EPISODE 101 INTERVIEW WITH ANA TREDREA: NO TIME TO GET LOST IN THE NOISE

Erin Marcus: Hello and welcome to this episode of the ready yet podcast. I’m so freaking excited to introduce you guys to my birthday, buddy, even though I have a few years on her. I have a few years on her, but my birthday buddy, we finally figured out, why did we get along so well, I don’t know, because we’re kind of the same person. So Anna Tredrea is one of the co-founders and owners of spots on the Fox, which is – I’ll let her explain it to you – but I absolutely love this undertaking and what they’re doing for local entrepreneurs and local businesses and…ready? She works with her spouse, which I love him. He’s amazing. But I keep thinking about working with my significant other, and I don’t know that I could do that. And on top of that, on top of that, she’s got two small kids at home. So I can’t wait for her to share her stories with you because I know a lot of entrepreneurs, even if they’re not working with their spouse, they have those kids at home. And how do you do it all? And, what do you do when you can’t do it all? So Anna, before we get deep in all that, why don’t you give everyone a little more formal introduction to who you are and what you do.

Ana Tredrea: Thank you, Erin. So yes, my name’s Anna, my husband are the founders of Spots on the Fox. It all falls under the Spots Initiatives, which we’ll talk a little bit about gosh, how we do it all. You know, I like to think of it as organized chaos, because that’s exactly what it is. We are like the middle of it and we do have two babies. I have a two and a half year old and a 10 month old. And we launched during the pandemic. So spots on the Fox was launched because of the pandemic. We really wanted to bridge that gap of working within our communities and supporting the businesses within our communities because we stopped going out. Like we had to quarantine, we had a newborn, so we’re like, you know, what can we do to continue to support small businesses us and make it convenient, make it safe, make it easy. And that’s how spots on the Fox was born. So you can think of it like a virtual mall, like an Etsy, like an Amazon, but it’s for our local communities only. It’s in support of small businesses and vendors keep 100% of their sales. So from that aspect, that’s super cool as a customer. It’s amazing because I can go online, conveniently support five, ten, however many vendors you wanna shop from and check out in one transaction. So, it’s just easy. 

Erin Marcus: It’s just easy. I love that. And, and here’s what you did from a marketing perspective. You saw a need, right? You saw a need and you filled a need. And that doesn’t mean it’s always, you know, roses and rainbows and unicorns, things happen. Things are hard. You have to figure things out. But the way things change is we see a need and we fill a need. You know, the taxi cab drivers complained about Uber. Well, Uber wouldn’t have been created if there wasn’t a need for a different way. And you saw a need for a different way. And truthfully people like me, who are just a little bit busy, I don’t get to go shopping the way I used to get to go shopping. And I love the idea of being able to do it online, but still support my local fellow entrepreneurs.

Ana Tredrea: Right. So it’s convenient for customers, but you still get that good feeling like the warm fuzzies of like, Hey, I’m still supporting small businesses. I’m still supporting my local communities. That’s the idea of it.

Erin Marcus: So I have a random question for you. Where are the kids? Cuz usually when you and I are talking, there’s at least one child. So let’s just dive right into that because in all fairness, in all transparency, you guys are clients of mine. And of the first things we had to figure out was how do we control the chaos a little differently? Right? You reach a bandwidth with the controlled chaos. So where are the children and what are you – I don’t know any aspect of that. I’m not a mom, I can barely control the dogs. So talk to me a little bit about not just a mom, but a mom of young children who you can’t yet say, Hey, wait a minute. Mommy has to X, Y, Z.

Ana Tredrea: Right? So like I said, two and a half year old, 10 month old, you’re absolutely right. There is no such thing as like, “Hey, you have to hang on” where they’re like, “okay mom.” Owen might be like, “okay mom”, but then he’ll get right back on asking what he wants. Because he just doesn’t understand that. So, where are the kids? So Willow’s nap time is right now. So she is upstairs napping and Kyle is with Owen in his room.

Erin Marcus: So your husband is locked in, as we call it here. It’s puppy lockdown. So you have Owen lockdown?

Ana Tredrea: Yeah. And actually my puppy is on the couch, but he’s like quiet. So, he’s a chill puppy. But that’s where the organized chaos comes in because not only do we work together, we raise our kids together, but we do it all from home. It is all home 100% of the time which has worked for us, you know, it is a little bit like a fishbowl sometimes. So we do get a little bit of cabin fever where we have to get out and do something, but it’s, there is a method to the madness. So like I said, right now we timed ourselves. So that’s, that’s really what it’s timing.

Erin Marcus: You know what it is, as I’m listening to you, it’s, you can’t do what you’re doing and stay in reaction mode. And I watch business owners do that in general, but you’re almost an exaggeration of it, which just proves the point. You have to be intentional.

