Diana Fryc:
Here’s a quick disclaimer. The views, statements, and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers. The statements are not intended to be product claims or medical advice.
Diana Fryc here. I’m the host of the Gooder podcast, where I get to talk with the powerhouse women in the food, beverage, and wellness categories about the business of consumer packaged goods, branding, and leadership. This episode is brought to you by Retail Voodoo. Retail Voodoo is a brand development firm providing strategic brand and design services for companies in the food, wellness, and beverage industries. Our clients include Starbucks, Kind, Rei, PepsiCo, High Key, and many other market leaders. So, if your goal is to crush your competition by driving growth and disrupting the marketplace with new and innovative ideas, give us a call. You can find out more@retailvoodoo.com. Well, today, I’m very excited to chat with my guest. Haley Weidenbaum is CEO and co-founder of Everhem. Growing up, Haley spent countless hours reconfiguring the layout of her bedroom furniture, all the while gaining an informal albite invaluable education in how best to utilize space. Over time, her desire to design interior spaces grew from a childhood pastime to a burning passion. Haley’s impeccable design instincts and efficient, bootstrapping approach to challenges are only outdone by her disarming positivity and charm, which you guys will meet soon. A devoted traveler with Los Angeles roots, haley effortlessly infuses signature, California tinged cool with worldly inspired accents. She appreciates the styles of the past but values modern comfort and functionality. First and foremost, Haley’s mission is to design homes that make people happy. Happiness looks different for each client, and that is the challenge that Haley looks forward to solving with every project. Haley, welcome. So nice to meet you.
Haley Weidenbaum:
So nice to meet you, Diana. Thank you so much for having me.
Diana Fryc:
Of course. Are you in La. Today?
Haley Weidenbaum:
I am in Los Angeles today. So I was born and raised.
Diana Fryc:
Born and raised.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Very hard to ever leave this city.
Diana Fryc:
Are you in L.A
Haley Weidenbaum:
Proper?
Diana Fryc:
Are you in one of them?
Haley Weidenbaum:
In the San Fernando Valley, actually.
Diana Fryc:
Okay. You’re in the valley. When I was growing up, that was a thing. There’s no Valley Girls anymore.
Haley Weidenbaum:
I’m assuming I lost the accent. The Valley girl.
Diana Fryc:
It’s funny. When I was a kid you probably knew this. When I was a kid, I grew up in La Marata and then moved to Thousand Oaks. And the Thousand Oaks when I was a kid was not the Thousand Oaks of today because I used to go messing around in the swamps and pulling cattails and bringing polywald home. Now it is unrecognizable to when I.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah, now it’s much more built up. But you find pockets in the Valley that still feel like you’re not, like, in the city, which is really nice.
Diana Fryc:
I love that. Wow. Well, I got to tell you, you’re not a company or founder owner of a company of brands that I typically talk to. I’m kind of starting to branch out a little bit because I’m finding amazing folks like you. Tell us a little bit about Everhem because I think my audience may not have heard about you before, or maybe they have, and I’m just being daft. Let’s talk about who’s Everhem and what do you stand for? What’s your mission?
