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Exit-Ed: Stories from Grind to Sale
Join us on Exit-Ed, the podcast where successful founders share the untold stories behind building, scaling, and selling their companies. In each dynamic episode, we go beyond the headlines to explore the challenges, strategies, and pivotal moments that shaped the journeys of entrepreneurs from each corner of the globe.
From the long nights spent grinding to the high-stakes negotiations that led to rewarding exits, our guests provide practical insights, hard-won lessons, and inspiration for anyone on the path to success. Whether you're an entrepreneur preparing for a sale, an investor looking to understand founder dynamics, or a business leader seeking new growth strategies, this podcast is for you.
Learn from those who've been there. Get Exit-Ed.
Gabriela Smith (00:02.892)
Welcome to Exodus, stories from grind to sale. This is the podcast where we dive into the journeys of founders who have navigated the path from building their companies to successful exits. We interview entrepreneurs from around the US and around the globe, exploring their experiences, scaling processes, and the lessons they've learned. We'll talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly. We're excited to have you with us. Let's get started and let's get excited.
Hey guys, today I am talking to Ashley Hawks. Ashley is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is an amazing entrepreneur and an expert actually in the bridal wedding industry. She has revolutionized that entire industry based on some of the amazing things that she's going to share on the podcast. So join me here at Exited, together with Ashley Hawks. Thanks guys. All right.
so excited today. have Ashley Hawks from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a founder that has exited and we're so happy to have you Ashley.
Thank you so much for having me Gabriela. This is going to be great.
I know I am so excited and I actually, you know, just having a little conversation before we started recording. found that we have a very dear friend of mine that we have as a mutual friend in Minneapolis. So that's so great. It's. It is. It is. It's awesome. Well, Ashley, you know, I'm here at exited. We, talked to founders. We talk about their exits. We talk about life. We just talk about who, who are the founders? What do they do? What do they like? So.
Ashley Hawks (01:29.496)
Such a small world.
Gabriela Smith (01:46.742)
So tell me a little bit about your background. Like where did you grow up? Where are you from?
So born and raised in the Twin Cities in Minneapolis, my mother owned a bridal shop for 25 years. So that was the family business. was, you know, we go after school and we help and we steam dresses and vacuum and wash mirrors. And I absolutely loved it. You know, a little bit of a girly girl and being surrounded by, you know, these beautiful dresses and sparkles and pearls and just the whole, the whole wedding industry.
was so alluring to me. There was something so magical that the fairy tale of being proposed to and then planning this party and see these women come in. So I just, absolutely loved that industry. Years later, I met these two entrepreneurs who came into the bridal shop. And this was, gonna date myself, but this was back before Instagram, back when YouTube was becoming popular.
And they had this idea of how they wanted to revolutionize the wedding industry and how they're going to use video to help these small businesses grow and seeing how hard it was for my mom, you know, started her business in the nineties. It was all yellow pages and flyers and mailers and just word of mouth. And all of a sudden the internet comes out. No one knew how to make a website. No one really understood online advertising. And so to have this idea where we were going to work with businesses and help
them use these new tools, right? Because it's not just about advertising in the magazine and having the biggest ad. It's brides now want to, brides really want to get to know their wedding vendors. It's not just who has the most awards anymore. there was a huge shift in the industry. And I took a leap of faith and I said yes. And I was one of the founders and we built this thing and it ended up being a company called Forever Bride.
Ashley Hawks (03:44.47)
In the very beginning, was called Forever TV.
I mean, I mean, what an interesting niche, right? Because your wedding is everything, right? Like is the, like you said, I mean, I think I heard you say that fairy tale, the dream of creating a family. So, you know, there's this whole notion around being perfect, the perfect dress, the perfect time, the perfect moment. So it must be like a lot of pressure, right? To please the consumer.
and give them something that fulfills all of the dreams that they have.
My husband is in the mortgage space and there's a funny statistic that says the purchase of your wedding gown is a bigger emotional purchase than buying your first home. Like people put more emphasis and more pressure and there's more importance around the dress than your first home, which makes sense. But yeah, it's a big deal.
That's amazing. Okay. And so you basically have that background. You inherited the wedding, I guess we can say, you know, industry or the wedding, you know, all of that. mom was building it up. then you kind of, what a beautiful story, right? It's like, cause I firmly believe that, you know, a lot of what we do has to do with what your previous generations did. Like I see that story that is that like, isn't that interesting?
Ashley Hawks (05:15.47)
Well, I think you're exactly right because we get a peek behind the curtain of what it's really like and you get to see those pain points. I work with entrepreneurs all the time now. We'll get into that later. But you're exactly right. A lot of times it's you have that passion because you got a firsthand look at a pain point and it made you either upset enough, excited enough.
or you saw a need and you use that passion to go, there's a problem here. Something's broken in the bridge or there's a disconnect here. I know, I can fix that. And that's the passion that all of us crazy entrepreneurs have. So yeah, I think it is interesting. There are a lot of people that I know that they have something in their family line, a parent or an uncle that they got excited about that industry and they saw behind the curtain.
And it runs, which is, mean, again, as S mom, because I understand you're also a mom. How many babies do you have?
I have two little ones. Well, they're not little, but they're 11 and eight. And there's this, it's like starting to click now where, where, my gosh, they're not little. You you spend so much, you feel like you're going to be in baby phase forever. Right. And now my daughter just is wearing the same size shoes as me. And that just is just so weird.
My daughter wears my clothes. literally my daughter is 12. She now goes into my closet and then she'll, you know, cause she's, you know, she's in that age and you know, some of them, but when I reached to wear extra, extra small, have all of that in a suitcase and then she'll, she'll come out of my closet.
Ashley Hawks (06:48.814)
I told her, was like, this is not going to be a two way street. Like I am allowed to borrow your items and your shoes. You are not allowed to borrow. What an amazing thing. Because then we can both wear them.
No, I don't.
Yeah, what an amazing thing. I want to talk a little bit about your mom because she is basically building a business in the nineties. I don't think it was like that. Like I feel like, I don't know if it's because we have more social media and we're sharing more stories about our families and ourselves that I feel like back in the day, it wasn't as common that a mom would be running her business. Right.
It was 1988 was the first year that women could apply for a credit card without a male signature. 1988. Wow. Yeah, up until 1988 if you wanted a credit card you needed to have daddy or husband or brother. It's nuts. yeah, mean growing up both my parents were entrepreneurs so it just was normal to me and of course she had really great you know.
I didn't know that.
Gabriela Smith (07:39.214)
Well done.
Ashley Hawks (07:47.788)
girl boss friends and I was surrounded by that. So it seemed normal, but then growing up later, I realized that wasn't normal. And that was really, you know, she was a trailblazer.
