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Welcome to Founders and Fortitude, the podcast where passion meets perseverance. Hosted by Audrie Dollins — a marketing strategist, retired professional photographer, visionary entrepreneur, and founder of AD Media Group, a renowned influencer and brand marketing firm — this podcast uncovers the stories behind extraordinary lives and thriving businesses.
Through authentic conversations and impactful storytelling, each episode explores the entrepreneurial journey, sharing the highs, lows, and actionable strategies for success. Gain expert advice, business insights, and inspiration from trailblazers who have turned aspirations into reality.
Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or taking the first step, Founders and Fortitude offers the tools, motivation, and community you need to build, grow, and thrive in today’s dynamic business landscape.
Tune in weekly to discover the grit, grace, and fortitude it takes to succeed and leave a lasting impact.
Welcome to Founders and Fortitude Conversations with Audrey Dahlins, a podcast where we uncover the raw realities of being a founder, celebrating the brilliance of the teams, individuals, and families working tirelessly behind the scenes, and explore the fortitude, the unwavering determination it takes to navigate the twists, turns, and triumphs of entrepreneurship and life itself. Each week, we will share candid conversations, actionable insights, and inspiring stories to empower you on your journey. Whether you're building a brand, scaling a business, an online creator and influencer, or pursuing with passions with relentless drive, let's dive into the grit, grace, and growth it takes to thrive. Let's get into it.
Audrie Dollins:Hi, friends. We have done 10 episodes. We have had wonderful guests on Founders in Fortitude, and I'm so grateful for everyone who has taken the time to join me. Not only have they joined me to talk about all of our wins, we talk about our struggles, challenges, the things that we look forward to, and the lessons that we've learned, and that has been the whole reason for me wanting to start Founders in Fortitude because I work in the world of marketing. When we look at social media, we see everybody winning all the time, but what we don't talk about is the grit that it takes to show when we are winning.
Audrie Dollins:It's so easy to show the highlight reel but to really dig in and talk about the grit that allows us to share that highlight reel. In marketing, we never want to talk about the challenges or the bad because that almost would be of, you know, disheartening sometimes. I go to social media to be inspired. My goal is to be inspiring and to be a resource. If you followed myself for many years or AD Media Group, I work in the rhythm of being a resource not only for my audience but for our clients.
Audrie Dollins:AD Media was founded on being a resource and the support team for people that are going online, that are selling a product, that are being a resource, that are monetizing to create a a life and a business themselves. And so AD Media Group creates that process and it and is that resource. And so with Founders and Fortitude, we have had many wonderful get ten, nine. Well, I was one. The first episode, I was one.
Audrie Dollins:But let's start with our our first guest, Samantha and Matt and I want to highlight each of our guests and how they've impacted me and how I've heard how they've impacted others who have tuned in and so Samantha and Matt what's so special to me is that when Samantha and Matt came on, Samantha helped me begin eighty media group. We were two girls that were that saw the need. We knew how monetization platforms worked and we knew that the in demand creators online and brands needed support in a professional manner that was educated. There's a lot of times that you can hire amazing assistants or amazing virtual assistants, but there's not people in the space outside of collaborations that were offering services that were strategically planned, educated, and the processes for online marketing for people in the creator space. And that could be someone as an athlete that has brand deals.
Audrie Dollins:That could be someone that's a fashion influencer, a home influencer, a home creator, even photographers such as myself. I knew the process and the marketing aspects of LTK, Amazon, and all of that that you see that are out online right now because as a photographer, I wanted to help others create higher end content, use camera gear, and so I started monetizing that to help my business grow and to help continue to share with others. So Samantha was very important for me to have her come on because she has worked with some of our clients that we founded the company on. We built all of that out together, cried in the parking lot at Panera because, you know, change, growth, that that there's growing pains there. And with that she she helped me do this in the pursuit of supporting her own husband that was in a demand role as a Major League Baseball player and so bringing those two worlds together she and her husband are very driven.
Audrie Dollins:They talk about moving over to Japan with two littles under the age of two and that journey was so important and impactful because at the end of the day they are here to support each other even in their own pursuits. And so that was a great episode. Great first guest episode. You can tell when I ask questions I'm still learning. I'm still learning the show and I think we found a great rhythm.
