Pivot With Purpose Season 6 Episode 12 Lindsay Nead Full Transcript

Meghan Houle (00:01.752)

Hi, Lindsay. Welcome to the Pivot With Purpose podcast. How are you? Thanks so much for being here with us.

Lindsay Nead (00:08.398)

I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

Meghan Houle (00:11.676)

yes, no. And I feel there's some great connections that we have already. And I always appreciate, especially coming from an agency side where I know you've had amazing pivots, very much like me, in starting somewhere and then kind of creating your own offering on the talent side. But you work a little bit differently on the talent side than I do. So we'll get into that. But it's always fun to talk to women in business that are doing the

Lindsay Nead (00:35.5)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (00:41.212)

that really are aligning to their purpose and path. And I can't wait to hear more about who you serve. So tell me a little bit about like where are we catching you, Lindsay? Like what season are you in? Like what's going on in your world now? Like tell us a little bit about you before we like dive into early career highlights and all that you're managing right

Lindsay Nead (01:03.882)

I love it. Well, I'm still a mom, first and foremost, CEO and founder of Parker Management. I'm still very much involved in the business in the season. Honestly, it's actually a lot less stressful, which is wild. think I always envisioned it just continuing to get more and more stressful. The bigger you get, the longer you've been doing it. And I actually feel

like this year has been a pretty peaceful year, which is wild, but I've worked really hard to get it that way. So the season I'm in is kind of fun right now and a little bit, I don't know, I feel like it's stable, which sounds crazy to say, but that's what comes to mind when I think of where I'm at.

Meghan Houle (01:49.244)

God, I'm loving that. Can you share a little bit of that with me? No, I'm just kidding. Well, I just, feel like for what I do in talent and recruiting, very much on like the retail side of things and putting people into jobs, the beginning of this year was a little crazy. The energy was super heavy. I felt like nothing could like click and we were working harder than ever. And I definitely feel like there was a point in April.

Lindsay Nead (01:50.954)

I know, right?

Meghan Houle (02:16.694)

or I talk about this recently and often, that it was like kind of like a flip. And I don't know if it's flip of energy or just my attitude, probably for what I always teach others to do. I am terrible taking my own advice. But like, yeah, I feel like now the seasons, I think you come at peace and I would love to hear your strategies, but like setting boundaries, making sure you're prioritizing the right things in your business. I posted the other day on Instagram,

Lindsay Nead (02:41.006)

Mm -hmm.

Meghan Houle (02:44.29)

I am in my revenue driving era. Like if you're not paying or praying for me, if you're demanding of my time and calendar, you know, it's not going to happen unless it's on my own terms, truly. And I don't know what you do in terms of like business model of like booking, one up, but I definitely feel like there is a community that we can serve with our voices, but at some point it's like you can't stretch yourself so thin to save everyone and be everything for everyone. feel like that's where

Lindsay Nead (02:55.561)

Love that.

Meghan Houle (03:13.948)

fall short sometimes of like, yes, I can do it all. And then you're lying on the floor. Have a laugh, you're like, but can I? So I love that for you, please teach me your ways. But to like dive in, as I know it's referencing, tell us about some of your early career highlights. Like what drew you initially to digital and advertising within a traditional?

Lindsay Nead (03:16.631)

Yep.

Lindsay Nead (03:20.731)

And you realize you actually can.

Meghan Houle (03:40.272)

talent agency. Yeah, let's like dive into your early starts.

Lindsay Nead (03:44.235)

Gosh, so early starts. You know, I actually did a major pivot, as you would say, in my career. I actually worked in, I was working for Massage Envy at the time, and I was like a corporate regional trainer. I just got a great job out of college and I took it and I was doing really well at a really young age and I was managing big teams.

Then I went to school, back to school for nutrition and started working one -on -one coaching. I just was super passionate about helping people feel better and had a long -term relationship end and realized I needed to completely do something different and I needed to move basically out of town. I lived in San Diego at the time. My sister lived in Portland and I said,

I tried to continue on with my nutrition business at that time, but it was just pretty tough to try to reestablish yourself in a completely different area when I really only knew a handful of people up there. And I knew nothing about Portland at the time. So,

I've always been drawn, my family comes from the entertainment world, so I've always known it. I just didn't want anything really to do with it. But I knew it, and it was just funny. just truly had no idea that is where I would end up. One day I was on Craigslist, literally again, sleeping on my sister's couch at this time. I had absolutely nothing. I went from feeling.

