The She Leads® Podcast - Wealth Building & Business Growth

Meghann Butcher built RepSpark, a B2B wholesale e-commerce platform now moving over a billion dollars a year, without a single line of tech on her resume.

She grew up in her dad's apparel and footwear business, hanging around the warehouse at five years old. At 27, when her father's order-entry tool started catching on with independent sales reps, he asked if she wanted to run with it. She said yes, and bootstrapped it from there.
In this conversation, Meghann and I get into how a psychology and communications major became the product visionary for a software company, why she still leans on empathy over technical skill to lead, and how staying close to customer pain points built a platform now used by nearly 100,000 retailers.

We also talk about being a mom of three while running a growing company, building a drama-free culture, and what it actually takes to scale a bootstrapped business on your own terms.

Tune in for a real look at building something durable without the usual playbook.


🎙️ 02:44 Meghann Butcher on why balance always looks a little wobbly
🛍️ 04:07 What RepSpark actually does for wholesale brands and buyers
👟 05:15 From her dad's warehouse to running with the platform at 27
🧠 10:18 Why a psychology degree beats a tech background for leading software
🌙 14:43 The scary part: testing the platform with real customers
🌱 16:46 Staying bootstrapped and hiring for what you are bad at
⛳ 19:24 Why niching into passion brands built an unbeatable moat
🤝 30:34 The loneliness at the top, and building a drama-free culture


Links:
Email: meghann.butcher@repspark.com
Website: repspark.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/meghannbutcher

Reach out to Meghann Butcher to learn more about modernizing B2B wholesale and what it takes to build and scale a bootstrapped software company.

Thank you to our podcast sponsor
Go From Expert to Thought Leader with the Genius Discovery Program.
Learn more at: geniusdiscovery.org 

We're always seeking aligned sponsors.
⭐️  If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️

Reach out to Adrienne: hello@sheleadsmedia.com 
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Thank you so much!!
XO
Adrienne 


  • (02:44) - 🎙️ Meghann Butcher on why balance always looks a little wobbly
  • (04:07) - 🛍️ What RepSpark actually does for wholesale brands and buyers
  • (05:15) - 👟 From her dad's warehouse to running with the platform at 27
  • (10:18) - 🧠 Why a psychology degree beats a tech background for leading software
  • (14:43) - 🌙 The scary part: testing the platform with real customers
  • (16:46) - 🌱 Staying bootstrapped and hiring for what you are bad at
  • (19:24) - ⛳ Why niching into passion brands built an unbeatable moat
  • (30:34) - 🤝 The loneliness at the top, and building a drama-free culture

Creators and Guests

Host
She Leads® Media
👩🏻‍⚖️ ⭐️ Adrienne Garland - She Leads® Podcast Network - 4 women X women ⭐️ 🎧 The She Leads Podcast Host| Leadership Conferences, Retreats #SheLeads #Women #entrepreneurs

What is The She Leads® Podcast - Wealth Building & Business Growth?

The She Leads Podcast is where women entrepreneurs and business leaders get the real strategies behind scaling a business to one million dollars and beyond. Each week, host Adrienne Garland, CEO of She Leads Media, professor at NYU and Rice University, and business growth advisor, speaks with women who have actually built it: founders who broke past the revenue ceiling, executives leading thousands, and strategists rethinking how women build wealth, lead teams, and grow companies. Episodes cover business growth strategies for women, from pricing and hiring to leadership communication, AI and the future of work, networking and social capital, and the founder to CEO transition. If you're a woman entrepreneur building toward your first million or your next one, this is the show that meets you where you actually are: past the motivational fluff, deep in the work, and ready to scale.

Adrienne Garland:

Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshapinsg the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads Podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, orders, and expectations.

Adrienne Garland:

There's no sugarcoating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrian Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads Podcast.

Adrienne Garland:

Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the She Leads Podcast. Before we get into today's episode, I would like to ask a favor. If you haven't done so already, before you listen in, please pause and take just a minute to give the show a five star rating and review. It's so important to share the journeys, wisdom, and lessons of the women entrepreneurs and leaders that we are featuring here on the She Leads Podcast. And the best way to do that is to rate, review, and share the show with anyone who's interested in seeing more women leaders in this world.

