Erin Andrews Is Learning to Be Patient!

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Photo: WEAR By Erin Andrews

Photo: WEAR By Erin Andrews

If you think things at your job have been weird since the pandemic hit, you ain’t got nothing on this week’s guest, Erin Andrews.

Erin, as you certainly know, is the veteran sideline reporter for FOX NFL, and if you’ve been watching, you may have noticed that this season has been just a wee bit different than previous ones. On this week’s episode of the Get a Real Job podcast, Erin and I spoke about the overall bizarreness of her day job (empty stadiums, being able to hear every single word uttered by superstar athletes) and also about her clothing company Wear by Erin Andrews, which she launched just last year. Designed for female sports fans, WEAR scored in a big way during the 2019/20 season and was the best-performing new women’s collection across Fanatics’ entire NFL portfolio.

Take a listen to our conversation in the podcast above, and check out some takeaways (that have been edited for length and clarity) below. Thanks as always for listening!

The launch of an idea

“I grew up a sports fan. I used to put the tattoos on my face and wear the clothes and all that. As I got older, I noticed that there was a white space. I didn’t think that there was a lot available for women in terms of being fashionable. I’m a tomboy, you know, I like wearing a t-shirt or a jean shirt — simple clothing, nothing really bedazzled or pink. I was asked to host a women’s night for the NFL at a Super Bowl and I just thought, ‘Gosh, this would be a great chance to do this.’ So I talked to my people and we started pitching it. We got a good response, but it took a minute for people to believe that we could actually do it. I had to prove myself. It took about six years to make WEAR happen.”

Embracing mentorship

“Erin Andrews, the boss, is all over the map! But I’m very open to learning. I have a relationship with Candace Nelson, who started her own a pizza restaurant called Pizzana. I pick her brain an awful lot about how to do this, who she relies on, what she did. I’m very, very open in saying, “I’m trying to learn about how to run a business.” My management team is owned by Michael Strahan and Constance Schwartz-Morini, who have been incredible. So we are definitely learning as we go — and we’re learning as we go with a multibillion-dollar industry called the NFL!”

On (trying to be) patient

“My COO was originally my assistant, and then she just got upgraded to this role because I couldn’t do this without her. I’m very fortunate that she and everybody else who works here cares about this brand so much. So a big thing has been learning to trust them, knowing that if they don’t tell me right away about a crisis, it’s because they’re trying to figure it out and give me solutions before they tell me so I don’t panic. With Covid, we might have orders backing up because, you know, our factory shut down. So learning to be patient has been a life lesson for Erin Andrews. She’s not very good with it! That’s something she really needs to work on.”

This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com