From an Online Game to a Cheerleading Uniform Business

My name is Joelle Krummenacher and I live in Switzerland. I created Spirit Fever, a company that sells cheerleading uniforms as well as all equipment needed for the sport. It started as a free cheerleading online game which I originally made as a hobby. As time went on, I thought I should try selling cheerleading uniforms to the players in order to fund the game.

I thought that the players might want to dress the same way as their characters in the game. However, while doing this, I found that real cheerleading teams in Europe also had trouble finding quality uniforms at affordable prices. So, my small business was born.

What does your business offer?

Spirit Fever Brands offers a wide range of services for cheerleaders and cheerleading teams around the world. The main part of the business is Spirit Fever Fashion where we create custom uniforms and practice apparel for cheerleading teams. We also sell shoes, pompons and other accessories needed to for the sport. The initial division, the online game, has 60,000 players and is still running. We also offer website creation for the teams. Since 2010, we have also been hosting cheerleading competitions. You can also follow us on Twitter.

What are some day to day challenges you face?

I have more than 300 different products and most of them have different sizing and colors charts. I also offer the opportunity to print any text on the garments in more than 40 different colors. It’s very hard to enter all of these parameters into just any system. The creation of my future online shop is also driving me crazy!

What is your advice for small businesses?

I recommend getting as much help as you can. In the beginning, the money was tight, so I didn’t want to spend money for any services and I preferred doing everything myself. I soon found out that there is only 24 hours in a day and no one can be good in everything! I learned that even though I could pretty much do anything myself, other people could do it better and quicker.  Sometimes it’s really worth spending the money and having the job done well and quickly rather than doing it yourself. In my case, I learned to let go and delegate graphic design, some accounting and logistics (but you can delegate almost everything). This will help you get more time to focus on the things that bring money. Plus, you’ll be able to do more of what you do best and what you enjoy. That’s what we all want, right? Waking up every morning and only doing the work we like! Also, spending money on good software that will make you look professional and save you time is also a good idea. For example I could have done all of my invoicing and inventory in Excel for free, but discovering inFlow was really the thing that brought my business to a whole new level.

Any other thoughts?

When I discovered inFlow I was thrilled. It did exactly what I was looking for plus much more. I also appreciated the strong relationships inFlow builds with their customers. They are always ready to help. I’ve been a beta tester and I feel that my input was really important to them. I have seen features that were requested by the users implemented in the new versions. Apart from the fantastic customer support, the price is really interesting compared to the quality of the software. There are still a few things that I’m waiting for like a tax support that matches the one in Switzerland but inFlow provides alternatives for features that are not implemented yet.