Today's Guest

For over two decades, Lindsay Pinchuk has worked in marketing, advertising, media, content, and sales for and with the world’s largest brands. Lindsay got her start in corporate America at the Hearst Corporation, but when she became pregnant, she sought support and community by hosting events to meet other expectant moms. With just a $500 investment, Lindsay left the job she loved to found her first company, Bump Club & Beyond. She eventually sold Bump Club to Brand Connections, an agency holding company, and worked there through the pandemic. She then left to launch Lindsay Pinchuk Marketing & Consulting, where she produces the podcast Dear FoundHer and provides consulting services mainly to female-founded businesses. Hear about Lindsay’s journey and how she found the work-life balance and success she desired through entrepreneurship.

Resources Shared

• LindsayPinchuk.com
• Dear FoundHer Podcast
• Thryv

Episode Transcript

(Please excuse grammatical errors due to transcription)

Gordon Henry:

Hey, hey, this is Gordon Henry at Winning on Main Street, the show dedicated to helping small businesses succeed. And this week we have a really unique small business story. Welcome Lindsay Pinchuk.

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be here.

Gordon Henry:

Great to have you. So quick intro on Lindsay, she's a small business coach. She worked for one of the largest magazine publishing houses in the world and eventually left that full-time job to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams with just $500. Lindsay left that job, founded her first company, turned to profit in the first year, and eventually sold that business to a large agency holding company, and now coaching events, speaking and so forth. We'll get into all that.

What should listeners get out of this episode? You may find yourself in a corporate role, and either by choice or necessity, decide to strike out on your own. Here's one story of someone who made that work, thought that would be interesting for you. And again, this show is brought to you by Thryv, T-H-R-Y-V, the small business software, small business runs better on Thryv. So Lindsay, welcome to the show. Please tell us in your own words, help us get started, how you started this journey of yours, how you wanted the big corporate job, how that worked well until it sort of didn't, and then what happened?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Yeah, and I'm going to point out and share that I left corporate America twice, which that's a big thing. I loved my job. I want to say that. I loved my job at the Hearst Corporation. I worked at Good Housekeeping, I worked at Red Book. I had stints at MTV in between those two stints. I loved what I did. I loved the people that I worked with, and I loved the work that I was doing. And ultimately, I did get pregnant and I knew I needed support. I was living in Chicago. I am a transplant, my husband's a transplant. None of my friends were pregnant. We all have sixth graders, I was just first. So that was very interesting for me. And I said to my husband, "I need to find some friends that I can talk to about this." And so I said, "I'm going to have some events."

And so I started hosting events for expectant moms. And anyone who knows me knows that I don't really like half-ass anything, but I didn't expect... Like there was no plan. I didn't write a business plan. I wasn't intending to do this full-time, it was really just for me. And one thing led to another. We had events first for 50 people, they were free. And then we started hosting paid events with speakers, 100, 125 people. Then I had my daughter. And when I had my daughter, I was kind of on the cusp of I could do it or not do it. And I really loved the work that I was doing. I was starting to get sponsors. That was what I did in my day job, so it was not hard for me to start reaching out to brands.

I was starting to get brands sponsoring what I was doing. And I went to go back to work and I had a boss and a manager, two different women, who were really unsupportive of my side hustle. And the irony of the situation is I worked at a company where many of the people in the C-suite had side gigs. They were authors, they wrote books, they used company resources to publish those books. And here I was, I had this little meetup on the side and everyone was in a tizzy about the whole thing. And neither of these women were moms. And when I came back after maternity leave, it was told to me if I did anything on their time, there would be consequences, which I never did. I never would. And truthfully, I was making my $4 or $5 million sales goal and then some every single year, and then I was also told that I couldn't have a day at home, which every mom on my floor had except for now me.

And I said to my husband, "These two women are going to make my life hell, and I think it's time to leave. I think I should just pursue this and see what happens." And that was kind of the goal. It was like, let's see what happens. What's the worst that happens? I can always go back to corporate America. I can always find another sales or marketing job. For a year after people were reaching out to me, asking me to do maternity leave coverages in that space, I always said no. And I really focused on building this business. And I ended up building Bump Club and Beyond, which was the business, to being the premier community for parents and parents to be. We had partnerships with Target, Nordstrom, the Honest Company, every baby brand. I was a spokesperson for Huggies, and I built it up to reach 3 million people per month.

