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602: Terri Taylor: Interior Design Business Academy 2020 Summit

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! Today’s Power Talk Friday is sponsored by Interior Design Business Academy and specifically the Interior Design Business Academy 2020 Summit, which is happening Wednesday, November 4 thru Friday, November 6, 2020.

This event will run from 10:00 am EST to 6:00 pm and it is entirely virtual.

In today’s conversation, Terri Taylor not only shares all the details of the outstanding Summit she has planned for you, but she shares valuable tips for running your firm. After 30 years in the industry, Terri has tons of experience in running her own firm and teaching you how to do it through her Interior Design Business Academy.

And to be clear, the summit is open to all interior design business owners, not just IDBA coaching members, so be sure to check it out at Interior Design Business Academy Summit 2020

Terri Taylor is a frequent speaker and guest lecturer at design conferences and showrooms throughout the country. She speaks on a number of topics related to the business of interior design, including: business practices, sales, marketing, motivation, leadership, success, and personal growth.

Ms. Taylor is nationally known as an interior design business expert and coach who teaches and mentors interior designers to help them create successful design businesses.

Terri has over 32 years in the interior design and construction business. She holds both residential and commercial general remodeling Arizona Contractors Licenses, and qualified for her NCIDQ certification in 1991. Terri is a professional member of ASID, IDS, and NCIDQ.

Her Tucson-based design studio, Taylor Design Group, was a diversified design practice working in the areas of high-end residential design and remodeling, model home merchandising, hospitality, and medical and professional offices. Her studio has been the recipient of ASID Arizona South Chapter Design Excellence Awards every year since 1986 and she received the ASID National Design Excellence Award in 2000.  Terri’s design work has been published in regional and national design journals, including ASID ICON and Wall St. Journal. Terri retired from her studio practice in 2015.

In 2009, Ms. Taylor created Design Biz Blueprint (now Interior Design Business Academy); an education and coaching resource that provides a unique mix of design business strategies and systems, and powerful positive mindset to help interior designers create meaningful success. She’s inspired thousands of interior design entrepreneurs through her speaking engagements, seminars, on-line education, and coaching.

Terri connects with heart-centered designers to help grow their business strategy, accountability, and profitability all while undergoing a beautiful personal transformation.

Show Highlights:

  • The “nuts and bolts” side of how interior designers can get paid what they are worth is a part of the system that Terri teaches at Interior Design Business Academy:
    • Advantages of fees vs. hourly, and design fees in relation to project budgets
    • Pricing product/furniture properly so you don’t get push back and clients are happy
    • How to have profitable remodeling jobs
    • How to present and price a big design fee on a huge new build
    • What your profit margin on a design job  should be
  • Your mindset around wealth consciousness is actually the secret to getting paid what you are worth.
  • Terri provides reasons why and examples of how designers are often in their own way.
  • Once you identify and release those beliefs, rules, and practices that are keeping you “in your own way”, the “how-tos” easily fall into place.
  • Interior Design Business Academy is a blend of educational programs and coaching: It’s lots of step-by-step, how-to-do-it recipes backed up by coaching, which creates predictably successful results.
  • Terri explains the Growth, Structure, and Masters programs that she offers at Interior Design Business Academy.
  • “Fly the plane while you build it.”
  • Terri Taylor is the founder and host of the upcoming Interior Design Business Academy 2020 Summit – “Mastering Design Fees and Pricing”. Although it’s required by her Growth, Structure, and Masters students, this retreat is also open to the public!
  • The 2020 Summit is a very interactive, 3-day virtual retreat, with lots of connection and sharing with designers across the country, breakout groups, all worksheets/handouts, coaching, Q and A time with Terri, and dancing… yes, it’s true, believe it or not!
  • The 2020 Summit – “Mastering Design Fees and Pricing” is where:
    • your passion for design combines with the ability to earn what you’re worth to become a reality.
    • you will gain the confidence to make the shift and get the “recipe” for making consistently profitable fee-based offers for design services.
    • you will learn to embrace your beautiful design gifts and attract high-paying clients to become a confident, well-paid designer.
    • you do the “inside” work that allows you to shift into the abundant, confident, well-paid designer you are destined to be.
    • you will uncover the freedom and fulfillment you’ve always wanted.
  • This Summit is for pros, third acts, stars, leaders, game-changers, beginners, creatives, and IDBA members!
  • There’s a Special Bonus “Wealth Consciousness Intensive Live” with Terri for Early Bird ticket holders only!
  • Don’t miss the virtual mix and mingle event before the Summit!
  • Remember: the only way you breakthrough is to COMMIT to doing whatever it takes to achieve the life, clients, and jobs you want

Connect with Terri!

