Speaker 2 (00:00)

Hey and welcome to another episode of Business Over Beer. I'm your host Ben Surratt and today I have a special guest. Well, every guest is special on the Business Over Beer podcast, but today I have a great guest, Bethani. Bethani, who are you? What are you doing here and what do you do?

Speaker 1 (00:22)

All right, well, Bethani Green and I own a business called Hadley Mac. We do an array of things all based around the creative of my mind. So I'm an event coordinator. I started with wedding events and now I've grown to corporate events. Any type of event you can think of, brokers opens, coordinating them, marketing them, catering them.

And I recently, within the last two years, expanded to staging homes. So I have a warehouse with around 30 to 40 houses worth of inventory. And I'm just here to support locals and help people's businesses elevate.

Speaker 2 (01:00)

That's awesome. I can't wait to get into all that. I'm really interested in both and both, both of the parts of your business. So it's really interesting to me, especially me being a kind of a real estate person. I've always liked staging and I don't have an eye for that crap at all. I shouldn't say crap, but I don't have an eye for that at all. So yeah, so awesome. Before we get all that crap, before we did get into any of that, what are you drinking today?

Speaker 1 (01:30)

You know, I am aesthetically pleasing type of person. So I picked by the label and I picked a locust chai cider. It has chai spices, vanilla and apple.

Speaker 2 (01:42)

cheers. And I am having I'm trying to see if I can get through I'll have a I'll have a picture of it through the for the show notes. But it's victory the golden monkey. It's a Belgian style. Ale and Victor Victory is out of Pennsylvania. We were there with friends a while ago, like 2018 or something. Okay, great brewery. And if you like Belgian style beers,

It's good. Anyways, well, cheers to you.

Speaker 1 (02:15)

Yeah, and you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:17)

So let's just start from the beginning. What inspired you to actually start Hadley Mac? Or let's first, I didn't know this. When I contacted you, I called you Hadley. So.

Speaker 1 (02:31)

People do, it's a compliment.

Speaker 2 (02:33)

Where the name Hattie Mac come from?

Speaker 1 (02:36)

Well, the faces of my business are my girls. have twin girls. They're 15. They'll be starting to drive soon. That's scary. Their names are Hadley and McKenna. So I came up with Hadley Mack. And of course, they were like, well, why do you pick one in front of the other? Why wasn't it McKenna then Hadley? And I'm like, I can't do McHadley. That's like a sandwich from McDonald's. That's not OK. We're not doing McHadley. That's not classy. So it's Hadley Mack. I love it. It's unique. Stands out.

Speaker 2 (03:06)

So what got you into starting that business from the beginning? Like what made you like end the nine to five? What did you do before this?

Speaker 1 (03:15)

flew

for the airlines for 18 years, all the way through carrying the twins after they were born, the pandemic, all the things. And I missed a lot of my kids' childhood. I was gone a lot. And when I lived in Chicago for short amount of time, I decided to go to school and get my event coordinating license. So I slowly was advertising myself, able to do weddings here and there. Other flight attendants or pilots would hire me.

And in the long run, it was like, this is really picking up. This is really a good thing I got going and I can't be out of town. So that's where it was like, let's transition to full time working for myself.

Speaker 2 (03:57)

Yeah, did you have any experience like, like, like, while you were doing the flight? While you were doing that? Like, was anything in your background like your childhood that like brought that up? Or how'd that come across? Like, how did you end up doing that?

Speaker 1 (04:13)

I took notes, but I think it's just easier just for me to talk to you. Yeah, let's do that. My mom was a single mom for a while. She had multiple jobs. She worked extremely hard. So I watched that growing up. My grandma was really a creative and she put her extra special touch on everything she did. So when I was little, she would set up a full store in her house and I got to go along with my shopping basket and shop. Or she would set up a whole tea party and make the cutest little dainty treats for our tea parties.

and she would dress to the nines for it. So like I watched Women of Class and Hard Work and that Attention to Detail and it's just ingrained in me. So somebody could call me right now and say, hey, we have this event coming up, we don't know what to do, we need to fund it. I can pull things up quickly and like make a plan. It's in my brain. I love it. Runs through my veins.

Speaker 2 (05:04)

And so let's go to the event planning part then. What made you get into that portion?

Speaker 1 (05:11)

Well, like I said when I lived in Chicago, I knew that I wanted to do something more than just flying so I went to school to get my certification for being an event planner and I Think just being able to I want to make a difference in people's lives So a wedding is a huge obviously memory for them and I want to make sure that it goes smoothly But also leaves an impression on all their guests so same thing with any event I

really work hard to make sure that it goes well and that it's special, those little details are there.

Speaker 2 (05:46)

I mean, and you'd have to have this is what me guessing. You'd have to have patience and you'd have to be able to adapt quickly and think outside the box quickly. Right. And and not just adapt to situations because things are going to happen, but personalities. So how do you how do you deal with different personalities in both in both of your your endeavors? How do you deal with that?

Speaker 1 (06:04)

Absolutely.

There's a lot of strong personalities. Brides are very strong personalities, large corporate events we have in the real estate industry. So just holding myself at the utmost professional level always. And I guess with the airlines, they taught us if there's an emergency happening or something wrong, you need to keep that very calm, cool, collected face because people are looking to you to be able to know if they should panic. So it goes the same way with the industry, with events or staging. If something is

wrong or something's not going according to plan, as long as you stay calm, cool, and collected, those people that are underneath that you're leading are going to feel rest assured that everything's going to be okay.

Speaker 2 (06:54)

100 % like I was gonna say that trading alone has to help you a lot.

Speaker 1 (07:01)

Or even first class, serving first class. Now I say I serve a first class experience. So when people hire me, they should know it's the best of the best that they're going to get.

