SEASON 3: EPISODE 9 TRANSCRIPT

Laura Hutfless

Laura Hutfless: You don't have to have it all figured out right now. You just have to take the next step. And I can look at anything in my life that people have labeled a success. A business, adopting a child, all the things that are seemingly hard, but they all started with the first step. So anyone who's starting with a dream, I think maybe you feel pressure that you need to have it all figured out or you need to know what it's fully going to look like before you start. You need to have a strategic plan. Know your values, what you won't compromise, and just take the first step.

Dr. Greg Jones: Sometimes hope begins with seeing something others can't, a possibility hidden inside a challenge, an opportunity waiting to be pursued, or simply the next step when the entire path isn't yet clear. Hope invites us to move beyond fear and scarcity, trusting that creativity, generosity, and faith can open doors we never imagined.

My name is Greg Jones, president of Belmont University, and I'm honored to be your guide through candid conversations with amazing agents of hope, people who demonstrate what it means to live with hope and lean into the lessons picked up along the way. They are the hope people.

Today's agent of hope is Laura Hutfless, entrepreneur and co-founder of FlyteVu, a purpose-driven marketing agency built with generosity at its foundation. Laura never imagined herself as an entrepreneur, but after 15 years of building a successful career, she began recognizing opportunities others couldn't see and eventually found the courage to act on them.

In our conversation, Laura shares how creativity, faith, and an abundance mindset have shaped the way she approaches business and life. She reflects on finding strength through some of life's hardest valleys, her deeply personal journey to becoming a single adoptive mother, and the power of moving forward even when we can only see the next step. Laura's story reminds us that a life of purpose doesn't require having the entire journey mapped out. Sometimes hope simply asks us to see what could be, trust what we've been given, and take the next step.

Well, thank you for joining us, Laura. It's great to have you here.

Laura Hutfless: I'm excited to be here.

Dr. Greg Jones: You had a pretty remarkable start for 15 years before you decided to take a leap and found your own company. Talk about that journey and what gave you the confidence to take that leap.

Laura Hutfless: Yeah. I never grew up thinking I would be an entrepreneur or I would build anything on my own. Where I was raised and just what I was exposed to, it was always take the job, climb the ladder, work up as far as you can. And it wasn't until I was at CAA, which is the talent agency that I was working at at the time, when opportunities started coming to me that didn't quite fit what I was doing at CAA, meaning I realized there was a business opportunity and there wasn't a solution yet.

But I knew what the solution was and I knew that I could do that. I didn't quite know how to set up a business. I didn't even know how to read a P&L, if I'm being honest. So I had to find mentors and folks to teach me. But I knew there was a business opportunity and I realized I've always been really good at seeing the business opportunities and I've always been entrepreneurial, proposing new ideas or new concepts or finding ways to make money on the side. So that is very entrepreneurial.

I always saw what others didn't see. And that's really where it starts. You have to see an opportunity. And I think I had the courage to act on it and most people don't. And I think we all have ideas and we all see things. It's the ones who are going to be bold enough to take that leap of faith to start them and to invest and take a risk.

Dr. Greg Jones: Talk about how you learned to see and perhaps how that creativity and the art and all of that kind of helped you learn to see in a variety of ways.

Laura Hutfless: I think one of the greatest skill sets you can have is creativity, just being curious. And I think in today's world, that's lost so much in what we do, especially as technology just develops. So much of that is the apps do that for us. So I think we really have to work on that skillset and work that muscle, that creative muscle.

But that's part of it. It's seeing what others can't. We do a really fun activity at my company where I will pass around an object, maybe it's a spoon, and everyone has to take the spoon and tell me what it is, but it can't be a spoon. So it could be a hair wand, it could be a shovel, it could be something that's just not the spoon because you have to learn to see what others can't. And I think that's a skill that is useful in any field. You have to see the solution when others can't, and that will take you far in your career.

So I think the creativity skill of learning art, learning how to see and dream and be imaginative and turn pipe cleaners into a birdhouse or be able to make things is really valuable, even in later chapters of your life. It's something you must continue to build and to work on.

