When a Side Hustle Becomes Your Calling: Meredith Rutland on Charleston Bachelorette Services

In this episode of Raising Hustle, I’m joined by Meredith Rutland — wife, mom, creative entrepreneur, and founder of Charleston Bachelorette Services, a full-service company designing custom bachelorette celebrations in one of the South’s most charming destinations.

Born and raised in the Charleston area, Meredith turned a personal challenge — planning her sister’s bachelorette party — into a thriving business that helps brides celebrate in style while removing the stress from the planning process. From luxury décor and custom themes to coordinating local vendors and creating seamless weekend itineraries, Meredith and her team specialize in crafting unforgettable celebrations with a signature blend of creativity, organization, and Southern charm.

In our conversation, Meredith shares the story behind her business, what it’s like balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship, and how she transformed a side hustle into a growing full-time company.

In this episode we cover:

• How planning her sister’s bachelorette sparked the idea for her business
 • The journey from side hustle to building a full-service event company
 • What it’s really like running a creative service business while raising a family
 • Meredith’s process for designing custom bachelorette experiences
 • The details that make Charleston bachelorette weekends so special
 • Collaborating with local vendors and building a community-driven business
 • Advice for moms considering starting their own business
 • What success looks like as both a business owner and a mother

If you’re curious about entrepreneurship, creative event planning, or building a business that blends passion with lifestyle, Meredith’s story is full of inspiration.

And if you’re planning a bachelorette party in Charleston — you’ll definitely want to hear her expert tips. 🌿🎉

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This episode is sponsored by FM Bookkeeping 💛

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Whether you’re behind, confused, or just tired of carrying the mental load of your numbers, FM Bookkeeping is here to help you feel grounded and in control again.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Raising Hustle, the unfiltered podcast for the moms who are building empires with babies on their hips and grits in their hearts. I'm your host, Mariel Fry, bookkeeper by trade, hustler by nature, and mama by choice. Around here we're raising kids, raising hell, and raising the bar. If you're tired of choosing between nap time and next level dreams, this is your space. Let's redefine what it means to have it all on our own damn terms. Hey hustlers and mamas, welcome back to Raising Hustle. I am so excited to bring on Meredith Rutland, a wife, mom, creative entrepreneur, and the driving force behind Charleston Bachelorette Services, your go-to partner for full-service custom bachelorette party planning and one of the South's most charming destinations. You guessed it, Charleston, South Carolina. Born and raised in Charleston area, Meredith turned a personal challenge, planning her sister's celebration into a thriving business that reimagines the traditional bachelorette experience with thoughtful design, bespoke themes, and unforgettable curated weekends. From luxury decor and on-brand itineraries to sourcing local vendors and seamless logistics, Meredith helps brides to be celebrate in style while taking the stress out of planning. Balancing motherhood, creativity, and business leadership, she brings heart, hustle, and southern charm to every celebration she crafts. Hey Meredith, welcome to the show. Hi, thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. So first things first, I know I mentioned briefly in the intro a little bit of the frustration as to why you started this business. Can you go a little bit deeper into why bachelorette services, right? Like why go into this industry? Why even start a business doing this?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah, for sure. So when I was planning my sister's bachelorette, like you mentioned, we were gonna travel originally out of state across the country. And in my head, I'm like, oh, I can do all of this decor by myself. But then when I started thinking about logistics of like, do I ship everything to the house and hope that it's still on the porch when we arrive? Or do I pay the extra 60 bucks to check a bag with all the decor? And then it's like, what all can I even take? Can I take an electric bloom pump with me? When I just started thinking about all the logistics, I was like, man, it would be so nice to just show up to have everything already ready for us. And there was another company in the city that we were traveling to that did the same thing. And so I started thinking, like, I'm from Charleston. We know so many people around here. I know that it's such a hot spot for bachelorette parties. And so I just kind of took a chance and was like, let's see if we can kind of do the same services here. And then as the business grew and as we got more clients, we've been able to really refine our offerings and our services to what people are wanting the most and what people really need in order to just fly into town and get their weekend started.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