Haley Weidenbaum:
Okay, so we’re a fairly new company. Our mission is to change the perception of window treatment. And as you said beautifully in the bio. I started my career as an interior designer, and I was an interior designer for about eight years. And through my trials and tribulations with clients and projects, window treatment was always one of my biggest hurdles. I tried a variety of different brands, a variety of different strategies in creating window treatment, installing window treatment. And it was always a huge headache. And I was like, there’s got to be a better answer out there. So about four or five years ago, I started to dig into it more. I had some great contacts in the industry here in Los Angeles, and I just started asking questions like, where are we making this? Where are the work rooms? Where are we sourcing the fabric from? And I just sort of had an AHA moment. I was like, okay, I see all these elements that everyone is trying to do, and I see that it’s a very antiquated industry. We’ve been doing window treatment for our homes for years and years and years, and there are some companies out there that have been trying to perfect it. But I knew in my heart that I was like, I could do this better. I just had this weird passion to improve the process. And I think it came from the fact that as an interior designer, window treatment is such a crucial part of the process that it is often like a forgotten essential in the home. So I really wanted to change people’s perception to start thinking about it at the forefront. Even if you’re building a home, start to think about it when you’re building the home, or if you move into a home that’s already built and you’re furnishing it, you need to think about it in the beginning for many reasons, for a functional reason, everyone has windows. You have to cover your windows. Everyone has to think about the function of why I need to cover my windows. And then aesthetically too, you don’t want to just put something completely utilitarian on your window and sacrifice the design. So really, with Everham, we’re trying to marry the functionality of window treatment with a design driven mentality. And that was really how I got into it. And at the same time, when I had this AHA moment, I was, to be honest, a little burnt out on interior design. So I guess it was the burnout and full transparency. As an interior designer, the money is not flowing. It’s really hard because one, you have to gain the clientele. And nowadays, I think a lot of people are using social media to really help their client list. Back ten years ago, social media was just starting, right? So for me, it was more word of mouth, which was great because in Los Angeles, a lot of people buy homes here, which is great because people want to furnish those homes because most of the time they’re like, forever homes, right?
Diana Fryc:
Yeah.
Haley Weidenbaum:
So I had a lot of first home buyers, which was really great because everyone was so excited. However you get into the budget and everyone just bought a home. And in Los Angeles, the prices of homes are ridiculous. Everyone is in cash because they bought their home and then they don’t have any money to spend on furnishings, art, accessories, window treatments. So I was sort of that battle of helping people understand, like, you need to furnish this home, right, and with furniture that’s going to last and art and paint and window trim that’s going to last. So it was challenging, I think, to deal with the personal emotions of someone’s home. At times you feel like a therapist.
Diana Fryc:
Yeah, it’s true. My husband and I hired an interior designer when we did a remodel years ago. And I remember this person coming in and saying, now, sometimes there are some challenges because you find out where your differences are. So she said I think she said something along the lines of my job is to find a compromise happy medium.
Haley Weidenbaum:
You have couples that have very different styles, and you have to find a happy medium where everyone, everyone’s happy with the finished product. So I was doing that, and as I said, I was getting a little burnt out. And it’s sort of just like the timing worked out where I sort of had a couple of clients and I had time to focus on starting an actual business. And I asked my husband to help me start the business. So he was, at the time, a graphic designer, but his first life before that was in finance. Oh, my goodness. I was like, I need you to help me run all of our numbers and the financial aspect of this business, but I also want you to help me brand it, name it, and build the website. So he was a little nervous, but I just was like, we’re going to partner in this together. And we took the leap. And in 2018, like the end of 2018, he quit his full time job, and I was still doing interior design projects on the side. And we founded the business in 2019 and officially launched in August 2019. So we officially launched our online website because direct to consumer is what we are at our core, and we wanted to be able to service clients and designers throughout the country. So that’s why we went online first.
Diana Fryc:
I am curious. I have a few questions. All those questions that I said we were going to go through, they’re all out the door. We’re going to talk about a couple of things. Yeah. First of all, right. And left brain, your husband is an anomaly. That’s an anomaly because my husband is like that too, and they are very few and far between. If they’re good at both sides, they’re unicorns. Right?
Haley Weidenbaum:
I know. And that’s the thing, is, like, his whole life, he was told you should be a doctor, a businessman, or a lawyer. So that’s the track he went down and tried to get into finance. And then he met me. Who? I went to school for communication. I thought I wanted to do hotel sales. Quickly learned I do not want to do hotel sales. I want to build a hotel. I want to design the hotel. So while my husband and I were dating, he saw me transition to go back to school for interior design. And he literally thought I was crazy. He was like, this isn’t stable. And I was like, I want to be happy waking up every day, and I want to be passionate about my job. So I went back to school for, like, a two year program, and then I also worked while I was in school. So he saw that still tried to stay in the finance world. He became pretty miserable. And I looked at him and I was like, what do you want to do? Tell me what you want to do if you could do anything tomorrow. And he’s like, I want to design logos. I was like, let’s do it. You can become a graphic designer. So then he went back to a similar program that I went to in La. And became a graphic designer. And it’s like, that’s fantastic. I know. All the building blocks obviously make sense now. It’s all a risk, but we made it work. I guess today we’re still working together.