And we were generating seven figures year over year for the last six years that I owned it. And I was approached in the summer of 2018 to sell the business by three entities approached me and I chose the one that I thought would be the best. They wanted me, they wanted my team, they wanted my brand, they really wanted my relationship with Target, which is why they bought me, but it seemed to be the best fit for us. And so I sold the company and I went and worked back in corporate America as an employee. And doing that is really different when you've run the show for nine years and everything is based on your own experiences and knowledge. And all of a sudden I'm working for these people who have no idea how to market to moms. I'm the first consumer facing brand they've ever bought.

They're a big agency holding company. They own a lot of B2B agencies, and we were B2B and B2C. And I stayed there for two years, a little over, two and a half years, through the pandemic. I turned the brand around. It was an events first company. When the pandemic started, we were about to launch a huge initiative with Target in-store at 300 stores in March of 2020. And I said, "We can't lose this revenue." It was like seven figures in revenue. And I created an online program. It was really the first online program during the pandemic. We started the online program on March 8th, 2020 before the shutdown. And we turned it around and we saved the revenue and Target ended up partnering with us throughout the entire pandemic for these online events for their baby registry. And it got to be a little taxing. I was working around the clock, I was the face of the company and I was working with my team as the head strategist behind the scenes.

And it just was time to leave. It was time to move on. I felt like it wasn't mine anymore. And so I made the decision in 2021, in the summer of 2021, to leave, and now I am all over again building from the ground up. I am building two businesses essentially. One is my podcast, which is Dear FoundHer, and it's turning into a community for female founders. And the other part of my business is my consultancy/agency, which is where I do marketing and business consulting and business and marketing coaching for female founded businesses mainly.

Gordon Henry:

So rewinding a little bit, as you look back to leaving that big corporate job at Hearst, I guess it was, and going off on your own, what do you remember feeling? Were you nervous, excited, worried?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

A lot of everything. I also, keep in mind, was a brand new mom. So I think really and truly the excitement was more than anything else. Of course, I was nervous. I was giving up a very nice cushy salary, and expense account, and benefits, and my husband and I made the decision that we were going to make some changes based on the fact that I wasn't going to be bringing in this paycheck anymore.

Gordon Henry:

Before we dive into the whole business discussion, I wanted to just talk for a second about the non-business piece. So I guess a big piece of this was about balancing your work and your personal life. You were an expectant mom, you wanted to have more of a, we call now work-life balance, specifically raising your kids. Did that work and were you able to do both successfully, by which I mean to your satisfaction where you could work in the new thing, but also raise your kids the way you wanted to?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Yes, it did work. And I will say, as any entrepreneur knows, you work harder and more as an entrepreneur than any other job on the planet. But I was working on my own terms. And so yes, I was able to do what I wanted to do. I was able to take time during the day to take my daughter to classes or pick her up from school. Right when we're done with this, I pick up my youngest from school every day. It's in my calendar, there are no meetings and that's our time together.

So I have really been focused on making sure that those things aren't compromised so I can spend time with my family because that was the reason that I did this. That was kind of the non-negotiable. I was traveling a lot at Hearst. The irony of the situation is I ended up traveling a lot with Bump Club, but it was on my own terms. I often sometimes brought my kids with me, I made my meetings, I planned my flights, no one was doing it for me. So it was really, like I said, it was on my own terms. So I think there's something to be said about doing it for yourself versus doing it for someone else.

Gordon Henry:

Right, for sure. So I want to ask you a little bit more about the Bump Club and how you built that business. I guess a lot of it, as you said, was in the beginning was sort of building this community and so forth. So tell us just a little bit more, how did you, I guess, network with people? How did you bring them into the community? And then how did it generate revenue? What was the revenue model?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Yeah, of course. So initially, like I said, there wasn't a plan. It wasn't like a business that I really cared so much about. And I think that that was sort of the secret sauce to the whole thing, because I just, like you said in your introduction, showed up as myself every single day. I shared about being pregnant. I talked about my fat ankles, my itchy belly. I talked about things that people were able to understand and relate to. And so you have to remember, like you said, there was no social media. So this was on our blog, this was at our events. That's where I was sharing this stuff. And eventually I shared it on social media when that became part of the equation.