Adrienne Garland:

I know I am. Thank you so much for helping to share our incredible show with more people. Okay. So let's get into it. I am so excited to welcome my next guest.

Adrienne Garland:

Her name is Meghann Butcher, and she's the CEO and founder of RepSpark Systems, the premier B2B e commerce platform for the apparel and footwear industries. Since co founding the company seventeen years ago, Meghann has revolutionized wholesale by replacing inefficient manual processes with innovative digital solutions, including digital catalogs and integrated payments. She's a Vanderbilt graduate and a top 50 women leader of LA, and she's led RepSpark to the Inc. 5,000 list for four consecutive years. Amazing.

Adrienne Garland:

Beyond her strategic leadership, Meghann champions a culture of work life balance. She's a dedicated mother of three that balances her high impact career with a passion for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Meghann, it sounds like you do it all, and I am so excited to welcome you here to our special show today. It's funny you said

Meghann Butcher:

that because as you said balancing, I was like, oh, I don't know if we're really balancing everything, but Trying to do it all.

Adrienne Garland:

Trying to try to keep everything and everybody afloat. Know.

Meghann Butcher:

As you read that, I was like, Okay. We're good.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah. From the outside, looks like you're balancing. We all know what it it you know, it's funny. Like, even in in yoga, you know, you talk about these poses that are balanced poses. And if you really, you know, yourself and then you look around at other people, nobody's standing still.

Adrienne Garland:

They're all, you know, wobbly, just kinda trying to hold it together. So if that's what balance is, then that's what balance is. Did it this morning and felt the exact same way.

Meghann Butcher:

Yeah.

Adrienne Garland:

Wobbly. How did you conceptualize rep spark? Because it's truly a game changer. I I actually know this firsthand because I I work with somebody somebody, and we actually do the wholesale process pretty manually right now. And it takes a lot of time.

Adrienne Garland:

Mistakes can definitely happen. So I'd love to actually hear about RepSpark and what it is. And then also, you know, how did you come to create this incredible solution?

Meghann Butcher:

Yeah. So at RepSpark, we are b to b wholesale ecommerce. So we provide the conduit for the brand manufacturer, really an apparel, footwear, accessories. We do a lot. We focus a lot on the golf vertical, action sports, outdoor, and performance outerwear outerwear, which is a lot of times like safety, tactical, those kind of apparel companies.

Meghann Butcher:

And we provide the conduits to the software where the sales reps or those b to b buyers, meaning like, you know, a surf shop or a green grass shop on a golf course, they can come in, they can view that manufacturer's products, inventory, pricing, all that information placed and manage their orders. So it's kind of end to end. They can also create digital catalogs and assortments to present those orders. And then there's an order management piece on the back where those same users, so those same user profiles can go in, check orders, track packages, just really that end to end self serve platform. And that's who we are.

Meghann Butcher:

It started with so my dad had has owned probably seven different apparel and footwear companies along the way. And at one point he had an entity that I think owned like five. And so I have just been brought up in this industry for forever. Loved wholesale. I think I was over at his office when I was like five, probably bugging everybody in the warehouse and trying to do things.

Meghann Butcher:

So I just loved it. I loved all aspects of it. I I worked in retail for a little while just to understand it better. And like I said, I mean, I was always trying to help with the sales operations, sales organizations. I'm just really interested in how those businesses ran.

Meghann Butcher:

Went to college, graduated from college, decided like any, you know, 22 year old, I'm not gonna work for my dad. I'm gonna go do my own So went to my own thing for a while, but I was always doing the stuff on the side. Like I was always helping with all the sales operations with, again, streamlining it. How can we make this better? And so my dad and his CTO at that time had kind of put together coupled together this kind of order entry platform, and he brought me in.

Meghann Butcher:

He was like, what do you think? How can we make this better? Like, you know, what are you thinking? You've been doing a lot of the sales ops kind of on the side, and so we made it a little bit better, and what happened in this industry is there's a lot of independent reps. So they'll rep for, you know, water bottle company and a sunglass company, a footwear company.

Meghann Butcher:

So they'll rep for multi different brands, and a couple of the sales reps who was using it for the companies that my dad owned came back and said, can I have it for this Flipkart brand or this is helping my life so much? Can I have it for this water bottle brand? My dad kinda looked at me. He's an apparel manufacturer, not a tech guy, and he was like, do you wanna run with this? And at that point, I was about 27.

