging with the amount of people in the group. We knew the business had to be moved online. I built a website, uploaded our inventory, and Pink Lily launched in January 2014. We had a modest goal of $50,000 in revenue in 2014. We did 4 million in our first year.
Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level?
Chris: It definitely helped that my wife and I have business degrees and opposing skillsets. We were able to divide and conquer most of the tasks between the two of us. I have a Finance degree and an MBA so I handled finance and operations. This included everything from Finance/Accounting, Inventory Control, Operations and Supply Chain, to HR and staffing, Legal, Technology, and Website. Tori has a marketing degree and handled Marketing, Social Media, Content, Product Design, Merchandising, and became the overall “face” of the brand.
Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?
Chris: Stay on top of the newest marketing trends, and be the first to jump on new marketing ideas. Pink Lily was early to the game of using social media to drive traffic for an online business. In 2014 most companies just had a Facebook page to give a general idea of what the company was about, listed hours of operation, maybe a few pictures, etc. We started using it to showcase products. We would hold contests for followers to like, comment, and share our photos for a chance to win a free item. This allowed the company to gain an unbelievable amount of organic traffic and new followers with zero marketing spend. The Facebook page grew to over 1.4 million followers in 18 months. Similarly in 2017, we were early to partnerships within the Influencer industry. We identified fashion bloggers and individuals with high follower counts and paid them to advertise for us before it was a widely used industry technique. The ROI on this was off the charts and it really helped continue to grow our business.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Chris: A couple of qualities that come to mind. Leaders need to be the biggest cheerleaders of the company. If you are excited about the brand, your team will follow. Leaders also need to be adaptable and decisive. I can’t think of a single time in our company’s history where something happened exactly how we planned it–there is always something that arises. Leaders need to be able to pivot and make decisions quickly.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?
Chris: Hire great people and get out of their way. I’ve interviewed over 1,000 people in the last 10 years. My best results have been when I’ve hired the absolute best person for the job, set clear expectations on the vision and requirements, and then let that person do what he or she was hired to do. Micromanaging has never been successful, in my opinion.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?
Chris: Take calculated risks, always be ready to pivot, and don’t ignore your finances!
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Chris: “Fire fast and hire slow.”
Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.
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