https://www.listennotes.com/e/651c614203be4d80bf370cfd411e34a2

I do really believe 100% from every part of me that everyone has the capacity to be able to do the things that they want and not to be held back by the mental baggage that's in our head that we want to push through.

Welcome to the Do the Thing podcast. In each episode, we get down and personal with people who go after the things they want to make all their wildest dreams come true. Join us as we unveil and dissect a formula for what it takes to do the thing. Here is your host, Stacey Lauren.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacey Lauren. Well, you guys, I am so excited because when I get to join new communities that I need for my own life, because I want to be around my people who have gone through similar things and going through similar journeys and being able to understand things that I go through, I get to meet the most incredible people. And that is how I met my next guest is I joined this amazing community called the Whisper Collective, who is helping women founders after their exit really kind of connect together and be able to do amazing things by being supported and encouraged and having a place where maybe most people don't understand what they're going through. And we met and Connected and she also exited her business and now is helping other people through that process as well. So I'm so excited to get to talk to her, hear her story, and have you guys learn all about this whole new world that for many of you are wanting to get into and that haven't yet experienced an exit. And if you have gone through an exit, then I will encourage you to check out this community as well. So I am welcoming Maggie to the show. Hey, Maggie.

Hi, thanks for having me.

Yeah, thank you so much. I love it when you could bring the community. That's the connection point. Now we can actually really kind of go on another level and really hear your story too.

Yeah, I'm happy to share my story, my background, and hopefully inspire women who are looking to sell and exit their business to know that it absolutely can happen for them.

Okay, with that, let's hear your story. I'd love to know more about you and how you're getting to this point.

Yes. So in 2008, I was planning my own wedding to my now husband. And so it was many, many years ago. If you can go back and think, this is before Pinterest, this was before Instagram. So there really was limited ways to kind of be able to pull your vision together for your wedding. And we live in Connecticut, but my family has a lake house in northern Wisconsin, and that's where we were planning our beautiful 250 person event. And I was desperately trying to share my vision with my vendors, and I was ripping pictures out of magazines, taking disgusting, grainy pictures with my Blackberry, and trying to email it to my vendors. And it really wasn't working. And so I thought, okay, why don't I put together a very simple blog format, which was very popular at the time. A lot of people were starting these, a blog, which was short for like a web blog. I thought, okay, maybe I can find some pictures and put it on there, and then my vendors would be able to see it. So what I didn't realize was that there was this real big gap in the wedding planning community that other brides and couples were having the exact same challenge. Whether they were trying to show it to their vendor or they were just trying to pull a look together for themselves, the lack of finding the inspiration was really the problem. And there was a handful of homemade wedding blogs, just like what I eventually started, But I was planning a very, very high-end, chic, yet outdoor rustic event, and there was nothing. And so I started finding wedding photographers who would post the pictures of weddings that they had photographed, right, as examples of their work. And I would see something in the background. I'd see pictures of the flowers, and I'd say, this is what I'm going for. So I would email the wedding photographer, and I'd say, I started A blog, I will give you full credit. I will link to you. But can I showcase some of your beautiful photographs? And within two months, I had a full business with no business plan. I had readers like crazy. And we owned the niche rustic wedding anything. Like we just dominated Google. We were everywhere. Then we did move forward with changing it from more of a just a personal blog to more of a real true platform to help inspire and guide brides as they planned their wedding, connect with vendors, and we grew ad revenue. But the big game changer for us was Pinterest. When Pinterest came out, there was no Pinterest business yet, and I jumped on it from a company standpoint and started posting our images that linked back to Rustic Wedding Chic. And that is where we went from having a very nice readership to having millions and millions of monthly readers. And when I say I was running behind the business to catch up, I was running, this business launched itself, and I was just holding on. Wow.

I love how it was something that you needed, right? And then you got to see that other people needed it too. And I loved how you said the gap, right? I think a lot of people, if they see a gap, they don't actually do something about it, right? You're like, no, I'm actually going to do something about it. And then obviously it took off, right? That's where the momentum of the people getting to see what you were doing, and then they needed it too. And then all of a sudden you're.

