{"id":156,"date":"2014-02-12T09:22:29","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T14:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/?p=156"},"modified":"2017-10-20T08:13:12","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T13:13:12","slug":"dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/","title":{"rendered":"BWR 002: Dorian Howard: eCommerce + Shoes = Business Bliss!"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_2333\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-156-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\">http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/?powerpress_pinw=156-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>What does it take to run a super successful eCommerce business?<\/p>\n<h1>Listen to our Interview with Dorian Howard, Co-Founder of MilkandHoneyShoes.com\u00a0to find out!<\/h1>\n<p>Dori left a very comfortable corporate job as the Vice President of Paramount Pictures to start her company with her sister. All she knew was that she loved to shop online and she loved the custom made shoes her sister would bring back from her work abroad. Launching and building an eCommerce business is not for the faint of heart and in our interview with Dori, she speaks candidly about how it started, how it&#8217;s evolved and what it&#8217;s like working with her sister.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Dori&#8217;s Kick-A$$ Quotes:<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>Comfortable is something we all crave, but I equally fear it. I think it leads you to make some very scary decisions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>I think if you have a difficult time delegating, then you haven&#8217;t hired the right person.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>Being an entrepreneur is somewhat of a drug. You make irrational and ridiculous decisions. There is a bit of psychosis that&#8217;s involved in thinking that you can do the virtually undoable. Can you execute the impossible? If you can, you&#8217;ve earned the right to be an entrepreneur.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"More...\" src=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/wp-includes\/js\/tinymce\/plugins\/wordpress\/img\/trans.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Katie&#8217;s Favorite Take-a-Ways<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Test Your Idea<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For the first few months after starting their company, Dori and her sister held &#8220;Booze &amp; Shoes&#8221; parties so they could test if women wanted to buy their shoes online, if they even wanted to design them and if the company would actually be able to fulfill and order and deliver\u00a0<em>exactly<\/em> what the woman wanted.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Marketing On a Shoe String Budget<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In the early years, Milk and Honey Shoes had a super small marketing budget. \u00a0In order to get the word out about their shoes, they leveraged a few different strategies that were free or very cheap, including social media, promotional partnerships with other products and services that dealt with their target market and donating shoes to charity events that just happen to get their shoes on the feet of celebrities (which Dori made sure to feed to the press).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Dori&#8217;s Favorite Business Books<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B002C949KE\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B002C949KE&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=buswomroc-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions<\/a> <em>by Dan Ariely<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Want some shoes? \u00a0Click below to start designing!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pntrac.com\/t\/RkFHTUxGSkFFRUhNRUtBSklJTEc\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-190 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Milk-and-honey-shoes-250x250.jpg\" alt=\"Milk and honey shoes\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<!--powerpress_player--><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_2335\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-156-3\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\">http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/?powerpress_pinw=156-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWhat does it take to run a super successful eCommerce business? Listen to our Interview with Dorian Howard, Co-Founder of MilkandHoneyShoes.com\u00a0to find out! Dori left a very comfortable corporate job as the Vice President of Paramount Pictures to start her company with her sister. All she knew was that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1127,2],"tags":[42,34,2017,37,30,35,38,41,39,40,16,36,31],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","category-podcasts","tag-bizwomen","tag-business-women","tag-dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss","tag-ecommerce","tag-female-entrepreneurs","tag-inspiring-women","tag-interview","tag-marketing","tag-milkandhoney","tag-online","tag-podcast","tag-shoes","tag-women-entrepreneur"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BWR 002: Dorian Howard: eCommerce + Shoes = Business Bliss! - Biz Women Rock!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BWR 002: Dorian Howard: eCommerce + Shoes = Business Bliss! - Biz Women Rock!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWhat does it take to run a super successful eCommerce business? Listen to our Interview with Dorian Howard, Co-Founder of MilkandHoneyShoes.com\u00a0to find out! Dori left a very comfortable corporate job as the Vice President of Paramount Pictures to start her company with her sister. All she knew was that [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Biz Women Rock!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-12T14:22:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-20T13:13:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Krimitsos\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Krimitsos\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/\",\"name\":\"BWR 002: Dorian Howard: eCommerce + Shoes = Business Bliss! - Biz Women Rock!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-12T14:22:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-20T13:13:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#\/schema\/person\/6722c978698b3cbf05df315a70908de5\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":467},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/\",\"name\":\"Biz Women Rock!\",\"description\":\"Inspiring Interviews With The World&#039;s Most Incredible Business Women\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#\/schema\/person\/6722c978698b3cbf05df315a70908de5\",\"name\":\"Katie Krimitsos\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87e983f91bd300b5572a2f6035b7580329bbd8c73506496f6be300a26cf12b00?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87e983f91bd300b5572a2f6035b7580329bbd8c73506496f6be300a26cf12b00?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katie Krimitsos\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/author\/katie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BWR 002: Dorian Howard: eCommerce + Shoes = Business Bliss! - Biz Women Rock!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BWR 002: Dorian Howard: eCommerce + Shoes = Business Bliss! - Biz Women Rock!","og_description":"http:\/\/www.podtrac.com\/pts\/redirect.mp3\/traffic.libsyn.com\/businesswomenrock\/Dorian_Howard_-_Milk__Honey_Shoes.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWhat does it take to run a super successful eCommerce business? Listen to our Interview with Dorian Howard, Co-Founder of MilkandHoneyShoes.com\u00a0to find out! Dori left a very comfortable corporate job as the Vice President of Paramount Pictures to start her company with her sister. All she knew was that [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/","og_site_name":"Biz Women Rock!","article_published_time":"2014-02-12T14:22:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-20T13:13:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":467,"url":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Katie Krimitsos","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katie Krimitsos","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/","url":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/","name":"BWR 002: Dorian Howard: eCommerce + Shoes = Business Bliss! - Biz Women Rock!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg","datePublished":"2014-02-12T14:22:29+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-20T13:13:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#\/schema\/person\/6722c978698b3cbf05df315a70908de5"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/dorian-howard-ecommerce-shoes-business-bliss\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Dorian-Howard.jpg","width":700,"height":467},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/","name":"Biz Women Rock!","description":"Inspiring Interviews With The World&#039;s Most Incredible Business Women","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#\/schema\/person\/6722c978698b3cbf05df315a70908de5","name":"Katie Krimitsos","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87e983f91bd300b5572a2f6035b7580329bbd8c73506496f6be300a26cf12b00?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87e983f91bd300b5572a2f6035b7580329bbd8c73506496f6be300a26cf12b00?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katie Krimitsos"},"url":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/author\/katie\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5158,"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions\/5158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bizwomenrock.com\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}