Chad Franzen 4:47
how challenging was it to teach yourself the Adobe products you’re obviously you’re already skilled in design and art, but what about learning that that software?
Becca Hadley 4:54
It’s overwhelming, but honestly it was what I love, you know, let the saying if if you love what you do then you never work a day in your life. You know, like, I loved it. I thought it was so much fun. I love being home. So I was just teaching myself at home while Josh was gone with my dog. I loved it, any software I think can be overwhelming. But overall, I, I loved what I was doing. And I thought it was super fun. So I had a great time.
Josh Hadley 5:16
One of the important things to call out here, Chad, though, is I think all of us have these God given gifts that we have, we have our zones of genius, we have skills that are unique to each of us. And I feel like one of the obligations that we have while we’re here on this earth is to identify what our skill sets are, and figure out how to bring those to other people to serve them. And so you know, I think what Becca, similarly, you grew up, always having a passion for art, and creating beautiful and inspiring things for people. And me on the other hand, I was the kid with the the, on the corner of the street with the candy stand selling hot chocolate or snow cones, or whatever the time of the year, it was like, I was always trying to make a buck. And all like being able to like, see that that was just something innately within me. And being able to express that later on in my career is like, I feel like I’m living my dream. Because I’m in my zone of genius. Like I’m doing what I feel like I was born to do. And I think Becca, would you agree that you were doing what you were born to do?
Becca Hadley 6:21
Yep. And I love it. It’s very fulfilling, too. It’s not like I’m dreading working today. It’s something I generally look forward to, you know, we all have our moments of overwhelm or frustration, but overall, I think it’s always looking forward to what you’re doing and enjoying it. And it’s just a blessing. Yeah.
Josh Hadley 6:36
But, being but being true to yourself at the same time. Because how many people like told you not to go get an art degree?
Becca Hadley 6:43
Yeah, yeah, it made it scary. Yeah, it was like, Okay, I guess I need to follow your advice, since I don’t have any experience in the world, you know. So yeah, I definitely followed other people’s advice in that realm. So
Josh Hadley 6:54
And for myself, yeah. When I was going to college, I was thinking the same thing. Like, I love business, but I didn’t know what to really get into. And somebody should have just told me like, dude, go start your own business, like, start stopped, dilly dallying around, like, Oh, I’m going into finance or management or marketing. Like, dude, just go start your own business. You’ve always done that. Since you were young. Like, I know you have it within you. So I think that’s encouraging for like people, like, don’t listen to the self doubt. And also like, don’t listen to the people who, the naysayers. Yeah, don’t listen to them. Like, you know, yourself. I think it requires a lot of self introspection. But then be true to yourself. And I think that’s invaluable for everybody. And I think something that I continuously have to remind myself as well.
Chad Franzen 7:39
Yeah, absolutely. So if you could do it all over again, Becca, would you have got? Would you get the art degree? Or would you just skip school? And and, you know, just do your own designs? Or would it be a combination of the two?
Becca Hadley 7:51
Um, you know, I think it could be a combination of the two, like, I don’t, I literally have no regrets in college, you know, on the one hand, and on super fun time, but, um, I think there could have been great knowledge there. But I also think in our day and age, there’s just so many resources out there that like, a degree doesn’t necessarily mean as much like I would consider myself just as qualified, if not more so than someone with an art degree. I think I would have loved it, I think it would have had so much fun. So I missed maybe some of those experiences I would have had there, like field trips or internships, I think could have been so much fun for me. But I wouldn’t say that I regret it. But I also think anyone who wants to follow their passion, there’s just so many courses from incredibly knowledgeable people out there now that we have access to which is awesome. I think I can find myself feeling almost like a poser. Sometimes people are like, Oh, do you go to school for graphic design? And I’m like, Well, no. And so I have to remind myself like, that’s okay. Like, I I’m happy where I’m at. I know as much, you know, so I think I have to overcome the self doubt from it sometimes, but I no regrets.
Chad Franzen 8:53
Good, good. So I guess we can probably guess what each of your roles are given, given the talents that you’ve just illustrated for us. But tell us what your specific role is now with Hadley Designs, Becca?
Becca Hadley 9:03
Yeah, so I handle all things creative. I am the head designer, I work with all the different creatives that pass through our business, whether that be Amazon listing images, and product copy, and anything to do with especially visual creatives. I handle all of that. Josh, and I handled the overall vision for the company and the goals and the things we set there. But the creative side is all me and I’m the only head designer for our products right now. So.