Like I had so much at such a young age to nothing, but I truly wanted just like a new fresh start. And I was on Craigslist at the time, because that's where I still went at the time for job listings. And there was one for a local, yes, Craigslist. There was an opening for a modeling agency locally. And I actually thought it was a spam listing. And the listing said a coordinator, a talent coordinator. And this person would wear all these different hats of

Meghan Houle (05:44.272)

Yes, crankslast.

Lindsay Nead (06:01.772)

doing both like admin stuff and creative work and they booked models for Nordstrom, Lululemon, all these brands that I loved and I thought to myself, I have no relevant experience but I could do this job. And basically I remember just writing one heck of a cover letter one night and they called me and I had a series of interviews and I truly...

I wouldn't say I faked it till I made it, but I did definitely embellish my relevant skills to the job. But I really knew I could do this and took the job. this was now, gosh, 13, almost 13 years ago, I started as a coordinator, took the job for $32 ,000 a year, which is crazy. Talk

taking a job just to get your foot in the door. And that literally started a completely different direction in my

Meghan Houle (07:07.974)

That's so amazing. I feel like in that small nugget, there are so many takeaways of, know, with people that are interviewing now or putting themselves out there in this day and age, you know, it's just, I think what holds so many people back from putting themselves forward into like a new industry or a new, you know, just in general is like, I don't have enough skills or I'm not relevant enough. And it is kind of like, think it to you, make it. like, yes, I, I feel like there are things that you possess.

that sure, if you need to, maybe not even embellish, but just like elevate in this like confidence bubble of like, yes, I've done this, I know how to it, this is what I'm gonna bring to your organization. That confidence is like what gets people to stand out. And for sure, I mean, at some point getting your foot in the door to align, you know, maybe it's not financially if like you have an opportunity to do that, but it's like a dream company or an area that you're super interested in

try it and just you never know where it's gonna lead and like here you are. So that's freaking amazing. What was the pivotal moment in yeah, no, go ahead.

Lindsay Nead (08:07.15)

you never know.

Lindsay Nead (08:14.496)

no, you go ahead.

Meghan Houle (08:17.806)

yeah, no, I was like, I'm like, if you got more to share, let me know. But we'll keep asking questions. So what were the what was the pivotal moment in your career? Like, you know, getting into this talent agency that really led you to consider starting your own company? Like, how long were you in it? And then what was that like, that aha moment or like the light bulb of like, hmm, some something else is there for me?

Lindsay Nead (08:20.994)

Yeah.

Lindsay Nead (08:36.429)

Yep.

Lindsay Nead (08:40.17)

So I did really well, not to my own horn, but I will, because I really did well. I took that job so seriously. And I knew I wanted to end up being a booking agent, because that's who made more money at the time. So I worked my way up. I went on, I met my husband at the agency. I actually used to book him as a model, which is so funny. And that's a whole other episode.

Meghan Houle (09:07.76)

Amazing.

Lindsay Nead (09:09.198)

but I, and then we got married, I had a baby and as many mamas know, parents know out there that that changes a lot for you. So fast forward to post, I took a terrible maternity leave of, it was like two months and I was definitely ready to get back, but I wasn't, I felt really groggy still. I wanted to keep, I was, I

ready to get back, but I felt like my body was not like my mind. I was still really tired and and so it was sadly a little bit too short, but I was moving up by the time I got back from maternity leave to a booking agent and I was so excited to start that and I quickly realized I was really good at being a booking agent and I was making the most commission. We had like a commission structure at that time.

I was making the most commission basically like tripling commission from other agents at the modeling agency. And I was like, okay, I'm clearly again, good at this. And I feel like I love it. And truthfully, I was a lifer at that company. I thought no question I will be here. I just found my where I thrived. I loved my job so much. And I just remember like I'm never leaving. I started to

great money. finally hit that six figure point, was really, you know, at the time, huge going from like 32k a year to that. And, and I just kept working my way up. And it was about, I think my son was probably too, around two at the time where I just started, it started really weighing on me the fact that I, I loved my job, but I hated going into an office and I couldn't shake that I felt like I

kept trying to just tell myself, you know, this is typical. So many people work in an office, you can do it. And it just felt so misaligned. And I would honestly dread every morning leaving. And my husband only worked twice a week. He was still modeling full time at the time. And his full time modeling schedule luckily was only twice a week because he did some e -comm. And so I was really...

Lindsay Nead (11:28.55)

missing them as I was just missing my family. And I'd go into work and I remember we would be on chat most of the day like what's my my son's name is Parker. Like what's he doing now? What are you guys up to? And I just it was really tough. And so it kind of where it wore on me more and more. And then after I think he was about three, I just knew it was not going to be a line for me long term, even though I loved my job. And so I started to explore what I could do.

differently and this is so funny because now remote work is so common but at the time it wasn't and I yeah.

