November 27, 2024 • 51 mins
Rosalie Guillaume, co-founder of Le Macaron, a French pastry franchise with over 65 locations, shared her journey from a modest background in France to building a successful business in the U.S. Despite losing everything during the Great Recession, she leveraged her experience with Amway and her passion for macarons to start her own business. Rosalie emphasized the importance of hiring for traits, maintaining family harmony, and breaking down large goals into manageable steps. She highlighted the significance of customer service, simplicity in operations, and the cultural experience her stores offer. Rosalie’s story underscores resilience, family values, and the power of following one’s dreams.
ACTION PRINCIPLES
Pick one to do this week:
- Take smaller steps. When a project or task is overwhelming, it helps to break it down into smaller steps. ACTION: List out all the steps of a large project and focus only on the next step.
- Embrace your unique qualities. Finding ways to incorporate your traits or passions during reinvention can boost your success. ACTION: Ask yourself how you can incorporate something you love or a natural talent into the next phase of your career.
- Hire for traits. Many leaders make the mistake of hiring based on skills. Traits are far more critical to your company’s success. ACTION: Prioritize traits in a potential employee that match your company culture.
- Believe in yourself. Surround yourself with a supportive circle, and have faith in your ability to succeed. ACTION: Write a list the reasons you will succeed and read them daily as a reminder.
GUEST RESOURCES
Learn more from Rosalie Guillem by visiting Le Macaron.
SUGGESTED LINKEDIN LEARNING COURSE
Dave Crenshaw develops productive leaders in Fortune 500 companies, universities, and organizations of every size. He has appeared in Time magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News. His courses on LinkedIn Learning have been viewed tens of millions of times. His five books have been published in eight languages, the most popular of which is The Myth of Multitasking—a time management bestseller. As an author, speaker, and online instructor, Dave has transformed the lives and careers of hundreds of thousands around the world. DaveCrenshaw.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
My husband, my son in law, my daughter. They were
hiding in the kitchen. Everyonewas scared about talking with
the first customer. Oh, my God,and I was in front
Dave Crenshaw (00:13):
in this episode, you'll get to know Rosalie
Guillaume, the macaronfranchisor, and you'll hear the
story of how she went fromlosing everything in the Great
Recession to building asuccessful French pastry
franchise with over 65locations. I'm Dave Crenshaw,
and this is my success Show.
Welcome back, friends, to theDave Crenshaw Success Show. This
(00:38):
is where I interview some of themost successful people I've met
in my life's journey, and I letyou come along and learn along
with my family, if it's yourfirst time here, by way of
introduction, I'm a best sellingauthor. I speak around the world
to Fortune 500 companies, andI've taught millions of people
how to be successful through myonline courses, in particular,
(00:59):
my courses on LinkedIn learningwith this show, I wanted to
create something lasting, a bitof a legacy project, to help my
kids succeed. I was thinkingabout them. Then I thought,
Well, why not let you enjoylearning along with them? I seek
to interview people who havemulti faceted success, so not
just career or financial successas important as those are, but
(01:22):
also have time for fun and maketime for family. And my guest
today is someone who reallythat's an important thing in her
life. Now, one thing I'd likeyou to do as you listen to
today's episode, look forsomething you can do, an action
you can take, and then that way,you'll make my guest success
story a part of your successstory. And I'm really excited
(01:45):
about my guest today. I admitthat this whole morning I've
gotten very hungry thinkingabout her business. My guest is
Rosalie Guillaume. She's theowner and co founder of Le
macaron, a French patisseriespecializing in authentic,
handcrafted macarons. She movedto the United States from France
(02:06):
in 2002 and started the businessin 2009 with her daughter
Audrey. Since its inception, lemacaron has become a growing
franchise with 66 locationsnationwide. Le macaron has
received the entrepreneurfranchise 500 top food franchise
award multiple times. Rosalieenjoys reading books, traveling,
(02:29):
playing golf, and spending timewith her family and eight
grandchildren. Rosalie, it's anhonor to have you on the show
today. Thanks for being here.
Unknown (02:40):
Thank you for having me on your show. I feel honored
that you wanted to hear mystory, and I hope your details
will understand me even with myFrench accent.
Dave Crenshaw (02:52):
Yeah, before the show, we were talking about how
I took several years of French,and so did my assistant,
Victoria so but I think yourEnglish is far, far better than
our French.
Unknown (03:05):
Thank you.
Dave Crenshaw (03:06):
And I'll confess that as I've been contemplating
this interview this morning,I've been getting very hungry. I
love macarons and your store,and so I'm really thrilled to
learn the story behind all of itwith
Unknown (03:21):
pleasure. I am here for that.
Dave Crenshaw (03:24):
So I always like to start at the very beginning,
Rosalie. And by beginning, whatI mean is the question that many
people ask their kids, which is,what do you want to be when you
grow up? So when you weregrowing up in France, what did
you think you would be, or whatyour career would be,
Unknown (03:42):
that's a good question.
In fact, I didn't have aspecific dream job in mind, but
what I wanted to be or to do. Iwanted to travel the world. I
wanted to be in contact withpeople. I wanted to travel
different country and hearpeople listening their story,
and discover how they do live inother countries. That was my
(04:07):
dream. And I'm coming from avery modest family, so I didn't
have the money to travel, and atthe time, at 14 years old, I
said, Oh, maybe you can be aflag attendant, so you will be
able to travel the world, bythis way, without to have to
expend money. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (04:31):
and right now you're in Florida. What part of
France did you grow up in?
Unknown (04:35):
I grew up in south, south France. I grew up in a
small city between Marseille andExxon Provence, where the
lavender grows. Very lucky.
Dave Crenshaw (04:44):
Oh, that sounds beautiful. That sounds like a
smell, really good. So did youhave opportunities to travel
like around Europe? I mean,that's one advantage that you
have in a place like Franceversus the United States, is
just access to more countriesimmediately.
Unknown (05:00):
Yes, that's true, that we were able to go in Italy,
Spain, Switzerland, England,very easier. And I think that is
the advantage that we have inFrance, is that we speak several
language, you know, because wehave to adapt to the city where
we go. You
Dave Crenshaw (05:17):
know, I heard a joke about that once, if you
speak three languages, you'retrilingual. If you speak two
languages, you're bilingual. Ifyou speak one language, you're
American. That's good. So didyou have the opportunity to be a
flight attendant? What did youstudy? Please tell us about
(05:38):
that. Yes,
Unknown (05:38):
I wanted to learn and study different language,
because I already spoke Italian,because my mom was from,
originally from Italy, so thatwas my maternal language. But I
was born and raised in France,so France was my second
language, of course, and Ididn't pursue this career,
(06:01):
because I was very, very lucky.
In one sense. I met my husband.
I was 16 years old. Oh, wow. Heis the love of my life. I'm very
lucky. So we're gonna celebrate50 years, waiting in two years.
So that's great. Oh, that'sfantastic. Very proud of that.
So I was 16, he was 18, he wasgoing to college. He wanted to
(06:25):
study and to become a doctorthat he did. So I understood
that I had no choice to do longstudy by myself. I wanted to get
married. I wanted to to be ableto support a little the family.
So I went on private school tobecome a secretary, and I
(06:45):
learned at the time how to use atypewriter and take shorthand.
And I think that was a greatidea at the time, because,
remember, at the time, we had nocomputer, but when technology
advanced, I was already familiarwith using a keyboard and being
able to use different softwarevery quickly to create my own
(07:09):
company.
Dave Crenshaw (07:10):
Oh, and what was that company
Unknown (07:12):
that came after?
Because that was 78 we didn'thave the possibility at the
time. Bernard was a student. Iwas doing a little work, you
know, some temporary work, andat this time that might surprise
you, but we were inviting to ameeting, and they were
presenting the concept Amway,the American concept Amway, so
Dave Crenshaw (07:41):
Amway, right?
Yes. Okay, so multi levelmarketing, right? Exactly,
Unknown (07:47):
yes. So we were on our 20s, and I thought it was a good
way to have some extra earning.
And we started this businesswith my husband and with this
business, I mean, we had totravel a lot. We had to meet a
lot of people, of course. And Iwas happy, because that helped
(08:09):
us to go through all this nineyear of study that Bernard used
to have. So because we weredoing very well with harway, we
become a distributor diamond,and we were invited to do some
wonderful travels, and to cometo the USA, and fell in love
(08:29):
with America here by the travelthat we were earning, because we
were very good at selling.
Dave Crenshaw (08:38):
Okay, so I want to dive into that for a moment,
because I see some parallelswith the business that you run
now, with being a franchise,right? It's you understand the
value of having peopleunderneath you who are earning
and you're receiving income fromthat, but I do want to really
focus on the sales process. Sofirst of all, what made you good
(09:03):
at selling Amway to otherpeople? What are your you and
your husband's skill set thatallows you to do that?
Unknown (09:10):
We were a hard worker, very hard worker, having a good
sense of humor that's makingpeople interested and laughing
about the concept, but we arevery proud of the quality of the
product that we were selling. Wehad a passion for the product
that we were presenting that wassomething that was really 100%
(09:34):
sure for us. So we didn't haveany issue presenting this
concept and this product,because we were very proud of
them, and we worked very, veryhard. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (09:46):
when you say very hard, could you describe that a
little bit more? What did thatmean at the time? Yeah,
Unknown (09:51):
we had a meeting every day. We had to meet people, to
organize meetings, to travel allover France, to. Meet people
where they live, because we weredoing meeting in day house, in
day home, in day city. So thatwas a lot of work for us. And
Bernard was studying and I washaving a baby, you know? Wow.
(10:14):
That was a lot. But motivationwas here, and the pleasure to
share the idea and the pleasureto see people, the people having
some extra money for them too.
That was, that was great for us.
Dave Crenshaw (10:29):
So I just want to kind of debate something with
you a little bit here. Myperspective is, a lot of times
people will see something like amulti level marketing company,
and the phrase that theysometimes use to promote it to
others is passive income, right?
