Bryanne Lawless has successfully launched multiple lifestyle brands, restaurants, and fitness studios, as well as executed high-end events both locally and nationally, including a client event at the famed Sundance Film Festival. Bryanne opened BLND Public Relations in 2013 to focus on what she loves most, lifestyle brands. Follow her @bryannelawless.
Who is your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
My hero is Mark Cuban. In one of his books, he explains that people shouldn’t get caught up in how many hours they work. He believes — as do I — that judging success is based on having goals and measuring your results. It’s all about the end game.
What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?
Do not hire employees based solely on experience, knowledge or connections. Instead, hire new team members who are a good fit for the company’s brand and culture, who show an understanding of the company’s voice and image, and hire based on their ability to grow in an ever-changing, fast-paced work environment. Choose new team members who you know you and your current team can spend endless amounts of time with, and are able to continue to create and streamline brilliant work. These are the type of people you want to surround yourself with as the owner of a company, because as you grow, you can rely on your team to take the reins and not have to worry as much about the day-to-day business. Having a solid team with a company culture that elicits the want to produce incredible work will only help the company grow in an upward direction. If there is a flaw in the company culture, the creative flow, workflow and ability to streamline processes will suddenly implode.
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
Offering discounts or price drops for certain clients in the beginning was a big mistake I made, as I thought we really wanted to sign them. The difficult part in offering discounted prices was that it took me and my team away from clients who were not afforded any type of discount or price drop, thereby hurting the credibility of my firm. I learned that the “discounted clients” had a tendency to request and require more hours of attention and needs, which limited the bandwidth of my team to focus on all clients across the board. I realized that I needed to feel confident in knowing what my own and my team’s time was worth, and stayed true to that. At the end of the day, it’s about believing in our clients, because their success is our success. If they fail, we fail — and failure is not a word that exists in my vocabulary.
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
I start my day at SoulCycle to jumpstart my mind and find balance before my day actually begins in the office. In the first hour at the office, I hold an agency meeting to review and discuss the day’s agenda with the top executives of my firm.
What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?
The business should be one-third overhead, one-third salaries, and one-third profit. You should always be sure to keep your profit margin in the 20-30 percent range. Keeping in mind the one-third overhead rule, you never want to hire more staff members unless business can justify additional hires. Remember to invest the most in your employees and your team to gain an ROI.
Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?
Surround yourself with an amazing team and network of like-minded entrepreneurs, and create a culture of mentoring among your team, peers and colleagues. Your most important asset will be the people you surround yourself with, as well as your team members. Allow yourself to be a part of helping those around you grow and learn. Another recommendation:Let go of control sometimes, train and mentor your top team members to take the reigns. You can start small at first but this is something you need to do to grow the business into something bigger than yourself. I feel this is one of the hardest hurdles an entrepreneur must confront and overcome.
What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?
A true entrepreneur never fully succeeds. You may succeed in one aspect of your business, but there is always more an entrepreneur will want to add to their business: a new service; a new product; a new business model; a new idea. As an entrepreneur, it’s an ongoing process, and you will always want to strive for more. I do not believe that there will be a time when I’m not striving for the next plateau, the next biggest profit margin or the next innovative idea. That’s what differentiates entrepreneurs from the non-entrepreneurs: we thrive in the uneasiness.