I love that. It's so easy. It's so much easier to not have to carry more crap than you need to carry, especially when you travel. So I think it's a brilliant idea. I think it's so smart. And it's great that you took, you saw almost another business doing it. You saw the frustration to find the problem to solution, which I always love. And it's something that I do with my bookkeeping business. And so I know your story, just knowing you, but can you explain doing this with a full-time job of W-2 corporate job, and also being a mom with kids? Like, what did that look like for you to manage all of these different hats? Because I can imagine that probably feels very daunting to grow a side business, have a full-time job, and also have a family and a house and a husband and everything else in between.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, um, it definitely took a lot of letting things go, which was difficult for me at first, but there was only so much that I could do by myself. And at first, I wanted to have my hands on everything and I wanted to be at every setup, and I wanted to make sure I had the final touches on everything and the final say on everything. But I wasn't able to scale my business like that. Obviously, with a full-time job and our kids growing and adding in sports every night of the week, I wasn't able to take on more than one to three parties a week. And then it got to where, as far as scheduling, it was very hectic because I had one coming home from school at the same time that most of the rental property check-in times was, and then I'm fighting traffic and I'm worried about childcare, and then I'm getting home after dinner, and it was just very, very stressful. So when I finally was like, I have to let things go, I have to get help. I started hiring contracted decorators. And so I now have a team of I think six decorators that work for me. And it's been really great because so far all of the women that work for me all live very close to me, if not in my same neighborhood. And so they'll just come, pick up the decor, and then they'll go decorate. And they'll shoot me a text and just be like, hey, does everything look good? Rarely I'll make I'll say, like, maybe move this or adjust this, or this might be a little crooked. But otherwise, my biggest priority is like, if you would like this in your own party, then it's good. Like if this is something you would like to show up to if you were the bride, then I think it's great. And so really just like letting that go, asking for help, and delegating a lot of things, like hiring a bookkeeper, hiring an accountant, hiring marketing company so that I could take those things off of my plate.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

I think that's so important and it's such a strong message for so many moms in general, especially being a mompreneur myself. It's you have to delegate, you have to let go, you have to just almost be trusting, right? Of your team. And so with the team that you're building, what was it like to train your staff, right? I think for so many mompreneurs and letting go, part of that process, I think is training and onboarding. And there's a whole system, right? To how you built your business and you're essentially trying to replicate yourself in the process or even have somebody better, quote unquote, right? So, what have you done in the training process, especially something so hands-on as what you do with balloons and decorations and goodie bags and all of the things? How do you train somebody to be as good as you, if not better, to go and do this kind of work?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

So I will say that I still have not let go of the balloon garland building. So I still build the balloon garland, but everything else is in like a rubber made tub and the decorator comes to pick up. And so when someone starts with us, they will do training first, which looks like at first it was they were training with me. So I would have them come to a couple of the setups with me. I would talk them through exactly everything I'm doing and why I'm doing it. So, like, why are we using painter's tape? Why am I taking a picture of this and looking at the picture before I leave? And then as they've done training once with me, then I let them do hands-on and I'm stand back and kind of watch them. I'm like, okay, now I want you to do it. And then if there's anything you're unsure of, let me know. We'll talk about it, we'll walk through it together. But I want you to do it. So it's very, very hands-on training. And now it's really gotten to the point where my decorators have done enough parties on their own and they kind of understand my standard that I could send anyone. Like if I had a new decorator coming on board, I could confidently send them with one of my current decorators and they would do the same thing. Show them what to do first and then push them in, basically. Let them let them do it by themselves and ask questions as they go.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I love this. And I think it's so cool how you're training good people to then train new people. So you're really getting out. You're working more on the business versus in the business, which is so important as a business owner. If you can wrap your head and understand it, it's truly how you can scale and grow to the next level and think big picture, think more sales, think more leads, think more marketing, all of those things.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah. And can I add, I want to add one note about scaling, because when I was doing it myself or only had one other person with me, I mentioned I could only do like one to three parties in a week. And while outsourcing a lot of things does cost money, like obviously hiring a marketing company, hiring decorators, all of that is gonna cost money. But at the same time, now we can book like six to 15 parties in a week if we need to, because I have decorators and now I can afford to pay all of those outsourced things. So we were able to like build and grow and scale because we just said, you know what? If I pay this company to do marketing, I'm gonna get more bookings. It's one less thing I have to do, and we can take on more parties.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