Speaker 2 (07:10)

Yeah. So you said you were in Chicago. Are you from where you from originally?

Speaker 1 (07:15)

I grew up here, but I was based out of Chicago, Ohio for 10 years. My kid's father was from Tennessee. So my girls were born in Chattanooga and... Do I?

Speaker 2 (07:24)

Because you have accents.

You have a little bit. Yeah. Am I crazy people? Leave leave comments. Like I you kind of do a little bit.

Speaker 1 (07:33)

It comes out more when I'm mad, but I'm not. It comes out more when I've been drinking, but I had one.

Speaker 2 (07:38)

Okay,

okay, there we go.

Speaker 1 (07:41)

Maybe I just have an accent, I don't know. But yeah, Chicago for 10 years, Tennessee for five, back here where I was born and raised, I'm home, I love it. But I still love to travel, so when people ask me like, would you go somewhere further away for a wedding? Of course, let's do a destination wedding. Would you go to Arizona, California to stage a home? Sure, wherever you need me to go, let's make it happen.

Speaker 2 (08:03)

I love that. mean, to me, to me, that would be besides besides the fact that I don't like flying. I'm just I'm not a fan of flying. And it's not that necessarily I'm afraid of heights. It's just the overall I just hate the hassle. You know what saying? Am I weird that way?

Speaker 1 (08:24)

No,

for 18 years I've not bought an airplane ticket. I've not had to go through security, okay? So now, now I get to see what it's really like and why people are ain't grouchy and on the airplane, cause they've just gone through a lot to get there.

Speaker 2 (08:39)

You know, I have such a respect for the service that a lot of the flight attendants or all the flight attendants have because you're like I said, like we were talking about, you're dealing with such different personalities and understanding. think empathy also was part of it. And I'm guessing for what you do, especially for the wedding planning part and staging too, that you have to kind of get the story of

why the people are selling or kind of get the story behind why the people are getting married, right? Do you get those stories? Is that part of your? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:18)

Absolutely. I've worked with a lot of senior citizens who are having to move out of their forever homes and having to purge through all of their lifelong possessions. It's heart wrenching and I've struggled with it for a little while. But some of my top clients, they reminded me, we are doing them a service. We are making this transition smooth for them and we can be loving and caring throughout this process. So I've learned that we're making a big impact and I get to be one on one like

gentle with these people and what they're going through. Divorces, losing a partner, losing a child. There's lot of really, really hard things that I see behind the scenes and I get to come in and just be a source of joy to them.

Speaker 2 (10:02)

Yeah, I mean, you're you're a part of their life. You're a part of that chapter of their story, whether no matter what, if it's good, it's bad, whatever, you're still a part of that. And I can tell just by talking to you a little bit and just by your social media, too, that you really embrace that. Like that's something that sets you really, really apart. Yeah. What else sets you apart from your competitors? What makes you different and unique?

Speaker 1 (10:22)

Thank you.

striving to be able to support local other entrepreneurs. So if I have an invoice that gets paid and it's let's say for upcoming Keller Williams award ceremony I'm working on, how can I help other businesses around me flourish off of those funds that I just received? So then I get to go out and see, okay, there's a brand new cute mackerel on place. I'm going to hire them for all the desserts. My mover, the guys that I use for moving my staging business,

They are constantly doing free junk hauls, donating to Northwest Furniture Bank. So I know that the more business I get, the more I can provide them business, the more they get to help our community. I just, I get off on it. I love helping others. It makes me feel so good. That's what fills my cup is knowing that the bigger I get, the more I get to help. I've gotten to be at the Habitat for Humanity Gala this year. What is it?

Building Futures Foundation, anything that I can be involved in and support and donate makes me feel good. And I know that I'm gonna keep growing and be able to support others because of my heart and the way I do things.

Speaker 2 (11:40)

Yeah. Tell us a little bit more or tell me a little bit more, guess, about why you chose, why you chose to stay in the Pacific Northwest. Okay. I know it's your home and stuff, but, is what, and maybe tell your story inside about what makes Vancouver and Clark County so unique and special. I know I'm throwing you a curve ball, but like what makes, what makes it so special there?

Speaker 1 (12:06)

We're done.

Well, for me, it's being an hour and half from the beach or the mountains. Because I'm such an in the community person and networking and constantly talking to everybody, it feeds my soul to get out into nature. for me, being able to run away and go back, back in the woods, you know, go stay on a fire lookout by myself and just recharge and refocus, that is everything to me. And I've been to every state in the US. You don't get that.

everywhere. You can't be at the ocean, you can't be up in the mountains that fast. For me, it's our Pacific Northwest vibe and people will hire me for staging cabins and like Airbnbs because they know like I love that mood. I love bringing in that woodsy environment. But also I want to give my kids the same experiences I had. I got to go to ZooLights when I was a kid. I got to sing at ZooLights with my choir. So

giving them all the same memories that I did going to the Family Beach House. All those things, I would not be able to necessarily give them those same memories if I lived somewhere else.

Speaker 2 (13:14)

Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. And I love, you know, the small business community, the entrepreneurial community there is they're really supportive of each other and networking, said, like networking out there is a different level. You know, being away from there from, I know, a little over a year now, you kind of see that firsthand. So I know exactly what you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (13:42)

It's

like a family when you really things you're like, you got to see all these people you have grown to love and it's exciting.

Speaker 2 (13:48)

Well, and even like when I, you know, contacting you, it's like, we have so many people in common. It's like, I don't have to, I don't have to kind of research you as, as much because I trust the people that we have in common. You know what I mean? It's just, it's just, it's awesome there.

Speaker 1 (14:03)

Totally, yes, absolutely.

And it's

fun to be a cheerleader and watch other people's businesses grow. You're like, watch them, watch them run. Amazing.