I yeah, I mean, how can you run a business without like a credit card or, you know, the ability to buy, you know, and in your business, I mean, how does it work with a bridal business with addresses? I like, know zero about it. So you buy them from the designers and then you resell. Like, how does that work?
huge. Yeah. So it's a huge investment because you need the samples in the store for the customers to come in and touch and feel and try on. but typically the customer will go, well, I love this dress. You know, it's in white. I'd like to order it in ivory and I'd like to order it my size. So then you, place the order with the designer and they make it from scratch. But the designer comes out with new collections twice a year. Okay. So
with the fun part is this my absolute favorite was going to Las Vegas and seeing all the designers and watching the runway shows and then getting to see all the new dresses before anybody else. And then it's like shopping where you get to sit there with your little notebook and go, let's see, I'd like one of those and two of those, and let's do a size this. And I think one of the things that my mom definitely went against the grain on a lot of things, we were known to have a lot of plus size dresses in our store.
and most stores only carry quote sample size. And it was just very obvious that the actual sample size or the designer would suggest is not a normal size that most people can try on. if anything, it's, I thought it was easier to have a bigger size and then you can clamp it on. Cause then you can fit a wider range and it's an emotional customer.
Gabriela Smith (09:32.492)
is
The last thing I want to do is to bring her out of the fitting room, have her stand up on the pedestal and the three way mirror and all her friends and family are sitting behind her and the dress is, know, from the thing and things are hanging out. That was one of my sales strategies too. I'm like, we don't want to try that on. Let's try this one on.
Right,
Gabriela Smith (09:51.064)
So tell me more about that because I mean, all the entrepreneurs we talk to and we work with, I mean, it's all about solving a problem. is, there are problems. Everybody that I talk to, it's like, I just see problems everywhere and we need to solve them. Tell me more about, okay, so what was your strategy? How did you change that problem that, you know, if you were maybe a plus size woman, you're just not going to find the dress of your dreams.
Well, yeah, so the first thing we did is we always made sure that we had plenty of inventory. you know, a typical bridal shop, let's say you were plus size, you would come in, they're like, well, we have one or two dresses that you can try on. Here are the two dresses that you get to pick from. Even though we have a thousand dresses over here, you get to try on two. And we made sure that our store had tons of everything, right? The downside of that is, like I said, the designers come up with new pieces every season.
and things get discontinued. So then you're stuck with these samples that you usually try to sell at a discount. so that is actually a whole other business model that we can talk about is how to create like a separate type of store where you've got off the rack only because an off the rack only customer is very different than a custom order customer. It's just a whole different experience, you know? But there's the psychology behind the sale too of making someone feel comfortable long before we even get into the fitting room.
it's creating a great relationship with them and understanding what's important to them. You know, if all they care about is, you know, man, they've always dreamed of a long train their whole life. You know, they went to a wedding when they were a little girl and they remember this long train. And then I just am showing them, you know, other dresses and I just, I miss that piece or, know, all that matters to them is, is feeling comfortable, you know, and I'm showing them dresses that are not, and I'm showing.
or I'm explaining, look at all the beating on this and look at the lace and look at this. They don't care about the beating and the lace. They want to talk about the comfort. And so I think just a lot of people in sales or even business owners where we need to make sure that we're paying attention to what it's important to our customer using that same verbiage back to them, making sure. And that's a way that you get your pulse, you your touch points too of like, are we on the right track? Are we going in the direction that that's making you happy? You know, so many people will go down that rabbit hole and then go,
Gabriela Smith (11:57.783)
Right.
Ashley Hawks (12:11.692)
How did I lose that sail? Like I thought I was showing them really great dresses with lace and beading and things and you miss the boat. They cared about comfort.
And what, how do you, how do you know? I mean, do you measure your success in terms of feeding the need? Do you measure it by your sales? You measure it by. Like, how do you measure, like, I guess you're selling it as a person leaves. it, it what, how do you realize that you are, you know, are you on the right track and offering what you should be or not? I mean, I guess the sales would be an obvious answer, but what else?
I swear every entrepreneur needs to be in sales. You know how most people say you need to, everyone needs to work at a restaurant. I think everybody needs to work in sales and you really start to learn people's body language, right? How, how are they? I had an advantage because I got to put my customer in front of a mirror so that he really can see them physical.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
look at things and so you get a direct, but you have to pay attention to those cues. Some people are a lot easier to read than others, but really you'll start knowing if you're on the right track right away based on those physical cues long before you get those verbal cues. yeah, mean success for us was having someone leave our store in a good mood. They were happy. Whether or not we made a sale, I mean there were a lot of times, there was a store
Ashley Hawks (13:35.47)
On the other side of town, know, the twin cities as Minneapolis and St. Paul. we are the Minneapolis side and there was a store very similar to us. Family owned, really great. They're still in business today. Friends with the owner. We would send people to his store if we didn't have something or we weren't able to find what they were looking for or even because we carried a lot of the same designers. If they came in saying, you know, hey, I found this in a magazine. I really want to try this one on. I really don't have that, but you know what? Let me make a call really quick. And I call over there and say, do you guys have this in stock?
And sometimes they say yes and I'm like, you know what? You're going to go see my friend, Jimmy directions. Here's how to park. Parking was difficult. Like they know you're coming. They've got the dress already pulled and they would do the same thing to us. Sometimes it's.
Right. you know what? No. Yeah. And I mean, you touch on this concept that is there is enough for everybody, right? There's business for everybody that you just need to believe, you know, in collaboration, right? Even between, even if it's your competitors, the power that we have as entrepreneurs to collaborate with each other rather than separate and have, you know, this ugly competition, right?
Your reputation is 100 times more important than any sale ever could be. And sometimes you can get lost. Yeah. Sometimes you can get lost in, it's almost what's the word, like you for it, where you're really, you're working with someone you want that like, I know what's best for you. I know this is the right thing. And I think that's one of the hardest things is realizing like a happy customer is much more important than making the sale and your reputation goes long past the joy of that money.
Right? the money is going to get spent. Let's say you make a thousand dollars from the sale. Great. That money is going to be gone in a week with bills and things like that. But you have a happy customer. mean, that reputation is going to flourish and is going to bear fruit for years and years and years. But I think that's a mistake a lot of young entrepreneurs, young salespeople will make is they're so hungry to make that sale. They're so hungry to get that checkmark.
Gabriela Smith (15:36.766)
That will say that. Yeah. And even when you get like a pushy salesperson, they'll sell you whatever they'll get successful. Then you get home and you're like, why did I just buy this? Like I didn't need it. They pushed me into it. You know, we have similar stuff happening to us. I more often than often, I'm going to say not often enough, but often we'll get somebody with an idea. You know, in fact, we recently had a call. Somebody had a great idea. They wanted to create these big legal structure. And I'm like, dude, let's make a couple of sales.
Let's prove your concept. This is a little bit of a proof of concept. And then we can talk about, you spending all these money with us. I would love to take your money. I'll take it right now if you want me to. But I want you to know you may not be at a point where you really need all these legal things.
I see all the time. Yes. I had a mentor and this is how he described it is there's so many people and he called it Ready Aim. Ready Aim. People make all these plans and they'll get everything. They're right with the perfect website and the perfect branding and they'll get all the little swag and all this and they'll make plans about plans to have plans to have plans to plans. Meanwhile, somebody over here is out there selling.
They're going for it.