I love that. And it's capacity. I think it's always the seesaw where if you do lead gen and you are getting more bookings and you are getting more clients, then that means on the operation side, you have to hire more decorators and you have to hire more people to do the work. And if you're able to almost figure out the secret sauce or the middle of that, then you're just in full growth mode. And it's a beautiful place to be. So I love that you're doing that. And before we really segue into a lot of mom preneur stuff, I do want to ask, being in Charleston, both you and I that are here, Charleston is such a top destination. It's beautiful. They always say it's like the number one US small city. There's so much to do, it's an amazing place. What would you recommend, or what would be your quote unquote ideal itinerary for any bachelorette party coming to Charleston for a weekend? The duration of days, where to stay, what to do, like just a general idea for somebody so they can maybe decide if Charleston is the place that they want to book.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Yeah. So typically our groups book three nights. So they'll come in on a Thursday, leave on a Sunday, and there are so many things for any budget group to do. One of our favorite activities is a boat ride. Like you have to schedule a boat ride. They most of them will take you out in the Charleston Harbor, and it's so, it's just so fun. It's so beautiful. You get to see the iconic bridge, you can see the beautiful steeples and buildings. There's always dolphins out in the harbor. So, like, it's just such a great, fun activity. You could do a sunset cruise too. So, oh gosh, it's the perfect place for foodies. I mean, there are the best restaurants, honestly, in the world. Some of them are here. And so, definitely some of the great restaurants. Seafood is obviously such a great, huge hit here. We always say do a beach day. Folly Beach is, I think that's my favorite because it's more of like a locals, chill spot. Walking around, seeing the historic sites, even just like window shopping. If you don't want to go crazy shopping, but you could do either. There are just so many different options. And again, there's something that fits every budget, every style, every interest. Like, like I said, you could do museums or you could do ghost tours or you could just chill on the beach the whole weekend.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