But initially it was just, I sent an email to everyone I knew, I said, "Hey, I'm starting this company. If you know anyone who's pregnant send them to our events." And our first few events were free. So that's a really big key if you're looking to do something like building a community, you have to prove the concept. And so these events were free. I brought in, I called a lot of different brands. They sent prizes, we had gift bags. It was a really great experience. And even though it was free, I made sure it was a seamless experience from top to bottom for these people who were giving their time to come to these events. And after the events, I asked them questions, I sent them surveys, I asked them what they wanted. And it was really from that that we were able to create our first paid event, which it's not like I made a ton of money.

It was like $50 a person to come. I had to pay the restaurant and we had 100 people, or 80 people that came. But that was like baby steps, right? And so through these experiences and making sure that every interaction with Bump Club was a really amazing one for these expectant women, they started talking about it. They were my biggest marketers. You cannot find a woman who is a mom now who has a, let's say, eight to 12 year old in Chicago who has not heard of Bump Club. And I would venture to say LA, Austin, Minneapolis as well, because those were kind of our big markets. We did just a really, really great job. And I wasn't worried about the money. I wasn't worried. I had a job. I was building this community. And so when it came time to actually start selling something, more tickets and sponsorships, people trusted me.

And they were like, "Of course. You throw amazing events, of course we'll pay $50. We know we're going to get our money's worth and then some." So that's really the foundation of the business. And from the very first sponsorship that I had was with, I want to say it was the one with Graco. And I randomly called them up and I said, "I have this dinner. We have 100 expectant moms coming." You have to remember, it's a really finite window that you can capture an expectant mom's attention before she has the baby. And so 100 expectant moms for a car seat company is gold. And they were paying to be there. And so they said, "Well, how much?" And I think I said "$2,000." I just threw it out and built them a package. There was no social media, so I don't even really... They bought the dinner and maybe there was an email that went out. And that was it.

And so from there, we used every experience to build upon the previous experience. So when Graco was on our stuff, well, Britax reached out and they were like, "We saw Graco partner with you. We want to get in on this." And so the more we started working with brands, the more brands started wanting to participate. And that's where we really made our money. So we made our money, to answer your question, through sponsorships and then through ticket sales. It was very similar to the magazine media model of a circulation and advertiser, which was my background.

And the circulation was our ticket sales, clearly not as high of a percentage, but the sponsorship made up for that. And we got to a point where we had brands like Target and Nordstrom who reached out to us because we were working with all of the brands that were sold in their store, and they wanted us to create custom programs for them. So we really morphed over time to being this event company that we were hosting our own events and our own kind of mini expos to also being hired by big companies to create activations and then bring our community, which they were so engaged and they loved everything we did, to these event activations for Target, Nordstrom, the Honest Company, Huggies, et cetera.

Gordon Henry:

At the height of the company, how many events were you running each year?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Each year? Well, there were different levels. So at the height, I would say we had, let's say 15 brand ambassador moms across the country in 15 markets. And each of those moms did two free community building events a month. So they were workouts and play dates, really just to generate excitement for the brand and surrounding the brand. Eventually they were sponsored by Seventh Generation. And those were kind of our free baseline community events. And then we had, I would say, two dozen, maybe more depending on the year, because there was a year we were working with Target and Nordstrom and doing our own events at once. And we had, I would say, probably four dozen very big events across the country that year in that kind of realm with Target, with Nordstrom. And then we owned our own event called Gear-a-Palooza which it was a boutique expo for expectant parents. And we did it usually in about a dozen cities a year.

Gordon Henry:

Got it, got it. And what kind of, at its height, can you sort of share what, round numbers, what was the revenue of the company at its height?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Yeah, our biggest year our revenue was $1.7 million.

