Take Five With Dana Spinola

Dana Spinola left corporate America to pursue her dream of owning a clothing boutique. Now, in just 13 years, she has 30 locations throughout the Southeast, is slated to open 20 more in the next year. After opening a few boutiques herself, she explored the franchise concept so that other people could live out their dream of having a boutique. With over 11 franchised locations and many in the works, it won’t be long until fab’rik is a household name.

Q: Business person, team leader or philanthropist… which title best describes Dana Spinola? Well, hopefully Leader, which I believe encompasses all of those titles. I remember my kindergarten teacher saying I was a natural leader and I do feel that natural instinct to lead, and be the first one to help solve a problem or encourage someone who is not sure of their next step. At this stage of my life, creating leaders is what inspires me.

Q: Is there a specific person or persons who helped pave your current walk? And how? Easy question…my parents. My parents married very young, two long haired hippies that were (and are) totally in love and all about following your dream. They are both entrepreneurs and use the gifts God’s given them to make other people’s lives better. My dad is an artist and mom an interior designer, and they are the people that make your home the most special place in your world. They taught me “If you love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.” It’s fab’rik’s company mantra now and very true.

Q: Why clothing boutiques? Why and how its name? Probably because I was told it couldn’t be done. Who could create a job shopping? I was a computer consultant and had a bad breakup with a long term boyfriend. It was one of those seasons in life that I just wanted to follow my passion, really find joy in what I did, and that was something do to with fashion. I wallpapered my walls floor to ceiling with fashion magazine pages since I was a little girl so it was just a matter of time before I got into the industry. So, between tears, I wrote a business plan and fab’rik was created. I was looking for names and after not finding any I liked, I opened the dictionary for ideas and the phonetic spelling of the word fabric was fab’rik. Though no one really pronounces it correctly at first mention, it’s a great topic of conversation because no one even believes me when I says its pronounced “fabric,” not “fabrique.”

Q: How does your business play out within Dana’s personal life? Trick question, is there a difference 🙂 fab’rik is so much of my life honestly. Most of my team has been there since very early on. They know my husband and my kids and are part of my family. I have a pretty intense schedule, but have the flexibility to fit it all in. Being a mom to three little boys, I have to have the ability to hop to the emergency room for broken collar bones between meetings or take a conference call or two at football practices. But, in my house, family is first and your won’t hear from me sundown on Friday night until Sunday unless you really need me. However, don’t be shocked if you get an email or two from me some nights at 3am. My mind never shuts off for fab’rik and my heart never shuts off for my family.

Q: What would you address at an entrepreneurial woman’s conference; can you provide three mini-lessons? Take care of yourself: If you are a work-a-holic like me then you can look up and you are living on coffee, haven’t been on a date with your husband in a month and missed your kids talent show. Don’t prioritize work, but prioritize you so that you can have the energy for the long road and for the wonderful blessings that will come into your life.

Determine the meaning of your company: Reread your mission statement every month and make sure you are really living it as a company, everyone, not just you. If you are not, then either change your mission or change your team. Also, make sure there is meaning in your mission. Pour Into Others: Your company is so much more than yourself. Make sure you are spending more time pouring into others time after time to ensure you are developing the leaders your company needs. The moment you watch other people start to do this, it is one of the most amazing pillars for your company!