It's the idea that you havethese other people working
underneath you, and then you getthis passive income. But I feel
(10:51):
like that's kind of a misnomer,because clearly there's nothing
passive about what you weredoing. You were working very
hard to build that and I thinkthat that that's required of any
successful career is tocontinually work and maintain
that income. What? What's yourperspective on that?
Unknown (11:12):
I totally agree with Joe. I mean, you need to call
people, you need to motive them,you need to push them. You need
to to be in contact with them.
You need to organize, you needto present, you need to try. You
need to share the motivationwith them. That is a lot of
work, but we were at a level Ithink. We were the youngest
distributor director of all thetime. We were on our 20s, you
(11:35):
know. But at the time we reallyneed to have something in order
to survive. So that was the goodopportunity that was presented
to us, and we catch it. Youknow, when you are 20 and 22
years, you don't think a lotabout future, you you leave the
present moment. But for me, Ihave to say that being with this
(12:00):
company for several years, thathas been the best school ever. I
learned so much meeting allthese people. I learned so much
with my husband, doing all thesemeeting, presenting, talking
with people, learning frompeople. That was the best
(12:22):
school, the best university Icould do, I think so. That was
difficult. That was the worstthing.
Dave Crenshaw (12:30):
What's a lesson that you learned that you apply
today in your business with Lemacaron,
Unknown (12:38):
never give up. Never give up. And I have a My motto
that is just here, you know, ajourney of 1000 miles begin with
a single step. So even sometimesI can still overwhelm me. I say,
Okay, start Step one. Done. Steptwo, done. Step three, done, you
(13:02):
know, and never give up, and andyou can do it. And also, my
husband is funny because hesaid, always, I am not worrying
about something that I don'tknow. He said, she doesn't know
She cannot do it. She does. I amvery curious, and if I don't
(13:23):
know something, I ask. I askpeople, How we do that. I ask,
do you know that? And until Ifind all my answer and am I
taught me that that was veryimportant,
Dave Crenshaw (13:37):
and they provided a system as well, right? Like
you provide a system to yourfranchisees, and in a similar
way, you were following a systemthat Amway was giving you in
terms of sales training and that
Unknown (13:48):
sort of thing, the support, exactly, the
motivation, and they used toorganize a wonderful trip for
us. So I had the opportunity toleave my little city and travel
the world with the mostbeautiful hotels. Can you
imagine? I mean, I was on my onmy 20s. I I, I end up at the
(14:11):
world of Astoria in New York forthe first time of my life. You
know, that gives you a lot ofmotivation to see people
succeed, that show you that youcan succeed too. Yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (14:22):
and I had a mentor early on in my career,
Rosalie, who he talked about, hecreated a school in Mexico for
kids, and it was so importantfor them to have everything look
nice, the best desks, the bestclassrooms, all of those things.
And the reason why he did that,it was to expose them to the
(14:42):
concept of success, to give thema taste of this is possible.
Look at what this is. It soundslike. That's what that was for
you,
Unknown (14:49):
exactly. Because if I had to stay in my little city, I
would not have been traveling inUSA. And maybe I will be there
as of today. I will. Not moved.
But because I saw other things.
I saw success. I've saw the USA.
I saw the beautiful hotel, thebeautiful boats. I saw the
beautiful plane. I said, I canhave that too, and I'm gonna
(15:12):
fight to have that
Dave Crenshaw (15:16):
too. And I want to emphasize something too that
you said, which is, and this isa recurring theme Rosalie, with
the people that I'veinterviewed, is a little bit of
ignorance is good, a little bitof getting into something and
not realizing what you're doing.
Because if you think about allof the steps and everything that
you're gonna have to do, it justbecomes overwhelming. It's too
(15:37):
much. You're right? I'm dealingwith that right now, with a new
project that I'm doing, and Ijust have to continually stop
myself from thinking about thefuture. It's very weird. Stop
thinking about all that and justthinking about what's the next
step right here,
Unknown (15:51):
that's helped me a lot, step by step. Yeah, yeah.
Dave Crenshaw (15:56):
Okay, so I know that you moved to the United
States in 2002 so were youworking with Amway all the way
up to that, or was there aperiod in between? No,
Unknown (16:05):
he was a big period in between. In 1988 with Bernard.
He was a doctor, but he decidedthat he doesn't like that
anymore, so he wanted to changefields. And we created a
company, and we started to sellhouses, an apartment, a real
estate company, both together,and we were doing very, very
(16:31):
well. We had a big company inFrance. Everything was nice, and
in 2002 we moved to Floridabecause I wanted to take a
sabbatical year with mychildren. I wanted them to learn
to speak English. The fact isthat I really love living in
Florida, so I didn't want to goback in France. And that's when,
(16:55):
in 2008 2009 the Great Recessioneats, and it was chaos. We lost
everything. The bank were notfinancing anymore, so it was
chaos. So we lost everything,even my house here in USA. And
Dave Crenshaw (17:15):
you lost it all because you were selling real
estate because you wereinvesting, yes, yes. And both
here in the United States and inFrance, did you have properties
in both locations? Yes,
Unknown (17:26):
wow. And that was terrible. I
Dave Crenshaw (17:30):
want to spend a little time on that, because a
big part of this show is helpingpeople understand principles of
success. But you can't havesuccess without failure. So
could you sort of paint apicture of what that was like
for you and your husband andyour family to feel that and
experience that degree offailure.
Unknown (17:51):
Life was very simple before, beautiful house,
beautiful boats, travels, I meanbeautiful life, and suddenly you
have nothing. You cannot payyour mortgage, you cannot pay
the food, you cannot pay theutilities. You have nothing. So
(18:15):
you have to give back the Houseto the bank, and I have to try
to find an idea to survive.
Again, what I'm going to do tosurvive? I still had two little
daughter at the time withBernard, and it was a terrible
no one wanted to start a newbusiness. And I said, I need to
(18:37):
find an idea. We need to bounceback. We need to create
something so not having all thematerial was not important for
me. The most important wasstaying a focus on my family. I
had the love of my life. I havemy children. We were wealthy as
(18:59):
health. I mean, that was veryimportant. We had a roof
overhead, even if it was a smallapartment, I didn't care. That
was the most important familychildren, a roof. That was very
important. The rest, I was readyto start over anything else,
Dave Crenshaw (19:23):
there's an interesting combination. Is
you're describing this Rosalie,which is on one side, you're
talking about gratitude, andyou're saying, here are the
things that I have that are mostimportant, and you're grateful
for them, which is also aprinciple I've seen in many of
the people I've interviewed. Atthe same time, there was a
hunger, the hunger for more, thehunger to to do more and get
(19:46):
back to that level of success. Ithink sometimes people feel that
the two are against each other,that gratitude and the desire to
succeed, but really they're notright. They both can exist at
the same time,
Unknown (19:58):
absolutely one. One is the motivation of the other one,
as long as you're strong withyour family. I used to say, I
don't care where I live. Myfamily is my husband and my
children. So if it's a palace orif it's a two bedroom apartment,
that's not important. You knowyou are motivated to start
(20:19):
again. You know that you weresuccessful, and you know that
you have the capacity to startover, but you don't know how.
You don't know where, and myEnglish at the time was really,
really bad. I'm gonna, I have tosay
Dave Crenshaw (20:36):
you were able to get by in Florida for many years
without learning English. Howdid you do that?
Unknown (20:41):
Yeah. Because you know, when you move in another
country, you have tendency to befriends with the one that speak
the same language that you are,yeah. So you have the basic one
just what you need to have to goto the doctor or to do some
paperwork at school for thegirls, but you don't need to
express yourself and and youdon't know the the professional
(21:04):
term, but anyway, I and Ithought, what I can do, what I
can bring to this wonderfulcountry that has already almost
everything. So I was thinking,what do I have in France, and
that I am not able to find anUSA. And I started, where are we
(21:27):
good in France, that USA needsto have some improvement. So I
started, oh, the wine. We havewonderful wine in France. You
don't drink wine Rosalie, youdon't know thing on wine, so
eliminate. And I said, okay, thefashion. Oh, we have a wonderful
(21:48):
fashion in France. Oh, you don'tknow how to sew, you don't know
how to draw, you don't know howto design. Eliminate. And I went
by elimination like that, youknow? And finally I found out,
what do we love in France thatwe don't find here something to
eat. And I thought, oh,macaroon. I love macaroon in
(22:12):
France. I don't have anymacaroon store here in USA,
Dave Crenshaw (22:15):
especially Florida, right everywhere
Unknown (22:18):
at the time, in 2009 not one macaron in all the USA,
because in France, when I leftFrance, we were able to find
macaron only in Paris, at thelagerre store, and it was a long
tube behind the in front of thestore to have macaron. And a few
years after, we were able to seemacaron almost in every little
(22:41):
bakery in France that wasgrowing and growing and even in
Europe, but still not in USA.
And I said, that is my idea.
We're going to open a cafepatisserie, having the main
product being macaron. So mydaughter, my eldest daughter,
was still in France, and she wasmarried, having children, and I
(23:04):
called her, and she wanted tocome and join her. And I said,
you know, Andre, I think I foundan idea. We should open a cafe
patisserie, and we should sellmacarons and other little stuff
like ice cream and chocolate.
And she said, Yes, that's awonderful idea, ma'am. And I
said, Okay, you need to sendyour husband at school now,
(23:25):
because he has to learn how todo macaron. Wow. So we spoke
with Didier, and we sent a DJ inParis to the Lenape school. We
sent DJ in several differentschool to to learn how to do
this specialty. DJ is, who is myson in law. He's an older
(23:47):
husband, okay? And Didier was sogood at what he was doing in
Paris that he gets friends withthe instructors. And he was um,
sharing his idea of moving inUSA and opening a store, and one
of his instructors said, I willbe willing to help you. So we
(24:10):
got the help of this uh,wonderful chef that is still in
France that came several time inUSA to help to set up the
recipe, to set up the kitchenand to open our first location,
just a little tiny location inSarasota, Florida, that is still
(24:30):
open today.
