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It is important to give ourselves credit for what we have accomplished.
Hayley Foster, Founder & CFO of Foster Inc., began her career in advertising before the Internet became popular. Moving onto digital advertising, Hayley partnered with a friend to start her first business, a promotional marketing company with offices in New York, LA, and China. Hayley refers to her time building and running her business as attending the school of hard knocks for entrepreneurs, acknowledging the lessons she learned and what she had to offer to other women.
Haley's resilience and ability to pivot through many challenges in work and private life, but also honoring her desires, spurred her personal evolution. Crucial moments allowed her to find her passion. Hayley shares tips on reading books, building awareness, thinking about our intentions, and guiding women entrepreneurs through fast-changing circumstances.
Hayley believes that it is vital to engage and connect with people, and her Foster Women community is a specially vetted space for women to get stronger and better in business and life without feeling like we always need to control everything.
The way to experience life fully is only possible if we don’t control it constantly.
Notes:
🤩 How Hayley engaged and reconnected following the She Leads conference. 3:02
👩🏻💼 Hayley has always been into technology: running her promotional marketing company for 12 years. 8:28
👠 Many women come to her privately for advice on entrepreneurship: thus, the creation of Foster Inc. 10:11
🌸 Hayley realized she wanted to niche into technology and systems coaching for women in wellness. 12:46
😇 Life is continuously changing and if you're always trying to control it, you'll never be able to fully live it. 19:52
🥰 Everyone in Foster Women is vetted by Hayley: emotional connection is very important. 24:41
😊 Foster Women community members are all connected with the trust they have in Hayley. 28:49
😎 Foster Women is all about engaging and quality, not quantity. 30:51
Links:
Social Media Handles: instagram.com/iamhayleyfoster
Website: fostering101.com fosterwomen.com
Connect with Adrienne: https://www.sheleadsmedia.com
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: https://www.sheleadspodcasts.com
"I love Adrienne and The She Leads Podcast!” Please Show Our Podcast Some Love. If you enjoyed today’s episode of The She Leads Podcast, Please Rate, Review & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts & Spotify - it's a simple way to show us some support. Your support helps me and my team to spread the word about all the incredible guests of The She Leads Podcast and contributes overall to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! Also, if you haven’t done so already, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!
Website: fostering101.com fosterwomen.com
Connect with Adrienne: https://www.sheleadsmedia.com
Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: https://www.sheleadspodcasts.com
"I love Adrienne and The She Leads Podcast!” Please Show Our Podcast Some Love. If you enjoyed today’s episode of The She Leads Podcast, Please Rate, Review & Follow Us on Apple Podcasts & Spotify - it's a simple way to show us some support. Your support helps me and my team to spread the word about all the incredible guests of The She Leads Podcast and contributes overall to helping women leaders and entrepreneurs everywhere! Also, if you haven’t done so already, please follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!
Creators & Guests
What is The She Leads Podcast: Real Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs?
Discover the go-to podcast for driven women entrepreneurs ready to lead! Join host Adrienne Garland, CEO of She Leads Media, as she uncovers the unfiltered path to scaling your business to 7 and 8 figures. Each week, bold female founders share their raw stories, overcoming challenges, and proven strategies for explosive growth – all without sugar-coating a thing.
🚀 Why She Leads is Your Essential Listen:
Super-practical, actionable advice to conquer your entrepreneurial hurdles
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Impactful strategies to influence your family, community, and the world
At She Leads Media, we reject the notion that women must be deferential or pull back our opinions. Instead, we're creating a powerful platform where women are free to express their brilliance without restraint. Whether you're launching your venture or ready to scale new heights of revenue and profit, The She Leads Podcast: Real Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs delivers the unvarnished truth you need to thrive in today's competitive business landscape.
The She Leads Podcast (formerly Sugar Coated) is your ultimate resource for:
✅ Practical and actionable business growth strategies and tactics
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Don't miss out on game-changing wisdom from Adrienne Garland - fearless entrepreneur, innovative media producer, and inspiring professor. Subscribe now and join a community of women who refuse to hold back their voices, thoughts, or opinions. Your journey to 7-figure success and beyond starts here – no sugar-coating required!
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Adrienne (00:01.317)
Hello everyone and welcome to the She Leads Podcast. This episode and all of our episodes are brought to you by the She Leads Podcast Network, the podcast network for women by women. I am so happy to introduce my next guest to you, Haley Foster. She was a speaker at She Leads Live in 2023 and I'm so excited to welcome her to the She Leads Podcast.
