Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Celeste Purdie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Celeste thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

Believe it or not we opened a retail store in the midst of a pandemic and never approached a bank for capital. In hindsight, we would have slowed down a bit, done a bit more market research, created a 3 – 5 year written business plan and sought out more financing options. Starting a business is an exciting time and you just want to run into getting it off the ground and when you look back you know you could have done a few things differently to get yourself further down the road, faster. However, what we did know is that the brand was very successful even in the midst of a pandemic so we jumped in feet first and committed to learn along the way. Creating brand awareness in a state that where we are the only franchise location has been tougher than we anticipated and determining who to market to specifically was a learning curve as our customer base is evolving from just retail to also include medical. We probably spent more money on things then were necessary as we just had no idea that Google ads and Google reviews would be so impactful for driving traffic into the store. Thankfully, some of these lessons will be applicable when we open store #2 and #3 within the next several years.

Celeste, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I never imagined I would be touching feet! My background is 25 years in corporate HR and a USAF veteran. However, after a pretty significant on the job injury and the opportunity to leave Corporate America, I decided to become a full time entrepreneur. I’ve always coached employees to be open to opportunities and when the opportunity to own several Foot Solution franchises in SC presented itself, me and my husband decided to invest once we learned about the brand, the vision and the mission of the new ownership team. We also knew that we had a friend that was an owner/franchisor that we would have the extra support needed to be successful. Neither of us had much retail experience. I had worked as a sales clerk at Sears as a teenager and prior to leaving Corporate America had an HR team that supported over 120 retail stores in multiple states. My husband, Ken, knew what a welcoming store environment, the importance of quality and what good customer service looked like! We both have experienced foot pain and as we did our limited market research in the beginning we were amazed at how many other people have experienced foot pain as well.

Foot Solutions Greenville is a champions for foot health and wellness. We have one focus: your feet and how to care for them. Whether you have foot pain or joint discomfort or want to optimize your body’s stability and health, Foot Solutions is the answer. Everything we do is purposed to improve foot health and wellness, thereby reshaping, and improving your quality of life. Our passion is using our expertise to improve our customers’ lives. Our employees have over 40 years of experience in the industry and provide old-fashioned customer service to include designing truly custom orthotics from our proprietary 3D pressure scan and recommending proper footwear. We are a medically accredited facility so we have a mix or retail and medical. Our store is managed by a board certified pedorthist as well. As a disabled, women, veteran owned business we give back to the local hero community by offering a 15% discount year-round.

We know we can help so many! I have a true story, as I am a disabled veteran myself with the need to wear custom orthotics and proper footwear. I had to wait 3 months to get an appointment with a VA pediatrist that was about 25 miles away to get a referral to a community care provider and told it would take 6 to 8 weeks to get my orthotics and shoes. At Foot Solutions Greenville we have the shoes on site and can create truly custom orthotics in about 10 days. Additionally, we are approved for the Medicare diabetic shoe program and with an initial visit to their treating physician and an Rx we can help patients receive shoes and inserts every year to help keep their feet healthy.

The stories that our customers/guests share when they leave Google reviews are amazing. Rarely do they leave a sentence or two but instead share how their experience has positively impacted their quality of life. we strive to deliver that old fashioned customer service from measuring feet, examining shoes, lacing shoes, putting on socks, checking out gait, recommending footwear and most of all educating on what to look for in a shoe regardless if you shop with us or not. The services listed above are all free and our customers always walk away feeling good about their purchase decisions. When I am out and about talking about the business I always encourage people to Google us and read the reviews.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

We do have an ecommerce site and have had some good successes with online sales through our shop. When you go to shop.footsolutions.com from anywhere and shop the orders are filled first by local franchise owners that live the closest to you that have the specific product on hand. If a local franchise doesn’t have the product available then it is filled from one of the corporate stores or warehouse. We find that most people first visit a Foot Solutions store and fall in love with a product after they have been properly fitted and when it comes time to reorder they will consider an online purchase. We also have many people that go directly online for some of our over the counter orthotics, especially the exclusive Noene insoles, some of our exclusive sandals, like Kenkoh and of course for the socks and occasional gift card needs.

I know as a consumer, I personally enjoy shopping online so I knew it was important to have this option. We have had many out of state customers call us directly to place an order as well after getting specific recommendations from our foot wellness experts. Our team really knows footwear and can tell you why we carry every brand and style in the store and specifically what type of unique foot pairs with the brand and styles we carry.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Remember I shared that if hindsight was 20/20, I would have explored more financing options when we got started? We were so eager to get started and because we hadn’t written a solid business plan first, we relied on our own investment funds for the initial investment, renovations needed for our brick and mortar storefront, for the inventory and equipment needed to open and operating costs for the first year and a half. Unfortunately, we missed the window to get the tax break for Covid relief so we took a penalty for withdrawing some of our funds. If you are looking to use your own funds, talk with your CPA on how you can loan your business funds and what other tax strategies you can use during your investment phase.

As we are beginning to think about store #2 and store #3 we are building our banking relationships and building out a strategic growth plan. I am super excited to be a member of the 2023 Cohort for the Greenville Chamber Minority Business Accelerator program where I will receive expert financial and CEO coaching and participate in an indepth curriculum to help me me create a 3 year strategic growth plan to scale Foot Solutions in SC.

My advice to anyone looking to start a business is don’t be afraid to talk with other business owners around you. They will share their successes and failures, if you ask. Look for a mentor in your industry willing to guide you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.footsolutions.com/greenville
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/footsolutionsgreenville
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/footsolutionsgreenville
• Other: To learn more about me, my businesses and all of the things I’m involved with visit www.purdieinc.com