Meghan Houle (12:03.644)

It's a thing for sure. Yeah, because one time was this like timeline was this Lindsay, like the 2017 16,

Lindsay Nead (12:07.886)

This was like 2006, 2016, 17. Yeah. So I was just researching. I would spend any free time just like, what could I do that is as cool as this job, but on but remote. And at that time, it just so happened that Nike Nordstrom, all of the brands that I was working for were saying, hey, we need a model with a following of

10 ,000 followers or more at the time it wasn't, you you were just starting to see hashtag ad. And then I remember I was really into the Bachelor show at the time. And I remember seeing the people from the show come off starting to do paid partnerships. And I'd see that hashtag ad. And I remember just being like, who does who's the middle person booking these? Like I'm booking models, but who someone's booking these partnerships? Is it them themselves or?

is someone helping them and I did a bunch of research and found out that there was such a thing as, you know, a talent manager for an influencer. Long story short, I basically will say that I did start at the right time. I don't think that there's ever a wrong time to start, it was really as things were starting to explode even more

What I noticed when I did research was I had this network of models that I knew that also had a following and they were a little bit more wellness focused and there wasn't really anyone that was doing more wellness travel creators. And so I kind of carved out that niche and I had a few connections and I made a couple of phone calls and I just was like, I think I need to do this. And I thought I would probably work with maybe five people.

And what I thought was five people turned into 10, turning into 20, hiring employees, all of

Meghan Houle (14:07.376)

That's amazing. Wait, tell us like, because I know going back to it, would love to hear like the inner workings. Like, what is it? What does it mean to be like a booker? Like, tell like, who did you like work with back in the day? Like, give us like a little rundown of like what your day in and day out look like, you

in your former life, but now too, in your current life of how you work one -on -one with people like who you've worked with. think it's so interesting, yes, in this world of influencers and obviously different type levels, celebrity models, however you kind of frame it. There are certainly so many companies now too that even have their own divisions of influencer marketing and so on and so forth, where it's just really expanded.

Lindsay Nead (14:40.565)

Mm -hmm.

Meghan Houle (14:53.324)

What is a role like yours entail? Like what did it look like? How has it evolved? Like who'd you work with? Like tell us like the inner workings of being a talent agent, which I love, yes.

Lindsay Nead (15:01.65)

So I love that question. It's such a fun job. So the model side of what I did was much more transactional. So it was basically, you know, a big company would come say, we need a male and female. They would just give us a criteria and we would go and do a submission. And it was very quick, very transactional. I just had to tell the models where to be, where to show up.

how to show up and what they were getting paid. And then it was onto the next one. And so it was a lot of wins every day that felt so fun. I also found that I loved working on email. I don't know what it was, but I love the transactional piece of emails instead of like phone calls or in -person meetings or selling something. Like I liked the sales part, but I love that it was just basically back and forth on email all day.

The other part I loved were just the relationships and watching those grow. I I worked on more of our national with our national clients. So I, and they put me basically on my accounts were accounts that they weren't really able to tap and they needed someone to really try to get, you know, get in with. And I did a really good job at just nurturing those relationships and getting, it was just, I loved what all the wins, you know, watching

I mean, winning both the client for the company, but also helping these models get the jobs. Like it was so fulfilling and moving forward to actual influencer talent management. won the biggest difference in managing influencers is it's not, it's transactional, but there are a million other little pieces in between. So rather than me just saying, Hey, you have a two Instagram posts and an Instagram story

15K, you actually are the back and forth with all the creative. I mean, there's so much more project management involved as a manager with influencers than there is as a manager for models, or a booking agent for models. So there's a lot more layers. And then on top of that, there's also additional true business.

Meghan Houle (17:17.712)

you

Lindsay Nead (17:26.75)

business direction and really guiding their careers as talent with on in the influencer to like influencer space and so really helping them, you know, expand their careers into other things, whether that's expanding into different platforms or, you know, maybe writing a book one day really helping guide their careers in this space and so

a lot more hands on and I realized again, the theme here is just seeing people succeed and do big things. often feel like I put my, you know, in another life, I'd probably be a business coach. just like nothing fills my cup more than watching somebody really go after what they want and succeed in doing that. And so I think it's just in different ways.

you know, both from the modeling side to now where I'm at today. And then I also get to do that nowadays with we have 22, I think 22 employees and I'm like trying to do the math, but I also get to do that now with our team, which is so fulfilling both with our talent and team just to help them, you know, make great money, have a good

I totally, I know everyone does not love work -life balance. I say it still all the time, because it's the constant goal of just not letting work be your life and trying to balance it out with play. But really seeing people succeed is just the theme here. And I think the other part of talent management, I will also say that's really exciting is you truly can do it from anywhere. You don't have to open up a store in the morning and close it at night. used to...