Speaker 2 (14:13)

Amen.

It's awesome. Have you had have you ever had what's the most challenging either event or staging or both that you've ever encountered?

Speaker 1 (14:25)

I was thinking about that last night going over the questions. Last Christmas, I guess two Christmases ago, I pulled up to a venue that we were going to be hosting a client appreciation for a realtor, 50 to 75 guests pulled up. I'm like, where do you want me to park? The venue's flooded. They said the venue inside flooded. I'm like, what am I gonna do? These guests are showing up in an hour. So literally like they're, it was like,

Speaker 2 (14:51)

What?

Speaker 1 (14:53)

You want to start bawling, but you cannot because the show must go on. And everybody's looking at you like, what are we gonna do? So we moved everything to another little space that still had flooded water, but they started raking all the water and putting sandbags out. And we just let the show go on.

Speaker 2 (15:14)

my goodness.

Speaker 1 (15:16)

It was an interesting one. was, hey, you kind of call the realtor like, hey, I know you're on your way, but hey, just so you know, FYI, like wear closed-toed shoes today, Because it's flooded. And you know, those things, like, what are you supposed to do? You can't, don't want to cancel on people that are already have their kids packed in the car and they're on their way to see Santa. No, we can't do that. So that was a rough one. Gosh.

Staging wise, I've had lock boxes that won't activate properly and we have to stand around and wait. And I know my movers have another job, like those kind of little things. But as far as staging goes, it seems to go pretty dang smoothly. Other than the fact that sometimes they're trying to get work done in the home prior to you showing up. And so we have to be very flexible with pushing back dates. I've been like moving furniture and going under ladders because it's still being painted or they're still wet caulking.

It's like, you just don't know what you're gonna get into every day, but it's fun. That's the same thing as flying. You don't know how the flight's gonna go. So it's the same thing. It's just fun. It keeps you on your toes.

Speaker 2 (16:23)

I'm sure. How do you deal with, because this is, I'm always curious about this, is how do you deal with deal with bridezillas? You don't get- Is that a stereotype, by the way, or do they really exist? Because I've seen the show. You know what saying? I've seen the show.

Speaker 1 (16:33)

I don't have them. no. Knock on wood.

What I'm starting to see and maybe I'll start my own show someday. Let's call TLC. Yes, mothers of the brides brides, or sisters of the brides or best friends. It's all the people that think that they are they need to be the coordinator and the shows about them and what dress they're going to wear and if the hair is going to be down or up. It's like nobody. That's not what we're worried about. You're not the center of attention here sister. So

Yeah, for the most part, my brides have been referred to me. They see my work and they hire me because they can trust that it's going to be executed. And I tell everybody, like beforehand, I said, do not contact the bride the day of the wedding. You contact me. Everything falls on my plate. If a vendor can't show up, if somebody is going to be late, I'll handle it. We're not going to let that bride know any stresses the day of.

Speaker 2 (17:21)

you

I was listening to the radio today. It was ESPN Chicago, by the way. ESPN Chicago. And they were telling the story about how there was, there was California and the couple was getting married. The whole grime, the bride, the groomsmen, the groomsmen were all in the elevator and the elevator got stuck for an hour and a half.

And the wedding was like at three and they got stuck at like 12 and in LA traffic, you know, it was, were there for an hour and a half. It was boiling hot. They had to take off all of their stuff. was just, I was just like, my goodness. And the, but he did say the saving grace was the wedding planner was unbelievable. She was able to stay calm. She calmed the bride down.

she calmed the parents down. So I can see where, yes, it is totally needed and why you contact the wedding planner the day of, not the bride. Could you imagine getting that phone call as the bride?

Speaker 1 (18:51)

You know, I do tell all my brides, said between you and me only. If something does not go according to the way that we originally had planned, no one knows except you and me. All your guests, they have no idea that maybe a song was missed in the timeline wrong. They don't know if one of those appetizers was not, never showed up. No one knows, just you and me. So we're good. Don't ever worry about like what.

if something doesn't go exactly according to plan.

Speaker 2 (19:23)

Yeah. that's great advice. I love that. Nobody's going to know. Nobody's. That's a good point.

Speaker 1 (19:29)

And then I'm there to fight for the contract afterwards to say, you did not do this or you did not do that. We need some monies back.

Speaker 2 (19:36)

wow. wow. I didn't know you did that too.

Speaker 1 (19:37)

Maybe the bad guy.

Totally, that we need to hold everybody accountable to what the contract says.

Speaker 2 (19:45)

geez. mean, does it happen more often than you think? people fit? No, no.

Speaker 1 (19:51)

somebody tried to overcharge one of my brides for a wedding gown and I when I looked at the everything I was like negative you said you were going to do this much freak alterations we will not be paying that basically I get hired to kind of be the bad guy sometimes but that's okay I got a thick skin

Speaker 2 (20:02)

jeez.

You have to. Yeah, well, whatever. Yeah, that's part of it. And that's probably what you learned with your, you know, being the flight attendant too, right? I'm assuming. 100 % on that, on that route, on that note, what's one thing about entrepreneurship and small business ownership that you did not expect or something that came up that was like, Whoa, that's different. I didn't realize this would happen.

Speaker 1 (20:17)

Well, and every day being an entrepreneur.

The stress level. I thought it was stressful packing and having to leave my house for a few days. Now, stressful worrying about like maybe an airplane malfunction. I have a lot of trust in those pilots. We do thorough walk-arounds, maintenance.

I thought that was stressful. Stressful for me now is coordinating five or six houses in one week and the inventory that's going in each one and then people having to delay their stagings. Then I have employees who are like, I thought I was going to work this week. I thought I was going to paid this week. And then movers those like, I kept that day open for you. the stress of having these people rely on business running smoothly and growth, growth, growth over the last few years has been insanely fast.

