Start With A Win - Overcoming Tragedy: Amanda Bauer-Frisch's Path to Business Success

Starting point is 00:00:00 I either want this to be your dream job, or I want this to be the job that sets you up for your dream job. It really is on me. Failure is a part of the winning process in the long run too. Everybody's just in this fear and panic mode. How do you put them at rest? Welcome to Start With A Win, where we unpack franchising, leadership, and business growth. Let's go. Ever wondered what sparks the journey from personal setbacks to entrepreneurial success? Today on Start With A Win, we're thrilled to welcome Amanda Bauer-Frisch, CEO of Enduring Legacy Company and a founder of Small Legacies. With a passion for child

Starting point is 00:00:36 development and family well-being, Amanda's ventures under the Enduring Legacy umbrella showcase her commitment to innovative solutions for parents and children alike. So how did she go from an HR professional with a major personal setback to creating practical tools for families worldwide? Let's find out. Amanda, welcome to Start With a Win. Hi, great. Thanks for having me. You bet. You have such an inspiring story. And so many entrepreneurs and leaders have a major obstacle, a major challenge, something that is just absolutely tragic happened in their lives, unfortunately. And that's kind of the foundation for your story here. And a climb out of that misery, out of that hole and that desperation and difficulty. And we look forward to hearing from you today about that. But why don't you give us a little bit about yourself? Tell us about your

Starting point is 00:01:29 background, where you come from. Yeah, I am from Wisconsin and I live there currently. And my story kind of starts in 2017. I was a human resources manager for a large grocery store chain in Wisconsin. And my husband, Adam, was a sheriff's deputy. And we had a one-year-old and I was pregnant with our second. And he unexpectedly passed away from a genetic heart condition. And of course, that was extremely devastating. And being pregnant at the time only compounded that devastation. Um, but in hindsight, one thing that I really recognize now, and, uh, you talk about in your book a little bit, um,

Starting point is 00:02:15 I recognize now that before Adam passed away, I had an external locus of control. And after he died, I don't know when that shift happened, but there was a point that I realized like, no one's coming to save me unless I kind of step up and do it. So, and you know, switching to that internal locus of control has been a really powerful thing for me going through a traumatic event like that. Wow. And how long, that was nine years ago? Seven, seven years ago. Seven years ago. Okay. Yeah. I mean, talk about just a difficult situation, obviously, to, you know, be a young parent pregnant with another child and have your spouse just suddenly and tragically pass away like that. I mean, what a horrible thing. I understand you, you did get some help from the sheriff's department. Is that, is that correct? Yes. Um, they were extremely supportive

Starting point is 00:03:15 through that. And, um, he, he was, we were at home the night he passed away. You know, it wasn't an incident that happened at work. Um, got to meet with the I remember very specifically going to meet with the sheriff's department counselor the next day after he died. And I kind of had this feeling like, well, this this guy's in in in a position of power. Surely he can write this wrong. You know, he has the power to to put this make this issue right. Even I mean, I knew he wasn't going to bring Adam back, but I think it just highlights I I was looking to somebody else to kind of. Wave their magic wand and fix my life. That didn't happen, but they did provide me a lot of support through that process.

Starting point is 00:04:03 Right. But you had to take the action then in order to move forward with this. I mean, we could, and you're right, external locus of control is we're blaming everything else on the challenges that we face. Internal locus of control is we own all the outcomes. So we actually take more control of our life in making that switch from external to internal locus of control. And it's, it's fascinating when you look at it because you go, um, I've heard it called going from a victim to a victor. And, um, I, I love that. In fact, I have one of my friends who's in charge of the wellness program at the sheriff's office here uses that term quite a bit.

Starting point is 00:04:45 And he was shot in an incident and has gone through a lot of difficulty in his life. But ultimately, it comes down to how do we own our lives now? And what was that moment that made you take this? And obviously, we have a grieving process. And you have a Ted talk. So everybody I encourage you to go watch Amanda's Ted talk. It's fascinating because she talks about this grieving process and the parallel of being an entrepreneur and a leader. And it's, it's fascinating because nothing is in a straight line. So, um, I mean, what,

Starting point is 00:05:19 what gave you that realization of, okay, time for me to take control. I'm in the driver's seat now. I got to move forward. Or was this a gradual, um, realization? It was definitely a gradual realization, but, um, in the beginning, at least when I was kind of looking to other people, um, to, I felt like I, somebody should give me a handbook on what I was supposed to do after your husband dies. And there isn't one I've looked. So, um, I, at a certain point, you know, several weeks after he died, I realized, um, you know, no one there, they're just looking at me like with a confused look on their face saying, what are you going to do? And I realized, oh, it really is on me. And it, and that was scary, but also it's incredibly, um, empowering because you, you're in, you're in charge of your life. And, um, not, not everyone has that, um, mentality, um, built into them when they're growing up. So.