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

Website

Interior Design Business Academy 2020 Summit

“Mastering Design Fees & Pricing”

Wednesday, November 4th thru Friday, November 6th, 2020

[10:00] AM EST – [6:00] PM EST

Virtual experience

Admission: $347 or 2 payments of $207

*Early Bird pricing only valid until midnight, October 20th

*Early Bird BONUS –  A pre-event Wealth Consciousness Workshop with Terri so that you can get a head start into shifting your mindset and getting paid what you are really worth!

Register for 2020 Summit

Links :

Design-Build For Profit

Coming Back Soon!

Increase Confidence, Increase Profits

Coming Back in February 2021!

The Profit Is In the Numbers

Coming Back Soon!

Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020! Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

Eileen B. Hahn’s Interior Design Firm Hiring Toolkit

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to This Podcast Sponsor:

Interior Design Business Academy Summit 2020

Other shows mentioned:

#548 Terri Taylor

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601: Darla Powell: Real Tips to Up Your Social Media Game

Darla Powell

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! Social media guru, Darla Powell from Darla Powell Interiors, joins us in this conversation today on how to get more juice from your social media efforts. We change, our business changes, and sometimes, we need to refresh our minds about what we’re really doing and who we’re doing it for. The goal here today is to talk about honing the message you’re sending out to the world, and if you already did this five years ago, well maybe it’s time to do it again!

Darla is a co-author of the 2nd volume of A Well-Designed Business, The Power Talk Friday Experts that is coming out in November 2020. Darla really is the social media guru. She blew up social from the get-go and she hasn’t stopped since. Thankfully she is just fine with sharing her tools and ideas with us, so we can try to duplicate her success. Please welcome her back to the show!

Darla has a fun, genuine, and down-to-earth approach to the designing of beautiful spaces. Since she launched her career in 2016, she has grown her business almost exclusively by word-of-mouth and her clients have really fallen in love with her work!

In her past life, Darla spent almost twenty years as a Detective Sergeant in Miami Florida, so one might say that she is an expert on the importance of having complete tranquility at home after a stressful day at work! Also, her background has carried over many hidden perks- including a strong sense of integrity, accountability, and a ready-for-anything-ness that is key for home renovation projects.

Darla’s career transformation was fueled by her need to express her boundless creativity. She spent her childhood summers rummaging through her grandmother’s antique store where she developed an extensive knowledge of antiques, collectibles, and of pieces that look perfect together, so Darla’s refined eye definitely sees those diamonds hiding in the rough! Above all, Darla really loves creating rooms that are gorgeous, elegant and soothing.

Show Highlights:

  • This podcast helped educate Darla and gave her the courage to take a leap into a totally different career path.
  • Darla explains how she came to create Wingnut Social.
  • When clients are looking up your design firm online, they are also scoping out your PR sources and checking out your social media to see how you engage with others.
  • Social media is a multi-billion dollar business and is not a trend. It’s here to stay!
  • It’s difficult for a business to survive the long run without having a well-rounded social media presence.
  • Darla offers her social media strategies!
  • Marketing budgets can be 5-20% of your overall annual gross, depending on a few factors. When you’re a newer designer, that percentage should be higher because you’re building brand awareness and a following.
  • Who are you? LuAnn shares what she looks for on designer’s websites.
  • You have to always be able to adapt, especially in marketing.

Connect with Darla!

Darla’s Website

Darla’s Instagram

Darla’s Facebook

Darla’s Twitter

Wingnut Social

The Wingnut Social Podcast

Links :

Design-Build For Profit

Coming Back Soon!

Increase Confidence, Increase Profits

Coming Back in February 2021!

The Profit Is In the Numbers

Coming Back Soon!

Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020! Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

Eileen B. Hahn’s Interior Design Firm Hiring Toolkit

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?LuAnn Nigara COB 

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

When your client wants the finest in luxury appliances for their kitchen.

Are You Set Up with Monogram‘s Design Partner Trade Program?