Ana Tredrea: Yeah.

Erin Marcus: Right. You have to be really intentional around the realities instead of just reacting to it. The reality is right now, 9:30 AM central is Willow’s nap time. That might not be true in two or three weeks. Right?

Ana Tredrea: Yeah, they’re on opposite schedules. So yes, we go with the flow because we have to, when they’re not at the point where they can mold around our schedules a little bit, they’re still not that flexible. So we have to be. That is just the reality.

Erin Marcus: Right? Well, and the other thing that helps is getting Uber focused on what’s important to get accomplished because you don’t have wiggle room for insignificant, inefficient, irrelevant activities. And so many entrepreneurs, whether they have children or not ,get mired in the weeds. You don’t have time for weeds.

Ana Tredrea: And that’s why we hired you because you’ve helped us. We have a calendar on the wall and two boards and on those boards, there are different things, but there’s one of the boards gets daily goals and weekly goals. And we go through those daily because you’re right, we just don’t have time to get lost in the noise. And there’s a lot of noise.

Erin Marcus: There’s a lot of noise. But the other thing that, that lets you do, and I love how much you guys embraced that because truthfully, the thing that keeps people in the weeds is fear. It’s fear of whatever, you know, whatever everybody is scared of, being more visible, making new decisions, really embraced the idea of getting intentional. And I think the other benefit of being so intentional is that when you’re with your kids, you get to be present.

Ana Tredrea: Yes. That’s extremely important to me.

Erin Marcus: And that was the first thing you said. That was the first thing you told me. I really wanna grow this business. I really wanna grow this business. I believe in this business. I really wanna grow this business, but I will not do it at the sacrifice of my family.

Ana Tredrea: They’re so little. And these are the times where, I mean, gosh, you never get time back, right. Time is the commodity. Right. And it’s a very important one, but like they’re only so little for so long where I can be so – and then they go to school, right. There comes a time where they go to school and they start getting more independent. And I am very blessed and very lucky that I get to be home with them. And I get to watch like the daily changes. So mom, life is extremely important to me, growing our business is extremely important to me and you know, we’re doing it all from home. So we kind of task ourselves, things that during the day, Kyle is on Spots on the Fox. I do what I can from my phone when I can, but I am charged with them. I play with them. I teach them. And then I do things on the side too. Because the nice thing about Spots is I can do it from my phone. It’s convenient. But yes, we have our priorities and we line them up. And then when they’re napping, I get to do more stuff. And then in the mornings when they’re asleep I get to do more stuff. And then at nighttime, same. So again, there’s a method to the madness.

Erin Marcus: Well, and here’s the thing, one of the things I don’t want people to think because I think too many people make it, make themselves wrong. You can have it all, but can you have it all at one time? Or are there decisions to be made about who’s doing what and not making yourself wrong or bad. It would’ve been great if I could have gone to that event, if I could have said yes to the thing, but that’s a not now thing for us cuz the family is the now thing for us and being so clear on what you want, that you can make those decisions quickly, easily and without remorse.

Ana Tredrea: Yep. And you know, this is where you have been so helpful to us Erin because we are two people and we are so in it that sometimes we don’t necessarily see the bigger picture. And so this is where having someone like you has been really helpful because you’ve kind of helped align with what we want and what we wanna get, but you’ve helped us. You’ve helped given us a path to that. So thank you.

Erin Marcus: You’re very welcome. And, always appreciate the testimonial. So let’s go to the second topic. Working with your spouse? Here’s the thing: I live with my significant other. He’s amazing in 10 million different ways. He is an incredible caregiver, which we joke. How did this come up? Oh, I was really, really sick a couple weeks ago and it was the flu. And it did a weird thing to me where I was confused and I couldn’t figure out what was going on around me. And he’s an incredible caregiver and he was teasing me about, oh, you should be thankful for this. And I said, you should be thankful for this. And he was like, why? And I said, well, you love taking care of people and I give you ample opportunity to need to take care of somebody. Right. But that being said, I don’t know that we could work together because when I’m in work mode, I have a pace, an urgency, a risk tolerance, a “figure out how to build a plane, while you’re flying it” and it’s the exact opposite of who he is. And you guys have some of that, but let me start here. Before you went into this venture together, did you discuss what it would be like? Or did you just go for it?

Ana Tredrea: We just went for it. We were kind of thrown into the scenario before the pandemic hit where I became a stay-at-home mom in 2020. So January of 2020, I became a stay at home mom. Kyle was already working from home. So we were in this scenario before it hit. So it’s not like we were like, oh, you know, you have to figure it out. We just kind of were already in it. And then with, you know, certain circumstances that led us to wanting to launch spots on the Fox, we come from very different places. Like you said, I have my own way of doing things. He has his own way of doing things. When you meet us, you know, right away, we’re married. There’s just this level of comfort where I’m like, yo stop doing that. You know, like, you know, right away.

