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

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.

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?