Dear FoundHer...Real Founder Stories for Women Small Business Owners

Seventeen days. That is how long it took Lindsay Pinchuk to go from a breast cancer diagnosis to a double mastectomy. It started with a text to a surgeon she'd known for ten years but hadn't spoken to in quite some time. That text makes the clearest case for building relationships in business and in life long before you need them.

In this final episode of her breast cancer series on Dear FoundHer, Lindsay thanks the people who carried her family through recovery. She built her first business from $500 to seven figures and led it through acquisition, and now she leads a community of women founders. She talks about the friends who covered every meal and every ride for her kids, the community members who offered real peer support for entrepreneurs, and the one thing her surgeon told her at her final appointment that she wants every woman to hear.

Accepting help was the hard part for someone who built a career on helping women. Lindsay gets honest about emotional resilience, why she refuses to be seen as a victim, and what community building for business looks like when the community shows up for you.

She closes with three simple actions to strengthen your relationships, accept support, and show up for the people in your life. Listen now to learn why building relationships in business starts with the people you are always happy to run into but never call.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Diagnosis recap and the final series episode

01:30 The text that started a 17-day timeline

03:45 Building relationships in business before you need them

05:00 Family and friends who carried her through recovery

08:00 How the Dear FoundHer community showed up

10:20 Why accepting help felt so hard

11:00 The women who’ve been through breast cancer

12:45 Refusing to minimize what she went through

13:55 Three actions: reach out, say yes, show up

15:05 Series lessons, speaking engagements, and what’s next

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files:http://foundherfiles.substack.comhttp://foundherfiles.substack.com

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Grab the What to Post This Week System that Lindsay developed while recovering from her surgery:https://www.dearfoundher.com/what-to-post-system-stand-alonehttps://www.dearfoundher.com/what-to-post-system-stand-alone

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What happens to my business if I get sick? Most female business owners avoid that question until life forces an answer. Lindsay Pinchuk, host of Dear FoundHer and an acquired entrepreneur who grew her first company from $500 to seven figures, had 17 days between a stage zero breast cancer diagnosis and surgery. As a solopreneur with limited support and no one to take over her client-facing responsibilities, she needed a business continuity plan for her small business, and fast.

This episode shows leadership under pressure in real time. Lindsay explains why she pushed the application launch for Marketing Made Simple, her year-long mentorship, to January and the new cohort's start to February. It was one of the hardest financial decisions she made all year. She shares the 21-day partnership sprint she wrote before surgery and the retreat that replaced most of the anticipated mentorship revenue, though at a lower profit margin. Every choice came back to one rule she set on day one.

Lindsay teaches founders to keep a bank of evergreen content for sustainable business growth. That habit kept her podcast, Substack, and Instagram running while she was offline, even as she let LinkedIn go quiet. She is honest about the emotional resilience it took to sit still and the decision-making behind who she told and when.

Listen now for the one-page step-away plan Lindsay wants every solo founder to write this week. Four lists: Keep, pause, prep, tell. Then put it where someone else can find it. It is a simple business continuity plan you can create now, before anything goes wrong.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Lindsay’s diagnosis and why every founder should listen

02:25 The solopreneur question most founders avoid

04:36 Pushing Marketing Made Simple to January

09:13 Building a 21-day partnership sprint instead

11:27 One-on-one sessions and three new funnels

13:05 What kept running and what stopped

15:57 Evergreen content banks and canceled events

17:15 Deciding who to tell and when

20:41 How a retreat replaced most lost revenue

22:58 Your one-page business continuity plan for small business

Connect with Lindsay:

Follow Lindsay on Instagram

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

Subscribe to Dear FoundHer on Substack

Grab the brand new content process I learned throughout this process

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Her mammogram ended with “see you in a year.” She felt nothing. Yet a few months later, Lindsay Pinchuk was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer. The cancer wasn't detected by a mammogram or an ultrasound. It was a breast MRI, ordered because of her dense breast tissue, that led to the diagnosis. On this solo episode of Dear FoundHer, Lindsay, an award-winning entrepreneur and host of the show, answers the questions she's received since sharing her diagnosis.

