August 7, 2024 • 20 mins
Amy Fazakerly's journey from a mom struggling to organize her children's Lego toys to a successful entrepreneur with six U.S. patents is nothing short of inspiring! Tune in as Amy reveals how her innovative Lay-N-Go evolved into a versatile product line for cosmetics, pets, electronics, and even the military. She opens up about navigating the challenges of lengthy patent processes and international manufacturing, highlighting the critical role of hands-on experience over theoretical knowledge. Amy also underscores the importance of peer support and mentorship from organizations like WeBank, WPO, and the US Chamber in her business growth.
Amy candidly shares valuable lessons learned from early missteps and how these experiences shaped her strategic approach when major retailers came knocking. We discuss the significance of setting intentional timelines, taking calculated risks, and celebrating all victories, big or small. Amy offers a glimpse into balancing personal and professional life, staying motivated, and her future vision for Lay-N-Go. Reflecting on her nearly 15-year journey, Amy expresses her desire to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs through platforms like The Female Founder Show and institutions like Syracuse University. This episode is brimming with practical wisdom and inspiration for anyone eager to bring their innovative ideas to life.
Thank you for tuning in to The Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick. If you like what you heard, please give us a review and let us know what you think?
Want to hear and see more great content to help you run your business more profitably? Go to ASBN.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Voiceover (00:07):
This is the Female Founder Show with host and
entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (00:18):
Hello everyone and welcome to the
Female Founder Show.
My favorite entrepreneurialstories are the ones where
someone saw a need as they weregoing about their everyday life
and they went for it.
That's exactly what today'sguest did and wow, did she go
for it?
Now she is the holder of six USpatents, she was the 2021
Enterprising Woman of the Yearand on the 100 Women to Know
(00:39):
list.
Her company was recently on theInc 5000 America's Fastest
Growing Private Companies list,and she has been featured on
numerous shows, including GoodMorning America and Fox Friends,
even right here on ASBN, whereshe was featured on our US
Chamber Small Business Updatewith Tom Sullivan.
I'm so excited to talk to AmyFazakerly about her company Lay
(01:00):
Go and her amazing journey as afemale founder.
So, amy, with that, thank youso much for joining us today.
Amy Fazackerley (01:06):
Well, bridget, thank you so much for having me,
and I just want to thank youfor the Female Founders Show and
allowing founders like myselfto tell our story, so thank you
Absolutely.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (01:17):
Thank you Now.
I love your story, so I thinkit would be great to start there
If you could talk to us aboutthe Lay go and the reason that
you started your company.
Amy Fazackerley (01:26):
Absolutely.
I always like to start with.
You know, I kind of refer to mystory as necessity is the
mother of invention, which we'veall heard of, and that really
is my story.
I started with three young boys, my basement and the typical
bins, buckets and baskets and amillion dollars worth of Lego,
and no way make them clean, uh,clean them up and make them
(01:49):
portable.
And I wanted a washablesolution and, uh, like many moms
you know, I went searching highand low to try to find the
solution on the market and therewas nothing available.
So I just created one.
And it really started with thatspecialized niche market
solution called the Lango Large,and it was a 60 inch mat that
(02:12):
allowed my kids to pour the binsand buckets of Lego out and
spread them around and then, asa mom, to clean up in seconds.
And what I quickly realized wasthat I was having the same
problem my kids were having withtoys, but mine was with makeup.
So we miniaturized the idea andpadded and quilted and
(02:32):
remarketed it to women and itreally became a mass market
product called the Lango Cosmoand it's our cosmetic bag, which
is now our bread and butter andwe've sold millions of them,
cosmetic bag, which is now ourbread and butter, and we've sold
millions of them and we thenadded to the collection and we
looked at other solutions thatwe could solve with our pets,
(02:52):
electronics and even themilitary.
We have a military solutioncalled the defender.
So that's really how we startedwith play and we moved into the
cosmetic world and we just keptgoing.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (03:07):
Yeah, and there's so many areas that you
could use this.
I actually have one with meright now.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
These are great.
Use it every day.
I have to take my makeup intowork with me every day, so super
convenient and very easy.
So, and I wish I had the hadthem when my son was playing
with Legos.
He was already a littleoutgrown.
He outgrew the Legos when thiswas invented, so but I have
(03:27):
grandchildren now, so I will besure that they have them for
their Legos.
Well, thank you.
Now let's shift gears a littlebit.
If you could go back to 2011,when you started, is there
anything that you wish you knewthen, or you know now that you
knew then?
Amy Fazackerley (03:43):
Oh boy, that's a great question and I would
have to answer it with almosteverything because, you know, I
went back and got an MBA andwith a strategic marketing focus
and that's all great and good,but there's nothing like boots
on the ground and rolling upyour sleeves and actually doing
the work.