And so staying level headed, keeping my boundaries, self care.

Speaker 2 (21:29)

What

do you do to do that?

Speaker 1 (21:32)

love to hike. I was really bad about not scheduling. So I definitely schedule days off for myself. It says hike with like, and then I do my regular massages at my chiropractor office to help with reducing stress levels. And I'm good about turning my phone on Do Not Disturb. In the evenings, it's making dinner spending time at my home with my kiddos. I've really tried hard to reduce my networking. I feel like

Speaker 2 (21:40)

I'm sorry, babe.

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (22:00)

feel like in the beginning you need to network a lot to get your name out there, your face out there, but you've earned that by giving so much time to networking that eventually you don't have to as much. And now, because there's so much great networking opportunities here in Vancouver that I try really hard to rotate out quarterly of where I'm gonna go, even like the big galas and auctions, where am I gonna put my face? Because you can't do everything. As one person, you just can't do everything.

Speaker 2 (22:29)

Yeah, and as a small business owner, know, myself for years, one of the hardest, but yet satisfying words is no. And being able to say no can be empowering because it's you're setting boundaries and that's OK to do. It's OK to set boundaries for yourself. That was hard for me to learn for a long time.

Speaker 1 (22:58)

It is very hard, especially when your sole income and provided for your family in your home is only coming from your yeses, right? Yep. That is very hard. I've learned this and I pass it on to realtors. They'll be like, I'm going to a listing appointment. I really need this listing. Or then they'll call and say, I didn't get it. I try to remind them that every no leads to a bigger yes. If you say yes to something that isn't what you should be working on, then maybe that's

closing off the opportunity for something bigger and what you should be working on or focusing on. So a no is not a bad thing. Keeping yourself open to that next big yes.

Speaker 2 (23:34)

No, absolutely.

Absolutely. And rejection is part of it. I mean, you're not going to get it. And in such a, I mean, it is, it can be such a cutthroat. Real estate is a cutthroat industry. just is. And it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what level you're at. Real estate, title company, lenders, it's all cutthroat. But what's remarkable is that while it is cutthroat, there's still a lot of business to go around for everybody. Have you noticed?

Speaker 1 (24:04)

There's

so much business to go around for everybody. Absolutely, yes. I love that you brought that up because I'm like a more of a community over competition type situation. on my socials, I follow all our local stagers. I am constantly liking their stuff, clapping for their growth. I'm like, let's do this. And I know that each of us have our own niches at what we're good at. And so if somebody reaches out to me and they're like, this is what I need. And maybe it's way bigger scale than where I'm ready to be.

then I feel confident knowing a little bit about each other company in our area to be able to focus, push them in the right direction.

Speaker 2 (24:41)

And that makes it again, it goes back to it's easier to say no at that point. But it's not really no. It's like, well, that might not be a right fit for me and for you. We might not be a right fit. But let me tell you, this person is just as good and can be a better fit for what you're looking for.

Speaker 1 (24:59)

Absolutely. will say I have not had to say no yet in two and a half years. Yes, yes, yes to everything. Let's do it. Let's figure out a way.

Speaker 2 (25:03)

It's awesome.

been in business for how long? How long have you been? I'm sorry, how long have you been in business?

Speaker 1 (25:11)

The staging has been since about two and a half years. Event coordination, I got that license in 2007. So quite a long time. started working corporate events. was doing an event coordination job for somebody that ran for Congress here in Vancouver. And I quickly learned that politics, I don't want to be a part of.

So after that, was like, when I took that position, I was like, okay, I got to get my EIN. I got to get everything like legally done. And that's when it took off from there. But yeah, I mean, it's a small community, but it's a big community. I like, I'm okay being a plan B. I've had plenty of people reach out and say, my stager is out of inventory. I love who I work with. That's my person. But can I have you for this house? Absolutely. Let's do this.

Speaker 2 (26:02)

Now that is awesome. And you've built that. You built that. And was that deliberate or was that just over time?

Speaker 1 (26:10)

Deliberate. Yeah, I worked for title sales. I sold title escrow insurance for first American title for a little while. No way. Totally. Yeah, they hired me and I was like, okay, but I also do weddings and I also like have my own business going. And they're like, that's fine. So in the end, towards the end of that, I had realtors asking me to come over and like just help them work around their house. And they were like, you're good at this. was actually, her name is Myra Brock. She was like, you are good at this. Would you do this like for my next house and my next house and my next house? I'm like, yes, ma'am.

So that's kind of how that part starts. Yeah, I started in my garage and my kids would come home and be like, where's the coffee table? I'm like, it's at 49207 31st street. So I slowly don't have to steal my own furniture anymore. But I moved out of my third bay of my garage to the smallest storage unit you can get. And I was petrified. And then the next size. And then now I have the largest RV size that you can get. And that was scary to grow there. And now I have two of those.

Speaker 2 (26:41)

Awesome.

Speaker 1 (27:08)

And I just was on a call today about looking at warehouse spaces. So it's fearful to grow, but it's also necessary.

Speaker 2 (27:16)

Yeah, it's scary. It's scary. it seems like just by talking to you've you've you've you've created such a like a power team around you to support you that I think even if you dip, even if you go through a little turbulence, you have enough lift to keep you up.

Speaker 1 (27:38)

Yes, yes. Well, and yeah, a lot of people ask me like, well, why do you do so many things? There's like all these things on my business card. My I do gift baskets. I do some catering. I do the events marketing. And they're like, well, can you just pick one? No, no, I cannot because I would get bored just doing one. And I'm good at doing multiple things. So it's lovely because sometimes the winter months, maybe staging is slower, the real estate industry is slower. So then I pick up on

Speaker 2 (27:56)

I enjoy!