Kirsch’s motorized Briza collection is the perfect answer to high-end drapery treatments. Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now! Kirsch

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Darla was on episodes #203 and #330

 

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600: Celebrating the 600th Episode, LuAnn is Interviewed!

1119 What Would Lu Do This Is The Difference Between Business Owners Who Wait And Those Who Act Thumbnail.png

Welcome to the 600th episode of A Well-Designed Business! In this milestone conversation, LuAnn is the guest today! Deb Mitchell and Betty Marton are two writers and #smartladies who are talking to LuAnn today about the 599 episodes she has under her belt.

LuAnn shares how much her life has changed since she aired her first episode back in February of 2016, how appreciative she is for her guests and listeners who have played such a big part in making this podcast a success, and how grateful she is that you invite her into your lives and your businesses each week. Don’t miss this fascinating glimpse into the heart of the host of A Well-Designed Business!

Deb, or DesignWriterDeb as she’s referred to on Instagram, specializes in copywriting for interior designers and creatives. Betty, of In Your Own Words, helps individuals and businesses tell their stories through narrative.

Show Highlights:

  • LuAnn shares memories from her childhood and how she first learned a good work ethic that carried her into marriage and entrepreneurship with Vin.
  • Focus energy on learning the lessons when you’ve experienced failure. Without failures, there can be no success.
  • If you decide to do something, you can do it. If you don’t do it, you’re the only person standing in your way!
  • LuAnn describes how her podcast came into being and the creative ways she sourced her guests.
  • LuAnn shares her best ‘a-ha’ moments and how every single person on their entrepreneurial journey has something to teach us.
  • Managing a full calendar takes a lot of work, a few shortcuts, and constant conversations with her executive assistant, Lisa!
  • Build a team you trust and have your processes down.
  • Here’s what’s next for LuAnn!
  • Deb, Betty, and LuAnn discuss LuAnn’s BLM special series.
  • “Decide to be excellent!”

High Point Market is the Oscars of the design industry, and this year, for a lot of us, that red carpet feels a long way away. But don’t feel like you have to miss out, because Mydoma Studio is here to bring Market to you, wherever you might be. More than just a virtual High Point, Mydoma’s Backstage at High Point Market will bring you showroom tours, private conversations with industry insiders, and insight you just can’t find anywhere else. Head over to Mydoma Studio HPMKT now to get your own backstage pass!

Links :

Design-Build For Profit

Coming Back Soon!

Increase Confidence, Increase Profits

Coming Back in February 2021!

The Profit Is In the Numbers

Coming Back Soon!

 Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020!

Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

Eileen B. Hahn’s Interior Design Firm Hiring Toolkit

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

Take Advantage of Kravet Inc.’s Extensive Digital Tools & 24/7 Customer Service! Set Up a Virtual Appointment with Your Local Sales Representative: Kravet

FREE Trial! A One-Stop Shop to Keep Everything Organized!

Check Out Their Client Portal and Time Tracking Features!

Mydoma Studio: A Well Designed Business

OTHER EPISODES MENTIONED AND TAG IN SM:

Carol Cox #140

Deb Mitchell #574

 

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599: What Would Lu Do: Should I Spend My Inheritance?

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Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s time for another riveting episode of “What Would Lu Do?”, where you ask the difficult questions and LuAnn gives the expert answers you’ve been wanting.

Today’s dilemma comes from an anonymous listener who has been a faithful listener of the podcast since she started her business in 2014. At that time, she took the least expensive options in setting up her business and hasn’t invested since. She received an inheritance right before COVID hit, so this designer is looking for words of wisdom on whether it’s better to hold on to the money for a household expenses safety net since her husband has been furloughed and is not likely to return to work soon, or if it’s better to invest it back into her business, along with a revised business plan.

Listen in as LuAnn digs into the details, susses out the situation, and lays out her reasoning on the resolutions.

If you are not working with a coach or perhaps you don’t have a business mentor or business bestie to provide guidance, this is the perfect opportunity to email LuAnn the burning issues that you need insight on and she’ll answer them on air. Please send your questions to LuAnn Nigara: WWLD!