And I would say, you know, hadI known that the patent, our
(04:05):
first patent was going to takeover four years, um
manufacturing, did I know that Iwould start in Pakistan and
move to China and Cambodia andback to China and not be able to
make it in the United States?
Um, inventory management isalways an issue with products
like ours, and understandingwhat is the trend and how much
(04:28):
do you need.
And when Q4 hits, what doesthat do to your sales?
And I would say onlinemarketing, pricing, packaging, I
mean everything that you learnin school.
It's just so intensified whenyou're actually having to do it
yourself and figure it out.
So I would say that answer iseverything.
(04:49):
Yeah.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (04:50):
Yeah, it's almost hard.
It's probably hard to nail downjust one thing, because so much
, so much of us, so much ofbeing entrepreneurs, really just
diving in and figuring it outas you go there's no, there's no
playbook for it, there's no.
You just have to get in and doit and and learn as you go.
Amy Fazackerley (05:05):
You wear many hats and, every day is so
different.
You know you have this issuetoday, the global pandemic one
week, and you've got.
You know supply chain the nextweek, and now you know you're
Your overseas tariffs went from14% to 42% and how do you
address that?
And you know it's, there's this, everything.
(05:25):
It's new every day.
There's a new problem to solveevery
day.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (05:30):
Yeah, you have to have to pivot every day.
It seems you do.
Now, as a female leader, whatrole models or mentors have
impacted your life, and how havethey influenced your approach
to your business?
Amy Fazackerley (05:44):
Yeah, so I would really say that there
wasn't one particular person,but there were many people along
the way.
I mean it was this nuggets ofinformation over the 13 years,
organizations and groups that Iwas involved in, like WeBank,
which is Women BusinessEnterprise National Council, WPO
, which is Women PresidentsOrganization, the US Chamber has
(06:07):
been fabulous.
We do a lot of peer-to-peerlearning and educational groups.
I've participated in GoldmanSachs 10,000 Small Businesses.
We're really involved withSyracuse University and we do a
lot of mentoring and workingwith them and the feedback that
we get from that is tremendous.
(06:29):
And how has it changed myapproach?
I would say that, you know, dowhat you love and the money
comes, and I always feel like Ihave to keep a balance along the
way.
Enjoy my downtime.
That's one thing I've learnedover the past 14 years.
You know it's hard when you'rewearing so many hats to just
enjoy the moments and be in themoment.
(06:50):
Don't give up.
I mean, if I had given up, youknow multiple times where I've
had mishaps and issues and Icould have given up way back 14
years ago and I would just sayyou just keep digging and
pushing and looking for thoseanswers and never stop learning.
(07:11):
I think that really has beenpart of my approach as well is
that every day there's somethingnew to learn and grow.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (07:17):
Absolutely.
Now there are a lot of womenwatching that own a business
with their spouses or they mightbe thinking about working with
their spouse.
You and I both work withalongside our husbands, so would
you talk to us about how youmake that work and maintain a
happy household as well?
Amy Fazackerley (07:33):
Yeah, yeah, I think we do a really good job at
setting boundaries and kind ofstaying in our lane.
So we really understand, like,our strengths and weaknesses.
My background is sales andmarketing and this is more
finance and engineering and wecertainly overlap and we rely on
each other for some of thatoverlap.
But it's really looking at howdo we balance it, how do we stay
(07:57):
in our lane, how do we you know, we always kid each other
because it's like you can't, wecan't both have a down day Right
, like if you're going to godown and and out about something
today, I've got to be, you know, cheery and get you going and
be positive.
So I think it's learning how toto really overlap and keep each
(08:18):
other positive and going.
We have some like work-freetime and then work-free zones
where it's like we don't talkabout work, we don't, you know,
it's just we're here to notdiscuss it.
We're outside of the office,even though we're never outside
of the office and we do haveseparate workspaces.
So I think that you know thathelps to be able to kind of walk
(08:38):
away and just think aboutthings.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (08:40):
Yeah, definitely.
It's so funny that I've beenasked that question many times
and I think I've answered itexactly the way you did,
especially the staying in yourlanes.
I think that, because myhusband and I have different
strengths and weaknesses, itdoes work really well.
I couldn't imagine if we bothwere good at the same thing and
bad at the same thing.
I don't know if that would beas easy of a flow.
(09:02):
So it's funny that you saidexactly that, almost word for
word, exactly why I answeredthat question many times.
So there must be something tothat.
Amy Fazackerley (09:08):
Well, that's probably why it works for both
of us.
Right, that's right, that'sright, right, exactly Now, as a
female founder, what were someof the unique challenges that
you faced while building yourcompany and how did you overcome
them?