I say store because I wanted a store growing up. And then I quickly realized like, like to travel. like to be, I like to make my own schedule. I like to work at any hours of the day that I want to. And I think that's the beauty of our industry is it's tough because you kind of have to work at all times. There's not a whole lot of off time, but at the same time, you can truly work from wherever because everything is as long as you've got your computer and your phone, you're good.

Meghan Houle (19:44.944)

Yeah. So everyone that you have currently is remote, right? Nice. Yeah.

Lindsay Nead (19:48.714)

Everybody's remote. Yep. So we have an office. We have a local office here in Portland because a big chunk of our team lives up here. We have it there just for people to use it. I go in about twice a week. I actually really enjoy being able to get out of the house and just kind of separating. I really feel like since the pandemic, we've all learned

there is a lot of value to that in -person time. And it is kind of lonely working remotely as well. So I think my biggest takeaway is I just, I'm like, if I could go back to my old, the old company I worked at, it's just flexibility, giving people more options to take care of themselves. Often we don't make decisions because of just, mean, money is a factor, but it's not everything. And like I said, I would have stayed at that job.

forever had they just said, you know what, you could work from home twice a week. That's all I really needed was just a little bit more time at home. And so I think just having, I think there is a lot of value being in person for sure. And I think that's the beauty of having that office, but not requiring people to go in.

Meghan Houle (21:06.332)

Right. Yeah. No, and I agree with you. I think it's so valuable. I mean, I've been fully remote for 13 years in, you know, running, I call it in my layer of all things recruiting. But, you know, I think then in the pandemic, hence why I started this podcast, you know, missing out on that in person, I'll travel to New York, go to LA, like I host events. you know, like there's definitely an element that I create in person offering for myself.

You know just like be around people, but I'm on the phone and video all day like active with individuals But I do think that camaraderie is super nice a lot of thought times things can get done easier when everyone's just there and making decisions versus all the back and forth but I I say like hybrid or remote offerings for business owners still to this day is currency I mean people like really will even

Lindsay Nead (21:52.952)

Yep.

Meghan Houle (21:55.674)

salary pay cut or okay, like maybe it's not the best benefits, but it will be if they're like, hey, this has a little more flexibility for my job. This is what I need right now in my life. So I think that's really cool. And it sounds like you're you're still managing it super well. So you know, kudos to you. Tell me getting into like a business question, like, how did you go about founding your company, which I know is called Parker management. So I'd love to hear the story about

Lindsay Nead (22:11.393)

Thank you.

Meghan Houle (22:21.208)

And what strategies did you use to really employ to grow this agency where I believe it was you solo and now you're like an eight figure powerhouse. So like, what was that journey of creation for you to where you are today, which I'm sure is like a lot of lovely lessons, but so curious.

Lindsay Nead (22:31.948)

Yeah.

Lindsay Nead (22:37.91)

Yeah, yeah, you know, it's it's wild it happened so fast and it really was it just comes down to that moment. You're like, I'm gonna do it. And I think in that moment, I my husband's like, you've got to do it. You've just just do it, you know, and I just got the website as the first, you know, the first step. I think that was like the very first thing I did. And I'm such a visual person. So it's really interesting. I actually started

visually map out my website and what my social media would look like. And I started to visually map out the company before I actually had any, I didn't even know who I was working with. And that was just the way my brain worked as like such a visionary. And, and then it just took a couple of initial, you know, again, you kind of leverage the people around you. And I got to do that. And they all said, yes, I was like,

I want to, I'm going to start working with, you know, some influencers. Would you like me to work with you? Would you like to be on our talent roster? And it was a lot easier than I thought it would be to get it going. And I just poured my heart and soul into those initial individuals that I worked with. And from there, I just crafted some, I think some really good outreach emails and DMs to different talent and

explained what I was doing differently and at that time, I was really leveraging what wasn't in the industry. And so, again, I felt like the wellness piece was kind of the missing part at that time. And it was wild because literally shortly after wellness influencers became a huge thing. And that was kind of where a lot of the market spend was going. And

I again, kind of like perfect timing and that was kind of the difference in my messaging was trying to figure out what was missing. And at the time it was a lot of style beauty bloggers that were still doing really well. And so my messaging was geared more towards wellness and people influencing for good using their platforms in a meaningful way. And again, from there I thought I'd have about maybe a...

