Campus Celebrity: Anna Schroeder

UNC Junior Anna Schroeder, 20, never expected boredom to beget business.

Wanting for a way to spend her time this past August, Schroeder decorated a pair of Vans with a self-designed Daft Punk motif comprised of rainbows and the band’s signature helmet. Proud, she shared her art with social media network Reddit.

The artist (wearing her favorite Daft Punk design) with the author’s very own pair of Indiana Jones-themed Schroeder’s Shoes!

Schroeder’s artwork received a response of a magnitude she never anticipated.

“They lifted off,” Schroeder said. “Tons of people saw them. People started asking me if I would sell them.”

Schroeder hadn’t designed shoes with business in mind, but ran with the idea when it presented itself.

“I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Schroeder said. “I just made a little shop online and sold, like, eight pairs that day. And then I was like, now what do I do? From then on, I’ve just been figuring it out as I go.”

Insofar, Schroeder has been doing something right—she’s received only positive reviews in the online store where she sells her acrylic-laden masterpieces, most of which are custom-designed on blank Vans brand slip-ons.

Known to spend upwards of 10 hours painting a single pair of shoes, Schroeder fully invests herself in each commission. When she pairs her focus with her evident artistic ability and critical eye for design, she is able to turn shoes into functional art tailored with motion in mind.

Her success lies in part with her ability to treat shoes as multidimensional landscapes.

“The different shoe brand changes the way the design works,” she said.

Once, a customer put in an order for ‘Futurama shoes.’ Without any other guidance, Schroeder came up with an innovative design that incorporated both various images from the cartoon show and all readily visible elements of the appropriately designed shoe.

“I decided to do the Futurama cityscape on the inner soles and photos of the characters on the sides,” she said. “I like to think about the design in the way that you walk so that, if you take a step, the insole of one shoe is showing and the outside of the other is showing. You get this idea of the cityscape and the characters all at once from two different shoes. It was just simple shapes, but I think the detail I was able to go into made it really fun.”

Schroeder not only selects the best style to suit the design but also factors in textural elements of the shoe when painting. To achieve better and better results, she experiments actively with shoes of varying synthetic material.

However, taking classes to complete her English major and sustainability and anthropology minors while interning with local non-profit Durham SciNergy doesn’t leave her much time to experiment.

Time management skills, critical for all businesspeople selling self-designed handmade products, are especially critical for Schroeder; she operates her business entirely by herself.

“You don’t go into work for four hours for your scheduled block of time and then get a paycheck two weeks later,” she said. “It’s like, someone orders something, and now I have to think about going to the store to get the shoes, I need to make sure I have all the paint I need to do the design, and then I need to paint the shoes, ship them, and make sure there’s enough time for them to get there within the three or four weeks that I promised.”

Shipping has proven to be one of many unanticipated business hurdles.

“Before all this, I thought, you know, when you need to ship something, you take a package to the post office, they ship it, and it’s just that simple,” she said, “but it’s not. It’s this horrible world of like 15 different methods, but I’ve learned to use priority mail through USPS and that if you use Paypal, you get a tracking number,” Schroeder said of methods she uses to maintain control of her business model when her products are out of her hands.

Her intuitive understanding of business etiquette has also enabled her to make a business out of a hobby. While she is the first to admit that business can be impersonal, commissioned art is personal. Schroeder tries to add humanizing touches to her products like personalized notes.

Having high quality products has afforded Schroeder opportunities to ship overseas. For example, a man in Shropshire, England, ordered the Daft Punk design.

“He bought a shirt specifically to go with them, to match them,” Schroeder said. “I can’t believe there’s some random guy in the middle of the United Kingdom wandering around wearing my shoes right now. That’s just the weirdest thought.”

Schroeder said that her decision to use Etsy, a veritable handicraft bazaar of a website, as a platform for her business has helped her efficiently reach such a wide customer base during her entrepreneurial debut. Apart from taking care of her financial transactions, Etsy’s internal search engine feature has given Schroeder a better chance of being seen by the right consumers.

Additionally, Schroeder’s understanding of the website’s statistical feature has given her insight into how her business works and how to market better.

Though she eventually wants her own site, she plans to use Etsy until she can more effectively draw customers in on her own. She has already created a photo gallery of her work on the picture sharing website Imgur and a Facebook page that has insofar garnered 132 likes.

The business is new, but Schroeder, who’s managed to have a job she makes money from in this economy, has high hopes for it.

“Ideally it could be a career,” said Schroeder, who is graduating a semester early. “I’m not really expecting a career from my major right now, and I like making shoes!”

Hannah and Anna’s Tips for Aspiring Artist-Entrepreneurs

1. Don’t get ahead of yourself …
“Any time you do anything business-related, you’re taking a risk,” said Schroeder, who’s objectively been a smart businesswoman so far. “I’m trying not to invest a lot more than I’m making. I’m not going out and buying ten pairs of shoes before I’ve sold them.”

2.     … But don’t sell yourself short. Know what your efforts are worth financially!

3.     Talent’s not enough — teach yourself business essentials.

“I’m balancing my expense forms for tax forms and going through all my bank forms.”

4.     If you decide to produce a design more than once, make sure it’s something you can stand to replicate!

5.     Work in an environment with limited distractions.

6.     Set aside blocks of time to work and plan how you will use them.

7.     Utilize word-of-mouth

Schroeder set up special deals for friends when she started out to encourage people to buy. Her friends liked what she had, told their friends, and soon enough, a bunch of Chapel Hill locals were wearing Schroeder’s Shoes. Having your products out and about in your community is a wonderful way to gain visibility and increase the likelihood of local commissions.

8.     When your business takes off, don’t forget about school and your social life!

How to Find/ Order Schroeder’s Shoes:

http://imgur.com/a/iM6lQ#0 : Imgur Gallery
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Schroeders-Shoes/230001163718092 : Facebook Page
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SchroedersShoes : Etsy Store