Show Highlights:

  • LuAnn shares the listener’s email to provide the full context of the issue.
  • If the listener’s husband has not yet been returned to work or gained other employment, then the mortgage, food on the table, gas, and electricity all come first.
  • If the household situation is not so dire, remember that there are many steps you can take to set your business up for success that are an investment of your time and not your money.
  • Review, revise, and reflect on the business plan that she set up in 2014.
  • LuAnn details the steps needed for the listener to get very clear on her mission and how to define her core values.
  • Knowing your numbers are critical! Investing in your business must be done with a plan, so LuAnn walks the listener through some financial considerations.
  • Here are the bottom-line investments that the listener must make:
  • Work with a lawyer to register your business.
  • Open a business bank acct.
  • Hire a p/t bookkeeper or commit to knowledgeably doing it yourself religiously, no messing around.
  • Find and hire a CPA, even if it not the kind like Peter Lang who works with you each month and it is just one who will see to it the quarterly and yearly taxes are filed and paid.
  • LuAnn breaks down exactly how she would spend the $9,000.
  • Final thoughts: Invest in your business but also invest time in planning how you will make money. Be steadfast in doing it!
  • Check out SCORE, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping small business owners get off the ground, set and achieve their goals through free educational resources, and offers free mentoring from retired business people.

Links :

Design-Build For Profit

Coming Back Soon!

Increase Confidence, Increase Profits

Coming Back in February 2021!

The Profit Is In the Numbers

Coming Back Soon!

Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020! Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

Eileen B. Hahn’s Interior Design Firm Hiring Toolkit

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

Kirsch’s motorized Briza collection is the perfect answer to high-end drapery treatments. Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now! Kirsch

When your client wants the finest in luxury appliances for their kitchen.

Are You Set Up with Monogram‘s Design Partner Trade Program?

OTHER EPISODES MENTIONED:

Laurel Smith’s episode #545

Nate Berkus’s episode, #433

Jamie Lieberman’s episode #’s 454 and #547.

Kim Worswick’s episode #234

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598: Judith Taylor: How an Introvert Networks in an Extroverted Industry

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! Judith Taylor of Judith Taylor Designs returns as a guest today to share her ideas on networking for introverts. As Judith says, it can be a struggle to be an introvert in an extrovert’s industry! She has many things to say that can help not just introverts, but anybody looking to strengthen their networking skills. Listen in to this fascinating conversation about how you can set yourself up for success, even if you’re an introvert, and how to overcome the challenges when it comes to networking.

Judith is an international award-winning designer with a flair for making personal, meaningful spaces. She is the granddaughter of a once-prominent furniture manufacturer, and as such, is passionate about style and the tradition of quality fine furniture making.

Liveably luxury is achieved through her timeless aesthetic. Classic details, and refined clean lines anchor a love of the mix of contemporary traditional, and global influences. Mixing patterns, unexpected combinations, dressmaker’s details, and often vibrant colours distinguish her style. 

A few things you may not know about her:

She started her career in Information Technology as a mainframe programmer/analyst but after 20 years as an IT consultant, her love of colour and pattern got the better of her. While working in IT, she also completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, and later studied fine art at Toronto School of Art, and then most recently she studied Interior Design at the International Academy of Design and Technology where she received High Honours for her work.

She is the first (and so far only) Canadian to have won a “Designer of the Year” award from the Interior Design Society out of High Point North Carolina, and was also the first to win Crate and Barrel’s “designer challenge” and you can see the “Judith chair” on the “about” page on her website, or sit on the winning entry in her living room (by invitation only)!

She enjoys travel and always looks forward to spending more time at their summer place at Cape Cod.

Follow along with her blog to read posts about her travels, her design insight, and lifestyle thoughts that cross her mind. She hopes you enjoy the read. 

Show Highlights:

  • Judith shares her personal experience with introversion.
  • There’s a difference between being shy and being an introvert.
  • Judith reveals the ingenious way she prepares herself for a group event.
  • Avoid delivering phony-sounding elevator pitches.
  • Tips and tactics for networking at group events.
  • How Judith handles consultations.
  • Since introverts tend to look inward and be self-critical, Judith had to learn to turn her vision towards her client and assess them.
  • Marketing and writing is a place for introverts and shy people to shine.
  • Building connections is what Judith attributes to getting her jobs.
  • If you care, and you want to help people, potential cients are going to see that.
  • Judith imparts her final thoughts and suggestions on getting new clients.

Connect with Judith!

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest

Blog

Links :

Design-Build For Profit

Coming Back Soon!

Increase Confidence, Increase Profits

Coming Back in February 2021!