Dave Crenshaw (24:35):
When you opened that, what was your vision? You
had all this success before inreal estate and even as a
diamond level Amway executive,when you started that one, did
you see a lot more in your mind?
Unknown (24:51):
My husband, yes, he did see. Okay, my husband had the
vision. He is a visionary, too.
So he said, I. We're gonna dosomething so simple that people
will be able to duplicate it. Ilove that. So the way we did
when we set up our firstlocation was extremely simple.
Even teenagers, my teenager,they were 14 and 15 at the time.
(25:16):
They were having some moneyduring weekend, you know, they
were watching at the store andrunning the store because it was
very simple. 16 years old, canrun a store, can open a store
and close the store, becauseeverything is extremely, very
simple. So when we opened thefirst location, people, they had
no clue about what was amacaron. So they saw the
(25:40):
beautiful science outside lemacaron, French pastry. So they
were coming inside. They werelooking for French pastry. At
that time, we didn't have Frenchpastry. Now we have a line of
product that is much moreimportant. But 10 years more, 13
years ago, we didn't have that.
(26:01):
And the people had no idea, andwere looking for Napoleon. What
is a Napoleon? I had no idea.
What is a Napoleon.
Dave Crenshaw (26:10):
Yeah, that's an American turn, isn't it? It's
not really what the French say.
Unknown (26:13):
Absolutely not. We call that mill Fauci, you know. But
when we opened the first day,Dave, he sent to me, my husband,
my son in law, my daughter. Theywere hiding in the kitchen.
Everyone was scared abouttalking with the first customer.
Oh, my God, and I was in front.
I love people. I love to talkwith people. I love to interact
(26:36):
with people. That is a qualitythat I require for my
franchisee, and I went in frontof my first customer. No
problem. They were showing methe flavor, because sometimes I
was not able to understand theaccent. You know, when people
come from New York, for me, forFrench girl, it's like
(26:57):
listening. Wow. It's verydifficult, but with a big,
beautiful smile and kindness thecustomer, they are great. I
never had any issue with myaccent at the time, and we
opened the first location likethat, 2009
Dave Crenshaw (27:18):
well, your accent, too is a strength for
the type of product that you'remaking, because it's it's
authentic. Here we have a Frenchwoman talking to us about French
food, right? Yes,
Unknown (27:29):
you're right. And I remember the some customer, they
were looking at me and, oh, itlooks like I am on the movie a
chocolate. Have you seen themovie chocolate? And they said,
Yes, I know chocolate. It's a itwas a beautiful movie. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (27:46):
okay, so the the trickiest part, and and Rosalie,
I used to do a lot of coachingfor small businesses, in fact,
sometimes help them move to afranchisor situation. So I know
that the most difficult thing todo is to get the second one
going. So can you talk to us alittle bit about that process of
(28:08):
going? Okay, now we've got thisset up to the point where we can
use systems. Was the first one asecond location for yourself, or
was the second one a franchisethat you sold
Unknown (28:19):
both? In fact, as I said, we lost everything. So I
took the few last money that Ihave. My daughter came from
France. She took a saving withher, and with a little money, we
were able to open the first one.
My second store open was my son.
He was still in France, so Icalled him, and I said, I am a
(28:44):
mama. I love to have mydaughter, my children around me.
I have four children. And Isaid, Gregory, you should come.
We have opened a first location,and I'd like to open a second
location. And I think that youshould be great opening the
second location. So he openedthe second location in Orlando
that is still open now. And thethird location was a customer
(29:09):
inside the store. I love yourstore. I love your product. Are
you a franchisor? And I say, No,I am not a franchisor yet, and I
would love to open a store likeyou. And they say yes, no
problem, we're going to become afranchisor. So I was in contact
with lawyers. I was able to findan American lawyer that was
(29:32):
speaking fluently French. Sothat was a big plus for me. And
I called a company that helpedme to set up all the paperwork
to become a franchisor, and in2012 we become franchisor with
several stores. Was
Dave Crenshaw (29:49):
it just one customer that came to you and
said that and that and thatsparked the idea? Did you
already have that idea? Or werethere multiple people we already
Unknown (29:57):
have the idea? That's why we wanted to keep. Very
simple, very duplicatable, as Isaid, that is extremely
important. We didn't want thefranchisee to learn how to do
the macaron, how to do anybaking, because we know that is
extremely complicated. We don'twant our franchisee to wake up
at night, at 3am to do thebaking with or even to have to
(30:21):
hire a chef, you know, becausesometimes you cannot rely on
them, and you have nothing tosell. In the morning, we wanted
to have something extremelysimple. And when I did my first
batch of macaron, that is afunny story, too. I said to my
husband, I know I find the ideawe're going to open a store,
we're going to sell macaron. Andhe said, it's not possible. The
(30:42):
only macaron we're able to find,they were in Paris. They're
extremely difficult to do. And Isay, you know, they're very
difficult to do, but I want totry. And I did my first batch of
macaron at home. They were notlooking good. I have to say, I
have to be friends, because I'mvery, very difficult to do, but
(31:02):
my husband wanted to have one,and he said, Can I have one? And
I say, No, no, no. Why? I said,because in the recipe, it's
written that in order to havethe moisture back on the
shelves, I need to freeze them,and only when I will defrost
dam, the flavor will spread onthe shelves, and the muster will
(31:26):
be back, and they look at me,and he said, you are genius.
That is a perfect idea, becausewe're going to be able to ship
macaron all over the world withthis recipe, you see. So it's
the complimentary, yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (31:43):
and that can't be overstated, is with the
franchise, you want as little aspossible to think about. So that
I really think is the genius. AsI was listening to other
interviews with you, and I heardyou're not requiring them to
make them I think that'sbrilliant. Now you one of the
things you said, I want to Iwant to focus on you mentioned
(32:04):
how when people came to yourstore, you were so friendly and
welcoming to them, and that'spart of the reason why the first
one succeeded. The tricky partwith the franchise is creating
systems for customer service anddoing the same thing that you
did. So how do you teach yourfranchisees how to behave, so to
(32:26):
speak, how to treat thecustomer? What's your process
for training them with that?
Unknown (32:30):
So we have a training that is almost a focus on on the
sales, but I think that I choosemy franchisee myself, and before
to start any process, I have afounder call with them, like you
just seeing on face. Face timesince the beginning. I used
(32:53):
Skype at the time because thefirst time was not here, and I
wanted to talk with myfranchisee, and I wanted them to
feel comfortable with me, but Iwant me myself to be comfortable
with them, so I was able to seeif they were friendly, if they
were not too shy, if they if youhad the first hour, having a
(33:16):
good contact together, that wasthe First pound to pass for
them. And after I invite themalso, during the process for
discovery day that I personallywelcome them in a store, I spend
time with them. I make themtaste my product. I made them
(33:38):
see the confectionary, meet theteam, and at the end of the day,
same thing Do I think they willbe good franchises. How do they
act with my employees? How dothey listen? How do they pay
attention? All these littleinformation are for me,
(33:58):
extremely important, and at theend of the day, I take 2448
hours to think again about themand to tell them if yes or not,
I think they have a chance tobecome a good franchisee. I love
my franchisee. I really lovethem. They are all very nice
(34:20):
people. We have one annualmeeting, and every time we meet,
it's like having a big familyreunion, because we are all
feeling comfortable with theother. There is no competition
within my franchisee, they helpeach other as long as they can.
Dave Crenshaw (34:41):
There is so much gold in what you said right
there. Rosalie, I hope peoplereally paid attention. And one
of the things that you talkedabout, and I think this applies
even if you're not a franchisor,is I talk about this in a lot of
my courses and books, hiring fortraits, meaning, like you said,
friendly. They are? They peoplewho listen? Do they pay
(35:02):
attention? These are notnecessarily skills. They can be
improved as skills. But reallyyou're you're choosing to get
into business with someonebecause of who they are. You're
going to teach them the skills.
You're going to teach them howto run the business, how to sell
the macarons. But you're reallyhiring for the kind of people,
and I say hire they're buyingfrom you. I'm just trying to
(35:23):
extend the lesson to otherfields. You're hiring people who
have the right traits, and boy,that makes life so much easier
when you have a group of peoplewho share those traits in
common.
Unknown (35:37):
I agree, and not only that, but also in training, we
teach them that when they'regonna hire people to help them,
we want them to help, also tohire people, also that they are
like them. I don't work anymorein the store, but once a while I
still go because I really love Icannot resist. I have to go
behind the display case, and Ihave to interact with my
(36:00):
customer, where are you from?
And you have a taste my macaron.
They love that. I really lovethat. So if you have this kind
of person in the store, peoplefeel comfortable. They like to
come and see you. They like tolisten the story of the macaron.
When you explain what is amacaroon, how do we do the
macaron? Vanilla, how do we dothe microphone? The Mint
(36:22):
Macaron? They love to start tolisten the story of the
franchise. Also a little, nottoo much, and you'll have to
listen who they are, also whenthey are recurrent customer. And
they come always, you know? Andthat's my life, so enjoyable.
Dave Crenshaw (36:40):
But the culture is part of the product. Yes,
you're selling a pastry, butyou're also selling a culture.
You're you're selling thatfeeling, you're selling the
connection to France and a veryfriendly interpretation of what
that would be like anexperience. I think that's what
(37:01):
people are buying as well,aren't they? Absolutely
Unknown (37:04):
it's, I used to say when my customer come in our
store, it's like they're havinga five minute vacation in
France. You know, theatmosphere, the the people that
they are serving them, they'revery nice, the quality of the
product, we have wonderfulproducts. We do our own gelato,
we do our own macaron, our ownpastries. The high quality of
(37:28):
the product that we use to doour past three is unbelievable,
and that makes people feelinggood when they come to our
location, yes,
Dave Crenshaw (37:39):
and I could see that there's a type of person
who would really enjoy workingin that. I mean, we mentioned
how I took French. It didn'tstick. I didn't do well with it,
but I do appreciate it, and I doalso know that there are a ton
of people who I went to classeswith who just loved the culture.