Diana Fryc:
That’s really great, following your gut. I don’t necessarily think it’s following your heart. I think it’s following your gut. Right. Because there’s a difference between loving something. Like, for example, I love pastries, but if I had a pastry every single day, I would hate it really fast. Right. But if I loved making pastries, that’d be a different thing. So knowing how you want to participate is really great. That gut instinct that you both have is pretty great. I love hearing that and that you’re vibing off of each other. I think, as the kids say, that you’re leveraging what the other person is doing also shows a really mature relationship, because it could have been really easy for him to be jealous of what you were doing and not gone the route. And yet here you were, cheerleading for him, and he took the leap based off of that. So it really says a lot about your relationship. It really does.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah. And it’s like a push pull. I think I am the type of person, if I get an idea in my head it’s going to happen. I like to say a lot of women, we’re just like, we make stuff happen. So he really kind of doesn’t hinder me. He supports me. He raises me up and he’s like, tell me what you need, how can I help you? Where do you see this business? We started from the branding because that was really important for us, that from the look and feel of the website and the branding that everything was exactly what we were hoping for. And we sat down together and really divided into what we want Everhem to be. And I would say that the strategy and processes is probably our weakness. So once we got things off the ground, we hired amazing people who are now helping us with that part of the business.
Diana Fryc:
That’s great.
Haley Weidenbaum:
So we realize what our strengths are and our absolutely are and we fill the gaps.
Diana Fryc:
Yeah. Well, let’s go back to you’ve. Launched in 2019 and six to nine months later, COVID hits. I want to say that your business took off during that time. Am I nuts?
Haley Weidenbaum:
So it’s kind of for a second we were closed because our work room, all the other production facilities that were making things had to close down. So basically from March and April of 2020, we had to close. We did not close our online shop. We communicated with our customers, communicated with clients who had current orders in the queue. And everyone at that time was so understanding. Everyone was in the same boat. And as you said, we were such a new business that we kind of had a deer in headlights. Like, what are we going to do? Luckily, all of our vendors that we work with, we were all supporting each other and understanding as well. And we actually communicated to our clients, our customers, our potential customers, that we’re still open and we’re still taking orders. Once we open back up, we will fulfill orders. And in the meantime, we’re offering quite a big discount. So kind of to help incentivize people to continue ordering with us, we provided a big discount. I don’t think we’ll ever do that big of a discount again. We were trying to tell everyone, tell our consumer base, we’re not going anywhere. We understand the world is at a standstill, but we believe that we’ll get back open one day. And we opened back in May of 2020. So it was only two months. And I think the worst part of it was that lead times were so slow because the workforce couldn’t come fully back into the work rooms and everyone was on the same page. And today our lead times have caught up and we’re at like a six week to eight week lead time, which is a lot better than a lot of lead times for our industry because a lot of furniture is still half a year, six months, and we make everything in Los Angeles. So I think that was what was really helpful, is that we didn’t have to deal with overseas production, and we were very hands-on. I remember going to our work room in Los Angeles with, I think, three masks, maybe even like, goggles. When people are like that, you should wear them.
Diana Fryc:
Goggles, we just know, right?
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah, exactly. And then another crazy thing that happened to us in 2020. We had one son in 2016, so he was about, like, three years old. And I got pregnant in February 2020. And I got pregnant with identical twins.