Haley is the founder of Foster Inc. She's an accomplished entrepreneur, a two-time author, an inspirational speaker and person, a personal mentor, a multifaceted consultant, and a podcaster. Haley works with women entrepreneurs to incorporate business strategies, automations, and technology to start and grow healthy, thriving, and successful businesses that allow them the freedom they desire.
Welcome to the SheLeads podcast, Hayley
Hayley Foster (01:03.438)
Thank you so much, Adrienne. It is great to be here. And it was such an honor to be one of your speakers at the 2023 conference, which was amazing. And, you know, having been at, I think it was your second conference ever, the WomanCon conference. It was so great just to see, you know, how much it's grown and just...
Adrienne (01:14.553)
Amazing.
Adrienne (01:20.25)
Right, right.
Hayley Foster (01:27.99)
be a part of it. And I absolutely loved everything, including the night before event and highly recommend it for all of the entrepreneurs out there looking to connect and engage. And I'm still speaking to so many people that I met that day. And as an entrepreneur, I think that's like one of the most important things is not walking away from an event like that and being like, okay, that was great. And not engaging and not reconnecting with people.
Adrienne (01:44.618)
Oh, it's so great to hear.
Adrienne (01:53.858)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (01:57.066)
For me, it's something that I try to do immediately, and I make mental notes and physical notes, because at this age, I can't remember shit, but I make those notes so that I can go back and reconnect with people and have really authentic conversations about what, you know, I wanted to connect with them on. And it's, I have to say, I made so many great connections that day, so thank you for doing what you do.
Adrienne (01:57.745)
It's something that I try to do even if it's really difficult. I think it's a simple note, a simple note. So it's a good way to kind of understand the shit. I think it's a good way to kind of understand the shit.
Adrienne (02:17.825)
Yeah. Ugh.
Adrienne (02:23.505)
Thank you. Oh my gosh, thank you so much for saying all of that. It's, you know, with so many of the things that we do and you can, I'm sure that you agree. It's like we do so much and sometimes we don't take the time to take a pause and sort of pat ourselves on the.
the back for what we have been able to accomplish. So I really appreciate you saying that from my heart. Thank you so much. And yes, it's super cool that you were one of the original people that kind of was part of WomanCon and how it's all transitioned and everything. That is such a fun story. It's so funny, earlier today, I actually got a note from another woman that was at the conference that ended up connecting with one of the...
Hayley Foster (02:47.914)
Absolutely. You're welcome.
Adrienne (03:10.441)
panelist that was on the pitch, the media panel, the woman that works for Black Enterprise magazine, and Black Enterprise is putting on a big conference. And this person's client is now speaking at that big conference in April. And she said it was because of the conference, because of that connection. And I know that is something that you also...
not only do for yourself, but you also encourage other women entrepreneurs to do through your own group, foster women. So before we even get into all of the great stuff that you're doing, let's kind of take a step back because you have an amazing just foundational story. So can you, for those of us listening in that might not know you and your background, can you just kind of take us back to where you started and...
bring us up to where you are right now with your business.
Hayley Foster (04:09.378)
So I joke around and say that I came out of the womb as an entrepreneur. Somehow my mother birthed two of us that are completely entrepreneurial minded. My brother also has been an entrepreneur for over two decades, which I have as well. I was always like a terrible worker. I wasn't a great student in school, but I always had drive and work ethic and
Adrienne (04:14.418)
Hahaha
Adrienne (04:22.673)
I love that.
Hayley Foster (04:37.718)
It just didn't come easy to me to be a student, but I loved working and I loved seeing the result of the work, but it just wasn't for me. Of course, I did go to college and graduate college. I started my career in advertising at some of the big agencies in the city, and then the internet started to pop up. And I say that like that because, you know, I'm in my 50s.
Adrienne (04:50.693)
I have a college, I started my career as a repiser, I started getting teachers, engineers, and then I started to work half-off. And I would say that like that, because I would like to be a repiser, but that's not what I was wanting. I was like, oh, this is too long.
Hayley Foster (05:04.21)
I can say that now that I'm 51. I hit the over 50 mark. So, so I saw the rise of the internet. I like literally saw it happening and I wanted to be a part of it. I've always been a tech geek at heart. Uh, my dad was always into new technology. We had like the first cable box on the block and the first VCR and cam quarter and like he had all the gadgets.
