Welcome to A Well Designed Business! It’s WTF, Window Treatment Friday! In today’s episode, LuAnn and her friend and co-host of WTF, Vita (Vitalia) Vygovska, cover effective communication between the interior designer and the workroom to ensure a successful project.

One of the private Facebook groups that Vita belongs to is the “Soft Furnishings & Upholstery” group. Prior to this show, she posted a query asking for their stories on the topic of communication, both good and bad, that members’ workrooms have had with their designers.

She received some really good feedback on what worked and what didn’t work, and she and LuAnn will be sharing their collective wisdom with you today.

Listen in to take advantage of what others have learned from their experiences, and remember the most important thing of all: communication is key with everything!

Vitalia Vygovska (Vita for short!), CWFP, MBA, is an award-winning window treatment specialist, author, speaker, mom, wife, and a ballroom dance enthusiast. 

Her company, Vitalia, Inc, provides all-encompassing concierge-level, tech-driven fabrication, measurement, installation, and project management services exclusively for interior designers.

Show Highlights:

• Vita explains the difference between the detailed estimate and the top-line budget estimate and discusses the proper information that is required from the designer.
• The right questions contribute to a successful site visit to take measurements and discuss project specifics. It is important for the designer to be present at this visit.
• If you’re a designer or a workroom new to window treatments, make sure meetings happen when all of the important parties are there.
• Considerations when choosing types of fabric.
• You must take ownership and read the detailed estimate, question it, and correct if needed. Some workrooms require the designer to sign it.
• Vita shares her recommendations for managing outstanding issues on the detailed proposal.
• LuAnn offers further suggestions on ironing out all the details.
• Additional communication tips:

1. Be clear on who is responsible for what.
2. Be clear on terms.
3. Use only one way of communicating, preferably email. Be sure to follow up a verbal conversation with a summary email.
4. Thank your workroom! And keep them in the loop.

Resources:

LuAnn’s Website

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

Purchase LuAnn’s Book!

The Power Talk Friday Tour

LuAnn Live

WCAA

Exciting Windows

IWCE Vision

My Doma Studio: A Well Designed Business

Vitalia Inc. Grand Opening!

All are invited to join us for Vita’s grand opening!

June 16th, 4-7pm

LuAnn is excited to be there and all are invited to join!

RSVP at Vitalia Inc Events

To learn more about working with Vita and Vitalia Inc: Vitalia Inc

To learn more & register for Vita’s course: Profit With Window Treatments

Thank You to This Podcast Sponsor:

Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!

Mentioned Shows:

Links to previous WTF episodes #462, #471

Sandra Funk #02, 145

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! In this episode, LuAnn chats with Jaclyn Lankiewicz, the woman behind the Instagram handle, Jaclynmari_.

She is the principle of Jaclyn Marie Interiors based in Long Island, NY.

Her journey into interior design, like many, has not been a direct line. Basically, Jaclyn created an Instagram page that was getting so much attention that it prompted person after person to ask her if she would design their space. As you will hear today, her response was, “I finally said to myself, ok, let me do this”.

Jaclyn created an Instagram that has created a design business, and since you already have a design business and want to create more clients through Instagram, perhaps you’ll find her tips to be very helpful.

Listen in to see what we can learn about how to attract clients through Instagram!

Show Highlights:

• Keep your feed neutral, bright, and uncluttered.
• Edit your pictures properly, paying close attention to wood tones.
• Be strategic about what and where you’re posting.
• Keep an eye on your nine squares.
• A picture of herself, a zoomed-in picture of styling, and a larger picture, such as a whole living room or whole kitchen is another tactic that Jaclyn likes to use.
• Sharing a little of her personal life through Instagram helps people feel connected to her.
• Another tip that Jaclyn offers is tagging retail vendors because they re-post a lot.
• Jaclyn likes to share designers on her story (but not on her feed), and details the reasoning behind this.
• Answering every message and comment from followers is a great way of engaging with them and inspiring trust.
• How to identify someone whose work you’d like to share, and how to reach out.
• Understanding your “why” and saying no to those you don’t wish to collaborate with.
• Posting new content every day shows your followers that you’re reliable.
• Jaclyn mentions apps that she finds helpful: Videoshop, Unfold, rewardStyle, VSCO, Snapseed, Retouch, and Planoly.

Resources: 

LuAnn’s Website

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

Purchase LuAnn’s Book!

