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Harvin and Meyer Eadon Talk Startups, Family And Naysayer Inspiration

Learn how two outspoken sisters, and cast members of Big Rich Atlanta, started their business -- She Blames Me -- to thank critics by name.

Style Network premiered Big Rich Atlanta, an American reality television series, on January 23, 2013 to follow a group of wealthy Georgia women and their daughters who plan to do whatever it takes to stay on top.

The reality show features thirteen women — among them being two aspiring young entrepreneurs: Harvin Eadon and Meyer Eadon, who are learning the in’s and out’s of starting a business — She Blames Me, a jewelry collection inspired by naysayers.

Harvin, a Clemson graduate with a masters degree in social work from the University of South Carolina, created the jewelry collection with her younger sister Meyer, also a University of South Carolina graduate with a degree in fashion merchandising and retail management background.

Combining their love of fashion and art the two sisters decided to turn their personal challenges into profit by designing and selling accessories inspired by (and named after) their biggest critics.

We’ll take you behind the scenes with Harvin and Meyer to talk startups, family business and the naysayer inspiration behind their company. Learn how the two outspoken sisters started their business, She Blames Me, to thank critics by name.

Company: She Blames Me
Founder(s): Harvin Eadon, Meyer Eadon
Location: Atlanta, GA
Industry: Retail
Startup Year: 2012
Startup Costs: $50,000

YFS Magazine: Why did you decide to start a family business?

Harvin: We wanted to be ourselves and we’re not 9 to 5’ers. We do our best work at 3 am. Sometimes we like to sleep ’til 1 pm.

We are who we are, and we got so tired of trying to hide who we were (and blowing it) that we just decided that it was in our best interests to create a business that allowed us to be who we are.

 

YFS Magazine: How did you develop the “She Blames Me” concept and brand?

Harvin: She Blames Me started out as a perspective prior to turning it into a brand. My sister and I, and even my mom, we have a tendency to love spray tans and really blonde hair, and six plus inch heels, and things that make us definitely not blend in with wallpaper. We feel that all women whether they want to admit it or not, never want to be overlooked, and certainly don’t want to be unappreciated.

So, the way that She Blames Me came about was we’ve always kind of caught a hard time for kind of marching to the beat of our own drummer. We dress a little bit differently, and like I said, we like things to be extreme … and people give us a hard time about that.

For example, when we first moved to Atlanta, Meyer [my sister] and I went out to a bar to meet a friend. We were talking to the bartender. Our backs were to the crowd … and out of nowhere this brunette in flats came running over and shoved Meyer out of her bar stool … out of nowhere. I have [sic] no idea who this girl is. Meyer has [sic] no idea who this girl is. We have [sic] no idea what her problem was… Meyer [was ready to go in] for the attack and I was like Meyer, “No! Calm down.” I was like “Buy her a shot.”

Meyer was like, “What?”

[Reluctantly] she did, and I handed the girl her shot [and said], “Don’t ever, ever be that jealous of anyone ever again. It’s not becoming and you’re too cute for that. Don’t be mad at us for it. Just ask us where we got it.”

I looked at Meyer and said, “Look. She just blames you.”

From then on we’ve had this whole She Blames Me concept and we feel like it applies to so many girls. The whole thing is; you cannot be nags and haters. Critics are the exact same thing as followers … so put them in your rear-view and thank them for following so close behind.

 

YFS Magazine: What is your best success story to-date?

Harvin: The show — Big Rich Atlanta — inspired a few pieces in our line. Well, one in particular, because you know we named each jewelry piece in our line after an actual person who gave us a really hard time…

In other words, we have the mole in your special circle, the undercover blackballer, she is close. She is a “Ginny”. And, so we have the “Ginny” piece (“Ginny”, yes, she was a real, real great person to me). We just thank people who really go out of their way to make your lives miserable [because] somehow you realize that the struggle is love, and it’s only a pathway into really finding yourself, and owning yourself, and being proud of yourself.

So, with the show (Big Rich Atlanta), it helped inspire a few more pieces. We actually started She Blames Me before this show even came along, and the agreement was that typically they don’t feature businesses in reality shows like this because they can come off very gimmicky, but ours just happened to be so much of our story line, and who we are that it kind of went right on in.

Also, we have a fashion show on the show. We partner up with another designer for it so you’ll get to see a lot of She Blames Me in Big Rich Atlanta.

 

What is your biggest business challenge thus far?

Meyer: “Working with family!”

Harvin: For me, it is that we’re often misunderstood. People tend to think that we can be taken advantage of very easily. We’re blonde. But we feel like we’re smart enough to know when to play stupid.

I would definitely say that we’re a lot smarter than we look I feel like we’re smarter than we act sometimes, but we just can’t help it. I mean, we really just cannot kick the whole child syndrome (because here I am at 30, and yeah, I still pretty much act (95%) like a child).

But, people tend to really think they can take advantage of us. We’re two girls. We’re younger. We’re just starting out, and things like that posed a lot of challenges with people trying to take advantage of you.

Also we’re from the South — born and raised. So, [saying] “Yes Ma’am, No Ma’am,” (things like that) come very naturally to us. I mean, even if you’re almost twice my age and I’m in a business meeting [with you], I have a tendency to say “Yes and No Ma’am” to be courteous. That can also make us seem even younger than we are.

 

YFS Magazine: Like you, many young entrepreneurs have experienced age-bias. How do you recommend overcoming age barriers and a lack of experience in business?

Harvin: Research. That is number one. I mean, [research everything] backwards, forwards, sideways, and upside down. Do your research going into anything and hold your own.

Also less is more. For example, we act broke now when we go into meetings. But when we first got here and [started a business] we were like, “Oh yeah, we could do that, we could pay that … !”

It was a total nightmare. Because we feel uncomfortable. We automatically over-compensate for the way we look, and our age. So, therefore, we wanted to reassure them that we had the money to pay for it and that we could do this … But you don’t have to. Let your [thick] skin be your best armor, and [conduct business] with a strong mind, a heavy hand, and a very steady voice.

Meyer: You have to really learn to play hard ball, and that was a hard thing for us to do at first.

 

What is your number one business tip for entrepreneurs?

Meyer: You have to be different, the first or the best.

Harvin: I would say, don’t create anything half-assed. In other words, don’t create anything that you wouldn’t be obsessed with yourself.

Meyer: I think that it’s important to be really passionate about what you’re doing,” she added. She Blames Me mirrors our personal journeys and the things that we’ve gone through. So, it’s really close to us and it makes it fun and really rewarding at the same time.

Harvin: The truth is: it’s hard. It’s hard to learn every knickknack of starting a business. I mean, you get screwed. You get frustrated. Lots of things come up. Starting a business is way harder than a 9 to 5. So, if you’re going to give up your 9 to 5, get ready!

The outspoken duo will launch the She Blames Mejewelry collection with “six simple [necklaces that have] a loud perspective,” according to the Style Network. “Each piece is named after someone who has criticized the girls for sticking to their guns and being true to themselves.”

 

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