Chad Franzen 9:28
What would you say is your favorite thing about it?
Becca Hadley 9:30
Oh, I love seeing my designs come on actual products. It took a really long time outside of wedding invitations to see like I made that calendar or I made that chore chart. It’s really cool to see my designs in the print. But I was I think my absolute favorite, the more that I think about it is when someone I know or even someone I don’t know, will text me or message me and be like, Oh my gosh, I didn’t know this was yours. I just bought this on Amazon. My son’s teacher did that like a couple of weeks ago and I think that’s really fulfilling to see that people are drawn to my designs that they fill their lives with happiness and joy, and they’re excited about it. And it’s cool to see that connection happened.
Josh Hadley 10:05
I thought you’re going to say, my favorite part about my job is sitting, you know, that too, but sitting in bed and turning on The Bachelor and watching The Bachelor and just working.
Becca Hadley 10:18
That’s true. I love working from home with my dog and putting on a good TV show.
Josh Hadley 10:21
Oh, my heavens. And then I have to go to the other room, because I can’t focus if there’s something else on the TV. So
Chad Franzen 10:30
I’ve heard people say that I’ve heard people say that having like a TV show out in the background, like help gets help helps get the creative juices flowing, would you say that’s true for you?
Becca Hadley 10:38
Totally are my mind will like wander on all my to do list or my children. But if there’s like background noise, I can just like be in the creative zone.
Chad Franzen 10:45
So, Josh was telling me in a previous episode that when you guys first started your you had an inclination, or you would receive some advice or something to maybe not branch out into your own ideas and kind of see what was popular out there. And try and, you know, come up with your maybe version or a copy of what is already out there. And then Josh decided, or you guys decided that it was good to start doing your own thing. How did you how did that work for you? Were you intimidated by that? Were you excited by that? Were you just finally relieved that you were able to do that?
Josh Hadley 11:16
I think it goes back to like for more context, like some of our first products and I shared this is like one of our top mistakes that we made, like one of our first products I think I’d sent you was like, this one’s doing well on Amazon. So go make something go make this, right. And you’re like, Okay, so you go and you basically replicate that design. Was there some differences? Maybe a little bit, but it was pretty like similar, right? And then, like the product flopped, right? And I think like your takeaway, I was like, Man, I don’t think this design was great. And you’re like, Yeah, this design sucks. But I did exactly what you told me to do. Like you told me go make this, because you thought this was gonna be the amazing design. I was like, well, not necessarily. But that’s where I think it all started. And then from there, you were like, wait, I can just like create my own designs, we don’t have to, like, go follow the competition. So elaborate on that.
Becca Hadley 12:07
Yeah. Yeah. So I think as a designer, like every piece that you create, you’re putting like a little part of you. And so I think it’s definitely like a level of like, vulnerability, putting something out there. And we still have products, plenty of products that fail. And that can be kind of hard sometimes to be like, Okay, it’s the product, it’s not me, you know, like to separate yourself from that, because you do put so much like blood, sweat and tears into every single product out there. So it can be really hard when something doesn’t go well. And you can be really hard on me when I see someone copy me like, that’s really frustrating to me. And so I think, but it’s also extremely fulfilling to see that and to see people drawn to unique things, and I think it helps us stand out. And that’s been really fun. And so it gives me the creative freedom to think outside the box. And to put something new out there. But also knowing like, sometimes it’s gonna do well. And sometimes it’s not. And that’s just something you kind of have to separate yourself from. Either way, really, you know, you can’t base your happiness off of it doing well or not doing well. But I think it is really fulfilling to be able to just think and create and get that inspiration from the world around you and different things. Like whenever I’m shopping or with my kids, I’m like always like taking pictures of things that I like my daughter, like, what are you doing? Like it’s for later. So I think I love it. It’s very fulfilling to be able to put things out there. It’s kind of scary, but it’s really fulfilling.
Chad Franzen 13:21
So Josh, if you could just tell us a little bit about your role, then. Yeah,
Josh Hadley 13:24
So, my role is nothing creative. She tells me.
Becca Hadley 13:28
very much he’s gotten more creative over the years, you got better
Josh Hadley 13:31
Sometimes, she’ll ask for my advice, or input, not advice. But yeah, so my role as the CEO of the business is to really just keep things functioning, right. And so I was the one who figured out, you know, how to sell on Amazon to begin with, like, how do you do the keyword optimization? How do you find new product ideas? How do you do the, you know, advertising pay-per-click management, and then also like, kind of team building, and like hiring operational roles. So that’s kind of my role is, was formally kind of like running the day to day, I would say, we just hired a new VP of operations. And our hope is that he’s going to start running the day to day, and it allows Beck and I to be able to stay within our zone of genius. And for me, that’s casting a vision, creating partnerships with people and being able to, you know, acquire other businesses, bring them into ours and be able to just level up our business and go to the next level is what I’m focused on right now.