Meghann Butcher:

I was like, yeah. Why not? Sure. I'll run with it. And it's been a lot of fun.

Meghann Butcher:

We grew to about 30 customers just without even sales and marketing, and then just really started doubling down and figuring out, like, how do we build a software company? What does this look like? How do we be scalable? How are we secure? How do we really focus on this?

Meghann Butcher:

And I think that, you know, the biggest thing was we've always been extremely close to our customers. We've always tried to really understand what they need and how to solve their pain points and how to make their days easier so they get to do what they love to do better. Not which is not just selling. Yeah. Just selling and whatever they're doing, which is not sitting and entering orders and looking up inventory and, you know, then getting confirmation back that the order is wrong or their inventory or that color doesn't even exist anymore.

Meghann Butcher:

So just really streamlining that whole end to end process.

Adrienne Garland:

That's amazing. And listen, I I was not as aware of what the these processes are like until I really started, you know, working with the the person that I work with right now. And it it's sort of mind boggling that that there still is in the the b to b wholesale industry, Many people that are still doing things manually. It's it's of mind blowing. Why why is that?

Adrienne Garland:

You know,

Meghann Butcher:

I don't know. And it is it is really interesting to me. I don't I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of different ERPs that people use, which if you're not familiar with that, it's kind of the the big mind that keeps all the data for these companies. So you have to connect into that, and you need to make sure that everything is accurate and timely and moving moving quickly.

Meghann Butcher:

I don't know if it has to do with the fact that a lot of the sales reps are independent, but you'd think that would wanna make, you know, this more streamlined. I don't know. I don't know if it's like apparel's complicated. You have sizes, you have colors, you have skews, you have seasonality, you have price changes. There's all sorts of rules.

Meghann Butcher:

So I don't know if that's part of it, but I mean, we are closing this year many big deals where they are, you know, close to over $50,100,000,000 dollar companies that are still using, you know, very archaic or spreadsheets. And it it every time it blows my mind. I'm like, how are you still doing this?

Adrienne Garland:

So Yeah. It's incredible.

Meghann Butcher:

Interesting. Think people also, like, once you get in the apparel the new up and coming brands are always, the the first to adopt. Yeah. Like this, but then the older ones, I think they're just, you know, they're embedded in their processes and, you know, potentially they don't know that there's a better way. And so that's fine.

Meghann Butcher:

You know, that's fun in the sales process trying to show them like how easy it can be, you know, without without saying it like that. So yeah. Now how did you

Adrienne Garland:

I I don't know. Did you have any type of background in technology or anything?

Meghann Butcher:

No. I did not. And I always think and I always think about that. I'm like, how did this happen? Like, oh, yeah.

Meghann Butcher:

Did it happen? Then, you know, I think there's two types of CEOs, especially in software. There's the very technical, like, techy ones and, you know, then they need to have a really strong operator, but they have, like, more of the tech vision, and I have always been more of the product vision. So Yeah. You know, what being very empathetic to our customers, to the users, like, being very close that way, and then being able to translate that type of vision to someone who is a lot more technical and is going to actually, you know, do the coding.

Meghann Butcher:

And it's interesting because I majored in psychology and communications, but psychology, I always think I'm like, every person who wants to lead a company should actually take psychology classes because I find myself leaning back on that more than any technical skill really that I've that I've been able to pick up. So

Adrienne Garland:

it's funny because I I do think, you know, companies are made up of human beings, and all human beings think about things and see things through their own lens. And you as the CEO must empathize with your customers, right, first and foremost, but also your employees who really are also your customers. They're the ones that keep this engine going. And so it's it's super interesting. I was actually interviewing somebody for this podcast earlier this week, and she is the the CEO of a major airport.

Adrienne Garland:

And she also came out of a degree in communications and public relations. And, you know, I said to her, it's it's funny because you don't often hear the story of the pipeline, somebody who's in communications becoming a CEO. It's, you know, maybe like a CFO or the the you know, like an, you know, an operations person becoming a CEO. But, you know, she said, you know, hold on because communication is the most important skill that you need

Adrienne Garland:

to have when you're running a business full of people.

