We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Layne Whitehouse. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Layne below.
Layne, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
Ah, this is beautifully split between being an Enneagram 3 and anxiety. Many conversations with my therapist taught me to differentiate between where this motivation is coming from.
The Enneagram side of me loves to explore, learn, and see how I can make something come to life. Seeing people enjoy what I’ve created – especially if it’s for them – is the reason I keep pushing.
Knowing that I am an entrepreneur at my core has kept me out of a standard office job – so a large push of my work ethic is purely to keep myself on my current path!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My entire world has been finding a way to be creative and help people have fun. In 2009 I took the leap into being self employed as a photographer. There was (is!) so much joy in photography – watching families grow, helping models build out portfolios, and creating interesting light to show emotion and tell stories fed my soul.
Though photography, I was approached by a model in the industry about joining the Kansas City Fashion Week team. I started with KCFW as the Creative Director in 2011. MANY years later and I am now the President of the company. So many doors have opened up due to the experiences with KCFW and I have been able to meet so many people, help others plan their weddings, baby shows, athletic events, and more. In fact, KCFW has a volleyball tournament coming up this August!
In an unexpected turn of events, I recently had an opportunity to start up a commercial screen printing / embroidery business, and that has becoming such a fun and creative outlet for me! I named it MidCoast Threads. There is so much emphasis on the east/west coasts being cool, fashion forward, the place to visit – but we simply can’t deny that the Midwest can also deliver SO much. I am really excited about this venture and can’t wait to see where it goes!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think really understanding that being in the creative and/or self employed world is actually less glamorous than we’d like to believe. I have never worked harder, longer days, or been more exhausted. It ALL falls on you. Surrounding yourself with a team of people that support you (even if they can’t directly help you) is such an important piece to maintain motivation.
If there is something you can’t do – FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN. Do NOT let let a lack of knowledge of a fear of looking dumb stop you. If something is going to take you a few years to learn, go for it. Because the time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well learn something along the way. Chase those dreams and chase them so very hard. It’s worth it on the other side.
Beyond that I think it was the intrinsic drive to create something. If you can find that within yourself, dig deeply into that and see where it can take you!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I absolutely love collaborating with other small businesses. The support that Kansas City can offer is incredible. I think we have a really unique “big-but-little-city” where people can really succeed. So much of that comes from the networking that we are all out there doing. Any time I have an opportunity to connect I jump at it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laynehaley.com
- Instagram: laynewhitehouse
- Other: www.midcoast-threads.com
Image Credits
Headshot – Eli Stack KCFW Group Image – Alex Todd ScreenPrinting Image – Allison Bush