They're not perfect. They don't have the perfect website. Their logo isn't this. There's a typo on the website. The business cards aren't even in the mail yet, but they're going and they're hustling and they will always win because what they're doing is they're ready fire aim.
Ashley Hawks (16:58.414)
They're making adjustments based on, we tried this, that worked, okay, this didn't, let's make an adjustment, make an adjustment. So by the time that person A, ready aim person, finally hits the market and finally starts to make sales, they may realize that 80 % of what they built for the last 10 months and $2 million in seed money is completely off. that is some of the best advice I ever got was get out there.
make the sales, you know, and you'll get feedback from your customers in real time. You'll learn right away if you're on the right track or not.
Yeah. It's almost like, you know, getting the pool, just jump, you don't need the vest, just go. mean, case scenario, somebody will save you. you know, like a baby that's trying to, somebody will come and grab you. Whether it's, you know, a spouse, a family member, or the bank will stop giving you credit, but you you just, and that's the beauty of entrepreneurship, the level of risk, you know, what, how have you seen, say, risk in your life as a, as an entrepreneur?
And all the time.
Gabriela Smith (17:55.951)
Right? What is the role of risk in your path as an entrepreneur?
If I could go back and tell my younger self, 20 years ago, even 16 years ago, it would be to take more risks. As an entrepreneur, we're naturally risk takers, right? Putting your name and your reputation and your money and your entire livelihood out on the line and you're creating something out of nothing and expecting it to provide for your family, that's risky, yes. But looking back, I would tell my younger self to take bigger risks.
when I went here, go here and see what happens. Because every time that I, almost every time I took a risk, it paid off in some way, shape or form. Even if it was a little failure at the time, it taught me something else that actually spurred me on further than if I hadn't made that mistake in the beginning, or it was a lesson, or it was a relationship that I made. And so, yeah, I mean, there's always going to be risks, but I love what you said about the pool. I say this a lot, I go and speak at a lot of the local high schools to...
I wish they had this when I was in high school, they have entrepreneurship programs. Yeah. And they had nothing like that. Right. You had to pick a job. Yeah. I don't want to pick a job. want to make my own Exactly.
I don't want to have a job me neither. I want to do stuff
Ashley Hawks (19:11.478)
And I talk exactly about what you said. And I use the example of like, you can't read how to swim. And there's so many people that like go to school to learn business and they go to all these seminars and they read all these books. And yes, that's point, but you got to get in the pool. You cannot learn how to be an entrepreneur without doing it.
Thank
Gabriela Smith (19:30.518)
Yeah, I have to, you know, building, solving problems, taking risks with measure. course, you know, with measure, right? We're not talking about going out and like, although I've heard some great stories about people just mortgaging their homes to, launch a business and then things paying off. But you know, the thing about, hear about every entrepreneur, even it's like you said, if it didn't work, you get out, you get back on the.
and now you keep walking. That is just something that's an attribute that everybody seems to have, which is it doesn't matter if the door is shut, I'll either open it back up, find another door, climb through the window, whatever I need to do to pursue that dream, which I don't know if you have this feeling of, I feel like you achieve something and then there's something else. Do you have that feeling of, I can't get this market. Now, what about this market? How does that work with you?
I read this quote on Instagram the other day. was like, you know, give yourself some credit. The reason you never feel satisfied is you're always moving the bar on yourself. You know, cause we're always like, as soon as we're almost there, I'm like, no, but I can do more and I can do this. And we have so many different irons in the fire that we never give ourselves a moment to go, yeah, I did a great job. I accomplished that. Let's sit for a moment. It's like, we're always pushing to that next thing. And sometimes we don't even let ourselves achieve it because we're always moving the bar.
Right?
Gabriela Smith (20:52.276)
Exactly. that is so true. And that's where like, feel like wellness comes in and like, you know, take your time, breathe. Everything's fine. You're going to achieve the number. You're going to get there. But you know, I feel like, yeah, I know in my personality is that this constant pursuit. So it's really good to get to know yourself and like, you know, know when you're maybe reaching a burnout situation or getting too stressed, right? Yeah.
Yeah, 100%.
So, okay. So, you know, you have an interest in, we were talking with some of the other founders here and talking about choosing the partner, right? Like for example, the attributes that your partner should have. And then we talked a little bit about, you know, there's, there's the business partner that there's your life partner, right? And they need to, everybody needs to fit in the right position for you to feel comfortable and be the entrepreneur you were born to be. And in your case, it's also a family business.
So, right, so how does that work? The family business, know, USA daughter or USA wife, how does that work? Being a business partner with the people you're also doing business with.
Well, so for me, it was a little different because when I met these two guys that had this idea to build Forever Bride, it meant that I had to leave the bridal shop. And I knew that I never wanted to take over the bridal shop and I knew that I wanted to do something bigger. I knew I wanted to do something that served more the business side, not the bride side. felt like I already put in my dues. I was done, you know, dealing with brides.
Gabriela Smith (22:11.726)
Bye.
Ashley Hawks (22:29.068)
So that was hard, right? I think she was hurt a little bit in the beginning because we had worked together for so long. Yeah, so my mom owned the bridal shop, but I left her to build Forever Bride because Forever Bride took every ounce of my time and attention. And they were these two young, I mean, we were all in our early 20s, mid 20s.
This is your mom.
Ashley Hawks (22:53.358)
And the three of us worked day and night for years and years years building this. And it became a household name in the Twin Cities. had hundreds of businesses that we serve. So basically we created this platform, a website that a bride could search local vendors. So let's say you're getting married and you wanted to search the florists in your area and you would say, okay, I'm looking for a florist within the Twin Cities area with this type of price point.
and it would populate all of our members because it was a membership base. didn't just pull in everybody. And then we would have pictures and videos. from early days, we would make these cute little videos where we'd go in and we'd go, hi Susie, tell us a little bit about your bakery. And she'd like, hi Susie. And this is Susie's bake shop. And this is what makes us different. And it was like Instagram reels before any of that existed. they were short little videos.
where we show Suzy making her cupcakes. you know, we really specialize in gluten free. And, you know, my mom and I started it. And so we would tell a story and she would talk about like, you know, what was important to her. And it was so interesting. Again, like we have Instagram reels and have TikTok. So this seems so normal. But 15 years ago, to be able to see behind the scenes of a wedding venue or, you know, hottest photographer in town.
turns out to be a dick. Like, I don't know if I can say that, But you know what I mean? You see these big ads, you're like, oh, he's the number one photographer, the da da da da. And then you do a meeting with him and he's a jerk. And you're like, I don't want this guy following me around all day long. And so it gave you a little peek of, know, hi, I'm Greg and this is, I'm a photographer and this is my style. And you can watch a 10 second video on somebody and right away you go, I like that guy. You'll know. I like him. Or you know what? That person bugs me. I'm not gonna book them. And so these videos gave people the opportunity.
Gabriela Smith (24:47.992)
And you guys were the first ones doing that.