Chad Franzen 14:34
So Becca, what is it like working with your spouse?
Becca Hadley 14:38
Yeah, I love it. I know almost every single person I talked to always says, I don’t know how you do that or that didn’t work for me or we’re divorced or whatever it is. We I think it’s been one of the best things for us. I think we had a strong foundation before we began working with each other and it kind of started off slow and Josh was working in corporate America. We were working together at night, but For us, it’s been, it’s been fun. It’s been our hobby, I think, since both of us are doing what we love, it’s very fulfilling, and then even more fulfilling to do it together. I think one of my favorite things is just the opportunity to like travel together to different conferences, like we’ve had so many like couples trips that are business trips. And it’s been so fun. We’ve seen so many places together, I think we’re also learning new things together at the conferences, we go to when the things that we listen to the podcast, everything that we do together. So I think it takes our relationship even to the next level, which is really fun. Now, that’s not to say that it’s always easy, we definitely have our frustrations or our arguments, or sometimes, like when we’re on a date, in my head, I’m like, stop talking about the business, let’s be on a date. So it’s just finding a balance and making sure that like in our relationship that we have, like family time, specifically and date nights and business time. And for us, honestly, it has been an incredible blessing. I’ve loved every minute of it. So
Chad Franzen 15:56
great. Yeah. Why don’t we get back to that in just a minute, kind of the boundaries or whatever, like work at home or whatever. But Josh, what are your thoughts on working with your wife?
Josh Hadley 16:04
Yeah, I think that it’s been an amazing experience. And I think that like Becca talked about, it’s important for us, I think it like has actually brought us closer together. Because we’ve been working on like a similar vision, like I would say, like kids brings you together, right? You and your spouse together on like a similar vision of like, we want our children to success to succeed. But also, with the business, we want our business to succeed. And so it’s been fun, like, like Becca mentioned, like it was, what was it literally a year after we had been married or like, yeah, it was one year after we had been married as when we’ve kind of like, got started into the business and working together. And it was fun. You know, we didn’t have kids at the time, we had a child on the way at the time. But for us, our kind of life looked like this, I would come home from work at American Airlines. And then we would sit down together at night. And at the time, I could have a TV show on in the background and be alright with that. But we would put on something fun. And then we would just be working together. And we would be chatting and saying hey, look at this cool thing I found, you know, hey, you know, and at the time, we were working with custom wedding invitations and brides. And so it was always like whenever we got to sell or somebody paid their deposit, or they got booked on the calendar, it was like this big win. And I’d be I’d go run over and tell back BeccaIt’s like we got another one. And it was just like an exciting time for us. And, you know, we would stay up late into the evenings, till like, one two in the morning, just working on the business together. But we loved it. And that’s what our life revolved around. And, and now as we have children, because of the, you know, hard work, I think that we put forth early on, it’s paying dividends in terms of us being able to be more present at their sporting events and having more flexibility in our schedule. But tobaccos point as well, like, it hasn’t just been all rainbows and unicorns, not necessarily. Like there’s there’s friction at times, right? And that friction, a lot of it comes down to, you know, are we on the same page in terms of like the vision and where we’re going with the business. But also like clarifying our rules. I think that’s been one of the most important things like if Becca were trying to be the CEO, as well. And she were like super possessive of like, this is my business, I have to be the CEO, then that can cause a lot of friction. And I feel like that’s what happens a lot of times is you’ve got other husband and wife and they don’t necessarily clarify the roles. They’re like, I want to be the leader, I want to be the leader. And then they both start stepping on each other’s toes. But because Becca does so well at design, she does that. And then she knows that I’m capable when it comes to running and leading the business. And she lets me do that. But then we also form the vision of the business together. Would you agree?
Becca Hadley 18:56
Yeah, for sure.
Chad Franzen 18:57
Do you ever have to catch yourself like, oh, I, you know, I’m trying to be too creative here, Josh, or something like that.
