In this week's episode of Hello Chaos, we had the pleasure of speaking with Neely Powell, the dynamic founder of Charleston Shoe Company. Neely shared her incredible journey from a teenager selling shoes out of her mother's furniture booths to becoming the head of a thriving shoe empire with 25 stores nationwide. Neely's story is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit, highlighting the importance of seizing opportunities, embracing the chaos of starting a business, and the power of building strong relationships. She candidly discussed the challenges and rewards of her 27-year "overnight success," her commitment to comfort and practical innovation in footwear, and her passion for providing a memorable retail experience. We delved into the significance of having a supportive network, with Neely crediting her mother and daughter as her greatest cheerleaders. She also emphasized the value of having a good accountant and lawyer, and the necessity of learning to delegate while staying involved in every aspect of the business. Neely's latest venture is developing a line of comfortable, machine-washable shoes for the hospitality and medical industries, aiming to bring comfort and style to those who need it most. Listeners can connect with Neely and Charleston Shoe Company through their website, charlestonshoeco.com, and find their products in stores across the country or at various trunk shows and events.
Jennifer Sutton: Welcome to Hello Chaos, the weekly podcast exploring the messy and chaotic lives of founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Every week we talk to entrepreneurs from different industries, at different company stages, all shapes and sizes, all over the country. We hear real, raw, and unbiased founder stories, and it's why our mantra is, where aha meets oh shit. We drop new episodes every Sunday. Founders can listen to us on a lovely Sunday afternoon, or maybe a drive into work on the Monday afterwards. HelloCast is one of the many resources brought to you by OrangeWIP. That's Orange Whip, W-I-P for work in progress. We are a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs and affiliate cities through hyper-local media platforms. that are designed to inform, inspire, and create connections to help founders succeed. Orange Whip is an all-in-one content hub for founders with fresh and engaging stories, curated calendars, and local dynamic roadmaps to help them navigate their local entrepreneurial ecosystem. We've really done all the hard work for founders, so they only need to go to one trusted source to find the local information they need. My name is Jennifer Sutton. My friends and family call me JJ. I am the founder of Orange Whip and will be your host today. And I'm thrilled to have Neely Powell with Charleston Shoe Company out of Charleston, South Carolina. Welcome, Neely.
Neely Powell: Thank you, JJ. I love you in the same state.
Jennifer Sutton: This is good. I know. Like I said, we need a Charleston shoe company up here, up in the upstate. But I get your method. Go where you like to go.
Neely Powell: That's it. That's it. I'm going to eventually have to go to that store for some, you know, problems. So it might not be in a good place. That's right. Great.
Jennifer Sutton: So that's what I told all my kids when they were searching for, uh, or at least the two I have in college or whatever the, when we were shopping for college, I'm like, I need to make sure I'm going to enjoy traveling.
Neely Powell: Exactly.
Jennifer Sutton: we cannot go to Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. That is not a good place. Sorry, all Boilermakers, but I am a Hoosier at heart, so we can't have that. Well, so Neely, you know, you and I, we've had conversations. You've been in our, you know, you were the cover for the Charleston OrangeWIP edition in March, where we were celebrating women and minority-owned businesses and you gave a lot of great insights, but for all of our listeners, because we have a much wider audience on our podcast, just start us out and tell us about your entrepreneurial journey. I think you called yourself a reluctant entrepreneur.
Neely Powell: Definitely reluctant. Which I love it. all entrepreneurs are reluctant. They need to be, right? Because if you don't have passion for it, I don't think you have the stamina or willpower to continue doing it every day.
Jennifer Sutton: That's right.
Neely Powell: That's right. Yeah, I really like to say I'm a 27-year overnight success. That's my biggest thing, which is always you know, always starts the explanation of the journey, which I technically started this when I was a teenager. I had the chance meeting of meeting my cobbler in central Mexico when I was a child with my with my parents and my mom and I bought our first pair of shoes when I was probably 15. And my mom had a furniture business and I would go during college to make extra money. And I noticed that at these furniture markets, all these women were walking tens of thousands of steps and they were all wearing uncomfortable shoes or tennis shoes because in the 90s, comfort was a bad word.