Diana Fryc:
Holy moly.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah. It was the biggest shock of our lives. And they were born in September 2020. So while everyone is dealing with the pandemic, this thing that no one’s ever dealt with, I was also pregnant with twins, which is the craziest thing I’ve ever had to deal with because I knew what it was like to be pregnant with one. So I had a comparison and I was like, this is not normal. This is different than before. And so it was definitely a crazy time in our life. And it was just Adam and I for about the first nine months. And then right before I gave birth, we realized we needed to start hiring people to help us. I remember getting rolled into the C section room, though, or I was still, like, texting with someone about an install. It was like, when you own your own business, you can’t really take maternity leave.
Diana Fryc:
Yeah, exactly.
Haley Weidenbaum:
I did take a little time off to recover, but my husband didn’t. He was back to work the moment we were out of the hospital.
Diana Fryc:
Basically, it’s just where you are when you’re in those infancy stages. You guys have certainly grown since then, so it’s kind of fun to hear about those first few days.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah. And then back to the growth. So what everyone saw in the home industry is everyone was focused on the home because it had to be home. So yes, our industry, I think, benefited from the silver lining of COVID I think, was that everyone was home and everyone was renovating furniture now, like, suddenly working from home. And actually the window treatment needed to be replaced because the glare into the computer was really hot. So all those things kind of helped grow our business. And we were shocked, to be honest, like, how many orders came in, especially during 2020 and beyond that.
Diana Fryc:
Well, perfect, because people are self installing your products. Right?
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah. Everyone’s, like, scared of the window. So we wanted to kind of make everyone understand that you can measure yourself and you can install if you have the right tools and a partner helping you. There are still those large projects, and most interior designers don’t want the liability, so they want our help in measuring an install. And we are currently growing and scaling our professional installer network to be able to provide that. So it’s really important because when I was an interior designer, I really wanted the professional to be the one measuring so that my clients wouldn’t blame me for measuring wrong. But finding a valuable partner, like Everhem, is really important for interior designers so that they can just know it’s being handled. We’ve always offered that, especially in Los Angeles, because of the network of installers I know here. So we’re trying to grow that network in major cities throughout the country to offer that same customer experience to everyone, to be honest, not just designers. Like, there’s some people who just want a professional to handle it from the beginning to end. So we are growing that program right now, which is really exciting, because I think anyone would be like, oh, a professional can come in and measure instead of me. Of course, always take that option because we’re 100% custom, so all of our products are measured to, like, the 8th of an inch, which is great because they’ll fit your windows perfectly. But when you’re measuring, you want them to be pretty perfect. However, online, we have done a really great job of enhancing the user experience to be able to educate someone on how to measure and how to install. And I think in the last ten years, everyone is all about DIY or doing it yourself. So a lot of our consumer base embraces that aspect and does it themselves. And we started design consultations virtually before the Pandemic. It was always part of our business model, and everyone’s leaning into doing things on camera. And so we do weekly, probably like, tens to 20 virtual consultations right now for people around the country. And it’s really helpful. Sometimes people need help measuring, sometimes they just need help picking fabric. My CX team can help you with all of it, and that’s what’s really important and at the core of this business, yes, it’s window treatment, and it doesn’t sound super cool or sexy, but at the end of the day, it’s a finishing touch for your home. It’s so important, and you want it to look beautiful. So, like, yeah, we are driving home the design aspect of things, like, every day. Like, it’s so important to us.
Diana Fryc:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s so cool. Now, you talked about customers here, and I want to talk about the fact that I know that you and your brand, your whole entire company, is really very customer service focused. Many companies say that everybody puts their customers first, and et cetera, et cetera. I did a little research. I always research all my guests because I want to know who you are outside of just this conversation. And in fact, the ratings on your company, basically across everything that I’ve seen, are incredibly high, really high customer satisfaction. So it must mean you’re doing something a little bit different than others when you say you put your customer first. What does that mean to you guys?
