Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today under the “Our Heroes” series we are talking to Sotiria Kirkelis, a Nuclear Medicine major turned entrepreneur and Founder of Relax Missy.  Her passion was fueled after having experienced unpleasant clinical rotations at a hospital, where she worked.  She pursued her passion of designing shoes with the money she had saved up since the age of 15.  Let’s hear more about Sotiria and her business…

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

SK: I am 27 years old and I come from immigrant parents, Greek to be exact, who raised me with the classic notion of “You must be a doctor or a lawyer.” Though my mother was a designer and seamstress, my parents still wanted something better for me.  With that mentality, I always did well in school and I attended Stony Brook University where I majored in Science with a concentration in Nuclear Medicine.  In order to complete my degree, I had to intern at hospitals and private offices to get some experience.  After graduating, I spent three months searching for a job day and night.  My mornings consisted of cold calling, faxing, interviewing and dropping into offices, and at night I would do more research about new places that were hiring.  I finally landed a job working for a cardiologist doing testing in Nuclear Medicine.  In my profession, there isn’t anything such as lunchtime; you work straight through to see all of your patients and when you finish with that, you’re done for the day.  I was lucky enough to have had an internet connected computer at work that I could use during the few breaks I got to finish up anything related to my business.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

SK: In 2007, during my clinical rotations at a hospital (which shall remain nameless), I experienced my “I need to work for myself” moment. I always knew I wanted a bigger and better life than I had growing up. The main reason that I went on my venture was really because of this specific hospital. The camaraderie was horrible among the employees in my department. They all hated each other and were out to get one another, literally. It was so bad that when a supervisor was afraid that another employee was more qualified for her job, she set him up to be fired, and guess what, he was. No one in that department stood up for each other; instead, everyone only looked out for themselves and did everything they could to place the blame on their fellow coworkers. Even I, as a student, was caught up in the mess.  I spent three months at that hospital and it was an awful yet eye-opening experience. Looking back on it I actually don’t think I would have had it any other way because this fueled my passion to have complete control over myself and what I do.  I don’t want to depend on someone for a paycheck or have to get my vacation time approved…I want control over those things!

I must throw in something that happened one day while walking through Borders Books; I consider what happened that day to be a “sign”. I saw a bright white, pink and green book with a woman on the cover.  I’m attracted to bright and colorful books, so I naturally picked it up and started reading it.  To this day, I think that was the best book I ever stumbled upon. It’s called “Mommy Millionaire – How I Turned my Kitchen Table into One Million Dollars and How You Can, Too!” It’s not like the other business books out there – it actually tells you, step by step, what this woman did to achieve success.  I bought the book and studied it as if I was studying for a test and I followed her steps.  It helped me a lot.

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare yourself for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

SK: After going through my ordeal, I realized I could never be in that situation again, nor should anyone else for that matter. I knew exactly right then and there that I wanted to be my own boss. So I started researching for about 8 hrs a day right after I got home from work; I read books, magazines, asked for advice…anything you can think of, I did.  I needed to learn more about overseas manufacturing, PR, business planning, purchase orders, intellectual property and selling to department stores and shopping networks. Anyone who knows me knew I was never without my computer or a book. The months and days that followed were filled with lonesome moments and emails to my fellow entrepreneurs that I met through forums discussing advice and tactics.

When I started researching, I realized how many web portals existed for entrepreneurs, so I joined them and read the forums.  I basically started from scratch because I didn’t come from an entrepreneurial background or an entrepreneurial school and I didn’t take any classes. It was all about research.  If you want to learn about something really badly, you will find a way.  All it takes is a business related inspirational book to fuel you and from there you will slowly start discovering how starting a business is really done.

My biggest challenge was figuring out how I could communicate with an overseas manufacturer after not finding one in the US.  It took me almost seven months to find a Chinese manufacturer and then I spent another couple of months on the development of my shoes through email, messaging and Skype.  It was a lot of late nights and early mornings working on Chinese (12 hours ahead) time.  Day in and day out was spent researching how to find and communicate with manufacturers. No one told me how the development was done. I figured it out through trial and error.

I was always good with money and since I’ve been working since I was 15 I had some money saved up. Of course it wasn’t enough to start up a business, but every paycheck I earned went right into savings because I knew I would need it one day for this very reason.  It was a long 2 years but I learned so much from it, and I enjoyed every moment.

DD: What are your Top 5 tips for employees who want to be entrepreneurs?

SK: 1) Research, research, research!  I can’t say this enough.  Starting out is all about this. If you need information, no one is going to magically whisper it in your ear; you have to go out there and figure it out on your own or find someone who is willing to divulge.

2) Save your money.  Don’t spend it on frivolous things that you don’t need. Once you make some money you’ll be able to buy a lot more frivolous items. Once you embark on your journey, spend your money wisely.

3) Don’t listen to anyone who is negative.  People want to see you fail. That’s the truth. You will hear negative comments a lot more than positive ones.  If they are constructive comments, listen to them because that is your consumer talking.  However, if they are just plain negative comments from someone who wants you to fail, ignore them.

4) Just do it.  Don’t be a talker, be a doer.  If you really want to be an entrepreneur then create a plan that allows you to achieve this. Once you do it and you realize how much you love it, you’ll never regret it.  For me personally, I can live with failure but I can’t live with the “what if” of not having tried.

5) Passion! This is the most important of them all.  Passion fuels your business and your mind.  If you don’t have it, then you will not succeed.  As long as the drive stays with you, you can accomplish anything.  Old saying, but it’s so true.

DD: How are you now? Are you still in the same business, and how do you feel?

SK: Currently, I am still working in Nuclear Medicine Cardiology.  Those student loans won’t pay themselves off and I save every dollar I can to put towards my business.  Once I leave work I start working on my business, making phone calls to my web designer to finalize the website, getting together my press kit, putting together a media list and a PR plan, continuing forum discussions, setting up shipping information, and so much more that goes on behind the scenes of a brand.  Beginning that product development took much longer than I anticipated, but it allowed me to spend time figuring out how to get my product into stores.  Having a strategy and a plan is key and I’m glad I had the extra time to sort out this next segment of my venture.

DD: Wow, thank you so much for talking with me Sotiria! I can see you have put a lot of time and effort into your brand. I wish you all the best for the future.

SK: Thank you, Devesh, for listening to my story and for believing in entrepreneurs like myself who want to break the mould and follow their dream.

DD: There you have it folks, Sotiria Krikelis, a woman who studied nuclear medicine but followed her dream of designing shoes. Remember what she said: “If you want to learn about something really badly, you will find a way.” And yes, you will.

Note to the ladies: Go ahead, wear your lovely Manolo’s and Jimmy Choo’s, but make sure you carry a pair of Relax Missy.

Success to all!