Bootstrapping E-Commerce to 16 Million: Valerie Holstein, CEO of Cableorganizer.com (Part 6)

Sramana: What are the functions that you staff for today? Customer support and shipping are obviously key roles.

Valerie Holstein: Right now it is mostly customer service associates and outside sales people. We have a reverse approach to business. We are technically 100% e-commerce, but we recognize that in order to leverage our exposure, we need to go back and find more traditional ways to reach the regional market. The international market is reached easily via the Internet. Over the years we have realized that people still like to be stroked on the back. They like to be visited.

Sramana: What kind of customers are you visiting?

Valerie Holstein: Local contractors. Ft. Lauderdale is the Venice of America. The marine industry is very prominent. We visit boat manufacturers as well as all the people who refurbish boats.

Sramana: Are you primarily focusing on Ft. Lauderdale and not other markets?

Valerie Holstein: We visit folks in the Tri-County area. Anyone in other locations, like the West Coast, is reached via the Internet.

Sramana: Theoretically, however, you could apply that model to sell with contractors in other regions as well if necessary.

Valerie Holstein: We could. We were thinking that in a few years we could open a fulfillment facility somewhere on the West Coast to alleviate shipping cost and shipping delays. That would allow us to be closer to our customers on the West Coast. We also have a subsidiary in France that handles all of the sales in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. That is all e-commerce business.

Sramana: How prepared did you feel to take on this business?

Valerie Holstein: I don’t have an MBA. I came into this position by default. My husband said “congratulations, you are President of CableOrganizer.com; get going” and that was it. We took off from there. I had to hire, do bookkeeping, supply chain management, logistics, inventory management, inventory control and everything else you can imagine. I had a lot of sleepless nights.

Sramana: You have much more than any old MBA. You have built a 16 million dollar business from scratch. How many MBA’s know how to do that?

Valerie Holstein: I just don’t know. I have never gone to school. I still think I might go do an eMBA. I come from a long line of teachers in my family and I think I am missing that MBA.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Bootstrapping E-Commerce to 16 Million: Valerie Holstein, CEO of Cableorganizer.com
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