We, biggest competitor was the knot and wedding wire. And they're both, you know, absolute behemoths of companies. But what we did that they didn't is because we were small, we got to know these businesses and we were doing videos and we were, and what's so interesting is, so we originally built the company to serve the wedding business owner, right? So instead of just giving someone fish, we were teaching them to fish. were showing them.
Okay, hey, we made you this video. We'll put it on our website, but let me show you how to put it on your website and it'll skyrocket your SEO. You know, this is back when Google bought YouTube. If you had a YouTube video on your website, it increased your chances of being on the front page of Google by, I don't know, hundreds of percent. was ridiculous.
Wild Wild West, was everything.
It totally was. Yes, the algorithms were so much different. And so if you did just one, two, three, you're on the front page of Google like that. So we were helping these wedding business owners figure out how to, hey, so then we started doing seminars. Hey, here's how to build a Facebook business page. Here's how to post on Instagram when Instagram. And we would teach them all these different things. We literally did a seminar called What the F is SEO.
Gabriela Smith (25:56.585)
I agree.
Ashley Hawks (26:03.178)
because nobody knew what SEO meant. They got some Italian word or something. So we would break it down and help them figure out, like, here's the tools and the tricks to grow your business. And then what happened was, you know, in true Ashley form, we couldn't just do regular seminars. We had to do like big fun party seminars. It was full catering and open bars and entertainment. And we bring all these vendors together and then they're networking and they're meeting each other and building relationships. And this photographer is now buddies with this videographer and they're
they're sharing business back and forth. this bakery, don't do gluten free, so they're recommending Suzy's Bakery, who specializes in gluten free. And this community started to build that was so strong that the Knot couldn't compete with. And so we had this grand loyalty from our vendors because we're helping them make money. This is another thing. If you can help people make money, they will love you.
Right, you can't-
Gabriela Smith (26:54.558)
Exactly. And you're highlighting, which is also, sounds like a lot of the local smaller businesses, right? Like your town business. So, my gosh, so much, so many things to talk about. the, were you guys like replicating that? Like, I'm sure you're twin cities. Did that later expand into, so tell me more. mean, it sounds like there's all these back and forth, so much fluidity business in and out videos, seminars, and then at some point, yeah, we.
We were like crazy. had a wedding fair that we launched at the Mall of America. we've really been. So fun. so Radisson Blue is this beautiful high end hotel that's connected to the mall. And we would rent out their giant ballroom and I would put together. Now, growing up, I went to wedding fairs with my mom and I hated them. They were so tacky and just like.
Which I've been, I've been there, yes.
Ashley Hawks (27:42.742)
It just was stiff and I called it trick or treating because you would walk around with your little bag and you'd go up to the booth and you'd your free chapstick or your Hershey's kiss and you'd go to the next one, you'd get your branded pen and then you'd go home and dump it out and like, I'm not doing a wedding fair. Like our vendors don't want that. Our brides don't want that. And we had both sides, brides and vendors going, if you did a wedding fair, I would go. If you did a wedding fair, I'd buy a booth. And I'm like, okay, well, if we were to do a wedding fair, how would I, if I were getting married again, what would I want to do? Well, I like the farmer's market and I like.
trying a sample of the coconut before I get the this. I like, you know, doing, and so we created this wedding style farmers market where brides could walk around and experience. And we had selfie stations and we had a make your own floral crown station. We had fresh squeezed mimosa's and they were shopping, you know, so you could actually like try on things and buy them and go, you know what? I actually really like these earrings. These are going to be my wedding earrings. How much right here? And so they're, they're exchanging. And I actually encouraged, and we did seminars to teach the vendors how to
properly run a booth. Don't just stand there like this handing out pens. You keep them. Yeah. We talk to them, talk to me about your booth design. Talk to me about how you're gonna gather their information. Don't just have a clipboard where they can write down their name and email. Like let's make this fun for them. So we made sure that this experience was so over the top and that our vendors could write you. But my goal is to make sure my vendors are making money. Right. So I don't just want them spending $2,000 on a booth and they don't book any weddings. I wanna make sure.
Being excited about what you're
Ashley Hawks (29:11.182)
that this is gonna be really profitable for them, because then they're gonna buy a booth at my next show. And it was, I mean, we would have vendors that would pay in full for the next three, four years and would sponsor the shows. We would have lines of brides coming down out of Radisson Blue out into the mall, wrapping around malls. really hated me. I'm like, you know what?
sounds like a revolution. They got literally revolution of the bridal industry happening because basically it is three partners got together and let's talk about, okay, so it sounds like you were literally in your, in your, what are we saying in your, this is your flow. Like this is obviously you have these backgrounds, you grew up around the industry, but that actually showed you what's not in what's missing, right? Like I know what's there, the shop, I mean, this
I had gone through planning a wedding, made all those mistakes.
Now, okay. So how do you choose, how do you know if the people that you're in business with are the right people? Like, because you're betting years of your life, you're betting hours in your day, you know, cause it's like a marriage. Like it's like you're married to your partner.
Most business relationships don't work. mean, I would argue that a business relationship is just as hard, if not harder, than a marriage. know, sometimes you spend more time together with your business partner. I got really lucky with the two guys. They were more silent partners, so I ran 100 % the day-to-day. One of them, I'm really into traction. I don't know if you're familiar with Traction by Gina Wickman.
Ashley Hawks (30:47.982)
It's this kind of, call it like the entrepreneur's Bible, basically. It's not a that you just read cover to cover. It's one of those things that you tackle one chapter at a time and you go back to that part years later and you talk about it with friends and stuff. But basically, one of the things that they teach is you have this visionary and an integrator and they're very different people. The visionary is like the wild person with all the ideas and they're just this optimistic, let's do this. And you usually a little ADHD and all.
the place. You have the integrator and they're you a little bit more numbers and focused and they're kind of putting everything and they're taking all of these ideas and they're kind of locking them in. And so I was lucky you know I'm the visionary just all over the place and and and the other the two guys was one of each. So we had the integrator who is behind the scenes running the numbers doing all the boring stuff that I do not want to do.
I it's architect personality right.
Business architect, yes, yes. then I had, and the other guy was another visionary. And so, you know, put us in a room with a cup of coffee and we're coming up with, you know, we're changing the world. Never like, Mike, we got another idea.
That's insane, I totally relate.
Ashley Hawks (32:03.214)
So they, and they get along really well. So they owned another business. So that was their full-time piece. So they ran their business and then, you know, I did my wild, crazy thing and check in every once in while. But they were wonderful and they trusted me and they let me be wild and crazy. And, you know, they gave me the safety net to take those risks. I got very, very lucky because a lot of partnerships and I've seen it happen even with friends and some people that I work with, they're very difficult and you need to put a lot of.
time and effort and energy maintaining that relationship, right? Because that's the foundation. If that's strong, you can build a skyscraper from
Exactly. you know, as you know, we have a legal background here at the firm. But I even tell the people we work with is no matter how much you want to lawyer up your deal, your top lawyer, the 50th floor or boutique or whatever, at the end of the day, it's the human quality on the other end. And nothing trumps that.
humanity of people wanting to do things and do right by each other. That is really the core of that to me. It's like if you get to people that want to be right to each other and collaborate and not be greedy, that is a great formula for success. you can, you know, you can do the deal without any papers. Again, I'm not recommending it because, you know, you still want to follow with your stuff, but at the end of the day, you can.
