The Female Founder Show

Ep. 9: Insights on Balancing Business and Family Life with Lay-N-Go Founder Amy Fazackerley

• Amy Fazackerley, Founder of Lay-N-Go • Episode 9

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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.

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Voiceover:

This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Hello everyone and welcome to the Female Founder Show. My favorite entrepreneurial stories are the ones where someone saw a need as they were going about their everyday life and they went for it. That's exactly what today's guest did and wow, did she go for it? Now she is the holder of six US patents, she was the 2021 Enterprising Woman of the Year and on the 100 Women to Know list. Her company was recently on the Inc 5000 America's Fastest Growing Private Companies list, and she has been featured on numerous shows, including Good Morning America and Fox Friends, even right here on ASBN, where she was featured on our US Chamber Small Business Update with Tom Sullivan. I'm so excited to talk to Amy Fazakerly about her company Lay Go and her amazing journey as a female founder. So, amy, with that, thank you so much for joining us today.

Amy Fazackerley:

Well, bridget, thank you so much for having me, and I just want to thank you for the Female Founders Show and allowing founders like myself to tell our story, so thank you Absolutely.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Thank you Now. I love your story, so I think it would be great to start there If you could talk to us about the Lay go and the reason that you started your company.

Amy Fazackerley:

Absolutely. I always like to start with. You know, I kind of refer to my story as necessity is the mother of invention, which we've all heard of, and that really is my story. I started with three young boys, my basement and the typical bins, buckets and baskets and a million dollars worth of Lego, and no way make them clean, uh, clean them up and make them portable. And I wanted a washable solution and, uh, like many moms you know, I went searching high and low to try to find the solution on the market and there was nothing available. So I just created one.

Amy Fazackerley:

And it really started with that specialized niche market solution called the Lango Large, and it was a 60 inch mat that allowed my kids to pour the bins and buckets of Lego out and spread them around and then, as a mom, to clean up in seconds. And what I quickly realized was that I was having the same problem my kids were having with toys, but mine was with makeup. So we miniaturized the idea and padded and quilted and remarketed it to women and it really became a mass market product called the Lango Cosmo and it's our cosmetic bag, which is now our bread and butter and we've sold millions of them, cosmetic bag, which is now our bread and butter, and we've sold millions of them and we then added to the collection and we looked at other solutions that we could solve with our pets, electronics and even the military. We have a military solution called the defender. So that's really how we started with play and we moved into the cosmetic world and we just kept going.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, and there's so many areas that you could use this. I actually have one with me right now. I love it. Thank you so much. These are great. Use it every day. I have to take my makeup into work with me every day, so super convenient and very easy. So, and I wish I had the had them when my son was playing with Legos. He was already a little outgrown. He outgrew the Legos when this was invented, so but I have grandchildren now, so I will be sure that they have them for their Legos. Well, thank you. Now let's shift gears a little bit. If you could go back to 2011, when you started, is there anything that you wish you knew then, or you know now that you knew then?

Amy Fazackerley:

Oh boy, that's a great question and I would have to answer it with almost everything because, you know, I went back and got an MBA and with a strategic marketing focus and that's all great and good, but there's nothing like boots on the ground and rolling up your sleeves and actually doing the work. And I would say, you know, had I known that the patent, our first patent was going to take over four years, um manufacturing, did I know that I would start in Pakistan and move to China and Cambodia and back to China and not be able to make it in the United States? Um, inventory management is always an issue with products like ours, and understanding what is the trend and how much do you need. And when Q4 hits, what does that do to your sales? And I would say online marketing, pricing, packaging, I mean everything that you learn in school. It's just so intensified when you're actually having to do it yourself and figure it out. So I would say that answer is everything. Yeah.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, it's almost hard. It's probably hard to nail down just one thing, because so much, so much of us, so much of being entrepreneurs, really just diving in and figuring it out as you go there's no, there's no playbook for it, there's no. You just have to get in and do it and and learn as you go.

Amy Fazackerley:

You wear many hats and, every day is so different. You know you have this issue today, the global pandemic one week, and you've got. You know supply chain the next week, and now you know you're

Amy Fazackerley:

Your overseas tariffs went from 14% to 42% and how do you address that? And you know it's, there's this, everything. It's new every day. There's a new problem to solve every

Amy Fazackerley:

day.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, you have to have to pivot every day. It seems you do. Now, as a female leader, what role models or mentors have impacted your life, and how have they influenced your approach to your business?

Amy Fazackerley:

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 of information over the 13 years, organizations and groups that I was involved in, like WeBank, which is Women Business Enterprise National Council, WPO, which is Women Presidents Organization, the US Chamber has been fabulous. We do a lot of peer-to-peer learning and educational groups. I've participated in Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. We're really involved with Syracuse University and we do a lot of mentoring and working with them and the feedback that we get from that is tremendous.