So, really, there's there is something here for everybody. I agree. I think living in Charleston for almost four years now, which is crazy, but not being a local here and doing all the things, there is something for everyone. You can just walk down Rainbow Row and that's free. You can window shop and that's free. You can go to the beach and it could be low cost, but you can do the party boat. And yes, maybe it's a little more of a splurge, but I will tell you any boat in Charleston is absolutely worth it. So it's definitely a good time. So I love all the suggestions that you made, and especially the seafood and the food here. I mean, the food here is top-notch. So I think you get very spoiled very quickly if food is not good, especially being in Charleston. And so I really want to segue into almost your new life, where I know you recently are no longer working in corporate, you are a full-time entrepreneur. I want to hear what that was like in terms of the transition for you. Cause for so many moms, that transition might be a forced transition like yourself, or that might be a transition that they choose. So I know yours was a bit forced, but I'd love to know your transition around it, your thought process, how you felt, and how you're feeling currently today.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah. So Charleston Matchorette has been around for four years. And so in that four years, I have been able to grow and scale and outsource and really build my business to where last year I made a lot of strategic moves financially, where I moved over a lot of our it's this is still a home office run business. So I was able to move a lot of our expenses to a business expense like our internet and my phone bill. So when I did lose my corporate job, it was always something where like people would ask me when I would tell people everything I do. They would be like, oh my gosh, are you ever gonna leave your corporate job? Like I feel like Charles and Batterette is so successful. Are you always gonna work yourself to death, basically? And it was for me, it was a comfort thing. Like, I'm the oldest child, an Enneagram three, a Virgo, all those, all those things where I needed that security and that salary paycheck and the insurance that we were getting through my corporate job were so comfortable. And I probably honestly would have never made that switch by myself. So I'm I'm so incredibly grateful because I really truly feel like it was the push out of the nest into full-time entrepreneurship. It was, I needed a few weeks to process things. But again, Charleston Bacharette, I say this all the time, it's such a well-oiled machine that it just runs. Like I January and February are what I call booking season. And I mean, the bookings just roll in for the whole year. So as those bookings kind of rolled in, it definitely gave me more comfort of like, okay, this business is not going anywhere. We are doing great. And I also had that comfort of being able to take on more parties because I don't have to worry about working around my full-time schedule. So I feel like it really opened up my schedule to take on more. And I don't have to say no to as many parties, meaning I can grow my business even more. I hope that that answered the question.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Two off the rails. No, no, I think you are so strategic. You know, like I said, I've really gotten to know you over the past couple of years and so fortunate to call you a friend and just a wonderful person in general. But to know your story and like the back end of it and also being able to do your books for many years, I've been able to see the growth time over time and year over year of what you've been able to achieve. And for any mamas out there, like you can do a side hustle and look to slowly grow that to then get to the point where where Meredith is, where she left her corporate job or they let her go essentially, where her business is now in a really solid place where she can truly focus on it. And there's no right or wrong way to start a business, let me be clear. But at least that is one avenue and one way to do it. And now your business is in a good place where you can be fully in in terms of growing it and scaling and not having a job as another thing. You can really just have the focus on this versus having to think about a corporate job and answering their questions, but then also having clients bother you and in the same time a kid's and a house and everything else. So I think you are so smart and so strategic in that way. And going into your business, I want to talk about like your busy season, not busy season, and what that looks like for you too. Because for many entrepreneurs, I think there's, I don't want to say misconception, but it's not like a corporate job where you get paid every two weeks and you're kind of working all year long. When you're an entrepreneur, you might have like your really busy seasons versus your non-busy seasons. So, how do you manage that in regards to handling busier seasons and like your bookings are January, February, but then you're kind of booked like March through, you know, maybe May, but then you have a lull. Like, what does that feel like? Is that weird to have busier seasons, not busier seasons for any mamas out there who feel like there's gonna be a busier time for me and then maybe a slower time? And how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Yeah, so with four years of trends, basically, January, February are like balls to the wall bookings. I feel like I don't look up from my computer. But then March, I would say March through honestly, like August is like busy season for the bachelorette's actually coming here. Like it is crazy. May there's one week in May where I think we have right now like 10 parties. It's kind of insane and overwhelming to think about. So I'm just not thinking about it yet. Then we really slow down in October is mostly slow. November, December is pretty much dead. But that gives us a chance to us as in me to kind of reset for the next year and get ready for January and February all over again. So I kind of take a look at what we have coming up. I'll make sure that I know if we have any dates that I need to go ahead and block off. And then something else I wanted to add about moving from corporate and working the side jobs to just being an entrepreneur now would be like, I am able to like turn it off at night. So I can, it's hard because you think, oh, I've got an inquiry, I need to go respond to it. But I'm like, no, you know what? Tomorrow, that is my job, is to respond to these text messages, to respond to these inquiries. So when I wake up tomorrow morning, I can do that. And I don't have to worry about this right now while I'm helping my kids with homework or while I'm trying to cook dinner. Is that I'm I'm able to turn it off more. Whereas when I was working my corporate job as well, I was definitely like always on, like working till 10, working till 11 p.m., sometimes even later. And just like really, really stressed out and really always on. So I feel really confident now that I can, I can block off some time. And like we're going on on vacation the end of May, but it's fine because the rest, like it's gonna be well-deserved because it's after that crazy week in May. So it'll be a well-deserved vacation. And I know that like my whole business isn't gonna crumble because I'm taking five days off.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

That is such a good message. I think for an entrepreneur, you never feel like you're off. It can be so daunting to always have to answer a text, always have to answer an email. And something I've done for myself is sometimes I'll do the schedule later on iMessage where or even an email where if I'm up, right, I'll do the message if I happen to be awake, but I'll send it for the next day. So maybe I don't forget. So I love that you have that boundary in place. And in terms of other boundaries, what other boundaries do you have in place or safeguards in your business to kind of protect your energy? Because I can imagine, again, having two kids and running a house and also running this business and another business you do, low country party moms. But how do you kind of like give yourself self-love? How do you have the boundary? Like, what are things that you're doing to protect that? Of course, the emails and vacation, but is there anything else?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Um, so I do go to a gym twice a week. And so that like 45-minute class is my time. I I don't look at my phone during that time. I am working out so hard, and it feels so good just to know that I'm doing that one thing for me, just for me. And let's see, it has been a little more difficult because when my kids were at after school care, when I had a corporate job, I had a little extra time in the day before they came home. I had a couple extra hours after school. And now they come home right away. But we've also scheduled in time to where, and they're a little bit older now. I have a six year old and a nine year old. So they'll go play with friends. And honestly, after we get homework done, snacks, everything, all the after school craziness, they go play with their friends most of the time. And then that's another like hour or two to myself. Health where I'll put an audiobook in and I'll just like crank out whatever else I need to get done before it's time to make dinner.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