Becca Hadley 19:03
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I think we have our times where someone starts to swerve out of their lane a little bit with good intention for sure. whether that’d be like a lot of opinions on the design side or me being involved more with like leading the team a little bit. And I think we just find our balance and work with each other. But I think the nice thing about being a husband and wife team for us is that I feel like I can 110% trust Josh, I’m never I know. He is putting in just as much time and effort as I am. He cares just as much as I am. And so that’s always a reminder of like, we both are doing what’s best for the business here. So I think that’s great. And having that balance, like one of us can always help bring the other one up when there’s a frustration or something’s going wrong. Like I think it’s a great combination to stay positive. So
Josh Hadley 19:46
Yeah, I in fact love it. I love being able to like go on walks at night with Becca and share, you know, a challenge that we’re working on in the business and getting her input. Whereas if she were distant from the business, you know I feel like I’d be held like talking to a wall in a way that it’s like you don’t understand the context. You’re not in details. You’re not involved in the business. And so having somebody that is like, I think it’s just super fun. And as Becca alluded to, like, I love business. And so like, that’s where a lot of our topics of conversation revolve around. And sometimes I need to pull back, but I love it. And I think it can you too, so it works out. Yeah, we grow closer together. Yeah.
Chad Franzen 20:25
So Josh, you were working, you were working at was at American Airlines, you said when you guys first started, and you were looking at doing this at night? And Becca, Becca, you were working just basically on this. Right? Yeah. How did you feel? What was the context that made you decide Josh to, you know, just stop American Airlines and do this full time? And Becca, how did you feel about that? At the time?
Josh Hadley 20:45
Yeah, that was a, it was a long decision in the making. We so I ended up staying there at American Airlines for five years. So we had started. Hadley Designs, basically in like, the fall of 2014 is when, you know, the idea like Becca first started working on somebody’s wedding invitation, right for like a friend. And so at that point, that’s when we’re like, hey, maybe there’s this fun idea. But so I stayed at American Airlines until 2019, August of 2019, is when I left, but I got a lot of experience there. While I was at American Airlines, being able to learn how a large corporation functions, how the different levels of management need to make decisions, how to present and I started in their ancillary revenue department. So it was all about like fees, right? The seat fees, the bag fees, the reasons why people love the airline’s state, right, yeah, everybody, great. But we would have to go in and approach, you know, vice presidents and senior vice presidents of the company with like, Hey, here’s our new initiative, here’s a new product or fee that we could charge the customer. And why is that valuable, right. And this was not something that I could just pull out of the air last minute as an entrepreneur typically would. This is something that required a methodical approach, a lot of vetting a lot of data to back it up. And so although that that’s not generally my personality, I don’t enjoy that process and slow moving things and like perfecting, like even PowerPoints, making sure they’re perfectly aligned, like that was like, tedious for me. But the experience was invaluable, because it taught me how important it is to have record replicatable systems and processes in the business, being able to analyze data and why that’s so important. And then how to convince, you know, a Senior Vice President, that your idea or new product idea is a good product idea. And so I’ve been able to transition a lot of those learnings into our own business in the way we do our product development. How do we, you know, how does our product research team present new ideas to us? Well, I give them you know, kind of the guidelines of what I was doing previously at American Airlines. So I also consider not only was the experience valuable, but at the same time, it was our venture funding, you know, and a lot of people go raise capital. And it’s like, well, that was the capital that we raised. Because at nights, I could spend my time focused on our business. And we didn’t really need to worry about like, how much money is the business making today, because I knew that we still had a paycheck coming in. So it allowed us to be free with the decisions we made. It allowed us to, I think, be more creative and experiment until we found something that just took off. And as soon as Hadley Designs started taking off, we’re like, This is amazing. But a product, you know, a physical product business requires a lot of capital to get started. And So had I not had a large, you know, good salary, we wouldn’t have been able to front, a lot of those inventory purchases, we never would have been able to grow. And so it wasn’t until 2019 We were far surpassing, you know, the amount of money the business our business was making compared to my salary. And we felt like alright, now it’s kind of like holding us back. At that point. That’s when we cut the cord. So it wasn’t until like, we genuinely felt like a lot of pain. Or it was like, Okay, this is definitely holding us back. This time to cut the cord and, and go.
Chad Franzen 24:19
So Becca, you were never worried about you know, Josh sounds like he was kind of born to be an entrepreneur, you were never worried about like losing that salary?