Having to, Keep up with it.

Yeah.

And what I really learned quickly was that rustic was an overarching umbrella term for backyard, farm, country, vineyard. Many, many different types of rustic weddings were happening at the time. And everyone just kind of funneled into us because there was other amazing wedding blogs out there, but they either focused on very high-end weddings, like two, 300,000, aspirational style weddings, or they were just kind of very generic with wedding planning information. And we filled a niche for a lot of brides. Yeah.

And so, okay, so now you're really successful now, right? It turned into a business. You're trying to keep up with it. And so what was the next step from there?

So I got married, decided to leave my job. I was a middle school teacher at the time, so I'm pretty sure I was finishing grad school and teaching. I was like, I think if I play this correctly, I can probably make my same teaching salary, right? Which felt like pennies anyway. And so my husband was like, go for it. Let's see what happens. I called in a bunch of friends, advisors who knew the media space, who knew how to maximize ad revenue, look at other revenue streams. And with, I'd say within two years, we were doing amazing with readership, but we were diversifying how the company spoke to couples. and in 2012, I want to say, I signed a book deal, and that changed a lot for us. So then over the course of the time, I wrote six books on wedding planning, and it allowed us to speak to the bride offline and online, right? So she Barnes & Noble and read the Rustic Wedding Chic Handbook or Barn Weddings or any of the other books I wrote. And we also licensed our name to product. And those two things took us from just being a one-dimensional media company that you would go online, find information to having really 360 way to be able to speak to the bride.

Wow. Could you explain what licensed your name to product means? Yes.

So in the wedding world, like lots of other industries, there are companies who sell wedding products, right? And they sell whether it's card numbers for the table or favors or stationary. And I had a couple of companies come to us and say, we want to have a wedding product on our shelves, but it's not going to sound good if it's just XYZ company. You have a following, people know you. By putting your name on it, you're kind of the stamp of approval that this is a good wedding product. So we developed product together a lot in the stationary world, and it was in major retailers on their shelves. And that to us was a A great thing because we went from just being an online media source to then actually having and being represented at someone's wedding with the decor or the stationery or whatever else product they bought. Wow, that's so cool. Yeah, it was definitely outside my comfort zone because I didn't know what it really meant to license the name of the company to a product that then takes on a whole nother world.

And yeah, since you mentioned outside your comfort zone, I, before we got on.

Just so you guys know, I showed.

Maggie the comfort circle framework that I'm obsessed with. Where it helps people basically get out of their comfort zone at different levels. I'd love you to maybe share that journey too, because as you're doing this, you were a middle school teacher, you know what I mean? And then you're accidentally almost figuring this out. And then all of a sudden now this big business.

What was that like for you? Yeah. So I've always been an entrepreneur at heart. I've had a million different businesses. I always said, I started with Maggie Shell Shop when I was six years old and I'd go to the beach and I get endless feedback. Free product by picking up shells and then would sell the shells. So I've always been an entrepreneur and it's always really been at the core of who I am. So starting a business didn't scare me. Figuring out how to scale the business didn't really scare me. But I think getting outside my comfort zone was no one, when you're a company of one and you call yourself a founder and CEO, you have to believe it first, right? Because if you're a CEO of a big company, somebody else has hired you, they've said yes. They have validated that you deserve to be the CEO of that company. When you start something yourself, I had a lot of hesitation in the beginning going, well, I'm not really a CEO. I'm running my own company. And then finally, little by little, I realized I was like, I have a major, I have a large company. It's a large digital media company that I have employees, and I needed to then really step into that and say, and I know how to lead it and I know where it should go in the future. and through the, it provided a lovely balance as well. Through the years before I sold, I gave birth to three boys. And so having the opportunity to step back and be at home when I needed to and then be able to run the company full steam when I was able to was a really great balancing act.