Adrienne (05:13.232)
Yeah.
Adrienne (05:25.393)
for the, like, get on the walk-in. And then, I was like, the whole computer before.
Hayley Foster (05:27.654)
And we had like a home computer before home computers were a thing. And I'm like, I'm never going to need that dad. And then of course I go to college and it's like the first class I have to sign up for is like DOS 101. Um, so I ventured into, yeah, that's how old we are. People don't even know what the hell that is. Probably that are listening to this. Um, but so I ventured into the online world. I went to work at a company called Organic and they were building websites and they were starting their.
Adrienne (05:37.779)
Yeah, DOS.
Adrienne (05:43.321)
Yup. Ha ha ha.
Hayley Foster (05:55.262)
advertising division and I started working in digital advertising and learning about websites and building interstitials and online advertising with DoubleClick and back in the day it was like super fun. It was like the biggest booming thing ever. Like companies were popping up, IPOs were happening all the time and I wanted to be a part of it and so I jumped into that world and then that bubble burst.
I survived the bubble burst, but at some point I was just like, I was always the first one in and the last one out working so hard. And I was making great money, but I was like, I want to be part of the bottom line. Like I want to see the bottom line. Like I want to be part of building a company. And so I got propositioned by a friend of mine to partner up with her. And I started my first business in 2001.
Adrienne (06:28.658)
Mmm.
Adrienne (06:37.822)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (06:49.322)
and it was a promotional marketing company. We had that business for 12 years. We morphed it into design and manufacturing company. We opened offices in New York and China and LA, and we grew. We had 16 people at our max, and I got to a point where I got divorced. I had like big life changes. I was commuting to the city. I had two little kids at home, and I wasn't seeing them ever, and I really lost the passion for what I was doing, and I just didn't.
Adrienne (07:01.3)
the
Adrienne (07:17.729)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (07:18.538)
want to do it anymore. It just was not filling my bucket. And so I decided that I wanted to venture out on my own and do something different that really gave me purpose and made me feel good. And as somebody that has always been part of networking and I was part of Vistage, which is like peer to peer advisory groups, and I was getting so much out of that at the time, I realized like I wanted to help other people.
Adrienne (07:31.693)
and I was somebody that is totally just part of networking and I was part of this experience which is like giving to your advisor group. And I was getting so much out of that at the time.
Hayley Foster (07:47.554)
get to the next level without going through all of the shit that I went through building a business over 12 years. It's a roller coaster. There's ups, there's downs, you feel defeated, you learn the most when you're coming back from the down, right? I mean, we were a million dollars in debt at one point and we had to dig ourselves out and I wasn't even 40, right? And it was a nightmare. And it was learning through those experiences.
Adrienne (07:52.656)
Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah.
Hayley Foster (08:16.47)
was the best education ever. And I say like, I went to the school of hard knocks for entrepreneurs, you know, I mean, who wants to be a million dollars in debt when you're in business, but you got to learn, right? And so I learned so many lessons and I just felt like I had so much to offer other women. And so many people in my town, I live in like a great commuting town of Port Washington and so many people here were these amazing corporate women that
Adrienne (08:21.589)
Yeah.
Adrienne (08:33.583)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (08:45.01)
either like stopped working to go have kids or, you know, they were taking a pivot in their career. They wanted to do something that was more fulfilling. And so they were coming to me knowing that I had been an entrepreneur, was an entrepreneur for so many years, built a business, they were asking me for advice. And I was giving it to them at my kitchen table or my dining room table with a bottle of wine and looking over their marketing materials or helping them with their business plan. And when I finally decided I was done.
Adrienne (09:00.871)
I was very out to eat burr fights. And I was giving this down to like 60 people and the dining room people, but a bottle of wine. And we were having a good time.
Hayley Foster (09:13.282)
doing the business with my partner. I went to a business coach and I told him this is what I was doing for fun. And he's like, and that's a business, that's consulting. Go write a business plan. And so on the plane to Beijing with my husband to go to a charity event, I wrote a business plan and I came back and started my business 60 days later at the turn of the year. And I just celebrated nine years of business. Yay. Thank you.
Adrienne (09:21.687)
Yeah.
Adrienne (09:39.117)
gosh, congratulations. That is amazing. Wow.