Becca Hadley 24:26
No, I think we worked so hard for what do you say five years, like literally every day besides Sunday. We worked hard every day and night and I knew how much we were bringing in and saving and putting towards, you know, inventory and all those things. And honestly, at the end of the day, Josh is an incredible salesman, and I know that he could go get a sales job tomorrow and just slay it. So at the end of the day, I wasn’t worried that regard, because I know how great he is that anything he puts his mind to, especially in that realm. So I knew that even if things started to slow down, he could do something else but I had complete faith Even what we were doing and how far we’ve come and all that we had put up, and we had put into it, but it definitely reached a point where it was like, Yeah, your focus is too divided. Something’s gotta give. And so we knew it was a leap. And it wasn’t that it wasn’t scary. It was still a risk, you know, and everything that comes with not just having like a corporate job. But I have complete faith in him and both of us. So it was a good one. So
Chad Franzen 25:21
Do you. We talked you talked about a little bit earlier, maybe you go out on a date, let’s not talk about work. Did you ever feel like you have to like say, say, okay, the workday ends at six or 530 or something? Or is it you know, it’s something you’re able to kind of plow through regardless,
Josh Hadley 25:36
I wish we could say the workday ends at a certain time.
Becca Hadley 25:39
I don’t know. No, I love it. We don’t I mean, so when we put our kids to bed, depending on you know, what’s happened that day, whether it’s sports or whatever, unless we have a date night, like, we take some time to connect, and then generally we both still will work a little bit before bed. But for us, it is a connection, like Josh said, like, well, we’ll sit down and watch a show together, and then go on a walk and chat about anything throughout our day. But for us, like I don’t feel like it needs to end at a certain time. Like it’s not one of the it’s not really that type of relationship for us.
Josh Hadley 26:06
And it’s the way that we also like run our family at the same time, right? Because it’s you don’t wake up and just go to the office like or our office. Yeah, and get to work like your first thing in the morning. Like, why don’t you tell people like what is your day-to-day schedule look like? And then I’ll kind of share my
Becca Hadley 26:21
Yeah, so I handle the kids in the morning. So we have littles we have a 18 month old, just barely four year old, and then a seven year old. So two of them are in school. So I, you know, get myself up ready to go through my own routine that I get the kids up and ready to get my kids to school, and then my littles that are still home, I spend time with them. That’s what’s most important to me, you won’t find me working generally, most mornings, I mean, here and there, things come up, or if I get a babysitter for a certain project or whatever, but for the most part, I’m with my kids in the mornings, which I love. It’s so fulfilling. And I’m so grateful for the flexibility of it. And then I put my girls down usually and then I work during naptime, my girls naptime. So I get a little bit in there. We have a really good system with the babysitter with a nanny that comes a couple of days a week. And so we generally will have her for a couple hours, that allows me to work a little bit more. And then we have a hard cut off for family time when she goes home. And both Josh and I go when we play with the kids or kids are super involved in sports and dance, and we love to go out and do activities and stuff. So we make sure that we have that balance and family time. And then once we put the kids to bed, Josh name makes sure we have time to connect before we kind of get back to work and usually ended up staying up later than planned. But
Josh Hadley 27:30
But I think that’s the important thing, though about, you know, our schedule. Is that for Becca and I, yeah, it doesn’t stop at 6pm. Right. And it’s like, all right, it’s not a nine to five work. Yeah. Because the way that we want to raise our kids is like, we want to be involved in their lives. Like, I coach three sports teams with my son, coach’s hockey team, I coach his baseball team, I coach his basketball team, but I love it. And it’s something that I love to do, because my dad was always my coach, and I built a relationship with my father and strengthened our relationship. And I want that for my children as well. So I plan on coaching my girls as well in their sports, because at the end of the day, you know, no, what is it? No, no success in the world can compensate for failure in the home. That’s a quote that I love. And it’s true, like we could have had like designs can be $100 million brand. And if our kids said, or our relationship or our relationship falls apart, like Becca and I’s relationship falls apart, or you know, our kids become distant from us, like my mom and dad were never around. We were always just like the nanny always took care of us. Like if that’s their recollection, then I will have said like, we failed at the end of the day. So what we have $100 million brand. And at the end of the day, it’s all about family and creating those memories and raising them as our children to be better than we are. And I hope that they outperform both Becca and I and our ambitions and what we’ve been able to do.
Chad Franzen 29:03
So you said there’s occasionally there’s some friction, which is to be expected in any professional or personal relationship. How do you keep you know, my wife and I don’t work together at all. And we have some friction just from being husband and wife. You know, I would imagine if we were all together if we had an argument the night before about something unrelated to work, then we have to work together the next day, I would still be kind of like standing my ground on the previous argument about something else. How do you kind of keep that from, you know, infiltrating each other’s lives?
