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RACHEL GILLMAN , DOSE MARKET , DOSETTES
Dose Market's Prescription for a
Perfect Partnership : Guest
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Each month the
River East Arts
Center plays host
to a highly curated
food and fashion
marketplace called
Dose Market.
The ³Dosettes, ´the
team that
organizes the
event, is a highly
impressive
collection of talent, comprised of April Francis, founder of The Haute
Closet; Emily Fiffer, DailyCandy Chicago editor; Heather Sperling,
Tasting Table Chicago editor; and Jessica Herman, Associate Style &
Shopping Editor of Time Out Chicago. I sat down with Francis and
Fiffer for a conversation about creating, curating and partnering with
friends -- while also staying friends.
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Is this your first time creating a business partnership? What
lessons have you learned from the process and what would
you do differently?
April Francis: We¶re all curators. We ¶re all in this together. When
you ¶re an entrepreneur running a new business, things come at you
and you have to say yes and not be too hung up on the details.
Emily Fiffer: But we say no when we have to say no.
April Francis: For example, we got a logo design from Emily ¶s
extremely talented boyfriend who does graphic design and it was like,
³Yes, let ¶s move on it. ´You need to get the idea crystallized in your
mind and run with it. Don¶t be such a control freak.
Emily Fiffer: I absolutely think we have a situation with four Type -A
female personalities and navigating it has been completely fascinating
for me. This is my first partnership experience. You definitely learn a
lot about navigating everything from moods to decision making. It ¶s a
really delicate balancing act.
April Francis: You have to pull out the strengths of each individual
and let them run with it. When you have a partnership you have to
trust, otherwise it ¶s not a partnership.
Recently dubbed Mr.
Nonstop because he's
always making new
entrepreneurial moves.
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Desiree Rogers
Moved from the White
House to CEO of
Johnson Publishing,
where she'll have to get
creative to save a struggling business.
What inspired you to create Dose Market?
Emily Fiffer: I know that when April was initially telling me her
idea, it was out of a desire to give Chicago the fashion presence it
really does deserve. She wanted to provide a space for designers and
boutique owners to sell, even if they couldn ¶t afford the rent in Wicker
Park. When she told me she¶d found a space, I suggested there be a
food component, and that Heather and I would handle it if April took
care of fashion. Heather lived in NYC for a number of years and had
dreamed of starting a food market in Chicago, so it was pretty
incredible timing.
Howard A. Tullman
Rick Bayless
&200(176
Bayless is a master of his
craft (as evidenced by
his Top Chef Master's
win) and a master at
marketing.
Andrew Mason
Groupon CEO is a
branding wunderkind
who turned a couponing
business into a verb.
Thomas Ryan
Joined Chicago -based
Threadless/Skinny Corp.
in 2005 and helped turn
the crowd sourced T Shirt business into a hipster playground.
Erikka Wang
The Akira CEO turned a
boutique shop into big
business in Chicago.
Noah Schatz
What's critical for a successful business partnership? And
how do you ensure your working relationship has these
components?
CEO of Schatz
Investment, started
rental site Domu with an
aim to fill a need in the
April Francis: You have to choose people wisely.
Emily Fiffer: Although I threw myself at her mercilessly and
thankfully she said yes.
city.
April Francis: [Laughs.] I trust Emily with my life.
Emily Fiffer: We talked about bringing someone else in for fashion
and we think Jess brings a great perspective. We want amazing taste,
but not the same taste. Heather and I are constantly talking about
different vendors -- she might love one person, I might have had a
different experience. It opens the dialogue and challenges you to pick
the best of the best.
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When partnering with friends, what are the advantages and
disadvantages? How do you overcome the challenges and
ensure you ¶re protecting the friendship?
April Francis: You have to realize business is business, friendship is
friendship. Friendship supersedes the business to me. Business is not
personal.
Emily Fiffer: I agree. April and I were friends first and I was friends
with Jess and Heather. It¶s been incredibly amazing to see the
business side of April¶s personality. Overall, we ¶re good at keeping it
separate.
April Francis: We have to. Happily my business and personal life
intersect, but my friendships always come first. Our business is about
promoting this incredible talent -- we believe in these people. The
cool thing about Dose is that the vendors are good people. And with
the Internet and social media, everyone is crossing those lines of
business and personal. Your feelings can ¶t get hurt over a business
decision.
Emily Fiffer: I think keeping friendship and business separate is
paramount, but the thread that runs through both is respect and we
have tremendous respect for each other personally and
professionally.
