What happens when two dreamers get together to build an online site?  Evve Online - a dream that not only gets bigger, but has twice the push to make it happen. You may remember Irina from a previous post we did on her futuring her t shirt line “Sugah” now she’s back and not alone. Say hello to Caroline and see what these two partners are up too, what tips and advice they have to share to help us move our dreams along.

How did you and Caroline meet?

Caroline: We met on our first day at the Fashion Academy, ten years ago. I walked into the classroom, expecting fashionista’s and stylish barbiedolls, but was shocked to find out the classroom was filled with skaters and gothics; not what I expected! The only ‘normal looking’ girl (wearing leopard skin pants), was Irina, who was sitting at a desk with a free seat next to her, so I decided I should sit next to her ha ha.

Irina:  yeah, I would have to go with her story.  Since it was the first day of school we had like a little lunch with the new class.  She sat next to me and asked me to pass the milk..next thing I know we’ve passed ten years and she still sitting next to me! She still makes fun of my leopard pants by the way.

What inspired the two of you to start http://evveonline.com?

Caroline: We always loved drawings and illustrations of strong, sexy women. We loved reading stories of independent, succesfull women, who have no shame to talk sex, you know the kind you see in Sex and The City. We wanted to create a platform for these type of women, where they can share stories, read blogs and watch video’s. Be open about their sexuality, because women still get judged when they speak openly about sex (‘oh, she’s a slut!’), meanwhile, everybody’s having sex. We are currently looking for erotic writers to sex things up even more!

Irina:  We actually also got inspired by the way they have fraternities and the way people form groups in the States. We don’t really have that in Europe so we thought it would be cool to start our own! We started brainstorming about it and decided to start a community with similar minded young women. The concept started in 2008, we didn’t know exactly what we wanted to do with the idea we just knew it should have the name Eve . Trough out the years we ( kind off subconsciously ) collected inspiration and thoughts and then decided that it’s time to put it all together and make it happen.

What doors do you hope/ plan to open up with this website?

Caroline: We hope to publish a book with all our great blogs, stories and art and photography in the nearby future. Maybe find a publisher and launch a magazine once a year. We are also setting up a webshop where we can sell our own clothingline (Kiki Kurves Kouture and Sugah), next to other sexy products from other companies. We are planning on launching beauty related products and fashion under the name of EVVE. We don’t think small, we always shoot for the moon!

Irina: I hope EVVE  grows into a movement! A platform where young women gather and can identify themselves with. An online lifestyle  and state of mind that turns into reality ( a 3d product ) by throwing events, gatherings, launching products.

What do you admire about each other as business partners?

Caroline: Irina never gets tired of networking and reaching out to people. She will always help others when they ask her for help or advice. She gets along with everybody, no matter what type of person you are. She isn’t a judgemental person. She never gives up and is a go getter.

Irina:  Caroline is a hard worker and isn’t afraid to put effort in. No matter what the circumstances are she will get it done! She is always honest and direct and has a critical eye for things. We  both have to learn along the way and she thinks in solutions instead of obstacles!

Its been said having a friend as a business partner is usually not a wise choice. Are there any tips you can share when working with friends?

Caroline: We bitch, rant and rave at eachother every other day. We irritate eachother, snap at eachother, its normal, we spend so much time together. You have to remember  that this will happen with every person you work close with and spend most of your time with, friend or not. At the end of the day we need eachother, and this we know. Plus, I have a son of two years old who demands attention when we are working on projects. I reckon Irina has it harder coping with me and my son ha ha. When we work apart for two days in a row, I get nervous and call her and ask her when we are going to work together in the same room again.

Irina:  The hardest thing when u collaborate with other people is to let go of your own ego and that you shouldn’t take things too personal. It doesn’t matter if this is a friend, family member or a total stranger.  We both learned how to deal with criticism and how to deal with each other’s personality.  We compliment eachother in our abilities and we both have our own qualities. Sometimes we agree to disagree and that’s perfectly fine.  We are most productive when we are together and keep one another on our toes and motivated. This summer I had to actually move in to carolines place because all of the work we had to do! Long nights, grumpy mornings, building companies and raising a baby! But the results are worth the sacrifice and besides business partners we are friends first! Its all about toleration!

Any experiences you can share with us that you had to learn the hard way about starting your own website that you wish you had a heads up on?

Caroline: We fell flat on our face numerous times.9 years ago we set up our first business and we were cocky and fearless and thought we knew it all. If we had an experienced business person to help us out back then, we wouldnt have fallen flat on our face probably. You need experienced people in your niche to give you advice. Falling flat on our face gave us a reality check and made us wiser. We knew then that when a way of working fails, find another way to get where you want to go. It’s like building a house, if you used wood to build it and it fell apart, rebuild it and use bricks instead second time around. Same goes for Evve online; we created everything ourselves, the layout, the content, building a team; when one way or working fails, we go for a different approach to get what we want.

Irina: We just started designing and educated ourselves along the way.  You only learn by experience, and boy did we! We really started from scratch and had to build the website ourselves. All we had was a couple of do it yourself tutorials we downloaded and printed out. We were constantly trying new things out and if they didn’t work wouldn’t go to sleep until we had something that did work.  When we felt like we were lost we would approach people for help and they did! We had no time to be afraid to ask for help and eventually this made us realize we didn’t have to invent everything ourselves!