May 1, 2024    |    An Interview Between

Key Takeaways

• Listen to your gut: Overthinking can stop you from getting started.
• Protect what you’ve built: Help others and be of service. But it’s not selfish to limit what you share.
• Consider social media support: Social media is essential, but requires time. A team member with social media skills is invaluable.

One of the things I love most about the NBCUniversal Open Doors/NBCUniversal Abriendo Caminos initiative is the diversity of stories that small business owners share about their incredible journeys. While each story is different, there are always themes and insights that speak to our commonalities.

Lauren Haydel, founder and chief treasure hunter of retail brand Fleurty Girl, says she has been telling her story since day one when she decided to use her $2000 tax refund check to print up some t-shirts. Hoping to make life better for her family, this struggling 28-year-old single mother of three decided to take a risk on herself.

That was in 2009.

She never imagined that 13 years later Fleurty Girl would be featured in a nationally-aired television commercial as part of the NBCUniversal Open Doors/NBCUniversal Abriendo Caminos initiative. She also never imagined that her online t-shirt idea would expand into nine successful locations and become a beloved New Orleans female-centric brand known for its fun t-shirts and creatively curated gifts.

I last saw Lauren in 2022, so I was excited to catch up on all her progress and inspiring perspectives. As I expected, she has a lot going on and continues to be a source of invaluable insights. Here are some conversation highlights:

Lauren: It opened doors. Exactly what it said it would do. I’m so thankful. I was able to meet other entrepreneurs in the program and hear what they had going on. And it was a very diverse program – it wasn’t just women – not just white women. There were men, different ethnicities…I’m so glad it was shared with all kinds of people with different types of small businesses.

L: When I think about Open Doors, I think about opening the doors to my literal home. The first Fleurty Girl store was in my house where I lived in back with my three little ones. I went from strictly being online to opening the front door of my house to let people in. That open door formed relationships that are so special and unique.

As I expanded, I recreated the front door of my first house where people shopped with me. We built a fake facade with the front porch, the exact door and house numbers. I always wanted that door to be the one they walked through — but you can’t keep having everybody in your house 24/7… So even if they’re shopping with me all over town, they’ll still see the symbolism of that first open door.

L: I always appreciated good branding and good marketing. I remember being a little girl watching Bewitched and that’s what Darrin did for a living – he was a copywriter. I remember thinking that job was so cool.

L: I did. I worked retail throughout high school and college. I knew I wanted to open a store. I also knew how I wanted to brand it and market it from day one. Like Fleurty Girl green – lime green – that was the color on our first door and 15 years later that has never changed. I knew that was important for branding — find who you are, establish your identity, and build around that.

Fortunately for me, I’m good at retail and I’m good at marketing. Those two are a good recipe for success. But the third key component is being good with customers — having compassion and always being humble.

I never want to forget where I came from. Having that front porch replica with that first front door in the stores – that’s a solid daily reminder of where we came from and how terrifying that jump was to go from online to an open door in my house. I never want to be far away from that – how scary that was. No matter how big we get, as long as I can bring myself back to that, we’ll be OK.

L: We don’t have an ad budget, but we do have a social media budget and a full-time person who helps me with social media. We have to tell a story every day. We started sharing stories about how each store opened, especially for people who didn’t know the journey. That was huge. Lots of engagement.

Social Media takes more than I ever expected a retail business owner would need to do. You have to come up with content, shoot the content, edit, write captions, keep up with customer comments once you post. It’s crazy. I’m thankful I have a broadcast journalism background. I can be in front of camera and be comfortable.

L: I’m a true believer in the go-with-your-gut philosophy. Some people want to have it all figured it out before they go. But if I had overthought it, I never would have opened a single store. I just had to go. Opportunities presented themselves along the way. It was like we’re going to start here and we’re going to figure it out. I took some crazy chances, and they paid off.

L: Look at your numbers. Check your social media presence. Test things out with your customers. As long as you build a solid team and can step away, and they can run things and you can take a vacation — then you can look at opening another store.

Starting with the very first store in my house, I hired a manager. I gave them a percentage of sales, so they felt ownership and were rewarded by sales growth. It’s still that way today. Our store managers have their names on the door. I can’t be there all day every day – so that model has really worked well. They feel like it’s their store. They’re proud of it. They’ve hired their team. It’s a flow that allows us to grow into a lot of locations. It’s all about good people.

L: Being an empty nester and entering this chapter of life opened another door. We finally opened a store in Baton Rouge. It was our most requested location out of all the stores we opened, even in our IG metrics. It’s also where all three of my kids are attending college — at LSU. I’ve got a little bit of time since they’re not home, so I’m back in classes there too. I’m able to check on the store and have dinner with my kids once a week.

I never finished my degree, and I always had a goal to graduate before my oldest. I’m literally going to reach out to the Dean and say can you please make sure the Broadcast Journalism School’s graduation is before Engineering? I have to graduate first.

L: I’m a big believer in helping others. I’m big hearted. But I have gotten burned along the way by people I trusted. So I would say: Be generous but be cautious…It’s OK to guard and protect what you’ve built. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not being selfish. You can still help others without giving away too much.

L: Make sure you’re doing something you love, something you’re passionate about, because if it does take off — you’re going to be doing a lot of it. So, make sure it is authentic. I truly love what I do. I’ll admit I don’t have a very healthy work life balance. I’m still struggling with that. Sometimes I don’t want to stop working — like when it’s Mardi Gras time and the stores are so busy I’m working 12 hour days 7 days a week. But I love it at the same time.