Lindsay has category D breast density, the highest classification, which can make cancer harder to detect on a mammogram. At a routine annual visit, her OB-GYN ordered a baseline breast MRI, even though there was no immediate concern. That MRI found something her mammogram hadn't. Lindsay shares how easily her diagnosis could have been missed. A test no one required. Results that still weren’t in her chart on the date they were due. An ultrasound that couldn’t find the spot and a doctor who said it was probably nothing but still recommended an MRI-guided biopsy.

This is a real lesson in advocating for yourself at the doctor. Lindsay shares the moment she stopped being polite with a scheduler and pushed for a sooner biopsy. She also talks through why she chose a double mastectomy and what her follow-up care looks like now.

For women in business who routinely put their own health on the back burner for a launch or a busy month, Lindsay shares four things she wants every woman to do. Press play to hear them and learn the one question to ask your doctor before you assume a mammogram is enough.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Lindsay’s Stage 0 Breast Cancer Diagnosis Recap

02:21 Dense Breast Tissue and a Clean Mammogram

04:37 Ordering a Breast MRI for Dense Breasts

06:58 The MRI Appointment She Almost Pushed Back

09:22 The MRI Results She Never Received Directly

11:48 Federal Law and an Ultrasound That Missed It

14:06 “It’s Probably Nothing” and Pushing for a Biopsy

16:28 The Diagnosis Call and Every Near Miss

18:48 Why She Chose a Double Mastectomy

21:00 Four Steps to Protect Your Own Health

Connect with Lindsay:

Follow Lindsay on Instagram

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

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You never think it's going to be you until it is. On September 1st, 2026, award-winning entrepreneur Lindsay Pinchuk got the call that started her own stage 0 breast cancer story. The DCIS diagnosis came five days before her daughter's bat mitzvah, and within a day she had a surgery date before she even had a surgery plan.

In this episode of Dear FoundHer, Lindsay opens with the ending. She is cancer-free and needs no further treatment. Then she takes you back through the three options her surgeons put on the table, the decision-making that led her to one surgery over two, and the four words she whispered the moment she woke up. She is clear that her choice was right for her and that it's a decision each woman makes with her own doctors. Her double mastectomy recovery update is honest, and she does not sugarcoat it.

Motherhood and entrepreneurship collided the week of her surgery, when she flew to Philadelphia for a speaking engagement before she told her girls. If you have ever wondered how to tell your kids you have cancer, Lindsay shares exactly what she said, word for word, and how she answered the question every parent dreads. It is the most personal part of her stage 0 breast cancer story.

Women entrepreneurs will also get a simple three-part framework for how to share hard news, whether it's a diagnosis, a client you have to let go, or a change your team needs to hear. Press play, then send this episode to one woman in your life. It might be the nudge she needs to book the appointment she keeps putting off.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Lindsay Opens Her Stage 0 Breast Cancer Story

03:50 The Breast MRI and the Phone Call

08:25 A Surgery Date Before a Surgery Plan

10:39 Three Surgical Options and One Silver Lining

12:22 Why She Chose a Double Mastectomy

14:16 How to Tell Your Kids You Have Cancer

18:11 Waking Up to Plan A and Pathology

20:25 An Honest Recovery Update Three Weeks Out

22:41 Fact, Plan, Outcome for Sharing Hard News

24:15 One Ask Before Next Week's Episode

Connect with Lindsay:

Follow Lindsay on Instagram

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

Read more of Lindsay's story on her Substack, The FoundHer Files:http://foundherfiles.substack.comhttp://foundherfiles.substack.com

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Join host, Lindsay Pinchuk, LIVE for our 21-day Partnership Sprint starting October 12th. You'll build the exact partnership strategy she used to grow and sell her first company. No hacks, no algorithms, just the relationships that actually move a business forward.

Founder visibility does not always come from doing more. For artist Erin Rothstein, it came from doing less herself and letting her team carry more of the work.

On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Erin Rothstein, founder of her namesake art company and an artist whose work now sells several thousand pieces a year. Erin built her business without a publicist or a strategy deck. She trusted instinct, kept a small, dedicated team, and changed direction whenever something stopped working. Her path offers real founder stories for anyone growing a business without a traditional roadmap.