Yeah, I would say the biggestchallenge for me would be the
intellectual property.
(09:29):
It's kind of getting the patenttook so long and so much time
and effort and really relying on, you know, that lawyer that we
trusted with our lives and then,once we got the patent, it was
continuing the continuationsthat we've got that.
We've gone down that journey ofnow we have six US utility
patents and then it's protecting.
You know, my lawyer from dayone said you're going to work so
(09:50):
hard to get this, you're goingto get it and then you're going
to work so hard to protect it.
And that has been the truthsince day one.
It's just, we still are policingand protecting and having to
pull down infringers and I thinkmore for me, I would say, than
my husband, is these infringers,these a lot of offshore
infringers that I've beendealing with over the past you
(10:14):
know, 12 years, and really moreso in the beginning was that it
was heartbreaking for me to seethem use images of myself and my
children on their packaging oninfringing products and, you
know, confusing the market and I, just as a mom, it was like how
could somebody do that?
So that was really tough.
You know, you just get thickskin and after so many of them
(10:36):
you go oh yeah, it's justanother picture, right?
But I think that was.
I would say that was really abig challenge for me to overcome
in the beginning and get thatthick skin and go, yeah, it's,
this is what I'm going to bedealing with for the next
however many years.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (10:52):
Yeah, that probably helped in so many other
areas too, because in business,as you know, you can take
things very personal and andthat doesn't really doesn't help
your business at all.
So I'm sure that helped you inso many other areas of your
business to get through that andyou're like, if you can get
through that, you can, you canprobably get through anything.
Amy Fazackerley (11:09):
Absolutely.
That's how I felt.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (11:11):
Yeah, yeah Now.
Um, it's so important to takeyour take care of yourself in
order to take care of yourbusiness and your family, Is
there?
Amy Fazackerley (11:23):
Yeah, you know, I always try to get good sleep
and I'm really into routine andit's exercising.
You know, I get up, I exercise,I get organized and I think that
really helps me to kind of getclarity on what I need to do
today and how to stay focused.
(11:48):
A dinner with my whole familyand we, you know, kind of
discuss the day, so it's like adownload and it's like okay, now
I'm out of the office and I'mputting that away for the day.
You know, I've also, I wouldsay, learned to say no, which
was really hard in the beginningwhen, as we discussed, you know
, you're wearing so many hatsand you're doing so many things
and you're juggling so manyballs and you've got, you know,
young children in a business andso many balls, and you've got,
(12:08):
you know, young children in abusiness and I've had to learn
to say no, and that's, I think,helped me.
And I always like to say, youknow, kind of my words of wisdom
are with grit, grace andgratitude, and gratitude is
really something that you know,that really helps me stay
focused and enjoying what I do,because it's been such an
(12:29):
interesting journey.
But every day I am grateful forhow I started and where I am
and how I got there.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (12:37):
I love that grace and gratitude.
So many times the grace wordkind of seems to fall to the
side.
So anytime there's a challengehere, I have to say, okay, you
just have to remain, takeeverything with grace and be
graceful and grateful at thesame time.
So I like that you said that,because that's often not a word
used when giving advice and it'sso, so important.
(12:57):
Yeah, now, as founders, we haveto work really hard to find the
lessons and the failures, asyou have and you talked about.
Can you think of a time in yourcareer when there was a moment
that seemed like a failure, thatthings just weren't going to
work out, and it actually turnedaround and worked out in your
favor?
Amy Fazackerley (13:15):
Yeah, so this is.
You know.
I love this question because Icould hone right in on the
moment it happened and it wasearly on in our sales cycle.
We were meeting with this hugerep group right after the New
York Toys there and they wantedthousands of units and we were
so excited.
We made this big sale and theywanted us to put specialty kits
(13:36):
together and educate their salesteam and we put so much time
and money and like just TLC intothis program and they didn't
sell one unit.
And we were looking at eachother like, oh my gosh, what are
we going to do with all thisinventory?
And they didn't sell one unitand we were looking at each
other like, oh my gosh, what arewe going to do with all this
inventory and where does it gofrom here?
Right, so fast forward.
Of course we sold the inventoryand it all went well, but fast
(13:57):
forward.
When Costco and Target cameknocking on our door, it was
like looking back and going.
Do you remember what happenedand how we reacted so quickly?
And let's give ourselves, let'smake it intentional, let's give
ourselves a, you know, a realtimeline so that we don't
fluster and fail.
(14:18):
Let's set ourselves up forsuccess and take our time and
take calculated risks.
You know, and I think that wasthe lesson learned is that we
did it right when it reallymattered.
So that was a great lessonlearned.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (14:35):
Definitely, definitely, wow, that is
important to learn Really.
A failure is just the educationright, absolutely, and it
happens every day.
