From TV Anchor to Fashion

From TV anchor to fashion, meet Hamilton Northcutt, Etcetera Area Development Manager.

1) Hamilton, when did you join Etcetera and what prompted you to contact them?
I started selling Etcetera in the Fall of 2004. I had been a customer of a consultant who was selling the line in Atlanta, but not all that close to me. When I heard that two friends planned to begin selling Etcetera right in my neighborhood, I called them immediately to ask if they would like a third partner in this new venture. I was very busy at the time, working full-time as a television anchor and correspondent, but I thought it would be a lot of fun to have a small business on the side that would be very different from my “real” job. So the three of us launched our Etcetera agency and had our first show in August 2004. I guess you’d say the rest is history.

2) Had you been a wardrobe specialist before or were you changing careers?
Before selling Etcetera, I had no retail or fashion experience at all. For the first year of my involvement with Etcetera, it was just a part-time business/hobby that I fit in as best I could around the demands of my full-time television career. Then, a little over a year after I began selling Etcetera, two things happened—there was a management change at the TV station where I was working, and Etcetera’s Regional Manager in my area approached me about the possibility of becoming an Area Development Manager (ADM) for the company.

I shrugged off this suggestion at first, as I considered television my “real” job and long-term career, while selling Etcetera was just a fun little business/hobby on the side. But I kept thinking about the ADM job—I didn’t like the management change at my TV station, yearned for a break from the long hours (nights, weekends, holidays, up at 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. to host morning shows), wanted more flexibility in my life, and was excited by the thought of being my own boss and creating a team of fantastic women that I would manage. So in November 2005, my little hobby on the side turned into a career change.

3) How did the transition go as far as making this career change?
I had a lot going on for three to four months as I made this transition … looking back now, I wonder how I juggled it all! But I remember being exhilarated about my new direction in life and very motivated to make sure I was successful in my new venture. I continued my television job for the first couple of months as I launched my new career as an Etcetera ADM, and also continued to sell the clothes with my business partner, Susan Stuart. Working full time at the TV station, recruiting for Etcetera in every spare moment to start building my team of consultants, signing on new recruits and training them, getting them ready for their first show, delivering clothes to my own clients, keeping the books for our agency and preparing for the next show … I was super-busy!