Erin explains why leaving the gallery system became a turning point rather than a loss, and what changed once she stopped answering to someone else's curation. She also walks through how prints entered her business, why she was initially hesitant, and what helped her finally move forward.

The conversation covers social media strategy in a way that goes beyond posting advice. Erin describes her decision to pause ad spend entirely this year, and what that choice revealed about her customer base. She also talks about scaling responsibly with a team of about seven people who each have ownership over their own corner of the business. It’s a structure that allows Erin to step back from running every detail while still protecting the creativity and integrity behind her work.

Press play to hear how Erin turned an art career into a business built on trust and knowing when to step back.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Erin Rothstein's Backstory in Art

06:36 Leaving the Gallery System Behind

10:39 Selling Her First Paintings and Early Sales

13:49 Investing in Her Art Business Before COVID

17:04 Adding Prints and Scaling Production

21:42 Growth Numbers and Redefining Happiness

28:53 Social Media, Ads, and Founder Visibility

36:16 Building a Self-Directed Team

40:02 Three Tips for Women Starting a Business

Connect with Erin Rothstein:

Follow Erin on Instagram

Visit Erin’s website

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

Podcast production and show notes provided by http://hivecast.fm

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Join host, Lindsay Pinchuk, LIVE for our 21-day Partnership Sprint starting October 12th. You'll build the exact partnership strategy she used to grow and sell her first company. No hacks, no algorithms, just the relationships that actually move a business forward.

Amy Goin and Laura Laing spent twelve years building Thatch Jewelry before growing to roughly 300 specialty stores and launching with Nordstrom, and they never paid a single influencer to get there. Their simple marketing strategies prove that real founder stories rarely follow a straight line, and that visibility can come from something as ordinary as sending the right gift to the right person.

On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Amy and Laura, co-founders of the jewelry brand Thatch, about growing a company that looks effortless from the outside.They explain how they used to slide into the DMs of women whose style they admired and offer them jewelry with no strings attached, a tactic they still credits for early brand awareness.

They talk through the pressure of scaling a business during COVID, when a primarily wholesale business suddenly saw online demand explode and had to rethink production to keep up. They open up about watching cheap dupes of their hand-carved gemstones flood the market, and how they’re deciding which battles are worth fighting. For female founders whose businesses are growing more slowly than they hoped, Amy and Laura offer a clear reminder that patience and consistency still work.

Listen to hear how two artists turned a struggling small operation into a brand carried in hundreds of stores, and why they still believe the best marketing costs nothing but a little generosity.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Meet Thatch Jewelry's co-founders

03:46 How a jeweler and consultant became co-founders

08:31 Building their first signature collection

12:00 COVID turns into their growth moment

16:39 What Thatch jewelry actually stands for

20:21 Facing knockoffs and cheap dupes

24:50 Breaking down wholesale versus Nordstrom

27:27 Simple marketing strategies without paid influencers

33:11 Building a small, loyal team

36:20 Advice for founders stuck in the middle

Connect with Amy Goin and Laura Laing:

Visit the Thatch website

Follow Thatch on Instagram

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

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Getting press rarely starts with a pitch. For Irene Chen, co-founder of Parker Thatch, it started years earlier with relationships she built long before she had a bag to sell.

On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Irene Chen about turning a stationery line called Iomoi into Parker Thatch, a founder story rooted in scrappy beginnings. Irene shares how she cut her first pattern with the woman who hemmed her pants and bought canvas at Joann's with a 50% off coupon.

Bootstrapping forced Irene and her husband to figure out bag production from the ground up, despite Irene’s background in fashion and finance. She also explains how her friendship with Kate and Andy Spade helped shape two major turning points for the company, with Kate encouraging the move into leather and Kate and Andy pushing them to rethink the Iomoi name.