Jennifer Sutton: Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It is funny how it's and and COVID, I know, kind of helped us get over the but but you're right. Comfort back in the day, like not forget it.
Neely Powell: Right. So, you know, nineties comfort. That was a hard, a hard pitch for a new beginning, uh, shoes, shoe company, if you will, that I was starting from scratch. So I noticed these women, you know, were in uncomfortable shoes and I started bringing home suitcases of these shoes that we had found in Mexico. And I was selling them out from underneath my mother's furniture booths. You know, my mom would have these elaborate booths and she was writing orders to Neiman Marcus. And I'm on the floor like selling shoes to women, like Filene's basement. It was insanity. I didn't make a dime for a decade. And if you're an entrepreneur, you know, you know how that feels. That's right. Um, and I, uh, I think I, I thought it was more of a responsibility, um, to these women to bring this fun, um, you know, experience to market. Anytime I didn't bring them, they'd be like the crazy shoe lady. That's right. So, um, I did that for about 12 years and had two other jobs and, um, I threw in the shoe, if you will. Yeah. and tried motherhood for about nine months. I feel like I did this week. She's 16 and she's now driving and I realized that I've been driving her around for 16 years and what a difference this is.
Jennifer Sutton: That's right. You are no longer the limo driver, the chauffeur.
Neely Powell: Take that off my list of responsibilities. That's right. Frida! Yeah. So when she was a year old, I went back to school, um, at Savannah college of art and design and shoe design. And while I was in Savannah, I realized that there's this great town full of all these tourists and they're going to, you know, at the time Paula Deans, all they're buying is t-shirts and coffee mugs. And surely I can think of something cooler to sell. What about a pair of shoes? Yeah. So I named the shoe store Savannah Shoe Company, and I came up with four designs in three colors each. So I had 12 shoes. And I started selling these shoes, you know, right down the street. And what a better souvenir than a coffee mug?
Jennifer Sutton: No kidding.
Neely Powell: Especially for a woman.
Jennifer Sutton: I'm a shoe girl.
Neely Powell: That's right. That's right. Well, luckily for me, most women are. That's right.
Jennifer Sutton: My demo is pretty big. That's right. So, so you went from Savannah. So, so then you moved to Charleston and, and then talk about like the, the explosion around Charleston shoe company. Cause you're how many stores?
Neely Powell: I'm 25 now. So, um, so that was in April of 10, obviously, you know, that if you build it, they will come didn't necessarily happen that easily. That's kind of a movie theme. Um, but I opened my first store and I thought all these women walking down to Paula Deen's were going to miraculously come in my store instead. They didn't. So I started standing on the street wearing two different shoes to get their attention. And I either thought they were going to think I was totally nuts or think, you know, what's this girl got in the store? So they were intrigued, they came in, the comfort is so magical, that what started happening is these women would, if I could get the shoe on their foot, I knew I could sell it. And they would start walking down and spreading the word. And lo and behold, I have this troop of pied pipers of all these women, you know, coming in my stores.
Jennifer Sutton: Yeah.
Neely Powell: Word circulated to Charleston. Four months later, I opened a store in Charleston. And four months after that, I opened a second store in Charleston. And you know, the momentum just kept going. I just kept opening stores where people wanted shoes. And where you wanted to visit. Right, exactly.
Jennifer Sutton: Oh, so what's been the most rewarding aspect of starting your company, owning it, now you've scaled it, I mean you're really growing, what's been the most rewarding part?
