Cheyann Benedict & Claire Stansfield
Co-founders, C & C California

It all started with the quest for the perfect T-shirt. Something soft, worn-in, sexy and comfortable – and it wasn’t on the market. Now, Cheyann Benedict and Claire Stansfield, run a multi-million dollar design company and see their shirts on celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Sofia Coppola. Their popsicle-bright, made-for-layering t-shirts were even featured on Oprah’s “favorite things” show. After investing $20,000 of their own cash, Claire and Cheyann have now built C&C into a multi-million dollar company.

Part of C&C’s enviable success lies in how the shirts cross variations in taste, age and body type. Claire – a former actor who played the villainous Alti on Xena: Warrior Princess – is extremely tall and lanky. Cheyann – a photographer-turned-fashion retailer – is a petite size 0. C&C shirts work for both of them, and the fashion-minded friends have built a growing empire based on passion, determination and unbeatable instincts.

Claire Stansfield
August 27, 1965

What’s the best investment you’ve ever made?
The $10,000 dollars I put into making these T-shirts, and the time it’s taken to see that investment through. It has literally changed my life. It’s very lucrative – we’ve made quite a bit of money – and I feel strongly that we’ll continue to grow and change. And now, I also have a completely different lifestyle. I really enjoy waking up and going to work. I love having this company to run.
From a business sense, everyone said that everything we were doing was wrong. I had a collection of sewing kits from hotels that my mother (a flight attendant) had gone to and Cheyann worked in retail to help get herself through school, but all in all, we had zero fashion background. But we knew T-shirts. It’s basic construction, so it was easy to draw and have patterns made, but it was the whole philosophy and the fabric and the feel that made the idea new, and that was what everybody said was wrong. In our entire process, we do everything that you’re not supposed to do. But we test our t-shirts, we live in them and we don’t make anything that Cheyann and I don’t covet and love to wear, or something that we feel is missing from our wardrobes. We’re really just making things that we love. It’s like anything – if you love it a lot and you do it, you’re going to get good at it.

What has influenced your professional success?
I’m lucky that Cheyann and I were both at this stage in our lives where it was a “do or die” mentality. We know we both want a certain lifestyle and we both want to be our own bosses and create an environment, and we are not stopping until we can create that for ourselves. So if something doesn’t work or if something is too difficult, there is nothing stopping us. We never say, “oh, let’s give up.”

What has been the hardest thing for you to learn about money?
That it changes people. I think 99 percent of the people in my life are extremely happy for us, and really supportive, but I think for some people, our success just reminds them of what they still want to do. They’ll say, “wow, a year ago you were renting a tiny cabin in Laurel Canyon and you were driving around in your tiny used car and now – you just bought a house and a brand new Range Rover and oooh, look at you. I could do that.” And they don’t realize it’s a combination of all kinds of doors opening. All my PR connections and friends and relationships that I’ve cultivated for over 20 years, and a lot of hard work, so it didn’t just happen overnight. But people always think that it did. There were moments – we call them our “hold me” moments – where literally things were so hard and it felt like going into a battle. You’d come out of it and say, “oh my God, did we really just do that?” And I think that’s the key to success. You have to fight and fight hard.

What are the best money relationships you’ve built?
With our company, it’s a 50/50 partnership. Everything is 50/50, whether it’s remembering that you put a quarter in the parking meter just now, so I’ll get you next time. Even though we’re a multi-million dollar company, we still keep it that basic. Cheyann does all of the deposits and I do all of the check writing, so there is always a check system where she knows what’s going in and I know what’s going out. And one can’t work without the other. I mean, I can’t write checks without deposits going in and when she’s depositing, she’s always aware of what’s in there. And I have to tell her what goes out so that she can make sure there’s enough in there. So there is a check system that makes us need to trust each other.

Cheyann Benedict
April 5, 1969

What do you think is the greatest misconception people have about money?
That it will inflate your self-esteem. I read an interview with Alanis Morrisette a while ago where she said one of the reasons she wanted to become a pop star was because she thought she’d make all this money and her self-esteem would go way up – and I can tell you from experience, it just doesn’t. I never thought, “Okay, my self-esteem is going to soar and millions of people are going to tell me that they love me” – and not that I want those things – but on some level, it’s in your head. The funny thing is, no matter how much money I make, I’m still the same person. I’m the exact same person.

Do you have a rescue fantasy?
There have been days and weeks when I’ve worked so hard I’ve been so tired. And I still have days where I’m like, “man, why can’t I just meet a rich guy? I’d be laying out in the Bahamas right now.” So, even with a little financial security, I still have this rescue fantasy.

How do you feel about debt?
I’ve often been in debt. One of the things I love doing now is paying off my credit card from when I was living off a meager income. But that debt never really bothered me because that an investment in my future. I’m not afraid of debt because I am not afraid to work. I am not afraid of work because I have never had a problem getting a job. I have a very strong work ethic.

What have you had to learn about money?
With my personality, working for other people is difficult. Maybe it’s because when I was growing up, both of my parents owned their own companies, so I didn’t like the idea of working for someone else. So, I did things when I was young to make it so that I wouldn’t have to work for other people. The first thing I did was buy a really, really inexpensive 400-square foot apartment in New York. When I went to rent it out, I got a really good rate for it. I had a little bit of inheritance and I spent it all on this little apartment. I didn’t save any to live off of, I just said, “here is something tangible to help my future. I invested in property and became a landlord, and I didn’t have a lot of income in the bank, but I had these things that made money so I wouldn’t have to punch a clock.

• Excerpt from Earn What You’re Worth: A Wildly Sophisticated Approach to Investing in Your Career and Yourself, by Nicole L. Williams. Published in Jan 2005 by Penguin Putnam. To read more click here.