Meghann Butcher:

Yeah. It's it is really interesting, especially in tech, you don't really hear that. It's again, it's No. Very technical or like visionary, you know, type person who's who's techie. And and that's that's super important too.

Meghann Butcher:

But I do think like being able to communicate a problem to a vision to somebody to now make that vision come true is really important. And that was the path I went through. I mean, at one point in time, there was two of us. We had our CTO and he would write code and I would look at it or he would, you know, push something to production. I was testing it.

Meghann Butcher:

So, you know, I I can read it. I can test it. But it's it was you know, I don't have that background. Kinda I kinda think sometimes I need to go back and get it, but we'll see. We'll see.

Meghann Butcher:

Don't know. I yeah. Right? I don't know if

Adrienne Garland:

you need to get it now, especially with all the advances that are coming out with AI. Not that we don't need humans. We always, I I believe, will need humans. But some of the some of even just like the basic coding and and things, you you don't even need somebody for. It's more of the advanced, you know, things and nuances that you want to bake into the the product.

Adrienne Garland:

And I think in a lot of ways that is empowering because if you do have the the vision, if you do understand the needs of your customer and and you believe that you can create an elegant solution, then you you have the tools available now. It's, you know, I think I don't I don't know. I haven't done it myself, but I think that it might be easier for people to at least get to the that first stage. So, you know, and and sort of in that vein, getting to that first stage, you know, what was that like for you and how did you sort of test it? You had you had the ability to test it internally, but then the moment that you took it externally and showed it to someone that didn't love you.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Meghann Butcher:

Yeah. What was that moment like? It was a little scary. We had some really great customers, and some of them are still customers today. I mean Wow.

Meghann Butcher:

We had some really good you talk about the people and the humans. Really good humans at some of these brands that worked with us, were patient. You know, you have to think twenty or seventeen, eighteen years ago, it's there wasn't software like there is now. So people I think were a little more patient. You know, they were it was it was, you know, groundbreaking, and people wanted to be a part of it.

Meghann Butcher:

It was really exciting and really scary. I mean, I can't tell you how many nights I stayed up till, you know, all night, five in the morning with our, you know, two engineers pushing code and me trying to test it. Remember, there was no automation, like, even today. You know? And I'd be sitting up.

Meghann Butcher:

We worked with a team in India, and I I think I had I have twins, so my boys are, like, two. And I'd be up. I'd set my alarm clock, feed them, go do my thing, go back to bed. So, you know, it was it was fun, and then it was exciting, and, you know, maybe it was better I didn't know what I didn't know. And, you know, just trying to solve these problems, that was always it's always been what it's about.

Meghann Butcher:

So it's fun. It's really fun.

Adrienne Garland:

That sounds like a lot. Right? But when I think when we are passionate about solving problems and and you being able to see the outcomes that you're you're making people's lives easier. Right? You're allowing more transactions to happen in a much more smooth manner so that people aren't manually entering things and and wasting time, really.

Adrienne Garland:

Right? You're you're giving people back time. It it's just I can imagine it's it's so satisfying. How did you how did you what was your strategy for growing and scaling? Was it just a matter of, you know, hey, look, we've built this platform.

Adrienne Garland:

There might be some kinks in here, but we're working them out and just sort of onboarding people onto the platform and proving that, hey, this works. That was it.

Meghann Butcher:

I mean, just onboarding, you know, growing organically as we could. We're still bootstrapped. We've been bootstrapped Mhmm. From the beginning. You know, looking at where the most impactful place to put your time, your energy, the money that you do have, you had to look at each higher in the beginning.

Meghann Butcher:

What was gonna be the most impactful at this moment? Because you probably needed 10 of 10 different, you know, strengths and then, you know, constantly replacing for myself, you know, as as the as the first, you're kinda like, hey. What what am I really bad at? And, like, what does someone else need to be doing? Or what does someone else need to be doing?

Meghann Butcher:

And just kinda growing that way. It's interesting. I think if we would have taken a lot of investment on in the very beginning, it could have gone a different path, but I'm really happy with with how we've grown and it's been extremely intentional and our our group's just amazing. I mean, the team around us now, and really, a lot of our employees have been here a long, long time. I mean, it's it's really cool what they've done and what they've been able to do.