Hayley Foster (09:42.594)
Thank you. And I will say like over nine years, like I've taken tons of pivots, right? And I'm my worst client. So I never really, well, I never really niche down. I was like, I can help any woman that has a business, right? You know, it's like, and I realize, you know, as I'm putting this out there, like it's just so generic. Like I wasn't really specifying
Adrienne (09:48.078)
Yeah.
Adrienne (09:52.603)
Why is that?
Adrienne (09:57.649)
Uh, right. Yeah.
Hayley Foster (10:11.842)
who I was talking to. This is something I work on with my clients. Like you have to be specific, right? So I'm like, well, she has a vagina, that's specific, right? Clearly not specific enough. But it actually was like an aha, a very big aha moment for me. I was at an event with my husband and I had done this big presentation. It was the first time I was like trying to sell from the stage.
Adrienne (10:13.52)
Yeah.
Adrienne (10:16.861)
Yes, yes.
Hayley Foster (10:37.63)
I had read Russell Brunson's books and I was like, I'm ready to do this. Like I've got a program put together. It's awesome. I'm going to get up there. I'm going to tell them all the great things that they need for their businesses and then I'm going to try to sell them into this program and nobody signed up for it. And the presentation was amazing. I did great. Like, you know, I felt confident with how I presented it and I was so crushed afterwards and we debriefed.
Adrienne (10:37.751)
Oh yeah.
Adrienne (10:50.309)
Sure. Ugh, yeah.
Adrienne (11:02.905)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (11:04.494)
from the entire car ride home from Boston. And what I figured out was, I really just wanna work with women in wellness. I really wanna work with people. So you know me, like I'm totally into fitness, I'm totally into nutrition, like it's my jam, I'm into longevity. And I wanna work with people that are drinking the same green juice as me. And I realized that it's my passion. It's what...
Adrienne (11:14.241)
Yeah.
Adrienne (11:22.243)
Yep.
Adrienne (11:27.194)
Yep.
Hayley Foster (11:32.574)
I can talk about all day long, like I can write your content for you if you are a nutritionist, if you're a fitness instructor, if you're a gym, if you're a functional medicine doctor, like I get it. I know the content. I've been the patient. I've been the expert. And so on that car ride home three years ago, I was like, I'm just going to put myself out there as a technology and systems coach for women in wellness.
Adrienne (11:46.833)
I've been the expert. Yep.
Adrienne (11:59.217)
votes for bringing in Congress. Yeah.
Hayley Foster (12:02.442)
And so, and I think even that is too broad, to be honest with you. Like I really should narrow it down even further. Like I still think it's too broad, but you know, I've kind of pivoted myself into this niche. I love it. I'm working, I would say 90% of my clients fall into that category. I've got one client, which is my husband, who doesn't fall into that category. And he's like my most difficult client. I love working with him. Um, but he's my most difficult because.
Adrienne (12:09.269)
Yeah. Okay. That's okay. Of course.
Hayley Foster (12:31.238)
security does not roll off my tongue. I gotta do research. I gotta dig deep. You know, it's not easy to write about, you know, the federal government and their security systems. So it's very challenging. But I've, you know, I really have focused in on this is who I want to work with. And I absolutely, I am my happiest. I love it. And it just, it comes natural to me. And I think when you just find that thing that you really want to focus in on.
Adrienne (12:36.686)
Yeah.
Adrienne (12:41.44)
No.
Adrienne (12:52.881)
Oh my God, that's amazing.
Hayley Foster (12:59.966)
everything else just kind of falls into place.
Adrienne (13:02.589)
Yeah. And what I really love about your story is there's so much resiliency in there too, right? You didn't, you could have, I mean, at the point where your first business was a million dollars in debt, you could have just, you know, put your head in the sand and just said, what was me? And declared bankruptcy and moved, you know, moved away. I don't even know where you would have gone. But you said, no.
Hayley Foster (13:27.98)
Right.
Adrienne (13:31.181)
we're gonna get ourselves out of this, right? And then you were able to look inside and say, this isn't working for me anymore. And I think that a lot of women don't give themselves permission to say, this isn't working for me, because we're so socialized to just keep at it no matter what. And what we feel on the inside doesn't really matter. And I think that that's where a lot of our health issues do come from, because we don't honor ourselves, right? So it's like,
was just listening to something the other day, you know, a lot of times like autoimmune conditions are literally us fighting against ourselves, right? And it's like, if you if you think about that, we do that so much in our lives, we fight against what we really want. And I guess maybe you having that entrepreneurial mindset, and that
Hayley Foster (14:10.055)
Mm-hmm.