Amy Fazackerley (14:43):
Right, you learn and you pick yourself up
and you go okay, I'm not goingto do that again.
That's a lesson.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (14:49):
That's right, that's for sure.
Now, on the most challengingdays, what do you do to stay
motivated and positive, to keepgoing?
Amy Fazackerley (14:57):
Well, like I said, I love routine.
I set a lot of goals weekly andthen I write down tasks and I
do my daily.
You know my daily tasks.
I think what I've learned and Ithink it comes with time and
experience and wisdom is thatI've really surrounded myself
with other motivated andpositive people and I think that
you know, when you're young,you just you kind of are going
(15:19):
with the flow and, and I thinkas I've gotten older and more
mature, I'm able to say you know, I'm going to say no and I'm
going to spend more time withthis kind of person or this kind
of group, right.
And I think one of the otherthings that really helps to
motivate myself and, I'm sure,my husband, is that we really
(15:39):
appreciate and learn tocelebrate the wins, whether
they're big or small.
You know Inc 5000 list and thatwas a big win and we were so
excited.
But you can get so wrapped upin just going, oh, we have this
and we have that and we've gotall these other things to do and
move on and then not realizethat you've never really stopped
(16:01):
to celebrate.
So I think that's reallyimportant.
An important message to tellothers that are going through
this is that, even the littlewins along the way, you've got
to pat yourself on the back andcelebrate those wins and
recognize that you're you knowyou're moving forward and you're
moving mountains.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (16:19):
Yeah, for sure, For sure.
That's great.
Now talk to us.
There are a lot of womenwatching that struggle with
trying to do it all and do itall perfectly.
You're a wife, a mother, abusiness owner.
How do you balance it?
Now, we've talked a little bitabout the routine and exercising
, but just how do you do it?
Amy Fazackerley (16:35):
Yeah, I think it's really recognizing your
values and those can change.
But what is important today,and really with that, I practice
time management, I focus on myfamily.
I focus on my family, I focuson my health, which is, you know
, how are you going to do thisif you're not healthy?
Being really intentional andenjoying that downtime because,
(16:56):
as you know and I know, this isa 24-7 job.
It never goes away.
Your office is always there,your phone's always there, your
computer's always there, peopleare always in need of something.
So it's really recognizing thatyou need the downtime, you need
to get away, you need to stepout, and I love what I do.
And I would say my superpower inreally balancing all this is
(17:16):
being organized, which is why Istarted an organizational
company.
Right, I'm like that, I'mreally uber organized and I feel
like that helps me to be ableto juggle a lot more than maybe
most people.
I mean, I have friends that say, you know, I do more in one day
than they do all month, andit's because I, you know, set my
goals, I write things down, Istay super organized and it
(17:37):
becomes more routine and becomesreally, you know, easy.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (17:43):
That's for sure.
Now, any advice you would giveto someone thinking about
starting a business right now,Well, I would say you know, just
dig deep and take, look atthose calculated risks.
Amy Fazackerley (17:55):
You know, get a support system.
Mentors are really great.
Talk to others.
I do a lot of peer to peerdiscussions through all of my
organizational groups that Imentioned earlier.
Discussions through all of myorganizational groups that I
mentioned earlier.
And you know, have faith andtrust and surround yourself by
positive and motivated people.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (18:13):
And work on your organization.
Amy Fazackerley (18:15):
And being organized, absolutely that's
number one.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (18:19):
All right, so what's next for Lay Go?
Where do you see the company inthe next five to 10 years?
Amy Fazackerley (18:34):
Well, obviously we want to continue to stay
innovative.
We want to continue thosepatents, keep solving everyday
household problems, which isreally what we do.
We want to, you know, designand develop and keep looking at
trends, and, I think, on abigger scale.
When I think of this question,it's how do we give back?
You know, we've been doing thisand going at this for a while
almost 15 years and it's timefor us to really reflect and
help, to mentor and help thatnext generation.
And that's really what we'relooking to do through the
(18:55):
chamber and through SyracuseUniversity and some of these
other organizations that we'regetting involved with.
And how do we help others thatwant that have great ideas to
take them to market and and like, facilitate, making it faster
and easier for them, becauseit's not easy, it's not fast, um
(19:15):
, there's a lot that comes withthat and I think, if you know,
if we can help in any way andgive advice and um, let them,
you know, give them the, the,the knowledge and the wisdom
that we have acquired over thepast 14 years, it would be
fabulous.
So, you know, my children Idon't know if anybody's, um any
of them are interested in takingover the business, but I have
(19:36):
three sons and maybe one day, um, they will, uh, come up with
another innovative idea to addto our collection and take over.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (19:44):
So well, you're giving back by being on
the Female Founders Show today,so we appreciate that very much.