Getting press came easier once those relationships were already in place. Earned media and word of mouth remain one of her biggest drivers of growth today, proof that building relationships in business and networking for women pay off years later. Publicity followed the story, not the other way around. Listen to hear how one friendship changed the direction of an entire company.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Meet Irene Chen, Co-Founder of Parker Thatch

02:30 The Original Idea: E-Stationery Before the Web

05:15 From Paper Goods to Home Products

07:00 Cutting the First Bag Pattern at a Dry Cleaner

09:30 Sourcing Fabric and Leather on a Shoestring Budget

11:00 Getting Press Through Editor Relationships, Not Pitches

12:26 How Kate Spade Sparked the Leather Pivot

13:03 Renaming the Brand From Iomoi to Parker Thatch

17:00 Keeping Customization Alive at Scale

26:19 The Friendship With Kate Spade Beyond Business

39:50 Three Pieces of Advice for New Founders

Connect with Irene Chen:

Follow Parker Thatch on Instagram

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

Join the Dear FoundHer... Forum

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RSVP and join uson Thursday, September 10 for: Your Next Chapter on LinkedIn: Turn Your Experience, Expertise and Network Into Opportunity

Host, Lindsay Pinchuk shares her personal journey with public relations, gaining visibility and the challenges small business owners face. She emphasizes that entrepreneurs can achieve visibility without a publicist by mastering the art of pitching and leveraging local and niche media. She provides a four-part framework for effective pitching, strategies for post-press engagement, and real-life examples of success.

In this episode you'll find:

• The importance of owning your visibility foundation
• Four-part framework for effective pitching
• Strategies for post-press engagement and leverage
• Real-life success stories of entrepreneurs landing press independently
• The difference between earned and owned media
• How to identify and target the right media outlets and contacts

For more follow us on Instagram @dearfoundher.

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Join our networking community, The Dear FoundHer... Forum

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Join the only networking community for women business owners 40+ now through September 3rd with the code SUMMER and save $200

Rachel Berliner built Amy's Kitchen for nearly 40 years without taking on a single outside investor. No outside investors, just a loan against her car, $2,000 from her mother, and a $10,000 bank loan. That is bootstrapping in its truest form, and it turned into a company whose products are sold in 57,000 stores today.

On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Rachel Berliner, co-founder of Amy's Kitchen, about what real founder stories look like once the funding rounds are stripped away. Rachel explains the decision-making behind her very first product and why she chose the best ingredients over the cheapest ones, even when it meant slower profit for the company.

Rachel also walks through scaling responsibly, from the moment Publix came on board to the years spent building new plants and working with farmers to expand organic production enough to keep up with Amy's growth. She shares how the company approached sustainable business growth without ever taking on outside investors, and why her advice speaks directly to women business owners building at any stage of their journey.

Press play to hear how a bootstrapping mindset turned a kitchen experiment into a private company still owned by her family, and the advice Rachel has for any founder who refuses to give up.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Community update and today's guest introduction

03:58 Pregnant, bedridden, and craving real food

12:30 First trade show and instant customer demand

13:07 Losing their production partner and taking production in-house

14:18 Bootstrapping the pot pie machine themselves

17:55 The Publix meeting that changed everything

22:20 Building new plants and scaling with farmers

28:03 Letting go and building a leadership team

34:10 57,000 stores and Walmart entry

37:11 Advice for women founders just starting out

Connect with Rachel Berliner:

Follow Amy's Kitchen on Instagram

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

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Join the only networking community for women business owners 40+ now through September 3rd with the code SUMMER and save $200

Michele Henry turned an $8,000 investment into a $25 million clothing business, then walked away and started over with skincare. Her second company shows what scaling a business really looks like when you build it franchise by franchise, growing from a single facial bar in Edina to nearly 80 locations nationwide. On this episode of Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Michele Henry, founder and CEO of FACE FOUNDRIÉ, about the decisions that got her there.

Michele explains how a five minute decision led her to sign a lease for her first facial bar just five minutes after selling her shares in her previous company. She breaks down the real estate approach that drove her expansion, and why she believes your first ten franchisees will define your brand.

Michele and Lindsay get into managing rapid growth during COVID, why patience matters more than most founders expect, and the years it took Michele to find the right CFO, bookkeepers, and financial team. She speaks candidly about her goal of reaching 100 locations by the end of the year, and joining what she says is a small percentage of female founders who have reached that milestone.