Starting point is 00:06:21 So you found some clarity in your grieving, it sounds like. Yes. And after that, you decided you were going to create a legacy. And I think that's, you know, what your company is called also. Yeah. So fast forward to the beginning of the pandemic, I was newly remarried. I had, I was a stay at home mom by choice, but quickly realized that is not the, uh, the job for me because that requires a tremendous skill set that I do not possess. I started making these wood banks in my garage in honor of my late husband, Adam. And they have three compartments for give, save, spend. And I engraved my kids' names on them.

Starting point is 00:07:00 And I thought if there's – my late husband, Adam, was really passionate about financial literacy and he liked helping the other deputies, you know, manage their finances and get out of debt and that kind of thing. And so I thought, you know, if there's one thing I'm going to teach my kids about their their dad in heaven is, you know, that he was really passionate about this finance stuff. And I wanted to set them off on the right foot and have them learn from the beginning about giving, saving and spending their money. So anyways, I just made these in my garage because I wanted them for my kids. And then my new husband encouraged me to list them online and they blew up from there and became super popular to the point now that it's expanded into our other businesses. But that's how it started. It was this desire in my heart to carry on my late husband's legacy.

Starting point is 00:07:56 But it's expanded from there. Interesting. And so tell me about the business then. Because I know you also have award paddles or something like that. Some other woodworking items. I mean, do you have a woodworking shop now? Is that? We do.

Starting point is 00:08:11 Yeah. So with the banks, they were getting so popular and we built out our own woodworking shop. But then we also realized we are never going to be able to grow this business if my husband and I are only able to make banks all day. So we found a wood toy manufacturer to make the wood part of the bank for us. Now we engrave them on top, the names on top and send them out from our wood shop. But then we were left with this wood shop that now we didn't really need as much of it anymore because the banks were being are made by someone else and there was another small business in Wisconsin called Navy Paddles

Starting point is 00:08:51 and the husband and wife were ready to retire and we took over operations of that company obviously with the name Navy Paddles the original owner was a Navy veteran, but we saw a lot of parallels with, you know, them wanting to honor military achievement, retirement, you know, awards and things like that. It was the same desire I had in the beginning to honor my late husband's legacy. And I felt like, okay, we can really add to that cause and be able to provide a really awesome product to the final end customer. So we now have a few woodworking things going on. And we were actively looking for a woodworking company to acquire when we no longer had to make the banks ourselves.

Starting point is 00:09:42 But then a week after we closed on the purchase of Navy paddles, there was another small business in our area that became available for sale. And when I say in our area, it's two minutes away. It's a quilt shop that has built a fantastic reputation over the last 25 years. And I, myself, am a serial crafter, and we felt like we could really add value and serve that community really well. So we also took over operations of the quilt store last year. So we have this now team of 10, you know, woodworkers, quilters, teachers who work on all of our projects under the same umbrella. Wow. So what do you, what do you look for in a small local business when you go to make an acquisition of that? What key things do you look for?

Starting point is 00:10:40 Their reputation, number one, like the, the business that they've built for themselves outside of I mean, obviously the numbers, the financials matter. But what do people on the street say about that business and what have their interactions been? If there are any employees, what do the employees have to say? Um, and, uh, yeah, that, that those, those like intangible things to me were so much more telling and a piece of information I wanted to know so much more than just the financials of the business. Gotcha. And what, what's the first thing you say when you go into one of these businesses to the employees that exist? How do you, because everybody's afraid, as soon as your business gets bought, everybody's just in this fear and panic mode. How do you put them at rest? How do you put them at ease to say, Alright, I've got a great future?

Starting point is 00:11:34 Oh, yeah. Well, they have to know, like and trust you. And that takes time. And, you know, I think if you go in knowing that it's going to take time to develop a relationship, but if you are, you know, if you're honest about your plans for the future of the company and have them be a part of that decision-making process when appropriate as well. So yeah, it takes um, it's a work in progress always, but, uh, I think just being open and honest about it. I love that honest. I mean, building the trust, building the confidence of the employees, uh, letting them know.

Starting point is 00:12:17 I mean, first of all, that, you know, you can be the best that you could possibly want to be here. And it's, it's fun because, um fun because a friend of mine who's just a serial entrepreneur, one of the greatest entrepreneurs I've ever met, has told me that we become an entrepreneur to create an environment where people can be as successful as they want to be. And that's really what it comes down to is an environment there. How do you focus on keeping that environment and not letting it kind of slip away because we just get so busy? Oh, I love that. Um, one thing I tell my team all the time is I either want this to be your dream job, or I want this to be the job that

Starting point is 00:12:56 sets you up for your dream job. Cause I realized that, you know, not everyone's going to stay with me forever. Um, but I want to, I want to be that that stepping stone that helps them land the gig that they really want. And I think when I keep that front of mind for everybody, it helps kind of frame everybody's roles a little bit better. The one thing that we focus on too is everybody has tasks that they don't really like, but we try to fill up our day with tasks that really bring us joy individually. And that looks different for each person. So that is always kind of a work in progress too. No one person gets bogged down with the crummy jobs. Awesome. And a lot of your leadership, your entrepreneurial base is built around willingness to try.