Adrienne (14:25.429)
ability to know that you are such a hard worker, you can you can like work your way and plus, you know what school doesn't measure intelligence, it just doesn't. So, you know,
Hayley Foster (14:40.372)
No, it doesn't measure grit. It doesn't measure resilience. It doesn't measure any of that stuff. Like you can be super smarty pants, but if it comes easy to you, it doesn't mean that you're gonna be successful, right? Cause you never learned how to grind. Like...
Adrienne (14:44.561)
No. Yeah.
Adrienne (14:50.64)
Yeah.
No, it sure doesn't. But so, right, exactly. And how to also do it in a way, like yes grind, but also you have to grind smart. And that takes experience to know what thing could work or I've tried this before and there was something there. Let me do more of that, right? It's like building upon the, just the intelligence that we have.
Hayley Foster (15:08.01)
Mm-hmm.
Adrienne (15:21.841)
through doing things, not necessarily reading about things and learning about things in that way. It's a different way to learn. And school, the way that it is right now, doesn't always honor that type of intelligence, right? Yeah. So I think that you inherently knew that you had this intelligence in yourself and that even if you were down and out,
Hayley Foster (15:36.29)
Don't get me started.
Adrienne (15:50.549)
that you could build yourself back up, or even if you didn't sort of like the situation that you were in anymore, for you, it was like, well, I'm going to figure out what's next. Not everybody has that mindset and perspective. And it just seems to me that you are someone who is constantly evolving, and that's such a great characteristic. So,
even this idea of like pivoting, no, you're just evolving, right? It's like carving away the marble from the David. You're, okay, maybe you're not as niched down as you need to be, whatever that means, but I think you're looking and you're finding, and that to me is very inspiring.
Hayley Foster (16:24.544)
Mm-hmm.
Hayley Foster (16:43.598)
Oh, well, thank you. Thank you. I find my post today on LinkedIn, which I have not posted on LinkedIn in a really long time. So I think since your conference was about my book list of 2024. So my husband and I sit down every year and we share like what books have come up for us that we want to dive into in the year. And I try to put them in different categories. So I have all these different categories that I use sort of evaluate my year.
Adrienne (16:44.897)
Yes, you know.
Adrienne (17:11.771)
Mm-hmm.
Hayley Foster (17:12.042)
Like one is business, one is, you know, not just business, but like money, career, or I should say not like finances, relationship, spirituality, family. And so I try to find books that kind of go into each one of those categories and read them throughout the year. One is wellness. So like I listed my books of 2023, which were, it was an amazing book list. It's on.
Adrienne (17:21.006)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Hayley Foster (17:39.23)
LinkedIn for anyone that wants to see it. I actually will post it on Instagram today as well. But I wanted to see what people were reading or recommend for 2024. And so I put in there a couple of books that are on my list for 2024. And I said, I don't read fiction. Like I just, I don't do it. I only read books that are, you know, that will help me grow and that are going to educate or inspire me in some way. And I don't even read, to be honest with you. I listen.
Adrienne (17:41.067)
Yeah.
Awesome.
Adrienne (17:54.266)
Yeah.
Adrienne (18:05.345)
Yeah. Oh, the audible. Yeah.
Hayley Foster (18:08.678)
I can't, yeah, who has time to read? I mean, I don't, I don't have the attention span either, hence I wasn't a great student, but I can, like I like to listen in the car when I'm walking or running or, you know, just going from here to there. So I'm curious to see what I get back on feedback on that list. But one of the books that I'm reading is The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. Did you read it?
Adrienne (18:16.377)
Hahaha
Adrienne (18:32.709)
Hmm. No, I've heard of it.
Hayley Foster (18:36.486)
Okay, so this is like a big spirituality book for me. Like I'm not a big spiritual. I guess I am getting there. It's on my bucket list. Like I do think I am a very spiritual person, but this book goes pretty deep. But interestingly, one of the quotes, I'm going to botch it completely unless I can find it and pull it up easily. One of the quotes that...
Adrienne (18:44.071)
Mmm.
Adrienne (18:53.57)
Mm.
