Does the Coronavirus crisis have you wishing you had a diversified revenue stream coming in? Or are you looking to diversify for more financial security? Shayla Copas has completely mastered the concept of generating multiple income streams. Darla and Natalie pick her brain and learn HOW she made it happen in this episode of the Wingnut Social podcast!

Shayla Copas is an award-winning designer, speaker, brand ambassador, event-planner, author, and philanthropist. Shayla’s design aesthetic she has self-professed as “southern glam”. She has two licensing deals in the works—one for furniture and one for fabric—and she manages to balance it all. How does she do it? Listen to this episode to find out!

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• Shayla Copas Interiors

• BOOK: Four Seasons of Entertaining

Shayla’s first business was in silk flowers—before there was a Hobby Lobby on every corner. Soon after she moved to Little Rock, AK she launched her design business. Throughout her career, she learned the ins and outs of event planning and design, but It wasn’t until ‘06/’07 that she decided she wanted to start designing events. It didn’t even require expanding her team—they simply hired contractors for the events as-needed.

About 6 years ago, Shayla was on her way home from High Point Market when someone called and asked if she could feature Shayla in her upcoming book featuring 20 designers across the US. She ended up not only being a featured designer in the book—but also graced the cover. It was the “aha moment” she needed. She realized she could write and publish her own book. She ended up becoming close friends with the woman who featured her and introduced her to her publisher.

Shayla recommends getting involved as an ambassador as a stepping-stone to licensing deals. It helps you gain visibility and opens up relationships that can lead to more. Every company she’s worked with has aligned with her values and she connects with the people within them on a human level. She notes that when things fall together like that you can create magic together.

Shayla believes there are two big contributing factors to the visibility she gained: social media and her book. A book is one of THE best marketing tools that can expose your design brand on a different level. Shayla’s book—coupled with her design businesses and ambassadorship—showed that she could commit to projects at a high level. That ability to commit and follow-through is one of the biggest contributing factors to getting licensing deals. 

Shayla didn’t have a grand master plan to diversify her revenue stream so significantly. But she does write down her goals each year—and has always done that—to give her something to strive toward. Shayla believes you just need to be open:

“When you pray, God is good and he answers prayers. And sometimes it’s not the way that we think it’s going to happen. Sometimes those things are answered in a different way, but we need to have our ears open and our eyes open to see those opportunities.” 

To hear more of Shayla’s story, how she diversified her revenue stream, and her advice for newbie designers—listen to the whole episode!

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• Article Modern Furniture

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