Amy Fazackerley (19:51):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
It's been a pleasure meetingyou, and thank you again for
allowing me and other women,women founders to have a
platform to share their story.
It's really important.
So thank you for the workyou're doing.
It's fabulous, absolutely.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (20:05):
This was a pleasure and thank you for the
work you're doing.
It's fabulous, absolutely.
This was a pleasure, and thankyou again for coming on the show
and for your kind words.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, bridget.
Voiceover (20:12):
This is the Female Founder Show with host and
entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.
If you're a female founder andwould like to help other female
founders with your inspiringstory, we would love to hear
from you.
This is the Female Founder Show with host and
entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (00:18):
Hello everyone and welcome to the
Female Founder Show.
My favorite entrepreneurialstories are the ones where
someone saw a need as they weregoing about their everyday life
and they went for it.
That's exactly what today'sguest did and wow, did she go
for it?
Now she is the holder of six USpatents, she was the 2021
Enterprising Woman of the Yearand on the 100 Women to Know
(00:39):
list.
Her company was recently on theInc 5000 America's Fastest
Growing Private Companies list,and she has been featured on
numerous shows, including GoodMorning America and Fox Friends,
even right here on ASBN, whereshe was featured on our US
Chamber Small Business Updatewith Tom Sullivan.
I'm so excited to talk to AmyFazakerly about her company Lay
(01:00):
Go and her amazing journey as afemale founder.
So, amy, with that, thank youso much for joining us today.
Amy Fazackerley (01:06):
Well, bridget, thank you so much for having me,
and I just want to thank youfor the Female Founders Show and
allowing founders like myselfto tell our story, so thank you
Absolutely.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (01:17):
Thank you Now.
I love your story, so I thinkit would be great to start there
If you could talk to us aboutthe Lay go and the reason that
you started your company.
Amy Fazackerley (01:26):
Absolutely.
I always like to start with.
You know, I kind of refer to mystory as necessity is the
mother of invention, which we'veall heard of, and that really
is my story.
I started with three young boys, my basement and the typical
bins, buckets and baskets and amillion dollars worth of Lego,
and no way make them clean, uh,clean them up and make them
(01:49):
portable.
And I wanted a washablesolution and, uh, like many moms
you know, I went searching highand low to try to find the
solution on the market and therewas nothing available.
So I just created one.
And it really started with thatspecialized niche market
solution called the Lango Large,and it was a 60 inch mat that
(02:12):
allowed my kids to pour the binsand buckets of Lego out and
spread them around and then, asa mom, to clean up in seconds.
And what I quickly realized wasthat I was having the same
problem my kids were having withtoys, but mine was with makeup.
So we miniaturized the idea andpadded and quilted and
(02:32):
remarketed it to women and itreally became a mass market
product called the Lango Cosmoand it's our cosmetic bag, which
is now our bread and butter andwe've sold millions of them,
cosmetic bag, which is now ourbread and butter, and we've sold
millions of them and we thenadded to the collection and we
looked at other solutions thatwe could solve with our pets,
(02:52):
electronics and even themilitary.
We have a military solutioncalled the defender.
So that's really how we startedwith play and we moved into the
cosmetic world and we just keptgoing.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (03:07):
Yeah, and there's so many areas that you
could use this.
I actually have one with meright now.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
These are great.
Use it every day.
I have to take my makeup intowork with me every day, so super
convenient and very easy.
So, and I wish I had the hadthem when my son was playing
with Legos.
He was already a littleoutgrown.
He outgrew the Legos when thiswas invented, so but I have
(03:27):
grandchildren now, so I will besure that they have them for
their Legos.
Well, thank you.
Now let's shift gears a littlebit.
If you could go back to 2011,when you started, is there
anything that you wish you knewthen, or you know now that you
knew then?
Amy Fazackerley (03:43):
Oh boy, that's a great question and I would
have to answer it with almosteverything because, you know, I
went back and got an MBA andwith a strategic marketing focus
and that's all great and good,but there's nothing like boots
on the ground and rolling upyour sleeves and actually doing
the work.
And I would say, you know, hadI known that the patent, our
(04:05):
first patent was going to takeover four years, um
manufacturing, did I know that Iwould start in Pakistan and
move to China and Cambodia andback to China and not be able to
make it in the United States?
Um, inventory management isalways an issue with products
like ours, and understandingwhat is the trend and how much
(04:28):
do you need.
And when Q4 hits, what doesthat do to your sales?
And I would say onlinemarketing, pricing, packaging, I
mean everything that you learnin school.
It's just so intensified whenyou're actually having to do it
yourself and figure it out.
So I would say that answer iseverything.
(04:49):
Yeah.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (04:50):
Yeah, it's almost hard.
