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Wickedly Chic, This Is!

“The best way to pre­dict your future is to cre­ate it.” ~ Peter Drucker

On a recent trip, I attended a con­fer­ence in Cal­i­for­nia.  While the con­fer­ence was amaz­ing, what really added to that expe­ri­ence was really feel­ing a con­nec­tion with the peo­ple in atten­dance.  Today I have one of these won­der­ful souls here at the Jun­gle, shar­ing a bit of her story.  Liz Non­nemacher is the founder and cre­ative genius behind the very pop­u­lar Wickedly Chic, a site ded­i­cated to help­ing small busi­ness own­ers get the word out on their prod­ucts and services.

Please read along, as Liz shares a more in depth look at who she is and what she has created.

1.  Tell us a lit­tle bit about who “you” are (fam­ily, career, any spe­cial life expe­ri­ences you’d like to share, etc.)
I’m Liz Non­nemacher and I have a full life. It might be a lit­tle bit too full at times but that’s okay. I have a hus­band, two daugh­ters, two step­sons, two golden retriev­ers. We cur­rently live in the Chicago sub­urbs and we are plan­ning a move to sunny Florida this sum­mer when my youngest daugh­ter grad­u­ates from high school. Enough is enough with the long win­ters. This will be the 5th (and warmest state) that I have lived in.

Lance’s Com­men­tary:  Liz, what’s the deal here???  You know…I’m your neigh­bor to the north…and here you go ditch­ing me!!  (hmmm…as I look out­side at a cool, rainy morn­ing…) How about this?  Since you’re going to Florida, I expect I’ll now have a tour guide when I come down there! 

2.  I love the con­cept behind your site, Wickedly Chic, and how it cre­ates a space for bud­ding entre­pre­neurs to share their wares. How long have you had this, and what led to cre­at­ing it?
I started Wickedly Chic on a whim in May of 2006 (which means that “she” is just about to turn 5). Cre­at­ing Wickedly Chic was not really some­thing inten­tional or some­thing that I wrote down and worked up a plan for. You know how there are some peo­ple who have to read all of the “rules” or make lists or can’t make deci­sions with­out con­sult­ing their list of what­ever? I’m not one of those. Some­where on the web (maybe Twit­ter), I read a quote about suc­cess­ful peo­ple hav­ing a very small gap between idea and action. That’s me.

Basi­cally, I have always loved small busi­nesses, felt that they needed more atten­tion, some­one sug­gested that I start a web­site and it’s really gone from there. When I started Wickedly Chic, I could do two things online. Place orders and use email. That’s it. I had no idea about any­thing tech­ni­cal or how to cre­ate and what to do. But my old­est daugh­ter was going off to col­lege and I thought this would be a nice lit­tle hobby since I was a stay-at-home mom. Maybe I would even make a cou­ple hun­dred dol­lars. Imag­ine that!

But I found that I enjoyed work­ing on Wickedly Chic so much and it gained atten­tion quickly that I went with it and have built it into a full-time endeavor with a team as of today.

Lance’s Com­men­tary: Happy 5 Year Birth­day Wickedly Chic!!  And that’s what is really so great about this thing we call the Inter­net — if some­one has an idea, they can go out there and do it — and the web makes it that much more pos­si­ble!  Liz, you are a gift for small busi­ness, giv­ing them one more way to reach out and share their prod­ucts — and that is awe­some!!

3.  You arrive home, and there hap­pens to be a genie in a bot­tle await­ing your arrival (stranger things have hap­pened!!).  You are granted one wish.  What do you choose, and why?
Health and hap­pi­ness for myself and my family…always. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. It’s so basic but often we don’t give much thought to the things that really matter.

Lance’s Com­men­tary:  Our health and hap­pi­ness, these are both things that are so easy to just take for granted, until one (or both) are taken from us.  I love this…

4.  Tell us one unex­pected thing that has hap­pened to you in the last year.
I seem to be cre­at­ing a lot of my own “unex­pected” lately. For exam­ple, meet­ing Lance. I wasn’t plan­ning on going out to Cal­i­for­nia for the event but at the last minute, I knew I needed to be there.  I just find myself doing more and being part of more endeav­ors that I never imag­ined I would be.