The Profit Is In the Numbers

Coming Back Soon!

Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020! Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

Eileen B. Hahn’s Interior Design Firm Hiring Toolkit

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

Jaipur Living’s Website – Easy to Browse, Custom Calculator, Products Ready to Ship! Open Your Trade Account to Begin Your Relationship with This Admirable Company.

Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!

Be the hero for your clients, and be the solution they need right now with Article.

Other shows mentioned to link to and to tag in SM

#340 Judith Taylor: Strategies for Working with Family and Friends

#584 Lesley Myrick: Building a Business From the Ground Up, Again

#557 Power Talk Friday: Desi Creswell: Develop Your CEO Mindset

#475 Power Talk Friday: Desi Creswell: How to Create More Time

 

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597: Power Talk Friday: Mary Pat Wallace:Designers, The Time Is Now to Grow Your Business

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! Today’s guest is Mary Pat Wallace, the founder of Chicago Luxury Beds, and today’s focus is the luxury client! Mary Pat shares important perspectives about the surprising  opportunities you have today in the midst of the pandemic, and not just how we can deal with it and accommodate it, but how we can truly serve our clients in a bigger and better way.

She also shares her insights on how she’s managed to maintain an excellent client experience and continue to be a strong leader for her team, even in a retail setting, throughout the challenges of Covid-19. Listen in for an inspiring conversation!

Mary is a 30-year veteran of the design industry. Committed to sourcing the highest-quality, bespoke mattresses and sleep products from across the globe, Mary Pat and her team of experts have spent the last 15 years helping clients transform their lives through sleep. Once she spent her first night in a Hästens bed, Mary Pat knew that mattresses should be viewed as a necessity in one’s life. Extensive experience in the design industry allowed Mary Pat to develop a perspective on value per use — we sleep a third of our lives, the mattress is the most important piece of furniture in the home. Restorative sleep is the foundation for optimum health. Having witnessed firsthand that the right mattress is critical to a deeply restful night of sleep she brought that experience and her unique expertise to the luxury market in Chicago, opening the first Hästens retail store in North America in 2005. Mary Pat eventually rebranded the business to Chicago Luxury Beds in order to expand her curated offerings. With the success and longevity of Chicago Luxury Beds, she opened a showroom in Dallas (Dallas Luxury Beds) furthering her team’s reach in helping clients get their best night of sleep. It is Mary Pat’s life passion to help clients create environments that are deeply restful and support transformational sleep.

Show Highlights:

  • As Mary Pat declares, “The time is NOW.”
  • Due to the coronavirus, people are spending more time at home, and that is not likely to change.
  • The luxury clients are working more from home, and they’re all considering how they can reconfigure their spaces to work more productively.
  • Money from luxury clients is being reallocated and being refocused back at home.
  • Mary Pat’s tips on how to revive your client list, even if it’s 15-20 years old.
  • Mary Pat offers strategies for conducting your business virtually, while maintaining or increasing productivity.
  • Being successful with the luxury client involves real expertise. Mary Pat expounds on this philosophy and what the luxury client wants from us.
  • Listening to and understanding your client’s priorities within a budget is critical.
  • Once a client and designer understand each other, the relationship is priceless.
  • The collaborative buddy-system builds confidence with the client and reduces anxiety.
  • Mary Pat explains how to do business with Chicago Luxury Beds.

Connect with Mary Pat!

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Links :

Design-Build For Profit

Coming Back Soon!

Increase Confidence, Increase Profits

Coming Back in February 2021!

The Profit Is In the Numbers

Coming Back Soon!

Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020! Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

FREE Trial! A One-Stop Shop to Keep Everything Organized!

Check Out Their Client Portal and Time Tracking Features!

My Doma Studio A Well Designed Business

Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!

Be the hero for your clients, and be the solution they need right now with Article.

 

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596 #BLM: Jamel Williams: A Call to Create Opportunity and Change at the University Level

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! Today we are joined by Jamel Williams for another conversation in our Black Lives Matter series. As a young black designer and teacher, Jamel has a unique perspective on what can be done at the university-level to empower students of color. Please join us in this discussion on how mentorship in the university years could be a game-changer for all of our young designers, and especially our black designers, and Jamel’s suggestions on how schools can be that agent of change.