Neely Powell: You know, people ask me all the time what my favorite part of the business is and I always for a long time, I laughed and sarcastically said HR. Because that's not usually anybody's favorite thing. But you know, the more you think about it and you analyze your life as a journey through this entrepreneurial world, And you realize that it's not about getting over the finish line. It's about the journey. You also realize about all the relationships you're building. And in actuality, HR is my favorite part because that's why I do this. I have 280 females that work for me. And, you know, someone once said to me, you only had one child. And I said, no, I have 280 of them. They call me with boyfriend problems and family problems. You're the mom of everybody. I do it all. But that's it. It doesn't stop there. It doesn't stop with employees that are my family members that I watch them have children and they watch my child grow up. I'm at their weddings and all these things. But it's also about the relationships we build through our customers. And my dad always said, every business is a people business. And in the big grand scheme of life, that's really what we should all strive for is to be a good person and spread shoe joy and meet people and connect with people on a deeper level.
Jennifer Sutton: I love how you said, just not, we're in the people business, but it's about spreading the shoe joy.
Neely Powell: That's right.
Jennifer Sutton: But 280 employees, that is, you know, an all-female.
Neely Powell: Yeah. That is amazing.
Jennifer Sutton: We have three men. Three men. Yeah. But the majority female. So you're, so you're also bringing, lifting up other women.
Neely Powell: Yeah, I mean, I feel like everyone is their own entrepreneur in this business. You know, I have people that started as babysitters for me, right, in college. And now they're running divisions of my company that they essentially came to me and said, Nealey, let's try this this way. And if you're an entrepreneur, you know, it's all about trying things once and probably three times and pivoting and reinventing the wheel. And, you know, and and I feel like I have encourage these people to do something they love. And as an entrepreneur, how lucky are we that we get to get up every day and do something we love? And if you can encourage other people to do that, what a gift.
Jennifer Sutton: That is a gift. What do you think is the biggest, you know, cause it is hard work and all that. And, uh, but what is the biggest misconception people do have about being an entrepreneur or a founder? Um, either you're, you're trying to lift others up and go and, you know, get that entrepreneur spirit and they come in and they're like, Oh, I thought it was going to be Beth. Like, do you, do you hear that a lot from people or do you feel like there's myths out there? Um, and then how would you debunk those myths?
Neely Powell: Yeah, I mean, I think especially now, you know, with the internet and with social media, everything is instant gratification, right? When I started, I didn't even have a cell phone. You know, I had to fax my orders to Mexico. And talk about loss in translation, I'd order 60 pairs of black shoes and get, you know, 100 pairs of yellow. And I got to figure out how to sell all that. I mean, talk about pivoting. Um, and so I think that the biggest misconception is that you have this idea and it's just going to work because you believe in it strongly enough that you think it is going to right. You can come to the realization, like I said earlier, that this is a journey and you're not crossing the finish line that every day you're writing the ship and every day you're pivoting and, and that you've got to take problems and make them into opportunities to make your business stronger. That's all they are. Every problem should be an opportunity to make your business different and stronger and more sustainable and And, you know, healthier.
Jennifer Sutton: That's right. I, you know, one of my favorite quotes, I think someone I've heard this from other founders, but it was, you need to look at, you know, life, every wall, every barrier. It's either a gift or a lesson. That's right. Absolutely. And to have that mindset. And I think, you know, that's really important for entrepreneurs and founders to recognize that not because it's going to be hard. You're going to face those things. But but you're right. How do you overcome those? Do you pivot? Is it a gift that you need to, like, figure out how to optimize that gift? Or is it an opportunity for something else?
Neely Powell: Yeah, right. And I mean, not knowing how to pivot and not being OK with, you know, failure. And treating that failure like your next stepping stone. You've got to have the Humility and the strength to keep going because it you know, it can be challenging. It is 100% challenging But it's fun, you know, yeah, don't sweat the small stuff. That's right, right? I mean you can't
Jennifer Sutton: You make yourself crazy. That's right. What was the biggest aha moment in your journey of your business? Like, oh my goodness, I never even thought about that. What was that breakthrough?
