Systems, Design, and Scale: How Alisa Sparks Franchised a Creative Business

Speaker 1: Welcome to the Sheila podcast. I'm your host Melanie Bar. Today's guest is Alisa Sparks, founder and CEO of Lynen Creek. After years of managing multi-million dollar military budgets, she found her true calling building a homestaging company out of her garage. Today, Lynen Creek has grown into a national franchise supporting agents, builders, homeowners through systems, hands-on training, and elevated interior design. So many women are sitting in careers where they are capable, successful, and doing all the right things, yet still feel called to build something of their own. When you look back, what was happening in your life before you made the leap to launch Lynen Creek? My

Speaker 2: background was finance. I loved reading business and finance books. I had this passion and obsession for real estate during this time. I would buy the ugliest houses I could find and flip them and then as soon as it was done, the project is gone. So, let me sell it, go find the next ugly thing, and work on that again. Um, so it was this interesting balance of I have a career. Um, but I have this passion and a hobby for something that I'm really loving. And there was a day I was reading a book and I happened to stumble upon Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, which is a classic in the entrepreneurship world. And something really interesting stuck with me and it was the concept of not necessarily having your W2, but like truly building a business as an asset and what that can do for business ownership and for yourself um, and your professional growth. And it was that moment that I realized maybe entrepreneurship was something that I should consider. I come from a family and a background where you have a job, you keep the same job for 40 years. You have stuck with a career, you've built something beautiful and that is what you do. You don't make these changes and you definitely don't become an entrepreneur because that's a terrifying high-risk experience. That's what I thought. But that book really opened my eyes to maybe there's a side of entrepreneurship that I had never thought about before. And it was in that moment that then the next question was, well, what do I do? gravitating towards my hobby that I was doing in my evenings felt like the right next move.

Speaker 1: And it's so fun that you took something that you love and turned it into a business because you seem to really enjoy the design process.

Speaker 2: I absolutely do. I said, "Oh, we're going to do this because I love design. I love creating beautiful spaces." Of course, a lot of women enjoy this. This is our happy place and what we do for fun. I found myself falling in love with serving my clients so much more than building beautiful spaces. And then as we continued to grow um and I got out of client facing roles, I found myself falling in love with building teams that had the opportunity to grow professionally. What I've loved about this business building journey is every season that I'm leveling up, I'm falling in love with something new within the

Speaker 1: business. And it's so today it's not just about design, although I still love beautiful spaces, but I have fallen in love with the business side of things and the people aspect of what I get to

Speaker 2: do every day. You sound like a true entrepreneur and that you enjoy all the different aspects of business. You went from managing multi-million dollar military budgets to building a homestaging company from your garage. What did that season teach you about risk, identity, and trusting yourself?

Speaker 1: What it taught me about risk was, as silly as this sounds, is to avoid it. As I drove into business entrepreneurship, I looked at it as a mathematical equation and I naturally am very riskadverse. And so I looked at it to say like if this jump feels risky, what can I do to mitigate that risk? What strategy can I take to make it feel less terrifying to make it feel like it's the right business and financial decision for me? One of those decisions to sort of mitigate risk in that season was to keep the existing job that I had. So, when I started Lindy Creek, I would take Fridays off of work um and I would meet with as many business builders and real estate agents as I could to try to find opportunities and see if there was true proof of concept for what I did. And when I found the answer was yes, that's when I made that transition and I quit my full-time job. oftentimes the past experience that I had in the finance world and in military budget management and what have you actually really prepared me well for being more methodical in this transition and this jump and reducing risk in a way that the transition felt smooth. And it's

Speaker 2: interesting to say that risk adverse because real estate is not always risk adverse and it's really smart that you took Fridays off because it probably made you feel less pressure towards having to build something really quickly. it more a fun process than the stress?

Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. It's much less pressure when you're not like, I need to make a p I need to close a sale tomorrow or else there's no paycheck. It just allowed me to be methodical instead of rushed or chaotic. And that's something I'm really grateful for because when you start any business, you might have a beautiful concept, an idea, and a business plan, but if you ask most individuals how different their business is today from that business plan they created when they started on day one, usually it's drastically different. It allowed me to play and navigate and figure out a lot of those things before I had to make the big jump.