Jamel Williams is a young and passionate Interior Designer, Educator, and Entrepreneur who specializes in Residential Interior Design in all of New York and surrounding areas. Shortly after graduating from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, Class of 2017 with a Master of Fine Arts in Interior Design, Jamel founded To Be Designed, a full-service Interior Design Studio. Already having an undergraduate degree in Anthropology, his interests in people, cultures, and ways of life fuel his passion to approach design with a multidisciplinary perspective. His delicate persona, fortified drive, and a keen eye for detail provide the perfect foundation for every project he takes on, creating beautiful, and functional spaces in collaboration with his clients.

Also passionate about design education, Jamel took on his first two higher education teaching positions during the Spring 2020 semester at both Pratt Institute and Parsons Open Campus at the New School. He has had the pleasure of teaching both technical and theoretical courses; namely, AutoCAD 1, Professional Practice for Interior Designers, Interior Design Portfolio, Residential Interior Design, and Now Construction and Assemblies. Jamel’s active Interior Design practice and educational experience allow him to provide his students with the information needed in order to understand the principles of design so they too can create aesthetically beautiful, functional, and responsive spaces for their future clients.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and racial injustice spread across America, there has been an increased need for awareness, representation, and social change. Jamel has begun to think about ways he can use his platform to evoke change within the industry he serves. Being in direct contact with aspiring Interior Design Students and being a Black Designer in the Industry, Jamel thinks that one actionable solution may be to create relationships between students of color and designers of color, through mentorship, to create a sense of community and support for the young designers who may feel underrepresented once they cross over into the world of Interior Design.

Show Highlights:

  • Jamel addresses the disparities he observed during design school.
  • As Jamel points out, spaces are designed socially and politically to not reflect racism on the surface. It’s the systemic aspect of racism that prevents schools from addressing the issues.
  • Systemic racism is strongly psychological and ingrained. We are all in a system of racism that none of us built but we are left to deal with the pyschological aspects of it.
  • As a teacher at the prestigious Pratt Institute, Jamel’s philosophy is that all students should have a voice and that education should be conversational and collaborative.
  • Ideally, Jamel would one day like to teach a course with a culture-centered curriculum.
  • There seems to be a general disconnect in design education, beyond culture and race, because students do not have the opportunity to choose the track that is most meaninguful to them once they graduate.
  • Offering more classes of diverse subject matters and giving the students opportunities to choose more of the classes they take is one solution to enabling design graduates a more personalized, meaningful career track.
  • Jamel shares his thoughts on black culture in America.
  • Jamel sees a wide-open opportunity for schools to promote community and empower young black designers by facilitating mentorship.
  • True mentorship is a two-way street: The mentor also gains perspective, fresh ideas, and the joy that comes with paying it forward.

Connect with Jamel!

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Great Resources From Jamel to Check Out!

Architectural Digest: 25 Black Interior Designers Speak Frankly About Their Careers, Successes, and Challenges

Interior Design: 7 African American Designers on How They’re Pushing The Design Industry Forward

The Designer’s Workshop

BAIDA

Black Artists + Designers Guild

Links :

Design-Build For Profit

Coming Back Soon!

Increase Confidence, Increase Profits

Coming Back in February 2021!

The Profit Is In the Numbers

Coming Back Soon!

Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020! Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

Take Advantage of Kravet Inc.’s Extensive Digital Tools & 24/7 Customer Service! Kravet

Use promo code AWDB10 for a 10% discount on Kravet fabric, trim, and wallcovering!

When your client wants the finest in luxury appliances for their kitchen.

Are You Set Up with Monogram‘s Design Partner Trade Program?

 

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595: Karin Bohn: Mastery of the 80% Business Provides Freedom For The 20% Creative

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! We’re super excited to have Karin Bohn join us on the show today.

Karin Bohn is the founder and creative director of the award-winning House of Bohn design studio. She established the interior design firm in 2009 and has made her mark in many industries including luxury residential, multi-family, restaurants, and retail.

Karin stars on Netflix’s Restaurants on the Edge in which she travels with a team of experts to provide design, marketing, and culinary consultation to establishments in some of the most beautiful locations in the world.

With her continuously growing YouTube channel, Karin offers behind-the-scenes glimpses of her creative process, collaborative partnerships, and life as an entrepreneur.

Listen in to hear how in 11 years, Karin went from struggling to start a design business all the way to having a Netflix show and managing a luxury interior design firm with a team of 10!