Dr. Greg Jones: I was thinking, as you talked about the spoon, that there's a wonderful book I use frequently with leadership groups called The Beautiful Constraint, and it's by two guys who are business consultants. But they talk about how we often see constraints as limits and we try to do workarounds where we just become victims and say, "I can't because," and they always talk about saying, "You can if."

But they comment about Jerry Seinfeld who self-imposed constraints as a comedian, that he wasn't going to tell jokes about sex and he wasn't going to swear. Well, it turns out that limits you because a lot of comedians, that's about all they do. So he actually developed an entire routine around a chair, just an ordinary chair because he thought, "If I can make that funny, then I can be funny about a lot of subjects." And I thought, "You know, that's the kind of creativity that you need is where it's not because something absurd has happened and you're just going to narrate that, it's seeing things in a new light." So when you were talking about the spoon, I was thinking, "Oh, that's kind of like the chair."

Laura Hutfless: Yeah. And kids are so great at it. I know we talked about this previously as kids can see a piece of paper and make it into a million things. They can see a feather and it becomes wings and that's why I love having a four and a half year old because it takes me back and I love just the imaginative nature of children.

And how do we protect that and bring that with us as we're exposed to more in the world and we experience a lot more, we get hurt a lot more? We are told no or told it can't happen or it doesn't work. How do we push beyond that to say, "Well, it didn't work that time, but maybe it can work next time. Or what can I do to maybe alter the idea so that it will work?"

We have a saying at my agency that “we eat nos for breakfast.” And you have to kind of live in that world, in a creative world of no just means not that way, but there's another way. So it's not a dead end.

Dr. Greg Jones: Yeah, that's great. I sometimes say no means not yet.

Laura Hutfless: Yeah.

Dr. Greg Jones: But same principle on that score. Your faith is really important to you. Talk about that in terms of your upbringing and then how it informs your life and your leadership.

Laura Hutfless: I'm really thankful I was brought up in a Christian home. And my parents worked hard to instill wonderful values into me and my sister as we were growing up. So faith has always been a part of our lives. I think it probably didn't really become my own until high school and that probably is the path for many of us. We then determine what we believe and how we're going to live our lives.

And in high school, I actually went through a pretty severe eating disorder. And that was a really difficult season and I had to decide how I was going to lead my life and who I was going to put my faith in. And that was really the chapter of life I decided if I make it through this, I'm going to believe that God has a purpose and a vision for my life and that's what I'm going to follow.

So coming out of that, I just had a renewed sense of purpose. I have life and so how am I going to live that giving back to people? And my parents, one thing they always stressed in our home was this sense of abundance, that there's always enough and therefore we can always give. No matter how much or how little you have, you always have something to give. And that has really been the foundation of every business I've been a part of or I've built is how are we building this to give back and be generous? And what is the foundation we need to put in place to do that?

So that's where it comes from is there's always enough. I have story after story of times I have felt called to give an amount that seemingly didn't make sense, was illogical. Or I remember once I was in college and I felt the need to give to someone who needed it and it was the amount I needed to live on for the entire month. And I gave it and the very next day a project came in that I really wanted to land and it was the exact amount to make up for that difference. And it's like every time you give and God shows up, it almost makes you excited to give again and give more to see how is God going to show up this time? And he always has, he always has.

So I see that in culture today is there's a scarcity mindset. And I think the more we can teach our children abundance, the better they will live and the better our world will be if people just believe there's always enough for all of us.

Dr. Greg Jones: Yeah. You, at your company, have developed the FlyteVu Fund to give back and you've talked a little bit about that, but talk about why you embedded that in the company and why that matters to you.

Laura Hutfless: Yeah. When my business partner and I mapped out the vision for FlyteVu, the very first thing we mapped was our giving strategy.

Dr. Greg Jones: Wow. That's unusual.

Laura Hutfless: I think that's what we did not have in our previous careers was organizations that we felt were clear on giving or generosity. And we also knew in the work that we do, there's always another client, always another project, but we have to have a greater purpose. Everyone talks about your why. You have to know your why. Giving was our why, and so we developed that first before we actually mapped out the company.