Gordon Henry:

Got it. And you did that, interestingly, you said the mothers, it was really expectant mothers, so you really had them for that nine months roughly.

Lindsay Pinchuk:

We did, but then we also did programming for new moms too.

Gordon Henry:

You did?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Yeah. So after I had my daughter, a lot of the moms were like, "We still want to come." And so it evolved into being mainly for moms with kids under the age of five. It was kind of like once they were out of preschool. And so that's why we had these play dates. We had big Halloween parties and just good experiences for families. And it was very urban. So in the city of Chicago, it was a great place for people to meet each other. And if you ask a lot of the moms who came to our events, they formed their playgroup at our events and they met a lot of friends at our events. It's really amazing to see on social media today the families that still hang out together.

Gordon Henry:

Yeah, it's terrific. So one of the things you became, I guess, known for, or at least that you promote, is you developed this thing you call the SWEEP Method. Tell us what the SWEEP Method is.

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Yeah, that's 2.0. So that's kind of what I do now. But what happened was I built Bump Club, I sold it. And then in reflecting back on how I built it, because I'm asked all the time, there were really these very specific things that I did that I didn't realize I was doing at the time, but definitely were the metrics of... they were the reason why it was successful. So SWEEP Method is my method for building brands, it's my marketing method, it's all organic marketing, it's community centric, cost effective marketing that's organic. So essentially what it means, SWEEP stands for social media, your website, events, email, partnerships and publicity. And what that means is that you need to be fueling all of those cylinders in order to successfully build a community that can engage and purchase from you and your product. A lot of brands I find think that social media is the end all and they have to put all of their time and effort into social.

And yes, it's a piece of it, it certainly is, but it's all of these pieces. And so when I work with clients now, and as I'm building my second two companies, I focus now on this overarching content plan and an overarching content strategy that fuels all of those methods that I just rattled off to you. So there's the social piece, but then it's like, how do you put it on email and then how does it live on your website? And what are you going to do to push it out to create buzz based on it? So there's a lot of different things that need to be happening. And if one piece is missing, it's not going to work. And it can cost you nothing. I mean, really and truly, I didn't have a marketing budget at Bump Club. Nothing. Zero.

Gordon Henry:

Yeah, terrific story. I'm curious, before we move on to what you're doing now, as you were thinking about selling the company, and ultimately did, how did you approach the selling process specifically around valuing the company and then deciding, it sounds like you had a couple of different bidders who had reached out to you. How did you go through that process? Do you do it on your own? Did you have somebody help you?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Oh no, I did not do it on my own. So I'm not good with numbers. It's something that I've never been shy to say, and I've always had help in terms of my financials. I've had a fractional CFO and bookkeepers, and that was the first thing I hired when I started my second company. So when this happened, I had recently hired a fractional CFO, and I had said to her, "I want to sell this company before I turn 40." And at the time I was 38. And so we were starting to think about what we were going to do and putting together a deck when I got these calls. And you have to remember too, this business was really only worth what someone was going to pay for it because it's not... I mean, it was like someone bought a projection essentially.

I mean, it was a media company. They were buying my audience, they were buying my social handles. The one tangible thing they bought was my email list, which was about 150,000 people. So that was a very targeted email list of parents and parents to be. So it really, for me, was more about not just the financial offer, it was what these entities wanted. And actually I didn't even get to a financial offer with two of them because I had already ruled it out. So one of them, we didn't even go past an initial back and forth. It was clearly not a fit. One of them, I was about to go to New York to meet with them. They did not want to sign my non-disclosure, but they wanted me to come and basically tell them how I ran my business. And it turned out they wanted to acquire me.

So they wanted to hire me, dissolve my company. They didn't want my team, they didn't want my brand, and I had no interest in going to do what I did for someone else and do it all over without the equity of my brand that I was known for. So the entity that I ended up going with, there was a lot of back and forth about what is this company actually worth? And it was based off of a projection. And so the way that the model, and I can't get into it... Ask me in February, and I can tell you more about it, but they did give me a lump sum upfront. And then there was an earn out based on our performance. So I also want to say, and I think a lot of entrepreneurs can understand where I'm coming from with this, I was done. I was done.