Lindsay Nead (24:56.362)

handful of people I worked with and I quickly realized that I was getting some good return from my outreach. And so I that just kind of continued on. And I think that that that was a surprise. was like a surprise and not a surprise. But I at that point, I was like, OK, this is going to be bigger than I I actually even thought it could be. And

I realized I needed my husband at the time was invoicing for me because I needed I was not that was not a good use of my time. And I also not a big numbers person. So I he started luckily he had more time and so he started taking that off my plate. And then by that time, I realized I needed to hire somebody if I wanted to keep growing. And I remember again, thinking like maybe I'll just have two employees and me, you know, I could be

I managed teams before, like I could be a boss. And that first hire was the absolute scariest because at that point I had no idea what I was making yet. I had also left a stable job. We have a three -year -old at the time. And my husband's job is kind of like at the time he was still modeling and it's not super consistent. And so there were a lot of unknowns that

kept me from wanting to do that first hire. And I'll never forget, I put something out, I think on social media that I was looking for someone and I met my first employee who was incredible. And she basically was like, I just want to do, I'm really interested in this. And she essentially took a pay cut to come work, similar to like what I did to get in. She took a pay cut to come work for me.

her job changed like four times. again, we just didn't really know what we were doing. But that first hire, I think, really set me apart from I had friends at the same time that started their own business, and it took them years to hire. And I think truly making that, taking that leap, it was the hardest part. But I look back and I'm like, if I had not done that, I think I would have stayed in this small

Lindsay Nead (27:14.75)

area for a long time. And now I see that with the influencers we manage, they do the same thing. They don't, they don't want to hire that assistant. They're too, they're rude. It's really nerve wracking to do to add a team member. but had that not happened, I don't think I would have realized what this could all be. And that was really the start. And from there we just, gosh, it was really one by one. And it was, we continue to add more talent.

We realized we needed more team members. I got creative with how to pay people. had no idea at the time. I didn't realize it wasn't smart for me to have a bunch of contractors. I didn't know really, again, like I was new to hiring my own employees and all of the things that you learn just over time. I had one employee working on commission only and...

I didn't do all the right things at the beginning, but I took chances and had to get creative with how I could make it work. And it worked out for us. once we got to a stable place, we were able to make better decisions for how to be more sustainable. I it was just, again, I go back to always that first hire that gave me more

Meghan Houle (28:11.12)

Yeah.

Lindsay Nead (28:34.97)

I don't know, more of peace with making those additional next steps and realizing this could be a lot bigger. Every time I've made new hires, I'm like, this is it. don't think I could, man, I don't think personally I could have more team members because growing a team is really scary. And every time I hire, always realize like, okay, I can do more than I think I can do every time. And it's just, yeah.

to be at 22 employees is wild to me, because I truly never thought, you know, never thought I would even want to be there.

Meghan Houle (29:13.626)

Right, and here you are. and so curious, you know, coming from my founder support recruitment brain of like, what do you look for as you know, love working with individuals like you, you know, that are building their businesses, but it is so scary. What really, and you're creating culture too. Like you're like, how do I like kind of replicate myself also, but bringing in people that are gonna compliment things that I'm not doing or things that I could be doing better. Like what,

Lindsay Nead (29:31.318)

Yeah. Yes.

Meghan Houle (29:42.638)

stood out for you in that first hire? Like questions or just like what really landed with you and then as you're hiring for, you know, other parts of your team, what do you look for? Like, what do you feel like just really always hits when someone's coming into your office or virtually and you're like, yep, they're part of my team. Like, this is a culture I'm creating. Like, what does that process look like for you?

Lindsay Nead (29:44.216)

Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsay Nead (30:04.906)

It's so funny. think with the first are with my first hire, I just could I honestly could tell even from her social media, I was like, Okay, you get it. You're like, you're so cute. You know how to take good photos, you understand aesthetic. And she was just so sweet. And I just remember thinking like, she really had an interest in this.

in the space and I think back to myself, like that was me. I didn't have relative experience necessarily to get my coordinator job when I first started in the modeling industry, but I had a desire and I feel like since then we've always hired based on like one, you can just tell. mean, like just like a warm, I feel like we truly have the nicest team I've ever, we joke that we're like a cult, we're not.