Wow. What do you think helped you kind of do that? Tap into who you are, believe that you were 'Cause I remember even I owned my staffing company for 20 years and I was CEO of that business and I always felt like this unsophisticated, you know what I mean? Compared to what I imagined a CEO would look like. And it was like, this is a $35 million company. I had 60 employees, 600 external employees. And what is that stupid feeling of not feeling good enough? And so just kind of curious what that was like for you.

I think it was because it was very, I was very siloed. I worked a lot behind my computer on my own. And in my head, a CEO at the time was someone who was wearing a power suit or was working in Manhattan. And we live about an hour outside of Manhattan. And I was like, I'm wearing yoga pants again. How does that, like, can I really be a CEO in yoga pants on my couch with my computer? And what I figured out very quickly was like, yeah, you can. There's no just one shape of that it takes to be a CEO. You can make it work. for you. I would say that when I started to get a lot of external validation, which sounds so crazy, but sometimes that's what it takes, I started to do morning shows when the books would come out, and I would be introduced as founder and CEO, wedding expert, and then go on whatever morning show it was for like four or five minutes. And then I was like, oh, I needed somebody else who had some sort of power or persuasion to say these things. And then you believe it for a little bit until you get back home and, you know, your kids are drooling on you and you're, you know, and then you're like, oh, I'm really not, I was, it was glamorous for the five minutes. Yeah.

What advice would you have for someone on just that piece alone if they're kind of finding their voice and tapping into that person that they're meant to be and who they are?

So I'm a big believer in that you have to believe yourself and the words that are coming out of your mouth. first, no one else is going to believe you if you don't believe what you're thinking, what you're feeling, what you're saying. So if you have to remind yourself 15 times a day of what it is, then that's maybe what you have to do. I'm a big believer in putting either sticky notes or notes around or whatever it is with the thing that you want to believe. And so you remind yourself of it constantly. And so I think when you go to sleep at night, you say to yourself, Man, that was a messy business day, but I did amazing job. I'm a really good leader, right? It's no different. I think parenting comes very natural to a lot of us. And we go to bed every night. We go, oh, that was hard, but oh, your heart is filled with so much love for your children and everything else. It's the same with entrepreneurship. You have to believe, okay, maybe it was a rough day. Tomorrow is going to be a better day. I did the best that I could today. But as long as you believe the words first, everybody else is going to fall in line and listen to you as well.

Wow, that's such good advice. Yeah. And so then you decided to exit, right? What was that like? What made that decision? Because that's a hard decision. This is your identity.

You've just built the baby, right?

That you built out of nothing and it turns huge thing. And it's not even just a business. Your persona was created from it too with this being an author and being able to go on the news and different things that you were doing at that point.

Yeah, so I had successfully run the company for 12 years. And along the way, we had gotten a lot of interest from different wedding companies, different digital media companies, and had some conversations. And just nothing was either the right time or the right fit or whatever. So I did get to a point where I woke up one day and I was like, okay, I love this company, but am I going to be doing this when I'm 60? Right? I don't think so, right? It was a big part of who I was, but I don't think I'm gonna be doing this forever. And I really honestly felt like it was the child that lives in your basement and doesn't go to college. It's not gonna, it's not gonna reach its full potential. And I was like, it's time for me to get this company, for someone else to take it over, bring it to its next level, give it whatever it needs. And I was like, I've made great memories here. I'm so grateful for the life that it's given me, my husband, my children. But I'm very happy for it to go on to its next life. And I think I was ready for something else too. Yeah.

Was that a hard decision when you came to that? Were you scared at all? Or what was that like?

No, I wasn't scared. I thought-- I wasn't sure how-- if I could get it sold, like that seemed very daunting to me. But I was excited at this next phase of the company. It really-- so much of what I say goes back to being a mother, because it's the world I live in every day. But there's these different stages. Like, Toddler stage is hard, and then elementary school is a different sort of thing. And I felt like I was at a different stage with the company. And I was like, I got it through its infancy. I got it through the early years. And now it's really grown. It needs to go fly and live its own life. And so I was happy to try to be able to get it to that point.