Amy Fazackerley:

And how has it changed my approach? I would say that, you know, do what you love and the money comes, and I always feel like I have to keep a balance along the way. Enjoy my downtime. That's one thing I've learned over the past 14 years. You know it's hard when you're wearing so many hats to just enjoy the moments and be in the moment. Don't give up. I mean, if I had given up, you know multiple times where I've had mishaps and issues and I could have given up way back 14 years ago and I would just say you just keep digging and pushing and looking for those answers and never stop learning. I think that really has been part of my approach as well is that every day there's something new to learn and grow.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Absolutely. Now there are a lot of women watching that own a business with their spouses or they might be thinking about working with their spouse. You and I both work with alongside our husbands, so would you talk to us about how you make that work and maintain a happy household as well?

Amy Fazackerley:

Yeah, yeah, I think we do a really good job at setting boundaries and kind of staying in our lane. So we really understand, like, our strengths and weaknesses. My background is sales and marketing and this is more finance and engineering and we certainly overlap and we rely on each other for some of that overlap. But it's really looking at how do we balance it, how do we stay in our lane, how do we you know, we always kid each other because it's like you can't, we can't both have a down day Right, like if you're going to go down and and out about something today, I've got to be, you know, cheery and get you going and be positive.

Amy Fazackerley:

So I think it's learning how to to really overlap and keep each other positive and going. We have some like work-free time and then work-free zones where it's like we don't talk about work, we don't, you know, it's just we're here to not discuss it. We're outside of the office, even though we're never outside of the office and we do have separate workspaces. So I think that you know that helps to be able to kind of walk away and just think about things.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, definitely. It's so funny that I've been asked that question many times and I think I've answered it exactly the way you did, especially the staying in your lanes. I think that, because my husband and I have different strengths and weaknesses, it does work really well. I couldn't imagine if we both were good at the same thing and bad at the same thing. I don't know if that would be as easy of a flow. So it's funny that you said exactly that, almost word for word, exactly why I answered that question many times. So there must be something to that.

Amy Fazackerley:

Well, that's probably why it works for both of us. Right, that's right, that's right, right, exactly Now, as a female founder, what were some of the unique challenges that you faced while building your company and how did you overcome them? Yeah, I would say the biggest challenge for me would be the intellectual property. It's kind of getting the patent took 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 continuations that we've got that. We've gone down that journey of now we have six US utility patents and then it's protecting. You know, my lawyer from day one said you're going to work so hard to get this, you're going to get it and then you're going to work so hard to protect it. And that has been the truth since day one.

Amy Fazackerley:

It's just, we still are policing and protecting and having to pull down infringers and I think more for me, I would say, than my husband, is these infringers, these a lot of offshore infringers that I've been dealing with over the past you know, 12 years, and really more so in the beginning was that it was heartbreaking for me to see them use images of myself and my children on their packaging on infringing 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 thick skin and after so many of them you go oh yeah, it's just another picture, right? But I think that was. I would say that was really a big challenge for me to overcome in the beginning and get that thick skin and go, yeah, it's, this is what I'm going to be dealing with for the next however many years.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, that probably helped in so many other areas too, because in business, as you know, you can take things very personal and and that doesn't really doesn't help your business at all. So I'm sure that helped you in so many other areas of your business to get through that and you're like, if you can get through that, you can, you can probably get through anything.

Amy Fazackerley:

Absolutely. That's how I felt.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, yeah Now. Um, it's so important to take your take care of yourself in order to take care of your business and your family, Is there?

Amy Fazackerley:

Yeah, you know, I always try to get good sleep and I'm really into routine and it's exercising.

Amy Fazackerley:

You know, I get up, I exercise, I get organized and I think that really helps me to kind of get clarity on what I need to do today and how to stay focused.

Amy Fazackerley:

A dinner with my whole family and we, you know, kind of discuss the day, so it's like a download and it's like okay, now I'm out of the office and I'm putting that away for the day. You know, I've also, I would say, learned to say no, which was really hard in the beginning when, as we discussed, you know, you're wearing so many hats and you're doing so many things and you're juggling so many balls and you've got, you know, young children in a business and so many balls, and you've got, you know, young children in a business and I've had to learn to say no, and that's, I think, helped me. And I always like to say, you know, kind of my words of wisdom are with grit, grace and gratitude, 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 interesting journey. But every day I am grateful for how I started and where I am and how I got there.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

I love that grace and gratitude. So many times the grace word kind of seems to fall to the side. So anytime there's a challenge here, I have to say, okay, you just have to remain, take everything with grace and be graceful and grateful at the same time. So I like that you said that, because that's often not a word used when giving advice and it's so, so important. Yeah, now, as founders, we have to work really hard to find the lessons and the failures, as you have and you talked about. Can you think of a time in your career when there was a moment that seemed like a failure, that things just weren't going to work out, and it actually turned around and worked out in your favor?

Amy Fazackerley:

Yeah, so this is. You know. I love this question because I could hone right in on the moment it happened and it was early on in our sales cycle. We were meeting with this huge rep group right after the New York Toys there and they wanted thousands of units and we were so excited. We made this big sale and they wanted us to put specialty kits together and educate their sales team and we put so much time and money and like just TLC into this program and they didn't sell one unit. And we were looking at each other like, oh my gosh, what are we going to do with all this inventory? And they didn't sell one unit and we were looking at each other like, oh my gosh, what are we going to do with all this inventory and where does it go from here? Right, so fast forward. Of course we sold the inventory and it all went well, but fast forward.