I love that. And I love that you're able to figure all of this out and make it work with your life. Because I think you, like so many mom entrepreneurs, we want to work to live, not live to work. And so we're able to have these flexible hours where, okay, it's not a nine to five, but we're able to work, okay, maybe seven o'clock at night after you see the kids, but you don't feel the guilt because you saw your kids, you spent the time, you helped with homework, you did all the things. And then if they want their time with friends, you can have some time back for you. So I absolutely love that. Just circle back to Charleston Bachelorette for a second. What is your differentiating factor? I want to talk about this briefly because for a lot of businesses, especially in your world, or really just any industry, to be frank, a lot of times you, I don't know, I hate the comparison game, but there's always going to be other businesses out there that might be similar to you or like-minded to you. But your differentiating factor, like what is that for Charleston Bachelorette? And why should somebody even consider working with you or wanting to book an itinerary and your services?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

So I feel like there's a few things. One of which is I'm from here. There are a lot of transplants here that have come to Charleston in the last 10-ish years. And so I'm I'm from here. So I feel like that's the first thing. Another thing would be that we do custom themes. So if you want to put your friend's name into, I love a good pun. So if you can come up with a fun pun to go with their theme for their bachelorette party, let's do it. Like when I started this business, the company that I saw that kind of gave me the idea, one of the issues that we had with them were they only offered like four or five set themes. And my sister did not like any of their set to us, they were kind of cheesy. And we wanted our own like fun custom theme. So that's like my biggest thing. Honestly, like I would rather do some crazy off-the-wall theme. Like we did, oh what, like a Last Time Warp, which was what's that movie? It's one of the 80s movies. I can't think of it. But I would rather do that than nine different versions of Last Toast on the Coast. Like, honestly, I would rather do some fun play of play on words that is very personal to whoever you're throwing your batch rat party for than the same cookie cutter theme that you can just buy off of Amazon. And then one other thing that I really feel like sets us aside is we've worked really hard to network with other local businesses to provide discounts for our clients with other local partners. So, and and I don't take kickbacks like if someone's like, say a boat company is like, hey, we'll give you a $50 kickback for booking X amount of groups. I'm like, hey, how about you give my groups 10% off? I don't want a kickback. And so I would much rather pass on a discount to a group than me taking your extra money. And so when you book with us, you get a password-protected web page that has links and discounts for tons of small businesses to shop with that. We just really love being able to support other small businesses and push more business locally.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