Okay, yeah. So, and this is the thing that a lot of people don't realize, and I think you'll have to say something about this, I'm sure, because you're kind of part of this world now. But for many people, the exit is actually even harder than the building of the business. And so I'd listen about that too.

Totally. Because I just woke up one day, wanted to start this business. I bootstrapped it with $1,400 of my own money. It was not, that didn't seem hard at all. The idea of the exit seemed harder. And I have our list of kind of who I thought would be the dream acquirers, certainly spoke with people that we had talked with in the past, but I needed to figure out who was going to be the right home because in digital media, There can just be too much of the same stuff, right? So going to one of the major wedding digital companies, even though I had spoken to many of them over the years, it was just folding in more stuff of what they were already doing. And so I got very strategic about who I was going to approach and why, and I made my short list. And I was kind of too small for a big broker out of Manhattan. And I was just like, I'm just going to do it like everything else. I'm going to do it myself. and kind of just get it done. And I made my shortlist. I had lots and lots of interest and lots of great conversations. And ultimately the right place for it to live was with the amazing executive team who I met with from David's Bridal. We met in March of 2020. We met six days before the world shut down. But what they were doing was really revolutionizing the company in a way that they were going to want to speak to the bride through her entire wedding planning process. And that's what we did really really well. And I had been a fan of the company knowing that so many brides trust them. And it was a fabulous home for rustic wedding chic.

That is so cool. That's where I got my wedding dress, so.

Oh, good.

That's so funny. That's amazing. Oh, my gosh. I mean, it would be like a dream, I feel like, because you're playing on such a huge level when you're even selling to a company like that. And to see that. But I don't know. This sounds weird, but they're wanting it, you know, like.

That has to feel so good to.

Know like, oh my gosh, I just raised this baby that is now going to a home that can nest explode it in the coolest way.

Well, I, and I think people ask me all the time, weren't you nervous? And I was like, well, I felt, I mean, I wasn't nervous going in and having that conversation because I was very confident in what my company stood for, the, the amazing growth it had had over the years. And we, we all spoke the same wedding language, right? Of wanting to help the bride. But what I did feel a little uncertain of, okay, if they like the idea and we continue talking, I've never been through an exit before. I know how to run my company. I don't know how to exit, really. So that was where the challenges really came in was that I had to figure out I was doing this mostly on my own.

So what did that look like? What did that process look like?

That was a lot of me asking my husband questions with him going, I have no idea. This is not Girl, I lived it. He's not, he's not, he's in education. He was like, I don't know. But it was COVID. We were in lockdown. So conversations were just happening over the phone. And there was a lot of me trying to say it was my only initiative. My sole focus in the company was getting it over the finish line. And to the acquirer, they're doing everything that their business needs. and trying to get this over, you know, so trying to get everyone's attention, trying to get all those meetings, that was the hardest part of keeping it on track, even though they had the best intentions, they're still trying to run their business day to day. So I was thrilled when it all came together, when it was finalized, and it was really a great thing to happen to the company and a great thing to happen to me personally.

And so then you exited, right? And so what was that like, that part of like, okay, now it's gone. I've just given my life to the business that now I'm freed from. So what did that look like for you?

I wasn't a burnt out entrepreneur. I was thrilled to have the exit. And I always say a tired entrepreneur is not an attractive acquisition. So if you show up to that meeting like, I'm exhausted and I can't do this anymore, that energy does not go over well. So I, I was happy that it was off happening. I didn't feel the way I thought I would feel signing the papers. that I would be very emotional. I was like, I'm ready. The next thing is here. I'm excited. I was happy and excited. And I had been given the opportunity to go over and be part of one of the leadership teams at David's, which I had zero corporate experience. I really only knew my business. I started it at 26. So I took the opportunity. I said, Give it a year or so, see how it goes. And I learned a lot of things, met a lot of lovely, very smart business people. I loved working for the executive team at David's. They were phenomenal leaders. They were phenomenal mentors. And I was also, it proved what I thought was that I am an entrepreneur at heart. And I was a little bit like, it's not you, it's me. Like, this is not for me. But I knew all along in the back of my head that I wanted to help other female founders in a lot of capacities. And I had done some consulting in that world, but I really wanted to help them figure out, to help them exit, help them get the money they deserve for the companies that they've built, that they've put in, you know, the time. And because I spoke the language, I said to one client not that long ago, my longest maternity leave was two weeks. That's not normal. So you should exit. And when you exit, you remember that those two weeks that you took, that money that you're now putting back in your pocket is to make up for that, right? There's things that the reasons that we exit are really to be able to help say, yes, it was hard years being an entrepreneur, and I got the money that it was worth for both the sacrifices and the highs of running the company.