but we are all so similar and like, it's just, it's, don't, I really do think it's really easy to see who doesn't fit that culture when you have just so many like -minded people. And they're just really kind women and they all, it's funny, because most of our original hires didn't actually have relative experience and they had experience in kind

similar fields, but nothing, they were definitely not in our industry. And I felt like that worked really well for us because they were just excited to be there and like thought it was such a cool job. And I think when we really have had so we've been around since what 2017 and we've had five people leave, which I think is pretty incredible. And especially our industry, there's a lot of turnover. And I think

it's something that sets us apart is that, you know, we just have a really tight knit team that are again like minded individuals. And I've we've hired in the past or gone through interviews where, know, on paper, these individuals have everything going for them. And you can just tell it's not a fit. And it's interesting when you see that. And I've really leaned on I'd rather have more of the culture fit than the experience personally. And

Lindsay Nead (32:22.472)

it's worked for us and we've always just run ran with that. I also our team member, our team members are also our best referrals. And I know that they don't want to have, you know, people that they can't truly vouch for coming in the door. So I take that massively into consideration when our team members have friends that want to be here too. And yeah, it's funny, the hiring part has been

one of my least favorite just time consuming parts, but it's also been probably one of the most fruitful, easiest parts up until last year. And that's kind of where this whole, at some point we can go into that, but that's kind of where the stability of this year, last year was my first year dealing with, I would say more turmoil with employees and hiring and all of that,

Meghan Houle (32:54.576)

Yes.

Lindsay Nead (33:15.686)

for the most part to be in business this long, we've had such an easy go at it. And I think it's just finding what works for you and your team and running with that. And even though it might look very different than how other people hire.

Meghan Houle (33:17.019)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (33:26.545)

Yes.

Meghan Houle (33:33.334)

totally. And I love that you said a few things. Well, first and foremost, like, yes, I see it day in and day out. You know, my clients get so excited by this shiny resume that checks all the boxes and looks great on paper. And I'm like, caution the fact that sometimes those people that look the best don't always on paper don't always translate in person, right? You're hiring a person, the culture fit.

Lindsay Nead (33:45.876)

Yep.

Meghan Houle (34:00.752)

those soft skill sides of things, like that's what gets your offer letter signed. And I'm always like, please just be flexible, trust me. Sometimes that's why they broker in me, to be that voice of reason because I think that there's such a miss in so many industries and I'm working on some things behind the scenes, more to come Lindsay, you'll be the first to know, but to create more meaningful platforms, yes, for founders, CEOs and businesses looking to hire to just make meaningful connections.

Lindsay Nead (34:19.697)

I love it.

Meghan Houle (34:30.332)

in more of a seamless way. you know, I think like, yes, you look on social media, which is definitely something that I always coach, you know, anyone I'm working with is like the first thing someone does when they get your name, your resume, anything, they're Googling you, they're gonna see it all. So it's like, make sure any assets that you have out there.

If you want to be wild on social media, put it on private. If you're putting stuff out there and it's aligning with your personal brands, we're all little personal brands, aren't we? Making sure that, depending on who you're looking to attract, all those things line up for you and really show an authentic view of who you are. So I love that. And I love the fact that you're willing to be flexible in thinking about outside perspectives.

Lindsay Nead (34:56.332)

Mm -hmm.

Meghan Houle (35:14.746)

sometimes like hiring too many, what I call like cookie cutter individuals where they were at a talent agency that could be, you know, in competition with you or another you see like, sometimes people from like other groups come in with like really bad habits, or like, well over here, this is how I used to do it. And you're like, no, we're not interested in like how you used to do it in somebody other business. Like, this is my business, this is how it is. So it can be really tough to like clean out those bad habits of people if they've come from like kind of a weird.

environment prior to come in and say, is how we're aligning. So I create things sometimes like that fresh perspective. Like if you know that they so are so excited working for you and they're they're like little sponges, they're like, Lindsay, teach me your ways. You know, you can really create something amazing. Now you have to be careful in hiring too many people that, you know, could really take a lot of your time hand holding them through the process. But I just I love that. I love the way that you frame that. And I guess going into

Lindsay Nead (35:57.976)

Yep.

Meghan Houle (36:13.158)

challenges. Yes, like let's talk about like what have you been struggling with? I guess over the past few years beyond the obvious, like what have been some of the toughest challenges or low points? And how did you overcome them? Like be a team business, both talk to us a little bit about that.