Create a great business or a failing business by who you're doing business with.
Ashley Hawks (33:37.07)
Well, and I would say my number one piece of advice is make sure that you have good people around you outside of your organization that you can talk to. So one of the biggest things that I discovered when all of a sudden we went from being a business to a company, right? instead of just being in startup, I've got all these employees and hundreds of customers and we're running, you know, big numbers. And the guys recommended that I join a peer group. I'm going, I don't really care.
wedding industry? What are going to do to help me? My industry is so different. My business is so different. know, I'm 31 years old and a CEO seat. like, they're not going to understand me and what I'm going through. I went and I showed up. was pregnant with my second baby and I waddled in there with my big old stilettos. you know, just, it was all men. I was the youngest one by like 20 years and manufacturing, marketing and one.
One.
And eventually there was like two or three other gals and I'm actually still friends with them to this day. That's awesome. I kept showing up and they would talk about things. And a peer group is a monthly meeting. You meet in person. There's about 10, 12 people from all different industries because after a certain point, you're, I'm not involved in the day to day. I'm not out hunting new wedding vendors. I'm not putting together the Instagram. I'm not doing all the little things. My job as CEO now is three things, people, money, vision, and you need to have people around you.
that are also going through those same things that you can talk and have that strategy. Because if you're in the weeds all day long with your team and you're not coming up for air every once in while and getting good outside insight, outside counsel, you're gonna start bickering and you're gonna start just getting into these icky areas. And so this peer group totally changed my entire leadership style. And it helped me communicate better with my business partners. If I'm having an issue with my business partner and I tell my husband about it, he says, you want me to go beat him up?
Ashley Hawks (35:32.654)
we do, you know, like this, right? Not helpful advice. It's not funny. Like you're not, you know, where he'll get all upset or he'll, you know, where I'll tell one of my girlfriends and she's, Oh my God, that sounds terrible. You should quit. I can't quit. own it. You, you, you need people around you that get it and can give you good solid advice. And that's, and that's why the peer group for me was, was so, was so good because the higher you get, the lonelier it gets.
Right, and I mean
Ashley Hawks (36:01.198)
And it doesn't get easier. You get better, right? It doesn't get easier. You just get better. But you do, you need to have those, those sound people in your life that can call you out on your shit sometimes too. When you're like, Hey, I need to make this decision A or B. And they're like, let's peel back the layers. Why are you in this predicament in the first place? How'd you get here? And how do you go out of option C? Like you need people like that.
I love it. And that's your tribe. I feel like, you know, you have your tribe for every aspect of your life. You have your people that you can go to. But I love that because we are learners, like perpetual learners. You never know enough because you'll meet a person and they'll bring a new perspective and you'll meet somebody else and they'll have a new perspective. And everybody with our backgrounds, where you grow up, where you, you know, in your case, you know, your mom was the business owner. In my case, actually the same.
And then that feeds into, you know, what paradigms do you have? You know, that's a big one. What paradigms do you have in your life that come with what you grew up with, how you grew up with that, maybe self-limiting. So I totally, I love the idea. also have, I have my own peer group and I like to be challenged. Do you like to be challenged?
So much so that I, after we sold the company, I started a peer group organization. So that's, that's my next chapter right now is I do exactly that. want to reach CEOs, founders, business owners, you know, and an invitation only because you got to find the right people at the right mindset. Cause somebody who already knows everything, right? They're not a good fit. huh.
Yeah
Gabriela Smith (37:33.112)
Vulnerability. Vulnerability. It is just like, what is it that I don't know? Right. And just having, just being able to take it in and think about it. You know, what, can I do better? Where am I missing the mark? You know?
Yeah, that's where big g the things that got you are not the same skills a going to take you to that where so many entreprenuers, reach the ceiling and doing. You know, I've got I am somewhat successful, and those activities and a whole different skill set
That's insane. That's awesome. I love to hear that because yeah, think I don't think I've met a founder that's been successful that doesn't have that learning aspect of what else is out there and reading books you read. you a reader?
You're listening. One book a week. One book a week.
That's amazing. Well, can't quite say truthfully that I do want a week.
Ashley Hawks (38:32.536)
Audible drives so much and I haven't listened to the radio. That was a thing that my mentor said years ago. He was like, you don't listen to the radio anymore. Radio is mental chewing gum. It's bubblegums for the mind. It is completely useless. So we don't listen to the radio anymore. And it went, okay.
Yeah, I know. That's awesome. obviously one aspect about you is you're a mom and an entrepreneur. How does that work?
I wish I could say like, oh, you're just fine balance and you do it. It's hard. It's absolutely hard. And I think you find the good in all of it, right? It's all about perspective. We could sit here and go, yeah, I've missed a lot of things. I went back to work at six weeks with my first baby. I went back to work two weeks after my second baby. I don't recommend doing any of that. You miss things, but at the same time.
I've now created a space for myself where I'm in Florida, know, sweating my butt off right now, sorry, but like I'm able to do these different things. It's hard. puts, especially somebody that is a true visionary and you're really out there and you have a really hard time turning off that part of your brain because I think it can put a little stress on the marriage too, right? Going back to peer groups, like it's good to have good couples in your life that can speak into you and you can talk to you about stuff instead of.
having those terrible girlfriends in your life, they're like, just leave them girl, just leave them. It's like, well, let's get some better strategy.
Gabriela Smith (40:02.03)
You know, do you feel, you know, because we as moms, business people, entrepreneurs, I feel like our time is so limited. Like we have such limited time. so have you like, for me, I'm okay with the fact that maybe like people that have known that I have been friends, you know, they say friends for a season, friends for a reason, friends for life. Isn't it? I feel like so much validation in that because that's. Yeah.
I love that.
I mean, as moms, I feel like we want to be everything to everybody. And that's one of the things I caught myself on like about three years ago, I realized, well, I don't need to be everybody's friend all the time, every time, you know, the whole give and take. And for us that are builders, visionaries, dreamers, just people with our heads way out in the outer space, it's so important to choose, you know, the mentors, choose the women that will speak into your life, choose the men that will speak into your life, you know, and then make the men.
devote the motherhood, but you know, not mother, not all motherhoods look the same. feel like, right. Whatever my neighbors do doesn't mean that that's not my story. I pick my story. So, you with our kids, they love, you know, I'm passionate about what I do. And, you know, they actually work in the business, you know, my kids are doing that at entry, they, you know, learning. And so I think we can build, build them into,
the universe we've created for us and not have that guilt that, you know, society or the other people are giving.
Ashley Hawks (41:36.974)
Yes. Well, and I think important not to bring that guilt home, right? Easier said than done. But I want my kids to see that I'm proud of the work that I do. And I'm so lucky and happy and grateful that I get to do this. Like I want them to find something that they get excited and passionate about. You my daughter already says, I want to be an entrepreneur when I grow up. And she does these little, you know, she makes these with my bracelets that, you know, they make, they make all these little know these. Seminate Dan. Thank you.