(38:00):
And I think if you hire thosekinds of people who are just in
love with France, that's goingto exude the experience when
people walk through the door andthey're going to say, let me
give you a little slice ofsouthern France right now,
you're
Unknown (38:12):
right, and I and I'm going to say that almost all my
franchisee, they love France.
They were all in love withFrance before to meet me
already, or they have beentraveling there, or they have
heard about France, but theyreally love France. That was
very helpful too, also, andyou're right, my little French
accent has helped me also,
Dave Crenshaw (38:38):
absolutely, absolutely. So there's a word
that you have used so many timesin this Rosalie, and I really
want to focus on it for amoment. Here you use the word
family how it was important, howit was driving what you were
doing early on in the 70s and80s, how this is a family
business. Sometimes familybusinesses are very difficult.
(38:58):
There's a lot of ego and baggagethat's carried with that. How
have you maintained success as afamily business?
Unknown (39:08):
That's a very, very good question. First of all, I
mean, I have four we have fourchildren. They live all not
close to me, and we are veryclose. We are a real family. I
mean, we love each other. Doesnot mean that we don't fight. We
fight in the business becauseeach one has a strong
(39:31):
personality and idea, but thatis also complementary in the
family. You know, we see thingsdifferently, and we let our
children to express themselves.
So I'm gonna be with my daughteronline. I'm gonna not agree with
her. I'm gonna be, no, I don'twant to do that. She's gonna
say, I want to do that. And sowe're fighting. And two minutes
(39:53):
after I call her, Oh, by theway, are you coming Sunday
morning or. Yeah, you see, wedon't let the business go over
the love that we have in thefamily. That's special. That's
really special.
Dave Crenshaw (40:09):
Is that something you've talked about specifically
and say, This is what we'regoing to do? Or is that just
happen naturally,
Unknown (40:15):
naturally? But my daughter Audrey, said, Mom, I
don't want to talk anymorebusiness during the family
dinner or lunch. Not a world ofbusiness. That's for a few years
now, and we respect that. That'sso smart of her. Yeah, we don't
(40:35):
talk about business at all. Butnow she doesn't want to need to
talk business on Friday becauseshe doesn't want to be upset on
Friday and she doesn't want meto talk on Monday morning
because she's too busy on Mondaymorning. But we adapt. We adapt
that is important. I'm
Dave Crenshaw (40:52):
putting myself in the shoes of somebody who maybe
is working with a family memberat work or in their business,
and they're hearing this, andthey want that, but they don't
have it. They're not creatinggood boundaries. So what would
you say to that person toestablish a more healthy
relationship with their familymember?
Unknown (41:13):
You know love is, is everything. Listen and respect
what your children say. Youdon't agree all the time, but
you respect what they have tosay. Let them express what they
have to say. I think thatrespect is very important as an
individual. They are not mychild anymore when they talk
(41:36):
business, they are adults I workwith when they talk business,
you know, that's like a bigdifference. And they think that
sometimes some family they donot agree with their children
because they don't want to seethem as adults, as responsible.
They want to over protect them.
I let my children doing mistakessometimes because they have to
(41:57):
learn, also mistakes, you know,
Dave Crenshaw (42:02):
yeah, that's so critical. Is not going in and
rescuing them. I think that'salso not just true with
children, but with youremployees, with people that you
lead, sometimes you need toallow them to fail so that they
can learn from it, and then youcan talk to them about it and
help them grow.
Unknown (42:17):
Because otherwise they think that you want to control
them, control their life,control their work, control,
control, control no they have totake their own responsibility
also, and they will failsometimes, and they will
recognize that they did notlisten and that they had but
that's normal. When you fail,you learn always something. The
(42:40):
only people that never fail,there are people that they do
nothing. So it's normal to fail.
It's normal to make mistake,because that's helped you to
grow.
Dave Crenshaw (42:49):
I've come to appreciate that in your story,
how you have taken failure andyou've used it as a springboard
to success. We've seen thatseveral times in your story, I
always like to ask, how have youmade time for fun and just
enjoying the things that youlike to do, like golf? How? How
have you been able to do that?
Not just now, where thebusinesses achieve this great
(43:11):
level of success, but the yearsleading up to it? How did you
maintain a healthy rhythmbetween work and life?
Unknown (43:19):
I mean, I have to say, I have to tell you the truth.
The two first year, I didn'thave a lot of time for fun. It
was a lot of work becauserunning a store is seven days a
week. So the first two years,you work, you work, you work.
And after you can breathe, andafter you can take some times
(43:40):
for you, because you start tohave some success, enjoying
success. So you cannot enjoylife and create something at the
beginning, you have to invest100% of your time after
Dave Crenshaw (43:55):
those two years.
Though, how did you make thattransition to giving yourself a
little bit more and more time
Unknown (44:01):
naturally, because what I what I love to do, is not
complicated. I love to gather mychildren with me. I love to cook
for them. I love to read. I loveto play golf on weekend and
maybe one time during the weekwith friends. I like to go to
restaurant with some friends,and as I said, I love my
(44:24):
children. I love my family. Iwanted to have time to be with
them. I love my friends. I lovemyself. I love to take time for
me. I am not a super woman. Ineed to have time to rest and to
think, because if you are on therunning mode all all all the
time you exhaust yourself. Youneed to rest at one point and
(44:46):
take care of yourself, and youlove one and that is the fun
part.
Dave Crenshaw (44:51):
Oh, that's beautiful. What do you see ahead
for the next five years of Lamacaron? Keep
Unknown (44:58):
growing right now. We are now 20. Six different
states. I like to be present inall the states keep growing. I
love to see my franchiseegrowing with me, and having
number two, number three, numberfour, number five stars. I'm
very proud when that happened,and having maybe a line of
(45:21):
product more important also forthe franchisee. And just keep
growing, keep having success,and make us say all, all the
little, all the city of the USAhaving their own little le
macaron store for the fiveminute vacation time.
Dave Crenshaw (45:42):
Yes, we can all take a little five minute
vacation in France. Okay, so atthe end of every episode,
Rosalie, I like to summarizesome action steps. My belief is
that as wonderful as it is tohear your story and be inspired
by it, we want to do somethingabout it. We want to take an
action today or this week sothat we can make your success
(46:06):
story a part of our successstory. So what I'm going to do,
Rosalie, is I'm going tosummarize a few action steps,
some concrete things thatsomeone can do, and then I'd
like you at the end to share oneaction step you'd suggest to
people. Sound good? Yeah, so thefirst one that was early on in
your story was talking abouthow, when it became
(46:29):
overwhelming, you just broke itdown into what the next step is.
And I think someone listening tothis may have this big, lofty
goal that they want toaccomplish, I would ask them to
consider, what is just the nextaction step? What is just the
next five minutes of activitythat you need to take to get
(46:50):
yourself closer to that goal andjust do that thing? Another
approach that you can take is,if you have a big goal, break it
in half. So if you say, in twoyears, I need to be at this
number, where do you need to beone year from now and then break
it in half? Where do I need tobe six months from now and then
break it in half again? Where doI need to be three months from
now and keep breaking it downinto little increments until you
(47:11):
get to what do I need to dotoday? And just do that thing,
and it's going to move youforward on the path. The next
action step is maybe a littlemore philosophical, but if
you're in a situation where lifeisn't working out the way that
you expected, like Rosalietalked about how a couple of
times she had to reinventyourself, ask yourself, is there
(47:34):
a way that I can bring a part ofwhat makes me unique and
different to that reinvention?
Rosalie was talking about Franceand macarons, and how she used
that as that reinvention ofherself. Ask yourself, what's
something that I love? What'ssomething that I'm passionate
about, that I could bring toother people and see if that's
not an inspiration for that nextstep for your life. And then the
(47:56):
last one is, boy, just thatprinciple of hiring for traits
and creating a culture. All toooften, companies hire for
someone who knows what to how todo something. Oh, you're a chef.
We need a chef, so we hire you.
The first thing that you need toanswer is, do they have the
(48:18):
traits that fit this culture?
Are they the people that we wantto spend time with that we can
consider family hire for traits.
You can train the skills later.
So if you're in a leadershipposition, look to see if you can
hire people for who they arefirst and then train them later.
Those are actions that stood outto me. Rosalie, what's one that
you would suggest to people,yeah,
Unknown (48:41):
they and they are beautiful, and the you are, so
you're right about that. Thelast one I would have is believe
in yourself and don't listen theother one. When I opened the
first location, I had customercoming. It was during the Great
Recession, and I had commentlike that, huh, you're opening a
(49:04):
store, but all the stores areclosing, you will never make it.
I'm glad I never listened them.
I trust myself, I trust myfamily, I trust my product. And
I was keep moving. That is veryimportant. If you have a dream
and you are surrounded bynegative people. Don't listen
them. One day, they will comeback and they will see you
(49:26):
successful. And
Dave Crenshaw (49:29):
you've been such an example of that over and over
in your story. Rosalie, thankyou for sharing that, that
inspiring example with us. Okay,two questions. If they want to
find Ella macaron store. Whereshould they go?
Unknown (49:43):
Le macaron us.com, that is our website, and they have
all the location store in thiswebsite. Le macaron us.com,
okay,
Dave Crenshaw (49:55):
great. And if they're thinking of maybe being
a franchisee, where should theygo?
Unknown (49:59):
Good. Question, I would love to have more franchisee the
same website. There is afranchise link that they can
just go and put some informationabout them, and I will be
pleased to have my founder callwith them very soon. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (50:17):
and if that happens, please let her know
that you heard about this fromme, yeah, maybe that'll get me
some free macarons. That wouldbe great. I
Unknown (50:25):
will. I will, for sure, even even if no one is showing
up. It was such a pleasuretalking with you, Dave. It was
really, really nice. Thank youvery much for having me. Thank
you. Thank
Dave Crenshaw (50:37):
you Rosalie and Darci. Yes, you were cool. And
thank you everyone forlistening. Remember, it's not
just about the knowledge thatyou gained or the inspiration
you received. It's about theaction that you take. So do
something today or tomorrow andyou'll make Rosalie's success
story a part of your successstory. Thanks for listening.