Speaker 1 (28:07)

decorating Christmas trees for hotels, or I pick up catering Christmas parties. It just ebbs and flows and it helps it smoothly carry itself.

Speaker 2 (28:16)

Yep. MSI, multiple streams of income.

Speaker 1 (28:21)

Seven, right? Is that our goal?

Speaker 2 (28:23)

You gotta have at least seven.

Speaker 1 (28:25)

Yes, yes. My next big adventure is I really would love to be able to get myself an investment property. If you own an Airbnb, I want to be the hostess with the mostess. I know that I would excel at that. But another goal is probably trying to either get my home ready for a rental and then purchase my next property. Wherever I go, I need it to have a warehouse.

Speaker 2 (28:28)

Bye.

I want

Speaker 1 (28:52)

or a huge shop on the property. Because I would love to have my kids at home again.

Speaker 2 (28:58)

Hmm.

Yeah, yeah, I get that. Where would you want to where would you want it? Like where would you like where would be the perfect spot if you could pick anywhere?

Speaker 1 (29:08)

Yeah, close to my kids school. They have three more years of high school left. So that would be ideal. However, they're going to start driving. So I could be anywhere. Washougal, Camas, Le Center, Woodland. Locally, centrally located would be lovely though. It's helpful for my movers and my employees to be able to come and go from the warehouse space or be at my property. But I mean, I'm open. I've been looking for a few years. I'm an A-flying girl. I would love a huge A-frame.

But the sky's the limit and I'm a dreamer, so we shall see.

Speaker 2 (29:42)

and you're creative. And I want to talk about creativity. And I imagine you walking into a home that you're staging and it goes into like the matrix where everything turns like green and you see this here, this here, this here. Does your mind work that way?

Speaker 1 (30:04)

It does. Yeah, I have seen where people would like the stager to really like put their present their plan of where everything's gonna be laid out and what pieces they're bringing in. And that's not how I work that I could if I have to, but no, they what how it goes is they call me for an inquiry. I provide my packaging pricing. They move forward. They send me the address. I pull it up on Zillow knock on wood. There's pictures to look at. there's love for them to send me pictures or a video. So I get a game plan.

I normally don't go out to the property until I pull up with the truck and all my stuff. So, it's a talent. Yeah, I'm really good at dissecting them pictures and looking at colors. I love to look at the colors of the metal of the faucets, what have you. So I know exactly what I want to pull and bring with me that day. Mostly I can get my jobs done four to five hours and we're golden.

Speaker 2 (30:37)

No way!

Speaker 1 (30:59)

However, there are times where I get there and then I see like where I want to go over and beyond and I'm like, my gosh, this would work. I've got to go back to my unit. So then I will make a second trip and come back. Yeah. It's a blast.

Speaker 2 (31:13)

I'm sure how do you being creative being a creative? I think all entrepreneurs and small business owners are creative at certain point, you know a little bit. How do you balance? Your creative part of the brain with the practical part of the brain and saying, you know Because they they have to butt heads at some point So how do you yeah, so how do you balance that and what would be a tip for anybody who's going through that?

Speaker 1 (31:42)

Mm-hmm. My mom told me shopping your own home first. She's always told me that. So when you want to redecorate your living room or your bedroom or your bathroom, what do you already have in your garage that you can repurpose from somewhere else in your home? Shop with what you have first.

Speaker 2 (32:01)

Hmm,

I love that

Speaker 1 (32:03)

well, I guess the Chapa Holika meat is not. But now that I have this huge space and I have racks and racks of every pillow color you can imagine, I am better about going to pull what I have first. How much of a paycheck do I want to make? How much do I want to be able to put into my business rather than going out and shopping for more things that I might already have?

Speaker 2 (32:31)

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:32)

But yeah, a blank canvas, it's a blast. Recently they were like, there's another room you can do, I don't know what you wanna do with it. And I was like, nursery, cause I'm never having children again, a nursery. So then I got to pull like thoughts was like, well, what do wanna do with it? Cause the paint colors are green. So I'm gonna go with a country Western thing. It's just a blast to be able to constantly be doing new projects and using what I have and.

recreating what I have in different ways.

Speaker 2 (33:04)

Sure. Do you? And that same, I guess that same frame of questioning, do you how do you handle customers who might have a tighter budget or a more fixed budget? And this goes with both businesses, by the way. How do you handle that? And what advice would you give to those people that are on a fixed budget?

Speaker 1 (33:32)

Yeah, I kind of sit down and ask them as far as weddings or event planning goes, what are your top priorities? Show me pictures of your vision. And then I'm really good at being able to thrift. grew up

in the Goodwill with my mom, she calls it the GW because it's a little classier. So a lot of my stuff, my inventory for staging a lot of it is secondhand or for Facebook market. I'll just type in their West Elm, Crate and Barrel, the brands that we know and love. And then I'm a wheeler and a dealer. So being able to fulfill their wants and needs, but with the budget that they

allow.

Speaker 2 (34:15)

You ever have to have conversations of like, guys, I know you want this, but right now it's just not in your price range. Have you had those conversations and how did that go?

Speaker 1 (34:29)

Yeah,

I kind of break down what the cost of florals, cakes, catering, photography, all those things are. We can look at the different brackets and it's like, okay, but if you want this, then maybe we're gonna go with way simpler, way less florals. We're not gonna have florals. We're gonna have greenery. It's still gonna look amazing. Anything I touch is gonna look amazing. So they just have to trust the fact that I know what I'm talking about.

First of all, I come with a lot of inventory. So for brides, if they choose to work with me, I have all the battery operated candles. I have the glass hurricanes. I have tablecloths. I have so much to provide that is included with working with me. That's a huge savings to them. And then working with vendors, we have vendor relationships. So I know the pricing of who charges for what and know what service they provide and at what level. I know.