Neely Powell: You know, back in, let's say, I'm going to say this was 2013. I had opened probably four stores at the time. What we were doing then that we still do today are trunk shows, you know, I started selling shoes out of the trunk of my car. That's how I began and I continued to do that and I still continue to do it. I just went to one last week. We go to about 120 trunk shows a year still.
Jennifer Sutton: We have- It's amazing.
Neely Powell: Everywhere. But at this time in 2013, I have a five-year-old. I'm still living in Memphis, Tennessee. I have a store in Charleston, one in Savannah, and I'm doing a few trunk shows a year that I've just learned about. And it's kind of a secret society, some of these are. It's hard to get into them. And I'm scratching my head going, what is this thing that I've stumbled upon? So I felt like a sorority, like I was blackballed from there. I got a call one day from one that I'd been trying to get into for about a year. And they said, we had a cancellation. The show's next week. Can you come? And I was like, next week? And she was like, yeah, and like in four days. You're like, oh my God. I barely have any employees as it is. And so I loaded up my Volvo. I got a U-Haul. I got my mother, my sister, my husband, my daughter, and two employees, and we head down to Vero Beach. And the first day I'm sitting on this stage, my daughter is making a fort out of shoeboxes. My mom and my sister are on the floor, you know, trying to find shoes. Employees are going crazy. My poor husband is in the side of the room telling these women that their bunions don't look big and hammer toe is totally disguised while he's trying to ring credit cards. And I'm looking around at this. What a perfect moment for this podcast. This is us. And that was my biggest aha moment because it was magical and like time stood still. And I remember getting home that afternoon to the hotel and we were ringing up all the sales and we were just like, did this happen today? What is this? Right. And it was just it's so exciting when something you believe in so strongly, you know, takes off.
Jennifer Sutton: And that moment, yeah, you already had a couple of stores, but it was that, this is, there's a there there, like we can explode. Like this is, oh my gosh.
Neely Powell: A couple of people in my store, this is like, you know, crazy.
Jennifer Sutton: Yeah. And you're hearing feedback like right on the spot. Right. Exactly. I love that. Those, cause you're right. A lot of times it's those, it's those most chaotic moments that do kind of have some magic to it.
Neely Powell: Oh, there's definitely has to be chaos if you're an entrepreneur.
Jennifer Sutton: Yeah. So how are you, how do you deal with stress? Like, what are you doing to, to relieve stress? You know, big challenges. How do you tackle those? Like from a mindset, just you're like, it is what it is. Or do you have to like, go run for five miles?
Neely Powell: Am I allowed to say I drink, but no, I'm kidding. Um, but I, I do, I run, I run about, you know, three to five miles a day.
Jennifer Sutton: Oh, you do? I was like, oh, okay.
Neely Powell: I do.
Jennifer Sutton: I need to do that. Like, I do. I'm more of a cocktail person. I'm like, I'm going to go, hey, ladies, it's been either a fun day I want to celebrate or I've had a really bad day and it is cocktail time.
Neely Powell: I need one either way. Exactly. You know, the slogan for my company is cobblestones to cocktails. I did not know that. That is fantastic. Yeah. You can wear them all day and wear them into the night.
Jennifer Sutton: So that's fantastic.
Neely Powell: I do run. I don't, you know, I run because I'm a foot model. So you see my legs, but I really run to, to clear my head. And I, I have a lot of my meetings while I'm running and really, okay. You know, it, it, it just relaxes me. I do think that you really can't, You got to move on. You can't, you know, if you have a problem, you got to solve it and you have to move on to the next thing. You cannot dwell on it. It'll make you crazy.