Hayley Foster (19:06.11)
I posted it for my client is life is continuously changing. And if you're trying to control it, you're never, you'll never be able to fully live it. Right. And so as type a controlling women, like we're always trying to control it. And so I just went on this retreat and my word on that retreat was surrender. And
Adrienne (19:16.171)
Mm, yeah.
Adrienne (19:21.197)
Ugh.
Adrienne (19:29.829)
Mmm.
Hayley Foster (19:31.634)
It's not my word of the year, my word of the year is thrive, which is not quite surrendering.
Adrienne (19:34.929)
Oh nice. Well, those two are not so different.
Hayley Foster (19:42.282)
No, they're not so different. They're not so different. But, you know, surrender is very, you know, like just let it happen, right? Which is like stop trying to control it, right? And maybe I can thrive through surrendering, right? And just sort of let it happen as it's meant to happen. Last year, my word was optimal. So it was all about like just let it, like having an optimal year.
Adrienne (19:50.345)
Letting go. No control. Yeah.
Adrienne (19:58.41)
Yes.
Adrienne (20:02.498)
Yes.
Adrienne (20:07.534)
Mm.
Hayley Foster (20:11.234)
And I didn't define it. I just let it be what it will be. Like define optimal for me. And then I would, like at the end of the year, I looked back. I was like, wow, this actually was optimal. It was a great, great year for me on so many different levels. So I'm interested, I'm interested to see what surrendering in 2024 will do for me.
Adrienne (20:24.963)
I love that.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. This is wonderful. Yeah.
Adrienne (20:37.985)
Yeah, I think surrendering will absolutely get you to thrive in areas that maybe you haven't been thriving in for whatever reason, because maybe you were holding on to too much control, which, you know, that is, I think, again, something that so many people that are listening in can relate to, you know, as women, we are always trying to control our family, our
Hayley Foster (20:52.098)
Mm-hmm.
Adrienne (21:06.669)
you know, the outcomes, we're trying to protect people, be safe, you know, do all the things. And that it's, that's exhausting. It's exhausting trying to be in control because guess what? There's no control. Like there is no control. It is false. We cannot control outcomes. We cannot control people. We cannot control how others react to us. And sometimes that's a hard realization to...
Hayley Foster (21:16.785)
Mm-hmm.
Adrienne (21:36.469)
recognize. I too am or I don't know, I don't even want to say it because I don't want to be it. In the past, I have been very controlling and it doesn't really get you anywhere, right? It kind of sets you up for misery because when things don't work out the way that you want them to work out, that you have controlled them to work out, it's so disappointing.
And so if we can change our mindset around all of that, then yes, we can thrive. I love that so much, Hailey. I think that's awesome. I have my word for the year, I've not even said this to anybody publicly on my podcast, but my word this year is intentional. So everything that I do, I would really like to be intentional about it because I have definitely...
Hayley Foster (22:09.806)
Thank you.
Adrienne (22:31.109)
said yes to so many things because I'm excited about all of them and Then I have a realization that I cannot possibly do everything that I've said yes to and then I'm trying to figure out How to move things around and it's it just sets me up for a little For chaos and for somebody who that likes to you know be organized It is definitely against who I am as a person. So this year I'm definitely
focused on being much more intentional with what I say yes to and what I say no to. So that's going to be a big, hopefully a big growth year for me. So, and that is something that I would love to share in the Foster Women Group. So can you talk a little bit about that? Because here you are, you're working with women on technology and systems all in the wellness area.
group. So can you talk to us a little bit about foster women?
Hayley Foster (23:32.59)
I can. So foster women grew out of, in the beginning of my business, when I started working with these women and hearing their stories as to why they started their businesses, I just loved the story of their own evolutions or where they were, where they are now, what inspired them to get started, what were some of the lessons that they had learned along the way. And I wanted a place for them to share that and to use that as a point of connection with each other. Right?
Adrienne (24:02.222)
Hmm
Hayley Foster (24:03.922)
We connect with people on an emotional level, back to the Simon Sinek, start with why, right? It's really about hitting people at that emotional core, even in our marketing, in our pitching of what we do, starting with why you do what you do. And so hearing the story from these women, I wanted them to connect with each other.
Adrienne (24:13.841)
Hmm.
Hayley Foster (24:28.514)
based on an emotional connection as opposed to like, oh, I'm looking for a financial advisor. Great, but why would you connect with this financial advisor over this one? And so allowing them to share that on the Foster Women platform was my way of giving people just that avenue to better, to find the right person for them, like dating, right? The other part of it was...
