Today on the show I’m excited to have Patrick Cain! He is a custom furniture designer based out of Los Angeles. He specializes in furniture made from wood, metal and concrete. The designs are gorgeous! He is going to share with us a little about the pieces and how he got his business started.

Show Notes:

• What two objectives does Patrick try to put into his furniture?
• What is the definition of recycle?
• How does he use recycling in his furniture?
• Where does he get the wood for his pieces?
• When did he start his furniture designing?
• What about “the numbers”?
• How to get free market research
• When you are learning about something just go with professionals!
• How to decide what to put in inventory
• “Don’t skimp on photography!”

Resources:

https://www.patrickcaindesigns.com

@patrickcain -Instagram

Patrickcain- Facebook

Leslie Myrick is an interior stylist and has not only built her business from the ground up once but three times! She has been in Canada, California and now Texas! She has very specific ways how she has built her business in such a short amount of time that really stand out. She has a blog and YouTube videos and has really created a good body of work in a short amount of time. We are going to talk about how you can be doing business in the same place you have been for the last twenty years and approach it like you just moved there.

Show Notes:

• How much preparation did it take to move to where she is now?
• What is on the checklist when starting out?
• What should you want to be remembered for? 
• “Stand in your space”
• Should you pay to have help doing different parts of the business?
• What is the most important thing to do with a customer?
• What 13 things has Leslie learned?
• What kinds of systems does she use?
• Put your expectations up front!

Resources:

https://www.mebydesigns.com – Get your business coach here!

The Big Leap– Gay, PhD Hendricks

https://www.lesleymyrick.com

Susan is founder and principal of award-winning Sweet Peas Design, which she launched 13 years ago in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville as a one-woman firm. Today Sweet Peas Design is a full-service studio with a staff of six in downtown Libertyville and a branch office in Chicago. She and her team work with a broad-based clientele of entrepreneurs, corporate executives and professionals.   Susan is an experienced speaker, whether on interior design issues or the business of design. She is a popular speaker on design at libraries on the North Shore of Chicago. Susan has been featured on NBC/LXTV’s  “George to the Rescue” and  “Open House,” and she appeared on CLTV’s “Bring It Home” program. Her work has been published in numerous national and local magazines and newspapers, including Modern Luxury Interiors Chicago, Kitchen + Bath Makeovers, Trends Kitchens, Trends Bathrooms, Color Made Easy, Crain’s Chicago Business  and Chicago Sun-Times’ magazine, Splash.  

Today on the show we have Susan Brunstrum! She has a big firm in Chicago and a signature line called LivableLuxe with a tagline that says “the little black dress of interior design.” She is a business woman, she is a woman who knows what she wants, knows how to do business and knows how to present herself. Her firm has won several designer awards but today we are going to focus on the financial part of business.

Show Notes:

• The two project fee basis systems 
• The six phases of projects
• How do you utilize the project fee?
• If you don’t charge for your initial consultation you should!
• Three things to assess on a client when you first meet them
• What are the red flags when assessing a client?
• The difference between advertising and public relations
• Be patient!

Resources:

https://www.sweetpeas-inspired.com – Sweet Peas Design

https://www.studiowebware.com 

https://www.quickbooks.com

Arlene Angard is a New York City Interior Designer. She manages a full service interior architecture and design firm that specializes in luxury residential and new age commercial. She has been an Art Curator and table top connoisseur most of her life. She has curated global art exhibits, participated in art culture panels and collected fine art from around the world. She recently launched a colorful collection of area rugs inspired by her extensive travels abroad.  

She tries to learn as much as she can about her clients’ lifestyle and her design decisions are made within this context. Her work has been featured in prestigious magazines such as  Elle Decor, The New York Times, Traditional Home Magazine, New York Spaces Magazine, Luxe Interior + Design Magazine, Ocean Drive Magazine, EL UNIVERSAL, 1stdibs Introspective Magazine, NYC Cottage & Gardens and numerous other design and art publications.   

• Arlene came from Venezuela to New York in 1997 to pursue her Orthodontics program.
• She enjoyed New York and pursued another specialization, TMD (temporomandibular) after completing her Orthodontics.
• As creativity has always been in her blood, she enrolled at the New York School of Interior Design and decided to become an interior designer.
• As an interior designer, she noticed that her clients didn’t have the right art pieces for their homes and she was always looking for the correct art pieces to match her clients’ furniture pieces and décor.
• Arlene decided to open her own art gallery. She owns and manages an art gallery at Madison Avenue.
• She set up the art gallery to help both her clients and the artists community in the city. She gives the artists a space to feature their artworks.
• She sets up art gallery events depending on the season, one for the winter, one for spring, one for summer, and one for fall.
• She focuses on contemporary art pieces but she loves learning anything about art. Emerging artists attract clients because they offer a different budget. Arlene has pieces for different budget levels.
• To source art, she goes to art events to look for new artists worldwide. She is also approached by artists and art dealers who know her as a contemporary art dealer.
• Arlene discovered that since NY spaces are small, she had to custom-make the furniture pieces to fit the client’s space. Still they are all high-end pieces made of exotic woods and with high gloss lacquer.
• Her exotic wood furniture includes tables, dining tables, meeting tables, and coffee tables, wing back chairs, ottomans, classic chairs.
• The main idea of Arlene’s line of furniture is to have the best quality to help the interior designers and clients to complement the pieces they already have.
• Most of Arlene’s clients go to her Gallery to discuss their projects. Then if projects are feasible, Arlene visits their home.
• Distant clients communicate with her first by sending measurements of their space.
• Arlene is a member of the prestigious 1stdibs.com family.
• Arlene is also designing custom area rugs.
• Learn what materials she is using for rugs.
• She compares a project to delivering a baby.
• Know that if a client is decisive, work would take 6 months, if the client is indecisive, it would take 9 months, sending samples back and forth.
• Arlene serves high-end national and international clients.
• Her advice to new designers: Write down the list of goals to be accomplished daily and week. You have to pursue your dreams with passion. It’s a lot of work to be an interior designer and if you want to succeed, don’t count the hours, the sky is the limit….Do it with passion and every time that you find a product that doesn’t work for you, go far beyond, try to design a new one for your client. If you cannot design, go to a manufacturing company and ask if they can do a custom piece for you.
• She also recommends that a future designer must have a strategy, persistence, patience, dedication, and must be highly organized. A business plan is also a must.
• I’m a humble connoisseur but I have an expert eye. I want to be active as an art dealer and as an interior designer as well. – Arlene Angard.
• When you love what you’re doing, when you have the passion to do it, then the time you spent doing it doesn’t matter at all. – Arlene Angard

  Arlene’s Art Gallery: 15 East 71st Street & Madison Ave, New York, NY 10021

E-mail: arlene@arleneangard.com

Arlene’s website: https://arleneangard.com