Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Chris Luhur, today’s guest under the “Our Heroes” series, loved her job in Marketing at Time Inc and that the job only made her realize just how much she wanted to run her own company. Better yet, she wanted to become an entrepreneur and actually make a difference rather than be the cog in the wheel that she was starting to feel like. (keep reading for an insider secret on the “cog” expression).

What did she do to start her entrepreneurial journey, you may ask? Well, she went to Wharton for an MBA and here’s the rest of the story…

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

CL: My name is Chris Luhur and prior to starting Scarpasa I did consumer marketing for Money and Fortune magazines at Time Inc. I felt like I ran a small business within an extremely large one as I worked with all sorts of people: copywriters, designers, fulfillment, customer service, finance, etc. and I did all sorts of testing and sales projections and planning. It gave me a taste of what it was like to run a business and got me hooked.

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

CL: I’ve had the idea of Scarpasa for a while. I love shoes and fashion, but I stopped wearing high heels a long time ago because they hurt my feet and I hated having to leave an event early because my feet hurt, or take a cab instead of walk on a gorgeous day. I had told some friends about the idea and I wanted to work on it, but I didn’t really have any sort of push to get me to work on it for a while.

They always say that if you can’t see yourself being your own boss, you should do something else. Well, I couldn’t see it… or being anyone else’s boss for that matter. My colleagues and friends were fantastic, but I realized that it would not satisfy me enough to be the Director or VP of the company because even then you are the VP of a company within another company. One day I realized that I didn’t want to be a boss at all and that I would rather put all my efforts into creating what is now Scarpasa. I think I always knew it, but one day I really knew it. It was then that I realized I needed a change. I decided to go out on my own, but I needed more skills and a greater network, so I went to business school at Wharton and worked on my business plan there. That was my first step.

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

CL: For me, it was more the step of going from student to entrepreneur. It was actually very hard because when you are in your 2nd year of business school and everyone is recruiting (and the people who already have jobs are relaxing) it would have been so much easier to just get a normal job like everyone else. But I had to focus. I sat in on an entrepreneurship class and did an independent study where the sole purpose was to complete my business plan. I also didn’t recruit. Don’t get me wrong – I thought about it since the allure of having a normal job and taking it easy was present – I even went to an interview or two, but it was really just to get it out of my system. I’m really happy with the decision I made because I’m learning more than I could have ever imagined.

DD: What is your top tip for aspiring entrepreneurs?

CL: Don’t be afraid to fail.

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

CL: I feel great! My site is finally up and things are going well. I’m excited to be able to offer women beautiful shoes they can walk in. I think the focus of my site being on flats and low and mid heel shoes fills a much needed gap, and hopefully it will help women out there who love being stylish but don’t always want to be a slave to the pains of high heels. In terms of the business itself, I’m plowing ahead and loving every minute of it.

DD: Thank you Chris for sharing your journey from consumer marketer to business creator and developer! It’s great when an idea comes first-hand from someone’s physical experience and blossoms into a huge success! I wish you all best for the future and hopefully there will be less tired soles at the end of each work day thanks to you!

CL: Thank you, Devesh, for having an interest in my story and for believing in those of us who just want to make a difference in others peoples lives by putting an idea into motion and seeing how far it will go. Hopefully my idea will help other women go far every day!

DD: That was Chris Luhur everyone, successful entrepreneur who started “Scarpasa”, an online shoe store for women who want comfortable yet fashionable shoes. I especially love her simple advice for future entrepreneurs: don’t be afraid to fail. Well put!

Oh yeah, the insider that I mentioned earlier… her expression “being the cog in a wheel” reminded me of one of the illustrations in my upcoming book, here’s a sneak: Cog Versus Wheel