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Join host, Lindsay Pinchuk, LIVE for our 21-day Partnership Sprint starting October 12th. You'll build the exact partnership strategy she used to grow and sell her first company. No hacks, no algorithms, just the relationships that actually move a business forward.  Amy Goin and Laura Laing spent twelve years building Thatch Jewelry before growing to roughly 300 specialty stores and launching with Nordstrom, and they never paid a single influencer to get there. Their simple marketing strategies prove that real founder stories rarely follow a straight line, and that visibility can come from something as ordinary as sending the right gift to the right person. On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Amy and Laura, co-founders of the jewelry brand Thatch, about growing a company that looks effortless from the outside.They explain how they used to slide into the DMs of women whose style they admired and offer them jewelry with no strings attached, a tactic they still credits for early brand awareness. They talk through the pressure of scaling a business during COVID, when a primarily wholesale business suddenly saw online demand explode and had to rethink production to keep up. They open up about watching cheap dupes of their hand-carved gemstones flood the market, and how they’re deciding which battles are worth fighting. For female founders whose businesses are growing more slowly than they hoped, Amy and Laura offer a clear reminder that patience and consistency still work. Listen to hear how two artists turned a struggling small operation into a brand carried in hundreds of stores, and why they still believe the best marketing costs nothing but a little generosity. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Thatch Jewelry's co-founders 03:46 How a jeweler and consultant became co-founders 08:31 Building their first signature collection 12:00 COVID turns into their growth moment 16:39 What Thatch jewelry actually stands for 20:21 Facing knockoffs and cheap dupes 24:50 Breaking down wholesale versus Nordstrom 27:27 Simple marketing strategies without paid influencers 33:11 Building a small, loyal team 36:20 Advice for founders stuck in the middle Connect with Amy Goin and Laura Laing: Visit the Thatch website Follow Thatch on Instagram Subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Getting press rarely starts with a pitch. For Irene Chen, co-founder of Parker Thatch, it started years earlier with relationships she built long before she had a bag to sell. On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Irene Chen about turning a stationery line called Iomoi into Parker Thatch, a founder story rooted in scrappy beginnings. Irene shares how she cut her first pattern with the woman who hemmed her pants and bought canvas at Joann's with a 50% off coupon. Bootstrapping forced Irene and her husband to figure out bag production from the ground up, despite Irene’s background in fashion and finance. She also explains how her friendship with Kate and Andy Spade helped shape two major turning points for the company, with Kate encouraging the move into leather and Kate and Andy pushing them to rethink the Iomoi name. Getting press came easier once those relationships were already in place. Earned media and word of mouth remain one of her biggest drivers of growth today, proof that building relationships in business and networking for women pay off years later. Publicity followed the story, not the other way around. Listen to hear how one friendship changed the direction of an entire company. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Irene Chen, Co-Founder of Parker Thatch 02:30 The Original Idea: E-Stationery Before the Web 05:15 From Paper Goods to Home Products 07:00 Cutting the First Bag Pattern at a Dry Cleaner 09:30 Sourcing Fabric and Leather on a Shoestring Budget 11:00 Getting Press Through Editor Relationships, Not Pitches 12:26 How Kate Spade Sparked the Leather Pivot 13:03 Renaming the Brand From Iomoi to Parker Thatch 17:00 Keeping Customization Alive at Scale 26:19 The Friendship With Kate Spade Beyond Business 39:50 Three Pieces of Advice for New Founders Connect with Irene Chen:  Follow Parker Thatch on Instagram  Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram Join the Dear FoundHer... Forum Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