Adrienne (24:38.45)
Yeah.
Adrienne (24:53.053)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (24:55.27)
All of the women that are on Foster Women are vetted by me. And so it's, you know, if I am connecting you to them, it's because they've either been to one of my events, they've been part of one of my groups, or I've worked with them one-on-one in some capacity. And so you're getting and you're connecting with women that are, that I know personally. I always felt that way about LinkedIn where it was, you know,
Adrienne (24:58.673)
women are 45 years. So, if I'm coming up to you today, if you say, maybe they're 20 years old, but that doesn't make them my age, I'm a tiger, or I've worked with them one on one, and so you're getting things that are, that I know. But I always felt that way about my day, where it was, I never accepted people that I didn't know,
Hayley Foster (25:24.094)
I didn't, I never accepted people that I didn't know because I wanted to be able to say like, oh, I can connect you to that person because I legitimately know them. And so this was my way of saying, I legitimately have worked with this person and they're amazing. Maybe I'm biased because I've worked with this person, but this, this was my way of being able to do that. So basically it was really about just
Adrienne (25:29.822)
So that's how I see it. I was given the opportunity. Of course. This is my life. I was given the opportunity to work with this person. Yeah. To identify with this person. But this is my life as a human being. So basically, that's what I really about, just putting this together and having people find.
Hayley Foster (25:51.63)
putting this together and having people find each other on this network. And then giving women the opportunity to promote their businesses to the other foster women, allowing me to promote them. A lot of them have been on my podcast and it gave me, you know, it gave them just another way of putting themselves out there. There's also the Foster Women Facebook group. And so that was really sort of the birth of Foster Women. It still is what it is.
Adrienne (26:07.705)
And the GAC, the GAC band is another way of putting themselves out there. They're also the top student in the GAC group. And so that was great from the beginning. They had some in it. It's a good, so when I started it, it's grown slowly. I don't really promote it all that much. But I will say that the way they've never been there, they've been there for a long time. It's a really, so.
Hayley Foster (26:20.706)
from when I started it, it's grown slowly. I don't really promote it all that much, but I will say that the women that are in there have been in there for a long time. It's a really low entry point. You get a once a month, we get on a call, we network, which you were part of the other night, and the women that show up get the most out of it. And as you saw, it's really...
Adrienne (26:34.321)
that once a month we get on a call, we never, because you were part of the other night, and the women not show up, that's a little bad with it. And as you guys may, and there's a lot of things that go on outside of that, I know people, I think we've been having other life experiences before coming and coming out. I typically record any of the education questions, so that people can go back and watch it. There's other women,
Hayley Foster (26:47.962)
And there's connection that goes on outside of there. I can see the traffic on the website, so people are coming and checking it out. I typically record any of the education sessions so that people can go back and watch it later, but it gives other women also the opportunity to educate the group on what they do and offer that up to the group and offer a discount to the group on their services.
Adrienne (27:02.033)
opportunity to educate the group on what they do and offer that up to the group and operate as well to the group on their purposes. So, I have an organization for our 20% population.
Hayley Foster (27:16.602)
Like if I have a home organizer, she'll offer 20% to foster women. Or, you know, Alyssa who does headshot photography, like she offers discounts for women in the network also. You know, so it's giving back to the group as well. And it's, you know what?
Adrienne (27:29.651)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (27:34.026)
I just, I love it. I love the women that are in there, you know, and it's always, I love seeing it grow. It's been really fun. I actually have a post that's going up this week of a handful of new women that have joined since my last post.
Adrienne (27:48.785)
Oh, amazing. Yeah, no, it's what's so interesting, because I think community is something that people really are desiring these days. And how do you know how to you know, sort of what community to join, you can't, you know, you can't join everything, right, you kind of have to pick and choose. And so it is so nice to know that the invitation into foster
women is vetted by you. So everybody in that group knows you. And so we trust you. And it just makes us then trust each other at a much different level than if we were coming into a group of someone that, oh, maybe we follow someone on.
Hayley Foster (28:25.936)
Mm-hmm.
Adrienne (28:40.289)
whatever on Instagram and then we want to join their group, we really don't know who else is in there. And even though we don't know everybody in foster women, we know that you've interacted with them and that makes a difference. And I think that a lot of people can learn from that, if they're looking to build their own community, it's a really great way to set it up and to have a point of view and perspective like,
Hayley Foster (28:54.676)
Mm-hmm.