And they're
instead of a lemonade stand, they do a bracelet stand. And I'm like, I love this, you know? But I'd make her just like my dad made me do when I did a lemonade stand. I had to do a business plan and show him all of my expenses and had to get written permission from the person I was doing it in their yard. But I'd do the same thing with them. I'm like, okay, well, let's talk about how much money did you spend on the beads and what kind of time? And you had your brother help you, so how much are you gonna pay him? And so, you know, she does this and she's like, oh.
Well, I'm only making this much. like, well, maybe we need to increase pricing or maybe we need to get the beads on sale or maybe we need like what, it's all a math problem, you know, and it's not a hard math problem either. It's just massaging the numbers to go, okay, if you change this and change this and change this, you get a better outcome. Like how fun is that? And that's simple enough for their little brains to go, okay. That makes sense. I like that. I love, I love seeing their little years start turning, you know,
Yeah.
Gabriela Smith (42:56.558)
Exactly. obviously exposing them to what we do, but like also, cause I keep feeling like this new generation just so much into their phones and all that, that they're missing out on the fun stuff of life, which is the human touch, the human, then just learning, just learning from us, you know, that's such a big one. yeah. So,
I love that.
Obviously you're a super mega entrepreneur, visionary. When did you know that you are this person? You don't fit in that box. think outside the box, you live outside the box, you operate outside the box. did that moment?
actually early and it was an actual haha moment, I feel like I don't have a lot of these like you know big lightning bolt moments but years ago. So I started modeling at a young age I started modeling professionally when I was 14 and started traveling and made made a decent career for myself. And it was in my early 20's. And I specialize in high fashion and early 20's high fashion you are old. Okay, wow okay, and I didn't make it as far as I wanted to buy that age right some already you know
beating myself up that I wasn't, you know, the next Cindy Crawford. And I realized one day that, and my goal was to be on the cover of a magazine, right? Like once you get this before social media, once you get the cover of a magazine, like you've made it. And that's all I did. know, I tailored it. Everything I did was this path. And I realized one day, let's say I get the cover and I'm sick that morning or something happens or I'm hit by a bug. It doesn't matter. They'll just find some other tall brunette girl to put on the cover.
Gabriela Smith (44:36.846)
Yeah.
Ashley Hawks (44:41.036)
It doesn't matter. It's not me. It's nothing that I did. I just was available and got picked for that particular thing. My name's not on it. I'm promoting somebody else's product, somebody else's makeup. And it came to this realization that like, I have so much more to give to this world. Like I have so many great ideas. I have so much more and I still want to be on the cover of magazine, but I want my name next to me. I want it to be because of something that I did or built or I helped people.
And again, spending that long in the modeling industry, you see the good, the bad, the ugly. And I saw a huge need and I had a business partner. started my first company actually when I was 22. It was called Style and Grace. And she was in the pageant world. I was in the modeling world and we both were talking about how there's a lot of these pitfalls and there's a lot of areas that people are completely overlooking. And it's one of those things where you kind of look around, you're like, am I the only one that sees this?
And we decided that we wanted to start a company that helped models and pageant contestants look at this from a business perspective and not just, I'm a pretty girl and I'm going to go make some money. Because I was again, lucky enough that when I got started in the modeling industry, my parents said, okay, you're going to do this, but you're going to learn how to do it right. And you're going to treat this like a business. And I learned very quickly that, I don't have to be the prettiest. I don't even have to be the best, but I will outwork everybody.
I will show up early. I will show up with a good attitude. I will be prepared. I will work hard. I won't complain. And I booked more jobs than anybody. And again, not because I was the prettiest, not because I had the best body, not any of those things. I outworked everybody and I was smart about it. And I built the right relationships with the right people. And so we wanted to take those same skills. And the reason her and I were friends is I felt like she was the only other person who treated that world the same way. We melt modeling.
Right.
Ashley Hawks (46:31.03)
And same thing with the pageant world. You're crowned a queen and you're this queen, this princess for a year and then they take the crown away and you're a nobody. But what you can do is you can use that year to build relationships and build your reputation because they don't take that away with the crown. And so we started this company where we not only trained people how to go into the industry, but then how to be really profitable once you're in it. How to go on a casting.
Right.
Gabriela Smith (46:54.318)
When did that company get started?
That was my first one. That was I was 22. That was my first business.
So you're serial, you're like a serial entrepreneur.
Yeah, yeah, I'm on my third one. ways, right? Uh-huh. Yeah, but that was my aha moment. That's where I decided I don't want to model anymore. I don't want to just be this nobody. I want to help other people. I see this.
Icky side of the industry that I was really lucky to stay out of. I can see how some people, they didn't have a good enough backbone or if they didn't have a good family or a friend group to go, hey, that's probably not a good idea to go to that party. That's probably not a good idea to go spend time with that person. And also understanding, because there's just like any industry, I don't want to say like the modeling and the acting world, there's a lot of it that's come public now.
Ashley Hawks (47:47.032)
There's people like that every industry. Let's be honest. It's just not as glamorized, right?
Is that sense of people are a thing, you know, and not a human. I feel like you brought humanity. feel like, you know, hearing all about your businesses and experiences, like you're bringing humanity into the business world. You know, let's create the bridal shop into an activity. Basically you turn it into an activity where people were socializing with each other rather than just interacting with a dress. They're not interacting with each other with a baker.
the flowers, the photographer and everybody else involved in the process of a wedding. And then, you know, with the models, you're bringing humanities, like what is your value? Like what is your value as a person? You're more than just, you know, whatever these assets that's pretty and people want to look at and that's just beautiful. You know, that's Felix. That's unique.
It's funny how all three businesses, the Style and Grace and Forever Bride and now my current company, Soar, is it's all about giving people the education, the power and the network to be very, very successful and very happy. know, I've been, I've had seasons of my life where I was making lots and lots of money and I was not.
happy. I had seasons wher was doing really well and like, I really believe t 360 degree approach. You our mental being our emoti what's in our bank account and when we can have all o harmony and then they each other. Like that's, about because I've been b
Ashley Hawks (49:31.038)
mentors in my life and good people that have helped me work on all those areas. And it's real when you slow down and you become very intentional with your goals and with your education and your network and who's around you. It is absolutely incredible what can start happening in your life. And it's possible.
And I feel like it really comes down to that relationship. and, know, I've heard the thing where your network is your net worth. I've heard all that said, but there's some truth to. Seeking the human relationship and then helping each other, just finding the people that want to build together to create something. And then the stakeholders that are, you know, working with you, mentoring you, that's just so big. That is just insane. That's really, really.