So we decided biblically 10% to tithe would go back to charity. And we started with that and over the years that percentage continued to increase. Thankfully, again, with an abundance mindset. And we gave from the first dollar. I mean, literally the first dollar, we tithed and that has never changed in 12 years. So I'm really thankful and proud of that.

But because of that, our employees get to be a part of that now. So they know the projects, the campaigns they're working on, that a portion of what is coming in, they're going to get to determine where that money goes. So our employees, our clients can request grants from the fund and they get to fuel organizations that they're passionate about and be part of that.

And before we actually launched the grant program, we had several ways of giving away those checks, and one year, it was maybe my favorite year. We gave everybody blank $10,000 checks and said, "You get to go and hand this to an organization that you are really passionate about. But you have to go and physically hand it to them because you've worked for it. This is the money you've worked for, you're going to hand it to them and feel that moment."

So they did, and some had to fly to other locations to do it. And that was a really fun day just for everyone to realize it wasn't a check that an organization was going to make on their behalf. It was something they actually physically got to give and got to experience what that feels like and the thankfulness and gratitude of the folks receiving it.

Dr. Greg Jones: Wow. How has that shaped the culture of the company and your relationships in the company?

Laura Hutfless: Yeah. Well, at every company and anything you work on, there's going to be challenges. I think it makes it easier to work through those challenges when you know there's a greater purpose. So when you have the late nights or the tough calls or the last-minute challenges that pop up, you can think, "I know this is hard in the moment, but I know that this money and this revenue is going to go towards something I'm passionate about." And we're reminded of that as we work as a team, that we're doing something for others and for a greater purpose. And then seeing those initiatives come to life or seeing the charities use those dollars is something we all celebrate.

Dr. Greg Jones: That's beautiful. You talk about the challenges that are inevitable and someone from the outside could look at you and see that you've had a highly successful life and it's just been kind of success after success. Who are the people who help you when you hit those challenges?

Laura Hutfless: I call it my personal board of directors, which include some folks I work with, who I've worked with for 10 plus years, who I trust, which includes folks from my church, family, from my own family, mentors I've had over the years. So when there's a challenge, I will take it to my personal board of directors and they are the ones that are honest with me, but that also I trust because they have earned the right to speak into my life.

And I think that's very important, especially if you're in a leadership role, that there will be lots of opinions. And you can't let the opinions affect you. You only want to listen to the ones that have earned the right to have an opinion. And those are folks who know you, who want the best for you, who love you. So when they share hard feedback, you know they're doing it in love and you trust it and it makes it easier to... I don't know if it makes it easier. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it's hard to hear things, but I think you can accept them a lot faster and a lot better when it's coming from someone that you know loves you.

Dr. Greg Jones: Yeah. You see that the hard thing is aiming at something good, not just to tear you down.

Laura Hutfless: Yeah. There's no ulterior motive or benefit for them one way or the other. They just want the best for you. And I think it's really important to find and develop those relationships with people that you can have in your life who can speak truth.

Dr. Greg Jones: Yeah. Has there been a time in your life that you could share where it just felt really hard to hold onto hope, that you just were like, "I'm not sure I'm going to get through this"? And what gave you the path or the way to hold onto it and move through it?

Laura Hutfless: Well, how long do we have here? So many.

I will say there's been many challenges and high level, I've lost a significant other to an overdose. I think running a business through COVID, I've had a severe head injury, different illnesses. I just went through a cancer diagnosis and thank goodness we're on the other side of that. I adopted a daughter on my own who was born premature at two pounds and that medical journey to nurse her to health.

So I think what I'm getting at is in life, there will always be challenges. We are not immune, nor did God promise that we would be immune. But he did promise that he would walk with us through the valley, not that there won't be any valleys. So that is what brings me hope. Not that it will be perfect and easy. It will be hard, but I will always have someone to walk with me. I will never be alone in the valley.

And as I've been through multiple challenging chapters of life, I actually think it becomes easier to walk through future chapters of challenge because you've seen how God has walked with you and been consistent through all of the previous ones. And I always think one chapter is preparing you for the other. So I can see that he's never going to leave me. He's always been there. There's always a gift on the other side, and whatever that gift is is something that I need to be useful in what he has coming up for me. So that's what gives me hope.

