Believe it or not, Joanna Gaines thought she would be running a tire shop one day. Growing up the middle daughter of three girls, her plan was to eventually take over her father’s Firestone franchise, where she worked as his bookkeeper in her teen years. But while preparing to take over the business, she entertained another passion—broadcast journalism—which took her to New York for an internship her senior year of college. Though the experience wasn’t what she had hoped, she found solace in the city’s vibrant array of shops. “The beauty of life is that sometimes the things that get you to one point may not be actually what you need to carry with you in the future, but because you’re there, you may find something you would have never found,” she tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “Now I’m in New York, I’m missing home. What do I do on the weekends? I find these local boutiques, and I go into these shops, and it makes me feel at home. … That was the dream that started in New York City. In my heart, when I got back, I kind of wrote this thing down: One day I want to have a shop that makes people feel at home.”
That dream didn’t come to fruition until she met her future husband, Chip, who pushed her to take the risk and go for it. “He took that veil of fear away and almost gave me this sense of empowerment, like, ‘Well, if you fail, who cares? We’ll do better on the next one,” she says. In 2003, the couple opened Magnolia Market, a home goods store; they would go on to attract the attention of HGTV and star in five seasons of Fixer Upper. Since then, the Magnolia empire has grown to encompass a magazine, home collections, restaurants, a hotel and even a TV network. “The way that life works is that as you continue to move forward and you say yes, you’ll see how everything just weaves together to tell that full story of where you end up later,” she adds. “I feel very grateful for that journey, even though there were a lot of pivots, and it didn’t feel like at the moment I was actually going forward. I felt like I was going backward, but that’s not actually what happens in real life.”
Last year, Gaines decided to take the summer off, something she had not done in more than two decades in business. The experience gave her a new perspective and showed her the power of focusing on the big picture. “That time away gave us clarity for what’s next, and [reinforced that] sometimes it’s important to step away for a second so you can understand what you’re holding and also understand, What do I need to let go of? Because you can’t carry everything with you as you move forward. You’ve got to drop something if you’re going to keep picking more up,” she says. “When people ask, ‘What would you do [if you could do anything]?’ Even if it’s a day to step away and journal, just get outside of it. It’s that intentional time that you’re creating for yourself to be able to dream for what’s next that’s important. Whether it’s three months, a week or a day, it’s that intention to really see above and beyond, is what I would just say to anybody who has a business.”
Elsewhere, Gaines talks about why she doesn’t grow for growth’s sake, why she’s proud to be associated with the modern farmhouse trend, and what’s next for the Magnolia brand.
Crucial insight: Over her decadeslong career, Gaines has learned to fully trust her design instincts, a skill she mastered working in the first Magnolia retail store that has since translated to other parts of her business. “I always second-guessed myself before, because the second-guessing was, ‘Shoot. I didn’t go to school for this,’ and so what the years in that little shop did to me was help me go with my gut instinct and go more on feeling than fact when it comes to design.” That trial-and-error prepared her for taking her skills to a national stage. “What does the guest want? What does the client want? And what is your instinct saying? So that helps me practice that muscle of honing in that instinct, and then as that moved to food, our restaurants, our bakery—everything I do now starts from a design approach,” she says.
Key quote: “There’s no fear in saying yes—there’s only more to learn, more to gain, even though there could be a loss. Trust me, we failed many times. But the way I look at it now is, I’m just so much smarter because of that failure. I think that’s why I’m so thankful for having a partner like Chip, because he pushes on all the uncomfortable places for me. The comfort for me is still saying no, and really, that’s not living.”
This episode is sponsored by Ernesta and Hartmann&Forbes. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
The Thursday Show
Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including how tariffs could impact antiques, why Burke Decor is shutting down, a designer’s guide to getting published in 2025, and the booming demand for high-end panic rooms and bunkers. Later, Rue editorial director Kelli Lamb joins the show to talk about how losing her home in the Los Angeles wildfires changed everything.
This episode is sponsored by Jaipur Living and Chelsea House. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
