Reese Witherspoon opened up about the challenges she faced starting her media company, Hello Sunshine.
Speaking at Hello Sunshine’s Shine Away conference in Los Angeles on Saturday, who set up the media company in 2016 with Strand Equity founder Seth Rodsky, said it was “scary” at first not knowing if he would recoup his investment.
“Every day I woke up thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to get my money back.’ But I’d rather bet on myself and lose that money trying hard. I woke up every day and thought: ‘I am my own lottery ticket’“Witherspoon, now 48, said via The Hollywood Reporter.
At that time, he already had the Emmy-winning HBO series “Big Little Lies,” as well as “Gone Girl” and “Wild,” two films that were successful at the box office.
Still, he said he only had four employees and that “I couldn’t keep the lights on”.
“I remember the accountant called me and said, ‘You didn’t make enough money producing those three things to support four employees.’‘”, said. “And I thought, ‘I’m doing something wrong.'”he recalled.
That’s when the “Legally Blonde” star had an “aha moment.”
«I told myself, I need help. I don’t have a business plan.said.
Witherspoon turned to Sarah Harden, the current CEO of Hello Sunshine, for help. After taking over in 2017, Harden helped the company hire executives and create an infrastructure, according to Witherspoon.
Harden told Business Insider in 2018 that the media company’s goal is to bring different perspectives, stories and narratives to life.
«There are very few stories where women are the ones directing the action. “There is room for great storytelling (and) for finding the right combination of intellectual property, talent and partners.”said.
When they began working together, Reese Witherspoon recalled asking Harden thes “dumbest questions one could ask in a year”said.
“I’m sure she was thinking, ‘Oh my God.’ She was going home, and I was thinking, ‘My business partner is an idiot.’ Like, how did I not know? But he was so patient with me and allowed me to be vulnerable“Witherspoon said via People.
Ultimately, “vulnerability is what led us to success”said.
When it comes to business partnerships, it’s about the effort to make things work, even when challenges arise.
In 2021, Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist and performance coach, told Business Insider that business partners need to understand their partners’ communication styles and know how they like to resolve conflicts.
“What works for you is good for you, and what works for me is good for me.”Alpert said. «But we have to try to meet in the middle and try to understand each other’s style. If I expect you to communicate the same way I do, I’m probably setting myself up for failure or disappointment.”
Being able to complement each other’s skills is also key.
In 2018, Barbara Corcoran said she loves business partnerships between people with different skill sets, reflecting on when she first met Esther Kaplan.
«I was able to recognize that she was my opposite»Corcoran said. «She was excellent at filing systems, personnel systems, computers, finance, legal. Everything I was terrible at. And I was good at marketing, recruiting, creative ideas, public relations, the nonsense area of business. And she hated it. So we were the perfect partners.
Kaplan became the longtime president of the luxury real estate company Corcoran Group, which Corcoran sold in 2001 for $66 million.
In 2021, Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine was sold to Candle Media, a media company, backed by private equity group Blackstone Group, for $500 million.