RSVP and join us on Thursday, September 10 for: Your Next Chapter on LinkedIn: Turn Your Experience, Expertise and Network Into Opportunity Host, Lindsay Pinchuk shares her personal journey with public relations, gaining visibility and the challenges small business owners face. She emphasizes that entrepreneurs can achieve visibility without a publicist by mastering the art of pitching and leveraging local and niche media. She provides a four-part framework for effective pitching, strategies for post-press engagement, and real-life examples of success. In this episode you'll find:   The importance of owning your visibility foundationFour-part framework for effective pitchingStrategies for post-press engagement and leverageReal-life success stories of entrepreneurs landing press independentlyThe difference between earned and owned mediaHow to identify and target the right media outlets and contacts For more follow us on Instagram @dearfoundher. Subscribe to The Foundher Files, our Substack, for more tips straight to your inbox every week. Join our networking community, The Dear FoundHer... Forum Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join the only networking community for women business owners 40+ now through September 3rd with the code SUMMER and save $200  Rachel Berliner built Amy's Kitchen for nearly 40 years without taking on a single outside investor. No outside investors, just a loan against her car, $2,000 from her mother, and a $10,000 bank loan. That is bootstrapping in its truest form, and it turned into a company whose products are sold in 57,000 stores today. On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Rachel Berliner, co-founder of Amy's Kitchen, about what real founder stories look like once the funding rounds are stripped away. Rachel explains the decision-making behind her very first product and why she chose the best ingredients over the cheapest ones, even when it meant slower profit for the company. Rachel also walks through scaling responsibly, from the moment Publix came on board to the years spent building new plants and working with farmers to expand organic production enough to keep up with Amy's growth. She shares how the company approached sustainable business growth without ever taking on outside investors, and why her advice speaks directly to women business owners building at any stage of their journey. Press play to hear how a bootstrapping mindset turned a kitchen experiment into a private company still owned by her family, and the advice Rachel has for any founder who refuses to give up. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Community update and today's guest introduction 03:58 Pregnant, bedridden, and craving real food 12:30 First trade show and instant customer demand 13:07 Losing their production partner and taking production in-house 14:18 Bootstrapping the pot pie machine themselves 17:55 The Publix meeting that changed everything 22:20 Building new plants and scaling with farmers 28:03 Letting go and building a leadership team 34:10 57,000 stores and Walmart entry 37:11 Advice for women founders just starting out Connect with Rachel Berliner: Follow Amy's Kitchen on Instagram  Subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join the only networking community for women business owners 40+ now through September 3rd with the code SUMMER and save $200  Michele Henry turned an $8,000 investment into a $25 million clothing business, then walked away and started over with skincare. Her second company shows what scaling a business really looks like when you build it franchise by franchise, growing from a single facial bar in Edina to nearly 80 locations nationwide. On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Michele Henry, founder and CEO of FACE FOUNDRIÉ, about the decisions that got her there. Michele explains how a five minute decision led her to sign a lease for her first facial bar just five minutes after selling her shares in her previous company. She breaks down the real estate approach that drove her expansion, and why she believes your first ten franchisees will define your brand. Michele and Lindsay get into managing rapid growth during COVID, why patience matters more than most founders expect, and the years it took Michele to find the right CFO, bookkeepers, and financial team. She speaks candidly about her goal of reaching 100 locations by the end of the year, and joining what she says is a small percentage of female founders who have reached that milestone. Press play to hear how Michele Henry built two businesses from the ground up and what she wishes she knew about scaling a business the first time around. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Michele Henry, FACE FOUNDRIÉ Founder 00:40 From Fashion Boutique to a $25 Million Business 02:55 The Five Minute Leap to Face Foundrié 05:23 Inside the Face Foundrié Facial Bar Concept 07:44 Building Brand Awareness for a New Concept 09:54 Real Estate Strategy Behind Rapid Expansion 11:06 Deciding to Franchise the Business Model 13:14 Pivoting Face Foundrié Through COVID Shutdowns 19:32 Scaling a Business Toward 100 Stores 23:10 Hurdles Behind the Business Growth Stories 25:16 Three Actionable Steps for New Founders 26:22 Why Your Numbers Matter More Than Ideas Connect with Michele Henry: Follow Michele on Instagram  Get actionable tips to move your business forward sent straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe to The FoundHer Files: http://foundherfiles.substack.com Follow @dearfoundher on Instagram. http://www.instagram.com/dearfoundher Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