Jennifer Sutton: It will. I was, uh, somebody was asking me, like, is there something that you do? Cause you try not to think about and you try to move on, but all of a sudden those, I call them the ghosts of the past start appearing. And so I was telling Chandler, who was I doing this? I was telling somebody it was, I think I was speaking at some city hall thing. And it was, I do this like end of the day, I kind of, I call it the magic three. I just have a journal. I don't journal. Like, you know, I know people journal to manifest and all that. Like I don't have, I don't have to. time for that, but I do have a little notebook that I keep by my bedside and I literally, I do three, you know, I ask three questions to myself of what was a joy, like what was the biggest moment of joy I had for the day? And then what was the most stressful? What did I have like the most anxiety? So is it something that I just didn't get to finish? Or sometimes it was like, I had a bad, call or you know whatever it is and I jot it down and and then the last is like what am I looking forward to the most for tomorrow and just for that exercise I've just like writing down whatever my anxious moment it's like I have just I've acknowledged it I don't worry about it's like I have I've been doing that for a little over a year, almost two years, and it just has relieved a lot of stress that I had been bottling up. Because I can then just reflect on them, but I don't let those ghosts bother me as much as they used to.
Neely Powell: My daughter at camp, they do a thing called the rose and the thorn every day. So you pick the moment of your day that was the rose and then the moment of the day that was your thorn. Yeah.
Jennifer Sutton: And bury it.
Neely Powell: Writing down is so, you know, my little fairies are things that come out in the middle of the night, whatever you call that.
Jennifer Sutton: All the stuff. I call them, yeah, these creepy ghosts.
Neely Powell: These creepy ghosts. My creepy ghosts come out, unfortunately, at like 2 a.m. and they kind of hang out with me until about 5. Yeah.
Jennifer Sutton: Yeah. So if you write them down, you said you just because I used to be that my guy, you know, I would pop up at three o'clock in the morning of like this, like panic or worry, I would read or I would revisit things in my mind of God, I shouldn't have done that made like, why did I say that? Or, oh, I should have done that better. And I just, when I just write it down, I've noted, like, I, I sleep better through the night. And it's, um, it's just, I don't know where I picked that up, but I, I, you know, for those out there, it's, it's a great mental exercise.
Neely Powell: Yeah. I feel so much worse at 3. Yeah. than they do at 6 30. That's right.
Jennifer Sutton: That is. Right. Exactly. Um, okay. So what is something that we would be really surprised to learn about you? That's not on your LinkedIn or in a bio, but something that would be, you know, super interesting that is just, you know, listeners would be surprised to learn about Miss Neely.
Neely Powell: Um, let's see. Well, I grew up on an Island. Oh, which one? Uh, it, it was named Munson Island when my dad bought it. Okay. Seven years old. And, um, and yeah, I mean, I technically grew up barefoot, which is so ironic that I now have a shoe company.
Jennifer Sutton: You needed the shoes. You were thinking from, from an early childhood of like, I need to cover my feet.
Neely Powell: That's right. That's right. Yeah. My dad bought an island when I was seven years old and moved my whole family. My sister was six six months old and moved my whole family to the Florida Keys. Wow. And so I grew up there and, you know, took a boat to the mainland every day and went to school on a little key called Sugarloaf. And I live this very bizarre life for someone that was born in Memphis, Tennessee, which is very similar to a Greenville. But yeah, my grandmother would have thought that we had moved to Australia in the 80s. The keys were like, where is this place? My first day of school, we were waiting in line in the front office. And my mom and I are standing in line. And the woman in front of us, who I ended up becoming friends with her children, was barefoot with a parrot on her shoulder. I know my mom was thinking at that moment, like, I'm so glad my mother isn't here to see this.
Jennifer Sutton: She would be going, oh, what have you done? Where are you taking my grandchildren? Exactly. Yeah, that's my dream. I want to retire on an island. Yeah. Because I grew up in the Midwest and to get my, and my husband, I think there was like, he felt like there was a bubble around Indiana of like, I can't go outside this bubble. I'm like, yes, we can. I was like, I need to move somewhere that I can wear flip-flops at least 9 months out of the year. That was my mandate of, and we, and he was like, but I need 4 seasons. I have to at least have 4. And we ended up circling around and you know we found that's how we found Greenville was it was a it was a compromise and there's some other things that you know were were uh things lined up you know everything kind of happens for a reason but uh but no I was like he goes could you really live in a place where you it's like I could live in a place that I could wear flip-flops all year round I don't need seasons I love it I love it hot and hot
Neely Powell: whenever we're ready, whenever you're ready, just say the word.