Audrie Dollins:Our second episode, hypothetically, our third one was with Lisa Panero of Glowtrition. She founded Glowtrition. She started out in the industry, as a weather broadcast. She was broadcast news and she was fine she loves science and she connected with people within our industry and help fulfill a demand of creating a product like Glowtrition that helps with beauty skin from the inside out. And the education that Lisa brought from coming up with the idea and producing it and the processes it takes and then demands on being a female within a a very in demand industry.
Audrie Dollins:Something that really struck home with me is Lisa's openness about her family dynamics and the femininity that she seeks within a demanding role of being a business owner. And she highlighted a quote that really or a story that really impacted me about the demands that it takes and how we, you know, have to get very strong and play a strong role and that episode was very impactful. I had a lot of clients reach out to me about that, a lot of friends about just the dynamics that Lisa has brought as a female, how you surround yourself with people that are driven and your journey will continue to grow and how you can do that and be a mom of four. She's a mom of four, she and now in the world of being a single woman over the age of 50 and so she really brought it home, really opened up and I hope that you listened to that episode and then we tapped into with Dallas Dental Concierge. Doctor.
Audrie Dollins:Christian is one that I really loved how the realness that she brought. The realness of, you know, she had wonderful supporting but there was no option to fail. She went out, and pursued dentistry on her own, and then started her own practice where that she found the pursuit of more was overwhelming and not the quality that she wanted and so she has a small practice that is a concierge service that works with elite people, like the Dallas Mavericks and that if you approach sometimes bigger is not always the choice for everyone. I think I think we get wrapped up in bigger is better that we miss the opportunity that smaller options are available and they can kind of coincide with people like the Dallas Mavericks that smaller fits for them because they are that elite. They don't want to walk in to a ginormous practice.
Audrie Dollins:They want that one on one privacy and so that was fantastic and then she talks about her personal life. Doctor. Christian is one that is a marathon runner. She's an athlete and she also balances her practice to ensure that she gets to meet her own personal goals. And then we talk about her drive where she never wanted to change that in relationships she never wanted to change for others that if they wanted her in their lives that she wasn't gonna down she wasn't gonna make herself smaller to make others feel better and that over the years she was confident in who she was and the right people just fall in place.
Audrie Dollins:That one was such a good episode. If you don't tune in on podcast, you can tune in on YouTube and you can see that video. We had a lot of positive feedback and comments about that because she was very real and I appreciate anybody that's willing to come on and be real because that is what that's the grit. That's the honest. Honest truth about being a founder and putting yourself in roles is it's something is most likely going to give sometimes its relationships sometimes its ways we approach businesses how there is no there is a such thing as balance per day per situation, but having overall blanketed balance if you look at each person that comes on Founders and Fortitude it doesn't really exist.
Audrie Dollins:There is no equal balance. There is how you approach each day and being open and giving yourself room to stay healthy, be fit, making yourself a priority in the chaos of business, and then what does that look like as your business? Do you pursue bigger? That may work for you and your life and season in life. And as I say seasons, hear each person that comes on talk about seasons, talk about this period of life.
Audrie Dollins:As as we take on parental roles, I lead over to the episode with Shay Gere of IBB Designs. She was a her mom founded IBB Designs and she kind of she didn't she had the opportunity to follow in her footsteps but it wasn't demanded of her mom. She went and pursued things. She herself now has her own children and they are creating their own journey but are influenced by Shay's amazing business that she built upon that her mother had founded and with almost a hundred employees located in Frisco, she moves in her faith and her faith guides her in the challenges of being a business owner. There are many layers of being business owners.
Audrie Dollins:You have the task at hand, the job, the service that you offer and then you have, you know, employees, team members. That's a whole other role and job. And then there's another layer to that. There's the business aspect where you're meeting with accountants, attorneys, all the things. So all of these many layers, Shay kind of taps into and the different people that she has in place and then the amazing things that we get to do within the business which is her designing and all the new, products that they are offering at IBB.