RSVP and Join us for the Dear FoundHer... Virtual Open House and Networking event on August 20th!  Bootstrapping a beauty brand to eight figures before bringing on outside investors sounds impossible until you hear the two financial tools that made it work. Elina Wang, co-founder and CEO of ESW Beauty, joins Lindsay Pinchuk on Dear FoundHer to break down exactly how she built a skincare brand now sold in more than 19,000 retail locations across North America, including Target, Walgreens, Whole Foods, and CVS. Factoring and PO financing kept her cash moving while retailers paid on their own terms, and those two tools became the real financial turning points behind the brand. Elina shares the bad hires that slowed her down, the late shipments from overseas suppliers that forced her to rethink timelines, and the moment she overbought inventory out of fear and what that did to her cash flow. Elina shares her decision-making behind scaling a business while bootstrapping the business, including why she waited years before spending on D2C marketing and what made Whole Foods her first true anchor retailer. Managing rapid growth meant learning these lessons in real time, not reading about them first. Press play to hear Elina's three actionable tips for any founder trying to grow without a safety net. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Elina Wang's K-Beauty Family Business Roots 03:47 Launching ESW Beauty From Scratch 05:13 Landing Kohl's and Her First Retail Win 06:58 Building Community Before Chasing Sales 09:53 Finding the White Space in Skincare 14:19 Target, Whole Foods, and Anchor Retailers 16:14 Bootstrapping With Factoring and PO Financing 19:36 Bad Hires, Late Shipments, and Cash Flow 20:39 Turning Personal Brand Into Business Growth 29:34 Three Tips for Founders Starting Out Connect with Elina Wang: Follow Elina on Instagram Follow ESW Beauty on Instagram Subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE. Lindsay Pinchuk shares the real story of negotiating her way out of her own company, the moment it finally broke her, and how the exit led her to found Dear FoundHer... Part 2 of The Exit picks up where Part 1 left off: a female founder fighting to hold onto the values and the partnership that built her company, inside a corporate acquisition that stopped honoring its promises and contracted obligations. Lindsay shares the breaking point that made her decide to leave, the values conflict with new leadership during a pivotal cultural moment, and the exact negotiation that got her out of her contract on her own terms. She opens up about blacking out on her last day, flying to Colorado the next morning, and how the idea for Dear FoundHer... was born on that trip. The episode closes with the hard lessons from a business exit that didn't go as planned, and why Lindsay chose to tell this story publicly for the first time, as the entry point into her new Premium series, The Aftermath. This episode is for any woman entrepreneur navigating a business partnership gone wrong, negotiating an exit, or rebuilding an identity after leaving a company she built. Check out The Aftermath, Part 1: What Nobody Tells You Happens After the Deal Closes Subscribe to The Foundher Files, our Substack, for more tips straight to your inbox every week. Follow Dear FoundHer... on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE. Lindsay Pinchuk pulls back the curtain on her business acquisition, the promises made and broken, and what really happens in the first year after a female founder sells her company. In this Behind the Curtain episode, Dear FoundHer... founder Lindsay Pinchuk shares the story she's never told publicly: what actually happened when she sold Bump Club and Beyond, the parenting community she scaled from a side hustle to three million monthly users. Lindsay walks through the acquisition process from the first LinkedIn message to the signed deal, why she said no to one buyer and yes to another, and the early warning signs that appeared within weeks of closing. She breaks down how her company's most valuable partnership, a seven-figure relationship with Target, was taken out of her team's hands, and what that meant for her earn-out. This is a real, unfiltered look at business acquisition from the founder's side of the table, told for any woman entrepreneur who is scaling a company, considering an exit, or has ever watched a deal not go the way it was promised. Check out The Aftermath, Part 1: What Nobody Tells You Happens After the Deal Closes Subscribe to The Foundher Files, our Substack, for more tips straight to your inbox every week. Follow Dear FoundHer... on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get action oriented advice sent straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe to our Substack, The FoundHer Files for advice you can put into play to grow your business starting today. If you've ever paid for advice from someone with a massive following and quietly wondered whether they've actually built a real business, this episode is for you. Host, Lindsay Pinchuk breaks down why building an audience and building a business are two completely different skill sets, calls out how AI-generated advice is quietly flooding the coaching and course industry, and walks through The Build Check, her exact three-step process for vetting any coach, course, or program before you hand over your money. Along the way, she gets honest about her own business exit, the parts of it that went sideways, and why that experience, not a follower count, is what actually qualifies her to teach this. What You'll Learn:  Why a viral follower-growth number rarely means what it looks like it means, and the ratio math to run before it makes you feel behind •  The real reason so few female founders talk publicly about what happens after they sell a business •  How corporate acquisitions can turn on the founders who built the company, and the pattern to watch for •  Why building a following and building a business are not the same skill set, even when the content looks identical •  How AI-generated advice is quietly showing up in courses, coaching programs, and masterminds without being disclosed •  The Build Check: a 3-step, 15-minute process for vetting any business coach or program before you pay, including the exact search terms and the exact question to ask •  The one question that reveals within seconds whether a coach has actually built and sold a business, or just built an audience talking about it Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE. Subscribe to The Foundher Files, our Substack, for more tips straight to your inbox every week. Follow Dear FoundHer... on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Lindsay for a Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event on Thursday, August 20th. Click here to save your seat, it's free.  She spent over a decade scaling two of Europe's most successful tech companies, reaching the C-suite along the way. Then she moved back to her hometown and nobody knew her name. That tension is the heart of this episode of Dear FoundHer, and it sets up one of the clearest examples of starting a business after corporate you will hear this year. Host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Christine de Wendel, co-founder and U.S. CEO of sunday, the digital checkout platform used in over 3,500 restaurants across the U.S., U.K., and France. Christine spent over a decade scaling two of Europe's biggest e-commerce companies before leaving corporate at 40 to build a company of her own. Her story shows what transitioning from employee to founder really looks like once the safety net disappears. Christine describes the three humbling months she spent building connections in Atlanta before the idea for sunday took shape, and how a phone call from an old friend turned into a co-founding partnership. She also opens up about startup funding and whether having a male co-founder changed how easily she raised capital. Lindsay and Christine talk candidly about networking for women, credibility, and why making a career pivot later in life can be an advantage instead of a setback. If you have ever wondered whether starting a business after corporate means starting from zero, Christine’s story offers a clear answer: the experience, relationships, and skills you have already built still count. Press play to hear how she used them to help raise $145 million for sunday. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 From Tech Executive to Unknown in Atlanta 02:56 Christine's Path From Bain to Paris Tech 05:47 Why She Waited Until 40 to Start 08:25 Uprooting the Family and Moving to Atlanta 11:43 The Phone Call That Became sunday 14:47 How the sunday App Works 16:33 A Review Turns Into Real Restaurant Change 19:08 How sunday Makes Money 20:57 The 2021 Raise and What Came After 22:45 Doubling Transaction Volume 24:25 Why Restaurants Are Slow to Adopt 26:15 Building Brand Ambassadors and Referral Networks 29:47 Funding, Her Co-Founder, and Gender in Fundraising 32:55 Motherhood, Pacing, and Doing It All 36:46 Three Tips for Women Starting Out Connect with Christine de Wendel: Follow sunday App on Instagram Connect with Christine on LinkedIn Subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For simple, actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Steph Weibring's Etsy shop made $8,000 in a year. Then she made $8,000 in a single November. The move behind the jump is one of the fastest lessons in growing an audience you will hear this year, and she pulled off the shift without a big following of her own. On this episode of Dear FoundHer, the show for women business owners over 40, host Lindsay Pinchuk