I wanted out, but I didn't want to shut the business down. I didn't want to let down the community. And I felt that that would've been a lot harder than selling to the, at this point, the only bidder and the offer was good, and it was good enough that I was willing to take it. And so it wasn't really weighing options. It was also, in addition to being a financial move, it was also mental and physical because I was like, I could not operate. I had bootstrapped the whole thing and I just couldn't do it anymore.

Gordon Henry:

Now you've moved into a different type of career, you're doing consulting, you're doing coaching, speaking, things like that. Tell us a little bit about today's model.

Lindsay Pinchuk:

So today's model, there's two things I have going on. So I have what I call my agency, which is my consulting work. And from there I have developed a one-on-one coaching plan where I've been coaching smaller businesses who can't afford me in the consulting realm, which really is so fulfilling too. I love helping people and I'm happy to do that. And then from that, I've also developed a couple of courses, which I've taught, I'm teaching now and I'm going to be launching a new course. Well, it's not a new course, I taught it last year, I just haven't taught it since last year, called Social Media for Small Business, later this Spring. And that was really just the demand of my social media community. They've been asking me, "Please, please, please, we need help with social media." So I've really been listening to the community that I've been developing online since I left Bump Club to really dictate what it is that they want from me. And that's what I've been giving them.

So that's kind of like the agency side of it. And I know my capacity in terms of how many coaching clients, I usually take no more than five a month. And I usually take no more than three consulting clients at a time. And then on the other side of things is I'm building this community for female founders called Dear FoundHer. And it really just started with my podcast, but it's taken off and away, similar to Bump Club, that I never expected. I got to a point last year where I had over 500 pitches for people who wanted to be on the podcast, and I was like, I certainly can't do podcasts with all of these people, as you know.

And so I started doing features of them on my website and on our social media and it's been growing and growing and I've gotten some great interviews. I've interviewed Bobby Brown, I've interviewed Jen Sherman from Peloton. I've interviewed Catherine Reitman from Workin' Moms. I mean, just really great people. And my goal is to really get that to a point where I'm doing events for female founders and can monetize the podcast, not just the podcast, but the community surrounding the podcast very similarly to how I did with Bump Club.

Gordon Henry:

So it seems you've become sort of a phenomenon in the press. I've seen you on TV, newspapers, magazines. How did all that happen?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

So additionally at Bump Club I had two women who approached me, who I knew from the community, and they approached me and they said, "We're starting a PR agency for mom targeted businesses called Two Moms Media, and we would love to work with you." And I was like, "Huh." I never even thought about that, because when I started Bump Club, it wasn't, like you said earlier, there was no social media. It wasn't like people were influencers. That was not a thing. And that was never my intention. I mean, that was not my intention to be a influencer in the mom space. And I would not even say I'm an influencer. I would call myself influential. And so I hired them, I took a chance on them, I was their first client and they started booking me on TV for just lifestyle segments all over Chicago.

And then we started doing them in other markets. I eventually outgrew them, they were amazing. But I was doing stuff across the country and we needed more press, so I hired someone with national ties and I was constantly being pitched to the press. Anytime we went to a city to do an event, they would reach out to the local affiliates and they would pitch me for the top 10 new baby items or, "It's safe sleep month, here's how to..." Just whatever it was that was relevant at the time. And because I was getting a lot of press in action, I really established myself as an expert in the parenting space as well. And so from there I developed some really great relationships with producers. And so over time it was very regular that I was going back in to the same studios over and over and over again.

And so when I left Bump Club, I was able to reach out to those producers and say, "Okay, it's still the pandemic. You need content. Here's what I'm doing now. And I can still talk about Mother's Day gifts for you, but I'm going to put a spin on it and do female founded Mother's Day gifts." And right out of the gate, when I left Bump Club, I pitched myself to WGN to a producer that I've worked with forever who I adore. And I said, "This is my new gig." I think it was National Entrepreneurship Month. And I said, "I'd love to come on and give five tips for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses." And it ended up being an amazing piece. And so like anything you do in business, it's really the relationships, and it happens over time. And it's taking what you've done and building upon it, just like I did with the partnerships in the beginning of Bump Club.

