In 2004 Australian entrepreneur Lara Solomon (pictured), left a high-profile career to start a new business and launch an unknown product in to the market place. Lara called her new business LaRoo and in just five years the company that brought Australia and the world the original mobile phone sock or “Mock”, is now an iconic brand with over a million Mocks already sold worldwide in Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA.
Born in London in 1975, Lara Solomon studied Business at the University of West of England, specialising in Marketing. After being offered a position with Jaguar and a six-month stint at Reckitt Benckiser, Lara packed her bags and moved across the globe to settle permanently in Sydney, Australia.
With valuable marketing and business experience under her belt, the former Brand Manager at SC Johnson, Conair and Vidal Sassoon, took the biggest risk of her working life in 2004 when she resigned from her job as marketing manager at a US company based in Sydney, to pursue her dream of starting her own business.
Lara Solomon says she had dreamed about starting her own company since she was a little girl. But the idea for Mocks didn’t come to her until she was on her honeymoon in Thailand in 2003. It was there that Lara saw crudely designed socks for mobile phones being sold in street stalls to tourists.
“The quality was very poor, the designs were unappealing, but overall the concept worked, ” said Lara in the introduction to her book, Brand New Day: the highs and lows of starting a small business.
“What appealed to me about the sock idea was that one size fitted all mobiles, so the range would only have to include different designs, not different sizes. They were also really light and easy to send, but this wasn’t something I’d really appreciate until later.”
Lara Solomon returned from Thailand more determined than ever to see her dream come true. “A few different ideas – like socks for mobiles, websites, a new store, a game and special shower caps for covering food – were bobbing around in my head.”
But right from the start, Lara had an inkling that the socks for mobiles would be the product that would ignite her entrepreneurial spirit.
When Lara Solomon started her company in 2004 she was the only employee. Today, LaRoo directly employs a General Manager, two marketing assistants, an office junior, a bookkeeper and two mums working from home. Indirectly, the business helps to keep hundreds of people employed in the manufacturing and worldwide distribution of the Mocks range – not including the countless number of people in the retail sector who sell the Mocks range in retail outlets across Australia and around the world.
Mocks retail for AU$9.95 and you can pick up your very own Mock wherever mobile phone accessories are sold or visit the website www.mockstore.com
In 2008 Lara Solomon wrote and published a book describing her entrepreneurial journey. Brand New Day: the highs and lows of starting a small business is an easy to read diary record and DIY text on how to create, develop and launch a new product and is essential reading for anyone who has ever dreamed about starting their own business.
BUY THE BOOK ONLINE
Mockstore.com for AU$24.95
Amazon.com
Brand New Day: the highs and lows of starting a small business is also available at Borders and other leading book retailers nationally.
Thanks to Lara Solomon, we have 3 signed copies of Brand New Day: the highs and lows of starting a small business to give away. The prize also includes a ‘brand new day’ Mock for your mobile phone, sticker and badge.
Entry to this competition is open to all Australian residents over the age of 18 and entries close at 11:59pm on 28 February 2008: CLICK HERE for your chance to win one of these Mocks Prize Packs
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