Amy Fazackerley:

When Costco and Target came knocking on our door, it was like looking back and going. Do you remember what happened and how we reacted so quickly? And let's give ourselves, let's make it intentional, let's give ourselves a, you know, a real timeline so that we don't fluster and fail. Let's set ourselves up for success and take our time and take calculated risks. You know, and I think that was the lesson learned is that we did it right when it really mattered. So that was a great lesson learned.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Definitely, definitely, wow, that is important to learn Really. A failure is just the education right, absolutely, and it happens every day.

Amy Fazackerley:

Right, you learn and you pick yourself up and you go okay, I'm not going to do that again. That's a lesson.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

That's right, that's for sure. Now, on the most challenging days, what do you do to stay motivated and positive, to keep going?

Amy Fazackerley:

Well, like I said, I love routine. I set a lot of goals weekly and then I write down tasks and I do my daily. You know my daily tasks. I think what I've learned and I think it comes with time and experience and wisdom is that I've really surrounded myself with other motivated and positive people and I think that you know, when you're young, you just you kind of are going with the flow and, and I think as 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 with this kind of person or this kind of group, right.

Amy Fazackerley:

And I think one of the other things that really helps to motivate myself and, I'm sure, my husband, is that we really appreciate and learn to celebrate the wins, whether they're big or small. You know Inc 5000 list and that was a big win and we were so excited. But you can get so wrapped up in just going, oh, we have this and we have that and we've got all these other things to do and move on and then not realize that you've never really stopped to celebrate. So I think that's really important. An important message to tell others that are going through this is that, even the little wins along the way, you've got to pat yourself on the back and celebrate those wins and recognize that you're you know you're moving forward and you're moving mountains.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, for sure, For sure. That's great. Now talk to us. There are a lot of women watching that struggle with trying to do it all and do it all perfectly. You're a wife, a mother, a business owner. How do you balance it? Now, we've talked a little bit about the routine and exercising, but just how do you do it?

Amy Fazackerley:

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 my family. I focus on my family, I focus on my health, which is, you know, how are you going to do this if you're not healthy? Being really intentional and enjoying that downtime because, as you know and I know, this is a 24-7 job. It never goes away. Your office is always there, your phone's always there, your computer's always there, people are always in need of something. So it's really recognizing that you need the downtime, you need to get away, you need to step out, and I love what I do.

Amy Fazackerley:

And I would say my superpower in really balancing all this is being organized, which is why I started an organizational company. Right, I'm like that, I'm really uber organized and I feel like that helps me to be able to 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, and it's because I, you know, set my goals, I write things down, I stay super organized and it becomes more routine and becomes really, you know, easy.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

That's for sure. Now, any advice you would give to someone thinking about starting a business right now, Well, I would say you know, just dig deep and take, look at those calculated risks.

Amy Fazackerley:

You know, get a support system. Mentors are really great. Talk to others. I do a lot of peer to peer discussions through all of my organizational groups that I mentioned earlier. Discussions through all of my organizational groups that I mentioned earlier. And you know, have faith and trust and surround yourself by positive and motivated people.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

And work on your organization.

Amy Fazackerley:

And being organized, absolutely that's number one.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

All right, so what's next for Lay Go? Where do you see the company in the next five to 10 years?

Amy Fazackerley:

Well, obviously we want to continue to stay innovative. We want to continue those patents, keep solving everyday household problems, which is really what we do. We want to, you know, design and develop and keep looking at trends, and, I think, on a bigger scale. When I think of this question, it's how do we give back? You know, we've been doing this and going at this for a while almost 15 years and it's time for us to really reflect and help, to mentor and help that next generation. And that's really what we're looking to do through the chamber and through Syracuse University and some of these other organizations that we're getting involved with.

Amy Fazackerley:

And how do we help others that want that have great ideas to take them to market and and like, facilitate, making it faster and easier for them, because it's not easy, it's not fast, um, there's a lot that comes with that and I think, if you know, if we can help in any way and give advice and um, let them, you know, give them the, the, the knowledge and the wisdom that we have acquired over the past 14 years, it would be fabulous. So, you know, my children I don't know if anybody's, um any of them are interested in taking over the business, but I have three sons and maybe one day, um, they will, uh, come up with another innovative idea to add to our collection and take over.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

So well, you're giving back by being on the Female Founders Show today, so we appreciate that very much.

Amy Fazackerley:

Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure meeting you, 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 work you're doing. It's fabulous, absolutely.

Bridget Fitzpatrick:

This was a pleasure and thank you for the work you're doing. It's fabulous, absolutely. This was a pleasure, and thank you again for coming on the show and for your kind words. Thank you so much. Thanks, bridget.

Voiceover:

This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN. If you're a female founder and would like to help other female founders with your inspiring story, we would love to hear from you.