Building a People-Centered Business Where Everyone’s Success Is Everyone’s Success with Joey Ford

Do your employees see your business as just a job, or as something they've bet their livelihoods on? And are you building something worth handing down to the next generation, or just something you're holding onto? In this episode of Bold Enough, Madeleine MacRae sits down with Joey Ford, co-owner of The Blind Broker, a Kansas City window treatment company offering blinds, drapery, motorized shades, and awnings that has grown from a one-man operation into a 20-person business with two showrooms and a warehouse. Joey and her husband Rick started The Blind Broker out of their house over 20 years ago, and today their very first two employees are still with them, training and mentoring the people who come after them. Joey opens up about the responsibility of building a team that has gambled on the business, why promoting from within changed everything, and how she and Rick weathered the 2008 housing crisis by staying nimble and debt-free. Now, with their son in college earning a business degree and preparing to join the company, Joey and Rick are formalizing the systems and processes they've lived for years, tightening up the ship so they can hand off a thriving business, not a mess. Joey shares the identity shift of leaving a career she loved, why her definition of success has less to do with revenue than with relationships, and what it means to build a company where everyone's success is everyone's success. This conversation is a powerful reminder that the businesses worth passing on are the ones built on people, and that the greatest legacy you can leave the next generation isn't just a profitable company, but a culture that carries it forward. [00:00] Introduction [01:17] Guest introduction: Joey Ford and The Blind Broker [02:43] Preparing for the next generation and succession [03:37] How Joey got involved: from pediatric audiologist to business partner [05:34] Outgrowing the first showroom, buying a warehouse, and opening a second showroom [06:11] Promoting from within and putting a middle manager in place [07:34] Lived processes vs. documented processes: the stages of clarity [10:00] The stability of a long-tenured team [11:01] Why the team is the “why”: the first employees who bet on the business [13:03] Risk, responsibility, and betting your livelihood on a business [14:27] “It takes a village to raise a business” [16:04] The housing crisis and lessons in staying nimble [19:02] Letting go of an identity: leaving healthcare [23:00] Does Joey consider herself successful? [24:57] Healthy competition and a vibrant design community [25:53] Madeleine’s read on Joey’s success algorithm [28:35] Reflections on saying it out loud [29:34] Where to find The Blind Broker [30:03] Closing thoughts and takeaways for the year ahead Our Guest Joey Ford is the co-owner, with her husband Rick, of The Blind Broker, a Kansas City window treatment company offering blinds, drapery, motorized shades, outdoor shades, and awnings. A former pediatric audiologist at a children’s hospital, Joey joined the business full time around age 40 and helped grow it into a 20-person team across two showrooms and a warehouse. With a son studying business in college, she and Rick are now building the systems and processes to prepare the company for its next generation. Resources and Links Joey Ford The Blind Broker: https://www.blindbroker.com/ LinkedIn:   / joey-ford-3a1822332   Instagram:   / blindbroker   Facebook:   / blindbrokerkc   Madeleine MacRae Website - https://mmmacrae.com/making-changes-t... LinkedIn -   / macraemadeleine   Instagram -   / madeleine.macrae