Meet Lindsay Niedringhaus | Owner of marketing agency, TealHaus

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lindsay Niedringhaus and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsay, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Personally, I cringe every time I hear or read the phrase “work/life balance.” It implies that half of my life should be work and half of my life should be personal, and I should only feel balanced when this is the case. But this phrase does not fit my personality or my life.

I love my work. I love my clients—so much so, that many of them become personal friends. I bring my personal self into my work, and I bring my work self into my personal life. I don’t think that should be discouraged; I give all of myself to everyone: my clients, my friends, and my family.

That being said, there is hardly ever a “work/life balance” because for me, they are one and the same. My kids ask about my work all of the time. They celebrate with me when I get a new client. They get excited about helping our team set up for events. I wouldn’t have it any other way. So my “work/life balance” is really, simply, “work/life together.”

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
TealHaus is a marketing agency that merges story and strategy to create awareness and engagement for our clients’ businesses. Oftentimes people ask me what niche we fill, and I always answer that we don’t focus on a single industry because, quite simply, every industry needs to tell their stories better.

It’s been proven time and time again that people make decisions based upon emotions and not facts. Though we like to think we are logical beings who collect all of the data in order to make an informed decision, we are actually more emotional beings who make decisions based upon how a product or service makes us feel. Therefore, at TealHaus, we create this emotion through stories about the business, and we teach the businesses to start with the story (the why) versus the product or service (the what).

But we’re not all touchy-feely. It doesn’t matter how great the story is if nobody hears or reads it. Thus, we create a strategy in order to carefully disseminate these stories to the businesses’ ideal audience. We also create monthly reports that shows the efficacy of these messages and tactics, which lead us to pivot accordingly.

This story/strategy approach has led us to grow organically (and quickly) as a company. So quickly, in fact, that sometimes it was difficult for me to determine next steps. Ironically, though I preach strategy to my own clients, it was as if I didn’t have time to create my own strategy for the business.

Three years later, we are just catching up and owning our strengths. It took this much time of trial and error to get the right team, understand our strengths, and learn how to differentiate us in the market. But I am so thrilled for the direction we are headed.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Greenville, SC is growing at a rapid pace. For this reason, we are lucky to have amazing restaurants, a thriving arts scene, and wonderful opportunities for fun things to do.

I would most definitely take the friend to Oye Studios. It is single-handedly one of my favorite places in Greenville. It’s an old church that was renovated into 12 artists’ studios, and it sits in the middle of North Main neighborhood. When you walk in, you can smell a mixture of paint, charcoal, wood burning, and you can hear laughter and camaraderie.

We would also have to go for a hike in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. Preferably the visit is in the fall when the leaves are changing so we could see the bright yellows, reds, and greens that blanket the paths.

Dinner would be at Coral Restaurant, which has the most amazing fresh seafood and craft cocktails, followed by drinks on the rooftop at Juniper.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve been fortunate to have many mentors throughout my life, and when I write or make certain business decisions, I can still hear their voices in my head. Mark Kelly, my boss at Furman University, really helped to hone my writing skills. Brendan Tapley, a colleague at Furman, pushed me to think differently and think outside the norm. I still stay in contact with both of these mentors.

In the past few years since starting my business, David Tann of Tantrum Agency has been an incredible mentor to me. I had left my last place of employment and was trying to decide my next steps in life. At that point, I hadn’t started TealHaus, and David reached out to me because a friend had referred me to him. That first day, we talked for almost two hours about work, yes, but also life and goals and what defined happiness for me. I joined his team while simultaneously building my own client base for TealHaus. Three years later, I’ve built my own company but still work with his team on a contract basis. Many people see this as an odd relationship, but I’m so thankful for what I’ve learned from the Tantrum team that I haven’t been willing to leave them yet. Tantrum Agency is bigger than TealHaus, but the issues David faces as a business owner are the same as I face with my own business. It’s always comforting to have him to confide in, learn from, and laugh with about the trials of owning a business.

Website: www.tealhausstrategies.com

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Image Credits
Jeremy Fleming