Yeah. What do you think, and I don't want to say anything went wrong with your exit process or how did it feel? And I know you mentioned the part of not feeling understood, even though your husband tried to support you, he couldn't help, right? Because he didn't know the language that you were having to go through. So the questions you had, was that the piece that now is making you so passionate about helping other people go through it?

I think, yes, because look, I had a very good lawyer who answered every one of my questions, right? And I had a great Finance team and accountant who were helping on that side of the deal. So all of that I felt like was in place, but I didn't feel like I had had a female founder who had also been through it to both speak the business language, but then to also understand the emotional side of a deal like this as well. And that is when I met Carrie Kerpen from the Whisper Group, I said, I have to be a part of what you're doing because I'm doing this on a smaller scale. with Maggie Lord and company, but I want to be able to do it with you to help women understand why they have this business, what it's worth, and then if they want to sell it where we can be with you and hold your hand through it behind the scenes and be really, you really need a deal team. And usually a traditional M&A deal team is the CEO or founder who's selling. You have your lawyer and you have your finance slash accountant team. and what the Whisper Group is doing is filling out that team to then really have the person who's a female founder who's been through it and to be with you behind the scenes to help you as you go through this journey.

At what point do you like to get people to start working with you guys?

So one thing that is so interesting, I've told a lot of women this, you can't wait to the last minute, right? If you think you want to sell, the prep and the readiness you have to do actually starts way before, like, Hey, I want to sell my company starting next month, right? There's a lot of prep work. You need to know your valuation, what your company is worth. You need to know who the potential acquirers are. You need to know, do I have all my systems and everything in place from a business standpoint in order for it to be a company that can be transferred to new ownership? So I always think it's best, I mean, even one year ahead of time is lovely. You have a good time of planning that out. But at any time, if you know you want to sell, it's best to start with the plan. And so we always start with founders at the beginning, and we create what's called a whisper report for them, which is a beautiful roadmap of where they are, both their headspace, where the business is, we do evaluation of their company, so they have that data, so they know how much their company is worth. We give them the roadmap from what it looks like if it's a year each quarter, what they should be doing in order to get to that dream exit. And it's a lovely thing to have because it literally didn't exist when I was exiting. And if it had, I would have been, I would have had so much more power behind me, I feel.

I love the name of that too, the Whisper Report.

Yeah. So, yes, because, you know, the whisper, we really take into a lot of facts. There's the why, there's your income, there's your profit, there's your secret sauce. your roar factor, your executive team. There's all of these things that go into making up what we call whisper, because you have to take them into account in order to get to your end goal, which is really to exit for what you're worth. Yeah.

And I just want to point out to you guys how important and what Maggie is saying is for you, because, and this is no matter what you're at, whether you're exiting a business or you're doing something else is when we have a new goal and we're wanting to do something new, our normal friends and family and support network, they can't a lot of times understand that goal unless they've been through it, and that's why by joining a community, working with someone like the Whisper group. It's like now you're with people who get it, understand it, and that's where the camaraderie comes. This is what I call my people, but my people is being with people who have a shared goal. And that's what I love about what you guys are doing. And that's what I needed at the time when I met Carrie. I was like, man, I really need this because even though I have a lot of my people groups and things that I'm doing, I did the TEDx talk. I had a TEDx my people group. I have my communities. It's like I didn't have a place for people who had exited. cause when I talk to other people outside of it, it's so cool to see so many people in the community doing such cool things, right? People from outside of it are like.