Audrie Dollins:This this was one of my I think best that I recorded, asking the right questions myself, learning on what founders and Fortitude, wants to ask, what the audience is adhering to and I feel like I connected at this point with the fourth guest coming on with Shay, that I really found that rhythm. So I was really excited about, Shay's episode, and really found like, okay, now getting and asking the good questions. And then we lead over into the episode with my family. This one was a little I was I think this episode I was the most scared about because as we all know children will say the truth and husbands do too. Where my family is not used to being on social media even though I own a marketing firm they are not like social media preneurs.
Audrie Dollins:They are not online. They just know this is what you know they've they've been with us as we've owned companies and 80 and they're very well aware of what we do. They just don't do this and so we talked about, what that looked like for them as my husband and I have always pursued owning our own companies. We've owned several different companies. We've owned a wedding event venue.
Audrie Dollins:My husband owned an audio video company where he handled all the things at Lifetime Fitnesses years ago and then I owned a photography company and did I even mention did I say the Cupcakery yet? Because we've we've owned that and then owning a marketing firm. So they've watched us handle different seasons, companies. We brought them along and then it comes to find out that they love their childhood and it's not that we don't talk about it in our home like we're very much present. We have dinners as families most every night if we're not at a sports event but how they talked about what they learned from it and that it impacted them because they thought that they were luckier than the other kids that parents went to an eight to five or a nine to five.
Audrie Dollins:My son made a statement that I always felt like y'all were constantly there where he didn't see that with his friends and so we were just pleasantly shocked. I was pleasantly thrilled that they opened up about the things that they learned, how it prepared them, and so that one was exciting to me. I really loved hearing that and as a parent I was just so glad that they didn't say something that embarrassed me. Maybe they did but you can tell they're definitely jokes to her family and I really really enjoyed it and then after that we had my friend Monica. Monica owns Wash Yourself which and a few other businesses that we had the privilege at eighty Media Group working with her on and what I loved about the relationship that I have with Monica and learned from her from our episode was that she talked about the impact of being online and what I guess you call them we all know they call them trolls but the negativity that can be placed online to people that do and we hear this often with our own clients that some days they can be very strong.
Audrie Dollins:Some will make a off the cuff comment that could be hurtful whether that's what we're wearing, what we're buying, our body size, our feature, how we want to parent. That's why I've tried. I don't post my kids tons on my professional social media because I don't want to open that door and Monica's got in a situation that she was told and it impacted her. It impacted her family. It impacted those around her.
Audrie Dollins:It caused a lot of complications for other businesses that she was involved and how she handled that and she referred to Mel Robbins from her Let Them series and her book Let Them and her podcast and I thought that was so impactful and how Monica processes certain things because the fact is that those people out there and I think that comes with business. It is a rollercoaster. There are moments that you start the day out and it's like positive, positive, positive and then it's like oh and then you go down and there's something that's negative and I think that you have to be ready for that as a founder as a business owner as someone that is if you are online that is a business if you are marketing something that is a business and being open to that roller coaster and being ready to take that approach with a positive manner maybe not reacting immediately acting out of love acting out of strategy, that is what I took away from Monica because at the end of the day you have to sleep with that. You have to be okay and if you focus on all of the negative you lose the overflowing amounts of positive and I've read this I've heard this and it says in there like we will focus on one thing that we got wrong versus the 50 things we got right and I can read 50 positive things and comments but that one negative comment that one negative thing that ultimately isn't affecting me you know I have had negative reviews I have people say negative things I evaluate myself I strategize, how can I do better or okay what went wrong here and approach it in a positive way?
Audrie Dollins:So think that and you know I joke about this too in the words of Nicki Minaj. Never thought I would quote Nicki Minaj but the negative comments are also engagement so thank you for that. So thank you Nicki Minaj for that and then we also had a little bit of a we had a quick episode that was a special episode on Valentine's Day that we talked about, Life and Life Gift was, an organ donor company. I don't think we don't call them company. It's an organization.
Audrie Dollins:It's not a company. They're not making money. You can donate to them but basically it was on Valentine's Day we had a special episode where we talked about organ donation. A lot of times Valentine's Day is known as the day of love but it's also the day of giving life and so that episode is very important to me as my father used that company when he passed away. I said company again you guys.