Darci Crenshaw (51:00):
You've been listening to the Dave Crenshaw
Success Show, hosted by my dad,Dave Crenshaw, and produced by
invaluable incorporated researchand assistant production by
Victoria Bidez, Sound Editing byNikic Wright, voiceover by me,
Darci Crenshaw, and the music isby Ryan Brady via pond five
(51:21):
licensing, please subscribe tothe Dave Crenshaw success show
on Apple podcasts Spotify,wherever you like to get your
podcasts. If you have asuggestion for someone my dad
might like to interview, pleasesend it to guests at Dave
crenshaw.com and please don'tforget to leave us a five star
review. See you next time you.
My husband, my son in law, my daughter. They were
hiding in the kitchen. Everyonewas scared about talking with
the first customer. Oh, my God,and I was in front
Dave Crenshaw (00:13):
in this episode, you'll get to know Rosalie
Guillaume, the macaronfranchisor, and you'll hear the
story of how she went fromlosing everything in the Great
Recession to building asuccessful French pastry
franchise with over 65locations. I'm Dave Crenshaw,
and this is my success Show.
Welcome back, friends, to theDave Crenshaw Success Show. This
(00:38):
is where I interview some of themost successful people I've met
in my life's journey, and I letyou come along and learn along
with my family, if it's yourfirst time here, by way of
introduction, I'm a best sellingauthor. I speak around the world
to Fortune 500 companies, andI've taught millions of people
how to be successful through myonline courses, in particular,
(00:59):
my courses on LinkedIn learningwith this show, I wanted to
create something lasting, a bitof a legacy project, to help my
kids succeed. I was thinkingabout them. Then I thought,
Well, why not let you enjoylearning along with them? I seek
to interview people who havemulti faceted success, so not
just career or financial successas important as those are, but
(01:22):
also have time for fun and maketime for family. And my guest
today is someone who reallythat's an important thing in her
life. Now, one thing I'd likeyou to do as you listen to
today's episode, look forsomething you can do, an action
you can take, and then that way,you'll make my guest success
story a part of your successstory. And I'm really excited
(01:45):
about my guest today. I admitthat this whole morning I've
gotten very hungry thinkingabout her business. My guest is
Rosalie Guillaume. She's theowner and co founder of Le
macaron, a French patisseriespecializing in authentic,
handcrafted macarons. She movedto the United States from France
(02:06):
in 2002 and started the businessin 2009 with her daughter
Audrey. Since its inception, lemacaron has become a growing
franchise with 66 locationsnationwide. Le macaron has
received the entrepreneurfranchise 500 top food franchise
award multiple times. Rosalieenjoys reading books, traveling,
(02:29):
playing golf, and spending timewith her family and eight
grandchildren. Rosalie, it's anhonor to have you on the show
today. Thanks for being here.
Unknown (02:40):
Thank you for having me on your show. I feel honored
that you wanted to hear mystory, and I hope your details
will understand me even with myFrench accent.
Dave Crenshaw (02:52):
Yeah, before the show, we were talking about how
I took several years of French,and so did my assistant,
Victoria so but I think yourEnglish is far, far better than
our French.
Unknown (03:05):
Thank you.
Dave Crenshaw (03:06):
And I'll confess that as I've been contemplating
this interview this morning,I've been getting very hungry. I
love macarons and your store,and so I'm really thrilled to
learn the story behind all of itwith
Unknown (03:21):
pleasure. I am here for that.
Dave Crenshaw (03:24):
So I always like to start at the very beginning,
Rosalie. And by beginning, whatI mean is the question that many
people ask their kids, which is,what do you want to be when you
grow up? So when you weregrowing up in France, what did
you think you would be, or whatyour career would be,
Unknown (03:42):
that's a good question.
In fact, I didn't have aspecific dream job in mind, but
what I wanted to be or to do. Iwanted to travel the world. I
wanted to be in contact withpeople. I wanted to travel
different country and hearpeople listening their story,
and discover how they do live inother countries. That was my
(04:07):
dream. And I'm coming from avery modest family, so I didn't
have the money to travel, and atthe time, at 14 years old, I
said, Oh, maybe you can be aflag attendant, so you will be
able to travel the world, bythis way, without to have to
expend money. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (04:31):
and right now you're in Florida. What part of
France did you grow up in?
Unknown (04:35):
I grew up in south, south France. I grew up in a
small city between Marseille andExxon Provence, where the
lavender grows. Very lucky.
Dave Crenshaw (04:44):
Oh, that sounds beautiful. That sounds like a
smell, really good. So did youhave opportunities to travel
like around Europe? I mean,that's one advantage that you
have in a place like Franceversus the United States, is
just access to more countriesimmediately.
Unknown (05:00):
Yes, that's true, that we were able to go in Italy,
Spain, Switzerland, England,very easier. And I think that is
the advantage that we have inFrance, is that we speak several
language, you know, because wehave to adapt to the city where
we go. You
Dave Crenshaw (05:17):
know, I heard a joke about that once, if you
speak three languages, you'retrilingual. If you speak two
languages, you're bilingual. Ifyou speak one language, you're
American. That's good. So didyou have the opportunity to be a
flight attendant? What did youstudy? Please tell us about
(05:38):
that. Yes,
Unknown (05:38):
I wanted to learn and study different language,
because I already spoke Italian,because my mom was from,
originally from Italy, so thatwas my maternal language. But I
was born and raised in France,so France was my second
language, of course, and Ididn't pursue this career,
(06:01):
because I was very, very lucky.
In one sense. I met my husband.
I was 16 years old. Oh, wow. Heis the love of my life. I'm very
lucky. So we're gonna celebrate50 years, waiting in two years.
So that's great. Oh, that'sfantastic. Very proud of that.
So I was 16, he was 18, he wasgoing to college. He wanted to
(06:25):
study and to become a doctorthat he did. So I understood
that I had no choice to do longstudy by myself. I wanted to get
married. I wanted to to be ableto support a little the family.
So I went on private school tobecome a secretary, and I
(06:45):
learned at the time how to use atypewriter and take shorthand.
And I think that was a greatidea at the time, because,
remember, at the time, we had nocomputer, but when technology
advanced, I was already familiarwith using a keyboard and being
able to use different softwarevery quickly to create my own
(07:09):
company.
Dave Crenshaw (07:10):
Oh, and what was that company
Unknown (07:12):
that came after?
Because that was 78 we didn'thave the possibility at the
time. Bernard was a student. Iwas doing a little work, you
know, some temporary work, andat this time that might surprise
you, but we were inviting to ameeting, and they were
presenting the concept Amway,the American concept Amway, so
Dave Crenshaw (07:41):
Amway, right?
Yes. Okay, so multi levelmarketing, right? Exactly,
Unknown (07:47):
yes. So we were on our 20s, and I thought it was a good
way to have some extra earning.
And we started this businesswith my husband and with this
business, I mean, we had totravel a lot. We had to meet a
lot of people, of course. And Iwas happy, because that helped
(08:09):
us to go through all this nineyear of study that Bernard used
to have. So because we weredoing very well with harway, we
become a distributor diamond,and we were invited to do some
wonderful travels, and to cometo the USA, and fell in love
(08:29):
with America here by the travelthat we were earning, because we
were very good at selling.
Dave Crenshaw (08:38):
Okay, so I want to dive into that for a moment,
because I see some parallelswith the business that you run
now, with being a franchise,right? It's you understand the
value of having peopleunderneath you who are earning
and you're receiving income fromthat, but I do want to really
focus on the sales process. Sofirst of all, what made you good
(09:03):
at selling Amway to otherpeople? What are your you and
your husband's skill set thatallows you to do that?
Unknown (09:10):
We were a hard worker, very hard worker, having a good
sense of humor that's makingpeople interested and laughing
about the concept, but we arevery proud of the quality of the
product that we were selling. Wehad a passion for the product
that we were presenting that wassomething that was really 100%
(09:34):
sure for us. So we didn't haveany issue presenting this
concept and this product,because we were very proud of
them, and we worked very, veryhard. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (09:46):
when you say very hard, could you describe that a
little bit more? What did thatmean at the time? Yeah,
Unknown (09:51):
we had a meeting every day. We had to meet people, to
organize meetings, to travel allover France, to. Meet people
where they live, because we weredoing meeting in day house, in
day home, in day city. So thatwas a lot of work for us. And
Bernard was studying and I washaving a baby, you know? Wow.
(10:14):
That was a lot. But motivationwas here, and the pleasure to
share the idea and the pleasureto see people, the people having
some extra money for them too.
That was, that was great for us.
Dave Crenshaw (10:29):
So I just want to kind of debate something with
you a little bit here. Myperspective is, a lot of times
people will see something like amulti level marketing company,
and the phrase that theysometimes use to promote it to
others is passive income, right?
It's the idea that you havethese other people working
underneath you, and then you getthis passive income. But I feel
(10:51):
like that's kind of a misnomer,because clearly there's nothing
passive about what you weredoing. You were working very
hard to build that and I thinkthat that that's required of any
successful career is tocontinually work and maintain
that income. What? What's yourperspective on that?
Unknown (11:12):
I totally agree with Joe. I mean, you need to call
people, you need to motive them,you need to push them. You need
to to be in contact with them.
You need to organize, you needto present, you need to try. You
need to share the motivationwith them. That is a lot of
work, but we were at a level Ithink. We were the youngest
distributor director of all thetime. We were on our 20s, you
(11:35):
know. But at the time we reallyneed to have something in order
to survive. So that was the goodopportunity that was presented
to us, and we catch it. Youknow, when you are 20 and 22
years, you don't think a lotabout future, you you leave the
present moment. But for me, Ihave to say that being with this
(12:00):
company for several years, thathas been the best school ever. I
learned so much meeting allthese people. I learned so much
with my husband, doing all thesemeeting, presenting, talking
with people, learning frompeople. That was the best
(12:22):
school, the best university Icould do, I think so. That was
difficult. That was the worstthing.