I’ve also found that Wickedly Chic has given “birth” so to speak to a num­ber of new things that I didn’t know would hap­pen dur­ing the past year. Wickedly Social was born within the last month as a most fab­u­lous way for busi­nesses to get the word out about their prod­ucts and events…via me.

Lance’s Com­men­tary:  I wasn’t plan­ning to go out to Cal­i­for­nia, either!  It was a last minute deci­sion — and I’m so glad I did!!  What a great con­fer­ence!  And what’s the deal with this pic­ture you sent me (note — Liz is not in this photo…she was sit­ting back enjoy­ing the *ahem* “enter­taint­ment”)???  What was I think­ing, any­way, “try­ing” to dance??  (ummm.…thanks Liz, for pass­ing this on).  By the way, I’ve kind of com­mit­ted to going back again next year (it was sooo much fun!), so I’ll expect to see you there!

That’s a great point though — about lis­ten­ing to the voice inside (and know­ing what’s needed for you).  It’s all too easy to let this voice sit on the back burner — and look what we miss when we do.

Social media is really becom­ing an impor­tant strat­egy for reach­ing out and con­nect­ing with oth­ers — so very awe­some that you’re help­ing peo­ple reach an even greater audience!

5.  If you had to pick one thing as your great­est achieve­ment, what would it be (and why)?
Oh, the kids. I have two daugh­ters (22 and 17) and while they drive me crazy on occa­sion (as I am sure that I do to them also), they are really won­der­ful and car­ing girls. I have a plaque in my house that says “It’s Nice to Be Impor­tant But It’s More Impor­tant to Be Nice.” The girls seem to have fol­lowed that.

Lance’s Com­men­tary:  Our kids most def­i­nitely pro­vide that two-way “crazy” (I know!!).  And yet, behind all of that, what a gift…life that we’ve nur­tured in this world. 

6.  A fun day for you – tell me what that might con­sist of.
Well, I love to travel and I’m quite happy when I am doing so. But in ordi­nary life, it’s prob­a­bly as sim­ple as just mean­der­ing around with no plan at all and check­ing out places that I have never been. On sec­ond thought, I like hav­ing no plan at all when I travel. I’m also per­fectly con­tent lay­ing in bed all day with a book.

Lance’s Com­men­tary:  Those days of just wan­der­ing, they really can be some of the most mean­ing­ful — get­ting off the beaten path, and just being in the moment (what­ever that brings).

7.  Deep-down, Liz, what makes you, “you”?
Off of the top of my head, I feel that the biggest thing that defines me is that I truly believe in serv­ing oth­ers when I can. It doesn’t mean that I don’t take care of myself but I will help some­one in need with­out think­ing about it or think­ing if there is any­thing in it for me.

I’m also very quirky, a bit “off” and a lot of fun. And I love to read. It gives me a lot of knowl­edge and I am always sur­pris­ing myself and oth­ers by how much I know.

Lance’s Com­men­tary:  Liz, I could real­l­lly use some help with.… (ha!!).  When we serve oth­ers, it shows we really care.  That’s some­thing that shines through so brightly with you!  Mix that with quirky fun…and life is pretty darn grand!!

Clos­ing Thoughts:  Liz, thank you for being here and for shar­ing “you”.  As I learn more about your jour­ney, I’m drawn into what is pos­si­ble when we just go out there and do it!  You have, and you’ve cre­ated some­thing very spe­cial in the process.  

And next time we meet up (Jan­u­ary, yes??) I’m buy­ing lunch for you…not only will it be great to catch up, I’ll also find out what kind of crazy pic­tures you’re stash­ing away that I don’t know about!  Liz, this has been so much fun hav­ing you here, and I look for­ward to know­ing you even bet­ter.

You can keep up with Liz, and Wickedly Chic by fol­low­ing her on Twit­ter and Face­book. 