Why are you working?

I don't understand why you work so hard.

It makes no sense, right?

And I, maybe we can explore that a little bit, but it's hard to always feel misunderstood and that's why you've.

Got to find your people no matter what you're doing.

Yeah.

And I always believed that if you have limitations or it's not in your skill set, it's best to surround yourself with people who can help you with that. So, I mean, I did that very early on in my company. I was like, I brought in a tech advisor because I was not inherently just knowing the tech side of the business that well. You brought in great partial CFOs to run the finance side of things. And I was really good at leading the company editorial, moving the company forward from a vision standpoint. But to your point, you have to surround yourself with someone who can't just like coach you through it, but is actually bend through it. And that's why we're so passionate about at the Whisper Group, when we work with you, We have many advisors who have been through it. They've all exited their company and they're in all different industries and they've exited for all different amounts. And so it's this wonderful group of women who we've all shared that goal of exiting your company, but there's a million different stories of how to who and to how much, which is what really gets me excited.

So this is the other thing I love that you said that is a lot of people, after I did my TEDx talk, everyone's like, oh yeah, like minded people. That's what my people is. And I'm like, It's not like minded people. It's what you just said. It's all different people, all different walks of life, really diverse, different beliefs, and no matter what it is. And so I'm playing around with the words. Maybe you have ideas on that, but it's like hearted, like valued. It's other than like minded, but helping people understand that that's the beautiful part about being in a community that is safe to be open, that is safe to be vulnerable in there with people that have gone through the same journey is now you are connecting to all different kinds of people that are just doing similar journeys, but some are further ahead, some are further behind, some are with you. And it's just this really beautiful thing that you get to do together.

Yeah, I love the women in the collective at the Whisper Group, I think are so fascinating because everybody comes from a different type of business background. Everyone exited in a different style for a different dollar amount. And there's huge dollars amount, like a hundred million dollar exits to oh, I sold to my employee for very little, right? I mean, there's all these different things. But what I love is we all share that, one, we were fearless enough to start a business, and two, we were also fearless enough to say, this business is worth money, and I'm gonna sell it and put that money in my pocket.

Yeah, and I wonder, I'm curious if this happened to you, is there also that common piece of anytime you make some kind of transition like that in life, that there's that identity loss that can happen sometimes after where you're trying to rediscover what you're even doing.

Yes.

Trying to figure out who you are.

It's interesting because it was my, I wouldn't say that it was my identity. I think people associated it with my identity. I did not. I saw it as a lovely thing that I was passionate about and I worked hours and hours and hours for. And I respected the business. I also felt like the business also respected me because I had great balance with my kids at home and things, but I never really felt like it was my whole identity. And I think that shift came when I had my first son in 2011. So the company was a handful of years old, and that's when it went from being like, this is all about me and this company, to being like, now I'm a mom, and this is really my identity is more than just running this company. But I will say when I exited, and the news came out, you would be surprised at the amount of people who don't say congratulations, who seem, oh, a little just jealousy came out from some people. How did she do that? Our financials were not disclosed. So it was like, how much did she make? I read a wide variety of things that were wrong. And so I also feel like being in this collective allows you to be with women who have done it, and they're proud that they have done it, and they want to support other women. as they've done it too. And so that is something that I love that this group does.

Well, what advice do you have from people just on, let's start with, I have a few different questions here, because I really want to get your feedback on just building a business and kind of going through that process that you went through as you went through the build phase.

Building is hard. Just get started. Just do it, right? Wake up every day. If you say, okay, say I want to start a company. For whatever, start somewhere. Think of a name, register a domain, do anything that moves the ball forward. It can be the smallest thing, but it's moving you towards your goal. Sometimes there's really big things, right? When you go open and you get a business line of credit, there's big and small things that you can do. But I think the same thing happens right after you decide that you want to start a company, building it, you're in it mostly alone, and those, there's long days and you feel defeated. A lot. And a lot of my clients will say to me, oh, I say to myself 10 times a day, what am I doing? What am I doing? What am I building? All these things. And I think you have to go back to the passion, remind yourself why you started it as you're building, because it will fuel you to get through the hardest part, which is the scale and scaling of a company.