Josh Hadley 29:31
That’s a great question. I know my answer. Becca probably knows my answer. Go ahead. Oh, well, I can tell you your answer. You know, my answer.
Becca Hadley 29:40
pretends the next day that all
Josh Hadley 29:41
is good. It’s water off my back is like you can matter what he’s
Becca Hadley 29:46
just kind of like oh hi, which is a great quality, for sure.
Chad Franzen 29:50
Yeah, absolutely.
Josh Hadley 29:51
But what do you do? Okay, so I think though a good example, we had a disagreement about family family matter yesterday, right before like our At the leadership team meeting, but like, then we jumped on, but then we jumped on the team meeting and like, I don’t think that disagreement ever really became resolved. No, I think we just like moved on. And guess what we’re still like, it was like, okay, but
Becca Hadley 30:15
yeah, I think they both have the same goal of knowing like, it’s the same thing that if we were gonna go to show up at like a friend’s party, and we have an argument in the car, like, I think we’re both the type or like, we’re gonna pretend the argument never happened. And if it’s something we need to talk about later, like on our walk, or whatever, we will, I’m definitely way more direct than Josh. And like, I want to like cash now and be like, This is what bothered me, here’s what you need to do. And I think so we balanced each other really well. But I think we also both know what’s important. So like, we’re going to show up to the work meeting, or whatever it is, and always going to be well, and I think neither of us hold the grudge, which is a great thing to have in our relationship. And we I mean, yeah, we have our arguments like anyone else. But I think we both know the time and the place. And we know that we can discuss something later. And I think it’s also good too, because then it kind of gives everyone time to like, cool off. And then like, maybe have a different perspective or whatever. So, but you just have to let things go to make sure you’re putting the important things first. So
Chad Franzen 31:09
hey, tell me how important is it to have kind of a shared vision for the future?
Josh Hadley 31:13
Yeah, I think that that’s one of the most important things that you do, especially if you’re running a business with your spouse, it’s like, you got to have the same vision for the business. Because if you don’t, that’s going to be really challenging, right? If Beck is like, No, I, I see us, I don’t want to ever do stuff on Amazon, I just want to see my stuff in Target. And so I’m just gonna focus all my energy, like trying to work that relationship. But I’m like, No, there’s a lot of potential on Amazon. Like if we’re not aligned in the vision of like, where our business is going. And what we do, that’s been super powerful. Becca talked about, like how much we love going to conferences together. Because like, it’s at those conferences where we have been able to, like, develop, here’s our five year plan, here’s our annual plan. And then here are like our quarterly objectives. And that allows for us to be on the same page, and then both moving together in the same direction. Because I think if if Becca, were all focused on getting into retail, and I was focused on going e-commerce, like, we’re not going to create a lot of momentum in the business, there’s going to be even more friction. And, and so that, not that, like we aligned perfectly every single time on the vision. But like, we come to a meeting place, like a middle ground where it’s like, alright, Becca, you have this idea I have this idea is how do we decide which one’s best. And at the end of the day, I think what we do is we allow the data to speak for itself. And that’s the most important thing that we’ve learned is that, you know, there’s many, many different things that we can get our hands into, and work on in the business like influencer strategies, growing our brand on Tik Tok, or Instagram or what, like, the list can go on and on and on. But you can go through and all of these great ideas that you have, you can assign a value to each of them and say, All right, imagine we have this amazing Tik Tok account, best case scenario, like how much revenue is this bringing to the business? All right, what’s a conservative estimate? Okay, what about Instagram? Okay, what if we’re partnering with influencers? What’s best case scenario? How much revenue is this bringing? Okay, we go, we want to go retail. All right. Best case scenario, how much revenue is this potentially bring? Now you’ve got to start with some assumptions, right? But from there, then you can identify some of the big like levers to pull in the business that will allow you to make the biggest impact. And then the end of the day, it’s like, hey, art, like, if we said, these are the different levers like, even though my pet project is Instagram, maybe that’s not the case. And I think that’s where both of us kind of meet in the middle. What else would you add to that?
Becca Hadley 33:53
Yeah, I think we both want what’s best for the business, just like we would want what’s best for our kids. And we both align on the big things, which I think is really important. So the small things can just work themselves out, like Josh said, like going with what is going to have the best impact because that’s gonna give us the best freedom in the future and the best success for our business. So I think we let the data give us the answer, as well as the expertise of whatever persons laying that might fall into you. And I think we’re able to come to an agreement, but I think aligning on the important big things is crucial.