Ana Tredrea: It’s not just two colleagues or two coworkers, you know, you know that there’s a relationship there. And yes, we bump heads, but I have to say spots on the Fox would not be what it is if it wasn’t for Kyle. And he can say the same thing about me, we just both bring forth our area of expertise that works really well together. And because we do have that relationship as spouses, we also know how to work together in more than one way. It’s funny because like I’ll say, and I don’t say this often in front of him because you know, it’ll go to his head, but I’m like, you’re a genius. Like my husband is a genius.

Erin Marcus: He’s brilliant. You and I have the personality it takes to go make things happen. The man’s a genius.

Ana Tredrea: He really is. He really, really is, he’ll talk to me, and is just like, I just need to talk this out. In my head. I’m like, oh my gosh, I don’t need to know this, like, please don’t tell me, but he needs to talk it out. So he’s like talking it out, but really he’s like talking out loud cuz I’m like listening and like kind of listening and like not understanding it.

Erin Marcus: You’re just there.

Ana Tredrea: Yes. I’m just there. So he’s not like talking to a wall, but as he’s talking some things out, I’m like, oh my God, like how does this even fit in your brain? You know what I mean? So as spouses, we work really well together because we bring balance to what we do. He is the tech side of everything. He is, you know, the website, marketing, branding you know, coding, all that crap that honestly, I don’t understand, like I just don’t get it. But that’s OK. Cause I have my own area of expertise and I don’t have to get that. So that’s why we work so well. We really balance each other out.

Erin Marcus: Well. And one of the things that you have done, so, so well that I watch and it’s not even just spouses, it could be partners in any way, business partners, the way I describe it is what you’ve done so well is divide and conquer because there’s no advantage to having a business partner when you do everything together. In fact, that just slows you down because it adds layers of conversation, many unnecessary layers of conversation before anything happens. And I’ve watched that with clients. I’ve watched that with colleagues year after year, where as a solopreneur, I was like, oh my God, if I had someone who would just take care of that, that would be awesome. But too many people in this situation feel they need to be together 24/7, do everything together, make every decision together. And instead if you have a level of trust and capability and you divide and conquer, you get to move that much faster.

Ana Tredrea: And honestly, you know, I never really thought about it that way, but you’re completely right. That’s exactly what we do because our areas of expertise are so different and yet so necessary for our business that it just naturally happened. You know, I could never do what he does and he could not do what I do. The networking portion for him, it’s just, you know, he’s a very social person, but you know, he talks too much. <Laugh> <laugh> and he will like ruin it just by, over talking and over complicating it.

Erin Marcus: Well, he goes deep into the concept, which is not the goal for, or the part that you do. The other thing that you guys do so well is, and now I don’t know if this happens without a third party, but we’ve had some conversations where one of you is overwhelmed. One of you is doing something that is triggering the other person or counterproductive and you guys listen. You get it out and then you do listen to what the other person is saying. This is what I need in order to be successful. This is where I’m getting hung up and feeling like I’m not being successful.

Erin Marcus: Do you guys remember to do that when I’m not with you? You do it really, really well when we’re all together, you both really recognize and very articulate and very accommodating and all the other, you know positive words I can throw at you. But do you remember to do it in the daily with the kids? It’s one thing when the three of us are together and designated time, but again, controlled chaos. Do you remember, or are you able to do it in the middle of your controlled chaos and what would you tell people about how to handle that?

Ana Tredrea: So I would say that every day is a challenge, right? Like every day we have to strive cuz I, it doesn’t wake up. It doesn’t just work. It does not just work. It doesn’t just fall together. So for us, it is a daily thing. And there are times that we’re better at it than others, obviously when we’re with you, it’s so much easier because you’re guiding us and you’re like, you know, putting this into place.

Erin Marcus: Anna, remember you do actually like this person, right? <Laugh>

Ana Tredrea: I do. I do. I do. Yes. I would say one thing that we do do really well, even if it’s, you know, even if we’re struggling that day or at that moment is we talk , we don’t hold back. We are not, I mean, like we’re not like rude to each other –

Erin Marcus: No, you’re not attacking each other, but you communicate.