The Power Talk Friday Tour

LuAnn Live

Connect with Jaclyn!

Jaclyn’s Website

Jaclyn’shouzz

Jaclyn’s Instagram

Wingnut Social

East End Interiors Trade

Thank You to These Podcast Sponsors:

Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now!

Kirsch

Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!

Article

Other guests mentioned from previous episodes:

Sara Lynn Brennan #’s: 463, 514

Darla Powell #’s: 203, 330

Kim Merlitti #’s: 361, 442

Sandra Funk #’s: 2, 145

Welcome to A Well Designed Business! It’s WTF, Window Treatment Friday! It’s been a while since LuAnn has had a window treatment episode, so she’s super-excited to have her co-host of WTF, Vita (Vitalia) Vygovska back on the show.

Hardware is the subject of today’s show, and if talking about ripple folds, pinch pleats, stationary rods, rod pockets, and rods with c-rings make your heart beat a little faster, then you’ve found your people!

Drapery rods can be a super-complicated thing, but LuAnn and Vita have a way of making this a fun conversation. Join them in this educational and insightful journey into the world of window treatment hardware.

Vitalia Vygovska (Vita for short), CWFP, MBA, is an award-winning window treatment specialist, author, speaker, mom, wife, and a ballroom dance enthusiast. 

Her company, Vitalia, Inc, provides all-encompassing concierge-level, tech-driven fabrication, measurement, installation, and project management services exclusively for interior designers. 

Show Highlights:

• The more knowledge you have on hardware enables you to sell more window treatments.
• There are four main components to drapery hardware: the rod, the finials, the brackets, and the rings.
• The types of rod (or pole) is a basic traverse rod, a decorative traverse rod, and a pole that doesn’t move.
• Vita explains more about each rod and how it functions with drapery.
• LuAnn and Vita sing the praises of Kirsch and its Architrac Ripplefold track.
• Motorized draperies? Yes, it’s a thing!
• Provide your client with ALL of the options, and let them decide what they want.
• LuAnn and Vita address drapery issues that designers run into.
• How to counter a client who asks for a lower price.
• Drapery hardware can add a lot of profit to a job, but it is its own beast in the world of window treatment professionals.
• Distributors are there to help you.
• Familiarize yourself with Kirsch’s website and other drapery hardware websites.
• Window treatments are a great way to make your company more profitable.
• Check out LuAnn’s Live Events! She would love to meet you! 

Resources:

LuAnn’s Website

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

Purchase LuAnn’s Book!

Kravet

To learn more & register for Vita’s course: Profit With Window Treatments

To learn more about working with Vita and Vitalia Inc

To learn more about working with Window Works

To receive a free subscription to Window Fashion Vision Magazine

To attend the IWCE where both LuAnn and Vita will be presenting: IWCE

To learn about the WCAA (Window Coverings Association of America)

To learn about Exciting Windows

Podcast Sponsor:

Kirsch

Connect with Your Local Kirsch Distributor Now!

Welcome to this episode of Power Talk Friday! Join LuAnn and her guest, Victoria Sanchez, in this thought-provoking conversation about changing things up in the way we educate interior designers. Her concern is if we don’t start to make changes in the design curriculum, then we, as an industry, are at risk.

At one time, Victoria served as in interior design professor at Marymount University and this is where the conversation begins today. As LuAnn will tell you, this is a totally new idea to her and many of us, and sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know! Just wait until you hear what Victoria proposes!

Victoria Sanchez, one of America’s premier design professionals, has been creating one-of-a-kind interiors for hundreds of prominent clients over the past three decades.

Dubbed a home décor “style maker” by Luxe magazine, Victoria is an award-winning designer who offers services ranging from project management and space planning to kitchen and bath design and furniture selection. She and her team are backed by the region’s leading contractors, painters, architects, kitchen and bath pros, flooring specialists, audio-visual experts, and other professionals.

Victoria, whose work has appeared in publications nationwide, is known for her extraordinary customer service, fee integrity and ability to help clients get the highest return on their design investment. She has designed multiple homes for the same clients and has worked with companies to design the interiors of apartment buildings, boutique hotels, and law offices.

