Sure, design is your passion. But it’s probably not your only one. What if you could combine your love of design with some other passion, or passions, and create a dream business? It can be done. You just need to find the right kind of client.

In this podcast, Erin has a sit-down at High Point Market with interior designer and artist Victoria Valentinas, president and principal designer, VLV Designs in Pinehurst, North Carolina. In 2020, Victoria decided to start her own firm, combining her background in interior design and the furniture industry with her love of art. She offers both interior design and custom art services, including faux finishes, painting and murals.

While studying interior design at High Point University, Victoria got to learn a lot about the furniture industry. Upon graduation, she worked in the industry for a number of years, where she developed a love of textiles and upholstery. In her design business, she specializes in highly furnished areas of the home. She told Erin she hopes to have her own line of furniture someday.

During the pandemic, Victoria found time to return to her passion for drawing and painting. She also began experimenting with faux finishing. As she became more adept, she started filming herself at work and posting the videos on Instagram. Suddenly, she found herself in demand for her artistic abilities as well. That led her to start her firm.

“I didn’t really know what I could do until I had the time to do it,” Victoria told Erin. Starting a business during the pandemic was challenging but seemed like the right time for her. “It’s never a good time to take the leap, to do something risky like starting your own business,” she said. Nearly four years later, her blend of art and design has proved a successful formula.

Victoria credits social media, along with a strong support network, with helping her to launch her business. “It’s a way for people to get to know you without knowing you,” she said.

She is relying on social media again to help her break into the design market in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she and her husband recently moved. She would also like to do some commercial design projects, particularly hotels, restaurants and bars.

Erin asked Victoria what advice she had for listeners. She mentioned three things:

Develop your network and use it. Be both a good mentor and a good mentee.

Look for unique pieces of art of use in your design projects. Support local artists.

Be flexible with your plans. You never know where things are going to lead. Also be open to using experts who can help you. You can’t be an expert in everything.

To hear more of Erin and Victoria’s conversation, which touched on a number of other topics, including the importance of networking and building relationships, marketing strategies and creating a support team, listen to the entire podcast.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s7e8-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about Victoria, her firm and her mix of design and custom art services, go to the firm’s website at www.vlvdesigns.net.

https://youtu.be/ycDDUFyt9Go

What dream do you have for your business? Do you aim for national recognition? Do you want to be sought after for your unique design talents? Do you wonder what it would be like to have celebrities and the ultra-rich as clients? No dream is too big to be out of reach. Many successful entrepreneurs will tell you, if you can dream it, you can make it happen.

In this podcast, Kansas interior designer and design TV personality Tamara Day drops by to chat with Gail and Erin at High Point Market. Tamara is the owner of Tamara Day Design, headquartered in Prairie Village, Kansas. She is also the host and designer on the highly successful Magnolia Network design TV show “Bargain Mansions”—now in production for its seventh season—in which she and her team bring all types of neglected houses in Kansas City back to life. Tamara has also collaborated with a number of manufacturers to design her own line of products for the home, including Kaleen, Varaluz, and Forum.

Just prior to her conversation with Gail and Erin, Tamara launched a new upholstery line with Spectra Home Furniture. Gail asked her about her experience working with manufacturers. She said she has been very impressed with the product designers’ talents and the quality of the craftspeople who make the products. “I feel like I’m learning design again in a whole new way,” she said.

Gail was interested in how Tamara started doing product design. She said it just happened as a result of relationships she had formed with reps at High Point. It was something she had wanted to do but hadn’t planned on. One collaboration led to another. She has a new one in the works and plans for more in the future.

Ten years ago, Tamara said, she would never have believed she would have her own lines of products and a national TV show. “I didn’t anticipate any of it,” she said. “I just followed my instincts. It’s put one foot in front of the other every day and follow your intuition.” She truly believes anything is possible, so why not dream big?

Erin asked Tamara if she had any advice for listeners. She offered the following:

Hire someone to do the things that you don’t want to do or don’t do well.

Invest in social media

Rest when you can. You can’t be productive every minute of every day.

To learn more about Tamara’s product lines, her design firm, her plans for the future, and how she manages all her commitments and being a mom of four children, listen to the entire podcast.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s7e7-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

Visit the website for Tamara Day Design at tamaraday.com to find out more about her design work, her “Bargain Mansions” TV show, and her lines of products for the home.

https://youtu.be/U1gWApq9NEA

Prospective clients turn to you because they have a problem they want you to help them solve. Show them that you understand their problem and have the expertise to solve it. Rather than present them with a list of the services and products you can provide, walk them through the process you will use to produce the result they are looking for.