Dr. Greg Jones: Oh, that's powerful. Yeah, hope isn't optimism because it's not always sweetness and light.

Laura Hutfless: No.

Dr. Greg Jones: You've got to go through the valley, as you said, that's really powerful. You talked about your daughter and your decision to adopt her and then being born premature. You've been remarkably intentional about the decision to become a mother and to raise this precious little girl. Talk about that and how, you mentioned the beginning, the joy and hope she gives you, that journey and what being a mom while being a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur and everything else, what's being a mom mean to you?

Laura Hutfless: Well, start by answering the decision, my decision to adopt as a single mom. It really came from that belief of abundance. And my sister is a foster mom, so I was exposed to the realities of this world and children need homes. And I fell in love with so many of those children and I knew that adoption was in my future.

But as I turned 40, I realized I have a great career. I have empty bedrooms in my home, multiple empty bedrooms, and there are children who are waiting, who don't have beds to sleep in, and I have abundance. I have something to offer. And it really started from this feeling of to whom much is given, much is required. And if a child has a need and I can solve it, why am I not solving it?

And adopting on your own can be overwhelming, and so I just started taking one step at a time, filling out the forms, doing the home studies. And before long, I kind of launched the full adoption process, but was told as a single mom, it would take years. This is during COVID, so everything was a little bit on pause.

Well, I will say God can overcome any of those challenges because less than six months later, Evelyn was born and she was mine. So when God calls and you say, "Yes," get ready. He can move with speed.

And Evelyn came into my life. Again, she was premature, that was not expected, had a lot of health issues. So that was a challenging year running a company, being a single mom, being in the hospital with her. But really, as you have children, the moment you see your child, you are deeply in love and will do anything for this child. And that's what happened.

And adoption has been such a beautiful gift because it has really brought to life our adoption with Christ and how Christ adopts all of us into his family and how much love he has for us. I don't think I ever really understood the depths of his love until I felt the depths of my love for my daughter, who is not my blood, not my DNA, but I have chosen in the same way God has chosen us as his children. So adoption is just a beautiful metaphor for that, and so it's been a gift.

So how do I manage that? With a lot of help. Community is very important. Support systems are important. Luckily, I am in a place financially where I can afford that help. And I'm pretty honest about that with other women or men who want to choose this path, is make sure you have the support systems in place and the financial means in place that you can care for these children and be able to provide because you are shouldering the full responsibility. So it takes some planning for that.

But at the end of the day, these kids don't need a lot. They want love and safety, and those are two things I think most of us can give.

Dr. Greg Jones: Beautiful. I want to pick up a couple of threads, you've talked about abundance and also the love you have for your daughter. We're grateful at Belmont that you've developed the FLOCK program and have had a number of our students as interns. And you and your company have poured into them in a way that we're deeply appreciative of and is just beautiful. Why does pouring into a next generation at the business matter to you?

Laura Hutfless: I believe if you are given the resources and you have the ability to do it, you should do it. Yes, I want to mentor the next generation. I want them to have opportunities, all the wonderful gifts of a robust internship program. But more than anything, it's because I have the means and the ability to do it. And that, again, ties back to abundance and generosity is there's always enough. So let's continue to give, give our time, give our resources, give our knowledge, give our wisdom. That's what will live on long after we're gone. And I love the internship program. The Belmont students are phenomenal. Some have been hired at our agency now full-time.

Dr. Greg Jones: Thank you.

Laura Hutfless: Yep. No, thank you actually. They are wonderful. So it's been a gift, I think both ways. They've taught us so much, their enthusiasm for life, their excitement. Everyone should have an internship program just to bring the joy and energy that these young folks have into the building.

I mean, let's talk about culture and what that does for culture. My whole team is excited because they bring new ideas. They don't have maybe the hurts or challenges that we've experienced yet in life, and so they don't have the filters that we have, which is so wonderful. They just come with ideas that we would never have thought of. They don't have those restrictions, and so there's so much beauty in that. So part of the reason I bring them into the team is to inspire my current team.

Dr. Greg Jones: That's great.

