RTDM: Maureen Anders
Maureen Anders
CEO and Co-founder of AR Workshop a boutique DIY studio
Fort Mill, SC
We want to get to know you! Briefly tell us about yourself: Where you came from, where you've been and how you're living your dream?
I am from Novi, Michigan originally. I grew up surrounded by creativity and entrepreneurship. My parents are both successful interior designers that owned their own design company. I studied at University of Michigan in the college of engineering. After college I went on to work for GE Healthcare in radiology capital sales - selling radiology equipment in the NC territories. I met my husband and we got married and had our first baby. I decided I didn't want to travel with work so I decided to stay home with Jeffrey in 2005. It was hard and I am a busy body so while I raised him, I dabbled in different creative businesses. I had an etsy shop selling my freelance artwork and started making handmade custom invitations for social events. I was featured in some cool magazines and got the "creative entrepreneurship bug". Although, I felt as though something was missing. My creative partner that I could bounce ideas off of. Fast forward a few years to 2010 and we had moved to Charlotte - and at a preschool openhouse I met Adria Ruff who was new to the area. We immediately hit it off and within 2 weeks we started an etsy shop together selling digital printable social invitations and stationery. We started planning and photographing our children's birthdays together (all out!) and blogging about them. Our readers loved our DIY how-to's on our blog and our "ruff draft" diy column. People wanted to recreate our parties and so they started buying the printable decor items we used to create the parties. It was wonderful and we could do it all in our homes while our little ones were napping and playing! We got picked up by some pretty cool companies like Universal Studios (hired to work on a project for the Bridesmaids movie promotion at Target!), Sony Pictures, Better Homes and Gardens and the list goes on. We got to help with some branding elements for George Clooney and Rande Gerber's tequila line, too! Basically when we put out great work, great work would follow. Fast forward again to 2016. Our business had hit a plateau in scale and we really realized we couldn't do much more online and decided to step out from behind the screen and really tap into our DIY loving side of our business and create a boutique DIY studio called AR Workshop. Guests could join us in AR Workshop which is a boutique DIY studio with inspiration everywhere. They can learn to make any project for their homes in a guest instructed environment. Quickly word spread and we were getting inquiries to franchise! We franchised early on and now just 3 years later we have 135 franchised locations around the country. We love being able to work with so many inspiring and amazing franchise partners, helping them to build their own businesses around their lives!
How do you define success?
Success to me is finding where passion meets opportunity that creates "work" that doesn't feel like work (most of the time!)
What did it take to make your dream happen and how do you make it sustainable?
I work a lot - especially early on. You have to wear multiple hats even when there isn't time to do so. I have always been a do'er. I am constantly brainstorming better ways to do things, tweaks we can make to improve and new opportunities to try. You have to have thick skin, be able to handle copycats, naysayers, and risk. It takes a lot of risk but without risk there is no reward. I tend to jump in (or dive in!) before others might. You won't know it unless you try it.
What are you most proud of? Go ahead, boast a little!
I am the most proud of the fact that we get to share our designs around the country not only with guests who come and make projects at our workshop but with other amazing business owners that have opened their own AR Workshop. It is so fulfilling to give them the tools to duplicate the business we started here in Pineville just under 3 years ago.
What was your biggest obstacle/fear and what was your turning point?
Good question. I've had obstacles with not-so-great working relationships. Sometimes hiring or working with someone that seems great from the beginning can really turn out to be not so great. Separating from that in order to move forward in a positive way is hard, but so worth it in the end. We love our culture at AR Workshop and I wouldn't trade it for the world. We have the most amazing team on the leadership team and we all get along so well - and a huge reason is that we are very protective of who we let "in" because we want to protect that culture.
What’s the best advice you’d give to a younger you?
Trust your gut always.
How do you stay motivated and purposeful when you feel overwhelmed?
I love working out at Orange Theory. Even though I feel as though I have 25 hours of work to do in 24 hours, sometimes just taking an hour for yourself to do something completely for yourself can re-charge you! I never regret going but always regret not going to the gym.
Tell us a time when a perceived failure was actually a blessing in disguise or served you in a surprising way.
When our party business online plateaued in sales and we couldn't find ways to grow it, I felt like a failure. When we changed our model and expanded on what people were loving (Our DIY column on the blog) and things turned around I realized that it was a blessing that we were challenged with the online business because it forced us out of our comfort zones and into our DIY boutique brick and mortar model!
What is your favorite vice/guilty pleasure/strange habit? Come on now, we all have them!
My favorite guilty pleasure is self tanner.... ha!
What's the smartest investment you’ve made for yourself?
Self care. I used to run myself ragged and skip the gym, miss hair appointments, never get my nails done and eat junk. When I finally realized that I needed to come first and started prioritizing myself, everything else fell into place and I was more confident, energized and less stressed.
What’s MOST important to you right now?
Enjoying what I do day to day and making sure I'm spending most of my time doing things that I am uniquely abled to do... and spending less time doing things that drain my energy. (That means learning to find the right people to do the things I can "do" but don't enjoy)...
Share 1-2 books that have impacted you the most:
The E Myth by Michael Gerber
What's something surprising about you?
I have an engineering degree and am Jack Russell obsessed. I also love to wear studs/spikes.
Who are the Risk Taker Dream Maker(s) that inspired you?
Colleen Odegaard
Miranda Miller Miranda in Charlotte
Lauren Melillio Barre 3 South Charlotte
Weslie Woodley Weslie Woodley Photography
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