Speaker 2 (35:10)

Wow

Speaker 1 (35:25)

who to poll to work with.

Speaker 2 (35:27)

Mmm, I love that.

Speaker 1 (35:29)

And with corporate events, so for instance, a corporate event that I'm working on has a very, let's say a very small budget. Well, what are we going to do? We still have to have the event. We're going to start calling vendors in our area for sponsorship opportunities. What do they get out of it? We're going to provide a great package that benefits their business to showcase them. Right. But it's going to cover.

Speaker 2 (35:54)

That is a great and genius idea.

Speaker 1 (35:58)

Thank you. $5,000 earned over the last couple of weeks by to cover the venue, the food, the bar, Hadley Mac, all the things, right? I don't want to become the person who's chasing money all the time, no. But if it can benefit these other businesses to be in front of 300 Realtors, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (36:21)

We have to talk after this about ThriveCon. Because we- think we need you.

Speaker 1 (36:24)

Please.

See, that's the service I want to provide is people need my services. Is ThriveCon going to be similar to the Passages to Success situation? Okay.

Speaker 2 (36:36)

Yeah.

So we've had two already. They've been great. They've grown. But it's always money is always pushing it. you know, and and you know, we are like most business owners and I have I'm still bad at this. I am really, really, really. It's an area that I need to improve on and I promise this year I was but asking for money.

Like it's such, and because, and a lot of it has to do with I don't have, a lot of people don't have confidence in what they're doing. You know what I mean? So.

Speaker 1 (37:24)

Yeah, really, really hone in on what you have to offer and stay true to yourself.

Speaker 2 (37:30)

Hmm. I love that. We'll talk for sure. We will talk. Yeah, I do. I want to. Anyway, so I'm gonna keep going with you though. So what are this is one question I was really, really looking forward to. So with with not with the whole, you know,

with trends.

Speaker 1 (37:56)

Mm-hmm. So trendsetters, people constantly are asking, are you a trendsetter? I'm like, They're like, do you get paid to advertise your stuff? I'm like, no. However, when I have a pastime, usually before bed I am scrolling, because I follow so many trendsetters on Instagram and all you have to do is make your comment. And they send you all the links for every little item in that living room.

It's lovely. Do I pull up the links? I'm like, eh, that's way overpriced. Noob, I can find that over at Rusty Glamour and Battleground and give my money back to a family here. Yeah, so I watch trends. I educate myself. However, I would say I definitely don't want to be, I don't want to be like everybody else. I want to lead. I don't want to follow. So I'm...

Speaker 2 (38:34)

of that.

I am...

Speaker 1 (38:54)

I guess. I don't think so. You know, I'm a part of a lot of staging groups on Facebook that are all over the US. And these girls will come in here and say, I'm just starting out and I have all the antiques in my home. I want to start using antiques. Is that acceptable for staging? And these women will tear them apart. No, you can't use old dinged up antiques. No, that's not on trend. And I'm like, oh, yes, it is. It's on trend. Cottagecore. Cottagecore is a thing right now.

Absolutely. And I'll jump in there and defend that girl. This one girl, she reached back out to me. She's like, thank you. I'm like, you're welcome. Follow your heart. Follow what you, you're in this because you are confident in yourself. So be confident in yourself. Yes, you can use brand new, modern and an old antique piece in one room. Of course you can. You can do whatever you want. If you feel good about it it looks presentable and good, do it. So that's how I feel about trends. I don't follow trends, but

I do what I feel is going to sell the house, right? Or make that event stand out and those guys walk away remembering those little details, the special details. You asked me about what friends I wish that would go away. I can't say I wish it would go away. I wish that it would step back and let some other things have their show. So charcuterie, you've heard of charcuterie?

Speaker 2 (40:21)

yeah!

Speaker 1 (40:21)

People hire me for charcuterie, grazing tables, the individual cups. I love it. It's great. I don't necessarily. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Let's say from the best case scenario, somebody hires me to stage a nice luxury home. Right. Then they want to be a part of the greater luxury Vancouver tour or another brokers open house. So if, if I create an event for them,

Speaker 2 (40:29)

Really?

Speaker 1 (40:51)

I make the marketing. I come up with the concept. Let's go ahead and bring in a trumpet player. Let's bring in Miss Teen Clark County to play the violin. Let's bring in a live painter to paint the Washougal River during my event. So I come up with the whole atmosphere, the marketing piece I create. I send out the invites. I also do the food and beverage. It's the whole package. Yes. It's the whole package. And my friends,

Speaker 2 (41:15)

Two?

Speaker 1 (41:21)

My industry family support me and they love what I do and they know what they're gonna walk into if they make the time in their calendar to come. So realtors have learned to trust me and the fact that I will get the people there and more eyes on the home. That's the point. Like, comment and share anything from the party on socials and you get put into a giveaway because what is the purpose of hiring me and paying for my services?

It's to get more eyes on the house to get that whole household. So it's a whole package. But what I was saying is I don't wanna necessarily see charcuterie trend go away, because I do it. I have friends who own charcuterie businesses. I want to see them flourish. However, I feel like it's been two, three, four years of the charcuterie trend and it's kind of not exciting anymore.

Speaker 2 (41:54)

Hmm.

Speaker 1 (42:16)

So I feel like guests will be more excited to walk in and see something new or something different than the usual every time. What?

Speaker 2 (42:27)

would be cool.

Doing a live podcast.

I totally kidding. Or something like that. Or the realtor. Or the realtor. And like, hey. Or something like that.