Speaker 2: So, you have built a staging company from your garage and then you also flip houses. Which one did you do first and how did one grow to the other?

Speaker 1: Yeah, I flipped houses first and I fell madly in love with it. And then uh what's interesting is the last house that I had flipped, the feedback that we got as we had the house on the market is the staging was really good, but it wasn't staging, it was my furniture. And so that for me was my aha moment of maybe I could stage houses. I don't have an interior design degree. So at the time I thought I could never be an interior designer, but maybe I could stage houses. It's interesting how that initial hobby and passion for house flipping really turned into the career that I have today.

Speaker 2: And what was the moment when you knew that it was going to become more of a side hustle and you could grow it into a national franchise?

Speaker 1: That transition was long. We started as a side hustle. It was probably five or six months and then we hit a place of recognizing that I was able to quit my full-time job. I could start this full-time and really dive in. And so that was pretty quick that proof of concept moment. But from there, I had no intention of ever franchising this model at that season. The thought had not even crossed my mind. I was actually about 5 years into the business and I remember sitting on my couch and reflecting on my prior week. Um, at the time I had already hired a lot of team members to run our day-to-day and I realized that no one actually needed me for the work that they had done last week. I wasn't helpful at all in a lot of ways. And then I looked at the next week and I realized it was the same thing. I panicked because I remember thinking I accidentally just worked myself out of a job and that was never the goal. And I probably should have been really excited in that moment, but I love working. I love building. I love creating. It was this identity crisis moment of like what do I do next? And who am I? And where does the value come from? how can I be an asset to my team to my clients and that was what started the conversations around the concept of franchising

Speaker 2: and can you share with us a little bit about the franchising process what was scary any challenges you might have had in the beginning

Speaker 1: franchising is a fascinating model so when I hit that moment of want to do something more I was getting messages on Instagram from other interior designers and stagers asking everything from how do you handle pricing objections to um how do you store your mattresses in your warehouse in a way that it optimizes space, the logistics behind the scenes that no one else thinks about or cares about. And I realized we had systems for everything. And a friend of mine said, "Have you thought about franchising?"

Speaker 1: Because I think in that moment, I knew that there were resources, playbooks, things that we had created that could be helpful for other people that were in the same industry. I just didn't know how to share it. And when he brought the idea of franchising to me, initially I

Speaker 1: was, "Nope, can't do that. We're a creative industry. You can't put a system to this. That doesn't work." And as I started to reflect on it more and more, I realized that was far from the truth. There are a lot of fundamental rules and principles around design that make it good. There are math equations that help you determine your rug size and what size sofa you're going to put

Speaker 1: in a room. As I started to reflect on that, the idea of franchising got me really excited because for me, it meant typically in franchising, you're in a contract for an extended period of time. For us, it's 10 years. And I loved that because it meant that I got to be with these individuals, these other business owners for the next 10 years of our lives um and hopefully longer. But it

Speaker 1: gave us a chance to not just help them build their business, but help them in the season when they're 3 years in, 5 years in, seven years in and hitting different challenges and to be able to build a community around that where we are all doing this together. And so for me, franchising was super exciting because it's not just a way to get a playbook out and help with the coaching and challenges, but it's a way to build this really committed community of women and men that are all going after the

Speaker 1: same exact thing. And so with franchising though, there is are an insane number of laws that get wrapped around it. In the early days of franchising, I learned I think there was somebody that went around trying to sell like a chicken restaurant and would sell the idea, take everybody's money, leave the town, and go do it again. Our states said that's not okay. that's not what we do to our people. And so they built all sorts of laws and rules and regulations around franchising to protect potential franchise owners, which is a beautiful

Speaker 1: thing. But every state has different rules. Every state has different policies. There are requirements around having really big operations manuals that explain the day-to-day. Step one in building this franchise was writing a 326page document of everything that we do down to this is the payroll system provider that we like to use and here's how you click the buttons in this other software before you ever get to start to talk about pillows and beautiful spaces.