Laura Hutfless: So we've been really grateful and really thankful for the program and how the students have leaned in. And actually we've won business, we've had great success, so consider us a lifelong supporter.

Dr. Greg Jones: Wow. We're grateful and love that. And I have a phrase I thought I had read in a book, but it was really a distillation of stories about young people. What I was struck by was the most successful and impactful entrepreneurs, whether business or social entrepreneurs, they overinvest in young people. And I do think that it's sometimes challenging for me because I keep getting older and 18-year-olds keep staying 18. And I see them and I realize that this year's entering class is closer in age to my oldest granddaughter than my youngest child. And I thought, "Oh, boy." I don't know their music, I don't know anything. But they do give you that sense of joy and inspiration and they often have great ideas that I've kind of said, "Eh, that's not realistic." Well, a lot of unrealistic things can happen.

Laura Hutfless: Yes. I was just going to say that when I had the idea to start FlyteVu, there were quite a few well-known entrepreneurs who told me I was unrealistic and look where we are now.

Dr. Greg Jones: That's amazing.

Laura Hutfless: So I just love hearing new ideas. I try really hard to keep my filters down. I think we all, as older folks, have to work on that. We've lived life. We've been told no so many times and in a good way we want to kind of shepherd them, but there's a fine line between shepherding them and discouraging them. And we have to be really careful that we're not shutting down great ideas or their enthusiasm for them.

Dr. Greg Jones: That's beautiful. What's a chapter of your story that hasn't been written yet that you're excited about as you look to the future?

Laura Hutfless: So I mentioned my passion for foster care and adoption. An interesting stat is that 30% of adoptions from foster care are to single parents. And that rate continues to increase, that percentage continues to increase year over year for a multitude of reasons.

But I'm really passionate about building support for families or individuals who choose to adopt or choose to foster because you do need a community. So I started a group for single, adoptive, and foster parents in Nashville. It continues to grow. It's been a great resource for everyone in the group. And more than anything, I think if you feel called to make this choice, I want you to feel supported and loved, especially by the church.

So that has been a chapter that I think I'll continue to invest in, and there's some opportunities that have come up in that way that I think are in my future. And I really love to bring that into the work that I do on the creative side to see how do we solve the child welfare crisis on a much larger scale? And how can the tools and skills that I can bring to the table, how can they help that? Because I do think one of the challenges is just an awareness issue. So I know that I can serve in that way. So I think the next chapter will be combining those two in some way and I'll let you know.

Dr. Greg Jones: Well, one final question for you. We've talked about you having interns and imagine a Belmont student, a freshman is listening to you and getting inspired and seeing why you are indeed one of the hope people and yet is not very confident or sure and thinking, "I really want to build something like Laura did, but I don't know where to begin and maybe I'm not cut out for it," what advice would you give to an 18-year-old who's just beginning to dream their dreams?

Laura Hutfless: You don't have to have it all figured out right now. You just have to take the next step. And I can look at anything in my life that people have labeled as success, a business, adopting a child, all the things that are seemingly hard, but they all started with the first step. And I never thought even building FlyteVu, that FlyteVu would be what it is today. In fact, if I had known that, I maybe wouldn't have started because it would've been so overwhelming, but I just took the next step. I knew I can take the meeting today. I can research this thing today. I can take this next action step one step at a time. Same thing in adopting my daughter. I can fill out the form. I can do the home study. I can just do one step. And then you look up and you turn around and you're there.

So anyone who's starting with a dream, I think maybe you feel pressure that you need to have it all figured out or you need to know what it's fully going to look like before you start. You need to have a strategic plan. Know your values, what you won't compromise, and just take the first step.

Dr. Greg Jones: That's powerful. Talking with you is inspiring and energizing and indeed hopeful. Thank you for joining us today, Laura.

Laura Hutfless: Of course. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Greg Jones: Thank you for participating in this conversation with the Hope People. Our aim is to inspire you to become an agent of hope yourself and to help us cultivate a sense of wellbeing for all. To join our mission and learn more about this show, visit thehopepeoplepodcast.com. If you enjoyed this conversation, remember to rate and review wherever you get your audio content.