Gordon Henry:

That's great. So talking about your current gig, your new business, you are doing a lot of consulting small businesses, our listenership are all small business people. Who hires you? What does a typical engagement or job look like for you?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

So who hires me? This is the interesting piece, because when I first left I was kind of like, "Who's going to hire me?" I mean, really and truly. That's like the imposter syndrome that any normal person would have. And so I sent an email out and I said, to everyone I knew, and I said, "I'm leaving Bump Club, I'm for hire." And I ended up getting hired by three different, very different entities. I was hired by a small granola brand, that I talk about all the time because it's the only granola I eat, to do their social media strategy. So I don't do the management, I did the strategy and I worked with their social media manager to get to a place where they were functioning better online. I was hired by a nonprofit who wanted me to come in and connect them with various partners for some online engagement so that they could experience more awareness and growth.

And then I was hired by a startup and it was a startup that was trying to establish a community for women. And they hired me to come in and help with the community building. And so from there it's really kind of gone up and it's been anything from nine figure apparel company, nonprofits, I've had toy companies hire me. It's been really across the board from a consulting standpoint. And when a consulting client hires me, I come in, it's usually for about three to six months, I usually do an overhaul of their content strategy, social media, we'll talk about partnerships, all the things that SWEEP encompasses, and I'll build it out for them so that they can implement it in their own business.

And then on a coaching standpoint, and these are people who maybe don't have the budget to have me do it for them, I come in usually for three months, sometimes up to six, and we hone in on three aspects of their business. And I give them the actionable steps to move them along so that they can do whatever needs to be done. A lot of people hire me for social media, truly.

Gordon Henry:

So outside of the kind of expectant mother space, I mean it seems like your expertise and experience is really around this idea of how to use community, social media, various ways of engaging people, I'm sure there's email blogging, things like that, to build your business. So is this relevant to all types of businesses? Do you think any kind of business can sort of use that basic type of expertise, even local businesses? A lot of our clients... I'm sorry, a lot of our listeners are small businesses that tend to be service oriented, like people who work on your house or your car, doctors or dentists. Can anybody use those kinds of capabilities?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

100%. And really and truly it's more the mindset than anything. So the way that I teach my classes is we always start with, "You have to stop looking at your perspective customers or your social media network as followers or an audience." That is no, no, no, no, no. You have to look at them as a community, and you are part of a community, and you need to engage with them. And part of engaging with a community is oftentimes sharing advice and sharing information that maybe people pay you for, but you're going to share it because you want build this trust with them. You want to build this expertise with them, you want to talk to them, not about you. I always say, "Talk about your community, not about yourself." And so the minute you start talking to your audience as a community, really and truly, you see a lot of improvements based on your engagement, your reach.

And I'm not just talking about on social media, but it's just so important to have that mindset because no one wants to be talked at, people want to be talked to, people want to be heard. You have to meet them where they are. So yes, I'm trying to think of who I'm working with right now that... Well, I'm working with a doctor right now and I've worked with a media trainer, I've worked with a nutritionist. And a lot of what we do is focusing on this community element so that you can engage. Because when you are creating content that connects, you are ultimately building a bridge to transaction. It takes time. It's not something that happens overnight, but that's what you want because then people think of you when they need your service or when they need a referral source.

Gordon Henry:

Yeah, I want to underscore, I totally agree. And it's interesting because nobody trusts advertising anymore. Nobody really trusts the media anymore, but they do trust people they know, particularly in their own community. And when you have a need, whether it's to remodel your house or get some dental work, or if you have a more serious medical condition or legal condition, most of us are very eager at those moments to hear from other people who've gone through the same sort of experience.

And being able to plug yourself into a community like that, we've all probably heard stories of, God forbid you got a heart attack, or some cancer, or some terrible thing, you immediately want to seek out people like you who've had that so you can learn, how did they go through it? Which doctor did they see? What about the costs of it, and so forth? So anything like that from the sort of day-to-day like, "I need to reroof my house." To something more serious, being part, finding out the content and connecting with people who are knowledgeable, who've personally gone through it, very valuable.