We touched, mean, we started talking a little bit about impact. What, what, how do you want to be remembered? know, cause one of the things that we come up with, you know, we see the entrepreneurs, we grind, we grind, we make all the money. Sometimes we don't even have time to enjoy like all that. Right. Why do you want to be remembered?
love that. think I've only had one other person ever ask me that question. There was a moment during one of our, called a monthly mingles. It was our monthly little educational seminars for our Forever Bride members where they would come and they would, you know, we'd have a little party and we'd bring in a guest speaker. And there was a guy who I think he worked full-time corporate, but he wanted to be a jeweler. And, you know, through being with our program, he eventually was able to go full-time with his jewelry business and was doing really well.
and he had brought his wife to the event and they pulled me aside and said, I just wanted to say thank you because of you and what you built. We're taking our kids to Disney World next week. And we don't come from a family where anyone's ever been to Disney World in our family. Like this is a new, like this would not have been possible had it not been for your program. And I just wanted to let you know that you're gonna make some kids really, really happy next week. And that just, like it's more than just the business. It's more than just, right?
Ashley Hawks (51:38.284)
The followers on Instagram are more sales. Like we're impacting families. We're impacting generations and that like that hit me so hard of the work we're doing has such a bigger ripple effect than I probably will even imagine. know, so to answer your question, like the impact, I want people to go, man, because of that thing, that idea that she had, we were able to do this and my community was impacted this or my
son was able to do like I there's my employees I was able to hire another hundred people because we opened this division because of the workshop like I don't even know what that looks like but but that's a great question I love that it's a one to think about.
Because I just want to think about, right? Like even I couldn't tell you I have the perfect answer for mine. I just know that, you know, in my case, it took me a while to really understand who I was. Like, and people have told me, you know, you're so self aware and I am self aware about, you know, what I do, how I feel, all of that. But then I'm still trying to figure out the true impact. I'm a person of faith.
So that is definitely, want to leave that, you know, legacy of, you know, God and all of that in my life and all the things I've experienced. I want to make sure that's definitely part of my legacy. But then I've also been given things to store, you know, material things to store and then multiply. So, you know, I'm always curious to know what is the impact because not every, know, we spoke with somebody else where some of us are entrepreneurs, some of us own the business and others don't.
But that doesn't mean they can't leave a legacy within the realm of influence that they have. But I think all of us, no matter if you are, what job you have or what path you've chosen or what path has been given to you, which is what's your impact? Like that's big, right?
Ashley Hawks (53:33.824)
I what you said about stewarding because it is about those gifts. know, God will give us more. Like we are loved by an abundant creator and he wants us to not only enjoy this life and to enjoy all the gifts, but he wants us to use them and to share them with others. And I think you're exactly right. Like when we do a good job of sharing our gifts and, you know, pushing it outward, he's going to keep flowing more through you. He's going to be like, you're great at this. Here's some more.
Exactly. And I think it's in the Bible where it says, you you're given to someone who's been given a little more will be given. There's a whole thing about that and just being responsible with it, with the assets that we have, both emotional, physical material, whatever, you know, and just being responsible. This is really cool. So I want to touch a little bit on your actual exit process that you've had. I feel like
You know, when you, when you approach your mom, you say, mom, I'm going to go do these other things. That's kind of like an exit. You know, you're exiting and you mentioned, you know, maybe your mom was a little hurt, but I mean, that's, think that's part of the entrepreneur life, which is we are going to go through difficult conversations. so how do you prepare for a difficult conversation, especially with like somebody like a mom or somebody, you know, so close, you know, in, in, your life or with such a big impact.
And I think this shows so much about her and her character. When I told her about this opportunity, she kind of smiled and said, you've got to do this. She was hurt and knew that I would be leaving, but she's like, you'd be crazy. You're destined for much more than just this. And of course, she was my first customer. Wow, right. She was like, yes, I'll join. But I think.
you know, my, my second exit, cause we, ended up selling forever bride during the pandemic. sold bride to it's final. And so that, that was really kind of my, my big exit where, know, I was able to sell something that I had helped create out of nothing. And, and it was, it was the right time. It was, it was during the pandemic and
Gabriela Smith (55:34.815)
Okay.
Gabriela Smith (55:45.697)
Bye.
Ashley Hawks (55:53.774)
It was weird because, hindsight's 2020. I can look back and go, wow, that was perfect. How all the seasons kind of lined up and things, but in the moment when you're going through the storm and the chaos of everything, nothing makes sense in the moment. But then the dust settles years later and you look back and go, yeah, okay, that made sense. You know, 2021 and we were ready to close that chapter, which then gave room for me to give birth to this new idea, Soar. And I would have never been able to have done that if I was still building Forever Bride. And now in it, I'm going, now Soar is my real.
Like this is really where God wants me to be. But it was beautiful timing and Forever Bride is still doing its thing, but now on a national platform, which is so cool to see my idea being used now to serve millions of brides all over the country. And actually as of today,
That's amazing.
Ashley Hawks (56:44.846)
the CMO, Kelly Cook, who is someone that I was very close with and just have so much respect for. She, as of today, just took over the CEO seat. So she is the female CEO of David's Bridal leading the charge and just doing amazing things over there. But it was really cool. That's not how I fully envisioned the next evolution, but that's kind of
That's so great.
Ashley Hawks (57:14.126)
part of the fun of building something and passing it off to the next owners. They're always going to put their own ideas and their own brand into it, right? Because it's a different customer now. Now they're serving 94 % of all brides in the United States versus us just here in the Twin Cities. But it was really special.
Right. And when you guys started that business, Forever 21, you guys, did you guys have this sale in sight or, or what was the thought process? Did we want to scale and sell that we want to, I don't know, do an IPO? Do we want to raise funds? What was the goal other than obviously being passionate about creating something that wasn't there?
Yeah, so the two guys, Charles and Mike, my two partners, that was one of their long-term goals from the beginning was eventually we see this being something that could be purchased by somebody. The Knot was our biggest competitor and they obviously had the money to be able to do that someday. So that was kind of like what we had off in the distance of this is eventually where we wanna be.
And then of course, when you're in the day-to-day, right? You know, I talked about kind of being down in the weeds with the team. You know, it's hard to get above all that and remember where you're going, that North Star. But I was lucky to have the partners because on the back end, they were able to make sure that everything was buttoned up. And you'll love this from the legal side of things. Everything was so organized. know, Mike, who did all you know, all the numbers and the accounting and the books and everything was,
So when we started going through the process and going through all the due diligence and you we've got the lawyers on both sides and it actually was really smooth. That's great. Like all the lawyers were like, we've never had a sale like be this easy because we were so organized from because they go back years and years and years and they want to see everything. Yes. Metaphorically, you lift this.
Gabriela Smith (59:18.711)
Literally, yes.
And because we had had that end game in sight the entire time, everything was organized and everything was categorized and everything was ready to go when we were ready to make that decision. So that would be a great piece of advice is even if it's 10, 20 years from now, you know, start working with people, you know, from the legal side and, know, your accountants and just keep everything as organized as possible because it's
really the things that they ask for sometimes, you know? I'm so glad I saved that.