Haley Weidenbaum:
Well, I think my background in hotel sales, as I mentioned, really spawned my passion to provide exceptional customer service. So before I got into sales, I worked in hospitality, so I worked front desk, I answered phones for hotels. And so for me, I got a quick training on how to provide great customer service, especially in the hotel industry. You can get all sorts of people right that are paying good money and expect a certain level of service. So I kind of took that training and applied that to all my interior design projects. And I think all my clients were so receptive that I was so personable and attentive and understanding of everybody’s needs. So when I started Everham in my head, I’m like everyone, to my husband, to anybody who starts working in our team, I just want everyone to be personable and go a step ahead, a step beyond. And so for us, that really means thinking about the project as a whole. So, yes, we’re just doing window treatment, but when you get on a virtual or you email us, we might say, oh, I understand you’re trying to decide between the two whites that we provide, what is the paint color on your wall? So we’re thinking about all encompassing, not just the window itself. So customers feel like, oh, these people, first of all, know what they’re doing, they know what they’re talking about, and they’re thinking about all the elements involved in the process. And custom window treatment is not, to be blunt, not cheap. It is an investment, and it is an investment that I encourage people to do once. And the only time you’re replacing your window treatment is when you’re moving to your next home. So the purchase you’re making today is something that is timeless. We want it to last. We want you to be happy with it in five years, ten years, 1520 years. So I think just thinking about all those elements when talking to a customer allows us to just provide a little extra customer service that isn’t maybe expected. And I also think a lot of people these days, like, we have a chat, we have email, but it literally goes to a human. In the beginning, it went straight to me and my husband Adam. So we would be replying to emails on the weekends while we had three kids. I don’t know how we did it, but I just think that little extra step you can do is so important and it goes a long way.
Diana Fryc:
Well, I feel like I’m hearing when you’re talking about your hospitality background, I have a friend who owns a hotel, and we talked about the difference between hotels that have a good experience and a great experience and a bad experience. And really what it is, is anticipating the needs of the client, knowing what they’re going to need before they know so that there’s no friction. So what I’m hearing from you is when you’re saying you’re talking about the whole project, you have an anticipation that this person is going to be doing window treatments, and they might be thinking of window treatments at the moment. But then once they get that in, then they step back and look at the whole project and go, oh, I wished I would have made a different choice. Thinking about it this way, your approach is to help them see what their needs are ahead of them because you’ve been there a hundred times.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Exactly. And we’ll ask the simplest question that no one even sits to think about. I’m like, what are you doing in this room? What do you use me in this room?
Diana Fryc:
Exactly.
Haley Weidenbaum:
And I’ll often get, well, we just moved in, so it’s going to be my office. But one day we hope for it to be a kid’s room. We kind of have to think about, okay, that’s the journey that this room is going to go on. What window treatment will kind of check all the boxes. So you’re not changing the window treatment when you change the room.
Diana Fryc:
Exactly. Yeah. Okay. So I like anticipating the needs and not waiting for a customer to raise their hand. Like you’re wanting to be ahead of that. Nice.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Exactly. Yeah. And we’ve always had a trust Pilot or review system from the beginning because as a shopper myself, a consumer myself, I go to the reviews. I think they’re really important. And the trust Pilot is a great vehicle to use for those reviews because they’re from actual consumers that have received our product or interacted with our company.
Diana Fryc:
Well, I want to talk a little bit, then we talk about the timelessness of the product that you have and taking care of the customer. What falls next in line is kind of trends. I know that you are really on top of trends when you’re talking about an investment like you are. Many of the people that are listening to the show come from fast moving CPG where people are buying the product daily, weekly, on a monthly schedule. Yours is a kind of a single time investment, unless you’re somebody that has disposable income and is changing window dressings on a regular basis. How do you guide somebody between trends and kind of the long term needs of a home when we’re talking about the window?
