Today we’d like to introduce you to Suzanne O’Connor.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was working as a professional dancer / choreographer and spending a lot of time away from my husband and 3 year old daughter in 1998. I wanted to find a way to work at home and be there for my daughter.
My mother, Geri Cook wrote a bargain shopping column for the LA Times as well as doing a radio show on KRLA all on bargain shopping in Los Angeles. She was launching a website and was having trouble with her webmaster. Both my husband and I thought we could do that for her and in October 1999 we launched BargainsLA.com.
We really had no idea technically what we were doing, so our learning curve was rough. A past employee at my husband’s recording studio was doing web work. We hired him to guide and teach us the basics so we could run the site ourselves with occasional help from him.
At first, we posted my mom’s articles and bargain sources she had researched. But then I started researching, writing and posting information. Like my mother I concentrated on mom and pop type stores. We found that small indie businesses were great at finding a niche to get a quality product, then sell it for less than the big box or big outlet stores
We sent out press releases to the media and I started doing local TV news and talk shows promoting both BargainsLA and some of the best local outlets. I even did a news segment for Summer fun dressed in a wetsuit and snorkel.
In early 2003, Mom retired and we took over the site completely with a new look adding a Hot Sales page, a section for a blog and website reviews. The Hot Sales page became an instant hit. We also added a weekly e-newsletter with information about outlets and specific deals offered there.
When I heard about a great furniture staging warehouse sale, we sent out an email announcement to our newsletter subscribers. The sale was packed with people from BargainsLA. So we then started our dedicated E-Blasts called Bargain Alerts for event Warehouse and Samples Sales.
In late 2003, I quite my last dance related job and went full time with BargainsLA.com. My husband also started working full time on BargainsLA a few months later.
We’ve built our business with the idea that if you serve the public with truthful, accurate shopping information, everyone wins. The public wins, our advertisers win and we win. Our recommendation can’t be bought. The hard part is turning down business that want to advertise with us that don’t meet our criteria.
In 2010, we moved into our current home, built 2 offices and did another complete re-design of the site. Since then we have continued with our basic formula of posting up to date bargain shopping information for Southern California. We added, deleted, renewed and discarded new web technology along the way always thinking about keeping it simple, accessible and current.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Life and business are never smooth. We struggled financially a lot, trying to figure out when and how to afford new technology. How to get the PR out there without funds to do it. We had to rely on ourselves for everything. What we didn’t know how to do, we had to learn.
The hardest part was sticking to the concept of serving the public first. The business integrity was always on the line.
We could have charged business to talk about them when I did a TV spot. But we never did. We could have charged business before we did a review of their store. But we don’t and never will.
The biggest challenge of any business is staying relevant and ahead of the curve.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
At BargainsLA.com, we actually walk into every brick and mortar store we review unannounced.
If we like the store and product, we then let them know we’re there. If not, we leave without comment. We do not do negative reviews of stores.
We ask a lot of questions. Where does the product come from? How can they sell it so cheaply. Why is the product there? Is it damaged? Is it last year’s product or a designer knock off? Is it used or Refurbished product. We want to know, so we can tell our audience.
Every sale we post on BargainsLA is verified. Every service we recommend we’ve tried out.
We are not an advertising platform where anyone can advertise their business or event. We enthusiastically tell the truth.
What were you like growing up?
Quiet observer. Played imagination games. Always tried to do the right thing and be a good girl. I was a bit of a loner, but had a handful of good friends.
Discovered dance in high school. That brought out my creativity, athletic disposition and competitiveness. Was naturally good at dance, so I pursued it professionally. I did films, Live World tours, Music Video (Lionel Richie “All Night Long”), commercials. Still love the entertainment arts.
Love music. Love architecture. Love the outdoors.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BargainsLA.com
- Phone: (818) 243-3226
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bargainsla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BargainsLA
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bargainsla
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