Victoria spent the majority of her career in Alexandria, Virginia, providing design services to Fortune 500 executives, lobbyists, military generals, doctors, lawyers, investment specialists and other professionals throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and along the east coast. While there, she also ran her ‘Victoria at Home’ shop, the area’s leading source of elegant home furnishings and accessories. Her collection of the finest upholstery, furniture, art, lighting, and pillows was carefully and proudly curated from an international network of vendors and suppliers.

Now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Victoria is keeping busy in ways she had never imagined. From charitable design work to the restoration of heritage buildings, the depth and breadth of her work have expanded while her style becomes more and more influenced by the new colors and nature that surround her. She continues to travel back to the East Coast on a regular basis, taking on projects across the country.

Victoria also speaks at design industry events across the United States. She is currently active in the American Society of Interior Designers and holds Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees in Interior Design from Marymount University. She also previously served as an interior design professor and was a board member of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association.

Show Highlights:

• The internet and all the design centers being opened to retail now both present concern to interior designers, because consumers now have the same access as designers.
• A bigger cause for concern is that we are not producing business-minded interior designers when they graduate from their programs.
• The top ten schools in the country have the same curriculum due to certification requirements.
• Victoria explains that colleges are trying to pack far too much information into a 4-year program.
• Students must learn residential design, commercial design, sustainability, and technical presentation skills, in addition to the general education classes.
• The solution offered by Victoria is to take the programs, pull them apart, and offer three separate interior design programs: residential, commercial, and technical presentation.
• This would allow schools to offer more courses, such as business law, accounting, marketing, and professional practices.
• We are moving forward in our profession when we can offer a student the opportunity to be a designer with a business brain.
• Interior design is very tactile; therefore, a designer misses the basics when rushing through courses and doing work digitally.
• It’s not that industry leaders are apathetic to change, but they are tasked with the traditional models of teaching the student all of the aspects of interior design.
• Changing the curriculum to product business-minded interior designers represents a challenge to CIDA (Council for Interior Design Accreditation).
• LuAnn and Victoria discuss ideas for implementation.
• LuAnn points out that those running the most successful interior design firms come with experience or training in running a business. It’s a business first, and a design firm second.
• The younger generation of designers understand that they need business skills, and are currently turning to podcasts to learn what schools aren’t teaching them.

Resources:

LuAnn’s Website

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

Purchase LuAnn’s Book!

Connect with Victoria!

Victoria’s Website

Victoria’s Pinterest

Victoria’s Facebook

Victoria’s Instagram

Podcast Sponsor:

Article

Open Your Trade Account with ARTICLE.com Here!

Mentioned Episodes:

Dr. Ellen Fisher Ep #71

Ashlina Kaposta Ep #109

Welcome to this episode of Power Talk Friday! Today, LuAnn shares her findings on coaching a diverse group of entrepreneurs. As it turns out, they have several tangible things in common that she was so impressed by that she decided to dedicate a podcast to complimenting these special people and laying out for you what she has discovered in their time together.

As she relates, this has been an ‘A-ha!’ moment for her, and she hopes it will be for her listeners, as well. If you don’t already see yourself in these descriptions, perhaps it’s time that you do something to work toward them.

Additionally, LuAnn brings you exciting news of her upcoming LIVE events that she will be attending spring and summer, and invites you to join her because she LOVES meeting you in person!

Show Highlights:

• The 3 Traits of Smart Business Owners:

1. They come to every session with a truly open mind. They listen, ask great questions, and take action on ideas that are new to them and that sometimes even make them a bit nervous.
2. They understand the importance of having a coach because it is an investment in their business. A coach can help you grow beyond what you imagine for yourself and shorten the learning curves.
3. They have hope. Hope for themselves, hope for their business, and hope for the industry. They seek out new ideas and new ways to make a profit, to succeed and service a client where the client needs it the most.

• Companion questions to ask yourself:

1. Are you open to taking advice? Even advice that you think might not work for you?
2. If you are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time what, how does that make you look? What does your crew look like? Do you create opportunities through mentoring, coaching, and eduction that increase your value and your business acumen?
3. Do you believe in yourself? Do you know your value and how you enrich other peoples’ lives? Do you take your talent and your abilities serious enough to invest in them?