Speaker 1 (42:46)

Absolutely. And I have a handful of realtors that do do their own podcasts. They have their own YouTube channels and they're just flying. They're doing the thing. I love it.

Speaker 2 (42:57)

It's huge. And they should because the realtors and I don't listen. It's terrible to say, but in other people's eyes, they're a dime a dozen.

Speaker 1 (43:09)

Right, you gotta stand out.

Speaker 2 (43:10)

You've got to stand out. And I'm not trying to be mean or anything, it's just... course. It's what other people think.

Speaker 1 (43:22)

Well, we get a background view of different people that we work with. And I've seen a handful of realtors out, hands and knees, weeding the yards or filling holes or painting. They are doing whatever needs to be done for their clients. And it's a beautiful thing. I've seen other ones that I go over there and they're like, well, the house just won't sell.

Speaker 2 (43:45)

I

Speaker 1 (43:46)

Can you come stage it? Maybe that will help. And I get over there and I'm like, the yard is covered in trash. The garbage is spilled everywhere. What are you talking? Where's the pride? So yes, I'm not talking negative either. However, everybody has their niche and you just need to work hard, roll your sleeves up and put in the effort.

Speaker 2 (44:02)

It's just like, and I al business owners with reale all, they're

Speaker 1 (44:13)

them

don't realize when they get into it the burden it's a huge undertaking to be your own business owner.

Speaker 2 (44:21)

Yes, it's off. It's but it can be fun, but it's work. It's hard work. The listings that people just don't come to you. You have to go out and work.

Speaker 1 (44:34)

Yes. And I want to be a source. So one of my hashtags is always here to serve. It's on my business cards. I'm here to serve the community. Right. But as a realtor, I think that when they come up across the hard listing or we're struggling to get listings, how do I market myself? I want to be that source that they come to. And I you know how many times I'm going to say it and somebody is going to reach out to me after this. I hope how many times have I said, let's create some door knockers or flyers.

One side will be my business. One side will be your business. I'll split the cost with you. I'll go out and canvas neighborhoods with you. Let's do it. Let's build your business. No one has ever taken me up on it. I'm like, come on y'all. You're telling me you need these listings. You want to get busier. I might have to a second job.

Speaker 2 (45:22)

Nobody has taken you up on that?

Speaker 1 (45:25)

So hopefully after this podcast somebody will reach out and be like Bethani let's do this.

I mean, I know how to create logos. I know how to set up a branding shoot. Let's do your hair, your style, your clothes. Let's get you some new marketing pieces out there. I know ways to do it, but.

Speaker 2 (45:43)

Well, that's crazy. Well, we are getting to the end of it, but I you are you are awesome. I want to just want to keep going. What would be this kind of a fun question? So what would be a great project? Either a you kind of talked about staging like you'd like to do an Airbnb or something like that for your business. But what would be a dream, a dream event that you'd like to do?

Speaker 1 (46:14)

I was waiting for you to ask me this question and I was like, okay, how do I word this? What am I gonna do? So I think if I can just read it, my answer. You said, again, what would my dream event be for anyone historical, dead or alive? Who would it be? So my answer was, I might cry. I thought about it for a quick two minutes and the answer to me is very obvious. It is who I owe all the glory.

Speaker 2 (46:25)

Yeah!

Speaker 1 (46:43)

and what an honor it would be to throw a party for him. I would throw the biggest welcome party the earth has ever seen. I would coordinate bands in every town of every state, every continent to line the streets with trumpets, fireworks, dancers, orchestras, confetti, cakes, and live stream the countdown to Christ's return.

Speaker 2 (47:03)

I knew you were gonna do that. I knew you were gonna do that. That is awesome. That is awesome.

Speaker 1 (47:11)

Thank you. I would not be where I'm at today without all of his blessings.

cheers, lord.

Speaker 2 (47:24)

I think there has been such a revival of faith and specifically, and this is gonna be bad, I'm gonna get in trouble.

Speaker 1 (47:34)

No, you're not. It's okay.

Speaker 2 (47:36)

but a revival of Christianity. And it's like, it's palpable. You can feel it. You can feel it. And when you said that, by the way, I had no idea you were going to say that. For people, like I had no idea, like she was going to say that.

Speaker 1 (47:48)

You can feel it.

Well, mean, people will know you're Christians by your love. And so I want to make sure that I stand out amongst the crowd and people feel comfortable coming and talking to me and they know what I stand for. I've had people say like, you probably shouldn't post this or you probably shouldn't say that on social media because you might lose business, you might lose clients. But I don't. I know that I have a big handful of clients that are not believers and that's OK.

I'm still gonna be me and they still choose to work with me and I'm here to serve and I'm here to share his word and whether or not it affects everybody that I come across, that's okay. I think it does.

Speaker 2 (48:41)

That's awesome. That is awesome, for real. And it's okay to... I'm really happy to hear the fact that people aren't just pushing you away because of that. That's awesome to hear. It says a lot.

Speaker 1 (48:42)

Thank you.

Not at all. Not at all.

Yeah.

No matter what, they know that I'm humble, that I have integrity, that I'm a hard worker, I'm responsible, and they can trust their homes or their events with me. They're going to get the best that I can possibly do every day.

Speaker 2 (49:13)

I love it. We are definitely going to keep in touch after this. my one last question, I know you wrote this one down too, is your daughters are obviously a big part of your life, obviously. And also, they have to be a little bit part of your business. Have they ever given you advice?

Speaker 1 (49:15)

Yes.

Speaker 2 (49:40)

Or have you ever gone to them with advice and they gave it to you and you actually followed it?

Speaker 1 (49:48)

Absolutely. When they were younger, they are more excited about what I was doing. Really? Yeah. Now that they're older, you know, they're in that, don't know, my mom's cool part. But one of my very first grand openings was the Moonlight event, Moonlight Aveda salon in Kamas. So they hired me to do their grand opening and they sent me their logo and they wanted me to create their marketing. Well, had, Canva had just kind of blown up and got popular.