In this podcast, Erin talks with Kate Norton, founder of High Peak Growth, which provides strategic business guidance to help companies boost their sales and exceed their revenue targets. Her philosophy of serving clients rather than selling to them has been proven to drive significant bottom-line results. Her clients include Fortune 100 businesses as well as fast-growing entrepreneurial businesses.

Kate said that her approach to marketing and selling had been influenced by Donald Miller’s book, Building a StoryBrand. Miller draws on universal elements of storytelling, such as the hero or heroine who is helped in their quest by an expert or guide, to create a different approach to engaging with prospective customers.

Like the hero or heroine of a story, customers, too, have a problem they need to solve. Because they cannot solve it themselves, they seek out an expert or guide who can help them. The guide explains to them the process by which they can solve their problem and accomplish their goal.

Kate has found great success using a similar approach when working with customers or when counseling business owners and executives on how to improve their sales. Identify the problem the customer needs help solving. Explain to them why you are the right expert to solve their problem. Walk them through the process of how you will produce the result they want.

Rather than think about selling or promoting your services, instead take the approach that what your are offering is serving and solving.

Showing the customer empathy, that you get and want to help with their problem, and giving them confidence that you are uniquely qualified to be the expert they need are key to this approach. “Our job is to make prospective customers aware of how we are the experts and how we can help them solve the problem,” explained Kate.

Central to demonstrating that expertise is the process or plan you have created to provide the solution they are looking for. It doesn’t have to be completely original, but it needs to reflect your strengths and your perspective. Once you’ve created it, give it a name. “If you can name your proven process, then it starts branding it,” said Kate.

Erin and Kate also talked about current methods of marketing and top marketing strategies for interior design businesses. Along the way, they touched on how to use AI to enhance your marketing efforts. For those insights and more, listen to the entire podcast.

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Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about Kate and her firm, go to the company website at highpeakgrowth.com.

The book Erin and Kate referred to is Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller.

https://youtu.be/VF8G3CWvQyg

Your business doesn’t stop just because you’re busy. In addition to doing projects, you need to be working on your business every day. That includes marketing, scouting for new opportunities, building and maintaining relationships, developing your team, and keeping an eye on the bottom line. To manage all that, you have to have processes, procedures and routines in place to grease the wheels and give you time to deal with what most requires attention.

In this podcast, Gail talks with Garrison Hullinger, president of Studio Garrison in Portland, Oregon. For over thirteen years, he has grown his business from a sole practitioner working out of his attic to a highly successful mid-sized design firm with at one time as many as thirty-four employees. 

One way Garrison looks out for his business is by keeping tabs on industry and economic trends and forecasts. They help him determine where new opportunities and challenges might arise. He advised looking beyond your market to indicators in related industries that can be bellwethers of future shifts in demand for design services. In particular, he mentioned the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) released monthly by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Having forewarning of changes, whether good or bad, allows you to make contingency plans. That way you will be prepared to take advantage of new opportunities or to safeguard against downturns.

Garrison also stressed the importance of being proactive. Don’t wait for conditions to improve and hope projects will come your way. “Go out and get the business that’s available to you,” he said.

When business slows down, Garrison explained, he personally makes calls to top-tier clients and former prospects whose projects he wasn’t able to take on earlier to drum up new business. “Sometimes that’s all it takes to be relevant, to be top-of-mind,” he said.

“Don’t wait until your pipeline is dry to fill it,” added Gail. You need to be working on getting new business every day.

Toward the end, Garrison talked extensively about how he has focused his business around defining its scope and the deliverables it offers. For more details and other insights from Garrison and Gail, listen to the entire podcast.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s7e5-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about Garrison and his firm, visit the website for Studio Garrison.

For information about the AIA Architecture Billings Index and to see a schedule of upcoming release dates, go to www.aia.org/resources/10046-architecture-billings-index-abi.

This is not Garrison's first appearance on our podcast! Listen to his previous episodes, Going Up! and Get a Bird's Eye View of Your Business.

https://youtu.be/1uqrWFVl80A

Every owner wants their business to be a success. But not every owner is willing to do the work and make the changes necessary to achieve that success. That includes making changes in one’s mindset and being open to new ways of thinking and doing things. A coach can help. They can motivate, challenge and guide you. They also will support you and join you in celebrating your achievements.

In this podcast, Erin talks with Drue Lawlor. A long-time interior design business owner, Drue, like Gail and Erin, pivoted some years ago to training interior designers to be better at operating their businesses. Later, she joined Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting, now Pearl Collective, as a coach and contributor to the weekly email newsletter. She also has a long history of volunteering with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) at the local and national level. She is the co-author, along with Michael Thomas, of Residential Design for Aging in Place.