Press play to hear how Michele Henry built two businesses from the ground up and what she wishes she knew about scaling a business the first time around.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Meet Michele Henry, FACE FOUNDRIÉ Founder

00:40 From Fashion Boutique to a $25 Million Business

02:55 The Five Minute Leap to Face Foundrié

05:23 Inside the Face Foundrié Facial Bar Concept

07:44 Building Brand Awareness for a New Concept

09:54 Real Estate Strategy Behind Rapid Expansion

11:06 Deciding to Franchise the Business Model

13:14 Pivoting Face Foundrié Through COVID Shutdowns

19:32 Scaling a Business Toward 100 Stores

23:10 Hurdles Behind the Business Growth Stories

25:16 Three Actionable Steps for New Founders

26:22 Why Your Numbers Matter More Than Ideas

Connect with Michele Henry:

Follow Michele on Instagram

Get actionable tips to move your business forward sent straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe to The FoundHer Files:http://foundherfiles.substack.com

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RSVP and Join us for the Dear FoundHer... Virtual Open House and Networking event on August 20th!

Bootstrapping a beauty brand to eight figures before bringing on outside investors sounds impossible until you hear the two financial tools that made it work.

Elina Wang, co-founder and CEO of ESW Beauty, joins Lindsay Pinchuk on Dear FoundHer to break down exactly how she built a skincare brand now sold in more than 19,000 retail locations across North America, including Target, Walgreens, Whole Foods, and CVS. Factoring and PO financing kept her cash moving while retailers paid on their own terms, and those two tools became the real financial turning points behind the brand.

Elina shares the bad hires that slowed her down, the late shipments from overseas suppliers that forced her to rethink timelines, and the moment she overbought inventory out of fear and what that did to her cash flow.

Elina shares her decision-making behind scaling a business while bootstrapping the business, including why she waited years before spending on D2C marketing and what made Whole Foods her first true anchor retailer. Managing rapid growth meant learning these lessons in real time, not reading about them first.

Press play to hear Elina's three actionable tips for any founder trying to grow without a safety net.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Elina Wang's K-Beauty Family Business Roots

03:47 Launching ESW Beauty From Scratch

05:13 Landing Kohl's and Her First Retail Win

06:58 Building Community Before Chasing Sales

09:53 Finding the White Space in Skincare

14:19 Target, Whole Foods, and Anchor Retailers

16:14 Bootstrapping With Factoring and PO Financing

19:36 Bad Hires, Late Shipments, and Cash Flow

20:39 Turning Personal Brand Into Business Growth

29:34 Three Tips for Founders Starting Out

Connect with Elina Wang:

Follow Elina on Instagram

Follow ESW Beauty on Instagram

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

Podcast production and show notes provided by http://hivecast.fm

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Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE.

Lindsay Pinchuk shares the real story of negotiating her way out of her own company, the moment it finally broke her, and how the exit led her to found Dear FoundHer...

Part 2 of The Exit picks up where Part 1 left off: a female founder fighting to hold onto the values and the partnership that built her company, inside a corporate acquisition that stopped honoring its promises and contracted obligations.

Lindsay shares the breaking point that made her decide to leave, the values conflict with new leadership during a pivotal cultural moment, and the exact negotiation that got her out of her contract on her own terms. She opens up about blacking out on her last day, flying to Colorado the next morning, and how the idea for Dear FoundHer... was born on that trip. The episode closes with the hard lessons from a business exit that didn't go as planned, and why Lindsay chose to tell this story publicly for the first time, as the entry point into her new Premium series, The Aftermath. This episode is for any woman entrepreneur navigating a business partnership gone wrong, negotiating an exit, or rebuilding an identity after leaving a company she built.

Check out The Aftermath, Part 1: What Nobody Tells You Happens After the Deal Closes

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Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE.

Lindsay Pinchuk pulls back the curtain on her business acquisition, the promises made and broken, and what really happens in the first year after a female founder sells her company.

In this Behind the Curtain episode, Dear FoundHer... founder Lindsay Pinchuk shares the story she's never told publicly: what actually happened when she sold Bump Club and Beyond, the parenting community she scaled from a side hustle to three million monthly users.

Lindsay walks through the acquisition process from the first LinkedIn message to the signed deal, why she said no to one buyer and yes to another, and the early warning signs that appeared within weeks of closing. She breaks down how her company's most valuable partnership, a seven-figure relationship with Target, was taken out of her team's hands, and what that meant for her earn-out. This is a real, unfiltered look at business acquisition from the founder's side of the table, told for any woman entrepreneur who is scaling a company, considering an exit, or has ever watched a deal not go the way it was promised.