Meghann Butcher:

And some days I'm like, do they even need me any? Like, what have

Adrienne Garland:

I done? Isn't that the isn't that truly the goal, though, especially as the CEO, the founder, the the visionary? If if you're not working, you know, in the business as much, that allows you to think, okay, what's next? Right? Because there's always something that's next.

Adrienne Garland:

Yes. And I think that they don't like when I have

Meghann Butcher:

that time because I'm like, okay, guys. I got it. No, it is. That's really important. I mean, we have I have such amazing people and they they come together like a team, and we talk about everything, and they're really they're killing it.

Meghann Butcher:

I mean Wow. They get to now tell me my ideas are great or not such a great idea or not right now, and and it's awesome.

Adrienne Garland:

How how do you see RepSpark evolving? So you there's obviously gonna be there's so much more growth and so much more opportunity as is, but where do you see the sort of the industry going and growing? Because there are so many different tools and technologies that are connecting all of this stuff, and there's some other players out there, which is good. It means there's room for everyone. But where where do you see the business sort of growing into?

Meghann Butcher:

Yes. So for us, like, we do really well with brands that I like to say they're like passion brands or lifestyle brands that are not just like fast fashion or fashion in a in a, I don't know, retail that's, you know, in a a mall or something. Do really we do really well with brands that are attached to people who have a passion for golf, for surfing, for skiing, for hunting, whatever you're into or not into. But we do really well with those types of brands that are in locations attached to like, people with a passion. Like, let's take golf.

Meghann Butcher:

I always say, like, we do really well with golf because those people in those pro shops or those those humans, they don't wanna be placing an order. They wanna be doing their next golf lesson or they wanna be doing their next thing. And, you know, so we do really well with like golf resort. I I say country club sports and like pickleball, tennis. So just really niching down on those areas that we do really well with.

Meghann Butcher:

We're the only platform that can do kind of that customization. So moving into the corporate world, corporate gifting, that's getting so big right now, and a lot of brands want to be part of the corporate space. And so those

Adrienne Garland:

are areas we already excel in. So really niching into that and becoming like the true commerce layer for those verticals that we serve really well. Hey, everyone. So for years I've been working with doctor Kent and sending people in my network his way. He does so much impact work.

Adrienne Garland:

What do I mean by that? Well, he helps people create books and podcasts and things like that. He even helps with this podcast behind the scenes. Doctor Kent is my thought partner. Anyone listening knows that we all need to do what we can to get our thoughts, opinions, and voices out into the world and how important it is for for women to invest in other women and for women to hire other women.

Adrienne Garland:

I am all about that, and you all know that. But in this case, I think doctor Kent is an exception. He's doing something really different via this new program that he's launched called the Genius Discovery Program. So he wants to work with people like me and like you who are impact driven. Doctor Kent has an intensive program that goes for a month.

Adrienne Garland:

He also has a three month program where he figures out where you're headed with your brand, your business, your speaking, and your signature story as a thought leader. I've known Doctor. Kemp for a long time. So believe me when I say that he has a ton of experience working with people that are looking to make an impact but might not know exactly how to approach them. So if you're interested in talking to him, you can go directly to talk to kent.com, or you can send me a DM on Instagram at She Leads Media or just shoot me an email over at

Adrienne Garland:

hello@SheLeadsMedia.com. Does it help the brands who, I guess, list their their companies? Does it help them to get in front of some of these, you know, sports retailers, if you will, that they might not otherwise be able to get in front of? Is that also the benefit? Because it's really two sided.

Adrienne Garland:

Right?

Meghann Butcher:

Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. So we have we called our community. It's not really a marketplace.

Meghann Butcher:

It's a one-sided community, but brands can pay to play to have like a big spot on it. We always feature our new brands who are coming on just so the retailers are, you know, have the opportunity to see who's coming on, and then they can access and switch between the different brands. So we see new brands that kinda go live in the community. We do a newsletter too. I think we have about a 100,000 retailers actively transacting through the platform now.

Meghann Butcher:

Oh my goodness. Wow. Yes. So we do a newsletter out to those letting them know, hey, this new brand's on. And so new brands when they go live on the community typically will have like 10 to a 100 access requests within the first two months.

Meghann Butcher:

So that's, you know, that's leads that are requesting access. Yeah. We're not a lead gen tool. We've we've had problems with brands coming on just thinking it's lead gen, but it's not. It's really like facilitating that transaction.

