Each week, Her.ie will be bringing you the personal thoughts and tips from Irish entrepreneur Sonya Lennon – fashion stylist and co-founder of frockadvisor. Download frockadvisor on IOS and Android ________________________________________________________________________________________ Week 7 - A Love Letter To My Team What is a business? Yes, it’s a balance sheet, but it’s also a unique living organism comprised of the people who populate, drive and believe in it. I’m privileged to have, in Brendan Courtney, a business partner who I trust, respect and enjoy. We both concede that doing this alone would be impossible. We haven’t always made the right decisions with our team, but our batting average isn’t half bad. A business is held back by heel-draggers and nay-sayers, who must be encouraged to step aside but when a team of people have a common purpose and passion, amazing things can happen. This doesn’t mean that challenge to the founders is not allowed - far from it. Collaboration is the way forward, and because everyone has a different viewpoint, everyone’s voice should be heard for the good of the company. This week’s column is a love letter to the frockadvisor team. We have built our proposition lean, which essentially means that, pre-revenue, we were all running on air. Our revenue is still minimal so now we are all running on air and a few drops of water. We have grown around us a team of amazing people that believe in our mission, love what we do and love the harum scarum world of start-up. In fact, one of our team left the cosiness of an established tech company, that she had joined in its embryonic state, to rediscover the thrill and challenges of an early stage company. In a way, start-up is business piracy, it’s high risk, high potential and some all-consuming swash buckling. Forget about silos and demarcation, start-up is everyone with their shoulder to the wheel, pushing that rock up the hill for all they’re worth. That’s why, surrounding yourself with the right people is so important, this is the start of, not only your business, but your business culture. So, what do you want it to be? At frockadvisor, our values are around, intelligence, humour and hard work. Above all we want to promote feeling special, for our team and our customers and our end users. That is why, my darling frockadvisors, I’m writing this love letter to you. Sonya Lennon Founder, frockadvisor