What we tell our founders is there are two languages that are spoken at the sale process. You need to speak the finance language. So somebody is going to do a quality of earnings report, tax reports, all your finance reports. And then somebody is going to do due diligence. Your buyer will come in and look at everything and literally
What the other piece is, they're literally going to put your entire business into a stack of papers. And your business will basically be written in pages. And this is a description and this is what it is. And so it is, you I ask because, you know, a lot of our founders just, you know, they create a baby and then they think they're going to pass it on to the family. Other founders think, you know, we want to raise capital. Others say, well, I want to do an IPO. And then a lot of them.
Gabriela Smith (01:00:42.028)
We want to sell this thing, but it is a job to sell your business. is as, as, as, as an important job as it is to build a business. And then coming into the process and not speaking the legal language, don't maybe not have that can make it difficult, but I'm glad to hear yours was smooth. We love to see this with you because I actually believe every deal can be very smooth. People don't forget the board. have so many people, know, my gosh, my wife is about to leave me. My kids don't see me.
And it doesn't need to be like that. And it can be a joyful moment.
Mm-hmm. Well, and even this is great advice too. Like it took us almost a year from from start to finish, which in You know is very short, know, and I'm stressing out going why is it taking so long? And it's been months and it's this and and you know again later you look back and go knowing what I know now that that was really fast. Yeah these things I had no idea no idea that they took so long So yeah, I think start to finish we were under 12 months
That's great. And then mentally, the emotional preparation, you know, you're going through these due diligence and then, you know, at some point you're going to sign the paper and then the business is no longer yours. So the equity may be...
anticlimactic by the way, you sign, there's no like confetti came in. It's like, oh, that's it. You we went out to dinner or something with the spouses. I had a friend that had gone through the same process and she reached out and I love this. I feel like if you've got good advice to share, don't wait for people to ask for your advice. Feel free to reach out and go, hey, I know you're going to this thing. Here's my advice because this piece was so good and I didn't realize that I needed it so much. She basically said,
Ashley Hawks (01:02:26.338)
hey, you you're going through the sale. I want you to take some time to mourn your company. Yeah, because it is going to die in a way and not in a bad way. But I want you to take some time to like emotionally close the chapter because it is no more, even though it's it's going over here and it's going to live on. It's going to be completely different. And if you have this this mentality of like it still is what it is and that's Mike, because it's your baby. How many times we call it our baby. It's your baby is now done and it's so take some time.
and that way you won't be so emotionally attached to it when they change the name and change the logo and they change this and they change that, which they will and that's okay. And that's a good thing, right? It's, it's, it's, it's evolving, right? It's evolving into something else. And so that was really good advice was just take some time, mourn, mourn the business. It's, it's, it's going to be this, this version of it is dead now, you
Because you dedicated, I mean, how many years? You said it was five years between, you when you...
No, almost 10 or 11.
Sorry, wow, I thought it
Ashley Hawks (01:03:35.63)
I know, sorry, got my timelines all messed up earlier. So 2012 was when I said yes to Charles and Mike and coming on board. And then the sale was final in 2022.
Yeah, it's definitely an emotional moment. mean, it is very emotional. It's very emotional because at the same time that you're selling, you got to keep your business running. So the business needs to run and you're having all these extra meetings and the lawyers that count everybody. So, well, that's great. Well, Ashley, you have a fabulous story. It sounds like you have, guess, the new chapter now with SOAR and doing the mentoring and getting people together. So I am so excited.
Thank you.
Gabriela Smith (01:04:17.646)
to have met you and get to share a little bit of your story here with everybody. So if you had one last takeaway, maybe for people who are founders, who are building, maybe thinking about selling, maybe thinking about not selling, what's something that you just want to share with people?
My husband sent me something the other day because he's been my biggest cheerleader from day one. You know, we've been together since before Forever Bride. Actually before even Style and Grace. Like we got married. was really young. And he sent me something the other day on Instagram. And it was just, one of those cute little quotes. love, I love good little nuggets like that. And it hit me so hard and I'll find it. I'll send it to you because I want to properly give it, you know, the right verbiage. But basically it said something about the real
the real entrepreneurs, the real winners, they're the ones that don't give up when the parades are over. And the excitement has dwindled and nobody's cheering for you. Because there is in the beginning, it's in fireworks and the excitement's in glamour. Everyone's all excited and they ask you about it, ask you about it. And then you keep going, you keep going. You're doing the same thing and the same thing and the same thing.
It's
Ashley Hawks (01:05:32.302)
And the same thing, and nobody really cares. And people ask you how it is and nothing's changed, because you're still going and you're still grinding. And that's where most people give up. They're like, I'm still doing it, I'm still doing it, I'm still showing up, nothing's changing. I'm like, nothing's growing, but it's not growing down. It's this gray area that is lonely. And that's where those negative voices creep in. And that's where you want to slow down. And you need to...
take so deep and be your own damn cheerleader and not rely on the social media and the husband and this and he was like, that's you. You didn't give up on those long gray years, moments, eras, whatever. Let me find it, I'll send it to you. Cause it is, oh, it just like hit this thing.
It does hit hard because that I think, I think that goes to identity. think that goes to who you think you are, who you perceive your, you know, and, so being comfortable in the lonely moment where maybe the glamour is not there, the, the, the cheerleading is behind and that's so big. And that again, I mean, we can have another hour here talking about just that. but that is so amazing. I love, and I also love how.
You obviously I can tell you and your husband have these beautiful partnership and it's just beautiful to see, you know, when I when I come across entrepreneurs and couple entrepreneurs that are just building, you know, something that I can totally tell you guys are going to have these amazing and already have these amazing impact. I just love that. And then how we're building families that are growing around these healthy entrepreneurship, healthy business, healthy relationships with money.
and all of that stuff. that's that's so so amazing. So congratulations to you both. Thank you. Because, we see it, you know, especially us with the legal side, we see all the different facets and all colors and shapes and it's not. Yeah. So but anyway, we love we love, you know, I've loved speaking with you, Ashley. Thank you so much. And I can't wait to see what is next and all the other great things you're going to do.
Ashley Hawks (01:07:19.799)
Yeah, I bet.
Ashley Hawks (01:07:33.184)
I love it. This has been so fun. Thank you so much. It's been fun to go down memory lane and share some of these things. It feels like, again, it feels like that's the place that I'm in is I get the opportunity to share all of this wisdom that people went out of their way to help me and open doors. And, you know, I'm on LinkedIn. That's how you and I originally connected. And that's one of my favorite places. That's like my Instagram. So I'm more than happy if people are in that gray area or, they just, need a friend. I'm more than happy to
Just be a friend or a mentor or a cheerleader if you need.
That's awesome, Ashley. I really appreciate you.
I love it. Thank you.
Thank you for tuning into this episode of Exited. We are passionate about supporting founders at every stage of their journey from scaling up to planning an exit. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean a lot to me if you would leave us a five-star rating on your preferred platform. If you know a founder who would benefit from our insights or wants to learn more about exiting a business, let them know about our podcast, Exited. To stay in touch with us, you can follow us on LinkedIn, TikToks, and many other platforms.
Gabriela Smith (01:08:40.331)
We are building a vibrant community of founders. See you next time. Thanks, guys.