sits down with Steph Weibring, founder and CEO of Joy Creative Shop. Steph turned a 20-cent Etsy listing into a multimillion-dollar stationery brand while raising three kids. She explains how partnership marketing sparked the jump and what it took to scale the business past seven figures. Steph also shares the chaotic weekend behind her signature bag of tags, and why the design makes her products harder to knock off. Copycat versions of her products show up on Etsy and TikTok. Her response will change how you think about competitors. You will also hear why a handwritten note is the fastest way to stand out when anyone is able to send an AI written thank you, and how Steph turned an old habit into a new subscription business. For founders over 40 who dread showing up on camera, Steph gets honest about her personal brand and the social media strategy she resisted for years. She now runs her company as a “lowercase ceo”, a title she made up to strip the intimidation out of leadership. Steph also offers three steps for any woman starting a business this year. Growing an audience starts with borrowing one. Press play and hear the story behind the November her whole business changed. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Steph Weibring, Founder of Joy Creative Shop 02:55 From College Uncertainty to a 20 Cent Etsy Listing 05:45 From $8,000 a Year to $8,000 in One November 08:14 Self-Belief and the Turning Point Toward Scaling a Business 09:44 What Joy Creative Shop Sells Today 12:45 Making Handwritten Notes Feel Modern Again 15:38 Listening to Customers to Solve Real Problems 19:18 Handling Copycats Without Losing Focus 23:32 Building a Brand Rooted in Gratitude 25:15 Growing an Audience Through Influencer and Partnership Marketing 29:04 Personal Brand and Standing Out as a Real Person 31:33 Teaching Kids Entrepreneurship Through Side Businesses 33:26 Inside the Joy Creative Shop Team 34:41 Launching "A Different Kind of CEO" 36:55 Three Actionable Steps for New Women Business Owners Connect with Steph Weibring: Follow Joy Creative Shop on Instagram Follow Steph on Instagram Join the Dear FoundHer... Forum https://www.dearfoundher.com/dear-foundher-forum Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Liz Lange proves that the best marketing rarely needs a big budget, just the right people. On Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Liz Lange, founder of Liz Lange Maternity, about what it takes to build a business when the money and the confidence are not there yet. Partnership marketing sits at the center of it all, but not in the polished, strategic sense people mean today. For Liz, it looked like trust. It looked like showing up for people and letting the relationship do the work. Liz talks openly about starting as a bootstrap founder with almost nothing to lose and everything to prove. She is candid about the fear behind every major decision, and how often the loudest advice turned out to be wrong. Her instincts, not her budget, were what carried the business forward. The real thread running through this episode is trust. Trust in yourself, trust in slow relationships over quick wins, and trust that partnership marketing can outperform any ad spend when it comes from something real. For Liz, this wasn't a tactic. Networking with women came naturally to her. This is one of those real founder stories that reminds you that good PR for small businesses often starts with a single relationship, not a plan. It’s proof that female founders do not need permission to trust what they already know. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Welcome to Dear FoundHer and the Growing Founder Community 02:47 Meet Liz Lange, Maternity Fashion Pioneer 03:47 Starting Liz Lange Maternity With a Fax Machine and No Budget 09:13 Dressing Celebrities and Building Word of Mouth Marketing 15:36 Learning the Fashion Business From the Ground Up 19:07 Opening the First Liz Lange Maternity Store in New York 23:27 Landing the Nike Partnership Marketing Deal 27:05 How the Target Deal Changed the Business Forever 33:29 Ignoring the Naysayers and Trusting Her Instincts 39:03 Bootstrapping the Business Without Raising Outside Money 41:37 Balancing Motherhood With a Fast Growing Business 44:06 Life After Liz Lange Maternity and Home Shopping Network 45:15 Buying the Figue Brand and Building a New Chapter 46:17 Finding Community and Connection on Social Media 49:13 Three Actionable Steps for Women Starting a Business Connect with Liz Lange: Follow Liz on Instagram Join the Dear FoundHer... Forum https://www.dearfoundher.com/dear-foundher-forum Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Lindsay Pinchuk shares the most important asset you are not leveraging in your business. She shares how leveraging your existing network can be a game-changer for business growth, emphasizing relationships over followers and paid ads. She discusses practical strategies for reconnecting with