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Became the
President's DJ
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Bootcamp
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Unwanted Daily Deals
What advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs who
want to forge a business partnership?
April Francis: Choose wisely: you ¶re getting married. You need to
have a full suite of talents. If you have that yourself, you need to be
able to delegate to others.
Emily Fiffer: You have to pick people who are capable and then let
go, even though it ¶s hard. We¶re all independent women who are used
to making our own decisions. Also, you need a lawyer, someone with
event planning experience, someone who knows how to ask those
questions. It ¶s all about relationships. There are a million
components to starting a new business. You need to be incredibly
organized and responsible.
April Francis: Our main goal is to make sure all the people showing
at Dose do extremely well. Bringing together organization, marketing,
product, people -- we need to map it out and act wisely. Be creative,
organized and motivated.
David Wolinsky
[email protected]
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer
and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to
currently serving as an interviewer writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for
Electronic Gaming Monthly, PC Gamer, and
GameSpy. He got hard -hitting interviews from
comedy greats Gallagher and Andrew "Dice" Clay
while Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club
and provided in -depth daily coverage of this
city's bustling arts/entertainment scene. (He
also grilled Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer in the
same week of 2010.) When not playing video
games for work -- really -- he's thinking of
dashing out to Trader Vic's, Chicago Diner, or
Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations
were to be a game -show host.
Emily Fiffer: You have to want it.
For a partnership with four members, how do handle power
sharing? Is there a leader?
Emily Fiffer: I think April from the very beginning has taken on a
lot of the responsibilities --especially with logistics, but we make
decisions as a group and are always checking in with each other.
April Francis: I head up a lot of the nuts and bolts and try to make it
as easy as possible for the four of us to do our jobs as curators and
enjoy the process in doing so.
Emily Fiffer: There¶s been a natural progression of responsibility
based on the relationships we have. Essentially, there are four
torches and we all pass them around.
What is your long -term goal for the partnership?
Emily Fiffer: World domination.
April Francis: Dose Market is a monthly event and we plan to
continue doing it indefinitely.
Emily Fiffer: After the first market, people starting asking if we
wanted to bring it to other cities.
April Francis: Dose was created for Chicago. I did this not thinking
Carlise Newman
[email protected]
Carlise Newman is a seasoned financial
writer who's worked in Chicago since
1999. A graduate of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Newman began her career
as a reporter for The Business Journal and also as
a reporter with NPR local Business. Throughout
her career she's covered real estate, commodities,
alternative investments, small business,
technology, manufacturing and general
business. Recently she's worked as a freelance
financial writer.
Kim Vatis
[email protected]
Emmy nominee Kim Vatis joined the
NBC5 News team in 1997 as a general
assignment reporter and has conducted many
investigative reports, as well as developing a
weekly $mart Money segment. Read full bio .
Charlie Wojciechowski
[email protected]
Emmy Award -winning reporter
Charlie Wojciechowski joined WMAQ
Channel 5 in 1991 and won the Gold
Bell Award for his coverage of mental health
issues. On top of his usual reporting duties,
Wojciechowski also hosts the station ¶s Weekend
and Weekday Web computer segments. Read full
about other cities -- it was specifically for this city. I also think it ¶s a
great use of the REAC (River East Arts Center). There are so many
people who live around there that are interested in this kind of
concept.
bio .
Emily Fiffer: But people are also coming from other
neighborhoods, which was our goal. We don ¶t want to be prohibitive
at all.
April Francis: It¶s an infectious experience. I ¶ve heard people say
they ¶re creating things for Dose. They ¶re doing it at night because
they want to be a part of it. The care that goes into each booth is
really inspiring.
Emily Fiffer: The first day was magic. Seeing all the vendors set up
and how beautiful their displays were -- it was an amazing experience.
The next Dose Market will be held August 14, 10 a.m. 'til 4 p.m., 435
E. Illinois. For more information, visit dosemarket.com and follow
@dosemarket Cast Aside: Actors Who
Almost Had the Part
5DFKHO*LOOPDQKDVDQLQVDWLDEOHDSSHWLWHDQGDQ
obsession with entertainment. She can be followed on
Twitter @RachelGillman.
BY RACHEL GILLMAN , EDITED BY: DAVID WOLINSKY // WEDNESDAY, JUL
27, 2011 AT 03:06 CDT | PRINT
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Aug 4, 2011
Aug 4, 2011
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