Speaker 1: There's a lot that goes into the franchising process to make sure that it's something that is a playbook that a franchise owner can pick up and use and be successful and that they're protected in the process too. Business is all about creating systems and design and you've done such a beautiful job of combining the system with the creative.

Speaker 1: It's not always easy to do because they're two separate mindsets. They're absolutely two separate mindsets. When you pause and you challenge that assumption, it changes the way you can design. It changes the way that you can serve a client. And so we've really enjoyed continually challenging that assumption and going rather than walking in and saying I have this feeling maybe we should bring in these colors to really walk in and have a scientific process around it to have a mathematical equation around a design that's going to be symmetrical and balanced and beautiful. And we've had a lot of success with that.

Speaker 2: And as you grew operationally, how did you keep the heart of your business throughout your growth?

Speaker 1: We had a potential new hire in our company this week that came in and

Speaker 2: interviewed, met with the entire team. One of the things he said to me is, "Lisa, your culture and your company is different than what I see normally. You care an insane amount and that is something that's hard to replicate. It's something hard to find. It's interesting hearing that come from a third party and somebody else that's peeking their way in. I wish I had an answer and I can pinpoint and say maybe a couple of things that I think that it is. I wish that I knew exactly why the heart can stay there." There are two things that

Speaker 1: So true. And building sustainable company cultures is so important because we're still human and we spend all of our days doing this work. So why not be somewhere where we truly want to be and around people that are supportive to the overall goals?

Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1: You work at the intersection of design, real estate, and client experience. What does it really take to create a space that feels elevated, welcoming, and deeply intentional?

Speaker 2: The most important part of creating a space like that is functionality. So a home first and foremost needs to function to serve the family that lives inside of it. And being able to create function means you have to know your client intimately. So every time we meet with a new client, we ask them lots of questions. And sometimes it's silly

Speaker 1: things you don't think about. If you and I were meeting, I would say, "Tell me about your family. Are you married? Do you have a spouse? How tall is your spouse?" Now, that might sound like a weird question, but if you say, "My spouse is 6'2" or 6'7"? That is going to change the sofa that I'm going to pick out for your living room because he has really long legs and he's not going to be comfortable in a sofa that I would be comfortable in. And so we have to think about these nitty-gritty little details.

Speaker 1: And then questions like, "What do you do at Thanksgiving? Are you the one that's hosting? And how many people are coming over?" Because even though that's one day a year, that's a really special, important memory making day. And so I want to make sure that you can fit your family, your friends, whoever it might be in a way that you actually celebrate and enjoy that. We spend a lot of time

Speaker 1: getting to know the homeowner and getting to know the family and how they function. Do you wear your shoes in the house? Do you have pets? What activities are your kids in? Is your son notorious for leaving his soccer cleat on when he gets home from soccer practice? I want

Speaker 1: to know all of it. And instead of trying to teach your son how to not wear his soccer cleat in the house, let's actually design in a home that functions so that one day if he learns it, great. But you don't have to ruin a rug or a sofa because of it. We can create beautiful things out of anything we

Speaker 1: pick. But I first and foremost want to create and build a space that actually serves you and your family in the way that they live today and in the way they're probably going to live, you know, 3 years and 5 years from now. And then we can put together beautiful colors and textures and make it make sense.

Speaker 2: And I'm smiling because my husband's 6'5 and my son wears a soccer cleat in the house. There you go. So I'm smiling as you say that. But we have the taller countertops and I have 12-year-old twins. I was pregnant when we were looking to buy a house and the real estate person we were working with were showing me these condos that were beautiful or homes that were beautiful, but I kept thinking, I'm about to give birth to twins. I can't live in this house. This is not going to be functional for me. We ended up building a house and the house was great. But you're right. Clients so appreciate when you go into the details of how can you make this functional because I kept saying I need functional and I want nice design and a beautiful environment but I need it to be functional for sure.