Jennifer Sutton: We'll go, we'll go get our cocktails and then we will. I have new flip flops now too. Oh, that you've designed?
Neely Powell: Yeah, brand new.
Jennifer Sutton: I'm going on your website. We're going. Uh, so, okay. So what are two things that if you could pick two things to change about your business right now, what would be the two things you would pick to change?
Neely Powell: Um, I think that I would change, I would probably change my e-commerce situation.
Jennifer Sutton: Like make it more accessible or?
Neely Powell: No, just figure it out. I think that e-commerce is so interesting for me because I started in retail and I'm a retailer at heart. And the whole reason I started this business was to give women this experience of the, you know, remember when you grew up and your first shoe store, the first shoe store I ever went to was Buster Brown with my grandmother. And I walked out and I begged her to let me wear the red shoes out the door. And that was so magical.
Jennifer Sutton: Yeah.
Neely Powell: I felt like retail had kind of died in a way. It was so, there was just a monotony about it. And I'd always brought back the idea that people walk into our stores, we still, all of our employees wear two different shoes. because I want people to- That is fantastic.
Jennifer Sutton: So you've kept that tradition.
Neely Powell: I've kept that tradition because I don't want people coming into my store feeling like pretty woman. You know, she doesn't belong there and it's not fun and she's intimidated. I want it to feel like you're walking into your best friend's closet. Absolutely. Yeah. And, and so e-commerce is always, I've always scratched my head and I know that most people starting businesses today, 100% of them, start a web business first. And I've done that.
Jennifer Sutton: Not really, but not really. Or are they struggling? Well, believe me, because, you know, I got we have the marketing side, you know, bright. I can tell you, no, no. There are a lot of companies that don't start that way and they're struggling for their digital presence and how and are asking the same thing of like, we have this great culture. Does it belong online? How do I translate it online?
Neely Powell: So, yeah, it is amazing and it's so fun to watch. I just wish I knew more about it. And growing up, you know, not even using, I didn't have an email address until after college. So that's just something that I would have learned or I wish I had learned more of because now I talk to these people and I've kind of missed the boat. I always say I'm speaking in a different language when it comes to e-commerce. So I think it's super important and I wish that I could make it feel like you're actually in one of our stores, right?
Jennifer Sutton: You want to translate your brand and your experience.
Neely Powell: Yeah, you're not building those relationships online and you're not getting that fun experience.
Jennifer Sutton: Right. Yeah. Well, I think there might be some ways. Well, Neely, we'll have to, we'll sideline that conversation because I've got some thoughts there that we can brainstorm together on that one. So what's the, so other than e-commerce and trying to translate that, what's another thing you'd like to change?
Neely Powell: So one thing that I'm doing now that I'm really trying to innovate and make, bring to the market is a hospitality, and medical line of shoes. Our shoes are so magically comfortable, and they're all machine washable, and all the soles are rubber, so they're slip resistant. And I think that women really don't have the options. You think of nurses, and you think of hospitals. They're wearing clogs. They're wearing clogs, and they're wearing shoes. And clogs are terrible for your feet.
Jennifer Sutton: Right. Or they're, or they're super, it's like, you have to go into the high end, like the dance goes, like the high end and you're right.
Neely Powell: Exactly. And I, um, and I just, um, I'm trying to bring this to the market during COVID. We were really working on it. We really had some teeth in it and we had registered for all these nursing conventions around the country. And then of course, they all, canceled. And so we donated all the shoes to COVID floors across the country. And we gave them to nurses that that were dealing with COVID.
Jennifer Sutton: And because they were working, they were working around the clock.
