We recently connected with Michele Atwood and have shared our conversation below.
Michele, appreciate you joining us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?
For all of my business ventures, I manage the social media accounts on my own. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but for me, I feel that putting out the content myself keeps the connection personal with my audience. I want them to know that regardless of how big we grow, I’m still at the helm and I still have that desire to connect and be in the know with them.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve been a huge Disney fan for as long as I can remember. From my first visit at 6 years old, I was completely hooked and that never went away. About 13 years ago, I embarked on a journey on social media basically just to connect with other Disney fans. That’s when The Main Street Mouse was born, it was a hobby. Low and behold, I found a lot of people out there just like me, and my husband created a website. We talked about this even before this on our Honeymoon to Walt Disney World. I was living just South of Detroit in Michigan at the time. The Main Street Mouse grew so fast, that my hobby was becoming a business. In 2014, we decided to take a leap of faith and move our family to Florida, to be closer to the parks and see how far we could take this dream. The idea was to try it for one year and see how it went. Well, this Summer is our 9 year Florida anniversary, things went very well. It took a lot of hard work and tough times, but eventually we got on Disney’s media list and now cover events for Walt Disney World, Disneyland and Disney Cruise Line. It wasn’t easy, but the rewards are definitely worth it.
Along the way, with my husband Scott’s backing, I launched my own clothing line inspired by Disney, Lost Princess Apparel. The idea was to make cute and comfortable outfits for ALL sizes that people can feel confident in. Most prints are theme park inspired, we use pockets as much as we can and have created quite a loyal customer base.
Fast forward to 2021, another Disney inspired business was formed, the House of Mouse Expo in Central Florida. My husband had this dream to create an event for Disney fans to gather, meet some of their favorite celebrities, and support small businesses. There are many conventions across the country, but we felt we needed something exclusively for all the brands that fall under the Disney umbrella here near WDW. The last expo was in January, where we had the largest Hocus Pocus reunion to date with 10 actors from the films. Seeing the joy that this show has brought to the community has been quite rewarding, I’m really proud of my husband for bringing the House of Mouse Expo to life. He runs the back end, and I do the promoting and host the celeb panels. It’s a team effort!
So, what started as a hobby back in Michigan, turned into three successful businesses. In 2017 I wrote a book about our story, “Moving to Main Street U.S.A” which has been inspiring to women everywhere to chase their dreams and take risks. The feedback I’ve received from readers around the world has been amazing and is something I truly take to heart. I’m glad I can be a source of inspiration to those who need it. I also wrote two children’s books, “How Many Sleeps Till Disney?” and “How Many Sleeps Till Disneyland?” These are countdown books for little ones who are excited for their upcoming Disney vacations. The main character in the books is Gracie, named after the baby we lost in 2017. This was a way to keep her memory alive and give her Disney adventures, just like my two sons have got since they were babies. Everything we do truly comes from the heart.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
For me, I had to learn to toughen up and get a better business sense. When The Main Street Mouse was growing by leaps and bounds, I still considered it as something fun to do. Taking it as a real business was a challenge because I didn’t want to change who I am based on success. When we first moved to Florida, I had a lot of hard lessons to learn. I took people at face value, and unfortunately got burned quite a few times. So much so that I considered moving back to Michigan. Sometimes when you’re too nice, people take advantage of it, and that was a hard pill to swallow. In the past three years, I’ve decided that you indeed can be tougher and still maintain who you are at the core. There’s a difference between kind and being a push over. I feel like I wasted a lot of time by not standing up for myself or feeling worthy of getting to do the amazing job that I have. In hindsight, I wish I’d have been more of a no nonsense business owner from the beginning. But, we live and we learn as time goes by.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A big lesson that I had to learn goes with the old saying, “not everyone has the same heart as you.” I was brought up by wonderful parents who taught me to be respectful, giving and trusting. I’m still respectful and give what I can, but the trust part had to be changed a bit. When you run your own business, you have to be sharp on aware. Not everyone has your best interest at heart, and just because you wouldn’t treat anyone a certain way, doesn’t mean it rings true others. Being a business owner with a large online community, I have interacted with people from around the world, which is a blessing. That being said, I’ve learned to be more guarded and protective of the businesses we’ve created. I wasn’t about to change who I am, but rather that a more business savvy version of myself. Female business owners sadly still have it rough in today’s society, so being on your game as much as possible is so important.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.themainstreetmouse.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/themainstreetmouse
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/themainstreetmouse
- Twitter: @mainstreetmouse
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/TheMainStreetMouse