Drue started out her interior design career working with her mentor. It wasn’t until later, when her mentor retired, that she went into business for herself. She soon realized that, while her mentor taught her much about design, she didn’t teach her anything about the business side of running a design firm. She’s had a calling ever since to convey to other designers the importance of having business knowledge.

“I tell them,” said Drue, “you either need to find a partner who is very good at business or learn it yourself. Or you’ll go out of business.”

One of her favorite things to talk about with designers she coaches is changing their attitude toward marketing. “It’s always surprising to me that people do not like marketing,” she said.”They look at it as if it were some terrible roadblock.” Her approach is to get them to see that they can tap into their strengths and get really creative with their marketing.

Another area that Drue likes to work on with her coaching clients is team building. For her, it starts with knowing what your values are and what the culture of your firm is. Then you build a team to fit that. “You can train for skills,” Drue advised, “but hire for attitude.”

Erin and Drue talked a lot about the value of working with a coach and what it’s like to work with a coach. Before ending their conversation, Erin asked Drue what advice she had for someone thinking about working with a coach. Drue posed three questions:

Are you willing to grow your business and do what it takes to get where you want to be?

Are you coachable? Are you willing to give up trying to do it all yourself?

Can you feel that you’re worthy—of investing in a coach, of finding the value in what you have to offer clients?

To learn more about how working with a coach could help transform your business, listen to the full podcast.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s7e4-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

Drue listed several books that she found useful in her work as a business owner, trainer and coach:

Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation by Dr. Benjamin Hardy.Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy.Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz.

The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz.

https://youtu.be/NZCYEE-gjMg

The notion that life is a journey is as old as storytelling itself. We talk about finding direction or pursuing our career path. They are all parts of the larger journey that makes up our life. When we frame our life, our careers and our businesses as a journey, suddenly it changes our perspective on the obstacles we’ve overcome, those who have helped us along the way, and the opportunities that lie ahead.

In this podcast, Gail and Erin visit with David Santiago, owner and interior designer, Casa Santi Interior Design in Hackensack, New Jersey. In addition to his more than 20 years in the design industry, David is also a product designer, TV personality, philanthropist, professional singer, and the self-proclaimed Prince of Wallpaper. A past president of the New York chapter of the Interior Design Society (IDS), he is currently president of the New York chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA), and serves on the board of several charitable organizations.

David began by talking about his design journey, from fashion and the window treatments industry to home furnishings and eventually to interior design and starting his own interior design firm. Having focused on residential design for many years, recently he has moved into commercial areas, such as designing TV studios and hospitality/residential blended spaces in a manner he’s dubbed “Hospidential.” 

Known for his use of bright, bold colors and distinctive wall coverings, David said he approaches interior design as the client’s journey, helping them to define their space, to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and to take a leap of faith that they will be delighted with the final result.

Coming from a Latino background and having branded his firm Casa Santi, David is also a staunch advocate for greater diversity in the design industry. He is one of the founding members of the High Point Market Diversity Advocacy Alliance (DAA), which seeks to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the home furnishings industry. He is also involved in the Kaleidoscope Project, which offers showhouse opportunities to up-and-coming designers from diverse backgrounds.

Following another path, David related his journey from his student days when he was encouraged and mentored to study music and singing to his involvement in opera and his current activities mentoring young musicians through a project called myFace Celebrates.

In his parting words of advice, David said, “Look back at your journey, it’s important.” Take time to appreciate where you’ve come from, where you’re at, and those who had helped and mentored you along the way.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s7e3-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about David, his work and other activities, and his social media presence, visit his website at casasanti.com.

You’ll find information about the High Point Market Diversity Advocacy Alliance at www.highpointmarket.org/DiversityAdvocacyAlliance.

For more information about the Kaleidoscope Project, visit the website at www.thekaleidoscopeproject.com/

myFace is a non-profit organization dedicated to changing the faces – and transforming the lives – of children and adults with facial differences. To find out more about myFace and the myFace Celebrates program featuring myFace musicians, go to www.celebrates.myface.org.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KJY9QRcqeg

Textiles are one of the most versatile and eye-catching elements you can incorporate into your designs. Keeping up with the latest trends and advances in manufacturing, design and sustainability can be a challenge, though. Fortunately, there are industry resources that can help to guide you.

In this podcast, Gail and Erin talk with Carrie Dillon, managing director of the International Textile Alliance (ITA), a nonprofit business membership association of manufacturers and suppliers to the industry that works to promote the textile industry, educate members, and provide opportunities for networking and knowledge exchange. The ITA also operates an Educational Foundation that provides learning opportunities and scholarships to students and seeks to encourage them to enter the industry.

