Allyn Brennan shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Allyn, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What is a normal day like for you right now?
A normal day in my busiest season looks like this. I get my 3 little kids ready for school, drop them off, then I head to my first Christmas install for the day. My car is loaded from the night before, so I can head straight to my clients house after dropoff. I am the owner and only employee at Porch Perfect NC, so I have to be organized and make sure I load all of my tools, products, and any backup materials I need to get the job done. When I arrive at the house, I unload all of the trees, wreaths, lights, baskets, garland, and decorative accents and get started. I set up a tripod to record content to share on my social media platforms. I take around 50-100 videos and photos of each project to use for my website and to share on IG and TikTok. After I finish my first job, I stop by any clients homes in the area to take measurements for future installs. I typically have products that are ready for pickup at nearby stores or farms, so I grab those on my way back to pick up my daughter from preschool. Once we get home, I am back to being full time mom for the afternoon. I pick up my other two kids from school and we have time together as a family. After dinner, I put estimates together for customers, send invoices, then I start prepping for my install the next day. I load my car with products and tools that I need for a particular job. That saves me about an hour in the morning–every minute counts when you are balancing a business and working as a stay-at-home mom. Organization, planning, and time management are crucial for success. I spend about an hour before bed putting reels and tik toks together to share my latest designs. Although the majority of my business is referral based, it’s all visual, so having photos/videos to send to potential customers is important.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Porch Perfect NC is a seasonal design and decor business. I offer pumpkin porch delivery and design in the Fall as well as holiday decor and design. I am a stay at home mom of 3 young kids living in Apex and started my business in 2024 after reading an article about a porch pumpkin business out of Dallas, TX. I have always wanted to start my own business and enjoyed decorating my own home, so this seemed like the perfect fit. I could start this business without having to give up time with my young children. I started by decorating my own porch with pumpkins and shared the photos on social media. From there I started to design my friend’s porches and they shared photos on social media to local mom groups. My business grew from there–I would purchase all different types of pumpkins from local farms, deliver them to the customer and create a beautiful design for their porch. I always had one or two of my kids with me and they would play outside while I worked. I would decorate a porch in the morning after preschool drop off, then another after naptime and finish in time to pick up my kids from school. I learned quickly that there were so many busy homeowners that wanted to decorate for fall or achieve that “pinterest” look for their house, but didn’t have the time or desire to go to the farm, pick out 30-50 dirty pumpkins, haul them to their car, then spend time designing them on their stairway or porch. I also knew that having to get rid of that many pumpkins at the end of the season could be a deterrent for potential customers, so I offered disposal as an add on service. I connected with a local farm owner who was more than happy to accept hundreds of pumpkins for their animals to eat at the end of the season–This also made for great social media content!
As my business picked up, I started getting messages and requests for Christmas decorating services. Once I wrapped up my pumpkin decorating season, I went straight into designing holiday porches. I would work with each homeowner to pick out wreaths, garland, ribbon, trees, lights, etc. This service was much more personalized and time consuming compared to pumpkin porches. Each home was unique and each design was different.
I just completed my second year of pumpkin design and holiday decorating. My business in 2025 was more than double that of my first year!
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I am a deeply competitive person. I believed it was the reason for my success in sports, my sales career, and that winning brought happiness and wealth. I saw myself as a lone wolf in my sales career after college and into my early 30s. In starting my own business, I have learned that collaboration, connection and communication bring more opportunity, happiness, and success than relying on my competitive drive.
I had no local competition the first year of my pumpkin design business. My second year, there were about 3-4 new businesses offering pumpkin delivery and design in the same service area. In the past, I would have kept my head down as that lone wolf and tried to dominate the market. Instead, I realized I could be a resource. I reached out through social media to introduce myself and wish them luck in their first year and also asked about who they were using as a supplier for their pumpkins. I work with a local farm that supplies my pumpkins for the season. I know they can handle plenty of business, so I reached out to my new competitors to encourage them to buy their pumpkins from the farm that I work with. They happily switched and that decision generated thousands in revenue for my favorite local farm.
If I had kept to myself, I would have missed out on the opportunity to support my community. I know I will always be a competetive person, but its no longer the only thing that fuels me.
When did you last change your mind about something important?
When I started my business, I planned to only work a few days during the week. I had it in my head that it would be wrong to take too much time away from my job as a caretaker for my young kids. I didn’t want them to feel like I was dragging them along job after job when we could be doing something that was more focused on them and their interests. Staying at home spending quality undivided time with my kids is a privilege and I didn’t want to feel like I was taking away from that time by working. It didn’t take long before my business picked up and I had to make the decision of whether to take on more work during the week and weekends or stick to my original plan of this being just a fun side hustle with limited hours. I realized that my children were learning by watching me work. They were experiencing new things, going to new places, and learning the basics of business. They were also able to participate and feel like they were contributing and working with me. I was also surprised by how happy they were to just ride along with me and play outside while I worked, house after house. They also loved visiting the farms, learning about the different types of pumpkins, and even starting to try and help me with the designs. That experience changed my mind and encouraged me to grow my business. I’m hopeful they will continue to work with me each year.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
I think no matter what, a public version will always be different than the real version of a person. With that being said, I do feel that the version of me on social media and the person interacting with customers feels authentic to myself. I am sarcastic, goofy, and love to make people laugh. I think that comes across on my social media and in person when you meet me,
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
This is the only job I have ever had where I feel giddy! A new customer, a new beautiful home to decorate, a gorgeous day spent outside flexing my creative muscles–it just doesn’t get better than that for me. Each customer is so excited to see their decorated home and that excitement stays with me and fills my cup.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.porchperfectnc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/porchperfectnc?igsh=M3BsdGczeXk4aDky&utm_source=qr
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allyn-brennan-533a3637?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1ACTf5KvUU/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Image Credits
Deanna Decker