• March 19this the 4th birthday party for this podcast! Thanks to Kravet Inc. and 200 Lex for hosting this. Please join us [5:30]- 7:30 pm at the Kravet Work Space Showroom at 200 Lexington Ave NYC. You can find the RSVP on EventBrite as well as on the website under the events tab.
• March 21stto 24th Exciting Windows and IWCE / March 25th to the 27th
• Teaching the Professional Window Coverings 7 Step Process, which is open to the public. Go to Exciting Windows. At the IWCE, Luann will be doing Closing the Sale Begins with Hello, as well as moderating some panels on Profitability with the Vin Man and Michele Williams. Next, LuAnn has a panel with Sara Brennan on Packaging your Process and Working with Window Treatment Professionals with Sara Brennan and Vita. Please visit IWCE-Vision.
• April 2nd, Thursday, East End Interiors is celebrating 30 years in business this year and they have invited LuAnn to speak at their showroom in Long Island NY. If you were at LuAnn Live last year, then you know Sal and Enza and you already know what a fantastic family business they run. If you are in the NY Metro area, especially LI, you must make the time to join us so you can see everything they have to help you complete all of your design projects. They are a strictly to the trade showroom featuring furniture, lighting, accessory and more. LuAnn is also delighted to share that they are the Exclusive VIP Experience Sponsor for LuAnn Nigara Live 2020.
• High Point Market in April. It all starts with LuAnn’s PTF Tour on Friday, April 24th, 8 am to 11:00 pm. Yup, all day, this event is jam-packed, loaded-to-the-gills, with eye-opening A-ha’s and advice specific to your business. LuAnn brings you 3 of her PTF Experts and one of them is Sandra Funk, the CEO of HOF. Sandra will be on an upcoming PTF where you will learn how she truly runs the back end of her business. And then, get to spend the whole day picking her brain? Uhmmm, the price of admission is worth it right there, no question. During the next few days at HP, LuAnn will have several presentations and panels. Saturday April 25th,she’ll moderate a panel at the showroom of the newest sponsor to join the show, Jaipur, which will be co-hosted by Revelwoods and the Interior Design Society. They will be talking about the Design Build Process and how to navigate the big-ticket projects.
• On Sunday, LuAnn will be in the HP Theater at [12:00] noon for a very special one-on-one conversation with a very special friend, designer, and all around outstanding human being…not sure if ASID wants the proverbial beans spilled yet…so just put LuAnn on your dance card! Here’s a hint: If you were at LuAnn Live, you could probably make a good guess as to his name… Sunday at 4:00 pm you can always find LuAnn at the Kravet showroom. This is a wonderful opportunity to see and meet the incredible leadership team at Kravet. Later at 6:00 pm Sunday, there will be a special VIP party with Mydoma Studio. YOU are the special VIP 🙂 This is a kickoff event to celebrate this new collaboration, so please join us.
• Monday morning, LuAnn will moderate a panel all about Process Leads to Profits. LuAnn’s friend and Process Leads to Profits course teacher, Sara Lynn Brennan will be there along with a few others yet to be announced. This is also hosted by Mydoma Studio. Check LuAnn’s Website later this month for all of the locations and details.
• Wednesday April 29th LuAnn will be back in NYC and NYSID has invited her to do a solo presentation and book signing. This is open to the public and is an evening event.
• On May 20th, the Philadelphia Chapter of IFDA has asked LuAnn to speak and her friends at the Kravet showroom are hosting. Please join us.
• June 4,5,6, ASID California is having their annual conference in Santa Barbara this year and they have invited LuAnn to do a solo presentation and moderate a panel. Currently, they are finalizing the designer speakers and panelists and so far, it’s looking like A-List all the way!
• A minute later on Jun 9th LuAnn may be confirming an event with the NKBA NJ Chapter, so stay tuned on that.
• June 16th, LuAnn’s friend, Vita, her co-host from their WTF episodes is having a grand opening party at her brand-new work room and she will be there for this celebration. Hope you will come too!
• We will get as many of these as we can on my website but if one in particular is right for you and it is not on my site, reach out to the hosting event for the details. LuAnn’s website is LuAnn Nigara.
• And of course, in the fall there will be LuAnn Nigara Live, It’s About the Conversation again, here in NJ. Please be on the email list for when she announces ticket sales are open—go to LuAnn Live.
• For now, keep early November open and plan your budget for tickets, flights, and hotels. The announcement will be later this month for sure!
• Want to make LuAnn’s day? She really does love to take her friendships from virtual to real, so please plan to attend at least one of these events.

Resources:

LuAnn’s Website

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

Purchase LuAnn’s Book!

Special Thanks to Podcast Sponsor:

Kirsch