Starting point is 00:13:48 Talk to me about that phrase because I've heard you say that in some of your talks. Yeah. I think that willingness to try is something that is missing from a lot of, I don't know if it's just the younger generations. I don't want to generalize about a generational thing, but, um, that there's, there's a spark that is missing at times from people. And if, if they were just willing to put themselves out there or, um, be willing to fail, um, because I think if you go into, you know, you have to, you have to try, but also you have to be okay with the outcome that you might fail. Um, and you have to know that failure is a part of the winning process in the long run too, because, um,

Starting point is 00:14:42 Michael Jordan didn't become Michael Jordan without missing a lot of shots along the way. So I think about that a lot. Right. It's only failure if you keep trying, right? Right. Exactly. So, okay. So you've gone from a tragic situation.

Starting point is 00:14:58 You kind of put some of your effort into a legacy item and found that a lot of people like it. By the way, I love the financial literacy piece. I think that is amazing. I encourage everybody to check out Amanda's website and where you're selling these. By the way, what is that website? Oh, yeah. So we have a couple of different companies, but you can see us all on EnduringLegacyCo.com. And then we have links to Small Legacies, which is the piggy banks for the children and Navy Paddles and our quilt shop. So you can see us there. Awesome. Did you guys start on Etsy or anything? Yes, I started on Etsy and still a huge fan of Etsy. Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:15:42 Awesome. So we've got this particular desire, this drive that turned into a business. Um, there are a lot of people out there whose dreams they want to become businesses. What advice do you have for them on that? Um, start, uh, try, um, you will learn, you know, you learn so much that you don't even expect to learn. You sometimes, you know, you don't have to know five steps ahead. You just need to know one or two steps ahead and then you can kind of survey the landscape and plan your next move. But yeah, just try. Just put yourself out there and try. Awesome. Yeah. A friend of mine wrote a book that's called They Can't Eat You. And that's what he keeps saying is they're not going to eat you. Sure, you might not get it right at the beginning, but you get the opportunity to do it again or you get the opportunity to pivot to something else. And for some people, maybe being an entrepreneur is not what they're cut out for, but those of us that have started businesses all know you're going to fail a few times

Starting point is 00:16:50 before you find the right way. So you just got to get those out of the way. Absolutely, yep. So what are you working on next? Any more businesses coming down the road for you or what do you think? Oh, definitely. I mean, right now I am still kind

Starting point is 00:17:05 of recovering from last year and still, you know, getting things settled and we still have a lot of work to do. Um, but I definitely hope there's more brands, um, and more companies in the future. Um, and just kind of, I will keep an open mind and an open heart and we'll see what kind of comes our way. Awesome. Biggest, okay. Biggest realization of becoming, I mean, kind of a, a CEO by accident almost. I mean, obviously there's a lot of intention in everything that you did, but what's your biggest realization and, you know, now being responsible for 10 families and multiple businesses and getting product to customers, things like that. I love it. It's in my blood to be an entrepreneur.

Starting point is 00:17:52 But I also wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. And it's so fulfilling and so hard at the same time. And I love it. But it's hard. And I don't know that it's ever going to get easier, but that's okay. Um, and you know, one step at a time. Right. Well, I, I, I mean, I've been running businesses for a while. I can tell you, it never gets easier. We just get a little bit better. So it's really kind of a cool concept when you think about, we seek challenge as entrepreneurs and as leaders, and we don't want it to get easier

Starting point is 00:18:32 because if it was easier, we would get bored. That's very true. So all we do is we just keep getting better and understand, all right, I might have a bigger failure, but it's going to make me a better leader. And it's a lot of fun when you look at it that way, because again, it goes back to that external, that internal locus of control. I own everything that happens to me and I'm proud of my failures. And some of them, you might go, eh, you know, I'm more proud of others, but I wouldn't do that one again, but I learned something from it. It's, you know, the school of hard knocks is the best education, but the most expensive education you'll ever get. That's for sure. And that's what you go through when you start a business, when you run a business, when you're a leader is the school of hard knocks. Amanda, this has been an amazing conversation with you. And, you know,

Starting point is 00:19:19 we appreciate all that you've done and really admire you for pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and moving on and carrying forth that legacy of your late husband. I do have a question for you. And that's a question I ask all the leaders on the show. And that's how do you start your day with a win? Oh, yeah. I get cranky if I don't get enough personal time. So I, um, will, I wake up an hour before my kids so that I can have at least a little bit of time in the morning to do whatever I want. And sometimes that's scroll on my phone. Sometimes that's workout, you know, it's whatever I want to do that day. Um, but it makes me happy to at least get like a little nugget of time before the chaos. I love it. You got to have some me time. I do the same thing. I have my me

Starting point is 00:20:07 time first thing in the morning before I give everybody else my time. And it's, it does great things to get your, your motor running in the morning. Amanda Bauer Frisch, thank you so much for being on Start With A Win. Thanks for all that you do. Everybody, make sure you go check her out at those websites that we talked about earlier. And if you need any financial literacy help, the bank sounds like a great idea. I wish it was something like that that we had when my kids were little. But anyhow, everybody has the opportunity right now. Go check it out. And thanks for being on Start With A Win.

Start With A Win - Overcoming Tragedy: Amanda Bauer-Frisch's Path to Business Success

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