Chad Franzen 34:24
You ever have any, like radical ideas that you feel like you just need to put in now,
Josh Hadley 34:29
I don’t know that we’ve had many like crazy ideas, anything come to your mind?
Becca Hadley 34:33
Not anything that’s like earth shaking? No,
Josh Hadley 34:36
I think we’re both like so. I’m definitely more like the Quickstart once like, I’m like my Colby index, I’m a nine on Quickstart, which just means like, I’m all I want to run through that door tomorrow. And just like I don’t need the answers as to how I’m going to do I’m just going to do it. So if it would be any, anybody, it would be me bringing in some, you know, curveball into the business. But again, I think that goes back to my experience. It’s an American Airlines. It’s caused me to kind of rein in some of that and and have to analyze. All right, before I go run through that door is that the best solution? Is that are there any other possible solutions, taking a step back and also knowing that, like, we have leaders on our team that I’m accountable to write that, if I’m making a decision, I’ve got to provide some data and back it up as to why we’re going in that direction. And then also the Becca like, it’s not just like willy nilly, each of us just gets to do whatever we want to do. So the checks and balances are important there.
Becca Hadley 35:33
Yeah. And I think Josh is Quickstart, but he’s not impulsive. And there’s a difference. I think you’re very methodical in your Quickstart, though. So I think that helps. I think the most radical being all I ever do is be like, I have an idea for a new design. Yeah, the wish to give it a shot. I see it every email, I do something like that. But another nothing that’s ever like going to be a huge risk.
Chad Franzen 35:53
Have you guys received did you guys receive any advice from people when you when they found out that you were going to be working? You know, as a husband and wife, when my wife and I got married? We got all kinds of advice? No, the primary thing that stands out to me is don’t don’t go to don’t go to sleep angry, something like that. Did you guys get any advice on working together as a couple? And what was the best advice you received? If you could think of it?
Becca Hadley 36:16
Yeah, I think a lot of people always mentioned like making sure that you have the balance in your life. Because we do need to have the time of connecting. And I think one thing that’s really helped us as we have gone through, like waves that like have a minute great or whatever, whenever, at least for me, whenever we bring back like date night, and just like going out and doing something fun. Truth be told Josh is actually better at planning date night than me, I will admit, she can plant some really fun date nights. But I think having that balance along with the balance of family, and the balance of work is so important. And you know, some weeks like or some months, we don’t have the opportunity to go on a date. And some months, we’re going to go every week, but making sure that it continues to say a priority for us because I think connecting and all those different realms at least really helps me I feel like we’re having the quality time for having the family time. And we’re still having like the work time. So just always keeping in mind that balance, whether things are going well or they’re not has been really good for me.
Josh Hadley 37:10
The only advice I remember is don’t go into work with your peers or with your spouse. A lot of people don’t work with your spouse. Yeah, all the time. It’s like, I can’t tell you the number of times we show up at a conference. I don’t know how you guys do this. I can’t imagine working with my spouse. And I’m like, I can’t imagine not working with my spouse like, what do you talk about it date night? What do you talk like? What do you do in your free time, like, I love that our free time is spent building a business. And like Becca has her own kind of new business ideas for the future that she’ll be working on and myself with, like, the podcast that I’ve been sharing with her. And it’s like, it’s fun that we’re both just like, we’re movers and shakers, we’d like to build things and create things and bring things to life in the world.
Chad Franzen 37:53
So if if you were to come across some young couple, and they were thinking about getting they were thinking about, you know, starting a business together, but they were like we’re hesitant, because everybody tells us what a nightmare it is what would be kind of your elevator pitch or encouragement to say, you know, go for it,
Josh Hadley 38:08
I would say you can’t do it. But you’ve got to have very clearly defined roles, right, have a shared vision of the business, and then step into it with clearly defined roles. And honestly, that’s good advice for anybody that’s looking to partner with any sort of partner in any business. Because if you are just you know, if you have this fun idea with your buddy, one of the first things you need to do is say, alright, let’s clarify roles, what is it that you’re bringing to the table? And what is it that I’m bringing to the table? Because if it’s the same thing, I don’t need to Josh’s running the business. In fact, that would be terrible, right? And so it’s nice having that counterbalance of ideally that partner would be, hey, I’ve got somebody that loves operations, right? That’s my spouse, she runs all the operations. And I’ve heard actually a lot of people that that’s what their spouse does is like, my wife loves the operation. So she runs the entire team. I’m the entrepreneur, I’m the visionary. So I’m bringing ideas to the table, I’m sharing, you know, kind of the vision and where we’re going, then my wife is the one that makes it happen. Now that that can work. So I would just say like, just as you would in any role, if you were to hire somebody for your business or partner with somebody, you would first have a clearly defined like, job description, and make that happen and agree that, you know, when there’s going to be some conflict, like figure out how you’re going to meet in the middle, and just take a break sometimes. So that’s my advice.
