069: When Passion and Heart Lead the Way: Dana Spinola of fab'rik
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Summary:
It’s the opening day of your new clothing boutique. As a new entrepreneur, you’ve worked so hard to see your passion and vision come to life. But when you arrive for your first day of work, you find that your business has been completely robbed. Everything from your inventory to your register is gone. What do you do?
This is what happened to Dana Spinola, CEO of fab’rik boutique stores. Since the 2006 launch, fab’rik has grown to over 40 store locations and launched a nonprofit, free fab’rik. On today’s episode of the podcast, Jeff and David join Dana in the fab’rik offices to hear her story. We hope you find Dana’s unwavering vision and heart as inspiring as we did.
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Three Takeaways:
1. There will be a “death of the vision” moment
This is the moment when everything seems to be going wrong and you wonder if you’ll make it. For Dana, this was her store being robbed on its opening day. When these moments happen, remember your why and let it motivate you to continue going.
2. There’s a difference between working in the business and working on the business
If you’re growing a healthy business, a shift needs to happen from being in the day-to-day to working on long-term vision and strategy. This can be a hard adjustment that requires a ton of trust in your team. But to continue to grow, your business probably needs you to focus on it, not in it.
3. There’s a place for both passion and mission
Dana started her boutique because she had a love and passion for clothing. After her launch was successful, she was able to put resources into a mission and founded free fab’rik. The reason free fab’rik can exist is because of the planning, passion and wise business plan of fab’rik boutiques. When your passion makes way for a mission, it’s a beautiful thing.