It's probably hard to nail downjust one thing, because so much
, so much of us, so much ofbeing entrepreneurs, really just
diving in and figuring it outas you go there's no, there's no
playbook for it, there's no.
You just have to get in and doit and and learn as you go.
Amy Fazackerley (05:05):
You wear many hats and, every day is so
different.
You know you have this issuetoday, the global pandemic one
week, and you've got.
You know supply chain the nextweek, and now you know you're
Your overseas tariffs went from14% to 42% and how do you
address that?
And you know it's, there's this, everything.
(05:25):
It's new every day.
There's a new problem to solveevery
day.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (05:30):
Yeah, you have to have to pivot every day.
It seems you do.
Now, as a female leader, whatrole models or mentors have
impacted your life, and how havethey influenced your approach
to your business?
Amy Fazackerley (05:44):
Yeah, so I would really say that there
wasn't one particular person,but there were many people along
the way.
I mean it was this nuggets ofinformation over the 13 years,
organizations and groups that Iwas involved in, like WeBank,
which is Women BusinessEnterprise National Council, WPO
, which is Women PresidentsOrganization, the US Chamber has
(06:07):
been fabulous.
We do a lot of peer-to-peerlearning and educational groups.
I've participated in GoldmanSachs 10,000 Small Businesses.
We're really involved withSyracuse University and we do a
lot of mentoring and workingwith them and the feedback that
we get from that is tremendous.
(06:29):
And how has it changed myapproach?
I would say that, you know, dowhat you love and the money
comes, and I always feel like Ihave to keep a balance along the
way.
Enjoy my downtime.
That's one thing I've learnedover the past 14 years.
You know it's hard when you'rewearing so many hats to just
enjoy the moments and be in themoment.
(06:50):
Don't give up.
I mean, if I had given up, youknow multiple times where I've
had mishaps and issues and Icould have given up way back 14
years ago and I would just sayyou just keep digging and
pushing and looking for thoseanswers and never stop learning.
(07:11):
I think that really has beenpart of my approach as well is
that every day there's somethingnew to learn and grow.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (07:17):
Absolutely.
Now there are a lot of womenwatching that own a business
with their spouses or they mightbe thinking about working with
their spouse.
You and I both work withalongside our husbands, so would
you talk to us about how youmake that work and maintain a
happy household as well?
Amy Fazackerley (07:33):
Yeah, yeah, I think we do a really good job at
setting boundaries and kind ofstaying in our lane.
So we really understand, like,our strengths and weaknesses.
My background is sales andmarketing and this is more
finance and engineering and wecertainly overlap and we rely on
each other for some of thatoverlap.
But it's really looking at howdo we balance it, how do we stay
(07:57):
in our lane, how do we you know, we always kid each other
because it's like you can't, wecan't both have a down day Right
, like if you're going to godown and and out about something
today, I've got to be, you know, cheery and get you going and
be positive.
So I think it's learning how toto really overlap and keep each
(08:18):
other positive and going.
We have some like work-freetime and then work-free zones
where it's like we don't talkabout work, we don't, you know,
it's just we're here to notdiscuss it.
We're outside of the office,even though we're never outside
of the office and we do haveseparate workspaces.
So I think that you know thathelps to be able to kind of walk
(08:38):
away and just think aboutthings.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (08:40):
Yeah, definitely.
It's so funny that I've beenasked that question many times
and I think I've answered itexactly the way you did,
especially the staying in yourlanes.
I think that, because myhusband and I have different
strengths and weaknesses, itdoes work really well.
I couldn't imagine if we bothwere good at the same thing and
bad at the same thing.
I don't know if that would beas easy of a flow.
(09:02):
So it's funny that you saidexactly that, almost word for
word, exactly why I answeredthat question many times.
So there must be something tothat.
Amy Fazackerley (09:08):
Well, that's probably why it works for both
of us.
Right, that's right, that'sright, right, exactly Now, as a
female founder, what were someof the unique challenges that
you faced while building yourcompany and how did you overcome
them?
Yeah, I would say the biggestchallenge for me would be the
intellectual property.
(09:29):
It's kind of getting the patenttook so long and so much time
and effort and really relying on, you know, that lawyer that we
trusted with our lives and then,once we got the patent, it was
continuing the continuationsthat we've got that.
We've gone down that journey ofnow we have six US utility
patents and then it's protecting.
You know, my lawyer from dayone said you're going to work so
(09:50):
hard to get this, you're goingto get it and then you're going
to work so hard to protect it.
And that has been the truthsince day one.