Lance writes sto­ries from his heart, aim­ing to inspire and moti­vate, as you align more fully with YOUR true peak. When he’s not here, you can find him hang­ing out with his fam­ily, rid­ing a bike, or just gen­er­ally act­ing goofy.   Sign up for the Thoughts from the Tree­house newslet­ter and get addi­tional inspi­ra­tion in your email inbox!
Lance Ekum
View all posts by Lance Ekum
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Comments

  1. Jules - Big Girl Bombshell says:
    May 18, 2011 at 8:29 am

    Oh this is what I needed to read today…Thanks Lance and thanks Liz for sharing!

    Reply
  2. Tess The Bold Life says:
    May 18, 2011 at 8:47 am

    Hi Lance and Liz,
    Love this inter­view. Lance you’re a mag­net for fun-loving peo­ple! The photo of you danc­ing shows how much you enjoy life where ever you go. Liz you’re an inspi­ra­tion for all. I love that you’re mov­ing to Florida, daugh­ters and sunshine…we have a cou­ple of things in com­mon.
    Tess The Bold Life´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Mark Inglis Makes the Impos­si­ble Seem EasyMy Profile

    Reply
  3. Amanda aka AbsintheDragonfly says:
    May 18, 2011 at 9:28 am

    I’m so happy to see Liz fea­tured here! She’s been such a won­der­ful sup­port per­son, and tire­less worker on my behalf as a small busi­ness owner! I love her services!

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 18, 2011 at 8:44 pm

      Hi Amanda!
      It’s great to “meet” you!

      And read­ing your com­ment is just so, so awe­some — while I know Liz from our meet­ing at a con­fer­ence this past win­ter, I have not actu­ally worked directly with her — so what you share is so mean­ing­ful. And it shines to the per­son she comes across as — how cool!!!

      Thanks so much for tak­ing the time to com­ment, and to share you own per­sonal expe­ri­ences you’ve had with Liz!!

      Reply
  4. Giulietta Nardone says:
    May 18, 2011 at 9:49 am

    Hi Lance & Liz,

    My favorite part of the interview:

    6. A fun day for you – tell me what that might con­sist of.
    Well, I love to travel and I’m quite happy when I am doing so. But in ordi­nary life, it’s prob­a­bly as sim­ple as just mean­der­ing around with no plan at all and check­ing out places that I have never been. On sec­ond thought, I like hav­ing no plan at all when I travel. I’m also per­fectly con­tent lay­ing in bed all day with a book.

    I love wan­der­ing and trav­el­ing with­out reser­va­tions. Read that Leonardo daVinci used to wan­der all over the Ital­ian coun­try­side, ask­ing ques­tions, meet­ing peo­ple and look­ing at things. It’s the fuel for great minds! Less plan­ning more roaming.

    Thanks, Giuli­etta
    Giuli­etta Nardone´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..How do I love myself Let me count the waysMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 18, 2011 at 8:51 pm

      Giuli­etta,
      And Mr. Leonardo did pretty well for himself…hmmm.…seems like he was onto something!

      I’m reminded of a quote I really love:
      “Not all those who wan­der are lost.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

      As a soci­ety, what do we think of those who “wan­der”? Do we see them as lost? And per­haps we (as a soci­ety) are the ones who are lost…

      Happy roam­ing, wan­der­ing, and exploring…dear friend…

      Reply
  5. Liz says:
    May 18, 2011 at 12:22 pm

    Thank you for the lovely com­ments here and thank you to Lance for fea­tur­ing both myself and Wickedly Chic!

    Reply
  6. Lynn says:
    May 18, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    Sounds like a fun lunch! And I am always impressed when entre­pre­neurs make good.
    Lynn´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Not Tony– they did that and sides dessertMy Profile

    Reply
  7. Therese Miu says:
    May 18, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Thanks for shar­ing Lance. It always feel good to meet some­one with like-minded inter­est and the fact that she wants to help peo­ple is a win-win for all. Also, lov­ing her web­site. Thanks Lance you have a funny way of inter­view­ing her with your remarks lol :) ) Thanks for adding value for me today.
    xoxo,
    Therese Miu
    Therese Miu´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..The Art of Bal­anc­ing Work and Life as a MompreneurMy Profile

    Reply
  8. Rob says:
    May 19, 2011 at 4:52 am

    Liz and Lance,
    Great inter­view on both ends. You know Liz, it wasn’t so long ago that we had a mild win­ter and I thought the Florid­i­ans would be mov­ing back up here. I’ guess­ing the last two years ruined that!
    My favorite part?
    This: “It’s Nice to Be Impor­tant But It’s More Impor­tant to Be Nice.” A les­son for all.