Interior designers may be familiar with ITA through its trade show, Interwoven (formerly known as Showtime), held each May and November in High Point, North Carolina. Carrie was instrumental in the recent rebranding of the event, which focused on improving the buyer experience and expanding the educational content. Although oriented toward major purchasers of textiles, such as furniture manufacturers, interior designers are welcome to attend, said Carrie. They are most likely to want to tour the temporary exhibition hall and the Trends Gallery, where they can see samples of how new textiles have been applied to furniture and other products.

Carrie explained that some of the exhibitors will sell their textiles as cut yardage for orders of fifty yards or less. She advised designers who are interested in purchasing textiles from a particular exhibitor to plan in advance to find out if they fill smaller orders and to make an appointment, as few allow walk-ins due to the high volume of traffic during the show.

Among its other activities, ITA is involved in promoting the recycling, repurposing and circularity of textiles to keep used materials out of landfills. They also collaborate with global trends forecasting agency Fashion Snoops to inform those in the industry about upcoming trends and help “connect the dots” from design to manufacturing to consumer buying habits.

During their conversation, Gail, Erin and Carrie touched on a number of other topics, including the range of ITA’s educational offerings for members and students, developments in performance fabrics and the hazards of PFAs, and the advancement of women in the industry. For these and other topics, including Carrie’s new dog’s mysterious breed, listen to the entire podcast.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s7e2-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

For more information about the International Textile Alliance (ITA), visit their website at internationaltextilealliance.org. On the same site, you will also find information about the ITA Educational Foundation and its support for students. You can also find information about Interwoven, ITA’s textile fair held twice a year in May and November at High Point, North Carolina.

Carrie referred to the Sustainable Leather Foundation. SLF supports the global leather value chain to learn, to improve and to protect for future generations, through the People ~ Planet ~ Profit principle. Their website features a Transparency Dashboard that is linked to an audit certification standard that assesses the compliance and performance of companies working within the leather value chain. It also maintains a page of information for consumers of leather goods and materials.

Gail and Carrie both mentioned Fashion Snoops, a global trends forecasting agency for the fashion, accessories, home decor, beauty, media, marketing and other consumer-facing industries.

Erin asked Carrie about the use of PFAs in textiles. Some PFAs (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) have been used in some textiles to enhance their performance,

Change is never easy. But without change there is no growth. Change tests us. It helps us to discover what we’re really made of and to realize our untapped potential. To be willing to change takes great courage. To see change through to the end requires fortitude and the support of those around you.

In this podcast, Gail and Erin have an in-depth conversation with Nancy Charbonneau, CEO, founder & principal designer, Charbonneau Interiors in Woodland, Texas. Nancy is a long-time client of Gail’s and for nearly the past two years has served as a coach for Pearl Collective.

Some twelve years into operating her business, Nancy was dissatisfied that she was not earning higher profits despite having what otherwise seemed a successful interior design practice and retail window treatments store. She knew she needed help but wasn’t sure what to do about her business. She began working with Gail and some time later at a Boardroom retreat, got feedback from the other members that challenged her to make some significant changes. She took that feedback to heart and immediately set about implementing those changes.

Gail praised her for being so open and willing to change. “It was scary,” said Nancy. “It wasn’t easy. Staying the same wasn’t going to be easy, either. You have to pick which path you’re going to follow.” She and her business partner, Kimberly, quickly pivoted, and, as it turned out, for the better.

“I think we grow the most when have to face these really difficult pivotal moments,” observed Gail, “where we actually have to find out who we are, what we’re made of, how much grit do we have, how much resilience do we have, and how much determination do we have to really break through whatever our current situation is and do something radically different. You don’t know how it’s going to turn out. You have to believe it’s the right move.”

Erin and Nancy talked about the challenges of being a working mom running your own business. It’s important, they agreed, to make time for yourself. “You have to have your personal core values that guide your decisions,” said Nancy, “and make boundaries around the things that are non-negotiable.” For her, that includes making time to work out, to restore and to relax.

Asked why she decided to serve as a coach, Nancy said it was her way of giving back to the profession and to Gail’s firm for all the help and support they have given her over the years. “I wouldn’t have made it without you,” she said.

Listen to the full podcast to hear how Nancy got her start in interior design, the changes she’s made to her business that have helped it thrive, and why she believes it’s important to give yourself grace in order to keep going in a tough business like interior design.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s7e1-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about Nancy and her firm, Charbonneau Interiors, including viewing her portfolio, visit the firm’s website at www.charbonneauinteriors.com.