It's just, we still are policingand protecting and having to
pull down infringers and I thinkmore for me, I would say, than
my husband, is these infringers,these a lot of offshore
infringers that I've beendealing with over the past you
(10:14):
know, 12 years, and really moreso in the beginning was that it
was heartbreaking for me to seethem use images of myself and my
children on their packaging oninfringing products and, you
know, confusing the market and I, just as a mom, it was like how
could somebody do that?
So that was really tough.
You know, you just get thickskin and after so many of them
(10:36):
you go oh yeah, it's justanother picture, right?
But I think that was.
I would say that was really abig challenge for me to overcome
in the beginning and get thatthick skin and go, yeah, it's,
this is what I'm going to bedealing with for the next
however many years.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (10:52):
Yeah, that probably helped in so many other
areas too, because in business,as you know, you can take
things very personal and andthat doesn't really doesn't help
your business at all.
So I'm sure that helped you inso many other areas of your
business to get through that andyou're like, if you can get
through that, you can, you canprobably get through anything.
Amy Fazackerley (11:09):
Absolutely.
That's how I felt.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (11:11):
Yeah, yeah Now.
Um, it's so important to takeyour take care of yourself in
order to take care of yourbusiness and your family, Is
there?
Amy Fazackerley (11:23):
Yeah, you know, I always try to get good sleep
and I'm really into routine andit's exercising.
You know, I get up, I exercise,I get organized and I think that
really helps me to kind of getclarity on what I need to do
today and how to stay focused.
(11:48):
A dinner with my whole familyand we, you know, kind of
discuss the day, so it's like adownload and it's like okay, now
I'm out of the office and I'mputting that away for the day.
You know, I've also, I wouldsay, learned to say no, which
was really hard in the beginningwhen, as we discussed, you know
, you're wearing so many hatsand you're doing so many things
and you're juggling so manyballs and you've got, you know,
young children in a business andso many balls, and you've got,
(12:08):
you know, young children in abusiness and I've had to learn
to say no, and that's, I think,helped me.
And I always like to say, youknow, kind of my words of wisdom
are with grit, grace andgratitude, and gratitude is
really something that you know,that really helps me stay
focused and enjoying what I do,because it's been such an
(12:29):
interesting journey.
But every day I am grateful forhow I started and where I am
and how I got there.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (12:37):
I love that grace and gratitude.
So many times the grace wordkind of seems to fall to the
side.
So anytime there's a challengehere, I have to say, okay, you
just have to remain, takeeverything with grace and be
graceful and grateful at thesame time.
So I like that you said that,because that's often not a word
used when giving advice and it'sso, so important.
(12:57):
Yeah, now, as founders, we haveto work really hard to find the
lessons and the failures, asyou have and you talked about.
Can you think of a time in yourcareer when there was a moment
that seemed like a failure, thatthings just weren't going to
work out, and it actually turnedaround and worked out in your
favor?
Amy Fazackerley (13:15):
Yeah, so this is.
You know.
I love this question because Icould hone right in on the
moment it happened and it wasearly on in our sales cycle.
We were meeting with this hugerep group right after the New
York Toys there and they wantedthousands of units and we were
so excited.
We made this big sale and theywanted us to put specialty kits
(13:36):
together and educate their salesteam and we put so much time
and money and like just TLC intothis program and they didn't
sell one unit.
And we were looking at eachother like, oh my gosh, what are
we going to do with all thisinventory?
And they didn't sell one unitand we were looking at each
other like, oh my gosh, what arewe going to do with all this
inventory and where does it gofrom here?
Right, so fast forward.
Of course we sold the inventoryand it all went well, but fast
(13:57):
forward.
When Costco and Target cameknocking on our door, it was
like looking back and going.
Do you remember what happenedand how we reacted so quickly?
And let's give ourselves, let'smake it intentional, let's give
ourselves a, you know, a realtimeline so that we don't
fluster and fail.
(14:18):
Let's set ourselves up forsuccess and take our time and
take calculated risks.
You know, and I think that wasthe lesson learned is that we
did it right when it reallymattered.
So that was a great lessonlearned.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (14:35):
Definitely, definitely, wow, that is
important to learn Really.
A failure is just the educationright, absolutely, and it
happens every day.
Amy Fazackerley (14:43):
Right, you learn and you pick yourself up
and you go okay, I'm not goingto do that again.
That's a lesson.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (14:49):
That's right, that's for sure.
Now, on the most challengingdays, what do you do to stay
motivated and positive, to keepgoing?
Amy Fazackerley (14:57):
Well, like I said, I love routine.
I set a lot of goals weekly andthen I write down tasks and I
do my daily.
You know my daily tasks.
I think what I've learned and Ithink it comes with time and
experience and wisdom is thatI've really surrounded myself
with other motivated andpositive people and I think that
you know, when you're young,you just you kind of are going
(15:19):
with the flow and, and I thinkas I've gotten older and more
mature, I'm able to say you know, I'm going to say no and I'm
going to spend more time withthis kind of person or this kind
of group, right.