Dave Crenshaw (12:30):
What's a lesson that you learned that you apply
today in your business with Lemacaron,
Unknown (12:38):
never give up. Never give up. And I have a My motto
that is just here, you know, ajourney of 1000 miles begin with
a single step. So even sometimesI can still overwhelm me. I say,
Okay, start Step one. Done. Steptwo, done. Step three, done, you
(13:02):
know, and never give up, and andyou can do it. And also, my
husband is funny because hesaid, always, I am not worrying
about something that I don'tknow. He said, she doesn't know
She cannot do it. She does. I amvery curious, and if I don't
(13:23):
know something, I ask. I askpeople, How we do that. I ask,
do you know that? And until Ifind all my answer and am I
taught me that that was veryimportant,
Dave Crenshaw (13:37):
and they provided a system as well, right? Like
you provide a system to yourfranchisees, and in a similar
way, you were following a systemthat Amway was giving you in
terms of sales training and that
Unknown (13:48):
sort of thing, the support, exactly, the
motivation, and they used toorganize a wonderful trip for
us. So I had the opportunity toleave my little city and travel
the world with the mostbeautiful hotels. Can you
imagine? I mean, I was on my onmy 20s. I I, I end up at the
(14:11):
world of Astoria in New York forthe first time of my life. You
know, that gives you a lot ofmotivation to see people
succeed, that show you that youcan succeed too. Yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (14:22):
and I had a mentor early on in my career,
Rosalie, who he talked about, hecreated a school in Mexico for
kids, and it was so importantfor them to have everything look
nice, the best desks, the bestclassrooms, all of those things.
And the reason why he did that,it was to expose them to the
(14:42):
concept of success, to give thema taste of this is possible.
Look at what this is. It soundslike. That's what that was for
you,
Unknown (14:49):
exactly. Because if I had to stay in my little city, I
would not have been traveling inUSA. And maybe I will be there
as of today. I will. Not moved.
But because I saw other things.
I saw success. I've saw the USA.
I saw the beautiful hotel, thebeautiful boats. I saw the
beautiful plane. I said, I canhave that too, and I'm gonna
(15:12):
fight to have that
Dave Crenshaw (15:16):
too. And I want to emphasize something too that
you said, which is, and this isa recurring theme Rosalie, with
the people that I'veinterviewed, is a little bit of
ignorance is good, a little bitof getting into something and
not realizing what you're doing.
Because if you think about allof the steps and everything that
you're gonna have to do, it justbecomes overwhelming. It's too
(15:37):
much. You're right? I'm dealingwith that right now, with a new
project that I'm doing, and Ijust have to continually stop
myself from thinking about thefuture. It's very weird. Stop
thinking about all that and justthinking about what's the next
step right here,
Unknown (15:51):
that's helped me a lot, step by step. Yeah, yeah.
Dave Crenshaw (15:56):
Okay, so I know that you moved to the United
States in 2002 so were youworking with Amway all the way
up to that, or was there aperiod in between? No,
Unknown (16:05):
he was a big period in between. In 1988 with Bernard.
He was a doctor, but he decidedthat he doesn't like that
anymore, so he wanted to changefields. And we created a
company, and we started to sellhouses, an apartment, a real
estate company, both together,and we were doing very, very
(16:31):
well. We had a big company inFrance. Everything was nice, and
in 2002 we moved to Floridabecause I wanted to take a
sabbatical year with mychildren. I wanted them to learn
to speak English. The fact isthat I really love living in
Florida, so I didn't want to goback in France. And that's when,
(16:55):
in 2008 2009 the Great Recessioneats, and it was chaos. We lost
everything. The bank were notfinancing anymore, so it was
chaos. So we lost everything,even my house here in USA. And
Dave Crenshaw (17:15):
you lost it all because you were selling real
estate because you wereinvesting, yes, yes. And both
here in the United States and inFrance, did you have properties
in both locations? Yes,
Unknown (17:26):
wow. And that was terrible. I
Dave Crenshaw (17:30):
want to spend a little time on that, because a
big part of this show is helpingpeople understand principles of
success. But you can't havesuccess without failure. So
could you sort of paint apicture of what that was like
for you and your husband andyour family to feel that and
experience that degree offailure.
Unknown (17:51):
Life was very simple before, beautiful house,
beautiful boats, travels, I meanbeautiful life, and suddenly you
have nothing. You cannot payyour mortgage, you cannot pay
the food, you cannot pay theutilities. You have nothing. So
(18:15):
you have to give back the Houseto the bank, and I have to try
to find an idea to survive.
Again, what I'm going to do tosurvive? I still had two little
daughter at the time withBernard, and it was a terrible
no one wanted to start a newbusiness. And I said, I need to
(18:37):
find an idea. We need to bounceback. We need to create
something so not having all thematerial was not important for
me. The most important wasstaying a focus on my family. I
had the love of my life. I havemy children. We were wealthy as
(18:59):
health. I mean, that was veryimportant. We had a roof
overhead, even if it was a smallapartment, I didn't care. That
was the most important familychildren, a roof. That was very
important. The rest, I was readyto start over anything else,
Dave Crenshaw (19:23):
there's an interesting combination. Is
you're describing this Rosalie,which is on one side, you're
talking about gratitude, andyou're saying, here are the
things that I have that are mostimportant, and you're grateful
for them, which is also aprinciple I've seen in many of
the people I've interviewed. Atthe same time, there was a
hunger, the hunger for more, thehunger to to do more and get
(19:46):
back to that level of success. Ithink sometimes people feel that
the two are against each other,that gratitude and the desire to
succeed, but really they're notright. They both can exist at
the same time,
Unknown (19:58):
absolutely one. One is the motivation of the other one,
as long as you're strong withyour family. I used to say, I
don't care where I live. Myfamily is my husband and my
children. So if it's a palace orif it's a two bedroom apartment,
that's not important. You knowyou are motivated to start
(20:19):
again. You know that you weresuccessful, and you know that
you have the capacity to startover, but you don't know how.
You don't know where, and myEnglish at the time was really,
really bad. I'm gonna, I have tosay
Dave Crenshaw (20:36):
you were able to get by in Florida for many years
without learning English. Howdid you do that?
Unknown (20:41):
Yeah. Because you know, when you move in another
country, you have tendency to befriends with the one that speak
the same language that you are,yeah. So you have the basic one
just what you need to have to goto the doctor or to do some
paperwork at school for thegirls, but you don't need to
express yourself and and youdon't know the the professional
(21:04):
term, but anyway, I and Ithought, what I can do, what I
can bring to this wonderfulcountry that has already almost
everything. So I was thinking,what do I have in France, and
that I am not able to find anUSA. And I started, where are we
(21:27):
good in France, that USA needsto have some improvement. So I
started, oh, the wine. We havewonderful wine in France. You
don't drink wine Rosalie, youdon't know thing on wine, so
eliminate. And I said, okay, thefashion. Oh, we have a wonderful
(21:48):
fashion in France. Oh, you don'tknow how to sew, you don't know
how to draw, you don't know howto design. Eliminate. And I went
by elimination like that, youknow? And finally I found out,
what do we love in France thatwe don't find here something to
eat. And I thought, oh,macaroon. I love macaroon in
(22:12):
France. I don't have anymacaroon store here in USA,
Dave Crenshaw (22:15):
especially Florida, right everywhere
Unknown (22:18):
at the time, in 2009 not one macaron in all the USA,
because in France, when I leftFrance, we were able to find
macaron only in Paris, at thelagerre store, and it was a long
tube behind the in front of thestore to have macaron. And a few
years after, we were able to seemacaron almost in every little
(22:41):
bakery in France that wasgrowing and growing and even in
Europe, but still not in USA.
And I said, that is my idea.
We're going to open a cafepatisserie, having the main
product being macaron. So mydaughter, my eldest daughter,
was still in France, and she wasmarried, having children, and I
(23:04):
called her, and she wanted tocome and join her. And I said,
you know, Andre, I think I foundan idea. We should open a cafe
patisserie, and we should sellmacarons and other little stuff
like ice cream and chocolate.
And she said, Yes, that's awonderful idea, ma'am. And I
said, Okay, you need to sendyour husband at school now,
(23:25):
because he has to learn how todo macaron. Wow. So we spoke
with Didier, and we sent a DJ inParis to the Lenape school. We
sent DJ in several differentschool to to learn how to do
this specialty. DJ is, who is myson in law. He's an older
(23:47):
husband, okay? And Didier was sogood at what he was doing in
Paris that he gets friends withthe instructors. And he was um,
sharing his idea of moving inUSA and opening a store, and one
of his instructors said, I willbe willing to help you. So we
(24:10):
got the help of this uh,wonderful chef that is still in
France that came several time inUSA to help to set up the
recipe, to set up the kitchenand to open our first location,
just a little tiny location inSarasota, Florida, that is still
(24:30):
open today.
Dave Crenshaw (24:35):
When you opened that, what was your vision? You
had all this success before inreal estate and even as a
diamond level Amway executive,when you started that one, did
you see a lot more in your mind?
Unknown (24:51):
My husband, yes, he did see. Okay, my husband had the
vision. He is a visionary, too.
So he said, I. We're gonna dosomething so simple that people
will be able to duplicate it. Ilove that. So the way we did
when we set up our firstlocation was extremely simple.
Even teenagers, my teenager,they were 14 and 15 at the time.
(25:16):
They were having some moneyduring weekend, you know, they
were watching at the store andrunning the store because it was
very simple. 16 years old, canrun a store, can open a store
and close the store, becauseeverything is extremely, very
simple. So when we opened thefirst location, people, they had
no clue about what was amacaron. So they saw the
(25:40):
beautiful science outside lemacaron, French pastry. So they
were coming inside. They werelooking for French pastry. At
that time, we didn't have Frenchpastry. Now we have a line of
product that is much moreimportant. But 10 years more, 13
years ago, we didn't have that.