So was teaching myself Canva and my girls were very interested because they always borrowed my tablet and they're like, well, what's this? Well, I want to play on there. I'm like, don't mess with my stuff. And so my daughter created her own invite to the grand opening. So I sent over an email to Moonlight. Here are the four options. They picked my daughters. She was like, gosh, maybe 10 years old. And they picked hers.

Speaker 2 (50:41)

No way!

Speaker 1 (50:43)

Absolutely. And she was tickled. She came to the grand opening with her friends. She was so tickled pink and excited. And I think that is giving building confidence in my girls. Since then, there's been little things like, OK, I'm going to do very unique floral centerpieces for an event. So I have my kids out there spraying the florals with paint, changing the colors of them, things like that. I've been trying to include them. I always offer.

There's times where they're skewing, skewering charcuterie sticks, cutting things for me. Right now my storage warehouse space is right down the street from my house. I've told them, hey, I learned the tax rules, $15,000 you can pay your kid. So I said, this summer, all you need to do is ask for my remote. You can go clock in hours working in the warehouse. Yeah, right now they're like, I don't know how much you can pay me. We know what minimum wage is, mom. And I'm like, I'm I'm

Speaker 2 (51:33)

I love that.

Speaker 1 (51:42)

I'm like, ladies, obviously I'm gonna take care of my own. You gotta get paid more than minimum wage. They're gonna get their driver's license soon. They're gonna be wanting gas money. So it's a given. Like, come on, go work at the storage unit. You can blare your music. You can have your whatever energy drink on hand, whatever you need. And they can build their own hours and they can show self-discipline, start teaching them hard work and integrity. So we'll see how that goes.

The

Speaker 2 (52:13)

But it sounds like they have the entrepreneurial, you know, and.

Speaker 1 (52:18)

For sure.

Yeah. And I've tried to tell them like, look, I'm building this company because I want to be able to include you. They're well, we don't want to do anything that you do. However, one was taking floral design in high school this year. I'm like, you don't want to do anything with my business, but you're doing floral design. Okay. The other one's like, I'm going to take interior design. Like, perfect. Because I'm getting hired to do remodels in people's homes, but they don't. So we'll see. I told them that you guys can do what you want.

Speaker 2 (52:44)

Awesome.

Speaker 1 (52:48)

I support you. If they wanna start their own business, guess what? I had to teach myself how to start one. So I'm a great asset to them.

Speaker 2 (52:55)

You you are I can tell and I I've never even met you in person. I don't That's right, that's right. Yeah, that's right but I can tell that that they have not just a great mother but a great champion for them and a Great mentor for them, you know, I can just tell

Speaker 1 (53:02)

I watched you on stage.

Speaker 2 (53:24)

Make yourself with your passion.

Speaker 1 (53:26)

Yeah, I'm thankful I'm getting to learn all this stuff so that I can help others.

Speaker 2 (53:30)

That's awesome. So, wow, hold on, jeez, sorry.

Speaker 1 (53:37)

A drink of your beer? Or is it warm?

Speaker 2 (53:39)

no, it's almost gone.

Speaker 1 (53:41)

Mmm. I'm the babysitter. Okay.

Speaker 2 (53:46)

Well, that's okay. So,

I want to, jeez, we're to the end of the show already. We will. We're going to meet in person. So here's the deal, though. I want you to promote yourself. I want you to promote anything that you're doing, anything you want to do. Just do that right now.

Speaker 1 (53:57)

session two next year.

Okay, well again, Bethani Green with Hadley Mac. I'm here to serve our community when it comes to any type of event that you need help with any type of pre listing. If you're thinking about selling your home and you would like me to come out and make you a to do list to get set up for the success of getting your home sold for top dollar realtors. If you're struggling and you need ideas of how to expand your business, I'm here for you. I'm a connector. So if you need a painter, electrician, roofer, plumber, all the things text me, reach out, ask. have

tons of vendor referrals. Right now I'm looking for sponsorships for the Keller Williams Award Ceremony. It's coming up very quickly. So if somebody wants to promote their business and be seen, reach out to me over the next like day or two, if you're interested in being a sponsor for that and that will open the door for you to be a preferred vendor for them for the next year. That's what we're working on.

Speaker 2 (54:59)

Love it. So follow Bethani. Check her out. to her website. You have a link tree, right?

Speaker 1 (55:06)

have Linktree, have Instagram, have Facebook, I have someone helping build a website.

Speaker 2 (55:11)

I will include all of that in the show notes. And by the way, I am slow. I just realized that your freaking Zoom, your Zoom name.

Speaker 1 (55:23)

don't say it.

Speaker 2 (55:28)

I'm gonna screenshot it and put it on there. I just noticed that right now.

Speaker 1 (55:35)

My friend used to call me that years and years and years ago, because I love Britney Spears, and I was also a fly tenant. So we talked like that and sang songs and danced. And so, yes, someone picks that for me.

Speaker 2 (55:48)

That's awesome. That is awesome. I love it. Bethani, thank you so much. You are amazing and we will definitely talk more off off this and I appreciate you jumping on kind of short notice and I can't wait to meet you in person.

Speaker 1 (56:05)

Thank you for having me and yeah, likewise, I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (56:09)

All right, for everyone listening, thank you for everybody watching. I'm sorry. And for Bethani and for everybody else, we'll see you later.

All right, there it is. That was the show.

No way!

Speaker 1 (56:33)

Yeah, yeah, I really have not talked a lot about my business. So a lot of your questions were like, oh, oh, I got to talk about this? Yeah, I've been working my butt off like.