That's beautiful. And I think in Charleston in particular, the community here and the networking here has been so amazing. It's literally helped me grow my business just with the community and supporting local and really truly like when you say you support local, like you mean it. Yeah. And so I love that about Charleston and going into networking and partnering with vendors, I would say for both your business and being a mom almost and building like mom friends and a mom network, just as much as a business network and growing that. What were both experiences like for you? Because I can imagine it can be really hard and can be daunting to like try to meet new mom friends and have a mom network just as much as being an entrepreneur and growing your business and also finding referral partners, finding vendors, like finding local businesses. I'd love to hear kind of both sides of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah. So I am actually like kind of introverted. So I'd say I'm an introverted extrovert. Like, if I'm like, I'll talk to a wall, but I also would rather sit in my office, in my quiet office by myself. I do have a ton of friends that I've made just living here for forever. But we also have a pretty tight group of friends in our neighborhood. We live in one of those master plan communities, and our kids can like we have kids everywhere. And so I think that just spending time with other moms, and the more time that our kids spend together and the more time we spend together, I found like a really great community of moms that parent similar to myself. And not saying that we can't be friends with people that don't parent similar to us, but it's been really nice because I know that when my kids go across the street to our friend's house, like they're like if they're misbehaving, that mom is gonna treat them like she, like they're their own kid. And she's gonna be like, you need to go home or you need to fix your behavior or you're going home. And so just having that extra set of eyes and that extra, like I also know that any, especially as an entrepreneur, any of those moms, if I had to run out to help a bachelorette emergency on a Thursday afternoon and I needed someone to watch my kids really quick, I could call so many local mom friends and just be like, hey, I've got to go handle this. Like, can you keep the kids for an hour or two? And they'd be like, absolutely, that's no problem at all. And so that's on like the mom side of things. And then as far as networking, it was interesting at first because I do have such a niche business that like I started going to wedding vendor networking events and didn't quite fit in because most of our clients are actually coming from out of town, whereas a lot of the wedding vendor, a lot of the wedding clients are local. But we I met a couple other people that do similar bachelorette businesses, and we ended up calling ourselves wedding adjacent businesses, which really made sense. And so there are plenty of things that do overlap, like the private chefs. Obviously, a private chef can cater a wedding, but they can also do a very small, intimate dinner for a bachelorette party. And so, really just talking to people, telling them what you offer, and then brainstorming together is so helpful. Like our friend that's a bartender, she'll bartend a whole wedding with two, 300 people, but she can also do a cocktail making class that's very specific to just a group of five or 10 girls. And so that's been really fun to like brainstorm what's working for our businesses and how we can really collaborate and work together.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

That's awesome. First of all, I love the moms that you have near you. I think as moms, we're so tight-knit. I know since myself becoming a mom, my whole life obviously has changed, but your mindset has changed so much and your priorities and everything else. And the fact that you have people in your community to call and say, hey, I'm in this situation. I really just need help. And the fact that they're able to all not drop everything, but be there for you is so important. And I'm sure you would do the same. But also with the business, I love that you were able to go out there, have spaghetti on the wall, try different things, meet different people and see what works. And I think for any business owner or anybody starting a business, I always say first year spaghetti on the wall. Try things, meet people, see what works, see what doesn't. So then when you're able to propel and go to the next level, you're able to see identify the vendors that you've met and say, okay, these really got me business, these did not. Or maybe I need to try to meet this kind of person, like with the chef. I love that they're able to be wedding adjacent where they could private chef a wedding if they wanted, or private chef a small dinner party. Same with the cocktail making class. It's it's the same thing, and I'm sure with photographers or anybody making anything, all very, very similar. So I love that you kind of dived in both worlds there. And so when it comes to the business and home life and your husband, how have you and your partner kind of, I don't want to say handled this, but how have you, what kind of support have you had from him? What does that look like in the home? Because for so many people, right? Depending on your partner relationship or situation, I know for myself, my husband didn't get my business until he became an entrepreneur personally. So now I think he gets it a little bit more. But for you and your situation with your partner and your husband, how has that been or what has that journey been like for you to have him there? Has he been supportive? Has he thought you were crazy? Does he think like what's happening? Like, just very curious on your thoughts around this.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Um, it has been very interesting. Partly because before I started these businesses, I did network marketing businesses for like 15 years. And those were not successful. So I think he was very skeptical about me adding something else to my plate that wasn't necessarily gonna turn profits. Fair, totally fair. Then, as the businesses grew, I do think that like when I was actually bringing in money and able to start paying for things, then it definitely started to kind of click with him. And I mean, we have talked about it in marriage counseling. Like that's how it has not been easy for us because partly because I am very strong-willed, I guess. I'm like, I'm doing this, I don't care what you're gonna say about it. I'm running these businesses. And then at first, when I was working the businesses and working full-time, it was very difficult for him, totally fair, because I was always on, and then bringing my computer to bed and working until he's snoring beside me when he really felt like I was kind of neglecting our relationship. And that again, totally fair assessment. And so, however, I do think that now, like when I was laid off, it was almost like a relief. And again, I'm I'm only speaking for myself here and making assumptions on his feelings, but I feel like he was thankful that I had built these to what they are because I'm able to pay my car payment with this business. And I'm able to pay for some of the kids' summer camps. Like I was able to take us even last year when I was working my corporate job. Like I took us on a Disney cruise. Um, and so I'm able to do fun things. And I'll never forget when we were in Disney, he was like, make sure you tell mom thank you for bringing us. And like that meant so much because it was like that, like a real solid acknowledgement that like mom did that, mom did this for us, you know? And so that was really sweet.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