And I think one of the otherthings that really helps to
motivate myself and, I'm sure,my husband, is that we really
(15:39):
appreciate and learn tocelebrate the wins, whether
they're big or small.
You know Inc 5000 list and thatwas a big win and we were so
excited.
But you can get so wrapped upin just going, oh, we have this
and we have that and we've gotall these other things to do and
move on and then not realizethat you've never really stopped
(16:01):
to celebrate.
So I think that's reallyimportant.
An important message to tellothers that are going through
this is that, even the littlewins along the way, you've got
to pat yourself on the back andcelebrate those wins and
recognize that you're you knowyou're moving forward and you're
moving mountains.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (16:19):
Yeah, for sure, For sure.
That's great.
Now talk to us.
There are a lot of womenwatching that struggle with
trying to do it all and do itall perfectly.
You're a wife, a mother, abusiness owner.
How do you balance it?
Now, we've talked a little bitabout the routine and exercising
, but just how do you do it?
Amy Fazackerley (16:35):
Yeah, I think it's really recognizing your
values and those can change.
But what is important today,and really with that, I practice
time management, I focus on myfamily.
I focus on my family, I focuson my health, which is, you know
, how are you going to do thisif you're not healthy?
Being really intentional andenjoying that downtime because,
(16:56):
as you know and I know, this isa 24-7 job.
It never goes away.
Your office is always there,your phone's always there, your
computer's always there, peopleare always in need of something.
So it's really recognizing thatyou need the downtime, you need
to get away, you need to stepout, and I love what I do.
And I would say my superpower inreally balancing all this is
(17:16):
being organized, which is why Istarted an organizational
company.
Right, I'm like that, I'mreally uber organized and I feel
like that helps me to be ableto juggle a lot more than maybe
most people.
I mean, I have friends that say, you know, I do more in one day
than they do all month, andit's because I, you know, set my
goals, I write things down, Istay super organized and it
(17:37):
becomes more routine and becomesreally, you know, easy.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (17:43):
That's for sure.
Now, any advice you would giveto someone thinking about
starting a business right now,Well, I would say you know, just
dig deep and take, look atthose calculated risks.
Amy Fazackerley (17:55):
You know, get a support system.
Mentors are really great.
Talk to others.
I do a lot of peer to peerdiscussions through all of my
organizational groups that Imentioned earlier.
Discussions through all of myorganizational groups that I
mentioned earlier.
And you know, have faith andtrust and surround yourself by
positive and motivated people.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (18:13):
And work on your organization.
Amy Fazackerley (18:15):
And being organized, absolutely that's
number one.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (18:19):
All right, so what's next for Lay Go?
Where do you see the company inthe next five to 10 years?
Amy Fazackerley (18:34):
Well, obviously we want to continue to stay
innovative.
We want to continue thosepatents, keep solving everyday
household problems, which isreally what we do.
We want to, you know, designand develop and keep looking at
trends, and, I think, on abigger scale.
When I think of this question,it's how do we give back?
You know, we've been doing thisand going at this for a while
almost 15 years and it's timefor us to really reflect and
help, to mentor and help thatnext generation.
And that's really what we'relooking to do through the
(18:55):
chamber and through SyracuseUniversity and some of these
other organizations that we'regetting involved with.
And how do we help others thatwant that have great ideas to
take them to market and and like, facilitate, making it faster
and easier for them, becauseit's not easy, it's not fast, um
(19:15):
, there's a lot that comes withthat and I think, if you know,
if we can help in any way andgive advice and um, let them,
you know, give them the, the,the knowledge and the wisdom
that we have acquired over thepast 14 years, it would be
fabulous.
So, you know, my children Idon't know if anybody's, um any
of them are interested in takingover the business, but I have
(19:36):
three sons and maybe one day, um, they will, uh, come up with
another innovative idea to addto our collection and take over.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (19:44):
So well, you're giving back by being on
the Female Founders Show today,so we appreciate that very much.
Amy Fazackerley (19:51):
Well, thank you so much for having me.
It's been a pleasure meetingyou, and thank you again for
allowing me and other women,women founders to have a
platform to share their story.
It's really important.
So thank you for the workyou're doing.
It's fabulous, absolutely.
Bridget Fitzpatrick (20:05):
This was a pleasure and thank you for the
work you're doing.
It's fabulous, absolutely.
This was a pleasure, and thankyou again for coming on the show
and for your kind words.
Thank you so much.
Thanks, bridget.
Voiceover (20:12):
This is the Female Founder Show with host and
entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.
If you're a female founder andwould like to help other female
founders with your inspiringstory, we would love to hear
from you.
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