Ana Tredrea: We’re not like bottling it up. You know, neither of us is that person, which really helps. And it really works because we are wife and husband at the end of the day. We started as wife and husband. We were wife and husband before we were parents, before we were business partners, you know, like, so at the end of the day, I wanna make sure that I can come back to my husband as my, like, he’s my husband. So that’s very important to us. So I do talk to him and he does talk to me. So it may not always be the prettiest thing, but it’s real. And it works for us and it keeps us going. So I think it’s that communication piece that’s really important. So to the people doing, I would say that: make sure you’re talking about it.

Erin Marcus: Well, and the other piece you mentioned was you started as husband and wife, wife, and husband. The other thing I watch happen is the business, especially in the beginning is like a third child. It’s almost right. It’s kinda like you have this third child that needs as much attention as the other two. And again, I don’t have kids, but I hear a lot of people say, once there’s children, the children take over the relationship. If there’s a business, the business can take, regardless of whether or not there’s children, you know, there might be adult children that aren’t there in the house anymore. But if you allow the business to completely take over the relationship, you can lose the relationship.

Ana Tredrea: Absolutely. And the other thing that I would add to that is because there are times where it will inadvertently and it will 100% take over because it’s just the nature of a startup. Like it does completely take over, but we, we talk about it. Like we pointed out, like we address the elephant in the room, like, Hey, we know that this is like 100% our lives right now, but that’s okay. It’s a season it’s just temporary. So we do talk about it because there are times where we can talk for days about something we’re working on, but then we’re like, oh wait, okay. We have to step back. This is temporary, where we’re talking about it too much. And we address it and then we get back. We reset. Right? So like I said, it’s like a daily thing, but we do address the fact that sometimes it is taking over, but we know it’s just temporary. We know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel that we will get to reconnect. And then we make a point of like trying to get out just him and I for drinks, you know, a couple of drinks, it’s harder with the kids cuz they’re so little, but you know, my mom lives close by. So we put the kids to bed at seven and we’ll go out and get a couple of drinks and just talk him and I, nothing work related just him and I.

Erin Marcus: Well, and what you’re talking about over and over again, and it’s the things that you have extra complications on your plate, but the things are the same intentional activity, you’re in open communication, right? I mean, you’re doing things on purpose. You’re aware of the effect, you’re aware of the cause and you talk about them and that’s really one of the things I see that kills businesses is playing ostrich, putting your head in the sand, bottling up your feelings. Not being open about what is and isn’t going on. And I don’t mean open, like telling the world, but the difficult, I always say the hardest conversation you can ever have is an honest conversation with yourself. Right? it’s brutal and just owning your part and, and choosing. And I think that’s one of the things that I enjoy most about you guys is the fact that you are choosing, you are choosing to create your lives instead of reacting and just stepping back and seeing what comes your way. And that’s, you know, that’s where I set the bar. Right. Choose to be in charge.

Ana Tredrea: Thank you. I don’t think, I don’t think it was, we didn’t like sit down and have a conversation of like, oh, this is how things are gonna be. I just think in every type of relationship, communication is so important, you know, so we kind of already had that in place. And then we were kind of thrown together as business partners because of life circumstances. And it just, it works. It works for us.

Erin Marcus: Awesome.

Ana Tredrea: Don’t get me wrong. I do wanna kill him sometimes. Like I do, I love the man, but holy smokes, you know, but it’s just like any relationship, even if we weren’t partners like as a spouse, sometimes I’m like really? But it works for us. Like we work well to, we have mutual respect and understanding and we have a clear vision of how we want things to be. And it’s a murky path along the way, but we’ve got the vision.

Erin Marcus: It’s exactly it, clarity on the outcome. Right. You can’t build the path if you don’t even know where it is, you’re going. Thank you for sharing and being vulnerable and, sharing the realities of it. Because I think so many times people from a marketing perspective, right, we all wanna go out and show our best side to the world. But the truth is for entrepreneurs, it’s helpful to know that we’re not in it alone, that someone else is going through what you’re going through, that someone else understands what you’re going through,uand sharing how you handle it,ufor inspiration and giving people ideas. If people want to continue this conversation with you learn more about the spots initiatives, because like seriously cool stuff. What is the best way for them to reach out or get more information for you?

Ana Tredrea: They can visit spotsinitiatives.com. They’ll see the different initiatives there. So like Spots Junior. Spots on the Fox is there. And then there will be two other that will be added there shortly. But they can also email me anna@spotsonthefox.com. If they go to the spots initiative.com, there’s a way to contact me there. So yeah, there’s multiple ways of contacting me. I’m not hiding. 

Erin Marcus: Not hiding. Awesome. Thank you so much again for spending some time with me this morning. Uand we’ll just have the kids and the husband on their own episode, one of these days.

Ana Tredrea: Yes. You know, there will be a lot of what’s that, what is that? What an my son’s obsessed with animals, so you’ll love him.

Erin Marcus: Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Awesome. Thank you so much.