Check out The Aftermath, Part 1: What Nobody Tells You Happens After the Deal Closes

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Get action oriented advice sent straight to your inbox every week. Subscribe to our Substack, The FoundHer Files for advice you can put into play to grow your business starting today.

If you've ever paid for advice from someone with a massive following and quietly wondered whether they've actually built a real business, this episode is for you. Host, Lindsay Pinchuk breaks down why building an audience and building a business are two completely different skill sets, calls out how AI-generated advice is quietly flooding the coaching and course industry, and walks through The Build Check, her exact three-step process for vetting any coach, course, or program before you hand over your money. Along the way, she gets honest about her own business exit, the parts of it that went sideways, and why that experience, not a follower count, is what actually qualifies her to teach this.

What You'll Learn:

Why a viral follower-growth number rarely means what it looks like it means, and the ratio math to run before it makes you feel behind

• The real reason so few female founders talk publicly about what happens after they sell a business

• How corporate acquisitions can turn on the founders who built the company, and the pattern to watch for

• Why building a following and building a business are not the same skill set, even when the content looks identical

• How AI-generated advice is quietly showing up in courses, coaching programs, and masterminds without being disclosed

• The Build Check: a 3-step, 15-minute process for vetting any business coach or program before you pay, including the exact search terms and the exact question to ask

• The one question that reveals within seconds whether a coach has actually built and sold a business, or just built an audience talking about it

Join us on August 20th for the Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event, it's free. RSVP HERE.

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Join Lindsay for a Dear FoundHer... Forum Virtual Open House and Networking Event on Thursday, August 20th. Click here to save your seat, it's free.

She spent over a decade scaling two of Europe's most successful tech companies, reaching the C-suite along the way. Then she moved back to her hometown and nobody knew her name. That tension is the heart of this episode of Dear FoundHer, and it sets up one of the clearest examples of starting a business after corporate you will hear this year.

Host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Christine de Wendel, co-founder and U.S. CEO of sunday, the digital checkout platform used in over 3,500 restaurants across the U.S., U.K., and France. Christine spent over a decade scaling two of Europe's biggest e-commerce companies before leaving corporate at 40 to build a company of her own. Her story shows what transitioning from employee to founder really looks like once the safety net disappears.

Christine describes the three humbling months she spent building connections in Atlanta before the idea for sunday took shape, and how a phone call from an old friend turned into a co-founding partnership. She also opens up about startup funding and whether having a male co-founder changed how easily she raised capital.

Lindsay and Christine talk candidly about networking for women, credibility, and why making a career pivot later in life can be an advantage instead of a setback. If you have ever wondered whether starting a business after corporate means starting from zero, Christine’s story offers a clear answer: the experience, relationships, and skills you have already built still count. Press play to hear how she used them to help raise $145 million for sunday.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 From Tech Executive to Unknown in Atlanta

02:56 Christine's Path From Bain to Paris Tech

05:47 Why She Waited Until 40 to Start

08:25 Uprooting the Family and Moving to Atlanta

11:43 The Phone Call That Became sunday

14:47 How the sunday App Works

16:33 A Review Turns Into Real Restaurant Change

19:08 How sunday Makes Money

20:57 The 2021 Raise and What Came After

22:45 Doubling Transaction Volume

24:25 Why Restaurants Are Slow to Adopt

26:15 Building Brand Ambassadors and Referral Networks

29:47 Funding, Her Co-Founder, and Gender in Fundraising

32:55 Motherhood, Pacing, and Doing It All

36:46 Three Tips for Women Starting Out

Connect with Christine de Wendel:

Follow sunday App on Instagram

Connect with Christine on LinkedIn

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Follow Dear FoundHer on Instagram

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Steph Weibring's Etsy shop made $8,000 in a year. Then she made $8,000 in a single November. The move behind the jump is one of the fastest lessons in growing an audience you will hear this year, and she pulled off the shift without a big following of her own.