    Live it LOUD!

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 19, 2011 at 5:39 am

      Hi Rob!
      Hmmm…yes these mid­west win­ters the last cou­ple of years have been cold!! (wait: some days it STILL feels like win­ter out there…in May!!!)

      Being “nice”…it’s a choice that we can each make. What are we choos­ing, right?

      Have a great one!! And thanks for commenting!

      Reply
      • Liz says:
        May 19, 2011 at 10:26 pm

        Awwwe.…I love that being nice part. I look at that plaque almost every day. Yes, Lance…we do get to choose. It’s a lot eas­ier to be nice, that’s for sure.

        Reply
  9. suzen says:
    May 19, 2011 at 7:44 am

    Hi Lance and Liz! Always a party goin’ on wher­ever you go Lance! I am count­ing the years til I’m outta this cli­mate too — Lance you will be in charge of all snow removal then. You’re young and strong — plus you can pay your kids to shovel. (Didn’t work for me, does it work for you?)
    hugs
    Suzen

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 19, 2011 at 8:42 pm

      Suzen!
      Party in the Jungle!!!!

      Wait! You’re leav­ing me in charge of ALL this snow we have around here (at least we don’t have any right now!)! And you’re right — that “pay the kids” thing…there’s a chal­lenge for me!!! (no, it doesn’t work very well for me, either!!)

      Hugs…and some­day I’ll have another place to visit some­where south!! (wher­ever YOU“RE headed!!)

      Lance
      xoxo

      Reply
  10. Naomi Estment says:
    May 19, 2011 at 10:18 am

    Thanks Lance & Liz for a wickedly cool post about a wickedly awe­some site! With a prod­uct part­ner­ship in the wings, I’ll pos­si­bly be in touch soon :-) All the best to you and yours!
    Naomi Estment´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..PainMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 19, 2011 at 8:48 pm

      Hey Naomi!
      “Wickedly cool/wickedly awe­some” –> I *love* it!!

      Def­i­nitely, check out what Liz is up to. If you want to get in touch with her, just let me know!

      And — look­ing for­ward to hear­ing more about your prod­uct partnership!!

      Reply
      • Liz says:
        May 19, 2011 at 10:27 pm

        Will look for­ward to hear­ing from you Naomi. I’m here when you are ready and happy to help you pro­mote! Yay!

        Reply
  11. Mallory says:
    May 19, 2011 at 11:46 am

    Liz does such a great job of sup­port­ing and pro­mot­ing small busi­nesses! It’s so nice of you to fea­ture her here!

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 19, 2011 at 8:50 pm

      Hi Mal­lory!!
      This is so, so great to hear such pos­i­tive and glow­ing words about Liz! I’ve never worked with her directly, but meet­ing her in per­son — she SHINES!!

      Thanks so much for stop­ping by and join­ing the conversation!

      Reply
  12. Debbie @ Happy Maker says:
    May 19, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    Great intern­view Lance. Sound like you had a ball at the con­ven­tion. Haven’t tried one of those yet!
    I like “3. You arrive home, and there hap­pens to be a genie in a bot­tle await­ing your arrival (stranger things have hap­pened!!). You are granted one wish. What do you choose, and why?
    Health and hap­pi­ness for myself and my family…always. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. It’s so basic but often we don’t give much thought to the things that really matter.”

    when we stop and think about it with­out health and hap­pi­ness how would life really be treat­ing a per­son?
    This are 2 very impor­tant parts of life.

