Sometimes the Best Game Plan Is No Game Plan, Says Kristin Cavallari

Why did best-selling author and TV personality Kristin Cavallari decide to launch her own business? "I had this fire in me to prove everybody wrong!" she says.

Cavallari is the CEO and founder of Uncommon James, a Nashville-based lifestyle brand, and explains that before starting her own thing, she faced frustration working on capsule collections in the fashion world. "At end of the day, I didn't have the complete creative freedom to do what I wanted and I was essentially answering to a team of people. And I felt as though I really understood my girl, my customer, because she is me. And I felt as though I was constantly running up against a wall and I just wanted to do what I wanted to do."

And so she went for it, admittedly a bit blindly. "I didn't go to business school, I didn't launch Uncommon James with a business plan — I just launched!"

She says she didn't set KPIs and do all of the things a business is "supposed to do" because, she laughs, "I didn't know what all of that stuff was!"

But that was the beauty of it for her. "I was just doing it because I was excited about it and wanted to get it out there." Her approach has worked out just fine for Cavallari. Uncommon James now has over 90 employees and puts out a variety of lifestyle products that pulled in over $20 million in revenue last year. No plan? No problem!

Presented by Mastercard. Learn how Mastercard is helping bring local businesses into the digital economy at Mastercard.us/digitaldoors