Lindsay Nead (36:29.044)

Yeah. Gosh, I mean, I will say I feel like I've been when I reflect, I feel so lucky. I actually have found that running your own business and being an entrepreneur entrepreneur is easier than it is hard. And there's but with that being said, there are hard moments that I think over the years, it's so great to see how much I've grown.

due to these things. And when people say you kind of have to go through it to understand, I get that now. you know, there are moments where I'm like, gosh, I wish I had done something differently. And, but then I'm so thankful for everything I've gone through, because I truly feel like I have been able to learn every time through each situation. So one of the biggest things I've learned is I'm a very, I'm very emotional

sensitive to my team members and in business. I respond emotionally, not in like a dramatic way, but I, I feel I'm really close to my team members and I, I put a lot, I'm not cut and dry. I don't know how to, it's funny, I talked to other women in business and they're just like, I just fired someone last week and they're, so great at that. And that part is the part that I'm actually terrible at and it has never

it doesn't get easier. But I will say I look back. Yeah, perfect. I sure will. It's something that, you know, I've constantly tried to strengthen. And I will say I look back at kind of more emails when we had difficult situations years ago, and I look at how I responded. And I remember I felt like it was actually good response, but it was like four paragraphs, you know, and now I can look at it from

Meghan Houle (37:56.272)

And you have me now, Lindsay, just email me.

Meghan Houle (38:21.146)

Right, too long.

Lindsay Nead (38:22.744)

too long, too much. just went, I gave it too much. And I look at it now and I look at how I respond to tough situations and it's still me, it's still my heart, it's still me to my core, but I'm also kind of, I don't know, coming at it from a little bit more of a seasoned lens. And so when I look back, I'm grateful for all the hard little points in business and

Meghan Houle (38:27.759)

Mm -hmm.

Lindsay Nead (38:51.626)

Again, I think looking back, I haven't had too many, but I will say last year was definitely the toughest and for a few reasons. One is just misalignment with, I was starting to pass off a lot of my responsibilities. I kind of had this idea that the team was ready for me to step back.

and not be as involved. I kind of, I always had wanted my team members that had been there for a long time to start taking more off of my plate and kind of letting me. I'm very much a four hour work week, that book. I love that book. And I have always thought about, yes, it's so great. And I thought like, if you're going to run a company, you shouldn't, you don't want to run it. So you're in charge forever. Like, so my job is always, or my thought process has always been,

Meghan Houle (39:34.652)

It's right over there in my library. Yes.

Lindsay Nead (39:48.226)

groom my team to take over for me. And so I had hired a much larger role in our company to take over more responsibilities. And that person was such a great human and a wonderful team member. But it was that role, what I thought we were hiring for was a little bit different than how it was executed. And we had like our first kind

I would say just a tough situation where we had to part ways with that person. And again, that sensitive part of me just felt truly bad. I I absolutely, I just want everyone to, I joke that I want people to retire at Parker, that everybody's that's here, I want them here forever, and I never want them to leave. it's hard when,

you also are like, okay, this just isn't the right role. This isn't the right person in the role. I think through just going through kind of how that affected the company as a whole, I knew I'm a very intuitive business owner and I knew for a long time that it wasn't working. But I, again, that sensitive part of me just felt like I didn't, I felt too bad to make that hard decision, but

It also caused me, because I didn't listen to that, it caused me to have a lot of cleanup to do. And that's kind of where I was at at the end of last year and this year at the beginning. And it's been a lot of hard work to kind of get our team at its core back on track and to kind of where.

Meghan Houle (41:27.196)

Hmm, yeah.

Meghan Houle (42:10.19)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (43:03.27)

Yeah.

Meghan Houle (43:09.564)

100 % I mean, especially from like an employee relations point of view, because on the business side, like building relationships with like, your your clients and the things that you love to do that I feel like you have felt that you've had a lot of success and the people piece is just so hard. You know, it's like

So hard. And especially when you get that first big hire and girl, you are not alone. And you know, same similar conversations that I had where founders are like, bringing on this first big hire and have made mistakes of like, maybe not the right fit. And then you see the snowball effect of somebody coming in and really changing, like the ethos of an environment because they're creating whether it's negative

toxic or you know, there's something in like the the time shift is continual, you know, it's like back to the future like where did it go wrong? You know that like people start to kind of go on this other like tangent of like wait, no, no, no, so I feel like identifying that's amazing. You should be so proud of yourself, you know, separating the emotional from the business side of things because again when you have these negative influences in your business

how much are you losing, whether it's employees, money, clients, by keeping this person on that's no longer serving you, and then going back to basics, going back to saying, hey, this is what made Parker management what it was in 2017. We're going back to the bootcamp at the beginning of time and really getting back on track. So that's amazing. And just like me, yeah, the beginning of this year, like you, we're all been through it, girl. You are not alone, so I'm here for you, and also so proud of you.