Neely Powell: And the reaction from these nurses was amazing. And so we kind of coined the name the essentially, it's a nonprofit called Shoe Joy. And so we've been striving really hard to continue that mission. And I'm just, I'm trying to bring both of those things to the market and make them more, because I think that's necessary. Yes, I'm about fun and whimsy and being cute and all these things. But I'm also practical and classic. Right. And I also want to do good beyond shoes.
Jennifer Sutton: Right. I think that's, you know, when you and I were talking, I was like, when you were talking about the design, it's like you're a practical innovator in shoes. That's right. It's that, because everything is, it's practical, it's comfortable, it's got to be, you know,
Neely Powell: I hate to sound boring, but it's not.
Jennifer Sutton: It's fun. You're solving a problem that a lot of people have. That's it. I was going to show you my little fun kicks I had today.
Neely Powell: Oh, I love that. Are those Asics?
Jennifer Sutton: Yes. So cute. I was like, I didn't even realize. I just thought about a couple hours ago. I'm like, oh, I've got fun shoes I need to show.
Neely Powell: You know, I love color. That's the other thing. Like, it boggles my mind all day long. I remember when we were starting and everyone was like, black and tan, black and tan. Yeah. And I just was adamant that I wanted a rainbow of colors. And they're like, well, the yellow and the red don't sell. And I'm like, I don't care.
Jennifer Sutton: Yeah, we need to have it color. Yes. So my love for shoes came, you know, I grew up in the agency space, right? Marketing agency space, ad agency. But, you know, I grew up in the day where women had to assimilate and kind of in order to be seen as leaders and stuff. So you had to really assimilate. And it's a very male dominated senior leadership. A lot of our clients are corporate and they're mostly senior. You know, they're all male. It's very, you know, male. But for women to succeed, you always had to conform the blue suits, the gray suits. But my whole thing was, I love shoes. I'm in media, and I'm in data, and I always have to present the nerdy stuff. But I'm also creative. So I found my way to show my personality of not just being the only, I call it the token female on the leadership team, or on the pitch team or whatever. But I always, like, my creativity came in through wearing the funkiest shoes. So I would wear like the blue suit. But I would always have some like crazy, crazy shoes on with lots of color or, you know, appliques. Weird heels. Yeah.
Neely Powell: It's just like nurses too. They have to wear scrubs. And so they want to express themselves underneath, you know, their scrubs by wearing lots of color. I just think color is so fun and it's a good way to experiment, especially now that we're on this, you know, podcast world and zoom world where we can do whatever we want, you know? Yeah.
Jennifer Sutton: The virtual, the zoom.
Neely Powell: That's right.
Jennifer Sutton: So who's been your greatest, who's been your greatest cheerleader?
Neely Powell: Gosh, I hope I'm going to offend someone if I say something.
Jennifer Sutton: So you've had a multiple one because you know, I talked to some entrepreneur, they're like, I really, I've been so alone. I've had no cheerleaders. I'm like, there's got to be somebody that's been like your personal cheerleader.
Neely Powell: Well, I'm definitely going to say my mother and my daughter. They're, you know, I don't have your typical 16 year old and she's constantly writing me notes that she's proud of me. If I could walk away with anything, that's it, right?
Jennifer Sutton: You've won already.
Neely Powell: That's it. I win. You know, I get these cards for my birthday or for Christmas and she just writes me this whole thing and I'm just like, I don't need anything else in the world.
Jennifer Sutton: You do. Yeah. Oh my God. That is amazing.
Neely Powell: She's great. You know, I learned from my parents. They're incredible entrepreneurs and my mother makes me look like I don't do anything all day.
Jennifer Sutton: Really? Is she still a furniture, like running a furniture store and all that?
Neely Powell: I'm not going to tell you her age. She'll kill me. But she's amazing. Like she is the Energizer Bunny. And She's still, you know, running this amazing furniture company and every day I talk to her, her social calendar is so much more jammed than mine. I can't, I don't even know how she does it. She's throwing a party every night. She's just, that generation is my favorite generation in the world.