(26:01):
And the people had no idea, andwere looking for Napoleon. What
is a Napoleon? I had no idea.
What is a Napoleon.
Dave Crenshaw (26:10):
Yeah, that's an American turn, isn't it? It's
not really what the French say.
Unknown (26:13):
Absolutely not. We call that mill Fauci, you know. But
when we opened the first day,Dave, he sent to me, my husband,
my son in law, my daughter. Theywere hiding in the kitchen.
Everyone was scared abouttalking with the first customer.
Oh, my God, and I was in front.
I love people. I love to talkwith people. I love to interact
(26:36):
with people. That is a qualitythat I require for my
franchisee, and I went in frontof my first customer. No
problem. They were showing methe flavor, because sometimes I
was not able to understand theaccent. You know, when people
come from New York, for me, forFrench girl, it's like
(26:57):
listening. Wow. It's verydifficult, but with a big,
beautiful smile and kindness thecustomer, they are great. I
never had any issue with myaccent at the time, and we
opened the first location likethat, 2009
Dave Crenshaw (27:18):
well, your accent, too is a strength for
the type of product that you'remaking, because it's it's
authentic. Here we have a Frenchwoman talking to us about French
food, right? Yes,
Unknown (27:29):
you're right. And I remember the some customer, they
were looking at me and, oh, itlooks like I am on the movie a
chocolate. Have you seen themovie chocolate? And they said,
Yes, I know chocolate. It's a itwas a beautiful movie. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (27:46):
okay, so the the trickiest part, and and Rosalie,
I used to do a lot of coachingfor small businesses, in fact,
sometimes help them move to afranchisor situation. So I know
that the most difficult thing todo is to get the second one
going. So can you talk to us alittle bit about that process of
(28:08):
going? Okay, now we've got thisset up to the point where we can
use systems. Was the first one asecond location for yourself, or
was the second one a franchisethat you sold
Unknown (28:19):
both? In fact, as I said, we lost everything. So I
took the few last money that Ihave. My daughter came from
France. She took a saving withher, and with a little money, we
were able to open the first one.
My second store open was my son.
He was still in France, so Icalled him, and I said, I am a
(28:44):
mama. I love to have mydaughter, my children around me.
I have four children. And Isaid, Gregory, you should come.
We have opened a first location,and I'd like to open a second
location. And I think that youshould be great opening the
second location. So he openedthe second location in Orlando
that is still open now. And thethird location was a customer
(29:09):
inside the store. I love yourstore. I love your product. Are
you a franchisor? And I say, No,I am not a franchisor yet, and I
would love to open a store likeyou. And they say yes, no
problem, we're going to become afranchisor. So I was in contact
with lawyers. I was able to findan American lawyer that was
(29:32):
speaking fluently French. Sothat was a big plus for me. And
I called a company that helpedme to set up all the paperwork
to become a franchisor, and in2012 we become franchisor with
several stores. Was
Dave Crenshaw (29:49):
it just one customer that came to you and
said that and that and thatsparked the idea? Did you
already have that idea? Or werethere multiple people we already
Unknown (29:57):
have the idea? That's why we wanted to keep. Very
simple, very duplicatable, as Isaid, that is extremely
important. We didn't want thefranchisee to learn how to do
the macaron, how to do anybaking, because we know that is
extremely complicated. We don'twant our franchisee to wake up
at night, at 3am to do thebaking with or even to have to
(30:21):
hire a chef, you know, becausesometimes you cannot rely on
them, and you have nothing tosell. In the morning, we wanted
to have something extremelysimple. And when I did my first
batch of macaron, that is afunny story, too. I said to my
husband, I know I find the ideawe're going to open a store,
we're going to sell macaron. Andhe said, it's not possible. The
(30:42):
only macaron we're able to find,they were in Paris. They're
extremely difficult to do. And Isay, you know, they're very
difficult to do, but I want totry. And I did my first batch of
macaron at home. They were notlooking good. I have to say, I
have to be friends, because I'mvery, very difficult to do, but
(31:02):
my husband wanted to have one,and he said, Can I have one? And
I say, No, no, no. Why? I said,because in the recipe, it's
written that in order to havethe moisture back on the
shelves, I need to freeze them,and only when I will defrost
dam, the flavor will spread onthe shelves, and the muster will
(31:26):
be back, and they look at me,and he said, you are genius.
That is a perfect idea, becausewe're going to be able to ship
macaron all over the world withthis recipe, you see. So it's
the complimentary, yeah,
Dave Crenshaw (31:43):
and that can't be overstated, is with the
franchise, you want as little aspossible to think about. So that
I really think is the genius. AsI was listening to other
interviews with you, and I heardyou're not requiring them to
make them I think that'sbrilliant. Now you one of the
things you said, I want to Iwant to focus on you mentioned
(32:04):
how when people came to yourstore, you were so friendly and
welcoming to them, and that'spart of the reason why the first
one succeeded. The tricky partwith the franchise is creating
systems for customer service anddoing the same thing that you
did. So how do you teach yourfranchisees how to behave, so to
(32:26):
speak, how to treat thecustomer? What's your process
for training them with that?
Unknown (32:30):
So we have a training that is almost a focus on on the
sales, but I think that I choosemy franchisee myself, and before
to start any process, I have afounder call with them, like you
just seeing on face. Face timesince the beginning. I used
(32:53):
Skype at the time because thefirst time was not here, and I
wanted to talk with myfranchisee, and I wanted them to
feel comfortable with me, but Iwant me myself to be comfortable
with them, so I was able to seeif they were friendly, if they
were not too shy, if they if youhad the first hour, having a
(33:16):
good contact together, that wasthe First pound to pass for
them. And after I invite themalso, during the process for
discovery day that I personallywelcome them in a store, I spend
time with them. I make themtaste my product. I made them
(33:38):
see the confectionary, meet theteam, and at the end of the day,
same thing Do I think they willbe good franchises. How do they
act with my employees? How dothey listen? How do they pay
attention? All these littleinformation are for me,
(33:58):
extremely important, and at theend of the day, I take 2448
hours to think again about themand to tell them if yes or not,
I think they have a chance tobecome a good franchisee. I love
my franchisee. I really lovethem. They are all very nice
(34:20):
people. We have one annualmeeting, and every time we meet,
it's like having a big familyreunion, because we are all
feeling comfortable with theother. There is no competition
within my franchisee, they helpeach other as long as they can.
Dave Crenshaw (34:41):
There is so much gold in what you said right
there. Rosalie, I hope peoplereally paid attention. And one
of the things that you talkedabout, and I think this applies
even if you're not a franchisor,is I talk about this in a lot of
my courses and books, hiring fortraits, meaning, like you said,
friendly. They are? They peoplewho listen? Do they pay
(35:02):
attention? These are notnecessarily skills. They can be
improved as skills. But reallyyou're you're choosing to get
into business with someonebecause of who they are. You're
going to teach them the skills.
You're going to teach them howto run the business, how to sell
the macarons. But you're reallyhiring for the kind of people,
and I say hire they're buyingfrom you. I'm just trying to
(35:23):
extend the lesson to otherfields. You're hiring people who
have the right traits, and boy,that makes life so much easier
when you have a group of peoplewho share those traits in
common.
Unknown (35:37):
I agree, and not only that, but also in training, we
teach them that when they'regonna hire people to help them,
we want them to help, also tohire people, also that they are
like them. I don't work anymorein the store, but once a while I
still go because I really love Icannot resist. I have to go
behind the display case, and Ihave to interact with my
(36:00):
customer, where are you from?
And you have a taste my macaron.
They love that. I really lovethat. So if you have this kind
of person in the store, peoplefeel comfortable. They like to
come and see you. They like tolisten the story of the macaron.
When you explain what is amacaroon, how do we do the
macaron? Vanilla, how do we dothe microphone? The Mint
(36:22):
Macaron? They love to start tolisten the story of the
franchise. Also a little, nottoo much, and you'll have to
listen who they are, also whenthey are recurrent customer. And
they come always, you know? Andthat's my life, so enjoyable.
Dave Crenshaw (36:40):
But the culture is part of the product. Yes,
you're selling a pastry, butyou're also selling a culture.
You're you're selling thatfeeling, you're selling the
connection to France and a veryfriendly interpretation of what
that would be like anexperience. I think that's what
(37:01):
people are buying as well,aren't they? Absolutely
Unknown (37:04):
it's, I used to say when my customer come in our
store, it's like they're havinga five minute vacation in
France. You know, theatmosphere, the the people that
they are serving them, they'revery nice, the quality of the
product, we have wonderfulproducts. We do our own gelato,
we do our own macaron, our ownpastries. The high quality of
(37:28):
the product that we use to doour past three is unbelievable,
and that makes people feelinggood when they come to our
location, yes,
Dave Crenshaw (37:39):
and I could see that there's a type of person
who would really enjoy workingin that. I mean, we mentioned
how I took French. It didn'tstick. I didn't do well with it,
but I do appreciate it, and I doalso know that there are a ton
of people who I went to classeswith who just loved the culture.
(38:00):
And I think if you hire thosekinds of people who are just in
love with France, that's goingto exude the experience when
people walk through the door andthey're going to say, let me
give you a little slice ofsouthern France right now,
you're
Unknown (38:12):
right, and I and I'm going to say that almost all my
franchisee, they love France.
They were all in love withFrance before to meet me
already, or they have beentraveling there, or they have
heard about France, but theyreally love France. That was
very helpful too, also, andyou're right, my little French
accent has helped me also,
Dave Crenshaw (38:38):
absolutely, absolutely. So there's a word
that you have used so many timesin this Rosalie, and I really
want to focus on it for amoment. Here you use the word
family how it was important, howit was driving what you were
doing early on in the 70s and80s, how this is a family
business. Sometimes familybusinesses are very difficult.
