Franchise Update Magazine Issue I, 2016 | Page 22

Female Founders home. I recently bought a cool “Wish Jar” so I could populate it with things I want to do. When I find I’m working too much on the weekend I can reach into my wish jar and go on an adventure. If you could do one thing differently, what would it be? Reverse bad hiring decisions faster. A bad hire or bad vendor partner doesn’t usually get any better, but it can kill all of your momentum. What are your top 5 favorite things to do? Mountain bike riding, hosting parties for my friends, traveling anywhere, art/wine or beer festivals, lounging by the pool or beach with a good book. What’s the best piece of advice you have ever been given? That I don’t always have to be the one with all the answers, I just need to know the right person to ask. That advice allowed me to take a lot of pressure off myself and ensure that I built a strong team of advisors I could quickly get advice and guidance from. What are 3 key words to describe yourself? Driven, resilient, focused. LESSONS/ADVICE What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far? Listen to your gut—it’s usually right on. Hire the best possible people you can who have great attitudes and a passion for your business. Working at a start-up is tough. It’s a special employee who can stick with you through the growth. What advice would you give to other women considering starting their own franchise brand? Be well funded, have a strong, loyal, and experienced team you can trust, be confident in your decisions but don’t be afraid to ask for help from experts, stay calm under pressure, don’t take things too personally, and never stop being nice and helping others. WHAT’S NEXT What would you like to achieve in the next 5 years? Maintaining and building strong, controlled growth with the right franchisees in the right markets. This will allow us to maintain strong metrics and relationships and continue to lead in innovation for our industry. What’s coming up that you’re excited about? I recently added a new member to our headquarters team to take over our franchise sales department. He is a seasoned franchise sales leader who is innovative, conscientious, and gets results. We’ve worked together for years at other brands so I have tremendous trust in him and his decision and feel very lucky. With him in place, I will have more time to focus on developing and improving our products, programs, and systems, which will in turn move the brand forward faster. I’m superexcited to have that time back to better lead our company into the future. n OPTIMIZE YOUR MOBILE EXPERIENCE Working seamlessly on all mobile devices. Contact [email protected] or 800-289-4232 x202 for more details. 20 Fran_dot_com_half_ad.indd 1 1/21/16 7:42 PM Franchiseupdate ISS U E I, 2 0 1 6 fu1_bottleandbottega(17-20).indd 20 2/7/16 2:59 PM