Nancy spoke highly of the book Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy.

Nancy also mentioned Dr. Hardy’s Future Self program. Along with his book, Be Your Future Self Now: The Science of Intentional Transformation, he also has some videos on the topic on YouTube. You can learn more about Dr. Hardy from when he was a guest on our podcast.

https://youtu.be/cfRFjfuiD9Q

If your business is not going as well as you’d like, if you believe you should be earning more, if you’re anxious, exhausted and burnt out, then consider working with a business coach. A coach not only has the knowledge and experience to guide you toward improving your business; she can present you with other perspectives to help you see what’s possible and how you have the capability to achieve your dream.

In this podcast, Erin talks with Patti Julber, owner and lead designer, Complements Home Interiors in Bend, Oregon. A long-time client and Boardroom member, Patti also serves as a coach and director of coaching for Pearl Collective.

Patti told Erin that she had engaged Gail as a coach because after seven years of running her own firm she knew her business was not where she wanted it to be. She also started thinking about the legacy she wanted to create with her business.

Erin said that what they frequently encounter when working with a new client is what she called the exhaustion factor. They are working as hard as they can but not seeing the kind of progress they’re hoping for. They need help with running their business. The VIP experience, said Erin, is like an MBA for an interior design business. Clients come away with a whole new understanding of what running a business entails as well as action steps they can begin to implement to start improving their business right away.

“Every interior designer runs a 100 percent completely different business,” said Patti. “But there are threads that run through each business which are identical.” Mastery of those business fundamentals is often what designers lack.

Having gone through the VIP experience with Gail and Erin and having seen the improvement in her own business, Patti approached Gail about becoming a coach in order to help other designers.

Today, Pearl Collective has six coaches besides Gail and Erin.

Erin asked Patti what she liked most about coaching. “I love watching people change their mindset about what’s possible,” said Patti. Part of her job is breaking down mental and emotional walls that are holding the client back. She tries to show them that whatever they can dream, they can achieve.

Patti also talked about her Boardroom experience and the great value in having a community of peers to connect and share with, and she offered some tips for those who have just completed their VIP experience. Listen to the entire podcast for her insights and more.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s6e10-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about Patti’s firm and read her blog, visit the website at Complements Home Interiors.

For more information about Pearl Collective’s coaching program and the 3-day VIP experience, visit our VIP Program page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dm1ZBUU6Pw

It’s a common dilemma encountered by many interior design firms—feast or famine. When business is good, they are so busy with the projects they have, they are not thinking about where the next projects are going to come from later. Consequently, their revenues fluctuate wildly, up and down, creating cash flow headaches. With proper business planning, though, you can get off the rollercoaster and keep projects flowing through the pipeline all year round.

In this podcast, Gail and Erin talk with JoeMcGuire, founder and principal interior designer, and Matthew Tenzin, principal interior designer, of JoeMcGuire Design, with offices in Boulder and Aspen and showrooms in Denver, Colorado. In addition to being featured in some of Colorado’s top publications, the firm received the Best Residential Design Award from the International Interior Design Association, Rocky Mountain Chapter.

Several years after starting their firm, Joe and Matthew found themselves struggling with managing projects and cash flow. They realized they really had very little knowledge of how to run a business. They signed up for one of Gail’s VIP sessions, which proved to be an eye-opener. Since then, they have turned things around, added staff, and have increased both their revenues and their profit.

Gail asked them what challenges they were facing that led them to her. Joe said it was what he calls the rollercoaster syndrome. They either had too much business or no business at all. It created all sorts of problems, and they didn’t know how to get control of it.

During their session with Gail, she impressed upon them the importance of having a marketing plan and of marketing consistently in order to create a steady flow of projects in the pipeline. She also showed them what they needed to know about the financial side of their business, such as profit and loss statements and the importance of regularly reviewing their cash flow situation.

Joe said one of the most important things they learned was how to get their financial processes, procedures and accounts organized so they could see how their business was doing. Tracking their progress gave them the confidence that they were moving in the right direction.

In the course of their conversation, Joe and Matthew talked about how they started their firm, where they hope to be in 10 years, and their most important project, True Home Design. True Home Design is centered on a holistic approach to design services to help people be more in harmony with nature and to use their homes as a means of evolving into their true, best selves. For more on these topics and their three pieces of advice for designers, listen to the entire podcast.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s6e9-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about Joe and Matthew, their firm, and to view their blog and portfolio, go to their website at JoeMcGuire Design.

For more information about their holistic approach to design, visit the True Home website at truehomedesign.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_BwCtiexMk