Becca Hadley 39:39
But I think more in like the relationship realm of it, I would say, totally do it. It can be so much fun to make sure that you still just like I said, with my advice that you take time for one another and make it fun, live it up, go to conferences together, go out to business dinners together, make it fun, make it an experience and also be forgiving, you know just kind of regular A relationship advice, but maybe advice that you have to use more often is be forgiving and support each other and don’t hold a grudge and it’s all going to be what you make it. I think so
Chad Franzen 40:09
you guys have a great looking office or background there? Do you guys work from home? Or do you drive to an office,
Becca Hadley 40:15
we work from home and we love it. This is it has its pros and cons. So crazy times with kids and dogs, but we love it.
Josh Hadley 40:20
We’re around each other all day long.
Chad Franzen 40:23
So, So I guess I’ve already asked you about shutting it off. You know, I work from home, my wife works from home, we don’t work together. And I feel like I can shut it off. She’s like working until 9pm. You don’t need that commute to help you like transition from work life to home life.
Josh Hadley 40:38
There is there there is that I mean, the transition is much arriving. There’s well walking down the stairs, but like typically it’s driving to a hockey practice, or driving to baseball practice or a baseball game or something like that. That’s, you know, that’s what I love is like typically the hard stops or are presented by the kids schedules and the sporting events and whatnot. Which again, that’s that’s a priority for us.
Becca Hadley 41:04
Yeah, I think, at least for me, I’ve I’ve literally never been employed by someone since college. So it’s all I’ve ever known. Yeah. So I love it.
Chad Franzen 41:12
Sure. Great. Hey, last question for you guys. Becca, what is something about Josh? Josh is pretty forthcoming on the podcast. What’s one thing about Josh that maybe listeners wouldn’t find out if they’re regularly tuning into the podcast?
Becca Hadley 41:28
Oh. That’s a tough question.
Josh Hadley 41:29
It’s good. I’m excited to hear your answer.
Becca Hadley 41:34
Um, I would say I mean, the more you get to know Josh, the more that, you know, he puts his heart and soul into everything that he does, for sure. I think he works harder than anyone that I know and cares more about his family and even our team members. I think he’s one of the most caring people that I have ever met. He cares about their well being and their happiness, and he truly wants them to succeed. And he treats everything the same way our son’s baseball team, I would say he’s by far the best coach out there with the practice plans that he sets up and he gives them a picks a kid to have an award every game and he spends his free time helping our son build a treat cart, sell it as baseball games, like he just wants everyone to succeed. And he puts his heart and soul into helping others succeed. And he truly, genuinely means that and that’s how he lives his life and in everything that he does. And on a fun note, on a Friday or Saturday night, you might catch him and an old men’s hockey league. So two bits of us bits of secrets where you
Josh Hadley 42:30
can check out the Old Man Hockey League. It’s not very pretty to watch, but it’s fun to play. And sometimes I get a babysitter
Becca Hadley 42:37
and go sometimes.
Chad Franzen 42:39
Very nice, very nice. Well, I guess I have to ask you the same question Josh. What about Becca?
Josh Hadley 42:43
Hmm, man now you’re flipping the script, Chad
Becca Hadley 42:46
They don’t know anything about me? So
Josh Hadley 42:49
Becca has an obsession with pets and animals are Tik Tok so obviously tick tock continues to feed you whatever content you seem to spend most of your time observing. So if you get a hold of Becca’s Tik Tok account, all you will see our dog videos or pet videos. And that’s all she sends me all day long is like have you seen this funny pet video? Like, half the time? I’m just like, I don’t get it. I don’t get it. She loves it. So she loves animals in another life. Maybe you would be a vet.
Chad Franzen 43:21
Okay, great. Hey, it’s been great to talk to both of you guys. Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of it. And yeah, best wishes on everything moving forward.
Josh Hadley 43:31
Thanks, Chad. This was fun.
Chad Franzen 43:33
So like everybody.
Outro 43:35
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