Building a Mobile Airstream Business and the Power of Trusting Ourselves with Lindsay Dickerhoof
This week’s guest, Lindsay Dickerhoof
A hairstylist, makeup artist, Mary Kay consultant, owner of Harestream, and mom of two.
Episode Description
To be a mom and own a business, it takes a lot of trust.
We can’t do everything. We can’t be watching our kids 24/7 while also micromanaging every aspect of our work lives. To a point, we just have to have faith that the people around us will hold us up.
In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Lindsay Dickerhoof, a hairstylist, makeup artist, Mary Kay consultant and owner of Harestream, a mobile wedding salon that travels via a beautiful Airstream van. She’s also the mom to two beautiful babies.
So much of our conversation has to do with trust, and how important it was for her to grow her business and be the mom she wanted to be.
It required trust in her faith; trust in herself; trust in her employees; and trust in the vision of what she wants her business and her life to look like.
Building the business & the family
Lindsay was a hairstylist and makeup artist in the wedding industry before she started her business. She was with the same employer for seven years, but always felt called to build something so much bigger.
Her vision? A makeup and hairstyling business that travels via Airstream! The journey wasn’t easy; it wasn’t a mainstream idea, so she struggled securing a loan. Instead of dwelling on it, she took matters into her own hands, finding an Airstream in Oregon and paying for it and its renovation in cash.
Two weeks before she got the trailer, she met her husband, who grew up on a farm. He taught her to pull it and helped her get the business off the ground. During the pandemic, they got married and built a second Airstream. Her husband was offered a job across the country, and Lindsay got pregnant.
All of these life changes required Lindsay to do some shifting. She hired people to help, and left the business in the hands of her employees.
It takes a giant leap of faith to be able to trust in your community, especially when you don’t have eyes and ears on the ground, but hopefully when you invest in these people, they’ll come through for you during the hard times.
It’s okay to hear “no”
Hearing a “no” is not the end of the world.
When Lindsay was trying to figure out how to build her business, she heard “no” a lot. She wasn’t able to secure a loan, and while she has a close-knit family, they didn’t really understand what she was trying to do with her business.
But her clientele did - they had enormous belief in what she was doing. And so did Lindsay. She had this vision and found a community that supported it. One of those supporters was Corina Tripon, who Lindsay says was an incredible influence and acted as a sounding board as Harestream was being built.
(Corina was featured in one of our earlier episodes. She is AMAZING, and I highly recommend you check that episode out!)
When you’re in the moment, it can be hard to hear the word “no.” But ultimately these “nos” give us direction of where to go next.
One of the other refreshing things about hearing Lindsay’s story was the transparency of her timeline. I journal everyday about this podcast and often have to reel myself in and say, okay, these are good ideas, but it’s going to take some time.
As Lindsay says, there’s no instant gratification in business, but there is delayed gratification. If you can deal with that, then you can be in business!
Showing up as we are
During our interview, one of her babies was sick and sat on her lap.
I love that this is how she showed up – it illustrates the reality of prioritizing ourselves and our businesses while still being there for our kids, especially when they’re sick.
Sometimes there’s this idea that we have to show up perfectly or we shouldn’t show up at all. We have to be the best mom and give our kids all our attention. That we’re going to screw our kids up if we do this, or don’t do this.
If we can give ourselves permission to show up in the best way we can, it will be perfect for our kids. Maybe my hair isn’t washed. Maybe all the prep work isn’t done. But in those moments, I can know that my presence is enough.
Since moving to Ohio, Lindsay has shifted her work. She became a Mary Kay consultant and now plays a leadership role in Harestream instead of being on the ground, running it in-person.
She says there are definitely moments where she doesn’t feel equipped to be a CEO – that she’s still learning how to lead others – but at a point, you just have to show up. People are counting on her to be there, in whatever form that is.
Notable Quotes from Lindsay
“We had so much support in Spokane. We had so many people. If it came to a split second on the dime, where someone couldn't deliver the trailer, someone couldn't work the wedding, we were gonna have to trust that they could come through for us. We had built such a presence when we were there, and we did so much of that for others, that we really had to rely on that, somehow, they will do the same for us.”
“I had such a great experience with her when she was first born. I was on cloud nine. Of course, I was really sad to leave my clientele. But I had also realized I wanted to do something different. I felt called to start being in a career where I'm not trading time for money. I'm learning how to lead others.”
Resources & Links
Learn more about Lindsay’s business, Harestream, on her Instagram page and website.
Learn more about Project: Mom and follow us on Instagram at @projectmompodcast.
Do you want to share your motherhood journey on the podcast? Email me at projectmompod@gmail.com.