On this episode of Dear FoundHer, the show for women business owners over 40, host Lindsay Pinchuk sits down with Steph Weibring, founder and CEO of Joy Creative Shop. Steph turned a 20-cent Etsy listing into a multimillion-dollar stationery brand while raising three kids. She explains how partnership marketing sparked the jump and what it took to scale the business past seven figures.

Steph also shares the chaotic weekend behind her signature bag of tags, and why the design makes her products harder to knock off. Copycat versions of her products show up on Etsy and TikTok. Her response will change how you think about competitors.

You will also hear why a handwritten note is the fastest way to stand out when anyone is able to send an AI written thank you, and how Steph turned an old habit into a new subscription business.

For founders over 40 who dread showing up on camera, Steph gets honest about her personal brand and the social media strategy she resisted for years. She now runs her company as a “lowercase ceo”, a title she made up to strip the intimidation out of leadership.

Steph also offers three steps for any woman starting a business this year.

Growing an audience starts with borrowing one. Press play and hear the story behind the November her whole business changed.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Meet Steph Weibring, Founder of Joy Creative Shop

02:55 From College Uncertainty to a 20 Cent Etsy Listing

05:45 From $8,000 a Year to $8,000 in One November

08:14 Self-Belief and the Turning Point Toward Scaling a Business

09:44 What Joy Creative Shop Sells Today

12:45 Making Handwritten Notes Feel Modern Again

15:38 Listening to Customers to Solve Real Problems

19:18 Handling Copycats Without Losing Focus

23:32 Building a Brand Rooted in Gratitude

25:15 Growing an Audience Through Influencer and Partnership Marketing

29:04 Personal Brand and Standing Out as a Real Person

31:33 Teaching Kids Entrepreneurship Through Side Businesses

33:26 Inside the Joy Creative Shop Team

34:41 Launching "A Different Kind of CEO"

36:55 Three Actionable Steps for New Women Business Owners

Connect with Steph Weibring:

Follow Joy Creative Shop on Instagram

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Liz Lange proves that the best marketing rarely needs a big budget, just the right people.

On Dear FoundHer, host Lindsay Pinchuk talks with Liz Lange, founder of Liz Lange Maternity, about what it takes to build a business when the money and the confidence are not there yet. Partnership marketing sits at the center of it all, but not in the polished, strategic sense people mean today. For Liz, it looked like trust. It looked like showing up for people and letting the relationship do the work.

Liz talks openly about starting as a bootstrap founder with almost nothing to lose and everything to prove. She is candid about the fear behind every major decision, and how often the loudest advice turned out to be wrong. Her instincts, not her budget, were what carried the business forward.

The real thread running through this episode is trust. Trust in yourself, trust in slow relationships over quick wins, and trust that partnership marketing can outperform any ad spend when it comes from something real. For Liz, this wasn't a tactic. Networking with women came naturally to her.

This is one of those real founder stories that reminds you that good PR for small businesses often starts with a single relationship, not a plan. It’s proof that female founders do not need permission to trust what they already know.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Welcome to Dear FoundHer and the Growing Founder Community

02:47 Meet Liz Lange, Maternity Fashion Pioneer

03:47 Starting Liz Lange Maternity With a Fax Machine and No Budget

09:13 Dressing Celebrities and Building Word of Mouth Marketing

15:36 Learning the Fashion Business From the Ground Up

19:07 Opening the First Liz Lange Maternity Store in New York

23:27 Landing the Nike Partnership Marketing Deal

27:05 How the Target Deal Changed the Business Forever

33:29 Ignoring the Naysayers and Trusting Her Instincts

39:03 Bootstrapping the Business Without Raising Outside Money

41:37 Balancing Motherhood With a Fast Growing Business

44:06 Life After Liz Lange Maternity and Home Shopping Network

45:15 Buying the Figue Brand and Building a New Chapter

46:17 Finding Community and Connection on Social Media

49:13 Three Actionable Steps for Women Starting a Business

Connect with Liz Lange:

Follow Liz on Instagram

Join the Dear FoundHer... Forumhttps://www.dearfoundher.com/dear-foundher-forum

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Podcast production and show notes provided by http://hivecast.fm

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For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Lindsay Pinchuk shares the most important asset you are not leveraging in your business. She shares how leveraging your existing network can be a game-changer for business growth, emphasizing relationships over followers and paid ads. She discusses practical strategies for reconnecting with your network, categorizing contacts, and using relationships to build and scale a business.