(38:58):
There's a lot of ego and baggagethat's carried with that. How
have you maintained success as afamily business?
Unknown (39:08):
That's a very, very good question. First of all, I
mean, I have four we have fourchildren. They live all not
close to me, and we are veryclose. We are a real family. I
mean, we love each other. Doesnot mean that we don't fight. We
fight in the business becauseeach one has a strong
(39:31):
personality and idea, but thatis also complementary in the
family. You know, we see thingsdifferently, and we let our
children to express themselves.
So I'm gonna be with my daughteronline. I'm gonna not agree with
her. I'm gonna be, no, I don'twant to do that. She's gonna
say, I want to do that. And sowe're fighting. And two minutes
(39:53):
after I call her, Oh, by theway, are you coming Sunday
morning or. Yeah, you see, wedon't let the business go over
the love that we have in thefamily. That's special. That's
really special.
Dave Crenshaw (40:09):
Is that something you've talked about specifically
and say, This is what we'regoing to do? Or is that just
happen naturally,
Unknown (40:15):
naturally? But my daughter Audrey, said, Mom, I
don't want to talk anymorebusiness during the family
dinner or lunch. Not a world ofbusiness. That's for a few years
now, and we respect that. That'sso smart of her. Yeah, we don't
(40:35):
talk about business at all. Butnow she doesn't want to need to
talk business on Friday becauseshe doesn't want to be upset on
Friday and she doesn't want meto talk on Monday morning
because she's too busy on Mondaymorning. But we adapt. We adapt
that is important. I'm
Dave Crenshaw (40:52):
putting myself in the shoes of somebody who maybe
is working with a family memberat work or in their business,
and they're hearing this, andthey want that, but they don't
have it. They're not creatinggood boundaries. So what would
you say to that person toestablish a more healthy
relationship with their familymember?
Unknown (41:13):
You know love is, is everything. Listen and respect
what your children say. Youdon't agree all the time, but
you respect what they have tosay. Let them express what they
have to say. I think thatrespect is very important as an
individual. They are not mychild anymore when they talk
(41:36):
business, they are adults I workwith when they talk business,
you know, that's like a bigdifference. And they think that
sometimes some family they donot agree with their children
because they don't want to seethem as adults, as responsible.
They want to over protect them.
I let my children doing mistakessometimes because they have to
(41:57):
learn, also mistakes, you know,
Dave Crenshaw (42:02):
yeah, that's so critical. Is not going in and
rescuing them. I think that'salso not just true with
children, but with youremployees, with people that you
lead, sometimes you need toallow them to fail so that they
can learn from it, and then youcan talk to them about it and
help them grow.
Unknown (42:17):
Because otherwise they think that you want to control
them, control their life,control their work, control,
control, control no they have totake their own responsibility
also, and they will failsometimes, and they will
recognize that they did notlisten and that they had but
that's normal. When you fail,you learn always something. The
(42:40):
only people that never fail,there are people that they do
nothing. So it's normal to fail.
It's normal to make mistake,because that's helped you to
grow.
Dave Crenshaw (42:49):
I've come to appreciate that in your story,
how you have taken failure andyou've used it as a springboard
to success. We've seen thatseveral times in your story, I
always like to ask, how have youmade time for fun and just
enjoying the things that youlike to do, like golf? How? How
have you been able to do that?
Not just now, where thebusinesses achieve this great
(43:11):
level of success, but the yearsleading up to it? How did you
maintain a healthy rhythmbetween work and life?
Unknown (43:19):
I mean, I have to say, I have to tell you the truth.
The two first year, I didn'thave a lot of time for fun. It
was a lot of work becauserunning a store is seven days a
week. So the first two years,you work, you work, you work.
And after you can breathe, andafter you can take some times
(43:40):
for you, because you start tohave some success, enjoying
success. So you cannot enjoylife and create something at the
beginning, you have to invest100% of your time after
Dave Crenshaw (43:55):
those two years.
Though, how did you make thattransition to giving yourself a
little bit more and more time
Unknown (44:01):
naturally, because what I what I love to do, is not
complicated. I love to gather mychildren with me. I love to cook
for them. I love to read. I loveto play golf on weekend and
maybe one time during the weekwith friends. I like to go to
restaurant with some friends,and as I said, I love my
(44:24):
children. I love my family. Iwanted to have time to be with
them. I love my friends. I lovemyself. I love to take time for
me. I am not a super woman. Ineed to have time to rest and to
think, because if you are on therunning mode all all all the
time you exhaust yourself. Youneed to rest at one point and
(44:46):
take care of yourself, and youlove one and that is the fun
part.
Dave Crenshaw (44:51):
Oh, that's beautiful. What do you see ahead
for the next five years of Lamacaron? Keep
Unknown (44:58):
growing right now. We are now 20. Six different
states. I like to be present inall the states keep growing. I
love to see my franchiseegrowing with me, and having
number two, number three, numberfour, number five stars. I'm
very proud when that happened,and having maybe a line of
(45:21):
product more important also forthe franchisee. And just keep
growing, keep having success,and make us say all, all the
little, all the city of the USAhaving their own little le
macaron store for the fiveminute vacation time.
Dave Crenshaw (45:42):
Yes, we can all take a little five minute
vacation in France. Okay, so atthe end of every episode,
Rosalie, I like to summarizesome action steps. My belief is
that as wonderful as it is tohear your story and be inspired
by it, we want to do somethingabout it. We want to take an
action today or this week sothat we can make your success
(46:06):
story a part of our successstory. So what I'm going to do,
Rosalie, is I'm going tosummarize a few action steps,
some concrete things thatsomeone can do, and then I'd
like you at the end to share oneaction step you'd suggest to
people. Sound good? Yeah, so thefirst one that was early on in
your story was talking abouthow, when it became
(46:29):
overwhelming, you just broke itdown into what the next step is.
And I think someone listening tothis may have this big, lofty
goal that they want toaccomplish, I would ask them to
consider, what is just the nextaction step? What is just the
next five minutes of activitythat you need to take to get
(46:50):
yourself closer to that goal andjust do that thing? Another
approach that you can take is,if you have a big goal, break it
in half. So if you say, in twoyears, I need to be at this
number, where do you need to beone year from now and then break
it in half? Where do I need tobe six months from now and then
break it in half again? Where doI need to be three months from
now and keep breaking it downinto little increments until you
(47:11):
get to what do I need to dotoday? And just do that thing,
and it's going to move youforward on the path. The next
action step is maybe a littlemore philosophical, but if
you're in a situation where lifeisn't working out the way that
you expected, like Rosalietalked about how a couple of
times she had to reinventyourself, ask yourself, is there
(47:34):
a way that I can bring a part ofwhat makes me unique and
different to that reinvention?
Rosalie was talking about Franceand macarons, and how she used
that as that reinvention ofherself. Ask yourself, what's
something that I love? What'ssomething that I'm passionate
about, that I could bring toother people and see if that's
not an inspiration for that nextstep for your life. And then the
(47:56):
last one is, boy, just thatprinciple of hiring for traits
and creating a culture. All toooften, companies hire for
someone who knows what to how todo something. Oh, you're a chef.
We need a chef, so we hire you.
The first thing that you need toanswer is, do they have the
(48:18):
traits that fit this culture?
Are they the people that we wantto spend time with that we can
consider family hire for traits.
You can train the skills later.
So if you're in a leadershipposition, look to see if you can
hire people for who they arefirst and then train them later.
Those are actions that stood outto me. Rosalie, what's one that
you would suggest to people,yeah,
Unknown (48:41):
they and they are beautiful, and the you are, so
you're right about that. Thelast one I would have is believe
in yourself and don't listen theother one. When I opened the
first location, I had customercoming. It was during the Great
Recession, and I had commentlike that, huh, you're opening a
(49:04):
store, but all the stores areclosing, you will never make it.
I'm glad I never listened them.
I trust myself, I trust myfamily, I trust my product. And
I was keep moving. That is veryimportant. If you have a dream
and you are surrounded bynegative people. Don't listen
them. One day, they will comeback and they will see you
(49:26):
successful. And
Dave Crenshaw (49:29):
you've been such an example of that over and over
in your story. Rosalie, thankyou for sharing that, that
inspiring example with us. Okay,two questions. If they want to
find Ella macaron store. Whereshould they go?
Unknown (49:43):
Le macaron us.com, that is our website, and they have
all the location store in thiswebsite. Le macaron us.com,
okay,
Dave Crenshaw (49:55):
great. And if they're thinking of maybe being
a franchisee, where should theygo?
Unknown (49:59):
Good. Question, I would love to have more franchisee the
same website. There is afranchise link that they can
just go and put some informationabout them, and I will be
pleased to have my founder callwith them very soon. Yes,
Dave Crenshaw (50:17):
and if that happens, please let her know
that you heard about this fromme, yeah, maybe that'll get me
some free macarons. That wouldbe great. I
Unknown (50:25):
will. I will, for sure, even even if no one is showing
up. It was such a pleasuretalking with you, Dave. It was
really, really nice. Thank youvery much for having me. Thank
you. Thank
Dave Crenshaw (50:37):
you Rosalie and Darci. Yes, you were cool. And
thank you everyone forlistening. Remember, it's not
just about the knowledge thatyou gained or the inspiration
you received. It's about theaction that you take. So do
something today or tomorrow andyou'll make Rosalie's success
story a part of your successstory. Thanks for listening.
Darci Crenshaw (51:00):
You've been listening to the Dave Crenshaw
Success Show, hosted by my dad,Dave Crenshaw, and produced by
invaluable incorporated researchand assistant production by
Victoria Bidez, Sound Editing byNikic Wright, voiceover by me,
Darci Crenshaw, and the music isby Ryan Brady via pond five
(51:21):
licensing, please subscribe tothe Dave Crenshaw success show
on Apple podcasts Spotify,wherever you like to get your
podcasts. If you have asuggestion for someone my dad
might like to interview, pleasesend it to guests at Dave
crenshaw.com and please don'tforget to leave us a five star
review. See you next time you.
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