Meghann Butcher:

Mhmm. Within the golf space, AGM did a survey and of the Green Grass shops, 30 to 40% of them will go to Repspark first to find new brands. Wow. So they'll go into the community and say, hey, I need a new hat brand or a belt brand or something. You know, what's a what's a new belt brand?

Meghann Butcher:

Oh, Nexbelt. This looks cool. They can put a, you know, catalog up. They can do whatever and then request access and then that brand can go ahead and and accept that access, you know, go through whatever process they go through and accept that that buyer, and now that buyer's purchasing. So it's cool.

Meghann Butcher:

When we walk around the PGA show, a lot of brands will come up and say, well, apparently, I need to be on you because store is not gonna stock us in their shop unless Ron Reps spark. So once you get that, you're like, great. This is awesome. So

Adrienne Garland:

You know, that's such a great strategy too because if the people in the the pro shops that are placing all of the orders, they, you know, they have to deal with a multitude of brands. And if they have to do something that's one off, it's exactly what you're saying. They don't they don't wanna be doing that. They wanna be out on the the golf course. So I I I love that it's like by default, a brand has got to be on there if they wanna be included in these large

Meghann Butcher:

In these shores. Golf shops. Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's cool.

Meghann Butcher:

I mean, we're getting there with some of these other verticals that we're, you know, leaning into and yeah, it's it's they're the same. They wanna they don't wanna be, you know, in that shop. Even if you think of a ski shop, like those guys are probably in the ski shop because they like to snowboard or Sure. You know, the girl likes to ski or cross country ski or whatever they're doing, and that's probably why they are in that store. Yeah.

Meghann Butcher:

And so let's make their job easier, faster, you know, more transparent, get you know, make an impact in their life. So now they're either, you know, checking out new things, helping customers, or they get a close shop and

Adrienne Garland:

go do what they wanna do. So Right. Exactly. Yeah. And you you as the CEO and and founder of RepSpark, What do you sort of see as your impact beyond what it is that you're doing?

Adrienne Garland:

So you're building this amazing company that solves incredible problems, and you're creating real value. And then like you said, you know, there's there's a space that you're also sort of opening. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, like, okay, built this company. You know, what other things might I be able to do? Maybe what what other solutions are, you know, opportunities that are out there?

Adrienne Garland:

Or where do you see yourself as as the founder of this company going in the future?

Meghann Butcher:

I mean, that's a hard question. Right? I mean, there's so many things to do. I I you know, I'm hoping that we have a company that continues to grow and sustain and keep the culture that we have. It's it's pretty cool.

Meghann Butcher:

I mean, it's it's unique, and I'd like to be a leader that people can like, wow. She's honest. She has integrity. She you know, she's still a mom,

Adrienne Garland:

which I think, you know, being a mom

Meghann Butcher:

and a c is it's every day. I'm like, what had it what every day. Where am I? What am doing on right now? And, know, you can't do it all.

Meghann Butcher:

There's trade offs and, you know, talking about that, I think is really important. Sure. And then just where we can go. I mean, there's there's so much like, adding the the cool things on our road map with AI and, you know, just making sure that people are even more intelligent, putting those trends across the different like I said, 90,000 retailers actively transacting and how can we make their lives easier? How can we make everybody, you know, faster, make everybody more intelligent in what they're doing?

Meghann Butcher:

Let's get rid of those manual tasks. I mean, gosh, nobody think it's fun to like sit and reenter an order. That's what I always think. I'm like,

Adrienne Garland:

oh god, people are doing that?

Meghann Butcher:

Like, that sounds horrendous. Like, let's get them doing something cool. So Yeah.

Adrienne Garland:

And and it is. It's like 25 steps just to just to process an order and things that you don't even think exist. You you are, like, checking and rechecking and making sure. And and even after the order is sort of, you know, entered, there's also the like, you know, making sure that everything is getting delivered properly and all of that I good can also imagine that there's so much intelligence in the platform just by what people are are ordering. So, you know, what what's the hot, you know, item?

Adrienne Garland:

What's the what's what's coming up next? What are people starting to ask about? I could I could see RepSpark being a thought leader in that realm as well.