I love everything you're saying. First of all, I think thank you for being vulnerable on that. I think having a partner who is obviously skeptical can feel that way. And I think when you are trying to do so many things, your partner ends up being more neglected than we like to admit. And it's challenging. But I think at the end of the day, you've been able, like I said, to figure all of this out and grow something that can be really hard for anyone to imagine or achieve. And so I'd love to hear what advice you would give to other moms starting their own business. What would you say to them? What advice would you give?

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Um, easier said than done, but I would definitely try to like block out your schedule and make sure that you are shutting down at X time. And if you have to, that means you have to get up early and and work in the mornings or work in between meetings. I always loved when we had a day off of our corporate job because then I was like, oh, I am full-time business mode today. Um, and so using using basically any time that I had to work in the businesses. And like you said, like throw spaghetti at the wall and be willing to adjust as things work and don't work, whether that be your pricing or your packages or what you're offering and who you partner with. Like sometimes it's not gonna work. Um, and you just have to be willing to adjust and then also be willing to ask for help, whether that means you're hiring a house cleaner so that your house doesn't turn into a pig style or another entrepreneur friend told me they hire a laundry service, and that's something that helps them function, like in their house. A lot of times we'll do HelloFresh meals so that that's three less meals I have to think about in the day in a week. I'll those are the three meals that I know we're gonna have, and whatever else we eat is is whatever we feel like. But just really be willing to learn, be willing to network, leaning on each other for ideas and asking for help. That's a huge one. And I know it's really hard for moms to do, but asking for help, even if it's your husband, hey, can you put the kids to bed tonight so that I can work for two hours? Then afterwards I can spend time with you or whatever, whatever that looks like for your family and how old your kids are.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

I love that. And I think for moms, we do feel so much guilt to take, we try to take everything on. We feel guilty to even ask something so silly like that, like, hey, babe, can you just put the kids to bed just so I can work for an hour or two? And that shouldn't feel like a big ask, but I think for women, we feel that's a big ask. So I love that you've said that and such words of wisdom to figure out little pockets of time. I think as an entrepreneur, we're not, I look at time very differently now, where again, I have typically a very much a dedicated day to work and I'm looking to add two now that I'm pregnant with my second recording this, but I feel like I'm able to have some dedicated days, but also pockets of window when I can. And just entrepreneurs, we make shit work and we figure it out. It's kind of crazy. But somehow, someway we get there in the end. So I love all the advice that you said. I have two more questions for you before we really wrap up. My first question is where do you see the future of your business in three to five years from now?

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Um, whoo, I would so this year I was really thinking about like what I wanted because I have two businesses. So I was really thinking about what I wanted for each business. And I I definitely refined them even more after I was laid off. Uh but this year with Charleston Bachelorette, I feel like it's in such a great, like sweet spot that I wasn't so much uh focused on growth this year. Um I more so was we're like really working on refinement and confidence, and uh especially like confidence with just knowing that uh what we're doing is uh a great service. Uh it's needed, it's appreciated by so many people. And just with any business, like you mentioned before, there's competitors, and you just kind of have to be confident in what you're offering. And I always say this like put your blinders on and not focus on what everyone else is doing. And so with Charleston Bachara, I really wanted to run my business with ease. Uh and I used Chat GPT to come up with this catchphrase for the year, which is calm systems and consistent success. So last year we really worked on putting in a lot of systems and like automations that a lot of it can run, a lot of the automated emails can run smoothly without me having to do anything, which leads to that consistent success. Uh, and then with Low Country Party Mom, with that business, I'm really in a growth year because before, since that was like my third sidekig, I was just kind of like doing some things with it, not really trying to grow it necessarily, but taking business as it came. And I was definitely having to turn down a lot of business. But this year I wanted to grow and refine that business. And so I'm working on more reach and better systems and really getting those systems in place for low country party mom this year.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