Show Highlights:

  • The first few years of Karin’s YouTube videos showcased her challenging entrepreneurial journey.
  • As Karin explains, her Netflix series did not come about because of her YouTube channel.
  • You don’t have to be perfect to start something new, just start! Learn as you go.
  • Karin shares her pivotal moment regarding her realization that she needed to develop her business skills before she could take advantage of her creative side.
  • Karin discusses the current structure of her design, operations, and content teams.
  • Why ‘alignment’ is Karin’s favorite word right now.
  • Building a brand must include consistency. People need to be able to recognize a brand’s repeated aesthetic cues.
  • Karin divulges her client budgeting tactics.
  • LuAnn and Karin discuss the frustration of hiring new employees. The struggle over writing job descriptions and adding new team members can be solved by using Eileen B. Hahn’s Interior Design Firm Hiring Toolkit.
  • Remember your vision! You do have a vision, right?

Connect with Karin!

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Pinterest

Links :

Process Leads to Profits – Returning November 2020! Learn the Four P’s of design from Sara Lynn Brennan: Processes, Partnerships, Packages, and Profits…as well as the “secret sauce” that has doubled her business in the last year! Sign Up For Updates HERE!

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

Jaipur Living’s Website – Easy to Browse, Custom Calculator, Products Ready to Ship! Open Your Trade Account to Begin Your Relationship with This Admirable Company.

Kirsch’s motorized Briza collection is the perfect answer to high end drapery treatments. Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now! Kirsch

Other shows mentioned to link to  and to tag in SM

#237,#325, #485 Claire Jefford

#363, #589 Eileen Hahn

 

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594:  Reena Philpot: Ideas for Flexing Your Sales Muscles

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! Today, Reena Philpot joins us to share her love of sales – and you’ll never guess what she’s selling!

Reena (pronounced “Re-Nay”) and her husband own Precision Duplicating Solutions, and for 18 years, Reena’s helped build a successful business selling…copiers. That’s right folks – she sells pricey copy machines – and she loves it! It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, because sales is sales, and Reena’s techniques can absolutely be applied to the design business.

Listen in to learn what sales tactics Reena has used to build her business, and how you can apply them to your own business to bring in those dollar bills!

Daily Reena manages the sales side of the business and part of the admin duties. She started her career as a telemarketer/appointment setter 26 years ago. She quickly transitioned to outside sales and vowed it was so awesome she would learn how to become successful.

When her boys had grown into young men and needed her less, Reena started joining some masterminds and groups of ladies with amazing businesses.  Through that process, she learned she had something to offer them to help them grow their businesses.  While Reena has had the advantages of learning sales and a process and then starting a business, not everyone has had the same opportunity.

Reena began using her background in high-ticket competitive sales and experience as a business owner to help other entrepreneurs and teams increase their customer base and sales revenue.  Reena Philpot Sales Coaching began last year, and now she offers strategy sessions, workshops, and VIP days to those who want results.

Show Highlights:

  • You must first know your value, then you must be able to convey that value to your client.
  • Reena discusses her techniques on proposals and contracts.
  • When assessing their needs, t’s important to repeat back to the client what you are hearing them say. Repeating their words back to them both clears up any misunderstanding and makes the client feel heard.
  • Ask the client if your assessment is corrent. When they say yes, then you can give them a simple solution to their problem.
  • Save the little details for the contract. By this time, you have already worked out the details. You will bring the details as backup just in case your client is interested in that leveal of knowledge.
  • Using these tactics, it’s simply a conversation between two people about a problem they have and the solution you can give them. There is nothing needy or manipulative about it.
  • While the client is absorbing the proposal, give them a moment then ask, “What do you think? Is that what you were thinking?
  • If the client doesn’t seem happy with the proposal, ask, “How do you feel about that?” then stay silent and wait for them to speak.
  • Find out what’s important to your client. If you give them the opportunity, they’ll tell you exactly how to sell to them.
  • Reena shares how she has hand-picked 90% of her customers.
  • Reena describes her brilliantly unique sales pipeline.

Connect with Reena!