Speaker 1: That's exactly right and that's the philosophy that we've built Lynon Creek on. So, we have a saying here um that we create elevated everyday living, which is fluffy words, but really what it means is you should be able to walk into your home and say, "This is beautiful." But you should be able to sit on your couch on a Friday night with your black dog while your kids eat popcorn and not be having a panic attack. You should be able to enjoy that moment. And if you are enjoying that moment, then we did our job right. Yeah. My daughter keeps asking for a white couch and I'm like, "Not quite yet." And when I was thinking back to those condos, the condos had all glass stairs and all I kept seeing was my toddler falling down the beautiful glass stairs. It's so wonderful that you ask all those questions cuz it's so important. And I remember when I was talking to a designer in the beginning, it was important for me to find someone who really understood my style and what I was looking for. What's interesting is Linden Creek has a distinct look and

Speaker 2: style. Sure. But we always say with

Speaker 1: design and with our clients is we want the home to not be a reflection of Lynen Creek. I want the home to be a reflection of whoever is living there. If they have traveled the world and collected these amazing pieces, let that be part of it. If art is really meaningful and it's unique and bold and abstract, let that be a part of it because that's who they are. And it's our job to design around and define who that person is, what they love, and let it be a reflection of their soul. Yeah. And our house is Cape Cod, but we're by the beach. And I kept wanting a rounded door and I kept saying to our architect, "I'd like a rounded front door." And he kept saying, "But that's not traditional Cape Cod." And I said, "I don't really care." But I ended up getting the rounded door. It's interesting when you come up against these things that you really want and then someone's pushing back. Instead of trying to make your vision happen,

Speaker 2: that's exactly right. For someone listening who feels ready for a career shift or wants to build something of their own, what advice would you give them?

Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to take the next step. Often times people think that doing a big career shift means taking a massive jump like start, stop, here we go, we're jumping over the river and there's no looking back. But there can be a blend of something beautiful. Picking up the phone and talking to other individuals that are in that career shift or in that new concept or industry that you're thinking about is not scary. And educating yourself around what they love about it, what the challenges are, what costs there were involved in building out a business like that. Start doing the research. Start building the network. Start testing the concept in front of other people. Ask potential clients, would this be something that would excite you. Take the small steps because they don't do any harm. And then that final leap that you have to make one day doesn't feel so scary because you have everything to back it until that moment happens. And then all of a sudden you wake up and you think, okay, I'm I'm doing this. But you didn't have to put so much pressure

Speaker 2: on yourself along the way. We have talked a lot about business and growth today. How do you make sure that you're finding and living your joy?

Speaker 1: My joy comes down to a few things. my family and as lame as this is going to sound my business. I love business. It took a really long time before I finally was able to accept and acknowledge the fact that one of my greatest hobbies is actually work and what I so often in society we're told your career your job your 9 to5 is a job. It is work. And I find myself on the weekends in the evenings thinking about it, dreaming about it, brainstorming, problem solving because it's simply what I love. As bizarre as it may sound, my joy oftentimes comes from working. It comes from spending time with my family. It comes from doing what my everyday I don't have to struggle with this balance of now I'm working, now I get to do what I love. I have this weird hybrid life that I feel so incredibly blessed for because my husband and I work together. So, I get family and work together. My kids have been active parts of the business in different seasons and get to understand and know what it's like. It's this convoluted blend of all of the things that I love every day. And that's not to say that every day is as easy and that's not to say that there aren't of course frustrations in all of it, but I feel like every day I am doing exactly what I love. And I feel very grateful to have found that. There is nothing better than having that moment. For your listeners that are on the fence of like, do I make a transition or a change? I was the girl that before this would wake up every day and dread my day and what was ahead of me. And I didn't think that it was possible to wake up every day and actually be excited for what you're going to do. And so being on the other side of it, if you're not living your best life every day, explore other opportunities because you only got one life. And man, it's a heck of a lot of fun when you're loving it every day.

Speaker 2: Yeah. And I know a lot of our listeners resonate with that, too. But it is possible.

Speaker 1: Yes.

Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us today. Please share with us how and where we can find you.

Speaker 1: Find us at lynen-creek.com.

Speaker 1: You can check out um our website and some of our beautiful photos. Also, we're active on Instagram is probably the best spot to find us. So, linden creek and you can take a look at some recent projects we've been a part of um or explore opportunities with our organization.