Systems are so important. And I think so many people don't realize that. And I think you don't realize it until you grow and scale. But I love that you've implemented good systems, a lot of automation. It just makes things easier. It's less reminders for you to have to think about. And it makes the client experience a hundred times better. I know that for my business, I use so much systems and automations through one platform I use. So I can imagine for so many other people listening to this, it is a little bit of money and time to create the systems and to create the process and the automation. But once you do it, it's like almost a set it and forget it. So I love that you took the time to build that. And so for any new business owner thinking about building systems or automation, and if it's in your realm and it's in your wheelhouse, which I would say 90 to 95% of businesses need, chances are you will be even more successful and grow even more with having that foundation. So I love that. And my last question for you is what is your definition of success? I think I joke as a bookkeeper, obviously, we look at success from a lot of metrics and numbers and analytics with revenue and obviously net in terms of what your spend is, et cetera. But as a mom, I really look at success as lifestyle too. And so I'd love to know what your definition of success looks like in your life.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

I think it is like showing up confidently. Like my kids, when I lost my job, I was obviously visibly upset when they got home. I like found out as soon as they're walking in the door. It was fantastic. And but I was able to tell them, like, hey, it's okay because I own two other businesses. Like, I'm the boss. I am I still have those two jobs. And I really try to involve the kids in my businesses too, where like my nine-year-old loves to pack some hangover kits for me. And my six-year-old loves to blow up foil balloons. And that's something that we can kind of all do together. And so just showing up again, confidently as a business owner of like, yeah, mom owns a business. And like my kids are so proud of that. My nine-year-old wears her low country party mom shirt to school. And I did career day in like a career day talk in her class this year. And she came home yesterday and was like, mom, so many people have your low country party mom sticker on their water bottle now. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's so exciting. And I show them all of my balloon installs. Like when I get home, I'm like, hey, look what I did today. And they're like, oh, that's so cool. And so, like, yes, money is fantastic. And yes, being able to take them on trips and stuff is so cool. But also just like being able to like do those things with the kids and like being creative with my kids. And even if I don't want their input, I'll be like, hey, what do you think about this? Or like, do you like the way this looks? And even if I don't really need their thoughts or opinions, I'll ask them just to kind of get them involved. And so I think like really making it almost like a family business has been really fun.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

I love everything about this, like mic drop. The fact that you see success as confidence and your kids are able to see that. And they're able to help you in the business and right, put a little bit of input in, but also be really excited and so proud of you. Because when you're a business owner, right, you nobody fires you. I guess I like that sounds so crazy to say that. But when you work for someone, there's always a chance that they're gonna let you go to some capacity. But as a business owner, you no one's letting you go. The only reason you'd ever let yourself go is if you want to sell a business or you want to dissolve it or close it. But otherwise, you as a business owner, yeah, you always have a job. Yeah, exactly. So I I love that. And Meredith, I hate to wrap these up, but it has really been amazing to have you. I love your story of how you grew a business from really a side business to making it your full time job career now. You've been able to have a Stamp mark in Charleston with Charleston Bachelor's Services, knowing your business. I love that you really give that elevated kind of luxury high-end touch with these clients and you're able to really help them with itineraries, affordability, locations, things to do, but you're also able to be present as a mom and you're able to be there for your kids. And you don't have to give one or the other. You really can do and have both. So I absolutely love that. I'd love for you to shamelessly plug away where people can find you, reach out to you, and ultimately book services with you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:34

So Charleston Bachelorette is chsbatch.com, and that's our website, and there's our inquiry form on that. And then lowcountryparty mom.com is the website for that. And our inquiry form is on there as well. And then you can see all of our work over at our Instagram. It is at Charleston.bachelorette. And then our Instagram for Low Country Party Mom is at Low Country Party Mom. So I'm super excited to connect. I am an open book. So shoot me DMs. It may take me a while to answer them, but I'll get to them. And then if you want to book any of our services, definitely use our inquiry form. Amazing. Thank you so much for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Thank you so much for having me. This is just the beginning. Subscribe now to Raising Hustle and get ready for raw stories, real talk, and unapologetic ambition. We're showing up messy, loud, and all in because success doesn't wait for quiet. Let's raise our voices, our businesses, and our babies together.