Reena’s Website

FREE! How to Develop Questions to Improve Closing

Reena Philpot Sales Coaching – Facebook

Reena Philpot Sales Coaching – Instagram

Reena Philpot Sales Coaching – LinkedIn

Links :

Carol’s Virtual Summit

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

Take Advantage of Kravet Inc.’s Extensive Digital Tools & 24/7 Customer Service! Set Up a Virtual Appointment with Your Local Sales Representative: Kravet

 

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593: Debbie Mathews: Systems for Stress-Free Growth

Debbie
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Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn’s guest today is Debbie Mathews of Debbie Mathews Antiques and Designs, LLC, and Debbie will be walking us through easily implementable, effective systems to take care of all those tiny details so that we have the time to focus on the big things in our business. Debbie revamped her growing business to ensure she and her team are less stressed while consistently providing their clients with an A+ experience. Be sure to listen and see if some of her ideas will help you be more productive and less stressed, too!

Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Debbie Mathews Antiques and Designs, LLC is a full-service interior design firm that specializes in high-end residential projects. From new construction to simple refreshes, their goal is to realize each room’s greatest potential. With a keen focus to detail, their team works collaboratively with clients to navigate through the many decisions involved with high-quality, custom design work. Clients repeatedly tell them that their diverse experience, infectious energy, and unparalleled service make the process efficient and enjoyable. Debbie’s passion for beautiful things, paired with her love of antiques and timeless architecture, gives each of their interiors a sense of history and purpose. She is uniquely recognized for her hallmark design aesthetic of anchoring a room with timeless antiques and layering in more contemporary furniture and accessories. Her 30+ years of experience buying and selling fine antiques has proven to be a design distinction often unmatched. Because of this dedication to timeless and classic elements of design, her projects always reflect charm, warmth, and curated beauty. Debbie Mathews Antiques and Designs, LLC welcomes the opportunity to showcase their mantra to you: Timeless. Collected. Beautiful.

Show Highlights:

  • “As my business grows, it does not mean that my plate gets larger.”
  • Growing pains forced Debbie to take a look at what was on her plate, and what could be delegated.
  • The biggest gift Debbie ever gave herself was when she outsourced her bookkeeping and accounting services.
  • Debbie discusses the project management software that she has implemented to streamline her work.
  • After 30 years of being in business, Debbie starts tracking her metrics.
  • Being proactive rather than reactive has been Debbie’s focus over the last year.
  • Debbie learned from reading LuAnn’s books, The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action and A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts, plus the classic The E-Myth.
  • “The Daily Checklist” is something Debbie and her team members use each day and it gives them all confidence that the office administration can get done if Debbie needs to be away from work.
  • What is covered in their weekly and monthly meetings.
  • Debbie is a new member of EO – The Entrepreneur Organization, and she shares how impactful it has been for her.
  • How to set a really good rhythm to the week, set expectations with the team, and let everyone consistently plan by time-blocking.
  • Client meetings involve a designer that takes minutes for a comprehensive summary of the entire visit, which are later turned over to the client for confirmation that everyone is on the same page.
  • You only have one chance to make a good first impression on a client, and these steps that Debbie has implemented has given her confidence that she will.

Connect with Debbie!

Debbie’s Website

Debbie’s Instagram

Debbie’s Facebook

Debbie’s Pinterest

Debbie’s Email

Links :

LuAnn Live – Coming February 2021

Join the E-Mail List to Get Updates!

Is Chairman of the Board Right for YOUR Business?

LuAnn Nigara COB

Design-Build For Profit – Kicking Off September 23, 2020!

With Jenny Slingerland of Black Ink Interiors

Investment: $2195

Register Now!

Increase Your Confidence, Increase Your Profits – Kicking Off September 23, 2020!

With Desi Creswell

Investment: $2195

Register Now!

LuAnn University

The Profit Is In The Numbers

The Profit Is In The Numbers 101 with Kathleen Anderson

The Profit Is In The Numbers 102 with Peter Lang

Coming September 2020!

Early Bird Registration Sept 4 – Sept 20

Classes: Sept 22 – Sept 24

Get the Goodies! – For checklists, resources, and extra goodies!

To Get on LuAnn’s Email List, text the word designbiz to 444999!

Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:

Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action

Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts

LuAnn’s Website

LuAnn’s Podcast – Please SUBSCRIBE, Rate & Review!

LuAnn’s Blog

Power Talk Friday

A Big THANK YOU to These Podcast Sponsors:

FREE Trial! A One-Stop Shop to Keep Everything Organized!

Check Out Their Client Portal and Time Tracking Features!

My Doma Studio: A Well Designed Business