Haley Weidenbaum:
So when I was before Abraham started, I would go to these companies and they would literally have like thousands of fabrics to choose from. And so I, even as an interior designer, was so overwhelmed. I’m like, oh my God, these are too many options. So I’ve always, at our core, wanted Everham to provide like curated options. So what you see today, we have twelve essential fabrics, three shears, four stripes, four trims. And we also have a line of like, woven wood. So it’s very curated and we’re growing it, but we’re growing it at a pace where I’m not just going to include a new fabric because I suddenly see it everywhere, online or on social media. I want it to be something that two things. One, I know I won’t get tired of in five years. And the second thing is, I would want to put it in my own home. It’s kind of the litmus test. If I put it in my own home, it’s going to go on Everhem. So it’s just a nice way to keep everything very curated, as I said, and then not over complicate the process for consumers and also picking colors that are neutral enough to be able to go with a variety of styles and designs. But I would say that for window treatment, stay away from trends is my go to answer. Because it’s a big investment. You don’t want to change it. You don’t want to pick something that you’re going to get tired of in six months. And patterns can be trendy at times, so I often like to pick patterns that are timeless and classic, like a stripe of floral can be, which I hope to hope to get into florals one day soon. And just kind of keeping that interior design mindset in place when I’m personally sourcing all the material we’re going to use. And as we grow, I just want that to be at the core of what we do, because I think that the hardest part for consumers is picking the fabric for their shades or their drapery. Because too many options, someone’s like, I’m lost you’ve lost me. I don’t even know where to go exactly. The most important thing is everyone’s like, what’s the trends for 2023 or 2024? And I’m like I don’t really like to talk about trends. I kind of want to talk about how I do see a lot of things coming back. So right now, just a couple of weeks ago, we launched cafe curtains. So little, like, above a sink or in a kitchen? Nook, like little baby curtains. I think that is something that is nostalgic and totally. And we basically brought that online because a lot of designers were requesting it. So the designers kind of helped me see what are the trends in the design community. And this whole idea of cottage core is like a design trend that’s coming back. And I think it’s because of COVID everyone wants a simpler, calmer pace and that is reflected in the interior design of someone’s home. And I guess cafe curtains kind of make everyone feel maybe like they live in the French countryside again or never.
Diana Fryc:
Very 19 late 70s, early 80s influence, for sure. Yeah, by the late 80s, those were out. I think they were out by the or early 90s, they started to go out. Yeah.
Haley Weidenbaum:
But then again, we’re only offering our. Cafe curtains and like our neutral shears. So I wouldn’t do it in like a crazy pattern.
Diana Fryc:
Yeah. Oh, my goodness.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Well.
Diana Fryc:
I did not see that when I was poking around last night. I’m going to have to go back. Okay. Now you are running this business with your husband and every once in a while I have a guest that comes that is also running the business with their husband. I myself run a business with my husband and those husband business spousal relationships or familial relationships in business can be a little bit tricky. Tell us what sort of tips do you have for folks that are either working with a spouse or family member or considering it. What kind of tips would you recommend to them so that your entire life doesn’t evolve into a work day?
Haley Weidenbaum:
Exactly. So I think the biggest tip I can give anybody who’s working with their partner is like, stay in your lane. We have our lanes and we have our strengths and we really try to stay in those. So, Adam’s, CFO and our part time graphic designer, I like to say, because when we have a design project pop up, we’ll work on those. But really CFO is his main title and I’m CMO, I work on all the marketing side of things. So I’d say we cross paths when he has a budget update or from a marketing point of view, we’re working together. But when we’re working together I’m doing marketing, which I do love because I’m so passionate about how this brand looks and feels to everybody. He is working on a graphic design project, which is his little passion. So it’s a nice one to overlap. In working together day to day, we’re working on something that we’re really passionate about. But I think it’s important if you are able to when you are able to hire more team members, that they act as buffers in a sense. And you are like a team. Sometimes when you’re working with your husband, it’s just you two. You guys can speak to each other in a way that you would never speak to a team.
Diana Fryc:
A little shorthand or kurt.
Haley Weidenbaum:
So if you’re in the office space with other people, obviously there’s a different type of way you approach your partner.
Diana Fryc:
Exactly.
