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Chip and Joanna Gaines Share How To Build and Grow a Successful Business

In our latest Stories of Resilience, we chat with Chip and Joanna Gaines about their entrepreneurial journey and how they’ve grown their business.

What do a home renovator, a former tire shop sales associate, and three folders have to do with building a mega-brand? That’s exactly how Chip and Joanna Gaines started their family business, now a business empire, Magnolia.

In our latest Stories of Resilience episode, we had the pleasure of chatting with Chip and Joanna about their entrepreneurial journey and how they’ve grown their business.

Looking for actionable advice on how to scale your small business and power through turbulent times? Here are a few tips from Chip and Joanna.

1. Entrepreneurs need to balance gut instinct and thoughtful planning

Chip and Joanna have different approaches to decision making. Chip grew up in a family who encouraged taking risks, while Joanna grew up in a family who strategically planned and adjusted every move as needed.

But as their business grew, they needed to balance both gut instinct and strategic planning to make the best decisions. Their advice for entrepreneurs? Find the perfect middle ground.

As Chip shares: “I would say people get lost on both sides of those extremes … but to be successful, you need to be someplace in the middle. The goal is to become an expert at whatever your craft is and then to scale your expertise. You need a little gut, a little intuition, and a little business plan.”

2. Now is the time to personalize customer relationships

When COVID-19 came around, Chip and Joanna recognized the shift in how consumers interact with businesses. But since they already used the power of technology to unite their marketing tools, they used the pandemic as an opportunity to further customize and extend their business outreach to prospects and customers.

Joanna says it’s time to lean into personalization: “During this time, we want to engage and interact with our customers in a really authentic way. With technology, we are talking to the customer and hopefully, they’re feeling heard and valued in that experience.”

3. Run your business, don’t let it run you

You might wonder: How are Chip and Joanna able to have their hand in so many different projects while also growing and managing a business? Joanna believes it’s about working smarter and not harder, a concept she struggled to grasp early on while they were building their business. All told, the Magnolia brand spans retail, hospitality, design and construction, a quarterly lifestyle magazine, best-selling books and an upcoming television network, among other ventures.

For Joanna, it’s about working smarter: “I try to run the business and not let it run me. I make space to do things at home that bring me life, then when I go to work I feel full and energized.”

Want more small business inspiration and expert advice? Watch more episodes in our Stories of Resilience series.

Salesforce helps you find more customers, win their business, and keep them happy so you can succeed. Learn more about our small business CRM solutions by following us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

For more business and leadership inspiration, check out our entire Leading Through Change series.

Marie Rosecrans profile image
Marie Rosecrans SVP, SMB marketing

As senior vice president of SMB marketing at Salesforce, Marie Rosecrans focuses on empowering small and medium businesses with the tools and resources they need to grow. Before joining Salesforce in 2008, she held positions in customer support, professional services, product marketing, and program management at Oracle, Peoplesoft, Evolve, and Primavera. Marie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and enjoys hiking and traveling with her husband, teen, and tween.

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