We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brittany Williams Leverett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brittany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I’ve always been a busybody. I knew that I always wanted to be a business owner but had no idea how I was going to do it.

In 2017 my Aunt Claudia started working in NC at her new quick service restaurant in the Concord Regional Airport. I always just thought she was my cool aunt who had great style, bags, fragrances and gave the best gifts. When we connected more during her time in the charlotte area where I was living with my husband, I found out she was a minority owner of duty free stores in Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando airports. I asked her candidly one day “have you ever thought about not doing this as a partner and doing this on your own?” She was so shocked I asked because she never thought about or thought I would be interested. So with her blessing I set out and looked for RFPs that we could qualify for. We started going to them and I started learning the industry.

At one particular RFP meeting, everything changed. My aunt left to go talk to someone and I was left to my own devices. I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was the catalyst of our change. He happened to work for my best friend’s dad years ago and said he was with a food and beverage company. He said that he wanted to give me a call if the airport’s his company is in ask for duty free. I said sure, not expecting a call or anything but low and behold…he called me 3 months later after I finished my doctorate. He asked if we wanted to go to Melbourne Orlando International Airport and open up a duty free store. Now, as exciting as this was, the airport only had 2 flights a week. We made NOTHING our first year we opened in 2019…well we made like $2,000. We all know what happened in 2020 but that was an incredible change of life for us because we were told the airport was going to get UK flights in 2022 that would change everything. We were so excited about the opportunity and the expansion. But then, things took a dramatic and sudden change happened — in October 2020, my aunt unexpectedly passed away.

It was a shock to us all becuase she was not sick. I had to put on my big girl pants and figure out how to save her existing business and continue with this big project. I formed my own company, Legacy Consulting Group LLC and became certified as an ACDBE business (Airport Concessionaire Disadvantaged Business Enterprise). I was able to continue with the expansion of the airport and in 2022, despire working a full-time job, I was able to make over a half of a million dollars in a store and build a team of 8. In 2023, we were able to double that and after being laid off from my full time job at the time, I became a full-time entrepreneur. I now spend y time building the business as well as creating a new coaching business to help female entrepreneurs stop being solopreneurs and learn how to delegate and automate to help improve their business and their lives.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I grew up in Harlingen, TX and went to undergrad at the University of Miami then got my MBA from Tulane University. AFter graduating I spent time working at the store level for Target as an HR manager and then transitioned into the automotive space as a training specialist for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (now Stellantis). I was laid off in the pandemic and then pivoted into tech startups. I spent 2020-2023 building communities for alumni at tech sales boot camps (Flockjay and Vendition). Was laid off in July 2021 from Flockjay and started with Vendition in October 2022. I was laid off in 2023 from Vendition and decided to pivot full-time and work in the store and 2024 is the year I am working on growing the business.

I am proud of myself for practicing discernment when it’s important. I could have worked on expanding the business last year but I was not ready emotionally or financially. I waited until i was in a space where I was ready to take on the challenge and do a good job with it. I think a lot of us suffer from something I call Octopus Arms. If we’re lucky, we’re given two arms in this life, so why do we operate like we have 8? Why do we try to juggle more than we can? We need to automate, delegate, ask for help, and communicate in order to grow –not take on every project by ourselves. I am proud to say that I believe in growing a team, no matter how “small” you think you are. You can afford more than you think! It does not have to be insanely expensive but the reward is that you create an ecosystem to support and grow but also give yourself the ability to live your life!

It’s important for me to develop my team, recognize their strengths, and communicate with them. I want to leave everyone better than I found them. I truly believe that your team is an extension of you and when you can trust and develop then, you see the growth and potential in your business grow exponentially.

Any advice for managing a team?

Lean into your team’s strengths – I pay attention to what people are good at and I have created roles and given them responsibilities that cater to their strengths and interests. This gets their buy in and also their excitement around their new responsibilities

Compensate accordingly & increase for cost of living – Look, if you’re charging more, you probably can afford to give your team at least SOME type of raise. Every year I give my team a small bump to account for cost of living. This gets them excited and shows them that they are valued and appreciated as people, not just a number.

Check in regularly – You won’t know what’s going on if you don’t check in. I remember I had a manager at the store and I just felt something was off and asked a team member and she goes well…..she’s been lying and telling us X. after some investigation I found out it was true and needless to say she was the bad seed in the group. If I had not checked in, I would never have known.

Open lines of communication – are you accessible to your team? Have you built a relationship with them where they can tell you what’s going on and you can help and support them?

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Now that I sit and think about it, I’ve done nothing but pivot in my professional life. When tranisitiong from Target to FCA (Stellantis), I ahd to learn an entirely new and very difficult industry – automotive. I studied so much for my interview and ended up getting the job because of that! I showed how I could be separated from the others because of my tenacity and willingness to succeed and put my best foot forward. Years later, I did the same thing when getting into the tech space. I had to learn a million different tools and a whole new world. I then did it again in the duty free industry! So basically I am always pivoting because to be honest with you, I am probably one of those weird people that actually welcomes change and learns to adapt quickly and rise to the challenge

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lcgroupnc.com
• Instagram: @coreplusdutyfree
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/bannwilliams