Haley Weidenbaum:
It’s kind of a buffer, I like to call it. And then on the 24/7 live and breathe work. We are all about work life balance. Like, we are home by 06:00 P.m. With the kids for the chunk of time that they need, dinner, bath and bed. And sometimes we’ll go back online if we really have to. But I always say, like, we’re not saving lives, we are doing window treatment. So me and my husband are on the same page, that we have the same core values, that we want to be with family and we want to have our own lives and not just live to work exactly. I think it’s important that you and your partner stay in your lane, but also on the same page about how you want your work life to be and then also where you want the business to be, your goals in 510 years. So we often align on that. We do align, and we also regroup about it, have discussions together, and we look at each other. We look at each other. Can’t believe we started this business. Can’t believe we have three kids. Can’t believe two of them are twins. We kind of have, like, pinch me moments all the time. It’s kind of exciting and fun, and we both don’t take things too seriously. We like to still enjoy life, have fun, and that would be my best advice, is, like, life can’t all be about work, but if it is about.
Diana Fryc:
Work, make it fun and celebrate the wins. Hey.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah, exactly. So we’re so focused on, like, we were so focused on the day to day. Now we’re so focused on the monthly numbers, and you just got to step back and just be proud of what you’ve accomplished thus far.
Diana Fryc:
Yeah. Well, tell us what advice would you give to somebody who’s following in your footsteps? And I’m talking about this. You want to take on something big? I’ll step back. Like I said, many of the guests or many of the people that listen to the show are fast moving consumer packaged goods, and that means most of those products have a pretty low barrier of entry. You’ve got something that’s a little bit more complicated. You’ve got a supply chain that is slower than many, not in all instances, and you don’t have as many bits and pieces as maybe some food brands do. But what you’re looking for is a larger investment from people, from customers. What advice do you have to somebody who’s wanting to start something? I’m going to say this big.
Haley Weidenbaum:
This is big.
Diana Fryc:
It is big.
Haley Weidenbaum:
I know. Well, first of all, it’s like a very complicated product, window treatment. So sometimes my husband is like, why did you choose window treatment? Could have chosen anything else. So I think my biggest advice to somebody is to do your research. So I luckily was in this home industry business, so I felt like I lived and breathed this industry for eight years and also got my hands dirty with window treatment. I tried what didn’t work, what did work. So really, just like, the trials and tribulations and doing your research and development before you hit the launch button, I think is really important. However, we have done things that have completely failed, even after doing a bunch of research, so that is obviously okay. I think that it’s important to just keep trying and innovating and reiterating, but at the forefront of everything, do some big exploration of the field you want to go into and really immerse yourself in it, but I do think everything you do in your life kind of leads you to where you’re supposed to be. My hospitality background, it was so helpful in launching the business I want today, and I didn’t obviously know that when I was in the hospitality business. So there’s clearly a through line and that everybody has to absolutely kind of see it and let you know, everything does happen for a reason. But I believe that you can push things forward if you really believe in them. And I think my husband, when I gave him the idea of starting a window treatment business, he probably had like a billion question marks in his head, but we just made it work and made it happen, and it’s really hard. So I don’t want to devalue the fact that we have tough days and we’ve had really tough days, but when you get to see a little light at the end of the tunnel and that affirms that what you’ve put all this work into is actually working. It just energizes us. That’s what’s really great for me is, like, when I see something working, even if it’s like a glimmer of something, like you said, I still get the trust pilot review. So if I see a good review from somebody I’ve never even talked to or met with, it just motivates me. I’m like, that’s what I started this business for. And so it’s really important to me, that entire aspect.
Diana Fryc:
Love it. You said something that is really true, met a number of people that have graduated over the last few years. It would be no surprise that a lot of people reach out to me and want to learn about the industry and how to get into it. And oftentimes I hear, well, I don’t want to just take any job because I don’t know if it’s going to get me somewhere. And I always say, just like you said, even things that I learned when I was working in fast food, I use every day in my job. First of all, I think everybody should work in hospitality of some nature, whether it’s a hotel or fast food or restaurant, because the learnings of people’s interactions happen really fast and the feedback is instantaneous. Right.