Important Takeaways:

• The importance of existing relationships in business growth
• Categorizing your network: openers, collaborators, amplifiers, anchors, students
• Strategies for reconnecting and activating your network
• Case studies of successful women entrepreneurs leveraging relationships
• The misconception of starting from scratch and the value of past relationships

Lindsay talks about "that email" you can read all about that and grab her templates on her substack here.

Join us for this month's Forum Workshop on July 9th: The 2-Part Email System Behind Consistent Scalable Revenue REGISTER HERE

Join us inside the Dear FoundHer... Forum, our online networking group supporting you as you build and grow your business so you don't have to do it alone.

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Lindsay Pinchuk shares the importance of proactive network outreach for business growth, emphasizing a specific email strategy to reconnect with contacts and generate new opportunities. Learn how to craft personal reintroduction emails that activate your network and boost your pipeline.

This episode includes:

• The importance of proactive outreach to your existing network
• How to craft a personal reintroduction email
• The five-part structure of an effective outreach email
• The role of relationship-building in business growth
• Strategies for activating your network to generate opportunities
•

Takeaways

• Sending personalized reintroduction emails can quickly generate new business opportunities.
• Your network is active and waiting to be engaged, not passive.
• A well-structured, personal email can re-engage contacts and open doors.
• Building and maintaining relationships over time is crucial for business success.
• The key to effective outreach is clarity, specificity, and genuine connection.

Chapters

00:00 The Importance of Communication in Business

02:31 Reactivating Your Network

05:09 Building Relationships for Success

08:17 Crafting the Perfect Reintroduction Email

10:52 Taking Action: Your Email Assignment

Join us for this month's Forum Workshop on July 9th: The 2-Part Email System Behind Consistent Scalable Revenue REGISTER HERE

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For simple actionable tips to grow your business, subscribe to The FoundHer Files

Most women entrepreneurs build a business to solve a problem they found in the market. Sadie Lincoln built one to solve a problem she had been hiding for a decade.

Sadie is the co-founder of Barre3, a mindful fitness company with more than 200 studios and an online platform reaching clients in over 100 countries. On Dear FoundHer with host Lindsay Pinchuk, she finally says out loud what took years to admit. A secret eating disorder, a body she was trying to conquer, and a pregnancy that cracked something open she had not been able to reach before.

What she discovered in her living room in 2008 became the foundation of everything Barre3 stands for. And every major business decision since then, including walking away from a deal that would have made her a household name in fitness, has traced back to that same truth.

Female founders who are scaling a business while trying to stay honest about what it costs will recognize themselves here. Sadie built a community for business the old-fashioned way, face painters at a fountain, free classes above a health food store, relationships that no algorithm can manufacture. She course-corrected when outside pressure pulled her away from her values and called it growing without burnout before that phrase even existed. And the personal brand decision she made, choosing to stay small enough to stay true, is one most founders never have the nerve to make.

Know yourself first. Do the research. Surround yourself only with people who are excellent at what they do and who respect why you are excellent too.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Meet Sadie Lincoln, Co-Founder and CEO of barre3

04:00 How Barre3 Was Built Around Mindful Fitness and Why That Was a Radical Idea in 2008

06:19 The Invisible Truth Behind the Business and What Sadie Finally Said Out Loud

09:27 Why the Hardest Moments in Business Are Often the Seed of What Comes Next

13:56 From Living Room Workouts to a Fitness Company Built to Franchise

17:01 The Grassroots Marketing Strategy That Still Outperforms Social Media

21:47 Why Community Is the Actual Product at Barre3 and How That Drives Sustainable Growth

25:25 What Kept Barre3 Standing While Other Boutique Fitness Brands Fell Apart

28:00 The Deal Sadie Walked Away From and the Financial Hit She Took to Stay True

31:53 The Kitchen Moment That Changed Everything

37:27 What’s Next for barre3

40:21 Three Pieces of Advice for Women Starting a Business

Connect with Sadie Lincoln:

Follow Sadie on Instagram

Connect with Sadie on LinkedIn

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Podcast production and show notes provided by http://hivecast.fm

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