    Lance I know how you feel about meet­ing peo­ple on the inter­net and at con­ven­tions. I met Andrew Ron­deau on the inter­net, he helps we with my tech­ni­cal prob­lems. Then last year hubby and I took at trip to the UK and met him in per­son. Stayed with him and his wife for 4 days. It was wonderful.

    Any­way thank you for the great inter­view and the plea­sure of meet­ing Liz. Bless­ing to you, Debbie

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 19, 2011 at 9:19 pm

      Hi Deb­bie,
      Thanks!!

      Yes, this con­fer­ence was just awe­some!! (and so dif­fer­ent from what you’d expect a con­fer­ence to be like). I really hadn’t planned to go at all, and then talked to the woman orga­niz­ing it (she’s a good friend of mine) — and decided I could make excuses for not going, or I could just do it. So, so worth “doing it”!!

      Con­nect­ing with peo­ple — it’s in our nature. And how awe­some you had the oppor­tu­nity to meet (and stay with!) Andrew! (he’s a great guy!) The times I’ve met peo­ple in per­son (who I’ve first met online) have all been such amaz­ing and won­der­ful experiences…

      Thanks so much for join­ing the conversation…and for all your very sin­cere thoughts…

      Reply
      • Liz says:
        May 19, 2011 at 10:24 pm

        Thank you for your com­ments, Deb­bie. So true on the health & happiness…just found out tonight that the can­cer that my dad has been fight­ing is spreading…would trade any­thing for his good health. We just hope that it can be kept under con­trol. There’s no price to put on good health.

        Reply
  13. Jody - Fit at 53 says:
    May 19, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    Thx for shar­ing Lance! Small busi­ness is hurt­ing so much in this finan­cial cli­mate so thank you for this!
    Jody — Fit at 53´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Healthy Eat­ing for 7 a DayMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 19, 2011 at 9:20 pm

      Jody,
      Liz is a real advo­cate for small busi­ness. And she does such a won­der­ful ser­vice — in giv­ing these places one more out­let to reach a cus­tomer base that IS inter­ested in buying…

      Reply
      • Liz says:
        May 19, 2011 at 10:22 pm

        Thank you for that, Lance. And thank you for your com­ment, Jody. Yes, I do reach a cus­tomer base that truly IS inter­ested in buy­ing AND find­ing out about busi­nesses :)

        Reply
  14. J.D. Meier says:
    May 20, 2011 at 10:08 am

    > It’s Nice to Be Impor­tant But It’s More Impor­tant to Be Nice.
    I like that. A lot.

    It’s funny how sticky one-liner reminders can be — the sort of catch phrases that stick with us through life.
    J.D. Meier´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Action Sig­nals – Use Neg­a­tive Emo­tions as a Call to ActionMy Profile

    Reply
    • Liz says:
      May 20, 2011 at 1:09 pm

      Glad you liked it. It’s truly one of my favorite phrases :)

      Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 21, 2011 at 6:15 am

      Thanks JD!!

      And that’s what is great about some­thing like this — it’s short and catchy, mak­ing it easy to remem­ber. And I like that a lot, too!!

      Have a GREAT weekend!

      Reply
  15. Square-Peg Karen says:
    May 25, 2011 at 9:23 am

    What a fan­tas­tic inter­view — such insight­ful & FUN ques­tions! And I love how you inter­spersed Lance’s com­men­taries through it!!

    I am rac­ing off now to find Wickedly Chic on the inter­webs — I’m intrigued!!
    Square-Peg Karen´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Be Here NowMy Profile

    Reply
    • Lance says:
      May 26, 2011 at 7:24 am

      Karen,
      These are fun to do…especially when I inter­ject some of my own commentary!!!

      Def­i­nitely check out what Liz is up to over at Wickedly Chic — she really has cre­ated an amaz­ing resource!

      Reply
  16. Andrew Walker says:
    June 13, 2011 at 11:09 pm

    Hahaha! Quite an inter­view you had there. It’s very inter­est­ing and fun. I really like your answer on that last ques­tion: what makes you, you? That’s a great answer Liz.
    Andrew Walker´s Last Fab­u­lous Post ..Get Uncom­mon Coupon CodeMy Profile

    Reply

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