Ahead of International Women’s Day 2023, we spoke with the owner and founder of Australian online fashion label, Runway Scout. Runway Scout was founded in 2012 by former lawyer, Susan, who decided to take the leap and leave her prestigious corporate job to start a business in eCommerce. Since then, Runway Scout has seen enormous growth, an impressive return customer rate, and healthy AOV.
What made you take the leap from being a lawyer to the owner of a clothing business?
I’ve always been a creative person, and while I loved studying law at Uni, I actually didn’t enjoy practicing it! I knew this while I was at Uni, having completed internships and clerkships at private law firms during my studies. I guess I followed the herd and got accepted into a top tier law firm when I finished Uni, which was prestigious but the hours were grueling and the politics were too much for me. When I turned 30, it was a closing doors situation — do I take the leap now before I get older, or do I continue in a job where I felt like a fraud, not liking what I did and not being interested in it? So I took a chance, backed myself, and started a website as I truly believed in the direction that eCommerce was starting to take back in 2012.
What challenges have you faced as a female business owner, and how have you overcome them?
I’m probably a bit naive in this sense but being female in this industry hasn’t hindered my ability to achieve a level of success. It’s very female-dominated, unlike law which (when I practised in the early 2000s) was very “old school” and incredibly hard as a female to be taken seriously, especially when you’re approaching your 30s and don’t yet have children.
What’s your most proud achievement with Runway Scout?
Seeing our in-house designs being worn and loved by our customers, and they keep wanting more, thankfully!
How do you create an inclusive and fun work culture?
By being real and approachable. I know what it’s like working in a highly political and exclusionary work environment (having practised law for 10 years prior to starting Runway Scout), I’ve been there and endured it during my 20s and early 30s and never did anything about it. I was too scared of losing my job. I would never want that for my employees of course, and now that I have a daughter, I always ask myself, how would I want my daughter to be treated in a workplace?
What’s your advice to other women who want to be their own boss?
It takes a lot of hard work of course — there will be more lows than highs! Employees will never understand how much work you are trying to juggle, on top of your family commitments if you have children (I have a 9 month old son and 3 year old daughter). Make sure you have a support system in place, whatever that may look like. You really can’t achieve a level of success without that in place. But know it’s worth it in the end for the flexibility that ultimately owning a business allows you to have.
Who is your female role model?
I have a variety of role models, most of them are business owners who have hustled from the get-go, and achieved incredible success from their intense hustling, and overcome huge obstacles along the way. I love reading the stories behind the owners of LSKD and Culture Kings. I do also like Georgie Stevenson from Naked Harvest, and Jane Lu from Showpo — they’re both incredibly real, and never stop promoting themselves as a personal brand, which I think is so important and something I need to work on a lot!
What challenges have you faced as a female business owner, and how have you overcome them?
I would think that all of us business owners struggle against quite similar things! For me… it’s been a whole variety of challenges: unsupportive friends, work / life balance (hot tip, I don’t think there is such a thing), self-funding, managing staff, society’s expectations / norms of you as a ‘woman’ and your stages of life. If anything, running a business has taught me far more valuable lessons through these challenges. They’ve definitely been more than worthwhile!
Thank you, Susan!
Andzen has worked with Runway Scout for a number of years now to enhance their customer journey, increase customer lifetime value, and achieve a higher conversion rate. We have done this with a number of strategic email automations, and by implementing tools such as Gatsby to increase customer loyalty, brand awareness, and to automate Runway Scout’s influencer marketing strategy. We’re looking forward to achieving even more with Runway Scout in the future.
Thank you for being part of our International Women’s Day series, Susan!
