We recently connected with Lindsay Lobb and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lindsay , thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
The other morning, I was walking my dog and passed an office where employees were all showing up and walking in together. It brought me back to the days when I worked a “9-5” job. A lot of thoughts and feelings went through my head at once. Some of those thoughts were things like “I sometimes miss that feeling of shared experiences with a whole office” and “I remember the days where I could actually leave my work at work.” Which is all true. There are moments where I miss having a “regular job” where I focused on it for 8 hours a day, made some work friends, and then had nights and weekends to spend as I liked. With a bridal business in particular, you are working a lot of nights and weekends and try to avoid making plans in order to keep as many appointment dates open as possible.
Being a business owner has been a lot about learning how to stay connected and also let go at times. It’s true that when you own your company, you no longer work the typical 40-hour week, but you are also probably working more and ALWAYS thinking about it and ways to improve and grow. It’s also about realizing that no one is there to tell you what to do and how to do it, which is a huge blessing but it is also scary. Your success completely rests on your motivation and decisions. As someone who is indecisive at times, this can be really daunting. So there are of course moments where I think about what it “used to be like.”
The good thing is, those thoughts are always fleeting and are completely overpowered by all of the joys and excitement of being a business owner. There are the immediate bonuses, like having the flexibility to go on a lovely morning walk with my pup while other people are expected at work, and being able to set my own hours to an extent. But so much more than the flexibility is the soul-deep joy of seeing something you have dreamed about for years actually happening. Runaway Bridal was born from Jessica and my personal experiences and I cannot express the excitement and happiness at putting in the work to bring our vision to life. It is amazing to get to spend our days hearing each brides’ story and continue to come up with ways to make a lasting impact. Our appointments and moments with brides make every extra hour and responsibility worth it.
In addition to building something we are truly passionate about, one of the aspects of our business that makes it totally worth is sharing this business with someone. That may not be for everyone. We also got extremely lucky in being friends with the same vision and successfully transitioning from besties to business partners (and staying friends!). For me, having someone to share ideas with, as well as all the highs and lows of owning a business, has been a major key to making it all worth it. It would have been much harder to take that leap without someone else along for the ride. If you are lucky enough to find someone you trust and can spend a LOT of time with, I highly recommend it. Either way, I also strongly encourage making friends in your industry. The wedding industry has been so supportive and vendors look out for each other. It is truly empowering to work with other small business owners who are going through the same struggles and triumphs, and who want to lift each other up.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Jessica Siron and I are the co-founders of Runaway Bridal. We created this concept based on our own wedding dress shopping experiences and wanting something new and different for future brides. I felt like “just another bride” and instead of having a special moment, found myself in a store full of other brides swapping the same dresses around and being rushed through the process. Jessica does not like like being in the spotlight and felt very uncomfortable and pressured, and ended up purchasing wedding dresses to try on at home. This was fun but logistically tricky (you typically have to buy the dresses outright and sometimes do not have the option to return).
Inspired by fashion trucks and our love for making others feel special and appreciated, we created a bridal boutique that travels directly to the bride. Our aim is to provide a comfortable and custom in-home wedding dress shopping experience. We bring everything from full-length mirrors to bridal cookies to a full rack of dresses picked after talking to each bride. Our belief is that every person deserves their own experience that reflects their personality and creates the atmosphere they want. This could be a huge party, a one-on-one appointment, or anything in between. We also love participating in pop-ups, which are an extension of our in-home appointments. Each bride gets private access to the entire boutique (complete with the same custom elements from our in-home appointments).
We have also partnered with some truly amazing local women-owned small businesses to add even more personalization to appointments. This includes things like photography, dessert bites, charcuterie boards, cocktail kits, and more. Having options allows brides the option to create a wedding dress shopping moment made just for them. Plus, we love being part of this industry and supporting other local small businesses.
Together, these elements are what makes Runaway Bridal special. Our passion and mission is to positively impact each bride we meet. Wedding dress shopping can be an incredibly fun part of wedding planning, but it can also be daunting and many brides feel a lot of pressure around it. We have heard it compared to swimsuit or jean shopping (which many other ladies out there can attest to being less fun or downright unpleasant). Add in an overly body-focused society, and it’s not hard to understand why people can be afraid of this experience. We want to promote the beauty and joy in each body and show brides that wedding dresses are created to show off their beauty, and NOT to force anyone into any standard or size. Our dresses are as gorgeous and unique as our brides to give even more options.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
We started Runaway Bridal to provide a truly comfortable, personalized wedding dress shopping experience. Our desire for something new and different is the inspiration behind our business model, and I think it shows in our appointments.
This is why we offer custom in-home and private in-studio pop-up appointments. We want to give brides every opportunity to feel comfortable and. to customize as much of the appointment as possible, from the music, to the number of people attending, to the general “vibe.”
Our goal is to actually connect with each bride and do all we can to show they are heard and understood. I think our authenticity in the process is what helped build our reputation for truly caring about each person we meet and wanting to give them the best experience. One of the biggest indicators we are on the right track is by how many appointments are booked through word-of-mouth. Well over 60% of our appointments are referrals from past brides who loved their experience. Nothing makes us happier than hearing from a new bride how much their friend or contact loved their experience (especially for those who were initially dreading wedding dress shopping). There is no better feeling than knowing you made an impact, no matter how small, on another person’s joy and happiness.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
This is a story that is probably familiar to many new business owners. We had dreamed of Runaway Bridal for years, and after spending a good deal of time carefully putting together our business plan and getting everything in place, we were finally feeling ready to launch. That also happened to be the week everything shut down due to COVID. We were terrified of all the unknowns and changes happening in the world, and had a moment of “should we be doing this?”
Instead of completely panicking and falling back on our “backup” job plans, we took this as a sign to adjust and adapt. We pushed our opening to late 2020 and geared our entire in-home dress shopping to be focused on sanitized, safe appointments in the comfort and safety of brides’ homes. This gave them so much more control over their environment. We also took extra measures to follow both the strict new rules in place and also any additional requirements set by brides. This model ended up working out very well for Covid brides. It was a terrifying time to open a business, but I am so glad we pushed through and did not give up.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.runawaybridalco.com
- Instagram: @runawaybridalco
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/runawaybridalco
- Other: Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/runawaybridal
Image Credits
Captured by Kt Photography; We, The Light Photography; Meraki Wedding Photography; Kenzie Lynn Photography; Gracie Marie Photography