Preferably by appointment?
Our interview for bossy magazine by Katrien Meersman of stille bliksem.
Text: Katrien Meersman from silent lightning
Publication: bossy magazine
Starting your own business with your partner. For some, an absolute no-go, for others, a dream come true. Whether you take the first steps together or join your partner's business after a while: living and doing business with your great love requires trust, clear agreements and balance. Every month, Katrien speaks with an enterprising love couple and how they do this together.
Tina Daem and Filip Van Langenhove run the trendy children's shoe shop Anna Pops together in Aalst. You will find custom-made children's shoes for toddlers to mothers.
Anna Pops was founded in 2012 from their own search for cool, fun children's shoes for their – then – two-year-old daughter. What started as a dream on 12m2 is today a store of 120m2 with an accompanying webshop and a first employee.
Tina and Filip put together all children's shoes themselves in collaboration with workshops in Italy, Spain and Portugal where all shoes are handmade with love for the craft.
How exactly did the concept of Anna Pops come about?
Tina: “The idea came mainly because I needed something different. I had already worked as an independent real estate agent, interior designer at a kitchen company and at that time had an administrative job at the City of Aalst. I needed a new challenge, but I didn’t know exactly what yet.”
Filip: “Anna Pops was also partly created out of pure necessity. Suddenly there was the magical moment when our first daughter Fauve took her first steps. But we could not find any quality shoes, nor any substantiated advice about this. During a moment of rest, under the sun in Provence, the idea arose to formulate an answer to this.”
Tina: “Filip and I love brainstorming at restaurants, cafés, on holiday… I usually have my bullet journal at hand, because there is always something to write down when we are together.”
What immediately stands out when you visit the store or your webshop is the personal approach.
Tina: “We do indeed want to surprise both online and offline. We call our items fashion finds because every child is unique. We continue this approach in our collections and the story of Anna Pops.”
Filip: “Patience is an important aspect here and is a common thread throughout our concept. We invest a lot of time in the search for new fashion discoveries and the makers behind the creations.”
Tina: “When we buy new collections or research new brands, I usually pick out those special pieces at a glance. But before we find them, there is indeed quite a search.”
Filip: “We attach importance to personal advice, both in the webshop and in the store. For us, the store is the absolute meeting place with our ambassadors. Here, space has literally been created for shelter. Coffee and a biscuit stimulate personal contact and we get a lot of energy from this. The fleeting fades and makes way for depth.”
Tina: “With this approach, we put together collections for both shoes and matching accessories. We are increasingly letting go of the seasonal fashion as we know it and we focus on timeless, sustainable pieces. After all, children grow quickly and then it makes sense that the wardrobe is not a lost cause at the end of the season, but that you can genuinely give the clothes a new life when reselling them.”
Did you take the big leap right away? Or did you build Anna Pops step by step?
Tina: “We started very small with our own shop in our house. In the beginning I combined Anna Pops with my job at Stad Aalst, today our shop gets 100% of my attention. And I work on our story both in front of and behind the scenes.”
Filip: “I still work as an architect and researcher/lecturer at Odisee University College, I manage our two holiday apartments together with Maarten and I help Tina with Anna Pops. I help out in the shop, brainstorm about new ideas and help with decision-making, organizing events and (product) photography. I get my energy from this variety and the many personal contacts, which is why I couldn’t do without Anna Pops.”
Tina: “Filip is my support and confidant and the perfect critical sounding board for all my ideas. So also indispensable for Anna Pops.”
You've been working together since the beginning. Did this feel like a logical choice?
Filip: “Yes, it is. We are life partners. So from living together to working together went very naturally.”
Tina: “In August we will have been working together for seven years and it still feels good.”
“Without our strong bond, we wouldn't be where we are today.
You must move fully together in the same direction and
being able to share your opinion without inhibition, otherwise it will soon come to an end.” – Filip
The shop is located at your home. Does that make the combination of work and private life easier?
Filip: “From the start, we consciously chose to integrate the shop into our own home. This means that life and work are permanently intertwined. Of course, this has its advantages and disadvantages. We are very flexible when people want to come by appointment and at less busy times in the shop we can do administrative work without losing time commuting. On the other hand, we sometimes really have to escape our home to relax. Because you can always work. But that 'escape' then takes us to inspiring places and so the circle is complete. Everything is constantly in motion with us and we need that to keep the enthusiasm going.”
Tina: “When the children are with us, we both stop working anyway. And when they are not there, we do indeed continue working. Although Filip can let go of work much easier than I can. I also want to do all sorts of things in the evening or talk about Anna Pops. Filip is often away during the day for his work as an architect and researcher/lecturer and then I want to inform him of my ideas in the evening, but he does not always feel like it.” (laughs)
Filip: “Tina is really non-stop busy with her passion. Even at bedtime, her smartphone screen lights up sometimes keeping me awake.” (laughs)
Tina: “Sorry! A lot of it is indeed focused on our work. When we go out on Sunday, we go to a big city for inspiration and look at shop windows and interiors, products, etc. We also coordinate our trips with our work. Actually, there is not much private left when I think about it now. But we love doing it.”
How difficult or easy is it to run a business together as a couple?
Tina: “That’s not too bad. You can easily say what you think because you know the other person very well. That gives me a good feeling and also ensures that things move forward more quickly.”
Filip: “In function of peak moments, this – as in all collaborations – naturally runs smoother at one moment than at another. Neither of us is an expert in the administrative and financial side of the company. We still do this ourselves – fortunately we have a good accountant who supports us. But as soon as we are allowed to be creative, set up events or prepare a photoshoot, we are in our element. Tina has an incredible drive for innovation and I try to filter feasible initiatives from this waterfall of ideas. Together we refine these during a brainstorm. Some ideas become concrete and others remain in the back of our minds.”
Tina, you work full-time for Anna Pops. Filip, you work part-time. How are the tasks divided between you?
Tina: “I do about 80% of the tasks, but that also grew because Anna Pops was initially a project for me. We both believed in it, but we had decided to see how everything would evolve. Today, Filip is mainly the back-up for the store, my sounding board who immediately understands me and thinks along about our growth and the direction we want to go.”
Filip: “Tina is really the heart of Anna Pops. I am more the head, the arms and the legs. While she focuses on the development of Anna Pops, I work together with our colleague Judith on the development of the story.”
How did your family and friends react to the news that you wanted to start your own business?
Tina: “They are used to the fact that we do a lot together and didn't think it was strange.”
Filip: “Although they were politely skeptical. Neither Tina nor I come from an entrepreneurial family. But because of the small scale, our idea was tolerated.” (laughs)
Tina: “I think they are all proud of us.”
Filip: “Yes, they are all enthusiastic and help directly with putting out fires or indirectly by looking after Loïs and Fauve.”
Suppliers or customers probably don't look at you strangely anymore?
Filip: “You should ask them that.” (laughs)
Tina: "I don't think they find this strange. Even Judith, our first employee, was familiar with this from the start. Often people even see it as a good basis for a company."
Filip: “Intuitively, they see us as a good match, I think. Without our strong bond, we wouldn’t be where we are today. You have to go all out in the same direction and be able to share your opinion without inhibitions, otherwise it will quickly end.”