So I guess tell me like, because I know you mentioned it. Yeah. No, I know you mentioned a few times, but like, how do you feel like you stand out from the norm? Like, what are you guys doing differently that you feel like is really your claim to fame in terms of like owning this space and what you're doing? Yeah, I'd love to hear

Meghan Houle (45:38.493)

-huh.

Meghan Houle (48:07.644)

For sure. Well, how have you seen the influencer marketing industry evolve since you first started? And honestly, like, where do you see it heading in the next few years? I mean, I'm sure so many changes since 2017, right? -hmm. Just come curious, yeah.

Meghan Houle (50:28.763)

Interesting. Yeah.

Meghan Houle (50:37.501)

Yeah, it's always shifting and you seem to have be so adaptable and resilient and you know know how it works and some years are gonna be great, some years are gonna be you know bit more challenging in different ways but you get there. Tell us and a few more questions before I let you go like what are some of the you know I guess campaigns or projects or I don't know it's like confidential you know as I understand things are like what are you

What are what have you been really excited about that you've led? That was like such a great project or campaign or like who do you work with? I don't know anyone listening in that maybe needs your support or brands. I feel like we need to collab on brands girl okay because I have like the lockdown on beauty fashion lifestyle you you call Megan Hall but you know like tell us a little bit about your projects yeah like what are you what are you working on or what have you like loved working on?

Meghan Houle (51:41.4)

me

Meghan Houle (53:34.052)

Yeah. And your passion is so contagious and no doubt there is your tremendous success just by who you are and what you put behind it. But I also know you're training your team and then bringing on people that are just as passionate about seeing all of your clients shine in the right ways. What is it like to work with you? Just for anyone listening in to give you a little bit of a buzz business -wise, do

Are you taking on new clients? Like what does that look like for you?

Meghan Houle (54:42.908)

Mm -mm, yeah.

Totally.

Meghan Houle (56:29.806)

No, mean, that's, yeah, yeah. You gotta be in alignment. No, and that's why I was just saying, like, you know, I'm always like, if there's this other side, I mean, again, if you're front -facing with like a ton of followers, like even hidden profiles, you're gonna be found. So your personal brand, you know, making sure your things align. There are some clients that are for you. There are some that aren't going to be, but I love it. And in terms of people coming to your website, I mean, absolutely everyone.

Check out Parker Management, like connect with Lindsay on socials. Like we've linked everything. But before I let you go, what is your ultimate vision for Parker Management? Like looking into the future, Lindsay, we're having a conversation this time next year, you know, different seasons. What is that big, beautiful vision that you're looking to like continue to move forward?

Meghan Houle (58:13.284)

Can you see me? I know, no, we're good. feel like I know it like linked out. was like, no, but I feel like we got the beginning of it, but maybe just like answer that again. Just maybe from like the vision piece of it. Sorry for being like so annoying. I'm like, we almost did it. Yeah. Yeah. We almost did

Meghan Houle (58:43.928)

No. Yeah.

Meghan Houle (59:33.146)

That's so awesome. Well, what advice would you give to somebody who is maybe looking to make a meaningful pivot like you did, pivot with purpose in their career or wanting to start their own business? What advice would you give to someone kind of tuning in, listening in to us before we close up of advice or a little like nugget wisdom drop of what worked well or what wouldn't you do?

Give us a Lindsay wisdom.

Meghan Houle (01:01:45.166)

Yeah,

Meghan Houle (01:02:07.482)

Such creative advice. Yeah, no, but yeah, I mean, you are living proof of doing both of those things, not only in getting into something where you were not working for yourself, but then also pivoting to work for yourself.

You got to believe, you got to trust, you have the confidence you're going to fail. But I also, you know, I just love the fact that yeah, I mean, like in starting all my businesses, they literally start from like a 3am dream, Lindsay that I have that I'm like, this would be a great name. And I usually keep like a notepad by my desk at night or on my nightstand. I'm like, God, that's a good name for an episode or whatever. So wherever you find inspiration, if you have something in your soul and you're just like, you know, you're good at it, or maybe there's like an

skill that you're just like not honing in on like, you could never know what could be if you don't at least try. So I love it so much. And I know you have so many incredible success stories. And thank you so much for sharing all of your like, work wisdom more about your company, like all you're doing to support these amazing influencers and helping people grow and grow their businesses and presence and profile like you're incredible, my friend. I'm so excited to know you. And I'm looking forward to staying in touch.

And definitely everyone, like go to the show notes. If you're someone who you feel like you can work with Lindsay, you know, definitely check out our website, follow her on social media. And I look forward to staying in touch, my friend. Thank you so much for your time today. Thank

It's my pleasure. Yay!