Meghann Butcher:

Yep. We have that as an initiative for this year. I think we'll be releasing our first trend report. Cool. We can get that data faster than anybody else can.

Meghann Butcher:

Like I said, we have the prebook orders coming in, which typically don't so in wholesale, you know, prebook orders will come in in January. They're selling fall or holiday of that same year. So we have that information, you know, three to six months before those products are ever hitting the floor. Yeah. I mean, some of the prebook times are are adjusting too, but, yeah, just the trending information that we have and what what sizes and silhouettes are looking like, what color trends.

Meghann Butcher:

You know, are

Adrienne Garland:

vests gonna be really popular, this and that, and, you know, how do we utilize that data just to make everyone smarter? Yeah. And even, you know, entrepreneurs that are in this space too, it's something that I would imagine that they would be looking at as well because they don't wanna launch, you know, just another company that does the same thing. If they're starting to see, you know, a trend in a certain direction, then, you know, that can offer them insight to really start developing something that they they see as just emerging. So I see that this is, you know, another layer of value in in what it is that you're offering.

Adrienne Garland:

When I talk to women that are in your position, you know, CEOs of of growing, thriving companies. I I often hear know, right now, you're super busy with with all of your children and everything. But at a certain point, it's sort of like there's not a lot of women that are in the same position in their lives as as you. And so I hear a lot of, you know, it's it's lonely. I wish that there were more women that were on my level, like not, you know, not not saying that you're high and mighty, but sort of, know, just at that level professionally that understand some of the types of decisions that we have to make.

Adrienne Garland:

Because the way that we, as women, make decisions is is different than the way that men make decisions, and I'm saying that is a very broad sweeping statement. So where do you sort of you know, who do you turn to as far as colleagues that are in that same position as you are? I'm

Meghann Butcher:

in a group called EO, Entrepreneurs Organization, and that has been really great. My four of my groups, men and women, so it's good to just kinda have that that feedback and that, you know, where where is my blind side here? What am I not seeing? That's great. Husband is just the best person in the entire world.

Meghann Butcher:

So he's he and I give a ton of feedback. I'm like, help me out here. What's happening? But like you said, he processes different. He'll, you know Yeah.

Meghann Butcher:

Kinda be like, here's how you can fix it. I'm like, no. I don't really wanna fix it. I just I do this. So that's great.

Meghann Butcher:

I have two women on my leadership team that are you can only share so much with them, but a lot, and they're they're great. I mean, they're huge drivers of our business. And then I do have a network of colleagues that I can reach out to, and there's another there's another woman CEO who kinda has a similar position, and we'll talk and be like, what's going on? Like, what are you seeing? And, you know, it's different.

Meghann Butcher:

But, you know, I think that men and women do make decisions a little bit differently, especially when it comes to, you know, children and in the home life with the work. You know, I think that there's a lot more similarities if you can cut through the drama and and all the rest of it. It's you know, we're just we're just trying to do our best, and everyone's just trying to make the right decisions. And, you know, as long as you have people who are excited about what you're doing in your company, then, you know, again, just we we discuss it a lot as a group. Like, our leadership is very open.

Adrienne Garland:

And that goes back to communication and and probably something that you do very naturally and in setting the tone that this is how we're going to approach these types of issues, challenges, and opportunities. And, you know, I I think that that's an incredible skill to have. Not all CEOs have that ability to communicate across the organization, upward, downward, outward. And so it it sounds like RepSpark is truly a remarkable organization.

Meghann Butcher:

We're trying. We are trying. We are learning every day. You know, it's it's a balancing act between how transparent you wanna be, especially when you're a bootstrapped growing company, and you know how much you wanna share. And, you know, like I said, it's it's the team members on our leadership team are like, yes.

Meghann Butcher:

We should probably share this. I'm like, are you sure it's not gonna freak everyone out or get everyone too excited? And Right. It's great. The transparency and the communication has only gotten better, I would say, the last couple years, and just growing and learning from that.

Meghann Butcher:

One of our values is is better together, and a key part of that, though, is being drama free and humbly confident. And those are, like, my two favorite pieces of our value statement is, like, be confident in what we're doing, but don't have an ego. Like, don't have an ego about it. Whatever you're doing, be very confident that you're doing it right. But like somebody, you know, has a different thing.