Jennifer Sutton: They had to, especially for, you know, females trying to break out because they were so unusual. Right. Yeah. So it's like they, they came over the top.
Neely Powell: They did.
Jennifer Sutton: Oh, I love that. I love it. What do you think is the best piece of advice that you've ever gotten that you took to heart and actually really influenced how you lead and how you run your business?
Neely Powell: Well, I love my favorite bit of advice was have a great accountant and an even better lawyer. And those two things are just essential in everything you do. 100%. That's a boring piece of advice, but I think it's somewhat hysterical and somewhat real practical again. That's right. You're right. You can't do it all, right? There's no way. You have to learn to delegate. And delegating, there's such a fine line because you need to be involved in every aspect of the business. You have to be humble enough to still do every job that you do in that business, from taking out the garbage, to working in the store, to working on payroll. Everything that you do, you have to have the humility to do it all. But at the same time, you can't. And so you have to find good people to delegate to that you trust. And I think that there's such a fine line there of remaining very involved in the business and delegating at the same time.
Jennifer Sutton: It's hard sometimes, you know.
Neely Powell: And you're not always the smartest person in the room. I've been doing this 27 years. That doesn't mean I know how to, you know, figure out my taxes or do payroll or, you know, all the all the things that go in it. I'm not going to study for the bar. I don't have time. So I think it's really important to surround yourself with people you know, I think it's hard to find people that are as passionate as you are in the business. But it's really important to surround yourself with people you trust and, and people you admire and respect.
Jennifer Sutton: Oh, that's Yeah, that's great advice. Very important. All right. My, my last question. Here we go. And you might have already answered it. But if you had to sum up your entrepreneurial journey, that your one word, what is it?
Neely Powell: Oh gosh. Um, I think it would be, um, opportunity. I think that would be it. Just that's a good one. Making things better and, and realizing, um, just the foundation of your business from, from where it came and what you did with everything. and staying positive and creating something from nothing. What an opportunity you've had in your life to figure that out.
Jennifer Sutton: I love it. I love it. Neely, thank you for being on. You are such a gift, truly a gift. I'm always amazed how much we're out, where these things go by so fast. We're always out of time. Where can people connect with you? How do you want people to find you, connect with you, or Charleston Shoe Company? Where can they get your shoes?
Neely Powell: So we have a website, charlestonshoeco.com. You can go in there and see all of our stores around the country. We have 25 right now from California to Massachusetts to Florida. Um, and you can put in your zip code and find all of the boutiques around the country. We have over 600 now that also sell our shoes. Oh my God. I did not know that. Look good. Yeah. You can also see all of our trunk shows and events and home shows. We have a lot of women ambassadors around the country, probably over 200 of them that have, uh, you know, Tupperware parties in their homes. So, We're all over the place, constantly reinventing the wheel and bringing shoes to every street. So you can look us up in all those fun ways.
Jennifer Sutton: Fantastic. And thank you for joining us. And for everyone, thank you for listening. And if joining us live, I think we've had a couple of people on live. Very good. Again, this podcast episode will be published this coming Sunday, available on all podcast platforms. Find your favorite and find us, Hello Chaos Podcast. And like it, share it, help us build a more connected entrepreneurial community. Hello Chaos is brought to you by OrangeWIP, that is Orange Whip, W-I-P for work in progress. We're a multimedia company dedicated to serving founders and entrepreneurs in affiliate cities. one-stop content hub just for founders. We are currently in three areas of South Carolina, upstate, midlands, and low country, with goals to expand in more markets over the next few years. So every city needs an orange whip, so check us out. And if you'd like to be a guest on our podcast, you can send an email to hello at orange whip.com. Y'all thank you for tuning in to Hello Chaos. It is where aha meets oh shit. I'm your host, Jennifer Sutton, JJ, and we will see you again next week.