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Well, yes, and here's the other thing too. I was just going to say, I've helped a lot of realtors actually. And a big part of it is when someone uses you for your service, they're using you. They're not using your information, because guess what? They can probably Google the information, right? So you need to show up and share the information the way that you share it so that they can tell if they can connect with you. And the biggest compliment I get from my podcast, from my social media is, "It feels like you're talking to me." And so that's what I want. And if it doesn't feel like I'm talking to you, then you're probably not the right customer for me, and that's okay. I'm not for everyone, and no one's for everyone. But you have to show up and be you if you want people to hire you.

Gordon Henry:

As we wrap up this episode, Lindsay, I want to ask you, for someone who's listening, and maybe if there're at a corporate job, like you were a long time ago, and maybe like you were, they're thinking about striking out on their own for whatever their personal reasons are, what would you say to them? How should they decide if that's a good idea?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

My litmus test is always, what's the worst that happens? Really and truly. For me, when I was leaving both times, I said to myself, "What is the worst that happens?" Well, the first time it was, I would find another job eventually, and the second time was, I'll go back to corporate America eventually as a VP of marketing or whatever it might be. And then the second question is, can you live with that? And if you can live with it, then go for it. Because there's just, life is too short to be in a job or in a place where you're not happy and you can always return. You can always find something new. Nothing is forever. And I know it sounds cliche, but it really is the truth. And it is scary. It is scary, but I also think that you deserve happiness. And when I left the second time, I was miserable.

I mean, miserable all capitals, not just a capital M, all capitals. And I gave up a very steady paycheck, and I'm not yet making that paycheck every month, but I'm okay because I'm so much happier and I will get there and I know that. And that's just me being very transparent about the situation. You have to weigh the options. You have to weigh the pros and cons. But I do think that it's worth exploring. And I also think if you're going to leave to do something on your own, if you can, like what I did both times, I built a cushion for myself so that I wasn't just out with nothing. I mean, I had been doing Bump Club for almost a year when I left the first time. And I was not yet, of course, making a ton of money, but I could see the future.

I had sponsorships lined up, it was there. So it wasn't as risky as leaving on day one. And then the second time, Bump Club actually became my client for two months, that was how I left. So there was a lot of back and forth, that could be a whole episode in and of itself, but there was a lot of back and forth, and we agreed that I would be a consultant for two months in order for them to extract all the information out of my head. So I worked for them for 10 hours a week, and then the other time I spent building my company. So I had a two month cushion where I was getting paid and I was able to go out and do my own thing. So if you can do that or find a way to make that happen, I think that it's worth it.

Gordon Henry:

Got it. Well, Lindsay, this has been fascinating. You've got a great story-

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Thank you.

Gordon Henry:

... and I've got a lot of information that people can apply to their own lies. Where can people find you and learn more about what you're doing and potentially look at hiring you as a consultant or speaker or something like that if they're interested?

Lindsay Pinchuk:

So everything is at lindsaypinchuk.com. It's L-I-N-D-S-A-Y P-I-N-C-H-U-K. You can also find me @LindsayPinchuk on Instagram. It's me. There's no virtual assistant. I respond to everyone. Or at Dear FoundHer, which is my podcast that drops twice a week. And I will say for a lot of small businesses that are listening, I give a lot of really great information. Like today, I am about to post something, I think it's going up this afternoon, it's like 11 ideas of what to post right now on social media and any business can use these ideas. So it's really serviceable, actionable information that I provide, and in the hopes that it will help to move your business forward.

Gordon Henry:

Terrific. Well, Lindsay, I want to thank you for coming on Winning on Main Street. It's been great to have you here.

Lindsay Pinchuk:

Thank you so much for having me. The pleasure's been all mine.

Gordon Henry:

And I want to thank our producer Tim Alleman, our coordinators Diete Barnett and Daniel Huddleston. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please tell your friends, colleagues, family to subscribe and please leave us five star review. We'd really appreciate it. It helps us in the rankings. And remember, small business runs better on Thryv. Until next time, make it a great week.

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