Meghann Butcher:

And then drama free is the one I always harp about. We will we will let people go for creating drama. I always tell I have three boys. I'm always like, I didn't have a girl. So guess what?

Meghann Butcher:

I just punch each other and get it over with, and we don't want any drama. And, you know, I think that that flows into kind of our company culture too and and how we approach problems.

Adrienne Garland:

I love it. Oh, I have two boys as well. And, you know, you think that the the girls create the drama, but my my boys, sure, they they do a good job of creating the drama.

Meghann Butcher:

It's a different drama, though. It's like a you know, I sat on your pillow with my butt drama, not like a drama that's gonna go on and on and on. So it's there is drama. Let's be serious. It's it's different.

Meghann Butcher:

It's it's rough and tough and loud. Yes. So in

Adrienne Garland:

order for Spark rep to to continue to grow, is it just sort of adding more brands to the platform, introducing the company, you know, everywhere that you possibly can. Is is that sort of what the goal continues to be? There's a couple different ways that we're set to grow. One is kind

Meghann Butcher:

of these adjacent verticals that we wanna lean into and do exactly what we did with golf. The second is to really double down on what we could do to help the retailers and become that true commerce layer. So right now, I mean, B2B and the retailers use the platform for free, but looking at those those individuals, like what can we be providing for them that they might have acute pain for or need, you know, something to streamline or operationalize? Or how can we have impact on their day to day? We already do it to an essence, but we have some product expansion there, integrating into POS systems and being able to now pull back inventory and some things like that.

Meghann Butcher:

And then we have some other really cool features and functionality. We launched our AR hub, which is now an extension of the accounts receivable team. And that lets us do some integrated payments and things like that that gets really excited once you can, you know, take advantage. We have last year, we had over a billion dollars transacted through the platform. So how can we how can we help with the payments of all of those invoices?

Meghann Butcher:

So we're launching that, and that should be a big growth lever as well.

Adrienne Garland:

Oh, amazing. Well, if people wanna get in touch with you, whether they're brands in some of these other verticals, you know, manufacturers or just other women entrepreneurs that are growing and scaling companies and just wanting to ask you, you know, what are what are some of your tips? How can they get in touch with you?

Meghann Butcher:

Feel free to email me. You can post that. It's Meghann. It's spelled really weird. M e g h a n n dot butcher at rep spark.

Meghann Butcher:

Yes. Feel free. I love connecting with people. It's my favorite thing to do. Connecting and talking.

Meghann Butcher:

Everyone looks at my calendar like, you're booked back to back. I'm like, I know, but it's just talking to great people usually. I mean Yeah. Sometimes. Every once in a while.

Meghann Butcher:

Every once in a while. Yes, I love to connect and, you know, it's it's fun. Every connection leads to another connection. Like even when we hopped on, you're like, I know RepSpark because of this. I'm like, that's so great, you know?

Meghann Butcher:

And it's it's fun. It's fun to see the connections.

Adrienne Garland:

Well, I hope to see you at the PGA show in January in Orlando. We will be there. Are you going to the

Meghann Butcher:

one in July in Frisco?

Adrienne Garland:

I don't I don't think we are. I think we did it last July, and I don't think we're going this year. But we're we're definitely going to the the bigger one in January in Orlando.

Meghann Butcher:

So fun. Yes. One of my favorites.

Adrienne Garland:

Awesome. Well, was so wonderful having you on the show. Thank you so much for spending your time with us here today and for telling us all about you, your story, and RepSpark's growth journey. We appreciate it so much. Thanks, Meghann.

Meghann Butcher:

Thank you for having me.

Adrienne Garland:

If this conversation moved you, inspired you, or made you think differently, please take a moment to leave a five star rating and review. It's not just about boosting the show. It's about amplifying the voices of women entrepreneurs who are leading with vision, building with purpose, and shaping what's next. We need more of these conversations in the world right now, don't you think? And if someone came to mind while you were listening, someone who matters to you, send this episode to them.

Adrienne Garland:

If there's something on your mind about leadership, legacy, or what's next, I want to hear it. Head to sheleadsmedia.com backslash voice and leave a voice memo or note. Your insight might just help shape a future episode. Make sure to follow the show and come back next week for more conversations you won't hear anywhere else. Thank you so much for listening.