Adrienne (29:07.937)
Why are we all coming together? What are we here to do? Yes, of course, network and get to know one another, but is there another outcome? Are we trying to help each other write a book? Are we trying to help each other start a podcast or just like build our business or expand who it is that we know? So I think that for the people listening in, that it is such a great way. You don't need to have
a community that has 10,000 members. You can have a smaller community with high impact. And I really believe that is what, at least women and women that I talk to, that's what we're looking for. So I'm happy to be a foster woman. Yay. Yes, yeah.
Hayley Foster (29:53.038)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's
Yeah, I'm happy that you're a foster woman. It is. It's about the quality of the members, you know. And listen, there's a lot of women that don't show up. But even if they don't show up, I see that they've read the email. I get like a 85% open rate on my foster women emails. And the one that went out the other day had like a huge click rate, which was great. You know, I shared a lot of... I gave...
Adrienne (30:17.265)
It's amazing.
Hayley Foster (30:24.39)
all the phosphoramines an opportunity to share something that they've got going on right now in their business in February. So I was like, it's the month of love, sharing is caring. And it was probably one of my most opened and clicked emails ever, which is great. And so even if, you know, there's, I think 88 women in there or something right now, even if they're not all engaging on the calls, because I know not the call times and the days work for everybody.
Adrienne (30:38.65)
Wow.
Adrienne (30:52.944)
Yes.
Hayley Foster (30:53.102)
They're still engaging in one way or another, and I love that. So it's really, it is about the quality. It's not a quantity number for me. It's not about how many women are in the Foster Women Network. It's about how great are the women that are in the Foster Women Network.
Adrienne (30:59.489)
Yeah.
Adrienne (31:10.737)
I love that. And 88 is great. That's when I graduated from high school, 1988. 88 is great. So it's a really great number and the infinity and all of that. So you're at the perfect, perfect place. So Haley, if people want to get in touch with you, if there's women that are listening in that are in the wellness industry and they need help with technology and systems and all of the things that they need to thrive, how can they get in touch with you?
Hayley Foster (31:13.922)
Hehe
Hayley Foster (31:18.274)
All right, I'm in 90s.
Hayley Foster (31:23.382)
Mm-hmm. Heh heh.
Hayley Foster (31:41.198)
So fostering101.com is my website and they can find me there or Hayley at fostering101.com and it's Hayley with two Y's. And yeah, so it's, you know, it's people like, what does technology and systems mean? Basically just to sort of wrap that up is...
All of the things that you need so that your business can run for you, as opposed to you running your business. A lot of women in wellness, women in general, they don't want to deal with the day to day of email marketing and social media, building a website and doing all the things that it takes to have your business running.
Adrienne (32:25.272)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (32:26.494)
Even little things like setting up a calendar that's automated so that you don't have to think about it. You know, someone books a call with you, it shows up on your calendar, they get an email notification, they get a reminder, and then you get a reminder. All of those things can be automated in your business. And the more things you can automate, the more time you have to do what you love to do. And so I love doing that shit. So my clients don't.
Adrienne (32:40.429)
Yeah.
Adrienne (32:53.01)
Yeah.
Hayley Foster (32:53.026)
And so I take that stress out of their lives by doing it for them. And so if you wanna find me, I am all over social media. My Instagram is Iamhayleyfoster, and you can find me there, fosterwomen.com. I'm all over.
Adrienne (33:10.761)
Amazing. Well, thank you so much for spending your time with me here today on the She Leads podcast. I really appreciate it. And I know that you will definitely be getting calls from people because you are amazing and you do help people. I mean, this is the, this is the real deal. You, you, you literally put, you know, systems into people's businesses to help them to grow. And I think that
Hayley Foster (33:18.946)
Thank you.
Adrienne (33:38.901)
specifically focusing in on the wellness industry when people are so concerned about helping others with their health and their wellness. A lot of times you don't wanna be thinking about technology. So you are offering an incredible solution to your ideal women customers problems. So amazing. Thank you so much, Haley. I can't wait to see you again soon. We live so close. And just, I really appreciate you being on.
Hayley Foster (33:58.946)
Thank you.
Thanks for having me on the podcast.
Hayley Foster (34:09.686)
Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. It's been super fun.