And what do you think as far as advice for people on just even, I don't wanna say the marketing side, whatever that was called, that piece where then you've got all the readers, you're going on the news, you're doing all that advice that you have as far as that scale comes in play.

Well, you can't do it all yourself. I hired a great PR team who were the ones, right, to then go do the work to get me on the morning shows for the books and all those other things. And so I knew that I couldn't, I wore every hat in the company. I was the janitor and the CEO and everything in between. But you have to know when to bring in outside people to help you and let them do Their expertise. And so that was a big piece of it. And then consistency. I never missed a day of work, right? I never said, oh, I'll get to it next week. Because if you're a founder, you're your own boss. No one's checking over your shoulder to make sure it's done. So you have to be disciplined in order to get what you need done. Did I work till nine o'clock every night? No, but did I work on Sundays? Yes. So you have to be disciplined enough to get done what needs to happen in the company because no one's going to tell you to do it. You have to know that you have to do it.

And what would be your advice on someone that is exiting and something that could help them?

I think if you, whether, if you know you want to exit, you have to start and get all your ducks in a row. That's number one. If you're not even sure the value of your company, I mean, I think there's value to every single company, whether it's a dollar or a hundred million dollars, there's some value. Figure that out. Figure out what your company is worth and what it could sell for because I think it's going to spur you on to know that you can get this done. And then I think it's about really working with people like us, like at the Whisper Group, who are going to be able to help you with the process and get what needs to happen in place so it isn't a scramble because it's not an easy process. So you have to surround yourself with the people who who know what they're doing and have done it.

Ari and Maggie, the time is here. What is your number one piece of advice for people on doing the thing?

Just start. Just start. If I had been told by someone that if I wanted to start my business, I needed a business plan and needed all these other things in place and funding, I would have never done it ever. So, I mean, I went to grad school, but I had zero interest in creating a business plan. So I woke up one day and I just did it. And the next day I did a little bit more. The next day I did a little bit more. And then eventually, when the company was successful, some business plan somewhere was drafted. But you, you have to just start somewhere. And if you just start, little by little compounds on itself. and you've done the thing that you didn't think you could.

Wow.

I know.

It's so funny when I was doing a lot of challenges, that was what they were all called. Start a podcast, start a book. So I think the starting point is where a lot of people can get stuck because you're right. So many people are like, do this, do that, do this. And then you get into the confused mind where you can't as things.

Yeah. No, I mean, you get paralyzed because there's so much and they're like, well, I need social media and I need this and I need this. And I'm like, or just start with one thing and then build slowly. That's okay too. But you just, you have to start somewhere.

Well, please share what people can learn about you and then also the Whisper group as well.

Yes. So you can go to the Whisper group on all of our socials, our site. You also can go to maggielord.com, which has all the information as well. And I'm always here to answer questions. You can DM me at Maggie Lord and Company. I'm an open book for female founders who need help.

Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you doing this with me. Your story is incredible. I just love how it's like you're a model for what other people get to really kind of work towards too.

Thank you. That is what keeps me inspired every day because now I am so, I never thought I would have another passion outside of Restored. Putting Chic. So I was thrilled to find one day after exiting that I had this second passion, which was helping women sell their company to.

Well, thank you so much. And thanks you guys for listening and do the thing. Don't wait for opportunity. Create it. And hey, guys, have you checked out my Facebook group yet? Go to dothethingcollaboration.com.

Thanks for listening to the do the thing podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show, but even more, we hope you'll be inspired to do the thing. Do you have a burning question? I'm doing doing the thing that you'd like answered? How about an inspiring Do the Thing story of your own that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear all about it. Just leave us a voice message at dothething.callcast.co or email us at hello@dothethingpodcast.com.