Interview with One Hour Parties! (Page 3)
without ever talking to her about it — but simply because she was a female, that she would be family oriented. And in fact, she was not. She chose not to have children, which is totally fine, but she really had no tolerance for any kind of family obligations. Eventually, that was why I left the company. So anytime I can do my thing and not have anyone make me feel guilty or look down on me, I'm really really appreciative of that.
Sarah: That's amazing. It is true that it makes such a difference. The happier we are, the more work we do and the better our work is.
Leanne: Yes, we have that for our employees too. That's just our policy here. I don't ever want anyone to feel bad because she has to take care of her family. As we bring on franchisees, who will primarily be women, I think that's a great selling point. Not only will we not micromanage your personal life, but you will have a flexible schedule, where even raising a young child, who's not in school yet, is feasible. And all that with no guilt. It's juggling, it's not easy, but it can be done.
Sarah: Right, and it's nice to be able to do all the juggling without feeling judged on top of it.
Leanne: I'm happy to give people pointers even. We just brought on new fanchisees in Florida, and they are just going through training. It's a mother and daughter. The mother is in the middle of her life, and her daughter has a two-year-old. I was so excited about that because I could share with her exactly how I made that work. Especially as she has a partner. So it's very relevant for me to be able to coach people on how to make that part of their life work.
Sarah: I think it's really great that you're helping other people do that, because other moms are always the best resource.
Leanne: I think that's actually my favorite part of the whole big picture of what I'm doing. We're helping people get involved in a career that is actually conducive to a great mommy lifestyle.
Sarah: Is there something that had you and Christopher make sure that this business actually happened?
Leanne: In general, I think the reason we've stuck with this is that we wanted to franchise. And we've done that, just over the last year. All of that is just really really hard. Building a national brand is really hard, and we decided to do that through franchising. So this might sound cliché, but we always give up on the things that don't work and we always tweak and refocus on the things that do. We continue to just focus on the things that work, and if you continue to do that, you'll make progress.
I think that a lot of people have the attitude that if you start something, never give up. But the truth is, you should give up on some ideas and make other ideas better. I think a lot of people, and women maybe more specifically, tend to stick with things because we think they're "neat," but they're not succeeding. With just a little bit more investigation, or a 25% tweak, you could actually push a business forward. So you can't give up, but you do have to be willing to change what you've decided to do.
And that's our mode: Here's what's working, here's what isn't. Tweak it, change it or give it up. Let's go in this direction and let's just build.
Sarah: Yes, I think that knowing when to cut and run is actually important, and that doesn't always mean the whole project, but maybe just an aspect of it.
Leanne: Exactly. But I think that sometimes when we get involved in something we think we can't change it. But we can!
Sarah: That's really great advice. I'm glad you said that. It's always more fun to work on things that work!
Leanne: Yes, and what ends up happening when you work that way is that you end up building something that is unique to you — which is how you create a unique product. We end up thinking, "Hmm what is that person doing, and are they doing it?" Or, my friend said I should do it this way or that way. Then you start second guessing everything you're doing. That is just a disaster. If women who are starting businesses question everything they're doing, and they don't have the confidence to know what they're good at and push forward on the things they know to do, then they will end up missing out on many opportunities.
You really can't worry about how other people are approaching a new concept or business idea. If you want to do that, then just copy a business or business model or go into an industry that's pretty set in its ways. But if you want to be an entrepreneur and try something new, then you have to move forward in a different manner.
Sarah: OK, there is one other thing I always like to ask. Is there anything I didn't ask you that you wanted me to ask?
Leanne: In general we want people to know that not only are we succeeding and they can follow in our footsteps, but we want people to know that we started a business that's a franchise so other women could get involved. We're really proud of the business and we want people to get involved.
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Interview by Sarah