Haley Weidenbaum:
And you try something and you quickly learn. You don’t want to do that totally for what you do. I or what industries you’ve worked with. I thought I wanted to be a chef, so I worked one day in a kitchen and I was like, this is not for me.
Diana Fryc:
Exactly.
Haley Weidenbaum:
You just learn quickly and then just doing something that maybe you’re scared of doing or you don’t think is the right fit, you’ll still learn something from it.
Diana Fryc:
Totally. Absolutely. Well, tell us what’s next for Everhem.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Okay, well, so many things. I mean, every year we kind of like, set out our goals. And I think this year brand expansion is like a huge thing for us and just increasing our brand awareness through a lot of marketing efforts that were not in place the last three years. We’re luckily at a place where we can start spending money on paid media and sponsorship opportunities. So I’m really excited to kind of just spread the word about the brand. And another big thing which is so important to us from the beginning is our website. We are doing kind of like a next Digital chapter, which we’re really proud of what we have put out today that we launched three years ago. But we want to kind of keep up with the tech industry. So we are going to be doing kind of an enhancement of our entire website this year, which will just help with user experience. We learn through our customer feedback and frequently asked questions. What are we missing from the website that people really need to know about? So I’m excited to kind of implement that into web form. And yeah, those are, I think, our two big goals.
Diana Fryc:
Excellent. Love it.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Yeah.
Diana Fryc:
Oh, man, Haley, I’m so enjoying this conversation. Our time is almost up. But I have one last question that I like to ask absolutely everybody that’s kind of not related to everything that we’ve been covering and that’s this. Are there any women leaders or rising stars out there that you would like to elevate for the work they’re doing right now?
Haley Weidenbaum:
I love this question. I love that you ask all your guests this question. And I think for me, I have like a personal answer and kind of a bigger picture answer. Personally, I’d like to elevate my sister. I have an older sister who has been like my biggest supporter of this company in my life forever. She has always been there for me, rooting me on for advice, there to help me with Everham, like at the drop of a hat. So she is currently diving into the world of photography. So she is now taking the photos for Everham for a lot of our projects. So she is just following her passion now. But I think really her passion is kind of lifting and motivating her friends and her family. So I just feel really lucky that she is my sister and I get to have that fan. She’s like my number one fan, I think, which is really nice for me to be a super fan. Exactly. And it’s just me and my sister. So I just feel really lucky that we have that sisterhood relationship. So I’d love to every day want to elevate her and then kind of a bigger scope is the women in the design industry. So that’s where I got started and I was inspired by all the interior designers, especially women that had done it before me. And this industry is very hard to navigate. And every year it’s shifting, and you have to kind of mold yourself to where you need to be in regards to building a business and making money. And I just look up to all of the women in interior design for what they’re doing because they inspire me and they motivate me to create a product that makes their jobs easier, in a sense. So I’m excited to continue to build my relationships with the women in interior design and elevate them.
Diana Fryc:
I love that. Wow.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Thank you so much. Diana, this has been a pleasure to speak to you.
Diana Fryc:
Yeah. Well, hey, we’ve been talking with Haley Weedenbaum, CEO, CMO, and co-founder. How many C suites do we need in there?
Haley Weidenbaum:
Too many. Yes.
Diana Fryc:
Of Everhem. Haley, where can people learn more about you and your company?
Haley Weidenbaum:
Everhem.com is the best way to learn.
Diana Fryc:
All about us, and that is E-V-E-R-H-E-M. Exactly the way it sounds. Everhem.com. Yeah. Thank you for your time today. I’m so happy to have spent time with you, and I really look forward to seeing what you guys do next.
Haley Weidenbaum:
Thank you so much.
Diana Fryc:
You bet. Hey, I want to thank you listeners for your time today. If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. Otherwise, have a great rest of your day, and we’ll catch you next time on the Gooder podcast
Produced by Heartcast Media.