your network, categorizing contacts, and using relationships to build and scale a business. Important Takeaways: The importance of existing relationships in business growthCategorizing your network: openers, collaborators, amplifiers, anchors, studentsStrategies for reconnecting and activating your networkCase studies of successful women entrepreneurs leveraging relationshipsThe misconception of starting from scratch and the value of past relationships Lindsay talks about "that email" you can read all about that and grab her templates on her substack here. Join us for this month's Forum Workshop on July 9th: The 2-Part Email System Behind Consistent Scalable Revenue REGISTER HERE Join us inside the Dear FoundHer... Forum, our online networking group supporting you as you build and grow your business so you don't have to do it alone. Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Lindsay Pinchuk shares the importance of proactive network outreach for business growth, emphasizing a specific email strategy to reconnect with contacts and generate new opportunities. Learn how to craft personal reintroduction emails that activate your network and boost your pipeline. This episode includes: The importance of proactive outreach to your existing networkHow to craft a personal reintroduction emailThe five-part structure of an effective outreach emailThe role of relationship-building in business growthStrategies for activating your network to generate opportunitiesTakeaways Sending personalized reintroduction emails can quickly generate new business opportunities.Your network is active and waiting to be engaged, not passive.A well-structured, personal email can re-engage contacts and open doors.Building and maintaining relationships over time is crucial for business success.The key to effective outreach is clarity, specificity, and genuine connection. Chapters 00:00 The Importance of Communication in Business 02:31 Reactivating Your Network 05:09 Building Relationships for Success 08:17 Crafting the Perfect Reintroduction Email 10:52 Taking Action: Your Email Assignment Join us for this month's Forum Workshop on July 9th: The 2-Part Email System Behind Consistent Scalable Revenue REGISTER HERE Subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Most women entrepreneurs build a business to solve a problem they found in the market. Sadie Lincoln built one to solve a problem she had been hiding for a decade. Sadie is the co-founder of Barre3, a mindful fitness company with more than 200 studios and an online platform reaching clients in over 100 countries. On Dear FoundHer with host Lindsay Pinchuk, she finally says out loud what took years to admit. A secret eating disorder, a body she was trying to conquer, and a pregnancy that cracked something open she had not been able to reach before. What she discovered in her living room in 2008 became the foundation of everything Barre3 stands for. And every major business decision since then, including walking away from a deal that would have made her a household name in fitness, has traced back to that same truth. Female founders who are scaling a business while trying to stay honest about what it costs will recognize themselves here. Sadie built a community for business the old-fashioned way, face painters at a fountain, free classes above a health food store, relationships that no algorithm can manufacture. She course-corrected when outside pressure pulled her away from her values and called it growing without burnout before that phrase even existed. And the personal brand decision she made, choosing to stay small enough to stay true, is one most founders never have the nerve to make. Know yourself first. Do the research. Surround yourself only with people who are excellent at what they do and who respect why you are excellent too. Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Meet Sadie Lincoln, Co-Founder and CEO of barre3 04:00 How Barre3 Was Built Around Mindful Fitness and Why That Was a Radical Idea in 2008 06:19 The Invisible Truth Behind the Business and What Sadie Finally Said Out Loud 09:27 Why the Hardest Moments in Business Are Often the Seed of What Comes Next 13:56 From Living Room Workouts to a Fitness Company Built to Franchise 17:01 The Grassroots Marketing Strategy That Still Outperforms Social Media 21:47 Why Community Is the Actual Product at Barre3 and How That Drives Sustainable Growth 25:25 What Kept Barre3 Standing While Other Boutique Fitness Brands Fell Apart 28:00 The Deal Sadie Walked Away From and the Financial Hit She Took to Stay True 31:53 The Kitchen Moment That Changed Everything 37:27 What’s Next for barre3 40:21 Three Pieces of Advice for Women Starting a Business Connect with Sadie Lincoln: Follow Sadie on Instagram  Connect with Sadie on LinkedIn  Subscribe to The FoundHer Files  Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram  Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.