Audrie Dollins:It's an organization. We may know money off of my dad's organs, I promise. But it was very impactful because he was able to save others' lives with his organ donation. And so that I I encourage you to learn about that. That is not talked about enough, about understanding what organ donation is.
Audrie Dollins:And then we hop over with my dear friends Herbert and Shivaier. They are real estate owners and I've known them for years and it really was such a good episode and our videographer Chris, he was like, man, Shivaia needs to run for office. Like she was good and I agree. So Shivaia came up. So Herbert worked, I mean, nose to the grindstone, worked so hard, built his realty group, Johnson Realty Shivae was always within the schools.
Audrie Dollins:So she was a the school system she was a assistant principal for many years and then took the leap and went took, walked away from being in the school system and started going full time with Herbert this past year and when she did this her mindset changed, doors opened and she found her purpose in this season. And we really tapped into that understanding that you have purpose in each season and that when and I say this all the time, God if you are feeling unjust, like if you're feeling unsettled, that's a reason. He's doing it to make you move and when I say he, I'm talking about God. I'm a Christian. I believe in that and I feel like when there's something unsettling then that means you need to move and she felt that unsettling.
Audrie Dollins:She's like, I am very nervous and she pushed the fear aside and she started walking in this new journey and the moment they did this Herbert even agrees many more doors opened and so they were they have been blessed in so many ways since she did this being able to be there for their family, and putting it in a new structure per season so highly encourage you listening to that one that was so great and then as we keep the theme with real estate agents I hopped over across the hall and our friends Heather at the agency Frisco I loved hearing about her journey how she got to where she worked with other agencies and then opened up her own boutique firm with the agency Frisco and she's right across the hall she's a powerhouse and I found out while working with and why interviewing her for this podcast episode that she was a young mother too and I talk about this all the time because my path was different. A lot of people I work with in this industry they went through that process of going to college and I didn't. I didn't. I was a mom at the ripe old age of 20 and then seeing people as successful as Heather that had her children young too It's so great to see that success that if you have the drive, you have the work ethic, if you're willing to put in that work you are just as capable as anyone that started their path a different way.
Audrie Dollins:So it's not wrong if you started this way, it's not wrong if they started this way, but everyone's different journeys to reach success or some type of success because she started out as a dental hygienist and now has her agencies. I think the power of having a vision and goal for yourself is what this Founders and Fortitude is all about. If you have the fortitude to to achieve. Now success is a funny thing. I think success comes in different sizes, bows, and packages and where you're at that season.
Audrie Dollins:Success for me personally looks different than business. So if I take a walk today, that's success because I didn't take a walk yesterday or the day before. Let's not talk about it. But success is just like balance. It comes in a different package each day and you have to be open to what that is and what season you're in for that success.
Audrie Dollins:It's a living and breathing thing to me and so as we carry on Founders and Fortitude, I am so glad that you've came this far in our episode journey and we have some amazing guests coming up. I'm going to have a, a business coach come on. He is a corporate coach, and I'm excited about that. We're gonna have some more amazing guests that I can't wait and more conversations. I hope we get a little bit grittier and get a little bit deeper.
Audrie Dollins:What are you wanting to hear? What are you loving so far? Share and tell me what episodes were your favorite, what questions that you want me to to ask and that could help possibly help in your journey. And I'm even going to have one of our, team members from eighty Media Group come on, the next episode and we're gonna kind of dive in and get gritty with that. So thank you so much for joining me with Founders in Fortitude.
Audrie Dollins:I can't wait to ask even more questions, get even more grittier, and share with you. And as always, capture, brand, and engage, and let's do big things. Thank
Audrie Dollins:special items we share that aren't even mentioned during the show. If you enjoyed today's episode, please take a moment to leave a five star review. It truly helps us grow and continue sharing valuable insights with you. You can connect with me daily on Instagram at audrey dallins, a u d r I e d o l l I n s, and don't forget to visit my website at audreydawlins.com where you'll find years of blogs packed with tips and insights to help you thrive. As always, capture, brand, and engage, and let's do big things.